《God of Time System: Harem in the Zombie Apocalypse》 Chapter 1 Zombie Apocalypse Meria Country ck Water City District Z Apartment no. 176 64th Floor ¡­ "Son, we will be leaving now. If you need anything, you can call the workers and if there is an emergency, call us right away," my father said as he looked at me with a small smile before moving out of my room. I was lying on my bed as I smiled back at him. I don''t think he has much hope in me¡­ after all¡­ I am suffering from AIDS¡­ "Hey, so I will be dropping off mom at her workce before heading to college. Take care of yourself, brother," my younger brother spoke as he came to the door. He stood there, fidgeting a little before moving away from my sight as well. It wasn''t that I lost my virginity to get AIDS. Though exining that to them is impossible for some reason. It is honestly difficult to believe too, so I can''t me them as well¡­ it was just¡­ that guy''s petty ''revenge'' over such a small thing. ''My childhood crush likes you and I don''t like that so¡­ sorry dude, there is nothing we both can do about this situation,'' I recalled that person''s words before he injected me with that heavy dose of HIV needle¡­ It has been over a month and the first symptoms have finally appeared¡­ The good news is that I can live for another 10-15 years more if I take proper care of myself and once my first symptoms are over, my life would be determined by how carefully I take care of myself and my hygiene. Bad news is that because of the overdose, I believe that it will be very difficult to keep myself away from other diseases for much longer. "Well.. the fact that I am still a virgin even after turning 24 was the worst thing to happen though¡­ Forget about gettingid, girls won''t even get closer to me now¡­ should I transfer to another city?" I kept contemting my next move cause no way in hell I am dying a virgin!!¡­ hopefully. ''Man. This isn''t fair, though! Life isn''t fair! I wasn''t even involved in that sh*t!'' I let my thoughts drift as I justy there before I fell into a deep slumber¡­ A few hourster¡­ -BOOOM!!!! I woke up with a sudden noiseing from outside. It was loud. Like really loud. "Was that¡­ cough cough.. A bomb?!" I spoke as I looked around and wondered if what I had heard was real or did I just dream about it¡­? I wanted to go near the balcony to check it out but my body felt really weak right now, so I decided it would be better not to exert pressure on it. ? -BOOOM!! I heard another st and this time my eyes opened wide in shock, as I would be a fool to think it was still a dream. I wanted to know what was going on out there, so I picked up my smartphone from the bedside table before looking up the news. "Hmmm? Nowork?" My eyes grew concentrated at that and I wondered if there was something wrong with my phone or was the entireworkpromised. My mind was telling me that it was thetter, but my heart still wanted it to be the former, so I kept checking the phone over and over. I restarted my phone once, twice, thrice, and many times over, but the result was still the same. Calls, inte, nothing worked at all. Even the emergency numbers weren''t going through. ''Just what could happen all of a sudden? Everything was fine just a couple of hours ago. Did something happenst night? Are we under attack from another country?'' My mind kept running faster and faster, as I thought of all the possible scenarios and the more I let my mind wander, the more horrified I became. I was so worried that I almost pulled myself off the bed, but before I could even remove the nket¡­ [The World Apocalypse Has Started] [Urgently binding God of Time System to the Host!!] [System Initiating!] [Progress: 0.5%] . . . . Those were the words that shed before my eyes as I lost my consciousness¡­ Chapter 2 [God Of Time System] [Progress: 100%] [God of Time System sessfully bound to the user] [Detecting enemies close by] [Initiating Emergency Quest] [Emergency Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde for the next 12 hours Total Numbers of Zombies remaining:5 Zombies will break into your house in 8 hours Reward: Unlock the System''s Basic Features] . . . [Emergency Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde for the next 5 hours Total Numbers of Zombies remaining:8 Zombies will break into your house in 59 minutes 59 seconds Reward: Unlock the System''s Basic Features] My eyes slowly open as I wake up and find myself in my bed. "What the f-?!!!" I almost cussed out loud before I covered my mouth and looked at the screen in front of me. ''What in the world is this?'' I thought as I looked at the screen and read the text for a few minutes. I have heard about the system from my college otaku friends so I knew a few basic things about it. ''Is this screen what they always talked about?'' I was so concentrated on the screen that I didn''t notice what was written on it, before my eyes drifted to the text, ''Survive the Zombie Horde for the next 5 hours¡­ Zombies will break into your house in 50 minutes?!!!" I was so shocked my eyes almost popped out as I read the text over and over¡­ I even wondered if this was a dream, but it was too real to be just a dream so I could only gaze at that screen as I saw the time kept ticking slowly and slowly. ''Okay. Not focusing on whether it is a dream or not, let''s concentrate on the situation at hand. If I prepare myself against the Zombies, dream or not, prank or not, everything will turn out fine. If it is a dream, I will wake up. If it is a prank, I will just be pranked and people will justugh at me. In the end it''ll be fine. Worse case scenarios, I am just hallucinating and if things doesn''t turn out the way the System says, I can just y dumb,'' I thought as I analysed the pros and cons of going along with the quest given to me by the System. I then closed my eyes and concentrated more, if I could find another path, but before I could think anything more, I finally heard something from a distance. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! Someone¡­ or something was pounding on the door. It was so loud that I could hear it all the way to my room. I slowly gulped as goose bumps were all over my body before I forced myself to get off the bed. I took the walking stick my brother bought me after I fell sick. I used that stick to pull myself up and slowly walked outside my room with its support. Since the door was open, I just moved outside, trying to make as little sound as possible. I first put my head out of my room to see if there was anything, but fortunately, the small hallway was empty. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! Though the noise became more apparent as I reached out of my room. On my left was my brother''s room''s door at a distance and on my right was a small hallway that was connected to the living room. The banging on the door and the empty silence that followed after it for a few moments made me feel like my heart would jump out of my body any moment now. Even still, I kept moving forward towards the living room. One step at a time, I reached closer to the living room. I saw the familiar living room with white-coloured walls and a ck sofa ced in front of the huge TV on the wall against me. On the right side, there was a way to the balcony and on the left side, there was the door to the kitchen. The bathroom was on the left alleyway just where I was standing. The dining room was connected to the kitchen while the master bedroom was just beside the balcony door. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! I looked at the door opposite to where I was standing. The entrance to the apartment was just behind that door. There was also a small guest room between that door and the apartment''s entrance. [Zombies will break into your house in 39 minutes 34 seconds] I saw the text on the screen and rather than moving towards the entrance, I first moved towards the kitchen. I need to get a weapon, and the only weapon I could think of right now is the kitchen knife we have. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! Slowly I walked towards the kitchen and cautiously opened the door of the kitchen, though¡­ -Creak! Being old, there was a slight creaking noise produced by the door. Hearing the creaking voice of the kitchen door, I immediately turned towards the door leading towards the entrance. However.. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! The door was still being banged in the same way as it was before. But¡­ [Total Number of Zombies Remaining:6 Zombies will break into your house in 35minutes and 49 seconds] I gulped at the text before turning at the door again as I kept hearing the noise of the banging in the same manner as before. Holding my breath, I entered the kitchen and slowly closed it from the inside. My heartbeat was at its peak and because now the door of the kitchen was closed, muffling the outside sound, I could hear my own heart beat loud and clear. "Now to get¡­the.. kn..i..fe¡­" -Thud! "Huff¡­ Huff¡­ Huff.. Huff!!!" All that walking took a lot out of me, making me breathless as my sickness took over me as I tumbled down. My eyes looked really scared¡­ not only because there were zombies or whatnot outside my house but also my sickness was getting worse with all this tension and fear. I checked my fever, and it was really bad right now¡­ I felt like I was burning from the inside out and I could pass out any moment. ''Is this how I am going to die?'' I thought as sudden helplessness consumed my mind. Chapter 3 Wish Things Were Different -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! My eyes opened as I gained consciousness slowly and I found myself a bit better than before. Though it wasn''t as great as a healthy body, it was much better than when I was in bed. ''Are my symptoms getting better?'' I thought, as I felt morefortable than before. Though there was a backache and when I tried to move my head, my neck was hurting too. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! I heard the loud banging thatpletely woke me as a sudden thought creeped in my mind when I realized that¡­ the noise of banging wasing from the door right beside me. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! I gulped silently as I looked around the kitchen for the knife before looking at the System''s screen. [Emergency Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde for the next 1 hour Total Numbers of Zombies remaining:12 Zombies have broken into your house. Zombies will break into your kitchen in 12 minutes. Reward: Unlock the System''s Basic Features] My eyes widened as I realized how long I had been knocked out for. Then when I looked at the time, I saw I still had some time before they broke into the kitchen¡­ -Bang! -Bang! ? -Bang! I tried moving away from the door but [Zombie will break into your kitchen in 30 seconds] My heart almost stopped beating for a second before I instinctively pulled my body against the door again. This time I pushed against the door as hard as I could and the result was¡­ [Zombies will break into your kitchen in 34 minutes] The time fluctuated depending upon how much strength I was applying at the door but honestly, I don''t think I can keep holding the door for more than 10 minutes. I looked around the kitchen to find something which I can use but, if I move even a little, the time decreases by a lot at once. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! I kept holding as hard as I could but I could feel my death getting closer and closer to me as time was passing. At this moment¡­ during these final moments¡­ I wondered about everything that I have done in my entire life. I became a medical student and almost became a doctor before that incident happened. Because I was so busy with my studies, I didn''t have time for anything else. I couldn''t even give time to my family and friends slowly ending whatever the connections I had with them. It wasn''t like I wasn''t proposed to but the stupid me thought it would be better to focus on career first before focusing on romance. Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. ''Better tomorrow my as*, it couldn''t get any worse than this. If I had known something like that were to happen, I would have b*nged every second or third chick whom I knew¡­ damn!'' I cursed at my fate as I wondered all the things I could have done, if I hadn''t been so strict with my studies. Even if I not include this stupid Apocalypse shit, it wasn''t like my thoughts were going to change. The moment that b*stard gave me that injection, my life was sure to go downhill. ''Man! Why am I even trying so hard? Wouldn''t it be better for me to just yeet myself?'' I thought as I chuckled lightly slowly slipping to the floor, my body still pressed against the door. ''Well.. if I am going to be eaten by a zombie¡­ Please let it be a hot chick or something! That should at least ease my virgin pain maybe¡­ I was eaten by a girl, sounds better than I was eaten by an uncle or something¡­'' I kept passing the time thinking about stupid stuff. The knife was on the other side of the kitchen. Even if I leave the door, I don''t know if my body would be able to make it to the other side. So, I thought it would be better to wait till the end and try it then. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! With every bang, it felt like my soul would just leave my body. My mouth was dry, and I felt so thirsty that I could drink an entire gallon of water at once. It was tiring, both mentally and physically and at this point I just wanted it all to be over¡­ [Survive the Zombies Horde for the next 36 minutes Zombies will break into your kitchen in 2 minutes] I kept looking at the System as time kept ticking down slowly and before I knew it¡­ [Zombies will break into your kitchen in 20 seconds] My heartbeat rose to its peak and I was sweating profusely. I could see my body shaking and my eyes were alternating between the system and the knife and as soon as I saw the time turning to 1 digit¡­ I crawled towards the knife on all fours before -BANG!!! -BANG!!! -RAWRRRR!!!! I heard an ugly voice behind me but maybe because of the panic and fear; I had already reached the knife as I took it out and turned around to the source of the ugly voice. My eyes turned solemn a little as I saw the zombie in front of me and my heart ached¡­ I had kind of hoped that the zombie¡­ wouldn''t be someone I knew¡­ but¡­ I guess it was too much to ask for. It was our neighbor¡­ I looked at the ck hair and that red T-shirt he used to wear before going to work. Guy had a really nice personality with a sad backstory¡­ wife dead and an 8 year old child to take care of. I noticed that he was alone and there were no more zombies behind him. My eyes questioned that as I looked at the System once again. [Total number of Zombies Remaining: 12] Nope, the number did not change. Hmmmm¡­ exactly what number am I dealing with here? I wanted to analyze more, but it didn''t seem like my neighbor liked me ignoring him. -RAWR!! He came closer to me with all the love he had and I kind of dashed to the side, dodging him before scrambling outside the kitchen with hurried steps. If the zombies are scattered all around the house¡­ maybe I can survive for real¡­ Chapter 4 [System Unlock!] 2 Zombies on my front banging on the master bedroom door. 9 Zombies on my left near the entrance banging on the guest room door. [Survive the Zombie Horde for the next 35 minutes and 34 seconds] ¡­ My heart skipped a few beats as I saw the horde of the Zombie trying their best to get into the guest room. I did not know what was going on, but whatever it was; it kept the zombie upied in the guest room. Maybe they liked banging against the door? Probably not. In any case, I turned towards the alleyway towards my room and moved hurriedly with broken steps. Despite me being a tad bit more energetic than before, I still had difficulty in walking due to weakness in my body. One step at a time, I walked towards my room and reached it as fast as I could. I did not take any chances to turn around and see if any zombie was attracted towards me. That''s something people in horror movies do before dying and I ain''t doing that shit. I reached my room and hurriedly closed the door from the inside and it made some sound, probably attracting a few zombies in the process. "Huff¡­ huff¡­ huff¡­ Okay so¡­ What next?!" I spoke hurriedly as I caught my breath and looked around to find a few things that I could use here to put against the door. The bed would be impossible, the table would be too heavy, the almera would be heavier and then there is nothing else left which could be called as heavy ''So much for being a minimalist¡­ wait?!! Books! I wonder if I had kept some here,'' I thought with a smile forming on my face before I hurriedly ran towards my almeera. -Creaeeaaakkkk¡­ ''Ah! The sound of opening my almeera, I wish I had oiled this sh*t as my mother always screamed at me to do it¡­ In any case¡­'' a smile bloomed on my face as I saw half of my shelf filled with books that I had bought on sale. I thought it was a waste of money but looks like god had other ns for them¡­ Medical Students, or medicos for short, have all one thing inmon. A lot of books that they read every day and twice that amount that they keep in their shelf for no reason and trust me when I say this but in the whole duration of my medical school, I had never been this happy that I had so many books in my shelf. ''Heavy!'' I thought as I tried to take out a few books at once, but it looked like I was too weak to do so. Hence, I just proceeded to do it with one or two books at a time. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! [Survive the Zombie Horde for 32 minutes 29 seconds] [Zombies will break into your room in 25 minutes] ''Sh*t!'' I screamed inside before hurrying with my books'' cement. The time kept ticking. I piled as many books as I could against the door. Even though I was getting tired, I still kept going because well I didn''t wanna die this easily. While I kept piling up the books, one after another, I kept my eyes on the System timer as well, and before I knew it¡­ [Survive the Zombie Horde for 5 minutes] [Zombies will break into your room in 8 minutes] At this point, I could take a few chances regarding what to do next. First is to wait for 5 minutes and hope I get something out of this System thing that would help me survive, but honestly, I would like to rely on something more logical. The second thing is to run to the bathroom, as the gate is strong there, which should buy me another 30 minutes or so, though, that will just be getting trapped before ending up as zombie food. And finally, there is the option to go to the balcony. The balcony gate is made of ss, so I don''t think it will be able to hold the zombies for more than¡­ let''s say, 5 minutes. Sadly, we are on the 64th Floor, so that is a dead end as well. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! [Survive the Zombie Horde for 2 minutes] [Zombies will break into your room in 5 minutes] "Phew!!!" I took a deep breath as I stood up and walked towards the balcony with the knife that I took from the kitchen. Gulping a little, I opened the curtains and my heartbeat dropped a little. I saw the scene in front of me with my eyes widening in disbelief. Even though I had expected this¡­ it was still shocking. I opened the sliding door before getting out of the room and closing it from the outside. The cold wind brushed against my face and I moved a bit forward towards the railing to get a closer look at the smokeing from various ces. I could hear gunshots if I concentrated enough and from some ces, I could hear the sirens of ambnces and cars. The city was engulfed in chaos¡­ the world seemed to have broken¡­ it really was an¡­ Apocalypse. I slowly let my bodyy on the ground, with my eyes still concentrated on all the madness that was in front of me. [Congrattions! You have survived for 12 hours!!] [Initiating Reward! Unlocking basic System Features!!] [Progress.. 10%... 50% ¡­ 100%] [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human ss: Unssified Level: 1 (0/100 Exp) Status: Weakened Health Points: 58/100 Time Points: Locked* Strength: 6 Constitution: 3 Dexterity: 5 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 0 Skills: Locked* Skill points: 0 Quests: Main Quest* Side Quest* Daily Quests* Store: Locked* God Powers: Locked* ???: Locked* ?????: Locked*] Chapter 5 Quests ''...'' with a nk mind I saw the status in front of me. My eyes then scanned through everything one at a time, trying to understand what was in front of me. There were a lot of things to consider, but given my situation, I focused on things that I could use here. Firstly, Stats should be reflecting my body''s condition and since I can''t do anything about it right now, let''se back to themter. Thenes the skills and skill points. [Skills: Locked* Skill points: 0] I tried opening the skill tab, hoping to find a way to unlock them, wondering if I could get something out of it but [Skills: Locked] [Skills tab will be unlocked at Level 5] [Skill points 0] Without wasting any time, I moved to the store next, but it was still the same [Store: Locked] [Store tab will be unlocked at Level 10] I then excluded everything that was locked and focused on what was unlocked, which brought me to [Quests: Main Quest] [Reach Level 10] [Reward: ??] [Quests: Side Quests] [1. Kill Zombie Horde: 12 Zombies Remaining] [Reward: Stat points (+4)] [2. Survive the Zombie Horde: 2 hours] [Reward: +25Exp] [3. Save the Survivor Trapped in the Guest Room] [Reward: Inspect (Skill)] [Quests: Daily Quests] [1. Survive to the end of the Day: 40 minutes remaining till dawn] [Reward: +10 Exp] [2. Push ups: 0/10] [Reward: +5 Exp] [3. Walk: 146/1000 Steps] [Reward: +5 Exp] [4. Drink 2 Liters of Water: 0/2L] [Reward: +5 Exp] [5. Fill your Stomach: 0/2000 Calories] [Reward: +5 Exp] -BANG!!! -BANG!! The door of my room broke down, and 2 zombies immediately entered. My neighbor and anotherdy that I didn''t know. At first, they just stood there for about 2 minutes, before they suddenly looked at me. With hurried but jagged steps, they walked towards me. Looking at their zombified flesh, I almost wanted to vomit, but I bit my lips before concentrating on them. They reached at the balcony ss door and -Bang! -Crack! "Sh*t!" I screamed as I saw the ss of the door, half broken from the part where they hit with their body. My neighbor''s upper half was dangling outside the broken ss door while thedy was behind my neighbor trying to move in front. Goosebumps filled all through my body as I started getting numb with fear, but still¡­ I calmed myself as much as I could and mustered some courage before running towards my zombified neighbor and¡­ -Stab! -Stab! -Stab! I continuously stabbed the zombie with the knife I had. I did not know whether my continuous stabbing killed it or not, but after 4 or 5 stabs [Ding!] [You killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie!!] [You gained +20 Exp] My mind went nk at a few things. I was happy that I killed a zombie, but¡­ ''What the heck do you mean Lesser E-Grade? Are you telling me there are creatures stronger than it?!'' this time I almost cursed myself wondering what the world has turned into. I turned back for a few moments to look at the dying city before turning to thedy zombie, who had put her hands and neck through the broken area of the door, trying to get to me. -Stab! -Stab! -Stab! -Stab! [Ding!] [You killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie!!] [You gained +20 Exp] I took a deep breath before I saw another zombie slowly walking into my room before turning at me, as the previous two did. It was another guy from the apartment, but I did not know him that well. I waited for him to walk towards me and also saw that two more zombies were entering after him. I didn''t know how long my body can hold itself, but one thing that I was really sure about was that I ain''t no f*cking way giving up this early! -Rwar!! -Rwar!! -Rwar!! The zombie ran towards the gate and pushed the other two dead zombies who were trapped in the ss door. -Crack!! The ss doorpletely broke due to the impact, though the iing zombie also fell in the process. Taking my chances, I moved forward and stabbed him in the neck. -Stab! My knife broke! [Ding!] [You killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie!!] [You gained +20 Exp] ''Guess there is only so much a kitchen knife can do. Now that leaves the other two zombies who were charging at me¡­ '' ''Think! Think! Think! Think! Think! Think!...'' My mind went into full calcting mode, trying to figure out a way out of this¡­ and the best solution that I thought was¡­ to wait for them toe closer. I moved a bit backward, touching the railing. The railing was a little over my waist, so, while it was still slightly high, I was betting on my chances of pushing them off the balcony. -Rwar! One fell at the balcony door stumbling on the dead zombies. The other one stumbled too but stood up before hurriedly charging at me. I dodged cautiously before pushing his upper body against the railing¡­ and I failed! It was too heavy! F*ck¡­ what the heck was I thinking¡­ I am weak¡­ I am still sick¡­ My eyes widened as I finally realised the stupid mistake that I made. The zombie beside me turned towards me slowly while the other zombie was already in the balcony covering my only exit¡­ Chapter 6 Level 2 -Rwar!! -Rwar!! The two zombies charged at me at the same time, and instinctively, I pushed my body diagonally in the gap between both of them. I barely dodged them, and not wasting my time to see where they were, I ran into my room. While I was slow because of my weak body, the zombies weren''t exactly fast either. I decided to go to my brother''s room, hoping I could find something there. -Rwar! Though, my second neighbor, also a zombie now, graced me with his presence at my room''s entrance. I immediately turned towards my bathroom and ran inside before closing the door and falling on the ground immediately. "Huff¡­ Huff¡­ Huff¡­ Huff¡­" All this running and freaking out is not something that I was used to, even during my college days. The fact that I was still able to squeeze out energy and not fall down unconscious was a miracle in itself. "So¡­ Huff¡­ Huff¡­ what now?" I asked as I found myself trapped in my own bathroom, no weapon and no food supplies. All I had was a ce to sh*t and a small window that allowed some air for venttion. And also some¡­ Realizing something, I immediately turned to my status, which was barely visible for a few moments, and became more translucent than before. [Level 1: 60/100 Exp] ''I need 40 more Exp. Daily Quests.'' [Quests: Daily Quests] [1. Survive to the end of the Day: 28 minutes remaining till dawn] [Reward: +10 Exp] [2. Push ups: 0/10] [Reward: +5 Exp] [3. Walk: 169/1000 Steps] [Reward: +5 Exp] [4. Drink 2 Liters of Water: 0/2L] [Reward: +5 Exp] [5. Fill your Stomach: 0/2000 Calories] [Reward: +5 Exp] ''Even if I drink 2 liters of water, walk 1000 steps and survive for 28 minutes, I will still need 20 more EXP. Side Quests!'' [Quests: Side Quests] [1. Kill Zombie Horde: 12 Zombies Remaining] [Reward: Stat points (+4)] [2. Survive the Zombie Horde: 1 hour and 48 minutes] [Reward: +25Exp] [3. Save the Survivor Trapped in the Guest Room] [Reward: Inspect (Skill)] ''Can I somehow survive 2 hours? This is¡­ I don''t know. Let''s see if there is anything I can use here.'' Inspecting around, I saw a mirror, the toilet, a shaving kit, a water heater¡­ -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! ''Thanks! The background music was all I needed right now,'' I sighed before concentrating again on my surroundings before slowly standing up. The bathroom was small and, looking at it properly; I thought of a certain idea. I first emptied the water heater of its contents in the bucket¡­ since it was an electric heater made up of aluminum, it had some durability. I then tilted the water heater on its side and ced it between the door and the opposite wall. Though the water heater filled the area with its top towards the gate and the bottom legs towards the wall, there was still some gap between the wall and the legs. I then used the wooden bathing stool and carefully ced it between the door and the top of the bathtub before finally breathing out loud. It might notst forever but 2 hours¡­ I think that should be barely feasible. I then searched my shaving kit and took out the shaving knife from it. While it may not be strong at all¡­ it was still better than nothing. And then I just sat there on the floor, before filling the mug with the water I took out from the electric heater. While I can''t guarantee myself of its purity, it was still significantly better than the tap water. ''Just what am I doing?'' My eyes were sombre. I have HIV for god''s sake. I shouldn''t be drinking this water at all¡­ I wanted to cry at this moment¡­ will this even work? I closed my eyes and then¡­ -Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! It tasted bad. Maybe it was because I thought it was dirty or perhaps it really was, but it did not taste good at all. I even wanted to vomit it all out at once, but for survival''s sake, I kept it in. [Drink water: 500/2000 milliliters] -Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! After emptying out the jug, the status screen lit up as¡­ [Ding!] [Drink Water: 2/2 Lplete] [+5 Exp] As soon as I saw the message, I began vomiting out the water I had just drunk. It took some time, maybe 15 minutes or something, but I kept vomiting until there was nothing left. After vomiting everything, I finally felt a little rxed. The nauseating feeling was still there, but it was much better than before. [Level 1: (65/100 Exp)] As for the other daily missions, I did not have much energy left. I couldn''t even bring myself to move another inch, so I justy there as the zombies kept banging on the door incessantly. All I hoped was for the time to pass¡­ [Daily Quest: Survive to the end of the Day: Complete] [+10 Exp] I saw another message as I looked at the time remaining for the side quest. [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: 1 hour and 20 minutes] [Reward: +25 Exp] I saw that the daily quest text changing slightly from day to night as [Survive to the end of the Night: 10 hours remaining] [Reward: +20 Exp] I then sighed a little before closing my eyes for a few moments¡­ and when I opened them back up [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Level up +1] Chapter 7 Level 3 [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Level up +1] I saw the message in front of me waking me up immediately before another message followed [Health Restored] [+2 Stat points Acquired] [+2 Skill points Acquired] [New Skill Acquired: Eyes of the Time Keeper] Looking at the messages my eyes turn open wide as I recheck my status [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human ss: Unssified Level: 2 (100/250 Exp) Status: Weakened Health Points: 100/100 Time Points: 60/60 Strength: 6 Constitution: 3 Dexterity: 5 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 2 Skills: Locked* Skill points: 2 Quests: Main Quest* Side Quest* Daily Quests* Store: Locked* God Powers: Locked* ???: Locked* ?????: Locked*] ''Skills,'' Imanded subconsciously and [Skills: Locked] [Skill tab can be unlocked after reaching level 5] [Skill points: 2] ''Hmmm¡­ this is¡­ Okay, let''s focus on stats,'' I thought as I tried concentrating on things I can do and leave other things forter. ''I see time points are unlocked now, but what are they exactly for? I wonder if it has to do something with the skills. About the stats¡­ I think I can make out most of it¡­ Strength should be my physical power and carrying capacity. Mybat power will be based on this one. Constitution is my life force, which probably includes stamina and endurance as well. The more I have it, the more I should feel energetic with my health going up. Dexterity is agility, coordination, precision, reflex, etc. This should be useful in quick decision making and also measure my ability to move around under critical or non-critical situations. Intelligence and wisdom¡­ one of them is rted to my actual innate ability to think while the other should be rted to time points if I am not wrong. Though, I would actually need to increase it and see which one is which, while also finding their other characteristics. Charisma should be rted to my looks and ability to persuade, lead and other simr stuff. The more I have it the more people will listen to me. After figuring out what each stat does, I pondered over where I should use my stat points now. ''Since I have two points¡­ let''s put them in Constitution and Dexterity each. I will need stamina to move around and agility should help me outrun the zombies,'' thinking that I put one point in Dexterity and one in Constitution each. A refreshing energy filled up my body and I felt like I was in heaven for a few seconds before my body turned back to normal. I felt like my health was much, much better than a few moments ago. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! I looked at the door wondering how much longer can the door hold out for and [4 hours 34 minutes 27 seconds] A timer came out of nowhere right where the door was. For a few seconds, I wondered if I was hallucinating but as more time passed; I concluded it was real. ''Is this¡­ the skill I received?'' I thought as I observed the timer. However, just after a minute passed the timer vanished, making me a bit confused. ''Status.'' [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human ss: Unssified Level: 2 (100/250 Exp) Status: Weakened Health Points: 120/120 Time Points: 0/60 Strength: 6 Constitution: 4 Dexterity: 6 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 0] I saw my increased stats and also noticed that the Time points have turned to zero. ''So one second of using that ability takes 1 point. Now, how do I get my Time points back?'' I thought and before I knew it, another minute passed which resulted in¡­ [Time points: 1/60] ''So it takes one minute to fill up one time point. I wonder if I could increase the regeneration rate by any means? In any case, what now? I have a skill and my stats are a tad bit better now,'' I thought as I saw my quests once again. The surviving side quest was reced with another simr one. That is, to survive the horde for another 2 hours with the same reward of +25 Exp. ''If I survive another 4 hours, andplete all the daily quests¡­ I should get about another +60 Stats. Now where to get the other 90 Exp from?'' I then pondered really hard about what I should do. Wait a sec!! If I push myself against the door, I wonder if it will increase the time on the timer again?! Thinking that, I moved up the water heater and pushed myself against the door. I then focused on the door, thinking about how much time until it breaks, [12 hours 34 minutes 42 seconds] ''That''s another¡­ okay, that should be enough to level up once more,'' I thought as I closed my eyes before I realized something. I wasn''t getting hungry or thirsty¡­ I can somehow understand thirst, but hunger? ''Must be the System''s doing,'' I thought before nodding and then beginning to walk within the bathroom. The bathroom was small, so I could take only 3 steps before having to turn and then repeating the process. Despite getting my health better, I still didn''t have enough energy to do even 1 push up, so I left that one out. After continuous walking for about 10-20 minutes¡­ [Daily Quest: Walk 1000 stepplete)] [Reward: +5 Exp] I then positioned myself properly against the door and closed my eyes once again as I silently waited for the time to pass¡­ and not long before I knew it¡­ [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Level up +1] [Health Restored] [+2 Stat points] [+2 Skill points] [New Skill Acquired] Chapter 8 First Title [New Skill Acquired: Active Time Regeneration] I tried seeing what the skill was, but because of the skills'' tab still being locked, I couldn''t find out exactly what it does. Then I pondered about what to do with the Stat points. ''Agility should help me run away from the zombies but¡­ I doubt I will be able to do it if I were to bepletely surrounded by zombies. As for Health, even though I want it more, I doubt being healthy anymore than I am right now would be useful.'' [12 minutes 23 seconds] I kept pondering while checking the time every 5 minutes before finally deciding to put the 2 stat points in Strength. I am betting my chances on kicking my way out of here. Once I was done with that, I moved a bit away from the door and checked the timer again [24 seconds] I then proceeded to position the shaving knife in a proper position and waited for them to burst through the door. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! The time kept ticking, and I silently waited for them to break the door. [4 seconds] I used my ability again and gulped a little before -BANG!!! The door broke from the top and I saw the hand of one of the zombies iling trying to get in. I didn''t make a move yet as I waited for them to break the door a bit more. -BANG!! They hurriedly started trying to get inside the bathroom through the gap, created after the door was partially broken. I kept myself still and at a distance, waiting for my chance to attack. I saw them breaking more and more of the door and then I finally saw one of them just about to break in and¡­ -RWAR!!!! "YAAAA!!!" I shouted as I proceeded to stab it in its head using the shaving knife -Stab!! [Ding!] [Killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [+20 Exp gained] The message began floating, but I immediately pushed the dead zombie''s body outside, causing the other zombies behind to fall down. I ran through them like crazy and reached outside my room, before looking on the right side, towards the living room. ''Brother''s room or kitchen? Brother''s room could have something, while the kitchen is sure to have another knife within the cupboard,'' I thought as I finally decided to move towards my little brother''s room. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! The zombies were still in the guest room and if they saw me; I doubt I could take on that many zombies at once, so my brother''s room was better for many reasons. I immediately ran towards my brother''s room and opened it as fast as I could. -Click! -Bam! Entering the room, I hurriedly closed the door behind me. "Huff¡­ Huff¡­ Huff¡­ " I caught my breath before looking at that side mission that I was ignoring up until now. [Quests: Side Quests Save the Survivor Trapped in the Guest Room Reward: Inspect (Skill)] Call me inhumane, but honestly, I was more interested in the skill than the survivor itself. At first, I thought about leaving it and focusing on getting out of here, but now that I have already reached level 3, I wondered if I could reach level 5 and take my chances of saving whoever that person is. It doesn''t seem as impossible right now to be honest¡­ just that Ick time. Even if the zombies don''t get to that person, if I take too much time, the hunger and thirst might kill him. ''Though how much to next level?'' I thought as I checked status [Level 3 (255/500Exp)] ''If I keep surviving the zombies for about 10 hours¡­ the survivor might die by then. My only choice is to kill them. I already dealt with 3 zombies, so that leaves about 9 more. Hmmm¡­ that should get me about 180 Exp and adding a few others¡­ Hmmm.. is there any other way of getting Exp?'' "Hey! Wait a sec!" I suddenly thought of something -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! "I said f*cking wait a sec!" I annoyingly shouted before checking how long the door can hold out for [2 hours 24 minutes] ''Hmmm¡­ this door is stronger than mine, eh?'' I thought before shaking my head and immediately moving towards the balcony. Outside the balcony, the same disastrous scene as before was in view. My eyes then looked down, and a grin formed on my face. I was lucky, because my brother''s balcony was aligned exactly in the same line as that of the entrance of the building and the entrance¡­ It was crawling with zombies. I then moved back into the room, trying to look for anything that was heavy. My brother is a gym maniac so he should have some weights¡­ let''s see, let''s see.. Found it! My eyes lit up as I saw the heavy weights at the corner of his room beside the almeera. I tried picking them up, but they were still quite heavy. Though they weren''t impossible to carry, so I slowly and slowly took them towards the balcony. I looked down once again and smiled before¡­ dropping the heavy weights down the balcony. ''Please hit!'' [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-grade Zombie] [You gained +20 Exp] A grin formed on my face as I proceeded to throw the other weights¡­ Though the next one did not result in anything. I turned sad as I threw another weight. [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie] [You gained +50 Exp] ''Hmmm?! Not a Lesser Zombie?!!'' My heart skipped a beat again as I looked down at the horde of the zombies with a dry mouth. I was happy to know I got twice the Exp but¡­ a stronger zombie is in no way good news. ''Let''s continue,'' I thought as I threw the other free weights, the books he had, his chair, his guitar¡­ [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie] [You gained +50 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] . . . [Ding!] [Level up +1] [Stat Points +2] [Skill points +2] [Congrattions! You have gained a Title! Stealthy Killer!] Chapter 9 Clearing All Side Quests [Congrattions you have gained a new Title! Stealthy Killer!] [When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increases by 10%] I looked at the title and its effect. There was another tab on my status disying my title, too. I also noticed that this time I did not receive any new skill, which made me wonder what are the ways to gain a skill, anyway? One is to level up, and the other is quests. Is there any other way of gaining any skill? Then I moved back inside the room, sat on the bed as I observed the almost empty room of my brother. I wonder if my brother will thank me for ''cleaning'' his room? My eyes then moved on the status screen, wondering how I should proceed with my stats assignment. ''If I am going to fight, I won''t exactly need to run but¡­ should I increase my Power more or go with the Constitution?'' [Ding!] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] I saw that another 2 hours have passed [Level 4 (630/1000 Exp)] I need about 370 Exp more to level up -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! ''Hmmmm¡­ is there anything else I can throw down?'' I thought as I looked around, but there was nothing that was heavy enough to make an impact. I then looked at the bed at which I was sitting and removed the nket, bedsheet, etc. from it. It was a wooden bed with an inside space to store things, so I hoped that something might be inside there. -Creak!!! With a creaking sound, the bedpartment opened up and what I found there put a smile on my face. I thought I would need to go to the kitchen to get the knife to fight against the zombie, but with this¡­ I wouldn''t really need to go anywhere. ''A baseball bat, huh? Not bad!'' I thought as I put 2 more points in strength, bringing it up to 10. If I am going to make a shot, better go all out on it. ''All right, what else is there inside,'' I thought as I found a lot of things inside the bed. There was a bowling ball with bowling pins, and then there was another broken guitar. A few more free weights, but they were too light to make an impact. I threw the bowling ball down before throwing the broken guitar to gain some more Exp, however sadly, both of them did not do the job. I then shook my head before looking at his balcony, wondering why he did not have any nts in there¡­ though I recalled that I too did not have any nts on the balcony. Toozy to water the nts¡­ I shook my head before moving towards the room''s door. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! [22 minutes 23 seconds] I then tried doing some push ups, and I was a bit surprised that I was able to do them with ease [Ding!] [Daily Quest: Push-ups(10/10)] [Reward +5 Exp] After that I did a few more pushups, situps and other few exercises to pass the time and soon [10 Seconds] I smiled as I saw the zombies are on the verge of breaking into the room. -BANG!! -Rwar!!! I saw the door breaking open, and I gripped the baseball bat tightly before -BOOOM!!!! I hit as hard as I could on the zombie''s head, creating a loud bang. The zombie fell immediately and [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] I then saw two more Zombiesing towards me and I hit one of them on the head, making him fall, but since there was no message, he was probably not dead yet. I concentrated on the third zombie as I took some steps back, creating some distance, saw my chance, and -BOOM!!!! [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] I saw the other zombie slowly trying to stand back up, and I smiled as I spoke,"Excuse me sir, but it would be better if you take some rest¡­ forever!" -BOOM!! [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] "6 down¡­ huff¡­ 6 to go," I muttered as I moved outside, only to find two zombies moving towards me. -BOOM!! -BOOM!! [You have gained +25 Exp] [You have gained +25 Exp] I was getting tired faster, but it was nothing I couldn''t handle I kept moving towards the living room and saw thest three zombies still trying to break into the guest room. I moved closer, attracting the attention of one of them, and it started moving towards me¡­ -BOOM! [You have gained +25 Exp] The other two, hearing the sound, stopped banging at the door and moved towards me and my smile widened before¡­ -BOOM! -BOOM! [You have gained +25 Exp] [You have gained +25 Exp] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies (Complete)] [Reward: +4 Stat points] The stat points I had gained from this quest, I decided to use two for my constitution and save the rest for the future. Looking at the way I was gaining +2 stats for every level and the amount of Exp increasing required at each sessive level, I believed stat points would be really difficult to obtainter on. After this was done, I saw my status once again before deciding to break into the guest room. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Stealthy Killer* ss: Unssified Level: 4 (835/1000 Exp) Status: Slightly Weakened Health Points: 240/240 Time Points: 60/60 Strength: 10 Constitution: 6 Dexterity: 6 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 2 Skills: Locked* Skill points: 8 Quests: Main Quest* Side Quest* Daily Quests* ? Store: Locked* God Powers: Locked* ???: Locked* ?????: Locked*] Chapter 10 Caroline Escarte The door was cracked all over the ce, but it was still holding the forte -BAM! I hit the doorknob as hard as I could, breaking it from the inside out. I gulped a little before proceeding to open the door and sweat was already pouring all over my face. ''As I thought. Something is leaned against the door. Given how much time the door withstood the zombies'' attacks, It was obvious, I suppose,'' I thought, as I began pushing the door with as much strength as possible. ''Heavy!'' I thought as I kept applying more and more pressure before the door finally began opening. The door opened up a little, and I found all the furniture pressed behind it. Even still, I kept pushing it until the door opened enough to let me through. When there was enough gap, I moved inside the guest room, and what I found dumbfounded me. ''She'' was there, sleeping in the corner of the room. That girl, Caroline Escarte, was sleeping in my guest room. She was the same girl that had a crush on me. The same girl because of whom ''that'' person gave me an HIV injection. ''Were you here to pity me?'' I thought with a sad expression before I moved closer to her. I noticed that her health did not seem good and there was a tired expression on her face despite her being unconscious. ''How long before she wakes up?'' [99+ hours] I saw the screen but rather than getting shocked; I thought again. ''How long before she wakes up, if I take care of her to the best of my ability?'' [3 hours: 32minutes: 47 seconds] I nodded at that before proceeding to move out of the guest room. She is probably exhausted and hungry, more importantly thirsty. People can survive without food for 3 weeks, but without water. The max that they can hold out is 3 days. ''And given how much time has passed, along with all the hard work and sweating she might have done.'' I need to get her some water from the kitchen before using the medical drip to hydrate her. I think I have some equipment in my almeera. [Side Quest! Zombies are moving towards you! Survive for 2 hours] [Reward: +25 Exp] [Side Quest! Kill all the Zombies! Zombies Remaining: 25] [Reward: Title: Zombie Hunter] ''They must have heard themotion I created when I took the other zombies down,'' I thought before turning to Caroline. ''If I leave her here on her own, how long before she dies?'' [13 hours: 14 minutes: 14 seconds] I then stepped out of the room and looked at the entrance door as I wondered until when the door would remain untouched. [45minutes: 12seconds] Looking at that, I moved back into the guest room and began removing all the furniture from the door front. Once I was done with that, I picked up Caroline and began moving towards the living room. I saw the doorknob of the master bedroom was broken, and the gate was open. The balcony gate was broken into pieces as well. ''Must have been those zombies,'' I thought before proceeding toy Caroline on the bed in the master bedroom. ''Setting up the drip should take 5 minutes, give or take and if I put an ORS solution, I can probably help her wake up faster. Killing the zombies outside while leaving her here isn''t the right option either. I guess I should farm some Exp using the heavy objects from the house,'' I thought before proceeding to set up a medical drip using makeshift equipment. Once I was done with setting up everything, I let the drip ORS solution flow into Caroline''s veins and immediately proceeded to take out all the heavy objects within the house and¡­ [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +50Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have gained +25 Exp] I threw multiple objects but I could only get 3 zombies. I noticed that time was also almost up, so I cautiously proceeded to move inside the master bedroom, where I used whatever I could to block the gate. I had already kept the kitchen knife and other smaller sharp objects within the bedroom The zombies'' number was high, but only a few should be able to stand against the gate. The other zombies would either be standing, or trying to move forward behind the ones in the front. I got a few old filled suitcases along with a sturdy table and a bunch of clothes and other stuff, ced it in front of the gate. ''How long?'' [2 hours: 12 minutes] With the gate already broken once, I guess this is how much time I can make itst. I then looked at Caroline sleeping and sighed before covering her with a nket. ''If I push myself against the door as well, I wonder how long I will be able to hold out,'' I thought as I proceeded to reshift the objects to make some space for myself and sit against the door. [5 hours: 34 minutes] I then put another point in Strength and one more in Constitution [8 hours: 23 minutes] ''This should be enough for now¡­'' -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! ''The guests are here, huh? Aren''t they energetic?'' I thought before, once again I saw the time passing slowly and slowly as I held my life on the line again for the 5th time today. Chapter 11 Level 5 [Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] 4 hours have passed, and I was still holding the gate against the zombies. I was waiting for another 2 hours to pass but before I could do so¡­ "Where¡­ am I?" Caroline spoke as she woke up and tried to get up but watching her struggle, I believed she was too weak to even sit up right now. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! The zombies were still banging against the door "What is that?!!" I heard a sudden shout from Caroline as she tried her best to sit up. "Sleep for now. You don''t have the energy to even move and anything you do, will only make things harder. For both you and me," I spoke as I looked at her, hoping she would listen to me. "Michael?" She spoke with a weak voice as she tried to turn towards me "It is me. Sleep now, getting your strength back should be your priority. Leave the hard work to me," I spoke with an emotionless voice and she turned silent before asking, "Can you at least tell me what is going on?" I sighed in annoyance before speaking,"No." After that, I did not hear her speaking anything more. I too just waited for the time to pass. I observed Caroline from time to time and thankfully she did not make any sounds any more. And not long after. [Ding!] [Side Quest: Survive the Zombie Horde: Complete] [+25 Exp] [Level up +1] [+2 Stat points] [+2 Skill points] [New skill acquired: Time Reduction] [Skill tab unlocked] A smile widened on my face as I immediately moved towards the skill tab. [Skills(3)] [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 1) Effect: Allows the user to see the time duration of all inanimate activities Cost: 1TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 1] [Active Time Regeneration (Level 1) Effect: When the user is meditating, the user''s Time Points will regenerate at 5 Time Points per sec Cost: The user needs to be still with minimum movements possible Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 1] [Temporal Deceleration (Level 1) Effect: Allows the user to slow down time by 10% Cost: 25TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 1] My eyes turned wide open when I saw the new skill I just acquired. My eyes then drifted to the skill points I have. [Skill points: 10] Not wasting any time, I put a single point in that skill to see its effects. [Temporal Deceleration (Level 2) Effects: Allows the user to slow down time by 20% Cost: 22.5TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 2] I put another 5 points into it and [Temporal Deceleration (Level 4) Effects: Allows the user to slow down time by 40% Cost: 17.5TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 4] [Skill points: 4] I closed my eyes as I couldn''t contain my excitement, but still, I didn''t let this skill get over my head as I knew a single mistake will turn it all for naught. ''Now what to do with the other skill points? Let''s see¡­ If I upgrade the skill one more time, then I should be able to use the skill for 4 seconds. Though¡­'' I then put one of my stats into Intelligence and¡­ [Time Points: 60/70] ''Okay now I can use the skill for 4 seconds. If I put the 4 points into Temporal deceleration skill, I can make itst 5 seconds but¡­ let''s try something else.'' I then decided to put one in Dexterity for fast movement and a skill point in Active Time Regeneration before adding another in Eye of Time Keeper [Active Time Regeneration (Level 2) Effect: When the user is meditating, the user''s Time Points will regenerate at 10 Time Points per sec Cost: The user needs to be still with minimum movements possible. Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 2] [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 2) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 1TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 1 sec into the future. Cost: 50TP Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 2] "What the f*ck?!!" My eyes almost popped out of my sockets when I saw that skill. I gulped a little before deciding if I should put another 2 points into it or not? Though¡­ in the end, I added them, anyway. My priorities lie in surviving out of this room. Let''s leave tomorrow''s problem for tomorrow. [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 3) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 1TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 1.5 sec into the future. Cost: 50TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 10s. Cost: 25TP Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 3] ''Not what I was anticipating, but I guess this skill has its own uses,'' I thought before looking at the time remaining for the door to break. [2 hours: 12minutes] "What are you doing?" Caroline spoke as she sat up on the bed. I saw her drinking the water from the bottle I kept beside her, along withst night''s sandwich I found in the refrigerator. While I can survive with the System''s help, she still needed to eat to be able to do all the work I would be needing her to do. "Waiting for you to get back your health. Are you better now?" I asked as I analysed her and she seemed fine to me now. "Yeah, much better. Thank you," she spoke with slight embarrassment. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! Hearing the constant noise, Caroline looked at me with worry before I spoke, "Try to get up and open the balcony. There should be a few zombies on the other balcony connected to the living room. I need you to shout and attract as many as you can towards that balcony. If you can make them jump down and die, that would be even more helpful. Shouldn''t be that hard now, right?" She looked at me for a few seconds as she tried to understand what I was nning to do. Once she understood everything, she nodded before moving towards the balcony. ''I guess it''s about time, I got my Inspect skill.'' Chapter 12 Temporal Deceleration I saw Caroline slowly moving towards the balcony before opening the ss door and after a few seconds, "Hey!!! Come here! I am here! Cough cough¡­ Hey!!.." She started shouting more and more loudly, and now I was waiting for her to stop after she had gathered enough zombies. 2 minutes, 3 minutes and then after 5 minutes passed, "How much longer do you need me to hold here?" She shouted again and I shout back as, "How many zombies are there?!!" A few momentster¡­ "14 that I can see, probably 2 or 3 more behind them." My eyes turned a bit wide open as I was really impressed by that. I was expecting about 5 or 6 zombies to be attracted to her, but more than that? Now that was really good news. "Close the balcony from outside," I shouted again and then I saw hering and closing the ss door as she looked at me with a reallyplicated look. I saw her speaking ''I am putting my trust in you,'' before she went back to attracting the zombies. -Bang! -Bang! -Bang! The zombies were still at the door and I immediately ran away, creating a distance between the door and me. On one hand, there was the baseball bat, on the other¡­ Where is the kitchen knife? ''Caroline you b*tch!'' I cursed her a little as I saw the missing knife I ced at the edge of the bed. I guess she took it when I was busy with the system. -BANG!! -RWAR!!! The door broke open and one zombie leapt towards me, followed by another two and the rest of the horde behind them. Positioning the baseball bat properly -BOOM! [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] I immediately shifted to one side so that one of the zombies behind may get interrupted by the dead one and the other move closer¡­ -BOOM! [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] Not giving any chance to the other zombie as well -BOOM! [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] 3 killed, 8 more should being on my side. 3 zombies almost reached, with one of them only an inch away. [Ability activated: Temporal Deceleration] I saw the world slowing down. Everything was moving at a snail''s pace and not wasting time, I stepped back as I repositioned myself and [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] The time resumed to its normal flow as soon as I hit the third zombie. I saw 3 more zombiesing towards me with only one at the gate. Taking my chances, I ran outside the room as I dodged the zombies. The zombies obviously followed me to the living room, but I was much faster than them. Good news was that most of the zombies were on the balcony and maybe because I increased my Dexterity, I was much faster than them. Bad news was that the baseball bat didn''t seem like it could hold for another hit or two. [Time Points: 4/70] [Level 5(1185/ 2500 Exp)] ''Still too far,'' I thought as I looked at the ridiculous amount of Exp required to get to level 6 ''How many zombies are remaining again?'' [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies: 15 remaining Rewards: Title! Zombie Killer!] ''Hmmm¡­ I killed 6 so there should be 19, where are the other 4?'' I thought before peeking at the balcony from the living room. [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies: 13 remaining] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies: 8 remaining] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies: 3 remaining] ''What the?!!'' my eyes stared at the System messages. The heck just happened? I turned at the three zombies slowly approaching me and¡­ -BOOM! -BOOM! -BOOM! [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie] [You have received +25 Exp] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies! Complete] [New Title Acquired: Zombie Hunter] Ignoring all the messages, I immediately ran towards the balcony and what I saw answered all my questions. My eyes noticed Caroline standing on the other side looking as dumbfounded as I was. The railing of the balcony had broken¡­ causing all the zombies¡­ to fall down. "Get here from the inside," I spoke with slight urgency and she nodded before moving inside [Side Quest: Save the survivor in the guest room. Complete] [New skill acquired: Inspect] I looked at the message a bit dumbfounded before moving inside too. As I reached the living room, I saw Carolineing out of the master bedroom and then suddenly staring at me. Then she dashed towards me and hugged me tightly. I just stood there as both my adrenaline and boner was rising. I just slowly kept my hand on her head as I gulped before speaking, "We should¡­ find a safe ce to rx first." Heck, we should! All the rooms (except the bathrooms) have had their doors broken down by the zombies! I just stayed here until now because I knew the environment and how to use it to my advantage. Now, staying here doesn''t have much meaning left. "..." I turned to Caroline looking at me and nodding before once again burying her head into my chest again. "Ummm¡­ Caroline, if you keep hugging me like that¡­" I wanted to speak that I won''t be able to control myself anymore, but she hurriedly separated herself from me and spoke, "Yeah. Sorry¡­ we should find a safer ce." I saw her, turning a bit red before she looked at me and asked,"where¡­ where should we go¡­ next?" "Uhh¡­ what?" I asked again as I stopped looking at her breasts and concentrated on her face. Chapter 13 Moving Out Of The Apartment "My goals are simple. I need to make sure my parents and brothers are okay. If they are alive, I will then proceed to find or create a safe haven for us. If they are dead¡­ well, I''ll decide when the timees," I said, scratching my head as I looked outside the balcony from the living room. "Mine is simr to yours. I need to find my sister out in this¡­ new world," Caroline spoke with a distant gaze and I turned my head at her before asking, "Parents?" "They live abroad," she spoke before I moved closer to her and grabbed her wrist. "What are you-" getting rmed, she looked at me with a wide eyed expression "Your blood pressure is normal. I guess we can leave now," I spoke as I confirmed her health before pondering something and then ''Status. Skills. Inspect'' [Inspect (Level 1) Effect: Allows the user to see the stats of the objects and people around him Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 1] ''Well. Doesn''t look like it costs any Time Points. Now for the effect,'' I thought before observing Caroline and [Name: Caroline Escarte Race: Human ss: Unssified] ''Guess I need to upgrade it to reveal more information.'' My eyes then turned at the almost broken baseball bat [Weapon: Baseball bat Type: Blunt Durability: 2/340] I sighed before thinking about the new title that I acquired [Zombie Hunter: When fighting more than 10 zombies at once. All strikes would be 20% more powerful] On the status page, it told me that I can use only one title at a time, so I must be careful with when to use which title. "What are you doing?" she says as she looks at me and observing her expression, I confirm what I was thinking before. ''She can''t see the System,'' I noted in my head before smiling and speaking,"nothing. Let''s go. There is nothing more in the house that we can use." Though she made a really odd expression before speaking,"well¡­ not to hurt your feelings, please don''t smile like that out of nowhere. It''s creepy, and also are you going out like this?" Hearing her words, I shut my mouth before looking at her observing me from top to bottom. My eyes then looked at the clothes I was still wearing¡­ I was in my pajamas which I worest time. "Well¡­ gimme a moment," I said before hurrying to my room, changing into afortable lower and T-shirt, before moving out of the room. She saw me and sighed before muttering silently,"just what kind of idiot did I fall for?" before smiling at me. "Ready?" she asked, and I nodded, scratching the back of my head with an awkward smile. The fact that I still had no idea what was wrong with my clothing, made me even more embarrassed. From that point, we took some food supplies and other things like rope and stuff, which we can use on our journey. After we were done with that, I took the lead, carefully moving outside the apartment. [Daily Quest: Survive by the end of the Nightplete)] [Reward: +20 Exp] ''The day finally passed, huh?'' I thought as I sighed before looking in the hallway. "Do you think the lift is still working?" I asked in a low voice and Caroline answered,"No. Everything that works with electricity has stopped working." "So you''re telling me to go down 64 floors one at a time?" I looked at Caroline with a questioning look and she shrugged her shoulders as she signaled ''not really something I can do about it now, can I?'' "Does anyone on your floor belong to the military or maybe the police?" Caroline asks as she looks around and I ponder before speaking,"I don''t know. I don''t exactly live here." "If you don''t have much problem, we can try two or perhaps three things here," Caroline spoke, and I turned at her before speaking, "First is checking each and every room on the floor for weapons. Second is to keep going down, sneakily and outrunning zombies. What is the third?" "Third is to go to the rooftop and try calling for a helicopter or something?" She added, and I shook my head as I directly denied her words speaking,"nope. We are not doing anything military rted, not until we are at the end of our wits." "But-" "No buts, Caroline. If you want to travel with me, you have to follow at least a few basic rules," I spoke with a confident and serious tone. She was dejected at first but then she asked, "Okay. At least tell me what the rules are." "I haven''t thought about them yet," I answered without an ounce of shame before moving towards my neighbor''s apartment. She red at me really hard but slowly followed behind me. ''So we are going to each and every apartment, huh?" She asked, and I stopped before turning at her. "What?!" a bit rmed she looked at me wondering what was wrong. "Keep¡­ quiet. Speak only if it is important," I keep my index finger on my lips and narrow my eyes at her at which she shrieks a little before nodding. Turning back, I reached my neighbor''s apartment and found its entrance open. I was scared but¡­ I took a deep breath and moved in. I wasn''t scared of the zombies but meeting that 8-year-old girl, who might have turned into a zombie by now. One step at a time, I moved in and searched around the apartment. Caroline too searched with me. Luckily, we did not stumble upon any zombies in the apartment. Perhaps all the zombies were killed by me and Caroline, so it felt even more eerie than when there were zombies. It took us about half an hour, and we found a bunch of food supplies along with more kitchen knives. There were a couple of golf sticks as well, that I passed to Caroline, taking the kitchen knife for myself. "How many apartments are there on this floor?" Caroline asks and I answer with a serious face,"8 per floor." "2 done, 6 to go," she spoke, and I nodded before both of us moved to the next. Chapter 14 E-Grade Zombie "Ummm¡­ why are we doing this exactly?" Caroline asks me with a really confused face as she first looked at me before looking at the microwave in my arms. "Huppp¡­ ah.. there it goes," I said after throwing the microwave down the balcony and saying,"well that is because¡­" [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie!] [+25 Exp] "... I just want to reduce their numbers as much as possible before I go down," I exined it to her and she, after pondering a little, nodded as she spoke,"it sounds logical but feels useless to be honest." "Maybe. I am just increasing my chances of surviving this mess," I speak before throwing another heavy object down. [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie!] [+50 Exp] ''This is the 8th E-Grade Zombie,'' I thought with my face turning serious and observing me turning all serious, she tenses up before asking,"what happened?" I shook my head before muttering,"nothing," and then focusing on her face as I said,"Let''s go to thest apartment on this floor." Up until now, we have been through 5 apartments. Killed 4 zombies in the process, collected more supplies and weapons, but we didn''t find any real weapons. ''At least, we got something out of it,'' I thought, looking at all that experience I gained from killing zombies by throwing heavy objects. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Stealthy Killer*/Zombie Hunter* ss: Unssified Level: 5 (2335/2500 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 320/320 Time Points: 70/70 Strength: 11 Constitution: 7 Dexterity: 7 Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 0] ''Need about 115 Exp, that''d be about 5 zombies,'' I thought as I moved towards the final apartment, closest to the emergency stairways. "Why were you here though?" I asked without turning back. "To meet you and talk to you about¡­ what happened before," she spoke in a low voice and I sighed before answering, "It is okay, I guess there is little we can do about it. For now, let''s focus on what''s our priority," I spoke with a little bit of regret before finally reaching the apartment. The door was broken as well, just like all the other apartment doors. I slowly opened the gate and saw a zombie standing right at the front gate without any movements. He was looking in my direction and we both were staring at each other for the next few seconds. I smiled at him, he flinched a little. Then I positioned the knife at him with the same smile stered on my face and he flinched a little more -Rwar! -Stab! [Ding!] I ignored the message and moved to check the guest room which was empty. ''Living room. Empty'' ''Kitchen. Empty'' ''Master Bedroom. Empty'' ''Balconies. Empty'' ''First Inner Room. Empty'' "Kyaaaaa!!!!" I heard Caroline shouting before running in my direction and hugging me as tightly as she could. My eyes turned towards the door before I asked,"what happened?" She turned towards that gate before pointing her fingers there. I gulped a little before slowly moving towards that direction one step at a time. It was the second inner room of the apartment. I got out of the first inner room and moved towards the half opened gate slowly. Caroline was slowly walking behind me grabbing one of my arms while looking towards that door. "They¡­were¡­ eating," Caroline spoke with a muffled voice with a horrified face. I reached the gate and opened the door fully only to find a disgusting scene which I was expecting but wishing that it won''t be that way. Two zombies were eating another zombie and looking at it, it almost made me puke but I held it in as I used my [Inspect] skill on them. [E-Grade Zombie] [Reward for killing: +50 Exp!] [E-Grade Zombie] [Reward for killing: +50 Exp!] With the level of my inspect skill, this was all I could see and it was at this moment I decided that I need to up my [Inspect] skill. "Caroline, can you leave this to me and wait for a few moments outside?" I spoke in a low voice and Caroline looked at me with a wide eyed expression. I turned at her before speaking,"Trust me. I am not trying anything beyond my capabilities." She, after a few seconds of hesitation, nodded before leaving from there. [Time Points: 70/70] I moved closer to them, and once I reached almost 5 steps away from them, I saw one of them standing slowly before turning to me. I took a step back and the other one stood up too before both of them started to walk towards me. I saw them walking almost as fast as a normal person at their full speed which made me gulp a little before [Temporal Deceleration] Time slowed and not wasting time -Stab! The first stab didn''t do the job so I went for another -Stab! [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie!] [+50 Exp] Then I jumped towards the other one and stabbed it in the neck a bit above the center -Stab! [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie!] [Level up +1] [Stat points +2] [Skill points +2] [New skill acquired!] I saw the messages as time turned back to normal and I started breathing a little loudly. I felt my heart beating really fast and calming myself down. I checked what new skill I acquired. [Time Storage(Level 1): Allows the user to store an object in a multidimensional Time Frozen Space Restrictions: The object must be non-living. The object cannot be more than 1 cubic meter in area. The user can store only one object at a time] I read that skill one time¡­ twice, five times and I still could not believe that I got such a reality breaking skill. I know it can store only one object at a time but still¡­ This was really something to be honest. "Michael¡­ Are you alive?" I heard a voice from the outside and I stopped smiling and spoke, "Don''t jinx me, will you?" Chapter 15 Floor 64 Cleared I then put one skill point in Inspect and one in the new skill, Time Storage, however I saw that I could not add skill points to Time Storage. There was no option for it. ''Even though there is a level¡­ interesting,'' I thought before looking at the other skill. [Inspect (Level 2) Effect: Allows the user to see the stats of the objects and people around him Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 2] Nothing changed other than the level and amount of skill points required to upgrade it. Now to check its effect on others, [E-Grade Zombie: A Zombie who has devoured other Lesser zombie''s Cessation Energy and has evolved to be stronger than its predecessors. Status: Dead] Both the zombies had the same information disyed, and I saw the effect of the level 2 Inspect skill. I tried focusing on the zombie, trying to see the difference between them and the lesser E-Grade zombies as I moved closer to them. "Michael?" I turned to find Caroline peeking through the door gap before slowly entering the room. I turned to look at the E-Grade zombie, but I did not find any major difference between this one and the ones I had killed before. ''Is there something on the inside of these that makes them different from the others?'' I observed it more deeply and. [Zombie Core not found] ''Hmm?!!'' taken aback, I looked at that message again. ''Zombie core? What''s that now?'' I thought as I kept observing the message before someone touched my shoulders. "What-" "Whoa!!!" I almost stabbed Coraline before stopping myself as I caught my breath and red at her before asking,"what?" She took a step back and looked at me with slight fear before turning at those dead zombies and asking,"are they dead?" "Nah! They just decided to take a nap." I looked at Caroline with a slightly annoyed gaze before sighing and then moving away from there to search this apartment. Caroline, who was standing there with a half nk expression, suddenly snapped out of her stupor before hurriedly following me outside of that room. [Kitchen Knife: An ordinary knife that has enough sharpness to cut through vegetables and fruits. At max, it can inflict a direct stab but can''t tear through flesh deep enough. Weapon Type: shing/ Stabbing/ Throwing Attack: 8 Defense: 1 Durability: 34/60] I checked through most of my weapons one by one and almost all of them were simr. I looked around to see if there was anything else I can use in this apartment, but unfortunately nothing useful was present. After this, I dropped some heavy objects from the balcony to the ground floor to increase my Exp. Once I was done with this, I came out of the apartment and proceeded towards the emergency exit. I noticed that there was a shadow present there, which was continuously moving back and forth. I turned around to see Caroline standing behind me without making any sound. I saw that she too noticed that shadow and her eyes were equally curious about it as I was. Was it a zombie? Or another real person? Though as I moved forward, I saw it was a zombie who was continuously hitting the wall without any pause. [Lesser E-Grade Zombified Human: A human who almost won over the zombie genes, but in the end lost his sanity before breaking both the zombie genes and his own genes. Reward: +200 Exp] My expression turned serious as I observed the message and I couldn''t help but gulp looking at that zombie constantly banging its head on the wall. I then sighed before moving closer to him and -sh! -sh [Ding!] [You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombified Human!] [+200 Exp!] I wasn''t happy with what I just did¡­ for some reason; it did not feel like I was killing a zombie, but a patient who has lost mental stability. My eyes turned solemn as I joined my hands and silently prayed for him. Caroline was confused at my actions but she did not ask any questions and simply followed my actions and prayed beside me. [Side Quest!] [Clear all the Floors of Libra Building: 1/70] [Reward: (1) Dungeon Key (Silver Rank) x 3 (2) +10,000 Exp (3) Random Skill upgrade] I looked at the message, before pondering about the things I had known about dungeons and stuff. From what I know, it is a ce filled with monsters along with treasure, isn''t it? Will it be worth the danger? Though¡­ the rewards alone make it worth it to finish this side quest, I suppose. My eyes looked at that message again for a few moments before I spoke up,"Hey Caroline, what do you think about going up?" and Caroline slightly tilted her head before speaking,"weren''t you the one who said we won''t go up no matter what?" I shook my head,"Ah! No, I meant we won''t take help from anyone military rted. As for going up, I am just thinking that there could be some survivors up there and if we could save them, our chances of surviving would increase, no?" As she heard my words, her eyes lit up before she nodded. She then looked at me with a dazzled expression, as if she were looking at a hero or something. I could only turn my head away from her with slight awkwardness¡­ don''t look at me like that¡­ I am not that much of a kind-hearted guy¡­ "Well then. Let''s go up," I spoke before moving towards the emergency exit and slowly opening the door. The door opened with a creaking sound and I looked both up and down the stairs before moving into the stairway. Luckily, there were no zombies, and I turned to Caroline, nodding at her, before she came in as well. We both slowly moved up and reached the 65th floor where as soon as I reached, another side quest was issued. [Side Quest!] [Kill all the Zombies on the Floor: Lesser E-Grade Zombie: 13 E-Grade Zombie: 3 Reward: +1 Skill point] ''Well, that''s not a lot of skill points for that many zombies, but at least it is better than nothing,'' I thought before wondering about something. Howe my floor had 50+ zombies, but this one has only 16? Chapter 16 Floor 65 To 69 [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on the Floor: Complete] [+1 Skill point gained] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on the Floor: Complete] [+1 Stat Point gained] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on the Floor: Complete] [+1 Skill point gained] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on the Floor: Complete] [Random Skill upgrade: Active Time Point Regeneration( +1 Level)] [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on the Floor: Complete] [+1 Stat Point gained] [Level up +1] [+2 Stat points] [+2 Skill points] [New Skill Acquired: Basic Time Maniption] All right. I take it back; it wasn''t as hard to collect skill points or stat points, as I thought it would be. Looking at how there are 70 floors in this building, If I were to gain a skill point or a stat point on every floor, I am sure to get at least 30 stat points and skill points each. ''Isn''t it kind of broken?'' I questioned before pondering about something really hard. What if the higher level zombies turn out to be much stronger than I am anticipating them to be? Following this thought, I started believing that if needed to stand a chance against, let''s say B-Grade zombies¡­ I guess I really need to get strong before they start emerging. While I killed zombies as I went up, I followed my ritual of searching the apartments and throwing down the heavy objects to farm a little bit of extra Exp, which helped me gain another level. I faced many E-Grade zombies but nothing above that and I kind of now wanted to see what a stronger version of zombie would look like¡­ nothing too strong but just a little bit. As for the skill I acquired on this level up. [Basic Time Maniption (Level 1) Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by 10 times. Does not work on any macro movements Cost: 1TP/ 10seconds] ''Hmmm.. simply saying, it allows me to control processes like melting of ice or burning of wood. The application of this skill is limited but I guess, it can still be used in many forms if utilized correctly,'' I thought as I looked at the spare skill points and stat points I have. [Skill points: 5] [Stat points: 6] I proceeded to add a single point in Basic Time Maniption to see its effect and the result was nothing but the time point cost reduced bing 1TP/15 Seconds and the molecr activity rate changed from 10 to 15. I then added 4 more points into Temporal Deceleration and the results actually stunned me a little. [Temporal Deceleration (Level 5) Effects: Allows the user to slow down time by 50% Cost: 15TP/sec Skill needs to be evolved before it could be upgraded] ''Hmmmm¡­ this is new. So, how do I actually evolve it?'' I pondered over it a little before leaving it forter. While it may be problematic in the future, for now I have what I need to move forward. I proceeded to add 3 points in Intelligence for more Time Points and 2 in Dexterity, so that I can take as many zombies out as I can within that duration. However, once again, to my surprise [Max Intelligence reached for the species. User needs to go through the process of evolution before adding any more Stats to Intelligence] ''Hmmmm¡­ So I am at the peak of what a human can do?!! Damn! Wait¡­ or is it that humans constantly evolve to be more intelligent over time? In any case, to the major point, how to evolve? Is that even possible?... '' For the next few seconds, I was in a dilemma. ''Well¡­ let''s see¡­ the main quest wants me to reach Level 10. If I am not wrong, I should possibly get my answers on Level 10¡­ hopefully,'' I sighed before putting the extra stat point in Dexterity. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Stealthy Killer*/Zombie Hunter* ss: Unssified Level: 7 (5125/10000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 400/400 Time Points: 105/105 Strength: 11 Constitution: 7 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 6] ''With this, I should be able to use my skill for 7 seconds now, and about my Dexterity,'' I tried jumping around and doing a few flips and yeah, I was easily able to touch the roof which was at least 12 feet high and was able to run at 10 meter per seconds which would be considered athletic to say the least. I then wondered about the Wisdom Stat wondering what it does. Hmmm¡­ [Inspect!] ''Well¡­ that was worth a try,'' I thought as I tried to use Inspect Skill on the Wisdom Stat but nothing happened so I just decided to check it out after I put my Constitution and Charisma to at least 10 each. After that, I moved towards the next floor and the question which I had asked before, as to why there were fewer zombies on other floors when there were so many on mine, I got the answer to it on the top floor, that is the 70th floor, which made me question my decision ofing up and swiping the floor. [Side Quest!] [Kill all the Zombies on the Top Floor Lesser E-Grade Zombie: 124 E-Grade Zombie: 23 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 5 D-Grade Zombie: 1 Reward: Passive Time Points Regeneration(Skill)] ''Ummmm¡­ No thank you-'' [Side Quest!] [Save the survivors trapped on Floor 70 Time limit: 72 hours Reward: A Random Special Skill] ''Dude¡­ are you for real?'' I couldn''t help but curse at the system for trying to bait me to go into the monster''s den with all these rewards. Chapter 17 Top Floor Okay, sost I remember there was a gym on the top floor of this building. The gym had a connection to the terraces, which were simply decorated with nts and other decorations. If I have actually a chance of killing all the zombies, then the number of options I have are limited. First is to move into the gym and learn theyout slowly before luring a few zombies to move outside where I could kill them silently. This method is long and tedious, but if done properly, I should be able to kill all the zombies without much problem. However, there is a simple problem with this n. The D-Grade Zombies¡­ I have no idea of their strengths and their weaknesses, but given how E-Grade were stronger than lesser E-Grade, D-Grades would be at least stronger than E-Grades, which isn''t really good news to be honest. The second method is to go down and farm more Exp, level up enough ande back with more strength. Though I doubt, I will be able to make it back here and save those people trapped on this floor. Finally, I can go all out and try to take out zombies with whatever I have in my arsenal. Though, it is obvious that I am going to die, if that happens. "Caroline, I would like you to go down and keep an eye on any zombiesing up. Can you do that?" I ask her with a serious expression and she looks at me before nodding and leaving from there. I then check my arsenal and see I have 34 kitchen knives, 12 golf sticks and a bunch of pins and sses. I also have a few golf balls that I took along, just in case. ''Now, which option to choose,'' I thought as I pondered and saw the time once every few seconds. Every second I waste is gonna make things harder for me, so I had to do something real fast. In the end, I chose the first option, which seemed the most logical with what I have, though I wonder if all the knives and golf clubs I have will be able to hold out till the end. -Creak The door to the gym slowly opened, and I entered slowly to find the reception area and the office at a distance. There were about 7 zombies that had already turned in my direction, not long before they started randomly walking towards me. I left the door open enough to let only 2 to 3 at a time to pass through the main door. I took a few steps back and prepared my knife, and soon, -Rwar! -Rwar! Two came in front, with 4ing behind them and then another 2 came, making it a total of 8. [Temporal Deceleration!] -sh! x 8 [Ding!] x 8 I ignored the messages and stood there silently without making any move [Active Time Regeneration Activated!] [15/7105TP] [30/105 TP] 5 secondster¡­ [105/105 TP] I then took a deep breath and looked at the front gate [Ding!] [Daily Quest: Survie by the end of the Night! Complete] [+20 Exp] ''It''s already night, huh?'' I thought as I observed the surroundings, with no way of telling the time whatsoever. Then I proceeded to enter the gym, The reception was obviously empty now, and looking at the office in the front, I guess there were some zombies inside that too. Cautiously moving towards the ce, I then turned to look at the entrance to the women''s locker room, all bloodied and red, with zombies clustered on the other side. There was a huge locker ced in front of the door, keeping the door from breaking. I entered the office first and saw two zombies feeding on another zombie. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Ding!] [Active Time Regeneration!] Then I moved out of the office and towards the entrance to the female locker room. ''I wonder if there will be some hot female zombies in there?'' I thought before slowly moving the locker from the front door. While I would like to move forward, I would rather have my back cleared than to have unexpected surprises. I removed the locker and slowly unlocked the door before finding the exact time and -Bang!! I pushed the door as hard as I could, hoping the zombies on the inside would be pushed back as well. Though, with my strength, I ended up breaking the door with that hard kick¡­ or maybe it was broken before and all it needed was a heavy kick? In any case, the door flew back, pushing the zombies, and what I saw made me gulp a little. The scene was one of the worst nightmares I might have seen till now¡­ the zombies¡­ were all old women and¡­ unclothed. ''My Eyes!! My Eyes!!'' I almost wanted to wash my eyes with a detergent¡­ they are only made for looking at beautiful bodies and soft breasts not¡­ that! [Temporal Deceleration!] -sh The first sh didn''t kill the front zombie. -sh The second didn''t either. For a few moments, I felt an ominous vibe from those female zombies in front. I gulped before doing something that I should have done from the beginning. [Inspect!] [Walker (Lesser D-Grade Zombie): An evolved zombie that had eaten at least a dozen zombies and now has gained the power of agility. It can run as fast as an athlete and also its perception has reached a new height. Reward for Killing: +125 Exp] It was on the ground trying to get up slowly and looking at the description. It seemed like its ability lied on its feet which it obviously can''t use when it is on the ground. Feeling a chill down my spine, I checked the other 2 zombies in the female locker room and¡­ [E-Grade Zombie: A zombie who has gained the power of another zombie and now is on the Verge of Evolution to the next Phase Reward for Killing: +25 Exp] [E-Grade Zombie: A zombie who has gained the power of another Zombie and now is on the Verge of Evolution to the next Phase Reward for Killing: +25 Exp] Chapter 18 E-Grade Zombie Core Temporal Deceleration still had 4 seconds left, and I hurried as much as possible -sh! -sh! -sh! [Ding!] [You have killed a Walker!] [+125 Exp] -sh! -sh! [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie!] x 2 [+50 Exp] x 2 Time started flowing normally as soon as all the zombies were killed ''Huff¡­ huff¡­ huff¡­ Piece of¡­ huff¡­ cake,'' I thought as I sat on the floor catching my breath. While I did have a lot of agility and power, Icked enough constitution to maintain it. I must level up and get the constitution to at least 10 or else I might end up in a situation where I won''t be able to even crawl away from those monsters. After a few minutes, I got my stamina back, and I stood up and looked around ''Now, back to the missions. Finding any beautiful girls in the girls'' locker room,'' I thought with determination and focus. And with concentration beyond imagination, I walked towards the shower room with rekindled hope. What I had seen a few moments ago, I knew it would be a bitter memory for the rest of my life, but at least¡­ a man can hope. I proceeded to the shower room but¡­ ''That''s not fair!'' I almost spoke out loud but stopped my thoughts as I looked at all the dead zombies who had been eaten inside out in the shower room. Man! This isn''t even cool anymore¡­ Well¡­ whatever. I shook my head and released all the nonsense from my head before turning at the Lesser D-grade zombie, Walker. Moving closer to it, I used my inspect skill again, but with a much more narrowed gaze and¡­ [E-Grade Zombie Core found!] ''Hmmm..'' I then began breaking the skull of that zombie and vi! There was a red coloured small spherical gem in it. Its size wasparable to my thumb, and it had an ominous feeling about it. [System Warning!] [A foreign energy is trying to invade your genes and bind with it!] [Would you like to proceed with the binding?] [Yes/No] I observed the message and turned to examine the core before wondering about the possibilities of absorbing the core. ''Since it is gic and that guy down there almost won against the zombie genes¡­ Does that mean if someone wins over the zombie genes, he mutates? Though¡­ that is too ambiguous,'' I pondered over it before selecting the ''No'' option. While it is really exciting to think that you may gain zombie powers¡­ I would rather stay human till I die. Though am I really a human with the system bound to me? Not dwelling much on the thought, I moved out of the locker and then reached back to the exit where I came from. I moved down and found Caroline barely awake before I reached her and said,"Well, why don''t you sleep for a while?" She looked at me and shook her head as she spoke,"I can stay awake for a few more hours. Did you clear the top floor?" At her words, I pondered a little before telling her about the situation there,"there are a lot of zombies up there. I don''t know how many but more than 50, probably. I am guessing there are survivors up there who are attracting those zombies." She looked at me with a wide-eyed expression of slight horror and sadness as she spoke,"do you have a way to save them?" "I am thinking," I said as I pondered a little before speaking,"I might need your help, but I want you to be in perfect condition and not half asleep." She looked at me with a thoughtful gaze before sighing as she spoke,"all right. I will sleep, but please stay close to me, will you?" I nodded, and we both moved towards the nearest room and reached the bed and she went to sleep. Maybe because of exhaustion she falls asleep immediately and I try to see how much time it would take for her to wake up. [9 hours: 13 minutes: 12 seconds] ''Hmmm¡­ '' I then took out the zombie core and wondered if I should let the zombie core be absorbed by her, but on another thought, I let it go. It won''t be right after all the trust she had put in me, and also I should talk about it to her first. After a few seconds, I decided to check out my other new skill on her as I proceeded to touch her head and focus on her sleep [Basic Time Maniption Activated!] I then saw the time which she needed to wake up and sure enough, [36 minutes: 48 seconds] I removed my hand and noticed that the timer became normal again, with which I concluded that touch is required for this ability to work, which once again limited the amount of uses this ability has right now. From that point onwards, I touched her hand, at which she grabbed back mine subconsciously and I gulped before staying there for the next 36 minutes. While the activity did take Time Points, the regeneration rate of Time Points was faster, so there was little problem with that. About 37 minutester, I saw her slowly rubbing her eyes as she left my hand and woke up. She turns at me and then a really sad lookes to her eyes before she speaks,"it wasn''t a dream, was it?" I smiled before nodding and speaking,"I wish it were." She asked me if something happened while she was asleep and I shook my head before I proceeded to tell her about my findings regarding the core. I told her about the core using my own beliefs and hypothesis and after she heard everything regarding evolving zombies and the possibilities of humans evolving as well; she was engrossed deep in thought about it. "I know it is hard to believe-" I was about to exin to her about the whole situation a bit more clearer however, "It is okay. I believe you," she smiled at me before looking at me as she continued,"you aren''t the type of person who would lie unless extremely necessary. I believe you." I looked at her¡­ she was in deep sh*t love with me¡­ and it was kind of scary, to be honest. Chapter 19 Zombified Human "All right. Since you believe in that, what are you going to do next?" I asked and she closed her eyes as she began pondering about it. A few minutes passed and she was still thinking before she looked at me and asked, "What about you, Michael? I am not doubting you or anything, but can you first tell me why you are not taking the zombie core, first? Do you want to test it on me? If it is true, then it''s fine, I will be your test subject, but can you at least be truthful about it to me?" I looked at her with a wide-eyed look as I gulped a little. She had a sad smile on her face as she really wanted to know my intentions here. I closed my eyes for a few moments, before speaking, "Want me to show you a magic trick?" There was a smile on my face and she, a bit confused, nodded slightly and then I raised my palm in her direction and a knife came out of the dimensional storage I had. I had kept a knife there just in case of emergency until I found a better weapon. Looking at the knife, she stared nkly at it before I put it back into my dimensional storage. I smiled at her again before speaking, "I don''t really need the zombie genes to get stronger. I have something else¡­ Maybe when I gain your trust enough, I will tell you about it but for now, can you please not ask anything much about it?" She looked at me nkly before asking,"who else knows about this?" and I shook my head as I answered her,"no one else. Only you and me." "Really," her eyes brightened as she looked at me and I answered,"Yeah. Just you and me." "All right¡­ though¡­ Can I ask you a question?" she looked at me sheepishly and I turned at her with a sigh before speaking,"well¡­ go on." "Are you an alien?" she gulped as she looked at me with aplex expression and I almost yelled at her before pping myself on the forehead. "All right. My bad that I didn''t exin it to you clearly¡­ Well, listen Caroline. I am a human through and through. What I have is a sort of a¡­ I don''t know, more like an equipment? I am not an alien, okay?" I spoke with a slightly frustrated voice and looking at her sudden rxed smile, I think she believes. "What would you have done, if I were one though?" I asked her and she pondered a bit before speaking,"even if you were the devil, I couldn''t care less. I have known you long enough to understand what kind of person you are." I looked at her unshakable expression and it made me see her in a different light. I then shake my head before speaking,"so that clears up a few things. Back to the topic, will you absorb the zombie core?" I don''t know but after telling her a bit about my powers, I felt like a heavy object was lifted from my chest. Even though I had known for only less than a couple of days. "Do I have to eat that thing?" she spoke as she looked at the zombie core in my hand and I recall how it was entering my body when I had touched it. Thinking that I spoke,"maybe touching it would be enough." She looked at me for a few moments before taking it from my hand as she spoke,"well, let''s test it then." When she did that I immediately touched her hand, while also using my Inspect Skill on her. [Name: Caroline Escarte Race: Human Zombification: 3.009% ss: Archer Status: Healthy Strength: 8 Constitution:10 Dexterity: 13] With my Inspect level 2, I was able to see her status more clearly with some of her stat points. Another tab for zombification opened up and I looked at it rising about 0.001% per sec. ''This is¡­'' I observed her and it raised a lot of questions in my mind. If the process is this slow then¡­ how can she already have 3% zombification? "Caroline, did you get bitten or something?" I asked with a serious look on my face and she immediately denied,"no, I was not. Why? Did something happen?" I closed my eyes for a few moments before sighing as I wondered if everyone is getting zombified despite not getting bitten or something? How exactly is it working? I then concentrated on the core and used my Inspect Skill [E-Grade Zombie Core: 99% Energy left] I saw that about 2 minutes have passed so, it is half percent per 0.5%. This should take about 3 hours¡­ Should I let it move at this speed or wait for it to proceed slowly? ''Think Michael! Figure a way out of this! There must be something you are missing! Evolution is a process that takes ages, if done hurriedly it will be a mutation. Let''s say that zombies are mutations, then for evolution it should be done slowly but we don''t have time¡­ what is it that makes evolution safe? Stability¡­. limatization ¡­ adaptation¡­ time taken for the body to adapt?'' I then opened my eyes and turned to Caroline who was still holding the zombie core without knowing anything that was going on. [Basic Time maniption Activated!] I activated my skill and then used it to increase the speed. Caroline must have felt something, cause she closed her eyes and began concentrating as well. As for the time to absorb the corepletely [12 minutes: 12 seconds] 12 minutester¡­ [Name: Caroline Escarte Status: Mutating into a Zombie: Half Dazed Zombification: 10.8%] I saw her skin turning really whitish and her eyes weren''t really looking so good. I then questioned in my mind as,''How long before she adapts to the zombie genes?'' [3 days: 13 hours: 13minutes] ''How long before the zombie genes take over her?'' [7 days: 14 hours: 38minutes] ''So she would survive by the end of the day anyway,'' I thought as I sighed in rxation before concentrating once again [Basic Mana Maniption!] ''How long before she adapts?'' [5 hours: 44 minutes: 52 seconds] I then kept her close and sat beside her for the next few hours. I waited and waited¡­ until hours turned into minutes and once it was over the timer was off¡­ [Name: Caroline Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-F) ss: Archer Zombification: 10.8%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Status: Healthy Strength: 12 Constitution:13 Dexterity: 17] Chapter 20 Zombified Human#2 "Hey so, you know archery?" I asked out of nowhere as I saw her status and she smiled a bit as she answered,"yeah. You knew?" "A little," I lied through my teeth as I looked at her with a smile. She then began exining about her archery skills and how she got into that sport. Meanwhile, I checked for her pulse and other physical signs and symptoms to see if she was doing all right, which she was¡­ much better than what she should do. I saw her increased stats, and it was hard for me to keep my shock hidden but I still kept it in without letting it escape. I saw that her grade could be upgraded but that would require more zombification, which in turn will require more cores. ''Though even this much is enough for her to be stronger than me and if she could do it, others would naturally be stronger as well. Looks like I need to get my stats up as well,'' I thought inwardly before asking her if she feels any different. She shakes her head and tells me that she doesn''t feel any different on which I ask her,"can you try punching this wall?" She, a bit confused, nodded at me before putting all her strength into her fist and -BOOOM!!! She created a hole in the wall!!! Both me and her just kept looking at that hole with a dumbfounded expression before I spoke,"well, looks like there is some improvement in your physical aspect. I wonder about your other capabilities." I thought as I looked at her with 17 points in dexterity. If 15 is the limit of a human, then she has already crossed being a human being in agility, perception, etc. I guess it must be her perception that got enhanced. "I guess so," she speaks as she looks at her fists, with eyes still filled with disbelief. I then turn towards the doorway and say,"Take a golf club ande with me. I guess it is about time we save those people on the top." She looked at me and nodded before asking,"Do you have a n?" "Yeah, I suppose I have something that should work. Though, that is going to need ourbined efforts," I pondered as I spoke out loud and she kept her eyes fixated on me. Then I moved towards the door but before I could do so I asked her once again,"hey, if you feel like losing control or anything like that, you can just tell me. Even if we are in the middle of the fight, I will help you out, okay? Just don''t end up keeping it to yourself because I am in a tough situation or something mmmhm?!" She was staring at me for a few moments and then she suddenly jumped at me and kissed me hard. I lost focus for a few seconds before I saw her stepping back and saying,"you don''t need to worry about me and yeah I will make sure to tell you if anythinges up." I couldn''t hear properly because I was still dazed by what had just happened. I saw her then moving outside as she passed beside me, but before she could do so, I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to me and kissed her back. Her eyes opened up a little before I felt her hands around me with one hand on my back and another at the back of my head. My adrenaline surged and my tongue found its way, intertwining with hers. Both of us kept kissing deeply for the next few minutes, and it didn''t look like we were going to stop anytime soon. However, -Rwar!! I saw a zombieing closer to us from the doorway, which made my eyes open up wide. There wasn''t a single zombie in the previous 5 floors below us, so that means it''s not just it, but more areing from up. ''The wall breaking sound must have attracted them¡­ probably,'' I thought as I pulled Caroline behind me and moved towards the zombie as I swiftly stabbed it. [E-Grade Zombie killed!] [+50 Exp!] I then moved out of the room immediately and found seven more zombies within the living room. [+25 Exp!] x 7 Caroline also moved out of the master bedroom with a scary look on her face. She looked really pissed right now, and it made me chuckle a little before I concentrated on those zombies stilling from the entrance, however¡­ -BOOOM!!! -BOOM!! -BOOOM!! The golf club in Caroline''s hand broke on the third hit as the skull of another zombie cracked open and I just looked at it with my eyes wide open. ''She is too fast!'' I almost couldn''t see her moving there and I could only see some after images of how she killed those zombies at the entrance before she moved out. Following her, I reached out and saw that she had started killing most of the zombies in the same manner as before. ''My Exp!'' My eyes turned solemn before I took a deep breath and stood there for a few seconds as [Active Time Regeneration!] For the next 7 seconds, I stood there regenerating my Time Points before I looked at the front, only to find Caroline slowing down. She wasn''t as strong as a few moments ago, and neither was she as fast. ''Are her powers decreasing?'' I questioned with a serious mind before dashing towards her and reaching her. I found her struggling with about 7 zombies in front of her. Observing the hallway, there were about 20 zombies in total here, which was actually good news. [Temporal Deration!] I spoke before killing the ones near Caroline and then moving in front of her. ''How long before the zombie in the front reaches me?'' [4 seconds] I immediately slowed my breath, concentrated on nothing but the timer and minimized my movements. [Active Time Regeneration!] I waited for the next 3 seconds 3 secondster [45/105 Time Points] I looked at the zombie almost an inch away from me [Temporal Deceleration!] -sh x 4 And once again¡­ ''How long before the zombie in the front reaches me?'' [3 seconds] [Active Time Regeneration!] 2 secondster [Temporal Deceleration!] -sh x 2 ¡­ Chapter 21 D-Grade Zombie [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Stealthy Killer*/Zombie Hunter* ss: Unssified Level: 7 (7425/10000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 350/400 Time Points: 105/105 Strength: 11 Constitution: 7 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 0] I saw my own stats as I finished killing all the zombies that came down from the top floor. Then I turned to look at Caroline who was dumbfoundedly looking at me. Her skin color was much better than before and she didn''t look as weak as she was just a few moments ago. [Inspect!] [Name: Caroline Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-F) ss: Archer Zombification: 10.8%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 10/60 Status: Healthy Strength: 7(12) Constitution:8(13) Dexterity: 10(17)] I saw another tab appearing on her status, named Cessation Energy, which was slowly rising back up and her stats reduced quite a bit. Though, they were rising fast and it should take about another 4 or 5 minutes to refill it. ''I guess, there is a limit to their powers as well. This should be helpful if I end up fighting against a zombified human.'' I then looked at number of zombies remaining on the top floor [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on the Top Floor Lesser E-Grade Zombie: 94 E-Grade Zombie: 13 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 4 D-Grade Zombie: 1 Reward: Passive Time Points Regeneration(Skill)] I then moved closer to Caroline as I spoke,"let''s go save those above, I guess." She looked at me and nodded before we both began moving to the top floor. I took a nce at her and questioned in my mind, ''How long before HIV gets her?'' Though no timer came which made me sigh andter smile. Maybe her zombie genes were more powerful than those of HIV? In any case, it is good news for me. My mood cheered up before we reached the top floor and slowly entered the reception area, before reaching the men''s locker room. At this point, I ask her to wait outside and to respond when I call her. She nodded at me before I entered the locker room, where I found a couple of zombiesing at me. Though, they were only Lesser E-grade, so killing them was a piece of cake. It took me a little over a minute, but I killed all the 8 zombies within the men''s locker room. After that I moved out to see Caroline looking at me with a worried expression before she sighs in rxation. "I have taken care of those inside," I spoke before concentrating towards the main gym area. Caroline silently followed me towards the gate of the main area. Where I slowly opened the door, only to find a massive horde of zombies on the inside. There numbers probably¡­ no, they really are over 100. I then pondered a bit before opening the doorpletely creating a small thud sound, attracting at least half the zombies towards us. ''Now the question remains, if the D-Grade zombie noticed me or n- -BOOOM!!!! I saw Carolineing in front of me and punching something away extremely fast. I observed the zombie being pushed away and I knew right away that it was the D-Grade zombie. Its legs were strangely bent and looking at its face staring at us, it didn''t seem like it had died. Then it bagan walking¡­ on all its four at an insane speed. It was as if a fast speeding car was running at me¡­ this was too fast, however -BOOOM!!!! [Temporal Deceleration!!] Time slowed and I saw the zombie being punched down in the face by Caroline. Then I saw Caroline, her face turning ashen [Name: Caroline Escarte Cessation Energy: 1/60] She must have used up all her energy at once, and looking at the D-Grade zombie, though its skull was almost broken, it still didn''t look like he was dead yet. [Inspect!] [Crawler(D-Grade Zombie): A Crawler who has reached its full potential after eating a Zombified Human. Has advanced Agility and can tear through most materials easily. Also has a really hardened skin. Health Remaining: 15/300 Reward for Killing: +250 Exp] My eyes observed its health and I used my knife, stabbing it in the neck applying as much pressure as I could¡­ [Health Remaining: 10/300] My eyes didn''t shake cause I already knew it wouldn''t work this easily. The knife was embedded in its neck and before Crawler could get a chance to stand back and run away, I took the golf club from Caroline and -BOOOM!!!! I hit exactly at the handle of the knife, pressing it even more in and¡­ [Ding!] [You have killed a D-Grade Zombie!] [Reward: +300 Exp] ''Easier to kill 12 weaker zombies, honestly,'' I thought as I looked at the zombie hordeing towards us. By some stroke of luck, the other Lesser D-grade zombies, didn''te running at us. Maybe they were at the back of the crowd? I then grabbed Caroline in my arms and began running towards the floor below and ran to the very end opposite to the emergency exit. Caroline wasn''t waking up and I immediately asked ''How long before zombie genes take over her?'' [15 minutes] ''How long before she adapts and gets back her normal energy?'' [2 hours: 14 minutes: 48 seconds] [Basic Time Maniption!] The two hours decreased to 9 Minutes. I tried increasing the time which the zombie genes would take but looks like I can use it on only one thing at a time. Reaching at the end of the hallway, I looked around to find some of the zombies entering the stairways and I gulped a little before tightening my grip on the knife I had as I looked at those zombies. ''How long before they reach me?'' [45 Seconds] "Now¡­ How do we get out of this messed up situation?" I asked as I formted my next few moves. Chapter 22 Thinker Turning to my left, I saw the empty apartment where I took Caroline and locked the door from the inside. ''How long before the zombies break in?'' [25 Minutes: 36 Seconds] ''Hmmm¡­ this should be enough, but we are now trapped in this apartment with about¡­'' I thought as I looked at the side quest [Kill all the Zombies on the Top Floor Lesser E-Grade Zombie: 94 E-Grade Zombie: 13 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 4 Reward: Passive Time Points Regeneration(Skill)] I had already thrown every heavy object within this apartment, down to the bottom to farm for Exp. I then kept pensively thinking about how to deal with over a hundred zombies all at once. My eyes looked at the System and my skills, and after thinking a while¡­ ''I guess we can do that.'' I then waited for the next 10 mins and saw Caroline slowly getting back to proper health. Her eyes were a bit darker than before but her status was back to what it was with not much change in it, so I put it at the back of my head for now. "You okay?" I asked to confirm, and she nodded before speaking,"what happened? Howe we are here all of a sudden?" and I noticed that she was having a hard time remembering what just happened. "What''s thest thing you remember?" I asked as I kept checking the timing of the door breaking. "Me getting angry and attacking those zombies, before losing some strength and you taking over me¡­ and then we moved up¡­" She spoke, and I nodded before speaking,"you will probably remember in a moment, so take some rest and once you are feeling better, inform me. Then I leave her as I recharge my Time Points using the Active Time Regeneration before moving towards the balcony of the living room and opening it before moving towards the master bedroom and getting to its balcony as well. I calcted the distance between the balconies and it was enough for a man to almost jump from one to another if he was athletic enough. "Hey, I am fine now," Caroline came with a worried expression. ''Seems like she has recalled everything. Good.'' "It might sound a bit absurd, but can you attract the zombies from the other side and use your abilities to jump from there to here?" I speak in all seriousness and though her eyes are a bit scared, she looks at me and slowly nods. ''She is hesitant¡­ I guess, I have to use n B,'' I thought as I shook my head and spoke,"okay, forget it. Stand here and wait for me. I will be attracting the zombies and jumping from the other side. Just make sure to catch me if I fail to make it, okay?" Hearing my words, her eyes widened as she almost was going to reject my n-B, but then¡­ I kissed her to reassure her before I spoke,"it is okay. If it wasn''t possible, I wouldn''t even have rmended doing it." and then moved out of the balcony and closed the door from the outside. Then, moving into the living room, I closed the door of the master bedroom from outside as well. Time passed slowly before the door finally broke and all the zombies began running towards me and I ran towards the balcony and jumped at the railing before¡­ I used all my strength as I jumped to the other side. I almost made it to the other side, but I was still a few inches away from touching the balcony on the other side. -Thud! Caroline caught me immediately and then pulled me up hurriedly. "Huff¡­ huff¡­ I am an idiot to think that I would have made that jump¡­ thanks Caroline," I spoke as I turned around to see the zombies trying to reach me from the other balcony. It was actually the same thing that happened in my apartment, with zombies trying to reach Caroline and after a few seconds. -Creek!!! The railing broke, and the zombies began falling down one after the other. I turned to Caroline as I smiled before speaking,"looks like we did it." However, before Caroline could breathe a sigh of relief, she looked behind me with her eyes turning a bit shocked and I turned around, only to find one zombie standing there, observing me with a keen expression. Watching it looking at me like that sent chills down my spine before he slowly disappeared in the living room and after a few moments I heard the sound of the bedroom door opening. My heartbeat raced even more because I couldn''tprehend a zombie opening a door all by itself. The door opened and the zombie appeared in the doorway; then I saw the zombie slowly walking towards the balcony door and slowly opening the ss door as well. [Inspect!] [Thinker(Lesser D-Grade Zombie): Zombie that has evolved and gained the ability to think. Common things like opening or closing the door would be a piece of cake for it. Reward: +125 Exp] [Temporal Deceleration!] -Stab! x 4 [You have killed a Thinker!] [+125 Exp] My eyes looked at the dead zombie as I was waiting for my reward toe up, however even after waiting for a while, I still didn''t see any message. [Side Quest!] [Kill all the Zombies on the Top Floor Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 2 Reward: Passive Time Points Regeneration(Skill)] ''Shit!'' I thought before slowly moving towards the zombie in front and proceeding to take out its core from its body and keeping it in my dimensional storage. While I needed Caroline to absorb the core, it would take hours for it to be done. So I decided to kill the other two zombies first. First, I moved towards the top with Caroline and slowly reached the entrance of the gym, where I found another horrifying scene that made my heart skip a beat. One of the Lesser D-Grade zombies was trying to eat the face of the dead D-Grade zombie and if I am not wrong, he wasn''t trying to eat the flesh exactly but¡­ the core of the D-Grade zombie. Chapter 23 Sprinter And Pincer [Inspect!] [Sprinter (Lesser D-Grade Zombie): A zombie who has eaten the core of an E-Grade zombie and gained the power of elerated running. Make sure to have a boost start before you run away from it. Reward: +125 Exp] It didn''t seem like it had reached the core and, knowing the urgency of the situation [Temporal Deceleration!] I ran like crazy towards it. Watching it slowly try to tear through the D-Grade zombie''s flesh, I believed it hadn''t noticed me yet, which was actually good news. -Stab! x 5 [Ding!] [You have killed a Sprinter!] [+125 Exp] My eyes then darted towards the door from where the sound of banging wasing, against a heavy metallic door and observing that area keenly, I found another zombie with its ws shaped like a pincer, probably thest Lesser-D Grade zombie. [Inspect!] [Pincer(Lesser D-Grade zombie): strengthened its ws to the point of making it sharp enough to pierce even through the toughest materials. Reward: +125 Exp] [Active Time Regeneration!] I waited for the next few seconds to recharge my Time Points and then proceed towards it. Before I could even reach halfway, the zombie turned at me and started roaring really loudly, and then started running as fast as a pro athlete. -BOOOM!!! Though Caroline came in between us and pushed it away using the golf club. I turned to Caroline and said,"don''t do it anymore. I don''t want you to lose control right now." This was one of the reasons I did not want her to do it. The other was, of course, that I wanted to kill that zombie on my own and gain some Exp from it. Surviving or not, the fact that I lost a hundred zombie''s worth of Exp was something really bugging me for quite some time. Hopefully, this trip and that random skill would be worth it. [Temporal Deceleration!] I ran towards that zombie as it was trying to stand back up, but with my agility, I reached closer to it quite fast and took out another knife as I stabbed it 4 or 5 times continuously before it finally died. [You have killed a Pincer!] [+125 Exp] [Kill all the Zombies on the Top Floor: Complete] [Reward: Passive Time Regeneration(skill)] My eyes looked at the message and waited for the other quest to bepleted, but it didn''te. [Side Quests] [Save the survivors trapped on Floor 70 Time limit: 58 hours 28 minutes Reward: A Random Special Skill] ''Hmmm¡­ looks like something is going on up there,'' I thought before observing the new skill [7. Passive Time Regeneration(Level 1) Effects: Regenerates 1 TP per second] A very simple but crucial skill. This skill is going to save a lot of time for me and if I upgrade it enough, maybe I could make it a really powerful skill. In any case, it was much better than my natural 1TP per minute regeneration. Then I saw Caroline slowly reaching me as she looked at that zombie and looked at me. I observed her face and said,"Once you get strong enough to manage your powers, I will allow you to fight free, but before that, please use your powers as little as possible." She, though a bit sad, nods at me before she looks around and asks,"what now?" "Let''s go up. Whatever the zombies wanted, it must be up there," I pointed at the metal gate which the pincer zombie was trying to break. I tried knocking at it, trying to call someone from the other side, but even after 10 minutes passed by nobody came. "Something is wrong¡­ did they fall unconscious or something?" I thought before looking at Caroline, who, a bit confused, asked me,"aren''t you being too optimistic? Maybe they could have turned into zombies." I looked at her with a small smile as I spoke,"I have a way to tell," and her eyes widened before she gulped and then asked,"just how many abilities do you have?" I just winked at her before speaking,"let''s get you some power-ups first and then enter that gate." I then moved towards the D-Grade zombie and took out its core. [D-Grade Zombie Core!] The other lesser D-Grade zombies too had an E-Grade core each, which I then asked Caroline to take it in her hands one at a time. Luckily, the time taken this time to absorb the E-Grade cores was reduced sessively, with one being 4 hours while the other one only 2 hours. It took about 7 hours for both absorbing and adapting the two E-Grade cores. That too with my Basic Time Maniption ability. After that, I gave her the D-Grade core and asked her to tell me immediately if there is any form of difort. She nodded before beginning to absorb the D-Grade core, and I saw her zombification percentage going up at a rapid pace. Though, the Eye of the Time Keeper ability told me that her absorption rate was strong enough to absorb the core, albeit the time taken would be 11 days normally. With my Basic Time Maniption ability, it should take about 18 hours or so. And hence began another idle waiting as I watched Caroline slowly absorbing the core and before I knew it, 18 hours passed by and I looked at her, opening her eyes, which were deep pink now. She observed me with a slight nk expression before I asked her,"do you know who you are?" and she nodded as she spoke,"Caroline Escarte. You are Michael Aroa, I remember." ''Well, her memory is intact. That is good. As for her status,'' I thought as I used my inspect skill and [Name: Caroline Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-F) ss: Archer Zombification: 78%*[Reach 100% to evolve into the next grade] Cessation Energy: 540/540 Status: Healthy Strength: 19 Constitution:21 Dexterity: 29] ''She is bing a monster faster on her own, isn''t she?'' I thought as I looked at her beautiful face before chuckling a little at the thought that entered my mind,''not like I am going to be any different.'' Chapter 24 Special Skill Now, onto the next task. Opening the gate¡­ -Creak!!! Though before I could even more, I heard the sound of the metallic gate, the one that led to the terrace, opening slowly as if someone was pushing it with quite a force. I turned to look at that gate with a narrowed gaze, wondering what kind of people would be on the other side of the gate. Caroline, too, looked in the same direction and soon enough an aged man, who was probably previously working in the gym, came out from behind the gate and observed us with a curious yet cautious look. He had blonde hair and was really bulky and ripped. His ck eyes were sharp and the squarish jawline made him look someone directly out of a movie or something. ''Something is wrong with him¡­ and them too,'' I thought as I observed a few more bulky mening from behind. They were armed with bats and other kinds of weapons, with the blonde one armed with a shotgun in his hand. "Woooo, Looks like we are going to have a party, people!!!!!" One of the men cried out loud as he eyed Caroline with lust. I saw him immediately rushing to open up his pants, but then the blonde one spoke, "Wait! Is there someone else with you both?" He pointed his gun at us and it didn''t seem like he was going to hesitate in shooting us. "I hope you are not the ones I am trying to save," I muttered silently before looking at the side quest again. [Save the survivors trapped on Floor 70 Time limit: 24 hours 6 minutes Reward: A Random Special Skill] ''Doesn''t surprise me that it''s just not the zombies that are threatening humans,'' I thought before looking at the three of them and they seemed to be trying to say something, but I couldn''t care less. ''How long before he shoots?'' I asked [23 Seconds] Though the time was probably going to vary depending upon how I react. "Disarm them," I mutter and I saw that guy almost pulling the trigger before his arms were severed. Caroline was already there in a blink of an eye before anyone could realize what just happened. [Temporal Deceleration!] I saw that guy''s arms falling apart and Caroline moving at a fast speed as she moved to disarm the rest of them. I saw their eyes opening wide in shock, as they couldn''t evenprehend what was going on. Then the blood started gushing out of their arms like a fountain and I saw them screaming and crying in agony. However, I cannot let them die on their own. I need to kill them with my own hands¡­ I moved forward and proceeded to finish them off using my knife while they were on the verge of dying, though I only seeded in killing one. [Ding!] [You have killed a Human!] [+50 Exp] ''Cheap,'' I thought about their life before noticing that the side quest was still active. "There are more of them up there, but there also could be some survivors," I spoke in a serious voice and Caroline nodded. She looked much more energetic than before and it didn''t seem like she would be passing out anytime soon. Slowly I entered through the metallic gate, thinking how long before I would get hit, [24 seconds] So, I proceeded to walk forward and upward towards the terrace with the knife in my storage dimension, with Caroline right behind me. I kept observing the timer and soon enough it reached 1s. At this point, I almost reached the top and looking around, it seemed quite empty, as no one was present there. [Eyes of the Time Keeper] I used this ability at the exact moment and saw a bullet being hit on my right shoulder from behind about 1 secondter. [Temporal Deceleration!] I muttered, turned around and then took out my knife from my dimensional storage and threw it towards that person who was about to shoot me. I saw another man with a gun pointing at me and I dived back down to the gym from the stairway. Time started flowing normally again, and I took a deep breath before [Active Time Regeneration!] Within the next 4 seconds, my Time Points got back up to 60+ and I saw that man almost looking at me before I took the shotgun from Caroline''s hand and -Bang!! [+50 exp] The quest still wasn''tplete, so I took precautions and moved up slowly and cautiously with the shotgun and my timer on. ording to my timer, I wasn''t going to be shot at the rate I was going up and soon I found out the reason why. That bastard had a gun pointed at a female and looking at her carefully, she was already dead. It was hard to make out with her body covered in makeup and the way he held her, but she was already dead¡­ just what is that guy trying to do? Goosebumps covered my body for a few seconds before I sighed and moved forward slowly and slowly as I saw that the timer finally started showing [34 Seconds] Perhaps he was waiting for me to get closer or maybe someone was behind me, trying to take a proper shot? I don''t know, but I wasn''t going to hold back when ites to killing this one. Soon, I almost reached 10 steps away from him and saw the timer reaching almost 1s. [Eyes of the Time Keeper!] I saw the shoting from my right, from a guy standing behind the wall, and he looked really scared, to be honest. I didn''t use my Deceleration ability this time and simply stood there and used the shotgun to injure the legs of the man who held the dead women. Moving front and immediately moving back to dodge the bullet from the man on the right, behind the wall. I observed him shooting at me and missing his shot. He tried to take another shot, but before he could make it; I shot him using the shotgun I had. [Side Quest: Save the survivors trapped on Floor 70: Complete] [New skill acquired: Skill Fusion(Special)] Chapter 25 Level 8 [Skill Fusion(Special)(Level: Max)] [Allows the user tobine two skills into one at the cost of Cronas and Zombie Cores. Note that the fusion depends upon thepatibility between two types of Skills. Can be used only once every 24 hours] I saw that skill and it confused me even more. What were Cronas? I tried thinking of what they could be, but honestly, nothing came to my mind before I put it at the back of my mind and then wondered about the other parts of the skill. ''So if I get these Cronas and Zombie Cores, I can fuse twopatible skills? Hmmm¡­ that sounds nice unless I get a skill that is worse than both of them¡­ well, let''s see it when I find the Cronas,'' I thought before looking around to see if there was anyone around. I searched most of the rooms and as I reached thest room¡­ There was a boy, unconscious, holding his baby sister in his hands tightly. "That kid is going to turn into a zombie. A zombie managed to scratch him when we were escaping to the top," I heard an aged voiceing from the other corner of the room. I turned towards it and found an old man who looked like he was in his 60s, sitting there trying to solve a rubix cube. He didn''t seem bothered by anything at all¡­ which was peculiar, given there was a dying child there and I was with a gun standing in front of him. "So, are you going to kill him after he turns into a zombie or before it?" that aged man asks and I turn to look at that kid for a few moments before [Inspect!] [Name: Alexander Fredrick Race: Zombie-Human ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer Zombification: 86% Cessation Energy: 00/120 Status: Turning into a Zombie Strength: 4 Constitution:2 Dexterity: 1] ''How long before he turns into a zombie?'' [1 hour 15 minutes] ''How long before he can adapt to the zombie genes?'' [189 Days 14 Hours 34 Minutes] My eyes open up wide a little before I close them and touch his head and increase the time of his zombification. [Basic Time Maniption] [18 hours 45 minutes] ''Well¡­ let''s try something else too, shall we?'' I thought before turning to Caroline and speaking,"Can you try to pass your energy inside his body? Do it a bit slowly and start with a minute amount at a time." Caroline nods at me and tries to pass her energy on to that kid slowly. Luckily, she seeds in one attempt and soon I saw that kid''s constitution and other stats rising back to normal. ''How long before he can adapt to the zombie genes if he has the Cessation Energy?'' [4 Days 3 Hours 2 Minutes] It was still not enough, and I closed my eyes before thinking a little before turning to that old man and saying," do you have anything like a grenade or something?" That old man looked at me, baffled, before speaking,"what are you crazy or something? Who carries a grenade with them?" "Ah! I guess people don''t," I thought before asking again,"do you have anything that will st off if thrown down?" That old man narrowed his eyes at me before pondering a little and speaking,"the emergency generator has some fuel in it, and if thrown at a high speed, it can create a st. However, that is going to take a lot of energy and time¡­ just what are you nning?" I nodded at him before turning to Caroline and speaking,"don''t stop pushing your energy into his body," and then I pulled him up over my shoulders along with his baby sister and then turned to that old man,"can you guide me towards that generator?" Not questioning my actions, he took me towards the generator and I nodded at him before looking around, only to find cans filled with gasoline in them. Emptying all the gasoline over the generator, I took the whole thing near the edge of the terrace. I looked down to see a horde of zombies standing there, though they looked more like crawling ants and were barely visible. Soon¡­ I threw the generator down, making the old man and Caroline look at me with a confused look and just after a few moments [Ding!] [+25 Exp] [+25 Exp] x 4 [+50 Exp] x 9 [+25 Exp] x 14 [+50 Exp] x 3 I saw so many messages flooding after the st urred and I nodded at it before looking at the required Exp to upgrade to the next level [Level 7: (9555/10000)] ''Hmmm¡­ I need a bit more,'' I thought before looking at that man and asking,"is there anyone else present on this terrace?" He shook his head before sadly smiling and speaking,"they were killed by zombies¡­ and monsters." I sighed before nodding at him and speaking,"let''s get down as fast as we can or else we won''t be able to save this kid." I spoke before beginning to walk down immediately. That man looked like he had a lot of questions, but he kept it in and simply followed us. While Caroline and I were holding the boy, I gave the young baby girl to that old man. She was still healthy and pretty much alive, so I was d I made it in time. From that point, I started hurriedly hunting the zombies on the lower floors as much as I could. However, sadly, I got only a few of them. As for throwing objects, I did that too as well¡­ much faster than before. After another 2 hours of hurried struggle, I finally cleared the 60th Floor and¡­ [Level up +1] [+2 Skill points] [+2 Stat points] [New skill Acquired: Time Snatcher] [Congrattions on reaching Level 8 without losing even a single point of health!] [System Upgrade Avable!] Chapter 26 System Upgrade ''Hmmm? System Upgrade? What''s this?'' [Initiating the paths of System Upgrade: A)God of Time-Space: While it is easy to manipte Time, the user can now use Space rted ability much more easily. Anything that is rted to Space, such as dimensional travel, teleportation, etc, will cost less TP, Zombie Cores, Cronas, etc. Dungeons will have more space rted rewards. Time needed to upgrade the System: 2 Months [Note: While the System is being upgraded the user cannot use any of the benefits of the System] B)God of Temporal Maniption: Unlike the God of Time System, the system focuses on mainly Time rted ability. Any other ability rted to any other aspect, such as space, dimension, fire, etc., cannot be used but in return the Time only rted ability can be enhanced to at least 10 times of their normal value. Time needed to upgrade the System: 2 Weeks [Note: While the System is being upgraded, the user cannot use any of the benefits of the System] C)God of Crona: Any abilities rted to time can be used as an external means. Meaning, Time can be used in the form of weapons and other objects, but the user himself cannot control time. Time needed to upgrade the System: 3 Weeks [Note: While the System is being upgraded, the user cannot use any of the benefits of the System] D)God of Time System: The same system but evolved. The features are simr to the previous System but the abilities are evolved to their next level plus a few new features will be unlocked. No time needed to upgrade the System.] I looked at the huge amount of text in front of me and saw that there were 4 options avable to upgrade the System. Honestly, each of them had its own selling point, however, as things were right now, what Icked most was time. It wasn''t just about this kid, but about my survival in this world. If my abilities were to be locked, forget about zombies. If suddenly someplicationse up with Caroline, I might end up making a choice that I would rather not think about. Not thinking much about it, I chose D)God of Time System, hoping I would find something good out of it. In fact, I was counting on the ability of the System to upgrade it to the point where [Basic Time Maniption] could save this kid. As soon as I chose it, a sudden rush of energy flooded my body and for a few moments, I felt like I was in heaven. A few moments passed and soon everything returned to normal before I came to and saw Caroline scared shitless as she looked at me. "How long was I out for?" I asked as I held my head consumed with a headache that was slowly dissipating. She suddenly started crying as she hugged me while I was sitting on the ground and spoke,"a few moments only, but¡­ please don''t scare me like that. My heart almost couldn''t take it thinking something might have happened to you." I smiled at her before looking at the boy, whom I was still holding and then proceeding to see if there were any new changes in the System and¡­What the f-? [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increases by 25% Zombie Destroyer: When fighting more than 25 zombies at once. All strikes would be 100% more powerful. Health Freak: Your health regenerates at the rate of 10 HP points per sec when it falls below 40%] ss: Unssified Level: 8 (10005/25000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 4500/4500 Time Points: 500/500 Strength: 11 Constitution: 7 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat points: 2 Total Cronas: 0 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Skills(6): [1. Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 6) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0.2TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 3 sec into the future. Cost: 40 TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 60s. Cost: 20TP 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once Cost: 500TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 10] [2. Active Time Regeneration (Level 8) Effect: When the user is meditating, the user''s Time Points will regenerate at 60 Time Points per sec Cost: The user needs to be still with minimum movements possible. Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 8] [3. Temporal Deceleration (Level: Max) Effects: Allows the user to slow down time as much as the user wants[Max 90%] Cost: Depends upon the usage. Max 25TP/sec to Min 5TP/sec] [4. Inspect (Level Max) Effect: Allows the user to see the stats of the objects and people around him The user needs to be evolved before they could enhance this ability] [5. Time Storage(Level 5): Allows the user to store an object in a multidimensional Time Frozen Space Restrictions: The object must be non-living. The object cannot be more than 4 cubic meters in the area. The user can store 3 objects at a time Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] [6. Advanced Time Maniption (Level 1) Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by as much times as the user wants (max 200). Does not work on any macro movements Cost: 0] [7. Passive Time Regeneration(Level 5) Effects: Regenerates 5 TP per second Skill needs to be evolved before it could get upgraded] [Time Catcher (Level 5) Effects: Allows the user to take the time of other living beings and convert it into Cronas. Note that the user''s Wisdom must be more than the person on whom it is being used. Cost: 5 Cronas obtained per 50 Time Points per 30 minutes Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] [Skill Fusion(Special)(Level: Max)] [Allows the user tobine two skills into one at the cost of Cronas and Zombie Cores. Note that the fusion depends upon thepatibility between two types of skills. Can be used only once every 24 hours] Skill points: 2 Quests: Main Quest* [Reach Level 10: Reward: Gene Evolution] Side Quest* [You can choose the following Side quests*] Daily Quests* [Push up: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Sit ups: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Run 100 miles: Reward: +500 Exp] [Pull ups: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Bonus forpleting all Daily quests: +1 Random Stat] Store: Locked* God Powers: Locked* ???: Locked* ?????: Locked*] Chapter 27 Using The Inspect Skill I saw my System and my eyes couldn''t help but be glued to all the upgrades that I have received. It was too powerful¡­ enough to give me goosebumps, before Ipletely read through everything one at a time. Except the Stats, everything else was upgraded to a whole nother level. The Titles and the Skills specially turned really monstrous all of a sudden. Calming my excitement down, I focused on the skill that I needed the most right now [Advanced Time Maniption (Level 1) Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by as much times as the user wants (max 200). Does not work on any macro movements Cost: 0 Skill point needed to upgrade the Skill: 5] I took a deep breath before using the skill at its max capacity on the kid and ''How long before he adapts to the zombified genes?'' [29 minutes 23 seconds] A smile formed on my face before I sighed and turned to Caroline before speaking,"let''s wait for 30 minutes. I think I am a bit tired." She nodded and the old man too agreed that we should take a bit of rest before moving forward, so we walked in a nearby room and got settled in the living room there for a few moments before I turned at that old man and [Inspect!] My inspect was max level, and I thought about using that right now to check its effect [Name: Amory Sanders White Race: Human ss: Sharpshooter; Strategist; General; Gunsmaster Description: An Ex-Military who lost his wife and kids in a terrorist attack a decade ago and settled in a remote corner of this country to spend the rest of his retirement. He was boasted as one of the strongest in the military of his time and¡­ Stats: Strength: 13 Constitution: 12 Dexterity: 14 Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 17 Charisma: 11 Zombification Process: 5% Status: Healthy . . ] The status was a whole damn list that kept going down into minor details like his birthday and powers, etc. He had skills like knife mastery and other military rted skills, which actually made me look at him with a dumbfounded gaze. ''Even with my System, I couldn''t get the stats which he has achieved all by himself,'' I thought before wondering what kind of monster he will be if he gets zombie genes. I then shook my head as he was looking too intently into me and turned to Caroline. [Name: Caroline Olivia Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-F) ss: Archer Description: An artist who learnt the ways of the painting and other rted brush methods. She also excels in archery, guitar ying and simr activities that require concise precision. Zombification: 80%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 240/540 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 19 Constitution:21 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence:19 Wisdom:12 Charm: 24 . . ] I sighed before looking at the rest of her Stats and then moving towards the kid in front of me. [Name: Alexander Robert Fredrick Race: Zombie-Human ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer Description: A young shut in who lost his parents about 3 years ago. He had been working online using his technical skills and earning enough money to take care of himself and his sister. He is a kid with a strong will and¡­ Zombification: 95% Cessation Energy: 120/120 Status: Getting more ustomed with the Zombie Genes at a Rapid rate Skills* Strength: 14 Constitution:9 Dexterity: 9 Intelligence: 19 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 11 . . ] I saw his Stats rising rapidly, however¡­ This kid has been taking care of his sister and himself for over 3 years? Just how old is he¡­ hmmm, ording to his status, he turns 16 this year. After this, I could only sigh as I looked at a few other things around using my Inspection. The details were much more precise and I could use it when I find something that I don''t know about¡­ overall it was a cheat code towards everything honestly¡­ After that, I rechecked the things that were upgraded within my System and soon enough; the timer came off, and I saw the kid waking up, making everyone look at him cautiously. He slowly scratched his head as he looked around with confusion before turning at that old man and then at his sister as he hurriedly moved towards them. [Temporal Deceleration!] With the newest ability, I could slow down time by 90% at 25TP per sec and with a total of 500 TP in my arsenal, I could use it for about 20 seconds in total. I moved towards the old man and moved him away from the kid''s path. Deactivating my ability, I saw the kid rushing through and -BOOOM!! He hit the wall entering the next apartment, making everyone dumbfounded and panicked, including the kid himself. Though, I knew the reason behind it as¡­ [Name: Alexander Robert Fredrick Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer Zombification: 0%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1022/1200 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 23 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] I saw his race changing at the exact end of the timer to an E-Grade Zombified Human and his skills taking a leap once again¡­ If I hadn''t made a move fast enough, he might have killed both the old man and his sister with his newfound powers. "Well, calm down first and I will exin everything," I spoke as I looked at him, turning at me with a really scared face. His eyes were shaken, and he had no idea what had just happened. "Move slowly forward one step at a time," I calmly spoke, and he looked at me and then nodded before doing so. ''Good boy,'' I thought with a smile before moving in front of him and speaking again,"sit down slowly on the floor." He gulped before doing so, ever so slowly, and then turned at the old man who held his sister and I spoke,"she is okay. I saved her," and he finally rxed a little before turning at me as his eyes urged me for answers. Chapter 28 Moving Down I exined to him in bits and pieces about the whole zombie apocalypse thing which he listened to attentively. His eyes seemed like he already knew about all this, but was still waiting to tell him my side of the story. The old man, Amory White, also added a few things that transpired up there on the rooftop and how those men killed a couple of girls before throwing them down for no apparent reason. The only reason why they didn''t kill the kid and the old man was because they looked easy to control and those men needed some manpower for work they didn''t want to do themselves. Moving on, I exined about the whole zombification process, which I discovered by ''chance'' and how both zombies and humans seem to be evolving on a really fast basis. This exined the sudden rise in strength of Alex, the boy who evolved to an E-Grade Zombified Human directly, because of his unusual circumstances. "There are a lot of things¡­ that I still don''t understand," spoke Amory as he turned to me with a serious gaze and I knew what he was getting at. He wanted to ask about me throwing the generator down and then running here to kill the zombies and the fact that I was throwing objects at every floor below the 64th floor till 60th floor. "I can''t tell. I have my own set of secrets that I can''t reveal¡­ I hope you understand," I spoke as I looked back at that old man and after a few moments he just sighed as he spoke,"I guess, if you can''t tell about it, you must have your own reasons." I then turned to Alex and said,"First we need you to be able to manage your strength and help you to adapt to it. Also, since we don''t have much time, can you try to cooperate as much as you can?" Alex observed me with a deep gaze and nodded before slowly standing up. He walked a bit slower and turned around, looked at the wall and proceeded to punch it -BOOOM!!! The entire wall broke down with ease and then he proceeded to observe his fist with slight shock as he tightened it a little. After that, he turned to me and spoke. "I think I understand it a little. There is a strange energy flowing inside me and how much strength I can take out depends on how much energy I utilize. The amount of energy feels limited though and I¡­ okay, it''s regenerating at a subtle rate. Which means¡­ If I don''t use that energy, I think I can move normally. However, whenever I would be using that energy¡­ I should learn to control the amount I use at a time and not use too much force at once." At his words, a dumbfounded expression forms on my face and my eyes open wide as I look at him. ''Is he a genius or something?'' I thought as I observed him guessing the whole thing exactly how it was. Without the System, it would be near impossible or extremely difficult to find out about Cessation Energy even after using dozens of times, let alone using only once. I just stood there for a few moments before turning to Caroline and muttering,"you check it." Caroline then nods and proceeds to hit the nearest wall and analyse the change in her body. Though even after doing it a couple of times, she still couldn''t tell exactly whether she was using that energy or not. "Forget it. For now, we will keep this kid''s words as a hypothesis and check itter on," I spoke before turning to the old man. Alex simply moved towards the old man and took his sister back into his arms. Only after making sure that she was safe, a smile formed on Alex''s face. "What is your next n, kiddo?" that old man asked with a really curious smile and I gulped a little before speaking,"my name is Michael. Because of the situation, we couldn''t catch our names, so I guess we should at least introduce ourselves first before proceeding downwards." "You can call me Alex," spoke Alex as he took care of his sister. "Caroline," muttered Caroline. "White," muttered Amory Sanders White "Well, since the introductions are done. The first thing we need to do is get down, reach the bottom and find the safest possible escape route. At worst, we can clear all the zombies and turn this whole building into a safe shelter where we can build a base andter expand," I said as I looked at them and all three pondered over the n and nodded. It wasn''t a great n, but it was better than having no n at all and then all of us began moving down slowly one floor at a time and in the next 10 floors the number of zombies that we found were¡­ zero? "Something seems fishy here," spoke the old man, and I nodded. While I did get some Exp by throwing down heavy objects, I was still hoping to run into some zombies on the other lower floor, but to not get any¡­ We kept filling up on our supplies, however after two floors, we did not have enough space to store anything more so we left the rest of things on the floors itself. Floor 49th Zero Zombies Floor 48th Zero Zombies Floor 47th Zero Zombies Floor 46th Zero Zombies Floor 45th Zero Zombies Floor 44th Zero Zombies . . Floor 38th¡­. 47 E-Grade Zombies. And then a message came from the System¡­ [Side Quests (Optional) 1. Kill all the Zombies from Floor 0 To 38 Total number of Zombies Remaining: 1029* Reward: A random Special Skill 2. Save the survivors on Floor 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th and 36th Total number of Survivors remaining: 54 Reward: +5 Stat Points 3. Barricade the Building and Fortify the defense Reward: Leader(Title) ] Chapter 29 How To Kill Zombies!! Looking at the horde of zombies trying to break through the barricade ced on the 38th floor we moved back up a floor. If we wanted to go down, we needed a n and honestly, looking at that System''s message where we needed to fight over a thousand zombies I was somewhat at a loss. "We need a really solid, foolproof n here," I muttered before I sat on the floor and began pondering. As for Caroline, Alex and White, they let me do the thinking part here and just waited for me to give them orders. I looked at my System to look for something, anything that I can use and after looking through it carefully, [Title Activated: Zombie Destroyer: When fighting more than 25 zombies at once. All strikes would be 100% more powerful.] I then decided to use Temporal deceleration, the only skill I can use inbat right now. I had two extra Stat Points which I decided to put in the Constitution, bringing it up to 9. Even though we have over a thousand zombies, they are below the 35th floor. The current number of zombies that we need to deal with are actually just 47, which really isn''t that much. "Okay, so here, there is one thing we can do," I muttered as I opened my eyes and turned at the trio, who were observing me with a serious look. "I will attract as many zombies as I can while killing a few of them, while you guys try to take the remaining ones down from behind. Since they are slow, and most of us aren''t really normal either, I think we could clear the zombies if we execute it properly," I exined it word by word and though they were skeptical about this, the fact that both Carolina and Alex were basically super human, it made them believe that we can do it. I myself wasn''t normal either, while White was simply hiding his strength for reasons known only to him. Still, they asked me a couple of times if this would work and I nodded with a serious look. Honestly, in reality, I wanted to kill the zombies all by myself and also test my newly upgraded skills. Especially the maxed out Temporal Deceleration. A few momentster, I was moving towards the horde of zombies trying to break the barricade ced on the opposite side and I smiled a little before moving towards them, one step at a time. A few of them darted towards me and as they reached a few meters away from me [Temporal Deceleration!] Instead of using it at max, I use it at 75%, spending 20 Time Points per sec. With this I can use the skill for 25 seconds normally; If I add the Passive Time Regeneration that gets me 5 TP/sec, I think I can use it for 7 seconds more, making it a total of 32 seconds. Time slowed down and, to be honest, it felt like the zombies were just standing there, barely showing any movements. I smiled before shing one of them with the knife I had before moving to another and then to another¡­. They were all E-Grade but unlikest time, the kitchen knife didn''t break but easily cut through the zombies¡­ perhaps it was the Zombie Destroyer Title? [E- Grade Zombie Killed!] [+50 Exp] x 47 Before I knew it, I had already killed 47 zombies even before 32 seconds were up. I just simply turned off the skill and checked up on my status. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Active Title: Zombie Destroyer ss: Unssified Level: 8 (12005/25000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 4500/4500 Time Points: 5/500 Strength: 11 Constitution: 9 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 7 Stat Points: 0] I tried to see through the barricade of tables, chairs and other heavy objects, but didn''t find anything through them. Still, rather than moving back up, I first checked something else that I was thinking about. [Daily Quests] [Push up: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Sit ups: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Run 100 miles Reward: +500 Exp] [Pull ups: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Bonus forpleting all Daily quests: +1 Random Stat] After the System upgrade, these were the new daily quests I got. Hmmm¡­. I guess I could do some of them on asions. While doing 1000 of them sounds hard¡­ let''s see it when I have time. After that I searched for any zombie cores but didn''t find any, so I moved up a floor, slowly reaching Caroline and the others who were anxiously waiting for me toe. Watching me moving towards them, without any scratch, they sighed before Caroline spoke,"are you okay? What happened?" "I killed all of them," I spoke with a bit of an awkward smile and they observed me dumbfoundedly before Caroline asked again,"ah! Sorry, I didn''t quite catch that¡­ Can you repeat what you just said?" and I repeat what I just said before. Rather than asking me anything further, Alex moved down to the floor and the old man, White, followed him as well. I, along with Caroline, slowly walked down towards the floor where the dead bodies of all the zombies were lying all around. I just exined to them that it wasn''t that hard when the zombies were slow, but still everyone just looked at me as if I were a monster. The old man then sighed as he muttered in disbelief,"I must be really getting old." While Alex''s eyes gradually started beaming, as if he were looking at someone really cool. "I thought you were just a boring guy who is a nerd buried under the books and will probably die first but¡­ killing all those zombies in such a short time¡­.that was so cool!" he spoke with a bright expression and I smacked his head lightly. "What do you mean by die first?" I red at him, but he didn''t seem to mind as he just chuckled, sticking his tongue out. The old man then questioned,"so we crossed this bridge. What next?" Chapter 30 Daily Exercise Is The Key To Success In Life! "So we crossed this bridge. What next?" I pondered over it for a few moments before speaking,"let''s take a break for now. Replenish our energy and then move to the lower floorster. Maybe tomorrow." My eyes then saw the light dimming and everything turning dark again slowly. Even though it was a couple of hours before the night, it had already turned quite dark. Becausest night, I was in my apartment, where we had some back up inverter battery, I didn''t notice, but without any electricity, we might have a lot of problems at night with anything barely visible. "I too think that is the right choice. It''s getting too creepy with no light during the night," spoke Alex as he looked at me with a slightly scared face and I patted his head and then decided to choose the most corner apartment to take a rest in. We then ced a bunch of things in between the hallway that would act as an rm in case something or someone moves in and then silently closed thest door before all of us entered the room. "White and Alex can sleep in the master bedroom, while Christine, you take care of the baby and sleep in the other room. I would be taking care of things during the night, then sleep a bit in the early morning. Later around noon, we will continue downwards," I exined, and the other nodded except Caroline, who spoke out, "But I had already slept. I can stay awake for a long time-" "It''s okay. Just take care of the baby and take a rest. If I wasn''t capable of handling it, I wouldn''t have even mentioned it," I cut her off and she just bit her lower lip a little before nodding. Everyone then moved to their respective rooms and went to sleep while I stretched a little before proceeding to do a few sit ups¡­ [1/1000 Sit ups] [19/1000 Sit ups] [240/1000 Sit ups] [789/1000 Sit ups] [1000/1000 Sit ups] [Ding!] [+500 Exp] I looked at the time and it has already been 3 hours since I started doing the sit-ups. Even though I took some breaks in between, for some reason, I don''t think I was as tired as I thought I would be. In fact, I was more refreshed than before. After that I proceeded to do some pushups and pullups, which took about 5 hours in total and I was really exhausted by the end of the exercise¡­ [+500 Exp!] [+500 Exp!] I wanted to run those 100 miles, but because of all the things we had ced in the hallway, it was really difficult to move about through that, forget about running. Also, there was the danger of any zombieing from the other side, so going up a floor to run wasn''t really a good option, either. "What is on your mind, kiddo?" I heard a voice from behind and saw White looking at me. Facing against the dim moonlight, he stood there watching me as he leaned against the door. "Was wondering if I could run a little and build up a little stamina," I spoke nonchntly and he chuckled a little before speaking,"want me to take over? I have already slept enough." "You will? Thanks, that would be a lot of help," I spoke before turning towards the ce Caroline was and then towards where Alex was sleeping. "If anything goes wrong, call me first," I muttered before I proceeded to move up and White muttered in a low voice,"monster¡­. Though I guess almost all of us are the same now." Moving up, I reached the 40th floor and began running as fast as I could. I did not know how long it would take toplete 100 miles, and the fact that morning was just around the corner, I wanted toplete all the daily quests and get that bonus stat as well. I ran to one corner and then turned back before running again¡­ continuing this process again and again ¡­ and soon I did not know how much time had passed but¡­ [Ding!] [Daily questpletes 100/100 Miles!] [+500 Exp!] [Bonus Quest Complete!] [+1 Dexterity] A few minutester, I saw the daily quest being refreshed as the day was finally over, which made me smile a little as I caught up my breath for another 20 minutes or so, before proceeding to run once again. [100/100 Miles!] [+500 Exp!] I pondered a little and then began running against but before I could do so "Oi! Get down here," I heard the voice of White speaking from the stairs and I stopped whatever I was doing. Moving downwards, I saw Alex holding his sister as he sat on the sofa eating cereals. While Caroline prepared breakfast for the rest of us. Looking at me, all covered in sweat, Alex spoke in an annoyed tone, "Get a bath and change before sitting down at the table." Listening to him, I sighed before getting in the bathroom, where I saw a set of clothes already there and proceeded to take a shower. Luckily, the water supply was intact, and I took a proper bath before getting out and observing the other silently waiting for me at the dining table. Alex and White were sitting on one side, with Caroline and I on the other, and all four of us began praying for the food as soon as I sat down. Finally getting to eat a proper meal in all this chaos; all of us ate our fill with grateful and delighted faces. "This is so delicious, sister!!!" spoke Alex with a blissful face and, White and I, we both agreed to it. Caroline blushed a little before all of us finished the food. "Well, it''s our turn to take guard now," Caroline said as she looked at me and I pondered a little before nodding at her. While I do not need rest, I do need some privacy where I canplete the rest of the exercises. Perhaps he read my thoughts, but White made a really odd expression before sighing and muttering something silently under his breath. ''Well¡­ let''s take another extra Stat for today, shall we?'' I thought as I stood up, thanked Caroline before moving inside the room and¡­ began exercising again. Chapter 31 Meeting New People; Socialising [+500 Exp] [+500 Exp] [+500 Exp] [+1 Strength] I tried doing a few extra push-ups but after a couple of tries; I didn''t see any increase in the number on the System screen, so I just gave up. Through the balcony window, I saw the sun was already up and if I was not wrong; it is already around 11 AM now. I looked at the Side Quests to see if anything changed, and surprisingly nothing changed at all. Except for a couple of times decrease in the number of zombies between 0 to 35th floor, but that was in one digit so, I did not pay any attention to it. Nodding a little, I moved into the bathroom, took a bath, and changed into a fresh set of clothes before I moved to the bed. While I didn''t really need any sleep, I think it would be better for me to take some rest, anyway. [Advanced Time Maniption!] I activated that skill and moved on the bed, immediately sleeping and soon waking up feeling refreshed more than ever. I checked the time when I went to sleep, and since then only 6 minutes have passed. Considering I activated the skill, and I slept only for 6 minutes¡­ I guess I slept for about¡­ 20 hours!!!! Damn! That''s a lot of sleep¡­ I guess I was really tired, just that my body wasn''t telling me that I was. I then pushed these thoughts at the back of my mind before moving out of the room and looking at the trio ying some sort of card game to pass the time. Though, as soon as I came out, they turned at me and smiled as Alex spoke,"want to y, brother?" I thought about it for a few moments before nodding at them and joining them as we yed for the next 15 minutes as the game came to an end. "Well. Now that the break is over, shall we go down?" I spoke and the rest of them nodded before they picked up their own weapon each. -Kdkdkd We heard some strange noisesing from the hallway and immediately became alert. I moved towards the gate slowly, opening the gate slightly, and then [Eyes of the Time Keeper!] I used that skill to look ahead 3 seconds into the future and I saw myself getting shot at by a really frighteneddy at a distance. There were some men around her as well, carrying guns and other weapons with them. Coming back to the present, I pondered a little before looking at Caroline and others as I whispered,"don''t show your powers until extremely necessary." They nodded at me with a slight gulp before I shouted,"who is there?!!" and sure enough, "Who are you?" a response came from the other side. "We are survivors from the floors above," I muttered before using [Eyes of the Time Keeper] once again. Luckily, this time nobody shot at me, though they were aiming their guns at me. Observing that, I moved outside and stood in front of them with the knife in my hand. The other party looked at me carefully as one of the men spoke. "Is there anyone else with you?" At this I nodded before moving a few steps towards them but they started shouting,"stop right there!!!" as all of them became more scared and terrified. ''How long before one of them shoots me?'' I questioned in my mind, but no timer came, so I guessed they wouldn''t be shooting me. "W-Why? What happened?" I asked in a slightly confused manner and one of the younger men, who seemed braver than the others, spoke out,"sorry mate, it''s just¡­ we met some people earlier who were more monstrous than the zombies." Understanding him, I nodded for a few seconds before speaking,"I¡­ what should I do?" and he pondered a little before speaking,"put your hands up in the air and turn around. I wille and check up on you. If you have any other weapons, than that knife then put all of them down as well." Hearing him, I nodded before taking out the other knives I had on me and putting all of them at the side and then standing with my hands in the air and back facing towards them. That man moved towards me and soon enough he checked up on mepletely before sighing in relief and shouting,"he is clear!" The others also rxed, while I spoke,"actually I have an old man, a kid, a baby and a girl with me, if you don''t mind." Hearing my words, that man''s eyes first turned a bit open, but as he heard the rest of it, he calmed down before speaking,"is that so? Well, it must have been hard surviving by yourself, I guess. If you don''t mind, can you show me where they are?" He muttered, and I nodded before speaking,"in that apartment. Well, actually wait¡­ Caroline, White, Alex, you guys cane out." Hearing my voice the rest of the group came out. However, when the three of them came out, the other group calmed down, and the women ran up to Caroline as fast as she could and spoke,"are you okay? You look good? You aren''t scared, right? Don''t worry, we will help you out! Everything is going to be fine now." Caroline simply just observed that woman for a few moments before that woman turned at me and red as she spoke,"if I hear that you have done something to this innocent girl. I will kill yo-" Though, it didn''t seem like Caroline liked how she spoke with me, as Caroline had already ced a knife on that woman''s neck. "Calm down, Caroline. Something must have happened to make her behave like that," I tried calming Caroline down and she slowly put her knife down away from thedy who looked like she had just seen heaven. Then she took a few steps back and hid behind the man who just checked up on me. I turned to that man and said,"You guys must have had a really rough time, didn''t you?" at which he looked at me a bit dumbfounded before he just sighed, smiled and nodded. Chapter 32 Moving Down "My name is George. d to meet another living soul," he spoke with a smile as he brought his hand forward for a shake and shaking his hand back, I smiled as I answered,"Michael. This is Caroline." He looked at Caroline, who was standing behind me holding the sleeves of my shirt and observing the others. Alex and White moved towards us and Alex introduced himself,"I am Alex," while White decided to remain silent. "This is Martha and these two are Adam and ke," George spoke, introducing the two men behind him as well as the woman who was trying to grab a hold of Caroline. I observed them one by one before looking at George as I asked, "Is that all of you?" George shook his head as he spoke,"no. There are more of us down there. We were trying to escape from the zombies below. Since you areing from above, can you tell me what is the situation up there?" I nodded as I exined about the zombies that we faced and how we barely managed to survive most of the time. I didn''t tell him about the D-Grade zombies, but told him how some zombies were harder than the others to kill at which he nodded as he spoke, "Yeah¡­ we too faced a simr situation as yours." "If you don''t mind me asking, did you guys get any supplies up there?" he asked as he observed the bag each of us was carrying and the weapons we had in our hands. ''I guess, with the apocalypse hitting, food and water is going to be one of the most valuable resources,'' I thought before proceeding to tell the truth as,"yeah. We used a bit of supplies, but since there was too much of it, we skipped most of the floors. You should find enough supplies up there." Hearing my words, a semi hopeful smile appeared on his face, as well as the two men and that woman, too. "Also, I cleaned off each and every floor because I did not want to have a zombie creeping up behind my back. So, you should not find any zombies up there. Though, it was abined effort of all four of us," I spoke, making their smiles widen even more than before. George was so happy that he asked it twice and I confirmed it again as I rified how I did not want to leave even a single zombie behind before moving down the floors. [Name: George n Race: Human ss: Blunt weapon user (Novice) Zombification: 9% Status: Healthy Strength: 11 Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 10 Charm: 12] I checked his status and found him to be a bit stronger than the average human. ''The zombie genes were really increasing people''s strength at quite a high rate, huh?'' I thought before pondering a little as I asked,"what is the condition down there? Exactly how many people do you have down there?" He looked at me and said,"there are about 50 people down there and we are trying to reach as high as we can. It''s really bad down there and we are hoping to call for help with distress signals or something. Well, thanks to you, we can actually make it to the top without much problem. Thank you so much, Michael." I nodded at him before making a curious expression as I spoke,"Is it really that bad down there? Just curious about it" and he made a bitter expression before speaking,"we have already lost many people there and the horde¡­ it just keeps increasing. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I don''t think going down is possible anymore." Hearing his words, I pondered a little before speaking,"Can I see the things down there?" By that I meant the zombies, and he heard my words pondered a little before observing me and speaking,"I guess. It would be better to show you than tell you. Only then you will understand how hopeless our situation really is." I observed him and wondered how old he was.. 20? A bit older than my younger brother. This reminds me¡­ what would be my brother doing right now? "Michael?" asked George as he observed me with slight confusion and I snapped out of my thoughts before I spoke,"no, it''s just looking at you, it reminded me of my brother. That''s all." He looked at me and smiled a little and before speaking,"since we have decided to go all the way up from now, I think it is better to show you what is down there right now before all of us went up." Hearing his words, I nodded before walking behind him, along with Alex and the others. The men, ke and Adam, weren''t skeptical anymore as they started talking with Alex and White more and more. They asked a bunch of questions and soon started talking about their old life and stuff. That woman, Martha, apologized both to Caroline and I, and Caroline forgave her before apologizing for her own actions, soon starting another conversation. As we walked down the floors, I found a few more people, and the numberster kept increasing one by one. They looked half dead, as if they still hadn''t epted reality and when they saw us joining them their eyes turned even more dead, it''s as if we were just extra mouths to feed. Some of them asked George about the situation and when he told them about how the top was all clear, they became really happy before some of them even started going up. George let them go up, despite knowing that they might take all the supplies to themselves. Wonder what he was nning¡­ We reached the 39th floor, 38th floor, 37th floor, 36th floor and on each of these floors, men and women were just sitting there doing various activities of their own. Some of them were praying continuously, begging for forgiveness for their sins, others were on the balcony observing the madness the apocalypse ensued. I checked their status as well and most of them had slight zombification with nothing that great in particrpared to George, who was the strongest among all of them. While most of them were businessmen, some of them had useful skills like carpenting and medical knowledge, but that too wasn''t up to par honestly. ''None of them are particrly useful¡­ with most of them being a burden,'' I thought as I observed them. When I was talking about their usefulness, I wasn''t looking at their abilities. I know that ability can be developed overtime, but I was looking at their mindset. Either they had too much ego based on their previous status before the apocalypse urred, or they were just too scared to actually do something. The kids were more of the ''bully'' kids with nasty personalities as well. One look and you can tell that they were ogling Caroline. Even some men were the same. ''I just hope they don''t end up doing something foolish and getting killed by Caroline or something. Or else¡­ we might end up making a really nasty choice,'' I thought as I moved downwards. Chapter 33 The Best Plan Soon we reached down to the 35th floor, where most of the strong youth were. They carried at least one weapon with them and about 20% of them were armed as they just stood there doing their stuff. ''Hmmm.. they are much better than those up there. Maybe I can count on these men¡­ probably,'' I thought as I looked at those men on the 35th floor. Calcting properly, there were 14 men in total and I really liked that these men came forward rather than staying behind bing just mouths to feed. Alex and Caroline stayed up on the previous floor while White came down with me. "See that? That''s the only thing holding back all the zombies¡­ once that breaks, 100s of zombies wille barging in¡­ we don''t even have as many bullets as many zombies are there¡­ There is no hope for us, Michael. I hope this much should be enough to understand the situation?" George spoke as he pointed at the gate which was holding off the zombies. ''How long till the gate breaks?'' [5 days: 23 hours: 23 minutes] ''That''s not much time¡­ we might actually need to face themter anyway, huh?'' I kept thinking about a way to convince them to go down rather than to go up, but honestly, it was difficult even for us to break through so many zombies at once. Especially given the fact that I decided to hide our powers. Though¡­ one thing can work here, "Hmmm¡­ I think we¡­ actually can go down¡­ however, it''s a bit risky honestly," I spoke as I pondered a little about it. Though it made George only more confused as he asked,"and how is that?" "The elevator shaft¡­ I think we can use that to climb down to the ground floor¡­ however I don''t know how long we can survive there," I spoke and George began thinking about it before speaking, "The elevator is on the ground floor actually¡­ so I guess, it should be fine going down¡­ but are you sure you want to go down the shaft from as high as 32nd floor? It''s not like we haven''t thought about it but just that none of us wants to go down there inplete darkness with just a torch, not even knowing what we would stumble upon in the end." ''Oh! I forgot about the dark part. This is troubling actually¡­ It''s not just the normal zombies, but what if we end up encountering an evolved C-Grade zombie who can climb through the elevator shaft? That won''t be a good sight to look at¡­ I observed a little before thinking what to do next¡­ while I do want to kill all the zombies down there¡­ I must do it in a less suspicious way¡­ A less suspicious way that would allow me to kill each and every zombie without letting others know about my abilities? Hmmm¡­ what if I¡­. "Hey, do you have any ropes? Like a lot of rope or something?" I asked as my eyes brightened up and he looked at me, wondering what exactly I was thinking. George turned to the others and asked if they had some and then after confirming that they do in fact have some rope with them just in case, he turned back at me and said,"we should have some. Though¡­ what are you trying to do?" I smiled a little before thinking about a certain idea and then said,"I think we can clear the floor below us and even further down though¡­ it is going to be a bit risky." I emphasized the risky part, cause it really was risky¡­ though it made George and the others only more curious about that idea. I then got a bit closer to George and murmured in his ears, which he had already brought forward, "What if we go from the balcony, one floor at a time, and try to clear as many zombies as we can?" Hearing my words, a pin drop silence developed in the hall. It was so silent that the ''roaring'' sound zombies across the door were making, was clearly hearable now. For the next few seconds, George looked at me as if he was looking at an idiot. He touched my forehead with the back of his hand and spoke,"it doesn''t seem like you are sick. Are you sure you are okay, Michael? The zombies didn''t scare you too much, did they?" His questions kind of ticked me off as I red at him before speaking,"hey, it''s not that bad of an idea, right White?" I turned at White, who seemed to be looking away from me as if pretending that I didn''t exist. ''You betraying son of a gun¡­'' I cursed him in my mind before shaking my head as I spoke. "In any case, if you guys aren''t with me, then just give me some rope and help me go down there. I will check the situation and try to kill as many zombies as I can beforeing back up with your help. Is that fine?" This time, all of them looked at me as if I were a madman before George spoke,"dude. Chill. Why are you so adamant about this?" ''Because this fucking door will break in 5 days and we might need to kill 4 times the zombies than this,'' I wanted to shout, but I didn''t as I was trying to be ''rational'' here. "Look¡­ this is suicide and you know it. That is for three reasons: One, you want to go down there and with the support of a rope through the balcony. Sounds way too risky to me. Two, the number of zombies down there is nothing to scoff at. Even if you make it down there safely, I don''t believe you can survive among that many zombies on your own. Andstly, three, even if you somehow miraculously killed all the zombies on that floor, what about the next? There are more zombies down there and even more down below. By the time we reach the ground floor, we will have to deal with more zombies than we have dealt with in the entire building. Michael, please snap out of it. This isn''t a joke, you know? Please take your life more seriously." I saw him trying to be as patient as possible and I looked at everyone looking at me with a strange gaze before I could only nod at them as I sighed in defeat. There was no way through this conversation¡­ So what next? Chapter 34 Level 9 4 DAYS LATER ¡­ [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/ Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increase by 25%] ss: Unssified Level: 8 (24505/25000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 4500/4500 Time Points: 500/500 Strength: 12 Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 8 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 0 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] Taking a look at my stats, I saw them increase by a bit in thest 4 days. While I was doing a little to nothing but exercising in thest 4 days, Caroline and Alex had already gotten along with most of the survivors here. The kids were trying to pick on Alex first, but with his strength, he easily took them down, bing the leader of his small group. I did scold himter in private about how he should be more careful in using his newfound powers or people will be more than just injured by him. Though I doubt he would listen to me. As for Caroline, everyone was behaving nicely with her as she had been actively helping everyone out here, all because of her own moral consciousness. Some men had been ogling her, but since they didn''t do anything further other than give her a bit of a stare, I didn''t do anything¡­ except threaten them politely a couple of times using a knife and a smile. As for White, he had been strangely observing me a lot. Though, since he has helped me out whenever I asked him to, I don''t mind him hovering around me. As for George and the others, they went on to the top on the very first day and checked out the condition. They seemed to be talking about a mechanical power generator which should be present in the gym at the top, and ever since then, I had been trying to avoid them whenever I could. Currently, I was on the 35th floor in front of the gate that blocked the entry of the zombies and was observing the time left before it breaks. [1 day: 20 hours: 34 minutes] The banging sound kepting from the front and afterwsrds I looked at the daily quests which I need to do, [Push up: 1000/1000 Completed] [Pull ups: 1000/1000 Completed] [Run 100/100 miles Completed] [Sit-ups: 0/1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Bonus forpleting all Daily quests: +1 Random Stat] Then I looked at my exp bar, almostpletely filled up before it upgraded to the next level. [Level: 8 (24505/25000 Exp)] "Hupp¡­ let''s start then¡­ 1¡­ 2.. 3¡­" And just like that, I began doing the daily requisite of sit-ups before I got lost in doing the exercise. Though after some time, I heard someone walking towards me. I stopped doing the sit-ups and turned around to see George and White walking towards me with a sighing look. [Sit-Ups: 689/1000 Reward: +500 Exp] George was kind of surprised and in disbelief as he looked at me before he spoke,"how much do you love exercising¡­ No, forget about that, just how much strength do you hold to do that many sets at once?" "Just drink a ss of milk every day in the morning," I joked as I wiped the sweat off my forehead and George chuckled before looking at the gate behind me. "We are thinking of putting another barricade in case this one breaks," George said as he looked at me and I pondered over it. ''It''s a wise move but in the end we are just cornering ourselves,'' I thought and White spoke up, "It''s a nice move, but in the end, we are just cornering ourselves." I nodded at him, being blunt here, but he was right¡­ I looked at George before speaking,"going up and waiting for help is¡­ honestly¡­ not something I am in favor with." George just smiled as he looked at me,"you are talking as if we have any options here." "Give me a few hours to finish my exercise and maybe I can find a way out of this situation," I said, pondering if I can get something from the System on the next level that might get us out of here. "What''s it got to do with your exercise-" George wanted to say something but White interrupted,"are you sure you can?" I looked at White, who was intently observing me, and I nodded at him as I spoke,"yeah¡­ I believe I can think of something. Just let me finish this set." Hearing that, White then took George away from here and I looked at them departing. White probably has an idea that everything I do, no matter how nonsensical, is actually with a motive. Well, since he respects my privacy and didn''t ask me anything about it directly, I am going to trust him as well. Might as well tell him about the System as well¡­ but that is after we escape from this building. I still don''t trust him enough yet. "Now¡­ onto my daily quest," I muttered before beginning to exercise again. And soon enough¡­ [1000/1000 Sit-ups Completed!] [+500 Exp] [Wisdom +1] [Level up!] [+5 Skill points] [+5 Stat points] [New skill unlocked: Return Point] ''Hmmm¡­ Return Point? What kind of ability is that?'' I thought as I looked at that ability before opening up and¡­ [Return Point (Level 1) Effect: Allows the user to save a point in the present time and return to that position using Time Points. Limit: The density of the user should be more than 2 times more than the object ced at that point where the user wants to return. Cost: Distance in meters/ 10 TP] ''Another broken ability!'' I just nkly looked at that ability that I had received this time. Compared to the previous abilities I got, this one was the most absurd. "But with this¡­ I think I can deal with the Zombies down there," I muttered, with a slight grin forming on my face. Chapter 35 Cronas [Time Catcher (Level 5) Effects: Allows the user to take the time of other living beings and convert it into Cronas. Note that the user''s Wisdom must be more than the person on whom it is used. Cost: 5 Cronas obtained per 50 Time Points per 30 minutes Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] "Hmmm¡­ what qualifies as a living being again?" I questioned as I looked at this strange skill of mine. Even on my status, there was a tab showing the amount of Cronas I have. If I wasn''t wrong, Cronas should be usable in the shop, which I should unlock within this week. Though there was one thing that I needed Cronas for¡­ [Skill Fusion] [Would you like to fuse the skills [Active Time Generation] and [Passive Time Regeneration]?] [Sess Chances: 95%] [Cost: 2000 Cronas] I tried checking other skills and if I could fuse them, but the sess chances were below 50 on everyone with the cost being minimum 5000 Cronas. Maybe the skills were so basic and simr that the cost was less and sess chances were high. But that brings us back to the main question,"what qualifies as a living being?" While science has its own definition, I doubt it can work here. For example, even microscopic organisms are living beings in a way but as I suspected, it won''t work on them. Also, it doesn''t work on nts as I hoped it would. I kind of don''t want to immediately try it on a living being like humans or animalsbined, but then that leaves me with little to no options. ''I still haven''t tried it on a ''not dead'' zombie, yet,'' I thought as I looked in the direction of the gate where the zombies were banging incessantly. "But even if I find a living being, 2000 Cronas are a bit too much of a stretch right now," I pondered as I calcted that it would take more than 8 days to get that much Cronas. That too if I kept continuously absorbing the Cronas. "Well¡­ I guess, we can use n- B here," I thought as I moved back to the 36th Floor where I saw Caroline talking with George as she turned towards me and started walking towards me with a smile on her face. "Would you like to eat something?" she asked with a cheerful smile and I nodded as I patted her head before turning to George,"after we finish eating let''s talk about something in private." He looked at me with little hope entering his eyes before he nodded and as I looked around I asked,"where is White? Ask him toe along too and yeah, call Alex as well." He was confused about Alex but still nodded as he spoke,"they are waiting for you at the top floor." ''Top Floor? Hmmm¡­ people must be really afraid of the zombies, that they ended up staying at the top as much farther away from the zombies as possible,'' I nodded at that thought before speaking,"Let''s go up then." Soon all of us went up to the top floor where I found the others trying to enjoy the little bit of time they had. Observing me, different people had different reactions and I turned at White first and called him before turning at Alex and nodding at him. White was helping with some metal work, while Alex was teaching the kids how to deal with small things and at my call, both of them moved towards me with a slight serious look on their faces. "I take it as you have devised a n?" White asked as I shook my head much to George and White''s disappointment but before they could say anything I spoke,"I actually had one more n beforehand¡­ but I didn''t want to proceed with it. But with how things are right now¡­ I am going to put that n forward." George looked at me with a slightly confused expression but White understood where I was going as he asked,"are you sure we should be doing that?" "Yeah¡­ the gate will break in about 2 days and even if we barricade, the max we get is about another week.The food won''tst more than 3 days for this many people either. We don''t have any options here," I sighed as I exined my reasons and White nodded before speaking,"I guess, that makes sense." After that, all of us took our turns to get each a te of food, of which I once again gave mine to the kids. Caroline was against it as usual but I said that I had already eaten some before from the part that we saved for ourselves. After finishing the food, we reached a few floors down and moved to an apartment with its door still intact. Closing the door from inside, I turned to look at the people in front of me. Alex with his sister, Caroline and White on one side, were sitting on the sofa. George and his two men, Adam and ke who were always with him. "How much do you know about zombies?" I asked George as I walked behind him before moving around to reach in front of them as I sat between Alex and Caroline. "That they are ferocious, stronger than average men and their bite can infect people? Is there more to it?" George asked with a confused expression before I spoke again, "Do you remember how I spected that some zombies were stronger than the others?" He nodded and I continued,"well¡­ to be honest. I didn''t just specte but found a couple of zombies much stronger than the others. Though, it doesn''t just end at that¡­ actually I found another interesting fact. Want to see a magic trick?" There was a slight smirk on my face as I saw the narrowed eyes of those three in front of me and George slowly nodded before I put my hand on the table and showed it from both sides,"do you see anything in my hands?" Then spoke,"no nothing." I then asked them to touch it which they did and their answer remained the same. Then¡­ I used the Time Storage to take out an E-grade Zombie Core from it and ced it on the table. "Surprised?!" I asked with a smile on my face as I observed them. Chapter 36 Something was needed to be done anyway Chapter 36 Something was needed to be done anyway I told them about the increased strength of humans along with the theory of zombie I told them that I could help them gain that power, they couldn''t believe their ears. I then threatened them that if they told anyone else about it, I won''t hesitate to kill them, they gulped audibly at my words. All in all, I told them how the cores were ''helping'' the humans to get stronger, also how if done in excess, it can eventfully turn them into zombies before they could take over the zombie genes. "Since you are telling us all this¡­ there must be a catch to it too?" George asked as he looked at me with cautious eyes and I nodded,"yeah there is. Actually, we can fight the zombies more or less if they are scattered and not clumped together. So I was thinking of nning to ce obstacles in between to slow them down, so that we can kill as many as possible, evidently killing all of them sooner orter. But what I want is more people to join us, helping us out, thinning them out. Like a person per room with the upper part of the main door broken and the person inside shouting and attracting the zombies? That would be really helpful, you know?" George gulped as he heard my n. Honestly, it wasn''t that bad of a n because I feel like we will seed by the end and no one will have to die. Though making others believe that would be really hard. "That would be hard¡­ honestly¡­ it sounds impossible. No one would be foolish or brave enough to make themself a bait here," Adam spoke as he observed me and I nodded before speaking,"that is why we will be forcing them. The 35th floor has 12 apartments, 6 on each side. We will need at least 12 people, or even better 24 people, to do that work." Everyone looked at me as if I were a madman and honestly, they weren''t really convinced that this n would work but¡­ possible. Alex. White. Caroline. You guys get ready as well," and then moved out of the apartment, ncing at the dumbfounded faces of everyone there. "Wait a sec! You mean now?!" George asked, a bit freaked out, and I made a confused expression as I asked,"when do you want then? After the zombies break into the 35th floor?" "What are you doing?!!! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME??!!! HEY!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!!" "Don''t touch me! Stay away! You monsters!!!! Don''t you have any humanity left in as we can and then move down one step at a time before locking the door one floor meant all 51 people and not just 24. We kept 4-5 people in each apartment at a time cause¡­ it was better this way than to leave someone up there and let them do something stupid. -p! was nice. "We are going to remove the barricade holding the zombies. Reason is that it is almost going to break in a day or two. So we have decided to open the gate now, kill as many as we can and then move down one step at a time before locking the door one floor down. The reason why we had put you in your respective apartments is that we want you to attract some zombies towards you to make it easier for us to kill the zombies barging towards us. Does anyone have any questions?" As I spoke that, a strange silence ensued on the whole floor and I kind of waited if there was anyone there to ask any question. "Why do we need to sacrifice ourselves for your survival?" a feminine voice came from one of the apartments and I answered politely,"because you are weak and we are this whole thing was going to happen in a few days, anyway." Speaking that, I looked at George, ke and my own team and moved towards the barricaded gate. Since I was the one who devised the whole n, naturally I should be the one to take charge of the most dangerous work. "You guys move up, we will start killing them from one floor up," I spoke as I looked at them and all of them nodded before moving up as they kept peeking in my direction And once they were gone, ''Let''s collect some zombie Exp¡­ it has been sometime I farmed some of them.'' I told them about the increased strength of humans along with the theory of zombie genes; they didn''t believe me. I asked Alex to show them a ''bit'' of his power which he did, they couldn''t believe their eyes. I told them that I could help them gain that power, they couldn''t believe their ears. I then threatened them that if they tell about it to anyone else or I won''t hesitate to kill them, they gulped loudly at my words. All in all, I told them how the cores were ''helping'' the humans to get stronger, also how if done in excess, it can eventfully turn them into Zombies before they could take over the Zombie genes. "Since you are telling us all this¡­ there must be a catch to it too?" George asked as he looked at me with cautions eyes and I nodded,"yeah there is. Actually, we can fight the Zombies more or less if they are scattered and not bound together. So I was thinking of nning to ce obstacles in between to slow them down, so that we can kill as many as possible, evidently killing all of them sooner orter. But I wanted more people to be with us, helping us out, thinning them out. Like a person per room with the upper part of the main door broken and the person inside shouting and attracting zombies? That would be really helpful, you know?" George gulped as he heard my n. Honestly, it wasn''t that bad of a n because I feel like we will seed by the end and no one will die. Though making others believe that would be really hard. "That would be hard¡­ honestly¡­ it sounds impossible. No one would be foolish or brave enough to make himself a bait here," Adam spoke as he observed me and I nodded before speaking,"that is why we will be forcing them. 35th floor has 12 apartments, 6 on each side. We will be needing at least 12 people, or even better 24 people, to do that work." Everyone looked at me as I were a madman and honestly, they weren''t really convinced that this n would work but¡­ "Okay¡­ it''s not like we have enough food to survive any more days," George spoke with a dejected tone as he looked at me with a stare that felt like he was more or less betrayed. "Will we survive in the end?" he asked with a hopeless voice as he looked at me and I casually nodded as I patted his shoulders,"I will try to save as many as I can." I gave him a small smile before speaking,"let''s hurry up then. I want to start as soon as After that¡­ possible. Alex. White. Caroline. You guys get ready as well," and then moved out of the apartment, looking at the dumbfounded face of everyone there. "Wait a sec! You mean now?!" George asked, a bit freaked out, and I made a confused expression as I asked,"when do you want then? After the Zombies break into the 35th floor?" After that¡­ "What are you doing?!!! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME??!!! HEY!!! LEAVE ME!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!!" "Don''t touch me! Stay away! You monsters!!!! Don''t you have any humanity left in you?!!!!!" "F*CK! F*CK! F*CK! F*CK!" "Momma!!! Awaaa!! Momma!!!" "STAY AWAY FROM MY SON!!! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HIM!!! WHERE IS MY SON??!!!!" "George!!! I TOLD YOU THAT WE SHOULDN''T TRUST THEM!!! We can still think about it, George!! Listen to me! George, listen to me¡­." "YOU MONSTERS!!!" "I WILL KILL YOU!!!" ¡­ Soon enough, we ced everyone in the apartments and when I said everyone; I meant all 51 people and not just 24. We kept 4-5 people in each apartment at a time cause¡­ it was better this way than to leave someone up there and do something stupid. -p! move down. -p! I pped twice loudly, and everybody turned quite at once. It was nice; the silence was nice. "We are going to open the Zombie guarding gate. Reason is that it is almost going to break in a day or two. So we have decided to open the gate now, kill as many as we can and then move down one step at a time before locking the door one floor down. The reason why we had put you in your respective apartments is that we want you to attract some zombies towards you to make it easier for us to kill the Zombiesing towards us. Now, coward and pathetic as you are, I know that you guys would rather stay up than to join the good cause, so I had personally decided to make you work for us, for all the food we have given you. In any case, once we are done on this floor, we can let you go before we proceed to move down. Does anyone have questions?" As I spoke that, a strange silence ensued on the whole floor and I kind of waited if there was anyone there going to ask any question. "Why do we need to sacrifice ourself for your survival?" a feminine voice came from one of the apartments and I answered politely,"because you are weak and we are strong. In any case, I will try to save all of you, but if you die, then that''s on you, cause this whole thing was going to happen in a few days, anyway." Speaking that, I looked at George, ke and my own team and moved towards the Zombie guarded gate. Since I was the one who ensued the whole n, naturally I should be the one to take charge of the most dangerous work. "You guys move up, we will start killing them from one floor up," I said as I looked at them and all of them nodded before moving up as they kept peeking in my direction every other time. And once they were gone, ''Let''s collect some Zombie Exp¡­ it has been sometime I farmed some of them.'' Chapter 37 Against The Zombies! I saw many chairs and tables pressed against the door where the Zombies were banging and one by one; I started removing them as I kept my eyes on the door. [1 day: 14 hours: 23 minutes] I began removing the furniture and cing them at a distance from the door, slowly increasing the distance between each piece of furniture so that when the Zombies woulde at me, these obstacles would decrease their speed towards me. With each furniture removed, the time decreased by another hour or so, and by the time I removed all the furniture, I saw the time being decreased to mere minutes. [12 minutes: 12 seconds] Deciding not to open the gate and simply let it be broken down by the Zombies, I casually moved towards the other end of the alleyway. Surprisingly, rather than shouting, all the people in the apartments were keeping their quiet. Maybe they didn''t want to attract the Zombie? Well, who knows, not that anything can be done anymore¡­ As I reached almost halfway, I saw the door almost creaking and the banging sound getting louder and louder. [Side Quests (Optional) 1. Kill all the Zombies from Floor 0 To 35th Total number of Zombies Remaining: 1029* Reward: A random Special Skill 2. Save the survivors on Floor 35 and 36 Total number of Survivors remaining: 54 Reward: +5 Stat Points 3. Barricade the Building and Fortify the defence Reward: Leader(Title) ] I expanded the first quest. [Side Quest: Kill all the Zombies on Floor 0 to 35 Total number remaining: 23(35Th floor), 87(34th Floor), 89(33rd Floor), 78(32nd Floor), 23(31st Floor).... Reward: +5 Stat points] ''So the horde goes down up to the 32nd floor before the number of zombies decreases, huh?'' I thought as I saw the door finally breaking in front of me. -BAAM!!!! The Zombies started walking towards me at a normal walking pace, with some of them moving a bit faster than the others. Standing at the centre of the hallways, I waited for them toe closer to me and once the distance reached close enough, [Temporal Deceleration!] Time slowed to about 50% this time,as I intended it to stop only half way. With the amount of stats I had gained, my strength and stamina were high enough to kill the Zombies without going all out with the skill. ''Slow,'' I muttered inwardly before I started shing the Zombies slowly as I moved forward and before I knew it, my Time Points were already gone. [E-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 24 [Lesser E-Grade Zombies Killed!] x 17 I then started moving back faster as I tried creating some distance between me and those zombies. The obstacles I, along with George ced, helped a lot as well. The zombies were stumbling as they fell down, hitting their feet against the furniture. As I reached the edge of the Floor, I saw a few Zombies reaching 3/4th of the distance of the hallway almost dozen metres away from me and I used [Eyes of the Time Keeper] to check the time they would take to reach me. [7 seconds] My shift to the time points I had right now. [55/ 620TP] [Active Time Regeneration!] I used another skill as I calmed myself and restricted myself to minimum movements. 5 secondster, [355/ 620TP] This time, since the other Zombies were a bit behind, then those in front, I moved forward skillfully, killing the ones in front. [E-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 3 [Lesser E-Grade Zombies Killed!] x 7 Once I saw the number of zombies increase again in front of me¡­ [Temporal Deceleration!] This time, however, I could only use it for a short duration before my TP ran out. [E-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 9 [Lesser E-Grade Zombie Killed] x 11 ''71 Zombies, huh? That''s not even 10 percent of the total, but¡­ I guess this will do for now. I will leave the rest of the work to Caroline, Alex and White,'' I thought before running up. Moving up, I saw Caroline and others looking at me with a tensed expression before everyone clutched their weapons. It was 6 against about 170 Zombies that wereing towards us, and even more Zombies down below. I reached behind them and spoke,"they areing," before turning around and positioning myself along with them. George, Adam and ke had guns with them and I believe they were going to use them right here. ''Kind of waste if you ask me,'' I thought as I looked at them before turning at the Horde Zombiesing towards us slowly and slowly. While the others prepared to strike the Zombies, I recharged my Time points as much as I could. The first one to move forward was Alex himself as he moved forward and used all his powers at once, kicking one of the Zombies, pushing him back at a high speed, hurting the other zombies behind it as well. I saw Alex losing his foothold as he threw that heavy punch and looking at the quest [3 Zombies remaining on Floor 36th] He killed all the other zombies on this floor with a single blow. I saw that when the Zombie flew back and hit the wall, the wall almost broke down into pieces, barely showing us the blue sky behind that wall. With this move alone, I think he killed over 40 zombies or something¡­ White and Caroline moved forward to help Alex while George and his two men were in disbelief as they observed what Alex had done. Though it was only the beginning of their surprises as Caroline also started using her powers, enhancing her speed and skills as she began killing all the zombies rapidly that were arriving towards us. It wasn''t as impactful as Alex, but she seeded in killing at least 2 dozen zombies by herself before her power started running out and she moved back to where I, George and the others were standing. "There are still moreing¡­ I will help them get back their health while the 4 of you stop the Zombie froming here," Imanded George, his two men, and White before looking at Alex and Caroline. Chapter 38 Against The Zombies! X2 "There are still moreing¡­ I will help them get back their health while the 4 of you stop the Zombie froming here," Imanded George, his two men, and White before looking at Alex and Caroline. [Advanced Time Maniption!] I used that ability to increase the recharge rate of Caroline and Alex, so that they can get back to their proper form earlier than they normally should have been. What might have taken about a day or two now will be finished in about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I was healing; I saw White, George and the others firing their rounds at the Zombies. While George, ke and Adam missed shots one after another, White kind of was enjoying shooting those Zombies, with each shot being another headshot. The Revolver had 6 bullets each magazine and white was given 2 magazines¡­ and his total headcount? 12! Man was on fire¡­ watching his shots being hit, George didn''t hesitate to give hisst magazine to White as well. As for Adam and ke, they were too preupied shooting the Zombies, so they fired till their magazines ran out. Once that was done, I saw White taking out a couple of kitchen knives and moving towards the iing Zombies, while George, although scared, still followed him with a knife in his hand. "Aer you guys waiting for them to die? F*cking help out!!" I shouted at Adam and ke, snapping them out of their stupor and nodding with a gulp before moving behind George as well. White was skillfully killing the zombies, but it didn''t seem like his knife wouldst much longer. As for George, he seeded in killing the Zombies, which White missed. Adam and ke became a two-man team, guarded each other''s back while taking out a couple of Zombies. However, one thing that I realised was that they severelycked skills needed to survive. Including George, who was more luckier than skillful, they simply did not have the ability to fight or defend themselves. ''Still¡­ they are much better than those cowards trapped in the apartments below us,'' I thought as I sighed before looking at Caroline and Alex, who were almost healed back to normal. "I will take charge from here. You guys step back," I said loudly before I began moving forward and White nodded before slowly moving back. George and the other two simply ran back as soon as they heard my words. I moved forward with a new set of kitchen knives from my arsenal and watched White and the others running past me while I moved towards the iing zombie horde. ''Let''s not overdo it¡­ 10% should be fine,'' I thought as I activated [Temporal Deceleration!] At this level, the Time points consumption will be around 5 Time points per second, with my passive ability generating an equal amount of 5 Time points per seconds. So that means¡­ ''I can use this ability in this setting without worrying about my TP running out.'' The zombies which were slower became a bit slower, and I smiled¡­ [Title Activated: Zombie Destroyer: When fighting more than 25 Zombies at once. All strikes would be 100% more powerful.] -sh! [Lesser E-Grade Zombies Killed!] -sh! X 3 [E-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 2 [Lesser E-Grade Zombies Killed!] ''Now that doesn''t seem too hard,'' I thought as I smiled before increasing my skills ability to slow time from 10% to 20% -sh! x 13 -sh! x 12 -sh! x 15 [Lesser E-Grade Zombies Killed!] x 23 [E-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 14 [Lesser D-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 3 ''Hmmm¡­ thest three were Lesser-D grades?'' I thought before looking at the never ending horde in front of me. Well¡­ let''s continue¡­ For the next 15 minutes or so, I kept killing the Zombies as I moved forwards before I felt like my body was getting more and more tired. Maybe this was the limit of my strength right now? Well, I guess I deserve a break. I then turned around to see that I had reached quite far from where I started to kill those zombies. Starting from Floor 36th where I began killing them, I was at the door of the 35th Floor where the door which previously stopped the Zombies was. I then slowly moved back as I turned off my Temporal Deceleration and reached the other end of the floor, where Caroline, Alex and the others were observing me with a ridiculous expression. "I am slightly tired, so can you guys take over for me?" I asked with a bit of an exhausted look and White was the one to speak with an expression of disbelief stered on his face. "Slightly?" I looked at Caroline and the others,"Umm¡­ the Zombies areing," I spoke as I pointed at the iing Zombies, however I noticed something. Their number was considerably lesser than before¡­ hmmm.. How many I killed again? [Lesser E-Grade Zombies Killed!] x 87 [E-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 65 [Lesser D-Grade Zombie Killed!] x 21 "..." ''Didn''t I just start killing them for a mere 5 minutes or so? Howe I killed that many in such a short time?'' I questioned before finally noticing the bodies of the Zombies on the floor¡­ ''What?'' Currently, the entire floor was two dead zombiesyered¡­ how did I fail to notice that? ''Maybe I was too tired to notice?'' I thought as I kept it at the back of my mind before I began taking a break while White moved forward to take charge. Alex and Caroline, who were still intently looking at me, too slowly moved behind White while George and the other two simply observed me nkly. As I got some time in my hand, I peeked at the required amount of Exp to get to the next level. [Level 9 (36330/50000)] ''A bit more and the store would be unlocked,'' I thought as I smiled at the bountiful amount of Exp I received in this small amount of time. Chapter 39 Perhaps... I Should Have Been More Careful? By the time I felt refreshed, I stood up and found the guys were killing the Zombies faster than before. Perhaps because the number of Zombies decreased, it was easier for them to kill those Zombies. There were no living zombies on the 35th floor where I was standing. Stretching a little, I began walking down to the next floor. As I moved, I kept an eye on the doors on this floor. Behind each of these doors, there were people cowardly hiding themselves and I could only sigh at them¡­ Well, human beings tend to protect themselves in times of danger rather than help another person out. ''Just what was I expecting from them, anyway?'' I thought before moving down to the 34th floor, where I saw Caroline taking a proper nap and Alex barely holding against the Zombies. My eyes turn wide open at the grim situation that developed on this floor¡­ White was pulling George away from the Zombies behind whom¡­ Adam and ke¡­ they were nowhere to be seen¡­ did they¡­ ? Not wasting time, I ran towards them as I shouted,"why did you guys not run back to the 35th floor where I was?!!!!" Clearly, they could have stepped back and regrouped rather than letting themselves be overtaken¡­ then why? As I was halfway reaching them¡­ -BOOM!!!! I saw a zombie dashing towards Caroline at a rapid speed, from the apartment door right in front of which she was sleeping. Alex focused on that Zombie with a concentrated gaze, but before that Zombie could touch anyone of them, [Temporal Deceleration!] I maxed out my Temporal Deceleration and ran as fast as I could, reach the Zombie faster than it could reach Caroline and Alex. And once I reached that Zombie -BOOOM!!!! I punched that zombie towards that horde as hard as I could. The zombie was pushed at the iing horde and pushed the other Zombies behind as well. However, since there was no notification that he was killed, I assumed that he was still alive. [Health Points: 4320/4500] I saw my hand bleeding and my health decreasing by 180 points against my own attack. Undoing my temporal deration, I activated [Active Time Regeneration!] along with [Eyes of the Time Keeper] While my Time Points regenerated, I kept looking at the timer in front of me that told me when I would be attacked by that Zombie again. [7 seconds] [5 seconds] [3 seconds] I then used the second ability of [Eyes of the Time Keeper] to check 3 seconds into the future and saw the Zombie attacking me from the left, rather than my front. The first thing I did was put 3 Stat points of the 5 extra points I currently had saved into Strength, putting it up to 15, the current max my body can handle. Then, at thest second, [Temporal Deration!] At the exact moment I activated my ability, I saw that Zombie. I turned around and, once again, rather than using any weapon¡­ -BOOOM!!!! I punched that zombie''s head into the ground with all the strength I could muster. [D-Grade Zombie Jumper Killed!] [+250 Exp!] I turned to see George and White still struggling against the Zombies and, with anger in my eyes, I moved forward. However, before I took another step forward, a small hand stopped me. It was Alex. He looked at me with a scared look as he spoke,"brother¡­ you look scary right now." I looked at his scared face for a few moments before I calmed myself down a little, and then spoke,"sorry¡­ I guess I let the anger get to my head. Alex, can you do me a favour?" Alex gulped before nodding as his eyes got concentrated as he asked,"yes brother. Tell me, what do you want me to do?" "Use your power to push the Zombies away back to the 33rd floor. I want to take a break. Can you do that much for me, right now?" I spoke with a tired expression as I looked at my health points. [Health: 3640/4500] Because my strength was more than my body could handle, I ended up hurting myself when I used too much of my power at once. Guess, I should bnce my stats or else my own power will kill me¡­ My hand was more or less shattered at this point, but before the pain could hit me¡­ ''Put 2 more points in the Constitution,'' I thought as I added more points in my health and good enough, my health began healing slowly as well before it reached back to normal. This made me wonder how the system exactly works? Increasing the constitution by 1 increases my maximum health by 250 points, also healing an extra 450 points and when I added another point to it, max points increased by 250 again, adding 475 points to it. [Health: 5000/5000] I turned around only to find Alex moving forward and punching a zombie with all his strength, pushing all the Zombies to begin, also breaking the wall at the edge, showing the clear blue sky beyond the wall. Then Alex turned with a bright smile on his face as he spoke,"brother, is this fine enough?" before his eyes rolled over and he lost consciousness. Before his body can hit the ground [Temporal Deceleration!] I ran towards him and caught him before he could fall on the ground and looked at him,"you did excellent." As I deactivated my ability, As he fell asleep, I slowly put him to the ground and ran towards the door before I closed the door, stopping the Zombies from entering. Finally, when I saw that it would take about 12 hours for the Zombies to break this door, I breathed in relief before I looked at the quest with a really exhausted expression. [Side Quest: Save the survivor on 34th and 35th Floor Total number of Survivors remaining: 52 Reward: +4 Stats] The number of survivors decreased from 54 to 52. The reward decreased from +5 to +4¡­ ''So¡­ they really died, huh? ke and Adam¡­ ''I turned to look at George looking at me with eyes filled with tears of blood as he looked at me as if he was about to break. White was there standing beside him trying to help him up from his emotional state and I pulled myself up again as I took Alex in my arms and moved towards Caroline. Chapter 40 Broken Soul As I moved towards Caroline, White stood up and spoke,"let me take the kid. You help the girl." I looked at Caroline before I nodded and passed on Alex to White. Though before I could move towards Caroline. "YOU! IT ALL HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU!!! IF ONLY YOU HAVEN''T ASKED US TO FOLLOW US YOUR STUPID PLAN BLAKE AND ADAM WOULD HAVE BEEN STILL ALIVE!!!" George shouted as tears kept falling down his face. I saw he had most of his rationality here¡­ perhaps they were more closer than I thought they were? George came running towards me and punched me in the face, which I dly took¡­ [4995/5000] I fell to the ground and he jumped at me, sitting on my chest as he punched me¡­ He punched me again¡­ and again¡­ and again.. "If only¡­" He was trying to speak between his punches and tears kept running down his face before they fell on my face. "If we could have just stayed up¡­" The tears were warm¡­ his punches were getting less harsh than before "Someone would havee up¡­" His despair was taking over¡­ all his emotions wereing out. "Everybody is f*cking stupid¡­" Perhaps he was holding it from the start. "They promise to survive¡­ but they die¡­ they f*cking leave.." How many deaths had he seen in this apocalypse? "Mom¡­ dad¡­ my sisters¡­ and now my best friends¡­ " Until now he was acting brave for his friends'' sake but now that they were gone "Michael¡­ I don''t want to die¡­ but I don''t want to live either¡­" I saw his eyes begging me to save him¡­ "This is too cruel¡­ Why is this happening to us?" I wonder about that too¡­ "Tell me Michael¡­ what should we have done?" He asked me with a broken smile as I looked at him¡­ perhaps we could have saved them? Perhaps it was inevitable¡­ I raised my hand and touched his cheeks, wiped his tears. He looked at me with a tired yet broken expression and I spoke with a serious expression, "Perhaps it would be really hard, but¡­ want to live for me?" He looked at me with a confused expression and I smiled as I answered, "I am trying to save everyone I can. I want to save my family as they''re my priority but also I am trying to save everyone I can. There are more people like you who have lost their everything, there are many who haven''t. Some are like me, who are trying to get back to their family. Help me save my family and then help me save others who are suffering through the same things as us." I lied¡­ but I had no choice but do it or else he would have killed himself. I am selfish¡­ I only see if I can use others or not¡­ I prioritize my family and myself over others. I have seen enough of this world¡­ What happens when you help someone¡­ what you get in return? Just in betrayal Only to those who have really helped me, I will return the favour. Or those whom I can use¡­ I will make them mine as well. "That''s a stupid reason," spoke George as he looked at me with a sad smile, but he was gaining back hisposure, slowly and slowly. He stood up from my chest and then turned around as he spoke,"I don''t know if you are telling a lie or not but, I think I will stick with you until I can. Even though I don''t want to live¡­ perhaps I will keep trying¡­ telling myself that stupid reason that you just gave me." "You did good," I heard White speaking to me and I turned to him. "I will take on from here. I can make sure he won''t die but that is only up to the point you are alive¡­ after that no one can save him from dying," White spoke before he took Alex on his back and started moving up towards George who was slowly walking alone. "Thanks¡­ I guess," I spoke with a low voice before I turned at Caroline and then got her up on my back before I looked at the door, which was still being banged by the zombies and I sighed before moving behind George. ..... Soon we reached up the floor and I saw George opening the apartment doors one by one. Soon everyone got out of hiding from their respective apartments as they looked around for any zombies. First, they freaked out, looking at the dead zombies on the floor, but then a smile bloomed on their faces. Though it was only momentarily before George told them about what happened on the 34th floor. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BLAKE AND ADAM DIED?!!!" one of the men shouted at George as he looked at him. George''s eyes were still dead, and all he spoke was, "The zombies got them before we could do anything." Though others were freaked out by that and some were holding him by the cor, he still didn''t speak any other words. Watching that they didn''t get any answer from him, they moved towards us or more specifically, me¡­ "YOU! It has all happened because of you!! If only you haven''t brainwashed them into doing whatever you shit you pulled, all of us could have survived¡­ ke and Adam would have still been alive¡­ just what do you want from us? Why are you so hell bent on killing us?" one of them shouted, with tears falling from her eyes. The others looked at me for answers and I spoke out another half truth, "The door was breaking¡­ I saw that the barricade wouldn''t have held it for another day or so. I didn''t have any choice¡­ I tried my best to save everyone¡­ thought about the best n, but¡­ this is my limit." "If the best you can do is get two of us killed, then Mr. Michael, you are very limited!!" They spoke with fury filled in their eyes and I was confused about what to do next. Before I could speak anything else, White took over,"If the door would have broken, saving all of you would have been impossible. Almost half of you would have been dead, and that is one of the good oues. We were lucky with the n and got almost over 200 zombies by following that n. If any of you have a n that could effectively kill more than 200 zombies, then please share it." Chapter 41 How To Absorb The Zombie Cores! [Side Quests (Optional) 1. Kill all the Zombies from Floor 0 To 33rd Total number of Zombies Remaining: 594* Reward: A random Special Skill 2. Save the survivors on Floor 35th and 36th Total number of Survivors remaining: 52 Reward: +4 Stat Points 3. Barricade the Building and Fortify the defence Reward: Leader(Title) ] I saw the quest in front of my eyes before turning left at the door at the 34th Floor. Currently, I was sitting against the door of the first apartment on the opposite side of the door where the Zombies were. I sighed as I buried my face on palms as I recalled the face of George once again. Earlier I wasn''t concentrating but when I began thinking deeply about it¡­ ''What if it were Caroline? Or perhaps my brother William?'' I thought, feeling a sudden unexinable heartache that was slowly taking over my mental health. Caroline and Alex were still sleeping above. I checked their status, and they were still fine, which was a relief. If I use [Advanced Time Maniption] I can help them back up but I for now¡­ I just want them to sleep. White is helping George and together they are holding the rest of the survivors up there. ''The best way is to go alone¡­ the risk is higher but at least Caroline won''t be hurt as much¡­'' I thought giving out a dry chuckle as I joked ever so silently, "Maybe I can farm all the Zombies by myself." For the next few seconds, I kept my eyes closed and thought about the whole thing over and over¡­ if I go alone versus If I go with the others¡­ Maybe I should have gone alone from the start¡­ ''Man! Why am I feeling sad about the people that I didn''t even know about,'' I sighed loudly as a single tear dropped off my eyes as I recalled the faces of Adam and ke before I wiped it? I stood up with a slight jump and smiled as I stretched a little before moving towards the gate where the Zombies were going toe through. [Temporal Deration!] I activated it at 50% before opening the door and then used my weapon to sh the Zombies on my front. It wasn''t hard¡­ At this point, I was numbed to the messages that reflected on my system. Killed a few more Zombies and then closed the door from the inside, before I kept moving forward as I continued killing those Zombies one by one. Another 10 minutes passed, and I did not know on which floor I had reached¡­ though all my knives were broken at this point. I sighed as I looked at the iing zombies in front of me. My Time points also were in single digits at this point and I sighed before moving back up to the 34th floor. I yawned a little before closing the door of the 34th floor. [Side Quests (Optional) 1. Kill all the Zombies from Floor 0 to 31st Total number of Zombies Remaining: 523* Reward: A random Special Skill] [Level 9 (38530/50000 Exp)] I looked at the number of zombies and the Exp I needed to get to the next level. Though my interest in them was a kind of reduced at this point. I moved up and saw White talking with George with a serious expression, but they turned quiet for a few moments before moving towards me. I reached them and George asked, "How are things down there?" I saw his expressionless face and spoke,"same as before. Though, all my knives are broken¡­ I kind of came here to restock, if you don''t mind." He nodded before asking,"So when will you be teaching me?" I looked at him and recalled that yeah, there was something like that. I promised to teach him about Zombie energy absorption and after pondering a little I said,"Let''s go down then." So many things happened that I kind of forgot about the Zombie cores¡­ I decided that it would be better to move down and take out the Zombie cores from the D-Grade Zombie as well as Lesser D-Grade Zombies as well. He made a bit of a confused expression but still followed me along with White, who was equally curious. Hmmm¡­ ah! White too hasn''t seen me taking out the core. I guess I can exin to him as well. We then moved down, and I took out the Core from the Lesser D-Grade Zombies one by one, finally reaching the D-Grade Zombie¡­ I saw his head crushedpletely and noticed that the core was broken as well. The system wasn''t picking up the core as well, so I guess the Core must have been gone. Though not minding much, I took out the Zombie cores of all the Lesser D-Grades. Soon we had about 25 E-Grade Zombie cores and I put them all in a small pouch, gave it to him. He looked at the pea sized cores in the pouch before turning at me and I said,"try taking one out and let the energy fill inside your body." Without any second thought, he took out a zombie core and began absorbing the core. It didn''t take him much time. Compared to Caroline, it took him about 15 minutes to absorb the core. ''How long will it take him to settle the energy absorbed from the core?'' I asked the system. [20 hours: 13 minutes: 15 seconds] "You should let the energy settle inside your body before taking another one. A safe margin should be a day," I spoke, and he nodded before moving away from there. ''How long till the Zombie genes take over him?'' I asked the system again [15 days: 12 minutes: 19 seconds] Well¡­ I guess it should be easier for him to absorb the energy and he should be able to check the energy as well once he gets stronger. ''For those who are gaining energy without any core, I guess it should take about 3 to 4 months before every surviving human gets their Zombification processpleted by itself naturally. So that means everyone should be at least an F-Grade Zombified human by the end of 3 months, huh?'' ''Though¡­ I guess the closer you are to Zombies, the faster your Zombification process. Probably some people will get that power within a week or two¡­ Hmmm, doesn''t that mean some have already reached that point?'' I thought as I realized that the world had started changing in another direction and that too at an extremely rapid rate. Chapter 42 Fight! Fight For Your Life! [2 hours: 15 minutes: 16 seconds] [5 hours: 45 minutes: 16 seconds] I saw the time that Caroline and Alex will take to wake up. They were both sleeping on a bed on the 36th floor, and I turned to look at the door where a young girl of about 10 years of age was peeking at Alex. I then stood up and started leaving the room, but before I could go too far, "Are they dead?" that little girl asked in a hushed voice and I turned to look at her before smiling and speaking,"they should wake up within 5 or 6 hours. They are just tired." Once she heard what I said, her face blossomed with a smile as she answered,"thank you devil like person." At her words, I almost slipped before awkwardly looking at her. I wanted to correct her but then I decided not to, because¡­ It wasn''t too off the mark. Given the current situation, that is. Then I moved out to see White standing in front of the door. I guess he came here to check up on Caroline and Alex as well. "Take care of them. They should wake up before eve," I said before moving towards the next apartment. He silently looked at me before moving inside the room. Taking a peek in the next apartment, I saw George silently absorbing the zombie core without speaking any word as he closed his eyes and sat on the sofa. I then sighed before moving towards the lower floors, slowly reaching the 34th floor where the zombies were once again banging against the door. I haven''t seen the rest of the survivors, and neither have they met me again. Currently, they were hiding on the higher floors and I kind of gave up trying to talk to them. I slowly moved towards the door and once again opened it up, however this time I didn''t use Temporal Deceleration but simply killed them using the kitchen knives that I restocked. I cleared the 33rd floor. 32nd floor. 31st floor. 30th floor. 29th floor. 28th floor¡­ 25th floor. I was taking small breaks to catch my breath, this time to recover my energy. This way, it was easy to move down the floors without worrying about getting exhausted. Once I reached the 25th floor, I thought of doing something¡­ [Time Catcher (Level 5) Effects: Allows the user to take the time of other living beings and convert it into Cronas. Note that the User''s Wisdom must be more than the person on whom it is being used. Cost: 5 Cronas obtained per 50 Time Points per 30 minutes Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] I then killed all the zombies, except for one, which was a Lesser E-Grade zombie. I moved closer to it and then pushed it to the ground. Once down, I climbed up on its back and then touched its head as I applied the skill on it. [Time Catcher!] I saw that I was absorbing strange energy again, however something else happened that surprised me¡­ [Would you like to consume all the Desation Energy and convert it into Cronas?] ''Now, isn''t that a surprise?'' I thought as a slight smile arrived on my face and¡­ [Comparing the charm difference between the user and the subject] [Calctions done!] [The Charm difference is greater than 5: The user can absorb the Desation Energy] [Would you like to proceed?] [Yes/No] I pondered about it for a few moments before clicking on [Yes] Then, I saw a strange energy flowing out of the zombie and flowing into my body. The zombie started shaking rigorously before it fell down unconscious. [Lesser E-Grade Desation Energy Absorbed!] [+3 Cronas received] I saw that I didn''t receive any Exp from it, so I tried killing it, but even after bashing its head into crumbs; I didn''t receive any message. ''So I get a choice between Cronas and Exp, huh?'' I thought before looking at the iing zombies who wereing from downstairs. ''I guess I will aim for 2000 Cronas first,'' I thought as I moved down. I wanted to see the effect of the fusion skill, as the previous quest was still there enough to get me to level 10. [Clear all the floors of Libra building: 45/70] [Reward: (1) Dungeon Key (Silver Rank) x 3 (2) +10,000 Exp (3) Random Skill Upgrade] I then moved down, absorbing one zombie after another, [+3 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] [+7 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] . . . Soon I reached floor 10, and I looked at the amount of Cronas I had. At this point, I had absorbed about 180 zombies or so and as I was killing them; I realized that the amount of Cronas that the zombies provided on killing them each was as follows: Lesser E-Grade: +3 E-Grade: +5 Lesser D-Grade: +7 Surprisingly, I didn''t find any D-Grade zombies anymore and unfortunately, the system wasn''t showing the types of zombies that I needed to face. Just the number on each floor. [Total Cronas: 860] Compared to how much an average skill fusion was costing, it wasn''t much, but I guess it was better than nothing. I was about to move down to the next floor but before I could do so; I felt like somethinging towards me and I used Temporal Deceleration immediately [Temporal Deceleration!] My eyes looked around as I gulped¡­ I couldn''t see anything or anyone, but I was sure there was someone around me. ''How long will I be attacked?'' I asked and [1 seconds] Before I could react, a punchnded on me from my front and I flew back a considerable distance before -Boom! -Thud! After hitting against the wall at the very back of the alleyway, I fell down on the ground. My vision slightly blurred as I looked at the front¡­ [Health points: 245/5000] ''When will I be hit again?'' was the first question that I asked with barely holding on to consciousness. [3 Seconds] Was what I saw on the screen in front of me. Chapter 43 Solo Hunting! [3 seconds] [2 seconds] [1 second] [Return!] -Boom!!! I vanished from my original ce back to where I was previously hit and turned around to see the ground slightly cracked where I was before. There still wasn''t anything visible in front of me, but I kept using the [Eyes of the Time Keeper] to check the time. [8 seconds] First things first, I switched the title... [Title switched from: Zombie Destroyer to Health Freak] [Health Freak: Your health regenerates at the rate of 10 HP points per sec when it falls below 40%] I needed my health back up and then the pain was really messing up my senses right now. [7 seconds] [230/620 TP] I still had enough time to break out of the situation¡­ but the question was how exactly¡­ [6 seconds] Something that will surely save me from this situation. [5 seconds] I then closed my eyes as I took a deep breath and rxed myself a little. [4 seconds] I was bleeding heavily, but the healing effect was kind of soothing as well.. [3 seconds] [Eyes of the Time Keeper!] [Temporal Deceleration!] I saw three seconds into the future and saw the attacking from the front again. He was hitting my face directly this time¡­ And judging by the distance he traveled in thest 5 seconds¡­ he was almost near me. [Time Storage!] I took out the shotgun I got from the top floor and aimed directly in front of me at my head level. [2 seconds] -Shot!!! As soon as I did that, I saw blood pouring out of that invisible thing in front of me. Though now that his blood was flowing over his own body, he was more or less visible now. -Shot!! I shot again, pushing him back as it fell on his back and moving forward immediately, I stepped up on him before pointing the shotgun at his head and¡­ -Shot!!! [D- Grade Zombie (Chameleon) Killed!!] [+250 Exp received!] As soon as I killed him I sat on the ground before cing myself against the wall. ''This is surely going to attract the zombies from below,'' I sighed as I saw my health going up slowly 10 points a second. For the next 5 minutes, I kept resting as I saw my health filling up to 2000 before stopping there. [Title change: Health Freak -> Zombie Destroyer] ''Well¡­ this was really unexpected,'' I thought as I sighed in slight distress before taking out the first aid kit that Caroline put in my bag a long time ago. Maybe having the system got to my head. I thought I was never going to be hurt, but¡­ I guess you can never be too careful. I applied the medication over my wounds before looking at my Health Points. They were slowly healing back by a point or two every 10 seconds. I proceeded to take out the zombie core of that D-Grade zombie from his head. It was slightlyrger than those from Lesser D-Grade ones. "Well, at least it''s better than nothing," I muttered before standing up and then¡­ continued moving down. I don''t think things would change in going up¡­ I will be only putting others in danger that even I can''t escape properly. I then slowly moved down the floor as I saw a couple of zombiesing towards me¡­ "Well¡­ let''s resume the party then," I chuckled a little before¡­ -Boom! I pinned one against the wall and then absorbed its energy [+3 Cronas] The other was approaching me and I grabbed him by his neck before absorbing him, too. [+5 Cronas] Surprisingly, I could only absorb them from the neck and above and not anything below it. Absorbing both of them, I moved downward floor by floor l, however, this time had my eyes on the timer on when I would be hit. Floor 9 had 12 zombies. Floor 8 had 45 zombies. Floor 7 had 47 zombies. Floor 6 to 3 had a total of 212 zombies. After killing the zombies upto the 3rd floor, I took a break as I looked at the door in front of me. While I had killed so many zombies, I ended uping across 16 D-Grade zombies. However, despite their physical aspects being rather strong, there wasn''t much more to them. I mean, it was hard to kill them and I almost had to risk my life every time I fought with them, but it wasn''t as bad as when it was that invisible zombie. Though I was wondering how I should deal with the lower 2 floors. [Floor 2: 107 Zombies Remaining Floor 1: 141 Zombies Remaining] I sighed as I checked my status once again¡­ [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Zombie Destroyer [Zombie Destroyer: When fighting more than 25 zombies at once. All strikes would be 100% more powerful.] ss: Unssified Level: 9 (41230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 2700/5000 Time Points: 620/620 Strength: 15 Constitution: 12 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 11 Charisma: 8 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 2450 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] My eyes looked at the darkness that almost took over the light as the night was arriving. So, rather than continuing, I closed the door on the 3rd floor before moving back up. I made sure to put a couple of pieces of heavy furniture, along with the bodies of the dead zombies, in front of the door. I checked the time it would take the zombies to break the door [3 Days: 12 hours: 2 minutes: 34 seconds] Turning around, I slowly moved up as I looked at that skill, [Skill Fusion] [Would you like to fuse the skills [Active Time Generation] and [Passive Time Regeneration]?] [Sess Chances: 95%] [Cost: 2000 Cronas] I then pressed the ''Yes'' button visible on the system screen. [Proceeding to fuse two skills] [Fusion will take 30 minutes to seed] [Time remaining for the skills to fuse: 29 minutes: 59 seconds] The timer began the count down and meanwhile; I decided to slowly walk up the floors. As I walked up, I looked at the zombie bodies lying around me. Then my mind went to theparison between a Lesser D-Grade and a D-Grade zombies¡­ the disparity wasrge. It was like a bicycle had been suddenly upgraded to a bike. It was kind of scary to think about what the next grade of zombie would be like¡­ As I was thinking and walking up the floors slowly and slowly. Time passed before I knew it as I reached floor 32nd and¡­ [Skill fusion seeded!] [You may choose one of the two skills: 1. Time Flow 2. Meditation] Chapter 44 Fused Skill [Meditation(Level 1): Allows the user to generate 500 Time Points per second Requirement: The user needs to be in a state of minimum movement Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] [Time Flow(Level 1): Allows the user to generate 20 Time Points per second passively. Requirement: None Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] I saw the two skills with a surprised expression. Though, since I had already been greeted with so many powerful skills, I was actually expecting something like this. ''Which should I choose? Mediation will bring back the total amount of Time Points in a single second, but without passive TP generation I would need to recharge it every often so¡­ as for Time Flow, while it does allow me to use my current skills without much problem, if I get a skill in the future that costs a lot of Time Points¡­. I might need to be careful of how and where I use my Time Points,'' I pondered a bit more before I looked at that skill. In the end, I chose Time Flow simply because it would help me face the near future zombies without thinking about my Time Points. [Path chosen: Time Flow] [System found that the previous skills had level Level 8 and 5 respectively] [Upgrading the Fused Skill!] [Upgradation Complete!] [Time Flow(Level 3): Allows the user to generate 60 Time Points per sec. Requirements: None Skill Point required to upgrade the Skill: 30] "..." I nkly looked at the new skill I got before I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes to check if I was really looking at what I was looking at. After I confirmed that what I was looking at was indeed the Level 3 Time Flow Skill, I ended up chuckling silently before I moved up. Reaching the 35th floor where Caroline and Alex were before, I moved inside the apartment to see White reading a book and Alex sitting with the girl who was previously peeking at him. As for Caroline, she was awake but was still resting on the bed as she observed me with a weak smile. [Inspect!] I smiled at her before taking a proper look at her [Name: Caroline Olivia Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-F) ss: Archer Description: An artist who learnt the ways of the painting and other rted brush methods. She also excels in archery, guitar ying and simr activities that require concise precision. Zombification: 99%*[Reach 100% to evolve into the next grade] Cessation Energy: 240/540 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 27 Constitution: 25 Dexterity: 34 Intelligence:21 Wisdom:14 Charm: 28] ''99%, huh?'' I thought as I moved closer to her and spoke,"Hey, you okay?" She nodded before slowly getting up as I sat beside her. She then leaned on my shoulder as she mumbled,"I am sorry¡­" I grabbed her hand and patted her head with my other hand as I spoke,"it is fine. You did great¡­ There was little you could have done in that situation." She smiled a little, but that was mostly a forced smile as the death of ze and Adam was still probably affecting her. I then looked at her as I spoke,"how are you feeling, right now?" and she said,"a bit weak¡­ feels like all my energy is being sucked into my chest from my body." I nodded at her before taking out an E-Grade zombie core and spoke to her,"try absorbing this." At mymand, she began absorbing the core and within a few minutes; I saw her Grade changing from F to E as her stats transformed as well. [Name: Caroline Olivia Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-E) ss: Archer Description: An artist who learnt the ways of the painting and other rted brush methods. She also excels in archery, guitar ying and simr activities that require concise precision. Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 460/ 1040 Status: Healthy [Hungry] Skills* Strength: 34 Constitution: 29 Dexterity: 40 Intelligence:23 Wisdom:15 Charm: 33] Her stats were going off the charts, and I could only sigh as Ipared them to mine. I saw her turning more white as her skin turned pale every second. "Take more," I muttered, giving the rest of the cores to her. She absorbed the rest of the cores as fast as her body could and after she was done, she turned silent for a few moments. ''How long till she ovees the zombie genes?'' [12 hours: 14 minutes: 23 seconds] ''How long till the zombie genes overpower hers?'' [28 hours: 19 minutes: 45 seconds] [Advanced Time Maniption!] I decreased the time of her taking over the zombie genes by 200 times and¡­ [3 minutes: 47 seconds] I let her sleep in my arms for the next 5 minutes and as soon as the timer went off; I saw her slowly opening up her eyes as she looked at me with a confused expression. Then a smile blossomed on her face as she asked, "What did you do?" "Kissed the pain away," I smiled as she blushed red as she looked at me. Currently, she was a few inches away from me and I felt a sudden rush in my body but.. "Cough. Cough. There are kids here," spoke White as he looked at us with a slightly awkward look and both Caroline and I observed the kids with a bit of a stupefied expression. I totally forgot about them¡­ oops! "Well¡­ what were you doing down there for thest 5 hours?" asked White with a concerned expression and, hearing that, Caroline looked at me with a slightly confused expression. "I went down," I spoke as I looked at White and he narrowing his eyes at me he asked, "How much down?" Caroline looked at me with a slightly angry expression as realization struck her and she spoke,"don''t tell me you went down alone to kill the zombies by yourself?" Awkwardly, I turned my head away from Caroline before White asked again sternly this time,"how much down?" I looked at him as he was seriously observing me. My eyes then drifted to Alex and that girl, looking at me with a curious expression as well, while Caroline was waiting for my answer before she would get to the conclusion of what to do with me. "Well¡­ I went down to¡­ the 3rd floor." Chapter 45 What Does The Future Holds For Us? "Well¡­ I went down to¡­ the 3rd floor." "..." Caroline "..." Alex "..." White "..." George, who just entered the room. A pin drop silence developed in the entire room as I looked at everyone present there before turning to George. "You seem exhausted. How is the absorption going on?" I asked, trying to change the topic, but they were still looking at me with that stupefied expression. "You went down until 3d floor?" White asked with a questioning look. "Yes." "What about the zombies? How did you get past them?" George inquired with a slight, hopeful look. "I killed all of them," I spoke, as I observed his expression changing to stupefied again. "..." Once again, an awkward silence developed throughout the entire room. This situation was kind of nerve racking. I mean, fighting the D-grade zombies was actually easier than trying to figure out what to speak at this moment. "Well¡­ is this how he always is?" George asked looking at White, who simply raised his both hands in surrender as he spoke, "Don''t ask me. I just met him a few days ago when he came to the top floor." His eyes then drifted to Caroline, who also made an awkward smile before turning at me with a slight re as she asked, "Couldn''t you have waited for me to wake up? I know you are strong and stuff, but don''t you think, Michael, that you should depend on others a little?" Her eyes were piercing mine, and I was trying to avoid her gaze as much as possible right now¡­ I was going to tell her about the D-Grade zombie that I fought with but looking at her¡­ ''I should rather not tell her, if I want to keep my life,'' I made an inward dry chuckle as I looked back at her. "I don''t expect you to listen, so from now on I''ll always be with you and that''s final," she dered and I kind of reacted with a surprised expression as I tried reasoning with her, "But-" "But?" She red at me with a threatening look and I shut my mouth. "Sister is scary!" The girl sitting beside Alex spoke out with fear in her eyes and observing that she was getting terrified, Caroline then sighed before smiling at her. "What is your name, sweetheart?" She asked the girl and even though the girl was scared, she answered in a sheepishly low voice, "My name is ra Reeva, sister." "That''s a really nice name, ra. Where are your parents, ra? Won''t they be worrying about you right now?" She asked and ra turned silent at that. Her eyes were looking down, and soon tears began falling down her eyes. Alex kind of sighed at that beforeforting the girl with a pat as he spoke,"ra''s parents are office workers, working in the office right in front of our building. Good news is that they are alive, but¡­ the zombies have flooded that building as well, so¡­." Alex''s voice trailed off in the end before he spoke,"let''s go, ra. We should let the elders talk among themselves." Alex, before moving out, turned to me and said,"brother, can I ask you for a favor?" I nodded at him. "Can you at least talk with the people above? I know they are¡­ how they are, but still. Please talk with them at least once," he spoke before moving out of there. For the next few moments, I kept quiet before I turned to White as I asked,"out of 10, how bad things are with the survivors?" "I would say 7. It''s not impossible to talk it out with them, but based on what has just happened, I guess they are going to be angry for a while," he spoke with a pondering expression. "Is it because of the deaths?" I asked again, but this time George chimed in as he spoke." I don''t think so. I mean, the deaths might have affected them, but overall, they had already seen their fair share as we were moving up. ke and Adam weren''t even rted to them. They just came here from outside to stay the night at my apartment. If anything, it''s rted to you pressuring them into unwanted circumstances, against their will. I mean, there wasn''t any better option visible to us back then, but¡­ you know how people are, right?" I observed George for a few moments before pondering about what we should do next. "Actually, it''s not that hard to gain their trust though," it was Caroline who spoke out this time and all of us turned to her. "While I was helping them out, I noticed that there were only three basic things that they wanted. Food. Protection. Fear free future. If you can provide, maybe at least one of the three or possibly two of the three things, I guess you can gain their trust back." White was surprised to see such a keen observation from Caroline and in the end he too agreed that all she said was correct. As for George, he didn''t give out much reaction this time. Instead, he asked me, "What are your ns after this? I mean, after escaping from this building?" This made me think about my future ns once again. Earlier, I just wanted to escape away from here and reach my family, but while going down the floor I thought of another idea. "I was thinking about¡­ barricading the entire building, including the parking area and making this ce a safe zone¡­ though it is a kind of pipe dream if you ask me¡­ still I was thinking if it can work?" I think I saw George faintly smiling before his expression changed back to normal and he nodded as he answered. "I''ll think about it as well. If I get any good ideas, I''ll tell you." Then I saw him going outside from the room as he said," I just came here to check up on you since I heard your voice. I will be back to absorbing the cores now." Chapter 46 Talk At The Terrace! The night soon came, and I moved out of the room as I asked Caroline to sleep a bit more and White as well, since he had been staying awake for quite some time. I also helped George a bit. I also took a bath before changing my clothes cause I felt like I needed to do that before moving towards the top floor. For now, I just wanted to take a break and take a look at how things are going on around the area. Moving up, I slowly found out that people were silently sleeping in their respective rooms, with some of them talking with each other about how things are getting worse and worse. Ignoring them, I slowly moved up and reached the terrace where I found an elderly couple looking at the night view. Under the half moon night, I kept walking towards the railing beside the elderly couple who, after looking at me, chuckled a little and turned silent for a few seconds. "The deviles to take a view of the night?" thedy asked as she smiled at me and I kept my silence, observing the view in front of me. It was really creepy with all the lights turned off. I could faintly hear a few gunshots at a distance, too. ''Perhaps someone was fighting for their life again?'' "Hey, devil kid. Can you guess what we were talking about right now?" The man asked me with a slight stretch and I turned at them a bit confused before asking,"how to kill me?" "Pfft¡­ hahaha¡­ that was a good one," that manughed as he looked at me before wiping out his tears and speaking,"well, unfortunately you are wrong on this one. We were wondering about why we should continue to live in this ce?" A bit confused, I turned to them as I asked,"what do you mean by that, sir?" "Ai! A nice devil, I see. I like it. I like it. Well, as for your answer, young, respectful devil, we were thinking of going to the afterlife. What do you think about it?" he spoke, making me look at him with a worried yet scared face. I was confused to why would they be thinking about something so stupid. "I see that you really care about people''s lives, eh? I guess you are really a nice devil. I am d¡­ I am d¡­ So, listen, kid. For the first thing, we are getting too old, our chances of surviving get less as time passes, so in the end we are nothing but a burden no matter where we go, right?" He spoke and I could not refute it¡­ I wanted to tell them reasons to live, but thedy continued, "We just lost our kids to the monsters¡­ our only grandkid is in a primary school a short distance from here, but when we checked it from this ce yesterday, that ce was infested with zombies and more and more zombies were entering there. So¡­ even though we want to be hopeful, I don''t think we can take anymore of those dreadful thoughts." I turned silent with my mouth still a bit open¡­ "Even though he might survive, how much do you think a kid can survive? If not the zombies, the people might get to him, you know?" spoke that man with a sigh and a painful expression formed on his face. "So¡­ rather than turning into a monster that killed our family, we just wanted to die as humans. Don''t you think that is a fine choice?" he spoke with a sad smile and I just kept looking at him, wondering what I should speak. "Why don''t you¡­ why don''t you hope a little more? Live a little more?" I spoke as I looked at them and the man smiled as tears starteding out of his eyes as he asked, "Kid. Didn''t you just hear what I said? Why exactly do you want us to live? To suffer more? To see more people dying every day before, either we are betrayed by one of our own or perhaps sumb to the monsters and then be one of them?" I took a deep breath before speaking, "Help me then¡­ help create a ce where one can live freely without fear of the zombies¡­ In return¡­ I will look for your grandson. If he had turned into a zombie, I would kill him and tell you. If he is alive, I will bring him back to you." They just kept looking at me for a few moments before that man spoke,"don''t you think that''s a pipe dream? How can you be so sure that you can create such a heavenly ce in this hell?" "I won''t create a heavenly ce¡­. But I will make this ce a hell for the monsters¡­ after all, aren''t I the devil?" I spoke with a cheeky smile and that man looked at me for a few moments before a small smile formed on his face. "A hell for the monsters, huh? Sounds nice for some reason¡­ but what exactly do you want from these old bones, kid? What can you possibly expect them to do?" he asked I pondered about it for a few moments before speaking,"I think there are many things you can do. How about I teach you a few things which I have learned from my college days?" A smile formed on my face as I observed them and they, too, looked at me with a slightly curious expression. "Can I join you as well? I don''t want to be a burden to other people¡­ and I don''t want to die as well¡­" spoke a weak young voice from a distance and I found a kid standing in front of us. "Sure. Why not?" I spoke with a slight smile¡­ Perhaps talking with them properly was all it needed to earn their trust. Though, I need to speak with my actions as well. Chapter 47 I Will Stay Close To You! I soon went down to the 68th floor with the couple and the kid. Talking with them, I realized that they knew a bit about medicine and first aid, which helped me tell them more about how to apply medicine and their effects. I told them about how things work in the medicine world and how they can take a proper approach towards healing people. I was keeping things as basic as I could so that they could sink in the knowledge. It took about a couple of hours to teach them basic first aid and what to do in dangerous situations, which they learnt quite fast. Though, as I finished telling them everything, they kept looking at me as if they were looking at someone divine¡­ except for their words, "Are you sure you are not a devil?" I almost slipped as I heard that and I red at the couple as well as the kid, who wasughing. "Well, you are not an angel, and only a devil could possess such knowledge and the ability to teach it so well," he grinned as he looked at me and I sighed as I smiled at them as well before bidding them farewell and moving down the floor. As I moved down to the 35th floor, I saw a shadow standing in the darkness in front of the apartment where Caroline was. "Excuse me!" I asked as I called out whosoever was there and I heard a familiar voiceing from there, "Michael?" Caroline asked with a slight questioning voice and I answered her,"yeah. It is me." I then moved towards her with a slight smile on my face and touched her head. It was quite dark, but I could still barely make out her face and honestly¡­ She looked quite beautiful. "Where were you for thest few hours? Don''t tell me you went down again all by yourself?" she spoke as she touched my face. Though unlikest time, this time there was worry in her voice. There was a fear in her voice¡­ and grasping her soft hand with my own, I spoke in a calm voice, "I just went up to the terrace to get my head cleared up." "Ah! Is that so?" she breathed in relief before she asked,"so? How was the view up there?" "Dark. Creepy. I felt chills running down my spine¡­ luckily two warm souls were there tofort me and we talked a little about life and stuff," I answered as I recalled the couple with whom I was talking up until now. "Huh? You talked with someone? Who was it?'''' There was worry in her voice as I heard a slightly shaken voice, but when I told her about the elderly couple, her slightly worry-filled voice became energetic again. "Did you sleep well?" I changed the topic again and she said,"mhmm. I feel much better now. What about you, Michael? Did you get any sleep?" "Yeah, I took a couple of naps," I lied to her cause telling her that I didn''t sleep for about a week now will only make her worry more. Though, looks like she didn''t like my answer as she spoke, "Just naps? You should get proper sleep too, Michael. Come with me. You are going to sleep now. We can''t do anything during the night anyway," she spoke as she dragged me back to the bedroom where she had previously been sleeping. Reaching the bedroom, she let my hand go and said,"Sleep." Honestly, I wasn''t really¡­ or maybe I was tired, okay, but it wasn''t too much¡­ though I doubt I can get away from here. "All right, I will sleep¡­ is that fine?" I said as I took off my shoes and then removed my bag filled with weapons that I always carried with me. Removing it properly, I ced it on the floor against the bed and then reached the bed, where Iy on my back. -Click! I then heard a clicking sound of the door closing and I wondered if Caroline went away from here. Well, she is really a caring girl¡­ I should make myself stronger for her sake as well.. "It is going to be more turning tomorrow, huh?" I mumbled silently as I ced both my hands behind my head and looked at the dark ceiling in the darkroom. -Crrrrrr! The window to the balcony opened up and the light of the moonlight entered the room, lighting up the room a little. "Maybe it will be harder¡­ but with us together¡­ it will be a little bit easier too," Caroline spoke as she moved towards me and climbed up on the bed in her night suit. It was a y colored silky top with pajamas, as much as I could make out from the moonlight before sheid beside me, cing her head on my arms, turning to my side with her body touching mine and one hand on my chest. My heart started racing really fast and my head was spinning a little. My body was reacting against the touch she provided me with. I could feel her breath against my chest, and the feeling of her soft chest was also¡­ very intimate. She then slowly ced her leg on my body, trying to get into afortable position as she slept beside me. "Thank you¡­ for saving me¡­" she spoke as sheid on me with her grip tightening on my shirt, but I couldn''t properly respond because I was already having difficulty in concentrating on anything other that her body¡­ but still I spoke, "It is.. fine." "No matter what they say about you, Michael, I will always be with you. Standing on your side, okay?" she spoke as she ran her ring finger over my chest. So I kind of was able to make out that she was drawing a circle on my chest. "Okay," was what I said without understanding her question¡­ Then¡­ she brought her lips closer to my ears and I think¡­I heard something¡­ "Hey¡­ Wanna do it?" she asked in the most melodious voice I ever heard from her. Chapter 48 A Night To Remember[R-18] [Warning: This chapter contains 18+ Contents. The current chapter and the following contains depiction of Nudity, S*x and Explicit scenes.] ..... "Hey¡­ Wanna do it?" she asked in the most melodious voice I ever heard from her. Hearing those words made my heart beat so high that I could hear it¡­ "I¡­" I was about to say something but she spoke again, "Just say yes¡­" Her voice was filled with ecstasy and I gulped as I spoke slowly¡­"yes." As her soft breath slowly brushed against my ear, I then felt her lips touching my ear. Then slowly she opened her mouth and gently bit my ear. I shrieked a little in return for her actions and I heard a chuckle from her mouth before she let go of my ear. I felt her hand on my chest which slowly brushed up a little as they reached my head and gently turned my face with those soft hands of hers; she made me look into her eyes that were only a couple of breaths away from mine. With her hands still on my cheeks, she spoke,"close your eyes," and I did so. Then I felt her soft lips gently pressed against mine before her hands went down a bit to my chest and she started unbuttoning my shirt one button a time before she reached the fourth button and then stopped as her hands slowly entered my shirt touching my bare chest. Then she stopped kissing me, making me open my eyes as I looked at those beautiful eyes of hers. Her face was a bit more red than normal and I could see her blushing as well. Turning to her a little, I then touched her cheeks as well, before I touched those soft lips with my thumb. They felt soft¡­ a bit warm and for some reason... enchanting to touch. "Close your eyes," I spoke with a bit of a smile and she blushed before closing them and then slowly I connected my lips with hers. Just like her, I too started unbuttoning her soft silky night dress¡­slowly and slowly I went to thest button, opening her toppletely from the front. Gently brushing my hands up, I felt her bra covering her breasts. Sliding down my hands into her bra, I slowly touched her nipples¡­ "Mmmmm!!" I heard her slightly moan, and I felt like teasing a bit more then I gently pressed her breasts against my hands. "Mmmmm!!" Then I felt her hand reaching for mine before she pulled it away from her breasts slowly. Once she did that, she stopped kissing me again and gently pushed me, making mey on my back again. Then I felt her climbing up on me as she sat on my body with a beautiful smile on her face. I saw her unbuttoned shirt with slight lust in my eyes. Then she tilted her head a little as she observed my eyes concentrated on her chest, which was covered with a bra. I heard her chuckling a little again before she bent her body towards me and asked with a lustced voice,"want to see them?" and I could only gulp a little before I nodded. She then went back to sitting up straight on me, before I saw her moving her hands at her back through her top and she began unlocking her bra. My heart beat rose again as my breath became a bit heavier¡­ Maybe she felt me down at her bottom where she was sitting. She stopped for a few moments and a blush formed on her face before she took off her bra and then slowly let it fall. I saw them¡­ her bare chest.. Her breasts¡­ I saw them with my own two eyes. They looked so enchanting¡­ She then used her hands to grab my hand and slowly bent forward before making me touch her bare breast. I could feel her breast against my hands and for a few moments I kept grabbing them before I got up on my back and reached closer to her as I used my other hand to grab her and support her from the back. Then¡­ I began kissing her neck¡­ "Mhmmm" she moaned a bit as I used my tongue¡­ Slowly moving down as I bent my body forward a little and kissed her breasts gently before using my tongue on them. The more I used my tongue, the more she moaned before I bit her nipples a little¡­ "Ah!" Earlier she was trying to hold her moan, but with this she let it go¡­ For the next few moments, I kept feeling her breasts¡­ I kept tasting them¡­ they felt lika aphrodisiac¡­ they tasted like aphrodisiac¡­ After minutes of feeling them¡­ tasting them¡­ I moved back up, kissing her neck¡­ then to her ears¡­ She held on to me before she unbuttoned the rest of my shirt buttons. Then I reached her lips and let my tongue get through her lips while also helping her remove her top¡­ one sleeve at a time, I removed her top and then put it behind her while she did the same with mine, except she threw my shirt at a distance. She then, while continually kissing me with her tongue, pushed my body back on the bed, making me fall on my back. I then felt her kiss getting shallower before she started kissing my neck. While she was kissing me, she bit me a little, giving me a couple of hickeys as she chuckled as I shrieked at them. Then I felt her moving down to my chest as she kept kissing my chest with her gentle lips¡­ I then felt¡­ her going more down¡­ as her hands too slid under my pants¡­ and touched my penis. All I could do was gulp as I used her hands to remove my pants and then, moving a bit more down, I felt her touching it¡­ with her lips. Chapter 49 A Night To Remember#2[R-18] [Warning: This Chapter contains 18+ Contents] Holding it in her hands, she ced her cheeks against it as she looked at me¡­ then with a seductive smile she began stroking it as she asked,"does this¡­ feel good?" "Mhmmm," I answered her with a slight nod before she smiled as she began kissing it slowly from the bottom up until the top of its tip. Then¡­ she began licking it, slowly and slowly. Wrapping her tongue around the ns, savoring the vor of it. "Am I doing it right?" She stopped for a bit as she asked¡­ though the only thing that I could answer was,"it feels good." It''s not like I had received this¡­ treatment before in my life¡­ She then licked the whole thing from top to bottom and then from bottom to top again, before she slowly took it inside her mouth. As she took it in¡­ It felt¡­ warm¡­ it felt soft¡­ it was giving me immense pleasure that was hard to describe¡­ I felt like my whole body was ecstatic at once. Gently she then began taking it all in before taking it out of her mouth and slowly repeating the process over and over, from slow in the beginning to more faster as moments passed. Her tongue wrapped up around my penis and with each small movement¡­ I felt like I was in heaven¡­ The pleasure was taking over, and I felt like I couldn''t hold on¡­ so I spoke out, "Carol¡­ I can''t hold¡­ much¡­" Though hearing my words, she started stroking it even faster inside her mouth¡­ and soon.. -SSSS!!! I came¡­ in her mouth as she took it all in¡­ before gulping in whatever else was there¡­ I looked at her with a slight nk expression as she started licking off the rest of the cum from my penis slowly and slowly¡­ as if she was savoring every bit of it to herself¡­ After a few more moments of licking it, she then stood up slowly, wiped a few drops that were present on her lips using her fingers and then licked that too¡­ too lewd. I could only observe her for a few moments before she then stood up and spoke, "Take me¡­" I looked at her for a few moments and she continued,"I have¡­ waited for this moment for years now¡­ Mike¡­ can you not make me wait?" she spoke with her eyes looking away. Her eyes¡­ they felt mesmerizing¡­ I gulped a little before I got up on my back and grabbed her hand before pulling her on the bed beside me. Then I moved over her, slowly cing my lower body in between her two legs, and used my hands to hold her hands on both sides. She looked at me with a defenseless look as she spoke, "I am all yours¡­ Please be gentle." I don''t know why but looking at her like that¡­ all my hormones were in a rush¡­ I felt like eating her more and more¡­ and I nodded as I slowly used my hand to ce it in proper position¡­ before speaking, "I am going to begin¡­ " She closed her eyes as her face turned red and gently I pushed it in¡­ "Mmmmm!!!" "Does it hurt?" I asked with a bit of worry filled face and she softly spoke,"continue." Hearing her voice, I nodded before continuing to move it¡­ she moaned a bit more and I tried to be as gentle as possible¡­ Soon enough I reached her hymen, which broke against the pressure I applied. ''So it was her first time, too?'' I thought as a smile blossomed on my face¡­ It''s not like I would have hated her if she wasn''t one but I felt really happy that I was the one with whom she spent her first time¡­ and I felt d too¡­ that it was Carol that I lost my virginity to. I looked at her blushing face and it made my hormones rush again¡­ Then I moved it outwards with the same gentle intensity as before and a bit before it coulde out, I pushed it in again, slowly and slowly. For the next few moments, I kept going at a slow intensity and then I heard her,"you can¡­ go¡­ faster¡­ if you want." I then nodded before increasing the intensity slowly and slowly and she started moaning more and more¡­ I believe her moans could be heard outside as well¡­ As time passed, I started increasing the intensity more and more, until we both reached a critical point¡­ and I spoke,"Carol¡­ I don''t think I can hold it in¡­" "Me¡­ too¡­" she too spoke as she grabbed my back and hugged me tightly, which I did as well¡­ As I hugged her while pounding her¡­ I heard her whispering into my ears,"inside me¡­" and hearing those words¡­ -SSSS!!! Once again I came¡­ however, it wasn''t just me but¡­ her too¡­ She too came at the same time as I did. Once I came inside her¡­ I let it out¡­ before falling over her as both of us were left panting and sweating¡­. I looked at her, breathing heavily as she smiled from ear to ear before she looked at me. She then crawled a bit closer to me before using my arms as a pillow¡­ "Shall we¡­ go to the bathroom?" she asked, and I looked at her before nodding as I kissed her forehead and stood up from the bed. She, stillying on the bed, winked at me seductively as she spoke,"take me there." I smiled at her before moving on the bed again and grabbed her, before princess-carrying her to the bathroom¡­ Where we had sex again¡­ [Author''s note: Hey so this was my first time writing a scene like this. Hope so you have liked it. There will be more simr scenes in the future chapters with Caroline and other girls which will beter added to our MC''s Harem cause... it''s a Harem novel, isn''t it?] Chapter 50 At The Rooftop I woke up with Caroline sleeping in my arms¡­ we went on for hours yesterday before we finally decided that we should sleep. It was a fantastic night yesterday, and I looked at her beautiful face before I smiled from ear to ear¡­ ''I am no longer a virgin!!'' I thought as I looked at the balcony ss door through which sunlight was entering. Looking at it, I guess it has been a few hours since the sun rose so¡­ it should be around 8 AM right now. "Awaah" I yawned as I gently moved Caroline on the bed and ced a pillow below her head before moving out of the bed. I was in my undergarment and so was she, so I covered her body with a thin nket and then proceeded to dress back up as well. Once I was done with that, I moved towards the balcony and I opened the ss door and observed the area around. All I could hear wasplete silence, with not even the birds chirping. The whole area was silent and looking at the bottom, I could barely make out a horde of zombies trying to get into another building at a distance. "Man, it creeps me out, every time I look at the scene¡­" I sighed before proceeding to do situps on the balcony¡­ About 25 minutester [Daily Quest Completed: 1000 Sit-ups] [+500 Exp] I then proceeded to do a few pushups, but before I could start, I heard Caroline waking up in the room. "Good Morning Carol," I spoke with a smile as I entered the room and she smiled back before answering,"good morning." She then opened up her arms as if she wanted me to hug her and I proceeded to do that, before I kissed her and helped her out of the bed. She too dressed up before we both left the room and reached outside the apartment. Looking around, I saw no one was on the current floor, so we both thought that they would have gone up to the terrace. Fair enough, they were all up, having their breakfasts and noticing meing to the top. All of them looked at me with an odd look before continuing their own work. "Oi! Gentleman Devil! Come here. Sit with us. You too, Caroline,e here both of you," spoke the old man whom I had talked with yesterday about medicine and stuff. There was the elderlydy as well as the kid who asked me for help. Alex was with the other kids, talking and joking with them. Caroline and I went to the elderly couples, under the fixed gazes of everyone present there. I saw White and George distributing today''s share and they looked at me before I spoke to the kid, "Go and bring Carol''s share while you can have mine." He nodded before he ran towards George and took our share before running back with a couple of shares of the food, out of which one he passed on to Caroline. While the other one, he opened up and then passed it to me. "Take it brother¡­ you will need energy to save us," he spoke with a bright smile, making other people look at me with a slight re filled but odd face¡­ they then sighed before doing their own work. "I am fine. You should take your own fill. If you want, you can share them with uncle and aunt," I spoke as I gently pushed my share towards them and he made an awkward face as he wondered what he should do. I nodded at the elderly couple and they sighed before they spoke,"the devil eats the zombies so he should be fine¡­ we should eat human food," and looked at the boy, who was looking at me with a grossed out expression. I red at him, making him run behind the elderly couple before he startedughing as I shook my head with a smile and then I turned to Caroline, who was smiling at me as well. I sighed before I looked around and saw that there was still some space enough for me to do a few push ups¡­ Earlier I was doing it privately so that people won''t get suspicious, but now I couldn''t care less what they think. And hence I began doing push-ups right there. Everyone looked at me weirdly. Some even muttered slowly,"what is the Devil doing?" Not caring about them, I kept doing push-ups over and over¡­ At first they kept looking at me normally but as the number reached over 50¡­ they were surprised to find I could do that many in one go¡­ Then the number reached over 100 and my intensity of doing the push-ups still didn''t decrease a bit, making everyone look at me nkly. Even George, White and Alex, who expected me to do it, were still surprised¡­ Then¡­ the number reached over 200¡­ and I still wasn''t stopping¡­ people stopped whatever they were doing and kept looking at me with a nk expression. 300 400 700 And 20 minutester¡­ I reached 1000 pushups. [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Push ups] [+500 Exp] I stood up all refreshed as I looked at those around me, observing me with a nk yet stupefied expression. Even White and George looked at me without speaking anything. I sighed before looking around to find a suitable ce where I could do pull-ups, which weren''t far from where I was. I moved towards it and under the constant gaze of everyone there; I started doing the push-ups¡­ 25 minutester. [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Pull ups] [+500 Exp] "What are you guys looking at? Never saw a man doing casual exercise before?" I chuckled as I looked at all of them and they observed me for a few moments, trying to understand what was ''casual'' about it. Though, after hearing what I said, they started doing their own work once again. I sighed before I moved towards the elderly couple and Caroline as I spoke,"so, you guys ready to learn more about medical knowledge?" Chapter 51 [Eyes Of The Time Keeper] I then told them a bit about medical knowledge they can apply to save them from a grave situation. Things like CPR, or what to do when you get burned, or things you can do when you get scratched by a sharp object. One had to take care of oneself, and it may never be toote to learn these things. As I was teaching the elderly couples, the others also listened to me with a keen interest. Their gazes, which were filled with spite before, were now a bit more rxed as they paid attention to me. "Ummm excuse me Devil¡­ Can I ask you a question?" a young girl spoke as she looked at me, a bit confused, while the guy beside her red at her a bit. She ignored him. "Sure," I spoke and everyone turned at her as she asked confidently, "What can we do if we¡­ Let''s say get ourselves bitten by snakes or something? Maybe insects?" It was an odd question, but still I exined to her how different insects or snakes have different venoms or acids inside them. I also exined that it wasn''t thatmon to find a venomous snake, with only a special variety being poisonous. Though, I made sure to exin which were poisonous and which were not. Soon others also began asking more and more questions and I answered them all as clearly as possible, making sure at least something goes inside their head. After a session of an hour or 2, the sun rose quite high in the sky. However, since it was the time of October, the atmosphere was quite cool, so no one had any problem sitting at the top. Though we were done too. I then saw Georgeing closer to me with White beside him. "We have a bit of a problem," he said with a serious face, and I kind of knew what it was. "Food?" I asked, and he nodded. "How many days more?" I inquired, and he spoke,"if we cut it to a minimum, then about 3." I closed my eyes for a few moments before asking, "Is there any way we can create food? I am asking about the long term. For the short term, I believe going down is the only way." "Well¡­ we can create a farm here but¡­ we would need proper soil, seeds, manure¡­ and water too, along with proper aeration," White spoke as he looked at me and I asked, "Will soil from the pot be fine?" He looked at me and nodded before we both recalled that¡­. I kind of threw most of the pot above the 40th floor down the balcony. I sighed before asking, "Well¡­ I guess we will need some seeds too¡­ is there anyone in the building who used to have a garden or something? Even a mini garden on their balcony should be fine." "I will ask people here," he spoke, and I nodded before pondering a little as I stopped him before speaking. "Even if you don''t find anyone like that, ask people to collect all the pots they can find and bring them up to the terrace. We are going to build our own garden. Also, try searching for seeds¡­ whatever the kind. If we have a gardener among our survivors, it would be even better." I closed my eyes before continuing,"Call Alex and Caroline. White, I need a bit of your help as well." George nodded before leaving. Soon Alex and Caroline came, and I asked all three of them toe down with me to the gym. Reaching the gym, I looked at White and spoke,"Teach them how to fight." White looked at me as he asked,"what are you talking about?" "I saw how you fought against the Zombies. I need you to teach both of them how to fight properly, not only against zombies but also Humans. It would make me feel safe that they know how to defend themselves and you are the only one I know who can do that." I spoke in one breath and he looked at me and sighed. "Hmmm¡­ well, answer me this then. Why exactly should I do this?" he asked, making Caroline and Alex look at him and I pondered a little before directly asking, "What do you want?" "I¡­ I need a promise. An insurance that will help me out in the future¡­ I need you to go with me somewhere," he spoke with a serious voice and I looked at him and then nodded,"as long as it doesn''t involve my family and friends, I think I am fine. As for the insurance¡­ how about we visit your ce after we go out of here?" He looked at me and nodded with a bit of a smile and then turned to Caroline and Alex,"well¡­ It''s not like I haven''t taught monsters before¡­ but I guess this would be the first time I would be someone like¡­ you." After that, I bid farewell to them and then began walking down and started running through the corridor until I reached Floor 3rd. [Daily Quest: Run 100 Miles:(7/100)] Looking at the amount done, I began running to and fro on the third floor, from one end to another. Time passed slowly from that point onwards as I kept hearing the bang of the Zombies against the locked door. After maybe an hour or two, [Daily Quest Complete: Run 100 Miles] [+500 Exp] [Bonus Quest Complete!] [+ 1 Charm] I then looked at my status again [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Zombie Destroyer* ss: Unssified Level: 9 (43230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 5000/5000 Time Points: 620/620 Strength: 15 Constitution: 12 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 11 Charisma: 9 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 450 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] My eyes then shifted to a particr skill which I had been using the most [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 6) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0.2TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 3 sec into the future. Cost: 40 TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 60s. Cost: 20TP 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once Cost: 500TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 10] "What does it mean by ''Multiple Timelines at once?'' " I questioned as I looked at the 4th effect of the skill. Chapter 52 Level 10 The skill [Eyes of the Time Keeper] was with me from the very first time my system got activated. It had a basic function to show time but based on how much I had seen it¡­ it is one of the most used skills of mine. It''s function to look into the future is apletely broken ability honestly¡­ if used right, I might never lose¡­ the only limitation is my own capabilities when I forget to use it. As for looking in the past¡­ it''s more of a situation thing that could get very handy at certain times. Though about multiple timelines¡­ I have zero idea how I should use it? Does it like¡­ shows me what are the effects of choices I make¡­ but to look only for one sec? Hmmm¡­ I guess I wille back to itter then. After that, I decided to farm some Cronas from the zombies and clear floor 2 and 1 as well. That would only leave the Ground Floor and basement¡­ but I don''t understand why those two floors aren''t listed in the quest? Is it because the zombies kept entering and exiting the ground floor from outside? Opening the door that I locked before I activated my skill [Temporal Deration!] Because [Time Flow] is continuously active and gives me 60TP per seconds, I could use [Temporal Deceleration!] as much as I wanted right now. It was broken in almost every sense, but something felt kind of wrong about it¡­ I don''t know why, but there was a feeling that it was too easy¡­ And the only thing that I can think of was ''The higher grade Zombies¡­ If D-Grade were that strong, I wonder how much would C-Grade be, and B-Grade¡­ will I even be able to stand against them even with this skill?'' I felt goosebumps and shook my head before I began absorbing the Zombie in front of me¡­ [+3 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] . . . I kept hunting zombies and absorbing them until I cleared the whole 2nd floor. There were a few D-Grade zombies but with the foresight of [Eyes of the Time Keeper] it was easy to kill them too. And before I knew it, I had already reached floor 1st Last Zombie. It was a lesser D-Grade zombie, so absorbing it was quite easy¡­ [+7 Cronas] [Side Quest Complete!] [Clear all the Floors of Libra Building: 70/70] [Dungeon Key (Silver Rank) x 3 received] [+10,000 Exp Received] [Skill Upgraded: Time Catcher] [Time Catcher (Level 5-> 6) Effects: Allows the user to take the time of other living beings and convert it into Cronas. Note that the User''s Wisdom must be more than the person on whom it is used. Cost: 5->10 Cronas obtained per 50->40 Time points per 30 minutes Skill points required to upgrade the Skill: 10-> 20] [Level +1] [+5 Stat Points] [+5 Skill Points] [New Skill Unlocked: Second Space] [Shop Unlocked] [Main Quest Complete: Reach Level 10!] [Reward: Gene Evolution!] [New Main Quest!] [Level System Locked!] I got a lot of notifications at once, but I decided to check themter and first lock the door where the Zombies wereing from. I killed a few and then closed the door before running around and cing as much furniture as I could in front of it. I checked the time the Zombie will take to break the door and¡­ [2 days: 14 hours: 23 minutes] Then I began looking at every notification that I received from the start. ''I got 10000 Exp for that quest and then the Skill [Time Catcher] got upgraded¡­ Dungeon Keys?'' [Dungeon Key(Silver Rank)] Unlocks the door of the Dungeon of any silver tier and below. Effect: Use it at the front door of any dungeon] ''Hmmm¡­ is that all? How should I use it? Do I need to¡­ like use the key to unlock the front door of the building? Well¡­ that''s only possible after I clear all the Zombies from there. Anyway, next¡­'' I thought as I moved to the next thing¡­ ''Got my level up, a few skill points and stat points, a new skill?'' [Second Space (Level 1) Allows the user to create a second space where he can enter or exit. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 1 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 5x5 sq metre Skill points Required to Upgrade the skill: 1] I saw that the skill required only 1 Skill point to upgrade, so I decided to upgrade it right here a couple of times. [Second Space (Level 1->3) Allows the user to create a second space where he can enter or exit. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 3 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 10x10 sq metre Skill points Required to Upgrade the skill: 3] At this point, I pondered a little before using that skill since it did not cost any TP. Laying on the ground, I activated the skill [Second Space!] I entered aplete white room which was about half a tennis court wide and I stood there for a few moments before I wondered what the purpose of this space was. Though, even after a few moments, I couldn''t find out, so I moved out and checked the next thing. Skipping [Shop] forst, I moved to see the reward for reaching level 10. [Gene Evolution Allows the user to evolve beyond his current limits Requirements: E-Grade Cores: 0/200 D-Grade Cores: 0/50 C-Grade Core: 0/1] "..." nkly looking at the requirement for gene evolution, I felt like giving up already¡­ It was beyond what I was capable of. I might be able to do it in the future, but now¡­ now way in h*ll I was capable of doing this. [New Main Quests!] [1. Clear 3 Silver Ranked Dungeons or 1 Gold Ranked Dungeon Reward: New ss] [2. Get your gene Evolved Reward: A Unique Skill] [3. Reach Level 20 Reward: System Upgrade] "..." I nkly looked at the new quests and it kind of made me gulp. Apart from the Unique skill which sounded enticing and the System Upgrade, I wondered what was ss. My status always showed Unssified, so I thought it was because Icked the requirements, but now I wonder if there is more to it than what it seems. Next was¡­ [Level System Locked!] [You won''t be able to level up anymore until the following requirements are fulfilled: Kill 10,00 E-Grade Zombies Kill 100 D-Grade Zombies Kill 12 Lesser C-Grade Zombies Kill 5 C-Grade Zombie] I could only look at it nkly before I chuckled dryly,''Looks like my time hase.'' Though I took a deep breath in and out before shaking my head and concentrating at the notification that I left earlier [Shop] ...... Author''s Note: Hey! Since the book has finally been contracted, I have decided to set Powerstone/Golden Ticket goals for extra chapters. Daily publish rate will go at 1chap/day. Extra chaps on Powerstone will be: 200PS+ : 2 chaps/day for that week 500PS+ : 3 chaps/day for that week Extra chaps on Golden Ticket will be: Reaching 25 Golden Tickets: +1 Extra Chap Reaching 100 Golden Tickets: +2 Extra Chaps Reaching 250 Golden Tickets: +5 Extra Chaps Reaching 500 Golden Tickets: +10 Extra chaps Extra chaps on Gifts: 1 Extra Chap/ 1000coins I receive For super gifts: Magic Castle: Normal 5Chaps + 1 Chap SpaceCraft: Normal 10 Chaps + 3 Chap Golden Gachapon: Normal 15 Chaps + 5 Chaps Well... all in all, I just ced the Goals system cause I felt like there should be one. You guys can just read at the pace of 1 Chap per day, or vote with Powerstone/GT/Gifts for extra chaps. Thank you for reading upto here, may you enjoy the story. See you at thetest Chapters!! Chapter 53 [Shop] [Shop] [To use Shop you need to use your ability [Second Space]! ] I looked at that text before looking around and pondering for a few moments and then entering one of the apartments where Iy on the sofa and used my ability [Second Space!] I then entered into the half tennis court wide sized white room. Then I looked around before opening the Shop menu¡­ Though what happened was that a ck door with the fonts "Shop" appeared in the room where I was standing. Slowly, I walked towards that door and proceeded to enter it¡­ Opening the door, I found another wide ce, around the size of aplete tennis court. It was simr to my room but there were blue screens all around the room, ced on the walls. There were a couple of flower pots in each corner of the room as well. [Room] [Skills] [Potions] [Weapons] [Armors] [Trinkets] [Enchantments] After that the rest of the screens were red [Cores*] [Reach Level 15 to use this section] [System Upgrade*] [Reach Level 20 to use this section] [Dungeon Manager*] [Conquer at least 1 dungeon to use this section] [Portals*] [Conquer at least 1 portal to use this section] [Dimensions*] [You do not possess the knowledge enough to know the requirements of this section] The next section was the selling section that allowed me to sell anything that I brought here¡­ "How do I bring things here? Ah! Time Storage, maybe that skill allows me to transfer skill at a time here," I thought as I tried taking out the shotgun here and vi! A shotgun appeared in my hand. I tried cing that shotgun in that ce and¡­ [Shotgun (Common Rank)] [A ranged weapon with high power but high recoil, low durability Stats: ATK: 56 Durability: 45/45] [Would you like to sell it for 30 Cronas?] I looked at that message before taking my shotgun out. That much Cronas weren''t worth it. "So where should I start with?" I thought as I tried observing the surrounding¡­ "Seems like you have seen the whole shop, huh?" spoke a robotic voice as I saw a small circr object floating behind me¡­ "Whoa!!" -Thud! I fell on my butt as I saw it flying in front of me and looked at it with a baffled look. "Well¡­ not the reaction I expected. Anyway, my name is [Rhea] and I am the manager [Shop] here. While you might already have an idea of what kind of ce [Shop] is and also as a manager, what my work is here, but still I will brief you on it," Rhea spoke as she looked at me. I didn''t even get a chance to ask anything as she began speaking, "Not including the ones that are locked and also the selling options, the others give you a choice to spend Cronas on things to buy or to enchant it. Let''s start with [Weapons] [Potions] and [Armors]. Just like there names, they give you an option to buy the respective things and use them in battles, though there is no limit on the object you can buy, there is a limit on the object you can use, so be careful with that." "What limits?" I asked immediately, and she kinda red at me with those robotic eyes but then sighed before speaking, "Racial limits, physical limits, mental limits, all sorts of. You will find the limits of each on their respective descriptions. Moving on to next, [essories] are the same as [Weapons], but there is a small difference to them. They provide you extra stats and certain skills of their own. Some of them might even enhance the weapon that you are using. [Trinkets] are used to enhance the [essories] [Weapons ] [Armors], using the enchantment feature. Thenes the [Enchantment] where you can destroy your current weapon, armor, etc. to get some trinkets or use those trinkets on a weapon, armor etc. to enchant them." She then flew around for a few moments before she came back to me and spoke, "Well, that''s all for the basics. Now there is three other things that I need to tell you. Let''s start from there. Come with me," She spoke and then took me to the shop door where I had entered from. Earlier, maybe because I looked only at the front, but there were two more blue screens beside the door, one on each side. Rhea first flew to the screen on the right side and spoke,"this is the [Daily Sale] screen, where you will find three random items you can buy on a discounted price, sadly you won''t get to see theplete descriptions of the item ced here. Current items are, [ke Sword(Unique Rank)] [Normal Price: 7 Million Cronas Discounted Price: 3 Million Cronas Description* ATK: 1023 II Durability: 2500 Fire Damage: 3452 Dark Damage: 2341 Special Abilities(3)*] [Return(Umon)] [Normal Price: 5000 Cronas Discounted Price: 2200 Cronas Effect: Allows the user to return a certain distance using energy] [Moonlight Trinket(Rare)] [Normal Price: 250,000 Cronas Discounted Price: 100,000 Cronas Bonus Stats: +98 Intelligence: +45 Agility Skills(1)*] "..." I turned silent at the astronomical price of these¡­ things. Though I saw the price of my [Return!] ability and saw that it was an umon ranked ability and it was quite¡­ cheap,pared to other skills. I felt like a beggar looking at those stats there. "Oh! You are lucky, huh? You got a skill here that you can buy," she spoke with a surprised gaze as she observed [Return!] Skill. "I¡­ already have it," I spoke as I looked at her and she, as if sighing again, looked at me before speaking,"show me your System and the skill." I first hesitated, but then I opened up the skill tab and reached that [Return!] skill at which she spoke,"oh! You are quite unlucky. You have the same ranked skill as this one. If yours were a lower rank, maybe you could have reced it, but¡­ oh well, whatever." I looked at her with a confused look. Understanding my confusion, she spoke, "There are ranks of each¡­ you can say everything that can be used. It starts from. Common -> Umon -> Rare -> Unique -> Mythical. There are some levels beyond that, but you need not to focus on them. So, each skill can be evolved to another rank by either of the three methods, One is to use an evolution token that can be found in the dungeons. Two is to fuse two exactly simr skills together, using a special skill called as [Skill Fusion] Third and the mostmon way is to upgrade them to level 10 and then use a Level Up token on them." I heard her and my mind immediately went back to the [Skill Fusion] that I got from the first quest¡­ "It''s sad that I don''t have the Cronas to buy the skill," I spoke in a dejected tone and hearing me she scoffed,"didn''t I tell you that it''s useless? Plus, you can''t carry two same skills at once, anyway. Not like you have [Skill Fusion] to fuse them, either. What are you going to do with it? Store it for aesthetics?" Though I looked at her before speaking with a slightly awkward tone,"I¡­ actually have it." "Have what?" she asked and I answered,"The skill¡­ [Skill Fusion]." Chapter 54 Skill Rarity "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!" She shouted in the same robotic voice and I answered with a bit of a smile as I scratched the back of my forehead, "I already have the [Skill Fusion] skill." Then I showed her the skill on my system and she was baffled even more before turning silent at me. "You have no idea what treasure you are sitting on, do you?" she spoke, and I looked at her with a bit of a gulp and she then flew to the [Skills] section of the shop and I followed behind her¡­ "Search [Soul Fusion] Skill," she said, and I looked at her before searching for it¡­ though I did not find it anywhere. Nothing came up in the shop. Confused I looked at her and she spoke, "That skill cannot be bought. There are a few special skills¡­ like the one you have. Those cannot be purchased no matter how much you spend. Do you understand what that means?" "They are priceless?" I spoke, and she nodded before speaking, "While its effect isn''t apparent, its real valuees up when you reach a unique skill or above. Normally it is extremely difficult to get Mythical Skill however¡­ you have a fairly high chance to obtain a Mythical Skill of the same type¡­ do you know what that means?" My eyes opened up at that statement as I realized what that meant¡­ this skill¡­ [Skill Fusion] allows me to have a higher chance of obtaining a skill that is otherwise normally unobtainable to me. "Looks like you understand now. Well, all I can advise is to never sell that skill no matter what. There are more than one reason for that but for now, don''t ever sell that skill," she spoke before flying towards the blue screen on the right side of the door. "This is sort of a Trial Section. If you are nning to buy anything, you can deposit the money first, then try the weapon, skill, etc. and check if it suits you or not. If you don''t like it, you can just return it back to the shop with a 100% refund. Though the items on [Daily Sale] aren''t included in this feature. Once you buy them, you can''t return them," she spoke, and I nodded as I spoke, "Fair enough, I guess." "Well. Now all that is left is the [House] function. Come here, I guess you will like this one," she spoke as she took me to the [House] screen where she showed me a couple of things. [Rejuvenation Leaflets!] [ce them in your room to increase the regeneration capacity of the surrounding by 10% Effect: Immediately Cost: 2000 Cronas] [Energy Enhancement Runes!] [ce them in your room to temporarily increase the Total Energy you have Note: You have to spend at least 24 hours to receive the buff Effect: Increase the Intelligence Stat by +5 Cost: 4500 Cronas] [Life Bulb!] [The Life Bulb stores Health Energy and regenerates over a periodic time. Can store upto 2000 Health Points. The user can absorb the stored Health Energy to restore his energy Effect: Restores Health at the rate of 10HP per second Limitations: Can only generate 1 HP every 10 minutes Cost: 10,000 Cronas] There were a few more items on the screen visible to me and I just kept looking at them for a few moments with a surprised expression. They weren''t really too costlypared to other things and their effect was good as well. As I was scrolling, I found a certain item that caught my attention. "Like it?" asked Rhea as she understood my intention and I nodded as I observed that thing. [Crona nt(Common) Effect: Generates 1 Crona every hour Limitations: Can store only 10 Cronas at a time. Cost: 1000 Cronas] While it looked quite bad since it would take 1000 hours to return all the Cronas I have to spend, I felt like it was a fine thing to have. "Is that time there based on the time here?" I asked and she spoke,"yeah. It doesn''t depend on the time of your world." ''So that means about 333 hours of time in my world, huh? That''s like 13 days¡­ but if I upgrade [Second Space] to another level? 250 hours or about 10 days, huh?'' "Well.. since you have stared at it enough, let''se back to itter. For now, let''s finish with the tutorial. You can alwayse back here," Rhea spoke as she looked at me and then another message came in front of me. [Novice Pack Unlocked!] [+5000 Cronas] [+Basic Life nt] [+Basic Energy nt] [+Discount coupon(Grants you 50% discount)] I saw those messages with a surprised expression before turning to Rhea, who spoke, "Well. It''s a gift." "From whom?" I questioned, and she sighed before speaking,"if you don''t know the answer, then I cannot tell you." ''Huh? What is that supposed to mean?'' I questioned, but before I could do so, she took me to the [Daily Sale] Screen and said,"use that discount coupon and buy this. Then use the rest of the Cronas to fuse and evolve your [Return!]" "Hey! Why should I waste my discount coupon-" I was about to ask that, cause I nned to use itter for an expensive skill, but then I saw the description. [Discount Coupon] [50% Discount on all things in Shop Expires in 2 hours] "Just trust me, okay? I know what I am trying to do here," she spoke, and I sighed before nodding and using that coupon on that skill before a message came [You already have the [Return] Skill. Would you like to fuse them?] [Sess Chance: 100%] [Cost: 5000 Cronas] I pressed ''yes'' under the piercing gaze of Rhea who was continuously looking at my system before a message appeared. [Fusion Complete!] [Skill [Return] Evolved from Umon rank to Rare rank] I then checked the amount of Cronas I had left. [Cronas left: 623] I sighed before taking a look at the feature of the evolved skill and my first reaction was, "What the?!" Chapter 55 New Side Quests! [Return (Level 1) (Rare) Effect(1): Allows the user to save 1 point in the present time and return to that position using Time Points. Effect(2): Allows the user to call back any object around him that he had held for more than 1 hour. Limit: The density of the user should not be more than the object ced at that point where the user wants to return. Cost: Distance in meters/10 TP Skill Points required to upgrade: 5] I saw the additional effect on that skill and it made me just look nkly at that change for a few moments. At first nce, it wasn''t only a big change, but when you look at it objectively, then it was a two in one skill which could be upgraded simultaneously at once. Other than that, the effect itself wasn''t bad. ''I can just throw a weapon to kill a distant object and call the weapon back to me if it is not that far,'' I thought as a smile creeped on my face. "Stop smiling. It''s creepy," I heard Rhea speaking in annoyance. Coming out of my stupor, I then said,"Thanks Rhea. The effect is wonderful." There was a thankful smile on my face and Rhea turned quiet for a few moments before speaking,"I-It''s fine!" After that, I pondered a little before looking at the two other things I got from the novice pack. [Basic Life nt] [The most basic life nt. Allows the user to take the stored Health Energy inside the nt to heal himself. Maximum amount which can be stored: 100 Regeneration rate: 1HP per hour] [Basic Energy nt] [The most basic energy nt. Allows the user to take the stored All Purpose Energy inside the nt to fill his own. Maximum amount which can be stored: 100 Regeneration rate: 1 Energy per hour] "Hmmm¡­ not that great, but still better than nothing," I spoke and then turned to Rhea as I asked,"Is there anything else left for me to know?" Rhea spoke,"No. All that you need to know has been exined." I kept my eyes closed for a few moments as I pondered deep before looking at her,"what do you think I should do? As the general manager of the shop, do you have anything you can suggest to me? Like saving Cronas for a particr skill or something? The amount of armor, weapons and skills the shop had were quite a lot, but honestly, most of them were too costly. So, I wondered if I should set my eyes on something not too far. "Hmmmm¡­ normally I shouldn''t interfere but I guess it won''t hurt to guide you towards that skill," she spoke as she flew towards the skill section. I looked at her as she then asked me to type a certain name and once I entered it a skill came in front of me. [Warp(Common)] [Allows the user to bend space-time and move from one ce to another using Time Energy points. Note that the user''s density should not be more than 5 times from the ce where warped to. Effect: Distance traveled in distance in meters/100 Time points] [Cost: 75,000 Cronas] "Oh! Something like that would be really helpful but¡­ with the limited amount of Time Points I can use, will it be really worth it?" I asked as I looked at her, but she just answered, "You asked me for my opinion. I gave you a choice. The rest is up to you." I then pondered a bit before looking around and then speaking,"sure. I guess I will keep this in my mind then." Then I took the [Basic Energy nt] and the [Basic Life nt] with me into my second storage space and ced them in a corner beforeing out of the room back to where I was. I then moved out of the apartment and then open the quest section of status and found 2 new [Side Quests] [New Side Quest!] [Side Quest: Free the area from zombies!] [The zombies are roaming freely all around the ground floor, parking area and the surrounding park of the building. Kill the zombies within the building: 134 Zombies Remaining Kill the zombies in the parking area: 234 Zombie Remaining Kill the zombies in the park: 45 Zombies Remaining Reward: +5 Stat Points; +5 Skill points; Random Skill Upgrade] [Side Quest: Clear the basement!] [Something unholy has taken birth within the basement. If it evolves any further, it may bring doom to the surviving mankind. Kill the Lesser C-Grade Zombie before it evolves into a C-Grade Zombie Time Limit: 4 Days 5 Hours 12 minutes Reward: Golden Key to the Dungeon of Libra!] My eyes opened up wide as I observed the quest in front of me. A lesser-C Grade Zombie has already arrived. Isn''t this kind of too fast? I gulped at the notification as I tightened my grip on the knife that I was holding and began walking towards the doorway to the ground floor. However, before I could reach the door, I heard a voice from behind. "Michael!" Caroline spoke in a loud voice as she saw me walking towards the door. I turned to her with my face still in a bit of horror, though I quickly wiped that expression and asked her, "What happened?" "That¡­ all the people have collected all the soil and are waiting for your instructions on the top floor," she said as she looked at me and I pondered on the odds of her following me if I tried to send her back up on her own. "Sure. Let''s go," I spoke as I moved towards her and, reaching her, I kissed her before we both moved up, hand in hand. While I do want to take her help, I don''t want her to get into any kind of difficult situation. Let''s settle everything up there before I start my hunt on the ground floor. After I am done with that, I will see if I am strong enough to reach down the basement or not. Until then¡­ we can only wait. Chapter 56 Used Zombie Cores Reaching the top floor, I asked if someone among the survivors knew about gardening and stuff, to which I found out that, though we don''t have any expert gardeners, we got many who knew about basic gardening and stuff. "Okay, so we will need people to collect enough water from down there and nt some seeds that require less water. It has to be a vegetable seed. I don''t want you to put your heart into gardening only to end up finding fancy flowers, okay?" I spoke to everyone and the ''gardeners'' nodded before everyone set a small area at the corner where they had decided to make a terrace garden. ''Hmmm¡­ I wonder if [Advanced Time Maniption] can make the nts bloom faster than usual,'' I pondered before deciding to test itter on once the seeds have been nted. Once that was done, I then started nning the next move as I looked at the healthier young men within the crowd. "You¡­ you¡­ you¡­ and you¡­" I started pointing at a few men who I thought were much stronger and healthier than the others,e here." They looked at me with a skeptical look before moving towards me. "All 14 of you areing down with me and George, I am going to put you guys to work. Also, make sure to carry at least a weapon with you as well," I said before I looked at those people and tried calcting the best path to make sure everyone is used.. Cough cough.. I mean everyone participates. "Ummm¡­ excuse me, what are we going to do down there?" one of the young men asked with a bit of horror and I nonchntly spoke as I looked around , "We are going for a brief walk. Nice weather for a walk, don''t you think?" ''Hmmm¡­ 15 people in the gardening group. 14ing down with me. Then there is George. That leaves another 22 people left out,'' I was pondering as Caroline curiously asked, "What are you thinking?" "Just wondering if there is any work I can give the right ones," I said as I kept thinking. White, who was listening from a distance, spoke out, "There are 9 children among them. We can ask them to look for any pointed objects or something that could be used as a weapon. Will save us a lot of work. As for the rest 10, which are elderly, you can¡­ you know¡­ help them with that¡­" Hearing his words, I pondered a bit as I questioned if it would be right to give these people such power. However¡­ I don''t see much problem with that. If they be too dangerous, I can take care of them. "Well. I guess we can do that. Though that changes the way of doing things¡­ well, whatever," I thought out loud before turning towards George. "Teach them the method to absorb the cores. Here, take more of these as well," I spoke out before passing the cores I collected down there. George, taking those cores from me, without asking any question, returned the used cores back to me. I observed the used cores in his hand and spoke, "Well, they don''t have any¡­." Though all of a sudden, I realized something crucial. Something that I hadn''t thought of yet. Maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ My brain raced with thoughts as I took all the used cores from George and ran down the stairs shouting,"you guys stay here. I will be back in about 15 minutes!!!" Running down a few floors, I chose an apartment with its door still intact and entered it before closing it from inside. Then finding the nearest sofa, I sat on it before activating my skill [Second Space!] My consciousness faded before I entered the white space again. This time I ran towards the [Shop] and saw [Rhea] flying in there as usual. "Oh, you are already back," she spoke, but I ignored her and ran to the [Sell] section and ced those used cores [Used E-Grade Zombie Core] [A Core whose power has been used up. Though the material and the solid soul still remains] [Would you like to sell the used up E-Grade Zombie Core for 50 Cronas?] A smile formed on my face as I sold the Zombie Core without any hesitation [+50 Cronas] "WOAH! You already got a core, huh? Well, since you can''t really use it. I guess selling it for Cronas is honestly a good option. Though the amount of Cronas you get isn''t much to be honest," Rhea spoke with a slight surprise and I smiled at her before taking out a dozen more Cores from my pocket. All the Cores which I had given to Caroline were still with me as I was there when she absorbed them. As for George, he just returned them to me. [+700 Cronas] I then checked the total Cronas I had [Total Cronas: 1373] "Well. That was totally worth it!" I grinned from ear to ear as I looked at Rhea, who was looking at me with a surprised gaze. Ignoring her, I then moved out of the room and returned to the real world. While I could have bought something, I would like to save some Cronas for that skill that Rhea had suggested. I don''t know what exactly she sees in that skill, but since she has more ideas about those things than me, I guess it is better to follow her until we find a better alternative. Then I moved up and saw George already teaching those elderly men about the Cores and the way they function. As for the young people I collected, "You guys. What are you doing there? Come with me. We have work to do!" I shouted, and they turned at me before looking at each other. Then one of them spoke out loudly,"We don''t want to follow you to our doom. We too want to get stronger using the cores." When one spoke, another one started shouting along with him and soon everyone began shouting the same thing: that they wanted to absorb the cores and get strong rather than going into danger. Though¡­ I just smiled at them as I spoke. "Looks like¡­ there has been a misunderstanding here." And then¡­ Each of them shut their mouth as they looked at this ''calming'' smile of mine. Chapter 57 Making Things Clear "Looks like¡­ there has been a misunderstanding here." I then took out my shotgun from my [Time Storage], making everyone shocked. Then, before they couldprehend what was happening, I spoke. "Even though it should have been obvious, I will make this clear. We are doing whatever it takes to surviving. It''s not a free trip where you get to do whatever you want. The life where you had a choice is far gone. There are only two things which allow you to survive in this cruel world. First, either you get strong enough that no one can step on you. Aim for the top or choose a ce where you are at the top. That way, you can still keep your life in your hands and afford some freedom. Second, you get under someone strong who can protect you and feed you. This way, the amount of work you need to do gets reduced by a considerable amount. Though you say goodbye to the freedom you have. If it''s someone like me who will give you enough freedom to have some of your own time, then you might be lucky. But if you end up under who will ve drive you, then may god bless you, my friend." They turned quiet for a few moments as each of them looked at me as if they wanted to speak something, but theycked words to speak. Then one of them, who looked like about 20 years old, spoke, "Just b-because you are strong d-doesn''t mean you can rule over us. There are 14 of us and only one of you." There was evident fear in his voice and it made me chuckle a little before I began walking towards him. "D-Don''te close¡­ just because you have a shotgun.. You¡­ you¡­ if I had a shotgun, even I can act like that!" His voice turned lower and lower as he looked at me. The others were just standing there, but as soon as I nced at them, they all took a couple of steps back, leaving that guy on his own. I walked around that guy with the shotgun on my shoulders and marked a [Return] point on his left side. Then I looked at his almost crying face as I pointed the shotgun at his head, making him fear stricken as he looked at me before closing his eyes with tears in his eyes. Though, after a few moments, he peeked at me as I swiftly rotated the gun and held it by the muzzle. "Grab it," Imanded in a dominating tone, and he gulped as he looked at me nkly. Then, after a few moments, I asked, "Want me to repeat myself?" Fear stricken, he grabbed the gun. Then observed me with a horrified look as I pointed the gun''s muzzle at my forehead. The others were shocked as well. They started whispering as they alternated between me and that kid. "Shoot. Let''s say your most precious person in this world depends on this single decision and you must make a shot¡­ I would like you to see what you will do." "But-" he wanted to speak "Shoot!" I shouted as he started shaking "I.." he tried speaking "Shoot!!" I shouted again "But you¡­" he seemed like pleading "Is this how you are going to save your loved ones??!!!!" I shouted again "This isn''t¡­" He almost cried "I said f*cking shoot-" [Return!] -BANG!! I saw him shooting as everyone closed their eyes while Caroline and White were almost ready to jump, but as everyone opened their eyes, they turned, shocked, as they looked at me. I wasn''t in front of him but on his left as I looked at him with a slight smile. "Even though you took some time¡­ I guess you really do have the guts." I had used [Eyes of the Time Keeper] to see when he would shoot and used the exact time to use [Return!]. With this, I could not only make my dominance clear but also make the guy''s will power a bit strong. I then took my shotgun back as I patted his dumbfounded head and spoke. "Good. You will survive much longer than the others." I then began walking towards the exit, to the lower floors as I spoke loudly, "I will provide you with food, shelter and power. This ce is going to be my shelter and as long as I exist no one will be able to f*cking touch even a hair of yours. I won''t ask you for any task that is impossible for you, so stop being a chicken and follow my words. And if you want to overthrow me¡­ get your shit together ande at me when you are powerful enough to do so." Then I paused for a few moments before looking back at them as I spoke. "As for the 14 of you. I give you 30 minutes to settle your things here. Then meet me on the first floor. If you don''te down, I wille up myself." Then I moved down one step at a time as I looked at my own stats. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increase by 25% ss: Unssified Level: 10 (53230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 6000/6000 Time Points: 750/750 Strength: 15 Constitution: 12 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 11 Charisma: 9 Stat points: 5 Total Cronas: 1373 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] I still had extra Stat Points, but I decided to save it for now. Then I looked at that quest which was almostpleted, [Side Quest: 1. Kill all the zombies from floors 0 To 33rd Total number of zombies remaining: 134* Reward: A random Special Skill 2. Save the survivors on floors 35th and 36th Total number of survivors remaining: 52 Reward: +4 Stat Points 3. Barricade the building and fortify the defenses Reward: Leader(Title) ] "Well¡­ about time I finish this quest as well," I thought as I waited for those people toe down from the top floor. Chapter 58 [R-18] :Upgrading The [Second Space] [Warning: This Chapter contains 18+ content in theter parts] While it took me less than 10 minutes to reach from floor 70 to floor 1, I guess the others would take a bit more time toe here. ''Hmmm¡­ about 60 minutes to reach, huh?'' I thought as I wondered how long they would be here and pondered how I should utilize this time. While I do need to save some Cronas, I wonder if I should continue selling the Zombie Cores for Cronas or use them for the gene evolution thingy. I could either save itpletely until I have enough and then start selling? Or maybe I should just sell them, since I believe there are a lot of things I can buy from the [Shop]? It''s a tough choice here¡­ also, I want to get that [Warp] Skill that Rhea showed me. ''Hmmm¡­ If I remember correctly, I should have some Skill Points left¡­'' Thinking that, I scrolled down the skills tab on the system and looked to see if I could upgrade any of the skills with the 6 Skill Points I have left. After scrolling through the skills, there were two skills that I could upgrade. [Return] and [Second Space] After pondering a little, I decided to upgrade the [Second Space] since it was a kind of multipurpose skill with its use totally depending upon how I n things for the future. [Second Space (Level 3 -> 4) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 3->4 hours in the Second Space Area of Space: 5x5 -> 6x6 sq meter Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 3-> 4] [Skill Points left: 3] The effects of the upgrade were simple. The space of the room increased and the time ratio increased as well. Now, 1 hour here was 4 hours in there. ''Now that I think about it¡­ I don''t have any way to obtain Skill Points other than quests. All the more because the Leveling System has been locked too,'' I pondered a little before sighing as I looked at the stairs as I heard footstepsing from up there. ''It''s not even been 5 minutes¡­'' I thought pondering as I gripped my shotgun a bit harder as I concentrated at the stairs. Though a familiar figure appeared in my vision. "It''s just Caroline," I breathed out in relief as I loosened my grip on the shotgun. ''Maybe she was worried about me?'' I pondered over her reasons to be here since I had asked her to train with White up there. Though I didn''t mind her being here¡­ "Hey! Are you okay?" she asked in a bit of a worried tone as she looked at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. There was a bit of worry in those eyes of hers. "Yeah. I am good. What about you? You okay?" I asked as I let my fingers run through her cheek towards her hair as I ced them behind her ears. She nodded at me with a bit of a smile as she spoke. "I am good. Though.." then her eyes changed the way they were looking at me. If previously she was worried about me¡­ now it looks like she is going to chew me alive. Understanding that I was in danger, I tried moving a step back, but she had already grabbed my waist from behind and then spoke with that same re, "What exactly was that stunt that you pulled on the terrace?" A bit of sweat trickled down my forehead as I spoke,"that huh? Haha¡­ I was just, you know¡­ I was making sure people understand what situation we are in." "By putting yourself in danger?" she asked again as she gave me a smile that wasn''t really a smile. "I¡­ had everything handled," I said as I faced her with a bit of an awkward smile and the intensity of her re increased a bit. She was about to speak something,"You mmmhh-" But I lifted her chin and kissed her on the lips. A bit taken aback at my sudden move, she first tried freeing herself, but just after a couple of seconds, she stopped doing that as her cheeks turned red¡­ then she let me kiss her freely. Finding myself an opening, I let my tongue make its way through her lips and knowing what I was trying to do, she opened her mouth a little before we both began kissing a bit more roughly. I looked behind her a bit as I asked the system ''How long till anyonees here from above?'' [20 Minutes :12 seconds] Then I lifted her up from her buttocks and she clutched me with her legs and arms as we both kept kissing each other. Slowly, I took her to the nearest apartment and ced her on the sofa before she pushed me a bit away. Then she made mey on the sofa on my back, before she crawled up on my thighs and sat on them. Then she looked at me with a bit of a dreamy look on her face as she smiled at me. I lifted my hands and touched her lips with my thumb as I slowly rubbed their ends. She, however, slowly¡­ licked a bit of my thumb before holding my arm with her hands as she began swallowing it in a bit of a lewd way. She used her tongue on my fingers¡­ and just by looking at her way of doing that¡­ I turned more and more h*rny every second. Then, after a few moments of licking my thumb, she let it go and kissed me again. This time, however, she kissed without any involvement of her tongue. For the first few moments, I just enjoyed that pure kiss before I saw her moving back as she slowly took off her top¡­ revealing those¡­ voluptuous breasts of hers¡­ Chapter 59 [R-18] Well! Well! Well! Look Whose Excited! [Warning: This chapter contains 18+ contents in the first half] For the first few moments, I just enjoyed that pure kiss before I saw her moving back as she slowly took off her top¡­ revealing those¡­ voluptuous breasts of hers¡­ Gulp! Every time I look at them¡­ I couldn''t help but feel dazed by them¡­ Moving my hands towards them, I slowly touched them with my palm. One in each hand, I pressed them gently¡­ before I felt her nipples. A little hard they were¡­ a little enchanting to touch¡­ Moving my hands down her bosom, just a little, I held those nipples between my index and middle finger. Then¡­ slowly I pinched them with my fingers¡­ "Ah!" A slightly audible moan escaped her mouth as her cheeks turned red. Her eyes seemed dazed as she observed mine and then she moved closer, circling her hands behind my neck, touching her lips with mine. As my lips touched hers, I slowly raised my left hand to her cheeks while keeping the other one on her bosom, as I kept pressing them. Every time I pressed her nipples, I felt her lips trembling against mine. Then I kissed her on the cheeks before slowly moving to her ear. Biting her ears with my lips, I felt her grip on my back tightening. While I was stimting her from her bosom, I began kissing her ears a bit and then moved to taste them a little. "AH!" I heard her moan a bit louder thanst time, and I yed with her bosom a little bit more than before. Proceeding downwards with my kiss, I reached below her ear and then slowly descended along the neckline, somewhere halfway to her cor bone, I felt her grip tightening on my back as I kissed her on her neck. Teasing her a little, I stopped at that spot and used my tongue a bit faster there, making her grip tighter and tighter, before I moved downward again. With each step I was moving down, I felt like she was turning more enchanting than before. Each kiss felt heavenly, and I wanted to savor more of it¡­ Reaching her bosom, I began kissing one of her breasts while I held the other one in my right hand. Her breasts. Her nipples. I began tasting them with my hands. I teased her with my tongue. I yed with them as I bit them a little¡­ "Aah!" she moaned louder and louder, while I kept ying with them. It was a heavenly feeling. We were both lost in ecstasy. While I was savoring each touch I could, of that elixir-like body of hers, she too enjoyed every moment that passed. Then I proceeded to move down¡­ Her hands, which were behind my neck, then came to my front as she held my chin as she stopped me from moving down. Confused, I stopped before turning at her a bit curious, but she smiled a bit awkwardly as she spoke. "They are here." ''Who?'' is what I was going to ask, but then I recalled that I had called the young peep from above. Though shouldn''t they being in 20 minutes or so? [12 minutes: 14 seconds] I saw the time and there were still 12 minutes¡­ I then brought her a bit closer, kissing on her lips for a few moments before letting her go. "How can you tell? They could still be halfway above from here, you know?" I asked with a bit of curiosity, as I had a mischievous haze in my eyes. "I can sense them for some reason¡­ at least when they are closer to me," she smiled a bit awkwardly as she spoke. ''Could be the zombie genes,'' I thought as I kept ying with her breast using my right hand. ''The timer shows that there are still 12 minutes, but since they are already here, this means that they might be stopping on the floor above. Discuss something for the next 10 minutes or so and then move down to this floor. ''I wanna do it¡­ but¡­'' I thought as I realized that if I continued doing that, I might not be able to stop myself from doing this¡­ for another hour or so. Then I proceeded towards her as I kissed her on the lips before speaking,"Let''s continue this tonight." There was a bit of regret on our faces, but I guess there is a time and ce for everything. She then got off me, picked up her top and dressed herself up. I, too, standing back up, patted her on her head. She turned at me with a smile and I gently kissed her on her lips before both of us proceeded to greet those peeps up there. "How is training going with White?" I asked as we both walked in the hallway and she made a bit of a horrified face as she spoke,"that guy is a monster! At first I underestimated him since he was old and all, but you know what? That guy..." She continued telling me about White and his scary training methods. It hasn''t been much time since I asked him to teach them and his methods already scared her, huh? I guess it really was a good choice to make him teach these two. ''Though, to make a person as strong as Caroline to say that he is a monster,'' a bit of a wry smile formed on my face as I wondered just how skilled White is. Maybe I could ask him to teach me as well? Soon we reached a floor up where there were 14 of them standing in front of me. A smile formed on my face, as I was d that not one of them dared to stay up. I saw them making a bit of a terrified face as all of them looked at me as if I were a monster¡­ or perhaps a¡­ Devil? "Damn! You guys looked like you are dying to go down there," I spoke with a bit of a chuckle as I looked at their terrified faces. Not even one of them looked ready. Some might even cry if I poked them a bit¡­ ''Well¡­ this will be a good exposure for them¡­ with the current ''zombie pack'' that our world has been installed with,'' I thought with a slight sigh before speaking, "Since it''s our first day! Let''s go!! Today Professor Michael will teach you guys about the reasons why you shouldn''t piss him off." Chapter 60 How To Kill Zombies? Ground Floor of the Libra building. Infested with about 140ish zombies. There were about 40 near the entrance to the first floor stairs trying to break into the first floor. A few (20?) more in the waiting room. Within the receptions, about 30 to 40 were roaming around, entering and exiting the building slowly. A few (10 to 12) were around the blocked entrance to the basement/parking area. The rest 30-40 were scattered in the room on the other side of the building within the staff rooms. At this time, all the zombies, except the ones near the stairs to the first floor, were simply taking a walk in the hotel. It was quite peaceful- -BOOOM!!!! Or not? ¡­ "Thanks Carol," I smiled at Caroline as I asked her to kick one of the zombies in front of us, pushing back the herd. It would have taken too much time to kill the zombies when all of them were about to jump at me at once, so I guess this should reduce a bit of our ''expedition time.'' "..." I looked at the people behind me, looking at Caroline with eyes popping out of their sockets. Their mouth was open up so wide that about a couple of eggs could be easily put in their mouth. I chuckled before moving forward. [Temporal Deceleration!] Slowing the time down, I then began clearing the path smoothly. [Ding!] [You have killed an E-Grade zombie!] [+50 Exp!] ''Hmmm¡­ I am still getting Exp?'' I thought, a bit confused as I recalled that I can''t really level up now. [Level System Locked!] [You won''t be able to level up anymore until the following requirements are fulfilled: Kill 1000 E-Grade Zombies (1/1000) Kill 100 D-Grade Zombies Kill 12 Lesser C-Grade Zombies Kill 5 C-Grade Zombie] ''Does that mean I can still gain Exp but not level up?'' I thought as I began hunting the other zombies as well. A few minutester, the zombies in front were cleared. I moved forward and downward towards the ground floor. Tracing the area around, I found about a dozen zombies trying to get into the basement and a few more in the reception area ahead. Looking to my left, there was a door open to the storage room. Maybe there could be a zombie there? "Oi! One of you,e here!" Imanded as I turned towards them and fear stricken, not one of them dared to look at me. Though at my next statement, almost everyone moved towards me hurriedly as I spoke, "Those who won''te here wille with me outside of the building." Sigh "All right. Three of you, go into the storage area and check for zombies. If there are any, just inform me. You don''t need to kill them or anything, just see if there are any," I spoke and though they were scared, they nodded. It was much better than fighting against the zombies. "Caroline. Take care of them. I will clear this area and the reception. Those who aren''t going to the storeroom,e with me. All of you will at least kill one zombie today," I dered before¡­ [Temporal Deceleration!] I killed those dozen zombies at the basement entrance before moving towards the reception area. I kept an eye out for zombies in the nearby rooms. Also, for any D-Grade zombies around here. Luckily, I didn''t find even a single D-Grade zombie yet, though there seems to be a crowd concentrated in the waiting area. ''Should I ask Caroline to clear this, too?'' I pondered a little before deciding to clear it myself. [Eyes of the Time Keeper!] I activated foresight just in case before using [Temporal Deceleration] again. Since the zombies were quite numerous in that small space, it took some time to kill all the zombies inside that room. About 15 to 20 minutes, I guess? Well, I found out the reason why they were concentrated in that room. They were feeding on a couple of zombies, which probably had formed the Core. The zombies who were eating the other zombies were stronger than the rest, probably on the verge of evolving, but since they hadn''t evolved, killing them wasn''t really that hard; just a tad bit harder. I took the Zombie Cores from the almost evolved zombies before getting out of the waiting area. Observing the people standing there, I asked,"are they done?" By ''they'' I meant the people whom I asked to check the storage. They nodded as the front person spoke,"there were no zombies. Just supplies and¡­ a few dead bodies of a couple who killed themselves using knives." There was a bitter look on the one who spoke and I sighed while speaking,"well, those who went to check in the storage room. You guys can grab supplies and take up as much as you can. The others,e with me." I spoke before looking at a couple of zombiesing towards us. [Lesser E-Grade Zombie: A normal zombie, whose zombie genes havepletely taken over its human genes Reward for Killing: +25 Exp] [E-Grade Zombie: A zombie who has gained the power of another zombie and now is on the path of evolution to the next phase Reward for Killing: +50 Exp] Turning around, I chose one of them randomly and said,"youe here first." His body was shaking a little but gulping a bit, he came towards me. I then passed him a knife and spoke, "I will help you. Just try to kill that zombie. Use your head. Smash his head. Now, let''s go." The couple of zombies were reaching forward faster and faster and moving towards them. -sh! [+50 Exp!] I then stepped back as I let that guy move forward. At first, he was just shaking, but then¡­ he built up courage and dashed forward blindly with that knife in his hand and then used all his strength on that zombie¡­ and missed. The zombie was about to ''itadakimasu'' but I stopped him and pushed him away before looking at that frightened guy sitting on his butt, with his face as white as paper and spoke in a dominant tone, "Try again." Chapter 61 Clearing The Ground Floor -sh! The zombie fell down, lifeless as it should. I looked at that guy smiling at his achievement and I sighed¡­ ''It took him 4 tries to kill a single zombie? I hope the others aren''t the same as him,'' I thought before sending that guy back and calling another one. The next one took 2 tries before seeding in killing a zombie, while the others weren''t that different. A few of them took only one shot and seeded in killing the zombies. Total of 14 zombies were killed before I turned at them and asked, "Want to kill more?" There was a smile on my face and an excitement on their faces. Perhaps they started enjoying the thrill and the fact that I was there to protect them made their confidence boost a lot. "Well¡­ I don''t mind helping you guys a bit more, but after this is over, there are a few things I need you guys to do for me. If you can help me out, maybe I can think about helping you guys absorb the Zombie Cores, too?" I spoke with a slightly mischievous look. Hearing my words, their eyes started glistening as they looked at me with a bright smile before one of them spoke,"we will help you. What do you want us to do?" ''Naive,'' I thought as I saw them epting my demand without even listening to my conditions. Well, not that it matters much to me. I simply nodded at them before, for the next 2 hours, helped them clear all the zombies on the ground floor. There were more in the reception area and a few more around the rooms on the other side. After getting rid of all the zombies from the ground floor, we looked outside to find a couple of zombies roaming around as we had already barricaded the ce from the inside temporarily. And my gaze turned fixated on the notification I just received. [Side Quests (Completed)] 1. Kill all the zombies from floors 0 To 33rd Total number of zombies remaining: 0 Reward: A random Special Skill 2. Save the survivors on floors 35th and 36th Total number of survivors remaining: 52 Reward: +4 Stat Points 3. Barricade the Building and Fortify the Defense Reward: Leader(Title) ] [New Special Skill Received: Copy!] [+ 4 Stat Points Received!] [New Title Acquired: Leader!] First, I checked on the new skill I received, [Copy (Special)] [Allows the user to copy any of the skill in his arsenal Currently Copied Skill: None Note: Once the user locks a particr skill to copy, he can''t change the skill for another 24 hours] ''Oh Nice!'' I thought as I wondered what skill I should use to copy¡­ though first, I should check the new title. [Title: Leader] [When the title is active, the following effects will activate: (1) The people who are under the user''s leadership will receive 10% of user''s stats as bonus (2) When the user faces danger, he can temporarily take 20% stats of those under him for 10 minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours (3) The user can share any one of his skills with those under him with the effect of the skill halved. Only one Skill can be shared at a time. Max 2 people at once.] "..." I looked at the skill with a bit of wide-eyed expression before I looked around and wondered the best way to use this ability. "Michael?" Caroline called me out with a worried expression on her face and, turning at her, I asked,"Yeah?" "You okay?" she asked again, and I nodded before speaking,"yeah. Just nning the next few moves." "With this, we have more or less cleared the entire building. While we can barricade until here, I believe it would be better to clear the zombies outside, in the parking area and in the park at a distance before locking all the gates of the entire perimeter," I continued as I recalled that quest which required me to clear the respective areas. "That''s a nice idea," Caroline spoke with her eyes glistening as she looked at me before I heard a certain sound from the system. [New Side Quests!] I turned to Caroline and asked,"Can you call White and Alex here?" She was a bit confused, but still nodded as she looked at my serious expression. I didn''t speak much as I looked at her, while the other people were just waiting for my instructions. "You guys wait for a few minutes," I spoke before looking at the new side quests [Electricity is the key to the function of daily life!] [With the world going into chaos. All the energy sources have been halted for an unknown amount of time. Though that does not mean there is no way of creating electricity in your base. Quest: Find a way to create a power source and built a dependable power source for your base Reward: +5000 Cronas] [More is better!] [Your base has too low man power. If you want your base to develop better and faster, having more people in it can never be a bad move. Quest: Increase the number of people in your base to 100 Current number of people: 56 Reward: 3 randommon Trinkets] Observing the quests, I could guess that the side quests wanted me to build a base of my own and work on it. Though my initial goal of finding my family would be hindered so I don''t know if I can do these quests right now or not. ''Maybe I will look into themter,'' I thought as I looked at my system before sighing as I wondered what exactly I should do next. It wasn''t that I had nothing to do but quite the opposite. I had too many things to do¡­ There was that Lesser C-Grade Zombie of which I had zero ns on how to deal with him. Then there were zombies on the outside as well. The problems of food and water, along with everyone''s safety. ''Man, it''s a pain dealing with everything by myself!'' I sighed as I waited for Alex and White toe down for the next 20 minutes or so¡­ And when they arrived¡­ "There¡­ is something¡­ down there!!" Alex spoke in a shaky voice with sweat beads trickling down his face as he looked in the direction of the basement. Chapter 62 A Test Of Strength "There¡­ is something¡­ down there!!" Alex spoke in a shaky voice with sweat beads trickling down his face as he looked in the direction of the basement. I looked at him and then at the basement before hurriedly moving towards him. If he could feel the Lesser C-Zombie, then maybe I can gauge the Zombie''s strength. Caroline and White, worried about Alex, tried to help him out as they held him in their arms and made him sit on the floor while he still was fear stricken. [Name: Alexander Robert Fredrick Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer Zombification: 2%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1200/1200 Status: Healthy (Overwhelmed) Skills* (1) Enhanced Sense: The user can sense nearby beings of simr energy even at a distance of 100 meters away(Passive) Strength: 23 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] I looked at his status using the [Inspect Skill] and I saw his skill and the [Overwhelmed] status beside the [Healthy] It was a nice skill that allowed him to sense Zombies from far, however, looking at his fear stricken face I realized that it''s gonna backfire probably every time a stronger enemy appears. ''Though I wonder if there is a way to ovee it?'' I pondered before reaching closer to him and asking, "How strong do you think that thing is in the basement?" He looked at me gulping as he spoke,"Strong. Very Strong¡­ we will die the moment we take a step down there." I observed Alex for a few moments before speaking again,"Is that so? Compare him to me." Alex looked at me for a few moments as he still had that horrified look on his face and spoke, "I don''t¡­ I don''t know." Caroline and White were confused as they looked at Alex, but I guess I understand why he feels like that. He continued, "When ites to Sister Caroline or Gramps White, I could sense the difference in their power. It''s like a bar of energy that tells me how strong that person or thing is. However¡­" Alex looked at me, confused yet fear stricken, "I don''t sense an ounce of energy from you. It''s as if you don''t have any powers at all. If I hadn''t seen it with my own two eyes, I would have never believed that you are strong¡­ so for theparison¡­ I don''t know." It confused Caroline and White even more, and I smiled as I asked, "How many Caroline and White''s will it take to defeat that thing down there?" Hearing my question, he immediately answered,"about 9 Carolines and 5 White¡­ or someone with theirbined strength." ''Eh? That came out fast,'' I thought before I took a look at his ss. [ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer] ''Must be that Arithmetician thingy, but¡­ what is a ss again? And why don''t I have one yet?'' I questioned as I believed if it had to do with one''s innate ability or anything, then I should have at least a Medical rted ss because of my knowledge in that field. I then stood up before speaking,"all three of youe with me up. The rest of you as well." ''It''s about time I see the difference¡­ between me and them¡­'' One floor at a time we moved up the Gym, since it was an open space. There were a few people cleaning the gym to make it a suitable area to stay at. "Oi! Young ones! Help the others out to clean the floor," Imanded the 14 little soldiers of mine to go clean the Zombies. Though, not minding my way ofmanding them, they hurriedly went to clean the Gym. I turned to White, who was holding Alex in his arms. Looking at Alex, it seemed like he had mostly recovered from the fear. ''The decision to bring him away from that ce was nice, I guess,'' I thought before confirming,"you better now?" He nodded before stepping out of White''s arms and speaking,"what are we going to do next?" His fear and worry were genuine because, with that thing down there, it was just a matter of time before it came up. Though I just spoke, "Let''s wait till the Gym is cleaned. I want to see something." I then talked to Caroline and White about their training methods and stuff, and they said that since it''s just the beginning, there is a little they had learnt. Though White sees promise in Caroline. "Sir Michael, the area has been cleaned," spoke one of the young ones and I turned at him before nodding and then pondering a little and speaking, "Okay. Step back¡­ or more like go to the edge of the Gym near the stairs. All of you." All of them moved, leaving me, Alex, Caroline and White within the open wide gym. "I wanted to do it after you guys had learnt to control your powers but¡­" I spoke as I moved away from them after saving a [Return] point at the ce where I was standing before. "Come at me with your best. I want to see how strong all of youbined are," I spoke with a bit of dominance¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper!] ''How long before I get hit if I just stand here?'' [8 Seconds] I saw them looking at each other before nodding. Caroline was a bit hesitant, but looking at White and me, she decided to follow through. [5 Seconds] I saw them spreading around me in three directions. Caroline was cautious while Alex seemed to be calcting something. As for white, he seemed to have a n already. [3 Seconds] [Eyes of the Time Keeper!] I checked the future and saw Caroline at my right while Alex right in front of meing at a rapid speed while White was standing beside me, blocking my path from running away from the other two. Then I deactivated foresight [2 seconds] They started running at me as I saw they would [1 second] They covered me around and began their attack [Temporal Deceleration!] Time slowed, and so did they. They could have been much faster, but perhaps they were conserving their energy? Though Alex was still fast, even in this slowed time as he almost reached me. I dodged Alex first and, using his momentum; I pushed him to Caroline, blocking her attack as well, before stepping to the front as I peeked at Whiteing at me now. Stepping a bit behind, I saw Caroline hitting Alex and both of them stumbling before falling down while White still kepting at me. His speed was increasing faster with every second passing. After thinking a little, I decided to dodge his attacks and see how much practical skills can make a difference against my [Temporal Deceleration] skill. He attacked me from my left and I dodged, moving backward and to the right, but he was already ready for that. As I dodged his right uppercut, I saw another hiting from the left, which I barely dodged this time¡­ Though he hurriedly did a round kick immediately. Even though I saw that attacking, my body could barely dodge it and I blocked that attack using my forearms. -Boom! He managed to lock a kick on my arms, cracking one of my forearm bones. There was a satisfied smile on his face and so was on mine. I deactivated my [Temporal Deration] for a few moments before speaking, "I will go one step up now." "What a coincidence¡­ so will I," he spoke with a cheeky smile as he looked at me as his eyes turned slightly red. Chapter 63 Michael V/S White [Name: Amory Sanders White Race: Zombified Human[F-Grade] ss: Sharpshooter; Strategist; General; Gunsmaster Zombification Process: 0%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Status: Healthy Description: An Ex-Military who lost his wife and kids in a terrorist attack a decade ago and settled in a remote corner of this country to spend the rest of his retirement. He was boasted as one of the strongest in the military of his time and¡­ Stats: Strength: 24 Constitution: 19 Dexterity: 17 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 21 Charisma: 12] I looked at his stats, and they were more than your average man. Though I also noticed that he too became a Zombified Human, breaking the threshold to F-Grade. ''Is it because he had been fighting the Zombies? Or maybe it is because he was around Caroline and Alex most of the time?'' I pondered before I saw his attacks bing apparently faster and faster. [Eyes of the time keeper!] ''When will the next 3 attackse at me?'' I questioned and [1 second] [1 Second] [1 Second] ''Huh?'' I saw the timer of three attacks but only saw White punching me in my gut with his right hand and I barely blocked before his second hand out of nowhere reached my face. Out of pure reflex, I bent to the left dodging his second attack by a hair length¡­ though¡­ He immediately did a 360-degree turn as he used his left leg to almost kick me within the same second. [Return!] I used my skill to escape a few meters away from him as I saw him kicking the air at a rapid rate. Though¡­ once he made that kick and got back to standing normal, I saw him huffing with a slightly tired face as he looked at me with a slight bitter look as he spoke, "Just what is that¡­ huff huff¡­ bullsh*t ability?... Teleportation?... Or you are just too fast for me to¡­ cough, cough¡­ see." [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used the future sight ability of my skill because something told me that it wasn''t over yet. And I was right. 2 Secondster, I will be attacked from behind. Exactly on my head, to be precise. "Well. It''s more of a.." I spoke as I counted the time when I will be hit¡­ -Swish! I ducked as I dodged and stepped forward. Turned around to see Alex in the air as he tried attacking me with a fast kick. Hmmm, where is Caroline? "... It''s more of a secret of mine. It''s powerful, isn''t it?" I spoke as I wondered where Caroline was. I had my foresight ON all the time. And soon I found where she was. She was behind the pir at a distance away from me and when I will walk closer to her, she will attack me as fast as she could. A second passed, and I locked my [Return!] to where I was standing. Then I moved forwards and within the future, saw something even more bizarre. White, whom I thought he might have lost his energy in the previous exchange, was already going to attack me from my right at an insane speed. Even Alex was attacking me from above, using whatever energy he had left. In fact, surprisingly, I found myself blocked from all the directions. If I didn''t have the [Return] ability, I might have even lost against them. I kept walking towards the ce where Caroline was as I spoke,"you guys did good." Caroline, finding her chance, attacked me from right and I, already knowing how she will attack, dodged her without much effort. "However¡­" I continued speaking as I saw White almost reached me¡­ I didn''t look behind, but I believe Alex was already there trying to give out his best¡­ [Return!] "However¡­ you are stillcking. That too when I am not attacking," I spoke as I returned a few meters behind where I saved my Return point. I looked at their defeated face with a bit of bliss on my face. Maybe there was a smirk on my face, but it irked all three of them as they red at me before I spoke. "If it is not me¡­ I think you guys can defeat most of the people¡­ and Zombies, too. Plus, you have just started growing, too. Let''s fight every once in a while to gauge our ability, shall we?" Looking at me, he sighed before all three of them stood up and Alex groaned a little before looking at me with a serious face as he asked, "Brother. How much of your power were you using?" These words¡­ in his words, White, Caroline and the others who were watching the fight with their eyes wide open, turned even more shocked before they looked at me with a slight gulp. "How much, huh?" I pondered a bit as I knew that I hadn''t used a few of my abilities. I used [Temporal Deration] only when fighting with White. I didn''t use the second ability of [Return!] to call back objects back to me. I still have 5 stat points and 10 skill points that I can use And with the new Special Skill [Copy] I could basically increase my power to at least 2 folds. So all in all¡­ I had used about¡­ "30%? I guess it''s less than 50% but more than 25%. What do you think about it? Is it fine to go down there to the basement?" I asked as I looked at him. "..." "..." "..." "..." Alex was surprised. Caroline and White were stupefied. The others¡­ well, they¡­ were pinching their cheeks to see if they were dreaming or not. Some of them even punched their side ones to see if they were dreaming. I just sighed before looking at Alex and repeated the same thing again and this time, clearly hearing it, he spoke. "About that¡­ yeah. If you really are as powerful as you say¡­ then it''s fine, I think. Just take extra cautions¡­ just sensing that thing sent chills down my spine." There was still lingering fear in his eyes, and I nodded at him. ''I guess I will need to use everything in my arsenal. Though it would be better toplete that other quest first to farm some Skill points and then go for the fight. Maybe I can get a few stat points from daily quests as well?'' I thought before turning to Alex and speaking, "Whatever that thing is, I will deal with it the day after tomorrow. For now, I have some tasks for the rest o-" Though Alex interrupted again, "Brother. That thing¡­ I felt it was growing with every second. The more we wait, the more it gets stronger. Can you please deal with it as soon as possible?" Looking at his worry filled eyes, I sighed before nodding at him,"Well¡­ if it makes you so scared. Then I guess I will deal with it today." ''I thought it will grow up to C-Grade and get stronger only after 3 days, but¡­ seems like the growth is continuous then sudden,'' I thought as I spoke again, "I will be going down. You guys can take care of things here. The Zombie killing sensation will start tomorrow." As I walked under the stupefied gaze of everyone there. Caroline was about to stop me but White stopped Caroline first as he whispered, in a low voice, only to be heard by Caroline and Alex, "We need to get stronger before we can help him out, or else we will end up being a burden in that fight. You probably didn''t notice, but I did. He already knew where the attacks were going toe from. He didn''t have the skills to back it up, but the way he dodged most of our attacks, it''s as if he already knew where and when we were going to attack. If someone like him is going to need to be careful when going down there¡­ Our existence in that fight will only be that of a thin paper waiting to be torn." Hearing his words, both Alex and Caroline turned at White with a shocked gaze before they looked in the direction I went with their expression still full of disbelief. Meanwhile, I hurriedly kept moving downwards and soon reached the Ground Floor. Even though I need to go to the basement, I will firstplete this quest of mine before starting the real fight. [The zombies are roaming freely all around the ground floor, parking area and the surrounding park of the building. Kill the zombies within the building: 0 Zombies Remaining Kill the zombies in the parking area: 234 Zombie Remaining Kill the zombies in the park: 45 Zombies Remaining Reward: +5 Stat Points; +5 Skill points; Random Skill Upgrade] Chapter 64 Prefight Preparations ''The Parking area and the park, huh?'' I pondered about the locations of the ce for a few moments. There were three ways out of the building to the outer area. One was through the park at the end. The other was through the basement gate that would directly take me to that Lesser C-Grade Zombie. The final was the main gate through which the zombies were trying toe. The one that was connected to the central reception area. Other than that, there was one more thing that the system did not include: the convenience store within the infrastructure of the area. Wonder why there is no message about that¡­ I had already seen the ces where the Zombies were through the balcony of the first floor and after a few minutes of consideration; I decided to take the door from the park side. Slowly walking towards the Park area, I sighed as I saw a couple of zombies standing against the ss gate. They were just standing there doing nothing, and I wondered what they were trying to do. [E-Grade Zombie: A zombie who has gained the power of another Zombie and now is on the verge of Evolution to the next Phase Reward for Killing: +50 Exp] [E-Grade Zombie: A zombie who has gained the power of another Zombie and now is on the verge of Evolution to the next Phase Reward for Killing: +50 Exp] Same as before, there was nothing strange about them and without pondering much, I opened the door and saw theming towards me. "Hello Ladies. Are you new here? Never seen you here," I spoke with a smile as I greeted them. "Rwar?" They too came closer to hug me with a hungry look on their face. ''Couldn''t wait to eat up a handsome guy, huh?'' I spoke before¡­ [Temporal Deration!] And then I decided to absorb them for Cronas [+5 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] Leaving the two of them to sleep peacefully, I then moved towards the Zombies in the park. "Finally outside the building, huh?" I spoke with a rxed and freer look as I moved towards the closest Zombie. [Lesser E-Grade Zombie: A normal Zombie, whose Zombie Genes havepletely taken over its Human Genes Reward for Killing: +25 Exp] I saw his status, before proceeding to absorb him as well. [+3 Cronas] The more I moved forward, I looked up the building for a few moments before turning at the Zombies again. Then I proceeded to kill a few more Zombies starting from the closest one. [+5 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] "RWARRR!!" I heard a child zombie shouting loudly as he turned at me. He was faster than the others, enough to match my current speed even when I was using [Temporal Deceleration]. [Pincer(D-Grade Zombie): Evolved its ws to the point of making it sharp enough to pierce even through the toughest materials. He also has twice the agility of an average D-Grade Zombie. Reward: +125 Exp] I saw him running towards me at a rapid speed. Though with my ability still active, his speed was rtive to that of an average child walking towards me at a fast pace. Looking at the other two Zombies reaching towards me, I took a few steps back to deal with that kid first. That Kid Zombie almost reached me and, using the golf stick, I first put him down -Bang! Of course, he didn''t die with just that. In fact, it was the golf stick that broke on the very first hit. ''Kids these days are really too energetic,'' I made a wry expression before holding him on the ground with my foot and using my hands to touch his head. "Absorb," Imanded, and the system began absorbing the Life energy of that Zombie. Unlike E-Grade zombies, which were almost instantly absorbed within seconds. This D-Grade Zombie took about a minute to get fully absorbed. The other Zombies have approached closer to me as well. [+20 Cronas] "Hmmm?!" Surprised at the amount of Cronas I received, I looked at that D-Grade Zombie again. Though since the other zombies had already reached me¡­ [+5 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] I absorbed them first before pondering about this difference. Was it because the D-Grade and Lesser D-grade were too far apart in strength and other aspects that I got more Cronas than usual? I didn''t know. But that was the best I could think of. Not really going deep into that, I moved on to kill the other Zombies in the park and soon ended up absorbing all of them, clearing the Park areapletely. I then moved towards the parking area in front of the park. There were a couple of zombies in the Parking area in the walking area and a couple of more near the half-open gate. I thought a little before moving towards the outer gate as I kept absorbing the Zombie one by one. Reaching the Outer gate, I first killed the zombie outside the building as I took a look at the area outside. My heartbeat stopped for a few moments as I witnessed the surrounding scene. It was¡­ creepy¡­ scary¡­ gave off an eerie feeling. There were zombies, broken cars, and a creepy silence that covered the entire area. Not even a single living being was visible as far as I could see. "Brother¡­ mother¡­ father¡­ just a little more time and I wille for you," I spoke with a determines face as I then shook my head and returned inside the apartment''s outer area. Closing the gate from inside, I rubbed my chest a little to wipe off the fuzzy feeling before proceeding towards the Parking area on my left. [+5 Cronas] [+7 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] . . I kept collecting Cronas one by one. There were about 30-40 Zombies in this parking area. Other than that, there were a few cars just sitting there, which I believed could use themter on for various purposes. Though I would need someone who knows about cars first. "Plus, I need to learn how to drive a car as well," I muttered as I got out of the parking area and proceeded along the road towards the main gate of the building. [+3 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] I killed a couple of Zombies before killing a couple more, and then saw a dozen standing in front of me as they were trying to enter the building from the main gate. "Excuse me, sirs¡­ madams¡­ don''t you think we can deal with this in a more polite way?" I asked in a loud voice, gathering the attention of those zombies as they turned towards me. "Yes. Yes. That''s it. Now you guys get it," I spoke again as I saw theming towards me one step at a time. "So as I was saying," I kept speaking as I saw one of the Zombies reaching closer to me [+ 7 Cronas] And I absorbed it pretty fast before continuing,"Some¡­" [+3 Cronas] "... things¡­" [+5 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] "..are easier¡­" [+5 Cronas] [+5 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] "...to solve¡­" [+5 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] [+3 Cronas] "... peacefully. Don''t you think so?" Ipleted my sentence before absorbing thest E-Grade Zombie. I looked at the second parking area in front of me where the zombies were heavily infested and then at the Shop on my left about which I was curious for a while. My eyes also traced the ground where about 50-60 electronics were broken and thrown as if they were rough garbage. A wry smile formed on my face as I recalled how I threw objects from the top floor to farm some Exp. That was a one of a kind experience as well¡­ Then I first proceeded to kill the Zombies on the road towards the main gate of the apartmentplex and then take a look at the Shop. As for the Parking area, I decided to deal with it in the end. I reached the Main gate, closed it and then returned to the shop. Soon I found out the reason why the shop wasn''t included in the system message. ''Shop is closed for this weekend'' was the board hanging on the door of the shop, which made me sigh a little. ''While people would need food for survival, i doubt anyone would break into a closed shop when the threat of survival is on their head,'' I thought before leaving the shop as it is. Since it is closed from the outside, human or zombie, I doubt there would be anyone on the inside. Next I moved towards the heavily infested parking area and looked around, observing the whole thing. There were a couple of cars and¡­ that''s it. ''Well, let''s start farming I guess,'' I thought before moving towards them and began my killing spree. It wasn''t really hard. With [Temporal Deration], even if I had just kept moving forwards and killing everyone, it would have been a breeze. But not letting it get over my head, I decided to kill the zombies in the bunch by luring them out first. While this method was a tad bit slower than the first one, I felt like it was much safer than to go and breeze through the Zombies. ''If I ended up getting attacked by a D-Grade Zombie out of nowhere, it won''t be funny,'' I thought as I kept killing and absorbing those Zombies one at a time. Sometimester¡­ About an hour passed since I kept killing those zombies and they were almost done. Now the question that I wondered about previously¡­ did the quest included the zombies in the basement as zombies in the parking area? Or it counted just the Zombies outside? [Side Quest: Free the area from zombies!] [The zombies are roaming freely all around the ground floor, parking area and the surrounding park of the building. Kill the zombies within the building: 0 Zombies Remaining Kill the zombies in the parking area: 1 Zombie Remaining Kill the zombies in the park: 0 Zombies Remaining Reward: +5 Stat Points; +5 Skill points; Random Skill Upgrade] "Nice!" I spoke with a bright smile as I first used the skill points I had to upgrade my skill [Second Space] twice, before absorbing thest Zombie, who was under my feet for a while now, without any second thought. [+3 Cronas] [Side Quest Complete!] [+5 Stat points] [+5 Skill points] [Skill Upgraded: Eyes of the Time Keeper] Chapter 65 Prefight Preparations#2 [Second Space (Level 6) Allows the user to create a second Space where he can enter or exit. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 6 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 8x8 sq meter Skill points Required to Upgrade the skill: 6] [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 7) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0.2TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 3 sec into the future. Cost: 30 TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 60s. Cost: 15TP 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once Cost: 450TP/sec Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 15] I looked at the two upgraded Skills and noticed the basic changes in them. With the level up the skills went, [Seconds Space] now allowed me to have a wider room, almost about the size of a small house and the time ratio turned to 6. As for the [Eyes of the Time Keeper], the cost of the two abilities decreases while the first basic ability doesn''t change at all. Previously, I had 10 skill points saved and with this now I had 6 left. I could upgrade the [Second Space] once again, but I decided to stop here. Then I turned towards my stats and added all my leftover stat points into it. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* /Leader* [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increase by 25%] ss: Unssified Level: 10 (55230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 6000/6000 Time Points: 750/750 Strength: 15 Constitution: 15 Dexterity: 15 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 14 Charisma: 10 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 3773 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] With this, all my stats reached 14 minimum except Charisma cause I didn''t find any reason to upgrade it right now. I then sighed before checking everything all over again, wondering if there is anything left out which I can still look at. [Copy (Special)] [Allows the user to copy any of the skill in his arsenal Currently Copied Skill: None Note: Once the user locks a particr skill to copy, he can''t change the skill for another 24 hours] ''Which should I go with? Hmmm¡­ all right, let''s go with that for now,'' I thought before setting up the skill which I needed to copy. Then I looked at the basement gate in front of me that went to the parking lot below the building. Currently, my main enemy was sitting there, and I gulped before pondering a little and then thought of something. ''Hmmm, this should take a few minutes so,'' I circled around the building as I ran back into the apartment from the Park gate and entered the first room before closing from the inside. Sitting on the sofa right at the front¡­ [Second Space] I entered the [Shop] before I saw Rhea floating up there. Looking at her, I asked with a bit of a hurried look, "Does that shop have anything like a Metallic bat or something? Something that isn''t too costly. Something that wouldn''t break easily." She then simply flew towards the weapons section and spoke,"enter ''Obsidian Clubs'' and set the grade range from Common to Rare." Hearing her, I followed hermand before a couple of options came in front of me. [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor(Umon)] [One of the best blunt weapons that any survivor would like to carry. It has a high durability and strength and allows the user to kill anything within a couple of hits. Special Effects: +5 Strength Limits: Minimum 15 Strength Required to wield the weapon ATK: 70 :: Durability: 500 Cost: 4000 Cronas] [Blood Rage Club(Rare)] [Cast by the general of Blood warriors, this holds the power to steal the blood of enemies to get its own power. Though it is a double-edged sword, as it also continuously takes the user''s blood to keep its high power. Special Effects: Allows the user to take in the power of other beings killed by the weapon and temporarily grow the weapon/user much stronger(Maximum 3 times). However, the strength of the weapon will start depleting for prolonged disuse. ATK: 105 :: Durability: 1250 Limits: When the user doesn''t give enough blood to the weapon, it will start eating the power of the User. Loss of 1% HP per minute. Cost: 6500 Cronas] [Metallic Nailed Bat(Common)] [Amon Bat properly nailed and crafted by an average cksmith. It isn''t the best, but does the work. Special Effects: +2 Constitution Limits: Minimum Strength: 8 ATK: 45 :: Durability: 150 Cost: 3000 Cronas] There were many more bats, at least a dozen more, but these three caught my attention more. They were almost within the range of what I could afford right now and also were the ones I could use right now. "There is something I needed to ask." I looked at Rhea with a bit of questioning gaze and continued,"what do you think about the skill [Time Catcher]?" It was one of the skills that I never really used. I did upgrade it a few times to check its effect, but honestly, it wasn''t really useful in any case. I could literally take Cronas from the Zombies using the System and heck, I don''t even know where I could use that skill at. I had thought about selling that skill, but I wanted to consult Rhea first. "[Time Catcher]? The one that allows you to take Cronas from living beings?" She asked, and I nodded and then she pondered a little before speaking, "It is a nice skill¡­ but I don''t think you can use it anymore. Maybe if you upgrade it to Rare¡­ or not. You will need at least Unique rank to make use of that skill." Confused, I looked at her as I asked,"why isn''t it usable anymore?" "Because your world has been infested with Cessation energy. Everything that is considered ''Alive'' by that skill of yours is now ''Dead.'' From nts to animals to anything that is there, everything, even though they are living and walking, they are considered dead. At the Unique version of that skill, you get an effect that allows you to take Cronas from different timelines, so there was a chance, but I doubt you could reach that¡­ or even work on that. I mean, you will probably either be dead by that time or already found another means to take Cronas." I looked at her and nodded before asking,"so I should sell that skill?" and she answered,"yeah. Though the end decision depends on you." I pondered a bit before nodding before proceeding to put my ability to the selling section. [Are you sure you want to sell [Time Catcher(Level 5)] skill for 3000 Cronas?] ''Well, that''s not too bad,'' I thought as I proceeded to sell the skill and gained another 3000 Cronas. [Total Cronas: 7773] I then looked at the weapons tab and proceeded to buy the [ck Club] for 4000 Cronas. It wasn''t cheap, but I felt like it was worth it. Wielding the weapon, I first decided to check it in the trial room as I visited inside it. The Trial room was wide open, and I turned to Rheo, who also entered with me here. "Well. I guess it''s about time I give you the Trial room tutorial as well. I''ll keep it basic. If you don''t understand anything, you may ask questions. So, first, you can''t use any other weapon here than the one you brought for trial. Second, you can choose a max of 2 enemies to fight at once. Third, the stats of the enemies you choose will be reduced or increased to exactly yours for a fair trial. Fourth, you can only choose those enemies that you have defeated or killed before. Fifth, you can have as many trials as you want. And finally Sixth, whatever happens in the Trial room won''t affect you in any form. Also, you can''t use any other skills here as well." I looked at her for a while and nodded as I jotted down the points in my mind. Then, recalling all the enemies, I decided to bring [Crawler] Zombie out as he was faster than the others. Rhea helped me out with the basic settings before moving to a corner as she watched a [Crawler] Zombieing in front of me. I then saw the Zombie immediately getting on its four, before it started circling around me at a rapid speed. It even crawled up the walls of the Trial room around me and I had to continuously turn to not let it go out of my sight. Soon it moved towards me at a rapid speed. Preparing to fight, I tightened my grip and looked at the way it wasing, I waited for the perfect timing and¡­ -BOOOOM!!!! I hit it as hard as I could, sting it to the wall as his head burst into smithereens. "Huh?!" Confused, I looked at it for a few moments¡­ this was a bit too powerful, wasn''t it? "What did you expect? Did youpare that (Umon bat) to the ones you have in your world? It was specially forged for killing and surviving. Of course it is going to do its job properly," Rhea scoffed at me with a bit of smirk and I couldn''t contain my smile as I kept observing the Bat in my hand. If I was hesitant about going down the basement¡­ Now I was looking forward to the battle. Chapter 66 Fight In The Basement "All right. Let''s get started then," I spoke as I saw the basement gate in front of me. Currently standing in the parking area, connected to the basement, nervously I looked at the entrance down to the ce where the Lesser C-Grade Zombie was. [Side Quest: Clear the basement!] [Something unholy has taken birth within the basement. If it evolves any further, it may bring doom to the surviving mankind. Kill the Lesser C-Grade Zombie before it evolves into a C-Grade Zombie Time Limit: 3 Days 14 Hours 12 minutes Reward: Golden Key to the Dungeon of Libra!] It was almost evening and in about an hour the sun would set as well. For me, I particrly don''t want to fight that thing during the night because of darkness and stuff. "Mother told me not to stay out after 8," I reminded myself before nodding a little with a wry smile. It was scary damn it! Sigh ''Let''s go,'' I muttered with determination as I moved into the basement. One step at a time. ''What kind of monster was inside there? Damn¡­ I am getting goosebumps,'' I spoke as I activated my ability [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)!] ''How long before I get attacked?'' I questioned but this time there was no timer. ''Guess, I won''t be attacked if I keep going like this,'' I thought with my foresight ability still activated. Sweat poured out of my head as I kept my weapon ready and moved silently one step at a time deep into the basement. While it was creepy not all was bad. The lights of the basement were still working. Even though they didn''tpletely illuminate the basement, there was still enough light to make out the basement. ''Scary,'' I spoke as I was having difficulty breathing with all this tension. Still, gulping a little, I still kept walking deeper into the basement. With each step silent, I kept asking the system when I would be attacked and still there was no timer visible. Walking slowly and slowly into the basement, I reached halfway through and honestly; I wanted to go back now. All this tension and fear was not good for my health, really. Though, just a few stepster, on my left something came visible in front of me. It was a pool of blood, as if it were dragged behind the car by something. Even though my legs were shaking a little, I kept moving forwards, continuously asking the system when I would get hit or something, however there was still no sign of any timer. Following the trail of blood, I soon found it turning left behind one of the parked cars and when I reached the turn, someone¡­ or something came into my vision. ''Gulp,'' I gulped as silently as possible as I looked at that¡­ thing in front of me. It was on its four feet and was currently dining on something. Using [Inspect] on it, [Lesser C-Grade Zombie (Licker)] [A Developed D-Grade Zombie that has evolved once and has gone beyond its mortal capabilities. The Evolutionary pathway was rted to its muscles, and in return he has lost its sight and ability to walk on its two legs. Highly developed Muscles, Tongue, Auditory sense and Canines. Be careful of its tongue, it''s sharper than its teeth Reward for Killing: +1000 Exp] Gulp! I kept myself quiet as I looked at it and wondered how I should proceed now? ''I shouldn''t disturb it when it''s having a meal¡­ haha,'' I chuckled dryly on the inside as I wanted to run away from here, but oh well. Doesn''t seem like an option here. ''It doesn''t have sight. Maybe because I was walking without making any sound, it didn''t sense me yet,'' I pondered for the reason he hasn''t chomped on me yet. ''How long will he attack me if I move towards him?'' I asked and finally a timer appeared. [7 Seconds] I nodded before walking extremely slowly, though something strange happened [14 seconds] The timer increased when I walked slowly. I moved a bit faster, and the seconds decreased and increased if I slowed down. After pondering a little, ''How long will he attack me if I walk 2 steps?'' No timer came. ''3 steps?'' No time came ''4 steps?'' [4 seconds] Looking at that, I understood why the timer was like that. Honestly, it wasn''t that hard to figure out either, just that the way I was looking at it was wrong. ''It''s the distance,'' I thought as I observed that thing. If I move a certain distance closer to him, he will attack immediately. The timer just showed how long it will take me to reach that distance from him. ''How long will it take him to attack me if I make a sound?'' I asked and [0.1 Seconds] "!!!!" I almost freaked out at that timer. I, with fear-filled eyes, then subconsciously moved away from him and -Drip! I stepped on water? Or blood? Or something liquid¡­ [Return!] -BOOOM!!! I returned near the entrance where I was when I entered in the basement and looking at a distance¡­ he attacked at an insane speed where I was. -Tip! Something fell down. Like a drop of water¡­ or blood. I turned to look down at where the sound came from. It was my blood¡­ soon my eyes fell on my hand¡­ there was a hole in my palm¡­ and blood was oozing out continuously. [HP: 4500/6000] Must have been attacked before I could return to here ''Shit!'' I cursed as I saw that Lesser C-Grade walking on its four legs towards where I was previously standing, trying to smell where I was. It used its tongue to lick my blood, that probably fell there. -Drip! Another drop poured out of my palm and the Lesser C-Grade turned at me. ''F*ck!'' I cursed inwardly before I questioned, ''How long will it take him to attack me?'' [1 second] [Temporal Deceleration!] I used that ability and saw that thing walking towards me slowly and slowly¡­ that too when my ability was activated. My eyes widened up as I realized that¡­ ''He isn''t using its full speed. Even now, he is ying with me¡­'' I could only stare at him with my eyes full of fear before I gripped on my bat¡­? ''Huh? Where did my bat go?!!'' I thought as I saw my bat fall at a distance from here. To where I was previously, before I used [Return]. All this fear and tension made me ignore the fact that I had already lost my weapon¡­ Then¡­ that monster¡­ that Lesser C-Grade Zombie ran towards me at its full speed¡­ ''How long will it take to attack me?'' I questioned and¡­ [0.5 Seconds!] My eyes widened as I used another ability in my arsenal. [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] Yeah, I had copied this ability because I thought using the [Temporal Deceleration] while another is active would make the time 100 times slower and give me an edge in the battle. Truthfully, I couldn''t be more d that I used the [Copy] skill to Copy [Temporal Deration]. [2 Seconds] That monster was flying towards me¡­ jumping at me with all its strength. Without my double [Temporal Deceleration] it was impossible to have a chance against it. I then slowly dragged my feet towards my weapon one step at a time. Using Time points wasn''t an issue since I [Time Flow] was providing me with 60 TP per second and thebined usage of both [Temporal Deceleration] was just 50. Though because I called myself almost 50 meters back using [Return!] The amount of time Points I had left was about 40 or 50, regenerating 10 every second. I went and picked up the bat that I had lost and turned around to see that the monster had already covered half of the distance. Not wasting any time, I moved towards it and used my bat, I¡­. -BANG!!!! Hit it as hard as I could, throwing it as far away as possible. However¡­ ''There is no message that it got killed,'' I gulped as I looked at the body of the lesser C-Grade fallen at a distance after hitting against the wall. Not wasting my time, I kept moving forward as I concentrated on that monster. I saw it standing on its four feet before proceeding to jump at me again as he rapidly covered the distance between us¡­ Though, since it was slow¡­ -BOOOM!! I hit it against the wall again. Yet¡­ it didn''t die. My eyes turned even more serious as I looked at it¡­ however, this time something changed about it¡­ something was different this time¡­ It was giving off a strange steam out of its muscles. Even when I was 10 meters away from him, I could feel the heat that came out of his body. ''Is it dying?'' I questioned as I looked at it. I didn''t even know what it was or how it started existing down here in the basement¡­ Though not caring much about it, I tried my best to fight against the heat and walked towards the zombie. I don''t care whether it is dying or not. If I don''t kill it myself and get the message that it''s dead, I won''t be able to sleep peacefully for a while. Though¡­ something else greeted my eyes when I reached almost 5 meters closer to him¡­ [C-Grade Zombie(Defective)(Berserk Licker)] [Forced to evolve before time. The Lesser C-Grade Licker has undergone a degenerative change towards its body. It has lost its muscles and strong defense in exchange for insane reflexes and agility. Be careful of its Teeth and Tongue. Ordinary metals can be chewed down like paper by this zombie. Reward for killing: +2000 Exp] Chapter 67 Fight In The Basement#2 [C-Grade Zombie(Defective)(Berserk Licker)] [Forced to evolve before time. The Lesser C-Grade Licker has undergone a degenerative change towards its body. It has lost its muscles and strong defense in exchange for insane reflexes and agility. Be careful of its Teeth and Tongue. Ordinary metals can be chewed down like paper by this Zombie. Reward for killing: +2000 Exp] A second passes and¡­ -BOOM!!!! It jumped at me at a rapid speed, hitting me with its head as I got pushed to the very edge of the basement from one end to another. As I was flying back, I hurriedly set a return point randomly in my trajectory. [HP: 3500/6000] ''How long till I get attacked again?'' I questioned as I coughed a bit of blood. "Cough Cough¡­. Blehrr!!..." I coughed as it was difficult to concentrate on something else at all. My eyes opened up wide as I observed the ground beneath me, falling on the ground on my all fours, trying not to fallpletely. [8 Seconds] I got time to breathe as I kept myself calm before looking at my front. Though, even when I tried my best to keep calm, blood rushed through my veins rapidly and I felt like my blood vessels might burst out at any moment. My eyes then traced down the floor as I looked at the front. It wasing towards me slowly and slowly, as if a predator was walking towards its prey. Sticking its tongue out, it seemed as if it can''t wait to taste my blood and gulp down my flesh. Goosebumps creeped out of my skin as I saw it walking one step at a time before it started running at a rapid speed towards me. The fact that I was using one [Temporal Deration] over another wasn''t helping. That thing was still as fast as a dog. [3 seconds] Time kept ticking, and I kept looking in front, concentrating on that thinging at me. [2 seconds] Its speed increased much faster than before as it progressed towards me [1 seconds] The distance decreased to less than 10 meters and it jumped at me with all its strength. And when the distance was about 2 meters apart¡­ [Return!] -BOOM!!! I used my skill to return a few meters ahead of me where I had saved the return point when I was pushed here. Slightly peeking back, I looked at that thing hitting the wall, creating arge hole in it. Blood flowed out of my head and shoulders, as well as my arm and hand. ''Hurts like hell,'' I bit my lips a little as I concentrated on that thing trying to search around. Trying to find where I go. ''Now¡­ How do we proceed from here?'' I questioned as I looked at that thing. I knew it couldn''t see me¡­? ''Huh?!'' My eyes opened wide as I looked at slowly turning in my direction. ''Can he sense me in some way?!'' My eyes opened up wide as I kept looking at it. He was simply facing my direction and then¡­ I felt like it was smiling. ''Run!'' was the first thought I had in my mind¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper(foresight)] I saw it jumping at me from the front¡­ it was fast, but¡­ it wasn''t impossible to hit it. Using my foresight, I saw that it was going to attack me from my front by jumping at me again. So I readied myself, took my stance and waited for the 3 seconds to pass¡­ [3 second] [2 second] [1 second] Once again, it jumped at me, using all its strength. Its ws were facing towards me and with his mouth open up wide, it was as if it was going to bite me to shreds this time. ''Astvista Sucker!'' I spoke in my mind as I swung my bat, taking it out from my [Time storage]. Though¡­ Just before it was about to make an impact¡­. That thing swung its tongue like a chameleon and stuck it around to a nearby pir before propelling himself towards it. -swish! I missed it. My eyes turned open wide as I looked at that thing crawling on the pir before moving towards the ceiling as if preparing himself to attack me again. Though this time¡­ -Whoosh! It jumped away from and started circling around the parking area at a rapid speed. ''It''s elerating¡­'' I breathed calmly as I tried to trace its path, but when my eyes failed to find it and my body refused to turn around as rapidly, I solely focused on my skill to see when it would attack me. [7 seconds] That was the time in which I will be attacked. [6 seconds] [5 seconds] [4 seconds] [3 seconds] [Eyes of the Time Keeper(foresight)] Looking at the future, That thing attacked me from above as rapidly as it could and then I decided to attack it properly however¡­ The future showed me something else¡­ It used its tongue again, jumped at the nearest pir in front of me and attacked me again within the same second. [2 second] ''I can still make it,'' I thought as I prepared my body to attack twice in a row¡­ and the future changed again a little¡­ I saw myself sessfully making the two attacks in the future¡­ but that guy dodged again using its tongue and jumped to the side before creating a distance between me and it. [1 second] My mind couldn''t think of a third move at that moment, so I simply waited for it toe at me and immediately swung my bat above me to see where it wasing from. Then I saw it jumping to the nearest pir and jumping back at me from there at the same speed as before. Pushing my body above its limits, I attacked in the same direction where it wasing from. And just like I saw it in the future, it used its tongue to jump to the side and create a distance between us. ''How long will it take for him to attack me?'' tired and exhausted, I asked again. [15 seconds] ''...'' I looked at the timer with tired eyes and breathed in relief before I looked at that guy -SCREECH!!!!! It was screeching at me loudly before it turned silent and I just kept observing him¡­ him and also the timer. [10 seconds] With each second passing, I felt my chest getting heavier and heavier. It was difficult to breathe and so I was concentrating on that thing. Still¡­ I had to do it¡­ ''I need to kill it,'' was the thought that consumed me ''Caroline and the others won''t survive even a second.'' I knew it. ''If I didn''t kill it, we will all die.'' I understood the consequence of letting it go alive ''d that I attacked it before it turned into a normal C-Grade,'' I couldn''t be more d about this decision. ''But I can''t hit it¡­'' I thought as I looked at it. Every time I try to make a contact this f*cker just escapes. [4 seconds] I prepared myself to fight again as I moved forward after saving a [Return!] point to where I was. [8 seconds] The timer increased as I kept moving forward. Perhaps, me walking suddenly confused it a little, and it decided to observe me. However, I just stopped after walking two steps. [16 Seconds] Confused, it looked at me as he slowed down on the ceiling in front of me. And with eyes filled with re and anxiety, I looked at it, waiting for the time to go down again. Time passed slowly, and both he and I waited for the next few seconds. [5 Seconds] Time ticked down to itsst 5 seconds. However, this time I didn''t use my foresight immediately. [Time points: 500] I was waiting for my Time points to recharge slowly. [2 seconds] [Time points: 530] [Eyes of the Time Keeper(foresight)] First, I used foresight¡­ saw him attacking me from the front left this time. Then¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper Effect 4: Multidimensional Vision: Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once. Cost 450TP/Seconds] ''Show me¡­ the timeline where I killed that bastard,'' I ordered with a focused face as I kept observing the future. Then¡­ 100s of timelines brushed past me in one second¡­ showing me all the ways I could kill it. And I¡­ choosing the easiest one, I smiled as I waited for that guy to jump at me. And so it did¡­ I didn''t even look at it this time. I expected it to make the same face. The same wide opened mouth of his trying to get at me¡­ the same tongue that he would have used to escape me again¡­ Exactly moments before he reached me¡­ [Return!] I used to return a few steps back to where I was a few seconds ago. I saw its ugly head in front of me¡­ his tongue trying to spread towards the nearest pir again as it sensed something was wrong¡­ however, by the time it figured it out¡­ -BOOOM!!!!!! Swinging my bat from above downwards, I hit its head as hard as I could. It still didn''t die. "You f*cking cockroach!" I shouted as I hit it again as hard as I could. It was just about to escape again¡­ but no f*cking way I will let it¡­ now f*cking way¡­ I will let this chance go¡­ -BOOOM!!! [Ding!] [You have killed a C-Grade Zombie(Licker)] [+2000 Exp] I looked at that notification with a satisfied look before¡­ ''Huh?'' I saw the world spinning around¡­ "Wha.. is¡­ goig.. On?" confused I fell to the ground¡­ -Thud! Before I lost my consciousness¡­ Chapter 68 Caroline Olivia Escarte [Caroline''s POV] ¡­ It has been two weeks since Michael has lost consciousness. Every day, I take care of his body, messaging it from every point so that his muscles won''t freeze due to inactivity. ''He will wake up right?'' I questioned as I looked at his ever so still body. Sleeping peacefully without any care of the world. "Sister. Any news?" asked Alex as he entered the room where Michael and I were. He looked at the sleeping Michael for a while as he joked,"should I kiss him? Maybe he will wake up after guessing a kiss from a prince?" "Already did that," I spoke in a dejected tone. "Huh?" Alex. "Huh?" "I.. I should go then," he spoke before running away from the room. Though right after a few seconds he came back running in the same manner, he ran away. "Almost forgot. Gramps is calling you. He said that it''s about time¡­" he spoke with a smile before he ran back. "Sure. Tell him that I¡­" I saw him already gone by the time I responded,"... wille in a minute." My eyes then drifted towards Michael, who was sleeping, and I sighed as I, once again, recalled what happened two weeks ago. When Michael went down to the basement, Alex moved towards the first floor in order to gauge the energy changes in that monster. ording to Alex, that monster went through three changes in the whole battle that took merely a minute. First, it started releasing a lot of energy, probably moving around the basement, fighting against Michael. Second, it started changing its structure, and a sudden burst of energy formed inside that monster. The already powerful monster became something more ferocious, much stronger than before. Finally, the third change was when its energy started deteriorating again. It was slowly deteriorating, though, before any significant change could ur. All its energy signals vanished as if it didn''t even exist. Alex exined the whole phenomenon to White and then White and George went down to see what happened. I wanted to go along with them, but White asked me to watch their backs to see there was no one from behind them. Down in the basement, ording to White and George, Michael was unconscious, with his arms and hands bleeding. There was a strange bat beside Michael, which probably belonged to him. And then¡­ there was that monster¡­ That thing. Later on, I too went down to see it with my own two eyes as I observed it and it¡­ was creepy to the core. Even looking at it made me feel goosebumps all over my body. ''Michael fought with something like that, huh?'' I questioned back and then and even now, as I was surprised to see how strong Michael was. "That reminds me of the reason I was here," I muttered as I looked at Michael. "Sigh¡­ I don''t think he knows, does he?" I chuckled a little as I shook my head before wondering how the rest of my family would be faring right now? ''Mother and father should be fine, since they were probably in the military base overseas. As for Angeline. I think she would be fine too¡­ Given how skilled she is, even if she is in a foreign nation, she should easily be able to handle the situation,'' I thought as I then stood up before moving towards Michael. I kissed him on the lips before speaking,"wake up soon, darling. I am still waiting for that night, you know?" and then chuckling before moving out and closing the door from outside. I turned to George, who was keeping watch outside and said,"Thanks for guarding him when I am not here." For the past 2 weeks, I have been taking care of Michael, but I can''t be here all the time. So at the time I wasn''t here, George was the one who took care of him. He stood there outside the gate where Michael was. Though it wasn''t just him but almost everyone kept checking up on him every once in a while to see if he woke up or not. I guess he has already gained another fan following of his own. I then moved down to the lower floors step by step before reaching down to the ground floor and outside to the gate where Alex, White, and the others were waiting for me. I turned to look at the new horde of zombies present in front of the gate as they were trying to get in. White looked at me and spoke. "How is he?" "Still the same," I smiled with a bit of a sad look before turning at the Horde of Zombies in front of us. "How many today?" I asked as I took the Bat which Micheal had on him. It was really a strange and strong bat. It was stronger than a shotgun and a single swing can kill multiple zombies at once. ? What was even more strange was that just by holding that weapon, I felt a strange power flowing in me and my strength increasing by another notch. "Should I open the gate?" asked one of the young men standing near the main gate. "Yeah. Open it as it usually is," White answered, and he nodded before opening the gate just a little so that the Zombies woulde one at a time inside the building. Ever since Micheal killed that zombie in the basement, more and more zombies started hoarding here. While it was a doom for us, in a way, it was a good thing for us as well. There were two reasons for that. One is that, this way, we could improve our strength faster and also gain experience against Zombie Hordes. I don''t exactly know how it works, but ording to Alex, the more we stay closer to the Zombie Hordes, the faster our energy grows and the stronger we be. This way we could reach a new height in power while also learning different ways on how to deal with zombies. The other good thing was the Zombie Cores, which were present in some Zombies. Once again, thanks to Alex, we can find which Zombie has cores and which doesn''t. Collecting Zombie cores and gaining power individually was the best way to grow once power. It was much faster than the first method, but there is a limit to how much you can absorb. Also, for some reason, the cores of weaker zombies don''t seem to be of much use to me and Alex. Maybe because we have already gone past a certain stage of power? "A strong one ising!!" one of the men shouted as he looked at a Zombie moving towards us at a rapid speed. "I will take care of it," I said as I breathed a little and, tracing its trajectory, I moved towards it as fast as I could. Before it could reach anyone of us, I reached in front of it and¡­ -BOOOM!!! I hit its head as fast as I could, blowing his skull into the smithereens, killing him in one hit. "Nice kill!" spoke one. "Nice kill!" spoke another. And soon everyone startedplimenting me before they went on their own killing spree. About 3 hours passed, and we finally managed to kill all the Zombies that came in this horde. Every day a wave of zombieses at us in hordes of about 60-70 Zombies. We had already dealt with the Zombie of the first wave in the morning, and with this wave, today''s work was almost done. Though before we could rejoice even a little¡­ "Another wave ising¡­ and this one has some strong ones," spoke Alex as he looked in a direction a bit away from here. Focusing on the direction from where they wereing from, I saw about 20-30 Zombiesing towards us. ''Guess, I rxed too soon,'' I thought as I tightened my grip on my weapon and prepared for another round. "This is bad," White said as he looked in the direction of Zombies and confused as I looked at him. Surely we aren''t weak enough to deal with another wave, are we? Looking at the confusion in my eyes, he spoke, "It''s almost nighttime. Also¡­ some of us are already tired." Hearing him, I traced through the people we have and sure enough, a few of us looked really exhausted. Okay¡­ this is a little bit bad, but- "We have one more problem¡­" Alex spoke with a bit of better expression as he kept focusing on the Zombies, which wereing at us. After a momentary pause, he spoke again. "There is another wave behind theming towards us. About 100 Zombies." My eyes turned up open wide as I immediately turned towards the ce where the Zombies wereing from, however I still couldn''t see anything beyond the wave that was approaching us. "Close the gate and barricade it from the inside. I guess things are going to be harder from now on," spoke White decisively as he observed the situation. Things were turning bad. "Not really though," we heard a voice¡­ that sent a sensation through all of us. "You guys are a bit tired, so you can take a break. I wille back in a few minutes," he spoke with a casual expression as he bit an apple in his hand and moved towards me. "Hey Carol. Thanks for taking care of me," he spoke with a smile before kissing me on my lips and then slowly taking his weapon back and then patting me as he spoke,"take a break. I will handle things from here." Michael Aroa¡­ was awake after two full weeks of sleep. Chapter 69 Two Weeks [MICHAEL AROA''S POV] ¡­ ¡­ Two weeks ago¡­ Down in the Basement¡­ "Wha.. is¡­ goig.. On?" I spoke as I soon lost my consciousness. My eyes closed on their own as the light falling on my eyes vanished and darkness took over them. "Are you crazy or something?!!!" I heard a voice.. [Force Skill Activation: Seconds Space!!] Then¡­ soon my vision returned, and I came back to a familiar ce. It was my White room where I usually enter after using the [Second Space] Skill. Though¡­ "What is going onaaaAAAAAA!!!!!!" my head started hurting as if hundreds of needles were nted from all directions into it. Shouting as loudly as I can, I couldn''t even move my body as I fell down on the ground. [Force Skill Activation: Advanced Mana Maniption!!] Despite going through the insane pain, I heard that message, and soon enough, the pain started lessening. Though the impact was still there as I lost my ability to think properly for the next few seconds. Everything was confusing for no reason. "Why am I standing up when I am standing up?" Stupid questions left my mouth as I tried to¡­ I don''t even know what I was trying to do. I mean, I was trying to p my buttcheeks from the back of my opposite hand. Though it was only for a few moments before my sanity came back to normal. "Ah!" Though as the sanity returned, so did the pain. But still¡­ it was less than what it was before. Much lesser than before. Holding my head with my hand. I tried to look around to see what was going on. "What happened¡­ How did I get here?" I asked myself as I tried to recall the memories. Honestly, things were all jumbled up a lot, and it was hard to concentrate on one thing. For the next 2 or 3 hours, I just sat there trying to figure out something¡­ I don''t know what I was trying to figure out, but I was really trying. Then things started connecting slowly and slowly¡­ I started recalling bits of information. Things before the Apocalypse, the way I got the [System]. Then the thing about what happened after the Apocalypse, the way I survived, the way I saved Caroline. Soon enough, I ended up recalling everything on how I used [Eyes of the Timekeeper(Multidimensional Vision)] skill to kill that C-Grade Zombie. -Thud! I fell on my back as I kind of understood what had happened before¡­ ''But still, how did I end up here?'' I questioned as I didn''t remember using the [Second Space] ability. "Rhea?" I questioned as I recalled someone shouting at me a few moments after I lost consciousness. The only one who had the ability to use my skills other than me was probably her. "Ah! System," finally recalling something, I looked at the System Tab. [Side Quest: Clear the basement (Completed)!] [Golden Key to the Dungeon of Libra Received!] ''Good. Now I can finish that quest in one go.'' I nodded with a smiling face as I looked at the Main Quest [Main Quest] [Clear 3 Silver Ranked Dungeons or 1 Gold Ranked Dungeon Reward: New ss] "You look much better now," spoke a feminine voice as I got up and turned around to see a woman¡­ far more beautiful than I had ever seen. Standing at a distance in front of me. She wore a ck dress thatplimented that white hair of hers. Her greenish azure eyes that felt crystal like, only increased her beauty. "You look like you are dreaming? Is the effect still there?" she spoke as confusion and worry entered her eyes and she pondered with a bit of anxiety. "Ah! I am fine¡­ it''s just that¡­ you are too beautiful¡­" I spoke honestly. I didn''t have any intention of flirting with her or anything. In fact, just by looking at her, I could tell that she was leagues away for me. But still I couldn''t help but speak out the truth to her. "Oh! Is that so?" she smiled at me with a sigh of relief before speaking,"I guess you haven''t seen any real beauties in your life, perhaps? Or maybe your world hasn''t developed that much?" I only kept observing her. Wondering who she was. "Excuse me¡­ have we met before?" I asked, with a bit of confusion and curiosity. "Hmmm? What are you talking about? Of course we have met before. I even showed you the whole [Shop], didn''t I? Don''t tell me you don''t remember me?" She asked as worry filled her eyes again however¡­ "WHAT?!! R-R-Rhea?!!" I questioned as I looked at her and she breathed a sigh in relief,"so you do remember me. But then, why did you fail to recognize me? Should have been easy to connect the dots, no?" Observing her, I just sighed before asking,"well¡­ forget about that. Tell me, Rhea. Were you the one who force summoned me here?" Hearing my words, she nodded as she spoke,"you used a skill beyond your capabilities. If I hadn''t brought you here, you would have died within the next few moments. Human mind isn''t made to use that skill." I just looked at her dumbfounded as I could only shut my mouth for a few moments before speaking,"Thank you, I guess." "You are wee, I suppose. Though I can''t really do that all the time. This time was an exception, so don''t go on getting in situations where your life gets in unavoidable dangers," she spoke with a worried look before observing my face as she asked, "You seem to have a lot of questions¡­ Well, since it''s the first time we are meeting in your room. I guess I can enlighten you a little. Tell me. What is in your mind?" "A few questions only¡­ When I fought that zombie. I realized something¡­ they were evolving too fast. Adapting too fast. It hasn''t even been a proper month and there is already a C-Grade Zombie¡­ At first I thought it was rted to them being a failed scientific experiment or something but¡­ It is something bigger, isn''t it?" I asked as I recalled that battle that took ce a few hours ago. "Yeah. It is. Though I can''t tell you anything about it. You need to find out about it," she said with a sad expression. Since she didn''t want to tell, I too didn''t pry much into it. "The other thing was¡­ this [System]. What is this? It is too powerful¡­ too strange¡­ I don''t hate it but the fact that I know nothing about it¡­ sometime scares me," I spoke as I looked at her and she smiled as she spoke, "Don''t worry about it. The answers wille to you when the timees. For now, all I can say is that you need not to worry. The one who bestowed the system on you¡­ he was¡­ he was one of the kindest souls in the universe." There was a tinge of sadness in her eyes. There was a tinge of happiness on her lips. "Was?" I questioned, and she just looked at me with a small smile without answering anything. "Well¡­ there is thisst thing that I wanted to ask. What is my purpose in all this? There is no free lunch. I-" "Michael. Everything will be revealed to you in due time. If you get all the answers at once, you might not be able to handle it. Also¡­ I am not the one who has the answers to that. You are the only one who can find the answers to that," she spoke with a bitter look that never vanished from her face. I could only look at her for a few moments before asking, "So¡­ just answer me this, then. The one who gave me the System¡­ is he alive¡­ or is he dead?" Her eyes turned out wide as she looked at me in stupefaction and disbelief. I could only sigh at her expression before I spoke. "No wonder you kept saying that I need to find the answers myself¡­ because the one who was supposed to answer is¡­" I trailed off as I sighed. It was a blind guess, honestly. I mean¡­ there has to be a purpose for this¡­ but okay¡­ I guess I understand a little. A little maybe. Normally it was the owner of System who needed to answer my questions or help me out¡­ or at least provide me a path. But here I was, with a system rted to time and no fixed pattern. With no guide or no exnation. Even Rhea kept repeating that I need to find the answer myself. "Well¡­ I guess¡­ I don''t really know why you are not answering my questions or what is stopping you. And¡­ you know¡­ if I am the one who needs to find out the answer myself¡­ I guess I will do it myself then," I spoke with a determined face before I stood up. Her eyes looked like they wanted to speak about a lot of things. Her face seemed like she didn''t have a choice here. She did not know how to tell about it¡­ "It''s fine. You don''t have to force yourself here. You saved my life. At the very least, I can trust you a little, can''t I?" I spoke with a bright smile, making her eyes wet a little as she nodded before replying, "Thank you Michael. Thank you very much." I nodded before speaking,"then¡­ since we can''t go into the Grand topics¡­ let''s start with the minor ones. How did I end up here?" // The rest of the chapter is continued in the Author''s notes// Chapter 70 Perfecting The Positions "It''s hard!" "Keep going!" "Please be gentle!" "No!" "Is that the best you got?" Holding my sword between her hands, she smiled as she spoke, "This isn''t enough. You will be killed in an instant. You need to swing it harder. Faster. Better." For the past two weeks, Rhea has been teaching me how to handle the sword movements. With the time ratio of 6:1, It would have been only 2 days in the outside world. Getting the weapon was actually quite easy [Practice Wooden Sword(Common)] [A basic wooden sword to hone your skills. Nothing more special about it Cost: 500 Cronas] With the 2700 Cronas I had, I could easily take one of the swords. The best part was that I didn''t really need to buy it as I could just practice in the trial room for as long as I wanted. "Just how can a person make so many mistakes at once?" spoke Rhea in annoyance as she looked at me with a re and disdain. Her previous ''honorable, gentle and nice'' girl aura was gone. All she looked like was... "Demoness..." I muttered silently. "Did you say something?" she asked as if she would kill me if I repeated my words, so I just chuckled dryly as I answered,"haha.. No.. I was saying... you are a really good teacher... who made you one?" ''Like who gave you the permission to be one?'' I asked with a bit of irritation, but didn''t show it in front. Hearing my words, she answered,"that you need not to know." "Now. Practice standing in that form and make another 1000 perfect swings. That is your next task now that you have more or less adapted yourself to standing the right way," she spoke, and I sighed before nodding at her. Legs two and a half feet apart, with my hips a bit lower. Holding the wooden sword, with my arms spread a bit away without going lower than my shoulder length. My forearms were a bit more bent down and my wrist was just a bit up. Bending my spine only about a few degrees, I concentrated on the empty space at front. Raising both my hands up, without letting the form go, I raised the sword slowly and slowly up before bringing it down. ording to Rhea, I need to first learn how to swing the sword properly before actually swinging it. Posture and correct form is the key to make a perfect swing, bringing out theplete power out of the swing. It took me about 5 minutes to move the sword up and another 5 minutes down, making it one swing. Though ording to Rhea, it was still slow and my form broke about a 1000 times when I tried to raise my sword up and another 1000 times when I moved it down. ''Sigh... this is too hard,'' I thought before concentrating on the swings once again. Next time, I concentrated with extreme focus and raised the sword much slower than before. This time I focused only on the form and not the actual swing, so I didn''t count on the time... ''Focus on the posture. Focus on yourself... your body is your weapon... it''s yours tomand... make it work the way you want,'' I repeated the words that I used to whenever I failed to learn something during college days. It helped me concentrate on only one thing, ignoring everything else that was taking around. It helped me block all things from the outside and not get distracted by it. Soon.. after an unknown amount of time passed... I finally brought the sword back to its original position. Once I was done with that.. "Phew... so how was this one? Don''t tell me it''s still wrong..." I spoke with a tired smile and she was looking at me without speaking anything. For the next few moments, she just kept quiet as she observed me... "You made 7 mistakes in going up and about 19 whening down," she said in a monotonous voice. There was slight disbelief in her voice and she was trying to see through me. "Eh? I still made mistakes... let me try again then..." I spoke with a determined face before I took a deep breath and concentrated again.. Time passed again... this time I applied all my energy, concentrating on everything I could. Watching each single move that I was making, I just kept going extremely slowly and slowly before I was finally done with it. "Damn! My shoulder hurts," I spoke as I let the weapon go and held my shoulder with my hand as I fell on the ground. Just how long had I been holding that position for? "2 mistakes in going up... and... and... 0 mistakes ining down..." she spoke with pure disbelief as she observed me. For the next few moments, I just looked at her with pure disbelief before a bright grin appeared on my face. "Just 2, huh? Not too shabby, I guess," I said, rubbing my nose with my finger and smiling from ear to ear. Though... "How long did it take? I believe it should have taken about 30 minutes or something?" I was a bit curious. Though she just kept looking at me with disbelief as I asked again, "Rhea?" "Huh?!" she came out of her stupor as she observed me... before she asked, "Michael... let me ask you a question... are you really a human?" ''Hmmm? What kind of question is that?'' I questioned as I observed her before speaking,"yeah... is there something wrong?" "No... nothing... "she muttered before I asked again,"so? How long did it take? For me to make that swing, I mean," I asked and she, looking at me, closed her eyes for a few moments before speaking, "2 days." "Huh?" My face turned nk as I observed her for a few moments before confirming again, "Haha! Sorry, I think I heard something wrong. Can you repeat it again?" She then took a deep breath before speaking,"you took 2 days to make thatplete swing. And the previous one you took 6 hours." "Eh?!!!!" Pure stupefaction appeared on my face as I observed her. It didn''t seem like she was... joking... "Continue doing that... try to make as many perfect swings as you can. Prioritize form and stability," she spoke with a half nked expression and I could only nod at her before waiting for a few moments to heal myself and then stretching out a little and then continuing to swing... And just like that, about 12 weeks passed... that should be about 84 days in total.... "Hmmmm... I still need a lot of time to make sure I get enough practice to make a faster swing, huh?" I asked, as I saw the amount of time taken to make thatst swing. "You should be proud of what you achieved," I would say. To reduce that time to less than half without losing your initial form within 3 months isn''t something that is normal in any way, you know?" She spoke as she looked at me in disbelief, and I just smiled with a bit of joy. Thest swing took me 20 hours toplete. In thatst swing, I made less than 10 mistakes in going up and about 12 ining down. I felt like there were a lot of mistakes, but Rhea spoke that it was really enough. Believing her, I then returned to my white room as I looked at that object I bought on the 4th day here. [Tree of Crona(Umon) Effects: Generates 15 Cronas per hour. Limitations: Can store only 2500 Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 50,000 Cronas to evolve)] Taking out the 2500 Cronas from the nt I looked at the amount of Crona I had in my storage [Total Cronas: 14345] In the beginning, I got an offer on the [ Lesser Tree of Crona(Umon)] item which, normally costing 25,000 Cronas, was on a 90% discount at 2,500 Cronas. Just looking at it, I knew that I needed to buy it so I used the 2500 Cronas to buy it. What I didn''t expect was that it was upgradable. It was really a nice bonus to it. Took about 10,000 Cronas to upgrade the [Lesser Tree of Crona] to [Tree of Crona]. I was hoping to upgrade it once more but I guess that is still going to take a lot of time. "Should I buy something?" I questioned before I decided that I should save it for that [Warp] skill that Rhea talked about. Also, I made a point to check the daily sale at least once in a while, hoping to find something interesting. Though sadly, I never got an offer simr to that one again. "You should concentrate on upgrading that nt, I would say. If you can find an [Item Evolve] stone then I suggest you use it as fast as you can on it. What you receive is really a blessing to be honest. I could be your direct ticket to getting stronger faster," she emphasized the stronger parts as she looked at me from top to bottom before continuing, "I guess you would be leaving now." I nodded at her as I spoke, "Will be returning every night for training though. I want to make sure I make that perfect sh within a few seconds at least. Someday... hopefully." She nodded at me as she asked,"when are you going to attempt that dungeon?" "Tonight. I want to get a ss of my own fast, you know?" I spoke with a bit of excitement and she sighed before speaking,"just be careful. Dungeon works a bit differently from normal." // The rest of the chapter is in Author''s note // Chapter 71 Making Sure Everything Is Fine [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* /Leader* Zombie Destroyer: When fighting more than 25 Zombies at once. All strikes would be 100% more powerful. ss: Unssified Level: 10 (79230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 7000/7000 Time Points: 800/800 Strength: 15 Constitution: 15 Dexterity: 15 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 14 Charisma: 13 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 14345 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] Surprisingly, I was able to do System Daily Quests within the [Second Space] for the 12 days in the outer time. I ended up farming a bit of Exp as well as Stat point. My eyes fell on the bat which Caroline was holding. It was the same weapon that I bought from the [Shop] previously. Hmmm¡­ now that I think about it, if Caroline has Archer as a ss, I believe I could get her a crossbow or a normal bow, can''t I? ''Let''s see itter after we finish dealing with the situation here,'' I pondered before moving towards Caroline as I continued speaking. "You guys are a bit tired, so you can take a break. I wille back in a few minutes." I mean, they really looked tired after dealing with the Zombie Hordes. I guess it wouldn''t be wrong to give them a small break. "Hey Carol. Thanks for taking care of me," I spoke as I took my weapon back and kissed on her lips before patting her as I continued,"Take a break. I will handle things from here." I saw her nodding at me in a daze before I turned to White speaking,"I see a lot of ems got improved. Including you as well. Good job." He nodded as he answered,"had to do what I had to. Though it was mostly Alex who helped us. He warned us about which zombie is stronger and which is weaker. He provided me with the information on their power and I devised the strategy. Without him, it would have been at least 3 times more difficult." I turned to Alex and smiled at him as I spoke,"I guess you deserve a gift for your hard work. Just wait till I deal with the horde. We can then decide on what you want." He smiled brightly at that as he nodded with a blissful face. Almost all the people here had turned into F-Grade Zombified Humans, while a few almost reached the E-Grade. White had be an E-Grade already. As for Alex and Caroline, there wasn''t much improvement in them as they were still E-Grade Zombified humans. Though their zombification process has crossed 30% each, so there was that. "BROTHER WATCH OUT!!!" Shouted Alex as he looked at me and the Zombie which almost jumped at me. [Jumper(D-Grade Zombie): A Jumper who has reached its full potential after eating many Zombie Cores. Has advanced leg strength and agility and can jump high enough to reach 5 storey buildings with ease. Reward for Killing: +250 Exp] [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)] I saw that guy slowly floating towards me. He was fast, butpared to that C-Grade¡­ ''Slow,'' I said as I raised my hand and held the head of that Zombie and started crushing with my hand as hard as I could. Because this Zombie had higher leg strength, then that means his head should have been developed a bit less inparison. ''Time to see how much 20 strength is really worth¡­ '' I thought as I held the bat in my hand tightly, which increased my strength by another +5. At first it was hard, as hard as crushing an empty tin can. Then, once the process started, it soon became easy as the bones of that Zombie began breaking. Soon I noticed its body getting lifeless extremely slowly. [You have killed a D-Grade Zombie Jumper!] [+250 Exp] I just smiled as I waited for the body of that zombie to stop on its own before turning off the two [Temporal Deceleration] skills. While all of it happened slowly for me, for others, it might have all happened in less than a second. I mean, there is no better proof than the look of disbelief on their faces. Even Alex and White were trying toprehend what had just happened. Including Caroline, who was almost ready to jump to protect me from the Zombie. "Well. I will be back. Also, you guys keep the used Zombie core somewhere? I will be collecting that," I spoke before moving towards the iing Zombie Horde. ''Hmmm.. about 60 Zombies¡­ 14 Lesser D-Grade and¡­ 3 D-Grades,'' I calcted the number using my [Inspect] skill as I tried swinging the bat in the same way as Rhea taught me how to use a sword. ''How long will I be attacked?'' [4 Seconds] A Lesser D-Grade Zombie rushed towards me at a rapid speed and waited for the timer to reach 1 seconds, I let that Zombie reach towards me. [Temporal Deceleration] [Temporal Deceleration(copy)] -Bam! [+125 Exp] Moving to the next Zombie without stopping to use my skills [+125 Exp] [+ 250 Exp] [+ 250 Exp] While I did need Cronas, for now I decided to kill them. There was little I could do with another 1000 Cronas or so. On that note¡­ I don''t know if having some extra Exp was going to help me or not. When I killed the Zombies, I made sure to take out the Core and store it in my pocket. ''I wonder how much an energy filled core would sell for,'' I pondered with a bit of curiosity as I killed the next Zombie [+ 50 Exp] [+ 50 Exp] [+ 125 Exp] One by one, I killed all the Zombies present in the area before proceeding to the next horde. It wasn''t much hard, as even though there were more Zombies in the next wave, their individual grade was lesser than previous ones. [Level 10: (87450/50000 Exp)] I looked at that Exp before turning around and walking back at a casual pace as I saw the slow world around me. Then when I reached a bit closer to the Libra building where I Caroline and the others were, I stopped using the two abilities. With how much I was involved in that, I guess it took about 10 seconds in normal time for me to finish the whole thing? Or was it less? Returning, I saw the rest of them looking at me as if they had seen a ghost. They had to rub their eyes multiple times to check if they saw what they just saw. "What? Never seen a super fast man killing a horde of zombies within seconds?" I spoke as I observed them, and they just kept looking at me nkly. I sighed before turning at George, who was a bit less stupefied than the others, and spoke,"George. Can you collect all the used up Zombie cores and bring them to me? I will be in the guest room on the first floor." Snapping out of his stupor, he nodded before immediately moving to work. As for White and Alex, I just left them as it is before moving towards Caroline. "Let''s go. We have some unattended business," I spoke with a bit of mischievous look however before I could move, "Brother wait! Actually, take this," spoke Alex as he took out a Zombie Core out his pocket hurriedly. I then observed the Zombie Core properly. [D-Grade Zombie Core] [Formed by the condensed energy of a Lesser C-Grade Zombie. Contains a magnificent amount of cessation energy.] Observing the Zombie core, I finally recalled a piece of information that Ipletely neglected till now. I turned to Alex as I asked, "It''s that one''s core?" Alex nodded as he spoke,"Gramps decided that since it was you who killed it. It would be better if you are the one who decided what to do with it. Also, because the energy was too much for any of us to absorb properly." By it, Alex meant about the C-Grade Zombie. Though I wonder why it was Alex holding on to the core. "Because nobody would suspect a kid," White answered, as he understood my thoughts. I observed the Zombie core and pondered for a few moments¡­ ''We need someone strong to defend the whole ce. At least until I am within the Dungeon,'' I pondered before deciding that it would be better to help someone evolve with this. Though who exactly¡­ ''Caroline¡­ No. Even though I want her to be stronger, giving her the core would only mean that she will be made to stand in the most difficult situations. White¡­ I trust him¡­ but not that much. I still know little about him, even with my [Inspect] skill I could only grasp a few basic information about him. Alex is¡­ well above everything, he is still a kid. Now that leaves only one person¡­'' I pondered before turning at George with a calctive gaze. George is a good kid. He will protect the whole building if I asked him to¡­ perhaps even die if the situation demands. Along with Caroline, he looked after me when I was ill and, most importantly; he looked at me as if I were his idol or something¡­ ''Well, I guess it is better than the other choices,'' I thought as I called George over. Confused, he moved towards me and I asked him to raise his hand. I put the D-Grade Core in his hands and asked, ''How long till the Zombie Core gets absorbed by George?'' // The rest of the Chapter is in Author''s note// Chapter 72 How Does Heaven Feels Like?[R-18] [Warning: This Chapter contains Mature Content] Looking at George, observing himself a bit dumbfoundedly, I smiled a little before turning at Alex who was waiting for me with a pouch of Cores in his hands. Though he was observing me with a really confused face, as his eyes jumped from me to George many times. I could see question marks all over his faces as he turned at me before asking, "What would have taken about 3 months¡­ finished in less than an hour¡­ brother¡­ What exactly did you do?... and how?" I just chuckled a little before moving towards him, patting him on the head as I ruffled my finger through his hair, messing it up a bit. Then I took the pouch filled with cores from his hand and turned around, "Someday I''ll tell you. But, for now, I believe it would be better if I keep my secrets to myself, don''t you think?" He was quiet for a couple of moments, but after thinking about it; he nodded at me. His confusion was erased, which was soon reced with a pondering expression. He, after recalling something, spoke, "Gramps asked me to tell you that there is something that he wanted to talk about." "Tell him I will see him tonight,"I spoke as I began walking towards George and checked up on him once again. Confirming he was fine, I spoke,"try to use this energy to protect the people of this ce. During times when I am not here, I will be counting on you. You can do that much, can''t you, George?" George looked at me with reverence in his eyes as he spoke,"Yes. I will." "Now go and help out, White. See if he needs anything," I told him and he nodded before leaving from there and our gazes kept looking in the direction he was walking until he vanished from our eyesight. "I still think it would have been better if you had used that core on yourself," Caroline spoke as she observed me and, turning to her, I pondered how I should answer that. "Brother doesn''t need it," spoke Alex as he observed me before turning to Caroline. He continued,"unlike the rest of us, brother''s power doesn''te from the energy of the Cores or the zombies. It is something else totally. Otherwise, I would have been able to sense at least some power from him." Hearing this, Caroline makes a bewildered look before she turns at me and I chuckle as I speak,"that is true, I suppose. Well¡­ I guess it won''t be much of a problem to tell you this, so listen. This whole energy thing that you absorb from the cores is a form of evolutionary energy. The more you have of it, the more you would evolve. It''s not limited to just humans, but zombies, too. Though I don''t have any idea about animals and nts¡­ still, I believe they would be evolving as well." Hearing this, both of them nodded as they had already guessed it this much, so I continued, "There are two ways of absorbing the energy. Cores and directly from the atmosphere. Also, how much closer you are to Zombies ys an important factor in it." Hearing this, they made a pondering expression before Alex spoke,"yeah. I guess I have witnessed that already." I then recalled if I missed anything and sure enough, I did,"there is a very important thing that I need you guys to know. Don''t take a powerful core which you can''t handle. For example, the zombie core which I got from the basement zombie was too powerful for any of you. If you had tried absorbing the core, you would have turned into a Zombie¡­ a really powerful one at that." Hearing my words, they gulped before making a horrifying expression. Clearly, they didn''t know this piece of information. Maybe they had an idea about it, but that''s about it. "Okay. I guess that is all about Zombie Cores. Alex, is there anything else for you to say?" I asked as I looked at him and he shook his head as he spoke,"no. I just came here to give you the cores, brother. Also, about that message to Gramps, I''ll pass it on to him. See youter, brother!" He ran away cheerfully as he spoke, and I chuckled at his enthusiasm. "What happened to the food problems?" I asked as I turned to Caroline before moving towards the room gate. "The shop was filled with all sorts of things. Thanks to you, clearing the whole area from Zombies, we got ess to the shop and our food supplies were replenished. Currently, we can go for another two weeks or so, before we need to get another source," Caroline spoke with a calcting expression and I nodded at her before closing the gate of the room from the inside. "Is that so? I guess we would be needing a few things¡­" I then began moving closer to her as I continued,".. A few expeditions of sorts to find and collect food supplies from other ces as well." Reaching closer to her, I kissed her on her lips before holding her left hand with my right. Then, moving towards the bed, I slowly pulled her with me as I sat on the bed with my back against the wall. She, too, moved up with me and sat beside me as shey her head on my right shoulders, covering her with my arm from behind as she pressed her breasts against my chest. "Does that mean we will be venturing into the outside world now?" She asked curiously. I nodded before I slid my right hand through the lower hole of her T-shirt towards her breasts. "Though there is somewhere I need to go before there. Somewhere I need to go alone," I spoke as yed with her nipples with a little and she, turning at me a bit surprised, asked, "Alone?" There was worry in her eyes. They kept looking into mine as I looked at her only a few inches away. Moving closer to her, I kissed her on her lips as I spoke,"Don''t worry. I will be back before you know it." Though her worry didn''t vanish as she observed me with a question filled look and asked, "Where are you going?" I just looked at her with a small smile as I spoke,"I¡­ I can''t answer that." "Is it rted to those strange powers of yours?" She asked as she connected the dots, and I nodded with the same look. Then she turned silent for the next few moments before she spoke. "Hey¡­ you aren''t doing anything you are forced to, are you?" Hearing her words, a warm smile formed on my face and I kissed her on her lips again as I answered with a smile,"I am not." "And you are not going to do anything dangerous?" She asked with her gaze fixated at me. I kissed her again as I answered,"nothing I can''t handle." "Then take me with you," she spoke with determination and I stopped to look at her sweet face before I smiled and proceeded to kiss her again. "You are needed here more than there. Plus, I don''t think I can take you there anyway," I spoke as I looked at her with a small smile. Her slight hope vanished before she asked again, "How many days will you be gone for?" "More or less a week," I spoke pondering, and she sighed as she muttered silently,"but you have only returned after two weeks." I could hear her sigh in those words before she moved my right hand away from her breast, stood up and then proceeded to sit on myp with her leg on each side. Her eyes then turned to me as she asked me, "I don''t want to feel like a burden anymore, Michael. Tell me how to get strong¡­ strong enough to stand beside you, strong enough so that you can rely on me." There was a determination on her face and it looked like she was really worried about her strength. A warm fuzzy feeling filled my chest as I looked at her I observed her for a few moments before something struck in my mind and my expression turned mischievous as I spoke, "There is actually a shortcut¡­" Hearing my words, her eyes opened up wide, and she looked like she would eat me up if I didn''t tell her, but¡­ "I have a few conditions," I spoke as I looked at her with my gaze turning a bit more erotic and she, though worried before, understanding my intentions, chuckled a little. Bending forward, she kissed me on my lips, before speaking,"What is¡­ that His Majesty wants¡­ from me?" Hearing her words, and the way she was speaking¡­ I couldn''t control myself a little, and kissed her again. This time, however, I let my tongue make it through her lips as she, too, started using her tongue, kissing me back. After a few moments of continuous kissing, I slowed down a little as she moved slightly backwards and gazed at my face. Moments of stillness, then I slowly reached her ears, whispering in a low but melodious voice,"make me." before I moved back. At these words, her eyes turned a bit more lusty and her face turned a bit more red. She observed me with a beautiful smile before she chuckled a little as she spoke,"is that so?" Her eyes still gazing at me with a bit of lust, she began unclothing herself. Removing her top as she once again showed me those enchanting breasts of hers, and spoke, "Then¡­ how about I show you¡­ a little of heaven¡­ your majesty?" Chapter 73 Preparatory Phase[R-18] [Warning: This Chapter contains Mature content] "Then¡­ how about I show you¡­ a glimpse of heaven¡­ Your Majesty?" Eyes glued to her chest, my right hand moved, trying to grasp them. My heart beat rose and a rush of adrenaline took over my body. Touching them, I proceeded to squeeze them¡­ "Ah!" I looked at her face turning red as she looked to the left, avoiding my gaze and observing her, I felt like teasing her a bit as I moved up a little, reaching to her and using my other hand to gently make her look at me. She slowly peeked at me before she helped me proceed to get up and change into a sitting position. Getting closer to her while I was still ying with her nipples, I proceeded to kiss her. This time, instead of going directly for her tongue, I first yed with her lips a little. Meanwhile, she helped me remove my T-Shirt too. After removing my T-shirt, I wrapped my hands around her waist as I pulled her even more closer to me, removing whatever little distance we had in between. After ying with her lips for a few minutes, I felt her hands on my chest as she pushed me down on my back. Though because I had still wrapped my wrist around her back, she too fell on my chest. Though because of her chest pressed against mine, our lips separated a little and when the distance between our heads increased, our eyes met. I heard a slight chuckle of joy as she looked at me. Her eyes glistening with a bliss as her cheeks turned red, she smiled brightly before she slid her hands down and slowly proceeded to remove her bottom piece as well. I, too, did the same as I began removing them slowly and slowly. Once done with that, she kissed me on my lips and then sat a bit below my abdomen. Laying on my back, I saw her ck panties with a rose pattern right at the center of it. Moving her bottom a little behind, she rubbed over my little brother slowly before sliding up again. As she slid up, she kissed me on my lips before sliding her body down again. Each time her soft panties rubbed against my penis, it rose a little. Then, after repeating the process slowly and slowly, I felt my penis hardened, pressed against her bottom, trying to get through her panties, into the heavenly hole. Then¡­ She slowly unties the knot of her panties and steadily she raises her hand on the left, holding her panties in it. My penis was still against her bottom and the way she was teasing me with every moment passing, I was getting more and more horny. I saw her dropping her panties before proceeding to touch my penis with those same hands. Giving me her bewitching smile, she then raises herself a little bit up, adjusts my penis properly and then¡­ she slides it into her vagina. I could feel the tightness, I could feel the warmth of her insides, it was a bit sticky¡­ she was wet. Though before my body could react, she raised herself just a little, enough to rub my penis and enough to not let it out of her body. Before she came back down¡­ and went up again. At first she was doing it slowly, pleasuring me, giving me a warm sensation all over my body. Then she increased her speed as she bent down a little, using her hands on my chest to support herself. Letting my hormones take over me, I brought her closer to me and then immediately I turned around my body along with her''s, exchanging our positions, as I got above her. My penis was still inside her body. Now we were in a missionary position as I whispered in a low but audible voice,"my turn." Then I slowly moved it out, and then in again, and out¡­ and in again¡­ increasing the speed with every move that I was making. I bent a little down and proceeded to simultaneously kiss her while being intense down there as well. "Mmh.. ahh¡­ ahh¡­ AH! AAH!... More¡­ faster¡­" I heard her voice filled with moans as she started holding my body with her hands and her legs. I felt her legs wrapped around my body and her hands tightly holding me from my back as I increased the intensity more and more. "Mmh¡­ mike¡­ I¡­ aah¡­ Love¡­ you¡­ Mike!¡­ mike!¡­ mmhh!... Michael!... ah!... ah!..." The more intense I got, the more she was moaning. I felt her vagina getting a little bit tighter as she spoke, "I¡­ about¡­ to¡­ cum¡­" I heard her speaking, and I whispered too,"me¡­ too." After getting even more intense for the next few moments, I felt a sensation through my body as my whole body turned tense and a warm fuzzy feeling took over my body before I proceeded to cumm inside her. As I came, I felt her vagina getting more wet as she too came at the same time as I did. After that, I just let my body fall over her, with my head between her breasts, for a few seconds as I smiled like an idiot. ''It really does feel like heaven,'' I thought as I felt her soft bouncy breasts while my penis was still inside hers. Then I turned around on my back on the left side, as I moved my penis out and she too turned towards me a little as she halfid on my body. One of her chest was one mine, and she slowly touched my chest with her palm. Her one leg as over mine, touching my penis a little as she asked, "Why is it that¡­ we have to separate again? Can''t you just not go?" Her voice was melodious but I could only make a small smile at her as I answered,"I wish it were that simple." Getting in a morefortable position, she moved up a little on my body and continued,"tell me." Not hiding much from her, I started telling her a few things by asking a question,"You saw how I killed those zombies outside, right?" "Mhmh," she answered in a low, sweet voice. "Even with all that power, I had to give my all to kill that thing in the basement," I said as I felt her hand stop brushing my chest. "The problem isn''t just that. There are more powerful Zombies out there, much scarier and if we don''t get strong¡­ we would die without even knowing how," I exined as I sighed as I recalled how that Zombie kepting back no matter how many times I hit it. What could have easily killed a D-Grade could only scratch a Lesser C-Grade. Things were really turning bad. The jump in power was really scary. "I must go Caro-" I was speaking, but then I found her finger on my lips as she hushed me and spoke, "It''s fine. I understand¡­ I guess¡­ separating for a week will result in a future where our lives aren''t at stake¡­ I won''t be an idiot who will be a hindrance to you. Though for now¡­ can I ask you to stay still? I want to enjoy the peace we have together.." I felt her voice breaking a little. She was scared. Scared of losing me, perhaps¡­ or perhaps everything. ''Guess, I should do something to help her protect herself too,'' I thought as I recalled there were some essories in the [Shop]. I was thinking of buying someter, but since I am going to the [Dungeon] I guess buying some right now would be a good choice. And if I am going to buy some for me¡­ I guess I will look for something for Caroline as well. For the next few moments, I just stood still as I felt her breath slowly settling down and heart beat going down. She was slowly drifting to her sleep. It must have been hard for her¡­ to take care of me every day when I was unconscious. I must get strong¡­ [Second Space] I muttered as I flew into the second space, leaving my body unconscious. Though as soon as I entered into that space, "Hmmm¡­ oh! Nice thing you are packing there," I heard Rhea''s voice as she looked at my little brother. "Want to touch it?" I spoke with a bit of a smirk, though¡­ Unamused, she just replied,"in your dreams. Though you are here earlier than expected. What happened?" "Nothing that great. Just a few things here and there," I answered as I found her walking closer to me, touching my chest as a cloth, simr to her ck robe, covered my body. "Is that so? Then why do I see that sadness and fear in your eyes." she asked with a bit of a curious smile as she observed me and I sighed as I realized that I could not hide things from her. Thus, I ended up telling her about everything that happened and my thoughts on it. Hearing my words, she nodded as she spoke, "That is correct. You really do need to get stronger. Hmmm¡­ if you are looking for something to protect yourself as well as that girl, I do have a few things in the [Shop]. Want to take a look at it?" I nodded at her before both of us proceeded to that [Shop] Section and she took me to the [Trinkets] Section showing me a couple of things. "Oh Nice!" I eximed as I looked at those items in front of me. Chapter 74 Golden Dungeon Key [Sapphire Ring(Umon)] [Made from the Deep sea Sapphire found within the deepest parts of Anemona Sea Effects: Regeneration 10Hp/Minute Cost: 7000 Cronas] [Amulet of Faith(Umon)] [Stores the powers of fallen Angels Effect: Can absorb a total of 1000 Damage Cost: 12000 Cronas] [Handbound of Libra(Umon)] [There is always an equivalent exchange Effect: Allows the user to Trade 5 stat of Agility in exchange for 5 Points of Strength Cost: 10000 Cronas] [Coloured Bandana of the Seventh Fairy(Rare)] [You may get lucky or perhaps have no luck at all Effect: Allows the user to increase Random Stat by 2-10 points for 2 hours Cost: 20000 Cronas] I kept looking through the shop items and after going through most of them; I found these which I could afford. Though looking at the prices, it seems like I could only afford only one of them¡­ at max two. [Total Cronas: 17710] I looked at the Cronas and then observed the prices again. Sigh Even after selling the used Zombie Cores, I could only get so many Cronas. ''Seems like I could only afford one of the first three items.'' I looked at it with a dejected face before pondering which one to buy for. And after thinking about it for a few minutes, I finally decided that¡­ I didn''t exactly need anything among them. "Do you have anything that could heal better? Something in the affordable range and in the Rare Rank?" I asked as I looked at Rhea and she first observed me for a few seconds, shook her head with a sigh, before going through the [Shop Items] and reaching out a particr item. [Ring of the Curer(Rare)] [Made by the fiance of the Great Physician Alberto Descarde Serelius as a proof of her love. She learnt the ways of healing and mixed it with Alchemy, creating something even better. Looking carefully, you might find the initials of the lovers too. Effect: Heals 1% HP per minute(Max up to 75%). When the Health goes below 10% Heals an additional 100 HP per minute along with the usual 1%. Cost: 125,000 Cronas] "O!!!" I was really fascinated by that ring as I observed its description and the way it works. Its effect was really something extraordinary. I mean, no matter how much HP you have, as long as it''s below 75% you will get it filled up to 75% within 75 minutes. Though when my eyes reached the price¡­ "..." I could only gulp at it. Damn these high sky prices¡­ "This is the most ''affordable'' healing ring in the Rare Category," Rhea spoke as she turned to me and I could only give a sad look to her. Welp¡­ whatever. "Let''s buy that then," I said as I purchased the item that I decided would be best for now. "Hmmm? Are you sure you want to buy this one? It''s not a bad item but¡­ you probably won''t be needing it as much," Rhea spoke as she observed me with a slightly confused look. "It''s not for me," I said as I looked at that amulet in my hands as I cashed in for it. [Amulet of Faith(Umon)] [Total Cronas: 5710] "That girl, huh? Quite a caring boyfriend you are," she spoke with a slight smirk and I chuckled at her response before speaking, "Since we have about 21 hours before I enter the dungeon, let''s start I guess," I said as I moved towards the [Weapons] section, temporarily bought a wooden practice sword and entered the Trial Area. Rhea followed me quietly as she observed me without uttering any words. And so, for the next 21 hours, I tried swinging another perfect swing¡­ using all my concentration. All my focus. I did not know what Dungeon might present me¡­ but I hope it will help me get strong enough. With the System getting locked in Levels and stuff, my powers were limited for now. There is only so much Cronas I could earn on a daily basis, even if I were to go all out. Going to the dungeon wasn''t a choice now¡­ it was a necessity. I had many thoughts in my mind, so I made a bit more mistakes than normal. Though it was fine, as I ended up finishing the attack in 19 hours this time¡­ "Phew!" I gave out a long breath as I fell on my butt beforeying on the ground on my back as I spoke, "Better thanst time, I guess¡­ Timing wise at least." Going by how things are progressing, I guess it should take about 3 or 4 weeks to reach the 1 hour mark. ''Hmmmm¡­. That makes me wonder¡­'' I thought something before peeking at Rhea as I asked,"Hey! I can enter the [Second Space] from the Dungeon, right?" Honestly, I believe it should be possible easily since this skill is a part of the system¡­ however, "I don''t think so. Most Dungeons have their own rules and stuff, especially when ites to dimensions and stuff. Like you can''t teleport in a dungeon to directly reach thest floor or travel between dimensions whenever you want. Since this Space is like a different dimension, even having its own time flow, most probably when you go to the dungeon, you won''t be able to reach here until youplete or leave the dungeon," spoke Rhea as she pondered about the whole thing from an objective point of view. "Something like that, huh?" I muttered with a really odd look as I didn''t like that part of the Dungeon. "Well. That just increases the difficulty of the whole thing, I suppose," I chuckled before getting up as I continued,"Whatever the case is. We will find it only after we enter the dungeon." Standing up, I looked at Rhea before I began to walk out of the Trial room, waving my hand at Rhea as I spoke. "Don''t worry. I will return as soon as possible. You won''t be missing me for so long." I could hear her cursing me in a low voice before I moved out of the [Second Space] back to the bedroom where I was sleeping with Caroline. Slowly helping her sleep on the bed as I moved her off my body, as I kissed her a little before taking out the Amulet of Faith and tying it around her neck. I smiled a little before kissing her a bit more and then standing up and getting dressed properly. Slowly, I moved out of the room as I yawned a little and moved down the floors one at a time. The night had just arrived, and it was about 8 PM if I am not wrong. I could have done a bit more with the [Daily Quests] but for some reason I decided to visit the Dungeon as fast as possible. Soon, I reached out the main gate of the building and looked around for a few moments as I found no one around me. ''Did everyone go up?'' I thought as I pondered a little before turning back to the main gate, which I closed from outside and took out the reward I received for defeating the C-Grade Zombie [Golden Dungeon key!] [Use it to open the gate to the Libra Dungeon''s Gate Special Effect(1): The Difficulty is increased by 2 Grades. Special Effect(2): The Rewards are increased by 3 Grades. Special Effect(3): You can pick up 3 Rewards in the end based up on your performance] "Well¡­ let''s begin," I said as I put the key into the lock. It was finally time I looked into what exactly this dungeon is¡­ Chapter 75 The World Going Astray While Michael entered into the dungeon, the world outside was going through changes which could be only described as¡­ Phenomenal. Just like Michael guessed, the Zombies were evolving and just like he believed, humans too were evolving. Just within the few days of the Apocalypse started, all the survivors understood that the times are changing. They did not need a notice or a warning to understand that only the strong will survive in this new world. The fact that weapons that they possess can do little damage to them was a fact they were slowly understanding. What was left was only to develop their physical power¡­ or was it all there was to it? Nope. Not at all. In fact, there was a critical piece of information which Michael did not know about. While Evolution did make people much stronger than they would normally be capable of, there was something that evolution brought to the Humans along with physical enhancement. That is a ''Gift'' An ability. Those who broke into C-Grade¡­ Those who made past D-Grade¡­ Developed an ability that is specific only to them. Something that will put them apart from the others. One gained the ability to turn Invisible, while the other one could manipte his own blood. Then there were those who could steal other''s life force, while there were those who could heal the others. Sadly, not everyone will possess ''Gift'' and only 3/4th of the people will seed to gain their ''Gift'' while the others will simply fail to develop theirs. Those who will gain the ''Gift'' will be called Gifted while those who couldn''t gain it will be known as Stray ones, and will soon be discarded by everyone as failed ones. However, it wasn''t just the Humans who will gain the ''Gift'' but all the Zombies have the capability to unlock their potential and reach a higher grade and develop their own special power that would differentiate them from the other Zombies. Though that is only after they reach B-Grade or higher. Did that mean things were going to be difficult for Michael and his friends? That depends upon how well Michael performs within the Dungeon. The better he does, the better the rewards will be, the higher his chances of surviving in a world that runs on a powerpletely different from his own. Coming back to the topic of humans, other than power and rankings, just like the socializing animals they are, humans will tend to get together to increase their chances of survival. There will be a King that rules over the masses and there will be masses getting ruled under the King. There will be settlements, and then there will be a struggle for power. Tension will develop among the settlements and just like how mockable those humans are, they will fight among themselves, not focusing on their prime enemy, the Zombies. Hmmm¡­ that brings us to the points of Settlements. There are already 7 settlements established around the city where Michael is, including the Libra Building where Michael was looking at things. Though that''s just a start, and there will be a few more settlements that wille into existence and a few that will vanishter on. As for the leaders who are leading the Settlement, almost all of them are D-Grade Zombified Humans, with 2 of them already Reaching C-Grade. It was surprising all the more because it wasn''t something that was normal at all. One has to be too lucky to reach that grade this fast, where normal people would have taken months or even years to reach. Though that''s only when you take into ount people that are within the City. When the whole world was taken as one, the numbers were far more, with the strongest one already reaching the B-Grade Zombified human¡­ though she is a totally different case. Since we are on the topic of Grading, let''s see what the Grades of Zombies are as well¡­ the strongest Zombie right now is¡­ B-Grade Zombie. Though it''s only a matter of time before more and more B-Gradees out of the masses, making the number go into 100s or even 1000s. One particr piece of information is about Hives. Just like the human settlements, some of the Higher Grade Zombies have started forming a minute army of their own, collecting Zombies from all over the ce. The number could differ from a dozen to a whole horde of 100s of Zombies. As for their purpose? That is totally unknown. But¡­ that''s not all¡­ that''s not everything at all¡­ There is one important piece of information that neither Michael nor anyone else has even an ink of an idea of. Night Crawlers. A special Zombie strain that a few Zombies have begun to evolve into. It''s an end state that Zombies can evolve into other than going through the usual path. In this path of evolution, the Zombies will lose their chance to gain a special ability along with their ability to walk in the sun. The sun will burn them into ashes if they stay too long in it, but during night¡­ It would take a dozen C-Grade Zombies to deal with a single Night Crawler. Fun fact, the average Zombie can evolve into a Night Crawler when he reaches Lesser C-Grade¡­ which almost all the Zombies will end up reaching in another month or so. The world is going Astray in a path that no one can imagine. The bnce of power is going to juggle between the humans and Zombies a lot many times. The strong will survive and the weak will be eaten before they could realize. And that is going to continue until there is only one side remaining. Many will rise up on the pedestal. Many will turn to dust. Many will be known by the entire world, while many will remain in the shadows. And in the end, those who will rise to the top will be the ones to shape the future of this ursed world that has already gone on the path of destruction. [Volume 1: A Dream? A Nightmare?] [Finished] [Volume 2: Dungeon, Zombies and a Fairy] [Next] Chapter 76 Into The Dungeon [Volume 2: Dungeons, Zombies and A Fairy] ....... [Michael Aroa''s POV] ...... Entering the dungeon... the first thing that caught my attention was the yellow-coloured screen that appeared right in front of me. [You have entered the Dungeon Of Libra!] [Detecting that you have Used The Golden Key!] [Setting the Difficulty and Rewards ordingly!] [Sensing that the User has Knowledge regarding the Building''s Infrastructure!] [Sensing that the user owns Property in the Building!] [Sensing that the User has killed monsters in the building previously!] [Calcting the number of monsters Killed!] [0%... 10%... 40%...100% Calctions done!] [Detecting Dimension Rted Skills!] [Blocking all InterDimensional Travel!] [Rechecking the User''s abilities and Skills!] [Rechecking Done!] [Creating User interface!] [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Total Monsters Killed: 0 Total Floor Cleared: 0 Total Dungeon Points: 0 Total Time Spent in the Dungeon: 36 seconds Bonus Traits: (1) Gain Three times the Dungeon Points for each monster Killed (2) Deal 1.5 Times Damage to monsters that killed once within the dungeon (3) Safe Zone on 64th Floor (4) Map of the Entire Dungeon (5) Monster Index (6) Can Pick up 3 Reward at the end of the Dungeon] Looking at that screen, I could get the general idea of what happened. Because I had already cleared the whole building and killed most of the monsters, along with the fact that I lived here and knew the general infrastructure, I had received some bonuses regarding it. "Remind me to clear the entire building before using a dungeon key in the future if I want to clear one," I decided in my heart as I then checked my own stats. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* /Leader* [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increase by 25% Zombie Destroyer: When fighting more than 25 Zombies at once. All strikes would be 100% more powerful. Health Freak: Your health regenerates at the rate of 10 Hp points per sec when it falls below 40% Leader: When the title is active following effects will activate: (1) The people who are under the user''s leadership will receive 10% of User''s stats as bonus (2) When the user faces danger, he can temporarily take 20% stats of those under him for 10 minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours. (3) The user can share any one of his skills with those under him with the effect of the skill halved. Only one Skill can be shared at a time. Max 2 people at once.] ss: Unssified Level: 10 (79230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 7000/7000 Time Points: 800/800 Strength: 15 Constitution: 15 Dexterity: 15 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 14 Charisma: 13 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 5710] After pondering a little, I set the title to Assassin. Based on the situation, I could change it to Zombie Destroyer or vice versater on. Then, after looking through the stats and skills, I took a deep breath as I moved into the Dungeon and soon a message appeared on the Yellow screen [You have Entered Floor 1!] [Kill All the Zombies to move to the next Floor] [E-Grade Zombie: 50 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 23 D-Grade Zombie: 23] [Total Time to kill the Zombies: 600 seconds] After observing the screen, I then turned to the area which was simr to the reception area of the building. Albeit it looked like an ancient building that has been abandoned for centuries. Soon, I found a few Zombies rising from the ground in front of me. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)] ''Hmmm... they don''t seem a hundred zombies?'' I questioned as I counted the Zombies. ''1... 3...6.. 10,'' I counted the 10 of them before pondering a little as I moved closer to them and killed one of them using my Metal Bat. [Dungeon Points Received: +1] [Dungeon Points multiplied by 3] [Dungeon Points Received: +3] When I killed one, another one rose from the ground and I kind of understood the mechanics behind it. [Dungeon Points Received: +1] [Dungeon Points multiplied by 3] [Dungeon Points Received: +3] Another one killed, another one rose from the ground. [Dungeon Points Received: +3] [Dungeon Points Received: +3] . . . The E-Grade gave me 1 Dungeon point which became 3 because of my special trait which multiplied my gain points by 3. The Lesser D-Grade gave me 2 points which became 6 The D-Grade gave me 3 points which became 9. Though with using the [Temporal Deceleration] over [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)] everything was done within.. 10 seconds? That''s really fast. [Floor 1 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 590 seconds!] [Extra Time will be Added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 1: SSS] [All Floor Clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] I saw the messages before a smile appeared on my face as I looked at the Grade that I received before I moved to the next floor. [Floor 2!] [Kill all the Zombies: E-Grade Zombie: 50 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 50 D-Grade Zombie: 50] [Total Time to kill the Zombies: 1190 Seconds] Same as before, I finished it immediately within a few seconds and just like before I received an SSS Grading. ''Isn''t that kind of too easy?'' I questioned as I moved up to the next floor and... well... shouldn''t have spoken that early. I did receive all the messages as before, but there was an additional message along with it. [All Zombies will have 50% More Health!] Well, it wasn''t exactly hard as it still took only one hit to kill the Zombies. But if the Zombies are going to get an upgrade every 3 floors or something, then by the time we reach floor 70... I could only shudder at that thought before moving to the next floor. Floor 4 and 5 were the same as 3, except the number of Zombies were more, and the only difference in the 6 Floor was that it had 100% Zombie Health up from 50% as previously. Still it didn''t change the fact that it took only one hit to kill them as well. ''This bat is really something,'' I said as I observed my weapon, which I bought from the [Shop]. A good investment, really. Then I moved to Floor 7... [1st Boss Floor!] [Kill the Boss Zombie!] [D-Grade Zombie Crawler(All Stats tripled)(Health +1000%)] [Time Limit: 5040 Seconds] "..." Looking at the message, I wanted to meet the creator of this dungeon... I meane on man, it''s just the 7th floor and you are already giving me a boss? Wait till Floor 20 or something, you know? Man can''t even enjoy some Dungeon time, can he? I sighed deeply before I looked at the D-Grade Crawlering out of the Floor as it growled at me. Not taking any chances, I activated my ability [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] And saw that he attacked me from the front in the next three seconds. Despite me using the time slowing skills, he was still fast enough toe at me at a rapidly. Though, it wasn''t exactly hard, as it wasn''t as fast as that Licker. ''How long before it attacks me?'' [2 Seconds] I took a deep breath as I waited for it to attack me... and as soon as it reached closer to me... -BOOOM!!!!! I swung my Bat as fast as I could, pushing that zombie as far as I could. Though, sadly, it didn''t seem like it was killed. I sighed before moving towards it as I kept my skills active and surely enough that guy stood back up on all four and began crawling towards me only to... -BOOOM!!!! [Dungeon Points Received: +100] [Dungeon Points multiplied by 3] [Dungeon Points Received: +300] [Total Time left: 5030 Seconds] [Grade: SSS] Chapter 77 Erina [Floor 8 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [Floor 9 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [Floor 10 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [Floor 11 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [Floor 12 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [Floor 13 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [Floor 14 Cleared] [Grade: SSS] [You have Entered Floor 15!] [Kill All the Zombies to move to the next Floor] [All Zombies will Have their Stats multiplied by 1.2!] [All Zombies will have their Health Boosted by 200%] [E-Grade Zombie: 250 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 140 D-Grade Zombie: 75] [Total Time to kill the Zombies: 14650 seconds] [Save the Prisoner (Optional)] [There is someone trapped among the Zombies that they are trying to kill. Save that person before the Zombies get to her.] [Time Before the Zombies Reach: 60 Seconds] Observing the System Message on the Dungeon screen, my attention turned towards the Room in front of me. Unlike the other rooms, which were the size of a big living room, this felt like a magnificent Hall. ''Gives me the creeps, honestly,''I thought as I shrugged a little before looking at the front where a metallic prison was present in the center. Inside the bars, there was someone lying on the floor unconscious and soon enough, the Zombies started rising from the ground as well. [Temporal Deration] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)] [Eyes of the Time Keeper] ''Until when they get to her?'' [59 Seconds] ''Until when they get to me if I keep walking forwards?'' [34 Seconds] Looking at the timer, I kept walking towards the metallic gate as I turned off the seconds timer and prepared my metallic bat for another round. The monsters on the previous floors, including the boss, were all simr to be honest. The only difference was in their numbers and stats, as it kept increasing with every floor. While it took only 10 Seconds to kill all of them in the beginning, with the difficulty going up one by one, the time it took to kill all of them also increased with every floor with the Floor taking a total of 25 Seconds to kill the Boss Zombie on Floor 14. As for the Current Floor, -BOOOM!!! [Dungeon Points Received: +15] Ah! One more thing changed was the amount of points that I got for killing each and every Zombie. It increased by 4 points for each Zombie. -BOOM!! [Dungeon Points Received: +18] [Dungeon Points Received: +21] [Dungeon Points Received: +18] [Dungeon Points Received: +21] . . . Though killing them wasn''t very difficult. Just that I needed to make sure I was hitting at the back of their head near the cerebellum of their brain for the proper impact. Soon, once I was done with clearing the Zombies, I turned to see the Cage in which the person was lying. Looking at the door of that metallic cell, I circled around to find the door inside it and, sure enough; it was on the other side of the cage. ''It''s open,'' I thought as I looked at the door of the cage before slowly opening it. Slowly, I moved inside and observed that girl sleeping soundly, without any care for the world. She seemed to be no more than 16 years old, and her white silky hairs reached to her waist. She had a bright face dulled by the dirt around the dungeon. Her hair was white, turned ashen by the dust of this ce. She was wearing a rag cloth which covered most of her bottom as she slept on the floor with a painful look on her face. [Inspect!] [Name: Erina El Leilena Race: Zombified Fairy (Grade-B) ss: Friends of Nature Description: The Last Princess of the Late Fairy n, kept as a Puppet within the Dungeon of Severed Dimension by Kira himself. Bound by Laws and curses, she has lost everything from her family, friends and kingdom to even her mind, soul and body. All she has left is hope and a will to survive. Zombification: 23%*[Reach 100% to evolve into the next grade] Cessation Energy: 100/100 (17200) Status: Weakend/Enved Skills* Strength: 15(45) Constitution: 23(435) Dexterity: 12(234) Intelligence: 4(78) Wisdom: 11(102) Charm: 3(124)] "Huh?!!!" My eyes turned wide open as I saw her description. She is a Fairy? Like a real one? Weren''t they a myth?¡­ wait! Zombies were a myth as well¡­ but still¡­ Damn! Hmmmm¡­ or is the dungeon''s creation? Rhea did tell me that the Dungeons are unpredictable¡­ maybe it''s just a sort of challenge? Who knows¡­ for now, let''s try saving her. If I am not wrong, her stat in the bracket should be her real stats, while the ones outside the bracket should be her weakened stats. ''Kira, huh? Sounds like an ominous name, to be honest,'' I thought as I shook my head before moving closer to her. "Ummm¡­ excuse me¡­ miss Fairy?" I tried speaking to her in a slow voice before slowly touching her shoulders as I tried helping her to wake up. "Ummm miss Fairy¡­ time to wake up or you will miss the school bus¡­ miss Erina¡­" I tried to be a bit more motivating¡­ What do Fairy like in any way? ''Tooth?'' I thought before shrugging my thoughts as I tried shaking her a bit more. "Hm..m..mmmm.. Wha¡­ wher¡­" I heard her speaking a few words before her words became clearer,"Mother¡­ no¡­ please leave¡­ her¡­ don''t¡­ kill¡­ father¡­ sister¡­ brother¡­ please¡­ no¡­ I.. beg¡­ I.." "Wake UP!!!" I shouted, making her sit up immediately as she got in a defensive position as she started looking around before her eyesnded on me and she took a few steps back with terror in her eyes as she shouted with her hands pointed to me, "[Call of the Wild]" I think she tried using a spell or something, but even after a few moments of awkward silence, nothing happened. For the next few seconds, she just looked at me nkly as I smiled a bit awkwardly at her. "Well¡­ I am Michael Aroa,"hoping to break the silence, I tried introducing myself to her, though it only made her a bit more defensive. "Ummm¡­ can you tell me how you got here¡­ in this situation¡­ what are you doing here..?" I tried asking something¡­ anything¡­ whatever came into my mind first. I know I wasn''t really good at being social and all, but this situation was particrly reeked of awkwardness from miles away. Hearing my question, she narrowed her eyes at me and asked,"Who are you?" For the next few seconds, I kept quiet before speaking,"well¡­ I am Michael Aroa." And once again, the silence continued as I looked at her awkwardly. I mean, what else should I tell her? My address and phone number? I don''t think that''s what she wants to hear¡­ "And? What are you doing here?" she asked again with her eyes still narrowed at me. "Ummm¡­ I came here to clear a Dungeon¡­ I don''t know if it makes sense or not¡­" I tried speaking something that is rtive to why am I here but I wonder if it will make sense to her¡­ though looking at her eyes turning wide in realization it seemed she knew what was going on. "You.. are¡­ an Envoy?!!!!" she shouted, her eyes widening in disbelief Chapter 78 A Hope? "You.. are¡­ an Envoy?!!!!" she shouted, her eyes widening in disbelief "Envoy?" I questioned as I looked into her eyes, trying to figure out what she meant by that. "But¡­ that''s not possible¡­ "though it didn''t seem like she was listening to me, as her expression still didn''t change while she questioned her eyes. She then moved closer to me with each step, getting closer to me with hope filling her eyes and slight tear drops filling those beautiful green eyes. Her hands reached my cheeks as she tried to check if she was dreaming or not¡­ "You are real?!" Happiness filled her eyes as she looked at me with a hopeful gaze. Though her mind shook a little as she turned around with worry slightly taking over her, before she turned around at me and spoke, "How did you enter this¡­ Dungeon¡­ yeah¡­ how did you enter this dungeon? Are you here to save me? Or are you here to kill Kira? Or maybe¡­ maybe¡­ you are here for something else? Tell-" I covered her mouth with my palm as I smiled at her awkwardly as I asked again,"I will answer all your questions, but can you first please tell me¡­ what do you mean by¡­ Envoy?" "Huh?" As soon as I asked that question, her eyes nked out, and she took a step back, with slight horror returning to her eyes. "Wha-what did you say?" her look was turning maddening. As if she was losing her senses, her eyes started shaking, and she started stuttering. For some reason, I thought I should not repeat my question but¡­ "Y-you at least know about¡­ Gods, right? Something about divine blessings¡­ anything about them?" The more she asked those questions, her eyes observed my expression hoping to see a change, but since I was unfamiliar with everything¡­ Because I knew nothing about what she was trying to find¡­ I could only smile with an awkward yet bitter expression. "Do you know about races¡­ energies¡­ anything¡­ anything¡­" I saw her slowly breaking as the hope in her eyes started shattering. "I¡­ I am sorry for not knowing the answer to your questions¡­ but can you¡­ can you help me out with my questions¡­ Maybe we will reach a conclusion?" I asked with a bit of a hopeful gaze, hoping to cheer her up. Though it didn''t seem like it worked out in any way. At my words, her gaze turned up to me before she spoke,"I¡­ You should¡­ leave¡­ I do not know who you are¡­ or what you are¡­ but since you are here¡­ if Kira were to find you¡­ you will only die in the end¡­ leave¡­ if you want to live¡­ run¡­" She spoke as she looked at me with¡­ Pity? The hope which filled her eyes previously was now gone. I felt like I was watching a rag doll right now¡­ yet she was the one feeling pity for me. -SCREEECCHHHHH!!!!! I heard a voice from the Floors that I came from and my eyes turned towards the door to Floor 14. [Elite Night Crawlers are Coming!] [Emergency Quest Initiated!] [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 15: 5 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] ''Night Crawlers? What are those?'' I thought, with a bit of a confused expression. "They are already here, huh? I was wondering why they didn''t appear despite the gate to the cage being opened already. You should leave-" Though before she couldplete her words, I grabbed her hand, took her in my arms and began running towards the next floor. Ignoring the messages that I received for clearing the floor, I ran to the next floor, where I hurriedly waited for the Zombies to appear. "What are you trying to do?" Erina asked, confused as she looked at me. Her hopeless eyes were trying to understand my actions¡­ "Surviving," I answered as I looked at her before [Temporal Deration!] [Temporal Deration(Copy)!] I activated my skills and began killing each and every Zombie without caring about their stats and stuff. This time it took about 2 seconds, outside my skill, to kill all the Zombies since they were spawning faster than before. Then I ran towards her and took her in my arms again as I looked at the message on the screen [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 16: 7 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] Breathing a sigh of relief, I ran towards the next floor. "Huh? What just¡­ happened?" Confused, she looked at me before turning at the Zombies, which were disintegrating behind me. Her eyes seemed to be questioning what she was witnessing. "How¡­ Did you do that?" She asked, finding it hard to believe what she just witnessed. "I know you have a lot of questions, but can we just wait till we create enough distance between those things down there and us?" I hurriedly spoke as I put her down again and moved towards those Zombies, but before I could do so¡­ "Wait!" she spoke as she stood up. I was in a hurry and I wanted to run and kill all those Zombies before moving up, but looking at her eyes, I decided to spare a few seconds on her. She moved closer to me and looked at my metallic bat. "It''s breaking," she spoke as she observed the bat. I observed it too¡­ [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor(Umon)] [One of the best blunt weapons that any survivor would like to carry. It has a high durability and strength and allows the user to kill anything with a couple of hits. Special Effects: +5 Strength Limits: Minimum 15 Strength required to wield the weapon ATK: 70 :: Durability: 220/500] ''There is still enough durability left,'' I thought as I observed the bat but¡­ "Let me¡­" she spoke as she raised both her hands. Looking at her eyes, which I couldn''t read at all¡­ I¡­ I just kept observing them for a few moments before raising my bat and keeping it in hers. Even though I kept it in her hands, I didn''t let it go. Just because she is in these¡­ conditions¡­ doesn''t mean I am going to trust her¡­ "[Miniature Blessing of Nature]" she muttered as small lights of purple and golden color flew out of her hands before they entered into the weapon. I looked at her for a few moments, as she removed her hands from the bat before she observed me "This should help a little," she spoke as she observed me ever so nkly. I could only look at her, wondering what she was up to before observing the Weapon again. [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor(Umon+)] [One of the best blunt weapons that any survivor would like to carry. It has a high durability and strength and allows the user to kill anything with a couple of hits. It has been blessed by a Nature Fairy. Special Effects: +5 Strength Special Effects: Have the capability to absorb a small percentage of damage dealt and heal itself. Limits: Minimum 15 Strength required to wield the weapon Limits: Minimum 10 Wisdom required to wield the weapon ATK: 70 :: Durability: 220/500] Chapter 79 Killing Lesser C-Grade Zombies As Usual [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor(Umon+)] [One of the best blunt weapons that any survivor would like to carry. It has a high durability and strength and allows the user to kill anything with a couple of hits. It has been blessed by a Nature Fairy. Special Effects: +5 Strength Special Effects: Have the capability to absorb a small percentage of damage dealt and heal itself. Limits: Minimum 15 Strength required to wield the weapon Limits: Minimum 10 Wisdom required to wield the weapon ATK: 70 :: Durability: 220/500] I looked at the new effect with my eyes switching between Erina and my ck Club. What''s really baffling was that I still see her eyes hopeless without much emotion in them. "Wh-" I was about to ask but she spoke first,"Nobody was there to help me when I begged them. I knew it was futile, but still¡­" She sighed with a bitter smiled before continuing, "... Even though it''s futile, at least I could provide some assistance. Even though it''s meaningless, it will help me feel a little better." I looked at her with a concentrated face before a deep sigh escaped my mouth before I moved a step forward and spoke,"Thank you. I don''t know what kind of past you have been through¡­ but at the very least, I will try to help you get out of here. Consider it as repayment for this blessing you gave my weapon." Her eyes seemed like they wanted to exin it to me that it was meaningless, but before she could speak [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] -Boom! -Boom! -Boom! -BOOM! I started hitting those Zombies as hard as I could, using more energy than required, and the result was¡­ [Durability of Weapon (ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor) increased +2] [Durability of Weapon (ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor) increased +1] [Durability of Weapon (ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor) increased +3] . . And after I killed all the Zombies on Floor 16 [Durability: 430/500] Maybe because I was using it as much as I could with all my strength, along with going up, there was also a rtive degradation of Durability, too. ''But since the result is positive, I guess I can use this weapon as much as I can,'' I thought with a smile before running towards Erina and once again picking her up in arms before I took a look at the [Emergency Quest!] [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 16: 6 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] Nodding inwardly, I moved towards the next floor. [Floor 16 Cleared!] [Floor 17 Cleared!] [Floor 18 Cleared!] [Floor 19 Cleared!] [Floor 20 Cleared!] [You have entered Floor 21!] [3rd Boss Floor!] [Kill the Boss Zombie!] [Lesser C-Grade Zombie Elite Crawler(All Stats tripled)(Health +1000%)] [Time Limit: 20240 Seconds] My eyes focused on the Message before I checked something else as well. [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 21: 13 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] Took a Deep breath [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] ''How long before I get attacked?'' [10 seconds] I then observed the Lesser C-Grade Zombie forming out of the ground before he looked at me with those monstrous red eyes as he stood in front of me. He was the same as the other crawlers, except he had sharper fingers instead of normal ones and his eyes were shining a little red. Then I saw him getting on all his fours just like any other crawler, [6 seconds] -Whoosh! He then vanished as he ran towards the side before I saw himing¡­ not at me¡­ but at Erina. ''He is fast!'' my eyes turned open wide as I looked at his speed. If I were topare his speed to the C-Grade Licker, then he would at least reach 30% speed of what C-Grade was capable of. Running in a full circle, he reached closer to Erina, who was standing still there, without any idea of what was going on. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I looked into the future to find a perfect timing. Once I saw how things were going to transpire, I took a jumping stance, waited for the perfect opportunity and¡­ -Whoosh! -BOOOOM!!! I hit at its weakest point, in the hardest way possible¡­ [Durability of Weapon (ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor) increased +50] [Dungeon Points Received: +500] [Dungeon Points Multiplied by 3] [Dungeon Points Received: +1500] I checked the Durability of the Weapon as I stood there, deactivating my abilities. [Durability: 470/500] "Huh?!" A bit surprised, Erina looked at me with aplex expression. Her eyes seemed to be questioning things, and I wondered what she was shocked about. She had already seen me using my skills, no? "What happened?" I asked as I lifted her up again and gulped a little as she spoke,"nothing. Just that¡­ you are more powerful that you seem." "Is that so? I guess I''ll take that as apliment," I spoke with a slight chuckle before moving on to the next floor. Though while I was smiling on the outside, on the inside there was something else going on in my mind. ''If there is already Lesser C-Grade on 21st Floor¡­ doesn''t that means that I will be meeting C-Grade in the uing boss floors¡­ and let''s say that I miraculously killed that C-Grade Zombie with all his upgraded stats and sh*t, what next? A B-Grade Zombie?!'' I gulped at my own thoughts as I wondered what I would do if something like that were to happen¡­ "Well¡­ if the worsees to worst, I can just run away¡­" I thought out loud as I sighed. Even though I didn''t like the idea of running, there is only a little a man can do with only this much power, I guess. And just like that, I kept moving up a floor, killing more and more Zombies each and every floor. The Zombies were at least 5 times stronger than the ones on the 1st floor and killing them was taking a bit more power than usual. All this difficulty up was making things difficult for me as I did not know how long it would take me to reach a point where I won''t be able to kill Zombies as freely as I can now. ''Maybe I should haveeter, after I had be a bit stronger than this?'' I pondered as I questioned my hasty decision. Was I blinded by power so much? Or maybe I was scared of losing my loved ones¡­? [Floor 22 Cleared!] [Floor 23 Cleared!] [Floor 27 Cleared!] [Floor 30 Cleared!] [Floor 32 Cleared!] [Floor 34 Cleared!] Soon I reached halfway to the Dungeon Floor as I wondered what would be the next boss¡­ no, I was sure about the next boss. ''It''s a C-Grade,'' I knew. Based on the previous boss and the Zombies I dealt in the previous floors, I was 100% sure about it. [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 34: 40 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] I gulped as I began moving to the next floor, but¡­ "Ummm¡­ are you sure you should be going to the next floor like this?" Erina asked as she looked at me with aplex expression. "Well.. not like I have much choice here, do I?" I spoke with a slightly awkward face, though she turned confused at me as she asked,"why not use the [Dungeon Shop]? You must have collected enough energy to use that feature, didn''t you?" "The ''what'' now?" I asked with a slightly baffled look¡­ before my eyes searched through the entire Dungeon Screen, but still couldn''t find anything on it. Not stopping, I searched through my own System Screen and¡­ [Dungeon Options*] Is what I found on it¡­. Chapter 80 [Dungeon Shop] Just below my stat points and Total Cronas, there was another option present which I failed to notice until now. [Dungeon Options*] Clicking on it, I found another few option [Current Dungeon Statistics] [Previous Dungeon Statistics] [Dungeon Modifications] [Dungeon Shop] [Dungeon Intel] [Dungeon Map] [Exit Dungeon] "Hmmm..." one by one I checked through the options. The first one, [Current Dungeon Statistics] showed the exact same things that the Dungeon Screen showed me. The second one, [Previous Dungeon Statistics] was nk. Probably because I haven''t visited any dungeons previously. [Dungeon Modification] was locked and I couldn''t get ess to it. [Dungeon Intel] [Dungeon Shop] [Dungeon Map] were exactly how they were named. They provided information, shop features and maps respectively. As for thest one [Are you sure you want to exit the Dungeon? All your current progress will be lost!] I clicked no before sighing in relief. At least I had an option rted to escaping from here directly. I was actually wondering about how I would get past the ''Night Crawlers'' and escape down, but it seems like I won''t need to worry so much about it. Still... losing all the progress... Let''s try to avoid that for now... ''Now onto the main thing,'' [Dungeon Shop] Opening it, I found a total of 2 rows of 4 items in this tab and a description below the items. There was another description at the below the rows of items. [The Items will reset on Floor 42, Floor 56 and Floor 70] [One Item can be purchased only 1 at a time!] [These Items can be only used within the Dungeon!] ''Hmmmm... too bad, I guess,'' I thought before looking at the amount of points I have in total, [Total Dungeon Points: 110349] "..." ''Well... that''s a lot of points.'' I just kept looking at that number, as previously I thought I would only be needing them in the end so never really checked them. Then my eyes finally reached the items of the shops as I went through them one by one. [Healing Potion x 5] [Heals 30% of your total Health Cost: 1500 Dungeon Points] [Energy Potion x 5] [Revives 50% of your total Energy Cost: 1500 Dungeon Points] [Invincibility Potion x 3] [Turn the User Invincible for 3 seconds Cost: 5000 Dungeon Points] [Higher Power up Potion] [Increase all Stats of the User by +25 Cost: 35000 Dungeon Points] [Enchantment of Valour!] [Enchants your weapon with a random Element of Valour! Cost: 10000 Dungeon Points] [Skill Enhancement Potion] [Allows the User to increase the Grade of a skill by 1 Point for 3 Hours] Cost: 20000 Dungeon Points] [Skip scroll!] [Allows the User a Particr Dungeon Floor! (Note that the user can''t skip a Boss Floor) Cost: 8000 Dungeon Points] [Energy Surge(Skill)] [Allows the user to use as much energy as possible freely without any limitations for 15 seconds. Can be used once every 2 hours. Cost: 12500 Dungeon Points] "Damn!" I just looked at those items and they were really something, to be honest. Each of them was more or less a game changer if used properly, while some of them were really over the top items. ''Too bad these can''t be used outside the dungeon. Hmmm... I guess, it is better than something,'' I sighed in slight relief, slight regret before thanking that I had enough points to buy almost all the items here. ''But I should not waste it all here. It does say that the shop will reset on Floor 42. I guess I can take what I really need and save some for future items. Since I had not much time to waste, I decided to take these items a bit hasty. [Health Potion] [Invincibility Potion] [Higher Power Up Potion!] [Enchantment of Valour!] [Skill Enhancement Potion!] As for the other three, I really didn''t need energy, to be honest. Neither I was nning to skip any floor right now. Not wasting any time, I used the [Higher Power up Potion] first and the effect was... [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* /Leader* [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increase by 25%] ss: Unssified Level: 10 (79230/50000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 24000/24000 Time Points: 2100/2100 Strength: 15(+30) Constitution: 15(+25) Dexterity: 15(+25) Intelligence: 15(+25) Wisdom: 14(+25) Charisma: 13(+25) Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 5710 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] "This is..." I could feel a surge of power within my body... it was as if I could easily crush rocks as if crushing paper... This was phenomenal... My Health points and Time Points increased as well... ''I think... I can take on the C-Grade easily now,'' I smiled like an idiot as I saw my stats and the change in my power. "They are getting closer," spoke Erina, snapping me out of my thoughts as she looked at the gate. Hearing her words, I immediately checked the [Emergency Quest!] [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 34: 20 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] "Huh?" ''20 minutes have already passed?! How long have I been using the screen...'' I thought as a sense of urgency came into my mind and I started using the other objects that I could right now... [Enchantment of Valour!] Using it on my weapon... [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor (Rare)] [One of the best blunt weapons that any survivor would like to carry. It has a high durability and strength and allows the user to kill anything with a couple of hits. It has been blessed by a Nature Fairy. Gifted by the energy of Valour, this Weapon has gone beyond its capabilities and reached a new height. Special Effects: +10 Strength Special Effects: Have the capability to absorb a percentage of damage dealt and heal itself. Special Effects: When in despair or facing a stronger opponent, the attack power of the weapon increases by 150% but the Durability decreases by 10 every second. Limits: Minimum 20 Strength required to wield the weapon Limits: Minimum 15 Wisdom required to wield the weapon ATK: 100 :: Durability:2000/2000] "Okay... okay.. This... this... is really... something alright..." I muttered as I could not contain my excitement and I kept checking over the effect. This was really something nice... "Are you done smiling?" asked Erina as she peeked at me with slight annoyance flickering through her eyes. "Let a man enjoy his moments, will you?" I spoke as I chuckled before lifting her up again and beginning to move into the next floor. ''If previously I was scared to go into the next Floor, now I am really looking forward... hmmm? I feel like I said this before... '' a wry smile appeared on my face as I recalled how I almost lost my lifest time I was this excited... Then I took a deep breath [You have entered Floor 35!] This time it was going to be different [5th Boss Floor] This time I am not going to let my power to get over my head... [Kill the Boss Zombie!] This time, I am not going to underestimate anyone... [C-Grade Zombie Licker(All Stats tripled)(Health +1000%)] [Time Limit: 26240 Seconds] Soon, I found that guy forming in front of me out of thin air as the other Zombies. [C-Grade Zombie (Licker)] [An overdeveloped D-Grade Zombie that has evolved once and has gone beyond its mortal capabilities. The Evolutionary pathway was rted to its muscles, and in return he has lost its sight and ability to walk on its two legs. However, its senses have evolved beyond what is supposed to be normal, so theck of eyes isn''t a problem for it. Highly developed Muscles, Tongue, Auditory sense and Canines. Be careful of its tongue. It''s sharper than its teeth] "Come!" I spoke as I activated my abilities Chapter 81 Erina El Leilena [Erina El Leilena''s POV:] "Come!" he shouted as he vanished again along with that Zombie that was on its four. -BOOM!! -BOOOM!! I could barely follow their reflections as I saw them fighting with each other. Opening my eyes, I used a bit of my stored power to catch up to their fight and saw that¡­ Michael was winning without much difficulty. It was just that the Zombie was trying to escape from Michael''s clutches every time Michael got to him. It was totally a one sided Massacre. ''It''s totally ridiculous!'' I thought as my eyes widened just a bit before they returned to normal. All I could do was look at Michael, who wasughing crazily as he was chasing Zombie as if he were ying a game against it. I wouldn''t have been shocked if it had been a normal fight but¡­ ''We are in a f*cking DUNGEON!!!'' I wanted to shout but it might disturb Michael''s fight so I shall not. Well, to exin my statement better, it''s better to go back to the basics about what a dungeon is. Dungeon is a ce where the Envoys of Various Higher beings are sent to get their ss along with their gifts to be proper Envoys. It''s a ce to nurture them and also test them. The Testing part is actually more important than normal, since it''s more like a challenge to see how much an Envoy can do in a given test. Normally most Envoy reaches the 60th Floor or something before they sumb. The bad ones fail around 50th floor or before, the rare ones reach even up to 70th floor. ''But that''s when we talk about 100 Floors¡­ this dungeon has only 70 floors¡­'' I gulped as I saw that guy enjoying that one sided fight as he chased after that Zombie as he was chasing a cat¡­ For Heaven''s sake, have some hard time in defeating it¡­ at least pretend that it''s hard, you know? Even the most geniuses will have a hard time reaching the half of the dungeon while having such carefree looks on their faces. The difficulty of the dungeon is based on your stats and the way you move or walk. The only thing it doesn''t take into ount is your Skills which you can use¡­ ''The only thing that can help you reach the end is a power skill, which you have either been gifted with, or maybe forged on your own, or maybe acquired in an adventure or something,'' I pondered as I sighed since he had already cornered that Zombie. ''Just what kind of skills does he have?'' I questioned, as I couldn''tprehend his power level anymore. It''s like he started at the very low with the highest skill tiers but.. ''That''s messed up!'' -BOOM!! And I saw that powerful Zombie falling down on the ground as lifeless as it could be¡­ Then I saw Michael wiping off his non-existent sweat as if he had worked really hard in this fight beforeing towards me as usual. "Good job me!" he spoke as he chuckled before once again picking me up in his arms and once again checking something in the air. ''Is it his skill?'' I questioned as I looked in the air where he was concentrating. I couldn''t see it but I could sense a certain energy from it. It was a pleasant energy¡­ a very calming energy, if I may say so. Though that reminds me¡­ ''They are getting closer¡­ a bit faster,'' I sighed inside as I looked at the door to the previous floors, from where the dark energy of the Nightcrawlers wasing from. Hmmm¡­ I wonder if he can deal with the NightCrawlers, now? After the items he used form the [Dungeon Shop] a feature exclusive only to Envoy''s, his power soured higher than ever. It was as if his powers were doubled, at least if not tripled. ''But I still can''t sense any special power from him.'' I had aplex look on my face as I saw him carrying me to the next floor. There was a bright smile on his face, despite the darkness all around us. Normally, I could gauge anyone''s power easily, but in his case, at one time, he had little to no power, while at other times he had power beyond what I could even think of. Once again, he put me down with a bright smile as he looked around to see the Zombiesing out of the Ground. His eyes were looking at them as if he was going on a hunt. ''Michael Aroa¡­ who are you? And who exactly is your Overseer?'' I questioned¡­ as it made me even more confused because¡­ because¡­ All the other Envoy''s were dead. As per ''Him'' all of them had been erased from existence and not one remains anymore. And given how confident he was, I believe he wasn''t lying. Then that could only mean two things, ''Either he had been hiding so well that no one found him all this time or¡­. He just became an Envoy not that long¡­. That would exin hisck of proper power as well. But what about the skills? Just who could bestow him with those skills enough to make him this powerful?'' My eyes searched for answers. Just like every being who has attained a certain power, he too, I believe, uses [Shop] to earn powers and stuff. So did someone gifted him a lot of skills? Or was it a lot of people against ''Him'' who gave him powers? ''I don''t remember any Overseer powerful enough to give those skills alive currently? Or did someone ascend to a new height while I was captive here?'' So many questions filled up my mind as I looked at that guy killing Zombies as if they were chickens. Since we are already halfway through the dungeon, these Zombies would be at least 5-6 times stronger than his base strength¡­yet he kills them as if they aren''t even half his strength. ''Aaah! I feel jealous of him¡­ and I pity him¡­ since I am here¡­ Kira should be too¡­'' I thought, as I already knew that it was all futile. No matter how powerful Michael might be, in front of Kira, he won''t evenst a second. Maybe if Michael had time, he would have been powerful someday, but right now¡­ no, he doesn''t have any chances at all. I wanted him to go back down, but with all those Night Crawlers¡­ I don''t think it''s possible, either. Sigh. Each Night Crawler had at least 50 times more power than the one Michael fought on the previous floor. Maybe by some stroke of luck, Michael may be able to defeat a single one, but with the hordeing from below¡­ No chance. ''Is there really no way for him to escape this dungeon?'' I questioned, as I kept thinking about it over and over. There must be something that can help him out of this dungeon, something that will push him away from his inevitable death. "Hey, you look worried. Don''t worry. As long as I am here, nobody can do a dime to you," Michael spoke as he cleared another floor, helping me up in his arms and then carrying me to the next floor, as usual. All I could do was watch him moving forward towards his death as my heart ached every time I looked at his smiling face. Chapter 82 FleshRope [Michael Aroa''s POV] ..... Dungeon of Libra Floor 41 ..... "Sing with me~" -BOOM! [Dungeon Points received +33] "I am not~" -BOOM! [Dungeon Points Received +36] "Feeling Well~" -BOOM! [Dungeon Points Received +33] "Come on Erina, you too should enjoy the moment," I spoke with a cheerful smile as I killed yet another Zombie -BOOM! [Dungeon Points Received +30] Like a melodious tone, the messages from the System kept ringing in my ears. It was truly poetic. Though Erina looked really creeped out by my behavior for some reason. I can barely sense pity in her eyes, with the usual sadness. I wonder if there is anything I can do to make her happy¡­ Though based on the events which she had gone through; I doubt I am capable of doing anything that can help her right now. -BOOM! [Dungeon Points Received +33] Though it''s really fascinating to be honest. All my Stats have gone up, more than 35 with that potion alone, along with my strength reaching 50 which was honestly a bit too much. Compared to previously where I had trouble even standing against the C-Grade Zombie, using the two time slowing skills together, I could easily kill that C-Grade without any problem; it was as easy as breathing for me now. Even these Zombies, which are D-grade with 5 times more Stats than normal, are nothing really that much of an issue for me. -BOOM! [Dungeon Points Received +30] [Floor 41 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 32140 seconds!] [Extra time will be added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 41: SSS] [All Floor clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] "Welp. Let''s go to the next floor, I suppose. I wonder what we will encounter on the next Floor," I thought as I moved towards Erina again with a bright smile, took her in my arms and walked to the next Floor. It was easy farming for me right now, and based on how the difficulty increased with each floor, I think I should be fine for another dozen or two floors before it bes harder for me to venture further. [You have entered Floor 42!] [Sixth Boss Floor!] [Kill the Boss Zombie!] [C-Grade Zombie Fleshrope (All Stats Tripled)(Health +2000%)] My eyes opened wide as I looked at the Zombie. He looked like a normal zombie from top to bottom with two upper limbs and two lower limbs, but his hands¡­ or more like everything from his forearm and below, had turned into a fleshy rope-like structure. His eyes were glowing red and I could sense a certain energy oozing out of his rope-like hands as well. There was something about his skull-like face that made me gulp as I felt like there is more to this Zombie than it seems. [Inspect!] [C-Grade Zombie Fleshrope] [This particr Zombie has the ability to extend its flesh from various body openings, including but not limited to, arms, legs and spines. It can also release arge amount of heat, burning everything in its path, but doing so will cause a deteriorating effect on the Zombie itself. Be careful of its flesh once again as it has a 1% chance of absorbing the life force of objects around it and healing itself in the process.] [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (copy)!] I saw that Zombie slowly walking towards me, and I kind of sighed at his ridiculous speed. I was at least 200 to 300 times faster than a normal person, yet these Zombies can still somehow, even if it''s barely, catch up to me. I wasn''t talking about earlier when I had lower Stats, but right now when I had more than twice the Stats previously. It''s like multiplying someone''s speed by 2-3 times and then slowing the time by 100 times. And yet I see this guy walking slowly towards me¡­ [Monster Index!] Using the monster index, I got as a bonus trait from the Dungeon; I searched through the list of Zombies and found out this particr Zombie. [Fleshrope (C-Grade)] [Description:This particr Zombie has¡­ Health Points: 120,000 Cessation Energy: 25,000/25,000 Skills: 1. Limb Extension: Can extend his limb as much as 10 meters ahead of it and grab anything in front of it. Grip power is twice of Strength. 2. Psionic Touch: At the cost of 10% HP. Can force its flesh into an object and control its movement. 3. Killing Touch: At the cost of 2% HP. Can cause decay of objects it touches by injecting its flesh. 4. Blood Sucker: When the attack hits a critical point of the opponent, there is a 5% chance of absorbing 10% of the opponent''s health and restore one''s own. Stats: Strength: 97 Constitution: 205 Dexterity: 134 Intelligence: 120 Wisdom: 23 Charm: 109 Weaknesses: When using an attack, it has to use its flesh in other areas. So in that time frame, its back and spine are vulnerable. Also, right after its attack, the heat buildup in its body takes time to recover so it can''t perform two sessive attacks of the same type.] My eyes turned at the Zombie in front of me with a sighing look. No wonder they were all so powerful¡­ No wonder that guy in the basement was that fast¡­ these Stats are beyond monstrous. ''And not just that¡­ isn''t it like the Stats are tripled for this one? Along with an additional 2000% Health? Man, that''s overkill,'' I sighed before proceeding to kill this monstrous being as if I were killing just another mosquito. Welp¡­ whatever¡­ not like I can say anything about being a monster, as I myself am nothing less than a monster now. I saw it extending its limbs towards me as it proceeded to attack me and slowly walking to the side, I dodged that slow attack. My eyes turned a bit focused on its flesh that was extending from its mouth as well. ''Looks like it was trying to trap me,'' I thought as I moved a bit more to the side and close to it with slight caution. Though this one was more dangerousbat wise,pared to the Licker, this one was a bit slower inparison. -BOOOM!!!!! Using my weapon, I hit its back as hard as I can pushing it away from the point of impact. But since I didn''t get any message from the System, I yawned a little as I stretched a little before moving closer to it again. I saw it slowly getting up using its limbs, though it was having a bit of difficulty in standing up I suppose, perhaps because I hit it in a weak spot. Walking closer to it as I saw it on its four, trying to get back up. I took a proper stance, then rotating the bat as hard as I could. -BOOOM!!! I hit it in the same weak spot again, pushing it down to the ground. I noticed a part of its fleshing from the side as it tried to reach my legs and I chuckled a bit before taking a step back and once again¡­ -BOOOM!!! And once again -BOOM!!! -BOOOM!!! -BOOOM!!! [Dungeon Points Received +5000] [Dungeon Points Tripled!] [Dungeon Points Received +15000] [Dungeon Points Received +30] [Floor 42 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 33240 seconds!] [Extra time will be added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 42: SSS] [All Floor clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] [Dungeon Shop Reset!] Chapter 83 Contract [Healing Potion x 5] [Heals 30% of your total Health Cost: 1500 Dungeon Points] [Energy Potion x 5] [Revives 50% of your total Energy Cost: 1500 Dungeon Points] [Skill Level Up Potion] [Allows the user to increase the level of a skill by 2 levels] Cost: 15000 Dungeon Points] [Energy Surge (Skill)] [Allows the user to use as much energy as possible freely without any limitations for 15 seconds. Can be used once every 2 hours. Cost: 12500 Dungeon Points] [Curse Scroll (Item)] [Allows the user to trap anything around him in a radius of 20 meters for 10 seconds. Cost: 10000 Dungeon Points] [Time Heal (Skill)] [Allows the user to reverse the damage of one''s body at the cost of 25TP/sec. Can heal 1% damage in one second. Cost: 25000 Dungeon Points] [Broken Ring of Azeroth] [A ring worn by General Azeroth during his heroic era. It has cracked at various ces but it still holds some ancient power. Effect: Can partially dispel any curse once Cost: 25000 Dungeon Points] [The Yellow Leaf of Yggdrasil (Item) ] [One of the 12 Leaves of Yggdrasil. When collected together, it will bloom its magic on the one that deserves its blessings. Cost: 37500 Dungeon Points] Looking at the items presented by the [Dungeon Shop], I felt a sort of mysterious vibe from it. Especially thest two items¡­ [Total Points: 98542] I still had enough points to buy everything but first let me check something¡­ I don''t know if it will work or not but¡­ "Erina, can I ask you something?" I spoke as I peeked at her and, a bit curious, she looked at me before she nodded. "What is that curse that you are suffering from, exactly?" I asked, as I was too curious about it. Just what was it that exactly was the story behind it? "You¡­ knew?" she asked confused as she looked at her and I nodded,"if it''s the curse you are talking about, then yeah. I sensed it the first time I saw you. If it''s not too much, can you tell me about it?" I spoke, and she turned silent for a few seconds. I then proceeded to buy [Health Potions] [Energy Potions] [Skill Level up Potion] [Curse Scroll] [Time Heal (Skill)] As for the other three, I won''t be taking the [Energy Surge] Skill cause I still don''t see any particr need for it. All the more when I have a passive Skill like [Time Flow] that keeps filling my energy for me. "It''s a curse that weakens my power and stops me from using almost all of my skills. It basically limits me to my most weak form and use the lowest tier spells only," she spoke, and I peeked at her for a few moments before asking, "What about the Laws that bind you?" It wasn''t just curses, but there was another thing mentioned in her description. Something about ''Bound by Laws'' I guess? I looked at her surprised face as I proceeded to grab her in my arms again, as I moved towards the next floor. While I did that, I also kept scrolling through my Skills, wondering on which I should use the [Skill Level Up] potion on. "That¡­ I am forbidden to talk about it¡­" she spoke as she turned her head down in dejection before looking at me with a curious face. [You have entered Floor 43!] [Kill all the Zombies to move to the next Floor] [All Zombies will have their Stats multiplied by 2!] [All Zombies will have their Health boosted by 350%] [E-Grade Zombie: 345 Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 170 D-Grade Zombie: 100 Lesser C-Grade Zombie: 25] [Total time to kill the Zombies: 33840 seconds] I yawned a little before answering to her,"is that so? Well, I guess it''s really sad¡­ Though Can I ask you something?" She looked at me, confused, as I put her down while the Zombies began forming out of the ground in front of me. Her eyes were trying to understand what I was trying to get at. "If, let''s say that, somehow. Your curse gets dispelled¡­ even partially¡­ Will you help me clear the dungeon?" I asked with a bit of curiosity. I honestly don''t want a B-Grade Zombified Fairy at my back trying to kill me, now would I? Her eyes turned wide open as she looked at me with pure disbelief in her eyes before she nodded as she spoke,"I don''t know why you asked me¡­ but if you can do that¡­ yeah¡­ I will help you clear the dungeon." I then used the [Skill Level Up] potion on the skill I thought was best for now. [1. Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 9) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0 TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 4 sec into the future. Cost: 25 TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 120s. Cost: 10 TP 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once Cost: 250 TP/sec 5. Allows the user to change what had already happened This effect can take ce once every 500 hours Cost: 10000 TP Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 50] "Hmmmm?" I looked at the Skill, not really happy with the oue¡­ but it was still better than nothing. Now that I had already done that, I think using this potion on [Time Flow] would have been a much better option. ''Welp, I guess I expected a bit too much,'' I thought as I took a deep sigh before moving towards the Zombies killing them one by one. So basically, I can''t use thetest effect of that Skill at all since I didn''t have enough Time Points in my storage and I think the System wanted me to get strong enough before upgrading that Skill. The effect itself was really miraculous, though. Other than that there were basic changes like lower cost of skill usage and stuff which was okayish, I suppose? Well, back to the topic,"Erina. Do you have anything that can give me assurance that you won''t stab me in the back if you get free from your curse?" I asked as I kept killing those Zombies left and right. She kept looking at me for a while, and once I was done with the Zombies, she spoke. "I can give you my word as a contract¡­" she spoke as her green eyes started growing a little bit and she continued,"In return for helping me release me from my curse, I will help you clear the dungeon and if I try to kill you after you set me free from my curse. I shall die a cruel death," her eyes returned to normal as she sighed before looking at me with a sad expression as she continued, "But there is no way to find out if the contract works or not, is there? I doubt you are going to trust aplete stranger like-" "Sure. That''s enough for me. I will set you free from your curse," I spoke with a smile as I looked at her surprised face. Well¡­ [Name: Erina El Leilena Race: Zombified Fairy (Grade-B) ss: Friends of Nature Description: The Last Princess of the Late Fairy n, kept as a puppet within the Dungeon of Severed Dimension by Kira himself. Bound by Laws and Curses, she has lost everything from her family, friends and Kingdom to even her mind, soul and body. All she has left is hope and a will to survive. Zombification: 23%*[Reach 100% to evolve into the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 100/100 (17200) Status: Weakened/Enved/Bound by Contract* [Contract: If Michael frees her from her curse, she will help him clear the Dungeon of Libra in return. If she fails to do so, or tries to kill Michael after being set free from the curse, she will die the most cruel death possible] Skills* Strength: 15(45) Constitution: 23(435) Dexterity: 12(234) Intelligence: 4(78) Wisdom: 11(102) Charm: 3(124)] ¡­I guess [Inspect] Skill really is quite a convenient skill to be honest. Chapter 84 100% Energy [Broken Ring of Azeroth] [A ring worn by General Azeroth during his heroic days. It has cracked at various ces but it still holds some ancient power. Effect: Can partially dispel any curse once Cost: 25000 Dungeon Points] I checked the description of that ring once again before focusing on Erina. For a couple of seconds, I pondered if I should really really go ahead with this n? But in the end, I decided to trust my [Inspect] Skill over other things. Taking out the ring, I first inspected it carefully before speaking, "Give me your hand." Hearing my words, she turned silent for a few moments. Her vibrant green eyes observed me for a few moments before nodding as she gulped and then proceeded to raise her hands towards me. Slowly I put the ring on her ring finger without realizing much. Though, since she was not a human, I don''t think there is much problem with it either... She gave me a deep look as she observed me before her eyes opened up wide as a golden red me erupted around her, as she began levitating in the air in front of me. The wind blew around her in circles, swirling around the golden red me, giving the whole thing a majestic look. I could only look at it with my eyes widening as I noticed Erina getting better and better physically and the aura she gave off. Her previous dead look was now slowly getting reced with a royal look that you find in Kings and Queens only... After a few seconds of levitating in the air, the me disappeared into her abdomen as I saw a few chains of white visible around her neck, hands, waist and legs, which slowly started burning into ashes right in front of me, soonpletely disintegrating. Then she started floating back down, before her feet touched the ground and she opened those beautiful eyes of hers. She looked at me for a few moments before she looked at her hands with a dazzled look. Then her eyes observed me for a few moments as she spoke. "Just... who are you?" I could sense the warmth in her words and a sense of familiarity emanating from her looks. "No... that is not important... What is important is... Thank you, Michael... Thank you for letting me experience this power once again. As promised, I will help you get through the dungeon... but we need to hurry..." she spoke as her eyes concentrated on me. She looked around to the door to Floor 42 and then sighed as she muttered in a slow voice,"still not strong enough," there was a bit of concern in her eyes before she spoke,"let''s go up." [Inspect!] [Name: Erina El Leilena Race: Zombified Fairy (Grade-B) ss: Friends of Nature Description: The Last Princess of the Late Fairy n, kept as a puppet within the Dungeon of Severed Dimension by Kira himself. Bound by Laws, she has lost everything from her family, friends and Kingdom. She still has hope and a will to survive. Zombification: 23%*[Reach 100% to evolve into the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 17200/17200 Status: Enved/Bound by Contract* [Contract: She will help him clear the Dungeon of Libra in return, if she fails to do so, or tries to kill Michael after being set free from the curse, she will die the most cruel death possible] Skills* Strength: 45 Constitution: 435 Dexterity: 234 Intelligence: 78 Wisdom: 102 Charm: 124] Her power had returned back to normal and even though the ''Enved'' status wasn''t removed, she had at least lost her ''weakened'' status. My eyes drifted from her Stats to her description of which a few minor changes were present. There was one thing that caught my attention though ''She still has hope and a will to survive'' which put a smile on my face as I followed her to the next floor. [You have entered Floor 44!] I saw the Zombies rising up as usual though this time... "[Aura of the Wind]" muttered Erina as she reached behind a Lesser C-Grade Zombie and then "[One with Nature]" she spoke as she absorbed the Zombie wholly with her finger, getting her energy back to normal. Her eyes glowed as I saw her Stats increasing by 1%. ''Wait! My Dungeon Points!'' Worried, I almost jumped but [Dungeon Points Received +36] ''Oh! So even if she kills the Zombies, I still get the points? Nice!'' I smiled from ear to ear as I saw her moving from one Zombie to another... though she was a bit slow... Sigh... looks like I still need to do the work by myself... [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] ''She can still move, huh?'' I was a bit surprised as I saw her barely moving from one Zombie to another. Though her expression was widening as her eyes peeked at me, moving faster than her. -BOOM! [Dungeon Points received +36] Not minding her, I started killing all the surrounding Zombies one by one without much of a problem. With my already enhanced Stats, killing them was... really easy. And just like that... [Floor 44 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 34240 seconds!] [Extra time will be added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 44: SSS] [All Floor clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] Once I was done with that, I turned off my skills as I looked at the deep re of Erina. She walked towards me and spoke with a bit of an angry look, "How much energy do you still have left?" I looked at her, confused a little, and answered,"ummm... 100%?" Hearing my words, her previous re vanished as she looked at me with a look of disbelief as she spoke,"you are... joking, right? All that enhancement and... you didn''t waste a single energy? Just what kind of... monster are you?" She looked at me as if all her senses were distorted all at once. I just smiled at her before moving towards her and patting on the head as she looked at me for answers. "All of us have a secret or two, don''t we?" She first narrowed her gaze at me, but then turned her head down as she slightly nodded before speaking,"if you are this strong... then... do you... even need my help?" Hearing her words, I pondered a little before asking,"do you have any buffing skills?" and she turning at me nodded before speaking, "I have one, but... it will boost only your base strength... that too by a limited amount. It doesn''t work when you are too strong." ''Sounds like a skill that will up my Stats by numbers rather than percentage... perfect!'' I thought as a smile formed on my face before I smiled at her as I spoke, "That''s more than enough." "Is it?" she questioned, and I assured her as I spoke,"it really is. Let''s go up now. Those Night Crawlers areing too, you know?" I turned to the notification while she looked at the door to Floor 43. [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 44: 45 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] "Let''s go," I spoke once again, and she nodded too. [You have entered Floor 45!] Chapter 85 Casual Talk [You have entered Floor 45!] "[Au-" Erina was about to cast another spell, though I just turned at her as I spoke,"don''t. While I don''t need to conserve any energy, you do." Hearing my words, she stopped casting her spell and just looked at me for a few moments. From her looks, it didn''t seem like she liked standing at the side but fully understanding the situation, she nodded. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] -BOOM! -BOOM! -BOOM! -BOOM! Left and right, I start killing Zombies without much problem. While they were fast,pared to a C-Grade, they were pretty slow. ''Well¡­ even if there was a normal C-Grade, it won''t give me much problem, I guess,'' I thought as I killed another Zombie. The time taken to kill all the Zombies increased by quite a margin, as it took me about 40 to 50 seconds to kill all the Zombies. Still, it was fine since now I was getting 30 mins to kill the Zombies than the 10 minutes which I was getting in the beginning. -BOOM! [Dungeon Points Received +42] [Floor 45 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 36040 seconds!] [Extra time will be added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 45: SSS] [All Floor clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] "Well. That does it for another floor. Let''s move to the next," I spoke as I waited for her toe close. She just kept looking at me before she asked, "Ummmm¡­ Can I ask you something?" Observing her expression, I first tried to read what she wanted to say but then I just nodded,"sure. Go ahead." She moved closer to me,"who are you? I mean, not in the sense of power and stuff, but more of a general sense, like where are you from and what is your purpose¡­ if it isn''t a secret, of course." Hearing her question, I was a bit confused. Until before this, she didn''t start any conversation unless she was shocked or something. ''Just what happened now?'' I pondered a little before putting it at the back of my mind. It''s not like it''s much of a big secret, anyway. "Well," I spoke as I moved towards the next Floor, "My name is Michael Aroa, as you already know. Born in the Lira City of Meria Country, I was one of the normal kids¡­ or not really¡­" [You have entered Floor 46!] "My mother is rich. Well, it''s not like she had a rich background for she herself built a whole industrial empire by herself. She started from selling cupcakes, then changed over another thing, then another, bought a property, sold it, and then repeated the process until she ended up being one of the richest persons in the city¡­ or perhaps this country now." [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] -Boom! -Boom! -Boom! . . [Floor 46th Cleared!] "My father is more of a normal person or not really¡­ I mean, he prefers to live as a normal person. He has good genes and is more of an athlete. I mean, he gets people asking him for the nationals and stuff all the time, but he rejects it for a normal quiet life and teaches the high school kids for fun. He supported my mother from her lowest point to her highest. A loving father who cares for his children and family." [You have entered Floor 47!] "I have one younger brother. He got his physique from our father, and the tenacity from our mother. Strong and athletic, the kind of guy that everyone looks up to. Will always be there for you, help you out and stuff. He is that kind of guy." [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] -BOOM! -BOOOM!!! . . . [Floor 47th Cleared!] "As for me. I am just a normal kid that works hard to make up for anything that I don''t have. I didn''t have a good physical body, so I worked hard for it. It didn''t get good enough like my brother or father, but still I reached somewhere. My mother asked me to get good grades, so I did that too. I got the best grades out there, while I had time, I even focused on other subjects rather than just the assigned subjects¡­ Oh! You probably won''t understand it but let''s just say that I studied things outside of my proficiency as well," I spoke as I proceeded to move to the next floor. "What is it that you are¡­ What was your path of proficiency?" she asked as she curiously looked at me and I smiled as I answered, "The human body. I was fascinated by how the human body works, how it got to the point where it is. From a child¡­ no¡­ from a single cell, to develop into something soplex and alive¡­ I was fascinated by it." Talking about what I liked made me smile brightly and looking at me smile, she too smiled as she asked,"you really do love it. Don''t you?" And I nodded at her with an excited face before I moved into the next Floor, "I sure do." [You have entered Floor 48th!] "In fact. I kind of overdo it when ites to studying about the human body, you know? I try to find out the mysteries behind¡­" I started speaking and kind of forgot to stop. I did have a bad habit of speaking a lot when I got excited¡­ though I didn''t get anyints from anyone to whom I spoke about it. In fact, they quietly let me finish it¡­ [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] -BOOM!!! -BOOOM!! . . [You have cleared Floor 48th!] "Well¡­ I guess I spoke too much about myself there¡­ I hope you don''t mind," I spoke as I scratched the back of my head hoping I hadn''t bored her but looking at the smile on her face, it doesn''t seem like she found it annoying. I smiled as I continued,"Alissa kind of always asked me about it so I got the habit of talking a lot." "What did you say?" Erina''s expression changed as she gave me a deep look with a bit of threat in her eyes. "Ummm¡­ I got the habit of-" "No. Not that¡­ before that," she spoke as her intent gaze didn''t leave mine. Her eyes kept gazing at mine and I spoke,"uh¡­ Alissa?" "Yeah¡­ who is she?" she asked again and I kind of looked at her for a few moments before speaking,"she is my junior in my college. She was always there with me, asking for my help from time to time. Sweet girl." Her eyes didn''t leave mine as I tried looking around, avoiding her gaze. ''Wait! Why am I acting as if my wife has caught me cheating?'' "Is she your mate?" Erina asked as she observed me and I shook my head as I spoke,"no¡­ we are just friends.." Once again I felt like I was hiding my mistress from my wife¡­ What''s with this scenario?! Though she sighed as she looked at me before murmuring something, though I could not hear it, so I asked,"umm.. Did you say something?" "No. Let''s go, we still have more floors to clear, don''t we?" she spoke as she ignored me before moving to the next Floor. ''Should I tell her about Caroline?'' I thought as I followed her to the next Floor. [You have entered Floor 49th] [7th Boss Floor!] Chapter 86 Elves [Seventh Boss Floor!] [Kill the Boss Zombie!] There was something different about this Zombie¡­ [C-Grade Zombie drin(All Stats Tripled)(Health +2000%)] [Being of one of the Elf Races, drin, which boasted high Mana Capacity and High Dexterity, this one has developed beyond its capabilities. Previously as a High Archer, his precision is unmatched, and given his strong legs, it can reach anywhere within seconds. While he does not have any other specific specialization, what it''s good at has been upgraded beyond its Grade, making itparable to the B-Grade Zombies] "He isn''t human," I spoke as I observed him. I didn''t need [Inspect]''s help. One look and I can tell¡­ he hasn''t evolved from a human being.. "He was an Elf¡­ an drin, to be precise," spoke Erina as she observed the Zombie with pity in her eyes. I looked at Erina for a few moments before turning to see him again. "What happened¡­ you look sad," I spoke as I peeked at Erina for a few moments and she sighed before speaking, "Kill it first. Let''s talkter." I nodded before "Erina¡­ give me a boost." She turned at me as she chanted,"[Aura of the Wind God] [Aura of the Light Goddess] " [You have been given a temporary boost of +20 Dexterity] [You have been given a temporary boost of +15 Strength and +10 Dexterity] [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] First let''s check from the [Monster Index] [C-Grade Zombie drin] [Description: Being of one of the¡­ Health Points: 120,000 Cessation Energy: 55,000/55,000 Skills: 1. Super Agility: Allows the user to move at thrice the speed at the cost of 100 Cessation Energy per second 2. Keen Perception(Rare): Allows the user to sense everything around within 500 meters in radius 3. Higher Instincts: Can sense danger even before it urs 4. High Range Combat: Allows the user to deal 3 times more damage when engaged in rangedbat Stats: Strength: 67 Constitution: 165 Dexterity: 467 Intelligence: 110 Wisdom: 45 Charm: 189 Weaknesses: Weaker in closebat. When engaging against enemies at a distance of 5 meters, allbat capabilities decrease by 50%.] I saw him moving¡­ at atleast 33% of my normal speed around and a smile formed on my face as I observed him. ''If this is his max speed, then¡­ I guess, I really do have a chance with B-Grade zombies¡­ though let''s hope there is nothing more to it,'' I sighed before moving closer to him with my weapon in hand. I saw him reaching his waist but when his hands reached there; he grew a bit confused as he observed that area. ''What is he doing?'' He then looked at me with a bit of re as he fumbled all over his body trying to search something¡­ ''He is¡­ getting restless¡­ frantic¡­ is that¡­ even possible?!'' my eyes turned open wide as I saw him searching all around his body like a madman. I moved closer to him¡­ and with each step that I was taking, his eyes were shifting between me and his body as he kept searching harder and harder. "Are you¡­ searching for your bow and arrow?" I asked out of nowhere as I realized what he was trying to do¡­ Didn''t the description say that he was an archer before he turned into a Zombie? Hearing my voice, his eyes turned at me a bit bright¡­ "Can you understand me?" I asked as I tried to make sense out of this situation¡­ however¡­ he was just staring confused at me¡­ "I guess it''s instinctive? Maybe¡­" I sighed as I almost grew hopeful that maybe he could retain his memories or something. ''Maybe a B-Grade could? Or perhaps an A-Grade¡­ well, let''s find out when we reach that point,'' I thought as I moved towards that guy. That Zombie first looked at me, then freaked out a little more before he started running away from me. I saw him moving around randomly as his speed matched to that of a normal person. ''I guess he is using his skill now,'' I thought as I saw his sudden increased speed and ran towards him before -BOOM!!! I hit him once¡­ -BOOM!!! Twice.. Thrice¡­ And many, many more times¡­ Until¡­ [Dungeon Points Received +7500] [Dungeon Points multiplied by 3] [Dungeon Points Received +22500] [Floor 49 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 44240 seconds!] [Extra time will be added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 49: SSS] [All Floor clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] After I killed him, I slowly sighed before I observed that guy disappearing into ashes and prayed in silence, "May whosoever be your God, may he grant you a peaceful afterlife." Then I turned to Erina, looking at that guy too, before she turned at me and spoke. "Wanna know about the Fallen Race of Elves?" I pondered a little before I nodded,"let''s talk about it as we walk up." She shook her head with a long sigh as she muttered,"most people won''t even have time to breathe after reaching this floor." "Why so?" I asked curiously as I stretched a little before moving towards the next floor. She, too, followed me as she spoke, "Nothing. Well¡­ as for the Elves¡­" [You have entered 50th Floor] "There were many variants of them, Vanyar, Noldor, drin, each holding a specific power, skill or mana attribute that was exclusive to them. Something that made them better than others." [Kill All the Zombies!] I stretched a little as I listened to her while I waited for them to take shape¡­ "drin, the one whom you fought just now, were someone who had skills and power rted to dexterity and was hailed as the best archers of their. They also had air rted skills¡­ which sadly they couldn''t use after turning into Zombies." I was about to activate my ability, but hearing herst words, I stopped for a few moments, turned to her in silence¡­ then¡­ "Wait a sec," I spoke [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] -BOOOM!!!!!! -BOOM!!!! [Dungeon Points Received +48] [Dungeon Points Received +51] . . [Floor 50th Cleared!] "Now continue¡­ and focus more on the Zombie part," I muttered, and she nodded before speaking, "When the Zombies invaded Alfheim, a war started between the turned and the unturned. In the beginning, the low grade Zombies were easier to deal with. In fact, all the Zombies were killed before they could infect the. But soon as time passed, even those who didn''t turn started developing Zombie powers, bing powerful and started chanting ''A new era has started'' and stuff." There was a pained look on Erina''s face, but she continued still, "It was a big mistake. In the end¡­ while they had sanity in the beginning, their behavior turned more and more warmonger-like. From beings that lived on nts, they started feasting on animals, soon turning to their own kin." A chill ran down my spine as I heard her words. "Soon enough, almost the entire had died before anyone could realize and all that was left there were mindless monsters that have lost their willpletely to that Zombie Energy and the ancient relics of the past that are nothing more than useless ornaments for others." I kept staring at her as she finished with her exnation and asked, "So¡­ did anyone find a way to undo the Effects of Zombification?" Chapter 87 Infinite Health? "So¡­ did anyone find a way to undo the Effects of Zombification?" She stopped as I asked her this. Her eyes traced mine before they got lost, as if recalling a memory. "When ites to Alfheim, there was Yggdrasil that had some power to reverse the Zombification Process. Ironically, it was burnt down by the very people who were there to protect it,"she spoke with a distant look in her eyes. "So Yggdrasil doesn''t exist anymore?" I asked curiously, as I stopped in my tracks. She pondered a little as she spoke, "Well¡­ it does, actually. The 7 branches of Yggdrasil actually stretch around various dimensions and each holding a spec of its power is still thriving somewhere out in the universe." ''Seven?'' I questioned as I looked at the [Dungeon Shop] again¡­ [The Yellow Leaf of Yggdrasil (Item) ] [One of the 12 Leaves of Yggdrasil. When collected together, it will bloom its magic on the one that deserves its blessings. Cost: 37500 Dungeon Points] ''Is she hiding things from me¡­ or is it that she herself doesn''t know about it? Or maybe leaves and branches are different from one another?'' I pondered a little as I looked at that item while keeping in mind what Erina told me. "Though if you are thinking about finding those branches, then please stop dreaming. People haven''t even found one, forget about all 7, even after searching for decades," Erina spoke with a deep look before I nodded at her and we both entered the next Floor. [You have entered Floor 51!] [Kill All The Zombies!] "Need a buff?" asked Erina. "Hmmm¡­ nah, it''s fine. They aren''t that strong," I spoke before activating my abilities and starting to kill all the Zombies one by one, just like usual. There wasn''t much difference between killing these or the previous ones. Though unlike before, I had to be really precise where I was hitting. If I missed their weak points, they wouldn''t die in one hit. [Monster Index] provided a lot of help in this regard too¡­ yet¡­ -BOOM!!! ''Tch!'' I clicked my tongue on the inside as I moved to go for a second hit on the Lesser C-Grade Zombie and -BOOM!! [Dungeon Points Received +20] [Dungeon Points Multiplied by 3] [Dungeon Points Received +60] [Total Points: 78230] ''But man, I am getting so many points as the Floors are increasing, huh?'' I was genuinely surprised as I looked at the points that I had. What took a total of 30 Floors to umte was easily done in about 8 Floors or so to cover. I was going to wait till Floor 55 before deciding whether I should buy [The Yellow Leaf of Yggdrasil] or not. -BOOM!! [Dungeon Points Received +57] -BOOM!! -BOOM!! . . [Floor 51 Cleared!] Soon, as I continued talking to Erina, killing the Zombies on each floor, I found myself at the end of Floor 55. [Floor 55 Cleared!] Looking at the points I had now, [Total Points: 91342] ''I guess it won''t be a problem if I were to buy it now,'' I decided before buying that yellow leaf, too. Slowly, that leaf fell in my arms from the space in front of me. "Huh?!!! W-Wha-What?!! What is that?!!!!" bbergasted as she looked at the leaf in my hands, I soon kept it in my [Time Storage] as I spoke, "Nothing." "No! That''s¡­ That''s¡­ That was a branch of¡­ of¡­ Yggdrasil, wasn''t it?" Even when Erina spoke that, she was having a hard time believing herself. I just smiled at her with my eyes narrowing a little as I spoke,e on now. The branches are all scattered across dimensions, where no one could find them. How do you think I can find something like that here out of nowhere?" "Tha-That is¡­ That is correct¡­ but that energy¡­ it was purely of Yggdrasil¡­ it cannot¡­ be faked?" She was in disbelief as she looked at me trying toprehend what she just saw and I not minding her spoke, "Let''s go. We have a bigger issue at hand right now." Hearing my voice, she snapped out of her stupor as she immediately concentrated on what''sing after us from behind. While the [Night Crawlers] were still far and behind, since we were going at a fast pace, that doesn''t mean they were going to stop while we did nothing. "Wait! Wait! Wait for me!" Erina spoke as she saw me moving to the next floor. [You have entered Floor 56!] [8th Boss Floor!] [Kill the Boss Zombie!] [C-Grade Zombie Sand Troll (All Stats Tripled)(Health +5000%)] I saw that thing standing over there¡­ covered in decaying sand and white dimmed eyes. There was a green hue that surrounded all around its body. I could see some sort of bugs flying all around its body as its body took shape in front of me. "[Aura of Light] [Aura of Wind] [Aura of Water] [Aura of Power] [Aura of Darkness]" chanted Erina in a hurried manner as she looked at that monster with fear in her eyes. [You have been given a temporary boost of +20 Dexterity] [You have been given a temporary boost of +15 Strength and +10 Dexterity] [You have been given a temporary boost of +20 Strength] [You have been given a temporary boost of +20 Constitution and +10 Intelligence] [You have been given a temporary boost of +20 Strength] My eyes concentrated on that thing standing there [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] [Inspect!] [C-Grade Zombie Sand Troll] [Born out of Darkness and blessed by the Light, these races have near infinite health. Their power specializes in sand maniption and superior healing. They also have developed a symbiotic rtion with the Leda Bugs that specialize in increasing the defense of these creatures in return for nutrition from them. Be careful, after bing a Zombie, they also have developed the Power of Decay!] My eyes traced through the description before moving to the [Monster Index] [C-Grade Zombie Sand Troll] [Description: Born out of¡­ Health Points: 1,000,000,000,000 Cessation Energy: 10,000/10,000 Skills: 1. Sand Maniption(Unique): Allows the user to manipte the sand around it as much as the user desires. Cost:1 Cessation Energy per hour. 2. Super Heal(Unique): Allows the user to heal 10% of energy every 2 minutes. 3. Decay: Whatever the user touches will start losing health 1% per second. Stats: Strength: 102 Constitution: 502,205 Dexterity: 32 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 8 Charm: 2 Weakness: After bing a Zombie, the Sand Troll, which is already a slow race to begin with, lost their dexterity even more. Their intelligence and wisdom halted to what it was and never grew further. Killing the bugs will remove the ability of decay from the Troll, while also reverses the process on the troll themselves as they will start losing 1% health once every 3 seconds. Though having humongous health and regenerating ability, the Zombie Trollcks any or all hemolytic properties, meaning once it will start bleeding it won''t stop at all continuously losing health.] "Phew!... Almost regretted not taking the [Skip Scroll] with me back then," I spoke as I saw the weakness of this guy. While it did have some fantastic health points and stuff, I guess its weakness outshines its power. ''Now then¡­ let''s begin, shall we?'' I spoke with a smile forming on my face. Chapter 88 Zombie Sand Troll ''Now then¡­ let''s begin, shall we?'' I spoke with a smile forming on my face. I moved towards it one step at a time as I saw the strange green bugs flying all around the ce emerging from its body. They were fast, fast enough to fly around even with all my abilities activated, but¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper] ''When will they attack me?'' [8 Seconds] I still had a few things up my sleeve here. [Inspect!] [Zombified Armoth] [Bugs that live feeding upon Sand Trolls. After Zombification, their previous power of poison and curses evolved into the Power of Decay. Be careful of their stings. Once it gets into your body, there is no escaping it.] I waited for the countdown to reach 4 seconds and then activated my [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] to see where the attack would being from. It was from the left, as one of the bugs was about to sting me from the left and another followed from the right. Not minding much, I started counting down time and when it reached 1 second; I saw those bugs almost reached me from both sides. -BOOM!!! -BOOOM!!! [Dungeon Points Received +60] [Dungeon Points Received +60] ''Hmmm, so each of those bugs is as strong as Lesser C-Grade Zombies?'' I pondered before proceeding to kill more of them. -BOOM! -BOOM!! -BOOOM!! Killed 3 more, then decided to see how many more of them were present there. Looking around, it seems like there were about a dozen or two flying in the air. ''Based on their flying pattern¡­ seems like they could share sense or something,'' I thought as I saw them reacting even before I could make a move. While they could have some individual ability rted to it but as far as I know about bugs¡­ ''Most of them can interact with each other through pheromones,'' I thought before -BOOM! -BOOOM!! -BOOOM!!! "Whoa!" I jumped back as I realized that I had reached too close to that Zombie Sand Troll. Touching it now won''t be really a good idea¡­ let''s deal with all the bugs first. -BOOM! -BOOOM!! . . "Hmmm¡­ is that¡­" I pondered before [Inspect!] [Zombified King Armoth!] [Stronger than your average Armoths. This guy possesses faster mobility and higher decay power. While it is just a powerful version of Armoths, there is one difference you should be careful with. Its sting can release minute spores in the air that will immobilize the target.] I saw the description and sighed before taking a few steps back and [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Foresight)] I saw the ces where I would be in its target area and would be rendered immobile. Switching my ability off and on again, I tried from a different ce, but even now the result was still the same. After trying a couple of more times, I pondered before an idea came into my mind. Not wasting any time, I took a proper stance and¡­ -Whoosh! Threw my bat at an insane speed at that bug¡­ Though¡­ I missed it¡­ The King Armoth was a bit too fast for it¡­ Finding its chance, I saw it flying towards me at a rapid speed and once it reached close enough to me.. A smile escaped from the corner of my lips as I spoke [Return!] My bat returned to my hand and¡­ -BOOOM!!!!! [Dungeon Points Received +66] "Now that is out of the way," I muttered as I looked at the dead King Armoth, before turning to the Zombie Sand Troll who was trying toe to me at its ever so slow speed. One step at a time, I moved close to it and -BOOOM!!!! I hit it as fast as I could, but¡­ [HP : 999,999,999,123/1,000,000,000,000] While the damage itself wasn''t much, there was indeed enough to cause bleeding with that much. Its health was going down at a rate of 1HP per second. Smiling, I hit the same spot again¡­ -BOOM!!! -BOOOM!!! -BOOOM!! -BOOOM!!! . . . After hundreds of strike at the same spot, I finally saw a visible change in its HP [HP: 999,999,123,248/1,000,000,000,000] Now it was bleeding at the rate of 10000 HP per second¡­ Taking a deep breath, once again I maintained a bit of distance from it and¡­ -BOOM! -BOOOM! -BOOOM! -BOOM!! . . This time I didn''t count how much I was hitting it, but just kept going for a while¡­ After an unknown amount of time¡­ I decided to check its HP points once again¡­ [HP: 923,239,234,294/1,000,000,000,000] ''Hmmm¡­. Its health is going down at the rate of 10,000,000 per second now. Though.. It should have been less than this¡­ maybe?'' I thought about it before putting it at the back of my mind and kept going on and on¡­ -BOOOM!!! -BOOOM!!! -BOOOOM!!!! -BOOOM!!! -BOOOM!! . . . [HP: 845,241,199,093/1,000,000,000,000] . . . [HP: 456,241,199,092/1,000,000,000,000] . . . [HP: 102,083,928,103/1,000,000,000,000] . . . [HP: 12,034,244,111/1,000,000,000,000] . . . [HP: 139,234,999/1,000,000,000,000] . . . [HP: 12,234,133/1,000,000,000,000] And then in front of me, that guy sumbed to its injuries. Before I received the message. [Dungeon Points Received +17500] [Dungeon Points Multiples by 3] [Dungeon Points Received +52500] ''That''s a lot!'' A joyful expression formed on my face as I looked at the amount of points I received before a few strings of messages followed [Floor 56 Cleared!] [Extra Time Left: 61240 seconds!] [Extra time will be added to the next Floor!] [Grade for Floor 56: SSSS] [All Floor clear rewards will be calcted in the end!] [Dungeon Shop Reset!] "Huh? SSSS Grade?! That''s the first one¡­" I mumbled in surprise as I looked at the Grading of this Floor. Was it because it was more of an impossible challenge under normal conditions? Maybe¡­ I don''t know¡­ it wasn''t that hard¡­ just time taking¡­ I then turned off my abilities and turned to Erina, who was observing me with a nk expression. She observed me for a short while before trying to ask something, but she stopped in between as she just kept observing me. "What?" I asked with a bit of curiosity, but she just kept looking at me before she turned at the ce where the Sand Troll was vanishing. I too turned at it for a few moments before I asked again, "Is there something wrong with it?" "Something?" a word escaped her mouth as she looked at me with an indescribable face. It felt like she didn''t know where to start¡­ "I don''t¡­ Where should I even begin with¡­?" her eyes were confused still as they shuffled between me and that point where the Zombie''s body vanished from. Moving towards her, I just patted her head slightly, making her look at me nkly as I asked,"I guess I shocked you a little too much, didn''t I?" She nodded at me without any words. "Was it an impossible, unkible being or something?" I asked again, understanding her confusion. She nodded again as she looked at me. "It''s okay. I just found a weakness that I exploited." I spoke with a smile and she just looked at me without any change in her expression. "Let''s go to the next Floor. We need to finish this dungeon, don''t we?" I asked, and she nodded once again nkly as she followed behind me. ''Now then¡­ let''s see what the [Dungeon Shop] has to offer,'' I smiled from ear to ear as I kept walking towards the next Floor. Chapter 89 Unexpected Surprise [Healing Potion x 5] [Heals 30% of your total Health Cost: 1500 Dungeon Points] [Energy Potion x 5] [Revives 50% of your total Energy Cost: 1500 Dungeon Points] [Skip Scroll!] [Allows the user to skip a particr Dungeon Floor! (Note that the user can''t skip a Boss Floor) Cost: 8000 Dungeon Points] [Curse Scroll (Item)] [Allows the user to trap anything around him in a radius of 20 meters for 10 seconds. Cost: 10000 Dungeon Points] [Enchantment of the Iridescent] [Enchants your weapon with the Iridescent Element Cost: 15000] [White Coloured Bandana(Armour)] [Amon bandana that has been blessed by the Sky Lord''s yful son Effect 1: Increases Constitution by 15 Effect 2: Air Elemental Resistance +10% Cost: 17500] [Scroll of Necromancy] [Allows the user to call any of the 3 soldiers he has killed before. Cost: 55000] [Colors of the Golden Rainbow (Weapon: Crossbow)] [A fine crossbow made from thebined efforts of the Seven Nations of Leyra. Being blessed with all the Energies, it has the ability to pour out any form of Elemental Energy you want. Can recharge it''s ammo at an extraordinary speed. Attack: 230 || Durability: 5000/5000 Energies Attacks: +100% Damage of Air/Water/Ice/Fire/Electro/Light/Dark Effect 1: When the user uses a particr Elemental Attack using this crossbow, his affinity with that Element increases by 25%. Effect 2: When idle all Elemental Attacks will be increased by 10% Cost: 125,000 Dungeon Points] After scrolling through all the items thoroughly, as I killed the Zombies on Floor 57, I then looked at the amount of Points I currently had [Dungeon Points: 185,401] "Fair enough," I thought as I reached to take everything I wanted from the store. Though this time, except for [Scroll of Necromancy], I decided to take everything with me. Partially because I will get more points in the next 14 floors anyway to take that too and partially because in the next [Dungeon Shop] reset, I would get all the points from the Floor grading, anyway. ''Now the question of, where should I use [Enchantment of Iridescent] at?'' I thought as I looked at the two weapons in my hand. While it would be a no-brainer to use it on [Colors of the Golden Rainbow], I kind of wanted to use it on [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor(Rare)]. All the more because I had been using it for quite a while¡­ In the end, I put the enchantment on the side. ''Let''s decide itter when I will be needing an extra push with the battles,'' I thought as I proceeded to look through the other things once more,''Well, nothing so important.'' I thought as I put on the [White Coloured Bandana] on my head. It had a pretty nice texture and wearing it put a cool sensation throughout my body. Then, after I was done with that, I finally killed thest Zombie of this Floor with that new crossbow that I got. [Dungeon Points Received +69] [Floor 57th Cleared!] Then I began moving to the next Floor as usual as I turned to Erina with a smile,"Let''s go." She nodded before following me as she followed me to the uing Floors. [You have Entered Floor 58!] [Kill all the Zombies to enter the next Floor] [Lesser D-Grade Zombie: 550 D-Grade Zombies: 250 Lesser C-Grade Zombie: 120 C-Grade Zombie: 30] [Total time to kill the Zombies: 70920 seconds] "Hmmm¡­ C-Grades this time?" I thought as I looked at the System message as I was finally convinced¡­ convinced that the final boss of this Dungeon was a B-Grade Zombie. ''That should be doable if I use all my powers,'' I thought as a satisfied smile formed on my face. "Erina," I spoke, and she nodded before buffing me up again, as usual. And as usual, I started killing those Zombies left and right. I used the crossbow as well as the club to kill the Zombies and found out that I was wrong about a few things on how the crossbow would function. Firstly, while it did indeed kill the Zombies, the practical application of it was quite¡­ palepared to what I expected. I mean, it took about 5 or 6 shots to kill the Zombie even when I hit the weak spots each time. ''Perhaps it''s because when I am using the club, I am swinging it using my own strength as well?'' I thought, as I believe that, this could be the only logical reason behind it. Well, but using the crossbow did mean that I won''t need to go to each Zombie and repeat the same old process, could simply just do it from standing at a single ce. There was one more thing that I didn''t take into ount though¡­ I kind of need to wait after using it for a while. I think it was about every 48 or 50 shots that I needed to wait for it to recharge. The recharge took about 3 seconds to ur though. Sadly, with both my time slowing abilities, those 3 seconds became 300 seconds. I guess this weapon isn''t for me¡­ but it still has its uses, so I will keep it with me for now. I kept the crossbow in my Time Space as well. The other things, from potions and stuff, were stored in the Dungeon Inventory. I mean, it wasn''t exactly an inventory, but more like a ce where I need to take the items off from. Like a counter. But I haven''t taken it out cause¡­ I don''t have any ce to stash them¡­ I smiled wryly at myck ofmon sense to carry at least a bag with me, but,''oh, well¡­ what has already happened, has already happened. Can''t change the past, can we?'' I thought before moving to kill another C-Grade Zombie. -BOOM!!! [Dungeon Points Received +75] [Level System Unlocked!] [All the requirements have been fulfilled: Kill 1000 E-Grade Zombies (1000/1000) Kill 100 D-Grade Zombies (1000/1000) Kill 12 Lesser C-Grade Zombies (12/12) Kill 5 C-Grade Zombie(5/5)] [You may Level up normally now!] "Hmmm?!... Wait¡­ Now that I think about it," I murmured as I realized that there was no mention on how I kill the Zombies or where I kill them. So I guess, Zombies from the Dungeon counts? After pondering a while, I decided to check my Stats once again. It has been a while since I properly had a good look at them. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: Assassin*/ Zombie Destroyer* / Health Freak* / Leader* [Assassin: When the title is active, the user''s chances of killing an enemy with a single shot increase by 25%] ss: Unssified Level: 10 (79230/80000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 56000/56000 Time Points: 4500/4500 Strength: 15(+75) Constitution: 15(+70) Dexterity: 15(+60) Intelligence: 15(+45) Wisdom: 14(+35) Charisma: 13(+25) Total Stat Points: 0] "Damn! They look nice!" I was really surprised by all the ups I had been given with the Stats. Sadly, most of them were given by the buffs from Erina''s spell which would run out anytime now. ''I wonder if there is any way I could make these permanent?''I thought as I continued killing the Zombies Chapter 90 Kira [Survive!] [Survive for as long as you can! Time before the Night Crawlers reach Floor 58: 110 minutes! Time Limit: Indefinite] [You have entered Floor 59th!] Soon I advanced to the next Floor and as I moved, killing the Zombies one by one. Erina wasn''t talking as much as before. Most of the time she just asked me if I needed another buff or not, to which I mostly denied, since what she was doing was already enough. Her eyes were focused on me, as if they were trying to figure out something. Though exactly what? That is something I didn''t know. "You okay?" I was a bit worried as I found her a bit more tense than before. She shook her head at my question as she answered,"nothing. Do you need any more buffs?" At this I could only turn quiet as I only looked deeper in her eyes. I then spoke,"You do know that it is not what I am asking, don''t you?" Her eyes turned a bit low before she started moving towards the next Floor, but as she passed by me, I grabbed her hand and stopped her. "What is it? I generally don''t get involved in other people''s business, but with the way you are looking at me, I can''t shake the feeling that it is rted to me. So tell me Erina El Leilena¡­ what is it that is going inside that brain of yours?" I asked with a deep sigh. "You!" she turned at me with her eyes widened at me as she continued,"How did you know my full name? I¡­ I never told you¡­ Howe¡­" It seemed like she was doubting herself. Trying to figure out if she had slipped it up even once in our conversation, she seemed to recall really hard right now. "I have a skill¡­ that''s all I can tell¡­ " I spoke and her eyes turned at me, wide open as she observed me. "You-" "First, tell me what is going on? Is it rted to that ''Kira'' ?" I asked with a bit of a questioning look and she once again observed me with a wide expression. Her eyes shaking a little, she kept gazing at me, but before she could speak anything, "So it''s him, huh? Is he really that powerful to make you scared that much? All right. Tell me then, if I were topare against him after all the power I have shown, how would I fare against him?" I asked with a slightly dominant look. "1 second? 3 seconds at max¡­ that''s only when he will be lenient with you," she answered as she observed me and I just nkly looked at her. Just¡­ What kind of monster was this ''Kira'' ? Though¡­ "Aren''t you underestimating me?" I asked again, and she shook her head and spoke,"No. I am not. Even if you were 10 or maybe 100 times stronger, even then I doubt you couldst even 10 seconds against him¡­. He is¡­ he is just that powerful," she said her previous distressed look slowly vanished. "So basically I will die if I meet him?" I asked as I looked at her and she nodded at me with a deep look¡­ "Well¡­ at least you can tell me something about him? A weakness of sorts or perhaps anything?" I asked again, but she smiled with a remorseful expression as she spoke, "By the Laws that I am bound with, I really can''t tell you no matter how much I want to." Hearing those words, I could only groan a little as I then turned to her before speaking, "Man¡­ are you sure he is in this Dungeon?" "I mean if something or someone that powerful is in this Dungeon then is there even any meaning of I going to the higher floors? Come on, man¡­ " I spoke as I looked at her deeply before she put her head down as she spoke, "It''s not like I know anything about it, either." ''Though¡­'' "Howe you are sure that he is in this Dungeon?" I asked as I looked at her. Well, that is because I already know the names of the two bosses that are going to be on the 63rd Floor and 70th Floor. [Dungeon Index] It actually had two utilities¡­. One was that it tells all the information regarding the Zombies that I had seen with my own two eyes. Like those bosses that I met before. The other utility, though not as much useful, was that it told me the names of all the Zombies that are within the Dungeon, whether I have met them or not. And currently there are only 2 Zombies that I haven''t met. [Ymir] [Ritra] And looking at those names, it didn''t seem like any of those were Kira¡­ still, I should ask Erina about it. "I¡­ Well, wherever I exist, he can find me. And once he finds me, hees to me. It doesn''t take him long to get to me and many times he ys with me with his little acts. I think¡­ even this time, he is just ying with me¡­ waiting for me to get to him¡­" she spoke as a deep fear took surface on her face. I moved towards her as I patted her head a little, speaking,"it''s okay. Right now, there isn''t anyone here. Just you and me. You can rx a little." While I could have said some flowery words like ''I will be there for you'' and sh*t like that, if that guy can astvista me within seconds, I doubt my words would have any effect on her. All I could hope is to keep herpany until the end of the Dungeon before escaping from here. "Does Ymir or Ritra ring a bell for you?" I asked curiously, but confusedly she looked at me and shook her head as she questioned,"who are they?" ''So they are not Kira? Looks like Kira isn''t here right now,'' I thought as a hope flickered through my body and I decided to finish the whole Dungeon fast before that ''Kira'' guy could interfere. Maybe I still have a chance here¡­ Though¡­ something happened¡­ [Monster Index] [List of Monsters'' Name] [Ymir] [Ritra] [Kira] And¡­ it didn''t just end at that¡­ [Floor 70th Cleared!] [Floor 69th Cleared!] [Floor 68th Cleared!] [Floor 67th Cleared!] [Floor 66th Cleared!] [Floor 65th Cleared!] [Floor 64th Cleared!] [Floor 63th Cleared!] [Floor 62th Cleared!] [Floor 61th Cleared!] [Floor 60th Cleared!] [Floor 59th Cleared!] [Emergency Quest!] [Escape!] [An unknown entity has arrived in front of you. The sense of power is beyond your realm. System has found that it holds hostile intentions towards the user. The user is advised to escape as fast as possible!] My eyes turned to that guy¡­. [Inspect!] [Name: Kira ??? Race: ???? Description: ??? Cessation Energy: ????/???? Stats: Strength: ??? Constitution: ??? Dexterity: ??? Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ??? Charisma: ???] I couldn''t see anything in his status at all. "Huh? Who is he, Erina?" he asked as he turned to Erina who was frozen in fear as she observed Kira. Not wasting much time, I immediately tried opening [Dungeon Options!] and moving to the [Exit Dungeon!] but¡­ "What are you even trying to do?" he spoke with something in his hand¡­ It was a heart. It was still beating¡­ [Your life force ceased to exist!] Was it mine? [System has detected that the user''s situation is beyond critical!] Huh? What does that mean? [Using Force Protocol to Save the User!] [Force Protocol Failed!] Those were the words before my consciousness began to fade away¡­. What just¡­ happened¡­ [You have Died!] Chapter 91 Its Fine, Isnt It? [Erina El Leilena''s POV] . . Everything was fine just a few moments ago. "It''s okay. Right now, there isn''t anyone here. Just you and me. You can rx a little." . . I actually calmed down a little. Maybe we can really escape¡­ even if it is not me, maybe Michael can escape from here after clearing the Dungeon and someday¡­ someday¡­ he wille back strong and help me out? . . . "Does Ymir or Ritra ring a bell for you?" . . Who are they? Are those other girls who are around Michael? No. No. No, he won''t be talking about girls in such a serious moment¡­ but¡­ why would he evene back to save me when he already has Alissa back waiting for him? I think¡­ I should ask him just in case¡­ . . . And then¡­ -BOOM!!! Somebody broke in from the higher floors. . . . "Huh? Who is he, Erina?" he spoke as he looked at Michael. I stopped moving for a few moments. My eyes concentrated on Kira. They were frozen as they realized that it''s all over. I wanted Michael to not do anything stupid. Maybe if I beg Kira enough, he will let Michael go? Maybe if I try my best, Michael will have another chance¡­? I should do some- "What are you even trying to do?" He spoke as he yed with something in his hand There was a heart in his hand¡­ a beating heart. My eyes turned to Michael, who was still standing there. There was arge hole in his chest¡­. -Thud! Before I could do anything, Michael''s body fell to the ground, lifeless as it could be. My heart skipped a beat. All the memories from the start ["Well¡­ I am Michael Aroa."] They started flooding in¡­ ["Let''s go to the next floor. We need to finish this dungeon, don''t we?"] The way he was confident in everything he did¡­ "M-M¡­M-Mich¡­MICHAEL!!!!!" I shouted loudly at his body, my body still afraid to move. I wanted to run to him¡­ help him back up¡­ for someone whom I didn''t even know for more than a day, he sure did be someone I felt close to. How long had it been that I felt safe? How long had it been that I felt more of a Fairy than a Zombie or a ve? "Hmmm¡­ did you be close to him or something? How long did it take me this time to reach you? This is a bit bothersome,"Kira spoke as he looked at me and then at the lifeless body of Michael. "Though how did he even get here? Guess I shouldn''t have killed him so fast. Should have asked a couple of questions first," Kira kept speaking to himself as he moved towards Micheal and reaching him he observed him carefully. "Hmmm.. no signs of energy¡­ nothing that spectacr¡­ or more like he is as weak as he could be¡­" he spected over Michael''s dead body with a really curious gaze. "Though, even if he was somehow unlucky enough to get in this dimension, how did he make it up to this Floor?" Kira asked, wondering in a rather curious manner before his eyes fell over me again. Looking at me, he moved in front of me in an instant as he stared into my eyes. "You have your powers back!!! Wow! How did you do it? I thought it was impossible to break that curse!! Did the Universe give you something?" He was curious and excited. Universe. Those are familiar yet unfamiliar words that came out of Kira''s mouth. There are stories behind it and it is said that sometimes, the force of nature converges towards some people and a blessing is bestowed by the Universe upon that person by a stroke of luck. It''s totally random and nobody knows when or who might receive a blessing and since Kira didn''t know how I got my curse undone, it was normal that he would specte it to be a miracle¡­ which he would corrte with the Universe. I was quite¡­ I was scared¡­ the nightmares were about to turn real again¡­ but¡­ "Well. We will discuss thatter. Since you have been set free from the curse, you can help me out now. Come with me, I have found something interesting on the other side," he spoke with excitement in his voice. He then took out his sword and¡­ -sh!!!!!! -BOOOM!!!!!!!!!! The entire structure above us broke into pieces, as nothing but debris was left behind. I saw the dark red sky above us and finally realized that we were in the Dark Dimension currently where forces of darkness usually bend together. He looked at me before he observed Michael again and spoke. "You do know that anyone who treads path with me will have the same oue? Or do you want me¡­" he paused in between and a fear struck in my mind as I started walking towards him. I peeked at Michael as a tear fell from the corner of my eye. It aches, my heart, but¡­ it looks like there is nothing we can do about it. I could only look at my hand, where he put the ring. There is a custom in Fairies where the mate puts a ring on the ring finger of his partner and promises to protect her till the end of her life. It was a sign of love. Though I don''t think Michael has something like that in his world. Even if he is dead¡­ at least I will keep this ring with me till myst breath. It won''t change anything¡­ but at least it will remind me that there was once someone who was there to protect me. "Hmmm¡­ what''s that ring?" Kira spoke and once again my heart stopped as I looked at him. My eyes shook as tears began falling out of them. I tried taking my hand back, trying to hide the ring from him, but¡­ "Give it to me,"he ordered as he gave me a dominant look. His eyes pierced mine, and I lost the control of my body as I raised my hands towards him. The Law with which I was bound stated that (Erina will follow all themands of Kira and will never do anything that harms Kira. Anymand given by Kira, she willply without any ill intentions.] I saw him moving towards me¡­ my hand was still raised in the air, waiting for him to take the ring out. And when he moved a couple of steps ahead¡­ Someone came in between us¡­ "You don''t force such a beautifuldy now, do you?" A familiar voice came as someone who should have been dead was once again standing in front of me. The hole in his chest was still there, yet he was standing without much problem¡­ no¡­ there was something different about him right now¡­ his¡­ My eyes widened up as I realized that his power levels¡­ were immeasurable now¡­ "How are you¡­ even alive?" Kira, shaken a little, looked at Michael with all seriousness in his eyes. He was still holding the dead heart of Michael in his hands. And Michael¡­ smiled widely as he spoke, "Is that the first thing you should say to someone whose heart you just stole?" Chapter 92 Its All Right. Really. Trust Me [Michael Aroa''s POV] . . A few moments earlier . . [You have Died!] [Initiating System Life Saving Protocol!] [Temporarily Force Unlocking Higher System Features!] [God Powers Unlocked] [Notice that it is a one-time feature and all the effects will have their own Side Effects on the user!] [The user can choose to use only one of the three God Powers] [God Power: Reverse Time] [Using the Cronal Energy of the Universe Itself, the user can reverse time to a previous state. Note that the user can only reverse time up to where he had the ability to manipte time. Note: Because the user is too weak to use the power, the Stats and Skills of the user will return to where they used to be.] I couldn''t see anything yet I could feel what the system screen had. There wasplete darkness around yet everything on the screen was as bright as day. It was hard to exin what I was experiencing, but it was like being in the light and darkness at the same time. Though that wasn''t important. What was important was that¡­ I had died¡­ or maybe I was supposed to. ''So there was an emergency protocol in case I died, huh?'' I thought as I saw the huge System screen in front of me. It was at least a hundred times more than me and honestly, it was kind of overwhelming to look at. It baffled me how much power the System held¡­ just where did ite from¡­ who was it that gave me this System? How much power did that being hold¡­ and how did he die in the end? ''Time Reverse?'' I pondered over it for a while¡­ Going back is more or less giving me another chance, though looking at the description, I could only go back till where I received the System. ''Other than not going to the Dungeon, what other choices do I have? But then, how am I gonna get my ss? ording to Erina, it was a stroke of luck that I found her¡­ or maybe bad luck in this case¡­ then what if it happens again?... They do say that fate brings us back to the same point no matter how many different paths we take¡­ and it''s the universe we are talking about¡­'' ? The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it would be really really okay to reverse time here? ''Let''s check out the other powers,'' I thought as I looked at the second God power. [God Power: Temporal Pause!] [Allows the user to pause time for others. All Stats will be stopped at the same points and there would never be any change in the System Status until the ability is used. Notice: Once the God Power is undone, it can''t be used for another 100 Days Notice: Since the user isn''t powerful enough, he can''t use this ability for more than 3 days continuously] ''Skip,'' I thought before moving to the next power. Why? Because it was an absurd thing to do¡­ Time Reverse was an even better option, in my opinion. I mean, it sure sounds nice to stop your opponent and try killing him for 10 days continuously but¡­ will I even be able to kill an opponent so strong? It''s more of a gamble, honestly. Let''s see thest power. If it''s anything like this one, might as well go with [Reverse Time]... [God Power: Time eleration] [Allows the user to elerate his own time, in the direction he wants, using the power of the Universe. Notice: Because the user is too weak, he can use this power for only 5 minutes. Notice: Because the user is too weak, after he uses the ability, his powers will return to his previous state.] "..." for a second I just looked at that power¡­ the third one¡­ To elerate my own time? My eyes just keep looking at it¡­ or was I even using my eyes here? Anyways¡­ A smile bloomed so wide on my face that my lips might have touched my ears if it were in the outer world. I could only observe the [God Power] over and over again¡­ Why? Because¡­ [You have chosen God Power: Time eleration] [The Power of a God lies at your will!] [Use it however you wish!] ''Thank you,'' I thanked the System before I found myself on myst leg again¡­ I was about to die as usual¡­ it was hurting all over my chest. My body has more or less died and it was just my brain that was barely alive. And then¡­ I began thinking¡­ Andmanding¡­ [elerating the evolution of the Motor Sensory Cortex of the Brain!] [elerating the evolution of Amygd!] [elerating the evolution of Gic Composition of the body!] [Finding an alternate source of the Circtory System!] [Evolving the blood vessels!] [Blood Vessels have now gained the power of autorhythmicity!] [Evolving the muscles..] [Evolving the nerves¡­] [Evolving the cartges¡­] [Differentiating the epidermal tissue¡­] [Evolving¡­] [De-differentiating¡­] [Evolving¡­] [Evolving¡­] 100s¡­ 1000s¡­ 10000s of messages flew all around me¡­ my body grew powerful every millisecond. The evolutions which would have taken billions of years were being done in a sh The first thing I evolved was my ability to think¡­ Then to store memory¡­ Then to grow¡­ Then to be able to handle the change¡­ And so on¡­ In the end¡­ My eyes opened up again¡­ I could still feel the breeze passing through my chest where that guy made a hole before ripping my heart out. Hmmm¡­ I should get my heart back first¡­ Even without my heart, my body has evolved enough to flow blood to all parts of my body without any problem¡­ but I guess having a heart will be better than not having one¡­ ''Hmmm¡­ what is he doing?'' I thought as I looked at him, almost going to take out the ring from Erina''s hand. And I moved¡­ the time slowed itself¡­ I wasn''t using any skill this time¡­ I was just this fast now¡­ Moving in front of him, I stopped, and the time started flowing normally again¡­ "You don''t force such a beautifuldy now, do you?" I smiled as I politely asked him. You won''t find someone as polite as me now, would you? "How are you¡­ even alive?" He asked as his eyes tried finding answers to that question. I just looked at his worried face with a slight satisfaction before speaking, "Is that the first thing you should say to someone whose heart you just stole?" Hearing my words, he looked in his hand at the dead heart which he had. -Squash! He crushed it immediately without any hesitation¡­ "Aw man! Now you crushed my heart into pieces. I''ll be taking it back," I spoke as I moved again, time slowed again. I tore his arm from his body and stepped back to my original position and time flowed normally as his eyes widened, wondering what had just happened. Taking out my crushed heart out of his clutches, I ced it in my chest again. My body began to grow out and take that heart in before [Found a dead organ!] [Converting the dead organ into nutrition!] [Evolving the chest area!] [De-differentiating the chest area!] [Creating a rhythmic core box!] [Redifferentiating the chest area!] . . And another 1000s of messages flew in a blink of an eye before my chest became normal again. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: ?????????????????? ss: ?????????????????? Level: 10 (79230/80000 Exp) Status: ?????????????????? Health Points: ??????????????????/?????????????????? Time Points: ??????????????/????????????????? Strength: ?????????????????? Constitution: ?????????????????? Dexterity: ?????????????????? Intelligence: ?????????????????? Wisdom: ?????????????????? Charisma: ??????????????????] "I guess¡­ Can we start fighting now?" A smile bloomed on my face as I looked at that guy¡­ Kira¡­ Chapter 93 What?! Come On, Man! I saw his arm growing back in an instant as he made a painful expression. A rapid regeneration ability perhaps? Then he turned at me with his eyes turning a bit reddish than usual before he spoke up, "Stand down!" I looked at him with a bit of confusion as I asked,"Why?" His eyes turned wide in shock as he looked at me with his eyes glowing deep red before he spoke in disbelief,"you¡­ you don''t have Cessation Energy inside you¡­ how is¡­ that possible?" There was slight fear in his eyes as he observed me. ''Hmmm¡­ Cessation Energy? Isn''t it the same thing that is¡­ what Caroline and the others have inside them and making them powerful? Does that mean¡­ if he wants to, he can control them?'' Aplex yet infuriating thought came into my mind¡­ Then, I saw himing towards me. Time slowed again¡­ He was running towards me before he tried punching me as hard as he could. Though¡­ I raised my hand, easily blocking his slow punch with my palm. It was as easy as stopping a paper now. As soon as I stopped his punch, the time began moving at its normal speed again. -Thud! He looked at me, holding his fist, in my hands while I looked at him with a smile. Each time I smiled at him, his expression turned even more serious than before¡­ I asked with a little chuckle,"now now. We can all discuss this peacefully, can''t we?" His guard went down a little as he just nkly looked at me before -Tear! I tore out his arm again without much difficulty as my expression changed. My warm and calm smile turned into a cold one as I spoke,"just¡­ kidding." It won''t be just foolish to let a man go who literally killed me just a few moments ago, it would be utter disgrace to the entirety of my existence. Sensing danger he took a step back while his eyes never left my gaze. Though¡­ time slowed again as my senses enhanced again and I walked towards him¡­ behind him as I touched his shoulders. ''About time I end this,'' I thought as I began crushing his shoulders. Time moved normally again as I tuned down my senses. "Come on now. Are you trying to leave here?" I spoke and he vanished immediately from there before -BOOM!!!! ''Huh? He teleported?'' A bit confused, I tried sensing him around¡­ I suddenly felt a slight itch behind me. Turning around, I saw him almost trying to attack me with a green coloured sword which was trying its best to pierce through my back¡­ "How did you do that?" I asked without much of a problem but hearing my carefree voice his eyes widened as he made a massive jump behind¡­ "[Lerteuaim Mislema Pikemfa Uau]" he said before¡­ -BOOOOM!!!!!!!! The space around him began to reverberate and I could feel the ground shaking a little as well¡­ His eyes turned as deep red as possible¡­ there was a glow in them that felt a bit blinding. ''I would be fine but¡­'' I turned to Erina and she was having a hard time breathing so I moved to her, stood in front of her as I spoke, "How long can you keep up?" She didn''t look at me but I could hear her words,"about 3 minutes¡­ with all my powers¡­" I nodded with slight relief before speaking,"then use half of your powers¡­ keep the half for escaping this ce. I won''t be able to help you outpletely¡­ but I will¡­" I turned to look at the white skinned, 6 winged, two horned, red eyed Demon like Zombie¡­. Kira. ''Is that his real form?'' I thought as I gazed at him with a deep look. Speaking to Erina,"I will kill that bastard for you," I then moved a few steps towards that guy. I peeked back a little to see Erina slightly speaking a chant to heal herself before I concentrated on that guy as he was taking out his sword¡­ -BOOM!!! In a single jump, I reached in front of him as time was still slowed¡­ though, before I could reach him, I saw him moving faster than usual¡­ -sh! -sh! -sh! I saw him shing my arms and legs off my body while I barely dodged his attacks¡­ [Dedifferentiating lower limb] [Regrowing lower limb cells] [Conducting a path way for redefferintinaoi] [Redifferentiating lower limb cells] [Converting them into tissues!] [Making them more schematic!] [Rearranging the tissues back to their most suitable form!] [Dedifferentiating upper left limb!] [Regrowing¡­.] [Conducting¡­] . . Another barrage of messages followed in front of me before my arms and legs healed in an instant. The very next second I saw his swording at my neck which I once again dodged with my advanced reflex¡­ I tried moving for a punch but¡­ I saw him dodging it swiftly again and moving for another attack. -sh! Once again he managed to slice my hand off¡­. Once again I regrew it before moving towards him¡­ "You are just someone who outgrew his physical powers," I heard him as he shed me again¡­ and again¡­ with every sh he seeded, he was getting closer to my vitals¡­ "In front of pure skills¡­ you are still nothing¡­" he spoke as he kept attacking me over and over¡­ Though as soon as he reached closer to my neck¡­ "I¡­ do have some skills," I muttered with a slight smile while I observed him¡­ his eyes shook a little¡­ they grew a little more cautious¡­ [Return!] I reached exactly behind him¡­ at the right point, in the right moment¡­ and¡­ -BOOOOOOOM!!!!!! I punched him with all my strength at once¡­ I saw him falling down as his bodypletely disintegrated¡­ But I still haven''t received any message that he has been defeated yet¡­ ''He is-'' I was about to think but I sensed him behind me¡­ [Invincibility Potion taken] -nk! I saw his sword shing me from 18 different directions but in the end¡­ it stopped at my neck¡­ unable to pierce my skin¡­ even a bit¡­ My eyes widened a little as I wondered about the source of this [Potion] while his eyes widened as he looked at me¡­ he was scared¡­ once again¡­ Then his eyes grew even more red and his white jade like skin turned dark¡­ with a strange tattoo covering all his body. And once again he attacked me with all his force¡­ -nk!!! [The power of attack is too muchpared to what the Invincibility Potion can take!] [The Invincibility Potion''s effect has been nullified!] I received the message, but the attack still failed to pierce my skin¡­ perhaps the attack was equal to defense?... his sword was still there as I just smiled at Kira who was scared shitless for a few moments as his eyes turned even redder before a green hue came into them¡­ "This is the best I can do¡­ if I can''t even kill you with this much¡­ then I don''t deserve to live after this¡­" he spoke as a maddening cry echoed from his mouth and the entire space¡­. It started distorting¡­ "AAAAAAAA!!!!" He shouted as the whole ce began falling. ''Well¡­ seems like it''s about time I gave my all as well¡­'' My eyes turned green as I looked at him¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Multidimensional Vision)] It was about time to finish this whole dungeon thing¡­ Chapter 94 Michael V/S Kira His powers have increased, and so has his speed. At first it was easy to see him, but then¡­ his speed increased even more¡­ ''He is elerating,'' I thought as I tried tracing him around and when it seemed impossible to do it¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used the power of the future, along with the power to see multiple timelines at once. Surely it would have had an effect on me and I might have died every time I was going to use it, but¡­ that was when I was weaker back then¡­ not in this form. I concentrated as I saw about a thousand timelines where I had died many times over. In many of the timelines, I dodged and continued fighting and in many¡­ I seeded in counter attacking him. Sadly, not a single timeline had a result where I had defeated him in one go. Not a single one where I had ovee itpletely¡­ so this is the level of the enemy I was going to face in this dungeon, huh? ''Wasn''t it a bit too overkill?'' I thought as I wondered how unbnced this whole dungeon was¡­ or maybe I was just unlucky? I then waited for his attack, which was going toe from behind¡­ And propelled myself a bit forward in the air¡­ -sh! He attacked and missed me¡­ for a brief moment I saw his eyes widened a little before he vanished again. While he missed the first shot, he was going to make another in the same moment, at the same ce¡­ at least that''s what the foresight told me¡­ Then¡­ [Return!] I activated my ability and vanished before appearing behind him and attacking him fro. his back as hard as I could¡­ -BOOOM!!!! I saw him falling to the ground with a broken chest. Though he started healing at an insane speed not even a moment after. Not wasting any moment, I moved towards him with all my abilities activated. He was fast¡­ I saw him standing up again, once again facing me with a concentrated face¡­ all before I could reach him. I reached about 10 meters away from him and was about to strike him as hard as I could¡­ but he smiled as he prepared his sword and then¡­. I couldn''t even see any change in his position¡­ "Too slow," he chuckled as he prepared for his attack Though¡­ from the corner of my lips¡­ a smile escaped as¡­ "Sorry for the inconvenience,'''' I replied¡­ [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I slowed the time 100 times before I reached closer to him within moments¡­ and¡­ -BOOOOM!!!! I punched him again as hard as I could¡­ before he could realize anything, he was thrown to the ground¡­ and once again I punched him¡­ -BOOOM!!! But he vanished¡­ my eyes opened wide a little as I recalled he did use something like this before as well¡­ ''Teleportation, huh?'' I thought as I looked around, trying to find him. He was in the air at a distance not too far from me¡­ about 10 to 20 meters away from me. ''But it''s too short a distance to teleport to¡­ is his skill limited to a short range?'' I thought as I observed him making another move. Once again, not wasting any time, I jumped at him, using all my strength. With utmost concentration in his eyes, he looked at me, and as soon as I reached closer to him, he vanished again. Through the foresight, I saw an attack that came from behind me, and using all my energy, I dodged it swiftly before going for an attack again. Once again, using his ability, he dodged and moved for a counterattack from a position which was really hard to dodge. I could only look at him before a sh urred, severing my arm from my body¡­ Even with all my foresight and multidimensional timeline, I still couldn''t dodge his attack. Calling him skilled would be a grave understatement at this point. I felt like I was fighting a God of Sword Skills or something¡­ I don''t think I can defeat him with only this much power. So¡­ [Skill Enhancement Potion] used on [Temporal Deceleration(Umon)] [Temporal Deceleration(Umon)] Upgraded to [Temporal Deceleration(Rare)] [Temporal Decrleration (Rare)(Level: Max)] [Effects: Allows the user to slow down time as much as the user wants[Max 99%] Cost: Depends upon the usage. Max 250TP/sec to Min 50TP/sec] Time slowed again. A smile formed on my face as I looked at that guy. His eyes widened as he saw me¡­ his eyes were shaking a little¡­ questioning what he was witnessing. There was too much confusion in his eyes, but then something changed. The fear vanished and a sense of tranquility appeared on his face. I then saw him smiling a little¡­ it wasn''t a smile of victory, no¡­ but more like a smile of defeat¡­ like he has given up¡­ ''What is he up to?'' I questioned for a brief movement before I decided to put it at the back of my mind. Not caring much¡­ I started attacking him as much as I could¡­ Even though it looked like he had given up, he still teleported a few meters back as he dodged my attack, but this time I was much faster than before¡­ I reached towards him almost in an instant and¡­ -BOOOOM!!!! I hit him but¡­ right after I hit him I saw him teleporting a few meters ahead once again¡­ and once again I reached closer to him¡­ -BOOOM!!! He teleported behind me. With his half broken body he tried to attack me, giving his all, despite his face looking like he had no hope of winning. ''Even you know it''s futile,'' I sighed before turning around rapidly and -BOOOM!!!! From the moment he killed me¡­ or maybe even before that. I guess it was from the point that I realized that he had enved Erina¡­ I wasn''t going to let him live¡­ It''s not like Erina meant much to me¡­ but a being that could scare a girl like Erina that much¡­ I don''t think it''s worth letting a person like him live¡­ much less talking to him¡­ -BOOOM! -BOOOM!! -BOOOM!! -BOOOM!!! I kept punching him over and over and over¡­ I didn''t know how many times I had punched.. I had no idea how many times I saw him teleport¡­ He was losing health¡­ or was he? Even now I can''t see his health at all¡­ My [Inspect!] skill was too low level for his stats or mine. All I could do was hope that I could kill this guy before the time runs out¡­ And with that hope¡­ I punched harder¡­ faster¡­ much more thoroughly¡­. With each punch, I was getting desperate¡­ ''Why isn''t he dying?'' I was scared¡­ I didn''t have much time either¡­ [45 Seconds] That''s how much time I have before my ability runs out and all this bes worthless¡­ I needed to finish this quickly¡­ -BOOOM!!! -BOOOOM!!! -BOOOOM!!! Sadly all I had was my physical strength ¡­. And even with all this power it didn''t seem like it was helping¡­ it didn''t seem like I was winning¡­ He was mashed like a boiled potato yet there was no message from the System that he was dead. And after nothing worked¡­ [Differentiation body ] [Gic forced mutation activating] [Ability to absorb foreign body particles received] [Ability¡­] Once again a thousand notifications ran in front of me as I raised my hand towards that fleshy mud that had formed in front of me¡­ ''Absorb!'' Imanded fully knowing that it was going to harm my body¡­ however before I could even touch anything¡­ [Kira has forcefully killed himself!] ''Huh?'' I saw that message as I looked at that fleshy mud in front of me vanishing into thin air¡­ And then¡­ [0 seconds] ''Huh?'' [Your body will now return to its previous state] ''No¡­ Wait!'' My eyes widened as I realized what it meant¡­ [The host is in a critical condition!] And just like a shell that wasn''t a part of my body, my exterior fell down into pieces leaving my old body behind¡­ with a hole in the chest¡­ "[GREATER BLESSING OF THE LIFE GODDESS]!!!!!" I heard a scream as I saw a green lighting at me at a rapid speed¡­ and enveloping me from all sides¡­ [All healing regenerative abilities have been enhanced by +10000%] [Received +50000 HP] I saw those messages¡­ before my vision faded into darkness¡­ [Host''s Health has returned to normal!] [Congrattions for Completing the Dungeon!] [Calcting the Grade!] [Calctions finished!] [Grade: Beyond SSSS] [The following Rewards will be given now¡­] Chapter 95 Things Arent Always As They Seem [Erina El Leliana''s POV] . . I saw him fighting at a speed that my eyes couldn''t even trace. ''Was he this powerful all along?'' I questioned as I triedprehending the distinction between his previous self and current self. In a sh, the fight started¡­ and in a sh¡­ [Your Master has changed from (Kira The Sword Keeper) to (Michael Aroa)] I saw that strange message out of nowhere¡­ It all happened in a sh and before my mind could process anything, another message flew in front of me. [All your powers bound by the Laws have been unlocked!] ''Huh?'' I saw that message as I realized what it meant. Yet, the messages didn''t end there¡­ [Your Master (Michael Aroa)''s health is in critical condition he-] Before the message could evenplete, I used all my powers at once and shouted, "[GREATER BLESSING OF THE LIFE GODDESS]!!!!!" It was my most powerful spell that I learned as the Princess of the Fairies¡­ but it didn''t just end there¡­ "[Reverberation]!!!!" I chanted as I once again shouted in the direction where Michael was. [You Master (Michael Aroa)''s health has been restored to normal!] "[Connection]!" I shouted again as I looked at him, slowly vanishing at a distance from my view. His body was healed, yet it was breaking. ''Is he dying? No¡­ if he was¡­ the strange messages would have told me¡­ but,'' I jumped towards the ce where Michael was. There was no trace of Kira around as far as I can see. Michael has almost vanished and I could see a shocked and confused expression on his face as he finally vanished from my sight. I tried using a couple of spells on him¡­ but it didn''t stop the process which was taking ce. Though¡­ I could still feel the connection between him and me¡­ he was still alive. ''Maybe he returned back to his real world?'' I questioned as I looked round at the red sky. There was a strange red aroma spread all around this ce. "Well¡­ if he is safe¡­" A bright smile formed on my face. Not only because Michael was alive¡­ not only because he has freed me from the clutches of Kira¡­ but¡­ "Looks like there is still hope left," I mumbled with a hopeful face as I realized that the fairnd could still be saved. There was still hope. "Man! That guy was a freak! Just where did you find him?" I heard a voice as my heart skipped a beat before I turned around to see a young man standing, wiping the dirt off his clothes. "You are back, huh?¡­ what will you do now?" I asked, as I looked at Kira. The guy who should have been dead by now¡­ "Hmmmm¡­ where does that conf-" and finally he realized¡­ that his powers over me no longer work. He was no longer my master. The Laws stated that I cannot sustain my life without a master and there is only one way to change my master, that is to fulfill the two conditions. One was that the other person should be able to defeat my current master, and the other was¡­ "You¡­ Him? You gave him permission¡­ no¡­ that actually makes sense¡­ of course you will change your master¡­ but¡­ Oi! Erina! What will you answer to ''Him?'' "He spoke as he looked at me with a scared look and upon hearing those words¡­ my eyes shook again¡­ What I had always been afraid of wasn''t Kira¡­ but the one who was controlling everything behind the scenes. The one who is the mastermind behind everything¡­ Kira¡­ is nothing but a pawn for him¡­ "We will wait¡­ we will wait till my master gets strong¡­ How long can you stall for time?" I asked Kira, and he was baffled even more. He observed me and asked, "You aren''t going to¡­ kill me?" "You are immortal. How can I kill someone blessed by the Universe?" I asked with a cold smile and he gulped,"you do know¡­ that''s not what I meant, right?" Kira was blessed by the Universe where his gift was that he can never be killed no matter how much anyone hurts him. Though, ''He'' found another way to catch Kira. He made him his general and ve, bound him with spells that forbade Kira to even breathe without asking permission from him. Everything he does is because he has been forced to do¡­ and also because¡­ I sighed before closing my eyes¡­ and speaking,"if it weren''t for you, the entire World of Fairies might have vanished, brother. Even though you betrayed the entire race, I kind of know why you did that. Though¡­" a smile formed on my face as I looked at him,"looks like you too have gained something from this fight." Yeah¡­ Kira is my brother or, to be more precise¡­ my younger brother. He observed me for a few seconds before his expression turned serious,"you saw that, huh?" "Still, what are we going to tell ''Him''? How long are we gonna stall for time?" he asked again, and I pondered over it for some time. "Let''s go to the World of Fairies first. We shall take back a few things that are rightfully ours. We will stall for time as much as we can¡­ until my masteres for me," I spoke as I turned to my left and "[LIterani]" I muttered before a strange portal opened up in front of me. A portal that will take us back to the Fairy World¡­ or the former Fairy World, Erewhon. Free from the clutches of Kira, or more honestly, ''Him'', I could now use all my powers to its full potential. And unlike Kira, who was always around me, ''He'' wouldn''t even know about my freedom unless I got too close to him, which is in all rationality, highly unlikely. "But¡­ are you sure we can put our hopes in him? I mean, even all the envoys before that have died at ''His'' hands no matter how strong they came and even though he was all powerful¡­ can he really take on ''Him''?" A doubtful voice came from behind, and I sighed before speaking, "Do you know whose envoy he was?" He looked at me for a few seconds before he pondered as he spoke,"Yeah¡­ I kind of have a general idea¡­ or more like there is only one God that fits the right picture here." I turned my head back to my brother, and we both spoke in unison "The Envoy of Cronos." "The Envoy of Cronos." My brother and I had a keen understanding of each other. We didn''t need words to exactly understand what was going on in each other''s minds. You can even say that we can read each other''s minds without much of a problem. That''s the whole reason he and I survived till the very end despite 90% of our entire race being wiped out from the by the Apocalypse. Without him¡­ or without me, none of us had survived this long, perhaps even died during the beginning. "Man! I can see why you think so highly of him¡­ but I don''t think after pulling another string, we will be able to survive any longer. If ''He'' gets the wind of what we are doing, there will be no escaping. You might die without much problem but I¡­" he spoke as a chill ran down his spine. "Better than living like this, brother. Much better," I spoke before I moved into the portal and Kira followed behind me. It was finally time to prepare for something that I have been waiting for ages now. Chapter 96 Rewards [Congrattions on Completing the Dungeon!] [Calcting the Grade!] [Floor 1 Grade: SSS] [Floor 2 Grade: SSS] [Floor 3 Grade: SSS] . . . [Floor 68 Grade: Beyond SSSS] [Floor 69 Grade: Beyond SSSS] [Floor 70 Grade: Beyond SSSS] [Time taken to clear the Dungeon: 39 Minutes 12 Seconds] [Grade: Beyond SSSS] [Total Dungeon Points Calcting!] [Calctions done! Final points received!] [Total Dungeon Points: 19,029,392,093] [Grade: Beyond SSSS] [Found additional Quests!] [Calcting the Grading of each Quests!] [Grade: Beyond SSSS] . . . [Calctions finished!] [Grade: Beyond SSSS] [The following Rewards will be given now!] [Three Items of the user''s choice will be given to the user to take with him!] [Noticing that the user is unconscious!] [Choosing the best items for the user!] [The following items have been chosen!] [Yellow Leaf of Yggdrasil] [Colors of the Golden Rainbow(Crossbow)] [Scroll of Necromancy!] [Noticing that the user has a ss Quest in corrtion with Dungeon!] [Finding the avable sses for the user!] [1. Zombie Hunter] [2. Cronos Knight] [3. Clubman!] . . [47. True Human] . [Because of the user''s exceeding performance, granting him two sses instead of one!] [Noticing the user is unconscious!] [Choosing the most optimal sses!] [ss 1 Chosen: Cronos Knight!] [ss 2 Chosen: True Human!] [Because of the exceeding performance of the user, the sses have been evolved to their Final Forms!] [ss Cronos Knight -> Envoy of Cronos] [ss True Human -> Demi-God Human] [Noticing that there is an additional ''Gift'' the user received from within the Dungeon!] [Skill: Call of the Fairies(Rare) have been obtained!] [Upgrading the Skill!] [Skill: Call of the Fairies(Rare) has been evolved to a Unique Skill!] [Noticing that the user had killed a being beyond his capabilities!] [Title: God yer obtained!] [Noticing there are other Titles the user has!] [Using Dungeon Points tobine all the Titles!] [Title: God yer has been upgraded to Title God Hunter!] [Noticing that the user has still left over points!] [Using the points to upgrade the user''s Skills!] [Skill Return(Rare) has been upgraded to Return(Rare+)] [Skill Time Flow(Rare) has been upgraded to Time Flow(Rare+)] [Skill Time Storage(Common) has been upgraded to Time Storage(Rare)] [All rewards have been given!] [Dungeon of Libra is now avable for purchase in the Shop!] [An additional Reward is being delivered to the user by the Universe!] [God Power: Time Shatter will now be unlocked along with the other God Powers when the user reaches Level 100] ...... [Michael Aroa''s POV:] "Ah!" my eyes opened as I tried looking around¡­ for a few seconds I was confused¡­ ''Where am I?... Who am I?... Ah!'' A slight pain itched my brain as I recalled what happened in the dungeon. Then a piercing pain followed as all the memories started flooding my brain¡­ "Aaaaa!!!" I tried holding it down for a few seconds before it slowly went down as I recalled everything crystal clear. I was fighting against Kira and I won¡­ I was about to die, but a certain spell saved me¡­ "Erina.." I muttered as I recalled her face¡­ I hope she is doing fine now. ''Hmmm..'' I looked around to find myself back in the basement of the Libra building. Guess I was teleported back to this ce after I hadpleted the dun..geon? My eyes opened wide as I realized what that meant and immediately I turned to the System screen before¡­ "Huh?... HUH?!!!! WHAT THE!!!!" I almost cursed as I covered my mouth looking at that System screen¡­ just what the heck happened while I was unconscious? [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God Level: 10 (79230/80000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75) Constitution: 15(+75) Dexterity: 15(+75) Intelligence: 15(+75) Wisdom: 14(+69) Charisma: 13(+63) Stat Points: 0 Total Cronas: 5710 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] [Skills] [Quests] [Store] [God Powers]* [???]* (??????)*] I couldn''t believe my eyes as I observed my Stats. Where were all those plus pointsing from? Starting from my Title¡­ ''God¡­ Hunter?'' [God Hunter] [The Title has the following effects: (1) When the user is fighting against an enemy: All Stats +100% (2) When the user fights an enemy more than 2 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +200% (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400% (4) When the user fights an enemy more than 10 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +900% (5) Regeneration ability of user increased by +200% under idle conditions (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (7) Anyone working under the user will have their Stats doubled as long as they are within 5000m radius of the user (8) All of user''s Stat will increase by +1 for every member who follows him with at least 70% trust] "..." for a second I felt like I was dreaming¡­ What''s with this Godly title? Are the heavens blessing me or something? ''Don''t wake me up if it is a dream,'' I gulped as I went through the title description over and over. Though these weren''t enough to raise my Stats to where they were¡­ ''ss!!!'' I realized that I have a ss now¡­ or two sses? Huh? Was that possible?! [ss: Envoy of Cronos] [All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)] [ss: Human Demi-God All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All Stats be 5 times] ''Ummm¡­ all.. right,'' I just nkly kept looking at those sses¡­ Does that mean that I won''t need to worry about Time Points at all now? And most importantly¡­ "Mythical Skill?!" I blurted out in a stupor as I looked at the description of the ss [Envoy of Cronos] My eyes scrolled down the System into the Skills section, where I found a couple of things that really baffled me over and over¡­ [Skills] [Mythical(1)] [Unique(3)] [Rare+(2)] [Rare(1)] [Umon(2)] [Common(1)] [Special(2)] Chapter 97 Rewards#2 [Mythical Skills] [Envoy of Cronus(Mythical)] [Bing the Envoy of the God of Time, you have been chosen as the Champion of Cronus. You have been granted the following abilities. Use it at your discretion and hail the name of Cronus in all the worlds. Consumes all of your energy to use this ability. When this ability is activated, the following effects will take ce: (1) The user can stop time for anything he desires for 1 minute. (2) During that one minute all Skills will be free of cost. (3) The user will gain limited ess to a random God Power for that 1 minute. (4) After the 1 minute is over, the following effect will take ce- ~For the next 24 hours, the user will earn 5 times Cronas than normal ~For the next 24 hours, the user''s Stat will be doubled ~For the next 24 hours the user can use all his abilities without any limitations (5) After the 24 hour period is over. The effects will still be functioning for another 7 days but their power will be reduced by 80% Limitations: The skill can be used once every 30 days] I looked at theplete description of the Skill and found it to be simr to what the System gave me in the end. Although there were a couple of things different, like ''limited ess to God Power'' and the aftereffects of the ability, overall the ability was good. ''Though it''s honestly an overkill given how weak the Zombies in the outer world are... I don''t think I will have any problem until an A-Grade Zombie or above appears,'' I thought as I realized that I have really be too powerful now. ''Now to the [Unique Skills],'' I thought as I scrolled a bit more down, [Unique Skills] [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Unique) (Level 9)] [Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 4 sec into the future. Cost: 0TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 120s. Cost: 0TP 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once Cost: 0TP Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 50] ''Hmmm, now that I think about it, this one never had a grade until now... was it a [Unique Skill] from the start? Would actually make sense if it was,'' I thought as I saw that the cost of the ability has been reduced to 0. Must be the effect of ss [Envoy of Cronos] Onto the next ability, [I am God(Unique)] [Consumes all your Health Points to provide invincibility for 60 seconds. Can be used once every 24 hours. After the effect is gone. The Stats will increase by 50% for the next 3 hours or until the user gains hisplete Health back. Limitations: Can be used only at 100% Health] ''This one seems like an invincibility potion with some limitations and after effects,'' I thought as I nodded at myself. It was a good ability to start a fight strong. What else do we have now... [Call of the Fairies(Unique)] [The World of the Fairies is dying but the Fairies themselves have taken refuge in variouss. In return for saving the Queen of Fairies, Erina, the Fairies have granted you their blessing. Summon the Fairies to your aid to use the powers of nature for a limited time. Effect: Allows the user to use a random Natural Element for 10 mins Limitations: Can be used only once in every 15 Days] ''Erina, huh?'' I thought as I recalled thatst spell cast on me... I really hope she is doing fine. My eyes closed as I recalled the talk which I had with her and a small smile formed on my face. ''If she can cast thatst spell... I should at least believe that she can survive on her own. Though I wonder if I can meet her again?'' I thought as I then moved on to see the other changes in the System. [Rare+ Skills] [Return (Level 1) (Rare+) Effect(1): Allows the user to save 2 points in the present time and return to that position using Time Points. Effect(2): Allows the user to take back any object around him that he had held for more than 30 minutes. Limit: The density of the user should not be more than the object ced at that point where the user wants to return. Cost: Distance in meters/10 TP Skill Points required to upgrade: 5] [Time Flow(Rare+)(Level 3)] [Allows the user to generate 90 Time Points per sec. Requirements: None Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 30] Nothing that much of a major change... just that I could utilize it much better than before. Nice. ''Though I won''t need Time Flow as much now? Only for those abilities which aren''t directly rted to time, I guess,'' I thought as I moved lower into the Skill section... [Time Storage(Rare)(Level 5)] [Allows the user to store 50 objects in a multidimensional time frozen space Restrictions: The object must be non-living. The object''s weight will be ced upon the user. Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] ''Oh nice! So as long as I can bear the weight, I can take 50 items, huh? Good!'' The others were [Temporal Deceleration] [Inspect] [Copy] [Skill Fusion] [Advanced Time Maniption] which didn''t have any changes. They were the same as before. I wiped my sweat as I realized that I have suddenly be way too powerful. Kind of overwhelming, to be honest. I guess it will take sometime to get used to all the changes. "Hmmm... am I forgetting something?" I questioned as I tried to rack my brains since I felt like I was forgetting something really important.... "AH! The 3 rewards from the Dungeon... man... did I... oh!" I thought of something before moving to the [Dungeon Options] where I found another section [Dungeon Rewards] Clicking on it, I found three Rewards which were there... Perhaps the System chose them by itself since I was unconscious? Well, Can''t say that I am not satisfied with this. [Yellow Leaf of Yggdrasil] [Colors of the Golden Rainbow(Crossbow)] [Scroll of Necromancy!] ...... Author''s note: Enjoyed the chap? Well, I kind of made our MC too overpowered here. Though it''s still fine because I haven''t made him powerful enough to deal with anyone above an A-Grade, whether it''s Human or Zombie. Also, there will be Nighwalkers and Nightcrawlers whose powers I haven''t revealed yet and a bit more surprises in the future. I kind of revealed the ''The big things going on in the background'' here with a sneak peek to the end powers and the final direction of this novel. It was a brief intro and the real thing will kind of start a bitter, so we need to wait for that. The next volume will be a light read or more like, if until now things were ''Weak to Strong'' now it will be ''Overpowered''. At least for the next volume. It was a short and quick volume which I hope you guys enjoyed and the next one will be based on Adventure + Kingdom Building, along with face pping, establishment, strategies and other stuff. Sometimes I will hide the MC''s power and other times I will show it fully, so don''tin about that. Ah! I will introduce 2 more heroines in the next volume. And of course there will be *wink* In any case, happy reading. See you in thetest chapters. [Volume 2: Dungeon, Zombies and A Fairy][Finished] [Volume 3: You didn''t mess with my Family, did you?][Next] Chapter 98 10 Days [Volume 3: You didn''t mess with my family, did you?] . . [Amoury Sanders White''s POV:-] . . It has been 10 days since Michael went off on his own. ording to Caroline, it will take about 2 weeks for him to return at max¡­ at least that''s what Michael had told her. I have my doubts that he had just ditched us here out of nowhere, but since it''s just a matter of two weeks, I decided to stay and wait for him. After all, I don''t really have anywhere else to go, either. During the past 10 days, we didn''t stay idle. Most of us absorbed the cores given by Michael and George, who had be really strong ever since Michael helped him; he has been doing a great job of keeping the zombies at bay. It wasn''t all that we did in the past 10 days, though. Along with killing the zombies and trying to figure out a way to grow nts on the terrace, we also cleared the area around the building, built a bit of barricade and collected food and arms from nearby shops. There was a sports shop nearby and about 2 dozen baseball bats, along with another batch of 20 hockey sticks, were found there. It was a nice touch to our already depleting armory, but honestly, even this won''tst long enough. We also tried some makeshift equipment, while I helped the youngsters, guiding them about military ways of making equipment from scratch. Since we were running out of our stock, I suggested that some of us move around the city and try scouring some more profitable areas like police stations or malls and to see if we can get something there. Yesterday, Alex and I were the ones who went outside, and we did find a mini mall of sorts not too far from here which looked really infested with zombies. While the zombies were bad news, it was also good news, since the chances of that ce being raided already were really low. Today I stood back and let Caroline and Alex go together to scour the area around that mini mart, trying to find anything peculiar that should be in our consideration in case we needed to raid that mini mart. Alex went again because of his high senses, he should be able to detect any strong zombies around and warn us beforehand while Caroline went with him because she was the strongest among us physical attribute wise. Though shecked some skills, she was a fairly strong fighter. It was another normal day as zombies came in hordes towards us. Though the number of hordes decreased to 1-2 every 2-3 days, which gave us a sort of breather. "Their number is about 30-35 and there are 3 strong ones among them,"one of the guys with binocrs said, as he looked at the iing horde of the day. Other than Alex, whose senses were developed really high, we got two more people who can more or less pinpoint strong zombies. Though unlike Alex, who can literally differentiate between which zombie has a core and which one doesn''t, these guys could only barely gauge the difference between strong and weak zombies. ''The cores are really something though,'' I thought as I saw how much of a difference it produced between those who cultivated with cores and those who didn''t. But anyway, since we got many strong members, now it was all good. "Prepare the traps. Let''s start with tactic 2, today," I shouted, and they listened to me as they began hustling. Though I can see theck of interest in a few people''s faces. These were the ones who grew a bit more stronger than the others and started considering themselves as special. "I do hope Michaeles back strong or else one day we might have a power struggle for the leader," I muttered slowly as I too prepared for the battle. The zombies came and some of them fell in the ground traps weid while others were caught in the we threw. It didn''t do anything to the stronger zombies, but to the weaker ones, it did separate them apart. -Whoosh! I ran using the strange energy that was present inside me and reaching closer to one of the stronger zombies, who was crawling towards us. -Pow! I first punched it from below. It did take some extra energy to do it, but it was fine overall. I saw that guy flying in the air and using the hockey stick in my hand -BOOOM!!! I hit it at its weak point, pushing it away from me. I saw it standing up again, but this time it was having a bit of difficulty crawling. Still, it crawled towards me with uneven steps and yet again¡­ -BOOM!!! I hit it at its weakest point, finally rendering it motionless. I turned around to see that the other zombies had already been killed, more or less by the people here. Out of 30 zombies, half were trapped, 12 were easily killed by the youngsters, while the two stronger ones other than the one I killed were trapped and killed together by thebined efforts of the people here. "Good work, everyone," one of them shouted as he smiled brightly before moving to search for the zombie cores. Watching him move, the others also started running around, trying to find the zombie cores. While we did fight together, there was an unspoken rule established among the people here. The one who will find the zombie core will be the one keeping it. It was a simple but workable rule that everybody agreed upon. ''Though, the ones who are stronger are generally getting more cores than the others¡­'' I thought as I saw it with my own two eyes. It''s like they have figured out which zombie would have more probability of having a core. A hierarchy of sorts has started building up too. I kind of wonder what Michael would do in this situation. Well, whatever he does is up to him. All I have to do is to make sure he keeps his promise in return for mine. After cleaning the zombies and throwing them outside where we burned them at a distance as usual, we moved back into the Libra building area. However, as we were moving towards the main building, I found someoneing out of the basement area. It was a familiar face. One that I¡­ or perhaps most of us, have been waiting for. ''Though, why is heing out from the basement?'' I questioned as I moved towards him. The others, noticing me moving in another direction, looked there as well before a sudden smile appeared on their faces. "Sir Michael!!" one of them shouted as we all went towards Michael, who was moving towards us with a warm smile as he waved his hand at us. Though¡­ My eyes widened as I sensed something from him¡­ "Monster," I muttered under my breath silently as I gauged the difference between the previous him and the current him. I could only gulp as I look at the current Michael and wonder what happened in thest 10 days. As a military man, I can more or less tell how strong a person is just by looking at them and I can tell that he, Michael Aroa, is beyond anything I have seen in my entire life. "How are you doing, White? And¡­ Can you tell me how long I have been away for?" he asked as he looked at me with a slightly awkward smile. Chapter 99 A Familiar Face [Michael Aroa''s POV] . . While I kept checking through the System a few more times, trying to see if this was all there was or did I miss something? Though, still not finding anything at all, I finally sighed before a question popped in my mind, ''What did it mean by ''side effects'' ?'' I questioned as I recalled that there was a side effect of using the God Powers despite being weak. But looking at the System, I couldn''t find anything like that. "Let''s just hope it doesn''te biting me in the backter," I thought as I observed the System once more before moving out of the basement. Moving out, I noticed that it was morning as the sun was shining brightly, but it still didn''t reach the top. My eyes then noticed White and the others moving towards the building. By the look on their faces, it seemed like things were still going nice. I wonder what Caroline is doing right now. I then moved towards them as they looking at me shouted,"Sir Michael!!" I chuckled as I waved at them before I saw White looking at me with a concentrated gaze. Not minding him much, I then asked, "How are you doing, White? And¡­ Can you tell me how long I have been away for?" There was an awkward look on my face as I knew how odd it sounded, but without any visible reaction on his face he answered,"10 Days." I sighed in relief as it was only 10 days and not more than 2 weeks. All this time, the difference between different nes might make things difficult for me someday. Though 10 days here but merely an hour in a dungeon? The thought of what would have happened if I had stayed for more than a day in the dungeon kind of scared me¡­. But then another thought came into my mind. ''Maybe I was unconscious for a long time?'' I thought as I realized that there could have been a reason for me to be sote to arrive here. Though I put it at the back of my mind, not that I have any way to find about it, anyway. "Is Caroline up?" I asked as I observed White and he then looked at me for a few moments before he began speaking. He exined to me what had happened in the past few days and everything that they have been through. Hearing him, I turned quiet for a few moments before I sighed as I stretched a little and spoke, "Well, I guess you had your reasons. Though, can you tell me the direction where they went? I think it''s a nice time for a walk." White looked at me for a few seconds before he sighed and spoke,"when will you be returning?" "By the evening," I smiled as I understood where his question wasing from. He probably had thought I might have ditched him and right after I came back, once again I am going out. "Well, I guess I was going to wait for 4 days, anyway. Another half day won''t change anything,"he spoke as he gave a long sigh before he said, "Near the bus station about 3 kilometers in that direction you will see a small mini mart. It''s ''VAGUS'' market. The sign is in big red colors, so you will know it as soon as you reach there." I nodded before asking,"where is George by the way?" I knew Alex and Caroline went out, but White didn''t mention anything about George. "He is clearing a few zombies behind the building," White said, and I pondered a little before speaking,"all right. I will be leaving now. See you in the evening¡­ that being said, can you find a way tomunicate between us in case we went too far away?" White nodded,"already working on it. There are a few ideas, but honestly there is not much scope. Still, if we can somehow use antennas to create awork, maybe things will work." I pondered over it before nodding at him,"sure. I will leave theplicated stuff to you." Before leaving, I took a look at everyone among us and found a few people a bit stronger than the others. I smiled as Imented,"you guys sure are improving faster. Well, try not to overdo it. Sometimes the energy will consume you faster than you can think." Then, under the fixed gazes of everyone, I walked out of the area and looked around before moving in a full circle around the building, where I found George fishing a few zombies and killing them slowly. He was attracting zombies towards him before trapping them in obstacles and killing them. "Use this," I shouted as I threw my club in the air towards him. [ck Club of the Doomsday Survivor (Umon)] [One of the best blunt weapons that any survivor would like to carry. It has a high durability and strength and allows the user to kill anything with a couple of hits. Special Effects: +10 Strength ATK: 70 :: Durability: 500/500] After it lost its effects from the dungeon, there wasn''t much use left of it. George would probably benefit more from it than I would. Plus, it will increase the safety of the people in Libra. George caught the club with a bit of surprise in his eyes before a bright smile appeared on his face. I waved at him before asking,"do you need any assistance?" at which he shook his head and spoke,"It''s fine, Sir Michael. Caroline and Alex went that way. They left in the morning. You should check on them first." I nodded at him with a smile before turning around as I spoke loudly,"see you in the evening George." and he too shouted,"see youter, Sir Michael." [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Activating my abilities, I started running towards the area where Caroline and Alex were supposed to be. "Whoa!!!" I shouted in disbelief as I found myself running faster than ever. I didn''t see much difference in the dungeon, but with so many Stat Points¡­ I was literally flying. I''m probably as fast as a racing car. Took me about 20-30 seconds to reach the area where the Vagus Mall was located. Saw its bright red banner and the bus station which White was talking about. Though I did not find Caroline or Alex. I then turned off my ability as I looked around. Maybe I could hear the sound of fighting somewhere around the area? -Trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtr I heard a strange sounding from somewhere. It was as if a machine gun was being fired at a distance from here. Tried pinpointing it, though it didn''t seem like I needed to. I could more or less sense some people at a distance, traveling in a car, from here. ''Ummmm¡­ there,'' I pinpointed the exact location where the sound wasing from and then [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I then began running once again towards the ce where the sound wasing from. After running for another 10 seconds or so, I saw a jeep of sorts moving towards me and about 4 people in it. One driving while the other three firing on the zombies behind them. I could barely see more than a couple of D-Grade Zombies with high agility running towards them. They must be really unlucky to get that many agility based D-Grades behind them. Even with three people shooting, they failed to kill the zombies. [Colors of the Golden Rainbow (Weapon:Crossbow)] [A fine crossbow made from thebined efforts of the Seven Nations of Leyra. Being blessed with all the Energies, it has the ability to pour out any form of Elemental Energy you want. Attack: 230 || Durability: 5000/5000 Energies Attacks: +100% Damage of Air/Water/Ice/Fire/Electro/Light/Dark Effect 1: When the user uses a particr Elemental Attack using this crossbow, his affinity with that Element increases by 25%. Effect 2: When idle, all Elemental attacks will be increased by 10%] Taking out the already recharged crossbow, I then pointed in the direction where the zombies were. Making sure I didn''t hit the jeep, I then -SHOT!!! -BOOOM!!! A fire filled energy followed the shot as it went between the people in the jeep and hit the D-Grade Zombie behind them, sting 4 of them into pieces. I turned off my ability as I prepared for another shot. The driver almost lost control but still managed to control the car before his eyesid on me. "Move," I spoke and for some reason he understood my intentions and moved his car a bit to the side and -SHOT!! -SHOT!! -SHOT!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!!! All shots hit perfectly, killing all the zombies who were following the people in the jeep. I then saw the eyes of the driver turning a bit red before he sighed in relief as he pressed the brakes, drifting the jeep to the side and stopping the vehicle a few meters away from me. My eyes shifted to one of the people at the back, who was holding a mini machine gun in her hands. "Long time no see, M." I spoke as I saw that girl, who was observing me with a shocked expression. Chapter 100 Myla "Long time no see, M." I spoke as I saw that girl, who was observing me with a shocked expression. "Michael¡­?" M spoke as she observed me. Wearing a military uniform, carrying a semiautomatic rifle in her hand, she observed me with a keen expression before the girl beside her spoke, "Sergent Major M. Do you know him?" M looked at me for a few moments before speaking,"a little. What are you doing all by yourself? This ce isn''t safe." Her eyes traced around the ce, through the rubble and the area, before she asked,"Jeff, any more zombies around?" The guy who was driving the jeep looked at M before his eyes turned red again for a moment before turning back to normal,"a few zombies around, but nothing too much to be concerned about." M nodded before turning to me,"thanks for saving us. Nice weapon you got there. There is a safe zone about 25 kilometers from here though¡­" Her eyes traced me from top to bottom and then spoke,"well,e up. We can give you a ride. Though since we are on a mission, we might take a longer route." Hearing her words, I pondered a little before turning to Jeff,"search for high energy around that mart." Though confused, Jeff did that without much hesitation before he turned and spoke,"two energies found," and then a sudden realization hit him,"wait! How did you know-" "I have met someone with a simr ability. One of the two energies belongs to him. Actually, I came here searching for them," I spoke as I looked at them. Hearing that someone had the same ability as Jeff, a little shocked expression appeared on their faces before Jeff turned to M and they both nodded at each other. "We will help you meet them. Then take them with us as well," the fourth guy among them spoke with a bit of a calctive smile before he raised his hand, helping me up the jeep. As soon as I reached the jeep, Jeff ignited the engine, and we moved towards the direction where Caroline and Alex were. Normally I would have searched the whole area, but if I can avoid the whole problem, then why not? "So¡­ umm¡­ Michael. Where are you from? I am Shawn, by the way. Nice to meet you,"spoke the blue-haired guy as he looked at me before pointing at the girl and said,"She is ra and that''s our driver, Jeff. As for Sergeant Major, I think you already have met her." [Inspect!] [Name: Shawn Inara Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Intelligence Collector (Master) Zombification: 89%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1500/1500 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 25 Constitution: 35 Dexterity: 32 Intelligence: 47 Wisdom: 32 Charm: 29] I checked his Stats and a bit of his description before losing interest as I turned to ra and noticed that she wasn''t anything special either. As for Jeff, he had better stats than the others while he was already an E-Grade. As for M, she was halfway to D-Grade, which actually surprised me. She is strong. "So Michael. What were you before all this, the Apocalypse?" Shawn asked as he passed on a can of soda from his stock and I observed the can [Inspect!] [Soda Can] [Contains normal soda. Nothing out of particr. Might feel some chills because it''s cold.] I then drank the soda as I spoke,"a medical student. 4th year student, to be exact. Was almost done with my degree before the world turned upside down." A slight chuckle escaped my mouth and Shawn patted my shoulders as he spoke,"no worries man. We all had our worst. If it makes you feel any better, I was about to get my vacation after 6 months of continuous duty, only for things to turn out the way they are." There was a slight pained look on his face as I cheered the can with him before looking in the direction where Caroline and Alex were before turning to M, who was busy looking around the area, as vignt as she could be. "Ummm¡­ if it is not much of a secret, then can I ask you.. How do you know Sergent Major?" ra was the one to ask as her curiosity was eating her. M took a look at ra before returning to her alert mode. "Well, we were dating in high school," I replied with a calm face. "Cough Cough¡­ I''m sorry¡­ I didn''t quite catch that¡­" Shawn almost choked on his soda as he looked at me with a bit of nk look and I simply smiled at him. After pondering a little, I decided to share bits of the story to them, "It wasn''t anything major. Her father transferred her to my highschool where she was under a false name. Well¡­ stuff happened, and we formed a contractual bond back then. In exchange for being my girlfriend, I will be her friend without asking any particr questions of sorts, while also helping her get ustomed to the school. Since I was both studious and good looking, girls used to pester me a lot back then. I just kind of wanted to settle with a nice job first so I was fine with this deal. Helped me avoid a lot of unnecessary situations. And because I was friends with almost everyone in the ss back then, I helped her make friends without much problem while also telling her the dos and don''ts of the ss." "Being the daughter of a general, I was always taught rules and stuff and had no friends whatsoever. It was hard to get along with people, so the deal was nice for me. The best part was that Michael never asked anything too personal about me. Just things on the surface. Neither of us were interested in things that couples do, so that was a plus since my father is kind of strict with that kind of thing as well," M joined as she told a few things from her side. "Though it kind of hurt when you vanished without saying goodbye,"I spoke with a bit of a sad smile as I recalled how not a trace was left when she stopped attending school. The ce she lived, her phone, the records, everything was gone. "If it weren''t for mom finding bits about you, I would have been scarred for life thinking that I made a ghost girlfriend. But I guess military has military ways of doing things," I spoke with a bit of sigh and she looked at me with a sad look before speaking, "My father¡­ is too strict. Especially with the circumstances around me, even I believed it was safer for you to not get involved with me." "Mom said the same thing," I said as I chuckled at how my mother warned me about not getting involved in this thing anymore. "We are here," spoke Jeff as he stopped the jeep a few buildings ahead of VAGUS mart. "Well, all that''s in the past now. I am d that you are doing fine, M. Let''s catch up sometime,"I spoke as I stood up and then jumped down the jeep before the others also followed. "Sure," M spoke as she clicked her rifle and both her and I looked at the building where Jeff stopped the jeep. Chapter 101 Myla And Caroline "Michael, you stay back. We will get your friends out,"M suggested as she looked at me and I shook my head,"it is fine. I can handle myself." Though she looked like she wanted to convince me to stay back but Jeff spoke first,"it''s fine. There are only weak zombies. Plus, those guys seemed like they were currently collecting stuff inside the mart. Shawn, ra and I will guard from outside. Go. They are on the third floor at the edge of the building." Hearing his words, I gave a smile to M, and she shook her head before she spoke,"all right, but stay close to me." I nodded at her before both of us went into the building. As we were going inside the building, I could faintly hear Jeff and Shawn whispering. "His energy level?" Shawn asked "Below 1.. Or maybe 0," Jeff replied with a sigh. "Welp. Guess I expected a bit too much," Shawn replied. Then I smiled on the inside before venturing deeper into the building. There weren''t any zombies around as we simply walked to the third floor before quickly reaching the ce where Jeff told us about. "Caroline!" I shouted as I reached around the area and, hearing my voice, someone dashed towards us. M almost reached out to shoot, but I stopped her before she could raise her rifle. "Michael!!!" -Thud! Caroline hugged me tightly as she reached closer to me and I simply smiled as I patted her head before looking at Alexing from the same ce where Caroline came from. "Brother!" There was a bright smile on Alex''s face as he too ran towards me before stopping at a distance from me. "Hey there, kid. How are you doing?" I asked and Alex answered with a joyful expression,"we are good, brother. Just checking the perimeter around the mall. What about you, brother? Where have you been?" "A few ces here and there. Nothing special,"I answered before turning at M as I spoke,"M, this is Alex and this one is Caroline. Alex and Caroline, meet M." "Huh? My....?" Caroline released me before turning to M as she took a closer look at her. Like a wild dog, she smelled M as she muttered,"Olive green hair and hazel eyes. A strong look with a beautiful face... it really... is her..." Caroline''s eyes widened as she took a step back away from M and turned to me as she asked,"your... former girlfriend?" My eyes narrowed at Caroline as I asked,"How do you know about that? Didn''t we meet only after 3rd year in college?" "Caroline... the girl because of whom Michael got infected with an HIV injection,"M too spoke with her eyes concentrated on Caroline and this time at M, once again I narrowed my eyes as I asked,"How do you know about that? Didn''t we lose all contact after high school?" These two freaks... were they both spying on me? Hearing my question, M widened her eyes for a few moments before she looked away as she spoke,"that... was...uh.. for... military purposes, yeah. That''s what it was." "At least look in my eyes before spouting nonsense," I said, as my eyes still narrowed at her. Then I turned to Caroline and said,"Caroline." "Yes!!" she stood in a military position as she looked at me with slight sweat trickling her head and I sighed before speaking,"well... forget it. Not like I can do anything about what you two idiots were trying to do." Just trying to think and deal with it is a pain, so I might as well not think about it. They both sighed too as they looked at me before their eyes matched each other. Though before any sparks could erupt, "Let''s go out. Jeff and the others are waiting for us. Let''s discuss things while we go down," I spoke as I began walking out. Hearing my words, Alex was the first one to follow me before Caroline and M followed. Even though it looked like they both had to say something to each other, they kept quiet and followed without uttering a single word. "Alex, is there anything special that happened in the past 10 days?" I asked as I felt like Alex might know a few things that White or the others won''t and fair enough, he spoke without any hesitation. "Some of the people have been saving more cores and absorbing it in secret in a bunch. All in all, those who sessfully absorbed got a bit stronger than the others. As for zombies, their power level is also growing slowly. Ah! One more thing... justst night, I felt a really strong energy from the north. It was both strong and strange at the same time." "Strange?" I asked in a serious voice as I turned to him. M and Caroline too turned serious as they listened to Alex. "Like... it felt zombie-like but... I don''t know.. They felt stronger... different... like a bundle of... irritating energying from them," he spoke as his eyes shook a little before I patted his head and spoke, "That''s all right. I think I know what they are." ''Night Crawlers,'' I thought as I felt like the description of what Alex told me fit in the box. Stronger than normal zombies, strange energies felt in the night. All this matched the description a bit. "You do?" M chimed in as she looked at me with a surprised face and I turned to her with a slightly curious expression,"you seem to know something about it." "Well..." her voice slowed down a little before she pondered over it before speaking,"it''s a secret, but since you more or less know what we know... actually, we received the same energies toost night from the exact same location. That was the whole purpose of the mission, to scout out the ce and report any unusual findings." Hearing her words, I nodded a bit before we got out of the building and spoke. "Those beings, if I am not wrong, are Night Crawlers. Stronger than usual zombies and don''t have the ability to walk in the sun." I recalled in bits what Erina told me about them... but isn''t it a bit early for them to arrive? Or more like... could it be a weaker version of the Night Crawlers that were chasing me in the dungeon? ''Or perhaps it''s something else altogether?'' I thought as I reached Jeff and the others. "How strong?" she asked with a deep look. "I don''t know, just that they are really strong. Didn''t dare to get closer to them," I spoke as I looked at M and she nodded with an understanding expression before we reached Jeff and the others. "Well, we do need to scout that area anyway, so we will be going there. What will you guys do now?" asked M with a curious expression before I spoke,"Can you guys take us somewhere? It''s not very far from here." Confused, all four of them looked at me before M asked a bit about the location. "Libra building, not too far from here. About 3 kilometers," I answered and looked at M who pondered a little before speaking,"I guess it won''t be that much of a problem. Though why? Is there anything there?" "Yeah. A few of my friends are there," I answered and understandingly she nodded before speaking,"all right, I guess we should hurry then. We do want to reach our location and return before the evening." I too nodded at her before getting on the jeep along with Alex, and Caroline who was carefully looking at me. "What?" I asked as I saw her question-filled face and she, in return, asked,"how can you be so casual with her... I mean... after all her disappearance and stuff? Don''t you have questions for her?" "Ah! That... actually..." I spoke as I began to exin the reason for my odd behavior in regards to M. Chapter 102 Perks "Ah! That¡­ actually is because I kind of knew about the whole situation around M and whatnot," I spoke as I recalled bits about the whole thing. "Huh?" M turned at me while Caroline felt something interesting was going toe up, so she listened carefully while the others straightened their ears as well. "Since you don''t know, I will repeat it again. Mom told me a bit about M and how she was rted to the military and her life was in danger because of her father being a prominent figure. Mom warned me not to get too involved with M, but oh well, let''s just say I didn''t listen to her. Because I was curious, I searched around from the opposite direction and looked deeper into the military and our national leaders and stuff. While I can''t get into restricted information, I still can at least find their pictures and names. I kind of found the picture of most of the leaders. Sergeants, majors, etc. And looked into their faces and matched them with M''s. Because of her special olive hair and eye color, it wasn''t hard to figure out who the father was. Commander Sergeant Major, Lucas Keith. Though it wasn''t just that, I looked into videos where Keith got awards and other stuff. In fact, I even participated in an event a yearter where the winner gets to meet the army personnel and ask any questions and stuff. I won and ended up meeting your father then and when I met him¡­ I kind of¡­ talked with him in private. I told him about how I reached him and about M and stuff from where I got to know a few things left and right. Surprisingly, rather than getting angry, he was really happy with my tenacity and wits, also telling me about M and her achievements with a proud face. Nothing too much but enough to make me satisfied." I told them what I did and almost all of them looked at me with a surprised expression. "You went that far¡­ for me?" M asked with her cheeks turning a bit red, though I rejected her within a second,"nope. Not for you. I mean, I was really curious about you and stuff, but not enough to go that far. What really motivated me was¡­ the fact it felt like a challenge." Her expression changed a little, but I still continued, "It was like a thrill ride. To find someone you aren''t supposed to. To look for a person whom you might never meet. To find the existence of someone whom people don''t know that she exists.. It was that kind of thrill. And to be honest, the reward was worth it." I spoke with a satisfied smile and all of them looked at me like I was a weirdo or something, but honestly, I don''t care much. Ie with my own perks. "We are almost there," spoke Jeff as he looked at the Libra building. "Park outside the main gate," I said and Jeff did that before all of us got out of the jeep. Just like before, Jeff, Shawn, and ra stayed while M came with me, along with Alex and Caroline. Entering the building, I saw White and George talking with each other before they looked in our direction and started walking towards us as well. "That wasn''t toote," White spoke with a bit of surprise, and I smiled before introducing M to the others. M greeted George and White before I began exining their purpose and what Alex had found as well. "Well. I will follow whatever you say," George spoke, and I nodded at him while White had a pondering expression before he spoke out, "That is a bit troubling." "Why so?" I asked and he exined,"Actually, we were nning to save the people in the building beside us. There are quite a few survivors there as well, some of them rtives and friends of those here. I don''t think your military friend can wait till then, can she?" "Wait, you have more people here?" Surprised, M spoke as she looked at me before I nodded as I turned to M and asked,"How long can you wait for?" Rather than answering my question, she asked again,"how many?" "About 50?" I answered, and she made a surprised expression before I asked again,"how long can you wait for?" "Ah! Yeah.. no¡­ as you know we have to return and report by the eve¡­ I don''t think we can wait at all," she spoke with a sad expression. Though not minding much, I looked at Alex, "25 kilometers with that jeep. How long is a return trip?" "30 mins," Alex answered immediately and then I pondered a little before turning to George, "Can you give me a report on that building?" "Wait! What are you doing?" M asked, but George ignored her and began speaking, "75 Floors? I think all the floors except the top floor are infested. The survivors number is around¡­ 15, I think?" I nodded before walking slowly towards the building next to us as I looked at it and muttered, "Should take about¡­ 15 minutes? Let''s finish it within 10." I then turned to them as I spoke,"I will go see things with my own two eyes. Wait for about an hour and if I don''te back then-" "No. No more going alone, I will being with you," Caroline said with a determined face and looking at her, I first thought to persuade her, but then I decided it would be better to show her my new powers. That way, she will have more confidence in me. "Me too," M spoke with the same determination as Caroline and I kind of sighed before speaking,"sure, I guess." It''s not like I was trying to hide things from anyone, but I don''t want to scare them for no reason. After all, people like M and Jeff, who know nothing about me, will only get scared if they see me using even half of my powers. Normally I won''t even care, but M is someone I know, so the least I can do is to be considerate wherever I can. "You guys watch the area," I said as I looked at the others and they nodded before I started moving towards the neighboring building. It was about time I used my newfound powers as well¡­ and also reach Level 11. Chapter 103 Everyone Has A Past, Dont They? Entering the area of the building, I looked around to find a dozen zombies crawling all around the reception area. Though before I can begin. "Here, take this," M spoke as she gave me a handgun as she continued,"are you really going to barge in with only a crossbow?" Taking her gun, I put it on my back before giving the crossbow to Caroline, "Use this only when you feel like you have no options, okay? I will tell you more about this crossbowter." nkly, she nodded at me as she took the crossbow. As for M, she just observed the crossbow with slight jealousy. I then looked at M and asked,"do you have a knife?" As a person from the military, she would surely have a knife, right? And sure enough, she took out a knife from the tip of her rifle before passing it to me. I thanked her again before turning to the zombies. "You guys just give me a minute," I spoke before swiftly moving towards the zombies. M looked like she wanted me to stop, but before she could even speak, I reached one of the zombies and [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie!] [+50 Exp Received] Been a while since I saw this System message. [Level: 10 (79280/80000 Exp)] ''All right, let''s continue then,'' I thought before moving to another zombie and then to another, and to another before all the zombies were killed in this area. I didn''t need any skills to kill all the zombies here. Even without it, I finished it quite fast and returned back to Caroline and M. "What happened to you two?" I questioned as I looked at their nk faces. For the next few moments, they couldn''t even speak anything and I just observed them and smacked their head -POW! -POW! "Ouch!" x 2 Then both of them just kept gazing at me before Caroline spoke,"don''t me us for getting surprised. What the heck was that?!" "Not like the first time you have seen me doing this?" I asked as I remember using [Temporal Deceleration] even before in front of her. Just what was shocking now? "No... this was different. This time you weren''t just agile, earlier you were fast and strong but still cautious and careful but now you were literally cutting through them as if you were slicing bread and butter,"she exined the difference betweenst time and this time... which was actually true. I really was taking things seriously before... hmmm... maybe all this power got to my head? I should not overestimate myself though... After all, I had seen by my own two eyes how powerful the enemy can be. "Wait! What is going on here.... What just happened?" M, who finally came out of shock, spoke out as she turned to me before looking at Caroline, who pitied M for a few moments. Then Caroline sighed before exining a few things regarding me and how I was a bit different from others. I didn''t mind Caroline telling about me, but it was quite interesting to see the reaction of M when she received all the information. And after all things were said and heard, "So let me take this more properly... Michael is strong... or should I say, way stronger than any of us. And his powers are untraceable by anyone among you, or perhaps anyone at all? Also... he has some special skills? Did I get that correct?" M spoke, and we both nodded. I then saw M look at me for a few moments before speaking,"honestly if I hadn''t seen things with my own eyes... believing it would have been near impossible." "Why so? People in your base should have figured it out, no?" I spoke, and she looked at me surprised for a few seconds before she sighed,"yeah... I guess it''s not much of a secret, is it now?" Her eyes traced Caroline as she spoke that. It was true. People were getting strong really fast and it would be a matter of time before someone as strong as me would appear too... at least as much as I had shown M. "But still. Your power is something that we expected to appear in about 4 to 5 months, that too as rare cases. Looks like the reports need to be changed," she spoke, and I just looked at her for a few moments before speaking, "Can you ''not tell'' this to the military?" She looked at me for a few moments before an understanding expression came on her face. Looks like she really looked into my life. Turning to Caroline... sigh... she too knows about me, huh? I then shook my head as I looked at M and she answered,"all right. I will mention it as ''someone that powerful appeared.'' Is that fine?" and I nodded before speaking, "If they repeat the mistake they madest time," I said with a kind and humble smile before continuing,"I will obliterate them without any hesitation." A chill ran down their spines as they looked at me and gulped a little. Turning around, I began walking towards the stairs to reach floor 1. Just remembering the past, my mood was a bit spoiled and I kind of didn''t want to talk anymore. I simply turned silent and stered a smile on my face as I tried to think of something good. As soon as I reached the first floor [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I then killed the 3 zombies on this floor in an instant. Deactivated my skill. "Only 3 here. Killed them,"informed the two girls with a smile before moving to the next floor. "Only 4 here," next floor. "Only 2 here." "Only 8 here." "Only 5 here." "Only 7 here." . . Soon I reached Floor 17 and... [Level +1] [+5 Stat Points] [+5 Skill Points] [New Skill Unlocked: Time Skip] [Time Skip] [Allows the user to skip time for any non-living object. Note that the user needs to be at least within 10 meters radius of that object. Cost: 0TP] Chapter 104 Saving People = Farming Zombies [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 11 (80010/150000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75) Constitution: 15(+75) Dexterity: 15(+75) Intelligence: 15(+75) Wisdom: 15(+75) Charisma: 15(+75) Stat Points: 2 Total Cronas: 5710 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] I looked at my Stats as I put the rest of the points into the Stats bringing it to max 15, which was possible for me right now. Other than that, I also used some Skill Points to upgrade this Skill to level 8. [Second Space (Level 8) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 8 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 12x12 sq meter Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 8] Also the new skill, [Time Skip] [Allows the user to skip time for any non-living object. Note that the user needs to be at least within 10 meters radius of that object. Cost: 0TP] It was ambiguous, to be honest. How much time can I skip? Where could I skip it? What were the applications? Though retrospectively looking, there actually was one thing that came into my mind, ''Maybe it had some distance to Time Points rtion but since I got the ss [Envoy of Cronus] under me, all those limitations got removed from the skill?'' "Michael..?" I heard M speaking as both the girls slowly caught up to me, observing me with a concerned look. Sensing that they wanted to say something to me, I smiled at them as usual and said,"What happened, M?" M gulped at me as she spoke,"are you¡­ alright? If I said something wrong¡­" "You do know that it isn''t you, right?" I spoke before I took a deep breath and then moved towards them as I observed those two worried girls and patted their heads, one with each hand. "Don''t worry. If I can survive something like that before, there is no way I won''t be able to handle it after all these years. You both do believe in me, right?" I asked with an understanding look and both of them looked at me with slight puppy eyes "Mhmm," they both nodded before I turned towards the way to the floor above. "Let''s finish this whole thing, though. We still have a couple of things to do after it," I spoke, and they both nodded before they both turned serious. From that point onwards, we kept cleaning the entire thing floor by floor, though it was mostly me clearing the zombies in an instant, one floor at a time, and M and Caroline catching up to me a few moments after. In the beginning, they were a bit surprised at my speed, then their surprise changed topetitiveness as they tried to catch up to me, and on thest floor, theypletely gave up. All I could see was a defeated look on their faces as they just red at me. "Don''t look at me like that. Nobody asked you topete with me," I spoke with a casual look as I observed their re filled face, which soon changed to as if they wanted to cry. "But¡­ but¡­" M wanted to speak, but words failed toe out of her mouth. Ignoring them, I opened the door to the top floor. "It''s locked," I spoke as I looked at M before pondering if I should break it open, but M looked at me with a sudden smile as she spoke,"Let me!" Then she ran towards the door and, using a certain pin like structure, she began opening the closed door. She sessfully did it within seconds. After that, I saw her trying to push the door with a bit of effort as she pushed all the things which were kept behind the door. ''Strong,'' I thought as I chuckled, looking at her on the inside. Peeking, I saw Caroline looking here, trying to find something. ''Does she too want to prove something here?'' I thought as I looked at thepetitive idiot. Soon the whole gate opened, revealing the other side of the top floor where a couple of people were aiming at the entrance with a couple of handguns. Looking at them, I turned to M and said,"handle them. They should trust you more than they trust me. Though, make sure to be vignt," and she observed me with a surprised look before she nodded with a cheerful face. Then I turned to Caroline and said,"help her out. I will be back in a moment." Caroline too became happy for a moment before her eyes widened as she spoke,"where are you going?" "Won''t even take 10 minutes," I spoke and patted her head before moving towards the lower floor. She kept gazing at me with a distant look before I vanished from her view. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Stopping time, the first thing I did was run down towards the ce where George, White and the others were standing. I also checked Jeff and the others still sitting in the jeep. ''10 Minutes should be around¡­ 16 Hours or so?'' I thought as I calcted the time difference. Unless I am fighting with someone extremely strong, I should have ample time to clear the area around. Then I moved towards White and deactivated my abilities. Finding me suddenlying there out of nowhere, he grew cautions for a few seconds before he calmed down and said,"don''t scare me like that. It''s not good for my health." I just chuckled before speaking,"the building is cleared. M and Caroline are taking care of the people as of now. Take Alex, George, and the others to help the people reach this building." "..." "..." "..." All of them just looked at me as if I were a freak. Some of them even checked the time it took me to do that before White got out of his stupor and spoke,"Come on! Don''t just stand like that. You guys were the ones who wanted to hurry in saving the people there, weren''t you? Move now!" I saw White ignore my whole shenanigan and focus on something else all together. Maybe he didn''t even want toprehend what I did at all. I then looked at George as he asked with a bit of questioning look,"ummm¡­ Sir Michael. If all of us go up, then who will be watching this ce?" "Don''t worry about it. There won''t be any zombiesing around for the next few days towards this area," I spoke as I walked away from him. Understanding my words, his eyes turned out wide, but before he could mutter even a word [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I activated my ability before moving towards the nearest building. Chapter 105 Visiting The [Second Space] "Let''s start with that one," I said as I looked at a building from a distance. In this whole area, or should I say, in this part of the city, there were about 5 buildings with more than 50 floors. About 8-10 apartmentplexes with 20-30 floors, and many more had about 5-10 floors each. The amount of houses were actually less inparison to the buildings. Most of the houses and vis were located in the west part of the city where the richest of the richest stayed. While the east part of the city was filled with entertainment areas, almost all the malls and bigger cinemas, parks, etc. were located in the eastside. ''The north had educational institutes while this ce was more of a residential area,'' I thought as I started moving towards the nearest building. Today''s goal was to clear all the buildings and apartments within 2 kilometers of the Libra building, which included 1 more building and 2 apartmentplexes. The rest were smaller buildings. -Booom!!! [You have killed an E-Grade Zombie!] [+50 Exp] And thus marked the beginning of the massacre of all the zombies around. ''The building is about 60 floors high, so it should take about an hour or so to clear it? I wonder if there would be any survivors in it,'' I thought as I kept killing all the zombies as fast as I could. My main n wasn''t just to rid the ce of the zombies around the area, but it was more like I wanted to get to a higher level faster. While I did improve enough to deal with most of the zombies, it won''t be long before an A-Grade or higher appears. ''I haven''t even dealt with a B-Grade properly, forget about an A-Grade,'' I thought as I recalled things taking a wild turn in the dungeon a few floors before I even reached Floor 63 where the B-Grade was supposed to be. It wasn''t just that, though¡­ ''Night Crawlers,'' I thought as I realized that even after getting so strong, we were still running away from them. Makes me wonder how strong they were to make Erina believe that we should avoid them as much as possible. ''And if they are going to appear so fast, I should rather kill every zombie around, making sure no nightcrawler is born around the area and also, create a safe zone fast and strong enough so that I could openly deal with any and all types of zombies,'' I thought as I tried thinking of all the ways I can improve my base. ''Hmmm¡­ now that I think about it, I haven''t visited Rhea¡­ oh, wait! Fuck!'' I thought as I hurriedly killed all the zombies in the building, clearing itpletely before a message appeared. [New Side Quest!] [Clear the South Area of the ck Water City!] [Kill all the Zombies! Total Zombies Remaining: 540219 Reward: +20 Skill Points] ''Hmmm nice,'' I thought before reaching a nearbyfortable room where Iy on the bed and then asked, ''How long before anyone attacks me?'' [17 Days: 12 Hours: 15 Minutes!] ''Double nice,'' I thought before activating my ability [Second Space!] Entering the area, I found a sleeping beauty taking a nap on a sofa in the center of an almost empty room. Mischievously, I wanted to scare her a bit, but before I could even take a step, "Mmm¡­ you are back? How long has it been? I thought you¡­ " then her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me with a careful look. Dashing towards me at full speed, she held me by my shoulders as she looked at me carefully. Or more like she was looking deep into my eyes, as if trying to confirm whatever she was looking at. And after a few seconds of stillness, "You!... What¡­ What the heck happened in the dungeon?!" My eyes observed her with a bit of an awkward smile before speaking,"Kind of a few things?" Looking at her expression, it seemed like she wanted to know everything that happened there and not minding much; I pondered a bit as I muttered, "Hmmm¡­ I think I should start from the beginning." She nodded before she clicked her fingers and two chairs formed, one behind her and another behind me. She then sat as her eyes urged me to sit as well. Sitting with a bit of an awkward smile, I began telling her everything that had happened in the dungeon. Starting from the beginning, then meeting Erina and then the Night Crawlers, that Elf and that Sand Troll, getting killed by Kira, System notification, God Powers, and then fighting Kira. I kind of ended up telling everything with a keen interest and she too looked at me with a baffled look as she just kept gazing at me. The only thing that I didn''t tell her was about the [God Hunter] and the ss [Human Demi-God] "So that''s the¡­ capability¡­ of [Time elerate]?" she spoke with a dazed expression as she looked at me with eyes still in disbelief. "What?" confused I asked, but she just kept murmuring,"or was it¡­ you¡­ should I even hope?¡­ I don''t want to, but¡­ Looks like¡­ we still have hope." I tried asking her again, but she just stood up and took a deep sigh before taking a look at me again and then asked, "What is your next step, Michael?" That question was totally off topic and it threw me in a bit of a loop, but still I answered with honesty,"Get strong enough to deal with problems of ''that'' level as soon as possible." By ''that'' I mean the power to fight against the people who were at the level of Kira¡­ or perhaps, higher? It was purely my intuition, but it felt like among those at that power level, Kira wasn''t the only one I am going to face in the future. There were more people at that level. ''Some even higher than that, maybe?'' A slight chill ran down my spine before I shook my head and turned to Rhea who was still observing me. Then I turned to the nt, because of which I hurried to this space, [Tree of Crona(Umon) Effects: Generates 15 Cronas per hour. Limitations: Can store only 2500 Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 50,000 Cronas to evolve)] Taking out the Cronas, I looked at the total Cronas once again. Hmmm¡­ I then wondered something before I went to the [Shop] where [Daily Sale!] screen was Sadly, all the things were way above I can afford so I could only sigh before Rhea followed me into the [Shop], "Michael,e with me." Hearing her words, I turned to her as she was walking towards a certain area of the shop. As I observed her walking, I finally saw something that my eyes missed when I entered the [Shop]. One of the areas of the shop, which was locked before, was now unlocked. Walking towards that new blue section, I read what was written on the top of the section. [Dungeon Manager] And within that section, there was a certain item avable there [Dungeon Of Libra (Rare Dungeon)] [One of the Common Dungeons, which was upgraded twice after high energy beings visited the area. Original Cost: 1,000,000 Cronas Notice: Because the user has achieved beyond SSSS Grade, the price of the Dungeon has been reduced by 80% Notice: Because the user has used a Golden Key, the price of the Dungeon has been reduced by 50% Notice: Because it was the user''s first Dungeon, the price has been reduced by 90% Renewed Cost: 10,000 Cronas] Chapter 106 Plans Had Changed "That''s¡­ really something," I spoke with my eyes a bit wide open. Reading it over and over made me grin from ear to ear. From 1 million to mere 10,000 Cronas, I should buy it immediately [Total Cronas: 8210] "Ah! I still have some Cronas left," I spoke out before Rhea looked at me for a few moments before speaking, "Try collecting 10,000 Cronas first. We would move from there onwards. For now, let''s get to training." ''Hmmm..'' my mood changed as I looked at the serious face of Rhea. Normally she would have that always annoyed attitude or maybe a bit dazzled with a tinge of almighty attitude. But now¡­ "Not now," I spoke as I looked at her with the same seriousness with which she was looking at me. Her expression turned a bit confused before she asked with slight irritation in her voice,"what do you mean, not now?" "It means that I have some work on the outside. I will train after I deal with stuff on the outside," I answered her without any hesitation in my voice. Apart from clearing the zombies from all around, I still have to find my family. While training with Rhea will make me stronger, faster. If ites at the cost of my family, I would rather just let the world burn. "Don''t you hav-" "My family is out there. I need to save them first," I answered as I looked at her and she stopped mid sentence. But her re, still the same, didn''t leave my eyes. "Then why haven''t you already gone to find them? Why stay around cleaning zombies and save a bunch of people who have nothing to do with you? Michael Aroa, aren''t your priorities and choices contradicting each other?" She spoke without holding back. ''Normally she wouldn''t even consider my life choices or what not¡­. Something must have happened. Just what is that made her so worked up over all these things? Is it rted to that ''hope'' thing she murmured before?'' I thought as I sighed before answering to her. "A ce called ''Home''..." I began speaking as I finally let out the reasons why I was doing what I was doing,"... Once I will save my family, I will find a new home to settle in¡­ at least that is what was going on in my mind. But then something came to mind¡­ Why not create a home of our own? Where I could bring my family back, where we can live, breathe and roam free." It looked like she wanted to speak something, but I continued, "You see, all this time, I was too weak to roam about on my own. I mean, just a C-Grade and I was already on myst leg. There was no way I was going to survive out there in a few weeks or monthster, all the more with those absurd demands of the System to upgrade my Level and Genes. That was the reason I didn''t take any risks before. I mean, what''s the point of saving one''s family if you aren''t even strong enough to protect them from the danger out there? In the meantime, since I had nothing to do, I decided to make a home, cause¡­ why not? I mean, I got the manpower and people following me. I can use them, help them, or whatever you may call, also getting powerful on my own while doing so." Rhea kept gazing at me for a few moments before she spoke, "But that was back then. Now you are strong enough to protect them, strong enough to go and find them on your own." I pondered about her words a little before speaking,"true, but not really. I mean, I am going to search for my family and all, very very soon, but that doesn''t mean I am powerful enough to deal with everything. You see, I already have a general idea of what is going on with this Zombie Apocalypse and stuff, and how the future is going to look like. And looking at things from all the sides, many times over, I have decided to find out ways to visit other ces in search of reversing the whole zombification process and stuff. Yup, that''s the big n. So tell me Rhea, while I am out there dealing with things I have never dealt with in my entire life, where do you think my family is going to be? There is no way I am going to take them to a ce where I can''t even guarantee my own survival, forget about others''. And in this ce, here, unless I have a ce where they can stay safe, I don''t think I would just freely venture out into an unknown world for an unknown amount of time, thinking that they are all safe and fine. I mean, it was fine a little before, when I thought about how people are getting stronger with zombie genes and stuff. You see, I don''t trust myself enough, but when ites to my brother, father and mother? Not even once, I seriously thought that I would die easily in this whole apocalypse. In fact, even now I believe they would be leading a group of their own and dealing with this whole zombie situation in their own way. All I nned to do was to go and pick them up and bring it here. But¡­ When I found out what this Cessation Energy might do to people, what it had done to Alfheim? No sh*t, I was scared beyond one could imagine. If before I was doing it because I had nothing much better to do than to farm Exp and get stronger. Now, I am doing it because it is something I must do. In case something goes wrong, then unlike me, who can deal with most of the stuff alone, they would need all the support they can, especially when I won''t be present around them." Hearing my words, she kept quiet a little as she observed me before sighing and speaking, "But if that is the case, then why not get strong with me by training as much as you can-" "Let me make a few things clear, Rhea. If you can let me do that, I will train with you all the time you want," I spoke with a determined face and she kind of just stared at me. Then I heard a loud sighing from her mouth as she finally asked, "All right. Then tell me the next few steps you have nned. If I want you to train faster, rather than forcing you, I guess it would be much better to make sure all your ns go smoothly¡­ However, I still expect you to spend at least 24 hours in this space, training per day. That shouldn''t create any problem for you, should it?" ''24 hours means about 3 hours outside, huh? Sounds okay to me,'' I nodded at her before I began exining to her a few ns of mine. As I was telling her my ns about what I was going to do, she silently heard each and every word of mine from the very start to the end. After I was done telling her everything, she kept quiet with her eyes closed for sometime before speaking, "It''s not bad really, or more like it has very few ws. But still it has ws nheless. Let''s start by¡­" And just like that, another discussion ensued, and she started telling me ways I could increase my efficiency and a few other things in regards to that. Took us about 2-3 hours of discussion before everything was finally decided and I just looked at her with a baffled look. "You are quite smart, aren''t you?" I muttered as I looked at her while she chuckled with a bit of pride on her face. "Of course I am. Who do you think you were talking to? I am, after all, your mentor. It is a given, I would be smarter than you," she answered before chuckling a little more and I just smiled before I stood up, yawning a little. "So, I guess I should get out immediately now. Wasting time will only dy things," I spoke, and she nodded at me, too. Her expression, which was a bit mellow before, now turned serious again. "See yater, Rhea," I spoke before vanishing from there as my consciousness returned to normal, in the building where I was. Chapter 107 Power Up... Or More Like... Powercreeping! Opened my eyes on thefy bed as I calcted the time I had spent in the second space. ''About 4 hours¡­ that should be about 30 mins in the outer world?'' I thought before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I then began moving down the floors as fast as I could. ording to Rhea, the fastest way to clean the whole city is to do it as fast as I can without wasting any time. With both my time slowing skills, I could easily do things 100 times faster, and Rhea wanted me to make use of that as much as I can. ''Not like I was going to do anything different,'' I thought before I finally reached the lowest floor and got out of the building. Moving to the adjacent building, I began killing zombies in that building as well, soon clearing it and going to the next¡­ and next¡­ and next¡­ Sometimes, I only found zombie infested buildings with about a thousand or more zombies, other times I found some survivors around the area. "Reach the Libra building located near the Z-District," I said every time I saw the survivors, who looked at me as if I were a God or something. Though sometimes, they were scared of me and just observed me with cautious eyes. Well, it didn''t change anything as I just kept going from one building to another without wasting any more time. And just like that¡­ after about what looked like days of work, I finished clearing every zombie, not only about 3 kilometers around the Libra building but also a couple of extra kilometers, making this whole area 5 kilometers around the Libra building ''Zombie Free'' zone. [Clear the South Area of the ck Water City!] [Kill all the Zombies! Total Zombies Remaining: 501219 Reward: +20 Skill Points] Also¡­ I kind of leveled up a couple of times¡­ [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All Time Rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,640,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75) Constitution: 15(+75) Dexterity: 15(+75) Intelligence: 15(+75) Wisdom: 15(+75) Charisma: 15(+75) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 8210 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Skill Points: 29] And just like previous times, I received a couple of Skills along with those level ups¡­ [Time Cutter (Umon) (Level 1)] [Bring out the de that cuts through each and everything. Cannot cut through beings that are immune to space and time effects, or divine beings who have ascended the realm of mortality Cost: 500 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 5] [Time Shield (Common) (Level 1)] [Stops the time of an area of 3x3 meter anywhere you desire and blocks any and all attacks. Note that attacks beyond 10 times the user''s power will shatter the shield. Cost: 0TP + 50 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 5] [Compass of Cronos (Rare)] [Shows directions in the field of Zero Time] [Space Time Map (Unique)!] [Effects: 1. Allows the user to plot out all the areas where he has visited at least once (Passive) 2. Allows the user to mark out a particr being and the user can trace its path as long it is within the plotted map.(100 Max) 3. Allows the user to mark out any known and unknown being present within the plot area 4. Allows the user to see the past events that have urred within the plot area for the past 48 hours. 5. Allows the user to find the most optimal route towards the ce where he desires within the map. 6. Allows the user to lock a single ce where he can return to using Cronas. [Cost: 100 Cronas per meter] 7. Allows the user to view real time of an event using Cronas.[Cost: 100 Cronas per seconds per meter square] 8. Allows the user to check the power level and Health of the beings present within the plotted map area. Limitations: The user cannot mark or predict beings who are 5 or more times stronger than the user. Total Area Plotted: 4 cubic kilometers] And yeah¡­ just like always¡­ These abilities were absurd as usual. I felt like I was bing more and more of a God with every passing moment. The only ones I now needed to watch out for were the ones who are much stronger than me. ''Well, not that I mind,'' I smiled as I realized that demands of the System were increasing with every Level Up. Now it requires 2 and a half million Exp to get to the next level. ''Though, despite it bing so much, it doesn''t seem too much for some reason. My past self would have cried looking at the absurd amount of Exp but now¡­ here I am nning and thinking it should be a few more days before I get to the next level,'' I thought as I looked through the skills once more. It was truly absurd how my view changed on it when I did theparison. As for the mapping skill, I had already plotted the entire area 5 kilometers around the Libra building and using the skill, I can even more or less see what is going on with Caroline, M and the others. It''s an extremely helpful utility skill. Too much in fact. Other than that, I got about 20 Skill Points and 20 Stat Points. The Stat Points were pretty much not usable because of my genes but the others were. Other than that I collected a huge load of Cores along my way on killing the zombies, I was actually looking out for the future with regards to upgrading my genes so I made sure to keep them with me for the time being. ''I have about¡­ 12500 E-Grade Cores and about¡­ 17000 Lesser E-Grade Cores,'' I thought about it a little before calcting a few things. ''Hmmm¡­ All right, let''s sell the Cores and buy a few things,'' I thought as I decided to take the next step towards power up¡­ or more like power creeping at this point. Though onest thing before I enter the [Second Space] [Second Space (Level Max) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 10 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 12x12 sq meter Skill needs to be evolved before it could Level Up] ''That looks better,'' I smiled as I moved to a safe ce before entering the [Second Space] again¡­ ? ¡­. [Author''s Note: I am making him overpowered again, aren''t I? But it''s fine, honestly. I mean, it was obvious since he got power; he was going to level up and get more powers very very soon. What I am saying is that I didn''t exactly overdid it now and more like, I had done this when I made him powerful in a few chaps before. So if you are worried about power disbnce, don''t worry. Just trust me that it was necessary to bnce the future events a little. Happy reading!] Chapter 108 Chronokeeper Cores "Huh?" I looked at the [Sell] section of the Shop and, well¡­ [Would you like to sell Lesser E-Grade Zombie Core for 0 Cronas?] [Yes/No] Well¡­ it wasn''t exactly like this before or more like when I started selling them, they were sold for 20 Cronas each but as I started selling more of them, their selling cost reduced and by the time I reached 100, this message appeared. Though there was one thing that I didn''t get¡­ "Rhea, why is it that Lesser E-Grade Cores sell for less Cronas than used ones?" I looked at her with a questioning look. As far as I remember, the used ones were sold for 25 Cronas while the unused ones filled with energy were sold for 20 only. Even the E-Grade ones were being sold at 40 Cronas than used E-Grade Cores, which were at 50 Cronas. "That''s because of the Cessation Energy. Think about it, if there is a decay energy that is eating every life force and there is a device that stores that energy, would you take the empty device or the already filled one?" Rhea asked, and it made me ponder a little. "So Cessation Energy is bad, huh?" I spoke as that kinda made sense, at which Rhea nodded. I nodded at her before another thing came into my mind. [Gene Evolution Allows the user to evolve beyond his current limits Requirements: E-Grade Cores: 0/200 D-Grade Cores: 0/50 C-Grade Core: 0/1] ''Hmmm¡­ if it is like this then¡­ Why is this quest asking for Zombie Cores¡­ wait!'' my eyes opened up in realization as I looked at the System message more properly. ''There is no mention of ''Zombie'' Cores¡­ does that mean,'' thinking that I turned to Rhea as I asked,"other than Zombie Cores¡­ are there any other forms of Cores?" Rhea looked at me with an odd expression before she changed the direction of her gaze to somewhere within the shop and following her gaze, I saw another section that was beside the Dungeons'' section that I missed¡­ again this time. I peeked at Rhea for a few moments with an awkward smile before thanking her and moving towards that section. [Cores] ''Ah! There was something like that too,'' I thought as I recalled there was a section for this too. Though because it didn''t look appealing enough, I didn''t paid much attention to it. ''Now, what does it have to offer?'' [E-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 2000 Cronas + 2 x Used E-Grade Core ] [D-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 10000 Cronas + 2 x Used D-Grade Core] [C-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 50000 Cronas + 2 x Used C-Grade Core] [B-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 250,000 Cronas + 2 x Used B-Grade Core] [A-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 1,000,000 Cronas + Used S-Grade Core] [S-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 10 x Used S-Grade Core + Heart of a Higher Time Being] I looked at those absurd demands and just kept blinking my eyes at it for the next few moments. "Hmmm¡­ Heart of a Higher Time Being? What''s that?" I questioned as I looked at thest one''s price before I turned at Rhea, though she just looked at me before she turned her gaze away from me. I then looked at the amount of Zombie Cores I had [E-Grade Cores: 12400] [Lesser E-Grade Cores: 16900] The first thing I need to do is to make someone use these Cores and then use the used Cores to buy a few Chronokeeper Cores. I wonder if the mechanism of using the Core is simr to using the Zombie Cores? Hmmm¡­ I wonder if it will make me powerful as well¡­ Now then, [Total Cronas: 10029 Cronas] ''Let''s buy that dungeon as well,'' I thought before moving to the dungeon section. [Dungeon Of Libra (Rare Dungeon)] [One of the Common Dungeons, which was upgraded twice after higher energy beings visited the area. Original Cost: 1,000,000 Cronas Notice: Because the user has achieved beyond SSSS Grade, the price of the dungeon has been reduced by 80% Notice: Because the user has used a Golden Key, the price of the dungeon has been reduced by 50% Notice: Because it was the user''s first dungeon, the price has been reduced by 90% Renewed Cost: 10,000 Cronas] Pressing the [Buy] button on the screen, I bought the dungeon and immediately all 10,000 Cronas vanished from my pocket and after a while¡­. Nothing happened. "Here," Rhea spoke as she walked back to my room and I followed behind her. "Now that you have a dungeon under your control, you should be able to be a Dungeon Lord," she spoke as I entered the room. Inside my room, where I usually spawn when I enter the [Second Space], there was a new screen present in the corner with a door that looked really old-fashioned, to be honest. "Different dungeonse with different perks. Let''s see what this onees with," she spoke as she looked at me walking towards the screen. [Dungeon of Libra (Rare)] [Owner: Michael Aroa Location: ck Water City(E*rth): Erastale(Forgotten Demon Dimension) Total Number of Floors: 70 Total Number of Workers: 0/5 Current Efficiency: 10% Dungeon Functions* Dungeon Options* Dungeon Intel*] This was the first screen that came in front of me and I looked at Rhea, turning at me with a shocked expression. "What?" I questioned with a bit of curiosity before she muttered,"nothing¡­ just that the location¡­ it''s rare to see that name." Her words piqued my curiosity, but I decided to check the screen first. [Dungeon Functions] [Save Point!] [Allows the user to set 2 return portals: One at the center of the dungeon and another one anywhere within 10 kilometers of the dungeon. Limitations: Once set, the point can be only reset after 3 months] [Map of the City!] [Have the map of 10 kilometers in radius around the dungeon unlocked!] [Crona Generator!] [Generates Cronas based on the workers present in the dungeon. Explore [Dungeon Options] to find out more about this] [Summon Creatures!] [Creatures that you have bought within the dungeon can be called for a limited time in the outer world. Time before the creatures vanish: 10 minutes] [Dungeon Lord''s Domain (Passive)!] [Within 10 kilometers of the dungeon, the user''s strength will increase by 50%] [Lord''s Army!] [Within 5 kilometers of the dungeon, anyone under the user will have their strength increased by 20%. Their regeneration power increases by 30%] After bing powerful one after another on the same day, I kind of got used to all these power ups. Though [Summon Creatures!] and [Crona Generator] did pique my interest a little. "You got some really good effects, huh?" Rhea, on the other hand, was surprised as she observed those options. "Really?" I questioned with a bit of an odd expression and she nodded before exining, "Normal dungeons don''t have thest 2 options while the [Map of the City] is merely limited to 2 kilometers. There are also 2 reset points instead of one. I guess it must be because of that Rare Grading. Well, good job out there champ." "Do I get a kiss or something?" I spoke with a mischievous smile as I tried teasing her a little, but¡­ "You want one?" she smiled back at me with the simr mischievous smile as she looked at me. Though my instincts screamed NOT to say ''Yes'' here or else I¡­ I don''t know what will happen, but it won''t be a nice oue. I smiled at her before speaking,"Thank you, Teacher. Only the sentiment is enough" and moving to the next section, "Tch!" I saw her click her tongue with a bit of an annoyed gaze and I felt a sort of relief, as if I had dodged a big bullet here. Now on to the other options on the screen [Dungeon Options] [Dungeon Shop*] [Dungeon Upgrade*] [Dungeon Enchantments*] [Dungeon Modifications*] [Dungeon Manager*] Chapter 109 What?!! All The Zombies Disappeared? Wow!... I Mean... How? [Dungeon Options] [Dungeon Shop] [Lesser E-Grade Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 1 Cronas per day House Space taken: 1 Cost: 1000 Cronas] [E-Grade Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 10 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 2 Cost: 7500 Cronas] [Lesser D-Grade Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 25 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 5 Cost: 15000 Cronas] [D-Grade Zombies: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 100 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 10 Cost: 50000 Cronas] [C-Grade Random Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 200-1000 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 50 Cost: 150,000 Cronas] [B-Grade Random Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 2000-5000 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 100 Cost: 500,000 Cronas] ''Hmmm¡­ Welp, looks like I need to spend Cronas to earn them,'' I muttered silently before moving to the next option [Dungeon Upgrade] [Upgrade the Grading of your Dungeon by +1 Cost: 10x A Grade Cores + 25x B Grade Cores + 100x C-Grade Cores + 1,000,000 Cronas] ''Yup, not my problem,'' I moved to the next. It was too absurd to even look at [Dungeon Enchantments] [Capacity Increase: Current capacity to hold workers: 5 (Grade 0) Cost of increasing the capacity to Grade 1: 1000 Cronas] [Efficiency Increase: Current Efficiency: 10% (Grade 0) Cost of increasing the efficiency by 1%: 1000 Cronas] I looked at those options and realized that it was going to be a bit of a pain to look at everything and to understand the best way of utilizing the entire dungeon. Sighing, I looked at the next option [Dungeon Modifications] [Increase the radius of the city area: Current Radius: 10 kilometers (Grade B) Cost to upgrade the radius to 20 kilometers: 250,000 Cronas] [Increase the time duration of the summoned creatures: Current Duration: 10 minutes (Grade C) Cost to upgrade the duration to 30 minutes: 100,000 Cronas] [Increase the number of save points and it''s distance: Current number: 2 (Grade A)(One fixed) Cost to increase the points to 3 (Grade S): 5,000,000 Cronas] ''I feel like I am ying more of a kingdom building sort of game¡­ welp, not that I mind it anyway,'' I chuckled as I thought about it before moving to the next set of options. [Dungeon Manager] [Modify a particr worker*] [Temporarily increase the speed of a particr worker*] [Temporarily increase the Grade of a particr worker*] [Sell a worker*] Looking at those ''unclickable'' options, I pondered that maybe it was rted to me not having any worker in the dungeon right now. Perhaps once I have a worker, would these options be avable again? "To sum it up, with the help of a dungeon, I can call zombies for help. Get strong, make people under me strong, create a teleportation point of sorts. Then there is a whole another set of things I can do to earn more Cronas, huh?" I spoke as I recalled everything about the dungeon. "That is only for this grade of dungeon. If you can somehow reach one grade up, you will surely find something much better than everythingbined. That''s the reason why [Dungeon] are more of a miraculous thing to have," Rhea spoke as if recalling a bit of information before she spoke again, "Well. I guess, now that is all done. Is there anything else left that you need here?" I looked at her and pondered about it. "Let''s see, I need to get powerful, save my family members. I guess I will start with visiting the university where William studied since it''s in the north of the city. From that point, I need to see the whole Night Crawler thingy that Jeff and Alex had sensed there. Other than that, I need to form a base near the Libra dungeon, though, thankfully because of the dungeon, I won''t need to worry about that. Gene upgrade will take time, and that will require me to have used Cores. Guess I need to let people get stronger. Though I would need them to work for it at least. That way, I can make them work, make them strong, earn their trust while also getting used Cores, so many birds with one stone, huh? Other than that, I need to find a way to venture into other worlds, too. Though that will be after I get strong enough to deal with A-Grades like I am dealing with C-Grades right now. Hmmm¡­ that more or less sums it up. Other than this, there are other smaller things like helping out White and Caroline''s sister as well." Rhea heard the whole thing and nodded before asking, "So I guess now that you have the whole things more or less clear, huh? What will be the next step? Meeting your brother?" I nodded at her before speaking,"yeah. That''s the n." She nodded before she spoke,"good luck then." Nodding at her, I then waved at her before moving out of the [Second Space] as I looked around. Checking the map skill, I saw that at least 10 kilometers in distance have been unlocked around the Libra Dungeon. I could see various zombies from Lesser E-Grade to D-Grade. There were about a dozen C-Grades too, scattered around the ce, which wasn''t too surprising to be honest. I also saw an option to teleport back to the center of the Libra Dungeon, though there was one more thing which wasn''t mentioned before, [Teleport back to the center of the Dungeon Limit: Can be used only once every hour] Well, the limit wasn''t too big, so I didn''t ponder much over it before using it¡­ -ZAP! I heard a strange voice before the whole area changed in front of my eyes and I found myself in front of the main gate of the Libra building once again. "Nice!" I thought as I felt a little bit dizzy. Not too much to create a problem for me, though. I then entered the main gate, only to find Jeff and the others with some of the survivors from the side buildinging here too. I saw Caroline and M here too, as they were talking with each other with slightly worried faces. "Hey! What are you guys doing?" I asked as I looked at them with a bit of a curious face. Hearing my voice, it was Alex who ran towards me at a rapid speed as he spoke out with a terror struck face,"brother¡­ that¡­ All the zombies¡­ All the zombies¡­ suddenly vanished within a few minutes¡­ " It was iprehensible for him to know what was going on¡­ ''Hmmm minutes? I think it took me about a whole day to kill all the zombies? Howe it''s¡­. Oh, wait¡­ 24 hours divided by 100 and that¡­ with my Stats¡­ how much is that again?'' [Author''s note: 24 hours/100 = 15 minutes] I kind of just observed them for a few seconds before speaking in a worry filled voice,"is that¡­ so? That''s really scary¡­ just what could have possibly happened?" Alex nodded at me while the others gazed at me before talking among themselves again. Caroline and M moved towards me, with White and George following behind them. The soldiers, Jeff and the others, were talking among themselves and didn''t bother to talk with us. "Hey! You said just 10 minutes¡­ just where did you go?" Caroline spoke with worry in her eyes and I chuckled a little before speaking,"nothing major. Just doing a few things. How are the survivors?" "They are fine. A few injuries and stuff, but nothing major," I nodded at her before turning to George, "Help the survivors and take the people in. First, make sure they are fine, then make them work for us. Since the zombies are all cleared, raid all the buildings nearby and fill up our stock. Other than that, I found these on my journey in thest 10 days. Help the kids grow their power, though make sure there are no backstabbers." I gave George about 100 Lesser E-Grade Cores and about 4 dozen E-Grade Cores, making Caroline, White, Alex and especially George look at me with wide eyes. It wasn''t them, but Jeff, he, too, looked at me with his eyes widened in shock. "White, I need you to help George here. I kinda do want to help you with your stuff, but can I be selfish and search for my brother first? It won''t take much long," I spoke as I looked at him. He first looked at me for a few moments and then sighed deeply before speaking,"I guess.. I don''t have much choice here, anyway. Though can you answer a question of mine first?" Chapter 110 Pre-Departure After walking a distance away from everyone at White''s request, White and I reached near the main gate. White then looked at me and asked with a serious face, "All those zombies that vanished in thest few minutes... were you the one who did it?" "Yes," I answered without hiding anything from him. It wasn''t as if anything was going to change if people knew that it was me who did it. Except, of course, a lot many unnecessary problems, like the military, mighte looking for me. White looked at me with a baffled face. ''Oi! You asked the question. Don''t make that face,'' I looked at him as I shook my head and he blinked a few more times before asking, "Can I ask you one more thing?" "Ummm.. go ahead," I spoke as I observed him and he nodded before asking, "How strong are you?" I cocked one of my brows as I looked at him and, a bit afraid, he immediately spoke,"Ah! If it''s something like a secret-" "No. Honestly, I don''t mind telling you, but I was a bit surprised to hear that from you. You look more like someone who would rather not interfere in other people''s business," I spoke, and he just looked at me. Then I saw him sighing before speaking,"well... I am putting my trust in you... so I kind of wanted to know a bit about you. Speaking from experience, not knowing about the one who you are working for or with, is not really a good feeling." ''So many things were going on in his mind, huh?'' I thought before answering him with a bit of chuckle, "Want me to be honest?" He looked at me and nodded with a bit of seriousness. "I don''t know," I spoke with all honesty. With all those skills and the dungeon and the [Shop], [Title], [ss], etc, I don''t know exactly how strong I am in reality. How would I fare against a B-Grade Zombie or an A-Grade? I had no idea. These queries can be only answered once I am face to face with those. Before that, I have no say in that. White looked at me with his eyes piercing at me and I smiled before speaking,"I am strong, don''t get me wrong. Strong enough to deal with about a 1000 Whites and a 1000 Carolines, but that''s not the limit... I don''t know what it is anyway... there is one but... You won''t be able to see it. At least not now." I spoke and his eyes, which were narrowed at me, now were wide open as he observed me from top to bottom. I just looked at him kindly before asking,"does that answer your questions?" He just gulped and nodded before I pondered a little and spoke, "A few more survivors are going toe. Take them in, show them the ropes around here. Make sure everyone works and no one leeches about." Then I moved towards M, who was with Caroline, talking with a few of the survivors. "M. Come here," I spoke and M turned to me, moved closer to me. "We should be leaving in about 5 minutes, though, can I ask you to take a detour for me? Around Asteria University. I need to find my brother there. Or just leave me on the way somewhere in between," I told her and she just looked at me with her eyes shaken before she spoke with a sigh, "I am not that inhumane to leave you just anywhere. We will drop you near your brother''s uni. A detour isn''t a problem, since we still have enough time." I nodded and she asked,"anything else?" I shook my head, and she excused herself back to the people and I turned to Caroline, who was looking at me and signaled her with my eyes toe here. Understanding, she moved closer and looked at me as if she were worried about something. "You okay?" I asked with a concerned look and she hummed a little before she spoke,"feels like... I am getting left behind..." and then looked at me. "Howe?" I asked, even though I had an idea what she was trying to say. "You always leave to do things on your own... even now..." before tears coulde to her eyes, "What are you talking about? You areing with me this time." I smiled at her and her expression changed with her eyes widening at me. A smile began to blossom as she asked,"really?" I nodded with a chuckle as I patted her head and immediately she hugged me as she spoke,"I love you, Michael!!" "Love you too, Carol," I answered her, though I felt resing at me from all directions as I looked at the surroundings. Some were ring at me, while others were clicking their tongues. I could see M peeking at me before she sighed and then started working faster. After that, nothing much happened as M helped a few more people, and George and White took over her work. Except... "What do you mean, he will being with us? Sergeant Major, please reconsider this. He is nothing but baggage that will hinder us!" I guess someone was against me. ''Which one could it be?'' I thought as I looked and found out it was ra, the girl who was with M. "Are you questioning my decision?" M red at ra and she shrieked back. As for Shawn and Jeff, they just shook their heads before Jeff looked at me with keen eyes. Unlike ra, who was looking down on me, Jeff had a slightly intrigued expression on his face. ''Why does it seem like unnecessary trouble wasing towards me?'' I smiled wryly at them before I saw Ming towards me. "We all agree that you areing with us. And we will leave in 2 minutes," she spoke with a bright smile as she looked at me. I peeked at the irritated smile of ra towards me before I spoke, "Doesn''t seem like it, but okay, I will meet you near the jeep." She nodded before they began preparing for the departure and I went to Caroline, who was talking with thedies present there. "All done?" I asked, and she turned before nodding at me. I used my [Inspect] skill on all the people present there before turning to Caroline. "Let''s go then. I can''t wait to see how my brother is doing." She smiled before we both moved towards the jeep where M and the others were already there waiting. White was also standing there talking with M a bit and looking at him, I spoke, "Take care of things here. I think it''s going to take a few hours to a couple of days toe back, depending on how things work out there." "Sure. Just try to patch things up faster," he spoke, and I nodded at him before getting in the jeep with Caroline. I saw on the map that a few survivors wereing towards the Libra building and smiled before turning to White,"See ya then. Meet you in a few days." He waved his hand before moving back into the building through the main gate while the rest of us left towards the north. Towards where my brother, William, was. Chapter 111 William Aroa [Quest Complete: More is better!] [Your base has too low man power. If you want your base to develop better and faster, having more people in it can never be a bad move. Quest: Increase the number of people in your Base to 100 Current number of people: 124] [Enchantment Paper of Fire received] [Enchantment Paper of Jealousy Received] [Orb of Good Health Received] I saw the messages as we were traveling towards the Northern Direction -Boom!! -Booom! I saw Caroline using the Crossbow at the iing waves of the zombies at a rapid speed. I could faintly see some extra air present around the Crossbow. Perhaps she has learnt how to use the Crossbow fully¡­ or is it instinctive? Then my eyes traced M, who was beside her, killing the Zombies at an equal frequency with her rifle. Both of them had an aim beyond anything I had seen. ''The distance should be¡­ at least 3 kilometers from here,'' I thought as I focused on the distance where Zombies were getting bamboozled. The fact that they were doing damage far without much difficulty¡­ "..." "..." "..." The three people in the car just nkly looked at the two girlspeting with each other on a level that others could just gawk at. After a few more minutes of rapid fire, "267 Zombies," Caroline spoke with a bit of pride, but soon, "312," M smirked at her, making Caroline re at her as she spoke,"next time I will beat you!" With an irritated face, Caroline sat on my left as she took a deep sigh. I looked at her for a few moments before turning to M, who soon sat on my right with a winning smile on her face. "You sure are surrounded by strong people," Shawn spoke with a smile on his face. I looked at him before saying,"Beginner''s luck?" He chuckled a little before speaking,"you are strong too, aren''t you?" That kind of came out of nowhere, but honestly, it wasn''t that much hard to predict, either. But still I want to know, "And why do you say that?" I asked as I took a soda from their stock and passed another to him. Taking the soda, he opened it before patting ra, who was sleeping beside him as he spoke, "A man with no energy whatsoever travels alone in a zombie infested city all alone by himself. Easily kills a group of Zombies with a crossbow that an A-Grade soldier like Sergeant Major was having trouble dealing with. Everyone around him is brimming with energy that normally people would take months to develop and, funnily enough, everyone respects him without any hesitation. Takes out a bunch of energy cores as if it''s nothing. At this point, only a dumb idiot like ra could fail to see something wrong with all this." He then chugged a bit of soda, and I did it too. "Maybe. I mean, everyone has their secrets," I spoke with a bit of a secretive smile and he smiled back as he answered,"that they do." -SCHREEECHH!!!! All of a sudden, Jeff pressed the brakes as tightly as he could, stopping the car right where it was. "Ouch!!!" ra got hurt and woke up as her eyes looked at the alert faces of everyone and soon she, too, turned vignt. "What happened?" M asked as Caroline, too, looked around, trying to sense around. Jeff, however, was quiet as he looked at the front with a fear stricken face as he spoke, "Something is there¡­ something really scary. We should-" -BOOM!!! A loud bang was heard from a distance and something flew right towards us, hit the building beside us, and fell down to the ground. Then¡­ That thing¡­ or person, stood up, dusting himself up as he walked a bit in front and observed us. His eyes traced everyone before they fell on me, "H Brother! On a vacation trip?" His eyes then looked at the two girls beside me and his smile widened a little as he added,"honeymoon?" "William?" I questioned as I looked at my brother. -EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!! All of us heard a voice shouting in a really eerie voice before I sensed somethinging towards us at a rapid speed from the same ce where William came flying from. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] My eyesid on the thinging towards us [Inspect!] [Sonic Drifter (C-Grade Zombie)] [A D-Grade Runner evolved its ability to use Sound and learnt the ways of use frequencies to its benefits. Has the killer instincts and can sense any form of danger towards him Skills: (1) Sonic st: Create a loud sound that could create an air current around him. (2) Rapid Time: Increase the speed by 5 times for 5 minutes. The stats will be reduced by 90% after the 5 minutes are over for the next 3 hours. Reward for Killing: +5000 Exp] I was about to move, but then I saw strange branches forming out of the bottom, exactly where that Zombie was, before the branches covered itpletely in an instant and began sucking its energy. The Zombie set itself free, using its strength before I saw a sudden change in its feet '' structure. ''It''s using its skill,'' I thought as I then observed that Zombies began running away from here. The branches tried catching it and even more Zombies began forming out in the Zombie''s escape path, but it jumped and escaped pretty swiftly. I then undid my skill before turning at William, who was looking in the direction where the Zombie escaped to with a slightly annoyed gaze. He then sighed before turning to me and speaking. "Long time no see brother. You look pretty healthy for what I was worried about all this time." I nodded at him with a lot of questions in my mind, but first, "Yeah¡­ a lot of things happened¡­ hop in. We got some extra sodas here." Chuckling, he nodded before he too got in the Jeep and it was finally looking a bit congested. Though ra just sat in M''sp to provide space for William, who just spawned out of nowhere. "Jeff, continue moving," said M, but Jeff was still hesitating. Perhaps he had sensed the C-Grade just like Alex did with the basement Licker Zombie, and the effect of fear was simr as well. "It is fine. As long as I am around, that thing won''t be able to touch you¡­ and I guess, he should be quiet for another 2-3 hours or so," William spoke with a bright smile like he always had. Jeff turned to William with a bit of a nod as he observed him carefully. Then, after taking a bit of breath, he asked M,"Sergeant Major, are you sure you want to go? That thing¡­ is nothing like we have faced up till now. It''s on a whole other level." M then looked at me for a few moments before looking at William. "It''s fine. Just keep going,"she spoke after a bit of consideration. Though her eyes seemed like she wanted to ask something¡­ yet she kept quiet. ''Probably if we can trust William or not¡­ especially after he wasn''t what she was expecting,'' I thought as I looked at her before turning towards William, "So, what is going on here?" Chapter 112 Lord Of The Death "So, what is going on here?" Hearing my words, William gave me a familiar smile before speaking, "Think it''s three weeks now? Remember, I went off to college after bidding you farewell?" I nodded as I remembered it clearly. It was just after that I slept and had woken up in this apocalypse. He then continued, "After dropping dad off at the high school, I reached the uni. Rather than attending the lectures, I bunked the ss with a few of my friends." He took a sip of soda, rxed on his back and continued with a slightly tired gaze. "We were at the stadium enjoying our free time, as usual. Then... shit happened. A friend of ours started coughing, bleeding for no reason. To make the matter worse, we could hear gunshots... screams... and bombs going off, etc all around the area. While we were helping the friend, suddenly... well.. He bit the closest one, turning him into another zombie. Foolishly enough, we still didn''t take the situation as seriously as we should have, still trying to help them. After all, what else were we supposed to do? The ones turned, were our best friends, the ones we have spent the past few years with." William paused for a brief moment before he looked at me with a sad look as he continued, "Everyone died except me... I probably would have died too, but for some reason... Those zombies were weakened in front of me. More like, their speed decreased, their powers went down... and then... you can say it was instinctive, but... I touched their heads, absorbing all of their powers, rendering them unconscious." He looked at his hands, still unable toprehend what had happened. [Inspect!] [Name: William Aroa Race: Zombified Human (C-Grade) Title: ss: Lord of the Death [Lord of the Death: If the user wished to, any being who used Cessation Energy, below the user''s Grade will have their aura suppressed to an extent.] Zombification: 43%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 25000/25000 Status: Healthy Skills* (1) Enhanced Sense: The user can sense nearby beings of simr energy even at a distance of 100 meters away (2) Touch of Absorption: The user can absorb the energies of other beings and grow powerful (3) Extra Terrestrial Maniption: The user can extend his or her energy to other beings and absorb their Cessation Energy to an extent. (4) Beyond Human: Allows the user to increase his stats by +400% for the next 2 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours (5) I am Lord: Can control weaker zombies to an extent. (6) The Supreme: Can use Cessation Energy to suppress those around him. (7) The Protector: When saving people, the user''s strength grows by 5 times. Strength: 145 Constitution: 145 Dexterity: 123 Intelligence: 89 Wisdom: 130 Charm: 100] I saw his stats and couldn''t help but gulp a little as Ipared them to mine. And his ss... ''I guess it must be his ss because of which he grew so strong so fast,'' I thought as I looked at him. "From that point, I kept running away from zombies. Because I didn''t have any weapons, I openly absorbed them whenever I could and, within a few days, I ended up bing way more powerful than most zombies. Slowly, I reached back to the uni only to find most people had already turned, and the survivors were so low that they could be counted on one''s fingers. I kind of did what I could have done, helped them out and protected them. It was hard, but we reached the other part of the building and found a dozen more survivors. Fast forwarding another week, we ended up saving about 30-40 people in total, divided work and started building a safe area of sorts." He chugged thest bits of soda before a deep frown appeared on his face as he spoke, "Two days ago, when we were nning to raid a couple of buildings to get some food, I ended up sensing something really creepy on the other side of the university. It was the ntboratory that was located beside the uni. After some consideration, when I decided to pay a visit there, sadly the amount of zombies there was too overwhelming even for me." Jeff had already started driving the jeep while the rest of us kept listening to William as he told us his story. "I couldn''t absorb all the zombies at once, so I decided to do it as much as my body allowed me to do. Though, all that nning went to trash when that bastard came out of nowhere. The one who pushed me here a few moments ago. Every time I tried getting close to theboratory, it just appeared out of nowhere and started attacking me. Like a cockroach, every time I tried killing it, it escapes andes back a bit stronger than before. I tried killing it many times, but before I could do so, it''d escape. The fact that it doesn''t get weakened like other zombies makes things quite frustrating, honestly. Well, that''s more or less the jist of it. Do you have any questions, brother?" William looked at me with somewhat tired eyes, and I pondered before asking, "What are your ns from here onwards... also.. did you try to find out about dad?" He looked at me and nodded,"Dad is missing as far as I know. Just yesterday, I started searching around everywhere, but still couldn''t find him. As for my next n, my priority is to find what is inside thatboratory and kill it before it ends up bing a problem that nobody can handle." I could see determination in his eyes and it kinda reminded me how idiotic my brother could be. The selfless kinda guy who would sacrifice his life for the people anytime, it made me wonder how he ended up like this... "Do you have a n?" I asked again with a serious voice and his eyes just stopped for a moment before he spoke in a slightly sheepish voice, "Ummm... get strong and fight hard?" Hearing his words, a slight cold smile formed on my face as I looked at him. He gulped, looking at my face before he spoke out, "It''s not like I have so many options, anyway. Also, thinking is your area of expertise brother not mine, I am more of a physical type. Dush Dush Bang Bang, you know?" He spoke as he did two air punches and acted like he was shooting bullets with his fingers and I just... looked at him. Then... I sighed. ''I guess I will help him out with theboratory. I think M is here for the same thing as well, so it should all work out together. That way I can take him with me without any force and also help out M at the same time,'' I thought as I looked at him for a brief moment and spoke, "Let''s first go to your uni. I want to see your hideout. Then we will decide our next move from there onwards. M, if I am not wrong, your destination should match theb as well, so why note with us? If someone like William is having a hard time, I doubt you guys would be able to do anything. So why not devise a n first?" M pondered over my decision before she nodded at me,"I was thinking of doing that, actually. William, I hope you don''t mind our intrusion, do you?" "Nope, no problem at all. Brother''s friends are my friends," William spoke with a smile as he looked at M before turning at me with a smile that had more meaning to it than just a casual smile. Chapter 113 Meeting The Survivors "Circle around here to reach the back of the uni. The numbers of zombies should be less at the back," William spoke as we almost reached the front gate of the university. Hearing William''s voice, Jeff took a turn and while we tracked around the university, I observed the situation. ''The number of zombies are more around the front gate¡­ is there something there? Hmmmm¡­ '' My eyes concentrated on the area around the university. There were a few zombies on the side road, but mostly they were dispersed, so it was easy to travel through them. My eyes looked around to see if there was anything that I should keep an eye out for. "Take another left," William was guiding Jeff through the area before we reached near a certain building where the zombies were moving towards. Unlike the front of the uni, their numbers were less, but still, all of them were collectively moving towards that building. ''The survivors must be there,'' I thought as I observed the building. "It''s the medb building, where most of the experiments and stuff happens. We thought that other than the sports building, which was heavily infested, this building should at least provide us with blunt objects which could be used as weapons," William spoke with a bit of prideful look on his face before Shawn asked, "What about food, though? Didn''t you guys just put yourself in a situation where you are far away from food?" Shawn looked at him, confused, and William''s proud face turned a bit sour as he red at Shawn a little. I chuckled a little as I believed this idea was probably of William himself. "Take us in," I said, changing the topic and William turned at me with a sigh as he nodded before getting out of the jeep and moving towards the zombies. [Temporal Deceleration!] I used Temporal Deceleration only this time and saw William running around touching and absorbing the zombies, before moving to the next one. It didn''t even take a minute before I saw him clearing all the zombies around the area before moving back. I undid my skill and saw himing at a rapid speed here and then speaking,"let''s go. I cleared the path." The others just looked at him nkly, most probably because they couldn''t even see what had just happened. Their eyes were looking at William, a bit cautious, a bit scared. "Sure," I spoke as I dismounted the jeep first and looked back at M and Caroline,"let''s go." They both gulped a little before looking at me and nodding as they too got out along with the rest of the people except Jeff. Jeff parked the jeep a bit close to the gate. -Knock Knock "Ariana!" William shouted and a few secondster -Click! The door opened, and a beautiful girl opened up the door. A blue-haired girl with a bob cut, with blue eyes and big breasts. She was wearing an extremely tight uniform that entuated all her curves and at first, happy, she then turned to us with a slight re. Through her eyes changed to puppy eyes as she turned to William and spoke,"William. Who are they?" With a proud expression, William looked at me and introduced,"this is my brother that I told you about. And the others are his friends and stuff." "I-Is that so?" Arianna, a bit shocked, looked at me with a bit of a smile before she opened the gate as William went in. The others and I followed behind him into the building. The first thing that greeted us was about 5-6 people with knives in their hands standing at a distance. Their expression was a bit mellow as they observed William, but turned tense when they saw me and people with me. "William. Did you seed?" Arianna spoke with a tense voice as she observed William. Though William just spoke with a sigh,"that one escaped again." Those who were there, their expression turned shit scared as one of them spoke up,"we should¡­ run away from here. Staying here is only going to kill uster on¡­ William-" "I have already made my decision, us. I am not going to change it. If you guys are going to run away, do it by yourself," William spoke with a determined face. ''Is there more to thatboratory than what William told me?'' I thought with a bit of a curious mind. I mean, William is the ''I will save all of ''em'' kind of person but even still¡­ Something feels odd about it. "William. I am sorry, but this time I agree with them. You have taken your chances and you still can''t do anything about it. It''s not like I understand your sentiment, but please think it from an objective point of view," Arianna joined in before something lit up in her mind and she turned to me. "You are William''s brother, right?" she spoke as she analyzed me. Her eyes turned a bit red too before they turned normal blue, and she made a bit of a disgusted expression but immediately hid it. Then she continued with a pure innocent smile as she moved closer to me, trying to hold my hands. -Woosh! -Woosh! M pointed her gun at her forehead and Caroline had her knife pointed at her neck. "Just where do you think you are going?" Caroline spoke with a cold re, making Arianna take a step back with sweat trickling down her forehead. Arianna''s eyes turned red again as she analyzed the two girls and her sweat intensified as her eyes started shaking considerably. I think I could hear her heartbeat as well. "Now! Now! Let the girl speak what she wants," I spoke, and she gulped at me before she slowly spoke,"that¡­ that¡­ I¡­ just wanted you to ask William¡­ not to go to that ce anymore." A smile appeared on my face as I asked,"and why is that so?" Though before Arianna could speak anything, William spoke out first,"Since you will end up knowing it anyway¡­ Brother, your secretary went there¡­ Miss Alissa is there. Before the apocalypse urred, I met her outside the uni. She inquired a bit about you and other stuff before telling me that she came here with some sort of workshop work and whatnot¡­" My eyes opened up wide a little before I looked around to the gate, "Brother?" William asked with a questioning expression. "Others stay here. William,e with me," I said before moving outside. "Where are you-" Arianna wanted to speak but M just red at her and she turned quite immediately. "Need any help?" M asked as she turned back at me and I shook my head,"just watch the area around. Jeff, give me the car keys." Jeff looked at M first before giving me the car keys. William was confused, but he didn''t question anything and just spoke,"Well guys, I will be back in another 30 minutes or so." Under the fixed gazes of everyone there, both William and I walked out of the building right a few moments after we entered it. -SCREECCCHHHH!!!! I heard a voice a few minutes right after we moved out of the building as the same zombie that attacked William before, had returned in front of us. "Did he follow us? This bas-" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I moved towards that almost slowed zombie and -BOOOM!!!!! Punched it once¡­ -BOOOM!!! Twice¡­ -BOOOM!!! Thrice [You have killed a C-Grade Zombie (Sonic Drifter)!] [+5000 Exp] Then I undid my skills as I turned back to William, "We don''t have time to waste on small things. Let''s go." Chapter 114 Reaching The Plant Laboratory I moved towards William who just looked at me as if he had a thousand questions in his mind but, "I will answer as we travel. Get in the car," I spoke as I observed him with quiet but serious eyes. He gulped and nodded before he hurriedly hopped in the car while I did too. The car drove and from the rear view mirror, I saw Jeff and the othersing out of the building one by one, trying to examine what had transpired outside. Though my eyes shifted its gaze from them to the front where William was driving towards. "What do you want to know, first?" I asked William. Even though he is my brother, I wasn''t going to tell him about System and stuff, but as far as other things goes, I don''t mind him knowing about it. He is one of the few people I trust. "Why hide the power? Even earlier you could have just killed that zombie yet you let it go. Why?" Was the first question he asked. "Because I wanted to see your capabilities first. If that zombie was really a threat, I would have killed it back then too," I answered him truthfully "Well... I guess, you really do a lot of thinking work that I can''t understand... Well, how long have you been this powerful?" he asked again and I calcted a little before speaking, "I just got an upgrade of sorts earlier in the morning today. Before that I wasparatively weak," I answered and he nodded, "That''s the reason you didn''te early to help me out?" I nodded at him affirming his question before he smiled and spoke,"well. I guess you didn''t have much choice then. So did you try finding out about mom and dad or did you juste directly for me?" "To you," I answered and his smile brightened a little before he spoke,"that''s not fair though. You should have saved mom and dad first. They should always be our priority." "Mom and Dad won''t agree with you. Despite being strong and stuff, you are the most idiotic among the family. Even among our cousins, your IQ is the lowest. Of course, I was going to save you first... though it doesn''t seem like you exactly need it," I spoke as I sighed before looking at him. This idiotic brother of mine... normally one would start questioning about the strangeness of my power, be skeptical or even be careful in dealing with me but here we are talking as if everything is normal. ''But I guess, I am lucky he is like this,'' a smile formed on my face as I peeked at him and a bit creeped out, he spoke,"Hey, stop calling me an idiot. And why are you looking at me like that?" "Nothing," I sighed before pondering a little as I spoke, "So who is Arianna? She seems pretty close to you." "A ssmate of mine. Sweet girl. She helped everyone in the ssroom even before," William spoke as he looked at the front. From William''s expression it didn''t seem like he was in love or something. On the inside, I sighed as I was d my brother wasn''t trapped in the web of some b*tch. Back then I read bits of her Status using the [Inspect] Skill and found that she was trying to get into my brother''s pants before trying to be the ''Queen'' of the Kingdom that my brother would supposedly ''build'' for her. Well, since she and my brother aren''t connected, I can deal with her without much problems. "That reminds me... I am happy for you brother," William spoke out of nowhere and I smiled as I looked at him. "I guess so," I spoke with a bit of a nostalgic gaze before turning to the front. "We are here," he then suddenly spoke as I looked at a wide spread building at a distance which was infested with vines from all around. Looking at the building, it seemed like that building had aged decades with leaves and branches covering most of it. And down below at the ground I saw about thousands of zombies walking towards thatboratory. William''s eyes opened up a little as they turned red all of a sudden before he stopped the car about a hundred meters away from the horde. "What happened?" I asked with a serious face and he gulped before speaking,"brother... something inside that building is... it''s alive and... it''s growing. It''s something very sinister..." Hearing his words, I closed my eyes for a few moments as I realized a piece of information that I misinterpreted before. ''I guess it wasn''t the nightcrawlers but the thing on the inside... ?'' I thought before confirming one of my doubts. "Did you go to search for dad yesterday night?" I asked and he looked at me and nodded. "All right. I guess, your powers aren''t as versatile as Alex''s and Jeff''s," I made that conclusion as William, though had the power to sense other beings, I guess it''s limited to a certain distance or something. Otherwise, he too would have sensed the thingst time as well. After all, the location matches more or less. I then got out of the car as I spoke,"let''s go. Show me around the ce. It''s not like everyday Ie to visit you these days," with a bit of a smile as he looked at me with a bit of wide-eyed expression before he got out of the car. His eyes were still shaking, and so were his feet as he was a bit afraid of walking towards that ce but then he clenched his fist, and looked at theboratory with a determined face before he nodded. Then I began walking towards theboratory, as William walked beside him. The more we walked the more William''s gaze turned grave. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Activating my ability, I soon began killing all the zombies present at a rapid speed as I used the knife to sh through the zombies as if I was slicing melted butter. Hundreds of notifications ran through the System, but I ignored it before I finally killed almost all the zombies on my way to theboratory gate. And once I was done, ''How long till I am attacked?'' [50 minutes: 45 seconds] ''Without my time slowing skills, I guess that''s about 30 seconds?'' I thought as I undid my skill before turning to William and speaking, "Let''s go." His eyes shook for a few seconds before he nodded and walked behind me. His eyes were still shaking and soon... I saw his eyes turning blood red. All over his retina, pupil, etc, his entire eyes turned red before I saw him calm down a little as he spoke, "It''s better now. Let''s go brother." [Inspect!] [Name: William Aroa Race: Zombified Human (C-Grade) Title: ss: Lord of the Death [Lord of the Death: If the user wished to, any being who used Cessation Energy, below the user''s Grade will have their aura suppressed to an extent.] Zombification: 43%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 55000/55000 Status: Healthy Active Ability: Beyond Human Skills(7)* (4) Beyond Human: Allows the user to increase his stats by +400% for the next 2 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours Strength: 145(+590) Constitution: 145(+590) Dexterity: 123 (+492) Intelligence: 89 (+356) Wisdom: 130 (+520) Charm: 100(+400)] ''So he is using this skill instinctively, huh? I wonder if he will be able to match my speed now... ummm... I guess not,'' I thought as I looked at my own status. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter [The Title has the following effects: (4) When the user fights an enemy more than 10 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +900%(Active) (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions](Active) ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronos: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,290,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 102000/102000 Time Points: 10000/10000 Strength: 15(+135)(+300) Constitution: 15(+135)(+300) Dexterity: 15(+135)(+300) Intelligence: 15(+135)(+300) Wisdom: 15(+135)(+300) Charisma: 15(+135)(+300) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 512 Total Dungeons Under Control: 1] ''So the enemy inside is at least 10 times my base strength, huh? And more than that... The fight has already started?'' I thought as I looked at my Stats and their effects. Though, before we could even take a step inside, I saw something really nice in front of my eyes. [Side Quest!] [Saving an Ally!] [Your friend Alissa has been captured and imprisoned by a strange being that has grown past the stage of both nts and zombies, bing a hybrid of its own. Save Alissa from its clutches before it is toote. Reward: +2 Skill Evolution Points] [Hybrid!] [An abomination of nts and zombies has taken birth within theboratory of ''nt Civilisation'' . If left free, it will create a wave of its own in this already doomed world, nulling whatever chances humanity has to save their. Kill the Zombie-nt Hybrid! Reward: +20,000 Exp +5 Skill Points ''nt Civilisation(Dungeon)'' unlocked to conquer nt Maniptor(Skill)] "Now isn''t that lovely?" I spoke with a bright smile as I went into theboratory, with thrice the motivation I had before. Chapter 115 Alissa Rosalyn Both William and I entered the darkboratory, killing the zombies left and right. This time I wasn''t using any skills, as just my base stats were enough to kill the D-Grade Zombies without any effort. Both mine and my brother''s speed were almost matching as he killed zombies before absorbing them at a rapid speed. As for me, I just killed some here and there, letting him absorb most of them. While Cessation Energy is bad in most ways, him being strong will at least guarantee his safety, even when I am not here. If he is strong, he could take over my ce when I am not here. First, we cleared the reception area before moving deeper into theboratory. Each floor had beenpletely consumed by the nts, though we still hadn''t reached the core of the area. Though luckily, "Here,"William spoke as he sensed the core energy and guided us towards the so-called Hybrid nt-Zombie. After taking several turns, left and right, we finally reached arge open space at the end of theboratory, where an open botanical garden greeted us. From the third floor, we saw the area below us in the garden, infested with strange nts and vines that were moving like snakes here and there. Other than that, the walls of the botanical garden were infested with strange spores and flowers that looked anything but attractive. Though what caught our attention was the humongous flower at the center of the botanical garden that was tall enough to reach the fourth floor and wide enough to take in a couple of buses. [5 seconds] I had already been looking out for any surprise attacks using both my foresight and normal timer skill. And it was almost time this thing began its attack. [3 seconds] "Brother," William warned me and peeking at him from the corner of my eyes, I smiled at him as I spoke,"wannapete?" He chuckled a little as his eyes glowed a bit dark red and he nodded,"like the old days?" "Like the old days," I replied as [1 second] [Temporal Deceleration!] I activated only one of my skills first to check how the attacks are going toe. Other than that, I also wanted to check where Alissa is. ording to the System, she is somewhere trapped around here. I had a general idea where she could be, but in the end, it was just an idea and not a sure thought. "Well¡­ that''s a bit¡­ " I thought as I saw the attacking from behind through the vines. William had already jumped away from here, as he might have already sensed the attack. As for me, I took a step aside, simply dodging the attack. The vine which was piercing towards me, I saw it slowly turned towards me. ''Homing?'' I thought before I saw the future where another attack wasing from below this time. Simply dodging again, I chose a step where I could have some room for further movements and not get trapped. Welp, looks like that nt thingy had another n, since the flowers which were all around the walls, started blooming at once [A harmful energy is trying to invade the user''s body!] [Preventing the energy to invade the user''s body!] [Prevention sessful!] ''Well, that''s so nice of you,'' I thanked the System before looking at how William was faring. Looking at him, he was more or less dodging the vines and killing them left and right before some of the pores bloomed around him. [Inspect!] Concentrating on what I wanted to see [A second energy is trying to invade William''s body!] [The second energy is fighting with the energy within William''s body at a rapid rate!] [Zombification Energy: 43% nt Energy: 1% Sanity: 98%] ''Looks like he would need my help,'' I thought as I jumped towards him. My eyes observed him with a bit of curious look [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I then moved behind him and touched his head a little before [Advanced Time Maniption] [Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by as much time as the user wants (max 200). Does not work on any macro movements Cost: 0] Smiling, I activated my ability on him, and soon [Inspect!] [William''s body has started taking control over the nt Energy!] [The nt Energy is trying to set itself free!] [Because William is taking control at an insane speed, the nt Energy user is losing its control on the nt Energy!] A smirk appeared on my face as I looked back at that huge nt monster that was trying to take over my brother. Then a glint of cold re escaped my eyes as I observed it for a few moments as I mumbled, "I will let my brother handle you. Count yourself lucky that you are going to be a growth material for him or else." Soon¡­ [William has sessfully taken over the nt Energy!] [Name: William Aroa Race: Zombified Human (C-Grade) Title: ss: Lord of the Death [Lord of the Death: If the user wished to, any being who used Cessation Energy, below the user''s Grade will have their aura suppressed to an extent.] Zombification: 43%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 55000/55000 Status: Healthy Active Ability: Beyond Human Skills(8)* (4) Beyond Human: Allows the user to increase his stats by +400% for the next 2 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours (8) nt Overruler: Can use nts and vegetation to his own advantage using Cessation Energy. Cost: 100 Cessation Energy/second Strength: 145(+590) Constitution: 145(+590) Dexterity: 123 (+492) Intelligence: 89 (+356) Wisdom: 130 (+520) Charm: 100(+400)] -SCREEECCHHH!!!!!! A loud yet shrill sound echoed throughout the garden from all the flowers that had already bloomed before I saw them dying out slowly and slowly. The vines trace themselves back to the big flower at the center of the area, concentrating all the energy there before¡­ -Thud! A lifeless body fell out of the flower''s mouth¡­ and the flower gradually withered. The lifeless body then started twitching all over before it started getting back up on its two feet. My eyes looked deeper into the eyes of the blonde-haired zombie with its body covered entirely with vines all around its body. -SCREEECCCH!!!! It shouted as it looked at me. The fact that it could move like normal, despite the time being slowed more than a hundred times, showed how strong this one was. But that wasn''t why it was a bad situation¡­ [Inspect!] [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, she got caught in between this mess between two opposing energies. Her will power to survive no matter what let her survive till the very end, only to be the final product of an abomination between the two energies. Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 1,240,000/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 1,210,234/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 1023(+543) Dexterity: 876(+234) Intelligence: 671(+156) Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] Chapter 116 Michael V/S Alissa The first thing I did was take out a notepad and write, ''Find a way to take control of all the energies around'' And then ce it in the hands of William. Then I observed Alissa moving towards me one step at a time, and a few questions appeared in my mind. ''Just how did she end up being a B-Grade so fast? And also¡­ is she really gone? I wonder about that mind control¡­'' I thought as a sudden cold sensation started developing in my chest. Then I began running towards her at a rapid speed as I took out a knife, which M gave me before. The first thing is to make Alissa¡­ or whatever that thing is, to weaken. -sh! I shed her near her shoulder, trying to disarm her first and -BOOM!!! I kind of failed to do so, as she pped me away without any effort. Checking my HP [Health Points: 99234/102000] ''2500 Points in a single swipe, huh?'' I thought as I saw my HP rapidly regenerating. I guess it must be the effect of my title. My eyes then looked at Alissa for a few moments before -Whoosh! I jumped at her again [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Foresight)] I saw how she repelled me this time and, using that knowledge -sh! I made a sh at her. This time¡­ it was a sessful attempt Though¡­ It just healed in an instant. ''Man¡­ this is getting nowhere¡­'' I cursed under my breath before wondering if I should use any of my Unique Skills? Though my foresight showed me something I wasn''t expecting¡­ or more like I should have expected that. About a dozen vines from the ground around Alissa pierced in my direction. Well, she did have 18 abilities, so I guess I should be prepared for more surprises. I mean, I could have looked at her status screen. In fact, I did try, but each of those skills has aplicated function and with each skill having a dozen of properties and limitations, I stopped checking it after the first skill. For the next few minutes, I tried fighting her left and right, but honestly, I didn''t see any changes in our stances. We were just reying our actions over and over without any progressive move to the fight. ''Seems like I would need another card here,'' I thought as I began scrolling through my status screen and after a bit of consideration, I decided to see a particr skill of mine. [Time Cutter (Umon) (Level 2)] [Bring out the de that cuts through each and everything. Cannot cut through beings that are immune to space and time effects, or divine beings who have ascended the realm of mortality Cost: 450 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 10] I kind of leveled it up right now because I don''t want it to be heavy in my pocket. After all, it''s not like I have many Cronas in any way. Hopefully, I can utilize the dungeon soon to earn more Cronas in the future. [Total Cronas: 514] Sort of hurts to see how broke I am. ''Anyway,'' I muttered under my breath before I decided to use another skill of mine first. A unique one this time. [I am God(Unique)] [Consume all your Health Points to gain invincibility for 60 seconds. Can be used once every 24 hours. After the effect is gone. The Stats will increase by 50% for the next 3 hours or until the user gains hisplete Health back.] Since my HP regenerated at a rapid speed, getting it back to full wasn''t much of a problem. Now then¡­ [I am God!] -Thud! I fell on my knees before an intense pain started to take over me, though luckily it passed within moments before I saw something. [Health Points: 1/600,000] ''It did quite literally take almost all of my Stat Points,'' I thought as I saw it going back up at quite an insane speed. I was healing about 0.5% of health every second. And my Stats were off the chart as well. ''Probably because of this effect,'' I thought as I looked at it [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats be 5 times] In any case -Whoosh!! I reached Alissa and -BOOM!!! Punched her real hard first before I grabbed her hand and asked a particr question, ''How long till she gains back her control over her body?'' Normally it wouldn''t have made sense, but something in my mind told me that there is more to it than it seems. Especially with that ''nt-Zombie-Human'' thing. [247 Days: 14 hours: 14 minutes] Next step was¡­ [Time Cutter!] I used the sword to cut her hands, legs and some parts of non-vital organs making her¡­ ''F*ck!'' I thought as I saw that very instant regeneration of her limbs and arms and other body parts. Her Cessation Energy was down by 10% but yet still, she was back to tip-top condition within a blink of an eye. -BOOM!!! Then she punched me in the face, as she found her chance, though I just stood there with a baffled face as I cursed out loud, "That was a f*king waste of 450 Cronas!" -BOOOM!!! I punched her again, this time much harder than before. Since my Stats were off the charts right now, it was as easy as punching a pile of paper and I kept doing it for sometime before I felt my Stats bing less again. [Health Points: 60,000/102000] ''I guess health reached 10% of 600,000 so the'' 5 times stats'' were gone,'' I realized before I saw the pulp of Alissa in front of me. Even now I didn''t hit most of the vital organs, and yeah, once again she returned to her prime before I could even think about everything. Her Cessation Energy was now down to 30% though, so that was good news. ''Hmmm¡­ How long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' I asked again, wondering if there was any change in that and sure enough¡­ [97 days: 20 hours: 14 minutes] It was one third of what it was before. ''It''s a bit annoying but¡­ whatever,'' I thought before I concentrated on the front and began attacking her again. Because the duration of [I am God] was still left, I didn''t need to worry about my defense and only focused on my attacks. So for the next 40 seconds of what was left, I just attacked her without any care in the world. After the time was over, my Stats went up by 50% as the Skill mentioned and, just like before, I checked her Cessation Energy. ''About 15%, huh?'' I thought before looking at the full nt Life Energy that Alissa still had. It kind of worried me that she still hadn''t used even a speck of nt Life Energy all this, but since the timer showed [40 days: 11 hours: 12 minutes] I decided to focus on decreasing her Cessation Energy only. ''Just don''t give me any surprisester, please,'' I prayed as I began attacking her again. This time, a bit more cautious than before. Chapter 117 Isnt My Brother So Cool!!! [William Aroa''s POV] -BOOM!!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!!! Eyes wide open, I looked at the destruction that followed all over the ce. I could hear the rapid sound of punching as my brother and that strong monster fought all throughout the ce. I looked on at the fight¡­ I could barely make out their afterimages¡­ even after gaining all these powers¡­ I could barely make out their afterimages. ''Just what is¡­ this fight?'' I observed the whole thing. I couldn''t help but recall what happened before the apocalypse. How my brother was lying on the bed all helpless by himself. ''Is there any special power up for those who have AIDS?'' I questioned before a wry expression formed on my face,''that is too nonsensical even for me.'' But still¡­ When the whole apocalypse descended upon us, there were only 3 people that I was worried about in this whole scenario. Mother, father and brother. Even among them, I was most scared about what would happen to my brother. Especially given his sickness and all. Deep down I had even epted his death and thought about finding dad and mom first. ''The only thing that made me believe that he was alive was pure hope,'' I recalled, as I remembered when I first saw my brother with all those people around. I was insanely happy back then but given the situation, I was more vignt about it, so I didn''t show it. As any normal person would think, I believed it was the people around my brother who saved him. Especially Miss M and Miss Caroline. I was going to help them outter to return the favor they have done on me. ''But it wasn''t the case at all¡­'' I chuckled on the inside as I recalled how my brother killed that zombie, which I was struggling with for the past few days. ["We don''t have time to waste on small things. Let''s go."] I recalled how my brother spoke as if he just squashed a fly or something. ''That was so COOL!!!'' I smiled as my eyes glistened just recalling that scene. Even now, it sends a chill down my spine. How did he even do that? ''I am d,'' I smiled with slight relief. With my brother being this strong, I don''t need to be worried about anything at all. After mom, he was the one who always took charge of what goes in the house and whatnot. My eyes then looked at the note that my brother passed me. "Find a way to take control of all the energies around," I read it out loud before scanning around. After fighting and winning against that strange energy that was trying to take care of me, I can now sense another form of energy around this area. It was the same creepy energy, but now¡­ it felt a bit more familiar than before. It felt weing. "Pheww!!" I took a deep breath before I calmed down and closed my eyes and traced where the energy wasing from. It was like a gas that spread around in patches. Somewhere it was less, other ces it was collected more. -BOOM!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!! Brother and that monster were still fighting. The fact that I haven''t even been touched even once must mean that my brother is winning. A sort of proud feeling came into my mind before I concentrated even more and focused¡­ focused on the area around and then¡­ ''There!'' I thought as I sensed the area where the gas-like energy was more than the others. It wasn''t in this room, but in the next room. Behind that wall. Moving towards that wall in a sh -BOOOM!!!! I punched it with all my power before another big room asrge as this herbarium greeted me. That eerily creepy energy was most concentrated here and even though I could feel some connection to it, this huge amount was suffocating me. A slightly nervous smile appeared on my face as I took a deep breath and jumped in again. Taking in the energy, I began absorbing every bit of energy present around. It was honestly painful, as if my skin was burning and that burning sensation was prating through my pores. ''But this is nothing,'' I thought as I began recalling what my brother had been through¡­ I can take more than that, or I couldn''t even call myself the brother of Michael Aroa. Brother''s past¡­ I would rather not recall that. Changing my focus, I began absorbing more and more of the energy around. While it was painful in the beginning, soon I began feeling a bit more energetic than before. I could absorb it faster, make this energy mine, even control bits of it around my body. The core of the energy was on the other side of the area and, walking one step at a time as I absorbed the energy, I finally found the ce where the core was. It was a big greenish red core with branches covering the core from all over the ce. I could feel that core radiating that energy in a rapid fashion as even the dead nts around the area were moving and twitching a little with that energy falling on their body. -SCREECH!!!! I heard a loud screeching noise that came from behind me and, sensing an attacking at me, I immediately dashed to the side. Dodging that attack, I found a zombie covered in nts that came out of nowhere. For a second I was scared, but then I focused and found out that, ''They are weaker than the one brother is fighting.'' Sighing in relief -Dash! -BOOM!!!! I punched those zombies with all my might. Pushing it as far as I could before -Thud! -Thud! -Thud! -Thud! More zombies began falling all around me. My eyes darted upwards as I saw about a dozen more zombies falling from the broken ceiling down here and observing it carefully, more are going toe. ''This bastard,'' I cursed before -BOOM!!! Punching the nearest zombie as hard as I could before moving towards the core. However, before I could do so, another zombie interfered in between and stopped my advancement. -BOOM!!! Kicking him away, I ran towards the core and gulped before beginning to absorb it too, but¡­ ''Huh?'' I felt a sudden pressure on me. I immediately let go of that core. I felt like my life force was about to be sucked by that core. ''What now?... Okay¡­ can''t take it¡­ let''s break it,'' I decided as I then rushed towards it again. The zombies had almost surrounded me, but I was still fast enough to dodge them and reach the core and -BOOOM!!!! Punched the core with all my power. Though¡­ sadly, there was not even a single scratch on it. Not wasting anytime, -BOOM! -BOOM!!! -BOOM!! I began punching more and more. Though after I was done with more than a dozen punches, I still couldn''t find any scratch on it. Irritation appeared on my face as I looked at the zombies, almost reaching me and with a fierce re I shouted at them "AAAAAA!!!!" -BOOOM!!! ? I punched one of the zombies so hard that it flew, breaking the wall and reaching the other side before it lost its consciousness. Then, after that, I red at the other zombies and began punching them as well. After going on for another few seconds "Oi! Stop acting like a wild animal, will you?" I heard a familiar voice as a figure walked into the room where the giant reddish green core was. There was a body on his shoulders, which he carried with him. "Brother!" I spoke with a refreshed smile as I looked at my brother carrying that zombie over his shoulders. Chapter 118 A Strange Energy [Mchael Aroa''s POV] . . A few moments back . . I saw William moving in a certain direction as I punched Alissa again. -BOOM! With the increased 50% Stat on the already high Stats of mine, I could easily overpower her now. It wasn''t very difficult. Though. Man, this is dragging, really. [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with high hopes... Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] Cessation Energy: 109,293/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 919,157/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 801(+494) Dexterity: 1023(+334) Intelligence: 671(+156) Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] With her Cessation Energy going below 10%, she started using her nt Life Energy to attack me from various angles. Unlike her Cessation Energy, where she could rapidly heal herself, now she was mostly dodging me and attacking me with a multitude of skills. Her agility had increased a little too in ce of her constitution, which decreased by a margin of 20%. I could see her using branches to attack me, throwing spores at me from a distance and a strange greenish glow in her eyes that matched with the glowing green vines around her chest area. -Whoosh!! I jumped towards her in an instant and "Darling, don''t run away from me now, will ya?" -BOOOM!!! I punched her away from William, making sure our attacks didn''t end up harming him. Alissa, first pushed back, now stood back up and began jumping around at a rapid speed. I could still, of course, trace her movements. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used my ability to see where the attack woulde from and saw hering from behind, where I let my guard down a little. First, I used my [Return!] ability to set a point where I was standing and then I walked about two steps ahead as I traced her, still jumping around. Then... Finding a weak spot, she moved behind me and jumped at me with all her might and as soon as she reached closer to me, almost a few inches away from me. [Return!] I used my ability, reached behind her, caught her hand, which she had retracted to punch me and -BOOM!!! Punched her as hard as I could -Pierce! One of her vines attacked me and scratched my body from below [You have been infected with a strong poison. All Stats will be down by 10%. Health will be going down by 100 per second] Not minding much, -BOOOM!!! I attacked her again and once again her vines attacked me, scratched me. [You have been infected with a strong poison. Health will be going down by 200 per second] Even if it was saying that, I didn''t find my Health going down even by a single point. In fact, after a few seconds of continuously punching Alissa as I held her by her hand. [Your body has neutralized the poison. All debuffs are off.] -BOOOM!!! Now, for the next few minutes or so, I didn''t let her go at all. I saw her getting more and more berserk with all that power oozing out of her, but even still -BOOM! -BOOOM! The only difference it made was that previously if I felt like I was ying with a child of 8 years old, now I was dealing with a 12-year-old kid. Kind ofmeparison, but well, that''s the best I could think of right now. After punching for a while [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and... Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 24,243/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 10,024/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 546 Constitution: 548(+234) Dexterity: 476 Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+100) Charm: 523] Both her Cessation and nt Life Energy were down below 1% now and her Stats were reduced as well. Other than that, most of her buffs were gone as well. ''Now, how long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' I asked as I looked at her. [9 days: 14 hours: 13 minutes] ''Still 9 days, huh?'' is what I was thinking before I saw a little change in the number [8 days: 23 hours: 56 minutes] ''Hmmm?'' A bit confused, I looked at almost weakened,pletely unconscious Alissa, whom I held in my hand. At first I wondered if she used a Skill or something, but then my mind traced back to William. ''Where is he?'' I questioned as I looked around and saw a broken wall through which a strange sound of someone shouting wasing. One more thing that I noticed was [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter [The Title has the following effects: (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400%(Active) (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (Active) ] ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,290,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Constitution: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Dexterity: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Intelligence: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Wisdom: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Charisma: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 67 Total Dungeons under control: 1] The difficulty level has changed now. If before the enemy was at least 10 times stronger than my base strength, now it is about 5 times or a bit more than it. I guess that is good news for me. ''Well, let''s move to the next boss then,'' I thought as I carried Alissa on my shoulders and [Active Time Maniption!] ''How long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' [1 hour: 4 minutes: 46 seconds] With a smile on my face, I moved towards where William was supposed to be and, reaching there, a couple of things came in my view. One was that William was shouting like a madman as he kept running at various zombies left and right, punching them with all his strength. The other thing that I saw was a bright green core at the other side of the room which was giving off some sort of light. Curious, I observed it for a few moments before turning to William as I spoke, "Oi! Stop acting like a wild animal, will you?" Hearing my voice, he halted his steps before he looked at me with an extremely relieved smile as he shouted,"brother!" Then, once again, I traced things around the room while keeping my [Eyes of the Timekeeper (foresight)] active all the time and moving towards the green core. Despite it seems like there is no visible enemy around, the System was still active saying that there is someone strong lurking around. "Keep the zombies away for a few moments,"I asked William and hearing me, he nodded with a serious expression before he started punching them left and right. Reaching the green zombie core, I observed it carefully [Inspect!] [Green nt Core!] [A unique core born from the nt life after using the life energy of all the nts around the vicinity. It was abined effort of the nts to save themselves from the harmful decay energy. The core formed from the Will of Gaia containing life energy enough to restore a rainforest to its prime in an instant. Though it is infested by Cessation Energy and is dying at a rapid rate. It won''t be long before it bes a Zombie Core. There is little to no hope left for it.] For a few seconds, I looked at it and then something hit my mind as I turned back to William as I spoke, "Make sure nobody disturbs me." Before I touched the core with my bare hand and muttered,"If you are alive... connect with me." At first nothing happened, and I thought maybe it wasn''t as I was thinking, but right after a few moments... [A strange energy wants to invade your consciousness and connect with it. Would you like to ept its connections?] [Yes/No!] I clicked [Yes] without hesitation before my eyes closed and I reached a green area filled with forests as far as I can see. I could see a few red leaves and branches too that felt like they had decayed. In front of me, there was a woman trapped in red-coloured branches that had infested deep into her skin and were slowly growing out of her as well. I could barely see a few red veins that were giving off a burning steam that I could feel even from this distance. Walking closer to her, I looked at her, as she looked at me with her eyes almost dead. Her eyes reached up to me as she spoke, "You... are strange... human." I nodded at her as I believed that it was really true, but... "Aren''t we all strange in various ways?" Hearing my voice, I think I heard a faint chuckle as she, "So... strange human... as a being who is on the verge of its death... tell me... what do you want from me?" Chapter 119 The Saintess Of Gaia [Inspect!] [Name: Terra Race: Gaia''s Spirit Description: ??? Cessation Energy: ????/???? nt Life Energy: ??? Stats: Strength: ??? Constitution: ??? Dexterity: ??? Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ??? Charisma: ???] "So¡­ strange human¡­ as a being who is on the verge of its death¡­ tell me¡­ what do you want from me?" My eyes traced her''s, vibrant yet dead. Colorless white them eyes, same as her skin, same as her hair. Like everything has decayed over a 100 years and it''s a passing memory that I am witnessing. "It''s Alissa. That girl. What have you done to her?" I asked as I observed her with a bit of re. Nobody touches one of mine. "Have?... or perhaps had?" she muttered as she looked at me with bitter eyes before she continued, "Trying to save thest bits of us. Trying to save the nt life. Our brethren. Dead, as they are decaying. There was no hope left. We needed something. Something that would change the direction of our fate. And that is why we nted a seed." Her eyes were dying and it looked like she hadn''t much left. ''How much time she has left before she dies out?'' I questioned and [3 minutes : 14 seconds] Moving closer to her, I touched her head as I looked at her and [Advanced Time Maniption] ''How much time she has left?'' [8 hours: 32 minutes: 14 seconds] As soon as I did that her eyes widened as she observed me and I asked, "What would that seed do?" Keeping quiet for the next few moments Terra observed me before she muttered, "We wanted her to be the next candidate. Saintess of Gaia¡­ however¡­ She, cursed like others. Her eyes. Their hope was bright. Dulled by that filth. Vanished by thy presence." A bit confused, I asked,"why her? And what do you mean by vanished by my presence?" "When stars struck upon us with hope, we saw a chance to save our existence at the cost of our civilization. We took it. She was someone with a kind heart. Her hope, brighter among the humans, was enough to let her survive the dark times. Though it wasn''t enough I suppose. She got overtaken by that energy. And infected. She failed. Still, we kept her close. As a warrior for us. But then you came. Forced her energy. Made her lose her powers too." Hearing Gaia''s words for a few moments I kind of understood what happened. Honestly, I wouldn''t have thought something like this was possible but ever since I went to that dungeon, I kind of prepared to meet other strange beings in my own world too. Though it was still surprising to see the nts fighting against the zombies too. ''It takes nts V/S Zombies to a whole nother level, doesn''t it?'' I thought with a bit of chuckle on the inside before pondering over a few things and then speaking, "Hmmm¡­ all right. Then answer three more questions of mine and maybe I will help you guys survive¡­ though that depends upon your answers." Terra looked at me with a bit of curious yet cautious eyes. "What is your purpose?" I asked. It was a mix of ''What is your end goal?'' and ''what is your present goal?'' but then I want to see how she interprets this question. "To survive and flourish. To breathe and purify the filth. That is the sole purpose of the nts. That is what it always will be." ''Passable,'' I thought before moving to the next question "What are your thoughts on humans?" "Filth. Dirt. Even though some help. Many burn, cut us down. We don''t mind helping them or them taking help from us. But their greed is beyond anything." She spoke without hiding anything. Perhaps in the face of death she doesn''t feel any threat anymore. A smile formed on my face as I added,"correct. Humans are selfish and greedy. They will kill you for no reason. They will even kill their own brethren for no reason. But not all are like that¡­ the numbers are few but there are good ones too¡­ anyways," I recalled bits of what those bastards from the military did 5 years ago. I have seen what monstrosity humanity is capable of and how far they can take things for their own greed. "Is there any way to bring Alissa back?" I asked the final question. I already knew that Alissa would gain her consciousness within a few hours but I still wanted to see what she would say. "If it is her human form you are referring to, then she is gone. But if it''s just the will, the hope and the consciousness, she will return to normal soon," she answered with a sigh as she smiled a little. "Hmmm¡­ what happened?" I asked a bit curious and Terra looked at me and spoke, "Sweet child. When she was told the story of our purpose, she was even ready to sacrifice her life. Her only demand was for us to take care of her family and a certain man. Michael Aroa. Such a selfless girl. Young human, even if she isn''t one of us anymore¡­ Neither one of you, please take care of her." "That she is," I smiled as I looked at Terra and asked another question different from the previous ones, "Though¡­ I thought you guys hated humans." "We do. But we return the favor. We show kindness to kind and we show love to those who shower love at us. Protect those who protect us. Despite how much we hate anyone, we are being who believe in equivalent exchange," she spoke with a pride in her voice and I smiled at her. "I guess so," I muttered before removing my hand as I spoke,"I guess I will be leaving now." ''How long before she dies?'' I asked in my mind and [2 minutes : 49 seconds] "Young human. Strange human. Can you listen to the dying wish of mine?" she spoke as she looked at me and I turned at her with a questioning look. "There are 11 more Candidates for Saintess of Gaia. Can you protect them if you meet them? They should be helpful on your journey in some way or another," she spoke with a slightly desperate look on her face and after pondering a little, I spoke, "No." I saw her eyes widening a little before she sighed as she looked down. It felt like her heart was aching badly but she had already more or less epted her fate. "Is that-" "That is too bothersome. You do it yourself," I spoke as I smiled at her before taking out a certain item, a yellow coloured leaf, from my inventory and throwing it at her face at a rapid speed. "What are-" "Good luck on your journey, Terra. Let''s meet again," I muttered as I vanished from there. As I returned, I saw William standing in front of me observing both Alissa and I. As I opened my eyes, I saw him widening his eyes and taking a step back before speaking, "Ah! Brother you are back!" I nodded at him before I spoke,"well. Our work is done here. Let''s go." William looked at me with a bit of confused expression before he spoke,"is that so? But what about that core?" Though before we can even take a step the whole area began glowing brightly, especially the core behind me. "Brother?!" William grew vignte but I stopped him from making any moves as I spoke,"it''s okay. It''s fine. Let''s go." He was confused as I dragged him out of the area while the whole area began glowing. From the gloomy dark forest-likeboratory, the whole scenery was now beginning to bloom with colorful flowers as the branches began growing brighter and brighter. By now even William could sense that as he looked at me wondering what I just did. But we still kept walking towards the exit without stopping. William was now walking on his own and we were just observing the changing scenery. As we reached closer to the exit, "Wait!" I saw a spirit forming in front of me. Unlike her white appearance from the consciousness, now her multi coloured hair was looking stunning with those purplish eyes of hers. She looked at least 100 times more beautiful and vibrant than before. "Thank¡­ thank you," She spoke as she bowed in front of me. William looked at me and then at her, confused at what was going on. She just observed me and then I saw her running towards me and "Mmhmhh!!!" She kissed me tightly as I felt a strange energy filling inside my body. Since there was no System message, I don''t think it was harmful energy. Though she continued kissing me for another 3 minutes or so, before she left me. I see her blushing a little before she spoke,"well¡­ with this, anywhere near a nt or simr life form¡­ you should be able to connect to me¡­ or take help from the vegetation¡­ I know there is nothing we can do to repay what you have done for us. But please make use of this if you need any help." For the next few seconds, I concentrated more on the kiss than what she was saying. I could even feel myself getting a bit heated too¡­ "Also¡­ can I¡­ uh¡­ know your.. Name?" she asked with a bit of hesitation and awkwardness. I just observed her before I said,"It''s Michael Aroa." A smile bloomed on her face as she looked at me before something struck in her mind as she shouted,"wait a second! You are!" Though I just walked past her, as I patted her head and spoke,"let''s meet again Terra." She just looked at me for a few moments before she just nodded with her cheeks turning red again. I kind of knew where this conversation was going so I skipped the whole thing As for the rewards¡­ I think I had already received quite a lot from this venture alone. [Quest: Saving an Ally (Complete)!] [Quest: Hybrid (Complete)!] [You have received a Blessing!] [You have received a new Title!] [You have received a new Skill!] [Congrattions! The requirements to unlock the sub-ss have been met!] [Hidden Quest: Saving the nt Kingdom''s World Keeper! (Complete)!] [The following rewards shall now be given] Chapter 120 It Was A Fruitful Journey... Almost Fruitful. [Quest: Saving an Ally (Complete)!] [+ 2 Skill Evolution Points Received!] I looked at the notifications one by one and started with this one. I had already decided the Skill to use this Evolution Point on. [Second Space evolved to Rare!] Since I had 7 Skill Points, I immediately used 5 of them to upgrade the skill once and [Second Space (Rare) (Level 2) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. The user can bring one living person to the Second Space he wishes to. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 25 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 15x20 sq meter Skill Points needed to level up the Skill: 10] As for the other [Skill Evolution Point], I decided to save it for [Eyes of the Time Keeper]. Since it is a Unique Skill, upgrading it will give me another Mythical Skill, which kind of excites me genuinely. "Ummm brother? Why are you grinning looking at the space in front of you?" William asked as he looked at me as he drove the jeep, and I just turned at him before speaking,"I am just nning something, or more like looking forward to the future. Gimme a moment of silence, okay?" He didn''t understand a dime, but nodded anyway before continuing to drive the jeep. Anyway, to the next notification. [Quest: Hybrid (Complete)!] [+20,000 Exp Received] [+5 Skill Points Received] [''nt Civilisation(Dungeon)'' unlocked to conquer] [nt Maniptor(Skill)] The first three were self exnatory. Also, I decided to check the dungeonter on once I had saved my father and mother and helped them find a ce where they would be rtively safer. As for the Skill, [nt Maniptor(Common)(Level 1)] [Allows the user to control the growth pattern of nearby nts. Cost: +10% increase in growth/second/10 Time Points Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 1] ''Hmmm... I guess, I expected a bit too much... Getting all those overpowered skills kind of makes me look down on this skill for some reason,'' I sighed before I peeked at my side at the girl who was sleeping against my body. The unconscious body of Alissa, who still hasn''t woken up yet. I kept myself connected with her as I was still using [Advanced Time Maniption] on her. ''How long till she wakes up?'' [40 minutes: 24 seconds] I nodded before moving to the next notification [You have received a Blessing!] [Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50%] [You have received a new Title!] [Gaia''s Saviour: Allows the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions] [You have received a new Skill!] [Gaia''s Call (Rare)] [Allows the user to call out nearby nts to help the user. The nts can be used to heal the user, form a defensive barrier, or attack the enemy. The nts share the same health and defense as that of the user. When in a forest or surrounded by vegetation. The nt''s powers increases by +100% Duration: 5 mins || Cooldown: 2 hours ||Cost: 10,000 TP] ''The title and the blessing weren''t really that useful in the current situation, but if I ended up in a vegetation-based area or somewhere within a forest, maybe... I guess these could be useful. As for the Skill, it was a cherry on top of my already present skills. Especially since the nts would be sharing most of my stats,'' Once again, I grinned widely and once again, William looked at me with a really scared expression. It felt like he wanted to ask if I was okay, but he kept quiet as he drove. I recalled Terra once again and the way her smile was bloomingpared to the deadpan expression she had when I first saw her. Puts a smile on my face a little. The next notification... [Congrattions! The requirements to unlock the sub-ss have been met!] [Subss Quest!] [Conquer Three Silver Dungeons of the same type to receive a Subss] ''Simple and clear. Just like the ss Quest,'' I thought before wondering if I should do the nt dungeon or not... I could more or less see that if I do 3 nt dungeons, I am going to have a nt-based subss... which, honestly, I am not too fond of. I mean, it''s not bad by any means. Just that nts aren''t something my expertise falls into. Anyway, next is [Hidden Quest: Saving the nt Kingdom''s World Keeper! (Complete)!] ''This was the most unexpected one out of all,'' I thought as I observed it. Was it because I did something totally unexpected? Or was it an impossible quest under normal conditions and that is why the System Hid it...? [Saving the nt Kingdom''s World Keeperplete)!] [All the nts in this world are connected to each other by the of Gaia. It forms awork through which each nt canmunicate with each other. However, thatwork has been infected by Cessation energy and the nts have lost their connections with each other. Restore the dying core of the area and Save Gaia''s Spirit Rewards: +10 Skill points; +10 Stat Points; Children of Gaia(Skill)] Since I already received the rewards, I first jumped to see the skills before moving towards the other rewards. [Children of Gaia(Rare)] [This world is our mother, Gaia and we are its children. Yet therees a time when Gaia must favor one over the other. You are one of the blessed children whom Gaia has decided to favor. ept these blessings with pride. When the user is present around the nts, both the nts and the user can share senses When the user is present around the nts, both the nts and the user restores health at the rate of 0.1% per seconds When the user is present around the nts, the User can use a random skill of the nts around him, if they possess any] ''Hmmm.. a passive utility skill?'' I thought before nodding at it. ''Though... most of the skills I am getting now can''t be leveled up, huh? Especially those obtained from ces other than the system and are too high a grade,'' I thought as I felt sad about it. If they were upgradable, maybe I could have evolved even the most basic looking skills into something really good. Also, since i had some extra skill point left, [Second Space (Rare) (Level 3) Allows the user to create a second space where he can enter or exit. The user can bring one living person to the Second Space he wishes to. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 36 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 20x20 sq meter Skill Points needed to level up skill: 15] ''Nice!'' I grinned as I saw the time ratio increasing to that level... hmmm... I wonder who I should bring with me to the second space, though? ''For now... let''s not bring anyone,'' I thought as I decided that it would be best to keep my secrets to myself. Getting others involved won''t be a good idea. "We are here," I heard William speaking as we finally reached back to the ce where M, Caroline and the others were. ''That wasn''t toote, was it?'' I thought as I looked at Caroline and M waiting for us outside the gate of that building. Chapter 121 Code White Walking out of the jeep, I first carefully took Alissa in my arms and then started moving towards M and Caroline. Both of them were first happy as they looked at me, but when their eyes reached Alissa, their eyes turned worried as they ran towards me. "How is she?!" Caroline asked with a worried face as she checked her pulse and M observed her with her senses as she spoke,"is she still with us?" While Caroline asked for health, Alissa asked if she had turned or not. And the answer to both was, "She is fine. She should wake up in a while." [32 minutes : 14 seconds] "Is that so?" Both of them spoke with relief in their voices before M asked,"what happened there? Jeff was freaking out a lot. He said that the strange energy was going all over the ce. Though, a few momentster, he said that it hadpletely changed its nature before vanishingpletely." Caroline, who was there, joined the conversation as,"We concluded that the fight was over and I guess you should being back soon. Though we were going to wait only for about another hour and then move towards theb ourselves in case you didn''t arrive." I smiled at their worried filled faces before speaking,"I guess I worried you both a little. Let''s get in for now. I will tell the whole story inside," and they both nodded as we went inside the building. -Click! The door opened, and we went in only to witness "Drop your weapons!" a young guy of about 18 was shouting as he took ra in her arms with a gun to her forehead. While Jeff and Shawn were just looking at that guy with a confused expression. As for ra herself, she was eating the popcorn she held in her hands without really worrying about the situation. ''If I am correct, ra is directly under M, who is a Sergeant Major. Doesn''t that make ra a First Sergeant? Is that guy an idiot?'' I thought as I observed the situation, trying to find popcorn around. Looked a bit interesting, honestly. "Miller, what''s the meaning of this?!!" The one who got excited over this scenario the most was William, of course, as he looked at that guy, Miller, with a betrayed face. "William. You are back! Answer me this William? What''s the meaning of this? They have food and yet they aren''t sharing with us. Aren''t we giving them shelter with us so that they can survive? Why are they taking the food all for themselves?!!" Mir spoke as he looked at the military people before turning at William. William was confused by his behavior while the others just looked at the scene, wondering what was going on. M and Caroline were observing me while William kind of felt lost at what to do. "You got a hypocrite with you?" I finally spoke, as I looked at William with an uninterested gaze. "I am not a hypocrite!!!" that guy shouted as he looked at me. This easy to trigger? What is he, a kid? I used [Inspect!] on him and I found that everything was more or less normal for him. I guess the apocalypse ate at a bit of his sanity and his logic became a bit twisted? Or perhaps he was like this before and the apocalypse was making him showcase his true colors? "Is that so? Then tell me, please. If you are so worried about the food so much, then why not go out and find some food for yourself? That shouldn''t be so hard, no?" He looked at me with a re as he spoke,"you want me to go and die out there?" "Then what do you think others will give you food for? It''s not like you can protect them if you can''t even kill a zombie or so, nor do you have any specific ability that you can provide them in the apocalypse," I spoke as I moved towards him one step at a time. "My father is a magistrate. Currently, I am weak, but if I get to meet my father, surely he will listen to me and I can return the favor," he spoke with a re. If I hadn''t dealt with hypocrites like them on a daily basis, perhaps I would have believed him a little. ''But the wide grin behind his worried re is too easy to see,'' I sighed on the inside. My eyes turned half closed as I took a deep breath and William''s expression began changing as he observed me, "He is beyond saving¡­ William. Kill him." "Huh? What are you-" -Ssh! And William killed him without any hesitation as his expression changed from confused to serious. He looked at me with his hands stained with blood and he asked, "Anything else, brother?" "Nope¡­ I am sorry, I broke my promise¡­. But I guess you will survive more by being ruthless in this messed up world than being naive," I spoke as I looked at William. It hurts my heart, but it is what it is¡­ "It''s fine brother. I might be naive but I am not a fool. I saved him because he looked desperate back then. If I knew he was like this, I would have left him behind," William spoke with a smile on his face before asking, "Are you okay, brother?" I nodded at him as I answered,"yeah. I am fine. Just¡­ those memories resurfaced a little." I saw Caroline keeping her hands on my shoulder and M too, looking at me with a worried face before someone else spoke out, "Now I finally remember who you are!!!" Shawn spoke as he stood up with his eyes widened in realisation. It was as if he couldn''t believe his eyes as he looked at me. Jeff and ra were a bit shocked to see what had just happened up until now, but when they saw Shawn''s reaction, they observed him with an even more confused face. Shawn spoke out loud, "Jeff, ra, do you remember the Valentine''s Day incident that urred 5 years ago?" ra was the first one to speak. "Yeah¡­ I know. Anyone who doesn''t know about this incident in this country must be living under a rock." "What about it?" Jeff asked. "Then you must have heard the two names¡­ Code ck and Code White," Shawn spoke as goose bumps urred all over his body and he observed me. I could see a sense of a bright spark in his eyes. Jeff spoke out first,"yeah¡­ what about it?" as his eyes looked at me. He more or less has figured it out, and I sighed again as I slowly put Alissa down on the floor. As for ra, she was still confused as she looked at Shawn with slight confusion,"the two people who killed an entire army of terrorists by destroying the entire Fontaine Building? The ones who saved the entire nation as that building held information to devastate the entire nation. Why are you bringing that topic? Didn''t all the people in that building die and no one survived?" "Not all of them died," I spoke out as I helped Alissa against the wall before continuing, "Your higher ups know about it but I guess they kept it a secret¡­Code ck was devised to utilize half of the people to set up bombs and kill the terrorists. While Code White was devised as an escape n to make sure everyone survives. While Code ck seeded in killing all the terrorists in that building, Code White could only save about a dozen people on its own." This time, even ra realized a bit about my identity. "Because of the fucking military, who couldn''t listen to my advice. Those greedy fuckers that watch over the nation, couldn''t even distract the terrorist for mere 5 minutes¡­ Code ck¡­ my childhood best friend, the elder brother of Alissa Rosalyn, Leeway Rosalyn, had to die as ''Hero of the Nation'' " I spoke with a re in my eyes as I looked at ra. William just looked at me¡­ he was one of the survivors too¡­ so he understood me more than others¡­ "You are¡­" ra spoke with her eyes widened as she looked into mine. "The coward who ran away with his tails between his legs. The man who couldn''t save even 20% of the people he needed to save. The guy who left his best friend behind¡­ your other ''Hero'' of Valentine''s Day. I am the one who you call¡­Code White," I spoke as I looked at ra. Chapter 122 People Think A Lot... Dont They? [Author''s Note: Even though I would like to give you guys aplete backstory of what happened with Michael and Leeway in the Fontaine Building. I won''t. Not in this story, at least. I will just create another short story with about 5-10 chaps to borate the whole detailed outline of that event. "Code White" is the name I am going to give that story. Should be out by the end of this month. Anyway, happy reading!] ... For the next few moments, everyone became silent as they observed me with shocked faces. The only one who knew about it here was William, who was there with me, M, whose father might have helped her find out about me. As for Caroline, it was probably her cousin who got her the information about me. My eyes then traced Shawn as I asked,"how did you end up figuring it out?" As far as I knew, the military kept it a secret, all the more because of how it would affect their reputation. If not for my mother pulling the strings from all sorts of ces, perhaps they would have even killed all of us or something. "Sir¡­ it''s because¡­ you are a hero in my eyes¡­ I¡­ couldn''t help but find as much as I can about you¡­ I had found a couple of pictures in the military base secrets where I found a few things which I shouldn''t have. The information I could take out was still limited, but I still managed to take out a few things. Like your picture and¡­. Code ck''s picture as well. Though since the picture was of 5 years ago, it took a bit of time to figure it out¡­" Shawn spoke with reverence in his eyes while Jeff and ra looked at me with their eyes still in disbelief. "Is that so?" I sighed as I saw no lies in his expression. Everything he said was more or less true. As for the secret¡­ ''With all this apocalypse stuff, I don''t think there is going to be any difference between people knowing about my existence or what not. In fact, they wouldn''t even pay attention to it. Plus, I am strong enough to deal with these kinds of things anyway,'' I thought before turning at Shawn and the others before speaking, "Well¡­ Sorry for letting you down, I guess. The ''Hero'' Code White died a long time ago. All that is left is Michael Aroa." I then moved towards the unconscious Alissa and once again picked her up in my arms as I asked William,"Is there any ce I can take her to?" William pondered a little before speaking,"there is a nurse room on the 4th floor." I nodded at him before moving to walk towards the staircase, though someone else came out of the gate first. "William, you are back-" It was that b*tch, Arianna. She just looked at William with blood on his hands before she looked at the dead body of that hypocrite guy. I saw her expression changing before her eyes began to widen and she shouted,"AAAAAA!!!!!!" Though no one walked towards her tofort her. The soldiers were just observing her. The few people who were there were still confused as before, as they still had no idea who was right and who was wrong¡­ ''Or maybe they just don''t dare to make any mistakes,'' I thought as I observed their looks and analyzed them for a few moments. "W-Wi-William!... What''s the meaning of this?!!!" I could see Arianna''s expression changing to horror as her eyes widened and she couldn''t even begin toprehend what was going on. "He tried to kill one of the soldiers. We tried reasoning with him but he wasn''t listening so I had to do this," William spoke with a bit of not so regret filled expression and Arianna focused on the girl who was beside William. Looking at the carefree expression of ra, her expression went from horror to confusion, and then a certainplex look appeared on her face as she spoke out, "But..but.. You could have reasoned with him at least¡­ You are strong enough to stop him from doing stupid things¡­ at the very least. Couldn''t you have just waited for me?" Her eyes pleadingly looked at William as she moved towards him like a defenseless vixen as she was and under our gazes I saw her hugging William tightly as she looked up with those puppy eyes as she showed her cleavage to William and spoke, "Can''t you trust me even that much? We have been together in this apocalypse for so long¡­ you¡­ you¡­ are the only one I can trust¡­ I don''t have anyone else¡­" Tears escaped her eyes as she looked at William innocently. Though before William can speak anything, I began speaking, "Does the military have a n for people who survived? Anything that can help poor little Arianna?" My eyes turned to M, and understanding my words, she began exining without a pause, "The military is trying to save the survivors within the city and providing them food and shelter. In return, all they have to do is work for them a little here and there. Manualbor of sorts, to help in building stuff, cooking etc." I nodded at M before speaking,"I guess, since most of your work has been done here, you will be leaving sooner orter, won''t you? It''s going to get dark in a few hours, anyway. So I was thinking if you can take the survivors with you? Wouldn''t that be best for everyone?" When I spoke that, I saw the change in expression of Arianna''s as her eyes began shaking as she looked at me. She turned to William for refuge, but William simply nodded in agreement as he spoke, "Whatever you say, brother." Arianna wanted to object to that, but then, "Yeah! We can do that! I believe everyone above will agree too! But¡­how will we leave?" one of the people who was standing there spoke out with a bright face. The surrounding few also nodded in agreement. Once again, Arianna was speechless. She wanted to retort, but the conversation just kept going. "Is there any university bus around here? We can use that," Shawn added as he pondered and one of the men spoke out,"yeah. There should be a few in the parking area. But the keys should be with the guard." "That''s not really a problem then," spoke ra as she stood up after finishing her popcorn. I saw her standing up and moving towards me as she spoke. "I am sorry for disrespecting you. What you have done for all of us is beyond what we deserve. I know you probably hate us for what happened and I think you have the right to do that¡­ but for now¡­ please rest. We will take care of things from the outside. Jeff. Shawn. Let''s go." The childish nature of ra was gone as she held her weapon tightly before moving out of there as I just looked at the three walking out. After that, I just moved towards William and spoke in a low voice,"go watch them. Help them if they need and try signaling me if you can''t handle it, either." "What are you-" Arianna wanted to speak but -Whoosh! William just vanished from there before I turned to those men at a distance,"can you guys help me to the nursing room?" Those men, though a bit skeptical, nodded before moving towards me and speaking,"this way." "M. Caroline. Come," I spoke as I walked behind those men. Just like that, everyone went to work without much words, without much action. Leaving only one woman behind who had words to speak but nobody to listen to those words. Chapter 123 Alissa Walking to the nearest bench, I helped Alissa sit there before I checked the time before she''d wake up. [14 minutes : 27 seconds] With my [Advanced Time Maniption] I more or less changed the time from what would have taken days to mere hours. This skill sure has a limited use, but whenever it is used, it surprises me how effective it is. The best example is that I can activate it and sleep, and get 8 hours of sleep within 2-3 minutes, all refreshed. I kind of sighed before turning at M as I asked, "How were things when we were away? Anything to note happened?" M shook her head as she spoke that there wasn''t much that happened other than a few more zombies and a few more in arguments between the people and the military, which was mostly started by that hypocrite guy. After hearing her words, I then began exining about what was going on with theboratory. I didn''t tell her everything. Just that there were strange nt zombies who were spitting out strange energies and also a powerful nt zombie at the center. How I killed the zombie with William and then William absorbed them too before his power increased even more, and then we just searched around a bit more. Once we were done, we returned back here, all the more because William couldn''t sense that strange energy anymore. "Yeah. Jeff spoke about how the strange energy was pulsating all around beforepletely vanishing for once and all,"M spoke as she looked at me and then she asked again, "Can you trust William? I mean, I know he is your brother and all, but still¡­" Her words trailed off, and I smiled as I patted her head before speaking, "It''s fine. He might look dangerous with all those powers, but he is a good kid. He is a good kid with a kind heart but he has his limits. And trust me, people who can break his limit, you would wish to give them a cruller death that he could." M observed me for a few seconds before she smiled as she spoke,"okay. If you can vouch for him, I guess I have nothing to worry about, then." I then turned to Caroline as I asked, "How are you, Carol? Come here." She looked at me for a few moments before moving closer to me and sitting on myp as she put her head on my chest and spoke,"Are you okay?" I patted her head with a bit of confusion before I spoke with a mischievous tone,"Of course I am. Why wouldn''t I be?... though I am feeling a bit horny though¡­" -Thud! I felt her hitting my stomach lightly as she chuckled a little before she spoke,"let''s do it tonight." I patted her head as I spoke,"Sure." M, who was looking at us, had a bit of a sad look, mixed in with a bit of jealousy. Caroline, still sitting on myp, turned to M as she spoke,"Can you promise me not to steal him from me?" M, a bit confused, observed Caroline as she spoke,"what are-" "Of all the people around Michael, you are the only one I am scared of. After all you have done for Michael, I could never rest thinking that everything was fine. Especially when you are around. So tell me M, can you promise me that you won''t steal Michael from me?" Caroline spoke with a deep look in her eyes and M just observed me with a sad look. From her expression, it was as if Caroline had seen M through and through. I could see M''s eyes bing moist, a bit teary but the words still failed toe out¡­ however Caroline added something which made both M and I look at her with a dumbfounded expression. "If you can do that¡­ I don''t mind Michael having you along with me. It''s fine¡­. After all you have done¡­ it will be too cruel of me to take your ce," Caroline spoke with a bit of a smile. M''s eyes widened, she looked at Caroline with a surprised expression. The tears started falling out rapidly now. If previously they were tears of sadness, now they seem tears of happiness. Looking at that exchange it intrigued me even more to what the heck was going on? I mean, I don''t mind having both of them¡­ but the way they are talking, just what had M done to make Caroline speak so highly of her? Caroline then raised her hand towards her and signaled M toe closer to me and M soon walked towards us as she hugged Caroline and I together. nkly, but happy, I just hugged them back before I realized something¡­ "Ah! She is waking up," I spoke as I looked behind at the sleeping Alissa. The timer went off while we were talking and I turned back to look at Alissa, gaining consciousness slowly as she opened her eyes. M moved a bit away, while Caroline took a step ahead as she got off me before all three of us turned at her. All three of us waited for her to wake up and soon her eyes opened uppletely as she yawned a little. Like a little girl who woke up from a peaceful nap, she spoke out,"Whaa time is is.. awaah¡­?" Then her eyes realized where she was before her memories returned and she immediately sat up on the bed alert. Her eyes filled with slight horror then turned around before they reached me and the expression of horror changed to relief as she jumped at me with tears in her eyes. "MICHAEL!!!!!!" And then she kissed¡­ her tongue swirled around as she took theplete advantage of the situation. She kept kissing with full pleasure, as if it were herst kiss or something. "Mic-umm-I have¡­ mmm¡­ been so¡­mmm.. dangerous nts¡­" she was trying to speak something in between the kisses before she realized something was off. Her eyes then widened as she traced the face of the person she was kissing. Slowly she separated herself as she saw the cold smile of Caroline¡­ the one Alissa was passionately kissing. As soon as Alissa jumped at me, Caroline came in between, stopping all the tricks of Alissa at once. Alissa looked at Caroline with her eyes shaken as she looked at her hands, which slowly traced back to her lips. She then began murmuring with horror, "M-my first kiss¡­ a girl? That too¡­ this fucker!... This leech!" "What did you say?" Caroline spoke with a bit of re and Alissa shrieked out as she spoke,"nothing Miss Caroline¡­ I mean¡­ this was the best kiss¡­ blergh!" she vomited out on the other side before continuing,".. Of my life." That fucking fake smile was priceless on her face and I almost failed to control myugh as I just shook my head. Caroline just spoke with disgust,"the feeling is mutual," before -Pui! She spat at the corner with disgust in her eyes. "You guys seem close to each other," M joined with a bit of mischievous glint in her look. "All right. That''s enough of idiocy. Let''s deal with the important things first," I spoke as I observed the three idiots in front of me and their expressions soon turned serious as they looked at me and nodded. Chapter 124 Power Differences "Alissa, you go first. Tell us thest thing you remember?" I spoke as I looked at Alissa and she nodded before speaking, "I was in theboratory workshop learning about nts and the various medicines created from them. Everything was going fine until a certain noise starteding from outside the herbarium. At first, people just wondered what was going on, but as time passed, the sound kept growing on and on and the metallic gate of the herbarium started getting banged really hard. The whole area began shaking as if an earthquake had appeared. Then... the zombies broke in. It was a massacre as most of us just kept running left and right, trying to find a safe zone. The zombies were slow, but numerous. Even though the security was killing them left and right, their numbers only kept growing before they even took the security in their numbers. As for me, I reached the other side of the herbarium and out of nowhere; I heard a sounding from my mind. It felt like a cry of a woman to be honest, a cry pleading me to help her out," Alissa took a deep breath as she looked at me. Her eyes seemed to be really sad as she observed me before continuing, "Since I could more or less see my death in front of me, crazy or not, I decided to follow that sound which took me near a flower at the corner of the herbarium. The voice asked me to eat the red fruit present within the flower which I did without any hesitation." Alissa touched her chest as if trying to feel that fruit which she ate. M and Caroline just kept looking at her with a concentrated gaze. "As soon as I ate that fruit, my consciousness was transferred to another ce where I met a dying woman covered in red vines that seemed like sucking her life force out of her. It was more of a forest-like area with everything withering slowly and slowly," Alissa continued, trying to recall every bit of information. ''I guess it was the same ce where I went to,''I recalled as the description matched with what she just told me. "That woman made a deal with me. That I would protect her and her nts in return for her helping me survive and protect what I wish to. That she will give me enough power to survive, but I must protect her in return for that power. Though she spoke that I will lose my consciousness for months or even years," Alissa spoke as she sighed with a bit of a sad expression as she turned at me, "After that... I epted it before drifting into an eternal dream of nothingness. I guess... it must have been months now... I have always wished to see you, Michael... in the dark cruel world." Making a cute puppy face, she teared up a little before trying to reach me, but Caroline was one step ahead and hugged her tightly as she spoke, "Yosh! Yosh! Don''t worry about it. I am with you now. We are with you." "Huh! No! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Alissa''s expression changed as she saw Caroline hugging her tightly before she tried escaping from her grasp. However, before Alissa could touch Caroline''s body -Whoosh! I moved and held her hand as I slowly separated Caroline before I smiled at Alissa as I spoke,"Don''t get excited now." Then I turned to Caroline as I spoke, "Her power is way above normal. She might crush you without even realizing." [Inspect!] [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, she got caught in between this mess between two opposing energies. Her will power to survive no matter what let her survive till the very end, only to be the final product of an abomination between the two energies. Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 1,240,000/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 1,210,234/1,210,234 Status: Healthy Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 1023 Dexterity: 876(+234) Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] Except for her constitution and intelligence, her other stats were still as high as before. The fact that she kept all her stats after all the things that happened was both good and bad. Good, because she is one of the people I know through and through. Bad because it will take sometime to help her get her strength in control ''With her being so strong, I am the only one who could control her, I guess?'' I thought before turning to Caroline. [Name: Caroline Olivia Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-E) ss: Archer Description: An artist who learnt the ways of the painting and other rted brush methods. She also excels in archery, guitar ying and simr activities that require concise precision. Zombification: 78%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 1210/1210 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 56 Constitution: 87 Dexterity: 92 Intelligence:76 Wisdom:34 Charm: 88] Her stats were a bit higher than before, but honestly, she needed some more work before she could handle it. Hmmm... I guess I can help her a bit here, [13 C-Grade Cores] [134 D-Grade Cores] I looked at the amount of cores I had before turning at M as I spoke,"Measure Alissa''s potential and powers. Alissa, you too. Behave properly and listen to her." Hearing my serious voice, M nodded, and Alissa just looked at me with a bit of confusion. "Caroline,e with me," I spoke again as I moved away from there, towards the room beside us. Caroline just looked at Alissa and M, before hurrying towards me with a bit of question filled face. Reaching the next room, which was filled with someb stuff, I first cleared the area and created a space on the floor. Finding a clean mat, I ced it on the floor before I looked at Caroline and spoke, "Sit on the ground in a meditation position." Immediately sitting on the ground, she sat in a meditation position before I took out a D-Grade Core and ced it in her hand. Then I asked her to absorb it as much as she could. ''How long before the Zombie Core takes over her?'' [4 hours: 15 minutes: 17 seconds] ''How long before she takes over theplete Zombie Core energy?'' [8 Days: 12 hours: 14 minutes] [Advanced Time Maniption!] [1 hours: 12 minutes: 56 seconds] ''Hmmm... that''s a bit long, but okay. M should take some time to figure out Alissa''s power as well,'' I thought as I just kept waiting for Caroline to absorb the whole core. Minutes passed slowly as I just kept waiting for the time to pass by. I mean, I could have used [Second Space] to take her in and finish everything faster, but... ''I would like to have some secrets to myself for now,'' I thought as I kept helping her up her powers. And after an hour passed. [Name: Caroline Olivia Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-D) ss: Archer Description: An artist who learnt the ways of the painting and other rted brush methods. She also excels in archery, guitar ying and simr activities that require concise precision. Zombification: 9%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 12380/12380 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 102 Constitution: 197 Dexterity: 145 Intelligence:144 Wisdom:123 Charm: 188] ''Now... let''s give a few more Cores to her.'' Chapter 125 [Gift] "Okay, that''s done for now," I spoke as I looked at her status again. [Name: Caroline Olivia Escarte Race: Zombified Human (Grade-C) ss: Archer Description: An artist who learnt the ways of the painting and other rted brush methods. She also excels in archery, guitar ying and simr activities that require concise precision. Zombification: 62%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] Cessation Energy: 234,130/234,130 Gift: elerated Vision* Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 142 Constitution: 204 Dexterity: 245 Intelligence:156 Wisdom:104 Charm: 152] Her Stats got up again and, well, the increment wasn''t as much as I was expecting. Though there were a few things that I did get to know while helping her up her power. One was the amount of Cores required to up a Grade. There were a few things I found rted to it. It took a single higher-level Core to upgrade her from E to D. Simple. Then, to use a Core of the same Grade, that is, when she was D-Grade and absorbed a D Grade, the Zombification percent increased by 5 per per core. And in total, it took 20 D-Grade Cores to upgrade her to 99% Zombification. Surprisingly, she couldn''t absorb another D-Grade Core after that, no matter how much she tried. It was as if her energy was full. This made me think that maybe she needs to either naturally absorb energy from the atmosphere to move up the Grade, or just another Higher Grade Core. Giving her a C-Grade core immediately upped her Grade with the percentage reaching 2% of the next Grade. Subsequently getting about 5% per Core absorbed, in the end reaching 62% of C-Grade as I used up all the Cores I had collected from the nt Laboratory. While the first D-Grade Core took time to be absorbed, the rest were actually quite fast. With [Advanced Time Maniption] it took about 4 hours in total to absorb all the Cores. Other than that, there was one thing that caught my eyes in her status. [Gift] That was something new she gained as soon as she reached C-Grade. I haven''t seen anything like that on either William or Alissa who were already C-Grade and above. Can understand Alissa''s case a little but William? I don''t know. Focusing more on the [Gift] [Gift: elerated Vision The user can process visual information at an elerated rate, at the speed that they can see things even when moving at high speed, making them unable to miss a thing, no matter how fast they go. They can see/process visual information within a very short time, see objects when they are moving fast, see things that may be otherwise too fast, allowing them to discern the sight with enough time to react to whatever caused it, etc.] ''Now that''s a really overpowered ability¡­ I wonder if it has any limitations though,'' I thought before speaking to Caroline, "Carol, can you do me a favor and try focusing on me? I will be going a bit too fast and I need you to keep your eyes on me, okay?" Confused, she turned to me and nodded slowly before ''Damn!'' I almost freaked out, on the inside, as I saw her eyes turningpletely ck with a red dot in the center. There were tortuous red veins that were visible spreading from the center of her eyes and she looked a bit freaky, to be honest. Anyways¡­ [Temporal Deceleration!] I activated my ability first and moved around. Her eyes moved left and right where I was moving. Good. Now next, [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I moved again and once again she could see me easily moving left and right with her eyes following my body. Though her body was still frozen so she could only see up till her field of vision allowed her to do so. After that, I deactivated my ability and asked her to do the same. "Did you feel any difort of any sort?" I asked with a concerning look and she shook her head, saying,"nothing like that." "Any loss of energy, or perhaps anything unusual?" I asked again and once again she answered, "No. Everything was fine. It was as simple as moving and breathing, I guess?" ''No limitations, huh?'' I thought as I observed her for a brief while, as I asked a couple of more questions. After confirming that everything was fine, I patted her head and kissed her on the lips a little before¡­ "Cough Cough!" I hear someone coughing behind. "See! I told you they were doing hi stuff!" Alissa spoke like a detective who had caught someone red-handed. "I came here because I found the energy suddenly rising a bit too high but I guess it was just you both getting hea¡­ " M was speaking with a bit of re but as she concentrated on Caroline her expression changed as she ran towards her and held her by her arms. "You! What!" M spoke as she analyzed Caroline from top to bottom before looking at me as she asked,"what did you do? Howe her power grew so much in just¡­ just¡­ 4 hours?" There was disbelief in M''s eyes as she checked on Caroline again and again. I sighed before speaking,"I had a few Cores, which I gave to Caroline. While you are a military person strong enough to take care of herself, Caroline, on the other hand, needs a bit of power to survive." "No¡­ even with the Cores¡­ this is¡­ freaking too fast¡­. And her energy signatures are perfectly fine too¡­ " M spoke out as she looked at Caroline before turning to me. Though before she can speak, Caroline spoke first, "How was Alissa''s training, M?" M looked at Alissa with aplex expression before she looked at me. Then, after a few moments of silence, a bitter look came on her face as she looked at me. Though that bitter look changed after a deep sigh before she smiled and spoke,"yeah. I found out a few interesting things. Some things that I wasn''t expecting to see at all." Chapter 126 Herbal Queen Moving back to the nurse''s room, which was wider than the current room, the first thing that I saw was branches. Branches as far as I could see in the room covering the whole room. ''But I didn''t hear a thing!'' I just looked at Alissa with a surprised expression while M began speaking. "Her strength is beyond anything I have seen." Hearing her words, I asked,pare with mine," and she said,"honestly, I don''t know. Her powers are really beyond me and when ites to you, I can''t fathom your limit, either. It''s likeparing two tall trees whose end I can''t see." I nodded at her before asking,"Alright. We will get to thatter, then. Tell me, what else did you figure out?" She nodded before turning at Alissa as she spoke,"She has a few sets of.. Powers... Skills you may say. That allows her to control the nts around her, also increasing the strength of her already powerful body. She can grow nts out of nowhere, control their growth and maneuver them however she wants." When she spoke that, Alissa started controlling a few branches that surrounded her body as if embracing her little by little. I observed the whole thing with a serious face before turning towards M as I asked, "What are its applications?" She looked at me and shook her head as she spoke,"that is all the applications it has. Though there was one more power. The one that actually took more than 3 hours to figure out and another hour to test it." "O! What is it?" I asked with a bit of a surprise as I observed her and she nodded before speaking,"Her presence, more like her aura, spreads all around the area on her demand. This one had many applications. Like reducing the enemy''s powers, increasing the nt''s powers and also Alissa''s. There is much more to it than that, like if focused on a single ce, it can decay the area, and if spread out, it can cause an itch or something." I turned to Alissa and smiled as I looked at her and asked,"do you feel any problem using that?" Alissa made a bit of a sad expression,"Very much. It hurt-" though my eyes piercing her gaze shut her up before she continued, "Alright, alright. I will tell you. It felt like my energy was getting sucked hard and if I used a big amount of energy, another type of energy present in my body would start taking over me. It wasn''t much, but still there was something like that." "Hey! You didn''t tell me that!" Mined as she looked at Alissa before Alissa just humphed before she spoke,"you aren''t Michael." M got a bit irked before she spoke out,"you-" though someone else interrupted her before she could speak. "Brother. They got the bus ready,"William spoke out as he returned and I nodded at him before speaking,"M, go with William. Collect all the survivors from the building and wait for me. There is something that I need to talk to Alissa about." M looked at me and nodded with a serious expression before turning at William and both of them walked away from this room. "You don''t trust her, huh? I thought since she was your first girlfriend, she might have been special to you," Caroline spoke as she looked in the direction M went. "Heh. If you think Michael trusts anyone other than himself, then you don''t even know a dime about him," Alissa joined, as her behavior changed from yful to serious. Caroline observed Alissa with a bit of confused expression before I smiled as I turned to Alissa,"you haven''t shown her your other powers?" With my Status I could see all of her 18 Skills and what Alissa just showed were only two and a half of her abilities, that too one of the weakest ones. "Why should I?" Alissa spoke as she crossed her arms before moving towards me and speaking,"She is a military personnel. The ones responsible for my brother''s death. Though... what are you doing with her?" This time, Alissa was talking about Caroline. I was a bit surprised at her behavior as I asked,"I thought you wouldn''t show your true self in front of anyone but me. What happened all of a sudden?" Alissa pondered a little before speaking,"I can sense people''s feelings, you can say? Read their emotions... she looks fine, to be honest. At least from a trustworthy point of view. Plus, you are with her too after what she did to you, so...." [The Colors of the Emotions: Allows the user to see colors of emotions of people around her.] I chuckled at her before speaking,"Nice Skill you got there." She made a lewd smile before speaking,"I got a bit more. Wanna see?" I moved towards her, closer to her and... -Pat! Hit her head with a slow chop before patting her head and speaking,"d to see that you are as normal as before." "Alissa... Michael... Am I missing something?" Caroline spoke with a confused expression as she looked at both of us interacting so familiarly with each other. Like it wasn''t a senior junior interaction, but more like partners or something. I just turned to Alissa and spoke,"it''s your secret. I will let you deal with it," before I moved to a nearby window, taking a look at how things were going down there. "I don''t mind. It doesn''t change anything now... I mean... there is no one who can harm me anyway, anymore," Alissa spoke as she created a pair of sses made up of nt vines which she shaped properly before wearing them. "Well Caroline. I know you have known me for a while as the young timid girl whomitted mistakes and acted like a fool, but now that there is less to hide and more to show... My name is Alissa Rosalyn. Sister of Leeway Rosalyn. The daughter of Irene Rosalyn, the Queen of Rosalyn Kingdom," she spoke as she extended her hands towards Caroline as she smiled with a bright smile. [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with bright hopes and dreams. Someone who knows how to handle the situation perfectly and perceive things around her. Her eyes are trained to see through the truth, and her face is tailored to mask what she is thinking. Previously the Princess of Rosalyn Kingdom, she now is the Herbal Queen. Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 1,240,000/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 1,210,234/1,210,234 Status: Healthy Skills(18) Strength: 678 Constitution: 1023 Dexterity: 876(+234) Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+512)] [Skills] [Strength of the Timber: When using nt based abilities +50 Strength] [Vitality of the Sapling: When using nt based abilities +50 Constitution] [The Feet of the Forest Walker: +15 Dexterity] [Wisdom of the Old Tree: +100 Wisdom] [Blessed by the Colors of Knowledge: +100% Wisdom] [Wind''s Favorite(Passive): +25% Dexterity] [Bewitching Eyes: +50% Charm] [The Garden Lover: Allows to manipte nts freely around you] [Eyes of the nt Keeper: Can see the properties of all nts and vegetations] [The Colors of the Emotions: Allows the user to see colors of emotions of people around her.] [Herbal Queen''s Aura: Allows her to coat everything around her into a clear aura of nt Life Energy allowing her to have a partial control over it. Can spread as far as she can see.] [Blue Coloured Door: Allows her to enter the Forest Realm] [Clone of thy Highness: Create a clone at the cost of 50% Power. Clone will take 10 minutes to form and once created, it can stay on the field for 100 hours. A clone holds 500% power of the user] [Breathing of the Night Goddess: Allows the user to regenerate energy 200% faster in the presence of moonlight. The user''s Health will be doubled as long as moonlight falls on her skin [Breathing of the Sun Goddess: The user''s Stats get doubled in the presence of the sun. Her Health triples in sunlight and the regeneration rate increases by 500% within the sun. [Photosynthesis: The user''s breath won''t be limited to her human capabilities. Unless all of her body is covered rendering all her pores useless, including but not limited to skin pores and hair pores, the user will never suffocate.] [One with Nature: Allows the user to extend her arm like a nt and also connect with the nearby nts or vegetation. The user gainsplete control over the nts that she connects to, with no limitations whatsoever.] [I am the Herbal Queen: Anything that the user has touched, she can turn it into a nt and use it ording to her own will. The difficulty of turning the object into a nt depends upon the magnitude of the will of the user and the will of the object.] Chapter 127 Unwanted Guests Alissa Rosalyn. One of my closest friends. I think I haven''t introduced her properly till now. She is one of the smartest girls I have met till now. Her genius relies on her ability to see through things that others can''t and tackling those things through. Whether you are a person who had a dark past or someone at the bottom of the sea in his life, Alissa can see the problem, the solution, act on it and also provide variables too. It''s a bitplicated to put into words, but let''s just say that she can both make and break you within minutes without much effort if she wished to. How did I meet her? Well, Leeway introduced me to her once or twice. He was the reason I knew about the real Alissa from the beginning, otherwise I would have been a fool around her as long as she wanted. Though, because it was her brother who asked her to trust me, she did that without batting an eye. After the valentine incident, she flew from the Rosalyn Kingdom to here immediately to find out what happened and, just like her brother; she settled with a second identity around me. When she had found me, I told her everything from the start to the end. ''Man¡­ it was a really¡­ sad sight to see¡­ such a strong person to be so shattered'' I thought as I recalled that unfortunate day where I was dead from the inside and she was dying on the outside. Thoughter on, she just decided to spend time around me in order to protect me and help me out. ["I can more or less handle myself, but let''s help you out first. You probably had an equal amount of despair or maybe even worse."] Those were her words before she starteding with me to the university. Helping me out before I could even break while also asking for help if she was down at times. We helped each other in almost all events. It was truly bad luck that the few days she went off on her own to do some stuff, ''that'' guy got to me¡­ As for her ''Princess'' stuff, she is more of a substitute princess than a real one. She is the adoptive daughter of Queen Rosalyn and the real princesses are the two biological daughters of Queen Rosalyn. ''I wonder how they are faring in that country,'' I thought before looking back. I had seen them on the news a few times, but that''s all. Leeway didn''t really like to talk about his family either, nor did Alissa. As for the Prince, other than Leeway, who was just living his life off in a different country all by himself, his elder brother ric, was the one who handled stuff all along. ''ording to Alissa, ric isn''t really a bad guy. Just someone who prioritizes rules and regtions over other things. "Hmmm¡­" I looked down the window and a couple of people from outside wereing in the direction of this building slowly and cautiously. There were guns in their hands and observing them carefully¡­ They were teens who were about 16 to 18 year olds. "What happened?" Caroline asked, noticing me humming a little and Alissa simply closed her eyes for a few moments before speaking,"survivors¡­ they have some¡­ odd intent." "Yeah¡­ they seem lusty a little¡­ and they are stronger than the usual survivors¡­ one of them is even E-Grade," I said as I observed them using [Inspect!] Skill. Then I turned to Alissa as I asked,"you guys discussed everything?" and Alissa answered,"more or less." After pondering a little, I spoke,"Continue the discussion ande after settling everything. I will look at things down there." Both of them nodded before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I slowed time by 100 times again and looked at Alissa moving at normal speed along with me without much problem. ''Hmmm¡­ I guess since she isn''t an enemy, my Stats aren''t really that high. Though it should be fine, at least I will have some surprise in case things go south with her¡­ though I really wish it doesn''t have to be that way,'' I thought as I sighed before beginning to walk down there. "You still can''t trust mepletely, huh?" she asked as she looked at me. I looked at her, moving perfectly even when the time was slowed by 100 times. I then turned to Caroline, who had activated her ability, [elerated Vision], and was observing Alissa and I while her body was frozen still. "You know me," I spoke before [Return!] I used the ability to move down the floors directly outside the building in front of the main door. I just sighed before moving a bit ahead as I observed those kidsing towards me slowly and slowly. Then I undid my ability as I stopped for a few moments. I peeked a bit above the window where I saw Alissa looking at me with a dumbstruck face before I smiled and moved forward and saw those men finally appeared in front of me. ''7 of them, 4 with handguns while 2 with shotguns. One of them is carrying grenades in his hand,'' I saw them standing there. ''How long before they shoot at me?'' I questioned and a timer came [4 Seconds!] I sighed before [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Foresight)] I saw one of them shooting at me with a bright smirk, though I also saw William standing in front of me with an enraged expression in the future. "It''s not a girl. Shoot him down." Spoke the one who had a shotgun while one of them with the handgun took aim at me [1 second!] [Temporal Deceleration!] Using this ability, I saw William running towards me but I just spoke,"Stop, you idiot. Let me handle this." Hearing my voice, he almost stumbled before he stopped and looked at me. His expression changed from enraged to a bit dumbfounded before I spoke,"at least have some faith in me." I sighed before turning at those men who were almost prepared to shoot me. Then, waiting for them to shoot at me, I waited for the perfect time. Using the foresight ability, I saw where he was going to shoot and moved a bit away from there dodging it. ''How long will they attack me if I undid my ability?'' [5 Seconds!] Looking at that, I nodded before undoing my ability and saw that bullet passed just beside me without touching me at all. "Hey, you guys look so lost. Do you need any help?" I spoke with a bit of a smile as I moved towards them. At first they were confused, before another one with a handgun shot at me and just like previous times, I used multiple abilities at once and dodged that bullet as well. "You guys look so scared. Did the zombies scare you so much?" I spoke as I moved towards them and saw their expression turning a bit more horrified with each step I was taking. -Shot! -Shot! -Shot! -Shot! All of them started shooting at me at random before I saw one of them throwing a grenade at me. ''Hmmm¡­ how long till that grenade sts if I use both my time slowing abilities and catch it?'' [7 minutes: 14 seconds] I nodded before waiting for that grenade to slowly reach me and then catching it before [Advanced Time Maniption!] Multiplying the time by 200 [23 hours: 54 minutes: 23 seconds!] Then after that, I turned off the time slowing abilities, and the time turned back to about 15 minutes or fewer as I held the grenade in my hand and kept walking towards them while still dodging the bullets. Reaching closer to the one that seemed to be the leader, I first held his shotgun in my other hand and than -Creak!! I bent the muzzle of the shotgun towards him as I spoke,"Done trying? My turn now," with a humble and kind smile on my face. Chapter 128 Ghost Walker And Arcanist Some people in this world are worth more than others. It''s not just what they do but also about their innate ability, which they possess. Hidden potential and stuff, you know? Even before the apocalypse urred, Alissa and I had a small project of our own. To research more about the hidden potential of everyone we meet and see if we can improve the condition of those around us. "First, take this back," I said as I threw the grenade at the guy who threw it at me and he caught it without thinking much. Though it took him only a sh to realize what he had just done, but before he could do anything. -BOOM! [You have killed an F-Grade Zombified Human!] [+200 Exp] [You have killed an F-Grade Zombified Human!] [+200 Exp] ''Hmmm...'' I looked at that message and pondered a little before putting it at the back of my mind. Two of the seven died while one of them fell off injured on the ground. I then turned to the other 3 who were standing on the other side of the leader guy. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I then took out my handgun which M gave me before and shot one of them before turning back to the leader guy and deactivating my ability. "Now listen.." -Thud [You have killed an F-Grade Zombified Human!] [+200 Exp] The body of the guy I shot fell down on the ground and everyone''s eyes darted towards him with fear and confusion in their eyes. "... I have a few questions for you," I spoke as I looked at him and with fear and hopelessness he gave out a loud cry,"YAAAAAA!!!" and took out his knife as his eyes turned red. -sh! [You have Killed an E-Grade Zombified Human!] [+1000 Exp] Though I just killed him without any empathy or sympathy. It wasn''t him I was looking for anyway. 4 dead, 3 left. I moved towards the two who were scared shitless there. One of them had peed his pants as he could barely maintain his bnce while the other one started crying out loud, begging me to let him live. As I moved towards the two crying guys, I turned my back towards the guy who was pretending to be dead. ''When is he going to attack me from behind?'' [5 seconds!] Not caring much I moved towards the two as I spoke,"Now listen, you both. Well... leaving these 5 bastards whom I wouldn''t have let roam free anyway, I want to ask howe you two got involved in this mess?" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] I stopped time, turned around to find that guy standing on his feet so I moved towards him and cut one of his feet off. If any sympathy I would have felt for him, his [Description] which mentioned how he had already raped and killed two women in this apocalypse already, removed any chances of doing so. His death wasn''t going to be easy at all. At least the rest who died, didn''t have anything like that on their description. Then after cutting his feet, I returned back to where I was before I slowed the time and deactivated my ability. -Thud! "AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" I heard a crying from behind but I focused on what was in front of me. "And don''t worry. I am not really a bad person, honestly. As long as you answer my questions, I will even let you go," I spoke with a smile and some hope entered their eyes as one of them began crying as he spoke how he will tell everything to me. I nodded before both of them narrated the whole story to me. Briefly speaking, when the apocalypse struck, they got scouted by a group of armed men; they hunted from ce to ce, increasing their numbers with like-minded people or at least who can be forced to work with them. Collecting people and girls with them, they started spreading rapidly with the Anta High School as their center of work. Growing to a number of 200 people, they have formed a sort of armed organization who were roaming about doing whatever they wanted. ''Well, not like I didn''t expect something like that,'' I thought as I turned around to see that wailing guy had almost sumbed to his injuries. However, there was no message [You have killed an F-Grade Zombified Human!] [+200 Exp] "All right, I guess I more or less understand your condition. Alissa," I spoke before Alissa appeared out of nowhere beside me. She looked at me with a bit confused expression and I spoke, "Manipte them to stay with us. Make them work for us. I will be out for a walk. Hmmm... you know actually..." I then turned to William as I spoke,"William. You guys move to the military base. I will reach you guys soon. You both just make sure nothing goes wrong with anyone... also if anything turns south, you can take whatever step you have to." William just looked at me for a few moments before he nodded and Alissa, though a bit confused and curious, traced the faces of the two kids whom I didn''t kill. Well, that was because... [Inspect!] [Name: Seras Piere Race: Zombified Human[F-Grade] ss: Ghost Walker Zombification Process: 12%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Status: Healthy Description: A thief who had lived all his life in slums stealing from the rich and helping out his brothers and sisters. Born in the slums and then taken to the orphanage this guy had lived his life in poverty. The apocalypse just changed his ways of doing things but the end result is the same. Stats: Strength: 13 Constitution: 14 Dexterity: 21 Intelligence: 16 Wisdom: 19 Charisma: 10] [Name: Walter Ignis Race: Zombified Human[F-Grade] ss: Arcanist Zombification Process: 24%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Status: Healthy Description: Son of a professor, he aims to be just like his father. Though the apocalypse has changed everything for him. Now he is trying his best to save his father whom the ruffians have captured in exchange for him to work for them. Stats: Strength: 13 Constitution: 14 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 24 Wisdom: 21 Charisma: 9] ''One of them is a Ghost Walker while the other one is an Arcanist. I wonder what powers they would manifest when they would upgrade themselves. Also, it''s not like they were bad guys or anything. Though Alissa would know better about them than I would,'' I thought as I looked at her and spoke, "Pulchre spectant, sed vident illis. Si turpia sunt, tenta mutando. Si sine salute sunt, interficite eos.(They look fine but see to them. If they are ugly, then try changing them. If they are beyond saving, kill them.)" She nodded at me with a chuckle as she answered,"Ita domine(Yes Sir)." Then I looked at those guys before confirming once again,"it''s Anta High School, right?" and they nodded before I used [Space Map Time(Unique)] [5. Allows the user to find the most optimal route towards the ce where he desires within the map.] And then thought about the Anta High School and a route formed in front of me towards my destination. Since, I don''t have much to do... let''s check out that ce too. ''I wonder if dad ended up there by any chance...'' I thought before taking a step towards the so-called refugee camp created by those ruffians. Chapter 129 Taboo Ways Of Earning Cronas Walking towards the ce with both my abilities activated, I hunted for zombies on my way there. I saw that the number of Lesser E-Grade was getting lesser and lesser. While at the start they were in abundance, now the number of E-Grade and Lesser E-Grade was more or less simr to each other. ''By the end of the year, I guess there would be no E-Grade left, or even D-Grade, to be honest. Most of them would be C-Grade and enhanced probably,'' I thought as I wondered how I should approach this change. While making people under my care strong is one of the things I should do, making them too powerful might create problems when I reverse the process. I need to be really careful about how to deal with this. While I didn''t have any means to search for the other leaves, I still had that nt Laboratory Dungeon to look at. Maybe it can provide me with another clue to reverse the process. Hopefully¡­ ''Hmmm I should look at [Second Space] as well. Since I upgraded it, the exchange increased to 36 hours. Including the time I spent in theboratory, a total of¡­ ummm¡­ about 150ish hours might have passed within the [Second Space]. The Crona nt might have stored a few Cronas now¡­ ''Hmmm¡­ maybe I should first check that space out,'' I thought before finding a nearby building and then ''How long before someone attacks me, disturbs me or does anything to me?'' [2 Days: 12 Hours: 12 Minutes] All right. [Second Space!] Using the skill, I entered the white room once again as Rhea''s face greeted me. "You have evolved your space, huh? Good. We should be able to get more time now," was the first thing she spoke to me before I moved towards the Crona nt. [Tree of Crona(Umon) Effects: Generates 15 Cronas per hour. Current Stored amount: 2500 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 2500 Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 50,000 Cronas to evolve)] I saw that the Crona was filled up, and I immediately took the Cronas before proceeding towards the [Dungeon] Screen at the corner of the room. I browsed through it before finding that I still couldn''t really salvage this dungeon. Looking at the whole set of options and stuff, I decided that it would be better to use [Dungeon] only after I have collected at least 20,000 Cronas. This time I kind of regretted selling that skill [Time Snatcher]... never knew I would be needing Cronas this much. Even Rhea didn''t hesitate in asking me to sell it, so I thought maybe it wasn''t that great of a skill. ''Though I am alive because of the club that I bought after selling the Skill only so I guess it wasn''t really a bad investment,'' I thought before pondering and turning at Rhea as I asked, "Hey Rhea, is there any way to get more Cronas? Or maybe faster?" Hearing my words, she pondered a little before speaking, "There are various ways of doing that but¡­. Hmmm¡­ let''s see¡­ Okay, there are 2 ways which are suitable for you to get Cronas if you can put in a little extra effort. That is other than the ones which you already have." A sudden surprised expression appeared on my face as I looked at her and she began exining the ways, "The first is selling things. While an object itself won''t give you enough Cronas but let''s say the handgun you have with you or the sharp knife, those would give you about 5 to 10 Cronas. So in a way, as long as you can keep supplying enough weapons and other stuff, you can get some extra Cronas." Hearing her words, I realized that it did make sense. Evenst time I tried selling the shotgun there was a price tag on it. I guess the fact that it was so cheap that I didn''t bother checking it again made me forget about the whole thing. Though¡­ "What other things can be sold?" I asked with an interested gaze, and she pondered before speaking. "Anything that provides a plus point to survival, protection, evolution and reproduction of an organism, I guess. The more powerful it is, the more it will be sold for." Hmmm¡­. I wonder how many things fall into that category and how much would they be worth? "Hmmm. What''s the other thing?" I asked and Rhea spoke, "It''s not really something that I suggest, but since you are desperate for Cronas and you have already evolved the [Second Space] so I guess this should give you an option too." There was a bit of hesitation on her face as she looked at me and I spoke,"what is it? Speak already." She sighed before speaking,"Bring a living person and sell him or her to the [Shop]" "..." For the next few moments, I just kept looking at her, wondering if what I heard was exactly the thing I heard. "Umm¡­ can you repeat that?" Just to make sure, I asked again. "I said, bring a living person and sell him or her to the [Shop]," she said as she sighed and looked at me. "Sh*t," I looked at her before speaking,"you could have told me that before," with a really regretful expression. "You¡­ don''t feel bad about selling your own kind?" Though it was Rhea who was surprised with my behavior. Oi! Oi! It''s you who suggested that. Don''t make that expression now. "No, I mean¡­ well.. I just killed someone¡­ he was a r*pist and I kind of hate those kinds of scumbags and all. If I had known I could get Cronas by selling him, I would have given him to the [Shop] long ago. Actually, it''s making me regret not doing that now," I thought with a regretful expression. Still¡­ no worries¡­ A smile formed on my face as I realized that maybe I will find some more people there¡­ though honestly¡­ I should be wishing that I won''t find any of them at all. But well¡­ That''s a fool''s thought¡­ at least given how this world is.. "Ah! Wait¡­ what about the zombies? Will they be sold for something?" I asked, but Rhea shook her head as she spoke,"no. The zombies are more of a threat to almost everyone and, more or less, they are present everywhere in abundance now. No point in selling something that is already avable." It made me a bit sad, but I guess I know what to do next. "You have a really creepy smile on your face, Michael," spoke Rhea, looking at me a bit horrified, but I just looked at her with a pondering expression as I spoke, "Don''t worry. I have my own rules and stuff when ites to dealing with humans. Been doing that for quite some time now. If they have a chance of redemption, I usually give onest push to save them just for the sake of it before moving to what I have nned. Keeps me more humane than most humans." I have seen some of them go beyond redemption. So down that even death would be a mercy to them. "Hmmm¡­ on that note, most of the humans¡­ no, all humans are corrupted with Cessation Energy. Will that create any problem?" I asked again, and she shook her head as she spoke,"as long as they have some of their originality, it is fine." "What about other races? If Ie across another race and, well, let''s say I end up selling them, will it create any problems?" I asked again with a curious expression. Though I don''t think I will be that greedy to let a specimen or more like such a precious source of information go just for Cronas, unless, of course, I don''t have any other option. "Not really. Though that depends and varies from race to race and to," Rhea spoke and I nodded as kind of understood what she meant by that. "Hmmm, so I guess, I kind of know what to do now. This makes going to that high school all the more necessary now," I pondered a little bit more about it. Though despite me needing Cronas, I guess I won''t exactly be using this method for a long time, I suppose. As soon as I start salvaging from the dungeon, I guess by that time, I won''t really be needing to sell people in the [Shop]. "All right then. Anything else?" Rhea asked, and I pondered the number of things that I needed to do here before I left. "Hmmm¡­ a few things, but I guess I will need Cronas for that, so for now¡­ nothing I guess," I spoke before standing up and then looked at Rhea as I spoke,"Meet you tonight then. I guess I can practice for about 50 hours per day now," and then vanished from there as I saw Rhea nodding. Chapter 130 Within The Atlanta High School [Author''s note: Sorry for the long Author''s note and this short chapter, but please pay attention. I kind of see that it is a bit difficult to imagine all the scenes in this chapter, but if I start exining it, it will be a descriptive chapter which I kind of want to avoid. So, in recement to that, I am trying to draw the whole thing and post it on discordter on. The discord server should be done by 20th of Feb, so make sure to join there for a lot of things. For example, character art, location art, location mapping (Example ck Water City) and other stuff. There would be different channels for Dungeon Screen, Shop Screen, item descriptions, Michael''s status, his skills, etc. Overall it would be more and more like a game along with a nice harem story. Later on, once basic things are done, we can even hold events and stuff, like a zombie horde attack, different dungeons, skills, rewards, etc where you guys can participate and interact as well by creating those hordes, items etc. Your personalized zombies, dungeons, etc, you can even set the difficulty of everything, but a few things like item price, etc, will be in my hands. It won''t be just limited to that, but also towards the Different Worlds that I n for the MC to visitter in the story. And of course, where would be the fun without a reward? So based on how well things go on, we can devise a reward system (Coins/ Discord Nitro/ Simple Money Rewards) but honestly, that will depend on how well things go on. I mean, I am not exactly swimming in money, so the amount of things I can do is limited. All right, I won''t take any more time and the rest of the things will be exined on the discord server. The link should be present on every other chapter, status, first chapter, chapterments, my profile etc. by 20TH OF FEBRUARY, 2023.] ... ... ... Coming back to the normal world, I first moved out of the room and reached the streets. Looking around, I didn''t find any zombies nearby. Checking on the map, though, a few zombies were marked red within the nearby building. Slowly walking into that building, I first cleared the areapletely before clearing another building. It was kind of slowing me down, but since it was getting me some Exp, I kept killing the zombies nearby, anyway. ''Though I wonder if it will affect the lives of the survivors,'' I looked at the bigger things for a change. The world has already gone haywire, I know, but let''s say that I seed in undoing this whole zombie thing. What will happen to those who are killed? I don''t think they wille back. Even though I was thinking that, I still didn''t stop killing zombies left and right. Why? Because the amount of f*cks I have for this world are kind of running low. My priority is centered around my family and friends, that''s all. "Anyway, let''s continue," I said as I put all those thoughts at the back of my head. For now, I have three goals in my mind. Save my family. Create a safe ce where they can live freely. Find a way to end this Apocalypse. Since, I don''t have a way to look into the third goal and the second goal is already going on its own. All I need to do is prioritize the first one. And with that in my mind, I started killing the zombies faster and faster as I reached closer to that high school. About an hourter, I finally reached the ce where that arcanist guy guided me to. [Author''s note: That one hour is in the outer world. With both time slowing abilities activated, Michael had spent over 100 hours walking and killing zombies in his path, while also searching for any survivors, whom upon finding he guided back to the Arcadia University where William and the others are currently] The Anta High School. Standing at a distance from the main gate, where I saw the zombies trying to crawl their way into the gate. Making my way around that ce, I analyzed it thoroughly. There were a couple of people with guns guarding the gate. I used [Inspect!] on them and found nothing interesting so I just moved around the highschool, tracing its perimeter. Walking around the area, I found a few more men, some guarding the smaller entry gates, while the others on the rooftops with sniper rifles in their hands. ''Now, how did they gain that?'' I thought, as it kind of piqued my interest a little. Walking a bit more and reaching the back of the high school, I found the second entry to it. The one that was connected to the softball ground. The gate was open and I could see a few zombies walking into the high school through it. Moving into the area through that open gate, I looked around to see the softball field, football field and baseball field within my vision with the main building at a distance beyond the football field. The zombies were just randomly roaming about, with a few of them moving to the building as well. Focusing at a distance, I even saw a couple of people standing at a high ground with shotguns in their hands. I looked around the ce as I walked towards the building. The zombies were more or less E-Grade, with a couple of them being Lesser D-Grade, but nothing more. Walking slowly and slowly, I reached near the building as I got the clear view of the things around. There was another gate within the building which blocked the entry of the zombies into the main building. While the outside gate was open, this one was closed and shut tight. Jumping to the other side of the gate, I found an opening with nothing but a couple of guards who seemed to be talking to each other. Ignoring them, I moved further into the area until I reached the main channel gate of the building, where I could see a few people working inside. They had a really tired face, and it felt like their will to live has more or less exhausted. Since the gate was closed, I tried looking around for an entry into the building. Firstly, I traced the building''s perimeter and tried searching for any other entry, which was present but closed like the main channel gate. Since gates weren''t the option, I then started looking for any open windows which weren''t that high to reach. ''Ah! There is one,'' I thought as I looked at the window at a distance on the first floor, which wasn''t closed. Moving towards to the bottom of that window, I first tried calcting the distance between me and the first floor and adjusting the power of my jump -Bam! I jumped, reaching the window immediately and entering the room where I saw a guy tongue kissing a girl. At first I wondered if it was forced, but looking at that expression and what the [Inspect] skill told me, I guess it was not one sided. Also, from the clothes the girl was wearing, she looked pretty fine to me. Hmmm... though their status... It had a few things in their description that made me wonder if it was all right to kill them right now. In the end, I decided to check things out first. Maybe we wille back hereter... The door was half closed, but there was enough space for me to get out of there and reach the ssroom balcony. Moving a bit closer to the railing, I saw people... like ves they were walking... carrying furniture on their back towards the gates of the building. And about a dozen or two people with guns surrounding them. Unsurprisingly, the number of men was way more than the women. ''I just don''t... let''s hope... I don''t lose control here...'' my anger was rising by a bit every passing second as I wondered what they might have done to the girls... man... it''s a school... kids study here... It gave me a shudder to the core, as I kept walking, looking around in various rooms, trying to find where the rest of the people were. Where the ''leader'' of this whole mess is. I passed by the normal ssrooms, searched the floors above, but sadly, I still didn''t find any of the girls there. Neither any leaders at all. And soon after searching through all the floors above, I then reached the ground floor and something caught my attention. At the corner of the stairs on the opposite side, a small crowd was gathered. ''What is going on there?'' I questioned before moving towards that ce. Reaching that ce, I found 18 people standing in a crowd and at a distance from them, another couple trying to break a certain gate which was connected to the stairs below. ''Hmmm... interesting,'' I thought as I used [Inspect] on the two guys at the front. Chapter 131 Dad [Name: Fredrick Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Gunslinger Description: Your everyday bully who possesses more strength than average people and uses it to oppress others. His main motive is to be on top of others. If he can''t do it with his own raw power, he will rely on guns and any other unfair means. The apocalypse brought another side of him outside, his sadist side to control everyone and make them his ves and he is carrying out the ns which he devised to build his utopia. Zombification: 72%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1200/1200 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 37 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] ''Normal, I guess? Now onto the next one.'' [Name: Robert Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Fistfighter Description: This person is used to killing everyone that defies him even before the apocalypse. His extraordinary athletic ability made him one of the best fighters in his area. With his ambitious brother, he lived the life of a king even before the apocalypse. Now that the apocalypse has hit. He is taking things faster and getting more animal-like. Already r*aped 17¡­ Zombification: 12%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 900/900 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 29 Constitution:15 Dexterity: 34 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 10 Charm: 16] Observing their stats, there was nothing particr to be worried about. In fact, looking at the stats of everyone here, they are all pretty much boring. Though, I already knew what to do with them¡­ just by reading their description¡­ I knew what I had to do. ''But why are they trying to enter the basement?'' I questioned as I saw them frozen in time, as they were about to break the chains. Not caring about them, I moved towards the gate and -Crack! Breaking the chains with my bare hands before entering the basement and repositioning the gate outside in the same way it was before. Moving down to the basement, I reached the other gate down below. It was a metallic gate which looked really heavy. First, I tried opening it slowly, which I failed at, but after applying a bit of energy, it became easy to push through. There was a bump as I was pushing it. I guess this gate was chained as well? Then, reaching inside, I saw something¡­ there was a familiar face¡­ ''Dad,'' I thought as I saw my father standing in front of the gate with a shotgun in his hand with about 90 girls and boys behind him who were cowering in fear. My eyes looked at the basement condition. It was a wide basement, enough to amodate about 200 people or something. Looking at them, and then looking back at those bastards who were probably standing up there trying to get down, I could more or less make out the whole situation. ''Dad is trying to protect the kids against those ruffians, I suppose. Though, let''s watch it from a distance and see where this goes,'' I thought as I repositioned the unchained metallic gate and moved to the corner of the basement room before undoing my skills. -BAMM!!! A loud sound urred, probably because I opened the gate and closed it. I kind of expected it but still I kept quiet as I stayed at a distance. "Huh?!" Dad just stood there with his eyes wide open as he saw those chains being broken. His heartbeat probably rose as he moved towards the gate, but before he could move closer, the guys from the top poured down. ''They are fast, eh? Though¡­ shouldn''t be cautious about it?'' I thought as I wondered if they were idiots or just overestimating their abilities. "Huh?!" -sh! One of the men almost shed dad as he saw him almost reaching him, but dad dodged as he jumped back and took a few more steps back as he observed all of them with a re in his eyes. "How did you do it?" Dad asked as he looked at them with an angered expression while the other men were just as confused as they looked at each other. "Did what?" spoke the leader, Frederick Brown, with a slightly questioning face. As for the other guy, Robert Brown, he was lustfully gazing at those girls behind my father. His gaze was quite ugly, honestly, just like his face. "Stop focusing on small things. Let''s kill this old thing and get what''s rightfully ours," Robert spoke as he ran towards father and shed at him. Father had a metallic bat, which he used on that guy, easily blocking his attack and then pushing him back. Though before he could take a step, "Don''t do anything funny now," Frederick spoke with a wide grin as he pointed his guns at him. "You think you can shoot me with that toy of yours?" Father spoke as he moved towards Robert, but Fredrick''s grin didn''t vanish. Actually, it widened even more, he then pointed the gun at the girls behind him and spoke, "Surely I can''t hit you¡­ probably¡­ but if ites to them. Haha¡­ what are you going to do, huh?" ''Cheap move,'' I thought as I looked at that guy¡­ "There is-" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Then I moved towards Fredrick, took his gun, took any other weapon he had on him and then looked around at the whole situation before moving at a distance as I undid my skills and "Nothing you can¡­ huh?" Frederick grasped at his hand, as he looked at the vanished gun, which his eyes began searching for. My eyes observed not only him getting scared but also agitated a little as he looked at Dad. In fact, even Dad and Robert, who were looking at him along with the rest of the people in here, grew confused as they observed the gun just vanishing from his hands. Fredrick was frantically searching for the other guns and weapons in his belongings but the more he searched, the more his expression became twisted before his eyes traced Dad as he asked, "What did you do?!" There was a re in those eyes "Yaaaaa!!!" Though someone else started running towards dad before dad could even take a step towards Fredrick. It was, of course, Robert who sensed that things just fell out of their favor when Fredrick lost his weapon. Dad didn''t know what was going on, but he did know that he had got a chance and being given that chance, how could he let it go. -BOOM!! -PO!! -BAM!! Dad first counterattacked Robert, who almost jumped at him, and then after knocking him down, he kicked him once¡­ twice¡­ and then used his metallic bat, aiming at his legs, shattering them. "Can''t you guys just be like normal humans and help each other and not turn into vicious animals?" he asked as his smile returned and the usual calm look on his face returned. Perhaps without guns being involved, there wasn''t going to be any more problem here. ''Though¡­ shouldn''t he be vignt¡­ no, actually he is¡­ '' I thought as his eyes were tracing the other guys who came down with the two leaders. Most of them carried either a bat or a hockey stick or a rod of sorts. There were a few with machetes and a knife, but none of them had a gun. ''Hmm¡­ I guess only the people above had guns. Mainly for zombies and stuff?'' I thought as I observed dad moving towards them one step at a time. My eyes concentrated on those people with a slightly worried face. "What are you cowards cowering for? What are you kids? He is just one man. Even if he is a beast, we too have gotten stronger with the virus. Plus, we are 20 against 1," Frederick spoke, trying to boost the morale of those people. Which actually kind of worked as they were gaining back their confidence. Dad was too prepared for a fight as he looked at those men moving one step towards him. "It''s not 20 against one. It''s more like 19 against one," I spoke as I moved towards them. Listening to my voice, almost all the people turned their attention to me. "Who are you?" Frederick asked "Michael?" Dad questioned as he looked at me with a surprised gaze. Looking at Dad, I smiled as I spoke,"Evening, dad. It was almost time for dinner, so I thought I might call you. Though you seem to be a little busy." I moved towards Robert, who almost stood up, and on finding me getting closer to him, he just smiled evilly before he jumped at me "Son!" Dad shouted, almost moving towards me, but his steps halted as he saw something unbelievable happening in front of him. -BAM! I blocked the punch with one hand as I nonchntly looked at Robert. "Man, I have to touch your filthy hands, huh? Looks like I will be taking a bath twice now," I sighed before -Crush! "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Robert screamed as loud as he could as his hand got crushed but I still didn''t let go. The others who were observing us took a step back as they observed the situation with their eyes horrified. [Second Space!] I then used my ability to bring him into the Second Space. Though I made sure to turn him unconscious before sending him there. "I will be back in a moment. Take care of things here," I spoke as I looked at my father before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] I began moving out to a safe ce nearby where no one would get close. ''When will I be attacked or approached or touched or anyone seeing me without my abilities activated?'' I asked and [3 hours: 15 minutes: 14 second] Nodding at that timer [Second Space!] Chapter 132 I Hate... No... I Despise R*Pists [Author''s note: This chapter contains Heavy Gore Scenes(R-18+). Readers are advised to proceed with caution when reading this one] .... .... [Second Space (Rare) (Level 3) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. The user can bring one living person to the Second Space he wishes to. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 36 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 20x20 sq meter Skill Points needed to level up Skill: 15] -Thud I saw that guy falling on the ground in front of me as soon as I entered the Second Space. "That''s quite fast," Rhea spoke as she looked at me a bit surprised. "Just the world we live in," I spoke with a chuckle before looking at him for a few moments. "17,huh? This should take some time, I guess¡­" I muttered before speaking to Rhea,"can you wake him up?" Rhea looked at me with a bit of a surprise as she asked,"are you-" "Yeah," I answered before she could ask any question and then looked at her. She just sighed before she snapped in the air with her fingers and I saw the guy slowly waking up as he tried looking around. His eyes, at first annoyed, soon turned confused as he looked at the white room around him filled with minimum furniture. Trying to take a look around, his eyes first fell on Rhea, and widening his eyes, they turned lusty as he almost drooled before running towards her. -BOOM!!! At first, I kicked him away from Rhea. Then, before he could fall to the ground, I held him by his neck against the wall. -Thud!! Finally, when he noticed me, a certain confusion appeared in his eyes and he tried setting himself free. There was annoyance in his eyes as he tried removing my hand from his neck, though after struggling for a few seconds, he just looked at me with his eyes focused as he continued struggling. Then I saw him smirking a little before his eyes turned red a little and I saw his Stats increasing by twice. Perhaps the System noticed that the enemy I was fighting was more than twice as strong as my base stats, hence even my stats increased. That guy then began applying all his strength to remove my hand from his neck. however¡­ nothing happened. And finally, I saw the fear developing in his eyes. His expression started turning a bit twisted as he tried escaping, a bit desperate now. Though even after a few minutes of trying, nothing changed, and I lifted him up from the wall and then dragged him to the [Shop] area. Rhea silently watched me doing all that while that guy, Robert, was still struggling like a trapped fish or something. Maybe he was trying to speak, but I held his throat tight enough to not allow him to speak. I don''t want to hear his filthy voice right now. Then, rather than moving towards the [Selling] section, I moved towards the [Trial] section where I brought him inside. If I remember correctly, nobody would die inside this ce. Though just for confirmation, "He won''t die inside, right?" "He might be mad if you overdo it. The mental trauma carries over," Rhea spoke as she understood my intentions. I nodded at her before moving inside the [Trial] room and then threw him within the white space. I saw him wriggling a little as he held his neck before observing me with a re and fright. "Ubghr!!!!!!" He tried speaking something but words failed toe out of mouth. Well¡­ I have already broken his voice box, so he won''t be able to speak anything. ''I don''t want to hear a rapist''s words or even his plea¡­'' I thought before I cracked my fingers and moved towards him. Knowing something bad wasing towards him, he stood up and started to run away but¡­ I reached him faster, held him by his legs¡­ and then¡­ -Crack!!! "AAAAAAAA!!!!!!" He screamed out loudly before I cracked it even more and tore it apart from his body. His leg, that is. "Okay¡­ that''s one," I sighed without much emotion in my voice and then moving in front of his head -BAM!!!! Kicked him as hard as I could, killing him on the spot. Within the next few seconds, I saw himing back to life back in the exact situation in which he entered this [Trial] room. This time, he was more confused than ever. His eyes were just observing what was going on. There was confusion¡­ fear in his eyes. He was getting horrified¡­ anxious¡­ with every second passing and before he could think; I reached closer to him. His eyes, which were confused, traced my legs, slowly reaching up to my eyes. Then I touched his filthy hands and¡­ clipped his fingers off one by one. "You might be wondering why am I¡­ like this¡­ when I was so calm and all before," I said as I felt Rhea looking at me from behind. Turning back, I saw her nodding at me with confusion and I kind of sighed before speaking,"It''s something that I don''t want to recall but¡­" "AAAAAAAAAA!!!" That guy finally started screaming in pain. Perhaps because of confusion, the pain came a bitter. Though grasping his head with both hands, I pressed as hard as I could, ending his misery along with it. -Squash!!! Of course, he came back to life. More scared than ever as he ran back to the corner of the room. I just turned back to Rhea and spoke, "A few years back, I saw someone who cared for me get r*aped in front of me¡­ in front of her children¡­ in front of her husband¡­ We were hiding in the closet. She didn''t resist because the terrorists promised to let her husband and children go if she did that¡­ but honestly, that was just a false promise. In the end, when she was on the verge of death, their leader justughed maniacally before killing her children with his own two hands and then throwing the husband off the building in front of her." I closed my eyes as pure bitter hatred was oozing out of them now. I just closed my eyes, as tears fell and then, recalling that gut churning scene, my unsympathetic gaze turned to that guy, Robert. -Step! -Step! -Step! My steps echoed in the hallways as I walked towards him. "After that day, I didn''t just hate r*pists¡­ I despised them¡­ I¡­ I shouldn''t think about it anymore¡­" I spoke before I began killing him again¡­ torturing him again. I didn''t want him to be mentally unstable, so I maintained the amount of pain I was giving him and killing him before things could be excess. Otherwise, I would have waited for him to die out after everything I did before moving to the next session. As a thumb rule, I decided to kill him as many times as the number of people he had r*ped. 17 was the number. And after killing him 17 times, I saw him utterly broken like a rag doll. Draggin him by his hairs, outside of the [Trial] room, I reached the [Sell] section of the shop and then knocked him unconscious with a single chop. cing him on the selling section, I then pressed the [Sell] button before an option came in front of me. Chapter 133 A Man To Man Talk [Do you want to sell an E-Grade Zombified Human Fist Fighter for 8000 Cronas?] "Ah! That''s something for this filth," I spoke with a bit of surprised expression as I looked at him. Then I pressed the [Yes] option without any hesitation and saw his body disappearing into thin air as if nothing existed there. [+ 8000 Cronas Received!] After that, I pondered something and then took out the guns and stuff that I took from the people down there in the basement and ced them on the selling option as well. While they did not give me much Cronas, in total I got about 450 Cronas from a total of 18 objects, which was fine, I guess. Other than that, the Crona nt also should give me enough points just like usual. All the more because an hour in the outside world is 36 here now. [Tree of Crona(Umon) Effects: Generates 15 Cronas per hour. Limitations: Can store only 2500 Cronas Current amount of Cronas stored: 612 Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 50,000 Cronas to evolve)] Taking out the Cronas from there, I saw the total amount of Cronas I had. [Total Cronas: 9214] ''Hmmm, I would need about 6000 Cronas to buy a Lesser D-Grade worker¡­ hmmm all right, let''s do it like this,'' I thought before buying an E-Grade Zombie worker instead. [E-Grade Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 10 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 2 Cost: 7500 Cronas] Buying one, I then moved to the [Dungeon Manager] which let me modify the workers and stuff. [Dungeon Manager] [Modify a particr worker] [Temporarily increase the speed of a particr worker] [Temporarily increase the Grade of a particr worker] [Sell a worker] Ignoring thest 3 options, I moved to the first option and [E-Grade Zombie] [Permanently increase the efficiency of the worker by 10%: 10,000 Cronas] [Permanently increase the speed of the worker by 10%: 10,000 Cronas] [Permanently increase the strength of the worker by 10%: 10,000 Cronas] ? [Permanently increase the grade of the worker: 8500 Cronas] ''Well, these seem out of options¡­ well, what about the temporary speed?'' I pondered before looking at the next option. [Temporarily increase the speed of the E-Grade Zombie by 100% for one month: 1000 Cronas] ''Nope,'' I thought before closing the tab. 100% means 20 Cronas for per day instead of 10 and for one month it will be just 30 extra for a cost of 1000 Cronas. Kind of a scam if you ask me. ''Looks like I need to save a bit more before I buy something¡­ but it should fill up fast now that I have a zombie worker¡­ maybe I should wait a few hours outside. I need to catch up with Dad as well,'' I thought before looking at Rhea as I spoke, "I should be leaving now." Silently, she looked at me as she nodded before I vanished from there and returned to the real world. [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Tracing my path back to where I came from, I then moved back to the exact location where my father was, and when I reached there, I saw him thrashing those kids out without any mercy. Half of those ruffians were already dead, the other half were mostly gone, leaving 3 more people with broken legs. There was a bit of rage in Dad''s eyes, and I sighed before turning off my abilities. "It''s okay, dad. Things are fine now," I said, gathering the attention of dad and the rest of the girls who were behind him. The girls shrieked out because of my sudden appearance while my father''s eyes widened a little as he looked at me. "Is William okay?" was the first thing he asked and I nodded,"yeah. He is doing fine. What about you, dad? Are you alright?" He chuckled at my words as he joked,"nothing these old bones can''t handle. Though I need a few exnations." His eyes bored into mine deeply and I nodded at him as I agreed to it,"okay. But let me just take care of things outside first." He looked at me and spoke,"you haven''t done it already? I thought you were dealing with them while I was dealing with things here." "No. I was busy doing something more important," I answered it before moving up as I spoke,"you can bring them up. It should be safe outside¡­ for now at least¡­" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] After that, I moved up and started taking the guns of everyone present there. I didn''t kill any of the ruffians anymore. I left that decision to the people who have suffered here. Though I did break their ankles, I guess. The reason I didn''t kill them was because these were just ambitious kids who have been led astray. They haven''t done anything wrong yet and I don''t have the right to punish someone for just having ambitions. The fact that they were involved in a mess that has nothing to do with me was another fact that made me not bother about it. ''Though if they had troubled father in any way, that would be a different story altogether,'' I thought as I deactivated my skills and¡­ "AAAAAAAA!!!" Heard the screams of everyone around there. The people who have been enved just looked at those crying and screaming men who were trying to grab a hold of their broken ankles. Soon, father came out and looked at the situation with a surprise in his eyes before I saw a bit of pride as he searched for me. His eyesid upon me and he nodded before he began moving and shouting at the others. As he was running, he kind of gave a motivational speech about fighting back and it actually worked, making everyone fight against those ruffians. In the end, the ruffians were caught and bound together with a rope, as everyone was deciding what to do with them. "So, what happened to the kid who couldn''t even protect himself against an HIV attack?" Dad smirked as he looked at me with a proud expression and I looked at him with an annoyed gaze as I answered,"How many times do I have to tell you that I was given a sleeping pill before I was given that injection? Sigh! Can you drop that already?" Heughed out loud at my annoyed expression before he held me by his arms and hugged me tightly. "Son¡­ d to know that you are alive¡­ Even William too¡­ I am d that you both are fine," his voice kinda started breaking as he spoke slowly with slight tears falling from his eyes before he hid them and looked at me with a bright smile again. It felt like he was the happiest man on this right now. "So¡­ what''s with that super power you just showed there?" He asked curiously, and I pondered before ''exining'' it in small words, "The Zombie Virus¡­ it''s affecting people. It''s like energy¡­ making everyone strong. People who fought more zombies and this whole Zombie Core thingy¡­" I started exining about Zombie Core, Zombies, Zombified Humans, different abilities, etc. Looking at him, it felt like he understood half the things and omitted the rest half. But after all was said and done, he sighed deeply as he spoke, "I guess things have changed a lot in the past few weeks¡­ And from your exnation, I take it as you haven''t met your mother yet?" I just kept quiet for a few moments before speaking,"I was nning to move to the next city once I had found William and you. Though, I guess, I should first settle things here with these kids, right?" Knowing my father, he probably won''t leave anyone behind, which is honestly fine. I don''t want him to change at all. He is kind, but he is powerful enough to back up his kindness. The apocalypse might have shifted his power level, but with my help, I will make sure things stay the way they are. "Yeah. Do you have anything you can help with, son?" Father asked as he looked at me and I nodded with an answer as I spoke,"yeah. I do have something on my mind. Though that would require a lot of walking¡­" Chapter 134 My Father So how is my rtionship with my father? Our rtionship is pretty good, honestly. Though just like any other father, he too has some expectations of me... like most fathers have too many expectations of their sons, my dad is rather quiet... not that pressurizing? He likes to keep things simple and in general he lets us do whatever we want as long as it is morally correct. But if there is one thing that he expects from us, that is to be a man and not just some coward who runs with their tail in between their legs. When he heard the fact that I got infected with an HIV injection, he was in a frenzy. Not only was he disappointed in that guy who did that to me, but also calling me weak and pathetic to let something like that happen to me. While I did exin him things, as to why I didn''t have an inkling of an idea when I had been drugged with a sleeping pill and stuff, still he said if I had done this and that beforehand, I could have avoided the situation altogether. ''He was just worried about me,'' I thought as I clearly saw through his words and expressions. I bet he cried that night too... sigh... Things settled down, but then he gradually started avoiding me more and more, probably because he felt embarrassed for thrashing on me. I know my father, he won''t get angry usually, but when he does, he speaks whateveres to his mind. And once he calms down, he regrets it really badly. ''I could have made the situation better just by talking to him, but because I was down and tired and everything. I decided to take a break and avoid as much conversation as possible,'' I recalled the reasons why I did what I did. "How far are we from the ce, son?" Dad asked as he looked at me with a bit of a tired face. I observed him before looking at the map as I spoke,"about 15 kilometers more." Well, what happened was that, actually we were going to start moving to the Libra building immediately yesterday, but looking at the people being exhausted and all, Dad said that it would be better to move after sunrise. He also added that walking during the night wouldn''t be safe,pared to walking during the day. At first, I was going to convince him to not do that, but then I decided that it was fine. This way, I can catch up with my father on a few things while also visiting the [Second Space] on the pretext of sleeping. That way, if I get 8 hours of ''sleep'' I can spend about 12 days within the [Second Space] practicing the sword art that Rhea was trying to teach me. Within that time frame, I managed to reduce the time frame of that ''perfect'' strike to 16 hours from the previous 20 hours. Other than that, I got my Crona up to 8500 before upgrading that [E-Grade Zombie Worker] to [Lesser D-Grade Zombie Worker]. This way I should get 25 Cronas from that guy, making it a total of 16 Cronas per hour now. ''Next is to upgrade the housing limit,'' I thought as I looked at the crowd behind taking a break on their own, since they found me stopped along with dad. Well, we took off right in the morning as soon as we saw the first light of the morning. With the help of my map, I could easily find the way back to that ce. Based on my calctions, it should take about another 5-6 hours to walk to reach that ce by foot. As for the food and water, those ruffians did collect a lot of food and weapons, so it solved one of our problems. However, one thing that concerned me was, ''I wonder how William and the others are faring.'' I mean, they should have long since reached the army base and knowing Alissa, William and Caroline, they would have returned back to Libra building. Because of how strong Wim is, the others might have tried their best to stop them, but honestly, they don''t hold the power to do that. ''I hope they don''t take a step which might cost both their legs,'' I pondered before turning to the others, "What are you guys doing? The zombies are approaching from behind." Hearing my voice, a tense atmosphere developed before everyone stood up and looked at dad. Dad observed my serious face before he nodded and then spoke out, "Come on,ds. Being tired is better than being dead." All of them got up with a tired yet motivated expression before they began walking again and, once again, I began leading them. It had already been 6 hours since we were walking. Kind of a long way we havee. I have been killing any or all zombies approaching us, and honestly, there wasn''t much problem at all. Even the fact that zombies were following us was totally a lie. I killed most of the zombies close and far around us. Normally, I would have simply guided them to the base, but because there was dad... oh! I have already said that once. Anyways... For the next 6 hours, we kept walking, and it was about time for night to arrive as well. Though we were more or less close to the location we had to reach, and in the next 30 minutes or so, we even reached that ce. It wasn''t like I did nothing during the time I was walking. Usually, I asked my father to take over things on the pretext of taking care of the iing zombies that I was going to deal with. And moving a few 100 meters away from them, I went to [Second Space] to harvest my Cronas. And just like that, I had collected another 6800 Cronas while I was traveling. "Michael!!!" I heard the shout of a blonde girl as she ran towards me and -Thud! Hugged me as hard as she could. Herrge breasts pressed against my chest, making the other men look at me with pure jealousy. As if that wasn''t enough, another pink haired girl ran at me and hugged me as well before moving Alissa away from me a little. "Looks like I made you both a bit worried," I spoke as I patted their heads and then both looked at me with worried eyes before I heard a voice, "Brother, we have a situation... an odd one." It was William. He looked so serious that it reminded me of Valentine''s Day. "Smile a little, will you? Look who I found," I smiled as I pointed at dad and as William observed him, his serious expression washed away and a joyful expression reced it. He ran towards Dad and hugged him tightly. Meanwhile, I asked my two little girls, "What happened?" I was smiling, but it was anything but a bright smile at this moment. "Well... better if you go inside and see for yourself," spoke Alissa with an unamused expression and looking at her behaving like that, I got even more curious. Caroline looked like she wanted to speak something, but Alissa''s expression stopped her from speaking anything. "Ah! Look who we have here. The center of all-" I heard a familiar voice of a familiar face and... "I''ll give you 1 minute to leave from here or else you will die," I spoke without any hesitation as I looked at that guy. General Pasture, one of the heads of the military whom I asked... no... begged for help during Valentine''s Day. Chapter 135 Just A Few Little Things "Ohe on now, can''t you-" General Pasture spoke as he chuckled but before he could continue William cut him off, "The final decision has been made, Sir Pasture. Leave. Now." William''s eyes had a certain glint in them as he observed Pasture. Pasture''s expression broke a little, but he didn''t let it stay even for a brief moment as he smiled as he continued, "We all need each other in this apocalypse. Don''t you think we should increase our chances of survival?" "Then shouldn''t you be leaving already?" it was Alissa who spoke as she smirked at that guy. Caroline chimed in as well,"staying here is only guaranteeing your doom." It wasn''t just them, but everyone around was just looking at Pasture as if he were some sort of viin. Well, not all of them, but at least all those who had the power to make a judgment were looking at him like that. Those who didn''t have enough power were actually just confused about what was going on here. "Is that so? Seems like I wasted your time here. Pardon my behavior but I should be leaving now," Pasture spoke as he looked at the faces of everyone present here before moving away from me. I saw his power rising and then him vanishing from there before he muttered,"such wasted potential." I saw the timer [7 Seconds] That was the amount of time left before I would have killed him. I guess he could be considered lucky in this regard. "This was an unpleasant surprise!" I pped my cheeks, refreshing my mood before I turned at William,"you catch up with Dad. I will discuss the rest with Alissa and Caroline." He nodded at me and then began taking the rest of the new group inside the building. Though something caught everyone''s eyes. "Who are they?" Caroline asked curiously as she saw the men who were handcuffed and stuff, the bad guys, the ruffians who tried taking control of others. "Well¡­ they are.." I then told everyone what they were doing and asked William to see what he needed to do with them. Or more like Dad and him together, working out a way to use them without killing them and stuff. ''If I personally handle the stuff, I will most probably end up selling them,'' I smiled wryly as I thought about it before turning to Alissa and Caroline. "Let''s get in. We got a lot to discuss, I suppose," I spoke before moving inside the building. I saw White who just red at me for a few moments before he sighed and I kind of made an ''Oops!'' expression as I recalled that I promised toe back by yesterday evening and not today. Though what I said next to him, changed his expression to that one of a surprise, "Let''s depart tomorrow morning." Hearing my words, he nodded dly before he moved out, and I went to a higher floor with the two girls. I didn''t see Alex and George here, though. ''Wonder where they went?'' Anyway, I moved inside a random room on the third floor before moving to the master bedroom andy down on the bed as I rxed spreading my arms apart, "Phe¡­ Man, that was a long walk. Well, tell me from the start. What happened?" Hearing my question, Alissa first moved from the left side and moved to the bed beforeying on my left shoulder, followed by Caroline, whoid on my other shoulder. "We kind of missed you," spoke Alissa "Yes, we did," Caroline followed with a smile as she kissed my cheek. Though I just chuckled as I said, "That wasn''t what I was asking, though." "Read the mood idiot," spoke Alissa as she rubbed her hand on my chest before she spoke,"well¡­ we did as you asked us to do. Dropped those ungrateful bastards and that b*tch on the military grounds beforeing back here." Caroline continued her words as,"She was literally crying and begging for William to stay with her but despite being the usual kind and nice guy, he was unsympathetic towards her, simply saying,''this is the best for you, Arianna.'' Made meugh out loud at that." "Well, I guess she won''t be causing any trouble for William for now," I rxed as I thanked the heavens that at least one of the irritating problems just got solved by itself. "What about M, though?" I asked as I wondered what happened to her and Alissa answered,"that military girl? Your former girlfriend? She was called upon by some major head or something to inform him about what happened in this scouting. After that, before she coulde back, we left." ''Someone higher than M, huh? I think it''s her father,'' I thought as I sighed before looking at Caroline,"what happened to Alex and George? I didn''t see them when I came here." "Both of them went with some of the adults here to arrange some food and stuff. Alex said that he needed to check something out at a distance while George too thought about checking up on a cousin of his," Caroline exined and I pondered over it before checking up on the map. After going through for a few seconds around the neighborhood, I found 2 energy signatures, along with a couple of other people traveling in a group together. After that, I turned to Caroline as I spoke,"what about the nts and the energy products? Did you find anything regarding that?" ? Hearing my words, Caroline''s expression turned a bit wry as she turned to Alissa and spoke,"ask her about. I didn''t understand even thest time she told me about it." "I used some of my powers tomunicate with the nts. It wasn''t exactly hard; it was like they were an extension of me and rather than exactlymunicating with them, I was controlling them. I made them grow up a little, enough to provide us with food and I guess they can keep giving food for a long time to us. As for energy, nope. Nothing like that is still avable yet," Alissa answered as she pondered a little while her fingers were making circles over my chest. "I understand a little, I guess. Let''s see if I can find an alternate source of energy," I thought as I wondered about how I should proceed with my next move. ''Now that I think about it, I haven''t received any side quests in a while, except this one,'' I recalled as I looked at the System screen. [Electricity is the key to the function of daily life!] [With the world going into chaos. All the energy sources have been halted for an unknown amount of time. Though that does not mean there is no way of creating electricity in your base. Quest: Find a way to create a power source and built a dependable power source for your base Reward: +5000 Cronas] ''5000 Cronas, huh? Well, that would be a bonus, honestly, over the energy source and its applications,'' I thought before I felt a finger on my lips. "All right, that''s enough serious talk," Alissa spoke as she smiled and¡­ began to take off her top in front of me and¡­ Huh? Caroline! Ah¡­ she is already topless¡­ Chapter 136 Two Beauties[R-18] [Author''s note: This chapter contains Explicit Nudity and Sex Scenes(R-18)] ... ... ''Am I in heaven?'' I thought as I looked at 4 bouncy jugs in front of me. On my left was Alissa, whose breasts were... man, they looked so voluptuous. ''Are they E? Or... F?'' I thought, gulping as I never really concentrated on them before as much. But now that I look at them.. Gulp... "Want to touch them?" a chuckle escaped her mouth as Alissa looked at me. I could only nod at her before moving my hands towards her, but she stopped them as a mischievous gaze found my eyes. "Not with hands... " she spoke as she pointed at my lips before a slightly embarrassed smile formed on her face and she spoke,"with them... " Though before I could even speak, something touched my penis... a soft and warm sensation... looking below, I saw Caroline slowly touching my penis with her hand. She had already undressed me half from bottom and was continuing to do so while she used one hand on my penis. Alissa then moved towards me, as she bent a little before she kissed me lightly on my lips before she moved a bit away and asked again,"shall I?" I nodded as I felt Carolinepletely removing my pants before sitting on my legs and then gently rubbing my penis with her hands. She was neither too fast nor too slow... just the perfect speed. Mmmmhhh... I then felt the breasts of Alissa near my mouth as I began sucking them. As soon as I touched them, a heavenly feeling swept across my body that I couldn''t control myself but gently bite her nipples. "Ah!... You shouldn''t... ah... don''t... stop... keep.... going.." Alissa started moaning more and more as I bit her. ''I guess it''s her weak spot... '' thinking that, I started getting more and more rough with her. And while I was doing that, I felt another pair of soft bouncy breasts wrapping around my penis. ''Mmmhh,'' I couldn''t help but moan, feeling those breasts around my lower body, while kissing and sucking these appetizing breasts. Alissa has already unbuttoned my shirts while I was sucking her breasts... After a couple minutes of sucking her breasts, I then felt her moving away before she repositioned herself around me and brought her face closer to me. Meanwhile, Caroline, too, removed her breasts from my lower body and slowly brought her lips closer to the base of my lower body. Starting with the skin around the balls, she slowly kissed up to my balls as she yed with them a little. As for Alissa, I saw her sticking her tongue slowly out as she moved closer and, just like her, I too opened my mouth to let her tongue make way towards mine. As soon as our tongues touched each other, we began kissing heavily, mixing our saliva, getting lost in the pleasure. As for Caroline, she had already made her way to the tip of my length. Her lips felt the taste of my ns as she savored every lick of hers. I could feel my penis throbbing as she did that. Alissa, after tasting my saliva, slowly began kissing my cheeks, then moved towards my ears before moving down to my neck. While Caroline''s saliva was slowly covering my entire length, Alissa was making her way down to the same point. From my neck to my chest, and stopping at my umbilicus for a few seconds, before moving down beside Caroline. Feeling Alissaing down, Caroline moved to the side, making way for Alissa, before Alissa reached down beside her and... started taking my penis inside her mouth. At first, it was just the upper half, but then I saw her taking it even more deeper... finally touching her lips to the bare skin around my penis... and then she took it out... before taking it in again. Caroline was just looking at her while I couldn''t control myself as I spoke,"Alissa... if... you.. like.. it''s...ing..." It was true. The way she was wrapping her tongue around my penis while swallowing the entirety of it. The way she was perfectly doing it... It was extremely hard for me to control myself... When I said those words, instead of taking it out... she started doing it even more pleasurably... as if she wanted it inside her mouth. And just the thought of it made me lose all my control as I sprayed my future generation inside of her... After I did that, I saw her mouth first filling up... before she gulped it all down. A little bit was sprayed out on her lips, which she lewdly licked up before cleaning it with her fingers. Showing her fingers to Caroline, she spoke with a really lewd and lusty tone,"want it?" Caroline looked at for a few moments before she spoke,"I''ll take mine from here," as she moved towards my penis... and started taking it in her mouth. Unlike Alissa, who went all in, Caroline could only make it up to 2/3rd of my penis... before I saw Alissa patting her head as she spoke,"want to go all in?" Worried, I wanted to say ''Don''t force yourself'' but before I could say anything,"sure," Caroline spoke as she looked at Alissa. Alissa shoved her head lower, making her touch my bare skin as well, before she took it out once again... she went all in. I don''t know what happened, but after that Caroline continuously started taking the whole thing in and out without any problem... and just like Alissa, she too was using her tongue... enough to make my penis throb again. And just like before.. "I... am cumming.." I spoke, making Alissa put her hand on Caroline''s head, stopping at the very bottom. I could feel the very end of Caroline''s mouth with my thing there and as I sprayed this time.. It was directly inside the edge of her mouth, making her take it all in with nothing left behind. Once done, Alissa moved her hands away, while Caroline slowly removed her mouth from my length, before wiping off her saliva that was dripping down her mouth. "Now onto the main course," Alissa chuckled as she looked at me before slowly taking off her lower garments and I could just look at her slowly getting naked and my boner rising once again. Chapter 137 Two Beauties#2[R-18] [Author''s Note: This chapter contains Explicit Nudity and Sex Scenes(R-18)] ¡­.. ¡­.. It wasn''t just Alissa but Caroline, too, who was now undressedpletely. And I too slowly removed my shirt before throwing it off the bed. Slowly, Caroline made her way to sit on myp while I saw Alissa getting on my chest. With Alissa in between, I couldn''t see what Caroline was doing. Though that didn''t mean that I did not know what was going on. I could feel Caroline slowly helping herself to my penis as she slid it inside her vagina "Aah!!" I heard her moan as she started getting it in and while I was concentrating on her, Alissa just touched my cheeks as she looked down. Though I didn''t see her face, herrge breasts were in between. But what I could see were her lower lips of Alissa ced right in front of me to savor. ''Is this what they call the heavenly nectar?'' I thought before slowly moving and kissing that part of her body. Using my hand, I touched her legs, and helped her get in a position that was more proper for me. And once I feltfortable, "Mmmmhh¡­aaaah¡­. Aaah¡­aaaa¡­ AAAHHH!!!" with a heavy breath, she moaned out loudly. Without any restrictions, she let her desires, her emotions, control her, as I licked her lower lips, using my tongue as skillfully as I could. "Mich.. michael¡­ I knew¡­it¡­ you¡­ are a bea¡­ahh.. AAAHHH!!!... mmmhhh.. beast¡­mmmhmm¡­ aahh..AAAAH!!! YEAH!! JUST LIKE THAT!! KEEP GOING!! There¡­ yeah¡­ there¡­AAAAHHH!!!" The moans echoed loudly in the room while both Alissa and Caroline enjoyed the ride of their life. Even, I, the one present below the two beauties, was lost in ecstasy as I enjoyed every single moment with these two. After another few minutes of sucking and f*cking, Alissa then slowly moved away from me, and turned around towards Caroline. With a lusty look on her face, she kissed Caroline too, while I just enjoyed Caroline''s movements against my penis. Soon after, as Alissa kept kissing Caroline, she pushed her off me and got on top of her, showing the wide open pussy of hers. I gulped as I saw that defenseless hole of hers¡­ Slowly getting up towards those beauties who were busy making out, I moved closer to them as I spoke,"I will help myself in¡­" And then cing my penis behind her¡­ I shoved it inside Alissa. "AAAH!!!!" Alissa shouted in ecstasy as I did that as I started moving it out and then in. Though I heard her speaking something in a heavy voice, "Wrong¡­ hole¡­" And then, stopping for a second, I realized that it wasn''t her vagina that I put my penis into, though, before I could do anything. "I.. didn''t ask you¡­ to stop,"Alissa spoke as she kissed Caroline and hearing her, my adrenaline surged and I started going faster and faster. "AAH!! AAHH!! YES!! YES!! YES!!! BABY!! SHOVE IT ALL IN!!! MMMHHHHMMM AAAAHHHHH!!!!" Alissa was on cloud nine as she started shouting and moaning loudly and even began kissing Caroline more ferociously than ever. After going on for minutes, I then slowly took it out before proceeding a bit lower towards the hole of the other girl, Caroline. Understanding my intentions, Alissa moved away from Caroline, giving me space for a proper position as I began shoving it inside her. Just like Alissa, she too moaned out loud, but unlike Alissa, she wasn''t shouting but controlling her breath. Though it was only for the initial few minutes before she too started moaning loudly. "Mmmmhhh¡­ aaah¡­ AAAH!!!.... AAAH!!!... AAAHHHHH" As for Alissa, she stood a bit up before moving towards me and started kissing me. I used my hands to y with her breasts while I teased her with my tongue. All the while, I kept pounding in and out of Caroline. Though¡­ this was only the beginning¡­ For the next few hours, we kept changing positions, doing everything we could, sometimes doing the same thing a dozen times. We tried every position we could in those hours before finally getting exhausted and sweaty. Tired, I got on the bed with Alissa on my right and Caroline on my right. "I could smell ''it'' from your mouth," I chuckled at the filthiness of our situation and all three of us smiled like idiots before Alissa moved to sleep on my shoulders while Caroline did the same from the other side. This was truly heavenly. Never in my life I would have imagined getting to this point. I wonder what happened, honestly? I was worried that I might spoil this beautiful moment, but I kind of wanted to ask a few questions. ''Howe we are having sex together? Weren''t you saving it for your the one?'' ''I thought you both would have difficulty being together, but howe you are so friendly¡­ and that too at this level? Just what happened in one day.'' ''What exactly is going on in both of your minds?'' Well, but this wasn''t the exact time to ask this question. ''How long before someone gets in or disturbs us?'' [16 Hours: 45 Minutes: 23 Seconds] Good. ''How long will Caroline and Alissa sleep for?'' [4 Hours: 12 minutes: 45 seconds] [1 hour: 30 minutes: 34 seconds] I took a deep breath as I understood the difference in their sleep duration. Caroline required 4 hours to sleep because she wasn''t tired as much; her enhanced body and genes let her recover faster than a normal human. As for Alissa, she was already beyond human in more than one aspect. She could easily recover all that travel fatigue and stuff within an hour or two. Slowly, I closed my eyes as I thought [Second Space!] And once again, my consciousness escaped through my body and reached that white room. Once again, I was naked in front of Rhea and she shook her head with a sigh before clicking her fingers as ck clothes covered my body. "Well, how long are we going to train for today?" she asked, and I pondered before answering, "Let''s go for 180 hours. I can pretend to sleep for 5 hours outside that way." Chapter 138 Finally I Got To Sleep.... ? "8 Hours¡­ hah¡­12 minutes¡­ ha¡­ 14 seconds¡­haha..," I spoke out loud as I looked at the timer which showed me how long it took me to make that perfect strike. "How many¡­ cough cough¡­ mistakes I made?" I asked Rhea, and she looked at me with a slightly exhausted look before speaking,"17 in total¡­" "That''s a lot," I spoke with a bit of regret as previously I was just making a couple of mistakes or more, but Rhea got annoyed as she spoke,"IT''S NOT!!" "Heh¡­ is that so?" I spoke as I slowly got off from the floor before wiping myself with a cloth. "Really? Are you sure you are just a human?" she asked again with a concentrated face and I just sighed before speaking,"Well, I am a human with a System if that''s what makes you satisfied." After that, I moved outside the [Trial] room towards the [Daily Shop] Section to check out today''s listed items. [Blood Warlock''s Boots(Unique)] [Description: Forged with the ability of breaking mountains, the boots were formed from the blood of the three General Demons. And with thates the ability to channel the power of the three Generals, which enhances the already present power of the Blood Boots. Effects: All Stats +10% Agility of the user increases by 200% When using blood rted ability, the user''s Stat goes up by another 20% Set Effects: (2/2)Constitution and Dexterity +50% (3/3)When the user''s Health is below 30%, all iing damage gets reduced by 99% for 10 seconds (5/5)[Warlock''s Rage]: ???? Unique Effects: ??? Special Added Bonus: ??? Cost: 150,000,000 Cronas Discounted Price: 15,000,000 Cronas] [Carpet of the White Tree(Rare Item)] [Description: The user can create any or all food they have seen before and eat to their heart''s content. The carpet costs Energy from the user each time they use it. Cost: 50,000 Cronas Discounted Price: 2000 Cronas] [Rifle of the Seventh Prince(Rare)] [Attack: 5000 Durability: 10000/10000 Effects: ???? Cost: 500,0000 Cronas Discounted Price: 75,000 Cronas] ''Hmmm¡­ something that isn''t too costly, huh?'' I thought before looking at the amount of Cronas I had [Total Cronas: 12303 Cronas] ''It would be another 20 hours in the outside world before the Cronas reset, huh?'' I thought as I calcted the amount of Cronas I would have by then. ''Another 12k or something, huh?'' I calcted before nodding and then returning back to my room and scrolling through the Dungeon Screen until I found a certain option I was looking for. [Capacity Increase: Current capacity to hold workers: 5 (Grade 0) Cost of increasing the capacity to Grade 1: 1000 Cronas] Thinking a little about it, I then upgraded the capacity by 1 Grade. [Capacity Increase: Current capacity to hold workers: 10 (Grade 1) Cost of increasing the capacity to Grade 2: 10,000 Cronas] ''Welp, that''s costly all right,'' I thought before looking a bit more at the items I possess in my arsenal. [Enchantment Paper of Fire] [Increases the fire power of a weapon by 10%] [Enchantment Paper of Jealousy] [Adds the enchantment of jealousy to a given item] [Orb of Good Health] [Adds a random healing skill to the given item] ''Okay, so first I will need a weapon that works for me best before I could use them. Should I give them to Carol? Umm¡­ no, not really. I should find myself something first before looking out for others. It''s not like they are weak to begin with,'' I thought before pondering a bit more and then moving out of the [Second Space] Outside, I saw Alissa and Caroline both missing from the bed. Perhaps they both went out after waking up? Anyway, I should get some sleep as well, but first¡­ [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] With this, the speed would decrease by 100 times and 100 seconds of sleep will get converted into 1 second outside. Now [Advanced Time Maniption] [Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by as much time as the user wants (max 200). Does not work on any macro movements. Cost: 0] I used this skill as well to manipte time by 200 times. After that, I just closed my eyes as I proceeded to sleep blissfully without any tension in this world. It has been a while since I got this amount of sleep¡­ I mean, after all that dungeon and dying and stuff, and then finding brother and father, things were just going on and on without any breaks. Even when I was ''sleeping'' I was working 36 times more than usual. Of course, my brain would get tired despite being so monstrous as usual. Thinking all that, I just drifted deeper and deeper into sleep. So deep that I didn''t even see a certain message appearing on the screen in front of me.. [The Side Effect of Using God Power: Time eleration will now begin!] During my sleep, I saw a dream¡­ or more like a couple of dreams in sequence. In one I was fighting with Kira, in another I was spending my happy time with Erina in a vige area or something. In another one, all my girls and family were together and were smiling happily. Then there was another dream where that guy was chasing me with that injection of HIV¡­ Well, that was really terrifying. I couldn''t do sh*t about it no matter how much I tried. Anyway,ter on I had another dream where I was having sex with all the 5 girls, including Rhea as well¡­ man¡­ that''s heavenly¡­ Later on I saw myself fighting against Zombies, including that Troll Zombie and that Elf Zombie. When I killed that Elf Zombie, it turned into a beautiful girl and we had sex¡­ man, that was something else as well.. After that, I dreamt about a nt world where that girl, Terra, was there showing me all around, making me meet with people. I even saw that Alissa was the Queen there, manipting everyone, making them dance on her palm. Another dream about George with his friends, and another with White and Alex happily spending time together¡­ Dreams after dreams, I kept sleeping for god knows how long. And after an endless stream of dreams and sleep, I woke up¡­ My eyes opened up to see a message from the System [Side Effect of using God Power: Time eleration has been fulfilled!] [The user may now proceed with normal routine in his life!] [All his bodily functions have been returned to normal!] ''What?!'' My eyes opened up with shock in them as I looked at that screen, only to find myself sleeping in rubble.. I could faintly feel the light¡­ but it felt like I was buried under a heap of rubble. I tried moving my body slowly but couldn''t even lift a finger as I tried my best. ''Heavy!'' I thought as I took a deep breath as I wondered what the f*ck happened¡­ Luckily, I could still use the System and looking through it, I found a couple of unnerving things¡­ [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats be 5 times] Level: 15 (1,762,531/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75) Constitution: 15(+75) Dexterity: 15(+75) Intelligence: 15(+75) Wisdom: 15(+75) Charisma: 15(+75) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 16501 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0] ''Slumbered one and¡­ Total dungeons under control¡­ zero?'' Chapter 139 6 Months [Volume 4: And the Search Continues¡­] ..... ..... [Call of the Fairies(Unique)] [The World of the Fairies is dying but the fairies themselves have taken refuge in variouss. In return for saving the Queen of Fairies, Erina, the fairies have granted you their blessing. Summon the fairies to your aid to use the powers of nature for a limited time. Effect: Allows the user to use a random Natural Element for 10 mins Limitations: Can be used only once in every 15 Days] "Oh! We have been summoned!" "How long has it been?" "Hehe!" "This is funny." "Weren''t all the Spirit user''s dead?" "He has the Queen''s mark!" "But isn''t the Queen gone?" "Who is he?" "It''s funny!" . . Voices. Dozens of voices started echoing around me as I used that ability of mine. My eyes were still closed and it was hard to see anything but soon. "Spirits of the ground! Help thy needy one!" "Spirits of the ground! Help thy needy one!" "Spirits of the ground! Help thy needy one!" "Spirits of the ground! Help thy needy one!" "Spirits of the ground! Help thy needy one!" . . . And then my vision returned. Even though my eyes were closed, I could see everything around me. The vision kept expanding before I finally realized¡­ that I was at least buried 500 meters below the ground. But it didn''t seem like a problem anymore. Even though I was buried so deep, I didn''t feel any distress¡­ because I could now control the very ground around me. For what should have been a suffocating burden, it now felt like a deep sea to me. And slowly I swam up¡­ moved up one second at a time. I didn''t feel anyck of air to breathe. I didn''t feel any tiredness in my body. It was as easy as breathing for me¡­ and as I swam up; I reached the top within minutes before the hot burning sun graced me with its presence. ''Wait! That''s not the sun!'' I realized as the vision turned clearer and clearer, a dreadful view came in front of me. Fallen buildings, broken bridges, everything turned to dust and debris. The only thing familiar was the setting sun at a distance beyond the ruins that were in front of me. There were no souls, no zombies, no humans, anywhere close to me; nothing worth calling living was in sight. ''Just how much time has passed?'' I questioned with a nked out expression. [6 Months: 0 Minutes: 0 Seconds] ''Huh? Wait! Howe so much has changed in just 6 months?'' Though before I could process that another thought hit my mind and I couldn''t help, but gulp, but question the System again, ''How long had my body slept for?'' [10,000 Years] -Thud! I fell on my butt, as I couldn''t believe my eyes. My eyes wide open in stark disbelief just looked at that number as I questioned,''what the f*ck is going on here?'' Though I already knew the answer to it. The System has already told me what happened. "The side effect of using God''s power?" I thought as I fell on my back, as I understood more or less. But it was still scary nheless. Simply speaking, because I had used both the [Temporal Deceleration] skills plus the [Advanced Time Regeneration!]I had reduced those 10,000 years of sleep¡­ into mere 6 months. The mere thought of what would have happened if I hadn''t used those skills beforehand made me shudder to the bone. Once again,ing back to the same question before, "Howe things changed so much in 6 months? Just what happened?" Normally I would have panicked and stuff, but now is not the time for that. I must find out what is going on around me. And I should start with the [System] itself. ''The new title,'' [The Slumbered One: The one who has slept for 10,000 years. He does not find any necessity for food, water or energy. He can survive without anything at all and even breathing, that which is absolutely necessary to one''s life, he can live without it.] ''All right, not a bad title¡­ also, confirms that I had been sleeping for this long,'' I sighed as I was, once again, reminded of the time I just missed in one sleep. "What happened to my dungeon?" I tried looking at it, but the dungeon options were gone as well. Seems like I need to ask Rhea about it. Maybe I should deal with itter on¡­ [Electricity is the key to the function of daily life(Completed)!] [With the world going into chaos. All the energy sources have been halted for an unknown amount of time. Though that does not mean there is no way of creating electricity in your base. Quest: Find a way to create a power source and built a dependable powersource for your base Reward: +5000 Cronas] ''Guess they found a way to create energy, huh?'' And this one as well¡­ [Clear the South Area of the ck Water City(Completed)!] [Kill all the Zombies! Total Zombies Remaining: 0 Reward: +20 Skill Points] [Total Skill Points: 27] ''I know where to spend them, I guess,'' I thought as I put 15 Skill Points to level up a certain Skill. [Second Space (Rare) (Level 4) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. The user can bring one living person to the Second Space he wishes to. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 48 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 25 x 25 sq meter Skill Points needed to level up the Skill: 20] Then I checked the entire System but didn''t find any particr changes to it. So whates next¡­ "Okay, with this much of things done, I should first get into a safe corner and check up on Rhea. While it''s been 6 months in the outer world, it must have been 18 years inside the space," I thought as I began moving around the ce. Looking at the sunset, there should be another 40 minutes before itpletely vanishes. Then I might need to travel around in these rubbles without any light source. Though before I could even make a move, I heard a strange sound from a distance not too far from me. Trying to hear it more clearly, I kept quiet and concentrated on that ce, but all I could make out was some ''shiinngg'' sounds and nothing more. It felt like something was cutting through the air, maybe? "Let''s check it out first," I thought as I ran towards that area. Though even before I could reach the area, a System message came that told me what was going on in that ce in the distance. [Side Quest!] [Save the Archeologist (Grade-B)!] [A certain archeologist has traveled to the ruins of the ck Water City, South Area, to find out the lost heirloom of her family. It is her only hope to survive in this apocalypse, and she is prepared to die for it. Save her before the Zombies get to her! Rewards: +1 Special Upgrade Skill Points] "Now we are talking!" a smile formed on my face as I increased my pace towards that archeologist. Chapter 140 B-Grade Zombie Moving towards the ce, I found a bunch of 4 legged zombies running towards the sound as well. Each of those zombies was C-Grade and their features were simr to the Licker. They were jumping from one broken building to another, and I could see them barely moving even when the time was 100 times slower. Ignoring them, I reached the location where the battle was taking ce. -SHIIINNNGGGGG! -Rwar!!!! I could see a green-haired girl wearing a ck mask, carrying a chainsaw in her hands as she fought with another zombie who looked really ferocious. The zombie was at least 3 times that of a normal human and its muscles were over bulging. ''Just what is he?'' [Inspect!] [Armageddon Zombie(B-Grade)!] [A C-Grade Zombie that has got its first Direct Linkage Evolution and gained the power of higher physical enhancement. This beast can crush buildings with its mere punch. It has enhanced senses, powerful enough to sense being even from miles away. Be careful, after being an evolved zombie, it may call other lesser zombies around him for help. Skills* Reward For Killing: +50,000 Exp] ''A B-Grade Zombie, huh? No wonder it can walk so fast... but for someone to fight against a zombie so strong, who is she?'' I thought before using inspect on that girl as well. [Inspect!] [Name: Irene Campbell Race: Zombified Human (B-Grade) ss: The Saw-woman Description: A petite and calm girl who used to live a normal tomboyish life before the apocalypse hit. Her dream was to be the best graffiti artist, but after the apocalypse, all she wants is to find a happy and stable life. Searching for her presumably dead family, she is trying her best to find whatever clues she can. Zombification: 56%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 7,232,022/15,000,000 Status: Weakened Skills* Strength: 452(+904) Constitution: 567 Dexterity: 678(+678) Intelligence: 1345(+300) Wisdom: 919 Charm: 743] ''A B-Grade Human, huh? Guess things aren''t too grim,'' I thought as I saw how skillfully she was fighting against that zombie. Despite being so big, that guy was fast as heck as he easily caught up to her before she could even dodge. But utilizing that precise timing, she used her chainsaw to cut him down skillfully. ''Nice!'' I thought before I saw another zombieing from a distance [Inspect!] [Skeleton Zombie(B-Grade)] [A Runner, who has given up all its other stats only for speed and power. It has evolved various other defense mechanisms to protect itself like acid skin, decay effect, etc. Be careful as once it starts running, it only stops once it has killed enough. Just like other B-Grade Zombies, it may call other zombies lower than it for help. Skill* Rewards for Killing: +50,000 Exp] I saw it getting closer and closer as it approached Irene. Irene had a look of desperation and annoyance on her face as she hurried her steps towards the Giant Armageddon Zombie. Armageddon Zombie, sensing something was wrong, started taking a few steps behind as it dodged Irene''s blows, making Irene even more desperate. The expression of Irene was really bitter at this moment, and I wondered what would be going on in her mind at this moment. Her desperation was showing over her previous calm face and she was actively searching for a way out. And after a few moments that Skeleton Zombie had reached closer to Irene, enough to make her take some precaution towards it. The Armageddon Zombie, finding an opening, made a move towards Irene as well. "F*ckers," I heard Irene cursing as she made a really annoyed expression. She was more or less trapped here. Though before any of the zombies could get her... a giant hand made up of sand formed from the ground and immediately caught and threw Irene towards me. As Irene flew towards me, the Skeleton Zombie collided with the Armageddon Zombie and both their expressions were confused as heck. As for Irene, before she could realize what had happened. -Catch! I caught her in my arms as I looked through that masked face, into those innocent green eyes of hers. "Need any help?" I asked as I looked at her and, after a few moments of confusion, she nodded before getting off me. "Which one do you want to handle?" I asked, and she looked at me with a slightly surprised expression before speaking,"My energy is low right now, so I could only provide so much help here. Sorry for being such a b*tch but can you fight them while I cover you?" she spoke, and I chuckled, "What''s the guarantee that you won''t ditch me?" She smiled bitterly as she spoke,"you think I can escape this hell all by myself? Not after I have attracted 4 of them at once... I am sorry, but we are in it together now." ''Four?'' I thought before scanning around, but not being able to sense I sighed before speaking, "Well... I guess we can strike a deal here." "What deal?" she asked in confusion as her eyes concentrated on those zombies, who were walking towards us with slight caution. I touched her head and [Advanced Time Maniption!] And increased her energy regeneration by 200 times. She looked at me with confusion as her eyes widened at me. There were questions in her eyes and I just smiled as I saw her energy filling up really fast. It should take about a minute to fill her energy back up toplete. Those zombies, especially the runner, ran at me at full speed and almost reached us. "Stop already," I spoke as another hand formed in an instant in front of me and caged that zombie. While it was too fast, with the power of [Eyes of the Time Keeper] it was too easy to determine when it would reach where, and using that power, I just caught it before it could even reach me. Ignoring that Skeletal Zombie, I then turned to Irene, who was dumbstruck at what just happened. Her eyes were in disbelief and not really caring about it, I just asked "Can you answer a few questions of mine? It might sound stupid to you, but can you answer all my questions properly?" She nodded subconsciously as she looked at me with a bit of a scared expression. -Crush! [You have killed a B-Grade Zombie(Skeleton)] [+50,000 Exp Received] But I didn''t just stop there. I then began moving towards the other C-Grade Zombies as well. After all, the time for which I can use the Spirit''s power was limited. [+4000 Exp Received] [+4000 Exp Received] [+5500 Exp Received] [+6000 Exp Received] [+5000 Exp Received] . . . . The notifications kept ringing in my head as I moved towards that big guy over there. Reaching closer to it I saw it being able to move even after me covering it with all the concrete around. "It has a strong skull. Even a force of-" I heard Irene''s voice, but before she could continue [Time Cutter!] -sh! -sh! -sh! I used this ability to cut through that zombie as if slicing through a thin paper, cutting it from three different vital points with three shes in a single second. Making it fall down lifeless without any energy. [You have killed a B-Grade Zombie(Armageddon)!] [+50,000 Exp Received!] After that, I turned to Irene with a smile on my face as I spoke,"you were saying something?" Chapter 141 Getting My Dungeon Back After that, I turned to Irene with a smile on my face as I spoke,"you were saying something?" Though I did not get any answer from her. All I could see was her nk expression, as I used the Spirit''s ability to collect all the Cores from the zombies around. In total I got 1 B-Grade Core from the Armageddon Zombie 1 C-Grade Core from the Skeleton Zombie 34 D-Grade Cores from the C-Grade Zombies. ''If I remember correctly, the Cores would first need to be used before they could be exchanged in the shop,'' I thought as I looked at that girl in front of me. Moving closer to her, I saw her scared expression as she looked at me and I just chuckled before speaking,"never seen a man shing a zombie into multiple pieces before?" Clenching her teeth a little, she smiled as she spoke,"Did see something like that, but not at this level¡­ just what kind of monster are you?" Moving closer to her, I touched her chainsaw, moving it a bit away from me, and after getting closer to her, I said,"What kind of monster do you want me to be?" There was a grin on my face and, narrowing her eyes at me, she spoke with a bit of a questioning look,"what does a man, so strong like you, want from me?" "Answers," I sighed before moving a few steps back as I saw the sun almost setting and speaking,"but we should find a safe spot first. The sun is going to set in another 30 minutes or so." Despite my urgency, I don''t want to travel without any knowledge about this¡­ world. "The NightCrawlers!!" spoke out loud Irene as if she recalled something important before she looked at me and then spoke, "Where do you think we should hide? The nearest settlement is already 25 kilometers away, and I am on myst storage of UV-Lights. We won''t be able tost all night. Do you have something?" ''NightCrawlers?'' I thought as I looked at her before recalling about those beings that were chasing us in that dungeon. Hmmm¡­ so they have appeared here as well, huh? ? While I could have gone to the nearest safe point first, I kind of wanted to take a rest and visit the [Second Space] first. "Let''s visit a nearby safe spot. How long can your UV-Lightst?" I asked, and she pondered before speaking,"about 5 hours or something." ''Honestly, I have no idea what a UV-Light is, but I am guessing it can keep NightCrawlers at bay?'' I thought, before sighing on the inside. There was so much to learn about this stupid world. I nodded at her before looking around and finding a suitable space near a broken building. "There," I spoke before I started moving towards that spot and she followed me as well. Reaching there, I saw her hurriedly setting up all the UV lights around the walls while I spoke, "I am going to meditate. Meanwhile, you take these and absorb all of them. Honestly, they are of no use to me, so you can absorb all of them. But make sure to give the used Cores back. I need themter on." Giving her the Cores wasn''t really a bad idea. It will increase her overall firepower while also giving me unused Cores with which I can finally evolve my genes as well. It has been too long for that. Watching all those Cores, her eyes went nk for a second as she almost fell on the ground. Then she observed me with a slightly odd expression before taking those Cores and then moving to set the UV-Lights. ''How long will I be touched, harmed, attacked, or anything like that?'' [5 Hours: 23 Minutes: 14 Seconds] Nodding at that, I sat in a meditating position as I pressed myself against the wall and [Second Space!] I entered the Second Space and looked at the familiar environment around me. My eyes looked around to search for Rhea, but I didn''t find her anywhere around the ce. I first took the 2500 Cronas from the Crona nt and then moved to the [Shop]. I tried searching for Rhea, but honestly I didn''t find her in the [Shop] as well. She wasn''t in the [Trial] room as well. ''Hmmm¡­ did she leave or something?'' I thought before trying to look around once again. However, there was no sight of her at all. ''Now this is quite something,'' I thought before sighing and then moving back to the room. ''What to do now?'' I thought as I looked around and my eyes fell on the [Dungeon] screen, which was still present there. Moving closer to it, I saw a few things that shocked me to the core¡­ "WHAT THE FUCK??!!!!!" My eyes widened as I looked at the two bright messages in front of me. [The Dungeon Of Libra has lost its connection on E*rth. Cost of Rebuilding The Dungeon of Libra: 50,000 Cronas] [Total Cronas Collected: 106,501] ''While I could understand the first message¡­ What''s with the second one?'' I questioned really deeply before something clicked in my mind¡­ something that would fit the situation around¡­ ''Let''s take it like this. 6 months ago, my little Lesser D-Grade Zombie was continuously working hard all the time I was sleeping. Now, after some time, something happened¡­ about 2 months ago? That destroyed the whole Libra Dungeon and made the dungeon pause/stop its functions, hence the Crona generation stopped as well at that spot. Whatever it was that destroyed the whole dungeon must have been the reason why the whole surface was like that¡­ and looking at all the rubbles and the mask that Irene was wearing¡­ An atom bomb? Or maybe a gas bomb or something that destroyed everything?'' My mind kept thinking for a few moments before I stopped all the thoughts. ''Whatever the truth is, it is better to ask Irene or others who are alive rather than keep specting about it. For now, let''s concentrate on what we can do, right now,'' I thought as I looked at the amount of Cronas in there. First, I took all the Cronas from there. Not gonna lie, there was a bright smile on my face when I did that. Then, using 50,000 Cronas from that portion, I used that to rebuild that dungeon. I wonder if there will be any effect on the outside world? Anyways, let''s move to the next one. Since I had enough Cronas, I decided to check on the function of the dungeon to utilize it even more efficiently. I first sold the Lesser D-Grade Zombie for 10,000 Cronas before buying a D-Grade Zombie for 50,000 Cronas. [D-Grade Zombies: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 100 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 10] Now, with the previous amount of Cronas I had, the total I have is [Total Cronas: 27500 Cronas] "Okay now, let''s buy something from the [Shop] for the NightCrawlers. Something that has UV-Powers, huh?" I thought before running to the [Shop] and the first thing I did was to look at the [Daily Sale]. "Oh! This is nice!" I thought as I looked at one of the options there¡­ Chapter 142 NightCrawlers [The Defense Fragment of Arkham(Artifact)(Rare)] [This Defense Fragment is crafted by one of the most skilled craftsmen of Arkham and has power that runs deep within the of Arcadia. Effects: (1) When this artifact is ced in an area, a shield covers the area of 100 meters around the artifact, preventing the entry of any living being. (2) The shieldsts for 24 hours before it needs to be on cooldown for 2 hours. (3) Within the area covered by the shield, the regeneration power of all the allies increases by 200%. (4) ??? (5) ??? Cost: 150,000 Discounted Price: 15,000] This was one of the three items presented today, while the others were in millions as usual¡­ even after a discount. Not wasting time, I bought this item and saw itsplete description, which was actually better than what I had expected. [The Defense Fragment of Arkham(Artifact)(Rare)] [When the war between Nevas and Arkhams started, the Arkhams had many offensive and defensive strategies to win that war. One of their niche strategies, however, still stayed as an integral part of their core. This Defense Fragment is crafted by one of the most skilled craftsmen of Arkham and has power that runs deep within the of Arcadia. Effects: (1) When this artifact is ced in an area, a shield covers the area of 100 meters around the artifact, preventing the entry of any living being. (2) The shieldsts for 24 hours before it needs to be on cooldown for 2 hours. (3) Within the area covered by the shield, the regeneration power of all the allies increases by 200%. (4) When the shield gets broken, every ally gains a passive shield that could absorb damage to an equal amount of the health of the allies within the area. (5) Arkham''s Revenge: If the shield gets broken, every ally within the area gets their energy and defense upped by 300% for 20 minutes] "Good investment," I thought before checking the amount of Cronas I had left [Total Cronas: 12500] Then I began checking the [Shop] for anything rted to UV or something, but sadly, either they were too costly or too useless in this situation. After searching in the Weapons, Skills, Armor Section, I finally looked into the [Room] Section, hoping to find something in there. "Fucking finally!" I spoke out as I found something that would work better for me [UV Lamp(Umon)] [Just your normal UV-Lamp with a tinge of enchantments Effect: (1) Burn all the enemies who belong to darkness. Attack power: 5000/second (2) It''s healing effect restores the nts around and also heals allies at the rate of 500HP/ second (3) Can continuously function for as long as it isn''t damaged. Cost: 10,000 Cronas] Looking at that, I nodded before cashing this one out as well. As for the rest of the 2500 Cronas, I decided to upgrade the efficiency of the dungeon for 1000 and save the rest forter. [Efficiency Increase: Current Efficiency: 11% (Grade 0A) Cost of increasing the efficiency by 1%: 10,000 Cronas] "Now that is all done¡­ let''s check outside," I spoke as I let myself out and saw that Irene had already set up the whole UV-Light thing. Though as soon as I opened up my eyes, the ground started shaking really heavily. "What¡­ is¡­ going..on?" Irene, confused, widened her eyes, but before she could speak anymore, the rumbling stopped and she just looked at me. Already knowing what happened, I looked at her with a smile,"I guess I found a way to survive the night. Sorry, but can you remove the UV-Light? We are moving." Hearing my voice, her eyes shook for a moment, but even though skeptical, she decided to trust me and started removing all the UV-Light at a rapid speed. "About 10 minutes till sundown, huh?" I spoke out loud before she finished removing those UV-Lights and said,"they areing!" Using the [Space Time Map], I did see some strange thingsing towards us at a rapid speed. Even my Stats were multiplied by 10 times, indicating the strength of the enemy. "What are we-" she was questioning with a worried face but I immediately took her in my arms and began running to the [Dungeon of Libra] "Huh?!" Her shocked eyes just looked at my sudden increased speed as I was running and behind us those beings the NightCrawlers wereing towards us at a rapid speed. Even though I was using this speed with these monstrous Stats, I still couldn''t outrun them at all. Looking at the map, there were at least 50 of them, and their number was ever increasing. Looking at the front, I saw the Dungeon of Libra, or more like the Libra building, standing tall among the piles of rubbles. "What¡­ is that?" Questioned Irene as she too observed the Libra building and I just answered with a smile,"my domain," and ran with all my might before reaching inside the building. And as soon as I did that, I took out the item. [UV Lamp(Umon)] And ced it right in front of me. Turning around, I saw a couple of NightCrawlers almost reaching us, then catching on fire, before finally turning into ashes. It wasn''t just them, but every other NightCrawler that wasing towards us burned down to ashes as well. NightCrawlers were like Lickers, butpletely charred in ck and their skin was slimy with ashes flying out of it slowly. It felt like I was looking at the demons from hell itself. [Inspect!] [NightCrawler (B-Grade)] [Beings of the night that have evolved from the Darkness. They have lost their powers to stay in the sun, in an exchange for superior powers. However, their bloodlust has taken over them and they would attack any living being they find in the vicinity. Reward for Killing: +75,000 Exp] Slowly I put Irene down, as she just looked at those NightCrawlers burning as they went closer to the UV-Light before some of them who were far away actually started running. Not wasting time, I took out [The Defense Fragment of Arkham(Artifact)(Rare)] And a golden shield formed around us at a distance of 100 meters and I finally sighed in rxation as I spoke, "Now we are more or less safe." -Thud! Irene fell down with exhaustion as she looked at those creatures running away from here. It wasn''t just that¡­ the UV-Lamp was really bright¡­ it was bright enough to light up at least 500 meters of distance. "Hmmm¡­ All right. Now that we are safe¡­" I spoke as I turned to Irene, who was still as dumbfounded as before. She still couldn''t process what was going on around her. Her eyes shifted from the UV-Light, then to the Artifact that I just took out, before reaching up to me. "Ummm¡­ you okay?" I asked, and she looked at me with a questioning face as she asked,"who¡­ are you?" "The name is Michael. I¡­ well, I have my situation here. What about you?" I asked with a friendly voice and she bowed her head down for a little before speaking, "Irene¡­ Irene Campbell. Thank you for saving me, Michael." Then her eyes turned up to me and spoke out directly,"I might sound a bit selfish¡­ but can you please help me with something? My life depends upon it¡­" Chapter 143 Companion Irene then began narrating a brief version of her story to me. Summarizing the whole thing, she was actually one of the gifted ones who took part in the rebellion against the leader of the ''The Gifted'' and its whole organization. Her father was one of the strongest rebellion members but was killed by the leader and now the ''Gifted'' ones are hunting for her while she is out here in the middle of nowhere. She was here to find out about an A-Grade Core that her father found by ident and absorbed only about 10% of it. ording to her, the reason her father was so strong was because of that A-Grade Core. But sadly, her father couldn''t absorb anymore of it for reasons unknown to anyone. So what she wanted me to do was help her at least find her that A-Grade Core and my answer was, "Sure. Would love to help you out?" There was a bright smile on my face as I realized that I could get an A-Grade used Core soon, which would surely help me outter on. "I know that you won''t agree to help me for free... So I am... huh? Wait, what did you say?" She started speaking first, but when my answer hit her mind, she was taken aback. She just looked at me with confusion as I spoke with a smile, "I said I would love to help you." "But... why?" she asked in confusion and I chuckled before speaking,"You don''t want me to?" "I do but-" "No buts then. Well, now that is on the te, can you answer my questions as well?" I asked her and she just snapped out of her stupor and looking at me, she nodded before speaking, "I don''t know how much I can answer, but okay.. I will try my best." "That''s fine. Can you exin what is going on here? Let''s just say... that I was visiting somewhere for 6 months and now that I have returned, I am finding all these things... in this state... Can you exin what just happened in thest 6 months?" I asked with a curious expression. Her eyes widened in realization a little before she spoke,"that''s really... All right. I won''t pry much and answer everything honestly." I don''t know what went on in her mind, but she answered without holding back. So, just like I had anticipated, bombs were dropped, more precisely a dozen hydrogen bombs at various ces around here. Obviously, it was the military that did that. Reason being the zombies getting too powerful around this area... which I kind of doubt. However, the people were informed one month prior to that and everyone left this city and the neighboring ones. After the bombs were dropped, for one month no activity urred in this area butter on people starteding here searching for Cores and stuff. It was more of a treasure trove, which even the f*cking military was eyeing. Though it wasn''t just the humans who starteding here, the zombies started reforming themselves from the ashes. More zombies began swarming here. The surviving ones evolved and many stronger zombies were born. Things started taking a step for the worse when the ''Gifts'' came into existence. Some of the people became special. The ability to manipte blood, enhance their strength, fast speed, etc. Some of them with enhanced senses, while others with eyes which could see the energy levels as a me were also born. While it was a special moment for one to unlock a ''Gift'' but to those who couldn''t do it... it wasn''t really a great oue. A disparity started and a difference between those who had Gifts and those who didn''t started developing. And soon formed a group of people who only had Gifts. Their leader Mallorn, with the ability to manipte zombies itself, took a step forward and started speaking bullsh*t like how they are a superior race and stuff. Irene''s father was a non-Gifted one and was killed by another Gifted in a riot. Her father fought with them, soon fighting against Mallorn himself, but in the end he wasn''t strong enough. Somehow he did manage to help his daughter escape from those bastards, but being sh*tty as they were, they were still searching for her. In fact, Mallorn had used his underling''s ability to put a curse on Irene. "Hmmm?" I questioned before I looked at her status screen once again [Inspect!] [Name: Irene Campbell Race: Zombified Human (B-Grade) ss: The Saw-woman Description: A petite and calm girl who used to live a normal tomboyish life before the apocalypse hit. Her dream was to be the best graffiti artist, but after the apocalypse, all she wants is to find a happy and stable life. Searching for her presumably dead family, she is trying her best to find whatever clues she can. Zombification: 56%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 14,232,022/15,000,000 Status: Weakened [Curse by the Skill: [Finders Weakness] Until the person on whom the skill is casted returns to the castor, the person will lose 1% of Health every 3 days permanently. Cannot be ced on someone whose power is above the castor.] Skills* Strength: 452(+904) Constitution: 567 Dexterity: 678(+678) Intelligence: 1345(+300) Wisdom: 919 Charm: 743] "Hmmm... Irene... " I looked at her as I had a certain idea before I moved closer to her and holding her chin in my hand as I looked down at her, I spoke, "Want to be mine?" "Huh?" She questioned as she looked at me with a dumbfounded and embarrassed expression as she asked,"that... I..." "I will protect you-" "Sure!" she spoke as soon as she heard my words and then... "Huh?" She realized and even I smiled at her. [Status: Healthy] Her status returned to normal in an instant. How? Well, that is because.. [Title: God Hunter (7) Anyone working under the user will have their Stats doubled as long as they are within 5000m of the user] It was one of the effects of my title... a really powerful one at that... she should be feeling that power as well. [Save the Archeologist (Grade-B)!(Completed)] [Rewards: +1 Special Upgrade Skill Points] Not wasting any time I upgraded the Special Skill that I was saving it for, [Multiple Copy (Special)] [Allows the user to copy any 3 of the skills in his arsenal. Can only copy Rare Skills and below. Currently Copied Skill: (1) Temporal Deceleration (2) Unassigned (3) Unassigned Note: Once the user locks a particr skill to copy, he can''t change the skill for another 12 hours] On which skill should I use it, I have an idea for that too... but for now... "Hey, so what Gift do you have?" I asked Irene as she was still stupefied looking at me, before a slightly embarrassed expression came to her mind and she spoke,"I... don''t have a... Gift." I looked at her for a few moments before speaking,"Is that so? Well... want one?" She just looked at me as if I were a God or something. I wonder if I can takeplete control of her mind right now... make herpletely mine or something... let''s see.. "But the question is... what can you do for me?" I asked as I pretended to see her from the corner of my eyes and she spoke out, "Everything. You can have my soul, my body, I will bepletely yours... " "Are you sure about that?" I asked in confirmation. That was a big statement to make, but she then spoke out, "Without a Gift, I will be left behind in this world. While I trust that you will take care of me, it''s not guaranteed. Maybe you will get bored and leave me someday? What will happen then? I will surely die. It''s not like I had any option to begin with, I was counting my days, anyway. If I get a chance to live a better life or heck, even survive till the end, then why would I not take it?" There was a determination in her eyes. "What if I ask you to die for me?" I asked, and she spoke, "I won''t lie. I want to kill that bastard Mallorn. After I finish that, forget about killing myself, I will kill even a hundred thousand for you. All in a word''smand." ''Well, at least she is honest... okay, that should be enough for me,'' I nodded before I moved closer to her and questioned in my mind ''How long till her Gift manifests?'' [17 Years: 8 Months: 14 Days] ''All right,'' I thought before adding [Advanced Time Maniption] into the [Copy] skill. "Close your eyes," I muttered, and she nodded in slight excitement. [Advanced Time Maniption!] [Advanced Time Maniption(Copy)!] While normally it was a 200 times reduction, now it is 400,000 times reduction... cool isn''t it? What should have taken 18 years or something was now being done in... [23 Minutes: 15 Seconds] A smile formed on my face as I spoke,"Sit down on the floor. It should take a bit of time." And soon the wait began as I scrolled through the System Screen trying to figure out which other skill should I put into [Copy] And after a bit of consideration I decided that it was this skill which suited best for [Copy] over the others. [Gaia''s Call (Rare)] [Allows the user to call out nearby nts to help the user. The nts can be used to heal the user, form a defensive barrier, or attack the enemy. The nts share the same Health and Defense as that of the user. When in a forest or surrounded by vegetation. The nt''s powers increases by +100% Duration: 5 mins || Cooldown: 2 hours ||Cost: 10,000 TP] Chapter 144 Evolution? [Name: Irene Campbell Race: Zombified Human (B-Grade) ss: The Saw-woman Description: A petite and calm girl¡­ Zombification: 56%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 30,000,000/30,000,000 Status: Healthy Gift: Transmutation The user can utilize a form of magic based on and/or take control of the transmutation of living or non-living things, ranging from simple changes and modifications to moreplex and powerful transformations, allowing for harnessing their magical energies and/or mystical control of the aspects of a variety of forms. With this, the user will be able to perform a variety of magical spells and feats that manipte transmutations. Skills* Strength: 904(+1808) Constitution: 1114 Dexterity: 1356(+1356) Intelligence: 2690(+500) Wisdom: 1838 Charm: 1486] "Try it," I spoke as I took a few steps back and saw her looking at her simple yet heavy chainsaw, and slowly she began channeling her power into the chainsaw. Normally her powers should allow her to change theplete structure of an object, but I guess she doesn''t know it¡­ maybe¡­ in any case, she changed that chainsaw into a bigger chainsaw that she held in one hand. It wasn''t just that, her hair color and her clothes soon changed as well as she poured more energy into them. If it was previously greenish now, it turned into dark crimson orangish. Her eyes just observed the change as she finally took off her mask and looked at me with a bright smile and then got on one knee. "This life is yours now. Sir Michael," she spoke without any hint of hesitation in her voice. "Sure sure¡­ though you can just address me as Michael," I spoke and, "Sure," she answered immediately as she looked at me. ''That was fast?'' I thought with a wry smile on my face before I smiled as I spoke,"All right. Let''s get you strong first. After that, I will give you my first mission." And once again her eyes widened as she looked at me with slightplexity,"more¡­ stronger?" ''Yeah¡­ I kinda need someone to protect me when I will be going through evolution, so¡­'' I sighed on the inside. I don''t know how long it will take and what will happen, so there is that. ''How long will she go against me, kill me or even hit me?'' [??: ??: ??] "Kind of¡­ you should use the Cores that I gave you. I will help you absorb them faster," is what I said after I helped her absorb all those Cores within¡­ a few seconds. ''Damn sh*t!'' Even I was scared of the speed with which I was helping her evolve¡­ [Name: Irene Campbell Race: Zombified Human (A-Grade) ss: The Saw-woman Description: A petite and calm girl who used to live a normal tomboyish life before the apocalypse hit. Her dream was to be the best graffiti artist, but after the apocalypse, all she wants is to find a happy and stable life. Searching for her presumably dead family, she is trying her best to find whatever clues she can. Zombification: 2%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 100,000,000/100,000,000 Status:Healthy Gift: Transmutation The user can utilize a form of magic based on and/or take control of the transmutation of living or non-living things, ranging from simple changes and modifications to moreplex and powerful transformations, allowing for harnessing their magical energies and/or mystical control of the aspects of a variety of forms. With this, the user will be able to perform a variety of magical spells and feats that manipte transmutations. Skills* Strength: 4680(+4680) Constitution: 2734 Dexterity: 4090(+678) Intelligence: 6980(+1000) Wisdom: 3780 Charm: 2846(+1423)] ''When will she kill me, hit me, or go against me?'' Just to make sure, I asked again and [?? : ?? : ??] ''Good'' I sighed as I looked at the timer before looking at her status again. ''Monster'' I almost cursed inside as I saw her Stats, while she was looking at me with reverence. I have never been more d that people can''t see my power level at all¡­ she must be thinking that I am still more powerful than her or something¡­ anyways¡­ "Give me the used Cores," I spoke as I took the Core from her and sat in a meditation position. "Now that you are all powerful, I am going to meditate for sometime. I don''t know how long that will be, but it shouldn''t be that long, maybe till morning or something, so make sure to protect me for that much time, okay?" I spoke as I looked at her and she nodded without any question. ''How long till I am attacked or something?'' [28 Years: 11 Months: 14 Days] ''Damn!'' I thought before I activated both my [Advance Time Maniption] and [Temporal Deceleration] skills. It was because of them that I didn''t sleep for 10,000 yrs and only for 6 months¡­ Never gonna do anything risky without using these two skills. [Second Space!] After that, I just entered the Second Space and slowly moved to the Crona nt generator and collected the Cronas before moving to the [Dungeon] Screen and collecting some Cronas from there as well. Once that was done, I moved to the [Cores] Section of the shop and looked at the items but¡­ [E-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 2000 Cronas + 2 x Used E-Grade Core ] [D-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 10000 Cronas + 2 x Used D-Grade Core] [C-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 50000 Cronas + 2 x Used C-Grade Core] [B-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 250,000 Cronas + 2 x Used B-Grade Core] [A-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 1,000,000 Cronas + Used S-Grade Core] [S-Grade Chronokeeper Core Cost: 10 x Used S-Grade Core + Heart of a Higher Time Being] "Sh*t I forgot about the Cronas¡­ I thought it would only need Cores¡­" honestly, I forgot about that¡­ man¡­ this is a bit¡­ embarrassing. I sighed before pondering a little as I saw the amount of Cronas I held in my possession. [Total Cronas: 1536] ''Man...'' I then began calcting how much Cronas I need for evolution and how much time will it take to collect that much. [Gene Evolution Allows the user to evolve beyond his current limits Requirements: E-Grade Cores: 0/200 D-Grade Cores: 0/50 C-Grade Core: 0/1] "Hmmm¡­ this and that¡­ and that should be about¡­ 950,000 Cronas,huh? Kill me already¡­ and how much longer will it take to collect that much in the outside world?" A timer appeared, showing me the exact time for that [5 months : 29 days: 22 hours] "Another nap?" I chuckled as I shook my head. ''Though that''s based on the Dungeon alone¡­ hmmm, there is still that Crona nt, so it should take less,'' I thought before recalling the other ways that Rhea told me with which I could earn Cronas. A creepy smile formed on my face as I realized that I need to ''meet'' those enemies of Irene much more than she does. I hope they are worth the effort as well¡­ I probably should recharge my [Call of the Fairies] too, cause I don''t know the strength of the enemy here. ''This is going to be a bit of a tough fight¡­ but first let''s take that Core,'' I decided my next line of action as I nodded at myself before moving out of the [Second Space] but before I could do that "You are back?!!" a familiar voice of Rhea appeared before me as I turned to look at her shocked face. "Ah! Yeah¡­ long time no see?" I smiled at her with a slightly awkward face. Chapter 145 Welcome Back "So, all this time you have been sleeping because you used one of the ''God Powers''. Is that right?" Rhea questioned as I exined to her about the reason for my absence for so long. She just looked at me with a slightly dumbfounded face before she took a deep sigh. "Thank the heavens¡­ I really thought you were gone for good¡­" she muttered with an extremely relieved expression before her eyes turned at me and she exined, "In the past 18 years, I waited for you for the first 8. After that, I started venturing around to find some people whom I thought could help me find you. I did meet up with a couple, but they said that it was as if your existence had vanished from the very ne. Despite their expertise, they couldn''t locate you at all. Normally that would have been considered as one being dead, but because the [Shop] was still connected to your [Room], and the owner of the Libra Dungeon was still alive, there was nothing more definite proof than that, you weren''t dead." I listened to her carefully as I kept observing her expression. ''I can''t read her at all, even now. Is it because she is special or something?'' I thought as I maintained my poker face while hearing her story. "Well, a lot many things happened in thest 18 years, but mostly it was me searching for you. To think that it was the System that was protecting you all this time, hiding you from people¡­ I didn''t know something like that was even possible,"she spoke with an expression ofplexity. "Well," I began speaking as I stood up and spoke,"all that has been done is in the past now. Let''s focus on the future, shall we? It''s not like our end goal has changed, has it?" She looked at me and nodded with a smile,"I guess that is true¡­ so you said that you returned today. Huh? I guess¡­ Wee back!" There was a bright smile on her face as I looked at her smiling face before I turned towards the [Shop] gate and said,"Let''s start sword practice then? I guess I can spare about hmmm¡­ 480 hours now." After speaking that, I moved towards the [Weapons] Section and Rhea nodded before I bought the wooden stick and moved into the Trial Room. "Take a proper form," I thought before taking a deep breath and setting myself in the most appropriate form and concentrating at my max level. "Focus," I muttered under my breath as I stopped breathing and activated my title [The Slumbered Once] where I didn''t need to breathe to function. Then I began raising the sword up slowly and slowly, not messing up even a single step of mine¡­ It took time¡­ I don''t know how much¡­ I was too concentrated on that sh and once I reached up, I began moving my arms down without wasting any excess of energy. And once I was done with that¡­ "Phew¡­ tell me it''s less than 8 hours," I said with slight expectations. I wonder if changing the title did make any changes to it. And the answer was, "2 hours¡­ 12 minutes¡­ 14 seconds." Hearing her voice, a dumbfounded expression appeared on my face as I looked at Rhea, who was much more shocked than I was. "And¡­ Zero mistakes," her voice was shaking as she looked at me with a questioning face. For the next few minutes, we both just kept looking at each other, before I spoke,"let''s continue," and she too nodded at that. We might have been curious about it, but honestly, we both didn''t have any concrete answer for this improvement. Once again, I made another sh up, and another done¡­ and then continued it over and over again¡­ for the next 480 hours, I was just shing up and down, without any breaks. While Rhea did tell me the time in the beginning,ter I asked her not to speak anything as I just wanted to concentrate on practicing rather than focusing on getting faster. After 480 hours, Rhea called out to me telling me the time was already up and with a half exhausted mind and body, I looked at her and asked,"How much?" As usual, her eyes were shaken, and she spoke with slight disbelief,"48 minutes, 27 seconds. 3 mistakes on an average with 0 mistakes in thest one." I looked at her before a bright grin came on my face as I looked at my hands before standing up and then moving out of the [Trial] Room as I spoke,"it won''t be long before I hit 1 minute or less¡­ hopefully." Though she spoke something that made me stop in my tracks. "Now, even if you make a fast sh, you should be strong enough to sh through most of the things in your path. It doesn''t matter, speed¡­ if you want, we can move to other kinds of shes¡­ "she spoke and it made me turn at her for a few moments as I chuckled before speaking, "What''s the fun in that? Let''s finish this one first. Let''s make it reach less than 1 minute before we move to another. It might take some time, but hopefully we will reach it faster than we anticipate." She looked at my confident face before speaking,"well¡­ whatever you say. Just know that you have been practicing this sh with a wooden sword all this time. If you use a normal sword, even a steel sword, you might end up shing a mountain now without much difficulty. Unless, of course, you fight someone like a divine being or someone really strong; I don''t think you will need to worry about dying or something. What I mean is, don''t end up shing someone in practice or something¡­ you are way powerful that you can think of. That doesn''t include your Stats at all." Hearing her words, I kind of understood what she meant. All in all, I am more powerful than I look and even if I use a stick as a sword, I should be able to make a sh strong enough to cut down most of the surrounding enemies without much of a problem now. Though I need to make sure my stance stays in ord with my sh¡­ that sums it up? Anyway, I just nodded at her in agreement before moving to take out the Cronas that should have been collected until now. [Total Cronas: 10012] "Let''s get another upgrade for now," I thought a little before moving to the [Dungeon] Screen and buying another upgrade [Capacity Increase: Current capacity to hold workers: 50 (Grade 2) Cost of increasing the capacity to Grade 3: 100,000 Cronas] "Nice. Now I need to collect enough Cronas to buy more D-Grades Zombies working for me," I smiled before looking at Rhea as I spoke, "See ya then." She looked at me with a smile before nodding and I too just moved into the outer world. I saw Alissa just sitting there in front of me with her chainsaw on herp, as she kept her eyes open and vignt. I then stood up, making her turn at me suddenly before a sigh escaped her mouth and then she smiled as she asked,"refreshed?" I nodded at her with the same smile before speaking,"Kind of. How''s the situation?" And the answer was,"Yeah¡­ a couple of unexpected things, actually." Chapter 146 A-Grades Of Today "Yeah¡­ a couple of unexpected things, actually." Hearing those words, I raised my eyes at her, and she continued speaking. "Actually, there were a couple more B-Grades who got attracted here. In total, about 5 of them, though I killed them all." She then showed the B-Grade Cores to me and I nodded at her. It wasn''t too unexpected for something like that to happen. Zombies do get attracted to humans in some ways. It would have been more odd if they hadn''t arrived here at all. "Other than that, I think we attracted a couple of humans as well. I sensed some people getting closer to us before stopping at a distance and then moving back. Since they were too far, I didn''t bother to check up on them. Though I believe sooner orter, they will end uping here. All the more after the sun rises up." "Is that so? Well, that''s not much of a problem. I do wish to meet people. Socializing is a good thing," I spoke with a smile. "The wide, devilish grin on your face says otherwise," Irene smirked at me, making me chuckle a little before she took something out of her bag and presented it in front of me. It was a sort of canned food. "Here. Take it, I still have enough to go on for another couple of days," she spoke with a bright smile as I took the can and began opening the container. Though it was a bit bitter, it was still good enough to be considered edible. Both her and I ate our share before I recalled that I was almost going to buy something that would create whatever food I wanted. It was on discount before¡­ ''Maybe I should look at it. Wonder if I can buy it?'' I thought as I pondered what the price of that thing was. After having eaten with Irene, I stood up and looked at the sky. ''How long till the sun shines?'' I questioned [1 Jour : 4 Minutes] "Well, looks like there is still an hour before the dawn arrives. Why don''t you tell me more about those organizations? Their powers and stuff. Who is the strongest among them and other stuff rted to them," I asked as I looked at her and she started recalling bits of information as she described the hierarchy. "On the top, Mallorn sits as the strongest A-Grade, though I doubt it''s true after the power you have presented me with. Though, other than him, there are a few who are powerful but haven''t shown their full capability. Among them, 3 are directly under Mallorn. One is a Pyromancer, with the ability to control power using his energy. Another one is an Arcanist, whom even Mallorn doesn''t really know much about. He is just there¡­ It is said that he is waiting for someone toe back from the dead. Though it''s more of a rumor¡­ I mean who could appear out of nowh¡­ ere¡­ " as she spoke, her eyes fell on me for a few moments as she spoke, "Wait a second!... It can''t be¡­" I don''t know what she was thinking about. She just looked at me with a baffled face as she spoke, "Do you know anyone with the name of Walter Ignis?" I thought about it for a few moments before shaking my head,"I don''t know¡­ maybe.. Maybe not? Doesn''t really ring a bell, though." At my words, she starts pondering deeply about it. Before she sighed, "Maybe I am overthinking it? Well¡­ okay. Moving to the next person, this guy is an Enhancer. He can imbue his energy into a weapon or an object and increase its firepower. One of the most trusted dogs of Mallorn." I nodded at her as I discussed a bit more in detail about them, and she answered a couple of my questions. "Other than them, there are a few more A-Grade Humans. One of them is the Blood Maniptor, a lone wolf, who wanders around the deserted area, killing zombies and stuff. Even his powers aren''t fully explored yet. So People don''t know how strong he really is. Another one is Queen, someone who is trying to create an organization of her own. Finding strong people, Gifted ones, and creating her own empire of sorts. As for her powers, nobody knows about it." Then she kept on describing about 5 more A-Grades about whom she knows. Though, ording to her, there are more A-Grades hiding among them, doing their own stuff. "Well. That is more or less about the A-Grades. As for B-Grades, that''s more or lessmon now. About half the people alive are B-Grade now, at least the people who dared to venture into this area. Others who haven''t reached B-Grade stay within the walls and sometimes venture together with a partyprised of B-Grades to get strong," she spoke and I kept my eyes closed for a few moments as a few things confused me. "Before I get to the main question, what about D-Grade Humans?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed, and she spoke with a bit of confusion, "Nobody is D-Grade anymore¡­ Everyone is either C-Grade or Dead." For a few moments, I kept quiet as I wondered how things reached this level in a mere span of 6 months¡­ or maybe things were really this fast to begin with and I just failed to notice? Who knows¡­ "Hmmm¡­ how do you grade people, though?" I asked, as this point particrly made me curious. As for me, I can easily use the System to check one''s power and stuff, but howe they, someone without the System, are organizing them? That too urately. Once again a bit confused, she looked at me and took out a certain stone. It looked like a Zombie Core, except there was something odd about it. [Inspect!] [Mutated Zombie Core (Grade-C)!] [Can reflect the amount of Energy one holds. The brighter it shines, the better it shows the amount of energy being processed. Can hold 100,000 Energy at max.] "Anyone who lights thispletely is easily a C-Grade. People have better quality cores that could tell B-Grade and even A-Grades. There is also a core that tells about S-Grade, but people can''t light even 10% of it, with Mallorn lighting it up with a little of a spark into it," Irene spoke as she exined how the core functions while lighting it up as she fills her energy into it. "Is that so? Can I see it?" I asked for the core before trying to fill some of the Time Energy into it, however sadly the core wasn''t epting any energy from me. ''Guess it only works for Zombified beings?'' I thought before passing it back to her. "Hmmm¡­ looks like the sun is up," Irene spoke as she saw the NightCrawlers at a distance walking back slowly, crawling back into hiding. The sky was turning blue slowly and slowly as I yawned a little before I observed the map and questioned, "Are we going South to find that A-Grade Core?" And surprised, Irene looked at me and nodded as she asked,"Yeah. How did you know?" ''Well, there are too many zombies in the south of here,'' I thought as I looked at the map around the dungeon. I could see about 2 dozen B-Grade and even 2 A-Grade Zombies. "Nope. Let''s go¡­ Though let me kill a few zombies first," I spoke as I began walking after putting the UVmp and that artifact inside my [Time Storage]. After all¡­ [Level: 15 (2,474,531/2,500,000 Exp)] There wasn''t much left before I could level up again. Chapter 147 A-Grade Zombie [You have leveled up!] [You have received +5 Skill Points] [You have received +5 Stat Points] [You have received a new Skill!] [Time Rejection] [The user can react to anything and their surroundings, even if it is too early or toote to react to them, possibly even causingter events to happen sooner or undo some past actions and events. For example, catching a ball even if it is too early, or dodging a bullet even if they have already been hit. Limitations: Depends upon the mental fortitude of the user. Cost: 0 TP] "..." For a second, I just kept looking at that skill with my eyes nked out. Okay¡­ this is a bit too much¡­ this is too strong¡­ ''Doesn''t that mean¡­ I am more or less invincible now?'' I thought as I pondered about the applications of this skill. This was a bit over the top, really¡­ All my attacks will hit the target while all the attacks of my targets will miss? Welp, as long as my mental fortitude holds out. "What happened?" Watching me stop dead in my tracks in the middle of the battleground where all the zombies were still swarming towards us, Irene asked as she easily killed another couple of zombies. She took the Cores with her swiftly before moving to another zombie. "Nothing. I was just looking at something¡­ let''s go," I spoke as I too started killing the zombies. With the zombies much stronger than me, my stats were increased 10 times more than they usually are. Though even still, I saw that I was slower than Irene, who was just following me. I sighed before moving towards the ce where the zombies'' concentration was more. -Whoosh! -sh! -Shinggggggg!!!! I heard a strange sound and since I was using the [Eyes of the TimeKeeper(foresight)] I saw myself almost torn apart to shreds before Irene stopped that strange zombie in front of me with her chainsaw colliding against its Scythe. ''Well, let''s check out the new Skill, shall we?'' I thought as I waited for the perfect time and¡­ [Time Rejection!] And I saw myself cut apart into pieces, simultaneously with Irene hurrying in front of me with a scared yet enraged face as she blocks the attack of that Scythe Zombie and then turns back at me with worry. Though what she saw made her confused as she narrowed her eyes at me. Even the zombie who shed me looked at me with a narrowed look. It then did something¡­ I think it used its skill and about a dozen chains started emerging from the ground and pierced me from all around before the chains vanished. [Time Rejection!] And yet again, I was standing there as if nothing really happened. In tip-top condition, I was there standing with a smile on my face as I looked at that Reaper Zombie. Looking around, I saw a steel rod fallen at a distance and began slowly walking towards that steel rod. Meanwhile, Irene fought with the zombie on equal terms. The fight was really brutal, as that zombie could manipte the ground to produce chains from anywhere and Irene had to be really careful where she was stepping, or, more like, she was continuously on the run as she attacked and dodged at the same time. -sh! -Zinggggg! I could hear the sound of shes and chainsaw roaring behind me at a rapid pace, but not really caring much about it I picked up the steel rod. It''s not like the zombie never attacked me. In fact, it attacked me as much as it could and, obviously; it seeded many times¡­ yet¡­ [Time Rejection!] I smiled as I turned at that Scythe Zombie [Inspect!] [Grim Reaper Zombie(Grade-A)] [The final evolved state of the normal zombie who had eaten the flesh of the NighCrawlers and epted darkness partially and managed to subdue it under their power. These zombies can manipte the power of darkness to call upon the chains of hell toe to their aid. Their scythe is made up of their own flesh and is more like an extended part of their body. Gift: Absolute Attack: Once targeted, the user will never miss any shots. Though the user needs to kill the target before moving to another target. Skill* Reward for killing the zombie: +250,000 Exp] ''Ho! So it has already targeted me? Is that why it was never missing¡­ well, the difference in power level was so much that I didn''t even notice,'' I thought as I looked at it before slowly raising my steel rod. Maybe I was too slow for them so they didn''t pay attention to me and honestly, I was kinda fine with that. This way I could check two things at once. One was the fact that Rhea told me about my sh. She said that even my normal shes should be more refined now, as long as I maintain my stance a little. So I took a proper stance and then prepared for a sh¡­ and after a few seconds.. -sh! I shed the air in front of me before¡­ [Time Rejection!] -KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!! A deafening cry came out of that Grim Reaper''s mouth as it withered in pain, its body half cut from above. Irene, who was fighting with that zombie, stopped in fear before her eyesnded on me. The smile on my face must have been really sinister, otherwise she wouldn''t have looked at me like that. Once again, I raised my hand. And sensing danger, that guy ran towards me and attacked me with all its might¡­ I was pierced in so many ces, cut from almost all the ces yet¡­ [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] . . . Irene was about to move again, but looking at what was going on, even she was horrified. And then I moved to make that sh without any effort as -sh! It dodged easily¡­ [Time Rejection!] [You have killed an A-Grade Zombie(Grim reaper)] [+ 250,000 Exp Received!] With a smile on my face, I took out the Core of the zombie''s dead body as I looked at Irene and said,"Let''s go." Chapter 148 South City Underground Dungeon After using the Skill so many times, I still didn''t feel any problem honestly. If there was something, it was probably me feeling a bit dizzy? But it wasn''t anything I couldn''t handle. ''I think I can keep doing this for another hour or so,'' I thought as I moved towards the ce where there were more zombies. Irene behind me was just walking slowly as she kept observing me with her eyes still a bit scared. "You are not going to ask any questions?" I asked in her stead and she just looked at me before speaking,"Am I allowed to?" "Hmm? Why not? I mean, if it''s something that I don''t want to tell, I probably won''t tell. Not like I am going to eat you for asking questions. Or more like, the way you are looking at me with that piercing gaze, trying to understand me is kinda irking me out a little, so I figured it would be better to answer your questions¡­ or something like that," I spoke as I kept walking and killing zombies left and right. After a few seconds of silence, she looked deep into my eyes and asked,"what are you? You aren''t a zombie¡­ neither are you a human¡­ It''s not like I am going to go against you even if you are the devil¡­ but at least can you answer this?" "Well¡­ for your answer. Believe it or not, I am a human. Though as for my powers¡­ that is something that I cannot tell," I answered her and she looked at me before sighing in slight relief. "Is that so?" She spoke as her smile returned slowly before she continued,"I am guessing you had your fair share of adventures?" "Something like that," I answered her as I shed another zombie. Maybe I could practice those shes here in the real world? Though on a second thought, I decided not to do that¡­ I still don''t know how powerful that sh is. Maybe I might end up doing more damage than required¡­ I sighed before moving towards the ce where that A-Grade Core was supposed to be located. While I was killing the zombies, I asked Irene to take charge and show me the way, which she did without much questions and both of us moved towards it. Not toote, we reached a certain ce which was¡­ ordinary? Though Irene, after searching around for a few moments, moved to a certain ce and started removing all the heavy rocks from that location. And as she cleared that area, her eyes started gleaming more and more. And as if the System was waiting for it too¡­ [Side Quests!] [Clear the Underground tunnel of the South City Station!] [Description: After the copse of the ck Water City, most of the underground zombies have been trapped within the underground tunnels and have turned into Elite Zombies, another end pathway of evolution for the zombies. Eliminate all the zombies present there. Total Zombies: 134! Elite C-Grade: 53 Elite Lesser B-Grade: 45 Elite B-Grade: 23 Elite Lesser A-Grade: 18 Elite A-Grade: 11 Elite S-Grade: 2 Rewards: +25 Skill Points; +25 Stat Points: Random Skill Level up] [The Terror of the South City Station!] [The NightCrawlers and the Nightwalkers have made their den in the deepest part of the station! Make sure to wipe them out before they multiply their numbers. Total NightWalkers: 435 Total NIghtCrawlers: 234 Reward: Dungeon Unlock(South City Station): 1 Golden Key to South City Dungeon] [The Ruler of the ck Water City!] [The S-Grade Zombie Voltaire is taking its path to the ascension to another level. Make sure to kill him before it''s toote. Reward: Breath of the Night(Self Enchantment)] ''Okay¡­ is this good news or bad news?'' I thought as I looked carefully at the quest. There were 2 S Grade Zombies in one quest and another one, Voltaire, in the other, ''Or both the quests are talking about the same S-Grade?'' I thought as I looked more deeply into their description. Meanwhile, Irene had already opened the path to the underground tunnel that looked really dark and ominous. Good thing we had that UV-Lamp. ''We just need to make sure nothing happens to this UV-Lamp or we are more or less f*cked inside there,'' I thought with a bit of wry expression on my face. "This way," Irene spoke before she observed my expression with a bit of curiosity. Putting her finger on her chin, she asked curiously, "What happened? Did something unexpected happen?" "Kind of¡­ Hmmm¡­ I wonder if we should postpone-" I was thinking of moving in after I leveled up once more, and maybe help Irene gain another powerup but before I could speak¡­ "F*CKING FINALLY FOUND YOU!!!" A voice came from a distance as I saw dozens of men on motorcycles moving towards us at a rapid speed. "Who are they?" I asked with a bit of curiosity as I saw them approaching us. Irene looked at them with a devilish smile as she answered, "Mallorn''s men." However, her eyes widened a little as she saw something or someone among them and she mumbled,"Blood¡­ maniptor?" ''Hmmm.. one of the A-Grades that travels all by himself,'' I thought as I looked at those men from far away. Reading their status, I couldn''t help but chuckle a little. That settles the problem of Cronas. "Irene¡­ my b*tch, so this is where¡­" The guy who seemed to be the leader of the group was speaking before he analyzed Irene and his eyes widened as he almost fell down the motorcycle. For a few seconds, he and the others were just looking at Irene wondering what just happened. Perhaps they saw the change in the power level of Irene and couldn''t believe what they were looking at. As for Irene, she was more concentrated on the Blood Maniptor. As for the Blood Maniptor, standing with his emotionless face, he was more focused on me than Irene. The leader guy then spoke,"How did a b*tch get so strong in a single day? This is a bluff, isn''t it?" His smile was slowlying back as he observed Irene and then he ordered one of his men to move and capture Irene¡­ though everyone was hesitating. Well, no one wanted to risk their life here just because of a spection. And looking at the cowardice of the people around the leader, the guy spoke out angrily,"if no one is going, then¡­ you¡­ you have been hired to protect us¡­ surely helping us to capture this girl won''t fall off too far from the agreement? Capture that girl. I order you." The one being ordered, the Blood Maniptor, moved one step at a time making the leader smile a little. Though the smile vanished as he saw the guy moving not towards Irene, but towards me. Even Irene was confused as she focused and moved in between me and that guy. Though that guy just kept walking with his ever so emotionless face. He crossed Irene who couldn''t even move and reaching about 2 meters away from me, he smiled¡­ ever so brightly. "Sir Michael! Wee back!" He spoke in a cheerful voice and I answered with a smile, "d to see you alive too, George. Seems like you had it rough in thest 6 months." Chapter 149 Arcanist [Name: George n Race: Zombified Human (A-Grade) ss: Blunt Weapon User (Master) Description: A normal kid whose life had turned upside after the apocalypse. At the edge of his life, his idol, Michael Aroa, helped him survive. Provided him with hope to live forward. However, after losing that idol to an unavoidable disaster, he is on the search for that idol. One of the most brutal Blood Maniptors and the scariest nightmare for whoever goes against him. Zombification: 79%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Status: Healthy Gift: Blood Maniption User can create, shape, and manipte blood. He is only able to exert control over the blood of himself, using them for various purposes, such as for rituals, examining, or mostmonlybat. He can shape his blood into tendrils to strike enemies from afar or use it to trap opponents in a prison of blood. User can concentrate blood into a single point, and shoot it out akin to bullets, or sharpen their blood to the point that he can slice and tear flesh with ease or solidify blood to use as rock-hard ammunition. Skills* Strength: 8240(+2900) Constitution: 6802(+1980) Dexterity: 4602(+462) Intelligence: 3090 Wisdom: 2820 Charm: 2680] "I guess we have a lot to talk about, but first let me deal with them, okay?" I asked with a humble voice and he nodded with the same cheerful voice,"sure, Sir Michael. Of course. Take your time." "George? Who is George?! Is that your real name Blood Maniptor? Hahahahaha¡­ Finally figured it out. Now all I need to do is tell your name to Mallorn and he will put the curse on you as well¡­ hahahaha¡­ another powerful pawn on our side.." the leader spoke with a really creepyugh before he looked at one of the men standing there, "Immediately inform Mallorn." That man took out a certain type of mobile phone and began dialing the number while the leader guy looked at me,"who is this pathetic son of a b*tch?" Meanwhile, I finished looking at the status of everyone and realized that everyone is ''seble'' here. Not one I need to really forgive at all. It wasn''t that all of them were r*pist but most of them were. As for the rest, they were mass murderers and stuff. "In any case, let''s start with you first," I spoke to the man in the corner and turned to George and Irene,"I will be back in a few minutes. Don''t let them get away," Irene was a bit confused, while George simply nodded at me. ? "Hello, Sir Ignis? I have crucial information to give. That Blood Maniptor, remember? His name is George¡­. Ummm.. hel- oh! Yeah.. hmm.. Well, there was a guy who called him by his name? What guy? He is a¡­" While that guy was talking to one of Mallorn''s men, he looked at me and began describing my features, though right after a few moments, he stopped talking about me, and then started telling him about the location. And not even a moment after,"Huh? My name it''s Orian Lerci. Yes, sir¡­ hmm? It''s 15th April, XXXX. My zodiac sign? It''s *****. My age? It''s 28." And then the call got cut. That guy just kept looking at the phone for a few moments. All of us were just looking at him with a keen expression before something happened¡­ "Huh?" that guy Orian Lerci¡­ blood started oozing out of his nose, eyes and ears and soon -AAAAAA!!! He started screaming like hell. One could tell how much pain he was in, by the scream and by the way he was working on the ground before his body sumbed to his injuries. Confusion spread all over the area as they looked at the horrific scene. Though that wasn''t the end of it. The dead body then started levitating in the air before it started evaporating and, if looked carefully, a form of ck-colored spot started developing at the center of the body. The more the body was evaporating, withering, the bigger the ck hole became. At the end, the body vanishedpletely, leaving arge ck space in front of us. And soon enough, a man walked out of the ck space in front of us. Grey hair and gray eyes. He wore a robe as magicians do, green in color with strips of gold embedded in them. One could see a strange emblem on his hand that was shining ever so slightly. His eyes then started looking around before theynded on George, stopped for a brief moment, before turning at me. His eyes widened in realization as he hurriedly walked towards me and spoke with a dazzled look on his face. "Mr Michael! You have returned?! I knew it! All that waiting! All that hope! It wasn''t wasteful at all! You are back!" He spoke with excitement as he looked at me. His eyes, which looked depressing a few moments ago, were now more joyful than ever and it made me confused even more. "Ummm¡­ I am sorry, but¡­ I do not know who you are," I spoke with honesty. Could he be mistaking me for someone else? It could be¡­ though his face does seem a bit familiar¡­ however, someone with that hair and those eyes would be really hard to forget. "Ah! I am sorry¡­ I was disguising my appearance¡­ wait a second," he spoke before he started chanting something. Everyone was looking at that guy, including George, who seemed to know something about it, and Irene, who felt like she understood what was going on. Though the men of Mallorn, they didn''t have any words to speak¡­ I could easily see the fear in their eyes as they were realizing that things weren''t going in their favor. That guy Ignis, his expression took a 180-degree turn as his white hairs changed to ck and his eyes turned brown. From a striking expression, it changed to something reallymon. Now he was looking at me with a bright smile as he looked at me with an expectant gaze. Though even still, I just looked at him with an awkward smile and answered, "Ummm¡­ I am sorry¡­ but I still don''t recall you." Chapter 150 You Never Know [Name: Walter Ignis Race: Zombified Human [A-Grade] ss: World Arcanist Description: Son of a professor, he aims to be just like his father. Though the apocalypse has changed everything for him. Before, his father was captured by the ruffians but waster saved by Michael Aroa, to whom he owes his life. He had been waiting for weeks for Michael Aroa to return after he had disappeared, and repay for the kindness which Michael had shown him. Zombification Process: 54%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Status: Healthy Cessation Energy: 240,000,000/240,000,000 Gift: Theurgy The user can call upon Gods and other divine forces to perform miracles and grant power. This allows the user to be more powerful than those who rely on their own abilities but are reliant on the beings that aid them. Skills* Stats: Strength: 2068 Constitution: 2186 Dexterity: 1994 Intelligence: 19641(+6200) Wisdom: 11344(+2250) Charisma: 4028] ''Ooof!'' I couldn''t help but look at that guy seriously once I saw those Stats¡­ especially those Intelligence and Wisdom Stats. The f*ck, why are they so high? Did he forget to add it to other ces or something? "Pffftt¡­ hahahaha¡­" George startedughing as he looked at Walter, who was making a really sad expression, as if he was going to cry or something. Then he red at George, whoughing really loud as he spoke. "I did tell you that he won''t remember you. You haven''t even been together for more than a few moments¡­ told ya you were expecting too much." "But he remembered you¡­ that''s not fair!" spoke Walter with a bit of sad expression as he looked at George, then at me. "Sir Michael, are you sure you don''t remember me? I was one of the guys you saved¡­ or more like, didn''t kill and even helped us near Arcadia University. We were there to¡­ umm¡­ kill you, there were a few of us there-" "Ah! You were one of the two who I didn''t kill, huh?" I thought as I finally realized who he was. His expression changed, brighter now as he nodded before continuing, "Not only did you save me. But also my father. Gave us a ce to grow, helped us get strong. I am really thankful to you for all that you have done for me and my father." He spoke with a bright smile and I nodded as I smiled back at him. ''I just kind of wanted to gather strong people around me¡­ also the fact that he didn''t do anything really bad in his life saved his life more than I did,'' I thought as I spoke, "d to hear that. How is your father? How is he doing?" "Ah! He is good. He went with Miss Caroline and Miss M overseas, back to Miss Caroline''s father''s mansion with the others. Only about 6-7 of us are here waiting for you toe back," He spoke as he looked at me with a serious face and hearing that they were still alive made me breathe in relief. Though¡­ "What about Alissa? Where is she?" At my words, Walter just turned numb for a moment before he looked at me with a slightplexion. Looking at his face, my eyes turned a bit serious, but before I could reach any conclusion, "Miss Alissa vanished 2 months after the shield centered around you formed. ording to Miss Caroline, a wooddy just came and engulfed her out of nowhere. After that, we never heard anything about her." I looked at him for a few moments before nodding as I sighed, "Is that so? Well¡­ then that''s fine. She is more or less safe¡­ though I will make sure to check up on herter." ''If I am not wrong, it''s rted to the next Queen of Forest or something. Hmmm¡­ though I don''t think I will need to worry about Alissa much. I should be worrying about the forest people though,'' I thought with a slight awkward smile as I knew the real sadistic nature of Alissa. Pity the forestdy who was in charge of Alissa. Though I will still check up on her¡­ I just need to find that nt dungeon before I leave. I hope it hasn''t turned to smithereens too. "Really?! Then that''s good news, I guess!" Spoke George with a bright smile and I smiled at him before looking at Irene, who was feeling out of ce here. "George, Walter, this is Irene. Our new friend here," I spoke as I looked at her and Walter just observed me with a bright smile as he spoke,"So you do remember me!" ''Ah! He hasn''t told me his name yet¡­'' I thought as I just smiled at him before his smile brightened and he looked at Irene with a surprise as he spoke, "You were Gifted too? No¡­ from what the reports said, you didn''t have any Gift¡­ hmmm¡­ then¡­" At his questions, Irene''s eyes reached me with aplex look, though that slight look was enough to tell what happened. Walter and George, both of them, just observed me as if they were looking at a heavenly being while those behind them, the Mallorn''s guys, just looked at me as if their eyes would pop out of their sockets. "We must kill him," the leader spoke as he observed me. I don''t know how he reached that conclusion but¡­ "Ah! Remembering from killing, I almost forgot about it¡­ George, Irene, Walter. Can you do me a favor? Let no one escape from here until I am done with it. Ah! Also, keep them alive," I spoke as I realized that I almost forgot about it. "What are-" -sh! I made a sh in the air ever so slightly. I didn''t want to kill any of those guys¡­ dead guys don''t sell, you know? [Time Rejection!] "Huh?!" the guy who got hit by the sh spoke out in confusion -AAAAAA!!!!! Before a scream came out of his mouth and he shouted really really loudly¡­ Not wasting time, I moved closer to him and saw a bunch of peopleing in between, even though a fear was present in their eyes. -Whoosh! -Slnnngggg! -Zingggg!! Though they were pushed apart as three people came in between me and them, paving a path between me and that injured guy. Moving one step closer to him, while the others just struggled to get in, I soon reached the almost dying body of that guy and touched him. [Second Space!] I sent him into the Second Space before I looked at George and the others, "Give me a minute." ''How long will I be touched, hit, hurt or killed?'' [45 Years: 11 Months: 15 Days] I sat on the ground and closed my eyes before [Second Space!] Moving into the Second Space, I saw that guy being thrashed by Rhea against the wall with an annoyed expression present on the face of Rhea. "I will take him," I spoke and she nodded,"you better tell me beforehand that you are bringing filth again in this ce." I nodded at her as I spoke,"there will be 13 more of them after this one." Moving closer to him, I saw him standing up on his legs as his powers were recharging and looking at meing towards him, he raised his hands towards me and shouted,"Air Current!" Just like the name, an air current flew out of his fingers and shed my body apart before [Time Rejection!] I then moved as I looked at those eyes of disbelief. Even Rhea was looking at me with a surprised look as she spoke, "You got that Skill, huh? You should be feeling quite invincible now, don''t you?" I picked up that guy who attacked me again [Time Rejection!] "Anything I should be worried about?" I asked as I looked at her and she shook her head as she spoke,"Nothing honestly. With your mental fortitude, you should be easily able to handle that. All the more because you have faced death once and also slept for ages. Normally, people have their mental fortitude broken every time they die, but I guess you were lucky to go through a condition like that beforehand." "Not sure I understand, but as long as I am going to be fine, that''s all that matters," I spoke before moving towards the [Shop] section. I wanted to kill him many times, but for now I kind of wanted to get a few Cronas and upgrade a few things first. [Do you want to sell a B-Grade Zombified Human(Gift: Air Rectifier) for 125,000 Cronas?] Looking at that amount of Cronas, a greedy smile appeared on my face as I nodded before looking at that guy who could feel something was wrong. Though before he could do anything [Yes!] I pressed as I saw his eyes hollowing as he looked at me with a scared face¡­ his eyes confused. He vanished before me as I received 125,000 Cronas. Do I feel bad about him? Well, he did kill about 24 people, out of which 7 were children. He had r*aped 3 women and also was a sadist who¡­ well, I would rather not say. And the best thing about this whole thing? He was the least worst guy among those men who were out there. Not including Walter and George, of course. And also 4 more people¡­ Yeah, there weren''t just 14 people, but 18 in total. Out of which, surprisingly, 4 were good guys with minimum crimes¡­ though I wonder about that¡­ Chapter 151 Evolution "Hmmm?" I looked around as I saw those guys trapped in a circr trail of blood that covered around them and a certain purple shield that blocked their path of escape. Looking around, I saw George and Walter casually talking while using their magic. Irene was also there, peeking once in a while as she observed the 17 people within the circle. Those guys were unconscious, fallen on the ground and I chuckled a little as I moved towards the fallen guys. As soon as I reached near the purple shield, an opening formed within the shield while the trail of blood vanished enough, letting me enter the area. Moving inside, I touched one of the guys [Second Space!] And also ced a [Return Point!] inside that circle before moving back outside as the blood circle closed itself and so did the shield. I sat in a meditation position before entering the [Second Space!] again and dragging the unconscious guy towards the [Sell] section where [Do you want to Sell B-Grade Zombified Human (Gift: Advanced Sense) for 115,000 Cronas?] Pressing [Yes] I then moved to repeat the same thing again¡­ [Do you want to sell B-Grade Zombified Human (Gift: Maic Resonance) for 145,000 Cronas?] [Do you want to sell B-Grade Zombified Human (Gift: Energy Maniption) for 150,000 Cronas?] [Do you want to sell B-Grade Zombified Human (Gift: Evolved Muscles) for 120,000 Cronas?] . . . . And in the end the amount of Cronas I had was¡­ [Total Cronas: 1,723,430] My eyes glistened as I looked at the surplus amount of Cronas before I went to the [Cores Section] and bought all the necessary Cores. What happened next was¡­ I got out of the [Second Space] first "All three of you. Protect me for sometime," I spoke as I looked at them seriously and hearing my voice, they turned alert before they nodded. They didn''t know what was going on, but they didn''t question anything. ''When I will get hit, killed or anything?'' [54 Years: 10 Months: 3 Days] Then I went back into the [Second Space!] and closed my eyes as I began preparing myself once again. Even Rhea was carefully observing me¡­ Now¡­ [Gene Evolution Allows the user to evolve beyond his current limits Requirements: E-Grade Cores: 200/200 D-Grade Cores: 50/50 C-Grade Core: 1/1] [Do you want to proceed with Evolution?] Though, I didn''t immediately press [Yes!] [Total Cronas: 723,430] After buying all the Cores, I then moved to that nt First, [Tree of Crona(Umon) Effects: Generates 15 Cronas per hour. Limitations: Can store only 2500 Cronas Special: Evolvable (Require 50,000 Cronas to evolve)] I upgraded it once [Tree of Crona(Rare) Effects: Generates 50 Cronas per hour. Limitations: Can store only 10,000 Cronas Special: Evolvable (Require 250,000 Cronas to evolve)] I upgraded it again [Tree of Crona(Unique) Effects: Generates 200 Cronas per hour. Effect: Generates one Golden Crona per 100 hours Limitations: Can store only 50,000 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 10 Golden Cronas Special: Evolvable (Require 1,500,000 Cronas to evolve)] [Total Cronas: 423, 430] The tree grew up really big covering the entire area of the dpace. There were some golden leaves along with the green ones in that tree. "Hey Rhea. What''s a Golden Crona?" I asked curiously and Rhea, who was observing me, asked with her eyes a bit open wide,"where did you hear that?" "Golden Crona is an ancient and purer form of Crona. It''s kind of ancient but it has a really strong power. Hmmm¡­ you said that you used God Powers, right? Well, normally there are limitations to that God Power, but if you pay the right price, such as Golden Cronas, you can use that power without any side effects. Though why do you-" she was speaking as she was moving forward but as her eyes fell on the description of the ree and¡­ well they were shocked to say the least. But since I already got my answer, I moved to the [Dungeon] Screenpletely ignoring Rhea. [Capacity Increase: Current capacity to hold workers: 50 (Grade 2) Cost of increasing the capacity to Grade 3: 100,000 Cronas] Upgrading it once, [Capacity Increase: Current capacity to hold workers: 250 (Grade 3) Cost of increasing the capacity to Grade 4: 500,000 Cronas] Then I upgraded the D-Grade Zombie into C-Grade at the Cost of 110,000 Cronas and bought another 2 of C-Grade Zombies for 150,000 Cronas each. [C-Grade Random Zombie: Working Speed Efficiency: Can generate 200-1000 Cronas per day House Space Taken: 50 Cost: 150,000 Cronas] Finally, I upgraded the efficiency for 10,000 Cronas leaving me with merely 3,430 Cronas. ''Let''s check the Dungeon Stats,'' I thought as I observed it carefully. [Dungeon of Libra (Rare)] [Owner: Michael Aroa Location: ck Water City(E*rth): Erastale(Forgotten Demon Dimension) Total Number of Floors: 70 Total Number of Workers: 150/250 Crona Production Rate: 2980/day Current Efficiency: 12% Dungeon Functions* Dungeon Options* Dungeon Intel*] ''Better, I guess,'' I thought as I sighed, I finally got a stable amount of Crona source, both from the nt as well as the dungeon. While the dungeon is slow, no matter what happens, it won''t stop unless the dungeon itself is destroyed. On the other hand, the nt will give me a good amount of Crona within a short amount of time as long as I keep harvesting it. [Author''s note: Not including the dungeon, the amount of Crona Michael will get in one hour in the outside world is 9600. With the dungeon, that goes up to 15560 Cronas.] "Okay, now that is done, let''s move to Evolution," I thought as my heart beat rose by a lot. I had already activated all my abilities which decreased the time. I hope they work properly and even if it is 1000 years, it should not be much of a problem. [Do you want to proceed with Evolution?] This time I pressed [Yes!] And a couple of messages started flooding in front of me. [Calcting the Status of the user!] [Analyzing the best pathways of evolution!] [Finding all the dormant Genes within the user!] [Creating a separate pathway!] [Calctions Done!] [Analysis Done!] [The user may now choose one of the Following paths to Evolution!] [1. Advanced Human!] [Enhance all Stats by 1000% and evolve your ability to use physical skills much more smoothly. All physical skills have their effects enhanced by 200%] [Time to Evolve: 7 days] [2. Half Cronus!] [Enhance all Stats by 500%. Evolve All of your time rted Skills by one Grade. The cost of all time rted abilities is reduced by 50%. The duration of all time rted abilities is reduced to 33%] [Time to Evolve: 14 days] [3. Half nt!] [Enhance all Stats by 500%. Evolve All of your nt rted Skills by one Grade. The cost of all nt rted abilities is reduced by 50%. The duration of all nt rted abilities is reduced to 20%] [Time to Evolve: 21 days] [4. Half Fairy!] [Enhance all Stats by 500%. Evolve All of your Fairy rted Skills by one Grade. The cost of all Fairy rted abilities is reduced by 50%. The duration of all fairy rted abilities is reduced to 10%] [Time to Evolve: 21 days] [5. 1/4th Cronus + 1/4th nt +1/4th Human + 1/4th Fairy] [An abomination. A Hybrid. All abilities are free of cost but the Stats are reduced by 50%] [Time to Evolve: 2 months] [5. Evolved Human Halfling!] [Keeping your other sides at a minimum. Your human side dominates. You get 2000% bonus Stats and new Skills rted to being human. But you lose Skills rted to other Races inside of you] [Time to Evolve: 1 year] [6. Evolved Cronus Halfling!] [Keeping your other sides at a minimum. Your Cronus side dominates. You get 2000% bonus Stats and new Skills rted to being Cronus. But you lose Skills rted to other races inside of you] [Time to Evolve: 1.2 year] [7. Evolved nt Halfling!] [Keeping your other sides at a minimum. Your nt side dominates. You get 2000% bonus Stats and new Skills rted to being ntling. But you lose Skills rted to other races inside of you] [Time to Evolve: 1.5 years] [8. Evolved Fairy Halfling!] [Keeping your other sides at a minimum. Your Fairy side dominates. You get 2000% bonus Stats and new Skills rted to being Fairy. But you lose Skills rted to other races inside of you] [Time to Evolve: 2 years] [9. Time Keeper] [???] [Time to Evolve: 100 years] [10. Demi-God] [???] [Time to Evolve: 150 years] [11. Ethereal] [???] [Time to Evolve: 50,000 yrs] Chapter 152 Ethereal ''Hmmmm¡­. '' I questioned really, really deeply as I looked at those options and obviously [Ethereal] was the most tempting of all. But¡­ ''50,000 years is no joke,'' I thought as I looked at that status. "Hey Rhea¡­ what is an Ethereal?" I asked and at first her eyes widened before she answered,"I¡­ do not know." "..." "..." "Forget it. It sounds cool¡­ it takes so much time so it''s must be really good," I thought before speaking, "I would have chosen the TimeKeeper, but now let''s take this one. See you, Rhea. I might surprise youter on." She nodded at me and then I moved out of the [Second Space] While I could have used [Advanced Time Maniption], using [Temporal Deceleration!] within the Second Space is not possible for some reason. I guess it must be because the space itself is detached from time? Anyway, getting out of the [Second Space] I first looked at the 3 people in front of me and questioned ''If I use all my abilities, then how long will it take for me to evolve into [Ethereal]?'' [1 hour: 4 minutes: 14 seconds] [Author''s Note: 50,000 years/ (200x200x100x100) = ~1 hour] ''Good,'' I thought as I activated my abilities before choosing the [Ethereal] Evolution Pathway. And then¡­ -nk! I heard a sound¡­ or felt one? Is that even possible? My eyes were closed but I could still see¡­ And all I was looking at was pitch darkness¡­ I mean, it wasn''t the darkness that you usually see with your eyes closed but more like¡­ I was present within a dark floating space or something. Then a glowing dot formed and¡­ huh? ''It hurts'' That was thest thing my thinking ability allowed me to process. I was in pain¡­ I don''t know for how long¡­ in the beginning, it was just one dot. Then another came, and another and another, until there were 12 dots. Each burned inside me like a never ending sun. Each felt like a different kind of pain. While one was burning, the other was freezing. One was suffocating, and another was deafening. One was blinding, so the other was eroding. Were my bones crushed? I don''t know. It just hurt that way too. Was my skin pierced a billion times? I don''t know. It just felt that way. It felt like my body was being pulled apart atom by atom while keeping me alive and then joined again before separating them again. Sometimes I could see something, but then everything I saw hurt me. Did I close my eyes? No, I didn''t have the ability to. Sometimes I could hear something, but then everything I heard was deafening. Did I close my ears? No, I didn''t have the ability to. After all these events that felt like going on for millennials, I slowly got my ability to think back. I wondered¡­ howe I haven''t lost my ability to think yet? Time passed and I could slowly feel some air on my skin. It was a cooling sensation. My heart was beating¡­ finally I could hear it too. My eyes started moving after so long, and I slowly moved them left and right. I tried opening it but my eyelids were still closed. Though after a few moments I gained enough ability to think. ''How much time has passed in the outside world?'' [1 second] ''Huh?'' I thought as I just looked at that time. I questioned it again¡­ and again¡­ and again¡­ [1 second] But it didn''t change¡­ Then¡­ When I gained enough energy to control my body¡­ I opened my eyes. I was in a dark space. And I saw¡­ a small glowing dot formed¡­ again¡­ And another millennia passed within a second¡­ and it repeated¡­ And after 1000s of repetition, when I still haven''t lost my mental ability for some reason. I just looked at the time. [45 minutes : 15 seconds] Yup, that was the time that had passed in the outside world. It had been a really odd repetition. Even when I had felt the pain so many times, every time I felt it, it was fresher than before. And even though I break every time, I still don''t lose my mental stability at all. Every time it repeats, I cry but I don''t. I shout but I don''t. I bleed but I don''t. [54 minutes: 15 seconds] ¡­ [1 hour: 4 minutes: 14 seconds] And after an infinite repetition of the same things over and over, I finally open my eyes, this time for real. As I looked at the light, after so long, it wasn''t blinding. I observed Irene still standing there, talking with Walter and George as theyughed and joked about. My eyes were still adjusting to the change that I didn''t even know had urred. I slowly stood up as I almost fell but still managed to get my bnce back. While it was hard in the beginning, I adapted within a second to normal body movement. While it was really odd, I could feel whatever had happened before I chose to evolve as if it happened a few seconds ago, while also feeling that it was millennia ago that it urred. Felt like I was having two memories at once¡­ Though since my original personality didn''t take any major shift, I just smiled before looking at something that I was looking forward to a very long time ago and also an hour ago. [System!] [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal [An Ancient Race that watched over the Gods during their formation. It is said that there was a war between the Gods and the Ethereals for millennials before the Ethereal lost all their powers out of dejection and deterrence. It wasn''t that the Gods were strong enough to defeat the Ethereals. Just that the Ethereals were too tired to deal with them. And their existential meaning was lost from the world a long time ago.] Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ; WorldWalker [The Title has the Following effects: (1) When the user is fighting against an enemy: All Stats +100% (2) When the user fights an enemy more than 2 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats 200% (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400% (4) When the user fights an enemy more than 10 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +900% (5) Regeneration ability of user increased by +200% under idle conditions (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (7) Anyone working under the user will have their Stats doubled as long as they are within 5000m of the user (8) All of user''s Stat will increase by +1 for every member who follows him with at least 70% trust] [Gaia''s Saviour: Allows the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions] [The Slumbered One: The one who has slept for 10,000 years. He does not find any necessity for food, water or energy. He can survive without anything at all and even breathing that should be most necessary to one''s life, he can live without it.] [WorldWalker: You can travel between the worlds without any restriction.] ss: Child of the Universe [All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight with him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies Stats will be halved] Level: 16 (2,774,632/5,000,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50% Health Points: 80000/80000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 15(+150) Constitution: 15(+150) Dexterity: 15(+150) Intelligence: 15(+150) Wisdom: 15(+150) Charisma: 15(+150) Stat points: 28 Total Cronas: 3301 Total Dungeons Under Control: 1 Total Portals Under Control: 0 Skills* Quests* God Powers Ethereal Powers ??????: Locked] Quantitatively, the changes were low. But Qualitatively, they were much better¡­ a bit confusing as well but still much better than before. And the most important changes of all were these three [God Powers Unlocked (4)] [Ethereal Powers Unlocked (1)] [Main Quest: Get your genes evolved! (Completed!)] [You have received a new skill!] [Unique Skill: The Defier!] Chapter 153 The Changes In My System [The Defier(Unique)] [Allows the user to reject or defy anything in existence. As long as the user is in contact with the person/thing/being, he or she can defy it. Not limited to death and life, but the more the strings of fates and destiny are entangled, the heavier the impact will be on the user Cooldown: Depends upon the usage of the Skill] ''A simple skill that is more powerful than anything I have got till now. All in all, it simply means I can defy even death or perhaps anything as long as I am ready to pay the price for it. As for the impact, that is quite vague¡­ more like a final call skill. A trump card of sorts,'' I thought as I looked at that Skill. Though one thing that I did not understand was why it was a Unique Skill and not a Mythical Skill? Clearly, this is beyond what a Unique Skill is capable of¡­ My eyes then shifted to the [God Powers] that were previously locked. [God Power: Reverse Time] [Using the Crona Energy of the Universe Itself, the user can reverse time to a previous state. Note that the user can only reverse time up to where he had the ability to manipte time. Requirements: The user need to bepletely free of any emotional disturbance of any sorts Cost: 10 Golden Crona per second] [God Power: Temporal Pause!] [Allows the user to pause time for others. All Stats will be stopped at the same points and there would never be any change in the System Status until the ability is used. Cost: 1 Golden Crona per second!] [God Power: Time eleration] [Allows the user to elerate his own time, in the direction he wants, using the power of the Universe. Cost: 1000 Golden Crona per second] [God Power: Time Shatter] [A vicious power that breaks the Time Continuum and may result in defiance of the Time Forces. The user is advised to never use the ability even when in the most desperate of circumstances because the results are unpredictable and if things get too much out of hand, reversing the damage will cost more than what the Universe can afford. Cost: None] ''A God Power such as that, huh?'' I thought as I read through the description of the [Time Shatter]. It was free of cost, time power that will probably cost more than any other time power. Ironic. After looking at those God Powers, I then moved to the newest power that I had. [Ethereal Powers] [Ethereal Power: Bend!] [When in trouble, bend the reality ording to your own needs Cost: 100,000 Golden Cronas per use] -Thud! I fell on my butt as I saw that description¡­ the f*ck is that? Bend the reality¡­ and because it''s Ethereal¡­ does that mean it has no limit? And what''s even more baffling is¡­ [?????: Locked] There was still something even more powerful locked behind the System. Just what kind of being¡­ created the System? My eyes utterly shaken, I looked at that Ethereal Power again as I calmed myself. This isn''t something that I expected honestly¡­ this was beyond powerful. Though the cost¡­ it''s a bit too much as well. What else changed with Evolution? The Skills [Envoy of Cronus] and [I am God] were gone, along with the ss [Envoy of Cronus] and [True Human]. Truly a pity. Instead of that, this was present [ss: Child of the Universe [All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight alongside him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies'' Stats will be halved]] ''It was fine, I guess. With the freedom to add more Stat Points, I honestly don''t need those two skills. Especially when I have [Time Rejection!] and I can''t get hit no matter what. All I need to do is increase my Stats and everything will be fine,'' I thought as I looked at the other changes. It was kind of pity that I didn''t get to use [Envoy of Cronus] but it doesn''t matter much since it''s already gone. While [Envoy of Cronus] did reduce all the Time Point cost to 0 of all time rted skills, this [Blessing]pensated for it. [Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you.] With this, I would never even be worrying about energy even if I had to use it for ages. [Time Points: Infinity] A silent chuckle escaped my mouth before I looked at the next few changes [Race: Ethereal [An Ancient Race that watched over the Gods during their formation. It is said that there was a war between the Gods and the Ethereals for millennials before the Ethereal lost all their powers out of dejection and deterrence. It wasn''t that the Gods were strong enough to defeat the Ethereals. Just that the Ethereals were too tired to deal with them. And their existential meaning was lost from the world a long time ago.]] I had seen this one first¡­ and still I can''t put my mind around how surprised I was when I saw the description. Someone above Gods? Man, that''s¡­ Epic! Well, I can go on and on about this, but let''s check something else while we are at it, [Title: WorldWalker: You can travel between the Worlds without any restriction.] ''Hmmmm¡­ does that mean that I can travel to other worlds? Like the Fairy World that Erina was talking about or the Fallen Elves World? Perhaps I can find Alissa too? Though, how do I even begin to use this ability?'' I pondered for a few seconds before sighing as I looked at thest two changes. [Total Portals Under Control: 0] This was new¡­ I guess I might get a [Quest] regarding this? And maybe, like the dungeon, I could control that world as well? Who knows? Thest change was minor changes like the Skills, once again started costing Time Points and stuff. Along with me being able to assign the Stat Points. ''So, how should I go about it?'' After thinking about it for a while, I finally put all the Stat Points where they need to be. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ; WorldWalker ss: Child of the Universe Level: 16 (2,774,632/5,000,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit Health Points: 160,000/160,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20(+200) Constitution: 20(+200) Dexterity: 20(+150) Intelligence: 18(+150) Wisdom: 20(+150) Charisma: 20(+150) Stat Points:0 Total Cronas: 3301 Total Dungeons Under Control: 1 Total Portals Under Control: 0 Skills* Quests* God Powers Ethereal Powers ??????: Locked] ''Simple is best,'' I thought as I allocated all my points equally. At first, I thought of not allocating it to [Intelligence] but then I thought there must be a reason why that Stat is still there. I mean, if energy was all it was needed for, either it would have gone to infinity too, or would have vanished for once and for all. ''Okay, now that is done¡­ let''s check my newfound powers,'' I thought as I looked at the dungeon in front of me. A grin formed on my face, so wide that even the air started shuddering around me. Chapter 154 The Bloodborne [Side Quests!] [Clear the underground tunnel of the South City Station!] [Description: After the copse of the ck Water City, most of the underground zombies have been trapped within the underground tunnels and have turned into Elite Zombies, another end pathway of evolution for the zombies. Kill all the zombies present there. Total Zombies: 134! Elite C-Grade: 53 Elite Lesser B-Grade: 45 Elite B-Grade: 23 Elite Lesser A-Grade: 18 Elite A-Grade: 11 Elite S-Grade: 2 Rewards: +25 Skill Points; +25 Stat Points: Random Skill Level up] [The Terror of the South City Station!] [The NightCrawlers and the Nightwalkers have made their den in the deepest parts of the station! Make sure to wipe them out before they multiply in their numbers. Total NightWalkers: 435 Total Nightcrawlers: 234 Reward: Dungeon Unlock(South City Station): 1 Golden Key to South City Dungeon] [The Ruler of the ck Water City!] [The S-Grade Zombie Voltaire is taking its path to the Ascension to another level. Make sure to kill it before it''ste. Reward: Breath of the Night(Self Enchantment)] ''Hmmm, so we got a couple of zombies and Nightwalkers and another S-Grade,'' I thought as I looked at the 3 quests rted to the underground dungeon once again. Then after I was done observing it carefully, "All right. Let these go," I spoke as I observed the 4 people who were less criminal than the others. While I could have sold them as well, since they hadn''t really done anything wrong, it was fine, I guess. As for it biting me back? Nah, I don''t think there is anyone really that could threaten me at this point. Later maybe, but now? Nah. Not really. Those three looked at me for a few moments before nodding as they undid their Skills. The shield was gone while the blood trail vanished slowly into thin air. My eyes observed the whole thing as I saw them waking up in confusion. Those 4 stood up only to look around with a confused expression before realization struck their head and they recalled everything. Soon, fear engulfed their eyes and, with shaking legs, they tried their best to take one step back at a time. "You guys can go. I have got what I wanted. You can do whatever you want. Walter. Irene. George. Let''s go. We got some things to do down there," I spoke as I began moving towards the underground dungeon. George looked at them for onest time before moving behind me. Irene too just followed me as her eyes red at those men before she focused on me. As for Walter, he muttered a few words at them before moving behind me as well. Soon, we disappeared from their sight as we walked into the dungeon and the whole area began turning darker and darker. Taking out the UV-Lamp from the [Time Storage] I lighted up the entire station as we began moving down. Walter was carefully looking at me as he observed themp in my hand and I just smiled at him before moving down further into the darkness. For the first few minutes, we did note across any zombies whatsoever, howsoever, as soon as we took a step in the bottom of the station -Rwar! -Rawr! -Rawr! -sh! With a single sh using the steel rod I had in my hand, I killed the entire horde in front of me. [You have killed an Elite C-Grade Zombie!] [+15,000 Exp] [You have killed an Elite C-Grade Zombie!] [+15,000 Exp] [You have killed an Elite C-Grade Zombie!] [+15,000 Exp] . . . About 2 dozen messages flew in front of me as I moved forward. Though the C-grades were more or less Elite, killing them didn''t feel any different, to be honest. It was as easy as shing a hot knife through melting butter. Moving deeper into the station, we started finding stronger zombies, B-Grades and even a few A-Grades. As we were walking, when we reached the train station, we finally found the nightwalkers. [NightWalker] [Elite C-Grade Zombies, who have evolved their powers enough topete even with the best B-Grades. They have lost their ability to walk in the sun along with their power to evolve any further. However, they can grow stronger by feeding on simr or stronger zombies.] The first NightWalker was easy to kill, but as things went on, I felt like the subsequent zombies were stronger than the previous ones. Some NightWalker even felt like they were stronger than your average B-Grades, reaching A-Grade. Some were even more powerful than A-Grades. Thankfully, the A-Grades I had with me were anything but simple. Along with my Skills, their power was already twice as high as normal with their own special gifts. While I did kill many NightWalkers, George and Walter killed the most. Including Irene as well, who was more or less catching up to them but was stillcking a little. Perhaps she would be better once she realizes her full potential. [Inspect!] [Gift: Transmutation The user can utilize a form of magic based on and/or take control of the transmutation of living or non-living things, ranging from simple changes and modifications to moreplex and powerful transformations, allowing for harnessing their magical energies and/or mystical control of the aspects of a variety of forms. With this, the user will be able to perform a variety of magical spells and feats that manipte transmutations.] ''Yup, it''s potential is beyond what she is just doing right now. Should I help her¡­ or maybe I should let her find out on her own,'' I thought as I observed her for a few more moments and spoke, "Let''s continue." And then nodded as they followed behind me without any question. Soon we came across Elite A-Grades, against which Irene was struggling a little while George and Walter were fighting more or less on an equal basis. [Elite A-Grade Headhunter Zombie] [An Evolved Headhunter that has gained the ability to manipte the matter it touches. It can change the nature of anything it touches, whether it''s living or nonliving. It can elerate the speed of decay as well and if you end up getting bitten by it, it might even take control of your body, turning you into one of its minions¡­] The status just kept going on and on, but the gist of it was that it was powerful. Something that we haven''t seen in a while. Perhaps it was because of it being an Elite over the fact that it was A-Grade? I wonder how strong an S-Grade would be? We kept killing and fighting the zombies¡­ or more like the three kids were trying their best to kill the A-Grades while I was helping them from behind. While I do want to kill those zombies, I guess I should assess the capabilities of George, Walter and Irene at the very least. Though that thought process came to an end when another zombie entered the scene out of nowhere, [The Bloodborne(S-Grade Zombie)] [The being of the night that was born after losing every part of his body in exchange for blood. His ''Gift: Blood Maniption'' allowed him to takeplete control over his body before he reformed his body purely made of blood. His powers areplete Blood Maniption, that are not restricted by any form of energy matter, or stats. He can also manipte the blood of other beings around him and control like his own and if wanted, can turn any being that has blood to his side Gift: Complete Blood Maniption Skills* Stats* Rewards to kill the Zombie: +1,500,000 Exp] Chapter 155 The Bloodborne#2 Within the train station where the train usually arrives at the tform, there were no trains on the tracks. Zombies infested the whole area, mostly A-Grades with a couple more Nightwalkers and Nightcrwalers trying to break through the defenses of Walter and George. Irene was handling herself, albeit barely. She was doing her best to keep a stand behind George and Walter. As for our sudden guest, the Bloodborne Zombie, he was standing right in front of me looking at me with a confused look. His head, which was more of a two horned upper attachment, turned a little as he put his two of the four fingers on his chin. His wings like side trails started shivering a little producing a strange shrill sound, "What are you? Your blood I cannot control." The whole station echoed, making Walter and the other two halt in their steps as they looked at the S-Grade, finally noticing his presence. As soon as their eyes locked on the S-Grade, their eyes widened in fear and I could see their expression changing from bad to worse but before anything could ur¡­ [The Defier!] ''I defy that guy''s ability to have any effect on the three here,'' I thought as I finally saw them calming down. Their faces, which had almost turned red, started cooling down as they looked at me with a nauseating look on their faces. Checking their status, they had almost lost their sanity, which they were gaining back at a rapid rate. I sighed before looking at the Skill once again. [The Defier(Unique)] [Allows the user to reject or defy anything in existence. As long as the user is in contact with the person/thing/being, he or she can defy it. Not limited to death and life, but the more the strings of fates and destiny are entangled, the heavier the impact will be on the user Cooldown: 5 minutes] ''Well, 5 minutes is not long,'' I thought as I then turned towards the even more confused S-Grade and then moved towards him as I saw my Stats rising rapidly. Since [Temporal Deceleration!] and [Temporal Deceleration(copy)] were already activated, I was more or less at my top form right now, though I could still see him moving at an equal speed to mine. One needs to know that my ss [ss: Child of the Universe [All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight alongside him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies'' Stats will be halved]] Doubles my Stats and halves the Stats of my enemies. That means that even after the effects taking ce, he could still move at an equal speed to mine, which must mean that he is that powerful. ''So another jump, huh? I guess I should have expected that,'' I thought as I recalled the sudden jump of power from Lesser D-Grade to D-Grade. It was more or less simr to that. ''Hmmm¡­ does that mean that once the humans reach S-Grade they would go to a whole nother level as well?'' I thought as I moved towards the Bloodborne Zombie. His wings once again started vibrating "What have you done?" He asked as he looked at me. With every step I was taking towards him, I was pondering a little as I observed that zombie shaking his head "I see that you are not telling. Such a shame." I moved towards him without much problem as I saw him pointing his finger towards me as he raised his hand and soon¡­ a trail of blood was released at an insane speed. Like a bullet shot through a gun, it passed through my head, killing me in an instant. At least that''s what the future showed me. ''When will it shoot me?'' [2 second!] [1 second!] [Time Rejection!] Just like I saw, it shot me. Though right after the attack seeded, the whole existence shifted into a reality that he missed the shot as I kept walking towards him. "Huh? Why did I¡­ miss? No¡­ did I miss? You were hit¡­ weren''t you?" I heard his confounded voice, though I did not see any change in his physical body. He tried hitting me again with the same attack and once again [Time Rejection!] And again [Time Rejection!] Though after trying three times, he did not try any further. Raising my hand as I pulled the steel rod up, I looked at him with not much emotion in my eyes and then -sh! I cut down his hand first that he was continuously touching his chin with. The hand slowly fell down, but before it could touch the ground, it started floating on its own. It then transformed into a sort of sword as another hand grew out of the ce from where it was cut. "What was that?" he asked again as his wings were cut down into pieces. Once again, he raised his hand as he pointed his fingers, but this time not at me but towards George, who was standing there. It wasn''t that he wasn''t moving, but we were just too fast for the three of them to realize. [Time Rejection!] Once again I changed the destiny of the attack, making Bloodborne miss again as he looked at his fingers, confused about what was going on. "What are you doing? How are you doing it?" He asked with a bit of an angry voice despite no visible change in his body, which could be seen. Well, for me I just began shing him again and again without much of an emotion and¡­ well, for the next few minutes you can say, I just shed him from all the weak points I could think of. Though even after being shed from so many ces and so many times, he was still standing like nothing had even urred to him. I could only sigh at this as I wondered how I should proceed with this next though before I could make any move. This time he spoke something odd "Blood Domain!" And then I saw the entire area starting to get covered in red as blood started oozing out of the walls and onto the roof. Soon covering the entire station, blocking all the exits present there. Looking at its Skill carefully [Blood Domain(Unique)] [One of the most powerful skills of the Bloodborne that allows him to create a field of blood inside which his powers grow up by 100%. Anything within the domain, other than the Bloodborne, will experience a debuff that will lower the base Stats by 25%. There will also be an effect of terrain damage reducing 1% of max HP per second. Energy Cost: None Cooldown: 3 days] ''Hmmm, a skill like that, huh? Quite nice, honestly. It doesn''t cost any energy and also its cooldown is quite low,'' I thought as a smile formed on my face as I looked at it. Since we were using powerful skills, I''ve got something in my arsenal as well. [Gaia''s Call (Rare)] [Allows the user to call out nearby nts to help the user. The nts can be used to heal the user, form a defensive barrier, or attack the enemy. The nts share the same Health and Defense as that of the user. When in a forest or surrounded by vegetation. The nt''s powers increases by +100% Duration: 5 mins || Cooldown: 2 hours ||Cost: 10,000 TP] And now pairing that with.. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Multidimensional View)] [Allows the user to view multiple timelines at once. Cost: 1000TP/Sec] Chapter 156 When The Universe Interfared When I was moving down, I saw a couple of nts, dying, but still alive down here in the underground. How were they even alive? I don''t know. I just saw some of the green still there surviving within the withered branches and leaves. Anyway, as soon as I activated that ability, a certain connection formed between me and those nts and I found out that it wasn''t just them, but many more nts were hidden within the area. Not just those hiding in the corner, but those within the ground and some in the walls themselves. And when the connection started developing, I got something unexpected in front of me [The connection to the nts has been established. Total control of the surrounding nts has been relinquished to you. The nts have near zero energy to move or propagate, so you have to provide them with the energy to move or grow. The powers of the nts are no longer equal to you. They will be depending upon how much energy you are providing them.] Looking at the message, a smile formed on my face as I muttered,"Is that so?" The blood around me started converging as spikes began to form around me and they tried piercing me from below but [Time Rejection!] First, I stopped the iing attack and then "Rise," I muttered with a deep look in my eyes as I poured as much energy as I could in the nts, immediately creating a luminous flowery field around me. Since they were night nts, they had some ability to produce luminescence, so I just amplified that part and made the entire area shine brighter. The UVmp was helping much as well. All his blood field and energy¡­ I slowly began absorbing it with my eyes concentrated¡­ no, at this point I had closed my eyes and used my ''nt'' senses to look around. Using the senses of the nts, I was calcting the entire space around me. That guy had already noticed that something very wrong is going on and thus, for the first time, he jumped at me to attack me but [Time Rejection!] Instead of jumping at me, he jumped into a field of nts that contained vines that rapidly absorbed his energy as soon as he touched them. Using his blood ability, he destroyed those vines easily, but with the energy I was supplying. Heh. Too slow. Earlier, what was an eerie path? What was an eerie underground station? Was now being transformed into a beautiful night garden with flowers and trees in full bloom all around. Bloodborne was trying his best to get away from the nts, but with the infinite energy I was providing the nts¡­ It was only a matter of time before he sumbed to it. Slowly his body started withering as I saw the surroundings start decaying faster. "You¡­ will pay," he spoke in the same way he did before. With that strange voice that echoed throughout the entire ce, -BOOM!!! I saw him reaching behind me and punching as hard as he could, but [Time Rejection!] I did that, and I saw him not punching me but simply jumping behind me and vanishing. Then he appears in front of me and -Boom! Punches again¡­ and once again [TIme Rejection!] It misses. Though he didn''t give up, every time he missed, he tried again. Every time he couldn''t connect the punches, he just tried a better move. His head was breaking, his body was breaking. He was dying a slow painful death as he struggled with every breath he took. I could see him flying around, crawling like a cockroach, finding the best path, and as soon as he jumped at me [Time Rejection!] It was a futile attempt. With [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] it was impossible for him tounch a sneak attack and with [Time Rejection!] it was impossible for him to hit me. It was powerful all right, probably the strongest after Kira, the most powerful one that I had fought up until now. But there was only so much he could do¡­ For the next 2 minutes, I guess? He kept trying his best, giving it his all to reach me, George, Walter and Irene, but even still he failed miserably. ? He tried a multitude of skills that at many times were groundbreaking or what not, but within the nt domain of mine, it was a kind of waste¡­ And soon¡­ I saw him withering as he spoke, "Who¡­ are¡­ you?" Unlike the previous prideful voice, this time it was a scared, obnoxious voice as he looked at me. All this time he fought and tried, not once I saw him trying to escape at all. He kept trying without giving up. At the very least, I could tell him my name "Michael Aroa," I spoke as I looked at him and immediately his smile widened as he started muttering something before a notification appeared on my System Screen [A certain life-threatening curse is being put on you!] [Because of your Ethereal Blood, the curse has failed to prate!] [The source of the curse has been found: Bloodborne Zombie!] [The source of the curse has been deemed dangerous for the user! The Universe is angry!] [Removing the Bloodborne from existence immediately!] And then¡­ I saw that Bloodborne Zombie slowly levitating in the air as he started pping around like a fish out of water before his form started changing¡­ from an S-Grade Zombie to A-Grade and then to B-Grade. Then to C-Grade. D-Grade. Soon going down until he became a Lesser E-Grade¡­ though it didn''t just end at that¡­ My eyes widened as I looked at him¡­ he was soon changing back to the human form in front of me. A normal average human guy, probably the age of 35 or something¡­ and the sooner he started deaging. From an adult man, he turned younger and younger, bing a teen, then a kid, a child and finally a baby before his body returned to the embryo stage. A bone chilling wind brushed past my body as I saw him slowly vanishing into thin air before a message appeared on my screen. [The threat has been removed from existence! The Universe is satisfied!] ''Huh?'' I thought as I looked at the whole scene with a stupefied face. What the heck just happened now? And also¡­ What about the killing reward?! ''Those were fucking¡­ fucking 1,500,000 Exp points!!!'' I almost shouted out as I just saw my ability getting on itsst timer¡­ but this isn''t how I am letting it go¡­ "Kill every fucking zombie here," Imanded¡­ most of the zombies here would be worth at least 1,00,000 Exp and there should be at least 400 zombies still remaining¡­ So¡­ My vines spread in the entire underground station at a rapid pace as they filled the entire area. I let go all of my energy as I absorbed the entire zombie horde within this station at once, except at once ce¡­ where the other S-Grade was supposed to be¡­ Though¡­ Now that I have gone in and done it¡­ I feel like I have overdone it [Level +1] [+5 Stat Points] [+5 Skill Points] [You have received a new skill!] [Level +1] [+5 Stat Points] [+5 Skill Points] [+You have received a new Skill!] [Side Quest: The Terror of the South City Station(Completed)!] Chapter 157 The S-Grade... The Elite S-Grade... The Strongest S-Grade [The Terror of the South City Station(Completed)!] [The NightCrawlers and the Nightwalkers have made their den in the deepest part of the station! Make sure to wipe them out before they multiply in their numbers. Total NightWalkers: 435 Total NightCrawlers: 234] [Reward: Dungeon Unlock(South City Station): 1 Golden Key to South City Dungeon] ''Well, I don''t know much about what this dungeon could offer,'' I thought before moving to the next thing [New Skill: Time Heal(Rare)] [Time Heal(Rare)] [Allows the user to heal anything with the ability to reverse time when certain conditions are met. Can heal the entire body even in critical condition as long as the person isn''t dead yet. Costs: 100 Time Points/Second] ''Shouldn''t this skill be given during the initial phase where I needed it? Now, it''s more or less useless,'' I thought as I knew, despite its certain features still being useful, it''s more or less not really usable for me right now. [New skill: Temporal Inversion!] [Temporal Inversion(Umon)!] [User can cause the flow of time to go in the opposite direction. Can work only on inanimate objects. Cost: 500TP/Second] ''Hmmmm¡­ okay, this has a certain application, all right,'' I thought as I observed the skill. Then I looked at my status for a few seconds with a wry smile, [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ; WorldWalker ss: Child of the Universe Level: 18 (42,284,631/50,000,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50% Health Points: 160000/160000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20(+200) Constitution: 20(+200) Dexterity: 20(+150) Intelligence: 18(+150) Wisdom: 20(+150) Charisma: 20(+150) Stat Points: 10] When I looked at the Exp required, a kind of stupid smile appeared on my face as I wondered if I would need 100,000,000 Exp to level up or something. Not only that, what baffled me even more was that, "It doesn''t seem too impossible¡­ had it been during the initial stages," I thought as I looked back at the time where it all started. Man, that was a really crazy phase. Shaking my head, I looked at Irene and the others, who were carefully observing the whole area with aplex yet mesmerized look on their faces. Moving towards them slowly, I reached them and spoke, "Let''s go." They snapped back as they looked at me with an even more mesmerized look. Their eyes were observing me with reverence and, a bit of annoyance, I asked,"What is it?" "Nothing." x 3 Those three idiots spoke simultaneously with a bit of a chuckle before I began walking, and they followed me. We walked through the night garden, which would have been considered one of the most beautiful ces in the entire world right now since the Apocalypse hit. ''I wonder if I can rebuild the underground station here?'' I thought as I realized that would be convenient and not too impossible. While I can use the nts'' ability to reconstruct the whole thing properly, if I can get an engineer who can set things up properly, maybe it is not exactly impossible. Walking through the underground tunnel soon, we reached the area where all the trains were. It was a ce where the trains were kept for maintenance and there should have been rails¡­ However, currently, it was stinking badly, with the entire area being shattered into pieces with the walls and roof having been destroyed badly. On the other side, there was arge core [Inspect!] [Heavy A-Grade Core!] [An erged A-Grade Core of an underground Titan Zombie who died in an explosion when the bombs were thrown. The Core was then brought back by other zombies to here and was used to increase the zombies'' powers!] I saw the description and aplex look appeared on my face as I focused on the ''Titan Zombie'' especially. Does that mean that the guy was humongous? That would make sense for that huge core¡­ "Wait!" I spoke as I stopped Irene from moving further. As soon as she saw the Core she wanted to run at that, but she failed to notice something¡­ something was sitting at the center, between us and the core. It was like a fish-man with green eyes. Because he was sitting in a position like that, with all that green goo, it was really hard to make him out. And the Core was probably masking his energy as well. I raised my steel rod that I have been using for a while and then shed down before [Time Rejection!] I cut down the zombie at his weakest point but there was no effect on him as I saw him slowly stand up and asked, "Can''t even let a man meditate, could you? Are you so eager to be eaten by me?" I observed him with a bit of an odd look as he cracked his neck where I had scratched him before he cracked his fingers as well and spoke, "So.. which one of you is the one responsible for all the change in energy?" There was no hesitation in his voice, neither I felt like he was afraid or something. My foresight showed me that he was still underestimating me but still there was something about him that I felt was odd¡­ something was very wrong with him¡­ but I cannot exactly pinpoint it. Moving a bit closer to him while all my abilities were still active, I spoke out, "It was me. I was the one who did it." Normally I would have engaged in a battle immediately, but something told me that there is more to him that my eyes could see. And I¡­ need to find out what exactly it is. [Inspect!] Chapter 158 King Charybdis Ingrate [Inspect!] [King Charybdis Ingrate (Elite S-Grade Zombie!)] [One of the 5 strongest Zombies on this. The Ruler of the Zombies of the Meria Country, the ones who control the entire zombie horde in this country and around. He has the power to take control of the entire Zombie forces around and has three general S-Grades under him. The Bloodborne, the Whitewash and the NightCreeper Zombie. Other than them, he also has control of many A-Grade zombies and around. King Charybdis Ingrate is one step away from the SS-Grade, the highest grade this can achieve on this with its current energy. Once he achieved that, he would be able to step out of the darkness and make his way to the outside world, showing his true might to everyone out there. Complete Zombification: 99% [Get 100% to get the final Evolution currently avable for this] Gift: Ruler of the Water and Darkness [Allows the user to manipte darkness and water freely to his wishes] Blessings: Sea Goddess of The Devil''s Blessing: All attacks and skills rted to water will have their power increased by 200% Blind Goddess of the Undead''s Blessing: All attacks have a 99% chance of hitting the target. Stats: Strength: 14501 Constitution: 23450 Dexterity: 99999 Intelligence: 99999 Wisdom: 24901 Charm: 13120 Skills(1029)] I looked at that description with a slightly surprised look. ''So SS-Grade is the highest in this world, huh?'' I thought it kind of felt¡­ unamused? I thought there would be monsters more powerful than that, but¡­ that''s kind of weak. "So you are the one, huh?" that guy spoke as he looked at me with a really curious expression as he spoke,"you clearly have no cessation energy¡­ though I still feel a sense of dangering from you. Interesting. I never thought that I would meet someone like that." I looked at that guy for a few moments before I questioned something that was really ingrained in my brain right now, "Is that you, Albedo?" For a few moments, his eyes widened a little before he spoke as he looked at me and asked,"How do you know that name?" George and the others were confused as well. Though his answers more or less cleared my confusion. Is it because of my race that I can feel things that normal people can''t? Who knows¡­ "So are you Albedo, or are you not?" I asked again as I walked one step closer to him and he kept analyzing me before he spoke, "That was¡­ my name before I turned into a Zombie." I just smiled at him before I asked,"How much do you remember?" and he looked at me and answered,"memories¡­ a little bit blurred, but memories." I nodded, as this was as much as I expected before continuing, "There was a guy who worked for my father. Albedo Klent. One of the trusted men of my father, who was both diligent and hardworking. Of course, just like every other normal person, he too had his own problems and situations, but overall, he was a nice guy. If I remember correctly, he used to live in a single apartment and he had no family whatsoever. You could have found out more about Albedo, but with all the destruction in all, everything is more or less gone now." I sighed as I looked at him. There is nothing simr to what he was and what he is now. "So what is the name of your father?" he asked as he looked at me and I shook my head as I spoke,"I cannot put my father into danger by making him meet a zombie like you, can I?" Hearing my words, his eyes turned wide for a few moments before he narrowed them on me and spoke,"looks like there has been a misunderstanding here." I tilted my head a little as I asked,"and what would that be?" -BOOM! [Time Rejection!] He hit me but missed. His chances of hitting me were 99% not 100%. And no matter how strong he was, unless he was going to hit me, he was not going to win against me. "I wasn''t asking," he spoke with slight anger before he moved to hit me again -BOOM!! [Time Rejection!] -BOOM!! -BOOOM!! -BOOM!!! [Time Rejection!] My eyes widened as his speed was increasing and [Gaia''s Call (Rare)(Copy)] [Allows the user to call out nearby nts to help the user. The nts can be used to heal the user, form a defensive barrier, or attack the enemy. The nts share the same health and defense as that of the user. When in a forest or surrounded by vegetation. The nt''s powers increases by +100% Duration: 5 mins || Cooldown: 2 hours ||Cost: 10,000 TP] I used the [Copy] version of [Gaia''s Call] and immediately the entire area turned into a greenery before I threw the other three out of the ce. As soon as they were out of the area, I closed the entrance with heavy wooden branches before -Boom!!! [Time Rejection!] He missed each of his skills before taking a step back as he looked at me with a bit of re. "So you can make people miss their attacks, huh?" He spoke as he wiped off the water from his forehead and then chuckled as he spoke,"[Clearance]" [Clearance!] [Allows the user to connect with the surrounding and be one with it. Cost: 15,000 Cessation per second] The entire area started melting, including my nts and walls, before everything was connected with him. I saw him disappearing within the ground as he looked at me with a creepy smile. I tried connecting with the nts, but the slimy goo that now covered the entire area blocked my connection with them. Using the foresight, I also saw that I was drowning in the melting goo just a few secondster. ''Since that isn''t working, then¡­'' [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Multidimensional Timeline)] [Allows the User to view multiple timelines at once] Chapter 159 Albedo Kent [King Charybdis Ingrate''s POV] ..... ..... 6 months ago I was born as a zombie. When I was born, I had no memories of my past life. You can even say that I was living simply relying on my instincts. I was simply walking left and right, trying to gather more energy to evolve. Slowly and slowly, I evolved into a stronger version of myself, fighting against foes that were both of my breed (zombies) and others (humans). Every day, I had to survive and kill, thrive against the other zombies and make sure that I didn''t end up falling. As time passed, I got bits of my memories back and my thinking ability cleared. I think it was one month ago that I recalled my name. Albedo Klent. Though that was all I could do at that time. This name alone gave me anxiety, so much that I could even kill myself. So I searched and searched wherever I could, but unfortunately, I still couldn''t find a single thing at all. Over thest month, slowly and slowly as I got stronger, my memories became clearer. I saw that with every new power; I was able to unlock a certain memory of my past. Though, I still can''t figure out who exactly I was and what was my past life. Did I live a lonely life? Was I alone all the time? Did I have a family? Who were they? Where were they? Was I happy? Was I sad? How many times I have asked those questions only to not getting any answers at all? So the only thought in my mind was, "I must get stronger. That is the only way." And I entered into seclusion. To get stronger. I found Cores of weaker zombies and stronger zombies. I epted the darkness, killed many humans and zombies. Received blessings of the night and the ability to control water and much more. But even after that, I was not able to recover myplete memories at all. But just a few days ago, I felt¡­ if I can break through one more time, If I utilise all my time and get stronger one more time, I will find all the answers I ever needed. But before that can happen¡­ He arrived. This¡­ monster¡­ -BOOM! -BOOM! -BOOM! How many times I have punched him and still missed? How can he ALWAYS find a gap between my attacks? No matter how many skills I have used, no matter how many powers I have used, I still can''t figure out a way to make a sure-fire hit on him. ''No! I already have made it sure that he gets hit¡­ but he still finds an opening, or many times creates an opening and then hit me back,'' It was irritating. "Are we going to fight this epic battle until the end of the world?" I asked with irritation in my voice and he pondered about it for a few moments before speaking,"well you can always surrender." ''This bastard,'' I sighed, before preparing a bit more. Attacking a bit more. Because of my near inexhaustible energy, I don''t think I will lose this fight. So I guess all I need to do is drag this fight long enough so that he may exhaust his energy. From that point onwards, I saw him fighting left and right, up and down, as he jumped all over the ce and attacked me with those weak attacks of his. I only waited for the time to be over and after maybe a few hours have passed, he started speaking, "You know¡­ I think this is getting nowhere." ''What is he trying now?'' was the first thought that entered my mind as I looked at him. "So I have decided to kill you. I kinda wanted to sell you, but I don''t think it is really feasible for me now," He spoke with a very regretful tone and I just gawked at him. Does that mean he was not taking me seriously up until now? ring at him, I increased my speed a bit more and ran around a bit faster than usual. Though it didn''t honestly change anything except¡­ His stance¡­ even though he was jumping around like usual, his upper body now was more like fixed into a position. He was just moving his legs to dodge and everything but his upper body was frozen. Then he began moving his sword slowly and slowly up¡­ it was so slow that I couldn''t even be bothered by it. It seemed as if it was slower than a snail''s movements onnd. I kept observing him while trying to hit him from all the directions, but he kept going on as he raised his arms slowly up and up before getting them down and down. "What exactly are you trying here?" I asked him. It wasn''t the first time I had asked him that, but still he didn''t speak a word. After what seemed a never ending time, his sword reached the lowest position and¡­ Huh? What happened?! What is going on? I don''t know what happened, but my body was shed into hundreds of pieces¡­ that''s what I felt like. Normally, I would have joined back immediately given my bodyposition n all, but for some reason I couldn''t do it. "You should die in about¡­ 3 minutes," he spoke as he looked at me. I could sense him, hear him moving closer to me. ''Is this how I die? Without knowing anything about myself?'' It was painful¡­ why does it have to happen to me? "Since you probably won''t be causing any trouble anymore, I guess I can tell you a few things about you. It''s not much, but Albedo was a good guy. A happy person who loved kids and was ready to help people every once in a while¡­" and then he began telling me everything about me from the start to the end. Not knowing anything about Albedo, my ass, it''s as if he had done research on me. Since I could detect lies, I knew he was telling the truth from the beginning to the end. He told me many things as he kept describing my stupid activities, about my family who were living abroad and how they loved me and my kids and stuff. He told me everything. All the answers that I ever wanted, he gave me. All the questions that had been eating me alive were finally being answered. I had some wishes like I wanted to meet my family and stuff, but that was a bit of a pipe dream, honestly. Though, I still wish for their safety. "If I meet your family, I will protect them. I am not doing it for you, though. Just something I would have done anyway," he spoke with a bit of a smirk. ''This¡­ stupid being¡­ I wish I knew his name¡­ Should have asked him before fighting¡­'' I thought as my thoughts began to vanish. I was finally losing my senses¡­ but it was fine. I have achieved happiness. I have fulfilled my dream. It''s not the way I thought it was, but¡­ I am satisfied. Young man¡­ you have my blessing. May you seed in your quest to achieve what you want¡­ Thank you. Chapter 160 Armes De Regalia [Michael Aroa''s POV] ...¡­.. ...¡­.. I looked at the System notification as I observed the guy finally evaporating into nothingness [You have been blessed by the Charybdis Ingrate!] [Blessing of the Charybdis: You have gained the ability to see or hear things that are otherwise not possible] "What the heck?" I spoke out loud as I saw the message. I was fucking killing that guy and here he was blessing me? Did he hit his head or something? ''Man! That''s weird,'' I thought as I looked at it before another string of information flew in front of me. [Clear the Underground tunnel of the South City Station(Completed)!] [Description: After the copse of the ck Water City, most of the underground zombies have been trapped within the underground tunnels and have turned into Elite Zombies, another end pathway of evolution for the zombies. Kill all the zombies present there. Total Zombies: 0! Elite C-Grade: 0 Elite Lesser B-Grade: 0 Elite B-Grade: 0 Elite Lesser A-Grade: 0 Elite A-Grade: 0 Elite S-Grade: 0] [Rewards: +25 Skill Points; +25 Stat Points: Random Skill Level Up] [Skill: [Time Flow] has been leveled up!] ''Ah! I should get rid of that Skill. It''s pretty much useless to me now,'' I thought as I realized that I had just wasted the random skill level up reward. Well¡­ whatever¡­ [The Ruler of the ck Water City(Completed)!] [The S-Grade Zombie Voltaire is taking its path to the Ascension to another level. Make sure to kill him before it''ste] [Reward: Breath of the Night(Self Enchantment)] ''Hmmm Voltaire? Wasn''t his name Charybdis? Did I miss something?'' I questioned. I looked at the name, wondering what was going on here. ''When will I get attacked?'' [51 Years: 10 Months: 14 Days] There were a few more notifications out there as well [You have killed a peak Elite S-Grade Zombie!] [+ 3,500,000 Exp!] But they didn''t really add to anything, so I just skipped them. Then my eyes looked at the Core in front of me -BOOOM!!!! I looked back at the entrance. It was previously blocked by my nts, now broken by Walter as the three entered here. George, Irene and Walter. "Sir Michael, are you okay?" George asked as he ran towards me. Then halted his steps. His eyes looked at me and then at the room around, widening as they tried toprehend what happened here. "It''s fine," I thought as I decided something and then moved towards the Core one step at a time. "Sir Michael?" Walter asked with a bit ofplexity and I just kept walking towards the Core. There was something that I wanted to check. Especially after that Green Core in theboratory. "Wait for me for a moment," I spoke as I touched the Core and¡­ [A strange energy wants to invade your consciousness and connect with it. Would you like to ept its connections?] [Yes/No!] ''Just like I thought,'' I looked at the screen before selecting the [yes] option. Just likest time, the whole scenery changed. My eyes opened up to find a red-coloured desert with mountains of red in the distance. The sky was blue and cold wind brushed past my face as I looked around to find something¡­ [Find me! I beg you! Please find me!] A message came in front of my screen. Unlike my green coloured screen, it was reddish. "I guess it''s from the person whose Core it is," I thought as I looked at the screen. So¡­ [Eyes of the TimeKeeper(Multidimensional Timeline)] I used this ability to check the path from here. Normally it would have just shown my next few seconds'' movements and nothing more, but whenbined with "If I walk there, will I reach the voice?" A time appeared in almost all the timelines. Some were way too high while others showed infinity¡­ and among them, there was a specific one that I wanted to see [17 days: 14 hours: 12 minutes] Looking at that being the least one among here, I activated my ability [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] And began running towards the location where that guy was supposed to be. Where the message wanted me to reach. While I was running, I came across many mountains. Many deserts. Unsurprisingly, I didn''te across even a single tree. It was as if trees didn''t even exist here. I tried looking for anything in particr, but honestly, I still couldn''t find anything at all. And after traveling for 17 and a half days continuously, I finally reached the ce where I needed to be. A humongous pyramid was present in front of me. Walking closer to it, I tried searching for the entrance. It was on the other side. Moving around the Pyramid, when I reached the entrance, which was kind of¡­ advanced? At leastpared to the rest of the world. Another message appeared in front of me on the same red coloured screen. [The Pyramid of Voltaire! The legacy holder of the General Artemis!] [Checking for the vhallenger''s ID] [ID matched: The Void Clearer!] [Please proceed into the Dungeon to start the challenge!] "Eh? Void Clearer?" I thought as I observed the name. It was getting a bit more freaky for no reason¡­ well¡­ I hope it''s nothing too out of hand. Slowly, I moved into the dungeon as I walked through the entrance, then followed in a tunnel before a wide room came in front of me. My eyes widened as I looked at things that were going on inside that room. Though it was a really wide room, there was little spacepared to that. Almost 70% of the room was filled with strange things flying around. Mostly made of stone, there were golems, stone animals, stone beings, flying in a circle in a rhythmic manner as they levitated up and down. There was a small arena at the center of the room where a grayish red humanoid wolf was standing with his eyes closed. A spear in the hand, half naked from above but wearing an Egyptian sort of headgear. As soon as I stepped into the ring, his eyes slowly opened up and a red screen came in front of me. [Will you challenge the Gate Keeper of the Red Night Castle, Armes De Regalia?] [Difficulty: SSS-Grade] [Yes/No] ''Since most of the difficulty is based on my base stats, I guess it''s fine,'' I thought as I pressed [Yes] before moving inside the arena. [Inspect!] [Armes De Regalia] [Born to protect his King and his castle, he has given all his life to hone his defenses. His excellent spearmanship is on par with the strongest spearmen of this Universe. His eyes can pierce the truth and see through your heart to find out what exactly you are trying to do!] ''That''s all? Hmmm¡­. I guess it must be a high-ss dungeon or something?'' I thought as I moved inside the ring, closer to him. "It has been a while since another challenger entered this ce¡­ what is your name?" that guy asked as he looked at me with his dark red eyes. "Michael Aroa," I smiled as I looked at him before he chuckled as he spoke,"Funny name. I guess you came from another world?" "Something like that," I spoke as he observed me and he looked at me with warm eyes as he spoke, "You are a kind soul, aren''t you?" A bit confused, I looked at him and he spoke again, "I can just see through the hearts of the people. Don''t think much about it. Well, I don''t mind losing to someone as kind as you. But you have to earn that." Understanding what he meant, I nodded before he spoke, "But you are too weak¡­ Are you sure you want to challenge me? I don''t mind letting you go back, you know? Get strong ande again." His eyes looked at me with a bit of pity and I smiled as I spoke,"It''s all right. I am stronger than most people think. I might even surprise you," and hearing my words, he narrowed his eyes at me before he chuckled out loud and spoke, "Is that so? Fair enough. I want to see where that confidencees from." Then I saw him taking a stance, and I smiled before taking out the steel rod out of the [Time Storage] and his eyes widened as he spoke out loud, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Don''t tell me you are going to fight with that?!" His eyes were really confused, and aplex expression appeared on his face as he observed me. "I don''t know if you are really poor to buy even a sword, or just a fool who is too confident in his skills," he sighed before he pressed his forehead with his hand, as if he was having a headache. Then, with his other hand, he clicked his fingers as a couple of swords came out of nowhere and then he spoke. "At least take one from them. I wouldn''t like it at all if my opponent couldn''t even disy his full potential¡­ seems unfair." I just chuckled as I didn''t deny his offer and picked one of the weapons from his arsenal. [The Healer''s Sword(Rare)!] [Created by one of the best craftsmen of this world, it was a sword given to the Battle Healer. One of the Generals of the Kurdish Army. The battle healer then enchanted the sword with his own magic, making it more powerful than ever. Effects: +200% Regenerations +50 Intelligence +25 Agility +100 Wisdom Skill: Sword Heal: For every second the user is in battle, he gains +1000 HP regenerated Attack: 500 Durability:5000/5000] "Now you look good. Shall we fight now?" He smiled as he looked at me, and I nodded before preparing my weapon as well. Chapter 161 Training Where I Should Fight A Battle 5 MINUTES LATER¡­ "Monster!" Arma spoke as he looked at me with his eyes widened. I scratched the back of my head with my hand and smiled at him. "I told you, I am stronger than I seem," I told him before moving towards him again, preparing for another sh. [Time Rejection!] Once again, he took the attack without caring to dodge it. He was rather focused on defense and healing than dodging at this point. -sh! -Pierce! -Pierce! -sh! -sh! . . . He kept using his spear to attack me from all the sides and everytime he did that [Time Rejection!] ? I simply rejected the attacks as if they didn''t even ur. However, it wasn''t getting any results whatsoever. We were more or less at a stalemate. After another 2 minutes of useless exchange, he kinda stepped back and just looked at me with a slightly annoyed gaze,"seriously, I have never met anyone as annoying as you. Don''t take it personally, but this situation¡­ it''s irking me." "It''s okay. Take your time," I spoke with a kind smile and he shook his head with a slight chuckle as he mumbled, "It would have been better if you had the capability to kill me, but you¡­ howe you have no skills at all? All you have is a single sh. That''s all. Plus, I can''t really hold back either." ''Well, I can kill him if I use ''that'' sh, but honestly, I don''t want to kill him. Especially after he has been so frank with me with everything. We would have been good friends if not for the situation,'' I thought as I looked through the System, trying to figure out a way on my own. "What should we do now, Michael? I don''t sense any change in your body, so it seems like you, too, can continue forever. What should we do? Fight for forever?" He asked, as he couldn''t figure out what to do either. "Hmmm, can you teach me how to use a spear? Not like we are running out of time either¡­ maybe, I can defeat you that way?" I asked with slight curiosity. He observed me with a sudden nk face before he startedughing out loud¡­ ''How much time in the outside world will pass, if I spend a year here?'' I asked, just out of curiosity and [12 Seconds] Was the answer. Might as well utilize the time here. After all, we are talking about one of the 5 greatest spearman here. "Not a bad idea¡­ but are you up for it?" he asked after gaining back hisposure and I pondered a little before nodding at him. It was totally fine. I can handle that. "Well, let''s check it then. First change your stance into," he then immediately began walking towards me and started helping me with all the movements and stuff. Compared to the swordsmanship stance, which was a bnce of defense and offense, the spearman ship was more on the offensive side. That''s what I conferred with, the way I was positioned right now. "It was more suited for races with more leg strength, so I kind of am surprised a human like you can maintain this position," he said as he observed me and I smiled at him. Well. Technically, I am not a human anymore. Then he positioned a wooden spear in my hand. "Now then, try to pierce this dot," he spoke as he created a dot in the air. And I moved my spear extremely slowly as I reached the point where he created that dot. Before bringing my spear back. Once done, I broke down on the ground as I asked,"How long did that take?" I was all sweaty and everything and he was just looking at me with a bright smile,"I was surprised that you didn''t break the stance, not even once. It did take over 3 weeks to finish that but-" "3 Weeks?!" I questioned as I gawked at him and he chuckled as he spoke,"so you didn''t even notice how much time has passed, huh? Now that would be interesting." He then hurriedly forced me to stand up, take up the wooden spear again, and repeat the same steps all over again. I did that, once again it took me 3 weeks¡­ and once again¡­ I repeated¡­ Time passed quite fast from that point onwards as I tried my best to not make any mistakes and every once in a while, Arma told me about himself and his life. I, too, shared bits of my life with him while I did the practice. Since 1 month here was merely a second outside, I wasn''t exactly worried about anything beingte or something. All the more because, even if I stayed a day outside, George and the others were there to protect me. As time passed, or even years did¡­ I was finally able to make the first hit within a second or less. The time it took to learn this much was¡­ damn¡­ 30 weeks and one day. ''At least it didn''t take more than a year,'' I sighed on the inside as I looked at him and said,"Let''s move to the next move." Heughed out loud once again as he nodded before helping me with another sh which was exactly simr to thest one except about 1 cm away from the original point. Since everything was simr, it only took me 4 weeks to perfect that as well, as well as improving from another point as well. Soon, we shifted to learn more and more moves, things got smoother and everything starteding naturally to me. The timing, the points, everything matched quite well. For the next few months, I learned all the basic moves before moving to a bit moreplex stuff. While I was doing the shes without any movements, I started moving along with shes, and with every sh, I also learnt how to use my own breath into the shes. There is a reason why we breathe the way we do, and Arma told me ways to bypass that as well. ording to him, I was learning everything too fast. And what I was more amazed about was that, rather than getting jealous or anything, he was really proud of me. And just like that, time had passed before I realized anything¡­ Chapter 162 Michael V/S Armes [Arma De Regalia''s POV] I have seen hundreds of spearman in my life, taught more than a dozen of them myself. By no means they were weak or even average. Some of them even achieved heights that most people could only dream of. When I was born, I was blessed by the universe as someone who is loved by the spears. It wasn''t hard for me to grasp the intrications of the spear or even learn and master it. You can say the spears told me their secrets and arts that one could never imagine. ''It would be impossible for anyone to reach my level,'' is what I used to think before I started teaching this guy. Michael Aroa, is it? Monster¡­ no. That would be an understatement. He is beyond that. His ways of learning and performing¡­ the sheer focus and will power he puts in each of his attacks. The ability to ept things naturally. What would have taken a year for another person took mere weeks for him to achieve. I do not know where he came from¡­ neither do I know about his origins. From what he told me, this was the first time he had held a spear in his hands. The sh that I taught him was the first sh. Thebos I taught him were the firstbos. And the most scary thing about all this was that¡­ It was true. I sensed no liesing from his mouth. I had to double check it every time, yet I couldn''t find anything at all. How long did it take me to master to the level he was right now? About a decade? No, it was a bit more than that. And him¡­ did he take even half the time? No¡­ I think not. And he was still going¡­ he was still making sure to achieve everything. ''Don''t you feel tired?'' I wanted to question him. I was getting scared looking at him still going on. What exactly are you working so hard for? I am pretty sure, with this much, no one in your life would be able to trouble you¡­ at least in your world. "I want to¡­ protect everyone I care about. I know the limits I have¡­ And it''s not like I will get any more chances to break through that¡­ This is a one in a billion chance that I have attained¡­ why should I let it go?" he spoke as he read my thoughts as he observed me. ''Such tenacity,'' I thought as I looked at him. Is he a human at this point? Well¡­ whatever¡­ There was something even more important than this¡­ what will he do next? Will he be able to fight against someone who he has bonded with? Well, as far as fighting goes, I think he can handle that, but what next? ''Will he be able to kill his teacher and move to the next challenge?'' I thought as I looked at him, trying his best to perfect the techniques that I taught him. I observed him for a few moments before wondering¡­ How did I get here again? Yeah¡­ I was here to guard this ce. How ironic it would be if the one who was supposed to be guarding the ce is responsible for the intrusion¡­ but it''s fine.. As far as it''s someone as pure as him¡­ it''s fine. Well, at least my duty will be finally over. My eyes then shifted inside, deeper into the pyramid. My daughter, Enkonomiya, is inside there waiting for a challenger to proceed from here after killing me. The King made sure she was after me. It was her punishment to wait for someone to approach her after killing me. She is strong¡­ an extremely powerful elementalist. If only she could have agreed to marry the King''s son¡­ well, not like I don''t understand her as well. She had her reason, too. Once killing me, Michael might need to fight her as well. And as a father, I can''t let anyone harm my daughter as well¡­ so I need to make sure that I give my all as well. "I am more or less done." Michael spoke as he swiftly rotated the spear around and smiled at me. I too observed him with a bright smile as I spoke,"looks like the training has approached an end. So, are you ready to fight me? To try to defeat me with the skills that I, Armes De Regalia, have taught you himself?" He chuckled as he spoke,"sure." I saw him taking a stance as he spoke,"I will be using my original skills as well, so be prepared in advance," and I nodded. While I wanted to fight him using only the spearmanship, I guess I understand him wanting to use those strange tricks of his. And then -BOOM! He jumped at me with a rapid speed as he reached me in an instant and swiftly dodging him -sh! "Huh?" I looked at my hand cut around as he smiled as he made another sh. -nk! I used my spear to parry his but -sh! Another sh appeared on my chest as I just looked at him¡­ finally I recalled that strange ability of his. ''This is¡­ so that ability¡­?'' My eyes widened in realization as I saw that I just created a monster¡­ no, I created an abomination. My heartbeat rose as I finally realized what I had done. Before I thought that, he used a weak attack that could reach me anytime, from anywhere. A perfect attack that could reach anywhere, and just like any powerful skill, it has a limit that it''s too weak. Against people that don''t have healing skills, it would be a nightmare, but against me it shouldn''t be a problem. ''But if that skill¡­ allows him to make all his attacks reach at 100%... doesn''t that mean¡­.'' I thought as I just gawked at what I had done. -sh! -sh! -sh! . . . All my shes missed¡­ Not even one reached him¡­ and then he attacked me with a certain move. A hundred spearsing at me¡­ I saw the gaps between them. Normally I could easily dodge it, but here¡­ I saw his hundred shes and just closed my eyes¡­ I guess I was too naive for my own good¡­ All I can hope is that he uses this for something good¡­ and stays the way he is¡­ Though, even after a few seconds, I didn''t feel even a single sh at me. Huh? What happened? Opening my eyes, I saw him standing in front of me with a bright smile as he spoke,"you clearly underestimated me again, didn''t you?" Looking at him, I said,"what are you¡­" "Now to find a way to save you as well," he spoke with a bright smile as he looked at me and I got even more confused as I spoke,"you can''t save me. The only way to continue forward is to kill me and move forward." At my words, he just smiled a little before he start looking at the space in front of him and spoke, "Okay¡­ let''s do it.." And then¡­ What even the King of this world failed to do¡­ urred¡­ The threads of Fate began unwinding at my very front in the palms of this guy¡­ Michael Aroa¡­ and all I could ask was¡­ "Who¡­ are you?" Chapter 163 Aether [Michael Aroa''s Pov] ¡­.. ¡­.. "You clearly underestimated me again, didn''t you?" I spoke as I chuckled on the inside as I kind of understood what was going on in his mind. "What are you¡­" he was about to speak about what exactly am I trying to do and why am I not killing him yet. "Now to find a way to save you as well," I spoke as I looked through my System as I found something that could possibly get us out of the situation without having to kill anyone at all. "You can''t save me. The only way to continue forward is to kill me and move ahead," he spoke with a regretful expression, but all I did was smile at him. I would rather do it than talk about it. Now this skill.. [The Defier(Unique)] [Allows the user to reject or defy anything in existence. As long as the user is in contact with the person/thing/being, he or she can defy it. Not limited to death and life, but the more the strings of fates and destiny are entangled, the heavier the impact will be on the user Cooldown: Depends upon the usage of the Skill] "Okay¡­ let''s do it¡­" I spoke as I used the skill [The Defier!] And then¡­ a certain energy ball started forming in the palm of my hands. They seem like threads of various colors. Some connected to me, while others to that guy. There were many more threads flowing out of the ball of energy in my palm. Soon the thread started spreading more and more. I didn''t know what was going on, but soon¡­ the scene started changing. It was the same room where we were, but it felt like we were going back in time. I don''t know how many years passed, but it felt like we went centuries back in time. And when we reached a time where we were supposed to be, we, both me and Armes, saw a mechanical room. "Grandfather!" spoke Armes with his eyes widened as he looked at that guy at a distance talking with someone. Features simr to Armes, but there was little difference in the way his hair was bound. Plus, there were a few strange golden tattoos on his body as well. "Grandfath-" Before Armes could jump, he shut up as he saw something he didn''t expect to see. The guy who was talking with Armes'' grandfather. A young human-like guy, except with a blue feather like pattern on his cheeks and ears longer than 4 inches. He had 6 fingers instead of 5 and his eyes were a bit more golden than normal. Those two people looked in our direction as they heard our voices, and with a bit of a shocked expression, they observed us. I looked at Armes and spoke,"Let''s go," before moving towards the two people. Those two also began walking towards us one step at a time. "Who are you-" Arme''s Grandfather spoke up, but the other guy just stopped him as he looked at both of us, "You both don''t belong to this timeline, do you?" Hearing his words, not only me, but Armes and his grandfather were shocked beyond belief. Armes finally understands a bit, looks at me with aplicated expression. As for me, I was just shocked to look at that guy, that guy, observing me with a bit of keen interest. "Such power¡­ such potential¡­" he said as he observed me and I tried using [Inspect!] on him, but it didn''t work. "Haha. A Skill that low in level won''t work on me," he spoke as heughed out loud before he smiled and asked, "So. What is your purpose here?" I looked at him for a few moments and asked,"who are you?" and he shook his head as he spoke,"if you don''t know then you probably shouldn''t know. If fate wills, you will know it on your own." I looked at him and sighed, as I kind of felt like this is how it should be. I don''t know how or why, but okay, it''s fine, I guess. "Who are they?" another person came in from behind as he observed us without a second''s care. He looked at all four of us, before he spoke,"Are they your friends, Elimmer?" Elimmer, the one who with the long ears red at the new, human like person, before he sighed as he answered, "Aether. Can''t you not interfere once with us? You know, it''s hard to maintain all the things you mess up." Aether, an extremely handsome, human-like person, chuckled as he ate an apple and spoke,"haven''t I already solved all the previous problems you guys had?" "Yeah but¡­" Elimmer had no words for him as Aether continued,"so two people from the future, huh? And an Ethereal at that. Hmmm¡­ you were human before, weren''t you?" My heart skipped a beat as I looked at him, but he just waved his hands as he spoke,"Don''t worry. It''s all right. Though be careful a little, the Gods won''t exactly appreciate your existence¡­" "Aether!!" Elimmer shouted as he really red at Aether and spoke,"Please. Don''t. Speak." Aether then shut up before he looked at me and continued taking another bite from the apple as he peeked at Armes, before he turned back to Elimmer and Armes'' grandfather and chuckled as he spoke, "You guys are interesting. Well,e with me." Without even knowing what happened, both of us started following Aether and soon we reached a panel of sorts with a really strangenguage on a circr screen. "What''s your name, kid?" asked Aether as he looked at me and I observed him for a few moments before speaking,"Michael¡­ Aroa." "Nice name," he spoke as he began making changes to the whole machine and not even after a few seconds, he spoke,"that does that. Now he will be free from the boundation when you go back." "How?!" I asked as I was totally confused how he figured out why we were here and what exactly we were doing. Who was he?... and Why? We don''t even know each other. "Because you guys were interesting, I guess?" He spoke as he looked at Elimmer, who was ring at him. -Whoosh! -Whooosh! -Whoosh! Soon enough, more and more people entered. Each with different shapes and looks. Some with four arms, others with six eyes, some octopus-like, others with the face of the bird. "The Gods are here, huh? What do you guys want from here, now?" Aether spoke as he looked at them and walked past me and peeked at them with unamused eyes. "Aether," one of them spoke as he looked at him before observing,"this Ethereal is mine. Don''t interfere, or else¡­" I gulped as I heard what they were talking about¡­ Even though I couldn''t see the energy, I could still feel it¡­ they were beyond what I have seen or felt in my life. Even Kira looked like an ant in front of each of them. "You guys should return," Aether said, ignoring them and looking at me,"next time you do something like that. Make sure that you are strong enough to take out a God or two. Consider yourself lucky that you have me here. Good luck on your journey, though." I just looked at him as my System automatically activated and a timer of 10 seconds appeared in front of me. "Will you be okay?" I asked with a bit of worry,"they look strong." He just smiled at me and answered,"it''s okay. Thest time I fought with the Higher Gods. I ended up destroying an entire of them. A bunch of them are thest thing that you should be worried about." And then¡­ I vanished from there¡­ in stupefaction¡­ in amazement¡­ and in terror. Chapter 164 Where Thou Gods Lie The scene returned back to where I was and once again, I was back at the same ce where I was just a few moments ago. Standing with my hand in my front, where previously that thread ball of energy was. Now there was nothing. "How did you do it?" Armes asked as he observed with shocked eyes that had thousands of questions. He looked at his body for a few moments before more confusion entered his eyes. [The Defier(Unique)] [Allows the user to reject or defy anything in existence. As long as the user is in contact with the person/thing/being, he or she can defy it. Not limited to death and life, but the more the strings of fates and destiny are entangled, the heavier the impact will be on the user Cooldown: 8 Months: 14 Days: 20 Hours] ''Just how much back did we go¡­ and who were they¡­ and who was he¡­ Aether?'' I thought as I myself couldn''t find an answer to it. Turning at Armes, I asked, "Do you know who Aether is?" Though he just looked at me and asked back,"Aether? Who? No, I don''t know." "I mean the guy who changed the System codes or whatever they were," I asked again and he was even more confused than before as he asked,"what codes? What are you talking about?" ''Huh?!'' my eyes widened as a sudden realization struck my brain and I confirmed,"can you tell me what happened in the past 20 minutes?" He nodded before speaking,"I don''t know why you are asking, but¡­ we fought and you almost killed me. But then you spoke something about saving me and then the next thing that I found was that my body was free from the restrictions of this ce¡­ So, can you tell me what in the Nyx''s name is going on here?" ''Ah! So he doesn''t remember,'' I thought as I spoke,"forget it. It''s too hard to exin, anyway." I then shook my head as I cleared all my thoughts. The only thing that I need to remember is that I am still nothing but an ant in front of the really powerful ones. I need to work harder¡­ get stronger. What did that guy say¡­ yeah¡­ ''I should at least be capable of killing a God or two,'' I chuckled as I realized what I was just thinking. That guy made it look too easy. "Come now. What are you waiting for?" I spoke as I looked at the stupefied Armes who snapped out of his stupor and started shouting,"Hey, Wait! Stop! Answer me! Don''t leave me hanging. What did you do?" Ignoring him, I kept walking deeper into the pyramid, into another room of sorts. This room was totally different from the previous one. If the previous one was filled with mechanical instruments and figures, this was a blooming garden of as many colorful flowers as you can think of. And at the center of the garden, there was a treerge enough to reach the height of a 3 storey building. With Armes behind me, I moved closer to the tree before someone came in my view. It was a girl with pinkish hair. She was wearing a red-coloured shrine robe and sitting in a calm, meditating position. The sakura-like leaves were levitating around her slowly and slowly. "I see¡­ so someone has finally seeded," she spoke as she opened her heterochromatic eyes. One purplish pink just like her hair, while the other one deep blue. I could only look at them, as they were really mesmerizing, to say the least. She slowly stood up as a sword formed in her hand. It was more like a katana, but with the edges a bit broader. She slowly began walking towards me but soon as her eyes fell on Armes¡­ "Father?" she spoke in confusion. "..." I looked at Armes for a second before looking at her again and then Armes,"I didn''t take you for a kidnapper!" "I am not!!" he shouted as he red at me in annoyance,"She takes after her mother." "Her mother was a human?" I asked curiously, and he shook his head as he answered,"Normalis would be the appropriate word. Although Normalis look like humans, in essence there is a lot of difference between them." ''Okay, so she is a human-like person,'' I concluded before observing her running at a rapid speed as she jumped at Armes and spoke,"Father! What happened? I thought¡­ I thought¡­" And there started a bit of exnation of why this happened and that happened. Though it was all summed up in one sentence in the end "He did something and broke the restrictions." Which brought all the attention back to me. Though I didn''t have any intentions to exin anything to anyone. It''s not like I did not want to, but more like if I started exining there will be more questions and then we wille to a point where even I don''t know the answers to it. So I would rather just skip it altogether. "I have my secrets," I spoke with a calm face as I looked at them. Armes observed me with a slightly narrowed look before he sighed and spoke,"Well¡­ forcing you won''t get us anywhere." Good decision. As for the daughter, Enkonomiya, was her name, she looked at me with keen eyes before she moved forward and looked at me, analyzed me. And once she was done with that, she questioned, "Howe I sense no energying from you? No Elemental Energy, no Spiritual Energy, no Zombification Energy, nothing. Even nt Energy¡­ it''s not present on you. Do you have a form of energy that doesn''t belong to this realm?" Her hands tightly held the hands of Armes while her eyes observed me with a keen expression and even Armes observed me with the same look. I smiled at them and nodded before calmingly looking at them and speaking. "I have my secrets." Chapter 165 Spirits Of Voltaire Enkonomiya looked at me with a keen expression before she spoke,"Well. I guess there is little we can do about it," before she released her father''s hand, moved a few steps forwards and bowed in front of me as she spoke, "Thank you, Mister Michael. For making this miraclee true. If there is anything we can do for you, please speak without any hesitation." "Is that so? Then can you let me pass from here?" scratching the back of my head, I spoke as I looked at her and a slight apologetic smile appeared on her face as she spoke, "If I could do that, I would have done- huh? What?!" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at a red coloured screen in front of all of us. It had anguage that I did not understand, though looking at the shocked expression of Enkonomiya, my eyes turned curious before she looked at me with shaking eyes as she spoke, "Are you the one responsible for this as well?" ''For what?'' Is what I wanted to ask but before I could even say a word,"To free me from all the responsibilities¡­ just who are you?" And hearing her words, Armes looked at me as if I were a God before he observed my confused expression and exined, "While helping me was a miracle in itself, when it came to Miya, she was not just bound to this ce, but also had be a part of it. To separate her from the entire system without disturbing everything is equivalent to removing a needle from the center of the haystack without disturbing any of the hay." Hearing them, I realized just the level of things that had urred. But it wasn''t me who did this¡­ that guy¡­ Just who is he¡­ and how much is he capable of? "Thank you, Michael. I don''t know what is your motive or what your purpose is, but if you need us for anything, you can call for our help anytime you want," spoke Armes as he looked at me with bright eyes. "Umm¡­ okay¡­ All right, I guess. So¡­ what next?" I asked, as I didn''t even know what exactly happened. All things just kept going on their own and before I realized I had gained another two people who were ready to help me. "You need to go to the center-most room and fight against King Voltaire''s lost spirit. We can''t help you with this so for this, you are on your own," spoke Enkonomiya while Armes added, "You will need more than the spear art to defeat him, but if you can just use that special ability of yours for quite some time, I guess you should be able to do some damage to him. You don''t have to win, anyway." "Eh? Why don''t I have to win?" I asked with a surprised look and he answered,"well. Since he is a spirit, they don''t belong to this world. All you need to do is do a bit of damage to him, and his connection to this world will break, making him return to the Spirit Realm." Hearing their words, I pondered a little before I nodded at them. "Thank you for this information," I thanked them sincerely, making Enkonomiya widen her eyes at me before I passed them slowly towards the center of the room. The reason why I was in this ce was to begin with. ''How much time has passed in the outside world?'' [45 Seconds] Smiling at that, I slowly moved into the next room, leaving the father and daughter duo behind on their own. Oh! I forgot to ask what they were going to do next¡­. Well¡­ let''s do that if I ever meet them again. Soon reaching the next room, I found myself in arge empty throne room with a single throne at a distance from me. At the throne, there was a manpletely covered in armor from top to bottom, sitting on the throne as his red eyes shined through the gaps between his helmet. -sh! [Time Rejection!] I walked one step at a time; I felt a couple of attacksing from left and right. So there were more people around in this room? I could feel them, but I couldn''t see. ''Well¡­ not like it matters,'' I thought before taking off my spear and -sh shing the air before [Time Rejection!] "Chiaaa!" one of them shouted before -Thud! It fell on the ground as it screamed like hell before vanishing into thin air as its body turned into dust. It was like a ck mass of energy taking the form of a human. -sh! -sh! -sh! A barrage of attacks came to me and I simply used my [Time Rejection] ability to cancel it before using it again to kill those pesky little guys. One by one, I killed all of them, realizing there were 34 of those things lurking around. After 34th, even though I made a few shes, I didn''t hear any more screams. By the time I had killed all 34 of them, I had already reached closer to the spirit of King Voltaire sitting in front of me. [1st Spirit of the King Voltaire(SS-Grade)] [One of the lingering desires of the King Voltaire, hope, took the shape of a guardian that protects the throne even at the cost of his life. Once upon a time, when Voltaire was throned as the King of Nexus, he was given the duty to protect his kind from the alien races. Even though an impossible task, Voltaire vowed to protect the throne, his country, his family, this castle, this entire world, even if it costs his life. He had a hope that even if he dies, at least his spirit will be there to protect them. This Spirit is the manifestation of that Hope Stats* Skill*] [Do you want to challenge the 1st Spirit of the King Voltaire(SS-Grade)?] [Yes/No?] ''So there are more of his spirits, huh? Looks like it is going to take longer than I imagined,'' I thought as I pressed, [Yes] -sh! As soon as I pressed that button, I saw myself getting shed into pieces¡­ in the foreseeable future that is [Time Rejection!] And once again¡­ -sh x 100 In an instant, I did that 100bo at him, though he simply dodged it by jumping up, without much of a problem. ''I am starting to pity my enemies at this point,'' I thought as I sighed [Time Rejection!] -Thud! Behind me, the Spirit of Voltaire fell down on the ground, broken into pieces, as I turned back to observe it getting repaired slowly and slowly [HP: 412,091,000/900,000,000] ''Damaging it a little my ass, I had just killed half of it and yet it is gaining its form back so rapidly,'' I cursed under my breath before proceeding to take a stance and -sh! -sh! -sh! . . . I started shing again over and over while continuously using [Time Rejection] before I saw a message [Congrattions on Killing the 1st Spirit of Voltaire] [Your rewards will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You may proceed to the next room of the dungeon!] As soon as that message appeared, I saw a passage opening at the floor, in the center of the throne room, deeper into the dungeon. "Well, looks like this whole thing will be a bit longer than I anticipated,"I thought as I moved down to the next floor. Chapter 166 The Voltaire [Congrattions on Killing the 2nd Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 3rd Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 4th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 5th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 6th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 7th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 8th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 9th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 10th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 11th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 12th Spirit of Voltaire] [Congrattions on Killing the 13th Spirit of Voltaire] "How many of them are there?!" I spoke out loud with an exhausted tone as I kept killing them more and more. It started with hope, then went on to despair, anxiety, love, anger, frustration, etc. And even now I am just going deeper and deeper. And if it wasn''t annoying enough [14th Spirit of Voltaire(SSSS-Grade)] This one was the Spirit of Betrayal, one with a Stronger Grade than any of them I have faced up until now. It was really a pain to kill thest one, and this one is even more annoying. If I were to guess, I had already spent over a month killing them all¡­ and this one just made my day from bad to worse. ''Sigh¡­ well, at least it''s not an impossible direction,'' I thought as I was using [Eyes of the Timekeeper] to keep an eye out for the correct directions and it didn''t falter any second at all. Preparing my spear, I began to fight again for the 14th time without any break. Since it was an SSSS-Grade, I had to continuously use the [Time Rejection!] without much breaks. I guess I was lucky that the amount of regeneration ability this guy had was much less thanpared to my ability to harm him. While it would have been impossible for me to kill him normally, with most of my abilitiesbined, it might take some time, but it should be doable now. Gripping my spear tightly, I started shing in the air again while also making use of this ability of mine. [Temporal Inversion(Umon)!] [User can cause the flow of time to go in the opposite direction. Can work only on inanimate objects. Cost: 500TP/Second] Using this on the spear that Armes gifted me, it was quite easy to return the durability of this Skill. Slowly and slowly, time passed as I kept fighting against the SSSS-Grade guy. Though it wasn''t all a loss, I guess. Even my Skills were getting polished as I was adapting to the changes that were urring around me. If I could barely see him before, now I could more or less predict where he wasing from. Though I kind of needed to use all my abilities at once for that. And just like that, a few months passed as I kept fighting against the SSSS-Grade spirit and a message came in front of me. [Congrattions on Killing the 14th Spirit of Voltaire!] [Your rewards will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You may proceed to the next room of the dungeon!] ''Sigh¡­ another room? Seriously?'' I thought as I looked at the System before moving down to the next floor. [15th Spirit of the Voltaire(SSSS-Grade)] "Ah! Fuck it!" I spoke as I red at that one and began fighting again¡­ And just like that, another year passed¡­ and another¡­ and a decade¡­ and another¡­ [Congrattions on Killing the 27th Spirit of Voltaire!] [Your rewards will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You may proceed to the next room of the dungeon!] . . . [Congrattions on Killing the 45th Spirit of Voltaire!] [Your rewards will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You may proceed to the next room of the dungeon!] . . . [Congrattions on Killing the 78th Spirit of Voltaire!] [Your rewards will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You may proceed to the next room of the dungeon!] . . . [Congrattions on Killing the 99th Spirit of Voltaire!] [Your rewards will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You may proceed to the next room of the dungeon!] And soon I entered the next floor as I saw the System Screen. [You have cleared all the Floors of this Dungeon!] [You may now enter thest room of the Dungeon!] [Your evaluation will be done after the battle haspleted!] ''How much time has passed in the outside world?'' I questioned, as I had always checked it after defeating another one of the Spirit. [3 Hours: 14 Minutes: 12 Seconds] ''So I have spent over 3600 years here? Hmmmm¡­ my sense of time is getting messed up.'' I kinda sighed at the kind of life I was moving towards. Twice it happened that I had both slept and passed thousands of years. Plus, if I am not wrong, my new race, Ethereal, is also responsible for this distorted sense of time. I am pretty sure if I were a human, I would have lost my senses a long time ago. Maybe not when I was sleeping, but here, no chance I would survive this long. ''Anyway, what next now? I hope it ends here,'' I thought as I moved deeper into the dungeon, finally entering into a certain ck empty space. At the center of the space there was a disk tform floating in the air, which held a certain red coloured being which was chained against a small wall. There was a single tform that connected that tform and the ce I was standing and with a cautious look, I moved forward as I kept using my abilities for any surprise attack. Though surprisingly, there was not one attack aimed towards me. Moving closer, I saw a crown fallen on the ground about a dozen meters away from the being that was chained. My eyes looked at the crown as I slowly picked it up and then continued to move towards that thing which was in front of me. A six armed three headed wolf was chained by ck and white chains covering him from all around, tying him uppletely. His eyes were closed, though I could feel a slight pattern of breathinging from his mouth as I observed him. [You are here] I saw the red-coloured screen in front of me before looking at that guy and nodding,"I am." [King Voltaire!] [Your inspection level is too low to see through this person!] ''When I used [Inspect] on Kira, at least it showed his name with all the other things hidden behind the question mark¡­ does that mean he is stronger than Kira? Well, that really makes me wonder if I should help him or not,'' I questioned on the inside as I observed him with a bit of deep thought. Another red screen appears in front of me showing [Please ce the crown on my head!] "Give me a reason to," I asked without any hesitation. This could very well cost my life. [Because you will die in this ce without me. I am the only one capable of escaping from this ce. I am the only one who can help you out from here. Plus, it''s not like I won''t reward you for what you have done] My eyes looked at that message for a moment before looking at the [The Defier] Skill. It has been recharged while I was here, so I guess, at worst, all I need to do is defy this guy''s existence if things go wrong. Might cost a lot, but that is fine if it saves my life. And with that in my mind, I proceeded to ce the crown at the top of his head, still wondering if I was making the right choice or not¡­ Chapter 167 The World Is Bigger Than You Think As soon as I put the crown on his head, I saw a certain energy flowing down from the crown to Voltaire. As the energy was flowing down, I saw his eyes opening ever so lightly, showing the golden hue in them. The red-coloured fur started getting more lively than before and I could feel a faint energying from it. The chains started shaking slowly as I saw him trying to break free from them. His eyes then finally open uppletely as a serene expressiones upon his face and he starts applying more and more energy. Using all his powers, I saw him pulling the chain away as he finally broke them into pieces in front of me. As they shattered, new chains formed, but before they could even reach Voltaire, his eyes turned red and the iing chains began melting before they could reach Voltaire. Slowly standing up, his three heads looked at me with a certain smile as he spoke, "Thank you for letting me free. Sorry for all the trouble that I caused you." Observing him, a slight, confused expression appeared on my face as I asked, "What troubles?" Not minding much, he began stretching his six arms as his three faces yawned with a slight howl before he spoke, "You know¡­ the fact that I sent a portal to your world in the form of a Core, hoping someone capable would arrive here in Nexus. That Core was too strong for your world. It must have caused quite a wave there, didn''t it?" "Hmmmm? Did it now?" I thought as I wondered if there was something that can be considered as a big wave¡­. Hmmmm George did tell me that the amount of zombies was growing abnormally¡­ was it because of this Core? Plus the S-Ranked monsters¡­ does that mean the only reason they arrived there was because of the Core? "I guess so¡­ but not like it created a much problem for me to begin with," I spoke as I looked at him and he turned at me with a slight surprised gaze as he continued, "Well, it looks like you are capable. Hmmm¡­ Well, you still had to go through Armes and Enkonomiya." And answering him,"Ah! Not really. Armes helped me with spear training. While there wasn''t any problem with Enkonomiya at all." This time he was genuinely surprised as he spoke,"my my. Looks like I have severely underestimated you. Well, even if you did that, it must have been a hard time to hide from my spirits, and finding a way to the next room each time. Don''t tell me that was also easy for you." This time his eyes were boring into mine, as if he wanted me to say that it was difficult. "Well, it did take me 3 and a half millennia," I spoke and he finally sighed in relief before I continued,"to defeat all of them." "..." He looked at me with his three mouths agape, that a couple of melons would fit in each of his three mouths. I just looked at him as I smiled awkwardly while scratching the back of my head. "Well¡­ did I do something I shouldn''t have done?" I asked, wondering about it, but he just gulped at me as he spoke. "While you can put the spirit to its minimum health but¡­" "But?" I asked, a bit curious, and he continued, "But¡­ after that, you need a perfect 3 shot each time. And 10 shots for the higher spirits to kill them. Each attack should be done at a particr spot which only the spirit creator or his blood should be able to see." ''Was there something like that? I just kinda used my skill to make sure they hit at the weakest spot,'' I looked at Voltaire as I just spoke,"is that so¡­ I guess I was¡­ lucky?" At my words, he narrowed his eyes and said,"Lucky my ass. If you had missed even a single spot even once, their health would have been upped to 40% making it impossible¡­ sigh¡­ just what kind of monster are you?" I observed him with a slight smile as I spoke,"I just wanted to go home early¡­" He red at me before he sighed,"well¡­ Whatever it is. I have seen too many things in my life to be surprised anymore." For the next few moments, an awkward silence followed before I spoke,"so¡­ what next?" "For me¡­ I believe my is gone and there is little left of my people as well. Maybe I will go on an adventure to seek them out? Staying here doesn''t make sense, does it?" he said as pondered. "Is that so? What about Enkonomiya and Armes?" I asked with a bit of curiosity and he turned to me with a sad look before he spoke,"I had done them dirty and I feel really sad for them¡­ but there is little I can do for ones that are already dead, can I?" "But they are¡­ alive¡­" I spoke with slight confusion. Did they die when I was traveling here? "..." He looked at me nkly before he narrowed his eyes at me and spoke,"you shouldn''t be joking about the dead. Especially the ones whom you killed yourself." I looked at him a bit awkwardly and spoke,"but I didn''t." "..." "Exin," he asked. And then I began telling him bits of what had happened before. I told him everything except about me visiting the past and he listened to me very carefully before he finally spoke. "You are still hiding something¡­ you know what happened, don''t you? Normally I would have let something like that go¡­ but this is a serious matter, boy. I might even fight to death if you don''t tell me what happened." Hearing the seriousness in his voice, I checked the timer ''How long till he kills me if I tell him the truth?'' [??:??:??] I sighed a little before looking at him and speaking,"well¡­ I kind of visited the past and met this guy named Aether an-" "SIR AETHER!!!" He spoke out loud as he looked at me with surprised eyes. His eyes sparked like crazy as he looked at me and spoke,"YOU MET SIR AETHER!!!" I was taken aback by his behavior as I observed him practically getting happy, as if a child was told of their favorite uncle or something. "Yeah¡­ he kind of helped me¡­" as I was speaking, his eyes were sparkling bright and then I told him everything that had happened and once I was done¡­ "So Sir Aether helped you!! And did he say something else?!!" he looked at me frantically before I spoke. That is all that happened. And after a few more nonsensical talks, he finally calmed down as he spoke,"I didn''t think I would get to hear our guardian''s name right after my freedom. Feels like I have been blessed." His mood turned really jolly as I looked at him and he continued, "Well, boy¡­ let''s first get down and meet Armes and his daughter. The least I can do is apologize to them," he spoke before he clicked his fingers and the structure of the surroundings began changing and before I knew it, I ended up reaching back to the ce where Enkonomiya was with her father, having a duel. Chapter 168 Enkonimiya While they were in the middle of a duel, Voltaire and I entered the room, which was still as colorful as before. While I intended to watch the duel, perhaps because they sensed us, they stopped immediately and turned towards us. Their eyes reached to me first, and they smiled a little before they looked at Voltaire and their eyes popped out of their sockets. They observed Voltaire as if they had seen some ghost¡­ For a few moments, they just kept nkly gawking at Voltaire while both of us moved towards them. "Hey Armes, sorry to keep you waiting," I spoke first to break the ice while Armes just looked at me and asked,"did you pull another unbelievable sh*t again?" I don''t know what he wanted to hear, but I just told him a single sentence,"this was the reason I came to this dungeon." And this single sentence turned both Armes and Enkonomiya silent for a few seconds as they looked at me questioning whether I was in my right mind. Before they turned to Voltaire. Enkonomiya then red at Voltaire and Armes just sighed as he looked at me and spoke,"well¡­ I have little to no words for this situation¡­ I''m too tired for this thing." Armes then turned to Voltaire and asked,"what do you want now my King? Even at your best, you couldn''t protect anything. The kingdom is gone and so are the people. There are only three of us left on this forsaken. What exactly were you trying to do all by yourself when you aren''t even at one tenth of your prime power right now? " Voltaire looked at Armes and spoke,"Well. ''He'' shouldn''t be bothered by us now, so I was thinking of going for an adventure to look out how the world is. It was getting boring to spend eternity in that ce, you know?" "Is that really all there is to it?" Armes looked deep into Voltaire''s eyes and Voltaire looked away with a wry smile as he spoke,"yeah¡­ what else could I be doing all by myself?" "Really?" Armes pressed more and Voltaire just made a dry chuckle as he spoke,"yeah¡­ it is." "Dad¡­ why are you talking to him so friendly? You do know what he has done to us, right?" Enkonomiya spoke with her eyes still ring at Voltaire. "Now now, Miya. He had his reasons to do so and let''s face the fact, you and I both have made the same decision, no matter how much we hate this. You know that right?" spoke Armes as he reasoned with Enkonimiya. Enkonomiya tried reasoning with the Armes, but it felt like Armes had an answer to all the statements that Enkonimiya was making. It was kind of funny to look at the interaction which the two were making. After the conversation was done, Armes then looked at Voltaire and then at me as he asked,"so? What''s next? What''s the big n?" At his question, Voltaire was the one to answer,"as I said before. I will be going on an adventure outside. I was nning to go alone, but since you two are here, want to join?" "I would rather die," Enkonomiya spoke as she looked at Voltaire while Armes spoke,"I don''t exactly mind." "But father!" Enkonimiya was going to speak, but Armes stopped her,"you know that I can see through the intentions of people, right? Trust me, Enkonomiya, there was no one who was more hurt than King Voltaire himself after pressing us through those conditions." Enkonomiya turned quiet as she looked at her father. Then, after a moment of silence, Armes spoke,"Michael. Can I ask you for something?" A bit curious, I nodded, and he spoke,"can you take my daughter with you?" "..." "..." Both me and Enkonomiya were stumped at his decision. Armes then continued,"as a guardian of Nexus, it is my duty to be with the King of Nexus. While I would love to take her with me, I know that King Voltaire is going to attract trouble that she won''t be able to handle. But I can''t let her go alone by herself as well. As someone who has witnessed your prowess first hand, I can believe that you will be able to take care of her; while she herself is strong enough to be yourpanion." Once he finished his sentence, all of us looked at Enkonomiya for a few seconds as she looked at her father with a really taken aback look. "No. I am-" though before she could speak,"King Voltaire if you please," Armes spoke and Voltaire clicked his fingers, making her unconscious in a second. "So what will be your answer, Michael?" Armes asked with a serious look. "I¡­ don''t really mind, but¡­ are you sure?" I questioned. It wasn''t a decision that I really should make honestly. "Thank you," he spoke and then Voltaire turned at me and smiled,"well. I guess I never thanked you for what you have done. So, here it is¡­ use it properly. It is one of my most prized possessions." A certain energy flew out of his fingers and entered my chest. [You have gained a new Skill!] [The Illusionist(Unique)] [Can create 3 illusions that share the power of the user and can deal as much damage as much as the user is capable of. The illusion''s health and powers are connected to each other. If any of the illusion dies, the others die as well. Cooldown: Until any of the illusions die out!] Before I could evenprehend what kind of game breaking ability I got, I heard Voltaire speaking, "From your expression, it seems like you like it. This ability has little to no limit, except that if even one illusion dies, the others die out as well. Anyway, I guess I will be leaving then. See you again, little kid. Don''t die too early." And then he started moving out, with Armes nodding at me and following behind Voltaire. "Who is Aether?" I asked, as this question was something that was bugging me and I knew that if I didn''t get the answer now, I might never will. "Well¡­ to put it in simple words. He was our Guardian. Someone who saved our entire race once upon a time¡­ well, I haven''t met him before. But only once have I seen him. The rest is for you to find out¡­ if you have the capability to find that is," he spoke before finally vanishing from there. Leaving me here all by myself¡­ and an unconscious girl in my hands. "Wait!" Enkonimiya suddenly woke up as she shouted, but then as she realized something was wrong, she looked around left and right before her gaze fell on me. "They left," I said, and she first red at me, then took a really deep sigh as she made a really sad expression. "But we were only together for 3 and a half millennia," she spoke and I observed her with a wry look on my face. That''s not only¡­ how long do they live for, anyway? "So what''s next?" I asked as I looked at her. While I have made my decision, it is better to ask her opinion on that as well. If she doesn''t want toe with me, there is little I can do about it. "What do you mean by that? Won''t I being with you?" she asked as her expression turned confused a little while she was still sad. "Eh? I thought you would be trying to find your father, maybe?" I spoke my mind. "After Voltaire took him? It would be impossible for me to catch up. And it doesn''t seem like you are going to follow him as well. You must have some other business to attend to as well," she spoke as she looked at me while her expression changed from sad to a bit serious. "Guess so. So I guess you really decided toe with me, huh? Is it because of your father''s ability?" I asked curiously and she nodded,"yeah. He is never wrong when ites to judging someone''s character. I would die faster if I would go against his words, than to follow it." After that, we sat in silence for the next few minutes before she asked again, "Are we going to sit here all day and do nothing?" I looked at her with slight hesitation and spoke, "Ummm¡­. But I don''t know how to get out of this ce¡­" Chapter 169 Back To The Outside World "Ummm¡­. But I don''t know how to get out of this ce¡­" I spoke, and she turned at me with a stumped look as she spoke,"Wait! Wait! Wait! What do you mean by that?" I then stretched a little as I exined,"well. I was called here by Voltaire, and I connected my consciousness to this ce. Though, honestly, I don''t know how to get back¡­ I was going to ask Voltaire, but he just¡­ vanished before I could ask him that." Her expression turned a bitplicated, and I pondered a little before speaking,"staying here is not going to yield any results though. Come. Let''s check the lowest floor. If I am not wrong, we might find answers there." She looked at me and nodded with the sameplicated look before we started moving down the dungeon floor by floor. Slowly and slowly, we crossed the 100 floors before we reached the ce where Voltaire was held captive. The wall against which Voltaire was bound was half broken, while the chains had fallen on the ground without much activity in them. Reaching a bit closer to it, I observed the wall and touched it while keeping my skills activated. Touching the wall shattered it into pieces before I observed another message appearing in front of my screen. [The Wall of Nexus has been shattered!] [Dungeon confers that Voltaire is gone!] [Congrattions forpleting the Dungeon of Nexus!] [Calcting the Grading forpleting the Dungeon!] [Grade: Beyond SSSS] [All the rewards have been multiplied!] [Error!] [Error!] [Detecting that all the rewards have been taken away from the dungeon!] [Searching the entire dungeon!] [1 reward detected!] [Skill: The Illusionist! Detected] [Compromising for theck of rewards!] [Using the power of the dungeon to Evolve the dungeon rewards!] [The Skill [The Illusionist] has evolved into skill [The Magician]] [Noticing that the champion has time rted powers!] [Mutating the Skill [The Magician] into the Skill[Chronomancer]] [Skill [Chronomancer] has been readjusted ording the Race(Ethereal) of the user] [Skill [Chornomancer] has evolved into an Ethereal Skill] [Ethereal Skill: Chronomancer has been received by the user!] [The Dungeon: Dungeon of Nexus is avable for purchase in the shop] [The user will now be sent back to his world!] Immediately I held Enkonimiya in my hands as I used [The Defier!] once again with a serious and hurried expression on my face. ¡­ My eyes open up as I find myself back at the same ce where I asked George and the others to watch over me. ''Did it work?'' I thought as I had used the Skill to bring Enkonomiya with me. Though my answers revealed themselves as I found the core in front of me shining brightly before a figure of a young girl graced me with its presence. The core slowly vanished before the girlpletely took the shape of Enkonimiya in front of me. Those pink hairs over thatvishing body, I slowly took a couple of clothes from my [Time Space] and moved closer to her as she stood up with her eyes slowly opening. "Wear this," I spoke as she looked at me with a serious face before immediately changing into the dress that I gave her. Her eyes were still focused on the surrounding before she spoke, "Is this your world? Quite unique, to say the least." I turned back to George, who was observing both Enkonimiya and I, and questioned,"how long was I out for?" "4 hours," he answered immediately, and I nodded as the timing more or less matched before I turned to Enkonimiya as I asked,"are you okay? You don''t feel dizzy or anything, right?" "No. I am just a bit annoyed," she said as she red at me,"you said you didn''t know anything about getting back to your world, but here we are not even 30 minutes after you said that. I almost had a heart attack back there, you know?" "Trust me. I didn''t know for real. I just had some hunch which I checked and it worked. Well, better than getting trapped on that, isn''t it?" I spoke as I looked at her, and she sighed this time. "Well, if you put it like that¡­ " she then slowed her voice before she changed the topic,"what next? Since I am more or less stuck with you, what shall we do now?" I pondered as I began walking out and she followed me,"What do you want to do?" I saw Irene and Walter moving towards her. Looks like they went to check the perimeter. As they saw me, relief entered in their eyes before it reached Enkonimiya and they observed her with their footsteps getting slower. "I am going to find my father someday. But for now, I guess, I should live with you and see things around and get stronger enough to not be a problem for Voltaire and the others," she spoke, and I kind of understood it. My eyes then reached the duoing towards us and I spoke,"How are things outside?" Irene, who was a bit confused looking at Enkonimiya, turned to me and said,"it''s clear. Though the 4 guys whom you have left alive are making a bit of noise outside." I nodded as I recalled them clearly, despite ages having passed for me. I then pondered a bit before turning at the System Screen [Ethereal Power: Chronomancer!] [Allows you to manipte time ording to you! Cost: 5000 Golden Cronas/Seconds] ''Hmmm¡­ I feel like the other one [The Illusionist] was better for me, but looking at the future, the more Ethereal and Time Powers I have, the better I guess,'' I thought before looking at Irene, Walter and the others. "George. Where are Alex and White?" I asked as I looked at him with a bit of curiosity. George nodded before speaking, "Gramps and Alex went on their own way, doing their own things. If I remember correctly, Alex too went to the Liqua Country to find a distant rtive of his own while White returned to the ck Military of the Pallegia Archipgo to finish an unfinished business or something. Never heard from either of them again though," spoke George as he looked at me with a slightly embarrassed expression. "Liqua Country, huh?" I spoke as I recalled that it was our neighbor country. I guess we can visit there after helping Irene out here. Shouldn''t take much time, either way. "Yeah, thest time I have heard from him was a month ago," George added again and I nodded as I turned to Irene and said,"Once I take care of your business, we will be leaving." A smile blossomed on her face as she looked at me while I turned to Enkonimiya,"Miya. This one is Irene. This is George and this is Walter. They work with me. Guys, this is Miya. Another addition to our group." Miya nodded at each one of them before peeking at me slightly. ''What?'' I signaled silently, and she whispered in a low but audible voice,''they look weak.'' Hearing her words, I smiled as I didn''t answer her, instead let them see each other''s powers and stuff. The four of them, especially Irene and Miya, started talking. Their topic was about what those guys did to Irene and, hearing her story, Miya was really fuming. By the time we moved out, I saw those 4 guys whom I didn''t kill were still chained there, protecting themselves as they fought against the iing zombies. "Release them," I spoke and Walter chanted something, unbinding them at once. Those guys then turned towards us with an angered expression before their eyes turned towards Miya. For a few moments, they turned numb before a lust filled expression appeared on their faces. "Are they one with Mallorn?" asked Miya to Irene, and she nodded. Though before Irene could speak anything more, Miya moved a few steps forward, making everyone, including me, look at her. Those 4 men, like rabid dogs, ran towards Miya at a rapid speed. "Hey, George. Maybe my sense of beauty is distorted, but can you answer a question of mine?" I asked without turning my eyes from Miya, and George nodded. "On a scale of 1 to 10. How beautiful is Miya?" I asked again, and he looked at me for a brief moment and answered with a slight gulp, "15? Maybe 16." His words betrayed his expression as it looked like he was still underestimating her beauty. "BY THE GODS OF NEXUS, I COMMAND YOU TO BURN!!!" Spoke Miya with a disgusted tone and, as those 4 men were running, they started burning in a rapid ck fire that slowly consumed all 4 of them at once. We could hear them crying frantically as they withered in excruciating pain beforepletely turning into ashes. Irene, George and Walter could only observe her with a fear filled expression as they turned at me, with a simple question,''Who is Miya?'' Moving closer to Miya, I patted her shoulder as I spoke,"Calm down. Don''t tell me you are so easy to emotionally manipte?" Hearing my words, she stumped a little as she then bowed her head down. Her previously garnered expression was washed away immediately with that one sentence, and I patted her head before speaking, "It''s all right. Let''s go now. Next time, let me handle things first, though." She nodded slowly before I turned back to the three duo,"Take me to Mallorn," I spoke in a dominant tone. I was about to meet this so-called '' The King of the Gifted.'' Chapter 170 Simplifying The System ''Sometimes you make choices that are supposed to help you out of trouble. However, twisted fate makes those choices turn into nightmares that you can never escape. So, what do you do in a situation like that?'' ¡­. Mallorn, as far as people know, was born as an average kid with a normal family background. He was neither rich nor poor. Living an average life with average grades, average dreams. Nothing particrly special about him. Though, like every caterpir changes to a butterfly given the right conditions, when the apocalypse hit, he, too, changed into something that was anything but like his past self. From an average joe, he became a survivor who killed zombies and made his own gang. He killed people, innocents, and anyone who got in his way. "I don''t really care about people who are too high up in the sky. It''s their fate. But neither do I care about the people who are so low on the ground. It is their fate as well,"was the philosophy his mind revolved around. But one particr thing that stood out more than the others about him was his growing ambitionpared to his previouszy self. He wanted to create a kingdom based on his own ideologies and ambitions. His ways and his ideas. Which kind of grew all the more once he received his Gift, of being able to control the zombies weaker than him. Once he received that gift, he started venturing around the wastnd all by himself, gaining more zombies under his control, while he killed stronger zombies and absorbed their Cores left and right. Which created a cycle where he kept growing stronger and stronger with each of his moves he made. And when he grew stronger, his ambition of creating a kingdom grew more and more, which brought the present condition where he took the ''Gifted'' ones as the one who should rule the world and the one who didn''t have any Gift should be just left behind. ¡­. "Hmmm¡­ I feel like there is a lot missing to the story," I spoke as I heard Walter''s exnation. As far as my expertise goes, this isn''t enough to make such azy person go out of his way and start conquering. Forget about creating an entire kingdom. People who arezy would just yeet themselves after the apocalypse starts. Even if they don''t, the most they do is get strong and survive in silence. Well, only one way to find out what has happened. Soon as we walked through the path, the night fell and we reached about half the way to Mallorn''s area. "Let''s take a small break here, before we start traveling during the night," I said as I took out the [UV-Lamp] before sitting in a meditating position. The others just observed themp, including Miya, who was concentrating on it, before they went back to do their own work. After confirming my safety once again, I smiled before opening up the [Second Space]. [Second Space!] The view changed as usual, before I entered the [Second Space]. Moving to the Crona Tree that has since evolved and became so tall, I checked the amount it has stored. [Tree of Crona(Unique) Effects: Generates 200 Cronas per hour. Effect: Generates one Golden Crona per 100 hours Limitations: Can store only 50,000 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 10 Golden Cronas Total Cronas Stored: 29310 Total Golden Cronas Stored: 0 Special: Evolvable(Require 1,500,000 Cronas to evolve)] Taking out the Cronas, I then proceeded to the Dungeon and saw the amount of Cronas it had stored. [Stored Cronas: 19540] Taking that out, I then checked the total Cronas I had in my pocket right now. [Total Cronas: 51029] ''Okay, that''s nice,'' I thought before upgrading the [Second Space] once again with the Skill Points that I had umted. [Second Space (Rare) (Level 6) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. The user can bring one living person to the Second Space he wishes to. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 72 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 50 x 50 sq meter Skill Points needed to level up the Skill: 30] With the level ups as well as the [Side Quests], I umted enough to upgrade the Skill twice. Hmmm¡­ maybe I will see if¡­ ''Ah! Before I forget,'' I thought as I moved into the [Shop] where Rhea was looking around things. Sensing meing towards her, she turned towards me with a slightly surprised expression as she spoke,"Hey, you are back. What happened out there? I couldn''t sense you for a few moments." I looked at her and spoke,"a few many things. Though, I need your help a little. Is the Skill [Second Space(Rare)] avable right now?" She looked at me with a slight odd gaze as she spoke,"no¡­ even if it were, it would have been too costly. It''s not something you can get so easily, you know?" and I just sighed before speaking, "Okay. Then there is another issue I am having here. I have too many skills that I don''t know what to do with. Can you guide me on what I should do with them?" While having many skills was good and all, but if I am not using them at all, doesn''t that mean I am practically stacking a pile of garbage with me? "Is that so? What skills do you want to let go?" She asked with a bit of curiosity, and I looked at her face. It seemed she had an idea or something. I nodded at her as I showed the first two skills that I found most useless. [nt Maniptor(Common)(Level 1)] [Allows the user to control the growth pattern of nearby nts. Cost: +10% increase in growth/second/10 Time Points Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 1] [Time Flow(Rare+)(Level 4): Allows the user to generate 120 Time Points per sec. Requirements: None Skill Point required to upgrade the Skill: 40] She looked at them and nodded as she looked at me,"With your new race, you probably don''t need [Time Flow] as for [nt Maniptor], I think it''s too weak for you, right now. Even if you upgrade it to a high level, without apt knowledge, you won''t be able to use it properly." She spoke as she closed her eyes for a few moments before speaking,"Well. There is one thing you can actually do. Though you need to buy another skill for that, it should polish your other skills for that." "Not sure, if I am understanding that," I spoke, and she nodded before she asked me to follow her and we both reached the [Skill Section] where she asked me to type a specific skill. [Skill Converter(Rare)] [Effects: This skill allows you to eat skills that you don''t use and in return provides you with 50% of the Skill Points that you have used on them Cost: 5000TP/Per use Price: 500,000 Cronas] "Hmmm. It looks nice. " I spoke as I observed it before wondering how long it takes to buy this skill¡­.. ''Hmmmm¡­. Should be done by the end of the day,'' I thought as I saw the amount of Cronas I had. "Thanks again, Rhea. I would have surely sold the skills for Cronas and then proceeded to buy something else. You being here is really a blessing," I thanked Rhea with a smile and she just blushed a little as she spoke,"It''s¡­ okay. Just doing my job." Once I was done with that, I then moved to the other screen that I needed to check out this time, [Dungeons] [Dungeon of Nexus(Unique)] [Original Price: 95 Million Cronas Because the user has achieved beyond SSSS Grade: The price has been reduced by 50% Discounted Price: 47 Million and 500,0000 Cronas] "Too costly for right now," I thought as I looked at the price, but for some reason, it felt reasonable. Perhaps because the enemies inside there weren''tmon zombies, but much more ferocious spirits, with most of them being above S-Grade? ''Well. That settles a few things, I guess,'' I thought, as I had another goal for now. To make the System Skills a bit more minimalist and not tooplicated for myself. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ; WorldWalker ss: Child of the Universe [All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight with him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies'' Stats will be halved] Level: 18 (44,584,132/50,000,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Enchantments: Breath of the Night: All abilities have their power increased by 25% during absence of light. Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50%. (3) Blessing of the Charybdis: You have gained the ability to see or hear things that are otherwise not possible. Health Points: 160000/160000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20(+200) Constitution: 20(+200) Dexterity: 20(+150) Intelligence: 18(+150) Wisdom: 20(+150) Charisma: 20(+150) Stat points: 35 Total Cronas: 51029 Total Dungeons Under Control: 1 Total Portal Under Control: 0 Skills* Quests* Shop* Dungeon Options* God Powers(4) Ethereal Powers(2)] Chapter 171 Mallorn Iris "So this is the ce, huh?" I thought as I looked at the makeshift, post-apocalyptic town in front of me. Most of the buildings were made of wood, including the walls and guard towers. There were people with guns visible at a distance from here and a few more inside the town. "While Mallorn is a son of a b*tch, I won''t deny that his contribution to the safety of the town is most among the people here. You see those zombies roaming outside the town? Those are his,"spoke Irene as she pointed at the zombies at a distance. While it was a bit hard to differentiate between the zombies and the humans from this far, it was still visible that the horde of walkers around the town was nothing to scoff at. "So, we like? Just barge in and start killing everyone?" asked Miya with a serious voice and I shook my head before turning to Walter,"take us directly to Mallorn. There is something that I want to see first," and he nodded. Irene looked at me for a few seconds, but didn''t say anything. Reaching closer to the Town, I saw the zombies moving to the side, clearing a path for us into the town without any resistance. The men on the watchtower had their guns pointed at me and Irene but they did not shoot. "I''ll take them to Mallorn," spoke Walter in a serious tone as the guys behind the doors observed all of us. Their main focus was Irene and George, who were really powerful among us. As for Miya, I had asked her to cover her face for now, so as to not cause a scene. I had read the status of many here, and yeah, they were anything but good people. Though that changed as we entered deeper into the town and more ''normal'' people started appearing. The one on the inside looked likemon folks who helped with nonbat works and supported thebat recruits. Unsurprisingly, they were all gifted. In fact, I didn''t see even a single one here who was not gifted. Walking further into the town, we soon reached the back area where a certain castle-like area was present made up of tin and wood. It was heavily guarded with men with guns at every point. Walking through the gates, as those men nodded at Walter, we slowly entered into the building, which was reshaped into a fortified castle. My eyes observed each of those men carefully, while almost all of them were looking at Irene with a lustful gaze, while some of them were trying to look through the covered face of Miya as well. The only reason they hadn''t jumped at us was because Walter was walking with us and George wasn''t something that they could handle. Perhaps Irene''s power was also something that they were being careful with. After another minute of walking, we soon reached the end gate where I saw a hunky guy with brownish hair smoking a cigarette as he turned towards us. He had a nice facial feature, and the scar near his eyebrow only made his facial feature much more prominent. Wearing a ck dress shirt, he looked like a mafia boss of some sort, those tattoos on the back of his neck only added to it. "Walter. Where is Irene?" He asked as he looked at all of us. He had an unreadable expression on his face, and I understood a few things immediately. "There she is," Walter spoke as he pointed at Irene, whose features had totally changed from how she looked previously before evolving into A-Grade. Then how did the others notice her? ''Did one of those guys have an ability rted to it or something?'' I thought as I looked at Walter as he too immediately figured out about Irene in a second. "She?!" Mallorn''s eyes focused on Irene in disbelief as he confirmed,"but her facial features and power¡­ are you sure it''s her?" "Yes," Walter spoke as he looked at Mallorn for a few seconds before -Whoosh! I saw Irene jumping at Mallorn as her chainsaw increased twice its size, and she proceeded to sh at Mallorn. -BOOM!! Though before she could reach him, someone else came in between and kicked her back to us. Before she could fall on the ground [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(copy)!] I stopped time, moved around, helped her stand properly, and then once I was done with that, I moved back to where I was. Because of my current enhanced state, plus with my skills and movements that I had picked up while learning the spear art from Armes, I could easily move swiftly without anyone noticing. ''My skills at this point are just an added bonus here,'' I thought as I looked at Irene standing back where she was as if nothing happened. The atmosphere here then began tensing as I saw that zombie [Inspect!] [The Bulked (A-Grade Zombie)] It was one of the strong zombies with his physical capabilities much stronger than the others. Plus, being an A-Grade, it took his physical ability to quite another level, honestly. Even his gift, [Physical Avoidance] allows it to increase his already enhanced strength to another level. ''Perhaps Mallorn was able to control it because it had low wisdom?'' I thought as I checked the stats of the zombies before looking at Mallorn carefully. Even though Irene has attacked him, he still didn''t look shaken at all. "She is Irene all right. Only she would be this crazy to attack me without any prior warning," he spoke as he sighed before looking at the rest of us. His eyes concentrated on Miya and they widened for a few seconds before he spoke,"Remove your mask." I could already see the anger rising inside Miya when she heard hismand, though before anything could proceed, Walter spoke, "Sir Michael. You should take over from here." Which changed the direction of everyone''s gazes from Miya to me, as she started looking at me along with Walter and Mallorn. Even Irene, who was getting irritated, turned at me with a slightly calm expression. "Hmm? Michael. Is that the guy whom you were waiting for?" Mallorn asked as he looked at me with an analyzing gaze as he looked at me from top to bottom with his eyes glowing red before he lost interest and spoke to Walter, "No offense, Walter, but your savior¡­ looks really pathetic-" -Whoosh -BOOM! -sh! -Whoosh! Irene, once again, had jumped at him while Walter had prepared about 10 fireballs in the air. George had already shed down the [The bulked(A-Grade Zombie)] into pieces while Miya''s eyes had turned into deep green from previous heterochromic purple and blue. I could sense a couple more powerful zombies almosting at me, but before they could reach here, they all melted down as if they hadn''t even existed. Perhaps Miya was responsible for it? "Stop it already," I spoke as I sensed Miya killing more and more zombies with her ability, which she stopped before it could escte to a certain point. Perhaps Mallorn had felt the pain of the zombies. His expression had turned ugly as he tried looking at the source of the power, Miya. "Sigh¡­ you guys go out. Take the others with you. I will meet you in a couple of minutes," I spoke as I looked at Mallorn. When I meant others, I meant the men of Mallorn who were almost there to attack us. While I do wish to kill them, honestly I would rather sell them than killing them. Miya didn''t exactly calm down at that, but she nodded as she looked at them, turning her eyes deep red, making them drop their weapons. Before she looked at Irene and the others and said,"Let''s go." Irene and the others sighed as they looked at me before nodding and then moving away from this room, leaving me and Mallorn by ourselves. Mallorn was still confused at what just happened in a few moments as he observed them all go without making any resistance at all. His eyes shifted between me and them many times as his expression turnedplicated. I then looked at Mallorn carefully as I took out an apple from the storage which Irene gave me before and then, as I took a bite from it, I spoke to Mallorn, "You know Mallorn. Your father was a really good guy. One of the best people that I had met in my life¡­ can you tell me how you ended up bing something like¡­ this?" [Name: Mallorn Iris Race: Zombified Human (A-Grade) ss: The Watcher Description: A normal average guy who lost his father, Trevis Iris, in the Valentine incident and his life turnedpletely upside down that day. From a normal average kid, he became a kid who made ns on how to take revenge on those who have wronged him by taking all the measures he could. He didn''t like people who held him back and soon started cutting off all the things that held him back. After he received his Gift, he became even more rough with his methods to achieve what he wanted. Zombification: 72%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 150,000,000/150,000,000 Status: Healthy Gift: Undead Maniption The user can create, manipte, and destroy physical and ghostly undead,mand dead souls, condemn them to torment, or steal the souls of the dead/dying to increase their legion of the undead. Skills* Strength: 1040(+94) Constitution: 367 Dexterity: 1045(+67) Intelligence: 13490(+2300) Wisdom: 18900(+1230) Charm: 11423] Chapter 172 Mallorn Iris#2 "You know Mallorn. Your father was a really good guy. One of the best people that I had met in my life¡­ can you tell me how you ended up bing something like¡­ this?" "Huh?" His eyes grew confused as he looked at me for a few moments before he asked,"what are you getting at?" "Trevis was a nice guy-" -BOOOM!!! He attacked me at full speed, but a shield appeared between us as it easily absorbed the impact before pushing that guy away from me. [Time Shield (Common) (Level 1)] [Stops the time of an area of 3x3 meters anywhere you desire and blocks any and all attacks. Note that attacks beyond 10 times the user''s power will shatter the shield. Cost: 1000TP/seconds + 50 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 5] "Nobody¡­ takes my father''s name¡­ so casually," he spoke as he slowly got back up on his feet and looked at me with enraged eyes. "But I was-" -Whoosh! Once again, he jumped at me with full speed [Temporal Deceleration (Level: Max) Effects: Allows the user to slow down time as much as the user wants [Max 90%] Cost: 25TP/sec] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] Stopping the time by 100 times, I simply dodged him before speaking, "But I was given permission to do that from your father himself." Not ready to listen, the poor kid let his emotions take control of his actions as he threw himself at me. He tried his best, but his moves were amateur at best, thus dodging and parrying him was a piece of cake. "What do you know?" he spoke as his eyes traced me before continuing,"My father is my hero. To take his name so casually, who do you think you are?" "I am Michael Aroa," I said as I looked at him, making him re at me a little more than I continued,"though I am more familiar with the world as¡­ Code White." His movements stopped whatever they were doing and his eyes looked at me with a strange gaze as he made a slightly odd expression before speaking with his eyes dead set on me, "Code White is dead. Are you making fun of me?" "Why would I be dead?" I spoke with a smile, and it still didn''t seem like he believed me. His eyes were tracing me up and down as he asked,"do you have any proof?" "I made sure I didn''t leave behind any. The terrorist''s brother is still out there. I don''t want to involve my family into this anymore," I spoke as I looked at him and hearing my words, his eyes widened as he shouted, "Vertigo!" I nodded as I spoke,"yeah. Many times I had found evidence that he was trying to trace me and the others who escaped from the Valentine''s day event-" "Wait! Wait! Wait! What do you mean by escaping?" His eyes brightened for a few moments and a slight heart ache urred deep in my heart as I spoke,"Not all of us. Your father¡­ let''s say he chose to stay to let the rest of us escape." "Tell me everything," He spoke as he looked at me with those deep piercing eyes and I nodded before exining to him all the things that had transpired on Valentine''s day. It took about 3 hours or so, but I exined the whole story to him in brief, while, detailing the parts where Trevis was involved. He looked at me with a keen expression as he listened to everything from the start to the very end. Sometimes he made expressions of grief, other times like a child he smiled when I told him his father''s jokes. He was angry when Trevis was beaten and proud when his father stood among the other survivors. And in the end¡­ a sad but satisfied expression appeared on his face as he looked at me. "Thank you, Michael¡­ or more like¡­ Sir Michael," he said as he looked at me before speaking,"I don''t think you know this, but I have an ability that allows me to see the authenticity of any information provided to me. It does cost a bit of my life force, so I don''t usually use it at all. But I guess it was fine to use on this asion." When he said that, I immediately checked for his skills and found the skill that he was using till now, [Reverberation Echo!] [Produces an echo within your ear and differentiate the power of words that are being presented to you. Can tell the difference between real and fake information. Cost: For each second, the ability is used, it costs 100 Permanent Cessation Energy] A sigh escaped my mouths as I looked at that guy as I asked, "What transformed you into this? Your father¡­ he wouldn''t be proud to see you like this, you know?" And my words made him emotional a little as he sighed deeply,"you know Sir Michael¡­ when my father died¡­ I was heartbroken, shattered into pieces. I cried for so many days. But that wasn''t enough to break me¡­. You know what broke me?" He turned at me and spoke something that made my heart skip a beat. "It was Vertigo. He found my family¡­ killed our entire family, rtives and everyone else¡­ I survived, let''s say because¡­ He was a psychopath. After killing everyone, he let me live because he wanted me to suffer, and that was the start of my misery¡­" Mallorn then told me everything Vertigo did to him, from his middle school to highschool life and how everyone around him basically spoke ill of him. His mother, a social worker, became infamous as a prostitute who died while¡­ Well, things changed a lot for Mallorn and everything and everyone was giving him another reason to kill. And on the fateful day, he wanted to kill himself, the Zombie Apocalypse urred, giving him another chance. Mallorn didn''t want to kill himself anymore¡­ he had no desire for that¡­ He thought of ways to build an empire and strike Vertigo because most of the powers of Vertigo must have taken a hit because of this apocalypse. "I confess I have discriminated between the Gifted and the non-gifted, but that was only because those people are the same ones who spoke ill of my family and my parents and my sisters. It''s hard to control your anger, you know? It was tiring to hear that, so I began killing everyone who spoke ill of my family, soon shutting everyone," He spoke as heid on his back. "What of Irene''s father?" I asked with a keen expression. Surely he wasn''t one of them, was he? "He was someone whose friend I killed in front of him. Same reason, of course, he bad-mouthed my father without any restrictions. Irked me out so much that I lost control. This, in turn, angered Irene''s father, and a fight broke out. The fight could have been resolved, but Irene''s father kept on fighting till the very end without stopping," he said as I read his descriptionpletely. Earlier I only read the start but now I read everything that he was speaking about and what I found was¡­ He was lying. Chapter 173 [Skill Converter] Everything he spoke up until now was true, except about the part where he killed Irene''s father''s friend. "You know Mallorn¡­ I can tell the difference between the truth and lies as well," I spoke with a smile, turning his sad expression to a bit shocked as he slowly spoke,"What are you¡­. talking about?" While he had a goal of killing Vertigo, somewhere along the lines, he also grew greedy for more power. I checked his skills, and he had a very peculiar ability. [Snatch!] [Allows the user to take the ability of others as long as they are not above theirs. Cost: 50% of maximum Cessation Energy. Cooldown: 14 days] Though it wasn''t just that, that made me decide to go against him¡­ [Description:... when he saw Peire''s daughter, he lost control of his lust and r*ped his daughter for over a dozen times in front of her fiance and father to disy his supremacy. When Irene''s father couldn''t take it, he broke down into pieces. At that time, Mallorn took Peire''s power, making it his own. When Irene''s father found out about this whole situation using his own abilities, his anger grew beyond one could imagine, and heunched a full-blown attack at Mallorn. Since he knew very well what might happen to Irene if she stays here, he used all his ability to make time for her to escape from here. While Mallorn promised to taste Irene''s flesh until she dies, making him more furious towards Mallorn until Irene''s father died.] A smile was present over my already furious face as I sighed deeply before speaking out loud, "Irene!!" She came in immediately as she wondered what happened and I looked at her before turning at Mallorn in front me, who was making a scared yet calcting face. [Time Cutter (Umon) (Level 2)] [Bring out the de that cuts through each and everything. Cannot cut through beings that are immune to space and time effects, or divine beings who have ascended the realm of mortality. Cost: 450 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 10] -AAAAAAA!!!!! I used the sword to cut off his legs before turning that ability off and then moving towards Irene as I heard those pathetic cries. "Don''t kill him¡­ but make sure he suffers," I spoke as I moved out of the room and she nodded with a deadly smile on her face before I heard the sound of her chainsaw roaring loudly. When I moved out, the first thing I saw was another sleeping guy on the floor. [Lucas Armer!] Another one of the trusted dogs of Mallorn, who was captured by Walter and the others. He had the ability to use fire like the back of his hand. Thoughpared to Miya, who can perfectly control all elements, he was nothing but a child in front of her. "Hmmm¡­ there should be another one, right? Someone who had the ability to-" I was speaking, but a deafening cry came from the room beside us -AAAAAAAA!!!!! "Seems like she is having her fun," spoke George with a bit of a smile as he looked at me while Miya asked me with a bit of puppy eyes, "Can I please join her?" I thought a little before speaking,"sure but don''t-" Though she ran inside as she shouted,"Irene wait for me!!!! I know some torture methods!!!" Honestly, this was the happiest I found Miya since she appeared here in this world. I could only sigh as Ipleted my words loudly, "Don''t kill him!!! I need him in the end!!!!!" Before I sighed and turned to George and Walter,"you guys can do whatever you want for now, Though I will be killing more of the people here who have¡­. Well, you know, right?" They both nodded without hesitation as they spoke,"whatever suits you, Sir." I nodded as I touched the unconscious guy and sent him into the [Second Space] before finding an empty space around and moving towards that safety spot. Checking for the time it will take before someone attacks me, I nodded before moving into the space. "Hey Rhea," I spoke with a smile as I dragged that guy by his feet towards the [Trial Room] first. It had been a while since I got angry, so might as well take out my anger here for the time being. Just likest time, Rhea followed me as she observed my actions. And after another hour or so, I finally was satisfied with the treatment I did and looked at Rhea with a satisfied smile. Rhea took a step back with slight fear as she spoke,"you looked more angry than usual." I nodded as I exined in bits about what happened and I could see traces of fury appearing on her face as she spoke,"Can I take this one for a moment?" "Nah! This one will break if we tweak even a bit more. I will give you another one soon," I smiled as I brought him to the [Sell] section. [Would you like to sell A-Grade Zombified Human(The Pyromancer) for 850,000 Cronas?] "Oooo!! That''s a lot of Cronas. I guess A-Grade is actually valued that much," I spoke out loud as I recalled that B-Grade sold for around 100,000 or a bit more. Pressing [Yes!], I then went back as I collected the Cronas from the [Tree of Crona] as well as the [Dungeon] And then checked the total Cronas I had with me now [Total Cronas: 1,002,914 Cronas] "Nice. Let''s buy that Skill now," I spoke with a bright smile on my face as I moved to the [Skill] section. [Skill Converter(Rare)] [Effects: This skill allows you to eat skills that you don''t use and in return provides you with 50% of the Skill Points that you have used on them Cost: 5000TP/Per use Price: 500,000 Cronas] Though something struck my mind, as I looked more into the [Skills] section and found another exactly simr Skill. [Skill Converter(Umon)] [Effects: This skill allows you to eat skills that you don''t use and in return provides you with 25% of the Skill Points that you have used on them Cost: 10000TP/Per use Price: 200,000 Cronas] The best thing about it was, it was two in number, too. Buying the first [Skill Converter(Umon)], I then moved to another skill of mine. [Skill Fusion(Special)(Level: Max)] [Allows the user to join skills into one at the cost of Cronas. Note that the fusion depends upon thepatibility between two types of skills. Can be used only once every 24 hours] Then, moving to buy another of the same type, I then ced them both in the [Skill Fusion] [Are you sure you want to fuse [Skill Converter(Umon)] and [Skill Converter(Umon)] for 50,000 Cronas?] I pressed [Yes!] before I found the timer ticking once again for the [Skill Fusion] skill. "Well. We have to wait for another 24 hours, I guess, before we can use this skill again," I chuckled as I looked at the baffled face of Rhea before I exited the [Second Space] as I began my hunt for Crona in this inhumane camp. Chapter 174 A Mythical Tree 24 HOURS LATER ¡­ ¡­ [Total Cronas: 13,239,001] "That''s a sweet amount," I said with a bright face as I looked at Rhea who seemed really bbergasted at my actions. Though I don''t regret it. Most of those bastards were cheap r*pists or murderers or killers, etc. They all had hidden agenda and were worse than the scum you would find in your backstreets. "You really went all out, huh? That''s the 164th one you got there," Rhea spoke with her eyes concentrated on me and I nodded at her with a smile. That''s the amount of scum that were present in the camp. "But it is fine, you know? Even the people outside are feeling at ease now. Especially after the things we have done," I spoke as I recalled how Miya created golems out of stones around the area that were each stronger than S-Grades out there. It would take an entire army to kill the golems before they could reach the town. ''Though, I doubt there are as many strong zombies remaining anymore,'' I thought as I remembered that we killed almost all the strong zombies out there as well. "Now, onto the next task," I said as I bought the [Skill Converter(Rare)] Skill and used the [Skill Fusion] on it. [Would you like to fuse [Skill Converter(Rare)] and [Skill Converter(Rare)] for 250,000 Cronas?] I pressed [Yes] and after a few moments a new message appeared on my screen. [Skill Converter(Unique)] [Effects: This Skill allows you to eat Skills that you don''t use and in return provides you with 100% of the Skill Points that you have used on them. Will also provide a random Skill level up point each time this Skill is used. Cost: 10,000TP/Per use] "Noice!" I spoke as I looked at the Skill with a bright smile as I first used the Skill on [Time Flow] [Are you sure you want to use [Skill Converter(Unique)] on [Time Flow(Rare+)]?] Pressing the [Yes] button without any hesitation, [You have received 145 Skill Points and A random skill level up point] [Random skill level up point is used on Skill: Time Cutter] "Okay now, let''s use the Skill Points first," I thought as I upgraded the [Second Space] even more. The first upgrade costs 30 Skill Points, next 35, next 40 and finally 45 points. Making it reach Level 10, also the max level currently it can go. As for why I chose [Second Space] and not [Eyes of the TimeKeeper] is because¡­ Rhea strictly advised me not to. She spoke that this power is something beyond the current me can handle. While I might be able to obtain it, its use is extremely limited and too powerful for someone like me to afford. One thing she said is that the skills''ter effects will start costing Cronas and Golden Cronas both, making it one of the avable skills but not really usable at all. So I skipped it forter. Anyway, as for the [Second Space] [Second Space (Rare) (Level 10) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit. The user can bring one living person to the Second Space he wishes to. Note: The body of the user will turn unconscious in the original world. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 120 hour in the Second Space Area of Space: 1000 x 1000 sq meter Skill Evolution Point required to upgrade it] And then using the [Skill Evolution Point] which I received before [Second Space (Unique) (Level 1) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit, using an interdimensional gate. The user can bring 10 living people to the Second Space he wishes to. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 10 days in the Second Space Area of Space: A of radius 500m Skill Points required to upgrade to next Level: 25] "I did expect something like that but¡­ Still, I am impressed," I spoke as I looked at the phenomenal changes urring inside the [Second Space]. What''s even more baffling was that I can still upgrade it to higher levels, which meant it could evolve one step further, bing a [Mythical] Skill. "Makes me shudder even thinking of the possibilities," I thought, with my eyes widening a little before I saw two familiar tall things at a distance. One of them was my [Dungeon of Libra] and another one was the ever so tall [Tree of Crona] Moving closer to the tree, I touched its bark, and a Screen appeared in front of me. [Tree of Crona(Unique) Effects: Generates 200 Cronas per hour. p¨£§ád¨£ §«?¦Í¨º1,§ã¨°§® Effect: Generates one Golden Crona per 100 hours Limitations: Can store only 50,000 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 10 Golden Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 1,500,000 Cronas to evolve)] "Let''s see what you can provide me at your next level," I said as I gave it another set of Cronas and watched it evolving to even greater heights. ''I think it has reached 1000 meters now?'' I pondered as I saw its growth finallying to a halt and a screening in front of me. [Tree of Crona(Mythical) Effects: Generates 2000 Cronas per hour. Effect: Generates one Golden Crona per day. Limitations: Can store only 1,000,000 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 1000 Golden Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 100,000 Golden Cronas to evolve)] Looking at the tree, a few questions appeared in my mind as I turned to Rhea and asked,"Hey Rhea. Whates after Mythical?" As if she knew I was going to ask her that, she answered with a certain smile,"It''s the God Rank. The highest anyone has seen until now." ''Eh? Highest¡­ but I was going to ask whates after that¡­'' I thought with a slight regret before shaking my head and speaking,"All right. Now, let''s finish some other task before moving out of here." Saying that, I went to the [Dungeon of Libra] and began buying as many things as I could, increasing the dungeon''s capacity and stuff before I finally got what I desired. Chapter 175 Goddess Enkonimiya [Dungeon of Libra (Rare)] [Owner: Michael Aroa Location: ck Water City(E*rth): Erastale(Forgotten Demon Dimension) Total Number of Floors: 70 Total Number of Workers: 1500/1500 Crona Production Rate: 46,800/day Current Efficiency: 17% Dungeon Functions* Dungeon Options* Dungeon Intel*] ''This should be enough,'' I thought as I looked at the rest of the Cronas in my hands. [Total Cronas: 2,564,001] With this the amount of Cronas I would get would increase by quite some margin. Moving to the [Daily Sale] I checked the items [Spear of the Grave Destiny(Unique)] [Effects: +500 Strength +500 Intelligence +500 Agility +??? + Skill: ??? + Skill: ??? Cost: 15,000,000 Cronas Discounted Price: 7,500,000 Cronas] [The Flower Garden of Gaia(Rare)] [Allows the user to curate his own garden, allowing him to grow his own food and his special nts that will not only boost his health but also boost his powers and regeneration time. Additional Information: ??? Cost: 550,000 Cronas Discounted Price: 200,000 Cronas] [Skill: Texture(Common)] [Allows the user to manipte the texture of anything the user touches Cost: 12,500 Cronas Discounted Price: 2500 Cronas] "Well, I guess we can buy the spearter when we get enough Cronas. For now, let''s take the garden," I murmured as I looked at the items and bought it from the [Daily Sale] Not even a few momentster, I saw a barend forming at a distance from me. It had only grass and was vast as much as a basketball field. [The Flower Garden of Gaia(Rare)] [Allows the user to curate his own garden, allowing him to grow his own food and his special nts that will not only boost his health but also boost his powers and regeneration time. Additional Information: Once nted, the trees will be able to grow at twice the speed which they would have under natural conditions. Under normal conditions, the garden has a chance of providing an extra tree every 3 weeks.] ''Not bad I guess,'' I thought as I looked at Rhea and spoke,"Try taking care of the garden when I am not here," and she nodded as she looked at me before I moved out of the [Second Space] Moving out of Second Space, I tried opening the gate, and a space door opened in front of me, which I closed in the next moment. "Seems like I am creating my own world out there," I said as I realized that the more I upgrade, the more the radius of the will increase, somedaypeting with that of our own. Made me shudder a little at that thought, but I just brushed it off for a few moments before getting out of the room where I was doing my ''meditation.'' The evening sun graced my eyes, as I observed the transformed town in front of me. From the previous post apocalyptic town, now it was transformed into more of a civilized fantasy town, and the one responsible for all that was flying up using all her crafts to the best of her ability. Taking a step back, I crouched a little as I prepared myself for a slight jump and then -BOOOM!!! I jumped towards her, reaching just beside her before I activated one of my abilities. [Time Shield (Common) (Level 1)] [Stops the time of an area of 3x3 meter anywhere you desire and blocks any and all attacks. Note that attacks beyond 10 times the user''s power will shatter the shield. Cost: 1000TP/seconds + 50 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 5] I used that ability to create a standpoint just beside Miya as I spoke,"That wasn''t that hard." Miya had already sensed my approach as she smiled before looking at me,"That was a really short break." I nodded at her with a familiar smile before I looked at the almost futuristic city down below that was bing more and more prominent as seconds were passing. "Are you sure you want to help them out? You can just leave them behind, you know? They aren''t even from your either," I spoke as I looked at Miya and she shook her head as she spoke, "While it is indeed unnecessary, it''s not like I have anything better to do. Maybe someday they will support you when you need them? Even if they turn against us, there is little harm they can do to us, can they?" Well, there is nothing wrong with that logic. But still, "How long till you finish the construction? I want to leave as early as possible," I said as I looked at her and she spoke with her eyes turning back to normal,"Done." I chuckled at her response before I saw Irene, George and Walter talking with each other as they looked at us from below and both me and Miya jumped down, reaching towards them. "Hey! Looks like you guys are having fun," I said as I looked at them and they smiled brightly as they spoke,"Sir Michael." I had given them a task to help Miya out a little and they were onto it, while I myself was getting all the Cronas for thest 24 hours. Not only that but also killing a couple of zombies here and there to get some Exp. [Level: 18 (48,620,112/50,000,000 Exp)] Still, I still haven''t reached Level 19. Though I am not that far from it either. Anyway, back to the topic, George and the others were helping the people out, a bit of exnation of what was going on. And the end result was¡­ "GODDESS ENKONOMIYA!!!" A crowd followed behind George and the others as they ran towards us. Yup, Miya had already be a living Goddess in front of themon masses. Don''t know how much impact it will have on the others though. ''Though¡­ since there are already so many people,'' I smiled on the inside as I looked at the iing crowd and spoke,"George. Walter. There is something that I need you to do for me." "Your evil smile is leaking, Michael," spoke Miya as she looked at me with a slightly awkward face before I wiped that grin off my face as I spoke,"Take these and distribute them among the masses. Make sure they absorb all of them. Even you guys can absorb these few as well." I gave them 100s of 1000s of Zombie Cores. It was a golden opportunity to get some [Used Zombie Cores] which I can use for upgrading the dungeon. This is going to be some nice investment. Plus, I can use Miya''s name to make the process even smoother. Walter and Irene looked at me with a nked out face while George seemed like he was used to it. After that, I turned to Miya as I spoke, "Once you are finished with the distribution, just meet me on the top building''s roof. I will be observing things from there." Miya nodded before a certainplicated expression appeared on her face as she spoke,"are you sure you want them to get anymore powerful? I know you trust them but¡­" I patted Miya''s head as I spoke,"I defeated your father without getting a scratch in a one-on-one battle. Have a little trust in me, will ya?" before I moved away from there. Chapter 176 The Liqua Country [Author''s note: M was one of the harem members of Michael who was in the military. She was the former girlfriend of Michael who met him in the Apocalypse right after Michael got out of the Dungeon of Libra. At that point, she was searching for the disturbance regarding the nt Laboratory. Liqua Country is the Neighbour Country of Meria Country (Where MC lives)] ¡­. ¡­. Somewhere in the Liqua Country ¡­ ¡­ [M''s POV] -TRTRTRTRTRTR -BOOM!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!! "Sergeant, they are getting close!!" shouted Jeff as he drew the jeep faster while I kept shooting at the iing B-Grade Zombies at us. "Tch! And it was so peaceful just a few hours ago. You think someone is controlling them?" I asked as I looked at my right-hand man Octavius, while he too shouted back, "Haha! Looks like I guess our luck ran out, sergeant." Octavius was a capable man, one of the people that awakened the Gift in our camp. Father put him with me to find out the strange signals we were getting from this area. ording to one of the people from the watch team, he sensed some very abnormal frequenciesing from this part of the country. ''Reminds me of Alissa,'' I thought, as that was the real reason why I came here. Ever since Michael was gone, she had been really sad as she tried everything she could to bring Michael back. Though, those nts just took her away. Another reason why I came here was to clear things here fast and check up on George and Walter, who should be in the Meria Country still waiting for Michael. ''Michael¡­ Just where did you go?'' I thought before once again concentrating on those zombiesing at us. "Iing!!!" Shouted Jeff as he sensed something towards us and I enhanced my senses as well. My eyes observe everything around "DUCK!!!" a voice from behindmanded, and I ducked immediately and -nk!! -BOOM!!! "Young girls like you should be more mindful of your situation," spoke the other guy who was traveling with us. "Thank you, Commander Sergeant Major, Reeve," I said as I saw him blocking the zombie''s attack without much difficulty and pushing him back with pure strength only. "An Elite B-Grade, huh?" Reeve spoke as he observed the zombie, who had des instead of arms and muscles covering his entire body. Reeve rested his sharpened katana on his back as he spoke to Jeff, "You can hit the brakes now. I think we found our leader zombie, here." Hearing his voice, Jeff hit the brakes as hard as he could, while Reeve jumped off the jeep, towards that iing Elite B-Grade Zombie. -BOOM!! -sh! -nk! With a single sh towards that zombie, the Commander almost swiped him but his two ded hands blocked the attack with some difficulty before another de spawn out of his chest and tried to pierce the Commander, Reeve. "Oops!" With a casual remark, Reeve took a step to the left and prepared for another counter before another de spawned from the zombie''s shoulder and attacked at Reeve. Taking a few steps back, Reeve just observed that zombie for a few seconds before a smile formed on his face, "You are a tricky one, aren''t you?" "He is going to use it, isn''t he?" spoke Ray, another member of our group who took the position of Shawn since he was busy on another mission. "Looks like it. Man, every time I look at it, it gives me goosebumps," spoke Octavius with a slightly agitated look on his face. Reeve took a firm step forward and then half closing his eyes, he spoke,"shes of the heavy¡­ gravity," and then¡­ the zombie fell on the ground. -sh! -sh! -sh! -sh! . . . About a hundred shes bombarded that zombie within a second, killing it then and there. All that was left was a poodle of blood where the zombie previously stood. A total silence covered the entire area as we witnessed the scene unfolding in front of us. ''He is strong but¡­pared to Michael and Alissa¡­ '' I couldn''t help butpare him to those two. While Sergeant Major is strong, even back than those two¡­. their power was something that I couldn''t measure. ''Then there was William, too,'' I thought as I recalled that he too hadn''t shown his true power ever. Pretty sure he must have gotten much stronger than before. Reeve then slowly moved towards that dead Elite B-Grade Zombie and collected the red-coloured Core from the puddle before keeping it in his pocket. "This is what I like about unexplored territories. A lot of free loot to collect," he spoke as he smiled, thinking of the Core he gained. Though his expression changed right after he said that as he looked up at the building at a distance from us. Focusing where he was looking, I saw a child standing there at the top, though the next words that left Reeve''s mouth made my heart skip a beat here, "A-Grade Zombie." His words were serious as he observed that girl zombie before she vanished from there. An eerie silence shrouded the entire area before Reeve got back up in the jeep and spoke,"we should leave. I might be able to win against it, but I don''t want to risk my life in the middle of nowhere," and we all nodded at him before immediately leaving, towards the location where the strange energy signatures were emanating from. Traveling for another 2-3 hours, we didn''t find as many zombies in the area as they were before. Heck, we only found about 13 zombies in total, that too C-Grades only. And thisck of zombies, rather than making us feel safe, actually scared us. After traveling this much, we were about 200 kilometers away from our destination, though before we could rx even a little, Jeff stopped the jeep, hurriedly stepping on the brakes as hard as he could. The jeep stopped, making us wonder what was going on, and as I was about to question Jeff, I saw Reeve signaling me to stop. He then pointed in front of the car, and looking there, I saw something that terrified me to the core. At a distance of 200 meters from us, a child of about 5-6 years was standing wearing a beautiful ck gown as she held a teddy bear in her arms. She looked pretty normal, but I knew she wasn''t. If at all, she was anything but normal in this condition. ''She is the same girl, isn''t she?'' I thought as I looked at her. Last time I couldn''t get a clear look at her, but it was the same gown, and the teddy looked the same as well. Her white hair also matched the previous A-Grade Zombie that we saw. "What do we¡­ do, Commander?" asked Jeff in a very low voice, and looking at him Reeve spoke,"Advance slowly. Then take a left and go around the ce." Jeff nodded as he did the exact same thing, slowly and slowly, moving the jeep towards her, but before we reached half the distance, we turned to the left and started moving in that direction. After we moved a little ahead from there, while our eyes were kept glued behind us, we sighed in relief as Ray spoke out,"what the heck was that?" Our heartbeat was at the max, while Reeve was still silent as ever. A few moments after we silently drove, Reeve spoke,"Take a right from the uing turn. But slowly." Jeff gulped but still nodded as he almost made a turn but stopped. Before going forward without taking the turn. The reason for that? The same girl was standing approximately 100 meters away from us with the same teddy in her hand. "Gulp!" Jeff gulped really hard as he drove away from there while Reeve spoke,"stop the car," in a slow voice. We all looked at Reeve, wondering what was going on in his mind and not keeping us in the dark, Reeve answered,"she is guarding something. There is something behind her she is protecting." Our eyes lit up a little, as it kind of made perfect sense for that. But what would someone as strong as an A-Grade be protecting, even? Jeff stopped the car slowly while Reeve continued, "It could be either a treasure or a stronger zombie who is ascending. Both ways, we cannot let it slide. Getting the treasure is fine, but if it is a stronger zombie, I must kill it before it gets too strong." Hearing his conclusion, our eyes also got serious. Even though we were afraid, letting an abomination be created right in front of us and not even doing anything sounds much scarier to us than that A-Grade Zombie. "We will watch the perimeter," I spoke and Reeve nodded before looking at Octavius,"I will be needing your help, kid. Come with me." Octavius was really scared right now, but still he nodded as he walked with slightly broken steps as we got out of the jeep. Taking the turn where the little girl was, we looked around, only to find her missing. Though not even a few momentster, she appeared right in front of us as we kept moving forward. Reaching closer to her, we saw that she looked more like a human than a zombie. If not for those red crimson eyes and that pale white skin of hers, it wouldn''t be that hard to mistake her for a human. Though before anything can begin, that child zombie spoke in a high-pitched voice, "If you take a step closer. You die." Chapter 177 Erika [M''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Huh?!" "Huh?!" "??!!" Our eyes turned wide open as we looked at that kid speaking like us. ''Is she really a zombie?'' is what I thought as I looked at that kid standing there, but then I once again sensed the aura that girl was emanating. Because we were so far awayst time, I couldn''t confirm, but now that I am closer to her, I can literally feel her power creeping throughout the area. ''She is the real deal,'' I thought, as only a zombie can give out that much power. "Octavius," spoke Reeve as he prepared his sword before taking a deep breath as he dashed towards that zombie and -sh! -sh! -sh! -sh! "Mr? What are you doing?" asked that little girl as she stood there without any movement, confused at what was going on. All the shes that reached the girl vanished in the air as if they didn''t even ur, making Reeve look at that girl with a slightly horrified look before he made some more shes. 10s.. .100s¡­ 1000s of shes aimed at that girl, but not even one went through, as she just stood there doing nothing. Her eyes observed us before she moved a step closer to Reeve as she spoke, "Mr., are you okay? Are you sick too?" ''Too?'' I questioned as I heard that girl''s words. However, Reeve was a bit too terrified at what was going on, enough to not focus on that detail as he took a few steps back and shouted, "Monster!" That girl stopped in her tracks as she looked at us with a bit of aplex expression appearing on her face. It felt like she was about to cry, but she held her tears before she smiled as she spoke,"You should go back. The night is about to fall. It will be hard for you if they arrive here." Hearing her voice, I finally realized that it was already evening and the sun would go down in another 15 minutes or so. "Commander, we should leave while we can," I said as I observed him. Clearly he wasn''t going to win and if we spoke more than we should, I don''t think we can escape from here. We should leave as fast as we can. "And leave this abomination alive here? Listen, kids¡­ you go back. I will put my life on the line here," Reeve spoke with a strict voice as he looked at us while that kid was just standing there doing nothing but concentrating on us. "Uncle. What is an abomination?" She asked in a confused yet curious voice. She slowly blinked as she kept gazing from one of us to another. Innocently gazing at each one of us. Making us question our decision more and more. "Monsters¡­e in many forms¡­ don''t let your eyes deceive you. If we don''t kill her and see what she is hiding, we might end up witnessing something in the future that we can never handle. You must understand," spoke Reeve as he tried to reason with us. Ray and Jeff gulped and then nodded as they looked at me speaking,"Sergeant Major, we need to leave." I was a bit hesitant¡­ was it really all right to do this? Was it really okay to do this? We don''t even know much about zombies and this apocalypse. Because of the existence of people like Alissa and Michael, I know for sure this is anything but a simple Zombie Apocalypse. "WHY ARE YOU NOT GOING?!!! ARE YOU DEFYING YOUR SENIOR''S ORDER?" Shouted Reeve, making not only us but even the child shriek a little as she looked at him with a bit of a scared face. That child slowly started tearing up as she looked at us and sensing something wrong, we took a step back each before I saw Reeve jumping at her without any signal and shed her as hard as he could. With the sh, she was pushed back quite a distance as she started crying out loudly,"it hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" The part that was shed, that is her front and her face, split apart a little, showing her insides, before they started healing rapidly. We could only gawk at the regeneration speed it possessed. It was a really nauseating sight to see. Slowly, as her face got regenerated, she started crying more and more before her eyes reached her teddy bear, which was torn in two with that sh that Reeve just made. For a moment, she grew confused as she looked at that teddy, her eyes widening with horror as she tried to join the teddy back into one, but the more she did, the more the wool escaped out of the teddy making it more messy. Her expression grew more anxious as she kept speaking,"My teddy! My teddy! Mr. Eli! Mr. Eli! MR. ELI! MR. ELI!" With the same child-like voice, she started shouting more and more; she started crying more and more. Her eyes were breaking, and so was the space around her. I could literally see the cracks in the space around her. She was crying ferociously. Before her eyes concentrated on us, especially Reeve. She looked at him with those tear-filled eyes, which were soon changing to anger, her eyes observing us as she stood up muttering,"it''s you guys. You are the reason why this happened. You were always there¡­ it''s always YOU PEOPLE!!!!" Though Reeve just jumped at her, skillfully dodging her space, breaking fragments and reaching her, before shing her again as hard as he could, pushing her away. "It hurts! It hurts! Brother!!! BROTHER!!! AWAAAAAA!!!" Like a child, she cried more and more, as the distortion increased much more than before. "MYLA WE NEED TO ESCAPE AS FAST WE CAN!!! THE SPACE DISTOR-" Though before he couldplete the sentence, someone appeared on the scene. Another kid, this time about 16 years old. He had simr white hair like that girl, but his face waspletely bandaged, leaving space for nose and mouth. That kid possessed about the same strength as that girl, though he looked really weakened for some reason. "Yosh yosh! It''s all right, Erika. It''s all right. Brother is here now. No need to worry," with a voice that seemed as if a kid with a sore throat was speaking, he consoled that little girl, making her turn quiet as he smiled at her. Then his eyes turned towards Reeve as he asked,"so people have lost their hearts enough to kill even an unarmed girl?" Reeve looked at them with a slight re as he spoke,"I don''t want to hear that from monsters who killed thousands of children." ''Huh? Monster¡­ but that kid is clearly a human? The signature¡­ it''s a bit off, but it''s within the eptable range¡­'' I thought as I observed the brother and sister supporting each other. "Enough talk. I can''t let beings like you walk in our world. Ray, we are killing the girl and taking the weakened one with us for interrogation," Reevemanded as he looked at them, but before Ray could answer anything. "Killing children and interrogating the weak. Isn''t that what the military does best, don''t they?" spoke a voice too familiar to me. A man jumped from the building with 4 other people alongside him, his face as enchanting as ever. He reached beside that brother and sister duo with a certain smile before he looked at Reeve as if he were looking at something disgusting. Michael has finally returned¡­ and he didn''t look happy one bit. Chapter 178 Familiar Faces [Michael Aroa''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ Been traveling for a whole day now, and we finally entered the Liqua Country. With the increased stats, it wasn''t that hard to travel the distance in such a short time, but still I am a little surprised that we were able to do so. Though, on that note, George, Irene and Walter had to recharge their energy in between at least a dozen times during our trip. Though thanks to [Advanced Time Maniption] it got recharged pretty smoothly. As we were traveling, Walter sensed something strange and even Miya was really cautious about it, and all of us then began hurrying towards that strange phenomenon, or whatever it was. And reaching there, we witnessed something that you can say that is pretty¡­ ''normal'' in this world. "Ray, we are killing the girl and taking the weakened one with us for interrogation," is what I heard as soon as I reached there and looking at those uniforms that those militrats were wearing, I felt a bit nauseous. "Killing children and interrogating the weak. Isn''t that what the military does best, don''t they?" I couldn''t help butment as I jumped down between the two kids and the military. The young girl was crying while the boy was holding that girl. Seems like they were sister and brother. I smiled at them a little before turning at the military guy who was wielding a katana in front of them. Disgusting. Utterly disgusting. "Who are you?" that guy asked as he looked at me from head to toe before George and Walter also jumped from the top of the building, following Miya and Irene, as all five of us surrounded the two children. Protecting them from all sides. Ignoring the military people, I turned around to check up on the kids as I used my [Inspect] Skill on them, and what I found made my eyes open wide so much that I couldn''t believe them. [Name: Alexander Robert Fredrick Race: Zombified Human (A-Grade) ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer Description: A young shut in who lost his parents about 3 years ago. He had been working online using his technical skills and earning enough money to take care of himself and his sister. He is a kid with a strong will and is ready to sacrifice his life for his sister. On the path of finding his friends and family, he has lost more than he could against a couple of beings that could steal one''s power through using a special kind of energy. Now weakened, he is trying to regain his powers as he is fighting against his inner demons. Zombification: 13%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 121,000/121,000 Status: Severely Weakened Skills* Gift: Stolen Strength: 129(1291) Constitution: 101(1019) Dexterity: 242(2424) Intelligence: 551(1123) Wisdom: 463(2313) Charm: 150(1501)] [Name: Erika Robert Fredrick Race: Humanised Zombie(A-Grade) ss: Spacelifter Zombification: 23%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 450,000,000/450,000,000 Status: Underdeveloped Skills* Gift: Space Channeler User can take a section of space from one location and shift it to another; anything upying the taken space, whether it is objects, people, or attacks, would be transferred as well; in essence, this is the ability to teleport the area itself. The user can control the size of the taken area, allowing teleportation of arge number of targets at once, or reducing to partial teleportation without the need to make physical contact with whatever they desire to teleport. If the user has enough skills and powers, they can relocate the sections of space to alternate timelines or realities. Strength: 895 Constitution: 412 Dexterity: 921 Intelligence: 23,019 Wisdom: 1123 Charm: 1341] "Alex?" I spoke out loud as I saw the name and went through his description a little. His Gift was stolen and his powers were weakened severely. For a second, I lost my temper and turned around to those military guys, wondering if they were the one who did it but "Brother? Cough¡­ cough¡­" Spoke Alex with a happy, cheerful voice before he began coughing violently. His sister, Erika, got worried a lot as she started looking around with worry and I turned to Miya, "Can you heal him?" Though contrary to my expectation, she just put her head down as she spoke,"his energy has been nullified really strongly and the powers have been stolen as well. I can heal the parts if they were to be present, but more of his body is¡­ gone." For a second, I questioned my ears¡­ I turned to the coughing Alex and ran towards him. "We are leaving," spoke that military guy as he slowly began taking a step back, but I didn''t allow them to. I looked around for a second and spoke with a dominant voice, "I haven''t given you the permission to leave." Walter immediately created a ring of fire and thunder circling them from all around as he cut off their escape. Then I turned to Alex as I spoke,"It''s alright Alex. Just try to breathe, okay? I will help you from here." [Time Heal(Rare)] [Allows the user to heal anything with the ability to reverse time when certain conditions are met. Can heal the entire body even in critical condition as long as the person isn''t dead yet. Costs: 100 Time Points/Second] I began using the skill as I observed his body getting worse every second. For a few moments, I kept quiet as I kept healing him. In the beginning, if there were any voices, now everyone was silent as they observed the situation. -Rwar! Though a few Nightcrawlers began moving towards us as the darkness fell, and I spoke to Miya, "Burn them to ashes." And without any hesitation, she killed all the Nightcrawlers within a kilometer radius of us, making the military people look at her with pure horror and stupefaction. It took time, perhaps about 8 hours or something, but by the end of it, "Phew! Had me worried there," I spoke as I let go of Alex before looking at his status again. [Name: Alexander Robert Fredrick Race: Zombified Human (A-Grade) ss: Arithmetician Puppeteer Description: A young shut in who lost his parents about 3 years ago. He had been working online using his technical skills and earning enough money to take care of himself and his sister. He is a kid with a strong will and is ready to sacrifice his life for his sister. On the path of finding his friends and family, he has lost more than he could against a couple of beings that could steal one''s power through using a special kind of Energy. Now weakened, he is trying to regain his powers as he is fighting against his inner demons. Zombification: 13%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 985,000/985,000 Status: Unhealthy Skills* Gift: Stolen Strength: 1291 Constitution: 1019 Dexterity: 2424 Intelligence: 1123 Wisdom: 2313 Charm: 1501] Alex''s bandages slowly fell off showing those pale crimson eyes as he observed me with a bright yet tear filled expression as he spoke,"Wee back, Brother!" Chapter 179 Alexander Robert Fredrick "Wee back, Brother!" Looking deep into his eyes, I then smiled as I observed both the pain and the happiness he has been through. And the relief that he felt when looking at me. It was as if he had been holding it all in and acting brave for so long and was about to break, but now that I have appeared in front of him, he can finally let go. And just like I thought, he ran towards me as he hugged me tightly and began crying more and more loudly. His sister looked at his brother crying with tear stained and worry filled eyes while I gently patted his head. "They are here," spoke George as he looked around. His eyes turned red as he created a weapon out of his blood. -TZZZZZ!!! The chainsaw of Irene expanded twice its size as she looked around with a serious face, while I could see Miya looking at me with a surprised expression as she observed Alex carefully. With a face filled with questions, she observed me as her eyes couldn''t help but concentrate on Alex and turned a bit yellow. Though as she did that, it only made her more bbergasted. Slowly she began moving towards me as she asked, "Can I heal him?" I looked at her for a few moments as I spoke in a bit of a quiet voice,"It''s all right. He is fine now," and she hesitatingly nodded at me as she looked around and spoke,"then I will help them." I didn''t stop her as I helped the crying Alex in my arms, while turning around looking at the military guy concentrating on me and the others with a horrified look. "A-Grades¡­" his words expressed his shock as he traced all of us, before he fixed his eyes on me. "Alex. Can you wait for a few moments? Let me deal with them first," I spoke in a light voice as he looked at me with a slight question filled eyes. "Don''t worry. It will be over in a few seconds," I spoke with a smile and looking at my expression, he nodded before he looked at his sister, Erika, as he called her towards him. Erika, noticing his brother calling her, ran towards him with the torn teddy in her hands while I turned to that military guy. "Now then. What should we do with you guys?" I spoke as I traced them one by one, though shockingly enough, I found a familiar face standing among them. Not one, but two. "M?!" I questioned as I looked at her, making everyone turn at her, including George and Alex, as they observed her. "Uh¡­ Hi¡­ Michael," she spoke with a bit of aplex face as I looked at her status, [Inspect!] [Name: M Keith Race: Zombified Human (B-Grade) ss: Sharpshooter Description: A Military Sergeant, who has seen the best and the worst of humanity with her own two eyes and has developed her own twisted ideals. Her life has been a total roller coaster, from being a goody two shoes, to a subject of her father''s ideals, to being chased by terrorists, and subject to multiple kidnapping sessions, her life has been anything but simple. She has been living in the hope of finding her reasons to live, with Michael Aroa being one of them. Though she isn''t too sure if she could trust this high school crush of hers, she is still waiting for the time when she couldpletely trust her feelings and tell him everything that had happened to her. Her life had been¡­ Zombification: 2%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 5,000,000/5,000,000 Status: Healthy Gift: None Skills* Strength: 1021(+94) Constitution: 1361 Dexterity: 1045(+78) Intelligence: 1230 Wisdom: 897] My eyes then traced that guy at the front, before I asked,"What is your name?" "You are Michael¡­ Aroa?!" He spoke as he looked at me with his widening as he came to a realization. He looked at me with a strange gaze as he spoke again, "I have heard about you¡­" His eyes then looked at me with aplicated look as he calcted something before speaking as his eyes turned red,"let them go. They had nothing to do with this. I was the one who took charge here." I wondered what was going in that mind of his, to reach that conclusion. Perhaps he had thought of something? Though¡­ "Now those things involve M, along with the fact that you know me¡­. I don''t think I can let you guys leave. I am sorry, but your departure has been canceled¡­ indefinitely," I spoke before looking at the Nightcrawlersing from behind the military people. "Miya," I called her out and she, understanding my words, started chanting in her ownnguage before a certain green fire started forming around her. That fire then took the form of a bird that flew past us and then reached those Nightcrawlers and burned them down to ashes before they could even react. Nonchntly, I ignored the faces of the already shocked military people, and looked around for a few moments at each of the people present. ''Okay¡­ I don''t think there is anyone here right now that can fight against me,'' I confirmed before pondering if I should use [Second Space] or not. While I do want to sit and talk properly, I kind of wanted to keep my secrets to myself. Sighing, I then decided against it. Maybe we can think about Miya, George and the others, but including the military and letting them know my secrets isn''t something I should do right now. Then what? ''Hmmmm¡­'' While I was thinking, I saw George brilliantly manipting his blood to form into threads before spreading them out, killing all the NightCrawlers without much effort at all. All the while jumping into the fray as he jumped from one thread to another and cut down each zombie, which looked a bit stronger than the others. What was even more baffling was that he was controlling threads'' movements consciously as he jumped from one point to another at an extreme speed. As for Walter, he was simply creating thousands of arrows in the air, aiming at the zombie, while creating vines from the ground, restricting their movements as much as possible. Even the zombies at the very far weren''t able to move even a muscle as he cut them down. -TZZZZZZZZ! And then there was our little rampaging monster, Irene, who was using her superior physical abilities andbining with the mighty chainsaw she cut down everything in her way. Honestly, it was a one sided massacre as I simply watched them clearing all the zombies until there were no zombies in the vicinity. Seems like there was really no need for me to think about moving to the [Second Space]. "Alex," I patted his head as I looked at his sister, peeking at me behind his brother, and said,"how the heck she grew up so much?" If not for the System, I would have never believed it was the same girl who was being carried in Alex''s arms from the time I met him. 6 months ago she was merely 1-year-old? And now she looked like a 6-year-old child. The heck happened to her? "So you noticed, huh?" Alex spoke with a slight sigh as his usualposure returned while I saw him standing up before bringing her sister forward as he spoke,"You have already met her, but I don''t think I have ever properly introduced her to you, brother. This is Erika Robert Fredrick, my little sister." He then sighed as he looked around before continuing his story, "Actually brother, after you vanished, I was there at the Libra building for some time. But then we received a piece of news that one of my uncles and his family living in this country is currently alive. While at first I thought of staying at the Libra a bit more, but looking at certain things, I decided to leave." "Um. That was a fine decision. You should always know your priority. I am pretty sure you had a n as well," I said as I had seen through his status that he isn''t a simple kid at all. He nodded as he continued, "It took about 2 months to reach here. That was about a month ago. And when I reached here, surprisingly, the zombies wereparatively weaker than there were at Meria Country, so it was easy to travel. While traveling, I made somepanions that were okayish at first, but then after traveling for over a month, I trusted them a little more." "Never trust people unless you really have seen their true colors. You never know what''s in the heart of someone. Especially after the apocalypse," I spoke as I looked at him. If not for the [Inspect] Skill, I doubt I had trusted anyone, including the surrounding people. Even now, I keep reading through the status of Walter and Irene, trying to see what they had been through in thest 6 months. It might be an invasion of privacy, but I would rather have that than be backstabbed. "I understand, brother. But it wasn''t them that betrayed us¡­ the one who betrayed us¡­ were my own f*cking family members," spoke Alex as his eyes turned red and his expression turned ashen. I could feel the energy rising around us before I patted his head as I spoke with a calming smile, "It''s all right. Let''s solve everything one step at a time. So, where did it start?" He looked at me with his face getting a bit more rxed as he spoke, "Well¡­" Chapter 180 A Dream, An Illusion Or...?? "Well. To be honest, I can''t even confirm what happened. Though, I will try to exin everything that I saw," he spoke as he looked at me with a bit of an anxious expression. With his finger fidgeting and his shaking eyes, it seemed like things were a bit moreplicated than I anticipated. "Sure. I will listen," I spoke as I observed him and his expression firmed as he spoke, "When we first reached my uncle''s location, unsurprisingly, I found the apartment empty, but using my gift of abnormal senses, I was able to sense some living beings not too far from the apartment. At first, I told everyone about what I sensed and after considering it properly, we finally reached a conclusion that we should take shelter for the night and begin our search from the next day. Though things started changing from that night onwards¡­" His eyes started getting a bit more confused as he continued, "So, at first, when the initial few hours passed. There was not a single Nightcrawler in the vicinity, not even a single one. Ironically enough, rather than feeling safe, a sudden creepy feeling enveloped us. Though that was only the beginning of the strange turn of events. As time passed, we started witnessing ghosts, monsters that seemed out of this world. It wasn''t zombies; I confirmed it with my ability and the others agreed as well. The ghosts were roaming on the streets, while the monsters hunted other monsters, and everything was quiet¡­ unique to us. Though we hid behind the walls, and only observed through the window as we observed the scenes, waiting for the sun toe up. However, that was the start of our nightmares. After 12 hours passed, the sun didn''te. Even after waiting for another 4-5 hours, there was no sign of dawn in the distance. We started getting hungry and anxious. Soon we decided that we must move out of this ce and find a safe spot. Or else things will only get worse." Hearing up to here, I looked at Miya as I asked,"Can a hallucination ability cause this?" and she nodded,"if they are strong enough." "SS-Grade?" I asked again, and she pondered a little as she looked at Alex before speaking,"It has to be a unique monster, to make one forget even the sense of time." I nodded before I pondered a little as I continued,"Continue." "We then started to move slowly, as we traveled, hiding from the monsters and the ghosts. At first things were going smoothly, but sooner something felt off about that as well. It wasn''t just smooth, it was too smooth. Despite there being dozens of ghosts or monsters, there was always a way to avoid them. The more we walked, the more we felt like we were being led somewhere, and the answer came to us a few turns ahead. It was a strange tunnel. A really, really odd one. It didn''t seem like a tunnel built by the natives of this but more like an alien high tech stuff. As we were deciding whether to enter the tunnel or not, we were surrounded by monsters and ghosts from all around, leaving the tunnel the only way out. Some of us tried fighting, only to realize that we were no match for the monsters. Even our most powerful attacks could barely graze them. Running out of options, we hastened our steps into the tunnel. The tunnel was dark. We could barely make out the surroundings. Still, we kept traveling, making sure all of us were still there. Though as time passed, one of us stopped speaking. In panic, we shouted her name as much as we could, but there was no answer. Though we were scared, we kept moving forward, soon finding a light on the other side of the tunnel. Hastening our steps further, we reached the bright light that consumed our sight for a few moments, before we found ourselves¡­ back at the start. The same room where we were supposed to stay the night and move onwards the next day." I could see sweat beads forming on the face of Alex as his shaking eyes observed me. I looked at him with a serious face as I patted his head while reading his description. He didn''t lie about anything. "It must be a Mind Demon,"said Miya as she looked at Alex with pity in her eyes. She then continued, "When thest war was fought, we faced a certain type of zombie that had the ability to control the mind of other beings lower than him. We called them Mind Demons. It had the ability to inflict harm beyond the illusion and any damage done on the body within the illusion is reflected to the real body." "Are you sure it''s a Mind Demon?" I asked as I looked at her and she shook her head as she spoke,"we can only hope it''s a Mind Demon. If it is any other being, then we are dealing with an SSS-Grade Zombie at minimum." I nodded at her before turning to Alex,"what happened next?" Alex was observing Miya carefully before he spoke,"nothing much. We kept trying to escape from every path possible, but no matter what path we took, we ended up getting back to the same ce, the same tunnel over and over again. And each time we reached there, we ended up losing another one of our members. By the time it all ended, I was all alone by myself. Not even Erika was there with me, as I had lost her as well. And surrendering myself to my fate, this time I simply walked into the tunnel, However, this time, things were different. I didn''t wake up in that apartment, but in a circr arena, where there was a zombie sitting in the center." "What did the zombie look like?" I asked with my eyes concentrated on Alex and he answered, "Ugly. His entire face was covered with eyes, even some of his body parts had eyes. And all those eyes looking at me creeped me out to no end." "Did that guy take your eyes and your abilities from you?" Spoke Miya with an understanding smile as she looked at him and he nodded with a slightly terrified look. "How long were you there inside that circr arena, with that zombie?" Miya asked to understand something and Alex observed her with a slightly broken smile,"1 year? Maybe more¡­. He wasn''t fighting me and neither was he something I could defeat. All that time he was just staring at me, slowly walking towards me. At first, I was just escaping from him, but as time passed¡­ I started losing my mental state¡­ and before I could turn insane¡­ I just let hime and get me. So that all that pain would be over." "You did good holding o for so long," Miya spoke as she gave Alex a small smile before she asked,"must have been nauseating to let a demon take control over you." And he nodded at that. "When I woke up after that, I had already lost my abilities and powers to that demon, including my eyes. However, with my enhanced senses, I could still ''see'' things around. So I covered my eyes with bandages as I felt my insides still churning. No, I think even my insides were missing at that time," he exined and I asked with a bit of curiosity, "What happened to the others?" "They weren''t there when I woke up, or more like, I didn''t wake up in that apartment, but a bit far away from there. It was Erika who saved me," he spoke as he sighed before exining, "While I was going through that nightmare, ording to Erika, there were many Nightcrawlers around the night, which she ''consumed'' and because of that, she ''grew up''. Don''t ask me how, cause even I don''t know what happened. Later on, Erika told me that there were a lot of men who came, one of which was our uncle, and he took all the sleeping guys with them. ording to her, the men were strong and really scary, and it didn''t look like they were going to help the sleeping men." "Miya¡­ what are the chances that it''s not a zombie but a human with that much power?" I asked as I looked at her and she pondered, "If the circumstances allowed then, there is a really really low chance of something like that happening. Somebody might have obtained a blessing from a God, or perhaps from the Universe themself?" ''Ah! There is that too,'' I thought as I too had received some blessing from the Universe. [God Power: Time Shatter] was one of the powers that I got from the Universe. Plus, I also received that [Blessing of the Universe] that allowed me to have infinite energy. It would be quite odd to think that another person won''t be able to get a blessing from the Universe when I could. "Is there anything else that happened?" I asked Alex as I looked at him and he nodded as a slight fury appeared on his face. It felt like he could murder a couple of people right now, as he looked at me and spoke, "While I did get weakened, I felt like not all of my powers were gone. Some of it was still left inside me and if I concentrated enough, I might be able to get the powers back¡­ however¡­ those bastards¡­ my so-called family members¡­" Chapter 181 Forgiven? "While I did get weakened, I felt like not all of my powers were gone. Some of it was still left inside me and if I concentrated enough, I might be able to get the powers back¡­ however¡­ those bastards¡­ my so-called family members¡­" ording to Alex, after he was saved, he was constantly hunted by a group of strong people, his uncle being one of them. Maybe because of his bandage and all, his uncle failed to recognize him, and started attacking for no reason. Wasn''t just the uncle though, their sons and daughters also were included in that. He was blind, not deaf. He clearly remembers the voices of his cousins and uncle. Maybe a mistake could be made with one voice, but multiple voices? Nope. No way it was a mistake. All that fighting and running took quite a toll on him, but he managed to outrun them and settled in a random stadium where he killed zombies and meditated to heal himself. While Erika, who was always with him, helped protect him however she could. Killing zombies and scaring off other humans. She made sure nobody disturbed her brother''s meditation. And after all was said and done, my eyes observed him with a little bit of pity before I spoke, "Before I reach any conclusion. What is it that you want now? I can heal you, all right. But what are you going to do after that?" Hearing my voice, Alex turned at me with a determinant look as he spoke,"first. I will stop whatever the nightmare zombie it was, and then I will also save my friends. And once I am done with that, I will talk to my family before deciding what exactly is going on." ''A good approach. Though I doubt he will let his family go after what they had done to him, let''s see how he would deal with things,'' I thought as I smiled at him and spoke, "Sure." Before I looked at Erika, and spoke,"Can I have the doll for a few moments?" and though hesitatingly, when her brother nodded at her, she passed the teddy to me as she spoke, "Please treat Mr. Eli." Smiling, I took the teddy and [Temporal Inversion(Umon)!] [User can cause the flow of time to go in the opposite direction. Can work only on inanimate objects. Cost: 500TP/Second] used this ability and saw the whole thing being plugged back. It was a bit slow, but in front of my eyes, each and every wool began repositioning itself back to where it belonged. While a few smiled, others started looking at the phenomenon with their eyes widened. Even Miya was carefully observing it, unable toprehend what was going on. And after it returned to its tip-top condition, I smiled as I returned the teddy back to her and she looked at it with a bright smile. Standing back up, I turned to the military guy as I asked again, "What is your name?" "Umm¡­ It''s Reeve¡­" he spoke gulping as he looked at me and I nodded as I moved towards him, before passing by him as I patted his shoulders as I muttered,"Consider yourself lucky." Normally, I would have killed him first before deciding whether he was good or not. But I guess the situation made me look at his status first, and honestly, he was more of a hero who had saved not only his men''s lives many times but also civilians by putting his position in danger. I guess, even though he was arrogant, his past actions had earned him a few more years ahead of him. Now that is out of the box, "Hey, M. Aren''t you getting cuter as the time is passing?" I flirted a little with this former girlfriend of mine, making her look at me in a daze as she asked,"you¡­ aren''t angry?" "Not really. I thought it would be better to talk and see before reaching a logical conclusion. While I don''t trust the military, I guess I can believe you a little," I spoke as I looked at her and she smiled a little with her eyes brightening. "So, what is going on here?" I asked as I looked at her and, snapping back from her daze, she spoke out,"Actually, a few weeks ago, I think the timing matches with what happened with Alex, so on that day, we received another signal. A really powerful one at that." ''So they came here to check that out, huh?'' I thought as I looked at the other guys around before turning to that military guy, Reeve, as I asked,"And what''s with you trying to kill Erika and take in Alex?" "Ummm¡­ that¡­" he was trying to figure out words to exin, but since I already had an idea of what happened, I spoke first, "Let me guess. You thought that Erika was a dangerous zombie and decided to kill her. While Alex was the one who came protecting her and looking at the situation, you decided to go for a do or die. Is that correct?" "That¡­ uh¡­ yeah¡­" he spoke as he put his head down in embarrassment. Taking in a deep sigh, I then shook my head as I looked at Alex,"what do you want to do with them?" Normally I would have let them go, but I wasn''t the one to decide for this one. "I can''t forgive him for hurting my sister, but since the situation is reallyplicated, I would like to dy my conclusion until I deal with my own things. Is that fine, brother?" Alex spoke as he looked at me and I nodded,"sure. Have it your way." Hearing Alex''s words, everyone from the military sighed, before I looked at Alex and asked, "So. Where is the apartment of the so-called uncle of yours?" "It is in the Iris City, near the Mepris Mansion," Alex answered and I nodded before looking at the jeep of the military, "Doesn''t seem like it can hold enough people, does it?" Chapter 182 That Red Coloured House "How?" asked Irene as she nkly looked at me while we were traveling towards our destination. Currently, we were traveling in a [Super Jeep] of sorts that I bought from the [Shop] and bought here in the real world, through the gate. [Super Jeep(Rare)] [One of the advanced machinery of the Iktara, which ran on energy rather than any inexhaustible source. As long as it has enough energy source, it can function for a very long time. Special Effects: >When under attack, it forms a shield that reduces iing damage by 50% >Once fully charged, both its weapons and its fuel capacity can run for 2 weeks at full power. >Contains 3 semi-auto rifles, 2 side machine guns, war knife tires, nitro boost and a rocketuncher.] It did cost me about 250,000 Cronas, but given how much Cronas I had in my pockets right now, I guess it was fine, honestly. [Total Cronas: 25,291,054] ''Maybe I should buy that other dungeon too? But I won''t be able to use itpletely while I am here, can I?'' I thought as I pondered over it before looking at Irene as I answered her question finally after so much pestering, "I have an ability that allows me to create specific things. Though it costs a bit of energy at a time." It wasn''t a total lie, since [Shop] does allow me to create things in a way, and the cost is Cronas, which is a form of energy. With my infinite energy, keeping the gas tank full wasn''t really a problem. We can even use this infinitely. Too bad there wasn''t anything that could help us fly and reach there, or else I would have used that. ording to Rhea, in a certain war between the higher beings, all the flying weapons were already used and the newer flying automobiles weren''t avable in the [Shop]. ''This makes me wonder about what exactly is the [Shop] and also, I was more curious about the creator of this [System] of mine. It was already too powerful,'' I thought as I looked beside me at M, who was carefully observing Miya, trying to see through her mask. Sensing me observing her, she turned at me with a slightly perplexed look before she sighed as she put her head on my shoulders and I wrapped my arms around her. "Every time I see you, another girl is around you. Caroline and Alissa, I more or less knew, but them¡­ Sigh¡­ how do you always end up finding so out of the norm girls, anyway?" she questioned in a low yet tired voice and slowly reaching my hands to her chins, I lifted her head towards me. "Jealous?" I asked with a bit of a mischievous tone, and she nodded without any denial. I then bent a bit forward and kissed her on the lips before separating them and saying,"that''s what you get for leaving me behind all by myself back then." I see her eyes widened as she proceeded to touch her lips. It looked like she was still in a daze, so I just left her like that. A few momentster, she smiled brightly as she tightened her grip around my arm and then put her head on my shoulder again. This time with a joy filled attitude, than the previously worried one. "We are almost there," Alex spoke as he looked at the scene in front of us. We were in a small city, with a couple of buildings, but mostly it has double or triple storied houses. At max having 5 floor apartment buildings. "The Nightcrawlers in this part of the country are really low," said Miya as she sensed around while she killed whatever Nightcrawlers came close to us. While the rest of us just sat there and enjoyed the view of the night. The light of the [Super Jeep] also had UV light installed, making the Nightcrawlers stay away as far as possible. While I also gave my [UV- Lamp] to the military guys, who were following us in their own car. The speed of their car was increased by Miya, using some of her magic, hence the reason for our early arrival in the town so far. We traveled to almost the center of the town before Alex asked us to stop near a half broken building. Getting out of the vehicle, he looked at me and pointed at the house at a distance from us. "It''s that one. The red-coloured one," he spoke as he pointed at the house and hearing his voice, I nodded as I turned at Walter and the others,"protect the people here. I will go and check things out." While others nodded, Alex held my hand as he looked at me with a really worried face while I just smiled as I spoke,"Don''t worry. Even if the enemy is 10 times stronger than you describe, I still won''t get a single scratch. Trust me, okay?" He was hesitant, but he nodded. As for Erika, she just looked at me from the jeep as I waved my hand at her before moving towards the red-coloured house. While I was walking, I also activated [Eyes of the Time Keeper] to check for anything that mighte at me randomly. Though, the timer showed that I won''t be attacked for another month or so, which made me rx a little. I also checked for any attack at them, which actually showed that they will be attacked in another 20 minutes or so. But when I checked when they would get badly injured or be in trouble, the time showed more than 3 months. While it was fine and all, it was showing 3 months for Enkonimiya as well, which made me question something really important. ''What is it that is going to happen in 3 months? That is even enough to harm someone as strong as Miya?'' "Well. We will cross that bridge when we reach that," I thought as I reached that red house. While it looked pretty much normal, trusting Alex''s words, I proceeded with caution on every step that I was taking. Slowly entering the house, I observed the things present in that house. ''Nothing out of the ordinary, I see,'' I thought as I looked around. Starting from the kitchen to the bedroom, I searched all the rooms on the ground floor. Then I moved to the roof and checked things around. There was another room there, but it only stored a couple of old materials. Nothing noteworthy. Not giving up, I decided to take another round in searching the things around. And this time, guess what I found? A hidden basement. -Creaaak!!! Opening with an eerie voice, the door opened, showing a dark basement that led down toplete emptiness. [Second Space] I entered the space, went to [Shop], bought another [UV-Lamp] and then went back outside, as I positioned themp in front of the basement. I almost puked, looking at the scene. It was all slimy and scary, filled with rotten flesh covering the entire area, from the stairs to the walls up to the roof. ''One step closer to the truth, I guess,'' I thought as I shed the air using my spear from the [Time Storage] [Temporal Rejection] Cutting down the flesh on the ground, creating a ce enough to step down before taking the first step towards the basement. Chapter 183 Cry Me A River -Step! -Step! -Step! With each step that I was taking, a creaky sound was produced, determining that the floor wasn''t exactly safe tond and may break if I made any wrong moves. With the UV-Lamp, the darkness was gone, and what was presented in front was a long ass pathway that didn''t seem to end. But after traveling for another minute, I finally reached a den of sorts, which seemed more like a cavern. Looking around, I saw the walls being covered by the same meaty slimy thing that the pathway was infested with. But, some parts were left, showing a metallic wall, determining that it was more of a shelter than a cave. ''Looks like there was ab here before,'' I analyzed the few broken instruments as I shed down the slimy meat off the areas where the thing was elevated. It did reveal a few things here and there, which made me wonder what actually happened here. I needed to find out a few answers which bugged me, so I pondered over something before looking at my System, trying to see if there was something that could be helpful in this situation. ''Let''s try that here,'' I thought after scrolling or a few minutes as I activated an ability of mine [Call of the Fairies(Unique)] [The world of the fairies is dying, but the fairies themselves have taken refuge on variouss. In return for saving the Queen of Fairies, Erina, the fairies have granted you their blessing. Summon the fairies to your aid to use the powers of nature for a limited time. Effect: Allows the user to use a random Natural Element for 10 mins Limitations: Can be used only once in every 15 Days] I used this ability because of two reasons. One was that I needed to clean this ce, so as long as I don''t get a really bad element, I think I should be fine. And the other was that I needed to finish things quickly here, and not end up destroying everything. So as long as I manage my power using this ability, I should be able to achieve both. And then¡­ "We have been summoned?!!!" "Who is that insolent brat?!" "He looks cute!" "Hmmm¡­ what race is he?" "Don''t know. Never seen anything like that!" "Hey! Hey! Hey!" "Who are you?" "What''s your name?" Fairies coated in red, with zing fire in their eyes, rose from the surrounding space. One.. two¡­ five¡­ a dozen¡­ and more. Each of them was small enough to fit in my hands, each of them looked fiery enough to burn an entire human alive. Red-haired, with wings made of fire, they were flying all around me, trying to analyze me with their sharp gazes. I looked at them with a slightly surprised gaze, as I could feel the heat on my face just by looking at them. "It''s Michael Aroa," I answered as I looked at them and they started talking again. "Michael Aroa?" "Strange name." "Cute name" "Makes me puke" "What are you doing?" "Are you the one who summoned us?" "What are you, Michael?" "What''s your race, Michael?" And hearing all those questions, I got overwhelmed a little as I just spoke,"umm¡­ can you help me clean this ce?" "Sure" "Done" And within a brief moment, like a sh fire, the entire slimy meat was gone from there, leaving nothing behind. Not even a trace of it. After the entire slimy thing was burnt down to ashes, what was left behind was ab made out of strange things. The instruments¡­ didn''t look like they were from this. As a med student, I have been to too manybs, and trust me, there wasn''t a single instrument that I was witnessing here that I had seen before. The shape was indescribable. The energy they were giving off was strange, and most of them looked broken, but still deadly. Even the craziest psychopaths won''t be having anything like that. ''Just what kind of¡­ being¡­ was here?'' I thought as I looked around the entire area, before the Fairies started shouting again, this time with a troubled and scared voice. "Wait, a second!" "There is still something left" "It''s strong!" "It is!" "Scary!" "Scary!" And then before I could contemte anything¡­ someone came out of the back door, which was presented after the whole slimy thing was burnt into pieces. -Bam! A woman donned in ck opened the door with a kick as she looked at me. Her eyes charred in ck as she looked at me, her straight long hair that matched her outfit. She was white as snow. Her dark eyes looked at me, piercing my very being. "It''s¡­ her?" "What is she doing here?!" "Shouldn''t she be dead already?!" "The Ang!" "The Witch!" "Run!" "Run!" "Run!" But even though they were stating that, they were unable to escape from here. Their eyes scared out of their wits, they looked at me as if they were begging and one of them shouted, "Please Michael! Let us go! We don''t want to die! Michael!" And then¡­ That woman, covered in ck, spoke as she looked at me,"How dare you destroy my creations, my work?" And strange shadows began covering the entire area around me as I just looked at her. Soon those shadows covered everything around me, turning everything ck. Even the UV-Lamp wasn''t useful, as I just looked at where she was standing. "Go," I spoke as I let those fairies go and they vanished in an instant, making that ck veiled woman, Ang, look at me with even more fury. "Suffer¡­ for eternity," she dered as her eyes closed and slowly the darkness engulfed her, too. But before she could vanish, I managed to use [Inspect] on her. [Inspect!] [Name: Ang Reas Race: Half-God ss: The Watcher of Darkness Description: ??? Devine Energy: 100,000,000,000/100,000,000,000 Status: Undevined Gift: ??? p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® Skills(1,219,101) Strength: ???? Constitution: 191,019,184 Dexterity: 184,920,0284 Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ??? Charm: ???] Chapter 184 Misfortune Knocks Twice [M''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ It has been 20 minutes since he went into that red house as we kept a watchful eye on the ce around. The number of Nightcrawlers has been reduced to zero and currently we are just sitting idly. My eyes traced those girls, Irene and Miya. Irene looks beautiful. She has that mature look on her face with a tinge of dignity. I am pretty sure she too has a past of her own and experiences that she had gained. I wonder what is the rtion between Michael and her. As for the other girl, her beauty scares me. I have only seen her eyes through the mask she always keeps on. Even her hair and everything is mostly hidden by the hood, yet I feel inferior to her every time I look at her. At first I thought that she was just beautiful, especially when I saw her energy level. But then she proved me wrong. She was far, far stronger than anyone I have seen. Just like Michael, she too has a different form of energy, which I cannot trace. ''Just how do you end up finding people like that one after another, Michael?'' I thought as I recalled Caroline, whose energy level was always off the charts. As I recalled, Alissa, who could do things beyond anything I could imagine. A sigh escaped my mouth as I looked at them talking with each other with a smiling face. They look so peac- -sh! -nk! -BOOM!! -BOOOM!!! -BOOOM!!! "Huh?!" My eyes turned wide as I found Reeve and George in front of me, each shing a certain de that was aimed at me. When did they reach here? Confused, I looked in the direction where they were seriously gazing¡­ three silhouettes, walking towards us. Each donned in ck, two men and one little girl, walking towards us. And looking at a distance, about a dozen more people followed them. "Oh! They repelled our attack?" confused, that little girl spoke as she looked at us. While the other two smiled at her as one of them spoke,"Looks like we would be having some fun here." "As long as mydy doesn''t destroy them with annoyance," spoke the girl with a sigh while the other man spoke,"How long are we going to stay on this low energy, anyway?" "I don''t know. Maybe another 3 months? Sir Belial isingter. Maybe after that?" the girl spoke, pondering as the three reached closer. ''What?!'' my eyes widened as they stepped into my energy zone and I finally sensed their energy. "Blergh! Blergh!... cough cough¡­ "I vomited, burdened by all that overwhelming energy. Those monsters¡­ who are they¡­ where they even came from¡­ S? No¡­ it''s far beyond that¡­ Much beyond that¡­ Wondering how Jeff was handling the situation, I looked around to see his unconscious body as his eyes were bleeding and some blood also poured out from his ears. ''Is he dead?'' I concluded as I saw those symptoms of his¡­ this was¡­ just what kind of monsters¡­. "They look strong," spoke Irene first as she observed them while yawning as she looked at them. Her nonchnt words made me confused. Can''t she see the power levels of those people? "Listen-" as I was speaking, George and Walter answered Irene, "Not really. They seem quite¡­cking honestly"(Walter) p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® "Maybe. But let''s not underestimate, shall we?"(George) I looked at Miya, hoping she would make them understand theplexity of the situation, but¡­ "How are we going to divide them between the three of us? Also Reeve, was it? You too have a few hidden cards, don''t you? Wanna join us? The winner usually gets a reward," she spoke, making it more of apetition as she looked at them. ''Huh?'' I questioned as I turned to Reeve, who was a bit hesitant before, but as soon as Miya spoke, he just sighed,"when did you find out?" "From the start? Did you really think I couldn''t?" Miya asked as she looked at Reeve, and he chuckled as he stretched a little and spoke,"I hoped so. Though, they don''t look amateur to me. Are you sure we all can handle them?" At his words, Miya just smiled as we waited for them to approach. "The man behind, third from the right, is my uncle," Alex spoke as he pointed at the ck-haired old guy who was holding a hammer in his hands and continued,"beside them is his daughter and the other two children." Then, after a brief pause, he dered,"they are mine." "I will help, brother," spoke Erika as she joined. Alex looked at her with a re but she just red back, making him sigh before he spoke,"but you can''t get closer than 10 meters in the fight," at which she just sighed before nodding happily. "AAAA!!!" Jeff woke up with a frightened expression as he looked at us before turning at those people iing towards us. His expression turned for the worse as he spoke, "Everybody run! They are monsters! We need to run!!" As he ran away, but after walking for a few steps, he realized that no one was running away. Confused, his eyes begged them to run. He turned to Reeve as he was about to exin something, but then Miya said,"Sleep." And he fell unconscious again. Miya turned to those 3 wearing ck coloured clothes. Her purple eyes traced the three of them before she sighed as she spoke, "They are hiding their powers as well. Be careful how you deal with them." The others just nodded at her before the man on the right spoke. "The girl in the hoodie is mine." He had a lustful smile on his face as he held his long sword at his shoulders. Wearing a ck long jacket over his white T-shirt and ck jeans, he just stood there. His spiked hairs made him look like a hooligan, and those golden snake-like eyes and scales on his white face made him look as if he were an animal more than a human. "Hey! Not fair, you get all the beauties¡­ fine, I will settle with the chainsaw one," spoke the other guy, holding his long scythe. With his blue coloured long hair, he too looked like a hooligan, just a bit more decent than the other one. His square sses made him look a bit more sophisticated than the other one. "Then I will take the two guys. Would be a fine addition to my dolls," spoke the girl as she looked at Reeve and George with a sweet smile that sent chills down my spine. Then the little girl turned around as she looked at the dozen people behind them and said,"you guys can y with the others." And they started cheering loudly, especially looking at me. Their lustful gazes traced my body as I tightened my grip on my de. "Well. I guess that''s what everyone gets. So, get to work," spoke Miya as she smiled at the others. The others were fine with that, except Walter, who looked really sad for some reason. "Though Reeve. And George, you too. Be careful, she is¡­ different," Miya spoke as she looked at that girl with a concentrated gaze. "Sure," George spoke as he moved forwards first, making others follow behind him as well¡­. Chapter 185 Slythreen [Enkonomiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ People of Darkness. They were there when the War of the Nexus was at its peak. From what my memory serves, they were being handpicked by that General himself. What was his name again¡­ yeah, General Belial. In a way, you can even say that General Belial created them by himself. They feasted on the fear of other people and also possessed an extra amount of Cessation Energy than they should carry. Though the most troublesome thing about their power was the ability to control the darkness itself. Darkness was a part of them, like an extension, which they can control at their will. Normally they should be able to control only an extent of darkness, however, as their power grows, so does their control over darkness. As far as I remember, there were 12 people under themand of Belial, the 12 Ingrates, as he called them. ''I wonder which Ingrate is hiding here, currently,'' I thought as I knew the tide of the battle might shift drastically if we end up matching against the wrong one. Each Ingrate held a specific control over darkness, and held the power far beyond one could imagine. Though if there was one thingmon in between their absurdity, then that was that each and every one of them was at least an SSSS-Grade. If it is among the lower 6 of the Ingrates, it should be fine, but if it is the upper Ingrates¡­ ''That could be a bit bothersome,'' I thought as I shifted a little left and saw the man with the long sword, turning one step to the left as well. Understanding his intentions, I started walking away from there to the left, making him follow me with a lusty smile. I looked at George and Walter, and understanding my intentions, they nodded before I started running a bit faster. Not too fast to outrun him, but still fast enough to not let him catch me as well. "Where are you running, missy?" That guy spoke as he licked his sword and kept following me without a glint of doubt in his mind. After running a bit far away from the others, I finally stopped as I decided that this much distance was good enough. Here I can let my powers let loose for a little while, also letting the other kids enjoy their own battle as well. "What happened, Missy? Ran out of stamina to run? Chk chk, such a poor girl," he spoke as he looked at me as he moved one step at a time as he continued, "But you shouldn''t have decided to betray your people and run on your own. You are certainly fast, but that is only going to give you a few more minutes of safety. Nothing more." I looked at him with a ''serious'' expression as I looked at him and his smile widened into a grin as he spoke again,"actually, it would have been better if you had continued running. I love when my prey tries to escape me." ''10%... no, I should go at 5%. I just hope that I don''t end up killing him fast, ending all the fun at once,'' I thought as I jumped at him while also applying some hidden defenses on me, just in case he had some surprises. "Whoa there!" he spoke with a bit of surprised face as he jumped back, dodging my aura sword that I created out of magic. It was one of the basic magic techniques that I learned when I was 5. And then I moved for another sh at the same speed and, noticing my attack, he used his sword and -nk! Managed to block my attack. "Nice sword you got there,"I spoke as I looked at his slightly serious face. His eyes were concentrated on my sword as he answered,"I could speak the same for yours." He then pushed me back a little before jumping again. He has some good sword skills, I would give him that. -nk! -nk! -nk! Sounds of our sword crossing each other many times echoed as we kept fighting. I wasn''t using my full power as I observed his movements, his steps, his breathing pattern, even his ways of looking. "You really got some moves there, missy. Didn''t think I would find someone so skilled on this barren like this. How about I give you an offer?" He finally spoke after a minute of silence, and I looked at him with a slightly amused face. "What offer?" I asked, trying to hide my disgusted smile. "Be my woman," he spoke as he slowed his steps, created a bit of distance and then, keeping his sword on his shoulder, he smiled with a slight evil grin. "Missy. You probably don''t know, but this is just a measly weasly, which is soon going to be used as a resource three monthster. In other words, this world is doomed to die soon. Consider yourself lucky that you have the benevolent me offering to take you in. With me, you can escape this ursed fate of this," he spoke as his eyes glowed while I¡­ just chuckled. "Everything would have been fine. But there is just a little bit of a problem¡­ two problems actually," I spoke as I decided to humor him a little. "O! And what would they be?" he asked curiously, stopping his steps and looking at me. I raised two of my fingers as I looked at him, "One is that¡­ I despise the People of Darkness more than anything." His eyes turned really serious as he looked at me. Question filled his mind as he observed my face with much more caution as he asked,"how do you know that name? I don''t think we told anyone about that name on this." The People of Darkness were one of the people responsible for the destruction of my. Of course I would despise them. Though they had an entire army with them back then. And I had killed at least half of that army by myself¡­ "Second reason is that¡­ I would rather kill myself 1000 times over than fall so low as to sleep with a Slythreen," I spoke with a mocking smile as I looked at him. Slythreen were a race with scales on their body. Their powers weren''t really special, but their defense was really something else. Also, their agility was good too. One of the reasons most of the Slythreen''s were assassins of the night. With the addition of the power of darkness, most Slythreen were unstoppable even back then. Though too bad, his opponent is me¡­ really a shame¡­ "You are not a native of this. Who are you?" he asked as he finally got serious. His skin changed into scales and his eyes turned more snake like. He looked at me withplete seriousness as he positioned himself properly and asked again, "I will ask onest time. Who. Are. You?" "For a mere Slythreen who doesn''t even have aplete Reptilian Core¡­ you got some guts to speak in that tone." I looked at him with a disgusted look, as if I were looking down on some worm. And perhaps he didn''t like that, so his expression turned furious as he shouted,"You are¡­ FUCKING DEAD NOW!!!" Chapter 186 What A Coincidence. Me Too. [Enkonomiya''s POV Continued] ¡­ ¡­ -BOOM! -BOOM! -BOOM! -sh! Easily shing most of his iing attacks, I dashed towards him, while he kept escaping me like a snake he was. Though his temper was quite something as he kept on shouting how he would do this to me and then do that to me. Well, not the first time someone said that to me, so I was more or less used to it. "You motherf*cking b*itch! Just what the heck are you?!!!" he shouted as he finally calmed down a little and his attacks were a bit more precise now. I just kept dodging his attacks as I looked deep into his heart, especially at his half core. Cores. To understand that point, we need to understand the concept of Mystic Being. Simply speaking, any being that can channel a particr energy through its body is a Mystic being. Although it is moreplicated than that, there are two requirements for a being to be called a Mystic being, without which it cannot fall into that category. One is that it should be able to survive on its own and not depend on a location, power or even a host. That is why dungeon monsters, or monsters that are artificially created, aren''t Mystic beings. The other requirement is evolution. Mystic beings should be able to evolve themselves into something. Zombies fall in the category of Mystic beings, but humans do not. Neither any other race. Most races, in fact, don''t channel energy through their body, but through the gaps in their body. It''s like passing the energy without touching it at the molecr level. As for the beings, for example, zombies, who can channel it through their body, they can materialize that energy into cores by converting that part of the body where most dense energy travels through. That is why Mystic beings mostly, if not all, have a core. Cores are like a storage unit of energy that Mystic beings can use to evolve after having it condensed enough. They can also use it to force evolution. Or they can use energy from some other parts of the body, for example, eyes and skin, to make the core stronger, in exchange for a faster but limited evolution. A prime example would be Nightcrawlers. The zombies use the energy stored in their eyes and skin for utilities for evolution, which result in their faster but strange evolution. While the other parts get enhanced, the other parts like eyes and skin, get weakened very much so. Enough to nearly kill them at times. "It took me 10 years to perfect it at this point. You have no idea how much I have sacrificed to get it here. How many times have I had to put my life on the line? This is something I take pride in, I cannot let you step all over it," that Slythereen spoke as he looked at me with a deep re. He was talking about his core. "Slythereens always fascinate me each time I meet them," I said as I chuckled and moved forward. This time I decided to use 20% of my power. Just like before, he attacked me, but this time I just shed all those attacks left and right, without really deviating from my usual pace and direction. At which, his eyes bulged out, as he couldn''t believe what he was witnessing.please visit "Every one of you always bbers so much. But howe it''s always about how you killed and put your life on the line? Like okay, you did that but¡­ why do you always assume that it is a great thing? You are doing it for yourself only, right? It''s not like you are sacrificing your life for someone else. Listen kid, feeding yourself, breathing a little, taking a step towards your goal is something that is your responsibility towards your existence. If you can''t even do that, then you are far worse than a worm. If you want to actually boast about something, why don''t you try doing something for someone else? It takes courage, you know? You never know when that person might even betray you. You never know if the person whom you save might end up killing an entire country or something. When you save someone, it''s not a simple matter of life and death. You are taking the responsibility of changing an entire future. Are you brave enough to do that? To save someone who might betray you when his turnes? If not¡­ then don''t you dare boast about that foolish pride to me," I spoke as I reached closer to him while he was still trying his best to attack me. His eyes were still ring at me. His teeth were still clenched as he spoke,"thest time I saved someone¡­ my entire nation was killed in front of me." I looked at him with a calm smile as I spoke,"How coincidental. Me too," and then I shed him¡­ though his body started shining as he jumped far back. ''Forced Evolution,'' I thought as I saw his body going through a forced evolution right in front of me. I saw his body changing its color. From the previous yellow to a bit more greenish. From the back of his scales, giant wings began developing and his eyes, which were smoother, started developing ayer of scales around them and within them. A single horn grew from the left side as he looked at me with a slight re. "It seems like you understand what I have been through¡­ too bad you are an enemy¡­ I cannot let you live," he said with a deep voice as he prepared himself tounch at me and I increased my power from 20% to 50%. ''To make me use half of my base power, he certainly was strong, I guess. I wonder if he can make me fight for real,'' I thought as I waited for him to jump at me. -Whoosh! -sh! -sh! -nk! Our des shed against each other and a high-speed sword fight ensued as he went on with full attack, while I took a defensive stance. I saw him adjusting with his newfound powers within the battle itself. At every step, he was improving a little. At every step, I had to use more of my skills. His improvement was making me smile a little, as I kept going, on and on, while he tried his best to get an attack in. Though, as he fought more, he finally realized that something was wrong. Even though he realized something was wrong, he kept going on. And after exchanging blows for another minute or so, I saw his increment in skills and powersing to a halt. I myself found that I was using 67% of my powers right now. "You are a monster too, aren''t you? Too bad we got a monster of our own, working around in theb nearby. As soon as she gets pissed¡­ haha¡­ it will be over for you," he spoke with a slight smirk and I was confused a little, wondering what he was talking about. "You might not know missy, but¡­ we have a Half-God with us right now," he spoke and my eyes widened in realization¡­. Before I spoke with a slight smile escaping from the corner of my lips, "Just a Half-God? Is it the Witch?" Chapter 187 Fighting A Certain Half God [Michael''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ In the utter darkness that shrouded my entire being, I tried looking around the area. Wondering what I should do now? Should I use [The Defier]? Though after pondering a bit more, I decided to not use it. Let''s use this first, [God Power: Reverse Time] [Using the Crona Energy of the Universe itself, the user can reverse time to a previous state. Note that the user can only reverse time up to where he had the ability to manipte time. Requirements: The user needs to bepletely free of any emotional disturbance of any sorts Cost: 10 Golden Crona per second] [Total Golden Cronas: 180] Since it had been less than a few seconds, [God Power: Reverse Time!] For the next 7 seconds, I saw no change, before I found myself back at the position where that woman in ck was about to cover me in ck shadows and then¡­ [God Power: Temporal Pause!] [Allows the user to pause time for others. All Stats will be stopped at the same points and there would never be any change in the System Status until the ability is used. Cost: 1 Golden Crona per second!] I paused the time as I walked outside the area behind her. Turning around, I saw a ck sphere covering the area around where I was standing before. Starting the time again, I saw her looking at the ce where the sphere covered everything, then began shrinking until it was gone from existence. "Ooo! That looks scary," I spoke with a slightly agitated expression, making Ang turn at me with a baffled expression as she jumped back. She then spoke some words as I saw my body degrading into pieces, falling¡­ at least in the future. [Time Rejection!] I used that ability and just kinda scratched my head looking at her,"listendy. I have a few questions for you. Can we please talk nicely?" Though her expression turned even more baffled as she spoke in a loud and agitated voice,"who are you?" Unlike before, where she was looking down on me, she was now very¡­ very cautious of me. "[Chambers of Blurred World]" she spoke as a certain energy spread around me, changing the entire scene in front of me. If before we were within theboratory, now we were in a barrennd, with nothing but rocks as far as I could see. In the sky, I could see a few moons ands at a distance, but there was no sun. Only stars. "Are we on a different or something?" my eyes widened as I observed her powers. Was that even possible? Though she didn''t answer me as she continued to chant. In the foreseeable future, I saw the world itself had started to consume me, and I pondered how I should deal with it. It won''t be a matter of simply cutting things down, since it seemed like the entire was against me. ''Is there a way I can destroy the entire? Though I am not sure if I can get back home that way. Thankfully, I didn''t use [The Defier]. Hopefully, it will take me back to my without much problem,'' I breathed out in relief as I looked at that woman, who had almost finished her chants.please visit -BOOM! Jumping high up in the air, I dodged the iing attack from below. The ground molded itself in the form of a spike as it grew higher and higher, almost reaching me. -BOOOM!!! Using my spear skills, I cut down the ground into pieces before standing up on a floor created by [Time Shield] She looked at me standing up in the air, and she herself levitated in the air as she finally spoke, "Who are you?" "Eh? For someone who attacked me out of nowhere, transported me to this godforsaken ce, and is still trying to kill me. Shouldn''t you be the one introducing yourself first?" I spoke in a baffled voice, as it didn''t seem fair to me at all. Her eyes narrowed at me as she muttered a few words and I felt the air around me being thinned out to zero. I kind of understood that she was trying to make me run out of breath, but¡­ [The slumbered one: The one who has slept for 10,000 years. He does not find any necessity of food, water or energy. He can survive without anything at all and even breathing that should be most necessary to one''s life, he can live without it.] Because of this [Title], I didn''t really need to worry about my breathing here. Or perhaps anywhere. There was one more thing that I understood, which I hadn''t noticed before. It was that I could use multiple titles at once. ''Nice,'' I smiled brightly as I loved this addition. Though looking at her, Ang, she seemed to be getting a bit more cautious each time I smiled. I could see the tension in her eyes rising as she tried her best to analyze me, but it didn''t seem like she was reaching anywhere with that. "I am¡­ Ang. The Watcher of Darkness¡­ the 7th Ingrate of General Belial," she spoke as she looked at me with a bit of pride, though looking at no change in my expression, her expression became a little bewildered. ''Hmmm? Does she want me to feel scared of this General Balial or something?'' I was confused as I wondered about it. And soon I even asked, "Ummm¡­ who is this General Belial? And¡­ ummm¡­ what is an Ingrate?" Though it made her even more bewildered than before, she stopped all her attacks and stood there observing me. "You really¡­ don''t know?" she spoke as she looked at my expression and I shook my head with a bit of an awkward expression before speaking, "Well. What should we do now? I can''t really kill you right now because I need a bit of information¡­ So can you please stop attacking me? I don''t want to end up killing you by mistake or something." I was as honest as possible and she looked at me with her eyes shaken¡­ before slight fury entered in her eyes as she then spoke, "Looks like you are underestimating me¡­ that would be a big mistake." The entire then started shaking violently as a storm developed around us with a dozen tornadoes forming all around us. The tornado contained a certain ck coloured energy, which made my skin crawl a little. [Warning! A strange energy is surrounding the host! Host please be careful!] Looking at the message¡­ I was quite calm. I was still using [Eyes of the Time Keeper] and yet there was no visible threat in the near future. For some reason, I even felt that it was fine as it was¡­ After the number of tornadoes doubled, I saw my Stats getting low and my energy being drained by the tornadoes, which was making the tornadoes much more ferocious than they already were. "Now. Are you sure you can act as carefreely as before?" she spoke with her pride, lifting her up a little. Though honestly¡­ "Ummm¡­ are you done now? I really am trying to be patient here, you know?" I spoke as I looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression. Chapter 188 Dragonborn [Irene Campbell''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Sweetheart, you are hurting my feelings right now," spoke that scythe wielding guy as he took a jump back, getting out of my range of attack before he appeared right behind me using that strange space magic of his. Pressing his back against mine, he spoke, "You know. There was a girl that I once liked." -TRRRRRR!!!! I did a 360 degree sh, trying to get him, but he vanished again, appearing a few meters away from me. "She was beautiful as a fairy. Strong as much as an Ingrate. Braver than my entire nation could be," he continued his gibberish, as he looked at me as if he was telling a really heart-touching tale to me. ''How the heck did I end up with this creep? And that power of his¡­ annoying,'' I thought as I felt the energy rising from the other side of the city where Miya was probably fighting. ''I need to finish this quickly or else¡­'' I thought with a worried expression as that guy observed me and spoke,"Worried, girl? Don''t worry. That guy might look like a hooligan, but he sure has a big heart when ites to beautiful women. You are probably going to lose one of your allies to us, though. Now that is something to be worried about, isn''t it?" He chuckled while I was worried about how to finish this more quickly. I don''t want to lose to the others. "Pheww!... Man. I didn''t think I would have to rely on this so early in the game but¡­ Well whatever," I spoke as my eyes turned deep red and I observed him from a distance. He made an amused expression before -Zrrrrr! "Huh?!" confused he found a part of his leg cut apart as he jumped in the air, with a surprised expression. Though it grew back with an equally fast speed. He then looked at me with a narrowed gaze as I had nted my chainsaw in the ground. My eyes were still red and all my energy was being radiated into the ground. I stopped using my eyes andpletely relied on my senses to locate him. Waiting for him toe down from mid air, as soon as he touched the ground again -ZRRRRRR!!!! A chainsaw appeared right below him, though he vanished, appearing right behind me he spoke, "That''s a dangerous mov- -ZRRRRRR!!! Another chainsaw appeared from the ground below, making him jump aside, but two others followed behind. Making him vanish from there and appear in the air. This time, however, falling on the ground, he looked at me from above with that scythe ced on his back. "Looks like I underestimated you, sweetheart. You pack a bit more punch than I had thought. Shame that you met me of all the people," he spoke with a slightly pitiful face before. -ZRRRRRRRRR!!!!! Another one, my chainsaw, this one much much bigger than the others, came out of the ground and almost reached him, yet again, not caring much, he just vanished before he appeared right in front of me. "That''s enough," he spoke as he gripped me by my neck, though as soon as he touched me -ZRRR!!! Small chainsaws about 100s in number tore apart his skin, as he traced back his hands before vanishing again. This time¡­ it was a bit more different from before. While I can''t exactly control the amount of energy I use on the chainsaw from afar,please visit If ites to my own body, the amount of energy is much more refined. Simply put, when I use the chainsaw, from a distance, or not connected to my body, I kind of give amand for a specific action. Think of it using aputer code that will perform only the task which it was assigned. Though with my own body, I can use the chainsaw, literally, as a part of or as an extension of my own will. "You really are like her in some aspects. I will give you that," he said as he cut off his arm, in which I sent a trace of my own elemental energy. Looks like he figured it out, huh? "You''re not a human, are you?" I asked as I looked at him and he smiled,"not really." Mostly because of the way he uses his energy, but the amount of energy he is using and the amount of things he is doing don''t match. More like¡­ I can feel another sort of energy spiraling around me, making me consume more energy than I should. I tried shaking that stupid energy off, but it doesn''t seem like I have the capability to do that. "I am what you may call a Dragonborn? More like a Night or Space Dragonborn,"he spoke as he started reminiscing about something. His eyes closed as he got lost in deep thought. Using the chance, I tried attacking him, but he simply disappeared and reappeared a few meters away from there as he spoke, "We, Dragonborn, have the power of our ancestor dragons, the true divine being. But mostly we can use only 10% or something, that too varies depending upon the race-" I jumped at him with all my might as I reached him immediately and then -ZRRRRRRR!!!! Once again I tried shing him with my chainsaw directly as he barely dodges me and continued,"And if you are a bit too low in the hierarchy, you might or might not even lose the capability to use the powers of your ancestors." I tried shing him as much as I could, while also making use of the terrain, but like a slippery eel, he always dodged me while continuing at his own pace. "Well. It doesn''t seem like you are interested in my words, sweetheart. It makes me sad, you know," he spoke before he sighed with a slight pity in his eyes before he spoke,"I guess there is little we have inmon. Let''s end this then." I cautioned myself as I looked at him -BOOM! But before I could realize, he had already kicked me in my gut, pushing me behind -BOOM! -BOOM! -BOOM! And then a barrage of attacks followed, hitting me from every direction possible. I was trying to break free from the chain of attacks, but predicting it was much harder than I thought it would be. It felt like he knew where my weak spots were and attacked those as much as he could. His every punch felt calcted¡­ -BOOOM!!! He pushed me towards a building. The impact broke the wall and I was thrown inside as I questioned the state of things. ''Is there any chance of winning at all?'' My eyes pondered as I stood up from the pile of rubble as I slowly walked outside from there. Looking at that guy waiting for me outside, I just sighed as I cracked my knuckles a little. "Who are you?" he asked as he looked at me more cautiously than before. For the first time, he was being careful, dealing with me, the first time he was not having a nonchnt attitude. "All that beating should have killed you a hundred times over. My eyes never lie¡­ howe you are moving¡­ that too without a single scratch on you," he spoke again as he narrowed his eyes and prepared to fight again. "Beginner''s luck?" I smiled as I too prepared for the next round. Chapter 189 9 V/S 1 [Walter''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ Surrounded by 9 of these idiots, I sighed, as I couldn''t help but be dejected by my luck. "Why do I have to get stuck with the weakest of the bunch?" I spoke out loud as I looked around to find those idiotsughing out loud. "Seems like he is underestimating me,"one of the girls spoke as she chuckled with a really ugly voice. Made me cringe so hard that I decided that I would kill her first. "Youth is just like Eva," spoke an old guy who seemed a bit more mature than the others. He then turned to me and said,"How about we make a deal?" A bit confused, I said,"a deal?" He nodded as he spoke,"you can choose one of the people to fight here. If you win, we will let you take a break and then fight another. This way, all of us can enjoy having a good fight while you can have a ch-" "What are you sick or something?" I spoke as I looked at him. My eyes traced those idiots as I spoke, "All of youe at once. I don''t want to waste time on a bunch of nobodies. If I can''t even deal with this much, the others would justugh at me." That old man observed me with an ashen expression as he spoke,"your arrogance would be your downfall. To take on 9 A-Grades at once, despite being a mere A-Grade yourself¡­ I never knew people could be this foolish. All of you, kill him." He then turned around as if the results had already been dered but¡­ -AAAAAAAAAAA!!!! The girl who spoke out first and wasughing before started burning in a ck fire as she cried and screamed in front of everyone. Everyone else looked at her with a terrified gaze as they saw one of their own burning in front of them. The girl soon started burning more rapidly than her body started withering and turning into dust. The whole process took less than a minute, but everyone else, they couldn''t even move a single muscle of theirs as they just kept looking at her burning. And after it was done, "1 down. 8 more to go," I spoke with an uninterested gaze as I ran my senses through the area around me. They looked at me with horror in their eyes as they took a step back and gulped before one of them came at me at an extreme speed. His eyes, though scared, he just reached me and¡­ passed through me. His eyes widened as his entire body got covered in smoke. He tried breaking free, but the more he did, the more he got engulfed by the smoke. His body started freezing slowly and slowly, before it frozepletely, making him fall to the ground. Meanwhile, I just moved out of hiding and came in front of them, making them gulp as they looked at one of their men fallen on the ground. I then raised my finger and pointed at that frozen man. "Stop!!" one of the girls almost shouted, but -BOOM! A fireball shot out of my fingers and hit the frozen man, breaking him into pieces. "2 Down. 7 More to go," I spoke without showing any emotion to them. That woman who just shouted, looked at me with a horrified look before her eyes burned with rage and she shouted, "F*CKING DIE!!!" I saw chains forming from all around her and reaching me before they captured me. It wasn''t just her, but another man reached me as he touched my back. I don''t know what he- ''Hmmm.. So that''s what they are trying to do?'' I thought as I just closed my eyes and chanted,please visit "[Everted Memoriea Lierate]" And the poison that was trying to invade my body was transported to that woman at a distance, while the chains which held me before were now holding that man who tried to poison me. I then clicked my fingers and muttered,"elerate." My eyes witnessed the girl being poisoned as her face turned purple really fast as her body began puffing up from many parts before¡­ -BOOM!!! She exploded into pieces. As for the other guy who tried poisoning me with the same poison, he was already decimated by the chains into many pieces. I just yawned a little as I spoke, "4 Done. 5 More to go." "What are you?!!" The same old man who was taking me lightly earlier was now looking at me with a terrified gaze as he fell on his butt and looked around. "Looking for help? Don''t sweat it. None of you are going to leave alive anyways," I spoke as I looked at the others. 1 of the remaining 5 started running away with deep fear in his eyes and I just sighed as I mumbled in a low voice, "Poor choice¡­ not like you had any." That guy who was running away soon reached a certain distance before a huge, dragon-like face erupted from the ground. My eyes observed the dragon-like monster, with a long neck as it observed its prey. And before that man can do anything¡­ -Crunch! That dragon ate him, and he went tumbling into its stomach, before vanishing back underground. One of the 4 remaining then took out a strange knife and¡­ slit his throat, sumbing to his death in front of me. "Sorry, Tisha," another one just looked at his partner and -Swish! Killed her by attacking directly in her heart and killing her before she could realize what had happened. His partner, the girl who was dying, had a shocked impression on her face, as she couldn''tprehend what had just happened. "I don''t want you to die a cruel fate, a death by another hand, much less. I am sorry for being selfish, but let me be the one who killed you. Please forgive me," he spoke to the dead girl as he then turned at me with a deep rage. His eyes turned red as he looked at me. His power slowly rose as he absorbed the power of the girl whom he just killed. "6 done. 3 left," I spoke as I observed him turning into a huge monster, probably 5 times bigger than he was before. I saw himing at me. With my hands pointed towards him, I muttered again,"Air des of the Niflheim," as about 2 dozen air des surrounded him and started revolving around him as they began shing at him from all the sides. In rage he ran towards me, his eyes carefully looking at me, while being cut by the air des continuously. Looking at his healing ability, it seemed like my air des werecking a little, so, "Tempest." I muttered in a low voice. And the des¡­ grew in size, shing his entire being into pieces. As he fell down just a step away from me. With a face filled with rage, and his body shed into thousands of pieces. "That is enough," said the old¡­ no.. now he was a young man. He had already absorbed the other person whom I hadn''t killed yet. Looking at him, well¡­ his powers grew too, I guess. "This is how far you will go," he said with a really deep look as he threw the body of thest one. ''Looks like it will be a bit more interesting,'' I thought as I looked at that man, his energy reaching a bit closer to mine. "8 down. 1 to go," I spoke as I prepared to fight with that man. Chapter 190 Family Issues [Alexander''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Hey Cous. You don''t look so good, did someone steal your powers?" spoke my elder cousin as she looked at me with an evil smile. Her red hairs that reached her shoulders was giving off a strange energy, and those red eyes that were looking at me, made me realize who was the person who had absorbed my powers. "Looks like the kid is scared. Anyway, we don''t have much time. Alex, move away from that zombie. I am going to absorb her. It was a pain growing her beyond what she was already aged. I am not going to let my possession get away," my uncle said as he greedily looked at my sister Erika. His eyes turned ferocious as he eyed her. "I will take Alex''s body then," spoke my cousin brother as he reached me in an instant¡­ And reaching closer to me, I observed him with a keen expression as I spoke, "You have quite the guts, brother." Before he could realize. -BOOOOM!!!!!! Erika appeared above him and pushed him down on the ground in an instant. Looking at him without any pity in my eyes, I moved closer to him, but my uncle reached Erika before that. Erika vanished before she could be captured while I jumped away from there. My cousin, Periot, stood up as he looked at me with a slightly furious expression while his eyes searched for Erika. Even my uncle, who was standing in front of my cousin, was scanning the surroundings, trying to figure out where Erika was. Then¡­ I took out a certain gun from the backpack that I was holding. And then took a deep breath as I jumped at them within a second and -BOOM! I shot at them as I recalled what brother had told me. ["Listen Alex. This gun will only work if you are close to the enemy, but if you can manage to get close enough, a single shot is enough to take out enemies who are even twice as strong as you. Also, each shot takes time to recharge, about 30 seconds, so be careful how you use it."] It was a really strange gun. ck in color with no energy whatsoever. But since it was brother who gave it to me¡­ I looked at the dead body of my uncle, who failed to gauge the depth of the danger that this gun possessed. Normally, I would have preferred to do it with my own power, but sadly¡­ I don''t have ''em with me right now. "Huh?" brother spoke as he looked at uncle''s body with a huge hole in the chest. "Huh?" Even my sister, who was preparing to move forward, stopped in her tracks for a few moments as she looked at the lifeless body of our uncle. "Well, not all deaths are dramatic," I spoke as I chuckled at their expression before pointing the gun at Periot. Fully knowing the danger, he dodged the trajectory of the gun. My eyes observed him moving to the left before moving towards me, and I jumped back. ''Tch!'' I thought as I looked at my sistering at me from the other side. I needed to wait for the gun to reload as I observed those twoing at me in full throttle. Keeping my aim around my brother, I waited for my cousin sister to reach closer to me, and as soon as she reached my range,pletely ignoring my brother, I proceeded to kick her. My brother saw a chance and moved in for an attack, but¡­ -BOOOM!!! Once again, Erika came out of space and attacked him from above. Pushing him on the ground. As for me, I did a round kick at my cousin sister, which she blocked in an instant before punching me far away.please visit -BOOM!!! "Brother!" Erika shouted as her expression widened and then she vanished from there, before appearing behind me and holding me back from falling on the ground. Worried, she looked at me as I coughed out blood before observing the other two getting closer to me. Despite being beaten up, I stood up with my eyes observing those twoing at me. However, before they could take any more steps. -Thud! A head came flying from far away and fell on the ground in between us. Confused, I tried to look at the head. Even brother and sister were looking at the head, wondering where it came from. "You could only kill 1 up until this point? Don''t tell me you have got a soft heart even after what they did to you?" spoke a familiar voice as he walked towards us. "Walter?" I muttered as I turned at that man who was walking with a carefree expression towards us. "You! Where are the others?" asked brother as he looked at Walter with an agitated expression, at which Walter just smiled. "This was thest one of them?" Walter spoke as he smiled and pointed at the head that he threw in between us. My eyes observed that head with a really surprised expression as I thought, ''Weren''t there 9 A-Grades there?'' The expression of my brother and sister turned ugly before my sister said,"stop bluffing." "Inferno," Walter spoke as a fire soon formed around Walter and within a blink¡­ it spread to my sister, burning her alive before she could even make a move. "Oi! Didn''t I tell you not to involve in my-" I almost blurted out but, "Shut up! You lost. ept that," he spoke as he looked at me from the corner of his eyes before moving towards Periot, who just looked at sister turning to ashes within a second. And before he could realize, I saw his head being severed from his body, and his body falling to the ground lifeless. He sighed before turning at me and then looking at Erika, "Talk to Sir Michael. You guys are too weak." I just observed his nonchnt face as he looked around before continuing, "Go help those military people. They seemed to be in trouble, of sorts." I looked at him before sensing towards the ce where Miss M and the others were. My eyes widened a little as I saw many many Nightcrawlers attacking them, and they were barely holding their ground. "Aren''t you going to help them?" I spoke as I stood up before walking towards the military people. As for Walter, he just spoke, "I have a better issue to deal with." "Better?" I questioned, as I turned to look at him. He was smiling. His eyes were looking at¡­ ''Isn''t that where Miss Irene is fighting?'' I thought as I nodded at him before turning towards where the military was. While I was walking towards there, I saw George and the military guy fighting against thatdy. My eyes widened as I looked at the speed at which they were fighting right now. Looking at that fight, an inferiorityplex developed inside my mind, which soon gave me an annoying feeling. ''I can''t be weak all the time. I must get stronger,'' I thought as I ran towards the military guys with all my might. Erika simply followed behind me, moving at a pace simr to mine. Chapter 191 Secret Behind The Apocalypse? [Michael''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Ummm¡­ are you done now? I really am trying to be patient here, you know?" I spoke as I looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression. She looked at me with her eyes widening as she took a step back. "What in the world are you?" she asked as she looked at me. I was standing amidst the raging storm, looking at her without any change in my expression. Though there was one thing that intrigued me a lot, "What are you doing on a ne like ours?" Her eyes grew even more perplexed as she looked at me,"what do you mean by that?" "Hmm. I mean, it''s a small and all or-" I was speaking, but she interrupted again, "Not that¡­ what do you mean by your?" I was confused as I looked at her with a curious face. My eyes tried to read her expression, which was really filled withplexity right now. "What do you think I mean by my?" I asked. "No. You are lying. When we checked this before sending the zombies, it showed that the power level of this was one¡­ If we had known something like you existed then¡­" she mumbled in confusion as she observed me and hearing her words, my eyes widened a little. Slowly I moved towards her, one step at a time,"what do you mean by sending zombies to this?" I was taking this a bit nonchntly, but it seems like I havended on a gold mine or something. Perhaps one of the biggest mysteries of the entire apocalypse will be solved right now. "Ah!" Her eyes shrink a little as she looks at me, taking one step behind. "Don''t even think about doing anything stupid," I said as my expression turned grave, making her stop. Perhaps she could sense my thoughts, but she was being more careful now. Because of [Eyes of the Time Keeper] I could see the future, and she was not making any moves anymore. Reaching closer to her, I moved to the ground as I stood in front of her. "Now. How about you start speaking?" I spoke as I looked at her. My eyes concentrated on hers. I saw her eyes trying to read my moves, perhaps literally. In the future, I saw myself shredded into thousands of pieces and using the precise timing [Time Rejection!] I canceled that as I raised my hands a bit, up to her chin, and spoke,"if we are done with these childish games. Can we get to the serious part?" She looked at me as she muttered,"I would die if I told you." Her eyes were serious as she looked at me. Perhaps she was telling the truth? ''How long will it take for her to die if she tells me the truth?'' [00 : 00 : 00] ''So, it''s the truth, huh?'' I thought before pondering a little as I spoke, "Just tell me what you can." Her eyes shook as she looked at me. Perhaps she was scared of me? If only I could read her description¡­please visit And then, as if the System heard my wish¡­ [Name: Ang Reas Race: Half-God ss: The Watcher of Darkness Description: Did you know? There existed a prisoner of darkness, a few millennia ago. He was one of the most dangerous beings in the entire universe. He was captured by thebined effort of the 12 Gods, and waster killed by the human, Aether Rodriguez, when he threatened Aether''s wife and children. That being, before being killed, begged Aether to let his daughter, another mystic being, live. Aether, having his own daughter in front of him, decides to fulfill the wishes of that prisoner. That daughter was then sent to live on a random, where she covered the entire gxy with her power, soon dying a lonely death. But her seeds spread beyond the gxy, most of them vanishing without a trace, with less than a percent of them surviving. Those traces, then get either ingrained as an energy within multiple races, or took shape of their own. The Watcher of Darkness, Ang Reas, is a being born out of that darkness energy. Her aim was to restore her former power and gain enough control over her existence to kill the ********** the one who has taken control over her entire life. Secretly, she is doing her best to achieve her goal in whatever way it is possible. Divine Energy: 100,000,000,000/100,000,000,000 Status: Undivined Gift: ??? Skills(1,219,101) Strength: ???? Constitution: 191,019,184 Dexterity: 184,920,0284 Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ??? Charm: ???] "What?!" my eyes observed the description as I took a second look at her before taking a look at that description again. Once again, that name came in front of me¡­ ''Aether Rodriguez,'' I thought as I recalled the face of that guy whom I saw when I was sent to the past. "..." Ang, however, just looked at me with a nk expression as she observed my change in expression and I looked at her again before blinking with a slightly surprised face. "Well¡­ Is there anything wrong?" I asked as I looked at her, still silent, though her expression told me that she was having the same question on her face. "Can you promise me one thing?" she finally spoke as she looked at me before continuing,"just give me a direct death. At least I want to die peacefully." "Sure," I spoke as I looked at her before continuing,"You won''t have a cruel death." Not like I was going to kill her, anyway. Not after I read about her goals. Though I will surely kill her if I find her doing anything that harms me or anyone around me. But until she hasn''t done anything that has harmed me or anyone from my side, I think it is kind of fine to let her live. How she handles her life will totally depend upon herself, though. She nodded as she then began telling me the secrets behind the apocalypse that engulfed my entire. Chapter 192 The Truth Of The Universe A long, long time ago, during the times where Gods roamed about freely in the Universe. The situation was quite rxed inparison to what it was now. Each God had their own ce to live, a, sometimes an entire gxy. But then beings started taking birth in the universes that they ruled. Strange beings that were really¡­ weak. They lived faster than the Gods; they reproduced, which Gods couldn''t do, then they die as their time passes. It wasn''t a one ce phenomenon, but it was more or less taking ce in the entire multiverse. This really intrigued all Gods as they wondered what could have happened that triggered this phenomenon. Some Gods simply wiped all those beings which were in their universe, others amused by them decided to watch over them. Some presented themselves in front of them, making them worship the God. Eons passed, and things changed before the Gods could realize anything. The Gods, who used to live on their own, without any consideration of what the others were doing, now started creating factions. Influenced by the very worlds that they were watching, their mannerism changed. They grew ambitions; they looked forward to conquering the other ces which were upied by the other Gods. They grew ambitious and greedy, wanting to be stronger than they already were. And thus¡­ the war between the Gods started slowly but surely. The Gods which were thought to be immortal started dying like ants within the war. They forgot that the number of Gods in total was only about a couple of hundred billions or so and if they got wiped out, they won''t be able to reproduce and recreate their pure beings again. But that wasn''t the only thing that urred during that time, many beings which the God thought to be weaker, grew stronger as time passed, soon rivaling the powers of the Gods themselves. It was only untilter revealed that the power those weaker beings were gaining, was nothing but the remnant power of the Gods which had died. And once this fact was revealed to the universes, another war started other than the already ongoing IntraGods War. One that involved the lower beings and the higher beings. The beings that were powerful enough to rival Gods, werebeled as Lower Gods while those who were Gods from the beginning were called True Gods, or Higher Gods. The war kept ongoing, until only 12 Gods were left in the end. Thest of the 12 Gods. But before they could be killed, something happened. Those Gods gained the power, more than just a fraction of the power of the previous True Gods, bing the Gods of their own league. This, in turn, changed the entire game of how things were ying out. Fully knowing what the lower beings were capable of, the Gods devised a n, to change the entire way the things functioned. While they controlled the lower beings, fully knowing the potential, rather than killing them, they decided to manipte those beings to fight among themselves. This shifted the hierarchy with these Gods being on the top watching everything below them. They devised a game that includes the champions of all the worlds, to be transported into a single, Visca, where they would fight among themselves, and then in the end reach Godhood in front of them. This way, they can monitor any or all threats that were thrown at them. But like always, there was bound to be an anomaly, Aether Rodriguez, a human beyond evolution, someone who made even thest remaining Gods tremble, came in front of them, made them bow to him before choosing to live peacefully with whatever people were remaining with him. But rather than changing everything, he made a few changes that made things far more smoother for the Gods, while also making things easier for the beings that were transported against their will. His beyond genius capabilities made things much more smoother. s, good things don''tst long enough, as Aether was but a human. He rejected Godhood and immortality and decided to have a peaceful death. And his death triggered the next event that even those from beyond couldn''tprehend. A certain God, whose name shouldn''t be taken, started rising from the shadows. That God, he was one of the Lower Gods, someone who had ascended from a normal being. The God of Undead. The God of Undead rose in power, slowly using his powers to take control of the entire world, and then the entire universe. The Gods were strong against him, but he had an army in front that included many, many champions of the Gods, which were as strong as the strongest Lower Gods themselves.please visit Another war erupted, and the Undead God emerged victorious, soon taking in even the remaining Higher Gods under his undead army, controlling them with his special power which he was blessed with by the Universe. But not all Gods were killed, more than half of the Lower Gods, and the Champions of the Gods, escaped from his clutches. Fearful as he was, he decided to hunt those Gods as well. And thus his journey of conquering the entire multiverse began. He conquered one army after another, gaining more power as he killed one race after another, or making them his own, relentlessly searching for the other Gods. One of the ways to conquer the was to open a portal of a simr to the other and let the Undead Zombies roam free on the, thus spreading the infection, converting them into undead as well. While there was also the addition of an energy that touched the species of thoses, that got mixed with their soul energy, making them unconditional ves of the power which they feasted upon. This was the way that zombie energy was spread on this where I was. This is how the zombies started existing here. And the one who was responsible for opening the first few portals was Ang herself. She was ordered by her superior to do it on this random far away from the base of the God of Undead. And here I was looking at her with a baffled expression as I heard all that information from Ang''s mouth. I tried to deny it but I had used [Eyes of the Time Keeper] many times but still failed to find any time she was lying to me. She looked at me as if she were ready to give her life right now. Seems like this was all that she could tell me¡­ though it was already more than enough¡­. This was way more than enough. "Well. I don''t have anything more I can tell. So¡­ Can you please give me an easy death?" she spoke in a dejected tone as she looked at me. And I just observed her as I spoke,"at least let me process all the information that you gave me." It took a few more minutes as I went through the entire thing before I sighed and wondered¡­ How should I deal with this girl now? [Author''s Note: Gave you a bigger picture of things, I guess? Anyway, the direction of the story will be like this for a few more chapters -> Michael finding his friends and family -> A few more secrets -> To the greater plot. A few many things will take ce here and there, so expect a bit of a bumpy ride. Happy reading. Also, I made a Patreon: patreon/Ethel_Imaginations It has my newest story: MMORPG: Rebirth of the Legendary TimeKeeper Chap length: 2.5-3.5K Release rate: 2/week You guys can take a look if you want. And support me if you want to. Happy reading.] Chapter 193 The Dormants "So you are the reason why everything happened on this, huh?" I asked again as I looked at her. Honestly, I wasn''t asking. I just wanted to hear it from her mouth for some reason. Something told me that it wasn''t just that¡­ It was like an itch you get when you feel like a part of the puzzle is missing. "Not really," she said, much to my amazement as she looked at me. Her eyes, which were in ck, now turned blue, her hair which was tied to her head, she let it go free, revealing long curly hairs that reached her back. The veil she was wearing, she took it off, and I saw herpletely snow white face, and I wondered if she was a princess or something? Though, remembering her origins and her title, I guess maybe not. "Since I have already told you this much, won''t harm to tell you a bit more about it. Maybe you will kill those bastards, too. Would make me feel much better honestly," she spoke as she created a chair out of nowhere, one behind me and one behind her. The atmosphere, which was dry as a desert, with storms raging around the area, turned into a mellow grasnd with flowers all around the area. If not for theplete absence of any living being in the vicinity, it would have been quite the pic spot, honestly. "Sit. This one is interesting too and since it''s rted to your, you are probably going to need this information beforehand," she spoke as she sat there with a carefree expression. "What are you aiming at?" I asked as I saw her sudden change in behavior. From trying to kill me, topletely losing any hopes of living, and then finally to being so carefree as if she is enjoying each and every moment of her life. "Nothing much. I just want to enjoy myst moments a bit better," she spoke and I just observed her face with an analytical gaze. Her mellow gaze sometimes looked at me, other times she seemed to ponder about something. And once she was done with thinking, she finally spoke up, "Well. To understand what happened, you need to know a few key things about a and how it functions. I have seen the technological level of this world, so I will speak from the point where things are more understandable. First, each is a living entity. Whether it''s this one or any other in the entire world, they are all living entities. But they aren''t exactly conscious. We call these beings as Dormants and they float in the air ording to the gravitational pull of the other beings around them. Did you catch this much?" My mouth opened up wide just looking at her, as a million questions were running through my mind right now. This was¡­ well¡­ okay¡­ not exactly unexpected, but still. Not really what I was thinking, to be honest. "What about the sun and the moon? Are they too, Dormants?" I asked, and she shook her head in denial. "Sun is like a ball of energy concentrated at one point. Moon is a broken part of the Dormant. Moon, in general, is a satellite, as you know, mostly because it was once a part of the Dormant. Not going into too much detail, mostly satellites are formed because the Dormant intentionally or unintentionally loses a part of its body," she exined and I nodded at that. I wanted to know more, but it seemed like we were going off topic, so I didn''t pry more into it. "Now this being is more of a mystical being. The Dormants, I mean. And just like all mystical beings, the Dormants have a core. Including this, of course," she spoke, and my heart skipped a beat. It kind of made a bit more sense as to why take control of such a weak¡­ to harness its core, huh? "While you might be thinking that one can absorb the core and get strong, and it''s true. However, there is something really special about Dormant Cores," she looked at my curious face with a slight smile and continued, "They are inexhaustible. Meaning, even if you absorb theplete core, the core will regenerate its energy over a long period of time and will provide you with more opportunities to absorb it." For a few moments, I kept quiet as I took in this information. "So the zombie apocalypse and everything was to take control over this core?" I asked "Yes and no," she spoke before continuing, "Yes, because. We came here to take control of the Core, in fact, take it with us. No, because that wasn''t our prime goal. It was one of the three main goals ofing here." And this time I turned quiet. It felt like another big secret was going to be revealed to me right now, and not betraying my expectations, "The other two goals were the people of this and the gate formation theory." "??"please visit "Well. The people here on this are one of the inexhaustible sources as well. They reproduce and multiply at a rapid rate. Being mentally weak and technologically much much backwards, they are easy to manipte and take control over. I already told you about intergctic wars, so let me give you insider information on it. The selection of the Champions might have changed, but it is still going on in all thes. Each has their challengers and even this is going to send 15 of its best people to the Challenge Grounds in 3 months. Anyways, back to the topic, so this has a lot of humans which are easy to take over. While I was tasked with taking care of the apocalypse and the zombie invasion, another fellow ingrate of mine, Qidsa, is here to manipte the people of this. His work is to provide power to the lower beings in exchange for a ve contract, which he willter add into his army and use to win the Contest of the Champions." My eyes were glued to her at this point. Each word, each statement, each fact she was telling me, was much crazier than the previous one. I had to run through each of those statements many times before realizing the gravity of the situation. "We are royally f*cked, aren''t we?" I spoke as I knew that while it would be easy to just fight and end things, but once those greedy humans were manipted by power, it would be nigh impossible to get them back on proper track. But it made me question something, "If it isn''t too much of a secret, then¡­ Can I ask you a question?" I spoke with a pondering face. She was a bit surprised by my behavior but still nodded,"go ahead." "What happened in Alfheim?" I asked, and it was her turn to widen her eyes at me. Though she quickly retracted her expression back to normal as she sighed and spoke,"Well, I didn''t think I would hear a past relic''s name here." "Past relic?" I asked as I looked at her out of curiosity. "Yeah. Well, let me ask you this then. Are you questioning about the people in Alfheim going mad and eating each other, right? I mean, after they got infested with the energy," she asked and I nodded. That was exactly what I was worried about. I don''t want my close ones to be turning into something like that. That''s the reason I didn''t go into full throttle with their advances into the next Grade, which I was easily capable of. [Advanced Time Maniption] and the copy skill allowed me to do it pretty much within moments. In fact, I can even create an army of SSS-Grades or higher if I want to, but with the risks involved, I would rather not do it. "Then you need not to worry about it," she said, much to my relief, but then it made me curious as to why that is. "To put it simply, the Elves, or perhaps any vegetative race, who only eats nts and has never touched any animals or perhaps anything like that, gets in contact with the Cessation Energy, an energy totally opposite to them, they start mutating. What research has found was that if the Cessation Energyes into contact with an energy totally opposite to it, a chemical reaction of sorts urs, creating a mutated Cessation Energy. Once that urs, it also starts affecting the mental fortitude of those beings. The converted are already brain dead so there is little to no problem, but those who haven''t converted yet, aren''t so lucky. They have one energy telling them to eat nts, while another telling them to eat meat. Which disgustingly results in them eating their own race members," she spoke as she shrugged her shoulders with a slightly disgusted look. I looked at her curiously, and she exined, "They can''t eat nts, but still crave for the energy those nts hold. The only other source of nt energy they can get is their own breed, who has previously devoured nt energy before converting. You see, once converted, the elves can''t use the nt energy, but it still hasn''t gone from their system. So one thing leads to another and you get cannibalism as your final answer." She sighed in the end and I, too, couldn''t help but sigh at the sad events. Then she looked at me and spoke, "Finally, the Gate Formation Theory." Chapter 194 Angela Reas "It would be much better if I showed you the Gate Theory than exining," she spoke with a pondering look as she observed me and right after that, she looked at a distance where a mountain began taking shape. More like, it was thend being elevated from a single point and the forest grew around it. As the forest grew more and more, the tip of the elevation started getting more snowy and soon the mountain became ice capped. It was a mesmerizing phenomenon taking ce in front of me. She then created a certain mechanical device not too far from us and then clicked her fingers again. That mechanical device looked like a giant circr gate, which provided the pathway to another world or something. "Come with me," she spoke as she stood up and I followed behind her. Soon reaching closer to that giant gate, she looked at me and spoke,"let''s go in." With my abilities still working, I moved behind her into that gate and reached an area which looked like a cold desert. Her eyes turned to me as she pointed to a certain distance,"try focusing over there." Looking in the direction, I found the ce where we were just a few moments ago. "So it connects two ces?" I asked, and she nodded before picking up a bit of snow, turning it into a ball of snow, and then throwing it to the other side through the gate. However, the snow stopped at the interjection, unable to pass through the gate. "And it stops certain elements from being crossed from one point to another, while allowing others?" I asked again, and she nodded before creating a ball of white matter, perhaps another snow, this time purely from her energy and then throwing it to the other side. That ball easily crossed the space to the other side without any hindrance, and I nodded. "Well, it has more than just that," she spoke as she then created a mana based fire ball and threw it to the other side, but the fireball paused before being reflected back to Ang, which she easily swiped. "The key word is omnipotent," she spoke as she looked at me. "A gate which allows you to enter and exit from one ce to another, while limiting certain aspects which you can control. Well, if we convert it into a small container, or more like a ce, it bes a filter, we can actually get the purest form of energy to have ever existed. It''s an idea of sorts, which requires an immense amount of energy which needs to be pure and free from contamination," she spoke as she pondered more and more about it. I understood the idea as I spoke,"so you want the core''s energy or more like the material of the core to create a gate filter like that?" And she denied it at once as she exined, "No. You were right about the energy of the core, but this energy is actually the energy flowing freely in the atmosphere. A certain being, Anubis, is actually roaming around the freely and trying to collect all the energy he can. Our work was actually to find him and stop him. In other words, we are actually preventing the formation of such gates, since it would be harmful to us, or, to be precise, the God of Undead." "Ah!" I finally realized what she meant. The third reason wasn''t to collect the energy, but to stop someone from collecting it. And that being¡­ hmmm¡­ is he an enemy or an ally? "An enemy of everyone he is. They are called Specters to be definite and feast on pure energy. If all the pure energy is gone from a, the won''t survive you know?" reading my thoughts she spoke and I couldn''t help but widen my eyes at that. ''So many mysterious people are roaming about this, huh?'' I thought as I observed her. I recalled everything she said once, twice and many times over and it made me question really hard what my next goal should be? I do want to save my parents and all, but if I waste my time even a little more, I have no idea when my will cease to exist. After I finished organizing my thoughts, I looked at her, Ang, once again carefully. [Name: Ang Reas Race: Half-God ss: The Watcher of Darkness Description: The Watcher of Darkness, Ang Reas, is a being born out of that darkness energy. Her aim was to restore her former power and gain enough control over her existence to kill the ********** the one who has taken control over her entire life. Secretly, she is doing her best to achieve her goal in whatever way it is possible. Divine Energy: 100,000,000,000/100,000,000,000 Status: Undivined Gift: ??? Skills(1,219,101) Strength: ???? Constitution: 191,019,184 Dexterity: 184,920,0284 Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ??? Charm: ???] It''s not like she is weak or anything, but will it be okay to take her with me? I don''t want to trust aplete stranger even a little bit, but the information she just provided is much more important to me than the entire world''s worth right now. I am probably the only citizen of this who knows about this secret and I could n my next few steps much more carefully, all because of her presence. "Well¡­ Can you answer a question of mine?" I asked as I looked at her and she nodded without any hesitation. "What''s your story? How did you end up in all this mess?" I asked carefully, and her eyes widened a little. She analyzed my expression for a few minutes before she asked, "Why do you want to know?" "Hmmm. Curiosity?" I answered as I looked at her stumped face before she pondered and spoke, "Well. It''s a really long story. Where do you want me to start?" I smiled at her and said,"start from your birth, maybe? Just make it brief though and only point out the important things." She pondered and nodded as she began telling her tale. Chapter 195 George [George''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ So, where did it all start? I think it was the day when my best friends came to my home, as we decided to chill out a little. It was something we did every now and then. Kind of like a usual thing, to be honest. Though everything changed when a zombie barged in from the unclosed door and reached directly behind Mark, one of my best friends, and killed him on the spot. Obviously it was really shocking, but somehow, even with all that rush of adrenaline, I was able to save myself from there. However, that was just the beginning of what was toe next. My family, my friends, neighbors, everyone died. Fun fact, it all happened in front of me. Anyway, I decided to keep my calm and moved forward meeting another two of my friends, and we moved up, this and that happened, and in the end¡­ we met Michael Aroa. Heard about him previously, one of the geniuses of the area, someone who was always fixated on studies, a nerd to be honest. But even then, he was my idol. Someone I looked up to. Yeah, even before I met him in the chaos of the apocalypse, I always looked up to Sir Michael. And even more after the apocalypse. He was strong¡­ in a strange way, to be honest. Sometimes, or perhaps most of the time, it felt like I could kill him with a flick of my finger, but when the timees and a real fight ensues¡­ it sends chills down my spine on how he does what he does. What''s even more bbergasting is that this feeling didn''t change one bit even after 6 months when he returned. I was happy, of course, but I expected to feel the growth in him, and not finding any made me both scared and excited. And it was worth it. He was still the same monster as we all knew. And the fact that he was my ally, there is nothing I could be more d about. Speaking of monsters, he does have a thing for collecting a few monsters around him. Whether it''s Miya, Irene or even Walter, everyone around him is someone that the entire world would kill to have. Not that I am any different, honestly. Though, one more thing about monsters is that¡­ ''I have seen many enemies in my travels in the past few months.'' -nk My blood sword shed with her pole arm before she pushed me back with a slight smirk on her face. ''Perhaps too many, in fact. Enough to let me create a whole encyclopedia out of the types of monsters or zombies or whatever.'' -sh! -sh! -sh! A three shed attack by Reeve, who was using his gravity to increase his already superhuman speed. Even then, that girl, that tiny little girl, easily dodged it before taking out a small pistol -Bang! And shot at Reeve, who could barely dodge it on his own. I used my blood threads to bind him and pull him out of the trajectory of the pistol. But still, he was grazed a little near the shoulders by that shot. ''But this little girl is on a whole nother level. Every time we try to get closer to her, she pulls up another trick of hers and counters our attacks with the least bit of effort.'' I saw her changing her target from Reeve to me. ''Tch! This tricky bastard! She wants me to jump back and fall into her trap,'' I thought as I felt another small puddle of energy behind me. I was pretty much sure that it was a trap there. -Dash! -Boom! -sh! The one who dashed was Reeve. He reached in front of me before she could fire, and after she did fire, he shed that attack effectively, saving me a bit of my energy and stamina. "Thanks," I spoke, and he just chuckled with a tense smile on his face as he answered, "You can say that after we get this monster." I nodded at him before preparing a bit on my own. My eyes were searching for a way to get her, but¡­ "Just getting close to her won''t be enough," spoke Reeve as he looked at that girl. He continued,"Her expertise in weapon mastery is beyond you can handle. I could barely scratch her, forget about going to take her in one on one. We both will need to maximize our attacks and coordination if we want to make sure we don''t die." Well. That was correct, I suppose. Every time we got closer to her, she had another weapon ready for us. First it was a scythe, then it was a sword, then a crossbow, then a polearm and finally it was a gun. I wonder how much more she is holding in her arsenal. "Is that all you both got? With the way you both were coordinating, I thought it would be a bit more interesting but seems like I picked the weakest among the bunch," she spoke in a mocking yet bored tone as she looked left for a few seconds and then to the right. She is looking at the fights on the other sides, isn''t she? Hmmm¡­ all right. "Hey, Reeve. I think I am going to go all out now. What about you?" I asked because I kind of understood that we both were hiding a bit of our powers¡­ okay, not just a bit, but quite a lot of it. He just chuckled as he spoke,"I guess. I should too," though I did not believe he would use all of it. Perhaps 50%? Maybe it''s because he doesn''t want to show all his trump cards or something? Anyway, I have decided to go all out, so I won''t be holding back. Let''s just hope that it kills her before I run out of energy. I took a stance as I collected all my energy at one point and, taking a deep breath, I muttered, "[Blood Art: Chaos'' Third Form]" Chapter 196 Tag! Ill Be The One Fighting Now [Enkonimiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Stay away! Stay away! You monster! Just what the heck are you?!!!" shouted that Slythereen as he looked at me with a fear filled expression. His eyes, begging to understand what was going on, while he kept on pushing himself back, using those broken hands as he crawled backwards. "And here I thought you would give me an interesting fight," I spoke as I looked at him with a disappointed look. ''80% of my energy and he can''t evennd a hit on me. One attack and his body began breaking into pieces. Piece of trash. Got my hopes up for nothing.'' I red at him, making him wriggle faster and faster. Even though he has lost his legs and most of his lower body, he was still doing his best to survive here. "Now, what should I do with him?" I thought as I looked around. Using my enhanced senses, I could see that George was going all out against that girl, while Walter was ying with the guy with the scythe. ''Seems like they are having fun, huh?'' I thought, as it irritated me even more. I wanted to fight for real too, you know? Anyway, concentrating back on him, I thought for a few moments as I walked towards him and asked, "Hey Slythereen. Can you tell me what happened to that worm race of yours?" He was scared shitless but I could see a slight re in his eyes as he spoke,"th-they are¡­ wh-why do you w-want to know about them?" "Just curiosity. Been a while, I saw any of you here," I spoke as I was just passing time here. I could have killed him right here, right now, but felt like I should let Michael decide what to do with him. "They¡­ are fine. Alive and thriving," he spoke with a bit of disgust on his face. Now, isn''t this interesting? A Slythereen hating his own race¡­ "Come with me," I spoke as I started walking towards where George and that girl were fighting. Seems like something entertaining happened while I was in the dungeon for so long. After all, the Slythereens, one of the most cunning races, were known for their loyalty towards their family. "U-uh?"Confusion spread on that guy''s face as he looked at me and I simply spoke without turning,"I won''t repeat my words." As soon as I said that, he hurriedly started crawling with all his might and I stopped as I turned to look at him doing that. ''Ah! Forgot that he can''t walk right now,'' I thought as I used a spell to heal him enough to walk behind me as I regenerated most of his lower body. He was bbergasted and even more confused by what I was doing, but thankfully he did not speak anything and kept his thoughts to himself. Not caring about his thoughts, I continued to walk towards the ce where George and that girl were fighting. "So tell me more about it. The Slythereens, I mean," I asked as I moved forward one step at a time. I could hear him gulp a little as he moved behind me one step at a time. His change in expression and behavior was honestly drastic, from an overconfident guy who seemed like he could kill the entire world with a flick, to a cowardly looking guy who didn''t know what''s good for him. Made me wonder if all those words were just for show? "They¡­ are living under the reign of General Belial-" "Ah! So that son of a b*tch is still alive, huh?" Uhh! Just hearing his name makes me vomit blood. "Hmmm? Why did you stop? Continue," I spoke, but he just looked at me as he stood there before speaking,"you know¡­ General Belial?" I peeked at him a little before speaking,"keep on moving," at which he began walking again. "Kind of, you can say," I spoke as I was walking,"I fought with him. Lost, you can say. But that was a couple of million years ago. Right now, I can probably punch him in the face and he will die." I punched in the air a couple of times as if hitting that bastard Belial and once again¡­ "Once again, you stopped?" I looked back with my eyes narrowed, but this time it didn''t seem like he was listening. "You¡­ just who are you?" he asked as he looked at me with a scared gaze, which was much different from before. If previously he was looking at me as if I were a monster, now he was seeing me perhaps like a God itself? Or maybe the Devil? "An old relic of the past. Anyway, let''s go, continue your story," I spoke as I started moving again, but I didn''t hear him speak for a while now. He was just following behind me one step at a time in silence. ''Guess, he is shocked¡­ I shouldn''t have revealed that, maybe? Not that it''s much of a secret, anyway. With father and that guy, Voltaire going all around the universe, it wouldn''t take even an idiot to guess that I too should be somewhere around the Universe,'' I thought as we reached halfway to the fight. "After the war, when ''He'' started approaching everywhere and using his powers to dominate almost each and everything. We actually started winning, the Slythereens, I mean. I wasn''t even born at that time. So basically speaking, we should have won the entire Universe with little effort," he spoke with a slight pause in between. "Should have?" I asked "Yeah. I don''t know the exact details but ordingly, that guy not only started converting his enemies into zombies but also all the allies too. It was a betrayal of sorts¡­ or maybe not?" he continued, as if he was trying to remember all the details. "Honestly, I don''t know what happened, but something took ce at that time. The Slythereens were divided into two, the originals and the betrayers. It''s a taboo term to use, but that''s the exact thing that happened." "Which one are you?" I asked and I think it made me sigh really deep as he spoke,"both I guess? Or maybe none?" "A product of both sides?" I asked, as it interested me a little. Two sides, and then two lovers from both sides, then you get a child who isn''t epted anywhere. Sounds revolting, but exciting nheless. "Kind of. My father¡­ or should I say, a scumbag, r*ped my mother, and then my mother, who decided to give birth to me,ter on threw me in the river because she was being harassed continuously," he spoke as a glint of hatred formed on his face and I asked, "You must be too young to know, right? How did you end up knowing about this?" "Heard from a certain traveler. Later on confirmed by myself. Met my aunt, you can say. The vigers killed my mother the day she threw me in the river to keep the vige ''pure''. Anyways, back to the main topic-" He was going to continue, but I stopped walking and noticed that he too stopped. His eyes looked at me, before turning in the direction where I was looking. George had created thousands of threads left and right, all over the ce, in which he was jumping from one direction to another. The other guy, Reeve, was also using those threads to jump as well. In the center of the threads was the little girl, yawning as she dodged all the attacks from both George and Reeve, before attacking them with her minigun. "Looks like you guys are having trouble dealing with her!" I shouted as I looked at her and, hearing my voice, George stopped his movements and jumped beside me. Reeve noticed that and did the same. Their eyesnded on the weakened pathetic Slythereen before they observed me with even more curiosity. "Hate to say it but it seems she is beyond our league," spoke George, as he admitted it pretty frankly. I smiled as I observed him, it was a really good thing to know one''s limits. As for Reeve, I wonder why he didn''t go all out against her? What''s the point of fighting at half strength when you might end up dying anyways? "Izakiel, what are you doing?" that girl spoke as her temperament changed. She looked at him with a re before turning at me. "He is mine now. You can get some other toys," I said as I moved a few steps forward. She looked at me with a narrowed gaze before -Pierce! An attack flew and almost reached that Slythereen, Izakiel, but I deflected it pretty easily. I observed the change in the mana flow of the whole city around me and I sighed as I spoke, "And can you please stop hiding your true self? It''s quite a cowardly move to y with illusion, you know?" George''s eyes widened as he finally figured out something. As for Reeve, it seems like he had already figured it out¡­ hmm¡­ perhaps he was waiting for that girl to show her real natureter on and that''s why he hadn''t used his full power? Seems like I underestimated him. And then, a voice echoed all around us. "SEEMS LIKE I HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT!" It was like a child''s voice but much much louder than before. "IT WASN''T LIKE I WAS HIDING IT BECAUSE OF FEAR. JUST THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD DIE IF THEY LOOK AT ME!" she spoke as she revealed her true nature. I immediately clicked my fingers, making everyone around me, including that Slythereen, go into a deep sleep. My smile widened as I looked at her with a maddening look. A menacing aura developed around me as I spoke, "Didn''t think I would meet something like you, a Medusa, here of all the ces." Chapter 197 Clauses That Binds Fate And Powers That Can Change It [Mikael''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ She told me a few things about her life. It wasn''t really an interesting story. Just how she was captured as soon as she stepped out of her realm and then was traded from one superpower to another before finally getting trapped within the clutches of the God of the Undead. She said that it had been millennia that she had been working, hopping from one organization to another, always trying to figure out a way to free herself from their clutches. Though a certain contract that has chained her for eternity is something that she fails to get out of. "Guess you had your fair share of problems, huh? Hmmm, I am a bit interested in the contract that you are bound with," I spoke as I looked at her and her eyes widened before a glint of fear appeared in her eyes. Then she took out the contract in front of me. It was like a cube, which slowly opened up and a purple hologram appeared in front of me. [By the boundation of the Universe(Contract of the Seven Gods)] [use 1: The being, Ang, would follow all themands of her master. use 2: Once dead, the being, Ang, will be reincarnated after another 1000 years. use3: If the master of the being, Ang, is dead after she is reborn, a random master will be chosen for her, else she would follow the same master. use 4: The being, Ang, will never rise to God-Hood. use 5: The master of the being, Ang, can transfer his or her authority of Ang to any other person he desires but once done he cannot take the authority back ever again, no matter what the circumstances. use 6: If the master of the being, Ang, is dead, the next owner of the being, Ang, will be the person who killed the previous master. If death urs naturally, Ang''s master will change to the nearest being in the vicinity. use 7: When Ang dies, all her power will be sent to her master, who can use it however he or she wants and after reincarnation, Ang will gain her base power back and need to start from scratch again. use 8: Ang needs to be close to her master once every century. use 9: If use 8 is not fulfilled, Ang will slowly lose all her powers and sumb to death before reincarnating again. use 10: Any rtions Ang has, other than her master, will develop a curse that will suck the power of the other beings towards Ang''s master. use 11: If the being, Ang, falls in love with any other being and engages in intercourse with that being, that being will die the most gruesome death ever, with the sole exception of her master. use 12: At the end of Judgement Day, Ang will regress back into the past from the very beginning and will be given a single chance to change her fate. Current Master: General Belial] "No, I haven''t seen the judgment day yet," she said as she looked at me and I turned to her. Well, I won''t lie that I wasn''t curious about use 12, but it seems like many people have asked her about that already. Though there was one more thing that made me curious about something. "Wasn''t your master¡­ God of Undead?" I asked with a curious mind and she looked at me for a few seconds before she shook her head,"he was, but then he got bored with me and transferred his authority over me to Belial." ''Seems interesting enough,'' I thought as I looked at her and asked,"Killing you won''t really change anything, you are going to reincarnate, anyway. Is this why you were so carefree about dying?" She nodded as she spoke,"yeah. Kind of. Now that you know about it, what will you do?" "I think I am going to take over the authority over you," I spoke as I looked at her and she chuckled before speaking,"I don''t know if you are an idiot who is overestimating his powers, or really someone who can back up what he says but, Belial is a God, and a really strong one at that. Are you sure you can defeat him?" I looked at her face and it didn''t seem like she was lying here. Seems like¡­ I was underestimating the situation a bit here. I observed her for a few moments before pondering something, ''Can I change a few uses and see if it works?'' I thought as I looked at her. [The Defier(Unique)] [Allows the user to reject or defy anything in existence. As long as the user is in contact with the person/thing/being, he or she can defy it. Not limited to death and life, but the more the strings of fates and destiny are involved, the heavier the impact will be on the user. Cooldown: Depends upon the usage of the Skill] ''Aether did warn me about not using this skill unless I am strong enough to take a God or two but¡­ it seems like I might end up fighting a God soon anyway,'' I thought as I decided to take another risk here. "Just wait a second," I spoke before [The Defier!] I used this ability and then the entire area changedpletely¡­ what seemed like a peaceful world, turned as dark as the space itself. I could neither feel anything, nor see, nor sense anything. I thought of using the ability. [God Power: Reverse Time] [Using the Crona Energy of the Universe itself, the user can reverse time to a previous state. Note that the user can only reverse time up to where he had the ability to manipte time. Requirements: The user needs to bepletely free of any emotional disturbance of any sorts. Cost: 10 Golden Crona per second] But before I could even proceed, my senses returned as a familiar voice rang in my ears. "Hey! Where did youe from?" spoke a melodious voice of a young man, who was standing there holding my hand as we floated on the tform. "Uh¡­ I¡­" Before I could even speak, that guy, Aether, looked at me carefully and spoke, "Aren''t you an interesting one? From the future?" And in front of him was another being, made ofplete darkness that sent chills down my spine, my entire being felt like freezing, as if I would die if I just kept looking at it. It didn''t just scare me, but it was beyond that¡­ I felt like I was looking at hell itself. -Tap! Aether tapped my forehead as a calm sensation rang through my brain and I calmed down before looking at that being again. This time, even if everything was looking the same as before, it felt different. It wasn''t as scary as before. "Please let Ang live. Aether. I beg you. Please let my daughter live!" begged the darkness as he bent in front of Aether, cried as it wriggled there, I saw the being that could make the entire universe shudder, begging on its feet, in front of a human who was casually smiling at me. Chapter 198 The Power To Change The Destiny Aether looked at me with a calm smile before turning back to that darkness, the father of Ang. ''I guess, I must be back at the time when Aether killed Ang''s father,'' I concluded based on the information I got from Ang''s description. "What''s your name kid?" Aether asked me as he moved towards that darkness and crouched a little and continued,"You have gone too far, Ais, too far to make a request like that." Aether''s voice was cold. It didn''t have even an ounce of sympathy or empathy in it. He just observed that darkness as he patted its head before turning at me with a slightly questioning look. "Ah! My name is Michael," I spoke as I looked at Aether. He gave a familiar cozy feeling, a feeling of being safe around him. But he also gave me a dangerous feeling, that if I make a wrong move, I will die. "You are from the future, right?" he asked, and I nodded. As far as I have known about this guy, he can easily figure out most of the things with a single look. I had witnessed itst time as well. "Tell me then. Is Ang Reas alive till your time?" he asked, making the darkness look at me even more carefully. His eyes were shaking¡­ or more like pleading for me to say a ''yes''. "Yeah¡­ that''s the reason I ended up here," I answered honestly, and a smile appeared on the face of the darkness. "Can you tell us her story, Michael? If you want, you can keep it to yourself as well. Up to you," he said, but something inside me felt like I should tell him about it. Not because I should trust him or something, but more like, ''If I didn''t tell him, something really wrong would happen.'' And thus I narrated the tale of Ang to the two people present there. They listened to me carefully, everything I told them from the start to the end, and once I was done, a silent expression formed on the face of the Darkness, Ais. "You don''t get the right to get angry," Aether dered as he looked at Ais before Ais turned at Aether with a pleading look. His eyes begged for that, but it didn''t seem like Aether was going to change his mind. "What did he do?" I asked. I was curious. It was mentioned in the description that Ais had done many wrong things, but never it was mentioned about exactly what he did. "Destroyed a dozen of Universes in the worst way imaginable," spoke Aether as he sighed before asking, "Have you ever lost your emotions, Michael?" I nodded. There were not many times, but there were times that I had lost control over my emotions. "What if you had lost control over that emotion forever?" Aether asked again, and I pondered about it. If I had that amount of anger for the rest of my life¡­ I might have killed an entire country or something before dying, maybe? "Now think of the most caring person in your family," Aether spoke again, and I instantly thought about my mother. He smiled before speaking, "What if you kill her in the most brutal way possible?" As soon as he asked that, I felt a chilling sensation down my spine as I looked at Aether before turning to Ais. "Well, what Ais did was spread his darkness to a dozen Universes because of a small anger issue, and made everyone go into a deep nightmare. In each of those nightmares, everyone almost did what I just told you or something simr, and by the end of the dream, everyone lost their sanity and began killing everyone. It took only a week for the Universes to go numb and be destroyed. That''s what his crime is," Aether spoke with a calm smile before adding, "And he was proud of it and was going to repeat it with the rest of the Universes out there because it seemed funny to him." And just as Aether spoke about that, I looked at Ais, before turning at Aether again. This time I was questioning Aether¡­ "Howe¡­ you are so calm in front of a being like that?" I asked. I could never¡­ if I had the power, I would have killed this being a thousand times over¡­ in the worst way possible. What exactly are you thinking- "He was begging for his daughter. So I was just wondering about what should I do¡­ normally what he did has nothing to do with his daughter, but he can revive using his daughter''s body as soon as Ang reaches God-Hood," he spoke and my mind stopped thinking for a few seconds. I could only look at Ais with wide eyes as I observed him¡­ "You look perplexed a little. You were thinking of getting Ang to your side, weren''t you?" asked Aether with a slight chuckle and I nodded with slight embarrassment. I didn''t know the consequences of what I was about to do¡­ but then¡­ I still feel like "You still feel like Ang should get to live, huh? Well. That was the whole point of the uses, I guess. But it seems like there needs to be some changes in that as well¡­ " spoke Aether as he began thinking. Both Ais and I looked at Aether walking on the tform left and right before a sudden smile appeared on his face. "Hey! How about this? I bind your life to Ais?" he asked and my eyes widened, but before I could evenprehend it, "Nah! That won''t exactly sit right with you and me. Let''s see¡­ we need to kill Ais, and make sure he doesn''te back¡­ Something that is bound to happen, but not really¡­ hmmm¡­ What shall we do? What shall we do? Ah! There is that too¡­" A sudden idea came into his mind and he looked at me with a bright smile¡­ brighter than thest one. "How did youe back here into the past?" he asked with a bright expression and I, looking at him, exined a bit of details regarding everything that has happened. I didn''t exactly tell him everything, but I still told him about the skill that I have and he smiled as he spoke, "A Skill that changes history to change the present, huh? Not too shabby. But sadly, that means that we can''t use that Skill to send Ais to the far future¡­ " I observed him for a few more moments and spoke with a certain look, "I actually¡­ do have another Skill¡­" I did not know whether it would work or not, nor did I know the consequence of using such a Skill¡­ heck, can I even use that Skill at all? I have no idea. But still¡­ I felt like¡­ this was the right time to mention that Skill here¡­ [Ethereal Power: Bend!] [When in trouble, bend the reality ording to your own needs Cost: 100,000 Golden Cronas per use] And then I told him the description of the Skill at which he just spoke one sentence, "Never use that Skill unless you have lost everything in your life." Chapter 199 Spectre On the opposite side of the, far far away from where Michael and the others were fighting, something else was creeping on this. It had four legs, and a hammer shaped head. He was moving sideways, in a strange manner, while his head looked the opposite side. With the body that looked like that of a dog, and legs thin as bones, that being just kept moving in his strange fashion towards a city not far from there. If one can see clearly, then the nts and the animals or even the metals and the rocks, around 10 meters of that being, have eroded at an extreme rate. To the point where it looked like a relic of 1000 years. This¡­ is what we call a Specter. It may look like a random monster, but this being has more intelligence than most of the lower gods. He can easily beat an entire''s worth of army if he wants to, but currently that wasn''t his goal here. Here, he came only for one purpose. To absorb the energy of the that was flowing on the surface and gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. As that being moved near the empty city, filled with nothing but brainless zombies, he just kept walking with his strange gait. The zombies moved towards the being, only to fall on the ground before they could reach him. As for him, he just randomly looked around, moved within the city for a few more minutes, as he searched left and right. His eyes then suddenly got fixated on a group of peopleing to the town from the other side. Looking carefully, there were a total of 17 peopleing on 5 heavily armed vehicles, and each of them were at least peak B-Grade, if not A-Grade. The one who was leading them was perhaps even S-Grade with the aura he was releasing. Between the post-apocalyptic buildings near the entrance of the city, those guys stopped the car as they noticed the eeriness around the area. They could sense that something was wrong with the whole thing. And after considering some situations, a greedy smile formed on the face of the leader. "Let''s go in. Perhaps there is a strong zombie being born somewhere within the city," he spoke, and everyone else became super enthusiastic as they shouted loudly about the ''victory'' and the ''loot'' they were about to get. And hence they moved forward as fast as they could towards the center of the town. The Spectre looked at them from the top of the building carefully as they moved towards the center and after a bit of consideration; it decided that he would leave them as it is. He doesn''t care about killing a bunch of nobodies, but isn''t evil enough to go out of his way and kill another intelligent being. But before he could even move from the building. "Look what we got here. A strange monster with no energy whatsoever," spoke the same guy who was leading the other people towards the center. Perhaps he had the power of teleportation? (I don''t have time to y with ants) A telepathic voice rang in the ears of that leader as his eyes widened, wondering where the voice came from, though since there was no one he could sense around him even within the 10s of kilometers in vicinity, he concluded that it must be the specter. The specter sensed the guy properly. About 25 yrs old, ck hairs and a heavily built body. He looked like someone who was a professional bodybuilder, but something about his way of standing told that he was also very agile. "You really are special. Not only can you talk but also telepathically? That''s something, you know? I can''t let this opportunity pass,"spoke the leader guy as he took out a sword from his back and imbued his energy into it. The sword started glowing and became a bit more sharper. (What are you even trying to do?) The specter asked, a bit unamused with the behavior of the leader guy, but the leader guy didn''t even bother to listen to him as he jumped at the Spectre. -nk! A heavy metal sound resounded from the point of impact where the sword came in contact with the body of the specter. "What?!" surprised, the leader looked at the area where his sword, though managed toe in contact with that body of the specter, but failed to deal even a scratch on it. (Why do all the races behave the same?) A tired voice rang out in the mind of the leader as he took a step back, but -sh! A part of the body, more specifically, both the hands of the leader along with the sword, stayed there, where they were before, with the body jumping back. There was no blood. No pain. The leader could even feel his arms still ced on the specter of how he attacked him. His eyes widened as he tried to move his hands, but his hand failed to respond. As if something was tightly holding the hand of the leader, rendering it unable to move even the tiniest bit. And then¡­ The specter stood up.. On its two legs. His tilted face turned upright and his eyes, which seemed white before, now had a ck disk-like structure rotating inside it. Mouth, which was nothing but a small opening before, now had teeths sharper than those of piranhas. Looking at that face, and the way he was standing, the leader just took a step back. His eyes filled with fear. He even forgot about the hand which he didn''t hold any power to. -Step! -Step! -Step! The Leader took a step back, and the voice echoed in his ears. Even though they were on a rooftop, in an open area, where the wind was passing silently, they could hear the sounds of the steps loud and clear. The specter looked at the hands which he now held in his own two arms, and slowly bringing it closer to his mouth -Crunch! He took a bite "AAAAAAAAA!!!" the leader shouted, unable to do anything, as he felt the pain of his arms being chewed within the mouth of that specter. Even the parts of his hands which were inside the mouth of that specter, he could feel it. The acids poured on his hands, burning its flesh, eroding his skin, and breaking his tiny finger bones. The leader could feel each and every bit of it. He wriggled in pain, cried out as loud as possible, his tears running rapidly as he tried to make a stand, but the pain was too much. Even after the Specter consumed the entire bite he just took in, the leader could feel the pieces of his hands being flushed down to the Specter''s stomach. And then¡­ -Crunch! The specter took another bite¡­ and the process repeated. What was even more surprising was that no one was there to help out the leader. Nobody came. Despite there being a teaming with the Leader, no one came to the rooftop. It was surprising because, with the intensity with which the leader was shouting, even someone from the other side of the city could hear him. Yet, no one appeared. And soon, the Specter gulped down the entirety of that Leader''s hand before speaking, (This should be enough of a warning to you) And then¡­ Time reversed. "Leader?.... n!" shouted the partner of the leader as he looked at him with a slight worry on his face. The leader, n, snapped out of the stupor as he found himself back at the entrance of the city, where they were about to decide their next move. n was horrified to the core, as he looked from the side of the window at the top of the building, finding the same Specter looking at him. "What''s that?" the partner asked, and n, fully knowing about what would happen if they continued, spoke in a decisive tone,"Turn the cars around. We are going back." "But-"n''s partner almost questioned him before he saw the fear in n''s eyes. He understood that it was serious and, knowing his partner, he looked at the others and spoke without any change in his tone, "We are going back." Though confused, no one questioned the decision of the two strongest men in their camp and slowly turned the car around as they moved back wherever they came from. "You okay?" n''s partner asked as he looked at n, wondering what exactly happened. ''Did he sense something? I couldn''t sense anything from that monster¡­ '' he thought as he observed n. n, on the other hand, was still questioning the things he went through, his eyes wondering if what they were was the truth or just an illusion. He looked at his perfectly working hand and felt a chill as the memories of the pain returned. "Parth, do you trust me?" n asked as he kept looking at his hands and Parth answered,"I trust you with my life, partner." The others in the car also raised their ears as n nodded with a serious look and began telling them the ''tale'' that he had just went through. Exining everything in detail as shivers ran down the spine of everyone who heard it. Making everyone turn their heads towards the city where they just escaped from. As for the Specter, it just moved on from that city to another direction. Where he felt another scenting, which was simr to the energy of this. For his work was to absorb everything. And gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. Chapter 200 A Power Too Strong For The Universe [Michael''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Never use that Skill unless you have lost everything in your life." Aether sounded pretty serious about his words. His ck eyes, that seemed to see through everything, were now really tense as he looked at me. He bit his lower lips a little as his eyes changed directions left and right. ''He is scared¡­ no¡­ he is worried,'' I realized as I saw the change in his expression. "You must have a few questions, don''t you?" he asked as he gave a small smile to me and I slowly nodded. I did have a few questions indeed. His reaction was the reason that those questions were raised. After all, I was thinking of saving enough Golden Cronas, and giving myself a chance in case of an unavoidable situation. "Well. It would be better if ''She'' were to answer that. Klotho. Are you here?" he spoke and then, out of nowhere, a woman just moved in front of us. Wearingplete white clothes, her white eyes looked at Aether with an arrogant look. Her dark skin, which only added a charm to her beauty, made her look like a Goddess, if not an Angel. "You better not say that you have messed up again," she spoke in a charming voice, but it was anything but calm. She was angry as she looked at Aether and he just chuckled as he spoke, "Don''t worry. It''s nothing like that. I just thought you were the best person to answer a few questions of ours." Aether peeked at me with the same smile he was showing to Klotho, and she turned at me for a few moments before turning back to Aether,"he is an Ethereal. What of it?" I just nkly looked at her. It doesn''t seem like she was bothered about my race at all¡­ heck, it seemed like she knew about this race of mine. "He was a human before," Aether smiled, as Klotho''s gaze immediately turned back at me. This time, her gaze pierced me a couple of times as I felt naked standing in front of her. Mumbling something, she turned back to Aether, "He is blessed by the Universe, isn''t he? This makes things a bit more serious." Aether, however, nodded before looking at me,"You might be a bit confused, so let me do a proper introduction. This girl here is the Goddess of Fate, Klotho. Well, I am calling her a Goddess, because that''s how everyone does it, but she is a species that is two Origins above the Gods. Hmmm¡­ how much do you know about the Origins?" Hearing his question, I made a confused expression. My eyes closed as I pondered if I had seen or known anything like that in my life, but honestly, I did not. "Doesn''t seem like you know, so let me tell you a bit about it," Aether understood my expression and continued, "The lowest of Origins are Humans, like me-" And Klotho just cut his words,"He is an exception. Don''t take him as an ordinary human. Even Origin 0 people need to think before they decide anything, when the name ''Aether Rodriguez'' is involved." I turned back to Aether again. My eyes just really wondered what kind of existence he is¡­ clearly the Goddess of Fate doesn''t need to lie to me¡­ but are you telling me this guy¡­ is a human? Aether, not minding one bit, continued, "Origin 9 involves species who can use energy on their own. Elves, Spirits, etc,e in that category. Origin 8 is the realm of Divine Beings. Half Gods, Demi-Gods, Fallen Angels, etc.e in that one. Origin 7 is your niche for Lower Gods. Origin 6 for Higher Gods. p¦Á§ád¦Á`no¦Í?1`§ão§® Origin 5 for True Gods, who are thest remaining 12 Gods right now¡­. Or they are 10 in number. Forgot that I killed one of them. Anyways, Origin 4 are Titans, which are like the ones whom the Gods worshiped as their creators or something. Nothing much is known about them, honestly. Origin 3 is for Ethereals, which you belong to. I don''t know how much you know about Ethereals and stuff, but I can''t tell because Ethereals prefer disclosing things to their own kind slowly by themselves.¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á `n?¦Í?| §ãom Origin 2 involves Primordials. I won''t say anything about them either. Origin 1 involves the Orions or the Primes, who are, in fact, the ones who manage the Universes and stuff. Here Klotho is an Orion and watches over the Element of Fate. As for Origin 0. It''s the Creators, whom you should never meet even if you get the chance to. Well, it would be your choice to meet them though, nothing I shouldment on, that is given if you were able to meet them." My eyes widened as I realized how high Ethereals were in the Hierarchy, but to think there would be so many beings above Ethereal. I really thought Ethereal was really all to it, but to think¡­ "Origins don''t matter to some people, though. So don''t let it get into your head. Anyway, since you are a Human turned Ethereal, can you tell me who turned you into an Ethereal? I would like to not waste my life force into something which can be easily told," Klotho spoke as she moved towards me, but Aether moved in between as he spoke, "This isn''t why I called you here, Klotho." Aether''s eyes were a bit¡­ scary. It seemed like he was telling Klotho to dare and pass him, to which Klotho just grumped a little before asking, "Then why is it that you seek me?" Aether smiled at her question as he spoke,"the Universe has blessed this boy with the power to change fate. I want you to tell him the consequence of what that power holds." "!!!!" Klotho''s eyes widened as she turned at me and observed me with a really terrified look. She moved in closer, walking past Aether, as she held me by my shoulders and spoke, "Boy, is that correct what Aether just spoke of? Do you really hold the power to change destiny?" Her eyes pleading as they looked at me, while I turned to observe Aether, who nodded at me. Responding to his nod, I answered Klotho''s questions,"yes. I have a power like that." "No!.. It can''t¡­ be¡­ not again! Those F*cking CREATORS!!!" Shouted Klotho as she looked at me with her eyes widening and sweat marring her forehead. She was genuinely scared this time. "Calm down, Klotho. I don''t think it''s the Creators who did that," spoke Aether as he just yawned with his hands at the back of his head. Klotho turned to Aether, confused as she looked at him and asked, "What do you mean by that?" "I mean like. I don''t feel the power of the Creators on him. In fact, I don''t think he has even tapped into the potential of Ethereal power, just that he only knows in bits about a few things, which is probably nothing at all. If I am not wrong, it''s more like a calcted gift given to him by someone. Looking at his expression, he doesn''t know who. Anyway, that is that, I suppose. Though, I don''t think we need to worry about anything until he uses that power which he shouldn''t. That''s the reason I called you here," spoke Aether as he walked around, looking at Ais for a few seconds, before turning back to Klotho, who was now in a deep thought. She was making a really perplexed expression as she shuffled her eyes between me, Aether, and Ais. And after thinking for a few more minutes, she asked again, "Are you sure it won''t cause a problem? What if an Ethereal approaches him? Or even worse, a Primordial? What if he gets into a fight with that Primordial or something¡­ aaah! This is annoying." I felt a chill down my spine as I heard Klotho''s words. Me fighting a Primordial? Hah! I saw the powers of those Higher Gods before, and even then I didn''t believe I could survive even a second against them. What makes her think that I will fight against a Primordial? "If ites to that, then there is nothing we can do about it but wait, can we? Want me to interfere again?" Aether asked curiously, but Klotho just red at him before speaking, "You have an idea, don''t you?" "Maybe?" Aether smiled at her, making her re turn into a sigh before she asked,"what do you want?" "Give him the key to Avalon. And lock it until he gets the power equal to that of a True God," Aether spoke as he looked at me and Klotho didn''t seem to be shocked at that. In fact, a smile formed on her face as she smirked at Aether and spoke, "You want him to grow strong enough to take down any of the future obstacles, huh? Is he really that special?" Aether didn''t say anything at all. He just smiled at her and Klotho closed her eyes as she calcted and then finally spoke, "It''s a really big gamble¡­ in fact, I don''t believe in it even now. But since you are the one who is saying it¡­ all right, it makes me excited to see what the future holds." A bright smile was present on Klotho''s face as she looked at me before her smile vanished as she moved towards me. In a serious voice, she spoke,"but first. You must understand the meaning of changing fate. Close your eyes, kid." And hearing her voice, I closed my eyes before I saw¡­ something that I never expected to see. Chapter 201 Miya V/S Medusae [Enkonimiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ There are millions of races across the universe. Each having their own speciality and weakness. Their own living conditions and their own evolutionary pathways. There exists a race at the very basic level, called Snakemen. As the name suggests, they have the power of snakes while also having the capability of walking on thend as well as swimming in the water. Now, the snake race evolves into various other beings, for example Slythereen, which I came across a few moments ago and also another pathway which leads to the Medusae. Medusae is a really special pathway for the Snakemen, avable only to those who have upgraded their core to the maximum before evolution. It is a very honored race among the Snakemens, and is considered as the Elders or maybe the Elites of the society. Their powers include all the powers of Snakemen, along with the ability to turn everything they see into stone. Not limited to physical objects, they can even freeze thoughts if they have the ability to see through a person. Above that, they gain multiple lives with each of their heads capable of regenerating the entire being, even if the other 99 are dead. Kind of a pain-to-kill race, if I say so. Though they aren''t omnipotent. Their ability doesn''t work on beings stronger than them, or higher than them. Or certain metals like Mythrils and all. Though rare, it''s not hard to get that material if you are willing to pay the price for it. But we aren''t just dealing with any Medusae here¡­ ''An Elder Medusae,'' I thought as I observed that woman, with golden snakes instead of hairs on her head, and body made up of golden scales. Her azure eyes, that looked like a gxy was stored in them, looked at me with a slightly interested gaze. "I didn''t think I would get to see someone as strong as you on this," Medusae spoke as she began attacking me from left and right. The ground rumbled with each movement her snake-like body was making, and from beneath the ground, a couple of snakes jumped at me, which I cut down using the aura sword that I made from my mana. "Impressive," she chuckled as she began channeling more power into her attacks, attacking more and more aggressively, while her eyes turned greener and greener. Not long after, those eyes started glowing, and I had to use a mana shield to prevent myself from getting stoned. "My turn," I said as I took a deep breath and used 100% of my power, covering the entire sky around us with dark clouds, soon followed by a rain that was made up of mana that only I could use. The rain recharged my own mana pool, healed me up at a rapid rate and weakened that Medusae. Every drop that was pouring on that Medusae was burning her flesh from outwards, making her wriggle in pain as she burrowed inside the ground hiding from the water. "Running, are we?" I chuckled as I forced a huge amount of mana into the ground, taking control over the very ground itself. I could sense her body getting weaker and weaker inside the ground and not long after -KREEEECCCCHHHHH!!! A deafening cry was heard from the ground below as she moved up and looked at me with her flesh being eroded every second, showing a bit of her muscles and bones. "[Inspirido]" she speaks an ancientnguage that stops most of the movements of everything around her. The rain drops paused, the debris slowed down, making me see everything around her moving in slow motion. "[Reverbro]" she spoke again and her skin healed at a rapid rate as I observed her getting more powerful, or more like gaining back her initial powers. I wanted to stop her, but my own body felt heavy as I couldn''t move even one step. All I could do was stare at her, changing her form with each passing moment. And after she waspletely transformed into something which was a huge snake, she looked at me from high above the ground and said,"this is how far you go." And I smiled as I muttered under my breath,"110%." I was happy. While fighting against father was exciting too, but that won''t be considered as a real fight. More like a spar, to be honest. But this one -Whoosh! I saw her vanishing from my front as she appeared behind me in an instant, trying to bind me using that snake body of hers. If I turn around, I will turn to stone. My ability isn''t strong enough to deflect her skills this close. ''Let''s create some distance,'' I thought as I jumped away from her and closed my eyes, turning on my superior mana sense. I saw her mana fluctuating all over the ce as she tried getting closer to me. Her snakes were still present inside the ground, trying to break free from the spell I cast on the ground. And even if they did break through the ground, the rain will surely get them. "Stop running around!" she shouted as she tried catching me again, but I jumped into mid air and dodged her attempt to get me. At first, she was able to get close to me, but as time passed, I was able to read her movements beforehand. "You vile snake!" she shouted, and I couldn''t help but give her a wry look. The heck she was talking about? ''Need to break this deadlock,'' I thought as I wondered if there was a way of getting closer to her without getting trapped by her eyes. I doubt it would be easy to get close to her, even with my eyes closed. "Is that all you got?" I heard her mocking voice as she increased her speed even more than before, immediately getting close to me. My eyes widened as my heart skipped a beat. I saw.. Err¡­ sensed her right in front of me before I could even analyze her movements. Immediately pouring an extra amount of energy into the sword that I created, -sh! "AAAAAAAA!!!" I cut her face, making her shout out loud as she moved away from me. It wasn''t just her own reaction to move away from me, but also the power behind the sh was enough to push her a bit far away from me. Taking a deep breath, I saw her a few hundred meters away as I calmed my breath. The heck was that? "YOU! YOU WERE STILL HIDING YOUR POWERS?!!!" Her face was shocked as her eyes looked at me with disbelief. She could only gawk at me as I sighed before looking at the power I just used. ''250%, Huh? Almost killed her there,'' I thought as I sighed really deeply. I wanted to have fun while ying with her. Why does she have to go out of her way and run at me like that? Was she trying a surprise attack? ''Well, I was surprised all right,'' I thought as I looked at her with slight annoyance on my face. Moving one step closer to her at a time, I saw her face looking at me with fear now. Perhaps she realized the difference in power with that one attack? Not like I can do that attack many times, but still. "Can I ask you a question?" as I got closer to her, I suddenly realized something. Something that I didn''t think of much before, but now that I concentrate on it, it should have been pretty obvious. "W-what?!" she shrieked as she took a few steps back. Her eyes trying to analyze her surroundings as she searched for a way out of it. Or perhaps get another chance to attack me? -Whoosh! Yep, she was looking for a chance to attack me. But I was done ying games so -sh! I cut her again, pushing her a bit farther away from me, once again making her wriggle in pain as she tried getting a hold of her body. "You are strong. As strong as an Ingrate to be honest. So, can you answer this question of mine, Medusae? What exactly are you doing here working under an Ingrate rather than creating your own domain?" I asked as I reached closer to her. Ingrates are blessed by that being. If she had chosen to be an Ingrate, she would have been tested first, but given her bloodline and powers, I don''t think she will fail that test, and even acquire a higher power. But here she is, weak and pathetic, working under another Ingrate, the Witch of Darkness. "I¡­ she is my savior. I would rather die than-" she began speaking but "All right. All right. I understood the context. You can stop now." I got bored just hearing those cliche words. All my interests and curiosity died right then and there. She just looked at me with her mouth still half open as she observed me. Her eyes were a bit irritated at my response and though the lingering sadness was present on her face, mostly it was stupefaction now. I looked at a distance where Alex and the others wereing towards us. They seem to be injured a bit, but since I didn''t find any serious injuries on them; I turned my attention back to the Medusae. "I guess, I won? What''s next then?" I thought as I wondered what should be my next move as I looked at her, ''Should I just kill her?'' Chapter 202 End Of The Spar [Enkonomiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ Fallen on the ground in front of me, her eyes looked up to me as she returned to her ''human'' form. Her snake skin was shedding at a rapid rate, before it evaporated in front of me. This time, I didn''t see any sign of trickery, as if she had surrendered herself to her fate. Normally I would just kill her, but honestly¡­ I am not the leader of the group. Plus, I don''t kill a bunch of powerless kids, especially the pitiful ones like her. "What should we do now?" I thought really hard as I saw her before I sensed Waltering towards her with a head in his hand. It was one of these men whom Irene was fighting, wasn''t she? ''Why is Walter¡­ '' I was thinking, but then I saw Irene just walking behind him with her head low in frustration. Guess Walter interfered and killed her target? Seems like they got an equal match or something¡­ "Oi Miya! What are you doing?" Asked Walter as he looked between me and the Medusae. Curiosity filled his eyes as he pondered what exactly was going on. Even Medusae looked at the head of her men with a bit of a shocked gaze. "Nothing really. I was wondering what I should do with her?" I spoke out my thoughts and Walter grew even more confused as he simply spoke,"Kill her? What else are you supposed to do with your enemies?" Looking at his face, he was pretty much serious about it. One of those men who doesn''t leave anything behind that could bite him in the back, huh? "Well. I decided that maybe Michael might need her for something? He is special, you know, so," I spoke and a slight stupefaction appeared on his face. He then looked at the head in his hand as he spoke with an awkward expression,"Do you think this would be fine?" He was talking about the head in his hand and questioning if this head was worth anything for Michael. "Only Michael can tell that," I chuckled as I saw Alex and the others reaching closer to us. Even Reeve, George and the Slythereen woke up and began walking towards us. "What are you going to do now?" This time it was Medusae who asked this question. Her eyes observed me with a slight curiosity. Her fear was still there, but it wasn''t as much as before. "What do you mean?" Walter asked as he looked at her and she turned to Walter, and as if talking to a worm, she answered, "Now that we couldn''t defeat you guys, Miss Ang won''t be happy with us. Our death is set in stone¡­ But on the bright side, we will be let off easily. What are you guys going to do? Anyone who has interfered with Miss Ang''s work doesn''t have an easy death, you know?" The confidence in her words made everyone serious here except me, as I am familiar with the limits of Ang. "Michael is dealing with Ang right now," I spoke and everyone''s worry washed away, as if that didn''t even exist. The sudden change in the atmosphere made Medusae and the Slythereen much more baffled than before. They just looked at me with a questioning face. Their eyes were more than just curious at this point. "Who is¡­ Michael?" Medusae asked as she looked at me. I could see her eyes begging me to answer that question. "I wonder about that," I spoke as I sighed. He is our leader? I doubt that''s what she is trying to ask. As for his origin? Honestly, I don''t even know anything about him. What''s his goal? What''s his motive? ''Now that I think about it. Do I even know anything about him?'' I thought as I wondered about that. Because of how familiar he was with my father and how father trusted him and all, I don''t think I need to worry about anything, but still¡­ ''Won''t hurt to ask about it, when hees out¡­ though what is he doing there for so long?'' I pondered as I looked at the red house where he went about an hour ago. Earlier I was able to sense him, but now I can''t sense him at all. ''Could he have lost against the Witch? Hmmm.. that''s not possible,'' I thought, as even I can deal with the Witch if I use most of my powers. Someone like Michael shouldn''t have any problems in dealing with her. So what could have happened? "Should we go and check?" spoke George as he nced at the red house, where everyone was now looking. "Let''s go, I guess. No point in waiting here," I decided to go rather than wait. While it would have been better to let Michael deal with the Witch on his own, waiting here for an unknown amount of time isn''t really my thing. And thus I began walking towards the house, as the others, though having their own thoughts, started following behind me. Towards the red-coloured house. Though it was even before we could reach closer to that red house, I found a familiar energy signature which made me smile at first, but then that smile turned to confusion as I sensed another energy mixed with the previous one. "The Witch is alive!" spoke out loud, that Slythereen as he turned to me before I spoke in slight annoyance,"Even I can sense that." Hearing my annoyed voice, he took a step back as he put his head down. His body was shaking a little as he didn''t dare to even peek at me. Ignoring him, I sensed those two slowly moving out of the red house as we all just stood there. Not long after, I saw Michael walking out of the house with a serious look on his face. His serious face turned the situation a bit heavy as the rest grew tense looking at him. My eyes wondering what happened to make him turn serious like that, I analyzed him a couple of times. Though before I could reach a logical conclusion, I noticed another beinging out from behind him. Her head faced towards Michael, her eyes wide open as if she had witnessed something unbelievable. She took one step at a time monotonously behind him. While Michael''s serious face did piqued my interest, his expression intensified that curiosity a thousandfold, as I couldn''t help but wonder what was- "Huh?!!!!!!" My eyes opened up wide as my Golden Mana Eyes automatically activated and I saw a signature¡­ a signature of a being that I didn''t expect to see in this lifetime¡­ -Whoosh! I ran towards Michael as I stood face to face with him. I analyzed him from top to bottom multiple times, confirming what I was witnessing was not a mistake. But the more I looked at him, the more I grew baffled. "You!" I took a step back in amazement as I saw him turning to Ang. Doesn''t seem like she had noticed¡­ "How did you end up meeting with-" I was about to ask directly but Michael just interrupted, "We have a major problem¡­ a really serious one." He looked worried¡­ scared, perhaps? Chapter 203 And The Choices You Make [Michael''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ A few moments ago ¡­ ¡­ In a serious voice, Klotho spoke,"but first. You must understand the meaning of changing fate. Close your eyes, kid." And hearing her voice, I closed my eyes before I saw¡­ something that I never expected to see. A world formed in front of me, a Universe being built from scratch, I was looking at one thing, forgetting what was not important, and remembering what was considered ''important''. The Universe was born and then lived out its lifetime, before dying normally as it should have been. But then the scene reversed as I saw a man who was supposed to die on a certain day, got in contact with a power that changed his entire life. He changed his fated death, saved billions in his, those billions thrived faster than ever as they grew up stronger with each eon. But sadly that wasn''t a happy ending. Someone from those billions that were saved, gave birth to an anomaly. That anomaly grew stronger and stronger, which led to a butterfly effect and destroyed that before its time, creating a chain that destroyed the entire universe in half the time that it was supposed to thrive for. Next I saw the scene reversing again, this time it was focused on a cksmith that was saved from its appointed death, who ended up creating a weapon that fell into the wrong hands after eons passed of its creation. Once again the Universe died much faster than before. Next was about the fateful encounter between two people who should have never met, then it was about the people who didn''t meet who should have met somewhere along the journey in their lives. I was shown over a hundred scenarios, and in all of them there was something that wasmon, the interference between fate and destiny. My eyes then opened up as I found Klotho standing in front of me with a slight smile as she continued, "The Lord of Destiny, created the threads of fate to make sure that the universe as a whole gets to thrive as much as it should and is all the more careful making sure that nothing changes the fates of anything that is going to happen. The examples shown to you were about what would have happened if there was no one to interfere in between the people who changed fates. But what happened was actually different." I looked at her calm and serene expression as I looked at Aether who was torturing Ais as usual. Sensing me looking at him, he turned around and smiled as he waved his hands before returning back to his ''work''. "Everytime someone changes their fate, the Lord of Destiny sends people to deal with him or her, making sure nothing goes wrong with the Universe. And trust me when I saw this Michael, never go against the Lord of Destiny. Anyone who has gone against him, didn''t have a good end," Klotho warned me as she looked at me with seriousness in her eyes. Her cyan colored eyes observing me carefully while reading each and every behavior of mine. "You seem to have some questions," she spoke as she observed me and I nodded before turning to Aether as I asked,"Whates under changing fate and destiny?" I have used [Time Reverse] so many times that I couldn''t even begin to count, and [Time Rejection] is something that I used so many times to achieve feats that normally would be impossible for me. If changing fate and destinyes under that then doesn''t that means I am f*cked already? . "Exin in a bit more detail," Aether spoke as he observed me with a questioning look and after a bit of pondering, I told him about my adventures in my world. I didn''t tell him about the [System] but¡­ well, he just figured it out in a few words before he asked me to continue my story. I told him about a couple of powers that I used here and there. After I told him the entire story, he just observed me as he turned silent and turned at Klotho. I saw the expression of Klotho turning confused as she observed Aether. A strange silence filled the air as they both kept looking at each other before Aether turned towards me. "You want to know if you are in danger after using those powers or do you want to know if you will be in danger after you keep using those powers of yours given by that System of yours?" He asked a bit curiously and I answered honestly,"Both of them, actually." "Well, for the first question, no. Not really. You are more or less safe even after using all those time changing powers. It''s more like this, Michael, that, even if it feels like you have changed the future, it was more like you brought the future to the point it should be. Like, rather than changing the timeline from good to bad, you turned it into bad to good. So basically you are fine," Aether pondered a bit more as he looked at my still worried face and chuckled and spoke, "Don''t worry, dude. If you were really bad, the Fate Lord would himself have greeted you in person and vanished your existence for changing the things he set as right. He really worked hard to create a ''perfect'' future, didn''t he?" I nodded at his answer with a bit of tension still remaining in my eyes. "So, does that mean that I can use my powers in the future, right?" I asked as I looked at him. I still have to save my parents and without those powers, I might end up bing handicapped a lot. "There is another hypothesis for this, but I don''t know if you will be happy to listen to that," spoke Aether as he smiled at me. This time it was kind of a sad smile as I nodded and he sighed before asking, "Your powers and all are time rted, aren''t they?" I nodded at him before he continued "Then another strong possibility is that all you are going to do, or perhaps everything you did, is going to be all for naught. The time will reverse back to a point where all you did never really happened. That''s one of the things that usually isn''t thatmon, but not out of the checklist." His eyes looked serious and I wanted to say something, but words failed toe out of my mouth. This was a bit¡­ overwhelming but for some reason I felt this was a bit more¡­ urate to the truth. If all this is going to change back to zero, why would the Fate Lord worry about anything? I¡­ "I felt a strange presence on you. A powerful magic¡­ two presence actually. Other than the one you already had. Why don''t you ask yourpanions about it? Maybe you will find a solution to it?" Aether spoke with a smile as he looked at me and this time it was more of a genuine smile than a sad one. I nodded at him and he too did the same. "Although it''s all but a spection. Maybe nothing like that would happen. For now you should keep on doing what you were doing. It wouldn''t be that hard, now would it?" He spoke before moving towards Ais. "Will it be really fine? I don''t want to jump into a pool of blood only to burn myselfpletely? My goals aren''t that grand, you know?" Chapter 204 Gaining Her "Will it be really fine? I don''t want to jump into a pool of blood only to burn myselfpletely? My goals aren''t that grand, you know?" I asked genuinely. Saving my family and friends was all that was on my mind right now. I wanted to live peacefully, die peacefully. That''s all. It was Klotho who answered my question this time,"You should use it, actually. What didn''t happen before, won''t happen again? Though if things are going to revert as Aether spoke, you should try to use this time to learn something that you might need to use in your next run? Or maybe something else all together? But I don''t see the need for you not using the powers since you had already been using till now." I was a bit sad when I heard that¡­ to lose everything that I had done up till now¡­ "Aren''t you a little worrywart? Hmmm¡­ All right, I will give you a little bit of something before you go. Something that will help you in your journey going ahead¡­ but first let me deal with things here," Aether spoke as he took notice of my concerns before moving towards Ais who was listening to the whole conversation with a silent expression. "I guess killing you right now is the best thing that we can do for now. As for youing back into the future, all I could say is a few words," Aether''s expression changed to quite scary¡­ as he continued his words,"I would dare you to do anything funny when you return." Klotho took a step back as she prepared a barrier. I could see sweat trickling down Klotho''s forehead while that Lord of Darkness, Ais, looked down with his eyes nted at the ground and his body shaking tremendously. He didn''t speak any words as he nodded at that. "Man! I guess even after all this, I am stillcking if I can''tpletely kill a being. Anyway, guess that is fate too," he spoke as he touched the head of that being before¡­ "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" Shouted Ais as I saw him being engulfed in a white me. His entire being was withering away in front of me. It wasn''t just him burning right now. I could feel it, his past, his future life he could have lived, his entire existence was burning within that white me. It continued for another few minutes before that guyplete vanished, leaving a small ring on the ground. Aether observed that ring before picking it up and then using another me, this time golden, and began melting it into minute particles. I saw that ring tuning into golden ashes in front of me before Aether looked at me and¡­ "Here.." he blew the ashes towards me, and they flew at me before getting imnted inside of me and all I could do was look at Aether who was smiling at me. "Bear the responsibility and face uing dangers¡­. This will give you a chance to change the future¡­ in a bit more legal way," he spoke before stretching a little as he looked at Klotho, who was shaking her head. "The creators won''t be happy with this," Klotho remarked as she looked at Aether with a deep sigh and Aether answered with a bored expression,"the creators can just go f*ck themselves." Aether then turned towards me and asked,"Michael. Before you go, can I ask you a question?" I had a thousand questions right now about what he did. I wanted to know what he just nted inside me? Was it the remains of Ais? Isn''t that a bit reckless? "I can see a lot of questions in your eyes, but all I can say is that you will get the answers in due time during your journey. Me telling you here will spoil a lot of things, so wait for the time to get those questions answered. It''s time we are talking about after all," he spoke as he observed me before continuing, "Now to my question. Michael, what are your ns for the future? I looked through your eyes, but I didn''t see any ambition in there. You know, normally I would just see through people easily and figure out what they want and what they don''t want, but let''s just say that I was curious, so I decided to ask you first about it." His words echoed in my mind for a few moments before I decided to answer it with slight honesty, "I would say live peacefully and die peacefully, but I doubt that it is what you are asking for. I¡­ kinda lost my ambitions after losing my best friend. For now, I am just looking forward to having one?" "Well, you are lucky then," Aether smiled with a slight chuckle making me turn curiously at him as he began exining, "The moment you got your System, you were chosen for a task. It won''t be a meager task that anyone can do, I believe. As for why you were chosen? I wouldn''t really be bothered about it, if it were me. Maybe your lineage provides you with that power, or maybe you were just a lucky, random person? Who knows? But what matters in the end is that you got your powers. Other than that, you also have the blessing of the Universe, plus you transitioned into an Ethereal from a human, so I guess even the Universe has some ns for you. If I were toment, it''s more like a snowball effect." "Snowball effect?" I asked as I observed the pondering face of Aether and he nodded, "You know how a snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger as it falls down the slope? Something like that. You might have done something, or maybe you were lucky to receive the System? Then, with this System of yours, you might have done something impossible that might have caught the attention of the Universe. Because you got the attention of the Universe, maybe you got that Ethereal ss as an evolution option? Something along those lines," he spoke as he tried exining things to me and it made a few things clear all right. I got the beyond SSSS-Grade grading from the first dungeon, which gave me the [Time Shatter] God Power. Then that might have been the trigger for the [Ethereal] ss? And it was because of that ss that I was able to reach the Voltaire Dungeon without much problem? ''Plus me getting abruptly powerful helped me level up and get all those skills pretty fast too,'' I thought as many things made sense now. It wasn''t like I couldn''t have reached this conclusion, but me not knowing anything about Systems and stuff would have hindered my line of logic before. "But it''s also a sad thing to be honest," Aether sighed as he looked at me and I grew tense as I looked at him, "What do you mean by that-" before I could speak Aether started another topic rted to this one, "All right. I will help you a little. Consider this a gift from me. I have also solved a bit of your problems, so you won''t be feeling sad after returning. The gift I am giving you is really an important part of me, so don''t misuse it. I don''t really like this, but I guess I can make an exception for you, perhaps? All right. Take care Michael, maybe we will meet again? Hopefully not." And then I saw the scene vanishing from there as I just stood there stupidly doing nothing but standing motionless. My eyes questioned a lot of things as my vision returned and I was back where Ang was. Her eyes observed me with a careful look, but then soon¡­ that look changed to stupefaction¡­ Her eyes widened as she gazed at me with shock. Her mouth opened. She wanted to speak something, but words failed toe out. She looked kinda cute there. Turning to my System, the first thing that I noticed was the cooldown of the Skill that I just used. It turned out to be quite long¡­ and I wondered if I did the right thing to use this Skill here, or not? [The Defier(Unique)] [Allows the User to reject or defy anything in existence. As long as the user is in contact with the person/thing/being, he or she can defy it. Not limited to death and life, but the more the strings of fates and destiny are involved, the heavier the impact will be on the user Cooldown: 1 year 4 months 12 days] But all that vanished when I looked at my status screen¡­ another bar had appeared¡­ something I wanted to happen but didn''t really expect to see¡­ [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ; WorldWalker ss: Child of the Universe [All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight with him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies Stats will be halved] Level: 18 (48,620,112/50,000,000 Exp) Status: Healthy ves: Ang Reas* Enchantments: Breath of the Night: All abilities have their power increased by 25% during absence of light. Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of the Last Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50%. (3) Blessing of the Charybdis: You have gained the ability to see or hear things that are otherwise not possible. (4) Blessing of the ONE: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). Health Points: 160000/160000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20(+200) Constitution: 20(+200) Dexterity: 20(+150) Intelligence: 18(+150) Wisdom: 20(+150) Charisma: 20(+150) Stat Points: 35 Total Cronas: 2,564,001 Total Dungeons Under Control: 1 Total Portal Under Control: 0] Chapter 205 A Serious Problem ''A blessing like that, huh?'' I thought as I observed the new Blessing along with the status of [ves] in which Ang''s name was mentioned. Was this Aether''s doing too? ''But why?'' I questioned, as I failed to realize his purpose. It didn''t seem like he needed me in any way? Then why did he go out of his way and help me with this problem¡­ I hope it doesn''t bite me back in the future. The next thing that I looked at was Ang''s Status [Inspect!] [Name: Ang Reas Race: Half-God ss: The Watcher of Darkness Description: The Watcher of Darkness, Ang Reas, is a being born out of that darkness energy. Her aim was to restore her former power and gain enough control over her existence to kill the ********** the one who has taken control over her entire life. Secretly, she is doing her best to achieve her goal in whatever way it is possible. Divine Energy: 100,000,000,000/100,000,000,000 Status: Undivined; ved Owner: Michael Aroa Gift: Domain Creation; Personal Space Skills(1,219,101) Strength: 273,112,492 Constitution: 191,019,184 Dexterity: 184,920,028 Intelligence: 445,134,902 Wisdom: 300,130,101 Charm: 203,124,104] "What did.. you do?" her eyes still widened, and she looked at me as realization dawned upon her. Her expression held a thousand questions as she gazed upon me, hoping I could tell her the mystery of what had just transpired. ''How should I exin all this to her? Though, should I even bother telling her? I mean I do want to help her but in a way she is one of the main reasons why this is in the state it currently is,'' my mind kept on pondering about everything as I kept going on and on about it. But in the end I just decided to exin about it. I didn''t tell her everything but something along the lines of ''I have a certain power'' ''I paid a lot of price for it'' and ''You are mine now'' Hopefully she won''t question me more after this. ''But still¡­ to think that I will get a ve of my own¡­ not even in my wildest dreams I had thought that it would ur here,'' a wry smile formed on my face as I realized the situation I was in right now. Her eyes shook, hearing each word of mine as a single tear fell off her eyes. She bit her lips in slight frustration as she got on her knees,"I am your master. What do you want me to do for you?" I could see the distress and anger in her eyes as she spoke those words. Her entire body was shaking as if she wanted to kill herself. "Well. I don''t know what I should give you, to be honest¡­ What is your expertise in?" I spoke not minding her condition and behavior. "I am an expert in studying various races and their weaknesses and strengths. Their powers and weaknesses and everything about them. While my gift allows me to create a personal space for doing almost everything I want. We are currently in my space,"she answered me without hiding anything, and I nodded. This was up to what I had already expected. Now that I know a few many things about her and others, I could understand the context behind her words. "As for your goal of freedom from this shackle. How about a deal?" I spoke with a certain smile as I observed her bitter face turning a bit confused as she looked at me. "Help me deal with this God of Undead and stuff, and I will help you find a solution to your problem?" I smiled at her, making her a bit stupefied as she tried analyzing my face. "Did you lose your mind, Master? Killing the God of the Undead? Even the universe together couldn''t defeat him¡­ I think you should stop dreaming," she spoke with a straight face. Not that she was making fun of me, but still man¡­ that hurts a little. A bit depressed, I just looked at her,"I know all that. He is super strong and stuff but¡­. Aren''t your own problems equally difficult? Impossible and stuff? Why can''t I dream, if you can?" She just stared at my face as she answered, "Can I be a bit blunt, master?" ''No¡­ is what i want to say but,'' I made a wry expression as I knew a savage answer wasing but still, "Yeah. Go ahead." "Are you sure you are not sick right now?" She spoke with a bit of concern right now, making me just gawk at her with a dejected expression. "Ummm¡­ I think we should first get out of here now. People outside are waiting for me¡­ haha¡­" I spoke as I looked away from her. She nodded at me as clicked her fingers and we were back outside, back at theboratory where she conducted all those experiments and stuff. ''Quite efficient,'' I thought as I looked at her spell''s speed. "Follow me,"I spoke as I recalled Aether''s words. I need to talk to Miya about something really important. Speaking of that, I moved my steps towards the ce where Miya and the others were waiting for me. I hope all this spending time inside that space wouldn''t have taken too much of my time here. Slowly reaching up the house from the basement, I soon stepped outside, weed by the bright morning. At a distance, I saw dozens of people walking towards me. Some were familiar, while the others were unfamiliar. My eyes looked between those people as I searched for the familiar ones. I hope no one got injured here. Fortunately, after looking through the people, I found that none of them got injured in any form. They were all looking quite fine for the disaster they were leaving behind their steps. Yeah, most of the building behind them had turned into rubble as they walked away towards here. Two people wearing ck coloured clothes simr to Ang were walking along with them. However, their eyes were fully concentrated on Ang with some shock and some hesitation. They just kept observing her with aplex expression as they failed to understand the sight that they were looking at. I noticed Miya too, just looking at Ang with slight curiosity before a smirk formed on her face as she moved closer to me. Looks like she wanted to ask something, but I have something more important to discuss with her, "We have a major problem¡­ a serious one." Hearing my words, she halted her steps and looked at me with a narrowed yet deep gaze. After she did some quick thinking, she simply nodded at me, before she looked at Ang and then those two people dressed in ck behind her. "Keep them alive. I will deal with themter on by myself," I spoke as I analyzed the two of them. While both of them were in a way evil, they were far more special than anyone could imagine here. How do I know this? Well, because I just checked their status. And even I cannot believe what I was just looking at¡­ Perhaps my luck wasn''t as bad as I thought? Chapter 206 Information [Name: Devana En Kliptos Erayia Race: Devine Medusae ss: Former Queen of the Medusae Description: The dethroned queen of the Medusae who was banished from her kingdom for killing the Crown Princess. A mad woman who believes her instincts more than anything and would follow them blindly enough to wipe out her entire race. Just because she has been dethroned doesn''t mean she has lost her powers. It simply means that she has been removed from an authority she can easily wipe out of existence if she wants to. The current queen is too young and doesn''t even hold 10% of the capabilities and powers which Devana holds..... Divine Energy: 80,000,000,000/80,000,000,000 Status: Weaken; Charmed; Cursed; Enved; Broken; Poisoned Gift: Material Formation(Sealed): Power exchanger(Weakened): Queen of the poison valley(Sealed) Skills(109,901(Sealed): 7(Unsealed)) Strength: 253,112,492 Constitution: 201,019,184 Dexterity: 194,920,028 Intelligence: 325,134,902 Wisdom: 240,130,101 Charm: 13,124,104] I saw her powers and was really surprised to see so many restrictions on her. Just what did she do to receive so many debuffs on her? And exactly how powerful is she without all those curses? On a closer inspection, she looked like a child. Her eyes, mud brown, and ck and white hairs forming a strangebination. I observed her standing there pettishly as she looked at me and then Ang. Perhaps she was finding this whole situation ufortable? ''Cute dress though,'' I thought as I observed her ck coloured dress that looked like she just arrived at a party. The only thing missing was a party hat and it would have been a really nicebination. Next was the guy who was standing beside her [Name: Izakiel Hebi no Ame Race: Slythreen(Mixed blood) ss: Protector of the Noir Description: A man who was betrayed by everyone in his entire life. His purpose of living is to make sure he gets his revenge and also finding someone he can actually put his trust into. He has been living his life trying to find fun in everything he can and that has driven him to do things that are both beyond what an Angel is capable of and beyond what the Devil could think. He holds a special power that he himself doesn''t know, strong enough to dethrone even the most powerful of the Gods. Though if used wrongly, he might end up destroying the entire universe. Though that also depends on who uses this power¡­ Divine Energy: 13,040,400,203/13,040,400,203 Status: Healthy Gift: Berserker Skills(140,121) Strength: 27,756,452 Constitution: 19,452,184 Dexterity: 18,421,028 Intelligence: 45,156,902 Wisdom: 32,130,234 Charm: 23,121,234] His eyes, silvery gray as I saw him, with a hue of yellow in them. His hair was a bit orange, with streaks of ck in them, he was standing there observing me with a fear that one has when he meets his maker. He was wearing a nice ck and white suit, matching the other girl''s dress and just like her, he too seemed to be going to a party. ''Aren''t they both interesting? Seems like I gained a few more powerful people¡­ now how to make sure they work for me,'' I pondered before looking at Enknomiya as she observed me with the same curiosity as before. "Let''s go a bit away from here," I told her as I moved away from there while she followed beside me without any words. I turned a little as I peaked at Ang who was standing there,"you too. Come with me." She, looking at me, nodded as she followed behind under the fixed gazes of everyone there. Slowly we moved a bit away from there as Miya casted a barrier to not let anyone hear our words. Good job Miya! Now¡­ "So¡­ a few things happened. I met this guy named Aether¡­" I began exining in bits about my ability to change fate at a certain price that I can''t disclose. I told her that I met Aether and how he and I talked about this and that before we moved on to the topic on the God of Undead. I also told the things from Ang too. "So you already know about it, huh? Honestly, I would have preferred if you had known it after you gained some more power¡­ though I guess it was enviable in one way or another. Well, not like I was hiding things from you, just that I felt that it would have been better if I had told you everything slowly as you gained more power," she spoke with a thoughtful look. "So. What do you want to know?" she asked as she looked at me. "Start from what you know about Zombies and Zombie king," I asked as I looked at her and she nodded as she began exining, "To put it in simple terms, I was a princess of the Nexus. But that wasn''t all to it. I am also the Light Bearer of my Gxy, an entity that appears once in a millennia and there could only be one Light bearer at a time. While there was me, there were other people there as well, people with powers and abilities that were considered beyond normal. Against the invasion of the God of Undead, the entire gxy became one as they began fighting against the army of the Undead. It was a brutal fight centered around the Orion, our neighboring and things became much more hectic as things proceeded. I was tasked to fight against their strongest invaders of that time, the Generals of the Undead army. There were 7 Generals who invaded our Gxy and after hunting relentlessly, I killed 4 of the Seven Generals. s, even though I seeded, we all lost because none of the other party could handle the power of the Zombies and their ability to take our own army and use them against us. After we lost the war, the generals took over the cores of most of thes around, killing them slowly and slowly over time before they became a barren inhabitablend. Luckily we had a universe blessing on our. The Dungeon of Voltaire, the one which you conquered. More than a dungeon, it was a machinery that was meant to save our in case of unforeseen circumstances. And we used it to bind the King, our father and me in that dungeon so that someday in the future we can take revenge against the Zombies. Though from what I heard, what was kept inside there was the remnants of the King with me and my father protecting it." As she spoke, both I and Ang just looked at her for a few seconds. Our eyes almost popped as we looked at her telling her deeds as if it were nothing. Come on man, they were generals, not cabbages in the market? "Stop looking at me like that. The ones that I defeated were weaker generals. The strong one didn''t even invade us¡­ makes me frustrated at our stupid naivety about the situation," she spoke with bitter expression as she looked at me with a slight smile as she asked, "Do you want to know about the hierarchy among the Zombies?" Chapter 207 Information#2 "Do you want to know about the hierarchy among the Zombies?" I nodded at her, and she then continued her exnation again, "You already know about the Grades of zombies from E-Grade to SSSS-Grade, right? So I''ll start exining from above that. The first thates above SSSS-Grade is called a Captain Zombie. You probably won''t find them here until it''s an invasion from the outside world. Based on the energy on this level, it would be a miracle if this world produces anyone above SS-Grade. A captain holds the power to destroy an entire world, at least when a world as small as this one is concerned. He has many skills and obviously is stronger than the normal crop Zombies you might have found. Ingrates, like Ang,es under the reference to Captain Zombies however her being apletely different entity, she isn''t a Zombie to begin with. But still, based on her power level, you can take her as a Captain. Thenes the General Zombies, which in itself is divided into 3 levels. Level 1 General, who possesses control over a single sr system. It''s not like they are given authority over a single sr system, but more like that is how much capable of with their own power. Level 2 Generals possess control over a bunch of Sr Systems. It could be anywhere from 2 to 200 or something, so it''s a wide range in itself. There is no other differentiation between someone who owns 200 Sr Systems and someone who owns 2. Just that they have different power levels. Level 3 Generals, the strongest of their kind, have control over an Entire Gxy. Some of the Higher generals control 3-4 gxies in theirmand and could easily destroy a couple of sr systems if they wanted to. Ah! I need to mention here that I am taking this as a base referral here. There are certains, for example, Visca or Liwera, where the power level of the beings is so high that a Level 3 General, at max, could only take control over a country or something. Nothing more. And if we include High Heavens, I don''t think there is even a single General capable of taking control over something there." "You forgot Erat," Ang chimed in with slight interest as she looked at Miya, making her suddenly realize about another being. "Oh! Totally forgot that guy existed. Hmmm¡­ okay, he is a Level 3 General who lives peacefully in the High Heaven without interfering with the lower world. Perhaps the only one who can," Miya spoke as he recalled Erat Guy. "Moving on to the level above the Generals is Duke Zombies. Well. They are strong, but they hardly interfere with lower universes. In fact, they don''t even care about a Universe like this, so you need not to worry about it. Above them is God of Undead''s personal Royal Guards, the Highest Queen of Fire Goddess, Highest Queen of Ice Goddess, a few other powerful servants and finally the God of Undead himself." Miya concluded her hierarchy exnation as I just looked at her without any change in expression. I wanted to say something, but after learning the level of enemies that I was about to go against, I kinda wondered what exactly am I even trying to do. ''Aren''t I pretty much at the bottom of the pit?'' I thought as I looked at her before I sighed really, really deeply. After pondering for a few moments, I decided not to think about it. Might deal with things which I can right now than focusing on things that are far beyond. "So¡­ this General Belial that I am hearing of. How strong is he?" I asked with slight curiosity. Isn''t he the one that I need to deal with? "He is a Level 2 General holding 15 Gxies in his hand. Pretty strong, but nothing to worry about," Miya spoke casually, making me look at her with a dumbfounded look this time. "Ummm Miya¡­ when you said that you dealt with the Generals before¡­" My words traced to that question as she understood that. And with a prideful expression, she answered, "The strongest among those 4 was a Level 2 General holding 148 gxies in his hand. While the others held around 5-6 dozen Gxies in their hands." My mind went nk for a moment as i was about to ask something but she continued before I could do so, "Though I lost most of my powers over the years. I was within the dungeon and the was dead. Even the Gxy was mostly eroded. I lost most of my power. I can easily handle Belial even now, but I don''t think I can handle anyone stronger than Belial. Maybe a little more, but not too much." There was a perplexed expression on her face as I observed her, and my eyes recalcted everything. ''So we can avoid the nearest problem, huh? Though, I would like to not just sit and wait for that to happen. Let''s get to level 20 first¡­ I want to upgrade my System once again. This time something different,'' I thought as I looked at my System. "You are forgetting about the Spectres," Ang spoke as she looked at Enkonomiya and, once again Miya had a sudden realization as she looked at Ang as she asked, "Don''t tell me there is one on this?!!" "Aren''t they everywhere?" Ang answered with slight annoyance as she looked at Miya. The annoyance wasn''t directed at Miya, but at the Spectre. "Spectre?" I asked with slight curiosity. I think Ang has exined about them a little before. "Well. There could be an entire book on them, but for the simplest detail. Consider them as a race that is trying to restore their previous glory and is going to any lengths in order to reach that. Some say that they are a kind of race and will show kindness to those who deserve, while others just say that they are incarnations of Devils themselves. As for their power level, consider them a Level 1 General," spoke Miya with a tired expression as she exined about Spectre. "So in short. I need to be prepared for this Specter and this General Belial who is going toe here in 3 months? Did I catch that right?" I asked onest time, as they both nodded at me. With that out of the box, I felt kind of relieved. At least I know what wasing for me. "Ummm.. Miya, can I ask you a question?" I suddenly recalled something, and Miya looked at me curiously. "Have you ever met the Zombie King?" She looked at me for a few moments before shaking her head and speaking,"no. I don''t know if it is a fortunate thing or an unfortunate one, but nope. I have never seen him." "What about you Ang?" I asked her, hoping she would tell me something, but s, she too spoke that she did not know anything about the God of the Undead other than its existence. She was far below in the hierarchy to meet someone like that high. "Well, I don''t know if it is real or not, but there is one more thing you should know about the God of Undead,"Ang spoke as she looked at me with a slightly serious expression. Chapter 208 Information#3 "Well, I don''t know if it is real or not, but there is one more thing you should know about the God of Undead,"Ang spoke as she looked at me with a slightly serious expression. "There is a rumor. ording to the legends that all the power that God of Undead holds in his poweres from the number of zombies he has made all across the multiverse. Whether it is this or any other, the God of Undead holds thebined power of all the Zombies in the entire multiverse. And there is another rumor that all that power he holds from the entire multiverse ounts for only 33% of his true power. The rest is his own power." As Angelpleted her sentence, I observed her expression with a slightly thoughtful look before I wondered if I could use this information in any way. Well, for now, let''s try doing what we can as even if we do get a way to kill all the zombies in the entire multiverse, I don''t think it would be possible to do it in a short amount of time, anyway. "Does that guy have a name, though? All this time I have been hearing God of Undead or Zombie King. He should have a name, shouldn''t he?" I asked with a slightly curious look, but Ang made a slightly perplexed expression. "It is better if you don''t get to know the name of that being," Miya spoke, as she too had the same look on her face, and it kind of intrigued me. Understanding my curiosity, Ang answered, "To be honest. Even I don''t know the name of the God of the Undead, and neither do I think Miya knows about it. To put it in simple terms, anyone who knows the name of the God of Undead will end up telling him about his location. For example, if you take the name of the God of Undead now, you will most probably notify him of your existence and he might even teleport here to check you out. That is why most of the races failed to survive throughout the time against him." ''Crazy!'' is the word that I believed that would describe the situation perfectly here ''Another thing that I should keep in my mind, huh?'' I thought this information was a bit more crucial than the others. I then saw Miya turning at me with slight curiosity as a smile formed on the corner of her lips. "Can I ask you a question?" Miya spoke. "Okay," I answered "About Sir Aether¡­ What else did you guys talk about?" she asked without any change in her expression. Not minding much, I told her a few more things about his behavior and how he was handling a certain situation there that I cannot disclose. Later I asked her about him and what does she knows about Aether and she answered, "Nothing much, to be honest. You already have heard about his legend from Father. I was just curious about it as he is one of the most famous legends of our." After that, her eyes turned to Ang as she asked,"So what''s her situation now? Is she an enemy or an ally?" "Well, that huh¡­" I made a slight awkward smile as I exined how Ang was my ve now, to which Miya, even though she expected it somewhat, was still surprised to hear it. She kept looking between me and Ang for a few moments before she sighed and let it go. ''Now, with that out of the box, let''s move to the next most important question. If I am not wrong, the person whom Aether asked me to talk to was Miya herself,'' I thought as I turned seriously to Miya. She, too, finding the sudden change in my expression, turned serious. "So there is this thing¡­" I told her about my powers a little and my ability to slow down time or change certain events ording to me. Although shocked, she was smiling as she was hearing my words. Hmmm.. now that I think about it, this was the first time I had told anyone about my powers here. Well, the situation demands, so what can I say. After listening to my worry about changing times and destiny and a little about fate lord she grew a little confused as she turned to Ang. Ang too had the same expression of confusion as she looked at me. "Michael, I don''t know what exactly you are worried about, but no. You haven''t caused any changes in fate or destiny. Or at least there is nothing you have done that has upset the bnce of fate. As for how I know this is because, as a Lightbearer, I have a certain ability that allows me to look at something which is known as ''Threads of Fate'' They allow me to look at the fate of a person and different people have different threads," Miya told me a little about threads of fate and Ang took over from there, "Me too can see threads of fate and, ording to what I have seen, none of your threads have ever been broken or changed in any form. Your fates are actually quite strong, to be honest, in fact, they are one of the strongest threads I have ever seen in my life." ''Is that a special thing?'' I thought as I looked at Ang and understanding my thought, she shook her head as she continued, "No. It''s not about being special or not, just that your fate won''t be changed so easily. Unless a super powerful being like the God of Time himself interferes with you, I don''t think you will stray past your path of destiny." I wonder if it makes things better or worse. But all in all, I guess I don''t need to worry about me using my powers again. "If it is fine with you, then let me check it out," Ang added as she looked at me and I pondered about it a little before nodding at her. I don''t think I need to worry about anything from Ang''s side for now. She then put her hand on my forehead as a certain energy poured inside my head before she separated her fingers from there. After she was done with that, she spoke out, "Nothing wrong." I smiled at her as I calmed a lot after talking with both of them. In fact, Aether too spoke that it was all fine and I need not to worry about anything regarding me using my powers or not. "You know,"Ang continued as she looked at me,"this contract is not just space bound but also time bound. It was created by one of the strongest beings in the entire multiverse to ensure that ''He'' does not get back to his prime power. I am pretty sure you already know whom I am talking about. So, since that contract is still valid without any deference means that it''s kinda fine. The fate hasn''t changed and things are proceeding as they should." I smiled at her as I couldn''t help but pat her, making her blush a little as I spoke,"thank you Ang. That helped a lot." "Just doing my work," she spoke in a low voice, as I could see a faint smile on her face. Perhaps things will be a bit more interesting from now on¡­. Chapter 209 Devana En Kliptos Erayia [Name: Devana En Kliptos Erayia Race: Devine Medusae ss: Former Queen of the Medusae Description: The dethroned Queen of the Medusae who was banished from her kingdom for killing the Crown Princess. A mad woman who believes her instincts more than anything and would follow them blindly enough to wipe out her entire race. Just because she has been dethroned doesn''t mean she has lost her powers. It simply means that she has been removed from an authority; an authority where she can easily wipe out her entire race of existence if she wants to. The current Queen is too young and doesn''t even hold 10% of the capabilities and powers which Devana holds..... Divine Energy: 80,000,000,000/80,000,000,000 Status: Weaken; Charmed; Cursed; Enved; Broken; Poisoned Gift: Material Formation(Sealed): Power Exchanger(Weakened): Queen of the Poison Valley(Sealed) Skills(109,901(Sealed): 7(Unsealed)) Strength: 253,112,492 Constitution: 201,019,184 Dexterity: 194,920,028 Intelligence: 325,134,902 Wisdom: 240,130,101 Charm: 13,124,104] "What do you mean he is your master, Miss Ang?!!" Spoke Devana said as she looked at me carefully. Frustration filled her eyes as she slightly bit her lips in irritation, locking her arms one over the other. She stood there firmly as she looked at me with an open re. "You must be Devana," I spoke as I observed her. "?!!!" Shocked, her eyes observed me while the others grew confused. Her previous irritation was gone, and now she was more than just surprised. -sh! [Time Rejection!] I saw her shing me in the future and I used [Time Rejection] swiftly to cancel her attack as I asked,"you don''t like that name?" Her eyes were observing me deep as both Ang and Miya calmly looked at me. If previously they were confused, now they grew curious as they tried to figure out what was going on here. "Eraiya. Call me Eraiya if you want to, but don''t ever take that name again,"She spoke as she red at me. Perhaps there was a story behind that, too? "Who are you?" she asked again, this time with aplexion in her eyes, but her previous serious gaze didn''t fade much. "Let''s not talk about me. There are many important things that we need to discuss with you right now," I smiled as I continued,"I am curious about your story. You were dethroned despite being the strongest. You knew killing the crown princess would create a storm, yet you did that dly. Even when you hold the power to be queen, you would dly work under someone else," I spoke as I looked at Ang standing beside me. Ang was bbergasted, to say the least, and Miya, too, looked really surprised to see that. As for Eraiya herself, she was just making aplicated expression as she muttered,"just who are you¡­ or what kind of powers you possess¡­ Stop Looking into my past!" Thest line she shouted as a sad expression appeared on her face. "I can only see bits of information. If I want, I can see more in detail, but don''t you think it would be better if you were the one to tell your story?" I continued with the same smile as before. When I saw her, I immediately decided to bring her to my team. Other than me, only she knows her true potential and If I can bring her out of her problems, then perhaps I can make her mine? It was fascinating to see a Queen of an entire kingdome here in front of me. Maybe if I can y this right, maybe I can get a whole Kingdom backing me. But, I need to be careful with my maniption here or else things might y out wrong. "What exactly do you want from me?" She was growing skeptical of me as she looked at me with wariness. "You," I gave an honest answer. Maybe it was because fabricating something would be a tall order and if I got caught, it would be all over, or maybe I believed my ability to persuade without lying. I decided to y with my words here. "Do you want me to be your ve too?"she asked as she looked at Ang first and then at Miya "Not really," I looked at her as a thought passed by my mind,''I want your entire kingdom to be mine,'' but I put it at the back of my brain as I continued,"How about we make a deal?" "What deal?" She asked "I will help you get back to your former power, while you help me protect a couple of people I want you to protect for me. How about it?" I spoke, and she stared at me with the same seriousness as before,"And what makes you think that I want to go back to my former power?" "To save your father from the Dungeon of Emptiness?" This time, my smile was a little more of a smirk and her eyes stopped at me, shaking a little. "I will help you out, but I have a few conditions." I started opening up the deal. Her eyes were still gazing at me, her expression lost in thoughts. Perhaps she was recalling something, perhaps she was thinking about something else? Then, after the pause that felt like a really long one, she asked,"What do you mean by saving my father from the Dungeon of Emptiness?" "Hmmm? Exactly what it sounds like. Is there anything wrong with it?" I asked as I looked at her status again. It was still showing that her father was trapped in a dungeon of Emptiness. "My father¡­ I have been searching for him for decades¡­ he vanished from the empire a few decades ago and the empire had dered him dead¡­ " she spoke in bits as I found her barely able to breathe from excitement. Yeah, she wasn''t looking at me with that piercing gaze anymore but with the look of a child who has finally got her birthday present. She was happy. Ecstatic. ''So she didn''t know about the location of her father, huh? Now this could be helpful,'' I thought as I continued, "I will help you get to your father and restore your former power. But in return you have to ept a few conditions of mine,"I hurried a little as I felt like this was the perfect time to strike a deal. And just like I anticipated, "YES! I WILL DO IT! WHATEVER THE CONDITIONS BE, I WILL FOLLOW IT" Pushing her a bit away from me, I spoke out,"All right. All right. Let''s make a contract," I spoke as I looked at this crazy girl. From a super serious girl to a crazy child, it has been a while since I dealt with a person like her. "Do any of you know any powerful magic regarding contracts?" I asked as I observed Miya and Ang and unsurprisingly, both of them nodded as they looked at me. And thus we began forming the blood contract between me and this crazy Medusae¡­ just like that, I gained another ve in the same evening. Chapter 210 Izakiel Hebi No Ame [Name: Izakiel Hebi no Ame Race: Slythereen(Mixed blood) ss: Protector of the Noir Description: A man who was betrayed by everyone in his entire life. His purpose of living is to make sure he gets his revenge and also finding someone he can actually put his trust into. He has been living his life trying to find fun in everything he can and that has driven him to do things that are both beyond what an Angel is capable of and beyond what the Devil could think of. He holds a special power that he himself doesn''t know, strong enough to dethrone even the most powerful of the Gods. Though if used wrongly, he might end up destroying the entire universe. Though that also depends on who uses this power¡­ Divine Energy: 13,040,400,203/13,040,400,203 Status: Healthy Gift: Berserker Skills(140,121) Strength: 27,756,452 Constitution: 19,452,184 Dexterity: 18,421,028 Intelligence: 45,156,902 Wisdom: 32,130,234 Charm: 23,121,234] His silvery gray eyes looked at me with fear in them. They were shaking a lot as it was hard for him to even look at me, yet for some reason, he didn''t dare to stare away from me. I observed him with a keen expression as I read his status over and over again. "What''s your purpose in life, kid?" I asked him with a slightly interested gaze. "I¡­ don''t really have a purpose. I just want to live my life freely enjoying whatever I do, with the best of my ability,"he blurted the truth without hiding even an ounce of information. Perhaps the Clinging Medusae, or maybe the smiling Ang and Miya, who were standing beside me, were the reason for it? Anyway, I continued asking,"So there is no specific end goal for you?" "I¡­ don''t have a serious wish like that¡­ if I were to say, then there is one thing¡­" he spoke as his voice turned low and I narrowed my eyes with curiosity,"and what could that possibly be?" "Ummm¡­ I want to meet the ONE,"he spoke with his cheeks turning a bit red. It was as if an adult was telling about his childish dream. "The ONE?" I asked as I grew confused, wondering if the ''ONE'' he was walking about was Aether? I mean his blessing does show his name as ''The One'' "He is a legend from our world. The guy who was the reason that our race exists in this universe,"he spoke with his expression turning bright. It was the same bright expression that Armes showed, that Miya showed when talking about Aether. It''s really Aether, isn''t he? A wry expression formed on my face as I thought,''that guy got quite a Rizz, doesn''t he?'' before continuing, "Can you exin the things in a bit more detail?" He nodded as he told me the tale of the first Slythreens, the one who was saved from dying civilizations. To be precise, the first Slythreens were Chimeras and were part of a failed experiment. It was ''The One'' whopleted the experiment, giving them a life that they could live out. Then he helped them take a stance on another world, Inerat, where they grew, thrived, multiplied, creating an entire race out of a dozen peoples. "The records are passed from generation to generation and everyone takes ''The One'' as a God, our founding father, the one who helped us. Every Slythreen has an unshakable respect for that person, but sadly none of us were able to meet that guy,"He spoke with a blissful face as he looked at me. "If those things happened at the start of your generation, don''t you think that guy might have died or something?" I asked curiously, and he turned really sad before nodding at me, "It is true. But there are certain legends that tell that ''The ONE'' is an immortal that will live for eternity. He is just hiding somewhere in seclusion, living his life peacefully." ''Sadly, Aether did die. A natural death, peacefully like he wanted, as a normal human,'' I thought as I recalled the information that I had received previously. Though, to think he was involved even here, ''Just how many things was he involved with?'' I sighed as I recalled that guy''s smiling face. "Well. Sounds like a myth, really. So, is there nothing else that you want? Are you sure? I was trying my best to find a reason to let you live, you know?" I spoke while grinning inside, and his face turned white in a second. Shocked, he looked at me before speaking, "Wait! Wait! Wait! I was joking! I was joking! I suddenly remember something about me wanting. Yeah, I do,"He hurriedly spoke as he looked at me with a dry face. "You do?" I asked with a slight chuckle and he nodded before speaking,"I was actually looking for a sword. A poison sword that could engulf an entire¡­ I¡­ needed it to sell it and buy something?" he spoke as he gave a wry smile. His eyes drifted to the side as he tried avoiding my gaze, and I sighed before speaking, "All right, that''s enough. Here is the deal: work for me and I won''t treat you bad. But if you end up hurting anyone who is mine, I will kill you." I threw my demands at him without beating around the bush anymore. I should really stop being a nice person, I suppose? Anyway, if he epts it, it''s fine, otherwise I will convert him into Cronas. "Sure,"he smiled brightly as he looked at me. Perhaps this was what he wanted too? "As long as I get to live, I will do anything you want,"he added with a slight chuckle. Hmmm? Perhaps he is used to dealing with it like that, that my method of ''ying nice'' didn''t work on him. I guess, I should up mymunications too. ''But then¡­'' something came into my mind as I asked him,"what was the poisonous sword that you were talking about?" He looked at me with his eyes widening a little as he questioned,"you are interested?" "Why else would I ask?"I looked at him with a questioning look and he nodded,"well. It''s a sword being sold at the ck market. It''s at the auction site on the next. That was actually the reason I came here. If you want, I can tell you how to get that sword¡­ but¡­" ''Next? There are people living there? Wasn''t it supposed to be a dead where life was never possible?'' Too many facts hit me at once. I already knew about aliens and stuff but the next, which was nothing but desert? Man, I need to up my knowledge. "But what?" I asked, and he spoke with a slightly dry voice, "But someone else, someone really powerful, wants it. I don''t know how powerful you are, but I still don''t think it''s a good idea to take the sword. Just saying." I observed him with a curious look as I asked,"who is that entity?" "Not an entity¡­ a family. The Grimvalour Family," he answered with slight horror in his eyes. Chapter 211 An Old Name Chapter 211 An Old Name "Not an entity¡­ a family. The Grimvalour Family," he answered with slight horror in his eyes. "It''s a strong family from a nearby. They have mostly converted zombified species under the rule of a General Grade Eltorian. Eltoria is the name they have given to that," Ang exined to me without any dy as she moved a few steps ahead, observing the path before us. "They have been one of the people that wanted to overthrow Belial from his rule and be an official General under the King of Undead, though they could barely do a dime to him given the influence Belial has over other families," Ang just showered me with information that I didn''t even knew I needed. ''Well, we will cross that bridge when that timees,'' I thought before turning to Izakiel,"For now, let''s put that side. I will be asking you when the timees." He looked at me and nodded before I observed his status again. He was really special. Just that he didn''t know his own value. Or perhaps everyone is equally special and they justck the knowledge of the path where they could realize their true potential? Maybe. This guy had a special core that could possibly give him enough power to reform an entire from scratch if he wishes for. Though right now he is anything but a mere shadow of what he is capable of. ''I need to make sure he stays with me. I wonder if I can manipte or brainwash him?''I pondered as I observed him more properly. Though, not getting any foreseeable answers, I turned my attention to M. She was intently staring at this side for a while now. "Let''s go," I spoke as I looked at Miya, Ang and the other two as we began walking towards M, George, Walter, etc. Finding using towards them, all of them turned here with a serious gaze. I looked at their faces before turning to M, "I didn''t ask itst time, but what were you guys doing here?" "Intercepted a strange energy signal. Came to check here," she spoke with a slight sigh and I asked again,"same asst time?" at which she nodded. "Hmmm.. was it the energy from them?" I asked as I pointed at Ang and the two, and M nodded again. Her face was a bitplex as she tried understanding the situation in front of her. She looked at me and spoke,"yeah. The energy signature matches the description we were provided." Even though she said that, she was more or less lost in thought as she looked at them, especially Ang. I could see the slight horror in her eyes as well. It was as if she would copse if she let go of her mental stability. "So what next? Going back to the military base?" I asked with slight curiosity. I wonder what choice she will make now. "I¡­ I¡­ I don''t want to go," she spoke in a slightly terrified manner as she put her head down. Her behavior¡­ there is something off about it. I looked at the faces of the other people here and¡­ ah! A bitter expression was present on their faces as well. Even Reeve, who was sitting at a distance, wasn''t really any different. Looking at the situation, I was about to see through the status description to find out what was going on but M spoke faster, "Mike¡­ there is something that I need to tell you about." "But S-" One of the men was about to interrupt but Reeve stopped him,"It''s all right. I, too, think this is the right decision." "So¡­ the General in charge of the camp. Trevor is his name and¡­ you see that his ''gift'' is the ability to control the life force of people around him. He can more or less see the aura of people and have total control of what they can do or what they can''t¡­ it''s not 100% but still, there is a lot going on in the military right now because of this," she spoke in bits hiding most of the information and the reason for hiding the info was quite simple. ''Forced Contract,'' I took a deep sigh as I began reading through the status of M and the more I read, the more my blood boiled. I also looked through the status of everyone else from the military and, sure enough, everyone was the same. Even Reeve wasn''t any different. "They have made it a dictatorship, huh?" I spoke as my smile turned a bit cold. This is one of the reasons why I despise the military. With power, they regard themselves as Gods over the civilians, and I am pretty sure General Trevor won''t be any different either. "It''s not just that Michael," spoke M as a single tear fell off her eyes, trailing her white cheek as it slowly separated itself from the chin and dropped on the ground. "Trevor is working with¡­ Tylor," she spoke as she gulped, looking at my face. Continuing,"I don''t know the exact information but I heard a rumor from the higher ups when I was in a meeting. General Pasture joked about it but¡­ Something made me feel like there was more to it than that," she exined her reasons as she began to describe the exact things that happened when the meeting was taking ce. "Ah!... so he is finally moving, huh?" I muttered with a slight, silent smile. My eyes turned a bit more ferocious, my heart beat rising a bit more. "Doesn''t seem like you like him that much," Miya spoke with a really curious gaze as she looked at me and I turned at with the same look as I exined, "There was a time when I used to have a best friend. He was killed by a bunch of monster like humans, especially two brothers. One of them was killed by my best friend before he died, the other one escaped. More like he left 2 days earlier, we began massacring their group. I didn''t want to get involved in this as that guy was in apletely different country protected by theirws¡­ but if the opportunity presents itself, then it would be a shame not to catch it." There was much more to the story than just these pieces, but we can discuss this on our journey to the military camp. Yup, it has been set in stone to visit those bastards. "Brother, are you okay?" Alex asked as he broke the silence and my expression, which was a kind of ''not really a jolly mood'' broke as I looked at him. Looking at his worry filled eyes, I calmed down a little. I then recalled that he had lost his gift, and wondered if I could do something about it. ''His Status is still showing as his gift being stolen. Is there really nothing I can do here?'' I mumbled silently as I observed his face for a few seconds before my eyes shifted to his sister, Erika, and something popped up in my mind when I looked at her. "Could it be possible?" I questioned as I moved a step closer to her, reading her status with a bit more rity. Chapter 212 Conclusion Chapter 212 Conclusion The idea was simple yetplex at the same time. What I wanted to do was to connect or form a link between Erika and Alex, more like a soul link that allowed them to share their powers with each other. Normally I wouldn''t have even thought about this, but because of the number of unimaginable things that have urred till now, I think it won''t be far-fetched to think that it isn''t possible. "Miya. I have a question for you," I turned to Miya with a slightly excited and mostly curious look. Hearing my words, her focus diverted on me from the previous focus, which she had on Erika up until now. "Is it possible to connect, or more like, form a link between two individuals?" I asked directly, making everyone turn at me with slight confusion. I nced at them for a couple of seconds before turning back to Miya, who was pondering for a few seconds. It seems like she understood what I was trying to do. "Not in this environment," she said, observing my expression, which did not change even a bit. To be precise, I could already see the idea being a sess with just Miya''s statement. But¡­ that''s after we deal with those military people. "Ang. I have a question for you too," I spoke as something else was bugging me a little. It wasn''t really that much of a curious bugging, as it was already more or less guessable. "Are you the one responsible for Erika''s growth?" I asked. She was doing someboratory mad scientist type of work down there, wasn''t she? "If you are talking about the Humanised Zombie, then yeah. I was the one responsible for that. A newborn infant zombie is of no use to me so I nted some Growth Energy inside of her," she spoke with visible pride in her words and I sighed at her. The others, especially the military guys and M, were honestly surprised, to say the least. Their eyes wide open, they looked at Erika first, before their eyes turned to Ang. "Well. Good job, I guess," I said, as I didn''t really mind it. ording to Erika''s status, her growth has stopped and she will only grow at a normal human''s pace from now on. A bit faster than that, but that much of a difference could be ignored. Even Alex wasn''t bothered by it to say the least. Later, I discussed the events that transpired when I was upied dealing with Ang and, ording to Walter and the others, a battle ensued between my group and Ang''s. Ang said that she collected them for future experiments'' specimens, including that Medusae and that Slythereen, surprisingly or unsurprisingly they weren''t really bothered about it. In fact, they said that they knew this oue would happen and had their own contingency ns forter on. With everything said and done, it was a fruitful journey, nheless. I gained Ang, the Medusae and the Slythereen. Other than that, I also gained a blessing of which I have no idea how and when it will activate. Plus a few smaller things here and there. The main purpose, to find and meet Alex, was also fulfilled so that sums up the whole journey here. ''I wanted to go find White first, but I guess I need to postpone that as well,'' I thought as I looked at those military people. To be honest, meeting M was a stroke of luck here, and finding out about Tyler was even more ridiculous. But I am happy. If I can get to kill that bastard and have some answers, nothing could make me happier right now inparison to that. "Since all is said and done, I guess we should leave from here¡­ or not," I looked at the exhausted faces of the military people and even Irene, George and Alex looked tired. The only ones not tired were Miya and Walter, who were just casually browsing around the perimeter. ''I could heal them all back up to normal, but I guess I didn''t have a proper break where I talked and enjoyed time with others. And I should bond with Ang too while I can,'' I thought as I observed her face. "All right. Perhaps we can take a break today and start our journey tomorrow," I said, and most of the people had a cheering smile on their faces. I then pondered a little before [Second Space!] I opened the gate to the [Second Space]. While I was trying to keep it a secret, for some reason I trusted my ability to face any kind of situation, including and not limited to M and Ang combined right now. Looking at the gate, M and Ang upped their guard to peak level. Perhaps something like this is still unfathomable, even for them. As for the rest of the people, they just grew tense as they observed the gate. "It''s alright. It''s one of my skills that allows me to have a private space of my own," I said, making everyone dumbfounded. Especially Ang, who also had a simr power rted to space where she could create an entire world. Though for some reason, her surprised expression looked quite exaggerated. "Is there anything wrong with it?" I asked curiously and her eyes shifted to me, slowly, having the same dumbfoundedness in them as before. "There is an entire universe¡­ no multiverse in there¡­ h-how¡­ is that even possible?" her eyes shook as she spoke those words. I observed her carefully for a few minutes and she wasn''t lying. ''Well, I guess whoever made the System must be really that powerful,'' I thought as I observed my Status for a couple of minutes. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: God Hunter ; Gaia''s Savior ; The Slumbered One ; WorldWalker {Gaia''s Saviour: Allows the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions.} {The Slumbered One: The one who has slept for 10,000 years. He does not find any necessity of food, water or energy. He can survive without anything at all and even breathing that should be most necessary to one''s life, he can live without it.} {WorldWalker: You can travel between the worlds without any restriction.} ss: Child of the Universe {All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%} {Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight with him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies Stats will be halved} Level: 18 (48,620,112/50,000,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Enchantments: Breath of the Night: All abilities have their power increased by 25% during absence of light. Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50%. (3) Blessing of the Charybdis: You have gained the ability to see or hear things that are otherwise not possible. (4) Blessing of the ONE: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). Health Points: 160000/160000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20(+200) Constitution: 20(+200) Dexterity: 20(+150) Intelligence: 18(+150) Wisdom: 20(+150) Charisma: 20(+150) Stat Points: 35 Total Cronas: 2,564,001 Total Dungeons Under Control: 1 Total Portal Under Control: 0] Chapter 213 A Remnant of the Past Chapter 213 A Remnant of the Past [Caroline''s POV] . . In a blue coloured, wide room decorated with neatly arranged furniture by the wall, I was sitting at the center of the room on the queen sized bed as I recalled the important events that had urred in thest 6 or 7 months. The events that have urred in this apocalypse, to be precise. My eyes look at the wide door in front of me that was locked from the outside, caging me inside in this golden of ''safety and security.'' It was my father''s decision after I tried sneaking out for the third time in the hope of finding Michael somewhere in that destroyed city. I had even lost my connection with George this time, who was still in Meria Country. "Michael, where are you?" I questioned as I turned left to see the mirror showing my proper reflection. The pink hair that has turned a little ckish as I upgraded my powersst time. My deep red eyes showing my Gift of elerated Vision. Currently, I was wearing a cream coloured dress, gifted by my mother to me when I made it back here without a scratch on my body. Rather than being happy about me being alive, she was more proud about how I was better than the rest of my cousins. Not only did it make my blood boil but also I felt disgusted to have a mother like that. If she had a choice, she might even throw me away in exchange for the worthless pride of hers. ''I wonder what Alissa is doing?'' I thought as I recalled how she was taken away by that nt girl who spoke something along the lines of ''We are taking our savior.'' ''It didn''t seem like she was hurting her. More like asking for help from her¡­ I pity the nts more if that is the case,'' I thought as a smile formed on my face. In the few weeks that I had worked with Alissa, I ended up knowing exactly what kind of person she was. She was maniptive, calm, calctive, collected, and much more than that. If she wants something, it would be rare for her to not get it. This was one of the reasons why I wasn''t really worried when she got kidnapped by the nts. But still, I wonder what she is doing right now. -Click! The door opened from the other side, making me wonder who it could be at this time of the day. It was already midnight and most of the people should be either sleeping or patrolling the perimeter. Slowly, the door opened up, showing the face of my little sister entering the room. ''Am,'' I muttered silently as I looked at my sister, who had a strikingly simr resemnce to me. Her pink hair, which was a bit purplish, tied in two ponytails, and her deep red eyes, showing her Gift of Amplification Sight, were something a bit different from mine. Adding her short stature was another thing that differentiated her from me. "Hey Carol. What are you doing? Don''t tell me that you are still thinking about that weakling?" she spoke with a slightly irritated face. Her eyes were ring at me as she spoke those words, but I didn''t really care about them. "What are you doing here, Am?" I ignored her questions and the look she was giving me, and directly went to point. "You! I am telling you. He is dead. Gone. If you continue attaching yourself to something that has long gone, it will end up hurting you more than you might imagine," She shouted at me. Am was 14, right now. An age where girls like her should fantasize about high school romance or something, not fighting zombies for their lives. From what I have heard, she had lost her best friend in a ferocious exchange against an A-Grade Zombie. It was truly luck that saved her at that time, but this was kind of too much for her to take at that time. She kept herself locked for months before one day she walked out on her own, and started talking to everyone like nothing happened. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing is something that nobody knew. Luckily, when I came, she jumped at me and started talking more than usual, before one day she opened up to me and cried like the girl she was. She told me everything in precise detail and I, being an elder sister, listened to her words with great attention. I provided her with every support I could and somehow we formed a bond that we didn''t even know we could in this life. That is the reason she is worried about me whenever something rted to Michaeles up. ''But Michael is different. Literally,'' I thought as I recalled what happenedst time. It wasn''t the zombies that killed him, but he was frozen in space, just like that. We tried everything we could, but he didn''t budge from his position. Even the surrounding area where he was didn''t break, no matter what we did. The zombies couldn''t get to him, in fact, I believe it would be a miracle if they got to him. One more thing that made me feel rxed was the position in which he was frozen. He was sleeping like a baby without any care in the world. ''Somehow, it made me rxed about the way he was sleeping. Made me d for some reason.'' I smiled, blushing a little as I thought about it once again. "Sister!!!'' angrily shouted Am, as she ran at me, trying to hit me. Looking at her annoyed expression, a smile blossomed on my face as I caught her punch and hugged her tightly. "It''s fine. You will understand everything when you meet him. He has just been gone for sometime, I believe he will return soon, surprising all of us," I spoke with confidence, making her even more annoyed. She tried breaking away from my hug, but she wasn''t strong enough to do so. In the end, she could only give up, as she sighed and spoke,"there is something that you need to know." Her voice was serious,pared to the previous annoyed tone where a tinge of yfulness was present. This time, she waspletely serious. Noticing that, I let her go, and she separated herself and asked,"Do you remember that HIV guy, who was responsible for whatever happened with your boyfriend?" Her eyes were trying to recall something as she ced her hand on her chin. "You mean Ray? That psychopath?" I questioned. Of course, I remember him. He had been a pain in the as*, ever since my high school, never leaving me alone, stalking wherever he could. The fact that he went as far as to destroy someone''s life, someone who was dear to me, was enough to seal the deal that I was going to kill him in the worst way possible. Thew did a favor to him by locking him behind bars. "Yeah. So¡­ he is here," spoke Am as she looked at me with an awkward yet exhausted tone. And me¡­ I smiled widely¡­ "So I can kill him with my own hands?!" It was exciting to even think about it. The fact this opportunity was presented to me by fate itself, I couldn''t be more happier about it. "That is good and all but there is a tiny problem we have right now¡­" she spoke with an awkward expression on her face as she finished her sentence,"Brother is talking with him right now." Chapter 214 Complications Chapter 214 Complications Ray was a math schr. He excelled in physics andputer science and did software engineering, attaining one of the highest scores one can ever receive. With the chance of going to the greatest university in the world, he had a bright future that anyone would be jealous of. But he left it all for a girl, Caroline Olivia Escarte. That was me. Normally, I would have fallen for him, but you know¡­ there is a thing called preference. One thing was that I wasn''t attracted to him at all. I was neither interested in his degrees or his smarts or anything. The fact that he left everything for a girl, even if it''s me, was something that I considered beyond foolish. He could have gotten any girl he wanted, but he focused on only one girl that kept on rejecting him. From high school to university, I might have rejected him over 100s of times in all ways possible, yet he kept on saying that he wouldn''t give up. It was honestly creepy at this point. "Brother is talking with him right now," said Am in an awkward tone as she looked at me, making me dumbfounded as well. My elder brother, Nichs, someone the entire family is dependent upon right now, all the more when he received his Gift. "Why is Nichs talking with Ray?" I asked in confusion, but looking at the expression of Am, it was clear that she was as confused as I was. ''Does he want to punish Ray? I don''t see that happening, given my brother never interfered with my life before. So is he trying to recruit him? Unless Ray is an S-Grade or something, I don''t see the possibility of that happening. All the more because of how it might affect the entire family right now. Nichs, just what are you trying to do?'' I questioned as I ended up going deep into thought. As I was racking my brain trying to understand what exactly my brother was hoping to do, I realized someone was already standing in front of me. Raising my eyes, as I focused on the gray jacket over his red shirt, he was standing there with a serious look, as he always had stered on his face. Especially after the Apocalypse. "Nichs," I muttered as I looked at those blue eyes of his, and those short white hairs that were simr to our mother. He stood there with hands folded, eyes fixated on me, while Am was just curiously looking between him and I. "I apologize," he spoke as he looked at me. It carried some heavy feelings, as I somehow understood what he was getting at. But I cannot understand why, "Apologize for what?" I asked just for confirmation to see if what I was thinking was really what was happening. Honestly, I wished it wasn''t the case. "Something came up and now Ray is going to work with us. I tried my best to not make this choice but based on his words and what he presented us, I don''t think we have any choice but to let him work with us," He spoke as he looked at me and sighed before turning around as he began walking towards the wooden chair at a distance, dragged it closer to us and sat on it. For a few moments, I just kept looking at him. He knew that he owed me an exnation, and I was waiting for him to do so. "There is a report of finding an S-Grade Zombie in the neighboring city. The energy and the sightings match the description. Ray actually has a Gift rted to tracking ability. A really powerful one at that and he has promised us to locate the S-Grade and a dozen more A-Grades to us. Normally we would have rejected him, but he also threatened us directly that if we don''t work together, he will work with his leader and attack us at our weakest moment," Nichs spoke with a deep sigh as he looked at me. I was bbergasted hearing that, as Icked words to exin my emotions here. Just how far will that psycho go? I should¡­ "We can''t kill him either, as it will result in a direct war against the Tobisha Group, which is anything but fruitful at this stage of the Apocalypse. You understand, right?" Nichs spoke as he observed me with a deep look. I wanted to say ''No'' or something like that, but I could see that this will make things worse not only for us but for everyone. Ray is someone who always had a dozen contingency ns for almost everything. That guy might have even nned something in case he dies at this point. This is troubling, in more ways than one. "Brother, you know that he might have already nned a way to get me, don''t you?" I spoke as I looked at Nichs. The fact that Ray has stepped forward to join hands with us means that he already has thought of the steps in order to get closer to me. His eyes darkened a little as he looked at me and told me that he knew what Ray was trying to do. While there is little to no bond between the children and the parents in our family, among us brothers and sisters, the bond was a bit strong. Which got even more stronger than ever before when the Apocalypse urred. "The least I can promise is that he won''t be able to get within 50 meters of you," he spoke with all seriousness, and I could only sigh at that. If that is all we can do right now, then that is what we will do. "But I won''t stop thinking about a way to remove him permanently from this world," I spoke with all seriousness and he nodded at me,"as long as it doesn''t cause any problem to the family as a whole." "But that is not all the news I am here with," he said as his mood changed a little, making me curiously look at him. "You remember M, right?" ''Rings a bell.. Ah! She was the military girl, the former girlfriend of Michael,'' I looked at Nichs as he continued, "ording to the reports, M visited Liqua Country in response to a strange energy. We suspected that energy to be SS-Grade level, but after a few days of her visit, the energy just vanished from existence as if it had never been present there. M is returning to their base as we are talking right now. She has found a group of people and is bringing them with her. One of them was the blood maniptor, George, your friend from Meria." "Oh! So they are doing well, huh? That''s good to hear," a smile appeared on my face before I realized something,"Wait! SS-Grade?!!!" My eyes widened as I realized the implications of this. Just how strong is the military to¡­ "That is not all though¡­ actually¡­ I haven''t told anyone, but for the past 2-3 months, I had always felt another strong energying from Meria Country. It was an SS-Grade too¡­ That was the reason I stopped you from going there all the time. Though¡­ just a few days before the energy of Liqua vanished¡­ The SS-Grade of the energy vanished as well¡­" He spoke with all seriousness as he looked at me. Things were turning more serious¡­ that too, at an insane speed. Chapter 215 Within The [Second Space] [Michael''s POV] . . Entering the [Second Space]. I was greeted with the familiar sight of the [Tree of Crona(Mythical)] reaching superior heights and also the small garden in which Rhea was currently working. On sensing my presence, she turned towards me and smiled before taking slow steps as she observed the people who were with me. Her expression didn''t show any changes as she came closer to me and spoke, "I see that you have finally brought someone in here whom you aren''t going to kill." "Where is my ''Wee Back darling?'' "I grumbled as I looked at her, making her re at me for a few seconds before sighing as she looked at those behind me. "All of you can go to the garden. There are some fruits that would rejuvenate your energy,"she said as she pointed at the garden and I nodded at them. However, they were, I mean, each and everyone of them, including Miya and Ang, were still standing in a stupor as they observed the area around here. "Oi! Idiots,"I shouted a little, making theme back from their stupor and pay attention to me,"you can enjoy the sceneryter. First, go to the garden and fill your stomach with something. I will be bringing something else to eat as well, in a moment." They heard me and slowly nodded before walking towards the garden. It did seem like they had a lot of questions, but thankfully they kept their curiosity about and walked to the garden. Except Miya and Ang, who were still standing beside me in a defensive position as they observed Rhea. "Michael¡­ Who is she?"Miya asked as she looked at me with aplex expression as she moved a step beside me, still gazing at Rhea. "She is Rhea. My¡­ teacher? Or more like she manages everything in this space,"I exined to her in the briefest way possible. Ang, though looking with the same intent as Miya, did not pose any questions like Miya did. She just stood there, observing and analyzing Rhea. "She is¡­ a Higher God,"spoke Miya as she finally was able to see through Rhea. Rhea just sighed as she looked at her before turning at me. "You are?" I asked, not really getting shocked by the situation. In fact, I expected her to be someone that high. Heck, I was even expecting her to be a Primordial or something. "You don''t seem surprised," Rhea spoke as she looked at me with a slight relief and I nodded at her,"a few things happened. We have a lot to talk about, too. I hope you will answer all my questions this time." She looked at me for a few moments before speaking,"Not everything," and I thought about it. Well, at the very least, she isn''t lying to me, so I guess it''s fine. "Sure," I said as I looked at her before turning back to Miya and Ang,"Join the others. Eat something. I will join in a few minutes, too. Rhea,e with me. There is something else I need to take." While Ang and Miya did want to talk about all that was going on, looking at my expression, they could only keep quiet as they walked away from here. Their eyes, however, did not leave their target. That is, Rhea, as they walked away from here. "You got some reliable friends, I see,"Rhea spoke as she looked at them walking away from here. "You can say so,"I said as I turned at the [Tree of Crona(Mythical)] and went to check it slowly. Rhea simply walked beside me. [Tree of Crona(Mythical) Effects: Generates 2000 Cronas per hour. Effect: Generates one Golden Crona per day. Limitations: Can store only 1,000,000 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 1000 Golden Cronas Current No. of Stored Cronas: 1,000,000 Current No. of Stored Golden Cronas: 514 Special: Evolvable(Require 100,000 Golden Cronas to evolve)] Taking out the Cronas from here, I moved to the [Dungeon] stats as well. [Dungeon of Libra (Rare)] [Owner: Michael Aroa Location: ck Water City(E*rth): Erastale(Forgotten Demon Dimension) Total Number of Floors: 70 Total Number of Workers: 1500/1500 Crona Production Rate: 46,800/day Current Efficiency: 17% Dungeon Functions* Dungeon Options* Dungeon Intel*] [Total Stored Cronas: 561,600] "Well, I guess, it does seem unreal that there was a time I had to think before using the Cronas,"I chuckled as I looked at the amount I had right now with me. It was truly something that I did expect to happen, but seeing it seemed really unrealistic every time I look at it. "It is just the start,"Rhea spoke as she yawned and peeked at me, making me curious a little as I asked,"what do you mean by that?" "Well. You will know it once you reach Level 20 and upgrade your System once more,"she spoke with a slight regret in her voice, as if she was hiding something. My eyes closed for a few moments as I asked,"How many levels are there in total?" "1000 to be precise," she spoke without wasting any breath as she looked at me with a slight smirk. I looked at her for a few moments as I spoke,"You are joking, right?" "Who knows?" She chuckled as she walked towards the [Shop] and I followed her with the same dumbfounded expression as before. "Oi! Rhea, what do you mean by that?" I almost shouted as I looked at her, but it didn''t seem like she was going to answer that. As we reached the [Shop] she finally stopped walking as she began speaking without turning,"Like I said before, you will know it once you reach Level 20." And I looked at her, as I observed her for a few seconds as I sighed,"Just what exactly will happen at Level 20?" "You know¡­ after all the things you have been through¡­ I think I could believe in you a little," she spoke again without any context making me more confused than I already was. It was kind of frustrating at this point. "Don''t worry, you will get to know your answers very soon,"she said with a kind smile as she entered the [Shop] and I followed behind her. Just what exactly¡­ "You wanted this, right?" She spoke as she pointed at the [House] Section of the [Shop] area, where a big carpet of white color was presented on the screen. [Carpet of Wishes] [Description: This carpet was made by the fabric of creativity by the Maker of the gourmet creators. Their special magic which allowed them to create all kinds of food with the touch of their gifts. This Carpet is one of their special creations. Effect: As long as you give enough energy, you can generate enough food to eat. Requirements: Depends upon the food and its costs Cost: 500,000 Cronas] ''Looks costly a little,'' I thought as I purchased this [Carpet of Wishes] and took it with me outside the [Shop]. "Well, I guess I can trust you a little more, since you have been with me for quite a while. But if you betray me¡­"I spoke with a knowing look as I walked out of the [Shop]. Since I did not look back, I kinda wondered what kind of expression she was making. Chapter 216 Erased Memories? "This is so tasshty!!! Mmm!!!!" spoke one of the military people as she gulped down the entire bite of her favorite hometown food. "Where did you get¡­ gulp¡­ gulp¡­ where¡­ this¡­ gulp¡­ where did you get this!!!" Even Miya wasn''t an exception to this as she brought something out of her own world. This carpet is really something. It doesn''t matter which you belong to. As long as you have the energy, you can eat whatever you can, as much as you can. Not just them, but everyone was gulping down, eating whatever they could, as if they were hungry for ages. Whether it was the military, or it was George, Walter and the others, even Alex and Erika were eating to the best of their ability. Ang and the group, whom I thought would be hesitating, were actually eating much more than the others. [Total Stock Cronas Left: 23,400] This was the amount of Cronas which was left in the Carpet to still use as energy after I poured 50,000 in it. I was just looking forward to it being finished within seconds, but the cost really wasn''t as much as I was expecting it to be. The maximum consumption was by Ang''s food, followed by Miya''s. As for the others, they didn''t even ount for 20% of the food. Foods from this didn''t even ount for even 1% of the Cronas spent. ''Seems like we can have a satisfying meal without worrying about anything,'' I smiled, as I was a little worried that we might not be able to eat our fill properly. Not wasting my time, I also ordered various kinds of dishes to satisfy my stomach. Since I was curious, I even tried the food from Ang''s te as well as Miya''s, too. Even taking some from the Medusae, too. She red at me before noticing it was, and in a sh, that re changed into a horrified smile, making me chuckle a little as I continued eating. And thus for the next hour or two, we ate as much as we could, filling our stomachs, before I stood up first and looked at Rhea looking at us from a distance. I could see her smile, with a bit of a chuckle, as she observed me. I too smiled at her, before moving towards her as I spoke. "Don''t wanna join us?" "Would love to, but I don''t think the food that I want, you can afford it," she spoke as she looked at me. I kinda wanted to say otherwise, but based on how much I have known her, I kinda knew that she wasn''t lying. "Maybe¡­ someday?" I asked as I smiled at her and she chuckled as she spoke,"Sure." "It''s a date then,"I joked a little, and she just observed me for a few moments before a mischievous smile appeared on her face,"so you have grown up enough to flirt with me, huh?" At this I just smiled at her, and she continued,"sure. I will be waiting for our first date. Take me out, but you will be having only one chance. Nothing more, nothing less." I looked at her for a few seconds and said,"Look forward to the best date you ever had in your entire life," at which she simply smiled before nodding. "You said something happened?" she asked curiously as she looked at me and I nodded as I answered,"I mate a couple of strong people." "Strong people?" A tinge of confusion appeared on her face before I showed her that blessing. [Blessing of the ONE: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions)] "?!!!" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me. She observed me for a couple of moments before looking at the blessing over and over. I did not know what happened, but it really did shock the heck out of Rhea. ''Never saw her this shocked before,'' I thought as I observed her expressions changing from stupefied to ridiculous before she looked at me again. "Are you the son of Goddess of Luck, herself?" she asked with an expression of stupefaction on her face and I kind of scratched the back of my head,"Not really." My expression was a bit blissful, which kinda annoyed her as she smacked my head -Boom! Pushing me to the ground at once. It alerted the others, but then standing up slowly; they calmed down a little before observing me more curious. "Stop it with that smug face. Damn it¡­ this changes everything,"spoke Rhea as she looked at me with an amazed expression before continuing,"I doubt you have any idea what exactly even that blessing does. But before I exin that, can you at least tell me how you ended up getting that blessing?" "Nope. You don''t tell me everything either. I will- Okay! Okay! I will tell you,"I looked at the ring face of Rhea and immediately changed my expression. She looked super annoyed at this point as she spoke, "I don''t tell because, If I tell one answer, it will make you even more confused and you won''t even understand most of the talk. And even if you somehow do end up understanding it, you will be left with more questions than answers. You think I like hiding things from my own host? Also, if you end up gaining certain knowledge before you are powerful enough to defend yourself, you will only end up getting yourself killed." Though her exnation made sense, still not knowing the context kept me off the loops a little. Still, I did not mind. As long as I can get some of the answers I can, I don''t mind. And this I began exining to her about how I ended up meeting Ang, and how it led me to the knowledge of Ais, whichter led me to Aether Again. What I found more confusing was that Rhea did not know who Aether was. ''He really is special. There is no doubt about that. But then why does Rhea not know anything about him? Hmmm¡­ memory lock or something?'' I pondered on my own as I exined how I got to meet the Goddess of Fate and heard about the Lord of Fate. When I mentioned the name of the Goddess of Fate, Clotho, Rhea was beyond shocked as she observed me with the same ridiculous expression as before. It looked like she wanted to say many things, but she didn''t speak even a single word. The feeling it gave me was that she was not allowed to ask or speak about what she was thinking. Later on, I exined about what Aether did and she was super shocked at that as well. The fact that he was a human, the fact that he was talking as an equal with Klotho, the fact that he held Ais and killed him, everything about him, shocked Rhea as she grew more and more. In the end, even she spoke, "If there was someone like that in history, I would have surely known about him¡­ did someone erase my memory?" Chapter 217 Hot Springs "If there was someone like that in history, I would have surely known about him¡­ did someone erase my memory?" Well, she reached the same conclusion to which I did. Though, after a brief pause, she then observed me for a few moments as she muttered,"Perhaps this is a part of his n as well. No wonder there are so many anomalies here." Seems like she came up with her own conclusion here. Well, if she doesn''t mind her memories being sealed, then who am I toin about it? The least I could do was be with her when she feels down. "Now that I know everything, there is only one piece of advice I can provide you with, Michael," she looked at me with all seriousness as she spoke the same words as before but this adding something ridiculous to it,"Get to level 20 as fast as you can. Forget about everything else, and just do it. There should still be many, many zombies out there, so go and take care of them,"she said as she looked at me. I could somehow see the urgency in her words and expression, but¡­ "No. I mean, I will get to Level 20, but I will do it at my own pace. First, I want to kill that bastard who killed my best friend. I cannot let him live peacefully after what he had done to us with his brother," I spoke, clearing my intentions, at which she kept gazing at me for a couple of minutes. "Okay. How long will that take?"she asked again this time in a really serious tone and I pondered about the time it might take for it to bepleted "About a week at min? Maybe a month if that bastard is not here." I could see her grow a little agitated as she spoke,"Are you sure that is all the time that you will take to reach Level 20?" and I nodded at her. I don''t think I will need any more time than that to reach level 20. In fact, I said one month, but in actuality, I still think it was too much time for me to reach Level 20. "Okay. I can wait that much then,"she spoke as she sighed really deep. Though in her eyes, I could see that she was still agitating. Perhaps she couldn''t wait for me to reach Level 20 at all now. ''Just why can''t she open up to me directly? What''s the point of hiding things?'' I thought, as it really confused me to some extent. She can choose to tell¡­ or can she?'' ''Hmmm¡­ Maybe? I guess there must be something preventing her from telling me everything? That''d actually fill the nks here¡­ I don''t know¡­ since we have alreadye this far, it doesn''t hurt to wait a few more days, does it?'' I finalized my thoughts as I nodded at them before looking at Rhea and asking, "Is there anything else you want to ask or share?" "Nothing as of now,"she spoke with a small smile and I nodded at her before leaving back to the others, who were still eating blissfully. Perhaps because of the environment of the [Second Space], even after eating for this much time, their stomach could still take in food. Though, after a few more minutes, all of them stopped eating as theyy down on their backs on the green grass as their eyes closed. Didn''t even take a few seconds for most of them to fall asleep. The only ones awake were Ang, Enkonimiya and, surprisingly, the Medusae. I saw Enkonomiya grabbing Ang''s hand and bringing her to me, while Medusae walked one step at a time as she reached me. Their eyes gawked upon me as if I were a divine being or something and Miya spoke out,"Just who are you? I thought I was close to understand what you were but this¡­ this is beyond what I canprehend." Miya wasn''t sad by any means. In fact, those eyes were brimming with excitement as they looked at me. Even Ang, who was previously been looking at me with nonchnt eyes when we first met, now was smiling brightly. "Well, a man needs to keep some things to himself, doesn''t he?"I smirked as I looked at them and both of them smiled before Miya asked with excitement,"What else do you have? Do you have a river here? Or perhaps a hot spring?" Hearing her words, Medusae and Ang''s eyes opened up wide a little as they suddenly thought of this possibility. As for me¡­ I was fantasizing about the bodies of Miya and Ang¡­ They weren''t ugly by any means, one was almost a god, while the other possessed beautyparable to Goddess¡­ it would be a dream of many to look at something like that. "I need to see it,"I said as I looked at them, making Ang confused a little,"isn''t this your space?" I nodded at her before exining,"Well, it would be better to exin things from ground zero. So, actually the thing is that all this carpet, and that tree didn''t exist on this ne before. I had to, more or less, create them here using a part of my energy. So, yes, I can create a hot spring or a river, whatever you may want, but it might cost variables ording to the demand. That is why I said that I need to see it." Hearing my exnation, their eyes widened in realization,"so you can create anything you want as long as you have the energy?" Medusae asked, and I nodded. Ang, who was lost in her own thought, spoke out,"my space creation gave me an entire and I could alter the ecosystem ording to my wish. I didn''t have the ability to create anything new, but only use what i already had there. But yours seems to allow you to add anything you desire as long as you have the energy for it." It was the same thing which Medusae said, but in a more roundabout way. I then looked around for a couple of minutes before speaking,"so I should go and check-" "Nope. It''s fine,"Miya said, as she had her own thoughts on this matter."If you are using your own energy, then use it to your benefit, not us. Next time, or perhapster when you have surplus energy, do it for us. A little amount of time does not matter to us." ''But I want to see you guys naked,'' is not something I should directly blurt out. Well, I could only keep my mouth shut as I knew that I would be needing quite an amount of Cronas to create an entire river or hot spring. Which I probably did not possess. "Sure. It won''t take much time, but I hope you can wait for it," I spoke with a slight smile and all three of them nodded with slight disappointment. Miya then spoke out, "We will be looking forward to it. Though, how long are we going to stay here? I guess we have 4 more hours, so I was wondering how we should utilize that time." "Ah¡­ about that¡­" I realized that I still haven''t told them about the time difference¡­ Chapter 218 [Ground Zero: First Slash] "What did you say?!!!!" Miya shouted as she looked at me with her eyes wide open. Her mouth wasn''t any different and you can fit a couple of eggs in there if you tried. Not just her, but everyone else had the same expression as they observed me. They wanted to say something, but words failed toe out of their mouths. The one to break the silence was Ang,"the maximum time diversion, which I can create after pouring all my energy is 5 times¡­ to be able to possibly create a time diversion of more than 10 days for every hour passed outside is just¡­" [Second Space (Unique) (Level 1) Allows the user to create a second space where he can enter or exit, using an interdimensional gate. The user can bring 10 living people to the Second Space he wishes to. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 10 days in the Second Space Area of Space: A of Radius 500m Skill Points Required to Upgrade to next Level: 25] I didn''t tell them that I can increase the skill level by making it go as far as 100 days, or else they would have¡­. Haha¡­ "So with that on the te, I would like you to take a rest and enjoy being here for the next 3 months or so? ording to the time zone, it should be around another 8 hours or more until the sun rises again. I am also going to utilize this time to train a little,"I spoke as I looked at them and they fell into deep thought. "We are fine with it,"Miya said as she looked at Ang. She was the first one to bounce back from her stupor as she looked at me, while Ang nkly nodded at her. "Just don''t go all out as it will take time to reform everything if you end up destroying more than this can handle,"I spoke, but someone interrupted from behind, "It''s fine. Even if they go all out, it won''t even cause a dent in this ce," Spoke Rhea as she joined us. She observed everyone from left to right before continuing, "The guys in the gray uniforms¡­ hmmm¡­ if you want, I can make a training n for you? As for the others, I believe you already know how to improve." The military men were really happy, while the others here, including George, Walter, etc, kind of nodded at Rhea nkly before Rhea turned at me, "You seem to have questions." "Your charm. Did you turn it off or something?" I asked, as normally people will lose their sanity looking at such a beautiful being, but for some reason everything was fine. I wonder why that is. "Yeah. I adjusted my natural charm to ground zero level, making everyone look at me as an object of work and nothing more. I decided that after you brought those other men here and they were¡­ you know what I mean, right?" she answered my query, and I answered her, "Yeah, I do." Those guys were beyond ferocious. Jumping at someone right after you look at her? Not really a sane person would do. Anyway, with that out of the box, "You guys should start training or rxing, whatever it is that you want, and I will continue doing my own thing as well. If you have any questions, I will meet you all to check up on you once every 3 days. Good luck and goodbye,"I spoke as I moved away from there. From that point onwards, I moved into the [Shop] and started my training with Rhea on how to make the first sh. While I was doing that, I also showed her my spear arts, at which she was surprised really but didn''t give anyments except for, "I guess this would be helpful, too." But that was the only statement she made about too. ¡­ THREE MONTHS LATER ¡­ ¡­ Time passed, and before I knew it, three months came to an end. In these 3 months, I finally perfected my [Ground Zero: First sh] to maximum. I even got a [Skill] rted to it by the system as soon as I finished learning how to do a sh within a second. [Ground Zero: First sh(Universal)] [Description: A sh powerful enough to cut the universe apart into pieces if the energy possessed by it is capable enough to do so. Cost: Depending upon the object to be shed. Normally none.] "Good," a bright smile stered upon that white face of hers, as she gazed at that skill with a joyful expression. I could see her eyes glistening as she removed the hairs which were obstructing her vision and ced them behind her ears. Looking at her behaving like that, I too started smiling a little. Her eyes turned at me as she spoke,"You actually managed to do it before Level 20¡­ this is¡­ beyond astounding!" Jumping at me, she hugged me with that blissful expression on her face. A bit dumbfounded at her actions, I just looked at her, hugging me tightly. I wanted to know how her behavior towards me changed from the previous nonchnt one to¡­ this. For the next few moments, we just stayed like that before she slowly separated herself as she looked at me with a couple of tears on her cheeks. ''Was she crying?'' I thought as I observed her a couple of meters away from. Slowly standing up, she stood there, wiping her tears as she smiled at me as she spoke, "You probably don''t have any idea how unbelievable the feat you just learnt is. Micheal, I am proud of you¡­ we will learn the next sh when you reach Level 20, okay?" nkly I nodded at her, and she chuckled at me before speaking,"Let''s go out. See how the others are doing?" ''She is trying to change the topic. Quite a bad attempt honestly, but since I kinda don''t want to think about anything right now, okay,''I thought as I slowly nodded at her and stood up from where I was standing. All I could do was think about the time when she was hugging me. Was I feeling horny? Yes. It was hard to control my raging emotions, but something deep inside me told me that this was not the time. If I do anything right now, it will result in a problem that I won''t be able toe back from. "What are you waiting for, then? Come,"Rhea spoke again as she looked at me. Her eyes observed me carefully, trying to read my expression, and obviously, given how high my emotions were, it would be a child''s work to understand that. Though she just chuckled as she moved away from there in a joyful manner as she walked in a sexy manner, teasing all the way as she moved out of the room. For the next few minutes, I just stood there sitting in a daze before I stood up, walking towards where she went. My emotions which were raging. I controlled them as I walked outside and reached to where everyone else was. ''Perhaps, I can put an extra effort into getting level 20?'' I thought as a smile formed on my face. Chapter 219 [Temporal Locking!] ?The dark night that was about to be blessed by the light of the sun and the dark apocalyptic city, which was more or less in shambles, greeted me as soon as I came out of the [Second Space]. My eyes once again looked at the devastation caused by the fights between Ang''s group and my group. Though unsurprisingly, things have changed. All of them who stayed within the [Second Space] have grown considerably after a short span of training of 3 months. Including the people from the military, too. Although they didn''t grow anymore in their powers based on the Cessation energy, their other aspects, like their skills and stats, get boosted by their constant efforts. "We should get there, shall we?" asked the women dressed in ck as she took a few steps ahead. Her eyes looked at me with a kind smile as she observed me with a gentle expression. It was the same for the pink-haired girl with heterochromia purple and blue eyes, Enkonomiya. "Let''s wait for a few more minutes. The sun is going toe up anytime now," Miya said as she looked at Ang as if she were looking at her own sister. I then observed the others having nonchnt, joyous moments of their own. At a distance, I found the Jeep that I had bought from the [Shop] [Super Jeep(Rare)] [One of the advanced machinery of the Iktara, which ran on energy rather than any inexhaustible source. As long as it has enough energy source, it can function for a very long time. Special Effects: >When under attack, it forms a shield that reduces iing damage by 50% >Once fully charged, both its weapons and its fuel capacity can run for 2 weeks at full power. >Contains 3 semi-auto rifles, 2 side machine guns, war knife tires, nitro boost and a rocketuncher.] ''Looking at its condition, it seems I won''t need to worry about buying another one,'' I nodded before moving towards the [Super Jeep] and everyone moved behind me. The other Jeep which the Military brought with them was also there, standing without any scratch, which made me think a little if there were any anomaly about it but not finding anything strange, I gave up on it. Nothing more to be honest, as we just hopped on the Jeep and the sun shine blessed us with its first ray of light and the night, which was darker than ck before, had now been dimmed by the brightness of the Light''s reflection. Sitting on the driver''s seat, I looked beside me where Ang had firmed her position and Miya beside her, who was looking at her with slight annoyance. At the back, Irene, Walter, and George were sitting with Alex and Erika at the very back. The slythreen and the Medusae were sitting with the military and fortunately, even after having a couple of extra people, there was still not a problem of seating as everyonefortably had their ce in the two cars. "Let''s go," I spoke as I looked at the area in front of me and started the engine. A metallic sound of the vibrating engine came as the jeep started moving forwards and already knowing the directions to the Military Base, I pressed the elerator firmly, reaching a speed of 200 within a matter of seconds. Though we could have gone higher, we still didn''t because the other Jeep behind us could only move at the maximum of 220 Speed. It wasn''t that it was slow, but it was an old model which they were driving, and after treading different paths for over so much of time, it became slow. Time passed slowly as we drew towards the area, killing various zombies on our way as we passed through various cities. At times, I just stopped to kill the zombies while at other times, I just killed them while driving the Jeep. There were times when Ang drove the car, while at times, Walter or Miya took over as well. It was a fun ride as we joked here and there and everyone told in bits about themselves. [Level: 18 (49,999,890/50,000,000 Exp)] ''About there,'' I thought as I traced another zombie not far from here. [Sonic Drifter (C-Grade Zombie)] [A D-Grade Runner evolved its ability to use Sound and learnt the ways of use frequencies to its benefits. Has the killer instincts and can sense any form of danger towards him Skills: (1) Sonic st: Create a loud sound that could create an air current around him. (2) Rapid Time: Increase the speed by 5 times for 5 minutes. The stats will be reduced by 90% after the 5 minutes are over for the next 3 hours. Reward for Killing: +5000 Exp] And using the sh that I learned [Ground Zero: First sh!] I cut him down even from a such distance. [You have killed a C-Grade Zombie(Sonic Drifter)!] [+5000 Exp] [Level up!] [+5 Stat Points gained!] [+5 Skill Points gained!] [You have gained a new skill!] [Temporal Locking!] [The user exists outside of time, which makes them immune to its effects and all that is caused by it. This can render the user ageless as a result. Since the user''s body is not affected by time, they do not expend energy, and therefore neither need to eat nor sleep. Because time does not flow for the user, any diseases also do not progress, thus effectively rendering the user immune to disease symptoms and damage. They may also exhibit regenerative capabilities as a result of their temporal lock, as their bodies will always revert to the point in time in which they were not injured. Requirements: No energy required] "Another absurd skill," I thought as I looked at the skill before turning around to look at the area around me. Miya was absorbing me with a keen expression as she asked,"anything wrong?" I shook my head as I sighed before speaking,"Nothing. Let''s continue." I then hopped on the Jeep again as we started driving again. I was already level 19, and it was only a matter of time before I reach Level 20. While normally, I wouldn''t have given much thought about it, but after looking at how Rhea was behaving, I can''t help but look forward to it. ''Should I get to level 20 first and then kill that bastard?'' I thought as I looked at the possibility for a few seconds before turning to Ang, "Hey Ang, is there any ce around with a lot of zombies? Miya, can you try sensing around as well? Though make sure it isn''t too far, okay?" I asked, as I decided if the ce isn''t that far, maybe I can reach Level 20 first. This way, my curiosity won''t eat me up while I could also take care of those guys as well. Ang and Miya were confused a little, but they both nodded as they began searching around for any ce with a lot of Zombies. and after a 5 minutes of silence, it was Miya who spoke up first, "There is one." Ang, who also found the horde, spoke up,"there are a couple of A-Grades as well, along with many B-Grades. I think there is a den of NightCrawlers there as well." And hearing those words, a smile formed on my face as I open the gate of the Jeep as I spoke,"keep moving. I will be back in a moment." And then¡­ I jumped off the Jeep, leaving the Jeep to keep moving forward, while I focused on the ce where the den was. ''Let''s get to level 20 then,'' I mumbled with a smile as I moved towards the ce where the den was. Chapter 220 That Naked Girl ?-sh! [You have gained +50,000 Exp] [You have gained +25,000 Exp] [You have gained +25,000 Exp] [You have gained +25,000 Exp] . . A single sh was enough to give me half a million as I kept walking through the den of the Zombies. The only problem was the amount of zombies. ''It''s not enough, is it?''I thought as I kept walking through the den, deeper and deeper, killing as many zombies as possible. I had to be careful not to damage the walls around or the roof, or I might end up burying myself in this ce. I did collect some Exp here but¡­ [Level: 19 (67,829,010/100,000,000 Exp)] Though it was still far from enough. -sh [You have gained +100,000 Exp] [You have gained +25,000 Exp] [You have gained +25,000 Exp] [You have gained +50,000 Exp] [You have gained +50,000 Exp] . . . Slowly traveling down the den, I soon found many NightCrawalers, which indeed made me happy a little as it increased the number of Exp a lot, but sadly it was only momentarily happiness as most of them died before I could farm exp enough. I still needed 25 Million Exp more, and I sighed as I reached the bottom. At the bottom, there was something that I did not expect to see. [Royal Guard of the Night(Lower Echelon)!] [Description: This guy has evolved beyond the limits of what its body can handle. While under normal conditions a NightCrawler cannot evolve beyond its current point, this one managed to do so bying across an alien power. It has all the powers and weaknesses of a NightCrawler, except that its ability to manipte the power of darkness is something beyond one canprehend. Reward for Killing: +1,250,000 Exp!] It was like a dark Knight, with armor covering the darkness within. One could even feel the eerinessing from the emptiness in those eyes of that creature as it held a gigantic sword in his both hands. It was at least twice as tall as me as he moved forward with heavy steps, but before I could realize; he had already passed me and shed me into many pieces. [Time Rejection!] And just like that, I neglected all its attacks before a bright smile formed on my face. [Ground Zero: First sh!] A bright sh of light escaped the wooden sword I was holding and reached that guy, cutting him into two before he could realize what was going on. [You have killed the Royal Guard of the Night(Lower Echelon)!] [+ 1.25 Million Exp Received!] ''Are there more of them down there?'' I thought as I smiled brightly, going down the den leaving behind the dead body of that guy. The area which was muddy before, was now a bit more sticky as I could feel ck goo beneath my feet. [Inspect!] [Liquified ck Energy!] [A form of energy, which had been condensed enough to form a liquid that would form its own intelligence. Can be absorbed.] ''So this was what made that guy evolve beyond its limit, huh?'' I thought as I ventured down more and more. While I could absorb the energy, I decided to wait a little before doing so. After all, there could be more of the [Royal Guards] like that one above. ''I really wish there are,'' I thought as I ventured down the shithole more and more, but even after traveling for another 15 minutes or so, I still didn''t find any monsters at all. ''Is there nothing-'' is what I was going to think before I saw a figure at a distance from here. Unlike theplete darkness, there was a bright light around the area where the figure was. It was of a girl bound with chains at a distance from here. I could see her naked figure. A single ce of veil covered the bare minimum of her body. I walked closer to it, while also keeping my foresight activated. My eyes didn''t leave the sight of that girl as I slowly traded my steps towards her. -sh! Before I knew it, my body was cut in half as another one of those [Royal Guards] came in front of me. There was something different about this one¡­ [Time Rejection!] I rejected the attack as my body dodged that iing attack pretty easily, before I noticed him standing in front of me. [Royal Guard of the Night(Upper Echelon)!] [Description: This guy has evolved beyond the limits of what its body can handle. While under normal conditions a NightCrawler cannot evolve beyond its current point, this one managed to do so bying across an alien power. It has all the powers of a NightCrawler, and its ability to manipte the power of darkness is something beyond one canprehend. Reward for Killing: +5,000,000 Exp!] -sh! [Time Rejection!] Once again, I dodged its attack as I began channeling my own sh. Sensing something was wrong, it created some distance between me and him, while also adding a dozen different shields between me and him. [Ground Zero: First sh!] -sh! I shed¡­ but it missed somehow¡­ my attack which should have targeted him, curved from its original path, and brushed past him¡­ before¡­ [Time Rejection!] A chuckle escaped my mouth as I retraced the path of that attack, making it sessfully hit that guy where it was supposed to hit. [You have killed a Royal Guard(Upper Echelon)!] [+5,000,000Exp] Though before I could rx, two more of those guys came, and a smile formed on my face as I shed them all over again¡­ [You have killed a Royal Guard(Upper Echelon)!] [+5,000,000Exp] [You have killed a Royal Guard(Upper Echelon)!] [+5,000,000Exp] ''How much more again?'' I thought as I looked at the Level Status [Level: 19 (91,943,010/100,000,000 Exp)] ''Well, I won''tin this much,'' I thought, hoping for some more of them toe out of the shadows¡­ just two more. Though sadly, even after waiting for another 2-3 minutes, there were no more Zombiesing at me, making me sigh really deep before moving towards the naked girl chained in front of me. Walking through the empty trail of darkness, I reached the naked girl, who was bound by chains. The veil which was covering the body of that girl fell down to the ground, revealing the naked white enchanting body of hers. Her hair, ck, reached a little below her legs, while her other body proportions were quite perfect, to say the least. If I were to give aparison, then she was more like Ang, if not Miya. In fact, if I were a normal human, I don''t think I would ''not fall'' in love with her at first sight. -sh! A sh urred again, making my hopes go up, but this time I didn''t find myself dead in the future. Instead, I was just tied up by ck chains as that girl opened up her eyes. She turned at me as she red really hard before she flew down towards me. "Do you have any idea what you have done?" she asked as she looked at me, while I only asked one question in answer, "Are you a Zombie?" That is all that I wanted to know at this moment. Chapter 221 Two Golems ?"Are you a Zombie?" I asked this for two reasons. One was that she was in the middle of the zombie den, while possessing the beauty that screamed anything but zombie. Another was that because [Inspect!] wasn''t working on her. It wasn''t like ''This person cannot be inspected'' or ''Inspect level too low'' but there was honestly zero response from her when I used the [Inspect] Skill. "I am not,"in annoyance, she answered as she looked at me before looking around the dead bodies of the [Royal Guards] that I killed a few moments ago. "Well, forget about why you killed them, to be able to kill them, you must be really strong. Since you already killed all my creations, now you owe me,"she spoke to herself as she moved around me as she held me by the chains. "They tried attacking me first. What should I have done? Just let them kill me?"I asked with a smirk and she shrugged as she answered,"it was your mistake toe to a ce like this. In the first ce, they weren''t here to kill you, at least the outside ones. They were there to hold you off or send you back." "They weren''t?" I asked as I pretty much saw them killing me when I used the foresight. "Yeah, they weren''t. Anyway, to barge into someone''s house and killing their members, you should be really d that I am even talking with you and not killing you outright,"she spoke as she observed me with a slight smile and I sighed before speaking, "And? What is it that you want me to do?" -Thud! -Thud! To that answer, two more of the [Royal Guards], this time much more powerful than the ones before, came in front of me. "Kill them and I will tell. If you can''t even do that, then our deal is off," she spoke as she unbound me. The chains which were covering me broke down into pieces as I observed the [Royal Guard] standing at a distance from here. [Inspect!] [Merlin of the White shard!] [The guardian of the day. One of the Seven strongest golems ever created by the MageCrafter of the Utopia. It holds the power of what you can wish for. It can do what you can imagine. Never in your life go against it unless you have powers that can rival even Gods. Rewards for Killing: 15,000,000 Exp] [Merlin of the ck Shard!] [The guardian of the Night. One of the Seven strongest golems ever created by the MageCrafter of the Utopia. It holds the power of what you can wish for. It can do what you can imagine. Never in your life go against it unless you have powers that can rival even Gods. Reward for Killing: 15,000,000 Exp] "So, I have to kill them both and I will pass your little test?" I asked with a smile and her smile vanished for a few seconds as she looked at me. It looked like she had a change of heart as she observed my nonchnt expression. However, before she could speak anything¡­ I took one step back as I bent down a little. Positioning the wooden sword in a proper stance, I looked at those two standing there. I took a deep breath as I unleashed that first sh of mine¡­ this time using 1% of the power. [Ground Zero: First sh!] -sh! -BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!! A loud sound ured as I found a golden barrier shattered in front of me. Both the Golems were falling on the ground as slowly both of them started standing back up and my eyes concentrated on them with a narrowed expression. ''They aren''t normal golem, aren''t they?'' I thought as I looked at them. By normal, I did not mean their strength or anything. I already knew that they were super strong on their own¡­ but I didn''t know that they held powers that could rival even gods¡­ My eyes peeked at the naked girl for a few moments and her mouth was widened as she looked at me and a smile formed on my face as I prepared for another sh. -BOOOM!!!! -BOOOM!!! Though before I could even move, both the Golems had already reached me. [Time Rejection!] I used my ability to neglect their attack pretty smooth- -BOOM!!! Another attack urred before I could process through [Time Rejection!] Once again, I dodged their attacks, but they didn''t waste any time in attacking again. ''My abilty-'' -BOOM!!! [Time Rejection!] ''-To think is being-'' -BOOM!!! [Time Rejection!] ''-Is beingpromised,'' I thought as I canceled their attacks while I saw them attacking me from left and right. At first, I could barely think, butter on, I couldn''t even do that as they increased their attack speed. [Temporal Lock!] I used that ability and -BOOOM!!! I saw the White Golem punching me with all its might on my face¡­ only to be pushed away as I just stood there without making any movements. My body, I could not move¡­ I can''t even breathe¡­ but I could feel everything. It did not take the Golems to recover from the shock as they jumped again at me. However, their attacks had no effect on me at all. ''Since it''s like this, let''s see¡­ their attack patterns¡­ Hmmm,'' I thought as I observed the perfect time. They were fast, no doubt, and I should have definitely used more power in my previous sh. As for the naked girl, she seems to be muttering something. It''s as if she is chanting something¡­ ''Let''s end this,'' I thought as I looked at a slight opening in their attacks, and not wasting much time¡­ [Temporal Unlock!] [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] Barely creating an opening, I first shed away the white golem [Ground Zero: First sh!] -BOOOM!! It didn''t kill him, obviously, but it was enough to create another sh¡­ [Time Rejection!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] This time, I pressed hard for a little, trying to cut him apart in one sh, sadly it wasn''t enough¡­ -BOOM!!! The ck golem got pushed back, but it did not die. Meanwhile, the White Golem recovered and came at me¡­ [Temporal Lock!] It attacked me and bounced back, losing its momentum for a moment and¡­ [Ground Zero: First sh!] This time, I did not hold back even a little¡­ I had the chance, so I had used 100% of my power¡­ -sh!!! -BOOOM!!!!! [Congrattions! You have killed a Divine Being!] [+15,000,000 Exp] [New Title gained: yer of the Divine!] [Level up] [The first Scenario Max Level reached!] [The overall results of the scenario are being calcted!] "Huh?! Scena¡­ rio?!" I questioned as my eyes read through the message while the world started slowing down to infinite as I was falling on the ground. Even the ck Golem who wasing at me from the other side stopped in his tracks mid air. Even that naked girl was paused on the ground at a distance from here. I could faintly make out a ck entity standing behind her, almosting out of the shadows. Just by feeling his presence made me shiver¡­ who is he? [The overall results of the scenario have been calcted!] [Please choose three of the following options for your first regression!] Chapter 222 [Regression] ?[The overall results of the scenario have been calcted!] [Because of the presence of the Blessing (Blessing of the One) You have been granted ess to all the options] [Your (Blessing: The One) has been automatically selected as one of the Two blessings you may carry!] [Choose one of the Other Blessings! (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of the Last Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the Gaia''s Spirit: When around a nt or vegetation, the energy restoration increases by 50% (3) Blessing of the Charybdis: You have gained the ability to see or hear things that are otherwise not possible] I looked at the message of the System as the very world around me turned gray. My eyes confused, I observed the whole thing with a dumbfounded face, as I couldn''t believe what was going on. [You have selected the Blessing: Blessing of the World!] I did not choose it¡­ but perhaps because the System knew the Blessing that I wanted, so it chose by itself. [Your Race: Ethereal has been integrated as a part of your Regression!] [Your ss: Child of the Universe has been fixed as a part of your Regression!] [Your ss has been locked till you Reach Level: 10] [All Enchantments have been removed!] [A random title is being selected from all the Titles you possess!] [Chosen Title: Gaia''s Savior] [Choose a Skill that you want to be unlocked from the start!] A multitude of options appeared in front of me as I observed the system screen. Though more or less, I could make out what was going on¡­ ''So it is really like that, huh?'' I thought as a sad expression formed on my face. I wish it could have been different, but¡­ sigh¡­ [You have chosen the Skill: Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection] [The user can react to anything and their surroundings, even if it is too early or toote to react to them, possibly even causingter events to happen sooner or undo some past actions and events. For example, catching a ball even if it is too early, or dodging a bullet even if they have already been hit. Limitations: Depends upon the mental fortitude of the user. Cost: 0 TP] [A Random skill will be selected that will contain all its properties after it is unlocked!] [Skill: Second Space has been selected to remain intact even after regression! You will receive the current version (Unique Lvl 1) of the given skill when you reach the required level to unlock it!] [All God Powers Remain Unlocked!] [All Ethereal Powers Remain Unlocked!] [Please take the path for your first regression!] [Continue Without Regression and take all your powers with you (Not rmended)! Chances of dying after choosing this option: 100% Chances of reaching Level 40: 0% Reason: A powerful hostile entity is present around the User. The User won''t be able to survive against him even for a second. Immediate death is guaranteed with a miniscule chance of Eternal suffering.] [Regress back to the point where you achieved the System! Chances of dying after choosing this option: 50% Chances of reaching Level 40: 10% Reason: Gives a better outlook of the area around with the knowledge of the Future. Gives the user a chance to undo the things in a better fashion and collect people to fight against the future enemies. ] [Regress back 1 year (Most Rmended)! Chances of dying after choosing this option: 20% Chances of Reaching Level 40: 20% Reason: While the root problem urred a few years ago, the User still has a higher chance of reaching Level 40 if done in a proper fashion. Gives the user enough time and energy for another regression back to where it started.] [Regress back 2 years (Not rmended)! Chances of dying after choosing this option: 100% Chances of Reaching Level 40: 0% Reason: Will consume the user''s own life force to send him back farther. The user does not possess enough energy to be sent back enough. Even if the User manages to reach back, his body will deteriorate at an rming speed.] [Regress back 3 years (Not rmended)! Chances of dying after choosing this option: 100% Chances of Reaching Level 40: 0% Reason: Will consume the user''s own life force to send him back farther. The user does not possess enough energy to be sent back enough. Even if the User manages to reach back, his body will deteriorate at an rming speed.] The rest of the options weren''t avable and while it did give me momentary happiness that I can continue without regressing, the fact that I will die immediately by that entity in the shadows gave me chills deep down my bones. I didn''t doubt the System when it said that I will die within moments if I don''t regress, but it made me question how someone like that appeared out of nowhere? Was it determined by fate or something? ''Man! I should have spent more time with Caroline and the others¡­ and Rhea¡­ she knew, didn''t she? She better be prepared to hear a lot from me,''I thought as I sighed before choosing to regress a year from now. ''Hmmm¡­ doesn''t that happen before the Apocalypse urs? It was around the time when I got HIV''d too¡­ maybe I can have some fun,'' I thought as I consoled myself a little. ''This is overwhelming,'' I sighed as I saw another message appear in front of me. [Because you possess the [Blessing: Blessing of the One] all the options are opened in front of you!] [Please choose three of the following options for your first regression!] [5 randompanions who have the memory of the past!] [2 of the random Weapons that you have on you will be carried with you!] [Gain the ability to use the [Shop] even without using the [Second Space]!] [Gain the Ability to Venture into Dungeons even without Keys!] [All your stats at 25!] [+50 Skill Points!] [+50 Stat Points!] [+3 Skill Evolution Points!] [Carry your Special Skills: Skill Fusion and Copy!] [+1 More Skill of Your choice!] [+1 Blessing to Carry!] [+1 Enchantment Unlocked of your choice!] [+ Aura of the Time Maker!] With so many options unblocked, I couldn''t help but thank Aether for giving me this blessing¡­ really. If this is what the options were, I could only think what options could have been hidden from me. ''Okay¡­ let''s see,'' I began looking through the options I had and after going through all that¡­ I pondered about my end goal after regression. "I have to reach Level 40¡­ if there are really 1000 Levels¡­ I should keep my priority to reach a higher level. I must be able to stand that ck entity,"I muttered as I took a peek at that being again that continuously kept sending chills over and over. [You have Chosen the Following Options!] [Carry your Special Skills: Skill Fusion and Copy!] [+1 More Skill of Your choice(Space Time Map(Unique))!] [5 randompanions who have the memory of the past!] ''I hope the randompanions include at least one of the closest people, I know,'' I thought as I then began nning a little more while the System messages kept on ringing in my brain. It wasn''t really a hard decision given how I believed the system worked. If I did things right, I might even reach level 40 faster than I reached level 20. [Your choices have been finalized! Good luck with your regression!] Chapter 223 Restarting From 1 Another morning came as my eyes opened, and I woke up from the bed. I looked around to see the small room which could barely amodate 4 people. Sitting on the top of the left double bed, I looked on the right to find my batch mate sleeping soundly without making any sound. Checking the time on my smartphone beside the pillow, I check to see the time¡­ [Friday 28th April, 2023] ''So between ''I really regressed back'' and ''Was it all a dream?'' which should I choose?'' I contemted, as I looked at the area around me. "Status," I muttered silently as I waited for it to appear in front of me and thankfully¡­ [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: Gaia''s Saviour: Allows the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions ss: Child of the Universe(locked) Level: 20 (0/1000 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of the Last Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the One: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). Health Points: 10,000/10,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 10 Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 11 Wisdom: 12 Charisma: 12 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 0 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Portal under Control: 0 Skills: [Time Rejection(Unique)] [The user can react to anything and their surroundings, even if it is too early or toote to react to them, possibly even causingter events to happen sooner or undo some past actions and events. For example, catching a ball even if it is too early, or dodging a bullet even if they have already been hit. Limitations: Depends upon the mental fortitude of the user. Cost: 0 TP] [Space Time Map (Unique)!] [Effects: 1. Allows the user to plot out all the areas where he has visited at least once (Passive) 2. Allows the user to mark out a particr being and the user can trace its path as long it is within the plotted map.(100 Max) 3. Allows the user to mark out any known and unknown being present within the plot area 4. Allows the user to see the past events that have urred within the plot area for the past 48 hours. 5. Allows the user to find the most optimal route towards the ce where he desires within the map. 6. Allows the user to lock a single ce where he can return to using Cronas. [Cost: 100 Cronas per meter] 7. Allows the user to view real time of an event using Cronas.[Cost: 100 Cronas per seconds per meter square] 8. Allows the user to check the power level and Health of the beings present within the plotted map area. Limitations: The user cannot mark or predict beings who are 5 or more times stronger than the user. Total Area Plotted: 6 cubic kilometers] [Skill Fusion(Special)(Level: Max)] [Allows the user to join skills into one at the cost of Cronas and Zombie Cores. Note that the fusion depends upon thepatibility between two types of skills. Can be used only once every 24 hours] [Multiple Copy (Special)] [Allows the user to copy any 3 of the skills in his arsenal. Can only copy Rare Skills and below. Currently Copied Skill: None Note: Once the user locks a particr skill to copy, he can''t change the skill for another 12 hours] Quests: [Main Quests] [Find the 5 people who have carried their memories back with them Rewards: Skill: Soul Connection!] [Side Quests] [None] [Daily Quest] [Push up: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Sit ups: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Run 100 miles: Reward: +500 Exp] [Pull ups: 1000 Reward: +500 Exp] [Bonus forpleting all Daily quests: +1 Random Stat] [Store]* [God Powers(4)] [Ethereal Power(2)] [??????]* "Hmmm¡­ it''s good that the Level up requirement has been reduced quite a bit,"I mumbled as I turned to look at my roommate, slowly waking up. He observed me with a curious face for a few moments before he slept again, saying,"I must be dreaming." Don''t know what was going on through his brain, but I shook my head and jumped off the bed, on the ground. Since there were still around 6 months until the Apocalypse to ur, I guess the System was right by giving me that main quest. I looked around to find stacked books ced on both the edges of the table as a single sheet of notebook was present at the center. Reading through it by a nce, I could make out that I was studying for an uing test soon. Moving closer to the lower edge of the bed, I took out my personal diary, and started reading its contents to find out exactly what the condition is that I am going through right now. Never have I felt better that I wrote journals than I did today. / Today was tiring as usual. Alissa was doing her best to keep up with me, but the test after test is exhausting her as well. Why is the management so adamant about failing me and her? Man, this is irritating. Shouldn''t they be morally upright and not just be biased towards the students of the Professors or high end peoples? Just because we are normies, doesn''t mean you can steal our schrships as well?/ "Ah! It''s that time of the year. The third Professional Examinations,"I spoke out as I sighed deeply and recalled how biased this stupid university was. Well, not that it matters anymore. ''I wonder if Alissa is one of the people who had regressed,'' I thought, as I really hoped she would be one. Though, even if she wasn''t one, she is someone I can trust to share this secret with. She has proved her worth multiple times to me already. Keeping that in mind, I focused on the dates of the examinations and a few other things. Simply skipping out of university won''t be a good idea. While it may sound lucrative, from my line of thinking, I think making the University itself as a base would be the best idea right now. ''Taking control of the university wouldn''t be hard if I pull some strings here and there,'' I thought as I took my dress and moved towards themon bathroom. Since we were in the dorms with a shared bathroom, we were not provided with individual room bathrooms. Not really hygienic, I would say, all the more because it was a medical hospital. I then moved out of the room, leaving my sleeping roommate behind, as I treaded to the bathroom. Inside, I got undressed and began changing pretty fast, before I moved out wearing a proper formal dress and a doctor''s apron above that. Coming back to the room, I took my personal diary, a couple of notebooks, my sses and a few other things with me, and ventured towards the researchb where Alissa should be working right now. Though as soon as I moved outside, a familiar figure came running towards me, as she huffed and puffed while observing my face. Her eyes were confused as heck as she looked at me for a couple of seconds before I spoke. "Looks like you have your memories too, Caroline." Chapter 224 Meeting Alissa "Looks like you have your memories too, Caroline." Her blue coloured eyes, deep as the azure sky itself, lectured against my image with a glint of thankfulness in them. If not for the brave heart and abnormalities that one has faced, her eyes might have blessed some water into that blue tranquil. One can observe the curly pink hairs reaching down up to her chest, smooth as they were silky, shining against the sun so bright. Her bright face, now brightened with the release of tension, her smiling lips that were about to cry a moment ago, her ears turned red, which were paler thanst second. She looked like a fairy reborn as she took a step forward. "Michael!!" Caroline shouted as she jumped at me, hugged me tightly as if she would never let me go. Her strength only increased as time passed, I felt the love her body was showing. Patting her head, I looked around to see a couple of people observing us with slight jealousy. While others were dumbfounded to see this scene actually urring, their eyes widened, wondering if they were looking at what they were looking at. "Hey! We are creating amotion,"whispering in her ears, I patted her head, to which she replied back in a silent melodious voice, loud enough for me to hear me,"Does it matter?" A smile formed on my face as I answered,"It doesn''t." After all, none of these matters except what we do. For a dying world, they can cry or be jealous all they want, but the only things that will hinder or promote us will be us only. "I was scared,"she continued as she tightened her grip a bit more,"I was scared to lose you forever again." I could feel her tears over my shoulders as I stood there for another few moments. "Don''t worry. It will never happen¡­. I promise,"I answered as I continued patting her head before she finally loosened her grip a little. "Miss Escarte! What are you doing here? Stepping in a boys'' hostel premise for a girl is a vition of our rules." An elderly woman standing at a distance from here observed us with contempt and confusion. The contempt was for me while the confusion was for Caroline. All the more because it wasn''t known that Caroline liked me. She hid it really properly from everyone, including me. If not for Alissa, I would have never known that as well. "Let''s go,"I said, ignoring thatdy over there and Caroline nodded before she began following me with silent steps. "And where do you think you both are going? I want both of you in my office b-'''' shouted thatdy, the professor of biochemistry and also the head of the female dormitory. My eyes turned back as I looked at her for a few moments, "Miss Lewis, why don''t you take your husband for a check of Stomach Carcinoma for a change? Might save a life or two." Well, the tumor is almost developed and will be only a few more months before it bes known what is going on. Whether they can save him or not, it will be only dependent upon them and their capability. "What do you mean by that?!" rmed a little, she looked at me, while I moved forward without stopping as Caroline followed me. Our destination, the Researchb where Alissa was working right now. As we moved, we passed by many people who were looking at us with strange gazes. Some wanted to approach me but stopped after looking at Caroline, who was holding my arm tightly against her chest. All their eyes had only one question- When did this happen? Why him? Moving towards the Researchb, I opened the door while the others followed behind me. It didn''t take much time to find Alissa, as she was currently standing at a distance as she observed me carefully. Her eyes first smiled at me before they focused on Caroline with a really surprised look. I could hear whispers from the outside of the people who were observing the whole situation, as if a drama was unfolding in front of their very eyes. "What do you think she will do?" "Such a bastard! He already has Goddess Alissa with him, yet he dared to bring another girl in front of her!" "I wonder what Miss Alissa would be thinking right now?" Alissa, on the other hand, was confused a little as she observed me more and more. Her eyes then transferred to those people looking through the gate and she spoke in a dominant manner, "Are you guys done?" There was pressure in her words, making everyone shudder before they hurriedly left from there. Then she took one step at a time towards us and, looking at her strict expression, Caroline gulped a little as she separated herself from me and stood in a submissive position. "Care to exin what is going on?" She asked as her eyes narrowed at me while she stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for me to exin the situation. ''So she isn''t one of the five, huh?'' I thought as I peeked at Caroline, who was making a sad expression as perhaps she, too, was thinking about the same things as I was. "Let''s go to the office," I said, and she nodded before turning around as she walked slowly without muttering a single word at all. I walked behind her with Caroline beside me as she observed me with a knowing look. Covered by the silence, our walk took us to the office and Alissa, moved to the seat of the head of the Research department as she sat there while I helped Caroline sitting on a chair, which I ced right beside Alissa''s and myself standing against the center table of the office. "Well, let''s begin from tomorrow, shall we?" I spoke as I looked at Caroline and turned to Alissa. I began exining what happenedter with the whole thing around the university as I described the whole process step by step. Soon I reached the point where the Zombie Apocalypse urred and she had a look of ridicule on her face, yet I continued describing my experience throughout the Apocalypse as I reached the final steps of the entire thing. This time, I did not leave even the [System] as I exined to her how the System was responsible for my entire power up and how I got powerful because of it. Caroline, who was listening to the whole story, was even more dumbfounded than Alissa, as she did not know about the [System]''s existence up until now. But if I am going to truly trust them, then I need toe clean, or else there will always be an issue in various forms. Still, I didn''t tell them everything, such as a couple of my skills and God powers¡­ just a few things here and there which I believed they would need to know if I need my n to fully function. And after all was said, Alissa stood up as she spoke, "I didn''t think you would think of me as a 6-year-old child, who will believe any nonsense you might throw at her," and started walking out of the room. [Time Rejection!] I used my ability and Alissa found herself sitting back in the chair as if she had never stood up from there. Her eyes widen a little as I continued speaking with a smile on my face, "Oh! Come on now. I didn''t say I lost all my powers, did I?" Chapter 225 Making Her Believe Me "Oh! Come on now. I didn''t say I lost all my powers, did I?" Alissa stood there on the chair as her blue eyes observed me with a dumbfounded look. Unlike the azure eyes of Caroline, her eyes had a deep sea look as she gawked at me. The blonde hair tied up in a ponytail made her look refreshed and professional at the same time. Those brown looks over her cute face added a touch of intelligence and smarts to her naive looking face. The white unbuttoned apron over the tight pink shirt and that ck skirt of hers, and that sexy curve that I always was blessed with every day, every morning. It was still the same Alissa I knew. "How?" was the question she asked as she tried to put the pieces together. ''If I hadn''t told the story, I wonder what kind of reaction she might have had. She might have been taking me as an alien who kidnapped the real Michael? Or maybe she is already contemting the idea right now?'' I thought as I looked at her confused face. "I won''t tell what exactly I did, but this is the work of one of my abilities,"I told her about it and she looked at me with ridicule before she asked, "What else can you do?" "Is that all you are going to focus on?" I asked as I observed her and she shook her head as she spoke,"If you truly are Michael, then you already know what my thoughts are." And I nodded at her. She doesn''t trust me. Not even one bit. But it doesn''t matter. ''We don''t need trust to establish a mutual ground where we can work together without worrying about backstabbing each other,'' I thought about it for a few moments before speaking, "I can save him. If I can regress once, I can probably regress again. If this time it was only 1 year, next time it will be for 5 years or more, I will save him." From ''him'' I meant Leeway Rosalyn, my best friend and also Alissa''s brother. The one who died in the Valentine incident. Looking at Alissa''s face, it was clear that she was thinking on the same line as I was. "It''s too vague. I need something to barter,"she spoke as she looked at me. In simple words, I need leverage to provide her in order to make her cut the deal. ''In other words, she doesn''t believe that I am Michael in any form or way,'' I sighed as I looked at Alissa. It made me sad that the closest person I had, doesn''tpletely trust me¡­ but given how much she had been through her life, it was a miracle that she trusted me before. "You told me once¡­"Caroline spoke as she looked at Alissa, making us concentrate on her,"when Michael was gone for 6 months, and we were on our own¡­ you told me that if the next time we meet, I tell you this¡­ It was your father who killed your brother because you were all alone by yourself." ''Hmmm? What does that mean?'' I thought as I looked at Caroline before turning at Alissa, who was sighing really deep. She looked at Caroline as she observed me for a while before she stood up, moved closer to me and¡­ "Mmmm!" Kissed me really well. Huh? What just happened? Then she took a step back as she observed me with a smile as she shook her head and said,"I don''t know what to think anymore, honestly." It left me confused as much as it did to Caroline. She then smiled as she spoke,"Don''t worry. It''s more like a Codenguage that I invented, which I meant to use in case of a severe emergency. I did that right after my brother died. It was like a message from the past to the future. I was going to teach you this next year so that we could establish a connection." "Okay¡­ pardon for my bluntness, but why trust us now and not before?" I asked, knowing that her trust was really difficult to get. She could even think that we were mind reading or something, especially after showing her my powers. "Your thoughts are fair, but to be honest, if I were to go that far, then you might as well be a God to anyone. If you have the ability to read thoughts that deep then perhaps you might even gain anything you want. All the more especially given your intelligence, Micheal," she spoke in words that I understood but still didn''t. Kind of. "Just think that you have crossed the bar where I can still judge where I can trust you or not, and decided to go on with trusting you rather than not doing so,"she sighed as she looked at me and I just nkly observed her for a few moments. "So, what exactly do you want me to do now?" she asked as she stood there all rxed, with her eyes rxed at me as she bit her lips lewdly. This idiot¡­ "Well, I will be honest. There are 4 more people, other than Caroline, who have their memories of the future. I was looking to find them out, while also preparing for a base within this university. If we can somehow manage to get strong enough to beat that ck entity I saw at the end, I guess we might find more of our answers there then," I gave out my thought while also pondering a few other things. The main question was, what if Miya were the one who has her memory of the past? Will she be able to get out of there? Or maybe I would be the one who needs to bring her here again¡­. What if it''s Ang? This creates a lot of problems, but I believe the solutions aren''t that hard either. I just need to reach [Level 30] fast, that would solve a lot of my problems. ''I do need to talk to Rhea about it as well. I don''t think she, being a part of the system, will forget about anything for now.'' I gave a nod to myself before looking at Alissa, who was pondering a little. "Okay. I will help you with this ''Turn University into a Battleground'' thingy¡­ man, this is going to be fun actually given you have superpowers now," she spoke with a lot of excitement and I shuddered a little before smiling at her as well. "About those superpowers¡­ I actually have another one,"I spoke as I exined to her about the abilities of [Space Time Map] and the more I told her about it, the more she was dumbfounded. It wasn''t just her but Caroline, who was looking at me as if I were a freak. "So you''re telling me that you have an inbuilt GPS system that not only allows you to look at things around but also marks them, looks at them, check the past history and tells their power level?" she asked with nk eyes and I nodded before adding, "At a certain price, I can even choose a ce to teleport to, as well as look at the real-time events of any ce as long as I pay the price." Chapter 226 Onto Something "Now that we are done with that, I will be going to meet my mom¡­ it has been so many millennia that I have met her,"I spoke as I observed Alissa and Caroline, and stood up from there while they too did the same. "Want me to drop you off?" Alissa asked with a slightly sympathetic tone and I shook my head as I spoke,"I can get a cab. Mom''s office in the neighboring city," and though silent, she nodded at me. As for Caroline, "Help Alissa with anything she needs. If you find any other regressore looking for me, help him or her getting ustomed to the basics of the ce here, okay?" Hearing my words, she nodded before I stood up and began moving outside the researchb, where a dozen people were standing. Looking at meing out, all by myself, their curiosity grew even more than some of them, the ones that knew me from before, approached me and grabbed me by their shoulders, "Hey Michael! When did you get that hottie under your charm?" One of them spoke out as the others hushed to listen to me and looking at their fancy faces, I decided to entertain them. "Well. Remember when there was rain a few days ago?" "The day when you had detention and had to overwork at the hospital?" one of them seems to know about that day¡­ "Yeah¡­ go before that day when I was out shopping," I tantly lied as their ears perked up a little and I continued,"it was that day¡­ that I found her¡­ for what happened¡­ I''ll let your curiosity fill your mind." Saying that, I moved away from there hurriedly, leaving them on their own. While I could have forcefully avoided them, I need to win their favor and manipte them to be a part of my army in the future. No point in being the enemy of people for no reason. Running away from there, I reached the main gate where the guard came running up to me as he spoke, "Student Michel¡­ hah¡­ haa¡­ Professor Lewis asked me to urgently send you to her. If not, the consequence would be dire." I narrowed my eyes at the guard and he spoke,"that is what she said. Not my words." "Say that to her that Michael had an emergency,"I said as I walked outside of the campus and looked for a cab nearby. While the cost would be a little over the top for traveling from one city to another, since it was the fastest method, I decided to take it, anyway. Not like Icked money. It took about a couple of minutes to get the taxi and a few more minutes to convince him to travel to another city. In the end, he agreed at a 10% higher price than usual and also that I will also return from the city using his cab only. Which was fine by me. Traveling through the city, I observed the Skyscrapers at the other side of the city. One of those buildings was the Libra building where I had stayed before. The city looked brilliantly beautifulpared to the apocalyptic city that was about toe in the future. Since it was morning, the sunshine brushed against my face while I looked outside the window. The Driver then started talking a little as he asked me my purpose for visiting another city using a cab, while I could have used the bus. Since it wasn''t much of a secret, I told him about the reason for me to visit the next city. It was because I hadn''t met my mother for quite some time. Worried, he asked if something happened to my mother, to which Iughed, saying, No, it was just me being overdramatic after not meeting her for a long time. Giving me a warm smile, he then began telling me about his own story about his children and small talk began about his life and purposes. I made sure the talk didn''te up to me, so I kept on asking questions to him, which, for some reason, he happily answered. It took 5 hours before we finally reached the city, near one of the highest buildings, which was owned by my mother. Getting out of the cab, I looked at the driver, as I gave him the share of the money while also providing some advance, as I asked him to park in the parking area and meet me at this location in about 3-4 hours. I also provided him with my number so that he can contact me in case something goes wrong. Overall, he was satisfied with the treatment and nodded before leaving. I looked at my casual dress up and sighed,''I should have dressed better. Well, doesn''t matter now,'' I thought as I entered the building. In the beginning there was no problem reaching the ground floor, but since it was actually the first time I was visiting the building, I actually needed to ask the receptionist about the floor mom was on. "May I ask who you are?" she asked me with her eyes narrowed at me while her eyes analyzed me with a careful look. Through her eyes changed to contempt once she finalized her thoughts. "I am-" before I could even tell her anything, "No. It''s fine. Pleasee a weekter. Right now, mam is busy," she told me as she ignored me and focused on another man who was behind me,"excuse me sir, how may I help you?" I just stood there for a few moments as I wondered if I should try once more, or try finding mom on my own? After a certain thought, I nodded at myself as I looked at the other receptionist and asked her that same thing. It was better to be polite than to be ruthless. They were just doing their work and might have their own sets of problems. "I apologize, but you cannot know such information," the other receptionist spoke with a sigh,cking any emotion of apology in them. I just looked at her for a while before I spoke,"At the very least, can you provide her with my name? Even her secretary would do. She knows me as well." Though they shook their head before I heard a voice from behind, "Excuse me Sir. We may need to ask you to leave from here." They were the guards wearing the ck and white suit, as they tried to intimidate me. Looking at their power level using the [Space Time Map], I could see that their power level was a bit higher than me¡­ but their footwork was pathetic. Compared to the skills that Ais taught me while teaching me the Spear skills, this was like looking at a toddler. ''Nothing good wille out of fighting right now,'' I thought as I wondered if I should call Erza, Mom''s secretary and settle things¡­ though I want to surprise mom too¡­ "Okay, I will-" before I could even get ready to move out, they started pushing me from behind¡­ Now¡­ isn''t that rude? "Who do you think you are trying to show force to?" I asked as I red at them and, being a little intimidated by me, they took a step back, making everyone look at me. Though immediately after, they jumped at me with full force¡­ Only to get beaten up badly. Piling them up, one over the other, I just sat on their bodies as I called the phone,"hey, Erza. It''s me. I am on the ground floor. Can you ask th- oh! You areing yourself? Thanks. I''ll wait." Chapter 227 You Never Knew "Hey, Erza. It''s me. I am on the ground floor. Can you ask th- oh! You areing yourself? Thanks. I''ll wait." Everyone looked at me with fear. I am pretty sure some of them have even called the police on me, too. Now that I think about it, I wonder who wille first? The Police or Erza- "Michael!!!!" A really beautiful, matured woman in herte 20s came running at me as her breasts bounced left and right. For the professionalism, her look and dress were showing, her behaviorpletely tarnished that. Her gray eyes, that matched those shoulder length gray hairs of hers, showed a bit of her charm. Wearing two star-shaped earrings, she looked really enchanting, to be honest. She wore a blue one piece that covered most of her body, tightly. A touch of professionalism by the coat she wore over her tight dress. I stood up from the bodies of those guards as I moved towards Erza, who ran at me and hugged me tightly,"so you have finally decided toe to see your mother''s office! Ooo, I am so excited about this. I haven''t even told Martha about this. I wonder how she would react to this." It was only then, her eyes looked around to see the fallen bodies of those guards and the dumbfounded face of the people around. The one who was shocked the most was the receptionist who rejected me first. "What happened here?" She asked in a serious tone, and I decided to tell her theplete truth, which she patiently listened to. For a few minutes, she thought about it before looking at the two receptionists and calling them here. Then she observed the second receptionist whom I visitedter. Observing her for a few moments,"You are fired." She was already trembling before but now she broke down, her face ashen, as she observed me with a look of hatred before turning to Erza as she asked,"all I did was to send someone out of the facility who was asking to meet the owner of the building." "Do you really want me to say this?" Erza looked at her with a serious look as she sighed before continuing,"darling, do you think I don''t know, you are the one who called the guards, and the way they behaved, one of them is your pawns, isn''t it? Had it been normal, they would have asked for a proof or something, or at the very least didn''t retort to force until the very end. Want me to dig deeper into it?" It felt like there was more to it that seemed on the surface, which made me think a little about the whole thing being a bit more pushy than necessary as well. I guess, I just got caught between something unnecessary. "Let''s go Michael, your mother is at the top floor," Erza spoke, ignoring the others as she looked at the other receptionist and said,"Consider this a warning. Be careful next time." The other receptionist just broke down on her feet as she sighed in relief as if she dodged a bullet. "And also handle the mess you created,"Erza spoke as she walked forward while I moved behind her while peeking behind. The receptionist and other staff were now engaging with the police, trying to clear up the confusion as we walked away from the scene. "Did you really defeat those guards? Those aren''t run-of-the-mill guards, you know?" Erza asked as we reached a bit away from there. I observed her with a smile, "Learned a few things in college." "Even a child won''t be fooled by that," she chuckled as she stood in front of me while I smiled and stood behind her. My eyes observed her body from top to bottom as she looked at her. A smile formed on my face as I analyzed her more and more. "Can you stop staring so much? I know you were a pervert inside, but didn''t know you would turn into something like this¡­ it''s creepy, you know?" she spoke as she turned at me. Though her smile said otherwise and I chuckled as I raised my hands, surrendering as if I have been caught. "So, why are you here?" she asked finally with the same smile as before and withplete honesty, I answered her, "Came here to meet mom. It has been forever that I saw her and¡­ I had a long dream, too." Hearing my answer, a kind look appeared on her face as she moved closer and hugged me again as patted me from behind and spoke, "It''s all right, don''t worry." I nodded at her as she separated from me before the lift reached one of the top floors where mom was, "This way," Erza spoke, and I observed her with the same kind of smile I had on my mind. Walking behind her, I looked at the people around me and my smile remained a bit more normal as I nodded at them. They, too, nodded at me with the same smile. Though I could see a slight re in the eyes of Erza as she observed them, at which they shrieked and hurried to their work. Walking behind Erza, I soon entered the room where my mother was¡­ or the next room. "Martha is in the other room, attending a meeting. You can wait here for a few minutes before the meetinges to a conclusion." She spoke as she looked at me before she moved to the door to the next room. I observed her leaving from here, as she looked at me with a smile and locked the door on the other side. I could barely make out the other room and I sighed on the inside as I looked through the window down the ce. -Click! The other door opened as a couple of staff came out of there with a te of fruits and edibles. They looked at me and smiled as they spoke,"you can have them till the meeting is over." And I nodded at them before walking closer to the wall size window and looking down on the city in front of me. Those two staff members, one man and another woman, just stood there observing me with a fixed gaze. "You aren''t going to leave?" I asked as I turned around and smiled at them and they smiled back as the man answered,"It is our duty that you get anything you want. You are, after all, the son of the owner of this entire building after all." Those words didn''t suit someone who was at the staff level. But I guess it made sense that they would talk like that. After all, they were treating me like a nobody here¡­ based on my energy level, which they were sensing. ''To think there were Zombified Humans even before the Apocalypse urred,'' I thought, as I saw the power level of those guys. They were at least 4 times stronger than me strength wise¡­ Even Erza, who looked so weak to a human, was more than 10 times stronger than me¡­ sigh¡­ looks like I underestimated the gravity of the situation. -Click! The door opened as a familiar face appeared in front of me. It was Mom¡­. she too possessed the same energy¡­ ''Isn''t it interesting?'' Iughed on the inside as I moved towards Mom, who was curiously looking at me. Seems like I will be leveling up faster than I assumed I would. Chapter 228 Fight! 228 Fight! Her eyes coloured ck same as mine, and hair that reached slightly below her waist. Despite being in her mid 40s, her body didn''t seem like it had aged beyond 20. Her white jade skin that could make most men turn their heads, and that professionalism in her behavior as she holds those files in her hand while talking with her subordinates beside her, is enough to tell her position in this flimsy society that was about to break. "Michael¡­ what a surprise¡­" she spoke as her eyes reached me while Erza walked beside her. Erza was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at the exchange between me and my mother. "Hey! Mom¡­ been a while," I spoke as I gently smiled at her. My eyes were gazing at the other subordinate of mom. A blonde young man in his 20s, with his hair tied in a pony as he observed me with his golden eyes. One could see the beauty of that man,parable to even the most popr movie stars. Wearing the same ck suit as he adjusted his wristwatch, he too observed me with slight curiosity and slight hostility. ''He is strong¡­ about 4 times as strong as this body of mine,'' I thought as I observed him through the [Space Time Map] trying to see through him. I also used my experience to gauge the power level of that man. If I am not wrong he should be around¡­ ''[D-Grade Zombified Human]?'' I thought as I reached a conclusion. As for my mom, she too was around that level¡­ "Why are you here?" She asked as she moved closer to me, with slight worry in her voice, but before she could take a couple of steps towards me, a few more people came out of the same room from behind her. "Miss Martha, who is he?" a white haired man in histe 40s walked out of the room. He scratched his white beard as he smiled at me while looking at mom as he continued,"I am assuming he is your elder son?" I noticed two more people walking behind him. Two white haired kids, one boy and another girl and looking at the simrities on their faces¡­ yup, they were twins. Though twins, the girl had long hair that reached below her waist and had red eyes, simr to those which zombies have. ''Around E-Grade?'' I thought as I analyzed her. The boy looked a bit more fierce than that girl. He was staring deeply at me with a focused look as his eyes turned red for a brief moment before turning ck again. He then smiled smugly as he adjusted his short white hair. ''Hmmm¡­ he is about to reach D-Grade?'' I thought as I checked his power level as well. "I had a nightmare¡­ a very long one," I said with a slight sad smile, making the white haired kid chuckle a little. I could see that he was mocking me but well¡­ I couldn''t care less about it. "Oooh! I sense something interesting is going on here," spoke another guy from the same room 09:23 where mom and the white haired people were a few moments ago. "Is that so?" a smile of relief formed on her face as she moved closer to me,"you were worried about me?" I nodded and Erzaughed out a little as she spoke,"he was so worried that he ended up defeating 7 of the elite guards down there on the ground floor." Silence¡­ Aplete silence covered the entire area as everyone, including mom, just looked at me for a couple of seconds. Even the kids were cautiously observing me right now. "Oooh! I sense something interesting is going on here," spoke another guy from the same room where mom and the white haired people were a few moments ago. A purple haired man with a messy hairstyle that reached up to his ears, walked out of that room and carefully looked at me. As he walked towards me, the others simply looked at him, even mom was just standing there. He wore a purple shirt under his white suit while he reached really close to me. "Ummm¡­ mom¡­ what is going on here?" I asked with a slightly troubled look. Did I step into the mud that is going to get my clothes dirty? I don''t want to waste my time dealing with bugs, you know? ''This guy should be in peak D-Grade¡­ hmmm¡­ I didn''t think I heard about anyone like him before as well,'' I thought as I tried recalling. "He doesn''t have any energy," that purple haired man spoke with his eyes widening before he -Booom!!! Attacked me from the left¡­ Though I dodged his fist as they reached the concrete behind me and caused a heavy dent in them. "Sir? What are you doing?" I tried to be polite as this was a workce where mom worked¡­ though I don''t know in which direction things were heading anymore¡­ "You dodged it!!" surprised that guy just observed me. There was a maddening smile on his face as he looked at me, while everyone was super surprised to see me dodge that. "Hey-" He was about to grab my hair but¡­ I dodged it again as I took a step back but he was faster than me as he almost grabbed me again though¡­ "That''s enough," Erza came in between as she stopped his attack at me while that guy, with a soured face, turned at Erza as he spoke,"hmmm¡­ little Erza. What are you trying to do with my toy?" "He is Chairman Martha''s son," Erza spoke ring back at him while mother''s eyes had turned quite red as she looked at that guy. ''Thankfully¡­ mom still loves me and doesn''t fight me¡­ I don''t want to fight against mom,'' I sighed on the inside as I observed them. "Huh?!" That purple haired guy just looked at me dumbfoundedly as he observed both me and her left and right before he spoke,"hmmm¡­ that is quite troubling¡­ but still it is a good thing¡­" As he spoke his smile started widening again as he spoke,"Martha. Let''s make a deal." Mom looked at that guy as if she already understood what he was going to say and speak out first, "Don''t we already have Markus with us for that?" "That''s what I like about you, Martha. You catch up really quick. Hey boy, do you use any weapons? Like a staff or something?" That purple haired guy observed me with a keen look and I pondered a little. ''Right now, I don''t want to kill anyone so¡­'' I decided to answer it properly as I said,"A spear would be doable." Though hearing my voice he just smiled a little,"I wonder if it is fate or anything." He then looked at that white haired kid and spoke,"Since it would be unfair if you fought at full power, I guess, it would be all right to give a handicap, don''t you think so too, Markus?" "I will crush him with my bare hands and body. I don''t need to use any energy for a small fry like him," Markus spoke with a kind gesture as he observed me with a deep re. "So boy. You will fight with Markus and prove your worth. Just try to survive as long as you can, you don''t really need to defeat him¡­ not that you can anyway," that purple haired guy spoke with a slightly bored tone. ''Hey! Why are you all deciding this without my permission-'' [Side Quest: Defeat Markus in a fight!] [Description: Markus of the Elerti Organization has been chosen as the sessor of the Entrail Corporation started by your mother. Though he needs to prove his worth in the contest of the champions for that. But there has been a change of ns as you have caught the eye of Lagus, and he wants you to take Markus'' ce. Rewards: Skill(Inspect)!] "Sure," I spoke with a smile on my face as all the irritation has been wiped away with this single notification. Chapter 229 V/S Markus 229 V/S Markus "Okay, the rules are simple. You both will fight until one of them epts defeat or turns unconscious. Anything goes but no energy using and since we are making it fair, Markus won''t be using any weapon and will rely on his fist," Spoke Spencer, the same purple haired guy, as he observed me and then the white-haired kid, Markus. We were currently in a training room, standing on a white tform that seemed to be designed for fighting and training. I could see a few more people wearing white training dresses as they observed us from a distance. As for mom and Erza, they were carefully looking at me. ''It seems mom wants to tell me something but is hesitating to say it,'' I pondered a little before observing that kid in front of me. Still¡­ how did ite to it, this fast? Wasn''t it going to be a happy meeting with my mom after so many millennia? Howe I am here proving myself in a bunch of weaklings? Well¡­ Whatever, I will enjoy the process while simultaneously understanding what is going on. ''If I can find someone pathetic enough, maybe I can kill him to get some Exp and level up?'' I thought as I stretched a little before speaking, "Please go easy on me. I am not really the fighting type." My smile was pretty genuine as I simply wasn''t interested in fighting right now as much as I wanted to finish the quest, but since we are already here, might as well have some fun. Though that guy Markus was really cautious of me, as he observed each and every step of mine while trying to analyze me. "Begin!" Spoke Spencer and both of us just kept standing while observing each other''s faces. For a few moments, none of us made a move, as I felt awkward about this whole situation. Shouldn''t he being at me? Should I go? Though before I could speak anything, Markus started running at me with an insane speed¡­ though it didn''t seem like he was used to that kind of speed or power. Reaching closer to me, he jumped and, using his right hand; he went for a direct punch on my face¡­.which I¡­ swiftly dodged as I jumped to the right side. ''What was that Arte said? ''If you can use all your power in a specific direction, you can do things that normally would seem impossible for you''... something like that,'' I thought as I pulled the right muscles, rotated the spear in my hands, and brought it from his front to his back. Using the back of the spear¡­ -Thud! I almost hit his back, but he turned around from the other side. Using the momentum of that right punch, he stopped my spear with pretty much ease. "Wow! You really are strong!" I spoke with a brightened look as I observed his moves. While hecked proper skills, he was also pretty much dumb. I can already see 100s of openings right now, not only vulnerable enough to defeat him but enough to kill him through and through. Sad that we aren''t doing that right now. "You can use 10% energy¡­. Or you can use a weapon," that purple haired guy, Spencer, spoke as he observed the fight. His eyes were real serious right now as he looked at me. Even mom was looking at me with all seriousness. Markus nodded as he looked at me and his eyes turned a little red. Energy it is, huh? -Whoosh! In a moment, he reached me. This time he tried punching me from the front using the same right hand. ''He can''t use his left or something? Hmmm¡­ doesn''t seem like he is faking it either,'' I thought as I rotated my spear real hard as I parried his fist and turned my body around properly as I caught his fist, I used all my force in throwing him to the other side and¡­ -BOOM!!! He was thrown at a high speed on the other side of the arena, hitting the wall as he fell down without leaving a dent on the wall. "Cough¡­ cough¡­ monster¡­" he muttered, silent enough for only me to hear as he coughed some blood before standing up again. His eyes were still serious as his injuries healed. He looked at me with a certain smile as his eyes turned even more deadly. "I am going to use 50% energy, sir," he said as he turned to Spencer and, looking at Spencer, he didn''t seem to reject that. "Hey what are-" -BOOM!!! I saw that guy reaching me immediately as I jumped back, dodging his attack while using most of my energy. Hmmm.. Not that I get tired anymore, must it be because of my infinite energy? Well, the guy got real fast as he jumped at the wall in front and using the wall as a footing, he jumped back at me at the same speed. His eyes were darker than before as he prepared for another punch. It was amazing, as he did it all within a single second. ''Sad that he neither has any proper technique nor any proper control over his own power¡­ too predictable,'' I sighed on the inside as I dodged his attacks again. It wasn''t that I was fast enough to do that¡­ just that I could move from his line of attack before it even took ce and since that guy couldn''t change the trajectory, I don''t think I will need to worry about getting hit another million years or so. Though long before that time could pass, I saw Markus, huffing and puffing as he fell on the ground, barely able to stand on his own. p! p! p! p! Spencer was observing things from outside as he looked at the whole thing taking ce. He was smiling madly as he observed me before turning at Markus, whose head was ashen as he looked down, "Do you want to continue, Markus?" Though Markus just raised his hand as he spoke,"Anymore and I will end up killing myself." ''Hmmm?'' I pondered a little as I looked at him before asking, "What about 100%? Or using a weapon? I am not saying I am looking down on you, but if you use that, maybe you can give me a hard time?" Though at that question, he looked at me a bit dumbfounded before his sister walked towards him and helped him stand up as she answered, "I don''t know why you are being so dumb, but if you don''t know, even the most elite ones could use their power at max at 70% only. Markus is a prodigy for being able to use 50% of his energy¡­ though it does put a toll on him." ''There is something like that? But William, Caroline and the others could use it pretty easily, can''t they?'' I thought a little before asking, "What about a weapon? Won''t that give you an edge?" Though he just chuckled in defeat as he answered,"It''s a spear. I am proficient in spear usage." And that kind of answered my question there¡­ he must have felt the difference in the skill when he attacked me¡­ poor kid. ''So, what next?'' I thought as I looked around at the others. [Side Quest Complete: Defeat Markus in a fight!] [Reward: Inspect(Skill)] Chapter 230 Exchanging Information 230 Exchanging Information [Inspect (Level 1)] [Effect: Allows the user to see the Stats of the object and people around him. Skill Points required to upgrade Skill:1] ''That reminds me of the old days,'' I thought as I used the skill on the people around here. [Name: Spencer Inis Race: Zombified Human ss: Grappler] ''That''s the purple-haired guy,'' I observed. [Name: Martha Aroa Race: Zombified Human ss: Grappler] ''Mom is a Zombified Human too, huh?'' I sighed. [Name: Erza Miller Race: Zombified Human ss: Strategist] ''Well, doesn''t really surprise me,'' I sighed again. [Name: Markus Edenfield Race: Zombified Human ss: Spearman] [Name: Wendy Edenfield Race: Zombified Human ss: Swordsmaster] ''Now that we have confirmed that it really is the Cessation Energy, the questiones on to: how did theye in contact with it when the apocalypse is supposed to happen 6 monthster?'' I thought as I saw mom walking towards me, while Spencer and Erza walked behind her. "Michael. Can you answer my question honestly?" she spoke with slight hesitation and I nodded as I spoke,"I too have many things to tell and ask mom. Will it be okay if we exchange information?" Though hesitant, she nodded as she looked at Spencer before she continued,"then it would be better if we discuss this in a ce where we can have a long conversation." "Sure," I spoke as I observed them. Nodding at me, they started walking outside the training room, and I followed behind them as I reached the other side of the area. Walking through the hallway, we reached a big room, which looked like a kind of office used by professionals. The room was very neat as there was a shelf with books neatly arranged and a couple of sofas for people to eat and rx. The wall in front of us was transparent, showing the wide view of the city behind, making this room all the more majestic¡­ or filthy rich, to be precise. ''I should ask mom about the design of this room,'' I thought as I was really mesmerized by the room. Though a voice brought me back from my daydreaming, "Michael," mom said as she sat on the sofa, while the others were already sitting. The only space left was on the single sofa where people were waiting for me to sit. With slight hurried steps, I moved towards the sofa and sat there as I looked at the others, observing me. "I am not going to be the one who will be starting the conversation," I chuckled as I picked up an apple and, using the knife on the food tray, I began peeling the apple. Meanwhile, mom observed me carefully as she observed my actions before speaking, "Well¡­ to be honest, I don''t know where to begin. So, I will be telling you my story. Will that be fine?" I nodded at her with a smile and she continued,"So in brief, when I was reaching for the top in the business society, I was given a card from an organization. It was a secret organization from the Upper Echelon that kind of¡­ rules this world." "Rule the world?" I asked with a slight seriousness as I briefly stopped my hands before continuing the peeling of the apple. "Yeah. They hold the power over a certain type of ''cores'', as we may call them, that allows normal people to cultivate energy. With this cultivation, we can grow stronger than a normal person can ever imagine," she spoke with all seriousness as I turned at Marks and Spencer before turning back to mom. "What''s the catch?" I asked. Only a fool would believe in free lunches. "We have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, while a man from the organization wille to us every now and then," Mom exined as she continued, but Spencer stopped her. "All right, that''s enough about us. It''s your turn, kid. While I don''t feel any energying out from you, I am not a fool that can''t see that you are a monster too¡­ a different type of monster unlike us," Spencer got directly to the point. "Hmmm¡­ I got an opportunity," I spoke as I looked at them, making them concentrate on me as Spencer questioned,"Opportunity?" "Yeah. Well, it kind of happened yesterday¡­ When I fell asleep," I said as I looked at them before continuing,"I was sent to a ce¡­ kind of unknown ce where I was called upon as a challenger. There were all kinds of monsters and weapons. I met a couple of people and also picked up a couple of arts, before finally being able toplete the final challenge of the entire area," I exined and their eyes widened as mom muttered, "A dungeon?" ''So they know about dungeons, too? Interesting,'' I smiled on the inside as I made a confused expression on the outside as I asked,"Dungeons?" Spencer, who seemed to understand my ''confusion'', looked at me with a rxed look,"you are a lucky one, brat. You probably have no idea, but the ce where you went was most probably a dungeon. Many times, some or the other people are sent to various locations, some die while otherse back. The timeline is also different based on what kind of dungeon it is, and looking at your behavior, I must say that you have spent quite some time in that dungeon, haven''t you? Is that why you rushed here to meet your mother?" I nodded as he took a deep breath,"well that answers all the absurdity you just showed." Even mom who was skeptical about me, was now looking at me with a motherly gaze as she smiled at me. Erza''s eyes were glistening as she observed me. While the two kids were having a look of surprise and jealousy as they observed me. "So what did the dungeon give you?" Spencer asked with his eyes fully concentrated at me and I kind of made a dumbfounded expression as I looked at him. Inside I was wondering if I should give an ability out to exin the powers or should I¡­. "Spear Skills. I was given an option to choose only two things to take back, so I decided to choose this skill." I decided to go with it. Spencer looked at me for a brief moment before he asked, "And¡­ what are the other things that you chose?" "Spencer-" Mom was about to interrupt but Spencer cut her off as he spoke,"we are alreadycking the power to stand against the other empires. I am not letting this one go. I know he is your son, and that''s the only reason I am being polite here and not straight up kidnapping him." ''I would like you to try,'' I thought as I sighed before speaking, "I can gauge the power level of the opponent." Hearing my answer, they made a surprised expression, but they weren''t really dumbfounded. Spencer kind of nodded at my choice before asking, "What were your other options?" "Equipments mostly. Though, I thought if it were to be stolen from me in the real world, I would be f*cked, won''t I?" I answered with a slightly annoyed look on the outside, making them chuckle as Spencer spoke,"Well. From your point of view, it seems like you made the smartest choice. Anyway, that settles it. Martha, I will be taking your son to-" Though before he could speak, a staff member knocked outside. Looking at him, Spencer nodded for him toe in as he spoke,"Madam Martha. Your son, Wim Aroa, is here." Chapter 231 Cult? ? "Madam Martha. Your son, Wim Aroa, is here," spoke that guy wearing a butler uniform as he observed the rest of us with slight curiosity. The one who was most dumbfounded among us was mom, as she looked at me with a serious face. "Send him here," Mom spoke with slight hesitation as she looked at me. The others were now shifting their gazes between me and mom, as they all waited for William to appear. In front of everyone here, except me, there was only one question: ''Is the other kid going to be the same as the elder one?'' Not long after, William came rushing to the scene as he looked at mom with a relieved look as he wiped his forehead. He then turned around to look at the people sitting there before his eyes turned a bit wide open. "Brother?!" He observed me curiously as I looked at him with the same surprised expression with which he was looking at me. "Hey. What are you doing here?" I asked as I looked at him for a brief moment before he turned to mom and spoke,"I was¡­ just¡­ I think I had a bad dream." ''My brother is one of the regressors, huh?'' I thought as I pondered about it. I shouldn''t jump to conclusions so early. Spencer, who was observing the whole thing, stood up and, using his super speed, jumped at William. Unlike me who has trained his body and also possesses the power of the System, William was kind of normal here. -Thud! And thus, he was easily pushed back to the wall by Spencer before he could realize anything. Spencer, who found out that William was totally normal, scanned himpletely with his eyes turning red, before a confused expression appeared on his face. "I don''t think he is the same as me¡­ can you give me a minute with him?" I asked as I looked at Spencer, who still seemed doubtful about it, but because there was little to nothing he could do, he nodded in the end. "Come with me," I spoke to William, who, though irritated, still followed me while also ring at Spencer, who just attacked him out of nowhere. As we moved out, I looked around using the [Space Time Map] and found that they were eavesdropping on us. Can''t seem to let us go, huh? "How are things with Dad?" I asked the first question to which he was a little surprised, but since my eyes were dead serious, his carefree, stupid expression also changed into a serious one. "It''s good. We were about to go fishing and nning to meet mom very soon," he nodded before asking,"we were searching for you. Is this where you were?" ''So my brother is the second regressor, huh?'' I sighed in relief as I looked at him with a smile and nodded before saying,"Came here to check up on mother?" He nodded again,"First dad, who is kind of okay. Then you, who wasn''t at the university and finally mom," as he counted the three of us on his fingers. "Mhmm¡­ let''s talk about thatter. How are you?" I asked as I observed my brother. It has been a really long time, Ist saw him and even before, I just heard of him and wasn''t really able to meet him. Good to see that he was doing fine. "I am good. There were a few ups and downs but nothing I couldn''t handle," I chuckled as I heard his answer before turning back to the room where the others were waiting for us. "Al Meira(Be careful)" I spoke silently as my brother heard my words. He didn''t exactly know thenguage that Alissa and I created together, but he still knew a few keywords and reacted ordingly. We entered the same luxurious room again, and I spoke to mom,"he came here because he was worried about you. Nothing more, nothing less." Though skeptical, Mom nodded as she advanced her steps towards William while Spencer asked,"Are you sure?" His eyes were trying to find the tiniest sign of abnormality, but I assured him that he was totally normal, to which they all signed in slight relief. "Let''s go to my cabin, William," Mom spoke as she took William outside the room, leaving me with the others. She even gave Spencer some form of signal as she walked away, to which he grumbled but still nodded. And as soon as mom and William went away, I turned to Spencer, who was already standing in front of me, at a distance of 2 meters. His eyes were smiling as he spoke, "I will be taking you to a special ce where you will be blessed with the same power as we have. As for the rest of the things, I will exin it on the way." ''Hmmm¡­ finally I can level up,'' I thought as I looked at him with a slight ''terrified'' look to which he chuckled even more before both the twins grabbed my hand from each side. "Let''s go up," he said while it confused me as I wondered why we were going up and not down¡­ and the answer to that was¡­ ''A helicopter?'' I was surprised to see that we have a helicopter of our own. I knew we were rich, but we were this rich? Not something I would have imagined. Though my vision was ckened as a ck veil was put on my face while I felt an injection piercing through my neck. "Sorry, but the secrecy must be maintained," I heard the voice of Spencer as a message appeared in front of me. [An abnormal constituent has been found in the system of the User. Would you like to initiate the effect of the material or cancel it?] [You have canceled the effect of the material] And then I ''fell'' down in the arms of Spencer, who carried me to the helicopter. While my eyes were closed, I could still locate the direction we were moving with the help of [Space Time Map] and it was telling me that¡­ we were going in circles? We flew for about 2 hours before we were brought back to the same building which my mother owned and then I was carried to another room, which was the same room from where my mother came out when I first appeared here. The same ''business meeting'' room. Though, even after we reached the ce, I was still tied and kept on a random seat there for quite some time. About an hour maybe? Before a sh woke me up from my ''unconscious'' state. The veil was removed and I kind of found myself in a dark room with the only light being thrown directly at me. It was like a room for interrogation, or perhaps a cult? Using the markers, which I ced using the [Space Time Map] I could locate Erza, mom, the twins and Spencer around here. It wasn''t just them, as I could feel a couple of more people within the shadows who¡­ weren''t exactly strong. Around Spencer''s level, maybe? Or a bit less. "The Queen Of Darkness, I summon thee. Come here and bestow your blessing upon this creature of nature," one of the unknown girls spoke as she chanted some things and the space in front of me began distorting. ''The Queen of Darkness, huh? I wonder if it is who it really is,'' I thought as I anticipated a little at her arrival. And yup¡­ my eyes didn''t betray me as that being moved out of the space distortion and greeted me with her presence. Ang Reas was standing in front of me. And fun fact¡­ She was still my ve, ording to the System. Chapter 232 Tales Of The Michael Aroa ? ck hair that reached up to her waist, which waspletely straightpared to my mother''s curly hair. And dark eyes that filled the entire socket, holding the power of darkness within them. All this over the pearl white cute face of a girl who looked no more than 20. She was wearing the same widow ck dress, the same dress that people wear at a funeral, though ordingly she looked like a death reaper herself. "Is he the one?" She asked as she looked around and the others nodded. Meanwhile, I¡­ "Oo! A cutie! Are you the leader of this cult?" was in a jolly mood for some reason. I mean, I was getting to meet ''My'' people left and right. Obviously, I was happy. "..." "..." "..." Though it didn''t seem like the others took my happy mood so well. I could hear someone shaking behind me while Ang was just keenly observing me. And then she moved a few steps forward and reached closer to me as her eyes analyzed me over and over again. While it was quite difficult to see through, I could still see the shock hidden behind that poker face of hers. She then raised her hand ever so slightly and, bringing closer to my forehead, she poured a bit of her energy into me. [A strange energy is trying to take your consciousness towards her. Would you like to proceed with the transfer?] Not hesitating, I pressed the [Yes] button as I closed my eyes while the scene in front of me changed from the dark interrogation cult-like room into something more of a beautiful garden. It was a nice change of scenery and I was kind of mesmerized by the sheer variety of flowers around me. "What did you do? And who are you?" She asked as she looked at me with a strange expression. I, observing the garden, really carefully spoke out, "Is this your garden? It''s quite beautiful." Her eyes, showing signs of fear as she observed me with her head down. Was the contract making her do that? I didn''t know. But I was sure that as long as she was my ve, I don''t need to worry about anything here. "I made it based on my garden from the time of my first master,"she answered in a low voice and I turned to her, walked up to her while she stood there shrieking but still not taking a step back, and reaching up close to her, I smiled. My hands gently reached her head as I patted her before speaking,"It''s not really a long story, but wanna hear it?" Her eyes nced at me and she nodded with some form of passive relief that came to her without her knowledge. I had already told Caroline and Alissa things, while I shouldn''t really trust Ang, whom I have just met, I think it was still fine. All the more because of the contract. It was powerful¡­ the Contract; I mean. It was super powerful enough to bind an entity like Ang into something more of a puppet. But I was d¡­ d that strong puppet was mine. And thus, I began telling her tale of the ''Michael Aroa who survived the Apocalypse using the System'', which she intently heard with her eyes kind of sparkling at times. Since I had already given her permission, she asked a bunch of questions, some nonsensical while the others really good ones, which made the entire thing morefortable to talk with. I then reached the point where I met Ang in the past and her eyes were really fixated on that part of the story. And as I began to unveil the entire thing, her eyes widened a lot. Though shocked and stupefied, perhaps bamboozled too, she still didn''t ask any questions whatsoever. Just kept quiet and listened to the story. And the part where I mentioned ''Regression'' she blinked a little before I finally reached the conclusion of how I reached here. "Phew! That was a long story. I thought it would take a short time, but I guess it wasn''t as short as I thought it was," I spoke to her with a certain smile that you give to ones you really considered close. She observed me for a brief moment before falling on her back as she sighed in relief, too. Though her expression turned to trouble again as she asked, "I.. have no choice but to believe you. But I guess what you have told me is proof enough of what happened. You will possibly won''t make lies that grand, especially when fate and order are considered. Master, tell me this thing. Are all your powers lost?" I nodded at her before correcting her,"rather than saying lost, it would be more appropriate to say that they are locked." She then moved closer to me as she spoke,"Master! Close your eyes." Hearing her voice, I did that as I wondered what she was up to and approaching me close¡­ She gave me a gentle kiss on my forehead. For a second, a cooling sensation brushed over my entire body as I felt an energy entering my brain. Even though I had my eyes closed, [You have received the Blessing of the Helper of Darkness] [Helper of Darkness(Blessing): Allows the user to see through darkness and have perfect night vision. The User''s Stats will be doubles in the absence of direct light and in the presence of absolute darkness, the user gains the ability to channel Darkness Mana] I opened my eyes to see the smiling face of Ang who was observing me with a totally different gaze than before,pared to bothst time before regression and this time when I first saw her. "What is it?" I asked curiously as I saw her smiling face, to which her eyes turned a bit solemn. She then continued,"Nothing just¡­ It has been a while since I got a master that had so much concern for me. Looking in your eyes, you probably don''t understand, but hear me out a little. Actually, I have an ability that allows me to see the people''s emotion towards me. Though, if the person in front of me is too strong, or has high intelligence, I won''t be able to see that¡­ which happens in most of the cases. So, when the ''weakened'' version of you came to meet me here, I can use that ability on you, which perhaps I failed to dost time. Yet the change in emotion¡­ I picked up that ability to make sure I have reliable people around me and not just some backstabbing bastards." Hearing her exnation, my eyes turned a bit surprised. I didn''t know she had such an awesome, yet dangerous, ability. One can easily manipte another person if he can figure out the intention of the other person towards you. Though, to be honest, I was d that she had that ability, making her trust me a bit more than before. This way, at least my ve won''t hate me behind my back. "So what next?" She asked as she observed me with a casual look and I pondered a little. Then suddenly an idea popped up in my brain as I looked at her with a slightly evil smile. "How about this¡­" Chapter 233 Regression...? ? [Walter Ignis''s POV] ¡­ Standing in front of the mirror, my eyes look closely at the scene in front of me. The face was mine, yet I couldn''t believe it. The short bowl cut and those deadpan eye bags around my eyes. With one look, anyone can tell that I haven''t slept for ages. ''Was that all a dream?'' I thought as I looked around the clean yet cheap bathroom of the shabby apartment where I was living. My mother died a long time ago, while my father, who somehow got caught up with the loan sharks, was now paying their bills by working in the same High School where I am supposed to study. "Breath Walter! We need to be calm about this situation. Let''s start from the very basic,"I calmed myself, as I always did. My eyes turned around to look for the things. Trash. Sink. Mirror. Lightbulb. Power Socket. stic. Electricity. I counted the things which I can use properly around me. It shouldn''t be impossible to check if it was all a dream or not. Though I really hope it wasn''t one. I began removing my shirt as I closed the dirty sink and turned the tap on, while I broke the external wire circuit and carefully ced the open wire into the sink. I was careful enough to turn off the plug so that I may not end up electrocuting myself. Once all that was set, I needed to find an object to transfer the energy to. And I ced the trash can opposite to the sink with me in between them. Once that was done, I closed my eyes as I recalled the phrases of the ''Book of Arcanist'' which I received as one of the things when I ascended. It was part of my Gift: Theurgy that allowed me to create spells keeping thews of Theurgy in mind. -Click! I switched on the electricity source while keeping the water an inch below the upper level. cing my hands just barely above the sink, while keeping the other towards the trash can¡­ "Albei Recato: Eria ttore Feie(Oh World Creators: Turn this electricity into fire).... Nilterie brust(And burn this unsightly object)" -BOOOM!!!! Almost spitting against the sink, I was thrown towards the mirror. My body hit the mirror as I body shattered it, breaking it into pieces. While I did touch the water in the sink, because the entire area was short-circuited, I didn''t get electrocuted. Falling on the ground, I felt a pain in my entire body. Perhaps a couple of my bones were shattered as well¡­. But¡­ "Pfft hahaha¡­.. Ow ow ow¡­ ha ha¡­ ha.. It hurts," I spoke as I couldn''t contain my smile. It was all true. It wasn''t a dream¡­ Thank god¡­ I have a chance to change my entire future¡­ ''Future, huh?'' I thought as I recalled what the future held for us. Pain and suffering. "WALTER!!!" I heard a shout from outside the apartment, as I woke up from my daydreaming. From the voice, it was perhaps thendy. ''She doesn''t sound really happy,'' I thought as I slowly stood up from the bathroom. My body was hurting, but it was nothing I couldn''t handle. Slowly I stood up from there and walked outside the bathroom and as I reached halfway to the outer room¡­ "Huh?!" I saw my vision blurring as I fell to the ground. Did I overuse my energy? Or was it blood loss? I didn''t know. I could still hear the knocking on the door. It was getting louder¡­ but that was the least of my concern¡­ ***** "HUH!!!!" I took a deep breath before a churning pain entered my chest as I started coughing. The more I coughed, the more it hurt, before a hand helped me,forting me from behind as I finally gained myposure. It was only then that I realized that I was in a hospital and the one who was helping me was the nurse. "Hey! Breath easy. You are fine now,"I heard her sweet voice as I turned my eyes at her. My eyes reached her face, and she was¡­ beautiful. She had ck eyes and short hairs that reached up to her shoulders. Her face is too cute and too precious¡­ My cheeks turned red as I observed her helping me out. Looking at me dazed like that, she chuckled a little as she took a step back. "You okay?" she asked with the same smile, and I nodded. "Looks at you, fool, smiling like an idiot like that. Do you know how much it costs to treat you? Shouldn''t you thank me for once?" spoke the ageddy on the other side. She was thendy of the apartment where I lived. "Thank youndy," I bowed politely as I looked at her with pure sincerity. It wasn''t just the thanks for bringing me to the hospital, but to provide shelter to me and my father by giving us her apartment at such a cheap rate. Without her, we might never be able to survive in this dog eat dog world. For a few seconds, she just stumped there for a bit. Her eyes grew confused as she asked,"did you hit your head or something?" Her shock was pretty much expected given how I used to be bitchy in front of her, being ungrateful and shouting at her since I couldn''t fight the bullies in my school. In fact, she was the only outlet I had for my frustration and anger. "Is this what I get for being polite for once?" I spoke with a slightly irritated tone, making her sigh in relief before she got irked out again. "You cheeky brat!" she spoke as she stood up, getting closer to me as she was about to hit me. "Hitting a patient? Elders these days have no respect for the youngsters. Tsk! Tsk!" I spoke, and it kinda fumed her a little as her eyes threw daggers at me. "Pffft~" the nurse, amused by our exchange, just looked at me with a keen look. Her eyes smiled a little before she wrote down the numbers of my heart rate and other things before finally leaving from there as she waved at me. "So. Brat. Tell me honestly. Were you the one who caused the power to burst? The entire area''s power was gone,"She spoke as she observed me with a deep look and I asked, "What''s the damage?" "None. Because the entire area was gone, it became a government problem. They said it was an overcharged fuse burst. They just need to rece it. Electricity shoulde back by the evening," she answered without hiding anything while keeping her eyes on me. "A sessful experiment. I might really be able to pay my father''s debt now and also give you the Real rent of the apartment from now on,"a bright smile appeared on my face as I looked at her, making her narrow her eyes at me before she asked, "It''s nothing illegal, is it?" I shook my head as I spoke,"It''s more of a shortcut, but nothing is illegal. Oh! I am not gambling or anything as well." From my words, it should have been clear that I won''t tell her what it is. But I made sure to try giving her a surety of whatever I was going to do was going to help me in the right way. "The loan sharks won''t be happy," Landy spoke with a sad look, as she knew that it was them who ced me and my father in this position. We were a part of their money making workers. Losing us means losing a source of money. "It''s okay. I have thought about that¡­ so I am going to ask help from a certain someone whom I can put my trust into,"I spoke as I looked at her with a calm smile and she observed me confusion. "Who?" she asked with slight curiosity in her voice. "A friend of mine. Michael Aroa," I spoke as a warmth filled my chest as I stood up from the Hospital bed. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" Landy almost reached me as she stopped me from getting off the bed. Though I slowly stepped up. Even though the pain was there, as long as I was careful, it didn''t hurt me. "I will be going to the Libra Building," I said as I looked at her and she was a little shocked. "The building where the richest of the richest live¡­. Just who is this friend of yours?" She asked with real curiosity now. Though I couldn''t bring myself to answer that¡­ Even I had limited information about Michael. The only source being George. "Return home safely, Landy. Next time we meet, I might be unrecognizable¡­" I joke as I move out of the room leaving the Landy standing there confused. Taking my steps towards the lift, I first got down to the ground floor, where I went to the same nurse who had just been taking care of me. She was near the reception, talking with the receptionist. "Hey! I am checking out,"I asked, and she nodded as she spoke,"Okay. Your money is paid while your condition is good enough to take care of yourself. Be careful not to hurt yourself, okay?" I nodded at her before she helped me do the paperwork before getting out of the hospital. With the little money I had, I haggled my way with a cab as he finally epted to drop me at the Libra building. Though he didn''t believe that I was going there, since he epted the price, he drove me there. Getting out of the cab, I found the same Libra building where I stayed for a couple of months with George and the others. It was nostalgic. "Here to meet someone?" I then heard a familiar voice as my eyes turned around, only to find a red-haired guy standing there with a curious smile on his face. "George?" I smiled back with a surprise. Chapter 234 Exception ? [Michael Aroa''s POV] ... I opened my eyes to find myself back in the same darkness where I was held captive before. But there was a drastic difference between the previous me and the current me. I couldpletely see the entire room like it was clear as day. ''Must be the blessing which Ang gave me,'' I thought as I observed the surrounding scene. Since I was focusing on everyone one by one, it became clear that I could see them. And knowing that, everyone was more or less stupefied at this result, as clearly they were not expecting that to happen. "Treat Michael Aroa as your leader from now on and inform him of all the whereabouts. He will be working directly under me now and can make a direct report if he wishes to do so. And if anyone dares to do anything to him, even a single scratch, his life would be extended forever as a test subject of my experiments," Ang spoke with a threatening look as she observed everyone before a smile blossomed on her face as she looked at me. "Is that fine by you?" She asked, making everyone dubious about what they were looking at. I could see the twins wiping their eyes as they wondered if they were dreaming or not. "..." "..." "..." "..." "..." "..." ''That wasn''t part of the script. Well, not that it brings any harm to my ns,'' I chuckled a little as I tried to move my hands, which were still cuffed. [Time Rejection!] And now they were uncuffed easily as I jerked my hands. Removing the cuffs, I stood up from the chair and nodded at her before speaking,"thank you. I should take my leave now. There are a few things that I need to settle as well." Speaking of that, I saw Ang nodding at me before vanishing from there. ording to her, I could easily use the contract to directly send a whisper to her. Even if I were to regress again, as long as the Contract is still intact, I couldmunicate to her and bound by the contract, she will always respond to my calls. ''Should have told me thatst time,'' I thought as I sighed before turning around to see the nk looks of everyone there. "In the dungeon, I met someone that was supposed to be the father of Ang¡­" I spoke as I looked at all of them. I didn''t lie in any essence since I did meet Ang''s father, Ais, when I met with Aether while trying to mess with Ang''s contract. When I spoke these words to everyone in the room, they, for a moment, snapped back to reality before digesting these words in. At first, they were surprised, but it didn''t take them long to understand the situation and connect the dots. Even then, they were really surprised, perhaps at my luck, that I was able to make a connection to someone that high. Mom was kind of confused about how to approach me now, since I was both her son and boss. It was all the more difficult for her because it was rare for us to spend time together. Especially since she was too busy with business and I was too busy with college work. "It''s okay, mom. I am still your son,"I smiled at her as I moved closer to her and I could see from expression as her shoulders fell down that she was really exhausted because of this thought. Moving closer to her, I hugged her tightly as I muttered, "Between all this serious stuff, I forgot the main purpose that I came here for. I missed you mom, I really missed you." Erza smiled silently behind Mom as she looked at our interaction while I could see Spencer in a real deep thought about something. After separating from mom, I wiped her tears as I smiled at her before asking Spencer, "What are you thinking?" "Now that you are our boss¡­ You can''t participate in the contest of the champions, can you?" He asked as he looked at me and I pondered over it before asking,"Can you brief me exactly what this contest is?" Nodding, he asked,"should I tell it here or should we sit and talk?" and I pondered a little before speaking, "Brief it to me, since I am in a bit of a hurry." "Long story short, it''s a ce determined to find out the most valuable person among all the business partners which the Dark Oracle supports. Dark Oracle is the organization''s name which oversees everything here. So, in a way, it''s a ticket to sess if your sessor is strong enough to uphold it. There are a set of 12 rules which everyone must follow. That''s the jist of it," he spoke and I nodded before turning at Markus, "Let him take part. I will teach him the ways of the spear. Though when is the nextpetition?" "In a month. It''s held annually and Markus is going to participate next year,"He spoke with a nod of approval, but it kind of confused me. "Why not this year?" I asked. "Umm¡­ because he is too weak? You, I can consider him¡­ he is weak." he was brutally honest with his words¡­ I guess that''s how he is. "It''s fine. I can turn him into a monster within a month,"I chuckled as I started walking,"while I could ask you guys about how thepany works and stuff, I would like you to handle things on your own as you do. Consider me as a bystander as I am not really interested in these things. Though please do inform me in case you are in trouble¡­ it may not look like it, but I have a few extra things that I could probably help you out with." With those words spoken, I reached the gate and stopped before turning at Mom,"Hey Erza. Bring mom for dinner tonight. Let''s have a party, okay?" Erza gave me a thumbs up before smiling at me. d that at least someone was enjoying the atmosphere¡­ unlike the others who are tensed about it. With that being settled, I moved out of the room and walked to the nearest lift. There were a lot of unwanted variables that I encountered on this one trip, but I was d that I achieved so many things on my first regression. I met two regressors, ended up meeting Ang, and got a blessing from her. Finding out about the Dark Oracle¡­ cringy name¡­ anyway, it was a nice and fruitful journey. As for Markus, I guess I can have another person in my arsenal¡­ seemed like a nice kid with a good head on his shoulders. Though his actions were a bit childish, he didn''t do anything rash or let his ego get into his brain. It would be fine to help him out, I suppose. Entering the lift, I moved to the ground floor, where I saw the same receptionist working with a tired face as if she would break down at any moment. The other receptionist was fired, so I didn''t see her. Ignoring her, I moved to the outside gate, but perhaps she saw me. She ran towards me and reached in front of me as she bowed down and spoke,"I am sorry. I really apologize for my behavior. It was really inappropriate of me to speak those words to you." Trembling as she was, I could see fear from the words that she spoke¡­ hmmm¡­ how should I deal with this now? Actually¡­ "I will forgive you, but there is something you need to do for me." Chapter 235 Back To The Apartment ? "Libra Building, right?" The receptionist, Amara, who was previously begging me for forgiveness, was now sitting in the driver''s seat of her luxurious car as she smiled before starting the engine. I nodded at her as I looked outside the window at the building where my mom worked. The Dark Oracle, huh? Hmmm¡­. I should level up a little and improve my skills beforeing back here again. ''The starting levels should be easy,'' I thought as I pondered a bit more before turning at the smiling Amara, who was excitedly looking at the road as she drove the car. To be honest, I wasn''t going to interfere until I realized that most of the staff, even the bottom ones, have a reputation to uphold. They aren''t just mere staff members but people who have been selected after a triple interview, one of which was done by mother personally. I asked if Amara had a car and she nodded with slight confusion before I continued asking if she works for me for a day. I will put in a good word for her in front of my mother if she can do that, which she happily agreed to. From there onwards, we both were quiet as we traveled through the entire city to our location. My eyes observed the area around me while I kept an eye on Mom, using the [Space Time Map]. There were a couple of reasons why I wanted to go to the Libra building. One was to find out if George, White or Alex were one of the regressors or not, the other was the Gym which was at the top of the building. It would be a good time toplete the [Daily Quests] and gain the next level. The Final reason was to ce a marker, so that when the Apocalypse urs, I coulde back here to retake the Dungeon of Libra. I would love to meet Erina again in the dungeon¡­ and, more importantly, I would like to meet Kira. "We are here,"said Amara, as we reached the ce. I could see the building in front of me as nostalgia filled my face. How long has it been since I have seen this ce¡­ hmmm¡­ just a few days ago. Anyways¡­ "Take the main entrance,"I said and Amara answered,"Roger that." My eyes looked around at the guards and at the shopping center on the right. [New Dungeon Found!] [Dungeon of Chaos Libration!] My eyes blinked for a second as I observed the notification and I turned to Amara as I spoke in a hurried tone,"slow the car for a second." Confused by my suddenmand, she slowed the car and I opened the door as I said,"Park the car ande here." Though she was still confused, she followed mymand without asking any questions as she should. Meanwhile, I locked my eyes on the shopping center, which was more like a small convenience store for the people of the Libra building. ''This wasn''t there thest time,'' I thought as I read the notification more clearly now. [Dungeon of Chaos Libration!] [By the Gods of War and Chaos, the world was nothing but an echo of the past of their mistakes. For them, they were the ruler and the mere existence of a God free world was as if the heavens had spat on them. Yet, they could do nothing about it. Requirements: Golden Key of the Dungeons Requirements: Minimum level 35 Requirements: Possess the Compass of Time Goal of the Dungeon: Free the Gods of Chaos and War and bring them to your side. Convince them to fight beside you. Time requirements: 3 Months Rewards: ???] My eyes looked at the description for a couple of seconds and more, and my eyes widened a little. I understood why the Dungeon wasn''t present thest time. It''s because it''s time limit was over before I could see it. "Seems like I hit the jackpot?" I thought for a couple of seconds with a sudden smile before turning back at the Libra building and moving towards it. My eyes saw Amaraing from the parking area as she followed behind me. "Wee Sir Michael,"the guy standing there spoke as I smiled at him and nodded before moving inside the building towards the lift. My eyes looked around to find a couple of things here and there, just in case I might find something interesting again. Sadly, I didn''t¡­ Entering the lift, I and Amara waited for it to reach Floor 64, where my apartment was. As I got out of the Lift, I moved towards the apartment and reached near the door. I tried opening the door but¡­ I forgot the keys¡­ I looked at Amara, who was looking at me before I turned back at the door and tried opening it once again [Time Rejection!] -Click! And that''s how you open a closed door when you forget the key. Mmhm, so with that out of the way, I entered the room as I felt something odd. I think I heard a voice from the inside. ''Did Dade back?'' I wondered if he was one of the regressors, but then he should be calling us first then to meet us. With my eyes narrowed, I moved inside the room as I looked around the empty living room. "What is it?" Amara asked as she looked at me, while I traced the entire room, before sighing. [Space Time Map] showed four individuals in the living room. One hiding behind the sofa, another in the kitchen, and two of them on the balcony. As for their power levels, all of them were pretty normal. Nothing really special about them. Were they thieves or something? Hmmm¡­ interesting. I looked at Amara, who was just standing there as I pointed at the sofa, "Sit there. I will¡­e in a moment." My eyes looked around for a few moments before I opened the kitchen door as I saw the first guy hiding begins the door while I took out a couple of fruits from the fridge before turning around to see [Name: Adam Jhonson Race: Human ss: Unssified] A ck-haired kid with an awkward smile stered on his face. I think he was one of the friends of George who died in the previous timeline. His eyes were ck like his hair and with a short build and those skinny bones. It looked like he would die if I pped him even once. Honestly, I felt pity for him¡­ "BOO!" I shouted, and he slipped on the floor -Thud! I chucked as I spoke,e out. I am preparing some fruit sd, help me cut the fruits," while I moved out of the kitchen. Though before I stepped out, I spoke once more,"I will not repeat my words again." Hearing my words, he stood up as he hurriedly took the other fruits in the kitchen and walked behind me. While I saw the other guy, trying to make a run for the outside gate. Though his eyes stopped at me before he saw his friend wasing from behind with fruits in his hands, making him halt his movements. [Name: ke Jhonson Race: Human ss: Unssified] Our eyes conceded as I smiled at him, pointed the knife at him, before pointing at the sofa on the right side. Understanding my signal, he smiled with a dry chuckle before he moved to the other side. Well¡­ honestly, they even themselves did not know what they were doing¡­ but why were they here? "GEORGE!!!!!!" Before I could process anything, I heard a shout from the balcony. Chapter 236 Impure Dark Branch Of Yggdrasil ? "GEORGE!!" The shout came from the balcony as both the kids got worried sick, while I ran before any of them could react. Amara, who was still processing the existence of Adam and ke, grew even more confused as she heard the shout. Not giving a damn about the others, I ran towards the balcony. The door was obviously opened, as I got out, only to see Walter looking on the other balcony where George was barely hanging on the edge. Looking at how he is on hisst arms and Walter almost trying to jump for him, I reached Walter as I pushed him behind before moving to the offside of the balcony, and immediately jumping towards George, while one of my hands grabbed Balcony and the other grabbed George. "Man! You are heavy," I spoke as I took a deep breath before increasing my grip strength. "AAA!!!" George was being hurt as I gripped his wrist harder and harder. ''Spear Art: Idominatable throw!'' I muttered under my breath as I positioned myself mid-air while grabbing the railing with one hand and then¡­ throwing George in the air towards Walter. It wasn''t easy by any means as I could feel my arm being torn apart from the body however¡­ [Time Rejection!] I can''t let that happen, can I? George was thrown onto the balcony as he cried while gripping his wrist, which was now bleeding a little. A small price to pay¡­ which was going to heal soon anyway. Amara and the other two, who were already out, saw everything with their own two eyes. And how wide their eyes were. I chuckled a little as I got myself up on the balcony before getting on the balcony where George was hanging from. "What were you kid trying to do?" I asked as I wiped my hands while looking at the side. Walter was the most shocked among us as he looked at me with a Question filled face. I took a few steps behind and while focusing on my explosive power¡­ I ran on the railing, then on the wall a little, before reaching our balcony. "Let''s talk inside," I said as I smiled at them before looking at George''s wrist, where the bleeding had stopped. "Come inside. I will give you some first aid," I spoke and even though he was in pain, he nodded as he slowly stood with the help of Adam and ke. "Thank¡­ you¡­"he spoke with a broken voice as he fought his pain before all of us moved inside. Then reaching the sofa, I sat on the side opposite to Kitchen. I asked Amara to sit beside me, while George sat in front of me with Walter beside him. While ke and Adam decided to keep standing beside George and Walter. "So. What are you doing in my apartment?" I initiated the question first. Regression or not, you cannot just enter someone''s house for any reason. It is illegal in many ways and you could be heavily fined for it too. "I needed help from you¡­ and then I felt an energy from inside an ominous one¡­" Walter was the one who spoke first as he looked at me. His eyes were really concentrated on me before I sighed as I spoke out, "All right. That makes sense." ''That does?'' Was the question on everyone''s face as they looked at me and Walter. Because of what I did, it wasn''t that hard to say that I still have my powers and memories from the past. Though he is still naive to think that there couldn''t be any powers before the Apocalypse¡­ ''Not that, I wouldn''t have made the same mistake¡­ It would be pretty unorthodox to think that way.'' I am kind of sad that George isn''t a regressor. But still, I am d that it is Walter, and he still is loyal to me. As for Adam and ke, never considered them as one to regress¡­ "So. Where is that energying from?" I asked as I looked at him and he nodded before turning on the balcony. "There is a nt on your balcony, one of its roots is corrupted with dark energy." I nodded as I stood up before speaking,"Show me." He nodded at me before standing up and moving in front back to the Balcony. The others, including injured George, stood up as they began walking behind us as we reached back to the Balcony where that nt was. Walter then pointed at one of the money nts which was ced on our balcony. The money nt had a branch that ran across the wall and reached the other balcony where George was previously hanging. "It''s that branch,"Walter spoke with all seriousness as all of us began looking at it. [Inspect!] [Impure Dark Branch of Yggdrasil!] [After treading a path to the world''s most dangerous areas, the branch has lost a couple of its pure strands and gained the dark strands from the corrupted universe. The World Order has treaded its path to Michael Aroa, who posses the power to revert it back to its original form] [Emergency Quest Initiated!] [Description: The World Order has found the existence of Michael Aroa and has dered him as one of the stray Wanderers with SS-Level Importance. After looking at his achievements, they have finalized to give this particr task to him. Requirements: Permission from the World Order Task: -Purify the Branch of Yggdrasil -Find a way to send it back to the World Order Time Limit: Until the Branch ispletely corrupted or made pure Current Corruption: 76% Failing Penalty: -The world where the User Lives will be consumed by the Dark Branch Rewards: -A Random Unique Blessing of the World -Skill: World Connect -A Leaf of the Dark Branch of Yggdrasil -???] ''...'' For a second, I just observed the entire message once¡­ twice¡­ many times. And even in the end¡­ I was shocked. I couldn''t believe my eyes. ''I am being watched? Monitored? What is the World Order? What the heck is going on?'' A lot many questions filled my mind as I observed the entire thing with my eyes turning shocked at once and serious on the other hand. "What did you find?" Walter asked as he looked at me with a lot of curiosity and, turning at him, I asked, "Hey. By any chance, do you have a way of purifying this thing?" "Ah! I am not that capable right now,"he spoke in an awkward tone while I sighed. I knew it wouldn''t have been that easy. "What if you were in your prime?" I asked again, and he pondered a little before speaking,"no. I don''t think even then I could have done anything to it." I nodded at him before turning at the others, who were beyond confused at what was going on here. Well, I wasn''t going to tell them everything, but at the very least, I can do a couple of things to bring them on my side. "Let''s go in. You guys seem to have a lot of questions. I still have a few minutes left, so I can entertain you, I guess," I spoke as we went back to the Sofa for the second time. "From the beginning, how did you do that?" Amara was the first one to ask. She looked at me and continued,"I mean the way you threw this red-haired kid up and the way you jumped from that balcony to this, I don''t think that it is humanly possible to do that." "Well. You are correct. It is not possible humanly¡­ but honestly, that''s not true. Or more like, it is iplete,"I began speaking as I looked at Walter,"show them a little trick." Walter spoke as he took out a paper from his pocket and a lighter from another. He ced the paper in his left hand and the lighter in his right hand. After that, he began chanting, "Albis tre fiera: Epasses eclipse de mora(Oh! The God of Fire: Let the candle light Travel to burn the path of evil.)" -Booom! With a sudden bang, the paper started burning in Walter''s hands as he grabbed it without any problem. As for Amara and the others, nope, they weren''t convinced. Perhaps they were thinking that it was a trick? Hmmm¡­ ''They do say that paper isn''tpletely dead¡­ just that we are beyond capable of reviving it. If the conditions were beyond perfect, we might be able to grow trees from dead paper itself,'' I thought as I tried a little. [Time Rejection!] And yup¡­ I saw all the fire energy being absorbed by the burning paper as a leaf grew out of it¡­ sadly, it died and withered before it could even sprout properly. Good thing was that it was enough for them to see the miracle happen. They observed it carefully with their eyes trembling a little. Amara even moved forward and grabbed the leaf, as she could feel the burnt crisp of it. Her eyes widened as she looked at it over and over before I spoke, "Rather than us showing something that might be considered as a trick, I believe it would be better if you ask us to do anything viable for now. Will save both of us some time." "No¡­ we believe you¡­ I felt myself as paper when you grabbed me and threw me up¡­ nothing is more believable for me than that,"George spoke as he looked at me with dead serious eyes and I nodded a little before speaking, "All right then¡­ any other questions?" Chapter 237 Alex And White Of Today ? For the next 15 minutes, the questions kepting one after another, but because of privacy and other reasons, I could only lie to them here and there while mixing up a bit of truth. It wasn''t that hard to make them believe my words, given I could still do a couple of things that were normally considered important from a normal person''s perspective. "With that out of the way, I would be going to the Gym now. Amara follows me. Walter, I will let you handle the three here. Also, the others are William and Caroline. Hmmm¡­ There are still supposed to be 2 more, but I don''t know who they are, so keep your eyes open," I spoke as I looked at Walter and he nodded at me. He was shocked for a brief moment, but for some reason, he was d that it happened the way it did. Later on, I transferred some money to him using the card from my room. It should be able to help him with his debts and with George. I don''t think those debt collectors would be able to even touch him. Not that he needed George for that anyway¡­. I let them stay in my room and asked them to close the door before getting out, partially because of my trust and partially because there wasn''t anything worth considering here that I would be needingter on. ''Actually, on that note,'' something clicked in my mind as I moved to my room and opened the gate, finding my bed and other things there. My eyes scanned everything thoroughly, especially the ce where I was when I got the system. To be honest, I was hoping to find something that would help me find the origin of the system. Too bad there was not even a hint of the [System] present around here. After looking for another 5 minutes, I changed into Gym clothes, moved out of the room and took Amara to the Gym with me. Why was I taking her with me? Well, it was because I was going to need someone after the Gym to carry a set of things with me. Especially from Floor 68, where Alex lived. Moving to the top floor, I reached the Gym and found a couple of nasty familiar faces. There were people I have killed before and there were people whom I have saved before. Well, none of that matters anymore. Picking a corner of the Gym, I started doing [Sit-ups]... well, it sure gained the attention of a lot of people here. Even Amara was observing me with a surprised look as she just gawked at me. Took me about 20 minutes, but I finished the 1000 Sit-ups [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Sit-ups] [+500 Exp Gained!] After sit-ups,es push ups. [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Push-ups] [+500 Exp Gained!] ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom [Level up +1] [You have gained +10 Stat Points!] [You have gained +10 Skill points!] [New Skill: Eyes of the TimeKeeper!] "Ah! That''s a lot!" I thought as I looked at the status screen. I didn''t know that I would gain so many Stat points¡­ Is it because I leveled up to 21 and not 1? Hmmm¡­ good for me. Not wasting time, I used all my Stat points, equally distributing them between everything except Intelligence for now. As for the Skill Points, I used 6 of them for [Inspect!] while leveling up [Eyes of the Time keeper!] to Level 3, leaving me with 1 stat point. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: Gaia''s Saviour: Allows the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions. ss: Child of the Universe(locked) Level: 21 (1000/2500 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the One: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). (3) [Helper of Darkness: Allows the user to see through darkness and have perfect night vision. The user''s Stats will be doubled in the absence of direct light and in the presence of absolute darkness, the user gains the ability to channel Darkness Mana] Health Points: 10,000/10,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 13 Constitution: 13 Dexterity: 13 Intelligence: 11 Wisdom: 13 Charisma: 12 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 0 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Portal Under Control: 0 Skills: [Inspect(Level 5)!] [Allows the user to see through anything as long as the user''s power level is above the object/person''s level. The content of the Inspect skill decreased as theparative power of the Object/Person increases] [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Level 3)] Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0 TP 2.Allows the user to see 1.5 sec into the future. Cost: 0 TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 10s. Cost: 0 TP Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 3] [Time Rejection(Unique)] [Space Time Map(Unique)] ''Nostalgic,'' I thought as I turned to Amara, who was observing me with a bbergasted expression. Her eyes widened as she looked at me with those brown eyes of hers, as she spoke, "Is this how¡­ a gym is supposed to work?" I saw my body getting more ripped within seconds, while I too saw that drastic change that urred when I increased the Stat. I think the System did say that the Human limit is 15 Stat points each. "Kind of¡­ " I muttered as I moved to do a bit of push-ups before running the miles around the area. [Daily Quest Completed: Run 100 miles!] [+500 Exp] [Daily Quest Completed: 100 Pull ups!] [+500 Exp] [Bonus Quest Complete] [+1 Strength!] I was exhausted a little, but with Stat up, I felt an aroma washing my body that made me energetic even more than before I started doing the exercises. "Aren''t you a monster, kid?" I heard a familiar voice from the back of the crowd as they moved away, only to present an old man with white hair as he looked at me with a slight surprise. [Name: Amory Sanders White Race: Human ss: Sharpshooter; Strategist; General; Gunsmaster Status: Healthy Description: An ex-military who lost his wife and kids in a terrorist attack a decade ago and settled in a remote corner of this country to spend the rest of his retirement. He was boasted as one of the strongest in the military of his time and¡­ Stats: Strength: 14 Constitution: 15 Dexterity: 14 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 14 Charisma: 13] ''Monster, huh?'' I just observed him for a while before a chuckle escaped my mouth as I spoke,"Aren''t you a monster on your own, sir?" I still did not know if he was a regressor or not, so I needed to confirm it. He then moved towards me as he spoke. "You remind me of my son¡­ such energetic youths. What''s your name, young one?" I looked it in his eyes¡­ and in his status too¡­ nope. He is not a regressor. It kind of hurts me that White doesn''t remember me, especially after the promise I made him and the fact that I couldn''t fulfill it. Though, overall, I think I can trust White a little¡­ hmmm¡­ or not, maybe? The White that I could trust has spent life and death situations with me¡­ while this White is too vary of me. "Michael Aroa, sir. May I know yours?" I asked with a bright smile as I looked at him, making him smile back as he brought his hand forward for a shake and I returned the greeting as he answered, "White. Amory White." I nodded as I spoke,"Pleasure to meet you Mr. White," and he chuckled before asking a couple of questions regarding how I work out and other stuff, before moving back to doing the gym and stuff. ''There will be a time for everything,'' I said to myself as I looked at Amara as I spoke,"let''s go down. About time you help me with the work that I brought you here for." And she nodded a little as she blushed before following behind me. The others were looking at me with pure jealousy in their eyes. I could only shake my head before going to the lift as I pressed the button ''Floor 68.'' Reaching that Floor, I moved out as I asked her to follow behind me before we reached a certain apartment ''Fredricks.'' -Knock! Knock! I knocked twice as I waited for the person on the other side to open the door. Though even after waiting for 5 minutes, there was no answer, so I knocked again -Knock! Knock! I waited again for 2 minutes before a serious expression appeared on my face. However, before I moved to open the door, the sound of clicking entered my ears, as the door opened from the other side. A familiar face of a white-haired kid, who looked like he hadn''t eaten for quite a while, looked at me,"who are you?" His eyes were throwing daggers at me as he observed me carefully. ''He hasn''t regressed as well, huh? This is a bit hard now¡­ If the ones here aren''t the ones, that only leaves a couple of people whom I have a connection with¡­ let''s hope there is no one, unapproachable¡­'' I kind of hoped it wasn''t Miya or Arte¡­ while I have a connection with them¡­ I won''t be able to meet them before the aforementioned date. That too is a kind of based on luck¡­ "I have a message from your parents," I lied as I thought of the best possible way to gain his interest and lower his defense here. Chapter 238 Friendship Chapter 238 Friendship [Alissa''s POV] . . So, do you know that there are nts thaty traps to catch the insects despite being immovable? It''s not just about the nts being immobile or the insects being agile, it''s about nning the right way and doing the right way. In essence, you can say that I function the same way. My ns are near immobile but function perfectly. I have a way to tackle almost all and every situation, no matter how hard it is¡­ ''Though¡­ what is this?'' I thought with a wry expression as I saw my rival in love, Caroline Escarte, helping me out as if I were her best friend. ''It''s not a trick¡­ She is doing it with the freedom of her own ability, she is helping me with a good heart,'' I could more or less see through people who are simpleton and despite being a high end manager genius, this girl was pretty simple to read. "Hey!" I spoke a little loud enough to make her stop cleaning the ce and look at me. "Can you tell me how exactly the rtion was between us in your past regression?" I asked with a bit of curiosity as I observed her. She was stumped a little before she began to ponder a bit more than she spoke,"It wasn''t good in the beginning, as we were dealing with things more professionally. Actually, we both slept with Michael on our first meeting," she said as she turned shy, making me look at her nkly¡­ ''Hard to believe honestly,'' I thought as I just waited for her to continue. "After that, Michael¡­ didn''t wake up for¡­ forever, I guess?" She hesitated as I focused on those words. "What do you mean by not waking up forever?" I asked "Hmmm¡­ it''s a little confusing, but Michael was trapped in a bubble right after the first night. He was locked up there sleeping in a baby position and no matter what we tried, we couldn''t break through the bubble¡­ it was harder than anything we have seen,"Caroline spoke, recounting each and everything they did. "To be honest, you and I, and also M and a few others, were confused about what to do. It certainly did not look like he was in pain. More like he was just peacefully sleeping,"she added. I pondered over it a little,"It could have been a protective mechanism by that system of his? He did use the word ''Hibernate for 6 months'' when exining his story." She nodded as she agreed with me,"this is what we concludedst time as well, and continued doing whatever we did as we waited for him to wake up again¡­" She paused in between as she looked at me before asking,"Should I continue or should I tell you about our friendship that happened in between?" I looked at her nkly for a few seconds before I realized the first question I asked her before, and pondering a little, I said,"Tell me about our friendship. The way you looked at me yesterday and the way you look at me now is quite creepy, to be honest. I would like to know what exactly triggered our friendship to the extent where you are taking care of me as if I were your elder sister." She chuckled a little as she nodded before exining,"Well. After the first night, we were worried about Michael, obviously, but in the meantime, we also tried to fulfill our duties as part of the people there. Since my ability to see things at a rapid rate allowed me to go for a high endbat and your ability to sense dangers allowed you to have us a n, we started going on a duo teams more often. It was strategically good and for some reason, our coordination was naturally good." I could understand why the coordination was good. Most probably me being able to read her movements¡­ and the reason I took her with me is probably because of Michael. Hmmm.. I seemed to have developed a pity for her during that time, especially when I shared my first time with both Michael and Her. "After that, even though you were a hard nut to crack, I was still able to initiate conversation between you and me many times. There were also times where we both had to go all out and give each other the best support, many times risking our lives on it, which I think was one of the driving factors for our friendship. In the end, I don''t exactly remember, but I started trusting you blindly as an elder sister,"she spoke with a bright smile as she looked at me. ''Too bright,'' I thought as I closed my eyes before sighing deeply. Well, that answered the first question. I guess it does make sense to partner up on a war front. "Sad that you were kidnapped 2 monthster,"she sighed as she turned around to further clean the floor. "Wait! Wait! Wait! What do you mean by kidnapped?!!" I asked with a stupefied expression as I looked at her and she stood there still before a sudden realization hit her,"Ah! Michael left the part about you!" Intrigued by her behavior, I further pressed her more than I spoke,"Hey! Tell me! What do you mean by kidnapped?" This is no joke! I should be prepared 100% for whoever was trying to kidnap me. Was it my sister? Or father, perhaps? Who was it? "The nts,"she turned to me and looked at me with a knowing expression. Though that only made me more confused,"nts?" She nodded. She pondered a little before speaking,"I don''t fully understand it either, but supposedly like everyone had Zombie Powers; you developed a certain power that allowed you to carry traits of both Zombies and nts. It was awesome, to be honest." "Tell me how I was kidnapped,"the mere thought of someone or something kidnapping me was creeping me out. For some reason, I wanted to know everything about that incident. "Well. Like our usual drill, we were fighting Zombies, but unlike normal days, the zombies were quite stronger than the others and were also quite numerous. It was hard but not impossible, so we were managing it somehow. But as the fight progressed, we somehow ended up reaching a point where we too were cornered,"she kept speaking as she paused in between. Her eyes closed, she tried to think as deeply as possible. "Then a certain light. I believed it was your ability? Anyway, that light just showed brightly, like the brightest green out there, and started killing all the zombies left and right. As for you, you were knocked unconscious by the same light as it killed all the Zombies. Didn''t take even 10 seconds before all the Zombies were dead. After that, sadly, the light started creating more and more nts around us as it healed me, while creating vegetation, as a fairy-like ntdy made up of pure wood and leaves, formed out of the green light. Thatdy took you up in your arms as she moved towards a certain tree that engulfed you both as a whole, leaving the empty trees behind." She gave a really sad look as she narrated this part before turning at me, "I tried my best to save you, but¡­ I was too exhausted to fight." Regret filled her eyes as she continued to wipe the floor again. I stood up with a slight smile on my face, moved towards her in slightly hurried steps and hugged her as tight as possible. Finding me close to her, she smiled as a couple of tears fell from her eyes. She was about to break as I patted her head, "It''s all right. It wasn''t your mistake. If I saved you, then it was my own decision and based on the story, I probably wasn''t dead, was I?" I consoled her with a sweet voice and even though I could feel the tears on my chest, I kept quiet as I kept patting her. ''Didn''t expect things to go this way,'' I thought as I kept patting her. Maybe I should have waited to ask this story a bitter¡­ or maybe not? I wonder what Michael was thinking when he heard of this story¡­ Was heing to save me? He probably was. "It was hard, Alissa. I¡­ am sorry,"she spoke with the best of her ability as she tried to control her tears and I continued to pat her. I whispered words like ''it''s okay'' and ''it would have been fine'' but honestly, I totally understand what it means to lose someone you care about so much. "After you went, I was silent for a few months before another news was dropped on us by M,"she continued as she hugged me for a while. "The military nned to drop an atom bomb in the area where we were¡­ Alissa.. Sister.. You are hurting me¡­ " she spoke as I let her go. Perhaps it was the mention of the Military doing military shit again, I got angry beyond words right now. I kept myself quiet for sometime before she calmed down too. "It was devastating for many reasons. We couldn''t move Micheal. You were gone. The ce we built so hard was about to blow into smithereens and that was too within the next week. The fact that if M hadn''t informed us about it, we would have died without even knowing what hit us made us suffocate a little worse than we were already doing," she spoke as she looked at me with pure hatred for the Military. "Tell me everything that happened,"I asked as my eyes turned real serious as well. Chapter 239 Family Business Chapter 239 Family Business [Martha/ Michael''s Mother''s POV] . . ''I have worked hard in my life. There is no such thing as luck or freebie where you can get whatever you want by being lucky,'' At least that''s what I believe in¡­ or should I? I have seen the worst of what a human being can be and the best of which he can afford. I have been at my lowest low and been at the highest high which I could reach. And obviously there were things higher than the ceilings which I have reached, but¡­ "Only Devine ones have the ability and the power to break the ceiling and grasp what''s beyond that," I muttered in slight exhaustion as Erza massaged my head. It has been an exhausting day full of surprises, one after another. "Shouldn''t you be happy?" Erza asked as she smiled from ear to ear. She seemed to be really delighted with whatever had just happened a few hours ago. Well, why wouldn''t she? After all, it''s her favorite ''Mike''. "I am happy, but this is all too sudden¡­ to think my son would be my boss. Have connections with people we can''t even dare to look at and act so freely despite all the tension around him as if he were above them¡­ Erza¡­" I kept ranting as I was about to ask a question but Erza answered first as she understood what I was going to ask. "Yes. He is stronger than he has portrayed himself to be¡­ perhaps much stronger than we can expect him to be. Though if I were to give a precise estimate¡­ I don''t know,"she chuckled in delight as she looked at the distance past and her behavior intensified my headache even more. To be fair, it is hard to believe that I was talking with Michael at all. Though it''s not like we had a really strong bond to begin with. We were distant due to our own busy life. But still, was he really Michael? "Trust your son a little. Despite being all the odds, the dungeons aren''t simple ces too, aren''t they?" spoke Erza as she looked at me as I sighed. It was true. From what the intel that I have received, the Dungeons are special ces that can differ I looked at her for a few moments before speaking,"Are you trying to put me in favor 23:26 of him or against him?" ordingly from one to another and can go from simple difficulty to extreme. "You are right. I should actually be thankful that he even came back from there," I spoke with a long sigh of relief as I smiled at her. Though she seemed to be pondering a little, "But you know¡­ it seemed a bit off. I mean the way he reacted in front of Ang from the beginning. It was as if he knew her from the beginning." I looked at her for a few moments before speaking,"Are you trying to put me in favor of him or against him?" Just pick a side. Don''t confuse me even more. At my words, she burst out inughter as she spoke, out,"Sorry sorry. I couldn''t help but tease you when you were so vulnerable." I observed her smiling face as she continued to speak while holding herughter,"Will you inform me about this in August?" There was a certain look on her face, which made me close my eyes for a while. August, huh? My husband¡­ Michael and William''s father¡­ "You know I can''t, right?" I sighed deeply as my heart ached a little. "But it is rted to his kids now¡­ I can understand if it were rted to only you and you carrying all the burden by yourself but this is different now Martha,"Erza spoke with a slightly serious tone and it made me put in deep thought¡­ "What are we talking about here? Surely not about releasing the secret of Dark Oracle to an ordinary human, are we?" A voice came from the other side as I found a woman in her early 30s walking into the office as if she owned the ce. "Agnatha,"I spoke as my eyes turned serious as I looked at that red-haired woman wearing a fine suit as she stared at me with a smile on her face and a glint of empty pity in her red eyes. I could even see her dark smile behind that bright look of hers. "Who gave you the permission to enter here?" Erza red at her as she observed Agnatha, who just weed herself to the sofa at a distance in the office. "I came here to inform you of a few things that I have received from the Oracle. Since you are far below us in the rankings, I doubt they would even bother to tell you about it,"she spoke as she smiled at me with a sarcastic look. A few years ago, when we were both struggling topete in this city, she was one of the people who could rival me in the business. Though things took a wide turn when the Dark Oracle was introduced to both of us. At that time¡­ Because I didn''t involve my family in this mess, I was forced to thest rankings among all the business holders because I did not have a challenger for the Contest of the Champions. As for her, she chose her nephew, who showed much promise, earning her a much higher position in the entire area. ''And ever since then, shees to harass us now and then. If not for the rules that prevented her from killing any other party involved with Dark Oracle, I would have died over a thousand times with this building being my grave,'' I sighed deep in my mind as I wondered what could she possibly want now. "There is a new king, Michael¡­ he is going to rule the entire area. Goddess of Darkness, Ang has herself chosen her. So I came here to warn you¡­ don''t do anything stupid and die. I am the one who will be killing you. I don''t know what kind of person he is either¡­ So look out for yourself b*tch,"she spoke as I nkly looked at her. Satisfied with my expression, she smiled before standing up and looking at Erza with her eyes turning red. She was using her energy to pressurize her and Erza, who was weaker than her, fell on her knees as she tried her best resisting it. "This is where you belong,"Agnatha spoke as she went off on her own, with a curvy walk as she winked at the purple-haired maning towards us,"You know what, Spencer? You should work for me, rather than babysitting these dying pups." Her eyes turned red as he waved her off and spoke,"I can never betray the rules. I am here to supervise the people here. You know that too, don''t you? Agnatha?" Agnatha could only bitterly nod as she looked at him before he continued,"Be careful of the New King¡­ he isn''t someone you should offend." She was stumped a little but nodded with a blushing smile as she walked away in a jolly mood. Spencer ignored her as she walked inside the staff room, while Erza, who was already up, looked at me and smiled. "She has no idea who Michael is, does she?" I smiled back as I spoke,"Doesn''t seem like it." Spencer just sighed as he muttered,"You guys and your childish games. Anyway, Martha. Any news from Michael?" "Nothing. He is back at the Libra building, supposedly picking up a few things,"I spoke as I recalled what Michael told me before. Spencer seemed to be bothered about it as he was in a deep thought. "What is it? Come out with it already,"I spoke as I looked at him. Maybe he has something against Michael? "Nothing. It''s just that¡­ our new king doesn''t really seem interested in ruling over us¡­ he seems to be busy doing his own thing. So, I was wondering what we should do about it,"Spencer spoke as he sighed really deeply. I haven''t seen him as troubled as now. "I am also worried about the previous King¡­ I wonder what happened to him,"he continued as he sighed even more. "That is¡­" I couldn''t refute it. While all the good news was confusing as it is¡­ I forgot about the previous King. I don''t know how he will handle the situation. "I am not really worried about Michael, though. He has Ang''s support, he won''t die easily¡­ but more about us¡­ Ang won''t spare a thought if anyone dies here,"he spoke as he started writing a couple of things. "There are only two things which we can do here to be honest¡­ or at least that''s what I could think of up until now," he said as he wrote down the points. My eyes traced the points as he narrated them, "One is that we call Michael and tell him of the situation. That way, if he understands the situation, maybe we cane to a conclusion. The other thing which we can deal with is that we can call a meeting of the council and discuss the entire thing among ourselves without involving Michael." I observed the two options with a slightly surprised look¡­ to call a meeting of the Council¡­ Never have I imagined that we would be doing something like that¡­ "Go with second,"Erza joined as he looked at points. "Are you thinking the same thing, which I am?" Spencer smiled a little as Erza smiled back. ''These two¡­. They are up to something this time¡­'' I thought¡­ not knowing that something that I wouldn''t imagine in my wildest dream¡­ was about to happen by the end of this week. Chapter 240 In these Difficult times Chapter 240 In these Difficult times [Michael''s POV] . . "I have never heard about you from my parents," Alex spoke as he let me and Amara into the house, while clearing the path in front of us. It wasn''t like the room was dirty or anything, but in fact it was super clean as we entered the living room. "Did you clean all this by yourself? That''s actually amazing," I spoke as I smiled brightly, observing him. He turned at me with slight annoyance as he looked at me and answered, "Make yourselffortable." He pointed at the sofa as he gestured us to sit there before moving to the kitchen. I moved first, while Amara followed me behind. Her eyes were confused as she looked at me, wondering what was going on here, while Alex went on to prepare something for us. It didn''t take much time, but Alex came out with a few snacks neatly arranged on a te, with a bottle of fresh fruit juice, which he carefully ced on the table. The way he behaved almost made me forget that he was a kid of just 15 years. He then sat on the sofa as he observed Amara before focusing on me,"So. What did my parents say to you?" I pondered a little as I answered,"A bit of money and a caretaker that would be helping you for the next 6 months. After that, there is something special that they have in n for you." He looked at me without any words as he proceeded to take a ss of orange juice before speaking,"Is it only for me?" "Both you and your sister. Though that''s my personal touch," I spoke as I looked at him as I gave him a kind smile and he sighed as he shook his head andy down on his back,"So even in death, they didn''t ept her, huh?" Amara, who was confused, looked at Alex before turning to me for answers, "Long story short, Erina, the 1-year-old child of Alex''s parents, was someone whom Alex adopted on his own. She is the child of one of the teachers who died in Alex''s school. When nobody was there for the parentless child, Alex stood up to protect Erina. His parents¡­. Let''s just say that they didn''t agree to it." It was aplex story and there was much more to it than just that. But this should be able to give a rough idea of what happened to Amara. "You do know that I am still here, right?" spoke Alex as he gave me a narrowed look. I smiled at him before turning to Amara,"She will be taking care of you both for the next 6 months here. You can take help from her anytime you want, though I suggest you both to be within your limits and not make use of the conditions." This shocked Alex a little, and it shocked Amara even more. Her eyes were throwing daggers at me as she wanted to know when did this happen. "You know what, you can start working right now," I spoke as I took a ck card from my wallet and passed it on to her as I spoke, "It has enough money to not only take care of yourself but also him¡­ though I suggest you not to take advantage of it. As for your sry, you can use half of the money stored there for yourself. I will pay you extra depending on how well you look after Alex and Erina once the 6 months period is over." Her mind went nk as she looked at the ck card. Even Alex, who was looking at the card, was surprised as they both looked at me. "Why is it that I feel like there is more to this¡­ than I am seeing," spoke Alex as he observed me with a keen look. Even Amara was sure of it at this point. "You are overthinking. If it is about what I want from all this, then I already have received it. I am just fulfilling my end of the contract. As for the will, I will bring it to you tomorrow," I spoke as I walked out of the room while pondering what I should do next. As for Amara and Alex, I don''t think I need to worry about it for now. They might get suspicious or whatnot, but at least they won''t do anything rash. Or more like, anything they might do won''t be considered ''rash'' in my eyes. ''Wish at least any one of them would have regressed but to think neither George nor Alex was there. Even White hadn''t regressed. That leaves only a couple of people¡­ looks like I would need to wait for a while before I could meet the other regressors,'' I sighed before moving down to meet Walter. As far as I remember, Walter has some enemies that were there before the whole thing turned upside down. I guess, since I have some time, I will help him out. Who knows, I might get a side quest rted to it and gain something extra. With that in mind, I moved down to floor 64 where Walter and the others were supposed to be. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN BY THEY OWN YOUR FATHER?!!!!!" I heard someone shout from inside the room as soon as I opened the door. My eyes greeted an angry ke holding Walter by his cors. Even George and Adam had their eyes ashen as they looked at Walter. "No need to get so touchy now, do you?" I thought as I looked at them. ke, who was holding Walter, let him go as he humped a little before sitting on the sofa as Walter greeted me, "Done with your things?" I nodded as I looked at his Status, [Name: Walter Ignis Race:Human ss: Arcanist Description: Son of a professor, he aims to be just like his father. Now he is trying his best to save his father, whom the ruffians have captured in exchange for him to work for them. Life has never been easy for Walter as he tries his best to avoid bullies in school and works hard at night to save some extra money for his family. Status: Healthy Stats: Strength: 9 Constitution: 7 Dexterity: 9 Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 11 Charisma: 10] "Yeah. I met Alex¡­ " I spoke as a sigh escaped my mouth and though a smile formed on his face, it quickly vanished as he realized that something was wrong. "Nah! It''s just like yours¡­ I mean not exactly, but more like he has his own problems to deal with," I exined and he gave a sad acknowledging smile after listening to it. He then began pondering over it a little as he asked, "What should we do now?" "About that day?" I questioned, and he nodded. I gave it a brief thought before speaking,"I do not exactly know. But I did find something interesting." His eyes lit up a little. "People were carrying that energy before that day¡­ I mean¡­ I met a few people with that energy," I recalled Mom, Erza, Spencer and the others as I talked with Walter and he grew a bit scared as he spoke, "Are you okay?" "Nothing I can''t handle," I answered with a kind smile. "Hey! What the heck are you both talking about?" George grew irritated as he didn''t understand even a single sentence in the entire exchange. I could see slight anxiousness on his face and¡­ a tinge of jealousy as he saw Walter being close to me. ''Creepy,'' I thought as I looked at him before pondering a little, ''Even if I tell everyone about the Apocalypse, the forces of this aren''t strong enough to defeat me. But should I bother to exin it to them? Hmmm¡­ well¡­ nah! Let''s leave it to that day when the timees,'' I decided as I looked at Walter and spoke, "Back to the topic. I do know where to look but¡­ It''s not possible, at least for this week. So I was wondering, if it is okay with you, should we go deal with the thugs that are troubling you and your father?" I spoke as I ignored George and the others. Though angry a little, they soon turned all smiles as they heard my words. Especially Walter, who was looking at me with a grateful look. I asked for permission because many times, most people want to deal with things on their own. It''s either brave or childish but I also am one of them so it is better to ask rather than directly jumping into it. Plus, I have my own reasons for it as well. After all, those criminals will be my source of Cronaster on. "I am really thankful to you, Sir Michael. But if I may, can you not interfere until it is absolutely necessary to do so? I wanted to solve this problem on my own and the only reason I came here was because¡­ Even though I trust my abilities, I trust you more and having a backup like you would certainly make my worries go away," he spoke and I pondered over it. "I cannot promise it, but sure, I will try not to interfere," I answered honestly. I will definitely interfere if I get a [Side Quest] for it. No way, I am going to ignore that. Though for the rest, I will leave it to him. Looking at his expression, it doesn''t seem like he minds my words. "Well, then¡­ let''s depart, I suppose?" Chapter 241 One Hustle Two Hustel Chapter 241 One Hustle Two Hustel [Author''s note: I will be starting with Walter''s story first. It''s about time I went in depth with side characters. Happy reading!] . . How long has it been? Hmmm. I think it was when Walter''s father came to this city from the vige in hopes of finding a new job that would pay for the expenses of his entire family. At that time, Walter was merely 5 years old, and Walter''s father, Rupert Ignis(25 years old) was much more ambitious than what he becameter on. Filled with a hope in his essence, he was supposed to change the future of not only his family but also the entire vige he came from. He isn''t extraordinary by any means, but that doesn''t mean he was less than average. He was quite talented at the fact that he didn''t easily give up on anything. He worked hard till the very end. Even if he knows that his hard work might fail, he hoped for a miracle to ur and change his fate where he fails into something that would be more than mere sess. So, how did such a guy turn into a person who worked as a ve in a university while keeping his head under the gun of the mafia themselves? Howe, despite bing a professor, he was still in debt which he probably wouldn''t clear until the very God himselfes and helps him? Even when his son gets bullied every day, even when his daughter was sick in a hospital and on herst breath, howe he couldn''t even hope to help them out of their misery? Well. It started when he arrived in this ursed city and ended up being on the wrong side of someone whom he didn''t even offend, to be honest. It was just a bump¡­ was it? As soon as he got out of the car, he bumped into someone and even though he apologized, the ruffian just started beating the shit out of him. Out of anger, he filed aint to the nearest police station, but the man was more than just a local hoodlum. He was the son of a renowned gangster, for whom killing was like making tea in the morning. Of course, things got worse when the news reached the gangster. Rupert was kidnapped on spot and taken to the gangster''s hideout. He was beaten before he was presented to the gangster. He was burned a couple of times at ces where one would never imagine. There was no reason to do so, yet they did it. And the reason¡­ funny enough, they were creating a ve. A ve that would work for them till the very end of his life. Somebody who would burn for them without batting an eye. Rupert wasn''t weak willed to be honest, but when the gangster mentioned about his son and daughter, when they showed that ugly smile while mentioning his wife, he had no choice but to give in. His eyes burned through the bloody tears but he had to be quiet. Does his son, Walter Ignis, know about it? No. He never knew. All he knew was that his father was in a debt that he had to pay and because his father might get killed by the gangsters, Walter started falling for the same thing. One thing led to another, when another situation fell upon the father and son duo. Walter''s sister fell sick as she was diagnosed with leukemia. It wasn''t exactly serious, but that doesn''t mean it could be avoided. The secret money that Walter was saving to pay the ''debt'' was gone in an instant in the treatment. When the hooligans knew about that stash of money which Walter had stored¡­ they beat the crap out of him for using ''their'' money. The regression of Walter took ce a few days after he was beaten, hence his weakened condition, and also the reason why his sister''s whereabouts slipped from his mind; previously she had died about one and a half months from now in an ''ident.'' And Walter then almost became a ve too for the same person, Reacher Brown, the guy whom his father bumped into. Or to be more urate, his son, Fredrick Brown. Fortunately, the apocalypse came, and he was outcasted as side meat that they could throw off anytime. And that''s where he met Michael. Someone who saw the real potential in him. Helped him be so strong that even the strongest weren''t able to match up to him. Michael possessed the ability to see through one''s life using [Inspect] skill that he had. And with one look, he saw through all the fuckery which Fredrick did. His father, Reacher Brown, was actually killed by Fredrick himself for an [E-Grade Core] that all of them found after fighting D-Grade Zombies and losing a bit of their forces in that. Reading through all the monstrosity that Fredrick pulled, even Michael knew that the guy Reacher and Reacher''s father, who is going to die in themotion of the apocalypse, really went off easily. So, Micheal gave a little bit of extra ''teaching'' to Fredrick and also, his brother Robert before selling both of them off. This time, Michael knows what is exactly going on and since he has the chance, he might break them into pieces beyond what they could handle. Though first, he will let Walter do whatever he wants to do with the bullies in his school. Among the things that Michael nned to do was to make sure Walter gets his revenge, then he needs to bring back Walter''s dad into his party; if Walter has the special ss of being a world Arcanist, there is a high probability that his father too might have something. Though that is for fate to determine. The other thing that Michael nned to do was to find any other potential candidate like Walter, who could be brought onto his side. That is one of the reasons why he was a bit interested in this Contest of the Champions. But that is something to be der, after he had dealt with things regarding his own trusted people. It wasn''t just limited to Walter, but after being done with Walter, he was going topletely win over George and his friends, Alissa, William and Caroline. While keeping in mind about the other two regressors, whom only God knows who they were, he was going to find M and take control of the military as well. While another regression was an option that he could use toe back stronger than ever, he would rather finish things within this regression. He has a lot of questions that need to be answered. Especially from Rhea, who just kept him in the dark for all that time. And even if he fails to do it in this regression, he was going to make sure he has enough information with him and not just half assed knowledge about everything. While Michael was dealing with the things with Walter, a few more things were going on in the background. Caroline and Alissa were called to the Dean''s office on short notice about something. It was an odd thing to happen because the Dean rarely had an interaction with any of the students there. William, on the other hand, was given a special task from Martha regarding something that Michael didn''t know about. He was supposed to bring her something that will determine the future of the entire Dark Oracle. Not only them, but Spencer and Agnatha also had some special ns of their own regarding the entire situation. The other council members were also making their movements with the appearance of another King among them. Not all were happy with this news, while many went on to check the capability of the King themselves. The previous King, whose position was taken over by Michael, was an unknown entity and nobody knew what his next move was going to be. As for Ang, she was meeting General Belial on another because of a sudden gctic beast''s appearance. Will it affect Michael''s n? Only time will tell. Above all, there was another being who regressed, other than the 5 who regressed with Michael. A being who wasn''t bound by time. The Specter, the one who came on this to take over its energy core. And he¡­ he was really, really intrigued by the time regression. It almost made him excited beyond control, as he saw the possibility of changing the fate of his entire civilization. And talking about the regressors, the other two unknown regressors, who had no idea of the situation whatsoever, were doing their own thing as they saw the opportunity to change the future. Unlike Walter, who went to Michael, they both decided to deal with their own problems on their own. They had their own path to make. Their own legacy to leave behind. Though it was a good thing. The change was supposedly going to bring a lot of fruition to Michael in ways that he couldn''t even imagine. You can even say that it was perhaps the best thing that happened in this particr regression. In fact, it was enough to change the fate of his entire¡­ or was it? Well, only fate and time will tell whether it was a good thing, or a curse in disguise. Beyond the miracles and coincidences, there was onest thing that urred¡­ or should I say that it was supposed to happen? The God of Time¡­ Chronos has finally awakened from his long slumber. Chapter 242 Preparations Chapter 242 Preparations [Michael''s POV] . . "Well, then¡­ let''s depart, I suppose?" I spoke as I looked at him and, though a bit excited, he still calmed himself down as he spoke, "Okay. But I still need to prepare for something. Sir Michael, if it''s not really a problem, will it be okay if I could borrow some money? There are a couple of things that I will need to buy in order to perform some spells. Honestly, without those preparation-" "Sure," I spoke as I turned around and started walking out,"George, you have a car?" Even though I asked, I turned around to find George still lost in his thoughts as he looked at Walter carefully and I spoke again, this time in a bit louder voice,"Hey George. Do you have a car?" Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked at me with a stupefied look as he asked,"Huh? Me?" "Is there any other George in this room?" I asked with a slight smile and he put his head down with slight embarrassment. He then looked at me and said,"I don''t have it but if I ask my father, then he will give it to me." I nodded as I spoke,"Okay. Then let''s get the car keys, shall we?" And he nodded slightly as Adam and ke just looked at George in amazement as all of us moved out of my apartment as we reached the lift. George''s residence was on floor 24, and reaching there, we soon arrived in front of his apartment. I saw him entering the house as he looked at me and spoke,"Just wait a moment," before he rushed into the house. "Dad! I am taking the car keys!" Shouted George as he reached the living room. "No!" The answer came from the one of the inner rooms. It was faint but we could still clearly hear it as the hallway was quite empty at that time. "It is for Sir Michael!" George shouted again as he moved out of the house. "Okay!! But if it is a lie-" -Thud! And George closed the door as he smiled at me. His eyes were quite bright at that moment, while our eyes were fixated behind him at the apartment door. "Let''s go. I got the car keys," he spoke as he showed us the car keys. While our eyes were glued to the apartment door before I asked,"Is it really okay-" Though before I couldin, the door opened again, as an aged man, probably George''s father, appeared in front of us. Red hairs and red eyes, as he looked at me with a bit of surprise. Though initially a bit raging, as soon as he saw me, he turned all smiles before a girl, probably around the age of 13, came from below the father as she looked at me. She was in a bit of a hurry, but looking at me, she too stopped in her tracks as words failed toe out of her mouth. "I think it would be better if we go," George, our savior from this awkward situation, took us back to the elevator as I spoke to George''s father while being dragged away by George,"Thank you for the car." Though I did not get to hear the answer as we reached the elevator. For a few moments, we were kind of quiet before Walter finally asked, "George¡­ what-" "Nope. I am not exining. Tooplicated," George spoke with embarrassment written on his face. It did make me curious, and I wondered if I should use [Inspect] on him, but on second thought, I decided not to. I kind of knew that his family liked my family to a certain extent, especially since my father helped George in his bad times. I guess that''s probably the reason I am famous in George''s family. Moving down to the basement, we were all calmed down by the time we reached the car. None of us were talking about what just happened right now and we were all focused on Walter''s movement now. "Do anyone of you have an idea where we can get these materials?" Asked Walter as he passed on a list to us jotted with various types of materials. We all looked at the materials for a while before Adam started speaking. "We can get most of the things from a construction workshop, while the others could be bought from steel works. As for the gasoline, we can just take some from the gas station. They still have some for old model cars." Walter nodded as he spoke,"Can you guide us to that ce?" and Adam nodded without any hesitation. "Hey Walter. How long till we attack that high school?" ke asked with a sudden thought. I could see his hands shaking a little as he pondered about something. "In about¡­ 14 hours? Let''s say 15 hours," ke calcted a little as he thought about it and ke nodded before he began making a call, "Ah! Hey Buddy. Actually, can you call the leader? I need some help here. Sure! I''ll wait. Thanks." Meanwhile, George started the car with a smile on his face as he proceeded in the direction where Adam was guiding him. Walter, on the other hand, had his eyes closed as he was lost in deep thought about something. A few momentster, ke''s phone starts ringing before he picks it up and starts speaking,"Hey! Leader. Remember when you said that you would do me a favor as long as it''s not anything risky? Okay, so I need you toe to this¡­ Anta High School with all the men there. Can you do it? Thank- Huh? What do you mean by you can''t touch that ce? Doesn- Huh? A Real Gangster? Wait-" Though before he couldplete his sentence, I took the phone from his hands as I started speaking, "Hey! It''s Michael here. You probably don''t know me, but would you be interested in making a deal with me?" The voice on the other side was quiet before a woman spoke out -We aren''t going to risk our lives no matter how much the profit there is. "Ah! Don''t worry. I am not asking you to do anything. All you need to do is send your men to stand there and do nothing. I am not asking you to fight against them, but just stand there. Or is that off the mark, too?" I asked in a really polite tone. The voice turned silent for a while. -If anything goes wrong, we might even start attacking you. If you can take this into consideration, then we wille there. Otherwise no. I pondered over it for a few seconds before speaking,"Sure. So I could see you there?" -Wait! Clearly you don''t think I would be doing it for free, do you? Hearing those words, a chuckle escaped my mouth as I asked,"Okay. What do you want in return?" -10,000$. I thought about it for a few seconds as I tried to build a bit of tension. -What? Chickening out? "No¡­ It''s fine. I will transfer half the money when your men reach there in 5 hours. While the other half, after the work is done," I spoke with an ''uncertain'' tone and satisfied with the deal, the other side answered -Okay. Then we will meet you there tomorrow morning. of kept quiet as they watched Walter finishing his things. Cut- The phone cut off, and I exined to them what had happened. ke, who was expecting them toe on his call, was a bit embarrassed, but I patted his head as I spoke,"There is a reason behind everything. Don''t worry about it. If you were in their shoes, you would have done the same." Though notpletely understanding what I said, ke nodded. However, Walter was pondering about something else all together as he spoke, "I don''t think we will be needing anyone to back us up. Firstly, we got me¡­ then even if everything turns wrong, there is still Sir Michael. I don''t think you guys need to worry as long as Sir Michael is there." Hearing his words, George looked at his wrist where I had grabbed him before, while the others observed me with even more curiosity. They had more or less seen what Walter and I were capable of, and from that point of view and because of what Walter spoke, they got even more curious about me. I just smiled at them before I looked outside the window, watching the view of the city that will soon be gone under ashes¡­ hmmm¡­ is there any way of undoing the apocalypse¡­ hmmm¡­ though the more important question is if it is even worth it? It''s not like this is the first to turn or would be thest one. ''The root cause of all, the Zombie King is still out there,'' I thought as I pondered about that dark entity that I saw before regression. Hopefully, I don''t get any surprises anymore. Or at least, I should get strong enough to deal with them. There were a dozen thoughts as I closed my eyes while the car reached various shops and, using my money, Walter bought various chemicals and minerals that would normally not be avable to the public. Though it was difficult, using a bit of my abilities, it wasn''t all that difficult. The ''shopping'' trip took about an hour before we reached Adam and ke''s warehouse, the closest one to us. Where Walter began drawing various symbols all around the garage. Although skeptical, when I said it was fine to trust him, they kind of kept quiet as they watched Walter finishing his things. And once he was done¡­ he smiled at us, "Let''s begin." Chapter 243 Ether Chapter 243 Ether "Hey, is this really safe? You aren''t selling our souls to the devil, are you?" Adam asked, a bit scared as he looked at all the preparations that Walter made. "Yeah. You can ask Sir Michael about it," Walter spoke as he continued doing whatever he was doing. George looked at me nodding and he rxed a little as he spoke,"Since Sir Michael-" "Shut up George," ke, simr to Adam, was scared too. Irritated by George''s response, he red at him before continuing,"I am not saying we don''t trust you¡­ but we don''tpletely trust you." ''Is it a yes or a no?'' I thought as I looked at Adam, who was observing Walter, pondered a little before speaking,"I will be going first. Then you guys can follow." Though skeptical, the others nodded as they observed Walter sitting at the center of everything and chanting something as he closed his eyes. In the beginning there was nothing going on but as time passed, the entire area started shaking as our eyes witnessed the metals and the chemicals reacting and melting each other before evaporating into air. The smoke that evaporated soon spread throughout the entire area except where we were standing and soon that smoke started glowing. It was like a fairnd. Various colorful stripes of energies started swirling around. If it looked eerie before, now we felt like we were in a garden¡­ and just a few momentster, that energy started gathering at the center of the area where Walter was sitting. The energy flew inside his heart, slowly and slowly melting into his body as we saw his skin glowing a little. The whole process took a few minutes, but for us, since we were mesmerized by the whole phenomenon, it seemed to be ending within a moment. [Inspect!] [Name: Walter Ignis Race:Human ss: Arcanist Description: Son of a professor, he aims to be just like his father. Now he is trying his best to save his father, whom the ruffians have captured in exchange for him to work for them. Life has never been easy for Walter as he tries his best to avoid bullies in school and works hard at night to save some extra money for his family. Status: Healthy(Advanced) Passive Skill: -Aura of the Light: Allows the user to manifest his true form and bes twice as strong in darkness and thrice as strong in light. Stats: Strength: 9(+9) Constitution: 7(+7) Dexterity: 9(+9) Intelligence: 9 (+9) Wisdom: 11 (+11) Charisma: 10(+10)] ''Nice skill!'' I spoke, a little delighted by the results. While it did cost a bit of money, if this was going to be the result of it, I am more than satisfied by it. A Skill that could do that would be really helpful to me in the future, given my [Child of the Universe(Locked)] ss that will be unlocked at level 10. If both the effects were to be added, it would really be something to be honest. "Did anything happen?" Adam spoke confusedly as he looked at Walter, opening his eyes and turning to Adam. Adam shrieked out a little as he spoke,"Walter¡­ you okay?" Walter, who was in a bit of a mischievous mood, jumped at him in an instant as a crazy smile formed on his face. "AAAAAA!!!!!!" Shouted Adam and ke and George followed as all of them ran behind me. While Walter, who was enjoying the process, turned towards me and ran at the same speed as before¡­ -Thud! Though using my [Eyes of the Timekeeper] it was pretty easy to put him down as I saw him fall to the ground. "Ow!" he spoke as he rubbed his head where I hit him andined a little,e on now. Couldn''t you have at least followed along if you have figured it out?" I just chuckled a little as I spoke,"Shouldn''t have included me from the start. Anyway, I am next, right?" He looked at me with a slight re before he shook his head,"wouldn''t hurt to have a little fun," before following behind me as he helped me sit there at the center. George and the others who figured it out that it was a joke yed by Walter, hit him on the head as hard as they could for scaring them so much. Though, when Walter disyed his prowess, they forgot to even breathe as they looked at him, getting so strong within minutes. "It gets better in the light," he said with a mysterious smile, making them all look really excited about it. One can even see stars glistening in their eyes. With that being done, my turn came as I closed my eyes and Walter started chanting the same things as he stood behind me with both hands on my back. [A strange energy is trying to enter into your body. Would you like to proceed with it?] I chose the [Yes] button as I waited for the time being for anything to happen. And luckily, I did not have to wait for long as a cooling sensation entered my body slowly and slowly. [The System has found the Nature of the Energy] [The nature of energy is Pure Mana: also termed as Ether. One of the 5 fundamental forms of Elemental Energy. The user will now be able to sense Ether if he focuses hard, but further learning of this energy can only be done on its native: Orion] [New Skill gained: Light Aura] [Light Aura(Rare)(Level 1)] [Effect: The user can use the power of Ether to absorb light and coat the entire body of the user with Aura or choosing to absorb it within one''s body. -When the Aura is used to coat the entire body: Defense increased by 100% based on user''s Stats -When the Aura is absorbed by the body: All Stats increased by 250% Duration of the Skill: 5 minutes Cooldown: 2 Hours Skill Points needed to level up the Skill: 1] ''Hmmm¡­ not the Skill I expected¡­ Neither was the one which I wanted,'' I grumbled a little as I saw the description of the Skill andpared that to what Walter received. ''Hopefully, since it''s a [Rare Skill] I will get more out of it as I level it up,'' I tried to see the bright side as Iforted myself. "Is there anything wrong?" asked Walter, with a bit of worry on his face. I looked at him and smiled,"not really. Just not what I was expecting." He looked at me a bit confused as I stood up and observed the others there before wondering who would be next. Finally, after a grueling battle of rock-paper-scissors, they finally came to a conclusion that Adam should be the one going next. speaking,"You guys. It''s your turn next." Hearing my words, they were all excited as they almost quarreled among themselves, wondering who would be next. Finally, after a grueling battle of rock-paper-scissors, they finally came to a conclusion that Adam should be the one going next. The process was the same as the one with Walter and Adam, too, received the same Skill which Walter did, that is [Aura of Light] with the exact same effects. It wasn''t just him, but George and ke too were the exact same. ''Is it because I have the System?'' I thought as I wondered why I received a different Skill from the others. Well, not like I was going to receive any answers to that. "All right. Now I would like everyone to get used to these newfound powers and not end up killing anyone for real. I know we might have superpowers in a sense, but honestly, this is something that is going to do more harm than good if we can''t control ourselves properly," Walter spoke as he looked at ke and the others. The others nodded, as they could feel the difference between their previous self and this current self. They knew that they could easily do a lot of things that most people considered only possible in movies and stuff. ''Now the question is that¡­ will they choose the path of righteousness or will they sumb to their own power?'' I gave it a deep thought. And I wasn''t talking about just the present situation, but also the future. What choices will they make and what those choices will make of them? It will be interesting to see. For now, their answers were, "We understand. So how should we do it?" Asked George as he spoke for the trio and Walter nodded before speaking, "It''s okay, we just need to do a set of proper exercises and see if we can do it the right way." ''That process¡­ is kinda slow?'' I thought as I looked at the method designed by Walter. It wasn''t wrong by any means as it would lead to the perfection that the trio might reach, but¡­ we don''t have time for this. In the end, I sighed deeply as I helped them out on how to do it. I perfected their positions and [Time Rejection!] used this ability as much as I could, making them get the feel of the ''perfect'' way of using their power. Using Walter''s method and my own fine tunings over it, we ended up reducing the time to merely an hour, at the end of which all three of them knew how to control their power and not end up destroying anything further. "And now that we have finished learning how to use our power in darkness¡­ let''s try it in light," spoke Walter as slight horror entered in the eyes of those bright faced kids and I could only sigh as I recalled that the power triples in light¡­ ''Well, at least we still have time,'' I thought before all of us moved out in the open area. Chapter 244 [DNO] ? On the opposite side of the, far far away from where Michael and the others were fighting, something else was creeping on this. It had four legs, and a hammer shaped head. He was moving sideways, in a strange manner, while his head looked the opposite side. With the body that looked like that of a dog, and legs thin as bones, that being just kept moving in his strange fashion towards a city not far from there. If one can see clearly, then the nts and the animals or even the metals and the rocks, around 10 meters of that being, have eroded at an extreme rate. To the point where it looked like a relic of a 1000 years. This¡­ is what we call a Specter. It may look like a random monster, but this being has more intelligence than most of the lower Gods. He can easily beat an entire''s worth of army if he wants to, but currently that wasn''t his goal here. Here, he came only for one purpose. To absorb the energy of the that was flowing on the surface and gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. As that being moved near the empty city, filled with nothing but brainless zombies, he just kept walking with his strange gait. The zombies moved towards the being, only to fall on the ground before they could reach him. As for him, he just randomly looked around, moved within the city for a few more minutes, as he searched left and right. His eyes then suddenly got fixated on a group of peopleing to the town from the other side. Looking carefully, there were a total of 17 peopleing on 5 heavily armed vehicles, and each of them were at least peak B-Grade, if not A-Grade. The one who was leading them was perhaps even S-Grade with the aura he was releasing. Between the post-apocalyptic buildings near the entrance of the city, those guys stopped the car as they noticed the eeriness around the area. They could sense that something was very wrong with the whole thing. And after considering some situations, a greedy smile formed on the face of the leader. "Let''s go in. Perhaps there is a strong zombie being born somewhere within the city," he spoke, and everyone else became super enthusiastic as they shouted loudly about the ''victory'' and the ''loot'' they were about to get. And hence they moved forward as fast as they could towards the center of the town. The Spectre looked at them from the top of the building carefully as they moved towards the center and after a bit of consideration; he decided that he would leave them as it is. He doesn''t care about killing a bunch of nobodies, but isn''t evil enough to go out of his way and kill another intelligent being. But before he could even move from the building. "Look what we got here. A strange monster with no energy whatsoever," spoke the same guy who was leading the other people towards the center. Perhaps he had the power of teleportation? (I don''t have time to y with ants.) A telepathic voice rang in the ears of that leader as his eyes widened, wondering where the voice came from, though since there was no one he could sense around him even within the 10s of kilometers in vicinity, he concluded that it must be the Spectre. The Spectre sensed the guy properly. About 25 years old, ck hair and a heavily muscr body. He looked like someone who was a professional bodybuilder, but something about his way of standing told that he was also very agile. "You really are special. Not only can you talk but that too telepathically? That''s something, you know? I can''t let this opportunity pass," spoke the leader guy as he took out a sword from his back and imbued his energy into it. The sword started glowing and became a bit more sharper. (What are you even trying to do?) The Spectre asked, a bit unamused with the behavior of the leader guy, but the leader guy didn''t even bother to listen to him as he jumped at the Spectre. -nk! A heavy metal sound resounded from the point of impact where the sword came in contact with the body of the Spectre. ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom "What?!" surprised, the leader looked at the area where his sword, though managed toe in contact with that body of the Spectre, but failed to deal even a scratch on it. (Why do all the races behave the same?) A tired voice rang out in the mind of the leader as he took a step back, but -sh! A part of the body, more specifically, both the hands of the leader along with the sword, stayed there, where they were before, with the body jumping back. There was no blood. No pain. The leader could even feel his arms still ced on the Spectre exactly how he attacked him. His eyes widened as he tried to move his hands, but his hand failed to respond. As if something was tightly holding the hand of the leader, rendering it unable to move even the tiniest bit. And then¡­ The Spectre stood up.. on its two legs. His tilted face turned upright and his eyes, which seemed white before, now had a ck disk-like structure rotating inside it. Mouth, which was nothing but a small opening before, now had teeths sharper than those of piranhas. Looking at that face, and the way he was standing, the leader just took a step back. His eyes filled with horror. He even forgot about the hand which he didn''t hold any power to. -Step! -Step! -Step! The leader took a step back, and the voice echoed in his ears. Even though they were on a rooftop, in an open area, where the wind was passing silently, they could hear the sounds of the steps loud and clear. The Spectre looked at the hands which he now held in his own two arms, and slowly bringing it closer to his mouth -Crunch! He took a bite. "AAAAAAAAA!!!" the leader shouted, unable to do anything, as he felt the pain of his arms being chewed within the mouth of that Spectre. Even the parts of his hands which were inside the mouth of that Spectre, he could feel it. The acids poured on his hands, burning its flesh, eroding his skin, and breaking his tiny finger bones. The leader could feel each and every bit of it. He wriggled in pain, cried out as loud as possible, his tears running rapidly as he tried to make a stand, but the pain was too much. Even after the Spectre had consumed the entire bite he just took in, the leader could feel the pieces of his hands being flushed down to the Spectre''s stomach. And then¡­ -Crunch! The Spectre took another bite¡­ and the process repeated. What was even more surprising was that no one was there to help out the leader. Nobody came. Despite there being a teaming with the leader, no one came to the rooftop. It was surprising because, with the intensity with which the leader was shouting, even someone from the other side of the city could hear him. Yet, no one appeared. And soon, the Spectre gulped down the entirety of that leader''s hand before speaking, (This should be enough of a warning to you.) And then¡­ Time reversed. "Leader?.... n!" shouted the partner of the leader as he looked at him with a slight worry on his face. The leader, n, snapped out of the stupor as he found himself back at the entrance of the city, where they were about to decide their next move. n was horrified to the core, as he looked from the side of the window at the top of the building, finding the same Spectre looking at him. "What''s that?" the partner asked, and n, fully knowing about what would happen if they continued, spoke in a decisive tone,"Turn the cars around. We are going back." "But-" n''s partner almost questioned him before he saw the fear in n''s eyes. He understood that it was serious and, knowing his partner, he looked at the others and spoke without any change in his tone, "We are going back." Though confused, no one questioned the decision of the two strongest men in their camp and slowly turned the car around as they moved back to wherever they came from. "You okay?" n''s partner asked as he looked at n, wondering what exactly happened. ''Did he sense something? I couldn''t sense anything from that monster¡­ '' he thought as he observed n. n, on the other hand, was still questioning the things he went through, his eyes wondering if what he experienced were the truth or just an illusion. He looked at his perfectly working hand and felt a chill as the memories of the pain returned. "Parth, do you trust me?" n asked as he kept looking at his hands and Parth answered,"I trust you with my life, partner." The others in the car also raised their ears as n nodded with a serious look and began telling them the ''tale'' that he had just gone through. Exining everything in detail as shivers ran down the spine of everyone who heard it. Making everyone turn their heads towards the city where they just escaped from. As for the Spectre, it just moved on from that city to another direction. Where he felt another scenting, which was simr to the energy of this. For his work was to absorb everything. And gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. Chapter 245 [DNO] ? [Name: Fredrick Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Gunslinger Description: Your everyday bully who possesses more strength than average people and uses it to oppress others. His main motive is to be on top of others. If he can''t do it with his own raw power, he will rely on guns and any other unfair means. The apocalypse brought another side of him outside, his sadist side to control everyone and make them his ves and he is carrying out the ns which he devised to build his utopia. Zombification: 72%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1200/1200 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 37 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] ''Normal, I guess? Now onto the next one.'' [Name: Robert Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Fistfighter Description: This person is used to killing everyone that defies him even before the apocalypse. His extraordinary athletic ability made him one of the best fighters in his area. With his ambitious brother, he lived the life of a king even before the apocalypse. Now that the apocalypse has hit. He is taking things faster and getting more animal-like. Already r*aped 17¡­ Zombification: 12%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 900/900 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 29 Constitution:15 Dexterity: 34 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 10 Charm: 16] Observing their stats, there was nothing particr to be worried about. In fact, looking at the stats of everyone here, they are all pretty much boring. Though, I already knew what to do with them¡­ just by reading their description¡­ I knew what I had to do. ''But why are they trying to enter the basement?'' I questioned as I saw them frozen in time, as they were about to break the chains. Not caring about them, I moved towards the gate and -Crack! Breaking the chains with my bare hands before entering the basement and repositioning the gate outside in the same way it was before. Moving down to the basement, I reached the other gate down below. It was a metallic gate which looked really heavy. First, I tried opening it slowly, which I failed at, but after applying a bit of energy, it became easy to push through. There was a bump as I was pushing it. I guess this gate was chained as well? Then, reaching inside, I saw something¡­ there was a familiar face¡­ ''Dad,'' I thought as I saw my father standing in front of the gate with a shotgun in his hand with about 90 girls and boys behind him who were cowering in fear. My eyes looked at the basement condition. It was a wide basement, enough to amodate about 200 people or something. Looking at them, and then looking back at those bastards who were probably standing up there trying to get down, I could more or less make out the whole situation. ''Dad is trying to protect the kids against those ruffians, I suppose. Though, let''s watch it from a distance and see where this goes,'' I thought as I repositioned the unchained metallic gate and moved to the corner of the basement room before undoing my skills. -BAMM!!! A loud sound urred, probably because I opened the gate and closed it. I kind of expected it but still I kept quiet as I stayed at a distance. "Huh?!" Dad just stood there with his eyes wide open as he saw those chains being broken. His heartbeat probably rose as he moved towards the gate, but before he could move closer, the guys from the top poured down. ''They are fast, eh? Though¡­ shouldn''t be cautious about it?'' I thought as I wondered if they were idiots or just overestimating their abilities. "Huh?!" -sh! One of the men almost shed dad as he saw him almost reaching him, but dad dodged as he jumped back and took a few more steps back as he observed all of them with a re in his eyes. "How did you do it?" Dad asked as he looked at them with an angered expression while the other men were just as confused as they looked at each other. "Did what?" spoke the leader, Frederick Brown, with a slightly questioning face. As for the other guy, Robert Brown, he was lustfully gazing at those girls behind my father. His gaze was quite ugly, honestly, just like his face. "Stop focusing on small things. Let''s kill this old thing and get what''s rightfully ours," Robert spoke as he ran towards father and shed at him. Father had a metallic bat, which he used on that guy, easily blocking his attack and then pushing him back. Though before he could take a step, "Don''t do anything funny now," Frederick spoke with a wide grin as he pointed his guns at him. "You think you can shoot me with that toy of yours?" Father spoke as he moved towards Robert, but Fredrick''s grin didn''t vanish. Actually, it widened even more, he then pointed the gun at the girls behind him and spoke, "Surely I can''t hit you¡­ probably¡­ but if ites to them. Haha¡­ what are you going to do, huh?" ''Cheap move,'' I thought as I looked at that guy¡­ "There is-" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Then I moved towards Fredrick, took his gun, took any other weapon he had on him and then looked around at the whole situation before moving at a distance as I undid my skills and "Nothing you can¡­ huh?" Frederick grasped at his hand, as he looked at the vanished gun, which his eyes began searching for. My eyes observed not only him getting scared but also agitated a little as he looked at Dad. In fact, even Dad and Robert, who were looking at him along with the rest of the people in here, grew confused as they observed the gun just vanishing from his hands. Fredrick was frantically searching for the other guns and weapons in his belongings but the more he searched, the more his expression became twisted before his eyes traced Dad as he asked, "What did you do?!" There was a re in those eyes "Yaaaaa!!!" Though someone else started running towards dad before dad could even take a step towards Fredrick. It was, of course, Robert who sensed that things just fell out of their favor when Fredrick lost his weapon. Dad didn''t know what was going on, but he did know that he had got a chance and being given that chance, how could he let it go. -BOOM!! -PO!! -BAM!! Dad first counterattacked Robert, who almost jumped at him, and then after knocking him down, he kicked him once¡­ twice¡­ and then used his metallic bat, aiming at his legs, shattering them. "Can''t you guys just be like normal humans and help each other and not turn into vicious animals?" he asked as his smile returned and the usual calm look on his face returned. Perhaps without guns being involved, there wasn''t going to be any more problem here. ''Though¡­ shouldn''t he be vignt¡­ no, actually he is¡­ '' I thought as his eyes were tracing the other guys who came down with the two leaders. Most of them carried either a bat or a hockey stick or a rod of sorts. There were a few with machetes and a knife, but none of them had a gun. ''Hmm¡­ I guess only the people above had guns. Mainly for zombies and stuff?'' I thought as I observed dad moving towards them one step at a time. My eyes concentrated on those people with a slightly worried face. "What are you cowards cowering for? What are you kids? He is just one man. Even if he is a beast, we too have gotten stronger with the virus. Plus, we are 20 against 1," Frederick spoke, trying to boost the morale of those people. Which actually kind of worked as they were gaining back their confidence. Dad was too prepared for a fight as he looked at those men moving one step towards him. "It''s not 20 against one. It''s more like 19 against one," I spoke as I moved towards them. Listening to my voice, almost all the people turned their attention to me. "Who are you?" Frederick asked "Michael?" Dad questioned as he looked at me with a surprised gaze. Looking at Dad, I smiled as I spoke,"Evening, dad. It was almost time for dinner, so I thought I might call you. Though you seem to be a little busy." I moved towards Robert, who almost stood up, and on finding me getting closer to him, he just smiled evilly before he jumped at me "Son!" Dad shouted, almost moving towards me, but his steps halted as he saw something unbelievable happening in front of him. -BAM! I blocked the punch with one hand as I nonchntly looked at Robert. "Man, I have to touch your filthy hands, huh? Looks like I will be taking a bath twice now," I sighed before -Crush! "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Robert screamed as loud as he could as his hand got crushed but I still didn''t let go. The others who were observing us took a step back as they observed the situation with their eyes horrified. [Second Space!] I then used my ability to bring him into the Second Space. Though I made sure to turn him unconscious before sending him there. "I will be back in a moment. Take care of things here," I spoke as I looked at my father before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] I began moving out to a safe ce nearby where no one would get close. ''When will I be attacked or approached or touched or anyone seeing me without my abilities activated?'' I asked and [3 hours: 15 minutes: 14 second] Nodding at that timer [Second Space!] Chapter 246 [DNO] ? [Mchael Aroa''s POV] . . A few moments back . . I saw William moving in a certain direction as I punched Alissa again. -BOOM! With the increased 50% Stat on the already high Stats of mine, I could easily overpower her now. It wasn''t very difficult. Though. Man, this is dragging, really. [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with high hopes¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] Cessation Energy: 109,293/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 919,157/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 801(+494) Dexterity: 1023(+334) Intelligence: 671(+156) Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] With her Cessation Energy going below 10%, she started using her nt Life Energy to attack me from various angles. Unlike her Cessation Energy, where she could rapidly heal herself, now she was mostly dodging me and attacking me with a multitude of skills. Her agility had increased a little too in ce of her constitution, which decreased by a margin of 20%. I could see her using branches to attack me, throwing spores at me from a distance and a strange greenish glow in her eyes that matched with the glowing green vines around her chest area. -Whoosh!! I jumped towards her in an instant and "Darling, don''t run away from me now, will ya?" -BOOOM!!! I punched her away from William, making sure our attacks didn''t end up harming him. Alissa, first pushed back, now stood back up and began jumping around at a rapid speed. I could still, of course, trace her movements. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used my ability to see where the attack woulde from and saw hering from behind, where I let my guard down a little. First, I used my [Return!] ability to set a point where I was standing and then I walked about two steps ahead as I traced her, still jumping around. Then¡­ Finding a weak spot, she moved behind me and jumped at me with all her might and as soon as she reached closer to me, almost a few inches away from me. [Return!] I used my ability, reached behind her, caught her hand, which she had retracted to punch me and -BOOM!!! Punched her as hard as I could -Pierce! One of her vines attacked me and scratched my body from below [You have been infected with a strong poison. All Stats will be down by 10%. Health will be going down by 100 per second] Not minding much, -BOOOM!!! I attacked her again and once again her vines attacked me, scratched me. [You have been infected with a strong poison. Health will be going down by 200 per second] Even if it was saying that, I didn''t find my Health going down even by a single point. In fact, after a few seconds of continuously punching Alissa as I held her by her hand. [Your body has neutralized the poison. All debuffs are off.] -BOOOM!!! Now, for the next few minutes or so, I didn''t let her go at all. I saw her getting more and more berserk with all that power oozing out of her, but even still -BOOM! -BOOOM! The only difference it made was that previously if I felt like I was ying with a child of 8 years old, now I was dealing with a 12-year-old kid. Kind ofmeparison, but well, that''s the best I could think of right now. After punching for a while [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 24,243/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 10,024/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 546 Constitution: 548(+234) Dexterity: 476 Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+100) Charm: 523] Both her Cessation and nt Life Energy were down below 1% now and her Stats were reduced as well. Other than that, most of her buffs were gone as well. ''Now, how long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' I asked as I looked at her. [9 days: 14 hours: 13 minutes] ''Still 9 days, huh?'' is what I was thinking before I saw a little change in the number [8 days: 23 hours: 56 minutes] ''Hmmm?'' A bit confused, I looked at almost weakened,pletely unconscious Alissa, whom I held in my hand. At first I wondered if she used a Skill or something, but then my mind traced back to William. ''Where is he?'' I questioned as I looked around and saw a broken wall through which a strange sound of someone shouting wasing. One more thing that I noticed was [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter [The Title has the following effects: (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400%(Active) (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (Active) ] ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,290,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Constitution: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Dexterity: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Intelligence: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Wisdom: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Charisma: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 67 Total Dungeons under control: 1] The difficulty level has changed now. If before the enemy was at least 10 times stronger than my base strength, now it is about 5 times or a bit more than it. I guess that is good news for me. ''Well, let''s move to the next boss then,'' I thought as I carried Alissa on my shoulders and [Active Time Maniption!] ''How long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' [1 hour: 4 minutes: 46 seconds] With a smile on my face, I moved towards where William was supposed to be and, reaching there, a couple of things came in my view. One was that William was shouting like a madman as he kept running at various zombies left and right, punching them with all his strength. The other thing that I saw was a bright green core at the other side of the room which was giving off some sort of light. Curious, I observed it for a few moments before turning to William as I spoke, "Oi! Stop acting like a wild animal, will you?" Hearing my voice, he halted his steps before he looked at me with an extremely relieved smile as he shouted,"brother!" Then, once again, I traced things around the room while keeping my [Eyes of the Timekeeper (foresight)] active all the time and moving towards the green core. Despite it seems like there is no visible enemy around, the System was still active saying that there is someone strong lurking around. "Keep the zombies away for a few moments,"I asked William and hearing me, he nodded with a serious expression before he started punching them left and right. Reaching the green zombie core, I observed it carefully [Inspect!] [Green nt Core!] [A unique core born from the nt life after using the life energy of all the nts around the vicinity. It was abined effort of the nts to save themselves from the harmful decay energy. The core formed from the Will of Gaia containing life energy enough to restore a rainforest to its prime in an instant. Though it is infested by Cessation Energy and is dying at a rapid rate. It won''t be long before it bes a Zombie Core. There is little to no hope left for it.] For a few seconds, I looked at it and then something hit my mind as I turned back to William as I spoke, "Make sure nobody disturbs me." Before I touched the core with my bare hand and muttered,"If you are alive¡­ connect with me." At first nothing happened, and I thought maybe it wasn''t as I was thinking, but right after a few moments¡­ [A strange energy wants to invade your consciousness and connect with it. Would you like to ept its connections?] [Yes/No!] I clicked [Yes] without hesitation before my eyes closed and I reached a green area filled with forests as far as I can see. I could see a few red leaves and branches too that felt like they had decayed. In front of me, there was a woman trapped in red-coloured branches that had infested deep into her skin and were slowly growing out of her as well. I could barely see a few red veins that were giving off a burning steam that I could feel even from this distance. Walking closer to her, I looked at her, as she looked at me with her eyes almost dead. Her eyes reached up to me as she spoke, "You¡­ are strange¡­ human." I nodded at her as I believed that it was really true, but¡­ "Aren''t we all strange in various ways?" Hearing my voice, I think I heard a faint chuckle as she, "So¡­ strange human¡­ as a being who is on the verge of its death¡­ tell me¡­ what do you want from me?" Chapter 247 [DNO] ? [Enkonimiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Stay away! Stay away! You monster! Just what the heck are you?!!!" shouted that Slythereen as he looked at me with a fear filled expression. His eyes, begging to understand what was going on, while he kept on pushing himself back, using those broken hands as he crawled backwards. "And here I thought you would give me an interesting fight," I spoke as I looked at him with a disappointed look. ''80% of my energy and he can''t evennd a hit on me. One attack and his body began breaking into pieces. Piece of trash. Got my hopes up for nothing.'' I red at him, making him wriggle faster and faster. Even though he has lost his legs and most of his lower body, he was still doing his best to survive here. "Now, what should I do with him?" I thought as I looked around. Using my enhanced senses, I could see that George was going all out against that girl, while Walter was ying with the guy with the scythe. ''Seems like they are having fun, huh?'' I thought, as it irritated me even more. I wanted to fight for real too, you know? Anyway, concentrating back on him, I thought for a few moments as I walked towards him and asked, "Hey Slythereen. Can you tell me what happened to that worm race of yours?" He was scared shitless but I could see a slight re in his eyes as he spoke,"th-they are¡­ wh-why do you w-want to know about them?" "Just curiosity. Been a while, I saw any of you here," I spoke as I was just passing time here. I could have killed him right here, right now, but felt like I should let Michael decide what to do with him. "They¡­ are fine. Alive and thriving," he spoke with a bit of disgust on his face. Now, isn''t this interesting? A Slythereen hating his own race¡­ "Come with me," I spoke as I started walking towards where George and that girl were fighting. Seems like something entertaining happened while I was in the dungeon for so long. After all, the Slythereens, one of the most cunning races, were known for their loyalty towards their family. "U-uh?"Confusion spread on that guy''s face as he looked at me and I simply spoke without turning,"I won''t repeat my words." As soon as I said that, he hurriedly started crawling with all his might and I stopped as I turned to look at him doing that. ''Ah! Forgot that he can''t walk right now,'' I thought as I used a spell to heal him enough to walk behind me as I regenerated most of his lower body. He was bbergasted and even more confused by what I was doing, but thankfully he did not speak anything and kept his thoughts to himself. Not caring about his thoughts, I continued to walk towards the ce where George and that girl were fighting. "So tell me more about it. The Slythereens, I mean," I asked as I moved forward one step at a time. I could hear him gulp a little as he moved behind me one step at a time. His change in expression and behavior was honestly drastic, from an overconfident guy who seemed like he could kill the entire world with a flick, to a cowardly looking guy who didn''t know what''s good for him. Made me wonder if all those words were just for show? "They¡­ are living under the reign of General Belial-" "Ah! So that son of a b*tch is still alive, huh?" Uhh! Just hearing his name makes me vomit blood. "Hmmm? Why did you stop? Continue," I spoke, but he just looked at me as he stood there before speaking,"you know¡­ General Belial?" I peeked at him a little before speaking,"keep on moving," at which he began walking again. "Kind of, you can say," I spoke as I was walking,"I fought with him. Lost, you can say. But that was a couple of million years ago. Right now, I can probably punch him in the face and he will die." I punched in the air a couple of times as if hitting that bastard Belial and once again¡­ "Once again, you stopped?" I looked back with my eyes narrowed, but this time it didn''t seem like he was listening. "You¡­ just who are you?" he asked as he looked at me with a scared gaze, which was much different from before. If previously he was looking at me as if I were a monster, now he was seeing me perhaps like a God itself? Or maybe the Devil? "An old relic of the past. Anyway, let''s go, continue your story," I spoke as I started moving again, but I didn''t hear him speak for a while now. He was just following behind me one step at a time in silence. ''Guess, he is shocked¡­ I shouldn''t have revealed that, maybe? Not that it''s much of a secret, anyway. With father and that guy, Voltaire going all around the universe, it wouldn''t take even an idiot to guess that I too should be somewhere around the Universe,'' I thought as we reached halfway to the fight. "After the war, when ''He'' started approaching everywhere and using his powers to dominate almost each and everything. We actually started winning, the Slythereens, I mean. I wasn''t even born at that time. So basically speaking, we should have won the entire Universe with little effort," he spoke with a slight pause in between. "Should have?" I asked "Yeah. I don''t know the exact details but ordingly, that guy not only started converting his enemies into zombies but also all the allies too. It was a betrayal of sorts¡­ or maybe not?" he continued, as if he was trying to remember all the details. "Honestly, I don''t know what happened, but something took ce at that time. The Slythereens were divided into two, the originals and the betrayers. It''s a taboo term to use, but that''s the exact thing that happened." "Which one are you?" I asked and I think it made me sigh really deep as he spoke,"both I guess? Or maybe none?" "A product of both sides?" I asked, as it interested me a little. Two sides, and then two lovers from both sides, then you get a child who isn''t epted anywhere. Sounds revolting, but exciting nheless. "Kind of. My father¡­ or should I say, a scumbag, r*ped my mother, and then my mother, who decided to give birth to me,ter on threw me in the river because she was being harassed continuously," he spoke as a glint of hatred formed on his face and I asked, "You must be too young to know, right? How did you end up knowing about this?" "Heard from a certain traveler. Later on confirmed by myself. Met my aunt, you can say. The vigers killed my mother the day she threw me in the river to keep the vige ''pure''. Anyways, back to the main topic-" He was going to continue, but I stopped walking and noticed that he too stopped. His eyes looked at me, before turning in the direction where I was looking. George had created thousands of threads left and right, all over the ce, in which he was jumping from one direction to another. The other guy, Reeve, was also using those threads to jump as well. In the center of the threads was the little girl, yawning as she dodged all the attacks from both George and Reeve, before attacking them with her minigun. "Looks like you guys are having trouble dealing with her!" I shouted as I looked at her and, hearing my voice, George stopped his movements and jumped beside me. Reeve noticed that and did the same. Their eyesnded on the weakened pathetic Slythereen before they observed me with even more curiosity. eaglesnov?1,§ão§® "Hate to say it but it seems she is beyond our league," spoke George, as he admitted it pretty frankly. I smiled as I observed him, it was a really good thing to know one''s limits. As for Reeve, I wonder why he didn''t go all out against her? What''s the point of fighting at half strength when you might end up dying anyways? "Izakiel, what are you doing?" that girl spoke as her temperament changed. She looked at him with a re before turning at me. "He is mine now. You can get some other toys," I said as I moved a few steps forward. She looked at me with a narrowed gaze before -Pierce! An attack flew and almost reached that Slythereen, Izakiel, but I deflected it pretty easily. I observed the change in the mana flow of the whole city around me and I sighed as I spoke, "And can you please stop hiding your true self? It''s quite a cowardly move to y with illusion, you know?" George''s eyes widened as he finally figured out something. As for Reeve, it seems like he had already figured it out¡­ hmm¡­ perhaps he was waiting for that girl to show her real natureter on and that''s why he hadn''t used his full power? Seems like I underestimated him. And then, a voice echoed all around us. "SEEMS LIKE I HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT!" It was like a child''s voice but much much louder than before. "IT WASN''T LIKE I WAS HIDING IT BECAUSE OF FEAR. JUST THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD DIE IF THEY LOOK AT ME!" she spoke as she revealed her true nature. I immediately clicked my fingers, making everyone around me, including that Slythereen, go into a deep sleep. My smile widened as I looked at her with a maddening look. A menacing aura developed around me as I spoke, "Didn''t think I would meet something like you, a Medusa, here of all the ces." Chapter 248 [DNO] ? On the opposite side of the, far far away from where Michael and the others were fighting, something else was creeping on this. It had four legs, and a hammer shaped head. He was moving sideways, in a strange manner, while his head looked the opposite side. With the body that looked like that of a dog, and legs thin as bones, that being just kept moving in his strange fashion towards a city not far from there. If one can see clearly, then the nts and the animals or even the metals and the rocks, around 10 meters of that being, have eroded at an extreme rate. To the point where it looked like a relic of a 1000 years. This¡­ is what we call a Specter. It may look like a random monster, but this being has more intelligence than most of the lower Gods. He can easily beat an entire''s worth of army if he wants to, but currently that wasn''t his goal here. Here, he came only for one purpose. To absorb the energy of the that was flowing on the surface and gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. As that being moved near the empty city, filled with nothing but brainless zombies, he just kept walking with his strange gait. The zombies moved towards the being, only to fall on the ground before they could reach him. As for him, he just randomly looked around, moved within the city for a few more minutes, as he searched left and right. His eyes then suddenly got fixated on a group of peopleing to the town from the other side. Looking carefully, there were a total of 17 peopleing on 5 heavily armed vehicles, and each of them were at least peak B-Grade, if not A-Grade. The one who was leading them was perhaps even S-Grade with the aura he was releasing. Between the post-apocalyptic buildings near the entrance of the city, those guys stopped the car as they noticed the eeriness around the area. They could sense that something was very wrong with the whole thing. And after considering some situations, a greedy smile formed on the face of the leader. "Let''s go in. Perhaps there is a strong zombie being born somewhere within the city," he spoke, and everyone else became super enthusiastic as they shouted loudly about the ''victory'' and the ''loot'' they were about to get. And hence they moved forward as fast as they could towards the center of the town. The Spectre looked at them from the top of the building carefully as they moved towards the center and after a bit of consideration; he decided that he would leave them as it is. He doesn''t care about killing a bunch of nobodies, but isn''t evil enough to go out of his way and kill another intelligent being. But before he could even move from the building. "Look what we got here. A strange monster with no energy whatsoever," spoke the same guy who was leading the other people towards the center. Perhaps he had the power of teleportation? (I don''t have time to y with ants.) A telepathic voice rang in the ears of that leader as his eyes widened, wondering where the voice came from, though since there was no one he could sense around him even within the 10s of kilometers in vicinity, he concluded that it must be the Spectre. The Spectre sensed the guy properly. About 25 years old, ck hair and a heavily muscr body. He looked like someone who was a professional bodybuilder, but something about his way of standing told that he was also very agile. "You really are special. Not only can you talk but that too telepathically? That''s something, you know? I can''t let this opportunity pass," spoke the leader guy as he took out a sword from his back and imbued his energy into it. The sword started glowing and became a bit more sharper. (What are you even trying to do?) The Spectre asked, a bit unamused with the behavior of the leader guy, but the leader guy didn''t even bother to listen to him as he jumped at the Spectre. -nk! A heavy metal sound resounded from the point of impact where the sword came in contact with the body of the Spectre. "What?!" surprised, the leader looked at the area where his sword, though managed toe in contact with that body of the Spectre, but failed to deal even a scratch on it. (Why do all the races behave the same?) A tired voice rang out in the mind of the leader as he took a step back, but -sh! A part of the body, more specifically, both the hands of the leader along with the sword, stayed there, where they were before, with the body jumping back. There was no blood. No pain. The leader could even feel his arms still ced on the Spectre exactly how he attacked him. His eyes widened as he tried to move his hands, but his hand failed to respond. As if something was tightly holding the hand of the leader, rendering it unable to move even the tiniest bit. And then¡­ The Spectre stood up.. on its two legs. His tilted face turned upright and his eyes, which seemed white before, now had a ck disk-like structure rotating inside it. Mouth, which was nothing but a small opening before, now had teeths sharper than those of piranhas. Looking at that face, and the way he was standing, the leader just took a step back. His eyes filled with horror. He even forgot about the hand which he didn''t hold any power to. -Step! -Step! -Step! The leader took a step back, and the voice echoed in his ears. Even though they were on a rooftop, in an open area, where the wind was passing silently, they could hear the sounds of the steps loud and clear. The Spectre looked at the hands which he now held in his own two arms, and slowly bringing it closer to his mouth -Crunch! He took a bite. "AAAAAAAAA!!!" the leader shouted, unable to do anything, as he felt the pain of his arms being chewed within the mouth of that Spectre. Even the parts of his hands which were inside the mouth of that Spectre, he could feel it. The acids poured on his hands, burning its flesh, eroding his skin, and breaking his tiny finger bones. The leader could feel each and every bit of it. He wriggled in pain, cried out as loud as possible, his tears running rapidly as he tried to make a stand, but the pain was too much. Even after the Spectre had consumed the entire bite he just took in, the leader could feel the pieces of his hands being flushed down to the Spectre''s stomach. And then¡­ -Crunch! The Spectre took another bite¡­ and the process repeated. What was even more surprising was that no one was there to help out the leader. Nobody came. Despite there being a teaming with the leader, no one came to the rooftop. It was surprising because, with the intensity with which the leader was shouting, even someone from the other side of the city could hear him. Yet, no one appeared. And soon, the Spectre gulped down the entirety of that leader''s hand before speaking, (This should be enough of a warning to you.) And then¡­ Time reversed. "Leader?.... n!" shouted the partner of the leader as he looked at him with a slight worry on his face. The leader, n, snapped out of the stupor as he found himself back at the entrance of the city, where they were about to decide their next move. n was horrified to the core, as he looked from the side of the window at the top of the building, finding the same Spectre looking at him. "What''s that?" the partner asked, and n, fully knowing about what would happen if they continued, spoke in a decisive tone,"Turn the cars around. We are going back." "But-" n''s partner almost questioned him before he saw the fear in n''s eyes. He understood that it was serious and, knowing his partner, he looked at the others and spoke without any change in his tone, "We are going back." Though confused, no one questioned the decision of the two strongest men in their camp and slowly turned the car around as they moved back to wherever they came from. "You okay?" n''s partner asked as he looked at n, wondering what exactly happened. ''Did he sense something? I couldn''t sense anything from that monster¡­ '' he thought as he observed n. n, on the other hand, was still questioning the things he went through, his eyes wondering if what he experienced were the truth or just an illusion. He looked at his perfectly working hand and felt a chill as the memories of the pain returned. "Parth, do you trust me?" n asked as he kept looking at his hands and Parth answered,"I trust you with my life, partner." The others in the car also raised their ears as n nodded with a serious look and began telling them the ''tale'' that he had just gone through. Exining everything in detail as shivers ran down the spine of everyone who heard it. Making everyone turn their heads towards the city where they just escaped from. As for the Spectre, it just moved on from that city to another direction. Where he felt another scenting, which was simr to the energy of this. For his work was to absorb everything. And gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. Chapter 249 [DNO] ? [Name: Fredrick Brown eaglesnov?1,§ão§® Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Gunslinger Description: Your everyday bully who possesses more strength than average people and uses it to oppress others. His main motive is to be on top of others. If he can''t do it with his own raw power, he will rely on guns and any other unfair means. The apocalypse brought another side of him outside, his sadist side to control everyone and make them his ves and he is carrying out the ns which he devised to build his utopia. Zombification: 72%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1200/1200 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 37 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] ''Normal, I guess? Now onto the next one.'' [Name: Robert Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Fistfighter Description: This person is used to killing everyone that defies him even before the apocalypse. His extraordinary athletic ability made him one of the best fighters in his area. With his ambitious brother, he lived the life of a king even before the apocalypse. Now that the apocalypse has hit. He is taking things faster and getting more animal-like. Already r*aped 17¡­ Zombification: 12%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 900/900 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 29 Constitution:15 Dexterity: 34 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 10 Charm: 16] Observing their stats, there was nothing particr to be worried about. In fact, looking at the stats of everyone here, they are all pretty much boring. Though, I already knew what to do with them¡­ just by reading their description¡­ I knew what I had to do. ''But why are they trying to enter the basement?'' I questioned as I saw them frozen in time, as they were about to break the chains. Not caring about them, I moved towards the gate and -Crack! Breaking the chains with my bare hands before entering the basement and repositioning the gate outside in the same way it was before. Moving down to the basement, I reached the other gate down below. It was a metallic gate which looked really heavy. First, I tried opening it slowly, which I failed at, but after applying a bit of energy, it became easy to push through. There was a bump as I was pushing it. I guess this gate was chained as well? Then, reaching inside, I saw something¡­ there was a familiar face¡­ ''Dad,'' I thought as I saw my father standing in front of the gate with a shotgun in his hand with about 90 girls and boys behind him who were cowering in fear. My eyes looked at the basement condition. It was a wide basement, enough to amodate about 200 people or something. Looking at them, and then looking back at those bastards who were probably standing up there trying to get down, I could more or less make out the whole situation. ''Dad is trying to protect the kids against those ruffians, I suppose. Though, let''s watch it from a distance and see where this goes,'' I thought as I repositioned the unchained metallic gate and moved to the corner of the basement room before undoing my skills. -BAMM!!! A loud sound urred, probably because I opened the gate and closed it. I kind of expected it but still I kept quiet as I stayed at a distance. "Huh?!" Dad just stood there with his eyes wide open as he saw those chains being broken. His heartbeat probably rose as he moved towards the gate, but before he could move closer, the guys from the top poured down. ''They are fast, eh? Though¡­ shouldn''t be cautious about it?'' I thought as I wondered if they were idiots or just overestimating their abilities. "Huh?!" -sh! One of the men almost shed dad as he saw him almost reaching him, but dad dodged as he jumped back and took a few more steps back as he observed all of them with a re in his eyes. "How did you do it?" Dad asked as he looked at them with an angered expression while the other men were just as confused as they looked at each other. "Did what?" spoke the leader, Frederick Brown, with a slightly questioning face. As for the other guy, Robert Brown, he was lustfully gazing at those girls behind my father. His gaze was quite ugly, honestly, just like his face. "Stop focusing on small things. Let''s kill this old thing and get what''s rightfully ours," Robert spoke as he ran towards father and shed at him. Father had a metallic bat, which he used on that guy, easily blocking his attack and then pushing him back. Though before he could take a step, "Don''t do anything funny now," Frederick spoke with a wide grin as he pointed his guns at him. "You think you can shoot me with that toy of yours?" Father spoke as he moved towards Robert, but Fredrick''s grin didn''t vanish. Actually, it widened even more, he then pointed the gun at the girls behind him and spoke, "Surely I can''t hit you¡­ probably¡­ but if ites to them. Haha¡­ what are you going to do, huh?" ''Cheap move,'' I thought as I looked at that guy¡­ "There is-" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Then I moved towards Fredrick, took his gun, took any other weapon he had on him and then looked around at the whole situation before moving at a distance as I undid my skills and "Nothing you can¡­ huh?" Frederick grasped at his hand, as he looked at the vanished gun, which his eyes began searching for. My eyes observed not only him getting scared but also agitated a little as he looked at Dad. In fact, even Dad and Robert, who were looking at him along with the rest of the people in here, grew confused as they observed the gun just vanishing from his hands. Fredrick was frantically searching for the other guns and weapons in his belongings but the more he searched, the more his expression became twisted before his eyes traced Dad as he asked, "What did you do?!" There was a re in those eyes "Yaaaaa!!!" Though someone else started running towards dad before dad could even take a step towards Fredrick. It was, of course, Robert who sensed that things just fell out of their favor when Fredrick lost his weapon. Dad didn''t know what was going on, but he did know that he had got a chance and being given that chance, how could he let it go. -BOOM!! -PO!! -BAM!! Dad first counterattacked Robert, who almost jumped at him, and then after knocking him down, he kicked him once¡­ twice¡­ and then used his metallic bat, aiming at his legs, shattering them. "Can''t you guys just be like normal humans and help each other and not turn into vicious animals?" he asked as his smile returned and the usual calm look on his face returned. Perhaps without guns being involved, there wasn''t going to be any more problem here. ''Though¡­ shouldn''t he be vignt¡­ no, actually he is¡­ '' I thought as his eyes were tracing the other guys who came down with the two leaders. Most of them carried either a bat or a hockey stick or a rod of sorts. There were a few with machetes and a knife, but none of them had a gun. ''Hmm¡­ I guess only the people above had guns. Mainly for zombies and stuff?'' I thought as I observed dad moving towards them one step at a time. My eyes concentrated on those people with a slightly worried face. "What are you cowards cowering for? What are you kids? He is just one man. Even if he is a beast, we too have gotten stronger with the virus. Plus, we are 20 against 1," Frederick spoke, trying to boost the morale of those people. Which actually kind of worked as they were gaining back their confidence. Dad was too prepared for a fight as he looked at those men moving one step towards him. "It''s not 20 against one. It''s more like 19 against one," I spoke as I moved towards them. Listening to my voice, almost all the people turned their attention to me. "Who are you?" Frederick asked "Michael?" Dad questioned as he looked at me with a surprised gaze. Looking at Dad, I smiled as I spoke,"Evening, dad. It was almost time for dinner, so I thought I might call you. Though you seem to be a little busy." I moved towards Robert, who almost stood up, and on finding me getting closer to him, he just smiled evilly before he jumped at me "Son!" Dad shouted, almost moving towards me, but his steps halted as he saw something unbelievable happening in front of him. -BAM! I blocked the punch with one hand as I nonchntly looked at Robert. "Man, I have to touch your filthy hands, huh? Looks like I will be taking a bath twice now," I sighed before -Crush! "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Robert screamed as loud as he could as his hand got crushed but I still didn''t let go. The others who were observing us took a step back as they observed the situation with their eyes horrified. [Second Space!] I then used my ability to bring him into the Second Space. Though I made sure to turn him unconscious before sending him there. "I will be back in a moment. Take care of things here," I spoke as I looked at my father before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] I began moving out to a safe ce nearby where no one would get close. ''When will I be attacked or approached or touched or anyone seeing me without my abilities activated?'' I asked and [3 hours: 15 minutes: 14 second] Nodding at that timer [Second Space!] Chapter 250 [DNO] ? [Mchael Aroa''s POV] . . A few moments back . . I saw William moving in a certain direction as I punched Alissa again. -BOOM! With the increased 50% Stat on the already high Stats of mine, I could easily overpower her now. It wasn''t very difficult. Though. Man, this is dragging, really. [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with high hopes¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] Cessation Energy: 109,293/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 919,157/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 801(+494) Dexterity: 1023(+334) Intelligence: 671(+156) Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] With her Cessation Energy going below 10%, she started using her nt Life Energy to attack me from various angles. Unlike her Cessation Energy, where she could rapidly heal herself, now she was mostly dodging me and attacking me with a multitude of skills. Her agility had increased a little too in ce of her constitution, which decreased by a margin of 20%. I could see her using branches to attack me, throwing spores at me from a distance and a strange greenish glow in her eyes that matched with the glowing green vines around her chest area. -Whoosh!! I jumped towards her in an instant and "Darling, don''t run away from me now, will ya?" -BOOOM!!! I punched her away from William, making sure our attacks didn''t end up harming him. Alissa, first pushed back, now stood back up and began jumping around at a rapid speed. I could still, of course, trace her movements. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used my ability to see where the attack woulde from and saw hering from behind, where I let my guard down a little. First, I used my [Return!] ability to set a point where I was standing and then I walked about two steps ahead as I traced her, still jumping around. Then¡­ Finding a weak spot, she moved behind me and jumped at me with all her might and as soon as she reached closer to me, almost a few inches away from me. [Return!] I used my ability, reached behind her, caught her hand, which she had retracted to punch me and -BOOM!!! Punched her as hard as I could -Pierce! One of her vines attacked me and scratched my body from below [You have been infected with a strong poison. All Stats will be down by 10%. Health will be going down by 100 per second] Not minding much, -BOOOM!!! I attacked her again and once again her vines attacked me, scratched me. [You have been infected with a strong poison. Health will be going down by 200 per second] Even if it was saying that, I didn''t find my Health going down even by a single point. In fact, after a few seconds of continuously punching Alissa as I held her by her hand. [Your body has neutralized the poison. All debuffs are off.] -BOOOM!!! Now, for the next few minutes or so, I didn''t let her go at all. I saw her getting more and more berserk with all that power oozing out of her, but even still -BOOM! -BOOOM! The only difference it made was that previously if I felt like I was ying with a child of 8 years old, now I was dealing with a 12-year-old kid. Kind ofmeparison, but well, that''s the best I could think of right now. After punching for a while [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 24,243/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 10,024/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 546 Constitution: 548(+234) Dexterity: 476 Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+100) Charm: 523] Both her Cessation and nt Life Energy were down below 1% now and her Stats were reduced as well. Other than that, most of her buffs were gone as well. ''Now, how long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' I asked as I looked at her. [9 days: 14 hours: 13 minutes] ''Still 9 days, huh?'' is what I was thinking before I saw a little change in the number [8 days: 23 hours: 56 minutes] ''Hmmm?'' A bit confused, I looked at almost weakened,pletely unconscious Alissa, whom I held in my hand. At first I wondered if she used a Skill or something, but then my mind traced back to William. ''Where is he?'' I questioned as I looked around and saw a broken wall through which a strange sound of someone shouting wasing. One more thing that I noticed was [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter [The Title has the following effects: (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400%(Active) (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (Active) ] ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,290,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Constitution: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Dexterity: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Intelligence: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Wisdom: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Charisma: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 67 Total Dungeons under control: 1] The difficulty level has changed now. If before the enemy was at least 10 times stronger than my base strength, now it is about 5 times or a bit more than it. I guess that is good news for me. ''Well, let''s move to the next boss then,'' I thought as I carried Alissa on my shoulders and [Active Time Maniption!] ''How long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' [1 hour: 4 minutes: 46 seconds] With a smile on my face, I moved towards where William was supposed to be and, reaching there, a couple of things came in my view. One was that William was shouting like a madman as he kept running at various zombies left and right, punching them with all his strength. The other thing that I saw was a bright green core at the other side of the room which was giving off some sort of light. Curious, I observed it for a few moments before turning to William as I spoke, "Oi! Stop acting like a wild animal, will you?" Hearing my voice, he halted his steps before he looked at me with an extremely relieved smile as he shouted,"brother!" Then, once again, I traced things around the room while keeping my [Eyes of the Timekeeper (foresight)] active all the time and moving towards the green core. Despite it seems like there is no visible enemy around, the System was still active saying that there is someone strong lurking around. "Keep the zombies away for a few moments,"I asked William and hearing me, he nodded with a serious expression before he started punching them left and right. Reaching the green zombie core, I observed it carefully [Inspect!] [Green nt Core!] [A unique core born from the nt life after using the life energy of all the nts around the vicinity. It was abined effort of the nts to save themselves from the harmful decay energy. The core formed from the Will of Gaia containing life energy enough to restore a rainforest to its prime in an instant. Though it is infested by Cessation Energy and is dying at a rapid rate. It won''t be long before it bes a Zombie Core. There is little to no hope left for it.] For a few seconds, I looked at it and then something hit my mind as I turned back to William as I spoke, "Make sure nobody disturbs me." Before I touched the core with my bare hand and muttered,"If you are alive¡­ connect with me." At first nothing happened, and I thought maybe it wasn''t as I was thinking, but right after a few moments¡­ [A strange energy wants to invade your consciousness and connect with it. Would you like to ept its connections?] [Yes/No!] I clicked [Yes] without hesitation before my eyes closed and I reached a green area filled with forests as far as I can see. I could see a few red leaves and branches too that felt like they had decayed. In front of me, there was a woman trapped in red-coloured branches that had infested deep into her skin and were slowly growing out of her as well. I could barely see a few red veins that were giving off a burning steam that I could feel even from this distance. Walking closer to her, I looked at her, as she looked at me with her eyes almost dead. Her eyes reached up to me as she spoke, "You¡­ are strange¡­ human." I nodded at her as I believed that it was really true, but¡­ "Aren''t we all strange in various ways?" Hearing my voice, I think I heard a faint chuckle as she, "So¡­ strange human¡­ as a being who is on the verge of its death¡­ tell me¡­ what do you want from me?" Chapter 251 [DNO] ? [Enkonimiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Stay away! Stay away! You monster! Just what the heck are you?!!!" shouted that Slythereen as he looked at me with a fear filled expression. His eyes, begging to understand what was going on, while he kept on pushing himself back, using those broken hands as he crawled backwards. "And here I thought you would give me an interesting fight," I spoke as I looked at him with a disappointed look. ''80% of my energy and he can''t evennd a hit on me. One attack and his body began breaking into pieces. Piece of trash. Got my hopes up for nothing.'' I red at him, making him wriggle faster and faster. Even though he has lost his legs and most of his lower body, he was still doing his best to survive here. "Now, what should I do with him?" I thought as I looked around. Using my enhanced senses, I could see that George was going all out against that girl, while Walter was ying with the guy with the scythe. ''Seems like they are having fun, huh?'' I thought, as it irritated me even more. I wanted to fight for real too, you know? Anyway, concentrating back on him, I thought for a few moments as I walked towards him and asked, "Hey Slythereen. Can you tell me what happened to that worm race of yours?" He was scared shitless but I could see a slight re in his eyes as he spoke,"th-they are¡­ wh-why do you w-want to know about them?" "Just curiosity. Been a while, I saw any of you here," I spoke as I was just passing time here. I could have killed him right here, right now, but felt like I should let Michael decide what to do with him. "They¡­ are fine. Alive and thriving," he spoke with a bit of disgust on his face. Now, isn''t this interesting? A Slythereen hating his own race¡­ "Come with me," I spoke as I started walking towards where George and that girl were fighting. Seems like something entertaining happened while I was in the dungeon for so long. After all, the Slythereens, one of the most cunning races, were known for their loyalty towards their family. "U-uh?"Confusion spread on that guy''s face as he looked at me and I simply spoke without turning,"I won''t repeat my words." e¦Áglesn?¦Íel As soon as I said that, he hurriedly started crawling with all his might and I stopped as I turned to look at him doing that. ''Ah! Forgot that he can''t walk right now,'' I thought as I used a spell to heal him enough to walk behind me as I regenerated most of his lower body. He was bbergasted and even more confused by what I was doing, but thankfully he did not speak anything and kept his thoughts to himself. Not caring about his thoughts, I continued to walk towards the ce where George and that girl were fighting. "So tell me more about it. The Slythereens, I mean," I asked as I moved forward one step at a time. I could hear him gulp a little as he moved behind me one step at a time. His change in expression and behavior was honestly drastic, from an overconfident guy who seemed like he could kill the entire world with a flick, to a cowardly looking guy who didn''t know what''s good for him. Made me wonder if all those words were just for show? "They¡­ are living under the reign of General Belial-" "Ah! So that son of a b*tch is still alive, huh?" Uhh! Just hearing his name makes me vomit blood. "Hmmm? Why did you stop? Continue," I spoke, but he just looked at me as he stood there before speaking,"you know¡­ General Belial?" I peeked at him a little before speaking,"keep on moving," at which he began walking again. "Kind of, you can say," I spoke as I was walking,"I fought with him. Lost, you can say. But that was a couple of million years ago. Right now, I can probably punch him in the face and he will die." I punched in the air a couple of times as if hitting that bastard Belial and once again¡­ "Once again, you stopped?" I looked back with my eyes narrowed, but this time it didn''t seem like he was listening. "You¡­ just who are you?" he asked as he looked at me with a scared gaze, which was much different from before. If previously he was looking at me as if I were a monster, now he was seeing me perhaps like a God itself? Or maybe the Devil? "An old relic of the past. Anyway, let''s go, continue your story," I spoke as I started moving again, but I didn''t hear him speak for a while now. He was just following behind me one step at a time in silence. ''Guess, he is shocked¡­ I shouldn''t have revealed that, maybe? Not that it''s much of a secret, anyway. With father and that guy, Voltaire going all around the universe, it wouldn''t take even an idiot to guess that I too should be somewhere around the Universe,'' I thought as we reached halfway to the fight. "After the war, when ''He'' started approaching everywhere and using his powers to dominate almost each and everything. We actually started winning, the Slythereens, I mean. I wasn''t even born at that time. So basically speaking, we should have won the entire Universe with little effort," he spoke with a slight pause in between. "Should have?" I asked "Yeah. I don''t know the exact details but ordingly, that guy not only started converting his enemies into zombies but also all the allies too. It was a betrayal of sorts¡­ or maybe not?" he continued, as if he was trying to remember all the details. "Honestly, I don''t know what happened, but something took ce at that time. The Slythereens were divided into two, the originals and the betrayers. It''s a taboo term to use, but that''s the exact thing that happened." "Which one are you?" I asked and I think it made me sigh really deep as he spoke,"both I guess? Or maybe none?" "A product of both sides?" I asked, as it interested me a little. Two sides, and then two lovers from both sides, then you get a child who isn''t epted anywhere. Sounds revolting, but exciting nheless. "Kind of. My father¡­ or should I say, a scumbag, r*ped my mother, and then my mother, who decided to give birth to me,ter on threw me in the river because she was being harassed continuously," he spoke as a glint of hatred formed on his face and I asked, "You must be too young to know, right? How did you end up knowing about this?" "Heard from a certain traveler. Later on confirmed by myself. Met my aunt, you can say. The vigers killed my mother the day she threw me in the river to keep the vige ''pure''. Anyways, back to the main topic-" He was going to continue, but I stopped walking and noticed that he too stopped. His eyes looked at me, before turning in the direction where I was looking. George had created thousands of threads left and right, all over the ce, in which he was jumping from one direction to another. The other guy, Reeve, was also using those threads to jump as well. In the center of the threads was the little girl, yawning as she dodged all the attacks from both George and Reeve, before attacking them with her minigun. "Looks like you guys are having trouble dealing with her!" I shouted as I looked at her and, hearing my voice, George stopped his movements and jumped beside me. Reeve noticed that and did the same. Their eyesnded on the weakened pathetic Slythereen before they observed me with even more curiosity. "Hate to say it but it seems she is beyond our league," spoke George, as he admitted it pretty frankly. I smiled as I observed him, it was a really good thing to know one''s limits. As for Reeve, I wonder why he didn''t go all out against her? What''s the point of fighting at half strength when you might end up dying anyways? "Izakiel, what are you doing?" that girl spoke as her temperament changed. She looked at him with a re before turning at me. "He is mine now. You can get some other toys," I said as I moved a few steps forward. She looked at me with a narrowed gaze before -Pierce! An attack flew and almost reached that Slythereen, Izakiel, but I deflected it pretty easily. I observed the change in the mana flow of the whole city around me and I sighed as I spoke, "And can you please stop hiding your true self? It''s quite a cowardly move to y with illusion, you know?" George''s eyes widened as he finally figured out something. As for Reeve, it seems like he had already figured it out¡­ hmm¡­ perhaps he was waiting for that girl to show her real natureter on and that''s why he hadn''t used his full power? Seems like I underestimated him. And then, a voice echoed all around us. "SEEMS LIKE I HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT!" It was like a child''s voice but much much louder than before. "IT WASN''T LIKE I WAS HIDING IT BECAUSE OF FEAR. JUST THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD DIE IF THEY LOOK AT ME!" she spoke as she revealed her true nature. I immediately clicked my fingers, making everyone around me, including that Slythereen, go into a deep sleep. My smile widened as I looked at her with a maddening look. A menacing aura developed around me as I spoke, "Didn''t think I would meet something like you, a Medusa, here of all the ces." Chapter 252 [DNO] ? On the opposite side of the, far far away from where Michael and the others were fighting, something else was creeping on this. It had four legs, and a hammer shaped head. He was moving sideways, in a strange manner, while his head looked the opposite side. With the body that looked like that of a dog, and legs thin as bones, that being just kept moving in his strange fashion towards a city not far from there. If one can see clearly, then the nts and the animals or even the metals and the rocks, around 10 meters of that being, have eroded at an extreme rate. To the point where it looked like a relic of a 1000 years. This¡­ is what we call a Specter. It may look like a random monster, but this being has more intelligence than most of the lower Gods. He can easily beat an entire''s worth of army if he wants to, but currently that wasn''t his goal here. Here, he came only for one purpose. To absorb the energy of the that was flowing on the surface and gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. As that being moved near the empty city, filled with nothing but brainless zombies, he just kept walking with his strange gait. The zombies moved towards the being, only to fall on the ground before they could reach him. As for him, he just randomly looked around, moved within the city for a few more minutes, as he searched left and right. His eyes then suddenly got fixated on a group of peopleing to the town from the other side. Looking carefully, there were a total of 17 peopleing on 5 heavily armed vehicles, and each of them were at least peak B-Grade, if not A-Grade. The one who was leading them was perhaps even S-Grade with the aura he was releasing. Between the post-apocalyptic buildings near the entrance of the city, those guys stopped the car as they noticed the eeriness around the area. They could sense that something was very wrong with the whole thing. And after considering some situations, a greedy smile formed on the face of the leader. "Let''s go in. Perhaps there is a strong zombie being born somewhere within the city," he spoke, and everyone else became super enthusiastic as they shouted loudly about the ''victory'' and the ''loot'' they were about to get. And hence they moved forward as fast as they could towards the center of the town. The Spectre looked at them from the top of the building carefully as they moved towards the center and after a bit of consideration; he decided that he would leave them as it is. He doesn''t care about killing a bunch of nobodies, but isn''t evil enough to go out of his way and kill another intelligent being. But before he could even move from the building. e¦Áglesn?¦Íel "Look what we got here. A strange monster with no energy whatsoever," spoke the same guy who was leading the other people towards the center. Perhaps he had the power of teleportation? (I don''t have time to y with ants.) A telepathic voice rang in the ears of that leader as his eyes widened, wondering where the voice came from, though since there was no one he could sense around him even within the 10s of kilometers in vicinity, he concluded that it must be the Spectre. The Spectre sensed the guy properly. About 25 years old, ck hair and a heavily muscr body. He looked like someone who was a professional bodybuilder, but something about his way of standing told that he was also very agile. "You really are special. Not only can you talk but that too telepathically? That''s something, you know? I can''t let this opportunity pass," spoke the leader guy as he took out a sword from his back and imbued his energy into it. The sword started glowing and became a bit more sharper. (What are you even trying to do?) The Spectre asked, a bit unamused with the behavior of the leader guy, but the leader guy didn''t even bother to listen to him as he jumped at the Spectre. -nk! A heavy metal sound resounded from the point of impact where the sword came in contact with the body of the Spectre. "What?!" surprised, the leader looked at the area where his sword, though managed toe in contact with that body of the Spectre, but failed to deal even a scratch on it. (Why do all the races behave the same?) A tired voice rang out in the mind of the leader as he took a step back, but -sh! A part of the body, more specifically, both the hands of the leader along with the sword, stayed there, where they were before, with the body jumping back. There was no blood. No pain. The leader could even feel his arms still ced on the Spectre exactly how he attacked him. His eyes widened as he tried to move his hands, but his hand failed to respond. As if something was tightly holding the hand of the leader, rendering it unable to move even the tiniest bit. And then¡­ The Spectre stood up.. on its two legs. His tilted face turned upright and his eyes, which seemed white before, now had a ck disk-like structure rotating inside it. Mouth, which was nothing but a small opening before, now had teeths sharper than those of piranhas. Looking at that face, and the way he was standing, the leader just took a step back. His eyes filled with horror. He even forgot about the hand which he didn''t hold any power to. -Step! -Step! -Step! The leader took a step back, and the voice echoed in his ears. Even though they were on a rooftop, in an open area, where the wind was passing silently, they could hear the sounds of the steps loud and clear. The Spectre looked at the hands which he now held in his own two arms, and slowly bringing it closer to his mouth -Crunch! He took a bite. "AAAAAAAAA!!!" the leader shouted, unable to do anything, as he felt the pain of his arms being chewed within the mouth of that Spectre. Even the parts of his hands which were inside the mouth of that Spectre, he could feel it. The acids poured on his hands, burning its flesh, eroding his skin, and breaking his tiny finger bones. The leader could feel each and every bit of it. He wriggled in pain, cried out as loud as possible, his tears running rapidly as he tried to make a stand, but the pain was too much. Even after the Spectre had consumed the entire bite he just took in, the leader could feel the pieces of his hands being flushed down to the Spectre''s stomach. And then¡­ -Crunch! The Spectre took another bite¡­ and the process repeated. What was even more surprising was that no one was there to help out the leader. Nobody came. Despite there being a teaming with the leader, no one came to the rooftop. It was surprising because, with the intensity with which the leader was shouting, even someone from the other side of the city could hear him. Yet, no one appeared. And soon, the Spectre gulped down the entirety of that leader''s hand before speaking, (This should be enough of a warning to you.) And then¡­ Time reversed. "Leader?.... n!" shouted the partner of the leader as he looked at him with a slight worry on his face. The leader, n, snapped out of the stupor as he found himself back at the entrance of the city, where they were about to decide their next move. n was horrified to the core, as he looked from the side of the window at the top of the building, finding the same Spectre looking at him. "What''s that?" the partner asked, and n, fully knowing about what would happen if they continued, spoke in a decisive tone,"Turn the cars around. We are going back." "But-" n''s partner almost questioned him before he saw the fear in n''s eyes. He understood that it was serious and, knowing his partner, he looked at the others and spoke without any change in his tone, "We are going back." Though confused, no one questioned the decision of the two strongest men in their camp and slowly turned the car around as they moved back to wherever they came from. "You okay?" n''s partner asked as he looked at n, wondering what exactly happened. ''Did he sense something? I couldn''t sense anything from that monster¡­ '' he thought as he observed n. n, on the other hand, was still questioning the things he went through, his eyes wondering if what he experienced were the truth or just an illusion. He looked at his perfectly working hand and felt a chill as the memories of the pain returned. "Parth, do you trust me?" n asked as he kept looking at his hands and Parth answered,"I trust you with my life, partner." The others in the car also raised their ears as n nodded with a serious look and began telling them the ''tale'' that he had just gone through. Exining everything in detail as shivers ran down the spine of everyone who heard it. Making everyone turn their heads towards the city where they just escaped from. As for the Spectre, it just moved on from that city to another direction. Where he felt another scenting, which was simr to the energy of this. For his work was to absorb everything. And gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. Chapter 253 [DNO] ? [Name: Fredrick Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Gunslinger Description: Your everyday bully who possesses more strength than average people and uses it to oppress others. His main motive is to be on top of others. If he can''t do it with his own raw power, he will rely on guns and any other unfair means. The apocalypse brought another side of him outside, his sadist side to control everyone and make them his ves and he is carrying out the ns which he devised to build his utopia. Zombification: 72%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1200/1200 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 37 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] ''Normal, I guess? Now onto the next one.'' [Name: Robert Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Fistfighter Description: This person is used to killing everyone that defies him even before the apocalypse. His extraordinary athletic ability made him one of the best fighters in his area. With his ambitious brother, he lived the life of a king even before the apocalypse. Now that the apocalypse has hit. He is taking things faster and getting more animal-like. Already r*aped 17¡­ Zombification: 12%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 900/900 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 29 Constitution:15 Dexterity: 34 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 10 Charm: 16] Observing their stats, there was nothing particr to be worried about. In fact, looking at the stats of everyone here, they are all pretty much boring. Though, I already knew what to do with them¡­ just by reading their description¡­ I knew what I had to do. ''But why are they trying to enter the basement?'' I questioned as I saw them frozen in time, as they were about to break the chains. Not caring about them, I moved towards the gate and -Crack! Breaking the chains with my bare hands before entering the basement and repositioning the gate outside in the same way it was before. Moving down to the basement, I reached the other gate down below. It was a metallic gate which looked really heavy. First, I tried opening it slowly, which I failed at, but after applying a bit of energy, it became easy to push through. There was a bump as I was pushing it. I guess this gate was chained as well? Then, reaching inside, I saw something¡­ there was a familiar face¡­ ''Dad,'' I thought as I saw my father standing in front of the gate with a shotgun in his hand with about 90 girls and boys behind him who were cowering in fear. My eyes looked at the basement condition. It was a wide basement, enough to amodate about 200 people or something. Looking at them, and then looking back at those bastards who were probably standing up there trying to get down, I could more or less make out the whole situation. ''Dad is trying to protect the kids against those ruffians, I suppose. Though, let''s watch it from a distance and see where this goes,'' I thought as I repositioned the unchained metallic gate and moved to the corner of the basement room before undoing my skills. -BAMM!!! A loud sound urred, probably because I opened the gate and closed it. I kind of expected it but still I kept quiet as I stayed at a distance. "Huh?!" Dad just stood there with his eyes wide open as he saw those chains being broken. His heartbeat probably rose as he moved towards the gate, but before he could move closer, the guys from the top poured down. ''They are fast, eh? Though¡­ shouldn''t be cautious about it?'' I thought as I wondered if they were idiots or just overestimating their abilities. "Huh?!" -sh! One of the men almost shed dad as he saw him almost reaching him, but dad dodged as he jumped back and took a few more steps back as he observed all of them with a re in his eyes. "How did you do it?" Dad asked as he looked at them with an angered expression while the other men were just as confused as they looked at each other. "Did what?" spoke the leader, Frederick Brown, with a slightly questioning face. As for the other guy, Robert Brown, he was lustfully gazing at those girls behind my father. His gaze was quite ugly, honestly, just like his face. "Stop focusing on small things. Let''s kill this old thing and get what''s rightfully ours," Robert spoke as he ran towards father and shed at him. Father had a metallic bat, which he used on that guy, easily blocking his attack and then pushing him back. Though before he could take a step, "Don''t do anything funny now," Frederick spoke with a wide grin as he pointed his guns at him. "You think you can shoot me with that toy of yours?" Father spoke as he moved towards Robert, but Fredrick''s grin didn''t vanish. Actually, it widened even more, he then pointed the gun at the girls behind him and spoke, "Surely I can''t hit you¡­ probably¡­ but if ites to them. Haha¡­ what are you going to do, huh?" ''Cheap move,'' I thought as I looked at that guy¡­ "There is-" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Then I moved towards Fredrick, took his gun, took any other weapon he had on him and then looked around at the whole situation before moving at a distance as I undid my skills and "Nothing you can¡­ huh?" Frederick grasped at his hand, as he looked at the vanished gun, which his eyes began searching for. My eyes observed not only him getting scared but also agitated a little as he looked at Dad. In fact, even Dad and Robert, who were looking at him along with the rest of the people in here, grew confused as they observed the gun just vanishing from his hands. Fredrick was frantically searching for the other guns and weapons in his belongings but the more he searched, the more his expression became twisted before his eyes traced Dad as he asked, "What did you do?!" There was a re in those eyes "Yaaaaa!!!" Though someone else started running towards dad before dad could even take a step towards Fredrick. It was, of course, Robert who sensed that things just fell out of their favor when Fredrick lost his weapon. Dad didn''t know what was going on, but he did know that he had got a chance and being given that chance, how could he let it go. -BOOM!! -PO!! -BAM!! Dad first counterattacked Robert, who almost jumped at him, and then after knocking him down, he kicked him once¡­ twice¡­ and then used his metallic bat, aiming at his legs, shattering them. "Can''t you guys just be like normal humans and help each other and not turn into vicious animals?" he asked as his smile returned and the usual calm look on his face returned. Perhaps without guns being involved, there wasn''t going to be any more problem here. ''Though¡­ shouldn''t he be vignt¡­ no, actually he is¡­ '' I thought as his eyes were tracing the other guys who came down with the two leaders. Most of them carried either a bat or a hockey stick or a rod of sorts. There were a few with machetes and a knife, but none of them had a gun. ''Hmm¡­ I guess only the people above had guns. Mainly for zombies and stuff?'' I thought as I observed dad moving towards them one step at a time. My eyes concentrated on those people with a slightly worried face. "What are you cowards cowering for? What are you kids? He is just one man. Even if he is a beast, we too have gotten stronger with the virus. Plus, we are 20 against 1," Frederick spoke, trying to boost the morale of those people. Which actually kind of worked as they were gaining back their confidence. Dad was too prepared for a fight as he looked at those men moving one step towards him. "It''s not 20 against one. It''s more like 19 against one," I spoke as I moved towards them. Listening to my voice, almost all the people turned their attention to me. "Who are you?" Frederick asked "Michael?" Dad questioned as he looked at me with a surprised gaze. Looking at Dad, I smiled as I spoke,"Evening, dad. It was almost time for dinner, so I thought I might call you. Though you seem to be a little busy." I moved towards Robert, who almost stood up, and on finding me getting closer to him, he just smiled evilly before he jumped at me "Son!" Dad shouted, almost moving towards me, but his steps halted as he saw something unbelievable happening in front of him. -BAM! I blocked the punch with one hand as I nonchntly looked at Robert. "Man, I have to touch your filthy hands, huh? Looks like I will be taking a bath twice now," I sighed before -Crush! "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Robert screamed as loud as he could as his hand got crushed but I still didn''t let go. The others who were observing us took a step back as they observed the situation with their eyes horrified. [Second Space!] I then used my ability to bring him into the Second Space. Though I made sure to turn him unconscious before sending him there. "I will be back in a moment. Take care of things here," I spoke as I looked at my father before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] I began moving out to a safe ce nearby where no one would get close. ''When will I be attacked or approached or touched or anyone seeing me without my abilities activated?'' I asked and [3 hours: 15 minutes: 14 second] Nodding at that timer [Second Space!] Chapter 254 [DNO] ? [Mchael Aroa''s POV] . . A few moments back . . I saw William moving in a certain direction as I punched Alissa again. -BOOM! With the increased 50% Stat on the already high Stats of mine, I could easily overpower her now. It wasn''t very difficult. Though. Man, this is dragging, really. [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with high hopes¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] Cessation Energy: 109,293/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 919,157/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 801(+494) Dexterity: 1023(+334) Intelligence: 671(+156) Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] With her Cessation Energy going below 10%, she started using her nt Life Energy to attack me from various angles. Unlike her Cessation Energy, where she could rapidly heal herself, now she was mostly dodging me and attacking me with a multitude of skills. Her agility had increased a little too in ce of her constitution, which decreased by a margin of 20%. I could see her using branches to attack me, throwing spores at me from a distance and a strange greenish glow in her eyes that matched with the glowing green vines around her chest area. -Whoosh!! I jumped towards her in an instant and "Darling, don''t run away from me now, will ya?" -BOOOM!!! I punched her away from William, making sure our attacks didn''t end up harming him. Alissa, first pushed back, now stood back up and began jumping around at a rapid speed. I could still, of course, trace her movements. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used my ability to see where the attack woulde from and saw hering from behind, where I let my guard down a little. First, I used my [Return!] ability to set a point where I was standing and then I walked about two steps ahead as I traced her, still jumping around. Then¡­ Finding a weak spot, she moved behind me and jumped at me with all her might and as soon as she reached closer to me, almost a few inches away from me. [Return!] eaglesnov?1,§ão§® I used my ability, reached behind her, caught her hand, which she had retracted to punch me and -BOOM!!! Punched her as hard as I could -Pierce! One of her vines attacked me and scratched my body from below [You have been infected with a strong poison. All Stats will be down by 10%. Health will be going down by 100 per second] Not minding much, -BOOOM!!! I attacked her again and once again her vines attacked me, scratched me. [You have been infected with a strong poison. Health will be going down by 200 per second] Even if it was saying that, I didn''t find my Health going down even by a single point. In fact, after a few seconds of continuously punching Alissa as I held her by her hand. [Your body has neutralized the poison. All debuffs are off.] -BOOOM!!! Now, for the next few minutes or so, I didn''t let her go at all. I saw her getting more and more berserk with all that power oozing out of her, but even still -BOOM! -BOOOM! The only difference it made was that previously if I felt like I was ying with a child of 8 years old, now I was dealing with a 12-year-old kid. Kind ofmeparison, but well, that''s the best I could think of right now. After punching for a while [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 24,243/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 10,024/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 546 Constitution: 548(+234) Dexterity: 476 Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+100) Charm: 523] Both her Cessation and nt Life Energy were down below 1% now and her Stats were reduced as well. Other than that, most of her buffs were gone as well. ''Now, how long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' I asked as I looked at her. [9 days: 14 hours: 13 minutes] ''Still 9 days, huh?'' is what I was thinking before I saw a little change in the number [8 days: 23 hours: 56 minutes] ''Hmmm?'' A bit confused, I looked at almost weakened,pletely unconscious Alissa, whom I held in my hand. At first I wondered if she used a Skill or something, but then my mind traced back to William. ''Where is he?'' I questioned as I looked around and saw a broken wall through which a strange sound of someone shouting wasing. One more thing that I noticed was [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter [The Title has the following effects: (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400%(Active) (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (Active) ] ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,290,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Constitution: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Dexterity: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Intelligence: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Wisdom: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Charisma: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 67 Total Dungeons under control: 1] The difficulty level has changed now. If before the enemy was at least 10 times stronger than my base strength, now it is about 5 times or a bit more than it. I guess that is good news for me. ''Well, let''s move to the next boss then,'' I thought as I carried Alissa on my shoulders and [Active Time Maniption!] ''How long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' [1 hour: 4 minutes: 46 seconds] With a smile on my face, I moved towards where William was supposed to be and, reaching there, a couple of things came in my view. One was that William was shouting like a madman as he kept running at various zombies left and right, punching them with all his strength. The other thing that I saw was a bright green core at the other side of the room which was giving off some sort of light. Curious, I observed it for a few moments before turning to William as I spoke, "Oi! Stop acting like a wild animal, will you?" Hearing my voice, he halted his steps before he looked at me with an extremely relieved smile as he shouted,"brother!" Then, once again, I traced things around the room while keeping my [Eyes of the Timekeeper (foresight)] active all the time and moving towards the green core. Despite it seems like there is no visible enemy around, the System was still active saying that there is someone strong lurking around. "Keep the zombies away for a few moments,"I asked William and hearing me, he nodded with a serious expression before he started punching them left and right. Reaching the green zombie core, I observed it carefully [Inspect!] [Green nt Core!] [A unique core born from the nt life after using the life energy of all the nts around the vicinity. It was abined effort of the nts to save themselves from the harmful decay energy. The core formed from the Will of Gaia containing life energy enough to restore a rainforest to its prime in an instant. Though it is infested by Cessation Energy and is dying at a rapid rate. It won''t be long before it bes a Zombie Core. There is little to no hope left for it.] For a few seconds, I looked at it and then something hit my mind as I turned back to William as I spoke, "Make sure nobody disturbs me." Before I touched the core with my bare hand and muttered,"If you are alive¡­ connect with me." At first nothing happened, and I thought maybe it wasn''t as I was thinking, but right after a few moments¡­ [A strange energy wants to invade your consciousness and connect with it. Would you like to ept its connections?] [Yes/No!] I clicked [Yes] without hesitation before my eyes closed and I reached a green area filled with forests as far as I can see. I could see a few red leaves and branches too that felt like they had decayed. In front of me, there was a woman trapped in red-coloured branches that had infested deep into her skin and were slowly growing out of her as well. I could barely see a few red veins that were giving off a burning steam that I could feel even from this distance. Walking closer to her, I looked at her, as she looked at me with her eyes almost dead. Her eyes reached up to me as she spoke, "You¡­ are strange¡­ human." I nodded at her as I believed that it was really true, but¡­ "Aren''t we all strange in various ways?" Hearing my voice, I think I heard a faint chuckle as she, "So¡­ strange human¡­ as a being who is on the verge of its death¡­ tell me¡­ what do you want from me?" Chapter 255 [DNO] ? [Enkonimiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Stay away! Stay away! You monster! Just what the heck are you?!!!" shouted that Slythereen as he looked at me with a fear filled expression. His eyes, begging to understand what was going on, while he kept on pushing himself back, using those broken hands as he crawled backwards. "And here I thought you would give me an interesting fight," I spoke as I looked at him with a disappointed look. ''80% of my energy and he can''t evennd a hit on me. One attack and his body began breaking into pieces. Piece of trash. Got my hopes up for nothing.'' I red at him, making him wriggle faster and faster. Even though he has lost his legs and most of his lower body, he was still doing his best to survive here. "Now, what should I do with him?" I thought as I looked around. Using my enhanced senses, I could see that George was going all out against that girl, while Walter was ying with the guy with the scythe. ''Seems like they are having fun, huh?'' I thought, as it irritated me even more. I wanted to fight for real too, you know? Anyway, concentrating back on him, I thought for a few moments as I walked towards him and asked, "Hey Slythereen. Can you tell me what happened to that worm race of yours?" He was scared shitless but I could see a slight re in his eyes as he spoke,"th-they are¡­ wh-why do you w-want to know about them?" "Just curiosity. Been a while, I saw any of you here," I spoke as I was just passing time here. I could have killed him right here, right now, but felt like I should let Michael decide what to do with him. "They¡­ are fine. Alive and thriving," he spoke with a bit of disgust on his face. Now, isn''t this interesting? A Slythereen hating his own race¡­ "Come with me," I spoke as I started walking towards where George and that girl were fighting. Seems like something entertaining happened while I was in the dungeon for so long. After all, the Slythereens, one of the most cunning races, were known for their loyalty towards their family. "U-uh?"Confusion spread on that guy''s face as he looked at me and I simply spoke without turning,"I won''t repeat my words." As soon as I said that, he hurriedly started crawling with all his might and I stopped as I turned to look at him doing that. ''Ah! Forgot that he can''t walk right now,'' I thought as I used a spell to heal him enough to walk behind me as I regenerated most of his lower body. He was bbergasted and even more confused by what I was doing, but thankfully he did not speak anything and kept his thoughts to himself. Not caring about his thoughts, I continued to walk towards the ce where George and that girl were fighting. "So tell me more about it. The Slythereens, I mean," I asked as I moved forward one step at a time. I could hear him gulp a little as he moved behind me one step at a time. His change in expression and behavior was honestly drastic, from an overconfident guy who seemed like he could kill the entire world with a flick, to a cowardly looking guy who didn''t know what''s good for him. Made me wonder if all those words were just for show? "They¡­ are living under the reign of General Belial-" "Ah! So that son of a b*tch is still alive, huh?" Uhh! Just hearing his name makes me vomit blood. "Hmmm? Why did you stop? Continue," I spoke, but he just looked at me as he stood there before speaking,"you know¡­ General Belial?" I peeked at him a little before speaking,"keep on moving," at which he began walking again. "Kind of, you can say," I spoke as I was walking,"I fought with him. Lost, you can say. But that was a couple of million years ago. Right now, I can probably punch him in the face and he will die." I punched in the air a couple of times as if hitting that bastard Belial and once again¡­ "Once again, you stopped?" I looked back with my eyes narrowed, but this time it didn''t seem like he was listening. "You¡­ just who are you?" he asked as he looked at me with a scared gaze, which was much different from before. If previously he was looking at me as if I were a monster, now he was seeing me perhaps like a God itself? Or maybe the Devil? "An old relic of the past. Anyway, let''s go, continue your story," I spoke as I started moving again, but I didn''t hear him speak for a while now. He was just following behind me one step at a time in silence. ''Guess, he is shocked¡­ I shouldn''t have revealed that, maybe? Not that it''s much of a secret, anyway. With father and that guy, Voltaire going all around the universe, it wouldn''t take even an idiot to guess that I too should be somewhere around the Universe,'' I thought as we reached halfway to the fight. "After the war, when ''He'' started approaching everywhere and using his powers to dominate almost each and everything. We actually started winning, the Slythereens, I mean. I wasn''t even born at that time. So basically speaking, we should have won the entire Universe with little effort," he spoke with a slight pause in between. "Should have?" I asked "Yeah. I don''t know the exact details but ordingly, that guy not only started converting his enemies into zombies but also all the allies too. It was a betrayal of sorts¡­ or maybe not?" he continued, as if he was trying to remember all the details. "Honestly, I don''t know what happened, but something took ce at that time. The Slythereens were divided into two, the originals and the betrayers. It''s a taboo term to use, but that''s the exact thing that happened." "Which one are you?" I asked and I think it made me sigh really deep as he spoke,"both I guess? Or maybe none?" "A product of both sides?" I asked, as it interested me a little. Two sides, and then two lovers from both sides, then you get a child who isn''t epted anywhere. Sounds revolting, but exciting nheless. "Kind of. My father¡­ or should I say, a scumbag, r*ped my mother, and then my mother, who decided to give birth to me,ter on threw me in the river because she was being harassed continuously," he spoke as a glint of hatred formed on his face and I asked, "You must be too young to know, right? How did you end up knowing about this?" "Heard from a certain traveler. Later on confirmed by myself. Met my aunt, you can say. The vigers killed my mother the day she threw me in the river to keep the vige ''pure''. Anyways, back to the main topic-" He was going to continue, but I stopped walking and noticed that he too stopped. His eyes looked at me, before turning in the direction where I was looking. George had created thousands of threads left and right, all over the ce, in which he was jumping from one direction to another. The other guy, Reeve, was also using those threads to jump as well. In the center of the threads was the little girl, yawning as she dodged all the attacks from both George and Reeve, before attacking them with her minigun. "Looks like you guys are having trouble dealing with her!" I shouted as I looked at her and, hearing my voice, George stopped his movements and jumped beside me. Reeve noticed that and did the same. Their eyesnded on the weakened pathetic Slythereen before they observed me with even more curiosity. "Hate to say it but it seems she is beyond our league," spoke George, as he admitted it pretty frankly. I smiled as I observed him, it was a really good thing to know one''s limits. As for Reeve, I wonder why he didn''t go all out against her? What''s the point of fighting at half strength when you might end up dying anyways? "Izakiel, what are you doing?" that girl spoke as her temperament changed. She looked at him with a re before turning at me. "He is mine now. You can get some other toys," I said as I moved a few steps forward. She looked at me with a narrowed gaze before -Pierce! An attack flew and almost reached that Slythereen, Izakiel, but I deflected it pretty easily. I observed the change in the mana flow of the whole city around me and I sighed as I spoke, "And can you please stop hiding your true self? It''s quite a cowardly move to y with illusion, you know?" George''s eyes widened as he finally figured out something. As for Reeve, it seems like he had already figured it out¡­ hmm¡­ perhaps he was waiting for that girl to show her real natureter on and that''s why he hadn''t used his full power? Seems like I underestimated him. And then, a voice echoed all around us. "SEEMS LIKE I HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT!" It was like a child''s voice but much much louder than before. "IT WASN''T LIKE I WAS HIDING IT BECAUSE OF FEAR. JUST THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD DIE IF THEY LOOK AT ME!" she spoke as she revealed her true nature. I immediately clicked my fingers, making everyone around me, including that Slythereen, go into a deep sleep. My smile widened as I looked at her with a maddening look. A menacing aura developed around me as I spoke, "Didn''t think I would meet something like you, a Medusa, here of all the ces." Chapter 256 [DNO] ? On the opposite side of the, far far away from where Michael and the others were fighting, something else was creeping on this. It had four legs, and a hammer shaped head. He was moving sideways, in a strange manner, while his head looked the opposite side. With the body that looked like that of a dog, and legs thin as bones, that being just kept moving in his strange fashion towards a city not far from there. If one can see clearly, then the nts and the animals or even the metals and the rocks, around 10 meters of that being, have eroded at an extreme rate. To the point where it looked like a relic of a 1000 years. This¡­ is what we call a Specter. It may look like a random monster, but this being has more intelligence than most of the lower Gods. He can easily beat an entire''s worth of army if he wants to, but currently that wasn''t his goal here. Here, he came only for one purpose. To absorb the energy of the that was flowing on the surface and gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. As that being moved near the empty city, filled with nothing but brainless zombies, he just kept walking with his strange gait. The zombies moved towards the being, only to fall on the ground before they could reach him. As for him, he just randomly looked around, moved within the city for a few more minutes, as he searched left and right. His eyes then suddenly got fixated on a group of peopleing to the town from the other side. Looking carefully, there were a total of 17 peopleing on 5 heavily armed vehicles, and each of them were at least peak B-Grade, if not A-Grade. The one who was leading them was perhaps even S-Grade with the aura he was releasing. Between the post-apocalyptic buildings near the entrance of the city, those guys stopped the car as they noticed the eeriness around the area. They could sense that something was very wrong with the whole thing. And after considering some situations, a greedy smile formed on the face of the leader. "Let''s go in. Perhaps there is a strong zombie being born somewhere within the city," he spoke, and everyone else became super enthusiastic as they shouted loudly about the ''victory'' and the ''loot'' they were about to get. And hence they moved forward as fast as they could towards the center of the town. The Spectre looked at them from the top of the building carefully as they moved towards the center and after a bit of consideration; he decided that he would leave them as it is. He doesn''t care about killing a bunch of nobodies, but isn''t evil enough to go out of his way and kill another intelligent being. But before he could even move from the building. "Look what we got here. A strange monster with no energy whatsoever," spoke the same guy who was leading the other people towards the center. Perhaps he had the power of teleportation? (I don''t have time to y with ants.) A telepathic voice rang in the ears of that leader as his eyes widened, wondering where the voice came from, though since there was no one he could sense around him even within the 10s of kilometers in vicinity, he concluded that it must be the Spectre. The Spectre sensed the guy properly. About 25 years old, ck hair and a heavily muscr body. He looked like someone who was a professional bodybuilder, but something about his way of standing told that he was also very agile. "You really are special. Not only can you talk but that too telepathically? That''s something, you know? I can''t let this opportunity pass," spoke the leader guy as he took out a sword from his back and imbued his energy into it. The sword started glowing and became a bit more sharper. (What are you even trying to do?) The Spectre asked, a bit unamused with the behavior of the leader guy, but the leader guy didn''t even bother to listen to him as he jumped at the Spectre. -nk! A heavy metal sound resounded from the point of impact where the sword came in contact with the body of the Spectre. "What?!" surprised, the leader looked at the area where his sword, though managed toe in contact with that body of the Spectre, but failed to deal even a scratch on it. (Why do all the races behave the same?) A tired voice rang out in the mind of the leader as he took a step back, but -sh! A part of the body, more specifically, both the hands of the leader along with the sword, stayed there, where they were before, with the body jumping back. There was no blood. No pain. The leader could even feel his arms still ced on the Spectre exactly how he attacked him. His eyes widened as he tried to move his hands, but his hand failed to respond. As if something was tightly holding the hand of the leader, rendering it unable to move even the tiniest bit. And then¡­ The Spectre stood up.. on its two legs. His tilted face turned upright and his eyes, which seemed white before, now had a ck disk-like structure rotating inside it. Mouth, which was nothing but a small opening before, now had teeths sharper than those of piranhas. Looking at that face, and the way he was standing, the leader just took a step back. His eyes filled with horror. He even forgot about the hand which he didn''t hold any power to. -Step! -Step! -Step! The leader took a step back, and the voice echoed in his ears. Even though they were on a rooftop, in an open area, where the wind was passing silently, they could hear the sounds of the steps loud and clear. The Spectre looked at the hands which he now held in his own two arms, and slowly bringing it closer to his mouth -Crunch! He took a bite. "AAAAAAAAA!!!" the leader shouted, unable to do anything, as he felt the pain of his arms being chewed within the mouth of that Spectre. Even the parts of his hands which were inside the mouth of that Spectre, he could feel it. The acids poured on his hands, burning its flesh, eroding his skin, and breaking his tiny finger bones. The leader could feel each and every bit of it. He wriggled in pain, cried out as loud as possible, his tears running rapidly as he tried to make a stand, but the pain was too much. Even after the Spectre had consumed the entire bite he just took in, the leader could feel the pieces of his hands being flushed down to the Spectre''s stomach. And then¡­ -Crunch! The Spectre took another bite¡­ and the process repeated. What was even more surprising was that no one was there to help out the leader. Nobody came. Despite there being a teaming with the leader, no one came to the rooftop. It was surprising because, with the intensity with which the leader was shouting, even someone from the other side of the city could hear him. Yet, no one appeared. And soon, the Spectre gulped down the entirety of that leader''s hand before speaking, (This should be enough of a warning to you.) And then¡­ Time reversed. "Leader?.... n!" shouted the partner of the leader as he looked at him with a slight worry on his face. The leader, n, snapped out of the stupor as he found himself back at the entrance of the city, where they were about to decide their next move. n was horrified to the core, as he looked from the side of the window at the top of the building, finding the same Spectre looking at him. "What''s that?" the partner asked, and n, fully knowing about what would happen if they continued, spoke in a decisive tone,"Turn the cars around. We are going back." "But-" n''s partner almost questioned him before he saw the fear in n''s eyes. He understood that it was serious and, knowing his partner, he looked at the others and spoke without any change in his tone, "We are going back." Though confused, no one questioned the decision of the two strongest men in their camp and slowly turned the car around as they moved back to wherever they came from. "You okay?" n''s partner asked as he looked at n, wondering what exactly happened. ''Did he sense something? I couldn''t sense anything from that monster¡­ '' he thought as he observed n. n, on the other hand, was still questioning the things he went through, his eyes wondering if what he experienced were the truth or just an illusion. He looked at his perfectly working hand and felt a chill as the memories of the pain returned. "Parth, do you trust me?" n asked as he kept looking at his hands and Parth answered,"I trust you with my life, partner." The others in the car also raised their ears as n nodded with a serious look and began telling them the ''tale'' that he had just gone through. Exining everything in detail as shivers ran down the spine of everyone who heard it. Making everyone turn their heads towards the city where they just escaped from. As for the Spectre, it just moved on from that city to another direction. Where he felt another scenting, which was simr to the energy of this. For his work was to absorb everything. And gather any extra intelligence it can get from this if possible. Chapter 257 [DNO] ? [Name: Fredrick Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Gunslinger Description: Your everyday bully who possesses more strength than average people and uses it to oppress others. His main motive is to be on top of others. If he can''t do it with his own raw power, he will rely on guns and any other unfair means. The apocalypse brought another side of him outside, his sadist side to control everyone and make them his ves and he is carrying out the ns which he devised to build his utopia. Zombification: 72%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 1200/1200 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 37 Constitution:18 Dexterity: 29 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 11 Charm: 15] ''Normal, I guess? Now onto the next one.'' [Name: Robert Brown Race: Zombified Human (E-Grade) ss: Fistfighter Description: This person is used to killing everyone that defies him even before the apocalypse. His extraordinary athletic ability made him one of the best fighters in his area. With his ambitious brother, he lived the life of a king even before the apocalypse. Now that the apocalypse has hit. He is taking things faster and getting more animal-like. Already r*aped 17¡­ Zombification: 12%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade] Cessation Energy: 900/900 Status: Healthy Skills* Strength: 29 Constitution:15 Dexterity: 34 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 10 Charm: 16] Observing their stats, there was nothing particr to be worried about. In fact, looking at the stats of everyone here, they are all pretty much boring. Though, I already knew what to do with them¡­ just by reading their description¡­ I knew what I had to do. ''But why are they trying to enter the basement?'' I questioned as I saw them frozen in time, as they were about to break the chains. Not caring about them, I moved towards the gate and -Crack! Breaking the chains with my bare hands before entering the basement and repositioning the gate outside in the same way it was before. Moving down to the basement, I reached the other gate down below. It was a metallic gate which looked really heavy. First, I tried opening it slowly, which I failed at, but after applying a bit of energy, it became easy to push through. There was a bump as I was pushing it. I guess this gate was chained as well? Then, reaching inside, I saw something¡­ there was a familiar face¡­ ''Dad,'' I thought as I saw my father standing in front of the gate with a shotgun in his hand with about 90 girls and boys behind him who were cowering in fear. My eyes looked at the basement condition. It was a wide basement, enough to amodate about 200 people or something. Looking at them, and then looking back at those bastards who were probably standing up there trying to get down, I could more or less make out the whole situation. ''Dad is trying to protect the kids against those ruffians, I suppose. Though, let''s watch it from a distance and see where this goes,'' I thought as I repositioned the unchained metallic gate and moved to the corner of the basement room before undoing my skills. -BAMM!!! A loud sound urred, probably because I opened the gate and closed it. I kind of expected it but still I kept quiet as I stayed at a distance. "Huh?!" Dad just stood there with his eyes wide open as he saw those chains being broken. His heartbeat probably rose as he moved towards the gate, but before he could move closer, the guys from the top poured down. ''They are fast, eh? Though¡­ shouldn''t be cautious about it?'' I thought as I wondered if they were idiots or just overestimating their abilities. "Huh?!" -sh! One of the men almost shed dad as he saw him almost reaching him, but dad dodged as he jumped back and took a few more steps back as he observed all of them with a re in his eyes. "How did you do it?" Dad asked as he looked at them with an angered expression while the other men were just as confused as they looked at each other. "Did what?" spoke the leader, Frederick Brown, with a slightly questioning face. As for the other guy, Robert Brown, he was lustfully gazing at those girls behind my father. His gaze was quite ugly, honestly, just like his face. "Stop focusing on small things. Let''s kill this old thing and get what''s rightfully ours," Robert spoke as he ran towards father and shed at him. Father had a metallic bat, which he used on that guy, easily blocking his attack and then pushing him back. Though before he could take a step, "Don''t do anything funny now," Frederick spoke with a wide grin as he pointed his guns at him. "You think you can shoot me with that toy of yours?" Father spoke as he moved towards Robert, but Fredrick''s grin didn''t vanish. Actually, it widened even more, he then pointed the gun at the girls behind him and spoke, "Surely I can''t hit you¡­ probably¡­ but if ites to them. Haha¡­ what are you going to do, huh?" ''Cheap move,'' I thought as I looked at that guy¡­ "There is-" [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!] Then I moved towards Fredrick, took his gun, took any other weapon he had on him and then looked around at the whole situation before moving at a distance as I undid my skills and "Nothing you can¡­ huh?" Frederick grasped at his hand, as he looked at the vanished gun, which his eyes began searching for. My eyes observed not only him getting scared but also agitated a little as he looked at Dad. In fact, even Dad and Robert, who were looking at him along with the rest of the people in here, grew confused as they observed the gun just vanishing from his hands. Fredrick was frantically searching for the other guns and weapons in his belongings but the more he searched, the more his expression became twisted before his eyes traced Dad as he asked, "What did you do?!" There was a re in those eyes "Yaaaaa!!!" Though someone else started running towards dad before dad could even take a step towards Fredrick. It was, of course, Robert who sensed that things just fell out of their favor when Fredrick lost his weapon. Dad didn''t know what was going on, but he did know that he had got a chance and being given that chance, how could he let it go. -BOOM!! -PO!! -BAM!! Dad first counterattacked Robert, who almost jumped at him, and then after knocking him down, he kicked him once¡­ twice¡­ and then used his metallic bat, aiming at his legs, shattering them. "Can''t you guys just be like normal humans and help each other and not turn into vicious animals?" he asked as his smile returned and the usual calm look on his face returned. Perhaps without guns being involved, there wasn''t going to be any more problem here. ''Though¡­ shouldn''t he be vignt¡­ no, actually he is¡­ '' I thought as his eyes were tracing the other guys who came down with the two leaders. Most of them carried either a bat or a hockey stick or a rod of sorts. There were a few with machetes and a knife, but none of them had a gun. ''Hmm¡­ I guess only the people above had guns. Mainly for zombies and stuff?'' I thought as I observed dad moving towards them one step at a time. My eyes concentrated on those people with a slightly worried face. "What are you cowards cowering for? What are you kids? He is just one man. Even if he is a beast, we too have gotten stronger with the virus. Plus, we are 20 against 1," Frederick spoke, trying to boost the morale of those people. Which actually kind of worked as they were gaining back their confidence. Dad was too prepared for a fight as he looked at those men moving one step towards him. "It''s not 20 against one. It''s more like 19 against one," I spoke as I moved towards them. Listening to my voice, almost all the people turned their attention to me. "Who are you?" Frederick asked "Michael?" Dad questioned as he looked at me with a surprised gaze. Looking at Dad, I smiled as I spoke,"Evening, dad. It was almost time for dinner, so I thought I might call you. Though you seem to be a little busy." I moved towards Robert, who almost stood up, and on finding me getting closer to him, he just smiled evilly before he jumped at me "Son!" Dad shouted, almost moving towards me, but his steps halted as he saw something unbelievable happening in front of him. -BAM! I blocked the punch with one hand as I nonchntly looked at Robert. "Man, I have to touch your filthy hands, huh? Looks like I will be taking a bath twice now," I sighed before -Crush! "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Robert screamed as loud as he could as his hand got crushed but I still didn''t let go. The others who were observing us took a step back as they observed the situation with their eyes horrified. [Second Space!] I then used my ability to bring him into the Second Space. Though I made sure to turn him unconscious before sending him there. "I will be back in a moment. Take care of things here," I spoke as I looked at my father before [Temporal Deceleration!] [Temporal Deceleration(Copy)!] I began moving out to a safe ce nearby where no one would get close. ''When will I be attacked or approached or touched or anyone seeing me without my abilities activated?'' I asked and [3 hours: 15 minutes: 14 second] Nodding at that timer [Second Space!] Chapter 258 [DNO] ? [Mchael Aroa''s POV] . . A few moments back . . I saw William moving in a certain direction as I punched Alissa again. -BOOM! With the increased 50% Stat on the already high Stats of mine, I could easily overpower her now. It wasn''t very difficult. Though. Man, this is dragging, really. [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with high hopes¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next Grade] Cessation Energy: 109,293/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 919,157/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 678 Constitution: 801(+494) Dexterity: 1023(+334) Intelligence: 671(+156) Wisdom: 234(+344) Charm: 1023(+523)] With her Cessation Energy going below 10%, she started using her nt Life Energy to attack me from various angles. Unlike her Cessation Energy, where she could rapidly heal herself, now she was mostly dodging me and attacking me with a multitude of skills. Her agility had increased a little too in ce of her constitution, which decreased by a margin of 20%. I could see her using branches to attack me, throwing spores at me from a distance and a strange greenish glow in her eyes that matched with the glowing green vines around her chest area. -Whoosh!! I jumped towards her in an instant and "Darling, don''t run away from me now, will ya?" -BOOOM!!! I punched her away from William, making sure our attacks didn''t end up harming him. Alissa, first pushed back, now stood back up and began jumping around at a rapid speed. I could still, of course, trace her movements. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] I used my ability to see where the attack woulde from and saw hering from behind, where I let my guard down a little. First, I used my [Return!] ability to set a point where I was standing and then I walked about two steps ahead as I traced her, still jumping around. Then¡­ Finding a weak spot, she moved behind me and jumped at me with all her might and as soon as she reached closer to me, almost a few inches away from me. [Return!] I used my ability, reached behind her, caught her hand, which she had retracted to punch me and -BOOM!!! Punched her as hard as I could -Pierce! One of her vines attacked me and scratched my body from below [You have been infected with a strong poison. All Stats will be down by 10%. Health will be going down by 100 per second] Not minding much, -BOOOM!!! I attacked her again and once again her vines attacked me, scratched me. [You have been infected with a strong poison. Health will be going down by 200 per second] Even if it was saying that, I didn''t find my Health going down even by a single point. In fact, after a few seconds of continuously punching Alissa as I held her by her hand. [Your body has neutralized the poison. All debuffs are off.] -BOOOM!!! Now, for the next few minutes or so, I didn''t let her go at all. I saw her getting more and more berserk with all that power oozing out of her, but even still -BOOM! -BOOOM! The only difference it made was that previously if I felt like I was ying with a child of 8 years old, now I was dealing with a 12-year-old kid. Kind ofmeparison, but well, that''s the best I could think of right now. After punching for a while [Name: Alissa Rosalyn Race: Hybrid nt-Zombie-Human (Grade-B) ss: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid Description: A girl with great hopes and¡­ Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] ntification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade] Cessation Energy: 24,243/1,240,000 nt Life Energy: 10,024/1,210,234 Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled Skills(18)* Strength: 546 Constitution: 548(+234) Dexterity: 476 Intelligence: 671 Wisdom: 234(+100) Charm: 523] Both her Cessation and nt Life Energy were down below 1% now and her Stats were reduced as well. Other than that, most of her buffs were gone as well. ''Now, how long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' I asked as I looked at her. [9 days: 14 hours: 13 minutes] ''Still 9 days, huh?'' is what I was thinking before I saw a little change in the number [8 days: 23 hours: 56 minutes] ''Hmmm?'' A bit confused, I looked at almost weakened,pletely unconscious Alissa, whom I held in my hand. At first I wondered if she used a Skill or something, but then my mind traced back to William. ''Where is he?'' I questioned as I looked around and saw a broken wall through which a strange sound of someone shouting wasing. One more thing that I noticed was [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Human Title: God Hunter [The Title has the following effects: (3) When the user fights an enemy more than 5 times the strength of user''s base strength: All Stats +400%(Active) (6) Regeneration ability of user increased by +500% under battle conditions (Active) ] ss: Envoy of Cronos; Human Demi-God [Envoy of Cronus: All time rted abilities won''t cost any Time Points. When the user has 100% Energy, he can use the ability [Envoy of Cronos(Mythical)]] [Human Demi-God: All Stats Tripled Permanently. When 100% Health: The user can use the ability [I am a Demi-God(Unique)] When Health goes below 10%: All stats bes 5 times] Level: 15 (1,290,300/2,500,000 Exp) Status: Healthy Health Points: 42000/42000 Time Points: 6000/6000 Strength: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Constitution: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Dexterity: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Intelligence: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Wisdom: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Charisma: 15(+75)(+360)(+225) Stat Points: 23 Total Cronas: 67 Total Dungeons under control: 1] The difficulty level has changed now. If before the enemy was at least 10 times stronger than my base strength, now it is about 5 times or a bit more than it. I guess that is good news for me. ''Well, let''s move to the next boss then,'' I thought as I carried Alissa on my shoulders and [Active Time Maniption!] ''How long till she gains back the control of her body at the current energy level?'' [1 hour: 4 minutes: 46 seconds] With a smile on my face, I moved towards where William was supposed to be and, reaching there, a couple of things came in my view. One was that William was shouting like a madman as he kept running at various zombies left and right, punching them with all his strength. The other thing that I saw was a bright green core at the other side of the room which was giving off some sort of light. Curious, I observed it for a few moments before turning to William as I spoke, "Oi! Stop acting like a wild animal, will you?" Hearing my voice, he halted his steps before he looked at me with an extremely relieved smile as he shouted,"brother!" Then, once again, I traced things around the room while keeping my [Eyes of the Timekeeper (foresight)] active all the time and moving towards the green core. Despite it seems like there is no visible enemy around, the System was still active saying that there is someone strong lurking around. "Keep the zombies away for a few moments,"I asked William and hearing me, he nodded with a serious expression before he started punching them left and right. Reaching the green zombie core, I observed it carefully [Inspect!] [Green nt Core!] [A unique core born from the nt life after using the life energy of all the nts around the vicinity. It was abined effort of the nts to save themselves from the harmful decay energy. The core formed from the Will of Gaia containing life energy enough to restore a rainforest to its prime in an instant. Though it is infested by Cessation Energy and is dying at a rapid rate. It won''t be long before it bes a Zombie Core. There is little to no hope left for it.] For a few seconds, I looked at it and then something hit my mind as I turned back to William as I spoke, "Make sure nobody disturbs me." Before I touched the core with my bare hand and muttered,"If you are alive¡­ connect with me." At first nothing happened, and I thought maybe it wasn''t as I was thinking, but right after a few moments¡­ [A strange energy wants to invade your consciousness and connect with it. Would you like to ept its connections?] [Yes/No!] I clicked [Yes] without hesitation before my eyes closed and I reached a green area filled with forests as far as I can see. I could see a few red leaves and branches too that felt like they had decayed. In front of me, there was a woman trapped in red-coloured branches that had infested deep into her skin and were slowly growing out of her as well. I could barely see a few red veins that were giving off a burning steam that I could feel even from this distance. Walking closer to her, I looked at her, as she looked at me with her eyes almost dead. Her eyes reached up to me as she spoke, "You¡­ are strange¡­ human." I nodded at her as I believed that it was really true, but¡­ "Aren''t we all strange in various ways?" Hearing my voice, I think I heard a faint chuckle as she, "So¡­ strange human¡­ as a being who is on the verge of its death¡­ tell me¡­ what do you want from me?" Chapter 259 [DNO] ? [Enkonimiya''s POV] ¡­ ¡­ "Stay away! Stay away! You monster! Just what the heck are you?!!!" shouted that Slythereen as he looked at me with a fear filled expression. His eyes, begging to understand what was going on, while he kept on pushing himself back, using those broken hands as he crawled backwards. "And here I thought you would give me an interesting fight," I spoke as I looked at him with a disappointed look. ''80% of my energy and he can''t evennd a hit on me. One attack and his body began breaking into pieces. Piece of trash. Got my hopes up for nothing.'' I red at him, making him wriggle faster and faster. Even though he has lost his legs and most of his lower body, he was still doing his best to survive here. "Now, what should I do with him?" I thought as I looked around. Using my enhanced senses, I could see that George was going all out against that girl, while Walter was ying with the guy with the scythe. ''Seems like they are having fun, huh?'' I thought, as it irritated me even more. I wanted to fight for real too, you know? Anyway, concentrating back on him, I thought for a few moments as I walked towards him and asked, "Hey Slythereen. Can you tell me what happened to that worm race of yours?" He was scared shitless but I could see a slight re in his eyes as he spoke,"th-they are¡­ wh-why do you w-want to know about them?" "Just curiosity. Been a while, I saw any of you here," I spoke as I was just passing time here. I could have killed him right here, right now, but felt like I should let Michael decide what to do with him. "They¡­ are fine. Alive and thriving," he spoke with a bit of disgust on his face. Now, isn''t this interesting? A Slythereen hating his own race¡­ "Come with me," I spoke as I started walking towards where George and that girl were fighting. Seems like something entertaining happened while I was in the dungeon for so long. After all, the Slythereens, one of the most cunning races, were known for their loyalty towards their family. "U-uh?"Confusion spread on that guy''s face as he looked at me and I simply spoke without turning,"I won''t repeat my words." As soon as I said that, he hurriedly started crawling with all his might and I stopped as I turned to look at him doing that. ''Ah! Forgot that he can''t walk right now,'' I thought as I used a spell to heal him enough to walk behind me as I regenerated most of his lower body. He was bbergasted and even more confused by what I was doing, but thankfully he did not speak anything and kept his thoughts to himself. Not caring about his thoughts, I continued to walk towards the ce where George and that girl were fighting. "So tell me more about it. The Slythereens, I mean," I asked as I moved forward one step at a time. I could hear him gulp a little as he moved behind me one step at a time. His change in expression and behavior was honestly drastic, from an overconfident guy who seemed like he could kill the entire world with a flick, to a cowardly looking guy who didn''t know what''s good for him. Made me wonder if all those words were just for show? "They¡­ are living under the reign of General Belial-" "Ah! So that son of a b*tch is still alive, huh?" Uhh! Just hearing his name makes me vomit blood. "Hmmm? Why did you stop? Continue," I spoke, but he just looked at me as he stood there before speaking,"you know¡­ General Belial?" I peeked at him a little before speaking,"keep on moving," at which he began walking again. "Kind of, you can say," I spoke as I was walking,"I fought with him. Lost, you can say. But that was a couple of million years ago. Right now, I can probably punch him in the face and he will die." I punched in the air a couple of times as if hitting that bastard Belial and once again¡­ "Once again, you stopped?" I looked back with my eyes narrowed, but this time it didn''t seem like he was listening. "You¡­ just who are you?" he asked as he looked at me with a scared gaze, which was much different from before. If previously he was looking at me as if I were a monster, now he was seeing me perhaps like a God itself? Or maybe the Devil? "An old relic of the past. Anyway, let''s go, continue your story," I spoke as I started moving again, but I didn''t hear him speak for a while now. He was just following behind me one step at a time in silence. ''Guess, he is shocked¡­ I shouldn''t have revealed that, maybe? Not that it''s much of a secret, anyway. With father and that guy, Voltaire going all around the universe, it wouldn''t take even an idiot to guess that I too should be somewhere around the Universe,'' I thought as we reached halfway to the fight. "After the war, when ''He'' started approaching everywhere and using his powers to dominate almost each and everything. We actually started winning, the Slythereens, I mean. I wasn''t even born at that time. So basically speaking, we should have won the entire Universe with little effort," he spoke with a slight pause in between. "Should have?" I asked "Yeah. I don''t know the exact details but ordingly, that guy not only started converting his enemies into zombies but also all the allies too. It was a betrayal of sorts¡­ or maybe not?" he continued, as if he was trying to remember all the details. "Honestly, I don''t know what happened, but something took ce at that time. The Slythereens were divided into two, the originals and the betrayers. It''s a taboo term to use, but that''s the exact thing that happened." "Which one are you?" I asked and I think it made me sigh really deep as he spoke,"both I guess? Or maybe none?" "A product of both sides?" I asked, as it interested me a little. Two sides, and then two lovers from both sides, then you get a child who isn''t epted anywhere. Sounds revolting, but exciting nheless. "Kind of. My father¡­ or should I say, a scumbag, r*ped my mother, and then my mother, who decided to give birth to me,ter on threw me in the river because she was being harassed continuously," he spoke as a glint of hatred formed on his face and I asked, "You must be too young to know, right? How did you end up knowing about this?" "Heard from a certain traveler. Later on confirmed by myself. Met my aunt, you can say. The vigers killed my mother the day she threw me in the river to keep the vige ''pure''. Anyways, back to the main topic-" He was going to continue, but I stopped walking and noticed that he too stopped. His eyes looked at me, before turning in the direction where I was looking. George had created thousands of threads left and right, all over the ce, in which he was jumping from one direction to another. The other guy, Reeve, was also using those threads to jump as well. In the center of the threads was the little girl, yawning as she dodged all the attacks from both George and Reeve, before attacking them with her minigun. "Looks like you guys are having trouble dealing with her!" I shouted as I looked at her and, hearing my voice, George stopped his movements and jumped beside me. Reeve noticed that and did the same. Their eyesnded on the weakened pathetic Slythereen before they observed me with even more curiosity. "Hate to say it but it seems she is beyond our league," spoke George, as he admitted it pretty frankly. I smiled as I observed him, it was a really good thing to know one''s limits. As for Reeve, I wonder why he didn''t go all out against her? What''s the point of fighting at half strength when you might end up dying anyways? "Izakiel, what are you doing?" that girl spoke as her temperament changed. She looked at him with a re before turning at me. "He is mine now. You can get some other toys," I said as I moved a few steps forward. She looked at me with a narrowed gaze before -Pierce! An attack flew and almost reached that Slythereen, Izakiel, but I deflected it pretty easily. I observed the change in the mana flow of the whole city around me and I sighed as I spoke, "And can you please stop hiding your true self? It''s quite a cowardly move to y with illusion, you know?" George''s eyes widened as he finally figured out something. As for Reeve, it seems like he had already figured it out¡­ hmm¡­ perhaps he was waiting for that girl to show her real natureter on and that''s why he hadn''t used his full power? Seems like I underestimated him. And then, a voice echoed all around us. "SEEMS LIKE I HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT!" It was like a child''s voice but much much louder than before. "IT WASN''T LIKE I WAS HIDING IT BECAUSE OF FEAR. JUST THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD DIE IF THEY LOOK AT ME!" she spoke as she revealed her true nature. I immediately clicked my fingers, making everyone around me, including that Slythereen, go into a deep sleep. My smile widened as I looked at her with a maddening look. A menacing aura developed around me as I spoke, "Didn''t think I would meet something like you, a Medusa, here of all the ces." Chapter 260 Escarte: Michael Is Enchating ? [Caroline Escarte''s POV] . . Yes, I was rich from the start. And yes, most of my problems were easily solved by my family name. Whether it was money, or position, or fame, or perhaps anything? I got it as long as I worked for it a little. What was my work? Get good marks in the sses or excel in the sports of my choice, which is archery, or perhaps learn how to fight a little. As long as I excelled better than the others, I received what I wanted. It wasn''t easy; it wasn''t hard, and it wasn''t something that could be described as a motivational story. More like a simple story of a rich girl¡­ or at least that''s how I portray it. ''If only things were that simple,'' I recall back to my childhood properly. ''We were treated like robots,'' I understood it quite some time ago. Our works, our ways of doing things, do''s and not do''s¡­ everything was based on rules and systematics. It was about pride, it was about fame and it was about reputation. When I was 5 yrs old, they forced me to solveplex problems of arithmetics and algebra because that''s what happens in our family. Rather than having a yful childhood, they asked me to outperform my peers and if I failed to do so? 7shes would punish me at my back. That''s how harsh my grandmother was. My father¡­ let''s just say he cared about his reputation and wealth more than me and as long as I don''t do anything regarding that, he won''t even care if I were dead or alive. ''But¡­ he was the first one to sacrifice his life when it came to protecting me,'' I don''t know what to feel anymore about him. Did I misunderstand him? Or did he change after the apocalypse? My mother¡­ for her pride was everything. As long as I excelled and outperformed my peers, she would be really happy. If I fail to do so, she will throw curses at me as if I weren''t even her daughter but a ve she bought out of somewhere. ''And yet¡­ she begged me to run away as I was trying to stay with them,'' I was confused more than I should be¡­ This is troublesome. My sister and brother never cared for me before the apocalypse, yet after the apocalypse they changed so much that I did not know what to think of them. ''That is why I am here. To confirm if they really had a love for me before Apocalypse or not,'' I firmed my decision as I reached Escarte Comm. where my brother, Nichs, would be working right now. And I got my answer pretty soon "Michael¡­ I apologize that we met the way we did¡­ but can you do me a favor? Take Carol and run away from here¡­ I beg you¡­ please¡­"(Nichs) The way he spoke to Michael¡­ reminded me of the Nichs of the Apocalypse. Made me happy¡­ He was ready to die for me, but I wasn''t worried, to be honest. Because? Michael was there with me. As long as he is there, I don''t think I need to worry about¡­ perhaps anything. And I was right¡­ "I would like to hear the opinion of the King of the south region of Meria country, Michael Aroa."(Belmont) Their leader spoke in a familiar tone as he looked at Michael. I already knew Michael''s identity, so it wasn''t really a surprise for me. But it was still odd to look at the guy whom my brother thought so highly of, turns out to be at an equal level to Michael¡­ though I still believe Michael is way stronger than that king. ''But what are they doing right now?'' I questioned as I saw that King guy. He was getting too close to Michael. It wasn''t anything bad, but¡­ the heck? In front of me, Belmont was really close to Michael with a smile stered on his face. His eyes were really curious as he asked,"Can you repeat your sentence again?" Michael, who was already exhausted, replied to him anyway,"it''s a portal gate that will open the pathway to another, an OuterWorld to be precise." Belmont was really excited for some reason. Looking at him, giggling to himself, was a kind of creepy¡­ it sent chills down my spine as I looked at him. Though he didn''t seem to be bothered about it much. "You probably don''t know Sir Michael but¡­ I have been carrying these things for over 500 yrs and not once have I found anyone recognizing this gadget. I had really lost hope, you know? Even Miss Ang doesn''t know anything about this,"he spoke, revealing the reason he was excited. "Is there anything else you can tell about this, Sir Michael?'''' He was respecting Michael a little too much. I could see the tired face of Michael as if he wanted to run away from here, yet he didn''t for some reason. "Can I see it up close?" Michael asked as he scratched his head a little and Belmont, though seemingly skeptical, slowly gave the device to Michael. "Hmmmm¡­ It seems to be linked to a named¡­ Wera. Do you know anything about it?" Michael asked as he observed the device. I, Belmont, Nichs and even that Vampire Hag, Silver, looked at Michael in disbelief. I knew about his system a little, but¡­ that doesn''t change the fact that it was amazing. "Michael¡­ Who are you?" Belmont asked as he looked at Michael with aplex look and even brother''s face had the same question. The person in question was simply smiling humbly, as if it wasn''t that much of a big deal. He simply spoke,"It was nothing, honestly. But the real problem is unlocking the device so that it works and opens the portal to that." Hearing his words, I don''t know why but I felt a sudden relief in my heart¡­ At least there are some things which Michael can''t do¡­ he seems more approachable like that. "That is fine. It''s my job to figure out how to open the portal there. I actually know a person from Wera. In fact, I think he would be interested in opening the portal as much as I would,"Belmont spoke as he looked at Michael before continuing, "I will arrange 20% of the monsters for your training, but it is going to take a week. Will that be fine with you?" Michael nodded with satisfaction before Belmont asked again,"is there anything else you need?" Michael pondered a little before speaking,"When you are about to open the portal, call me as well? All your excitement got me interested in that." He chuckled a little before nodding at Michael''s request. Then he bid farewell as he spoke,"I will you to your things then. Most of our purpose is fulfilled now." I saw him vanishing from there through a ck portal, the same as the one from which he camest time. Michael, who was smiling up until now, his expression turned really exhausted as he looked at me and gave a dry chuckle as he spoke, "Well. That was exhausting." I smiled back at him as I moved closer to him. Reaching almost near to him, I kissed him on the lips as I spoke,"thank you for saving my family and me." Despite the task being super easy, it doesn''t change the fact that he did save my family. It would be too rude to not even say a thank you to him¡­ as for anything else¡­ It makes me kinda sad that there is little to none that I can do for him. "It''s okay, sweetheart. Nothing that big, to be honest," Michael spoke as he kissed me again before smiling a little. ''Damn, his smile is making me wanna eat him right now!!!'' It was hard to control myself, to be honest. It was a miracle that I didn''t pound myself at him after all this traveling. I guess I was waiting for appropriate timings¡­ "Master¡­ " I heard a small voice from behind as I looked at that Vampire Hag, who looked no more than 25, standing there with a slightly reddened face. ''Just how many girls is he gonna get? Every time something happens, another girles crawling around him¡­'' I sighed as I looked at that Vampire. "Before you speak anything, tell me about this ''Master'' thingy you are saying,"Michael asked as he looked at Silver with a curious look. "About that¡­ Two conditions¡­ my previous master passed me to another and that another should be stronger than me. Mostly because Nichs used to send me to men to kill them. He would use words like ''you are his now'' or ''take her, she is yours'' even though he means that to kill them. Normally men are weak and pathetic¡­ almost all of them¡­ but master was different,,, And when¡­ When my master turned out to be stronger than me, both conditions were fulfilled. It was more of a trap to get me back to the Rosante family when they were going to take over the Escarte. The Escarte doesn''t know about my true nature either." She exined everything in a precise manner without using many words. Hearing her words, I kind of understood that she was also a part of the n of the Rosante to take over my Family¡­ Those fuckers¡­ but I guess I can leave them to Michael. All the more because it''s all rted to vampires and stuff which Michael is interested in. As for me, I need to deal with my close family members. Finding my answers before getting to a final conclusion. "Well. I guess that answers your behavior¡­ with that done¡­ Nichs¡­ what will you do now?" Michael asked as he turned to my brother, who was sitting on the sofa lost in his own thoughts. ''Ah! Brother was here too¡­'' I forgot Chapter 261 Escarte: My Brother Is Not Really That Cold ? [Caroline Escarte''s POV] . . I and Michael looked at my brother who was sitting there quietly without uttering a single word. Then, after a couple of seconds'' worth of silence, he stood up from the seat and looked at me. "Can I have a word with you? Just you and me,"he spoke as he looked at Michael with slight hesitation in his voice, but Michael was quite chill with it as he nodded before turning to the unconscious Winter. Leaving Michael behind, I followed behind Nichs, who was going towards the open balcony beyond the pool he had on this floor. After walking a few steps, we reached the edge of the floor where he was observing the city view below. The dawn had passed a few minutes ago and now the sun''s rays were falling on the city as a clear view of the areas which were covered with sunlight versus those which now blessed our eyes. It was mesmerizing. It was calming. "Are you still my sister?" Nichs broke the silence as a serious voice echoed through the silent morning. I turned to look at my brother properly this time. His blue eyes that held a thousand emotions in them, while his short white hairs, the color which resemble mother''s. He was wearing a ck suit with a red tie¡­ isn''t his favorite tie he wears only on a special asion? "Maybe¡­ I have changed quite a lot so¡­ I don''t really have the answer to that question,"I spoke as I smiled, looking at the horizon. This answer of mine put a smile on his face, too. "Nice tie, by the way. Wish things could have been simpler,"I turned around as I put my back against the railing. He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head as he answered, "So you remembered?" "Yeah¡­ after how mom and dad put me through everything regarding our customs and specialities, it would be impossible to forget. Especially that ''Follow your brother'' custom," I imitated mother a little, making him chuckle out loud as he looked at me. "Do I get to know what my little sister has been through?" he asked with sadness in his eyes. But¡­ I don''t trust you enough Nichs. All I could do was give him a sad smile as I looked at him. I would ept him as a family member, but trust¡­ that is something that will take time to build. There is nothing I can do about it. "I understand," he said as he sighed before taking a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. I red at him as I asked,"I thought you didn''t smoke." "Sometimes,"he answered as he took out two cigarettes and then bringing one of them towards me he asked,"want one?" I looked at him without making any expression for a few moments before taking the cigarette and smoking a little as I coughed it out on the first try. Heughed out loud as he looked at me, making me re at him. "It''s my first time, you know?" I narrowed my eyes before continuing to smoke little by little while he smoked at his own paceter on. We didn''t talk for a while as the moments passed while we both enjoyed it. Then he was the one to break the silence as he spoke, "He is a good person, isn''t he?" "He is the best one," I answered without any hesitation, making him smile before speaking,"make sure not to get into something that you cannot get out of." I nodded as I assured him,"if there is anything he can''t solve, then we should all just stop thinking about living." "That much trust? I guess you must have seen things that I can''t even imagine," he smiled, as if his eyes rxed a little. Perhaps he was happy that I was in safe hands? Who knows what he was thinking¡­ All I can do is guess. "Kind of," I answered, as I really did witness him showing miracles one after another. My thoughts then wandered a little in the old memories of how things had happened before. "You should go meet Am, you know? I have heard that she is being bullied." His words snapped me out of my thoughts as I turned to him with a serious look,"what do you mean by bullying?" He sighed before exining to me in a bit of detail. In brief, she was taking part in some sort ofpetition, but there were people who were against her. It wasn''t just the students, but the teachers were involved as well. If Nichs helped her, then¡­ well, things will getplicated. Unlike me who had all the support from the family, Am went on her own into high school saying that she can deal with things on her own, which she was surprisingly really good at, in fact it could be said that she was really talented. Though just like everyone in our family, including me, she too had a moral code of her own. That is to never take help from anyone else. Especially from the family. "Go visit her. Maybe you could help her out. Mom and Dad were really worried about her," Nichs spoke with a deep sigh, making me turn at him with a bit of curious face,"they were?" I asked. He nodded as he turned at me with a bit of a sad smile as he exined,"I know you hate them for what they are but trust me they aren''t really that bad¡­ just that our grandmother¡­ is a little strict." "I understand brother,"I smiled at him before hugging him a little. Then separating from him, I observed him for a few moments before I spoke,"I will be leaving for her school now. She is still living in her dorm room, isn''t she?" Brother nodded at my words with a kind smile as he spoke,"Caroline¡­ Thank you. I am really proud of what you have be." Not that I did anything but okay¡­ I nodded before walking out of there back to Michael, who was talking with Winter. Silver was eating apples as she looked at the exchange of Michael and Winter with great interest. Her eyes were glistening at times, too. ''Can Vampires eat apples?'' I pondered with slight interest. I moved in closer as I found Winter sitting on the floor in front of Michael, who was sitting on the sofa. Silver brought the sliced apples and presented them to Michael, who took one piece and ate it while talking with Winter. "Hey! Miss Caroline. Here, have some apples,"she spoke in a friendly tone as she passed the apples to me as well. I looked at her carefully before deciding in my mind that I need to talk to this vampire in regard to Michael and me. Though, I still picked up the apple as I began eating before sitting in the ce where Silver was going to sit. Silver didn''t mind as she took a roundabout around Winter and sat on the other side of Michael. "I¡­ all I did was what I asked to do. I was supposed to notify the Rosante family of things that were happening here, and Silver was also part of the ploy. But because of her bond, she could tell minimal information to me,"Winter spoke as Michael stepped on his face while he was on the ground. "It''s true. My contract with my master forbids me from going against my master. I was just supposed to tell everything to Rosante after they got me back to them. Until then, I was on Escarte''s side," Silver added, as if it had nothing to do with her, which in essence was true if we consider her story true. Rather than being a person, she was treated as an object in this whole ploy. "Are there more vampires in the Rosante family?"Michael asked as he ate another slice of the apple and passed on more to me. I took a bite while I heard Winter''s voice, "I¡­ don''t know. I wasn''t that deep into that family. But I believe that the head of the family is a vampire, too." "Wouldn''t Silver know about it?" I asked as I looked at her and Michael sighed as he turned at me and exined,"Well, the one who made Silver a Vampire 300 yrs ago, was one of the Rosante so despite me being her master, she also can''t go against her own creator''s words." I pondered over his words and asked,"Do you trust her words?" Michael nodded as he spoke,"I don''t trust her, but she is not lying right now." "Eh?" What does that mean? I looked at him in confusion as he stood up before speaking,"well I will be leaving you in Nichs'' hands. I have got what I wanted." Silver followed Michael along with me, while Brother too entered into the room. He looked at Michael with a bit of aplex look. Though after a while he sighed as he spoke,"please take care of my sister." Michael nodded before speaking,"that guy is all yours. It wasn''t really a good meeting to be honest, but thankfully everything ended in a positive light¡­ Hopefully next time will be better." Nichs bowed in thanks before he moved towards Winter, who was still broken on the ground, fixed as if he couldn''t move at all. "Let''s go,"Michael spoke as all three of us got out of the apartment back into the lift. "While I want to deal with the Belmonts, do you want to go anywhere?" Michael asked, as he patted my head. I nodded as I looked at him with a smile and answered, "I want to meet Am." "Sure," he answered with a smile. Chapter 262 Escarte: All This Thinking Is Making Me Tired ? [Michael Aroa''s POV] . . In the lift, we waited for a couple of seconds before we got out and found a car waiting for us at the front gate. It was a ck Mercedes which looked reallyvish and cool and from the side logo it could be easily inferred that it was apany car. ''Is someone specialing?'' I thought as I looked at the car since only the rich ones could afford a car like that, but Caroline spoke out,"It''s brother''s car. He says we can use it for traveling." Caroline was reading the messages from the smartphone, and I nodded at her before moving towards the car. The driver got out of the car and moved to us as well before introducing himself. "Will it be okay if we drive the car ourselves?" I asked politely, making him smile as he took out the car keys and passed on to us. I held the car keys for a couple of seconds before passing it to Silver as I spoke,"drive to the nearest clothes shop which should be open now. We are getting you dressed up properly first." Silver looked at herself, especially at the gown she was wearing, and nodded in agreement. Because it was early morning and the number of people was less, we weren''t getting stared at but if it were afternoon time, people would surely even start clicking pictures of us. Silver then moved to the front seat while I and Caroline moved into the back seat. "Phe!!!" Caroline exhaled a long sigh as she let herself drown in the seat of the car while she smiled at me,"that was something,"she spoke as she still was having a hard time believing all that had happened. "Well¡­ it could have gotten much worse,"I spoke as I pondered about it. She too nodded at it before speaking,''so much for a casual meeting between a brother and a sister.'' "Maybe. But if you look at it from an objective point of view, this would have happened sooner orter, anyway. Let''s just hope nothing like that happens around Am¡­ hey Silver, there is no super powers around Am, right?" I asked with slight interest, and Silver pondered a little before speaking,"Nothing that I know of. She has been detached from the Escarte Family for quite some time now. It would be odd for her to be involved in anything superpower rted." Caroline too joined in as she asked,"do you know anything about the bullying she is going through in the uni?" ''Bullying?'' I got curious as I heard Caroline''s words. My eyes turned to Silver, who answered Carol, "From the data we have collected, it is something like this. The Principal''s son is in the same ss that Miss Am is in and right now both the kids are fighting for a certain schrship that is considered the most prestigious schrship in the entire country. Long story short, Principal and a couple of teachers are pulling strings, making things difficult for Miss Am to seed in getting that schrship." "Now isn''t that something¡­ Where I have heard this before?" A smile formed on my face as I looked at Caroline, who was smiling at me with a knowing smile. To be precise, it was the same situation that Alissa and I were going through right now¡­ though mostly we were winning with the faculty, not being able to do shit about it. "Guess youing with me was actually more blessing than I thought it would be," Caroline spoke as she got closer to me and put her head on my shoulders as she closed her eyes. "Bow to the Great Michael- oww! Haha," I joked sarcastically as Carol hit me in the stomach, making me tickle a little before I saw her smiling face. For a while, she turned quiet as she looked at me with the same smile. "What?" I asked as I looked at her. "Nothing, it''s just that¡­ it''s been a while that you behaved as your usual self,"she answered with a chuckle. "Did I? I thought I was behaving normally all the time," I said, as I wondered if there was anything different in my behavior. I mean, the Apocalypse did bring a change in me, but it can''t be that much, can it be? "Nothing, Don''t worry about it,"she said as she moved closer to me and kissed me on the lips before removing her shoes as she put her head on myp and her legs on the seat, making hery down in afortable sleeping position. "Wake me up when we reach Am''s High School,"she spoke as she closed her eyes. It didn''t take even a few seconds before I found her falling asleep. Perhaps she was really tired? I touched her cheeks slightly as I brushed past her hair while I looked outside the window at the morning city view. "We are here,"Silver said as I saw us reaching near the cloth shop. Silver looked at me through the mirror and asked,"should I go by myself or will the master join me?" "Go by yourself. I would like to be myself for now,"I answered her, and she nodded before getting out of the car. My eyes then looked through my status and skill. I would love to wait a little, but it seems like I must increase the level of my [Inspect] for now. While I could have defeated that King, not knowing anything about him gave me an uneasy feeling to be honest. [Total Skill Points: 17] I then upgraded [Inspect] to level 7 [Inspect(Level 7)!] [Allows the user to see through anything as long as the user''s power level is above the object/person''s level. The content of the Inspect skill decreased as theparative power of the Object/Person increases Skill Points required to Level up the skill: 7] [Total Skill Points: 6] After pondering a little, I recalled that I still haven''tpleted the [Daily quest] right now. Hmmm¡­ I would need to pick out sometime in the day to finish that as well. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: Gaia''s Saviour: Allow the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions. ss: Child of the Universe(locked) Level: 23 (10,500/20,000Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereal, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the One: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). (3) Helper of Darkness: Allows the user to see through darkness and have perfect night vision. The user''s stats will be doubled in the absence of direct light and, in the presence of absolute darkness, the user gains the ability to channel Darkness Mana. Health Points: 25,000/25,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20 Constitution: 18 Dexterity: 23 Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 13 Charisma: 12 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 0 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Portal Under Control: 0] Chapter 263 Escarte: Amila ? After a few minutes of waiting, I saw Silvering out of the cloth shop, all dressed neatly and proper. She was wearing a white top over her blue jeans and despite being casual, I could see the neatness in her dress and appearance. There were ck sses over her face and her pure white skin was making her look like a doll, to be honest. I could see her smile from all the way far as she waved at me from the entrance of the store. Looking at her like that, it was as if I were looking at a child getting out of her favorite store after buying some toys. Well, it was fine in its own ways. She moved closer to the car and opened up the door. cing a few more dresses, which she bought with the one she was already wearing, she then turned at me with a slight blush. "What?"she asked, a bit embarrassed as I smiled before telling her,"nothing much. You just reminded me of someone. Someone who was quite adapted to fashion sense and stuff." She chuckled as she asked,"a friend? Or family?" as she started the car and slowly moved out of the parking area. "My other girlfriend," I spoke as I recalled Alissa''s face. -Thud! She pulled on the brakes as I protected Caroline, while she bumped into the steering wheel before turning back at me shocked, and her face turnedplex as she looked at Caroline. "Caroline knows her, too. I mean the fact that Alissa is my girlfriend, and she is fine with it if that''s what you are wondering,"I exined a few bits about Caroline and Alissa''s rtionship and Silver was bbergasted as she heard my words. "Are you the current Vampire King or something?" She asked me with a really objective look and, intrigued by that word, I asked,"there is a Vampire King?" She looked at me for a brief moment before sighing and turning around as she started the car,"there is one. The current one, who became the king recently. By recent, I mean the current decade, by the way." "Uhuh," I said, still invested in the topic as she continued,"I can''t go into much detail. Heck, I haven''t even met him yet. All I have heard is the rumors about the King being a yboy who wastes his time throwing away all the power to lust and idiocy. In fact, he has created more problems than solutions¡­ currently he is being hunted by the Vampire society as we need a new, proper king." Hearing her words, I just¡­ kept silent. My eyes were focused on Silver as she turned silent for a couple of minutes as we drove by the highway. Time passed much before we reached halfway to our journey and she spoke again, "The Vampires are ideally divided into two groups: the Nightshades, the people who onlye out at night and the day walkers, the ones who live on even during the daylight. There is little difference other than that, or to be precise, there is no different other than that. One of the reasons the Vampire Hunter Society and the Church of Silver still can''tpletely eradicate the Vampires from this, even after so many centuries." "Vampire Hunter society? Church of Silver?" The heck with those cringey names¡­ sounds like they came from B-Grade movies for some reason, but okay¡­ Not that I am a naming expert, anyway. "You really know nothing, huh?" she spoke a bit surprised. "Sorry for being illiterate¡­ now speak,"I spoke grumbling a little as I looked at her. "To sum up, in a few words, they are Vampire Hunters with their own special powers. Though formed after the existence of vampires came into light, they were existing by some other names way beyond before. I don''t exactly know the history, but for the present situations; they are one of the ruling powers of this along with Dark Oracle. Us Vampires used to be powerful and all but things changed, especially since thest decade because of a stupid king," she answered as clear irritation was visible on her face. After that, I asked a few more questions regarding the various powers of the society and how they function. Even though she couldn''t tell everything, either because ofck of knowledge or her own restrictions, she was still able to give me a clear picture of how things were working around. Finally, after talking for so long, we were able to reach Am''s school and looking at the time; it seemed like the sses were still 30 minutes away from starting. "Hey. We are here,"I woke Caroline as she woke up from her sleep and rubbing her eyes as she yawned a little, she looked at me with a smile as she spoke,"good morning." Her voice was childish, making me smile a little as she stretched body and yawned a little before getting closer to me and kissing me on the lips as she spoke,"let''s go." I nodded as Silver reached the parking area, and all three of us got out of the car. The highschool was quite big and filled with a lush of greenery all around the area. One can see a couple of students walking down the road towards their respective sses and looking at all this, kind of reminded me of my time with my best friend, Leeway. "Nostalgic,"Silver said as she looked around with a slightly blissful face. I looked at her with curiosity as I asked,"have you were here before?" She nodded as she answered,"Yeah. Been a teacher here for about 3-4 years. It was fun spending time with students now and then." I and Caroline observed her for a couple of seconds before we both gave each other a knowing smile and moved to the dorm area. We reached near the main gate as the guard moved forward and asked us of our purpose here. It didn''t take long before Caroline exined about her rtion with Amelia and after taking down the notes; the Guard asked us to wait in the waiting room as he called Amelia. While we walked towards the waiting area, Silver exined a little about the history of this school and how it was formed as amon ground for all races to study butter on the idea was brought down as a dozen of humans and vampires died in a certain incident. "Just how much ignorant were we?" Caroline asked me as she looked at me withplex emotions. It was true, to be honest. Whether it was the Zombie energy or it was this vampire thingy¡­ There was still so much that we didn''t even know when all of it was happening right below our noses. "I guess it is a blessing that we know it now,"I came up with the best answer I coulde up with at the moment. She nodded at me before a figure moved in front of us, wearing a uniform made up of a white shirt and a green skirt. "What are you doing here?" Am asked as she red at Caroline. Chapter 264 Escarte: A Web Of Charms ? "What are you doing here? Am asked as she red at Caroline. Am looked quite simr to Caroline except one looked mature and the other one seemed quite immature, despite all the geniuses I have heard of her. Am not only took notice of Caroline but also observed me and Silver with an analyzing gaze, which made her confused a little more. "I missed my sister. Isn''t that a reason enough?" Caroline spoke with a smile on her blissful face. Her eyes were glistening as she looked at her sister, making even Am weirded out. "I don''t know what you are-"Am wanted to speak, but Caroline ran and hugged her tightly as she held her close. I could see some tearsing out of Caroline''s eyes as I observed her holding Am tighter and tighter. "Wha-What?! What are you doing?!! You freak! Let me go! You creepy! Weirdo! Bastard!! Let me go!" Embarrassed by the sudden action of Caroline, Am started cursing her as she tried to free herself from the grasp of Caroline, but s she couldn''t do it despite all the effort she was putting in. Though a few momentster, even Am noticed the tearsing out of Caroline''s eyes as she felt them touching her. Am''s eyes winded a little as she started thinking before she slowly calmed herself down and began to hug Caroline as well. "What happened, sis? Are you okay? Everything is fine, right?" Am spoke as she patted Caroline''s head, trying tofort her. Perhaps Am misread the situation? Though this actually makes things easier for us. "Hey, Am. I am Michael. I know it sounds a little sudden, but can you skip sses for today ande with us?" I asked her politely, and she gave a little of thought before a determined face formed on her face as she asked, "I apologize, but can you tell me the situation in brief here first? If it is really serious, I wille, but if it is not, then getting absent will create an extreme level of problems for me." Her eyes were quite piercing as she looked at me for answers but I posed another question to her,"I would rate it a 11/10 kind of problem but before we get to that, can I ask you what exactly do you mean by ''extreme level of problems''?" Caroline slowly stepped back as she unhugged Am and looked at her with a slight re as she asked,"who is troubling you?" Am looked away from Caroline for a couple of seconds as she spoke,"the entire school at this moment¡­ Everyone is against me at this point. The only thing that is keeping things in control is my wless record. They are even ready to throw me out of the school even at the slightest mistake. It''s as if they are all possessed¡­" There was bitterness in her voice, as if she had been trying too hard and was about to break¡­ Caroline¡­ was angry¡­ beyond angry. "Want me to help you out?" Caroline asked permission first. Because of how Am has dealt with things on their own, she decided to respect her moral code and ask permission first. "Are you going to use our family''s influence and power? If yes them-" "No. I am going to help you with my own capabilities¡­ and with a bit of help from these two,"Caroline spoke as she smiled at me before turning back to Am, who observed us for a few seconds. "Well¡­ I don''t know what you are going to do¡­ but okay.. I will tell you the entire situation. But the max I can allow you is to guide me and find me the right path¡­ nothing like maniption with money and power,"Am spoke as she sighed really deep. I could see a faint sign of rxation on her face as she began exining things¡­ And then¡­ she told Caroline what was going on in this school from the start. ordingly, it startedst year as a case of theft was pinned on Am, even though she wasn''t on the premises. Though confusing, most of the people said that they have seen ''Am'' stealing a bag of a certain student. Luckily, Am had proof that she wasn''t involved in this, as she had a solid alibi. But things started going downhill from there. Many people started behaving rudely with her. If she retaliated, she was framed for bullying, while if she kept it in, more people started doing that to her. In the beginning, things were simple, butter everything started going haywire, as she started getting calls from strangers. The librarian didn''t allow her to enter the library, and one of the teachers even started molesting her. Though the worst thing or the best thing was that nobody crossed a certain line which could have made them pay the price. Am told us that things took a huge turn as almost everyone, including her best friend, became her enemy. She started screaming and shouting at Am out of nowhere, tearing her notebook and everything else. I could see the tears falling down Am''s cheeks as she exined what had happened two months ago. "It wasn''t just merely anger and hatred¡­ it was as if she despised me for my existence,"Am exined her roommate''s action. After that, her roommate, best friend, stoppeding to her while the bullying got worse and worse. Things weren''t stopping anywhere, anytime, while the only thing that made Am continue studying here was the schrship to her dream university. "What seemed easy has now turned so chaotic¡­ Sis¡­ you believe me, right? I don''t even understand what is going on here," she spoke as she took a deep sigh as she looked at Caroline with a broken smile. Caroline was fuming beyond anything I have seen up until now¡­ she was really angry. I wonder what she is going to do next. She then turned to me before looking at Silver as she spoke,"take us to the principal." Silver understood that Caroline wanted her to use her power this time. And it was pretty easy to understand that there is a superpower controlling the entire thing, but the way they used it all against a single person¡­ as if they were testing Am. Was it because she was a genius¡­ or was it because the perpetrator behind everything just wanted to have some fun? "Sister. It won''t work¡­ It is not going to work¡­" Am spoke as she got lost in her own thoughts and Silver spoke,"Let''s go then. I think it got my interest up a little." I turned to Silver as I smiled,"you little king?" and Silver nodded before moving ahead. Am was confused as she looked at Caroline. Though she wanted to stop her, looking at Caroline''s expression, she understood that it was toote. Still, Am didn''t want to make things moreplicated than it already was. I moved closer to Am as I patted her head from behind and said,"don''t worry. I think we know the reason behind all the things that are going on here. Just trust in us, okay?" Her eyes widened as she looked at me before she followed us too, this time with curiosity and hope, rather than being in shambles. ''I wonder if killing the Vampire King will gain me a bit of Exp enough to level up a couple of times,'' I thought as a smile formed on my face. Chapter 265 Escarte: True Vampire ? Moving towards the principal''s office, we came across a couple of scornful eyes that were directed towards Am. And how ''surprising'' it was to see the [Charmed] effect on their status when I checked upon them. Caroline was quiet the whole time as she ignored those eyes, while Am simply observed the whole thing with her expression filled with slight regret. "They are charmed,"Silver hushed in a very low voice as she got closer to me and I nodded at her. Whoever it was, he must have been really powerful to charm an entire school all by himself. Apart from the part that he or she must have been doing this to Am for some specific reason, I wonder how specific that ''specific reason'' is going to be. "We are here to meet the Principle,"Caroline moved forward and spoke up as she looked at the guard outside the gate. But the guard just looked at us before ignoring us all together. Obviously he was charmed too, and I pondered before looking at him for a couple of seconds and turned to Silver. "Try asking him in your own way," I gestured to her. She nodded as she looked him directly in the eyes and spoke,"let us in." Though the guard simply retorted,"the principal is busy. No outsiders are allowed to meet him." Silver looked at me and shook her head and I asked her toe back before looking at the door to the Office. After pondering for a couple of moments, I finally made the decision to barge in as it would be the most efficient way to solve the problem right now. "Let''s go in," I spoke as I moved to open the door. THe guard stood up and tried moving towards us with slight fury appearing on his face but [Time Rejection!] -Thud! He fell down on his legs as I opened the door and entered the room. Caroline followed in and Silver grasped the hand of panicking Am, and helped her get into the principal''s office. While we were entering, the guard kept on falling on the ground and I simply closed the door from the inside before I turned to look at the Principal sitting on the chair beyond therge table. The office was quite big, with the walls filled with certificates of their sess. There were shelves filled with trophies and medals from all over the country, along with some basketballs and footballs ced there as well. My eyes observed the man carefully. His short white hair and white beard over his old face made him look really knowledgeable. The touch of silver sses on his face made him look quite serene, to be honest. Wearing a gray suit, he sat there correcting the sheets on his table as he looked at Am before turning to us. "So you have finally fallen to barbaric methods, huh?" he asked Am with a calm voice as Am shrieked a little. On the other hand, I was a bit confused as I directly asked, "You aren''t charmed?" Yeah. Even though I thought that he would be charmed like the rest of the people here in this school, but doesn''t seem like that anymore. His eyes widened as he looked at me for a couple of seconds before I saw him taking out a silver stake and cing it on the table. That silver stake was dyed red in blood as I observed him shaking a little before putting up an act as if he were calm and collected. -Thud!!! Scared shitless, Silver fell down on the ground as she looked at that stake. Her face was almost breaking and I could see the [Submissive] status applied on her. The Principal gained confidence while Am was confused about what just happened. "Ma-Master!! I-" Silver was trying to speak something as I touched her head and spoke,"it''s fine. You are mine now. There is no way you are going to be confined within something as pathetic as this." [Time Rejection!] Her eyes turned red as she started mutating her a little. Her skin, which was white, turned pure ashen for a couple of seconds before it started breaking in front of us. ''All I wanted was for her to hit upon the way to break free through these things¡­. Didn''t think it would evolve her,'' I thought as I saw her evolving through stages in front of me before I saw her growing up a little. The dress that she bought was all dirty as I saw her throwing it away while her body shone bright, like the stars in the sky. It was for a brief moment before the light died and her body, which was already white, had now started gaining the strips of silver. While most of the strips were ced on her abdomen, and the lower portion, a single strip was ced right above her eyebrows, almost touching them. She slowly opened her eyes as she looked at me and I chuckled as I saw her status. [Name: Silver Rey Livia Race: True Vampire ss: NightWalker Description: One of the servants of Lady Iris, one that was created as a vampire to fulfill the ecstasy of Iris when she was in her high Moon phase. She was born into an esteemed family of merchants, which was one of the most prestigious nobles of their time. Now evolved into a superior being of her kind, she has be one of the most powerful and influential people of her kind. There is little a True Vampire cannot do and, unlike other Vampires, she is now a true immortal and only a divine weapon and above can kill her. Blessing: The Goddess of Blood: Ability to control one and all blood, except her master''s. The amount of blood controlled depends upon the power of the object in front. Status: Healthy Skills(100)* Stats: Strength: 1289 Constitution: 1429 Agility: 1670 Intelligence: 1362 Wisdom: 982 Charm: 4510] She looked at me with slight curiosity as she moved in front of me. Got on her knees and spoke,"this being is yours tomand master." "Stand up. We got work to do,"I said, not much caring about her evolution. I have seen people more powerful than her, scarier than her. While the upgrade was truly mystical, that''s all there was to it. "There is a legend about our ancestors having powers of true immortality. The ability to control natural elements as if it were a part of their own body. Many said that it was but a mere legend, while few tried to find more about it, but there was nothing one discovered, no matter how much one tried. Master¡­. Just who are you?" she asked as she stood up. Her speech was much more free now, not restricted by anything. Out of her finger trip, a couple of drops of blood flew out as they levitated in the air. I saw their shapes changing from a drop to a flower, then to a snowke. Am, Caroline, that principal, everyone was mesmerized by that sight of Silver controlling the blood. The most confused, Am, was having a hard time to figure out if she was watching something true or just an illusion. "Earn my trust and we shall talk more about it,"I spoke as I then turned back to the principal, whose eyes were still concentrated on the drop. "With that out of the way¡­ Now Mr¡­ Ernest, Can you answer a couple of questions of ours? I hope we aren''t disturbing you?" I spoke with a smile on our face. Chapter 266 Escarte: He Tried His Best. Too Bad It Got Michael Involved. ? "W- Who are you?!! He said there would be no problem!!!" Ernest wasn''t really that calm anymore as he looked at me with fear and horror. Though his eyes were continuously moving towards Silver as he tried looking at her¡­ this pervert¡­ I shook my head as I took the clothes which Silver threw off as she transformed and taking them in my hands; I jerked them with some force. [Time Rejection!] I did it so that all the dirt would fall off at once from the clothes, making it cleaner in a single jerk. After ''cleaning'' those dresses, I passed it back to Silver, who wore it in an instant, faster than my eyes could observe. I then turned back to Mr. Pervert,"so now that you can concentrate on the topic without any distractions, tell me. Who is this ''He'' you were talking about?" He looked at me with a bit of fear as he observed Silver again, this time with horror, as he gulped a little before speaking,"I¡­ don''t want to die." "Sure,"I answered as I looked at his status. Not including a bit of maniption of minor things to his advantage, he didn''tmit any heinous crimes to begin with. While he did deserve a beating, killing him would be inappropriate. Even if we include Am''s case, which he did only because he was forced to. Because of [Inspect] I already knew what was going on but Am needs to hear from his mouth to understand it better. "You¡­ I won''t die, right?" He asked again, and I smiled as I spoke,"well. You seem relieved more than I thought you would be¡­ did you not trust your partner enough?" "..." His eyes widened a little as he looked at me before a dry chuckle escaped his mouth as he spoke,"your eyes say that you already have figured out most of the things." I nodded before speaking,"but still. I would like to hear your words, too." "Well¡­ If I am going to die this way¡­ at least it is better to die than as a sacrifice or live with the guilt of killing the entire school for someone''s ritual," he said with his face getting really old. It''s as if he was regretting his every decision. "I can see that you guys are strong,"once again, he looked at Silver as he added,"much stronger than him. But can I ask a question before I exin everything and die?" "Go ahead,"I nodded. "Are you going to stop him and end this, or are you going to continue after taking over his ce?" he asked with a genuine look on his face and I smiled as I spoke, "What do you think?" I asked as I looked at him and he chuckled as he kept silent. I then smiled as I spoke,"What he wants to achieve is something I can do with a flick of a finger. There is no need for me to fall and do something so heinous." As I answered him, a satisfied smile formed on his face as he spoke,"then, I guess. I can die peacefully after telling everything." He sat on the chair as he pointed at the photo of a kid winning a runningpetition. "His name is Quinn. He is a vampire like that girl with the silver hair. In fact, he called himself the Prince of Vampires and the future king. In the beginning he came here registered as a normal student, but over time, things started changing around him. While he was never involved directly, he was the one manipting everything from behind. Perhaps he used his charm to manipte the people around him, slowly taking over the entire school. All from the teachers to students. While it was odd that he never came in front of anyone despite everyone being charmed, it became clear after I once asked if he was afraid of something." He spoke as he turned to look at us before looking at Am, who was beyond confused right now. The story was going over her head, just like everything else. "You seem like you want to say a lot of things,"I smiled at her and she nodded before speaking,"too much, in fact." "Let''s exin everything after we solve this, okay?" I looked at her and she nodded at me. She was really focused on it and Ernest continued, "Am, me and a few other teachers were spared from the charm but were controlled by other means instead. Am was kept in the dark. I was controlled with fear while the teachers were either killed or outright fired. Why didn''t he control them? Either he was not that powerful, or he was hesitating." I looked at the confused Am and spoke,"your family has a history with vampires, in a way. If you had been charmed, some of the secret members of your family might have been alerted, and that would have been bad for him." Am immediately connected the dots and turned to Caroline, who nodded as she spoke,"I came to know a few things today itself. I will exin the things soon. Though our family isn''t one of vampires¡­ but a family connected to us is one." "Rosante?" Am asked immediately and Caroline nodded with a surprise on her face. "They are too white,"Am spoke, making me chuckle out loud as I turned to Silver, who was smiling as well before we turned to Principal, who continued, "His n is to use all the kids of this school, full or virgins¡­ or at least most of them. And use them in a ritual to get a power that is something along the line of that Silver Vampire. He said that the ritual will take time, but if it seeds, he will convert me into a true vampire, making me a true immortal." "And? What do you think about being truly immortal?" I asked with a slight interest. "I think it is a really enticing offer but for a man like me who has a family he loves, I would like to die by them, with them," he spoke without hiding his thoughts and I nodded. "Well. That''s the gist of everything. Do you want me to go through all the details? I mean you have to ask what do you want to know cause there is literally a lot he has done in the past 2 years,"he spoke as he rested his back on the chair and I looked at Caroline. "Where is he right now?" Caroline asked with her eyes still furious a little as she looked at Ernest. In fact, Am was kind of much more rxed than Caroline was, despite knowing everything. "d that no one betrayed you?" I asked with a knowing smile on my face and Am turned at me with the same bright smile as she nodded. I could see her face glow up as she spoke, "Among all the things that happened, the worst way to lose my friends which I had bonded with over the years. We had thousands of ns and stuff and watched all of them crumble without any reason¡­ was suffocating. Thank you¡­ you don''t know how much this means to me." I moved closer to her and patted her head as her cheeks turned a little red and said,"Save this after we solve this problem of yours." And then, I turned to Ernest as I asked with a serious look on my face,"where is that fucker?" Chapter 267 Where Do The Gods Lie? ? In an unknown corner of the universe, there existed a ne where only certain beings can step into. That ce wasn''t bound by time or reality. It existed, and it didn''t. It was beyond those of normal constitution to even think about such a ce forging about looking at it or finding about it. It was a ce where the Fallen Gods were sent to as prisoners of war since they can''t exactly be killed or destroyed. It was a ce where the fallen Gods'' power was sucked out of their unlimited life force, making them weaker than insects, and turning them into something that lives on the mercy of the ''Guards'' of that prison. To live as a mere lower being despite being a higher one. That was the judgment delivered to them when the Creator of Existence asked for Mercy from the scariest being of the Universe, Aether Rodriguez, instead of killing them once and for all. But all that happened eons ago. Aether was already dead and many generations of various races had taken over his position to take care of this ce. And the current watcher of this ce¡­ "You are back Milord,"spoke a gray-haired girl wearing a white robe that covered her entire body from neck below. She had a serene face and a charm that you find in the most beautiful of the beautiful females. "A. How are things here?" the man with the silver hair spoke as he looked at her ce around. His three golden eyes that had a Blue coloured trident inside them, observed each and every being present in the area with a clear conscience. His eyes searched for a particr being before he found out the person he was looking for. "Everythings is going smoothly without any problem milord. All the prisoners are within their homes as they should be, spending the eternity of their life living like a mortal wound,"A spoke with her eyes opening up. Her eyes were gray like her hair, with a simr trident within them like the Watcher, but silver. "Take me to him,"the watcher spoke as A nodded before the floor where they were standing started floating in the air and taking them towards a very specific part of this ne. The circr floor floated towards a house on the other side of the ce where the air was heavier and the man constraints were quite high. It was one of the high density areas where stronger prisoners were kept. Not long after, a house appeared in front of their eyes made up of white wood. Like a sore thumb, this white wooden house was sticking out in this high-tech city. But that didn''t degrade the beauty of the house, which it was showing off. A moved towards the door of the house and gave three knocks before she spoke,"Razor. It''s A¡­ the lord has woken up." After waiting for a couple of seconds, the door opened as a man with burnt flesh opened up the door. He was a bulky man, with his size twice as much as A. His ubed golden hair and those blue swollen eyes didn''t hide his beauty even a percent as he looked at the Watcher before sighing as he spoke,"Persius. Come in." Persius, the Watcher of this ne, entered the room with a nod as he looked around the house. His eyes observed the old items ced that were one of the cheapest objects avable on this ne. "Razor¡­ you should buy something more expensive than this. You are thest one among us who is supposed to live like this," Persius spoke with a sad voice as he observed Razor, while Razor ignored his words as he sat at the table and asked, "So. What happened this time? What did Aarick do this time?" "It''s not your brother this time¡­ it''s about him¡­ that traitor,"spoke Persius, as a glint of hatred entered his eyes. Even Razor was shocked to hear this as he answered,"so¡­ he isn''t dead, huh?" "I heard from the Lord of the Fate that there is going to be a war. Something that is going to engulf all the nes from theherrealm to the heaven realm. Even this ce won''t be spared," Persius answered as he sighed in deep thought. "And that traitor¡­ Cronos is going to be at the center of all this chaos? Doesn''t surprise me to be honest¡­ though I wonder what he is trying to achieve with all this," Razor spoke as he looked at Persius. A, who was listening to the conversation, was quiet as she sipped tea from a cup that was created out of nothingness. Her face was quite serene as she was hearing all this. But she fazed when Persius continued speaking, "We also found the whereabouts of your sister, A,"Persius spoke, making A shocked a little as he added,"Rhea has been found in Sector Azeroth of Earth¡­ but in a timeline that no longer exists." A looked as if she wanted answers, but Persius looked at Razor and continued,"and it''s not Cronos who is going to be the center of the war." This made everyone quiet for a couple of seconds before Razor asked,"then¡­ who?" "There are two people actually¡­ One is your illegitimate son¡­ Leeway Rosalyn-" "Wait! Wait! Wait! What are you talking about, Watcher? All my sons are supposed to be dead in all the timelines for the crimes that I havemitted!!" Razor was confused, shocked, and really wanted to know what was going on. Nobody could rule out the punishments which Aether has ced upon the evildoers. "I am afraid I do not know how did it came to this¡­ All I know that is someone yed with reality and time to create an ideal world for himself. And somehow¡­ that created a reality where your son didn''t die. However¡­ that was actually the main catalyst of the war," spoke Persius with a long sigh. "Wait! What do you mean by that being the catalyst? Did the Lord of Fate interfere or something? I will go talk to him if that''s the case. Can you arrange-" Razor was agitated. He was already worried about the son that magically survived a punishment that was thought to be impossible to get out of. "It wasn''t the Lord of Fate¡­ it was the other being that stood at the center of the War¡­ the one who actually is going to start the war¡­ That traitor''s envoy¡­ his name is Michael Aroa. He is the one who is going for a war not only against your brother, Aarick, the King of All Zombies, but also his own God, Coronus,"Persius spoke with a deep sigh, making Perseus look at him with aplicated expression. "And his reason¡­ for going against his own God?" Persius asked. "It will be for a woman that he cares about¡­ somebody that will be erased from existence¡­ or more like¡­ destroyed from all the timelines¡­" spoke Persius with a deep sigh. Everyone fell silent as they looked at each other for a couple of seconds. Before Razor added,"is history going to repeat itself?" "That I do not know¡­ that is the reason I came here to seek your help, Razor,"Persius spoke before adding,"which side should we take here? Your brother, the Zombie King, the current Emperor of the universe, Aarick, the one who is h. That traitor, Cronos, who sacrificed his entire brethren to save his tail. Or that envoy of his, that is going to go on a rampage?" And then¡­ a silence engulfed the area as the three of them went into deep thought. Chapter 268 I Will End You ? [Alissa''s POV] What does it take to be a woman? What does it take to be ady? From where I was born, I was taught that ady must be gentle. Not only with her words but also her actions, behavior and the way she handles things. My mother taught me ways of the noble while my father, though he didn''t teach me anything, he always evaluated me on how I performed. It was set from the day I was born. All the more especially since I was an adopted child rather than being a legitimate one like my brother, Leeway Rosalyn. He was the only one who cared about me in the castle and was the only one who treated me like a human rather than being an object to adorn. He used to tell me that everything is going to be all right and how he is going to change society from its very roots in the future by bing the next king of the country. But he decided to do that in a different manner than everybody else. He first, chose to move to a different country, an entirely different continent to be precise and start collecting allies from there. Since he knew that he cannot change things from the inside, he nned things from the outside. "Learn Alissa. Learn everything you can¡­ we will need everything in our arsenal if we want to fulfill our dreams,"he spoke to me before leaving the country and I took his words seriously. I learnt everything that was present there, from hacking to maniption, from medicine to engineering. I devoted all my time to learning everything that was going to be helpful to my brother. But¡­ "Leeway Rosalyn, died in an attack from the terrorists in Meria country,"was the news that i received one day. My eyes were wide open, while my ears couldn''t believe what they were hearing. The other people in the courtroom were smiling evilly, as if a thorn was removed from their back. The only one who was crying was my mother, whom I always thought that she hated my brother for running away. "This is what the disgraceful son deserved," he said in a hushed voice that was loud enough to be heard by everyone. My father just kept quiet as he took us back to our castle, where I finally reached my room, and closing it from the inside, I cried and cried and cried. It was too much to take. My purpose to live was extinguished. My reasons to move were halted. What should I do next? After crying for hours and hours, I finally stood up, packed up my bags, as I stepped out of the room. I didn''t pack enough, but it was enough to let me go to Meria country, to the ce where my brother was killed. "You are leaving too?" I heard the voice of my mother from behind as she continued,"take care of yourself, sweetheart. You better not die on me too, okay?" I didn''t turn around, but I was sure that she was crying too. I didn''t turn around, but I was sure father was standing there as well. And yet, I didn''t turn around and moved towards the destiny that my life has spiraled into. To find out about the murderers of my brother. To make them pay for what they have done. Reaching the Meria country took a day, but I reached there on time. After that, I first reached the ce where I could get the leads from, Michael Aroa, the best friend of my brother. From what I have heard, he was a naive nerd who always kept his head under the books and learnt whatever he could see. Despitecking severely in various other aspects, he was respected by my brother as a pure genius in terms of understanding capability and finding the logical reasoning for any solutions possible. Such high words to a stranger that my brother met, obviously it piqued my curiosity. If anyone in this world could answer the questions that I carry in my heart, I could bet with my eyes closed that it has to be Michael. With my expertise, it didn''t take long to figure out where Michael was. Though he is currently not going to high school, living at his home for the past few days. Especially after the day when my brother was killed by those damn bastards. "Let''s get the answers we came for,"I decided as I moved to the apartment where he was living. It wasn''tvish or anything, more like a shack house with minimum sustainability. Now that I remember, my brother did tell me about how Michael''s family isn''t the best. ''But I didn''t think it was this bad,'' I looked at the wooden shack in front of me before turning towards the door. Though before I could knock on the door, I saw the door opening as someone slowly moved out of the house. It was a boy around my age, his eyes ck, his hair cker. He stood there as he got out and looked at me with a deep look. I could see a slight surprise in his eyes as he was about to speak, but the gate opened even more, showing an old couple, presumably his parents. "A friend of yours?" Asked the old man as he looked at Michael, who turned at me for a moment before turning back at his father and spoke,"she is Alissa. She studies with me." ''Huh? Did he know me from before?'' I was a little confused. "She looks a little young to be studying with you,"his mother said as she looked at me with quiet curiosity. "She skipped grades. She is just that smart,"then Michael turned to his parents and said,"I was nning to meet her today, but it seems like I got a little toote to make here all the way here." My eyes blinked a little as I observed them for a couple of seconds talking among themselves. What.. is going on here? "Is the talk important?" Mother asked and Michael nodded as he answered,"She is his sister. She probablye here for answers." Just this statement¡­ made everyone turn silent as they kept looking at each other for a while. "I AM READY!!!" A youth filled voice came from inside the house as a boy dashed out of and stumbled upon the rest of the family before Michael''s father caught him. "Behave William. We have a guest here,"his mother spoke as she smiled at me before turning at Michael,"take care of her. We will take our leave now." And then, after Michael nodded, they started walking away from the house. William was curious about me, while the elders didn''t bother much as they simply left from there without speaking any further. As for Michael, he observed me with a keen look as he spoke,"You must have a lot of questions. Come in. Let''s give you the answers you want," before he slowly moved into the house, while I simply followed him back. For some reason¡­ I felt safe inside here¡­ much more than at my own house¡­ And before I knew it, I was sitting in the diner area in front of Michael, who served me some snacks as he spoke,"Well. Let''s start from the point where I entered that building with Leeway." Chapter 269 A Mistake That Would Cost The Entire Multiverse ? [Alissa''s Pov] . . It has been 4 years that I have been working with Michael regarding everything that has been going on here. Though things started going up and down after this whole regression thingy. Like really went out of control to be honest... The girl whom I thought to be ''not much of a problem'' became one of my strongest rivals that I could have imagined. And ording to what she told me, it wasn''t just her but a few more girls that flocked around MY Michael!! How fucking dare they do that!!! ''Tch!'' Even thinking about it makes my blood boil. After all that hard work to get so close to him and making sure that he doesn''t fall in love with anyone else¡­ just how did thise to be¡­? Dejected, I let my body fall on the table that I was working. ''Take care of Walter''s sister,'' he said as he left. It was hisstmand before he left to meet Caroline''s family. Apparently, there is something going there that is going to help Michael be powerful on an individual level. ''I just hope he doesn''te back with a wife and two kids,'' I sighed in irritation as I couldn''t concentrate on the work anymore. Closing my eyes for a couple of seconds, I then decided to check up on Walter''s sister. Standing up from the area, I first got out of the researchb before moving to the ce where she was admitted to. I still don''t know why Michael wanted to protect her so much¡­ is she really that special? -Click! The door unlocked as I entered the room¡­ only to find a familiar figure in front of me. The same brown hair and ck eyes that he had when he came to first drop his sister. I could see the same desperation on his face as before¡­ something happened. "Huh? Walter? You are back?" I asked as I moved closer to him, but he raised his hand as his eyes turned red before he spoke, "Miss Alissa. Please forgive me¡­ I don''t have a choice in this¡­ I beg you¡­ please forgive me¡­" His eyes begging, his words shaking as he looked at me with a desperate look. There were tears in his eyes, and I could hear his heart beat loud and clear. "What-" "Envera" He spoke before I could ask as a red beam fired out of his finger that he pointed at me¡­ I barely dodged as it grazed my cheeks. I looked at the maddening look on his face as I observed his sister''s condition¡­ he wasn''t concentrating on her¡­ He was after me¡­ Run! I then took a step back carefully as I observed his movements. Taking a few more steps back as I slowly stepped out of the room but something¡­ something caught my feet¡­ it was a ck chain¡­ it came out of the ground. "I apologize!" he said shakily. I found my body being lifted from the ground and then¡­ -Crack!! Through the window, I was thrown out like a pebble. ''We are on the 17th floor¡­ aren''t we?'' I thought as I saw the window reaching farther and farther away from me. My eyes observed Walter standing at the window¡­ and there was someone behind him¡­ a child¡­ a child with a creepy smile. My heart shook to the core. While I was worried about falling a moment ago, after looking at that smile¡­ all that fear got reced¡­ What the heck are those things? Michael¡­ be careful¡­ I prayed as I fell down lower and lower¡­ Until my eyes lost their sight¡­ and my body its life. . . [Walter''s POV] . . It wasn''t as if I was scared enough, but the sight of her falling on the ground¡­ as she hit it, her body turning lifeless with the ground painted red, made me so scared as if my heart would jump out. I was afraid of Belial¡­ but I don''t know at this point if I should be afraid of Belial or Michael more¡­ After all, even Caroline spoke before¡­ that the one closest to Michael was Alissa herself. "Let''s go down. The next phase starts now," the child-like voice of Belial creeped up from behind as I saw that smile of his. Keeping myself calm, I could only nod as I asked,"you won''t kill my family now, will you?" He smiled as he nodded before he jumped out of the window with my body being pulled out as well. It didn''t even take a second as I reached down on the ground where Alissa''s body parts were scattered on the ground all round. "Blergh!!!" I puked blood as I fell on the ground. It wasn''t as if I hadn''t seen blood before¡­ but itpared nothing to this¡­ especially the one dead was someone I knew¡­ "IMLIAPE''SD''AWRFN''QWE ", He spoke as he smiled widely as I saw the body of Alissa slowly vanishing from there without any traces,"I hope you can entertain me. Michael Aroa¡­ the game begins now," he spoke as Alissa''s body vanished without any trace left. His eyes were glistening as he smiled like crazy. ''Just what exactly did he do?'' My heart beat rose like crazy. He then turned around at me as he looked at me in slight confusion as he asked,"Do you know anyone named Alissa?" I observed him for a while in confusion? What was he on about? Does he want me to deny her existence.. "Ummm¡­ no¡­ I do not," I spoke, not wondering what he was trying to do. But he was really surprised as he looked behind,"did the spell fail? Hmmm¡­ it''s not that¡­ '''' he then turned at me with slight curiosity as he spoke, "You are special, aren''t you?" I observed his face for a couple of seconds, wondering exactly what he was talking about. What does he mean by special? "Ah! Let me rephrase my words then¡­ Do you carry memories of another reality?" And then¡­ my mind went nk for a second. I looked at him¡­ he didn''t figure it out before when he scanned my memories¡­ How did he get to know about this? I was scared. My body was begging me to run. Something really bad was about to happen to me¡­ I could see it in his smile¡­ I must run away¡­ I must run¡­. "Ohe on now, Walter. I thought we had a bond between us," he spoke with an evil look and my heart skipped a beat as I raised my hand and shouted, "Ignito(Burn)-" but before I could finish the spell¡­ my tongue ceased to exist¡­ as if it had never been there. "That''s not a really cool thing to do, Walter. We have so many things to talk about, you have so many things to tell. I thought we really understood each other, you know? Well, don''t worry. We will talk with each other once this is all over. We will look into things one by one¡­ till the eternity passes¡­ okay?" he smiled at me with a cute face that looked creepier than anything I had ever seen. And then¡­ my mind went nk¡­ Sir Michael¡­ just what kind of monster¡­ catch your attention? Chapter 270 How To Kill A Vampire? ? [Michael''s POV] . . Moving behind the principal, we reached the indoor volleyball court area where a couple of kids were practicing to their hearts'' content. Each of them looked more inhumane than the other one. ''They are all vampires,'' I thought as I observed their status. They were all converted by one person standing at the center, the one ying the most enthusiastically as he pushed his own teammates away while he went in for a shot. -Bam!! The ball went directly to the other court on the opposite team as it hit one of the members. -BOOM!! The ball knocked off the face as it flew up high in the air before it fell off court, scoring one point for the vampire. The boy who got hit on the face flew off away from the court with his face crushed into pieces, as his health points were crushed by 90%, leaving him on hisst few straws to which he was barely holding. "WHAT ARE YOU A PUS- '''' The vampire was shouting, but he stopped mid sentence as he felt a strange energy creeping up to him, making him turn and look in our direction. Silver moved closer to the court as we followed behind her, making the rest of the people around there observe us with quiet curiosity. Some of them were even lustfully gazing at Silver and Caroline. ''They are dying first,'' I decided in my heart while also wondering how much Exp would be worth. "How may I help you people?" said that vampire as he smiled at us with a creepy grin. Taking a closer look at him, he wasn''t half bad when it came to looks. Long blonde hair that reached up to his shoulders, and that long chiseled body of his that made him look no less than a movie star. His crimson red eyes that were filled with greed and lust, were gazing hard at the private areas of Silver right now. "We heard some illegal activity going on here. Would you mind cooperating with us in helping found a bunch of scumbag criminals who broke multiple vampirews at once? Won''t you, Vampire Price Quinn Dracule?" Silver spoke, making his eyes widen a little as he observed Silver even more carefully now. "You aren''t one of the elders¡­ neither you are anyone I have seen before¡­ but to give off such strong vampire energy, are you some sort of a secret weapon of those foolish oldies?" asked Quinn as he looked at Silver with the same old grin before adding, "Hmmm¡­ I am not sensing any other vampire around the campus. Did you seriouslye here alone by yourself? Are those foolish elders so confident in you? Or are they underestimating me here? Well. It doesn''t matter. Once I make you mine, they will understand the foolishness theymitted." The air changed around him as I saw the temperature dropping really low in a few moments. Turning, I saw the principal and Am shivering while Caroline was barely holding herself. [Time Rejection!] I used my ability, and they started feeling better as I observed the other vampires showing their true forms while the Prince of Vampire slowly walked away from us. "Bring the girls. Kill the other ones," he spoke as he walked away from us, but¡­ "Silver. Can you create a spear made of blood for me?" I asked Silver, and she nodded before a spear formed from the tip of her fingers in an instant. She then passed it to me, under the bbergasted looks of that principal, Am, the vampires and the Prince of Vampire. But before anyone could react -sh! -sh! -sh . . [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] . . I began using my spear skillsbined with my Skill. While I could have let Silver handle these small fries, I don''t want to wait that long. While I will let them deal with each other slowly, Silver and Quinn, I mean. But I won''t wait for anything else. [You have gained +250 Exp] [You have gained +125 Exp] . . Numerous messages began to flow as I cut down the vampires one by one, but it was frustrating to see the bar rising so slowly. Well, I could only sigh in the end as I saw most of the vampires dead right in front of me. Why was I killing them despite knowing that they had families in this world? Because they were scumbags¡­ all the more after they became vampires. "Huh?!" Shocked as they saw the death of the vampires one by one like they were dropping like flies, everyone just observed me with a question filled face. The principal was confused, Am was shocked, Silver was smiling like crazy while Caroline seemed really proud of me right now. -BOOM!! Then I saw the Prince of Vampire moving towards me as he pulled a strong punch but¡­. Silver came in between as she stopped the attack without any effort, making Quinn even more surprised than before. His eyes glowed more and more red as he took a step back. Taking off his shirt, he revealed his ripped body, which was tattooed with strange symbols from his front, all the way to his back. I could even see a couple of ck marks that weren''t part of the symbols, as if they were the scars of war. "Who are you guys¡­ clearly you aren''t from the vampire society.." he spoke as he looked at me with a deep gaze before observing Silver with even more caution than before. Unlike other people who had taken me lightly, I could see him having his guards up high against me. He already activated his spell that will allow rapid regeneration in case I do something, while also activating another set of taboo spells as if he were preparing for a fight till death. ''He has good instincts¡­ too bad he is on the wrong side,'' I thought as I saw Silver and spoke,"I will let you deal with this one." She nodded at me before her body glowed a little as a strange pattern of red began appearing on her face and her eyes which were red before, now turned ck. She looked at that vampire and spoke, "It is an honor to meet the Prince of Vampire¡­ pity that we have to meet like this." And then¡­ ¡­ ¡­ The scene changedpletely¡­. "Huh?" My eyes just looked at the scene in front of me. nkly staring in front of me¡­ "What the heck?" I spoke as I saw something unbelievable¡­ Silver and that Prince of Vampire were gone from here. The vampires that I killed a moment ago were now ying volleyball in front of me. No¡­ they weren''t vampires anymore¡­ They were humans now. "Hey, Carol-" I turned around to find Caroline, Am and the principal gone as well. My voice broke as I looked at the empty area where she was before¡­ My eyes shrunk as I questioned what had just happened¡­ what was going on¡­ "Hey! Who are you?" one of the kids asked as he looked at me at court while the others also stared at me while they began murmuring with each other,"what are you doing here?" they asked. "I¡­ would like to know that too¡­" I spoke as I grew confused more and more. Chapter 271 Changed Reality ? My eyes looked at those kids for a couple of seconds before I moved out of the courtroom, leaving the question-filled face unanswered. I then took out my phone and observed Caroline calling me already, -Click! -Michael! What happened?! DId you do something? Why am I suddenly back at our college? "I will talk once I get there. For now, take care of yourself and don''t make any moves. Lie low, okay?" I spoke as something didn''t feel right about this. -Okay¡­ everything is fine, right? I am getting a bad feeling Caroline asked with a worry filled voice and I nodded as I answered,"yes. It''s fine. Don''t worry. We will meet soon. Till then, you stay with Alissa and do your part of your work, okay?" -Okay. Take care Michael. Love you. Click The call got disconnected as I walked out of the dorm before pondering a little¡­ Just what could have gone wrong- -Bzzz Bzzz ''Hmm? Is it Caroline again?'' I thought as I looked at the phone only to find something unbelievable on it¡­ [Leeway Rosalyn] The phone showed, making my eyes widen as I looked at the phone number¡­ It was my best friend''s. The one who died a long time ago in that valentine incident. "Just what is going on here?" My eyes were puzzled. I could feel my blood pumping a little more than before¡­ The call was cut off before¡­ it rang again [Leeway Rosalyn] -Click! -Hey Michael, are you there? A familiar voice, which should have not been present at this time, spoke from the other side. There was no mistaking it¡­ it was him¡­ -Hello? Moshi Moshi! "Yeah¡­" I answered with a broken tone and he hurriedly began speaking, -Ah! Why weren''t you answering? Anyway, scratch that¡­ Can you meet with me immediately? I need your help. Urgent! I¡­ can''t exin this, but I believe you can help me¡­ you are the only one I can trust. Mike, will be waiting for you at the usual spot? "Sure," I answered as the call got cut and I just closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. I was focused really deeply as I pondered about what could have happened and what I should do next¡­ and what is the purpose of all this happening? Seems like things just got interesting again. "The usual spot, huh?" I thought of one ce that came to mind when I thought about that¡­ I then took a deep breath as I moved out and, not pondering much, I looked for the most urgent flight back to my city. It should take about 7-8 hours but since we don''t have much time¡­ [Time Reduction(Level 1)] [Description: By the passage of time, you have now gained the ability to interact with one of the focal elements of the fourth dimension: Time. The ability to reduce time by a certain amount depending upon the level of the ability. Effects: Reduce the amount of time required for a task by 5% Skill Points required to level up the Skill: 1] Putting the 6 points in the Skill [Time Reduction(Level 4)] [Description: By the passage of time, you have now gained the ability to interact with one of the focal elements of the fourth dimension: Time. The ability to reduce time by a certain amount depending upon the level of the ability. Effects: Reduce the amount of time required for a task by 20% Skill Points required to level up theSkill: 4] [Skill Time Reduction has been set to be used in [Multiple Copy] Slot] ''How long will it take to reach if I run at my full speed to my city?'' I pondered as I wondered if I could use my sh steps continuously or not¡­ more likely I can give my [Ethereal] body. [8 Hours: 15 minutes: 14 seconds] ''The next flight is in 6 hours, but thending and everything else will take more time. Even reaching the spot from the airport will take about an hour or two,'' I pondered a little as I thought of a possibility before a smile appeared on my face¡­ ''What if I remove inertia using [Time Rejection]? Will it be possible?'' I gave it a thought for a couple of seconds before trying it using the future vision¡­ and yes it worked perfectly¡­ that was a bit scary and overwhelming though. And then I closed my eyes as I activated my ability [Time Reduction!] [Time Reduction(Copy)!] [Time Rejection!] ''Take a deep breath and¡­'' -BOOOM!! I jumped as fast as I could towards the ce where my supposedly dead best friend was supposed to be¡­ -BOOOM!!! -BOOOM!! -BOOOM!! Each step of mine was creating more sts than before as I elerated more and more. [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] I had to use that skill over and over again without any breaks as I ran with my eyes closed. [Space-Time Map] was my only guide at this speed as I ran fromnd to water, faster and faster. Time passed as I kept running and running, without giving myself any breaks. I did not know how much time passed as I ran at my full speed that I was currently capable of using all my skills in the arsenal. And after some time, I finally sawnd again as a familiar city appeared in front of me and, taking a deep breath, I jumped in the sky to not create problems for those on thend. While using the same principle, I elerated so fast; I decelerated in the sky while I kept using the [Time Rejection] over and over. And soon¡­ I stopped in my tracks as I reached deep into the city. I made sure tond on a roof where nobody was, making sure I didn''t gather any unnecessary attention. ''How much time did it take me to reach here?'' I questioned as I looked at the status and [1 Hours: 23 minutes: 13 seconds] "Hah! Hah!" my lungs were hurting a lot as I fell on my back on the roof. I could feel my legs breaking apart as I could feel them throbbing incessantly. For a couple of minutes, I justy there as I used [Time Rejection!] over and over to heal myself. Though I was hurting, it was slowly fading away as well. And as I caught my breath back, I stood up and began walking again. I still had to meet that idiot at that meet up point. -BZZZ BZZZ! The phone rang again as I saw the same number dialing again [Leeway Rosalyn] -Click! Hey! Where the heck are you? I have been waiting for an hour now? You okay right? "Just a few things came up, but I should be there in about¡­ 15 minutes?" I spoke as I caught my breath, and hearing my heavy breaths, he panicked a little. -Hey! Hey! You sound like you ran two marathons at once¡­ take your time, bud¡­ no need to overexert yourself. I will be waiting here. "It''s okay. I will be there," I then cut the call as I looked at the door of the roof before looking at the building connected to this one. "Guess I will be taking the shortcut then," I chuckled as I began running again¡­ this time a lot slower¡­ from one roof to another. Chapter 272 Leeway Escarte ? ''Those memories of mine that burn like a silent me. There is little warmth in them, there is little fury too¡­'' . [Michael''s POV] . . I stood near the park where our life collided first. I stood at the ce where I first met Leeway. It was pure coincidence¡­ from the start to how it happened; it was one coincidence piled over another¡­ now that I think about it¡­ it was freakishly coincidental. ''I hope I am wrong,'' I thought as I moved into the park towards the big tree at the center of the park, slowly taking one step at a time as I took in the surroundings. While we were kids, we had a tough bond that could have only been separated by death¡­ just like it did. And this was our turf, each and every corner of this park was our area, our kingdom¡­ it was childish¡­ it was something that we cherished. Moving towards the ce where he stood, I was soon blessed by his face as he stood there with a slightly worried expression that soon changed into a relieved one as he observed mine. A smile blossomed on his face as he looked at me and he waved his hand at me. My eyes observed his blue eyes, that were calmer than the silent ocean at night, and the messed up blonde hair of his that reached a bit below his chin. I looked at the grown up Leeway Rosalyn standing in front of me. "Hey! You¡­ look different? You okay?" He asked as he reached towards me and I was still struck by what I was looking at. It really was Leeway¡­ he really was alive¡­ Moving a bit forward, I hugged him tightly as my heart beat quite loudly. I was happy¡­ despite all the doubts I have about him, despite all the confusion I have with this scenario¡­. The mere fact that I could meet my best friend again¡­ I couldn''t be happier. "Hey! Hey! Hey! I am into chicks! Creep!" He then pushed himself away and covered his body with his arms, as he looked at me with a freaked out look. "The heck is wrong with you?!!!" He shouted with a tear in his eyes as he looked at me, while I was simply smiling at him as he took another step back. "Just felt like it has been a long time since I had met you¡­" I said as I smiled even more than I observed him and his eyes brightened a little. He observed me for a few moments as he spoke, "You too, huh?" His words made me a little confused as I looked at him,"???" He shook his head as he continued speaking,"okay forget about that. I called you for something really messed up this time¡­ Hey¡­ Michael¡­ Do I have a sister named Alissa?" Hearing his words, I grew a bit confused,"well¡­ what are you talking about¡­ obviously you have one, don''t you?" Though my words made him only widen his eyes as he moved closer to me, held me by my shoulders as he spoke,"can you repeat what you just said right now?" I was confused but nodded,"You do have a sister. Alissa Rosalyn¡­ is there anything wrong with it?" His heart skipped a beat as he took a step back as he looked at me and sighed before he closed his eyes, took another step back and sat on the green grass beforeying on his back¡­ "The way you are speaking¡­ Michael¡­ Can you be honest with me for a couple of seconds?" He asked again, and I sensed that there was something amiss in this entire thing¡­ "I will try my best," I spoke as I looked at him and he continued, "Are you the Michael who lived with me, or the one who saw me dying in the Valentine incident?" My heart skipped a beat as I observed him. Did I give away any information¡­ no, even then, to arrive at this conclusion would take more than just some information. "You see, I have two memories right now. One in which I have a sister, Alissa, and another one in which I don''t have her¡­ It''s not the only difference that there is in the memories, but many things collide with each other while others separate. For example, we are still best friends in both the memories, but in one I am a runaway, while in this memory I am¡­ Well, not going too deep, in the first memory, I died after the Valentine incident, but in this I wasn''t even close to the Valentine incident, I was far away in another nation¡­ You get what I am saying?" I nodded at him as I spoke,"I don''t have memories of this ce. I have memories of the timeline where you died¡­" But my mind was focused on something else¡­ ''Alissa was an adopted child. Did she not get adopted by the Rosalyn Family this time? I hope she is fine¡­ it''s gonna take some time to find her,'' I thought as I looked at Leeway, who was getting more confused by the second. "This is more oddity than anything I have seen up until now¡­ " he said as he stood up while observing me with a careful look. His eyes concentrated at me as he pondered before continuing, "Well. I believe the answer to this mystery lies between you and me¡­ and probably Alissa, too. After all, everything changed from the point where I met Alissa and where I did not. Before that, the memories are pretty much the same." He spoke as he kept thinking. His previous nonchnt aura was gone, and he was much more different from before. It''s as if I was looking at a different man altogether. He kept bbing about a lot of things as he kept eyeing me over and over. I too observed him with slight curiosity¡­ he isn''t a zombie too, is he? [Inspect!] [Name: Leeway Rosalyn Race: ??? Title: ??? Description: ??? Energy: ???/??? Status: Healthy Stats: Strength: 34 Constitution: 36 Dexterity: 45 Intelligence: 49 Wisdom: 89 Charm: 82] ''My, oh my. Now this makes me even more curious than before.. Was he always like this¡­ or is he a different Leeway altogether?'' I thought as I looked surprised at him. His eyes turned golden for a minute second as a shocked expression appeared on his face as he spoke, "What?!!!" I looked at him a bit cautiously as I wondered if he saw through my [System] or something¡­ "Is there anything wrong?" I asked carefully as I observed him, analyzing him properly if he were to make a move. "Nothing. It''s just¡­. You are too weak¡­ you weren''t this weak before¡­ all your energy is gone," he spoke as he looked at me in disbelief. His eyes confused, they turned golden over and over again. He tried analyzing me many times, but looking at his expression, it didn''t seem like he got any readings of my energy. "Ah!" suddenly a realization hit his head as he spoke,"of course¡­ you didn''t know the previous mepletely¡­ so¡­ you never knew about the Power of the Heavens¡­ this is¡­ going to be harder than I thought." And it made me a little confused¡­ curious a little. Chapter 273 The House Of Leeway ? "So¡­ why are we here?" I asked as I found myself standing in front of a big mansion entrance. This ce did not exist in the time where Leeway had died. Looks like I need to check a little on how much the world has changed. "Don''t tell me you forgot about my house, too?" He asked, really surprised, and I just gave him a small smile as I answered, "You did not have any house at all in my timeline here. You live in the hostel with me, remember?" Hearing my words, he recalled bits of his ''new'' memories as he nodded. He made a slight bbergasted face as he looked at me,"all this must be pretty amusing to you, wouldn''t it?" I chuckled as I nodded,"it sure is." Then his face turned serious as he continued,"let''s go in. There is a lot that you need to know." I then saw him walking into the house as the gate opened up by itself, and behind him I walked as I carefully observed the entire area. It was a lush green forest before we reached the wide in garden that was intricately decorated. It felt as if I had entered a medieval kingdom''s castle, as the mansion was shaped like one. Previously, it wasn''t visible due to the forest, but now it was pretty much clear in front of me. Walking towards the mansion, we reached near the gate where a couple of butlers were standing as they observed Leeway with respect and spoke,"you have returned, master? I thought you were not going toe for another week or so." "Change of ns, Gabriel. Come with me, we have a certain situation," Leeway spoke as he walked in and I followed behind Leeway. The butler, a bit confused, also walked behind Leeway, but he did not ask any further questions. The inside of the castle wasvish, nheless. A wide hall, big enough to host a party, circr stairs that covered a quarter of the circumference before they reached the first floor. It looked as if I was in a fantasy world of queens and kings. It was a one of a kind experience. "Brother. I thought you were gone," spoke a man as he was surprised to look at Leeway. He was Adriel, the first cousin of Leeway. He is here too? "Adriel," Leeway spoke with a stern voice as he observed Adriel looking at him with the same surprised face as before. Looking at how Leeway was observing Adriel, it didn''t seem like there was any friendly bonding between them. And the reason was, "Why are you living with such low lives as him? You are above them. Helping these objects will only slow us down¡­ all the more since the Dawn of the Vampire King is upon us," he tried persuading Leeway as he started spitting nonsense, waiting no time. "Vampire King?" I grew ''surprised'' and ''confused'' as I looked at the exchange between the two brothers. It was one of a kind experience. Even in my previous life, I didn''t see Leeway getting this serious. "I will exin everythingter," Leeway hushed me before turning to Adriel,"it has been the 7th time this month that you have told me this nonsense. Michael is a very powerful asset, and he has proved himself many times. I don''t have the energy to exin this to you anymore if you are not gonna understand even that much." I looked at Adriel''s Status and I was surprised¡­ he was pathetic. Hmmm¡­ is it just Leeway who is special here? Let''s wait and see. Maybe his parents might surprise me? "But brother-" Adriel wanted to almost grab me, but Leeway stepped in between as he red at Adriel, making him step back a little. "Don''t. Even. Dare." Leeway spoke as his eyes turned golden and Adriel fell on his butt, shivering as he wet his pants immediately. Looking at things escting, the butler, Gabriel, stepped in between as he spoke,"there was something important you wanted to discuss, master?" Leeway understood the hidden meaning and sighed before speaking,"yeah. Let''s go to the Testing Room¡­ I want to test something." Nodding, Gabriel took the lead while Leeway turned at me as his eyes signaled me to follow him. With a small sigh, he ignored Adriel and started walking behind Gabriel. Me too, ignored that guy and walked behind the duo. Walking, taking multiple lefts and rights, we reached a certain gate that was muchrger than others. Gabriel took out a bunch of keys and, after looking through the keys, he then found the key to the door. Pressing the key inside the door lock, he then opened it without much effort. "Wow!" The inside of the room was filled with a strange golden light that covered the entire area. I could see a bunch of golden butterflies flying around in the room and a golden sphere at the center of the room. Walking inside the room, I noticed that the room was quite big. The fact that it was all empty made it look even bigger than it already was. Leeway then walked towards the center, to the sphere and ced his hands on the sphere as he pressed a little. I did not see what happened, but I could feel his energy being passed down into the sphere at a rapid rate. And not long after, I saw a certain number appearing on the top of the sphere as a massive amount of butterflies flew around Leeway. | 2,321,918 | That was the number that was present on the top as Leeway removed his hand from the sphere. "You always surprise me, young master. You have gotten strong once again. Your parents will be proud of you when they hear of this news," Gabriel spoke as he looked at Leeway with a bright look. "No. Don''t tell them yet¡­ I feel there are more forces in the dark that are ying with us¡­. For now, I would like to keep this a secret. Even from my parents," Leeway spoke as he gave a threatening look to Gabriel. Gabriel wiped his sweat as he chuckled before speaking,"as you wish, young master." "Michael¡­ try pouring your energy into it," Leeway then spoke as he looked at me. This time with a contemting look. It was as if he was praying for something to ur¡­ or something to not ur. I nodded without any question, as I kind of understood what was going on. It was a sort of energy measuring device, wasn''t it? Though I wonder if it can read my energy¡­ I doubt it. Moving towards the sphere, I touched it with my hand [You are in contact with the Holy Energy Amplifier!!] [Congrattions to the User for finding another one of the Fundamental Forms of Elemental Energy: Divine Energy] [Compatibility Ratio: 2%] [Would you like to allow the [Holy Energy Amplifier!] to assess the user''s Divine Energy?] ''Divine Energy, huh? Seems powerful¡­ Now that I think about it, there was Ether too¡­ I wonder if I should master both of them¡­'' I gave it a thought before passing it to the back of my mind. We will cross the bridge when that timees. For now¡­ I then pressed [Yes] as I flowed in my Divine Energy into the sphere¡­ and the result was.. Chapter 274 Basic Boring Knowledge ? | 247 | "Sigh¡­ I don''t know if I should be happy about it or sad," Leeway spoke as he shook his head in slight dejection. Gabriel, who was observing us, was quite confused at the moment. Though I could see a glint ofplexion in his eyes as he saw the number before looking at me. "Nothing. Gabriel¡­ actually something happened," Leeway then began to exin the story of Alissa and two memories he had. He also exined how I had memories of the other life and not this life¡­ which made Gabriel a bit surprised, but he then calmed down a little as he smiled, "Do you want me to teach Michael how to use his energy properly?" Leeway nodded with a smile as he looked at me and spoke,"you can trust Gabriel as much as you trust me." ''None?'' I questioned. Even though this guy was my best friend¡­ I did not know if he was my best friend. But still, there is no harm in taking things slow. For now, let''s observe¡­ I nodded at him, making him smile as he then spoke,"Gabriel. Tell him the ins and outs of this ce. And make sure he doesn''t get harmed by any of my brothers or sisters." Leeway sure looked like the party leaders you find in fantasy worlds. He had that charisma, too. Sad that he looked like he was trying too hard at everything he was doing¡­ "I will leave now, Michael. Gabriel will fill you in with everything. See youter," Leeway spoke as he moved away from the room, leaving Gabriel and I by ourselves. I saw his back slowly vanishing away from my view as I then turned to Gabriel, who seemed to ponder a little before speaking, "It would be better if I start from the beginning." "You don''t hate me?" I was a bit curious. The previous butler and that cousin of Leeway, Adriel, were pretty much open about their hatred. They might even kill me if they had the chance to¡­ but I wonder why Gabriel acts differently. "I do," he answered honestly. Though I still didn''t find any hate inside of him. "But that and this are different. It is my duty to fulfill my master''s wishes. What I feel has nothing to do with what I have to do," he said as he looked at me before continuing,"if you stop smiling like an idiot, then can we begin?" I chuckled as I nodded before letting him speak. He then began to exin about vampires, which was pretty much the same as what I heard from Silver. And then there were things about dark forces that are in control of most things. They are far more dangerous than vampires, but for some reason they don''t take any steps unless they really want something. Then he added about the rtionship between the Holy Empire, which Leeway was a part of, and its allies, who also wanted to get rid of all the dark forces. ''The dark forces? I wonder if it has anything to do with Ang¡­ Let''s find that outter,'' I thought for a couple of seconds before turning towards Gabriel. "So these allies of the Holy Empire¡­ what kind of people are they?" I wondered if they were worth taking control over or not. "The Crimson Church contains holy vampires and witches who fight against the dark forces. As for the hunters, they are a bunch of assassins with special powers and take on any form of a job. They not only hunt vampires but also humans. All that matters to them is the price," spoke Gabriel as he pondered in bits about it. "Who is the leader of those hunters?" I asked as my interest piqued¡­ by themselves they are worthless, but if I add something of my own, maybe I can make things interesting? Let''s see what we can do here¡­ "That is something that nobody knows," Gabriel spoke as he sighed before adding,"all we know is that it''s something really powerful, someone who can rival the King of the Holy Empire or the Queen of the Crimson Church." "Nobody saw him or her?" I asked again with my curiosity piqued up, but Gabriel simply shook his head as he answered,"no. Anyone who has seen him is dead by now." ''Interesting,'' I thought as I pondered deep about it before moving back to the previous topic, "What about the dark forces?" "They call themselves Dark Oracle and in the eyes of the general public, they are nothing but a myth. Only the highest of each faction is allowed to make contact with them¡­ that too only by their permission. There isn''t a white line for them that they are bad or good. They kill as well as save, so it''s kinda hard to paint them with one color. But one thing that everyone agrees with anonymously is that they are monsters among monsters. Each and everyone of them. If they dere you dead¡­ then you are dead," Spoke Gabriel as I could see genuine fear in his eyes. "Okay¡­. That''s enough for me¡­ is there anything else we need to do?" I asked as I looked at Gabriel, who was back to his poker face as he spoke,"I am going to give you some books that you need to read and practice. You may not know anything about this, but you need to learn it. That''s the only right way to gain power in this world." I then saw him walking outside the room as he gestured for me to follow him. Though I was bored, I decided to follow him through the castle as I reached near a library. Gabriel moved near the corner as he took out a bunch of books and slowly brought them to me. "Here. Start with these. This should help you build some basics," he spoke as he then ced the books on the table right in front of me. His eyes looked around before speaking, "I have some errands to run, so I will be leaving. I will return by the end of the day to check on your progress." I nodded at him before he vanished from there in an instant. I could see his movements pretty much clearly and using the [Space Time Map] I could see that he was running outside the mansion towards a certain entity. Did somebody or something intrude into this mansion? Not caring much about it, I opened the book for a couple of seconds, went through the records as I understood half of it. Perhaps because my intelligence stat was so low that I wasn''t able to understand anything? Maybe¡­ Not even a few minutester, most of the people who were present in the surrounding area also began moving towards the entity that Gabriel was fighting. Seems like the fight is big¡­ ''Damn! It''s one against 12 now¡­ must be pretty strong,'' I eximed a little before I closed the book. To be honest, both the book and the fight weren''t really interesting for me. ''I should meet up with, Caroline,'' I thought for a few seconds before I decided to do something else first¡­ "Ang." I muttered her name as I called her towards me, using the thread she formed when we had sex. Never knew that I would use it too soon and for something like this¡­ Chapter 275 Another One ? [Minor R-18 Scenes] . "Ang." I called, and the space distorted as a string from the deepest corner of my soul ignited, connecting me to the other side of the string where Ang was currently working on her projects. Through the portal, I saw Ang sitting on a wooden chair as she worked on something. Though, currently her eyes are wide open as her face is towards me. She looked at me stupefied as she checked her own contract¡­ and once she confirmed it; she grew even more confused than before. Her eyes fixated on me as she slowly stood up from the chair she was sitting and walked here through the portal, reaching closer. Her eyes observed me carefully for a couple of seconds as she then reached much closer to me without speaking anything. Her eyes were confused as she then moved a bit closer, touching her lips with mine. The kiss wasn''t anything lewd but a pure kiss as we both just stood there for a minute or so. Then she took a step back as an extremely surprised expression took over her face. "Holy Fuck!" she eximed as she looked at me. She touched her lips for a few seconds before she moved in closer and¡­ kissed me again¡­ this time lewdly as she hugged me tightly. ''You started the fire,'' I thought as I held her tightly by her waist and put her on myp as I sat on the chair, while we kissed for a couple of minutes or more. Would have loved to take it to the next step but there were a lot of answers that I needed right now, so I separated her a little from me, before looking at her beautiful white face. "Care to exin what is going on?" I asked as I saw her enchanting smile. If I am not wrong, then she already has her memory of this side too. "I don''t know¡­ in this reality I am not the one to watch over Earth," she answered as she kept sitting there while she added,"in this, I still haven''t been caught by the Zombie King, and my current master was still far, far away from me. I was worried that he would find me¡­ but it looks like fate had other ns for me." This time it was my eyes which widened. She wasn''t the one overseeing things here? That makes things a bit moreplicated, doesn''t it? "Do you have any idea why all this is happening?" I asked again and Ang nodded,"Belial is a general who possesses the power to bend reality. If I were to guess, then he was the one who did this¡­ though there is one thing that makes me doubt it''s him." "And what''s that?" I had a general idea that it could have been Belial who did this. "This level of reality disruption is¡­ kind of beyond him. Could be he got powerful or could be that he got an artifact or something," she spoke as she thought of the possibility. Her eyes are still questioning things. "Okay, wear some clothes now," I said as I held her breasts in my hand,"they are kind of distracting me." "Want to get more distracted?" she gave an enchanting smile before she kissed me again, and touching her cheeks, I spoke with a slight chuckle,"we got things to do. Plus, I want to know who is the head if it is not you." "Okay¡­" there was a slight dejection in her voice as she stood off me and a ck-coloured dress appeared on her body, covering her from top to bottom. "Make your charm go lower and hide your powers. For now, hide yourself too¡­ Let''s get out of here," I spoke as I stood up from the chair and moved out of the room. While Ang turned invisible, I moved out of the castle, with the help of [Space Time Map] it was easy to move through the castle, and without much difficulty, I moved out of the castle. The fact that all the guards went out to take out that person who entered the mansion premises made things easier for me. It did pique my interest in who he was, but the fact that I have met dozens of people who can do that, didn''t really make me feel like ''Let''s go check it out.'' Ignoring the entiremotion, I moved out of the mansion and then looked around for a couple of seconds before I began walking. For now, let''s just blend in with the public. "Ang," I called out as she appeared behind me and began walking with me as sheced her arms with mine. Despite her charm being off, there were still many people turned at us as we walked. I looked at Ang for a few seconds before a smile formed on my face. before we kept walking through the crowd. [Inspect!] [Inspect!] [Inspect!] This time, I kept using [Inspect] over and over, left and right, as I watched the entire crowd busy in their own ways. ''So the reality has changed this much, huh? Guess we are also turning things back to where they were,'' I thought as I realized that it was totally a parallel earth in many ways. There were vampires, witches and various other beings walking among humans. Even though the ratio of humans was more than 70%, still 30% of non-humans wasn''t anything to scoff at. Though, fortunately, none of them were strong enough- "Huh?!!" I then found my hand tugged against something. Somebody was holding my hand real tight, and it wasn''t Ang. Within the crowd, it was difficult to see who it was, but I could make out that it was a girl¡­ Holding that girl''s hand, I then moved to a more clearer spot where the crowd was pretty much less inparison. If it were a beggar, then I could just give her something. If it were a person who got lost, I would just help her get back. But for now, it would be better if we were to reach an empty spot where I could see her. Passing through left and right, I slowly dragged her and Ang to a clear spot where we could see this girl. "Huh?!" My eyes widened up as I saw that girl standing in front of me with her puppy eyes. She looked at me as if I were her Messiah. She observed me as if I were her salvation. "You know her?" Ang asked as she looked at that girl with a curious expression. Icked words to exin as I saw the cute girl in front of me, in herte teens. I simply nodded as I spoke,"yeah¡­ I do¡­" Hearing my words, a bright smile appeared on her face as she observed me with a crying expression over her scarred face,"Sir Michael¡­ do you remember me?" It did not take much time for me to connect the dots. She was like Caroline and Walter¡­ someone who carried memories of the past¡­ in other words¡­ "She is the 4th regressor who came with me back into the past," I spoke as I looked at that girl widening her eyes as she dashed at me and hugged me tightly. But¡­ "Which fucking bastard did that to you? Tell me¡­ Irene." I spoke as fury entered my eyes. Nobody touches what''s mine¡­ no fucking person¡­ [Author''s notes: Irene was the green-haired girl Michael met right after waking after 6 months. Remember when the apocalypse urred, then Michael saved a girl who was in the post atomic world? Whose father was killed? She was Irene.] Chapter 276 Irene Campbell ? [Irene Campbell''s POV] . Last week, I was fighting against zombies with my life on the line. I had lost my family and most of my friends. If not for Sir Michael, I might as well have lost my entirety by now. But it was fine¡­ at least things were moving forward to a better end¡­. Or at least that''s what I had thought. I regressed back in time. About 6 months before the apocalypse urred¡­ I had thought it was my chance to change everything, save my father from ever dying. I had to repay Sir Michael as well, so I was nning to meet him in a week or two, but prioritized working harder to be stronger than ever while making sure all my friends survived¡­ I had already invested in stocks, earned a lot back and did a lot of other things which were moving my life forward to a better future.. But then¡­ Today¡­ I woke up, only to find myself in a room which was smaller than a bathroom. It was a single bed, and the smell was worse than you''d find in the slums. For a second, I questioned if I were dreaming¡­ for a second, I wondered if this was a nightmare¡­ s, it was not. Searching around the ce, I found myself in a prostitution center, as I, one of the prostitutes, was working there. For a second, my heart sank as I did not know what the heck was going on anymore¡­ just what in the world is happening? First thing that I did was to call a couple of people I knew but¡­ they denied my existence at all¡­ all the more, it wasn''t just them¡­ some of them outright said that the ce where I lived didn''t exist at all. It was getting worse and worse¡­ was I still in my world? Those men who were working there found my behavior strange as they asked me what was wrong. I tried to faint ignorance, but they started cussing me and began moving towards me with their eyes filled with disgust. I guess it had be an innate memory, but I was able to kick them and run away from the center. Though that was the beginning of my horror. Wearing a bikini, as I ran down the alleyways, I met one scum after another. Some were weak, some were monsters in their own¡­ or perhaps I had grown far too weak. While some regarded me as ''interesting'' others saw me with pure lusts¡­ I wanted to cry¡­ In just a few hours, I was losing any hope of living anymore.. But I was a survivor, so I kept my will and hopes up¡­ something good was bound to happen¡­ as long as I survive¡­ I will live another day. And my hopes did not betray me¡­ I saw him. He was walking through the crowd as I escaped those prostitution staff. Michael Aroa was walking through the crowd with the same gusto, with the same smile, with those same analyzing eyes. Just like always, he was observing everything, as if he was reading through people. And that slight cunning smile that he had¡­ he was still nning something¡­ Looking at him, I couldn''t help but run to him. Even if it means exposing my position, I am willing to take the risk¡­ I just need to reach him¡­ I believe in him¡­ Walking through the crowds was difficult. It was hard to move forward and reach him¡­ please let me reach him¡­ I saw that he was getting farther away as I was moving¡­ I need to run¡­ I need to run¡­ With all my fears and anxiety, I finally reached him¡­ held his hands tightly as possible. Please¡­ save me¡­ Much to my happiness, he held my hands tightly and started moving much faster. We walked for another few minutes, as we reached an open area, before he turned around to take a look at me. And he was surprised¡­ his eyes were widened up¡­ "Huh?" I heard him exim a little as he looked at me from top to bottom. Perhaps all my worry was being washed away, and all that was left was sorrow and tears that started escaping through my eyes. "You know her?" a girl beside her asked as she kept her arms tucked in with his. She had a familiar face¡­ wait, isn''t she the Witch of Darkness? Ang Reas? The one whom Michael fought before? I was surprised as I looked at her¡­ "Yeah¡­ I do¡­" His voice brought colors to my face as I couldn''t help but ask,"Sir Michael¡­ Do you remember me?" He stood there as he answered,"She is the 4th regressor who came with me back into the past," but his expression was turning furious. I just ran to him as I hugged him tightly¡­ I finally felt safe after running from those bastards¡­ It seems fine now. It is fine now. "Which fucking bastard did that to you? Tell me¡­ Irene." he spoke in a furious tone as I cried a little more before I felt his hands covering me. He slowly pulled me away and took out his shirt and covered me from behind, as he spoke,"Let''s first get you dressed up properly. And get you something to eat as well." He spoke as he sighed and then patted me while I wore his shirt. He looked around for a couple of minutes before his eyes fixated in a proper direction. "Let''s go," he spoke as he held my hands and began moving in the opposite direction where he was walking towards. Ang too started walking beside him without caring much about the situation. In fact, her eyes were ncing at me every once in a while¡­ Not long after, we reached a certain clothes shop, which looked reallyvish, to say the least. I observed his face as he was thinking something before making a call,"Hey Leeway. I am at this shop called ''Bing Clothes.'' Can you send one of your butlers here? I need some quick cash¡­. Okay¡­ thanks¡­ Where are you though?... All right. Catch upter." After he was done with the call, he then turned to me with a smile,"let''s get you a makeover too, while at it." I could only get embarrassed at this¡­ I never thought that there would be a day when a man would be doing this for me¡­ well¡­ Neither in a situation like this, of course. I nodded at him as all three of us moved into the shop¡­ but the guard stopped us at the entrance. His eyes looked at Michael, then Ang, and finally at me. He then spoke with disgust as he spoke, "No ves are allowed in this facility." His eyes were observing me for a couple of seconds, but Michael asked first, "What ve?" He didn''t seem like he was hiding his rage right now¡­ his cold, serious eyes were locked on the guard¡­ but the guard didn''t flinch at all. He pointed at me and spoke,"that upside down leaf mark is the ve mark of The Vintages¡­ you aren''t even trying-" And Michael simply brushed his hands against my neck before asking¡­ "What leaf?" The guard just stood there for a few seconds¡­ as he observed me again¡­ this time¡­ a little stupefied¡­ a little horrified. Chapter 277 Slaves ? [Michael''s POV] . "That upside down leaf mark is the ve mark of The Vintages¡­ you aren''t even trying-" and looking at the leaf mark on the side of her neck, I brushed my hand past it [Time Rejection!] And the leaf mark got erased, leaving no mark at all. Turning back at the guard, I asked, "What leaf?" My eyes looked dead serious as I observed that guy, who was looking at me, stupefied. Observing Irene, he looked at me as if I were an idiot or something,"All right. Go¡­ I don''t want to argue with an idiot." I did not understand what he meant, but as we were passing, I heard him say,"to free his own ve.. Just what kind of idiot is he? She is simply going to be caught again¡­" Which made me wonder more about that mark. Sadly, none of us knew anything about it at all. Walking into the shop, everyone gasped as they looked at us, more specifically at Irene. Their eyes were pretty much filled with disgust before they took a few steps back. The receptionist almost moved towards us to kick us out, but then¡­ "Are you Sir Michael?" One of the men from far behind walked towards us hurriedly. His eyes were smiling until he saw Irene¡­ though a glint of disgust also appeared in his eyes. He then changed it immediately before he spoke,"Sir Leeway informed us about your arrival." ¡¤?¦Èm ''Didn''t I ask him to send a butler or something? Well.. this is better,'' I thought as I gave it a bit of thought before looking at that guy. "Manager?" The receptionist spoke with surprise as she observed the exchange between us and I nodded at him,"Show us your best pieces. I havee specifically for her." I pointed at Irene, making his eyes widen while everyone else gasped out loud¡­ they were looking at me with a really odd face now. I looked around before I sighed,"can you hurry up?" The manager was smart as he nodded immediately"follow me. Hey, La,e with us." La, the receptionist, though skeptical, still nodded before she followed us as she moved beside the manager. A slightly heated argument began between the duo as they walked ahead. The topic was obviously Irene. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Irene spoke as she looked at me and I smiled,"Yup. It''s pretty much fine. Did you forget who I am?" And her eyes glinted a little as she blushed behind me, while Ang was grinning from ear to ear. We reached the edge of the shop where the clothes were more extravagant than the previously disyed ones, and the manager and receptionist were still arguing.. "Which one do you like, Irene?" I asked as I looked at her and she began pondering as she walked around observing each and everyone of those clothes. Her eyes went through various clothes before she turned to the receptionist,"do you provide customization?" It stupefied the receptionist as she looked at Irene, talking to her with no sort of fear. It was as if she were talking with an equal. "To a ve like you-" the receptionist was about to retort, but the manager stepped in between as he spoke, "We do¡­ just that they are a bit more costly." "It''s fine. Just give her what she wants," I said as I looked at the manager with a smile that wasn''t really one. "Then will you pleasee with us to the measuring room?" an awkward smile formed on the manager''s face as he took us to a room behind the one where we were where various machines were present. "La, take her measurements and help her find what she wants," the manager ordered her to do it, and despite being reluctant, she nodded. Her eyes were ring at Irene before she took her measurements and asked her what kind of dress she wanted. While they were busy, I looked at the manager as I asked,"Can I ask you a question?" The manager gave an odd smile as he nodded before I asked,"Can you tell me why do you¡­ or perhaps all the people around treat ves as if they are something beneath you? Is it just a simple ideology, or is there something deeper behind this?" After I asked, the manager turned quiet for a couple of seconds before he sighed as he asked,"Can you answer me this first¡­ you are not from here, are you?" I nodded as I answered,"All three of us aren''t to be honest¡­ we just have our circumstances." My answers made him widen his eyes as he asked again,"she is not a ve, is she?" "That¡­ is difficult to answer¡­ but she is not what you take her for¡­ now¡­ answer me my question," I spoke as I looked at him and he seemed much more relieved than before as he spoke, "Okay¡­ I will regard you as a child and exin from the beginning. Will that be fine?" I nodded at him before I observed La moving towards the machine as she began sewing the dress. "Since you are connected to Mr. Leeway Rosalyn, I assume you know about the other races, too." He spoke as I gave him a nce before turning back to Irene again while he continued, "In the history of this world, only humans existed, but at some point, various races began toe out in light. Vampires, werewolves, undead, ghouls and various other races. Not only them, but people using dark and light powers too emerged. While each of them had their own history, there was a specific race that was known for buying and selling humans¡­ They were called Goblins." "The green monsters?" I asked as I looked at the manager, but he shook his head as he added,"not the fantasy kingdom you read in the stories. That''s just made up by the goblin haters¡­ Goblins are humans who use the power of greed and sloth to control other beings. They aren''t exactly ugly, but their ways and actions are. Back to the topic, they used various humans and bred with them. Girls used to get caught all over the viges and settlements and kept for breeding purposes. This continued for more than a century as an entire race of the bred race came into picture. Long story short, rebellions and wars urred and the bred race gained their freedom and lived a couple of centuries on their own¡­ before the goblins rose in power again. They gained some kind of dark power, which made them more powerful than ever. Imposing the ve Law as they hunted the people on whom they once ruled, they started business in prostitution and other vile things as they used to do¡­ " "Let''s see¡­ It''s the goblins who spread hate against the ves? And they are strong. No one messes with them?" I asked as I looked at the manager and he sighed, "That''s the jist of it. Though the hate isn''t just from that¡­ the ves¡­ they are more than just poor people¡­ they are assassins, thieves¡­ in order to live and survive, they started doing everything that was wrong and worst¡­ earning the infamy more than ever¡­ and the result is¡­ what you just witnessed right now." My eyes concentrated on Irene for a while. While I could go on and look into how the Irene of this reality ended up being in the situation she was¡­ I decided it would be better to let her decide on what to do and what not to. It was her life, after all. She should make the decisions of who gets to live and who dies. Though after hearing so much about this¡­ I was actually happy¡­ ''I can easily level up without worrying about killing innocent people,'' I grinned a little as I observed Irene making Ang chuckle a little before I saw Irene going inside with La. ''How long before Irene dies or gets thrashed by La or anything like that if I and Ang don''t interfere?'' [1 hour: 14 minutes: 16 seconds] ''Hmmm. So La is smart enough to not do anything stupid behind our backs, huh?'' I was kind of surprised, after all the hostility she was showing us. My eyes turned to the manager as he was analyzing me and, more importantly, Ang. He looked quite mesmerized, to say the least¡­ While I was wondering a little about a couple of things regarding my next move and stuff, and I wondered if I could¡­ simply wipe out the goblins? How much Exp would that be? ''Not like we got anything else to do,'' I thought as I turned to Ang and a certain idea appeared in my mind. While we are here¡­ why not build a secret organization of our own? Hmmm¡­ though I would need to find my people again¡­ George and others¡­ I wonder what they are doing right now¡­ "Hey! How do I look?" I saw Irene happily walking out of the room. Her facial scars were still there, while she smiled like a beautiful maiden. Wearing that sleek ck top and blue jeans, she looked much better now. "Is there any shop where we can get a makeover without unnecessary trouble?" I asked the manager, and he pondered a little before speaking, "If you don''t mind, I can do that myself. I have an expertise regarding women''s fashion from top to bottom." I looked at him, as I used [Inspect] for a few seconds before nodding,"sure. That''d be fine. Just put the bill in Leeway''s name." And he nodded while La just looked at our interaction¡­ stupefied as her eyes were threatening to pop out of her sockets. Chapter 278 The Vintage ? "How do I look?" Irene asked as the makeover was done. Her green hair over her purple eyes was shining better than never. All the scars previously present vanished as she stood there with an idiotic smile on her face. I chuckled as I saw her face before looking at manager. "I will put in good words for you in Leeway''s ears," I spoke as I kind of understood what he wanted from all this exchange. He gave me a knowing smile as he bowed before we decided it was time to move out of the shop. Our next destination? The Vintages¡­ Let''s bring them down first, "Sir! The Vintage''s people are here!!!" A staff member came running towards us with a fear stricken face as she looked at the manager, who groaned in front of us before a deep sigh appeared on his face. He looked at me for a brief moment before speaking,"You guys can go from the back¡­ I will handle things here¡­" Though I just stood there with a smile as I looked at Ang yawning while Irene looked at me as if waiting for my response toe. I gave it a brief thought before speaking,"no¡­ It would be wrong of us to put you in a problem and just run with our tails tucked between our legs." The manager was confused as I turned to the staff and asked,"show us the way. They are probably here for us." The staff just looked at us for a few seconds before turning to the manager¡­ I just smiled at him. He wanted to say something but stopped himself as he asked,"Are you sure you can handle them?" "The Vintage?" I asked "Yeah¡­ they are a small group, but they aren''t weak by any means," He answered, and I smiled¡­"It is fine. I have my means." He nodded before asking the staff to show the way. The staff then took us outside where a bunch of men were ransacking the ce while carrying guns in their hands. We walked towards them slowly as their eyesnded on us. "Are you the manager?" one of the guys asked me and the manager, Erwin, moved forward as he spoke,"I am¡­ do you need anything from me?" "You fucker! One of our girls walked in here¡­ you don''t happen to see her, do you?" The guy who seemed to be the leader spoke out with a spiteful voice. He pointed the gun at the manger as his eyes turned a bit red¡­ he was a¡­ ghoul, huh? The manager looked at me for a moment as I smiled before speaking,"Irene¡­ deal with them except the leader. Though leave the finishing blow to me, will ya?" Irene looked at me and nodded before moving towards those guys as they grew confused¡­ before a loudughter came out of that leader''s mouth. "Pfft- You got that ve a makeover? Hahaha¡­ I have never seen anything funny like that in a while¡­ And what did you say? Her? Kill us? You don''t seem to understand the situation here kiddo," that guy spoke as the red leaf tattoo on his neck started glowing and he spoke, "Kneel!" I saw Irene stopping for a brief moment as he spoke those words. I did not know what was going on but¡­ [Time Rejection!] I canceled whatever the effect it was producing. And then¡­ silence covered the entire area. Erwin, La, and the staff members looked at the scene stupefied as Irene just stood there with a relieved smile on her face. Meanwhile, those men gawked at Irene with a question filled face before looking at the leader guy. "I said FUCKING KNEEL!!!" the leader shouted again as he saw Irene and [Time Rejection!] Once again, when Irene didn''t kneel, things took a drastic turn as those guys gulped before looking at Irene. "We must get her¡­ or the boss will kill us," one of the guys spoke as a red-coloured tattoo appeared on his arms and he moved forward. Irene, who was standing there trying to understand what was going on, looked at the man moving forward to her. Clenching her fist, she took a step back as she dodged his fists while using her legs, she counterattacked in his groin before hitting him on the face -POW!! [Time Rejection!] Which immediately broke his jaw, breaking and dislocating it. Then another punch followed from below -POW!! ¡¤?¦Èm Which shattered the jawspletely. Another one at the ribs [Time Rejection!] Another one near the stomach [Time Rejection!] And finally, one kick to push him away [Time Rejection!] I made sure this does not kill him, as I wanted to get the Exp from them. Even if it is 10 or 20, it is still fine. Killing a couple of thousands of roaches like them will give me enough to level up at least one time. After that guy flew away, everyone looked at Irene, who was cracking her knuckles. The leader was the one who was most shocked¡­ looking at his expression; it seemed he knew Irene of the past¡­ "Who are you? You are not Irene¡­ but you have her signature¡­ How is it possible?... Just what is going on here¡­" He mumbled something which gave me a little idea of what was going on¡­ but I still wasn''t sure, so I decided to wait for a couple of moments and more. "What should we do, boss?" one of them asked with aplex expression as he observed Irene with a slight shiver. One can observe his hands getting sweaty as he held the gun in his hands. As for the others, they just stood there, waiting for the leader tomand. "We need to capture her. Whatever is going on, the leaders won''t be happy with it. If we let her go, we are probably dead¡­ so capture her with all your might," hemanded as he too ran towards Irene. Some of them clicked their guns while the others carefully moved forwards. As for Irene¡­ she, too, went all out as she dodged the attacks and began beating every one of those fuckers left and right. Her eyes were gleaming as she hit them at their weakest spot. [Time Rejection!] Obviously, I too was helping her from the sidelines as I jammed the guns, stopped their attack and helped Irenend critical hits one after another. In basic terminology, I made her go through the ''Easy Mode'' Erwin and La watched stupefied as they saw Irene beating the shit out of those goons while they themselves were confused about what was going on. And before anyone could understand what was going on, more than half of them fell on the ground with their bones broken at most of their joints. I just simply looked at those idiots falling one by one on the floor. Even if one of them was trying to run, I made them slip on the floor, rendering them unable to get out of here. It took a couple of minutes or more, but all of them fell down on the ground without being able to do anything. Irene, satisfied with the exchange of blows, returned with a smile on her face as she moved behind me while I just looked at the manager, who was stupidly observing me. "You are all dead! Cough cough! To attack the members of The Vintage¡­ if you don''t capture her¡­ you are all so dead¡­ you probably don''t know but she is probably rted to a ve Mark Eraser¡­ you know what happened to the previous one right¡­ " The leader spoke with the best of his ability as I walked towards him. As for the others, their faces turned white as they heard the phrase ''ve Mark Eraser'' and they began looking at Irene with a skeptical look. Their eyes filled with fear and horror. They were about to move towards Irene but¡­ "The Vintage, huh? Are they really that big of a deal?" I asked, as I was quite amused by that guy''s pathetic attempt to rile the public against Irene. "Who are you?.... Are you in love with that ve or something, haha¡­ Let me tell you something kid¡­ The Vintage''s leader is someone you don''t mess with¡­ he works for the Dark Oracle¡­ You probably don''t know¡­ but they are fucking monsters¡­ and nobody messes with them¡­" He spoke and spoke and spoke, while I simply picked up the gun, analyzed for a couple of seconds before -Bang! Killing one of the men [+14 Exp Received!] ''Weak,'' I thought as I shot another one [+25 Exp Received!] [+23 Exp Received!] [+17 Exp Received!] . . . [+20 Exp Received!] As I killed each and everyone of them, I observed the stupefied face of that leader. Not only him, but Erwin and the staff were looking at me as if I were a maniac. "You¡­" he was about to say something but¡­ "Are they¡­ really that special?" I asked again with an amused face,"they should be stronger than these weaklings, shouldn''t they?" "Last I killed a member of Dark Oracle, he too was quite weak¡­ I hope the one your leader works for is stronger than him," I spoke as I really hoped for it. His eyes widened as he looked at me with a horrified face. cing the gun on his forehead, I said,"You do not need to know." -Bang!! [Time Rejection!] I saw that a single bullet wasn''t going to kill him, so I used [Time Rejection!] again. [+45 Exp Received!] Then, I turned around at Erwin, who held his breath for a while now,"Erwin¡­ Can you tell me where the headquarters of The Vintage is? My interest is quite piqued now¡­" Chapter 279 I Am Belial ? Location: Headquarters of the Vintage Time: 14: 23 Day: Thursday June, 20XX . . [BELIAL''S POV] . . "Where are we going?" the new guy, wearing the ck and white suit, asked as we walked into the pub filled with half naked humans, wolves and vampires. Though there was little trace of zombies, it wasn''t enough to find anything. "Walter. Don''t ask so many questions¡­ I don''t have answers to begin with," I spoke as I looked around to collect as much information as I could. "I thought you were omnipotent or something¡­ didn''t you change the entire reality ording to your own will by killing Alissa?" Walter asked as he looked at me a bit confused while he turned to my other subordinate for a couple of seconds. "I am not too sure about that¡­ " I spoke as I myself was confused by this whole thing. "Invidia. Are you sure the current ruler of this is in this ce?" I asked Invidia, the Oracle of Location, to find out about this whole stupid thing. Walter was with me because he kept his memories because of his whole regression thing, while Invidia¡­ well, her all-seeing eyes allowed her to see bits about me, bing a permanent servant once again. Getting into the pub bar where people sold their flesh for lust, I looked around as I tried finding traces of Cessation Energy around the area. Though it was minor, it led me to the second floor, where I could see many guards stationed. "Excuse me, sir¡­ children are not allowed here¡­ is he with you?" One of the armed guards, with guns in his hand, looked at me before turning to Walter with a bit of annoyance. Though before he could speak anything, I moved a bit closer to him as I put my hands in my pocket before speaking, "Take us to your superior." My eyes gray, my voice at a higher frequency, I used a bit of my energy to mind control him, and obediently he nodded before he started moving in a certain direction. I turned to find out one of the men here was trying on Invidia before he touched her and fell on the ground unconscious¡­ permanently. "Geez¡­ deadly¡­" Waltermented as he winked at Invidia before the duo started following behind me. I simply sighed as I walked behind the bodyguard without speaking anything. He took us to the first floor, where another guard, this time a Lycan, stood there as he looked down at me. "Take me to your superior," I spoke again and his eyes turned mellow as he nodded before he too turned around and took us to the second floor. This wasn''t that hard, was it? As for Walter and Invidia, they both simply walked behind me without speaking much anymore. "Is there anything wrong?" I asked Walter. Normally he would make ament of sorts, but him being serious wasn''t a good sign either. "Something is going to happen here," he spoke as he sighed before turning to me as he continued,"I am looking at the deaths of at least half the people here¡­" His answer made me smile a little. Well, it was boring, so a little action would actually be good. I then moved to the second floor where I found a bunch of vampires enjoying with a bunch of humans¡­. Nothing that I would find interesting. "Hey! What''s a kid doing here?" One of the men there looked at me with confusion as all three of us moved closer to him. Though looking at his power levels¡­ nah! He was pathetically weak. "Walter. I will leave the interrogation to you¡­ try to find anything rted to Zombies or Dark Oracle¡­ if they exist in this reality, that is," I spoke as he nodded before a smile appeared on his face as well. Meanwhile, I moved to the railing looking at the club down there from a height. ''I don''t understand what these lowlives find in these kinds of ces. All they do is move their body and sing a little with an obnoxiously loud noise. This is irritating¡­ "I wonder if I should find Kira and mess with him a little," I muttered under my breath with a slight smile as I sighed. Even Michael, who was supposed to entertain me, hadn''t taken any action that would make him famous or traceable. I thought Invidia would be able to trace him, but s she failed too. Though it made things only more interesting¡­ "But the searching part is boring me as hell-" I was ranting as I saw the same man being thrown down the railing from right behind me as he hit the floor down there -Boom! Hitting the ground, a crater was created as the guy groaned in pain. His eyes filled with blood. I saw most of his body was charred ck. "I assume you got the information?" I turned around, only to find one of the men running towards me with his hands turned into ws. "[Shatter]" Imanded in a divine voice, breaking his ws into small pieces all up to his arm. Divine Voice was a gift to anyone who had ascended beyond the mortal realm. As long as they use a bit of their divine energy they canmand anything in the mortal realm¡­ in other words, if not included Michael, the current ruler of this world and that other person¡­ I am close to an undefeatable God in this world. "Kind of¡­ Though it''s kind of odd," Walter spoke as he seemed a bit confused. His eyes looked in a certain direction as he walked slowly, reaching beside me while his eyes kept gazing at the bartender who was previously serving and flirting with the women down there. Though right now, his eyes were looking at the fallen guy with a scared and terrified look. "It''s him¡­ he is the leader of The Vintage¡­" Walter spoke as he pointed at the guy without any change in his confused expression. "Is that so?... hmmm¡­ let''s see¡­ [Reveal]!" I used a bit of extra Divine energy in this. Just being extra cautious, to be honest. And what was revealed¡­ was beyond what I could have imagined. The waiter''s mask came off as his entire look changed, from the previously normal human look with no significant energy to something far more ferocious. "A demon from the Nether realm¡­" I muttered as I saw him looking at his changed appearance. His entire face had turned an ugly red, with two horns and wings sprouting out of his head and back, respectively. People around him began noticing him and a scared expression appeared on their faces as they began shouting and running away. Though the demon didn''t make any move as he looked at himself confused before he turned around. He was, in fact, quite calm about it. "Walter. Invidia. Step back. I will handle this one," I spoke, turning at both of them. I sighed as I saw fear in their eyes before jumping down to the ground floor. Surprisingly, someone beat me to getting near to him¡­ it was a man carrying a silver sword as he tried to sh the demon down. His eyes were blue while his hair was golden yellow¡­ reminded me of that Alissa girl¡­ His eyes turned to me for a brief second as he moved in front of me in a sh as he spoke,"Get out of here kid! It''s not safe here!" Eh? Is he an idiot or something? Who does something like that in this day and age? "Aren''t you basically begging to be killed by trying to protect someone and fight a monster like him?" I spoke as I moved beside that blondie. "Well blondie¡­ move. He is anything you can handle¡­" I spoke as I cracked my fingers but that blondie¡­ sigh¡­ he jumped at that demon again with all his force. ''He is using Holy Energy, huh? Maybe he has a chance¡­ a tiny chance'' I thought as I observed blondie reaching closer to the demon, who had finally finished daydreaming. That demon turned to that blondie and¡­ -BOOOM!!!! Punched him away without much effort. It was like an elephant punching a dog or something¡­ "Well. He deserved that," I spoke as I was about to take another step but¡­ -Whoosh! That blondie jumped again as his eyes turned golden, while his clothes were oozing out a golden light. Moving almost at the speed of sound, he jumped around as he attacked that demon, while also destroying the property around¡­ the fight began in an instant and.. -BOOOM! With a single punch from the demon¡­ It was over in an instant, too. Hmmm¡­ he used Cessation Energy? I looked at the demon with much more interest as he slowly moved towards blondie. "I assume you are the one who revealed my appearance," the demon spoke as he turned at me while he was moving towards the blondie one step at a time. That blondie was out cold unconscious¡­ well, he was asking for that¡­ "It is amusing to see people with strange powers every now and then. To think someone would be able to remove Lord Cable''s illusion¡­ Well, let me just take out the trash first¡­ After that we will get to business," he spoke as he reached the blondie and began channeling Cessation Energy in his hand as he prepared for a finishing punch¡­ but before he could do that¡­ "Now now¡­ let''s not cross the line, shall we?" A familiar yet unfamiliar voice was heard¡­ he stood there behind the gate¡­ in his hand was the arm of that demon with which he was about to punch¡­ Chapter 280 Michael V/S Demon Plus Belial ? [Michael''s POV] . . "Now Now¡­ let''s not cross the line, shall we?" I spoke as I held his arm in my hands. While we actually came here to find out more about Dark Oracle, didn''t expect to find a two horned demon here¡­ and then there is that child.. My eyes observed that ck-haired, ck eyed calmly standing there as he analyzed my entire being. He is not normal, is he? Well, we will get to thatter. Ang and Irene should already be up there dealing with the leaders of the Vintages. For now, let''s deal with the mess here. "Who are you?" That demon spoke as he looked at me with a confused expression. I saw the arm in my hand withering at a rapid rate while another grew out of his shoulders as he turned at me. "He is Michael Aroa. An exceptionally strong individual, you better be careful, I must say,"that kid spoke as he looked at us amusingly, making me even more curious about who he was. I tried using the [Inspect] skill on him, but it didn''t work¡­ not even his name was showing. "You know me?" I asked as I ignored the demon for a couple of moments, and the kid smiled as he nodded,"Kind of." -Booom! [Time Rejection!] That demon hit my face¡­ bursting into pieces¡­ And I rejected that oue, making his hand burst into a thousand pieces. Turning to that demon who was looking at me with his eyes wide open, I spoke with a humble smile, "Can''t you see I am talking? You should not disturb me¡­ I have a limit of patience too, you know?" Though it didn''t seem like he understood my words as he proceeded to attack me again with his arms turning pitch ck this time¡­ and [Time Rejection!] -BOOOM!! Bursting before he could evenunch his attack. This time, he jumped on the other side with his eyes locked on me. His arms grew again as he looked at me with pureplexity on his face. While I simply smiled at him as I spoke, "Come on now. No need to be afraid of me. All I need is a couple of answers from you." Though he didn''t seem to be believing a single word I spoke. "With that wide grin on your face. Hah! Even your best friends won''t believe you,"that kid spoke as he walked towards that demon and spoke,"let me help you a little. Show me what you can do," before he muttered,"[Evolve]." [Time Rejection!] [Error! Time Rejection Failed!] My eyes shrank just a tiny bit as I saw that message before looking at that demon changing forms, with his two horns getting more pointy and increasing in girth and length. His body also grew with his eyes turning pitch ck. The previously red skin was darker now and strange tattoos appeared on his face and chest. "An archdemon, huh?" I thought as I looked at his [Status]. Surely he was more powerful than before¡­ much more than before. Though rather than being worried about him, I was more cautious about that kid¡­ That demon, who was previously looking at me with slight fear, now had a lot of gusto in him. Looking down at me, as if I were a bug¡­ sigh¡­ looks like his mental ability is still as pathetic as before. From the piles of troubles, I took out a steel rod that came out of the concrete and, finding it long enough to be a spear, I smiled as I nodded before rotating it around my body for a couple of seconds. Not bad. "I will tear you limb by limb and show you what does it means to mess with the demons,"that demon¡­ archdemon spoke with a smug as he raised his hands and pointed his finger at me and continued,"your head will be a trophy to my lord Mordock." Rotating my ''spear'' at an insane speed [Time Rejection!] I cut his arm again. This time in such a way that it would spring away from him. Then [Time Rejection!] I caught it perfectly before anyone would notice. There was a slight dejection on my face as I spoke, "Is that so?" Silence covered the entire area as I saw that demon look at me with eyes looking at me as if I were a freak, while the kid looked at me with pure amusement. I could see him almost breaking augh as he contained it within his smile. Was he doing this for fun? "Enough of your trickery! Die!!!" He shouted as he jumped at me with all his might but¡­ [Time Rejection!] -BOOOM!!!I think you should take a look at His leg broke on his first step, making him fall to the ground. His energy exploded while he was building up and while he was trying to escape it¡­ his nerves broke, failing to give a proper reaction time. Blood sshed around the area as I looked at him, barely breathing as he fell on the ground. "Cough cough¡­ monsters,"he spoke as he slowly helped himself up once again. His injuries were healing at a rapid rate, as it took only a few seconds before he stood up on his feet and observed me with a far more serious look than before. "Come on now¡­ you should be thest one calling me that," I chuckled in amusement as I observed him before¡­ -sh! I shed towards that kid who was observing me¡­ though my sh never reached him. It simply vanished from there as if it had never existed. ''Okay¡­ let''s try again,'' I nodded, keeping a few things in my mind as I aimed at his legs this time¡­ -sh! [Time Rejection!] This time the air sh did reach up to him¡­ it hit him as well¡­ but something happened. That kid was still standing there. With not a single scratch on his face. Even though I could bet that the sh did hit him and inflicted an injury, I did not see any as I observed him. ''It''s like Time Rejection¡­ the reality has changed,'' I came to this conclusion as I observed that kid¡­ before I asked, "Who are you?" He smiled at me brightly as he answered,"While I would love to reveal that. I believe it is still not the time to do that. I still have some more things to do here before I cane back to the main dish." I did not understand his words, as I simply observed him. This one is strong¡­ he is dangerous too, obviously¡­ So how should I proceed now¡­ "Are you ignoring me?" I saw the demon reaching closer to me and¡­ -sh! -BOOOM!!! Pushing that demon away with a single swing, I turned at the archdemon falling away from me. With [Eyes of the Time Keeper], it was easy to see the future and observe the best path to counterattack. It wasn''t worth enough for a warmup. "Can you just shut up for a few seconds? I am trying to concentrate on something important here. I promise I will get back to youter," I was annoyed a little. All this mysterious identity stuff was making me irritated. Then I took the first step towards the kid, who was simply smiling at me with his hands at his back. I couldn''t read his face at all¡­ what was he thinking¡­ what was he nning¡­ I had no idea. "ytime is over, kid¡­ " I spoke as I ced the rod near his neck. I didn''t find any change in his expression. He was not tense even one bit as he spoke,"no Michael. The Game has only begun¡­ And I really hope you can entertain me." Then I saw myself being pushed back by an unknown force¡­ in the future, that is. [Time Rejection!] I used that skill as I shed his neck¡­ this time; I saw him jumping back as he muttered,"Whoa now! That was dangerous!" Though I could feel the sarcasm in his words as he jumped a little above and stood on one of the broken tables. "[Replicate]!" he muttered as he looked at me while his body multiplied all around me. There were at least 12 of them surrounding the area as all of them simultaneously spoke, "You are strong Michael. I will give you that¡­ but you aren''t the only one¡­ keep that in your mind." He then jumped at me with his hands glowing purple. But before he could touch me¡­ [Time Rejection!] Combining the effect of [Time Rejection!] and with my spear skills, I counterattacked the kid who was closer to me. As soon as my sh connected with his body, he vanishedpletely. Next were the other dozen who wereing at me with the same intention¡­ The fight escted too fast as they started using different weapons, showing extreme mastery in them. If not for [Time Rejection] I surely would have lost here. Though after a struggle of a few minutes, I was finally able to defeat all the kids. -p! p! I heard the p from above as I saw the kid on the first floor. "We shall meet again, Michael. Next time, hopefully it would be more entertaining than it is now,"he spoke as he vanished from there [Time Rejection!] [Error! Time Rejection!] I sighed as I saw him gone¡­ before I looked at the demon, who was dumbfounded looking at me with pure stupefaction¡­ "Apologies for the disturbance. As you can see, I was a little upied. Now then, let''s begin our ''conversation'', shall we?" I smiled¡­ making him take a step back with his body shaking a bit. Chapter 281 Walter And Invidia V/S Irene And Angela ? [ANGELA'' POV] . . I looked around as I teleported Irene and myself on the second floor, directly from outside the building. Michael did say that he found some energy signatures inside that were kind of uncertain to handle, so he asked us to be here and deal with things on the second floor. "Still¡­ I never thought I would run into someone like you," I smiled as I looked at that girl in front of me. It was a girl with fluffy purple hair, with her eyes covered by a brown blindfold. Her darkplexion reminded me of a certain race that was lost in time¡­ "Walter,"Irene spoke out with a surprised expression as she looked at that other kid standing beside that blindfolded girl. Looking at that guy¡­ I think it was one of the kids that was with Michael, wasn''t he? "Hey. Irene. Fancy seeing you here¡­ came here to enjoy the pub? Not a fancy timing, suppose?" he spoke as he looked at Irene before turning at me with a slight dejection. "I take you as Ang¡­ and Sir Michael is down there too?" He added with aplex expression before speaking,"Invidia¡­ be careful of that girl in ck hair.. She is¡­ strong." He then created some fireballs in the air as he looked at Irene and spoke,"So Irene. How is life going?" before throwing the fireballs at her. Skillfully dodging the fireballs, Irene answered,"Not really that great. I just found out that I belong to a race that is more of a ve race of sorts¡­ tooplicated to exin." She then picked one of the legs of the broken chair and began running towards Walter, who simply created more fireballs as he answered,"Sounds rough." Meanwhile that girl, Invidia, was it? She ran towards me as she took out two small kitchen knives and began attacking me skilfully. "Now that is a peculiar choice of weapon," I chuckled as I saw her reaching closer to me, stabbing me in the heart with those two weapons, while I simply stood there with a smile on my face. Noticing that something was wrong, she immediately jumped back a few steps, leaving those stabbed knives still in my stomach as I absorbed them. Though I didn''t destroy them immediately, but rather transferred them to my hands as I spoke, "Hmmm, these are custom made. More like¡­ a gift, I presume? From my family?" She looked at me with her expression turningplex. Her hands were slightly itching as I saw her observing me carefully from top to bottom. Finding it amusing, I threw back those knives at her before speaking,"you seem like you would cry without them. Here. Have fun." I teased her a little, making her expression a bit more twisted than before. She then muttered something iprehensible as her knives started turning cold and cold, before she ran towards me with all her might. "Take a break, will you?" I spoke as I used a bit of my powers to stop her exactly where she was. Her steps, which were faster than sound, were now frozen in front of me, while she looked at me with slight surprise¡­ slight horror. She tried her best to break free, but I chuckled as I saw the energy of those knives slowly dying with the passage of time. Walking behind her, I clicked my finger as I let her free. She looked at me with fear as she stopped her in tracks and turned around and her ice knives started breathing fire¡­ but extinguished before they could reach me. "You are an Alicathan, right? Now I remember. You were one of the 12 of the Belial''s followers¡­ makes me wonder what are you doing here?" I spoke as she looked at her, still silent as ever. Now that I think about it, she hasn''t spoken even a single word¡­ was she mute or something? "Miss Ang¡­ Can I ask you not to tease her so much?" Walter spoke as he dodged Irene''s attacks skillfully while adding his own spells to counterattack hers. His eyes were quite focused on both of us. I think you should take a look at ''He is watching out for me¡­ '' I saw those eyes of worry¡­ Belial is here¡­ Though¡­ I should have been able to sense him if he was here¡­ "Why kid? Are you in love with her or something?" I teased him a little before looking at Invidia as I added,"So¡­ Alicathan¡­ Do you have any more magic tricks to show, or are you out of options now?" I looked at her for a couple of seconds as I sat on one of the sofas while I observed that girl giving me a silent re. She then sighed deeply before she spoke,"I generally don''t speak¡­" And then the air got heavy¡­ extremely heavy¡­ Makes me smile a little¡­ it was one of the abilities of the Oracle¡­ Everything she says is absolute¡­ Though it costs her life. "But it''s-" Though before she could utter even a single word, I ran closer to her and covered her mouth as I added,"No, love. I am immune to any or all fate bending abilities¡­ and my curse is way stronger than anything you can do. Save your precious life for something better." Rather than listening to me, her eyes turned to Irene and chuckled. I smiled as I added,"And if you take her life¡­ you might end up making someone angry that might eradicate your entire for revenge. Why not try using your Oracle Eyes for that?" Listening to my words, her expression turned pretty confused as she looked at me before she turned to Irene. For a couple of seconds, she didn''t do anything before she turned to me, as if asking me to move back and let her check. Smiling, I did that while also taking care that she didn''t do anything stupid. Invidia then took out her blindfolded eyes, revealing pure sapphire-like blue eyes that felt like they contained the entire universe in them, with which she turned to Irene¡­ and her eyes¡­ she widened beyond what I had hoped for. ''Hmmm¡­ what did see to make her expression turn like that?'' I thought as I observed her. She was having a hard time understanding whatever she was looking at before she turned to me for confirmation¡­ though as soon as those blue eyesnded on me¡­ She started vomiting out a lot right in front of us. I observed her breaking in front of us before Walter appeared behind her and said,"Stop bullying a kid, will you?" as he chanted something, making her body heal at a faster rate. "She is strong enough to erase this entire by herself¡­ calling her kid will hurt ego. You clearly don''t get girls, do you?" I spoke as I looked at Walter, who just shook his head and said,"Ouch! Stop rubbing salts on my wound. Anyway, I think we should leave now¡­ just tell Sir Michael that try finding the ruler of this current world. If he can do that, he will be able to find what he needs." Then I saw him slowly vanishing from there without leaving any trace. I could have stopped him easily, but I then saw Irene unconscious¡­ with a curse that no normal person can remove¡­ sigh¡­ Kid is smart. I then focused a bit of my energy to remove the curse while the other to stop them from running away¡­ though for some reason¡­ it didn''t work¡­ It was as if I never used my powers to stop them. "The reality changed¡­ Belial¡­" I was sure it was his doing. Well, let''s focus on Irene for now. Using the rest of my energy, I then removed the curse from Irene, who then woke up hurriedly and punched at me. "Easy there, darling. You might hit this weak old me,"I smirked as I stopped her punch, making here out of her shock and finally look around. "Did I¡­ lose again?" She asked as she looked at me and I nodded as I spoke,"you did fair for a human with no powers whatsoever." ''Though your friend here never intended to harm you or kill you¡­ or else you would have been dead long before the fight began,'' I assessed the situation as I looked at Irene, who seemed to understand what I was just thinking right now. "But it seems like¡­ the situation is a bit moreplicated than we thought,"She spoke as she looked at me before standing up again. I nodded at her as I also understood the gravity of the situation. Looking around, the rest of the men were more or less dead now. Nothing worth collecting information here. "Shall we see how Michael is faring?" I asked as I looked at Irene and she nodded before slowly getting back up,"thank you," she added before beginning slowly walking towards the railing. I followed beside her as I reached there and looked down at the ground floor. The current scene was a kind of amusing, to say the least. There was a handsome kid in golden, unconscious in the corner, and an archdemon who was shaking to his boots as he observed Michael as if he were looking at his nightmare. Meanwhile, Michael had a steel rod in his hand with an evil grin on his face as he spoke,"Apologies for the disturbance. As you can see, I was a little upied. Now then, let''s begin our ''conversation'', shall we?" And the devil took a step back while still shaking down to his boots. Chapter 282 Trifling Matters ? [Michael''s POV] . "Apologies for the disturbance. As you can see, I was a little upied. Now then, let''s begin our ''conversation'', shall we?" I smiled¡­ making him take a step back with his body shaking a bit. Smiling, I moved closer to me as I sensed the presence of the two strange people above vanishing from the second floor. My eyes reached up to find Ang standing there. Her expression seemed like she had a lot to say. ''Well, we wille to thatter. For now, let''s deal with this one here,'' I thought as I moved closer to that demon, but 4 men d in ck, wearing masks of different shapes and types, appeared in front between me and that demon. Not only them, there were 3 more persons with the same presence who appeared up there around Ang. Though it didn''t seem enough to worry about, after all¡­ they were all weak. "He is strong¡­ we must run¡­ you can''t handle him,"that demon spoke with fear, still instilled in his voice, making the other 4 look at me with even more caution than before. One of them tried analyzing me with his red eyes before he added,"but he doesn''t have even an ounce of energy in him¡­ are you sure about that?" The others feltplex about this as they observed me. -AAAAAAAA!!! A sound came from the top as all of them looked above. A guy wearing the same ck dress as those men fell down burning in a ck re before he withered like a broken doll. His eyes gouged out of its socket as his body twisted inside out before turning into ck charcoal. This scene horrified those 4 men as they looked at me before gulping and beginning to vanish but¡­ [Time Rejection!] "Come on now. What''s the hurry?" I spoke as I looked at the guy who was capable of using teleportation magic. That shit is rare, to be honest¡­ Though his eyes were filled with fear as he looked at me. "I will buy sometime¡­ you guys run," one of them brave enough to step up¡­ jumped at me with all his might. The demon was about to stop him, but it was already toote. "I will give you¡­ 2 points for bravery," I spoke as I shed once in the air and [Time Rejection!] [You have gained +125 Exp] And it hit his weakest Vital point, killing him in an instant as his body fell on the ground. I, then, turned to the other guys who didn''t even manage to move from their position. Their eyes filled with horror looked at me as if I were the devil himself. "Come on now. All I want is to have a conversation¡­ Why are you guys making this difficult?" I spoke as I smiled at them, taking one step closer to me, while they took one step away from me. "What do you want to talk about?" The demon, while still afraid of me, asked with some courage while the others just observed me with a horror filled face. -AAAAAAAAAA! -AAAAAAAAAAA! "I-" I was about to speak but I heard another scream as two men came falling behind me as they too burned into charcoal in the same manner as the previous one did. -Thud! -Thud! I turned around to see Irene and Ang jumping down from the second floor as they stood behind me, without any change in their expressions. Ang seemed quite bored, while Irene seemed like she had a lot on her mind. "Now¡­ First things first. Who are you guys?" I asked as I looked at them. Their eyes looked at us with a stupefied expression. I mean, we came here to take out Vintage while also trying to find out about the Dark Oracle, but I have been fighting all this time without knowing if they are Vintage or not. "..." "..." "..." For the next few seconds, an awkward silence filled the air while Ang shook her head and so did Irene. While those guys looked at their dead pals, wondering what exactly was that they had died for? "Hmmm¡­ you guys from Vintage?" I asked to avoid any further confusion, and they nodded as they looked at me. I then smiled as I spoke,"then it''s fine. We more or less came here to wipe you guys out anyways." "..."I think you should take a look at "..." "..." Their eyes widened again as they saw all their hopes dying as soon as I spoke those words. That demon looked around as if trying to find an escape¡­ "May I know the reason for my death¡­" one of those men spoke as he looked at me with a fear filled expression. His eyes were still trying to think as much as they could. "Hmmm.. where should I start with.. Is it that you eat children literally, kill and r*pe women here and there or is it the fact that you extort money from poor and kill them for fun? Well, the list goes on and on,"I spoke as I looked at his [Status] using the [Inspect] spell. Their expressions turned pretty ugly as they observed me. Though I had no intention of letting any of them leave at all. They were worse than scum that I encountered in the Apocalypse. "Ang¡­ Find their connection with the Dark Oracle," I sighed as I spoke while I turned around to look at Leeway, who was still unconscious on the floor at a distance. -AAAAAA!!!! -AAAAAAAA!!!! Meanwhile, those people screamed at the top of their lungs as I reached Leeway. Looking at him, it doesn''t seem like he was injured much. ''When will he wake up?'' I asked as I looked at him [12 Minutes: 13 seconds] I nodded before using the skill [Time Reduction] to reduce the time by 5%. It was a minor thing which wasn''t going to achieve anything, but since I had the capability to do it, I decided to go with it. After checking his pulse and everything else, I finally confirmed that he was pretty much fine and decided to leave things be as they were. My eyes focused on the other side as I saw Ang finally being done with everything. Only the Demon was standing now¡­ or sitting on his knees with pure fear in his eyes as he looked at Ang. He wasn''t as afraid of me as he was of Ang now¡­ "What did you do?" I asked as I walked towards her, making her smile a little as she spoke,"showing a bit of reality to this worm. He seemed to still not understand the gravity of the situation." "My lord Mordock¡­ he is going toe here¡­ and once he finds all this mess¡­ you are going to regret this,"the archdemon spoke as he looked at me¡­ though looking at his fear-filled expression, it seemed like he was doubting his own words. "And is he connected to the Dark Oracle?" Ang asked as she sent a dark energy making him bow down even more than he hit his face on the floor. "He is the direct subordinate of¡­ Lord Cable¡­ you are going to regret messing with him¡­ he is beyond ruthless-" "What did you say?" Ang looked a bit surprised as she observed this archdemon. More appropriately, she was surprised to hear that name. "You know this Cable person?" I asked curiously as I observed her and she nodded,"not exactly, but¡­ I figured out something. Michael, in this reality, Belial isn''t the ruler of this¡­ the current one is¡­ Demon Queen, Urs¡­. This is¡­ not good." Ang seemed genuinely worried about the whole situation as I waited for her to collect her thoughts and exin. "You know the Queen''s name?!!!!" That demon was genuinely surprised as he looked at Ang while she spoke, "Urs, one of the upper queens of the Demon realm, was strong enough to challenge the Zombie King in his early days. Though from what I have heard, she was killed by the Zombie King before he started taking control of the demonic continent. She is strong but¡­ that is not all Michael¡­ she is one of the focal parts of the entire Demonic realm¡­ And if she isn''t dead, then that means¡­ in this reality, the Zombie King isn''t the only problem we are going to face." Hearing her words, I pondered over a couple of seconds before looking at the archdemon, finally breaking a smile¡­ though¡­ "Is that really a problem?" I asked as I looked at her. We are going to get stronger with time, and we will be stronger than ever. To be honest, I was going to face the Zombie King anyway in the future¡­ adding another powerful foe does make it difficult¡­ but is it something that I should be really worried about right now? "What do you mean¡­ by that?" Ang asked, a little confused as I spoke, "We may face the demon Queen or we may not¡­ we may face the Zombie King and we may not¡­ but our priority is to return to the previous reality and start from there¡­ this ce doesn''t even close to feel home to me, you know? Why should I worry about the problems of a reality I am not even a part of?" I was feeling pretty alien in this ce¡­ not somewhere I would like to fight for my life unless necessary. The only thing that I need to care about are the ones who are with me from my time. Like Irene¡­ and Caroline. Ang is borderline safe, but that is all¡­ "Is that so?" Ang was lost in thought as she looked at the demon before turning to me,"So what is it that you want to do now?" "Right now, huh? There is something that I want to try¡­" I spoke as I smiled at the demon¡­ making him shake to his core¡­ Chapter 283 Firming Roots I looked at the half dead demon in front of me as he barely kept his consciousness. Under the silent breath, one can hear the words ''kill me'' being repeated over and over again, as his emotions were getting less and less numb. "Is there anything else you know?" asked Ang again for the 14th time as she looked at that demon with a silent smile. Despite that cute face of hers, she didn''t look less than any devil right now. Even Irene, who was observing the torture during the first few minutes, decided to move out to get fresh air as she started pitying the demon in front of us. "Kill¡­ me¡­" the demon begged as he kept looking down at the empty space in front of him. I had read most of the things through the [Inspect] skill. But perhaps because the difference between our base power was a bit high, I couldn''t see through him much. Hence, the interrogation¡­ "You want me to go further?" Ang asked as she looked at me with a questioning gaze. Though previously smiling, now she got bored with it. All the more since the demon gave up too quickly. "Do you have any methods to preserve him for sometime? While I don''t need him right now, I could use himter on,"I said as I observed him as I wanted to sell him for Cronas. Hopefully, he will be sold for quite a sum. "Sure,"Ang answered as she created a ck mist out of her hands and spread it around the demon, converting him for a while. Not even a few secondster, that demon vanished from there as if he had never existed. "Done. So. Where to next?" Ang asked as she looked at me with slight excitement. I pondered for a couple of seconds before looking at the still unconscious Leeway and spoke,"for now, let''s collect our people." After that, I moved out of the room, finding Irene standing there as she was simply standing there. Hearing our footsteps, she turned around with a slightplex expression thatpletely vanished in an instant as she asked,"you guys done?" I nodded, making her take a rxed breath before she asked the same things as Ang,"Where to next?" "Let''s go meet Caroline first. Ang, can you transfer us about¡­ 16 kilometers south of here¡­ the direction is almost¡­ this," I pointed while looking at the [Space Time Map] and she observed me a little before nodding as the darkness covered the three of us before we reappeared in front of my University. "That was convenient," I said as I found us on a rooftop of the building right opposite to the west gate of my university. My eyes traced the entire area as I found a couple of familiar faces, but not the one that I was looking for. "Let''s go down," I said as I looked at the lift and, while taking it, I slowly descended to the ground floor. Ang and Irene walked behind me as we started walking through the reception area, making everyone turn their heads at us. Though most of them were looking at Ang and Irene, especially because of their beauty. Ignoring them, we reached the university, soon entering it. The pathway wasn''t exactly long, but since we were taking slow steps observing the surroundings; we took more time than usual to reach the dorm room where Caroline could be. But will she even be there? "Michael!!" I heard a familiar voice from afar as a girl in pink hair ran towards me with a slightly agitated look. A smile formed on my face as I looked at hering in our direction, while I wondered what could have possibly happened to make her that agitated. I had a couple of guesses¡­ Running up close to us, I saw her stopping a few meters away from me. She caught her breath as she barely kept herself on her feet. It took her sometime, but she finally caught her breath before she looked at me and spoke,"You are really Michael, right?" Though there was confusion in her eyes, I could only smile as I spoke,"I take it as the changed reality was a lot harder to take in?" And as soon as I spoke those words, she ran up to me¡­ and punched me in the face, making me fall back on the ground. "Huh?" I was confused as I observed her irritated face. "You could have at least told me about it¡­ do you know how hard it was for me when I saw those unfamiliar faces? And the creepiest fact was that all my friends were no more to be seen¡­ and the unfamiliar people who came up to me as friends¡­" I could see her creeping out as she mentioned those ''friends'' of hers. I got on my back as I spoke,"But I wasn''t the one who did it¡­" Her eyes widened as she looked at me for a couple of seconds before she asked,"but you told me about the time regression you were doing?" "Yeah¡­ but that and this are different,"I said as I scratched the back of my head. I could see why she was confused and why her line of thought ran the way it did. She observed me for more exnation and I asked her,"Remember the Zombies?" She nodded, and I spoke,"their leader is the one responsible for this. I don''t know why he did it or how he did it¡­ but it was him¡­ probably." As I ended my sentence, my eyes turned to Ang who simply shook her head signaling ''don''t look at me. I told you everything I know'' Caroline then moved closer to me as she gave me a hand. Taking her hand, I stood up before she asked,"And? Who are they?" I think you should take a look at ''Ah! She doesn''t know them,'' I almost forgot that in all the regression and reality bending, this was the first time they were meeting. "This is Ang. You do remember her, right?" I introduced Ang first and Caroline pondered a little before she asked,"the leader of Dark Oracle or something?" "Yeah. But in this reality, she isn''t the leader¡­ as for the other girl.." I then began describing the events that led me to meet Irene. Caroline heard it all silent before she nodded at me with a sad look. "Just how many girls are you going to end up with?" She asked in a low tone at which I could only make an awkward smile. It wasn''t in my control, now was it? "So¡­ what are we going to do next?" she asked with an odd expression. It suggested that she wasn''t liking it here even one bit and wanted to go back home as fast as she could. And I shared her sentiment. "For now, we have a couple of goals to follow, but before that, let me get another one of our regressors," I spoke and Caroline nodded,"William, right? Have you talked with him?" I shook my head as I spoke,"I got busy with things left and right. Only now, I am free enough to think about it." "It''s fine. I had an idea that you were busy, so I checked up on your brother. Since he was another regressor like me, I had a slight idea that he might be someone who was from our timeline. So¡­" she was about toplete her sentence before I saw someone waving at us from far. The familiar ck hair and blue eyes as he walked towards us. His smile which was filled with annoyance as he began moving faster and faster until he finally reached me and.. -POW! Punched me in my gut. "The heck is wrong with you a lot?!!" I spoke with irritation as I saw the ever so smiling face of my brother. He chuckled before speaking,"Good to see you alive and kicking, brother. And yeah, for the shit ton of troubles I had in the past few hours¡­ you definitely deserve this punch." As I stood back up, I looked at him with a sigh and asked,"anyways¡­ you okay?" "Not really. I am the current head of the branch of the Dark Oracle in ck Water City. And you know the problems I had with mom exining the reasons to meet you all of a sudden? Man! I just found myself in the middle of a meeting out of nowhere,"he spoke with a dejected face as he observed me while I looked at him dumbfoundedly. "So those spies are with you?" I spoke as I saw those half-Zombies standing at the gate a bit far from here. They were continuously gazing at us, so I thought they might be here to trouble Caroline or William. ''Seems like it isn''t that the case,'' I corrected myself as my eyes focused back on William. "Yeah. They have been following me for quite a while¡­ hard to shake them,"he spoke as he shrugged before observing me again and looked around,"Your Harem Increased?" He was smiling even more than when he first saw me here. This idiot. -Smack! A smack on the head before I continued,"Anyways. Since all of us are here, then that leaves Walter and another person whom I haven''t met yet. But we shall cross that bridge when that timees. For now my n-" As I was beginning to exin, Irene then spoke in between as¡­ "Ummm¡­ I and Ang actually met Walter before we came here,"she added with aplex expression appearing on her face. Chapter 284 The Quests ? "Ummm¡­ I and Ang actually met Walter before we came here." I looked at theplex face of Irene as she observed me before she continued, "Before, when we were at the Vintage''s headquarters, we ended up going against Walter and another girl. Walter and that girl were quite strong¡­" She exined everything and how the battle went, not missing even the slightest bits of details. Ang, who stood there with her hands folded, began speaking as well,"He said you need to try to find the current ruler of this world and you will find what you need. Also¡­ "I saw slight hesitation in her eyes before she continued,"I think he is with Belial now." For a second, I looked at her before I closed my eyes¡­ Hmm¡­ Okay. "Is that so? Well. At least he is safe and kicking¡­" I stretched a little before I saw the surprised expression of those around me. I guess they might be confused so¡­ "If he is our enemy, then it will be cleared once I meet him. If he is our friend, then it will be cleared once I meet him. I was going to meet the ruler anyway, so that doesn''t change anything in our ns either,"I spoke as I looked at them, making them widen their eyes in realization before they agreed. [Save the Kids from the Military!] [Description: The military has been conducting experiments for a long time on orphans and immigrants from other nations, without considering human rights. They have been exploiting this since time immemorial. Every year, millions of people, children, die because of this inhumane experiment, only to produce a handful of super-soldiers that are brainwashed by the military. Requirements: (1) Save the kids from the experiments (2) Kill/Destroy the Military base (3) Find the head of the experiment scientists and make him pay for what he has done. Time Limit: None Rewards: +1 Skill Evolution Point, +15 Skill Points, +15 Stat Points, +Title:Protector] ''Since this quest is still there despite the reality change means that the military is still as shitty as before,'' a slight smile appeared on my face before I looked at the other quests too, [Emergency Quest: Purification of Yggdrasil] Description: The World Order has found the existence of Michael Aroa and has dered him as one of the stray Wanderers with SS-Level importance. After looking at his achievements, they have finalized to give this particr task to him. Requirements: Permission from the World Order Task: -Purify the Branch of Yggdrasil -Find a way to send it back to the World Order Time Limit: Until the branch ispletely corrupted or made pure Current Corruption: 68% Failing Penalty: -The world where the where lives will be engulfed by the Dark Branch Rewards: -A random Unique Blessing of the World -Skill: World Connect -A Leaf of the Dark Branch of Yggdrasil -???] ''Since this one here is too¡­ means the dark branch still exists, huh?'' I thought before I saw the corruption rate going down a little. Wasn''t it 76 or something before?'' I thought as I looked at it.I think you should take a look at I then looked at others, observing me with a thoughtful gaze while I looked at them and spoke,"We will need a base of operation for starters. Since I am most familiar with the Libra building, we will start from there. Caroline goes with Ang and finds out about the situation with Alex, George and White. While you are at it, also take a look at Walter''s friends. They are both exceptionally good, so it is better to have them with us." I gave it a bit more thought and added,"Ang, try to fortify that ce and make sure nobody realizes what kind of ce that is. A strong hold that no one can infiltrate but also is extremely hard to find." Ang nodded at it while Caroline made a determined expression. While it was true, the Libra building is a ce I am familiar with. However, it wasn''t just that, that dungeon in that store, while the original Libra dungeon was also my focus there. ''I need to meet Erina again as well¡­ and Kira¡­ I must get stronger too,'' I thought as I gave it a little thought before turning to William, "Try to collect as much information as you can about the Dark Oracle, but be careful. If anything happens, just make sure to call me. I will be there to protect you. As for Irene, I need you toe with me somewhere," I spoke as I looked at her. William nodded before speaking,"Also brother¡­ I heard¡­ He is alive in this world." "Yeah¡­ Already met him. Though I don''t know what exactly to do with it¡­ he feels familiar yet different," I spoke as I looked at William with an awkward smile, while William smiled back as he cheekily spoke,"if you need me for anything. I am here for you, brother." I chuckled a little as I walked closer to him and raised my hand. He got into a defensive position as he closed his eyes. Slowly, I put my hand on his head as I patted him,"Take care of yourself, William. And if anyone does as much as scratch to you, tell me first, okay?" He slowly opened his eyes as I could see him smiling a little as he nodded,"Okay brother!" before I spoke,"All right. Go now. Take care of each other. Don''t hesitate to help each other in case you can. While everything is important¡­" I paused a little before my expression turned more serious, "You are allowed to kill as many as you want if it means protecting one of your own." All of them nodded at this before Caroline took Ang and started walking away from here. As for William, he smiled before he waved and spoke,"let''s meet again, brother." I saw him walking away while I looked at Irene,"Let''s go. We got a couple of people to save." She was confused a little but nodded before both of us began walking towards the ce that I once hated the most¡­ the military base. Or With that thought, finally I wanted to go alone, but I needed someone who could take the children back to the Libra building. I could also use this opportunity to help Irene get strong enough to defend herself. My eyes looked at the sky, turning slightly darker as the evening graced us. Noticing that I haven''t done my daily mission yet, I decided that I guess I should do that before it''s toote. "Let''s do it in the forest," I spoke out loud, making Irene look at me while I just smiled awkwardly,"ah. It''s nothing." As I was about to get out of the Campus,"Hey! Sucker! Where the fuck you think you are going?" I heard the voice of someone from behind. Turning around, I found a bunch of hooligans looking at us with an irritated gaze. The guy who seemed to be the leader turned to the guy beside him and spoke,"is this the guy?" The shabby guy, who seemed pretty average, nodded as he looked at me with pure hatred. His re filled eyes and those dark circles that made him look like a creep added a color to his deadpan face. "Sorry kiddo. It seems like you have a bad day,"the leader spoke with a slightly uninterested tone before his eyes turned to Irene,"Oh! We have a beautifuldy here too, huh?" Though surprisingly, he didn''t have any lustful look on his face. And neither the people behind him. They looked at Irene before turning at me again, as if Irene didn''t even exist. "Miss. Can you please step aside? We don''t want to end up hurting you in this mess," the leader politely spoke, making Irene even more surprised as she looked at me while I smiled and nodded. She then walked towards the gate while I observed the leader and asked,"May I know how I may have offended you?" "For starters,"he jumped at me at a rapid speed. ''He is fast, eh?'' I thought as I bent back and dodged his punch before taking a step back. His next punch came faster from the left as I took another step back, dodging that too, making him look at me with surprise. He punched a couple of times more before he created a bit of distance as he continued,"you tried your hands on a woman who was alreadymitted. Caroline is an innocent girl and is already taken, yet you made a move on her." His stance changed to that of a professional boxer as once again he moved forward, this time a little faster. His moves were much more sophisticated now but with [Eyes of the TimeKeeper(Foresight)] it was easy to dodge, even with my eyes closed. "But I didn''t do anything wrong. Caroline is currently single¡­ she was never that guy''s girlfriend. She is mine now by her own ord. Why don''t you ask her next time you see her? Won''t that clear everything?" I spoke as I created a bit of distance again. That guy, now a bit confused, looked at me with a slightly serious gaze. "He is lying! Don''t listen to him! Caroline is mine! She is-" he was about to spout some nonsense but¡­ "Oi! Don''t cross a line that you shouldn''t,"I looked at him with cold eyes as he took a step back subconsciously as I turned to that leader guy,"what''s your name?" Hearing my words, he was in a dilemma now as he answered,"Virgo." I smiled at him as I spoke,"If you have some free time, you can actually rify things with Caroline. She is currently in the Libra building. Also, make sure to mention my name, informing that I sent you¡­ that is, if you want to live properly." And then I walked away from there with Irene as I spoke,"let''s go." Chapter 285 An Old Vampire ? "Is it fine to leave them just like that?" Irene spoke as we traveled through the railways on the metro train. The distance should be covered about 2-3 hours before dawn arrives. "Well. As long as those guys are concerned, they are pretty much fine. As long as the truth is clear, they won''t create any problem for us. That was one of the reasons I sent them to Caroline, and Ang will understand the hidden meaning behind me sending those guys to them. ''See if you can add them to our side'' is the other reason I sent them there," I exined, why it was fine for what it was. "What about that kid? He looked pretty infatuated with Caroline?" Irene inquired further and I pondered a little before speaking, "How should I say¡­ It''s like looking at a bee trying to get the fruit of heaven. Simr to how you kill a bee and a hundred more swamps at you, there will be people from his family and stuff who will keep oning at me over and over. Not that I care much about it but since we need to focus on something else, I purposely sent him to Ang. She would wipe out the entire family without anyone letting know, so it''s fine." She looked at me for a couple of seconds before she sighed as she looked out the window,"that''s not what I was asking but¡­ okay.." I smiled as I added,"we are past the ages to act immature about every other creep. If she were in danger for real, I would have killed him without any hesitation. But problems like these are pretty miniscule. Plus, I trust Caroline enough to let her handle things on her own with these. Even without my help, she would deal with it wlessly." I took out a magazine before I started reading it to pass the time. Irene closed her eyes for a while before she fell into a deep sleep. She bent to my side as she adjusted her head against my shoulder and slept for the entire ride. After 5 or 6 hours passed, the train stopped near the Akagawa Station and I woke up to Irene. She stretched a little before both of us got out of the train and looked at the empty station in front of us. My eyes traced around the area before I confirmed that no one was around us. "Well. Since we have a bit more time¡­"I then started exercising there while Irene too started stretching, copying me. [Run 100 Miles(Complete)] [+500 Exp Received!] [100 Push ups(Complete)!] [+500 Exp Received!] [100 Pull ups(Complete)!] [+500 Exp Received!] [100 Sit-ups(Complete)!] [+500 Exp Received!] [Bonus Quest Complete!] [+1 Dexterity] [Level 23: (17,150/20,000)] "Okay. Let''s go,"I spoke as I looked at Irene sitting at the bench at a distance. She nodded as she stood up from her ce and then both of us began walking down the ground floor. "What exactly are we trying to save here?" Irene asked as she yawned a little. I saw her eyes half asleep as she looked around the station as we got out of it. The night was still dark as there were a few hours before dawn and the streets were pretty much empty as well. Except for a small store at the gas station not too far from here, everything else was closed. Moving towards the store, I answered,"there is a military base in the deep forest opposite to this small town. In that base, the military is keeping the kidnapped children from various ces, experimenting on them and using them for their own goods. We are going to save them." There was no change in Irene''s face as she looked straight at the Shop. "Is that so?" she spoke in a low voice as she silently walked beside me by the sidewalk before we reached the store. In the store, an olddy reading the newspaper was present outside the reception area. She used one chair to sit and another to keep her feet. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she looked at the newspaper as she observed me and Irene before she focused on her newspaper again. Irene directly went to buy her necessities, mostly coffee, while I moved towards thedy as I spoke,"Late night duty?" "Well, I''ve got kids to feed,"she spoke in an old sharp voice as she turned the pages of the newspaper. I observed her status for a few moments before continuing, "Must be hard on an olddy like yourself."I think you should take a look at This time she didn''t answer anything as she put her newspaper down and looked at me for a couple of seconds before asking,"what do you want kid?" "Nothing, to be honest. I was just getting bored, so I thought I might talk a little while my girl buys things,"I spoke as I pressed my lips a little. She sighed as she spoke,"you are not from this town, are you?" I nodded as I spoke,"we are here to conduct a survey of sorts¡­" I spoke ''truthfully'' as I looked at her, making her sigh a bit more. She then observed my eyes and spoke,"A word of advice. Stay from the town and try nevering back." Then she shifted her gaze back to the newspaper as she ignored my existence. I wanted to ask her something but¡­ "Hey! Granny! You don''t happen to have some vinegar, do you?" a young voice spoke through the door as 2 men and a woman entered the shop. Though their steps stopped right at the door as they observed me. "It''s on the left corner at the third shelf,"granny spoke as she sighed before those guys calmed down a little. A slight smile appeared on their faces as they moved towards me. "I don''t want any blood in my store,"granny added as she looked at those men and women. They stopped as they scratched their backs and nodded,"Ai Ai Granny. As you wish. We don''t want any trouble. We can wait a little," before one of them moved towards the left corner to take the vinegar. "Hey Michael. I got something for¡­ you¡­ " Irene spoke as she bought a couple of coffee cans and a few more snacks. The eyes of those guys met Irene before it turned a little red. "Cough Cough,"granny coughed again as the glow was gone while those guys were smiling a little more. The guy who was getting the Vinegar hurriedly returned as if his life was on the line and observing us still in the store. He took a breath of relief. "What is going on here?" Irene spoke as she looked at those guys before she looked at me. I turned to Granny, who was still reading the newspaper before I turned to those three. "Well. What do you want?" I asked with a smile on my face as I moved one step closer to them. The one in the center just chuckled as he answered,"nothing, to be honest. We are just happy that we are lucky." I turned to Granny as I spoke,"if I beat them up, will I end up in any form of problem?" "Pfft" Ireneeughed as she looked at me before she smiled at them. While they too were smiling as they heard my words. "As long as it doesn''t happen within this shop, I don''t care what you lot do," she spoke as she turned the newspaper and I nodded. Well, I was not in a hurry to be honest¡­ why? Well, because¡­ [New Quest: Save the Dhampir!] [Description: The Old Vampire, Veriscene, once fell in love with a human. It wasn''t a happy story as the human got killed by the Stray Vampire Knight, Demigo, though he left a seed inside Veriscene, whichter bloomed to be the half Vampire Half human Dhampir, with the strange ability to manipte dark matter. Fascinated by his ability, the Vampire Knight stole the kid from Veriscene, leaving her powerless as she just bit her lips and kept silent. But the fire to save her kids still lingers inside Veriscene. Task: Save the Daughter of Veriscene from Vampire Knight''s Clutches Rewards: Advanced Time Maniption(Skill), +10 Skill Points, +10 Stat Points, +10,000 Exp] The system was strangely generous to me. Giving me a quest as small as this one is a kind of nice¡­ though it made me question a little too¡­ ''The Vampire King is alive in this timeline, huh? Then what about the Prince?'' I thought a bit before, I looked at those three idiots vampire before speaking, "Well. Let''s go outside then. It would be better to not bother the granny, don''t you think?" Those guys nodded as their smiles widened even more. I turned to Irene as I spoke,"wait with granny. I will be back in a minute at most." Irene nodded as I moved towards the gate, while the three vampires also moved outside before I did. "May God bless them,"the granny sighed as she focused outside for a few moments before she turned to her newspaper. While Irene tried talking to the granny just like I did, though her intentions were pure, unlike me, who was trying to figure out more about her daughter. Stepping outside the store, as soon as I stepped on the floor¡­ I saw one of those guys running at me at full speed¡­ -BOOM!!! And got kicked away before he could even touch me. For them to be as slow as this¡­ I don''t even need to use [Time Rejection] here. "Well. This seems a bit fun,"I spoke as I smiled before moving another step towards them. Chapter 286 Veriscene ? "Well. This seems a bit fun," I spoke as I smiled before moving another step towards them. Their eyes widened, surprise filled their eyes. Turning a little, I saw Granny''s expression changing too, while Irene simply kept asking her questions as if nothing ever happened. The Vampire I kicked then stood back up as he looked at me with a re. His fangs showing, his eyes turned red as he roared at me before once again, this time at twice speed, he jumped in my direction. "How fascinating,"I looked at his changed stats as he appeared near me and -BOOM!!! Once again, I punched him. This time on the ground, creating a crater right where I smashed his head. A normal human might have been dead by now, but this guy didn''t even bleed. Lifting him up by the hair, I made him face me as I spoke,"Let''s see. You got fangs¡­ they contain sedatives, huh? How fascinating. And then there are your eyes with mind magic. Other than that, you got super strength and invisibility too, huh?" Maybe it was my casual approach, or perhaps my ways of analyzing that guy as if it were a specimen, but the expression of fear approaching on his face was no joke. It wasn''t just him, but the others behind were equally tense now. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!" A shout came from a distance as I saw another vampire. A Female one who was actually much stronger than the others. Looking at her stats, she was actually stronger than those threebined. I lifted the guy a bit more before throwing him to the other two weaklings as if it were a rag doll. Then I crunched my fingers a little as I looked at the female vampireing at me with a metallic rod. Reaching close to me, she first tried hitting me on the head. ''She is using it like a baton, huh?'' I thought as I slowly took a side step to the left, swiftly dodging it as I saw her movements getting faster. Looking at her skills, it seemed like she was just a strength monster with no proper skills. -BOOM!!!!!! The rod hit the ground as I took another step to the left and turned towards the rod. Without any wasted movement, she swung the rod at me again. Carefully cing my hand above the rod, I jumped as I flipped my body over the rod before Inded on the other side. She, on the other hand, didn''t stop her swing as she did a 360 degree with an even faster swing, this time trying to hit my head. cing my hands in my pocket, I then ducked immediately as I smirked, "Aren''t you a little monster?" Missing my head. The rod reached behind her before she started putting on more strength as she prepared for another swing. But before she could even try -Thap! I hit her hand before holding it tightly at her weak points near the wrists. Getting her wrists locked, her eyes widened as she looked at me with slight horror. Though I just kept smiling as I spoke, "What''s your name?" "It''s Eli,"she answered observing my face with her horror changing into confusion ever so slightly. I left her weapon before I smiled as I spoke,"keep your kids to yourself. There will be no next time," before I walked away from her, leaving her at a stump as she simply stood there. Her eyes looked at the ce where I locked her hand. Ignoring everyone''s eyes, I reached back into the shop, getting closer to Granny. She looked at me with a narrowed gaze as she spoke, "Who are you?" "The name is Michael,"I replied as I smiled at her. Her guard was totally up at this time while Irene chuckled a little as she moved closer to me, tucked her hand with mine as she spoke,"didn''t I say granny? You need not to worry about Michael. He is strong." "What do you want?" Granny asked again as she observed my face for a good while. On thee other hand, I pondered a little before something came into my mind, "I have been sent on a task by someone whose name you cannot know." Growing skeptical, she asked,"What task?" "To save a certain entity named: Gallea. Daughter of the Vampire Veriscene,"I spoke as I looked at her. Her eyes widened up a lot as she stood from the stool.I think you should take a look at "How do you know that name?" she asked as her expression turned beyond shocked. She couldn''t believe what she was hearing right now. Did I say something that was known only to her? "That you need not to know. Well, I was going to find her myself, but I came here to ask you a couple of questions. Will that be fine, Miss Veriscene?"I asked as my smile widened, making her take a step back as she observed me. "Just who the f*ck are you?" Eli entered the Shop too. Her goons were gone, I suppose. "I am Michael,"I answered her before turning back to Veriscene, who seemed to be having difficulty understanding my intentions here. "What do you want from¡­ my daughter?" She asked as her eyes started turning red as well. I gave it a bit of thought. A dhampir who possesses a special ability to manipte dark magic, huh? "I want someone capable of taking over a kingdom of mine and manage it,"I spoke bullshit like nobody''s business. Though I was interested to see if she would work for me or not. "And what if she doesn''t want to do it?" Veriscene asked with her fangs slightlying out. And I answered without hesitation,"I''ll just let her go." "Huh?" Stumped by my answer, she questioned my intentions even more. "Though I doubt anyone would reject my offer. After all, in return for helping me, I am providing a dream life of sorts¡­ only the delusion won''t take it¡­ or those who have already had everything they want." I was running out of nonsense to speak so I decided to end it here and move to the main topic, "On that note Veriscene. Will you answer a couple of questions of mine?" Irene then picked up a packet of chips before bringing the nearby chairs and cing it for me and herself. Opening up the chips, she offered me some, while I made myselffortable. "First question. Do you know where that Vampire General is who took away your daughter?" I asked as I wonder if she had anything that would be useful to me. "I don''t even know what is going on anymore,"Veriscene simply sighed as she smiled at me with a relieved expression before she continued,"well, at least you are polite enough to talk and not just barge and do whatever you want. All right, that bastard is in the forest. Though I doubt you would be able to get in that easily. The security isn''t anything to scoff at." "Granny?!!!" Eli shouted in surprise as she looked at Veriscene. Her eyes felt betrayed as she tried to speak something, but word failed toe out. "I have waited enough for Eli. How long do you think I can just sit and do nothing? Plus, it''s not like I am directly getting involved in it. Even if he fails, it would be his problem, not mine. If he seeds, there is a chance that my daughter will have a better life. Don''t you think it''s a fine deal?" Veriscene spoke her thoughts as she looked at Eli. Looking at Eli, she seemed to understand that even without Veriscene telling her. Though she still is hesitant when ites to trusting me, huh? As for Veriscene, she seemed pretty much tired of waiting andcking any proper solution in sight. She just grabbed the first opportunity she got, in this case, me. "The military base, right?" I asked as I observed Veriscene and she chuckled as she spoke,"so you know about it, huh? Well. That makes things much easier. Yeah, she is one of the main inner guards there as far as I have heard. The head is, of course, that bastard General. Hmmm.. if you just wanna meet that Vampire General, you can find him in the mayor''s house. It''s the biggest one in town. Should be easily visible." ''Hmmm. So that guy is the leader, and he is in the vige? I think¡­ I can hit two birds at once here,'' a smile creeped up my face, which made Veriscene doubt her decision for a moment before I asked, "Is that so? That was kind of helpful, really. Reduces a couple of steps for me. All right, another question I wanted to ask was, are there any incidents of children being kidnapped or lost from the town?" The answer to this question didn''te from Veriscene but Eli,"that''s pretty much normal here. Half the kids get kidnapped when they turn 10, while the families who try to get out of town vanish without any existence. Everyone knows it''s the mayor''s doing, but nobody can do shiz. That bastard even has connections to everyone in the city, so nobody is there to help us from outside." It looked like Eli had a personal vengeance against that guy. "Her brother and little sister were kidnapped too,"Veriscene added as she sighed deeply. I looked at Irene, who seemed to cry a little while she chewed the popcorn. Not really the right thing to do, but well¡­ whatever¡­ "Aight then. I should take my leave from here. Thank you for providing all the information,"I spoke as I stood up. "What are you going to do next?" Veriscene asked with curiosity. "For starters¡­ let''s kill the mayor,"I replied as I took some popcorn out of the packet and chewed on them. Chapter 287 Reaching The Mansion ? "This seems to be the ce,"Irene spoke as she stood in front of the big house at the center of the vige. Looking at the high end house in this vige-like town, one can easily infer how ''good'' of a lord the Mayor was. "Let''s knock on the door,"I spoke as I walked towards the main gate with Irene. There were a couple of guards chatting andughing with each other in the guard post. At first, they didn''t seem to care enough about who wasing near to the mansion, but then as our steps failed to stop walking, their chatter stopped and they looked at us. Despite being early mornings, they seemed rather energetic and fresh, their eyes had a red hue in them. Sitting there, they waited for us toe to them. And as we reached closer¡­ "What business do you have here?"one of the guards asked as he looked at me, his eyes trying to see through me. Though tensed at first, when he finished his analysis he looked at me with a relieved smile. "We are here to meet the mayor,"Irene spoke as she looked at them with a slightly thoughtful face. I had been given the opportunity to lead the operation for now. I wanted to see her leadership qualities while she dealt with this kind of situation. "The mayor is not here. Come back in 6 months,"the guards spoke as they looked at Irene with half irritation, half lust. One of them stood up as he made way towards Irene. "Why don''t youe with us? We might be able to solve your problems without the involvement of the mayor,"the guard who approached Irene spoke in a slightly delighted tone as he checked up on Irene. I could see that he was failing to contain his excitement for some reason. -sh! And Irene, who was quite disgusted by his behavior, took out a knife and shed his neck as he barely managed to not die from the attack. His wound healed slowly as he wriggled on the ground. From the speed of his regeneration, he should heal in a minute or two. As for the other guard, who pointed his gun at Irene. -Bang! [Time Rejection!] "That''s one death,"I spoke as I looked at Irene with slight disappointment. Her temper wasn''t really fit to be a leader¡­ she might end up getting everyone killed in her party. Though she didn''t mind much as she spoke, "Well. I was never much of a leader to begin with. I guess you wanted to know how capable I am in that department¡­ now you know." I nodded at her. Her skills were surviving and collecting information. Escaping from enemies'' clutches wasn''t really hard for her, either. Though can I use that quality? That is something I wanted to know for now. Maybe I should give her more abilities to increase her escaping capabilities? While I was lost in thought, the guard tried shooting multiple times, while also attracting people inside. However, he ''coincidently'' missed all the shots, not getting even a single one in. And with each shot, his eyes were widening as he figured out that something was gravely wrong. "YOU BASTARD!!" The other guard who had barely healed himself looked at Irene with a rage filled expression. Not missing even a single beat, he jumped at Irene¡­ however, Irene could already predict the next few moves of the guard. Reaching Irene, the guard tried punching her with his right arm, though Irene swiftly dodged before -STAB! She stabbed his armpit all the way to his shoulder joint. "AAAAAA!!!"Groaning in pain, he tried to take a stand. His eyes maddening even more, with pain and fury mixed in. Taking out the knife, Irene grabbed the guard by his cor as she ced the knife on his neck again. -sh! And once again shed the barely healed neck of his, this time much ferociously, then before. She was going for the kill this time. However, I can see him alive in the future as well. The guard fell down, not moving an inch as his breathing stopped, but Irene moved near his heart and -STAB!!!! Stabbed him again. This time, Irene had a neutral look on her face. Her eyes were bored by the end of the fight, while the guard, who was continuously shooting, missed all his shots. His eyes consumed with fear, he could barely hold the gun in his hand. "What is going on here?"A man dressed in a red and white suit appeared from outside. In his hands were a couple of bags filled with groceries. His eyes traced each and everyone present here. And finally he looked at me and asked, "May I know what you are trying to do here?" "We have arrived here from a faraway ce to meet the Mayor,"I said as I analyzed his status and a smile appeared on my face. "The mayor is busy. He is going toe by the evening,"he said before his face turned ashen,"so now tell me the reason why our guard was killed?"I think you should take a look at "He said toe 6 monthster and then tried to force himself on my girl here. Pity he died an easy death,"I spoke with the same smile as I observed the new guy. There wasn''t any apparent change in his expression, but¡­ "Is that so?"he muttered before -Swish! Appearing right in front of me. His eyes matched mine. Turning red, they red at me as he spoke,"do you know what fear is?" "Maybe?"I answered with a nonchnt attitude as I looked back at him with a dominant look. I could see myself getting hit from the left in the future so¡­ ''Spear art: Spearless sh!'' -sh! "Huh?!" Eyes wide open, the new guy found his left arm flying away from here. He was confused, as he couldn''t evenprehend what had just happened. He turned to see his left arm missing before his heart beat rose. "What about you? Do you know what fear is?"I asked the same question, with no fury on my face, my eyes serene, my smile quiet calm. But the impact was far more than when he said that, as I could see him trying to jump away from me. [Time Rejection] ''Now now. I can''t have you run away now, can I?'' my smile was getting wide, while the fear on his face was growing more and more with each second passing. "Who¡­ are you?"he asked, still trying to escape from here. I could see him trying to jump at least 3 times each second, s in front of [Time Rejection]. He could barely do anything. For he simply observed me with fear as he contemted the decisions which he took a couple of moments ago. "I am Michael. Now Mr. Arib, wouldn''t it be nice of you to help us out and meet the Mayor?"to be honest, finding the mayor wouldn''t take much time. But if we can save a little by asking someone nicely, then why shouldn''t we? "What do you¡­ want with the Mayor?"he asked, still thinking about others and not worrying about his life. If only his actions were as nice as his words were. "That is quite confidential. Apologies for not telling anything. You see, the life of the Mayor depends upon whether we meet him or not. Please understand the urgency,"I smiled as I tried to be as respectful as I could. And it wasn''t like I was lying to him. The life and death of the Mayor, indeed mattered with whether we will be able to meet him or not. "I¡­ Is that so? You should have told us the first time-"He tried to lie¡­ I could only give a long sigh, making him observe him with a fear filled face. "You want us to follow you into a trap where our chances of dying are higher? Quiet smart¡­ quiet idiotic,"I spoke with a bored expression as his face turned white with fear. "Wait! I can exin-" -sh! And cutting his neck from his body, I made sure that he dies in a single sh. [You have gained +235 Exp for killing a Low-Grade Vampire!] My eyes turned to the Guard who was sweating profusely. His eyes seemed to lose all hope while he just stood there waiting for his death toe. First, I used [Inspect] on him¡­ and then¡­ "Kill him painfully,"I ordered Irene as I saw all the disgusting things he did. From r*pe to child kidnapping, and even worse as I kept reading. Irene looked at my disgusted face and understood a bit of the things. Moving closer to him, Irene then used the same knife as she began killing that guard slowly while I moved into the house. The ce was quite big, but I didn''t see anyone around. If not for the well-maintained area, it could be impossible to tell if the ce was still alive or deserted. And before I knew it, I entered quite deep into the mansion where a couple of caretakers were working. Not bothering to exin, I first used [Inspect] on them. And looking at their [Status], I ended up signing really deep. "Hey! Who are you-" -sh! And thus the massacre of the entire mansion began. For quite some time, the echoes and screams reverberated through the castle as I cleansed thempletely. With the help of [Space Time Map] I was able to find each and everyone there. Though I don''t know what it was but¡­ everyone was more disgusting thanst¡­ And by the end of it¡­ The mansion finally turned silent. Chapter 288 The Mayor ? In the empty mansion, where bodies of the workersy as far as one can see. I stood at the central stairway facing directly opposite to the open mansion gate. Through the gateway, the outside gate was visible at a distance, where another body was hung over the gate. From an outside perspective it might seem no less than a horror movie, where everyone from the mansion gets killed by the evil, however if one knew what kind of things these people did, what kinds of atrocious acts theymitted, they would think as if an Angel himself descended to punish the evildoers. Letting them die so easily might as well have been a mercy to them. "How long do we have to wait for?"Irene spoke as she stood there at the top of the stairs looking at me before focusing on the outside gate. [2 minutes: 13 seconds] "Just a little more,"I answered as I looked at the time before the mayor appeared in this house. It seemed like someone had rmed him and hearing that somebody intruded in this household, he was running towards here as fast as he could. Irene looked around the house, observing the various paintings decorating it. From the heads of various animals, to old century weapons, this ce had a lot of old-fashioned items. Each of them looked more expensive than the others. "He is here,"I said with a slight smile as I looked at the silhouette of the man at a distance,ing here as fast as he could. Despite being the daytime, he wasn''t hiding his fangs and wings as he flew here at a rapid speed. His appearance became more clear when he reached closer to me. He looked like a giant gray bat, with humongous wings, at least 3 meters tall with his wings reaching half a dozen meters on both sides. His red eyes which gleamed even when he was far away, not seemed more apparent. Like a dirty ruby, they had a dull spark in them. Like a dark predator, they seem to be consuming all the lighting towards him. -BAM!!! And within the next two minutes, he reached the mansion''s garden, before his appearance became closer to that of a normal human. The only thing remaining from his monstrous appearance from before was his red eyes, which were still as chaotic as before. He had red hairs that reached back to his knees, and his eyebrows were a bit furrier than normal. Looking at me, with a furious look, he walked into the house one step at a time. "Give me one reason to not kill you,"he spoke with a dominant voice as he looked down at me. He wore a white robe that covered most of his body, but looking at the slight red glow, it seemed to be created from mana. Perhaps an armor of sorts? "Well. Because we are stronger than you?"I spoke as I pondered for the best answer I could give him right now. Though at my answer, he just gave a cold smile as he spoke, "Such arrogance." He then immediately transformed into the same bed as before, increasing his body size, pping his giant wings before jumping at me. -Whoosh! I too jumped in the air at the same time as I looked at him, propelling himself up against the stairs as he tried reaching me. For a couple of seconds I observed him, before [Time Rejection]! His direction missed me, as his body barely missed me and passed towards the room while I fell down on the ground. Though it seemed he didn''t notice it, as he crawled at the walls, before reaching at my level and jumping at me again. "Aren''t you an energetic one?"I chuckled as I smiled at his continuous jumps despite the big body of his. Each time I dodged it, he came at me with the twice speed. [Eyes of the Time Keeper(Foresight)] Though, already knowing where he was going toe from was kind of too much of an advantage here. It wasn''t much of an effort given thebination of my skill¡­ and since we were having a bit of fun here¡­ A smile formed on my face as I decided to try a move I haven''t done in a while. But first¡­ [Eyes of the Time Keeper: Level 3 -> 4] [Effects: 1. Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0 TP 2. Allows the User to see 2 Seconds into the future Cost: 0 TP 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 15s. Cost: 0 TP 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at onceI think you should take a look at Cost: 0 TP Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 4] [Skill points remaining: 3] And once I upgraded it. [Eyes of the TimeKeeper (Multidimensional Foresight)!] The first time I used it, I almost died. If not for Rhea saving my ass back then, I might have died a long time ago. Hmmm¡­ now that I think about it, my stupidity did put me in many dangerous situations and I was kind of lucky toe out of it unscathed. Guess, I am not unlucky as much as I think I am. -Whoosh! I saw himing at me. Or to be precise I saw a possibility of himing to attack in such a position where he will be vulnerable to the most. It wasn''t easy to get to that position though, but with the help of [Time Rejection] it''s not impossible to bypass some steps. ''Now that I think about it, none of the possibilities are showing the usage of [Time Rejection]. Is it because those are two different skills?''I kept thinking as I paused for a second. [Time Rejection!] Changed the direction of his attack a little to my left, while I stood there with a cheeky smile, making him more furious than before. [Time Rejection!] He ''coincidently'' happens to break a couple of his armor and muscles near the groin region. [Time Rejection!] ''Coincidently'' my ankle is going towards his weakest point near the groin. [Time Rejection!] -Dush!!!! And then ''coincidentally'' he became impotent for the rest of his life. -The end of the story of lineage the Vampire Mayor- "AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" he shouted in agony, as he fell down, reverting to his human form. His hands covering his crotch as he tried to reduce the pain that seemed to be expanding more and more. At this moment, his tears called for mercy. Begged the lord to not lose his manhood. But deep down in his heart, even he knew that he had been f*cked for life. And all he could do is whine about it. "YOU BASTARD!!!!" With agony came rage, his eyes were deep red as he looked at me. It seemed like he wanted to rip every piece apart from my body. Though the transformation to a bat did not ur again. "Oh,e on now! It''s not like I killed your kids or something¡­ oh wait!"I made an ''oops'' face as I observed him with an even more cheeky grin making him fume even more than he stood up on his two feet. "Just¡­ What do you want? Who the f*ck are you? Why are you attacking me out of nowhere?"He spoke as his anger finally seemed to be gainingputer. ''Post-nut rity?'' Well, his nuts were cleared for sure¡­ "I have been asked for help from a certain someone. And looking at the filth here, I didn''t mind working a little extra,"I spoke with my smile widening at him, making him re at me. "Who is that person who has sent you here? Is it Rile? Or is it Invar? Which one of those bastards hadmissioned you?''''He spoke some names as he looked at me with an even more re. Though this re wasn''t pointed to me but to the people whose names, he just took. "Sorry. My policy is not to leak themissioner''s identity,"I smiled as I walked towards him as I wondered what I should do next with him. But without [Shop] unlocked, other than killing him there is no use of him. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Stop! Stop! Stop! I can give you anything you want¡­ Think about it. You probably don''t know but I am one of the heads of arge underground base and no matter what you may wish for, I can give you,"he spoke as he tried to hold his crotch from moving while slowly crawling back. His eyes seemed really scared of me right now. As I heard his words, I stopped a few meters away from him. He sighed in relief as he waited for me to talk but I just closed my eyes for a couple of seconds¡­ before I looked at his status again¡­ [Description: ...he had r*ped many children in front of their parents. Killed and destroyed wives. Burnt newborns for his experiments all because he wanted to achieve sessful results. He had¡­] All this time, using the [Inspect], I was looking at his backstory and finding information about the base. But as soon as I reached this part of the description, I had to stop there. This information was a little too dark for me. ''Well¡­ I at least know about the direction of the underground Military base in the forest and how to get to it,''I thought as I finally decided to show this Mayor what it means to experience hell on earth. Chapter 289 Into The Forest ? "AAAAAAA!!! Just¡­ kill¡­ me¡­AAAAAA!!!!"The Mayor shouted in agony as I cut upon his nerves slit by slit, from the point of maximum impact to the point of minimum range, enough to make him experience hell but not too much to let him die or go insane because of it. His eyes were crying as he begged me to kill him. It was different from before when he wanted me to let him live, which was a kind of not possible after how many acts he did. Despite the humble appearance he made or the number of promises he made, or the contract which he was talking about, I decided not to bother with it. Even if he were to turn over a new leaf for real, what he had done previously cannot be washed off just because he decided to be good. Plus, he wasn''t doing it because of his own will, but because of fear and terror. Looking at the empty stairway, which was now red dyed with the Mayor''s blood, I wondered if I should end it here and just move towards the underground facility now. ''How long till he dies?'' I asked the [System] wondering if I could leave him here to suffer on his own. Though mostly it was because I wanted to know if he would escape or die for real. [2 hours: 15 minutes: 27 seconds] To make sure that he won''t survive in any possible conditions, I asked the same question a couple more times in different ways and only after I was satisfied I let him be there and began moving outside the manor. Opening the gate, I saw that it was already afternoon, with the sun high up in the sky. It seemed like I tortured that guy for quite some time, huh? Well. It was fine. Though something else caught my eyes, other than the dazzling sunlight. The townsfolk. I saw about 50 or 60 people standing there, trying to see through the outer gate into the mansion. They had an extreme amount of curiosity in their eyes filled with aplicated question filled look. Irene, whom I sent out earlier, was also looking through the gate, her face a little more smiling than before. And as soon as she saw me, she entered the manor, walking towards me with a blissful smile as she spoke, "While you were busy with your work, the Townsfolk were attracted by the deafening cries of the mayor. Since I had nothing to do, I exined a bit to them about what was going on. They were scared at first, but after some reassurance, they couldn''t contain their joy. It seems they have suffered a lot by the Mayor." Her eyes were filled with slight pride as she looked at me before she held my hand and spoke in excitement,e. Let''s meet them. They seem to be eagerly waiting for you." I walked with Irene, hand in hand, as we reached the outer gate where people wearing rugged clothes stood there with their eyes filled with hope and happiness. Looking at their sunken eyes, and boney bodies that expressed how long they had been starving for, and their shaking vigor which seemed to be on itsst edge, I couldn''t help but feel pity for them. "Well. I came here to do a couple of things and I guess it had resulted in a few more things extra¡­ The mayor inside is still alive but will die in about 2 hours or so. I would like you to maintain a distance from the house till evening before confirming yourself, else he mighte back to life by absorbing your life force. Other than that, you are pretty much free to do anything you want. You can choose to live here, move out, or whatever you may seek,"I gave a small speech to them before looking at Irene, who was chuckling a little. Though before I could speak anything¡­ "May I¡­ May I have your name, sir?"one of the men came forward and spoke with his body slightly shaking. It wasn''t fear but admiration, you can say? Like he was trying to talk to a god? Or at least that''s what I felt here. "Michael Aroa,"I answered it out loud for everyone to hear. And just by hearing my name, their eyes widened with happiness. "Michael,"one of them murmured. "Michael,"another one followed "Michael,"and everybody started chanting it. "MICHAEL!!''''And then they started shouting. Before one of them kneeled, and the rest of them followed. Their eyes looked at the ground as they kept shouting while I observed them with slight stupefaction. Not what I aimed for to be honest¡­ "Let''s¡­ get out from here¡­"I spoke to Irene before holding her hand and running away from there. ''Seriously, that shit kinda scared me¡­'' I was feeling a little awkward after all that. Especially since I could somehow feel their emotions in their chants. Even after we traveled at least a kilometer away, I could still barely hear their voices from afar. Nheless, we didn''t stop running until we reached outside the town, into the forest where the underground military base was. ording to the Mayor''s status, it was a bit deeper into the forest until you start seeing a bunch of yellow flowers within the forest. What I was supposed to look for was a garden within the forest that was made up of yellow marigolds. We kept running into the forest, until we came across the garden, which really was neat looking, in my opinion. Irene, however, felt a little weirded out with the garden as she said that something was really wrong with it. Not ignoring her cue, I used [Inspect!] on it. [Garden of Lost Path(Rare)]I think you should take a look at [Description: This Garden contains the forbidden emotion of the human spectrum, Senselessness. It contains the energy to make everyone lose their sense of direction, whoever enters the garden, and slowly lose their sense of thought, followed by touch, smell, etc. Finally losing everything in it. Effect range: 1000 square meters. Cost to Maintain the Garden: None Restrictions: Only affected on Humans and Low grade Vampires] ''Since I am an Ethereal now, I guess I am free from the effect. Irene, however, seemed to be slightly affected by it,'' I thought as I looked at the still confused Irene. She seemed to be lost in thoughts as she observed the garden and, pondering a little, I turned to the garden. I turned around and observed the trees before I found a suitable branch in one of them. [Time Rejection!] The branch breaks and falls down by itself before I move to pick it up. It was pretty much a straight branch with very few curves, and the length was equal to that of a Katana. Nodding at the tree branch, I looked at the garden and made a sh at it. -sh! -BOOOM!!!! And the single sh kind of ended up breaking the entire terrain? I mean, I wanted to only cut it lightly¡­ but I guess I shouldn''t be careless with my [Ground Zero: First sh] which I learnt from Rhea in the [Second Space]. ''She did say that it was way stronger, so I shouldn''t use any real weapons unless I want to go against a divine being of something,''I sighed, as I didn''t expect it to be this strong. Though when I used it before in the Apocalyptic time, it didn''t create such an impact¡­ ''Guess, it must have been the Cessation Energy?''I couldn''t think of any other thing for now. "Hey Michael¡­ we seemed to have attracted a lot of attention,"Irene spoke as she looked at the army of vampiresing our way. She didn''t seem to be much shaken by looking at them. "All right. Irene. Since it''s a fine chance, I should teach you a little about protecting yourself¡­ though it''s a one time lesson so give your all, okay?"I spoke as I passed on the wooden stick to her. "I prefer Chainsaw more, but okay,"she spoke, but she nodded as she looked at me, before turning to the vampiresing our way. "First thing is your stance. Try distancing your feet, your chest a little above and your shoulders should be aligned perpendicr to your neck¡­" I kept speaking as I saw her trying to ce herself ording to my directions. There were a few irregrities but¡­ [Time Rejection!] She ended up in the perfect stance. Looking at her slightly shaking body, she seemed to have some difficulty in trying to maintain that, but it was fine. We were still at the learning stage so it was fine¡­ "Now. Position your sword a little below and think about shing everything in your path. You remember how to use zombie energy in your chainsaw, right? Now try to pour your will power into it¡­ the process is the same except¡­ oh! You got it, huh? Nice!"I spoke in surprise and admiration as I saw her pouring all her energy into the sword. Her eyes concentrated on the vampires that wereing near to us, at an insane speed. It would take about a few more seconds before they reach here. "Now make a sh and try to focus on the sh itself,"I said as I looked at her. What I wanted was for her to make a perfect sh that wouldn''t affect her body but will give out a required amount of impact. [Time rejection!] -SLASH!!! And before the Vampires could reach us¡­ at least 30 of them got shed from their torso, dying without being able to do anything. Irene looked really exhausted, on the other hand, as she was having a hard time to stand just by making that sh. Though there was no life-threatening injury to her. "Good. Now let''s try that again,"I spoke as I moved closer to her. Chapter 290 Irene... ? "Good. Now let''s try that again," I spoke as I moved closer to her. Our body has the ability to heal itself at a rapid rate. But because the energy cost would be a little too much for the body to handle, and the process would be a little too risky, it doesn''t follow that path. But that doesn''t mean it is impossible to do so. [Time Rejection!] Using time rejection, I helped Irene to gain back her lost strength in a matter of seconds. She stood back up, a little low on energy, before I passed her down a bit of the energy bar which we both had at the gas station. She downed it in a matter of moments. [Time Rejection!] Her body forcefully absorbed it pretty much, restoring her energy as well. This process took a bit less time than the previous one, and Irene was kind of smiling like an idiot here. She observed those vampiresing at her and using her newfound strength¡­ -sh! [Time Rejection!] She made another perfect sh before she fell on her knees¡­ again. I repeated the same process over and over again, while also checking her status through the [Inspect] skill to make sure nothing goes wrong with her body. Though surprisingly, the effects were actually positive as she was gaining more and more strength as she performed those attacks. ''Perhaps it''s the perfect stance, and breaking and re-breaking of her body that is having abined effect on her? She really is getting monstrous by the minute,'' I thought as I looked at her body shape, getting more defined as time passes. If previously she looked good, now she is pretty athletic. The slim fit body, that had more muscles than fat but still enough fat to maintain her feminine charm¡­ it wasing out rather nicely. By the time we had killed most of the iing vampires, it became rather bloody around the forest. And the one who fought the most here, Irene, was one with the most energy in the end. You can see that bright never ending smile on her face coupled with her greenish hair, that made her look rather radiant and beautiful. "Was that thest of them?" Irene asked in a rather sad voice, seemingly unhappy that her training, which she started enjoying, hade to an abrupt end. Though I doubt that''s the case here¡­ "I guess. We will find more of them inside the facility," I spoke with a thoughtful look as I observed the opened up path in front of us. Not too far from here, a half domed gate simr to that of a bunker was present. The vampires were previouslying from the same ce. "Let''s go then. What are we waiting for?'''' Irene was rather excited to hear my words as she took the lead towards the same bunker gate, with her steps hastened a little. Chuckling at her behavior, I spoke,"sure. Sure. Just don''t stray too far away from me," before I too started matching her pace. Took a few minutes, but we managed to reach the gate which was half broken, probably because of my previous attack, and looking at the miniature cracks, it seems like the bunker was rather strong since the attack couldn''t prate deeper into it. "You really didn''t hold back, did you?" Irene said, surprised as she observed the bunker, and I turned to her with an awkward look. I mean, I did hold back a lot. A little too much, in fact. "Let''s go. Luckily, the lights are still on," Irene added, before she moved in the bunker with me right behind her. I kept [Foresight] on, from the start as I kept observing the bunker. Though nothing really happened for the initial few minutes while we were traveling through the bunker hallway. Only until we reached quite far, we came across a wide area that seemed bigger than a football stadium. "That''s a huge number," Irene spoke as she looked at the number of vampires in that wide area. They were each guarding some sort of machines and had guns in their hands, each pointed towards us, ready to ''skedouche'' us. "FIRE!!!" From the speakers installed in the area, a loud voice reverberated as those guys started shooting at us with those semi-automatic rifles in their hands. Irene, who was looking at me for permission, smiled brightly as I nodded at her. Not wasting any time, she jumped off the roof as she moved towards those vampires with guns. All she had was a wooden stick in her hand, which she was using in a more lethal way than any sword she ever had. As for me [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] [Time Rejection!] . . I kept on using my skill, making sure none of the bullets hit her. Not only that, every time she took a stance, I helped her perfect it with the same skill. My eyes then looked at her carefully as I rested against the railing, while looking at the people getting killed one by one by Irene. If earlier they had guts, now I saw them looking at Irene as if they were observing a grim reapering for their lives. Their bodies were shivering as signs of panic became more and more apparent with time. I could literally see some of them cowering and beginning to run away. [Time Rejection!] Sadly, they tripped on their feet and broke their ankles¡­ each and everyone of them who was trying to run away. My eyes looked at the machines which held the prisoners and kids, wondering how I should go about saving them. And what should I do next with them? Meanwhile, Irene finally finished with everything and was just summing up- -BOOOM!!!!! "Eh? There were more of them?'''' I couldn''t help but exim as I looked at the giant truck sized bat madding through the left wall, as it tried to attack Irene with all his strength. [Time Rejection!]I think you should take a look at s, he missed his first attack and Irene escaped from there. Her eyes widened as she looked at that bat. Though, it didn''t even take a second before that widened shocked eyes changed with that of excitement, looking at the bat as nothing but just another training prey. -BOOM!! Irene jumped directly at the bat, who was still gaining momentum in this space. Reaching the bat''s head, Irene tried shing it in a swoop, but the bat wasn''t justrge, but quite agile for its size, as it flew around the area before dashing towards¡­ me? A smile formed on my face as I observed iting closer to me at a rapid speed. "I would love to y with you but¡­ you sure you have time to ignore her?" I pointed to the left, where Irene had already jumped towards the bat and¡­ -sh! Cut both of its wings, striking it down to the floor in its mid flight. Irene shed from one side to the other, before reaching the opposite wall where she used her strength to stop against. Looking at her feats right now, I guess all the ''perfect'' training has unlocked her hidden strength in her body. She was truly a superhuman right now. Slowly, she fell down on the ground before her eyes observed the bat, barely able to stand up. The bat was trying to fly, but because the wings were cut down; it was pretty much useless to even try, wasn''t it? Seems like this one is doing it more on instinct than being conscious about it. "Consecutive shes!" Irene shouted with a maniacal smile before -Whoosh! She cut the body of the bat, reached the other side, before turning and jumping again at a higher elevation. She cut the bat again and reached the other end and turned again. The first sh was on the knee, pinning him on the ground, the next one was on the arm, trying to disarm him, the other one was on the eyes, making him lose his sight, then came the leg again, then the area where the broken wings were, and from there, she hit one vital spot after another. Though the consecutive shots looked random, each of them was aimed precisely. The biggest proof was the inability of the bat to make even a single move against Irene. Forget about counterattacking, it can''t even dodge or even move away from the position he was in. The bat was simply a sitting duck, taking all the attacks on his body. "KREEEECHHHH!!!!" the bat screamed loudly as his eyes started shining and a strange pattern appeared on his body, but s, even then it wasn''t enough to stop Irene from attacking further. In fact, it made her go even more crazy as she started attacking even faster. ''Wait!'' My eyes widened as I saw what else was happening in this. Irene''s stats¡­ they were rising rapidly throughout the fight¡­ She actually happened to get¡­ a new skill¡­ [Name: Irene Campbell Race: Human ss: The Saw-Woman Description: A petite and calm girl who used to live a normal tomboyish life before the apocalypse hit. Her dream was to be the best graffiti artist, but after the apocalypse, all she wants is to find a happy and stable life. The world turned everything upside down for her, first with regression and now with reality bending. She is trying her best to keep up by putting all her trust in his sole master, Michael Aroa. Status:Healthy Skills* Strength: 96 Constitution: 75 Dexterity: 84 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 39 Charm: 60] [Skill: Superhuman] [Effect: +200% Strength +200% Constitution +200% Dexterity +Zero Fatigue +Removes all illness and tiredness. Removes all wounds. Time: 15 minutes Cooldown: 2 hours] Chapter 291 Catalina ? ''Well. Let''s move on to the next point,'' I thought as I looked at Ireneing towards me. Her sexy catwalk in those bloodied clothes which didn''t cover her entire body gave a strange vibe from her. She looked at me as if she were enchanted by me before reaching really close to me. "Nice work-" I was about to congratte her on the new skill and how she grasped most of the basics, but she kept moving until her lips touched mine. Some of that blood got on my lips too, as she kept kissing me for a few seconds. Separating after she was satisfied, she smiled as she spoke,"This was the best moment of all the three lives that I had lived. I cannot express how happy I am right now." She was all smiles andughing as she told me that. She seemed like a little kid who got herself a new year''s gift. She would have looked really cute if not for all the blood on her. I slowly touched my lips as I recalled her kiss before I smiled too before speaking,"sure. It was nothing. Also¡­ there is more work left," and she nodded as she smiled more before looking behind on the opposite side where the lift was. The lift probably took us to a lower floor where more of the vampires were¡­ or perhaps where the experiment was going on? Whatever this ce is, I am going to make sure it gets razed from its very root before leaving from here. Moving behind Irene for a few moments, I then reached the lift which seemed to be stopped at the ''-5th'' floor. Not caring much, I pressed the ''UP'' button as I activated my skill. [Time Rejection!] The lift started working without any problem as I, and Irene waited for it to reach our floor. Took a few minutes since the lift stopped many times in between, but finally it reached our floor. -sh! As soon as the gate opened, 3 vampires jumped at us and died at the hands of Irene, who smiled at me before signaling me to go in first. Smiling at her, I then entered the lift before she followed me. The lift closed before we started going down and soon at the -1 floor we stopped before the gate opened. The gate led to a hallway that reached the other side about a 100 meters away. Irene waited for mymand, and after giving it some thought, I decided to start from the lowest floor first. So I waited for the lift to close and take us down, which it did after waiting for a few more seconds. The lift stopped at the lowest floor before it opened the gate. The ce was filled with strange equipment and big sses containing various monstrosities and specimens. As we walked into the room, it got weirder and weirder, as the monsters stopped having a definite form and were now random pieces of flesh contained in a giant sk. "IIIIII CCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!" A cry was heard from the room, a bit distant from here. It was different from the cries of the bat above, or perhaps from any monsters that I have met before. It felt¡­ painful¡­ "IIIIICCCCCKKKK!!!" The cry resounded once again, this time a bit louder than before. It seemed like whatever the thing was, it wasing closer to us each and every moment. The steps were pretty much apparent, too. -BAM! The walls shook, and the ground vibrated slowly as the cries became more and more apparent. And long before we waited, "IIIIICCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!! The sound came from the door as if the being was on the other side of the door. I saw Irene shaking in fear as her body failed to respond. She was having a hard time even standing up, as she was barely keeping herself conscious. -Thud! I hit on her back as I made her turn unconscious while the being, whatever it was, started shouting more and more as it banged against the door. -BANG! -BANG! -BANG! -BOOOOM!!!! The door broke as the figure of the being came in front of me. It was like a white, human-like girl with the face of a bat. Her eyes were red, barely fitting in the socket and her body was vibrating continuously as she tried to stand there. "IIIIIICCCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!" she cried again as all her tears fell down to the ground and -BOOM!!! Created an explosion, breaking the floor into pieces. Step by step, she then started walking towards me, her hands trying to reach for me. Not in a way that she wanted to kill me, but in a way like¡­ she wanted to die. She wanted to be relieved of her suffering¡­ [Inspect!] [Name: Catalina Blues Race: ???? Status: Disfigured Description: A young girl from Akagawa on whom the drugs worked better than the others due to her high resistance. She was then forced to take part in the worst experiments as time passed. While her body could resist the drugs, her mind wasn''t capable of handling it anymore. She turned mad over time as her body began deteriorating but the doctors here kept her alive for further experimentation until she finally lost all her sanity finally bing an empty shell. All she wants to do is die now. But the doctors kept her confined to the lowest floor until their research would be good enough to use on her again. Stats¡­ Skills¡­]I think you should take a look at I closed my eyes as I sighed deeply. ''This was way more than crossing the line, wasn''t it?'' I mean, even the zombies weren''t this bad. I guess¡­ the military is most of the time shit¡­ well¡­ Let''s clean this ce thoroughly¡­ "IIIICCCCCCKKKKKK!!!" That girl¡­ Catalina shouted as she looked at me with empty red eyes. She reached really close to me as I smiled at her. "It''s okay. I''ll free you from this pain now. Just sleep," I muttered as I slowly moved the branch from the top to bottom. [Temporal Redo(Level 4)!] [Description: The user can cause a rey effect in time that can ur a number of times, causing the damage and the effect to be amplified. For example, after the first time, the user kicks a ball, the next time, the ball goes further, and which continues with subsequent kicks. This can be applied to other things as well, such as breaking things or damaging through a punch. Effects: Allows the user to increase the effect of an action by 16 times. Skill Points required to level up the Skill: 4] Cutting her slowly, I then multiplied the effect by 10 times in this case, making her slit from between. I saw that she was rapidly regenerating at a high rate as well¡­ [Time Rejection!] I saw her body rapidly deteriorating as she fell to the ground. With slowly losing her bodily vibrations. [Time Rejection!] I stopped any defensive or hibernative process. But not stopping there, I also stopped any suicide bombing effects, too. [Time Rejection!] And a few minutester, she finally showed signs of death. [You have killed a Homunculus!!] [You have gained +15,000 Exp] [You have Leveled Up!] [Skill: Advanced Time Maniption! has been unlocked!] [You have received +5 Skill Points!] [You have received + 10 Stat Points!] [Advanced Time Maniption!] [Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by as much time as the user wants (max 200). Does not work on any macro movements Cost: 0] ''It was that skill, huh? Aren''t I supposed to get it with the quest? I wonder if there is a difference¡­'' I saw as I recalled this skill. While it was limited, it had a wide variety of applications, too. It allowed me to rejuvenate myself and the others at an insane speed, and even regenerate energy too. -Whoosh!! A sword sh came out of nowhere in the [Foresight] as I simply dodged it. Looking at the sexy body of the sword girl, I saw her taking a step back as she looked at me through that white mask of hers. "Who might you be now?" I asked as I observed her looking at me with a slight hesitant gaze. "Heh¡­ I would like to throw the question back at you¡­ barging in this base as if it''s nothing and killing thousands of our soldiers like ants, just who exactly are you?" she spoke as she looked at me with her eyes turning red. Her ck shorts and that bikini top she was wearing were revealing a little too much of her body. The only thing properly covered was her face, which even failed to hide her ponytail hair behind her. Though looking at her pure white snow-like body, made me think a little¡­ as I observed the quest¡­ [Save the Dhampir!] [Description: The Old Vampire, Veriscene, once fell in love with a human. It wasn''t a happy story as the human got killed by the Stray Vampire Knight, Demigo, though he left a seed inside Veriscene, whichter bloomed to be the Half Vampire Half Human, Dhampir, with the strange ability to manipte dark matter. Fascinated by his ability, the Vampire Knight stole the kid from Veriscene, leaving her powerless as she just bit her lips and kept silent. But the fire to save her kid still lingers inside Veriscene. Task: Save the daughter of Veriscene from Vampire Knight''s clutches. Rewards: Advanced Time Maniption(Skill), +10 Skill Points, +10 Stat Points, +10,000 Exp] "You are the Dhampir, the daughter of Veriscene, aren''t you?" I asked her with a smile as I saw this quest reaching its final part pretty quick and pretty neat. Chapter 292 Everi ? So. How do I figure out a Dhampir? White skin like vampires, but no fangs whatsoever. And then there is that abnormal strength of theirs with a strange ability to control their blood to an abnormal extent. Their eyes have the shade of light red in contrast to the dark red color of a vampire, which signifies theirck of control of their emotions under certain conditions. [Status: Enraged; Scared!] Above that, this girl has a certain sense of energy that the other vampires didn''t have. Or to be precise, her normal energy, which I believe should betent inside her, became activated because of her vampiric blood. [Silver Ether: 10,000/10,000] To be honest, as far as I know, ether is superior to other normal energies, to actually be able to use it, she must be quite stronger than the others. Is that the reason why the Vampire General wanted her to be on his side? Interesting. "How do you know that name?" that girl shouted at me. With her eyes concentrated at my vitals, she took out her two short des, as she carefully stood up for a jump. "Your mother asked for help. She wants you toe back home safely or something," I spoke with all honesty as I looked at her with slight sadness. And that was because¡­ "That b*tch can die for all I care¡­" she shouted with pure hatred as she stood there, still trying to figure out a way to attack me. ''She has been brainwashed, hasn''t she?'' I pondered as I looked at her, reaching for Irene instead of me. -Whoosh! She made the first step -Whoosh! I made the second! "?!!!" She grew rmed as she tried to stop and change her direction of attack towards me. [Time Rejection!] She slipped a little,ing to her knees, before she fell even more, her head hitting the ground a little away from Irene. Moving closer to her, I stepped on her head as I held her down on the ground. "Now, Now. Let''s not cross the line, shall we?" I spoke as I looked at her with my eyes narrowed at the girl. Her name was¡­ "Everi, right?" I asked as I looked at her and her head, still ced against the floor, shook slightly before I let her go. Standing up, her eyes nced at me before she tried to attack Irene again. -BOOM!!! I kicked her as hard as I could before I jerked my legs a little. Everi, on the other hand, hit the wall pretty hard. A dent was formed on the metallic wall before she fell on the ground, coughing blood, as her body rapidly regenerated, and she stood up again. "Hey. Irene. Wake up," I helped Irene wake up as I was getting bored with this. I should just deliver her to Veriscene and let her deal with it. Irene slowly woke up before I saw another attacking from behind. This time, her body was invisible. Was this another skill of hers? [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Multidimensional Timeline)] I didn''t want to kill her. Even by mistake¡­ So let''s choose the most optimal pathway. In front of me appeared a thousand possibilities, striking back at her, and she died in most of it, while seeding to hurt me or kill me in others. But there were some scenarios in which I happened to protect myself without killing her. One of which I particrly liked. -BOOM!! Turning around and aiming at the spot I had seen in that scenario, I kicked her in the stomach, this time with double the intensity than before. -BOOM!!! Once again, this time she flew opposite and hit the wall, this time harder than before, and fell on the ground. Though unlike before, she fell down turning unconscious rather than simply falling down and regenerating. It normally shouldn''t work like this¡­ but whatever¡­ "Hmmm¡­ what¡­ happened?" Irene woke up on the other side, as she rubbed her eyes, before looking at me with slight confusion in her eyes. I pondered a little before speaking, "I knocked you unconscious before the monster could have any effect on you." Her eyes opened up wide before she immediately turned around to see the experimented girl who was lying there dead without any movements. She was pretty much dead when her skills and bodily functions stopped working. So her previous mind-confusing effects were gone as well. Irene was able to see her much more normally now. She stood up, walked towards her, and began analyzing her a little. Meanwhile, I went towards the Dhampir, Everi, picked her up and ced her on my shoulders, before I moved towards Irene. "Let''s go," I spoke as I looked at the door from where the monster came from. "Okay- Wait! Who is she?!!" Irene was rmed as she looked at the girl on my shoulder. She even looked at me with judgy eyes before I exined who she was. Though a little skeptical, she kind of believed in me before we both entered into the monster''s den. [You have killed a Scarecrow Girl!] [+5000 Exp] [You have killed a Bat Monster!] [+8000 Exp!]I think you should take a look at . . . There were over a dozen monsters, with quite a lot of Exp. In fact, after killing thest monster, I couldn''t help but feel bad that there weren''t any more monsters in there. [Level 26: 144,700/250,000] I got two more skills back from my previous arsenal as well. [Return (Level 1) (Rare) Effect(1): Allows the user to save 1 point in the present time and return to that position using Time Points. Effect(2): Allows the user to take back any object around him that he had held for more than 30 minutes. Limit: The density of the user should not be more than the object ced at that point where the user wants to return. Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 5] [Temporal Inversion(Umon)!] [User can cause the flow of time to go in the opposite direction at a speed of 1s per second. Can work only on inanimate objects. Cost: 0TP/Second] ''This brings back memories. Especially the [Return] skill. I had so many ns for it¡­ good old times,'' I smiled as I looked at those skills. ''Though it was a nice idea toe here. I might really end up breaking to Level 30 much before than nned,'' my thoughts wandered as I looked around once more, trying to see if there was any other monster around here. Though sadly there were none. "Mmmhhh¡­ Is it time for tea already?" Everi spoke as she, too, woke up from her slumber. "We ran out of milk, mydy," I said as I looked around for a way to get back up. Hearing my voice, she grew rmed as she looked at me as she stood up before positioning herself at a distance from me. She looked at me with aplex expression before she checked her private parts. After confirming that she had not been vited, she looked at me again, this time with a relieved expression. "You really think of me that low, huh?" I spoke as I couldn''t find even a single way back up. I guess the only way is the lift there, huh? As I walked closer to her, she got into a defensive stance while I looked at Irene, "Let''s go back to the lift. Let''s check out the 4th floor." It was only then, Everi noticed all the dead monsters around the floor. Her eyes shrank quite a bit as she looked at me and Irene¡­ Her eyes were still in disbelief as she observed me and then the dead bodies. "Just¡­ who are you?" she asked as she threw away any thought of fighting against me. "Follow me. Let''s find out the truth, shall we?" I smiled at her as I turned slightly before moving towards the lift. And after standing there for a couple of seconds, she moved towards me. This time with little hostility. "Why did you not kill me?" she asked as she reached closer to me. Her eyes are trying to understand me. "I have to take you to your mother, you know? Well¡­ that is one of the reasons.." I spoke as I entered the lift. She stopped against me outside the lift before she questioned, "Why? She only tried to kill me and sold me¡­ what does she want with me now?" Her eyes were skeptical as she looked at me. And I pondered a little before speaking, "Why don''t we find the answer to that together?" She looked at me as her eyes grew moreplex. Her eyes fixated on me, shifted to Irene for a moment, who was observing her with slight curiosity. Slowly then she walked towards the lift before she stood on the opposite side of Irene. "This is absurd," sheined as the lift closed and Irene chuckled a little. "What?" Everi spoke as she turned to Irene, before Irene spoke, "Nothing. You just seem really cute. And yeah¡­ this is absurd¡­ and it''s only gonna get weirder from here." Everi was confused before Irene added,"have you ever seen a zombie?" The lift opened as we reached the 4th floor. The scene of a white room with thousands of machines as far as the eyes can see came into our view. "Zombies? Like in the movies? Aren''t they a myth?" Everi spoke with confusion, before her eyes looked at the machines in front of us. "There isn''t much here. This ce is for generating power for the entire base. If you harm it, we will be trapped here forever," Everi spoke, surprisingly quite friendly to us. I took a look at her status for confirmation and found something interesting¡­ [Description: ¡­. Has pure hatred towards the underground base for what they had done to her friends and ''sisters''...] ''Interesting¡­'' I thought as I looked at her with a smile, making her shiver a little, before I looked at the machines in front of us. Chapter 293 The Limit Of Being Absurd ? [Everi''s POV] "Who the f*ck are you, Michael?" I couldn''t control myself anymore. Absurd my foot, this guy was beyond unbelievable. "Oh,e on, darling. This is just the start," he spoke as he killed another man without even moving a step, "Isn''t that right, kids?" And those kids who previously couldn''t even move a step by themselves, the ones whom the scientists deemed as ''Failed Experiments'' miraculously gained their abilities back as they started walking around like nothing happened. And what was even more ridiculous was that those fragile as ss kids were beating the shit out of the guards with their weak hands. Laughing and cheering as they moved in sync. "ONE!! TWO!! THREE!! PUNCH!!!" Michael coordinated those dozens of kids as they punched those soldiers at their weakest point, bringing them to their knees. "KICK!!!" Michael shouted again as they fell to the ground. "KICK AGAIN!!" And finally on hismand, those kids killed those guards with theirughter echoing throughout the hall. It wasn''t that the guards were weak or the kids were strong. But the guards couldn''t even make a move¡­ despite moving really fast, those guards were not able to do anything against those snail speed kids. "YAYYY!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! SQUISH!!! SQUISH!!! SQUISH!!!'''' The children shouted in sync as they jumped on the puddles of blood. Theirughter sent chills down my spine as I couldn''t help but take a step back. -Bang! Bang! Bang! Once again, from a distance, another group of men started shooting¡­and once again, they missed all their shots. Those snipers that could kill anyone from a kilometer away without making a mistake were unable to shoot even one of the dozen targets in front of them from 50 meters away. "LET''S GOOOO!!!" One of the kids shouted and the others followed. The group of men were horrified as they saw those little monstersing at them. And even though the distance was decreasing, not one of the shots hit. It was only a few moments before they, too, died at those children''s hands. "Man, I love children. Don''t you too?" Michael asked as he looked at me with an equally evil smile before moving towards the headquarters of this entire base. ''Just¡­ what kind of monster is he¡­ is he a God or something?'' I couldn''t help but pity the scientists in the headquarters behind this one. Previously, we had moved on to the 3rd floor since there was nothing on the 4th floor. Irene moved and killed all the people there before we saved the dozens of kids. The rest were either taken above for more experimentation or were outright dead. After that, we came to the 2nd floor, where the main headquarters was, and now after killing all the guards here too, we finally reached the end of the facility. To the mainb where all the heinous experiments usually take ce. "Hey! Stop daydreaming. Let''s go!" Micheal was more excited than the kids here. He was all smiles as I walked behind him, reaching the area where the entire area was more or less empty, with the scientists cooped up in the safety ss room at the corner. "Kids! ATTACK!!!" Michael shouted with a smile¡­ though on a deeper look, his smile had a certain disgust to it. His eyes were looking at those scientists¡­ as if they were being read like a book. He had that look¡­ ''Is it possible?! That he¡­ can read people''s lives or something?'' This thought, once entered my brain, failed to move out as it would make sense why he never really asked anyone anything and just moved forward. Why did he kill some of the guards on thest floor inflicting more pain on them than the others? And why did he spare me or treat me with such friendliness? Is it because my mother said so¡­? No. The hatred he has for everyone here is real¡­ then he can really read my mind¡­ after all¡­ I hate this facility too. It took everything from me and I couldn''t do anything about it¡­ barely keeping myself alive here for all these years. "You don''t know who you''re messing with!!" shouted one of the scientists on the other side of the ss room before he choked on his own breath and started suffocating. "Pardon, I couldn''t catch what you were saying. Can you repeat it please?" Micheal asked politely as he saw the kids reaching the gate, which couldn''t be unlocked without the leader''s permission and opening it without any problem whatsoever. "ATTACK NOW!!!" A certain voice came from behind as a group of assassins unleashed their attacks on Michael with all their might. -sh! Only to be killed, a momentter, on the spot by Irene¡­ with a wooden branch. "Who were they?" Michael asked me without much expression on his face. He didn''t even bother to turn around as he kept looking at those kids killing everyone in the ''safe'' room.I think you should take a look at "People on the same level as me¡­ tasked to protect the ce," I spoke with a slight tremble in my voice. Will he kill me after knowing that? Though¡­ seeing no change in his expression, I sighed in relief before I saw those kidsing out of the room. Michael looked around at the other kids who were sleeping on the experimental beds before he did whatever he didst time. He just looked at them one by one¡­ And they started healing at a rapid rate, soon waking up by themselves. Their eyes confused as they looked in fear at the surroundings, before their eyes turned to Michael. "You are getting out of this hell. Come with me," he spoke as he looked to the side of the facility. After giving a bit of thought, he turned to Irene, who threw him the stick she had with her. "Close your ears," hemanded as every kid here plugged their ears. And somehow, before I knew it, I was also covering my ears along with Irene. Micheal then took a stance as he adjusted the stick¡­ -sh! -BOOOOOMMMM!!!!! And the entire roof was shed apart as the top flew high up in the air in a single sh. What was even more surprising was that not even a single scratch came at any of us. I couldn''t see the full extent of his sh¡­ but I am pretty sure he held back with that. And despite that¡­ a path was opened up to the top¡­ from 50 meters down the earth. "And children. That''s how you open a path in case you are lost or don''t know how to," Michael spoke with a chuckle while the kids were looking at him in awe and admiration. "No, you don''t. Stop teaching the kids absurd things," I couldn''t help but shout at Michael in irritation. There is gotta be a limit to this. "Pfft- HahahaHahaha" Irene, on the other hand, startedughing out loud. She looked at Michael and then at me beforeughing out again as she held her stomach. "Hey it''s fin-" Michael was about to say something before he turned his head upwards, towards the sky. His eyes turned more serious than before. He looked at the sky for a few seconds as Irene, previouslyughing, now was looking at Michael with a bit of worry. "What is it?" Irene asked, but Michael didn''t answer. He just stood there without making any statements, as he seemed to be analyzing something. And after a moment of silence, "Irene. Everi. Take the kids with you towards the vige. I will catch up with you guys in a moment," he spoke as he looked at us with an uncertain look. Irene could sense that something was wrong, so she tried to ask again, "Hey¡­ is everything alright?" She was worried about him. I wanted to know what could have possibly made that monster so serious. I don''t think it has anything to do with the facility¡­ all the people who have connections with this facility¡­ they are monsters too, to be honest, but¡­ not as absurd as him. If they had even half the abilities he has, they would have eaten out the other bases long ago. ''So¡­ what exactly is going on to make him¡­ make that expression?'' I gulped. It couldn''t be that someone as absurd as he wasing here, could be? Right¡­ right? "It''s okay. Just take those kids with you. I will be there," Michael spoke with a light voice. Itcked that charm and confidence with which he spoke before, making Irene more worried about him than before. Though she just looked at him. I don''t exactly know the chemistry between the two, but it seemed like she was feeling helpless¡­ Perhaps the difference between what she could handle and what Michael was going to handle was too much? Not that surprising, to be honest. "Just promise me that you wille back¡­ this world is¡­ I don''t think I can survive here without you," Irene said, making me blush a little. It felt like two lovers parting ways here¡­ "I promise," Michael said before looking at her with a certain smile. "!!" And then my eyes widened a little as I saw her¡­ k-k-k-kissing?!!! She was really going at it with her tongue as she kissed Michael for a few seconds before leaving him. "I will wait for you," she spoke in the most melodious voice she could before she turned to the children, who were observing them with confusion. "Let''s go, kids. Big brother has some work to do¡­ I will take you all back to a safe ce," she spoke before turning to me,"Everi. Help me out here." I could only nod at her as I was still embarrassed by what she did before¡­ How can some people be so bold? Really this world¡­ Though on the other note¡­ Just what exactly was going on with Michael¡­ because he was still serious even after that kiss. His eyes focused at the sky above. Chapter 294 Aisha ? [Michael''s POV] . . [Save the kids from the military!] [Description: The military has been conducting experiments for a long time on orphans and immigrants from other nations, without considering human rights. They have been exploiting this since time immemorial. Every year, millions of people, children, die because of their inhumane experimentation, only to produce a handful of super-soldiers that are brainwashed by the military. Requirements: (1) Save the kids from the experiments. (2) Kill/Destroy the military base. (3) Find the head scientist of the experiment and make him pay for what he has done. Time Limit: None Rewards: +1 Skill Evolution Point, +15 Skill Points, +15 Stat Points, +Title:Protector] [Quest save the kids from the military(Completed)!] [You have received +1 Skill Evolution Points!] [You have received +15 Skill Points!] [You have received +15 Stat Points!] [You have received +Title: Protector!] [New Title: Protector: Allows the user to share half of his health and defense with allies within a radius of 25 meters!] Well, it''s all good and all, but¡­ How should I deal with this? [An unknown entity is requesting to connect with you. Intentions: Neutral] [Would you like to connect with that entity?] The System message popped as soon as I unalived those guys andpleted the quest. Though something tells me that this has nothing to do with the quest. I saw the kids moving far away with Irene and Everi. I already confirmed that none of them would die, so I was a bit relieved with that. "Now then¡­ let''s see who exactly is trying to connect with me," I spoke as I stretched a little. Depending upon the situation, it could very well turn, anyway. But since the entity was ''requesting'' rather than ''forcing'', I guess it wasn''t all bad news? [Yes!] Pressing the [Yes] button, I waited as my heartbeat rose a little. I couldn''t fathom exactly who wanted to contact me. Was it another God or some- -Thud!!! ''Who is it- huh?'' I looked at the being who fell out of thin air here. "A.. girl?" She fell on her back. Looking at her body size, she seemed to be around 16 years old¡­ or a little less. She had ck hair that ended with a slight bluish hue. Her clothes looked more of a fantasy type, wearing leather made clothes that adventurers in fantasy games wear. "This is the worst!" she rubbed her head as she turned around in annoyance.I think you should take a look at "???!!!!" My eyes widened as I gulped a little. Her face¡­ It was too beautiful! Was she a Goddess or something? Miya¡­ no Rhea¡­ or maybe more beautiful than her. [Inspect!] [Name: Aisha ???? Race: Human Description: ??? Status: ???? Stats:???] My eyes widened again as I saw that beautiful girl, Aisha''s, status which showed almost nothing. The only thing visible was that¡­ she was a human? "Can you not use your identification skill, please? It doesn''t feel good when someone tries to peek in private lives¡­ not that I think you can do it anyway," her eyes seemed to pierce through me as she continued,"Michael Aroa, right? Didn''t think I would meet an Ethereal here. Though it makes all the more sense if I think about it." She stood back up as she looked at me from top to bottom. Her eyes confused still as she walked towards me, "Odd¡­ I can''t see yourplete status¡­ who are you?" I was baffled as I observed her. She¡­ had an [Inspect] Skill, or something simr, too, didn''t she? "Ummm¡­ miss Aisha? Wouldn''t it be better to introduce yourself first?" I spoke politely, not trying to be disrespectful. I don''t know what this might lead on to, but at least it shouldn''t lead to anything bad. "True. I guess. Well. Since you already know my name, let''s start things from the main point¡­ do you know anything about the changed reality?" She spoke, shocking me a little more than before. Does she know about it? "Your expression says yes. Ah! I am someone who is not bound by time and space, just like you are. So if anything changes from what is supposed to happen, I will be thrown out of the loop as well. As for why am I contacting you is because I have a skill that allows me to connect and reach to anyone as long as I fulfill certain conditions¡­ which I used to reach the ''center of this reality bending'' ," she spoke adding to her words. ''Center of this reality bending,'' huh? Well, I cannot deny that I could really be the one. But I thought it would be more rted to Belial or something? Was it not the case? "So. Will it be okay if I ask a couple of questions, Mr Michael?" she looked at me with her eyes looking deep into mine. Her behavior changed a little as she analyzed my whole being¡­ seemed like I was standing naked in front of those eyes of hers. Just who was she? She wasn''t requesting this time either¡­ It was amand. "Give me a reason to answer you," I said, not backing out. Despite who she was, I was not going to back out either. Not to a little girl like her. "Ho! So you have some guts. Though looking at your behavior pattern, it seemed to match your personality as well. Sure then. I will answer your curiosity. I am someone you may call a reality bncer. While I can bend reality to a certain extent, I can only do so to correct it back to where it was. And my work here is to fix this reality. As for my purpose, it is to rebuild this reality where I don''t exist or else¡­ hehe¡­ papa will destroy this timeline sooner orter," she spoke slightly scared as she looked at me. "Papa?" I was a bit intrigued. "Well. It''s a long story, but my father is a being that is destined to destroy entire universes in all realities except the original one. So, if I don''t do anything, maybe this reality might be stable for another century or so¡­ but then it will go poof. Which creates a few moreplications¡­ kind of¡­" she spoke before sighing a little. "Anyway. It might be tooplicated for you to understand, but is there anything else you wanna ask? I do have a lot of questions of my own¡­ but I would like to end the business here as well," she added before looking at me with curious eyes. "Well¡­ can you reverse reality?" I asked my first question. She nodded as she spoke,"as long as I have the mainponents." "It won''t affect the original reality?" I asked, and she pondered a little, "Well. Not really unless you have messed up a little too much¡­ Though looking at your skill set, we can solve that as well. Time and reality go hand in hand, so we won''t just turn reality back to normal, but also time. That will solve all the problems. Simple!" Her eyes were brightening up as she looked at me more and more. She was thoroughly analyzing me, wasn''t she? "Well. How am I exactly rted to all this?" I asked as I observed her. While I had a theoretical answer, I wanted a definite one. One that she seemed to carry. "Ah! About that¡­" she spoke with a deep thought. Chapter 295 A Lost Traveller "Ah! About that¡­"she spoke with a deep thought. "Although you are the center of the reality disturbance, honestly, you are one of the mediums. There is usually more than one medium, with others connected to the central medium. Not like their importance decreased, but like you were the starting point. The real caster is, however, somewhere hidden. As for how you are involved in this mess, then we are going to find the real caster of this mess by finding him through you. Did you catch this much,"she exined in precise words as I nodded before summarizing it "So¡­ There is a caster that cast the spell through me. I am one of the possibly many elements for the reality inversion. We can find the caster through me. Is that all?" She nodded as she asked,"Any other questions?" I shook my head,"none as of now." "All right. My turn then. Is there anyone who is dead and is alive now? Or something opposite of that? Not those whom you killed but somebody who was dead long ago but was alive in your reality?"she asked as she looked at me. My thoughts went directly to him¡­ Levi. "Your expression you know someone,"Aisha caught on pretty quick before she spoke,"okay. Then the next question is, are there any other people who have their memories of altered space?" Once again I was shocked how she was connecting the dots so well¡­ and looking at that cheeky smile, she caught on that one too. "That solves 2 of the 4 problems we have,"she spoke before she stretched a little. She then spoke, "All right. Let''s then collect the other mediums too. Without them, we won''t be able to connect with the ce of inversion of reality." "Inversion of reality?" I asked, a bit confused, a bit curious. "The ce where the bending of reality actually took ce. It''s not that hard to find when you have all the mediums you have,"she spoke as she began walking. Her direction was¡­ Akagawa town. I began following her, as I believed she was walking towards Irene for now. Though, I don''t mind that¡­ All I have is one question in my mind. "Why are you nice to me? It''s not like you know me,"I asked. While I do believe that there are good people out there, it is rare to encounter people without any hidden motive. She didn''t turn around as she spoke,"Am I? Well. This is what I have learnt throughout my travels all throughout Visca. Trust no one, but don''t have assumptions as well. Also, my father taught me to be kind until you run out of options. There is nothing wrong with being careful, but that''s no excuse for being ruthless and unkind." "Ummm¡­ the same father who would be destroying the entire universe in all the other realities than the original one?"I was a bit confused. "Yeah. Him. Well, let''s just say things be quiet¡­ unpleasant for him with destiny and stuff in other realities¡­ even the original one wasn''t that great. So much that it changes someone as kind as him into something like that¡­"Aisha felt sad as she recalled her father. "Seems like quite the heck of a guy. You seem a little proud of him,"I spoke as I saw her blushing a little. She turned to me as she smiled brightly,"A little? My father is my world to me."I think you should take a look at She was so beautiful¡­. I almost fell for her before she shook her head before turning to the front as she hummed as she walked. She seemed to be in a much better mood than before. Maybe because she had so much knowledge that I forgot.. She was just a 16-year-old human¡­. Or was she? Walking behind her, I saw that her speed was a bit faster than normal. Even though it looked like she was simply walking, her steps were really fast. I had to hasten my steps quite a bit before I matched her pace, and because we were walking at quite a speed, we pretty much reached the Akagawa vige before we knew it. The sun was still in the sky. It would be still an hour before it set. Looking at the distant figure of Irene and Everi, I smiled as I reached near to them, but Aisha, who was kinda faster than me, reached near Irene in a blink, rming her a little. -Whoosh! I, too, dashed towards them to see Aisha observing Irene with a deep analytical look. Everi was quite surprised to see Aisha moving that fast and was confused when she started staring at Irene. "Irene. This is Aisha¡­ Aisha¡­ this is Irene, one of the regressors,"I introduced them to each other before turning to Everi, wondering where the Children were. "I can see that¡­ but something is odd,"Aisha spoke as her eyebrow furrowed a little more. She seemed to be confused, as if something was really out of ce. "What is?"I asked curiously. "She doesn''t bear the mark of Iniquity,"she spoke as she kept looking at Irene, who was now a bit weirded out by Aisha. Irene looked at me for an exnation, but my mind was already upied with something else. "Mark of Iniquity?"I asked. "Something that gives out the ce where the reality was bent,"she answered before adding,"it''s rare¡­ but there could be a fourth person other than just us. This makes things difficult.."she spoke as she got lost in her words. "Ummm¡­ fourth? I don''t know if you know this but¡­ there are at least 5 more people who know about the original reality,"I informed her with a concerned voice. From what she just told me, it seems like having 4 people was already enough¡­" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me with a baffled look. Her eyes questioning the validity of my statement. I pondered a little before speaking, "Well. There were 5 people who were connected to me when stuff happened. And there was another guy who was responsible for all that is going on¡­ if I am not wrong then, maybe that guy carries the mark of Iniquity?" She looked at me with her eyes wide open¡­ "Just who the heck are you? You said ''connected to me'' right? So you probably know that the reason they were here was because of you. Hmmm¡­. Seems like you are more special than I was taking you to be. Hey, can you answer a question of mine?"She asked as her eyes narrowed at me. I nodded as I looked at her. She seems to be carrying a lot of information with her¡­ just who exactly was she? "Michael Aroa. You are not a God are you?"she asked as she looked at me. Her eyes turned a bit more furious as she held the spite¡­ it looked as if she were deciding between killing me and not¡­ "I am not."I answered truthfully, making her calm down a little as she gained back herposure. Hiding behind her previous smite, she smiled at me with a blossomed look as she spoke, "Is that so? Then it''s all fine. I guess." I just looked at her for a while¡­. Just what exactly was she¡­ thinking¡­ Chapter 244 Training Chapter 244 Training "It''s still night,"Walter spoke as he looked at the sky. Despite us being busy buying a lot of things and then going through all the time when Walter arranged the things around the warehouse, including the time we received that skill and the time to adjust to that skill¡­ It was still night. "Is there anything wrong with it?" asked George, observing Walter with curiosity. His eyes flickered a little as he sensed something wrong. "Not exactly¡­" Walter''s eyes then turned to me as he spoke,"Did you do something?" "Ummm¡­ not really,"I spoke as I looked away from him. "Oi! At least look at my face when answering¡­ sigh¡­ now what should we do with all this free time?" Walter spoke in confusion before he looked at even more confused Adam and ke. "Actually, I nned for us to finish most of the things by morning and proceed to finish thest part of the training, which can only be done in the sunlight. I predicted most of the things to be done at a particr time and hence was sure that it would be morning by the time we finish¡­ but because of an extra entity¡­ sigh¡­" He exined as he sighed at me. Well, it wasn''t like I caused any harm, did I? "Do you have any idea what we could do till the sunes up?" Walter asked with a sort of defeated expression and me, already having an answer to that needed immediately. "Firstly, let us find a ce where nobody would disturb us,"I said as I pondered a little before all of us traveled to a distant park where there was nobody present around. I used my [Space Time Map] to make sure there was nobody around there, while also using the [Eyes of the TimeKeeper(Foresight)] to prevent any sudden surprise from happening. "Now what?" Adam spoke as we stood at the center of the park and I smiled a little as I took a step back and spoke. "Have any one of you had a fight for real?" All four of them nodded in unison as they looked at me. "Have you ever fought a battle where your life was on the life?" I asked again and¡­ once again, all four of them nodded in unison¡­ which kind of surprised me here. I can understand Walter because he is a regressor, but Adam, ke and George¡­ shouldn''t they have a proper life? Now, isn''t this interesting¡­. If I was in a jolly mood earlier, my mood dropped quite a bit as I looked at them. "Well. Then I guess I don''t really have anything to teach you other than proper fighting skills. Come at me, all four of you at once," I spoke and, though confused a little, all four of them nodded at once. Perhaps because they had seen me throwing George from such a position back when he was hanging on his death, they knew that I was anything but simple. Heck, they didn''t even let me prepare to fight. ''Well¡­ seems like I won''t have to start from the basics,'' I smiled on the inside as I looked at theming at me. First was Walter himself, as he ran at full speed. Perhaps physical fight wasn''t his best forte. I saw many gaps in his form. I looked in the direction of his punch and the feint kick he was going for in order to provide an opening for George who was just behind him. Taking a step back, I first dodged the punch before the kick came in, as I predicted. I didn''t need my [Foresight] to know that. So that question was whether to dodge this and let Georgee in or to take it and block George''s path? ''Let''s dodge it,'' I thought as I ducked a little, avoiding his kick. I could see him smile a little as George moved forward with a direct punch. ''Is that all there is to it? It''s easy to predict that you are blocking my vision, George. Making Adam sneak up on me?'' I smiled a little as I saw them coordinating with each other even though it was their very first time fighting together¡­ it''s as if¡­ they were born fighters. ''Did George, Adam, and ke have fought together before? Then howe Adam and ke died before in the previous regression?'' I was confused for a few moments as I dodged George again and let Adam sneak up on me. With my precision and power, I should be able to dodge them, too. ''Huh?'' I then saw George moving away from me as ke took his ce¡­ ke''s form¡­ It''s good. Does ke know any form of martial arts? Looked like he did. I saw the moves of ke were refined by others. There were little mistakes in his moves as he tried to fight me. If I were merely a normal person with powers, perhaps I would have been defeated in an instant¡­ ''Well¡­ At least they aren''tplete newbies,'' I thought as I was satisfied with their performance, before taking a sudden side step, dodging Adam, who finally sneaked up on me. My side stepped, really surprised both Adam and ke as they looked at me for a few moments, as if I were a monster. Though they didn''t stop there as they took another step towards me as they began showing their full strength without holding back. Though even after 5 minutes of continuous struggle, they couldn''t even scratch my clothes, forget about touching me. Not that I was expecting them to, anyway. "Now that wasn''t half bad." I smiled at them as I saw them huffing and puffing on the ground before I continued with the same smile,"Come at me again. This time, try to be a bit more vignt. I won''t be merely dodging this time." I expected to see a little horror in these kids'' eyes, but instead I could see excitement in them. They were thrilled as they stood up again and, taking their respective positions, they started attacking again. This time, not only I attacked them here and there, but also guided them about the mistakes they made. With each move I was making, I was exining to them the mistakes they were making and also how they could correct them. ''Monsters,'' I thought as I saw them observing everything that I was telling them like a sponge. Especially Adam and ke¡­ they were far more special than I could have ever expected them to be. ''How did they die¡­ ah!'' I finally recalled why they died in the past timeline¡­ It was a D-Grade Zombie that attacked them when they didn''t even know how to use Cessation Energy. Such a¡­ wasted potential. It was the first time that I realized that I lost so much of a gem in my previous time¡­ And just like that, time passed as the voice of a young man teaching others how to use their powers correctly echoed through the night life before morning came. When the first sunshine reached the kids, they felt their power increasing by a margin, but looking at the mocking smile of the person in front of them, they didn''t afford to stop as they tried even harder. And the result was¡­ they all fell on the ground without being able tond a single scratch on him. "Well. I guess it''s about time. Walter uses your arcane powers to get refreshed and help the others too," I thought, as I saw a couple of people approaching us. "Well, we can do that at my house. I also have a change of clothes there for all of us,"spoke George as he looked at me. I was a bit skeptical given how his family is¡­ towards me. They are not bad by any means, but still¡­ "Ah! I meant my other house. Nobody lives there except the caretakers of the house. Our clothes shop is also there, so you can take your picks as well,"George added as I sighed in relief a little before turning to Walter and others. They too nodded, as they didn''t have any problem with that. Taking the car back to George''s house, we cleaned ourselves up properly as Walter helped us heal our wounds and stamina, whatever we had. And George brought all of us a change of clothes. Surprisingly, he got the perfect size for everyone here¡­ almost to the point that it creeped us out. "Don''t worry. It''s just a creepy talent that George has,"Adam joked, making George hit him with the pillow on the sofa. keughed at it as I, too, smiled at them. "So, when are we leaving?" Adam then asked as he looked at Walter who looked at the time before speaking,"The ss should start in about 2 hours, but since I could use my full power in theplete sun using its energy for my own use, it''s better to leave in another 4 hours." Hearing his words, I nodded at him before I spoke,"then you guys do your own thing. I should do a bit of exercise in the meantime." After that, we began doing our own things¡­ and not even a few hourster¡­ [Daily Quest Complete: 100 miles] [+500 Exp] [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Sit-ups] [+500 Exp] [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Pull ups] [+500 Exp] [Daily Quest Complete: 1000 Push ups] [+500 Exp] [Bonus forpleting all Daily Quest: +1 Intelligence] [Level up +1] [+10 Stat points] [+ 10 Skill Points] [You have gained a new skill: Temporal Redo!] Chapter 245 Prelude to Fight Chapter 245 Prelude to Fight ''Hmm? This is a new one'' [Temporal Redo(Level 1)] [Description: The user can cause a rey effect in time that can ur a number of times, causing the damage and effects to be amplified. For example, after the first time, the user kicks a ball, the next time, the ball goes further, and which continues with subsequent kicks. This can be applied to other things as well, such as breaking things or damaging through a punch. This may be able to be used at any time. Effects: Allows the user to increase the effect of an action by 2 times. Skill Points required to Level up the Skill: 1] ''Hmmm¡­ this is interesting to say the least,'' I thought as I put a couple of points in it to see the increase and¡­ [Temporal Redo(Level 4)] [Description: The user can cause a rey effect in time that can ur a number of times, causing the damage and effects to be amplified. For example, after the first time, the user kicks a ball, the next time, the ball goes further, and which continues with subsequent kicks. This can be applied to other things as well, such as breaking things or damaging through a punch. This may be able to be used at any time. Effects: Allows the user to increase the effect of an action by 16 times. Skill Points required to level up the Skill: 4] ''Good,'' I liked this. Especially if Ibine this with my first sh that I learned from Rhea¡­ it gives me more than just an edge¡­ ''But I don''t think it will be enough to defeat that Zombie King¡­ '' I sighed as I looked at the 5 Skill Points still remaining in my arsenal. Should I go with [Eyes of the Timekeeper] or [Inspect]... or should I choose [Light Aura]? ''This is troubling¡­ well, let''s just leave it be for now,'' I sighed on the inside as I ced all the Stat Points equally between [Strength] [Constitution] and [Agility] Looking at my Status [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: Gaia''s Saviour: Allows the user to interact with nts and understand their Status: Healthy Blessings: basic functions. ss: Child of the Universe(locked) Level: 22 (4000/5000 Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereals, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the One: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). (3) Helper of Darkness: Allows the user to see through darkness and have perfect night vision. The user''s Stats will be doubled in the absence of direct light and in the presence of absolute darkness, the user gains the ability to channel Darkness Mana. Health Points: 15,000/15,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 17 Constitution: 16 Dexterity: 17 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 13 Charisma: 12 Stat points: 0 Total Cronas: 0 Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Portal Under Control: 0] As for my skills I got [Eyes of the Timekeeper(Level 3)] [Temporal Redo(Level 4)] [Inspect(Level 5)] [Time Rejection(Unique)] [Space Time Map(Unique)] [Skill Fusion(Special)(Level Max)] [Multiple Copy(Special)] [Light Aura(Rare)(Level 1)] ''Okay, that''s good enough for now,'' I thought as I took a bath before changing clothes. It was already that time¡­ the time to kill those pathetic people and make them understand what ''pain'' really means. Moving out of the room, I saw Walter and thepany standing there waiting for me with a smile on their faces. Their eyes were really brimming with excitement as they looked forward to the day. "I received a call from Iverice. She will be bringing her entire gang here in the next 10-15 minutes," ke spoke as he adjusted his watch while George, who was ying with the car keys, spoke up, "So we wait for them, or should we go meet them directly up there?" I pondered a little before speaking to Walter,"it''s your battle. Your revenge. For now, I will let you make all the choices. I will be watching you from the shadows." He nodded with a smile,"thank you for understanding. ke, ask them toe directly to Anta High School." ke nodded before making the call while George moved out to bring the car to the front. As for Adam, he brought a couple of powders from the storage. "What are those?" I asked curiously as I looked at him, though he just pointed at Walter and said,"ask him. He is the one who asked me to bring them." I just chuckled as I left all this arcanist stuff to Walter. For me, I just need to make sure nobody interferes in between these things. Especially the ''adults'' who need to stay a distance away from here. "Let''s go then," spoke Walter as he looked at ke finishing his call and Adam carrying the powder in small boxes, towards the car. I too followed behind them as I reached outside, finding George bringing the car to the front. Seated in the car, we finally left towards the ce where those people were. Where Walter''s father was currently working. Where those guys were present who treated humans as ves and were proud of it. The car drove for an hour, but nobody muttered even a single word. My eyes looked distant as I wondered how the others were doing. Alex, Caroline, Alissa, Miya¡­ Ang¡­ My eyes kept thinking about a lot of things. And before I could realize, we finally reached Anta High School. I saw those gang members,posed of at least 50 people, all wearing a ck coat as they stood in front of the high school. Thedy at the center, presumably their leader, was observing us with a really keen look as we reached there. The car stopped a bit farther away from there as we got out of the car. Adam was still carrying the small boxes with him, while the rest of us simply walked towards the leader. Moving closer to thatdy, who looked no older than 18, I observed her carefully before raising my hand for a shake,"I am Michael." Her eyes were green, just like her hair. Her short green hair was styled in a bowl cut as she gave out the attitude of a gal. I could see most of her body through her revealing clothes as she barely tried to hide it and wearing a ck coat over that covered her white dress, she looked at me mesmerized as if she found her long-lost soulmate. "Ummm¡­ hello?" I asked again, making her snap out of her daze as she looked at me one more time, before answering my handshake as she introduces herself, "I am Iverice, the leader of the ck Pandas." Couldn''t care less. Anyway, I took out my wallet and took out five grand as she gawked at it as if it were a treasure. Then her eyes looked at me as if I were a rich bastard or something, and she wondered if her eyes were deceiving her or not. Nheless, she epted the money as she spoke,"as per our agreement. We will be just standing here and doing nothing while you guys do whatever you want to do. Depending upon the circumstances, we may even turn against you. Hope you don''t mind that attitude of ours¡­ just the situation is like that." Her behavior changed to being bold as she started speaking, and I nodded at her. I then turned around to see Walter, who was keenly observing us, and spoke,"Handle it from here. I will be moving to the sidelines from here onwards." He nodded and using my spearshift, part of the moves that I learned from Arte, I vanished from there, amazing and stupefying almost each and everyone present there. "What just¡­" Iverice wanted to know what just happened, but before she or perhaps anyone could process what was going on, Walter took a step forward and spoke,"Can you guys just follow me for now? All you need to do is stand in the campus area while I will be doing most of the talking." Iverice was confused. She wanted answers. But looking at the bold behavior of that kid in front of her. For some reason, she kept quiet and nodded. Her eyes observed the few more men behind Walter. If not for the fact that the guy¡­ literally vanished from there, Iverice was sure that these kids were going on a suicide mission today. But now¡­ she wasn''t sure¡­ she didn''t even know what to expect from the battle that was about to y in front of her. All she did was pray that she wasn''t getting involved in something far more messy than what it already was. Walking behind Walter, the rest of the gang followed them inside the campus. And after covering a considerable distance, Walter then asked Adam to pass on the powder, which he asked him to bring over. It confused everyone. What was he doing? Though for now, they decided to observe. Walter took that powder in his hands as he started murmuring a little before he stered a bit of the powder on his neck and, adjusting his voice a little, he shouted¡­ as if he were using a really high functioning loudspeaker¡­ "FREDRICK YOU PATHETIC SON OF A BITCH! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY YOU WILL FUCKING SEE! COME HERE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!" Chapter 296 Who Are You? ? "So. Do you know about the other ones?"she asked as she looked at me with her eyes a bit, pondering about something. "I do know where they are¡­ but exactly why should I trust you with them? Your eyes¡­ I can''t seem to trust them,"I spoke as I looked at her. "I haven''t killed anyone, right? Trust me, I am strong enough to kill not only her, but three of youbined. And don''t worry. My work is to make sure that you guys also go back to your own reality just like I want to go back to mine,"she spoke as she kept pondering and walking around us. I looked at her, thinking about something for a couple of seconds before speaking,"All right. We shall meet with them first. Doubt it would lead anywhere, but since we are going to need all the trustworthy people, we could." A bit confused, I looked at her. Won''t just her and me be enough? Or was she underestimating our strength? "Well¡­ Michael¡­ have you ever fought a God before?''''she asked as she looked at me with a certain smile and I gave it a bit of thought. "Maybe? There was this guy Kira¡­ But I don''t know if he-"I was going to speak, but she just hushed me as she spoke. "Guardian of the End Kira? You must have met Erina too, then¡­" I nodded as I heard the name Erina. Does she know them both? "Well. In my reality, they both were brother and sister ruling an entire gxy¡­ wonder how they are doing right now. Since you fought the immortal Kira¡­ hmmm¡­ I don''t know. His strength is truly up to par with the Lower Gods but¡­ what if we¡­ Man, this is annoying¡­''''she spoke as she looked at me with irritation? "Wait¡­ you are saying that we will be fighting against someone as strong as Kira?''''I asked as I looked at her dumbfounded¡­st time I had the System''s special privileges¡­ Will I be able to do it right now? I must get stronger! "Strong as Kira? Kiddo. What are we going to fight could be at least as strong as him? If we deal with only strength, then maybe it would be fine, but it could get messy if the being has ess to any higher powers¡­ Well. We shall deal with it when that timees. Let''s build a force for now¡­ "she spoke as she looked at me with a knowing smile. Though all I was filled with questions¡­ There were too many mysteries at once here¡­ "Well. I got a couple of questions Aisha¡­"I was going to ask her about the whole thing but she interrupted,"I know, I know, but you need to be calm first. I promise I will tell you everything one at a time. But it would be better if everyone involved were to know about it. Can we collect everyone first?" She didn''t seem to be lying as she smiled at me before asking,"though on that note,"she turned around to see Everi and then Irene again. She gave it a thoughtful look before turning at me,"You seem to be busy with a lot of things here. I guess I will help you out of it as well." After speaking that, she simply stood there as she looked at me, waiting for me to speak. I simply sighed at her rushed behavior where she was jumping in everything on her own, but since she seems to be knowing more about this whole thing, I didn''t speak anything. "Well. I was going to drop that girl to her mother after killing the guy who kidnapped her and brainwashed her." "Wait what?!" Everi, who was concentrating on the conversation, suddenly jumped in as she heard about her situation. "What do you mean by brainwashed? Kidnapped?"she added as she looked for answers. Aisha, who seemed to understand everything without me telling anything, nodded,"and you know how to handle the situation?" "Well. I was going to let it flow as it is and interfere when things get out of hand,"I spoke honestly. I am not the best when ites to family situations. All I could do was provide the truth¡­ in fact, I was counting more on Irene to handle this than me myself. "Not very sharp, are we? I could see her hatred about her mother even from miles away¡­ she will probably kill the entire family without batting an eye. You know that, right?"Aisha asked, as she looked at me with doubtful eyes. "Yeah. I knew that. But I had my own skillset to prevent that from happening,"I said as I looked at her smiling, before she sighed as she spoke,"I guess so. Though I don''t believe something like that would have worked, to be honest. Hmmm¡­ since we have some time, let me show you an aspect of the human emotion spectrum¡­ or Vampires in this case." Speaking of that, she began walking towards Everi as she looked at her a little more than before, and right after she saw looked into her eyes, "Let''s go then. Her mom isn''t that far from here." Observing her, I couldn''t help but be astonished. Just what kind of freaky skills does she possess? She then began walking before she saw a bunch of kids looking at us from a distance. They were wearing white ragged clothes with patches of mud on them. Her eyes smiled as she spoke, "You saved them?" I nodded as I looked at those kids, curious yet crazy. Their mental state was more or less messed up, and I still don''t know if there is a way to make them turn ''normal''. She raised her hand as she said something,"[Irge misn litahi]" and all the kids began walking towards her in unison. They didn''t seem to be brainwashed as they came on their own ord, making me a bit more curious than before. What kind ofnguage was that? "[Lc!]''''Aisha spoke again as a bright light escaped her heart and began glowing the entire area. The light was filled with blessing as Aisha smiled looking at those kids, her eyes filled with a certain joy, as she saw them. [Status: Complex -> Abnormal -> Healthy] The children¡­ their mental state became normal fromplications with the light. They seemed to be much calmer than before as one by one they started losing their abnormal status too while falling on the ground unconscious. They seemed to have aged a little too while their body was growing malnutritioned. Aisha kept on observing them while she stretched a little. The kids kept falling down one by one until all of them were asleep. "Okies. That was thest one of them. Michael. Do you have anything you can feed them? I healed their mental state, but that costed a bit of their own energy. It would be better if we get them to eat something,"Aisha spoke as she looked at me with a refreshed smile. To change the mental state of someone who had been tortured from their very childhood, as if nothing¡­ Just who was she? Chapter 297 Love And Hate ? She started acting friendly, as if she had known me for a long time. While normally she seems like a happy go lucky girl, she seems to have quite an amount of information with her and it would be pretty stupid to call her inexperienced. Other than that, she gets angry when the word ''God'' is mentioned, as if she had a personal spite against them. That is all I got to know about her at our first meeting with her. Though seemingly happy, it''s just a thought, but she seemed to be carrying quite a burden with her. Just what kind of life is she living? "Is it the ce?"Aisha asked as we reached the department store near the gas station. The children had walked here by themselves slowly but surely. They looked quite tired, but they pulled themselves here, anyway. Aisha said that it would be better for them to fend for themselves. We can''t spoon feed them everything. As for Everi, she had multiple thoughts in her mind. After healing the kids, Aisha then took Everi to the side and talked a couple of things with her. While I heard Everi crying and shouting from a distance, there was not a single fight that ensued. In fact, when Aisha was done talking with her, Everi had been silent and pretty much empty as we walked from the town to here. "Go in. Talk things with her,"Aisha spoke as she let Everi go inside while she looked at the Kids for a couple of seconds. "Hey Michael. How much money do you have with you?"Aisha asked without turning at me. Her eyes seemingly thought about it. "A little enough to buy everything in the shop,"I said as I understood her intentions. She wanted to feed the children without creating a mess here. Hearing my words, she smiled a little as she spoke, "Hey kids. Go in and get something to eat. Though you are not allowed to eat it until we pay for it." "Okay, Miss Aisha!" the children shouted with happiness as they ran inside the shop. Everi, who was already inside, was now talking with her mother. The talk seemed to be really intense right now. "Is it fine to leave Everi alone with Veriscene?"I asked Aisha and she nodded, "Let me tell you about the emotions of Love and Hate, Michael. Who knows where it might end up bing useful to you. Let''s start with the basics. Love and hate are opposite to each other. Both increase your heart rate, while their effects are either to help you increase the affection of you towards a certain person or either to decrease it. No, it''s more like it''s the effect of increase or decrease in affection. Now, let''s add another line to it without going into the subtypes of love and hate. If you hate something, you cannot love it at the same time. While you might get confused with loving and hating the same person but essentially it''s different. It goes a bit deeper than that. Many times we love a habit of the person we are jealous of. That we cannot acquire it. And we end up hating that person for our own incapability. Many times we hate the habit of the one we love, and we show anger towards the person we love. Not because we hate that person, but the habit. If you just quantify things you hate about that person, you will find that they can be put in numbers." I looked at Everi, talking more and more with Veriscene. Everi broke in tears before Veriscene did too, both of them hugging each other. Meanwhile, Aisha continued, "If you can find out what exactly you hate about someone or something, even yourself. It would be easier to love someone¡­ or perhaps hate them. It is true on the opposite side too. If you find out exactly what you love about someone¡­ you gain the capability to enhance that love or vanquish itpletely. In essence¡­ if you can read a person, and to some extent understand what they love or hate about someone, you may or may not be able to control their rtionships between them." "Is that what you did? To enhance the love between them and reduce the hate?" I asked curiously as I observed the mother and daughter duo. "What are you talking about? I just talked to her. Do you really think so bad of me?"she smirked as she looked at me before she began walking towards the shop. "She totally controlled their emotions, didn''t she? Scary!! Where did you find that girl?"Irene, who was rather quiet up until now, started speaking as soon as Aisha was gone. "Well¡­ she fell out of the sky¡­ kind of¡­ And she is connected to all this reality bending mess as well,"I spoke as I looked at Irene, who understood that. Her eyes observed Aisha ying with the kids as she cuddled them andughed along. "Is she trustable?" Irene asked with a thoughtful look. "Probably. All I know is that we should be careful of her but not doubt her too much either. She is kind, but she has too much going on¡­ at least that''s what I could feel from her. Her story seems as messed as ours too,"I spoke my true thoughts, while Irene nodded. [Save the Dhampir!] [Description: The Old Vampire, Veriscene, once fell in love with a human. It wasn''t a happy story as the human got killed by the Stray Vampire Knight, Demigo, though he left a seed inside Veriscene, whichter bloomed to be the Half Vampire Half Human, Dhampir, with the strange ability to manipte dark matter. Fascinated by his ability, the Vampire Knight stole the kid from Veriscene, leaving her powerless as she just bit her lips and kept silent. But the fire to save her kid still lingers inside Veriscene. Task: Save the daughter of Veriscene from Vampire Knight''s clutches. Rewards: Advanced Time Maniption(Skill), +10 Skill Points, +10 Stat Points, +10,000 Exp] [Quest: Save the Dhampir(Complete)!] [+10 Skill Points Received!] [+10 Stat Points Received!] [+10,000 Exp Received!] [New Skill Received: Advanced Time Maniptions!] [You already have [Advanced Time Maniption]. Using the [Skil Fusion] tobine the two skills!] [Advanced Time maniption(Rare)] [Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecr activity by as much times as the user wants (max 2000). Does not work on any macro movements Cost: 0] ''The limit increased to 2000 times, huh?'' I thought before I smiled a little. [Are you sure you want to add [Advance Time Maniption(Rare)] into [Multiple Copy]?] [Yes!] [Multiple Copy (Special)] [Allows the user to copy any 3 of the Skills in his arsenal. Can only copy Rare Skills and below. Currently Copied Skill: Advanced Time Maniption(Rare) Note: Once the user locks a particr skill to copy, he can''t change the skill for another 12 hours.] ''This should give me some boost in increasing the firepower of my allies and friends,''I smiled as I looked at that skill before moving towards the mother and daughter duo, who seem to finally have reached a conclusion. Though before I could take a step, a call stopped from making any move. It was from Caroline. Chapter 298 Kindness ? -Ring! Ring! -Click! -Hello. Michael? "Hey Caroline. How are you doing?" I asked as I picked up the phone while I kept walking into the gas station store. There were a bit more cars here and a few more people in the store than previously. Observing Aisha, she was now helping the people with the bills and everything since Veriscene was busy. -Yeah. I am good. I just called to tell you that Ang said you need toe here and see something. It''s about a nt on your floor that is supposed to be some Yegdasi tree or something? "Yggdrasil. And yeah, I will be there soon. Things are almost finished up here as well,"I spoke as I recalled the other quest about the Tree of Yggdrasil that I had from before. [Emergency Quest!] [Description: The World Order has found the existence of Michael Aroa and has dered him as one of the stray Wanderers with SS-Level importance. After looking at his achievements, they have finalized to give this particr task to him. Requirements: Permission from the World Order Task: -Purify the Branch of Yggdrasil -Find a way to send it back to the World Order Time Limit: Until the branch ispletely corrupted or made pure Current Corruption: 66% Failing Penalty: -The world where the user lives will be engulfed by the Dark Branch Rewards: -A random Unique Blessing of the World -Skill: World Connect -A Leaf of the Dark Branch of Yggdrasil -???] It was one of the Quests of which I had almost no idea on how to go about it. Hmmm¡­ now that I think about it, would Aisha know anything about the World Order? I guess I can ask about it. -Okay then. I will cook something delicious for you. See youter then. Click! She cut the call pretty quick. Seems like she was busy with something. Anyway, I entered the store and found the daughter mother duo standing side by side while looking at Aisha with a respectful look. Veriscene then turned to me and bowed before speaking,"Thank you, Sir Michael. I¡­ it''s a miracle, to be honest. When I asked you to do the task, I didn''t really believe that you would be able to finish it. And this fast¡­ I would be lying if I say that I didn''t think I was dreaming. Anyway¡­ I don''t know what exactly I can give you in return¡­ but if you need old bones to do any task for you, I shall dly do it." Everi, on the other hand, looked at me with a slightlyplicated look. She observed me for a while before turning to Aisha. Her eyes are trying to understand the meaning of our actions. "You seem like you have some questions,"Aisha spoke as she unwrapped a chocte before taking a bite from it. The kids were simply ying in the mart while the customers were now handled by Irene, who was standing in as the cashier. "Exactly what¡­"Everi started speaking with the confusion andplexion still instilled in her voice,"Exactly, what do you guys want? From my mother, I found out that you didn''t ask anything from her. You just simply went and killed the General Vampire and then destroyed theb. Saving the children and finally solving my problems which should have no rtions to your work at all¡­ just why? What is your motive?" "You have never heard of Kindness before?"Aisha added as she took the final bite before getting a gulp from a water bottle. She then looked at Aisha and said,"this is what kindness looks like. This shit is rare, so embrace it. And yeah¡­ there is no hidden motive to it." I kinda like how she presented it with all the smiles and expressions before finally looking at the kids. Her eyes seemingly thinking about something before she looked at me, "What are you going to do with the kids?" The kids yed in the shop with smiles and innocence. I could take them in, make them strong, and be a part of my army. I definitely won''t treat them wrong and give them a better future. ''But that is not the reason I saved them. My work was to finish the quest which I did,''there wasn''t much to think about it either. "I''ll let them be free. They are certainly stronger than your average kids and you too know it, right? They are far more capable,"I spoke as I looked at Aisha. She took an ice cream out of the refrigerator as she spoke, "I know. They definitely are far more genius than most humans. Though they are kids¡­" She took another bite as she began walking out of the shop, "Both Everi and the kids. I have done what I can¡­ they were yours to begin with¡­ whatever you do with them is up to you now." Slowly, she walked out without uttering another word, seemingly enjoying her food. "Take care of the kids. Try finding a bnce¡­ also help out the vigers while taking help from them. You guys are at least capable of that, right?"I spoke as I smiled, bowed, before moving away from there. The kids were enjoying the candies, so they didn''t seem to notice us, while the daughter and mother duo bowed to us as we walked out. "If you even need anything from us¡­ you can alwayse back here,"Everi spoke from a distance, her voice filled with gratitude. I raised my hand signaling a goodbye, before I and Irene moved out of there, reaching out to Aisha who was waiting for us. "So. Where to next?"Aisha asked as she looked at me with a nonchnt expression. "Shouldn''t I be the one asking that question?" I asked. She was the one who knew more about these kinds of things. "Well. I don''t know if you know this or not, but even if you reshape reality a hundred yearster, it will be fixed back to the point where it was bent before. Unless, of course, the Lord of Fatees in between¡­" she spoke as she ate a bite before adding, "Our Priority is getting strong enough to fight against the one who twisted it. I would love to finish it as fast as I can but¡­ Even if we do it a littleter, I don''t mind. Not every time I get to take a break from my runaway life." "Runaway life?"I asked curiously. "It''s nothing. Just a boring story,"she spoke as she smiled at me. She then looked at Irenee before speaking, "Are the rest of your members as weak as she is?" Irene was surprised by her remarks¡­ a little annoyed, too. She almost stepped up to speak, but I answered first, "Her full potential isn''t unlocked yet. In fact, she is just on the first step." I then turned to Irene, who was observing me,"She is as strong as me. Or maybe stronger?" It was in fact true¡­ I don''t think I will underestimate her¡­ at least not until I reach level 30. Irene''s eyes open up wide as she looked at Aisha again, who seemed to be smiling at me, "Is that so? Well. I guess then that is fine." I sighed as I pondered about something before speaking,"Let''s go to my house first. You can meet the others there,"and she nodded before we moved with Irene still looking at her, dazed. Chapter 299 Introductions ? Next Morning¡­ . . "So this is Aisha. She will be working with us from now on,"I introduced Aisha to the rest of the people here. I waited for them to speak, though all I got from the other people in the room was silence. Right now we were in the living room of my apartment, on the 64th Floor in the Libra building. The ce where everything started. The ce where I woke up to find myself in the apocalypse having a system that changed my entire life. In this room were Irene, Aisha, and me on one side. Ang and Caroline on the other side. Their expressions were filled with curiosity than just surprise¡­ but more than that¡­ they looked charmed. ''I could understand Caroline, but Ang too?'' I thought as I looked at her. Ang, on the other hand, simply kept observing Aisha before slowly turning her head at me as she spoke, "Howe you end up finding one strange girl after another¡­ though¡­ this time you really went overboard, didn''t you?" Caroline rapidly nodded at her words without letting her sight go of Aisha. -Click! Aisha clicked her finger as Caroline broke out from her daze. It wasn''t just her, but Irene, who seemed to look at her with a ''different'' gaze, turned pretty normal. Did she reduce her charm or something? "Could have done it from the start,"I looked at Aisha with my eyes narrowed and she chuckled as she answered,"What''s the fun in that?" "This girl¡­." I could only shake my head in dejection before turning to Ang as I asked,"How are things here?" It''s only been a day, so I wasn''t expecting much, but I still wondered which projects they went with first. "We contacted George and Alex, but sadly, White wasn''t here. We couldn''t locate Adam and ke either, but we were working on it. As for the transformation, I created a field around the perimeter. For now, except the exceptionally strong ones, no one would be able to enter here,"Ang spoke as she counted the things which she did. "I went and collected a few more things about tenants and people living here. With the help of Ang, it was easy, so it was her work most of the time. Here is the list of everyone living in this building. It also contains information about their families and backgrounds. Unsurprisingly, not all of them are Human,"Caroline added as she looked at me with a serious look. "Also about the Yggdrasil. Did you know it from before?'''' Ang asked as she looked at me and I nodded at her. I knew about it from thest time I entered this apartment. "Yggdrasil?"Aisha, who first heard about its existence, turned to me curious. "You don''t know?"I asked. "No¡­ just surprised to hear its name,"she said with a slight doubt, and it got me curious. "You know something about it?" I asked. "Hmmm. Just that it was going to be the boon of the entire universe¡­ and it got cut apart by a certain regressor who gained power of decay. Probably that Zombie King of yours,"she spoke as she recalled a little. Then, after a bit of thought, she spoke, "One of my friends was the caretaker of the tree. So that''s how I came to know about it." "Erina?" I asked, as I figured it would probably be here. "Erina was a queen. She did have the authority to watch over Yggdrasil, but caretaker is a different thing. Her name was Lilith¡­ She was once a demon but then turned Angel¡­ and soon she became a fairy which took control over the Yggdrasil,"Aisha spoke as she recalled in bits about their history. Looking at her, it seemed she was recalling not a few years ago, but way long before that. "All right. That''s enough chitchat. Tell me what are you going to do next?"Aisha changed the topic as she looked at me. While I was interested in her story, I respected her privacy as I answered her question, "We will be dividing the entire thing into two parts and deal with it ordingly. One would be the search party that will aim at finding the source of everything. As for the other party, we will mostly focus on finding and training a small army that will help us fight against the enemy." She nodded as she looked at me for a couple of seconds before speaking, "That''s good as a base, but you need to subdivide the things while also adding a main point that we should focus on." She then looked at me as if she were looking at a student of hers, "What you need to add is increasing the nonbat powers as well. Financial, Political, etc. You need to either assign your own members or take in someone suitable for that. This will let us do many things at once. Other than that, divide the search party into three. One that will look for the source of changed reality. Another that would look for more people who can work with us, and finally a search party that will work as a scout for us. Like an information collecting organization. That will smoothen things for us. Divide thebat part. It would be better if you personally teach them. You have some abilities regarding that, right?"she looked at me before ncing at Irene. I simply nodded at her as she nodded back before continuing, "And add anotherbat group that works mostly on defense and training. While the initial training and defense will be provided by you, we can''t have you coop here forever. So try finding some people with teaching talent." Looking at her, I was kind of surprised. The confidence she had when she spoke those words and the way she perceived¡­ she had led a team before, hadn''t she? ''Plus, her experience must be much more than mine¡­ just who is she?'' I was really curious about her. She was as absurd as I was. But still for now¡­ ''I still need to gain some experience and reach level 30. Before that, I won''t be able to teach everyone to their full potential.'' I gave it a long thought before I asked Aisha, "Is there any way I can get to kill a lot of strong monsters?" I also turned to Ang as I had asked her in the previous reality. It was a sad thing that the reality changed, but well, whatever. "A lot of strong monsters?"Aisha asked with slight curiosity as she observed me. I nodded without speaking anything, and she smiled before giving a little thought. She then chuckled as she nodded, "Well. It''s not something I share with everyone, but since we are in this together, I guess I can share some things with you. Though only you." Her eyes scanned the rest of us here before she waited for my response. "It''s fine. I won''t tell anyone. The rest of you, can you please go out?"I asked them. While they were skeptical, they still nodded as they were about to stand and leave from here.. But they stopped as Aisha spoke, "Nah! It''s fine. Now that I think about it¡­ training them would be better if I tell them about it too. Though only this. I won''t be adding anyone else." This girl¡­ just what was going on in her mind. Chapter 300 A Sudden Burst Of Power ? -ROOOAAARRR!!!!!! "You like this?" Aisha spoke as she looked at me with a sly smile. She was enjoying this a lot. And behind her was the gray-coloured lion. Looking at that lion, he seemed normal at first but when I used [Inspect] [Crazed Lion!] [A being of Plienthora, the of dreaded hope. It is one of the weakest beings here, but it still has the power to destroy smallers at its full power. Grade: S Blessings: ??? Status: Angered Energy: 3,809,291/4,000,000 Stats: Strength: 25,091 Dexterity: 45,182 Constitution: 12,982 Intelligence: 20,293 Wisdom: 34,293 Charm: 14,835 Remarks: Be careful of its bite. It''s one of its strong points] Currently, we are on a called Plienthora. By we, I meant Ang, Caroline, Irene and me. The one who brought us here was Aisha, who was smiling as usual. "One of my skills allows me to teleport to any ce where I have been before in an instant. It is quite handy if you ask me,"Aisha spoke as she held the Lion with her bare hands as she yawned a little before she added, "Now let us start without wasting any time. Michael. You can kill it, right?" She asked, but I was still dazed as I observed the sky above¡­ or perhaps the entire scenery. ck sky filled with glittering stars and a dozen moons with each varying color and size. Grayndscape with a ck forest at a distance. I could see white colouredke on the other side and mountains with strange ck dust floating around them. The mountain seemed to have a presence of its own. And a chill ran down my spine when I tried to concentrate either on theke or on the forest. ''Just what kind of is this?'' My heart beat rose really high as I looked at the objects around him. "Don''t dwindle too much. Don''t wander too far. I don''t want to attract too much attention here. While I can survive on my own, I can''t guarantee your safety if you go into the mouth of a monster on your own,"Aisha spoke before she asked again,"Michael. You can kill it, right?" I took out a wooden branch that I carried with me from the military base. Looking at the gray lion, I could only sigh as I nodded before shing it like a spear. -sh! [Time Rejection!] But it wasn''t enough to scratch it, much less injure it. -sh! [Time Rejection!] [Temporal Redo!] This time, the attack went on, hitting its weakest point. Even then, it barely held as it stood again, healing at a rapid speed. I saw his re targeted at me as he was trying very hard to free itself from Aisha''s grasp. "You have a space maniption skill? Nice. You look quite adept in it too,"Aisha, however, was fascinated by my skill. Though that was all there was. Other than simple fascination, she didn''t show any signs of extreme awe. She simply stood there watching as she spoke,"is that all? Don''t tell me you ran out of energy?" I shook my head as I looked at the others observing me before I pondered a little before speaking,"well. Let''s change the way of shing." -Crack! I broke the wooden stick, decreasing the size of it to an appropriate sword. With that done, I held it in a proper position. "Since we are doing it properly¡­"I positioned myself properly, holding the wooden sword in a ''sheathed'' position. My eyes half closed, half concentrated on the lion. I didn''t notice, but Aisha''s eyes were wide open now. This was the first time she had been this surprised ever since meeting me. Even to an extent that she let the lion go off. And the lion¡­ rather than running towards me, it ran away in the other direction, as fast it could using all his energy. "[Ground Zero: First sh]"I muttered as I unleashed all my energy at the ''target''. Missing was not possible because [Time Rejection!] -sh! And then silence covered the entire area. It was as if the already ck and white had lost whatever color it had. The air, which felt suffocating up until now, was now empty. And what happened next¡­ -BOOOM!!!!!! Was more than deafening. The entire area¡­ no¡­ a small part of the whole was shed and separated down to its firstyer. [You have killed the ck Gori!] [You have killed the Grey Lion!] [You have killed a Crazed Lion!] . . . . A single sh was enough to destroy a major portion of the entire. "Freak! Why didn''t you tell me you know one of the 13 Universal shes?!!!''''Aisha was more surprised about the sh than the destruction itself. Though I wasn''t concentrating on her. My eyes looked at the never ending [System Messages] that led to onest message. [You have Reached Level 30!] [You cannot Level up until you fulfill the advancement requirements!] [All the Exp will be umted from now on!] [You have received a New Main Quest!] [You have received 3 New Emergency Quests rted to the!] [Your ss: Child of the Universe has been Unlocked!] [Your Skill: Second Space(Unique) has been Unlocked!] [You have Received 4 Blessings from the Plienthora!] "Hey! Why are you so dazed? Did you hit your head or something-Wait! How did you get that strong in an instant!!!!" Aisha was getting surprised by the second, the more she praised me. While my eyes only looked at the System Notifications before I checked my [Status] once again. [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: (1) Gaia''s Saviour: Allow the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions. (2) Protector: Allows the user to share half of his health and defense with allies within a radius of 25 meters! (3) World Traveller: When in a new world. The user''s powers will increase by 30% for the first two weeks. ss: Child of the Universe [All stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight with him, and fight against the enemy. All stats will be doubled and the enemies stats will be halved] Level: 30 (521,154,700/25,00,000Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereal, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the One: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence(Only works under certain conditions). (3) Helper of Darkness: Allows the user to see through darkness and have perfect night vision. The user''s stats will be doubled in the absence of direct light and, in the presence of absolute darkness, the user gains the ability to channel Darkness Mana. (4) Blessing of Infinitum: You have avenged the Lost Crusader''s Dream. You will never be truly lost. (5) Blessing of the Fallen: You have avenged the Fallen Angel Ivan''s Revenge. Angel''s will have a favorable opinion on you. (6) The World of Plienthora: You have cleansed a part of the world with your divine power. The Power of the User increased by 20% on Plienthora. (7) Blessing of the Lost fairy: The Ancient Fairy has been freed by your efforts. Your fairy magic will have 25% more potency. Health Points: 2,500,000/2,500,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 20 (+2000) Constitution: 18 (1800) Dexterity: 24 (2400) Intelligence: 13 (1300) Wisdom: 13 (1300) Charisma: 12 (1200) Stat points: 85 Total Cronas: 756 Billion Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Portal Under Control: 0] "Well¡­ seems like¡­ it''s not such a bad ce at all,"I said as I looked at the notification one by one¡­ my smile widening the more I looked at them. Chapter 301 New Quests ? [Temporal Locking!] [The user exists outside of time, which makes them immune to its effects and all that is caused by it. This can render the user ageless as a result. Since the user''s body is not affected by time, they do not expend energy, and therefore neither need to eat nor sleep. Because time does not flow for the user, any diseases also do not progress, thus effectively rendering the user immune to disease symptoms and damage. They may also exhibit regenerative capabilities as a result of their temporal lock, as their bodies will always revert to the point in time in which they were not injured. Requirements: No energy required] [Compass of Cronos (Rare)] [Shows directions in the field of Zero Time] [Time Cutter (Umon) (Level 1)] [Bring out the de that cuts through each and everything. Cannot cut through beings that are immune to space and time effects, or divine beings who have ascended the realm of mortality Cost: 500 Cronas/seconds Skill Points required to upgrade the skill: 5] [Second Space (Unique) (Level 1) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit, using an interdimensional gate. The user can bring 10 living people to the Second Space he wishes to. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 10 days in the Second Space Area of Space: A of Radius 500m Skill Points Required to Upgrade to next Level: 25] ''Well, seems like I have gained enough from this single sh¡­ but what''s with the ridiculous quest?'' I thought as I moved my eyes from the [Skill] I received to the [Quests]. [Emergency Quest: Guardian of Plienthora!] [Description: The dying of Plienthora is barely keeping itself alive for all these years. But the Universal Miasma surrounding the has never been any less punishing. Find a way to recreate life essence on this and bind it to the core. Then help Plienthora clean the Miasma surrounding the. Objective: -Recreate Life Essence -Deliver the Life essence to the Core of the -Cleans the Miasma surrounding the Rewards: +100 Stat Points +100 Skill Points +Skill: Pleinthora''s Protection +Blessing of the 7th King Time Limit: ??? Penalty: ???] [Emergency Quest: Chaos in Rebellion!] [Description: The World is beyond repair, but even still the betrayers of this haven''t left salvaging it. The soul of Plienthora can never forgive this humiliation. Objective: -Kill The betrayers who left the -Destroy at least half the Bolivia where the betrayers take refuge Rewards: +50 Stat Points +10 Mastery Points +120 Skill Points +Skill: Zero Gravity + 100 favourability with the Universe Time Limit: ??? Penalty: ???] [Emergency Quest: Revenge for the!] [Description: The Attackers of the Plienthora had already been defeated and enved. However, their essence still thrives after stealing from variouss. Kill the Corrupted Kings, who are living under the dark shadow of the Gxy and end their Rampage. Objective: -Kill the 7 Commanders of the Rivega -Kill the 24 High Nobles of Rivega -Kill the King of Rivega -Save the Princess of Rivega Reward +God of Simplicity''s Sword +Shard of Cruel Eye +A wife? Time Limit: ??? Penalty:???] [Level Advancem Quest!] [Objective: -Kill 7 Devine Beings or Higher! -Find the Core of 3 Devine Being!] [Main Quest!] [Enarchy of the God of Cronus!] [Description: The God of Cronus had finally woken up by a twist of Reality. Meet him in the realm of Nowhere and find out more about the existence of the System! Rewards: -??? Time Limit: -??? Penalty: -??? Remarks: Carry the Weapon of Eclipse with you] Each of them was scarier than the other one. But while it was dangerous, the rewards seemed equally good. "Hey! How long are you going to stay dazed for?''''Aisha asked as she looked at me with an expression of absurdity on her face. She looked at me with a hundred questions, but I don''t think I could answer most of them. "Ah! Sorry¡­ I was surprised by the information I got from that sh¡­ Aisha. What is this?" I asked Aisha, wondering how much she knows about it. "Ignoring my questions, eh? Well, I guess thates as a part of your personality¡­ I will let this go since you showed me one of thoseshes¡­ Though in return for the answers¡­ can you teach me that sh? Even the basics would do,"Aisha spoke with a lot of interest as she observed me. I was going to say no to her, but if it''s just the basics, I think it is possible. Though I need to ask Rhea''s permission first, since she was the one who taught me about it. ''Now that I think about it, it has been quite a while since I met Rhea¡­ I wonder how she is doing right now,'' I thought as I observed the skill [Second Space!]. But let''s have a little patience. "Well. I can''t promise you. But if a certain someone agrees, I will teach you¡­ maybe you will learn the entire thing? It''s more of a gamble. What do you think?" I spoke as I looked at her expectant face. Hearing my words, she started to think rather deeply about it. Heer eyes changed from ''Let''s do it'' to ''Let me think about it''. Silent as she was, she seemed to be mumbling something under her breath. It took a couple of seconds or more before she looked at me again, "Are you sure you won''t be betraying me?" Her eyes were golden as she looked at me. The previous blue grayish hue was gone as she looked at me with a deeper look than before¡­ is she using a skill? She is using a skill, isn''t she? "I promise it has nothing to do with betrayal. I just can''t teach you without a certain being''s permission. I need to ask that person before I can teach you anything. Though I can show you that move as many times as you want¡­''''I spoke out as I looked at her. And skeptical as she was, she once again weighed the bnce between the telling and not telling. And after she was done with her thinking¡­ "All right. I guess the exchange is more or less still equal," she spoke as her eyes turned back to blue again. She smiled at me as she spoke, "This¡­ or to be more precise, this world we are living in, is a dead. It has been consumed by a certain race, taken overpletely. They have juiced it outpletely and left it barren for hundreds of thousands of years. I don''t have many records, buts like these are in abundance, but this one is a bit special." "Special?" I was a bit curious. "Well. Let''s just say that the owner of this was quiet, powerful, and it was one of the strongest back in its age. Though it got defeated with time. Since it was powerful, it still had some of its memories from before, but it can only be developed so much. What you are looking around is an iplete that had lost its evolution pathway and reached its dead end,"Aisha asked a bit curious as she looked at me, "Why do you want to know though? You seem like you got something in your mind.." "Yeah about that,"I began telling about the ns I have with this now. Chapter 302 Ally Or Enemy? ? "You want to save this? And you want to make it your own?"Aisha was skeptical as she looked at me with slight ridicule. Her eyes observed me with a lot ofplexion, as if she was having difficulty in trying to understand me. I exined to her about my ns on this after finding its nature. The information I got after making the sh was enough to pique my interest here. In fact, I can get much stronger here than on my own. "It''s ridiculous as it is¡­ but even if you consider its absurdity, we still shouldn''t forget that the roots of this whole mess lie back on your. You haven''t forgotten that, right?"Aisha asked as she looked at me with a serious gaze. I nodded as I decided to give out another piece of information. "I need to be much stronger than I am right now. The enemy I am fighting is kind of too strong¡­" "Well. I understand your concern. But I doubt he could be stronger than the 12 Higher Gods, one which is the one who owned this. Even if he is dead, he won''t like it to be upied by someone who knows nothing about it,"Aisha spoke as she looked at me with a deep sigh. "You probably don''t know about the Higher Gods do you?''''She made an awkward smile again but this time I had a little Idea about it. ''They were the same people that I met when I first met Aether, weren''t they? The one whom I met after learning spear arts with Armes,'' I recalled about them. Though I don''t remember where, I got another piece of information too¡­ "The one I am fighting¡­ he is stronger than the Higher Gods,"I spoke as I looked at Aisha seriously. Though rather than getting surprised, she narrowed her eyes at me. I saw her expression turning silent as she observed me without any clue to what she was thinking¡­ but I could feel it¡­ she was ready to slice my head based on my answer. "The one you are fighting. What''s his name?"She asked "I don''t know,"I answered honestly. I was ready to fight a life and death battle with her, but she asked another question, "Is he a human? The one whom you are fighting?" "I don''t think so. I haven''t met him, but I am pretty sure he is not a human,"I answered as her eyes locked onto me. She still wasn''t satisfied with my answer, but her expression seemed to lighten a lot. "This is a bit bothersome¡­ what if the one you are trying to kill is someone close to me?"She asked out her concern as she observed me with a deep look. She didn''t seem like she was trying to fight with me¡­ "Wait! Wait! Wait! Someone that strong is rted to you?"I asked as I looked at her before I suddenly recalled¡­ "Ah! Your father!"I spoke as I recalled how she spoke that her father destroyed the entire multiverse¡­ though on that note.. "Wait, a second! Can''t your father help us in this timeline?" I asked as I looked at her. If he is that strong and she has such a strong connection. Why are we even trying- "He still hasn''t been born in this timeline. I don''t feel my connection with him. Either it''s a time which has long passed till he died, or he still isn''t born yet. I believe thetter,"she spoke as gave a small smile before she continued, "Hmmm¡­ is there anything you know about your enemy?" "Ummm¡­ wouldn''t it be better to solve the important problem at hand? What if we really turn out to be enemies? Wouldn''t that only decrease the chances-"I was speaking that, but then she smiled at me with the most friendly smile¡­ "Michael. I would rather die and suffer for eternity than to work with someone who is against my father¡­"she spoke I gulped, as I didn''t know where it would take it. Should I lie to her? No¡­ she would be able to see it. She is a strong ally¡­ but if she happens to be the daughter of the Zombie King¡­ this could be problematic. ''What''s worse is that I don''t even know the extent of her power,''I thought as I saw her taking out a giant great sword out of space. The giant great sword was at least 5 timesrger than hers, yet she held it without any problem. She kept observing me with a keen gaze as she took a first step towards me¡­ [Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!] [Hostile Intent from an Unknown entity! User is advised to Run away as far as you can!] [Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!] [Hostile Intent from an Unknown entity! User is advised to Run away as far as you can!] "Are you really that cruel?"I asked as I looked at her. She seemed to be a nice person. "If it''s for my family. I can wipe outs. A single individual doesn''t carry much weight. But that is after we dere that to you that. A good person like you shouldn''t really be an enemy of my father. Despite how dad is, he won''t harm you in many ways,"she spoke as she looked at me. Her eyes were ready to kill me, her weapon pointing at me, her body ready to go for a battle. "At least speak that in a friendly manner,"I too looked at her with a serious expression before I began speaking, "The guy that I want to fight is one of the people who caused a Zombie Apocalypse on my. He supposedly took over the entire universe, bing the king and is trying to ma-" Though in between my speech, I saw her picking her great sword back into her space as she stretched a little. "Is that so?"her smile was refreshing as she looked at me. Did her doubts vanish? Or is there anything else to this entire thing now. "It''s fine. You can lower your guard now. My father¡­ he might be a leader at times, but that is only to protect his own. He would never rule a single or more. I am actually relieved, Michael. Seems like we can continue our cooperation for a longer time now,"she spoke as she answered my queries. I could only look at her with a dumbfounded look. Just who in the world was she? And¡­ How many people are there as strong as her? ''I must get stronger,'' I vowed in my heart. This was more than I can chew. I used the [Eyes of the Time Keeper] to see how long before someone attacks me. [19 seconds!] ''Hmmm¡­ it''s not Aisha then,'' I sighed as I put my guard down a little. I looked around the for a couple of seconds, finding Irene and Caroline looking at us with slight horror. "Ah! You guys were here too,"I spoke as I totally forgot about them¡­ but more than that¡­ my eyes reached the horde of monsters that have surrounded uspletely from all sides. "Need help?"Aisha asked as she looked at me and I chuckled as I shook my head, "Let me have some fun for now." It has been a while since I let myself be tested out. Chapter 303 Divine Beings ? [Ground Zero: First sh!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] . . . Since I only knew one strong move, I used it over and over again. I didn''t decrease the intensity, strength or depth of the sh. I kept it as it was before. Killing all the monsters that were around me. The shook. It was shaking with each sh being made. The debris flew in the air, while some returned, others went off into space. The was getting scarred with each sh being made. With each sh being made, I was changing the terrainpletely¡­ It has been a while since I let myself go free like this. What was even more scary was that I was still using a wooden branch to do it. What would happen if I were to use a more powerful sword? Something that is meant to be used as a sword rather than a random tree branch. I wonder about that. [Level: 30 (2,249,454,600/25,00,000Exp)] ''Seems like I really need toplete the Advancement quest. But how am I even supposed to find a Divine being?'' I questioned as I looked at the quest again. [Level Advancement Quest!] [Objective: -Kill 7 Divine Beings or Higher! -Find the Core of 3 Divine Being!] "Hey Aishapedia, what do you know about divine beings?"Not finding an answer myself, I went to Aisha hoping I would get something. She was currently inside a barrier with Irene and Caroline, teaching them some basics with a couple of monsters she prevented from being killed. Hearing my words, she was a bit surprised before she spoke,"Well. Think of them as people who have the ability to influence beings that are not ''Divine''." Not understanding, I stared at her for a couple of seconds before she pointed at Irene and spoke, "[Do A backflip]" Irene then moved her body against her will as she did a backflip before Aisha continued speaking, "The Higher beings have a definite control over a lower being. It''s like a pattern that defines their existence. Also, one more thing is that a lower being can never kill a higher being, no matter how strong they are." "So you are a higher being?"I asked as I looked at her with a bit of contemtion. "Not really. I am more of an exception to the rule because of a certain incident. Though idents like that are one in infinite possibilities. Though you can take me as a higher being if you like,"she spoke as she looked at me with a smile. "What''s the difference between you and a higher being, then?" I asked as I looked at her. "I can''t kill all the higher beings. I am not permitted to do¡­ kill a certain number of people. Though it is not really something you should be worried about. Yeah, there was one more difference between me and a higher being,"she looked at me with a prideful face as she spoke, "Once a lower being bes a higher being, his or her time in the mortal world, or you can say lower ne without divine energy, is reduced to none. Every time he or she enters a lower ne, they have to spend a lot of energy to maintain their existence there. I am not bound by that rule, however¡­ ah! People who have gained a certain authority from the Universe itself are different. They gain ess to certains where they can visit¡­ " "So Divine beings may or may note to my? Is that what you are saying?"I asked, as I was getting a little confused. "Think of it as a thumb rule that they may not. But exceptions always exist. Whether the makes an exception, the universe or whatever, there is always a possibility,"Aisha spoke as she stretched a little before looking around the destroyed wastnd that I created after so many shes. "Any other questions?"she asked as she looked at me. I pondered a bit before asking, "It might be an odd question, but¡­ is there any way for me to kill a divine being?" "Yeah. It should be fine for you. You are an Ethereal right? Don''t tell me you don''t even know about your own race?"She asked as if she heard a joke from my mouth. She looked at me for a few seconds before realizing¡­ "You really don''t?"She asked. "Kind of¡­ just that they are above higher gods or something?"I answered, and she nodded. "Well. I don''t know what kind of oddity you are, but listen, Mister Ethereal, who pretends to live like a human¡­ Ethereals are one of the Cosmic Rulers of the Universes. They live, eat and shit with the Universe. It''s like a coexistence of sorts. Wait, why am I telling you all this?" She removed the barrier as she moved in closer to me. Her eyes locked on to mine as she turned serious before she asked,"Don''t tell me you were a human who got blessed by the universe and then somehow found an evolutionary path to being an Ethereal." I smiled awkwardly as she guessed it correctly. But that expression of mine made her even more ridicule, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Even then, from what I have collected, it takes 1000s of years to receive even the lowest ss of Ethereals. Just how old are you? You certainly know these girls who are no older than 22-23. This doesn''t make any¡­. "Her eyes then darted to me as if she realized something. She looked at me¡­ "You don''t control the space element but Time, don''t you?" I smiled as I nodded. I mean, I wasn''t exactly hiding it¡­ but I guess my skills rted to time only; I haven''t shown them to her. I showed her [Time Rejection] mostly that could be confused with Space pretty easily. "Man, you really are something. Were you born under the goddess of luck fortune or something?" She spoke with an amazed expression. "Maybe? Maybe not? I have had my fair shares of good and bad scenarios,"I spoke as I looked at her and she nodded as she added,"that''s what it takes to be a man. Universe won''t just bless any random guy to be honest. They have their own sets of rules¡­ anyway, enough with the boring cosmic talk. What should we do next?" she asked as she looked at me. "You train them. I will go off on an adventure on this. I should be gone for a day or two, at max a week. If I don''te back till then, then find me,"I spoke as I used [Return!] to put a return point here, just in case. Since now I have more or less infinite energy, I could travel as far as I can without much problem¡­ Well. Let''s first finish the quests which can be done on this. "Ah! Before I go. Do you know how to create a Life Essence?" I asked again. It was one of the quest requirements, wasn''t it? "Just use a bit of life force from your infinite lives. It won''t be that hard,"Aisha spoke as she looked at me before speaking,"Also. Don''t overestimate anyone on this. Because it''s a dead¡­ you might find things which are moreplicated than a living¡­ well, it''s better if you see it yourself than me telling you,"She spoke and I nodded at her. I will keep her words in my mind. ''Now then¡­ let''s have some solo adventure while we are at it,''I thought as I began moving in a random direction on this. Chapter 304 [Second Space] Chapter 304 [Second Space] "Now where to go from here,"I muttered as I wondered, looking at the endless wastnd in front of me. I had been running for about half an hour trying to find more monsters even after covering quite a considerable distance, I still couldn''t find an end to this wastnd. ''Well. Since we are more or less lost now, let''s try visiting her first,'' I thought as I stopped running and came to a halt. ''First things First!'' [Second Space: Level 1 > 2] [Second Space (Unique) (Level 2) Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit, using an interdimensional gate. The user can bring 20 living people to the Second Space he wishes to. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 20 days in the Second Space Area of Space: A of radius 1000m Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 50] [Skill points left: 46] [Second Space!] A blue-coloured gate appeared in front of me, that reminded me of the days I traveled in the post apocalypse. Brings a lot of nostalgia, to be honest. "Now then. Let''s meet her,"I muttered as I entered into the [Second Space], finding myself back at the world which was in a dimension of my own. ording to Rhea, it was my personal space and the more I invest in it, the more I would be able to bring out the profits. Thend stretched green under the blue sky as a single giant tree came into view at a faraway distance. I could see the giant tree covering a huge portion of the sky, tall as a mountain. It stood there, providing energy to the rest of thend. [Tree of Crona(Devine) Effects: Generates 100,000 Cronas per hour. Effect: Generates 25 Golden Crona per day. Limitations: Can store only 1,000,000,000 Cronas Limitations: Can store only 100,000 Golden Cronas Special: Evolvable(Require 10,000,000,000 Golden Cronas to evolve)] "You have returned? That was actually fast. I was expecting you to take at least a couple of years before you reach level 30,"a voice came from behind that felt more familiar than my own. It was sweet as a melody and was enchanting like the most refreshing drink. Turning around, the white face of Rhea appeared in front of me. Wearing the same ck dress as always, she looked at me with a smile as she moved closer to me. Her eyes focused on me. She moved in closer than her smile was getting more merry with each passing moment. "I have a lot of questions,"I said as I moved in closer as I saw her reaching me and bringing her even closer with my hand. I held her very close to me. Her body touched mine as she ced her hands on my chest. Using one hand to hold her from behind and the other to hold her chin, I made her look deep into my eyes. "I will answer all of them,"she spoke as she looked at me before she moved closer a little, her lips touching mine. It wasn''t a deep kiss, but a simple one. I would love to continue where it is going, but what I wanted right now the most was answers. I moved her head a little away from me as I spoke,"I saw you maintained a lot here." The [Tree of Corona] has evolved quite a bit, and the number of Coronas I have right now is nothing to scoff at. I doubt it had happened all by itself, especially since the Dungeon was gone. [Total Cronas: 756 Billion] "Kind of. Had nothing to do in the meantime. You like it?"she asked with a chuckle and I nodded before speaking, "Seriously though. The regression was thest thing I was expecting." I moved a bit away from her while I held her hand. Moving towards the giant Tree, I walked hand in hand with Rhea as I began my conversation. She, too, started walking beside me as she answered my doubts. "If I had told you, the system would have noticed and produced some other results. You probably have already seen ''Him''. It''s better to be prepared first than to jump, you know? Though you don''t seem to mind it as much as I thought." I nodded as I spoke,"If all in the end is going to return to the point where I am back to my old power with all the people which I hold dear standing right beside me, then I don''t think I mind much about it." It was true in a way. Except for Alissa, whom I still need to find, most of the people are already beside me. There are also Erina and Miya, but I will find all of them one by one too. If I am not wrong, either Miya or Erina is the 5th person who has regressed with me. She must be carrying her memories in the twisted reality as well. "Well. I hoped you would look at that perspective. It would have been troublesome if you ended up getting angry at it,"she spoke with a relieved expression. "Though it''s kind of a mess with reality inversion and all,"I said with a bit of an awkward face. While I did get a chance to level up to 30 pretty easily, I still didn''t like how everything got messed up. All those people, despite being close, still feel alien to me. "Reality Inversion?"Rhea asked a bit confused, and I pondered a little before starting to exin the events that happened after the regression one by one. While in the beginning she calmly listened, her expression changed drastically once she heard about the changed Reality. She looked at me with a ridiculous expression as she observed me for a while. "You seem like you want to say something,"I asked as I stopped and she, too, did so as she nodded heavily. "Aren''t you a little too lucky?" She spoke as she looked at me carefully, deep into my eyes, trying to figure out something. Her dark ck eyes were looking through my soul directly, but not finding much. She was even more bbergasted as she took a step back. "Lucky?" I asked. "You probably don''t understand, but the System is an external entity that doesn''t really exist anywhere but everywhere. In other words, if you level up here, even if you kill the highest of the high gods, there will be no problem with the Lord of Fate since this reality doesn''t exist,"She spoke in words that were stillplicated to understand. And looking at my confused expression, she spoke again, "Think of it this way. You can''t kill anyone in reality because of strictws, right? But what if you go into a dream that is strikingly simr to your reality? Will the killing affect reality? No. Now, what if there is a merit to killing? You can gain merit without actually killing anyone in your reality¡­ it is something simr to that." When she spoke that way, it became much more clear before she grabbed my hand and spoke, "Let''s go¡­ we are going to utilize this opportunity to itsst drop." Dragging me to the [Shop] section, much more excited than I was. Chapter 305 Buying Power Chapter 305 Buying Power The gate to the [Shop] was near the root of the Tree. To be exact, it was inside the trunk right now. While it should have taken a few minutes at least to reach this point, with the help of Rhea, teleporting here was a piece of cake. Inside the [Shop], things were a little different from before. "Did you change the [Shop] as well?" I asked as I looked at the changed interior with the new interface system. Last time there were simple holograms selling various things, now there are stalls with high-tech systems that show more than just one option to buy. "Nope. It was included with you leveling up to Level 30. You will gain more things as you level up, someday gaining the ability to open your ''Shop'' through which you can earn any currency you want. Though that is forter,"she spoke as she took me to the [Skill] section. "Since we don''t have to worry about Cronas much, let''s start getting you upgraded for most things,"she added. [Aura of the ck God(Unique)!] [Description: Allows the User to Use Darkness as one of its own. Even if the User doesn''t have any affinity towards the Darkness Element, he or she may be able topletely control Darkness and use any Spell rted to it. Effect: Allows you to Use All Dark Spells without any Limitations! Type: Passive Cost: 500 Million Cronas!] That was only the start. I followed Rhea to buy [Aura of the Rage Titian(Unique)!] [Aura of the Blessed Angel(Unique)!] [Aura of the Water Maker(Unique)!] [Aura of the Defender(Unique)!] [Aura of the Mother Nature(Unique)!] [Aura of the Fallen God(Unique)!] [Aura of the Caretaker(Unique)!] [Aura of the Vengeful One(Unique)!] . . While each of them took about 50 to 100 Million, in total I had to spend about 4 Billion to gain a lot of Auras of various types. Even then, it wasn''t enough as Rhea told me that these are the bare minimum to start my next training. "Initially, I was nning to teach you the basics of all types of energies and then help you learn the [Second sh]. But now that we have an opportunity, I will help you to kill all the Higher Beings in this Universe, gaining their extracts and bringing out the full potential of these Aura. That way, we can make you as powerful as you can within the limits. This will serve as a solid foundation for your Divine power,"she spoke with a lot of excitement as she then began helping me with one skill over another. While most of the skills were powerful, Rhea spoke that I don''t essentially need it as my defense is near perfect with [Time Rejection] and my attack [Ground Zero: First sh!] Should be able to help me slice almost all the surrounding enemies. "What you need right now is Utility Skills. Things like teleportation and stuff,"She spoke as she kept going through the skills before finally deciding on a bunch of skills that she had made me buy. [Warp(Rare)!] [Effects: Allows the User to travel a fixed distance around him in an instant! Energy Cost: 500 Time Points/ Metre! Limitations: The User can only teleport to the points which he could see with his eyes or sense it. Price: 1 Million Cronas!] [Pre Dimensional Reflection(Unique)!] [Description: The Power of the Worlds is enough to change the nature of energy which one withholds. The Price is enormous but the returns are too. Effect: Change the Nature of Energy at the Cost of Your Own Energy! Limitations: Cannot Change a Lower Form of Energy to a Higher Form! Price: 100 Million Cronas!] [Order and Rejections(Rare)!] [Effects: Allows the User to read the information of an object and theponents from which it was formed. Limitations: Cannot Read Artifacts! Price: 20 Million!] [Law of Addition(Unique)!] [Description: THe world is made up of fragments thate together and then break again. The more the addition the more energy is required for its stability Effects: Allows you to add any simr natured objects at the cost of your own Energy! Limitations: Objects of different Nature won''t join! Price: 25 Million!] [Law of Subtractions(Unique)!] [DescriptionL The World is made up of fragments thate together and then break again. The more the subtraction, the more energy is released into the world. Effect: Allows you to unjoin two objects releasing a burst of energy! Limitations: Objects which are joined by a higher form of energy won''t be separated! Price: 25 Million!] . . . It was just the start. I got skills that allowed me to control objects from a distance, things like telekinesis with a limitation. Powers that could allow me to fly at a rapid speed. There was one thing that allowed me to heal and another that allowed me to control dark power. Rhea was really going all out in getting me all the powers she can. Though unlike the [Utility] skills, when the other skills which included energies like Dark and Light magic, she didn''t go overboard but simply went with the lowest one. "You will be starting with them to understand how magic works. You will need everything if you are going to face ''Him'',"she said while she helped me with the skills. "With all these powers, would I even need to use my Time Powers?" I joked as I looked at the amount of skills I had right now. But she turned at me with a slightly confused look as she spoke, "Of course you are going to need it. The first step was to familiarize you with everything time rted. The second step is to help you understand the powers of other natures." She then stopped at the [skill] Section as she took me to the [Weapons] Section and spoke, "Once you master this, I will help you understand the concept of Time and how to connect it with all your spells that you will learn. You might have taken it for granted, but the System won''t always be with you. In fact, after some upgrades, you will rely less and less on the System. Let''s see. After the third step,es learning space, dimension, and then we will move to Divine energy. Once done with that, we will move to learning how tobine everything. By that time, you probably even stop using the System all together." Hearing her words, I just looked at her. Just how long is this journey going to be? After hearing about it, I was rather skeptical about it. I just wanted a normal life¡­ nothing more, nothing less. Is all this insane, never ending stuff really necessary? "Well. You might be overwhelmed with all this, but you can''t back out now anymore¡­ After all, Cronos has also woken up. From here onwards, you will need to prepare for the worst either way¡­ A simple life can only be granted after you either save the entire universe or kill it maybe?" she spoke as she looked at me with a pair of boots in her hand. "Well¡­ it''s overwhelming but not too much¡­ also... What do you mean by I need to prepare for the worst? You speak as if Cronos is out for my life¡­ isn''t he the one who gave me the System?"I asked with a bit of doubt. I was sure that it was Cronus that helped me with the System. "Well¡­ if I answer your question, things will get so hectic that we might end up spending years telling you the entire story. And even then, your doubts might not be clear,"she spoke with an awkward face. "Ummm. Okay. Answer the question. I promise I won''t ask anymore questions¡­ for now,"I spoke as I really wanted to know about it. "It wasn''t Cronos that gave you the System. It was the Zombie King,"She answered Chapter 306 Cheat Chapter 306 Cheat "It wasn''t Cronos that gave you the System. It was the Zombie King," She answered. "??!" My eyes opened wide as I looked at her expression of sudden sadness. Though it was only for a moment before she regained her cheerful aura. Her smile widened as she then bought a couple of ck coloured shoes. [Air Walker Shoes(Unique)!] [Description: The shoes were mended by the King of Rivas for his son who wanted to reach the sky. It has been blessed by 7 Goddess and 4 Demons and holds powers that allow one to transgress beyond what one is capable of. This Artifact uses 10 different forms of energy to channel its power and also has the ability to store power. Effect: Allows the user to walk anywhere. Even on nes that don''t exist. The user will never lose footing as long as he or she wears them. Energy Cost: 10 Energy/Step Stored Energy: 100,000,000/100,000,000[10] Limitations: Cannot step on the floor above the Universal Adrift. Price: 250,000,000 Cronas!] "Wait! What do you mean that the System was given by the Zombie King?" I asked as I shifted my eyes back to Rhea who was still selecting items one by one. She looked at me for a couple of seconds before she pondered a little and then asked, "What''s your most preferred weapon? Is it a gun since you lived in a modern society?" "No! Don''t change the topic. Rhea-" I was speaking before she looked at me with a certain smile. She was looking at me, but she had a distant look. "You know Michael. I really wish I could tell you everything¡­ but some knowledge has to be revealed with time. If I tell you anything that you don''t need to know right now¡­ everything might copse. You don''t want to end up making a choice you might end up regretting, do you?" She asked as she looked at me with slight sadness. I observed her, unable to utter even a single word. My eyes wanted to know the answers, my heart was too scared to know them¡­ it has been a while that I felt this way¡­ just what is it? "But¡­ how can I not think about what you just said?" I asked again, and she then began choosing the items again, "You don''t exactly have to. For now, you need to focus on what is going toe in the future. I know it seems confusing, but it''s not that hard to not think about it. Just divert your attention." I just looked at her as she picked up the times, asked a bit of questions regarding my choice, before helping me with different items that looked good on me while also having a proper effect. [Gloves of Riega(Rare)!] [Description: Forged by the famous cksmith Riega of Universe Andromeda at his lowest point. He made this not to harm anyone but to protect himself from dangers that were beyond the horizon. Effect: Stores powers of your enemies and allows you to use it for a limited amount of time. Price: 500 Million Cronas!] [Ring of Unifications(Rare)!] [Description: When the world was losing all its hope. A Fallen Angel used all its power to create an Artifact that allows people to connect its energy at once. That energy then was used to protect his world from falling. Effect: Allows you to extract energy from your allies and use it for yourself. Limitations: Cannot extract energy from beings powerful than you. Price: 25 Million Cronas!] While there were a few more artifacts, Rhea then ced it back in as she spoke about how I need itter and not now. She had a really deep look before she asked, "What quests do you have right now?" That question got me back out of nowhere as I ced the quests in front of her. She looked at it one by one before finally stumbling on the easiest one. "Alright. For now, we will focus on this quest. If you can then try finding more quests and fulfill them too," she spoke while pondering deep.. Chaos in Rebellion!] [Description: This world is beyond repair, but even still the betrayers of this haven''t left it alone. The soul of Plienthora can never forgive this humiliation. Objective: -Kill the betrayers who left the in times of peril -Destroy at least half the Bolivia where the betrayers take refuge Rewards: +50 Stat Points +10 Mastery Points +120 Skill Points +Skill: Zero Gravity + 100 favorability with the Universe Time Limit: ??? Penalty: ???] "Do you want me to upgrade any specific skill?" I asked, as I understood her. The only way to increase the skills was the Skill Points, and in order to get it, quests were the only way left for me. "I do. But first let''s get you back an old skill of yours," she spoke as she brought out an old skill of which I totally forgot about. [Skill Converter(Rare)] [Effects: This skill allows you to eat skills that you don''t use and in return provides you with 50% of the Skill Points that you have used on them Cost: 5000TP/Per use Price: 500,000 Cronas] "It''s sad that that''s all that is left. But I guess it''s better than nothing," she spoke as an evil smile formed on her face. Though it wasn''t just her, I was even feeling rather excited just by looking at this skill. I totally forgot about it. Damn! ''This is basically a cheat at this point,'' I thought as I looked at it before looking at Rhea. "You thinking what I am thinking?" I chuckled before sheughed too as she spoke,"Like it?" I nodded. The idea was simple. It was to buy the skills from the market and then exchange it for the [Skill Points] which then can beter used for upgrading the other skills. "How many Skill Mastery Points do you have?" Rhea asked as she looked at me and I pondered before speaking,"One as of now. Though I guess with 10 Mastery Points, we should be able to get a lot of Mythical or higher skills." "Not so fast. There is a limit to what a skill can be upgraded to. Some skills have only Umon or Rare max and they stop after that. Don''t be too rash. Let''s take a look at everything one by one," she spoke as she stopped me from getting it over my head. "Is that so? Well. At least for now, we should increase the levels of skills which we already have to max, don''t we? Or is there any limitation to that, too?" I asked as I looked at the System, barely stopping myself from starting to upgrade the skills. "I guess there isn''t any problem if you do it that way. But still, let me confirm it once again if there is anything like that," she spoke as she began looking through my System for a while before finally nodding, "All right. Everything seems to be fine. Since there is no problem, which skill are you going to upgrade first? And since you have a single mastery point, which are you going to upgrade?" I observed the system as I spoke,"Let''s go with this one first then¡­ I am pretty sure it will be worth it." Chapter 307 Crazy and Absurd Chapter 307 Crazy and Absurd [Second Space (Unique) (Level 10)] [Allows the user to create a Second Space where he can enter or exit, using an interdimensional gate. The user can bring 10 living people to the Second Space he wishes to. Time Flow: 1 hour in the real world: 100 days in the Second Space Area of Space: A of radius 5 km Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 5] [Time Cutter (Umon) (Level 10)] [Bring out the de that cuts through each and everything. Cannot cut through beings that are immune to space and time effects, or divine beings who have ascended the realm of mortals. Cost: 500 Cronas/seconds Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 1] [Return (Level 10) (Rare)] [Effect (1): Allows the user to save 3 points in the present time and return to that position using time points. Cost: 1TP/metre (2): Allows the user to take back any object around him that he had held for more than 5 minutes. Limit: The density of the user should not be more than the object ced at that point where the user wants to return. Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 2] [Temporal Redo (Unique) (Level 10)] [Description: The user can cause a rey effect in time that can ur a number of times, causing the damage and effects to be amplified. For example, after the first time, the user kicks a ball, the next time, the ball goes further, and which continues with subsequent kicks. This can be applied to other things as well, such as breaking things or damaging through a punch. This may be able to be used at any time. Effects: Allows the user to increase the effect of an action by 100 times Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 5] [Time Reduction (Level 10)] [Description: By the passage of time, you have now gained the ability to interact with one of the focal elements of the fourth dimension: Time. The ability to reduce time by a certain amount depending upon the level of the ability. Effects: Reduce the amount of time required for a task by 50% Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 2] [Inspect (Max)!] [Allows the user to see through anything as long as the user''s power level is above the object/person''s level. The content of the inspect skill decreases as theparative power of the object/person increases] [Eyes of the Time Keeper (Unique) (Level 10) Effect: 1.Allows the user to see the time duration of all activities Cost: 0TP/sec 2.Allows the user to see 5 sec into the future. Cost: 0TP/sec 3. Allows the user to see whatever happened in thest 300s. Cost: 0TP/sec 4. Allows the user to see multiple timelines at once Cost: 0TP/sec Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 10] [Warp (Rare) (Level 10)!] [Effects: Allows the user to travel a fixed distance around him in an instant! Energy Cost: 50 Time Points/meter! Limitations: The user can only teleport to the points which he could see with his eyes or sense it. Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 2] Other than the already maxed out skill like [Time Rejection!] which had no option of increasing, I used up my skill points in everything I could to obtain this. Though unsurprisingly, the [Skill Mastery Points] required for each upgrade were different. For Rare it was 2, for Unique it was 5 or 10, for Umon it was 1 and probably for Common it will be 1 as well. "Seems like I need to take up and finish the quests more often now," I muttered as I looked at the required amount of points that I need. "It won''te as easy as it seems. But if you mess around a lot, you mightnd a couple here and there," She spoke as she looked at me before speaking, "Let''s move to the next part." ''Huh? I thought we were done here,'' I looked at her nkly as she moved to the next screen. [Room] ''As much as I remember, this one had a lot of options rted to the room I had. Is there anything we need to buy here?'' I moved behind Rhea as she was scrummaging through the items. "What are you doing?" I asked out of curiosity as she kept scrolling through. "Well. For starters, your ''room'' is now an entire. I know our priority is to get strong and all, but since we are here, why not enhance your?" She spoke as she kept scrolling before the item types changed. If it was about the simple household items, now it was showing items for transportation and other stuff, and soon it changed to things like smallkes, fishes, animals etc¡­ but Rhea kept scrolling as she reached far lower before some absurd options starteding. "Would you mind if Iy the basics of your? Or would you like toy that yourself?" She asked as my heart beat rose a little. She was literally asking me to create a of my own. To design it anyway I want. "You can add your own name on thend and leave the other ces for water? Something like this. You are basically a God of all things that are going to take birth here," she spoke as she kept pondering over and over. My eyes suddenly stopped looking as I heard something absurd. "What do you mean ''give birth''?'''' I asked with a ridiculous expression on my face. This was¡­ a little too absurd to think, to be honest. "What do you think the next upgrade is about? Up until now, it was a quantity evolution. Then the next one is going to be a quality one. Well¡­ I leave the surprises forter. For now, focus on this. Or would you like to leave it to me?" She asked as she looked at me while I was still lost in the previous thoughts. "Oi! Hurry up with the decision," Rhea spoke with a slightly puffed expression. Though I would like to think about it¡­ "What if I want to change itter on?" I asked as I looked at her and she smiled as she spoke,"You are going to be the God of this ce. It is fine. Even if you want to shift the entire ne, you can do it without any problem. Later I will teach you how to arrange it without the help of [Shop]." I gulped as I nodded,"okay, then. Go ahead¡­ you can use the Cronas as usual. Though how long will it take?" "Should take some time as I would like to put some effort into it. Why don''t youplete the quests in the meantime? Also, yeah, try to get as much information as you can. And clear some dungeons too. It would be nice to have some dungeon supply and some portals leading to others¡­ as for dimensions¡­ It will take some time. All right. Quests, dungeons and taking information of thes. That''s your task for now. Come back when you have taken over the two givens at hand," she spoke as she then began hurrying with the reformation. I just looked at her with a nk look¡­ before I chuckled as I nodded and got out of the room. [Second Space] And then I began moving towards my goal ofpleting the quests. Chapter 308 Beginning of Something Big Chapter 308 Beginning of Something Big Getting out of the [Second Space], I then moved back to the same old ck and white wastnd that was nd as far as I could look at. My eyes observed each and everything as far as I could before [Warp!] I moved about kilometers ahead in a blink before I looked up and [Warp!] I moved up high in the air before I used my new shoes to stand on the empty air. Looking down, I could see the terrain much more clearly. "I really overdid with the attacks, didn''t I?" I muttered awkwardly as I saw the aftereffects of the shes that I made. They really turned the entire area upside down. Maybe I should hold them back next time? [Warp!] [Warp!] [Warp!] [Warp!] Warping a couple of times more, I ended up reaching quite a distance before the extent of my sh finally managed to end. Though the miasma has more or less increased than before. My eyes looked at the dark dense cloud of the miasma in front of me. [Inspect!] [Miasma of the Dying!] [The was hit by the Anti-Matter, corroding its core to put it into a near death trance. The death energy mixing with the Anti-Matter created a miasma that slowly killed the over and over. Total miasma left on the: 99%] "All right. Let''s start from here," I muttered as I scrolled through my skills before finally getting to the desired one. [Pre Dimensional Reflection (Unique)!] [Description: The power of the worlds is enough to change the nature of energy which one withholds. The price is enormous but the returns are too. Effect: Change the nature of energy at the cost of your own energy! Limitations: Cannot change a lower form of energy to a higher form!] Using the skill, I found myself glowing rather rapidly as all the miasma began pouring towards me at a rapid speed. ''How long before I die?'' I asked myself [10 Seconds!] And yup, I immediately turned off the skill before warping myself away from there. There was no change in my body but ording to the System, my Stats have increased by 2 each. [Eyes of the Timekeeper (Foresight)!] I checked the future ahead in which I used the skill again and saw myself overflowing with power. Seems like I would die because of all the extra dark energy inside me. Now then¡­ [Aura ze!] I used a skill that can spit out the extra converted energy out of me. One of the skills that Rhea asked to carry with me. [Total miasma left on the: 99%!] ''Let''s try a bit more,'' I thought as I began the process again. Since I was going to die in 10s, I should stop around 7 or 8 seconds. And then once I take the energy in, I should convert and pour it out at once. Hopefully, this will work. If not, we might need to rack our brains for something else. [Pre Dimensional Reflection!] 10s¡­ 9s¡­ 8s¡­6s¡­ 4s¡­ 2s. [Warp!] Moving back and then¡­ [Aura ze!!] Using all the energy at once, I attack the miasma! The dense miasma that was covering the entire view was now bing a bit more translucent. And using the aura ze created a huge circr void space in between the miasma. [Total miasma left on the: 99%] ''Well, seems like it''s going to take more than one try,'' I thought as I then began repeating the process once¡­ twice¡­ tens of times¡­ While I was doing it, I becamepletely lost in it as I found a definite pattern where I was able to take in miasma while also simultaneously pouring it out. It wasn''t really an ideal method as I still needed to take a break after a minute or two, but it was still better than taking a break every 8 seconds. ''How long will it take to clear the entire miasma if I were to keep using the same method?'' I asked the System as I looked at the never ending miasma. [3 Days: 12 Hours: 13 Minutes: 14 Seconds!] "It''s rather fast I would say¡­ " I mumbled, as I expected it to take at least a month, if not months. I wish I could use [Advanced Time Maniption] but then I might end up killing myself. For now, [Time Reduction!] I could only reduce the time by 50%. This should be fine for now. "All right. Let''s get to work," Iughed as I began clearing the entire miasma bit by bit. And meanwhile I was clearing the miasma, someone was watching my actions with great attention. There was aplex expression on that being''s face. Rather than calling him ''he'', it would be better to call him ''it'' since it was a soul rather than a real being. It was the soul of thest King of the. He was the reason why the hasn''t died yet. It was the remnant powers that were just about to run out but miraculously a certain beingnded on this out of nowhere. And for an unknown reason that being, Michael Aroa, was cleansing the miasma at a rapid speed. The soul could see the miasma being cleansed while its own power was increasing. Even though it was miniscule, the load of the miasma was reducing on the soul. The which was supposed to die in another few decades was now seeing hope to be revived. The soul of thest King¡­. it wanted to do something for this unknown savior¡­ but that is only after the work is done. Only after the is saved. For now, the soul shall watch the progress of the person who could or could not be its''s savior. On the other side of the, Aisha was already teaching Irene, Caroline, and Ang how to fight against the monsters and how to use the energy present in the air. While the method was crude, the process of learning was rather fast. Meanwhile, on another, Belial was also collecting powers, gaining new people under him. He could somehow sense that something big wasing apart from Michael and his own ns¡­ something for which he should be prepared for. Or else he might lose his entire existence in this game. Walter, who was currently following him, was also looking out for new methods to get powerful while also gaining the trust of his new rades''. Though his main motive was something that was rather hidden from everyone else. Back on Michael''s, things were progressing rather slowly as Leeway ended up in a hitch after getting caught in the altercation between demons and the Vintages. His mind was scattered, as he was feeling rather weak right now. But he didn''t know that fate had other ns for him. Things were about to turn upside down for him, too. As for the Queen of Demons, the current ruler of Michael''s, she still had no idea what was about toe to her. She was still trying to keep up with everything that was going on around her¡­ trying to make sure that everything didn''t fall apart. After all¡­ the previous Demon King¡­ had reincarnated on the same where Michael was from. In this altered reality, that is¡­ Chapter 309 Training Chapter 309 Training [Aisha''s POV] . . "Now that he is gone, I guess the responsibility of teaching you guys automaticallyes on me," I told them as I analyzed each of their power levels. Caroline was the weakest among the three. She had littlebat experience with a power she didn''t hold anymore. Her eyes have determination to be strong, so at least there is some hope. ''I guess I will take it as a positive sign since I can build a firm foundation for her,'' I nodded before moving ahead. Next was Irene. She was stronger than Caroline, but weaker than Ang. Though if I am not wrong, most of her powerse from the basic enhancement of one''s physical capabilities. It''s more like she had been going through the correct posture over and over until her body adapted to it, increasing her overall capabilities. Though exactly because of that, teaching her any form of weapon art would be easier than teaching her magic. ''But still, in the end, we will need her to use at least one form of magic to make sure she doesn''t fall short in any circumstances.'' I pondered what kind ofbination should I teach her? And finally, the strongest among the bunch, Ang. Honestly, she was strong enough to take on a lower God by herself. Though presumably that is her limit. I could see there is a strong curse ced upon her that doesn''t allow her to break free into a higher form, even though she had crossed her limit long ago. ''I wonder who ced this curse on her. Even though I don''t know how exactly this curse works¡­ but just because we can''t increase her base power, doesn''t mean that we can''t make her anymore stronger,'' I smiled as I had just the thing for her. Though before that¡­ "Take these," I said as I passed them a bunch of stones of different varieties. These were energy stones that I collected during my travels throughout Visca and Orion. "What are these?" Ang asked, as it was probably her first time looking at them. "Energy stones. Well, it would be better to brief you about energies first," I spoke out as I began exining to them what the energy stones were. In theory, there are infinite forms of energy, a single form suited for every single individual. If the individual practices that form of energy, he or she will attain immortality and insane growth. But in reality, people only found about 1000 or so forms of energy, most of which were useless. When the Higher Gods found out about energies, one of the Higher Gods, Weqi, was particrly interested in them. She studied them extensively to the point she created a list of the energies and their power levels. At the top was Divine Energy, which can be used only by divine beings, and the rest came below it. Within the list, the top energies were: Aura Ether Pure Elemental Energy Silva Energy of Hell Ascended Mana Corrupted Elemental Energy Dark Aura And finally, Space Form Though this was based on the affinity which Weqi had for herself. Different individuals had different affinity, so the energies could be shuffled. Though the top 10 energies never left the top 10 spots. In the end, these 10 energies, including the Divine Energy, wereter named as the Universal Energies. "And these crystals will help you assess which energy is best suited for you. If you have even one percent of affinity with any of these 10, I can help you get strong by practicing them," I exined to them about the purpose of the crystal and then nodded. "A drop of blood would be enough to activate it," I exined the method to utilize the crystal, and those three nodded at me. Their eyes observed the crystals as they began pouring drops of blood one by one into the crystal through their fingertips. I observed Ang first. Since she controls darkness, she should at least hopefully be able to use Dark Aura. "Oh! Seeeettt!!" I shouted, brimming withughter as I looked at Ang, really being able to connect with the Dark Aura. It wasn''t a surprise, but still the remaining doubt got cleared with this. "Hmmm¡­ a total of 13% affinity. Good, we will work on your affinity as we grow. That will be the first step. Hmmm¡­ just in case, try it with the other energies as well," I exined to her. I looked at Caroline and Irene, still trying. There wasn''t any hurry, so I waited for them to check all the crystals. Even if it were 1% it should be fine. "Ah! It glowed!" Irene spoke out of surprise as she lit up one of the energy crystals. There was more relief on her face than surprise, though. I guess she took it quite seriously. "Let''s see. You have Ascended Mana, huh? How peculiar. I wished it to be Aura, but okay¡­ it''s fine, it''s still good enough," I patted Irene as she smiled brightly before moving to check the other crystals. Her affinity was about 8%. Since she doesn''t have a solid foundation, I think we can hope for 40% affinity by the end of the training? "Miss Aisha!!!" Caroline shouted in excitement as I saw the secondst crystal in her hand glowing. She was really fighting there, wasn''t she? Looking at her glowing stone, it seems like she has a high affinity, too. "Ooh! You got Ether, huh? Good! And 18% affinity without any foundations¡­ " I kept my mouth shut as I observed the sweet little kid¡­ she was going to be a monster in the future. "It''s going to be really fun teaching," I mumbled in a sheepishugh as I looked at her, taking a few steps back as she looked at me with a fear filled expression. Though before I could speak a word, a bright light appeared from one of the crystals that Ang held. It was so bright that it almost overwhelmed me. But the crystal¡­ my eyes turned rather narrow at the crystal. "Corruption Energy, huh?" I would have loved it if it were any other energy. A low affinity was fine as well, but¡­ ''It''s at least 80%...'' Ang then let go of the crystal before looking at me, while I turned to Caroline and Irene. "You both also check thest crystal," I said, suspecting something. If my hunch is right, it will also glow much as bright as hers¡­ And yeah¡­. As soon as they dropped their blood from their fingertips, the energy stone began glowing with a bright light. The intensity was like the one which Ang''s stone showed. I sighed as I collected Ether and Aura in my hand, before looking at the trio, confused as they stayed there. "Stand there and do not resist," Imanded them, making them rmed a little as they braced themselves. -Whoosh! Collecting the surrounding air, I filled it with the energies I had collected, then reshaping it in a form of air sh. I pushed it towards them, such that it would hit all three of them at once. -sh! The energy passed through them, taking away the corrupted energy from their body. It pushed them to a distance. But that wasn''t just the end. That energy escaped from their body, began reforming and joining as it started taking the form of a human¡­ or, to be precise, a humanoid devil. Chapter 310 Training(2) Chapter 310 Training(2) [Aisha''s POV] . . That energy escaped from their body, began reforming and joining as it started taking the form of a human¡­ or, to be precise, a humanoid devil. "Hmmm.. where is this?" the humanoid devil made up of energy spoke. His voice confused, as he tried to feel something before he looked around to see the three girls. Only after he confirmed that he came from them, he then looked at me. "I can''t feel my connection to my original body¡­ Did you do something?" he looked at me, half confused, while he adjusted his half-transparent body in this atmosphere. "Not really¡­ Who are you, though?" I asked with slight curiosity as I moved closer to him, moving in between the girls and him. It would be quite troublesome if he enters back into their bodies. "Ah! Introductions! Apologies. My name is Aarick. You may also call me as the Zombie King, the God of Undead," he bowed as he looked at me with a rather gentleman-like appearance. His eyes smiled before he coughed a little, "Let me shift into a more proper form first," he added before his body became more opaque as his white-haired appearance came into the picture. He had a muscr build with a rather smug look, as if he looked down on everyone in his presence. "This is better," he smiled as he looked at his form before turning to me,"Now then, where were we? Yeah. Are you the one responsible for this, Miss Aisha?" My eyes widened a little as I observed him with a bit of a narrowed look. "Wait! Wait! Wait! I didn''t mean anything bad with that question¡­ I just wanted to know what is going on here," he chuckled with a slightly¡­. scared look? His eyes do seem to be afraid of me. What exactly is he nning? "How do you know my name?" I asked, getting on the defensive against him. Though as soon as he heard my question, he was dumbfounded before he realized something¡­ "Ah! You are from quite the past, aren''t you? I guess, you, not only crossed realities but also time barriers, huh?" he spoke as if he understood my situation. His attitude reminds me of my father¡­ always knowing everything that is happening¡­ but that smug look is quite irritating. "I will exin. But first [Sleep and Forget!] Click!" he clicked his fingers as he chanted using divinity, making the three girls fall asleep. He then looked at me as he added, "If I were to make a guess then, one of the Gods manipted reality for one reason or another, but this time he or she involved a being who can control time and is unaffected by time. By some alterations or another, a ripple urred, bringing you into this timeline far and far into the future where you don''t exist." It did seem usible, but¡­ "How can you be sure?" I asked as I looked at him, making him smile a little before he spoke, "Because Miss Aisha. You''re already dead in my timeline. Both you and your father." A chill ran down my spine as I blurted,"that''s impossible-" But he shook his head as he added,"you guys¡­ well, I shouldn''t spoil too much, but you died a natural death. I won''t tell you of the results of your endeavors, but you didn''t die from an enemy or a disease but of natural causes. You and yourpanions died peacefully. We, including those girls, live in a time far beyond where you existed." I was¡­ stupefied. I looked at him speaking as he kept observing the area while stretching. His eyes seemed fascinated by this altered reality. "But then¡­ why am I here?" I was a bit confused. So far in the timeline¡­ how did I even reach here? Or, to be more precise, why exactly at this time? "Should I make a guess?" he gave a smug look again¡­ -BOOM!!! I hit him on the face with irritation as he fell behind. "Wipe that smug off first. It''s irritating," I red at him, making him chuckle out loud,"all right. All right. I will do so. It''s just how my face is though¡­" he spoke thest line slowly¡­ "Did you say something?" I asked with my eyes narrowed at him, making him shake his head as he answered,"nope. Nothing. Must have been the air." I sighed as I looked at him. Seriously? What should I do with him? He is annoying! But oh well¡­ he doesn''t smell like a bad person¡­ "So? What were you saying?" I asked, and he looked at me with that smug look again, making me raise my fist again. Wiping that smug immediately, he coughed before speaking,"well. You might have used something that brings you closer to the time and ce where the reality was bent over. So¡­ this is the ce?" He looked around, trying to analyze the area, but I coughed¡­ "It''s not here. I just came here to train these girls to fight against the God who changed reality," I exined my actions as I observed him. "A rational approach, huh? Well, you were surely known for being too careful. And I guess, I am not even in my prime with only this much of my power¡­ All right, I will train while I am here," he reached his own conclusion as he observed the area. "Where are you going?" I asked as I saw him walking away from here. His eyes were rather calm for all the things that were happening. "Training. Getting stronger. Do you want something from me?" He stopped as he turned around. I observed his power level. It wasn''t exactly strong, but something felt off¡­ simr to what Michael was. "There is another one here with us. A man named Michael. He is under my protection," I gave him a passive warning and, understanding my intentions, he smiled as he nodded before speaking, "All right. I will make sure to not let him die in this hellhole. But if he went on his own, he would probably be strong enough to hold out on his own. Also¡­ I assume that all this destruction was done by him?" His all knowing smug smile was returning, making me irritated again, but he justughed, "All right. All right. I will have a little fun, but he won''t be harmed in any way, I promise." I couldn''t predict what his intentions were, but with this, he shouldn''t be able to get against Michael. Though¡­ I wonder if he will be an ally or an enemy in the end? I wonder about that. "On the other hand¡­ let''s wake them up. I wonder how much they remember," I mumbled before waking them up one by one. Caroline, who woke up first, spoke out,"Ah! Miss Aisha!" Her eyes confused, she looked around as I woke up the others. "What''s thest thing you remember?" I asked Caroline first, and she tried recalling before speaking,"we were about to check thest energy crystal." I looked at the other two, and they nodded as well. Hmmm¡­ well, I guess it''s better if they don''t know about it. "It''s all right. That crystal might be too much for you. Let''s focus on what you can do, okay?" I spoke, making the three of them nod before the training finallymenced its initial phase. Chapter 311 The Right Path? ? Author''s Note: Leeway Rosalyn was Michael''s best friend who died in the previous timeline but still exists in the changed reality. He is Alissa''s brother. Alissa is the girl who studied with Michael at his university. . . [Leeway''s POV] "Master Leeway. Is everything all right?" Gabriel, my servant and butler, asked me with a concerned voice. His eyes looked at me with a sympathetic gaze, as he wanted to understand the troubles behind my current dejected mood. Sitting in my office, as Iy back on the chair, I observed my surroundings. Starting with the books on the shelves to the files kept on the desk, everything gave off a rather professional air. My eyes then went to the paintings on the wall, from my father to grandfather and to their fathers. There were at least a dozen of them. Not only that, but there were a few secrets behind each of those paintings as well. "Where do I even begin?" I mumbled as I recalled things from the very start. My eyes gazed at a distant past as I exined things to Gabriel, "We already have enough problems with the Vampires and the Lycans. The mutated beings were a new nuisance that we also somehow managed without really troubling the Dark Oracle. We even tried to find a way to fight the Dark Oracle in case things went south¡­ But then¡­ Ah! Why do things have to be soplicated?" I groaned in pain, as I couldn''t find a way out of this one. "JUST WHERE DOES A DEMON COME INTO THE PICTURE?!!!" I roared as loud as I could, unable to control my emotions. This wasn''t something I could even imagine, even in my worst expectations. "I was pathetic!" I recalled how fragile I was in front of that demon. I recalled how I had lost without being able to do anything¡­ and not just that. There seemed to have been a fight right after I became unconscious. "I became someone who was saved at the mercy of another, huh?" I reached that conclusion, as I couldn''t think of anything else. This was beyond me¡­ just¡­ just¡­ "Gabriel¡­ Why are we even fighting?" I asked as I looked at him. Was there even any reason for it anymore? It''s like ants trying to interfere in the war between humans and finding a morsel in it. His eyes observed me with a hopeful gaze. His eyes, trying to see me, analyze me and understand me. And only after he collected his thoughts, he finally gave me his answer: "We are fighting because we cannot afford to lose. One step back and our enemies, which are waiting, prowling about, will eat us alive. Not only that, but we strive to get strong. Maybe not now, but our futile struggle is going to create a ray of light for the generations toe for sure. And maybe not right now, but in the far future someday, we will be able to live freely just like master wishes for." I looked at him for a few minutes before I sat down. I will be lying if I don''t feel dejected by his speech. But at least that means that my struggles weren''t futile. "To create a future for the generations toe, huh?" I mumbled as I recalled his words once again. From the beginning to the end¡­ more than a dozen times¡­ "Thanks Gabriel. That helped me up a bit." I took a deep breath as I pped my cheeks. My eyes looked more concentrated than before as I pondered what exactly I should do. "I am going to meet Michael now. Did he return from the market?" I asked as I changed the topic. While I am getting strong, let''s create a faction for my best friend as well. At least that was what we were trying to do until his memories got reced. "Are you still trying to make him a ruler of another faction? I might have already said that a hundred times, but what if he turns his back on us? Even more so when now he has lost his memories¡­ Are we even sure that it''s the same, Michael?" Gabriel put forward his thoughts as he looked at me with a concerned look. "Well¡­ It''s fine. Despite being a different person, he was still Michael. The glow of trust was still there," I smiled, as I was proud of my best friend. No matter what the situation, he never changes. One of my abilities allowed me to perceive one''s heart. And Michael''s heart¡­ was not tainted even a bit. "Though there was something strange about him¡­ I mean he was always confident but¡­ he felt¡­ unfathomable?'''' I mumbled as I recalled his behavior before. It felt as if I were looking at my ancestor or something? "He hasn''t returned from the market. I will try finding his whereabouts, though he wasst seen entering the Libra building," Gabriel informed me as he looked through his smartphone. "To his parents'' home, huh? Seems like he is making sure they are fine in this reality, too. How typical of him. All right, I will go meet him personally," I decided as I looked at Gabriel, him nodding at my statement. "Also. Call my cousins. We are holding a small banquet tonight. I am changing my ns for our improvement," I spoke as I began walking outside the room. Gabriel smiled as he nodded before speaking. "As you wish, master." Moving out of the office, I threaded through the hallway, reaching the main hall. I saw my uncle and father standing there and observing me. They called me as they raised their hands simultaneously. I reached towards them, as father began asking, "I heard there was somemotion today?" I nodded, as I had already sent a detailed file about what had happened there. It was bound to create a wave, so I expected the elders of the family to be worried a little. "Did you manage toplete the mission?'''' Uncle asked despite me already mentioning in the report that I couldn''tplete it because of the unknown variables. "I couldn''t," I replied in a rather apologetic tone. If I start acting out of anger, these f*ckers would only make things moreplicated for me. No point in increasing the difficulty of an already impossible mission. "Heh. You used to be such a promising man¡­ didn''t I tell you that roaming with that pathetic kid will only-mmpphh!!!!!!" He almost spoke badly about Michael as I held his face by hand. My eyes looked at my father with a rather calm smile while I tightened my grip, "Is there anything else you would like to ask, father?" My smile made father gulp a little as he shook his head, while I turned back to uncle. "Let''s not cross lines, shall we?" I threatened him as I red at him a little before I let him go, falling on the ground. My eyes observed him before speaking, "If you have anyints, then take it directly to the King." He was about to speak in something, but he shut his mouth at the mention of the King. I then turned away from him, as I began moving out towards the Libra building where Michael was currently. Chapter 312 Aarick ? [Michael''s POV] . . "Is this the dungeon?" [New Quest: Clear their of the Dragon of Lies and Truth!] [Description: Their of Dragon of Lies and Truth had been abandoned for over a couple of millennials. The Dragon in itself is dead, but its soul lingers around the dungeon, powering its being all over their. Objectives: -Find the Dragon''s abode -Find the hidden pieces of it''s soul -Purify all the beings in the abode -Kill any unwanted energy beings Rewards: +5 Skill Points +5 Stat Points +2 Skill Mastery Points +Key to the Dungeon of Lies and Truth Time Limit: 65 Years 8 Months 4 Days Penalty: -The miasma will consume you!] I looked at the giant cave that was big enough to take even titans in. If not for the System, I wouldn''t even know that this was a cave. ''Though still¡­ it''s sad to see a soul trapped for such a long time¡­ I guess it''s ''killing a dragon in order to save him,'' huh?'' I thought as I moved into their with the sword in my hand. [One Coloured Fang(Unique)!] [Description: So, how do you define unity? It''s when the entirety of one converges into a single entity. It''s not the addition of all into one, neither it''s the following a single thought point. But bringing close that one that has scattered. Forged by theaster of Unity, One Coloured Fang holds enough power to kill anything thates into its path. It has only one color, and that is the color of power. Effects: +500 Strength +250 Dexterity +Skill: Resist Separation +Skill: Untie by Evolution Special: The more the enemy is scattered through any means, the more powerful the damage the sword deals to it. [Resist Separation(Passive)!] [The user''s ability to stop any type of forced separation towards anything connected to it will be heavily fortified!] [Untie By Evolution] [Effect: Allows the user to break apart a being into its lower evolutionary form but the number of enemies gets doubled. Limit: Does not work that have taken one step in evolution. Cooldown: 14 Days] Power: 12,400,000 Durability: 500,000/500,000 Remarks: It was forged to kill. It was built on pride. With time, it has grown to destroy. Be careful not to lose control.] It was a nice sword. Rhea told me that it would be perfect for me since the beings who destroyed this have the ability to create clones of themselves to an exaggerated level. Walking through the air using the [Air Walked Shoes] I began delving through the insides of the cave. The path was rather big, so it took time to venture deep into the first level. Or at least that''s what I called it. -sh! The monsters dropped like flies as I shed them left and right. Despite me being weak, [First sh] was enough to kill all of them without any resistance. Though I should still be careful about this whole area. [Space Time Map!] Using this ability, I kept sure that I wouldn''t get lost in this ce, and then I kept using [Warp!] as I moved inside the area. Though when I reached deep into the ce¡­ A strong attack, in the form of a fist, was going toe from the front as I observed it through the [Foresight!] But something felt odd as I kept looking through it¡­ I prepared to sh it as usual, but as soon as I made up my mind to attack it, the attack vanished. The fist which was going toe from the front disappeared from there. "??" I was confused as I wondered if it sensed the counterattack. Though not even a momentter, the attack came from the left¡­ and once again as soon as I began to prepare for the counter; the attack vanished from there. "This is fun," I heard a rather proud but creepy voice as I looked around, but not being able to even sense it on the [Space Time Map] made me a bit more cautious about everything. "I didn''t think I would find anyone this interesting here," the voice continued as I foresaw another attacking¡­ this time from the left¡­ and the right at the same time. My eyes widened for a brief moment before I concentrated again. But as soon as I figured out a way to attack both sides, the attack vanished again. "Aren''t you a cheeky one?" the voice continued as I kept my silence. Looking around in the darkness, everything seemed empty. [Insane re!] I used a fire attack to lighten up the entire area as I checked the surroundings, but still¡­ I couldn''t find anything. ''Is it a ghost or something?'' I questioned. Though if he were a ghost, those attacks wouldn''t work on me. "Calling me a ghost? Come on, man! That hurt my feelings," the voice came again as my eyes widened, realizing that he could read my thoughts. I should¡­ "Will that work, though?" "!!!" my eyes widened as I heard the voice right behind me. When did he get behind? Howe I didn''t see him in the foresight? Turning around, once again¡­ there was no one standing there. Was it just the voice and not him? No, wait¡­ howe I am not hearing his voice in the [Foresight]? My heart raced for a brief moment as I tightened my grip on the sword. My eyes searched for him over and over. Yet, I was still not able to locate him. Well, I did expect things to be hard, but didn''t know it would be thisplex. ''Well. For now, we are at a stalemate,'' I sighed on the inside as I kept my eyes closed while being ready for any following attacks. "You really think so?'''' The voice followed as 4 more punches came from a tetrahedral direction. Though, I guess I had already expected this much. In fact, I was prepared one step further. And just likest time, the attacks stopped even before it came. "I kinda do," I answered as I gained back myposure. Now that we are not panicking, let''s take this in a calmer way. "So. Who are you?" I asked as I looked around, trying to figure out the way to get out of this mess. The attacks came in the future again, and then the future changed again as the attacks vanished. "Aarick would be the name. What''s yours?" he asked as I heard faint footstepsing from behind. Turning around, I found the darkness still covering everything as the empty hall appeared in front of me. "Michael," I answered to him as I kept my stand, waiting for him to reveal himself. "Nice name you got there," he spoke as he took another step and his body, which wasn''t visible before, now became more translucent as he walked. His white hair and ruby-like eyes were the first thing that came into the picture before his muscr top appeared. Wearing a white cloth that covered his lower half, he walked there with a rather cheeky and prideful smile. "You too, I guess. Are you one of the natives of this?" I asked as I looked at him walking towards me closer and closer until he reached a few meters of distance away from me. "Nah! I am just here for fun," he answered as he looked at me with an even brighter smile. Chapter 313 Soul Condensation ? "Nah! I am just here for fun." "Fun?" I was rather confused as I saw his approach,"you are not from this? Did youe here to raid or something?" I saw that I couldn''t kill him either in the future. This guy¡­ was as absurd as I was. Not only that, but he was rather cunning to be fair. It wasn''t just his skill or abilities, but his overall capability in his skills was equally astonishing. "Hehe. You saw through a bunch of my skills, huh? Ain''t I such a great guy?'''' Heughed sheepishly, as if he enjoyed my expression. He was kind of annoying. "So? What are you going to do now?" I asked most curiously. If he is here for fun, even then what sort of fun did hee for? "Why should I tell ya?" he asked cheekily, but I wasn''t really bothered by his response. I looked around as I observed the way deep into thisir. I wondered how much more it would take to reach deeper. "Hey! Don''t ignore me!'''' Though on the contrary, not finding me irritated, he was the one who got irritated instead. His expressions were rather funny, I smiled as I asked,"what?" "Tch! You cunning bastard¡­ " I ignored him again as I ventured deeper into their. I got a lot more on my hands than just him to deal with. ''I''ll deal with him when I get stronger,'' I stretched as I started using [Warp] again to keep jumping from one point to another. Because of my limited ability to see, I was using [Warp] carefully, covering only a limited distance at a time. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Where are you running? Don''t leave me here!" I heard that guy''s voice as he kept running behind me with an insane speed. I guess I really underestimated the number of individuals that would match me. Hmmm¡­ does he have divinity as well? I was a bit curious about him now. "Forget about me. Why are you here?" he asked with a curious look on his face, his eyes trying to figure out what I am doing here. I narrowed my eyes at him, as he was curiously looking at me. Is he an idiot or something? "Shouldn''t you be answering my questions first?" I questioned him before he spoke out,"but I really am here for fun. I don''t exactly have a purpose right now other than getting stronger and enjoying the process." Looking at him, I sighed. I honestly am not going to believe this¡­ ''Even though I am here for the same purpose¡­ to get strong while doing quests,'' I looked forward before I realized something. If he could read my thoughts, then why is he asking questions? Was there any condition to fulfill before he could read my thoughts? I didn''t know. Well, not my concern to be honest¡­ But still, it makes me curious. As I moved towards the center, the path became much clearer. Unlike the previous dark area with no light whatsoever, the front area was lit up by strange blue glowing rocks that were paved into the shape of a bridge. "OOOHH!!!!" Unlike me, who was careful with them, the other guy, Aarick, jumped directly on them, breaking them in an instant. "I didn''t think I would find the Rocks of Tragedies here," he seemed quite happy with the findings. I looked at him a bit curious as I observed him a little. Then my eyes went back to the rocks as I began using [Inspect!]. Though before I could begin using my skill, Aarick began speaking, "These are soul stones formed after the condensation. Not much as great as the original pure soul, but because they are made up of more than a thousand souls condensed into one, each of these stones is much better than 10 of the individual souls." "Souls? Condensation?" I looked at him with a confused face. It was my first time hearing these things. "Yeah. It''s more of a power-up thingy which you take in your body to increase your power level. Quite resourceful for demonic cultivation, if you ask me," he spoke as he nodded to himself. "Demonic¡­ cultivation?" Like wuxia novels? Is that what it was? "Hmmm¡­ you really don''t know anything about that? Are you someone from a different neb or something?" he asked as he looked at me real close, while I reached beside him. His eyes observed me from top to bottom before speaking, "This Neb is known as the Trione Neb. Here, people have inherently learnt to take in the energy present in nature within the body without any external help. This allows them to gain more power with each turn, while the more they absorb, the more powerful they are." "And these soul stones allow one to get even more powerful?" I asked, and he nodded. "There are various forms of stones. From natural ones, to the one thates from divine beasts, and those from the souls of other beings. This one in particr is formed by souls of living beings that thrived on this. Though there is something odd about them," he spoke as he crouched while touching the stones. "They are all¡­ rtively pure, to be honest," he added. "Is that wrong?" I asked curiously. It was interesting to see the power gaining methods of other beings. "Yeah. Normally, one is forced to turn into a material for others. And that force is derived from something called dark energy or demonic energy. Though these people¡­ don''t even have a trace of it. It''s as if they willingly gave their lives to turn into soul stones," he spoke as he gazed at the path deeper into their. "Is that so? Hmmm¡­ I guess we will find the answers inside," I too looked inside before taking a peek at the stones with [Inspect]. All the information matched with what Aarick just spoke. And without speaking any more words, we both ventured deeper, side by side, carefully into their. I didn''t use [Warp] this time, and neither did Aarick run this time. We could both feel the tension in the air as we carefully walked into theyer. After traveling for about an hour¡­ "You see that?" Aarick asked as he made a slight smirk, while I smiled too. "So, this is why you were cautious?" I asked as I looked at him and he nodded before speaking, "It''s not something you see every day, do you?" In front of us was a giant dragon, though it was more in a soul form than in a real form. His eyes were dull, his body was translucent green. I could see bits of souls evaporating from the side of his head. If I were to make a guess, he was losing power continuously. But more to it, the souls from the surrounding area were flowing inside him, increasing his lost life span. Overall, he was still losing his lifespan, but the process got slower, giving him more time before his death. "I guess not," I answered Aarick as I used [Inspect!] [Soul Dragon of Deception! Titles: Guardian of the Fallen Dragon Description: ??? Status: Near-Death Condensation Stats: ??? Skill: ???] Chapter 314 Divine Energy

Chapter 314 Divine Energy

[Soul Dragon of Deception! Titles: Guardian of the Fallen Dragon Description: ??? Status: Near-Death Condensation Stats: ??? Skill: ???] Carefully walking in its direction, we reached closer to it, enough for it to notice our presence. "You think it''s alive?" Aarick asked as he observed the dragon with a subtle curiosity. His eyes were more interested in the souls that it was absorbing than the dragon itself. "It''s certainly not dead. Well¡­ if I were to give a name to its condition, then its¡­ near-death condensation?" I spoke as I observed the [Inspect!] and Aarick nodded before he continued. "That is correct. So? What are you going to do with the dragon? Are we killing it?" he asked as he circled around the dragon. His eyes observed those souls more carefully as he reached near them. I moved closer to the dragon as I answered him with a question," is that your first instinct? To kill it?" "Yes," he answered with no hesitation as he reached closer to those souls and began touching them. Hmmm? Touching? "What are you doing?" I was a bit confused. I thought he was going to absorb them or something¡­ "I am not cruel enough to absorb souls, barring them from the reincarnation cycle. The Lord of Fate would hunt me down forever if I do that¡­ think little about it," he answered my query as he kept touching those souls. Meanwhile, I reached close to the dragon, enough to touch its foot. Now that I look at it properly, he really was humongous. Even with most of its body bing transparent, it was still at least 100 meters tall. [The System has detected a beingprising Divine Energy and Elemental Energy. Since the Elemental Energy is corrupted, the user is advised to not absorb the energy.] [Would you like to absorb the Elemental Energy?] [Would you like to absorb the Divine Energy?] ''Absorb the Divine Energy,'' Imanded the System and immediately, a strange energy from the dragon began flowing inside my body at a rapid speed. My eyes looked at the golden coloured energy that seemed to never end. I think it took about 20 minutes before the process calmed down. I had to use both the [Time Reduction] and the [Advanced Time Maniption!], to bring it down to only 20 minutes, but it did the thing. "Hmmm¡­ now isn''t this something?" I mumbled as I looked at the status screen. [You have absorbed Divine Energy!] [All Stats +50!] [New Stat: Universal Energy Unlocked!] [Name: Michael Aroa Race: Ethereal Title: (1) Gaia''s Saviour: Allow the user to interact with nts and understand their basic functions. (2) Protector: Allows the user to share half of his health and defense with allies within a radius of 25 meters! (3) World Traveller: When in a new world, the user''s powers will increase by 30% for the first two weeks. ss: Child of the Universe [All Stats permanently increased by 1,000%] [Whenever the user fights against an enemy, the world shall fight with him, and fight against the enemy. All Stats will be doubled and the enemies Stats will be halved] Level: 30 (572,144,340/25,00,000Exp) Status: Healthy Blessings: (1) Blessing of the World: After the death of thest Ethereal, you are the first being that has taken its step to be an Ethereal. Energy will never be a problem for you. (2) Blessing of the One: All hidden paths will be opened to you when you make a choice regarding your existence (Only works under certain conditions). (3) Helper of Darkness: Allows the user to see through darkness and have perfect night vision. The user''s stats will be doubled in the absence of direct light and, in the presence of absolute darkness, the user gains the ability to channel Darkness Mana. (4) Blessing of Infinitum: You have avenged the Lost Crusader''s dream. You will never be truly lost. (5) Blessing of the Fallen: You have avenged the Fallen Angel, Ivan''s revenge. Angels will have a favorable opinion of you. (6) The World of Plienthora: You have cleansed a part of the world with your divine power. The power of the user will increase by 20% on Plienthora. (7) Blessing of the Lost fairy: The Ancient Fairy has been freed by your efforts. Your fairy magic will have 25% more potency. Universal Energy: 10/10 Health Points: 2,500,000/2,500,000 Time Points: Infinite Strength: 104 (+10,400) Constitution: 107 (+10,700) Dexterity: 103 (+10,300) Intelligence: 70 (+7000) Wisdom: 99 (+9900) Charisma: 78 (+7800) Stat Points: 0 Total Cronas: 756 Billion Total Dungeons Under Control: 0 Total Portal Under Control: 0] ''Hmmm¡­ what does Universal Energy do?'' I questioned as I observed the new stat along with the extra stats I got previously. Is it something like what Aisha used for her speech? "Hmmm¡­ you are above the Divine Grade?" Aarick asked, rather surprised as he looked at me. His eyes are trying to look through me. Though he smiled as something clicked in his brain. "Since we are on Plienthora¡­." he mumbled in a low voice before he focused on me," hey Michael. Have you ever kept your power hidden just for fun?" "Sometimes," I answered, as I was most careful with whom to tell or whom not to. Though my answer made him irritated as he sighed before speaking," I guess you haven''t." "All right. Once we are done with the here, we will go on a small adventure in the Trione Neb. A couple of minors and a couple of big ones," he spoke enthusiastically as he finished his ''touching,'' before moving towards me again. His eyes were rather observant as he looked at the dragon," since you''re done with absorbing his energy? What are you going to do?" I turned to that dragon as I wondered if I should kill it? Surely there isn''t much to do with it, anyway. "Hmmm. But you won''t gain much from killing him either," Aarick added before he touched the dragon''s feet before speaking. "[Resurrect!]" "Huh? You can do that?" I thought life and death were still a tough concept to bend your head around. Divine powers are rather absurd, aren''t they? "It''s a little different from what you may think. Think of it as dying death by unconventional methods. Hehe¡­ Ain''t I so outstanding?" He spoke as he grinned hard enough to make me wanna punch him, but I held back. It took a few more seconds, but the process became apparent as strange red energy started flowing out of Aarick''s hand and began circling the entire dragon. While the process was slow, it was mesmerizing. And thus, it ended before I could even properly gauge the beauty of it. "Who is it?" a young female voice resounded directly in our heads. The voice was rather weak, but energetic. It was as if an over excited child suffering from a disease spoke out to you. That was the closestparison I coulde up with. "We are travelers who have stumbled upon thisir," Aarick spoke with slight respect as he observed the dragon. His previous demeanor had vanished as if it had never existed. "Is that so? But don''t you think it''s fairly rude to take control over another''s soul without even their permission?" the dragon answered as her voice became a bit more serious. Chapter 315 The Dragon’s Abode

Chapter 315 The Dragon''s Abode

"Is that so? But don''t you think it''s fairly rude to take control over another''s soul without even their permission?" the dragon answered as her voice became a bit more serious. I looked at Aarick with a questioning face. So. Is this what he was after? "Apologies, but this was the best method at the moment to talk properly with you. I will let your soul free after I get my share of information," Aarick spoke to the dragon respectfully. Though something felt wrong¡­ "It''s fine," the dragon sighed as she became calm again. Perhaps she had lost too much energy. Her energy changed signature as it started getting condensed more and more at the center, before a bright light formed there. The light then became more dim as the figure of a girl with dark blue hair appeared in front of us. She wore a white robe as her entire body, including the hair, glowed blue. "The name is Diaspora," she spoke as she floated above, before she levitated down to the ground and then stepped down. Moving one step at a time, she reached closer to us and then looked at Aarick. "You can use my soul and my powers if you wish to." She spoke as she closed her eyes, waiting for Aarick to respond. "What can I do for you in return?" Aarick asked with a slightly humble smile, making Diaspora relieved for a moment before she returned to her previous demeanor. Her eyes glinted red a little as she exined, "I want you to kill a couple of people. 7 in number. That is all I ask of you. You can use my powers if you want to. It should help you reach new heights and raise your cultivation. That way you will get in a range of power that should make impossible possible." "That''s kind of far-fetched, isn''t it? We don''t even know whom we are going to fight against," I chimed in. Though all I got was a disgusted look on that dragon girl''s face as she spoke," esteemed one. May I kill your ve? How dare he speak in the presence of two divine beings?" A smile formed on my face as I answered," why don''t we try?" Aarick then shook his head as he spoke," don''t think much of it." Though I wonder if he was speaking to me or her? She clearly thought it was her, so she ''humphed'' a little before turning back to Aarick as she added, "So. Will you ept my proposal?" "Sure. But for now, hold on to your soul. We do need a guide to go deeper into their," he added as he looked at Diaspora, making her blush a little before she nodded and then answered, "As you wish." Aarick looked back at me as he winked and smiled while keeping his index finger on his lips. I could only shake my head with a sigh as I followed behind him. Time flew by as we kept walking at a steady pace before we finally reached the ce, which was¡­ rtively nice. I saw a bunch of inds and a vast sea covering the entire area. While the scenery was itself simple, something about the area seemed quite different from the normal inds. ''They are alive, aren''t they?'' I thought as I looked at the inds and the seas, the clouds and the sky. All of them seemed to carry some form of life energy in them. "If you want to go to the center of the ind, you need to cross the barriers and trapsid down by the Royal King of Dragons. I apologize but you have to cross this path on your own," Diaspora spoke as she looked at Aarick with a slightly sad look. "Is that so?" Aarick, however, was quite calm as he moved towards Diaspora, took her in arms, before turning to me,"Wanna race?" The smirk on his face was quite annoying as he spoke,"thest one to reach is a loser," hurriedly as he jumped towards the central ind quite far from here. His eyes gleamed as he saw the barrier forming in front of him. "Weak!" he shouted as he broke down the barrier with his bare body. Diaspora''s eyes widened as she looked at Aarick with more than just an amazed face. A number of traps triggered, and several barriers formed. Half of which were broken, the others were bypassed skillfully as Aarick enjoyed the entire process. And just before he was about tond on the ind at the center, [Warp!] Inded first. "Hey! That''s cheating!" Aarick shouted as he looked at me with a rather annoyed face. As for Diaspora, she looked at me with a surprised face as much as she did when Aarick was breaking the barriers. "It wasn''t against the rules," I smirked back at him, making him grind his teeth as he looked at me with a fierce look. He then added," it''s not over yet. Just you wait. We will have anotherpetition and only the result will matter!" Tsk! Such a kid. I saw Diaspora looking at me with a strange look as she calmed down before speaking in a rather haughty tone," you sure do have some tricks up your sleeve. To serve under such a strong master, I guess one must have at least some ability." ''Is she trying to tick me off on purpose?'' I looked at her, confused. Were those words even necessary? "Hehe. You have no idea. Don''t worry, I will show you how messed up this neb is," Aarick spoke before he got hisposure back as well. He then moved towards that center of this ind while continuing, "But for now. Let''s meet the caretaker of this ce, shall we?" Diaspora nodded as she moved behind Aarick while I looked around the ce. My eyes traced the ends of this ce while I pondered a little about the method of creation of this ce. Would it be possible for me to create a domain of my own too? "Well¡­ let''s solve that problemter," I mumbled before following behind Aarick. I guess the Ancient Dragon of Lies and Truth is at the center of this ind. At least that was what I thought before we reached the ce. "It''s¡­ empty?" Diaspora spoke as she looked around in a frantic manner. Her eyes were trying to search for something, probably the ancient dragon, while she hurried around. "No¡­ no¡­ it can''t be¡­" I could see her face bing more and more worried as she looked around, searched around, trying to find the trace of the ancient dragon. "Pity," Aarick mumbled as he looked at Diaspora, almost going insane with the shock. Turning his eyes to me, Aarick exined, "Seems like the person for whom Diaspora was ready to sacrifice her soul for, was a coward who ran away. She was protecting an empty hall for heaven knows how long." Hearing Aarick''s words, Diaspora''s final thread of hope broke as she fell to the ground. She looked at us with a ratherplex expression, as she still was having a hard time believing it. "Is that so?" I mumbled before looking at the quest again. [New Quest: Clear their of the Dragon of Lies and Truth!] [Description: Their of Dragon of Lies and Truth had been abandoned for over a couple of millennials. The Dragon in itself is dead, but its soul lingers around powering the dungeon''s beings all over their. Objectives: -Find the Dragon''s abode. [Completed] -Find the hidden pieces of its soul. -Purify all the beings in the abode. -Kill any unwanted energy beings. Rewards: +5 Skill Points +5 Stat Points +2 Skill Mastery Points +Key to the Dungeon of Lies and Truth Time Limit: 65 Years 8 Months 4 Days Penalty: -The miasma will consume you!] Chapter 316 Spirits

Chapter 316 Spirits

The quest did state that their was abandoned for quite a long time. The purpose here was to purify rather than to save. Though, about the hidden pieces of the soul, "Aarick. Are there more guardians like her? We came from one way, so don''t you think there would be more of them there?" I hinted at Aarick. His eyes widened as he looked at me with astonishment. "Ah! My siblings!" Diaspora, who was almost at herst wits, suddenly got herself out of insanity as she looked at me. Before her eyes turned in a certain direction. A bright glow consumed her body as she positioned herself in the direction where the other hidden pieces of the soul probably were. And just as she was about to jump¡­ -Thud! Dark red chains formed out of the ground, holding her down, rendering her unable to take the leap. "Do not hurry. We will alsoe with you. Guide us there," Aarick spoke as he looked at Diaspora. She observed Aarick for a few moments before a bitter expression appeared on her face as she nodded. "You could have let her go. Would have been faster, don''t you think?" I asked Aarick, but he shook his head as he added,"she was exhausting her energy force faster. While it would have been faster, it would have wasted extra power." I looked at her for a brief moment. "Did she lose hermon sense too with the shock?" I asked. I understand the urgency, but to be this stupid? There is gotta be a limit, you know? Though it didn''t seem like she was listening as she stood up, while her eyes deeply concentrated at the ce where her siblings were. And not wasting anytime, she ran, this time at a much slower rate than she was supposed to. And behind her, I and Aarick followed her without uttering a single word. It took about half an hour before we reached an empty room filled with glowing translucent orbs that upied the empty room without much energy in them. "What?" Diaspora was rather taken aback as she looked at the empty room, trying to understand the situation. Turning around, she looked at Aarick with a quiet, desperate look. If you look at her maddening eyes, you can see the heartbreak she was going through. The shock was probably too much for her¡­ "Which year is it?" she asked, barely holding on. Looks like she finally figured out that it has been quite a while since she passed away, or perhaps was sleeping for such a long time¡­ "Which year is it?" Aarick, on the other hand, turned to me, asking the question. I was confused for a few seconds as I looked at him. The heck is he asking me that for? "2032?" I spoke as I told him the year back on my. "..." "..." "What?" I questioned them. It''s not like I knew anything about the time here¡­ or maybe I did? "It''s been about a couple of thousand years or more," I said as I read back the quest''s information. A couple of millennials, huh? That''s a long time. "Huh? A¡­ thousand?" her eyes widened as she couldn''t believe it. "A couple or more," I corrected her politely, like a gentleman. "Don''t poke her, will you? It''s already hard for her toprehend things¡­ but are you sure it''s that long?" Aarick asked as he observed me curiously, and I nodded. "You gonna bring them back? Her siblings, I mean," I asked as I looked at him. He did it before, right? Surely he can do it again. "Her siblings'' souls and body have evaporated. There is no link left," Aarick answered with a regretful tone. His eyes seemed quite sad at that fact. "What about those orbs?" I spoke as I pointed at the orbs of energy flowing around. "They belong to the person who killed her sibling. They probably absorbed the entire energy and then were left afloat," Aarick exined before moving towards Diaspora. I sighed as I looked at the message on my screen. [Would you like to absorb the Divine Energy?] I pressed, ''Yes'' as I absorbed all the light orbs around while using [Time Reduction!] and [Advanced Time Maniption!]. Perhaps this time the amount to be absorbed was easier. It took only 2-3 minutes to finish it. After I was done, I looked at Aarick standing beside Diaspora, looking at me as if I were a freak. "You really are a freak, aren''t you?" Aarick spoke while I ignored him as I asked," shall we go to the next sibling?" Diaspora looked at me with an absurd look before she observed Aarick. Aarick nodded at her, making her speak out her thoughts," don''t just nod. Tell me who is he? How the heck can he absorb all those energies within a few minutes? If he had a heavenly physique or the energy was totally pure, I would have understood it a little. But it was fucking corrupted energy." "Ummm¡­ Michael¡­ Exin?" Aarick threw the hot potato at me. "Don''t wanna. Though what do you mean by corrupted energy?" I asked without answering her question. Was there something wrong with this energy? And is there a purer form of Divine Energy? "Well. For starters, Divine Energy is absorbed at the rate of about 10 spirits per day for an average person with an average physique. Aparison of one spirit would be equal to the one orb you absorbed. Now, the orbs could be denser or more diluted, increasing or decreasing the grade of the Divine Energy you can absorb from them. Like Higher Grade Spirits or Lower Grade Spirits. The one you absorbed was the lowest of the lowest, along with the addition of corruption energy, which made it quite difficult to absorb for one person. Corrupted Spirits take 10 times more time to absorb and since it was a low grade, it would have taken about a 100 days per spirit for an average man. Some people are born with a higher physique so they can absorb at a faster rate, as much as 100 times or rarely 200 times faster at best. In an exceptional case of once in a lifetime, there would also be people who can absorb 1000 times faster. But you don''t have any physique at all. In fact, you are as average as you can be. Maybe even below average. Yet, you absorb at a rate significantly faster than the totalbined," Aarick exined it to me in a precise manner so I can understand the concept of Universal Energy. ''Since there were a dozen spirits, so¡­. about 30,000 times faster, huh?'' I thought as I still didn''t use [Advanced Time Maniption (Copy)] to increase the effect even further. I didn''t know if there was something strange with that energy, so I held back a little. ''I guess it doesn''t matter whether I have a physique or not. With these skills, it would be a few seconds before I reach a higher realm. Or at least I hope it''s that way¡­ [Universal Energy: 20/20] "Is that so?" I mumbled at Aarick''s words as I wondered how much is the average Divine Energy in an average person. "What''s the normal range a person has with Divine Energy?" I asked as I observed Aarick, making him look at me with a strange look. Though he sighed before he began exining that as well¡­ Chapter 317 [Quest Complete]

Chapter 317 [Quest Complete]

"Range? An average person should have around 100 Divine Energy in the lowest divine realm, while those below that realm don''t have any," Aarick spoke as he recalled the basics before I nodded. [Universal Energy: 20/20] Seems like I am lower than the lowest. Well, whatever. There is always a start. "All right. Let''s check out the other siblings while we are at it," I spoke as I looked at Diaspora, who was still curious about me. Her eyes were really itching to know my method of absorption. Wasn''t she just mourning her dead sibling a few moments ago? I then turned to Aarick, who supposedly is the catalyst to her ''cheering up''. Just what did this guy do? Well, it doesn''t really concern me as much. "Show us the way, Dia," Aarick spoke as Diaspora snapped out of her stupor before she looked at Aarick and nodded. She then turned towards the way where the other siblings were. The next one was dead as well, but there were a few evil spirits present there. Killing them wasn''t hard, so Aarick and I finished them off easily. After that, the next room was empty and so was the other one. It took time, but we moved in 8 more rooms before returning to the main room. While the [Kill Unwanted Energy Beings] part of the quest waspleted, the other two [Purify all the souls in the abode] and [Find the hidden pieces of the Soul] were still left. But there was only one being here. "What now? I don''t think there is anything left here. All the treasures were stolen. I made sure to check it twice," Aarick spoke with a sad tone. When the heck did he check? And how? "Well. Since you both have done what you could do, should I try something?" I spoke as I looked at both of them. They both observed me with slight curiosity as I moved towards Diaspora. Reaching towards her, I then patted her head while observing the System. Sure enough, I got a message. [You are in connection with a bonded Sentient Being] [The Fractions of Corruption and Divine Energy are intertwined within the being!] [Would you like to absorb the Fractions of Corruption Energy?] [Would you like to absorb the Fractions of Divine Energy?] I clicked on the first option, but another message appeared in front of me. [If you take in all the energy at once, the being will die. If you want to save the being, then would you like the process to go slowly? The addition of Active Time Maniption and Time Reduction will be applied automatically] Two more options came with [Slow] and [Fast] on it. "Let''s set you free first," I muttered as I chose the [Slow] option. And a rapid energy flow began through Diaspora as all her corruption energy began evaporating. Even though it said it was slow, with the speed it was going on, I don''t think it will take even a few minutes. I looked at Diaspora, observing me with aplex expression. Her eyes questioning my motives¡­ seems like she could feel her life force getting better. I took a peek and saw Aarick standing there with his hands folded while he observed me with a silent expression. And just like that, time passed before not only her, but the entire dungeon began glowing at an insane speed. It seemed like they both were connected to each other. But it seems like a few months were attracted to it as well¡­ Using the [Space Time System!] I saw a wave of monsters running towards her at an insane speed. It seems they were attracted to the energy here? "How much longer will it take?" Aarick spoke as he took out a sword from thin air. It was a bright red sword that seemed to contain some dark power in it. Honestly, it felt alive¡­ in a creepy way. "About a minute more," I answered him and he sighed in relief before he took a familiar stance. Taking a step behind, he adjusted the distance between his legs. Using his grip strength, he moved his fingers a bit closer to the de. And positioning it in a sheathed position, he then muttered, "[Ground Zero: First sh]!" His eyes gleamed golden while his sword coated in ck as his de took the form of a demon¡­ and before my eyes, I saw the dragon unleashed at the iing wave of monsters, as it reached them, eating all of them alive at once. Though it didn''t stop just there, it kept going on for a long time until it reached a point where I couldn''t see it anymore. Aarick who performed the feat, then put the sword back into its space. His eyes smiled in satisfaction while he looked at my stupefied face. ''How the heck he knows that sh?'' Well, Rhea did tell me that there are many who know this sh, so if I get strong I would end up meeting them, but to think I would meet someone this early. But wait¡­ ''It wasn''t the same sh that I use,'' I realized as I analyzed his sh again. While mine was a simple sh that contained pure and absolute power, his contained pure evil intent. Maybe I should ask Rhea for detailster. "Seems like you are done as well," Aarick spoke as he looked at the process, almost finished, and I nodded. It seemed like Diaspora hadpletely gone through a makeover. Her dark blue hair now seemed lighter, while the glow seemed more refreshing than blinding. Her eyes, which were dark red before, were now glowing like a ruby. Though the major change was the presence of golden scales on her cheeks and a few on her arms and sides. I removed my hand as I saw her face once again, this time more serene than before, more beautiful than before. "Why?" she asked as she looked at me with her face riddled with doubt. "I was rude to you¡­ I even put you on the level of a ve¡­ It would make more sense if you were to kill me on the spot. But why did you go as far as to remove all my dark essence, even helping me evolve into a purer form?" She asked as she looked at me, while I just smiled. ''All that happened?'' I questioned behind that benevolent smile of mine. I just wanted to finish the quest. "This is what kindness looks like," I answered as I copied Aisha''s line from before. It was a really cool line, so I wanted to use it at least once. Seems like it had a positive effect on her, as she seemed enchanted by my words. Turning around to Aarick¡­ Oi! Oi! Oi! Why are you enchanted too? Well, leaving those idiots behind, I concentrated on the System Message. [Quest Complete: Clear their of the Dragon of Lies and Truth!] [+5 Skill Points Received!] [+5 Stat Points Received!] [+2 Skill Mastery Points Received!] [+Key to the Dungeon of Lies and Truth Received!] ''Well, since I have a few more Skill Mastery Points, I could try upgrading one of the Skills?'' I thought as I looked back at the System once more. Chapter 318 Within the Dungeon

Chapter 318 Within the Dungeon

[Warp (Rare) (Level 10)!] [Effects: Allows the user to travel a fixed distance around him in an instant! Energy Cost: 50 Time Points/meter! Limitations: The user can only teleport to the points which he could see with his eyes or sense it. Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 2] Currently, this one was the only thing which I could upgrade. Though I still hoped that I would get a few more points in the dungeon itself. ''Let''s do it. Not like I have anything to lose, anyway,'' I nodded as I believed that a [Unique] level skill won''t be a waste no matter how I look at it. [Skill Warp: Rare -> Unique!] [Warp (Unique) (Level 1)!] [Effects: -Allows the user to travel a fixed distance around him in an instant -The user can travel at any points he has seen before -The user can allow at most 2 people to Warp with him. Limitations: Cannot pass through dimensional barriers Cost: 5000 TP/meter! Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 25!] Since I had a huge amount of Skill Points, I instantly upgrade the skill to max level. [Skill Warp: Rare -> Unique!] [Warp (Unique) (Level 10)!] [Effects: -Allows the user to travel a fixed distance around him in an instant -The user can travel at any points he has seen before -The user can allow at most 10 people to warp with him. Limitations: Cannot pass through dimensional barriers Cost: 10,000 TP/meter! Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 10!] ''So, now I can travel anywhere within a single dimension, huh?'' I thought as I gave it a bit of a thought before trying it for once. ''Let''s try going back home,'' I decided as it would be a good gauge of my ability. [You cannot travel to another dimension using this skill!] "..." nkly staring at the skill, I kind of realized how absurd Aisha was. To make us all travel to another dimension without any form of exertions¡­. Now that I think about it, I would be trapped here forever if I go against Aisha, huh? I don''t even know the depth of her abilities. Well. Seems like we have to wait to see it. "Any problem?" Aarick asked as he observed me. My eyes fell on the two of them waiting for me to speak something¡­ "Ummm¡­ can I try something?" I spoke as I looked at them, making them look at me with anticipation. I sighed as I took out the [Key to the Dungeon: Lair of the Dragon of Truth and Lies!], which was pretty colorless. It was neither golden, nor was it silver or bronze. ''Is it a lesser version of the keys?'' Makes me sad that the rewards would be less as well. As soon as I took the key in my hand, a whitish colorless door that had a hue of goldcing appeared in front of us. The door was rather grand, even with the minimum texture visible. "What is that?" Aarick spoke as he took a step back with a serious expression on his face. As for Diaspora, she was silent as she observed the gate with a focussed expression. "Hmmm¡­ You guys can wait¡­ or perhaps can join me?" I spoke as I looked at Diaspora. Since it was a dungeon of the dragon, I wonder if she would find anything in there. Based on my past few experiences, I doubted, but still. This time, the name of the dungeon said that there was a chance¡­ As for Aarick, I guess he is strong enough to protect himself, but not enough to kill me. Having him beside me will result in better results. Especially with the divine speech he uses¡­ I don''t want to encounter an enemy who can use that speech freely¡­ Hopefully¡­ though I just wanted to clear it faster. "We will join," Aarick spoke for himself as well as Diaspora, to which she did not object. "All right. Let''s go then," I spoke as I unlocked the gate and took my first step on the other side. Entering the other side, I found a majestic scene¡­ much to my amazement. I was honestly expecting something more of a dead zone, like the dark dungeon of Libra or the desert region where Enkonomiya was. "This can''t be¡­" Diaspora was even more surprised than I was. Her eyes looked at the golden temple in front of us. Standing below the bright blue sky of Plienthora, it reflected the sunlighting from the 3 suns in the sky above. Not only that, but the greenery spread across in stretches far as the eye can see. It was as if the entire was coloured with the natural colors of the world. The previous dead look and that miasma was far gone. "Seems like we are in the past," I said as I analyzed the surroundings, especially the insanely big temple in front of us. It had long outstretched white stairs that didn''t seem to end as seen from naked eyes and a temple that wasn''t meant for humans or simr sized beings. "There isn''t any life force though," Aarick added as he looked around before focusing his eyes on the top of the temple," except within the temple, that is." Hearing his words, I nodded. I guess it would be absurd to recreate an entire just to create a dungeon. Though¡­ who knows¡­ "My home¡­" Diaspora was still in tears as she looked around the. If not for Aarick holding her back using his powers, she would have already flown away trying to take it all in. "Don''t judge too quickly. It might not even be your home," I spoke as I looked up the temple before adding," both yours and my answers lie there." Hearing my voice, her enthusiasm subsided. Nevertheless, she was much calmer than before. She looked at me for a few seconds before she turned quiet. Looking at her expression¡­ I sighed¡­ "All right. If we finish my things here, we can take some time out to sightsee this. Though don''t get your hopes up. Even I can''t control everything that happens here," I said as I understood her intentions. She smiled brightly, hearing my words as she nodded rapidly before she looked at Aarick. He too nodded, making her sigh in relief before all three of us looked up the stairs towards the temple in the heaven. "Let''s go then," I spoke out as I took the first step towards the dungeon. And as soon as I took the first step, a System message appeared in front of me. [Dungeon of the Dragon of Lies and Truth!] [Description: The Elder Dragon of the Plienthorian Race subdued herself deep into the Dungeon of Animosity. She created a ce where her soul would rest forever. Though the Universe had deemed her as a betrayer of her own race and thus the vengeance needs to be ensured. Objective: Kill the Elder Dragon Rewards: Will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] ''Hmmm¡­'' I looked at the reward with a rather question filled face. Do I need to kill the dragon first? Or perhaps¡­ is there more to it? Well¡­ we will cross that bridge when that timees¡­ Chapter 319 Queen of the Dragons

Chapter 319 Queen of the Dragons

Reaching the top didn''t take much time for me since my [Warp!] was upgraded to [Unique!] level. But what was even more surprising was that the duo, Aarick and Diaspora, reached up here in no time as well. Freaks. Both of them¡­ "What are you daydreaming about? Not like you reached here earlier than us," Aarick spoke with a slight grunt as he looked at me, while Diaspora caught her breath before looking at me with an indescribable look. ''But I cheated,'' is what I wanted to say, but I just sighed before looking at the main gate of the temple in front of me. Not waiting for the two idiots, I began walking and reached the main gate. -Thud! ''Hmmm¡­ it''s heavy,'' I thought before I took a step back and got in a punching position. ''Spear Art: Unbreakable belief,'' concentrating all my strength on one point¡­ [Temporal Redo (Unique) (Level 10)!] [Description: The user can cause a rey effect in time that can ur a number of times, causing the damage and effects to be amplified. For example, after the first time, the user kicks a ball, the next time, the ball goes further, and which continues with the subsequent kicks. This can be applied to other things as well, such as breaking things or damaging through a punch. This may be used at any time. Effects: Allows the user to increase the effect of an action by 100 times Skill Mastery Points required to evolve the Skill: 5!] And then I used this skill¡­ [Temporal Redo!] -BOOOOM!!!!! "Eh?" I looked at the scene in front of me as the door flew far, far away, before it fell down in ordance with gravity. ''Did I overdid it?'' I smiled awkwardly, as I didn''t expect the gate to be this weak. Shouldn''t it be really hard to break or something? "Oi! Stop scaring the kid," Aarick spoke out from behind as he hid Diaspora behind him. She was really shocked by my actions and looked at me with a rather shocked look. "Oops?" I spoke as I looked at them, making them sigh a little. "Well. Whatever. You are the one who brought us here," Aarick spoke as he moved closer to me with Diaspora right behind him. Reaching closer to me, he asked,'''' So? What now? Shall we wait here or brage in?" ''Since we are going to kill the dragon,'' I turned around as I moved into the temple. Stretched a little while, I cracked my fingers, before speaking," well. Since we already have helped ourselves, then let''s go all the way." Aarick nodded as he prepared to jump taking Diaspora in his hands, while I looked as far as I could sense. My eyes traced to the very final point I could visibly see¡­ -Whoosh!! Aarick ran first, passing me by with the wind while I [Warp!] [Warp!] [Warp!] . . . Took about a dozen or so [Warps]; I ended up reaching the center of the dungeon pretty easily. Filled with the texture of blood coloured sakura, the entire area looked rather dark. The top was ck, and the ground was muddy bright. There were sakura trees, but the leaves were red more than pink. And apart from that, there was a small central open area where ady was meditating with her eyes closed. Thedy had white-grayish hair with a pale face. Wearing a ragged cloth, she stood there with the energies circting around her body in all directions. She looked a bit more mature; her face a little more simr to Diaspora. "Queen," Diaspora mumbled as she saw the girl meditating in the center of this¡­ er¡­ garden? "Something is wrong," Aarick spoke as his fists turned slightly red and the veins on his body started bing visible, slowly turning blood red as well. His eyes, which were red, were now darker. On the other hand, I found the girl meditating in the center, slowly opening her eyes as she stood up. The surrounding energies began convulsing while she looked at us. "So you have finallye," she spoke as she took a step towards us. [Eyes of the TimeKeeper (Foresight)!] The air in the future was turning chilly enough to freeze everything around us. The only reason we were alive in the future was because Aarick was defending us to the best of his ability. I saw her slowly raising her hands as she began chanting her spell. [Warp!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] But I sliced it apart before it could even activate, thus changing the future again. [Eyes of the TimeKeeper (Multidimensional View)!] -BOOOM!!!!! Aarick kicked her away from me before covering me with a shield. The red blood sakura almost reached me before the shield deflected it while I kept my eyes concentrated on that monstrous girl still standing there without any problem. She looked at her cut apart arm before she mumbled something in an unknownnguage and the arm healed in an instant. [Warp!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] I cut again, this time near the neck, trying to kill her in one go, but¡­. -Thud! The sh couldn''t prate her skin. Looking closely¡­ the energies werebining around the area where she was standing, protecting her from the attack. Though since she had used her energies here¡­ -BOOOOM!!!!! Aarick once again punched her away, making her reach the far ends of the temple, where she hit the wall and fell down. Since there was now a considerable distance between us, Aarick looked at me and asked, "What the heck is going on?" Though honestly, I don''t have much idea of it other than the fact that we have to kill her. I observed him for a moment before speaking." We have to kill her. Or at least something along those lines." "The heck do you mean by killing her? My powers are nowhere close to killing her and yours, despite being insane, cannot do a dime to her. You don''t even know how to use Divine Energy, no matter what you use or do. It''s not possible to kill her for us." Aarick looked at me seriously. This was the first time he was talking with me this seriously. "Can I¡­ talk to her? Maybe we cane to a conclusion?" Diaspora, who was watching everything from the sidelines, spoke up finally as she looked at us. Her eyes were kind of sad, perhaps because of the person in question being her Queen, and one can see that she was hesitant when it came to killing her. "You can? I don''t really think she is in the mood to talk right now," Aarick looked at the Queen, finally reaching back to us, one step at a time as she observed us carefully. "Well. It''s not like we have much of a choice here. If she doesn''t want to talk, then we just have to make her talk. Or perhaps try killing her? Anyway, not much difference in the process," I spoke as I activated my skills again. It has been a while since I had to calcte how to fight. ''Makes me a little happy,'' I smiled as I positioned my sword towards the Queen. Chapter 320 For the reasons unknown to you 320 For the reasons unknown to you -BOOM!! Aarick got punched hard and pushed back from that girl. Landing quite far from here, I saw his body being torn into shreds with that. "One down, two more to go," she said as she looked at me and Diaspora. "My Queen!! Please listen to us!!!" Diaspora shouted at the Queen, trying to make her listen to her words. Though looking at that apathetic expression, it didn''t seem like she was in the mood to. -BOOOM!!! Aarick, who came back from the dead in an instant, punched her away, making her look at him with a surprised look. "Bloody hell." Aarick wiped out the blood on his face as he red at the Queen. [Warp!] I warped right behind her as she was flying away and positioned myself for another sh. "Futile attempts," the Queen muttered as she looked at me from the corner of her eyes. I could see her entire body glowing the same way when I had shed herst time. [Ground Zero: One sh!] [Temporal Redo!] Though the impact was at least 100 times more than before¡­ so, being carried against the momentum, she was cut apart by my sword from the waist before her two pieces flew even further away. Aarick reached me and said," Did you get her?" "Nope. She is still alive," I sighed, as I still didn''t get any information from the System. Seems like I might need to try a bit harder next time. "Ah! Shucks!" Aarick clicked his tongue with surprise as he observed something where the Queen was thrown away to. "Eh? What did she do this time?" I asked, as I looked at her more carefully. And within a few seconds it became more clear¡­ she was growing from her waist down. But that was not just all. Her lower body was also growing the upper part independently on the other. "Tell me there is a reduction in their power at least," I asked with a bbergasted face. If they both had the same power as the original, doesn''t that mean that cutting her apart is no longer allowed? "About 90% of the original strength," Aarick spoke as he smiled before taking out his sword too. Seems like we really are cutting apart the Queen into pieces until she dies. "Hey! Didn''t you both promise to give me a chance to talk to her?" Diaspora spoke out as she observed us getting ready to really kill the Queen. "Yeah, and we saw how fine that worked out. If you want to talk to her, then do it with your own power," I said as I concentrated on going all out again. "How am I supposed to do that?" she spoke in slight frustration. "Heh. Try harder," Aarick spoke before he vanished towards the two Queens with all his power, as soon as he reached them, one of them vanished before appearing behind Aarick. "Ah! Fuck!" Aarick cursed as he noticed himself being sandwiched between the two Queens, about to be minced meat. [Warp!] Within a second, I appeared in between as I touched Aarick and [Warp!] Warped him behind one of the Queens. Realizing what I did, he didn''t miss his chance as [Ground Zero: First sh!] He cut apart the Queen into two pieces with all his might. The other Queen almost reached him. She had already chanted a dark spell, creating some strange shuriken shaped dark mass. [Warp!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] [Temporal Redo!] But I cut her apart from behind too, smiling as I spoke," did you just forget about me, darling?" "Insects!" the top half of the one I shed spoke out in quite pain and anger. Though rather than growing again, her body, both of them, turned into ashes before flying around, mixing with the blood red sakura leaves as they hurled around us in circles. [Warp!] I reached Diaspora, touched her back. [Warp!] And brought her with us in the circle. I didn''t know what she was trying to do, but it would be easier to protect her this way. "Aren''t you a bit too much of a nice guy?" Aarick asked as he looked at me while I didn''t speak any word as I smiled at him. "Forget about me. What are we going to do with this never ending battle?" I asked Aarick, as I don''t see it ending anytime soon, to be honest. Though my question irritated him as he asked back, "How the heck would I know?! You are the one who brought us here in the first ce!!" "Okay. Okay. No need to shout¡­ let me figure out a way from here then," I spoke as I shook my head before looking at all the leaves surrounding us. I wonder if there is any skill that I can use here that would help us. As I was thinking, I heard Diaspora shouting out loud, "MY QUEEN! I AM YOUR GUARDIAN! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? AREN''T YOU SUPPOSED TO PROTECT US!!! WHY DID YOU RUN AWAY FROM THE CHAMBER WHICH YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT? WHY WAS IT ALL EMPTY?? ANSWER ME QUEEN!!! WHY WEREN''T YOU THERE? WASN''T IT OUR TASK AS PLIENTHORIANS???!!!!" Man o man! Was she trying to irk her out instead? Though supposedly it seems to work as the swirling leaves around us calmed down a bit before we see the figure of the Queen floating up in the air not too far from us. "Should I whack her again?" Aarick asked just for confirmation, but I pondered over it before speaking," let''s wait and listen. I will signal if I feel anything is wrong." [Eyes of the TimeKeeper (Foresight)!] The Queen floated in the air as she observed and looked at the three of us. She first looked at Aarick and I for a couple of seconds, "Cockroaches," she muttered with her face a bit irritated. Though mostly it was apathetic. "She is talking about you," Aarick spoke to me as he looked seriously at the Queen. "You clearly haven''t seen a mirror, have you?" I joked back with a smirk, without turning away from the Queen. The Queen, however, turned no heed to our words as she turned to Diaspora, "Our protectors abandoned us. The was lost¡­ everyday I died to protect something that I didn''t even know the purpose of. Just because people said that it is important, I suffered for decades because of that¡­ Do you know what it means to be lonely? Do you understand what it means to live for a reason that you don''t even know the purpose of?" "But didn''t we do the same?" Diaspora spoke as she looked at the Queen with aplex face. She was still failing to understand the words of the Queen. "My child. You are not immortal, so you died in a matter of a few decades protecting us. After all, your life force could only support you for a few more years after the cruel yet tragic war¡­ but I am an immortal, I cannot die no matter how much I want to," the Queen told us another piece of information that kinda shocked Diaspora. "But that wasn''t even the worst¡­" the Queen made a sad expression as she revealed another shocking piece of information. Chapter 321 More than a Dungeon? 321 More than a Dungeon? "Those beings¡­ they came¡­ they wanted me to be their ything for eternity¡­ Treating me like a pet. I had no option but to hide here¡­ Someday I will be strong enough to kill them all. I cannot die against insects like you all," she added as she went back to her ''I will kill you all'' mode. "The Higher Gods, huh? Seems like those bunches are still thriving in this reality," Aarick spoke as he sighed. His eyes were half frustrated, half thrilled as he looked at the Queen before vanishing from the front of my eyes and appearing right behind her. ''Fast!'' I eximed as I observed him getting ready for a punch. Though the Queen was already prepared for the punch as she turned around and countered the punch with her own fists. "Miss Queen. I know you want to kill the Higher Gods¡­ but apologies¡­ you don''t have the capability to do that," he spoke as he added a lot of energy to that punch of his. Being pushed back by the extra energy that Aarick put, the Queen was brought down to the ground, directly in my direction. He looked at me as he pointed at his chest. His eyes looked rather serious right now. I sighed as I concentrated on the Queen¡­ [Ground Zero: First sh!] [Temporal Redo!] And hit at the exact same spot where Aarick had pointed to¡­ -sh!!!!! A huge chunk of energy flew out of her body at once, making her body shake vigorously. "I-Imm-mm-IM.. iMPOSS¡­- iiib.. lE¡­ H-H-H-how-did-you-... you¡­-crosses¨C cross¨C the barr¨C with¨Co ut¨C divine ¨C en- en- en- ergy?" she spoke with her broken speech as her body was rapidly shaking. It wasn''t just that but the surrounding energy also was bing chaotic. "[Vanquish]!!!" Aarick spoke in a loud voice that reverberated throughout the area, erasing the chaotic energies that were surrounding the Queen. "GO ALL OUT!!!" Shouted Aarick as his body changed to redpletely, while I sighed as I used another one of my moves. [Multiple Copy: Temporal Redo added to the 3rd slot!] -Whoosh! [Warp!] Aarick appeared behind her, with me in front of her. [Ground Zero: First sh!] I went first [Temporal Redo!] [Temporal Redo (Copy)!] [Warp!] And then I warped above her, while I watched Aarick, noticing my attack with a surprised look before he smiled even more brightly as he tightened his grip. This time¡­ he used another attack different fromst time. "[Ground Zero: Second sh]!" Aarick shouted as his sword turned ck, his eyes closed. I could sense a strange energy radiating through him. -sh! A single sh that vanished all sounds from the area. [Temporal Locking!] Using a skill that I received when I reached level 30, I paused time for myself, freezing myself in time. Since Diaspora was neither in the way of the impact, nor too close to it, she should be able to brace herself. But me being close to it¡­ "Are you trying to kill me too with it?" I looked at him with a pained look as I observed him destroying almost most of the Queen. But that wasn''t enough either¡­ "[Wither]! [Decay]! [Absorb]!" Aarick shouted as the Queen evaporated from the front in an instant. Perhaps because she was severely weakened, he could finally use that damned Divine Speech? The Queen''s body, which had evaporated before, once giant became visible in the form of energy, before all of it floated down into Aarick''s body slowly and slowly. This bastard was getting an upgrade, huh? I kind of wanted to stop him from getting too overpowered, but then again¡­ I too was getting more powerful [Quest: Kill the Dragon of Truth and Lies Complete!] [Calcting the clear rate!] [Calcting the time taken toplete the quest!] [Calcting the difference between the user and the enemy!] [Clear Rate: SS Grade!] [Calcting the Appropriate Rewards!] [The following Rewards will be given out now!] [+You have gained +20 Stat Points!] [+You have gained a Blessing: The Dragon Lord''s Blessing!] [+You have gained a new Title: The Dragon yer!] [+You have gained a new Skill: Blood Moon Sakura!] [+You have gained a new item: Blood Moon Petals(Weapon)!] [You will be transported out of the dungeon in 60 minutes!] The notification rang through my brain as I looked at them one by one. My eyes reached thest one before I looked at Diaspora, standing listless with her eyes nked out. Observing everything with her own two eyes, she still couldn''t believe what she just saw. "Oi!" I called out to her, making her turn towards me. Her eyes still nked, she barely focused on what I wanted to say. "You got an hour to travel. Where do you want to go?" I asked as I folded my hands at the back of my head. I wondered if there was anything else in this world that I could take. "Huh?!" Her eyes shone as she realized that she could look around this. While the real is in ashes, I wonder how much different this one is. She immediately stood up before nodding at me. "Thank you. It won''t take much time, but there is one ce that I want to go," she spoke out and I nodded before I asked her to take us there. Or, to be precise, I asked her to take us to the ce where she wanted to go. "Sure. Let''s go," I mumbled as I looked at the distance from here and. [Warp!] Teleported all of us there within a moment before warping again. Under the guidance of Diaspora, it didn''t take much time before we reached a particr mountain. It was a ck mountain with blueish green snow covering the top. Rather than going to the mountain itself, wended near the base of the mountain. And much to my surprise¡­ "Who are you people?!!!" There was a viger standing there, trying to stop us from entering. Looking at their faces and auras, they seemed to be dragonkins¡­ [Inspect!] [Name: Mg Race: Dragonling Title: GateKeeper of the High Mountain Description: Guardian of the firstborn of the dragons, he guards the ce of purification of the dragons. Has a moral obligation to die in the line of duty in case the situation demands. A true warrior to the very end. Status: Half-Awakened! Skill: (45) Stats: Strength: 567 Dexterity: 1,291 Constitution: 10,091 Intelligence: 2,291 Wisdom: 1,012 Charm: 1906] I looked at Diaspora, shocked as she looked at those people. It seemed she wanted to say something, but before she could utter a single word, Aarick took charge. "We are just travelers. We happen to stumble upon this ce¡­ may I know what ce it is?" He was polite for the rowdy personality he always had. [Eyes of the TimeKeeper (Foresight)!] I kept my guards up as I looked at those people. While Aarick tried to solve the situation by talking, his eyes seemed to be rather cautious despite his casual yet well-mannered speech. Hearing his words, the dragonlings murmured among themselves before the guy at the front, Mg, spoke, "We need you toe with us, then. We will find out whether you are truly lost or are just here with bad intentions. Though I must warn you¡­ if you try to pull anything weird," Mg spoke as he pointed his blue spear at Aarick as he added," it won''t end well." "Sure," Aarick said as he smiled before all three of us entered the vige under the supervision of the guards. Chapter 322 Dragonling

Chapter 322 Dragonling

? [The Dragon Lord''s Blessing: Killing a Fallen Dragon would have no impact on your body!] [Dragon yer: When fighting against a dragon, all attacks do +25% damage!] [Blood Moon Sakura (Passive) (Rare)!] [Effects: Allows the user to create Blood Moon leaves that he may have absolute control on. The power and defense of the blood sakuras are shared by the user.] [Blood Moon Petals (Weapon)!] [Description: The Moon Sakura petals bloomed from the blood of the dead of over a million, have concentrated on forming a tree that contains a fraction of the powers of each of those millions. Its leaves impart control to the wielder of those petals. Effects: -Create a million petals and control it freely! -Increases Blood Magic by 200%! -Strength +500 -Defense +500 -Constitution +2000 Special effects: The user can control the blood of the person who had been shed by the Blood Moon petals Attack: 20,000! Durability: Depends upon the blood it has absorbed. Current Durability Value: 10,000,000 petals. Remarks: It contains sorrow that bears the weight of an entire gxy!] I checked up on the rewards that I received this time. Well, it seems I won''t need to be worried about dragons as much as before. Not that I was much worried about them¡­ The ''interrogation'' was merely a truth and lie detector test. We didn''t tell them everything but said that our intentions were rather fair to them, to which they sighed and epted. Though they forbade us to go to the higher mountain. Other than that, we can spend our time here as long as we don''t cause any trouble. Aarick went to talk with the head of the town, saying he might find something useful here. As for Diaspora, she went to check the vige and will be back before the time ends. "Well, we got about 40 more minutes. What should I do?" I questioned as I looked around the vige while walking through the marketce. There were a bunch of fruits and stuff, but nothing that caught my interest. "What are you doing?" a voice called out to me, making me turn around. One of the younger dragonling asked me as she observed me with a curious face. Her eyes staring deep into mine. Though I was a bit surprised to look at her¡­ she seemed oddly familiar. "What''s your name, kid?" I asked as I looked at her, wondering if what I was thinking was really true or just a mere coincidence. "Why should I tell you?" she asked as she looked at me with a haughty look, making me chuckle a little. She seemed cute, to be honest. "I will show you some magic," I spoke as I looked at the broken sword in her pocket. With a simple [Inspect!] I could see that the sword is rather special. "Hmmm¡­ okay. But you will also answer what you were doing looking around the market, okay?" She spoke with a slightly excited face. Seems like ''magic'' fascinated her to some extent. "Deal." I smiled as I nodded at her words. "My name is Diaspora," the young girl, who looked no more than 15, spoke out as she looked at me. Her eyes seemed to contain the same glow as the Diaspora who was with us. ''I guess, I could see why she brought us here. And I think I understand where she went,'' I smiled as I patted Diaspora''s head. Before answering," My name is Michael. You got a nice name, Diaspora. I was actually wondering if there is anything that I can eat here or perhaps find something that would be fascinating. I have never been to a dragon''s market, you see." "Eh? You are not a dragon?" she was surprised to hear my words as I nodded at her. I wondered if I should tell her I am an Ethereal or a human¡­ though in the end I went with, "I am a Human." "Human?" Confused, she looked at me. Her eyes seemed like she didn''t know what humans are. "Don''t think much about it," I smiled as I patted her head again before she nodded and said," Now show me magic!!" The excitement in her words made meugh a little as I pointed to her weapon," show me that. I will show you something super amazing." She was hesitant at first, and the other dragonling also observed me from a distance. But after a few moments, she spoke, "Promise you won''t run away with it." "I promise," I nodded as she smiled before taking out the broken sword as she exined," it was a gift from my mother from 5 years ago in mying of age ceremony. Though¡­ I ended up breaking it on the very next day when I tried to enchant it¡­" She looked down with a regretful face. "And there was no one who could repair it?" I asked, and she nodded," they said that even the best craftsman wouldn''t be able to work on that weapon. It''s too precious and too strong." I took the weapon in her hands as I nodded. I looked at her," now look carefully, Diaspora. Don''t blink, okay?" She nodded as she focused on the sword. [Temporal Inversion!] [Temporal Inversion(Rare) (Level 10)!] [User can cause the flow of time to go in the opposite direction at a speed of 10 minutes per second. Can work only on inanimate objects. -The user can restore an object to its prime form once every 7 Weeks! Cost: 0TP/Second] And the dagger glowed brightly as the blinding light brightened the entire vige. "Halt!" "What do you think you are doing?" Two guards came from behind as they pointed their weapons at my neck. But at the very next moment, their eyes fell on the weapon, levitating just above my palms. The sword, which was dull and broken before, now was in its original shape, shining blue, in its prime. "And there ya go. Like it?" I winked at the little Diaspora as I passed the weapon to her. She looked at me with a nk expression, as she was having a hard time believing it. "..." "..." "..." "..." It wasn''t just her, but everyone in the area just gawked at me. With their eyes wide open, just about to fall off its sockets, and mouth wide enough to fit a bunch of eggs in it, they looked at me without uttering a single word. "Oi! What are you doing here?" Aarick, walking along with another dragonling and a bunch of guards, moved towards me as he shouted from afar. If I am not wrong, that person is probably the head of this town. "A bit of this and that. How are things on your end?" I asked as I passed the sword back to Diaspora before moving towards Aarick. As for the guards who were pointing the weapons at me, they were too shocked to move. "Huh? What in the world!!" The head, who wasing towards us, jumped at Diaspora as he took the weapon from Diaspora''s hand and observed it with a rather surprised expression. "They seemed to have almost proceeded fine until you went and did whatever you did¡­" he spoke, annoyed at me. His eyes looked at the dagger before speaking," you really did something absurd again, didn''t you?" "Kind of," I spoke as I looked at the dragonling observing me with greed now. "I apologize. Mr. Aarick, but I am afraid I have to hold you down here¡­ what you have shown is something we cannot just let go anymore," the head dragonling''s eyes turned deep blue as he observed us. Chapter 323 In the village of Dragons?

Chapter 323 In the vige of Dragons?

"I apologize. Mr. Aarick, but I am afraid I have to hold you down here¡­ what you have shown is something we cannot just let go anymore," the head dragonling''s eyes turned deep blue as he observed us. "Should you really be targeting your sword towards a person with unknown power?" I tried to calm down the situation in my own way. Honestly, though, if not for the kid and the innocent bystanders, I probably wouldn''t have minded going the hard way. "He can use Time Magic," Aarick spoke out as he looked at me with a cheeky smile. "Excuse me?" I narrowed my eyes at Aarick. Just where did thate from? -Whoosh! Using my foresight, I dodged an attack from behind. The head of the dragonlings was quite strong, wasn''t he? If I don''t use half my powers, I think he might be able to catch up to me. -Whoosh!! "Are you guys dumb?" I asked as I saw all of theming at me with full force. There was no hesitation in their eyes, but this only made them more confused. "You''re gonna die so stupidly?" I dodged a couple more than I looked at the dragonlings surrounding me from everywhere, attacking as hurriedly as they could. Though seriously though¡­ they were slow as f*ck. ''I am not even using [Warp!]'' I sighed as I looked at them, attacking me relentlessly. "He is not using any attack¡­ he can''t kill us! Whoever catches him gets to choose one of the treasures of the Dragonlings," the head shouted as he saw hope in me not attacking them. "Hey, Aarick¡­ are they for real?" I lost my reasons with them. It would be better to ask someone who actually has a head on his shoulders. "You really want to know?" He chuckled as he found the situation funny. His eyes were deep red as he looked at those dragonlings¡­ and then¡­ -BOOOM!!!! He plumped one of them to the ground, killing him with a ssh. The blue blood sttered on his face before it got absorbed into his body. The dragonlings looked at him with a shocked face. "Hey! There are kids here. You think I couldn''t kill them if I wanted to?" I asked with my eyes narrowed at him. "Aarick. What is the meaning of this? Are you out of your mind?" The head dragonling spoke out with shock as he looked at his kin dying in front of him. Though it didn''t take anymore time to make me realize exactly what was going on¡­ the dragonling whom Aarick killed suddenly appeared out of nowhere. His eyes glowed a little purplish before his body regained senses. "You understand now?" Aarick spoke as he moved behind that dragonling again and¡­ -BOOOM!!! Plummeted him into pieces again. "They are immortals, huh?" I was surprised to see that. It was the first time I had seen an immortal being in front of me. So, were they all like that? I looked at the dragonlings around me, smiling evilly as they looked at me. No wonder they didn''t hesitate to throw their lives at me even after I showed such a difference. "Now that you know that your situation is futile, will you be surrendering to us?" the head dragonling spoke out, making me sigh honestly. "Why are you trying to be so desperate?" I asked as I looked at them. "A treasure shouldn''t speak but only obey," one of them shouted as he moved closer towards me as he swung his sword. Though¡­ "Pretty dumb," I mumbled before I jumped above him and -BOOOM!!! Using all my strength, I punched into him, making him plummeted to the ground in an instant. I made sure he didn''t die and only stays unconscious till I deal with the other ones. "Well. It''s not like we are staying here for long. I guess I can stretch my muscles a little," I mumbled as I began ying with those dragonlings. They were relentless, but not even close to making me sweat. 30 Minutes Later¡­ "It''s not even a warm up," I said as I looked at all the dragonlings lying unconscious on the floor. I sighed before looking around, only to find Aarick missing from where he was. As for the other dragonlings who were nonbatants, they were also gone, making the area seem pretty much deserted. "There is only about 10 minutes left. Just where could he have gone?" I mumbled as I wondered where I should head first. -BOOOM!!!! A bit away from here, a big st resounded before the red smoke appeared in the sky. It was quite ominous looking to be fair. "There you are," I spoke before moving in that direction. I wondered what that idiot is doing right now. [Warp!] I first warped in the air above to see a clear look at the vige. The vige was quite big to be honest. From a high view, it was easy to see that it was almost a town on its own. Though enough appreciation¡­ [Warp!] I reached the ce where the fight was breaking out. Landing on the roof of one of the houses, I observed the two sides. On one side, we got the dragonlings ring as much as they could. Their numbers seemed to be above 30 or something. While on the other side, there was Aarick standing, protecting the weakened Diaspora with a cheeky smile on his face. [Warp!] Warping behind Aarick, I looked at those men for a brief second. Then I looked at Aarick as I asked,'''' What happened?" "Well. They poisoned her with one of the most potent forms of poisons there is. Seems like I underestimated them a bit. I have put my antiserum in her body but it seems it still wasn''t enough. Can you do something about it¡­ no¡­ I will leave that to you," Aarick chuckled without a care on his face. Was it his trust in me or he didn''t care about Diaspora at all? Nah. If he didn''t care, he wouldn''t have bothered trying to save her at all. "Sir Michael¡­ I apologize," Diaspora spoke as she looked at me before she added," I just wanted to-" "To see your family? It''s fine," I smiled as I looked at her, widening her eyes a little. "Well. Seems like it was not what you were expecting¡­ Well, reality could be disappointing in many ways." I looked at her bitter face before I patted her head. ''Since we are doing this¡­ let''s do it this way¡­'' I smiled as I concentrated on Diaspora''s own natural healing energy. While using Aarick''s energy would have easily wiped the poison, but that wouldn''t prevent any future events. [Advanced Time Maniption!] And using this skill, I increased her regenerating capability. It wasn''t focused on the ability to heal to be honest¡­ but on the ability to fight stronger disease. This way, anything as strong as this poison shouldn''t be a problem for her. ''Hmmmm¡­ this is slow¡­ '' I sighed as I added another one to it. [Advanced Time Maniption (Copy)!] And thus the process gained another touch, with the strength of her regeneration increasing to an insane level. Though just to not make it grow cancerous, I made sure to evolve the necessary cells. Having Medical knowledge can be really helpful¡­ though I am surprised. ''Despite being a dragon in human form, her anatomy and physiology is practically the same as humans,'' I observed her before I noticed¡­ the entire area had fallen silent. Only then I noticed that even Aarick and Diaspora were looking at me with an iprehensible face. Ah! I overdid it again, huh? Chapter 324 Out of the Dungeon

Chapter 324 Out of the Dungeon

"Well. Time is almost up anyway," I mumbled as I saw that 60 minute clock running down to itsst minutes. I then turned to Aarick, looked at his shocked face with a smirk, before speaking. "Oi Idiot! 2 minutes." It shouldn''t be hard for him to understand what I meant, and yeah, understanding what I was aiming at, he immediately vanished from there for a brief moment before reappearing again. "All right. I am done here. So do we need to wait for 2 minutes or can we go immediately?" he asked in a low voice while I looked at the still surprised Diaspora. She was observing her hands, or perhaps her whole body, for what had happened to her. "Like it?" I asked with a smile forming on my face. She nodded as she slowly looked at me. Her eyes were looking at me, trying to understand what exactly am I? Though that''s a question that is a bit difficult to answer for me too. "Is there anything else you want to do here?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Seems like we are done with our work here," I spoke, looking at those dragonlings who were still confused whether to attack us or not. Though it''s a little toote, so¡­ "Sayonara b*tches," I said in a loud voice before pressing the buttons on the system. The surrounding space started convulsing with me at the center. Except for me, Diaspora, and Aarick, everything began evaporating in thin air. And before we knew it, we were already out of the dungeon, back to the central abandoned ce of the Queen. Though an awkward silence covered around us as Diaspora and Aarick looked at me. It seemed like they wanted to speak something, but both of them were thinking hard to ask the questions or not. "So? What next?" Aarick was the one to break the silence, and I gave it a bit of a thought before answering to him," for now, let''s erase the miasma of this. Do you think you can help me with that?" He looked at me with a rather crude look before muttering," you really are an oddball, aren''t you? I honestly am having trouble understanding your thoughts at this point." "Can you do it or not?" I asked again as I ignored his useless banter, to which he nodded. "I can. Even though it will take some time and it will give me a minor boost at best, I guess I can do it." "Why?" Diaspora looked at me as if I were a saint. Her eyes looked at me, like one would look at their God. "How can someone like you even¡­ exist¡­ Just who are you?" Diaspora continued as she tried to find meaning behind my actions. ''It would be anticlimactic to say that I am doing it for the quest.'' I gave a dry chuckle before changing the subject. "Don''t care about it. It''s nothing. Aarick, I will help you clear the Miasma as well. Once we do that, can you help me find the core of the?" I spoke, and he pondered about it before nodding. "That would be a nice way to recreate the. But you would require the essence of life for it. Do you happen to have any with you?" So he knows about the Life essence too, huh? "Well. We can figure that out after clearing the miasma," I spoke, and he sighed,'''' well, I was going to say that it is not that easy¡­ but given your absurdity I would keep quiet. If there is nothing else, I will leave to clear the Miasma. Oi Diaspora,e with me," Aarick spoke as he took Diaspora with him. Since he was going in that direction, I chose just the opposite one from him. Though it would lead me back to where Aisha and the others are, I wonder how far their training hase to. ''I should also ask Aisha about Life essence, higher Gods, that dragon and a few other things. It can''t be a coincidence that she brought us here to this random with broken life,'' I decided as I slowly began walking outside thisir. It wasn''t hard to clear the Miasma as I began using my skills and changing the energy into a lower form. While I did try to convert it into divine energy, it kinda failed over a dozen times, so I gave up on it for the time being. And little by little, I reached back to the ce where Aisha was training the three of the girls on how to control their energy. ''They seem to be meditating.'' I saw them sitting on the floor with their eyes closed as they tried to force some form of energy into their bodies. "Oh! You are back. How was the sightseeing?" Aisha looked at meing from afar, and I waved my hand at her before warping close to her. "It was nice. I am currently clearing the miasma of this. Seems fun," I told her and she was surprised as she answered," You really are serious about conquering this, huh? Well. If you do happen to seed, then that would be good for us. Though it is only momentary, since it will all vanish when reality will go back to where it was. "I guess. My main purpose is to be stronger. It''s just part of the process," I answered her honestly. If I can gain something good from this, then I will surely get it. It''s not just a quest, even if the world goes back to its original reality. I still believe I can get something from this using the system. "Anyway, how are they faring?" I asked as I looked at the girls, to which Aisha spoke with a smile," they are talented. With proper tutoring, they would bloom out real good. It will be fun teaching them." Seems like Aisha was enjoying teaching them. "On that note, I had a few questions. Aisha, is this really a coincidence?" I asked as I looked at her, to which she asked back," be specific." "I saw a dragon''sir and found a dragon''s abode. And a couple more things," I told her in bits of things that happened. I didn''t tell her about the dungeon, though. She nodded as she answered, "There is a bit of a story behind that, but it is of no use to you. This ce used to be one of mypanions'' homes. Though, with my help, she moved away from here before it got destroyed, so it is fine. In fact, except the 4 races of Plienthora, everyone moved away from this." Aisha seemed rather sad about this. It seemed like there was a bitter memory attached to it. "Also, I found that the Higher Gods¡­ they are still alive in this reality," I spoke, but there was no response from Aisha. She just stood there for a couple of seconds before a deep sigh escaped from her mouth. She turned to me and said,"Well¡­ that''s a relief." Hmmm? Did she have any friendship with the Higher Gods? "I didn''t think I would get the chance to obliterate them painfully on my own. This is really¡­ such a relief," she spoke with a calm yet deadly smile. Seems like it was exactly the opposite. ''I guess things are going to be more interesting, huh?'' I smiled as I looked forward to it. Chapter 325 Clearing the Miasma

Chapter 325 Clearing the Miasma

"Anyway. Don''t worry about those things, for now focus on getting stronger, or perhaps learning ways to get stronger faster," Aisha spoke as she changed the topic. I wanted to continue asking more, but looking at her face, I decided not to pursue anymore. "Anything more?" Aisha asked as she looked at me, and I pondered before asking," Is there any way to recreate the essence of this?" "Recreating the essence, huh? Well. Bring me to the core of the and I will do it for you," she answered before pondering a little as she added,'''' try clearing the miasma first. That would be the first step to create an essence. "Hmmm¡­ all right. Anything else I should be careful of?" I asked, and she pondered a bit before her eyes widened as she turned at me." One more thing. There will be a lot of monsters that will start attacking you as soon as you clear the miasma. Kill all of them as fast as you can. If you arete, they will end up creating more miasma by destroying everything." She exined it in a bit more detail, telling me the reasons and the methods of ways to kill them and stuff. I asked a few more questions to her about this and that, and once I was sure that I knew everything, I decided that there was nothing more for me to know anymore. "If that''s all, I will return to train your girlfriends," she spoke as she went back to teach them. I looked at her with a curious mind, my eyes wondering exactly who she was. To help me while asking for nothing in return. ''She isn''t even curious about me,'' I sighed as I looked at her. An oddball¡­. She was a good person¡­ a strong, good person. I thought a bit about it before putting it to the back of my mind, since right now, I needed to clear the quest. I concentrated on that. And using [Warp] again, I vanished from there before reaching the Miasma as I began clearing the Miasma slowly and slowly. While it was time consuming in the beginning, perhaps because I was getting used to it, I started bing more fluid in the energy conversion process. I wasn''t just converting it into elemental energy, but in other forms as well. Some of the miasma was easily convertible to Aura, while others were easy to change into elemental form. There were a bit more energy types, but I knew little about them. Though just with this much knowledge, my speed increased at least 2 to 3 times. ''Hmmm?'' I saw a bunch of flying monstersing towards my way as fast as they could. Some were griffin-like, but more of a half dark body, while the others were insect-like. A few birds and wyverns were also there, with their eyes burning red and ck. -Krrreeeeee!!!! They shouted as they reached close to me. Though before they could attack me, "[Ground Zero: First sh]" I mumbled as I shed them apart in one sh, before moving to the next wave of monsters. [Warp!] [Ground Zero: First sh!] "Hmmm¡­ let''s see¡­" I then rummaged my system to try out a bunch of skills that I bought from [Shop]. [Oblivion Zone (Level 10) (Rare)!] [Description: By the Gods of Space, the young porter of the Gods was granted the ability to hold things together so that he will have an ease in travel between the two worlds. This skill was then diluted by a number of times before it was given to the lower world. Effects: Allows the user to create a ball of vacuum that attracts all things towards it for a limited amount of time. Time Points Required: 20,000 Time of Effect: 30 seconds! Cooldown: 2 minutes! Note: A bacsh will ur after the skill ends, making the zone throw out everything at once!] I chose this skill to start with since its application was usable right now. It would increase the efficiency of hunting the monsters faster. First is to use the skill to bring all the monsters together. [Oblivion Zone!] A ball of space formed in front of me, as it began absorbing all the air, including the miasma into it. It would have been good if it didn''t throw out everything in the end. The monsters began falling into the hole, forming an enormous ball that was trying to escape the vacuum as much as it could. Though it was a kind of futile? [Origin Zero: First sh!] I used the sh gain, cutting all the monsters inside the hole at once. All the monsters vanished, giving me tons of experience points before I looked at the miasma trapped in the vacuum right there. ''Hmmm¡­'' I gave it a thought before moving close to the vacuum that was filled with only miasma now. The next wave of monsters was too far, so I changed the energy signature for now. I began using my skills on the dense miasma, but sadly, rather than being faster, it was actually slower than before. Hmmm. I guess I won''t be getting any faster than this. And with no further ado, I began changing more miasma into normal energy. At this point it wasn''t visible but the normal energy, as I said, was increasing in amount slowly and slowly. Let''s say it was about a percent of the whole miasma? But it surely was.. Now the energy that was converted was also slowly fighting to change the other miasma into natural form, though it was falling badly and some part of the natural energy was returning to miasma form as well. It was a bad thing at this level¡­ but if the energy were to increase over 50%, the elemental energy will take over, making the entire heal itself automatically. But that''s a thing that I would discover a littleter than now. For the time being, I was simply clearing the miasma one step at a time. Because of my infinite energy, I didn''tck any stamina or conversion energy that stopped me from working. And before I knew it, hours and days passed with me simply clearing the Miasma. While I was cleaning it here, Aarick was also eating away the miasma at an almost equal rate to mine. We were both engrossed in the work, which continued for a few more days before the conversion process became automatic on its own. More like the amount of energy increased so much that the miasma was losing to it and converting back into its natural form on its own. It was around that time; I met Aarick once again, as we both crossed paths while clearing the Miasma. He wasn''t just eating away the miasma but passing the power to Diaspora as well, ordingly she would benefit more from the power than Aarick himself. "Seems like you really didn''t run away," I joked as I smiled at him, making him smirk at me before adding," a man can''t back down, can he?" I smiled before I began clearing the miasma again and so did he¡­ and before we knew it; we ended up changing the energy nature of the entire. Something that was deemed either impossible or simply a waste of time by many. Chapter 326 Creating an Essence 326 Creating an Essence "Is this the core?" Aisha asked as she rubbed her chin a little. Her eyes looked thoroughly at the core before adding," Seems like there will be more work to it than I thought." Currently, we were at the near center of the. We had already cleared the miasma and the monsters that followed after. Searching for the core wasn''t that hard either, since all we needed to do was to follow the flow of energy within the environment. "It''s contaminated," spoke Aarick said as he observed the core. When Aarick and Aisha came in contact in front of me, Aarick simply bowed to her while Aisha ignored him. I guess something happened in between them? Interesting. Though it didn''t seem like they were against each other. "It is. You have any ways of purifying it?" Aisha looked at me curiously, and I nodded at her. She then yawned before continuing," good. Comme help me then." "You know how to purify miasmal energy?" Aarick was once again surprised at me. Though it confused me, didn''t he already know it? Hmmm¡­ seems like he didn''t. "She too knows it. Is it really that special?" I asked, not making much of it, but he was bbergasted as he spoke out. "Dude! That''s Miss Aisha. Of course she would know¡­ do you even know her identity?" ''Ummm¡­ I know she is not simple¡­ but to make someone like Aarick behave like that¡­ '' I turned to Aisha, who wasn''t even the least bit interested in our talks. Her focus was on the core of this. "You really don''t¡­ I guess then it makes sense you don''t understand¡­ hmmm¡­ I wonder if it is a good thing or a bad thing," Aarick spoke out a bit before he thought of something as he came closer to me, "Since you are a nice guy, let me give you a piece of advice. Try to help here as much as you can¡­ you can even kill an entire if she wishes. Treat her like your own daugh¡­ No, don''t treat her like that. Treat her like a close friend. Or perhaps a benefactor. That way¡­" he turned even quieter as he added, "Even if you die. There is a high chance that you wille back to life. Even if the universe is against you, you will gain a chance to survive everything ande up as a victor. Keep that in mind. It''s a chance like no other." He spoke before he took a few steps away. He was quite forceful with his words as he emphasized the part that I had to be close to her and never antagonize her. "Ummmm¡­ All right?" I answered, making him smile at me before he gave me a thumbs up. "You guys done with your babbling?" Aisha asked, a bit annoyed before I moved towards her. Reaching near her, she asked me to start changing the energy nature of the mana core. I began using my skills to change the energy nature slowly and slowly. Though she looked at me for a while before mumbling something, "[Lisaraern IUB fa onO NBDibf!]" I don''t know what she muttered or even how she was able to say that. But¡­ [Skill: Pre Dimensional Reflection has been upgraded to its Primal Form!] [Pre Dimensional Reflection(Mythical)!] [Description: The Power of the Worlds is enough to change the nature of energy which one 15:26 withholds. The price is enormous but the returns are too. Effect: -The speed of Energy Change can be managed without any restrictions! -Change the nature of energy at the cost of your own energy! Limitations: Cannot change a lower form of energy to a higher form!] Though there was only one effect added to the skill¡­ it was really something that I wouldn''t say that it was a minor effect. If the speed can be controlled without any limits, then¡­ I then began focusing on increasing the speed of the change in energy and what seemed to be taking on forever¡­. Was done in a matter of seconds. "Now I will focus all that energy into one point and recreate the essence. You make sure that none of the energy gets converted back to Miasma or escapes out," Aisha said before beginning to stabilize the energy at an insane rate. If not for this added upgrade of my skill, it would have been impossible to stop the energy from going berserk¡­ I guess she foresaw this beforehand, huh? From that point onwards, it took about an hour before the sound of the system''s quest being fulfilled appeared in front of me. [Emergency Quest: Guardian of Plienthora Complete!!] [+100 Stat Points Received!] [+100 Skill Points Received!] [+Skill: Pleinthora''s Protection Received!] [+Blessing of the 7th King Received!] ''Still no Skill Mastery Points, huh?'' I sighed, as I wanted to upgrade a few things. I guess I would need to do the other quests. [Blessing of the 7th King!] [Description: By reviving the dead of Pleinthora, you have gained the favorability from the spirit of the. Your basic stats will be enhanced! Effects: -All Stats +1000 -You won''t be affected by any curse or poison within the Plienthora! -None of the beings of Pleinthora can attack you. -All attacks within the will be negated as long as the is alive. -You defense and regeneration have increased by 50% on the!] [Pleinthora''s Protection (Level 1) (Unique)!] [Description: The of Life and its beings are forever indebted to you! Effects: -Creates a Shield that absorbs 10% of iing attack and heals your entire body by twice its effects! Cost: None Effect time: 1 minute Cooldown: 2 hours! Skill Points required to upgrade the Skill: 25] And then increasing the skill level¡­ [Plienthora''s Protection (Level 10) (Unique)!] [Description: The of Life and its beings are forever indebted to you! Effects: -Creates a Shield that absorbs 100% of iing attack and heals your entire body by twice its effects! Cost: None Effect Time: 10 Minutes Cooldown: 30 minutes! Skill Points required to Evolve the Skill: 5!] ''A shield that negates all damages and even heals two times of it, huh? Not bad.'' I smiled as I saw the description. I wondered what would happen if I evolve this one¡­ but on second thought, I had more skills to evolve too. "So. Now that we are done with it, what else should we do?" Aisha asked, wondering what were my ns with this. I kind of thought about it before looking at the two quests in my system. [Emergency Quest: Chaos in Rebellion!] [Description: This world is beyond repair, but even still the betrayers of this haven''t left it alone. The soul of Plienthora can never forgive this humiliation. Objective: -Kill the betrayers who left the in times of peril -Destroy at least half the Bolivia where the betrayers take refuge Rewards: +50 Stat Points +10 Mastery Points +120 Skill Points +Skill: Zero Gravity + 100 favorability with the Universe Time Limit: ??? Penalty: ???] [Emergency Quest: Revenge for the!] [Description: The attackers of the Plienthora had already been defeated and enved. However, their essence still thrives after stealing from variouss. Kill the Corrupted Kings, who are living under the dark shadow of the Gxy and end their rampage. Objective: -Kill the 7 Commanders of the Rivega -Kill the 24 High Nobles of Rivega -Kill the King of Rivega -Save the Princess of Rivega Reward +God of Simplicity''s Sword +Shard of Cruel Eye +A wife? Time Limit: ??? Penalty:???] "Well¡­ about that¡­" I began exining my future ns for this¡­ Chapter 327 Sage of Infinite Paths 327 Sage of Infinite Paths "Well¡­ about that¡­" I began exining my ns for this¡­ I began questioning the beings who attacked this and the chances that they woulde again here. It started as a basic story about a bunch ofarians from a nearby and stuff. Then it escted about the type of people they were, along with the base information about cultivation and stuff. In Aisha''s timeline, they have been wiped off the, so there isn''t much mention of them. Even Aarickcks proper information about them. The one that actually has some idea was Diaspora, who told us about the powers and levels of the enemies. They were powerful, but most of their power was confined to the stronger beings, which weren''t a lot in number. Just about a 100 individuals. Though they were so powerful that even if the entire hadn''t taken part, they themselves would have been enough to take care of this. Though, because half of them were busy conquering others nearby, they brought all their forces at once. One more piece of theory was that since it has been a millennium, the number of individuals might have increased by a lot. "Hmmmm¡­ seems like it''s him," Aarick spoke as he sighed as observed Aisha''s expression. Aisha, too, sighed as she observed Aarick''s expression. "Who?" I asked with curiosity, wondering if it was someone they knew. "The Creator of Rivega, the one beyond power. One of the 12 True Higher Gods, Rivega Exir, The Sage of Infinite Paths," Aisha answered with her expression turning rather serious, making me wonder even more about him. "Is he powerful? He sounds powerful," I asked as I looked at Aisha. "Haha¡­ powerful? Michael¡­. How many energies do you think are present in this world?" Aisha asked, and I shook my head." A lot many?" She chuckled as she answered," 137." "That''s kind of¡­ less than what I expected," I said as I thought there being so manys, dimensions and universes, the energies should be of that many types as well. "Hmmm. It''s not that there are only 137 energies. But there are 137 types of energies. You know like Water can be pure water, corrupted water, holy water, unholy water, cursed water, etc? Something like that. Then there arebinations of water and fire, water and ice, etc¡­ the possibilities are infinite," Aisha exined it in a bit more detail before adding a final sentence, "Rivega has mastery in all forms of energies." "..." "Doesn''t that make him¡­" I was about to speak, but Aarick added," A God? Yeah. He is one of the 12 True Higher Gods, after all. Though, all 12 The Higher Gods are equally monstrous." "..." If they are that powerful, aren''t they omniscient or something? Wait! "Aarick. You said that they are alive in this dimension¡­ did they die in another dimension or something?" I asked with a rather even more curious expression. "Well. Yeah. They were trapped and killed by me in my dimension," Aarick spoke before my expression 15:27 almost widened, but he hurriedly added,'''' No! No! No! There were too many variables back then. They had been stripped of their powers, making them pretty weak. Plus, I was much much stronger as well. I even had an entire army to kill each and everyone of them, which took over a millennium each." Aarick sighed as he added," right now, I don''t even have a percent of my powers." Not even a percent and you are this powerful, huh? "Well¡­ I wonder about the power level¡­ but how do you weaken them?" I asked, as I wondered if I could increase my level. Can we create a chance? "Ah! You can''t. The one who weakened them and stripped them of their powers, probably is lying low in this timeline somewhere. Only he could do it¡­ though it is impossible to find him in this timeline¡­ honestly, we don''t even know if he is alive or not," Aarick spoke as he talked about a person who was powerful enough to subdue them. "Though don''t worry. Even if you kill all of Rivega, he won''t care much. He has gone to a far higher realm, and most probably won''te down to this realm. We can erase your enemies and make sure you get the." Aarick smiled as he added. "Huh?" I looked at him, a bit stupefied. If that was the case, then why did they even mention his name? "Though, are you sure he won''t care about his people?" I asked just for confirmation, and the one who answered was Aisha. "Yeah. For them, all that matters is they are strong. The True Higher Gods, the other Higher Gods, the Lower Gods¡­ all of them are pieces of shit. Even if their family is dying in front of them, the one thing they would care about is the way to absorb the power of their family members to grow stronger," Aisha spoke as if she had seen it with her own two eyes. Though because the atmosphere was getting a little too tensed, I changed the topic to something else, "Aisha. How is the training of Caroline, Ang and Irenee going? Is it going well?" Aisha smiled as she nodded." Though it''s not an extraordinary level, it''s still better than many. They do have talents that could bloom enough to assist us in fighting against the decisive battle. But it would take some time to manifest." I smiled as I looked at Diaspora and then at Aarick." you are going to train Diaspora?" Aarick nodded as he spoke." Well. I need to get back to my prime power as well. I have lost too much." I was curious how Aarick lost his power and how he was here. From the previous talks, it seemed like he wasn''t from this reality as well. But that was only a spection. Also, I was curious about the identity of Aarick. Despite being a weekend, the 12 True Higher Gods don''t seem like someone could easily handle. He must be someone really capable of pulling the feat which he did. "I take it as you are trying to make this as your training ground for the battle you guys are talking about?" Aarick asked, and I nodded. While the quest was one thing, I was really nning to make this n a ce to train. While [Second Space] is big, it''s not as big as this is. "Sure. I will also make this as my base then. Since I also want to go back to my dimension, it is better to stick with you guys than roam around endlessly," he added as he made his decision. Now that everything was more or less settled. The question is how to get out of here and reach the ce where the betrayers were. "So. How are you nning to reach the where the Rivegas are settled?" Aarick asked, making everyone turn at me. ''If I want to travel to that, then I would need a spaceship to that or something¡­ hmmmm¡­ I guess I can ask Rhea to provide me something from the [Shop]?'' I gave it a thought before speaking," just give me some time alone. There is something that I need to do." And then I warped away from there, before reaching a safe ce. [Second Space!] Let''s see if there is anything I can take from the [Shop]. Ending novel by 31Dec Chapter 328 Everyone has their own reasons 328 Everyone has their own reasons [Aarick''s POV] . . And there he goes vanishing again using his skills. Well, I wonder what he will bring out this time. ''Well. I will let him do his things¡­ What should I do now? Clearly this is something I would have not guessed to happen either,'' I thought as I looked at Aisha observing me. A monstrous human like her on our side, I guess the heavens are really favoring me. "Why did you lie to him?" Aisha asked as she looked at me. "About how Rivega won''t interfere and shit? Come on. Since you too joined in, you have already guessed it, haven''t you?" I spoke as I observed her with a smile. She sighed as she spoke," since you know so much about it. You already know that I am going to Kill Rivega no matter which universe. You probably already know what he had done too, don''t you?" I took a step back as I knew that one wrong sentence could end my life here. "So, it''s fine, even if you and Michael end up dying if everything fails?" I asked with a rather calm smile. I must maintain myposure. "That will never happen," she spoke with a confident smile as she added," I won''t repeat the same mistakes." "Your father might note to this dimension to save you, you know?" I notified her, making sure she knew what she was doing. -Whoosh! And her Silver Giant Sword almost grazed my cheek before getting pierced into the wall behind me. "You still haven''t answered my question. I have my reasons but, why did you bring Michael into this?" She asked as she looked at me with a deep look. "Just like you hav-" She moved one step closer to me, making me gulp at her. Though I continued slowly, "Have your own reasons. I too have my own." "And? What are those?" she asked as she looked at me in my eyes. Do I really need to fight her? Do I even have a chance against her? "Well-" I was about to speak but she smirked before turning around as she spoke," well. It doesn''t matter much. Not like you will do anything to a point that I would get involved, isn''t it?" She was provoking me. She was challenging me¡­ But I can''t¡­ not in the state I am¡­ "I will do what I want to do¡­ if I die, then that is all there is to it," I gave her my honest answer, at which she simply chuckled before nodding," I guess you can look at it that way too." She reached the core before she began modifying it again. This time probably ording to herself. Perhaps this habit was from her father¡­ to make sure not to leave anything unturned. ''Now, nobody would be able to touch her on this even if they kill themselves a thousand times over,'' I sighed as I touched the ground. "[Infect!]" I used a bit of my divine power to fill it with my own curroption energy. It was different from the miasma so it won''t contaminate this world. Just simr to Aisha''s way of modifying the''s core to her own needs, I too will firm my part here. While it will take a bit of my powers, this way, this will protect me, too. "Huh?!" As I was pouring my energy deep into the, I saw the presence of another energy¡­ an energy that was different from another. Though it was unfamiliar, I could feel what that energy was for. I turned to Aisha, who was also surprised as much as I was. She looked at me with a wide eyed expression before a deep smile appeared on her face. "Seems like he is not as naive as we thought he was," Aisha spoke out as I nodded as well. Just like Aisha and I had our connection with the¡­ I felt his presence too in the soul of the. In fact, rather than being an artificial energy that we induced from outside¡­ he seemed to be protected from the''s own behalf. "Seriously, that guy¡­ " I sighed as I couldn''t help but think again¡­ just who is he? To use the ability of Cronos this freely¡­ If not for Cronos being trapped, I would have mistaken him for Cronos himself. "Well. Not the first time I had met someone like him¡­ but he truly is special. I wonder how far will he go¡­ and what does fate has for him," Aisha pondered as she looked at me. She had already modified the energy of the core. Since I too was done with it, I moved my hand away from the ground. "It would be worth finding out¡­ if survives against Rivega, that is," I shook my head before looking at Diaspora who was talking with the three humans that were under Aisha''s care. "You really are going to take them in? You know that with the reset, they will lose their memories, won''t they?" I asked with curiosity. And she sighed before speaking, "Well. While that is correct, it is also true that we might fail against Rivega, and would need to settle down for an unknown time. I would need people to work under me, someone who could take over my empire and would fight to end the 12 True Gods to the bitter end. While I do know the way to fight against the one who messed up the reality, it is honestly easier said than done. After all the God must be at least a Higher God, or have an artifact of that level." "You really have nned a lot, haven''t you?" I asked, and she chuckled as she answered, "You think so? I only got the basics down. After all, with a variable like Michael and you, no matter how much I n, things will change drastically in the nick of time. All I could do was to n the groundwork." I nodded, as this was true. I haven''t used even a percent of my powers, and with the future, I might only be more powerful. Same goes for Michael, whose limit seems infinite. -ZAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!! A stranger voice came from outside, alerting both me and Aisha. None of us felt anything. We couldn''t even sense somethinging from the or from outside. Cautiously, running outside with the four girls, we reached to the surface only to find a giant spaceship standing in front of us. "A PowerCreeper 700XY YUlia," Aisha said, amazed at the spaceship, while I wondered why it was here. No¡­ how was that even here? Though the answer came as the face of a familiar figure came out of it. That guy with seemingly simple get up and a handsome face. With eyes that seemed to be carefree as usual, he looked down at us. "I got our ride," he spoke with a smile as he looked at us. Michael, the naive-looking person with unknown powers and potential, once again bbergasted us as he brought something that I was not even close to expecting. "Get in. Let''s fly to the nearest," he spoke, making us dumbfounded, as we sighed before moving towards the spaceship. Sigh, I wonder if I could get used to his absurdity. Ending novel by 31Dec Chapter 329 Planet Bolivia 329 Bolivia Bolivia, huh?" Aisha spoke as we stood in the middle of a wastnd with dried up trees as far as eyes could see. We had already traveled to the where the betrayers were, and now all that was left was to get strong while also finding them. I also exined a bit in basic on how I ''randomly'' found traces of the ce where the people of this ran away from. Though Aisha and Aarick were specifically skeptical of me. "I guess it''s not a bad ce to get started. We can culture your foundation for divine energy before getting you stronger. Though I should go to the nearest decaynd to make myself stronger," Aarick exined his thoughts as he looked at Diaspora. He pondered a little before adding, "I will need more people under me as well." "So you will be going on your own?" I asked to confirm, but he denied. "You think I will let a freak like you roam open in a world whosews you don''t even understand? I will need to make sure you know how to deal with the situation before leaving on my own. Don''t you agree too?" He spoke as he looked at Aisha and she nodded, too. I could only sigh before nodding. There was nothing wrong with it, I guess. "In order to build the foundation, you need the proper methods to do it. But with your fragile body, it would be difficult to find any basic methods. Hmmm¡­ I guess I will impart some knowledge to you of Aura, but before doing that, let''s find a ce to rest," he decided on his own as he began walking ahead. Following behind him, I saw Aisha exining the basic things to Caroline, Ang, and Irene. Hmmm, now that I look at it, they were pretty serious about their training and were really listening to Aisha. I was kinda happy for them. ''I guess I should work harder than well,'' I smiled as I looked forward to this strange adventure of mine. "Also, Michael. While you can use your powers, try to depend on them as little as possible. You don''t want to be a target for the powerful people for now reason, would you?" he spoke, but I was confused. Why would I be a target if I showed my prowess? Shouldn''t they carefully assess me first? Hmmm well¡­ I guess I won''t use my powers until necessary. Or only use those which won''t catch attention. We walked for about half an hour before we reached the nearest town. It was a small town with people wearing robes and walking around with little caring about everything around them. Though before we could enter into the town. "Halt!" The guards at the main gate stopped us from entering as they looked at our groups with an analyzing gaze. They looked at me, before turning at Aisha and Aarick before their eyes turned rather disgusted as they spoke. "Each of you gives 1 Silver coin to enter the town. Or else scram back to the ce where you came from." They were rude as they came. Their eyes were especially looking at us as if we were trash or garbage. "See Michael. This is what I was talking about. In this world, powers rule everything. Your base cultivation, your power level, as long as you have that, people will respect you. If you don''t have it, even a lowly guard like him won''t respect you," Aarick spoke with a slight smirk before he did something¡­ I don''t exactly know, but it seemed like he showed a bit of his power, which probably wasn''t visible before. Turning to the guards¡­ They were white as sheets now. I saw them falling to the ground as if they were about to lose their lives. Hmmm¡­ That''s quite the scene. "Still going to underestimate us?" Aarick asked as he looked at the guard duo, making them know-tow immediately. They shouted in unison," we wouldn''t dare!" At this point, they were sweating buckets and I could see them shivering in fear. If not for seeing myself, I didn''t think it would be possible¡­ The normal reaction is either to run away or stay frozen with fear, isn''t it? "Do not repeat the mistake again. I am in a good mood, so consider your life a gift to you," Aarick spoke as he looked at me and Aisha. Aisha sighed before moving past Aarick as she spoke. "Let''s go. We don''t have enough time to fool around." "WE WILL NEVER FORGET THE KINDNESS AND BENEVOLENCE YOU HAVE SHOWN US!!!" the guard continued shouting, still in fear as our group entered into the town. Because we caused amotion, we ended up garnering a bit of attention from the people around. Despite being curious, nobody tried approaching us. They just whispered among themselves. "Let''s go get some native clothes first. While showing off some power is fine, walking as a clown isn''t really ideal to be honest," Aarick sighed as he looked at my clothes before observing the girl''s clothes. Well, I didn''t disagree with him as we reached the nearby shop. The owner looked at us with the same look as the guards, but oh well. After Aarick showed his power, he gave us clothes for free. However, I didn''t like it as much, so I asked Aarick if we couldpensate him somehow. Aarick didn''t like my idea, but he sighed as he took a bunch of cores and passed it onto that guy. Looking at the surprised and thankful gaze of the shopkeeper, it seemed he was satisfied with that. "Would you like to start immediately or take a break?" Aisha observed me as we got out, wearing robes of their respective choice. Aisha wore a grayish ck robe, making everyone look at her with their eyes gawking. Aarick had a ck robe, while I chose a rather white robe, with Caroline and the others choosing their own respective ones. "What do you guys say?" I asked the girls in turn, who seemed to be a bit excited wearing the robes. Caroline pondered about it before speaking." I want to rest a little. We don''t know when we might get another chance to rest." Irene nodded at it while Ang wanted to train more. Diaspora left the decision to Aarick, while Aarick left the decision to me. I sighed as I spoke." Let''s rest then. We will start tomorrow morning." Aisha and the others nodded before we began finding a nearby inn where we could spend the night. Ending novel by 31Dec Chapter 330 Basics of Cultivation

Chapter 330 Basics of Cultivation

While other people were sleeping, I was sitting with Aarick and Aisha, who were here to teach me about the basics of cultivation. "While there are various practices, there are three prominent ones on this. Each for three aspects. Body, Soul and Mind." Aarick raised three fingers before he picked one of them with the other hand. "Let''s start with the body and we can corrte the other two with it. Though I must ask, do you know what ''Cultivation'' means, right?" He questioned. I nodded," to take the force of nature into one''s body and reach an immortal hood? Or something like that." Aarick nodded," that''s more or less basic. Cultivation is the ability to extract the natural condensed energy of life that has been passed on by the universe in order to connect oneself to the Universe more. It generally increases your lifespan by removing toxicity from your body, makes you stronger by providing you a nourishing atmosphere and helps you perform tricks that are normally impossible by an average body." He then began exining the basic way to increase the power of the body. The process was simple as to take in the energy into one''s body and spread it throughout the body at once. There is something called dantian that flows within the body, and ideally, one should flow it through the dantian. The purer the Dantian, the more blessed the body, the easier to flow the energy and absorb a great proportion of the spirit stones. With the bar set from 1 Star to 10 Star. Supposedly, both Aarick and Aisha had a 10 Star Dantian, while I had a 1 Star Dantian. The cultivation starts from basic Body Formation Stage Body Condensation Stage Martial Formation Stage Martial Condensation Stage Apprentice Master Stage Master Stage Half Step Grandmaster Stage Grandmaster Stage Before one bes one of the Immortals. Each of these stages is further divided into 10 sub-stages that are required to break before one reaches a higher realm. "The Soul and the Mind stage are the same, with exactly simr stages except the part where you need to flow the natural energy into the heart and the mind. Heart will create an auxiliary spirit channel, allowing you to connect with the spirits, while the mind will unlock potential to do feats like telekinesis etc," he exined everything in detail. Aisha was there to point out if there was anything missing in there, but Aarick''s exnation didn''t have any faults. "Now that we are done with the basics of cultivation, I will impart to you a bunch of ways to cultivate, though I would like you to know about this world a bit more before we get into that," Aarick spoke as he continued," so-" But Aisha stopped him before speaking." I will exin to him about it." Aarick didn''t seem to have any problem with that, so he nodded before letting Aisha steer the exnation. "There are 4 things you need to be careful of on this. The Evil Sect that is hungry for power it will never stop on anything. Their method of cultivation is to feed not on the spirit energy of life, but to kill people and absorb their power. This way, they can get much stronger than normal, but because the energy is too chaotic, it messes up their brain. The Demon race. While not exactly the real demons, they have some traits that they can absorb the negative energy emanating from various races. Things like despair, fear, agony, etc, are a method to bring out the negative energy out of the body, which they store and cultivate with. If you meet any of those two, then kill them on site. Even by nature, they cannot be saved. Then there are the Heavenly Principals. They are people with strong power who think of themselves as Gods. They have great powers, and in order to make sure they don''t have stronger enemies, they created rules that benefit only themselves. Be careful of them. Spend some time with the locals and they will tell you how not to go against them. But if you somehow decide to go against them anyhow, call us as well. We will destroy them with you. Finally, the Martial Officers. They are people who were once hosted to protect the people, and die for them. They were considered pretty elite, but honestly, now that Heavenly Principles are in power, they too have started using crude methods." "Crude Methods?" I asked curiously. "Like they started working like mercenaries. They take money or extort, if you look at it properly. They have some people from evil and demonic sects as well. It''s a bunch of every bad and good thing in them. Though because good is mostly suppressed, it''s honestly an evil organization. As for going against them. Crush them if you wish to. They can''t do a dime against you anyway," She was quite brutal with her words, but after hearing her information, I couldn''t agree more. Aarick then smiled as he spoke, "Do whatever you want. Crush them. Save them. It''s your choice. But you must always keep in mind that our work here is to find the people of Plienthora as well as to get stronger. Everything else is secondary." While he was smiling, I could see the seriousness in his eyes. I nodded at his words before pondering a bit more. Then I asked a question, "Where should I start then?" They both looked at each other and aftermunicating with their eyes, they looked at me,"we will teach you some basics of all the three fundamentals. But it would be better if you do it yourself. Honestly, we can''t predict what you will do or what will happen to you, so we both will go separate ways to train. I hope you understand." "You are leaving me alone here?" I asked, surprised, but Aarick shook his head, "Not immediately. We will teach you the customs and such first and few general knowledge points as well, but after that you need to find opportunities on your own." He spoke as I sighed. While I did want to train with them because of their knowledge, it seems like they both had to do something on their own¡­ "Okay, I understand." I nodded before they continued to teach me a few more small things. Chapter 331 A Bath [R-18]

Chapter 331 A Bath [R-18]

I woke up the next morning in a rather rxed mood. It has been a while since I slept so well. Or perhaps that I haven been working continuously that I don''t exactly remember when was thest time I had a good sleep. ''It was with Ang, wasn''t it?'' I tried recalling as blissful memories returned to my mind. A smile formed on my face as I wondered how she and the other girls were doing. Getting off the bed, I looked at the set of clothes presented in front of me. They told me there was no bath within the inn so, [Second Space] I entered the space, but didn''t meet Rhea this time. Rather, I visited the bath area within the Garden. While I don''t think I stink or smell, despite not taking a bath for so long, I still wanted to let off some steam. Walking towards the garden, I began removing my robe as I approached the small pond-like bath area. The bath area was rather aesthetically alluring, with the white stairs guiding into the pond. The ends were covered with white pirs and everything was beautifully done. Even the position of the flowers seemed to be carefully intricate. The more I looked at it, the more refreshed I felt. Putting my robe on the floor just before entering the pond, I then took my first step down the stairs, into the pond. My eyes were rather calm as I felt the hot water on my feet. I could feel the water healing my soul directly from my feet, before I moved deeper into the pond, slowly covering my entire body down the waist into it. I guess the water level wasn''t that down, huh? I closed my eyes as I let the water heal me, while I used my hands to wash my body. While there was nothing like soap or body wash, I guess this water was good enough to clean the body itself. "You seem to enjoy yourself, huh?" I heard a sweet voice from the area where I dropped my robe. Looking in that direction, Rhea stood there wearing a white dress as she smiled at me. She looked rather enchanting, but not as much as before¡­ Perhaps I got used to her beauty? I mean, Aisha probably looked more beautiful than her, so I guess my standards are higher than before? "Won''t you join me?" I flirted with her, making her smirk a little. She then stretched a little as she answered," I guess I haven''t taken much break either," before she took one step towards the pond, removing the white dress off her top while covering her breasts with her hand. She then slowly took one step into the water as she looked at her. Her silvery eyes looked at me, much enchanting than before. Her steps slowly led her entire lower body into the water, before she began taking more steps towards me. Reaching closer to me, a couple of meters away from me, she bent down as she sank her body into the water, leaving only her neck and head visible to me. She looked at me with a smile as she said," How long are you going to look?" I smiled as I too got on my knees as I sank my entire body down the neck into the water. My eyes still focused on her as I answered with her a question," How long do you want me to look?" "You really want to know?" she spoke with a mischievous tone as she gave me a side look. She too was washing her body while I did that too. "I do," I said as I kept washing while enjoying the ''view'' in front of me. "Answer a few questions of mine, and I shall tell you," she spoke as she slightly turned at me. Her eyes looked at me with a slightly mncholic way before she asked, "If you had to choose between two people, you loved the most. What will you do?" Hearing her question, I pondered a bit before answering her," I will choose the most optimal path. Starting with trying to save both of them, ending with destroying the entire world¡­ Perhaps I will do everything in my power to reach the ending that I want." "Is that so?" a mysterious smile appeared on her face as she took a step towards me, decreasing the distance between us. "What if you were to give up all your powers to save the one person who means everything to you?" she asked again as she looked at me, this time objectively than before. "I want to say that ''I will forfeit,'' but this depends on the other factors. What about the other people that I care about? What about me, myself? How much worth is there to it? I do function emotionally, but not enough to act rashly." I gave her an honest answer. While it might be selfish from the perspective of a person who only has one person in their life, but for me, who is surrounded by a lot many people I care about. I cannot just choose one over the other, can I? A relieved smile formed on her face as she looked at me, before taking another step closer to me. Her eyes seemed quite merry right now as she put her hair tendrils behind her ear before asking the next question, "And what if you were to face an opponent far stronger than you and behind you are all the people about whom you care?" "Is that even a question? I will fight till the very end of my life with all my honors ced on it. If I were to die, then that was all there was to it," I answered her as my eyes gazed upon her face, this time I was the one who took a step towards her, reaching close enough to her, that our bodies almost touched. I lightly pressed up her chin with my hands as I asked,"So? How long do you want me to look at you?" "Forever if I were to wish for it," she answered in a melodious tone as her cheeks turned red. Chapter 332 Rhea [R-18]

Chapter 332 Rhea [R-18]

"Forever if I were to wish for it," she muttered as removed her hands from her breasts before cing the left one on my chin. I moved closer to her, making my lips touch her for a few seconds before she separated them as she took a step back. Though holding her hand, which was at my chin, I pulled her back closer to me while tightly holding her from her back using my right. This time, our lips touched again, but I was a bit more rough than before. I licked her lips a little before moving my tongue in between them. Those lips that felt like marshmallows tasted like the juiciest strawberries. I could feel the sweetness in those soft lips. The more I tasted them, the more I couldn''t resist her. Moving my tongue in between her legs, I tasted the sweet nectar she had. It was different from other girls that I had with. It was strangely mysterious. Like the refreshing water you have after a heavy workout in the afternoon sun, like an aphrodisiac that you get addicted to, it was something that was hard to let go. It wasn''t hard to reach her tongue. There wasn''t any resistance from her side. Mine touching hers, I felt her kissing me back. Her tongue wrapped around mine sexily as we both got lost in ecstatic moments. "Mmh~" "Ah~" "Mmh~" Euphoria felt all over my body as I kept kissing her. Each moment felt better than before, and the more I did it, the more I couldn''t resist. It was only after she slowly parted her lips; I realized that I had been kissing her for a long time. "Let me~" She then moved close to me as she slowly bit my ears. I felt a strange feeling trickling down my body, as she slowly licked me around that part, before moving down as she kissed up to my neck. I then stopped her as I bit her ears this time, making her moan softly. Hearing her voice down my ears made me tease her even more. I kissed the ears before slowly moving down to her neck. "Ah~" "Ahh~" "Mmm~" The more I kissed her, the more she moaned. Finding her soft spots on her neck wasn''t hard, as I could feel her moan a bit more loudly than before. At first kissing, I then bit her softly¡­ "MMH~~" Her arms clenched against my neck. She held me even more tightly than before. Perhaps I felt excited a little, so I bit her again, this time a bit more than before. "Michael~~" She moaned this time, taking my name¡­ though it seemed like she was in a bit of pain, so I stopped at that. Instead, I kissed her there, and using my tongue, I wiped that area a bit more lightly. Using my lips, I kissed her on the spot where I bit her, trying to make her feel better. She held me in her embrace, and this time she tightened her embrace a bit more, though unlike before where she was moaning, this time it felt like an embrace out of love. I, too, hugged her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body all over mine. Her body was like a soft cushion that was neither too hard nor too soft. It felt like the most perfect touch I ever had in my life. Her breasts, especially, felt soft and bouncy. The more I pressed them, the more I felt enthralled. "Michael. Do you want to know why were you chosen?" she asked softly as she held me by her hands. Her voice was a bit low. She seemed like she wanted to open up before she went further with me. "I do," I answered her as I slowly let her go, enough to make her face me, but not too much to move away from me. Holding her back with my right and her cheek with the palm of my left, I slowly touched her lips with my thumb. Her eyes stared into mine, as she answered," it was honestly a gamble. A certain someone was needed to save the world¡­ somebody who will be prepared to save the universe. Not just against one threat, but multiple ones." She paused in the middle before speaking," you were not supposed to be the owner of the system. It was going to be the golden-haired boy, Leeway¡­ your best friend. But fate sealed his life in all worlds that are bound to exist, making him die for sure. It was done to spite us." "When we were losing hope, we found a being that stood by Leeway moments before he died. Someone with no powers, but still capable of being an equal to him. There was honestly nothing out of the ordinary about you. A simple human that has no powers, nothing excellent about you," she chuckled slowly before speaking, "But then ''he'' said something¡­ ''He'' spoke that if we have any chance left, then it is going to be you¡­ and we just chose you. Partly because you were lucky to be beside Leeway, and partly because you showed the will that got ''His'' attention." She then turned silent as she looked at my expression. I observed her for a few moments as I saw herplex expression¡­ I then moved in for a kiss as I held her lips tightly against mine. Surprised, her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me, though after a few moments, she closed her eyes as well. She let me kiss her. I moved my tongue inside her, once again kissing her for a long while before moving away from her as I looked at her reddened face. This time she was a bit embarrassed than before. She was even trying to avoid eye contact with me for now. "Well, for starters¡­ I was never a hero. And, I don''t like being the Chosen One either¡­ I am a simple man with a simple life¡­ Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter to me whether you chose me for a specific reason or just on a random whim. I am here, that''s all that matters," I smiled as I touched her lips again before smiling mischievously, "Though I would still like to have somepensation." And my hands slowly reached her breasts as I felt the soft heavenly touch of it. Chapter 333 [DNO]

Chapter 333 [DNO]

While other people were sleeping, I was sitting with Aarick and Aisha, who were here to teach me about the basics of cultivation. "While there are various practices, there are three prominent ones on this. Each for three aspects. Body, Soul and Mind." Aarick raised three fingers before he picked one of them with the other hand. "Let''s start with the body and we can corrte the other two with it. Though I must ask, do you know what ''Cultivation'' means, right?" He questioned. I nodded," to take the force of nature into one''s body and reach an immortal hood? Or something like that." Aarick nodded," that''s more or less basic. Cultivation is the ability to extract the natural condensed energy of life that has been passed on by the universe in order to connect oneself to the Universe more. It generally increases your lifespan by removing toxicity from your body, makes you stronger by providing you a nourishing atmosphere and helps you perform tricks that are normally impossible by an average body." He then began exining the basic way to increase the power of the body. The process was simple as to take in the energy into one''s body and spread it throughout the body at once. There is something called dantian that flows within the body, and ideally, one should flow it through the dantian. The purer the Dantian, the more blessed the body, the easier to flow the energy and absorb a great proportion of the spirit stones. With the bar set from 1 Star to 10 Star. Supposedly, both Aarick and Aisha had a 10 Star Dantian, while I had a 1 Star Dantian. The cultivation starts from basic Body Formation Stage Body Condensation Stage Martial Formation Stage Martial Condensation Stage Apprentice Master Stage Master Stage Half Step Grandmaster Stage Grandmaster Stage Before one bes one of the Immortals. Each of these stages is further divided into 10 sub-stages that are required to break before one reaches a higher realm. "The Soul and the Mind stage are the same, with exactly simr stages except the part where you need to flow the natural energy into the heart and the mind. Heart will create an auxiliary spirit channel, allowing you to connect with the spirits, while the mind will unlock potential to do feats like telekinesis etc," he exined everything in detail. Aisha was there to point out if there was anything missing in there, but Aarick''s exnation didn''t have any faults. "Now that we are done with the basics of cultivation, I will impart to you a bunch of ways to cultivate, though I would like you to know about this world a bit more before we get into that," Aarick spoke as he continued," so-" But Aisha stopped him before speaking." I will exin to him about it." Aarick didn''t seem to have any problem with that, so he nodded before letting Aisha steer the exnation. "There are 4 things you need to be careful of on this. The Evil Sect that is hungry for power it will never stop on anything. Their method of cultivation is to feed not on the spirit energy of life, but to kill people and absorb their power. This way, they can get much stronger than normal, but because the energy is too chaotic, it messes up their brain. The Demon race. While not exactly the real demons, they have some traits that they can absorb the negative energy emanating from various races. Things like despair, fear, agony, etc, are a method to bring out the negative energy out of the body, which they store and cultivate with. If you meet any of those two, then kill them on site. Even by nature, they cannot be saved. Then there are the Heavenly Principals. They are people with strong power who think of themselves as Gods. They have great powers, and in order to make sure they don''t have stronger enemies, they created rules that benefit only themselves. Be careful of them. Spend some time with the locals and they will tell you how not to go against them. But if you somehow decide to go against them anyhow, call us as well. We will destroy them with you. Finally, the Martial Officers. They are people who were once hosted to protect the people, and die for them. They were considered pretty elite, but honestly, now that Heavenly Principles are in power, they too have started using crude methods." "Crude Methods?" I asked curiously. "Like they started working like mercenaries. They take money or extort, if you look at it properly. They have some people from evil and demonic sects as well. It''s a bunch of every bad and good thing in them. Though because good is mostly suppressed, it''s honestly an evil organization. As for going against them. Crush them if you wish to. They can''t do a dime against you anyway," She was quite brutal with her words, but after hearing her information, I couldn''t agree more. Aarick then smiled as he spoke, "Do whatever you want. Crush them. Save them. It''s your choice. But you must always keep in mind that our work here is to find the people of Plienthora as well as to get stronger. Everything else is secondary." While he was smiling, I could see the seriousness in his eyes. I nodded at his words before pondering a bit more. Then I asked a question, "Where should I start then?" They both looked at each other and aftermunicating with their eyes, they looked at me,"we will teach you some basics of all the three fundamentals. But it would be better if you do it yourself. Honestly, we can''t predict what you will do or what will happen to you, so we both will go separate ways to train. I hope you understand." "You are leaving me alone here?" I asked, surprised, but Aarick shook his head, "Not immediately. We will teach you the customs and such first and few general knowledge points as well, but after that you need to find opportunities on your own." He spoke as I sighed. While I did want to train with them because of their knowledge, it seems like they both had to do something on their own¡­ "Okay, I understand." I nodded before they continued to teach me a few more small things. Chapter 334 [DNO]

Chapter 334 [DNO]

I woke up the next morning in a rather rxed mood. It has been a while since I slept so well. Or perhaps that I haven been working continuously that I don''t exactly remember when was thest time I had a good sleep. ''It was with Ang, wasn''t it?'' I tried recalling as blissful memories returned to my mind. A smile formed on my face as I wondered how she and the other girls were doing. Getting off the bed, I looked at the set of clothes presented in front of me. They told me there was no bath within the inn so, [Second Space] I entered the space, but didn''t meet Rhea this time. Rather, I visited the bath area within the Garden. While I don''t think I stink or smell, despite not taking a bath for so long, I still wanted to let off some steam. Walking towards the garden, I began removing my robe as I approached the small pond-like bath area. The bath area was rather aesthetically alluring, with the white stairs guiding into the pond. The ends were covered with white pirs and everything was beautifully done. Even the position of the flowers seemed to be carefully intricate. The more I looked at it, the more refreshed I felt. Putting my robe on the floor just before entering the pond, I then took my first step down the stairs, into the pond. My eyes were rather calm as I felt the hot water on my feet. I could feel the water healing my soul directly from my feet, before I moved deeper into the pond, slowly covering my entire body down the waist into it. I guess the water level wasn''t that down, huh? I closed my eyes as I let the water heal me, while I used my hands to wash my body. While there was nothing like soap or body wash, I guess this water was good enough to clean the body itself. "You seem to enjoy yourself, huh?" I heard a sweet voice from the area where I dropped my robe. Looking in that direction, Rhea stood there wearing a white dress as she smiled at me. She looked rather enchanting, but not as much as before¡­ Perhaps I got used to her beauty? I mean, Aisha probably looked more beautiful than her, so I guess my standards are higher than before? "Won''t you join me?" I flirted with her, making her smirk a little. She then stretched a little as she answered," I guess I haven''t taken much break either," before she took one step towards the pond, removing the white dress off her top while covering her breasts with her hand. She then slowly took one step into the water as she looked at her. Her silvery eyes looked at me, much enchanting than before. Her steps slowly led her entire lower body into the water, before she began taking more steps towards me. Reaching closer to me, a couple of meters away from me, she bent down as she sank her body into the water, leaving only her neck and head visible to me. She looked at me with a smile as she said," How long are you going to look?" I smiled as I too got on my knees as I sank my entire body down the neck into the water. My eyes still focused on her as I answered with her a question," How long do you want me to look?" "You really want to know?" she spoke with a mischievous tone as she gave me a side look. She too was washing her body while I did that too. "I do," I said as I kept washing while enjoying the ''view'' in front of me. "Answer a few questions of mine, and I shall tell you," she spoke as she slightly turned at me. Her eyes looked at me with a slightly mncholic way before she asked, "If you had to choose between two people, you loved the most. What will you do?" Hearing her question, I pondered a bit before answering her," I will choose the most optimal path. Starting with trying to save both of them, ending with destroying the entire world¡­ Perhaps I will do everything in my power to reach the ending that I want." "Is that so?" a mysterious smile appeared on her face as she took a step towards me, decreasing the distance between us. "What if you were to give up all your powers to save the one person who means everything to you?" she asked again as she looked at me, this time objectively than before. "I want to say that ''I will forfeit,'' but this depends on the other factors. What about the other people that I care about? What about me, myself? How much worth is there to it? I do function emotionally, but not enough to act rashly." I gave her an honest answer. While it might be selfish from the perspective of a person who only has one person in their life, but for me, who is surrounded by a lot many people I care about. I cannot just choose one over the other, can I? A relieved smile formed on her face as she looked at me, before taking another step closer to me. Her eyes seemed quite merry right now as she put her hair tendrils behind her ear before asking the next question, "And what if you were to face an opponent far stronger than you and behind you are all the people about whom you care?" "Is that even a question? I will fight till the very end of my life with all my honors ced on it. If I were to die, then that was all there was to it," I answered her as my eyes gazed upon her face, this time I was the one who took a step towards her, reaching close enough to her, that our bodies almost touched. I lightly pressed up her chin with my hands as I asked,"So? How long do you want me to look at you?" "Forever if I were to wish for it," she answered in a melodious tone as her cheeks turned red. Chapter 335 [DNO]

Chapter 335 [DNO]

"Forever if I were to wish for it," she muttered as removed her hands from her breasts before cing the left one on my chin. I moved closer to her, making my lips touch her for a few seconds before she separated them as she took a step back. Though holding her hand, which was at my chin, I pulled her back closer to me while tightly holding her from her back using my right. This time, our lips touched again, but I was a bit more rough than before. I licked her lips a little before moving my tongue in between them. Those lips that felt like marshmallows tasted like the juiciest strawberries. I could feel the sweetness in those soft lips. The more I tasted them, the more I couldn''t resist her. Moving my tongue in between her legs, I tasted the sweet nectar she had. It was different from other girls that I had with. It was strangely mysterious. Like the refreshing water you have after a heavy workout in the afternoon sun, like an aphrodisiac that you get addicted to, it was something that was hard to let go. It wasn''t hard to reach her tongue. There wasn''t any resistance from her side. Mine touching hers, I felt her kissing me back. Her tongue wrapped around mine sexily as we both got lost in ecstatic moments. "Mmh~" "Ah~" "Mmh~" Euphoria felt all over my body as I kept kissing her. Each moment felt better than before, and the more I did it, the more I couldn''t resist. It was only after she slowly parted her lips; I realized that I had been kissing her for a long time. "Let me~" She then moved close to me as she slowly bit my ears. I felt a strange feeling trickling down my body, as she slowly licked me around that part, before moving down as she kissed up to my neck. I then stopped her as I bit her ears this time, making her moan softly. Hearing her voice down my ears made me tease her even more. I kissed the ears before slowly moving down to her neck. "Ah~" "Ahh~" "Mmm~" The more I kissed her, the more she moaned. Finding her soft spots on her neck wasn''t hard, as I could feel her moan a bit more loudly than before. At first kissing, I then bit her softly¡­ "MMH~~" Her arms clenched against my neck. She held me even more tightly than before. Perhaps I felt excited a little, so I bit her again, this time a bit more than before. "Michael~~" She moaned this time, taking my name¡­ though it seemed like she was in a bit of pain, so I stopped at that. Instead, I kissed her there, and using my tongue, I wiped that area a bit more lightly. Using my lips, I kissed her on the spot where I bit her, trying to make her feel better. She held me in her embrace, and this time she tightened her embrace a bit more, though unlike before where she was moaning, this time it felt like an embrace out of love. I, too, hugged her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body all over mine. Her body was like a soft cushion that was neither too hard nor too soft. It felt like the most perfect touch I ever had in my life. Her breasts, especially, felt soft and bouncy. The more I pressed them, the more I felt enthralled. "Michael. Do you want to know why were you chosen?" she asked softly as she held me by her hands. Her voice was a bit low. She seemed like she wanted to open up before she went further with me. "I do," I answered her as I slowly let her go, enough to make her face me, but not too much to move away from me. Holding her back with my right and her cheek with the palm of my left, I slowly touched her lips with my thumb. Her eyes stared into mine, as she answered," it was honestly a gamble. A certain someone was needed to save the world¡­ somebody who will be prepared to save the universe. Not just against one threat, but multiple ones." She paused in the middle before speaking," you were not supposed to be the owner of the system. It was going to be the golden-haired boy, Leeway¡­ your best friend. But fate sealed his life in all worlds that are bound to exist, making him die for sure. It was done to spite us." "When we were losing hope, we found a being that stood by Leeway moments before he died. Someone with no powers, but still capable of being an equal to him. There was honestly nothing out of the ordinary about you. A simple human that has no powers, nothing excellent about you," she chuckled slowly before speaking, "But then ''he'' said something¡­ ''He'' spoke that if we have any chance left, then it is going to be you¡­ and we just chose you. Partly because you were lucky to be beside Leeway, and partly because you showed the will that got ''His'' attention." She then turned silent as she looked at my expression. I observed her for a few moments as I saw herplex expression¡­ I then moved in for a kiss as I held her lips tightly against mine. Surprised, her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me, though after a few moments, she closed her eyes as well. She let me kiss her. I moved my tongue inside her, once again kissing her for a long while before moving away from her as I looked at her reddened face. This time she was a bit embarrassed than before. She was even trying to avoid eye contact with me for now. "Well, for starters¡­ I was never a hero. And, I don''t like being the Chosen One either¡­ I am a simple man with a simple life¡­ Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter to me whether you chose me for a specific reason or just on a random whim. I am here, that''s all that matters," I smiled as I touched her lips again before smiling mischievously, "Though I would still like to have somepensation." And my hands slowly reached her breasts as I felt the soft heavenly touch of it. Chapter 336 [DNO]

Chapter 336 [DNO]

As far as my knowledge is concerned, I know about the Ghost World as a special skill of a person or a curse of a demon or something. There are, in rare cases like this one, an artifact that can create a ghost world as well. But a trial? Now that is something that I have never heard about. Most people chose to just kill themselves in the Ghost world, and then travel back to the main city by reviving after the penalty of 36 Hours. Even those who tried to understand the Ghost world, didn''t make much of it, except once where a guy happened to luckily kill the owner of the Ghost world and escaping from hit. He didn''t gain anything from the Ghost world though. ''Even I wanted to kill the owner to escape from there, but since the ''Gate'' was mentioned and I saw the key, I thought that there was a way out of this one. All the more because Oriel somehow managed to get out of there on his own. I wanted to check that one out too,'' I pondered about it before looking at Alepsia, slightly weirded out by me. "Well. Since I am in a good mood, I guess I can forgive your rudeness. Listen, Ghost World is a Dimension created for Trials for the mortals. It is created by the universe to give them an opportunity to increase their power. Through what kind of power they receive is dependent upon their own capability," she exined things briefly. I nodded as I continued asking," Hmmm¡­ have you heard about the Chalice of Equilibrium?" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me," where did you hear that name?" "On my adventures. It is one of the things that I am searching for¡­ I have heard that it is rted to a ghost world," I lied as I looked at her. It doesn''t seem like she could read minds, else she wouldn''t be as surprised as she is right now. Though I still need to make my lies believable. "Is that so? Hmm¡­ that makes sense. I won''t pry to what you need that Unholy Chalice for, but since you are asking, I do know about it. Or to be fair, I know about the creator of that object," she spoke as she began pondering about it. Her eyes seemed to be thinking deep before she looked at me, "Do you really want to know about it? It''s quite chaotic knowledge that could make you a potential target of both the Ancient Gods as well as the True Gods." Her warning seemed genuine and I could only thank her for the care she was doing for me. I will truly repay you, Alepsia, for the trust you are showing to me. "It is fine. I got my own fair share of sacred knowledge," I chuckled as I looked at her. It wasn''t a lie, so it was fine. She seemed curious about it, but she held back as she spoke out, "All right. Since that is the case, I will tell you about that, Chalice. But let me start from the Goddess Herself. The Goddess of Bnce, Equi." Unlike the True Gods, the Goddess of Bnce was a minor God. Though her power rose somewhere in thest century when the Nation of Magic was born. They believed that all magic is equal, and a bnce exists between the dark and the light. Equi saw it as an opportunity for her growth and spent a lot of time growing her church. As if by fate, she even got a Saint Under her. The Saint of Equilibrium. With his reign under Equi''s guidance, she was able to grow exponentially enough to make Equi stand beside the True Gods. Though rather than joining the True Gods, she chose to pave a path with a non-aggression pact between the Ancient Gods and the True Gods. Obvious enough, the True Gods were enraged by this idea¡­ so much that they sent all their saints to kill her followers and then imprison her saint. All her followers were burned and there was nothing left of her except some of her artifacts. One of the 7 artifacts of the Goddess, the Chalice of Equilibrium, contains the power to create a world where everything is bnced. It has a strange property that nobody understands. And its powers weren''t something that gods even wanted to take a look at. Thus, they left the artifacts in the hands of the saints who acquired it. ''Use it as you see fit,'' the Gods said to their saints. Apart from this, the Chalice of Equilibrium also has a strange power of giving something in exchange for what you pour into it. Though what it gives is totally up to it. However, not once something better came out of it. "And apart from that, the Chalice wasst seen in the Nation of Night and Moon, where the Moon Goddess resides. Though that was about 20 yrs ago, so nobody knows anything for sure. Hmmm¡­ I guess that is all I know about this thing. If you want, I can search more about it," Alepsia spoke as she finished her apple while I was in deep thought. "No¡­ Thank you. I think this was enough information. I guess I will be traveling to the Nation of Night and Moon to find more about it. Hmmm¡­ since we are at it, Can I ask you another question?" I looked at her, making her nod at me. "Do you know about the Sin of Greed?" I asked with a serious face, making her turn at me. She made a small smile as she spoke,"I know but I don''t think I can tell you anything about it. We Gods are forbidden from telling the sessor of another God to Mortals¡­ The Seven sins are no exceptions as well." I nodded as I thanked her before checking the System. Well, let''s confirm my doubts first¡­ [Loading Save Point!!] [Loading Complete!] Chapter 337 [DNO]

Chapter 337 [DNO]

While other people were sleeping, I was sitting with Aarick and Aisha, who were here to teach me about the basics of cultivation. "While there are various practices, there are three prominent ones on this. Each for three aspects. Body, Soul and Mind." Aarick raised three fingers before he picked one of them with the other hand. "Let''s start with the body and we can corrte the other two with it. Though I must ask, do you know what ''Cultivation'' means, right?" He questioned. I nodded," to take the force of nature into one''s body and reach an immortal hood? Or something like that." Aarick nodded," that''s more or less basic. Cultivation is the ability to extract the natural condensed energy of life that has been passed on by the universe in order to connect oneself to the Universe more. It generally increases your lifespan by removing toxicity from your body, makes you stronger by providing you a nourishing atmosphere and helps you perform tricks that are normally impossible by an average body." He then began exining the basic way to increase the power of the body. The process was simple as to take in the energy into one''s body and spread it throughout the body at once. There is something called dantian that flows within the body, and ideally, one should flow it through the dantian. The purer the Dantian, the more blessed the body, the easier to flow the energy and absorb a great proportion of the spirit stones. With the bar set from 1 Star to 10 Star. Supposedly, both Aarick and Aisha had a 10 Star Dantian, while I had a 1 Star Dantian. The cultivation starts from basic Body Formation Stage Body Condensation Stage Martial Formation Stage Martial Condensation Stage Apprentice Master Stage Master Stage Half Step Grandmaster Stage Grandmaster Stage Before one bes one of the Immortals. Each of these stages is further divided into 10 sub-stages that are required to break before one reaches a higher realm. "The Soul and the Mind stage are the same, with exactly simr stages except the part where you need to flow the natural energy into the heart and the mind. Heart will create an auxiliary spirit channel, allowing you to connect with the spirits, while the mind will unlock potential to do feats like telekinesis etc," he exined everything in detail. Aisha was there to point out if there was anything missing in there, but Aarick''s exnation didn''t have any faults. "Now that we are done with the basics of cultivation, I will impart to you a bunch of ways to cultivate, though I would like you to know about this world a bit more before we get into that," Aarick spoke as he continued," so-" But Aisha stopped him before speaking." I will exin to him about it." Aarick didn''t seem to have any problem with that, so he nodded before letting Aisha steer the exnation. "There are 4 things you need to be careful of on this. The Evil Sect that is hungry for power it will never stop on anything. Their method of cultivation is to feed not on the spirit energy of life, but to kill people and absorb their power. This way, they can get much stronger than normal, but because the energy is too chaotic, it messes up their brain. The Demon race. While not exactly the real demons, they have some traits that they can absorb the negative energy emanating from various races. Things like despair, fear, agony, etc, are a method to bring out the negative energy out of the body, which they store and cultivate with. If you meet any of those two, then kill them on site. Even by nature, they cannot be saved. Then there are the Heavenly Principals. They are people with strong power who think of themselves as Gods. They have great powers, and in order to make sure they don''t have stronger enemies, they created rules that benefit only themselves. Be careful of them. Spend some time with the locals and they will tell you how not to go against them. But if you somehow decide to go against them anyhow, call us as well. We will destroy them with you. Finally, the Martial Officers. They are people who were once hosted to protect the people, and die for them. They were considered pretty elite, but honestly, now that Heavenly Principles are in power, they too have started using crude methods." "Crude Methods?" I asked curiously. "Like they started working like mercenaries. They take money or extort, if you look at it properly. They have some people from evil and demonic sects as well. It''s a bunch of every bad and good thing in them. Though because good is mostly suppressed, it''s honestly an evil organization. As for going against them. Crush them if you wish to. They can''t do a dime against you anyway," She was quite brutal with her words, but after hearing her information, I couldn''t agree more. Aarick then smiled as he spoke, "Do whatever you want. Crush them. Save them. It''s your choice. But you must always keep in mind that our work here is to find the people of Plienthora as well as to get stronger. Everything else is secondary." While he was smiling, I could see the seriousness in his eyes. I nodded at his words before pondering a bit more. Then I asked a question, "Where should I start then?" They both looked at each other and aftermunicating with their eyes, they looked at me,"we will teach you some basics of all the three fundamentals. But it would be better if you do it yourself. Honestly, we can''t predict what you will do or what will happen to you, so we both will go separate ways to train. I hope you understand." "You are leaving me alone here?" I asked, surprised, but Aarick shook his head, "Not immediately. We will teach you the customs and such first and few general knowledge points as well, but after that you need to find opportunities on your own." He spoke as I sighed. While I did want to train with them because of their knowledge, it seems like they both had to do something on their own¡­ "Okay, I understand." I nodded before they continued to teach me a few more small things. Chapter 338 [DNO]

Chapter 338 [DNO]

I woke up the next morning in a rather rxed mood. It has been a while since I slept so well. Or perhaps that I haven been working continuously that I don''t exactly remember when was thest time I had a good sleep. ''It was with Ang, wasn''t it?'' I tried recalling as blissful memories returned to my mind. A smile formed on my face as I wondered how she and the other girls were doing. Getting off the bed, I looked at the set of clothes presented in front of me. They told me there was no bath within the inn so, [Second Space] I entered the space, but didn''t meet Rhea this time. Rather, I visited the bath area within the Garden. While I don''t think I stink or smell, despite not taking a bath for so long, I still wanted to let off some steam. Walking towards the garden, I began removing my robe as I approached the small pond-like bath area. The bath area was rather aesthetically alluring, with the white stairs guiding into the pond. The ends were covered with white pirs and everything was beautifully done. Even the position of the flowers seemed to be carefully intricate. The more I looked at it, the more refreshed I felt. Putting my robe on the floor just before entering the pond, I then took my first step down the stairs, into the pond. My eyes were rather calm as I felt the hot water on my feet. I could feel the water healing my soul directly from my feet, before I moved deeper into the pond, slowly covering my entire body down the waist into it. I guess the water level wasn''t that down, huh? I closed my eyes as I let the water heal me, while I used my hands to wash my body. While there was nothing like soap or body wash, I guess this water was good enough to clean the body itself. "You seem to enjoy yourself, huh?" I heard a sweet voice from the area where I dropped my robe. Looking in that direction, Rhea stood there wearing a white dress as she smiled at me. She looked rather enchanting, but not as much as before¡­ Perhaps I got used to her beauty? I mean, Aisha probably looked more beautiful than her, so I guess my standards are higher than before? "Won''t you join me?" I flirted with her, making her smirk a little. She then stretched a little as she answered," I guess I haven''t taken much break either," before she took one step towards the pond, removing the white dress off her top while covering her breasts with her hand. She then slowly took one step into the water as she looked at her. Her silvery eyes looked at me, much enchanting than before. Her steps slowly led her entire lower body into the water, before she began taking more steps towards me. Reaching closer to me, a couple of meters away from me, she bent down as she sank her body into the water, leaving only her neck and head visible to me. She looked at me with a smile as she said," How long are you going to look?" I smiled as I too got on my knees as I sank my entire body down the neck into the water. My eyes still focused on her as I answered with her a question," How long do you want me to look?" "You really want to know?" she spoke with a mischievous tone as she gave me a side look. She too was washing her body while I did that too. "I do," I said as I kept washing while enjoying the ''view'' in front of me. "Answer a few questions of mine, and I shall tell you," she spoke as she slightly turned at me. Her eyes looked at me with a slightly mncholic way before she asked, "If you had to choose between two people, you loved the most. What will you do?" Hearing her question, I pondered a bit before answering her," I will choose the most optimal path. Starting with trying to save both of them, ending with destroying the entire world¡­ Perhaps I will do everything in my power to reach the ending that I want." "Is that so?" a mysterious smile appeared on her face as she took a step towards me, decreasing the distance between us. "What if you were to give up all your powers to save the one person who means everything to you?" she asked again as she looked at me, this time objectively than before. "I want to say that ''I will forfeit,'' but this depends on the other factors. What about the other people that I care about? What about me, myself? How much worth is there to it? I do function emotionally, but not enough to act rashly." I gave her an honest answer. While it might be selfish from the perspective of a person who only has one person in their life, but for me, who is surrounded by a lot many people I care about. I cannot just choose one over the other, can I? A relieved smile formed on her face as she looked at me, before taking another step closer to me. Her eyes seemed quite merry right now as she put her hair tendrils behind her ear before asking the next question, "And what if you were to face an opponent far stronger than you and behind you are all the people about whom you care?" "Is that even a question? I will fight till the very end of my life with all my honors ced on it. If I were to die, then that was all there was to it," I answered her as my eyes gazed upon her face, this time I was the one who took a step towards her, reaching close enough to her, that our bodies almost touched. I lightly pressed up her chin with my hands as I asked,"So? How long do you want me to look at you?" "Forever if I were to wish for it," she answered in a melodious tone as her cheeks turned red. Chapter 339 [DNO]

Chapter 339 [DNO]

"Forever if I were to wish for it," she muttered as removed her hands from her breasts before cing the left one on my chin. I moved closer to her, making my lips touch her for a few seconds before she separated them as she took a step back. Though holding her hand, which was at my chin, I pulled her back closer to me while tightly holding her from her back using my right. This time, our lips touched again, but I was a bit more rough than before. I licked her lips a little before moving my tongue in between them. Those lips that felt like marshmallows tasted like the juiciest strawberries. I could feel the sweetness in those soft lips. The more I tasted them, the more I couldn''t resist her. Moving my tongue in between her legs, I tasted the sweet nectar she had. It was different from other girls that I had with. It was strangely mysterious. Like the refreshing water you have after a heavy workout in the afternoon sun, like an aphrodisiac that you get addicted to, it was something that was hard to let go. It wasn''t hard to reach her tongue. There wasn''t any resistance from her side. Mine touching hers, I felt her kissing me back. Her tongue wrapped around mine sexily as we both got lost in ecstatic moments. "Mmh~" "Ah~" "Mmh~" Euphoria felt all over my body as I kept kissing her. Each moment felt better than before, and the more I did it, the more I couldn''t resist. It was only after she slowly parted her lips; I realized that I had been kissing her for a long time. "Let me~" She then moved close to me as she slowly bit my ears. I felt a strange feeling trickling down my body, as she slowly licked me around that part, before moving down as she kissed up to my neck. I then stopped her as I bit her ears this time, making her moan softly. Hearing her voice down my ears made me tease her even more. I kissed the ears before slowly moving down to her neck. "Ah~" "Ahh~" "Mmm~" The more I kissed her, the more she moaned. Finding her soft spots on her neck wasn''t hard, as I could feel her moan a bit more loudly than before. At first kissing, I then bit her softly¡­ "MMH~~" Her arms clenched against my neck. She held me even more tightly than before. Perhaps I felt excited a little, so I bit her again, this time a bit more than before. "Michael~~" She moaned this time, taking my name¡­ though it seemed like she was in a bit of pain, so I stopped at that. Instead, I kissed her there, and using my tongue, I wiped that area a bit more lightly. Using my lips, I kissed her on the spot where I bit her, trying to make her feel better. She held me in her embrace, and this time she tightened her embrace a bit more, though unlike before where she was moaning, this time it felt like an embrace out of love. I, too, hugged her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body all over mine. Her body was like a soft cushion that was neither too hard nor too soft. It felt like the most perfect touch I ever had in my life. Her breasts, especially, felt soft and bouncy. The more I pressed them, the more I felt enthralled. "Michael. Do you want to know why were you chosen?" she asked softly as she held me by her hands. Her voice was a bit low. She seemed like she wanted to open up before she went further with me. "I do," I answered her as I slowly let her go, enough to make her face me, but not too much to move away from me. Holding her back with my right and her cheek with the palm of my left, I slowly touched her lips with my thumb. Her eyes stared into mine, as she answered," it was honestly a gamble. A certain someone was needed to save the world¡­ somebody who will be prepared to save the universe. Not just against one threat, but multiple ones." She paused in the middle before speaking," you were not supposed to be the owner of the system. It was going to be the golden-haired boy, Leeway¡­ your best friend. But fate sealed his life in all worlds that are bound to exist, making him die for sure. It was done to spite us." "When we were losing hope, we found a being that stood by Leeway moments before he died. Someone with no powers, but still capable of being an equal to him. There was honestly nothing out of the ordinary about you. A simple human that has no powers, nothing excellent about you," she chuckled slowly before speaking, "But then ''he'' said something¡­ ''He'' spoke that if we have any chance left, then it is going to be you¡­ and we just chose you. Partly because you were lucky to be beside Leeway, and partly because you showed the will that got ''His'' attention." She then turned silent as she looked at my expression. I observed her for a few moments as I saw herplex expression¡­ I then moved in for a kiss as I held her lips tightly against mine. Surprised, her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me, though after a few moments, she closed her eyes as well. She let me kiss her. I moved my tongue inside her, once again kissing her for a long while before moving away from her as I looked at her reddened face. This time she was a bit embarrassed than before. She was even trying to avoid eye contact with me for now. "Well, for starters¡­ I was never a hero. And, I don''t like being the Chosen One either¡­ I am a simple man with a simple life¡­ Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter to me whether you chose me for a specific reason or just on a random whim. I am here, that''s all that matters," I smiled as I touched her lips again before smiling mischievously, "Though I would still like to have somepensation." And my hands slowly reached her breasts as I felt the soft heavenly touch of it. Chapter 340 [DNO]

Chapter 340 [DNO]

As far as my knowledge is concerned, I know about the Ghost World as a special skill of a person or a curse of a demon or something. There are, in rare cases like this one, an artifact that can create a ghost world as well. But a trial? Now that is something that I have never heard about. Most people chose to just kill themselves in the Ghost world, and then travel back to the main city by reviving after the penalty of 36 Hours. Even those who tried to understand the Ghost world, didn''t make much of it, except once where a guy happened to luckily kill the owner of the Ghost world and escaping from hit. He didn''t gain anything from the Ghost world though. ''Even I wanted to kill the owner to escape from there, but since the ''Gate'' was mentioned and I saw the key, I thought that there was a way out of this one. All the more because Oriel somehow managed to get out of there on his own. I wanted to check that one out too,'' I pondered about it before looking at Alepsia, slightly weirded out by me. "Well. Since I am in a good mood, I guess I can forgive your rudeness. Listen, Ghost World is a Dimension created for Trials for the mortals. It is created by the universe to give them an opportunity to increase their power. Through what kind of power they receive is dependent upon their own capability," she exined things briefly. I nodded as I continued asking," Hmmm¡­ have you heard about the Chalice of Equilibrium?" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me," where did you hear that name?" "On my adventures. It is one of the things that I am searching for¡­ I have heard that it is rted to a ghost world," I lied as I looked at her. It doesn''t seem like she could read minds, else she wouldn''t be as surprised as she is right now. Though I still need to make my lies believable. "Is that so? Hmm¡­ that makes sense. I won''t pry to what you need that Unholy Chalice for, but since you are asking, I do know about it. Or to be fair, I know about the creator of that object," she spoke as she began pondering about it. Her eyes seemed to be thinking deep before she looked at me, "Do you really want to know about it? It''s quite chaotic knowledge that could make you a potential target of both the Ancient Gods as well as the True Gods." Her warning seemed genuine and I could only thank her for the care she was doing for me. I will truly repay you, Alepsia, for the trust you are showing to me. "It is fine. I got my own fair share of sacred knowledge," I chuckled as I looked at her. It wasn''t a lie, so it was fine. She seemed curious about it, but she held back as she spoke out, "All right. Since that is the case, I will tell you about that, Chalice. But let me start from the Goddess Herself. The Goddess of Bnce, Equi." Unlike the True Gods, the Goddess of Bnce was a minor God. Though her power rose somewhere in thest century when the Nation of Magic was born. They believed that all magic is equal, and a bnce exists between the dark and the light. Equi saw it as an opportunity for her growth and spent a lot of time growing her church. As if by fate, she even got a Saint Under her. The Saint of Equilibrium. With his reign under Equi''s guidance, she was able to grow exponentially enough to make Equi stand beside the True Gods. Though rather than joining the True Gods, she chose to pave a path with a non-aggression pact between the Ancient Gods and the True Gods. Obvious enough, the True Gods were enraged by this idea¡­ so much that they sent all their saints to kill her followers and then imprison her saint. All her followers were burned and there was nothing left of her except some of her artifacts. One of the 7 artifacts of the Goddess, the Chalice of Equilibrium, contains the power to create a world where everything is bnced. It has a strange property that nobody understands. And its powers weren''t something that gods even wanted to take a look at. Thus, they left the artifacts in the hands of the saints who acquired it. ''Use it as you see fit,'' the Gods said to their saints. Apart from this, the Chalice of Equilibrium also has a strange power of giving something in exchange for what you pour into it. Though what it gives is totally up to it. However, not once something better came out of it. "And apart from that, the Chalice wasst seen in the Nation of Night and Moon, where the Moon Goddess resides. Though that was about 20 yrs ago, so nobody knows anything for sure. Hmmm¡­ I guess that is all I know about this thing. If you want, I can search more about it," Alepsia spoke as she finished her apple while I was in deep thought. "No¡­ Thank you. I think this was enough information. I guess I will be traveling to the Nation of Night and Moon to find more about it. Hmmm¡­ since we are at it, Can I ask you another question?" I looked at her, making her nod at me. "Do you know about the Sin of Greed?" I asked with a serious face, making her turn at me. She made a small smile as she spoke,"I know but I don''t think I can tell you anything about it. We Gods are forbidden from telling the sessor of another God to Mortals¡­ The Seven sins are no exceptions as well." I nodded as I thanked her before checking the System. Well, let''s confirm my doubts first¡­ [Loading Save Point!!] [Loading Complete!] Chapter 341 [DNO]

Chapter 341 [DNO]

While other people were sleeping, I was sitting with Aarick and Aisha, who were here to teach me about the basics of cultivation. "While there are various practices, there are three prominent ones on this. Each for three aspects. Body, Soul and Mind." Aarick raised three fingers before he picked one of them with the other hand. "Let''s start with the body and we can corrte the other two with it. Though I must ask, do you know what ''Cultivation'' means, right?" He questioned. I nodded," to take the force of nature into one''s body and reach an immortal hood? Or something like that." Aarick nodded," that''s more or less basic. Cultivation is the ability to extract the natural condensed energy of life that has been passed on by the universe in order to connect oneself to the Universe more. It generally increases your lifespan by removing toxicity from your body, makes you stronger by providing you a nourishing atmosphere and helps you perform tricks that are normally impossible by an average body." He then began exining the basic way to increase the power of the body. The process was simple as to take in the energy into one''s body and spread it throughout the body at once. There is something called dantian that flows within the body, and ideally, one should flow it through the dantian. The purer the Dantian, the more blessed the body, the easier to flow the energy and absorb a great proportion of the spirit stones. With the bar set from 1 Star to 10 Star. Supposedly, both Aarick and Aisha had a 10 Star Dantian, while I had a 1 Star Dantian. The cultivation starts from basic Body Formation Stage Body Condensation Stage Martial Formation Stage Martial Condensation Stage Apprentice Master Stage Master Stage Half Step Grandmaster Stage Grandmaster Stage Before one bes one of the Immortals. Each of these stages is further divided into 10 sub-stages that are required to break before one reaches a higher realm. "The Soul and the Mind stage are the same, with exactly simr stages except the part where you need to flow the natural energy into the heart and the mind. Heart will create an auxiliary spirit channel, allowing you to connect with the spirits, while the mind will unlock potential to do feats like telekinesis etc," he exined everything in detail. Aisha was there to point out if there was anything missing in there, but Aarick''s exnation didn''t have any faults. "Now that we are done with the basics of cultivation, I will impart to you a bunch of ways to cultivate, though I would like you to know about this world a bit more before we get into that," Aarick spoke as he continued," so-" But Aisha stopped him before speaking." I will exin to him about it." Aarick didn''t seem to have any problem with that, so he nodded before letting Aisha steer the exnation. "There are 4 things you need to be careful of on this. The Evil Sect that is hungry for power it will never stop on anything. Their method of cultivation is to feed not on the spirit energy of life, but to kill people and absorb their power. This way, they can get much stronger than normal, but because the energy is too chaotic, it messes up their brain. The Demon race. While not exactly the real demons, they have some traits that they can absorb the negative energy emanating from various races. Things like despair, fear, agony, etc, are a method to bring out the negative energy out of the body, which they store and cultivate with. If you meet any of those two, then kill them on site. Even by nature, they cannot be saved. Then there are the Heavenly Principals. They are people with strong power who think of themselves as Gods. They have great powers, and in order to make sure they don''t have stronger enemies, they created rules that benefit only themselves. Be careful of them. Spend some time with the locals and they will tell you how not to go against them. But if you somehow decide to go against them anyhow, call us as well. We will destroy them with you. Finally, the Martial Officers. They are people who were once hosted to protect the people, and die for them. They were considered pretty elite, but honestly, now that Heavenly Principles are in power, they too have started using crude methods." "Crude Methods?" I asked curiously. "Like they started working like mercenaries. They take money or extort, if you look at it properly. They have some people from evil and demonic sects as well. It''s a bunch of every bad and good thing in them. Though because good is mostly suppressed, it''s honestly an evil organization. As for going against them. Crush them if you wish to. They can''t do a dime against you anyway," She was quite brutal with her words, but after hearing her information, I couldn''t agree more. Aarick then smiled as he spoke, "Do whatever you want. Crush them. Save them. It''s your choice. But you must always keep in mind that our work here is to find the people of Plienthora as well as to get stronger. Everything else is secondary." While he was smiling, I could see the seriousness in his eyes. I nodded at his words before pondering a bit more. Then I asked a question, "Where should I start then?" They both looked at each other and aftermunicating with their eyes, they looked at me,"we will teach you some basics of all the three fundamentals. But it would be better if you do it yourself. Honestly, we can''t predict what you will do or what will happen to you, so we both will go separate ways to train. I hope you understand." "You are leaving me alone here?" I asked, surprised, but Aarick shook his head, "Not immediately. We will teach you the customs and such first and few general knowledge points as well, but after that you need to find opportunities on your own." He spoke as I sighed. While I did want to train with them because of their knowledge, it seems like they both had to do something on their own¡­ "Okay, I understand." I nodded before they continued to teach me a few more small things. Chapter 342 [DNO]

Chapter 342 [DNO]

I woke up the next morning in a rather rxed mood. It has been a while since I slept so well. Or perhaps that I haven been working continuously that I don''t exactly remember when was thest time I had a good sleep. ''It was with Ang, wasn''t it?'' I tried recalling as blissful memories returned to my mind. A smile formed on my face as I wondered how she and the other girls were doing. Getting off the bed, I looked at the set of clothes presented in front of me. They told me there was no bath within the inn so, [Second Space] I entered the space, but didn''t meet Rhea this time. Rather, I visited the bath area within the Garden. While I don''t think I stink or smell, despite not taking a bath for so long, I still wanted to let off some steam. Walking towards the garden, I began removing my robe as I approached the small pond-like bath area. The bath area was rather aesthetically alluring, with the white stairs guiding into the pond. The ends were covered with white pirs and everything was beautifully done. Even the position of the flowers seemed to be carefully intricate. The more I looked at it, the more refreshed I felt. Putting my robe on the floor just before entering the pond, I then took my first step down the stairs, into the pond. My eyes were rather calm as I felt the hot water on my feet. I could feel the water healing my soul directly from my feet, before I moved deeper into the pond, slowly covering my entire body down the waist into it. I guess the water level wasn''t that down, huh? I closed my eyes as I let the water heal me, while I used my hands to wash my body. While there was nothing like soap or body wash, I guess this water was good enough to clean the body itself. "You seem to enjoy yourself, huh?" I heard a sweet voice from the area where I dropped my robe. Looking in that direction, Rhea stood there wearing a white dress as she smiled at me. She looked rather enchanting, but not as much as before¡­ Perhaps I got used to her beauty? I mean, Aisha probably looked more beautiful than her, so I guess my standards are higher than before? "Won''t you join me?" I flirted with her, making her smirk a little. She then stretched a little as she answered," I guess I haven''t taken much break either," before she took one step towards the pond, removing the white dress off her top while covering her breasts with her hand. She then slowly took one step into the water as she looked at her. Her silvery eyes looked at me, much enchanting than before. Her steps slowly led her entire lower body into the water, before she began taking more steps towards me. Reaching closer to me, a couple of meters away from me, she bent down as she sank her body into the water, leaving only her neck and head visible to me. She looked at me with a smile as she said," How long are you going to look?" I smiled as I too got on my knees as I sank my entire body down the neck into the water. My eyes still focused on her as I answered with her a question," How long do you want me to look?" "You really want to know?" she spoke with a mischievous tone as she gave me a side look. She too was washing her body while I did that too. "I do," I said as I kept washing while enjoying the ''view'' in front of me. "Answer a few questions of mine, and I shall tell you," she spoke as she slightly turned at me. Her eyes looked at me with a slightly mncholic way before she asked, "If you had to choose between two people, you loved the most. What will you do?" Hearing her question, I pondered a bit before answering her," I will choose the most optimal path. Starting with trying to save both of them, ending with destroying the entire world¡­ Perhaps I will do everything in my power to reach the ending that I want." "Is that so?" a mysterious smile appeared on her face as she took a step towards me, decreasing the distance between us. "What if you were to give up all your powers to save the one person who means everything to you?" she asked again as she looked at me, this time objectively than before. "I want to say that ''I will forfeit,'' but this depends on the other factors. What about the other people that I care about? What about me, myself? How much worth is there to it? I do function emotionally, but not enough to act rashly." I gave her an honest answer. While it might be selfish from the perspective of a person who only has one person in their life, but for me, who is surrounded by a lot many people I care about. I cannot just choose one over the other, can I? A relieved smile formed on her face as she looked at me, before taking another step closer to me. Her eyes seemed quite merry right now as she put her hair tendrils behind her ear before asking the next question, "And what if you were to face an opponent far stronger than you and behind you are all the people about whom you care?" "Is that even a question? I will fight till the very end of my life with all my honors ced on it. If I were to die, then that was all there was to it," I answered her as my eyes gazed upon her face, this time I was the one who took a step towards her, reaching close enough to her, that our bodies almost touched. I lightly pressed up her chin with my hands as I asked,"So? How long do you want me to look at you?" "Forever if I were to wish for it," she answered in a melodious tone as her cheeks turned red. Chapter 343 [DNO]

Chapter 343 [DNO]

"Forever if I were to wish for it," she muttered as removed her hands from her breasts before cing the left one on my chin. I moved closer to her, making my lips touch her for a few seconds before she separated them as she took a step back. Though holding her hand, which was at my chin, I pulled her back closer to me while tightly holding her from her back using my right. This time, our lips touched again, but I was a bit more rough than before. I licked her lips a little before moving my tongue in between them. Those lips that felt like marshmallows tasted like the juiciest strawberries. I could feel the sweetness in those soft lips. The more I tasted them, the more I couldn''t resist her. Moving my tongue in between her legs, I tasted the sweet nectar she had. It was different from other girls that I had with. It was strangely mysterious. Like the refreshing water you have after a heavy workout in the afternoon sun, like an aphrodisiac that you get addicted to, it was something that was hard to let go. It wasn''t hard to reach her tongue. There wasn''t any resistance from her side. Mine touching hers, I felt her kissing me back. Her tongue wrapped around mine sexily as we both got lost in ecstatic moments. "Mmh~" "Ah~" "Mmh~" Euphoria felt all over my body as I kept kissing her. Each moment felt better than before, and the more I did it, the more I couldn''t resist. It was only after she slowly parted her lips; I realized that I had been kissing her for a long time. "Let me~" She then moved close to me as she slowly bit my ears. I felt a strange feeling trickling down my body, as she slowly licked me around that part, before moving down as she kissed up to my neck. I then stopped her as I bit her ears this time, making her moan softly. Hearing her voice down my ears made me tease her even more. I kissed the ears before slowly moving down to her neck. "Ah~" "Ahh~" "Mmm~" The more I kissed her, the more she moaned. Finding her soft spots on her neck wasn''t hard, as I could feel her moan a bit more loudly than before. At first kissing, I then bit her softly¡­ "MMH~~" Her arms clenched against my neck. She held me even more tightly than before. Perhaps I felt excited a little, so I bit her again, this time a bit more than before. "Michael~~" She moaned this time, taking my name¡­ though it seemed like she was in a bit of pain, so I stopped at that. Instead, I kissed her there, and using my tongue, I wiped that area a bit more lightly. Using my lips, I kissed her on the spot where I bit her, trying to make her feel better. She held me in her embrace, and this time she tightened her embrace a bit more, though unlike before where she was moaning, this time it felt like an embrace out of love. I, too, hugged her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body all over mine. Her body was like a soft cushion that was neither too hard nor too soft. It felt like the most perfect touch I ever had in my life. Her breasts, especially, felt soft and bouncy. The more I pressed them, the more I felt enthralled. "Michael. Do you want to know why were you chosen?" she asked softly as she held me by her hands. Her voice was a bit low. She seemed like she wanted to open up before she went further with me. "I do," I answered her as I slowly let her go, enough to make her face me, but not too much to move away from me. Holding her back with my right and her cheek with the palm of my left, I slowly touched her lips with my thumb. Her eyes stared into mine, as she answered," it was honestly a gamble. A certain someone was needed to save the world¡­ somebody who will be prepared to save the universe. Not just against one threat, but multiple ones." She paused in the middle before speaking," you were not supposed to be the owner of the system. It was going to be the golden-haired boy, Leeway¡­ your best friend. But fate sealed his life in all worlds that are bound to exist, making him die for sure. It was done to spite us." "When we were losing hope, we found a being that stood by Leeway moments before he died. Someone with no powers, but still capable of being an equal to him. There was honestly nothing out of the ordinary about you. A simple human that has no powers, nothing excellent about you," she chuckled slowly before speaking, "But then ''he'' said something¡­ ''He'' spoke that if we have any chance left, then it is going to be you¡­ and we just chose you. Partly because you were lucky to be beside Leeway, and partly because you showed the will that got ''His'' attention." She then turned silent as she looked at my expression. I observed her for a few moments as I saw herplex expression¡­ I then moved in for a kiss as I held her lips tightly against mine. Surprised, her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me, though after a few moments, she closed her eyes as well. She let me kiss her. I moved my tongue inside her, once again kissing her for a long while before moving away from her as I looked at her reddened face. This time she was a bit embarrassed than before. She was even trying to avoid eye contact with me for now. "Well, for starters¡­ I was never a hero. And, I don''t like being the Chosen One either¡­ I am a simple man with a simple life¡­ Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter to me whether you chose me for a specific reason or just on a random whim. I am here, that''s all that matters," I smiled as I touched her lips again before smiling mischievously, "Though I would still like to have somepensation." And my hands slowly reached her breasts as I felt the soft heavenly touch of it. Chapter 344 [DNO]

Chapter 344 [DNO]

As far as my knowledge is concerned, I know about the Ghost World as a special skill of a person or a curse of a demon or something. There are, in rare cases like this one, an artifact that can create a ghost world as well. But a trial? Now that is something that I have never heard about. Most people chose to just kill themselves in the Ghost world, and then travel back to the main city by reviving after the penalty of 36 Hours. Even those who tried to understand the Ghost world, didn''t make much of it, except once where a guy happened to luckily kill the owner of the Ghost world and escaping from hit. He didn''t gain anything from the Ghost world though. ''Even I wanted to kill the owner to escape from there, but since the ''Gate'' was mentioned and I saw the key, I thought that there was a way out of this one. All the more because Oriel somehow managed to get out of there on his own. I wanted to check that one out too,'' I pondered about it before looking at Alepsia, slightly weirded out by me. "Well. Since I am in a good mood, I guess I can forgive your rudeness. Listen, Ghost World is a Dimension created for Trials for the mortals. It is created by the universe to give them an opportunity to increase their power. Through what kind of power they receive is dependent upon their own capability," she exined things briefly. I nodded as I continued asking," Hmmm¡­ have you heard about the Chalice of Equilibrium?" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me," where did you hear that name?" "On my adventures. It is one of the things that I am searching for¡­ I have heard that it is rted to a ghost world," I lied as I looked at her. It doesn''t seem like she could read minds, else she wouldn''t be as surprised as she is right now. Though I still need to make my lies believable. "Is that so? Hmm¡­ that makes sense. I won''t pry to what you need that Unholy Chalice for, but since you are asking, I do know about it. Or to be fair, I know about the creator of that object," she spoke as she began pondering about it. Her eyes seemed to be thinking deep before she looked at me, "Do you really want to know about it? It''s quite chaotic knowledge that could make you a potential target of both the Ancient Gods as well as the True Gods." Her warning seemed genuine and I could only thank her for the care she was doing for me. I will truly repay you, Alepsia, for the trust you are showing to me. "It is fine. I got my own fair share of sacred knowledge," I chuckled as I looked at her. It wasn''t a lie, so it was fine. She seemed curious about it, but she held back as she spoke out, "All right. Since that is the case, I will tell you about that, Chalice. But let me start from the Goddess Herself. The Goddess of Bnce, Equi." Unlike the True Gods, the Goddess of Bnce was a minor God. Though her power rose somewhere in thest century when the Nation of Magic was born. They believed that all magic is equal, and a bnce exists between the dark and the light. Equi saw it as an opportunity for her growth and spent a lot of time growing her church. As if by fate, she even got a Saint Under her. The Saint of Equilibrium. With his reign under Equi''s guidance, she was able to grow exponentially enough to make Equi stand beside the True Gods. Though rather than joining the True Gods, she chose to pave a path with a non-aggression pact between the Ancient Gods and the True Gods. Obvious enough, the True Gods were enraged by this idea¡­ so much that they sent all their saints to kill her followers and then imprison her saint. All her followers were burned and there was nothing left of her except some of her artifacts. One of the 7 artifacts of the Goddess, the Chalice of Equilibrium, contains the power to create a world where everything is bnced. It has a strange property that nobody understands. And its powers weren''t something that gods even wanted to take a look at. Thus, they left the artifacts in the hands of the saints who acquired it. ''Use it as you see fit,'' the Gods said to their saints. Apart from this, the Chalice of Equilibrium also has a strange power of giving something in exchange for what you pour into it. Though what it gives is totally up to it. However, not once something better came out of it. "And apart from that, the Chalice wasst seen in the Nation of Night and Moon, where the Moon Goddess resides. Though that was about 20 yrs ago, so nobody knows anything for sure. Hmmm¡­ I guess that is all I know about this thing. If you want, I can search more about it," Alepsia spoke as she finished her apple while I was in deep thought. "No¡­ Thank you. I think this was enough information. I guess I will be traveling to the Nation of Night and Moon to find more about it. Hmmm¡­ since we are at it, Can I ask you another question?" I looked at her, making her nod at me. "Do you know about the Sin of Greed?" I asked with a serious face, making her turn at me. She made a small smile as she spoke,"I know but I don''t think I can tell you anything about it. We Gods are forbidden from telling the sessor of another God to Mortals¡­ The Seven sins are no exceptions as well." I nodded as I thanked her before checking the System. Well, let''s confirm my doubts first¡­ [Loading Save Point!!] [Loading Complete!] Chapter 345 [DNO]

Chapter 345 [DNO]

While other people were sleeping, I was sitting with Aarick and Aisha, who were here to teach me about the basics of cultivation. "While there are various practices, there are three prominent ones on this. Each for three aspects. Body, Soul and Mind." Aarick raised three fingers before he picked one of them with the other hand. "Let''s start with the body and we can corrte the other two with it. Though I must ask, do you know what ''Cultivation'' means, right?" He questioned. I nodded," to take the force of nature into one''s body and reach an immortal hood? Or something like that." Aarick nodded," that''s more or less basic. Cultivation is the ability to extract the natural condensed energy of life that has been passed on by the universe in order to connect oneself to the Universe more. It generally increases your lifespan by removing toxicity from your body, makes you stronger by providing you a nourishing atmosphere and helps you perform tricks that are normally impossible by an average body." He then began exining the basic way to increase the power of the body. The process was simple as to take in the energy into one''s body and spread it throughout the body at once. There is something called dantian that flows within the body, and ideally, one should flow it through the dantian. The purer the Dantian, the more blessed the body, the easier to flow the energy and absorb a great proportion of the spirit stones. With the bar set from 1 Star to 10 Star. Supposedly, both Aarick and Aisha had a 10 Star Dantian, while I had a 1 Star Dantian. The cultivation starts from basic Body Formation Stage Body Condensation Stage Martial Formation Stage Martial Condensation Stage Apprentice Master Stage Master Stage Half Step Grandmaster Stage Grandmaster Stage Before one bes one of the Immortals. Each of these stages is further divided into 10 sub-stages that are required to break before one reaches a higher realm. "The Soul and the Mind stage are the same, with exactly simr stages except the part where you need to flow the natural energy into the heart and the mind. Heart will create an auxiliary spirit channel, allowing you to connect with the spirits, while the mind will unlock potential to do feats like telekinesis etc," he exined everything in detail. Aisha was there to point out if there was anything missing in there, but Aarick''s exnation didn''t have any faults. "Now that we are done with the basics of cultivation, I will impart to you a bunch of ways to cultivate, though I would like you to know about this world a bit more before we get into that," Aarick spoke as he continued," so-" But Aisha stopped him before speaking." I will exin to him about it." Aarick didn''t seem to have any problem with that, so he nodded before letting Aisha steer the exnation. "There are 4 things you need to be careful of on this. The Evil Sect that is hungry for power it will never stop on anything. Their method of cultivation is to feed not on the spirit energy of life, but to kill people and absorb their power. This way, they can get much stronger than normal, but because the energy is too chaotic, it messes up their brain. The Demon race. While not exactly the real demons, they have some traits that they can absorb the negative energy emanating from various races. Things like despair, fear, agony, etc, are a method to bring out the negative energy out of the body, which they store and cultivate with. If you meet any of those two, then kill them on site. Even by nature, they cannot be saved. Then there are the Heavenly Principals. They are people with strong power who think of themselves as Gods. They have great powers, and in order to make sure they don''t have stronger enemies, they created rules that benefit only themselves. Be careful of them. Spend some time with the locals and they will tell you how not to go against them. But if you somehow decide to go against them anyhow, call us as well. We will destroy them with you. Finally, the Martial Officers. They are people who were once hosted to protect the people, and die for them. They were considered pretty elite, but honestly, now that Heavenly Principles are in power, they too have started using crude methods." "Crude Methods?" I asked curiously. "Like they started working like mercenaries. They take money or extort, if you look at it properly. They have some people from evil and demonic sects as well. It''s a bunch of every bad and good thing in them. Though because good is mostly suppressed, it''s honestly an evil organization. As for going against them. Crush them if you wish to. They can''t do a dime against you anyway," She was quite brutal with her words, but after hearing her information, I couldn''t agree more. Aarick then smiled as he spoke, "Do whatever you want. Crush them. Save them. It''s your choice. But you must always keep in mind that our work here is to find the people of Plienthora as well as to get stronger. Everything else is secondary." While he was smiling, I could see the seriousness in his eyes. I nodded at his words before pondering a bit more. Then I asked a question, "Where should I start then?" They both looked at each other and aftermunicating with their eyes, they looked at me,"we will teach you some basics of all the three fundamentals. But it would be better if you do it yourself. Honestly, we can''t predict what you will do or what will happen to you, so we both will go separate ways to train. I hope you understand." "You are leaving me alone here?" I asked, surprised, but Aarick shook his head, "Not immediately. We will teach you the customs and such first and few general knowledge points as well, but after that you need to find opportunities on your own." He spoke as I sighed. While I did want to train with them because of their knowledge, it seems like they both had to do something on their own¡­ "Okay, I understand." I nodded before they continued to teach me a few more small things. Chapter 346 [DNO]

Chapter 346 [DNO]

I woke up the next morning in a rather rxed mood. It has been a while since I slept so well. Or perhaps that I haven been working continuously that I don''t exactly remember when was thest time I had a good sleep. ''It was with Ang, wasn''t it?'' I tried recalling as blissful memories returned to my mind. A smile formed on my face as I wondered how she and the other girls were doing. Getting off the bed, I looked at the set of clothes presented in front of me. They told me there was no bath within the inn so, [Second Space] I entered the space, but didn''t meet Rhea this time. Rather, I visited the bath area within the Garden. While I don''t think I stink or smell, despite not taking a bath for so long, I still wanted to let off some steam. Walking towards the garden, I began removing my robe as I approached the small pond-like bath area. The bath area was rather aesthetically alluring, with the white stairs guiding into the pond. The ends were covered with white pirs and everything was beautifully done. Even the position of the flowers seemed to be carefully intricate. The more I looked at it, the more refreshed I felt. Putting my robe on the floor just before entering the pond, I then took my first step down the stairs, into the pond. My eyes were rather calm as I felt the hot water on my feet. I could feel the water healing my soul directly from my feet, before I moved deeper into the pond, slowly covering my entire body down the waist into it. I guess the water level wasn''t that down, huh? I closed my eyes as I let the water heal me, while I used my hands to wash my body. While there was nothing like soap or body wash, I guess this water was good enough to clean the body itself. "You seem to enjoy yourself, huh?" I heard a sweet voice from the area where I dropped my robe. Looking in that direction, Rhea stood there wearing a white dress as she smiled at me. She looked rather enchanting, but not as much as before¡­ Perhaps I got used to her beauty? I mean, Aisha probably looked more beautiful than her, so I guess my standards are higher than before? "Won''t you join me?" I flirted with her, making her smirk a little. She then stretched a little as she answered," I guess I haven''t taken much break either," before she took one step towards the pond, removing the white dress off her top while covering her breasts with her hand. She then slowly took one step into the water as she looked at her. Her silvery eyes looked at me, much enchanting than before. Her steps slowly led her entire lower body into the water, before she began taking more steps towards me. Reaching closer to me, a couple of meters away from me, she bent down as she sank her body into the water, leaving only her neck and head visible to me. She looked at me with a smile as she said," How long are you going to look?" I smiled as I too got on my knees as I sank my entire body down the neck into the water. My eyes still focused on her as I answered with her a question," How long do you want me to look?" "You really want to know?" she spoke with a mischievous tone as she gave me a side look. She too was washing her body while I did that too. "I do," I said as I kept washing while enjoying the ''view'' in front of me. "Answer a few questions of mine, and I shall tell you," she spoke as she slightly turned at me. Her eyes looked at me with a slightly mncholic way before she asked, "If you had to choose between two people, you loved the most. What will you do?" Hearing her question, I pondered a bit before answering her," I will choose the most optimal path. Starting with trying to save both of them, ending with destroying the entire world¡­ Perhaps I will do everything in my power to reach the ending that I want." "Is that so?" a mysterious smile appeared on her face as she took a step towards me, decreasing the distance between us. "What if you were to give up all your powers to save the one person who means everything to you?" she asked again as she looked at me, this time objectively than before. "I want to say that ''I will forfeit,'' but this depends on the other factors. What about the other people that I care about? What about me, myself? How much worth is there to it? I do function emotionally, but not enough to act rashly." I gave her an honest answer. While it might be selfish from the perspective of a person who only has one person in their life, but for me, who is surrounded by a lot many people I care about. I cannot just choose one over the other, can I? A relieved smile formed on her face as she looked at me, before taking another step closer to me. Her eyes seemed quite merry right now as she put her hair tendrils behind her ear before asking the next question, "And what if you were to face an opponent far stronger than you and behind you are all the people about whom you care?" "Is that even a question? I will fight till the very end of my life with all my honors ced on it. If I were to die, then that was all there was to it," I answered her as my eyes gazed upon her face, this time I was the one who took a step towards her, reaching close enough to her, that our bodies almost touched. I lightly pressed up her chin with my hands as I asked,"So? How long do you want me to look at you?" "Forever if I were to wish for it," she answered in a melodious tone as her cheeks turned red. Chapter 347 [DNO]

Chapter 347 [DNO]

"Forever if I were to wish for it," she muttered as removed her hands from her breasts before cing the left one on my chin. I moved closer to her, making my lips touch her for a few seconds before she separated them as she took a step back. Though holding her hand, which was at my chin, I pulled her back closer to me while tightly holding her from her back using my right. This time, our lips touched again, but I was a bit more rough than before. I licked her lips a little before moving my tongue in between them. Those lips that felt like marshmallows tasted like the juiciest strawberries. I could feel the sweetness in those soft lips. The more I tasted them, the more I couldn''t resist her. Moving my tongue in between her legs, I tasted the sweet nectar she had. It was different from other girls that I had with. It was strangely mysterious. Like the refreshing water you have after a heavy workout in the afternoon sun, like an aphrodisiac that you get addicted to, it was something that was hard to let go. It wasn''t hard to reach her tongue. There wasn''t any resistance from her side. Mine touching hers, I felt her kissing me back. Her tongue wrapped around mine sexily as we both got lost in ecstatic moments. "Mmh~" "Ah~" "Mmh~" Euphoria felt all over my body as I kept kissing her. Each moment felt better than before, and the more I did it, the more I couldn''t resist. It was only after she slowly parted her lips; I realized that I had been kissing her for a long time. "Let me~" She then moved close to me as she slowly bit my ears. I felt a strange feeling trickling down my body, as she slowly licked me around that part, before moving down as she kissed up to my neck. I then stopped her as I bit her ears this time, making her moan softly. Hearing her voice down my ears made me tease her even more. I kissed the ears before slowly moving down to her neck. "Ah~" "Ahh~" "Mmm~" The more I kissed her, the more she moaned. Finding her soft spots on her neck wasn''t hard, as I could feel her moan a bit more loudly than before. At first kissing, I then bit her softly¡­ "MMH~~" Her arms clenched against my neck. She held me even more tightly than before. Perhaps I felt excited a little, so I bit her again, this time a bit more than before. "Michael~~" She moaned this time, taking my name¡­ though it seemed like she was in a bit of pain, so I stopped at that. Instead, I kissed her there, and using my tongue, I wiped that area a bit more lightly. Using my lips, I kissed her on the spot where I bit her, trying to make her feel better. She held me in her embrace, and this time she tightened her embrace a bit more, though unlike before where she was moaning, this time it felt like an embrace out of love. I, too, hugged her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body all over mine. Her body was like a soft cushion that was neither too hard nor too soft. It felt like the most perfect touch I ever had in my life. Her breasts, especially, felt soft and bouncy. The more I pressed them, the more I felt enthralled. "Michael. Do you want to know why were you chosen?" she asked softly as she held me by her hands. Her voice was a bit low. She seemed like she wanted to open up before she went further with me. "I do," I answered her as I slowly let her go, enough to make her face me, but not too much to move away from me. Holding her back with my right and her cheek with the palm of my left, I slowly touched her lips with my thumb. Her eyes stared into mine, as she answered," it was honestly a gamble. A certain someone was needed to save the world¡­ somebody who will be prepared to save the universe. Not just against one threat, but multiple ones." She paused in the middle before speaking," you were not supposed to be the owner of the system. It was going to be the golden-haired boy, Leeway¡­ your best friend. But fate sealed his life in all worlds that are bound to exist, making him die for sure. It was done to spite us." "When we were losing hope, we found a being that stood by Leeway moments before he died. Someone with no powers, but still capable of being an equal to him. There was honestly nothing out of the ordinary about you. A simple human that has no powers, nothing excellent about you," she chuckled slowly before speaking, "But then ''he'' said something¡­ ''He'' spoke that if we have any chance left, then it is going to be you¡­ and we just chose you. Partly because you were lucky to be beside Leeway, and partly because you showed the will that got ''His'' attention." She then turned silent as she looked at my expression. I observed her for a few moments as I saw herplex expression¡­ I then moved in for a kiss as I held her lips tightly against mine. Surprised, her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me, though after a few moments, she closed her eyes as well. She let me kiss her. I moved my tongue inside her, once again kissing her for a long while before moving away from her as I looked at her reddened face. This time she was a bit embarrassed than before. She was even trying to avoid eye contact with me for now. "Well, for starters¡­ I was never a hero. And, I don''t like being the Chosen One either¡­ I am a simple man with a simple life¡­ Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter to me whether you chose me for a specific reason or just on a random whim. I am here, that''s all that matters," I smiled as I touched her lips again before smiling mischievously, "Though I would still like to have somepensation." And my hands slowly reached her breasts as I felt the soft heavenly touch of it. Chapter 348 [DNO]

Chapter 348 [DNO]

As far as my knowledge is concerned, I know about the Ghost World as a special skill of a person or a curse of a demon or something. There are, in rare cases like this one, an artifact that can create a ghost world as well. But a trial? Now that is something that I have never heard about. Most people chose to just kill themselves in the Ghost world, and then travel back to the main city by reviving after the penalty of 36 Hours. Even those who tried to understand the Ghost world, didn''t make much of it, except once where a guy happened to luckily kill the owner of the Ghost world and escaping from hit. He didn''t gain anything from the Ghost world though. ''Even I wanted to kill the owner to escape from there, but since the ''Gate'' was mentioned and I saw the key, I thought that there was a way out of this one. All the more because Oriel somehow managed to get out of there on his own. I wanted to check that one out too,'' I pondered about it before looking at Alepsia, slightly weirded out by me. "Well. Since I am in a good mood, I guess I can forgive your rudeness. Listen, Ghost World is a Dimension created for Trials for the mortals. It is created by the universe to give them an opportunity to increase their power. Through what kind of power they receive is dependent upon their own capability," she exined things briefly. I nodded as I continued asking," Hmmm¡­ have you heard about the Chalice of Equilibrium?" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me," where did you hear that name?" "On my adventures. It is one of the things that I am searching for¡­ I have heard that it is rted to a ghost world," I lied as I looked at her. It doesn''t seem like she could read minds, else she wouldn''t be as surprised as she is right now. Though I still need to make my lies believable. "Is that so? Hmm¡­ that makes sense. I won''t pry to what you need that Unholy Chalice for, but since you are asking, I do know about it. Or to be fair, I know about the creator of that object," she spoke as she began pondering about it. Her eyes seemed to be thinking deep before she looked at me, "Do you really want to know about it? It''s quite chaotic knowledge that could make you a potential target of both the Ancient Gods as well as the True Gods." Her warning seemed genuine and I could only thank her for the care she was doing for me. I will truly repay you, Alepsia, for the trust you are showing to me. "It is fine. I got my own fair share of sacred knowledge," I chuckled as I looked at her. It wasn''t a lie, so it was fine. She seemed curious about it, but she held back as she spoke out, "All right. Since that is the case, I will tell you about that, Chalice. But let me start from the Goddess Herself. The Goddess of Bnce, Equi." Unlike the True Gods, the Goddess of Bnce was a minor God. Though her power rose somewhere in thest century when the Nation of Magic was born. They believed that all magic is equal, and a bnce exists between the dark and the light. Equi saw it as an opportunity for her growth and spent a lot of time growing her church. As if by fate, she even got a Saint Under her. The Saint of Equilibrium. With his reign under Equi''s guidance, she was able to grow exponentially enough to make Equi stand beside the True Gods. Though rather than joining the True Gods, she chose to pave a path with a non-aggression pact between the Ancient Gods and the True Gods. Obvious enough, the True Gods were enraged by this idea¡­ so much that they sent all their saints to kill her followers and then imprison her saint. All her followers were burned and there was nothing left of her except some of her artifacts. One of the 7 artifacts of the Goddess, the Chalice of Equilibrium, contains the power to create a world where everything is bnced. It has a strange property that nobody understands. And its powers weren''t something that gods even wanted to take a look at. Thus, they left the artifacts in the hands of the saints who acquired it. ''Use it as you see fit,'' the Gods said to their saints. Apart from this, the Chalice of Equilibrium also has a strange power of giving something in exchange for what you pour into it. Though what it gives is totally up to it. However, not once something better came out of it. "And apart from that, the Chalice wasst seen in the Nation of Night and Moon, where the Moon Goddess resides. Though that was about 20 yrs ago, so nobody knows anything for sure. Hmmm¡­ I guess that is all I know about this thing. If you want, I can search more about it," Alepsia spoke as she finished her apple while I was in deep thought. "No¡­ Thank you. I think this was enough information. I guess I will be traveling to the Nation of Night and Moon to find more about it. Hmmm¡­ since we are at it, Can I ask you another question?" I looked at her, making her nod at me. "Do you know about the Sin of Greed?" I asked with a serious face, making her turn at me. She made a small smile as she spoke,"I know but I don''t think I can tell you anything about it. We Gods are forbidden from telling the sessor of another God to Mortals¡­ The Seven sins are no exceptions as well." I nodded as I thanked her before checking the System. Well, let''s confirm my doubts first¡­ [Loading Save Point!!] [Loading Complete!] Chapter 349 [DNO]

Chapter 349 [DNO]

While other people were sleeping, I was sitting with Aarick and Aisha, who were here to teach me about the basics of cultivation. "While there are various practices, there are three prominent ones on this. Each for three aspects. Body, Soul and Mind." Aarick raised three fingers before he picked one of them with the other hand. "Let''s start with the body and we can corrte the other two with it. Though I must ask, do you know what ''Cultivation'' means, right?" He questioned. I nodded," to take the force of nature into one''s body and reach an immortal hood? Or something like that." Aarick nodded," that''s more or less basic. Cultivation is the ability to extract the natural condensed energy of life that has been passed on by the universe in order to connect oneself to the Universe more. It generally increases your lifespan by removing toxicity from your body, makes you stronger by providing you a nourishing atmosphere and helps you perform tricks that are normally impossible by an average body." He then began exining the basic way to increase the power of the body. The process was simple as to take in the energy into one''s body and spread it throughout the body at once. There is something called dantian that flows within the body, and ideally, one should flow it through the dantian. The purer the Dantian, the more blessed the body, the easier to flow the energy and absorb a great proportion of the spirit stones. With the bar set from 1 Star to 10 Star. Supposedly, both Aarick and Aisha had a 10 Star Dantian, while I had a 1 Star Dantian. The cultivation starts from basic Body Formation Stage Body Condensation Stage Martial Formation Stage Martial Condensation Stage Apprentice Master Stage Master Stage Half Step Grandmaster Stage Grandmaster Stage Before one bes one of the Immortals. Each of these stages is further divided into 10 sub-stages that are required to break before one reaches a higher realm. "The Soul and the Mind stage are the same, with exactly simr stages except the part where you need to flow the natural energy into the heart and the mind. Heart will create an auxiliary spirit channel, allowing you to connect with the spirits, while the mind will unlock potential to do feats like telekinesis etc," he exined everything in detail. Aisha was there to point out if there was anything missing in there, but Aarick''s exnation didn''t have any faults. "Now that we are done with the basics of cultivation, I will impart to you a bunch of ways to cultivate, though I would like you to know about this world a bit more before we get into that," Aarick spoke as he continued," so-" But Aisha stopped him before speaking." I will exin to him about it." Aarick didn''t seem to have any problem with that, so he nodded before letting Aisha steer the exnation. "There are 4 things you need to be careful of on this. The Evil Sect that is hungry for power it will never stop on anything. Their method of cultivation is to feed not on the spirit energy of life, but to kill people and absorb their power. This way, they can get much stronger than normal, but because the energy is too chaotic, it messes up their brain. The Demon race. While not exactly the real demons, they have some traits that they can absorb the negative energy emanating from various races. Things like despair, fear, agony, etc, are a method to bring out the negative energy out of the body, which they store and cultivate with. If you meet any of those two, then kill them on site. Even by nature, they cannot be saved. Then there are the Heavenly Principals. They are people with strong power who think of themselves as Gods. They have great powers, and in order to make sure they don''t have stronger enemies, they created rules that benefit only themselves. Be careful of them. Spend some time with the locals and they will tell you how not to go against them. But if you somehow decide to go against them anyhow, call us as well. We will destroy them with you. Finally, the Martial Officers. They are people who were once hosted to protect the people, and die for them. They were considered pretty elite, but honestly, now that Heavenly Principles are in power, they too have started using crude methods." "Crude Methods?" I asked curiously. "Like they started working like mercenaries. They take money or extort, if you look at it properly. They have some people from evil and demonic sects as well. It''s a bunch of every bad and good thing in them. Though because good is mostly suppressed, it''s honestly an evil organization. As for going against them. Crush them if you wish to. They can''t do a dime against you anyway," She was quite brutal with her words, but after hearing her information, I couldn''t agree more. Aarick then smiled as he spoke, "Do whatever you want. Crush them. Save them. It''s your choice. But you must always keep in mind that our work here is to find the people of Plienthora as well as to get stronger. Everything else is secondary." While he was smiling, I could see the seriousness in his eyes. I nodded at his words before pondering a bit more. Then I asked a question, "Where should I start then?" They both looked at each other and aftermunicating with their eyes, they looked at me,"we will teach you some basics of all the three fundamentals. But it would be better if you do it yourself. Honestly, we can''t predict what you will do or what will happen to you, so we both will go separate ways to train. I hope you understand." "You are leaving me alone here?" I asked, surprised, but Aarick shook his head, "Not immediately. We will teach you the customs and such first and few general knowledge points as well, but after that you need to find opportunities on your own." He spoke as I sighed. While I did want to train with them because of their knowledge, it seems like they both had to do something on their own¡­ "Okay, I understand." I nodded before they continued to teach me a few more small things. Chapter 350 [DNO]

Chapter 350 [DNO]

I woke up the next morning in a rather rxed mood. It has been a while since I slept so well. Or perhaps that I haven been working continuously that I don''t exactly remember when was thest time I had a good sleep. ''It was with Ang, wasn''t it?'' I tried recalling as blissful memories returned to my mind. A smile formed on my face as I wondered how she and the other girls were doing. Getting off the bed, I looked at the set of clothes presented in front of me. They told me there was no bath within the inn so, [Second Space] I entered the space, but didn''t meet Rhea this time. Rather, I visited the bath area within the Garden. While I don''t think I stink or smell, despite not taking a bath for so long, I still wanted to let off some steam. Walking towards the garden, I began removing my robe as I approached the small pond-like bath area. The bath area was rather aesthetically alluring, with the white stairs guiding into the pond. The ends were covered with white pirs and everything was beautifully done. Even the position of the flowers seemed to be carefully intricate. The more I looked at it, the more refreshed I felt. Putting my robe on the floor just before entering the pond, I then took my first step down the stairs, into the pond. My eyes were rather calm as I felt the hot water on my feet. I could feel the water healing my soul directly from my feet, before I moved deeper into the pond, slowly covering my entire body down the waist into it. I guess the water level wasn''t that down, huh? I closed my eyes as I let the water heal me, while I used my hands to wash my body. While there was nothing like soap or body wash, I guess this water was good enough to clean the body itself. "You seem to enjoy yourself, huh?" I heard a sweet voice from the area where I dropped my robe. Looking in that direction, Rhea stood there wearing a white dress as she smiled at me. She looked rather enchanting, but not as much as before¡­ Perhaps I got used to her beauty? I mean, Aisha probably looked more beautiful than her, so I guess my standards are higher than before? "Won''t you join me?" I flirted with her, making her smirk a little. She then stretched a little as she answered," I guess I haven''t taken much break either," before she took one step towards the pond, removing the white dress off her top while covering her breasts with her hand. She then slowly took one step into the water as she looked at her. Her silvery eyes looked at me, much enchanting than before. Her steps slowly led her entire lower body into the water, before she began taking more steps towards me. Reaching closer to me, a couple of meters away from me, she bent down as she sank her body into the water, leaving only her neck and head visible to me. She looked at me with a smile as she said," How long are you going to look?" I smiled as I too got on my knees as I sank my entire body down the neck into the water. My eyes still focused on her as I answered with her a question," How long do you want me to look?" "You really want to know?" she spoke with a mischievous tone as she gave me a side look. She too was washing her body while I did that too. "I do," I said as I kept washing while enjoying the ''view'' in front of me. "Answer a few questions of mine, and I shall tell you," she spoke as she slightly turned at me. Her eyes looked at me with a slightly mncholic way before she asked, "If you had to choose between two people, you loved the most. What will you do?" Hearing her question, I pondered a bit before answering her," I will choose the most optimal path. Starting with trying to save both of them, ending with destroying the entire world¡­ Perhaps I will do everything in my power to reach the ending that I want." "Is that so?" a mysterious smile appeared on her face as she took a step towards me, decreasing the distance between us. "What if you were to give up all your powers to save the one person who means everything to you?" she asked again as she looked at me, this time objectively than before. "I want to say that ''I will forfeit,'' but this depends on the other factors. What about the other people that I care about? What about me, myself? How much worth is there to it? I do function emotionally, but not enough to act rashly." I gave her an honest answer. While it might be selfish from the perspective of a person who only has one person in their life, but for me, who is surrounded by a lot many people I care about. I cannot just choose one over the other, can I? A relieved smile formed on her face as she looked at me, before taking another step closer to me. Her eyes seemed quite merry right now as she put her hair tendrils behind her ear before asking the next question, "And what if you were to face an opponent far stronger than you and behind you are all the people about whom you care?" "Is that even a question? I will fight till the very end of my life with all my honors ced on it. If I were to die, then that was all there was to it," I answered her as my eyes gazed upon her face, this time I was the one who took a step towards her, reaching close enough to her, that our bodies almost touched. I lightly pressed up her chin with my hands as I asked,"So? How long do you want me to look at you?" "Forever if I were to wish for it," she answered in a melodious tone as her cheeks turned red. Chapter 351 [DNO]

Chapter 351 [DNO]

"Forever if I were to wish for it," she muttered as removed her hands from her breasts before cing the left one on my chin. I moved closer to her, making my lips touch her for a few seconds before she separated them as she took a step back. Though holding her hand, which was at my chin, I pulled her back closer to me while tightly holding her from her back using my right. This time, our lips touched again, but I was a bit more rough than before. I licked her lips a little before moving my tongue in between them. Those lips that felt like marshmallows tasted like the juiciest strawberries. I could feel the sweetness in those soft lips. The more I tasted them, the more I couldn''t resist her. Moving my tongue in between her legs, I tasted the sweet nectar she had. It was different from other girls that I had with. It was strangely mysterious. Like the refreshing water you have after a heavy workout in the afternoon sun, like an aphrodisiac that you get addicted to, it was something that was hard to let go. It wasn''t hard to reach her tongue. There wasn''t any resistance from her side. Mine touching hers, I felt her kissing me back. Her tongue wrapped around mine sexily as we both got lost in ecstatic moments. "Mmh~" "Ah~" "Mmh~" Euphoria felt all over my body as I kept kissing her. Each moment felt better than before, and the more I did it, the more I couldn''t resist. It was only after she slowly parted her lips; I realized that I had been kissing her for a long time. "Let me~" She then moved close to me as she slowly bit my ears. I felt a strange feeling trickling down my body, as she slowly licked me around that part, before moving down as she kissed up to my neck. I then stopped her as I bit her ears this time, making her moan softly. Hearing her voice down my ears made me tease her even more. I kissed the ears before slowly moving down to her neck. "Ah~" "Ahh~" "Mmm~" The more I kissed her, the more she moaned. Finding her soft spots on her neck wasn''t hard, as I could feel her moan a bit more loudly than before. At first kissing, I then bit her softly¡­ "MMH~~" Her arms clenched against my neck. She held me even more tightly than before. Perhaps I felt excited a little, so I bit her again, this time a bit more than before. "Michael~~" She moaned this time, taking my name¡­ though it seemed like she was in a bit of pain, so I stopped at that. Instead, I kissed her there, and using my tongue, I wiped that area a bit more lightly. Using my lips, I kissed her on the spot where I bit her, trying to make her feel better. She held me in her embrace, and this time she tightened her embrace a bit more, though unlike before where she was moaning, this time it felt like an embrace out of love. I, too, hugged her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body all over mine. Her body was like a soft cushion that was neither too hard nor too soft. It felt like the most perfect touch I ever had in my life. Her breasts, especially, felt soft and bouncy. The more I pressed them, the more I felt enthralled. "Michael. Do you want to know why were you chosen?" she asked softly as she held me by her hands. Her voice was a bit low. She seemed like she wanted to open up before she went further with me. "I do," I answered her as I slowly let her go, enough to make her face me, but not too much to move away from me. Holding her back with my right and her cheek with the palm of my left, I slowly touched her lips with my thumb. Her eyes stared into mine, as she answered," it was honestly a gamble. A certain someone was needed to save the world¡­ somebody who will be prepared to save the universe. Not just against one threat, but multiple ones." She paused in the middle before speaking," you were not supposed to be the owner of the system. It was going to be the golden-haired boy, Leeway¡­ your best friend. But fate sealed his life in all worlds that are bound to exist, making him die for sure. It was done to spite us." "When we were losing hope, we found a being that stood by Leeway moments before he died. Someone with no powers, but still capable of being an equal to him. There was honestly nothing out of the ordinary about you. A simple human that has no powers, nothing excellent about you," she chuckled slowly before speaking, "But then ''he'' said something¡­ ''He'' spoke that if we have any chance left, then it is going to be you¡­ and we just chose you. Partly because you were lucky to be beside Leeway, and partly because you showed the will that got ''His'' attention." She then turned silent as she looked at my expression. I observed her for a few moments as I saw herplex expression¡­ I then moved in for a kiss as I held her lips tightly against mine. Surprised, her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me, though after a few moments, she closed her eyes as well. She let me kiss her. I moved my tongue inside her, once again kissing her for a long while before moving away from her as I looked at her reddened face. This time she was a bit embarrassed than before. She was even trying to avoid eye contact with me for now. "Well, for starters¡­ I was never a hero. And, I don''t like being the Chosen One either¡­ I am a simple man with a simple life¡­ Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter to me whether you chose me for a specific reason or just on a random whim. I am here, that''s all that matters," I smiled as I touched her lips again before smiling mischievously, "Though I would still like to have somepensation." And my hands slowly reached her breasts as I felt the soft heavenly touch of it. Chapter 352 [DNO]

Chapter 352 [DNO]

As far as my knowledge is concerned, I know about the Ghost World as a special skill of a person or a curse of a demon or something. There are, in rare cases like this one, an artifact that can create a ghost world as well. But a trial? Now that is something that I have never heard about. Most people chose to just kill themselves in the Ghost world, and then travel back to the main city by reviving after the penalty of 36 Hours. Even those who tried to understand the Ghost world, didn''t make much of it, except once where a guy happened to luckily kill the owner of the Ghost world and escaping from hit. He didn''t gain anything from the Ghost world though. ''Even I wanted to kill the owner to escape from there, but since the ''Gate'' was mentioned and I saw the key, I thought that there was a way out of this one. All the more because Oriel somehow managed to get out of there on his own. I wanted to check that one out too,'' I pondered about it before looking at Alepsia, slightly weirded out by me. "Well. Since I am in a good mood, I guess I can forgive your rudeness. Listen, Ghost World is a Dimension created for Trials for the mortals. It is created by the universe to give them an opportunity to increase their power. Through what kind of power they receive is dependent upon their own capability," she exined things briefly. I nodded as I continued asking," Hmmm¡­ have you heard about the Chalice of Equilibrium?" Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me," where did you hear that name?" "On my adventures. It is one of the things that I am searching for¡­ I have heard that it is rted to a ghost world," I lied as I looked at her. It doesn''t seem like she could read minds, else she wouldn''t be as surprised as she is right now. Though I still need to make my lies believable. "Is that so? Hmm¡­ that makes sense. I won''t pry to what you need that Unholy Chalice for, but since you are asking, I do know about it. Or to be fair, I know about the creator of that object," she spoke as she began pondering about it. Her eyes seemed to be thinking deep before she looked at me, "Do you really want to know about it? It''s quite chaotic knowledge that could make you a potential target of both the Ancient Gods as well as the True Gods." Her warning seemed genuine and I could only thank her for the care she was doing for me. I will truly repay you, Alepsia, for the trust you are showing to me. "It is fine. I got my own fair share of sacred knowledge," I chuckled as I looked at her. It wasn''t a lie, so it was fine. She seemed curious about it, but she held back as she spoke out, "All right. Since that is the case, I will tell you about that, Chalice. But let me start from the Goddess Herself. The Goddess of Bnce, Equi." Unlike the True Gods, the Goddess of Bnce was a minor God. Though her power rose somewhere in thest century when the Nation of Magic was born. They believed that all magic is equal, and a bnce exists between the dark and the light. Equi saw it as an opportunity for her growth and spent a lot of time growing her church. As if by fate, she even got a Saint Under her. The Saint of Equilibrium. With his reign under Equi''s guidance, she was able to grow exponentially enough to make Equi stand beside the True Gods. Though rather than joining the True Gods, she chose to pave a path with a non-aggression pact between the Ancient Gods and the True Gods. Obvious enough, the True Gods were enraged by this idea¡­ so much that they sent all their saints to kill her followers and then imprison her saint. All her followers were burned and there was nothing left of her except some of her artifacts. One of the 7 artifacts of the Goddess, the Chalice of Equilibrium, contains the power to create a world where everything is bnced. It has a strange property that nobody understands. And its powers weren''t something that gods even wanted to take a look at. Thus, they left the artifacts in the hands of the saints who acquired it. ''Use it as you see fit,'' the Gods said to their saints. Apart from this, the Chalice of Equilibrium also has a strange power of giving something in exchange for what you pour into it. Though what it gives is totally up to it. However, not once something better came out of it. "And apart from that, the Chalice wasst seen in the Nation of Night and Moon, where the Moon Goddess resides. Though that was about 20 yrs ago, so nobody knows anything for sure. Hmmm¡­ I guess that is all I know about this thing. If you want, I can search more about it," Alepsia spoke as she finished her apple while I was in deep thought. "No¡­ Thank you. I think this was enough information. I guess I will be traveling to the Nation of Night and Moon to find more about it. Hmmm¡­ since we are at it, Can I ask you another question?" I looked at her, making her nod at me. "Do you know about the Sin of Greed?" I asked with a serious face, making her turn at me. She made a small smile as she spoke,"I know but I don''t think I can tell you anything about it. We Gods are forbidden from telling the sessor of another God to Mortals¡­ The Seven sins are no exceptions as well." I nodded as I thanked her before checking the System. Well, let''s confirm my doubts first¡­ [Loading Save Point!!] [Loading Complete!] The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!