《Loser&#x27;s redo: Transmigration in a novel》


 Chapter 1 PROLOGUE

    In a dark room where there wasn''t even a speck of light, the sound of someone typing in the keyboard of aputer ran out.

    CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

    Sitting in front of theputer, a man read the novel which he picked to pass his time as usual.

    The person sitting in front of theputer was named Noah, he had ck hair and brown eyes. His face was normal, not too handsome nor too ugly.

    "Sigh....what is with this novel? Really, these days people like harem novels a lot, don''t they?"

    As Noah lived alone there was no one to hear him so it had be a habit for him to speak out loud sometimes.He wore a disgruntled expression as he looked at the novel in front of him.

    "phew...."

    Breathing out loudly he continued reading the novel in front of him.There was nothing else for him to do anyway.

    ************

    Noah''s parents had died in his childhood, when he didn''t even know how to speak properly.

    After the death of his parents he was adopted by his parents'' rtives. They looked at him as if he was nothing but extra baggage for them to carry.

    He was still four year old then so he didn''t know about the thoughts of his rtives.

    His parents'' rtives took care of all his needs as long as it wasn''t anything excessive.

    As days passed by when he was in his first grade, his height had increased by little as he had turned 6 year old a few months ago.

    Noah had already adapted to his current situation in these two year. A lot of things have changed in this time, he has started calling the rtives of his parents as ''aunty'' and ''uncle''. Though they don''t take care of him much and ignore him, he was grateful for them for taking him in.

    He even had a brother and a sister but of course they are not rted by blood as both of them were his uncle and aunts children.

    They weren''t rich nor were they poor, it was a middle ss family but there was no problem taking care of 3 children.

    His sister, Maria was 9 year and his brother, Ronald was 11 year old. They also didn''t like Noah the same as their mother and father.

    Without any parental love or anybody to take care of him in his teens, hismunication skills were garbage as he would always stutter while talking to someone.

    It went on like this until he started middle school, he had be a 10 year old boy now.

    Being in solitude for 4 year had made him learn a lot of things. Without socialising it would be hard for him to live a stable life so he had practised by talking to his neighbours or people in the park.

    After Practising so much, he was confident that he would be able to make a lot of friends in his middle school.

    But, it didn''t go as he nned as all of the children in his ssroom had already formed groups by then.

    Looking at them, Noah was frustrated and depressed. Whenever he tried talking they would try dodging him with a creeped out look in their face.

    After trying for a few days he gave up trying to be friends with anyone. He searched for things that could be used to distract his attention.

    Noah was attracted to anime as it is the best thing to pass his time.

    After a few years, he began his high school but now he had already stopped talking to people unless it isn''t necessary. His build was in the normal category, not too long nor too short.<sub> </sub>

    The anime that he had begun seeing to pass his time had be something more than that.

    Noah loved the world of anime more than reality. as time had passed he had even started reading manga and some novels which he got interested in. Even when he did all this it didn''t affect his school grade by much, he always got a good grade and never failed.

    But things didn''t go as smoothly as it always did.

    BANG!

    Someone banged the the table he was sitting on with his hand.

    Lifting his head, Noah saw there were three people standing in front of his table Haughtily. When their eyes met, three people in front of Noah startedughing.

    "hahaha, listen up you smartass, just shut up and follow us"

    That was the moment from when his school life was destroyed. These people would normally be called bullies.

    They tried making Noah do some small errands and make him bring them food with his own money.

    When he tried to resist them by saying ''no'', it just got worse. they would draw all over his desk with paint which he had to cleanter.

    Sometimes they would steal his shoes from the locker and hide it or sometimes just tear it.

    This didn''t stop even in thest year of his high school when he was 18 year old. Things have gotten worse in this year''s, they would m him against the wall and catch his cor as if trying to tear it apart.

    They wouldn''t try to beat him but pull out pranks like this often as time for his graduation came near.

    It isn''t that Noah hasn''t tried fighting back, he has tried so many times that he almost gave up fighting back and just waited to finish his high school.

    There are a lot of reasons he couldn''t do anything to these bullies. First, he wasn''t very athletic enough for him to defeat them in a fight.

    Second, as the bullying continued his uncle and aunt were a lot displeased by him.

    As they tore his shoe or damaged anything that was his, they would have to pay for this so they would always scold him.

    [''aren''t you ashamed of yourself for not being able to fight against some bullies? ]

    ['' tch, tch, you are going to make problem for us till the very end aren''t you? ]

    Instead of helping him they would just berate him more and make his head that was alreadyplicated a mess.

    When he found something to distract him from reality, he was really happy just living his whole life like that.

    But, right when he thought that ''it would be alright to live just like this'' reality came and hit him as if giving a wake up call.

    With his depression that was just growing more and more, he thought of a way to escape from this situation.

    ''I will have to be independent''

    That was the only answer, but he didn''t have any bright ideas from which he could make money in a stable way. Thinking of this, he thought of the things that he has been doing for a long time.

    ''that''s right, I can try writing novel''

 Chapter 2 In Charge Of Murder

    The feeling of helplessness and depression had made Noah notice the things that he didn''t notice before and the things he was trying to not notice.

    [when ites down to it, in the end you can only depend on yourself not anyone else]

    Noah would never forget this as long as he lived.

    And the other thing that he wasn''t trying to notice was about his rtives.

    Thinking about them, Noah clenched his fist tightly, remembering how they treated him when he needed their help the most made his resolve to leave the house he was staying in became stronger.

    There were still a lot of months for him toplete his highschool so he started writing his novel after a lot of thinking.

    6 months passed by before he even noticed, the whole time he only thought about his novel without rest.

    As it is his first novel, the first two month were used to write his novel in a way that the audience could understand easily.

    After 6 month of hard work, he had atst achieved a little sess in his novel.

    The feeling of his work bing sessful had blown away all his depression and worries.

    He was a loser in reality but bing even a little sessful in the thing that he liked had made him immensely happy.

    ''haha, let''s keep writing like this shall we?''

    Thinking to himself, Noah thought how he would be able to be independent after finishing his highschool.

    Thinking that everything would go well in the future, he started writing his novel with a new found energy.

    After two months.

    In this time Noah had already started making enough money for his daily needs and more but he never used even a penny and stored it all in his bank ount.

    ''when I am moving away from my aunts house I will be needing another house to stay''

    Having these thoughts, he entered his ssroom as usual.

    The ss went as usual without any problem. When the teacher left, he picked up his bag and started heading back to his home.

    While walking down the stairs, Noah heard someone calling him.

    "Noah! wait!"

    Turning his head back, he saw the bully who kept picking on him, walking towards him with an expression full of worry.

    "follow me"

    Saying this, He directly catched Noah''s hand and led him to the back of the school.

    Looking at the worried expression of the bully and feeling the tense air around him Noah kept getting an ominous feeling.

    Noah wanted to resist but his strength wasn''t up to the task.

    ''hmm..I guess my body is just not made for things like this''

    These few years Noah had started exercising frequently to be a little more powerful but in front of the bullies bulky body, he couldn''t do anything.

    Being pulled with so much force, he felt his hand going numb.

    Reaching at the destination, the bully let go of his hand and moved aside.

    ''what...blood?''

    The ground was bloodied fresh which Noah could tell just by seeing. While looking at the blood with a nk face, he followed the stains on the ground only to see a boy with ck hair bleeding from his stomach. It was one of the bullies who kept drawing on his desk.

    Noah''s attention was so captured by the dead body that he didn''t notice two people walking behind him.

    Sensing someone''s presence behind him, he tilted his head a little to see backwards but suddenly something hit Noah''s head from the side.

    Feeling his view turning upside-down and the immense pain in the side of his head which made him want to hold his head and roll around But he couldn''t move his body at all.<sub> </sub>

    ''what is happening....?''

    Thest thing he saw was two of the bullies looking at him with clenched teeth. After that he lost consciousness.

    ************

    Waking up, Noah looked around with a sombre face, he still felt numb all over his body.

    Remembering what had happened at the end of his memory, his expression became focused again.

    ''those bastard!''

    Swearing at them in his head, he tried moving his body.

    CLANG!

    When he tried to move his hand, he heard a nging sounding from the bed. Looking towards his hand, he saw a hand cuff was connected to his wrist and the bed.

    "w-what is the meaning of this?"

    His voice started shaking because of confusion and being panic-stricken. He knew that those handcuffs belonged to the police so he got more and more confused about his situation.

    Getting up and sitting in the bed, Noah looked around the room he was currently in. Seeing the white room and the medicine in the mirror case he found out that he was in a hospital right now. before he could even sigh in relieved.

    CLUCK~

    The sound of the door opening rang out in the room.

    A nurse had entered the room and stooped in her tracks after seeing Noah sitting in his bed.

    heading out the door again, she walked in a hurry somewhere.

    "wait..."

    Noah tried to call out to her but the nurse had already run off somewhere.

    ''What the hell is really happening right now!?''

    For some reason he felt that he must stop that nurse at all cost from her expression.

    Waiting for a few minutes felt like eternity with how worried I was. Two people entered the room with the nurse again.

    Looking at the figure in front of him, Noah''s expression froze and he looked nkly at them.

    ''police''

    Snapping out of my stupor, Noah red at the police angrily.

    "Why have you put a handcuff on me? I didn''tmit any crime!"

    "hah! everyone says that, you have been arrested in charge of a murder"

    The policeman started speaking with a ''as expected'' tone.

    "what...."

    "you don''t have to waste your breath, It has already been proven from the camera recording that you are the culprit"

    Saying this, he directly ignored Noah and started speaking with the doctor behind him.

    "when can he be discharged?"

    "You can take him right now, there isn''t any problem with his body anymore"

    "okay"

    Saying this the policeman called more police officers and ordered them to bring Noah to the police station to lock him up.

 Chapter 3 Released From Prison

    Noah felt that it was all unbelievable, Getting put in the court as a criminal when he hasn''t done anything made him feel wronged.

    No matter how much he denied the usation of doing the murder, they would say that it''s already proven that he was the one who killed his ssmate.

    There was a lot of proof against him.

    First, the person who died was one of the people who bullied him so there were a lot of reasons for Noah to take revenge on him.

    Second, the camera had recorded him going in there.

    Even why he was hurt in the head was ruled out by saying that the bully had to do it to stop him.

    ''What bullshit....."

    Noah wasn''t aware that there was another way to get to the back of the school that only the bully knew about, Even the police weren''t aware of it.

    The bullies had nned to use this to frame Noah of the murder that they did.

    Without any proof to fight against the usation and without anyone even being in his side, Noah was dered as the one in guilty.

    [In ordance to thew, You will be sent to jail for 3 year]

    Remembering what the judge of the court had told him, he felt like the sky was falling in front of him.

    Sitting in the prison, where there was not even a proper bed to sleep in.

    Noah had only one thought in his head.

    ''ah..I had enough of this already, I want to rest, I don''t want think about anything''

    He was already living aplicated life, experiencing this incident had permanently broken his personality and moral that he was living upon.

    Noah had imagined killing the bullies a lot of time in his head to decrease his stress but never did he even think of doing it in reality.

    Noah didn''t have a reason to spoil his future by not being able to control his emotion so he preserved for so long with everything he had.

    But, in the end it was all for nothing, now that he was charged of a murder his future is finished.

    Looking at the ceiling with a nk look, Noah opened his mouth.

    "hahahaha.....hahahahahaha!!!!"

    He startedughing with an expression worse than crying, Tears started falling down his cheeks.

    *************

    (After three years)

    Coming out of the prison cell, Noah had a smile in face but his eyes weren''t smiling at all, his eyes were so empty that it could make anyone feel creepy.

    Walking out of the prison the smile one his face never wavered.

    After getting out of the prison that he was in for 3 whole years, he looked around him and took a deep breath in.

    Slowly starting to walk, Noah headed towards his aunt''s house.

    While walking people would look towards him regrly and then start walking a little faster.

    Looking at them, Noah couldn''t understand their action.

    ''I am wearing a normal dress and look just fine, what''s with them all?''

    He was not wearing the prison dress that he wore for these two year so he couldn''t understand their actions.

    He didn''t know that right now anyone would feel creeped out looking at him.

    Walking like this for a while he reached his destination. It was the same home in which he stayed for more than 10 years.

    In these 2 years no one came to visit him in the prison so he wasn''t aware of the situation outside at all.

    DING-DONG~<sub> </sub>

    Ringing the bell of the house, he waited for someone to open the door.

    Hearing the sound of hurried walking, Noah looked toward the door with expectation.

    CLUCK~

    The door opened and a young man in his 20s appeared in front of him.

    "you are...."

    Stopping himself, Ronald looked at the person standing in front of him. He had ck hair and brown eyes with a medium build. He had average looks not too handsome nor too ugly.

    Seeing him, he remembered the person who had made his life worse for these 2 years.

    Ronald''s life had been turned upside down because of Noah. After Noah was sent to prison, he got criticised by the people around him just for living with a criminal.

    Did that make any sense?

    He had asked himself this question a lot of times by now. Seeing Noah ''s face again made him angry to no end, holding back his anger, he managed to say a few words to the person in front of him.

    "Get out of here, there is no ce for a criminal to stay in my house"

    "Sure, I will just take my things and leave"

    Noah said with the same smile that he had in his face the whole time.

    Noah had expected things to be like this so he wasn''t surprised at all. Looking at Ronald holding back his anger he just went towards his room.

    Feeling someone following him, Noah looked behind only to see Ronald following with a vignt expression. Smiling at his brother again Noah went into his room.

    Looking around the room, there was dust everywhere.

    After looking at it for a second, Noah started packing his belongings with the same smile stered on his face.

    Taking everything that belonged to him, He took a final look at his room. Remembering all the years he stayed in this room made him feel nostalgic for a second.

    Snapping out of it, he headed towards the door to leave the house.

    CLUCK~

    Before he could reach the door, someone else had opened the door to enter.

    "I am home~"

    Saying this Maria closed the door, walking a few steps she froze when she saw Noah standing in the stairs with a smile.

    "Maria...."

    Before Noah could even say anything, Ronald had stepped forward.

    "th-that is Noah isn''t it brother?"

    "yes..."

    When Ronald answered her, Maria started scowling towards Noah, even she had a hard time after Noah was dered as a criminal.

    Still smiling at them Noah went to the door.

    CLUCK~

    "bye then"

    Opening the door, Noah said his farewell.

    "Wait you bastard!, where do you think you are going!?"

    p Hearing Maria swearing at him, Noah closed the door at her face with the same smile on his face.</anda>

    Noah was not bothered by their behaviour at all. He started walking towards the bank, to take out some money from his ount.

 Chapter 4 Death By Disease

    While taking out the cash from the bank, Noah noticed that there was more money in his ount then he had expected.

    ''ah right, someone must have sent me some money after reading my novel''

    With the money he had at the moment He could live for a few months without any problem.

    After searching for a hotel on the mobile, he booked a room in a hotel near him for one month.

    Taking a taxi, Noah reached the hotel in 10 minutes. Getting out of the car, he gave the driver the money and entered the hotel.

    While still having a smile on his face, he asked the receptionist for the key to his room.

    Getting the key, He entered the room and kept his bags above the bed.

    Then slowly the smile that he had in face the whole time broke apart.

    "Really what should I do now...?"

    With a nk face he thought about it for a while standing. When he felt like his leg was hurting he sat on the corner of the bed and then nkly stared out the window.

    "Sigh....."

    Sighing out loud, he took out theputer from his bag. Opening it, he saw a lot of notifications about his novel.

    A smile appeared on his face seeing thements in his novel.

    Noah didn''t n on writing this novel anymore, he nned on starting a new novel.

    For some reason Noah felt that he could write a novel that would be better than his old one.

    Without wasting his time, he started writing a new novel.

    And as he thought it was sessful, he started making money within one month.

    Leaving the hotel, Noah brought a new house for himself and continued writing his novel while also reading other novels.

    Feeling the emotions that were lost for a long time made him feel alive again.

    He continued his life like that until he turned 25 year old.

    It is a time when a person is living at the peak of his life.

    But for Noah?

    It was the same, he didn''t leave his room until it was absolutely necessary and just passed his time by reading a novel.

    Right now, he is reading a novel named-

    [The hero of vesteric fights the demon lord]

    Vesteric is one of the gods'' names in this novel.

    Noah was reading thest chapter of this novel.

    Finishing the chapter he couldn''t believe what he had just read.

    "wha-what the hell is this bullshit!?"

    Saying this he was almost going to throw hisptop away but stopped himself at thest moment.

    In the ending of the novel which Noah was reading, the hero was killed by the demon lord.

    Does that make any sense!?

    Noah couldn''t help but curse at the person who wrote this, When he finished half of the novel, he had thought that it was a harem novel but he could never think that it would have ended like this.

    Suddenly he felt a wave of pain running through his head, then-

    "Cough!.cough!.cough!....."

    He started coughing uncontrobly, bringing his hand in front of his mouth, Noah felt his bing wet with something as he coughed.

    Looking at his hand, he saw that it was covered in blood.

    His headache was getting worse and worse.

    ''Why is this happening again..?,...the doctor said that it would be fine''

    Noah started crawling toward the medicines that he had taken as instructed by the Doctor.

    When he had just turned 22 year old, Noah had started coughing up blood for no reason so he had to visit the hospital, in there he got to know that he was suffering from a disease called-

    Tuberculosis

    This disease acts upon the lungs which can make people cough blood and chest pain.

    The doctor had said that Noah had another problem along with it.

    It was called chronic lung disease, it was a problem on how a baby lung tissue develops.<sub> </sub>

    Which means he had a problem in his lung from the day he was born.

    With these two problems acting up upon his body at once, Noah had worse symptoms than the other people but the doctor had diagnosed him and said that it would be fine as he hade in his early symptoms.

    ''But what is this!!?''

    Noah was feeling pain all over his body especially the chest and the head.

    Still crawling towards the ce he had kept the medicine, he reached in front of his dress shelf rack.

    Supporting his body by using the dress shelf.

    he opened it and looked inside the drawer.

    "ugh..cough!..cough!"

    He was still coughing out blood which stained his clothes but he totally ignored that and took out all the tablets.

    ''which one...which one damn it!!''

    His vision was getting blurry for some reason.

    Before he could open the other drawer.

    His pain doubled and he started coughing more and blood.

    ''why the hell is this happening..?''

    Feeling his body bing cold, Noah couldn''t help but think about this.

    Slowly his life passed by in his head.

    ''hah....I really was a loser, wasn''t I?...if I was smarter I could have not been in those situations''

    Having this thought, his mind went nk and his body stopped breathing.

    ***************

    In a vi which was surrounded by huge trees suddenly someone''s scream rang out.

    "Ahhhhhh!!"

    A boy at the age of 8 was catching his head while crouching down in his knees and kept screaming for some reason.

    He had ck hair and red eyes that shined unnaturally.

    "wha-what happened young master?"

    A butler with blonde hair and blue eyes who looked to be in his 20s was looking at the boy with a weird expression.

    "huff..huff..huff..."

    Calming down, the boy who was crouching down looked around.

    "this is...."

    As far as Noah could see, There was a long corridor which didn''t show any sign of ending. Looking at the blonde butler beside him, he became more confused.

    He couldn''t understand what this butler was saying.

    ''whatnguage is that?''

    When Noah tried to remember what had happened, suddenly someone''s memory poured into his consciousness.

    Because of the memory that came pouring, Noah lost his consciousness again.

    The butler who watched this got surprised again, Catching the body in his hand, The butler looked at the unconscious boy weirdly.

    ''what''s with him?''

    This was the first time the boy had acted this way.

    ''well whatever''

    The butler didn''t care for the boy at all. Picking him up, he took him to the boy''s room.

    ''the young master is a trash anyway, there is no way he is going to be the next duke''

    Thinking this, the butler took the boy to his room andid him upon the bed.

    ''In the melvix family where strength is the most important thing he really is a garbage, the fact that he didn''t get kicked out of the family is a shocking thing in itself''

    While having this thought the butler exited the door.

    CLICK~

 Chapter 5 I Am Zick Melvix

    Waking up from his slumber, Noah looked at the ceiling above him. It was a ceiling in ssic design with a rose outline drawing in the middle.

    He felt that it was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

    "Ugh..."

    His head started hurting again as he remembered the memory of someone he didn''t know. Holding his head with his hand, he concentrated upon the memory appearing within his head.

    There was nothing interesting in the memory as everything was just gloomy from the perspective of the owner of this memory.

    ''Zick Melvix''

    That was his name. From the day he was born there was only one person who took care of him. It was his personal butler Von demise.

    Zick was thrown aside by his family as he didn''t have any talent, it was almost nonexistent both his talent for sword and mana.

    But as a noble he still got a tutor to be literate and gain knowledge about the noble society.

    He had tried learning how to use a sword but the fact that he was talentless came and hit him on the face.

    He couldn''t even sense mana that a kid in the age of 5 could do, the trainees in the field wouldugh at him for not being able to sense mana even when he had turned 8.

    The melvix are a noble family of the Cravion kingdom. They are one of the Duke ranked nobles in Cravion kingdom, the melvix family is known for their military force which is unmatched in the whole continent.

    Being one of the heirs of the malvix family holds a lot of expectation and responsibilities.

    And Zick was the definition of ipetent in their eyes so his existence was totally ignored and looked down upon by the melvix family.

    There was another fact that Zick''s hair was ck different from his family.

    Everyst person who had the blood of the melvix family running through their veins had ash-grey colour hair. With this fact he was even ignored by the knights of his family.

    Zick''s memory ends at a corridor where he was walking towards his room. At that time he was 8 and a half years old.

    "Phew....."

    Breathing out loudly, Noah was shocked at what he had seen in those memories. It was same as the novel named ''The hero of vesteric fights the demon lord''

    ''The cravion kingdom.... isn''t that from that novel..? even the melvix family, wasn''t that one of the noble families which yed an important role at the middle of the novel...?''

    His brain started running at full speed as he thought of the memory that was in his head.

    Just concentrated a little upon it, he could remember it all almost like he was the one who went through all that.

    ''wait....''

    Noah looked at his hand which he had used to hold his head, they were small unlike his hand when he used the keyboard of hisputer.

    Getting up in a hurry, he looked at his body.

    ''I became small...?''

    His body had be smaller...

    ''No that isn''t it''

    Getting out of the bed, he ran towards the big full body mirror that he remembered in my memory.

    ''wait, in my memory...?''

    My heart started beating faster thinking of this, Walking with a slowed down footstep he stood in front of the mirror.

    Looking in the mirror, There stood a kid at the age of 8 with ck hair and red eyes that shined like crystal. The boy looked very beautiful.

    It was the first time Noah had seen some so handsome in his life, he almost didn''t feel like it was human.<sub> </sub>

    Coming out of his stupor, He moved his hand and looked at the mirror. The figure in the mirror did the same thing he did.

    "I became Zick...?"

    He couldn''t believe his situation, even though it was right in front of him.

    Remembering how he had died, He walked back to his bed and started sleeping in it after putting the white nket above himself.

    He was mentally exhausted from a long.....a very long time ago.

    Experiencing one misfortune after another had made him totally exhausted. That was the reason he locked himself up in his room not getting out, he didn''t have the power to face reality again.

    "hahahaha...."

    Thinking of his current situation and how he died before made himugh for some reason.

    ''ah...it has been while since Iughed for once''

    He was aware that he was broken somewhere, he didn''t even try to take revenge against the bullies after getting out of the prison, instead he just wrote a novel to make some money to live.

    And in this world where the main character had died and everyone else was killed by the Demon race, he wasn''t confident at all to live.

    Thinking this far, he could only shake his head below the nket. Despair was the only thing he could feel.

    ''Why did I even get in this crazy world''

    "Sigh....."

    Sighing to himself, Noah no Zick got out of the bed and walked towards the door.

    If right now anyone could see his face they would see the same smile he had when he got released from his prison.

    It was morning right at the moment.

    Zick followed the new memory that he got and went towards the dining hall.

    "young master Zick, your....."

    Zick heard the voice of his butlering from the corner of the room, Turning towards the butler. Zick still had his smile stered on his face.

    "Is the breakfast ready?"

    After getting his new memory, Zick was able to talk in the nativenguage of this world.

    "...yes, please follow me"

    Saying this Von started escorting Zick.

    Von felt that something was wrong with Zick as he would never smile and speak so informally to him before.

    But Von didn''t bother thinking about it much.

    Von had been trained from a young age to serve his future lord, he trained in all house hold work and even in assassination and self defence skills to guard the life of his future lord.

    But when he was assigned as Zick''s butler, he was very disappointed and wanted to change his current lord and serve someone worthy of him.

    Even after trying for years, he was still stuck as Zick butler so he was almost going to give up but suddenly he got the information that his current lord Zick would be killed when he turned 12 year old if he didn''t show any talent in his sword training.

    This order directly came from the current lord of the Malvix family.

    ''Just four years more....''

 Chapter 6 Felix Root

    Every heir of the melvix family gets assigned a servant for them to use. These servants have been trained from a very young age to protect their future Lord no matter the cost, even if it means to sacrifice themselves.

    This servant aren''t just to take care of them in their teen, All of them have been trained in assassination and different forms of self defense.

    They must follow all the orders given by their Lord no matter what it is. All the servants have taken this oath with the god''s contract. If they ever were to break this oath it would mean their instant death.

    The God''s contract is an exclusive product of the goddess of fairness, Fiona''s church.

    The old Zick wasn''t aware of this fact but right now after Noah took over the body, he understood this fact easily with the knowledge of the novel he read before dying.

    Eating the bread which looked like it was just baked a few seconds ago, Zick thought about what he should do now.

    ''It doesn''t matter if this world is real Or not....what matter is what I am going to do in the future''

    Closing his eyes while chewing the bread in his mouth, he thought of all the things that he could remember from the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord''

    Just remembering it annoyed Zick to no end.

    ''Without strength my survival chances are quite low....''

    In this novel, there was one incident after the other where surviving without strength is almost impossible.

    ''Wait, does that even matter? the whole world was taken over by the demonic race in the end.....''

    "Sigh..."

    Zick sighed out loud thinking about it.

    Feeling Von''s gazending upon him, he turned towards him and smiled.

    Looking at Zick''s smile, Von turned his head away.

    Continuing to eat his food, he tried going through his memory again. While going through it, suddenly his eyes opened wide.

    Zick found something that was different from the novel in his memory.

    There were only five heirs in the melvix family in the novel but in his memory there were six heirs.

    Thinking of this, he remembered a line from that novel.

    ["The melvix family''s head can only be taken by the heir who''s the strongest among all the other heirs without exception. Melvix family throws away anyone else who bring shame to their name or aren''t worth their grace"]

    This was said by the First born son of the melvix family in the novel. He was the closest to be the next head of the melvix family.

    When Zick thought of this, his heart started beating faster.

    ''I was already dead before the novel even began.....''

    With another problem added to his already messed up head, he felt like flipping the table over and making a mess out of it.

    "phew....."

    Breathing out with his mouth loudly, Zick looked towards the te on the table.

    It was already empty. He didn''t notice but he had already eaten his breakfast.

    "Young master Zick, please let me...."

    Before butler Von could finish speaking as Zick interrupted him.

    "from now on make all my food with felix root, no matter what it is, my breakfast, lunch, dinner everything should be made with that root"

    Still with a smile hanging on his face, Zick said this and left the dining hall with graceful steps.

    Butler Von looked towards Zick with a nk look till he left the dining hallpletely.

    Snapping out of it, Von thought of what he just heard.

    ''Felix root...did he go crazy?''<sub> </sub>

    He couldn''t help but have this thought, the Felix root is not even eaten by the beggar because of how disgusting it tastes and smells.

    With a frown on his face, Von took the tes from the dining table and worked as usual. It didn''t matter to him what Zick did, all he had to do was follow the orders.

    *************

    Walking in the quiet corridor, Zick looked out of the window at his left side.

    There was a reason he wanted to eat felix root, though he didn''t remember the whole novel he still had some recollection of what he read.

    In the novel, the protagonist had met a beggar who had mana in the lowest rank even though he had almost no potential.

    After talking to the beggar, he got to know that the beggar ate the felix root for months to live as he had nothing else to eat with his sister.

    The beggar was 18 year old, he ate Felix root to let his sister who was still 12 year old eat the things he got from hunting monsters.

    After bing a lowest rank knight, the beggar was able to hunt weak monsters with some hard work.

    This was what the novel had told about the beggar.

    The felix root doesn''t increase your potential but just gives you mana and the ability to sense it.

    ? That was enough for me.

    ''Right now, all my problemses from the reason that I am weak''

    Only after gaining strength could he think of the other problems. There were only a few things he knew that could increase his strength right now.

    Zick knew another method that could increase his strength and potential at once in his current situation. There was only one reason he remembered this method, the procedure was very simple.

    But, he was still thinking of how to gather the material needed to use this method. The materials weren''t rare at all, instead they were very easy to find.

    Zick was hesitant to gather it because almost all the material was poison leaving one thing. If he gathered it openly, people would be wary of him for no reason.

    Zick didn''t hesitate for long in this matter.

    ''I will leave the task of gathering the material to Von''

    Zick was aware of the oath taken by the servants of the Melvix family. After an oath is made it is almost impossible to break it unless the goddess of fairness, fiona does it herself.

    Now that Von was his servant, Zick wasn''t worried about leaking any information that he was gathering poison.

    ''let''s order him to gather the materials after I am finished with the felix root''

    The felix root had a limit to how much it could increase his strength, Lowest rank knight is the limit with it.

    The knight ranking is as follow-

    Lowest rank knight.

    Low rank knight.

    Middle rank knight.

    High rank knight.

    Peak rank knight.

    After the peak rank it is not called knight any more.

    Master swordsman.

    Grandmaster swordsman.

    The protagonist of this world was at the grandmaster level at the end of the novel but still couldn''t defeat the demon lord.

 Chapter 7 Knights Training Ground

    Utilising the knowledge of the novel ''the hero of velveric fights demon lord'' was hard when Zick didn''t even know at what time in the novel he was in.

    The fact that he was still alive and the first born son of the melvix family was still in the academy had shown him that the novel hadn''t even begun.

    The first born son of the melvix family, jarvin melvix was in the middle of his 20s in the novel.

    The novel begins at the academy where the protagonist enters to be stronger.

    The only way Zick could find out how much time he had before the novel story begin was to ask his tutor about the current situation of the cravion kingdom.

    The tutores once every week to teach him a simple history of the Cravion kingdom so he wasn''t worried much about it.

    Only after knowing How much time he has can he start making ns for his future actions.

    Entering his room, Zick started changing his clothes to something that isfortable to move in.

    Right now, he was nning on going to the knight''s training ground.

    ''I don''t have anything to do anyway....doing some exercise shouldn''t matter right?''

    Zick already knew what he had to do to feel mana and control it because it was vividly described in the novel.

    Wearing a shirt with a loose sleeve and cor, he looked at himself in the mirror. He felt really weird now that he looked at himself in the mirror again.

    His body in the old world had pale skin as he would not go out of his room for a long time unlike his current skin which looked healthy.

    Even his eyes which had a huge ring dark circle had vanished.

    But still he had something to say about himself-

    ''I really am handsome aren''t I? I could have be the best actor of the year if I had this face in my old world''

    Having these narcissist thoughts, Zick went out of his room with a smile same as ever.

    Following the memories in his head, he reached the knight''s training ground.

    It was still morning so the training grounds were almost overflowing with knights doing their training as usual.

    Walking carefully so as to not disturb them, Zich headed towards the sword trainer assigned to him.

    But as he was making his way towards the destination, He felt a lot of gazesnding upon him at once.

    The people who be knights are at least at the lowest rank. People in this rank have their senses enhanced to an unbelievable level, they could even see clearly at a distance of 200 metre.

    Not everyone can be a knight or magician, Only people born with talent have chances to be a knight or a magician

    Almost everyone in here was a knight so they were able to sense Zick''s presence the moment he stepped foot on this ground.

    When the knights found out that it was Zick, they all started sneering at him.

    "what? it was just him?"

    "I don''t know why that garbage evenes here."

    "yeah, because of him...."

    Suddenly all the knights stopped talking, it almost felt like time had stopped.

    ''he smiled...?''

    Zick had turned towards them and smiled at them all.

    The knights head went nk for second seeing the smile, Zick had never shown any expression leaving a gloomy face that he had all the time.

    Ignoring the knights around him, Zick started looking around for the sword trainer he had in his memories.

    He didn''t have to look for him for long as he was standing in front of the knights while looking at him with wide eyes.

    Still with a smile stered on his face, Zick headed towards the sword trainer.

    When Zick reached in front of the sword trainer, he snapped out of his stupor and greeted him respectfully.

    "yo-young master Zick, how may I help you?"

    Even though all the knights treat him as garbage and in a disrespectful way, They can''t be disrespectful when greeting him or when he asks them something.

    Zick is a total garbage with no talent at all but still he is one of the heirs of melvix family.

    And the punishment for a knight of Melvix family to treat a heir disrespectfully is to have their head cut off without exception no matter the cause of their disrespectful behaviour.

    That is the iron d rule of the Melvix family.

    "I want to train with my sword and do a little exercise"

    "su-sure please follow me"

    The sword trainer led the way to a ce where Zick could train with ease.<sub> </sub>

    The sword trainer''s name is Garrick Moss, he had brown hair and green eyes with a strong build.

    Garrick was still feeling weird looking at the smile on Zick''s face. He has been instructing Zick for almost more than three years but Zick had never smiled even for once in these years.

    Zick didn''t bother looking at all the knights or Garrick''s face at all.

    Taking out one of the swords from the scabbard, Zick started training just like how he did in his memories.

    "Please move your waist less when you are breathing in"

    Garrick started pointing out any mistakes he made.

    Whenever Zick trained in his sword Garrick would always point out his mistake and tell him the way to do it properly.

    With Zick having no talent and not being able to sense mana, all he could do was to increase his sword skills.

    After finishing his sword training, he started doing exercise. Just running for 5 minutes. He was totally drained of energy.

    ''As I thought.... I will have to build up some stamina first''

    Looking at himself, his clothes were wet with sweat and he was still breathing roughly.

    After catching his breath, he started heading back to his room. Reaching near his room''s door, he saw Butler Von standing in front of it.

    "young master Zick, your lunch is ready"

    ''what...this fast...?''

    Not showing any of his surprise on his face, Zick still smiled towards Von.

    "Bring it to my room"

    Hearing him, Von Nodded his head and started heading towards somewhere.

    Getting into his room, Zick first took a bath and then wore one of his clothes which looked costly and fancy no matter how he saw it.

    Hearing the sound of someone knocking on the door, he opened the door and saw Von standing there with a tray of food.

    ''ugh...what''s with this smell..?''

    Zick ordered Von to leave the tray and go.

    After that, he looked at the contents of the soup bowl. It was almost like noodles, leaving the fact that they were in ck colour and fatter than noodles.

    Taking up his eating instruments, He took a strand of the felix root and munched upon it.

    The moment it entered his mouth a revolting feeling rose from his stomach. It was the most disgusting thing Zick had ever eaten in his life.

    Bringing his hand in front of his mouth, he forced himself to eat it.

    The revolting feeling only went away once he had eaten it totally.

    ''Damn, will I have to eat this shit for a whole month?''

    For a second, Zick felt like it wouldn''t matter if he just gave up.

    But he still didn''t give up, he isn''t a saint nor is he a kind person. All he wants to do now is to be stronger so that he could live a life which is stable unlike his old one.

    Thinking of his old life for some reason he didn''t feel that eating the Felix root for one month was hard at all.

    Keeping the eating instrument aside, he picked up the bowl directly and started eating without hesitation, this time when he ate the felix roots there was only a nk look in his face.

    ''Only this much is nothing''

    Yeah, just this much wasn''t enough for stopping him. He will be stronger and decide his future for himself and not let it be controlled by someone else.

    After steeling his resolve to grow stronger, Zick decided to write all the important information about the novel in a book, even though he can''t remember all of it. There shouldn''t be a problem writing a rough outline of what happened.

    After making up his mind he didn''t waste his time and started writing in his personal book.

    He wrote it in the nativenguage of the earth just to be cautious.

    Without noticing, it had already turned night.

    Hearing the sound of someone knocking on his door, he opened it.

    "Young master, your dinner is ready"

    Butler Von was standing in front of him, Seeing Zick''s smile Von frowned for a second but still kept the tray of the food in his room and left.

    Zick ate the dinner which was still felix root just like he ordered, This time he didn''t even think that it tasted bad.

    Finishing his dinner, Zick directly started sleeping in his bed without any hesitation.

    Tomorrow his tutor will being so he couldn''t wait to find out the information about the outside.

 Chapter 8 Villainess Stella Garcia

    Waking up in the morning, Zick changed his dress and wore a formal dress.

    Fixing his cors, He looked at himself in the mirror. His beautiful face was expressionless with no emotion at all. If anyone saw his face right at the moment they would have their heart beating faster.

    With just those red eyes that shined unnaturally, almost like looking for prey, it could scare away people if he didn''t control his expression at all times.

    The cold face vanished and it was reced by a smile and warm face.

    ''Perfect''

    Zick had once tried smiling in front of the mirror in the old world as Noah. There he had noticed that his smile was out of ce with the eyes and other facial movements, even he himself found it a little weird so he started practising smiling in front of the mirror whenever he got the time.

    Seeing that there was no problem with his smile leaving the fact that his facial muscles hurt a little, it was to be expected as he is still an 8 and a half year old boy right now.

    ''There is no problem with my smile then.....the knights must have been surprised because the Old Zick never smiled and always had a gloomy look....''

    "Sigh...."

    Zick''s room was dark as all the windows were covered by the curtains.

    Walking towards one of the window curtains, Zick spread it open. Feeling the light across the closed window, he opened it with a simple push after unlocking it.

    Feeling the sun rays upon his skin, He squinted his eyes and looked outside.

    The sun of this world is hotter and brighter than the sun of earth.

    All Zick could see outside was a wide field with flowers and grass in front of him, He could even see maids randomly doing their daily chores here and there. Seeing this, he only had one thought-

    ''I miss my shut-in life...''

    Shaking his head, he concentrated on what he had to do, there was no worth crying about spilled milk.

    Reaching the dining hall, Zick ate his breakfast which was felix root given by butler Von. He had already stopped getting bothered by the felix roots taste and smell.

    His tutor would be arriving in some time so he was already waiting with anticipation in one of the main hall''s sofas.

    For some reason all the passing by maids looked towards Zick with a dissatisfied gaze.

    All the maids in the estate have been facing a problem since yesterday which was caused by Zick without him knowing anything about it.

    The kitchen of the estate is filled with the disgusting smell of felix root instead of freshly baked bread.

    Even the food store room is filled with a huge amount of felix root which makes the other ingredients smell too.

    Zick didn''t bother about even thinking of their reason for showing dissatisfaction about him.

    ''it doesn''t matter....if they do something disrespectful towards me it would be off with their head after all''

    The maid''s punishment for showing disrespect to him was the same as knights.

    Zick didn''t have to wait for long as his tutor reached the estate in 10 minutes.

    The tutor was in his 50s with some of his hair already growing white, His name was viscart.

    Right now viscart was really surprised at what he was seeing, the 6th son of the melvix family, a garbage with no talent was smiling at him.<sub> </sub>

    Viscart had never seen Zick smile so he was taken by surprise and Stood at where he was standing, he looked at Zick with wide eyes.

    But he snapped out of it in a few seconds and greeted Zick.

    "Young master Zick, Shall we start our lesson for today?"

    Viscart said with a smile and soft tone. He is an experienced person who has been teaching noble sons and daughters for years so he knew how to conduct himself in front of nobles. Especially when it came to the Melvix family.

    "I really want to know about the current situation of the nobles in Cravion kingdom"

    "Sure, we can learn about that for today"

    Though Viscart was again surprised by Zick asking him a question, he still managed to respond fluidly.

    Zick had never asked him about anything in these three years.

    While talking about the nobles, Zick would ask random questions sometimes. After talking about all the nobles of cravion kingdom for more than one hour, the ss hade to an end.

    Zick also got to know what he wanted.

    ''So I have time till I turn 15 year old....that means I will be in the academy with the protagonist and the heroines''

    Still sitting on the sofa, Zick thought of what he should do in future to have the highest chance of survival.

    His tutor Viscart was very famous as a teacher in the aristocratic society for teaching kids of young age so leaving Zick he still worked for a lot of other nobles.

    Right now, Viscart is also a tutor of the daughter of the Duke Garcia, Ste garcia. Who was in the same age as Zick

    Ste Garcia was a viiness character in the novel ''the hero of velveric fights demon lord''. She went to the academy at the same time as the protagonist.

    but she wasn''t much of a viiness in Zick''s eyes as she didn''t get in the way of the protagonist much.

    Ste Garcia was madly in love with the second prince of the Cravion kingdom but the second prince was in love with one of the harem members of the Protagonist.

    For this reason Ste would bully and humiliate her. This is where all the problem begins.

    The story of the character Ste Garcia was vividly mentioned in the novel, even the reason and how she fell in love with the second prince was mentioned and exined in the novel.

    With just this much information Zick could easily figure out how much time he had.

    He already has his eyes on another thing that could increase his strength and potential.

    ''The dragon lord''s heart''

    In the novel, the dragon lord''s heart was destroyed in an incident and had been broken in many pieces.

    One of the supportive characters of the protagonist had gotten a piece of the heart. After eating it his potential had directly jumped to Master rank and it had even increased his strength a little.

    Zick was nning on hoarding the whole heart.

    The method that he was going to use after eating the felix root for one month can only increase his potential to a peak rank knight so he could only try eating this heart.

    ''I wonder what will happen if I eat the whole hearth.....it''s a dragon lords heart after all''

 Chapter 9 Mana Nerves

    Dragons are the strongest species alive in this world and they are prideful and egotistical to no end.

    Most of the time dragons live alone in theirir with the riches they collected in their youth. Only a few dragonse in contact with other species.

    In the whole history of the dragon race there had only been one dragon who had managed to be a dragon lord with unmatched strength.

    It has already been more than 20,000 years since its death but there wasn''t any other dragon lord born in this time.

    Even in the novel the protagonist could onlye in contact with them after bing friends with the elf''s kingdom queen in the second continent.

    Zick has the information about the novel so he might be one of the people who know about this world the most.

    There are three continents in this world, There is no name to the continent . The three continents were called the first continent, second continent and third continent in the novel.

    The first continent is the ce where Zick was currently in. It has three main ruling forces in it.

    The first, Cravion kingdom.

    It is known as the strongest kingdom in the first continent as it has the Melvix family backing it up.

    It is located in the west of the continent.

    The second, the Mhydrasvil empire.

    The Mhydrasvil empire was named upon the tree mentioned in ancient times called the Mhydrasvil, it was described as a tree which held the sky itself in this world.

    It is known as an empire for a reason, the current king has managed to unite all the nobles if you put it in good words and if you put it in simple manner without any filter he used overwhelming strength and crushed the noble fraction ruthlessly.

    It is located at the east side of the continent opposite the Cravion kingdom.

    And thest ruling force, the magic kingdom, Pheorous.

    ? It is also known as the Pheorous kingdom.

    It is a kingdom known for its knowledge and its development with magic. It is unmatched when ites to anything that includes magic.

    Magic weapon, golem, teleportation circle, Enchanted items....

    As long as there is the use of magic in it, the other two ruling forces can''t match the magic kingdom.

    It is located in the south of the continent.

    Right now all the three main ruling forces have formed an alliance because of the emerging danger from the third continent and second continent.

    The second continent is a littlerger than the first continent, has more greenery and fertilends where living beings can survive.

    The north of the first continent is nothing but desert so the second continent has more space than the first continent.

    There are five kingdoms in total on the second continent, but only four of them have Made a alliance and are invading the first continent to take over thends there.

    The kingdom which didn''t participate in the war is the Elf''s kingdom. The elf aren''t interested in material gains with their long life span which reaches 500 years; they are already detached from the word materialistic.

    The Elf''s kingdom is located near the World tree, they love nature more than anyone else so they protect the world tree which symbolises nature itself.

    They look down on all the species excluding dragons. They treat the dragon race with utmost respect as dragons are the species who are nearest to nature than any other species.

    With the alliance of the four kingdoms in the second continent, They started invading the first continent from the east, where the Mhydrasvil empire was located.

    Along with them, the third continent which was filled with the demonic race also started invading both the first and second continent at once.

    Fending off both the demonic race and the second continent was hard, so this alliance was created on the first continent.

    The three ruling force''s kings had made an alliance by making an oath, a very strict one at that.

    This oath applied to all the people who have the blood of the king flowing through them. If any of the royalty were to damage or attack each other with their own will for no apparent reason they would go through a pain that is worse than being pierced by a sword a thousand times. After going through the pain they would die.

    It is a cruel oath which was made after going to the church of the goddess of fairness directly.

    Thinking of all this, Zick trained usually in the knight''s training ground to increase his stamina.<sub> </sub>

    Zick not only had to learn about the history, he still had to take sses in ball party dancing and aristocratic behaviour. But luckily all these were held once a week and on a different day than the other.

    Eating felix roots, practising dancing and aristocratic behaviour time went by very fastly.

    In one week, Zick could feel that mana was being stored in his body. Feeling the mana, he was ecstatic for a long time and trained in his sword skill with more vigour.

    Only after a month could Zick feel that the mana had stopped increasing in his body.

    ''it''s time....''

    Now that his body had enough mana, he didn''t hesitate to be a lowest rank knight.

    Entering his room he sat upon the bed.

    The procedure was very simple, he had to bring all his mana into the heart then make it flow like nerves and connect it to every part of the body.

    But it didn''t seem like it would go as simply as it was supposed to.

    Though the mana in his body followed his will, it took a lot of time to move.

    Just bringing all his mana to the heart was hard and when he had finished bringing it there, his heart couldn''t even take the pressure of that little amount of mana and made him go through a lot of pain.

    ''Damn...this garbage body....''

    Zick could easily find out the reason this was happening, it was a very simple answer too.

    His body wasn''t capable of taking in the mana.

    Not stopping, he started sending the mana through his blood to alleviate the pain.

    "Huff....huff..."

    Breathing roughly he Closed his eyes and then focused on his mana and started making mana nerves.

    This time, he felt itchy all over his body when the mana nerves were being made.

    Bearing with it, Zick didn''t give up and kept making nerves non-stop.

    After ten minutes, He had finished creating nerves and connecting it all.

    Now that he had created his mana nerves he wouldn''t have to do things like this until he reached the peak rank.

    The mana nerves in his body would just collect the mana that his body epts.

    A lot of things have changed in this one month, doing exercise had given him a little muscle too.

    After creating the mana nerves, his natural strength and senses had increased a little. But that isn''t what is the main feature you get after bing a lowest rank.

    Now that Zick had mana nerves in his body, he could strengthen himself with the mana when he needed to, which is the main feature of bing a lowest rank knight.

    Lowest ranking is where a Knight build his foundation to be stronger in the future. Now whenever he ranks up, it would increase his body strength along with mana.

    It was still in the morning so Zick took a bath and headed towards the knight''s training ground.

    The knights of the Melvix family have grown used to seeing Zick smiling the whole time so they ignored him and some even began talking behind his back like normal.

    But when Zick started walking towards his sword trainer Garrick, everyones froze in their ce.

    It was different from how they all had stopped moving when they looked at Zick smile for the first time.

    At that time everyone was stupefied from surprise, but now the air had turned solemn around the knights, even their expression was serious as they scanned Zick''s body over and over again.

    No one in the training ground could believe what they were feeling.

    ''There are mana nerves in his body...he has be a lowest rank knight''

    That is the day when everyone would know that the garbage of the melvix family, the 6st son who''s potential was measured as almost nonexistent had be a lowest rank knight.

 Chapter 10 Training With Mana

    While entering the knight''s training ground Zick was thinking of the beggar who had been eating the felix root in the novel.

    The beggar had turned into a lowest rank knight with noplications at all unlike him.

    In other words, The beggar had more potential than Zick.

    When he thought of this, he didn''t even know what he should be feeling.

    ''I can only train harder and use all the opportunities that will appear in the future to grow stronger''

    Heading towards where Garrick was, Zick felt his body lighter than before as his strength has increased.

    He had already expected the reaction of the knights when they would see his mana nerves.

    Looking at the knights from the corner of his eyes, Zick could feel the mana around them. But it was hard to guess what rank they were in as it was his first time experiencing feeling the mana around them.

    Reaching in front of Garrick, he still had a smile on his face.

    "I want to learn how to use mana"

    He spoke straightforwardly without hiding that he had be a lowest rank knight at all.

    ''It doesn''t matter anyway....''

    Garrick was a high rank knight so he should be able to sense Zick''s rank with a single nce.

    And there was another benefit by not hiding his strength: The Zick in the novel had been killed by the melvix family without a doubt. The reason they killed him must be for not having any talent so right now he could only try showing his talent to decrease one of the dangers which could potentially kill him in the future.

    Zick had already calcted all the pros and cons of showing his strength a very long time ago.

    Even Garrick had a solemn look on his face, with wrinkles forming on his face he asked.

    "Young master Zick, this....''

    " What? I just want to train on how to use mana, can''t you teach me?? "

    Zick said with a dissatisfied tone and cold eyes which didn''t match the smile on his face at all.

    "No....we can start training on it right away"

    Garrick answered with a respectful tone just like always. When he thought of it rationally, he didn''t have any right to ask an heir of Melvix how he had be a lowest rank knight, even if he is garbage with almost no support.

    If he had not stopped himself in the middle, it could have led to his death.

    Just asking that question is disrespectful in itself.

    But Garrick wasn''t the only one who wanted to know how Zick had been able to be a lowest rank knight. All the knights were also concentrating upon their conversation but they all sighed when Garrick didn''t ask the question.

    There were at least 500 knights in the training grounds right at the moment so it wouldn''t be long before everyone knew that Zick had be a lowest rank knight.

    Garrick led Zick to an empty ce where he could train easily.

    Garrick started giving instructions on how to train in his mana.

    For now, Zick had to practise using mana on the sword as there were chances of failing when trying to use mana upon the body directly.

    It could lead to a lot of internal injuries not mention about Zick, whose body was already a garbage through and through

    Applying mana on the sword is a very simple process, where he just has to make the mana flow into the sword naturally from his mana nerves.

    Only after making your mana flow into the sword can he start training on how to maintain it and Strengthen it ordingly.

    Zick''s sword shined with a light blue colour as he tried sending mana into it. But the light kept shaking, showing that it was not stable.

    Closing his eyes, he concentrated upon the mana and made it stable.

    Opening his eyes, he looked at the fluctuating light blue colour covering his sword.

    "congrattions young master, you are able to strengthen your sword with mana now"

    Garrick said with a smile but internally he was a little surprised.

    Applying mana to the sword needs a strong ''will'' to control the mana so he was surprised that Zick did it so fast when he was still an 8 year old boy.

    His will was actually stronger than even an adult as he was already 25 year old before dying and had gone through a lot of misfortune.

    Applying mana to the sword had a lot of benefits.

    The sword''s defence increases and even its destructive force increases along with it.

    But The main benefit is that the mana in the sword would enter the enemies body when you wound them in the body.<sub> </sub>

    This will make their wound hard to heal and even lead to permanent injuries.

    It can be easily ovee if the mana in the enemy body is in a higher rank than his.

    Or else the only method to remove the mana is to use a high rank potion. But that doesn''t apply to a master swordsman.

    They use aura which is a higher form of power than mana which is a basic form of power.

    "phew...."

    After being able to apply mana on his sword, Zick breathed out loudly. He could feel that with the amount of mana that he has he could only keep this up for 3 minutes.

    "Use your sword to attack me, with this it would let you get use to your new strength faster"

    Garrick had taken out the sword from his sheath and was catching it in a defensive position.

    Not hesitating, Zick swung his sword vertically towards Garrick with sharp eyes.

    But the moment, Garrick and Zick''s sword came in contact-

    DRIP-DRIP

    Zick''s palm started bleeding heavily as the skin of his palm tore apart, not being able to take the force of his sword''s sh with another sword.

    Both Zick himself and Garrick had forgotten that he was still an 8 year old kid.

    "pshhhh...."

    Feeling the burning pain in his hand, Zick breathed in with a clenched jaw.

    Running toward him, Garrick had a frightened look on his face.

    A simr incident had happened with the second heir of the Melvix family. In which the second heir had gotten a cut in his face mistakenly done by his sword instructor.

    But the second heir had sentenced the sword instructor to death by saying-

    ["you have done a disrespectful act by not being careful enough with your sword"]

    Then the sword instructor was beheaded in front of all the knights, it has been 7 years since that incident but Garrick remembers it like the back of his hand.

    At that time he was just a normal knight and not a sword instructor.

    Taking out a healing potion from his space ring, he tried pouring it at the wound in Zick palm.

    But was suddenly stopped by Zick.

    "Don''t use a potion....just bandage it up"

    Hearing this, a dazed look appeared in Garrick''s face as he nkly looked at Zick.

    "Start bandaging my wound already"

    The smile on Zick''s face had appeared back in a few seconds after bearing the pain in his hand.

    Snapping out of it, Garrick hurriedly started bandaging Zick''s palm.

    ''I will have to grow used to the pain...''

    Zick would have to go through pain that would be hundreds of times worse than just his palm bleeding so he wanted to grow used to it as fast as possible.

    After a minute, his palm was totally covered in bandages.

    Looking at it, he nodded his head. The pain had not disappeared at all.

    "That would be it for today''s sword training you can go back to your work"

    Saying this, Zick started running to see how much his stamina had increased after bing a lowest rank knight.

    Looking at Zick running, Garrick didn''t know what he was thinking at all but in the end he just sighed in relief and went to his work.

    Zick could run for almost 20 minutes now that his strength and vitality has increased.

    Knights are known for their tenacious life force in the battlefield and how they are hard to kill in the first ce.

    Even as a lowest rank knight, Zick''s vitality had increased by quite a bit.

    Heading back to the estate, there was onest thing he had to do for today.

    ''I will have to order Von to gather all the material....''

 Chapter 11 Unorthodox Method

    It was still in the middle of the day.

    Zick headed towards the dining hall to have his lunch.

    While he entered the Dining hall, he could sniff out the disgusting smell of the felix root lingering in the air.

    He had just created his Mana nerves in the morning so he hadn''t told Butler Von to stop cooking food with felix root just yet.

    Looking at Butler Von standing beside the dining table with wide eyes staring nkly at him.

    Zick shed a smile towards Butler von like an innocent kid matching his appearance.

    Butler Von has been getting criticised by the maids and the chef in the kitchen for a while now.

    He ignored theirints by hearing it from one ear and letting it out from the other.

    Even if theyin they can''t do anything more than that. His position was higher than them as he is a butler of an heir of the Melvix family.

    Doing what he was ordered to do by his lord was more important than worrying about the worries of some unimportant people.

    Following the order of your lordes above everything else.

    This is what he has been taught from a young age. No matter what it is he willplete the task given to him.

    Even if he didn''t like his current lord and wanted to serve someone else, he will still always obey the order given to him faithfully.

    All he had to do was follow the orders, that''s all, nothing more nothing less.

    But right now for the first time in his life he didn''t know what he should do or feel.

    ''He became a lowest rank knight.....but how?''

    He almost felt like he was dreaming.

    Butler Von is a high rank assassin so he could feel the mana nerves in Zick body more clearer than anyone else right now.

    "Throw it away"

    Hearing Zick talking him, he snapped out of his stupor.

    "yes..?"

    ''Throw what away...?''

    Butler Von became confused about what Zick was trying to say.

    "I am telling you to throw the food on the table away."

    Zick said with his arm crossed as he sat on the luxurious chair.

    "....."

    Not asking the reason behind it, butler Von took the food on the table and handed it over to one of the maids who took it with trembling hands.

    The maid couldn''t bear the smell of the felix root and started running somewhere to throw it away.

    Seeing all this, Zick still had a smile on his face like an innocent kid.

    "From now on there is no need to cook my food with felix root anymore" Zick didn''t care even if someone found out that he used Felix roots to be a knight. It didn''t held much value and the chances of someone looking into it was also low.

    Butler Von nodded his head in understanding.

    "Hmm....then bring the food in my room and....bring something that tastes good."

    Zick thought of eating something good to celebrate bing a lowest rank knight.

    "yes young master"

    Answering to Zick, Butler Von left the dining hall.

    Zick also went to his room and sat upon the bed.

    "sigh....this stupid etiquettes...."

    In his aristocratic behaviour sses he had been learning how to conduct himself like a proper noble.

    It literally applies to everything.

    The way he walks, the way he eats, the way he greets others.....

    It is almost endless, learning all this Zick found himself annoyed to no end.<sub> </sub>

    ''I am an heir of the Melvix family so I will only have to treat the other Duke nobles with respect so why do I have to learn all this.....''

    Even the way he walks has changed a lot from before. It has be a lot refined and graceful.

    While having these thoughts, time passed by and then around 20 minutester Butler Von knocked on his door.

    A smile appeared on Zick''s face as he ordered Butler Von to enter.

    With a tray of food like always Butler Von entered his room. The only difference was that there wasn''t any disgusting smelling from the food like before.

    When butler Von ced the tray on the table of his room, Zick could see meat which looked delicious.

    ''even the smell of the meat is good''

    "Just wait in the corner of the room until I finish my food, I have a order for you"

    Saying such an outrageous thing, Zick started eating his food.

    Butler Von walked to the corner of the room without making any sound and stood there like a statue.

    ''that tasted new....it must be one of the dishes from this world''

    Finishing eating his food, Zick kept the eating instrument back in the tray and beckoned butler Von toe near him.

    "Now hear me closely, the thing we talk here should not be leaked out no matter what, that''s an order"

    Hearing Zick''s serious voice, his face became serious too.

    "The fire crystal poison, water crystal poison, mana crystal poison and the heart of any 10 mammalian monsters.....I need all this four things"

    It was one of the unorthodox methods to increase someone''s strength and potential mentioned in the novel.

    But Zick, wasn''t bothered about it, if it could increase his strength without facing any setbacks which might be serious, he would do it without any hesitation.

    "....will any monster which is a mammal type work?"

    Butler Von said with a cold voice equally matching his face right now.

    "Yes any mammal monster will do, I will leave it up to you now, collect all this in one week"

    Zick said with a smile which didn''t match a person who was ordering poison at all.

    "yes.....I shall collect it within one week"

    Saying this, butler Von left the room.

    The first three items in the things listed by Zick are poison.

    The fire crystal poison is found in the fire crystal mines, it is a poison which could even kill high rank knights if not treated with an antidote the day they were poisoned.

    Fire crystal poison is in the form of small crystals just like fire crystals but they will break immediately if a little force is applied to it by hand.

    Fire crystals boost the power of any fire type magic.

    The water crystal poison is the same as fire leaving the fact that the poison is in the form of water.

    The water crystal boosts the power of water type magic.

    Mana crystal poison is the rarest but with Melvix family wealth it could easily be brought.

    Mana crystals sell for a lot of money in almost all the kingdoms.

    In the Cravion kingdom, one mana crystal can be sold up to 3 tinum coins.

    The form of currency in Cravion kingdom is dels

    One bronze coin= 500 dels

    one silver coin= 5000 dels

    one gold coin= 10,000 dels

    One tinum coin= 100,000 dels

    30,000 dels is enough for a normal citizen of Cravion kingdom to live without worry for one month which is 3 gold coins.

    Zick knew the information about an undiscovered mana crystal mine from the novel and He nned on mining it in the future to make a lot of money.

    Thinking this, his mood brightened a little.

 Chapter 12 Growing Stronger Faster Than Others

    In the Melvix estate''s lord room.

    The current Duke of the Cravion kingdom and the head of the Melvix family, Zevkoras Melvix was pleasantly surprised looking at the report.

    He looked to be in his 50s, with blue eyes and ash-grey hair. he also was one of the master swordsmen in the Cravion kingdom .

    Zevkoras had ordered all the sword instructors of his sons and daughters to report to him of all the progress made by his heirs a long time ago.

    Anyone with a little brain could figure this out very easily. Only a fool would be ignorant of this fact.

    ''I can''t let a fool be the next head of the family can I?''

    Zevkoras Is devoted to the Melvix family to no end, for the Melvix family he would sacrifice anything even if it is his own Heir within whom his blood flows.

    Right now he had gotten a report from an unexpected person.

    The sword instructor of his 6st son, Zick Melvix.

    Seeing the name in the paper, Zevkoras remembered a woman''s face.

    ''Anisha.....Anisha velscar....''

    Anisha Velscar was the second daughter of the Duke Velscar family in her time.

    The Velscar family is the third Duke rank noble in the Cravion kingdom.

    Anisha Velscar married into the Melvix family, the one she married was Zevkoras who was fighting at that time to be the next head of the Melvix family.

    But she had died one years after giving birth to Zick Melvix because of her weak constitute.

    Anisha had helped Zevkoras to be the next head by marrying him. With the support of Duke Velscar, Zevkoras was able to be the head of the Melvix family With ease.

    This is the reason he is even giving Zick a chance and letting him live till he has turned 12 year old. He is just repaying the debt he owned to Anisha.

    Just keeping Zick around the Melvix family as an heir is a huge problem for him. Zick doesn''t have ash-grey hair like the other heirs and even his talent is non-existent....or at least it was.

    ''I thought of him as a defect.....but he became a lowest rank knight...? and he is still 8 years old...''

    The other heirs have also managed to be a lowest rank knight at the age of 8 and 9 but he didn''t expect Zick to be one of them.

    ''I should watch his progress closely then''

    Folding the report, he kept it in the drawer.

    *************

    One week had already passed since the day Zick had be a lowest rank knight.

    In the past week, he had been training with his mana in the training ground nonstop which resulted in him being able to strengthen his body with mana now.

    But he is still training on using mana on his sword and body at once. Using them at the same time resulted in depleting his whole mana in not even one minute while sparring with Garrick.

    ''sigh.....I am still in the lowest rank, what was I even expecting...?''

    Thinking of this, Zick was eating his lunch with a fork. His hands were covered in new bandages after sparring with Garrick.

    Now he could sh his sword with Garrick for a few time before bleeding again from his palm.

    But it is going better than Zick had thought. If he strengthened his palm with mana he wouldn''t bleed for a very long time.

    <o>,m Well but it leads to him running out of mana in just 1 to 2 minutes.</o>

    Not staying in his depressive thoughts for long, he moved on as today is the day he uses the unorthodox method.

    Zick had already ordered Butler Von to keep all the things he ordered in his room.

    "Phew...."

    Breathing out loudly, Zick tried to calm himself down. He could feel his heart beating faster in excitement.

    CLUCK~

    Opening the door, he entered and looked towards the table where he saw a ring.

    ''Space ring....''

    It seems Butler Von had kept all the items he ordered in the ring. Zick felt that it was natural, there is no way anyone would keep 10 hearths in a box or bag.

    Picking up the ring, he sat on the ground instead of the bed as to not stain the bed sheet with blood.

    After making sure that there was nothing near him that could get dirty, he wore the ring in his index finger of the right hand.<sub> </sub>

    Sending his mana into the ring, Zick could feel the items he ordered inside it.

    There were three poison and 10 hearts in the ring.

    Zick thought of the method which was mentioned in the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord''

    This Unorthodox method was not found by the protagonist, instead one of the members of his harem had found it.

    It was found in the second continent, Inside ab of an alchemist who had died a while ago before the protagonist had reached theb.

    At that time the protagonist was looking for an alchemist who would make him a potion from the world tree''s leaf. But unluckily the alchemist was already dead so they had to look for someone else.

    Before leaving, one of the protagonist''s harem members, who was a mage, had collected all the research papers of the dead alchemist.

    The alchemist was in thest step ofpleting his research before dying so the mage was able toplete it with a little hard work.

    Later in the novel this method was used upon one of the supportive characters who helped the protagonist.

    Looking at his clothes, Zick decided to remove them too as to not stain them.

    Now sitting in the lotus position, He took out the fire crystal poison first. Without hesitation he took a bite of it.

    Feeling the burning sensation rise from his stomach, he put back the Fire crystal poison in the ring using his mana.

    He took out the water crystal poison next and took a sip of it too.

    This time a cooling sensation spread in his mouth but when it reached the stomach, both the fire crystal poison and water crystal poison reacted vigorously.

    "Ugh!"

    ''Damn...I am still in the first step and I already feel this much pain''

    He felt like His innards were being torn apart forcefully.

    Putting the water crystal poison back in the ring, He took out the Mana crystal poison.

    With a resolute expression he took a sip of it too and put it back in the ring hastily.

    Taking out the red heart which still had some blood dripping from it, he brought it near his mouth and tried to eat it but....

    "Ugh!!.....cough!...cough!!"

    The mana crystal poison in his stomach enhanced the power of the already existing poison. Which resulted in-

    His body was bleeding from his eyes,mouth and nose.

    ''Damn it! I have to eat the heart fast''

    Using all the strength he had in his hand he forced the heart into his mouth. Not bothering to chew it, he directly ate it in one gulp.

    When the heart reached his stomach, he felt the pain subsiding and a cool sensation travelling to every part of his body, but he knew that it was not over yet.

    Zick''s face kept growing darker as he waited for the next step to begin.

    CRA-CRACK!!

    "Ugh!!...Guhhh!!"

    His bone started reforming first, all the bones in his body made a crackling sound as it got strengthened.

    Next his muscle tissues started reforming, Feeling another wave of pain running through his body, Zick clenched his teeth harder.

    One by one all parts of his body were strengthened.

    After one minute.

    "huff....huff...huff..."

    Zicky sprawled on the ground breathing roughly. He could feel that his potential had increased by quite a lot, Even his strength had increased.

    There was another thing that benefitted along with his body it was mana. The mana nerves in his body grew purer and its structure was little altered to fit my body perfectly. Even the amount of mana he had increased.

    ''I will have to do that 9 more times...?''

    Just thinking of it made him feel helpless.

    But it brought a lot of benefits other than just increasing his potential. It gave him a huge boost in bing stronger and faster even though his potential can only be increased to a peak rank knight.

    It is natural that someone who has a master swordsman potential grows stronger faster but Zick was confident in growing stronger faster than them until he bes a peak rank knight.

 Chapter 13 Garcia Ceremonial Party

    After few hours,

    Zick''s room was covered in the smell of blood as heid on the ground looking at the ceiling nkly.

    ''....it''s over atst...''

    Zick haspleted doing the same process for 9 times more in the few hours that have passed by.

    Zick could feel that he has crossed the halfway mark of the lowest rank.

    And he can be a low rank knight in 3 to 4 months.

    It was unexpected from Zick''s perspective, he had expected to reach the peak of the lowest rank but it seems his garbage body absorbed more mana than he had thought.

    ''Ah...this body never does seize getting in my way....but luckily I won''t have worry about it for a long time''

    Getting up from the ground, Zick took a bath and washed the blood off himself.

    He called Butler Von and ordered him to clean the blood off the floor.

    Butler Von had a nk look while he was cleaning the blood in the floor. He could find the remains of poison mixed with the blood which made him curious as to what Zick was trying to do.

    But in the end he didn''t ask anything and just did what he was ordered to do.

    When everything was done and there was no proof left of him using the unorthodox method.

    It had already be night with cold breeze flowing in the knight''s training ground.

    Right now, Zick was sitting in the middle of the training ground with his eyes closed.

    Now that his potential has increased to a peak rank knight, he can strengthen himself normally without the help of any outside stimulus like felix root.

    The mana around him was converging towards him and entering his body, flowing through the mana nerves then dispersing in the air again.

    In this process his mana nerves absorbed a little of the mana going through it.

    If he had done this process before using the unorthodox method, the mana would just go through his mana nerves without getting absorbed at all.

    ''I should be able to reach low rank knight in the next 4 months''

    ************

    Time passed by without anyone noticing and Zick turned 10 years old with nothing special excluding the fact that he was a low rank knight.

    He had be a low rank knight when he turned 9 years old which surprised everyone around him.

    In the past one year and 6 months Zick has been training vigorously until he was bleeding from all over his body.

    The sparring between Zick and Garrick had never stopped in this past year, it just grew more and more harsh with Zick ordering Garrick to fight seriously.

    This event led Zick''s sword skill to match any knight of the Melvix family and even surpass some of them.

    When it came to using the sword purely with just skills Zick Was one the people who used it the most efficiently.

    Even though hecked experience, he could make up for it with his skills.

    Right now Zick was standing in front of the Melvix estate''s lord room, looking at the door with suspicion all written over his expression.

    For some reason the current head of the Melvix family had ordered Zick to Come meet him in his room.

    Zick was at the peak of the low rank knight and he was confident that he would be a middle rank knight in 1 month so he was surprised when he was suddenly invited like this.

    "Phew...."

    Breathing out all the tension in his body, He entered the room calmly.

    CLUCK~

    As he entered through the door, he could see a man with ash-grey hairs who looked to be in his 50s.

    When his eyesnded upon the figure, goosebumps started rising from all over his body.

    ''he is a monster as expected....he is one of the master Swordsman of the Cravion kingdom after all''

    With his senses improved, Zick could feel the ominous feeling around the man.

    "So you came atst"

    Zevkoras was able to feel Zick''s presence for a long time before he even reached in front of the door. But still acted along to let Zick rx.

    Zevkoras had been watching Zick''s progress the past year and was satisfied with him.

    Zick had his unwavering smile on his face like always, he knew that zevkoras could feel his presence but still didn''t say anything about it.

    "Yes, I havee as you ordered father"

    Zick said with a smile showing etiquette he has learned in the past year.

    After turning 10 years old he didn''t need to take any of his history, ball dancing or aristocratic behaviour sses any more which satisfied him a lot. Now he could solely train in mana and sword skill without worry.<sub> </sub>

    Looking at his behaviour, Zevkoras was surprised, he had met Zick when he had turned 5 years old, at that time he would always stutter and not see into his eyes as if he was scared of something.

    "Then, I have a task for you"

    Zevkoras said with a cold expression not showing his surprise.

    ''Task..?''

    Zick looked towards Zevkoras, waiting for him to continue exining.

    "The first daughter of Duke garcia is going to turn 10 years old so they are going to keep a ceremonial party, the Melvix family has been invited too"

    He started exining the reason behind him calling Zick leisurely.

    ''Ste Garcia...''

    Zick had almost forgotten about her in this past year, he didn''t know there was going to be a twist in the plot like this so early.

    "And another thing, what do you think the Melvix family should give as a gift to Ste Garcia"

    Zevkoras asked with a probing smile.

    Zick head started working at full speed to see if there was anything Ste liked in the novel.

    ''Nothing....''

    There wasn''t or at least he doesn''t remember anything like that. But he remembers some of the information about Ste which could be useful right at the moment.

    The fact that Ste Garcia has a weak constitute should be known by now in the noble society.

    "I heard that Miss Ste has a weak constitute so I rmend giving something that can be useful to her health"

    Hearing Zick''s answer, Zevkoras could only nod his head as he also thought the same thing.

    "The party is in a week so be ready in the morning tomorrow, a carriage will be waiting for you in the front of the estate"

    "....yes"

    After Zick went away, in a few minutes a woman in her 30s entered the estate''s Lord room.

    She looked beautiful with dark purple hair and a slim body even in her thirties.

    "....why are you sending that deadbeat to an important party like this"

    But right now there was a frown on her beautiful face with dissatisfaction written all over her face.

    She was the mother of the first born son of the Melvix family and the main wife of Zevkoras. Her name was re Melvix.

    She was already a bit dissatisfied with Zick staying in the Melvix estate unlike the other heirs.

    Zevkoras had sent all the other heirs away from the estate toplete the task given to them.

    That is the reason Zick hasn''t met any of the other heirs in the past year.

    "Like I said, we will give him a task too when he turns 12 year old, you don''t have to be so dissatisfied"

    He could tell what his wife was thinking with a single nce.

    "We have already talked about this, there is nothing else to be decided, you can take your leave re"

    Zevkoras said with cold eyes as he looked at his wife. The air around him changed along with his mood.

    Taking a look at Zevkoras face, re backed down and left the room without saying anything else.

    "hmph! That scheming woman is going after Zick too?"

    Another voice could be heard in the room when re stepped out.

    Suddenly a person with ck robe covering his whole body appeared in the corner of the room.

    "Be sure to protect Zick until he turns 12 year old, I can''t let any of the heir who have talent die just like that"

    If Zick died after bing 12 years old, then he was just not talented enough to be the next head of the Melvix family.

    ? "yes"

    The person with ck robe vanished in thin air after saying this, he is one the master Assassin in the Melvix family.

    Zevkoras puts a master assassin as a guard to any of the heirs whom he finds talented enough to protect.

    And Zick was more than just talented, even genius didn''t fit him. He was able to be a low rank knight before even turning 10 years old.

    After meeting with him, Zevkoras could say that he was in the peak of the low rank with just a nce. He is a master swordsman, anyone who reaches this rank has already surpassed human limits to arge degree.

    "hahaha, you should enjoy your time until you turn 12 years old"

 Chapter 14 Mythical Beast

    After bing 10 year old, Zick''s body has grown a lot more mature than before. Bing a low rank knight had boosted his body growth by a lot.

    He didn''t look much masculine nor too thin, he had a normal build with some muscles. But the strength within his body is at least 20 times stronger than a normal adult without using his mana.

    He had stopped exercising as it is a waste of his time, it wouldn''t increase his strength at all.So his muscles stopped increasing.

    When he became a low rank knight, his mana storage increased by almost 3 folds and he got a massive boost in his strength too.

    In the beginning of his sparring with Garrick, Garrick would always be on the defensive when he attacked, which didn''t help him in learning the limit of his strength at all.

    That is the reason Zick ordered Garrick to fight him seriously. But even after that Garrick would always stop any attack that was about tond on Zick''s body.

    In the end Zick could only threatened him to fight seriously by saying-

    ["Holding back against an heir of the Melvix family even though you were ordered to go all out is a disrespectful act. From now on if you ever held back on attacking any opening you found on me by stopping, i will sentence you to death for performing a disrespectful act against me"]

    The only way to find his shoring was to make Garrick attack him and find out what mistake he has beenmitting.

    Garrick could have pointed all these mistakes out but that isn''t enough for Zick. Learning it practically was faster.

    From then on, Zick and Garrick would spar till Zick Bled from all around his body.

    But Garrick made sure to not apply mana in his sword while fighting Zick to make sure that the wounds could be healed properlyter.

    He never held back on attacking at any Openings he got just like he was ordered which brought dozens of cuts in Zick''s skin.

    Zick''s clothes would always be soaked in blood whenever he left the knight''s training ground. Luckily there was a lot of healing potion in there so he could always heal his wounds.

    But still this resulted in there being a lot of scars in his body. There wasn''t a single scar in his face as Garrick never even once tried attacking Zick''s face.

    Zick wasn''t worried about all the dress which had been torn apart while sparing. With the wealth of Melvix family he could buy as many as dress he wants.

    The knights present in the training ground were astonished at the beginning when Zick started training like this.

    p But it slowly turned into admiration when they found out Zick sword skills were improving with leap and bound.</anda>

    Zick had noticed their admiration from looking at them easily but he never once tried bing closer to any of them.

    He didn''t n on bing the next head of the Melvix family at all. Instead he was already nning on using the money he got from selling mana crystal in the future to make a vi at a far away ce and live there in peace for the rest of his life after making sure that there wasn''t anything that could endanger his life.

    ''If anyone from earth saw me right now they would think of me as a masochist without a doubt''

    While having these random thoughts, Zick went to Butler Von who was in the Main hall waiting for him.

    "Prepare all the necessary things to travel to Duke garcia''s ceremonial party"

    "Yes young master, at what time may you be leaving?"

    "its tomorrow morning and its ''we'' you areing with me"

    "..."

    Throwing all the responsibilities for preparing things necessary for travelling to Butler Von. Zick went to his room to cultivate a little mana.

    It was still noon so there was some time left before he had his dinner.<sub> </sub>

    Zick has already grown used to his new life here by now.

    Even Butler Von had grown used to Zick treating him like this in the past year. He had already given up on serving another lord after seeing Zick''s improving reputation in the Melvix family.

    After seeing Zick being sent to an important party like this by the head of the Melvix family it was more apparent that Zick would not be killed when he turned 12 year old.

    In the first ce Butler Von wanted to serve someone else because of Zick not having any talent but now that he was showing abnormal level of talent, he had just epted it as it was.

    From the beginning to the end he didn''t have the right to choose who he would serve, only following the order of the current lord is all he could do.

    Entering his room, Zick changed intofortable clothes and started cultivating with mana.

    After two hours of training, he stopped and looked out of the window, it was already night by then.

    Zick took the diary from the space ring in which he had written about all the information of the novel and started reading it.

    He thought of Ste''s story to be very exaggerated in the novel.

    Ste fell in love with the second prince of the Cravion kingdom at their first meeting. It was on her 10th birthday, where the second prince had given her a flower which he had picked up while travelling.

    The ste at that time was still a 10 year old girl, being given a flower from a Handsome boy had made her fall for....

    ''ah...just thinking of it makes me cringe....''

    Well to be straight forward it all began because the second prince had given a flower to Ste.

    The flower name was veisspec, it is one of the flowers which can only be found in this world. It glowed with a white halo around six petals like a rose.

    The Garcia family is different from the Melvix family, the Melvix family make their heirs go through vigorous training from a very young age which leads them to maturing faster.

    And the Garcia family let their heir choose what they want to do. In other word most of the heirs of the Garcia family are spoiled childrens.

    Zick didn''t n on stopping this event from happening at all.

    ''It''s the protagonist and the second prince problem not mine''

    He just nned on staying in the corner of the party hall not gathering any attention upon him.

    There was only one thing he wanted to do in the Garcia territory.

    ''The mythical beast....''

    In the estate of the Garcia family there is a mythical beast which is protecting it from generations like a guardian.

    It is ck cat which loves wine.

    This ck cat has the power to say prophesies about anyone. Though it is a bit vague it hade in use to the protagonist once.

    It wasn''t much of a problem for Zick to bring a wine to the Garcia estate, the more the wine is of good quality the more the prophecy bes clearer.

    Zick had made up his mind to take the best wine found in the whole Melvix family with him to Garcia''s estate.

    ''it''s only wine anyway.....the prophecy shoulde in use to me''

 Chapter 15 Melvix Family Plaque

    The next morning.

    Wearing an aristocratic dress, Zick looked at himself in the mirror.

    ''The more I grow up the more handsome I became.....with this looks I totally surpass the protagonist''s charms don''t I ?''

    Having such a narcissistic thought, he tried smiling at himself in the mirror. Looking at the beautiful smile which can charm anyone he had another thought.

    ''I would like to take the dragon heart in this journey but that''s impossible...''

    The dragon heart is located at the east of the first continent where the Mhydrasvil empire is currently located.

    "Sigh....."

    Sighing to himself, Zick took ast look into his ring to see if he didn''t miss anything. There was a diary, some spare dress, some swords and two bottles of wine.

    He carried the diary around with him even though it is written in the nativenguage of earth just in case if he needs it.

    He got the Wine bottles from Butler Von at dinner yesterday. He could only take two of the best bottles of wine as it is so rare that there are only five bottles in the whole Melvix family.

    With just these four items the space ring''s storage was fully filled.

    ''I should buy a better space ring if I can''

    Not owning any money made him ufortable but he couldn''t do anything about it right at the moment.

    Heading towards the front of the estate, Zick could see a carriage in front of the gate.

    The carriage looked fancy no matter how he looked at it. The ting of the carriage was in brown colour along with designs made of gold upon it.

    The thing which caught Zick interest the most was the crest which looked like a ck sword aiming at the sun, it was etched in the middle of the carriage.

    It was the Melvix family''s crest.

    Walking near it, Zick could see 10 horses with knights sitting upon it positioned in front and back of the carriage.

    Suddenly one of the knights headed towards Zick with his horse. Getting near him, he got off the horse''s back and kneeled.

    THUD! THUD!...

    Zick could hear all the knights getting down their horse and kneeling towards him.

    "We have been ordered to escort you to the Garcia estate safely, Young master Zick"

    The one who kneeled in front of him started speaking when all the knights had also kneeled.

    The knight looked to be in his 30s with light weight armour and a sword with the Melvix family crest drawn on it, which hung in his waist. He had brownish hair and two sharp brown eyes matching his hair.

    ''What....''

    Being in the knight''s training ground for so long, Zick could tell the ranks of the other people easily by looking at the mana around them. Only the mana of the assassin is hard to make out for Zick now.

    The knight kneeling in front of him was a peak rank knight without a doubt. He knew that there would be knights to guard him but he didn''t expect it to be a peak rank knight.

    Peak rank knights are already an elite force, losing them is a huge loss that cannot be taken lightly even by the ruling forces.

    All the other knights guarding him were high rank knight too.

    ''one peak rank knight and nine high rank knight....unless a master swordsman appears I don''t have anything to fear''

    "What is your name?"

    Zick asked the peak rank knight with a smile on his face.

    "Vincent, sir!"

    Answering in a loud voice, Vincent bowed his head lower with respect written all over his face.

    ''He is really loyal to the Melvix family isn''t he?''

    Nodding his head, Zick ordered everyone to prepare for travelling.

    Butler Von was standing beside the carriage almost like a statue, Zick could see a letter in his hands.

    Butler Von stepped forward and handed it to Zick when all the knights began preparing to leave.

    "What is this??"<sub> </sub>

    "It''s the Melvix family''s que"

    "..."

    Hearing Butler Von''s in voice, Zick was left speechless with his smile frozen in ce.

    He would be an idiot if he didn''t know what this was.

    A que of a noble family works like a cheque in this world and not to say it was the que of the Melvix family.

    ''what is he nning to do now...?''

    Zick wasn''t aware that he would be sent to do a mission when he turns 12 year old so he became suspicious of Zevkoras generous action.

    A que of the Melvix family can only be handed over to someone else with the permission of the current head of the family.

    So Zick knew that Zevkoras was the one who ordered the que to be given to him.

    Even though there was a smile on Zick''s face, his eyes were staring nkly at the que.

    In the end he decided to just take it.

    ''I was nning on buying things anyway, I should just take it with me''

    He put it in his pocket and headed within the carriage.

    Inside the carriage he satfortably on the seat. Butler Von sat beside the coachman in front of the carriage.

    ''this is the first time I am leaving this estate....''

    Zick wasn''t a fan of travelling around so going on an adventure didn''t even cross his mind.

    As long as it wasn''t necessary he didn''t like travelling.

    To reach the Garcia family''s estate the carriage had to cross two cities in total.

    The beginning two of the city are owned by a marquise rank noble.

    His name is Marquis Loshwod.

    The cities names are fiersvel city and belscon city respectively.

    Marquise Loshwod has already been informed of their carriage passing through their cities so there shouldn''t be any problem.

    Normally a lower ranked noble would have toe greet a higher ranked noble to pay them respect but this time there was no need for it.

    Zick is a heir of the Melvix family, This title itself holds a lot of power but it couldn''t make a marquise ranked noblee and pay respect to them.

    After crossing these Cities they just had to travel for one day to reach the domain of the Garcia family.

    The carriage was passing through a thick forest; the Melvix family estate was surrounded from all sides with thick forest.

    The carriage destination was the fiersvel city. It takes at least 9 hours to reach there.

    But it wasn''t urate as in the middle the carriage would have to stop in the middle sometimes for everyone to eat food.

    After bing a knight, even the lowest rank could stay alive for a long time without eating food. But the knights still decided to take breaks in the middle.

    So it would take a while for them to reach their first destination.

    Zick started training to increase his mana as he had a lot of free time.

    The rank of the noble of this world is as follows-

    DUKE

    MARQUISE

    COUNT

    VISCOUNT

    BARON

 Chapter 16 Fiersvel City

    Eating the beef with a fork, Zick looked at all the knights training around him.

    Right now the carriage hade to a stop in a grass in. Zick ate the beef beside the carriage sitting on a chair which was prepared by the knights.

    The knights started training the moment the carriage came to a stop.

    "Von tell the knights to start getting ready to leave"

    Saying this, Zick went inside the carriage and sat looking out the window.

    It was still in the middle of the day so the sun was right in the middle of the sky shining brightly upon the carriage.

    Pulling the curtains, Zick closed the window beside him.

    Not wasting his time he started training to increase his mana like always.

    Now that he had the Melvix family que, he nned on ordering Butler Von to buy the best space ring in the Fiersvel city after reading there.

    ''Should I try buying drugs to increase my mana too?''

    After thinking about it for a few seconds, he thought that wasn''t a bad idea right at that moment.

    Increasing mana with drugses with a major drawback.

    It brings impurities to the mana.

    If there''s any impurities in the mana it is impossible to be a master swordsman. Only a person with the mana in their peak rank with no impurities can try bing a master swordsman.

    Zick knew of a way to remove impurities in the mana from the novel but the necessary items to do the process were hard to collect without money.

    The hardest thing to collect in it is the holy water of the sun god temple.

    Just a vial of it reaches till 100 million dels.

    But right now Zick wasn''t worried about money at all.

    ''using someone''s else money really does make me feel good''

    Having such thoughts made him look forward to when he will reach Fiersvel city.

    After a few hours the carriage reached the Fiersvel, it was already noon when the carriage passed through the checkpoint.

    "Young master Zick, we have reached the inn"

    Hearing Butler Von''s voice, Zick got out of the carriage.

    "hmm...."

    All the knight stood in front of him as if trying to protect him, Looking at all their vignt expressions made him grow speechless.

    maintaining his smile he ignored them all. He spoke to Butler Von.

    "Come with me to my room"

    "yes..."

    Butler Von replied with an emotionless face like always.

    Hearing Butler Von''s answer, Zick looked towards the inn.

    It looked more like a vi than an inn.

    Fiersvel city is arge-scalemercial area, where a lot of merchants and mercenaries visit to make money.

    This made Zick confident in finding all the drugs and items he needed here.

    Sun god temple is the most famous temple all around the first continent.

    The sun god''s name is velveric, he is the one who blessed the protagonist in the novel.

    He is also the reason why the protagonist''s strength increased at a crazy rate.

    The protagonist was blessed by the sun god the day he was born. In other words he was.....the chosen child!

    Amon thing in a lot of novels which Zick read.

    ''the novel didn''t even mention the reason to why he was chosen''

    Though, not all of the things about the protagonist were cliche, there were still some cliche situations like this.

    The sun god''s blessing is a kind of buff which increases the speed at which your strength grows by twice.

    But the main feature of this blessing was that it would increase the blessed one''s fire element aptitude to a terrifying degree.

    When the protagonist had be a sword master, his aura was of the fire element. With the boost he got from the blessing, this brought his battle strength to the peak of the master swordsman rank while still being in the beginning of the master swordsman rank.

    Almost all the cities have a sun god church in it, this made it easier for Zick to collect the holy water.

    Entering the vi-like inn, he saw some servants bowing towards him nervously.

    "we...."

    "Just lead me to the room I will be staying at"

    "....yes please follow me"

    The name of the Melvix family is known throughout the continent for its battle strength and its cruelty.

    In this world where there is now to stop killing, the one in power can decide a person''s life with a single thought.

    If Zick wanted, he just had to say a word and the knight behind him would ughter all the people in this vi.

    ''There is no way i will do something like that....if did it my reputation would hit a all time low in no time''<sub> </sub>

    Having these thoughts, he followed the servant who was showing the way to his room.

    Bringing him to his room, the servant spoke to him while stuttering.

    "th-this i-is the best r-room we have in this inn!!"

    The servant almost screamed while finishing his word.

    Looking at the servants, Zick couldn''t understand why they were so scared of him.

    "Just go and do your work"

    He dismissed the servant who started shaking from fear.

    No matter how he saw it, there was something wrong with the situation.

    "Von, has there been any bad rumour about me going around?"

    "no....the reason all the servant of this inn are scared because of another incident that happened recently"

    Butler Von could easily figure out what Zick wanted to know.

    ''incident...''

    For some reason it gave him a bad feeling.

    "What incident...?"

    "Two months ago, the 2nd son of the Melvix family killed all the people of a inn for making his dress dirty"

    Butler Von said with a in voice not showing any emotion.

    ''Is that bastard crazy?''

    Zick almost said it out loud but stopped himself at thest moment.

    Because of someone he never met before his reputation was also taking a hit with him. this made him annoyed in a long time.

    "Where is he currently at?"

    "He is in the academy city, as he is about to turn 15 year old he will have to start attending the academy soon"

    "I see..."

    The academy city is not located at any of the main ruling forces of the first continent as all the sons and daughters of the royalty and nobles have to attend the academy when they turn 15 year old.

    All the three main ruling forces were still wary against each other even after making a oath.

    In the first ce making a academy was only possible after they made the oath 20 years ago.

    The academy is in the middle of all the three main ruling forces geographically. It was made from the joint cooperation of all three of them.

    The academy was made for the purpose of training anyone who has talent. Doing this would increase the battle strength of the continent exponentially.

    Only the people who have talent in bing either a knight or a mage can enter this academy. No matter who they are nobles or royalties, if they don''t have talent they will be rejected from entering the academy.

    An officer from the academy is dispatched to all the cities and viges from the academy to see if there are any talented people.

    The protagonist of the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' is amoner from the Mhydrasvil empire.

    ''I heard that the 2nd son was talented so he must have entered the academy easily''

    Walking towards the writing table in the room Zick took a paper from above it and started writing all the things he needed.

    After 5 minutes.

    ''hmm....that''s should do''

    After writing all the things he will be needing, Zick handed the paper over to Butler Von.

    Reading the content of the paper Butler Von was internally first surprised. But when he continued reading it, his face became solemn.

    "young master, this....."

    Without answering to him, Zick threw the que of the Melvix family to him.

    "Bring all the things listed in that paper within 4 hours"

    ".....yes"

    Butler Von started walking out the door with still a solemn look on his face.

    In the paper there were at least 10 names of different mana drugs which Zick knew from the novel, a variety of material which could cost anyone a fortune and some books for learning new skills which could be used with the sword.

    After Butler Von went out through the door, Zick looked towards Vincent who seemed to be waiting for his order.

    "Just guard the room from outside"

    "yes"

    Bowing to him, Vincent went outside the door.

    Only when the door closed did Zick start looking at his room properly.

    There was a king size bed in the middle of the room with cushions and a writing table from some distance to it. The whole room was made from high quality furniture.

    After taking a look around his room, Zick sat on the bed and started training in mana.

    The things he ordered Butler Von to bring cost almost 1 billion dels.

    ''It shouldn''t be a problem for Melvix family pay up at all....I should try breaking through middle rank within the night''

 Chapter 17 Mana Drugs

    Buler Von knocked on the door with his pale hand.

    "Come in"

    Hearing Zick''s voice, he entered the room with solemnity written all over his face.

    This is the first time Butler Von had ever used such a huge amount of money like this to buy things without stopping, this made him dazed.

    After buying all the things written on the paper it almost cost 1.5 billion dels. Even hearing the prize made him feel dazed again internally.

    Even while he was in a daze, Butler Von didn''t show any other emotions on his face, but his pale hands still showed how he felt right at the moment.

    Looking at Zick''s face which still had a smile on his face made him calm down a little. he had grown used to seeing Zick smiling all the time by now.

    Walking near Zick Butler Von handed over the ring to him.

    The ring was in silver colour with a red jewel in the middle of it.

    It was a high rank space ring which cost more than 200 million dels but it was worth the prize.

    The high rank space ring had the storage of 300 cubic metres of space inside it.

    "You can go now"

    "yes"

    Bowing towards Zick Butler Von left the room.

    Looking at the ring, Zick could see all the items within it after he sent his mana into it.

    Seeing that all the items he ordered were inside the ring. He took out one of the vials from within it.

    There was a red colour liquid inside the vial, When he opened the lid of the vial a disgusting smell of different herbs mixed up filled the room.

    Not bothered by its smell, Zick brought the vial near his mouth and started drinking it with a calm face.

    When the content of the vial reached his stomach, he felt a burning sensation. Bearing with it, he waited for the mana drug to start working.

    Slowly the burning sensation lessened and started spreading all over his body.

    "haaa...."

    Breathing out loudly, Zick started controlling his mana and absorbed all the mana which was now overflowing in his body.

    The burning sensation in his stomach was nothing but a huge heap of mana, after it spread all over his body it started to gather around the mana nerves on its own.

    After 10 minutes all the mana overflowing within his body had already been fully Absorbed by his mana nerves.

    Closing his eyes, Zick felt the mana within his body. He had directly broken through to the middle rank knight stage at one go.

    His mana had doubled and his physical strength increased along with it. His sense improved to a level that he could even hear what was happening outside his room without any problem.

    As the mana quality increased, Zick could see strands of ck mana at some ces within the mana nerves.

    ''Impurities....''

    The ck strand of mana were the impurity, it would decrease the original potency of the mana and even not allow a person to be a master swordsman.

    Zick let the impurity be and took out another vial of mana drug from his space ring. Not hesitating, he drank it in one gulp.

    Doing this 10 times, he has only thest three mana drugs left within the space ring. By using 10 of them he had crossed the halfway mark of middle rank knight easily.

    When someone''s rank increases, the time needed for climbing higher rank also increases exponentially.<sub> </sub>

    It would have taken nearly 3 years for Zick to reach the high rank knight stage normally. But the drugs had decreased some of that time.

    He could feel hundreds of ck strands of mana in his mana nerves. When he removes the impurities in the mana nerves, his current progress being in halfway of the middle rank would also decrease by a lot.

    ''It can''t be helped''

    Zick was already satisfied with his current progress by bing a middle rank knight.

    The protagonist was just a lowest rank knight when he entered the academy so Zick had surpassed him by a lot already.

    Using mana drugs to increase your mana is only done when a person is desperately in need for strength. No one on the continent has found a way to get rid of the impurities just yet.

    But Zick already knew of a method from the novel.

    Taking out a herb which shined in blue colours, he kept it in front of him.

    This herb is called maigen herb, it is a famous material used in the alchemy society.

    It can absorb the property of any elements, though there are some specific limits it cane a lot useful to all the alchemists.

    Drinking the holy water of the sun god temple directly heals the injuries on the body but the method mentioned in the novel could make the holy water directly work upon the mana.

    Not wasting any time, Zick took out a bowl from his space ring and kept the maigen herb in it.

    Using his mana, he mashed the maigen herb into a paste and then poured the holy water into it directly.

    Seeing the maigen herb paste absorbing the holy water, Zick nodded his head. He took out one of the mana drugs and added it to the bowl.

    Waiting for a minute, he took the bowl and drank its content without hesitation.

    Feeling the burning sensation that was iparable to before, he got up from his bed and stood some distance from the bed.

    All the mana with holy property entered his mana nerves and started dispelling the impurities.

    "cough!...cough!"

    Zick started coughing out ck blood filled with impurities. Cleaning the blood on his mouth with a piece of cloth, he checked his mana nerves.

    ''as I thought...''

    There were still impurities left in it, he had drank 10 mana drugs non stop which had increased the impurities in his mana nerves to a huge degree.

    Taking out another set of material, he started doing the same process again.

    "Cough!"

    Zick coughed out thest impurity in his mana. After doing the same process for two more times he had removed all the impurities in the mana nerves.

    Looking at his mana which was as pure as crystal, he was satisfied.

    With a genuine smile on his face, He took out a scroll from the ring and tore it above the ck blood.

    The scroll started shining in blue light which covered the ck blood, then it vanished along the ck blood.

    The scroll was imbued with a magic named cleanse, it is a lowest rank spell which is used for cleaning.

    Without noticing it had already be midnight.

    Zickid upon the bed and started sleeping.

    ''I should try bing a lowest rank mage while travelling.....''

 Chapter 18 Mana Affinity

    Feeling the presence of someone heading towards his room, Zick woke up from his slumber.

    After bing a middle rank knight, Zick''s vitality has increased by a lot. Just sleeping for a few hours could make all his fatigue vanish.

    "Young master Zick, we can start travelling at any moment now"

    "Okay...just wait near the carriage for a minute"

    Hearing Vincent''s voice, Zick rxed and answered back.

    After feeling that Vincent''s presence had left, Zick checked his current appearance in the mirror.

    ''hm...doesn''t seems like there is any problem''

    Finishing checking himself, Zick looked at his current progress in the middle rank.

    Though he had lost a lot of mana after removing impurities. The total amount of mana he had gained was worth 6 months.

    ''which means i can be a high rank knight at the age of 12...''

    Even Zick felt that it was a huge achievement.

    Bing a middle rank knight brought another perk with it.

    It was the ability to hide his rank.

    But there are a lot of restrictions in it, he could only hide his rank from people who have the same rank as him or lower.

    Anyone who is stronger than him could easily find out his rank with a look.

    ''it''s better than nothing''

    Concentrating upon himself, he controlled all the mana which were leaking out his body and suppressed them within it.

    Seeing that no mana was leaking out of his body anymore, he started heading towards the door.

    When he tried to open the door-

    CLACK!

    "hmm...."

    The door knob had broken off the door.

    ''....I forgot that my strength has increased''

    Zick had directly started sleeping after he had turned into a middle rank knight which led to him not being able to control his strength properly at all.

    CREAK~

    Pushing open the door, Zick went towards the carriage with a smile on his face as if nothing happened.

    When he reached in front of the carriage which was waiting in front of the inn''s entrance, Zick could see all the knights waiting for him.

    When Vincent was about to wee Zick suddenly he stopped in his tracks and looked at Zick with a dumbfounded look.

    ''He became a middle rank knight at the age of 10...?''

    Zick didn''t know but the fact that he became a middle rank knight at the age of 10 is an extraordinary achievement in the whole continent.

    There has never been anyone who has managed to be a middle rank knight at the age of 10.

    Vincent was surprised by another thing too when he looked at Zick''s mana.

    ''he hasn''t used any mana drug''

    Zick''s mana was as pure as crystal with not a speck of impurity.

    It gave rise to different types of emotions within Vincent at once. There was jealousy, proudness, admiration and more.

    But the most intense emotion he felt was proudness. As he got old, all types of emotion and aspirations of bing someone great had left him for a long time.

    The Melvix family has been taking care of him for a very long time so Vincent was genuinely loyal to them and was filled with good will for it.

    Now, all he wanted was to live a happy life with his family. He already has one daughter and a son who has also been training hard to be a knight.

    Seeing Zick grow like this made him happy, the more Zick grows the more the Melvix family name''s fame would increase.

    Bowing towards Zick with a smile on his face, Vincent sincerely spoke to Zick.

    "Congrattions on bing a middle rank knight, young master Zick"

    "....Thanks"

    Feeling the sincerity behind those words, Zick replied to him with a smile.<sub> </sub>

    Entering the carriage, Zick looked out of the window. He felt that it was weird to why Vincent treated him with such sincerity but Zick let it go as he could feel that there was no bad intent behind it.

    Feeling the carriage moving, he closed the curtains of the window and took out a book from his ring.

    (Basics of bing a mage)

    ording to the title of the book, Zick had listed a lot of books in the paper of the things he needed and this was one of them.

    Though it was mostly about skills which could be used with a sword, he also wanted to try bing a mage so he ordered this book.

    Opening it, Zick started reading it with an interested gaze.

    In the novel, the mage had a lot of weaknesses.

    They had weak physiques unlike knights.

    They don''t store any mana within their body instead use the mana in their surroundings. Which gave rise to a major w, using a mana disturbance device mages could easily be killed.

    The mana disturbance device also has a limit, it can only stop at mage or below high rank from using any spell. It is almost ineffective against a Peak rank mage and above.

    A peak rank mage could forcefully control the mana in the atmosphere even in the presence of mana disturbance.

    The Ranks in the mages are as follows.

    LOWEST RANK MAGE

    LOW RANK MAGE

    MIDDLE RANK MAGE

    HIGH RANK MAGE

    PEAK RANK MAGE

    ARCHMAGE.

    The archmage is the highest rank in the mage ss profession.

    There hasn''t been anyone who could reach archmage rank in 50 years in the first continent now.

    There are only two people who have the potential to be an archmage mentioned in the novel.

    One of them was the harem member of the protagonist who was the one toplete the unorthodox method which Zick used.

    And the other was the princess of the magic kingdom, Pheorous. Zick almost knew nothing about her. There was an incident when she was heading towards the academy and The only other thing he knew about her was that she was very cold to everyone around her.

    She also attended the academy the same time as the protagonist, but she didn''t talk much at all during the whole first year there.

    She had vanished after the magical disaster which happened at the end of the first year of the academy which teleported everyone all over the world.

    Closing the book, Zick went over all the things which he just read.

    Only the people with affinity with mana can try bing a mage. The affinity of someone is decided the day they are born.

    ''My potential increased so some of my affinity should have also increased a little right?''

    Zick wasn''t sure about his affinity himself.

    Closing his eyes, he extended his hand and concentrated.

    Using his senses to the maximum, he could feel the mana around his hand. Feeling the mana, Zick did what the book had told him.

    But it doesn''t seem like even the first step is going ording to the book.

    The mana around his hands weren''t moving the he wanted it to at all.

    The book had mentioned that even a person with the lowest affinity with mana could do it easily.

    "....."

    Staring at the book with nk eyes, Zick had an urge to throw it out of the carriage but in the end he put it back in the space ring.

    ''in the end it''s all about talent isn''t it?''

    "sigh...."

    Zick gave up on it very easily, increasing someone''s affinity is very hard. The protagonist''s fire element had increased because of the blessing he got from the sun god.

    The novel didn''t even mention anything that could increase a person''s affinity. Which made Zick even more helpless about it.

    His n to be a mage had fallen t before it even began.

 Chapter 19 The Garcias Domain

    The carriage reached the Belscon city without facing any problem on its way.

    Staying in the Belscon city for the night, the carriage left in the morning the next day.

    Now that the carriage had crossed both the cities, they only needed to travel for one more day.

    But after two hours from when the carriage left Belscon city, it came to a sudden stop.

    Sitting within the carriage, Zick was training to increase his mana as usual. When the carriage came to a stop he could hear the sound of someone knocking on the carriage''s door.

    A smile appeared on Zick''s face as he opened the door of the carriage.

    Cluck~

    "Young master Zick, there are some bandits who dared to get in the way of the carriage, we will take care of them in a few minutes please wait within the carriage"

    Vincent had a smile while he spoke to Zick, but his eyes were filled with fury thinking of the bandit.

    ''Bandits actually appeared?''

    The novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' had a lot of scenes where bandits would appear, but he didn''t expect to meet any of them at all in this journey.

    ''Can''t they see the Melvix family crest on the carriage...? are they seeking death?''

    He didn''t think of them any further, they would all be killed here anyway.

    ''hmm....yeah that right I should gather some experience by fighting too''

    "Vincent....."

    When Zick started talking, a ominous feeling rose from deep within his body. His body screamed for him to not go and fight the bandits.

    ''what.....this feeling''

    Feeling all his hair standing and the chills that kept rising from the spine, Zick couldn''t understand why this was happening.

    "young master Zick, are you alright?"

    Vincent could feel the air around Zick change for a second even though there was a smile on his face the same as ever.

    "Nothing, you can go"

    Waving his hands, Zick sent away Vincent and closed the door of the carriage.

    ''This feeling...I have felt it before....''

    His body started reacting weirdly the moment he decided to kill the bandits. It was like all the cells in his body were screaming for him to not fight.

    ''I thought that this feeling vanished when I came to this world...''

    Zick never felt these feelings from the moment he hade to this world. He had felt this kind of sensation when he was still back on the earth.

    But he had felt it less and less after staying holed up within his room on earth. Aftering to this world, he had not felt this sensation even for once.

    ''But why now...?''

    For some reason he felt that something bad would happen if he went against what this feeling was telling him to do.

    "haaa..."

    Zick calmed himself down while breathing heavily through his mouth.

    In just a few seconds, his whole dress was covered in sweat. He didn''t like wearing a sweaty dress so he changed into one of his spare clothes from the space ring.

    Finding the silence burdensome, Zick started training with mana to pass time.

    After 10 minutes, Vincent Appeared in front of Zick again.

    Standing out the door of the carriage, Vincent spoke with a calm voice.

    "we have taken care of the bandits, we can continue moving again, young master"

    "Okay then start moving as fast as possible"

    Saying this, Zick closed the door and sat with his arms crossed. The ominous feeling had vanished after he decided to stay inside the carriage.

    ''I can''t understand this feeling at all.....''

    This sensation would appear at random times like this and make him stop whatever he was doing at that time.

    He had felt this sensation for so many times that it had almost be like an instinct for him. Though he doesn''t know what will happen if he goes against this feeling, he could feel that it was trying to prevent something bad from happening.<sub> </sub>

    Not thinking about this feeling any further, Zick waited for the carriage to reach Garcia''s domain. They have already been informed of his arrival so they would send someone to escort him to their estate.

    While training with mana, without noticing the carriage had already reached Garcia''s domain.

    In this time Zick only came out of the carriage to eat food and the rest of his time he had been training within the carriage nonstop.

    When they reached the destination, knights riding their horses suddenly started heading towards Zick''s carriage.

    Stopping in front of it, a person with blue hairs and a scar across his left cheek started speaking.

    "We are the knights of the Garcia family! , we have been ordered to escort the esteemed guest from the Melvix family to our estate"

    Getting out of the carriage, Zick looked towards the blues hair knight with a smile.

    "What is your name?"

    "Its fruguel, sir"

    Fruguel got down his horse and kneeled towards Zick. He has already been informed of Zick''s appearance so he could tell that the one standing in front of him was an heir of the Melvix family.

    "Then lead the way"

    "yes sir"

    Fruguel started leading the way with a solemn expression, he was a peak rank knight so he could easily tell at which rank Zick was at.

    Seeing that Zick was a middle rank knight he was left speechless. But he didn''t show any emotions on his face and led the way.

    ''as expected of a heir of the Melvix family''

    The Melvix family could be regarded as a role model to all the knights on the first continent. Even fruguel a knight of the Garcia family admires the Melvix family for their strength and valour on the battlefield.

    Zick was led to a house which looked like a barrack, Entering it a magic circle appeared in front of his eyes.

    A blue magic circle was etched on the ground, with two guards standing besides it.

    "Please enter the magic circle, sir"

    Saying this, Fruguel handed over something to the guard to activate the magic circle.

    Not hesitating, Zick entered the magic circle with a smile on his face. He was already aware of what it was.

    ''it''s a teleportation circle''

    With a bright light, Zick vanished within the magic circle.

    Opening his eyes, he could see that he was standing in the middle of a dark room.

    "hahaha, you surprised me for a second there kid"

    "....you are?"

    Zick looked at the man, he had brown hair with green eyes and he looked to be in his 50s.

    "I am the leader of the knight brigade of the Garcia family, the name is Verse and I have been assigned to show you the way to your room"

    "Is that so? i am really grateful for that, mister Verse"

    Both of them had smiles on their faces and the atmosphere looked harmonious too but internally both of them were surprised at each other.

    ''He is a middle rank knight.....'' Vers thought looking at Zick.

    ''He is a master swordsman..'' Zick knew this fact through the novel.

    Still having a smile on his face, Verse led Zick to his room. Walking for 5 minutes, they reached their destination.

    "I will be going now then"

    "yes, let''s meet in the ceremonial party"

    Saying farewell to each other they parted ways.

    ''sigh.....alone atst''

    Looking at the room assigned to him, it was even more luxurious than the room he stayed in the Melvix family estate.

    ''Now I should try baiting the mythical beast out''

 Chapter 20 A Contract

    Verse was hiding his rank so Zick couldn''t tell what rank he was at.

    But Zick already knew about Verse from the novel; he was one and only master swordsman in the Garcia family.

    Meeting Verse made Zick remember another incident that will happen in the future. He was the one who caused the downfall of the Garcia family.

    Shaking his head, Zick threw this thought at the back of his head.

    ''.....lets just look for the mythical beast now''

    For baiting the mythical beast out, Zick had to go in a little open ce first.

    Going out of his room, he started walking in a random direction on the corridor. Walking like this for a while he came across some maids cleaning the dust on the table.

    Going towards them, Zick started speaking with a in tone.

    "Do you know the way to the garden?"

    The maid was surprised when she heard Zick''s voice suddenly, looking at Zick who had a smile on his face unlike the in tone. The maid could tell that he was an important guest from his appearance.

    "Yes, would you like me to guide...."

    The maid said while bowing towards Zick.

    "No, just tell me the directions"

    Zick cut off the maid''s word and then listened to her exining the direction.

    Not bothering with the maid anymore, Zick followed the direction he was given.

    After 2 minute, Zick stood in front of a garden which was filled with flowers and well kept nts. Sitting upon the gazebo in the middle of the garden Zick took out one of the wine bottles from his space ring.

    Opening its lid, he let the fragrance of the wine spread to his surroundings. Keeping the wine bottle beside himself, He waited for the mythical beast to appear.

    Luckily for him, Even before 30 seconds had passed he heard a sound.

    "meow~"

    Without noticing a ck cat with blue eyes was sitting beside him where the wine bottle is in. Staring at the wine bottle fixedly the Cat tried extending its paw.

    "What are you doing?"

    Zick asked with a smile but internally he was very surprised, it was just like how it was described in the novel, he couldn''t sense the presence of the cat at all.

    "Meow~"

    Acting cute the cat tried to nestle into Zick''s legs.

    "Well let''s stop and make a deal, I already know that you are a mythical beast"

    Patting the cat, Zick talked with his usual smile. He knew about the cat quite a bit, it would act nicely as long as you give it wine and if there is no wine it will totally ignore you.

    The cat could not steal someone else''s possession as it has made a contract with the ancestor of the Garcia family.

    "sigh...young people these days...what do you want and can you stop smiling? For some reason it makes me....."

    The Cat started Speaking while letting Zick pat on itself.

    ''What about my smile again...? hmm.....whatever''

    "I want a prophecy about me"

    The cat shakes its tail in surprise hearing Zick speak. Turning its head it stared at him with its vertical pupil.

    "so you want a prophecy...well it''s alright i can tell you one about yourself"

    Satisfied with the cat''s answer, Zick brought the wine bottle in front of the cat. Catching it from both of its front paws, the cat started drinking the wine with vigour.

    "meow!"

    Meowing in satisfaction, The cat drank the whole bottle like it''s a supreme delicacy.

    "Really, I thought of you as a bad person but you are actually a good person right? these bastards! they don''t give me any good wine like this at all!"

    Smiling towards the cat, Zick waited for it to start saying the prophecy.

    "It''s that smile again, stop it really..."

    The cat stopped mid sentence again. Zick didn''t bother and just waited.

    "Well hear me closely I won''t say it twice...phew it''s been a while since I used this ability"

    Closing its eyes, The cat concentrated upon something. When it opened its eyes again, it was shining brightly.

    "....when blood flows from a dead body....the monster shall awaken.....within....s something broken is broken in the end..."

    It almost felt like it was talking to itself. After saying this, its eyes stopped glowing.

    ''When the blood flows...and the monster too... which monster exactly...? something broken? Is it talking about the dragon heart?''<sub> </sub>

    The prophecy which the protagonist had gotten was also vague like this. Zick thought of all the monsters which are attracted to the blood.

    ''is it a vampire....? or the blood devil..?''

    The devil are the elite forces of the demonic race who have enough strength to fight multiple peak rank knights. The blood devils are also a part of this elite force, this species has the most tendency to ughter people and they are the most attracted to the smell of blood.

    When Zick thought of this, His mood worsened.

    ''There is no way i can defeat a devil right now...no I will be killed before I even move if I fought against it now''

    Calming himself down, Zick could feel two reptilian eyes staring at him.

    "Well I will be..."

    "Wait"

    Taking out another wine bottle from his ring, Zick waved it to the cat with a smile on his face hiding what he was feeling.

    "What..."

    "Do you want it??"

    ".....What do you want human kid"

    The cat asked with a helpless tone.

    "I want you to protect me until the end of the ceremonial party, of course you don''t have to fight for me you just have to protect me if someone wants to harm me"

    ".....you want me to protect you?"

    The cat asked with wide eyes.

    "yes"

    Zick answered swiftly.

    ''if it takes only a wine bottle to get the protection from a mythical beast then it''s totally worth it even if its temporary''

    Zick just wanted to be cautious if anything happened to him at the party. In the end, he didn''t know anything about this party which made him wary of a lot of things.

    "okay, I shall form a temporary contract with you"

    Climbing Zick''s leg, the cat extended its paw and ced it on his stomach.

    "I shall vow upon the covenant made with the Garcia family that I shall protect you till the end of the ceremonial party...are you satisfied now?"

    Zick could feel a mysterious connection between him and the mythical beast. Nodding his head, he passed the wine bottle to the cat.

    "....I don''t know what I should even say about you.....even your soul is....weird"

    ''ohh....it could sense my soul?''

    "How does it look?"

    Zick asked with an interested tone.

    "I don''t know.....everything about you is twisted sigh..."

    Sighing for some reason the cat''s tone had pity in it. Taking up the wine bottle it started drinking it ignoring Zick''s gaze.

    ''What about me is twisted? I might be the most normal person in the world, hmph!''

    Scoffing upon what the cat had said in his head, Zick thought of what he should do in these three days. There are still three days before the ceremonial party starts.

    "hmm...what are you doing?"

    The cat curled up on his leg and started sleeping.

    "What? you are the one who asked me to protect you"

    Hearing this Zick felt weird.

    ''Is it going toe with me everywhere....?''

    Though it made Zick less worried about any danger, it still would be bad if the Garcia family knew of the contract, they might even misunderstand it.

    "Don''t tell anyone about the contract between us, okay?"

    "sure"

    Answering himzily, The cat closed its eyes.

    After hearing its answer, Zick also took out one of the books from his ring and started reading it.

    the books title was-

    (Long range attack using mana with the sword)

 Chapter 21 Long Range Attack

    The Cat didn''t know what to tell about the human named Zick at all, if it had any word to describe him it is would be-

    ''Twisted....''

    It could feel that Zick had a very different soul unlike any soul it has seen but that wasn''t the main thing.

    ''What the hell did he go through to be like this.....''

    The cat found Zick''s smile as nothing but eerie, There was another feeling apanying it too.

    ''Fear...? a mythical beast is feeling fear from a human...?''

    Even the cat couldn''t understand the reason behind why it felt fear seeing his smile. It had enough strength to kill Zick with a single sneeze. But the fear it felt didn''te from something like that, what it felt came from its instincts itself.

    The cat has the ability to see deep within a person and tell their nature, but when it tried looking into Zick''s consciousness-

    ''it was like a broken consciousness was being held together somehow...''

    When it tried looking into it, at first it could only feel rationality but when it looked deeper, there was nothing but a broken and unstable consciousness.

    And such a person told it to protect him, though it was reluctant to ept it but curiosity got the best of it.

    ''What did he go through to be like this? I am really curious....these scars on his consciousness aren''t something a young kid like this should have. He probably doesn''t even know.....''

    Thinking of how Zick''s consciousness was rational, the cat could only assume that he hadn''t noticed his unstable mind just yet.

    Just because of curiosity, it made a contract for the first time in thest few centuries.

    Zick stopped flipping through the pages of the book and stared towards the entrance of the garden. The cat also lifted its head up and looked in the same direction as him.

    Both Zick and the cat could feel the presence of two people heading towards the garden, where they were currently at.

    "This is my family garden!"

    "haha! it is beautiful just like you told"

    Zick and the cat could hear two bright voices talking to each other happily. Feeling their gazes they looked towards Zick.

    ''So they already met each other.....''

    There stood two people in front of Zick, they were the same age as him.

    ''Ste and the second prince...''

    Ste had a ck hair reaching till her shoulder and blue eyes, she had a weak physique with pale skin just like how it was described in the novel. There was a white six petal rose on her hairs and she wore a white summer dress.

    The second prince''s name is Aureo mexswer, he had the signature gold hair and eyes of the royal family of the Cravion kingdom.

    Zick wasn''t expecting for anyone toe here as it was still early morning so he was left momentarily surprised.

    Both of them started Walking towards Zick to greet him.

    "eh...cat...?"

    Ste couldn''t believe what she was seeing.

    ''The cat let someone touch it..?''

    Ste has been living her whole life within the estate as she has a weak body so she hase across the ck cat a lot of time. The cat would never let anyone touch it, it would even w at her whenever she tries to touch it.

    And right at the moment, it was sleeping all curled up on a stranger''sp.

    Picking the cat up, Zick kept it in the side along with the book and got up with still a smile on his face.

    "It is a honour to meet you, your highness"

    Though Zick found it annoying, he still had to greet someone with royal blood respectfully.

    "Who are you?"

    Aureo asked with a dignified demeanour.

    "its Zick Melvix"

    Hearing the word Melvix, surprise appeared on his face but in a second it turned into a friendly smile.<sub> </sub>

    "ohh! You are from the Melvix family? it''s an honour to meet you!"

    ''He is the same too''

    In the Novel, the second prince was an opportunistic person with a scheming mind.

    Shaking each other''s hand, Zick and Aureo looked towards Ste.

    Feeling their gazes Ste snapped out of her daze and greeted Zick.

    "amh...my name is Ste Garcia, nice to meet you"

    "nice to meet you too"

    Ste still kept stealing nces of the ck cat.

    "Well if you would excuse me"

    Saying this, Zick sat back within the gazebo and picked up the book. The cat got back upon Zick''sp and curled into a ball again.

    Looking at Zick reading the book ignoring him, Aureo''s lip started twitching.

    "....let''s look around, shall we?"

    "yes!"

    Aureo and Ste started strolling around the garden looking at the flowers.

    But Zick ignored them as he found the techniques mentioned in the book interesting.

    ''Compressing the mana into the sword and then releasing it with a momentary force.....though I can use this as a long range attack, a lot of my mana will be used up''

    Zick didn''t even have any affinity with mana so he had no hopes in having any affinity with a element at all.

    Putting the book back in the ring, Zick took out another one out of it.

    Its title was- (using elemental with a sword)

    Reading it with interest for a while his mood turned sour.

    ''Why are they selling this garbage ? It is not possible to use this technique without having any affinities ?''

    Putting the book back into his space ring, Zick just took out a sword from the ring.

    keeping the cat aside, Zick went out of the gazebo. Catching the sword with both his hands, he aimed it forward.

    Concentrating upon the mana in his body, Zick sent it to the sword and hepressed it within the sword instead of letting it all dissipate in the air.

    CREAK!

    The sword started making creaking sounds, not being able to hold the mana. Zick stopped seeing that the sword had reached its limit.

    "huuuuu....."

    Breathing out loudly, he swung his sword diagonally towards the sky. A transparent blue curved slice flew out of the sword with a speed which was hard to follow even by Zick.

    ''hm....it''s better than I thought but I will only be able to use that more 8 times before I run out of mana''

    "Meow!"

    The ck cat meows angrily upon something.

    Turning his head towards the sound, Zick could see the cat walking towards him. Behind him Ste stood with a disappointed look.

    Zick had been concentrating upon the sword so he didn''t notice what had happened within that time around him.

    Reaching near his leg, The cat tapped on it while looking up at him. Putting the sword back into the space ring, he picked up the cat.

    Hugging the cat with both hands, Zick started heading towards his room.

    ''Did the ste in the novel liked cats...? hmm...nevermind''

    Ignoring the gaze he felt on his back, he walked out of the garden.

 Chapter 22 Mana Harmonisation

    The long range attack which Zick just learned was called piercing mana slice. It is one of the techniques which is famous throughout the continent. This skill can only be used by people who are at or higher than the middle rank knight stage.

    So Zick had to wait to be a middle rank knight to start using it. Now that he learnt it, he found a lot of disadvantages in it.

    If he tried to use it in full force, he would run out of mana by just using it for 9 to 10 times.

    And there was also the problem of his sword not being able to handle the mana. But this could be alleviated by buying a better sword so he wasn''t worried about it.

    It is possible to not use it in full force and just use as little as possible. By doing this he could use it for a long time, but there were disadvantages in doing this too, it would decrease its potency, speed and strength to arge degree.

    With all these disadvantages, Zick found this technique to be highly unsatisfactory. The only way to alleviate all these disadvantages was by bing a high rank knight. But he didn''t see himself bing a high rank knight any time soon.

    There were a lot of books within his space ring for learning different skills but while doing it there were chances of harming his surroundings or that it would take a long time to learn it.

    With all this factor taken into consideration, Zick just decided to leave the garden. There was only one technique that he could start learning right at the moment.

    Zick nned on learning it in his room; this technique didn''t harm the surrounding at all.

    While walking towards his room, he thought about the book-(Using elemental with a sword)

    The first step to use it is to first learn which elements you have affinity with. Zick still wanted to check if he had any affinity with any of the elements.

    It was not possible to check his affinity right at the moment as a magic device is needed for it.

    Reaching in front of his room, he saw Butler Von standing in front of the door with a stoic expression.

    Feeling Zick''s presence, Butler Von bowed towards him.

    Still with a cat in his hand, Zick started speaking to Butler Von.

    "So? What happened to the others? "

    "All the knights are staying in a temporary residence provided by the Garcia family."

    After knowing what he wanted to, Zick sent Butler Von away and entered his room. The smile on his face was almost going to vanish but remembering the cat''s existence he maintained it.

    "I really want to ask this... don''t you ever get tired of smiling"

    "Of course no"

    Zick answered curtly not interested in talking any further with it.

    Jumping out of his hand, the cat slept above his bed. Zick also sat upon the bed and took out a book from his space ring.

    The book title is-(harmonisation with mana)

    This technique increases the control, sense and the strength of the body to a certain level depending upon the quality of the mana. This would also increase his proficiency in using mana to arge degree.

    The only disadvantage of this technique was that it took a long time to master it. But Zick wasn''t worried about it all, he was still a 10 year old kid which means there is still a lot of time for him to learn it.

    Reading the book for a while, he understood it theoretically but he knew that doing it practically was the hardest part.

    Not wasting his time, Zick started training with the technique. The difficulty of using it was very high. Unlike just controlling the mana to strengthen yourself, here his control over mana had to be very subtle. Not only that, he had to do it all over his body at once.

    Maintaining it for a long time was even harder.

    After a person ranks up, their mana quality also increases with it. When the mana quality increases, it strengthens the body ordingly through the mana nerves all over the body.

    The mana harmonisation skill works almost like a sixth sense.

    And now Zick had to train intensively to master this sixth sense.

    Three days passed by quickly, while he kept training to use mana harmonisation. In this time, he would only leave to eat food prepared by the servant or he would talk to the cat sometimes.

    The cat was surprised at Zick''s behaviour.

    ''What''s with this workaholic bastard....he does nothing but keep training the whole time like a mad man''

    Zick ignored the ck cat most of the time and only talked to it when he was curious about something.

    All the servants of the Garcia family appeared busy as they were preparing to hold the ceremonial party in the estate.

    The estate had be a little crowded now that guests started arriving.

    It is still in the middle of the day. It was still the summer season so the climate is in its optimal setting.

    Zick was right at the moment, sitting in the round gazebo in the garden and training to increase his mana. The cat sat besides him yawning asionally.

    The ceremonial party would start at noon which led to Zick having nothing to do again.<sub> </sub>

    "hey"

    The cat called Zick by tapping on his leg with its paw.

    "You know? I really wanted to ask you. Do you really need my protection"

    The cat was really confused as to why Zick had asked it to protect him. It had been with him for a while so it knew that he was someone with a strong social standing. All the people who met him would treat him respectfully.

    ''why does he need my protection? ''

    Zick didn''t know how he should respond to this question, he had asked for its protection just Because of his Cautiousness and it was easy to get.

    "of course I need your protection"

    Zick wasn''t worried about the cat not protecting him at all, it had already formed a contract with him.

    A contract is very important for all the mythical beast and the spirits. Once it has been formed there is no other way to break the contract.

    Once anyone breaks a contract their soul will be destroyed without exception.

    The cat looked at Zick for a second and then started sleeping again.

    Zick went back to his room after a few hours with the cat. The ceremonial party would start in an hour or two. Getting in his room, he took out a formal aristocratic dress and started wearing it.

    Usually there would always be a servant to change a noble dress but the moment Noah had became Zick he had never let any maid change his dress.

    Wearing the ck jacket, Zick, looked at himself in the mirror to make sure that there wasn''t anything out of ce.

    ''With my ck hair most of the people wont notice that I am from Melvix family.....this will help in not gathering attention''

    Zick just wanted to finish his stay here and go back to the Melvix estate.

    The ash-grey hair of the Melvix family is like a symbol of their identity. Having ck hair had already made people prejudiced against him. But Zick wasn''t nning on solving this prejudice at all.

    "Meow~"

    Looking at Zick looking at himself in the mirror with a smile for so long made the cat meow towards him.

    "What happened?"

    "How much time are you nning on staring at yourself?"

    "Well let''s get going then"

    Fixing his cors, Zick picked up the cat and put it above his shoulder. Even though bing a knight had increased his speed of growth in the end he is still a 10 year old kid.

    His shoulders were still too small for the cat to sit at. which led to it hanging in there like a dead body.

    "Just hold me in your hands"

    "I can''t do that, I will need to greet people at the party"

    ".....sigh..."

    Sighing exaggeratedly, the cat jumped down and started walking besides Zick.

    He reached the party hall after walking for 10 minutes. When the entrance entered his view, he started walking in a more refined manner.

    But when he was about to reach the entrance of the party hall he heard a voice calling to him from behind.

    "hoho! it really is rare seeing talent like yours these days!"

    An old man with a white robe appeared in his view when he turned back, looking at the symbol of the sun god temple etched in it he was surprised.

    Zick was also surprised by another thing-

    ''I couldn''t sense his presence at all....''

    He wasn''t able sense this old man''s presence at all until he started talking.

    "No need to be on guard, my name is Jerel westrick. I am a bishop of the sun god church"

    What.....

    ''the demon ughterer.....?''

 Chapter 23 Beheading Chickens

    Zick still had a smile on his face but internally he was surprised at this situation. He was already aware that he would meet some of the characters from the novel but he didn''t expect to see such an important character appear before even entering the party hall.

    In the novel,

    Jerel Westrick was in the peak of the master swordsman stage, he was one of the supportive characters who fought against the demonic race till the very end.

    When the demonic race started invading both the first and second continent in earnest. On the battlefield, Jerel might be one of the people who killed demons the most. It was more of a one sided ughter than a war.

    Jerel would send hundreds of demon heads flying with a single swing of his sword.

    And right at the moment, a person who could cut off hundreds of demon heads like beheading chickens was smiling like a good neighbourhood old man.

    "so? What''s your name, young man?"

    Jerel asked Zick with a harmless smile.

    He actually was really interested in this kid in front of him. As a master swordsman he could feel that there weren''t any impurities in Zick''s mana. Which showed that he hasn''t used any drugs to reach this rank.

    ''He even seemed to have made some progress in middle rank...the talents from the temple are nothingpared to him''

    Though Jerel looked like a weak old man, he could destroy the whole Garcia estate if he wanted to.

    There was another thing which made him very interested in who Zick was.

    ''that cat walking besides him is a mythical beast....and a very strong one at that''

    Jerel wasn''t confident in winning against it even if he puts his life on the line.

    Zick knew about the strength of the cat more than anyone else. It might even be one of the strongest beings in the world.

    In the end of the novel where all the forces came together to fight the demonic race, the cat mythical beast also joined the battles after the Garcia family was destroyed.

    The cat mythical beast has totally 9 lives, in other words for killing it you will be needing to kill it for 9 times.

    Jerel felt that even killing it once was hard for him, Which showed its strength.

    Zick knew of the terror what this cat was able to bring more than anyone else. The generals of the demon army fell into despair just with one sh with this cat.

    The cat mythical beast specialised in using dark magic.

    While on the battlefield, the cat grew in size and almost becameparable to a mountain. Unlike its appearance now, it grew sharp teeth and looked more like a wolf .

    Summoning thousands of dark spears floating in the air, it looked down upon the demon army as if looking at ants. It had made a whole battalion of demon race turn into minced meat in just one minute.

    Being in front of these two monsters made Zick feel really helpless. Still he answered Jerel''s question with a smile not showing any of his helplessness.

    "My name is Zick Melvix"

    As Jerel is a Bishop of the sun god church Zick didn''t need to pay him any respect but still Zick greeted him with respect more than the second prince Aureo.

    "ohh! so you are from the Melvix family, really they have gotten a talented heir"

    Jerel felt that it was a let down that he could not recruit such a talent into the sun god temple.

    Though the sun god temple holds a lot of power in the Cravion kingdom, the Cravion kingdom and sun god have been in an agreement for a long time.

    The sun god temple cannot interfere in the matter of the nobles or royalty without any reason apanying it.

    If Jerel recruited Zick now, it would be like openly picking a fight with the Melvix family. The melvix family was also the strongest force when it came to the military, picking a fight with them would just damage the sun god temple.

    ''I am sure the Melvix family values this kid a lot....''

    Letting the matter of recruiting him go, Jerel spoke to Zick again.<sub> </sub>

    "Haha let''s enter the party hall first, this is no ce for talking"

    Jerel started leading Zick to the party hall.

    In the entrance a soldier stood with full te armour, bowing towards the both of them, he asked respectfully.

    "What might your name be sir?"

    "Jerel westrick"

    "Zick Melvix"

    Both Zick and Jerel answered at the same time without hesitation.

    The soldier''s face grew stiff hearing both of their names. Nodding his head, the soldier headed inside and told a man with sses something.

    When Zick saw this, he had an urge to stop the soldier and the man with sses from whatever they were going to do.

    "Wait..."

    "The Bishop of the sun god temple, Jerel westrick and the heir of the Melvix family, Zick Melvix have entered!"

    The man with sses imbued mana into his word, All the people in the party hall heard this and looked towards them.

    People murmuring started spreading all over the hall. Looking at them, Zick still had a smile on his head but internally he med himself for his carelessness.

    ''I should have thought of the possibility of this happening''

    Even though this was his first time attending a party, he still couldn''t help but me himself.

    "haha I will be going then enjoy your time here"

    Saying this, Jerel started heading towards a group of people who were still talking to each other.

    Zick looked around the hall for a second and then headed towards the ce which he found the most empty. Sitting on the white chair, he could hear the voice of the man with sses announce someone else''s arrival.

    "The third son of the Velscar family, Denis Velscar and the daughter of the Velscar family, Searre Velscar have entered!"

    Hearing the names, Zick looked towards the entrance.

    There stood one 12 year old boy and a 10 year old girl, both of them had blue hair with sharp golden eyes.

    ''Searre...''

    Zick remembers the name vividly in his head as.....she is one of the protagonist''s harem members and a future master swordsman.

    Zick didn''t like this young girl named Searre at all in the novel, she was someone who had a strong sense of justice which got in the way of the protagonist almost everywhere.

    Because of this reason Zick hates her, he doesn''t want to have anything to do with her at all unless necessary.

    "meow~''''

    The cat had climbed up Zick''sp and was watching his face.

    Because for a second Zick''s face went out of order, even though there was a smile on his face his eyes became nk for a second and returned to normal.

    Looking at the direction Zick was looking at, The cat spoke to him.

    " Do you know her?"

    "No....."

 Chapter 24 The Melvix Family?

    Zick could easily figure out their rank just with a nce.

    The third son of the Velscar family, Denis is in the low rank knight stage.

    Then the one and only daughter of the Velscar family, Searre is a lowest rank knight.

    Searre in the novel was nothing but a hindrance to the protagonist in Zick''s eyes, she would never kill a person who she deem as not guilty enough. Which led to the rise of one problem after another in the future.

    She would neverpromise in her principal until the middle of the novel where she changed a little because of an incident Which put all the harem members and the protagonist himself in a deadly situation.

    But Zick wasn''t interested about what happens to her, what annoyed him in the novel was that she would not let anyone else kill the person she deems not guilty enough, even the protagonist.

    When Searre entered the academy, she was a middle rank knight and at that time the protagonist was still a lowest rank knight. Though there were stronger people than her in the first year they would most of the time ignore her.

    Which led to people weaker than her listening to her, both because of the strength and prestige of being the daughter of a Duke.

    Zick couldn''t even understand why there was such a character in the novel while reading it.

    When the magic disaster hit the academy at the end of the first year and everyone was teleported all around the world, Zick earnestly wished for Searre to die somehow.

    But unluckily, she survived and even reunited with the protagonist after a while.

    While Zick was thinking of Searre, all the people within the hall were talking about him.

    "He is a middle rank knight....?"

    All of them either could tell his rank themselves or got to know it from their attendant. A lot of people grew jealous but they never showed it on their faces.

    Even if they were jealous, what could they do?

    Nothing!

    He is the son of a Duke, they couldn''t do anything against him. Only an idiot would go around provoking a Duke.

    Zick had not brought anyone with him for protection as he had the cat with him.

    What can the knights do whenpared to this mythical beast cat in Zick''sp?

    The person who was the most surprised in the hall was Duke Garcia, who stood on the high tform with his daughter. The tform was higher than the floor to let everyone look clearly at them.

    Duke Garcia right at the moment had his usual cold face and looked at Zick with interest in his eyes.

    Though he was the one who held this ceremonial party he didn''t need to pay respect or greet anyone at all.

    This is the power of the Duke, he just held the party because it is necessary and he wanted his daughter to get some experience with people.

    He had already gotten a report from the leader of the knight brigade, Verse.

    So he was aware of Zick being a middle rank knight and the presence of a master assassin protecting him.

    ''hmph....that''s much like the Melvix family''

    The Garcia family and the Melvix family aren''t in a bad rtionship but they are still politicalpetitors.

    Both of the families only strive for the benefit of their own families. The novel described Duke Garcia in just a few word but it totally showed the kind of person he was-

    [ "He is a nobleman who doesn''t tolerate even a single scratch on his family''s name more than his own blood"]

    Right now, The Duke was surprised looking at the ck cat on Zick''sp. It was the mythical beast which protected his family''s estate for centuries.<sub> </sub>

    After bing the head of the family he got to know all the necessary things he needed to know about the contract.

    After he got to know that the cat can''t harm the Garcia family, he had totally ignored its existence. Though he couldn''t order it around and only let it protect the family''s estate, it was still satisfying enough.

    But right at the moment the cat which he had thought of not liking to stay near anyone wasying there like a normal tamed cat.

    His lip twitched for a second looking at it, but in the end he just ignored it.

    A contract cannot be broken once made.

    And the contract made between the cat and the Garcia family was even more stricter.

    This mythical beast had to protect the estate as long as any of the bloodline of the Garcia family was alive.

    Taking up a bottle filled with red liquid, Zick poured its content into the ss. There were several bottles of drink on the table beside this one. The one He picked up is a famous juice of this world.

    It is made of a fruit named Fermond which is only found in this world.

    Zick picked a juice as he didn''t like drinking wine in either of the world. While drinking the Fermond juice, two figures entered his view.

    ''hmm.....why are theying this way?''

    Zick could see Searre and Denis heading towards where he is sitting. There was also a butler following behind them.

    Not being able to sense his presence, Zick knew that the butler was stronger than him.

    Standing in front of Zick, Denis started speaking courteously.

    "It''s nice to meet you, my name is Denis Velscar"

    "....Zick Melvix"

    Denis was unsatisfied by Zick''s curt reply and that he introduced himself while sitting. Because of their sharp eyes it almost felt like they were ring at Zick.

    Denis was able to hide his dissatisfaction but Searre couldn''t hide what she felt at all.

    "Is that how you greet someone? Is this what the Melvix Family teaches their heir?"

    Searre started asking with an angry face.

    "Is that all? if you just came to say this then please leave"

    Zick had a smile on his face but the voiceing out from his mouth was cold.

    The Melvix family?

    Zick didn''t care about it at all, in the future he already has nned to leave it. As long as he is in that family he would always be held back in one way or the other.

    Though he didn''t n on leaving any time soon, at least until he joined the academy , whatever happened to the Melvix family still didn''t have anything to do with him.

    ''And i don''t want to talk to this thick headed women at all''

    "What.....?"

    Searre had not expected Zick to respond in such a way.

    ''Can there really be such a shameless person...?

 Chapter 25 Temples

    All three of the people were startled at what Zick just said.

    Searre had insulted the Melvix family right in his face but instead of him getting angry, all he said was for them to leave.

    By the time Siarre realise her mistake, she regretted being controlled by her anger at the sprung of the moment. But when she was filled with regret, she heard Zick''s voice.

    (Is that all? if you just came to say this then please leave)

    Just thinking of the words which left Zick''s mouth made Searre look at him with an absurd expression. She kept opening her mouth and closing it trying to say something.

    Even as a 10 year old girl, Searre has received etiquette education and themon sense of the noble society. So she knew how all the nobles cared a lot about their standings and reputation.

    ''what is wrong with him....''

    She and her brother had approached Zick to request him to be her dancing partner. At the end of the ceremonial party a ball dance will be held. Being a Duke''s daughter, she had to dance to someone of an equal standing to not tarnish the Velscar family''s name.

    "I am very sorry for what my sister said just now, She didn''t mean it...."

    Denis started speaking in an apologetic way, but was stopped by another voice.

    "Can you just leave already"

    Still with a smile on his face, Zick directly told them to leave, now that they are on the losing side as Siarre is the one who spoke down to the Melvix family, they could only apologise now.

    "....I am really sorry!"

    Denis catched Siarre''s head and made her bow along with himself towards Zick deeply. If the situation was not handled properly Zick could make trouble for the Velscar family with a legit reason.

    "Just go"

    <o>,m Zick started waving his hands in a shooing manner.</o>

    Not saying anything else they walked away. Till the very end, Siarre couldn''t decide what to say to Zick.

    ''He has somewhat brains....''

    Zick didn''t know the exact reason for them to approach him but he thought that Denis retreating was a smart move. Now that it would just be detrimental for them to talk with Zick, retreating is the best option.

    If Zick could, he just wanted to ignore them but doing so would be taken in another way in the noble society.

    Denis had introduced himself with his family name, if Zick had ignored him it would be taken as a provocation, So he had to introduce himself too.

    Guests started entering the party hall one by one as time passed by.

    The Representative of the other god temple also entered the party hall.

    There are three major god''s temples on the first continents.

    The sun god temple

    The goddess of fairness, Fiona''s church

    The death god temple.<sub> </sub>

    The representative of the sun god temple is Bishop Jerel.

    A bishop is a rank which is second only to the pope, which shows Jerel''s value in the sun god temple.

    The sun god temple isn''t the main temple in the Cravion kingdom as its base is located in the white fog mountain located at the south of the first continent which is near the magic kingdom, Pheorous.

    The white fog mountain is known for its notorious stories. The whole mountain is covered in a white fog so thick that anyone can''t even see anything more than one metre in their surroundings.

    No one has yet toe back after entering it, not even once.

    The white fog in there has a mysterious power to suppress senses and mana which flows out of a person''s body.

    Only the sun god knows a way to reach the peak of the mountain.

    Zick knew the way too. It''s very easy to figure out if a person thought about it. The mist covers only the surface of the mountain, and with this fact you can tell what it is.

    An underground tunnel.

    The sun god has built underground tunnels all over the white mist mountain. These tunnels can only be found by using a magic device.

    This device is only given to a few people to keep this secret from spreading.

    The priests of the sun god temple have the ability of divine grace. It can be used to heal wounds and even regrow limbs. There is the group of elites named the order of chivalry, they fight by utilising this divine grace. Fighting with the power to heal themselves for a long time this group of elite were almost like zombies. It was very hard to kill them, the only way to finish them for sure is to cut their head off at once.

    The main temple which is located near the Cravion kingdom is the goddess of fairness, Fiona''s church.

    It is located in the middle of the murert city, this is the most famous city withmercial values in the Cravion kingdom.

    This temple doctrine is that-

    Everything should be fair.

    It doesn''t matter if it''s a good thing or a bad thing all this temple cares about is that it should be fair.

    Zick found this doctrine to be weird no matter how he saw it but if it was talking about his feelings then he liked the way this temple works.

    As long as there is a good reason for what you are doing whether it is a good thing or a bad, the temple never interferes.

    The priests of the goddess of fairness, Fiona''s church, have a different kind of divine grace than the sun god temple.

    The divine grace would grant them power whenever they judged someone to be unfair. It depends on the level of the unfair act to how much their strength increases.

    And at thest,

    The death god temple.

    This temple is located in the Mhydrasvil empire, at the royal capital. The emperor of the Mhydrasvil empire has almost assimted the death god temple into its forces.

    The divine grace of the death god is different from the other temples too.

    The priests of the death god temple have been granted the power of giving buffs and debuffs.

 Chapter 26 The Ceremonial Party Had Come To An End

    Divine grace is the divinity given by God to their follower, the priest. The rank of a priest is decided by both the quantity and quality of the divinity they have.

    The divinity of the gods have different properties, like the sun god temple.

    The sun god divinity has the property of extreme heat but it still grants the power of healing. Divinity is a higher form of energy which can be used for multiple purposes.

    With divinity''s superior quality any type of power can be nullified as long as it is used at an appropriate level.

    And it doesn''t matter if the person who bes a priest has talent, divinity is a force that doesn''t belong to that person''s body. It is only being temporarily borrowed from the god.

    Even with all these benefits Zick never thought of joining any of the temples. The first reason being, belief matters a lot in a temple.

    Zick knew that no matter how hard he tried there was little chance of him getting granted divinity from any of the Gods.

    And the second reason why he didn''t join a temple is that, the divinity granted isn''t something that will belong to him.

    Because of everything that happened to Zick, his trust in people is almost nonexistent. he will probably never be able to trust anyonepletely for the rest of his life.

    Zick could see two people who entered the party hall a while ago.

    One was a woman who looked to be in her 20s with indigo hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a pure white robe with the crest of the goddess of fairness, Fiona''s drawn in it.

    From the things Zick could hear around the hall, the woman name was jessir messih, she was a cardinal of the goddess of fairness, Fiona''s temple.

    The other one was wearing a ck hood, he had ck hair and bright green eyes. His age was hard to say as his face was filled with weird ck marks. Just from his appearance it could be said that he was still young.

    He is also a cardinal of the death God temple, Cardinal is a rank which is one rank below bishop.

    Jessir had a soft smile on her face as she conversed with the others.

    While the person in ck hood sat in one corner of the hall just like Zick.

    Zick waited for this party toe to an end with a ss of juice in his hand. He could see Ste and the second prince talking to each other at the end of his view.

    Now that the ceremonial party had begun, with everyone present the hall looked a lot more crowded.

    Zick walked to the balcony with a ss of red juice in his hand and the cat followed beside him. The balcony entrance was covered with white curtains.

    Spreading it open with his hands, Zick walked past it. A gardeny below the balcony with flowers shining in the moon night. He sat upon the marble railing and looked at the sky.

    It was the same as ever since the day he came to this world.

    Star filled the sky as far as he could see and a half red moon could be seen in the sky.

    The cat also jumped up on the marble railing and Yawned.

    After bing a middle rank knight, Zick could hear a lot clearer than ever before so he was able to hear and even feel what was happening through his mana within the party hall easily.

    In the middle of the hall, couples started dancing along with their partners. A ceremonious song rang out in the hall.

    Ste and the second prince also danced happily along with the others. Ste had a big smile stered on her face as she held the second prince''s hand.

    Searre sat at one of the tables and looked at the couples dancing with envious gaze. She was still a young girl and it was her first timeing to a Ceremonial party, which made her want to participate in the ball dance along with others. But in the end it was just wishful thinking on her part.

    She is a Duke''s daughter, this brings a lot of benefits but there are disadvantages like this along with it.

    With a frustrated look on her face she began looking for Zick. With her enhanced sense of the lowest rank knight, she found him easily.

    He and the ck cat beside him were sitting on the marble railing of the balcony and looking towards the sky.

    ''It''s because of him.....''

    Almost all the people in the hall had heard their conversation even when they talked in a quiet voice.

    In this world all the people who can begin their journey to be a knight have senses that surpass anymon human. With no magic blocking their voice from spreading everyone had heard their conversation.

    Even if the nobles in the hall couldn''t do or say anything disrespectful to Searre, they could still talk to each other.

    Searre had heard them all speaking about her behaviour clearly.

    ("how can she say such a thing to the Melvix family?")

    ("Just how much disrespectful can she be")

    ("she didn''t even apologise to mister Zick")

    They just wanted to tarnish the velscar family name and nothing else.

    Even though she knew about it, she could not do anything about it.

    All the nobles in the hall never said a word about Zick''s disrespectful behaviour.

    ''But he is at fault too.....''

    She thought that Zick was disrespectful at their first meeting. He didn''t even get up from his chair when they greeted him with their family name.

    "sigh.....don''t worry about it, it doesn''t seems like he has any intention to harm our family"

    Denis misunderstood her as she was staring fixedly at Zick.

    "No, that isn''t it..."

    A dejected voice left her mouth.

    Without Zick noticing, he had elerated Searre''s growth by arge extent. In the future it would be even harder for changing her way of doing things.<sub> </sub>

    ************

    Zick could feel gazesnding on him but he ignored them and waited for the ceremonial party to end.

    Now that the ball dance had started, the party would end soon.

    The ck cat looked at Zick who was looking at the stars lost in his thoughts.

    ''In the end I couldn''t understand him at all''

    The cat had watched Zick closely the whole time but he never did any irrational action. He was so normal that the cat doubted its skills for the first time.

    p There were only a few instances where Zick acted differently but it isn''t anything that deviates from his normal behaviour by much.</anda>

    It was the moment Zick talked with Searre, the cat could feel that for some reason he didn''t like that girl.

    Leaving that nothing unusual happened the whole time which was worth mentioning.

    "sigh...I guess our contract ising to an end but still you lied that you needed my protection."

    The cat had noticed that the person named Zick was a very cautious human.

    ''he probably needed my protection just in case.....''

    "...I wanted to ask you something."

    Zick didn''t bother hiding the reason why he needed the protection and instead asked a question he was thinking about for a while.

    The cat looked at Zick with its vertical eyes, it didn''t know what he wanted to say but it felt that it was something important.

    "Ask what...?"

    "If in the future the Garcia family is destroyed, will you sign a contract with me?"

    "...."

    The cat was left speechless hearing what Zick said.

    "haha.....there is no way that will happen..."

    The cat''s voice was shaking as it said this.

    It regretted getting fooled and signing a contract with the Garcia family.

    Before it signed the contract, the Cat was known as one of the eight disasters that is known as the five disasters now.

    The five disasters are at a level that surpasses the human limit to a degree that they are considered undefeatable by any humans.

    The Garcia family had be famous because it had defeated one of these disasters in the past. But in reality they had formed a contract with it instead of killing it.

    Being stuck in this mansion for centuries the cat felt so indignant that it felt that dying was better.

    But it was impossible for it to kill itself, a mythical never dies until someone kills it.

    Even with its enormous strength it was bound by some weak human. Just this fact made it feel shameful to no end.

    ''.....and now he says i will be freed?''

    The cat didn''t want to believe it but still hope rose from deep within it.

    ''but....''

    "but that would be no different than my current situation, my freedom would just be taken by you again"

    "no, I don''t need you to be my ve or something like that, i just need two things. First, you will not harm me in anyway and the second help me if you want to sometimes"

    Zick just needed these two things, as long as he knew that the cat cannot harm him it didn''t matter to him what this mythical beast did.

    "So will you form a contract with me?"

    Zick extended his hand towards the cat.

    ".....hmph, why should I form a contract with you even if the Garcia family is destroyed?"

    "so you won''t form a contract with me?"

    Zick felt that it was a let down if the cat didn''t form a contract with him. In the future the Garcia family is going to be destroyed so forming a contract with it can give him a lot of benefit without doing anything.

    "no.....I wasn''t saying that i wouldn''t form a contract with you...sigh....."

    The cat knew that there was no reason for it to form a contract with Zick but it still decided to form it. Zick didn''t give an excessive demand that could be too detrimental to it, so forming a contract didn''t feel too bad to it.

    Extending its ck paw, the cat put it upon Zick''s hand.

    "I shall vow upon all my 9 lives, if ever the whole Garcia family''s bloodline is destroyed I will form a contract with you. I shall not harm you in anyway and help you if I am willing to do so"

    Zick felt a connection simr to the contract he made with the cat before. But at the same time it felt iplete.

    Feeling content, Zick looked at the party hall.

    The ceremonial party hade to an end and people were already starting to head back.

 Chapter 27 Reaching Melvix Familys Estate

    Zick knew about the specifics of the contract made between the Garcia family and mythical beast. As it was clearly mentioned in the novel-

    [''''in exchange for all the wine I gave and all which I will provide in the future, I want you to form a contract with me."

    "its just a contract anyway hmph! just state what you want"

    The foolish cat was filled with greed for the wines offered by the Head of the Garcia family 400 year ago, His name was Brett Garcia.

    "I want you to stay in the garcia family estate and protect it till my blood flows in the Veins"

    Brett Garcia said with a smile.

    "What��.that''s all? then I don''t have any problem forming a contract with you"

    The cat thought that a human lifespan would end in no time.

    "then I want another thing, you can''t harm my blood"

    "well that''s fair....okay let''s form a contract already"

    Hearing this Brett''s smile deepened.]

    When Zick had remembered this, he wrote it down in his diary in case it came into use in the future.

    ''i guess that''s all I can do for now''

    Walking on the corridor, Zick thought to himself. He could not ask any excessive demand from the cat as he is already aware of the cat''s vignt nature against humans. if he had asked anything that crossed the cat''s bottom line he would be rejected, breaking his rtion with the cat forever.

    The cat had already left him after the end of the ceremonial party.

    Reaching in front of his room''s door, Zick found Butler Von standing there like a statue.

    Feeling Zick''s presence, Butler Von bowed towards him.

    "Tell everyone to prepare for leaving tomorrow morning"

    "yes"

    Butler Von answered, still bowing his head.

    "And was the present from the Melvix family delivered properly?"

    "yes, it was delivered without any problem"

    Zick didn''t know what the gift was as it was chosen by the current head of the Melvix family, Zevkoras. He didn''t think much about it because he knew that Melvix''s family would send something good.

    Dismissing Butler Von, Zick entered his room with a smile still stered on his face.

    After closing the door, the smile on his face faded away. It was reced with a nk look, sitting at the corner of his bed a book appeared in his hand.

    Zick felt mentally exhausted from just staying in the ceremonial party for so long, he wanted to rest but there was something he needed to check before that.

    ''jessir messih....I know that name from somewhere....''

    Checking in the diary for a while, he found what he was looking for. His eyes focused as he read through it.

    Jessir messih got in the way of the protagonist in the middle of the first year of the academy.

    At that time the protagonists had gotten a mission from the academy, it was to kill a band of bandits to gain practical experience. There jessir had met the protagonist coincidentally and got in his way for some reason.

    Zick could not remember all the details of what happened in this incident as it was not important.

    Putting his diary back in the space ring, Zickid upon his bed not bothering to change his clothes. He started sleeping in no time as he was already exhausted mentally.

    Waking up from his slumber, Zick felt all his mental fatigue had vanished.

    ''Well I am a middle rank knight....''

    Looking out of the window, it was still dark with no sign of the sun rising. He had only slept for 4 to 5 hour but his body recovered to its peak.

    He wanted to sleep a little longer but he couldn''t fall asleep no matter what he did.

    "Sigh..."

    Sighing out loud, Zick got up and changed his formal aristocrat dress to somethingfortable.

    Sitting above the bed with still a nk look, he started training to increase his mana. Training in his mana for an hour, he stopped and started practising mana harmonisation.

    After a few hours, he heard someone knock at his door.<sub> </sub>

    "Come in"

    Saying this, a smile appeared on his face.

    CLUCK~

    Zick looked at the door which opened, Butler Von stood there with his signature stoic expression.

    "young master Zick, all the preparations have been finished, we can leave any moment you wish"

    "let''s go then"

    Not wanting to stay here anymore, Zick ordered Butler Von to lead the way.

    Following behind him, Zick thought of the things he needed to do after reaching the Melvix family''s estate.

    He needed to master mana harmonisation first. There were still a lot of sword techniques which he needed to learn.

    ''There''s a lot of things I need to do after returning to the Melvix family''s estate...''

    In the front gate of the Garcia family''s estate, Zick''s carriage was stationed with knights surrounding it. When Zick reached the carriage, all the knights got down their horses and bowed towards him.

    "depart as soon as possible"

    "yes!"

    Zick ordered the knights and entered into his carriage.

    The carriage departed in a minute, looking at the knights galloping on their horses besides the carriage Zick closed the curtains.

    Zick didn''t waste any time and started training in both mana harmonisation and increasing his mana.

    The journey continued facing no obstacle in its way, even if any problem arose the knights took care of it immediately.

    When the carriage reached the fiersvel city, Zick had another thing that he needed here.

    Staying in the same inn where he had stayed before, Zick could see that the door was already fixed. bringing Butler Von along with him in his room, he started giving an order to him.

    "buy any 10 best sword from this city and if you find a magic sword buy it no matter the cost"

    Throwing the que of the Melvix family to Butler Von, Zick sent him away. He could see that Butler Von looked at the que with a nk look but he didn''t say anything to him.

    Zick wasn''t worried about Butler Von betraying him, because of the oath he found Butler Von to be somewhat trustworthy.

    After an hour Butler Von returned with the ten swords that he ordered but unluckily there was no magic sword in the fiersvel city.

    ''Well i didn''t have much hope to get it anyway''

    Zick epted it easily, magic swords are rare as they have the ability to boost the potency of the mana. Finding a magic sword in a city like this would already be a miracle.

    Collecting the swords and the que, Zick started training to increase his mana.

    On the next morning, The carriage left the fiersvel city. After half a day, the carriage reached the Melvix family''s estate.

    ***************

    Within the Melvix family''s estate, Zevkoras sat on a table in the lord''s room.

    He had gotten all the information about Zick''s action from the master assassin that he assigned for his protection.

    When the carriage had stopped in the fiersvel city and Zick had brought tons of mana drugs, Zevkoras was disappointed in him.

    But the next morning when the assassin reported him, Zick had broken through to the middle rank without a speck of impurity in it. He startedughing like a maniac. It was both because of Zick not breaking his expectations and he regretted the order he gave to the master assassin a little.

    He had ordered him to just protect Zick from any potential risk but he had also said to not keep surveince at what Zick did within his room.

    Which led to him not knowing what Zick did within the inn''s room, But it didn''t matter.

    ''Only by doing such huge feats does he have a chance of bing the next head of the family.....''

    Zick didn''t have ash-grey hair like all the other heirs of Melvix family so there would be a lot of opposition in him bing the next head of the family.

    Only by doing feats that no one else has done can there be any chance for him to even fight as an heir.

    "hahaha! let me help you too....if you can survive this task it would help a lot in bing the next head"

    Zevkoras had already nned on what he was going to make Zick do when he turned 12.

 Chapter 28 A Mission

    After returning to the Melvix family''s estate, Zick''s started spending his time as usual training everyday.

    Two year went by very quickly,

    In this time, all the servants in the estate have grown used to seeing Zick''s smile all the time.

    In the past two years Zick had gotten a pleasant surprise, Butler Von had broken through and be a peak rank assassin.

    Noticing Butler Von''s presence change, Zick had asked him if anything had happened. Butler Von responded to him truthfully telling him about his recent breakthrough.

    Butler Von still had not even be 25 yet, bing a peak rank assassin before the age of 25 is already considered as genius.

    Zick didn''t think of it much as he thought that it isn''t anythingpared to the protagonist. There is a reason why he thinks that bing a middle rank knight at the age of 10 isn''t anything big.

    The protagonist of the novel- ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' could be called a monster when it came to growing faster.

    The protagonist already had a talent that reached sword grandmaster, just from this he could have grown stronger at an incredible speed.

    But with the blessing of the sun god which made him grow twice as fast, the protagonist started growing at an unbelievable speed breaking allmon sense. When he began his journey bing a knight, in just six months he had be a middle rank knight. At that time he was in the middle of his first year in the academy.

    <o>,m And with all the support that the protagonist got from here and there his strength just kept increasing at a faster rate.</o>

    At the end of first year in the academy, the protagonist had be a high rank knight. In other words he had be a high rank knight in just 1 year.

    In front of this, Zick bing a middle rank knight at the age of 10 felt nothing. It had taken him one and a half years to aplish this.

    So Zick didn''t think of Butler Von''s breakthrough as anything worth mentioning.

    But the one who grew the most in these two year was Zick, he had almost reached the peak of the middle rank and he could feel that within six months he could be a high rank knight. With all the training he did to increase his mana, his mana storage has also increased. but these weren''t the only things.

    He had mastered mana harmonisation technique which doubled his battle strength at once. Learning this technique had increased his efficiency in using mana tremendously.

    By sparring with knights in the training ground, Zick got an idea about his limit. Knowing what he was capable of was very important as it would show what he wascking at. Along with it he had learnt dozens of other techniques which could be used while fighting.

    No knight in the middle rank was a match to him, he had defeated everyst knight who was in the middle rank in the training ground.

    Now he could only spar with knights at high rank to increase his proficiency in using swords.

    But the knight and Zick stopped using mana in their sword and instead used it to strengthen their body instead. The injuries made with mana of the middle and high rank knights are too potent to be healed with simple potions.

    Only a high rank potion would be able to heal such a wound, this potion cost 50,000 dels.

    Right now, Zick was heading towards the estate''s lord room with his smile on his face.

    The current head of the family had called him to his room for reason again, Zick could only head there finishing his breakfast.

    Bing 12 had increased his height and made him look more handsome.The maids bowed towards him when he passed by.

    His senses had increased in the past two year so he could feel the presence of the maid still bowing to him.

    Zick got to know another thing at this time, the servants of the Melvix family have no right to speak to an heir without their permission. Of course this only applies to normal servants as they don''t have any worth. If a servant speaks to him without his permission they would be executed without mercy.

    Standing in front of the estate lord room, Zick didn''t hesitate and entered through the door.<sub> </sub>

    Zick could see Zevkoras standing in front of the window looking out of it. he hadn''t changed at all in this two year, after bing a master swordsman their life expectancy increases.

    "So you came"

    His voice was solemn, turning around Zevkoras looked at Zick.

    Zevkoras had a serious expression showing the importance of what he is about to say.

    "yes father''''

    Zick just showed the minimum etiquette by bowing his head to Zevkoras.

    ''he is as cheeky as ever....''

    Zevkoras still had a serious expression on his face as he thought about this.

    No other heir had dared call him father excluding his first son and daughter. But he wasn''t offended by Zick calling him father, he just found it amusing.

    "I will now pass down a mission to you, all the other heirs have been also tasked with a mission. Only afterpleting this mission can you officially fight to be the next head of the family"

    Zevkoras eyes never left Zick as he said all this, Zick still had an unwavering smile on his face. Seeing Zick''s calm demeanour, he felt satisfied.

    "Of course there are rewards forpleting this mission, it would be decided from your performance while doing the mission. Of course you will be punished for failing the mission too and their is only one punishment in the Melvix family for an heir who has failed toplete mission, that is death"

    Zevkoras eyes became sharp with a red glint in it while saying this, he exuded a cold aura from his body which made Zick feel his hair standing from goosebumps.

    "...What is the mission?"

    Hearing this, Zevkoras nodded his head and continued exining.

    "I have specially chosen this mission, you will taking part in the war between the other continents who are still invading our continent. The war is still going on in the east of the continent near the Mhydrasvil empire. No support from the Melvix family will be given and you must survive for two years on the battlefield, this is your mission. You will be departing in three days, prepare all your thing in this time"

    "yes"

    Zick answered not at all shaken hearing all this.

    "You can go now"

    Hearing this, Zick left without hesitation. Though he still had a smile on his face looking calm, internally he was anything but calm.

    ''Should I make a run for it....''

    Zick discarded this thought the moment it appeared, the Melvix family would find him in no time with its power.

    ''I can only trypleting the mission somehow....''

    An unwilling feeling arose within him, but he was already used to this feeling from a long time. In his whole life, a lot of things were always forced upon him So he had already grown used to it.

    ''no matter where I am it''s always the same''

    Zick eyes turned nk for a second but it returned to normal again. throwing this thought out of his mind, he went to his room with a smile.

 Chapter 29 Master Swordsman Ghreese

    There wasn''t anything that Zick needed to prepare, most of the time he kept all his belongings in the space ring which he was carrying around with him.

    But Zick had few things he needed to do before leaving.

    After reaching his room, Zick put dozens of clothes into his space ring. Looking around to see if there was anything he needed, he started walking towards the dining hall.

    Butler Von stood beside the dining table preparing for Zick''s lunch. Feeling Zicking to the dining hall, he bowed towards him without hesitation.

    "Follow me."

    Ordering Butler Von to follow him, Zick walked back to his room.

    CLUCK~

    Closing the door, Zick sat at the corner of his bed and started exining about the mission.

    Zevkoras had said there would be no support from the Melvix family, which means he could not take Butler Von with him in this mission.

    "young master.....I....."

    Hearing about the mission, a lost look appeared on Butler Von''s face. He had epted Zick as his lord and started serving him in earnest. In all these four years which he spent with Zick, he had adapted to it quickly.

    He wanted to serve someone who is worthy of him and Zick had already shown his talent again and again. Not being able to serve him made him feel lost more than ever.

    "Tell me everything about the oath you made."

    Zick spoke with still a smile on his face, He wanted to know about the oath which was taken by Butler Von. His trust in people was almost nonexistent, he could only trust things like oaths or contracts now.

    Butler became serious again and told Zick about the oath not skipping any minor detail.

    ''it''s better than I thought.....''

    Butler Von''s oath was a lot stricter than Zick had imagined, he could not harm Zick or the Melvix family in any way. If he harms them from his own free will, his soul would be ripped apart in an instant.

    He had to protect Zick by any means possible even if it meant sacrificing himself. Breaking this oath would also result in his soul being ripped apart.

    Butler Von had to follow all the orders given by Zick no matter the cost.

    Zick found this oath the most satisfying, Butler Von had to follow his order not the Melvix family''s at all cost. There were more to the oath but their importance was negligible.

    "I will be away for two years, make sure to train in this time properly."

    Zick didn''t say anything else, in the end he decided to trust Butler Von a little and changed some of his future ns.

    Leaving the fact Butler Von couldn''t harm the Melvix family everything else was in Zick''s favour.

    Sending Butler Von away, Zick started training to increase his mana. Now that there were only three days left, sparring with the knight wouldn''t increase his battle strength at all. So he just decided to train in his mana.

    Three days passed by with Zick spending his time normally training.

    Hearing the knocking sound on his door, Zick opened it without hesitation. A man wearing leather armour with the Melvix family crest drawn in it appeared in his view.

    "I havee to escort you, young master Zick"

    The man with leather armour said bowing towards Zick.

    "okay"

    Nodding his head, Zick followed the knight. He had already prepared all his belongings a long time ago.

    Zick looked at the knight, he looked to be in his mid 20s, he had brown hair and blue eyes.

    Zick could not sense his rank from which it was apparent that this knight was in the peak rank. Fighting with high rank knight had already given him enough experience to sense their mana.

    But he couldn''t sense the mana of the knight in front of him at all.

    Walking for a few minutes they reached in front of a door, opening it the knight moved aside for Zick to enter.

    Entering the room, Zick could see a blue magic circle drawn on the ground.

    ''a teleportation circle.....''

    Zick entered the magic circle and waited for the knight to activate it. But Zick saw the knight entering the magic circle and took out a blue crystal from his soace ring.

    ''mana crystal....''

    Zick was surprised by the blue crystal in the knight''s hand, when he thought about it for a second he felt that it was natural.

    The teleportation circle that he was standing on was connected to the battlefield near the Mhydrasvil empire.<sub> </sub>

    Travelling there by carriage usually takes a couple of weeks, using a teleportation circle to travel this distance would take a lot of mana. Using a mana crystal is the best way to make up for the mana consumed.

    The Melvix family is one of the wealthiest noble in the whole first continent, buying mana crystal was a very easy task for them. Mages could be used as a substitute for the mana crystal but for a teleportation circle like this a peak rank mage would be needed.

    Bing a high rank mage is already considered as a huge aplishment, There are only a few people who have been able to be a peak rank mage. Finding a peak rank mage is very hard even for the Melvix family. So using the mana crystal was considered the best way for most people.

    Only the magic kingdom, Pheorous, has the capability to use mages of peak rank.

    After putting the mana crystal on the teleportation circle, the knight stood beside Zick with no sign of him going out.

    ''Is heing with me?''

    The teleportation circle activated, both Zick and the knight started turning transparent and then vanished in a few seconds.

    **************

    BANG!

    "Do they take this war as a joke!?"

    Within a tent with the Mhydrasvil empire''s symbol, a person mmed the table in front of him with an angry look.

    Not being able to take the force the table broke into pieces and the paper above it started floating in the air.

    The man within the tent who looked to be in his 30s was named Ghreese mecwin, he had red hairs and red eyes which were filled with rage right at the moment. He was the temporarymander of all the knights stationed in the war between the first and second continent.

    He is a master swordsman from the Mhydrasvil empire.

    At all times a master swordsman must stay in the battlefield in case of any emergency, it was decided by all the three kings.

    The master swordsman post changes in every three months, all the three ruling forces take turns in assigning a master swordsman from their own forces.

    Right now, Ghreese was assigned as the master swordsman in the battle field and as their temporarymander. He had a letter in his hand, which looked like it was made of high quality material. But it turned into ashes in a second the next moment.

    Not being able to control his emotion for a second, his aura had erupted out of his body and burnt the letter reacting his emotions.

    It has just been 10 days since he was assigned to the battlefield, but on the 10th day this letter was delivered to him. Seeing the letter was sent by the Melvix family he had thought of it as something important.

    But the moment he finished reading it, he could not control his anger and mmed the table in rage.

    "Sir! Is everything alright!?"

    A knight came running hearing the sounding from the tent.

    "fix the table and pick up all the paperying in the ground. You can ask the other knight to help as well."

    Saying this, Ghreese walked out of the tent with a cold face. ording to the letter, a kid who is still in the age of 12 will be participating in the battlefield.

    Ghreese was angry to no end reading this, he is loyal to the Mhydrasvil empire and serves the emperor with utmost loyalty and respect. In this war between the first continent and the second continent the Mhydrasvil empire was the one who took most of the damage from it.

    He was already feeling ufortable with the empire taking the most of the damage, reading this letter had made him lose control of his emotions for a second.

    All the master swordsmen keep their emotions in check at all times as it could damage their surroundings.

    Walking in front of another tent with the Melvix family crest drawn in it, Ghreese waited for their arrival. In the letter it was mentioned that they would being today.

    And the only way to reach here so fast was the teleportation circle. With his senses which had long surpassed the limit of humans, he could feel mana fluctuating within the tent.

    ''They areing....''

    With a bright blue light the tent started glowing for a few seconds and then it returned to normal.

    Two people came out of the tent, one was a knight who was in the peak rank and a kid at the age of 12 who was a middle rank knight.

    ''no....he is going to reach the peak of the middle rank soon''

    Ghreese was surprised by this but didn''t let it show in the face.

    Walking in front of him the knight beside Zick passed another letter to Ghreese, Taking it he started frowning. Opening the letter, he started reading what was written in it-

    (Put him at the front lines)

    There was only this one line on the letter, reading this Ghreese eyes widened.

    ''They want me to put him at the front lines..?''

 Chapter 30 Open Terrain

    Ghreese knew that the kid in front of him was the heir of the Melvix family as it was clearly mentioned in the letter.

    ''It doesn''t have anything to do with me anyway...''

    Ghreese didn''t care even if Zick dies in the battlefield. Though he felt dissatisfied with the Melvix family, he just let it go as it wouldn''t change the current situation.

    Their surroundings started turning dark as night was approaching, the sky was covered in ck clouds like always in the battlefield. Seeing this Ghreese started speaking.

    "You have time till tomorrow morning, and a knight will inform you about your position in the battlefield then."

    Saying this, Ghreese put the letter in his hand inside his pocket and started heading towards his tent in the distance.

    "Please follow me"

    The knight beside Zick started leading the way to the ce where Zick would be staying for the next two years.

    A barrack-like house appeared in front of Zick; it was made of wood from top to the bottom. Opening its door, he could see a small bed in which only one person can fit. looking around the room it was totally empty leaving only the bed.

    ''I will be staying here for two years...?''

    Zick felt depressed about his current situation, but the smile on his face didn''t leave him.

    "Then I will be taking my leave"

    Bowing towards Zick, the knight walked away.

    Closing the door, Zick''s face turned nk but it was a little different than before, his eyes were shining for some reason.

    Zickid upon the bed which didn''t feelfortable at all and started sleeping.

    ''Just two years...I just have to survive for two years''

    Having this thought, Zick fell asleep.

    Getting up in the morning, Zick started training to increase his mana and waited for the arrival of the knight who would inform him about his position.

    KNOCK! KNOCK!

    Hearing the sound of knocking, Zick Opened the door.

    "Follow me"

    An knight covered in white armour stood in front of the door, even after hearing the knight speak to him informally the smile on his face didn''t waver.

    "okay"

    Zick said this and started following the knight, the sky was covered in ck clouds even though it was morning.

    Walking for a few minutes he reached his destination.

    "It''s the armoury, take a set of armour and sword."

    The knight stood beside the entrance of the armoury like a guard.

    ''....at least they are giving me armour''

    Entering the armoury, Zick could only see armour, swords and helmetid all over the ce. Choosing randomly, he wore it and walked out of the armoury.

    All the things within the armoury were the same so he didn''t need to think about what he should choose. Luckily the armour was enhanced with mana to fit the wearer''s body or a lot of problems would have arisen for his small body.

    Seeing Zicking out, the knight nodded his head.

    "You will be positioned at the front lines, I will lead you there"

    The knight''s voice was filled with pity.

    ''the front lines.....? haha....really they cant leave me alone can they....?''

    The smile on Zick''s face vanished and a dazed expression appeared on his face.

    "hm...what happened?"

    Hearing the knight''s voice, Zick snapped out of his daze and smiled towards him.

    "Nothing"

    The knight didn''t think much about it and started leading the way to the front lines. Walking for more than 10 minutes, a group of knights appeared in Zick''s view. He didn''t feel even a little fatigue after walking for 10 minutes.

    All of the knights in front of him were at or higher than middle rank. They all stood in the middle of the camp waiting for him.

    "is that the new member we were informed about?"

    The leader of the group walked in front and talked to the knight besides Zick. They have all been informed about Zick, an heir of the Melvix family participating in the war with them.

    When they were informed about this, a lot of them showed dissatisfaction but everyone was aware of the Melvix family being the strongest force in terms of the military so they didn''tin about it excessively.

    "Yes....I will be taking my leave now"

    Saying this, the knight who had led Zick here left.

    "I am the captain of the third battalion in the front lines, my name is grantz, you will be taking orders from me. Do you have any problems?"

    "No"

    Seeing Zick answering him with a smile, he felt a little weird. All the people in the battlefield have a gloomy look on their faces.

    ''This smile would probably vanish soon too...''<sub> </sub>

    Grantz looked to be in his 50s, he had a spear in his right hand and he had white hair and ck eyes.

    "The battle is going to start in 10 minutes. We have no time so we will talk while moving."

    Saying this, Grantz started leading the way to the front, the terrain had little greenery but it became more and more sparse as they walked towards the battlefield.

    There were at least 50 knights in the group. They either had a cold or a gloomy look on their faces.

    "Then let me get to the point, if you get in the way while fighting we will abandon you without any hesitation."

    Grantz knew about the battlefield more than anyone, he has spent 20 years here. Even a moment of negligence could lead to your death. Even as a peak rank knight, he felt it was hard surviving in the battlefield.

    "....okay"

    ''I didn''t expect them to risk their lives for my sake in the first ce....''

    Hearing Zick''s answer, Grantz didn''t say anything further and walked faster.

    The third battalion reached in front of arge army of knights, there were more than 10,000 knights in it.

    Looking at them, Zick walked besides Grantz and spoke to him.

    "How many battalions do we have?"

    "There are more than 100 battalions on our side, the two kingdoms and the empire have made an alliance so you should have expected these numbers."

    Grantz said this to Zick with a in tone.

    Looking around, Zick only found a barren ground with blood stains everywhere. The smell of blood reached his nose even though he had yet to arrive in the front lines.

    Zick found Ghreese standing on a higher ground in the distance, he looked at the knights with a serious expression.

    "What!?....what do you all think you are doing bringing a child here!"

    A woman wearing the sun god temple robe asked the knights with an angry look with her finger pointing at him.

    "We have been ordered by themander."

    Grantz responded back to her with a calm face.

    "Even if that was the case....."

    "Stop! We don''t have time for this, the army is starting to move, get in your positions!"

    A man with gold hair and ance on his back walked between them with a strict look, he wore a silver armour which shined brightly.

    The women from the sun god temple wanted to say something but retreated after looking at the man with thence.

    "Get to your positions, there isn''t much time"

    "yes"

    Grantz nodded his head and walked faster with the group to the front of the army.

    While walking along with the knights, Zick saw the general positions of the army.

    The priests were stationed in the end, with the mages in the middle and in the front were the knights.

    Reaching the front of the army, Zick could see multiple battalions positioned in a systematic way.

    Looking forward towards the enemy''s side, Zick could see another army moving around. They wore ck armour unlike the armour worn by Zick and the first continent army.

    Their formation was different from the first continent''s army, they were divided in three groups, the left wing, right wing and the central column. The second continent''s army numbers weren''t different from the first continent; they had 10,000 men strong.

    ''it''s probably for identifying the enemy andrades while fighting....''

    Zick thought that, wearing different colour armour would would make it easier to fight for both the sides.

    A horse galloped in their direction, looking closely at it with his enhanced senses, Zick could see that the one riding upon the horse had a white g with him.

    Seeing the reaction from the people besides him, it seems things like this happen all the time.

    One of the knights from our side also headed forwards with his horse. Both horses met in the middle of the battlefield.

    "They are just making a deration for the start of the battle, in the end it always ends with a minor skirmish as both sides don''t want to take heavy loses."

    Grantz started exining about what was happening when he saw Zick staring at the middle of the battlefield.

    Hearing what Grantz said, Zick nodded his head in understanding. He was worried about another thing, this battle is going to take ce in an open terrain, he would be an easy target for any long range attack.

    ''If anyone tries to assassinate me, my surviving chances are low''

    Feeling his mood getting heavier by the second, Zick looked at the middle of the battlefield again.

    The knight from the second continent made a deration and galloped back on his horse to its formation.

    The knight from the first continent returned to the formation and started speaking withmander Ghreese in the back. After hearing the Deration, a resolute expression appeared on his face.

    "Advance!!"

    His voice could be heard by everyone as he imbued mana into it.

    Both the army started moving at the same time, Zick also Advanced forward with a serious expression as he knew that smiling while in the middle of fighting would look creepy.

    ''I will survive no matter the cost....''

 Chapter 31 In The End, He Is Still A Loser

    The knights from both the first and second continent started advancing.

    The mages and priests stood their positions and looked towards the knights with a solemn expression.

    Looking in the front, Zick could see the enemy''s army advancing rapidly. His heart started beating faster than ever before and the ominous feeling rose from deep within him.

    ''This again.....''

    Though he would have followed what this feeling told him normally, but right now he was in the middle of the battlefield. He ignored that ominous feeling and brought his concentration upon the enemy.

    Zick took out the sword from the scabbard hanging on his hip and started running a little faster.

    All the knights beside Zick Increased their speed as they were nearing the enemy army. The army slowly started dispersing to make some distance from each other.

    "haaaaaaa..."

    Zick breathed out loudly through his mouth and dashed forward, not holding back anymore.

    Everyone in the battlefield was a knight, with their speed they reached the middle of the battlefield in no time.

    Circting mana in his sword, Zick used mana harmonisation technique without hesitation.

    His speed increased momentarily and reached in front of an enemy knight. He had chosen this knight as he had sensed that this knight was in the same rank as him.

    Swinging his sword at the Knight''s neck, Zick got a bad feeling in his heart, but he still didn''t stop his action.

    He cut off the enemy knight''s head easily with the element of surprise but there was still some resistance. The enemy knight had used mana to cover his neck to stop Zick''s attack, but he was still a stepte.

    SPLASH~

    The blood started flowing out of the knight''s headless body like a fountain, it tilted and fell after a second almost like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

    Zick tried rushing towards the other enemy knight in the distance but his body froze for some reason.

    The knight that he had killedid on the ground with blood flowing out of its neck profusely. But that isn''t the thing which froze Zick, the blood which stained the barren ground in red entered Zick''s sight.

    "Huh....."

    A voice left his mouth without him noticing, his face became nk and his surroundings blurred in his eyes. The image of the day he had seen the dead body of the bully in his past life passed through his head.

    "hahahaha...hahahaha!!"

    Zick''s voice was enhanced by the mana as he startedughing loudly, his nk face turned into a crazed expression. A big creepy smile appeared in his face with his eyes glowing in a darker red colour.

    Everyone''s attention was brought upon Zick as heughed like a maniac.

    "Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"

    Not bothered by their attention at all, Zick ran towards the enemy knights with his sword covered in mana.

    The knight responded easily to Zick''s attack as his attention had been on him for a while. He easily blocked Zick''s sword and tried to throw a kick at his stomach.

    That was When Zick''s mana started changing, he broke through and became a high rank knight at once. But that wasn''t the end, His mana started turning ck.

    The ck mana offset the mana in the enemy''s sword easily.

    "What..."

    Before the knight could finish the word his head was cut cleanly with Zick''s sword. He had cut the Knight''s sword in half along with the neck.

    "Hahahahahaha!"

    Not stopping after that, Zick went on massacre and kept killing all the knights in front of him. With the weird ck mana his strength increased with no leap and bound.

    While killing the knights, images kept going through his head.

    The moment when he was in elementary school, where hismunication skills were low.

    The moment when he tried making friends in middle school, where he was ignored by the other ssmates.

    The moment when the bully made his life worse.

    The moment when he was used of doing a murder.

    The moment his personality had broken in the prison.<sub> </sub>

    The moment he felt unfair when he died from his disease.

    And right now, being forced to fight in the war stacking his life on the line.

    "Hahahahahaha!"

    The knights from the first continent retreated seeing Zick going berserk in the battlefield.

    "Retreat!"

    Zick....no Noah from the past life knew from a long time ago, if he had tried taking revenge against the bully he would have lost himself. That is the reason he locked himself in a room living as a SHUT-IN.

    His broken personality had only gotten worse staying in the prison.

    Aftering to this world, he had started making rational decisions as he thought that was the best way in not making any mistake like in his past life. But it still didn''t work out.

    There was only one word in his head right now.

    Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, whywhywhywhy.

    "Why!!?"

    Zick kept killing all the knights with the same creepy smile on his face. He would try to kill them off by any means possible, cutting them in two, cutting their necks off, cutting their limbs.....

    "No.... stop....please stop..."

    A knight with his right hand missing begged Zick to stop but the next moment a red line appeared in his neck, then his head fell to the ground.

    Without stopping Zick killed everyst knight which entered his sight.

    "Run!! everyone retreat!!"

    Even while they were retreating Zick never stopped and ran at speed which was impossible for someone in the high rank.

    After killing another 10 knights, Zick fell on his knees, He had run out of mana.

    "haaaa.....haaaa....haaaa...."

    With ragged breathing, Zick looked at his surroundings, the whole ce was covered in blood, even he himself was totally covered in blood from head to toes.

    ''Ah.....I blew it...''

    Zick clearly remembers what he did just a while ago. There was another thing which came to his mind.

    It was the cat mythical beast and the prophecy, it had told to him-

    ["....when blood flows from a dead body....the monster shall awaken.....within....s something broken is broken in the end..."]

    Zick had just misunderstood the prophecy talking about something else as it mentioned monster.

    ''So it was referring to me as a monster....? haha...''

    Zick couldn''t move even a muscle as he was out of both mana and stamina. He had used the ck mana as a means to move his body when he had run out of stamina before while going berserk.

    ''Even after trying so hard by only making rational decisions....in the end....I am still a loser''

    Yes, in the end, he was still a loser.

    **************

    Ghreese had witnessed all the things Zick did on the battlefield and there was only one word in his head after seeing what had happened.

    ''No way....''

    Zick had given a characteristic to his mana which is only possible when a person bes a peak rank knight. He had done something which was considered as impossible by the whole world.

    Ghreese even found the ck mana as something weird, it gave rise to ominous feelings in everyone who saw it.

    ''Is it even something that a human should have...?''

    (End of volume 1)

    *******************

 Chapter 32 Mana Characteristics

    The second continent army stood in a semicircle formation, they were positioned a few hundred metres from where Zick kneeled.

    In these 30 years, from the beginning of the war between the first and the second continent, there has never been such a situation.

    A single knight had killed more than 100 knights at once, the second continent army were surprised at first but it turned into anger after seeing Zick still going on a massacre.

    There are a lot of reasons why this massacre was possible, the knights had not thought of Zick as anyone worth keeping eyes on.

    Most of the peak rank knights were busy fighting the enemies in the same rank.

    And the knight''s instincts which they have been refining from years gave them warning that their end would be imminent if they tried fighting Zick.

    The figure of Zick being covered in blood and the ck mana was still vividly present in everyone''s mind.

    "Retrieve him!"

    Seeing that Zick had run out of mana, Grantz ordered the knight beside him to retrieve him.

    The first continent army had retreated the moment when Zick had started killing everyone in front of him.

    So there weren''t many casualties in their army, but the casualties which they suffered were all done by Zick.

    "What are you....."

    Grantz stopped speaking, seeing the knight beside him had a face filled with fear. He had seen how Zick killed the knightsughing like a maniac. The ck mana covering Zick gave everyone a feeling of ominousness, it made their body stop moving instinctually.

    ''I will have to retrieve him....''

    Grantz clenched his teeth as he thought of this. He dashed forward seeing everyone frozen in their ces.

    Seeing him moving, the second continent army snapped out of their daze.

    "Attack! kill that knight!"

    The second continent army started advancing hearing one of their captain''s angry voice.

    "Attack!"

    With loud battle cries the army advanced towards Zick.

    "Mages! support him!"

    Ghreese ordered the mages to support Grantz who is trying to retrieve Zick. Immediately manyyers of transparent barrier appeared around where Zick kneeled.

    ''This battle is already over, we just need to retrieve that kid now.....''

    With so many casualties the second continent army had to retreat as soon as possible. Right at the moment, they were just trying to kill Zick as he was in a weak state.

    If the second continent army suffered any more losses they would probably have to put the war on hold for a while.

    But still they decided to kill Zick before retreating, everyone had seen Zick''s capability, being able to kill him is already a big gain to them.

    Different types of magic started flying towards the knights of the second continent army.

    The mages of the second continent attacked Zick, but didn''t get any result due to the barrier covering him.

    Empowering himself with mana, Grantz had reached near Zick quickly, the mana barrier let him enter easily. Picking Zick up he put him on his shoulder, when he checked Zick''s condition, he found that he was already unconscious from mana depletion.

    Not hesitating, Grantz started running towards the First continent army.

    Few knights were able to reach Zick''s location fighting off the magic spell flying towards them, but they were stillte.

    Grantz is a peak rank knight just like them so there wouldn''t be much of a difference in their speed. Following him would only lead to them entering the enemy''s field.

    "Sigh...retreat! everyone retreat!"

    One of the captains of the second continent army ordered everyone to retreat.

    ****************

    Waking up from his slumber, Zick looked at the ceiling made of wood with a nk look.<sub> </sub>

    "Oh you are awake?"

    Hearing someone''s voice besides him, he looked towards it with suspicious eyes.

    "Ah....I am from the sun god temple, I was ordered to look at you condition just minute ago"

    A priest with sses said with a harmless smile, but when he felt Zick''s eyesnding on him he felt chills rising all over his body.

    Zick didn''t give off the ominous feeling that he gave in the battlefield anymore.

    Every time when a knight ranks up their mana quality bes purer, which then affects their body and makes it grow stronger.

    Right now Zick was also strengthened after bing a high rank knight but it was a little different.

    The ck mana affected his body which made people weaker than him feel chills. Anyone stronger than him could easily resist it.

    Zick could only try suppressing the manaing out of his body if he doesn''t want to affect other people around him. He could feel the difference between his body before the battle and now.

    The mana which entered his body, and then the mana nerves turned ck on its own.

    ''mana Characteristic.....''

    Zick knew about it from the novel, it is something only a peak rank knight can do.

    RATTLE!

    With the sound of an armed soldier moving wearing armour, the tent entrance was pped open.

    "Themander has ordered for you toe to his tent"

    A knight wearing full body armour said this to Zick. The priest had left after taking ast look at him so he must be the one who reported about him waking up to the others.

    Not saying anything, Zick got up from his bed and walked towards the knight.

    "Let''s go"

    Zick said with an emotionless voice which sounded coarse to anyone who heard it.

    ''Ah.....I had enough of it''

    Zick had given up in his past life, he just wanted to live the rest of his life within his room. Reading the novel to distract him from reality, that was enough for him.

    Even living such a life didn''t matter to him as he had long since given up on everything.

    Aftering to this world, Zick had gotten a little hope to live his life the way he wants. Even though he knew that the world would be taken over by the demonic race in the future and he couldn''t do anything about it, He still felt that way.

    Zick might be the only person who knew the most about the strength of the demonic race as a human. With his current strength he would not be able to even survive for more than a minute in front of them.

    Zick earnestly wished to be stronger as that would lead to him being free. That is the reason he trained without a rest the whole time because growing stronger made him happy.

    ''But....why did I continue smiling?''

    Zick felt like an idiot, even after growing stronger he did not stop smiling. Even the reason to why he was smiling felt stupid. He just wanted to hide his true feelings behind the smile.

    He didn''t want other people to notice about how broken he is within.

    ''Why should I hide my feelings....? from now on I will do whatever I feel like doing''

    Going berserk on the battlefield was like a wake up call for him. The emotionless face that he had right at the moment is what he truly felt.

    He had been pushing away his broken side even though he knew about it from a very long time ago. But now he had epted all the things about him.

    ''Yeah I am a loser in both of my life being forced around by people but still that doesn''t matter.''

    For the first time in his life Zick had found happiness in living. By just growing stronger he could achieve what he couldn''t in his past life.

    He could find happiness and the feeling of being free.

    ''I will smile when I feel like smiling, I willugh when I feel likeughing, I will do what I feel like doing. Isn''t this the reason I have been trying to grow stronger?''

 Chapter 33 The Black Devil

    Zick followed behind the knight, he could see some people freezing looking at him, they had varying expressions, some had stoic faces, some had fear and some had ufortable faces.

    Zick had been trying to suppress the manaing out of his body for a while but it yielded no result.

    Giving characteristic to a mana is only possible when a person bes a peak rank knight but Zick had done it while being a high rank knight. So suppressing his mana had almost be impossible for now.

    His ck mana had evolved so fast that his body wasn''t ready to ept it yet. Only by bing a peak rank knight can he suppress the manaing out of his body.

    ''.....luckily there is no other side effect from this''

    Even Zick didn''t know the reason as to why his mana gained characteristic so soon. He didn''t think of it much as it increased his strength to another level.

    Zick felt refreshed now that he had stopped smiling all the time.

    The weather was still the same as ever, the sky was filled with ck clouds, there was a pungent stench of war in the air.

    Zick could see a fortress in the distance, it was made as a boundary to fight the enemy from the second continent. After the war had finished everyone had retreated to their base near the fortress.

    The fort name is Sethre fortress.

    It was enhanced with myriads of defencive spells which Zick could feel even from a distance. He could see knights sitting on the benches in groups and eating their food.

    "How many days has it been since the battle?"

    Zick asked the knight leading the way with the same deadpan look.

    "...one and a half day"

    The knight frowned while responding to him, he found Zick''s voice offensive as it almost felt like he was being ordered.

    After hearing the knight answer, Zick ignored him. His house was located near the battlefield as it would make it easy to respond to enemy''s attack.

    Walking for a few minutes, Zick reached in front of a white tent with the Mhydrasvil empire''s crest etched on it.

    The knight leading Zick stood beside the entrance of the tent like a guard, pping open the tent entrance Zick entered.

    Ghreese sat on a luxurious chair as he looked at Zick with a serious face.

    "So you came"

    "...."

    Zick didn''t say anything and waited for Ghreese to continue speaking.

    ".....You killed 12 people of our army, what do you have to say for this?"

    "Nothing"

    Zick answered without hesitation.

    A perplexed expression appeared on Ghreese''s face. He had called Zick to reprimand him about the casualties just for the sake of it. He actually didn''t care about any of the knights who were not from the Mhydrasvil empire.

    And the 12 knights killed by Zick were not associated with them at all.

    ''He has changed....''

    Ghreese was able to notice Zick''s changes, the first time he met him it was like meeting a normal kid but right now he looked like a person who has experienced a lot of things in his life.

    ''He seems a lot more mature now....''

    Throwing this thought out of his head, Ghreese started speaking to Zick.

    "You have been pardoned for this once as you have done a worthy deed for it, but remember there won''t be another chance like this. you can go now"<sub> </sub>

    Ghreese waved his hand signalling Zick to leave.

    Going out of the tent, Zick looked towards the open tent where a normal person was distributing food to the knights. Walking near it, he also picked up a bowl and took porridge.

    It was a murky porridge, as if it had been washed out from a rag.

    "...."

    It looked as if it was made to kill a person''s taste buds out of spite. Naturally, it should be rich in nutrients since it was food made to be eaten by the knights.

    Walking to one of the benches in the end, Zick sat down and started eating the porridge.

    It tasted better than the felix root at least. Yeah, better than Felix root....

    While eating the porridge with a wooden spoon Zick thought of what he should do in the future.

    It was inevitable that he would have to stay in the battlefield for two years. But he didn''t want to waste his time at all.

    ''Let''s gather as much experience as I can while fighting in this war.....''

    ***********

    Two yearster.

    In these two years, Zick had never neglected training both in his mana and to gather experience in the battlefield.

    With the ck mana''s support he had passed the halfway mark of the high rank knight and he had also gained a title for the deeds he did in the battlefield.

    The ck devil.

    He didn''t go out of control like the first time and fought with a clear mind as he had long epted his broken personality. Both his broken and rational personality had assimted which led to the current him.

    Fighting in the battlefield has given him a lot of experience to fight against knights and mages.

    The battles were different from the first battle in which he had participated and had lost control. The battle would go on for a day or two all the time if nothing exceptional happens.

    The second continent army had learnt a lesson from the battle against Zick and always kept an eye on him which led to him only being able to kill a few knights in every battle.

    But Zick was already satisfied from this, he got to know his limit properly. His strength had reached quasi-peak rank knight.

    The second continent excelled in alchemy more than magic so there were a lot of situations in which Zick had been put in a difficult position.

    Luckily the first and second continent hade to a treaty of not using mana bomb in the battlefield or the second continent army would have held a superior position in this war.

    All the wounds that Zick suffered was easily healed by the priest from the sun god temples.

    The second army equipment was more advanced than the first continent army which already gave them an advantage in this battle.

    Staying in the battlefield for so long he was able to tell the rank of the mages just by ncing at them once.

    It was different from the knights, a knight''s rank is identified by the mana they give out, but mages are different.

    Their rank can be identified seeing their harmonisation with their surrounding mana. With his current enhanced sense he was able to identify everyst mage''s rank in the battlefield.

    There were only 3 peak rank mages in the whole first continent army and With 18 high rank mages. The other mages in lower ranks were ignored by Zick.

    Right at the moment, Zick just got the message that his mission had beenpleted. He was walking towards a tent where a mage was sending mana into a white orb on the table.

    Zick knew about the device.

    ''It''s a magicmunicator''

 Chapter 34 Biological Golem

    Turning 14 years old made Zick look a lot more mature, the current him looked a lot more like a soldier in the middle of the war than before. Along with his handsome expressionless face, it brought a kind of charm of its own.

    Zick sat down on the chair in front of the magicmunicator and waited for the mage to connect him to Zevkoras.

    TING~

    With the sound of magicmunicator activating, a transparent image of Zevkoras floated above the white ord. The mage beside the magicmunicator left seeing it had connected.

    Zick could see the corners of Zevkoras lips rising up forming a small smile.

    "Really you have surpassed my expectations again.....hm...I don''t like talking through themunicator so....."

    "Father"

    Zick interrupted Zevkoras in the middle as he already knew what he was going to say.

    "What?"

    Zevkoras asked with a curious look.

    "I want to go on a vacation for a month."

    Zick said his wish without hesitation, he wore a deadpan look which even surprised Zevkoras.

    But Zevkoras liked the way Zick had changed, he didn''t look like a naive child anymore. Right at the moment, he looked a lot more like how an heir should look.

    "Alright, you can enjoy your time there and I will give you the family que, it will be delivered to you in a day. When you return to the estate, the reward ofpleting this mission will be handed over to you"

    Zevkoras said this with an indifferent voice.

    "Are you nning on staying in the Mhydrasvil empire?"

    "Yes"

    Zick bowed his head a little, not saying anything else.

    TING~

    The magicmunicator stopped with a sound.

    Zick looked at it for a second and then got out of the tent. It was still in the middle of the day, with the ck cloud covering the sky it was hard to say what the time was, but staying here for two years Zick had gotten used to it.

    Zick went to his house in which he has been staying for the whole two years, it was the same Barrack-like house which gave the feeling of being fragile.

    Sleeping on the bed, Zick thought of all the things he wanted to do in the future.

    ''The first is the dragon heart....''

    Zick had asked Zevkoras for a ''vacation'' to collect the dragon heart. But there are a lot of uncertainties in it, right now the dragon heart must still be located somewhere in the mountain named

    The three peak mountain.

    This mountain is located at the Western side of the Mhydrasvil empire which was the opposite of where Zick was. It would take a week if he went by a carriage.

    Zick already had another n in case he was not able to get the dragon heart.<sub> </sub>

    He would wait for another one and a half years when the Garcia family was destroyed, he would ask the cat for help as he thought that it would help if he asked it.

    Then wait another half a year until the magic disaster urs and be teleported to the second continent. Travelling there by boat is impossible as one of the five disasters upy the ocean which is between the first and second continent.

    The second continent was able to find a way around it but Zick didn''t know about the method as it was not mentioned in the novel.

    So it was better using the magic disaster instead of travelling when he certainly would fail. Though he had the cat, he still didn''t want to take chances.

    In the novel most of the people who were in the middle of the magic disaster were teleported to the second continent so this was a better option.He just had to stay in the middle of the magic disaster then everything would be alright.

    In the second continent, a hiddenb exists, thisb was discovered by the protagonist with a lot of hard work. Thisb belonged to the alchemy tower 300 years ago, they were destroyed by the joint alliance of all the kingdoms in the second continent.

    It has done thousands of experiments on humans by using them as something expandable. They killed thousands of humans before they gained the animosity from all the kingdoms and were destroyed in the end.

    But they had seeded in their research, they had created a biological golem. The strength of this golem was immense, in the novel it was one of the strongest beings or weapon would be better.

    It had the appearance of a young girl with blue hair, it''s appearance was made taking a species named wertes which have already be extinct into consideration.

    Its individual strength reached to the level of grandmaster but Zick was more interested in its defensive ability. It was able to block the demon Lord''s attack for a while by itself.

    Zick knew the way to make it his own as it was very important to the protagonist.The golem was kind of iplete and the method toplete it was very easy.

    He needed this golem to protect him if he did not get the dragon heart.

    ''If the world is going to be destroyed anyway shouldn''t I enjoy the rest of my life?''

    With the protection of this golem and the ck cat he nned on living the rest of his life in leisure. If he doesn''t get the dragon heart he didn''t have much of a hope in growing stronger at all so he could only do this.

    ''Well, I will pick this golem up even if I get the dragon heart anyway.....''

    He felt that it was a waste to let this golem be taken by the protagonist, the Humanoid golem had intelligence which led it to grow affection towards the protagonist. That is the reason it sacrificed itself at the end of the novel.

    Zick actually liked the golem as it would never get in the way of what the protagonist wanted to do, it would instead support his choices.

    Thinking about his future choices, Zick wanted to get the dragon heart as it would be better that way. He couldn''t trust people or things much no matter what the case is.

    He had a little trust on the golem as it would not harm its owner and the ck cat couldn''t hurt him so he trusted it a little too. With both of them not being able to harm him, it put Zick''s mind at ease.

    But still, anything can happen in the future. He never wanted to leave things upon luck when it came to things like this.

    Being strong would lessen the chances of him dying or being killed betrayed somehow.

    The next day.

    Zick sat on the bench eating his soup which was stale as ever.

    A knight walked towards him with a letter in his hand. With his senses which have improved in these two years, Zick was able to sense the Knight''s presence from a long time.

    ''Atst.....I am leaving this ce''

    Zick knew what the letter was, It was an official decree sent by the temporarymander of the knights, this marked the end of his stay in the battlefield.

 Chapter 35 Academy Invitation

    Taking the letter, Zick sent the knight away, The letter was as expected hade from the currentmander of the knights.

    "sir!"

    When Zick was getting up, another knight ran towards him, it was a knight from the Melvix family. He handed over something to Zick.

    Looking at it Zick knew what it was, it was the crest of the Melvix family. Seeing this Zivk started walking towards his room.

    Entering his room, Zick didn''t want to stay near the battlefield for even a second so he started preparing to leave.

    ''I didn''t even bath for weeks....''

    Zick was really thankful for his body not bing tired fast if not his body odour would have been that of sweat.

    Killing the knights in the battlefield made Zick always be covered in blood, luckily there were mages in there so they cleaned him all the time with their spells.

    Zick could only feel helpless right at the moment, the clothes that he had brought wouldn''t fit his body anymore. So he could only wear the ck leather armour that he was wearing right now.

    This ck leather armour was taken by themander long ago when Zick had realized the problem of clothes.

    After making sure that he hadn''t left anything behind, Zick got out of his house and started heading towards the fortress.

    "Sir! you have a letter!"

    A knight ran towards Zick with a letter in his hand, the knight paid respect to Zick as he had seen him fight in the battlefield valiantly before.

    And Zick had also saved the knight''s life once in the battlefield.

    The knight was just a newbie who was put in the front line a few months ago.

    The Knight''s senior called Zick as a monster but he couldn''t understand them, when he met Zick for the first time his spine felt chills but he had gotten used to it staying near Zick for a while. His respect for Zick just grew more when he learnt that he was a son of a Duke.

    Even though Zick''s age was lower than him, he had thought that Zick would do a lot of great things in the future. In other words he was fanatical enthusiast of Zick.

    And right at the moment when he saw the letter in his hand, there was only one word in his head.

    ''I knew it!''

    The letter had been sent by the academy to invite Zick. Everyone in the continent knew about the academy''s strict selection of candidates to enrol into its sses. There have only been a few instances where the academy took the lead to invite someone and Zick had be one of them.

    Actually Zick had be very famous after he had killed hundreds of knights in the battlefield which had never happened since the beginning of the war. Almost all the nobles knew about him.

    Right at the moment when the first continent''s attention was in the war, Zick''s feat had not gone unnoticed by others.

    ''But still, why do seniors call him a monster all the time?''

    The knight was confused but didn''t think about it much as he had to give the letter to Zick.

    Taking the letter from the knight, Zick sent him away.

    "You can go back to your post"

    "Yes!"

    The knight answered enthusiastically to Zick''s emotionless voice and retreated.

    Zick ignored the knight''s enthusiastic reply as he had met him multiple times in the past month and had gotten used to it.

    Seeing the crest of the academy Zick became surprised.

    ''....For them to send an invitation even before I turn 15....''

    The academy must have held Zick in quite high regards for them to send an invitation so fast. Opening the letter, he started reading it while walking towards the fortress.

    There was only one page within the letter, the content written on it was simple too.

    The academy''s chairman invited Zick to enrol into the academy, there was a time limit stating that he could enrol before the age of 18. It didn''t state anything else.<sub> </sub>

    ''That''s just like her...''

    Zick knew about the chairman of the academy, her name is Vancenin derspea. In the novel, the chairman didn''t appear much in public for some reason but the protagonist had some interaction with her.

    The chairman was a woman who was in her 50s, she was a very shrewd person. She had the whole academic under her control, anything that happens within the academic city would not escape her eyes.

    Folding the paper he put it within his space ring, the guards of the fortress left Zick to pass through easily as they already knew about him.

    The other side of the fortress was open terrain too, but it had lots of greenery unlike the other side.

    Zick walked towards the dozens of stables on his right side, there were horses roaming around in an enclosed area and some were eating their food. The groom who took care of the horses ran towards Zick seeing himing towards the stable.

    "Sir, what might you need?"

    "I want to buy a horse"

    The groom nodded his head, his body shivered as he wasn''t used to Zick''s aura. But he still started showing Zick all the horses, He knows that displeasing a knight cane with severe consequences.

    There were a lot of people who worked in this stable as all the horses used in the battlefield are kept here.

    Zick chose a normal ck war horse and showed the Melvix family que to the groom. He has learnt how to ride a horse while resting after a battle with the second continent army.

    Now that Zick didn''t have any servants, he had to do all the things on his own.

    Getting upon the horse, Zick followed the track road. He already knew where this road would lead as he had inquired about it from some knights.

    After 3 hours, Zick reached a small vige but passed by it without stopping, his destination was a medium sized city named Gestis city. It would take another half a day to reach there with a horse.

    A forest entered Zick field but he didn''t stop and entered it without any hesitation. This forest was filled with monsters but it didn''t make him nervous at all as there were no monsters which could harm a high rank knight.

    Monsters had strong physical strength; some possessed magical abilities, and a few even had special abilities.

    On the bright side, humans worked hard to expel monsters from areas where humans normally lived, so there were very few monsters inrgely popted areas. So people would encounter only a few monsters while travelling through the trail made in the forest.

    Zick wasn''t worried about his survival even if he enters deep into the forest but there are a lot of other problems excluding the monster. There were poisonous insects, the problem of navigating the way out and his horse would also have problems when encountering a strong monster.

    The war horses are trained from a very long time but still they are not fully resistant to the fear, so there are chances it would run away when a strong monster appears.

    After passing this forest, Zick would only need to travel for another hour to reach Gestis city. Galloping in the horse for another few hours, Zick stopped and let the horse rest.

    RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

    The bushes near him started shaking, Zick felt the presence of the monsters heading towards his location.

    Taking out the sword from it sheath in his waist, Zick waited for the monster to appear.

    Krrrgh!

    There was a band of six goblins who looked at Zick with their yellow eyes.

    ''Goblins.....''

    The goblin was barely a metre tall. It wore nothing, and its only form of weapon was a wooden stick that was crudely shaped into a bludgeon.

    Zick knew about the goblins, they were the weakest monster mentioned in the novel. Not wasting his time, he vanished from where he stood and reappeared behind the goblins, He swung his sword horizontally. Three goblins'' heads were cut off at once.

    Krrrrgh!!

    One of the goblins beside the dead goblins tried lifting its club up but three transparent ck curved slices cut all three of their heads at once.

    Zick had used his one and only long range attack, the piercing mana slice. He had adjusted its power to as low as he could but still the ck curved slices cut a few trees behind the goblins. He shook off the green blood of the goblin on his sword and started camping beside a tree.

    Zick was following the trails made in the forest so there was no chance of him encountering any strong monsters.

 Chapter 36 The Gestis City

    After travelling for another 6 hour, Zick could see the fort of the Gestis city appear in his view, there were carts in front of it, making a line waiting for their chance to enter.

    Heading towards the fort, Zick directly passed through the carts of the merchant.

    There were a lot of merchants who were dissatisfied with Zick directly heading towards the fort like this but they didn''t say anything. All the merchants who survive in this environment are astute people, they wouldn''t go around offending people just for this.

    if by chance the person they offend not being able to control their emotion turns out to be a noble son or someone important and then he wants to take revenge by executing them, the merchant won''t be able to do anything to defend themselves.

    Merchants are people who don''t have a fixed origin, they wander around the continent for profit. Only when there is enough profit would they think of settling in one ce.

    And if they want to fight against a noble they can only use the influence they have or money. There is no way the merchant waiting for their turn to enter a medium sized city like this has enough influence.

    Some merchants who were smart didn''t even show their dissatisfaction, they had seen Zick riding on a war horse which was enough to show that he was someone of high standings.

    Reaching in front of the entrance of the fort, a soldier stopped him. The soldier''s body started shivering looking at Zick. He spoke with a shaky voice.

    "Pl-please s-show me..."

    Before the knight could finish what he was saying, Zick tossed the Melvix family crest towards the soldier.

    Catching it from both hands, the soldier''s eyes widened.

    "Please wait a second!"

    Saying this the soldier ran within the fort hurriedly with the crest in his hand.

    Zick waited patiently for the soldier to return. He didn''t need to wait for long as the soldier came back even before a minute passed. There was another person standing beside the soldier, he was a middle aged man.

    "I checked the crest and it is the real deal"

    His way of talking was a little rough but Zick looked at the middle aged man in front of him intently, he was able to sense that the man in front of him is a middle rank mage.

    "Here, sorry for the wait sir"

    The soldier gave the crest back to Zick and let him pass through the fort. Pulling the reign of the horse, Zick entered the Gestis city.

    This world culture was at the mediaeval level of the earth. There are some ces that go beyond that level like the academic city. The alchemist tower in the second continent even surpasses some of the technology of earth.

    Right at the moment, the Gestis city that Zick entered was a normal ce with nothing worth mentioning about.

    The street bustled with different carriages and the citizens walked in the streets with bright expressions. There were soldiers patrolling the street, there was also the sound of childrenughing sometimes.

    It was a very peaceful city.

    Zick rode through the street with his horse, people would freeze and look at him.

    ''Thought as much....''

    He could not suppress the ck mana in his body yet, which led tomon people freezing in their positions. This is the reason he is going to the three peak mountain in a roundabout way instead of taking the easy route.<sub> </sub>

    By going through the capital, Zick could have been able to cut through a few days of travelling but doing that would only gather attention with the current state of his body.

    It was still noon right at that moment so Zick first booked a room in an inn, after that he left the horse in the inn''s stable and started walking around the city.

    There were a lot of things he needed to buy. First he searched for an armoury shop. He didn''t need to look for too long as there was only one armoury shop in the whole Gestis city.

    Only with the permission of the lord of this city can a person open up a shop here.

    The armoury shop is very important in this world, with monsters surrounding human settlements evenmoners have to arm themselves.

    A wooden sign with a drawing of a sword and shield above the armoury shop entrance shook with the wind.

    No matter what country or what type of leader they were, they all hated armedmoners. People in power were afraid that armedmoners would point their weapon at them. That is the reason weapons are regted very tightly.

    Zick entered the armoury shop feeling many people gazesnding on him.

    "Wee!"

    The store owner enthusiastically weed Zich. Since it wasmon for armoury shops to have many rough customers, store owners often acted rough, but this ce seemed to have at least some sort of customer service.

    ''''Is there an item you are looking for....?"

    "This, this and this."

    Ignoring the shop owner''s shaking body, Zick started pointing at different leather armour that were hanging in the poles. He correctly pointed at the armour which was imbued with magic.

    While the armoury shop owner put the leather armour on the table with a surprised look. Zick picked up a sword and then tried swinging it.

    Swish!

    He made a clean half-circle with the sword, the shop owner felt the swing was very impressive, he could clearly feel the murderous intent from Zich''s sword, His eyes went to Zick''s body.

    ''....he''s still a kid...what has he been doing till now?''

    Zick looked at the short sword in his hand.

    ''The bnce is alright, it is good enough for now''

    Zick found the sword satisfactory enough, with his body stature he could only wield a short sword for now, using a long sword would only get in his way. Picking up the swords he liked, he brought it along with the armour.

    After buying basic weaponry, Zich began to prepare for other things he needed on his journey. He packed items such as nkets, flint for outdoor camping, and foods like jerky. He even brought some high grade potions.

    After everything was over Zick headed back to the inn. After eating his dinner, he went to his room and started sleeping. He nned on leaving early in the morning the moment he woke up.

    He had brought all the things he needed, even a map and apass to navigate. With it he wouldn''t need to go through the normal route anymore, instead he could directly go through deep within the forest saving some of his time.

 Chapter 37 A Mutated Monster

    Waking up, Zick opened the window of his room and looked outside, it was still dark with no sign of the sun rising. He had only slept for 3 hours or so.

    ''I shouldn''t bother sleeping for a while, it would save me a little time.''

    Having this thought, he walked out of his room and went to the stable. The horse he brought was taken care of by the groom of the inn, Zick had to pay extra money for the maintenance of his horse.

    Taking the horse out of the stable, Zick got up on it. Right now, he wore one of the leather armour he just brought. With the simple blue leather armour, Zick looked a lot more like an adventurer or mercenary. He couldn''t find full te armour in the city as the armour shop didn''t have it.

    Even though being armed is a necessity in this world, metal te armour is ridiculously expensive.

    ''If a store like that actually sold metal te armour, the owner would be out of his mind''

    Urging the horse forward with its reign, Zick followed the way he remembered beforehand in his head. It was the opposite direction from where he had entered the city.

    There another simr fort stood, the guard who was in the night shift woke up from his slumber hearing the sound of the horse heading towards him.

    Stopping right in front of the guard, Zick threw the Melvix family crest to him. Looking at the crest, the guard was surprised.

    "Please wait a second"

    The guard''s voice was a little husky as he just woke up. He entered the door beside the gate of the fort, it looked like a workshop.

    "What...? it is still in the middle of the night...."

    "There''s an important thing you need to check, sir Govis..."

    Zick could hear the conversation between the guard and the mage named Govis easily. Waiting for them to finish checking the crest, Zick looked at the sky. Unlike the battlefield, there was no ck cloud covering the sky. The sky was filled with stars, the red moon shone brightly illuminating the dark city.

    Reminiscing the sky that he hasn''t seen for a long time, Zick sensed the guard heading towards him.

    "Sir, we have checked the crest, you can pass through the fort"

    Saying this the guard opened up the gate for Zick to pass through.

    NEIGHHHH!

    The horse galloped at full speed following the track. ording to the map there must be another city in some distance to the Destis city, The city name is heiver.

    Riding the horse, Zick''s leather armour flutter from the wind, he could feel the cold wind brushing past his skin but still it wouldn''t effect him in anyway. His body had already gotten strong enough to resist a lot of thing naturally.

    It wasn''t very far from the ce where Zick was so he reached there in three hours.

    Zick entered the city and headed towards the biggest merchant shop in it.

    "Wee."

    There was still a receptionistdy sitting in the chair even though it''s the middle of the night.

    "What might you need sir?"

    The receptionist did not show any w in her appearance but still Zick found her eyes shaking a little from his presence.

    "I want to sell my horse"

    Stating what he wanted to do, Zick passed over the horse to the receptionistdy.

    The receptionist''s eyes widened looking at the war horse, she could tell that it was trained and was maintained very well. After thinking for a while she said a prize to Zick.

    "10 gold coins"

    "okay and Give me five high grade stamina potions"

    "yes sir"

    Zick put the 10 gold coin in his space ring and used the crest of the Mrlvix family to pay instead.

    Taking out five green potions from the shelf, the receptionist handed it over to Zick. Taking the potions, he left the city and started running towards the forest in the distance.

    Now that Zick nned to travel through the forest instead of going through the trails, a horse would just get in the way and he was actually confident in running faster than a horse.

    Dust rose as Zick ran towards the forest, he wasn''t using magic right now just with his body strength he ran faster than a horse.

    A dense forest enters his sight, it shined dimly because of the sun that is appearing in the horizon. Entering it, Zick started walking at a fast pace.

    Before even 10 minutes passed by, Zick encountered a group of goblins.

    khrrrrgh!

    Zick already knew about its strength after fighting it once before.<sub> </sub>

    ''They are just weakling''

    That was the assessment Zick made of the goblins. The goblins flinched, feeling Zick''s ck mana, Zick had stopped trying to suppress his mana and let it spread to the surrounding area.

    Picking up some of the stones in the ground, Zich ced one of the stones in his left hand and secured it on his middle finger with his thumb as if he was going to flick it.

    SWISH!

    It felt like a childish gesture, but when it was done by Zick. The stone flicked by him flew at an unbelievable speed and hit correctly at the centre of the goblin face. The goblin head directly blew uping in contact with the stone and green blood flowed out.

    FLICK! FLICK! FLICK!

    Not wasting his time, Zick flicked the stones at the head of the goblins, and in no time all of their heads were blown up. Picking more stones from the ground, he put it within his space ring.

    After that, he met more monsters along the way. Most of the monster''s heads exploded at the stones that Zich jokingly flicked, and for those that didn''t die against stones, Zich easily cut them apart with his sword.

    The weak monster like goblin appeared lesser as they would run away sensing Zick''s ck mana. The monster relies on their instinct more than anyone else so it was an expected action to Zick.

    Killing the orcs and ogre which appeared with his sword, Zick cleaned his sword with the leafs plucked from the trees around him.

    Zick took out the map and checked his current location.

    ''It would take another four days to reach the three peak mountain....''

    After looking at his location, Zick started travelling at a faster pace.

    After a few hours,

    GRRRR!

    He could see arge monster entering his view, it looked like a more violent version of the ogre, it came from between the trees. It was already in the middle of the day so Zick could see the monster''s appearance clearly.

    Its fangs wererger and sharper than the ogre that Zick met a while ago, its ck skin just made it look uglier and it had a club in its hand which was made of rock. Its height reached three metres.

    ''A mutated monster....''

    Zick knew about monsters like this, they mutated for various reasons. It might be for the unique state of the ce they stay or it can also be like this from the day it was born.

    GRRRRR!

    Lifting the club which was half the size of its body, it swung it with its ugly ck muscle bulging.

    SWISH!

    Feeling the bloodlust behind that attack, Zick knew that it had killed a lot of people. He dodged it, jumping backwards nimbly.

    "hahaha!"

    Zick didn''t hide how he felt, he showed his bloodlust that he had refined by staying in the battlefield for two years with a smirk on his face.

    The ck ogre flinched, feeling Zick''s bloodlust. Its instinct told it to retreat, but Zick didn''t give it a chance to do that.

    His ck mana covered his body, Zick started using mana harmonisation without hesitation.

    Not holding back anymore, Zick dashed towards the ck ogre. Not being able to react quickly to Zick''s sudden momentum, it could only use its free hand to guard its face.

    "Heh"

    Zick chuckled at the ck ogre''s action, in the end a monster is a monster. it wasn''t intelligent enough to think about the w of the action it did.

    Zick circted mana into his sword and directly cut off its hand.

    SPLASH!

    GRRRR!!!

    The ck ogre screamed, feeling the pain of getting its hand cut off.

    It made a very big mistake, bringing its hand to cover its face had made it blind to Zick''s action so it wasn''t able to react at all to Zick''s attack.

    Zick didn''t waste his time and cut off the ogre''s head who was writhing in pain. The ogre had red blood unlike its ck skin.

    Zick made sure to not let any blood fall upon him.

    ''I didn''t expect there would be a mutated monster here....''

    Cleaning his sword, Zick continued travelling leaving the dead body of the ck ogre just like that. The monster around here would just eat it after he leaves the area.

 Chapter 38 Group Of Bandits

    Ghrrrrrr!

    A ck wolf scowled with its fangs exposed, its saliva fell to the ground from its open mouth.

    GROWL!

    It jumped towards the figure dressed in blue leather armour, the wolf body speed increased momentarily with ck smoke rising from its body. It aimed at the neck of the prey to kill him instantly but suddenly.

    SWISH!

    The ck wolf was cut in half vertically with just one swing of a sword.

    Zick Looked at the dead body with his deadpan face, The wolf shaped monster name is nertse wolf, they live in dark ces most of the time and they only leave at night when it is dark to find their prey. They have a special ability of increasing their speed momentarily and hiding their presence in dark ces.

    The wolf''s skin was tough which couldn''t be pierced by Zick''s stone flicking so he had to kill it with his sword properly.

    Cleaning off the blood on his sword, Zick put the sword back in its sheath. The sun had already set, the surroundings slowly turned dark in Zick''s view.

    p After looking at it for a second, Zick started climbing a tree beside him, now that it was turning dark he decided to take a short break. He had not eaten any food for the whole day too.</anda>

    Finding a higher ground in the distance, Zick started running towards it. The higher ground looked like a cliff with a height of 30 to 40 metre. Strengthening his legs with mana, Zick jumped at the top of the cliff like high ground easily.

    Zick sat at the corner of the cliff and started eating the jerky which he took out from his space ring. After eating the jerky, he started moving again so as to not waste his time.

    ''My body won''t get fatigued while moving at such a slow pace so I should try crossing this forest as fast as possible.''

    Along the way Zick met many types of monsters who tried to kill him. Almost all of them were monsters which came out at night. The most annoying monster which got in Zick way was huge bat-like monsters, their name is jevt bat, they would stay in the sky and shoot out sonic attacks from their mouth.

    When he was only attacked by a single sonic attack of the Jevt bat it didn''t affect Zick''s body at all. But when many jevt bats used it at once, all his internal organs started trembling. Using mana he was able to stabilise his body setting off the sonic attacks, if not he would have suffered from an internal injury. Zick didn''t want to use the high rank potions so soon as they mighte in use in the future.

    In the end using piercing mana slice, Zick was able to kill all of them. There were at least 50 of jevt bats which were trying to kill him.

    Only after travelling for another one day did Zick get out of the forest.

    ''Now, I only need to travel for another two and half a day to reach the three peak mountain.....I really underestimated the monsters deep within the forest''

    With this thought in mind, Zick looked at the grass field in front of him, Breathing in the fresh air, he continued his journey.

    STOMP!

    The ground below Zick''s leg bent down with cracks forming around it. Zick started running using a little mana to strengthen himself. With his current speed, he would be able to reach his destination a lot faster than his estimated time. He only knew how much time it would take by travelling from horse, after looking at the map he felt like he would reach there a lot faster.

    Every once in a while Zick would stop and see the map to see if he was heading in the right direction. When he felt that his body was tired, he would drink half the content of the stamina potion and continue moving.

    After a day and a half, at night.

    "haaa....haaa...haaa..."

    Zick rested below a tree breathing raggedly, he had run out of stamina potion a while ago. He could have travelled this distance a lot faster if he used all his mana but he would always save some of his mana and let it recover in case of emergencies.

    Taking out the map from his space ring, Zick looked at it. He could only click his tongue looking at the map.

    "Tch!"

    He put it back within his ring; he could have reached his destination within four to five hours if he travelled at the same speed.

    ''Should''ve brought more stamina potions....''<sub> </sub>

    He regretted his decision on buying only five stamina potions, it was his first time using a stamina potion so he had taken whatever number felt right to him.

    "sigh..."

    Sighing to himself, Zick waited for his body to recover. He didn''t have to wait long as his body recovered faster as he is a knight. Within five minutes he had recovered a little of his stamina.

    Getting up, Zick started walking slowly. After walking for another 30 minutes he had recovered most of his lost stamina. When he decided to start running, he felt the presence of many people some distance from him.

    Walking towards the presence, Zick could see a band of bandits having a party. They weren''t able to sense Zick''s presence at all even when he hade near them. Which showed that there was no one as strong as him in that group.

    "hahahaha! we made a big catch today, everyone drink as much as you want!"

    The person who looked like the leader of the bandit spoke with a red face already drunk in wine.

    "Yes..hup..."

    Another person beside the leader of the bandit tried to speak but was already too drunk to speak.

    ''The strongest one in their group is a low rank knight.''

    Only the leader of the bandit group was a low rank knight other were garbage, with a few of them in lowest rank. Zick could see the loot which was referred to as a big catch by the bandit leader.

    It seems like they have sessfully assaulted a merchant caravan. There were multiple wooden boxes lined up together. But the thing which caught Zick eyes was the bag which was filled with gold and silver coins.

    ''....the bandits are richer than me?''

    He felt his mood sour thinking of this, Even though Zick had the crest with him, but it wasn''t something that belonged to him.

    ''Well they are bandits anyway, in other words, they are thieves.''

    Justifying himself, Zick leaped at the leader of the bandit and cut his head off with the swing of his sword.

    "What...? is.."

    Not stopping then Zick killed off the bandits near him, all of them were already drunk which led to them not even being able to defend in any way.

    The ground was covered in blood as Zick stood in front of his loot.

    "ha!"

    Zick couldn''t help butugh mockingly looking at the loot.

    ''Bandit these days live a better life than the others.''

    There were totally 302 gold coins and 1254 silver coins with a lot of bronze coins along with it. Putting it within his ring, he looked at the boxes nearby.

    Opening it, Zick could see arts like painting and different food ingredients which the Merchant must have been nning on selling in a city.

    Even though it was of no use to him, Zick put it within his ring.

    ''I can just sell it in a city after finding the dragon heart.''

    Zick started heading towards his destination at full speed.

 Chapter 39 Wyvern

    Zick would always take a roundabout way when a cityes in his way shown by the map. The map only showed the rough positions of cities and capital of the Mhydrasvil empire. A detailed map can be used against them so the empire kept it as something ssified. So sometimes Zick woulde across viges while moving.

    After travelling for a few hours, Zick could see the peaks of mountain in the distance.

    ''The three peak mountains.....''

    With light steps, Zick moved towards it keeping up his speed, It was still night at the moment with the moon illuminating Zick''s surroundings.

    Right now, Zick ran on a in terrain with sometimes tree appearing. He stooped in his track and looked at the fort of the city in the distance. This city name was poturic, it is the ce where the person who got a piece of the dragon heart lives in, his name is Hester.

    The three peak mountain would be destroyed in another eight months from now. ording to the novel, four months before Hester goes to the academy was the day this mountain was destroyed.

    It was destroyed in a fight between two dragons, the reason they fought was not mentioned in the novel as Hester just gave a brief description of what happened then.

    When both the dragons were fighting Hester''s father was in the mountain collecting herbs. After the mountain was destroyed a piece of the dragon heart flew in front of him. Chester''s father was a knight so he was able to recognise the pure mana within the peace of the dragon heart. Instead of eating it himself, he had given it to his son who dreamt of going to the academy.

    After eating the piece of the dragon heart, there weren''t any changes at all, leaving the fact that his potential increased exponentially. But there were still some changes in his mana.

    In the future when Hester was in the academy, the difference in his mana was noticed by a professor. After looking into it for a while the professor found out that the Hester mana was a little like the dragon''s mana.

    Fundamentally The dragons have different mana than the others, their mana symbolised nature. With the characteristic of nature in his mana Hester was always a step above others when it came to the potency of the mana.

    ''ording to what Hester''s father said the piece of dragon heart flew from the middle peak of this mountain''

    The mountain in front of Zick had three peaks, with the middle peak as the longest. From the information he gathered there are wyvern on the peaks of this mountain. Zick felt that it was troublesome taking care of the wyvern.

    ''To take care of one wyvern at least one high rank knight is needed.....as long as only one of them appears I should be able to take care of it but...if they attack in a group I can only flee.''

    Zick could only feel helpless about it, there are always things which are stronger than him. With the wyvern filling the mountain he would have to keep his guard up all the time.

    Hiding his presence as much as he could, Zick started climbing the mountain. The mountain was very long, he had to lift his head totally to be able to see the peak of it.

    Climbing the mountain for a while, Zick could feel a weird presence flowing through the air. It was a very vague feeling, it felt like the presence was there but at the same time it felt it wasn''t. He was able to tell what this feeling was.

    ''Dragon mana''

    Zick followed The mana in the air towards the direction which had a higher density of dragon mana in it. With his strength he climbed the mountain very easily, even if he fell from here only some minor injuries would ur.

    The mountain had some vegetation here and there unlike the other two peaks. It was because of the dragon mana flowing here some nts grew with its support.<sub> </sub>

    Crerrrrgh!

    Zick heard the sound of wyvern from the sky, hurriedly hiding behind a boulder, he looked towards the sound.

    A huge wyvern almost four metres in size pped its wing and headed towards the direction which Zick was heading towards.

    ''Don''t tell me.....''

    Zick followed the wyvern, hiding himself behind the random boulders. The wyvern flew very fast so Zick had to move quickly behind it to not lose it.

    After following it for 10 minutes like this, Zick and the wyvern reached the peak of the mountain.

    Crerrrrrgh! Crerrrgh! crerrrrgh!

    Many growling sounds of the wyvern rang out in front of Zick. The ground was t and in the middle of this rocky tnd dragon mana came out profusely.

    ''As I thought.....''

    There were more than 20 wyverns flying around here. They followed the dragon mana and reached here. A dragon dead body is a delicacy to them and it would even strengthen them after eating it.

    Zick looked at them feeling helpless internally but still he never thought of giving up on the dragon heart. He didn''t have any other way to make himself stronger right now.

    The biological golem on the second continent may have some way of increasing his strength and potential in its database but it was still something of the future. If the golem didn''t have any method his growth would be stumped.

    ''I stumbled across a problem so fast....''

    Looking at the wyvern, Zick thought of a way to reach the middle of the t in. Right now, he was still crouching down behind a boulder and looking towards the wyvern.

    The rocky t in did not have any ce to hide so he could only stay here for now.

    There is no way he can bait any wyvern using a monster body right now. With the chances of finding a dead dragon body here the wyvern would never leave this ce.

    The only way to reach the middle is for him to force his way there somehow.

    ''.... why is my life so hard?''

    A self Deprecating smile appeared on his face thinking of this.

 Chapter 40 Dragon Fear

    The wyverns flew in a circle above the middle of this rocky tnd, surprisingly the top of the mountain was t made with weird red Rock, it looked natural and unnatural at the same time.

    No wyverns dared go near the middle from where the most dragon mana came out. All dragons have an innate ability, this ability makes any monster submit to it, but the main feature of this innate ability is to give rise to overwhelming fear to any being whoes near the dragon. Its called-

    Dragon fear.

    Even after 20,000 years, the dragon lord''s heart gave out dragon fear, striking fear on this wyvern''s heart. Normally dragons control their dragon fear ability so as to not harm the living being in their surroundings. A normal human would die from shock the moment it is exposed to the dragon fear this shows this ability''s might .

    Knowing this, Zick was confident that as long as he reached the middle of this rocky tnd, the wyverns wouldn''t be able to attack him.

    The sun rose from the horizon with bright light illuminating Zick''s surroundings further.

    "Haaaa...."

    Breathing out loudly through his mouth, Zick started using mana harmonisation in full power, His body got totally covered in a transparent ck mana.

    Creerrrgh!

    The ck mana did not go unnoticed by the wyverns, their instincts were able to tell them the enemy''s strength. Feeling that defeating it alone would not be possible, all the wyverns moved in a group to take care of the intruder.

    Zick took out the sword from its sheath and started running at full speed towards the middle of the rocky tnd.

    ''Around 300 metres.....''

    Calcting the distance from his destination, Zick looked at the wyverns from the corner of his eyes. He knew that killing even one of them now would be hard as they were moving in a group. The best way for him to reach his destination is to dodge their attack and keep moving without stopping.

    Creerrrrrrgh!!

    The wyverns growl sounded angry as they looked at the intruder. Wyverns are prideful beings who don''t like others taking what''s theirs. The dragon mana was found by them first so it belonged to them, this was their brain process even though they didn''t didn''t have any sentience, it still had it''s prideful nature of living.

    Zick''s figure got covered in a huge shadow, the wyvern nearest to his location descendant exposing its sharp w aiming at him.

    Using the sword to parry it, Zick didn''t stop running.

    Crerrrrrrgh!

    The wyvern growled loudly seeing the intruder not even bothering fighting it, the wyverns figure got covered in red light. The wyvern have the special ability to strengthen themselves temporarily.

    SWISH!

    The wyvern leaped towards Zick opening its mouth trying to rip him apart with its fang.

    Seeing this, Zick was forced to dodge, stopping his advancement. The wyvern fang appeared at the ce where Zick stood in just a second.

    Covering his sword with ck mana, Zick aimed for the wyverns neck.

    SLASH!

    His sword could only cut through the upperyer of its skin along with some muscles. He took out the sword which was stuck in the wyvern neck as it tried to use its w to attack him again, after making a little distance Zick tried to start running.

    SWISH!

    Suddenly the wyvern''s tail extended towards him, bing blurred for a second. Zick hurriedly brought his sword in front of him to defend against the attack.

    CRACK!

    Zick was sent flying a few steps away with his sword cracking from multiple ces, but he was able to dismiss most of the force behind the attack, Landing in his two legs perfectly, he looked at the wyvern.

    The wyvern''s body stopped glowing red slowly, seeing that Zick didn''t hesitate at all and dashed towards his destination.

    After using its special ability for once, wyvern had to wait for a while to use it again, Zick could have tried killing it but...

    Crerrrrrrrgh! Crerrrrrrrgh! Creerrrrrrrrrgh!<sub> </sub>

    The angry growls of the wyvern rang out in the sky, they had reached here while Zick was busy taking care of the wyvern which attacked him.

    Blocking the wyvern''s tail with his sword led to his muscles in the hand to rapture. But it wasn''t anything serious yet as it would not get in the way of him fighting so he didn''t use a healing potion.

    The wyverns were able to follow Zick''s speed easily flying in the sky, descending towards him three wyverns started glowing red.

    ''Just 150 metres more...''

    With a resolute look, Zick just dodged all the wyverns'' attacks. Even when he dodged the three wyvern another wyvern appeared in front of him.

    Crerrrrrrrgh!

    Growling it used its front w to attack, Zick used his sword to parry it.

    CRACK!

    Zick''s sword broke parrying the w, not bing flustered he leaped side to dodge the attack of the wyvern from behind him.

    Taking a sword out from the space ring, Zick parried another wyvern''s w and looked at his surroundings.

    SPLASH!

    "Ugh!"

    An attack was able to reach him directly cutting through his leather armour making a long cut on his back. Even with blood pouring out profusely, Zick looked around him bearing the pain.

    He found an opening in the gap between two wyverns.

    He concentrated with his eyes sharpened, using arge amount of mana at once, he dashed towards the opening with his back still bleeding heavily. Getting out of the wyvern circle was the only way for him to survive.

    Zick already knew that defeating the wyverns was impossible, he would just die if he tried. The only way to survive is to reach the middle of this rocky t ground.

    Crerrrrrrrgh!

    Seeing the intruder moving towards the ce they felt the most dragon mana made them angry, their eyes turned red. But their body had stopped glowing red as the special ability time limit had been reached.

    Zick just ran ignoring the pain and the wyverns behind him. Slowly he was able to feel the dragon fear too, his hair stood up and he felt fear and tention that he had felt in a long time. Sweat started falling down his chin.

    Turning back Zick could see the wyverns not descending anymore, they flew in circles in the sky looking at Zick with their red eyes.

    "Ugh!"

    His wound on the back just got worse as he kept moving. Stopping in his track Zick took out a high rank healing potion from his ring. Pouring it upon the long w wound on his back, a burning pain appeared as the potion fought against the red mana of the wyverns.

    After a minute, his wound started healing with all the traces of wyvern mana gone but his wound did not totally heal with just one potion. So Zick took out another potion and drank it, seeing his wound starting to heal, he rxed.

    "Sigh..."

    Zick sighed in relief, he was able to reach his destination fighting off the wyvern somehow. But this wasn''t the end, if he isn''t able to get the dragon heart he doesn''t have any confidence in getting out of here alive at all.

    With a serious expression, Zick headed towards the ce which had the most dragon mana. After a few seconds he stopped and looked below him.

    ''It''s below me''

    Zick could feel the dragon mana rise from below his feet. He looked toward the wyverns again and then started resting, seeing them not showing Any sign ofing near him.

    Being in his peak state would increase his survival chances. But Zick did find something confusing.

    ''I feel three different presence instead of just one....''

 Chapter 41 The Dragon Eggs

    After two hours.

    Zick felt that he had recovered most of his used up mana, he was still confused as to why there were three different sources of energy but it was toote for him to retreat. He only had one choice, that is to move forward.

    He was only able to figure out one thing about the three different types of mana, they were all a dragon''s mana.

    Zick could clearly feel nature''s power in all three of them. Standing up, he changed his armour not bothered by the wyvern''s screeches. He wore a ck leather armour with two new brown leather gauntlets.

    ''I am really going in blind.....''

    Zick knew from the moment he had thought of taking the dragon lord''s heart. He didn''t know anything about the dragon lord''s heart leaving its location. But this heart was the only thing which could increase his potential for the moment.

    Zick circted mana in his right hand, ck mana covered his arm strengthening his hand to another level. Veins could be seen bulging in his hand as he was not holding back anymore.

    Lifting his hand up, he punched downwards towards the red ground with all his might.

    CRACK!!! BANG!

    Zick''s gauntlet cracked alongside the ground, After the crack formed the ground caved in and started falling. Zick also fell alongside the debris.

    Zick eyes started shining at what he saw.

    A huge pir made of pure crystal supported the ceiling, the pir shone brightly, fully illuminating the underground. There was nothing in the underground leaving the pir.

    Coming to his senses feeling the wind hitting against his face, Zick was falling at very high speed which even his body couldn''t resist. it was useless to say what would happen if he crashed on the ground with this speed.

    ''Damn''

    Cursing in his mind, Zick thrust his sword at the crystal pir. but the crystal was incredibly hard and only the tip of his des managed to pierce their surface.

    Straight trails were left on the wall as Zick kept on falling and held on to his sword. His speed was slowly lowering when his sword wasn''t able to handle the force and broke.

    Hurriedly taking out another sword from his space ring, Zick thrusted it at the crystal this time using his mana on both his body and the sword.

    With a cracking sound, half of the sword stuck into the crystal pir.

    ''That was close.....''

    Catching the sword from one hand, Zick looked below him. He was more than 300 metres above the surface of the underground base.

    Taking out the sword from the crystal pir, Zick let himself fall with the sword tip still touching the crystal pir. He decreased the speed of his fall with the sword whenever he felt that he was falling too fast. Doing this a couple of times, Zick was able to reach the surface in a few minutes.

    Landing on the ground, Zick had absorbed the impact with a mere flexing of its knees. The gauntlet which held his sword was totally tattered, But Zick''s attention was directed at the huge entrance in the crystal pir.

    ''Its a dragon lord''s den as I thought....''

    Only a dragon would make an entrance which is more than 10 metre in length like this.

    Zick was disappointed looking at the entrance, usually dragon den are filled with treasures and fancy things but he couldn''t find any of it here, It looked more like a deste ce.<sub> </sub>

    He felt the dragon fear more vividly, making him feel goosebumps all over his body. Dragon mana poured out of the entrance Like a broken dam.

    Keeping his attention on the surroundings to be able to respond to any unforeseen situation, Zick entered the crystal pir with a serious expression.

    Walking into the entrance, Zick could faintly hear a sound.

    BA-BUMP BA-BUMP BA-BUMP

    The sound of a beating heart rang out throughout the room, the room was very long with shiny surfaces, there wasn''t a speck of dust in the room. With the surface shining this brightly it illuminated every part of the room.

    Weird magic inscriptions were made on the walls glowing dimly almost like they had run out of energy. Zick didn''t know its purpose but he knew that it was something important. Anything that is here was made by the dragon lord, in other words those magic inscriptions were working from 20,000 years ago.

    Zick walked towards the sound of the heart beat, he could not see the end of this room even as he tried looking at the end of the room. Walking for a few minutes like this in the silence, something appeared at the end of his view.

    Zick started walking a little faster towards it, when he was able to see the clear appearance of what it was, shock ran through his body. His hands started shaking on their own with chills rising all over his body.

    ''The dragon lord''s heart....''

    Even while feeling the fear, Zick did not stop walking. He was able to see the heart using mana to enhance his view.

    The dragon lord''s heart was a silvered colour just like how it was described in the novel. It was bigger than a human heart, reaching almost 30 centimetre. Dragon mana poured out of it ceaselessly but there were another two sources of dragon mana along with it.

    "Eggs...?''''

    Zick spoke out loud in surprise, his voice echoed throughout the room. He had seen two different eggs, one was in silver colour with weird symbols drawn in it and the other was a golden egg with the same symbols as the silver egg.

    ''Dragon eggs...''

    Zick was shocked at what he found here, he had contemted many reasons why the dragon lord''s heart was here but he never thought that it might be for the dragon eggs.

    ''I mean, what kind of egg takes 20,000 years to hatch.....''

    Even though Zick didn''t know much about the dragons, he still felt it was too much for an egg to not hatch for more than 20,000 years.

    The two eggs actually gave out more mana than the heart, Zick could see a mysterious connection between the heart and the two eggs. The little amount of mana that came out of the heart was partially absorbed by the two eggs.

    Reaching in front of heart and eggs, Zick looked at the dragon lord''s heart closely.

    The silver heart was kept above a small round table which was bulging out the floor.

    Zick''s body shook from the dragon fearing out of the heart.

    ''There doesn''t seem like there''s any defensive or offensive spell here...I should first eat the dragon heart then I can think about the eggs��..''

    Zick decided toplete his original purpose first.

 Chapter 42 Potential Increased

    Even the dragon lord must have not expected its egg to not hatch after 20,000 years. The inscriptions in the wall had been made by the dragon lord to not let any of the mana to leak through this room, but after 20,000 the magic inscriptions weakened naturally.

    Leading the mana in the crystal room to leak out, that must be the reason the two dragons were attracted to this mountain.

    ''As for the reason why they fought is still a mystery....were they fighting for the egg...? or the dragon heart..?''

    Zick wasn''t sure himself but the result of their fight was that the heart got destroyed. The two eggs'' situation was unknown.

    BA-BUMP BA-BUMP

    Zick stood right in front of the silver heart which was still beating loudly. Though his body shook in fear his eyes were clear without a hint of fear.

    Extending his hand, Zick picked up the heart, the dragon lord''s heart did not stop beating even in his hand. It gave out mana with nature''s characteristics nonstop.

    Bringing it near his mouth, Zick took a bite of it. It was very hard to tear but using mana to strengthen his jaw he was able to tear out a piece of flesh from it.

    Chewing it, Zick felt it was very dry, it almost felt like he was chewing rudder.

    GULP!

    Zick gulped it down at once, not bothering chewing it anymore.

    "Argh!"

    A hot feeling rose in his heart, almost like someone lit his heart on fire. After a while the burning sensation vanished.

    ''Why is there always pain apanying everything that increases my strength?''

    Zick thought to himself sarcastically, he could feel the difference in his heart from before, a part of the dragon heart was absorbed by his body and turned into his heart.

    THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

    Zick''s heart made a vigorous sound, the blood pumped by the heart changed a little., Partially the blood pumped by his heart turned into dragon''s blood. The mana nerves connected to the heart also changed, first the mana quality enhanced tremendously. Then his mana also started carrying the power of nature.

    Zick could feel his senses increasing making him feel clearer than ever. His body was strengthened as his blood turned to that of dragons. He could even feel a faint amount of dragon fear which came out of his body.

    ''This is it!''

    A big smile appeared on his face, he could feel that his potential was increasing exponentially. He looked at the silver heart in his hand with shining eyes filled with expectations. He started eating the heart piece by piece.

    After a while.

    Zick still had a smile on his face as he checked the changes in his body. He had directly broken through and be a peak rank knight and even passed the halfway mark which would normally have taken dozens of years.

    But that wasn''t the biggest change in his body. The blood pumped by his heart was slowly converted to that of a dragon and the blood which was already turned into dragon blood would be faintly strengthened when passed through his heart.

    Usually when the mana quality increases it strengthens the body but Zick''s situation was the other way around. His body was being strengthened to an unbelievable level, he had taken a sword and swung it towards his arm but the sword broke into pieces leaving only a scratch on his hand.

    Zick could feel that when his bloodline fully converts to that of the dragon, he would be able to use a lot of other abilities owned by the dragons.

    His body emanated dragon fear faintly as Zick had suppressed it. If not he gave off more dragon fear than the silver heart. Unlike the silver heart, Zick''s heart was of ck colour influenced by his mana.

    Zick could feel another difference, the mana around him listened to his order naturally.

    A fire ball appeared above his hand when he tried controlling the mana around him and imagined it.

    ''.....I didn''t even imagine that hard....''

    His affinity with mana increased without him noticing. he could see the mana around him which means his mana sensitivity also increased by a lot.

    Zick couldn''t even say his current limit, after eating the dragon lord''s heart his potential had increased without any boundary and it was still increasing.

    Seeing the rate at which his blood was converted to dragon blood it would probably take a few months to fully be a dragon blood humanoid. He could even feel his lifespan increasing as his blood became that of dragons.

    ''Without a doubt I am a lot stronger than a normal peak rank knight.''

    Zick looked at his appearance reflected by the crystal wall, there were no changes in his body yet.

    ''Now all the problem about my limited potential have been solved''

    Zick felt his mood getting better by the second, he had been worried about his potential from a very long time but now that it had all been taken care of he could not hide his good mood. The smile on his face didn''t leave him for a long time.

    Zick looked at the two dragon eggs beside him in some distance. He could feel a mysterious connection with himself and the eggs. He felt the life within the two eggs to be very lively, seeing that they were not going to hatch anytime soon he became lost.<sub> </sub>

    ''The space ring can''t store any living being...''

    Thinking of what to do with the two eggs, Zick heard a loud growl.

    Crerrrrgh!

    With Zick senses which were enhanced now, he was able to hear the sound of what happened out of the room in the distance easily.

    The wyvern started entering through the hole made by Zick, after the dragon fear vanished there was nothing stopping them froming underground. Zick was suppressing the dragon fear right now too.

    A nice idea suddenly appeared in Zick''s head thinking about the wyverns.

    ''Now that I have dragon fear, I should be able to make them submit to me.''

    Zick''s lip perked up thinking of this, doing this would solve a lot of problems at once. Leaving the eggs behind, he started running, his figure blurred and vanished, appearing a few metres in front.

    CRACK!!

    The crystal below Zick''s feet cracked.

    ''Ah....I should get used to my new strength''

    Zick started running at a moderate speed which he could control properly, slowly he increased his speed but by then he was already out of the room.

    ''I was able to run faster than my full speed using mana before getting the dragon lord''s heart easily now and even surpass it vaguely....''

    Zick was again surprised at his prowess. He had run without using mana which showed that his physical strength has been improved a lot.

    Crerrrrgh! Crerrrrrrrgh! Crerrrrrrrgh!

    The wyverns looked at Zick angrily, they remember this intruder who had entered their territory and even escaped.

    Lifting up his head, Zick shed a smile towards them and started releasing his dragon fear, not holding back at all.

    The wyverns heading towards him with angry gaze were surprised, feeling the dragon fear from Zick, it stopped and pped its wing in the air.

    "Kneel"

    The voiceing out of Zick''s mouth was cold, the meaning behind this word was carried to the wyvern through the mana.

    Not being able to resist the dragon Fear they descended in front of Zick and put their heads on the ground showing their submission.

    ''The body of the wyvern sells for a very high price...''

    Choosing a wyvern which looked the strongest andrgest, Zick killed the other wyverns easily as they could not resist him.

    Putting the dead bodies of the wyverns within his space ring, Zick got upon the wyvern he had chosen.

    Zick did a little experiment with his dragon fear to be able to use it more efficiently in the future.

    When he suppressed his dragon fear the wyvern stopped following his order and even resisted.

    After experimenting for a while, Zick found the best way to use dragon fear, after giving it an order while not suppressing his dragon fear, he would still let a faint amount of dragon fear to leak. This way the wyvern would follow his prior order not resisting.

    "Go inside the dragon den"

    Zick did not suppress his dragon fear as there was no one near him right now.

    Crerrrrgh...

    With a low growl the wyvern started flying within the room towards the two eggs.

    Picking up the eggs which almost reached till his waist, Zick positioned them in a way that they wouldn''t fall down easily while flying.

    In the end he sat beside the eggs and looked if there was anything more in the room.

    ''Its empty....:

    Feeling disappointed again, Zick ordered the wyvern to get out of the underground and took out the map of the Mhydrasvil empire. There was another thing that Zick needed.

    ''The cursed sword, Grace''

 Chapter 43 The Cursed Sword, Grace

    The cursed sword, Grace, was found by three students of the academy. They were in the second year of their ss, all three of them had made an adventure team and took on a request to make some money.

    The academy supports their students in any way they can, with their influence which almost reaches anywhere in the first continent providing a student with an adventure guild card was easy.

    There are many guilds which are spread all over the three ruling forces. The adventure guild, the mercenary guild and the information guild.

    The adventure guild mostly works in subjugating monsters and scouting monsters'' den or ces with unnatural phenomenons.

    The mercenary guild takes up the job of guarding or protecting anyone who offers enough money, mostly merchants are the one who use this guild the most.

    The information guild just as it sounds collects information about anything. They have their hands in all the political issues of the kingdoms and empire.

    All these three guilds have a headquarter in every city, vige and capitals.

    There is another guild named the assassin guild but its existence is not confirmed by any of the three ruling forces. But almost all aristocrats have a connection with the assassin guild without exception.

    The three students from the academy where all boys, they had epted a request to check the reason as to why the people of the viges who died near the hills started bing a undead. There were mysterious urrences of monsters or animals turning into undead and attacking the viges too.

    Different kinds of gues hit the viges killing tens of people.

    The three students of the academy were able to find a cave near one of the hills.

    There were three items within the cave, a sword, earring and a bracelet. All three of the items looked expensive. The three students of the academy could not control their greed and decided to distribute the three items evenly between each other.

    They quit the request of the adventure guild and went back to the academy. The two people who took the earring and bracelet lived their student life happen but it did notst for long.

    The student who had taken the sword started acting weird, he became short tempered with his eyes bing bloodshot as the day passed by. After four days, he stopped attending the sses and never came out of the room.

    In the sixth day since he got the sword, an unbelievable level of blood thirst rose within him. He hugged the sword and kept mumbling.

    ["this is my sword..my sword...my sword.....my..... kill, yes I should kill anyone whoe near it."]

    With a smile on his face which made people doubt if a smile like that is possible, he went out of the room. The corners of his lips started bleeding as they tore apart the more he smiled.

    That day he killed eight students in the academy before being killed by a professor. After investigating, it was found out that the sword was found in an unknown cave. The earring and bracelet was confiscated by the students as it might be something dangerous.

    The sword was sent to the sun god temple to be purified of the curse but the pope said it was impossible to purify or destroy the sword. Even the whole sun god temple was helpless against the sword.

    Zick has been having problems with his sword for a while, all his sword would break easily or just couldn''t handle his ck mana anymore.

    Zick remembered there was another line written in the novel while it said about the cursed sword.

    [In the end, no one knew that only when all three items are used together can they bring out the sword''s real power.

    The destined person waiting for the sword would never get any salvation.]

    Though Zick didn''t know who this destined person was, he knew that using the earring, bracelet and the cursed sword at once was the correct way to use it.

    The location of the cave was a mountain point which is filled with nothing but hills and a few viges. The ce name is grerse point.

    Zick controlled the wyvern to go through a way which would not gather any attention upon him.

    It would have usually taken 3 days if Zick had travelled like before but he was able to reach there within a day using the wyvern.

    Mountains upon mountains appeared as far as Zick could see, there were viges between the mountains with people moving around in it. Some people were able to see the wyvern flying in the sky. Children pointed at the wyverns and showed it to their parents.

    The vigers became hectic seeing the wyvern but Zick ignored them and searched for the hill mentioned in the novel. It was a hill near this vige, it was craggy and steep and very difficult to climb. He found it easily as it was the biggest hill around here.

    The wyvernnded upon the top of the hill, getting down, Zick looked around. The hill was covered in fog with cold winds blowing past his cheeks. He was able to feel everything on the hill with his senses so he found the cave in no time.

    "Guard the two dragon eggs and stay here"

    Releasing more dragon fear, Zick ordered the wyvern.

    Zick started heading towards the entrance of the cave, it looked like a normal cave with nothing special. But Zick knew that this was the ce where the student found the cursed sword as his instincts gave him an ufortable feeling.

    ''Even my instincts have been enhanced after eating the dragon heart.''

    Zick was able to see what was within the ruin easily, it was the same as described in the novel. It was totally empty with only the three items in the end of the cave.

    p Zick entered it without any hesitation, reaching the end of the cave he was able to see the three items. A sword was stuck in the pedestal, it was in with nothing special or unique to it, the only thing that can be said to be unique to it is that it was ck in colour, it felt like it was only made toplete its task of being used as a sword.</anda>

    Zick felt ufortable staying near the sword. A jewellery box and a bracelet was kept above a stone table attached to the wall.

    ''I should first wear the earring and bracelet then take the sword.''

    Zick walked towards the rock table and picked up the jewellery box. Opening it there was a single earring within it, the earring was small with only a red jewel stuck in it.

    ''I should have pierced my ear beforeing here.....well whatever.''

    Bringing the red earring near his ear, he directly pierced it on his ear.

    Drip.

    A drop of Zick blood fell on the ground, he checked his body for any difference but nothing changed even after wearing the earring.<sub> </sub>

    The bracelet was made of a brown metallic material, a red gem was attached in the middle, there was a ck sun emblem in it. Putting on the bracelet, he still found nothing happening within his body.

    ''...lets try picking up the sword''

    Zick got up the pedestal and looked at the sword warily. It was still a cursed sword which can make a person be crazy for blood so he was wary of it.

    Extending his hand, he caught the hilt of the sword but still nothing happened.

    "Haaaaaa..."

    Breathing out loudly, Zick pulled out the sword from its pedestal.

    SWISH!

    The sword came very easily without any resistance. Zick still looked at the sword warily, not letting his guard down. He tried circting mana into it but that''s when changes started happening to the earring and bracelet.

    Both the bracelet and earring turned into red mana particles and flowed into the gauntlet he was wearing on the palm of his hand. A burning sensation appeared at back of his palm.

    ''Really....there is nothing that doesn''t hurt these days.....''

    With amenting feeling rising within him, Zick beared with the burning pain in his palm.

    The pain vanished after a few seconds almost like it never happened. Taking off his gauntlet, Zick looked at the back of his palm. It was the same hand from which he had held the cursed sword.

    A ck tattoo had been imprinted there, it was round shaped with a ck sun in the middle.

    Zick could feel a weird connection with the sword the same as the two eggs. He could feel where the sword was located just like the two eggs. This would help if he ever lost his sword or the two eggs in the future.

    (Ohh so someone was able to be the master of this cursed sword)

    Suddenly Zick heard a voice in his head, a surprised look appeared on his face. He could not feel any presence near him, a weird thing had entered his head without him noticing.

    ''Who?''

    Zick asked suspiciously.

    ( Don''t be so suspicious now, my name is Shevror Mertis, I was once the owner of this cursed sword. this is just a remnant soul that I left within this sword so I can''t harm y-)

    His voice was cut off as Zick started using dragon fear. The dragon fear affected the remnant spirit in Zick''s head and weakened it further.

    (Wait,wait, wait! I just wanted to ask you a question and...wait, were you a dragon but you are so weak.....wait are you a dragon yer.....?)

    ''What is that?''

    Another word that he had not read in the novel appeared from this remnant spirit mouth.

    (Dragon yer are people who have eaten a part of a dragon body and made it their own.....but they were all killed by the dragons a long time ago.)

    ''I see....so what did you want to ask me?''

    Zick decided to hear out the remnant spirit after weakening it enough.

    (....I just wanted to hear out the reason to why you chose to wield this cursed sword.....I can tell the truth apart from lie so don''t try lying)

    Though he said it like this, it felt more like he was pleading to Zick.

    ''I just wanted a sword which won''t break, nothing more''

    ( You chose a cursed sword because you wanted a sword which won''t break?)

    The remnant spirit sounded absurd.

    (hahaha...really you must have something wrong with your head. don''t you know someone wielding a cursed sword bes the enemy of the whole world?)

    Zick frowned hearing him, there was nothing like this in the novel. But an assumption appeared in his head.

    ''...they don''t hunt people with a cursed sword anymore''

    (What...? just how many years have passed since the day I died?)

    ''Don''t know''

    Zick hadn''t heard the Shevror Mertis in his whole life So he did not know anything about him.

    (This.....how can no one find this cursed sword...)

    The remnant spirit voice sounded more and more distant by the second, then Slowly it stopped speaking.

    Zick destroyed the fragments of the remnant soul in his body with dragon fear. Putting the cursed sword within his space ring, he started heading towards the wyvern.

    ''well I did get what I came for...''

    Zick didn''t care about happened to the former wielder of this cursed sword. Just knowing the fact that this belonged to him now made him feel lighthearted.

 Chapter 44 Try To Keep It For Myself

    ''I should head back to the Melvix family''s estate now....and I should try not meeting a dragon''

    Zick didn''t know how a dragon would react to his dragon yer status. They might just try to kill him seeing he was a dragon yer who had eaten one of their own kind. The dragon are a very prideful and egotistical species so there are a lot of chances for this to happen.

    Zick had been taking light steps from a while so as to not damage the ground below him. His strength had increased a lot and it was still getting enhanced by the dragon heart right at the moment.

    ''.....after reaching the estate I should get used to my strength.''

    While heading towards the cursed sword, Zick had been trying to find a way to suppress the manaing out of the two eggs. After trying for a while he got to know that the dragon within the egg could vaguelymunicate with him.

    Though it was very vague with the connection between them he was able to make them suppress their mana somehow.

    ''But what are they doing now?''

    Zick could feel the dragon mana in the airing from the location of the wyvern. He increased his walking pace and went towards it quickly.

    Zick could see the wyvern still in the same standing position with the two eggs, but the two eggs at the back of the wyvern gave out dragon mana ceaselessly.

    ''What happened to them now....''

    When Zick reached near the two eggs, they stopped releasing their mana as if it had never happened.

    Zick could see the wyvern drooling but still following his order of protecting the two eggs. This made Zick even more confused, he had thought that it might be for danger but that doesn''t seem to be the case.

    Not suppressing his dragon fear, Zick got above the wyvern and ordered it to go towards the forest nearest to them.

    After giving the wyvern its order, Zick looked towards the two eggs with squinted eyes. He ced his hand above the two eggs and triedmunicating with it.

    The egg still gave him the vague feeling of it trying to say something to him. But in the end he still didn''t understand what it was trying to convey to him.

    "Sigh..."

    Zick could only sigh looking at the golden and silver egg in front of him. After reaching the forest, he ordered the wyvern to go eat something as it was apparent that it was hungry.

    He didn''t bother hiding the dragon fearing out of his body now that he was in the middle of the forest. He looked at the two eggs intently, he had to be sure of what the problem was. After reaching the Melvix family''s estate, if by any chance the existence of these two eggs is found out it would create a lot of problems for him.

    Dragons are considered something which is impossible to fight against. If the dragons wanted they could destroy the kingdom with their one breath attack and if Zick tried to raise something like that ?

    Everyone in the first continent woulde flocking at him to try to take the two eggs or just outright kill him and take it.

    ''Should I just put it back from where I picked it up?''

    Zick considered putting it back and acting like it had never happened for a second but decided against it.

    ''.....These two dragons can be very useful in the future.....I should at least try to keep it for myself.''

    If in the future everyone found out about the dragon eggs, he can just give up on the eggs and give it to the melvix family or the royalties to take care of it.

    Zick started walking the opposite of the two eggs, he stopped when he felt the two dragon eggs give out their mana again.<sub> </sub>

    ''It haven''t even walked more than 20 metres.....''

    Zick walked back to the two eggs and tried tomunicate with them. After giving instruction of not letting out any mana even if he goes faraway, he again started walking to make distance between them.

    ''....I really don''t know if they understood what I told them.''

    With this thought, Zick walked till 50 metre before feeling the two eggs giving out mana again.

    "Sigh....."

    Sighing to himself, Zick headed back to the two eggs. This time hemunicated with them and gave a very specific order.

    ''If you ever release mana like that again, I will have to leave you.''

    This was the truth, if the two dragon eggs don''t stop giving out mana like this they would have to part in the future.

    The two eggs started sending those vague feelings of trying tomunicate urgently.

    This time not even trying to understand these vague feelings, Zick started walking. This time even after walking for more than 500 metre the dragon eggs didn''t give out any mana. A content smile appeared on his face.

    Feeling satisfied, Zick headed back towards the two eggs. He already knew the reason the eggs were acting like this by now. The dragon lord''s heart had never left them even for once in this 20,000 years but suddenly it started bing distant this made them agitated to no end.

    Walking back to the two dragon eggs in front of a tree, Zick sat down supporting his back on the tree and started eating the jerky from his space ring.

    ''.....My body probably doesn''t need any nutrients now that it is bing a dragon body''

    Zick didn''t feel even the slightest need of any food, just the mana absorbed by the surroundings is enough for him to go on forever.

    After a few minutes, Zick felt the wyvern presence heading towards him. In this time not even a single monster appeared in front of him. All of the monster ran away feeling the dragon fear let out by Zick''s body.

    SWISH!

    The wyvernnded in front of him, the wind brushed past Zick''s face and the trees. He got upon the wyvern along with the two eggs and ordered it to go towards a city after looking at the map.

    Zick wasn''t worried about anything happening to the eggs, he didn''t have any confidence in breaking it even if he punched at his full force. So even if it fell from the sky nothing would happen to it.

    Right now, Zick is going towards the city which is at the corner of the map at the east section where the Cravion city is located.

    The city''s name is the seivet. It is a city right in between the Mhydrasvil empire and the Cravion kingdom. The seivet city is argemercial point and it is famous for its gambling houses.

    Zick nned on buying a map and a bag to carry the dragon eggs without exposing them.

    ''I should buy some books about how to use magic too.....''

    Now that Zick had gained affinity with mana, he thought of training to be a mage along with a knight. He didn''t know the current limit to his strength and even the changes of his body. Even how much his mana had been strengthened was unknown to him. When he had checked his mana a little while ago, it had be darker and stronger to an unbelievable level.

    But luckily his body was also strengthened along with it so he was able to suppress it within his body. If not he didn''t know how the people in the city would react after sensing his mana which had the power of nature now.

 Chapter 45 The Seivet City

    FWOOSH!

    Zick''s hair fluttered as the wind hit his face, His face was emotionless as he looked in front of him. A city appeared at the end of the horizon, it was covered by a fort from all the sides to guard against any monster''s attack.

    The sun shined brightly which illuminated the seivet city. Zick was able to see the city clearly with his eyes, this surprised him again.

    ''...my senses have really been enhanced to unbelievable level after eating the dragon lord''s heart''

    The seivet city was very far from where Zick flew, being able see it so clearly without even using mana to enhance his view was an incredible fact.

    Zick could feel the mana nerves in his body change little by little, they changed their positions to fit Zick''s body better. When he tried to use his mana it worked a lot swifter and smoother than before.

    "Move towards the right"

    Crerrrrgh....

    Zick ordered the wyvern releasing some of his dragon fear, there was a dense forest at the right of where they were.

    Zick could feel the power of the dragon fear increase as his blood got turned to that of dragons slowly. Slowly it was affecting his body as well, it made his skin tougher and his nails started turning ck.

    There were no other changes in his body yet.

    SWISH! BAM!

    The wyvernnded in the gaps between the trees, dust rose as hended. Zick got down from the wyvern leaving the eggs above it.

    "Protect the eggs and wait here for me."

    Zick ordered the wyvern with an emotionless voice. He started heading toward the seivet city releasing some of his dragon fear. No monster approached him, feeling the dragon fear . Instead they started running to the opposite side.

    Coming out of the forest, Zick suppressed his dragon fear. He moved towards the city trying to control his power but still sometimes the ground would crack or just directly cave in forming a crater. After running at the same speed for a few seconds he was able to get used to it.

    Within two minutes, Zick was able to reach the city which was a few kilometres away from him. Walking to the tracks leading to the city, he started walking normally towards it.

    The people and the merchant waiting to enter the city looked at Zick with a frown.

    Though Zick looked unbelievably handsome but right now he was covered in dust all over. Some gasped seeing Zick pass through them and heading towards the fort. Looking at his current attire anyone would take him for a low rank adventure or mercenary. But a person like that was directly walking past them and going towards the fort.

    The soldier guarding the fort also squinted his eyes looking at Zick.

    Reaching in front of the guard, Zick passed the crest over to the guard.

    "Wait a second please"

    The guard entered the fort with a doubting expression but when he returned he looked at Zick respectfully and talked with a voice filled with respect.

    "Please this way sir"

    Zick walked into the city still maintaining an emotionless expression.

    "What the...."

    "He was actually given permission to enter...?"

    Zick could hear the voices of the merchant but tried to ignore them as much as he could.

    A bustling street appeared in front of Zick, there were many carriages filling up the ce moving around.

    Zick was able to move through the street without gathering attention like before. Now that he is able to suppress his mana within the body a lot of problems guing him were solved, This made him feel light hearted.

    ''hmm...''

    Something caught Zick''s attention, a woman wearing a white robe with an emblem drawn in, was walking in front of him.

    ''What is a Demihuman doing here...?''

    The women had orange hairs reaching till above her shoulders but surprisingly there were two cat ears protruding out of her head and a tail would extend out of the corner of her white robe randomly. She looked to be 18 year old.

    She didn''t hide her Demihuman status in the slightest, walking in the street proudly. The people on the streets would look at her with a frown but she ignored it all.

    "Sniff-sniff, sniff-sniff"

    The cat girl started sniffing around the air with her eyes closed as if searching for something. Slowly she turned around and opened her big eyes wide looking straight at Zick.

    "Nya~''''<sub> </sub>

    Tilting her head, She walked towards Zick with a curious look ignoring the gazes of the people around her.

    Standing right in front of Zick who looked at her emotionlessly but still there was some curiosity in his eyes.

    Bending towards Zick''s chest she started sniffing again with her eyes closed.

    Zick stepped back one step to make a little distance between.

    " Sniff-sniff, as I thought, you were the one giving out this weird scent, nya~"

    "...what weird scent?"

    Zick asked warily.

    ''Can she smell the blood of a dragon in me....?''

    "I don''t know myself, nya~. This is the first time I have sniffed something like this but I am sure that it''s different from human smell, nya~''''

    The cat girl kept tilting her head in confusion.

    But Zick rxed after hearing her answer.

    ''It doesn''t seem like she has ever met a dragon before...''

    " Oh sorry for thete introduction, my name is serlece, nya~''''

    Serlece introduced herself, sticking her tongue out and catching her head with her right hand. She wore a white suit matching her robe.

    ".....so what are you doing in this city?"

    Zick asked with a curious tone, he has been thinking of a reason as to why a demihuman woulde in this city.

    "ahh, you know, some people are selling demihuman like us here as ves, we came to punish them, nya~"

    Though Serlece said this brightly, the anger in her voice did not go unnoticed by Zick and the word ''we'' made it apparent that there were more of them.

    "Miss anelete was also angered hearing about demihuman being made into ve so she sent us here"

    ''what....? Anelete....''

    Zick was surprised hearing that name internally, he knew about her in the novel.

    "Hey! serlece! what are you doing ? let get going already"

    A giant wolf-man reaching 2 metres called serlece with a smile on his face.

    ''A pure blood demihuman''

    Zick''s eyes widened looking at the wolf-man who walked towards him.

    The wolf-man had two sharp tusking out of his wolf face. He has green eyes, a muscr build and is covered with short brown body fur. His chest was covered in a dark-brown mane. He wore ck toeless pants, he was topless exposing his body. There was an armband with the same emblem as the one drawn in Serlece robe.

    Unlike Serlece who looked like a human leaving her ears and tail, the wolf-man didn''t look like a human at all.

    "bye-bye then, nya~''''

    ? Waving her hand, Serlece headed towards the wolf-man with a smile on her face.

    Zick eyes didn''t leave the wolf-man as they walked in the street talking to each other.

    ''He is strong.....''

    Zick was able to feel the difference in strength between him and the wolf-man. The wolf-man would have defeated him with ease, his strength reached to the master swordsman level.

    Zick continued walking with a deadpan look, thinking about what he just heard from Serlece.

    very of any human or demihuman are strictly forbidden in the first continent, there is only one ce you would find something like ve, that is a ck market.

    Zick didn''t know anything about this incident as this was something that happened before even the novel began.

    ''Well, I should try not getting involved with them''

 Chapter 46 The Demihumans

    The demihuman are looked down upon by everyone as a lower species. The only ce which epted the demihuman was the magic kingdom, Pheorous.

    When the three ruling force made an a alliances, the Pheorous kingdom''s former king had demanded that very of Demihuman to be stopped and to give them a little freedom.

    Before the alliance was formed the Demihuman were prohibited to enter any city of the Cravion kingdom and the Mhydrasvil empire.

    The demihuman lived in hiding living their whole life in fear with no hope. Most of the Demihuman lived as a fugitive in the slums or as a ve.

    The only ce that the demihuman could go was the magic kingdom, Pheorous. This made the Pheorous country the only ce where demihuman and human lived together.

    Even after the alliance was formed the only thing the former king of the Pheorous kingdom had demanded was to let demihuman enter a city or vige naturally without prejudice.

    There is no need to ept them as a citizen, just give them a little freedom.

    Free them of their very.

    Treat them as a human.

    These were his only demands but the Pheorous kingdom had lost a few of its benefits in the alliance, the former king was just satisfied about getting his demand epted so losing a few benefits didn''t matter to him. Well it couldn''t be said to be the same for the current king of the Pheorous kingdom.

    With the alliance the demihuman were able to live a little more unitedly. All the Demihuman were grateful to the Pheorous kingdom so some of them worked in their, suppressing their anger towards humans.

    Living like fugitives for so long had changed a lot of things, pure blood Demihuman were very rare throughout the continent. Most of the demihuman were either half or a quarter blood. But they did not lose their animal instincts even then.

    A pure blood demihuman doesn''t look anything like a human, they have the appearance close to a monster, if not for their capability of speaking they would have been hunted down as a monster.

    A half blood demihuman has the appearance of a human with a few aspects of an animal like Serlece. But a few half-blood demihuman with special blood are capable of awakening their bloodlines temporarily and turn into pure-blood demihuman it is usually only possible for 5 minutes. After awakening their bloodline their strength and senses get enhanced tremendously.

    There are even cases of some of them losing control when they awaken their bloodline. This ability can''t be used by the pure blood demihuman as their bloodline is awakened from the day they are born.

    A quarter blood demihuman doesn''t have any aspect of an animal, they look entirely like a human but they still have their instincts of an animal. Few of them even have some special ability.

    The demihuman are epted by the academy too but there are very few demihumans in there as their talents are checked more strictly.

    And most of the demihumans don''t even have the will to go to the academy. Even though the academy only looks at their talents and treats them well, the students attending would still look down upon them and evene looking for trouble for various reasons.

    What if a demihuman showed talent surpassing a noble or a royalty? it would without a doubt hurt their pride.

    They still look down at them as a lower species and if they surpass them it would be the most shameful moment of their life. Killing is prohibited but there were still many ways of creating troubles. Violence is not much restricted, only their strength matters then. Even if a noble or Royalty kills a student they would only be fired. The academy doesn''t have the power to harm them, Even If the academy punishes them without a proper reason they would face setbacks created by the nobles or royalties.<sub> </sub>

    Zick knew a lot about them, There was another name that was mentioned by Serlece.

    ''Anelete....''

    He knew about her very well in the novel. She is the best merchant in the Pheorous kingdom and can be said to be a role model to all the merchants. Her influence within that kingdom was nothing to look down at, she even had connections with the royalties and the current king of the Pheorous kingdom.

    In the novel, Anelete hade to the academic city for an unknown reason and stayed there for a few months. While staying there she had met the protagonist of the novel but at that time the protagonist was still an inexperienced person who just came out of his vige.

    The protagonist would have been bankrupt of all his money if a future harem member had not interfered.

    ''Well not like he had much money in him to begin with.....''

    Zick could not help but think this while walking on the street.

    The protagonist of the novel '' the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' hade from a small vige so he didn''t have much money in him. He was only able to live in the academic city because of being a student in the academy.

    Anelete in the novel was very kind to the demihuman for some reason but when it came to business she was the shrewdest person in the first continent, she has never experienced any losses at a negotiations. If she didn''t like the proposal it would be rejected without hesitation.

    She had her own forces like the demihuman who Zick just met, she also owned a mercenary group filled with elites.

    ''If I fight against that demihuman Wolf-man now, when I am not even used to my strength I will lose without a doubt, I can only run then....''

    Zick went to different shops as there were a lot of things he needed to buy. He brought a huge leather bag, A map of the Cravion kingdom, a scabbard, few spare leather armour and some magic books. Keeping the cursed sword in his space ring would make it hard to react quickly to a surprise attack, hanging it on his waist would make it easier to use. He had already checked before, the cursed sword had stopped giving out any creepy aura and was like any regr sword.

    SCREECH!

    Putting the sword in the scabbard, Zick looked around the city for a few more minutes. The city lived up to the name as a famous city for gambling. The city street was more developed than the other, with streetmps regrly standing beside the street. The streetmp was in spherical shape with a shining crystal in the centre of it.

    Zick could see the mana around the streetmps easily.

    ''Fire crystals.....''

    Fire crystals were amonly used material in crafting so it wasn''t that surprising to see it used like this.

    Walking around for a while, Zick started heading towards the wyvern and the two dragon eggs, He had brought everything he needed.

 Chapter 47 Serlece

    Serlece had a very rough childhood.

    She lived her whole life in the slums with her mother, The whereabout of her father was unknown. But whenever she asked her mother there would only be one answer.

    ["He is not going toe back..."]

    Her mother voice was filled with sorrow, she would always smile at serlece as if tofort her showing that she was alright.

    Both of them lived in the slums located at the magic Kingdom, Pheorous''s capital. They were able to live by somehow there with serlece mother bringing food everyday.

    At that time Serlece was a 5 year old girl, she was always happy in just getting to eat a meal per day. She did not know what her mother did but she would always worry about her as there would always be new wound on her body.

    Serlece mother would leave the small house made of wood everyday at night saying that she had to go to work to her.

    This went on till the day she turned 10 year old, she matured a little and got to know a lot of things. The other people in the slums would look down upon a demihuman for some reason. The kids in the same age as her would not even talk to her, they would run away all the times saying weird things like-

    ["run! its a demihuman!"]

    [" no don''t eat me! wahhh!"]

    ["run faster everyone! my mother said that demihuman are strong enough twist your head off with their bare hands"]

    Serlece would always extend her hand towards them with a sad look, saying-

    [''''I wouldn''t do such a thing..."]

    This way her childhood went on without a single friend or anyone to talk to leaving her mother.

    But on a certain day, her mother did not return from work.

    Serlece waited in the house without anything to eat, Time went by.

    1 hour.....

    5 hours.....

    half a day....

    one day....

    two day....

    In this time Serlece had left the house multiple times asking the people who are living around their about her mother. But no one answered her, everyone sneered or outright ignored her.

    Walking back to her house, slowly tears started falling down her cheeks.

    ["ugh..ugh....mother..sniff...mother...."]

    She felt like lump was stuck in her throat making it difficult for her say anything, she felt extremely tired. Not eating for two days had made her body extremely weak.

    [''Mother...where are you...? pleasee back....I am scared...'']

    An immense amount of confusion hit her, she didn''t knew what to do, everything felt unreal to her. Always she would have hope rising within her that her mother would be back when she reaches home. But her expectations were always betrayed.

    At the third day since the disappearance of her mother, she walked back to her house with the support of the wall. Her head felt heavy, she couldn''t see properly but still she tried to go back to her house somehow.

    But today a women wearing a while coat made of a cotton stood in front of her house. The women''s appearance didn''t fit the slums at all.<sub> </sub>

    Feeling Serlece''s presence the women turned towards her and smiled brightly. But when she saw the condition Serlece was in she started heading towards her with a worried expression.

    Serlece was confused at who this women was but there was one word stuck in her head.

    [''beautiful.....'']

    The women in white coat had violet hair and eyes, She looked to be in her 20s. She was extremely beutiful, her hairs flowed like silk, there wasn''t a single blemish on her skin with the pure white coat she wore just enhanced her looks more. It was the first time for Serlece to see such a beautiful person in her life.

    [''''Hey, are you alright? priest! '''']

    People wearing white robes sprinted towards them urgently. Checking Serlece''s condition they could only smile helplessly.

    [''dy Anelete, we cannot do anything about her current state of body, only by letting her eat and rest can she recover"]

    [''''Lets move to the base then, all the thing here have already been taken care of"]

    Ordering the priests, Anelete picked Serlece from both her hands and started walking alongside the priests.

    Serlece became confused again looking at the face of the violet hair women who looked at her with a concerned expression. There was only one person who cared about her in her whole life, that was her mother. But suddenly a stranger appeared and started caring about her this made confused to no end. Her head was already exhausted so it didn''t take long for her to fall asleep.

    That was the first time she met Anelete, after getting up she got to know that they hade to destroy a brothel run illegally in the slums.

    In there Serlece mother was held as a hostage but in the end she was stabbed with a knife in the chest. The priest weren''t able to heal her by then, it was already toote.

    But Anelete was able to hear thest wish that women was trying to say.

    ["Please my daughter....cough!...cough!...she is in the northern part of the slums....]

    This were herst words before she stopped breathing. Anelete was able to find out Serlece''s house inquiring everyone innthe slum. It was easy to find the house as it is rare for someone to stay alive in the slums for more than 10 years and not to say that they were Demihuman.

    Hearing what had happened to her mother, Serlece couldn''t stop herself from crying loudly with despair filled voice. Anelete had never left Serlece side even when she cried or started iling around. She would alwaysfort Serlece.

    After a few month, Serlece was able to calm down. In the end she decided to join the mendert merchant group owned by Anelete. She also got to know about the talent she owned, she had overwhelming affinity with water magic.

    She earnestly worked for Anelete as her personal guard by working hard, she wanted to be helpful to her anyway she could.

    She had been ordered to go to the seivet city by Anelete with the first squadron of the mercenary group which is owned by the mendert merchant group.

    Hearing the word very made her really angry and sad at the same time thinking about everyone who were the same as her.

    After searching around the city they were able to find some clues about it. The location of the ck market wasn''t within the city, instead it was located at the forest near the city.

    It was very hard to locate them as they used teleportation circle to move the participants but they were confident in their animal senses to find them in the forest.

    They had found this information yesterday night but waited for the ve auction to start which would be beginning now, at noon.

    "let''s get moving everyone! you too serlece don''t throw up after seeing the blood like in thest mission, hahaha!"

    "I won''t, uncle Jerg!"

    Serlece pouted her cheeks and said this. She knew Jerg from a long time. He was the leader of the first squadron of the mercenary group. He is the strongest in the team too.

    There were another five people with them, two of them were priests and the other three were high rank mages.

    By the time they started heading towards the forest, Zick had finished buying things and started heading towards the forest.

 Chapter 48 Warped Situation

    Getting out of the Seivet city, Zick headed towards the forest in the distance. It was already noon by the time he had finished buying everything he needed.

    Entering the dense forest, Zick felt that something was different from before. Mana rose from the ground faintly, after getting the dragon Lord''s heart he has been able to see the mana in the air with his eyes like this.

    The mana rising from the ground led to the centre of the forest, but Zick started running towards where the wyvern and two eggs were hurriedly.

    ''I shouldn''t get involved with suspicious things for no reason...''

    Zick didn''t want to get involved in shady things like this just yet and there is a chance that it might be the ck market. If by chance the demihuman he met in the city were to find him then it would just lead to a ugly situation.

    Grrrrrh.....

    A wolf with white fur appeared through the dense tree, slowly more of them emerged from behind it, Looking at Zick with their red eyes.

    "Tch!"

    Zick could only click his tongue at this, he had not released his dragon aura while running towards the wyvern. He was in a hurry right now so he let a little of his dragon fear out.

    Grrrrr.... Grrrrr.....

    The wolf Whimpered and stared at Zick for a few seconds then started running away, Zick got surprised internally looking at them. A normal monster would have started running the moment they felt dragon fear but this wolf was still exposing their fangs threateningly before running away.

    ''They have been trained....I should get out of here faster.... the quicker I get out of here the lower my chances of getting involved bes.''

    Reaching in front of the wyvern which was sleeping all curled up, Zick released a little more of his dragon fear.

    Crerrrgh.....

    Waking up the wyvern, Zick walked towards it hurriedly but he never stopped controlling his strength. Some of the trees near the wyvern were covered in blood showing that monsters had tried attacking it prior to his arrival.

    But it was easily taken care of by the wyvern as it has the strength of a high rank knight.

    "Hmm..."

    Zick started frowning, feeling the presence heading towards his direction. He could feel the same presence of the demihuman he had met in the city.

    ''They already came.....''

    Even if he started flying away with the wyvern now, it would just make it look more suspicious to the demihumans. Standing in front of the wyvern Zick waited for their arrival. He thought of the possibilities of what might happen here, while thinking about it, suddenly his expression grew solemn.

    ''Though the dragon eggs are not giving out any mana there is a chance for the demihuman to find out with their instincts.''

    Zick''s expression turned cold thinking of this, he put the two eggs in the leather bag he brought and put it above the wyvern. This situation just kept warping into more and more disadvantageous to him then he thought.

    ''If I showed them the crest of the Melvix family there shouldn''t be any danger to my life at least.....but I can''t let them find out about the two eggs...''

    The two demihuman and five humans reached where Zick stood in a minute.

    "ehh....."

    "Ohh! it''s that kid again"

    Serlece confused voice and Jerg amused voice rang out through the forest. Jerg looked at Zick with interest in his eyes, when they had met in the city he couldn''t feel it but now that he stood right in front of him a weird feeling rose within him. He could feel that Zick was different then other humans. His instinct which he trust the most told him that if he tried fighting Zick thing wouldn''t go right.

    ''He looks like a human kid.....but still has grown to such a level...his talent must be unheard of in the whole continent.....''

    Even the sword in Zick''s hip made his fur stand up straight but it gave rise to a different feeling than what he could feel from Zick, it was a disgusting and evil feeling almost like thousands of corpses were formed into a mountain and left to degrade in the open.

    ''hm....''

    The bag at the back of the wyvern also gave his instinct a weird feeling but it was the first time he felt this.

    No human would have been able to find the sword and two eggs within the bag as something dangerous or weird, only this demihuman who has refined his instinct from a very long time was able to tell their level of danger at a nce.

    "So what are you doing in the middle of the forest?"

    Jerg asked with his fangs exposed like he was smiling, hiding his surprise within.

    "I left my wyvern here in the forest so as to not make the citizens of the city wary of me."

    Zick told the truth without hiding the reason he left the wyvern here.

    ''Now he even has a wyvern as a pet.....''

    Jerg squinted his eyes, when he tried to open his mouth to speak again, his eyes widened.<sub> </sub>

    Zick had taken out the crest from his space ring.

    "That....."

    Zick tossed it at the wolf demihuman in front of him.

    Catching it from the index and thumb finger''s nails, he looked at it with a serious expression.

    ''it''s real...''

    Still Jerg passed it to the mage behind him to make sure.

    "c-captain, it''s real"

    The mage who looked the most senior spoke out with a solemn voice. Passing the confirmed crest back to Jerg, the mage walked back to the other two mages.

    "So it''s a real Melvix family''s que..."

    "Just give it back wolf head"

    Zick didn''t bother speaking reserved anymore, with the crest proven as real, there wasn''t anything they could do to him unless they wanted to pick a fight with Melvix family.

    "It''s Jerg"

    Saying this the demihuman tossed the crest back at Zick.

    "Whatever"

    Catching the crest from his right hand, he said this. Ignoring them, he climbed upon the wyvern.

    "Hey wait, I still wanted to ask about something. What is in that bag above..."

    Jerg stopped speaking, feeling his body momentarily freeze up. His eyes widened at what he was feeling.

    ''fear...? Am I feeling fear from this kid?''

    He had not felt like this even when he met the bishop of the sun god temple named Jerel, He considered him as the strongest person he met throughout his life. But even jerel couldn''t make him feel fear like this.

    Jerg felt his animal instincts screaming of an impending doom.

    ''This can''t be.....''

    All seven of the people sent by Anelete froze, with the priest and mages even breathing raggedly.Serlece''s whole body trembled rendering her immobile.

    "What does this have anything to do with you? weren''t you looking for the ck market? it''s that way so just get going"

    Zick spoke with a cold voice and pointed at the centre of the forest with his finger. He had released the dragon fear without suppressing it at all after hearing the question Jerg was going to ask. He looked down at them from the back of the wyvern, Jerg was able to move again, getting out of his initial surprise.

    "We weren''t trying to be rude...."

    Jerg tried to speak up and fix this situation but his words were cut half way through by Zick''s voice.

    "go"

    Zick ordered the wyvern ignoring what the demihuman had to say.

    <o>,m Crerrrrgh! FWISH!</o>

    pping its wing, the wyvern started flying.

    ''It doesn''t seem like he noticed that there are two dragon eggs here...''

    Zick knew that meeting a dragon was very hard but he couldn''t help but be in his guard the whole time. He didn''t know how many dragons there were in the first continent but he knew how many there were in the second continent.

    In the novel, there were totally only 10 dragons throughout the second continent. Which showed that meeting a dragon was very hard.

    "Sigh..."

    Zick sighed in relief knowing that the dragon eggs were not found out. After a few minutes, he let himself rx atst. Taking out the map he brought from the seivet city, he looked at it closely.

    ''It would take at least a week to reach the Melvix family estate....I should try learning a little magic while travelling then.....''

 Chapter 49 Difference In Ranks

    Zick had brought multiple books about magic from the seivet city. Right now learning about magic would be better than training in his mana. The dragon heart within his body kept on increasing his mana and its quality. He could even feel that his body had gotten stronger than before.

    Zick knew that his talent to be a mage had increased but he didn''t know its limit. He didn''t even know at which rank he was at.

    Zick took out a book from his ring while still flying in the sky upon the wyvern. The book was about the difference between all the ranks in a mage professional in simple words. It was written by someone named Austrif jwertes.

    The reason Zick brought this book is because of the name ''Austrif'' in it. In the novel, Austrif was the magic instructor in theory of the protagonist ss. Austrif at that time was a peak rank mage known for his theoretical knowledge of magic, his practical skills were also above average.

    Opening the book, Zick started reading with an interesting expression. He had tried bing mage when he was 10 year old but spectacrly failed but now with the dragon heart increasing his affinity with mana, he should be able to use magic. Excitement rose within him.

    ''Ah..... I have been getting excited a lot in the past month.....''

    A smile formed in his face as he read the book. The reason why he wanted to try bing a mage was because of one of the harem members of the protagonist in the novel. She was the one and only Archmage who would appear in future, she was able to conjure magic having the power of a natural disaster with a wave of her hand.

    The title archmage wasn''t something that could be easily gained, being able to create magic equalling a natural disaster showed their strength and value.

    If a natural disaster is created in the middle of the battlefield? hundreds of knights would die without being able to resist or fight back.

    An archmage doesn''t just have the strength to createrge scale magic like this, they can create magics that can be used in close range battles. Even their scout ability goes past the level of a master swordsman.

    For defeating such a person who excels in every aspect useful in a battle is very hard.

    The only easy way to defeat an archmage is by sending an assassin who can go past their scouting skills or killing them using overwhelming strength.

    Zick wasn''t worried about getting assassinated at all. With his current senses he was even confident enough to find a master assassin if he was hiding his presence nearby.

    Zick''s excitement just grew thinking about it. He has been worried about not having a proper long range attack for a while. This problem could be alleviated by bing a master swordsman but there would still be certain limits.

    By bing a mage almost all his problems with long range attacks would be solved. Then there would be one less thing to worry about.

    Closing the book, Zick thought of all the things he had just read.

    The book wasn''t veryrge so he was able to finish it in an hour but the content written in it was anything but simple.

    ''And the book title says ''in simple words''...''<sub> </sub>

    Zick was still not able to understand all of the things written in this book but he was able to understand what the difference between each rank was.

    A person bes a lowest rank mage the moment they are able to conjure a magic. That can be said as the starting point of the mage profession and the moment a person''s affinity will be known.

    If a person has to give it his all just make the mana in the surrounding hear to them and form a magic, the book clearly stated for them to give up. Their talent can only at most bring them to the low rank after working hard for a few years.

    "...."

    This just shows how much Zick''s affinity with mana was, the mana in his surroundings didn''t even form into magic when he tried doing it.

    Only the people who can conjure a magic with little effort just by imagining it have enough talent to walk the path of mage.

    A person bes a low rank when he is able to do the magic in lowest rank with ease and is able to shoot it without making the mana dissipate. Normally when a lowest rank mage tries to shoot the magic he conjured, it vanishes in thin air.

    Only when a magic is formed with enough mana is it possible to shoot a magic without letting it vanish. This takes a lot of skills, a person has to be able to control arger amount of mana then the first time he created a magic in lowest rank. Only by working hard can this be possible, the mage profession is easier and faster to rise unlike the knight profession.

    If you have enough talent, it is possible to be a low rank mage in weeks.

    The middle rank mage are the people who have enough strength to be somewhat useful in a fight. A person who is able to make two magic forms at the same time can be said to have reached middle rank mage.

    High rank mage, when a person reaches this rank everything changes. They can use the mana in the surrounding to reinforce their body temporarily, there are different kinds of magic like elerate, strengthen and more which are mostly taught in the academy. When they reinforce their body with the surrounding mana they cannot form a magic.

    They are the people who mostly participate in battles and survive. A mage in high rank is able to use multiple magic at the same time.

    Only little is known about the mages in peak rank, they are able to conjure magic from 50 to 100 metres away from their body. This coulde in use in many ways in a battle.

    And the only other thing known about them is that they can use both mana to reinforce their body and form magic at the same time.

    Nothing is known about the Archmage.

    ''It''s a lot moreplicated than I thought.....''

    Though the mage profession gave the benefit of growing faster, it would take a lot of hard work mentally.

 Chapter 50 High Rank Mage

    ''ording to this book, I must be an lowest rank mage right now.....''

    Not wasting his time, Zick started trying to conjure magic. He didn''t even have to concentrate, the moment he willed it the mana in his surroundings started converging towards him.

    SWOOSH~

    A fireball size of a fist appeared above Zick''s outstretched hand. When he willed it, the fireball shot forward, splitting the air.

    FWISH!

    Flying for another 10 seconds the fire ball vanished. Looking at it, Zick''s eyes widened in surprise.

    ''I hadn''t even concentrated on making it.... well this show that I am a low rank mage then.....I should try seeing how much of a stronger magic I can conjure after concentrating''

    Still in the standing position, Zick had his hand extended forward. closing both his eyes, a serious expression appeared on his face.

    SWOOOSH!!

    The air started warping in front of Zick hands and slowly a crimson red me started forming. Little by little its size increased until it became half the size of Zick''s body. Opening his eyes, a shocked expression appeared on his face.

    ''this...is this something all low rank mages can do....?''

    The power this crimson fireball held was ridiculous in Zick eyes.

    Crerrrrgh...

    The wyvern growled feeling threatened, it could feel that if the crimson fire ball in Zick''s palm touched it, it would be turned into ashes within seconds.

    Zick Looked around himself, right at the moment they were flying above a in terrain with grasses and trees everywhere. He had decided to travel through this in as it would not gather any attention upon him, But now it woulde use in another way.

    ''I can check the strength of this magic here without worry...''

    Zick aimed his hand downwards right at the middle of the grass in.

    UUUM~

    The air started twisting again as Zick readied himself to shoot the magic in his hand.

    FWOOSH!!

    The wyvern went out of bnce for a second facing the recoil of the magic being pushed back a few metres in the air. But Zick''s eyes never left the crimson fireball.

    The crimson fireball made the air twist as it headed towards the ground. Though Zick was able to see all of this clearly with his eyes, to a normal person the crimson fireball moved at a speed which was impossible to follow.

    Booooom!

    The crimson fireball hit the ground and exploded loudly, dust rose everywhere covering up the ce it hit. Zick was able to see the explosion cover more than 10 metres, slowly the dust settled down presenting the result of his magic.

    There was arge crater spreading till 20 to 30 metres, smoke rose from the middle of it showing the high temperature there.

    Zick''s stared at the crater nkly.

    ''There is no way I am just a low rank mage.''

    Zick started experimenting by making different types of magics, Fire, water, wind, light and dark. He couldn''t use the earth element as he was in the sky right at the moment.

    ''I have affinity with all the elements....''<sub> </sub>

    Zick was also surprised by another thing, usually when a person makes so many strong magic at once they start bleeding through their nose and feel dizzy but he didn''t feel any of it.

    After checking his affinity, he checked at what rank he was in currently.

    After a few hours, Zick faced a problem in using magic atst.

    Using mana to reinforce his body, he wasn''t able to properly form a magic. He felt it was hard to form a magic while reinforcing his body at the same time which shows that-

    ''I am a high rank mage...''

    This is how Zick turned into a high rank in one day.

    After knowing his rank, Zick started creating different types of magic to train and continued his journey. It became mncholy fast as there was nothing for him to do, leaving training and checking the map sometimes to see if he was heading in the right direction there was nothing else for him to do.

    Zick would enter deep within the forest sometimes to let the wyvern eat and check his body''s strength. Fighting a monster with nothing but his body without mana or sword, he got to know the strength it held.

    "...."

    With a speechless expression on his face, Zick washed the blood off his body in the river. He had fought with the monster just a while ago but the fight finished before it even began.

    No monsters in the forest could harm Zick''s body in any way, Their fangs, ws, special abilities no matter what they used the result never changed, they couldn''t even scratch his body.

    After getting to know the endurance of his body, Zick tried checking out his strength. Not holding back, he punched at a wolf monster with all his body''s strength. And the result was-

    BOOM!

    The wolf monster''s body exploded, making blood fall down like rain. No matter which monster he punched their body would explode like the wolf.

    ''.....This goes past the capabilities of a peak rank knight, I am not even using any mana.''

    Checking his strength with mana and getting used to his current strength, Zick was somewhat in grasp of his current level of strength.

    ''Quasi-master swordsman rank.''

    Zick didn''t even know what would happen when all of his blood would be turned into that of dragon''s.

    ''The stronger I am, the better...''

    Zick needed strength the most, only with strength is there any chance for him to survive in the future so he was happy about his current increase in strength. He continued heading towards the Melvix family''s estate finishing washing himself.

    After three days

    The sky was covered in ck clouds marking the start of monsoon season, the clouds looked to be on the verge of raining. The wind hit the wyvern and Zick harshly but it wasn''t able to affect them much.

    Zick held on to the bag in which the dragon eggs were kept tightly, Slowly it started raining. It didn''t take long for it to start pouring heavily making it hard to even look at what was in front of him.

    A blue barrier appeared above the wyvern stopping the rain from falling upon them, Zick had created this semi circle shaped barrier with ease. After knowing that he was a high rank mage, he had been training to see what the mana was capable of doing for a while. Making a barrier like this was very easy, he could make it even bigger and stronger but such a barrier wasn''t needed to just stop this rain water.

    ''Teleportation is still hard...I will be able to learn it in one or two weeks, I guess.....''

    If any mage heard what he just thought they might just choke themselves to death. Learning to use teleportation takes years to aplish but to Zick it all felt innately easy.

    ''I really can''t wait for my blood to be totally converted by the dragon Lord''s heart.....''

    An expectant expression appeared on Zick''s face as he thought of the limitless possibilities his body held.

 Chapter 51 Back To Normal

    The rain stopped within a few hours but the sky was still covered in light ck clouds obscuring the sunlight from passing through. Anyone who Sees the clouds would feel gloomy but that wasn''t the case with Zick.

    Zick felt lighthearted more than he ever did in his life, he had done all the things he wanted to do in this ''vacation'', some of the things even went better than he thought. The two dragon eggs were something totally unexpected that he hadn''t even thought about.

    ''But now they are mine...''

    Zick knew that as long as he had this mysterious connection with the two dragons they would consider him as their father.

    ''They can even take care of me after everything is over.....''

    After bing one with his broken side, Zick''s n had changed, he didn''t n on living at a far away ce after taking care of the demonic race. Instead he just left it to how he felt in the future, he would do what he felt like doing then.

    ''I really have been working hard from the day I came to this world.....''

    Zick felt like he had be a workaholic person, in his past life, he lived as a full blown shut-in who wouldn''te out of his room for years.

    But in this world, he found that even resting for a second as something unfeasible, he was very tight on time. Even wasting much in something wasteful could lead to his death eventually in future.

    Even though Zick put his life on the line multiple times without fear, he didn''t do it with the intent to die in it at all. He didn''t have the slightest will to die any time soon in this life.

    ''I want to live my life to the fullest this time.''

    Unlike his past life, this time Zick wanted to live the way he wanted to. Though he didn''t have any proper goal right now, it didn''t matter to him, as long he is alive there will be a lot of opportunities for him to decide what he wants to do.

    ''Even my lifespan is increasing with the dragon heart...''

    Zick could already feel that his lifespan has doubled. Which means he could live on for 200 years.

    Dragons can live for more than 1500 so he could expect his lifespan to increase a lot too as long as the dragon heart kept strengthening his blood.

    Having random thoughts about his future, Zick headed back to the Melvix family''s estate.

    Taking out the map andpass, Zick checked which direction he needed to head towards. Thepass of this world work differently from the one''s in earth. Thepass made in this world uses a red gem to point out the directions unlike the ones in earth were small mas or maizedponent were used within it.

    So Zick never had to worry about maic fields or losing directions while a storm was going on. The names of the cardinal directions like north, south, east and west are called different in this world.

    "Head towards that direction."<sub> </sub>

    Pointing at a little right side of where they were heading, Zick ordered the wyvern to head towards there. Putting the map and thepass back in the space ring, he sat beside the leather bag. The bag was nothing special, it was made from skin from a random monster.

    Zick had chosen this bag as it was thergest one in the workshop, the two eggs almost reached till his waist so such a big bag was needed to store it. The bag with the two eggs was half the size of Zick''s body and width was double of his.

    Though Zick was 14 years old, his growth was elerated by bing a knight so he looked just like a normal 15 year old kid. His height was 1.7 metre he had a little wider shoulder with some muscles here and there. His face was as handsome as ever.

    ''Well, I might just be a master swordsman before going to the academy.....''

    Having such optimistic thoughts, Zick continued training to see the versatility of mana in the surroundings. He was actually a lot confident in creating a new magic, reading novels for a long time had made his imagination a lot better than others. At least that is what Zick thinks.

    Living in the battlefield for two years and always worried about his future had made him be in constant pressure from a long time. Which led to him thinking of things rted to his survival and future moves at all times.

    But now that he had left the battlefield and the biggest problem of his future regarding potential had been solved, his mindset returned to normal, more rxed, even having time to think of random things.

    ''I should enjoy my life and keep growing stronger, that is the only thing I need to focus on now....''

    Even while having this thoughts, Zick face was expressionless most of the time.

    If it went ording to the novel, the final battle against the demonic race would begin in 10 years and end in the 11th year where the protagonist dies. The moment the protagonist and his harem members were killed by the demon Lord the novel ended. It''s logical to think that the demon lord would take over the world next as there is no one to get in his way.

    Crerrrrgh.....

    The wyvern growled weakly showing how exhausted it was. It had been flying the whole time even when it rained which led it to be hungry and exhausted.

    There was another forest a little distance away ording to the map, so Zick decided to head towards it. It only took half an hour for the wyvern to reach the forest.

    SWISH!

    The wyvernnded on one of the gaps between the trees, Picking the bag up, Zick just ordered the wyvern to hunt and eat some monsters.

    Zick hadn''t felt hungry even for once as his body absorbed the mana in the air constantly replenishing his body. With this there wasn''t any need for him to eat anything but he still decided on eating something good after reaching the Melvix family''s estate.

    ''I haven''t eaten anything delicious for more than two years....''

    So Zick decided to celebrate getting his potential increased by eating something good.

 Chapter 52 Melvix Dukedom

    No monster approached Zick as he was constantly releasing some of his dragon fear. The trees and the ground were still wet as it had rained just a while ago.

    With the leather bag in his back, Zick waited for the wyvern to return and thought of any new magic that he could create. He had already finished reading all the books he brought from the seivet city long go. From that he got to know that his attack power was without a doubt above a high rank mage.

    ''I should have the strength of a quasi-peak rank mage or somewhere near it.''

    Zick started looking towards the sky with his back supported upon a tree, Slowly the pping sounds of wings reached him.

    ''It''s back....''

    Zick could feel the presence of the wyvern in a long distance from him, it flew in the sky majestically looking down sharply at the monsters as if they were nothing but prey for it to eat.

    But when it reached near Zick, it became submissive again and bowed its head.

    Getting upon it, Zick put the bag back at its position and gave the wyvern some instructions.

    SWISH!

    The wyvern started flying again, heading towards the Melvix family''s estate.

    <o>,m Three days went by very quickly with nothing special happening. Zick kept on trying new magics and asionally taking breaks to let the wyvern rest and eat.</o>

    They didn''t encounter any bandits or human settlements thanks to the way they travelled. In this time it had rained twice keeping the humidity in the air high.

    Sun rays passed through the cloud illuminating Zick''s figure, there hadn''t been any instant changes in his appearance after eating the dragon heart but now some changes started appearing.

    His dark ck hairs shined unnaturally which could make people feel mesmerised. His red eyes grew darker and the pupil within it started turning a little vertical. His ck nails had be as strong as steel giving them metallic lustre.

    He wore a ck leather armour right at the moment with a ck sword hanging in his waist. While stopping asionally, Zick had checked out the sword capabilities.

    Even without using any mana the sword would give out a subtle red glow following his will. When used along with his mana, the ck mana would get a subtle red glow in it enhancing its power to a certain degree.

    SWISH!

    The wyvernnded in between the tree within a forest. This forest was specifically chosen by Zick as it was the nearest to the Melvix family. He didn''t have a proper exnation as to why he could control a wyvern so he could only kill it and continue travelling by himself.

    Zick didn''t n on telling anyone about his dragon fear, it would just gather unwanted attention on him. There is a chance this would even reach a dragon somehow and thene to meet him.

    ''I don''t want that...''

    If a dragon appeared, Zick life would totally depend on what the dragon felt. So he didn''t n on meeting any dragon until he became stronger than them.

    SCREECH.....

    Zick took out the cursed sword out of its sheath and sliced off the wyvern''s head with a simple swing.

    BOOM~

    There wasn''t any resistance at all, the wyvern body fell upon the ground lifelessly. Zick had not used either his mana or much strength behind that swing but still cut off the wyvern head so cleanly which shows it''s capabilities.

    cing the dead wyvern body into the space ring, Zick counted how many there were totally within it.

    ''20...I can just order Von to sell it for me afterwards.''

    There was also the loot he got from the bandits, Zick nned on seeking it through Butler Von too.

    Hanging the leather bag behind him, Zick started heading towards the estate, it would probably only take half an hour to reach there from the forest he currently was in.

    Zick wasn''t much worried about the two eggs being found out as dragon''s eggs. Even if they open the bag and look at it no one would associate it with a dragon''s egg. Just being able to see a dragon was already a very rare thing, so there was a very low chance of anyone seeing a dragon egg.<sub> </sub>

    The only way to find out that these two eggs were of dragon''s was by sensing its mana with nature characteristics.

    But the two eggs followed Zick''s instruction of not letting out any mana so the chances of them finding out was nonexistent.

    ''And there isn''t any reason for me to exin how I became a peak rank knight in two weeks...''

    There was a very little chance of this being asked but he didn''t n on saying anything about it.

    The forest was dense with big trees stopping the sun rays from passing through. The trees and the grasses on the ground gave off a lush glow because of the rainfall that had happened a while ago.

    In this forest, Zick ran through the trees making the air get pushed aside creating strong winds which made the leaves flutter.

    FWOOSH~

    Zick got out of the forest in a while, an city fort appeared in the distance straight in front of him. He started heading towards the hill, Besides it. The Melvix family''s estate is located at the top of that hill which is filled with dense trees.

    Zick found the bag hung on his back annoying as it kept shaking while he moved on but he couldn''t do anything about it.

    ''Using magic to fly would have been better.....''

    But Zick didn''t have any experience in flying so his speed while flying would be lower than running right now without a doubt. It was better to go by ground for now instead of trying to do something new.

    ''I should get used to flying too while I am staying here.....''

    There was a track leading into the hill, he started walking on it, keeping a normal pace. There are always knights patrolling all over the hill in case of an intruder appearing.

    So when Zick entered the hill it didn''t take long for him toe across a knight. The sound of a horse heading towards him was clearly heard by him.

    A knight wearing full te armour with the Melvix family''s crest etched in it appeared. The knight had a wary look on his face as he was not able to sense Zick''s presence at all.

    "Identify yourself, right now you are in an area affiliated with the Melvix dukedom."

    The knight didn''t say this disrespectfully as he was already aware of Zick''s strength being above him.

    Zick took out the crest and passed it onto the knight.

    "A-a que!"

    The knight hurriedly got down from the horse and kneeled towards Zick. Even though he wasn''t too disrespectful, he still spoke from the back of his horse to a person who has a que of the Melvix family.

    "I am sorry for being disrespectful before sir!, what might your name be?"

    "Zick Melvix"

    Zick answered in a in tone.

    The Knight''s eyes widened hearing him, In these two years almost all the aristocrats knew about him so the knights affiliated with them also got to know a little about his feat. Not to say about the Melvix family where Zick originated from, every knight knows about him.

    "Please follow me sir!"

    The knight became more respectful and started treating him more friendly. He had already given back the que to Zick But there was something that confused him.

    ''Why is he carrying the bag like that....?''

    The knight couldn''t understand why Zick was carrying the bag at his back like that when he has a space ring. But in the end he decided to not ask anything about it.

 Chapter 53 The Heirs

    The knight walked a few steps in front of Zick, catching the reign of the horse from one hand, leading it to walk beside him.

    They reached the entrance of the estate in a few minutes, where two knights stood besides the gate like guards.

    The knight who was leading Zick here walked forward and ordered the guard knights to open the gate.

    Opening the gate, both of the knights bowed their heads, One of them had a surprised look on his face after seeing Zick. This knight was present in the knight''s training ground when Zick had started training a few years ago.

    Zick looked at the estate that he hadn''t seen from a long time with still a expressionless face, Nostalgia rose within him.

    ''It hasn''t changed at all....''

    Entering through the door a huge hall appeared in front of him.

    "tell Von to meet me right now"

    "Yes sir!"

    Answering energetically, the knight headed towards where Butler Von might be.

    Putting the bag above one of the couches, Zick sat on the other one beside it waiting for Butler Von''s arrival. He could almost feel everyone''s presence in the estate and so he was able to find some people he didn''t know staying in the estate.

    ''The other heirs.....''

    It seems some of the heirs returned,pleting the mission given to them. There were totally three people staying in the rooms meant for heirs so it wasn''t hard for him to guess who they were.

    He could also feel Butler Von''s presence heading towards him. He reached the hall within 30 seconds and bowed towards Zick with his signature stoic expression. His body hadn''t changed much in any way even after two years, he still looked to be in his mid 20s.

    "Wee back, young master Zick"

    Butler Von had headed towards Zick the moment he heard the knight said that Zick called for him. But reaching in front of Zick, he was surprised internally. He couldn''t feel Zick''s presence which means he had surpassed him already. He felt something out of ce too, taking a look at Zick''s face he knew what it was.

    ''He is not smiling like he used to do.....''

    Butler Von wasn''t surprised by this fact, people change on the battlefield by fighting for their lives ceaselessly. So he didn''t find Zick''s change that surprising.

    "keep this above my bed and guard it by staying there until Ie back"

    Hearing Zick''s in voice, Butler Von train of thought was broken.

    "Yes"

    Butler Von answered with still a stoic expression, nothing had changed from before, he just had to follow his lord''s order. But just following these orders gave him a sense of satisfaction which he hadn''t experienced in a long time.

    ''He has improved as well...''

    Though Zick didn''t know the extent of Butler Von''s improvement, he was still able to sense that he had definitely grown stronger than before.

    ? Seeing Butler Von going towards his room, Zick also started walking towards the estate lord''s room. He could have just made a servant pass on the que but he was curious about the reward Zevkoras was talking about. So he decided to go there once before going to his room.

    "Hmm....."

    Zick could feel the presence of the heirs moving, There was also the presence of assassins besides them.

    ''They were already informed of my arrival.....''<sub> </sub>

    It seems the heirs exclusive servants had already passed on the information of his arrival to them. Even after feeling them move, Zick didn''t stop moving.

    Zick was only wary of one person among the three heirs heading towards him. He was the first son of the Melvix family who was a master swordsman.

    Zick didn''t know the identity of the other two heirs but he was able to identify the first son, Jarvin Melvix because he was the only one who could be a master swordsman among the heirs right now.

    All the three heirs headed towards the estate lord''s room for some reason.

    ''Why are they all heading towards here?''

    Zick had thought that they would search him in his room but instead all three of them exactly headed towards where he was going, which made him confused for a second.

    ''This isn''t a coincidence.....there is probably something I don''t know.....''

    Zick''s didn''t stop walking even while thinking all this, some maids would asionally bow towards him while he walked through the corridor.

    Zick reached the estate lord''s room, the first among the heirs, without hesitating he opened the door and entered it. He could see Zevkoras sitting on the chair of his table, with a cup of tea in his hand and was looking at him with the same cold expression he had two years ago.

    Zevkoras looked at Zick with cold eyes but internally he was surprised to no end.

    ''He was able to be a peak rank knight within two weeks....?''

    Zevkoras grew curious as to what Zick did in the past two weeks, but he didn''t ask it as that wouldn''t matter anyway. He was a broad minded person and he wouldn''t care about the minor details. What matters is that Zick was a peak rank knight now!

    It was a feat which could make anyone doubt something even possible. Zevkoras had already tried keeping watch at what Zick was doing in this ''vacation''. But Zick would always appear in random cities and just buy a few things useful for travelling and again disappear.

    Even Zick reaching here so fast had made Zevkoras surprised.

    ''A 14 year old kid became a peak rank knight.....''

    Even thinking of it made him feel weird, no one would have believed him if he tried saying this to them. He saw Zick walking towards him, taking out the que from his space ring and cing it above the table.

    Zevkoras looked at it for a second and picked it up, putting it within his space ring.

    "Well just wait for all the heirs to gather first."

    Hearing this, Zick could only stand there and wait for them to arrive. He looked at Zevkoras sipping his tea with closed eyes.

    ''I can''t win against him.....''

    Zick was clearly able to sense the difference between his strength and Zevkoras''s. Zevkoras had almost reached the peak of the master swordsman rank which is in a totally different league then where Zick currently was.

    But Zick wasn''t worried about it much, he was sure that he would surpass him soon

    ''I just need time now...''

    KNOCK-KNOCK.

    Someone knocked on the door unlike Zick and entered.

    CLICK~

 Chapter 54 Jarvin Melvix

    The door of the room opened smoothly without making a sound.

    There a person with the same Ash-grey hair as Zevkoras stood with a cold expression looking at Zick. His name was Jarvin Melvix, the first born son of the Melvix family and also the youngest person to be a master swordsman.

    Jarvin wore a white shirt and ck pants which looked to be made of a very high quality material. He looked to be 20 years old but his actual age was 24. His build was medium with a lot of muscle all over his body.

    ''Hmph, so he came back atst.....''

    Jarvin was internally extremely dissatisfied and even had killing intent against Zick, he hadpleted the mission given to him four months ago but Zevkoras had told him to wait for at least another two heirs toplete their mission before receiving the reward along with them.

    Though Jarvin was feeling very unwilling, he could do nothing about it, in the end he was still an heir not the lord so he had followed what Zevkoras told. Luckily he didn''t have to wait for long.

    The second daughter and the fourth son of the Melvix family were able toplete their missions two months ago, this made him realise that Zevkoras had not given all the heirs random missions, they were all somehow connected with each other.

    Jarvin was happy about receiving his reward but another problem arose, the sixth son of the Melvix family was also going to finish his mission soon so Zevkoras made them wait again.

    Jarvin was reaching the end of his patience, almost thinking of sending assassins after this so-called sixth son but he still somehow controlled himself.

    ''It''s just another month...''

    Jarvin knew about Zick quite a lot, even about his feat of killing hundreds of knights from the enemy''s side. He had always been wary of the other heirs so he was knowledgeable about Zick''s strength when he was in the battlefield so he knew that he would have sent someone strong to kill him, But he wasn''t much wary of Zick.

    ''His chances of bing the next head of the family is low...the Ash-grey hair that we have is the very symbol of the Melvix family and he doesn''t have it!''

    But again it didn''t go the way Jarvin wanted it to, Zick went off on a ''vacation'' for another month. But this time he couldn''t even send any assassins after him because he didn''t know where Zick was at.

    Now that he looked at Zick who even looked handsomer than him, he was extremely dissatisfied but it changed after a second. His eyes widened as looked at Zick closely, Jarvin had more experience than any of the heirs so he knew how hiding his emotions would be very helpful but even he couldn''t hide what he just felt.

    ''..... he became a peak rank knight....and he has even made progress in it, was the information I received false....?''

    Jarvin first doubted his informationwork but threw it out of his mind thinking about it for a second because it didn''t matter, everything would change now that Zick was a peak rank knight.

    Before Zick was known as a very talented person but now he would be known as the most talented person in the whole continent!

    And the Melvix family chooses their next head upon their strength and capabilities. In other words Zick now has a chance to be the next head. Which changed Jarvin''s n too.

    Before his killing intent against Zick only went to the level of ''I will kill him if a chance appears'' but now it went to ''something that must be killed no matter the cost''

    ''But killing him in the estate is impossible...''

    If a heir is found out killing another heir they would lose their right to be the next head. This rule has been followed from a very long time in the Melvix family, even Jarvin could do nothing if his crime of killing Zick was found out.

    Jarvin''s expression went back to normal as he walked beside Zick and waited for the other heirs to arrive. Then suddenly a n appeared within his head looking at Zick''s expressionless face.

    ''He hasn''t gone to the academy yet.....I can kill him when he goes to the academy then.''<sub> </sub>

    Thinking this far, Jarvin let himself calm down if not the aura within his body would give out what he felt.

    KNOCK-KNOCK.

    With the sound of someone knocking on the door, it opened slowly and two people walked in.

    Zick looked at them, maintaining the same expressionless face.

    There two twins with Ash-grey hair stood proudly, they were the second daughter and the fourth son of the Melvix family. The second daughter looked to be 18 years old with exquisite features. She wore a loose white shirt which didn''t match her size and jeans. She had a bright smile on her face unlike Jarvin and Zick expressions.

    The fourth son wore a brownish white suit, his age looked to be the same as the second daughter as they were twins. He had a calm look like someone who analyses and thinks about things deeply.

    Walking beside Jarvin, the second daughter raises her hand like greeting someone and speaks to Zick.

    "Hey there, my name is Je Melvix!"

    Her voice was as bright as her expression.

    Zick looked at her nkly for a second, then nodding his head towards her, he directly started ignoring her and looked towards Zevkoras.

    Je had a disappointed expression but still Zick didn''t care about it.Zick didn''t care about the other heirs as he had already made up his mind on leaving this ce a long time ago.

    "Now that all four of you have gathered here I will let you choose a reward.....still...."

    Zevkoras had a small smile on his face as he started speaking but it vanished and a solemn expression took its ce.

    "The other heirs....those garbage weren''t able toplete their task in the end..."

    Zevkoras didn''t hide what he felt about the other heirs, the mission given to them was without a doubt easier than the one he had given to Zick.

    When Zick was sent to the battlefield he was just a middle rank knight and he had survived in between the high and peak rank knights in the battlefield which was without a doubt the hardest mission Among them.

    But still Zick went past Zevkoras expectations all the time and brought results which could be said was excellent or something impossible.

    And the current Zick in Zevkoras eyes was very more pleasing than the Zick before the battlefield.

    ''Yes....that is how it''s supposed to be....smile isn''t meant for us, instead that emotionless expression is what fits us the most.''

    Zevkoras didn''t let what he felt be noticed by the others and took out five items from within his space ring.

    The five item were- a golden ring, a blood red earring, a long sword, a magic staff made of a green wood and in the end two brown boots.

 Chapter 55 The Red Earring

    Now that all four of the heirs stood in a row and stared at the five itemsid upon the table, it was apparent that Zick looked out of ce beside them. All three of the Heirs excluding Zick wore fine and artistic clothes Without a doubt made by a skilled couturier.

    On the other hand, Zick wore a ck leather armour that he randomly brought in a city which led to him being out of ce. but this was not noticed by Zick at all as his attention was already being upied by the five items.

    Zevkoras found the ck sword hung on Zick''s waist interesting.

    ''It''s a fine sword.....''

    Only someone with experience in using a sword from a long time would be able to find the ck sword as a good sword. Zevkoras could tell just by looking at the handle of the ck sword, it was crafted in a way which would make it easier to use while killing. Though it looked normal without anything worth mentioning but that on itself made it look unique.

    ''It''s a sword made to be used as a sword not like the swords made by the Cravion kingdom...''

    Taking his eyes off the sword, he looked at the five items in front of him. He can find out the origin of the sword just looking at where Zick brought it afterwards so he put it at the back of his head.

    "Each one of you can only choose one item among these five and once chosen it cannot be exchanged again."

    Zevkoras didn''t say anything else, all the five items were taken out of the treasury of the Melvix family. which means All five of them have the capabilities to support a person until the end of his life.

    The Melvix family is the oldest family in the Cravion kingdom, It had been present since the day the Cravion kingdom was formed 3000 year ago unlike the Garcia family which arose a few centuries ago.

    The location of the treasury was unknown, only the head of the family knew about it.

    Hearing Zevkoras''s voice, Instantly Zick''s eyesnded upon the blood red earring, All the five items gave out mana but he found this earring to be the strongest among them.

    The blood red earring had only one piece, it had a glistening red gem as holder of a red feather which gave out red mana ceaselessly.

    ''The feather is unique too....''

    Most of the mana flowed out of the red gem but a little of it was released by the feather too.

    Zick didn''t hesitate as the difference between the blood red earring and the other four items was too wide to even consider what to choose.

    Zick walked forward without any hesitation towards the table.

    The other three heirs were surprised at Zick''s swift decision; they looked at what he was going to choose with an interested expression.

    Reaching in front of the table, Zick picked up the blood red earring and stared at it.

    "You may take your leave if you want to now."

    Zevkoras said with a cold voice, he even appeared a little disappointed but it vanished as soon as it appeared. He knew about the ability of the earring, it enhances the casting speed and strength of a magic. But he didn''t know till what limit it could enhance a magic as he didn''t use it.

    In Zevkoras eyes Zick was just a peak rank knight which means the earring would be useless to him.

    Zick wasn''t surprised by Zevkoras''s reaction, he started heading out of the room, he wasn''t even tiniest bit interested at what the other heirs chose.

    Walking through the corridor, Zick thought of the things he realised while training in using magic. He was different from the other mages who use the mana around them by forcefully controlling them.

    But Zick didn''t need to do such a thing, the mana in his surrounding would follow his will like a loyal servant which gave rise to there being no need for him to harmonise the mana around him.

    Harmonisation with the surrounding mana is nothing but a process in which a person fills the mana around them with their own will.

    But Zick was the opposite which made the mana follow his will without polluting them. This enhances the power of a magic as the mana in it is made from is pure unlike the other mages.

    ''I can see the reason why people call the dragon the Progenitor of magic.....''

    The dragon race was also known as the species from whom the magic originated. Now that Zick''s blood was slowly being turned into that of a dragon, he got this perk too. When his blood totally turns into dragon blood the mana around him would protect him on their own will. Dragons are a species which is loved by the mana after all.

    ''This can be used as a trump card.....''<sub> </sub>

    Though his current strength in the mage profession wasn''t as strong as his knight profession, he was confident in bing stronger in this one year in which he will be staying in the estate.

    No opponent would think of him as a dragon so without a doubt he can use his magic as a trump card while fighting.

    ''There isn''t a reason for me to hide my strength.....''

    Hiding his strength wouldn''t help him anyway at all. Even in the academy, the one year that he nned on staying there would be more peaceful and easy after he reveals his strength. There are a lot of benefits whiche alongside fame which he didn''t n on leaving out at all.

    Zick had read the novel so he knew that there wasn''t anything that could be threatening to him in the academy.

    "Heh"

    Thinking about all the incidents and events that happened in the novel made Zick chuckle a little. When he was a high rank knight, he had thought of a lot of countermeasures against them in case he didn''t obtain the dragon heart. But now that his strength had increased it all became irrelevant, he didn''t n on stopping those incidents from happening anymore.

    ''It was a lot useful to the protagonist too.....it had made the rtionship between the harem member and him grow stronger anyway.....''

    There were even some events and incidents which could be beneficial to Zick. Reaching in front of his room''s door, he could see a maid changing the flowers in the pot which was kept upon a table beside the door.

    Seeing Zicking towards where she was, she bowed her head hurriedly.

    ''A new maid? well whatever.''

    It was apparent that the maid didn''t know who Zick was looking at how she stood right in front of the door.

    "Move."

    "Y-yes"

    Hearing Zick''s emotionless voice, the maid moved aside with a scared look. Ignoring her, Zick entered the room.

    The same room that he had lived in for four years appeared in front of him; it hadn''t changed at all in the past two years. The whole room appeared clean without a speck of dust anywhere showing that someone had been taking care of it regrly.

    Zick could see Butler Von standing in one of the corners of his room, the leather bag that Zick had handed over to him was kept above the bed.

    Walking up to his bed, Zick sat upon it and beckoned Butler Von toe near him.

    Taking the ring off his finger, Zick handed it over to him.

    "This...?"

    Butler Von asked in a confused voice staring at the ring.

    "Sell everything within it, leaving some spare swords and the money, also send a letter to a skilled couturier toe visit me."

    ".....yes"

    Responding to Zick''s order, Butler Von bowed his head towards him and started heading out of the room.

    ''''ah...also make something delicious for today''s dinner."

    Nodding his head towards Zick in understanding, Butler Von continued walking again.

    "Haaaaaa..."

    Breathing out loudly, Zick ced the cursed sword and the leather bag beside the bed andid upon it letting himself rx. He didn''t feel any fatigue at all but he still wanted to let himself rest after the long journey he went through.

    ''There isn''t anything that I need to urgently do now.....I can just start training from tomorrow, I should just rest for today...''

 Chapter 56 Peak Of The Master Swordsman Level

    ? Standing in front of the mirror, Zick looked at himself with an emotionless expression as always.

    ''Time sure flew by quickly.''

    Zick had this thought as he looked at himself in the mirror during the early hours of one morning. He tidied his white shirt''s cor and his ck hair which gave out a mesmerising glow as he stared at his face.

    Six months went by quickly with him training and experimenting with his new found strength.

    Although his face still looked like that of a young boy''s, his body had matured a lot. As Zick examined his own wide chest and broad shoulders, again the narcissistic thoughts arose within him.

    ''This really is a great body.''

    This was a topic that he had thought of several times over the time he had lived in this body, but he never got bored of repeating this fact within his head whenever it came up.

    One month ago all his blood was turned into that of dragon''s, it had brought a lot of changes in his body than he had thought. The moment this process was over, all the parts of his body went through modification.

    His bones were strengthened to an unbelievable level and the bone marrow was also affected. Now the blood marrow would only create blood cells belonging to that of the dragon''s instead of human''s.

    His internal organs were also strengthened, especially the lungs, they have been modified the most and as expected, Zick got some of the abilities of a dragon.

    Zick could breathe out dragon breath now though he didn''t know it''s capability yet as he hasn''t used it, but he innately knew how to use it.

    That wasn''t the only ability he got, if he willed it ck scales would appear all over his body. Zick had already checked its defence, the cursed sword wasn''t even able to leave a scratch on it when used with a little mana.

    Surprisingly, the mana nerves around his body did not get assimted with his body yet like a master swordsman. But he could feel that his mana in it had already be the same as aura or even surpassed it in some ways.

    This is something impossible for a human to do, the mana nerves would be absorbed by the body the moment mana start turning into aura as their body would not be able handle it.

    But Zick''s situation was different, his body was totally able to handle the aura within the mana nerves. With just his current body alone his strength was equivalent to a master swordsman and with the aura, his strength reached till the peak of the master swordsman level.

    Zick could feel that he would be a master swordsman in a year and a few months with just the dragon Lord''s heart. If he trained along with it then the process would be further fastened.

    ''Without a doubt, my aura and body would be further strengthened after bing a master swordsman....''

    Zick stared at his face and smiled thinking of how his strength was increasing rapidly. Now he didn''t have to worry even if the head of the Melvix family tried killing him. This made him a lot morefortable staying in the estate without any worry.

    Outwardly he is just a peak rank knight if anyone looked at him, the only way to find out that his mana had already turned into aura was by Zick using it actively. So he didn''t gather much attention upon him in the estate.

    The dragon heart still kept strengthening his blood ceaselessly. In the future he would awaken more abilities of the dragon''s.

    All this had also brought changes to his appearance outwardly, his eyes had already turned vertical like a dragon and there was an otherworldly charm flowing around him. This could make anyone have a nice impression about him even though he has a deadpan look.

    Zick got a special ability with his eyes turning vertical, he was able to see through mysterious things easily. Nothing could hide in front of his eyes, at least in the estate. He could even see the potential of other people easily.<sub> </sub>

    There was also another ability that Zick got. It was the ability to awaken his bloodline just like the demihuman. He didn''t know the strength he would be granted after using it but-

    ''There is no reason for me to use it, my strength has already reached the peak of the master swordsman level and I am also a quasi-archmage now.''

    Zick''s had also made a huge progress in the mage profession. He also got to know another fact.

    Zick had brought a few books which could be useful in learning new magic but those magic couldn''t bring out all his potential at all.

    Zick was able to form and even surpass all the magic mentioned in the book but they weren''tpatible with him....

    ''magic created by humans isn''tpatible with me..... I should just create my own.....''

    After he was totally turned into a humanoid dragon, his talent in the mage profession also received a massive enhancement.

    Zivk was able to perform any magic just by looking at it once, he could even modify it and make it better.

    While Zick tried many magic which could bring out all his potential, he was only able to create a few of them even after thinking very hard and using all the knowledge of his past life.

    Zick also got to know the capabilities of the blood red earring he had chosen as a reward. It increased the speed at which the mana gathers while forming a magic and the other ability it has is to increase the potency of the magic almost doubling it.

    There was also a weird phenomenon which urred while Zick wore the blood red earring. The red mana given out by the red feather in it was surprisingly assimted with Zick''s body making the feather''s glow vanish and making it look like any normal red feather.

    But this didn''t make the capabilities of the blood red earring drop as the glistening gem was the main object which enhances Zick''s magic.

    The red mana of the feather assimted in Zick''s body hadn''t brought any changes in it so he let it be for now.

    After he became a humanoid dragon, Zick stopped sparring with the knights and just trained by himself. Though the knights were confused by his behaviour, they didn''t say anything to him.

    Even the maids who were present while Zick had not left to the battlefield were surprised looking at him.

    They were all actually used to seeing Zick smile all the time before, but now it had changed into a nk face which surprised them to no end. With only a few instances where he would show any emotions on his face.

    ''What happened to him....? ''

    This kind of thought appeared in every servant''s mind but they were easily able to guess the reason.

    Zick had spent two years in the battlefield, in the middle of the ce where anyone could die at any moment. This made them be more friendly to Zick and even sympathise a little.

    But this all went unnoticed by Zick as he only focused on increasing his strength.

 Chapter 57 Warp Magic

    Having the battle strength of a peak master swordsman made Zick reconsider his n on going to the second continent through the magic disaster for a few seconds.

    But after thinking about it thoroughly, Zick still decided to use the magic disaster in the end.

    Everyst one of the five disasters were at the level which surpassed the grandmaster rank.

    And one of the five disasters was now present in the ocean between the first and second continent. This is the reason the first continent could not counterattack by sending its soldiers to the second continent until now.

    ''As I thought....using the magic disaster is the best option right now.''

    Taking ast look at himself, Zick walked towards the bed and picked up the cursed sword ced beside it. The bag in which the two dragon eggs were kept was in the corner of the room.

    ''I should just continue living as usual for another seven months, I guess.....''

    The academy would start enrolling students after seven months so Zick had a lot of time in his hand with nothing to do but train.

    Zick started heading towards the forest to experiment using the new magic he created just a while ago.

    Like this, time passed by quickly with Zick concentrating on creating magic.

    Six monthster.

    Zick walked through the corridor with Butler Von beside him. He had sent the letter epting the offer made by the academy one week ago and today he got the reply back saying that they extend a wee to him.

    The fact that Zick was a peak rank was known by everyst aristocrats in the continent now, they call him as the most talented person ever born.

    This did not go unnoticed by Zick with all the knights and servants talking about it, but he didn''t bother about it much.

    ''Well, I did n on making myself known.....Now that they are making me famous by themselves I don''t need to stop them.''

    Zick was actually thankful to the person who spread the information about his strength. This would make his future a lot easier, with no oneing to pick a fight with him.

    No student in the academy with noble heritage would even dare to try offend him in anyway, they all know about the Influence of the Melvix family.

    In the past six months, Zick had created a lot of magic which could be used both upon his body and surroundings.

    Zick''s appearance hadn''t changed at all even after six months as his lifespan had increased tremendously. His life expectancy had increased to 500 years at once after bing a humanoid dragon, which led to his body ageing process slowing down immensely.

    Right now, Zick was walking towards the estate lord''s room as he had been called by Zevkoras again toe meet him.

    "Stay in the main hall, I wille back after speaking with my father."

    Nodding his head in understanding, Butler Von started walking towards the main hall below the stairs.

    Zick didn''t like calling Zevkoras as ''father'' but he didn''t care about it in the end. He won''t let his emotions get in the way of small things like this.

    ''And I won''t being back here again once I leave for the academy.....''

    Zick walked in a slowed pace giving the impression of someone who was taking a stroll in his back garden. He had already gotten used to his strength a long time ago so his surrounding did not get destroyed.

    Zick hade across the other heirs in the past one year multiple times but he ignored them most of the time if it wasn''t anything important.<sub> </sub>

    The most annoying one among them was the second daughter, who kept trying to start conversations with Zick multiple times but was ignored in the end always.

    But from four months ago, the second daughter of the Melvix family was not able to meet Zick even once.

    Zick had created a magic which made him invisible so whenever he could feel her nearing, he would just use the invisible magic and walk right past her.

    This invisible magic can only be noticed by someone at the master swordsman rank. Even then they would just be able to sense someone nearby, not their approximate location.

    Finding Zick could be said to be impossible for Je as she was just a high rank knight, bing a high rank knight at her age was already considered as a big aplishment, but it was nothingpared to Zick.

    Zick had created many magic like this which woulde to use in many ways. He also created supportive magic for movement by putting in a considerable amount of time in it.

    Zick found the teleportation magic to bepletely useless while fighting. To use this magic a teleportation circle is an essential catalyst and the other disadvantage is that it takes tens of seconds to activate.

    So Zick created another magic inspired by how teleportation magic works and named it as warp.

    The way teleportation magic can be said to beplicated and simple at the same time. If put in simple words, it teleports a person by breaking down his body into simple mana particles, that when a person''s body starts turning transparent.

    Then the teleportation circle activates and sends them to the other magic circle connected to it. Many teleportation circles can be connected together at the same time.

    Anyone with peak or higher rank are able to resist the process of being turned into mana particles if they want to. A master swordsman can stop the teleportation circle easily but it can''t be said to be the same for a peak rank knight.

    If a peak rank knight resists using their mana after the teleportation circle is activated, they would suffer grievous internal wounds and there are also chances of them dying being ripped apart to pieces.

    The magic named warp works the same way as teleportation magic but it doesn''t need a magic circle as a catalyst and has a lot of limitations in its use.

    The reason Zick created warp was for it toe in use while fighting so it was apparent how this works.

    With warp it is possible to send himself or an object to anywhere 100 metres around him. A person would not be hurt but a weak object would break apart after being teleported using warp.

    Zick also nned on improving capabilities more in the future.

    There was other magic he created for long range, destructive type magic for allrge areas, medium and single target. There was also defensive type magic.

    So Zick felt that he was fully prepared to travel now and confident in not dying from an unforeseen situation in the academy city. He had to leave soon to reach there as using magic circles was forbidden in the academic city.

    10 years ago, the academy had suffered a huge loss being attacked by the enemy using the teleportation circle leading to this rule. Even entering the academic city is strictly regted.

    After entering academic city, the environment would be a lot more amicable.

    Zick has also been feeling a little confused for a while now, he could feel the presence of two master swordsmen in the estate lord''s room. He had never felt this master swordsman''s presence ever before in his life.

    He knew that in the Melvix family there were totally three master swordsmen.....

    ''No there are four now including Jarvin in the Melvix family.....''

    Reaching in front of the Door estate lord''s room, Zick didn''t hesitate and entered.

    CLICK~

 Chapter 58 Melt The Platinum Coins

    Zevkoras sat on the chair of his table like usual and looked at Zick with cold eyes. There was another person in the room, he stood on the right side of Zevkoras like a royal guard. He had brown hair with bright green eyes, he appeared to be in his 30s.

    His name is Vertel Genvec, he is one of the master swordsmen under the Melvix family. He had been assigned to fight against the demons who are invading the continent in the northwest of the continent. Most of it was desert but some of the demonic species reached the Cravion kingdom.

    The continent from which the demon came is called the demon continent by everyone.

    Right at the moment, the demonic race only sends monsters with no sanity which they use as an expandable. So the first continent underestimated them to arge degree.

    They are not aware that the demonic race are trying to take over the desert right at the moment, in the north of the first continent to use as a base but are being stopped by the dark elves who live there.

    The demonic race would start earnestly invading the two continents after five years from now in the novel. After facing the demonic race for a year both the first and second continent were able to discern the danger posed by them.

    So both of them made an oath of cease-fire and cooperation to fight against the demonic race, at least that was what happened in the novel.

    Zick bowed his head a little and greeted Zevkoras in a refined manner.

    "You will be heading towards the academic city soon, yes?"

    Zevkoras asked with a questioning tone.

    "Yes."

    Zick answered with the same deadpan expression, he had already thought of the reason why he was called here for a while now.

    Zevkoras nodded his head and continued speaking.

    "Vertel will escort you and Take two servants with you to take care of the vi in the academic city."

    "Butler Von is mor-"

    "You are going to make him take care of the whole vi by himself? you don''t need to worry, I will make the servants take an oath to you."

    Zick''s words were cut halfway through by Zevkoras voice.

    As Zevkoras had said, there is a vi which belongs to the Melvix family in the academic city. All the heirs stay in that vi when they attend the academy.

    There are dorms in the academic city for the students who attend but It isn''tpulsory to live in the dorms while attending the academy so nobles who have enough influence have their own vi made for their heirs.

    Zick stared at Zevkoras for a second then nodded his head, originally he was going to order butler Von to arrange a carriage in the city nearby for travelling. But now that Vertel will escort him, they will prepare a carriage for him.

    And for the matter of servants, Zick thought that Butler Von could take care of the whole vi without any problem but, still epted it after hearing the word oath.

    Contemting about it for a second, Zick found that there is a very low chance for the servants who have taken oath to be observers who will keep watch on him. They would not be able to do anything that can be detrimental to him, if they did, they would be killed by the oath.

    "Good and.....If anyone tries to look down on you, don''t show mercy. The whole Melvix family will support you."

    Zevkoras eyes became extremely cold giving people a chilling feeling, it doesn''t matter who it is as long as they hurt the dignity of the Melvix family in any way, they must pay for it.

    This is how Zevkoras....no the Melvix family has been conducting itself for a very long time.

    "Yes."<sub> </sub>

    Zick said in a in voice epting what Zevkoras said, his vertical eyes were emotionless the whole time as he thought about the academy.

    ''Not much should have changed in the academic city from the novel, I didn''t influence the academic city much until now, leaving Hester who should have gotten the piece of heart, other student must be the same as mentioned in the novel.''

    ''The protagonist would without a doubt attend the academy this year, an officer from the academy must have already visited his vige by now.....''

    Feeling Zevkoras''s going to speak again, Zick looked at him.

    "It would take around a week for you to reach the academic city so be ready to leave in four days from now."

    "Yes father"

    "You can go now."

    Zick headed out of the room and started walking towards the main hall. It didn''t take him long to reach there, he could see Butler Von waiting for him like a statue.

    p "Prepare all my belongings, we will be leaving in four days."</anda>

    Zick passed his ring over to Butler Von saying this, he now had started trusting him a little more and left most of the small stuff for him to take care off.

    There were more than five hundred tinum coins within the ring right at the moment.

    The bodies of the wyvern were sold for more than he had estimated it to, Butler Von was able to sell the bodies of the wyverns easily as it was famous among the adventure guild, almost all of it were sold within three days.

    Wyvern body parts are very high quality material used to make armour, sword and magic scrolls, Which shows its versatility.

    The other things which were within his ring were also sold, which gave him a little more than hundred gold coins.

    If Zick just took the tinum coins into ount, he has more than 50 millions Dels right at the moment.

    ''It will be hard to use in the second continent.....''

    But Zick could not do anything about it, even the space ring cannot stop the wyvern''s body from degrading. Zick''s current space ring has the capability of slowing down the time of any item within it but not stopping it.

    So if an item is kept within it for a long time it would still degrade slowly, which would make the wyverns body''s selling price drop.

    ''Well I can still just melt it and then sell it.....''

    Zick did not give up on it so easily, now that he can use magic, it is possible to just melt the tinum coins and then sell it. Doing this would not let his identity known too.

    "Young master Zick, then should I take all your clothes and....."

    "Just put everything that belongs to me within the ring, of course don''t take anything belonging to the Melvix family mistakenly."

    ".....yes"

    Responding to Zick''s order, Butler Von started heading towards Zick''s room.

 Chapter 59 Assassin Guild

    "So what are you going to do now?"

    re Melvix stared at Jarvin who had a frown on his face right at the moment. He had just gotten the information of Vertel escorting Zick to academic city a while ago.

    re had a cold expression on her beautiful face, she also knew about what Jarvin was nning on doing, she even supported his n of assassinating Zick wholeheartedly. Zick had be an Eyesore to her for a long time.

    But now a variable appeared in their n, Vertel, a master swordsman who was supposed to be taking care of the demons invading the Cravion kingdom, hade back.

    Not only that, Vertel is going to be escorting Zick to the academic city now.

    The assassin guild would without a doubt not take up a job of killing a master swordsman, even re and Jarvin themselves did not want to kill Vertel. He is just too precious to be killed, only people with enough talent and effort are able to reach the master swordsman rank. Even in the whole first continent there are no more than 50 of them.

    ''.....this situation is not good....''

    The only person who could order Vertel toe back was the current head of the family, Zevkoras, so it was apparent to them who had called him back. This action shows how much Zevkoras holds Zick in high regards.

    This just increased Jarvin''s killing intent towards Zick.

    ''I can''t let him live.''

    Jarvin started thinking about what he can do to fix this situation, there was no way for him to stop Vertel from escorting Zick.

    Jarvin supported his chin in his hand and thought of all the possible things that could be used.

    Right at the moment, Jarvin sat upon the bed with pure white sheath and pillows. re stood right in front of him, looking at him with a Red hand fan covering her lips.

    A maid with a cold expression stood at one corner of the room with her head bowed.

    "Wait.....Ceslia did you say the assassin guild were going to assassinate the princess of the Pheorous kingdom?" Jarvin asked with a serious expression while looking at the maid in the corner of the room.

    "Yes." A cold voice left her lips.

    "Tell me everything about it."

    "the person who ordered this assassination is unknown, the most likely suspect is the current king of the Pheorous....." Ceslia started speaking like a machine but her words were cut off by Jarvin.

    "Just tell me about the specific on how the assassination is going to be carried out." Jarvin said in a in tone.

    "Yes...As the princess is going to attend the academy soon, she will be heading towards the academic city soon, the assassination will be carried out by two master assassins, one would....."

    She started speaking like a machine again but stopped after seeing Jarvin raising his hand towards her direction.

    "I see...."

    A smile appeared on Jarvin''s face as he calmed down, slowly a n started forming in his head.

    "Do you have a n?" re asked with expectation clear in her voice.

    "Yes." Jarvin smiled towards re and started walking towards the table beside the window of his room.

    Taking out a paper and pen from the drawer, Jarvin started writing with a big smile stered on his face.

    ''There is no need to kill Vertel, they just need to keep him upied and then kill that bastard.'' Jarvin had started calling Zick a bastard in his head for a while now.

    After finishing writing on the paper, Jarvin checked it for once and then passed it onto Ceslia.

    "Send this to the person nning on assassinating the princess through the assassin guild."

    "Yes." Bowing towards Jarvin, Ceslia started walking out of the room.

    ''Let''s cooperate for now whoever you are.....''

    Jarvin thought as his eyes shined with expectations.<sub> </sub>

    The carriage of both Zick and the princess would intersect at a point in their journey but there was a little time difference but Jarvin wasn''t worried about it.

    ''I just have to dy the princess carriage using bandits or something...''

    Jarvin knew that he wouldn''t get any chance to kill Zick once he entered the academic city so it was best to kill Zick before that using any means possible.

    It takes a lot of money to hire two master assassins but Jarvin was willing to pay it, he can even borrow some money from his mother if need be.

    But master assassins were more rarer than a master swordsman, so Jarvin could only join hands with this unknown person and use the master assassins hired by him along with his own.

    ''four master assassins.....the assassin guild would be moving around the whole continent to gather them in a while.''

    **************

    Zick stood in front of a carriage and looked at the two servants who would be taking care of the vi in the academic city.

    Zevkoras had called priests from the goddess of fairness, Fiona''s church and made the two servants make an oath right in front of Zick.

    The two servants were, a woman in her 20s who Zick had seen many times in the estate, she had light green hair and brown eyes. The other was an old man in his 50s with white hair and ck eyes, They were both normal humans.

    "Introduce yourself" Zick said this with an emotionless tone.

    "J-jescere sir! " The maid said, performing a 90 degree bow towards Zick.

    "Deves sir" The old man in butler dress did a simple bow towards Zick.

    After hearing their names, Zick sent them off to the other carriage at the back of the one he will be riding in.Well it was more of a caravan than carriage as they would not prepare it just for seravnts.

    Sending them away, he looked at Butler Von who had a leather bag on his back.

    "Put it within my carriage." Pointing at his carriage, Zick said this. There is no way he would leave the dragon eggs in the estate.

    Butler Von nodded his head with still a stoic expression and walked towards the carriage.

    p "We will be departing in a few minutes, young master Zick" Vertel walked towards Zick wearing full te armour.</anda>

    "Okay." Zick said inly to Vertel not bothered by his gaze.

    Vertel stared at Zick''s eyes for a second which looked normal unlike their prior meeting, then started heading towards the other knights preparing to depart. He didn''t need to kneel towards Zick, His only master is the head of the Melvix family, Zevkoras.

    Zick right at the moment did not have his vertical eyes, he had used magic to camouge his eyes back to how it was while he was still a human.

    Zick''s eyes had already turned vertical to a noticeable degree before bing a humanoid dragon. At that time he still did not have the ability to make a magic which could fool the senses of a master Swordsman which led to Zevkoras and Jarvin knowing about his vertical eyes.

    They did not ask anything about it but, still they were offended for some reason looking at those vertical eyes. The vertical eyes made them feel like they were nothing but preys in front of it.

    Zick had always used magic to hide his vertical eyes from the other heirs or the servants.

    And now even Vertel knew as Zick did not try to hide his vertical eyes while talking to Zevkoras in the estate Lords room. If he did hide it, there would be no difference than revealing his talent of using magic by fooling a master swordsman''s senses.

    Well Zevkoras will still get to know about it through Vertel afterwards and be suspicious of Zick.

    ''But it doesn''t matter then...''

    Thinking this, Zick started walking towards the carriage. Right at the moment he wore an white shirt with a golden emblem on the chest and ck pants. He had the blood red earring in his ear too.

    ''.....I will spend one whole year in between kids huh...''

    This random thought appeared in his head but he didn''t think about it much and sat within the carriage seat on the opposite side of the bag with dragon eggs.

    It didn''t take long for the carriage to start moving.

 Chapter 60 Biggest Loss

    It was in the middle of the day but the sun was covered in ck clouds.

    "Is your preparation over, princess Anastasia?" A voice which could be said to be pleasant in every sense of the word flowed out.

    A woman with violet hair and eyes looking to be in her mid 20s stood proudly. She wore a ck gown with bright blue butterflies.

    Her name was Anelete, the owner of the mendert merchant group.

    "Yes." A cold voice with no emotions in it answered Anelete question.

    A girl stood in front of Anelete who matched her beauty or even surpassed it in certain ways. The girl was 15 years old this year, she had wavy blonde hair tied back into a high ponytail reaching till her waist and blue glimmering eyes like jewels which shined brightly. She wore white gowns made of fine materials, paired with ornate essories.

    Right now, both of them stood in front of a pce gate, a carriage stood behind Anelete with many demihumans guarding it. Serlece and Jerg were also present in the group protecting the carriage.

    The most disgraceful moment for the royalty of the pheorous king was going to be carried out now. A princess was going to travel to the academic city using a merchant''s carriage.

    Even knowing this fact, Anastasia''s face did not change. It was emotionless the whole time, it was more like she had given up at something and was trying to just run away.

    Anastasia received the invitation from the academy for her talent in magic, she was currently a high rank made which was an unheard talent almost matching Zick''s.

    Thisparison was done by everyone not knowing Zick''s battle strength.

    Anastasia wanted to get out of this pce, where she has been living for more than 2 years without being able to go out of it even for once.

    The king and nobles neither cared or heard her request, which led to Anastasia asking the most famous Mendert merchant group to be her escort.

    Anastasia had received a promise from the predecessor of the Merdert merchant group, who would be father of Anelete. He had promised her that he would help her once when she needed it.

    Anastasia received this promise at her 8th birthday, so she didn''t know the value of it but now that she had matured and needed to somehow get to the academy, she was able to remember this promise and use it.

    Anelete had a calm smile on her face but internally she was anything but calm, she felt extremely helpless and dejected about the current situation but at the same time she felt resolution rising within her.

    This was the biggest loss she ever experienced in her whole life, all the nobles and even the royalties pressured her to not escort princess Anastasia. They even made her influence drop to an all time low within the Pheorous kingdom.

    But still, Anelete decided to escort Anastasia, it was her father who made this promise so she will do it no matter the cost.

    Anelete loved and respected her father more than anyone.

    It was her father who taught her everything about how to be a merchant. Even the smallest thing about how to conduct Herself was told by her father.

    Anelete father did not just teach her about the ways of merchants but also loved her more than anyone.

    He took care of Anelete alone as her mother had passed by in an ident but he never let Anelete experience any loneliness her whole life.

    That was the kind of person Anelete''s father was, he was the greatest merchant but at the same time he was also a great father.

    ''I will honour his word even if it leads to my death.''

    Even though Her father, jesterisk died, Anelete still put his words above her own life.<sub> </sub>

    This is also the reason she decided to stay in the academic city for a while. Pheorous kingdom was not an ideal ce for her anymore, all her movement would be a lot restricted here now.

    So Anelete moved with all the assets she could gather along with the mercenary group and started moving towards the academic city albeit still a little unwillingly.

    "Let''s go then, your highness."

    Anelete still used honorifics when addressing Anastasia, though Anastasia may be considered as a thrown away child as the king put her in the Kelinwer pce.

    But she was not disowned and still had the blood of the Royal Family flowing through her veins.

    The blue jewel-like eyes are proof of that, every heir of the pheorous Royal Family has those eyes. The blue jewel-like eyes have the ability to understand how magic works just by looking at it.

    This created a lot of tales about the Royal Family having the blood of a dragon but it was already proven wrong.

    The Royal family did not have the nature''s characteristics in their mana at all. Those jewel-like eyes were just a unique ability belonging to that bloodline.

    "Yes."

    Anastasia started walking behind Anelete with still a cold expression on her face. Lifting her head up, she stared at the sky.

    The sky was covered in dark clouds, giving anyone a wrong impression that it was close to dusk when it was still daytime. The heart of winter had passed by but spring was still a long way off.

    Anyone would feel gloomy looking at the sky, but Anastasia felt a sense of liberation looking at it. A small smile formed on her face for the first time in a long while. Looking at the smile on her beautiful face, anyone would be dazed for a second.

    But the smile vanished as soon as it appeared, Anastasia''s looked at Anelete who entered the carriage.

    There was only one carriage here so it was apparent that they would be sharing the same carriage.

    "Please enter." Anelete said with still a smile one her face.

    Not saying anything, Anastasia lifted the hem of her gown exposing her slim legs in white stockings.

    Getting upon the carriage, Anastasia sat on the opposite side of Anelete.

    CLICK~

    "Get moving everyone."

    With the sound of the carriage door closing, Jerg started instructing everyone.

    Anastasia started looking out of the carriage''s window, she felt bad about doing this to The mendert merchant group but she still selfishly chose to use them.

    ''....Even still, I want to leave this ce....''

    Even though she knew that this decision was extremely selfish, she still chose to use it. She had already made up her resolve of using anything she can to get out of this ce.....no the kingdom.

 Chapter 61 Anastasia

    Anastasia looked out of the carriage with still an expressionless face.

    There were multiple demihuman riding on horses beside the carriage, the window was closed so no wind entered the carriage making It mncholy soon with no one speaking.

    Anastasia was used to the silence so it didn''t bother her. Even though she didn''t want to, she started to think of why she ended up like this.

    "Sigh....." Anastasia sighed while still her head turned towards the carriage''s window.

    Anelete stared at Anastasia with an interested look, but she couldn''t see Anastasia''s face as she still looked out of the window.

    Anastasia was already lost in her thoughts by then.

    It had all begun on her 8th birthday, Anastasia lived in the Kelinwer pce since the day she was born.

    No maids or servants liked her in the pce, they were even scared of her. When Anastasia was left in front of the main pce with just a letter apanying her.

    The servants were surprised at Anastasia''s blue jewel-like eyes which were the same as their king. It didn''t take long for this to reach him.

    When the king of the Pheorous kingdom, Phoulerec carte mesweit read the letter which was left along with Anastasia, his expression turned cold.

    The moment he finished reading the letter, a massacre had urred. He killed everyst person who read the letter besides him.

    So the content was not known by anyone excluding the Phoulerec. This incident had just painted Anastasia''s image in red.

    And the nobles didn''t like Anastasia''s existence as her mother''s origin was unknown.

    After giving hisst name to Anastasia, which was the same as epting her as his daughter. Phoulerec just left her in the Kelinwer pce and totally ignored her existence.

    Anastasia lived in the Kelinwer pce for eight year receiving the disdain from the servants. Her life was totally covered in the veil of gloom.

    But at her 8th birthday when it was time to check her magic talent, it was found out that she had immense talent in using magic.

    It was only possible to check a person''s affinity with mana after they turn 8 year old as they must have formed their own ''will'' by then.

    A big party was announced in celebration of Anastasia''s talent.

    That was when Anastasia for the first time in her life had met Phoulerec, her father.

    Phoulerec had crimson red hair and blue jewel-like eyes. He had a cold expression as he looked at Anastasia''s eyes.

    Looking at those eyes, Anastasia had only one word on her head.

    [''beautiful....'']

    Those cold glimmering blue eyes mesmerised Anastasia. Handing her a book as a gift, Phoulerec left the party hall immediately.

    Hearing what the servants and the noble said after Phoulerec left, Anastasia was able to know that he was her father.

    It was probably this moment from when it might have all started.

    Anastasia wanted to be loved more than anything else, she had never received any love from anyone from the day she was born. Knowing that she had a father, she wanted him to ept her, love her...

    The pce in which Phoulerec lived was very near Kelinwer pce. It was even possible to walk there.

    Anastasia started visiting Phoulerec more often and showed the magic she learned to him and always acted obediently in front of him. But Phoulerec''s response was always cold.<sub> </sub>

    Anastasia also got to know that Phoulerec had another daughter just one year younger than her.

    What saddened Anastasia was that Phoulerec''s attitude towards his other daughter, Selena, was the total opposite of her. He always talked with Selena, having soft eyes and a smile on his face.

    Even after that, Anastasia did not give up, she kept trying to make Phoulerec treat her the same way as he did Selena.

    But even after turning 13 year old, Anastasia was not able to make Phoulerec ept her or change his attitude towards her.

    Not being able to take it any more, Anastasia asked Phoulerec what she had been hiding deep within her.

    ['''' what do I have to do for you to love me?'''']

    Anastasia looked up at Phoulerec''s face who was standing in front of her with a tear-stained face. But her father, Phoulerec, coldly looked at his daughter, who was crying at his feet.

    [''''should I be like Selena? Then will you love me? Then will you warmly look at me? what should i do...?"]

    Anastasia felt incredibly lost, she did not know what she needed to do for Phoulerec to ept her. She was at her limits, She didn''t know what else she needed to do.

    [''''Then will you treat me warmly instead of the way you have been treating me till now?"]

    ["Never"]

    [''''But why!?"]

    Phoule didn''t hesitate to respond back. He didn''t even blink at the sight of his usually obedient daughter crying with despair.

    ["I''m also your daughter! So why only Selena! why not me!?]

    Anastasia begged with all the courage she could muster. This was Athanasia''s first andst plea. She had never asked for anything else. But her father was cold to her till the very end.

    [''''foolish being"]

    Phoulerec pushed away the frail hand that was holding on to his leg. He looked at her with contempt. A cruel voice crept into Anastasia''s ears.

    [" I have never considered you my daughter and it would be the same in the future.'''']

    Anastasia felt more desperate than she ever had in her entire life. A deep despair was visible in her glimmering blue eyes. She looked at the ground with still tears falling down her chin.

    [''''take her away."]

    Phoulerec said coldly to the mages guarding the room. That was from when Anastasia was put into a house arrest in the Kelinwer pce.

    ''I was really foolish back then.....''

    Anastasia thought, as she stared at the horses moving beside the Carriage. She had long given up on making Phoule ept her.

    Anastasia just wanted to go far away from that ce now, she could think what she wanted to do after that.

    The academic city is the best ce Anastasia could think of going right at the moment.

    (End of volume 2)

 Chapter 62 The Witch

    RATTLE~

    The carriage shook a little while it moved at full speed.

    The carriage interior was ssy and refined, made with fine materials. Sitting upon the soft seat, with his back resting upon the cushions, Zick trained to increase his mana.

    ''As I thought.....I won''t be able to be a master swordsman within the first year of the academy.'' With closed eyes, Zick thought to himself.

    Two month ago, suddenly the dragon Lord''s heart within his body stopped strengthening his mana and body. Instead it went into a strange state of hibernation.

    THUMP. THUMP. THUMP

    The beating sound of Dragon Lord''s heart came from within Zick''s body. It was slowly getting strengthened and was gaining more and more vitality.

    ''It''s circting my blood all over the body like normal but it isn''t strengthening it any more.....''

    Zick could feel that this state of hibernation wouldst for a long time, but once it''s over without a doubt its ability would be enhanced tremendously.

    ''But it really is a let down.....'' Opening his eyes, Zick looked out of the window.

    Zick was curious at what might happen to his body after he became a master swordsman but now he could only put this matter aside temporarily.

    Zick could feel that without the dragon lord''s heart support it would take him 2 to 3 years to reach the master level.

    ''Well it isn''t anything urgent right at the moment....I already have battle strength reaching the peak of the master rank''

    Thinking this, Zick gazed at the two dragon eggs opposite to him. He could even feel that the two dragon eggs would still take a while to hatch.

    Only a few hours had passed since the carriage left the Melvix family''s estate. The carriage did not take any detour even if a vige appeared in front of it. It would go right through it proudly with the knights surrounding it.

    There were around 25 knights guarding the carriage, There was one master swordsman and three peak rank knights, if Butler Von was taken into ount then there are four people with peak rank strength guarding it.

    The others were all high rank knights without exception, Butler Von sat besides the coachman in front of the carriage.

    Taking out the diary in which he had written about the novel, Zick started going through it.

    The academic city would be in a festive state right at the moment. This festival was to wee the new students and at the same time it is for giving farewells to the students who finished their 3rd year so it would go on till the academy''s admission ended.

    The protagonist of the novel had already reached there, scouted by an officer one month before the admission ended. Which means he should be already present in the Academic city before Zick reaches there.

    The protagonist of the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord''s name was Aeiron, he didn''t have ast name as he was an orphan.

    ording to the novel, Aeiron should be living in the dorms of the Academy. He would leave the dorms to see the festival going on randomly just like any city bumpkin, gawking at every new thing he saw.

    Every student is given a badge as a proof of them joining the academy. With this badge it was possible to pass through most of the check points in the academic city.

    It was even possible to use the train services for free using this badge so Aeiron was able to roam the city without any problem even while being dirt poor.

    While roaming around the Academic city, Aeiron would meet two of his future harem members coincidentally. Their meeting wasn''t anything special either, they just greeted each other as fellow students.

    ''This should probably not have changed.....''

    <o>,m Zick didn''t know if he had already caused a butterfly effect which could have changed this.<sub> </sub></o>

    ''It doesn''t matter to me but.....I should check how much the plot has changed after reaching there.''

    cing the book back in the space ring, Zick continued his training to increase mana. It would take around a week for him to reach the academic city so he didn''t have anything else to do.

    After a few hours, the carriage entered another small vige.

    While passing through the vige square, Zick could hear the viger''s voices out of the carriage easily.

    "sleep soon or the witch woulde to hunt you~"

    Before collecting his senses back, Zick was able to hear the voice of a mother speaking in a loving and yful voice to its child.

    ''The witch.....''

    Zick knew about it, the witch was one of the five disasters and she might also be the oldest among them. There are many story books about her, depicting her as an immortal being.

    This was taken as a joke by the citizens of the first continent, but it can''t be said to be the same for the people of the second continent.

    The witch was presently in the second continent. She has been staying in that continent for centuries which led to the people of the first continent forgetting about her.

    ''She was also very weird...''

    Zick knew a little about the witch as the protagonist of the novel, Aeiron had entered her territory mistakenly once while exploring the second continent in search for the other students of the academy.

    The witch had the appearance of a young girl at the age of 12, she had blonde hair and red eyes.

    At that time the protagonist was already a master swordsman, in other words he had the strength of a peak master level because of the sun god blessing.

    There were two harem members along with him at that time. The witch was the first to start attacking using magic with a nk face. But for some reason Aeiron felt that she was holding back as he could see many openings in her attacks.

    Even while Aeiron moved towards the witch at full speed she didn''t move even an inch. Reaching in front of her, Aeiron performed a diagonal swing directly aiming for the witch''s neck.

    After cutting the witch''s head, Aeiron had a dazed expression on his face, he was able to see expectations in the witch''s eyes before her head was cut off.

    That''s when an unbelievable sight entered Aeiron''s vision. He could see the witch''s head flying back to its body and rejoined perfectly like he had never cut her head off in the first ce. It only took two seconds for all this to happen.

    The witch still had a nk look on her face but what it said next was filled with disappointment.

    [''''So even the person who has a god''s blessing can''t kill me...."]

    Before anyone could say anything, the witch waved her hand slightly. With just that, Aeiron and the two harem members were thrown out of her territory at a speed which was impossible to react.

    They had at least flown a few kilometres before starting to slow down, Aeiron had many of his bones broken. The two harem members were in an even worse state than him, their limbs were twisted in a direction they should never have been, but still they were somewhat alive.

    Both of them would have died if not for the defensive items on them, They were both healed by Aeiron afterwards.

    ''It would have been nice if they just died.....''

    Zick couldn''t help but think this as Searre was among them. Throwing this out of his head, Zick gazed out of the carriage while still training to increase his mana.

 Chapter 63 Napholm

    The carriage had only stopped a few times to let the horses rest. None of the knights needed to eat anything for a long time so they didn''t waste their time by taking a break for something like that.

    Zick didn''t even bother going out of the carriage while the horse rested, he would just eat the bread handed to him by Butler Von with a nk look.

    At least that''s how it looked outwardly, Zick continued thinking of any new idea that he could use to create magic.

    In the past year, he had experimented upon many things, though Zick hadn''t even finished his high school, he was still somewhat knowledgeable.

    It is possible to create electricity with mana, as electricity is not associated with any of the natural elements, Zick had tried seeing if he could create it.

    In the end he was sessful, he was able to create electricity just like how he did with the other elements.

    With this sess, Zick had actually directly jumped trying to create a magicparable to nuclear bombs. There were just too many advantages for him if he was able to create such magic.

    Zick wasn''t much knowledgeable on how a nuclear bomb works but he was confident in being able to do it with magic.

    And in the end, Zick had been able to achieve a lot of sess in it too.

    Zick was able to create nuclear fission by splitting atoms and was even able to use it efficiently. He still remembers the small nuclear fission he had created in the forest.

    Zick had tried to create an explosion using nuclear fission, the result could only said as devastating.

    The explosion covered only 10 metres as Zick had caused the minimum amount of nuclear fission.

    Everything had vanished in that 10 metres area, not to say that the ground was degraded because of the radioactive particles released by that explosion so it would take a long time for any tree to grow in that ce naturally.

    But this didn''t worry Zick much, he could just fix the ground easily using magic, he had also ced sound proof magic so no one would hear this explosion. Even the smoke rising from here was taken care of by him.

    Zick randomly named this explosion magic as napholm.

    Zick had clearly watched the effects of napholm, even the air pressure had increased tremendously crushing anything near it. The more he thought about this magic the more he was satisfied with its destructive capabilities.

    Zick didn''t need anything at all while creating this magic unlike on earth, napholm was created out of thin air using mana. But there were disadvantages in this magic too.

    Zick needed to concentrate tremendously while creating this magic, breaking the atoms using mana was a very tedious task. this would also lead to him not being able to create any other magic.

    In the first ce, to create a magic like Napholm immense talent is needed, probably only the dragons would be able to create such magic.

    There was also the problem with the magic itself, Zick couldn''t use this magic in a crowded ce if not, they would also evaporate just like the trees.

    And this magic cannot be used in close range fights. Zick''s body was able to withstand this explosion using aura but that wouldn''t be the same if he caused a huge explosion using this magic while staying near it.

    Taking all this into ount, Zick could only use this magic when he is alone with an enemy with some distance between them and he doesn''t care about the ce he is in.

    After leaving the horses to rest for half an hour, all the knights started preparing to leave.

    Zick looked at them for a second and then continued training to increase his mana while thinking of any new magic.<sub> </sub>

    Zick had also created electric magic which could be used in close range and midrange fights. He had not left the other elements alone too, he tried creating magic using his past life knowledge from both novels and normal school books.

    Zick also created a technique which could be used with his current body; his physique had already surpassed many master swordsmen by now.

    Zick''s aura had more versatilitypared to others as it had the characteristics of nature.

    Currently he didn''t want to reveal his magic capabilities to everyone and use it as a trump card so it was better to also create techniques usable for close range fighting without magic.

    In truth there wasn''t any need for a technique as he had aura now which could be both used in long and close range battle to a certain degree.

    But Zick still created this technique, he wouldn''t need to use it unless someone in the grandmaster level or any one from the five disasters shows up.

    From the moment Zick had thought of hiding his magic talent, he had also thought of creating a magic which could hide his identity just in case he needed to use magic.

    Well if the situation gets too dire, Zick wouldn''t even bother hiding it.

    ''There is also the dragon fear.....''

    Zick wasn''t sure about how much it has been enhanced now that he has turned into a humanoid dragon. Without a doubt it would be extremely strong as it is from the one and only dragon lord in the whole history.

    The night was arriving so the carriage started moving towards the nearest city.

    They reached the city soon, its name was Huskev. Entering through the fort, the carriage started moving towards the best inn within the city.

    Getting out of the carriage, Zick looked at the inn he would be staying in for the night. It was a two story building looking fancy even at night.

    "Young master Zick, this way."

    "Keep the leather bag in my room."

    "yes."

    Butler Von started leading the way with the bg in his hand, there weren''t many people in the inn because it was a ce for nobles to stay in. The servants were meticulous in their work and weren''t scared of Zick unlike the first inn he had stayed in this world.

    CLICK~

    Entering his room, Zick looked around. There was a king size bed, a table and another room probably for taking a bath. There was also the bag with dragon eggs in the corner of the room.

    Wearing some random clothes which he feltfortable in, putting the cursed sword within the space ring, Zickid upon the bed and started sleeping directly. He had also long stopped caring about clothes as-

    ''I will look handsome no matter what I wear anyway.....sigh.... if this goes on, I will really be a full blown narcissist.....well there isn''t anything wrong in being one.''

    Stopping this train of thought, Zick tried sleeping. Even though his body almost needed no sleep at all now, he still slept as a means to pass his time.

 Chapter 64 Explosion

    Opening his eyes slowly, Zick stared at the unfamiliar ceiling in front of him nkly. He could tell that it was still in the middle of the night without even looking out of the window.

    Zick could sense that the knights and Vertel were still guarding the inn without rest. Even Butler Von''s presence in the hall did not go unnoticed by Zick.

    ''He is probably there to respond to my any request immediately.''

    Zick had stayed a long time with Butler so he was able to guess his intentions somewhat now.

    Getting up, Zick sat upon the bed crossed leg. He started training like usual to increase his mana.

    <o>,m In the early morning hours Zick headed towards the bathroom, there are usuallyrge mirrors within the inn''s bathroom so he tried seeing if there was one in here.</o>

    And as Zick had expected, there was a full body mirror inside the bathroom. Walking in front of it, he looked at himself.

    Zick still looked like someone who is 15 years old, his facial features were exquisite, almost like a doll. His red eyes shined unnaturally, making him look even more attractive, his pupils were like normal human right at the moment as he was using magic to camouge it.

    Zick''s skin was white, but it was not pale white, nor a feminine pinkish-white, it is a white that is clean and simple. Though his skin looked simple, their durability was very high. His skin could only be damaged by someone in the peak rank or higher.

    His hair grew up a little longer than before, each strain of hair was durable and thick.

    ''I should cut my hair a little after reaching the academic city.''

    Zick had to cut his hair himself as it was not possible to cut it using normal means anymore with its durability increased.

    Zick could see a bathtub behind him reflected by the mirror, the whole bathroom was made of expensive white marbles. There was even a vague reflection of his figure in them.

    Zick changed his clothes and wore a simr white shirt and ck pants just like the one he wore while travelling. He didn''t need to take a bath or anything, he could keep himself clean using magic.

    Getting out of the bathroom, Zick started heading towards the hall of the inn. He could sense that Butler Von had prepared breakfast for him, probably hearing the sound of him opening and closing the bathroom door.

    Reaching the hall, Zick could see Butler Von standing in front of the table and bowing towards him.

    ''''Young master Zick, The breakfast is ready."

    Nodding his head, Zick took a seat. He had already grown used to Butler Von making breakfast for him every day like this.

    Zick looked at the dishes in front of him, Picking up a fork, he moved it towards the sd made of fruits of this world that he had grown used to seeing by now.

    Filling his stomach with meat, soup and bread, Zick picked up a fruit looking like an orange and took a bite.

    "mm...."

    In that instant, sweet fruit juice filled his mouth. Zick liked sweet things more than sour things to eat from a long time ago. So he liked this fruit which was extremely sweet.

    "Buy some of this fruits before we leave this city.'''' Zick said to Butler Von without turning towards him.

    "Yes." Butler Von answered with still a stoic expression.

    Butler Von moved towards the market quickly after moving the tes and eating instruments. There wasn''t much time left before they departed.

    Zick continued eating the orange-like fruits, he didn''t know its name as he hadn''t bothered asking about it. Cleaning the yellow fruit juice off his face using magic, he walked towards the carriage stationed in front of the gate.

    "We are ready to depart any time youmand, young master." Vertel spoke to Zick with emotionless expression.

    "Depart after Butler Von arrives." Saying this, Zick directly entered the carriage.

    The carriage started moving after a while, Zick looked out of the window while still training in mana. The streetmps were still glowing as it was early in the morning. There were only a few shops which were open right at the moment and with even fewer people walking in the streets.

    The carriage continued travelling like this, stopping only a few times to let the horses rest or when the night arrived.

    Zick would most of the time just gaze out of the window, looking at the grass in with a bored expression. He also ate the orange-like fruit sometimes while thinking of any new magic.

    After three days.

    The carriage moved through the tracks in the forest, it would get out of the forest in a few minutes.

    Most of the time the sky was covered in ck clouds as it was rainy season right at the moment, there were only a few instance where the sun was visible.

    And right now, the sky was totally covered in ck clouds as it had mildly rained a few hours ago.

    While the carriage moved on, Zick was lost in his own thoughts.

    ''I wonder what will happen when the dragon lord''s heartes out of its hibernation state.....will I get another special ability belonging to the dragons....? or will it start strengthening me at a faster rate...?''

    Zick couldn''t help but daydream about his dragon heart. Just thinking about this matter made him excited.

    "Hmm..."

    Feeling something, Zick''s excitement calmed down, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. He could feel multiple presence of monsters and assassins in the boundary of the forest.<sub> </sub>

    ''It doesn''t seems like they going to attack any time soon....but what are they trying to-''

    Suddenly Zick''s eyes widened sensing something.

    "Stop the carriage!"

    NEIGHHHHH! NEIGHHHHH!

    All the horses stopped at once hearing Zick''s solemn voice, they had already exited the forest by now. A grass in appeared in everyone''s view with nothing special in it.

    All the knights were confused as to the reason they were stopped but Vertel had a solemn look on his face.

    CLICK~

    Opening the carriage door, Zick stepped out and started walking towards the front. But then he heard a loud sound.

    BOOOM!

    The terrain a few hundred metres in front of them exploded with a huge explosion. The debris flew in the sky with still the smoke rising from the explosion. With just a simple nce it was possible to tell that the explosion covered more than 50 metres.

    ''As I thought...a mana bomb.''

    Zick could also feel a group of people who had also stopped advancing just like them in the distance.

    ''This presence.....it''s that demihuman from the seivet city....''

    Zick could feel the presence of Jerg and Serlece of the other group in the distance.

    "Everyone, don''t let your guard down!"

    Vertel instructed the knights with still a solemn expression on his face. He was able to sense the presence of the assassins and monster hiding in the forest so he knew that the explosion just now might just be a distraction.

    GUUUUM.....

    The sound of a horn being blown rang out loudly.

    The knights Vignce grew to its extreme, they looked around with serious expressions. It was not possible to tell the perfect direction from where the horn sound came from as it from the forest.

    DAM....DAM....

    Slowly the ground started trembling slightly as if an earthquake was going to take ce.

    "Everyone move away from the forest!" Vertel said after enhancing his voice with mana.

    The knights became hesitant for a second but after seeing Vertel going towards Zick, they followed his order and pulled the reins of their horses to move away from the forest.

    A master swordsman capability were known by almost everyone in the world so it wasn''t weird for the knights to leave Zick alone with Vertel.

    Zick ignored Vertel who walked near him acting like a guard and started speaking to the carriage coachman.

    "Take the carriage as far as possible from here and wait for us." Zick said with a serious expression, directly looking into the eyes of the coachman.

    "y-yes!" The Coachman''s eyes wavered while he made eye contact with Zick.

    Zick left the two dragon eggs in the carriage as he found them too troublesome to carry around.

    "Young master Zick, I would-" Butler Von tried saying something to Zick but his words were cut off by him.

    "Protect the bag within the carriage no matter the cost." Zick''s voice was firm.

    Hearing Zick''s order, Butler Von nodded his head even though he still felt a little unwilling.

    Seeing the carriage and the caravan in which the servants were moving away, Zick also started making distance from the forest running towards the knights.

    Zick didn''t need Butler Von''s protection as he was confident in being able to protect himself. Vertel still moved with him like a guard.

    ''Zevkoras must have ordered him to protect me.''

    Joining with the other knights, Zick gazed at the forest waiting for the presence moving towards him to reveal itself.

    CRACK!

    The sound of trees breaking reached Zick, looking towards the forest, suddenly he was surprised at what he saw. There were huge heads protruding above the trees.

    ''those are.....''

 Chapter 65 Cyclops

    A huge head with only one eye which was bloodshot to the extreme entered everyone''s view.

    ''Cyclops.''

    This word passed by their head instantly looking at those heads.

    CLATTER!

    The knights started shaking, it was apparent that they were scared.

    Cyclops are monsters which are extremely hard to kill even for a peak rank knight. They have high magic resistance, which makes them a natural enemy to the mages. Only high rank mages have the capability to even hurt them in any way.

    Their physical defence is also very high making high rank knights attack totally useless.

    But they are known as abominations for another reason, they have three special abilities unlike other monsters who have only one.

    And all three special abilities are very strong.

    CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

    Making their way through the trees, cyclops headed towards the knights with saliva falling from their mouths.

    GRUUHHHH!

    Cyclops exited the forest one by one exposing their appearance to everyone.

    Only one word could perfectly fit their appearance, that was ugly.

    They had huge bulging stomachs with brown and ck blemishes everywhere, their faces were ugly to the extreme. Their teeths protruded out of their mouth, the positions of their teeths were a total mess going zigzag.

    Snot fell from their noses, the single eye on their eye socket was totally red as it looked at the knights.

    "Food!" "Food!" "meat!"

    The Cyclops were able to speak little in humannguage as their intelligence wasparable to that of a 3 year old kid. But because of their hostile nature to every living being it was not possible to make any friendly rtionship with them. They just looked at everything that has meat as food.

    ''But they are not supposed to be in this ce...they are not even trying to hide their intention from the beginning huh....''

    If cyclops were amon monster humanity would have been long doomed. There are only two forests in the whole first continent in which monster-like cyclops could be found.

    But for them to appear here near a normal forest like this was without a doubt not possible, in other words they were brought here by someone. This did not go unnoticed by Zick and the others.

    Seeing the cor on the Cyclop''s neck, Zick''s eyes focused.

    ''A monster taming device and that too it is a very high quality one.....heh, I guess a lot of money has been put behind this ambush.''

    CRUNCH!

    The cyclops did not stop after getting out of the forest, they started running towards the knight like hungry beasts. Even the way cyclops run was a mess, they kept swaying left and right at every step.

    ''30....there are 30 of them in total.''

    Zick started counting their number with an expressionless face.

    Standing beside Zick, Vertel had a solemn expression on his face, his fists were clenched tightly.

    ''If this goes on, I will fail my mission.''

    Vertel didn''t care about his life, what he cared about was escorting Zick to the academic city.This just shows his loyalty towards the Melvix family.

    The existence of the four master assassins and 20 peak rank assassins did not go unnoticed by Zick and Vertel. Only two master assassins were moving right at the moment and the other two stood their ground for some reason.

    Taking down 30 cyclops was easy for Vertel but killing two master rank assassins was hard even for him. If the two master assassins cooperated with each other and attacked Vertel, his survival would almost be close to none.<sub> </sub>

    Master assassins excel at agile movement and hiding their presence so a drawn out fight would also be bad for him.

    ''and....who are they?'' Turning his head, Vertel looked at the demihuman in the distance, there were also some priests in that group.

    Some of them started heading towards where he was, Vertel was not able to feel any malicious intent from them so he had been ignoring them for a while.

    ''It looks like they areing to help.''

    Some hope rose within Vertel, he was able to sense that one of the demihuman of that group had master rank strength.

    Vertel did not order the high rank knight to retreat, he was not kind hearted to something like that. He decided to use the knight as a meat shield without hesitation.

    '' [Aura camouge] [Thought eleration]'' Zick activated this magic looking at the Cyclops.

    In that instant, the world slowed down in his vision.

    [Thought eleration] is just like it sounds, this magic is a self buff type which increases the thinking speed. The only disadvantage of this magic was that it would make people mentally exhausted fast.

    But Zick didn''t have this problem as his body recovered faster. He had created this magic to deduce new magic faster. He hadn''t used it while training to increase his mana as this magic would just be absorbed by his body if he did.

    [Aura camouge] is also a self buff type of magic, it can hide the fact that Zick just used magic from everyone around him. This magic also has a limit, it can only hide till five self buff type magic and it cannot hide the aura of the magic cast out of the body.

    In other words, [Aura Camouge] can only hide the presence of Self buff type magics.

    Making all the magic that he created to be auraless was hard and annoying even for Zick. So he had created this magic which would be helpful to him in this field.

    The magic that Zick used to hide his vertical eyes didn''t count in [Aura camouge] magic as it could hide its presence without it.

    ''By using dragon fear I can control all the Cyclops easily but there is no reason for me to save them.'' In the end, even Zick decided on abandoning the knights.

    Zick didn''t care enough for the knight to risk exposing his dragon yer status by saving them. He instead concentrated upon the presence of the peak and master rank assassins.

    The assassin''s presence went unnoticed by all the high rank knights as they were invisible. All the assassins moved right behind Cyclop in their shadows.

    The two master assassins who weren''t moving also started moving as the demihumans neared Zick''s group.

    Looking towards the carriage in the distance which was protected by the demihumans, Zick was able to see a girl with blonde hairs and blue jewels like eyes standing in front of the carriage and looking towards cyclops warily.

    ''this.....''

    Zick remembered the incident which involved the princess of the Pheorous kingdom. He knew about the jewel like eyes as it was very famous in the continent so he was able to tell who that blonde girl was.

    Zick had almost forgotten about this as it didn''t have anything to do with him.

    ''I got pulled into an incident without noticing.....'' Zick furrowed his brow thinking this.

    The chance of this being coincidence was very low which made him suspicious. The most doubtful person to cause this in his head was-

    ''Jarvin.''

    Though Zick didn''t know the specifics as Jarvin had always used mana to not let any sound leak out of his room, he was still able to tell that it was him.

    Zick could feel the hostile intentionsing from Jarvin through his superior instincts easily. But still he started self reflecting upon himself.

    ''I had let my guard down as I had a master swordsman protecting me.....It could have been bad if I didn''t have peak master rank strength.''

    A small smile appeared on Zick''s face thinking this. The chance of losing his life was impossible, at least in his eyes.

    Vertel started covering his sword with green aura while catching it in one hand diagonally.

    ''Its starting.'' Zick was able to see everything in slow motion so he was the most rxed person there.

 Chapter 66 Dagger And Scythe

    Circting aura in his long sword, Vertel performed a horizontal swing. His sword was moving slowly, albeit with a significant amount of strength in it.

    The aura had turned into a spear the moment Vertel finished his swing.

    It was a spear that seemed to never end.

    The green auraing out of Vertel''s fingertip was extremely long, The piercing mana slice performed by Zick at high rank wasughable in front of this aura spear.

    SWISH!

    <o>,m The aura spear sprung forward swiftly, before anyone could have noticed. It had already reached the cyclop running in the front.</o>

    Without being able to react, the cyclop was pierced in half easily. The aura spear dimmed a little but it did not lose its momentum.

    The cyclops behind the one that was cut in half were also not able to react and were cut in half immediately. Only the fifth cyclop was able to react a little.

    The fifth cyclop moved to the right trying to dodge the aura spear, but it was still a littlete. The aura spear cut its left hand and continued heading towards the forest but it slowly lost its rigorousness and vanished in thin air.

    GRUHHHH!!

    The cyclop screamed at the top of its lungs feeling immense pain. The aura had invaded its body, violently destroying its innards. Its fate was already sealed the moment the aura entered its body, it was death.

    The aura spear had pierced five Cyclops which had high physical resistance easily before vanishing. This just goes to show the abysmal difference between a master swordsman and a peak rank knight.

    And Vertel could alsopress the aura spear he just made and use it with his sword, This would just increase its potency.

    The shadows of the dead Cyclops extended and formed ck human silhouettes.

    Slowly the shadows became assassins d in ck. their whole body was hidden by their ck dress excluding their eyes. Without hesitating they sprung towards the knight''s group.

    ''They are targeting the knights....'' While Vertel thought this.

    The four master assassins started moving in earnest. Two of them headed towards Zick and Vertel from the forest.

    While the other two master assassins headed towards the carriage where Anelete and Anastasia were currently in. They directly ignored the demihuman and priest group.

    If one was not able to follow them with their eyes, they could only see two shadows moving at an incredible speed.

    ''''Uncle Jerg! please go helpdy Analete, I will take care of things here nya~!" Serlece spoke with an urgent expression to Jerg.

    ''''Guh! make sure you don''t do anything reckless and get hurt." Jerg had a grimacing expression as he said this.

    "Yes!" Serlece responded vigorously.

    Getting off his horse, Jerg started running back to the carriage at full speed. All the demihumans and priests were not surprised by this as they were used to it.

    A dust cloud rose as Jerg ran in his four limbs, he had headed towards the Melvix family''s knight to help them ordered by Analete. But He knew his priorities so he chose Analete above someone he didn''t know.

    The Mendert merchant group had decided to move from the Pheorous kingdom so all of its mercenary group was present right at the moment.

    They had five people in peak rank with them. There was only one peak rank knight as they were rare in the Pheorous knight which excel in magic.

    Leaving the knight there was a peak rank mage and three demihumans having peak rank strength. Other than that there were 12 sun god priests, 15 high rank mages and 20 demihumans with high rank strength.

    From this, two peak rank demihumans, ten high rank demihumans, two priests, five high rank mages were protecting Analete, but it was not enough to stop two master assassins.

    With Jerg heading to intercept the two master assassins, Serlece tookmand and moved forward.

    ''This!'' Vertel frowned, feeling Jerg moving away.

    ''''Young master Zick-" Turning towards Zick, Vertel tried saying something but was cut off by Zick.

    "I can take care of a master assassin myself." Zick spoke with a deadpan expression not revealing any of his emotions.<sub> </sub>

    ''''No, it''s dangerous here, retreat while I keep the two master assassins upied." Vertel spoke this firmly but after a second his eyes widened.

    ''He was able sense they were master assassins? that should be impossible for him.'' Vertel stared at Zick with disbelief written all over his face.

    To Vertel, Zick was just a peak rank knight as there were still mana nerves in Zick''s body.

    ''He must have probably made an assumption seeing me acting like this.'' Vertel calmed himself down thinking otherwise.

    "That wouldn''t change a thing, their target is me so without a doubt they will kill me after finishing you." Zick answered back calmly.

    ''I can reveal some of my strength, it doesn''t really matter. The more people know about my strength, the less problems that will arise in the future...''

    [thought eleration] was still active so his thinking process was still fast.

    ''I know that I have reached the peak of the master rank but I never got to check it out properly till now. I should see where my strength stands properly by fighting this master assassin.''

    Seeing Vertel going to speak again, Zick concentrated upon him.

    "that-" Vertel''s words were cut off as he had to dodge the small spike flying towards him. his eyes widened when he looked at the spike coated in green liquid.

    "Don''t let the spike pierce your skin!" Vertel urgently ordered the knights.

    But the next moment a dagger flew towards Vertel''s at an iparable speed than the spike.

    Even Vertel couldn''t react to it immediately, strengthening himself with aura, he was able to bend his body to the side and dodge it at hair''s breadth.

    "I shall be your opponent." An emotionless voice reached Zick and Vertel.

    The two master assassins had already arrived in front of them. They were both dressed in ck just like the other assassin. One held daggers in each of his hands and the other one held a scythe. Both the scythe and dagger were enhanced with magic.

    "Urgh!'''' ''''urgh!"

    Some of the spikes thrown by the peak rank assassin were able to hit high rank knights. But Vertel kept his attention upon the master rank assassin not getting distracted.

    ''''Food!'''' ''''meat!''''

    The Cyclops had also reached the group within this time.

    Spinning the dagger in his right hand, the master assassin dashed towards Vertel. His figure vanished momentarily and reappeared in front of Vertel, he swung his dagger vertically from down aiming at Vertel''s neck.

    CLANG!

    Vertel parried it easily using his sword. but the assassin didn''t stop and kept swinging his dagger at him but Vertel kept parrying the dagger easily.

    "What a waste of time, you are just trying to buy time." saying this, Vertel started using his aura.

    But suddenly two ck balls were thrown towards him.

    Seeing those balls heading towards him, Vertel hurriedly made distance between himself and the assassins with a solemn look.

    Zick also moved aside quickly from the area.

    BOOOOM!

    A huge explosion urred.

    There were only a few knights who got hit by this explosion as they had already moved away when Vertel and the master assassin started fighting. But the Cyclops had already arrived and they were rampaging there right at the moment. There were already many casualties, most of it was done by a peak rank assassin.

    ''''Heh! did you think I did note prepared? I am going to keep you upied as long as it takes.'''' The master assassin fighting against Vertel kept sneering at him mockingly.

    "....." The assassin supporting the scythe in his shoulders moved towards Zick without saying a thing.

 Chapter 67 [Acceleration]

    With all the explosive sounds as background music, which wereing from all around the grass in, Zick confronted the master assassin. He could see the demihuman and priests joining the Melvix family''s knights from the corner of his eyes.

    ''Some of them would survive I guess.'' Zick threw this thought at the back of his head and looked towards the assassin who held a scythe.

    The master assassin with the scythe movements would have been impossible to follow from a normal person point of view. But Zick was seeing him move swiftly, brandishing the scythe in slow motion.

    ''First I should check out the defensive capability of the dragon scales that I got as an innate ability.'' Zick decided with still no sense of urgency.

    SCREECH!

    Pulling out the cursed sword from its sheath, he held it aiming forward.

    Zick''s battle instinct was without a doubt a lot superior than the knight who only guarded the estate. His maniption of timing while attacking could be said as top notch too.

    CLANK!

    Zick parried the master assassin''s scythe which was swung at him diagonally. Taking a step back, suddenly an opening appeared in Zick''s impable stance.

    The assassin did not miss this opportunity and swung his scythe aiming for Zick''s shoulder.

    ''Here ites.'' Zick concentrated as he activated his innate dragon ability.

    Zick''s shoulder was covered with dragon scales immediately following his will. It was not visible to others as he wore a white shirt. He looked at the scythe heading towards his shoulder expectantly.

    The scythe glowed in a shadow colour before touching Zick shoulder.

    CLANK!

    The result was, the scythe was easily deflected by dragons scales. The dragon scale were almost unscathed.

    ''Well I expected this, after all its dragon scales....I would really like to check the strength of my dragon breath too but it''s impossible here.'' Feeling content, Zick stopped using his dragon scales. The scale being exposed through his torn shirt vanishes rapidly.

    The master assassin couldn''t help but feel flustered, he had attacked Zick not holding this time but somehow it was blocked easily. He was even able to see the weird ck scales in his shoulder, making him even more surprised.

    ''Next I should check out some of the self buff type magic I created and then just finish it.'' Zick didn''t care about the scythe assassin seeing his dragon scales as he would die here.

    Zick and the scythe assassin continued exchanging moves for another five minutes when.

    "Jetel!"

    A resolute voice rang out through the terrain. Hearing those words, the scythe assassin was a little surprised but he also became serious soon.

    This did not go unnoticed by Zick. He checked around to see the changes in his surroundings.

    A few minutes ago.

    ''Why is he taking so long to just take care of a peak rank knight?.'' The dagger assassin was increasingly getting impatient while fighting Vertel.

    The dagger assassin had been using mana bombs from a long time but they are very expensive. Just one mana bomb cost three million dels.

    And he has been using them like expandables for a while now. If this goes on he would run out of mana bomb soon.

    ''It can''t be helped then, our mission isn''t to kill this master swordsman anyway.''

    ''''Jetel!." He spoke out the code which was already discussed among themselves before.

    In that instant, three peak rank assassins started heading towards Vertel with an extremely solemn expression.

    The dagger assassin distracted Vertel whenever he tried to intercept those three assassins by throwing a daggershed with poison.

    The three assassins reached Vertel in no time and they did not stop. They directly rushed towards him with a determined expression.

    Vertel tried to swing his sword at them but was again stopped by the dagger thrown at face.

    The assassin held Vertel''s waist tightly and took out two mana bomb from the space ring.<sub> </sub>

    ''''hmph!" Vertel was able to understand their intentions immediately, which made him sort of contempt.

    Vertel directly plunged his sword into the assassin''s stomach and used his aura but by then other tow assassins had also arrived and held him in ce.

    Vertel didn''t hold back and unleashed all his mana at once, making his whole body give out intense green aura but it was toote.

    BOOOOOOOOM!

    An huge explosion ured right at where Vertel was. This explosion was not enough to kill a master swordsman but it could grievously wound them.

    Vertel couldn''t escape this explosion because the mana bomb used by the three assassins was difference, it would explode the moment manae in contact with it..

    The dagger assassin did not waste his time and started heading towards Zick.

    Zick stared at the ce where the explosion happened for second before dodging the scythe swung at him horizontally. He had not used his aura even for once as his physique could already beparable to a whole master swordsman.

    Zick had overestimated the master assassin''s danger a while ago. But now he was confident in defeating them without aura.

    ''It doesn''t matter anymore now.'' Zick was able to feel that Vertel had fallen unconscious temporarily so he decided to just finish it himself.

    ''let''s finish this fastly, if I drag it on anymore I will just gather resentmentter on.....[eleration]'' Zick casted a magic immediately.

    Zick''s figure turned blurred and reappeared behind the scythe assassin. Before he could react, Zick swung his sword directly beheading him in one swing!

    Zick stared at the dagger assassin who had entered within 100 metres of his radius.

    ''I wanted to check this magic from a long time ago.'' excitement rose within Zick thinking this.

    Turning towards the dagger assassin, Zick uttered [Warp] in an almost condescending manner.

    The Dagger assassin suddenly started feeling chills all over his body. Just when the word ''retreat'' appeared in his head, he saw that the ck sword in Zick''s hand started turning transparent and then vanished.

    ''hmm....'' a weird feeling rose within the dagger assassin''s chest.

    "Argh!" He screamed loudly as a burning pain started appearing in where his heart was.

    A ck sword had appeared right at where his heart was. It looked like the sword had gone right through his body.

    ''''no....way...'''' Looking at the ck sword, this was hisst word.

    SPLURT~

    Blood sprayed out profusely forming a blood pool in the ground with his bodyid in the middle of it.

    No one had noticed Zick''s shocking performance at all. Everyone was busy fighting for their own life.

    Zick looked around himself, he could still feel the presence of some cyclops and assassins hiding in the forest but he didn''t head towards where they were.

    "They are probably just back up or someone who would report back the result to the assassin guildter on....but still my original goal was to reveal a little of my strength.''

    Zick looked towards the ce where the fight between cyclops, assassin and others went on.

    ''Well first I should disy a little of my strength and then head towards the other Cyclop and assassins hiding in the forest.''

    Zick made his decision calmly, feeling no rush as he could feel that the assassins from the forest weren''t running yet. They would have probably never have imagined that the two master assassins on their side were already dead.

    Only the other two master assassins and Jerg were able to sense their presence vanishing.

    ''Oh...almost all of the knights from the Melvix family have died, I should start moving now.''

    Zick moved towards them picking up his cursed sword.

 Chapter 68 Dark Flame

    There were only one peak rank and 4 high rank knights who were able to survive till now. But even that won''t be long, the Cyclops glowing in red headed towards them frenziedly.

    Through out the whole battle, the Cyclops never tried killing or harming any assassins.

    The Cyclops are different from the other monsters, they can only activate their special ability after eating flesh.

    Once they taste any meat, their hunger just increases. Their first special ability is that they can regenerate eating meat.

    The second was to enter a berserk state in exchange for tremendous strength, that''s when they glow red.

    Thest special ability was their eyes which could throw red sma, but of course there is a limit in range.

    The group of demihuman had split into multiple groups and fought against this monster and assassins. They first tried to finish off the assassins but still the fight was going on till now.

    The mendert mercenary group had suffered many casualties, many high rank mages, priests and demihuman were assassinated or killed while they fought.

    GRUHHHHH!

    ''Its over....''

    All the knights thought this looking at cyclops. After the priests were assassinated the healing they received also vanished with them.

    That''s when a ck spear at the same size as the one Vertel created moved swiftly towards the cyclops in the front. It directly pierced through the cyclop and continued heading somewhere.

    That wasn''t the end, more ck spears started heading towards the Cyclops menacingly. All thest 12 Cyclops were killed immediately.

    With a dazed look the knights, mercenary and assassins looked at the direction those ck spears came from.

    Zick stood there with the cursed sword on his hand.

    ''What...? Where are the two master assassins?'' The assassins couldn''t believe what they were seeing.

    Everyone had seen the scene where Vertel was ambushed with mana bomb and falling unconscious. That is the reason their hope was already at the bottom. They had already concluded Zick''s death in their heart so the current situation bewildered everyone.

    ''I controlled my aura to beparable to Vertel''s aura but I could have set it a little lower.....'' Zick thought this looking at the trees which were cut by his aura.

    Zick turned towards the assassins and started throwing his ck aura spear without any hesitation.

    After one of them was killed the other assassins came out of their stupor and directly decided to retreat. This mission was a failure, the moment Zick used aura that was set in stone.

    ''We were deceived....he was a master swordsman too'' The assassinsmented their luck while running towards the forest.

    "Keuk!" Another assassin was killed making them run even faster.

    Zick stared at them with a nk expression, he continued throwing aura spears ceaselessly.

    SPLURT~ Thest of the assassins were killed easily. They were not able to dodge the Aura spear which flew at an incredible speed.

    All the mercenaries and knights stared at Zick with a nk look.

    Ignoring the stare he got, Zick walked towards Serlece.

    "You..you were master swordsman?" Serlece asked with wide eyes.

    "No and take care of Vertel, I wille back in a minute." Saying this Zick directly turned his back on her.

    "Wait....wait Nya~!" Before Serlece could continue speaking, Zick''s figure had vanished.<sub> </sub>

    Zick didn''t care what she had to say as it would be just a waste of his time. He could feel the assassins in the forest starting to move so he hurried towards them.

    ''Flying would have been better but.....It would expose my magic talent clearly. Hmm...and now that I have exposed my strength my movements will be watched by a lot of people.''

    But there were benefits in revealing his strength too. There will be less people picking a fight with Zick in the academy and he could fight a lot more freely in the future.

    ''Still reveling my strength is better than not revealing it in my current situation, if I try to hide it, my movement would just be restricted to arge extant and I don''t want to hide my strength personally too.'' Pondering to himself, Zick moved towards the assassin''s presence.

    "[eleration]"

    Zick''s figure blurred again as it started to move at an insane speed. He reached where the assassin was moving along with the cyclop in a few seconds.

    Seeing Zick reaching where he was, the assassin with ck hood appeared flustered. He could not sense Zick''s presence at all.

    "Kill him!" The assassin ordered the Cyclops hurriedly.

    But suddenly the assassin''s body froze as if time had stopped. His body started shuddering immensely after that.

    "Let''s see if your taming cors are superior to my dragon fear." Zick looked at the cyclop with still a deadpan expression.

    "Kneel." Zick spoke out leisurely.

    PLOP!

    All the five Cyclops here kneeled at once. Seeing this, Zick looked at the assassin, probably the one who controlled the cyclops too.

    ? ''Well no one is near me so I should try out another one of my magic.'' Scanning his surroundings once, Zick extended his hand.

    "[Dark me]" Zick spoke out the magic name.

    A ck fireball appeared above Zick''s palm, he had created this me after experimenting for a while. Fusing different elements was harder than he had thought. If he didn''t concentrate enough while fusing the fire and dark elements there is a chance that an explosion might ur.

    The ck fireball moved towards the assassin frozen in ce following Zick''s will. The moment the ck fireball touched the assassin it expanded and covered his whole figure.

    Without a sound the assassin vanished within it.

    ''Even peak rank assassin physique is really weak....I should try fighting a master swordsman in the future to check out my magic strength.'' Zick turned towards the Cyclops kneeling in front of him.

    Slowly five rocks rose from the ground and started spinning while heating up.

    "[Rock bullet]''''

    The five rocks sprung forward just like a bullet blowing the Cyclops head to smithereens.

    There are also other magic like this [Rock bullet], like [mana bullet] one of the simplest magic which could be used here. Zick also had created a magic fusing the fire and light elements. It is different from [Dark me] which focuses on destructive specs. The [White me] excels at speed.

    Putting all the loot within his space ring, Zick headed back towards the grass in. Getting out of the forest, he could see the situation had stabilised than before.

    Jerg had also finished taking care of the two master assassins. But still casualties weren''t anything to scoff at, there were only 6 people who survived from Zick''s group.

    The mendert mercenary group also suffered heavy losses. More than half of their forces were killed.

    Walking towards the ce where all the wounded people were being healed, a thought appeared in Zick''s head.

    ''Ah....should I visit Jarvin once before leaving the first continent?''

 Chapter 69 Low Rank Spirit

    Jerg looked at Zick who was running towards them in the distance. There were many demihumans and humansid on the ground, groaning from time to time.

    Some had limbs missing, some had their eyes missing, some were even taking theirst breath right at the moment. The priests could not heal all the people who had their limbs missing.

    It is possible to rejoin a cut limb but most of the limbs were eaten by the Cyclops. These priests did not have the ability to regrow a new limb.

    Only the bishops and higher rank of the sun god temple can regrow a lost limb. But they take a fortune aspensation.

    Seeing his mercenary group like this, Jerg couldn''t help but feel a little resentment and gratitude towards Zick at the same time.

    Jerg was thankful at Zick saving hisrades but at the same time a little resentful that he didn''t reveal his strength earlier.

    ''He had been hiding his strength all along.....''

    Jerg was able to see a little of how the master assassin was killed by Zick. The dagger assassin had a ck sword in his chest which belonged to Zick.

    Though Jerg felt bitter internally, he didn''t let it show outwards. Even if he wants to, he doesn''t have the right to question Zick. He is just the leader of a mercenary group owned by the Mendert merchants.

    Even Anelete herself did not hold enough power to force an answer from Zick.

    Zick was an heir of the Melvix family, this was clearly known to everyone here.

    Anelete passed on the healing potions to the wounded mercenaries. She had a sad look on her face, this wasn''t acting she really was sad at the death of her mercenary group.

    Analete too felt resentment but not against Zick. She was resentful towards Anastasia and the person who arranged this assassination.

    ''I will make them all pay.....'' Anelete firmly resolved herself to take revenge in the future.

    Anelete had enough influence to have a connection with the assassin guild, but suddenly her connection with them was severed before she left the Pheorous kingdom capital. She was smart so she was ready for their attack at any time.

    But she had never thought they would send out four master assassins. Even the Cyclops and mana bombs, an Astronomical amount of money was used in this single ambush.

    Anelete looked at Zick who had reached them and was looking in the distance. She could see a carriage and a caravan heading towards where she was.

    Anelete started walking towards Zick after passing on her space ring to a demihuman and ordering him to distribute the potions.

    Anelete knew about how Zick killed the other two master assassins and the cyclops. She had been looking at the battlefield whenever she got a chance. But she wasn''t able to see much as they were all moving very quickly in her eyes.

    ''And why did the fire spirit start going towards him the moment he reached here?''

    No one knew that Anelete had a unique talent from the day she was born. She was able to see spirits.

    But until now she has only been able to form a contract with one low rank fire spirit. This spirit didn''t even have any battle strength; it could only form a fireball the size of a palm three times.

    A low rank fire spirit did not have any sentience so it was not possible tomunicate so she didn''t know its intentions. Right at the moment, the spirit flew towards Zick fastly.

    After checking Vertel''s condition, who was still unconscious with his skin charred all over the body, Zick looked at the carriage and caravan heading his way.

    The priests were taking care of Vertel right now.

    "Hmm..." Zick looked in front of him.

    A small red ball suddenly stopped right in front of his chest. Though Zick had never seen one he was able to tell what this red ball was a spirit immediately.

    ''A low rank spirit.....''

    Zick knew a lot about spirit thanks to the novel so he was able to tell its rank in a nce. Usually only high rank spirits are able to take a certain form and gain sentience.

    Most of the spirits stayed in the spirit realm or the elf''s kingdom. There are a few ces where a spirit could be found but it is impossible to see spirits normally.

    Anelete was surprised looking at Zick staring right at where the spirit was.

    "Ohh so you can see spirits too?" Anelete spoke in a calm voice with a little curiosity, she didn''t show any surprise in her face at all.

    "....yes" Zick answered truthfully, there was no reason to hide it.

    Zick looked at the beautiful women in front of him, she was just like how it was exined in the novel. But there was something that bothered him.<sub> </sub>

    ''The novel did not mention anything about her having spirit affinity..... or did I just forget?'' Zick thought process speed had returned to normal as he had deactivated [Though eleration]

    "My name is Anelete, I am the owner of the Mendert merchant group." In a refined manner, Analete introduced herself.

    "Zick Melvix" Zick introduced himself with a deadpan look.

    Anelete wasn''t offended by the way Zick introduced himself, she continued with a smile on her face.

    "I have a proposal, you are heading towards the academic city, yes? then how about we both go there together with all our forces, this way if there is another ambush we could fight back more efficiently."

    Anelete did not wait for Zick''s answer and stated her proposal. She was able to tell the type of person Zick was with a simple conversation with him. He didn''t like wasting his time on something useless.

    "Alright" Zick epted her offer without any hesitation.

    "Then, it will at least take until evening to collect the bodies of the diseased and the monsters, so about we depart then?'''' Another proposal was offered by Anelete.

    "Okay." Saying this, Zick directly headed towards the carriage which reached near him.

    "ah! I had another thing I needed to say!'''' Anelete''s urgent voice reached Zick.

    "What?" Zick turned back and looked at Analete.

    "Our carriage was destroyed so can I and another one person ride your carriage until reaching the academic city?" Anelete asked this very politely.

    It wouldn''t be possible to get a carriage worthy of a noble to travel in a city, there would only be wooden carts or caravan used by merchants in the city.

    Anelete had some standards and there was also another problem. If the fact they travelled in a caravan was spread her name would take a huge damage so she could only request Zick, even though she knew that she was being rude.

    ''She would think of me as a pushover if I epted her all requests.'' Zick knew a little about Anelete''s personality so he started pondering.

    Zick wanted to form a friendly rtionship with Anelete for many reasons and he also knew that she was in a disadvantageous position right at the moment, So he didn''t held back.

    "Okay I will let you ride my carriage but in exchange for that you will have to give me 20�G discount at everything I buy from you in the future."

    Zick knew that there were many benefits he could gain if he made a deal with Anelete so he didn''t hesitate and stated his need.

    ''I wanted to try bing an enchanter in the academy so I will be needing a lot of material and I don''t even have the Melvix family''s que now. Which means I will have to buy it all from my own money''

    Enchanter is a profession which the mage chooses. People would get suspicious of why he wants to be an enchanter but even with this Zick still chose it.

    Zick wanted to Hide his magic prowess just to use it as a trump card, his main focus was still to get stronger and if hiding it got in the way of him getting stronger then he would abandon that trump card immediately.

    And magic Enchanter held that much worth in Zick''s mind, he knew a lot about it from the novel. He could even create many trump cards from it.

    "20�G is too much" Anelete said sternly.

    "Ohh 20�G isn''t equal to your reputation?" Zick spoke, still keeping his calm.

    Zick knew that reputation is very important for any merchant.

    "15�G that is my limit" Anelete gave an ultimatum.

    "Alright, we can travel in the same carriage." Zick walked away immediately saying this.

    Anelete did not say anything, she looked at the fire spirit which hade back to her.

    ''He is a lot more mature than he looks.....I guess as expected of a person who was able to live two year in the battlefield at the age of 12.'' Anelete returned to her work thinking this. In her mind she has a good impression of the person named Zick.

    Reaching in front of the carriage, Zick looked at Butler Von standing beside it.

    "Go help them in any way you can."

    "Yes" Nodding his head Butler Von headed towards the wounded people

    Zick entered the carriage leisurely.

 Chapter 70 Giants

    Sitting within the carriage, Zick rested his head upon the back of his palm. He thought of the recent battle with the assassins and cyclops.

    Zick moved selfishly till the very end. There were many opportunities for him to save the knights and the demihuman but he never took it. The thought of saving them didn''t even appear in his head.

    The two year Zick spent in the battlefield affected his way of thinking without him noticing.

    In the battlefield death is a natural thing, it happens everywhere in it. The concept of death in Zick''s head was already twisted, until he stayed alive nothing else mattered to him.

    Zick moved just like how he did on the battlefield. He didn''t care about the people around him and just focused on what he had decided to do.

    But his aim was only partially aplished, Zick was able to use only a few self buff types and other magics. He had no experience fighting using magic but he was still able to do well because of [Thought eleration].

    Zick could have just taken care of the scythe assassin quickly and helped the others. But he cared only about checking out his new magic in practical use.

    Zick felt a little pity for the dead knights but that''s it. He didn''t feel any remorse or regret. As long as Butler Von and the two dragon eggs were safe it didn''t matter to him who died.

    ''I am sure the me from earth would be surprised looking at how I am now.''

    Even though Zick was broken in the past he still felt remorseful killing anyone. But the current Zick had gotten used to seeing people killed to arge extent. The word guilt didn''t exist for him, he just did whatever he felt like doing.

    ''''sigh...." Zick could only heave a sigh thinking of how fast a person changes.

    Throwing this train of thought in the back of his head, Zick thought of what Anelete said.

    ''The other person who will be riding along with her must be Anastasia. She will be a future archmage but now it doesn''t matter anymore. I will be an archmage myself in a few years.''

    Zick had thought of somehow recruiting Anastasia in the future, but he discarded this idea the very next moment.

    Its not that the idea of recruiting talented people never crossed by his mind, Zick just found it too troublesome. It was better to recruit someone who already had the strength of a grandmaster rather than raising one.

    Zick''s trust in other people was just too shallow. The chances of making Anastasia take an oath of never harming him was also impossible in his eyes and troublesome in his eyes.

    ''It is better if I just take the mythical cat and biological golem. They are more than enough to keep the small fry upied while I finish off the demon lord.''

    Zick was already making ns of how to defeat the demon lord already. He was little aware of his strength and even some trump cards.

    The demon lord in the novel was never alone, there were always his subordinates guarding him.

    But for some reason Zick always felt that his winning chances were very low. In the novel, the demon lord had never gotten serious till the very end.

    There was a line that Zick remembers from the Novel.

    [ The rank above Grandmaster is God.

    And the demon lord had already be half a god a long time ago. The only thing holding him back were the giants.]

    Zick didn''t know anything about these giants mentioned in the novel and it did not appear till the very end too. What matters is that it clearly stated that the demon lord was half a god, in other words a demigod.

    Gods were already a transcended creature in Zick''s eyes because of their miraculous power.

    ''I don''t even know the first thing on how to be a god.....''

    Zick didn''t know how the divinity was formed....No he didn''t even know the real strength of divinity currently.

    "Sigh..."

    Another sigh left his mouth feeling helpless.

    ''Well it''s a waste of my time to think about it now so I should just focus on growing to my limit.'' This was all Zick could do for now.

    It turned noon quickly.

    In this time, Zick checked out the loot he got from the assassins. Almost everything was useless to him.

    ''I should sell everything after reaching the academic city...no I can just sell it to Anelete.''<sub> </sub>

    Then Zick continued absorbing the mana in the air and strengthened his aura.

    KNOCK.

    Someone knocked at the carriage''s door.

    "You can open it."

    CLICK~

    Vertel stood in front of the door fully recovered. He had heard what had happened and was immensely confused and surprised, his pride was also hurt losing his consciousness but he still didn''t ask anything. He just continued doing his work.

    Vertel was able to recover quickly as he did not let any of his innards get damaged using aura.

    "Young master Zick, We are ready to depart and have you agreed on travelling along with the Mendert merchant group?"

    The bodies of the people who were dead were collected by them. They would be sent to their family''ster on.

    The bodies of the cyclops were divided equally among the two groups and 30�G of it was given to Zick.

    ''''Yeah, I agreed to travel with them."

    Nodding his Head, Vertel went away getting know everything he needed.

    Feeling the presence of Analete and Anastasia heading towards him, Zick picked up the leather bag in which the dragon eggs were and put it beside him. Luckily the carriage was big so he was able to sitfortably even when he put the big bag beside him.

    Walking in front of the carriage, Analete bowed her head to Zick slightly.

    "Excuse us, for our impudence." Anelete''s posture didn''t lose to any nobles, it was even better than some.

    "Get in."

    Zick didn''t care much about courtesy. He hadn''t even said anything when Anelete had said that there would be another person who would be riding in his carriage.

    Following basic courtesy, Anelete had to introduce this person but she didn''t.

    Zick was able to sense everyone near him so he was clearly able to sense Anastasia''s presence. He knew that she was throwing up seeing the people die all around her.

    Zick didn''t find her action weird at all, he knew about how she lived only within a pce through the novel.

    Anelete entered the carriage and sat opposite to Zick, she still wore her ck gown. Anastasia''s figure was exposed after she entered.

    Nothing much had changed from before leaving that Anastasia wore a different purple gown now. She didn''t say anything and entered the carriage and sat beside Analete.

    One of the knights closed the carriage door.

    Zick took a nce at Anastasia who had an cold expression on her face and then ignored her existence.

    ''That''s a future Archmage without a doubt.''

    Zick was able to see people''s talent after bing a dragonoid human. If hepared Anastasia to the other mages here then. She was like an ocean and on the other hand the other mages were like ponds.

    The carriage started moving with all the mages, knights and demihuman surrounding it in a formation.

    Looking out of the window, Zick thought back upon the first time he took the life of a human.

    "....."

    Zick couldn''t help but be speechless, he had gone around killing hundreds of knights in the battlefieldughing the whole time.

    The total opposite of how Anastasia was seeing people dying.

 Chapter 71 Monster Taming Collars

    The night would be arriving soon so the carriage started moving towards the nearest city. It would already be deep in the night when the carrier reaches the city.

    Zick looked out of the window with an emotionless expression. He continued training to strengthen his aura even when he was started by Anastasia with absurdity visible in her eyes.

    Training even while in the presence of others was a very disrespectful act in this world. It was the same as not giving them any face. But both Anelete and Anastasia didn''t say anything.

    This was Zick''s carriage and they are the one who are taking up on his ''generosity''.

    Silence had descended within the carriage the moment it departed. Anelete and Anastasia''s rtionship had just gotten worse with the recent incident. Their rtionship had worsened to the level which couldn''t be fixed anymore.

    Anelete would never forgive Anastasia even if she begged her.

    Anastasia felt guilty as she had her consciousness unlike Zick. This made her feel a little awkward in this silent Carriage. She didn''t apologise to Anelete because of her pride and she knew that it would be useless.

    "So young master Zick, are you also attending the academy this year?"

    Anelete was the first to break the silence within the carriage and spoke to Zick.

    "Yes" Turning his head towards Anelete, Zick answered while still training in his aura.

    "Then, why did you go to the forest after killing the cyclops and assassins?"

    "To kill the leftover assassins."

    "What is in the bag beside you?"

    "none of your business."

    ''''Ohh sorry about that, then let me be frank. Did you get the device tomand the cyclops?''''

    Their conversation flow went very naturally, even Anastasia was surprised looking at Anelete speaking with a smile and Zick answering emotionlessly.

    Zick directly looked at Anelete''s eyes. He was going to bring up this topicter but it looks like there is no need for that anymore.

    Zick had already gotten the device tomand the monster from the dead body of the assassin in the forest. It was in the form of a ring and there were also some monster taming cors in the space ring of this dead assassin.

    "So how much can you give me?" Zick directly asked Anelete.

    Zick knew the worth of this monster taming device. In the past year he had already inquired about this device in case he needed it in the future to hide his dragon fear.

    Zick had also received some cors of the dead cyclops. The cors are useless without the device tomand it. These cors could only be sold off for the worth of the material it is made of.

    Not to say that all the monster taming devices here were high quality ones or it could just be the highest quality one avable in the continent. After all, it was used to control cyclops, which had the strength of the peak rank.

    "Without the device tomand this monster taming cor, one of them can be sold for 200 to 300 tinum at the maximum. But if it is sold along with themanding device, just one taming cor would go up to 2500 to 4000 tinum coins."

    Anelete had already checked the quality of the monster taming cors the moment she got it. She had many experiences in dealing with monster taming devices so she was able to tell its value easily.

    The currency of the three ruling forces are different, there is a little difference in their value. Luckily the academic city epted all three types of currency So there wasn''t anything to worry about.

    Zick was surprised hearing the number stated by Anelete. He felt excited as the amount had surpassed what he expected.

    ''With just selling one cor my money would triple at once.....'' A smile appeared on Zick''s face thinking this.

    Both Anelete and Anastasia were dazed internally looking at the smile on Zick''s face. This was the first time they had seen him smiling since the moment they met him.

    Zick had already surpassed the word handsome because of the dragon Lord''s heart. The word which suits him now could only be unnaturally handsome.

    But the smile on Zick''s face didn''t stay for long, it vanished as fast as it appeared.

    "Then how much will you offer for 20 monster taming devices?" Zick''s expression was nk but there were still expectations in his voice.

    Zick had gotten only seven cors from the cyclops who attacked the knight, five from the one he killed in the forest and Another eight in the space ring of the assassinmanding the cyclops.

    Hearing Zick''s words, Anelete started calcting rapidly. Within a few seconds, she responded back to Zick''s question.

    "70,000 tinum coins." Anelete spoke seriously.

    Anelete offered the highest amount she currently could. She could afford this much money without any problem because she was the richest merchant in the Pheorous kingdom.<sub> </sub>

    But now things are different, Anelete left the kingdom and has to start making new connections again. She wasn''t worried about it at all, she was confident in her skills and wits.

    "Make it 100,000 tinum coins and I will give you the monster taming Cor along with themanding device." Zick spoke confidently almost like Anelete would ept this without any doubt.

    "That''s too much-"

    "No it isn''t too much at all, if you sell the monster taming cors that you have along with themanding device you will without a doubt benefit a lot."

    Zick spoke firmly with a heavy voice, showing his stance of not changing his decision. He clearly knew the kind of person Anelete was, after all she was the one who even tricked a poor person like the protagonist of the novel, Aeiron, to spend all his money.

    "Ufufu~, it seems I was found out." Anelete said this covering her mouth with her hand which had a ck glove on it. Her eyes went crescent.

    ''And here I thought he would fall for it.....'' Anelete didn''t know that Zick was in guard against her the whole time.

    Anelete had tried hoaxing Zick but it seems she underestimates him. She could only me herself for this but when she looked at Zick''s face it didn''t look like he was offended at all.

    "So?" Zick asked Anelete calmly.

    "Of course, it''s a deal." Anelete revealed a bright smile. Even though she wasn''t able to fool Zick, she still made a huge gain.

    Zick and Anelete exchanged the money and devices using the space ring.It was possible to exchange bringing two space ring near to each other like this.

    After checking that there was the correct amount of money mentioned, Zick nodded his head towards Anelete and continued looking out of the window.

    Zick didn''t sell the cyclops bodies as it coulde in use in Enchanting. Especially their eyes, it is a very rare material used in enchanting.

    Anelete was surprised at Zick''s attitude, he didn''t show any hostility or looked offended at her trying to hoax him. She felt relieved looking at that.

    ''Fortunately it doesn''t seem like he would break our connection after this.''

    Though it was a very profitable deal, Anelete didn''t want to break the new connection she made with Zick. It coulde in use in future now that she is heading towards the academic city.

    The carriage continued moving on. They reached the city in the middle of the night and started heading towards the inn.

    Getting off the carriage, Zick turned towards Butler Von who walked towards him getting out of the coach in the carriage.

    "keep the bag in my room."

    ''''Yes."

    Butler Von answered and waited for the other two to get off the carriage.

    "Ohh I told the inn chef to prepare something good Nya~, will you eat with us Nya?'''' Serlece asked Zick after greeting Anelete.

    "No....''''

    Saying this Zick started walking towards his room with Butler Von besides him holding the bag.

    Like this they continued travelling for four days before they reached the academic city.

    Most of the time Anelete was the one who initiated a conversation and asked many things to Zick.

    Anastasia didn''t speak much, she only spoke when she needed something.

    But the main reason for the carriage to take four days to reach the academic city was that they needed to take a break for Anelete and Anastasia to eat something.

    Zick could not do anything about it so he also ate along with them.

    ''Sigh.....atst I reached the Academic city.''

    Zick looked at the huge white fort which was more than 30 metres in height.

    The academic city was a city just in name. It isrger than any of the three capitals of the three ruling forces.

    And because of how all three of the ruling forces have put a lot of resources here, the academic city was more advanced than any other ce.

 Chapter 72 Celine Derspea

    A woman sat on the chair of a table and looked at the city surrounding her in the distance.

    The table was set in the balcony which was made of many expensive materials giving it a vibrant glow. There was a huge garden between the city and the mansion.

    The floor of the balcony was made of ck and white tiles. The table was near the white-goldish marble railings.

    The woman seated in the table was named Vancenin derspea, the chairman of the academy. She wore afortable white dress, she had ck hair and deep blue eyes giving the impression of the view deep within the ocean. She looked to be in her 30s even though she was more than 50 year old.

    In this world, there are many ways to preserve one''s beauty or youth. There were also ways of extending lifespan. With her influence and money Vancenin was easily able to get her hand upon this means.

    She was currently in the middle of the academic city where this huge pce-like mansion was located. The mansion was very huge. It was a pce which looked beautiful and made people feel at awe. It was more than ten stories high. This made the people in the city look like ants when looked upon from here.

    Picking up the cup of tea from the table, Vancenin sipped it gracefully and savoured it. There was a vase in the middle of the table with white-purplish flowers in it. The flower gave out a strong soft scent giving people a feeling of peace.

    CLINK!

    cing the cup back on the table, Vancenin thought upon the students who will be attending this year. She had gone through all the information about the students even though it wasn''t necessary.

    There were many reasons for this. Vancenin was going to retire soon from the seat of the chairman in a few years. She had a daughter who she was nning to raise as the next chairman, but for that immense support would be needed.

    Even Vancenin singlehandedly couldn''t raise a person to be the next chairman. A chairman is decided by the joint voting of all the duke rank nobles, kings and emperors of all the three ruling forces and her own vote.

    The vote of the kings or emperor held more value, if a person received two votes from them then they would be appointed as the chairman immediately.

    To be selected as a chairman, not only did a person need to be quick-witted and resourceful, they had to dedicate their life for the development of the academy. Even strength matters in the selection process.

    Vancenin herself was a peak rank mage.

    Right now, Vancenin''s daughter would be attending the first year of the academy as she had turned 15. This was the best chance to gather more backers for her.

    Vancenin had raised her daughter very strictly from a very young age teaching her almost everything that could be helpful in the selection process.

    Vancenin had married politically to the person with high talent just to get a talented heir. And as expected a daughter with exceptional talent was born.

    Vancenin had already selected some potential husbands for her daughter too from the list of the people attending this year in the academy.

    ''Aureo is the best candidate for now and I am sure he wouldn''t reject me even if I offered a hand in marriage with my daughter.'' Vancenin thought to herself with her eyes shining eerily.

    Vancenin had already collected all the information about the second prince of the Cravion kingdom, Aureo. She knew that he was an opportunistic person so he wouldn''t reject this offer.

    ''The other people who can be a backer to her are the Duke''s sons and daughters....Melvix family.... Zick was it?''

    Vancenin actually found him to be the most interesting in the first year. She also knew that it would be impossible to make Zick marry her daughter. She had already collected as much information about him as she could.

    ''His heart is made of steel forged from countless setbacks, this kind of person is very rare.....and they are hard to control too. He is fearless and thinks about his future moves meticulously and rationally, there doesn''t seem like he has a goal yet...or he might just be hiding it....''

    Vancenin had a lot of experience in deducing other people''s personalities. She has been the chairman of the academy for many years after all.<sub> </sub>

    Vancenin knew about him a lot, he was known as a talentless garbage in younger age and treated with spite by everyone around him. His talent only sprouted a few month before he turned 9.

    And then how he was sent to the battlefield at the age of 12 and was made to stay there for two years. So Vancenin was able to tell little about how Zick turned into such a person. But still she didn''t know what he nned on doing in the future.

    Vancenin had considered marrying off her daughter to him initially but after she got to know about his personality this idea was discarded.

    Though there was a chance that someone with immense talent could be born between Zick and her daughter. Vancenin still wanted someone she could control and predict about.

    ''He probably won''t cause any problem for no reason in the academy.....I should tell Celine to try for a friendly rtionship with him at least.....''

    Vancenin rang the bell which was kept upon the table. A maid with red hair entered the balcony through the ss door and bowed towards Vancenin.

    Conveying her message to the maid, Vancenin sent her away coolly. Her bearings were even more refined than an emperor or king.

    **************

    Sitting upon a ck chair which looked expensive at a single nce, Celine looked at herself in the mirror in front of her.

    She had ck hair reaching till her waist, her eyes were the same as her mother''s deep blue. She wore a white gown with exposing shoulders.

    A maid stood behind her and adorning a ne with many blue jewels on Celine''s neck.

    Celine had an expressionless face while staring at herself in the mirror. She was preparing to take a stroll in the festival which was going on currently.

    KNOCK-KNOCK~

    Suddenly the sound of someone knocking in the door rang out. The maid beside the door opened it, exposing the same maid with red hairs standing in front of it.

    "I have a message from the madam." Bowing her head towards Celine, the maid with red hair spoke respectfully.

    "Come in." Celine spoke condescendingly in a calm voice, making people follow her orders.

    Entering the room, the red maid started conveying the message given by Vancenin.

    "You can go now."

    Sending away everyone in the room, Celine started pondering to herself.

    ''Zick Melvix.....the greatest talent of the current generation....Mother wants me to keep a friendly rtion with him for now.''

    Celine was not interested in bing the next chairman at all, but she still respected her mother''s wishes andplied with her. After all she didn''t have any personal goal or so she thinks.

    Getting up from the chair, Celine started walking towards the gate where her guards would be waiting. They couldn''t let her go out without any protection in case of assassination attempts.

    In the novel, Celine Derspea was one of the harem members of the protagonist.

 Chapter 73 Academic City

    Many carriages and caravans were waiting in front of the academic city''s fort. At this time of the year, it would take a few hours just to enter the city.

    The academy had started admitting students into it so this was normal. Just graduating from the academy can give you many benefits. It is even possible to get granted a noble peerage.

    There hasn''t been a case where a person has been promoted to the duke or Viscount but there were still many cases where a person was bestowed a count''s peerage.

    They just don''t give them titles. Land and authority worthy of the noble peerage given to them is bestowed to them. It is even possible to recruit other graduates from the academy to take care of thend and military matters.

    The academy would support them for the first five years of their ruling by providing them with adequate money but, after that it is entirely up to the person''s capability to maintain his title.

    Zick looked out of the window, past the fort where there was a huge pce. He knew that the academy was located in the middle of this city. Which means the pce was also a part of the academy.

    Zick was aware of all the possible peerage he could get from the academy but he didn''t want it, both because of his personal reasons and that it wouldn''t matter in the future.

    Zick believed there were three mandatory requirements to be a ruler.

    Strength, money, and manpower.

    Strength is the physical embodiment of authority; essentially, authority that has lost its strength has already met its end. All powerful dictators have strength firmly in their grasp. There are plenty of examples that shows the quick and miserable fall from power once they''ve lost their strength.

    If strength is a tool to protect power, money is the force that maintains it. If there is no money, one cannot maintain strength. Without strength, power crumbles. Power bes stronger the more you collect and role out money.

    Manpower is the limb that acts for power. One cannot do everything alone. The reason why dictators ce inept but loyal subjects instead of capable ones is because that at least makes their lives easier. That is why nations ruled by dictatorships are always corrupt and cannot escape from their deplorable conditions.

    When Zick thought of this, his eyes squinted on its own.

    ''There is no way I am bing a ruler..... rather then trusting someone else''s strength, I will believe on my own strength instead . Well it''s great that I will only be staying in this continent for another year....''

    Zick considered himself lucky thinking this. he wouldn''t have to care about being a heir of the Melvix family in the second continent. He didn''t even want to think about what will happen if he became the next family head.

    Just the subject of loyal subordinates made Zick never want to even try bing a ruler. Though he would get a lot of authority, his every action would be closely watched by the others and restricted.

    Bing a dictator, Zick could just forcefully do everything but still he didn''t have any interest in bing one.

    Zick''s carriage moved past the other carriages and caravan stationed in front of the fort. Many people gasped seeing the Melvin family''s crest etched in the carriage. There was a caravan following behind the carriage, it was the caravan in which the two servants stayed in.

    Both the carriage and caravan were surrounded by many demihumans, mages and priests. The knights were few in number whenpared to them. Moving in such arge group at once gathered a lot of attention upon them.

    Arriving in front of the fort, the carriage came to a stop. Vertel moved in front and passed on a crest as an identity proof to the guard.

    The letter Zick received back from the academy could also be used to enter the academic city but there was no need for that right now.

    The carriage entered through the fort easily after showing the crest.

    Passing through the gate, a vibrant Street appeared in front of them. The whole street was filled with many caravans and carriages moving busily.

    Many people walked in the sidewalks of the street merrily. Their expressions were bright as the festival was still going on. This whole month until when the festival goes on the staff of the academy get a lot of free time, it''s like a vacation to them at this time.

    The carriage reached a za with a huge fountain in the middle of it. There were many couples sitting on the benches near the fountains.

    There were many stalls on the streets. The festival atmosphere could be seen from everyone''s expressions.

    The academic city was totally different from the other cities that Zick had been in. The streets were maintained well and most of the buildings were two to three stories high.

    The carriage slowly came to a stop and its door opened. Both Anelete and Anastasia stepped out of the carriage.

    "Thank you for letting us ride the carriage along with you." Anelete smiled and bowed towards Zick.

    "Thank you." Anastasia simply said, bowing her head a little.

    Zick nodded his head at them and closed the door. The carriage started moving again with the few knights and Vertel surrounding it.

    "Thank you."

    Anastasia bowed to Anelete and started walking off to somewhere, she had asked her for escorting and nothing else so she was on her own now.

    Anelete didn''t say anything and just stared Anastasia as she vanished in the crowd.

    Anelete turned towards her mercenaries and smiled "Let''s go then everyone."

    "Yes,dy Anelete!" Serlece said happily recovered from the shock of seeing herrades killed by now.

    "That was a long journey, but we were able to reach our destination somehow." Jerg also smiled, though it just looked like he was exposing his fangs to others.<sub> </sub>

    But the mercenaries around him were used to it so they smiled along with him.

    There were a demihuman living in the academic city, but they wouldn''t even amount to one percent of the total poption of this city.

    The mendert Merchant group started moving, marking their new beginning in the academic city.

    ....

    ''Now that I have made a connection with the Mendert merchant group, I will not need to worry about getting any material to use for enchantment. '' Zick knew that though anelete tries to trick people, she still keeps her words so he wasn''t worried of her going against it in the future.

    Zick''s carriage continued moving towards the middle of the city. The mansion he will be staying in was near the centre of Academic city so that there wouldn''t be any inconvenience in going to the academy.

    Zick looked out of the window with back on the cushion. He found the academic city to be a lot more colourful than the cities. He didn''t know how itpared to the other capitals as he hasn''t been in any of them till now.

    The carriage came to a stop in front of the mansion.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door of the carriage, Zick stepped out of it. There were two knights who stood in front of the gate like a guard, Vertel was talking to them currently.

    Zick looked at the mansion with still a nk look. It was a three stories high mansion which was made of expensive marble and followed the aesthetic sense of the houses in the academic city.

    Most of the houses in this city were close to each other but Zick''s mansion was fairly spacious from the other houses.

    The two servants got out of the caravan and walked near Zick.

    "Young master Zick, my task ends here. I will be returning back to the Melvix dukedom now." Vertel said this and rode the horse.

    Neighhh!

    Following Suit, The other knight rode their horses too. They started heading off along with the carriage without any dy. The dragon eggs bag was already in Butler Von''s hand.

    Walking near Zick, the guard knight spoke to him "Please this way."

    His voice was very polite and respectful. There have been many incidents while the second son of the Melvix family stayed here. Even for the smallest mistake he would punish the servants heavily. Many were even killed brutally.

    This made almost no people ept the job of bing a servant in this mansion.

    Zick followed the knight as he showed the way. Butler Von and the two servants followed behind him.

    Entering the mansion, Zick could see a clean Hall with sofas kept orderly. There were many flower vases and tables near the windows.

    "We have already hired people and cleaned the whole mansion after getting the message of youing here sir, but there is still need of a chef and-"

    "I have already brought servants with me, you can go now." Zick said, still looking at Hall.

    "Y-yes!"

    Zick didn''t need to know something like where his room was as the whole mansion was his now.

    "Get to your work and Von follow me.

    """ Yes"""

    Three ''yes'' rang out at the same time.

    Zick started looking around the mansion, there were many rooms in the whole mansion. They were all well maintained too.

    After looking around for a while, Zick chose the room on the third floor, there was only a single room in there. Although it was only one room, it epassed the entire third floor, including a study, a bedroom, and an office, which were all connected without any walls between them.

    "Put the bag in this room."

    Butler Von moved forwards hearing Zick speak and put the leather bag above a sofa.

    Sending away Butler Von, Zickid upon one of the couches in that huge room.

    ''This is my room from now on, Though I will only be staying here for a year.....I should go to the academy administration tomorrow. I can go around seeing the festival for tonight.''

    It was still the middle of the day so Zick continued looking around his new room afterying upon the couch for a while.

 Chapter 74 Mana Train

    Standing in front of a full body view mirror, Zick looked at himself.

    He wore a brown jacket upon the white shirt which made him look a lot more like a noble than before. He had ck pants along with ck shoes.

    After fixing his cors and hair, Zick walked out of his room. It was still noon but he decided to go out early as it was getting boring.

    In the past year, Zick had already created numerous magics. Without any inspiration, it would be hard for him toe up with any new magic now.

    Regret started filling Zick, '' I would have concentrated on my studies more if I knew this....''

    Zick had focused on writing his novel more than studies in his past life. He had long forgotten most of the things that he learnt in his science sses too.

    '' Reading so many novels has helped me somewhat at least.''

    Zick had created many magics inspired by the Novels from Earth. He felt relieved with his current strength. Unless someone with grandmaster level strength doesn''t appear he was confident in defeating them.

    Zick was also a little confident in running away from any enemy he couldn''t defeat.

    Though he felt at ease with his current strength, Zick still felt anxiety rising within his heart. His physical strength will not see any major improvement for a while.

    Zick could only improve in the mage profession and find an alternative to increase his battle strength for now.

    ''Enchantment.''

    That was the alternative he found in the past few months to increase his battle strength. Zick knew the capability of enchantment through the novel but he didn''t know how to perform it as it was not exined in the novel.

    Zick couldn''t learn how to perform enchantment till now because enchantment is a very rare profession . He couldn''t find someone to teach it to him and neither was there any book exining about it.

    Only a few mages choose it as their profession.

    It was already a tough requirement to be a mage but to be an enchanter even more talent is needed. And not only talent was needed, an astronomical amount of money must be spent to buy materials.

    Zick fulfilled all this requirement luckily.

    Walking down the stairs, Zick could feel the presence of Butler Von nearby.

    Arriving on the ground floor, Zick could see Butler Von walking towards him with a flower vase in his hand.

    <o>,m Zick turned to Butler Von and spoke inly, "I am going out, take care of the mansion.''''</o>

    Bowing towards Zick, Butler Von answered "Yes."

    Zick started heading towards the door, checking his space ring continuously.

    ''I should buy a better space ring now that I am in the academic city.''

    Zick''s current space ring was fully filled with the cyclops corpses. He wasn''t worried about money at all, he has a lot of it now.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door which looked to be crafted by someone skilled, Zick stepped out of his mansion. He started walking towards the gate where two guards stood.

    When Zick reached near the gate, the guards opened it without saying a word.

    "Where is the nearest mana train?" Zick questioned one of the guards.

    "A mana train station would appear if you turned right from here and then walked straight, sir." The guard spoke very respectfully and didn''t stutter like the prior knight.

    Zick looked at the ce the guard pointed and started walking towards it. There were still many people and caravans passing through the streets making it lively.<sub> </sub>

    Just like the guard instructed, Zick turned right and started walking straight. There were many armoury stores and stalls in the street.

    While walking Zick Found a familiar fruit among the stalls. Staring at it for a second, he headed towards it.

    The stall had many kinds of fruits kept orderly on multiple carts. The stall owner was a bulky man, his face looked average. Seeing Zick walking towards his stall, the owner smiled and started speaking.

    "What would you want to buy young sir?" The stall owner spoke politely looking at Zick''s noble attire.

    "Give me this fruit for a silver coin."

    Hearing Zick''s in voice, the owner looked at the fruit which was pointed by Zick, a fruit looking like an apple entered his sight.

    "Ohh you mean Ganjes? Please wait a second." The stall owner took out a paper bag and started putting the Ganjes into it.

    Taking the fruit bag, Zick took one of it and put the rest of ut within his space ring. He took out a silver coin and gave it to the stall owner.

    "Pleasee again!" The stall owner said happily.

    Eating the apple named Ganjes, Zick continued walking towards the mana train station.

    ''It''s sweeter than the apples I ate on the earth....''

    Zick reached the mana train station in a few hours. Buying a ticket to Feahert district, he waited in the station for the mana train to arrive.

    Feahert district is also known as themercial district in the academic city. Almost anything can be found there. The feahert district is also the centre of the festival right now.

    Zick could only feel a few people present in the station as travelling through mana train was high-priced. He had to spent eight gold coins to get a ticket to feahert district.

    Zick was going to the Feahert district for many reasons. First was to go sightseeing at the festival.

    ''People do really change.....I wouldn''t even have thought of going around like this before....''

    Zick felt the changes in him. But still it was a very minor change, he didn''t feel like going on an adventure or anything simr at all.

    The other reasons were to buy a space ring and anything he liked along the way.

    And he also wanted to check if the plot changed or not.

    ''but I am not sure if today is the day mentioned in the novel.''

    Zick couldn''t remember everything he had read in the novel. It was mentioned that the protagonist, Aeiron, met a harem member in the next week of his stay in the city. He hadn''t written about it in the diary either.

    A train approached the mana train station without making a sound.

    SCREECH~

    There was only a screeching sound when the train stopped.

    Catching the ticket in his hand, Zick walked towards the ss entrance of the mana train. There was a red lighting from beside the entrance through a crystal.

    When Zick entered through the entrance, it started shining in green colour. If he had tried entering without the ticket mana barrier would have been created and siren would have started ringing calling upon the guards.

    Entering the mana train, Zick satfortably upon one of the seats feeling a little nostalgic.

    ''I should try using [warp] when no one is nearby to enter sometime.''

 Chapter 75 Feahert Plaza

    SCREECH~

    The mana train started moving after a minute. Its movement was very smooth, it didn''t shake in the slightest. It continued moving without making a sound.

    Zick sat beside the window seat and looked out of it. There were only a few people in the whole train which made it even more quiet.

    The whole mana train was enhanced with mana so that it wouldn''t get damaged quickly. It didn''t create any pollution nor did it consume any electricity or fuel.

    All this train needed was mana. The whole mana train worked using mana cores.

    The mana core falls in the category of alchemy. Even though the first continent didn''t excel in alchemy like the second continent, that didn''t mean that there wasn''t any alchemist in the first continent at all.

    Alchemy profession is something that can be chosen by anyone, but to walk in this path many years of dedicated work is needed.

    An alchemist must use his brain more than his body. If a person doesn''t put enough effort or just isn''t smart enough then it isn''t possible to make any progress.

    There are other problems along with it too. They needed to protect themselves in case their experiment explodes or there is also the problem of money.

    Only a ce like the alchemy tower where people with enough dedication for alchemy are chosen have a good environment for raising alchemists.

    The first continent didn''t create an alchemy tower like the second continent because a lot of resources would be expended in it. Using it in the other aspects would be a lot better, the chances of them surpassing the second continent in alchemy was impossible after all.

    Mana cores are different from golem cores.

    The golem core absorbs the mana in the atmosphere constantly but the mana core only absorbs mana when activated Manually. Both of them have certain limits.

    Finishing the apple in his hand, Zick burnt it using magic and took out another one from his space ring. There was no advertisement for station names in the train like on Earth, instead the ticket in his hand would start shining when his station approached.

    The train moved at a fast pace. It was already turning dark out of the train as the night was approaching. The sun had already set, it was twilight right at the moment.

    After ten minutes, the ticket in Zick''s hand started shining in the red light.

    ''Though the civilization of this world is low, they are able to catch up to the Earth''s level in some aspects easily using magic.....'' Looking at the ticket, Zick couldn''t help but think this.

    It didn''t take long for the mana train to reach the station.

    Stepping out through the entrance, Zick looked at the ticket in his hand. It slowly broke into mana particles and flew away.

    Not bothered by it, Zick started walking out of the mana train station. He had understood the principle behind how the magic worked in the ticket. He was confident in himself to preserve it after a few experiments.

    A crowded street entered Zick''s vision. The festive mood could be felt from all the things in the streets. The streetmps started glowing, illuminating the street further.

    ''ording to the novel, Aeiron met with Celine in the za of the Feahert district and it was night at that time.''

    Zick walked through the street leisurely. There were many people walking while talking to each other on the sidewalks. There were even demihuman who passed by him asionally.

    Walking for a while, Zick found a magic item shop easily because of his superior mana sensitivity.

    CLINK~

    When Zick opened the door, the sound of a bell rang out.<sub> </sub>

    "What might you need sir?" The receptionist who looked to be in her 30s spoke while evaluating Zick through his attire. Seeing his well made dress, she knew that without a doubt he was a noble.

    "Give me the best space ring you have." Zick directly stated his demand walking in front of the receptionist.

    "Yes, please wait for a second." Saying this, the receptionist walked towards one of the shelves and started rummaging through it. Taking out a small wooden box she walked back in front of Zick.

    "This is the best space ring we have right at the moment." The receptionist kept the box in front of Zick above the table.

    Picking up the box, Zick opened it without any hesitation and looked at the ring within it. It looked like a tinum ring with a purple gem in the middle of it. Catching it in his hand, he looked at its space capacity.

    ''More than 500 cubic metres.''

    "How much?"

    "3000 tinum coins sir." The receptionist spoke like it wasn''t a huge price at all.

    ''300 million Dels....'' Hearing the price, Zick wasn''t much surprised. His current space ring was around 200 million Dels after all, well luckily he had the Melvix family''s que at that time.

    Zick would have liked to just buy one from Anelete but it wasn''t possible as she didn''t have any high specs. She gave the excuse that she didn''t do much business in space rings.

    Space rings of this level are a lot rarer than it appears.

    ''Now that I will be trying to be an enchanter I should just make one for myself in the future.'' Zick consoled himself thinking this. He knew that he could make a lot of money selling the enchanted items that he made in the future so there wasn''t much to worry about.

    Paying the money through his space ring, Zick put the new ring in the index finger of the other hand.

    ''Let''s go to the za now....''

    Zick started heading towards the za. He would randomly buy things that looked delicious along the way as he went there. He even found one of the shops which was mentioned in the novel.

    It was an armoury shop which was known as the best one in the Feahert district, it''s name was beirter armoury. It was the ce from where the protagonist used to buy any weapon he needed.

    Zick wasn''t interested in it at all. He already had a cursed sword which was almost indestructible and his dragon scales.

    Zick arrived at the za soon, he didn''t need directions as he just had head towards centre of the Feahert district to react there. It wasrger than the za he had stopped by, when he reached the academic city. There were multiple fountains shining brightly even in the night.

    The whole za was decorated with light which just made it even brighter.

    ''This should be the ce....Even if it isn''t doesn''t matter.'' Zick wasn''t worried at all right now.

    Even if Aeiron didn''t appear today it didn''t matter to him much. It shouldn''t change the novel by a lot even if he didn''t meet his future harem member today. His main aim was just to get some fresh air and the space ring.

    Sitting upon the corners of the fountain, Zick took out one of the skewers which he had brought along the way and started eating it.

    ''Hmm....it''s better than I thought. which animal meat is this? or is it monster meat?''

    Having these random thoughts, Zick continued waiting for the protagonist.

 Chapter 76 Seveleen Shivial

    Zick''s expressionless face didn''t mesh well with the festive atmosphere at all. Still he attracted a lot of attention with his handsome face and the clothes he wore.

    The stares didn''t bother Zick. He just enjoyed the meat skewers in his hand.

    ''If he doesn''t appear within an hour I will just go back. There is no need to waste my time here any more.'' Looking at the bustling za in front of him, Zick continued waiting leisurely.

    The za just became more and more lively as the time passed by.

    "Are you here, mydy...?" A woman in her mid 20s looked around frantically. she looked very hurried, she wore a normal white dress.

    ''''Is she not here.....madam will get angry if she knows" Mumbling to herself she dashed off somewhere.

    ''Is she that lost the child''s mother from the novel.....but who is this madam ? Is she just a servant?'' Zick looked towards the women''s receding back.

    After a few minutes, a sobbing sound of a child reached Zick.

    ''It actually happened....'' Zick looked at the girl who looked to be no more than 8 year old crying in some distance. She had white hair and blue eyes.

    ording to the novel, the protagonist of the novel, Aeiron, would help this kid named Erene find her parents.

    Slowly Erene walked near the fountain and stood there, looking around searching for her parents with tearful eyes.

    In the novel, the sobbing girl had said that her mother had instructed her to stay near the fountain if she got lost. But Erene didn''t know that her mother had already passed by here.

    Erene was also the daughter of the owner of beirter armoury shop so when Aeiron helped her, he also gained the goodwill of her father.

    Zick looked around if he could find Aeiron, anywhere. Even after a few minutes had passed there was no sign of him appearing.

    ''Then the butterfly effect must have already reached here....''

    "Sigh..." Zick could only sigh, thinking of the time he wasted here. Waiting another five minutes, he got off from the fountain he was sitting upon and tried to start walking but....

    Zick turned towards the sobbing girl.

    ''I was going to leave her to the protagonist but.....I can help a little, she is a kid anyway.''

    Zick didn''t like helping other people but it seems like there was an exception for kids. It probably reminds him of his childhood on Earth.

    Zick utilises his senses to the limit searching For the women who came here prior searching for Erene. It didn''t take long for him to find her.

    ''Hmm.....she is a lot farther than I thought.'' Zick could feel her presence a few hundred metres from him. He walked in front of Erene who had already sat upon a bench reaching her limit in endurance standing at one ce.

    Erene''s head was downcast with an extremely lost look on her face. Feeling Zick''s presence in front of her, She lifted her head up. The tears in her eyes had already dried up by now.

    "Come with me, I will take you to you mother.'''' Zick spoke slowly but his voice was still emotionless as ever. He didn''t care if Erene rejected his help, he would just continue heading back then.

    Erene''s shoulders started shaking looking at Zick''s face. In her eyes, he looked extremely handsome and mysterious making it hard for her to speak. But she forced herself to somehow speak hearing what he said.

    "mother.....? I just got separated from my servant" Surprisingly her voice did not stutter at all. She gave the impression of someone who was raised in a noble family

    Seeing her act like this and the thing she said made Zick suspicious. In the novel, Erene started crying the moment Aeiron tried speaking to her. But the girl in front of him looked directly in his eyes with a forceful expression.

    Zick looked at the girl who should be Erene. She wore a beautiful white gown with many expensive essories which fit her perfectly. He had already forgotten the brief description of Erene that the Novel gave unfortunately.

    ''''....okay let''s look for your servant and what is your name?" Zick asked this question squinting his eyes.

    "E-eleoner...." Eleoner tried to say something more but in the end she cast her head down, all her persistent vanishing.

    ''Eleoner....? meeting her must be a coincidence then....well whatever today is probably not the day where Aeiron meets Celine....'' Zick didn''t know anyone going by the name Eleoner in his whole life.

    "Alright let''s go then, Eleoner." Zick extended his hand towards her slowly. it didn''t matter to him who she was anymore.<sub> </sub>

    Nodding her head, Eleoner held Zick''s hand with her small palm. She held onto his two fingers tightly, probably traumatised, getting lost from her guardian.

    Hopping down the bench lightly, She looked at Zick with her blue eyes in anticipation.

    ''She is really naive, believing in other people''s words so easily....'' Zick couldn''t help but think this looking at Eleoner''s behaviour.

    Zick started walking, leading Eleoner to where he sensed the presence of the servant looking for her.

    A voice reached him while he walked. "Erene! Are you here?" it was a very anxious and sad voice.

    "Sigh....."

    Hearing the voice Zick could only sigh feeling a little annoyed. ''I dont care anymore.''

    But there was still something he was curious about. ''Did Eleoner leave by the time Aeiron came here in the novel or is this a butterfly effect caused by me?'' Zick didn''t think of this matter for long as it wouldn''t matter anyway.

    Zick continued walking with Eleoner who stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.

    While walking towards the servant looking for Eleoner, Zick suddenly felt another presenceing in contact with the servant.

    ''A high rank mage.'' Zick was easily able to tell the rank of the person who appeared near the servant.

    Because of Eleoner''s small leg their walking speed was slow. Zick wanted to use [Warp] but he still hadn''t experimented by using it upon others which made him reluctant. And not to say about Eleoner''s weak constitution.

    The street was filled with people talking around merrily. There were fewer carriages and caravans on the street as it was already night.

    The crystal hung within the stalls ceiling shined brightly illuminating their goods. Even the shops had many crystals kept within amp of many different colours shining brightly making the street more look more lively. This crystals were almost identical to the wallmps of the earth.

    Eleoner could only follow Zick without knowing where he was taking her. She held his hand while looking around the street curiously. For some reason she felt that this street was familiar.

    ''Its the same as ever.....'' Zick thought this looking at the starry sky. He soon reached the ce where the servant was.

    They stood in front of a huge mansion. Right at the moment, the servant had her head bowed with Regretful expression and the high rank mage stood in front of her still berating her.

    "We must now go look for her n-'''' The high rank mage''s Word was cut off by Eleoner as she ran towards her.

    "Sister!" Eleoner hugged the high rank mage happily.

    "Eleoner....." The high rank mage braced Eleoner crouching down with a smile on her face.

    ''She is....'' Zick stood his ground looking at the high rank mage closely with still a deadpan expression on his face. He didn''t know about her but he felt that he knew her from the novel.

    The high rank mage was actually a girl who looked to be 15 year old the same as Zick. She had long tinum-white hair reaching below her waist and she had the same blue eyes like Eleoner. She wore a ck gown with many delicate works on it in purple colour. Just the jewellery on her clearly showed her noble status.

    Seeing Zick standing in front of her, The girl with tinum-white hair looked at him with a confused expression.

    "Ah! He helped me find you." Eleoner smiled brightly while saying this to the tinum-white hair girl.

    "I see....." Nodding her head the tinum-white hair girl looked towards Zick. "Thank you for helping us find my sister, representing the whole Shivial Family, I would like to repay you for your help." She was able to tell that Zick was a noble with a single nce from his clothes.

    The tinum-white hair girl posture could only be said to be perfect as she spoke to Zick. Her voice was formal and stiff, belonging to that of a noble.

    Zick''s eyes widened hearing her words. He knew about the Shivial family, it was a duke rank noble of the Pheorous.

    ''which means she is seveleen Shivial....A harem member of the protagonist.''

    And she was also the future archmage.

 Chapter 77 Shivial Familys Mansion

    Standing in front of the gate, Seveleen looked at the person who had helped her sister. She couldn''t feel his presence at all, it was almost like he didn''t exist at all. This could only mean one thing.

    He was stronger than her.

    A mage''s way of sensing other''s strength was different. The mana filled with their ''will'' were like an extension of their senses which helps them to sense other people.

    To a high rank mage, their ''will'' filled mana extended up to 50 metres. But Seveleen wasn''t able to sense Zick''s presence in her perception no matter how much she tried.

    Seveleen didn''t even have to think for long to deduce who he was. She figured it out almost immediately.

    ''Zick Melvix''

    Just from his noble clothes and appearance, She was able to tell who he was.

    Zick looked to be 15 years old the same age as her so it was apparent as to who he was. As There was the only one person who surpassed her being the same age. This just made her more certain of her assumption of him being Zick.

    It was almost known by all the nobles throughout the first continent that Zick was a peak rank knight.

    Actually Zick could even hide his presence against a master rank swordsman but let a little of his presence be leaked intentionally. This allowed other people to sense the presence of his mana nerves, making them believe that he was still peak rank knight.

    But now Zick had stopped even a tiny bit of his presence from leaking. There was no need for it anymore, soon everyone would know of his master level battle strength. There was a very low chance of Anelete keeping the information hidden.

    Zick had originally nned to do this after absorbing the mana nerve into his body, officially bing a master swordsman but he had to discard that n after the assassin ambush.

    If Zick continued doing what he did till now and still acted as a peak rank knight, he would stand to gain nothing from it anymore. Instead it will just make everyone suspicious of him.

    Even if a master Swordsman appeared, they wouldn''t be able to sense his presence. This would lead them to thinking that he was a master Swordsman as that was the only possible conclusion which could exin his situation.

    Seveleen was initially surprised, staring towards Zick with suspicion hidden within her, but after making a conjecture about his identity she rxed a little. It didn''t matter even if her conjecture was wrong, what mattered is that he helped her sister.

    "I am Seveleen Shivial, I would like to know if I can repay you in any way possible. Is there anything you need?" The smile on her face she had after reuniting with her sister vanished. In its ce a calm expression appeared. She looked towards Zick and waited for his answer.

    Though Zick''s expression didn''t change the whole, he was internally surprised meeting Seveleen like this. He didn''t even know that she had a sister.

    When Zick heard what Seveleen said, he didn''t even need to consider what he needed.

    ''Money....I need money more than anything right now and It''s for free too.''

    Zick needed money not just for bing an enchanter, there were many things that he had to spend money on.

    ''Like the underworld.....''

    Almost all the ruling forces had an underworld where all illegal deals were carried out. The academic city had one too and Zick nned oning in contact with them soon. He was also going to keep a long term business rtionship with them.

    "My name is Zick Melvix and give me money as apensation."

    It had been a long time since he carried himself like a noble but still there wasn''t any w in his greeting.<sub> </sub>

    "I see....It would take a few minutes to prepare thepensation so can you wait within the mansion?"

    Seveleen was a little confused as to why a Duke''s son was asking for money. But she didn''t think deeply about it, all she wanted was to repay Zick for his favour right now.

    There was no need to pay respect within the academy, but it was different within the academic city. So when Zick introduced himself as someone of a noble peerage, Seveleen had to invite him within the mansion.

    Making a Duke''s son stand in front of the mansion door could only be viewed as a very Discourteous act.

    "Okay." Zick''s response was almost immediate. His expression didn''t change but he felt happy about getting money internally.

    "Felena, show the guest way within the mansion." Seveleen spoke to the servant who had been standing near them for a while.

    "Yes, Please this way sir"

    The servant started leading the way professionally. Her movements were natural, showing that she had been trained from a very young age.

    Seveleen and Eleoner moved separately, Seveleen going towards the butler to arrange the money, while Eleonee just followed her wanting to stay with her.

    Seveleen wasn''t worried about money at all, she was from a Duke family after all.

    Walking behind the servant, Zick looked at the mansion.

    The mansion of the Shivial family wasn''t much different from Zick''s mansion, they were both three stories high. Only the aesthetic sense could be said to be different.

    Zick''s mansion was very simple, there was a minimum amount of ornaments. So his mansion gave off the impression of a house that was only made to use temporarily.

    But the Shivial family''s mansion was totally the opposite. It had many ornaments all over the ce. There were many beautiful flower pots and paintings hung on the wall. The furniture was on the brighter side making it look more lively.

    Looking at all this, Zick could only think of the Melvix family to be extremely petty. They hadn''t even given him any money when he left for the academy.

    "Please wait in this room, sir." Leading Zick to a huge hall, the servant said this and went away after asking a few questions.

    She had asked if Zick needed anything to only be answered with a firm ''no''.

    Sitting upon one of the sofas in the middle of the hall, Zick contemted the matter he had been considering for a while.

    Without a doubt being a noble peerage gives a lot of benefits. Being the heir of the Melvix family was an idle position for Zick right now. He had the backing of the whole Melvix family without taking up any of the responsibilities.

    But this won''tst for long, Zick had to go to the second continent in a year. He would lose all his influence and would only be able to rely on himself then.

    Zick had already begun nning on what he should do after reaching the second continent.

    ''I will conquer all the underworlds in there. This way my influence would at least increase to a certain degree.''

 Chapter 78 Underworlds

    Zick had changed after bing one with his broken side. Before on Earth, he was forced by the others to live as a loser. It was not his own will.

    But in this world, Zick was free. There was almost nothing that was pressuring his mind excessively. There were worries about the demon Lord but it didn''t reach the level where he could only concentrate on that one thing yet.

    Right now, he might be working keeping the demon Lord as the aim in mind but that would change after finishing him off.

    Zick had already felt some ambitions and aspirations appear within him. It came in the form of him taking over the underworld to gain influence. It was better than bing a ruler too.

    Zick wouldn''t face any restrictions while he did all the things from the underworld. As long as he did all the things in the dark there shouldn''t be any problem at all.

    ''I would at least have a base and influence after taking care of the demon lord.''

    Though there were still many problems with it.

    There were many ws in Zick''s ns in taking over the underworld in the second continent. He knew about some of the underworlds through the novel but after he takes over them, he would have to find the others out himself.

    There was also the problem that would appear after taking control of an underworld. Who will take care of it?

    No, even before that. Who could Zick trust upon to leave the underworld management to?

    There were many businesses done by the underworld. ve trade of every kind, gambling den, monster poaching....they were endless.

    The second continent was different from the first continent. They were racist to the extreme, So very was amon act in there.

    In the first continent''s underworld, very or any kind of illegal work is carried out very secretively.

    He could leave it up to Butler Von but he would not be able to take care of multiple underworld. Even just taking care of one could be considered a challenging job. He himself didn''t want to do such work too.

    Though Zick didn''t like carrying around people who he didn''t have any trust in, it couldn''t be helped this time. The people working for the underworld were necessary to keep it functioning.

    But still Zick had already made up his mind on binding everyst person working with the underworld with a oath or contract, even very seal would work. But that doesn''t mean they were loyal to him, there would still be the threat of him being betrayed.

    This betrayal would not damage him physically but instead affect his influence. He might just lose all the influence and political power he gained in a sh.

    Zick knew that he only had one major w, He couldn''t trust others. But he didn''t n on getting rid of this w, this way he would always be on guard against others.

    Zick already had candidates to choose through the novel. But there was only one problem with it, almost all people who helped the protagonist of the novel were people either with morals or had kind personalities. So he had to choose after contemting about them thoroughly.

    Sitting upon the luxuries sofa, Zick continued staring at the painting on the wall, while still lost in his thoughts.

    After Zick had considered all the problems, he could only find one answer.

    ''I will have to get subordinates who wouldn''t betray me.....no, they shouldn''t be able to betray me.....''

    That could also be one of the reasons why he decided to make a connection with the underworld of the academic city. There was already a candidate he wanted to recruit there.

    And he even needed monsters and humans for experiments that he wanted to perform.

    Feeling the presence of Seveleen and Eleonering towards him, Zick put this train of thought at the back of his head temporarily.<sub> </sub>

    Both of them entered the hall at once, seeing Zick sitting there without even a cup of tea made Seveleen involuntarily furrow her brow. Normally the temperament of people in the same standing as them act very conceited.

    By now they would have already started to act all arrogant, treating the mansion as their own property. At least that was how it was for all the noble sons Seveleen met in the parties.

    They would treat anyone in lower social status with disdain. Even the people in the same standing as them would be looked down upon internally.

    So it was a new experience for Seveleen to meet someone like Zick. He was totally different from what she had imagined. ording to the rumours, he hadmitted a massacre in the battlefield so she had thought of him as a bloodthirsty type or a cold blooded person.

    But Seveleen''s impression of Zick improved the moment she got to know that he helped her sister.

    Walking in front of him, Seveleen took out a bronze ring and handed it over to him. It was a low rank space ring.

    "Do you need any assistance in going back?"

    "No....." Zick''s voice trailed off as he was still looking at the content within the space ring.

    Nodding her head, Seveleen extended her hand which was covered in ck gloves towards Zick.

    "I will be attending the academy this year too, let''s meet in the new year beginning ceremony again" Seveleen spoke to Zick with a slight smile on her face.

    Though it was called the new year beginning ceremony, it was more of a party where everyone could get to know each other. Not only students but all the professors and merchants with enough influencee there.

    That is also the ce where Zick ns on meeting the owner of the underworld.

    "See you at the party then."

    Getting up, Zick shakes hands with Seveleen and directly starts heading out of the mansion. He didn''t bother saying anything else, he liked being straightforward like this. The servants offered their help in guiding him but he rejected them all.

    Seveleen didn''t stop him, Eleoner just waved her Hand saying "bye-bye!" at Zick''s receding figure.

    ''thirty thousand tinum coins...'' Zick was surprised by the Shivial family''s generosity.

    Getting out of the mansion, Zick walked towards the za he came from. He had only taken a few turns while heading towards here so he remembered them vividly. He walked leisurely without an ounce of urgency in it.

    ''Seveleen was just like how she was described in the novel.....''

    Zick rummaged through his mind, and suddenly, he extracted a very old piece of information from the depths of his memories.

    ''Seveleen was the most rational among all the harem member of the protagonist. She was also the one with most ambition. It was her dream to be a Archmage.''

    ''Seveleen was seen as a perfect noble by everyone, she was a natural born talent. Being perfect in almost everything she did, there wasn''t anything that a person could find fault in her. But she didn''t care about it at all, she only wanted to reach the apex of the mage profession.....She didn''t even get into an intimate rtionship with the protagonist till thetter part of the novel.''

    Zick brought a few more skewers and fruits as he walked towards the za. The protagonist must have already helped Erene if he appeared by now.

    ''I should just take a look before going to a mana train station.''

    The feahert district wasn''t too far from Zick''s mansion. The feahert district was located in the south section of the academic city, while Zick mansion was in the west.

 Chapter 79 [Animosity Eyes]

    The street was filled with many people who had bright expressions on their faces. Passing by them, Zick munched upon the skewers in his hand.

    It would take another few minutes to reach the za by walking from where he was at. Suddenly Zick''s steps came to a stop. He remembered one of the magic that he created.

    ''I should use that magic instead of wasting my time going there.'' Zick started walking towards the mana train without hesitation. He didn''t want to waste his time anymore, he had juste to see the protagonist because of curiosity but he had lost interest by now.

    <o>,m While walking, Zick cast a magic.</o>

    ''[Animosity eyes]''

    In that instant, A viewing window appeared in the corner of his vision, it was just like he was watching a video on theputer. He could adjust the window''s size at will too. He felt a mental pressure which gave him a slight headache. But this didn''t change his expression, it was still indifference.

    Right now he could see himself in the image.

    Lifting his head up, Zick looked at the floating ck eye that appeared above in the sky. The ck eye was roughly ten centimetre. No one was able to sense its presence at all.

    The [Animosity eyes] was a scouting type magic. It was the best one he created in this field, there was almost no immediate disadvantage in this magic to him. Even its capabilities were excellent.

    This magic could only be sensed by a peak master swordsman. It could be used from a few kilometres away without a problem. The only downside of this magic was that it put a lot of mental pressure upon the caster. But Zick didn''t have any problem using this magic. With his superior body recovery rate there wouldn''t be any problem for a while.

    If a normal person tried using this magic, he would reach his limit within a minute.

    [Animosity eyes] didn''t just give the ability of seeing but also hearing to a certain degree. It could pass through most of the things easily, only things enchanted with magic could disrupt it.

    Following Zick''s will, the ck eye started moving towards the za. It didn''t take long for it to reach there, being unhindered the whole time in the air.

    cing a little of his attention upon the image, Zick continued walking while eating a skewer. He could see the za clearly. Controlling the ck eye through his will, he looked around the za.

    ''hm.....found him.'' It didn''t take long for Zick to find the person he was looking for.

    A figure entered the ck eye''s vision.

    The figure was a boy who smiled brightly, he looked to be 15 years old. He had bright red hair and eyes matching his expression. He looked very handsome, His eyes were sparkling like there were stars in it as he looked around the streets with interest.

    He was the protagonist of the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'', Aeiron. He wore simple track pants with a whitish-brown T-shirt. The academy badge was hung on his chest

    Aeiron looked the total opposite of Zick, he gave an impression of someone innocent and inexperienced. While Zick gave an indifferent and matured feeling to others.

    Looking at the sword hanging on Aeiron''s waist, Zick was able to tell that he had already helped Erene by now. That sword was given as a gift to him by Erene''s father for helping to find his daughter.

    ''It doesn''t seem like the plot has changed by a lot yet. Though it doesn''t seem like he would be able to meet Celine today.''

    Zick had already reached the mana train station. He went towards the ticket counter which was almost empty and took a ticket.

    Zick''s mansion was in the Desterk district located in the east section of the Academic city. Standing in the station, he continued looking at Aeiron through the ck eye.

    ording to the novel, Celine was already in the za before Aeiron arrived there after helping Erene. But right now, she wasn''t there. This could only mean one thing, Zick had changed the flow of the story.

    Zick didn''t care about maintaining the novel plot at all. He wouldn''t gain anything from it after all. Seeing the train arriving, he took ast look at Aeiron who was leaving the za and deactivated the [Animosity eyes].<sub> </sub>

    Zick felt like a load had been taken off him. Feeling refreshed, he entered the mana train and sat upon one of the seats near the window. Taking out a deep pink fruit which looked like a Pomegranate from Earth, he started eating it.

    ''Hm...not bad.'' Eating the fruit, Zick looked out of the window.

    It took only a few minutes for the mana train to reach its destination.

    SCREECH~

    With a slow screeching sound, the mana train came to a stop.

    Getting off it, Zick headed back towards the mansion. It had already turned night but the mana train station had enough light, with all the blue crystals shining from the ceiling.

    The streets here were less crowded than the ones from Feahert district. He remembered the way back to the mansion so he started walking towards it without hesitation.

    Within five minutes, Zick arrived in front of his mansion. The guard opened the gate for him to enter immediately.

    Entering the mansion, Zick walked towards Butler Von. There was something he needed him to do.

    Butler Von was in the kitchen along with another servant, preparing food with a Stoic expression.

    Hearing someone walking here, Butler Von turned around only to see Zick standing at the entrance of the kitchen.

    ''''The dinner is almost ready, young master Zick." Bowing towards Zick, butler Von spoke in an apologetic way. It had taken longer than he had estimated as it took a while to buy food ingredients in the academic city.

    ''''Alright and I want you to bring me the highest quality oath seal within tomorrow.'''' Walking in front of Butler Von, Zick handed over the space ring he got from the Shivial family. He had already taken 20,000 tinum coins from the ring, but now there are only 10,000 tinum coins in it.

    ''''Yes.''''

    Hearing Butler Von''s answer, Zick started heading towards his room.

    An oath seal is the same as an oath. The only thing different is that the oath seal was in the shape of a paper contract. There were a lot of restrictions in it, like it was not possible to form aplex or long oath through it.

    And it was possible to even resist or remove this oath using various means. The best way to resist it is by using overwhelming strength, this way they wouldn''t die at the least after breaking the oath.

    Zick needed this oath seal for Anelete. He knew that her chances of going against her word are low, but he would rather trust an oath than her. He had chosen her to do trade for many reasons.

    He needed a way to buy and sell his goods in a stable, favourable and safe channel.

    The underworld couldn''t actually fulfil any of these criteria. If Zick traded with them excessively, it was possible that his connection with them would be found out.

    Zick wanted to keep long term rtion with the underworld so he didn''t want it get found out and destroyed already.

    Anelete was the best choice for him currently. Signing an oath was amon act among many people so it wasn''t a weird thing for him to send an oath seal to her.

    Reaching his room, Zick sat upon one of the couches and started training in his aura with nothing else to do.

 Chapter 80 The Felharo Desert

    Zick changed his clothes to afortable shirt and pants, then continued training in his aura.

    Zick only went down once to eat his dinner, it was stew with many side dishes. After that he trained till midnight before starting to sleep,ying upon his new king size bed.

    In just a few hours, Zick woke up from his slumber. Feeling that it was still in the middle of the night, he could only try to fall asleep again.

    ''I want to sleep more...'' To Zick sleep was a means to pass his time but his body wouldn''t allow him to sleep for long.

    Seeing that he couldn''t fall asleep, Zick sat crossed leg on the bed and started training. There was still a lot of time before the administrative centre of the academy opened.

    They usually start working from early hours in the morning as there are just too many people who try to get admitted at this time of the year.

    Zick started thinking about the academy while still training in his aura.

    There are many courses in the academy that could be picked. Spear arts, swords art, military arts, archery, ranger, enchantment, alchemy, magic, it was even possible to take sses aboutnd management and governing skills.

    It is only possible to choose any three from the above courses. Once chosen it was not possible to change the course, only at the end of that year in the academy is it possible to change it.

    Leaving those three courses, all the students will have to attend history, basic calction and physical ssespulsorily. But failing in a theoretical test like this wouldn''t get a person expelled.

    In the academy, practical tests were the main focus.

    There would be a test at the end every month, the practical exam were most of the time performed out of the Academic city. In the forest, mountains, desert.....

    Thinking this, suddenly Zick remembered the incident where Aeiron met the dark elves who lived in the north desert named Felharo.

    In this incident, Aeiron had saved one of the dark elves who had gotten hurt fighting a demonic monster. Though he was still not weed by the dark elves in the end. He still gained a mana Elixir from the person he saved. If Hester who had eaten a piece of dragon heart had been with him, the result might have been different.

    This incident couldn''t be said to be important to Aeiron, but it was very important to the first continent as they were able to find out about the demonic race invading the desert.

    ''This incident happened in the seventh month of the academy.'' Zick put this train of thought at the back of his head and continued thinking about the academy.

    The practical test came in many forms, fighting monsters, survival, scouting and many more. If a student fails in any three of the practical tests in the same year, they would be kicked out immediately.

    The theory test could be said as important and unimportant at the same time. The theory test affects the grade of a person, so the people with ambition to be a noble will have to take care of their theory grades too.

    After all, the academy can''t just make an idiot into a noble. Doing that would damage its reputation and also cause suffering for the people under a noble like that.

    Getting high grades also gives the student many privileges in the Academic city.

    Violence isn''t prohibited, but killing and causing a life threatening injury would be punished. But they can''t sentence noble sons and daughters to death.

    The academy had to make such a rule if not all themoners would be hesitant in sending their sons and daughters into the academy.

    There were no weekend holidays in the academy, as the term ''week'' didn''t even exist in this world. But the term ''month'' and ''year'' existed, though it was different from earth.

    In every month there are 32 days in this world. The year was the same as earth leaving that there was some difference in days.

    The academy would give three days off after the end of a month after the test ends.<sub> </sub>

    Time passed by quickly while Zick was lost in his thoughts about the academy. Feeling the sun rising, he started changing his clothes.

    Zick just wore afortable white shirt with full sleeves and formal ck pants. He only had a dozen clothes like this, but he didn''t care about it.

    Zick could keep his clothes in a perfect and clean state using magic. He wore a ck jacket over his shirt. After fixing his hair a little while looking in the mirror, he started moving towards the ground floor, where Butler Von was preparing his breakfast.

    Arriving at the dining hall, Zick could see Butler Von bowing towards.

    With an indifferent look, Zick sat upon one of the chairs at the table and looked at the feast which didn''t look like a breakfast at all on the table.

    Seeing the expensive white tes and cups even he didn''t know where they came from. Not saying anything, Zick started eating one of the sausages in front of him. He didn''t know from which animal or monster this sausage was made from, but it was very juicy and tasty.

    He continues eating the sd and meat after it. Finishing up the delicious breakfast, Zick got up from the dining table.

    "I am going to the administrative centre of the academy, take care of the mansion." Turning his back to Butler Von, Zick started walking out of the dining hall.

    "Yes and the oath seal you asked for would be ready before youe back."

    Hearing this, Zick nodded his head towards Butler Von and continued walking out of the mansion.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door, Zick walked towards the gate in front of him. The sun had already risen, illuminating the surroundings in bright light.

    Seeing Zick walking towards them, the guards opened the gate immediately. Zick started heading towards the mana train station following his memories.

    Arriving at the mana train station, Zick brought a ticket for the central district, It was also known as the middle section of the Academic city. Surprisingly, the ticket cost him 50 gold coins, with this much amount amoner could live his life for a few weeks without a worry.

    A train was already present in the station before he even reached there so he didn''t have to wait.

    Entering the train, Zick sat upon one of the seats. The train started moving within a minute.

    ''I will choose sword art and enchantment as my courses. I can choose another one but there is no need for it.'' Staring out of the window, Zick waited patiently for the Central district to arrive.

    The mana train stopped in several stations before it reached the Central district.

    Getting off the train, Zick started heading out of the station. There were dozens of people who also got down from the train at the same time as him.

    More than a station, it looked like a huge house reaching five stories high. The whole building was made of white marbles.

    Out of the station, the environment and atmosphere was totally different from the other districts. No stall was present in front of Zick, even the people walking here were sparser.

    There was only a single road made of tiles before Zick, it led towards another huge building.

    Not hesitating, Zick started walking towards the huge building through the road. He knew what that building was.

    ''The administrative centre.''

 Chapter 81 The Administrative Centre

    Currently the festival was going on so most of the people working in the academy were spending their time leisurely, enjoying the festival. But for the people of the administrative division, work had increased tremendously.

    A huge crowd of people entered Zick''s field of vision, they stood in a straight line waiting for their chance to enter the administration centre. Almost all of them were standing in pairs, they were children with their parents next to them.

    Zick didn''t join the line, instead he walked beside them directly heading towards the huge building in the distance. This of course gathered attention upon him.

    The people standing in the line went from merchants to even nobles of lower rank. There were even people who were not able to enter the prior day and came here again today.

    They knew that it was rare for a person to get permission to enter directly. So some stared upon Zick with curiosity and some were even feeling envious internally. Seeing his clothes it was apparent that he was noble to them.

    Walking further towards the administrative centre, Zick was able to see the entrance of it. Another thing also entered his eyes. It was a huge barrier which covered the whole central District, where the academy was.

    Right at the moment, the barrier had stopped covering the administrative areas. Zick knew about this barrier and he was even able to tell it''s ability himself after seeing it.

    The academy had set up this barrier In order to prevent non-students from wandering around the campus, the academy was equipped with physical barriers as well asrge scale magic barriers that block those that weren''t students, faculty or people who had permission to enter. The academy''s security, crime prevention system and barriers were almost impable.

    After all, There were children who came from each country''s powerful family, so they created an environment in which they could fully focus on their studies without worrying about their safety. That''s why everyone was able to send their children off to a far away ce with a peace of mind and it would be a big deal if any of the students were to get harmed or abducted while they were walking around the academy, so they put huge emphasis on the safety measures.

    ''Even if I attack it with my full power, it would take a while to destroy this barrier.'' Even while analysing the barrier, Zick''s step did note to a stop.

    Of course, there were loopholes in the barriers. It was not possible to destroy it immediately, but it was possible to deactivate it internally within the academy. There were incidents that happened in the academy because of it after all.

    The administrative centre was huge, it was like a mini pce in itself. It shined brightly in the sunlight showing off the expensive marbles it was made of.

    The line of people entered through the entrance, where three people with peak rank strength stood as guards. There was another entrance some distance from it, where there wasn''t even a single person going towards it.

    After looking at the other empty entrance, Zick directly headed towards it. He already knew about what that entrance was for.

    It was for people who have been invited from the academy or the heirs of the Duke and Royalty. The other entrance was the people who came to try their luck in seeing if their sons and daughters had talent.

    If a person is found to have overwhelming talent, the academy would ept them.

    Zick proudly entered through the empty entrance to apply for admission.

    Unlike the other entrance, this ce was very quiet. Of course, there were people there, but the ce they waited in was decorated very luxuriously with many ornaments.

    Zick looked around as he walked towards the reception, this ce had already surpassed the luxury hotels of Earth.

    There was a man sitting in the reception, he smiled at Zick who arrived in front of him.<sub> </sub>

    "How can I Help you sir?" The receptionist''s voice was respectful but at the same time not too subservient.

    Not saying anything, Zick extended his hand in which slowly a letter materialised.

    Seeing the letter, the receptionist''s eyes widened for a second, but it returned back to normal the next moment.

    "Please wait a second." Taking the letter, the receptionist put it upon the crystal which he took out from his ring. Though his face was calm, he was surprised internally. This year he had almost seen three academy invitations letter shockingly. This had never happened before.

    The crystal ball started shining at blue light, confirming the validity of the letter.

    Nodding his head, The receptionist gave back the letter to Zick. Then he took out a few papers and passed them on to him.

    "Please fill this form and read the rules before giving it back sir." Though Zick was younger than him, the receptionist treated him with respect.

    Taking the paper, Zick walked towards one of the sofas in the corner. He found a familiar face too among the people who were in this huge hall.

    ''Ste Garcia....'' Zick sat upon one of the sofas in the distance from her.

    Ste Garcia would be assassinated after six months. This assassination was ordered by Verse the master swordsman of the Garcia family. After all, he knew that to destroy the Garcia family''s mansion, he would first need to destroy everyst person carrying their blood.

    ''This just how this world is'' Zick''s eyes shined thinking this.

    Even without having to do anything with it, Ste would be killed because of a conspiracy. Without any strength no one can be sure of their survival in this world.

    That is the reason, Zick wanted to be stronger as fast as possible. Only after bing stronger, could he live and do things with a peace of mind.

    Now that Zick had grown stronger, his thought process was a lot more free. He could feel many emotions rising within him. But most of the time he still decided to do things rationally as that way his chances of making mistakes will exponentially decrease.

    But as his strength increased, he started following his emotions a little more.

    Zick read through the form in his hand, it was actually an enchanted item. While catching it, if he willed it, the nk spots for him to fill will be automatically filled following his will. It was a very efficient item, there was no need for a pen or mana.

    There were totally three papers, one was a form while the other two were papers filled with rules and regtions.

    Zick directly started filling up the form first.

 Chapter 82 The Academys Campus

    The form didn''t ask for anyplicated information. It asked simple things like address, age and gender, so it didn''t take long for Zick to fill the whole form.

    Finishing filling the form, Zick swiftly went through the rules and regtion, not being interested. If he had sum up all the things that this two pages say then

    ''The rules state that all students have to treat each other equally, and the authority and status one had outside was meaningless in the academy.....Bullshit'' Thinking this, Zick walked towards the receptionist.

    There was a major w in this rule. It only mentioned that authority could not be used within the academy, not out of it. Which means a student with enough authority could threaten another by just holding their family hostages or many other ways like this. There wasn''t even a need for it, if the student had enough strength he could just beat up the other student. The academy won''t stop them until it goes too far.

    The academy doesn''t n on changing the rules either.

    There were other things in the paper too, but Zick deemed them as useless information.

    Arriving in front of the reception, Zick passed on the papers back to the receptionist.

    "Ohh you can keep the paper stating rules with you sir." The receptionist tried giving back the papers to him but.

    "Don''t need it." Zick spoke firmly as he looked at the receptionist.

    "A-alright"

    He took the form and a thin square steel te of around 10 centimetre from the space ring, then ced the crystal ball in front of Zick.

    "Please put your hand above the crystal sir." cing his hand above the crystal along the form and steel te, The receptionist said this.

    Zick put his hand above the crystal feeling no danger from it.

    The crystal ball started shining dimly as the receptionist sent his mana into it. The form slowly turned into mana particles and entered the crystal. The square te started shining along with it.

    At the same time, Zick felt some mana trying to enter his body through the crystal. He let it flow into his body not resisting it using aura as he felt that the mana was just too weak to harm him.

    Zick figure got covered in transparent blue glow along with the crystal. The crystal stopped shining slowly, it hadn''t even taken five seconds for all this to happen.

    Taking a look at the square steel te which had turned ck, the receptionist nodded his head, finding nothing wrong in it, and passed it onto Zick. "This is your student identification card, it can tell the academy your location, it is strictly only for your own safety sir. This can be used to ess all the public areas in the academy too. If you ever lose it, please inform the academy by contacting one of the professors."

    Zick looked at the ck card closely. There was a photo of himself in it and other general information about him. His photo was made using one of the abilities of the crystal ball in front of him. He could also feel the magic imbued in it to track the cards location.

    Zick didn''t n on removing it, there wasn''t much danger in keeping it like that. If he wanted to hide his whereabouts, he could just leave the ck card behind.

    The receptionist took out an invitation letter and a badge which was simr to the one worn by Aeiron and gave it to Zick. The badge was in a triangle shape with a moon diagonally in it.

    "This badge can be used to ess the train and also the ss you will be attending will be announced at the new year ceremony. It''s possible to enter the academy''s campus now that you have been registered."

    Receptionist had started treating Zick more respectfully as he had read his name in the form, getting to know that he was a duke''s son and as well as the most talented person in this year.<sub> </sub>

    Taking the letter and badge, Zick ced the letter within his space ring and the badge in one of his pockets in the jacket. He started heading towards the mana train station immediately. He wasn''t interested in roaming around the academy. He could just look around once he started attending the sses.

    Zick knew the general outline of how the central district was through the novel.

    While walking towards the mana train station, Zick lifted his head up and looked at the grand pce in the distance above the administrative centre. That was actually the academy.

    Zick couldn''t help but marvel at the huge pce-like building. It was his first time seeing such arge pce since he came to this world. But still his expression didn''t change even while he admired the academy

    ''I will create a pce like that in the future too.'' Zick felt that this thought was absurd, but at the same time he felt that if he put his mind into it, he could do it. He continued walking after staring at the academy for a few seconds.

    There were numerous subsidiary facilities and special purpose halls scattered here and there in the central district. There were stadiums and other special facilities, including concert halls.

    As the campus was just toorge to traverse by foot, the academy had a separate tram line that only operated inside of it. Of course, it was free using the student ID.

    There were also many prohibited areas, the only way to enter these ces was by getting higher grades in tests. The academy had created this to encourage other students to work hard.

    There was only one ce that interested Zick among all the prohibited areas, The great library. He only wanted the knowledge stored within the books there.

    Zick wasn''t worried about getting a good grade at all. He remembered most of the practical tests given by the academy, they were very easy in his view. Even theory tests could be easily handled using [Animosity eyes]. He didn''t feel any shame in doing this.

    Zick was extremely rational when it came to things which could increase strength. Emotions didn''t matter when it came to things which affected his survival.

    And he was also shameless enough to not care if someone found out he was cheating. He had zero guilt in impersonating and taking this glory for himself.

    Arriving at the mana train station, Zick directly rode one of the trains using his new academy badge. But now he had to keep a watch as to when his station arrived.

    It didn''t take long for the train to reach the Desterk district. Getting off the mana train, Zick headed back to his mansion.

    ''Now there isn''t anything for me to do until the new year ceremony starts in the academy. I should just train and enjoy the festival in this free time.'' When Zick thought of this he couldn''t help but feel bored again. He could only wait till the new year ceremony and then contact the Academic city''s underworld leader. Only after that could he start experimenting.

    Zick already knew about what he wanted to experiment about.

    ''Is it possible to use enchantment and raise my body''s strength?'' Till now no one could, so it could be said as something impossible normally.

    But Just because others couldn''t do it till now, Zick didn''t think that he couldn''t too. He also wanted to see if he could manipte other people''s memories using magic.

    Both of these could give him immense help. That is the reason he was looking to buy ves and monster from the underworld. There was also the fourth harem member of Aeiron, who Zick wanted to turn into a subordinate. She was actually a kid of 12 years old right now. He was surprised when she got into a romantic rtionship with Aeiron eight yearter in the novel.

    Zick walked towards the mention through the street while contemting about his future actions.

    Zick had already read the invitation letter he got on the train, so he knew about the date of the ceremony. It was two weeks from now, at the end of the festival.

 Chapter 83 The New Year Party

    A person opened his eyes, instantly two red eyes shined in the dark room, giving anyone who saw it eerie feeling. The person got off the bed heid on and walked towards the full body view mirror.

    Looking at himself in the mirror, a thought appeared in his head. ''The new year ceremony will start tonight.''

    Who else could it be but Zick?

    Zick continued looking at himself in the mirror, while still lost in thoughts.

    The past two weeks went by without any event. Zick had sent the oath seal to Anelete through Butler Von, the moment he reached the mansion after finishing the admission process.

    Anelete epted the oath seal quickly too as Zick had not put any excessive demand in it. He had only asked her to uphold her previous words of 15% discount and to do trade truthfully and sincerely with him. After all she could just lie that she didn''t have the item he demanded. He could also feel mysterious connection form after she epted the oath seal.

    After this, there was nothing else worth mentioning, Zick trained most of the train in his aura and even tried to create new magic sometimes. He would go to the festival at night or evening roaming around the whole Academic city.

    Zick had already gone to every district once leaving the red light district, also known as the pleasure district. It was not surprising that there was such a ce, prostitution was normal thing in a world like this.

    ''And they still don''t allow ve.'' Zick mocked at this point. If they allowed it, he wouldn''t have to go through such a hassle to contact the underworld.

    Zick had also gone to gambling houses which were located in the south section, but it took him a while to get used to the weird games of this world. He just participated in the ones which were easy to understand. But he made a small fortune winning all his gambles by cheating with magic.

    The gambling house had an artifact which could detect anyone who tried to use magic within the casino, but could it sense Zick, who was a quasi-Archmage?

    Of course it couldn''t, Unless Zick doesn''t use magic which could be seen with naked eyes, no one will be able to find him using magic.

    Like this, Zick had made around five thousand tinum coins using just one tinum coin. This fact made him very happy, feeling like visiting the gambling houses again in the future.

    Zick didn''t go overboard every time he went to the gambling house, so that they wouldn''t take too much loss and have to close it. He wanted to use them as a long term money source.

    Though the gambling houses all over the south section were furious and indignant, they couldn''t do anything to him, since Zick''s Duke son status was apparent to them.

    Zick actually started getting interested in going around looking at new things, it also made him curious about other ces. So he would always roam around the Academic area in his free time.

    ''I am bing more and more free spirited now.'' Zick couldn''t help but think this looking at his own face. Now he wasn''t opposed to travelling around anymore, instead he anticipated new things.

    ''I should just enjoy my life as much as I can right now when there is no immediate crisis.'' Though Zick was worried about his stagnating strength, he couldn''t do anything about it right at the moment.

    Taking another look at himself, Zick went towards the dining hall to eat breakfast. Finishing his breakfast quickly, he returned to his room.

    There wasn''t anything he needed to prepare before going to the party, so Zick spent his time normally training in aura. Time went by quickly and it turned evening.

    Zick wore a brown jacket which had many innate ornaments on it. This jacket was different from the one he wore while roaming around, this jacket looked expensive at a single nce. He had ck pants, giving off a smooth lustrous glow, like the fur of a ck panther.<sub> </sub>

    Looking at himself, who looked even more handsome with the formal dress, Zick couldn''t help but nod satisfyingly.

    ''Though I will gather a lot of attention like this, it can''t be helped.'' A smile appeared on Zick face, feelingcent

    This feeling vanished soon, taken over by seriousness. He would have to meet the underworld leader today, he didn''t want to mess up the meeting no matter the cost.

    Making connections with the underworld held a significant value in Zick''s future ns. Not wasting any more time, he headed towards the academy.

    Zick took the mana train and reached the Central district. There were a few people alongside him who rode the mana train.

    Standing in front of the station, Zick looked at the barrier. Unlike before it covered the whole central district now. The letter which he had could also be used to enter this barrier. The letter was an enchanted item, it was functioned to vanish after this party was over. He had his student ID in his pocket right now so the barrier didn''t resist him.

    Without any hesitation, Zick moved towards the huge pce-like building, the academy. The new year ceremony is set to happen on the ground floor.

    Zick used one of the tram lines nearest to him. It didn''t look any different from a train leaving that its inside was more narrowed. Sitting on one of the window seats, he looked out of it.

    The whole central district was full of greenery, there were benches and many other ces for people to rest.

    There were also many statues and streetmps ced beside the huge park-like streets, as well as the various educational facilities.

    The tram was also just running quietly along the tracks built on this huge campus.

    Zick reached the academy soon, Looking from the below it looked even more grander. He had to lift his head up to the limit just to see the tip of it. He had read it in the novel but still looking at it with his own eyes, gave him a different feeling.

    Many students entered the academy through the entrance. Zick also walked towards it, when a familiar figure entered his field of view.

    ''Aeiron.'' ncing at him once, Zick continued moving forward. He could clearly feel that Aeiron was a lowest rank knight and was still an inexperienced person.

    "What happened, Aeiron? Why did you stop?" A person who was looking around excitedly asked Aeiron, who stood frozen in his tracks and looked at Zick''s handsome figure entering the party hall with a frown on his face.

    Hearing his friend''s voice, Aeiron got out of his stupor. "I don''t know for some reason, I feel that something within me was surprised, hahaha." He could onlyugh in an apologetic tone.

    Aeiron''s friend looked at him with a gaze saying ''what is this guy talking about?'', No matter how one thought of it, ''Something within me was surprised'' sounded weird.

    "Well whatever let''s enter already, phew, I am getting cold feets now."

    ''''Yeah, let''s go." Aeiron smiled wryly, it was his first time experiencing this kind of feeling.

 Chapter 84 Auditorium

    Zick didn''t like the current Aeiron. This feeling only went up to dislike, it didn''t get to the level of loathing or hatred.

    Zick had dropped the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' after reading a few chapters when he first started reading it. He didn''t like the protagonist at all.

    Aeiron didn''t have either courage or determination at the start of the novel. He was easily pushed here and there by others, he didn''t resist even though he knew that they were using him.

    But after reading thements in the novel, where it said that Aeiron develops, Zick continued reading it patiently.

    The student taking advantage of Aeiron went up a level and started harassing him. These events were very important for the character growth of the person named Aeiron.

    Only after Aeiron started growing stronger was he able to resist, he had grown a little more back bone then. But before he grew strong he had to face their oppression ceaselessly. Searre Velscar was the only one who helped him from time to time. So Aeiron developed some feelings for her.

    It could be said that the novel truly began only when Aeiron''s strength grew exponentially. The fact that this novel turned into a harem one, was a very surprising matter to Zick.

    The Novel ''the hero of Velveric fights the demon lord'' was really mysterious. The author of that novel had only put a few tags in it. And harem was not one of them.

    Zick liked novels like this one, where the protagonist was able to fight back unlike him. The sole reason he read this novel till the end was because Aeiron and his life were a little simr.

    Back on Earth, at the time when Zick read this novel, He lived as a loser giving up on everything. But he was still human, he regretted his choices which led him to live like that. Even before he died, Zick couldn''t help but feel immense regret.

    But the current Zick had no regret, He had epted both his past and the present. He didn''t feel either regret or any hesitation, he had found his true self. There are only a few people in the whole world who are able to do this.

    Even if Zick turned into a monster the very next moment, he wouldn''t reject himself, he would ept it easily. Cause-

    ''I am still myself! as long as I am me, I don''t care what I am.'' Zick''s roared in his heart.

    As long as he was alive and himself, there will always be a way to fix any situation, after all the future is uncertain anything can happen.

    Even if the future is doomed, he would ept it and just live the way he wants to. But until it is not a guaranteed loss, Zick didn''t like the notion of giving up. This was also one of the reasons he wanted to pursue strength relentlessly.

    Different from Earth, when strength can be umted within a person, the stronger one is, the greater their authority would be in this world.

    The stronger, the lower the chances for him to be forced into an unfavourable situation.

    When a dragon wants an item from any of the kingdoms, they would have to offer it no matter the value it held. If not they would face the crisis of their whole kingdom being destroyed. This is the authority brought about by strength.

    Zick entered the academy while feeling aspirations rising within him. A reception entered his vision, it was almost like the whole interior of the room was made of gold.<sub> </sub>

    Zick knew the generalyout of the academy, there was only an auditorium and a huge party hall with a few other ces like the reception on the ground floor. The ssroom and practical training centres rooms were on the first floor and higher.

    Zick was able to sense most of the things in the ground floor easily, so he found the location of the auditorium room quickly.

    Zick didn''t hesitate and started moving towards there. There were only a few receptionists in the whole room, with no guards at all. It was because the security

    The whole central district was covered in a huge barrier, this barrier would automatically react when a murder or any crime happens within it, the barrier wouldn''t let anyone exit it until the academy chairman allows it. The person whomitted a crime would also be punished very strictly.

    There were a few people who walked towards the auditorium alongside Zick. There were even some people who he was able to recognize.

    Seveleen wearing a beautiful blue dress walked a little further than Zick, even her sister Eleoner was with her. Both Zick and Seveleen gathered a lot of attention because of their appearances.

    The corridor was very long, which made Zick walk faster. He walked past Seveleen

    quickly making her surprised seeing him so abruptly. Before she could even greet him, he had walked a few metres away. Making her feel at a loss for words, she continued walking normally. The academy rules state that there is no need to pay any respect to each other so there wasn''t anything wrong with Zick''s behaviour.

    Though Seveleen epted it easily, the other noble sons with pride would have hard time epting it like her.

    The walls were decorated excessively, there were many wallmps along with it illuminating the whole corridor.

    Zick soon surpassed the people in front of him, reaching the auditorium. It had many rows of seats facing the podium in front.

    ''''Wow, I''ve never seen such a huge ce like this in my whole life!" A cadet spoke to his friend while looking around excitedly as he moved forward towards the seats.

    Zick couldn''t help but shake his head internally at the expected behaviour, unable to see these students as anything other than little kids. He looked around searching for the person mentioned to be the underworld leader in the novel. But he couldn''t find him anywhere.

    ''He probably still didn''t arrive....'' Zick walked towards one of the seats near the back row and sat on it.

    Supporting his cheek from the back of his palm, Zick looked at the podium nkly. He felt some gazesnding on him, but he ignored them.

    ''Will he not appear today? Is there a butterfly effect caused by me which affected him unknowingly?'' Zick felt worried about this. If the underworld''s leader didn''t appear, he would have to change a lot of his future ns.

    Zick''s senses had already surpassed a master swordsman, which gave him the capability to sense the whole auditorium. He waited for him to appear patiently and after five minutes, the person he waited for finally arrived.

    ''He came.'' Zick''s dark red eye''s shined, he felt relief rising within him.

 Chapter 85 Keshein Zeiwer

    A middle aged man with white beard walked into the auditorium room along with his son. He had normal stature with muscles bulging here and there, he wore a dress belonging to that of amoner.

    The middle aged man smiled harmlessly, making anyone seeing it let their guard down. But leaving a few people no one knew that he was a cold hearted person, who killed anyone without blinking an eye.

    Zick looked at the middle aged man turning his head. With his dragon eyes, he could easily see through the artifact which hid his real appearance. In his eyes, a man looking to be in his 30s with brown hair and eyes appeared.

    ''Keshein Zeiwer'' This was his real name.

    He was one of the characters who''s death was caused by Aeiron. He was killed by a master swordsman and peak rank mage, he actually had myriads of artifacts which could be used to fight, which he collected as a hobby.

    Artifacts are items that can effect anyone at the level of master.

    Zick waited for him to take a seat first before getting up himself. Keshein came to the academy to let his son enrol in it and make some connections. He didn''t know that his cover had already been seen through.

    The artifact he wore was very strong, it could even hide from the senses of a master swordsman. Which let him have a peace of mind, he himself was a master assassin so he was confident in running away even if found out.

    ''This is the best time for me to talk to him.'' Zick reached the father and son duo, who were seated on one of the middle row seats. He sat beside Keshein without any hesitation.

    Keshein felt his heart jump looking at Zick, he wasn''t able to sense his presence at all. He still had a friendly smile but internally his wariness reached an all time high. He had already taken a lot of risking here, even though there was no need for it.

    "I want to make a deal, Keshein" Zick spoke indifferently looking at him.

    ''He even knows my name....'' Keshein calmed his beating heart and shed a smile towards Zick. Slowly a thinyer of mana started covering them, stopping their voice from leaking out. As long as the other party wants to make a deal, he knows that the chances of him leaving here alive increases.

    If he got stuck in the barrier, it would all be over.

    He was even surprised seeing Zick''s young age, but he believed in his sense which he had honed for many years, so he knew that without a doubt this person was stronger than him.

    "What do you want?" A cold voice left his mouth opposite to the smile on his face, his son too looked at both of them squinting his eyes.

    "Like I said, a deal, I want to buy ves and monsters." Zick spoke his need directly, not hiding it. He waited for Keshein''s answer.

    "I see....As long as you keep mine and my son''s identity a secret, I will ept any deal. How do I contact you then?" Keshein felt relieved seeing that Zick didn''te with the will of ckmailing him. If his identity was found out, many of his businesses would be found out. He even tactfully let his son still attend the academy, this way Zick held one of his weaknesses.

    How could Zick start to ckmail him in their first meeting? He would ruin his rtionship with him before it even started. But he still held one of Keshein''s weaknesses, that was Keshein''s son. He could always expose his identity in case of betrayal too.

    "Send someone to the Melvix family mansion in Academic city to contact me." Saying this, Zick got up and started walking towards where he sat prior. There was nothing else for him to say other than this.

    Hearing the word ''Melvix'', Keshein feltplex emotions rising within him. His expression couldn''t help but harden. Within these few seconds, he had already formed a n on how to take care of Zick. Strength was not the only way that could be used to take care of him.

    Keshein was actually going to threaten Zick using the fact that he made a deal with the underworld. But now it was all useless.

    Even if Keshein spread this information, so what?<sub> </sub>

    What could anyone do to Zick who was an heir of the Melvix family? Absolutely nothing!

    The Melvix family is known and epted as the strongest, in terms of military. No one would want to go and offend such a force.

    ''This is bad, I don''t hold the initiative anymore.'' Now Keshein could only take safety measures for his businesses and try to maintain a friendly rtion with Zick, until he finds another one of his weaknesses.

    ''I see the rumours that he was a master swordsman were true too.'' It was hard for Keshein to ept this information before, he had his doubts about it. But now he knew that it was actually the truth.

    Bing a master swordsman at the age 15, it was unbelievable to anyone.

    "Father, who is he?" Keshein''s son, Garrel asked, seeing his father silent.

    "A customer and try to keep a good rtionship with him." Keshein didn''t say anything else. He was lost in his own thoughts.

    Garrel eyes shined hearing the word customer. He looked at Zick''s receding figure closely.

    ...

    ''Keshein would contact me very soon ording to his personality. He didn''t like to waste his time and took care of matters swiftly in the novel.'' Feeling rxed, Zick sat on the seatfortably.With this, one of his problem can be said to be solved.

    ''Now I have aplished my goal foring here.'' Zick wasn''t much interested in the party. He only wanted to get to know his ss, even though that was somewhat predictable. He was also a little curious if the other people mentioned in the novel appeared.

    Andstly there is a reason attending this auditorium waspulsory. This was when the cadets would get to choose their courses.

    Attending the party wasn''tpulsory, the cadets and other people could just go there to get to know each other if they wanted to.

    Slowly the auditorium got filled with many cadets and their parents. Making the whole auditorium full of voices, some cadets quickly became friends with each other.

    Not many people came near Zick, with him sitting at thest row.

    In that instant, The chairman of the academy, Vancenin derspea, appeared above the podium with bright blue light.

    The whole auditorium became silent seeing her, they looked at the podium curiously. More and more blue light shone upon the podium, and the other professor also appeared.

    Zick looked at the podium too, but suddenly he could see Vancenin looking at him, she looked right at his eyes, before turning away. It was only for a second but she looked right at him without a doubt.

    This surprised Zick a little, but he could already think of a reason why she would do that.

    It was the first time in the history for a master swordsman to attend the academy, since the day it was founded after all.

 Chapter 86 Zick Was Growing Just Too Fast!

    Everyst person in the auditorium room had seen how a sharp blue blur focused into a point, then formed Vancenin derspea and the other professors. Vancenin wore an elegant white circlet that matched her white robe, appearing in a refined manner. Vancenin had her eyes closed when she appeared. Opening her eyes slowly, she started looking around in the silent auditorium. Her gaze stopped at thest row''s seat for a second, before moving again.

    Smiling, she started raising her hand slowly.

    By this time, many more of the iing first years noticed her and began talking even louder, some cheering, but when Vancenin''s hand reached the level of her head, suddenly, everything went dead silent.

    Zick Looked around, everyone had expressions of surprise, because while everyone''s lips were moving, no sound was heard from anyone in the audience.

    Zick also saw many familiar people like, Aureo, Ste who sat beside him, Anastasia and few people that might be a character that he knows from the novel.

    "Excuse me for my rudeness but I do hate speaking up. I am getting old so it can''t be helped, I can''t speak loudly anymore." she said in a pleasant voice that was heard perfectly clear, even from where Zick sat in the back row.

    "I wee everyone here, the future leaders, schrs and powerhouses. I am Vancenin Derspea. Please call me chairman Vancenin and do not be afraid to say hello when I walk around campus. Well then please fill this application, it''s about the future courses you will take this year. Please choose after much consideration, you have to submit the form before leaving the central district, today without exception." She spoke in a very friendly manner, making others feel that she was very approachable.

    A bunch of paper appeared in her hand, then she waved her outstretched hand, then one by one the applications split and flew in front of the cadets.

    While the cadets looked at the application, Vancenin inwardly considered the matter she was thinking about for a while.

    ''He really is a master swordsman.'' Vancenin wasn''t able to sense Zick''s presence at all.

    The fact that Zick became a master swordsman at the age of 15 was very hard to ept by almost everyone.

    Master swordsmen are people who hold enough power to destroy a whole army of knights easily. Peak rank knight and the other cannotpare to them at all.

    But for Zick to be one of them at this age could only be said to be a miracle in the eyes of others. This would make many people jealous and make them harbour malicious intent against him.

    If Zick didn''t have any backing like he does now, everyst ruler would either try to recruit or kill him. He is just too dangerous in their eyes, in just this age he is a master swordsman. Then without a doubt he would be even stronger in future.

    Without Zick knowing he had made enemy out of many people. The three main ruling forces are even thinking of a way to either halt his progress or kill him before he grows more.

    The Cravion kingdom would be against killing him of course, but the other two main ruling forces don''t have the same opinion.

    Zick was just growing too fast! this can''t be allowed anymore. A ruler would never let a variable like him go unnoticed. After all they are people who want everything within their control.

    Vancenin epted the fact Zick was a master swordsman easily, now she could only think about her future move.

    Vancenin was also worried in case Zick caused any trouble. Though she knew that the chances of him causing trouble was low from his past behaviour, it would be different if someone else caused trouble to him.

    Vancenin knew about the temperament of all the professors, so she knew that there would be some who wouldn''t be able to control themselves and pick a fight with Zick, offended by him bing a master swordsman, the same rank as them.

    All the master swordsmen hold a lot of pride in themselves, but for Zick to do the same would without a doubt hurt their pride.

    And the rules state that status outside doesn''t matter within the academy. This was just another nice excuse.

    ''I will have to instruct everyst professor to deal with him smoothly and I wonder which course he will choose.'' She was the most curious as to which course Zick would choose.<sub> </sub>

    Seeing everyone already finished reading the application she gave, Vancenin pped her hands, gathering everyone''s attention upon herself.

    Vancenin turned head towards the Enchantment professor, who nodded his head towards her.

    With a smile, she started speaking ''''Please check your student ID, the name of your ssroom would appear in it."

    Everyst cadet took out their student ID hurriedly. Seeing them finishing looking at their cards, Vancenin started speaking again.

    "That is all for the auditorium, the academy will start in four days, please submit the application in the reception before leaving and enjoy the party." Saying this, she lifted the magic which had been blocking everyone''s voice and vanished just like how she appeared.

    In that instant, the whole auditorium became noisy again.

    Zick looked at the student ID in his hand with a nk look.

    ''As I thought, I am in the A-1 ss.'' The name of the ss appeared right beside his name. This was the same ss in which Aeiron went to.

    This academy seperate the exceptionally talented people and puts them in this section. This was a normal thing to do, this way it would be easy to groom the talented cadets.

    The ss sections don''t matter much in tests as they are carried out with all the first yearbined.

    The cadets only have to learn history and basic calction in their sses. Even the basic fitness sses are carried onbined.

    For the other courses they have to go to another training centre. There are different rooms for different courses.

    People started leaving either going home or the party, Keshein was the first one to leave.

    ''He would probably be going and searching madly as to where I learnt his identity right now.'' Zick looked at him for a second before getting off from the seat himself.

    There were only a handful of people who knew about Keshein''s identity, so he already had an aim in his head. But he would never be able to find the reason why Zick knew about him, after all, it was from the novel.

    Zick walked towards the exit, not interested in the party. He was curious about the characters in the novel, but he could always look at them in the ss.

    While walking towards the exit, the figure of Aeiron entered his field of view. He talked with another person sadly as they were in separate sses.

    ''He hasn''t changed....'' Thinking this, Zick walked out of the Auditorium room and headed towards reception to submit the application, he had already chosen his ss. They were sword art and enchantment.

    Even in the novel ''the hero of Velveric fights the demon lord'' Aeiron was kind and had morals even after being bullied by others. He never turned evil, that was also one of the reasons many of the harem members liked him.

    Especially the Elf kingdom''s princess, who could see through the souls of the others. She found his soul to be the purest, that''s how he gained another harem member along with the Elf kingdom''s Queen''s favour.

    ''I wonder what my soul would looks like.....'' Curiosity grew within him. There was also a chance he could find out any clue as to how he came to this world from this.

    Zick decided to visit the Elf kingdom once, after reaching the second continent.

 Chapter 87 Coordinates

    There were many courses which could be chosen, mentioned in the application. But to Zick, it didn''t hold enough attraction. He could choose courses like recon/scout or ranger, but they wouldn''t increase his strength in any way, instead it would be a waste of time.

    Zick could do all that using magic easily, if he didn''t have it, he might have chosen one of these courses.

    It didn''t take long for Zick to reach the reception, there were many people along with him too. Passing his application to a women receptionist, he walked towards the tram line nearby.

    It was already night, but the garden-like street wasn''t dark at all. There were multiple street lights everywhere illuminating that whole ce. The tram line was very near, so he reached there within a minute.

    Zick didn''t have to wait for long as a tram reached there soon. Entering it, he looked at the starry sky and red moon to pass his time. There were many institutes which entered Zick''s field of view as the tram moved.

    The whole Central district can be said to be the academy premises. The main institute, where Zick attended the auditorium, is the only ce where ssrooms, training Institutes and prohibited areas exist. Even the dormitory in which the cadets will stay in is seperate from it.

    The other institutes all over the Central district are for leisure and entertainment of the cadets. Restaurant, stalls, canteen, clothes store and many more ces like this.

    Zick arrived near mana train station as he thought about all the ces in the Central district.

    Walking past the administrative centre, Zick reached the station. There were still a few people who walked a little distance from him. Standing in the station, he waited for the mana train to arrive patiently.

    After ten minutes, a mana train arrived atst. Entering it, Zick sat beside the window without any hesitation. Moon light fell upon him, making his handsome face even more attractive.

    After reaching the Desterk district, Zick walked towards the mansion leisurely. The same two knights who guarded the gate always enter his sight.

    Looking at them opening the gate, Zick remembered something.

    "Soon a guest of mine would arrive, within one to three days. Be sure to let them in.'''' Zick spoke to the guards indifferently. The guest he was talking about was of course the messenger from the underworld.

    ''''''''Yes sir!"'''' The two guards answered at the same time.

    Zick entered the mansion and walked towards the dining hall where the dinner was already ready. He had instructed Butler Von to make it, before leaving to the academy.

    After eating the luxurious dinner, Zick went to his room and changed intofortable clothes. He started training in his aura like usual, waiting for Keshein to contact him. He didn''t have to wait for long, as the very next day, early in the morning a messenger came to his mansion.

    Sitting on the sofa, Zick looked at the messenger standing in front of him. They were in the office-like rooms in the mansion on the first floor. The messenger looked like a normal citizen who looked to be in his mid 20s, he had ck hair and green eyes, but without a doubt he worked under Keshein.

    The messenger was a peak rank Assassin, normally no one would be able sense his presence with the weird ring artifact he had worn. But Zick could sense through it to a certain degree and with his dragon eyes he could see through it fully. Keshein giving an artifact to this person just showed his importance.

    "I have toe here to deliver a letter, following my master''s order." Saying this, the messengers passed on a letter to Zick.

    Opening the letter, Zick started going through it, not bothered by the messenger''s presence. There were only two pages within the letter.

    The first page invited Zick to a underground auction house, along with the route to reach there, which would be held tonight and the other one mentioned about the demand of ves and monsters done by Zick.<sub> </sub>

    The auction house, ves and monsters market was in the same ce, there is also chances of him to get the good quality ones in the auction.

    ''But it''s just too annoying.....'' Zick found The route to reach the auction house to be a lot bothersome. He will have to take a carriage from a certain location, which would then take him to the underground auction house. This just wasted a lot of his time and he would even have problem of bring the ves and monsters along with him.

    "Give me the coordinates of the auction house." Zick directly asked the messenger. Keshein sending him a letter like this only meant one thing, he had decided to form a friendly rtionship with Zick, now that he couldn''t do anything else to him.

    As long as he keeps a good rtionship with Zick, his identity would be kept a secret. So he would ept most of his demands.

    "I don''t have the jurisdiction to do that." The messenger still responded without any emotions.

    "Then just ask your master."

    ".....can I use the room besides this one?"

    "sure"

    Hearing Zick''s approval, the messenger went out of the office-like room and entered the room beside it, which was a normal bedroom.

    Zick could sense all the actions of the messenger easily. The messenger took out a magicmunicator and connected it to someone. Zick let them talk and waited patiently thinking about the auction.

    This would also be the first time Zick would be attending an auction in his life. He considered what he should do for now.

    ''I don''t need monsters yet, I haven''t even started learning enchantment right now. Buying only ves to try brainwashing magic for now is better and when I learn enchantment I will try doing it upon them too.''

    <o>,m A lot of people would die in this experiment, but it didn''t stop Zick from doing it. He wasn''t against using others or making them suffer to get what he wanted at all. Instead it was a normal thing to do in this world, where a person could do anything with enough strength.</o>

    Zick didn''t care about a person who didn''t have any value to him. There were only a few things he cared about right at the moment. Himself, the two dragon eggs and the butler Von. Though he would sacrifice them all if there was any danger to his life.

    ''My life is the most important thing.'' This would never change no matter what.

    Zick could even feel that Butler Von was getting closer to the master assassin rank. He has been training in all his free time after all.

    Soon the messenger came back and handed a small piece of paper to Zick.

    "That is the coordinates to reach the auction and my job here is over, I will take my leave now." Till the start to end the messenger never showed any of his own emotions while conveying Keshein''s message. This showed that he had been trained tremendously.

    Still sitting upon the sofa, Zick looked at the paper which had coordinates of the auction house. He had to put this in the teleportation circle and then he could go to where the coordinates lead. He knew how to create teleportation for a very long time, so he could easily make it.

    Now Zick only had to look for an appropriate ce to ce the teleportation circle and make it hisb. and He already had one in his mind.

 Chapter 88 The Basement

    cing the piece of paper with the coordinates within the space ring, Zick got off thefortable sofa and moved towards the ground floor. He had already seen all the ces in the mansion on his first day here.

    There were only a few ces he could think of carrying out his experiments. He could do it in room but he didn''t want to stay in a ce filled with the smell of blood.

    There wasn''t anything to worry about dirtying a thing, as there was magic in this world. Using that, Zick could easily keep his room clean. But he still didn''t feel like doing it there.

    The other ces were either the basement or the store house behind the mansion. From this both, Zick chose the basement.

    The store house would be needed for the servants to keep the food ingredients and other things.

    Zick reached the butler who was in the backyard, taking care of the nts and trees.

    Seeing Zick walking towards him, Butler Von bowed his head. He was still wearing butler''s clothes, with his blonde hairbed properly.

    "I will be using the basement from now on, tell everyone to not enter there no matter what the reason is." Zick''s expression was indifferent but his voice was very strict, filled with solemnness.

    ''''Yes." Butler Von''s answered back seriously.

    Zick nodded his head before going back to the mansion. He liked how Butler Von always responded to him. No questions asked, only faithfully following his order.

    ''I need to still create a barrier in the basement in case someone infiltrates it while I am not present in the mansion.''

    Zick went towards the basement''s entrance, which was right in the middle of the mansion, Beside the dining hall and the main hall.

    The entrance of the basement was a wooden door like any other in the whole manor.

    CLICK~

    Zick opened the door, turning its knob round. Unlike what he expected, there were wallmps even in the basement, so it wasn''t dark at all. All themps in the mansion were the same, shaped like a lotus budding.

    Zick slowly descended through the marble stairs, even the walls and ceiling had smooth surfaces.

    Reaching the basement, it was made of concrete instead of marbles. Surprisingly the basement was bigger than Zick''s room. There were still many wallmps which were set in the concrete wall.

    ''It totally empty.....Well that''s a good thing, I will not waste my time having to move things.''

    Walking further into the basement, Zick crouched down and touched the ground below him with his hand, then started making the teleportation circle immediately. Creating it was very easy at his level and he wouldn''t even need mana crystal to use it, he was a quasi-Archmage after all.

    A teleportation circle was made by carving mana into the surface of an object in a certain way. This was different from Enchantment, this magic circle wouldn''t affect the object it was made on at all. So it can almost be used anywhere.

    ''Done.'' Zick looked at the magic circle in front of him.

    The magic circle was round shaped, reaching almost two metres. He had also set the coordinates in it already.<sub> </sub>

    Taking ast look at the teleportation circle, Zick started walking towards the entrance. Reaching in front of the stair leading to the surface, he casted a magic.

    In that instant, the basement got covered in transparent blue glow. They stuck to them like trying to protect them.

    ''This barrier should be able to stop anyone below the master rank for a while, but I would still need to reinforce it regrly.''

    A magic can''tst forever on its own, even the nest of the dragon lord had those weird runes on the wall which maintained it power for so long.

    Zick headed back to his room, waiting for the night to arrive. He trained in his aura like usual, he left only twice between this time, once for lunch and another one to go shopping.

    Atst, it turned night. Standing in front of the mirror, Zick looked at himself. The letter had clearly mentioned him to hide his appearance by wearing a mask or anything.

    Right at the moment, a person with white hair and bright blue eyes stood in front of the mirror. He looked to be in his early twenties in age. He had also removed the blood red earrings. He could easily camouge his appearance using magic, in reality his body is still 15 year old. Of course, if a person touched him they would find nothing wrong.

    If a peak rank master swordsman or an archmage saw Zick, they would easily be able to tell his real appearance.

    But still Zick made himself look exceedingly handsome, even though this was only a fake identity. He even brought some normal clothes which didn''t make him standout. A normal track pants and a ck jacket with long sleeves.

    Finishing looking at himself, Zick walked towards the basement. He met no one in his way, while heading towards there.

    Reaching the basement, Zick took out a in white mask and covered his face from it. Now even if someone saw through the mask, they would just see his fake appearance.

    Standing upon the teleportation circle, Zick started concentrating. Mana started to converge towards the circle rapidly, then it shone brightly.

    Slowly Zick started turning transparent, he didn''t resist it and let it teleport him. His figure grew transparent before vanishing.

    Opening his eyes again, Zick could see that he was in a room alone, standing upon a teleportation circle. Checking himself in case his magic wore off but it seemed that it was a baseless worry.

    Zick walked towards the door of the room, he could feel many people''s presence behind it.

    Zick actually knew a lot about this ce both from the novel and letter. This ck market was not a ce which could easily be found in cities. It''s a lot more luxurious and a ce only existing for VIPs. After all, it was a ck market in the academic city, owned by Keshein.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door, a fancy party hall greeted him. The word banquet would suit this ce better. There were many couples who danced in the hall, enjoying themselves.

    Everyone here was wearing masks and obviously, the people here were wearing fancy outfits and the majority of them were also wearing colourful masks.

    Seeing Zicking out of the room, a guide walked towards him with a surprised look.

 Chapter 89 The Underground Black Market

    ''An underground party hall.....'' Zick knew that this ce was for VIPs, but he didn''t think they would go and make a huge party hall like this underground.

    Even the interior looked expensive, showing the money spent to build it.The wallmps made the hall look no different from the ones on surface.

    The guide reached in front of Zick as he still looked around the hall.

    "Your invitation, sir." Usually guides are not respectful to others here, but it was different for Zick. The guide had clearly seen hime out of a room which could only be used by a few people.

    Zick took out the letter from the space ring and passed on to the guide.

    "A VIP!"

    Checking the letter for a few seconds, the guide gave it back to Zick with a hardened expression.

    ''''Sir please this-"

    "When will the auction start?" Zick cut off the guide''s word.

    "...It will start in another 20 minutes."

    ''''I see." Zick didn''t want to use his money before the auction, he might find someone with immense talent or an item which could be useful to him in there.

    Zick currently has around 127,000 tinum coins. Originally he had only 400 tinum coins before he left the Melvix estate, but he got 100,000 from Anelete and 30,000 from Seveleen. Then he used some of it to buy a space ring and a oath seal. But after he went to the gambling houses in the past two weeks, he was able to make tons of money.

    ''And I don''t even know if the fourth harem member of Aeiron is here or not.'' This matter was a total mystery to Zick, it might have been mentioned in the novel, but he didn''t remember it. He only knew that she was here before being sold to a merchant. Aeiron found that she was a ve after seeing the very seal on the back of her neck and then helped her. She was also the strongest assassin in the whole world in the future. She was able to reach the realm of grandmaster.

    This might also be one of the reasons that led to the destruction of the underworld of the academic city.

    The best way to find her was bying here at the sixth month of the academy. But Zick still wanted to check once in case she is already here. If he doesn''t find her, he could only buy a few ves and go back.

    "Sir, please let me guide you.''''

    ''''Okay." Zick didn''t reject his offer, there was 20 minutes before the auction started. He could find the way with his senses, but the underground ck market restricted his senses. He could only feel a few rooms beside this hall, not the whole ck market.

    "This is only the lobby where people can wait or enjoy themselves." The guide started by showing the party hall first where people danced with their partner.

    Zick picked up a ss of juice along the way, sipping at its red content while walking with the guide.

    ''''Please this way." the guide started leading Zick out of the party hall.

    As Zick walked beside the guide, many people passed by them, they all wore masks on their faces. He could see through it easily, but he didn''t meet anyone he knew.

    Soon the guide brought him to another ce through the corridor. But the ce he brought to him was different from the other ces. It looked like an arena.

    Entering through the huge door, Zick wasn''t even surprised anymore that there was a ce like this here.

    "This is the arena, sir. You can bet upon any of ve if you want to."

    Zick looked at the arena.

    In the middle of the arena, a monster with its head resembling a lizard and with six legs, it was tied in chains. The monster was drooling and it constantly roared to the point that some people covered their ears. The audience that was watching quietly started cheering and naturally, people started appearing on the opposite side of the monster. They were ves, around 30 of them.

    Without any dy, the monster was released. It rushed towards the ves and started killing them using its w, tail and fangs. Almost half of the ves died without even being able to resist. In no time, the whole arena ground was stained in blood.<sub> </sub>

    "Kyahhhh!"

    "S-Save me!"

    "Save me! Ahhhh!"

    The ves screams were drown out by the audience loud cheer.

    "Hang in there!"

    "Just hold on a bit longer"

    "Alright minute is up, hold the monster down!" People entered the arena and put the chain upon the monster again.

    It seems the people here had bet upon some of the ve. they had probably done it blindly, checking their luck.

    Looking at all the ves being killed, Zick didn''t feel anything. He was already used to the scene of people being killed like this through the battlefield.

    Zick found a bunch of sword kept in the arena, for the ves to use against the monster.

    ''''Sir. Would you like me to prepare a monster for you or ve as dummy to check out your sword skills?" The guide saw Zick staring at the swords, so he proposed this.

    ''''No need, let''s go to the next ce." Zick replied indifferently.

    ''''Yes, this way sir." The guide started showing other ces like the monster market and there was even a mini pleasure area where there were many beautiful womens kept as a ve. He couldn''t go to the ve market and the other ces as The 20 minutes passed by already.

    The guide started leading Zick towards the auction, now that the time was up. It was held at the end of the underground ck market as the main event today.

    Arriving at the auction, Zick could find a luxurious room. With many rows of seats, it was smaller than the academy''s auditorium. Everyone had already gathered here, sitting upon the seat with expectant looks.

    "Sir, you can sit within one of the VIP rooms." The Guide took Zick to one of the rooms which were above the auction.

    ''''You can press this button here to bid for an item and you can speak on this device to tell your bid. My job is over here, I will be taking my leave.'''' After exining the function of the two devices kept upon the table in front of the sofa, the guide left With ast graceful bow.

    ''Is there different kinds of letters?'' From the action of the guide it seems there are different types of letters and he got one of the VIP type from Keshein.

    Looking around for a second, Zick walked towards one of the sofas and sat upon it. There was a huge ss wall in front of him, showing the auction stage perfectly. There was also a paper above the table listing The items that will be auctioned today.

    The room had an even stronger enchantment on it that restricted his senses. He could vaguely sense the presence of the people in the VIP room beside him.

    ''I should have enough money to buy a few thing from here and I even need to save some to buy ves after the auction.'' Zick also held a little expectation towards this auction. He had the dragon eyes so he can see all the talents or ability of the ves and items. But this ves would juste use in fighting more then management work. So he still had to look for other people who could take care of work in that area.

    Zick didn''t feel like taking care of the underworld in the second continent himself at all.He only wanted its influence.

    ''It''s better than bing a noble or a king anyway....'' In his eyes, this status was just filled with too much responsibility, which he didn''t like.

    At that instant, a bright light shone upon the auction stage.

    ''It''s starting.''

 Chapter 90 Enchanted Items Auction

    The auction was split into the main hall, single rooms, and The VIP rooms.

    The single rooms were right below Zick''s room, they could be brought using money unlike the VIP rooms, which can only be used by people with enough influence or rmended by one of them.

    From what Zick could feel, there were only 12 VIP rooms, in this only eight were used and the other four were empty. The VIP rooms were almost fully empty leaving the table and the sofa, but the furniture was of high quality.

    Right at the moment, Zick was still in his fake appearance, using magic. He randomly named this magic as [Shapeshift].

    This magic was maintained using his mental power ceaselessly. It had only increased after taking off the blood red earrings. Even if he wore it, he would still face many problems. The earrings were an artifact level item, so he would have used a lot of mental energy to hide it too.

    He could keep up this magic for two to three hours before he would start feeling headache. After five hours, he would have to stop using it or he might just harm himself.

    After taking a look at the auction stage, Zick picked up the yellowish parchment in which the list of items were written. It was an enchanted item, this item was only given to the VIP rooms.

    ? "We will now begin the auction. First off, we will be starting with rare enchanted items, you can expect it to be worth your time, customers." A middle-aged man with a strong build appeared above the auction stage. A maid stood beside him.

    Zick went through the page swiftly while hearing the auctioner''s announcement.

    The parchment first mentioned the rules of the auction in a few lines.

    The bidded money must be paid immediately, no exceptions. If an item or ornament is used to buy an auctioned item, its value will be checked by the auction house.

    And there are a few other rules and regtions mentioned in the page.

    The things which would get auctioned first are the enchanted items. There were many items listed in the paper along with their portrait, capabilities and tiers.

    ''It''s all garbage.'' Zick felt disappointed at the item listed on it.

    There was no item at the level of artifact, which could affect a master rank. The item in it ranged from middle to peak tier, but Zick wasn''t interested in it at all. They wouldn''t help him in any way.

    There was only a single item which caught some of his interest. It was a glove which can be used while creating an enchanted item.

    It was only a high tier item, so the benefits it brought would also be minimum.

    ording to the page, this item could make it easier to change the shape of the materials used while making an enchanted item, by making the mana flow into a lot more naturally.

    "The first item is this wonderful rapier, this is a high tier item. Please start the bidding." The auction went on, but Zick wasn''t interested in any of it, leaving the enchantment gloves. He had decided to buy it, an item like this was rare after all. But not many people would be interested in this item.

    The ve section held many different kind of product, but Zick ignored them all. He would let his eyes judge them instead of this parchment.

    The next items are named as special goods. There were only three items listed in it.

    ''A dark mage ve.....'' An unexpected name appeared in the list.

    Zick knew about dark mage, they were people with their mana fully converted Into impure mana. They are looked upon as an enemy by the whole world.

    The dark mage could use their impure mana to infect the mana of the others and make theirs impure too. Anyone who has mana which was weaker than their impure mana would get tainted immediately. This would ruin their talent and future, as the impure mana in their mana nerves would make their chances of bing a master swordsman abysmal.

    And if a normal persones in contact with impure mana they would die in an instant.

    With all this, the dark mage was hunted by everyone, looked upon as an evil and corrupt being. After a big hunt which urred centuries ago, they had almost be extinct.<sub> </sub>

    They even appeared in the novel. ording to them, they are constantly living in pain because of their impure mana. Aeiron hade across one of them in the second continent and helped him.

    Zick was interested as to where this dark mage came from, but he didn''t think about this matter for long. He wasn''t interested in buying it.

    There was another use for a dark mage, their blood which is affected by their impure mana can be used to make a special kind of elixir. This elixir can be used to prolong a person''s life to arge degree. Without a doubt, people who are reaching the end of their life woulde rushing to buy it.

    The other two items in the special category were a red bow and a spear both of them were artifacts level but still Zick lost interest in it. He wasn''t in need of either a bow or a spear right now.

    There was nothing else worth mentioning in the page, the other things were artistic things, like paintings, ornamental types and rare monster parts.

    cing the page back on the table, Zick looked at the auction stage. He waited for the item he wanted to buy to appear.

    "This enchanted item is capable of blocking a surprise attack by creating a mana barrier! this is a peak tier item, please start the bid." The auctioner showed a shield shaped badge, which was kept upon a luxurious cushion. It was held by the maid.

    "800 tinum coins!"

    "1000 tinum coins!"

    "5000 tinum coins."

    Suddenly, one of the people in the VIP room bid, making the whole auction house silent.

    "Is there no one else who is going to bid? then, this item goes to the person in the fifth VIP room." An maid took the item towards the VIP room after that.

    After a few more items, the item Zick was waiting for arrived.

    ''atst.'' Zick had grown bored waiting for such a long time. He looked at the auction stage while still supporting his back upon the sofa. He gave off a feeling of Leisure, there was no sign of anxiety in him in any way.

    "This is an item that could be very useful to an enchanter, this can help in the process of changing the shape of a material. It is also a high tier item, please start the bid." There was only a single glove in ck colour and a red jewel was in the middle of it.

    "500 tinum coins."

    "Hmm, 550 tinum coins."

    Unlike before, the auction was heated up at all. The enchantment profession was chosen by only a few people so this was normal. There were only a handful of people who were an enchantment master. There are not even ten of them in the first continent.

    Ringing the bell, Zick took the rectangr shaped item and infused a little mana into it.

    "1000 tinum coins." His voice clearly reverted through the auction house. No one else bid after him.

    "Is there no one who would like to bid for this wonderful item? Then, this goes to the person in the seventh VIP room!"

    The maid headed towards Zick''s room, with the glove. Unlike in Earth, there was no count down before giving the item to the buyers in this world.

    Taking the glove, Zick passed on the 1000 tinum through the space ring. He yed around with the gloves by wearing it for a while, before putting it in the space ring.

    Soon the auction for enchanted items came to an end and the ves auction began.

 Chapter 91 The Slave Market

    CLINK!

    A ve walked upon the stage with her head bowed in shame. She wore rags as her clothes, only covering her intimate parts. Her hand and neck were cuffed. it was probably to make her look even more pitiful as there was no need for cuffs with the ve seals on her chest.

    Her figure was delicate, far from the world of fighting. She looked well fed with her rosy skin and healthy face. She looked exceptionally beautiful, But her face was right at the moment, totally filled withplex emotions of fear, despair and shame.

    ''''Now we will start the ve auction, for the first product, it is pleasure ves! This girl is the daughter of a fallen noble. Though she looks delicate, I am sure she will be able to satisfy you in bed." The auctioneer showed the ve around to everyone grandly.

    ''''Ohhhhh!"

    "Her skin looks so smooth."

    Everyone was more enthusiastic than before, while buying Enchanted items.

    ''Garbage.'' But Zickbelled the ve as a waste at a single nce. He had to ept that she was beautiful and even a little pitiful at the same time, but he wouldn''t go out of his way to save her. He had his priorities straight.

    ''''3000 tinum coins!"

    ''''4000 tinum coins!"

    "4500 tinum coins!"

    Unexpectedly the ve, that Zickbelled as garbage got sold for a whole 15,700 tinum coins.

    ''.... Really they are being controlled by their emotions too much.'' Zick would never let his emotions affect his decisions even a bit. He felt disdainful towards these people and at the same time he made sure he wouldn''t turn out like this ever.

    The ve auction went on, with many beautiful womensing to the stage one after the another. But Zick didn''t see anyone with enough talent, he was looking for people with master level talent. There were a few ve who were somewhat talented but it didn''t even reach the level of peak rank.

    The auction for pleasure ves came to an end soon.

    This whole time Zick would only take a look at the ves talent, then just train in his aura. The [Shapeshift] magic was out of his body so it didn''t get affected by training.

    The auction for normal ves started atst.

    "This ve is a veteran assassin at the high rank, you can use her for many purposes. And of course she is a female so you might use her in your bed too! please start the bid." The auctioneer showed a assassin who stood there nkly, she didn''t have hand cuffs like the ves before.

    ''''2500 tinum coins.''''

    ''''2800 tinum coins."

    "3200 tinum coins."

    Zick shook his head looking at the assassin ve, she looked young but her actual age was a middle aged women. She might only be able to attain peak rank in her whole life.

    Losing his interest in her, Zick waited for the next ve to appear.

    ''''This ve is a middle rank knight who wields a spear, you can use him as a guard.....''''

    ''''This ve is a peak rank knight who uses a shield. Though he looks old, he will be able to serve as a guard for a long time....."

    "This is a middle rank mage, you can use her for multiple purposes, I am sure you will be satisfied...''''

    ''''This is a craftsman who can make weapons of middle tier and even high tier. This is a very rare opportunity..."

    Many ve started getting auctioned one after the another, but no ve caught Zick''s eyes.<sub> </sub>

    ''Was I expecting too much from this auction?'' Zick was filled with disappointment. Not even a single ve with a master rank talent appeared. This just shows how rare it is to find people with such talent.

    Zick didn''t want any ve with talent which is lower than a master rank. It wouldn''t be worth his time, if he needed them he could just buy them from the ve markets in Second continent.

    The ve trade came to end. There was nothing else which interested Zick. There were rare monster body parts, but these parts were not impossible to get in a normal ce. He had already read their name in the parchment.

    Instead of buying them from here, it was more profitable to buy it from Anelete to Zick.

    ''Well, there might be something interesting in the next auction....'' Zick could only hope to get a ve he was looking for in the next time.

    Getting out of the VIP room, Zick lifted his hand up, calling the guide standing in distance within the corridor.

    ''''How might I help you sir?" A different guide from before appeared. She was a girl with a strict expression.

    ''''Take me to the ve market." Zick wanted to buy a few ves before leaving and he even wanted to check if the fourth harem member was here yet.

    ''''Yes, please this way." The guide started leading the way professionally. She took Zick to another huge room, the atmosphere within it was lively with many people moving around.

    The whole room was like a long corridor, it was fully filled with cages. Normally a ce like this would have been filled with stench but an enchanted item seems to take care of it.

    ''''I will be taking my leave now.'''' Seeing the ve tradering towards them, the guide took her leave.

    Soon the ve trader reached Zick, he was a old man with fat belly.

    "Sir! What do you think? Do you need a female ve for your bed? Look, these are all good quality ones, some are even of the nobility.'''' cing his hand together, he started speaking with a very polite tone to Zick.

    The ve trader looked as Zick walked forward. The ve trader hurriedly patted the ample breasts of a group of female ves behind him, which carried a rippling wave effect.

    Behind him were a dozen utterly naked noblewomen. Their skin was extremely smooth, and their figures were quite beautiful. Even if they were ves, their aura of nobility could not be stifled.

    "How did they end up here? I mean, as nobles, wouldn''t it be troublesome?" Zick was a little curious about this.

    "Please don''t worry, these are all nobles who fought and lost in battles. Their fiefdoms have long since been usurped and their families destroyed. They are legally under the death sentence. There will absolutely be no trouble at all.'''' The ve trader answered back smugly.

    Zick looked behind a noblewoman who was being dragged away. There was obviously a noble youngdy standing there too.

    "How are they? Buy a couple, and it''s up to you how you y with them! After you''re sick of them, you can use them for your experiments. Even if they die, it''s not a problem!" The trader did his utmost to entice Zick.

    ''Wait.....'' Suddenly an idea appeared in Zick''s head, it was an idea that he hadn''t even thought of till now. But it might be possible in ces like this.

    ''''I want ves as a assistant for management work." Zick spoke to the ve trader immediately.

    "If it''s like this!" The trader stroked his chin, "What you''re looking for are premium ves, and their price will be extraordinary! Because they are trained from a very young age by the ck market."

    Hearing this, Zick''s eyes shone. ''This solves one of my problem, I can just buy this ves in the second continent. I didn''t expect this problem to be so easily solved, now I only need to look for ve who will maintain my rule upon the underworld, not letting anyone else takeover it.''

    ''''Alright, then I will look around for a while. After choosing a ve I will inform you.'''' Saying this, Zick moved forward.

    While walking, Zick looked at the ves. Some of them were well-built youths while some were still children. They were all staring outside from behind the fence looking fearful. From time to time a few people pointed at them or even walked forward to inspect them.

    Zick even saw a group of people with mask surrounding a few demi human ves, bidding over them.

    ''I wonder if she is here.''

 Chapter 92 Varine

    CLANK!

    A servant closed the cage''s door behind him, finishing his job of giving a piece of bread to all the ve within it.

    The cage only had small children ranging from 8 years to 15 years old. They all looked malnourished, with their skin looking pale. The ves in there wore some thin clothes that could somewhat cover their private areas.

    Some had already lost hope, with their eyes looking lifeless. On the other hand, there were some new ve who still had some hope in getting out of this ce.

    But in the end, even they would fall into despair like any other ve.

    The ve named verine knew about this better than anyone. Actually this cage of ve were treated better than the other cages as they were going to be trained to be premium ves.

    To do this, it was better to choose ves of young age. This ves get a piece of bread three times a day unlike the ves in other cages, who don''t even get a single meal. Preservative type magic was cast upon them so that they won''t die soon. But still many ves die everyday from starvation.

    This ves don''t have the right to kill themselves or hurt each other. Even the right of trying to run away was taken away from them. The moment a ve seal was made on their body, they had lost all their rights.

    Only ves with exceptional beauty or strength are valued here. Others are like disposable items to the ck market.

    Varine ate the piece of bread in her hand quietly. She had grown used to staying in ces like this for a long time. She was currently sitting at the corner of the cage, staring forward nkly.

    Varine had ck hair and golden eyes, her body stature was small matching her 12 years old status.

    ''Does it matter? freedom, they will never be able to attain it.'' Verine found the hopes in other ve''s eyes to be inconceivable. She didn''t mock them for still having hope, she had just epted the reality.

    Varine had also hoped for someone to save her just like them once.

    ''It has been four years since I became a ve now.''

    Varine lived in a normal vige located on the border of the Mhydrasvil empire. She lived happily with her grandmother there. Her parents had left her there when she was two year old, but after that they never returned again. No matter how she cried or pleaded they never returned. In the end, she had to ept it, they would never return.

    Though Varine and her grandmother lived a poor life, they were able to live by somehow.

    But this didn''tst long, her grandmother died when Varine was Five year old. It was a sudden death from sickness.

    Varine was left all alone in the world. She could only cry again with helplessness.

    She was epted by the orphanage in that vige, then she started living there still filled with immense sadness.

    Not too long from then, suddenly their vige was attacked by bandits. At that time she was still an eight year old kid.

    The whole vige was burnt down to ashes, many people living at that vige was taken as a ve.

    Varine still remembered the river of blood she had seen four years ago. The bandits or more specifically the people from the ck market, killed all the people they found useless without any mercy.<sub> </sub>

    The peaceful vige had been turned into a ruin, corpses were everywhere, it was a pitiful sight.

    Varine had hidden in one of the sacks, waiting for them to leave. But can she fool the senses of the knight? she was found out almost immediately.

    The bandit who found her lifted his sword up, looking at her with an evil smirk on his face.

    "Stop!" Another bandit who looked to be their leader came towards them with a frown on his face.

    "Take her with the other ves." Saying this with an uninterested expression, the bandit leader left.

    "Tch!, Come with me you shit!" The bandit dragged Varine by her hand. She couldn''t resist the power of a knight at all and was dragged along easily. No matter how she resisted by crying or wailing around her limb, it was pointless.

    This is how Varine''s ve life began, she was sad at the lost of her orphanage but she was already use to it. There were other ves from her orphanage, but she didn''t know about them much, as she liked being alone in the orphanage.

    Varine was taken from one ve market to the another, being disyed as a ve. But not many people were interested in kids, so she ended up in this ck market after a long time.

    While she was still being taken to one after another ck markets, Varine had still hoped for someone to save her, but it never happened. She wanted to escape but it was impossible with the ve seal. In the end, she also fell in despair just like any other ve.

    Living such a life, Varine matured faster than others.

    A life without meaning, a life without a goal. Her whole life was a tragedy.

    It was almost like she was cursed.

    Varine remembered a memory from a long time ago. It was something an another ve had spoken once.

    ['''' Is there any meaning in this life? We don''t have a ce where we belong, we can''t even protect the thing we hold dear to.....Really, we don''t even have the right to kill ourselves.... hahahahaha!!!''''] The ve startedughing crazily, He had gone insane. This was actually the best way a person could escape from his misery in a ce like this.

    ''A ce I can belong...and the power to protect what I hold dear to me....'' These words resonated with Varine. She clearly didn''t have both of this.

    ''But in the end, even I will turn out like the other ves being sold to another customer.....'' It was hopeless to think about it now. Varine didn''t feel despair on this matter, she had long grown used to it.

    Finishing the bread in her hand. Suddenly, Varine could see a person''s leg standing outside the cage, right in front of her. Someone had walked in front of her without Her noticing a thing.

    ''''Hm?" Baffled, Varine lifted her head up with squinted eyes.

    The person standing in front of her, looked directly at her eyes with his blue eyes. He had white hair and a white mask on his face.

    (End of volume 3)

 Chapter 93 (Auxiliary Chapter) Power Levels

    Knight profession-

    LOWEST RANK KNIGHT

    LOW RANK KNIGHT

    MIDDLE RANK KNIGHT

    HIGH RANK KNIGHT

    PEAK RANK KNIGHT

    MASTER SWORDSMAN

    GRANDMASTER

    NEXT RANK: (UNKNOWN)

    (Author note: this profession covers many paths, sword, spear, archery, shield, etc...)

    ...

    Mage profession-

    LOWEST RANK MAGE

    LOW RANK MAGE

    MIDDLE RANK MAGE

    HIGH RANK MAGE

    PEAK RANK MAGE

    ARCHMAGE

    NEXT RANK:(UNKNOWN)

    ...

    Enchantment ranks-

    LOWEST TIER ENCHANTED ITEM

    LOW TIER ENCHANTED ITEM

    MIDDLE TIER ENCHANTED ITEM

    HIGH TIER ENCHANTED ITEM

    PEAK TIER ENCHANTED ITEM

    ARTIFACT

    NEXT RANK: (UNKNOWN)

    .....

    weapon ranks-

    LOWEST TIER WEAPON

    LOW TIER WEAPON

    MIDDLE RANK WEAPON

    HIGH RANK WEAPON

    PEAK RANK WEAPON

    LEGENDARY WEAPON

    MYTHICAL WEAPONS

    NEXT RANK: (UNKNOWN)

    (Author note: the cksmith profession is on the decline right at the moment.)

    .....<sub> </sub>

    Assassin profession-

    LOWEST RANK ASSASSIN

    LOW RANK ASSASSIN

    MIDDLE RANK ASSASSIN

    HIGH RANK ASSASSIN

    PEAK RANK ASSASSIN

    MASTER ASSASSIN

    ASSASSIN LORD( GRANDMASTER RANK)

    NEXT RANK: ( UNKNOWN)

    ....

    Alchemy profession-

    (Unknown rights at the moment)

    ...

    Dragon: grandmaster level strength

    ancient dragon: peak of the grandmaster level.

    Dragon Lord:(unknown)

    ...

    Monsters level vary from one another.

    ...

    Demon Lord: semi-god(demigod)

    .....

    Giants: (Unknown)

    .....

    Demihuman-

    Pureblood: Peak to master level talent

    half blood: depend upon talent and effort.

    quarter blood: uncertain.

    .....

    Spirits-

    LOW RANK SPIRIT

    MIDDLE RANK SPIRIT

    HIGH RANK SPIRIT

    SPIRIT KING

    Next rank: ( Unknown)

    ...

    Zick: battles strength of peak master level.

    ....

    (Author note: please tell me if I missed anything)

 Chapter 94 Comfortable Market Facility

    ''She is just like how the novel described her to be.'' Looking at the kid who looked right back at him, Zick thought this.

    Varine''s gaze didn''t waver like the other ves, who didn''t dare to make an eye contract with him.

    ? Some ves didn''t even bothered lifting their heads up, when Zick passed by them. They were all waiting for death. Zick could see through the inner workings of the preservation magic caste upon them, so he knew that they wouldn''t die anytime soon.

    The magic in itself wasn''t anything special, but it would be different if it was used continuously. The preservative type magic wad caste upon the ves at set interval, so that the magic doesn''t wear off, this would let the vesst longer.

    But this magic wasn''t omnipotent, it just slowed down the deterioration of a body or object, not stop it. So there were still many ve who died everyday.

    Both Zick and Varine had nk expressions making it hard for anyone to know what they were thinking.

    CLANK!

    Zick opened the iron bar door with a simple push, the servant from before didn''t bother to lock the door in any way at all.

    ''''Come out." Zick''s voice was emotionless as ever.

    All the ve within the cage had horrified faces, they turned their head towards the direction Zick was looking at.

    A frail looking girl entered their sight, it was apparent who this new customer was addressing to.

    Varine''s gaze dimmed, she had just thought of how she would end up in the hand of an customer like any other ve, but she didn''t think it would be this fast. She had to follow the orders of a customer no matter the cost, not only her but all the ves.

    If they don''t follow the order, the ve seal would activate and make them follow it forcefully.

    Slowly getting up, Varine walked towards Zick with a downcast head. The ves can''t get out of the cage without the permission of a customer or a ve trader.

    The ck market did everything it could to makefortable market facilities for the customers.

    Varine got out of the cage and lifted her head up, staring at Zick with her Holden eyes, waiting for the next instruction. She had been trained from a long time to behave properly like a ve.

    Zick turned his head towards the camp deeper into the ve market, ignoring Varine''s gaze. A ve trader walked towards him hurriedly after sensing one of the servants being moved. He was the same ve trader that he met when entering the ve market.

    Reaching in front of Zick in no time, the ve trader started speaking in a very polite tone. ''''Sir! You might not know but this ve is going to be turned into premium product, so buying them would cost a hefty prize. Of course, there are bett-"

    "There is no need for that, just state the prize." Zick cut off the ve trader''s words without any hesitation.

    ''''Then...." The ve trader looked at Varine from top to buttom. Rubbing his chin, he started speaking again. "I won''t lie to you sir, it has only been around six months since we started training this ve. So I will offer this ve at only 200 tinum coins, the initial cost of a premium ve is 1000 tinum coins, without a doubt this is a beneficial trade for you." The ve trader smiled professionally though it just made him look even more uglier.

    ''''Alright and show me any two ve That won''t die quickly.'''' Zick epted the ve trader''s deal easily.

    tinum might have been a rare material on Earth, but in this world tinum was not very rare. There are many more rare and precious metals which surpassed tinum to arge degree.

    ''''Please this way, hehehe I am sure you will not be disappointed by our products." The ve trader started leading the way.

    ''''Follow me." Zick ordered Varine like it was the most natural thing.

    ''''Yes master.'''' Varine answered back nkly. Her future was uncertain, she might be a ything of this customer or she could also be used as an experiment subject.<sub> </sub>

    Human experimentation is strictly forbidden in the first continent, but the people associated with ces like ck market wouldn''t care about it in the slightest. She followed behind Zick quietly.

    Zick was able to discern some of Varine''s thoughts, after all he knew about her through the novel.

    Originally, Varine was brought by a merchant who had some weird fetish which circled around girls at the same age of Varine. If she had not met the protagonist of the novel, Aeiron by chance her ending could already be expected.

    It had taken a while for Zick to find Varine. He could feel almost everyone''s presence in the ck market, but he didn''t have the ability to sense other''s potential. He could only see it through his dragon eyes.

    So Zick had to go around looking at everyst ve with his own eyes. He had to go deeper into the ve market to find Varine.

    ''And her talent.....'' Zick had clearly seen Varine''s talent, unexpectedly it was more than anyone he saw until now, second to only Aeiron. There was another problem that he was facing recently.

    A ve seal cannot control anyone at the level of a master. This could be solved by making Varine sign an oath.

    But ording to the novel, a grandmaster can easily nullify an oath.

    Zick had to find a way to put a leash upon Varine in any way possible. He already had a n on how to handle it as he knew a lot about her through the novel.

    And even if his n didn''t work, it didn''t matter. He could just kill Varine before she grew and all his problems would be solved.

    Zick would lose a valuable asset but it was better than letting a potential threat go. His n was very hard to achieve too.

    ''I have to make her sign a contract with me.'' Sparks appeared in Zick''s eyes.

    A contract was totally different from an oath or a ve seal. The approval of both parties was needed to form a contract.

    A contract can''t be broken once made, it directly affects the soul which was impossible to nullify. It is usually hard to get a spiritualist or a mythical beast to help form a contract, but this didn''t worry Zick.

    Zick could ask the ck cat in the Garcia family''s mansion to help him in this matter, in the future.

    ''Now I only need to make Varine willing to form a contract with me. I know a lot about her, but I''m still uncertain if it is possible. If not....I can only use her till she bes a master assassin and then discard her.'' Zick couldn''t trust Varine without a kind of leash on her.

    Now that Zick bought Varine, it changed many events which are going to ur in the future.

    Zick could only be cautious and n his future moves as much as possible now. The value of the novel would fall to a certain degree in the first continent.

    Zick could only use his knowledge of the novel in the second continent, as nothing much should have changed there.

    Zick couldn''t help but feel happy about finding Varine and also worried about his future problem.

    The ve trader took Zick to one of the area where it was filled with strong looking ves. They were within the cages like everyst one of the ves.

    Zick chose any two strong ves quickly. One was a man in his thirties with messy brown hair, he was a middle rank knight and the other one was a old man in his fifties with white hair, he was also a middle rank knight. They followed his orders with emotionless expression.

    ''''This two ve quality aren''t bad, you have a good a eyes sir. If there is nothing else that you need to buy, then we can head towards my tent. I will pass on the ownership of this three to you there.''''

    Zick epted this proposal immediately with a nod. There was nothing else that he needed from here right at the moment.

 Chapter 95 A Place To Belong To (Remake)

    The ve trader''s tent wasn''t far, Zick and the others reached there within a minute.

    The tent was huge, It was mostly filled with instruments. Many ve traders entered it with a customer who have decided to buy a ve.

    Zick could clearly see all the magic defence around this tent. From it, he could tell that It was impossible for anyone below master rank to destroy it.

    ''''We don''t have the permission to carry the item used to pass the ownership of a ve to other with us. This item is regted very strictly because of a certain incident that ured in the past." The ve trader didn''t say anything about this incident.

    There were many customer around the tent, clearly there were many more entrance to the ve market other then the one Zick entered from.

    The ve trader and Zick entered the tent without anymore dy. They arrived in front of a counter like ce, the ve traders walked in front of it and talked to the person incharge.

    The ve trader leading Zick walked to the counter and passed on a ck badge to the person with many scars on his face. After finishing verifying his identity, he started talking with him.

    "A trainee premium ve and two regr ves." The ve trader directly stated his need coldly, totally different from how he treated Zick.

    "Hmph." Taking out two vials from his space ring, the scar faced person passed it on to the ve trader. One vial had a red liquid and the other one had purple, both of it shined unnaturally.

    It seems the people of ve market didn''t get together in a good way, apetative atmosphere was created among the people here.

    Zick didn''t even bother looking at them. He and the other three ve stood in front of the entrance.

    Zick stared at Varine intently. "What''s your name?"

    "Varine, maste-"

    "Call me ''sir Zick'' from now on." Zick cut her words off. It would be annoying if the fact he had ves was found out. Even if by chance someone found out, He had already considered many ways to deal with it, this problem could actually be easily solved using his Melvix family''s heir status, but it was still better to keep it hidden.

    The only thing that will take damage would be his reputation, but this didn''t bother Zick much like it used to before. He was now stronger and after epting his broken side, he wanted to live in a more unrestrained manner too.

    ''I really like this feeling of freedom....'' Zick started liking seeing new things and being free, this put him in a very good mood for a while. He smiled, but no one was able to see it because of his white mask.

    Zick brought his focus back to Varine, this was an important moment.

    "Yes, sir Zick." Varine spoke nkly as always.

    "Then listen closely to me." Zick stared directly at Varine''s eyes with his blue eyes.

    The gravity of his voice made Varine concentrate on him.

    "I will be your owner from this day on, I won''t harm you as long as you follow my order faithfully." Zick spoke slowly in a firm voice, though it still sounded indifferent to others.

    Zick actually didn''t want to kill Varine if he was given a choice, after all he didn''t have any animosity with her. He just found killing her to be the easiest method, but he wouldn''t hesitate if his n failed.

    Zick didn''t care what Varine did, as long as she didn''t do anything that harmed him in any way and followed his orders.

    Zick knew about Varine''s desire through the novel, in the novel ''The hero of Velveric fights a demon lord'' Aeiron became the person she wanted to protect.

    There were many reason for this, Aeiron had saved Varine from the merchant''s grasp, then removed the ve seal and even treated her nicely.

    But Zick would never remove the ve seal, that would go against his aim.

    Varine expression changed for the first time in a long time. A confused look appeared on her face.

    The Sincerity in Zick''s voice was clearly transmitted to Varine.

    She was also smart, and after thinking, She was confused as to why Zick offered such a thing. With the ve seal she would never be able disobey him, he could do anything he wanted with her.

    Zick could **** her, torture her, use her for experimentation, use her as a toy and many more thing. No one would stop him.<sub> </sub>

    "So?" Zick waited for her response. He could also feel the ve trader heading towards them.

    ".....Yes sir." Varine could only answer back like this.

    Varine''s expression returned to normal. She didn''t have the right to ask him the reason, Her mind trained by the premium ve trainer didn''t allowed it too. It was better as long as she wasn''t used as an experiment subject order or any other shady thing, after all she still didn''t want to die even though she was like this.

    Not only her but many other ves felt the same way too, deep within them they all want to live. It is normal for humans to seek life and freedom.

    Varine was still doubtful at what would happen to her, Zick said he would not harm her if she followed his order. But she had no idea what he would make her do at all. Or he might just go back on his word and kill her.

    Zick didn''t say anything else, The Varine he knew was a smart kid who caught up on thing fast. He had to move carefully if he needed to gain het trust, he wasn''t in a rush right at the moment too.

    ''I have to gain her trust slowly.....I can''t rush it, if I mess up and let Varine discover my scheme, I will have no choice but to look for another talented person that I can control in the second continent after discarding Varine.'' Zick looked towards the ve trader while lost in thought.

    "Hahaha! sorry for making you wait sir." The ve trader arrived in front of Zick. He wanted to go to a quite ce, but was stopped by Zick''s and was ordered to do the process of passing on the ve ownership here immediately.

    "Okay, it''s totally 1200 tinum coins sir." The ve trader didn''t bring up the topic of money till now as way of showing his trust in the customer. But of course he didn''t trust them in the slightest internally.

    Zick sent the stated prize through the space ring. The process of changing ownership of a ve was very simple.

    The ve trader put one drop of the red liquid from the vial upon the ve seal on Varine''s back Neck and ced his hand upon her shoulder. The ve seal was in a round shape with many letters in it of unknown origin, it was around 8 centimeter big

    The ve seal on her neck started spewed out red smoke, after absorbing the red liquid. The ve trader sent his mana into it, directly expelling the remaining red smoke within it.

    "Ughk....." A muffled groan left Varine''s mouth. She bore the burning pain with clenched jaw and fists. The pain vanished in a few seconds, in this time her whole body was covered in cold sweat. She felt a connection with her severed.

    "Please put a little of your blood on the ve seal sir." The ve trader spoke to Zick.

    Zick''s eyes squinted a little hearing him, it was hard for even him to harm this own body. He didn''t want to use the cursed sword as it may give a clue to his real identity.

    Lifting up his mask a little from his left hand, Zick brought his other hand near the mouth and bit the thumb finger. His sharp teeth were able to Prate his skin somewhat.

    Zick let a few drop of his blood fall upon ve seal on Varine, who was kneeling right at the moment. The red blood shined with vitality, it got absorbed by the ve seal immediately.

    At that instant, Zick felt a connection form with Varine. It was different from oath, it felt like the connection was formed directly on his body, unlike oath where the connection was external.

    ''It doesn''t seems like the dragon blood effected it much....the ve seal seems to only be strengthen by a little and its almost negligible.'' Zick felt disappointed, but thinking about it, this result was expectable. His dragon blood was nothingpared to a real dragon yet.

    After checking that the ve seal was working alright, the same process was done with the other two ves. They had their ve seal in the shoulder and purple liquid was used to pass their ownership unlike Varine.

    Zick''s injury healed in no time with his extraordinary vitality, so he had to harm himself again.

    While Zick put a drop of his blood upon the ve seal of thest ve, he felt the ve trader take out something from his space ring.

    It was a ck book, it was used tomunicate with each other from a distance, an enchanted item. The only disadvantage it has is that, anyone could use it. This might lead to another person using it and fooling or luring a person into a trap.

    The ve trader read through the message sent by his friend.

    ''''Ohhhh!'''' There ve trader couldn''t help but exim. Seeing Zick staring at him, he coughed and spoke calmly.

    ''''It seems a method has been found to use mana drugs without getting your mana turned impure." The ve trader voice became heated as he spoke, there was also jealousy mixed in it.

    ''I guess it was around this time the method was found in the novel.'' Zick thought to himself, this was the same method which he used while going towards the Garcia family''s estate to be a middle rank knight.

    Finishing everything that needed to be done, Zick started walking towards the teleportation circle with the three ves.

 Chapter 96 Aware Of His Position

    Zick''s mansion, within the basement.

    The teleportation circle started shining brightly, Zick and the three ve materialized above it with a sh.

    Zick rxed seeing that there wasn''t any problem with him or the teleportation circle.

    The room slowly grew dark as the teleportation circle stopped shining. The room was only being dimly illuminated by themps on the wall.

    "Hmm....." Zick looked at the two ves he brought for experimentation. The Preservative magical cast upon them was nullified because of the teleportation circle.

    Usually Supportive or simr types of magic are nullified after teleporting. This was because the mana filled with ''will'' does not get teleported along with them.

    The mage''s ''will'' gets dispelled in the process of being teleported.

    But Zick was different, he did not add any will into the mana in his surroundings, so the magic he cast upon himself was not nullified even after using the teleport action circle. He was well aware of this perk from a while because of the [Warp] magic.

    ''[Preservation]'' Zick recast the magic upon the two ves without any dy, he had already seen how it works in the ve market.

    The magic cast by Zick was immensely superior to the one cast by the mage in ck market.

    The [preservation] cast by the ve market could keep a ve alive for more than a month, ten days would be equal to just one day to their bodies.

    But Zick''s magic could make the vest for many months without a problem, one month would be equal to one day to their body.

    "Stay in this room until I order otherwise." Zick ordered the two ves without any interest, He wasn''t in a hurry to start experimenting. First he had to take care of Varine.

    Zick took off the white mask and deactivated the [Shapeshift] magic. His figure got covered in a blue light then reverted back to his original appearance.

    Turning his head towards Varine who looked around with her expressionless face, Zick instructed ''''follow me.''''

    Seeing Zick''s original appearance, Varine froze in her position with a dazed expression, because right now, he was even more handsome than before. It almost felt like he wasn''t even the same race as her.

    "Ah....." Snapping out of her daze, Varine nimbly followed behind Zick who headed towards the stairs in the distance.

    ''Reaching grandmaster rank before Varine bes a master assassin would be the best oue for me.....''

    Having the strength of grandmaster would make Zick feel a lot at ease while using Varine. Even if the situation turned to the worst by Varine getting out of his control and entering the grandmaster realm, he would be able easily take care of her if she ever came to take revenge.

    But Zick himself wasn''t sure when his dragon heart woulde out of hibernation mode. This made him feel helpless, which further made him seek an alternative way to be stronger.

    Zick didn''t want to change his future ns or restrict it, just because he couldn''t trust others. He only wanted to take extra precautions because Varine would be taking care of the whole underworld and even know about him.

    Varine could use it against him by exposing his identity too, if she were to escape his control.

    Zick wasn''t much worried about the matter of the method to use mana drugs without getting any impurity in mana nerves.

    The Melvix family or the other forces might find out about him buying the perfectly same material needed to perform this method, but even if they found out, so what?

    ''Hmph, they can''t force me in any way to answer them.''

    Even the Melvix family themselves couldn''t force Zick to answer any of their questions about this matter. But of course this will make many people suspicious of him if it was ever put out in the light.

    ''I can deal with this issue easily, but it is hard to predict the future perfectly.....others might try to restrict me now that they think I am a master swordsman. This was also one of the reasons why I didn''t want to reveal my strength, sigh! I can deal with them too, but it really is a hassle....''

    Climbing up the stairs in silence, Zick didn''t stop considering his future. He was clearly aware of his position.

    From the day Zick was born in this world, he has been living outside of the aristocratic society.

    Normally Every person has something that they don''t want to lose. It was the same for the nobles, they either want to protect their honour, family or position they held.<sub> </sub>

    But Zick never cared about any of this so when the ruling forces would investigate about it, they would feel even more threatened.

    Zick''s interaction with other nobles was very little, which was different from the others. The nobles are usually very socialist, they try to form as many connections as they could to secure support and in cases of emergency.

    This clearly showed that Zick wasn''t much interested in either material gain or political power, to the people who tried to investigate his past.

    This would only further increase the headache of the three ruling forces.

    To them, people who were not interested in material benefits and political power were very hard to control.

    Which would lead them to try suppressing Zick''s growth, until they find a way to control him.

    CLICK~

    Opening the basement''s door, Zick headed towards Butler Von who was training in one of the servant rooms, along with Varine behind him.

    The servants'' room was on the ground floor, near the kitchen.

    It was night right at the moment, fresh air entered the corridor through the window.

    Varine clenched her hand suppressing the emotions she felt from showing on her face.

    It had been a long time since varine breathed or felt the fresh air of outside, instead of the dampened air of the underground. This made her feel liberated and many moreplex emotions at the same time.

    This would have made her cry if she was the same as a few years ago.

    But presently, there were no tears in eyes, only a little sign of life returned to her golden eyes.

    Varine who became a ve two year ago and Varine of the present were almost like different people.

    Varine followed behind Zick Obediently, she was able to discern few things seeing his action till now. From the way he walked on the expensive looking corridor, it was apparent that this mansion was owned by him.

    And for the two ve left within the basement, Varine knew that it wasn''t for anything good. So she knew that Zick wasn''t a good or a kind person at the very least. In the first ce no good person woulde to the ck market anyway.

    This made her feel frightened and worried about what might happen to her.

    "Are you able to read?" Suddenly Varine heard Zick''s voice in front of her.

    Varine lifted her head up immediately, she could see Zick who had turned his head backwards slightly, looking towards her. She considered his question quickly and answered.

    "I can read but....I can''t write perfectly yet." Varine spoke truthfully, she couldn''t lie to Zick in the first ce because of the ve seal.

    Zick nodded his head and turned forward. Passing through the dining hall, the servant rooms appeared in front of him. He walked towards the room in which he felt Butler Von''s presence.

    KNOCK! KNOCK!

    Butler Von''s response to Zick''s knock was almost in an instant.

    CLICK~

    "How may I help you, young master Zick?" letting Zick enter the room, Butler Von bowed towards him. He didn''t ask anything about the young girl behind him.

    "Train this girl from tomorrow in the assassin''s profession and buy books about ruling, basic calction and politicalws and give it to her." Zick pointed towards Varine.

    "And give her one of the servant rooms to stay and provide her with necessary things to live here."

    Standing within the room, Zick dumped all the responsibility of nurturing and taking care of Varine to Butler Von without any hesitation.

 Chapter 97 Experiment Result

    One day before the academy sses began.

    Two days passed by quickly with Zick focused on his experiment.

    The evening''s orange sunlight dimly entered Zick''s room through the windows.

    Feeling disappointed at the result of today''s experiment, Zick sat on one of the couches of his room.

    ''[Thought eleration]'' Casting this magic upon himself, Zick started thinking about the experiment he performed upon the two ves in his basement.

    ''In the end, It was a total failure.....''

    Unfortunately Zick''s experiment on trying to alter a person''s memory had hit a wall from the beginning.

    This experiment was not carried out blindly. Zick had already thought of many situations that might ur while carrying out these experiments, but the result was still a failure.

    By aiming at the Hippocampus of the brains of the ve which held all the memory, Zick tried to alter their memories a little.

    The whole process was very hard, just a little carelessness could lead to the ve''s death.

    Touching the head of the ve, he sent a thin thread of mana just enough to effect the ve''s Hippocampus, into his head.

    The mana thread could only transmit few memory at a time so it would take a long time to see Through the whole memory of the ve.

    Extracting a portion of the memory or erasing it made Zick feel his own head throbbing in pain just because of the sheer amount of concentration he put on it. This made his focus waver to arge degree, but luckily he was somewhat used to the pain so it didn''t affect the experiment very much.

    A normal human being would have lost consciousness or even worse if they tried doing this process. Zick could onlyst this long because of his dragonoid status.

    The first ves was the man in his fifties with white hair. His real name was Jevet which Zick got to know after seeing a little of his memory, Unluckily he died.

    Extracting memory didn''t put the Hippocampus of a brain under much stress, But when Zick tried altering a portion of the memory it started getting stressed heavily. Within a second, the damage done by the mana travelled to the whole hippocampal formation which supports a persons learning ability and perception, then in three seconds the ve died.

    Zick wasn''t able to save the ve with the speed he died.

    ''.....I wasted money buying a middle rank knight for nothing. I was going to use them to see if Enchantment was possible in a bodyguard but.....never mind. I will be needing many more ve than I thought. There was also the thing that happened to the ve after I erased a portion of his memory.''

    After a portion of the memory was erased from the ve''s brain, his eyed suddenly dted and the erased memory was actually totally restored!

    Even the dragon''s eyes couldn''t tell what it was!

    It was a totally unexpected situation for Zick.

    Thinking about it, he didn''t find it weird, there had to be a reason why no one was able to alter a person''s memories till now.

    This also peeked his interest in finding what might be causing this. So he moved on to the next ve to continue his experiment after letting his mind rest.

    Today''s experiment went smoothly in the beginning, but the end result was something which surprised Zick immensely.

    Zick didn''t try altering the ves memory by putting in fabricated one''s, but instead tried to find the reason to why their memory was restored. He started erasing their memory by extracting it through the mana threads like before.

    The lost memory was again restored mysteriously.

    After doing this process for three times, a change urred atst. The ve starter to spasm in the ground, he convulsed to the point it wouldn''t be weird if he died the very next moment.

    Zick still remembered the hoarse scream of the ve which stem from pain and insanity.

    After a minute the ve stopped convulsing.

    Instead the ve started showing sign of going insane. his eyes dted rapidly bing fully white and he started baring its teeth like an aggressive wolf.

    Resisting the suppression from the ve seal, the ve with brown hair pounced towards Zick, trying to catch him by the neck. the ve seal was not able to stop the ve for some reason too.

    Zick stood far from the ve, He had moved a few meter away from the ve when he started convulsing in the ground. He wasn''t flustered at all, he easily suppressed the ve with a simple flick of his finger. The mana around him suppressed the ve with sh, making him kneel on the ground.

    Seeing the ve body getting destroyed internally at a rapid pace, Zick took out a high rank healing potion and pour it upon the ve.

    The ve still held value so he was willing to use a high rank potion like this.

    The ve body healed rapidly and he even recovered some of his sanity back, but the very next moment he copsed on the ground. All signs of life leaving his body. He was already as dead as a corpse could be.

    Zick couldn''t do anything to stop this, but suddenly he remembered something from the novel. He had already memorised most of the novel now.

    There was a disease in the second continent, for which there was no cure found. It was impossible to treat it without an elixir which was as rare as a dragon.<sub> </sub>

    This disease was dered as a curse by the people of the second continent because of the symptoms it brought to the people afflicted by it . It''s name was the mind killer curse.

    The mind killer curse was very rare, there were only few people afflicted by it throughout the second continent. No one knows how this disease came to be or how people get afflicted by it. There was no mention of it in the novel either.

    Once afflicted by this curse-like disease there is only one oue to a person, that is death. Their condition would just keep getting worse until they die.

    There were three stages of the mind killer curse. The third stage was very simr to how the ve just behaved.

    The first stage of the mind killer curse causes people to lose certain parts of their already hazy memory. They also be a little impulsive.

    The second stage, for the people in this stage it bes hard to even remember what he was doing a few days ago. At certain times, the person loses some of his sanity temporarily and starts fighting people or destroying things in his surroundings.

    The third stage, people in this state don''t have long to live. They live three to four days to the maximum.

    The people in this stage don''t even remember the thing they did a few instant ago and lose their sanity almost instantly when feeling any negative emotions, which they all do because of their condition.

    It was almost the same to how the brown haired ve behaved.

    This could only mean one thing, someone was trying to alter memories of people just like Zick.

    The most probable culprit was the alchemy tower.

    ''Without a doubt there is something that I don''t know and it wasn''t mentioned in the novel too. I even don''t know what exactly is causing this.''

    Zick recovered from his disappointment soon, he put this matter aside for now. Thinking about it currently would not get him anywhere as it was rted to the second continent.

    The second continent is also known as the eastern continent by the people of the first continent as it is located in the east.

    And the first continent is known as the middle continent as it is in the middle of the eastern continent and the demon continent.

    A thickyer of mist covers the three continent''s horizons. It is not possible to pass the mist as it poisons the mana or aura which touches it, if anyone stayed in there for long this would lead to their death.

    It is also not possible to fly above it for anyone in the three continents.

    Changing intofortable clothes, Zick started training in his aura as usual while sitting upon the bed with crossed leg.

    There had been a thought that had bothered him a while ago.

    Zick had grown a lot since the day he came to this worlds because of the thing he went through. There were only a few moments when any immature thought appeared in his mind.

    The new experience of going through pain.

    The feeling of growing stronger.

    The experience of staying in the battlefield for two years.

    epting everything about his past life and his broken mind.

    And many more things.

    This all experience attributed in forming his current mindset and who he was.

    He was getting to know more and more about himself and the way this world''s society worked.

    Zick had been living a leisurely life for a while now, so he couldn''t help but ask himself.

    Is this the way I wanted to live?

    Zick couldn''t help but think of everything he had been doing till now.

    And the answer he arrived on was-

    ''No.''

    Living a leisurely life wasn''t the way Zick wanted to live. He liked it but an empty feeling still appeared within him.

    Zick had been moving keeping the demon lord in his mind, but he didn''t want to make defeating him as the goal of his life.

    Actually Zick already had an idea on what he wanted to do.

 Chapter 98 He Refused To Be Ordinary!

    Zick held his chest with a serious look.

    ''I still feel a little empty inside.''

    Zick had everything that a person could want.

    Position, money, strength and admiration of many people....

    Zick''s expression turned stiff thinkin this: ''They admire me? They merely admire my fortune, authority and strength.''

    Thinking this, his expression turned cold, a sharp light shed in his eyes.

    His gaze was so serious that it almost felt like it was on fire.

    Afterwards, Zick started shaking his head as he sighed: "Everything that happened till now....��merely amounted to this."

    Zick felt that the things he had been doing till now were all empty and meaningless. The empty feeling just kept growing.

    Zick had been an extremely normal person before he was dered as a criminal.

    Even after his personality was broken, Zick still held some moral and bottom lines, but it slowly vanished as he started living in this world. The values of the earth and this world were very different. He himself also wanted to change.

    He started to lose his bottom line, he became unscrupulous. Thus, he started to be branded as a dangerous person by the people who investigated his past.

    Living a life without much ambition or aspiration started feeling pitiable to Zick. Complex emotions started rising within him.

    After a few minutes, all the emotions on Zick''s face suddenly vanished.

    His lips curled up as he showed a mocking smile. Next, he started tough lightly, he sighed deeply as his body rxed entirely.

    '' I am actuallyughing at myself....'' Zick''s had an extremely calm gaze, it swept around the room as his eyes drooped down: "Love and friendship, hesitation and regret, killing and ughtering, isn''t all this very boring?"

    Zick spoke in a calm tone to himself. He felt everything turning dull at this point.

    With still a calm face, Zick considered what he actually wanted to do in his life.

    The most important thing in the world for Zick was oneself. He was very much self centred from the very beginning so this was very normal.

    Knowing himself was the first step in finding what he wanted to do. But he knew one thing that he was sure of.

    He refused to be ordinary!

    Discontented with being ordinary, this was a normal human trait. Zick was the same. Everyone yearned to be extraordinary in any way possible.

    ''In this aspect, I and the other people are the same type of person.'' Zick thought to himself inly.

    Zick thought of the gods who were transcended beings, who''s strength he couldn''t even begin to imagine. He wanted to attain it....

    No, Zick wanted to surpass them. He wanted to pursue eternal life, something that cannot be destroyed and will exist forever.

    Eternal life, only this majestic and unattainable target, could make the journey of his life be more interesting.

    Whether eternal life existed or not, there was no evidence to prove it. But Zick felt that the process of pursuing eternal life would be a lot more interestingpare how he lived currently.

    If he wanted, Zick could live a peaceful life after defeating the demon lord, but that wasn''t how he wanted to live his life.

    A life like that felt empty to Zick.

    Even the dragon lord wasn''t able to be an immortal and attain eternal life, it died just like any other being. It just showed how hard it was to achieve it or it might just be impossible.

    Dying was a normal process for every living being.

    But this just made it all the more interesting.

    The empty feeling within Zick vanished and was filled with firm resolution and immense ambition. A smile appeared on his face naturally.

    The superficial things such as society and emotions became very clear to him now that he had this goal in his mind. His perception of thing had changed tremendously.

    Society was a system created by humans and other species. There are many rules keeping people at check at all times.

    People growing in this environment will clearly have a mindset of wanting to protect it. Most of themoners are educated by their parents to lead a safe life within the protection of the society.<sub> </sub>

    But there are still many people who don''t care about the society at all, these kinds of people are rare. Zick still cared about the rules unconsciously because of how the Earth society worked, but now it all became clear. He had escaped from the chains of the society permanently in the psychological level.

    The kingdoms and the empires maintain there rule upon the territory so that they could exert their influence to more people. The other nobles are also trying to keep their territory in control at all time for the same reason.

    They all try to increase their strength and influence in any way possible.

    Now Zick had stopped caring about society, the rules didn''t held power in his eyes any more.

    People weren''t supposed to be ruled by thews created by the others, instead it was the other way around!

    Zick would use the power of the society system if it helped him in attaining eternal life.

    Emotions had almost stopped affecting his decision making now, he was very calm and rational right at this instant. He got to know that he was being controlled by his emotions without noticing it before.

    Zick could have just acted to be a kind person in front of Varine, this way he could have won her trust over sooner but he didn''t do it. By removing her ve seal he might have made her indebted to him.

    But Zick didn''t do it because he couldn''t trust her. This wasn''t a matter of trusting her, instead it was how much confidence he had in himself in controlling Varine.

    If Varine betrayed him and he lost his influence in the underworld of the eastern continent, so what?

    Varine''s value in Zick''s eyes had risen more than the underworld''s now. She could be useful to him in many way even more than the underworld.

    Zick couldn''t deny that he wanted to take over the underworld because he felt a little greedy for the resources he might find their. But now, Varine interested him more, she would have grandmaster level strength in the future after all! there are only few people who can reach such level!

    Zick couldn''t let such a valuable person go away. He originally was going to just use her to control the underworlds and nothing else not trusting her, but now he wanted to use her for many more things.

    ''I have to nurture her first....'' Zick was willing to use a little of his time and effort in this.

    The value of everything in Zick''s eyes started falling tremendously too after he got a goal. He was aware that the current him couldn''t do everything perfectly, so he wanted to continue growing and learn more.

    If Zick had acted in a sociable way then the ruling forces wouldn''t have been threatened like now.

    Zick''s understanding of the human heart wasn''t high, but he could still predict a few things about the people he knew about.

    Though now it was a waste of Zick''s times and it might even backfire if he tried removing the ve seal from Varine. She already knew that the two ve never left the basement. So she might have already figured out their end.

    Varine had adjusted to living in Zick''s mansion a little now. Butler Von had also started training her in bing an assassin. She also read all the books that Zick ordered.

    The way Zick currently lived dissatisfied him.

    It was not possible for Zick to ask to be extraordinary while leading afortable life after all.

    Zick started training in his aura now feeling calm. He was now almost fully aware of the type of person he was.

    Zick pursued something that other people might disdain over or evenbel it as impossible. But he didn''t care about it.

    Even if I can''t attain eternal life in the end, so what?

    Even if my whole life is a total failure and meaningless, so what?

    Regardless!

    That is how I can find meaning in my life!

    ''If Ick even this bit of ambition, what''s the point of living? Even if I don''t achieve my ambitious and die leaving nothing behind, it doesn''t matter. I still want to pursue it!''

    The smile on Zick''s face was the most brilliant smile he had ever made in his whole life, both on earth and in this world.

    Zick lost all interest in roaming the academic city or anything else. He only concentrated on his training.

    After a hour, suddenly his instinct started reacting weirdly. He had been trying to learn more about his instinct that came from the dragon heart from a while, so he knew that his instinct wasn''t warning him of danger. It was something else.

    At that instant, A majestic pir of light fell from the sky at an unprecedental speed and engulfed the whole central district and areas near it. Zick''s mansion was included in it.

    Slowly everything vanished in the white light.

    ''No way, this.....'' Zick was shocked at this phenomenon, he couldn''t resist the white light at all and was engulfed in it too, slowly vanishing.

 Chapter 99 The Red Thunder Qilin, Zrector

    Sitting upon thefortable bed crossed leg, Jarvin trained in his aura with closed eyes. He wore afortable white robe and had his ash-grey hairbed back properly.

    Opening his eyes, Jarvin got off the bed with a soft sigh. It was his normal routine to check the report from the business he started after finishing training.

    Sitting upon the chair of his study table, Jarvin went through the pages in front of him one by one. Ceslia, his personal maid, had already organised the papers properly so that he could read itfortably.

    Jarvin had a frown on his face the whole time as he went through the reports. He didn''t find anything weird with the paper, but instead his mind was wondering on a different matter.

    ''After the assassin guild failed to kill that bastard, Anelete, the owner of the mendert merchant group has been trying to search for the culprit like a madman.....''

    Thinking this, Jarvin couldn''t help but grimace upon his current situation. Annoyance and anger started rising within him like a surging tide.

    ''I need to keep my calm, being emotional would not get me anywhere.'' Breathing out loudly, Jarvin calmed himself. He had already gotten used to feeling angry like this in the past few weeks.

    Almost everyone in the noble society knew about the assassin attempt done upon Zick and princess Anastasia.

    The most surprising fact in this incident was Zick defeating two master assassins. This could be said to be the main focus of this topic.

    ''My n was no doubt perfect, which had a very low chance of failing. But I never expected for him to be hiding his strength.....''

    Because of this, now Jarvin has been feeling restless for a while.

    Catching his head with his right hand, Jarvin couldn''t help but be disgruntled. This situation was totally out of his expectations.

    Many people have been investigating who instigated this assassin attempt for a while now. This put Jarvin under immense pressure, he had already removed all the evidence of him being the culprit, but there was still one lead which could expose his deeds.

    It was the assassin guild. The leader and the higher rank people in this guild would without a doubt know about him being the culprit. They can''t sell him out with the oath taken between them, but there was still a chance there was a loophole that would let them go around it.

    The assassin guild would without a doubt leak information about Jarvin if there was a way to go around the oath. They had suffered heavily losing four of their master assassins, so they held grievances with him which could not be easily solved.

    ''There is a chance they might ckmail me too in case they find a loophole in the agreement we made, sigh.....''

    The only good information for Jarvin was that only half of the focus of the people investigating this assassin attempt incident was put on him. The other half was upon the person who coborated with him.

    Luckily this coborator did not know about Jarvin identity as he was contracted through the assassin guild

    At first, Jarvin just wanted to kill Zick because of being wary and cautious of him, but now he developed a genuine feeling of hatred and loathing against him.

    ''Killing that bastard will be almost impossible now that he is in the academic city and if he really is a swordmaster.....I can only give up if it''s just me.'' Jarvin knew when he needed to retreat and advance.

    In his eyes, Jarvin still thinks that Zick had not figured him out as being the culprit yet.

    Jarvin was also aware that the ruling forces would without a doubt be attracted by the news of a 15 year old boy bing a swordmaster.

    The action they would take was also predictable to Jarvin from the way they have been taking care of things till now.

    Either suppression or extermination, the ruling forces would try to nib the poisonous bud before sprouting, which was Zick.

    Or they will try to nurture this poisonous bud to turn into a normal flower like any other.

    The Cravion kingdoms and the Melvix family were on the side of Zick, so chances of exterminating him were very low. But suppressing his growth was set in stone in Jarvin''s eyes.

    ''''Hmm.....it''s still morning, today should also be the day that bastard starts going to the academy.'''' Getting up from the table, Jarvin started heading towards the bathroom. When suddenly his steps came to a stop.

    Jarvin could feel Ceslia was heading towards his room with hurried steps which was a very rare sight.

    The only other time when Ceslia walked so hurriedly was when Jarvin''s business near the the shore of the southern side of the continent was destroyed because of a natural cmity. Though she looks like an emotionless machine, she still cared and was loyal to him.

    KNOCK! KNOCKN!

    ''''Come in.'''' Jarvin ordered with an interested look.

    CLICK~

    Entering the room, Ceslia didn''t waste time and bowed toward Jarvin.

    ''''I have a report master." Even Ceslia''s voice was tinged with solemness.

    ''''go on.''''

    Hearing her master''s approval, Ceslia first handed over a yellow parchment to Jarvin and started speaking like a machine again.

    ''''Yesterday after twilight, arge pir of white light appeared from the sky and envelops the central part of the Academic city and the areas near it. After the light vanished, nothing was left in its ce, it was a totally barren ground. In this incident, unfortunately mister Zick had also vanished along with the others.''''

    Hearing Ceslia speak and reading the things written on the paper, Jarvin''s expression turned nk.<sub> </sub>

    ''''Everything vanished?" Jarvin asked back with a dumbfounded look.

    ''''Everything.'''' Ceslia responded back monotonously.

    *********************

    In the vast sky, which expanded as far as the eyes could see. Suddenly a blur appeared which after expanding turned into a figure with ck hair, who wore afortable white shirt and pants.

    It was Zick in an unconscious state.

    Slowly Zick''s body started falling down rapidly. His hair and clothes fluttered wildly as he fell because of the air pressure.

    Zick was dozens of kilometres above the sky and below him was a vast sea with no end to be seen.

    If seen in the distance, dozens of more people were also falling from the sky just like Zick.

    While Zick and the other people fell, a ck cloud started approaching the area he was in swiftly. The clouds looked very unnatural, it was extremely ck and gave off a feeling of impending doom.

    Unnatural red thunder rang through the clouds making a loud sound.

    SPLASH!

    Zick fell into the sea with a sshing sound, the cloud was also almost right above where he fell.

    The cloud wasrge enough to cover the whole Academic city without a problem.

    Blop....

    Slowly sinking into the ocean Zick opened his eyes quickly. His instinct was screaming crazily for him to run.

    ''My head hurts like it has been splitting open! like this I wouldn''t be able to use any big magic....And the magic disaster why did it happen so fast?.''

    Zick easily found out that the magic disaster brought him here,paring his situation to how it was in the novel. He stopped himself to think about the magic disaster for now.

    Zick trusted his instinct so the first thing he considered was to run. He felt a shark type monster heading towards him.

    Ignoring the monster, Zick first tried getting out of the water using his magic. From his instinct he felt danger from the red thundering from the ck cloud above him.

    Deciding swiftly, Zick first wanted to get out of the water as thunder would have its power amplified in the water.

    But Zick faced another problem.

    He couldn''t use magic as smoothly as he used to!

    Zick had wanted to use magic as that was the fastest way, but seeing that it almost took two times more concentration to just use normal magic. He used a little of his aura and elerated upwards in a swimming motion.

    All this happened extremely quickly, Zick didn''t want to waste even a second with the danger in front of him.

    SPLASH!

    Even after getting out of the water, Zick''s expression just got worse. He looked at the ck clouds above him while floating in the air.

    Just using magic to fly increased his headache tremendously. In this state using magic like [Warp] might even lead to Zick''s death.

    And seeing the ck cloud, Zick''s mood just got worse. He knew the identity of the ck cloud.

    ''One of the five disasters, the red thunder qilin, Zrector...And the reason why I can''t use magic must be because of the grandmaster''s domain.''

    Grandmaster''s domain is also known as a lower rank dominance field by some people.

    After a person or a thing enters the realm of grandmaster, their aura evolves into a higher form of energy.

    This higher form of energy is multiple times stronger than aura. If not suppressed it would push all the mana in its atmospheres away, just like now.

    This way, it would be hard for any mage to win against a grandmaster.

    The red thunder qilin, Zhector is a monster with grandmaster rank strength and is also the monster Zick knew little of, as it didn''t appear anywhere in the novel.

    ''Which means I am in the eastern ocean right at the moment...''

    Zhector never left the Eastern ocean territory for some reason, Zick knew of This clearly.

 Chapter 100 Dragon Breath

    The magic disaster incident.

    This was a major arc in the novel ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' that Zick read.

    At the end of the first year in the academy, when the graduation ceremony was being carried out, the magical disaster had fallen upon the cadets and the professors teleporting them all around the world randomly.

    No one was teleported to the middle continent for some reason. Zick found this point suspicious and knew that there was something working behind the scene that he wasn''t aware of. It was easy to reach this conclusion when one thinks about it.

    The magic disaster had also directly aimed at where Aeiron was. This showed that it wasn''t caused naturally, but intentional by someone.

    Whoever did it was not normal in the least, even Zick couldn''t resist it in the slightest.

    Seeing its power, it was normal for people tobel it as a natural disaster.

    The magic disaster incident is also known as the beginning of the journey arc in the novel. It was when Aeiron started travelling the whole eastern continent in search of the other people who were teleported along with him. He also had to go to the demon continent to search for the lost harem member.

    The magic disaster only covered the main facility of the central District, so not more than 1,000 people were teleported.

    From this, more than half of the people''s whereabouts were unknown. It was almost like they had vanished from the face of the world.

    They were assumed to be teleported above the ocean or somewhere unknown and had died.

    ''This magic disaster was without a doubt bigger than the one which appeared in the novel. Though I couldn''t sense how much area it covered as I didn''t get any time to react, but just from what I could sense, it was bigger than the original one.....and for me to be teleported in the eastern ocean in this situation...''

    For the first time in a long while, Zick felt despair.

    His magic abilities were limited to the extreme, his mind was going through immense pain because of being teleported by the magic disaster. Which made it hard to concentrate and form a magic.

    Even without this, Zick wouldn''t be able to perform much magic because of the grandmaster''s domain.

    Zick could recover quickly with his dragonoid status. It would have taken a few minutes for him to totally recover, but with him using magic to fly ceaselessly it would take 10 minutes.

    ''I just have to survive for 10 minutes, then I can try using [Warp] and then start escaping....even though it would take a while to gather mana in this environment, I should be able to cast it.'' Calming himself, Zick looked intently towards the cloud, he could feel it getting ready to attack.

    CRACKLE!

    A huge red lightning headed right at where Zick was.

    Reacting to it, Zick moved aside dodging it easily as he was ready for it. But at that instant, the red lightning changed its trajectory and moved towards Zick like it had a will of its own.

    Taking out the cursed sword from his space ring hastily, Zick started using his aura at full power. His sword got covered in a chaotic ck aura, it was totally different from how he used his aura in the assassin incident.

    Zick''s aura was totally ck moving around chaotically with a tinge of red in iting from the cursed sword.

    Suppressing his aura within the sword to the extreme, Zick swung it at the red lightning.

    BANG!

    A strong sound wave was created with the sh of two different energies. The water rippled, forming tides.

    With an explosion the red lightning vanished, but Zick''s expression just got warier even though he was totally unscathed.

    ''I had to use all my strength just to block this red lightning which wasn''t even created by the real thing.....as I thought my chances of winning against an opponent with grandmaster level strength is abysmal.''

    CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

    Many red lights started heading towards Zick at once making the whole ce shine in red light.

    ''Iting.''

    Zick wasn''t disturbed by the blinding lightning, he got used to it squinting his eyes. His face hardened feeling the presence heading towards him.

    ROAR!!!

    The whole water in the ocean and the air shook in presence of Zrector, one of the magic disaster.

    Zick didn''t have the time to look at his surroundings. Covering his whole body in ck aura, he swung his sword shooting out dozens of aura des trying to block the red lightning.

    But in the end, it was not enough. Zick''s aura was only able to weaken the red lightning by a little.

    ''They are at least two times stronger than the previous one.'' Zick gritted his teeth, while blocking one of the red lightning.

    BANG!!

    Zick was flung backwards, no wound appeared on him as he used dragon scale to cover his hands in thest moment.

    But the clothes in his hands were burnt away.

    Zick bnced himself recasting the flying magic again which got nullified in the previous sh.

    ''If this goes on, I wouldn''t be able to evenst for more than three minutes!''

    Not even a minute had passed since the start of the battle.

    Three red lightning converged into one and turned into arge spear. It headed towards Zick at an unprecedented speed.

    Looking at it, Zick didn''t hesitate and used one of the abilities he got from dragon heart.<sub> </sub>

    The air in the surrounding started converging towards Zick at full speed and entered his opened mouth.

    Zick''s chest started glowing in a dark ck colour and the aura around his body dimmed a little.

    It was a dragon breath attack! and it absorbed more than 10% of Zick''s total aura at once!

    Not hesitating, Zick shooted it towards the red lightning with his mouth wide open, exposing his shard teeths.

    An ck fire in the shape of a ray left his mouth and shed with the red lightning.

    BANG!!!!

    Arge explosion of red and ck colour ured in the middle of the sky.

    In the end, the breath attack was able to fend off the red lightning somehow.

    "Haaa.....haaaa.... haaaa"

    Zick breathed out raggedly, he felt his lungs, throat and jaw was on fire.

    ''I can only use a breath attack for another two times, any more than that and I would just be harming myself.''

    Zick bore the pain and tensed his body feeling the presence above him, in the sky.

    Slowly the clouds moved aside revealing a huge figure. It had headed towards here because he felt that Zick was the strongest among all the people who appeared here out of nowhere.

    It had been watching the fight from above the cloud, thinking that the red lightning from the cloud would be enough to take care of Zick.

    But Zick was actually able to take care of the red lightning surprisingly, so it showed itself, nning on crushing the ant who had invaded its territory.

    Suddenly an invisible pressure bore upon Zick, making him paralyzed for a second.

    But the very next moment, Zick''s dragon fear started working at full power and resisted the invisible pressureing from Zrector.

    ''The red thunder qilin, Zrector...'' Zick gripped upon the cursed sword tightly.

    The figure in between the gap in clouds, had a dragon head with yellow eyes and tworge horns. Crimson red mane like a dragon flew upwards in its neck and it had the body simr to that of a deer or horse.

    It was covered in red scale from top to bottom from which red lightning coursed by randomly. It had the tail of a ox and it had cloven hooves.

    Zrector was more than 10 metres long. It''s intelligence wasparable to a normal human. It looked at Zick with interest in its eyes, it had not expected Zick to handle his presence this easily.

    ''Another eight minutes.'' Zick counted internally while looking at Zrector above him.

    Zick was on his guard to react to any of Zrector''s attack immediately. He had a Trump card, but he hasn''t been using it because there was a side effect in it.

    And this trump card was a close range type, so Zick would have to get near Zrector before using it.

    ''But even with that Trump card I won''t be able tost long in front of this thing....I severely miscalcted the difference between a peak master rank and grandmaster.''

    After fending the red lightning for a while, Zick noticed the difference in strength between him and Zrector. Now that he was in front of it, he could tell the difference between his and Zrector''s strength clearly because his instinct was sending him danger warning at full speed like never before.

    ROAR!!!

    Roaring, Zrector opened its mouth wide. A red glow appeared within it, clearly showing that it was preparing to attack.

    Zick swung his sword sending an aura de towards Zrector to interrupt it. But it didn''t even move and let his attacknd on its body directly.

    Zick''s auranded right at Zrector''s jaw. Bang, making a audible sound of explosion.

    Zick''s eyes widened looking at the result.

    There wasn''t even a scratch in Zrector''s scales.

    ''I will have to use both of my dragon breath attacks at once, to even have any chance of blocking that....'' Zick didn''t give up and looked up with a resolute expression. He had already used up 25% of his aura.

    Using both of the dragon breath attacks at once didn''t mean that its power would double. If Zick did that, he would only kill himself.

    Zick could only use dragon breath to the limit of his body, not leaving any chance to use it again.

    Opening his mouth, Zick started sucking in air, readying to use a dragon breath attack.

    ''I really am in a disadvantageous position in aerial battle, but I can''t do anything about it.''

    Zick had already looked into his surroundings and there is no ind ornd nearby. There is only water as far as his senses could reach.

    Slowly a burning sensation started spreading from Zick''s lungs.

    ''Not yet.'' Zick continued sending his aura into the lungs, while still keeping an eyes upon Zrector.

    Zrector slowly started lowering its head and aimed it towards Zick.

    ''Here ites.'' Zick concentrated more than ever before in his life while looking at Zrector.

 Chapter 101 Give My All To Pursue Eternal Life

    With it''s intelligence, Zrector knew that the human in front of it was very weird. There have only been a few beings who have gone unaffected by its presence, most of them were dragons or beings welding extraordinary strength.

    In this, themon fact was that they were all either strong as him or even surpassed him in strength.

    But Zick was clearly weaker than him no matter how it saw him.

    Zrector was aware that Zick aura had nature''s characteristics and even his presence was the same as the dragons that it fought, though it was a little weakerpared to them.

    So it decided to kill Zick in a single attack, it didn''t use its full lower and held back because it would hurt it''s pride in going all out in front of a weaker enemy.

    In this breath attack, Zrector used half of its full power, feeling that this would be enough to kill Zick.

    Seeing Zick also preparing an attack simr to its own, Zrector felt challenged and disdainful towards him.

    Lowering its mouth, it shooted a beam of red lightning. It got wider and wider as it left its mouth, almost bing 4 metres wide.

    Zrector''s body was pushed upwards a little because of the recoil. It flew using one of it''s special abilities which was with it since the it was born.

    The clouds around him were pushed aside from the air impact of the breath attack.

    Zick''s vision was totally covered by the gigantic red breath attack.

    Opening his mouth, Zick too breathed out deep ck me''s. This attack had consumed more than 20% of his overall aura.

    Zick''s breath attack expanded just like Zrector and got wider. But in the end, it only grew to match 80% of the size of Red breath.

    Zick''s clothes slowly burnt away from the heat generated from the breath attack. Zick didn''t care about his appearance one bit in this situation. Even his eyes were vertical from a while ago.

    Even while being stark naked, Zick red towards Zrector with resolution all over his face.

    ''This won''t be able to stop Zrector''s attack....I will need to dodge somehow.''

    Zick had recovered a little from the damage done to his mind, but it wasn''t enough to help in this situation.

    To a mage their mind was a very important thing. The ''will'' was a product created by a person''s brain, so whenever a person creates a magic their mind goes through pressure.

    Exerting too much force upon the mind can also lead to death.

    ''I can only use magic to the limit in this situation, this will without a doubt worsen my mind''s condition, but survival is my top priority. Only by staying alive can I even hope to pursue my ambitions.''

    Determination filled Zick, he knew that if the Zrector''s attack hit him, either he would die or be gravely injured. Even the dragon scales wouldn''t be able to stop it.

    Being injured in this situation would lead to his death for sure. He could only persevere with everything he got.

    The ck and red breath attack came in contact in the middle of the sky.

    BOOM!!!!

    Two different types of energy shed violently. Both of these breath attacks were made from elements meant for destruction. This caused a huge explosion enough to blow up many cities at once.

    Zick was pushed tens of metres back, he was at least 250 metres above the water so he didn''t need to worry of falling into the sea yet.

    Zick continues breathing out ck me, slowly his throat starts turning red not being able to withstand the pressure it was put upon.

    But after a few seconds, Zick''s ck breath attack started getting pushed back by the red one

    Zrector had increased a little power in his attack seeing Zick''s attack being able to stop it.

    ''Damn!''

    Seeing that he couldn''t buy any more time, Zick used all the mana that he collected in this time. It didn''t even amount to 5% mana needed to cast [Warp].

    Zick could only try dodging and try cutting the distance between Zrector somehow. Hisst hope was to make this fight a close range one. He hasn''t tried to go near it while it was preparing for breath attack as he didn''t have the confident to dodge a breath attack from close range.

    But now, Zick could only try to make this a close range fight because from what he saw till now, Zrector was a very prideful creature, so there was a high chance it would try to crush him using its superior body too. Zick''s body was strong, but it couldn''tpare to it at all.

    There were also the chances of it just using one of its unknown powers and killing off Zick with a single blow feeling disdainful at his action of challenging it using his body.

    Zick had no idea what kind of ability Zrector had at all. He was fighting a very disadvantageous battle from the very beginning. But the enemy also does not know that he has a Trump card which could be used in close range battle.

    ''But if it still continue using the breath attack I will die for sure, I can only take a gamble in this situation...''

    A white me appeared beneath Zick''s feet and then he moved to the left side very quickly. He decided to use light element in this situation as that is the fastest.

    His body titled, but he continued breathing out ck me while facing upwards.

    Zick''s head started throbbing like it would explode any moment. He continued bearing with it by clenching his fist tightly.

    ''I can only keep this up for around 30 seconds, if I continue flying using this white me. Using it more than that and I wouldn''t even have the ability to fly anymore.''

    Zick had already gotten used to flying so there was no problem with him bncing himself. But his experience in using it while fighting was almost non-existent, this would put him in another disadvantage while fighting Zrector who must have had many aerial battles till now.

    Feeling that the damage to his body had reached a dangerous level, Zick immediately stopped breathing out ck mes.

    "Cough! cough!" Arge amount of blood flew out of his mouth at once.

    Ignoring the blood, Zick started rising as fast as he could, directly heading towards Zrector.<sub> </sub>

    Zrector also changed the projectile of its attack and moved it towards Zick.

    Using the white me, Zick kept dodging it using both his superior senses and instincts. He was around 500 metres below Zrector. 10 seconds had went by since he started using the white me.

    Seeing that Zick was heading towards it, Zrector''s vertical yellow eyes got filled with immense anger. It stopped using the breath attack, from its experience it knew that using breath attack in close range could increase the chance of hitting the enemy, but....

    Zrector wanted to teach a lesson to Zick, it felt that killing him easily was a easy death. It was one of the strongest being in the world, there were only a few instances where it was angered like this.

    Most of the people cower in fear in front of it, feeling its presence.

    That was how it was supposed to be!

    Seeing that Zrector stopped using breath attack, Zick was relieved for a moment. But the very next moment, a dangerous feeling overtook his body.

    Zick stopped flying instantly and used the strongest defensive move he had right at this moment.

    Dragon scale!

    His whole naked body got covered in dark ck dragon scales, even his face was not left. He looked like a humanoid monster with ck scales all over him right now.

    Zick guarded his head using both of his hands.

    One second....

    Two seconds.....

    Three seconds....

    ''What....? nothings happen-''

    "Guhh!"

    Without him noticing, Zick''s left hand was severed from his body, falling to the ocean. An unknown energy entered his body, ravaging through it.

    Using his aura, Zick instantly tried to minimize the damage, but it still spread to his whole shoulder before stopping and staying their.

    "Ugh!" Zick gritted his teeth enough to make cracking sounds.

    Even Zick couldn''t take this amount of pain, His figure started falling rapidly. He couldn''t maintain the magic in this pain. He held the ce where his arm was severed, after putting the cursed sword back into the space ring.

    ''Is this how I will die...?''

    Even while feeling the pain, Zick could still think putting in a little effort. He knew that if he didn''t do anything now, he would die here.

    ''But what else is there for me to do....?''

    Zick had been using all his strength from the beginning.

    Zrector was just too strong, even the dragon eyes couldn''t tell what hit him just now.

    And losing a hand in this situation made his battle strength drop. He still had the cursed sword, but the amount of strength he could put in it would decrease tremendously while using it with a single hand.

    Zick remembered one of the abilities he got after totally turning into a dragonoid.

    ''Awakening...''

    Zick was very unwilling to use this ability. But in this situation this was the only thing he could use, after using this ability there will be no more option of retreating.

    Zick knew a lot about the ability named awaken used by the demihumans through the novel.

    To the half-blooded demihuman, awakening ability was considered to be a trump card that shouldn''t be used until their life was at risk.

    Though the awakening ability gave immense strength, there was a side effect of losing the mind and going on a rampage in their beastified form in case the person''s mind was weak or the blood he inherited was very pure and strong.

    This only happens to a few demihuman, but....

    ''Without a doubt, I will lose my mind after using this ability.....My mind is very weak at this instant and even my bloodline is very strong, I am sure I would have lost my mind even if I was in my top form....''

    It took only a few seconds to consider what to do, immense determination passed through his eyes. He had decided to gamble upon his life in the end.

    ''Sigh....I faced an unprecedented challenge the moment I got a goal that I could give my all to achieve. There are many things that I couldn''t experience, I wanted to give up on everything and just go after this supreme goal of eternal life, but my journey might end today in its beginning.....''

    ''Transmigrating here is my greatest opportunity Because here, I can attain eternal life which would have been impossible on earth.'' Zick had a determined expression. A small smile appeared on his face gradually.

    ''I will give my all in pursuing this goal, even if it means giving up on my life. If not how can I live with myself, how can I give up this chance that I got aftering to this world?''

    Zick was suspicious that this might have been caused by the being behind the magic disaster to kill him, but he threw this thought at the back of his head. He didn''t have time and he didn''t think that a being capable enough to cause a magic disaster like that would be wary of him.

    ''They could just kill me easily anyway.....'' Zick closed his eyes.

    "Haaaaaa....." Hot breath left his mouth.

    At that instant, for the first time Zick used his awakened ability.

 Chapter 102 Awakened

    ''Awaken.'' thinking this to himself, Zick activated one of his innate abilities.

    Activating the awakened ability was very easy, it was almost an instinctual process.

    From what Zick understood reading the novel and looking at his own bloodline.

    There was a dormant power within his bloodline and the other demihumans. It''s just that, not all of the demihuman can use it.

    This power was present in every being with a strong bloodline. It would take a while to replenish it after using it once as it was not an endless source of energy. The time varies from one and another depending upon the bloodline to recover the lost energy in the bloodline.

    Usually this dormant power was not essible to everyone, but after fulfilling a few conditions, it was possible to use this power temporarily.

    The first condition was to have a minimum of half blood of a particr creature and This creature has to be strong to a certain degree.

    The half-blooded demihuman fulfilled this condition perfectly.

    Zick''s blood had already been converted fully to that of a dragon, but the awakened ability still appeared.

    The reason behind this was easy to find once a person understood the principle behind how the awakened ability worked.

    Zick got this ability because his dragon blood held an immense amount of dormant power or more specifically potential. He didn''t find it anything weird as his bloodline did belong to a dragon lord, whose strength was higher than any dragon in history.

    The second condition was to let the bloodline mature enough to use the dormant power.

    So the young half-blooded demihuman can''t go berserk in their childhood. There are only a few rare cases where they could awaken at a young age.

    Concentrating upon the blood running through his vein, Zick could feel the power coursing through it and also the power whichy dormant deep within it.

    Not hesitating, Zick willed it and awakened this dormant power. He decided against holding a sword as there was a high chance he would just throw it away in his insane state.

    At that moment, weird ck power flowed out from his bloodline. Before he could think anything, Zick''s tired consciousness was forcefully plunged into slumber.

    Seeing Zick figure falling down in a high speed, Zrector decided to finish him. It had used its special ability which could be said to be one of its strongest.

    Consumed by its anger, Zrector had used this ability. There were other abilities too that could kill Zick, but all of them took a while to prepare or had chances of missing.

    Like the ck clouds above the ocean, it was also created from one of Zrector''s special ability.

    Area type magic like this was very rare, only a handful of monsters had an ability like this.

    Being a monster in the grandmaster realm, it had many special abilities with various uses. All of its special abilities were attack oriented, so it was weak in the defence whenpared to its attacking capability.

    But Zrector was still somewhat confident in its body''s defence, which came from the red scales.

    An enemy with strength like Zick would never be able to hurt its body, at least that was how it was in its eyes.

    When it was going to activate the special ability again to kill Zick. Suddenly, it could see a dark ck auraing out of Zick ceaselessly.

    The ck aura extended a few metres rapidly from Zick and then it condensed rapidly, forming a small cocoon like structure.

    Roar!!!

    A loud roar sound rang out through the ocean. The ck aura seeped back into Zick''s body.

    ck scale started appearing on Zick''s body, they were totally different than before. His dragon scales were always fully attached to the skin, making them loot t. But right now, the scales rose up with pointy edges.

    SPLASH!

    Zick''s figure crashed Into the water, causing small tides to form.

    Zrector missed the chance to attack, being surprised, because it could feel that Zick''s strength which was falling started rising at a violent speed!

    SPLASH!! SPLASH!! SPLASH!!

    The water rose up, almost forming a big tsunami. From what it could sense, Zick had started moving around like a madman within the water.

    Zrector didn''t hesitate and shot the same attack it used to sever one of Zick''s hands.

    An vertical slice headed right at where Zick drowned swiftly, this slice was invisible and had no presence to it.

    This attack which was created by Zrector''s special ability did not contain any of the elements known to Zick or any mage.

    It was made of an unknown element.

    SPLASH!

    At that instant a ck figure jumped out of the water and started heading towards Zrector ignoring everything else.

    BOOM! The figure broke through the sound barrier in no time.

    It was Zick, but in a totally different form. Tworge ck wings in scythe-shaped just like that of a bat extended from the back of his chest, this were more than three metres long. His height increased by two feets and his whole body was covered in pointy scales, even his crotch was covered in ck scales.

    The power of Zick''s dragon scale had increased tremendously. His whole hand was covered in scale with his fingers bing pointy and sharp, shining like a sword.

    There were two ck curved horns on his head like a devil and a tail covered in scales extended from his back, hip area.

    ROAR!!!

    There was no sanity in Zick''s red vertical eyes, it was filled with primal instinct of only to kill. He flew towards Zrector''s direction because he felt the most danger from it and his instinct gave him a dangerous feeling of something heading towards him.

    An enormous amount of power was being radiated from his body. His severed hand has already grown half and was still in the process of regrowing.

    pping his wing, Zick flew four times as faster whenpared to using white me to move around.

    CLANK!<sub> </sub>

    Sparks appeared on the scales of Zick''s back, below his shoulder, even his wings were damaged. He was thrown out of bnce being pushed by a strong impact.

    Zick''s dragon scale was able to block the attack created from Zrector''s special ability!

    The damage Zick took was only a few cracks in the scales which blocked the special ability attack.

    Losing his bnce, Zick iled around wildly still trying to head towards Zrector.

    ''''GROOWLL!!!'''' A growl left Zick''s mouth, the wound on his wings healed rapidly.

    In a few seconds it was good as new again!

    Zick''s regenerative ability reached an unbelievable level! He was even able to regrow a lost limb which was only possible to do by using something at the level of Elixir.

    BOOM!

    Zick elerated towards Zrector at full speed. Feeling the dangerous feeling again, this time Zick swung his hand after gathering an massive amount of aura in it.

    There was a limit to how much a person could use aura at the same time depending upon the durability of the body. The stronger the body the more a person could use aura at a single ce.

    Zick''s body had been enhanced to another level after awakening, he even recovered half of his consumed aura and it was still increasing.

    Arge four aura slices in the shape of a w flew towards Zrector, stopping it from using its special ability.

    This aura w actually even gave Zrector an dangerous feeling. The quality of aura had almost beparable to the grandmaster''s higher level energy.

    CRACKLE!

    Red lightning appeared on Zrector''s front right paw. It swung it towards the w shaped aura lightly.

    SWISH!

    Bang! With a small explosion the aura w was broken and dispersed.

    Though it was an instinctual action, Zick was still able to stop Zrector from using the special ability.

    Zrector had a body which was on the weaker side, so it would have suffered a few injuries if Zick''s attacknded upon it. This made it block the attack.

    Zick''s hair fluttered wildly in the air, there was no sign of his past handsomeness. His face had scales growing on it and his deep red vertical eyes shone in carnage.

    His left hand was yet to regrow as the dragon scale grew along with it. If he still had his consciousness, he would have stopped using the dragon scales in that hand and let it heal first, then use the dragon scales. But in his current state, there was no way he would do that.

    Zick flew straight pping his long ck wings, he had already reached in front of Zrector.

    Surprisingly, Zick was able to ascend a whole kilometre within two to three minutes!

    There were only a few tens of metres in between them.

    Zrector opened its mouth and spewed out a breath attack aiming at Zick. This time, it didn''t hold back at all, it could feel that Zick''s current strength was only a little below its own. Prompting it to go all out too.

    ''''Haaaa!!!" With a loud shout, Zick directly collided with a breath attack with a crazed expression. His whole body was covered with ck aura as it came in contact with the attack.

    BOOM!

    With a loud sound, Zick pushed aside the breath attack and continued moving towards Zrector from right in between the breath attack.. His wings didn''t burn as it was covered in his aura, but it was still getting affected by the attack, which led to damage umting little by little.

    Even After directly colliding with Zrector''s full powered breath attack, Zick wasn''t gravely damaged at all!

    The only damage he suffered were the cracks or scratches that form upon the scales.

    Zick''s wings were almost going to be burnt away, but luckily he had already made it right below the jaw of Zrector.

    ''''Haa!" With a shout, Zick wed toward Zrector''s jaw at full power.

    Seeing this, Zrector hurriedly stopped using the breath attack; if it continued, it would just harm itself. It felt immense humiliation, but it still dodged by moving away and making a little distance between Zick and it.

    Its movement was swift and experienced. Even with such a big body, there was no awkwardness at all.

    From the speed Zick moved in, Zrector was aware that not stopping the momentum of Zick''s charge even for a second would lead him to close off the distance between them in a few seconds. So it decided to use another one of its abilities after making a little distance.

    It had epted it now, that Zick was an opponent that held equal strength to its own. So it had to fight seriously with all its strength.

    Getting out of the breath attack, Zick''s condition was revealed.

    CRACKLE!

    There was still a bit of red lightning coursing through his body, which was nullified quickly with the aura.

    He was in a miserable state, though his aura could stop the attack somewhat, it couldn''t totally nullify it. There was still damage that appeared on him.

    Zick''s right ear was churned, making him look hideous and Many of his hair were burned. There were many pieces of scale that fell off his body, broken in pieces.

    There was a very surprising process going on within Zick''s body. If Zick still had his consciousness, he would have felt sad and grieved at this moment.

    The power being extracted from his bloodline did not recover as it did for a demihuman, instead slowly his dragon Lord''s heart potential was being consumed at a stable rate.

    Zick had assumed his awakened ability being the same as that of a demihuman, but he was extremely wrong.

    The more Zick exerted his strength, the more he lost his future talent. It was a permanent decrease in the benefits that the dragon heart would bring him.

    His current potential did not start decreasing just yet. He had to pay by losing his potential for maintaining his current grandmaster level strength.

 Chapter 103 Dire State

    Zick''s mind was in a dire state, there was a very low chance of him stopping until his body was totally destroyed at this rate.

    If Zick was aware of this w he would havebelled his surviving chances to be lower than 5%.

    There was no way Zick, in his current state, would stop for no reason.

    "Guhhh!" Lifting up his head, Zick roared with his dragon eyes shining.

    Zick rushed towards Zrector who seem to be preparing for something. His wound were healing even as he madly rushed towards it.

    At that instant, the clouds in the surrounding started gathering around Zrector''s hooves and slowly started covering it''s whole body.

    The ck cloud swirled around making it look like a tornado. They condensed as more and more clouds gathered.

    Zick rushed right at Zrector without caring about anything. ck aura swirled around his hand, which looked like a w.

    He swung his w like hand at Zrector''s face after reaching in front of it like a wild beast. The cloud had already formed ayer of protection on Zrector''s head by now, making Zick attacknd upon it.

    Zick looked like a bug whenpared Zrector''s Humongous body, it was like seeing a ant trying to challenge a elephant.

    BANG!!

    Zick''s hand perfectlynded upon Zrector''s head creating an huge air impact. But his hand was not able to break the defence of the ck cloud, just pushing Zrector back by a few metres.

    The red lightning in the ck cloud barrier started resisting him violently. But Zick''s scales were easily able to defend against the lightning.

    CRACKLE!!

    Zrector whole body started radiating red lightning, this lightning had a mysterious effect on the ck cloud, making them stronger by another level.

    This was a move created by Zrector which increases both its defensive as well as offensive power tremendously.

    Lifting its head up violently, Zrector pushed away Zick. All the clouds had already formed into a transparent ck armour which protected it by now.

    The endless starry sky was revealed, making the sea water shine from the reflection of the stars. It was still in the middle of night at this time.

    ROAR!

    Zrector roared and started moving it''s leg in a running motion, it elerated at such a speed that its figure blurred for a second, before appearing again in front of Zick who was trying to bnce himself.

    BANG!!!

    Zrector shed against Zick head first making him fly like a cannonball in the sky. The scales on his chest cracked, falling to the ocean.

    The current Zick never tried to dodge and just attacked following his instinct. Making him an easy target for Zrector to attack.

    Zrector shooted out the invisible attack again, not giving Zick any time to retaliate.

    Zick was flung aside, colliding with the invisible attack and started falling down rapidly.

    But surprisingly, Zick suffered zero damage even after getting hit by the invisible attack!

    His dragon scales were fully able to block it.

    Even his height had increased a little, with his scales growingrger and tougher, shining glossily.

    Zick had started diving deeper into the bloodline instinctually feeling the strength of the enemy to be higher than his own. The potential from the dragon heart was being expanded at a rapid rate at this moment.

    The dragon lord''s heart which looked full of life and beated full of vitality, now looked a little weak with its vitality being extracted like this. It even thumped at a slower pacepared to before.

    Stabilizing in the air, Zick started gathering breath at a full speed.

    He was preparing for a breath attack!

    And this time, the breath attack was formed from a higher form of energy used by the grandmaster instead of aura.

    Zick''s surroundings started to blur, starting to copse, not being able to withstand the chaotic powering from his ck aura. His aura had always been on the destructive side from the day it was born, now this weird chaotic power started showing its power to the limit.

    People seeing it would feel an ominous sensation rising within them.

    Usually, normal humans and knights die instantly when exposed to the higher form of energy.

    Zrector flew towards Zick using its full power, it could feel the amount of power behind that attack. If it hit him directly, it would die without leaving behind a corpse.

    This threatening sensation was experienced by it a very long time ago. It was when an dragon used one of it''s strongest ability-

    Dragon breath!

    A breath attack to a dragon was considered as a Trump card. Fully showing the value of such an attack.

    And Zick was also using the bloodline originating from the dragon Lord, so the breath attack was without a doubt stronger than the one performed by the other dragons.

    Zrector created hundreds of red lightning spear in the sky, sending them towards Zick not holding back at all. All of this spear held enough power to kill many master swordsman at an instant.

    The ck sky got filled with the red spear, making it look like red stars were falling at an immense speed, giving it a charm of its own.<sub> </sub>

    But it was already toote, Zick breathed out ck me at an unprecedented speed. The red lightning spear was destroyed just from getting near him.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Hundreds of explosions urred in the sky like crackers when seen from a distance.

    The breath attack created such an air pressure that it even affected the sea which was more than a kilometre below it. Large tides rose and fell, even the wildlife environment was being affected.

    The power of this breath attack had gone up to a horrifying level. It was strong enough to blow up a whole kingdom now.

    The breath attack expanded in width at a rapid pace, already surpassing 10 metres when it reached Zrector.

    Without any hesitation, Zrector used everything it had to dodge the breath attack. It started flying higher hurriedly, But even with its speed, it couldn''t dodge it fully in the end.

    Many factors led to it being hit like this.

    Zrector''s body wasrger than Zick so it could not dodge as easily as he did and right now it was very near from Zick''s position. The breath attack was also just too fast, all of this attributed to this result.

    "Rooaar!" Zrector roarred both from the anger and the pain.

    Zick''s higher form of energy had forcefully entered its body, making it go through immense pain.

    Zrector''s back leg had actually degenerateding in contact with the breath attack. The ck cloud barrier wasn''t able to block it at all. Zrector continued flying upwards, wanting to gain as much as distance possible from the ck breath attack.

    But it didn''t seem like Zick had any intention of stopping at all. He moved his mouth, following Zrector''s figure.

    An unknown amount of potential was already used up keeping up this breath attack.

    GROWLL... Seeing Zick not giving up on pursuing him, Zrector growled in anger, Its eyes were filled with fury.

    It actually also felt fear rising within itself, this made it even more flustered.

    Zick''s dragon fear was also being enhanced as he grew stronger causing this effect.

    At that instant, Zrector suddenly turned around and headed towards Zick. Just when the breath attack was about hit Zrector, its body turned into red lightning and moved in a speed which was hard to follow.

    Zrector had used another one of its special abilities. This ability could turn it into red lightning and increase its speed temporarily, but this move had many ws apanying it.

    If an attacknded on it now, it would suffer damage double than usual.

    Maintaining this form also consumes a lot of its higher energy. It can''t keep this up for a long time.

    And once it reverted back to normal, a lot of its energy would be drained instantly.

    There was no ultimate move in this world, there would always be a w in a move without exception.

    What matters is how this power is used and nurtured.

    Zrector transformed into the shape of a eastern dragon.

    Zrector in its red lightning form dodged the breath attack easily by twisting around it and headed towards Zick swiftly.

    SWISH~

    It reached in front of Zick in a second, leaving behind a train of red light. It opened its mow and tried attacking Zick from the right side.

    Zick stopped using breath attack and moved away from that spot instinctually immediately, dodging the dragon made of red lightning by hair''s breadth. But the very next moment, a huge tail mmed into him, flunging him away.

    This time, Zick was able to bnce himself soon. There was a long scar in his chest from which blood spilled out profusely.

    ''''Grrrrr!!!!" Zick attacked Zrector covering his whole body in ck higher energy.

    Zrector turned around and moved towards Zick at full speed too.

    Their speed had reached an unbelievable level, allowing them to move hundreds of metres in a second.

    BANG!!!

    Zick and Zrector shed causing air pressure to form. The whole ocean below them started spreading to all the sides.

    They were now evenly matched.

    Only attacks covered in aura or higher form of energy could damage the current Zrector.

    Not stopping they started shing again and again, moving towards an unknown direction.

    Ten minutes went by with them only exchanging moves, trying to gain the upper hand.

    But, atst Zick had reached his limit. He had used up all the potential which could be extracted from the dragon heart. Making the future profit he would gain from it also vanishes.

    The strength that Zick gained was vanishing slowly.

    And on the other hand, Zrector had stopped using the special ability to turn its body into red lightning six minutes ago and used its qilin form to fight. There were many scar all over its body, but it still had a little higher energy left within it.

 Chapter 104 Zrectors Brethren

    Zick and Zrector never stopped shing recklessly even though their bodies were in a dangerous state.

    Zick''s current state could only be exined in a single word-

    Horrible.

    The ck scale on Zick''s body and arms had lost their previous strong lustre and looked worn out. The scales on his back had already been totally destroyed, exposing his skin which was covered in blood. There was a huge scar diagonally on his back.

    The dragon Lord''s heart within him started to look like dried wood. There was no sign of its previous vitality.

    There were small andrge scars all over Zick''s body. The scales on his face had been destroyed too, exposing his face.

    "Grrrrrr....." Baring his teeths like a threatening beast, Zick flew towards Zrector with his right hand stretched forward.

    Zrector had tried to make a little distance between them multiple times while fighting, but it always ended in failure. Zick would keep attacking it, covered in blood like an undying immortal.

    Zick''s dragon eyes had also been enhanced tremendously, allowing him to see the invisible attack from before. So he was able to block those attacks when it was aimed at the opening of his scales.

    Zrector''s body was also a mess. It was full of wounds in w shape and losing two of its back leg had caused its movement to be a little awkward in the sky. It had lost one of its horn, destroyed by Zick.

    Zrector bled from all over its huge body.

    It had also lost the majestic presence that it had in the beginning.

    The dominant presence that it gave off had vanished.

    It had almost used up all of its higher form of energy while fighting Zick. Normally, it had arge storage of this energy, but after transforming into the red lightning form arge amount of higher energy was used up.

    If Zick was conscious right now, he wouldbel the special ability to turn into red lightning as the best means to escape from an enemy. But Zrector would never use it to run away, it would rather die here than running away.

    If it''s brethren saw it in such a pitiful state they would have mocked him. A tinge of sadness rose within it, but it was erased the next moment. They were no more in the world in the end, so it didn''t matter.

    BOOM!

    In the next sh, Zick was thrown back by the impact. He had already started losing the power he gained after using the awaken ability.

    Feeling Zick''s presence falling at a rapid speed, Zrector knew that this was an opportunity. It decided to put everything it had in this one attack.

    To protect the ce where its fallen brethren rested!

    Zrector fought not running away, it actually hoped to die in the same ce its family, sibling and rivals rested. He also wanted to rest. It had been protecting this ce for a long time.

    It had lived for more than a thousand years, experiencing many things. Deep within, Zrector still felt lonely, being left behind in the world.

    Even as Zrector grew old, it didn''t stop protecting this ce. it''s body started to wither, but seeing itself dying like this, instead of sadness, it felt immensely relieved.

    It felt fatigued, but it didn''t want to let its life end in vain. It wanted to protect this ce till the very end. It felt immense responsibility rising within it, washing away the fatigue, giving it power to keep moving till now.

    Even if Zrector died, there was something it had to do before that.

    Zrector red straight at Zick, it couldn''t allow him to live. From what it could see, it knew that Zick in his current state would still go on a rampage even after it died.

    No matter what, Zrector wanted to kill Zick to be sure that it''s brethren''s resting ce wasn''t disturbed.

    ROAR!!!

    With all the power it had left within it, Zrector roared loudly with its head lifted up. The whole sky shook from the might behind this roar. The aquatic monster who weren''t able to run away died instantly.

    Zrector''s body started to shine in a red glow, illuminating the whole sky and the sea below. The red glow grew denser with more lightning being generating within it.

    SPLURT!

    The wounds all around Zrector''s body started bleeding rapidly, the blood almost flew out like a fountain. It was exerting itself to form a attack beyond its capabilities.

    Zick strength stabilized at that instant, it started rising rapidly again. Reaching his prior strength and even starting to surpass it.

    ''''Roar!!!" In the end, Zick started using his own body''s potential to maintain the awakened state. The blood which was converted to that of a dragon started losing its power. Shining a little more dimmer than before.

    Zick started preparing to use the breath attack again immediately.

    Bang! Zrector headed towards Zick now almost looking like a ball of red lightning. This was its final try, the strongest attack it could conjure at the moment.

    Like a meteor, Zrector reached in front of Zick at an unprecedented speed.

    BANG!!!

    At that moment, Zick breathed out ck mes without caring about the limit of his body, he was not bothered at all from the pain which came from his burning lungs and throat.

    Zrector withstood for a few seconds before being pushed back. It had runned out of a higher form of energy as well as the remaining endurance of its body.<sub> </sub>

    But of course, this kind of attack needed a lot of power behind. This power didn''te just from the extracted potential, but the lifeforce in other word, his lifespan and as well as his origin of the mana nerves itself.

    The ck breath attack covered Zrector''s whole body rapidly with the resistance lowered now.

    Slowly the breath attack stopped, showing the result of this fight.

    Zrector''s body had been destroyed to nothingness. It couldn''t kill Zick in the end.

    Atst, one of the beings who was considered as the strongest in the world and feared by humans, as the five disasters had died. It had died while fighting to the very end, not escaping even in face of a potential death.

    This would without a doubt affect the original plot of the novel '' the hero of velveric fights the demon lord'' to a huge degree.

    Zick''s figure started falling towards the water at a high speed. He had lost consciousness after using thest attack, his body had no strength left within it.

    After using thest breath attack, Zick''s dragon blood''s quality had fallen tremendously. It wasn''t possible to re energize it again now that the dragon heart had lost all of its potential along with capabilities.

    The dragon heart didn''t energize the blood pumped by it one bit now.

    The dragon''s scales started falling off his body one by one, but some of them had already fused with his body permanently. The horn and the few scales in his face did not vanish.

    But the power which came from the awaken ability vanished into thin air.

    Zick''s body size decreased and reached back to his initial height. There was only a few centimetres difference from his original height and size.

    His skin looked extremely pale too, almost like snow.

    Zick''s strength fell to an unknown level along with all his potential and talent disappearing, really a despairing situation.

    SPLASH!

    Falling onto the sea, Zick started sinking deeper into the endless abyss of the ocean.

    **********

    Eastern continent, one of the alchemist tower

    ''''Multiple people appeared out of thin air? And that also in multiple ces at once, you say?" A man in his middle age wearing a white coat along with a book in his hand asked his disciple while reading it.

    ''''Yes master, all the four alchemist tower have gotten interested in this matter and are buying them off the ve markets in a sh." The disciple named hevelk, spoke in a respectful tone, filled with reverance to this middle aged man.

    ''''Ohh that is interesting.'''' Rubbing his ck beard, the alchemist who was the current leader of the Jhesker alchemist tower, Verent took his gaze off the book for the first time.

    ''''So what have they found out about these transported people until now?" Verent felt this incident to be interesting. He had been stuck in an important research for a long time, so he wasn''t aware of it.

    ''''From what the towers could gather and have made public, the people who appeared out of thin air were citizens of the other continent, the one we are going to a war with" Hevelk felt this to be absurd just like anyone else.

    ''''From another continent? So how did they get here?" Verent got off the chair, he knew that he had to look deeper into this as an alchemist tower leader.

    ''''Hmm....they said a pir of pure white light appeared from the sky and brought them to this continent.....'''' There was no way anyone could believe this after all. Hevelk found this to be unbelievable to the extreme too. He frown making a disgruntled expression.

    Even Verent squinted his eyes pondering about something.

    ''''Most of them have been turned into ve by now, yes?" Verent asked his disciple seriously. If what the ve said was the truth then, he wanted to find out more about this unknown power.

    Even if what the people of the middle continent said was a lie, it was still a matter of fact that they appeared in the eastern continent mysteriously. This was enough to make Verent look deeper into it.

    ''''Yes master, most of them have been turned into ves and put in thebour ss ves.''''

    In the eastern continent, ves were a normal thing. So there were many devisions of the ves.

    ''''Good, bring as many as this ve from the other continent you can and order the other alchemist to collect them too.'''' Verent ordered like he was telling to collect some toys.

    ''''Understood!" Answering loudly, Hevelk headed out of the whiteboratory room.

    ***********

    Potion ranks:

    Low rank potion

    Middle rank potion

    High rank potion

    Elixir

    Next level:(unknown)

 Chapter 105 Accepting The Situation And Mindset

    Deep within the sea, where not even a ray of light reached, Zick''s bodyy upon the seabed.

    BLOP~

    After a long time, Slowly Zick''s eyelids fluttered open, only to be exposed to peach ck darkness again. There was no difference in the view whether the eyes were opened or closed.

    The sight of two red eyes in the darkness was a creepy sight to see.

    ''I am alive.....but where am I right at the moment?''

    Zick tried to move his body, but no matter how much he tried he couldn''t even twitch a finger. Even opening his eyes took a lot of effort.

    Seeing his body refusing to move, Zick started analysing his situation carefully, closing his eyes.

    ''From the cold feeling on my skin, I must be in the deepest part of the sea right now, then the reason-''

    At that instant, memory started pouring into his head, making him dazed for a second.

    Going through the memory, Zick couldn''t help but feel his own heart jump from shock.

    ''No way.....the awaken ability was a self-destructive type ability....'' Zick immediately started checking his body''s condition with a heavy heart.

    Zick could feel that even his senses had weakened to an unbelievable level. He couldn''t sense what was around him more than 50 metres, almost going back to how it was before he became a dragonoid.

    ''It''s a mess....'' Feeling depressed, Zick looked at the heart which was like dried up wood.

    The muscle fibres of his heart looked extremely weak and it beated for less than 30 times in a minute which was unbelievable. But with just that, the ck heart was able to keep Zick alive this deep within the water.

    It collected the mana in the surrounding, turning it into nutrients and sending it to every part of the body.

    And the condition of his own blood and mana nerve were also dire.

    The blood which was filled with vitality bing that of dragon''s, looked very weak. Along with its quality, all the abilities rted to it were adjusted.

    Zick could feel that he wouldn''t be able to use the dragon scales ability anymore. The dragon eyes were also weakened to match the blood.

    The dragon fear was also weakened matching the heart.

    The reason no monster ate him till now was attributed to the dragon fear which was being released by Zick''s body.

    Though it could not make any monster in the master listen to Zick''s order, it still kept them away.

    Monsters were beings who followed their instinct more than anything else. So they wouldn''te near this area for no reason.

    Never mind if he fell into an aquatic monster den having master level monsters present. Then, the only oue for him was death.

    The mana nerve could be said to be the thing which made Zick the saddest and depressed.

    The mana nerve had regressed to that of a high rank knight. The mana still had ck chaotic characteristic to it, but it had be transparent simr to how it was when he just broke through to the high rank knight level.

    Luckily it still had the nature characteristic, boosting its power to the mid level of the high rank knight level.

    Counting his somewhat superior physique now, his strength was at the peak of the high rank knight level.

    The wounds inflicted on Zick''s body externally were healed the moment he used the awakened ability to extract the origin of his own body and his everything.

    But internally the wounds were still healing, making his body extremely weak right at the moment.

    Even his lifespan had fallen to less than 50 years.

    His affinity with magic fell to a level that was hard to perceive. He couldn''t even tell to what degree it fell.

    Using a dragon breath having the power to defeat Zrector had really drained Zick of almost everything.

    The worst thing about all this was that, neither of the swordsman profession and mage profession could be raised again.

    ''Though I won against Zrector, but in the process I lost all my potential along with arge amount of strength.'' Zick tried his best to be calm and moved on to the next thing.

    ''It doesn''t seem like I am in the deepest part of the ocean, if I was then my body would have already been crushed from the water pressure.''

    Next, Zick started checking his appearance, only to be surprised again.

    His skin had be pale like snow, almost simr to that of a corpse. There were also two ck curved horns on his head. Which made Zick think about the demonic race.

    ''People might misunderstand me as being a demon, I have to do something about it.''

    There were ck scales all over his body which were exposed as hey naked on the seabed.

    The ce with the most scales were his torso, the back of his hands ankle and neck.

    The scales were smaller than how it was when he awakened, which made Zick a little relieved. He could hide it somehow by wearing hood, the only problem were the scales in the face and horn<sub> </sub>

    ''I should peeled them away after getting out of the water, I have more than 50 high rank potions in the space ring, so it shouldn''t be a problem. I should also cut off the horns with my curse sword, though I am not sure if any of my hair would grow back.''

    The tail and the wings had withered away after the awakened ability effect came to an end.

    Even Zick''s body had aged by two years, he looked just like a 17 years old man, with a sickly physique.

    ''Even though I have lost almost everything, I still have my life. As long as I am alive without a doubt I will find a way to increase my potential.''

    ''If I just give up from this much, then I should just give up on my life! To attain eternal life I am ready to do anything.''

    ''Only by giving my all will the goal of eternal life be more interesting.''

    This was the biggest setback he had faced since the day he arrived in this world. But Zick fully epted it calmly.

    Zick had realised another thing through this fight.

    The superficiality of winning and losing.

    To Zick winning and losing was something that mattered a lot in this world. After all, losing might even lead to his death here. Only by winning could he be safe.

    But, was that really the case?

    Zick had won against Zrector and was still alive so it could be the truth in a way. But on the other hand he had lost many things, without gaining any benefits in the slightest.

    This changed a little of his mindset, winning wasn''t the only thing that was important. He had to see how much benefit there was to gain.

    ''What''s the point of fighting if there is no benefits? To pursue the supreme goal of eternal life getting as many benefits as possible is very important. This fight against Zrector was different as there was no other way, but I should keep this in my mind as I move forward.''

    To Zick his pride amounted to nothing in front of pursuing his goal.

    After finishing to Check himself, Zick started thinking about his future movements.

    Zick could not move his body with the water pressure applied to his body. In his current state where his body was in a weakened state with many internal wounds, it was impossible to move.

    Zick decided to check his magic capabilities first. He tried to move the water around him, but stopped the very next moment feeling like many needles poking his head at once.

    Zick''s mana affinity had fallen tremendously, he would have been able to use magic even in his current weak mind state, but now it seems impossible.

    Zick wanted to use healing potions to quicken his wound recovering rate. But now with no physical and magical power he could only give up on it and wait.

    With his current natural healing capability, Zick estimated that it would take many days, even weeks to heal totally. Which was totally uneptable to him.

    Even a second was very precious to him, giving it his all at every moment, would increase his survival chance as well as take him nearer to his goal.

    ''I can only try using magic once my mind recovers. I should heal myself totally so that I can have a higher chance of surviving in the future.''

    As Zick thought of all this, suddenly he noticed something. His connection with Butler Von had vanished. He had sensed all his connections once after he was teleported above the ocean and he was able to sense their connection.

    Zick was able to tell what happened to Butler Von even without thinking too deeply about it.

    ''He must have died.....'' Zick couldn''t help but feel a little emotions rising within him.

    Butler Von was the first person who Zick had met aftering to this world. As well as the person who stayed the longest beside him.

    ''Sigh.....this is just how it works. If the enemy can kill me, that is the testament to his strength. This is a world where the strongest survive, if I die because of anyone else, that is because I am weak, it is my ownck of capability, it is my fault!''

    Zick had known this from the moment he came to this world. Though he had an aversion to it, not epting it totally, now he epted it very easily.

    Only by epting the way this world works could it broaden his mindset. Allowing him to learn and grow more.

    The weak were devoured by the strong, was this not a natural thing?

    Thus, in Zick''s heart, he didn''t feel any pointless hatred or grudge. He had nothing to gain from this!

    The little emotions that rose within him were also discarded.

    Though thinking like this might change him, Zick never stopped himself from adapting a mindset which would help in attaining eternal life the most.

    Doing everything he could to attain this made him excited as well as happy.

    Only by doing his best could he die without any regrets.

    Even if his whole life ends up as a failure, he could die with a smile on his face.

    Because this was what he wanted to do!

    Zick had enough determination to do anything to walk in the path he had chosen. He threw Butler Von''s death out of his head, not feeling anything anymore.

    ''But this incident was really unexpected, I don''t think I did anything to make the magic disaster happen earlier like this'' With nothing else to do, Zick continued pondering about other things not wasting his time.

 Chapter 106 Omnipotence And Omniscient!

    It wasn''t that Zick felt no emotions in the slightest. He felt many emotions just like any living being.

    The truth was, he was unaffected by greed or lust, his logic had always suppressed other emotions. Allowing him to have such a mindset.

    Zick thought about the magic disaster feeling a little annoyed, feeling his own powerlessness.

    There was always a reason behind anything in this world. There had to be a reason why the magic disaster urred this early.

    The best lead Zick had right at the moment was that this magic disaster was connected to Aeiron in a mysterious way.

    The magic disaster had directlynded upon where Aeiron was in the novel.

    ''Did me meeting Aeiron change something?'' Zick mind turned gear and started thinking rapidly.

    ''The sun god, Velveric, could be connected to this in some way.''

    This would make a lot of sense to Zick, the sun god must have a connection to Aeiron, allowing him to see through his senses.

    Though this sounded far-fetched in a way, it would exin many things.

    Creating a magic disaster like that, which even Zick could not resist and had enough power to teleport thousands of people, could only be possible for such an entity.

    ''At least, I can be sure that the sun god had something to do with this. If not, I don''t have any other clue left that I can look into.'' Zick thought helplessly, he was not even aware of the reason why the sun god could have let or made the magic disaster ur.

    ''There is also a chance that this doesn''t have anything to do with the sun god at all. But was instead caused by some other strong entity or item.''

    For now, Zick put aside this matter as it was a waste of time to think about it.

    There was another thing which needed his attention.

    Now with the red thunder qilin, Zrector dead. There was nothing getting in the way of the battle between the middle and eastern continent anymore. This would lead to a huge war with millions of soldiers at once.

    And in turn this would weaken the two continents, making their chances to resist the demon continent''s invasion lower.

    ''There is also the problem with the magic disaster.'' With a lot of time in his hand, Zick continued thinking.

    Even while thinking, Zick''s mind recovered at a stable rate, showing that some of the recovery ability from before remains.

    The magic disaster Zick experienced wasrger than the original one, covering the whole middle section of the Academic city. This was also something that coulde in use to find the reason why the magic disaster urred so early, so he kept this in his mind.

    The academic city held more than 5 million people in it. The middle section didn''t have many people as the academy main campus was located there, but there were still many people nearing almost a half a million.

    In the novel, it took a while to notice that some of the people from the middle continent appeared in the eastern continent by the alchemist towers and other ruling forces.

    But now with such arge amount of people teleported at once, it would change the flow of the future that Zick knew too.

    The alchemist tower would start looking into it madly. They would be interested in a phenomenon like this.

    Zick concentrated upon the connections he felt on his body currently. Luckily he could feel the two dragon eggs and Varine''s presence, with this he could search for them easilyter.

    Even with the quality of his bloodline decreasing, Zick could feel the eggs'' location just fine.

    The dragon eggs were very important in Zick''s eyes. They would bring a lot of support to him now that he was in such a pitiful state.

    Zick could feel the direction they were located at. But one of the eggs was very far away. He couldn''t even calcte the distance properly like something was getting in his way.

    ''As long as the connection exists, they should be alright.'' Zick thought, for now putting them aside as it would take a long time to get them back.

    Varine''s survival chances was also low, the eastern continent had many way to remove the ve seal too. So Zick was worried that he might lose her location at any moment.....

    Varine was the closest from Zick''s current location, so he didn''t mind going and picking her up first. If she had already been captured by an enemy stronger than Zick, he could only give up and ignore this matter.

    Zick was not stopped by his loss of trust anymore. He needed Varine''s future grandmaster level strength. He was very weak right now, he needed any amount of power he could collect. But he didn''t have any intention of sacrificing himself for any of this power.

    ''For now, I should try my best to first get the biological golem. With it, I should be able to resist others and I might also find a way to increase my potential in there.''

    ''But the problem is getting to the location of theb, I would need to prepare extensively to be able to reach there.''<sub> </sub>

    With Zick''s current state there was a very low chance of surviving if he didn''t n his future move carefully.

    Zick wasn''t worried about money right now, he already had many things he could use to exchange for it. And there was also the mana crystal mine that he could use to make a fortune in the future, so there wasn''t much to worry about in this matter.

    Continuing to consider all the things he needed to do after entering the eastern continent a long time passed by. He didn''t bother training in mana as it was a waste of time.

    With his current potential no matter how much he trains not even a bit of his mana quality or quantity would increase.

    Atst, Zick was able to recover enough to use a little magic.

    Right now, Zick''s whole body was covered in marine silt, which happened after staying in ocean water for a long time.

    Taking out a healing potion from his space ring, Zick brought it near his mouth using magic to move the water. But before pouring the potion into his mouth, he used the ck mana in his mana nerves and pushed out the water which filled his body.

    Blop~

    Quickly Zick ced the healing potion into his mouth and started pouring it. He could have done it with the water within his body too, but that might lead to losing a portion of this healing potion. He had no idea about the density of the healing potionpared to the water, so there was a chance that the potion might just start rising above the water.

    Slowly Zick''s internal wounds started healing, enabling him to move his fingers.

    ''The healing potions wouldn''t have been able to heal me if I still had a strong physique, but now with my weak body its effect has be more potent.''

    The marine water entered his mouth again, filling his mouth with the bitter taste of salt. He bore with it and continued to put another potion in his mouth.

    Unfortunately healing potion could not help in the recovery of the mind, so he still felt a little headache as he used magic.

    After doing the same process for a few times, Zick''s body had recovered fully. He could move his mouth already by the third time of this process, so he could stop the water from entering his mouth himself.

    ''I feel so weak...this really makes people go into despair for a long time. Even I can''t help but feel despair because of this, but I can''t stop moving in my path just because of this one setback.''

    Zick wasn''t trying to pursue eternal life for someone else, but for himself. He wanted to enjoy the process of getting near his goal even by a little. He wanted-

    Omnipotence and omniscience!

    This was something that was a must in his goal.

    With an indifferent expression, Zick started circting mana all over his body which strengthened his body. The water pressure which made him feel like he was being pressed down by a huge mountain vanished to a certain degree.

    The ck mana covered his body dimly, he slowly got up on his feet. It took a lot of his effort to just move his body in here.

    There was still nothing but darkness in his surroundings, giving him a little empty feeling.

    RIPPLE~

    Moving his legs and hands, Zick started swimming upwards with long strides. He couldn''t sense anything in his surroundings at all, this was the first time he experienced going this deep within the ocean.

    ''I can''t see anything even with my dragon eyes here, there might not be anything containing magic here then.'' Zick pondered before ignoring it.

    In a world where people are able to store power within their body and strengthen themselves. Many people and things can easily resist the power of nature and even gain victory over it.

    This also affected how this world''s society works.

    Millions of years ago humans might have formed groups to resist the monsters and other dangerous beings. But its purpose changed after they gained enough power to resist them.

    They changed their aim from protecting to ruling. This led to the formation of the kingdom and empire system which existed right at the moment.

    ''In the end, human greed has no limit.'' Zick knew of this very well. He was no different too, butpared to others he knew when to give up and to continue advancing.

    ''Throwing away my life for some benefit would be the height of stupidity. But others still do it nevertheless, these people have a very low chance of rising up in their whole life.''

    Even while swimming at his full speed, it took a while for Zick to be able to see a ray of sunlight. His body had really weakened to an unbelievable level from before. This fact again made Zick feel a little down.

    ''Sigh.....I am reaching the surface atst. I don''t even know how much time has passed since I fell into the sea.''

 Chapter 107 The Loneliness Of Human

    Life and death is nature''sw. All living beings are equal, and everyone has their right to survive and be killed or kill others. There might be royalty and lower beings, but in the face of death, a person''s death is no different from an ant''s, what''s the difference? They''re both dead.

    When Zick thought of this, theplexity of the worldy open in front of him.

    Not wanting to be trampled on, there was only one way. To be strong, strong until no one dares to step on you. He just had to growrge enough so that no one would have the ability to step on him.

    The whole time Zick stayed in the battlefield, he only experienced minor skirmishes again and again. The minimum number of soldiers participating in this battle was 10,000.

    But in an all out battle, more than 100,000 soldiers participate. In it, thousands of peak rank knights and dozens of master swordsmen are included.

    The main point was, alchemists would also participate in it, making the battle more tricky.

    In a one on one battle between a mage and an alchemist, the mage would win most of the time. But if the chemist was given enough time to prepare, his chances of winning increases astronomically.

    And in a battle there was a lot of time for the alchemist to prepare traps for the army of the middle continent.

    The alchemist of the middle continent would take a long time to dismantle this trap, giving the eastern continent the upper hand in this battle without a doubt.

    Alchemist almost covered all the type of professions there was in the world. Though not perfectly they could replicate it using some other means.

    This just got worse now with Zrector out of the picture. Zick could somewhat predict the battle intensity.

    Unless the middle continent had any trump card which could turn the tide against them, the eastern continent would be on the winning side.

    ''The chances of the two continents resisting the demon continent will continue to fall. This is not good for me too, but I can''t do anything about it now. Ha! it would be impossible with my current strength anyway.''

    The demon continent started invading the continent earnestly after three to four years from now, but it might change now. Zick knew that there was a very low chance that the higher ups of the demon continent would let go of such an opportunity.

    ''My biggest disadvantage right at the moment is that the enemy are in the hiding and whereas I am totally in the open. I can''t even resist this unknown powerful being in my current state.''

    For now, first Zick decided to gather any form of power he could and at the same time try to increase his own potential and strength. He was ready to do anything for this as long as it didn''t harm his life and interests.

    SPLASH~

    Zick reached the surface of the water atst.

    The sun was already showing signs of setting. It was noon with the sun shining in an orange glow.

    Taking out thepass that he brought while travelling on the wyvern, Zick checked the directions.

    Luckily it seems not much has changed from how it was in the novel. Varine and the dragon eggs were in the eastern continent''s direction. No one was still in the middle continent.

    And he was still naked.

    ''Changing clothes in here will only get it wet. I should first take care of the scales on my face and horns. The other scales all over my body wille in use in the future for sure.''

    Holding the scales on his face tightly, Zick took out a healing potion. He pulled the scale off with a determined expression.

    Splurt! Blood fell on the water making it turn red. The wound was only three centimetres at most, but a lot of blood spewed out of it.

    ''''Ugh.....'''' Zick applied the healing potion upon the wound immediately.

    Doing the same process for all the scales around his face, Zick took out the cursed sword from his space ring.

    Readying his arm, he swung the sword horizontally at the horns.

    CLANK!

    The ck cursed sword was not able to cut through the horns, which surprised Zick, making him look at the ck sword with wide eyes.

    Strengthening the sword and his right hand with the ck mana, this time Zick swung his sword with everything he had.

    SWISH~

    The horn was cut off his head this time after a little resistance. Zick put the two horns into the space ring feeling that they held value.

    Next, Zick started heading towards the direction of the eastern continent, where Varine was currently at. He still let out dragon fear making the aquatic monsters stay away.

    ''If in the end, the demon continent wins again, I should try to join them.'' Zick wasn''t against joining the demon continent anymore.

    But the demonic race doesn''t trust any other races, so Zick had to find a way around this. For now, Zick put it aside as they wouldn''t even consider joining hands with someone weak like him. He didn''t think that joint hand with the demons was the only way, there might be a way to escape too after all.<sub> </sub>

    ''''Sigh....'''' Sighing to himself, Zick continues swimming at full force.

    Ssh! Even with his strength falling to the high rank knight stage, Zick was still tens of times stronger than a normal human being. His swimming speed was fast matching the speed of a normal electric boat on earth.

    At this speed, it would take him five days to reach the eastern continent. This was estimated by Zick by calcting the distance between him and Varine.

    This estimation wasn''t a perfect one, but it still gave him an idea of how much he had to travel.

    ''I was teleported near the eastern continent or I might just have flown near it while fighting against Zrector. Normally it takes weeks to reach there by boat.''

    Seeing the endless sea made Zick feel a little helpless. There were still many problems he would face after reaching there.

    ''I know a little of thenguage spoken by the eastern continent through the battlefield, but problems will still arise whilemunicating. Hmm.....'' When Zick thought of this, another inspiration appeared in his head.

    ''They might be using this to find out the people of the middle continent. They don''t know how to talk in the ''Everlor''nguage which is spoken there after all.''

    One problem after another kept appearing in Zick''s head. Prompting him to start thinking of a countermeasure against them.

    ''The problem ofnguage can only be solved with hard work I guess. That''s what the protagonist, Aeiron, did too.''

    After swimming for another 15 minutes, Zick lost all his stamina.

    ''''Haaa...haaa.....haaa...'''' Breathing out loudly, Zick waited for his body to recover.

    ''.....I should have kept some stamina potions with me in case. Well if I had stamina potion then I would have also been able to recover my mind and have escaped in front of Zrector'' Zick could only regret his past decision. He had no need of a stamina potion after bing a dragonoid.

    There was no ''if'' or ''what if'' in his current situation. There was no way he could have predicted this situation in the end.

    Waiting in the middle of the ocean was a strenuous process even for Zick. He couldn''t fly using magic, he had already tested to see at what level he was in the mage profession.

    And he found out that he was in the middle rank.

    A middle rank mage didn''t have the ability to fly. Zick could still somehow fly using the crimson red earring, but what was the point of it?

    Zick wouldn''t be able to maintain it for more than three minutes and even the speed he would fly would be very slow.

    ''Rather than exhausting my mind for no reason, I should just let my body recover.''

    Seeing the sky slowly turning dark, Zick felt a sense of inexplicable loneliness.

    It wasn''t because he was in the middle of the ocean or the fact that he was a transmigrator. But because, everyone was born lonely!

    Human minds are like isted worlds and Human encounters are like the collision of these worlds, and once they touch, there would be an effect.

    Sometimes, they would stick together, in the name of ''interest'', ''kinship'', ''friendship'', ''love'' and ''hate''.

    But eventually, they would separate, walking towards their death.This was the truth behind life.

    Unfortunately people are always afraid of being alone, they craved the liveliness of the human crowd, and they refused to do anything with their time.

    Because once they face loneliness, it means facing pain and hardship.

    But once they can face this pain, people would obtain talent and courage. So it is said that all high-achievers are definitely lonely.

    ''This is the feeling of being lonely. The more I savour this, it strengthens my resolve to pursue my goal!'' Zick''s gaze shone.

    Everyone maintains an attitude externally in front of others, this was nothing but a mask that they put around their inner heart.

    ''''Sigh.....the saying of human beings as a social being is nothing but bullshit.''

    ''It doesn''t matter which attitude I have to facade in front of the others, if it could help me in some way, then I will do it.'''' Zick couldn''t help but sneer at this.

    Whether it was doing a kind thing or an evil thing, Zick was ready to do it all. This loneliness was nothing to him!

    After recovering his stamina, Zick started swimming again. After travelling for three days, he reached the coast of the eastern continent.

    Zick didn''t get hungry luckily, with the heart turning the mana into nutrients for his body.

 Chapter 108 The Gorthect Empire

    The eastern continent wasrger than the middle continent, both in size and human poption.

    Both the continents didn''t have much difference when looked solely at the size.

    There were many reasons why the eastern continent had more human resourcespared to the middle continent.

    The main reason was that, nearly half of the middle continent was nothing but desert. Leading to the difference ofnd avable to the three ruling forces to take over.

    The difference in technology also yed a role. Being prosperous in alchemist enabled the people of the eastern continent to have a better environment to give birth and live. But in the other hand there were tons of rules banning murder, robbery and other crimes. This would get in Zick''s way without a doubt.

    There was also an order which maintained the said rules. But their was no such thing as human right as of yet, after all very and prostitution was a normal thing in this continent.

    These rules were so that they could decrease the crime rate, in other words it was just a scarecrow.

    There was only one kingdom in the eastern continent which advocated human rights, treating everyone equally.

    It was The Leweisert kingdom, also known as the holy kingdom. The people of this continent were a devout believer of the god of justice, Yuvlem church.

    ''It should be located in the east of the eastern continent, there was also another harem member in there.''

    Zick knew about his current location somewhat through the novel. He was reaching the western side of the continent.

    The West was where the Gorthect empire was located. This was a ce famous for their architecture and superior artisans. It was said that the people of this empire had the blood of the dwarf race running through their veins.

    The Dwarf race has been considered instinct by the whole world. Many hundreds years ago, the dwarf created something that even the dragons couldn''t overlook.

    In the end, the whole dwarven race was burnt to the ground by the dragons. The thing which they created was also buried forever.

    ''There are a few dwarfs that are still alive, living their lives in hiding. In the novel, they were taking refuge in the Gorthect empire. In exchange for creating weapons for them at a specific time and passing on some of their knowledge to talented cksmiths, they promised to keep them safe. I don''t think this was a bad deal for both of them.''

    One of the four alchemist towers was also located in this empire, as abundant svenile were found there. This mineral was a rare material which could be used to create mana core and golem core.

    It was in the middle of the night when Zick was first able to see the coast of the easter continent. It was dark, but he could see the silhouette of many high cliff surrounded by boulders.

    ''Though a year earlier than I estimated, I still arrived in the eastern continent.''

    Ssh! Swimming at a rapid pace, Zick left behind a trail in the water. He moved his hand in a little more experienced and refined manner, showing that he had adapted to swimming in the past three days.

    SWISH!

    Zick reached the coast in a minute, the cold water touching him made his body shudder, but he endured it without a single change in expression.

    Using magic, Zick slowly rose into the air andnded on one of the grey stones.

    The cold wind of the night brushed past his naked body, making Zick dry his body quickly through magic. After drying the water on his body, he took out the track pants and ck jacket he wore while attending the auction.

    ''It''s tighter than I thought....'' Zick''s body had grown a lot in size making his clothes stick tighyly to his body.

    There was a problem which worried Zick from a while. He didn''t know how much time had passed since the magic disaster ured.

    If a long time passed by, the alchemist tower must have collected a lot of information from the people who teleported here. And they would without a doubt try to eliminate the people who might pose a threat to them.

    Which means they would target the strongest people who might have been teleported here. Zick would definitely be among them as he was considered as master swordsman by many people.

    ''I should avoiding in contact with the native of this continent in this appearance. I need a way to hide my identity.''

    There was also the problem with his eyes. They were still vertical, giving off an eerie feeling as always. After losing his quasi-archmage level strength, Zick could not create any spell which woulde in use for hiding his appearance.

    ''Losing my strength, authority and even the usefulness of the knowledge of the novel had fallen...this situation is just too disadvantageous to me.'' While thinking this, Zick touched the ce where his horn was at.

    No hair grew from there in the end, instead the horn was showing signs of regrowing, he had no control over this process at all.<sub> </sub>

    Bending his knees, Zick jumped with full force. His figure jumped up to half of the cliff before slowing down.

    ''''It can''t be helped....'' Using magic to control the air around his feet, Zick pushed himself up.

    Slowly Zick''s body rose-up reaching the cliff''s tip.

    Thud,nding upon the edge of the cliff, Zick looked straight ahead.

    A in terrain filled with grass entered his sight and in the horizon of his view a vige appeared. A vige near the coast clearly showed that Zick was far from the ce where the war troop gathered to wage war against the middle continent.

    ''For now, I should pick up a few clothes from there.'' Zick took out the white mask he used in the auction house and put it upon his face. Then he started heading towards the vige.

    He had no n entering this vige through the checkpoint. It was just a small vige, so Zick wasn''t worried about the guard catching him.

    While running, the cold wind brushed by his body, making Zick''s hair and clothes flutter.

    ''Bing an alchemist is also a possibility for me. By bing one, I can try to find a way to increase my potential, but there is no reason or time for that.''

    Zick didn''t have a long time in his hand. In the novel, the final battle with the demons happens 9 years from now, but this could change at any moment.

    ''I should gather the ingredients to perform the unorthodox method I used when I came to this world. Even having peak rank potential is better than nothing.''

    ''There''s only a few other methods that can increase my potential. The potion made with leaf of the world tree could increase my potential to master or higher. But it''s very hard to get my hand on it.''

    Zick didn''t think getting the world tree''s leaf was impossible. If he helped the elf princess instead of the protagonist and win the favor of the elfs it was possible. But strength was needed for this too. They would also treat him well with nature''s characteristics in his mana.

    ''And there is still a while before the elf princess gets into trouble. Getting to theb of the biological golem is also not possible right now.''

    Even Aeiron had entered only when he was in the peak of the master swordsman rank. But it was still possible to take control of theb to Zick by using the knowledge of the novel.

    ''Though many people would be sacrificed, it can''t be helped. If I still had my past strength there would have been no need for this.....''

    Zick couldn''t help but feel a little furious at who had caused the magic disaster.

    ''Though I am not the type of person who holds a grudge, this is the first time someone made me angry enough to make me want to kill them.'' Zick controlled his overwhelming killing intent and concentrated in nning his future moves.

    There was no point in an ant''s anger at this point. No matter what Zick did he would never be able to harm the being behind such a magic disaster. He knew that grudges were pointless, but emotions were not so easy to control.

    It would be totally different if this being could bring benefits to Zick in some way.

    For now, there was no immediate method which could increase his potential.

    Reaching the wooden fences around the vige. Zick jumped over it and headed towards the house in the middle of the vige, To where the vige chief house was located.

    Walking in front of the vige chief house, the little bit of wariness in Zick''s heart also vanished. He could sense that the vige chief was just a middle rank knight.

    ''Only people who are peak rank knights or above can threaten me currently, I can somewhat fight against peak rank knight with the cursed sword, but my winning chances are still zero.''

    Though his winning were low, Zick had confidence in escaping.

    KNOCK-KNOCK!

    Zick knocked on the vige chief House''s door. The reason why he directly headed here was very rational.

    Wasn''t it better to make others do his bidding instead of doing it himself?

    All the more when the other party was weaker and couldn''t resist him.

 Chapter 109 The Village Destroyed

    The vige chief''s senses wouldn''t be able to break Zick''s defenses. As he was just a middle rank knight, this way he wouldn''t be able to see Zick''s real face through the mask.

    Every person who cultivates in either the knight or mage profession has the ability to create a forcefield around themselves, which could be used to stop others from probing their strength.

    The process of creating this forcefield was simple. By covering the body with a thinyer of one''s own mana; a force field was created.

    CREAK~

    An elderly man with white hair reaching till his shoulder, opened the door with a frown on his face.

    The vige chief, Deren, looked at the person who disturbed him in the middle of the night. Anger rose within him rapidly, but when he saw that the other party''s strength could not be seen through, he controlled his expression.

    Deren synchronized Zick''s figure for a second, before starting to speak.

    ''''How may I help you sir? If you came thiste in the night, I am sure its something important.'''' Deren fully walked out of the door, exposing his bent back. The figure of Zick was suspicious no matter how he looked at him.

    Wearing a mask means the person had something to hide, Zick wearing a mask would only make others suspicious. He clearly knew about it, but he didn''t care about it in front of a weaker opponent.

    Why did he have to care about the worries of a weaker person?

    ''''Hmph, bring me a couple of robes and clothes. I.also.need.horse and books.which can help me in.learning.the ''everlor''nguage.'''' Zick spoke out coldly, there were only a few stemmers in his voice while he spoke.

    Unlike when Zick just left the battlefield, he was able to clearly store the mana with chaotic characteristics within his body. This was thanks to his current mana being weaker and strong physique.

    And Zick knew to speak in the ''everlor''nguage only a little, but it was enough for an exchange like this.

    Seeing how demeanouring Zick was, Deren felt offended, but what could he do against a stronger opponent than him?

    ''''Please wait a minute sir, I will gather the thing you need.'''' Swallowing the bitter feeling, Deren spoke respectfully and tried to excuse himself.

    ''''I will wait right here, so hurry up.'''' This was a warning, not an order.

    Deren understood it immediately, Zick was taking his daughter and wife hostage within the house. If he did something suspicious they would all die.

    ''''Understood.'''' With a dark expression, Deren started heading towards the houses in the distance.

    Waiting in front of the house, Zick looked towards the sky which was filled with stars. He didn''t bother ordering any of the ingredients needed to perform the unorthodox method as it was a waste of time.

    ''There is no way, I will get poisons like that in a vige like this.'' Zick looked at the home made of cheap bricks and wood around him.

    He even doubted if this vige even belonged to any of the nobles'' domains. But the chances of this vige growing on its own was also low, so the vige must belong to some low rank noble.

    Zick could feel that Deren''s daughter and wife were still sleeping.

    After a few minutes, Deren walked towards Zick with the horse beside him.

    ''''Here are the things you needed sir.'''' Passing on the books and clothes through the space ring, Deren gave the horse''s reign to Zick.

    ''''Which nobles does this vige belong to and did you see someone appearing out of thin air around?''''

    ''''.....The Gerthel family and a messenger from lord garthel asked the same thing a few days ago...'''' Deren shook his head, as he looked towards Zick with a little wariness in his heart.

    Swish! At that instant, a ck sword appeared in Zick''s hand. Which he swung at Deren''s neck filled with killing intent.

    The cursed sword was covered in a ck-red mana giving out an ominous feeling.

    Deren, in his guard, also tried to take out his sword, but it was toote. Before he could make any noise, his head was split from his body neatly. He dies with a face full of regrets and Indignation.

    ''''I guess my sword skill haven''t rusted too much yet.'''' Zick was someone who wielded a sword from when he was just eight years old and he had also stayed in the battlefield, so his swordsmanship was higher than many people.

    THUD! Deren''s corpse fell to the ground with the sword leaving his hand. The ground started getting stained in deep red.

    Zick picked up Deren''s space ring and then moved away.

    Strengthening himself with mana, Zick started moving around the small vige and setting mana bomb everywhere quietly. He had gotten this mana bombs from the dead assassins who tried killing him while he travelled to the Academic city.

    Putting the sword back into the space ring, Zick got upon the horse and pulled its reign and wore the brown robe.

    NEIGH! Zick headed towards the checkpoint of the vige.

    Two guards stood in front of a wooden door, guarding it vigntly. Hearing the sound of a horse heading towards them, they turned towards it with a baffled look, the sound wasing from within the vige.

    They could see a man riding a ck horse, which headed towards them.

    Seeing that the two guards were nothing but low rank knights, Zick created two fireballs and shot them towards them without hesitation.

    The fireball moved at a speed which was impossible to dodge for the two guards. It engulfed them both immediately.

    "Ahhhh! Help! Help.....''''

    ''''Ahhh! Water! Someone...." The two guards started running around while wailing before burning away, turning into ashes.

    Bang!

    Breaking through the weak fence, Zick rapidly started making distance from the vige.

    ''Now....'' Zick looked towards the vige from the back of his horse.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Huge explosions urred one after another. ck smoke rose from the ground.<sub> </sub>

    Zick had correctly set the timing of the mana bomb after a little calction.

    In the end, the whole vige was destroyed.

    Feeling that no one was alive within the vige, Zick started heading towards the ce where Varine was located.

    He had killed Deren and vigers to be sure that no future problem would ur. Deren or the viger would without a doubt report about him to the noble above him. This would make them discharge the search group even if just in name. After all, the noble cared a lot about their reputation.

    By the time someone finds out about the destruction of the vige, Zick would be long gone.

    Even after killing hundreds of innocent people, no trace of guilt or remorse appeared within Zick.

    Is killing these people a sin? Why is that so?

    Zickughed lightly at this, there was no such thing as sin in this world. It was just what other people made and spread to the others, in hopes that they would follow this without any questioning.

    Any organization, once a person is born, would impart their morals and rules, constantly brainwashing. Those that want to surpass humanity''s achievements have to break this restraint on their mindset. Sadly, most people are trapped by this their entire lives, using this to move forward with motivation and even use their chained cor as a symbol of pride.

    Only a few people are able to break through this restriction and Zick was one of them. He was a person with low morals from the beginning. Even the bit of moral left within him had vanished aftering to this world.

    ''People living such a life are really pitiful.''

    Zick looked in front of him. A forest appeared at the end of his view. Not hesitating, he started heading towards it.

    Luckily there were tracks in the forest, following this track only a few monsters would appear in front of him.

    ''It would take me a day to reach Varine at this speed. The time can increase if I face any problem while I travel too. If I find a city, I should try to buy the items used for the unorthodox method too.''

    *************

    Sitting within a steel cage, Varine looked at the front with a nk look.

    ''I guess, I am really cursed....'' Varine eyes looked very dim, almost like a dead person.

    Two weeks had passed since she was teleported to this ce. She was teleported in a secluded vige with little to no connection to the outside. Even the noble in charge of the vige ignored it most of the time.

    The good natured vige chief and his wife living in the huts decided to take her in and gave her a ce to live and eat. Both of them were already in their fifties.

    In the beginning, Varine couldn''t understand anything because of the burning pain she felt in her head. But after a day, she was able to tell that two elderly people were taking care of him.

    She couldn''t understand what they were saying in the slightest. This made the couple misunderstand that Varine had lost her memory, treating her more nicely.

    At first, Varine was confused about what might have happened, but she soon got used to living in the vige. She even started learning how to speak ''everlor''nguage a little.

    Varine, who was filled with despair, started feeling a little lively staying in Zick''s mansion in the Academic city. Though she was still filled with worry, it was still better than living in the ve market. She was even given food which was considered as a luxury to her.

    In this vige too, Varine was aware of the ve seal existence, so knew that Zick would find her soon.

    In this vige she experienced the warmth of the family after a long time. Making her want to stay longer, this was a very selfish desire.

    Then after a week and six days, which was two days ago.

    ? Suddenly the noble who supervised the vige sent a messenger. Many soldiers also came along with the messenger.

    Though Varine couldn''t understand what the messenger was saying, she could tell that it was important.

    Standing in front of the hut, Varine looked towards the messenger. She got a dangerous feeling from him.

    The vige chief''s eyes glistened with greed for a second before turning the dim. He answered the messenger with disappointment.

    ''''No, there was no such incident in the vige.''''

    The messenger too, with a disappointed look, started walking away.

    ''''Tch, so no one appeared out of thin air here either. I only caught five but I made a fortune. I need more of them.....'''' The messenger looked hurried while he walked.

    ''''Hmm....what someone who appeared out of thin air? There was something like that here." A viger spoke in a friendly tone to the messenger.

    Hearing that the messenger froze, he had already walked far from the vige chief house.

    ''''Ohh! So where is this person?" The messenger looked at the viger with fire in his eyes.

    ''''You must have seen her too, the girl with ck hair and golden eyes, who stayed in the vige chief house.'''' The viger answered back happily, feeling that he came in use to a higher up.

    Getting to know that the vige chief lied, the messenger ordered the knight behind him to kill the vige chief without any hesitation.

    That''s how Varine was captured again, bing a ve.

    Thud, the messenger, Uthyen, looked directly at Varine''s eyes while standing out of the cage.

    ''''I didn''t expect you to be a ve before I even found you, but oh well.'''' Uthyen had already tried to remove the ownership from the ve seal before, but it surprisingly failed.

    ''That''s a peculiar ve seal and even this girl''s owner''s blood is weird. I have to wait for a while before selling her, so selling her like this would only lower the money I can get.''

    He knew a little about Varine''s origin, so he knew that the chances of her ownering to look for her was low.

    Uthyen had already started to prepare a more potent way of removing the ve seal. It cost a lot, but he was confident in gaining a lot after selling Varine to the alchemy tower.

    Looking at Uthyen, Varine''s eyes shone, she couldn''t help but feel hatred rising within her. She wanted to kill him.

 Chapter 110 Four Conditions

    The sun rose from the horizon, flooding its warmth to thend below.

    Clip-clop!

    A lone ck horse galloped forward on the in terrain at a fast pace, and a trail of dust was left behind it.

    Sitting upon the horse, Zick looked forward as his eyes shone in the light. He had removed the white mask, exposing his pale but still handsome face. The brown robe fluttered wildly from the harsh wind.

    His skills in riding horses were above average, allowing him to travel at a stable speed.

    Zick had exited the forest only a few minutes ago. In between, he only stopped once, to let the horse rest for a while. He had also tested his strength a little in front of the mob monsters like goblins and orcs.

    Unlike before, Zick couldn''t start traveling from the leg, this would make him appear suspicious in front of others.

    In the middle continent, he had the Melvix family''s que which let him travel worry-free. But here he had lost both his strength and influence, making him travel through the horse. To appear like a normal wanderer.

    ''I have around 14 more mana bombs now.'' Zick counted while urging the horse to move faster through the reign.

    Only four mana bombs were enough to blow up that small vige. This bomb could be used against an opponent of high rank knight''s level, so they were still somewhat useful. Unfortunately, all the strong bombs were already used by the assassins who ambushed him.

    The disappointment vanished in a blink of an eye and a sense of emergency took over Zick. He needed any kind of influence he could get in the eastern continent.

    ''Bing a merchant doesn''t seem like a bad idea, but I don''t have much experience in it. Well, I don''t have any say in it, to begin with....''

    Bing a mercenary was also an option, but this kind of professional didn''t give much influence and benefit to Zick. All he would get was an identity that could be used to move a little more unrestrained.

    ''Bing a merchant temporarily would be the most useful in my current position. This way, I will be able to hire mercenaries in name of exploring a new discoveredb.''

    Spreading information about theb with the biological golem was also an option. But this one was very risky, where things could go out of control.

    What if the alchemy tower got hold of this information?

    They would without a doubt try to hoard everything within it for themselves! Entry would be extremely restricted once that happens.

    Theb of the biological golem was located at the furthest of the southeast of the Eastern continent. It would take almost a whole month to travel from where Zick was in through horse.

    ''My life will also be at risk in this n.'' Because of this, Zick didn''t want to rush this matter at all. Just a little carelessness could lead to his death.

    There are four conditions Zick needed to fulfill to be able to get the biological golem.

    First, a huge amount of people are needed to take on the traps at the entrance of theb. There was a loophole that appeared after a lot of traps were triggered, Zick nned on using this.

    Second, He needed four people who would follow Zick''s order thoroughly. There was a door that needed four people to ess it at once from different ces.

    Third, to get control over theb, he needed a device that was buried in the ce where the old alchemist tower stood. It was nothing but ruins now. This was located at the east of the eastern continent within the Leweisert kingdom.

    For this device, Zick would also have to visit the Leweisert kingdom once.

    And fourth, after getting control of theb, Zick needed an immense amount of blood and flesh from a human. It had to be human flesh if not there would be chances of failure in the creation of the golem.

    The golem core was already an half-finished item, which had absorbed almost million people. This was the reason the whole continent went against the alchemist tower of that time.

    Killing millions of people went past what could be ignored. But this in turn helped Zick and Aeiron to get their hand upon the golem.

    The protagonist, Aeiron used monsters body''s for this process, after all, he was a person with a bottom line.

    Aeiron could have forced his way through theb with his peak master level strength, but one of his harem members stopped him.

    Her name was Leona, and she was an alchemist. She was also the one who found out how to get into theb without destroying it.

    Zick clearly remembered what the novel had mentioned.

    [The more human flesh the golem''s core absorbs, the more perfect it will be.]

    For this reason, Zick schemed for so long and thoroughly.

    ''I wonder what the perfect version of the Golem would look like. Will its attack power also match the defensive capability then?'' Just thinking of it, Zick felt excited.

    Though Zick didn''t have much time, He was still willing to spend his time on this.

    Until he got the biological golem, he needed something which could keep him safe and help in the process of collecting things needed to increase his potential.<sub> </sub>

    Zick chose Varine and another person who he was going to meetter on in the Gorthect kingdom.

    Zick narrowed his eyes, ''The Hustec potion and Bevert potion, I need to get my hand on these two potions too.....''

    The hustec potion boosts training in mana by thrice permanently till master rank.

    And Bevert potion can increase a person''s potential to master swordsman level.

    They were both in the hand of an alchemist, working in the Jhesker alchemy tower. This tower was located in the Neokelt empire, located in the northeast.

    Even while thinking of how to use other''s power, Zick never stopped thinking of ways that could increase his own strength and potential.

    While nning his future movement, Zick rode the horse.

    Finishing thinking, he looked at the space ring he got from Deren. Seeing through the thing within, disappointingly there was nothing worth mentioning.

    Sending the money to his ring, Zick put Deren''s ring into his pocket. There were only a few hundred gold coins within it.

    It turned evening soon, no city appeared in Zick''s way. Only in terrains and a few small forests would appear randomly.

    This made him suspect that the vige chief, Deren was lying to him about being under some noble. But he rejected this thought, after thinking about it a little.

    In the end, Zick just decided to put it in the back of his head. As it would just benefit him if no one noticed that the vige had vanished.

    With no obstacles in his way, Zick traveled at a quick pace. He only stopped a few times to let his horse rest.

    The night soon arrived with the red moon glowing in the middle of the sky.

    Sitting in the middle of the forest, with trees surrounding him, Zick looked at the bonfire nkly. He was releasing dragon fear so no monster came near him.

    In the silence, suddenly Zick''s expression changed. As he thought rapidly, his expression also kept changing along with it.

    First, it was a surprised expression, then to a thoughtful one and in the end, his expression turned solemn.

    His connection with Varine had been severed!

    **********

    Uthyen was an illegitimate son of a noble family, his father treated him well, but everyone else only held disdain against him.

    He was a smart person so he caught up to things fast, he knew that once any of his brothers took over as the head of the family, it would be his end.

    Knowing his future was bleak, Uthyen started preparing to leave the family and be a self sufficient person. For this, he nned and schemed, moving in the shadows for years.

    While preparing for his eminent Severance from family, Uthyen realized that he had talent to be a merchant.

    Keeping that in mind, Uthyen made many connections with other merchants and nobles, in the dark without any of his family mamber noticing.

    But when he turned 19, a opportunity presented itself in front of him. They were people who came from the other continent!

    The alchemy towers were paying fortunes to get their hands upon them. Taking this chance, Uthyen decided to make use of it to the most. Fooling his family in believing that he was simply visiting the vige for sight seeing, by bribing the knights. He was able to catch many of the people who appeared out of thin air.

    They were called as the ghost people right now by the citizens of the eastern continent.

    Going around viges for no reason would without a doubt make his family suspicious, but it didn''t matter anymore.

    Uthyen was going to make a run for it after getting as much as he could from this opportunity.

    And today was thest day he would call himself along with his family name.

    Uthyen looked at the girl who was clenching her jaw and enduring the paining from the ve seal.

    Swish~ with a red sh, all of Zick''s blood was removed from the round ve seal.

    Uthyen had seen the hatred in Varine''s eyes, who looked at him as if to poke a hole through his head. But he ignored her, the fate of the ves who enter the alchemy tower was already known to him.

    Though the alchemy tower aren''t allowed to do human experiment, they could still do what they want with their own ve right? Though they can''t do experiment on them, they could still use them as they wanted.

    "Hmph!" Uthyen walked away, now done with his work. He was in a little hurry right at the moment. He nned on selling Varine fast and leave the West domain and head towards the southern part of the continent.

 Chapter 111 The Everlor Organization

    A cold wind brushed past him, and Zick urged the horse to move at its max speed.

    He could see the thick forest clearly in his vision. Even while riding at such speed, it was as if time was still, Zick could easily avoid obstacles.

    ''My visual acuity while moving is superb to the extreme....though my eyes are weaker than before, it''s still inhuman as ever.''

    Zick''s superb vision was what allowed him to dodge and parry Zrector''s lightning attacks which were crazy fast. This vision uracy came from dragon eyes, but it had been weakened after losing all thetent potential he had in his blood.

    It was still in the middle of the night, making the forest extremely dark.

    Zick started travelling the moment his horse recovered.

    A while ago, he lost his connection with Varine. He didn''t need even a second to realize what had happened.

    Someone had removed his ownership from the ve seal.

    ''Now what should I do...'' Zick couldn''t do anything about this matter.

    The chances of finding Varine were close to none, it was totally up to his luck. And now there was a high chance the ownership of Varine''s ve seal be passed on to someone else. All these factors made Zick quit finding her.

    ''Going in blind in my current situation is very dangerous.'' Zick''s eyes dimmed, filled with a deepyer of gloominess.

    Was risking his life for Varine worth it?

    Absolutely no!

    There was no point in saving her if Zick died. If there were chances of sess he would have given it a try, but it was already hopeless searching for Varine now.

    Within an hour, Zick was able to exit the forest.

    NEIGHHH!

    Pulling the reign of the horse, Zick stopped it and gazed in front of him. A mountain appeared in some distance from him, standing grandly. Looking closely, he could see that there were tracks on the mountain; these tracks led to the other side of the mountain.

    ''I don''t have to take a roundabout way, fortunately.''

    If a track exists, human habitaty behind the forest without a doubt. Zick started heading towards the mountain without hesitation.

    He was able to figure out the location of the dragon egg too. The nearest one was the silver egg. He estimated that it was somewhere in the middle section of the eastern continent.

    Where the Yurellet forest was located. Master level monsters existed here, making Zick reluctant to go there.

    And the golden egg still felt very distant.

    ''Did it fall into the sea?'' Zick thought of the worst-case scenario.

    With the current level of his body, he would not be able to swim too deep into the ocean. Only a master or higher rank being can survive the natural pressureing from the deep ocean.

    Zick wasn''t in a hurry to pick up the dragon eggs yet. He first had to manage his own situation.

    The dragon eggs still didn''t seem like they were going to hatch anytime soon. Though they held immense value in his eyes, he couldn''t rush it.

    Reaching the peak of the mountain, Zick looked into the distance. His vision was very good.

    Looking ten thousand steps away, everything was clear to him.

    Looking around, Zick''s gaze froze, he stared in focus. He could see a city a few kilometres away from him.

    Mountain winds blew coldly, and Zick felt chills all over his body. His natural resistance to cold and heat had decreased by a lot.

    ''But it really is a letdown that I can''t regrow the wings again.'' Pulling the reign of the horse, Zick started heading towards the city.

    When humans stood on the ground, they could only move left, right, forward, backward, or jump up and down. But in the sky, they could fly in all directions, evading wherever they wished. This could have been a qualitative change.

    Zick''s strength would have increased tremendously.

    That is the reason why a high rank mage could always beat any knight at peak rank and below.

    ''I don''t have the slightest idea how I can increase my affinity with mana again. The knowledge of the novel is also useless in this subject.'' Zick sighed to himself.

    Going down the mountain, Zick suddenly felt the presence of humans nearby. Stopping the horse, he got off it and hid his presence using mana.

    ''They seem to be camping....'' Seeing smoke rising in some distance from him, Zick focused.

    Feeling that none of the people in there was stronger than him, He dashed towards it.

    A band of bandits entered his sight, this didn''t surprise him. He was on the borders of the Gorthect empire, so the magistrate wouldn''t do much about it.

    It seems like the bandits were having a meeting sitting in a circle, around the bonfire.

    Seeing them, Zick''s eyes shone, and the corners of his lips curled up forming into an evil smirk.

    ''I guess my luck isn''t always that bad.'' he was desperately in need of money. So to him, the appearance of these bandits was a very lucky event. The location of the mana crystal mine was far from where he was currently in. It would take a while before he gets his hands upon them.<sub> </sub>

    Taking out the cursed sword, Zick jumped toward the person who looked like the leader. He thrusted the sword directly into the bandit''s leader''s heart.

    He made sure that no blood got in his clothes.

    "Urg!"

    "What!? Who is it?"

    "You bastard! performing assassination like this, you coward!"

    Not stopping, Zick continued swinging his sword, severing their heads off one by one.

    ''Why would insults matter to me? Insults were insults in the end, what could they do to me? A superficial person would be angry due to curses and would be happy due to praises. These were just bystanders'' way of looking at you. Those who lived ording to others'' points of view were really pitiful.''

    The bandits tried running, seeing Zick going on a ughter, but the next instant, they were in by fireballs and mana des.

    The bandits who tried resisting by taking out their swords were instanly in with a single ce.

    TEAR!

    The sound of Zick''s clothes testing rang out, but he didn''t stop until he killed all the 20 bandits.

    The ground was fully stained red, and even some of the trees were painted red.

    Standing in the middle of this all, Zick first took off the space ring from the bandit leader''s hand. The others didn''t seem to have any space rings on them.

    After that, Zick looked at himself.

    There wasn''t a drop of blood on his clothes, but it was torn from multiple ces. When he moved around excessively, The scales around his body tore it apart.

    ''I need to buy armour too, first, let''s check how much I got from this bandit''s ring.'' Sending his mana into the space ring, Zick looked at what was within it.

    There were around 500 gold coins, with a few silver and bronze coins. There were no tinum coins.

    ''This much should be enough for a while.''

    Brushing off the blood on his sword, he started Walking towards where he had left the horse, he took out one of the papers within the space ring, which looked important, and started reading it.

    Arriving in front of the horse, Zick climbed upon it and started heading towards the city. He didn''t have to worry about feeding the horse as it ate grass.

    "Interesting....the bandits were actually hired by someone."

    The name of the one who hired them was unknown, As he read through it. The name of the person who was going to be raided caught his eye.

    ''Uthyen.....'' This character appeared in the novel. He was one of the evil merchants, in other words, a mob boss that Aeiron yed.

    But in the process of ying Uthyen, Aeiron went through many hardships. Uthyen was a very shrewd person, thinking every step very carefully, it took a lot of effort to kill someone like him.

    Zick didn''t remember much about uthyen, but he knew one thing about him.

    He was a member of the everdor organization, the evilest as well as the strongest secret organization in the eastern continent.

    This organization was even bigger than all the underworld mixed together. The everdor organization was formed totally by criminals.

    Their strength could match any of the ruling forces.

    It was said that more than half of the crime in the eastern continent wasmitted by this group. The five ruling forces knew about this group, but they could do nothing about it.

    The everdor organization was extremely well hidden. Having a base in almost every city and capital.

    A bright light passed by in Zick''s eyes.

    ''I didn''t think of joining this organization before, But now that I think about it, joining this group doesn''t seem...Why didn''t I think about this before? Did I have an aversion to it....'' Zick knew that habits were hard to get rid of habits. It was good that he noticed this soon, getting rid of the past value took time.

    He didn''t need to follow the legal way necessarily, using an illegal way, such as evil organization seemed a lot more appealing to him.

    The papers stated that Uthyen would be leaving the city in the morning, so there was still quite a while.

    Joining this organization only had one condition, it was to be a criminal, a murderer! Zick wasn''t againstmitting a crime one bit.

    Though very less was known about this organization, it brought many benefits to him. And he could also pass on the location of theb to this group.

    When Zick joins this organization without a doubt, they would put on a kind of restraint upon him. In the form of an oath, contract, or simr things.

    This restraint would stop him from harming the organization. No organization would trust an unknown person without something like this.

    But this didn''t stop Zick.

    He was passing on the location of theb for the greater good of the Everdor organization!

    If they can''t take over theb, it''s because of theirck of strength. It doesn''t have anything to do with him!

 Chapter 112 Entering The City

    The Everlor organization was the main antagonist of one of the arcs in the novel- ''the hero of velveric fights the demon lord.''

    This evil organization existed till the very end of the novel, showing its formidable. Aeiron wasn''t able to destroy it with how secretive and deep-rooted they were.

    Everlor''s members worked very systematically, showing that hierarchy existed in this organization too. Which meant, the low-rank and high-rank members would also exist, and this would lead to them making some rules which gave new members a little reassurance.

    Thus Zick concluded: " joining Everlor is better than bing a merchant."

    Joining this group wasn''t set in stone though, if he didn''t like the agreement and benefits it provided him, he could only give up on it and try something else.

    And if the agreement they offered restrained his movements, Zick didn''t have the slightest intention to join this group.

    ''The best way for me to contact the Everlor organization is Uthyen for now. I need to meet with him no matter what.''

    There was another worry that Zick had. It was still a year earlier than the novel, so there was a chance that Uthyen hadn''t joined Everlor yet. But he still decided to meet him once before going to look for someone else.

    There were many people who Zick could use toe in contact with the Everlor. He knew of them through the novel.

    The only downside was that they were all located far from him.

    Zick rode the horse towards the city at full speed. He wasn''t worried about entering the city, he got the identity imprint from the vige chief Deren''s space ring. A vige like that would without a doubt not have much interaction with the people of the city, which made him even more assured.

    Zick never stopped thinking about how to achieve his goal for a while. He could not see the end of the path he had chosen no matter how he thought about it.

    he did not know how much longer he would have to walk. But he knew where he needed to go. There was no stopping him anymore.

    He would either ascend, shedding his mortal coil, or turn into ash and vanish like everyone else.

    Zick''s mood returned to tranquillity, and with a calm face, he continued thinking.

    '' I have been agitated for a while, but this is just causing me harm. Bing restless in this situation wouldn''t help me at all.''

    With the current situation not looking optimistic in the least, Zick found it hopeless to the extreme.

    Even if he did increase his potential, so what?

    Even if he did grow stronger again, so what?

    Would he be able to grow strong enough to fight the demon lord? That seemed unlikely.....

    ''Should I just go around collecting talented people and nurture them?'' This looked like a much more feasible n to him.

    With the knowledge of the novel, Zick was confident enough to find them and even make them join him. He knew of their mindset so this wasn''t impossible for him.

    "Sigh....." letting out a sigh, slowly determination filled him.

    In the end, Zick decided.

    He would join the Everlor organization and use anything that could increase his potential. It didn''t matter to him how he would get his hands upon it.

    Robbery, Arson, conspiracies, or any other way that could be used.

    Along with this, Zick nned on collecting everyst person with high potential and making them into his meat shield.

    Looking at it this way, losing Varine was a letdown. He couldn''t do anything about it though, he had tried his best by trying to find her the moment he reached the eastern continent.

    Shortly, Zick arrived in front of the city''s fortress. The tracks from the mountain led directly to the fortress entrance. He could sense two guards standing in front of the gate, with spears in their hands. They were both middle-rank knights.

    Slowing down the horse, Zick headed towards them. He still had the robe on, but he had pulled it back a little, exposing his pale face and deep red eyes. He didn''t want to expose his head, where the two horns grew from.

    He could have just stealthily entered the fortress by jumping above it, there was a low chance of the guard finding out about him. But he wanted to leave behind proof of him entering this city.

    "Please show us the proof of your identification." The guard asked warily.

    Zick''a robe fluttered slightly as he got off the horse. A brown imprint with an unknown letter in it materialized in his outstretched hand. With a confident gaze, he handed it over to the guards.

    No one was able to see his torn clothes as it was hidden by the robe.

    The guards who seemed to be vignt, rxed, seeing Zick''s natural behavior. They started checking the imprint''s authentication.

    The guards nodded their heads shortly and gave it back to Zick.<sub> </sub>

    "For vige chiefs, it''s five silver coins. Still, it''s rare seeing peopleing thiste into the night." The left guards spoke with a little friendly tone.

    "Hahaha, my horse got exhausted in the middle of traveling because of the extensive traveling, so it took me a while to reach this city and Here." Saying this, Zick passed on the silver coins to the guard.

    "Ohh, sorry if we looked offensive. our superior has ordered us to catch anyone suspicious and inform them immediately. All the alchemy towers are also looking for ghost people. So it''s quite hectic around here." The knight on the right side interjected speaking with a wry smile on his face.

    Just by showing that he was a person with whom they could have a conversation with, Zick was able to erase all their suspicions and make them fully open up to him.

    "Don''t worry about it, you were just doing your jobs." Saying this with a smile, Zick urged the horse to move towards the gate.

    Even the guards were surprised for a second seeing Zick''s handsome face while he smiled. The vertical red eyes also gave them goosebumps.

    "Ah! I almost forgot to ask, Can you tell me where mister Uthyen is staying?" Zick asked not having much expectation to get back a satisfactory answer.

    If someone was willing to hire bandits to kill Uthyen, then there was a chance that he was someone with high standings. This was the only reason Zick tried asking the Guard.

    He could figure out that the current Uthyen''s escort was weakpared to the future.

    "Ohh! Do you know sir Uthyen? If you are going to request anything, then I rmend doing it in the morning." The guard told this with good intentions, this kind of urrence was normal after all. Vige chiefs or city lords try to carry out favors or request things from the noble usually. And especially when Uthyen was one of the heirs of the Gerthel family, who was the owner of thisnd.

    "Sir Uthyen is staying in the Qertel inn. If you go straight....." The knight started giving directions.

    Hearing this, Zick didn''t bother with the guards anymore and entered the city. He didn''t have anything to gain from them anymore.

    Zick''s cold response made the guards frown for a second, he hadn''t even thanked them. Snorting to themselves, they continued doing their jobs.

    Pulling the robe to hide his face, Zick rode the horse on the street which was illuminated by the streetlights. The ce looked tidierpared to the other cities that he had been in.

    The street was made of fine material and even the houses were made by good artisans.

    ''Even subtle gestures like that can make people drop their guard so soon. I have to develop my acting skills more for the future too....''

    Zick wanted to gather talented people mentioned in the novel, so he absolutely needed to act. Almost everyst harem member and helpers of Aeiron were kind people.

    There was no way they would help an evil person.

    Acting in front of others could restrict some of his movements, but he couldn''t do anything about it. There was no other way around it.

    Knowing where Uthyen stayed, Zick headed towards it directly. There was no way an armory shop or any other shop would be open thiste in the night, so he had to wait till morning to go there.

    ''Meeting Uthyen would be easier now.'' Knowing his location gave Zick the initiative.

    Following the directions that the guards gave, he arrived in front of the Qertel inn after a few minutes.

    The Qertel inn was a two stories tall mansion, made of white and golden marble on the top.

    Leaving the horse outside, Zick went into the inn through the white gate. Opening the wooden door, a shining white hall weed him. Many ornaments decorated the hall giving it a luxurious feeling.

    Ting! A bell sound rang out as the door closed behind him.

    Without a change in expression, Zick walked toward the reception.

    The receptionist who had a little sleepy look, opened his eyes hurriedly hearing the bell''s sound.

    "What kind of room do you want sir?" The receptionist was in his 20s and gave an experienced vibe.

    "A normal single room for one day and take care of my horse which is in front of the inn" An emotionless voice left Zick''s mouth.

    "Then it''s five gold coins, sir."

    After Zick passed on the gold coins, the receptionist led him to a room on the first floor.

    CLICK~

    Entering his room, Zick walked towards the bed and sat on it. With nothing to do, he continued considering his future.

    The training was a waste of time and he wasn''t in the mood to sleep.

 Chapter 113 Scamming

    Staring forward nkly, Zick contemted on the most urgent matter.

    ''Even if I was able to make many talented people be my ally or subordinate and nurture them to their limit, the chances of defeating the demon lord seems hard....''

    Zick concentrated and tried remembering how the fight between Aeiron group and the demon lord unfolded in the novel.

    It was an all-out war with almost every race participating in it.

    The demon lord''s subordinates were held back with the cooperation of the eastern and middle continents.

    Which allowed the hero''s party to fight the demon lord without any disruption.

    At that time, all seven harem members were present. All of them had either grandmaster or peak master level strength.

    With their support, Aeiron fought on equal grounds with the demon lord. Or at least that was how it began.

    After exchanging moves for a few minutes, the demon lord cast arge-scale magic that stopped any of them from retreating.

    From then, everything went downhill. All the harem members were killed one by one and in the end, Aeiron too was killed.

    ''....Defeating such an opponent does seem impossible. Just the harem members aren''t enough, the dragon race, the five...the four disasters, all of them have to participate in the final battle against the demon lord to even have a chance of defeating him.''

    Zick would have loved to make a run for it in this situation, but there was nowhere to escape. For the sake of his survival, he had to somehow make the dragon race, which was egotistical and prideful to no end, join the battle.

    The only way he could think of right now was to make the demonic race offend the dragon race somehow.

    He didn''t even know what he should do about the five disasters. The only one he could recruit for sure was the ck cat, an ex-member of the four disasters.

    Getting off the bed, Zick walked towards the bathroom.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door, a white room greeted him with a bathtub, shower, and full body-size mirror.

    Walking in front of the mirror, Zick checked himself.

    His face was handsome as ever, but overall, he looked sick, extremely sick. The pale skin gave the impression of him being bedridden for years.

    He looked a lot more mature as he looked no different than a 17 years old young man. His shoulders were wide and gave a strong feeling.

    Bowing his head a little, Zick looked at the ce where his horns grew from.

    In his head which was filled with ck hair, two round gaps in ck color had appeared. They were around four centimeters in size.

    ''Should I uproot it?'' Zick thought seeing his head. He denied this idea, for now, he didn''t want to do anything rash.

    ''I should buy a hat in the morning.'' Finishing looking at himself, Zick got out of the bathroom and sat on the bed cross-legged.

    There was still a while before it turned to morning, so he continued thinking without wasting a second.

    After three hours, the sun started rising from the horizon, spreading its warm glow everywhere.

    Opening his eyes, Zick headed out of the room, still wearing the torn clothes. He made sure to wear the robe to cover his whole body.

    The first ce he visited was the clothes shop. He found it after asking the people of this city for directions. There were only a few people on the streets as it was still early in the morning.

    Seeing the shops opening from the corner of his eyes, Zick walked towards the clothes shop. It didn''t take long for him to reach there.

    A single-story high house appeared in front of him. He directly entered it through the wooden door without any hesitation.

    Ting~

    Zick walked towards the clothes kept on wooden hangers and started picking the ones which fit his size. The value of stic was still not known to the people of this world, so mostly wood was used in this kind of thing.

    Most of the interior in this shop was also made of wood.

    He also picked up a better robe. After cing the clothes on the counter, he went towards the ce where hats were kept.

    There were only straw hats in many designs and nothing else. This disappointed Zick for a second. Not many people wore hats at this level of civilization, so this result was not weird. He would have to look in a bigger city or capital to get a better hat.

    Picking up a hat randomly, he walked back to the counter. Thedy in there seemed to be excited as she organized the clothes.

    "It''s 22 gold coins, sir." Though the receptionist tried to control her expression, the excitement in her voice was apparent to anyone. This was a small shop, but for it to make such an amount at once was very fortunate.

    Gold and tinum were also a material used in basic alchemy, so gold''s value was higher in the eastern continentpared to the middle continent.

    Zick was only able to get 500 gold coins from the bandit because the one who hired them had already paid in advance.<sub> </sub>

    And as for the vige chief, Deren, the poor guy must have saved many from a very long time.

    cing the money on the counter table, Zick stored all the clothes within his space ring and started walking towards the room used to change dress.

    After getting in the room, with not even half a minute passed, Zick walked out of it wearing new clothes.

    He wore a red shirt with long loose sleeves and ck pants. A new yellow straw hat adorned his head.

    After finishing buying clothes, Zick next went to the armory and merchant shop. Buying all the necessary things needed, he headed back to the inn.

    The Qertel inn was near the za of the city so he didn''t have to worry about memorizing the way.

    The hall of the inn was currently very quiet, entering the inn, he could see a different receptionist looking at him.

    "How can I help you, sir?" A woman in her mid-20s spoke with a smile on her face.

    Turning towards the receptionist, Zick said in a calm tone: "Which room does Uthyen stay in?"

    Seeing Zick calling out Uthyen''s name without an honorific, the receptionist''s expression changed. She stared at him with wide eyes.

    "....Are you an acquaintance of sir-" The receptionist''s words were cut off by Zick.

    Bang! Zick''s hand mmed on the receptionist''s desk.

    "Who the hell permitted you to speak back? How dare a meremoner like you ask me a question!? You deserve death, you bitch!" Zick''s expression distorted in anger. His eyes shined with killing intent.

    Seeing Zick like this, the receptionist was horrified, bowing repeatedly and apologizing. This was an aristocratic society, it wouldn''t matter even if nobles killed peasants for fun.

    "I am sorry, I am sorry sir! I didn''t mean to offend you...." She felt immense fear of death and worry for her family taking over her body.

    "Tch! Just tell me where Uthyen is already, I am a busy person unlike you." Seeing his scam seeding, Zick felt internally a little satisfied.

    Taking this any further would only harm him as it would increase the chances of his acting getting found out. The servants had already started gathering and looking toward them.

    "Thank you very much! Sir Uthyen is on the second floor, room number 12!" With still tears in her eyes, the receptionist spoke to Zick.

    "Hmph!" With ast snort, Zick started heading towards the steps.

    He had to carry out a scam like this as he couldn''t sense past the wall. And neither did his dragon eyes helped, it had weakened a lot in this field.

    ''Wearing my aristocratic clothes would have made this scam even more easy, but it won''t fit me anymore, unfortunately.''

    While climbing the stairs, he looked upon the result of his scam.

    ''I am better at acting than I thought....'' He had experimented in seeing his acting skills, but the result was quite surprising.

    Knowing how a human behaved at certain times allowed Zick to sessfully scam like this. He understood how the nobles thought.

    They considered themselves special because of being born in a noble house. This makes them look down on others and treat them as a different race altogether.

    Because of this, many nobles don''t even have the will to climb higher and be something more than what they are. Having been provided with everything they would need, that is how they turn out. Only a few of them would realize this fact and move forwards.

    Soon, Zick reached in front of the door with the number 12.

    KNOCK! KNOCK!

    Knocking twice, he waited for a response.

    Click~ the door opened, then a knight came out of it and closed the door.

    The knight stood in front of the door, looking towards Zick with a wary look.

    "I want to talk to Uthyen." With a confident look, Zick spoke in a cold tone first.

    "What do you need and who are you?" The knight spoke in a little polite tone, seeing Zick calling uthyen with no honorifics so naturally.

    "My name is Hevish and I am from the organization. Pass this on to mister Uthyen." With a cold expression, Zick looked at the knight. He had decided to change his name swiftly as there is a chance that the alchemy tower know about him.

    "Alright....." Saying this the knight entered the room.

    Zick took a risk by lying like this as even if he got a negative reply from Uthyen, he wouldn''t lose anything at all. Even the knight was at a high rank, so the level of Uthyen''s other escorts could be predictable.

    After a few seconds, the knight opened the door, letting him enter the room.

    ''So Uthyen has already joined the Everlor organization.'' Feeling a little contented, He walked into the room.

 Chapter 114 Ovelon

    Zick followed the knight into the room. Entering it, the knight moved away, letting him look at the view within the room.

    Unline Zick''s room there was no bed here, making the room look spacious. Only two sofas were in the middle of the room, and both of them were already upied by two men.

    Uthyen wore formal clothes, he had deep green hair and blue eyes. He looked to be 19 years old and was a low-rank knight. Two knights stood behind him like guards.

    Seeing the man sitting opposite Uthyen, Zick was surprised internally, he couldn''t feel the presence of that person at all. This would only mean one thing.

    ''He has to be at least at the level of master...''

    That wasn''t all, the figure of a 12-year-old girlying unconscious beside the master-level person entered Zick''s sight.

    ''So she was in here.'' He felt the situation to be very twisted.

    "Hahaha! You say some interesting things, don''t you? Sigh.....now people are even impersonating our organization. Still, this situation is interesting in itself." The master-level person spoke in a yful tone.

    He had red hair and looked very young, in his early 20s. And he had red eyes, which looked at Zick with interest.

    Hearing this, Zick changed his n immediately. He was in a very dangerous situation. If he wasn''t careful enough, he would die without a doubt.

    "I want to join the Everlor organization. I had to lie about being in the organization as That was the only way I could think of meeting you." Zick spoke in a calm voice.

    Hearing Zick, Uthyen looked at him with a little hostility. He was in the middle ofpleting a very important deal right now.

    Only with the help of a group like Everlor could he safely run away without the Gerthel family finding out. They were a duke rank noble in the Gorthect empire after all.

    Uthyen pitied Varine, the alchemy tower would have at least not performed any experiment on her. But the Everlor organization wouldn''t care less about such a thing, they would do anything which could benefit them. But being the self-centered person he is, he chose to sell her without any hesitation.

    "Ohh, well we can talk about that, but before that," The master-level person''s eyes shone in suspicion, "How do you know that this deal was going to happen right now?" There was evident killing intent in his tone.

    If Zick didn''t give him a satisfactory answer, he would kill him instantly.

    ''I can only take a risk in this situation....'' Zick took a parchment out of his space ring and tossed it to the man.

    These were the papers that he got from the bandits that gave the order to ambush Uthyen after he got out of the city.

    There was a chance this order was given by this man himself after all. So this was a kind of gamble too.

    "This is the paper I got from my friend, he was a bandit. We worked together sometimes, and he contacted me recently requesting me to join a raid. He said the money we would get was high so I participated in it."

    "But yesterday night, in his drunken state, he revealed that this ambush was ordered by someone from the Everlor organization. He said that sir Uthyen would make a deal with someone of their own side in the morning." Zick stopped for a second after saying this.

    Breathing in, he continued with an evil smile.

    "So I killed them! I wanted to join the Everlor organization for a long time. I didn''t want to let such a chance just slip out of my hands."

    This is how Zick used his ''bandit friend'', whose even name was unknown to him.

    Silence prevailed in the room.

    "I am starting to like you now, more members like you are needed in the organization. Even your talent doesn''t seem bad, a high-rank knight at the age of 17 it''s an above-average talent." The master-level person nodded in satisfaction. He looked at Zick in a little more good light. As long as a person was a criminal, they could join the Everlor so he felt that Zick had what it took to be one of them.

    "You can call me sir Ovelon from now on, so who was the person ordering this ambush?"

    "Unfortunately, I don''t know," Zick spoke with a disappointed expression. In this dangerous situation, he gave his all in acting.

    "So can you show me the bodies of your bandit friends?"

    "Of course, sir Ovelon," Zick spoke with an expressionless look.

    "Alright stand behind me for now, I still have business left undone."

    Without a word, Zick stood behind Ovelon.

    ''I made it somehow....'' Feeling a little relieved, Zick continued staring forwards with an indifferent face. He still hadn''t let down his guard, in case of emergency.

    Ovelon didn''t bother asking how Zick found out their location. It was easy to find out after asking things here and there in the city.

    "Here is the location of the teleportation circle that you could use to head towards the southern part of the continent. This magic circle belongs to the Everlor organization so you would have to pay through your merit points." Saying this, Ovelon passed on a piece of paper and continued speaking with Uthyen again.

    After talking for a few minutes more and exchanging things through their space ring. They started getting up atst.

    Through the conversation just now, Zick was able to tell that Uthyen was just a new member and was low-ranked in the organization.

    Zick looked at Varine who seemed to be unconscious and couldn''t help but feel helpless. He wanted to recruit her, but now it was almost impossible.<sub> </sub>

    ''I should still try, though they might misunderstand me, it doesn''t matter.'' Zick looked towards Ovelon who had just gotten up.

    "Can I buy this ve?" Zick asked, pointing at Varine.

    "That''s not for sale, unfortunately. Haha, so you were into little girls." Ovelonughed, he had met many kinds of people in the organization so he didn''t feel that Zick was weird.

    Anyone would misunderstand Zick in this situation. After all, what else might be the reason he wanted to buy a small girl?

    "Is there no other way? liked this ve too...." Zick tried his best to not let his disgust show on his face and continued acting showing a disappointed face, along with a heated gaze.

    He had made up his mind to do anything to pursue his goal. Just this much would never stop him.

    "Hmm....well if you liked her so much, I can help you. Bring me around 1000 tinum coins after three days, I will give her to you if she is still alive of course. That much time should be enough to extract all information from this girl. I will try asking those guys to go easy on her." Picking up Varine from one hand, Ovelon held her like baggage.

    Seeing Ovelon treating him already like a member, Zick felt a little less wary.

    "Thank you for that, so where can I find you after three days?"

    "You...I should be in the main headquarters of the Gorthect empire." Even Ovelon felt surprised at Zick"s persistence in buying Varine. He didn''t have much expectation, to begin with.

    Could Zick who worked with bandits have 1000 tinum coins? Seems impossible to Ovelon.

    Ovelon spoke without hiding a thing as he was confident in killing Zick if he was suspicious after all.

    ''1000 tinum coins.....'' Zick thought, he didn''t feel that it was impossible to make such an amount in three days. He knew the location of a mana crystal mine, using this, it was easy to collect that amount.

    "Tell me where exactly you killed your bandit friends, my subordinate will check it outter." Ovelon said as he started walking out of the room, gesturing for Zick to follow along.

    Uthyen didn''t interfere in their conversasion and just looked at them walking out of his room.

    "It is in the west of the city, near the foot of the mountain, there should be around 20 bandit''s bodies," Zick said while following behind Ovelon.

    "That''s nearby, I will not have to waste time on that then."

    While walking out of the inn, the receptionist stared at Zick with a frightened look, but he ignored her.

    Reaching the entrance of the inn, a golden carriage with many ornaments entered Zick''s sight. Five knights stood around the carriage, they wore mercenary-like armor. All of them were peak rank. One of the knights opened the gate for Ovelon and Zick.

    "Go to the west of the city and see if there is any dead body near the foot of the mountain there, Be sure to search properly. Report me your finding through the Gelos book and go back to the base on your own."

    Giving instruction, Ovelon entered the carriage with Zick following behind.

    Sitting on the carriage, Zick looked at the red interior. It gave people an eerie feeling just by looking.

    Slowly the carriage started moving.

    "I like blood more than anything, just seeing it makes me excited. Oh don''t worry, I have already gotten bored of human blood so I kill and torture demihumansthis this day In the first ce," Ovelon spoke of his fetishes freely like it was the most normal thing in the world.

    Before Zick could speak, Ovelon continued again. "You like young girls right? But they break very fast so it''s no fun.....You should try ying with bigger things."

    cing his hand on the chin, Ovelon mused.

    ''This organization.....'' Just by seeing how Ovelon acted, Zick could tell how the organization was. And that Ovelon was a chat box.

    ''The people of the Everlor organization have a very open rtionship with each other. I don''t know if this is a good thing or a bad though.''

    There was another problem too, Ovelon would spread a weird rumour of Zick liking small girls which was a problem.....

    ''No, it shouldn''t be much of a problem as long as it''s within the organization. I can''t clear this misunderstanding anyway.''

    While thinking this, Zick suddenly heard Ovelon speak again.

    "I have a nice idea, I will let you experience it yourselves. I am sure you will like it." Ovelon smiled brightly, fully showing his excitement.

    "I will have to decline, I have no interest in that," Zick spoke firmer than ever. He didn''t have any intention of getting close with Ovelon as he had nothing to gain from it. From the way Ovelon talked, Varine wasn''t brought for him but someone else.

    "Well if you don''t want to, I won''t force you. I was just giving a newbie a little advice anyway. We won''t be meeting anytime soon once we part too." Ovelon seems disappointed not being able to make Zick like what he liked.

    Hearing this, Zick started looking out of the window.

    ''I should keep my distance from the other members of this organization, unless necessary.''

 Chapter 115 Everlor Headquarter

    Zick couldn''t help but keep considering the made-up story he told Ovelon. He couldn''t find any w right now, but there was still a chance of others finding out.

    No n or scheme was perfect, there was always a chance of failure. It could be a coincidence, carelessness, or a mistake, many factors together lead to a surprising oue.

    Like the current situation.

    Originally, Zick nned on using the information of a secret hidden by the alchemy tower to make a deal with Uthyen. He had thought of many ways to convince and proves it''s validity to Uthyen but it had all gone to waste.

    Ovelon a high-rank member of the Everlor organization, coincidentally had a meeting with Uthyen today. It can''t be said as a total coincidence because many factors pointed out that there was a chance of this happening.

    Zick had just never thought too deeply into it. Because of that, he had to make up a story in that instant, though there were no apparent ws in it, there were many suspicious things when a person looked deeply into it.

    There was also a chance of the person who hired the bandit to take revenge on Zick, which gave him another worry.

    It seems this person had received false information about Uthyen''s escort being weak. There were three high-rank knights present when Zick entered the room. The middle-rank bandit leader would never be able to defeat them.

    Even Zick would have a hard time fighting them.

    Uthyen had hidden some trump cards white well.

    Zick didn''t find it weird as he knew the kind of person Uthyen was.

    ''I trusted that sheet of paper too much, I am letting my guard down. I need to consider every matter down to the minor details.'' Zick reflected on his mistakes.

    Resting his cheek upon the back of his hand, Zick looked at the street through the window of the carriage.

    The couch was made of expensive material, making itfortable to sit on even if the carriage shook. It was no different than the ones used by the nobles.

    Zick''s eyes shone in bright light, remembering something.

    ''There was a person who liked blood a lot who appeared in the novel. This person was also from the Everlor organization, he wore a mask then. Even if he didn''t, the chance of me remembering his appearance description is quite low.''

    Zick closed his eyes and focused on remembering the details of the novel.

    The blood reaper,a notorious criminal known for his way of killing and strength. He was a master spearman.

    He had destroyed multiple viges and cities, and every time he would gather all the dead bodies and form a pool of blood in the middle of the vige. Then he would start taking a bath in it.

    While reading the novel, Zick had considered him to be a vampire but that doesn''t seem to be the case.

    It was just that Ovelon wasn''t the type of person to be looked upon bymon sense.

    ''.....The others from the Everlor organization who appeared in the novel weren''t normal either. Leaving a few who just did bad deeds to live, this organization is made of sadists and people with some mental symptoms, which are hard to reveal to society.''

    Zick wanted only to use the power of the organization, he didn''t have any intentions of bing close to the other member, unless there were any benefits to him.

    "I wanted to ask from a while, do you have demihuman blood running through your veins too," Ovelon spoke, crossing his hand, he stared at Zick''s vertical eyes. Variney beside him unconscious.

    "No, it''s a family characteristic that is passed down from generations," Zick spoke with a natural look, his voice was calm with no sign of tension in it.

    "I see, that''s a disappointment....." He didn''t doubt Zick as demihumans can''t form mana nerves in their body. He could clearly feel one in Zick''s body. He was even more curious about him as he could sense characteristic in his mana.

    At that moment, Ovelon''s expression changed. With a surprised expression, he took out a palm size brown book from his space ring.

    "That was faster than I thought, my subordinate found your bandit friend''s body. Well, this proves that you aren''t lying, let''s just go to the headquarter, there you can officially join the organization." Putting the book back into the space ring, finishing reading it, Ovelon spoke in a friendly manner.

    "Thank you for your help, sir Ovelon," Zick spoke in a gratified manner and bowed His head.

    "Don''t worry about it, People like you are necessary for the growth of the organization."

    Hearing this, Zick''s eyes shone which was hidden as he bowed. He could tell that Ovelon was loyal to the organization by this conversation.

    The carriage moved on and reached a deserted house. Getting off it, Ovelon passed on Varine to one of his subordinates and walked into the house.

    Walking behind him, Zick looked at the house which appeared to be an inn.

    "Good day, sir Ovelon." The receptionist greeted Ovelon with a simple bow.

    Ignoring the receptionist, Ovelon headed towards the basement.

    ''The walls of this inn have a stronger enchantment than the one I stayed at yesterday.....'' Zick couldn''t sense past the wall at all.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door of the basement Ovelon entered it along with Zick. The four peak-rank knights walked behind them.

    Even in the silence, there was no feeling of awkwardness, instead, it gave others a feeling of solemnity.<sub> </sub>

    They reached the basement soon, and a big teleportation circle shone in the middle of the room, fully illuminating it.

    "Let''s go then, be sure to stand upon the magic circle." Giving a warning, Ovelon took out a big mana crystal from his space ring.

    cing in upon the magic circle, Ovelon waited for it to activate.

    Zick didn''t find Ovelon using a mana crystal weird. Aura can''t be used as fuel to activate a teleportation circle. To activate such a big magic circle at least one to two peak-rank mages are needed.

    From how Ovelon didn''t have to pay merit points anymore, showed that high-ranking members could use teleportation for free.

    Shortly with a sh Zick and the others vanished.

    A bright light overtook Zick''s vision, making him close his eyes.

    The next time he opened his eyes, Zick could see a room with an expensive interior.

    "Alright, for now, you follow me, what was your name again?" Ovelon spoke while walking towards the door.

    "It''s Hevish and where exactly are we in?"

    "The capital of the Gorthect empire of course. This mansion is owned by a viscount rank noble, at least that''s how it is in the eyes of others. Don''t worry, this is one of the secret bases of the Everlor organization."

    Click~ With a carefree look, Ovelon opened the door.

    A silent corridor greeted them beyond it.

    "Follow me." Ovelon started walking towards somewhere unknown. Soon they reached in front of a luxurious-looking door.

    Opening it, Ovelon entered it along with Zick. The others stayed out.

    The room was decorated with many ornaments and there were couches kept systematically.

    "Hey there Reve, I brought a recruit who is willing to join the organization, take care of him," Ovelon said to the man sitting at the table.

    "Ohh, it''s rare to see you bringing in a recruit." Rubbing his chin, the young man named Reve, who looked to be in his 20s, looked at Zick and Ovelon with interest.

    Ignoring Reve, Ovelon looked towards Zick. "This guy will take care of recruiting you, I will be taking my leave now, and if you still want to buy that ve be sure to meet me three dayster with the money." In the end, Ovelon spoke in a yful tone and left through the door.

    "That bastard.....sigh, so Did he exin any of the perks provided by the organization?." With an annoyed expression, Reve asked a question to Zick.

    "No," Zick said without any hesitation, feeling that Reve was just a high-rank knight, the same as him, he spoke with a cold voice.

    "I see...I am Reve, I handle the recruitment of the organization. You are a high-rank knight so you can be a green-rank member."

    "Oh, you don''t know the hierarchy of the organization. I will only tell it once so remember it properly. There are five ranks, it goes like this- ck, red, purple, green, and white. The ck is the highest and white is the lowest rank." Sittingfortably on the couch, Reve started exining about the organization freely.

    Hearing everything carefully, Zick asked the most important question.

    "What would I gain from joining the organization? Which limitations would I have? What kind of role would I y in the organization?" Zick''s expression turned emotionless saying this.

    "Well, you would gain resources in exchange for your merits; The limitations are obvious too, you are not to betray the organization and you must swear to serve it. In return, we will swear to treat you properly; as for the role, the organization mainly handles the assassinations of certain troublesome individuals and ept the request of people with a connection to us. "

    ''That''s not bad.....the limitation is not too overboard or neither too weak.''

    There was another question: "What about my freedom? I won''t ept a deal that limits my growth."

    Hearing this, Reve shrugged his shoulders.

    "We are an unorthodox organization, all our members are hotheads with lofty ambitions. I won''t deny that there are internal struggles for important positions but that in itself won''t intervene in those matters. It will be up to you and the other disciples to handle them."

    "The organization is built upon the strength of its members, you will fall if you are weak and you will climb if you are powerful, that''s an iron rule in the world of unorthodox organization. It''s better if you read the oath to understand it better."

    "So do you agree to be a green-ranked member?"

    This cleared out all the doubts that Zick had.

    "I agree and I would like to inspect the contents of the oath beforehand."

    Noah couldn''t find anything wrong with Reve''s conditions so he ultimately agreed to join the Everlor organization.

    Reve took out a tablet from his space ring, it was old and many intricate inscriptions could be seen over its surface.

    "Touch it and you will know the rules."

    Zick didn''t hesitate, his hand went on the tablet and a stream of information entered his mind.

 Chapter 116 A Side Base Branch

    ''Serve the organization, Never carry out actions that will harm the organization, bring glory to the organization andstly never betray the organization. The consequence of breaking any of this is death." Though Zick felt it was weird for a criminal organization like this to have such a ''glorious'' oath, he continued seeing the information in his head.

    ''The organization shall not divulge any information that might harm me and They can''t inform the other interested parties, like the legal organizations and the kingdom or empire of me being one of them...''

    There were many rules with their benefits and disadvantages clearly stated. This all didn''t appear weird in Zick''s eyes, any organization would try its best to maintain the best environment to benefit itself. For Everlor organization, their members were the most important element which gave them such influence.

    So it was natural for the organization to protect them. If there was no system like this, Zick would have rejected it without any hesitation.

    Finishing reading it, Zick opened his eyes and looked at Reve intently.

    Nodding his head, Reve took out a seal with a ck-robed figure showing its sharp fang.

    "This is an enchanted item, it allows me to swear on ount of the whole organization."

    Reve exined when he saw Zick still staring at him nkly.

    He then pressed the seal on the tablet and spoke solemn words.

    "The Everlor organization wees you as a member and promises to protect and nurture you, may the mana nerves and mind of the people betray you be destroyed. In the name of Reve the son of Madam ster, the appointed red-ranked member of the organization."

    Seeing Reve already swearing, Zick could only stare at him nkly. He had not asked about his background at all or neitherwas there any trial that he had to take to join them.

    "Ah, I see why you are surprised," Reve took out something from below his table.

    It was a crimson-red crystal, giving off an ominous feeling.

    "Even I was surprised seeing this stone, for it to turn this red, you have killed more than a thousand people haven''t you?" A big evil smile appeared on Reve''s face. "Haha! I am surprised that the organization didn''t find you even after you killed this many people, but it doesn''t matter now. Again, Wee to the organization."

    It was the first time Zick had seen such an item which made him curious as to what it was. He also understood how the organization saw if anyone was worthy to join them.

    ''The number of people I killed should be around a thousand I guess. I would have been known as a murderer if I was in Earth, but I guess it doesn''t matter.'' Zick had noticed many changes in himself.

    Was killing really a sin? And why was that so?

    Wasn''t it just some bullshit that someone else told? Why do I have to care about that!?

    Even when he looked at himself, his handsome appearance didn''t give rise to any narcissistic thoughts. He only thought of the benefit brought from it.

    ''People do keep changing. even I with a goal and determination to do anything for it have changed. My trusting problem has vanished, and the little bit of humanity left within me has also been removed. But in exchange, I have no restraints on me now internally.''

    Not saying anything, Zick extended his hand and touched the seal. He poured his ck mana into it.

    The seal started shining, two ck lights extended from it and shot toward Zick and Reve.

    The ck light entered the back of Zick''s palm and turned into the robed figure as shown in the seal.

    Zick felt a tinge of pain in his right hand, it felt like someone had poked many needles in the back of his palm at once, which made him furrowed his brow.

    He looked intently at the seal in his hand. The pain slowly vanished and a green seal at the size of five centimetres entered his sight. He could feel that this seal was connected to his mana nerves, if he broke the oath, his mana nerves would be destroyed and he would die.

    The oath is nothing but an advanced version of the ve seal, in the eastern continent. This oath was widely used and created as amercial item.

    "You should move to the main base used by the low-rank members now. There are many resources you can exchange in the trading post, this would benefit you without a doubt. You can check the seal to see how many merit and achievement points you have, you just joined so I will let you use the teleportation circle for free once." Reve spoke in a friendly voice, treating Zick almost like a family. Saying this, Reve got up and told Zick to follow him.

    ''The rtion between members of this organization is surprisingly good as I thought.'' Zick didn''t think of this as a bad thing, it was better than an organization where people kept fighting for position all the time.

    Following Reve, Zick sent his mana into the seal, checking it out. Another stream of information appeared in his head.

    The amount of influence given to every rank was mentioned here. He had been wondering why Reve didn''t say anything about it, but now he understood that there was no reason for him to exin about it.

    The white rank members were those who didn''t have any influence at all. They don''t even have permission to use the trading post or anything else.

    And as Zick thought, this organization hierarchy was extremely based on one''s strength and position. The people of lower rank have to respect the people of higher rank from them.

    They had toplete some of the missions to gain merits and achievement points to rise their rank and get more influence.

    The achievement point is how the organization judges how much a member has worked for them. And Merit point is used to buy the resources avable to them.

    Every missiones with a certain amount of merit and achievement points.<sub> </sub>

    The green-rank members were those who have enough strength to take care of themselves (high-rank knights) or have served the organization for a while.

    The purple-rank members were considered to be elites with high experience in their job. To rise to this rank, both strength and achievement are needed.

    The seat of red rank was strictly for only master-level people. And ck rank members'' seats were special beings who have contributed immensely to the organization. Special political power was given to them.

    When Zick checked his merit and achievement points, the seal shone and showed a hologram. Though he couldn''t read it, he was able to tell what was what.

    Merit: 30

    Achievement: 0

    ''I have to find out the value of merit points fast. I was lucky that the specifics of the oath weren''t written in a paper, if not I had to make another lie of me being an illiterate person.''

    Walking behind Reve in the corridor, Zick looked out of the window. Many houses of different heights appeared in his sight. The houses were made in a very artistic way, which made them look pleasing to the eyes.

    The sun shone in the side of his gaze, and Zick could tell that the mansion he was in was at least five stories high.

    His clothes waved in the air, there were a few people who walked by Zick and Reve showing that they weren''t the only ones present.

    ''From what Reve said, this seems to be a side base branch and the one mentioned by him is for the low-rank member is the main branch of the Gorthect empire...''

    The more Zick knew about the organization''s influence the more he was satisfied with his decision to join them.

    The thing he liked the most was that the organization didn''t have the condition saying he had to sacrifice himself for them. Or that he had to follow any of their orders. There was a lot of freedom for the members.

    Soon they reached the room in which the teleportation circle was located.

    Not saying anything, Zick walked upon the teleportation circle.

    "I hope that you will bring glory upon the organization." With a smile, Reve put a small mana crystal upon the magic circle on the ground.

    SWISH~

    With a sh, Zick''s figure vanished.

    ? The next time Zick opened his eyes, He could see a room made of rock. There were white tiles below his feet but the walls and ceiling were made of brick and enchanted so that they wouldn''t cave in.

    The only sources of light were themps on the wall. The room wasn''t bigger than his bedroom in the academic city''s mansion.

    Feeling someone''s presence at the entrance, Zick turned towards him. A man wearing leather armour with many scars on his face entered his view.

    ''A peak rank knight.'' Zick essed the knight, though he couldn''t sense him through his senses, he could still use his dragon eyes to see the characteristics in his mana nerves.

    "Please show me the seal." The scarred person said.

    Lifting his right hand, Zick revealed the green seal to him.

    "Please head right from here and climb the stairway." Seeing Zick''s face for the first time, he continued: "Please touch the round crystal near the steps, you will get to know the way better through it."

    Hearing this, Zick started moving following his instruction without wasting a second.

    ''I have three days, within this time I have to make 1000 tinum coins. It would make Ovelon suspicious as to how I have such an amount of money, but it doesn''t matter now that I am a part of the organization.''

    From what Zick observed from Ovelon''s behavior, the chances of him trying to harm or kill Zick were low. He would only be interested in how he got it. And now that he was a part of the organization, Ovelon wouldn''t be able to harm him, unless Zick was the first one to attack.

    Zick remembered vividly how till thest moment, Ovelon didn''t take him seriously. He knew that he didn''t believe in him being able to bring such an amount.

    If Ovelon refused to sell Varine, Zick could only give up.

    While walking toward the ce instructed by the scarred person. He could see many people walking in the long tunnel-like way. There were small rooms everywhere people stayed and there was also a board in the wall portraying low-rank missions.

    Zick reached the end of the tunnel, and a stairway made of marble not matching the brick tunnel appeared in front of him. A crystal ball was kept in a box-shaped gap in the wall.

    Feeling that it was an enchanted item, Zick touched it without any hesitation. Another stream of the information entered his head.

 Chapter 117 The Trading Post

    The main base was divided into five floors, following the ranks. Being a green rank member, Zick could enter until the fourth. The other floor was unavable to him until he rose to the purple rank.

    Climbing the stairs, Zick reached the fourth floor. A guard stood in front of him.

    The fourth floor was different from the fifth floor, the wall and ceiling were made of cheap marble.

    Looking past the guard, Zick could see a pir in the distance which was connected to the ceiling. Seeing that there were no more stairs to climb to the third floor in front of him, he could tell that the pir was the way to climb higher.

    "The seal."

    Hearing the guard''s voice, Zick brought his concentration back to him. Lifting his hand, he showed the seal to him.

    Nodding his head, The guard moved aside and let Zick walk past him.

    Zick knew the way through the round crystal that he touched earlier, so he knew where he needed to go.

    The pir was where the trading post was located.

    The trading post was huge and was located beside the Mission Area. However, it was rather chaotic; many ck-robed people set up stalls, with an erect signboard stating the items and conditions that they wished to sell or trade.

    Once in a while, a few people would engage in haggling, it was extremely bustling.

    Zick browsed through the stalls as he headed to his destination. Some of them were set up on the floor, simr to the Earth''s street vendors, and looked to be a little dirty.

    The floor stalls'' items belonged to the misceneous category; most of them were bows, knives, darts, and so on. There were also the fur, livers, and eyes of living organisms, and some still had traces of blood. The rest were some other items that Zick could not identify.

    Finding nothing interesting, Zick fastened his pace and reached the huge shop below the pir. A single man giving out the presence of a peak-rank knight sat there.

    ''The exchange shop....'' Zick could see only a few people making any deals in the shop.

    "What do you need?" The man spoke rudely and had a grumpy look.

    "Show me the list of the item sold here,"

    "Here." The shop owner passed a sheet of yellow paper to Zickzily.

    ''Thought as much.....I can''t read it but I need to find out the value of merit points.''

    Zick looked through it seriously.

    Fortunately, there were images of the item giving him an idea of what it was.

    A normal sword was one merit point. If he needed a low-rank sword it rose to 50 points and as the quality increased, the merit point increased exponentially. A high-rank sword was sold for 1000 merit points. There was no higher level of the sword than this one.

    "Is there no higher-rank sword than this one?" Showing the sheet to the shop owner, Zick asked.

    "No, for higher rank items, you will need to go to the higher floors."

    Hearing this Zick continued looking through the sheet.

    ''The cursed sword should be either peak rank or legendary rank I guess.'' Zick himself didn''t know the rank of his cursed sword.

    The only reason he knew that the cursed sword was lower than mythic rank was because every item at the level of mythic forms a sentient of its own. Aeiron had gotten his hand on one of them in the novel.

    The sword of the hero who fought the giants. The story of the hero who fought against the giants was spread throughout the continents. It was mainly mentioned in kid story books, but it''s true.

    The story''s validity was proven by Aeiron.

    Passing the sheet of paper back to the shop owner, Zick took out a mana bomb from his space ring.

    ''This mana bomb could affect people of high rank so its value should be near 1000 too.'' Knowing the value of merit points somewhat, he could estimate the price of this mana bomb.

    "How many merit points can you give me in exchange for this item?"

    Picking up the ck mana bomb, the shop owner looked at it closely.

    "800 merit points....." Some energy returned to the eyes of the shop owner.

    "It can go higher than, this mana bombs would at least sell for" Zick''s shameless haggling was cut off by the shopkeeper.

    "It seems you are new here so you don''t know. I am under an oath that stops me from lying about the price of items."

    Zick nodded his head not feeling anything even though his haggling failed. He was as shameless as ever. He took out another eight mana bombs and put them on the counter.

    "Nine high-rank mana bombs...It''s 7,200 mana bombs in total."

    "Deal."<sub> </sub>

    Zick showed his seal to the shop owner without hesitation. The shop owner brought his hand up too, exposing the seal. A ck light left from the seal on the shop owner''s hand and entered Zick''s seal.

    Merit: 7,230

    Seeing his merit had increased, Zick started heading towards the teleportation post. It was located beside the trading post, where a huge house stood alone. The house was three stories high and was connected to the wall behind it.

    It was the teleportation centre.

    Zick arrived in front of the house shortly.

    Ting~, opening the door he entered it. The house interior was clean showing that it was maintained properly. A huge map was on the wall right in front of him and reception was right beside him too.

    Zick walked in front of the map and started looking through it.

    ''There is a base of organization in almost all the cities and capital it seems.'' Seeing this, Zick felt that he could move a lot more freely than before.

    Zick looked at the ce where the mana crystal mine was located.

    It was in between the Gorthect empire and the Hevertec kingdom located in the south. A mountain region was located there.

    Zick found a city near to it soon.

    ''Jeleat city....'' Zick started walking towards the receptionist getting to know where had to go.

    The receptionist was a woman with long ck hair. She looked to be in her 30s.

    "How many merit points are needed to teleport to the Jeleat city located in the Gorthect empire?" With an indifferent look, Zick spoke to the receptionist.

    "It would be 1500 merit points, sir." The receptionist spoke in a calm voice.

    ''That is less than I thought.....I will be needing 3000 merit points in total then.''

    Zick started heading towards the trading post again. He had some extra merit points so he wanted to buy the ingredients needed for performing the unorthodox method to increase potential. He could collect the mana crystals within a day so he wasn''t in a hurry right now.

    Seeing Zick walking back towards his shop, thezy shop owner looked at him with interest.

    Arriving in front of him, Zick stated his need: " I need fire crystal poison, water crystal poison, mana crystal poison, and 10 hearts of any mammalian monsters if you have it...."

    "....." The shop owner didn''t say anything and started rummaging through the shelf. Buying poison was considered normal around here.

    The shop owner put three vials in front of Zick.

    "It would be 700 merit points."

    Zick passed on the merit points to the shop owner and put the vial into his space ring. Next, they exchanged 10 mammal hearts through the space ring.

    Monsters'' hearts were usually used for enchantment so the shop owner had some of them.

    Getting what he wanted, Zick headed toward the lodging area. There was a ve center too, but he wasn''t interested in it.

    ''This ce is quite big, the Everlor organization must have paid a huge amount of resources to make this.''

    Zick soon reached the lodging area and brought a room in one of the inn-like houses. All the houses in the lodging area were positioned in raws, and most of the houses looked alike to each other.

    He just picked the nearest one and paid 10 merit points to stay for a single day.

    The room was small with a single bed in it. Not bothered by the cheapness of the interior, Zick sat on the ground and took out the materials needed to perform the unorthodox method. He wasn''t nervous or excited in any way, only tranquillity remained in him.

    Increasing his potential was just the first step toward his goal. A bright light passed by his eyes.

    Picking up the via with red liquid in it, Zick performed the same action he did while 8 years old. First sipping the fire crystal poison, he next took a sip of the water crystal poison and then the mana crystal poison.

    Feeling the rising pain in his stomach, Zick took one of the red hearts and started chewing it. Unlike the one brought by Butler Von, this one was huge, the same size as Zick''s palm.

    Performing the same process another nine times, Zick felt a certain kind of energy traveling throughout his body. This energy would be adsorbed by the mana nerves, which would in turn increase his potential.

    At least that was what was supposed to happen. This energy started travelling through his blood vein and headed towards his heart. Not even a bit of it was adsorbed by the mana nerves.

    "What is happening...?" Zick did his best to find out what was happening. He had no control over this energy, he could stop it using his mana but he was curious about what was happening.

    After a few seconds, all the energy was gathered in his heart.

    That was when something changes started happening.

 Chapter 118 The Lectic Mountain Region

    Zick''s heart started heating up, making him frown. The beating of the heart sped up a little, pumping the blood at a faster rate.

    The pain slowly started decreasing along with a warm feeling beginning to travel through Zick''s mana nerve. This warm energy waster absorbed by the mana nerve quickly.

    This process went on for 10 minutes before disappearing. Zick had watched the whole process carefully, not missing a moment.

    The result of this process surprised him immensely.

    ''I became a mid-high rank knight...'' He tried feeling his ck mana within the mana nerves.

    They had a little darker glow and were not as transparent as before, its purity has without a doubt increased.

    But his potential had only increased by a little, it hadn''t reached the peak rank that Zick had expected.

    The only reason his potential even increased by a little was because of his ck heart, which gained a little more vitality than before. There were also some changes in the heart, for some reason it didn''t increase the strength of the blood and instead only strengthened and increased the potential of the mana nerves.

    This made Zick disappointed.

    ''This means even if I increase my heart back to its peak state the chances of me getting any dragon innate ability is zero. It had already lost the ability to do such a thing.....''

    But still, the ability to turn the unorthodox method directly into his strength immediately was an amazing thing. He considered the pros and cons of this ability swiftly.

    ''Using this ability I can increase my strength faster than I expected, but for that, I would be needing many precious potions or methods that could either increase my strength or potential....'' Zick didn''t think that he could keep increasing his strength infinitely by using the same method.

    To know this, he needed to experiment. He was nning to save some merit points for emergencies, but understanding the versatility of this ability was more important.

    Zick immediately brought enough material to perform the unorthodox method three times.

    The first time, his strength increased again along with a little potential.

    The second time, his strength increased by a little, officially making Zick a peak high-rank knight.

    But the third time, there were no changes at all.

    ''This is the limit for this unorthodox method I guess. If I want to increase my strength further, I would need a stronger and more potent method.''

    Getting up from the floor, Zick first cleaned the blood using magic and felt his mana.

    He had directly gone to the peak of the high rank in a day, surprisingly. Even his potential had increased to the peak rank.

    ''I should be able to be a peak rank knight in three to four months.'' Zick estimated feeling a little happy.

    But soon, his mood returned to solemnity.

    Even if he could increase his strength this way, he would never be a match for the demon lord who was a demigod.

    He doubted that he would even be able to rise to the grandmaster realm within the time the demonic race started attacking.

    ''In the end, I will still have to somehow make the being who didn''t participate in the war participate this time. I even need meat shields...Aeiron''s location is unknown too.''

    In the novel, Aeiron was teleported to the Hevertec kingdom. Directly in front of one of his future harem members.

    At that time, the harem member was being assassinated by some ck figures. It was a cliche situation through and through so much that Zick had fallen headfirst into the table reading it.

    For now, Zick had startedying out the groundwork to get the biological golem. First, he had to increase his rank within the organization, only by doing this could he have enough influence to spread the information about theb and participate in the raid.

    And along with that, Zick wanted to increase his strength now with his newfound ability.

    With all this in his mind, he started thinking rapidly.

    Standing in the room with a nk face for a minute, suddenly Zick''s expression changed.

    He found a ce where he could fulfil all his needs, a meat shield, a method to increase strength and get achievement points in the organization.

    "Hahaha....." Zick didn''t think he would get such a perfect ce to solve all his problems.

    But before that-<sub> </sub>

    ''I need to get to the mana crystal mine and make money to get Varine....''

    Zick started taking off his clothes and wearing the armor he brought from the city.

    It was a blue leather armor with silver color steel ting in the shoulder guards and gauntlets. He also wore a white mask with it.

    He still wore a hat making him look like a suspicious being no matter how one saw him. He didn''t wear his crimson red earring, it was still within his space ring.

    After changing, Zick looked at the earring within his space ring.

    ''This should be at least a legendary rank item.....'' He could sell it to get the 1000 tinum coins but he didn''t want to let go of such a treasure. So he chose the mana crystal mine.

    He has ced this earring in his space ring, in case a master-level person appeared in front of him and tried to steal them from him.

    While moving around, Zick could feel that his body had be lighter than before. Clenching his fist, he could feel that his strength increased to a certain degree too.

    ''With mana harmonization and other techniques I know, fighting a peak rank knight shouldn''t be a problem.'' Zick had been a little unwilling to go to the mountain region but now that worry vanished.

    With his current strength, Zick was confident in fighting the monster there. Furthermore, this mountain region is known as a danger zone for its extremely cold weather so this had also originally disturbed him before.

    Zick didn''t bother buying any clothing to help against cold weather, it would hinder his movements, and the leather armor was more than enough for him.

    Without wasting a second, Zick started heading toward the teleportation centre. Entering one of the rooms there, the receptionist activated the magic circle by putting a mana crystal on it.

    ****************

    The Jeleat city western side, esteven inn.

    Within a dark room, the magic circle drawn on the floor shined. With a sh, Zick''s figure appears upon it with his eyes closed.

    Opening his eyes, Zick was greeted with an ordinary-looking room. He checked himself once and started walking towards the door.

    CLICK~

    A hall appeared on the other side of the door, with a reception like usual. Without a word, Zick walked out of the inn, to the street and took out hispass. He started heading towards the south where the snowy Mountain range was located.

    ''Ah, I left my horse back in the inn, where I met with Ovelon.''

    At that time, Zick had a lot of things in his head, fully forgetting about the horse.

    ''A horse would note in much use in the snowy region anyway.....Instead, I should use the snow wolf just like Aeiron used in the novel.''

    The snow wolf was a rare monster that can only be found in this snowy mountain region called Lectin mountain region. Lectin is also known as eternal snow in thenguage of this world.

    Though the Lectic mountain region is a danger zone, many people traveled using it to reach the city beyond it quickly.

    The person who runs this traveling facility of snow wolves was a merchant. He found the usefulness of the snow wolf and bought tons of monster-ving cors to start a business here.

    It took a while to find a safe root, and he also suffered some losses, but in the end, he benefited more than anyone.

    Zick headed towards the Lectic mountain region quickly. He didn''t need to buy the snow wolf from this merchant, he could just use his dragon fear and tame a wild one easily.

    Snow wolves are mutated monsters with the strength reaching to the high rank, so it wasn''t a problem for Zick to control them.

    He didn''t bother remembering the way to the inn With the teleportation circle. He was nning on going to the city on the other side of the mountain region, named Veiyer. He could locate the base of the Everlor organization using the seal on the back of his hand.

    Circting mana within him, Zick jumped upon the house beside him. Controlling his body perfectly, hended upon it lightly and started heading towards his destination. There was not a single sound of his jumping, he controlled the sound using mana. Unless someone saw him it would be hard to notice his existence.

    Few people in the street saw him, but Zick didn''t care about it as he wore a mask.

    Within five minutes, he reached the fortress of the city and performed a big jump, directlynding on the other side of it. He ignored the sound of the guards saying ''stop'' to him and ran at full speed.

    Like this, another running spree took ce here.

 Chapter 119 Intense Cold

    SWISH!

    The rough wind brushed past Zick''s face as he ran towards the south at full speed. A cloud of dust rose from behind him, making it hard to look at him.

    It was still in the middle of the day with the sun shining brightly upon the sky.

    The Lectic mountain range was around four kilometres away from Jeleat city.

    Running with his body enhanced with mana, Zick arrived in front of the mountain region within three minutes. Slowly the weather turned cold with back clouds appearing above him.

    "Haaa....." His breath turned into a white fog as it came in contact with the intense cold around him.

    Climbing up the higher ne, a mountain covered in snow appeared in his view. It was still snowing as he watched the snowy ne with a frown.

    ''What a bad time to snow... Exploring in this climate would be harder.''

    And more than anything, it would be very hard to find the ce described in the novel. He could only me his bad luck and continue heading deeper into the mountain region. Retreating without even trying was not something that Zick would do.

    The chances of the snow stopping were low at the degree it snowed here. Waiting here, hoping for it to end was not an option for him.

    cing the cursed sword on his hip, he dashed forward at full speed making the snow below his feet disperse at once.

    Running on the snow-filled ground for a minute, Zick''s body started trembling.

    The chills from his surroundings had already surpassed what his body could endure.

    He could not cast body-strengthening type magic as only high-rank mages can do it.

    While using magic recently, Zick noticed many things. The mana did not heed his order like it used to do, so in the end, he also started filling his surrounding mana with his ''will''.

    This was a new experience for him so it would take him a while to get used to it. He couldn''t yet spread his ''will'' in the mana which was further than ten centimetres away from his body.

    ''This situation is the worst...fuck.'' He cursed at his past self thought process.

    He should have prepared more extensively before heading here. His past self-carelessness became his restlessness now.

    Snow umted upon Zick''s body as he faced the immense wind pressure. He had his hand covering his face and a thinyer of mana covered his body. This stopped the coldness from travelling to his body for now.

    ''I can only maintain this for another three hours before running out of mana. I will have to search for a shelter before that...''

    To Zick, even looking five metres in front of him was hard. Only white snow storm filled his vision.

    He checked thepass in between so that he wouldn''t lose his way.

    Zick soon reached the feet of the mountain and started climbing upon it.

    The mountain was huge in his view, almost looking endless. The feeling of despair took over Zick.

    He would have to cross another mountain after this one to reach the ce where the mana crystal mine was located. He could have travelled faster if the weather was in normal state, but in this situation reaching his destination in even three days looked hard.

    Zick moved his leg faster, not giving up. His face was filled with persistence as he moved his body with everything he had.

    ''This is nothing! No matter how hard it might be, I will not give up!'' His eyes shone in immense determination.

    After a while.

    "Haaa.....haaa....haaa....." Zick''s body had reached its limit. It could not endure any more exhaustion than this, he also sensed his mana running out soon.

    He was not able to find any shelter till the end.

    Zick had stopped in his tracks not having the power to move a finger. Slowly the snow started covering his body.

    When suddenly-

    Howl~ Howl~

    The sound of a wolf howling rang out. Though Zick couldn''t see them, he could feel their presence.

    A smile formed on his face feeling them heading towards him. This was considered a very dangerous situation to the normal traveller but to him, This was the best situation.<sub> </sub>

    Feeling that the snow wolf had gotten close enough near to him, Zick released his dragon fear.

    Feeling the overwhelming fear rising within them, the wolf tried escaping the very next second. The weaker one couldn''t even move a muscle.

    But it was still a stepte.

    "Stop." Enhancing his voice from mana, Zick spoke in a weak voice.

    Even opening his mouth felt tiring to Zick.

    All the snow wolves stopped in their position instantly.

    Feeling this, Zick ordered again: "Take me to your habitual."

    Wild snow wolves like this would without a doubt have a ce to stay. And as he expected one wolf walked toward Zick with its head bowed.

    The snow wolf had white fur and wasrger than usual wolves. Their height was one and a half metres and two metres long.

    These snow wolves were somewhat intelligent so he didn''t have to give them detailed orders. The wolf held Zick by his gauntlet and flung him on his back. This action was a little harsh, but the monsters didn''t know the meaning of being soft.

    Shortly, the wolves started climbing up the mountain, heading toward its habitat. They moved smoothly upon the snow, their speed was three times faster than what Zick travelled in.

    This would without a doubt give them overwhelming advantage while hunting in this snow Mountain region.

    This wolf pack had 18 wolves in them. The one which picked Zick was the leader of this group.

    There were only five wolves with high-rank level strength among them all.

    Being in a paralyzed state, Zick looked at the ground whileying on the wolf''s warm back. A cold wind brushed past his cheeks making his head hurt a little.

    The amount of mana covering him decreased swiftly. The coldness started affecting his body again. His muscles cramped and his hair stood up.

    ''Not good.....If this goes on, I will freeze to death before reaching their habitat.'' Zick wanted to order the snow wolf to run faster but he couldn''t open his mouth.

    Howl~

    With the howling as the signal, the snow wolf pack made sure that no one on its pack was missing.

    Fortunately, the wolf pack arrived at their habitat before he truly became an ice sculpture.

    It was a dark cave with a lot of space. Zick still retained his consciousness.

    The other snow wolf who stayed behind in the cave were their pups and their mother. Ignoring them, Zick closed his eyes and started training in mana without caring about anything while stillying on the wolf.

    Doing this would increase the speed at which his mana was restored.

    With the amount of coldness decreasedpared to the outside, there was no danger to his body for now.

    Only the panting and whimpering sounds of the wolf could be heard in the silence. No wolf moved, feeling unknown fear gripping their heart.

    Opening his eyes after a few hours, Zick felt all his mana restored. He felt relieved on surviving somehow.

    A normal high rank knight would have long died if he were in ce of Zick. The only reason he survived was thanks to his strong physique.

    But this advantage would grow less useful as he grew in strength. In the higher rank, this would just be a small boost which was a kind of let down.

    Getting down the snow wolf, Zick dusted off the snow on himself. Many of his body parts were frozen which were fixed using his mana.

    ''It''s good that my body wasn''t frozen too deeply that my blood cirction would stop.....'' If this had happened and was left unfixed for a long time, he would have no choice but to discard that particr part.

    He looked around the cave, the snow wolves with subservient postures entered his sight. None of them moved, they waited for his order.

    An idea appeared in his mind making him look at the snow wolves intently.

    ''I may be able to use them.''

 Chapter 120 Mind Monster

    Getting his hand upon the snow wolves, Zick couldn''t help but think about retreating first.

    This was supposed to be a journey with no risk to his life originally. But with the intense snowstorm, the coldness rose to an extreme degree. Threatening to freeze him to death.

    Though Zick wanted to gather talented people, he refused to do it at the cost of his life.

    Just when he thought this, suddenly a realization hit him.

    ''I see...I have been putting my cautiousness in the wrong ce all along. In the first ce, it''s not possible to gain something without taking any risk at all.''

    Thinking of it for a while, Zick decided to keep moving. Without further ado, he started ordering the snow wolves.

    ...

    Whoosh~

    The sound of the snowstorm reached the cave. The storm was getting worse and worse by the passing moment.

    The interior of the cave was dark, giving people an impression of never-ending darkness.

    Within the darkness, two cold vertical eyes appeared.

    The one to whom these eyes belonged to sat upon a huge wolf seemingly intimidating.

    "Move out." Zick spat out coldly.

    At a rapid speed, the snow wolves started exiting the cave one by one. They moved in perfect synchronization, turning their direction they started climbing up the mountain.

    There were 32 wolves moving in the horde, which gave people an ominous feeling.

    Zick had left all the snow wolves which were still immature and had low-rank strength. As bringing them would only slow him down.

    In this horde, only wolves with middle rank and higher strength were present.

    ''With them, I should be able to reach my destination somehow....now all that is left is to find the ce mentioned in the novel.'' Zick held on to the wolf''s tough fur as he considered this.

    He had a thinyer of ck mana on himself, protecting him from chills.

    The howling sound of the snowstorm rang out as the snow wolf moved upward. They climbed up the protruding grounds with a simple jump, showing their adaptability in this kind of ce.

    Zick maintained a minimum level of dragon fear to not attract any powerful being to himself.

    Moving for another two hours, they arrived at the peak of the mountain. Many ces took them a while to climb so they were somewhat dyed.

    And in some ces, Zick had to order them to climb up by taking a roundabout way, seeing that it would take longer to continue forward.

    "Move towards the next mountain," Zick ordered while looking at the view in front of him.

    The snow fell in a high density even at this high above the ground. But he could still see the silhouette of the mountain in the distance.

    There was a little gap from the mountain that Zick stood in.

    Aeiron and one of his harem members crossed the lectic region from the Hevertec kingdom. Finding the mana crystal mine was a total coincidence led by fighting against an ice cyclops.

    At that time, Aeiron was still a high-rank knight so it took a lot of effort for him to kill it along with the harem member. His strength was irregr from the day he became a knight so it wasn''t weird for him to kill a peak-rank monster like this.

    This monster was what worried Zick. Thus, after bing a peak high-rank knight, some of his worries were alleviated. He wasn''t sure if his dragon fear could work against this monster.

    After finding the mana mine, Aeiron crossed two mountains before reaching Jeleat city. This was how Zick knew about the location of the mana crystal mine.

    The snow wolf pack followed the leader as it descended.

    But just after a few minutes, the sound of a wolf howling could be heard again.

    ''Another snow wolf pack? Well, it''s not a bad thing, I needed shelter after a while to recover my mana anyway.'' Thinking this, Zick waited for the right time.

    This snow wolf pack probably came to take care of this snow wolf pack that entered their territory. In other words a turf war.

    But this snow wolf pack was not brainless monsters. The moment they felt Zick''s dragon fear, they started moving away.

    Zick could not fully hide his dragon fear in this situation. If he did, the wolf pack in his control would run out of control.

    "Follow them!" Zick ordered the leader of the snow wolf.

    "Grrrrr....." Baring its fang, the leader snow wolf dashed forwards at full speed. It went zig-zag dodging the rocks on the ground.

    Sitting upon it, Zick held tightly onto its fur. He released his dragon fear full power, not holding back at all.

    "Stop!" Putting power into his words, Zick checked the movements of the snow wolf''s presence.

    They had all stopped in their tracks hearing his orders at once.

    "Gather around me."

    His voice traveled perfectly to the wolf. Hearing it, the snow wolves scurried towards him.

    Slowly snow wolves with their heads down gathered around Zick one by one. He counted from upon the wolf leader, there were 15 wolves being led by a leader just like the other pack.

    Zick decided to add them under himself too. They coulde into use by bing a decoy. He named them wolf pack one and wolf pack two without putting much thought into it.

    Grawl! Grawl!

    While Zick was thinking this suddenly the sound of growling reached him. He turned towards it, feeling multiple presences heading towards him.

    "Kill them...ohh, you can eat them too," Zick ordered indifferently, feeling that the monster was in the middle rank.

    The snow wolf can be said to be the ruler of these snow mountains unless a peak-rank monster showed up.<sub> </sub>

    Leaving the leader on whom Zick sat on, all the other snow wolves moved out howling.

    Slowly, Zick also headed towards the sight only to see the snow to be dyed in red blood. The fresh smell of blood reached him, making him remember the battlefield. That was a ce where there was the smell of blood always present.

    ''That was also the ce where I got the experience to fight the most too...''

    It might have been a ce where he was forced to go in, but it was still helpful to him.

    Zick got off the wolf leader''s back and ordered it to eat something too. He didn''t want them to get exhausted before even reaching his destination.

    The bodies of white bears with many w marks on its bodyy everywhere, with the wolf pack eating them. There were around 8 of them, they were hunted easily as the wolves attacked in a group, working together.

    With the bear monster''s big body, the two wolf packs were able to fill their stomachs.

    With the only sound of the snowstorm and the chewing of wolves, Zick looked at his palm. It was extremely pale just like the snow.

    A certain hand that patted him with warmth more than anyone came to his mind.

    It was his mother''s hand.

    ''I was only four years old back then, huh?'' Zick didn''t know why he remembered his previous life''s mother, but he felt a sense of warmth in his head thinking of it.

    It was almost like someone was patting him softly. It made him close his eyes and be lost in this feeling for a while.

    The moment he snapped out of this weird state....

    "Arghh!!" An ice spear was stuck in his left shoulder. A wild cold energy spread in his body prompting him to fight it using his ck mana.

    ''What was that just now!?'' Zick looked around warily while catching the wound on his shoulder after taking out the ice spear.

    Seeing only the deep white snow all around him, he gritted his teeth. All the snow wolves were also in a dazed state just like him.

    He didn''t have any idea at all as to what was going on.

    Suddenly his mind again became dazed, but this time he was able to snap out of it quickly. The whistling sound of an ice spear cutting through the air reached his ears.

    With sharp eyes filled with concentration, Zick swung his right hand perfectly hitting the ice spear the size of half a foot

    ''There!'' Zick dashed toward the direction the ice spear flew from without hesitation. Something entered his sight.

    A blue wisp-looking life fire floating in the middle of the air.

    Though he felt nothing from it and it even looked harmless. He horizontally swung his sword cutting the blue fire wisp in two.

    After being cut in two by Zick, it vanished as it dissolved in the air.

    He still had a vignt look as he used his senses to the peak.

    His mind became dazed again with a certain memory rising within him again. It was the moment he was able to break free from his past, bing one with his broken side.

    Whisss~

    He snapped out of it fast too, but the enemy was quicker.

    "Ugh!" Zick''s body staggered forward.

    An ice spear went right through Zick''s abdomen, protruding from the other side.

    ''Fuck!''

    Zick''s clothes started getting stained with blood leaking from his wounds.

    He moved his left hand even with the immense pain which came from moving his wounded shoulder. He removed the ice spear and took out a healing potion from his space ring immediately.

    "Haaa....haaa...." his breath quickened.

    He applied the potion to his both wounds without caring about how some of them fell on the ground. They slowly started healing visible to the naked eye.

    The pain made his concentration waver so he had to heal it at all costs.

    Zick got an idea about what type of enemy he was fighting against.

    A mind monster.

    They are very rare, so rare that they only appeared once in the novel even when Aeiron traveled to so many ces.

    ''This has gotten tricky....it seems like there is more than one of them.''

    Mind monsters were different from other monsters. They needed no flesh to survive, but instead the feelings of other beings.

    They didn''t have a physical body either, just like the blue fire wisp before.

    Zick wanted to escape but without the wolf pack the chances of his survival were also very low. He needed a ce to rest, with the amount of mana he had it would onlyst for around half an hour.

    Both ways were filled with riddles. Whether to stay here and fight the mind monster or run away.

    Zick could only choose to stay back as this was the way with the highest chance of survival.

    "Come at me, this time I will find and kill you for sure."

    With the sword held tightly in his grasp, Zick taunted the mind monster.

    They had the same level of intelligence as a normal human so they would understand his words for sure.

 Chapter 121 Past Is Just The Past

    The mind monster was not affected by Zick''s dragon fear as they had the same level of intelligence as those humans.

    The snow on Zick''s feet was dyed red with the amount of blood he lost. He felt a little dizzy; luckily the potion started working, healing his wounds to a certain degree.

    Only a little amount of blood leaked out of his wound, But the pain still existed.

    Zick gritted his teeth with a fierce gaze looking at his surroundings. Facing uncertainty was normal in human life. Even with his foresight and astute nature, this could not have been predicted in any way.

    There have been many instances where Zick felt the danger to his life. This made him not lose too much of hisposure.

    thump! thump!

    His heart rate increased exponentially, pumping hot blood around his body.

    ''The reason they are not killing me must be because they want to absorb my emotions. I can''t let that happen, the more emotion extracted from my mind the more it will weaken me.''

    Breathing out roughly, Zick tried to rx his beating heart and concentrate.

    Another wave of dizziness took over his mind, awakening a certain memory.

    The moment of his death on earth and transmigration passed by his eyes. All the memory that was buried deep within him sprouted to life and went by in front of his eyes.

    ''Ah, I don''t care about this. This memory can''t weaken me.'' Zick didn''t let any of his emotions intensify any further and regained his focus.

    Three ice spears flew at him at the same time. They were aiming for his neck, waist, and heart. The mind monsters were not holding back anymore.

    ''Not good!'' Zick sensed the imminent threat from this attack. Hence, he quickly started using more mana. He had been saving it to fend off the snowstorm, but the situation forced him.

    Ayer of ck mana covered his ck sword. The gauntlet in his cracked with the amount of force put on it.

    Swinging his sword diagonally, Zick fends off the ice spear aiming at his heart and neck. As for thest one, he simply moved his body dodging it.

    ''They are inexperienced....'' Seeing that the mind monster was using such simple moves, with no tricks in it at all, Zick''s mind stirred.

    He got used to their attacking rhythm easily, showing his adaptability in dangerous situations. He wasn''t a greenhorn raised away from any sort of peril or blood.

    He was someone who stayed on the battlefield and killed hundreds of people!

    He dashed towards the ce where the ice spear came from while dragging a snow wolf in his left hand.

    Ice spear started flying towards him from multiple ces. Zick used the snow wolf body to guard against these attacks as he moved forwards relentlessly.

    Not all the ice spears were fully stopped by the wolf''s body, a few of them went past it and hit Zick. He had only covered his vital organs, not caring about other damages.

    Jumping up the grey rock, the blue wisp entered his sight.

    Another ice spear flew from behind which was promptly dodged by him. The snow wolf in his hand was as dead as a corpse could get.

    Many ice spears ravaged its body and constant blood flowed down from it, staining the snow below.

    A harsh wind hit Zick, making his bnce shift.

    ''Fighting in this environment is harder than expected.'' Zick thought calmly, he had regained hisposure fully and had already started analyzing the enemy.

    The solution he found was simple.

    Zick took out a normal iron sword from his space ring and lifted it in a throwing position. He threw the sword at full force toward the blue wisp.

    The sword rotated at a rapid speed, cutting through the snow and reaching the mind monster. It perfectly cut it in half, making Zick concentrate on another one a little distance from him.

    Using magic would have also sufficed but he didn''t want to put his mind under any kind of pressure in this kind of situation. Shooting out mana from this distance would have also not worked.

    Seeing the snow wolf in his hand almost bing indescribable, Zick threw it at the ice spear which came flying at him. He had been climbing the mountain for a while, but now he started heading downwards.

    Bending his knees, Zick jumped towards where the ice spear flew from. His body didn''t go out of control, he was used to aerial movements.

    Five ice spears flew at him once halting his charge. He quickly made a decision and propelled himself tond on the ground sessfully evading the attacks.

    ''There are more than I thought....'' A solemn atmosphere covered Zick''s figure.

    The mind monster would have been easy to take down if fought only one at a time. But in front of dozens of them, things be trickier.

    The sweat on his face got frozen in an instant in the extreme cold. His body was getting exhausted further in this ce.

    ''My situation is not optimal in the least, I need to save some mana to fight against the snowstorm too. I will have to take them out while keeping all this in mind.'' Zick started thinking rapidly not falling in the familiar sense of despair.

    Taking out another healing potion, Zick gulped it down. Just as he finished drinking it, another mind attack reached him.

    It was stronger than ever before, directly making him lose consciousness.

    The mind monster was also intelligent, the moment they understood the threat posed by Zick, they decided to concentrate all their attention on him.

    They had been using their mind attack on the snow wolf till now. But now they solely put on all their attacks at Zick.

    ....

    Zick looked at the memory he had forgotten a long time ago.

    The bully who always looked for trouble with him. He looked at the sight of his previous self.

    A high school student with light brown hair held his note drenched in water.

    No, in toilet water to be specific.

    While the old Zick, Noah looked at his book with an ugly expression. There were signs of hatred visible in his eyes.

    Zick looked on like an audience. He had experienced this feeling a few times, so he was able to discern the type of memory that rose within him in the effect of the mental attack.

    It was a moment with immense emotions.

    Zick couldn''t reject that he had a little regret as he couldn''t kill this piece of trash.

    But the current him was vastly different from back then. He didn''t care about vengeance and such. His emotions could not control him.

    With an indifferent expression, Zick closed his eyes. He found out how to get out of this imaginary world.

    It was to feel nothing, only by doing this could the mental attack be stopped.

    The surrounding instantly turned silent, almost like Zick had been cut off by the world. The silence gave a feeling of ominousness, it gave people a sinking feeling, Like merging into the darkness.

    Zick''s eyes in the real world opened rapidly. Only an instant had passed since he fell unconscious. He had already predicted that the mind monster would do such a thing the moment they know his threat.

    So it was a gamble in which he would live if he seeded and die if failed. He was going to die by running out of mana soon so this was the only best choice in front of him.

    Eight blue fire wisps floated a few meters away from him.

    "Kill them!" Releasing his dragon fear to the extreme, Zick ordered the snow wolf with a resolute expression.

    Growl~!

    Many snow wolves growled at once, they ran at Zick''s location at a rapid speed.

    The mind monsters quickly started creating ice spears aiming both at Zick and the snow wolf.

    But was this something that Zick had not expected?

    A giant cyclops'' body materialised in thin air facing upwards it fell upon Zick. The ice spears aimed at him were stopped by it!

    He had expected himself to be in a situation where he couldn''t move or didn''t have time to move.

    This was one of the bodies of the cyclops he got from the ambush before reaching the academic city. He had saved them for cases of emergency.

    "Grrrrr!" "Grrrrr!" "Grrrrrr!"

    The snow wolf ran forwards toward the mind monster ferociously.

    The mind monsters shot out their attack but the wolf was just in too great of a number. Even before they could start using their mental attack skill but by then two of them were already killed.

    Putting the cyclops body back into the space ring, Zick too ran towards the blue wisps with a cold expression.

    The snow wolf''s dead bodiesy on the ground but the bloodied snow was already getting covered by new snow.

    The alive snow wolves pounced, wed and attacked using their fangs - killing many mind monster oen by one.

    With Zick added up, wintory was forgone conclusion.

    In the end, all the mind monsters were hunted down without mercy.

    It wasn''t the time to feel relieved for Zick, his mana nerves were almost out of mana.

    Ordering the wolf pack hurriedly, Zick started heading toward their habitat.

    The snow wolves who managed to live gathered aroun Zick and carried him to their habitat.

    Only 15 snow wolves were all that survived in the battle against the mins monster.

 Chapter 122 Why Is She Here?

    This time around, Zick''s condition wasn''t as bad as it was the first time he was carried to the snow wolf''s habitat.

    He sat upon the wolffortably and waited for them to take him to their habitat. He was on his guard afraid of another danger.

    ''That was a dangerous situation just now. I could have lost my life if I wasn''t careful enough. The threat posed by this mountain region should be reevaluated.''

    ''While Aeiron passed through here no mind monsters had appeared. Is it because of the snowstorm?'' Zick looked at the snowstorm which fell with an ear-rendering sound.

    Harsh wind sound reached Zick''s ear constantly making it irritating.

    ''Well, it doesn''t matter. I should fulfil my original purpose quickly. At least half a day must have already passed by since I entered the Lectic mountain region.''

    Zick wasn''t sure how much time had passed himself, it was hard to tell if it was day or night with ck clouds covering the whole sky.

    He had already gulped down four healing potions at once by now. The wounds on his body had healed up and the blood on his leather armour was frozen.

    His armour had holes in multiple ces making him look pitiful.

    Zick checked the item within his space ring. Currently, he had eight cyclops bodies, some spare swords, 37 healing potions, money from the middle continent, and a few other things.

    He was against selling cyclops'' bodies as it would attract people and make them suspicious of how he got them. If any strong person of high standing in the Everlor organization knows about this, they would try to probe him without a doubt.

    Zick didn''t want to attract any type of bad attention to him currently. Most of all, he didn''t have the strength to protect his wealth from these hungry hounds!

    What could he do if someone at the master swordsman level asks him to pass his space ring to him for investigation?

    Nothing at all!

    Zick could only swallow this bitterly andply with their demand. He knew when to advance and retreat, so he knew that surviving was the most important thing.

    As long as a person doesn''t lose his life, there was always a chance for them to attain what they wished for. But if they die, it will be the end.

    On the other hand, there was no problem with selling mana bombs. This was a continent known for alchemists so this wasn''t a matter to be deeply thought of.

    The reason Zick made up his mind to pursue eternal life was that he was not satisfied with his current life. He wanted to pursue something that could make his life interesting. Only for that reason did he walk in the path he currently did.

    With that thought in the mind: ''It is really interesting...facing hurdles and setbacks one after another on my journey and trampling upon all of them. This is more exciting than anything.'' The corner of his lips perked up a little, forming into a smile.

    Giving his all in this life, at the end of it he could without a doubt die with no regret and have a smile on his face.

    Could there be any better way to live? No!

    Zick could say this without any hesitation at all. Human life was only that of 100 to 200 years, if not given their all, what was the point of living?

    "Haaaa....." Breathing out, a white fog left his mouth.

    Growl!

    "Hmm." Zick looked towards where the sound came from.

    It seems like one of the wolves on his left hade in contact with something.

    Concentrating, Zick could feel a familiar presence at some distance from him.

    "What is she doing here....?"

    He headed toward ''her'' with shock apparent on his face.

    ....

    Thest thing Seveleen remembers was falling asleep on her bed in the mansion. The next time she opened her eyes, she found herselfying on the grass in the middle of a in terrain.

    Seveleen was assaulted by a head-splitting pain after gaining consciousness. She could only tremble on the ground holding onto her head. There was nothing that could be done to lessen the pain, it was damage sustained by her mind after all.

    To a wizard, the mind was a very important factor. As the ''will'' from the mind interacts with the mana in the atmosphere a mysterious change starts happening to it. The more ites in contact with mana the stronger it bes. The limit to how much a person''s ''will'' could grow was measured by their potential, in other words, mana affinity.

    The more affinity a person has, he could let his ''will'' harmonize with mana the more. This is the reason it is not possible to heal or recover this lost energy with a healing potion.

    A healing potion only focuses on the body, so it could not affect the ''will'' which had already be something else altogether, leaving the physical body back and bing an entity akin to mana.

    This energy could be recovered using a stamina potion instead.

    With the ''will'' strengthened, it reinforces the brain letting mages think a little faster than others.

    Sevellen recovered enough to consider her situation in five minutes. This was surprisingly very fast! Even faster than Zick.

    This was to be expected, Zick''s ''will'' was weaker than other mages, but a little stronger than normal human beings because of his myriad experiences.

    There was no need for him to make his ''will'' interact with mana. With the dragon''s natural magic giftedness the mana around him followed hismand without any need for force. He never forced his ''will'' into the mana so it didn''t grow stronger like other mages.

    The only reason Zick didn''t fall into an unconscious state for a long time like the other normal human beings was thanks to his Dragonoid status superior constitution and regenerative power.

    Seveleen''s beautiful white-tinum hair was right now dirtied with dust and grass. She was even wearing her white nightgown clothes making it extremely embarrassing for her to move around.

    She fell into a state of confusion and shame with her current situation. Maintaining reputation and face was very important to the nobles, she was also aware of this making her feel reluctant to be seen like this all the more.

    "Ugh..." Holding her head with her right hand, Seveleen staggeringly stood up.

    There seemed to be nothing wrong in particr with her body, but she felt extremely dizzy.

    Looking at her right side, nothing but in terrain went on till the end of the horizon. On the left, a few kilometers away from her a valley appeared.

    WHOOSH~

    Being left in here with no sign of the person who moved her made uncontroble anger and shame rise. She was a noble with high standing. This kind of thing could never be tolerated.

    Her long hair waved as she dusted off the dust from her hair and clothes. Her light pale skin looked dry and dirty from the dust.

    Luckily she had her space ring and there were some spare clothes in it. She quickly wanted to change into her usual outfit, but before that, she had to look for an appropriate ce.

    ''How did I get to this ce? No in the first ce how can I get abducted with no one noticing including me?'' Seveleen''s eyes focused, she stood in a ce waiting for her mind to recover further.

    Thinking that someone touched her while in her sleep made her disgusted. Her beautiful face had a frown on it as she bit her lips lightly. Closing her eyes, she fell deep in thought.

    In the end, she decided to head to the valley as there were tracks present there, proving the presence of human settlement.

    Her mind was not in a good condition and her physical strength was also that of an average human forcing her to walk towards the valley with difficulty.

    The sun was almost in the middle of the sky pouring down its radiance into Thend. After walking only for five minutes, sweat started forming all over their body. Her clothes stuck to her skin tightly, making it ufortable. Her breath quickened in this heated atmosphere.

    She felt thirsty from The time she woke up, hunger also rose within her but it was negligiblepared to her thirst for water.

    Even with an immense headache, She forced herself to create water from magic. A ball of water formed above her outstretched hand and she started drinking from it.

    But she was different from Zick who was used to pain from a very young age.

    A pain as if her head was going to really split open traveled through her head. The pain she felt in her head made her lose consciousness for a second.

    THUD

    Seveleen fell on her knees feeling immense daze and nausea. The water floating above her hand fell to the ground too.

    Her eyes were shaking looking out of focus.

    Beads of sweat trickled down her face falling onto the grasses below.

    ''Why is this happening....?'' Seveleen felt her thoughts bing faint again.

    She had many doubts in her mind unanswered.

    Did someone bring her here? What was the reason behind it?

    Was there any hidden danger in the valley?

    Is her sister in the mansion safe?

    Worry, anger, shame, and many emotions together had made her head a mess.

    Seveleen was an innately prideful person. She lived her life in luxury from a young age, not used to hardships at all.

    "...." She waited for a minute to let her mind recover and started heading towards the valley again. Though the situation was very unexpected, she didn''t let despair get the best of her.

    This was how she was different from other nobles! She was a very strong-willed girl from a long time. Her persistence was also one of the reasons she was able to be a high-rank mage at the age of 15.

    She aspired to be an Archmage, the highest rank ever reached. This aspiration wasn''t backed by any particr reason, she did it only for herself, she wanted to reach the peak of the mage profession.

    Within half an hour, Seveleen recovered from the headache. She was able to alleviate her thirst and move a lot faster too.

    she changed her clothes in between a small forest-like oasis. Though she felt her face heating up with embarrassment there was nothing she could do about it.

    Her nightgown was soaked in sweat making it ufortable for her. Luckily it was made of material that would not be transparent when wet.

    In between, she tried to create and use a teleportation circle, which failed spectacrly. The magic circle would not activate at all no matter what she did. That was the case with all coordinates she used.

    The reason why teleportation doesn''t activate can only be caused by a few things. The coordinate mentioned was wrong, a teleportation circle doesn''t exist in the location of the coordinates used, the teleport destination is too far or any device is interrupting the mana there.

    She arrived at the end of the valley using many magic to strengthen her body.

    Flying up on one of the huge boulders, Seveleen looked in front of her. She wore a reddish-ck gown, with ck gloves and stockings. A ck boot made of expensive leather was on her legs.

    The heat didn''t bother her anymore, she had cast anti-heat magic on herself.

    A city was some distance from her, being located near the valley.

    Seveleen immediately became joyous: ''A human habitat atst!''

    The only weird thing was that ck smoke rose from multiple ces within the city.

    Which made Seveleen doubtful and hesitant. After thinking about it for a while, she could only go to the vige. She had no idea where she was! This made her feel restless.

    She wasn''t much worried about looking suspicious as she had the Shivial family gue with her.

    Without any further wait, She started heading toward the city.

 Chapter 123 Seria Walker

    Seveleen''s figure blurred, shining in a blue light. It was a body-enhancing magic for eleration.

    ''I should''ve kept some stamina potions with myself....'' She regretted her past carelessness.

    A mage doesn''t usually run out of their ''will'' even after casting magic for hours. And nor did she ever think a situation like this would have urred.

    All the mages who don''t go to the battlefield or know the harshness of the world have such a mindset of not keeping a stamina potion with them, downgrading its value.

    The experienced mage would without a doubt always have a stamina potion with them. The mages from the battlefield especially had to carry many of them as the battle could prolong depending on the situation.

    Passing by some boulders and trees, Seveleen arrived at the tracks leading to the city.

    The front of the fortress was extremely noisy with people exiting through the gate hurriedly. All of them had restless and dark looks on their faces. The crying of children from sadness, calling out to their mother, and the sad face of their father pulling the child.

    All this entered Seveleen''s vision.

    ''What exactly is happening here....?''

    She had already considered many possibilities as to what might be the cause of the ck smoke.

    It could be a raid done by some bandits or foreign enemies but the fortress was too fine for something like that to happen. And if the bandits caused the fire, they wouldn''t just let the smoke pour out. They would be waving fire around. There''s a strong possibility that the city could have been burned down to ashes, but the view of the city that she saw from the top of the boulder on the valley looked normal.

    Her eyes slowly went to the guards who wore white cloth on their faces like a mask and gloves in hand. They were checking the bodies of the people who walked out of the gate carefully and letting them go.

    Just this much was enough to tell Seveleen what was happening.

    Blocked roadways, a barricaded city, and the smokeing out of the vige. In addition, soldiers acting with such cautiousness, it was a Pandemic without a doubt.

    The situation in front of the fortress changed suddenly, Seveleen looked at it closely trying to discern the situation better. She could not hear them as she was quite far from them but she could still enhance her eyes.

    The soldier suddenly ordered the troops around him. Many soldiers surrounded a couple with a small 8-year-old boy. One of the troops walked forwards and forcefully separated the father and daughter from the wife/mother.

    Seeing this, Seveleen felt that something terrible was going to happen.

    The mother tried extending her hand but was promptly stopped by something that the leader of the troops told her. Tears fell down her cheeks as she kneeled.

    The daughter and father pair started resisting more strongly, but they couldn''t do anything to the hands of the knight that held them.

    The people exiting the fortress also looked on with pity visible in their eyes.

    Themander took out a scroll and activated it facing toward the mother. A fireball rapidly flew towards her engulfing her with yellow mes.

    The mother iled around screaming in agony. The troops around all had hardened expressions trying not to show what they felt.

    Seventeen turned around not being able to look at the sight anymore. She wasn''t stupid enough to try saving that woman, she knew what the higher up of the city thought. They wanted to not let the pandemic spread any more than it already has.

    The soldier moved the father and daughter pair to see if they were infected by the disease too.

    Seventeen looked at the smoke rising from the city, she felt nauseated.

    That smoke was not produced by burning houses or any monumental thing, instead, it was produced by burning thousands of infected human bodies!

    The whole city was suffering from an incurable disease...no, currently, the whole Hevertec kingdom was going through this pandemic situation and it was spreading to other ces too.

    As she fought off nausea a caravan neared her or specifically it was just going through the tracks.

    Seventeen was lost in her thoughts, thinking about whether to head to the city or not. Hearing the sound of the caravan, She lifted her head.

    The caravan was driven by a woman in her twenties who looked rather young. She had light violet hair and alluring blue eyes.

    Seeing Seveleen standing rooted in her spot, she stopped the carriage slowly. The clothes worn by Seveleen were so luxurious that she never considered the chances of her being amoner.

    Just the ornament on that dress could let amoner live for years without any worry. She was a merchant with sharp eyes, these small details didn''t escape her eyes.

    She got down from the carriage and spoke with a friendly smile: "I rmend not going to the city, the pandemic has already spread throughout the city. Turning back now is for the best." The merchant girl spoke in a respectful tone, trying to get on the good side of Seveleen.

    But all she got in reply was silence, glimpsing at Seveleen she could see an immensely confused look on her face.

    "What...?" Seventeen spoke out loud not being able to understand a thing. She had never heard such anguage in her life.

    It was almost like the merchant girl was speaking nonsense!

    Blinking her eyes the merchant girl whose name was Seria, was also confused. Tilting her head, she had her mouth agape from bewilderment, the word spoken by Seveleen was also not understood by her.

    "Cough!" Seria covered her mouth with her hand. Looking at the hand, it was stained with ck blood.

    This did not escape Seveleen''s eyes, she could feel lethal substances around her which she took care of by using the mana in the atmosphere.

    Seventeen looked at Seria with a solemn expression. ''She is also infected.....''

    She started considering what to do rapidly. The thing that she should do was very simple: kill her. But she wasn''t ruthless and unfeeling enough to do such a thing. Neither has she ever killed someone in her entire life. She was hesitant about what to do, her feelings were not hidden and could be seen in her expression.

    Seria seeing this was relieved, her impression of Seveleen who seemed to give an inferior feeling to her with both beauty and charisma changed a little.

    Wiping the blood off the corner of her lips and hand from a handkerchief.

    Then pointing at her face, she introduced herself: "Seria Walker."

    Seveleen was able to understand what Seria tried saying this time. It was a basic courtesy to introduce oneself when the other party does the same, this was ingrained in her by the ethics teacher for a long time.

    Lifting the hem of her gown slightly, Seveleen introduced herself with a perfectly graceful posture unlike Zick: "Seveleen Shivial."

    Hearing Seveleen''sst name, Seria started thinking rapidly.

    ''There is no noble with such a name in the Hevertec kingdom....but from the way she introduced herself and the way she carried herself she is from a noble family without a doubt.''

    Another group of people passed by them talking in thenguage which Seveleen couldn''t understand at all.

    Hearing them speak, a kind of gloomy atmosphere formed around Seveleen. If everyone spoke in that unknownnguage it would be very hard or almost impossible for her tomunicate with others.

    With all this thingid in front of her, Seveleen couldn''t help but think of the worst-case scenario.

    ''Is this ce on the continent who is in a war against us?'' With her intelligence, wits, and astuteness she had guessed the perfect answer. She needed to think about it for a while as this prediction she just made was ridiculous and hard to make sense of.

    Next, Seria offered to let her ride the caravan with hand signs. This was epted by Seveleen with a nod after thinking it through.

    There was a limit to how much she can travel alone and most of all she was immensely hungry.

    Like this, their journey began, and they were able to grow close to each other fast. Seria taught Seveleen how to read and talk along the way, still suspicious as to where she came from. Butmunication was hard making her try to teach Seveleen which was unexpectedly very effective.

    Seveleen learned to write and read so fast that Seria was almost frightened by it.

    ''This is nonsense! How can she finish learning all this in one day when it takes almost half a year for the other people!''

    Seveleen started appearing abnormal in Seria''s eyes.

    This was to be expected of a future Archmage after all. Seventeen did her best to read and write, though learning to speak would take a while.

    The disease wasn''t able to affect Seveleen as she would always have the mana around her protecting her body.

    As they traveled, Seria''s health started deteriorating rapidly.

    There were severe rashes and pus all over her body. Amputated ck regions indicated that those regions had be rotten. The pungent odouring off her had also made Seveleen throw up a few times before getting used to it.

    "Haha...I am sorry about it...I guess this is the end of my life...though I wanted to do more I guess it can''t be helped. You don''t have to try so hard for me...this disease can''t be treated, even with thousands of alchemists working on it continuously, they couldn''t find a cure in the end...."

    Serial who was covered in many bandages and looking like a zombie spoke sadly and gratefully to Seveleen.

    She was currentlyying in the caravan and Seveleen was the one who drove it.

    "No...no, I am sure there is a way..." Seveleen had grown a lot closer to Seria making it hard for her to part. She wanted to do everything she can to save Seria.

    She wasn''t the type to show her emotions to others but currently, her face was filled with anger and frustration.

    No city would ept Seria no matter what. This made it impossible to get proper treatment for Seria, further elerating her deterioration. Merchants were people who usually don''t have a ce to belong too, they roam around making connections and profits not staying at the same ce for long. That was the case with Seria too.

    Seventeen could speak in the eastern continentnguage now so she was able to buy necessities and bandages for other ailments.

    Herst hope was to meet Doctor Hemsnel, who lived on the other side of the Lectic mountain region. This doctor was known for his kind heartedness and superior skillspared to other medical practitioners.

    Though he could not cure her, she was sure he would ept her, prolonging Seria''s life.

    Seventeen wasn''t a suicidal person, she just thought this wasn''t an impossible task for her.

    She was confident in her skills to cross the Lectic mountain region and reach the other side. If she thought it to be impossible, she would have long given up and look for another way.

    The mountain region entered Seveleen''s sight at the end of the horizon. The temperature started dropping rapidly as she neared it.

    "Sigh...."

    Ignoring Seria''s sighing behind her, Seveleen looked at the majestic mountain in front of her.

    "So this is the Lectic mountain region...."

 Chapter 124 Serias Death

    Seveleen and Seria were almost going in blind towards this doctor Hemsnel. If he rejects helping for some reason that would be the end, after all the rumours were not always the truth.

    But they still decided to go towards him, showing their desperation.

    Seveleen moved forward trying to get near the Lectic mountain region as much as possible with the caravan. Two snow wolves walked behind the caravan with cors on their neck.

    She had already found out about her current location after talking with Seria.

    She was extremely worried about her small sister and others. And with the talking of the ghost people going around, she was immediately able to tell that the people of the academic city were also teleported along with her.

    With all that in mind, she was under immense pressure.

    Within the caravan, Seria slowly got up recovering from the stroke she had an hour ago. This stroke had already be a lot more severe in just a week, with Paralysis or numbness of the face, arm, or leg on one side of the body. She also had problems seeing in one or both eyes, trouble walking, and a loss of bnce.

    These were the only other symptoms that appeared, excluding the blemishes on her body.

    Sighing to herself, Seria looked at Seveleen with an imploring look. She was the one who has been scared of dying more than anyone, though it made her heart warm up looking at Seveleen''s worried face. She didn''t want her to do something dangerous that could be threatening to her life.

    She was aware of Seveleen''s strength from the fight against bandits. But not her exact strength as she didn''t know much about the mage profession.

    The fact that Seveleen was still so young also made her want to protect this girl. Even after talking with her for a long time, she was not able to know her identity. It didn''t even matter as she stopped caring about it too.

    Seria had decided to part ways with Seveleen when her condition worsened, but Seveleen was persistent in trying to help her.

    In the end, both of them started looking for a way to deal with the disease.

    This pandemic was caused by a disease called the Revelner, this disease was of unknown origin to everyone in the world leaving Zick who knew about it through the novel.

    This disease almost appeared out of nowhere and started spreading at a rapid rate. The kingdom and empire were freaked out getting to know about such a dangerous disease. They started preparing to fend against this pandemic extensively.

    Currently, this disease has already spread to almost all the cities including The capital of the Hevertec kingdom. It was spreading to the bordering viges and cities of the other kingdoms and empires right now.

    They had to resort to burning people alive to make sure no more people got infected.

    Killing these infected people with the sword and other instruments was prohibited. Dirtying the ground with infected people''s blood could lead to further casualties.

    The caravan passed the frozen ground and reached the foot of a huge snow mountain.

    Seeing the wheels of the caravan not moving anymore even as the horse pulled with all its might, Seveleen sighed.

    ''The caravan can only get us till here... From now on, everything will depend on me.'' Her eyes shone in resolution.

    There were ck clouds above the mountain but it didn''t start to snow yet.

    Slowly, Seria walked out of the caravan with staggering steps. Right now, she looked perfectly the same as a mommy with the bandages and the way she walked.

    Bearing the pain she felt all over her body, Seria walked in front of the caravan.

    "...I think we should turn around...Cough! I think it''s going to snow soon..." Supporting her body with the caravan, Seria spoke.

    "It''s not going to snow anytime soon by the way it looks. We can cross the mountain range before that." Seveleenxs retort was almost instantaneous.

    "No...you don''t know...but the climate of this ce is very abnormal..." catching her breath, Seria continued. "It is not possible to predict the weather of this ce bymon sense."

    Seria talked very seriously, making Seveleen reconsider. She still had many things she needed to do, like finding out about her sister. In this foreignnd, she was all alone with no backing or support. Seria, the one she could trust, was also going to die soon.

    To Seveleen her well-being is more important than Seria''s. After all, she had her priority straight. She knew that saving Seria was almost impossible, the only reason she did all this was that she wanted to repay the debt to her.

    She had principles that she followed.

    Seveleen wasn''t shameless and unfeeling enough to ignore Seria who helped her. If it was a stranger she would have ignored them without any hesitation.

    ''Since I have traveled till here, it would be a letdown if I stopped and returned. I might as well travel till the end, I will start looking for others from the city on the other side of this mountain region.''

    Thinking this, Seveleen''s eyes were filled with determination. Retreating without even trying would make her regret her decision without a doubt. She would rather live a life with no regret, she underestimated the danger posed by the mountain just like Zick.

    They started climbing the mountain on the back of the snow wolves.

    Seria had a helpless look as she sat almost hugging the snow wolf. Mysteriously the cold wind didn''t affect them like an invisible barrier was protecting them.

    Seventeen had cast multiple magic on both Seria and herself along with the barrier protecting them.

    With the snow wolves, they were able to cross two mountains without any problem at all. It was peaceful making Seveleen a little rxed. Only some snow wolf packs came to attack them, but they were in easily by her.

    They ate jerky as their food while traveling after making a tent, taking breaks only a few times. They were both cautious people, they decided to cut time and travel more extensively to cross this mountain region fast.

    It was then that the situation drastically started changing. Snow fell from the sky and the harsh wind blew by them.

    "No way...." Seveleen looked at the sky which started turning darker for no apparent reason.

    But she snapped out of her daze soon. With no hesitation, she and Seria speeded up their traveling speed.

    They were still climbing their third mountain and ording to the information known by Seria, they had to climb another four mountains after this. There was also a gorge in between the Lectic region that could be crossed easily.

    The snow started falling faster and faster before long it turned into a huge snowstorm.

    Seveleen''s magic was barely holding on facing the snowstorm.

    They still didn''t stop traveling and kept going. Soon they crossed the third mountain somehow.

    Seventeen felt her head be dizzy for a second. She was reaching her limit. She and Seria had not eaten anything in between too. But creating a tent in this situation would be the height of stupidity. It would just fly away in no time.

    Seveleen brought a stamina potion out of her space ring and started chugging it down. She hade prepared for any kind of situation this time.

    But before they could start traveling again...

    WHOOSH!

    A huge ice spear the size of five meters flew towards them rapidly.

    Bang! Both the snow wolf and Seria were turned into meat paste before Seveleen noticed anything.

    A blood trail was left from the ce where the ice spear passed by.

    Drops of blood fell on Seveleen''s face that she didn''t even notice from how surprised she was.

    Feeling goosebumps rising from all over her body, Seveleen looked at the direction the ice spear flew from with an expressionless look. Her heartbeat was so loud that she was scared of it blowing up.

    "haaa....haaa....haaa...." White mist left her mouth as her breathing quickened. She felt angry and indignant but it all blew away when she saw the thing which caused Seria''s death.

    Instead, a frightened look upied her face, and her body started shaking.

    Guhhh!!!

    A huge monster rose from the snow-covered ground.

    It was a snow cyclops, a mutated monster known to be unbeatable to anyone below master rank. It would have been easy to defeat it if a young snow cyclops appeared, but the one in front of her was without a doubt a matured one.

    It wasrger than normal cyclops, its palm wasrger than Seveleen''s whole body. There were spikes made of ice in its shoulder and a white long beard was below its face. And it had blue skin which was strong enough to endure even an attack done by a peak-rank mage for a while.

    "Run!"

    Feeling a sense of danger rising from within her heart again, Seveleen ordered the snow wolf to run at full speed. It wasn''t the time to be feeling sad about Seria''s death.

    The snow wolf had monster-taming cors on it so it could not go against her order. It moved its body even while feeling overwhelming fright.

    The snow cyclops turned its head feeling one of its prey moving. One of its spikes on the shoulder and shot out at an unbelievable speed.

    Seventeen had kept an eye on the cyclops after enhancing her eyes with magic. So this did not escape her eyes. Without any hesitation, she abandoned the snow wolf and used magic to fly.

    BANG!

    The ice spearnded behind Seveleen, making her expression turn solemn. If she was a secondter, she would have died.

    Seventeen didn''t waste a second and started flying away. For some reason, the snow cyclops didn''t follow and headed off somewhere urgently.

    ? Seventeen didn''t let her guard down and continued traveling. A wave of emotions hit her making her bite the corner of her lips lightly. In the end, Her persistence caused seria to die.

    This was the first time she faced such a setback in her life. Things always went the way she wanted with no challenge at all. She was very inexperienced in the working of the world.

    "Sorry..." A saddened voice left her mouth as she climbed the fourth mountain.

    She had to drink stamina potion multiple times now that she had to use magic to fly as well as to fend off the snow.

    "Cough..." Seventeen coughed lightly.

    ''Did I Catch a cold?'' Seventeen thought seeing the snow falling from the sky.

    But it was soon proven wrong, she slowly started feeling sluggish. This made her expression take a huge turn for the first, it was filled with chilling solemness.

    Checking her body through the ''will'' filled mana, Seveleen felt the world stop around her. Despair was apparent on her face.

    There were strands of ck blood in veins, showing the sign of being infected by the Revelner disease.

    A knight would have been able to easily fight off this disease, but it was different for mages. Their bodies were no different than normal human beings.

    Calming herself she first cleaned off the frozen blood on her face. A moment of carelessness had led her to be infected too.

    Seveleen moved forward breathing out loud, calming herself. She didn''t give up, no she didn''t want to give up.

    Her dream, aspiration, and the will to look for her sister kept her going.

    This was not enough to make her give up!

    Seveleen crossed another three mountains in an unknown amount of time before running out of stamina potion. Her body also exhausted fast which was the first symptom of being affected by the Revelner.

    In the middle of nowhere, she stood in one ce not having the strength to move forward.

    Her body was weak so she could not forcefully walk in this snowstorm like Zick.

    ''Is this the end...?'' Her life shed in front of her eyes. She felt very unwilling to die like this, she had not fulfilled her wish which was something that kept her going from a young age.

    There was nothing else that she could do in this situation. Slowly, snow covered her body as her consciousness wafted away.

    GROWL!

    It was then, she heard a ferocious growl from some distance.

 Chapter 125 A Gift Fallen From The Sky

    Looking at Seveleen with a thoughtful look, Zick got lost in his thoughts.

    This encounter was really unpredictable and mysterious. He had expected to meet with familiar people of the academic city but he had not thought it would be in the middle of this danger zone.

    The alchemy tower was collecting the people of the academic city rapidly and was looking for the cause of their mysterious appearance. In this situation, it would be hard to find someone from the academic city.

    And because of this, Zick decided to head toward the Hevertec kingdom whose order and influence was in shambles, he could move a lot unrestrained there.

    This was the best ce where he could start his new identity again. This ce also fulfilled many of his needs, talented people, a surplus mission from the organization, and as well as to make a name for himself.

    Zick was going to make two names for himself, one was a saviour who saved millions of people from the pandemic, and the second was an evil criminal working under the Everlor organization.

    He needed to appear as a good person in front of the helper and harem members of the novel. This was the best way to make them work under him.

    And the second one was for himself, he wanted to increase his strength by collecting many types of elixir to increase potential and strength.

    After all, the most trustworthy thing in the world was oneself. Zick knew this better than anyone.

    Walking before Seveleen who had already lost consciousness and was freezing to death. Zick couldn''t hide his joyous mood.

    This was an opportunity for him!

    By making Seveleen indebted to him, Zick could use her better than he originally thought. Really, a gift fallen from the sky.

    "Hm, She is on the verge of death..." Zick immediately touched Seveleen''s back which was frozen in a thinyer of frost.

    The thinyer of frost broke easily when Zick put a little pressure on it. Holding tightly to the dress worn by her, He picked her up and covered her whole body in ayer of mana.

    Seveleen''s current condition was really bad, she breathed in a ragged manner. Her face was deathly pale with blood cirction slowed down all around her body.

    She was wearing an ordinary blue dress right at the moment to not gather any attention upon herself.

    Feeling his mana deplete at a faster rate, Zick quickly got upon the snow wolf, while putting Seveleen in front of him.

    The snow wolf started moving swiftly in a little disordered manner. Their group was also in shambles after the death of many snow wolves in the prior sh against the mind monster.

    Seveleen''s tinum-white hair waved in the harsh wind. Her breathing stabilized a little, not looking like it would stop anytime soon.

    "Hmm." While supporting Seveleen with one hand, Zick noticed something which made his expression change. His heart almost jumped.

    There was a ck spot on Seveleen''s neck showing that she was affected by the Revelner disease.

    Zick calmed down fast, he knew a lot about this disease including the way to cure it. He was going to use that to be reborn as ''justice'', in name at least.

    So he knew that this disease wouldn''t affect him, a high-rank knight unless he is exposed to arge amount of this disease at once.

    Being calm, a brilliant idea formed in his mind.

    What if he saved her when she was on the brink of death?

    Wouldn''t this make her all the more indebted to him?

    Zick knew that Seveleen was the kind of girl who would repay kindness with kindness and hatred with hatred.

    ''I can even take it further than that...If she were to fall madly in love with me, it would be the best oue. I know a lot about her through the novel so it shouldn''t be a problem for me.''

    Zick had a handsome face, the only thing he needed was a charismatic attitude. Which could be faked easily by him.

    He could just abandon her if he felt his life was in danger anyway. He had long thrown his consciousness in the garbage can, bing perfect trash.

    ''Hm...I shouldn''t change my attitude by arge degree at once. Instead, changing it slowly is the correct answer to not make her suspicious.''

    ''Now I just have to pick up the cure for this disease and recruit Varine into the group of meatshields.''

    Originally, Zick nned on going to the city on the other side of the mountain region but the snowstorm changed his n. He was nning on returning to the city he came from and then going to the Organization''s base again.

    "Akh..." Seveleen made a pained expression and started moving her body around.

    She didn''t fall off as Zick held her properly. She was just a normal human being without her magic.

    Ignoring Seveleen who moaned in pain, Zick continued thinking of his n.

    They soon reached the second snow wolf pack''s habitat, which was a cave too. The snow wolves howled announcing their return to the wolves within the cave.

    HOWL!

    An answer returned from within the cave but Zick didn''t care and released his dragon fear at full force as the snow wolf took him into the cave.

    In no time all the snow wolves started whimpering and showing submissive poses. There were another 26 snow wolves within the cave including pups and old ones who were near death.

    To be sure that Seveleen''s body doesn''t get too cold, Zick ordered the snow wolves to be her pillow.

    Right now, Seveleen''s back was supported by a big snow wolf and there were another two sleeping on her thighs, cing their soft and warm white mane on her.

    ''That should do.'' Creating a fireball, Zick made it float near Seveleen and sat crossed-legged one metre from her.

    Next, he started gathering mana. He multitasked without any problem as these tasks didn''t get in each other''s way.

    Zick didn''t try checking Seveleen''s space ring as she would find out about it when she woke up. To look at the content of a space ring one has to fill it with their ''will'' and right now, her space ring was filled with her will but when Zick would take over his ''will'' would override hers so she would be able to know immediately when checked.

    Now with Seveleen along with him, Zick started considering what he should do.

    He wasn''t willing to give up on Varine now that he had Seveleen. The more talented and strong people he has the more the chances of him killing the demon lord.

    His current goal of killing the demon lord hadn''t changed.

    The demon lord and Zick would sh inevitably as their goal didn''t go well with each other at all. One wanted to destroy the whole human race and the other one who was a human wanted to live to fulfil his goal.

    Zick didn''t want to give up on anything that coulde in useful to him. Exposing the crystal mine to Seveleen wasn''t an option either. He would appear extremely suspicious and he would have to share some benefits then or else he would appear like the very self-centred person that he is.

    Thinking swiftly he found answers one by one to all his questions to the best of his abilities.

    ''I should just send Seveleen away by lending one of the snow wolves. I do have one monster-taming cor I kept in my space ring to study.''

    Zick didn''t want any unnecessary baggage with him in this situation, after all, it would increase the risks to his life. This went well with his personality too so Seveleen wouldn''t find it weird. He also had a perfect excuse to go into the mountain region prepared.

    Taking out the hat he kept back in the space ring, Zick put it back on his head to hide the horns.

    After another three hours, Seveleen woke up feeling a slight headache. Her face formed a frown on its own.

    The first thing she heard was the snoring of the snow wolf. And the warmth around her made itfortable.

    Opening her beautiful deep blue eyes and blinking to adjust her sight. The thing that entered her sight made her dazed for a second. Two snow wolves slept on herp like tamed dogs. She immediately froze, not moving because of fear of being attacked.

    There was also a fireball floating above her head pouring its warmth into her body. She remembered that she was in the middle of an unending snow ne. There was nothing but the sound of the snowstorm and the pure white snow that fell from the sky.

    Compared to that, this ce was too peaceful, so peaceful that it made her feel eerie and weird.

    Looking past the fireball, Seveleen could see Zick sitting with a concentrated expression.

    What surprised her was that she could feel a little of his presence, unlike the first time she met him. This showed that something happened.

    Seveleen also felt a little scared of Zick for some reason.

    Zick was still releasing a little dragon to not let the snow wolf get out of his control.

    "Zick..." Seveleen felt weak and exhausted even now making her voice sound weak.

    Zick opened his eyes hearing Seveleen''s fragile voice.

    "So you woke up." Zick nodded his head and continued.

    "Long time no see, miss Seveleen." Though Seveleen didn''t add an honorific, Zick still used one. He still had an impassive look with dull eyes.

    Hearing this, Seveleen was immediately taken aback. Meeting someone from the academic city made many emotions rise within. But she didn''t let theplex emotions show on her face.

    Seveleen looked closely at Zick before continuing. "Mister Zick, I advise you to keep some distance from me...I have been infected by a disease-"

    Seveleen spoke trying to warn Zick but was stopped in the middle by him.

    "I already know, it won''t affect me so you don''t have to worry. Instead of that, let''s talk about something else, is there any problem with your body?" Zick continued the conversation naturally showing that he was a person who could be talked to, unlike before.

 Chapter 126 Snow Cyclops

    Troubled times and turbulence revealed people''s true colors.

    There was no way Seveleen wanted to live just like anyone. Actually, her will to live was stronger than others, she gave her all to live till the end enduring the sadness and feeling of helplessness.

    Meeting someone from her homnd made her open up her heart to him.

    Zick was obviously aware of Seveleen''s current state of mind seeing her expression wasn''t cold and had no sense of strength in it.

    ''She is in despair.'' Zick thought looking at Seveleen''s blue eyes which had lost their lustre.

    "I don''t think there is any problem with my body," Seveleen answered with a little less wariness.

    She got up pushing away the snow wolf, still a little scared of it. She cast cold resistance magic on herself and sat a few metres away from Zick, supporting her back on the ice wall.

    Zick could have just killed her when she was unconscious so it was apparent that he had no evil intention against her. Knowing this, Seveleen subconsciously got closer to him.

    In the first ce, she had a good impression of Zick, who helped her little sister in the academic city.

    Seveleen and Zick talked about what they have been doing in the eastern continent till now. Zick made up a story of using a forbidden technique that is considered very dangerous by the Melvix family to fight off some strong monster in one of the forests. So his strength had experienced a fall in rank.

    It was so perfect that Seveleen was not able to ask anything about it. After all, Zick clearly said that this forbidden technique belonged to the Melvix family.

    Asking anything about it would be disrespectful.

    Another hour passed by with them chatting about their past. Though both of them had nk expressions, showing any emotions rarely, Seveleen had grown a lot closer to Zick.

    ''This is enough for now, I guess. Extending this for any longer does not have benefits for me.'' Zick felt that he had gained enough of Seveleen''s trust in this one conversation.

    Seveleen was clearly in a weak state of mind, letting Zick be a lot closer to her than he initially thought.

    She had also said multiple times that she would repay this debt so Zick was satisfied with the result.

    "I think we should get going then, we can''t stay like this forever...." Zick got up and walked toward one of the strong snow wolves. He deliberately made himself sound reluctant giving the impression of being a normal human being to Seveleen. He just wanted to talk to a person from the same homnd.

    Seveleen wasn''t surprised and instead nodded her head. She had already anticipated this.

    "We should be able to cross two mountains and reach the Gorthect empire with The help of these snow wolves." Seveleen didn''t give up, she didn''t lose the fire in her heart that she felt from a young age, it was still burning with the same ambition as always.

    Zick tilted his head, "Two mountains? There is only one mountain that needs to be crossed and I am noting, you will have to go alone. I have something to do before that."

    It seemed like Seveleen had gotten false information, but Zick didn''t care.

    Leaving Seveleen alone was not a good idea but Zick could do nothing about it. He made himself sound very serious showing that he wouldn''t change his decision.

    "You are nning to go deeper into the mountain region? Don''t!" Seveleen lost herposure for a second, making her raise her voice.

    Biting her like lightly, She continued: " There is a matured snow cyclops deeper in this region. You will definitely die if youe in contact with it." Seveleen''s clenched hands shook feeling the terror from before.

    "Don''t worry, I am only going to the next mountain, I have to pick up something precious from there." Zick didn''t change his attitude, showing decisiveness to Seveleen.

    Making an impression that he was a man who never gives up on his decision after making up his mind. This would make it easy to move in the future.

    ''Yes, I have to pick up something very, very precious. I can''t just let it rot in there.'' Having this hypocritical thought, Zick put a cor on a snow wolf and activated it by sending his mana into it.

    "Then...let me also apany you-" Looking a little restless, Seveleen asked. She didn''t want Zick, the first person she met from her homnd, to die here.

    "There is no need. In your condition, you will only be baggage on this journey and get in the way. You should just take this snow wolf and wait outside of the Lectic mountain region." Zick barraged Seveleen with reality without any mercy, he didn''t have any n on letting her tag along. This had to be done because he had no n of bing a babysitter yet and to not appear like a person who does things half-heartedly.

    Hearing Zick''s barrage just now made Seveleen both grateful as he was worried about her and as well as to make her aware of her helplessness. Her mind had not recovered yet.

    "Okay, I will wait at the border of the mountain region," Seveleen said after thinking about it with a weak voice.

    "Okay then, take this snow wolf along with you." Zick passed on the snow wolf with a taming cor on it to Seveleen.

    Seveleen had been doubtful as to how Zick controlled this snow wolf for a while but didn''t ask. She knew her ce well.

    Zick knew about this too so he already had multiple excuses prepared. A story like the crimson earring he is wearing can control monsters.

    "Take care then, miss Seveleen." Zick moved out with the snow wolf not wasting time. He had already recovered all of his mana.

    "You too, Mister Zick, please be careful."

    Both of them spoke naturally showing their statuses of being an heir of the duke family, who have been ingrained with aristocratic behaviour from a young age.

    Both Zick and Seveleen moved out, going towards their destinations.

    Feeling the coldness against his skin, Zick kept thinking of his prior chat with Seveleen. He didn''t want any loophole to be left behind which could harm his rtionship.

    Seveleen had originally teleported to a city near the Leweisert kingdom, in the novel. So This changed the plot of the novel to arge degree.

    Though the knowledge held by Zick still had much value, he would not be able to anticipate the future by arge degree now.

    Feeling nothing amiss, he thought about another matter which surprised him immensely.

    ''A matured snow cyclop? How is that pos...or wait, I don''t think it''s weird for them to live in this region.''

    The snow cyclop that appeared in the novel had not matured at that time, having only the strength of a peak-rank knight. So Aeiron was able to escape. If a matured one appeared that would be another matter altogether.

    Matured snow cyclops have the strength just one step below the master rank. Their special ability was also attack-oriented which just made them all the more stronger. They already had a high resistance to magic and physical attack, with even offense reaching a high level their strength achieved a qualitative change.

    Right at the moment, there were 17 snow wolves in Zick''s gang. They moved in a proper formation, not going too far from the group.

    While travelling up the second mountain, Zick encounters another group of snow wolves, which promptly got added to his gang.

    Whenever he encountered a snow bear or yetis, Zick would order the snow wolf to kill and eat them.

    Now with 42 snow wolves in his group, he reached the destination atst.

    One and a half days had already gone by since Zick entered the snow mountain region now. The snowstorm had stopped miraculously. Making Zick surprised, he had predicted it to go on for many days after all.

    ''The weather of this ce is unpredictable. If I knew this would happen, I would have just waited for a while and then entered.'' Zick sighed.

    ''Hmm...or I guess it''s for the best, I was able to meet Seveleen here. If I camete, she would have already turned into an ice sculpture and died.''

    As the saying goes-

    Hard work is always met with a reward, just like how justice is always served to the evil.

    It was bullshit in Zick''s eyes, But this fitted his current situation somewhat.

    In a world where one could do anything with strength, justice and stuff were just lip service made to let the citizens live in peace. If a truly evil being with immense strength, like the demon lord, appeared, what justice?

    Hehehe, they would all be destroyed to nothingness in an instant!

    ''Haha, living shackled in such an ideal is really pitiful and unsightly.'' Zick''s eyes dulled.

    Zick didn''t have such ideals, to begin with after going through what he did on Earth.

    Sitting upon the Snow wolf, Zick could see clearly to a very far distance. Not wasting a second, he started looking for theke that appeared in the novel. He remembered its description almost perfectly.

    The sun didn''t rise in this region so it was still dark with ck clouds above him.

    Leaving the one Zick sat on, he sent every other snow wolf looking for theke. He waited for their finding patiently.

    Theke was near the second mountain, so that was the only ce he needed to look into.

    Soon all the snow wolves walked back one by one, and none of them showed any behaviour of finding anything in the end.

    Thinking while holding his chin, Zick''s expression turned nk.

    Guhhhh! Guwahh!

    After a few minutes, suddenly a thunderous roar travelled to Zick making his hair stand up. His eyes contracted to pin size.

    Snow cyclops! And there were dozens of them!

    "Run!"

    Feeling his instinct screaming, without any hesitation, Zick ordered the snow wolves.

 Chapter 127 Feeling Emotional

    ''Why are there so many snow cyclops here?!'' Zick thought started racing at a speed that was many times fasterpared to when he fought the mind monster.

    An absurd situation was urring right in front of him. Eight snow cyclops had gathered at the same ce!

    Snow cyclops were extremely rare for them toe together like this without a doubt had a reason behind it. And the feeling Zick got from it was anything but good.

    Their intense killing intent was not hidden in the slightest as they howled loudly. This clearly showed that the dragon''s fear released by his body did not affect them.

    ''They are going to attack.'' Zick''s heart started beating at a faster rate making hot blood travel in every part of his body rapidly.

    He concentrated to the limit thinking of every countermeasure he could.

    In the end, he only found one answer to his rapid thinking.

    Nothing

    There was no possible way that Zick could use to fend against the joint attack of eight cyclops.

    The icicles on the shoulders of the snow cyclops shone in bright light. They stood hundreds of meters away from Zick which was still increasing as he tried escaping.

    Feeling the bad feeling in his heart increasing, Zick squinted his teeth. He was against climbing the mountain as that would just make him a better target and moved sideways, towards somewhere unknown.

    Something entered his eyes, a dead end to the snow terrain appeared.

    ''The gorge!'' Zick''s eyes shed with a brilliant light. He was aware of this ce as he was nning on going there in the worst-case scenario of not finding the ce mentioned in the novel.

    There was another way that could lead him to the mana crystal mine. It was through this gorge.

    Zick didn''t want to only rely on the information mentioned in the novel so he always thought of another way if the information failed him.

    Mana crystal mine spread its veins to a very far and deep ce so there must also be a Node in this gorge, it was very near to the mana crystal mine after all.

    Seeing the gorge nearing, Zick revealed a resolute gaze.

    Multiple ice spears flew toward him at a rapid speed. It cut through the air making a whistling sound.

    Without any hesitation, Zick strengthened his body to the limit with mana. Light ck mana enveloped his whole body.

    He jumped off the snow wolf, The ground below his feet caved in by the force put upon them.

    Bam! Zick dashed forward at an iparable speed to when he rode the snow wolf. He surpassed them in no time and headed towards the gorge.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    More than half of the snow wolf pack was killed at once facing the gigantic ice spear.

    The snow wolf pack were confused as to what to do and stooped in their tracks looking at Zick''s figure running forwards. Their bodies froze from the fear they felt from the snow cyclops.

    The snow cyclops attacked both the snow wolf and Zick again. To them, both of them were nothing but prey that could be killed easily.

    Zick''s pale face got covered in ayer of dark shadow, feeling gloomy. The gorge was still some distance away from him, even while running at his full speed reaching there before the ice spear was not possible.

    He unsheathed the cursed sword, which hung on his waist. The imminent danger posed by the ice spear made Zick focus to his limit.

    The ice spear was huge, it was four meters long with its edge pointy and thick.

    ''I won''t be able to parry that....'' With a single nce from his shoulder, Zick concluded.

    It was still far from him so he started shooting ck mana shes by swinging his sword. He didn''t stop running even while throwing the mana shes.

    GUHHH!!!

    "Ahh!" Hearing the roar, Zick inevitably stopped and screamed in a crazed voice too. His eyes turned red with madness.

    But he snapped out of that state in a second.

    Getting his consciousness back, the ice spear had already flown very near to him.

    Compared to Seveleen, Zick''s senses were a hundred times stronger so he was able to follow the movement of the ice spear with his eyes.

    ''A taunting skill?!'' Zick had read it from the novel. He didn''t expect the snow cyclops to have such a special ability too. And the reach of this skill was very scary, it even affected him who was very far from them.

    With the ice spear so near, Zick could only grit his teeth and ready the cursed sword in front of him.

    The ck sword in his hand glowed in a ck light. The mana around Zick''s body perfectly circted with the sword. It was the mana harmonization technique that he learned at a young age.

    ng!

    The ice spear and Zick''s sword collided diagonally, giving out a metallic sound.

    "Pssss....." The breath left Zick''s mouth as his sword collided with the ice spear.

    His body started getting pushed back at an extreme speed not being able to handle the pressure from the ice spear.

    A trail was left in the snow as he got pushed back.

    Crack!

    "Ugh...." A muffled groan left Zick''s mouth feeling the pain in his wrist, elbow, and shoulders.

    The bone in his left shoulder actually broke in no time. This made his hand unstable.

    ''No...if the bnce gets destroyed, this icicle would directly destroy my whole left chest. If that happens, I will die without a doubt.''

    Zick clenched his jaw tightly, he used his mana to keep the left shoulder from bing immobilized.

    The deadlock in the collision didn''tst for long, Zick reached the gorge being pushed by the ice spear. He was not blindly just enduring the attack.

    Arriving at the gorge, Zick directly fell into the unending darkness, and the ice spear collided with the snow-covered wall.

    A thickyer of the snow wall exploded and fell into the gorge.

    Falling down the gorge, Zick''s left hand waved around with him having no control over it. It had now be fully immobile.

    ''Luckily, I didn''t lose the whole limb. If I lost it, I would have to go around looking for an elixir.'' Zick thought with an emotionless face, even while feeling the pain in his hands and shoulders. His tendons still kept the muscles attached to his bone so it cannot be said that his left hand was totally severed.

    Zick pushed himself towards the wall beside him controlling the mana around him and stuck the ck sword into it.

    A trail was created on the wall; it took a few seconds to stop his fall.

    Looking below him, Zick could only see darkness. Above, he could still see a thinyer of light which was the sky.

    ''My condition is a lot more messed up than I estimated.'' Zick calcted his injuries.

    There were four broken or cracked bones in total, and he had also lost the mobility of his left hand. Along with it, there was much damage to the muscles.

    Pulling himself up, Zick got up on the sword with a simple swing of his body. He sat upon it and took out healing potions, gulping them down at once. He did this four times before starting to apply it outwardly.

    Feeling his wounds healing, Zick breathed out, rxing his tensed body. It would take a while for his body to fully heal.

    "Sigh....where did they appear from now?" Zick squinted his eyes, feeling his carelessness. He should have realized that something was wrong after the abnormal appearance of the mind monster.

    ''It''s most probably because of the snowstorm or at least connected to it.''

    It seems that different kinds of dangerous monsterse out once it starts snowing. It was just a conjecture but it was the only lead that Zick had.

    In truth, this could not be med on Zick, but he was a prudent person so he always thrived to be a better self with fewer ws.

    Seeing that no cyclops came to kill him, Zick calmly waited for his body to recover while recovering his lost mana.

    Within ten minutes, Zick''s body was fully healed, absorbing all the healing potion''s content in his body.

    While waiting for himself to heal, Zick had already found a ce with a greater concentration of mana. It was on his right, deeper into the gorge.

    ''The mana crystal node must be located there.''

    Zick with blood all over his leather armor hung holding onto the cursed sword from one hand again. He kicked the rock wall making a hole to ce his leg on.

    "Phew....." Tensing up his body again, Zick leaped towards right after pulling out his sword.

    He was able to leap up to five meters with his body alone, this movement was done without the help of mana. He thrust the sword into the wall again.

    ''I should be able to reach the node sooner like this.''

    Zick continued doing the same process, thrusting the sword into the wall, making a hole, and jumping again. He kept doing it for another 30 minutes before stopping, he could feel the mana crystal node deep below him.

    "Haaaa....." Readying himself, Zick pulled out the sword and let himself fall.

    While falling, Zick looked below him only to see total darkness. This made his heart palpitate, it was a new experience for him after all.

    Even while falling, he didn''t lose bnce and was near the wall at all times.

    The pressure from his falling made his armor madly wave around and His hair stood straight, exposing his forehead.

    Feeling The mana crystal node nearing, Zick slowed down his falling speed by a little by thrusting the tip of his sword into The wall. He had strengthened his eyes so that he would not miss anything.

    ''There it is!''

    A cave appeared right below him out of the darkness.

    Zick''s sword came out of the wall facing a dead end. But he directly thrust it into the entrance of the cave.

    Putting pressure on his right hand, Zick climbed up and entered the cave.

    "I reached this ce atst...." Zick couldn''t help but feel emotional.

    He had faced one crisis after another making him feel tired. The intense snowstorm, mind monster, and snow cyclops. All of these situations were dangerous, both his wits and luck yed a part in oveing all of this.

 Chapter 128 Exhilarated

    Standing at the entrance of the cave, Zick suddenly held his chest with a painful look. His heart throbbed in pain.

    With a clenched jaw, Zick thought of the reason.

    ''Dragon fear....''

    After he lost all his potential in the dragon bloodline, it seemed that a limitation had appeared in its usage.

    ''haa, another limitation....'' Zick''s mood dampened a little. He stopped using dragon fear which made his pain start lessening.

    There was nothing but darkness within the cave. Zick created a fireball of palm size and made it fly a meter in front of him. His face was filled with vignce, the prior incident made him be on his guard all the time.

    ''Anything can happen in this ce. The abnormal incident can ur any moment so letting down my guard would be just like courting death.''

    In total silence, Zick walked deeper into the cave. He could feel the mana around him thicken as he walked further into it.

    With his senses, Zick could tell that the cave was very narrow. At most two people could fit in at once.

    Walking for a few minutes, Zick narrowed his eyes, seeing a dim light at the end of his vision. With a little deliberate thinking, he started heading towards it.

    ''A mana crystal!'' Zick''s eyes shone in glee.

    The mana crystal was small the size of an adult palm. It was stuck in the corner of the cave passage, illuminating its surroundings dimly.

    ''The appearance of this mana crystal shows that I am going in the right path. I should be able to reach the main node of this crystal mine in a while.'' Zick was exhrated by this.

    Without wasting a second, Zick grabbed the mana crystal and pulled it out with his raw strength. It came out very easily with a little resistance.

    Zick put it within his space ring. Though this mana crystal was almost low to middle quality at most, it could still fetch quite an amount.

    Making a profit like this after a long time, he was in a joyous mood. But he controlled his emotions and moved forward vigntly.

    He could celebrate as much as he wanted after getting out of here!

    Walking in the passage for thirty minutes, Zick encountered a few mana crystals of the same size as the first one randomly. All of them entered his space ring.

    He had started traveling faster seeing the appearance of mana crystal increasing.

    "Hmm?" Finding something on the ground, Zick stopped and looked at it with a feeling of oddness.

    It was a trail left by unknown monsters.

    Seeing how small it was, he predicted it to be a spider-type or mouse-type monster.

    ''Why are monsters here too? This is not normal...as I thought there is something in here attracting the monsters.'' Zick wasn''t interested in finding out about it in the least. He wasn''t sure if this could benefit him.

    He just moved forwards collecting mana crystal.

    ''I will kill everything that gets in my way!''

    Therefore, Zick began moving at a rapid pace. He just wanted to collect the mana crystal and get out of this messed-up ce!

    SCREECH~

    Feeling the presence of the monster in front of him, Zick took out the cursed sword not slowing down at all.

    A spider with white skin like snow and multiple red eyes entered his sight.

    The spider, which didn''t even reach his knee joint level was shed by Zick, being cut in two without getting a chance to retaliate.

    Like this, Zick''s crazy spree continued. He picked up all the mana crystals which started appearing every minute and killed the snow spiders which appeared in front of him.

    After a while, a big chunk of mana crystal appeared in front of him. It was almost one meter long.

    Feeling delighted, Zick directly put it within his space ring. The next moment he took it out again and started kicking off the mud and stone stuck at its root. This waste thing would also eat away at his storage if not removed.

    Finishing cleaning the mana crystal, he put it back in his space ring and started walking this time. He decided to let his body rest, there were monsters near him so it would be problematic if something happened.

    ''That mana crystal is a high rank without a doubt. Its value must be around 500 tinum coins, hehe.''

    Feeling delighted, Zick moved forward with energetic steps. His expression was adorned with an actual smile for the first time in a long while.

    He could atst feel that he was heading somewhere, the feeling of being stuck in the same ce for a long time made him on edge for a while.

    Walking at a normal pace, Zick sensed the multiple presences of monsters in front of him.

    ''A group? Well, it doesn''t matter, their strength at most is just at the low-rank level.''

    Zick willed and the fireball in front of him shot forward rapidly.

    SCREECH!

    Without any hesitation, Zick started creating fireballs and shot them in the direction he felt the monster''s presence.

    The spider monster was mutated having the element of ice so they died easily with Zick''s fireball.

    The stench of burned meat reached Zick''s nose. Feeling that all of them were dead, he continued moving forward. The charred bodies of the snow spider entered his sight, smoke and a putrid smell wafted in the air.

    Walking past their body without a change in expression, Zick found something besides their bodies.

    A crystal just like the mana crystal but it was different at the same time.

    A normal mana crystal was in a glimmering blue color, but this crystal in front of Zick was white just like snow. It even gave out chilling energy.

    Zick squinted his eyes and ced his right hand upon it. A cold sensation traveled through his hand.

    ''What is this? This monster was clearly after that thing so it must be important.''

    He picked up the small snow-white crystal and put it within his space ring.

    Zick started moving again quickly. He could find out about the snow-white crystal afterward.

    Along the way, Zick got another four high-quality mana crystals; there were also many small ones with it. One of his space rings waspletely filled with them now. This caused him to ignore the low-quality mana crystals and only pick up the high-quality ones.

    The snow spiders which appeared were either burnt or shed to death by Zick. He found them carrying the same snow-white crystals somewhere.

    Right at the moment, Zick stood in front of four different passageways. He waited in the darkness while hiding his presence.

    RUSTLE~

    After a few minutes, Zick heard the rustling sounds of multiple spiders. There was a stronger presence leading the gang.

    ''A middle-rank monster...'' Zick had already expected this so he wasn''t surprised.

    There were just too many snow spiders around here so without a doubt there had to be a stronger monster leading them.

    ''This one doesn''t seem to be the leader either, which means there are stronger monsters ahead.'' This made Zick heighten his guard again.

    He waited for them to choose a path.

    The gang of spiders chose the second passage from the right. Seeing this, Zick''s eyes shone.

    A fireball appeared in his hand and floated near the ceiling, illuminating the passage. The snow spiders were alerted, looking around warily.

    The middle-rank snow spider had eight legs and a height reaching to Zick''s waist.

    Zick could fight solely relying on his senses but it was better to be able to see around. Circting mana to his body and sword, he leaped forward at a formidable speed.

    His figure blurred for a second appearing in front of the snow spiders. His sword was already held above him, he swung it at the strongest spider without lowering his speed.

    The snow spider was at his guard but it could do nothing in front of Zick''s peak high-rank strength. Its head was split in two and red blood gnashed out of it.

    With Swift moves, Zick killed all the spiders who were trying to scatter around the passages.

    Then Zick flicked the blood off his sword and put it back into its sheath. He started walking in the passage chosen by snow spiders.

    ...

    Deep within the ground, a serine pond existed.

    Above the pond, a spider hung upside down with closed eyes on the ceiling.

    With a rustling sound, it moved its leg slightly and opened its eyes. It had deep red eyes shed with intelligence.

    Feeling many of its kin killed at once, it screeched loudly, ordering the spiders under its control to kill the invader immediately.

    Immediately the whole cave room started shaking intensely from the movements of the other spiders.

    This monster had the same level of intelligence as humans!

    It considered itself superior to the monster under it giving birth to pride. It was able to rule this colony for a long time.

    A mutated monster with high intelligence was unseen by the whole world. This discovery would cause ripples around the world, attracting many schrs and researchers at once.

    Slowly the big spider got down through the thread and let itself submerge into the pond with white liquid.

 Chapter 129 Sentient Monster

    The ground below Zick''s feet started shaking slowly. At first, it was only a slight tremor but it rapidly developed into shaking intensely like going through an earthquake.

    ''This...'' Zick squinted his eyes feeling an uncountable number of presences heading towards him ferociously.

    He had not expected a situation like this, feeling dumbfounded internally. How can he not be? Monsters with intelligence were extremely rare, running into them repeatedly was not a natural thing.

    ''It''s either that a monster with intelligence is controlling them or this snow spider reacts like this when theye across a strong foe.'' Zick considered rapidly.

    Either way, he had to fight against the monstersing toward him. He headed back to the ce with four passages again rapidly, fighting in a narrow ce was very disadvantageous to him.

    With the snow spider''s small size and rapid moves, they would be able to overwhelm Zick with their sheer numbers if he stayed there.

    Reaching the cave room with four passageways, Zick created a big fireball and made it float near the ceiling. He took out the cursed sword from his scabbard and held it in his right hand.

    With no hesitation, he sent his mana into the sword and shot the mana de at the ceiling of three passages from the left.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The three passages copsed making dust rise. Walking near it, Zick started using magic and making the rock merge with each other including the wall and the ground.

    The broken debris merged with their surroundings rapidly. They didn''t merge fully having only their corner being joined together but it was more than enough for Zick.

    Doing this process three times quickly, Sweat started gathering on Zick''s face feeling a little dizzy.

    Even in a wide area like this, the chances of him getting overthrown by their number were high so he made the passages cave in to buy some time.

    The tremor started bing more violent, making Zick focus and start using the mana harmonization technique. His body got covered in a dark glow and his eyes shined with a ruthless light.

    He took out another sword holding it in his left hand, though he wasn''t much skilled in dual wielding, in his current situation being able to kill multiple enemies at once was more beneficial.

    Soon, Snow spiders started entering through the undestroyed passage entrance.

    Breathing in deeply, Zick revealed a resolute expression and started swinging his sword at the snow spiders ruthlessly.

    The snow spiders leaped at him, having a crazy aura around them.

    The very next moment, their body was cut in half perfectly in the mid-air.

    Having a limited amount of mana, Zick decided to use the minimum amount needed to activate the mana harmonization skill and continued swinging his sword with a swift movement.

    Blood spattered everywhere dyeing Zick red.

    Performing a perfect arc he cut off three snow spiders horizontally at once and stamped another one from his leg, making his feet covered in blood.

    Lifting his feet, the sticky innards of the spider stuck below his feet.

    Not bothered by it, Zick continued killing the snow spider bursting out of the passage.

    Bam! The show spiders were trying to break through the debris block made by Zick.

    Suddenly Zick moved three steps back.

    A ssh of highly blue corrosive matter fell on the ce that Zick stood in before. The ground immediately started to melting in contact with it. After making a ten-centimeter-deep hole, the ce affected by the blue matter started freezing, creating ayer of frost on the ground.

    A middle-rank snow spider had appeared standing behind a dozen of other spiders. It was the one who just shot the blue acid.

    Zick''s brows furrowed, ''A special ability that got the property of ice....''

    An acid attack having the aftereffects of freezing was unheard of by the world. This was gained by the snow spider because they were mutated monsters, there was definitely a mysterious change in their body after living in this environment.

    ''Not good...''

    Zick had been killing the snow spiders rapidly, not letting them gather together and attack at once. But because of his sudden retreat, they gained momentum rapidly. He could also feel one of the passageways going to break at any moment.

    Zick''s eyes squinted a little, realizing something. He decided to use another one of his knight techniques with a stiff expression. He continued killing the monsters with the normal sword and started preparing to use the technique with his cursed sword.

    His chaotic mana started gathering on the sword and started rotating around it like a vortex. The transparent ck vortex slowly turned darker and thicker, growing a little wider in size.

    Feeling that the vortex had absorbed enough of his mana, Zick moved back by a few steps holding the cursed sword in his right hand horizontally, aiming forward.

    Vortex thrust!

    This technique was only used by the high-rank knights but it had the heavy demerit of consuming a lot of mana. He didn''t care much about this as he was at the peak of high rank and had his mana with characteristics.

    Zick thrust the ck sword forward directly aiming at the open passage. A stream of rotating ck miasma left his sword, expanding into a vortex, andnded on the monsters in front of the passage and within it too.

    They were turned to minced meat in no time falling on the ground and creating blood puddles.

    The ck vortex also killed the middle-rank snow spider and many others behind it. It continued to expand for an unknown amount of time before vanishing in thin air.

    Zick''s figure was also bathed in red just like the room. He dashed forward entering the bloodied passages.

    Zick was sure of one thing right at the moment.

    The monsters were sent just to waste his energy!

    This enlightenment made his assumption of a high-intelligence monster existing here gain more credibility. And this monster also had intelligence equal to a human, only such a monster could plot like this. He had thought of it with just a little intelligence but he was gravely mistaken.

    He was yed by a monster!

    No one liked being yed by others, Zick was the same, he was furious at whoever this sentient monster was. But he didn''t let himself be controlled by it and continuedpleting his goal ofing here.

    He could have killed all those weak snow spiders within ten minutes, he was confident in himself. He could have traveled without any hindrance then but now he had to take a long way.

    ''Sigh...I really can''t look down on this monster...''

    He had nned on killing all the snow monsters in the beginning but now he decided against it. It would be the same as him ying directly into the hands of this sentient monster.

    ''That would be like offering myself in silver ting. I just wanted to gather mana crystals and get out of this ce but another problem appeared now.'' Zick''s eyes twitched thinking this.

    Bang! Zick broke the ground below him with a simple stamp of his leg and made a shortcut for himself to move forward. He didn''t want to do such a brutish thing before as there was a chance the whole ce would copse but he didn''t care about it anymore.

    Let the whole ce copse!

    As he entered deeper, he realized that there were many passages so even if some of them copsed it didn''t matter.

    Zick''s eyes shone in a resolute light. He continued to create holes and moved toward the ce with the highest concentration of mana.

    ''I should get out of this ce immediately after collecting enough mana crystal.'' Feeling his instinct warning, Zick was sure that whoever controlled this snow spider was around the same level as the snow cyclops.

    He put all the mana crystals which appeared in front of him and moved forwards. He also found the snow-white crystal but let them be.

    He sensed the snow spider following him but he ignored them.

    After another hour.

    ''I should have collected enough mana crystal to earn around 8000 tinum coins.'' Zick nodded to himself deciding to retreat, for now, he coulde and take more mana crystal when he was stronger!

    His figure was still covered in blood and had a metallic smell wafting around him.

    ''But before leaving I should check out the room in front of me.''

    Cold energy was released by the room at some distance from Zick. This made him curious, heading toward it with stealthy steps.

    He had already shaken off the snow spiders and hidden his presence carefully. All the snow spiders he encountered were killed swiftly so they were not able to alert others about his location.

    The ground Zick walked upon had a thinyer of frost on it. The breath leaving his mouth was turned into white fog.

    The inside of the room was covered in a thinyer of frost and in the middle, a serene pond rested, it was the same as the one seen in the room of the Queen of this snow spider but its size was smaller.

    Zick moved in front of the pond with quick steps. The pond gave out chilling energy which made even him shiver. This was a surprising fact as he currently had ayer of mana protecting him and hiding his presence.

    Zick''s expression turned solemn the moment he was able to get a proper look at the pond. It was filled with milky white liquid, but within it, a high-rank show spider also slept.

    The presence of this show white liquid had made the snow spiders'' presence to be hidden, disabling Zick to sense it. But he was able to see its presence with the dragon''s eyes.

    ''This is my chance.''

    Just like how Zick couldn''t sense the snow spider, it was also not able to sense him as he hid his presence with mana.

    He hid his killing intent deep within him and extended his right hand. Monsters were being with strong instincts and would be able to sense their killing intent immediately if not controlled.

    Zick decided to use the space ring property of not being able to store living beings. He pulled out his sword and ced the whole white liquid from the pond within his space ring.

    At once the snow-white liquid was sucked into the space ring exposing the high-rank snow spider within it.

    This spider''s body was covered in ice armor and had a height of two meters. Its legs were pointy and sturdy, being able to pierce iron like butter.

    The spider opened its eyes feeling the power enhancing its body vanishing. But the moment it opened its eyes, A ck entered right through its skull!

    Blood spurted out like a fountain covering Zick''s body in fresh blood. He stood on the body of the snow spider holding the hilt of the sword.

    ''Well let''s get going now. I can buy Varine after returning.''

    Varine was a very good chess piece to add to his group of meatshields. Though she had matured fast she was still young, he could craft her mindset the way he wanted.

 Chapter 130 Snow White Crystal

    cing the body of the high-rank snow spider in his space ring, Zick thought of getting out of the pit, when a crystal the size of a meter entered his sight.

    It was therger and stronger version of the snow-white crystal that the snow spiders picked up. It would glow in a blue light, like rippling water, and vanish randomly. It was a mysterious sight.

    Putting it within his space ring too, Zick got out of the pit, when-

    SCREECH!

    A loud screeching noise of a snow spider entered Zick''s ears.

    It was so loud that the whole frozen room shook. A majestic presence swept through the room making Zick''s expression change.

    ''A master rank monster!'' Horror filled Zick, overwhelming his senses. His expression turned gloomy and surprised at once.

    If this monster made a move he would die without a doubt. The difference between a peak rank and a master rank was just like the difference between day and night.

    A peak-rank monster human would never be able to beat a master-rank being!

    Zick didn''t think any further and dashed towards the passage he came from. The way leading to the outside was already memorized in his head. He followed it and ran, enhancing himself with mana, not holding back at all.

    SCREECH!

    Another screech could be heard behind him but he ignored it and further increased his speed.

    ''I have to get out of this ce quickly!''

    Zick felt regret rising within him, if he knew that this ce was filled with tons of monsters like this he would have nevere near it.

    He had thought of this ce to be an easy trip but it turned out to be a ce where he had to put his life on the line dozens of times.

    ''It would have been a hundred times better if I just went and looked for an item that could help to melt all the tinum coins I have.'' Zickmented.

    Losing his Archmage status in the mage profession, Zick could not create magic strong enough to melt tinum anymore. So he had to look for an item or person who could melt them for him.

    This was a hard task but it looked nothingpared to what he was currently going through.

    In the first ce, Zick was unwilling to sell unprocessed tinum like that. It would appear extremely suspicious!

    And right at the moment, the Eastern continent was in turmoil with ghost people appearing out of nowhere. This made Zick extremely hesitant.

    Revealing his identity would bring many dangers to him. If not handled with care he would die without a doubt.

    BANG!

    The wall behind him broke apart, scattering debris everywhere. A high-rank snow spider burst out of it with its killing intent not hidden at all.

    ncing behind him, Zick continued running. A spider of that size would not be able to chase him in such a narrow passage.

    ''The leader of this snow spider is quite prideful I see...Hmph, well it''s good for me anyway.'' Zick narrowed his eyes thinking this.

    Sending a weak monster like that clearly showed that the leader of this monster was looking down on Zick. Not moving even after he killed one of its important subordinates.

    ''Or wait...Is the monster I just killed not worth its time?'' Zick''s expression turned solemn thinking this, he got a bad premonition from it.

    If what he just thought was the truth then, there must be multiple monsters that are stronger than the snow spiders that he met now.

    Zick did his all to escape from this ce, he estimated that it would take another ten minutes for him to get out of this ce.

    "hmm...." Zick felt multiple presences of snow spiders in front of him. There were more than 20 of them waiting for his arrival, they had received an order from their queen.

    Zick was in a hurry right at the moment, he didn''t want to take risks in staying here anymore. Though the Queen of this monster was not making a move it was not worth risking his life to see the patience of this monster.

    ''Are they trying to buy time? Why did the leader of these monsters suddenly turn into an idiot?'' Zick sneered in his mind.

    Zick still decided to move forward in the same direction. Changing passage right now would make him deviate from the exit, finding another route seems a lot more time-consuming than killing dozens of monsters.

    Thus, Zick made ayer of ck mana cover him and continued running at full speed.

    The snow spider waiting for him in the passage panicked looking at him who was heading towards them crazily, showing no sign of slowing down.

    Zick reached in front of them in no time, he ran right through them; The snow spiders were crushed by the pressure exerted by Zick''s feet. Their body was left loitering there.

    He was unscathed with not even a scratch on his body. The thinyer of ck barrier around his body vanished, maintaining it would be a waste of his time.

    The smell of rotten blood reached Zick, many dead bodies of snow spiders wereying on the ground, giving off a nauseating smell.

    ''I am getting nearer to the exit.'' Zick could not help but feel relieved. These were the monsters that he killed while going deeper into the passage.

    ''Sigh....for this ce to be under a monster. This node of the mana crystal is probablypletely under their control.'' Zick moved while considering. No monster followed him anymore showing that the Queen of Spiders was hesitating.

    ''The next time Ie to explore this ce, I will make sure to enter through another node. And if even that node was taken over by another monster, I will have to wait to be a master swordsman, before trying to explore this ce.''

    ''The only safe node I know right now is the one used by Aeiron but for some reason many snow cyclops are roaming around in that area.''

    Zick didn''t want to give up on collecting the mana crystal and also wanted to explore this ce. There was something that attracted the monster and also strengthened them immensely.

    Zick looked at the space ring in his right hand, the show white liquid, and crystal that he stored within it from the pond surely held some connection to this mystery.

    ''If this could strengthen the monsters, then....'' Zick''s eyes shined in bright light, but it vanished after a blink of an eye.

    If this snow-white liquid could strengthen him, this trip would be more than worth it.

    Zick''s speed in running while using mana was iparable to before. The wind split, creating a whirlwind. The surprising thing was that no sound was made excluding the wind. He had very high control over his body.

    Remembering something, Zick snorted: '' If the leader of this monster was as prideful as I spected, its pride must be hurt right at the moment.'' Zick snickered internally as he moved towards the exit.

    He took turns here and there with no hesitation at all, the way was perfectly memorized by him. He soon reached the room below the four passage room, he could see the hole he made from the ce he stood.

    Right at the moment, he had hidden his presence, not making a sound.

    Three high-rank rank snow spiders waited for him in the four passage room.

    ''In the end, a monster is a monster I guess. Letting pride get to its head.''

    ck mana started gathering on Zick''s sword rapidly. The snow spiders noticed this but were still a stepte.

    Zick swung his sword aiming at the ceiling, right at the ce where the three snow spiders stood!

    A mana spear extended from his sword directlying in contact with the ceiling.

    BANG! SCREECH!

    With the ceiling copsing, the snow spiders also fell down along with it. The ice armor protected its body from getting damaged in any way.

    Before the snow spiders could recover, Zick hopped above a huge rock that fell from the ceiling and directly jumped to the other side of the passage with no effort at all. He didn''t have any reason to fight against these snow spiders.

    He had already gotten what he wanted and he had nothing to benefit from fighting either.

    Getting stronger and finding a way to defeat the demon lord was his current goal.

    Just thinking of the thing that he still had to do made Zick sigh. He almost had no experience in controlling people and making them follow his order. It was the same with politics, the only reason he got until here was because of his meticulous thinking and scheming.

    ''I can only do my best...No, I will do my best, I will give my all in collecting a group of meatshields.''

    Zick didn''t let despair affect him. If he gave up this easily he would be letting himself down. He would be letting down all the effort he put in his life till now!

    Then what was the worth of living till now?

    Could he forgive himself for giving up, not even trying to resist?

    ''No matter why I came to this world. No matter how my life ends, till the veryst moment, I will keep fighting! Giving my all to live and pursue my goal!'' Immense determination filled Zick, making his usual cold expression have a brilliant smile on it.

    He soon reached the ce he entered the mana crystal nord. Nothing but darkness weed him.

    Without further ado, Zick started climbing the gorge.

 Chapter 131 Heading Towards The Border Of The Mountain Region

    CLANG! CLATTER! CLANG!

    From deep within the gorge, the sound of something hitting a hard object and rock falling rang out. The sound kept increasing until a figure jumped out of the gorge,nding on the snow-filled ground with a simple flex of his knees.

    Looking at his surroundings, Zick let out a Turbulent breath.

    ''I reached the surface atst.'' Zick looked around warily, not letting down his guard.

    The cyclops might still be around the area making him nervous.

    ''If I encounter them again, it will probably be my end....'' Zick''s eyes scanned his surroundings carefully.

    He had already used more than 80 percent of his mana, he would run into a wall right away if he had to fight or run in this situation. His body was also not in optimal condition, it was extremely exhausted by the pressure it was put through.

    Fortunately, it seems like the snow cyclops had already left the area by the time he came out of the gorge.

    This made him rejoice, even greed rose but it was eliminated immediately. He could go look for theke mentioned in the novel but it was still very dangerous there.

    ''Who knows when a strong monster would pop out of nowhere.'' Zick had be a lot more cautious from this ce and was not willing to stay there for long.

    He could always return to this ce after bing stronger, kill all the monsters and loot the mana crystals.

    ''It''s a letdown that I cannot spread the information of the rare monster being here, if I could, others would have taken care of the monster for me. But this could not be done, they will without a doubt discover the mana crystal mine in here and start looting it.''

    Zick had to explore this ce by himselfter on. The group of meatshield that he was going to assemble could also be used but he had no n on using them here.

    He wanted to keep the whole mana crystal mine for himself! He had no reason to share it with others. So what if he could collect faster with the help of others?

    He would have to share some profits without a doubt then.

    Only if he was urgently in need of money would he be willing to share some benefits with others.

    ''It''s a letdown that I couldn''t bring many of it as I expected.'' Thinking this, Zick started running towards the mountain some distance. He nned on resting in the cave of one of the snow wolf packs that he controlled.

    He had collected 14 high-quality mana crystals which was equal to around 7000 tinum coins and 53 low or middle-quality mana crystals whose value was more than 1000 tinum coins.

    ''With this much, I should have no problem for a while. Now, I only need to cure Seveleen at an appropriate time to make her more indebted to me.''

    ''She should have around two more weeks to live if nothing serious happens.'' Zick calcted, he was very knowledgeable about this disease.

    Though he felt that it would be good if he could make Seveleen fall in love with himself, Zick had no intention of showing any affection at all.

    It was a total waste of time in his eyes, there were still many talented people that he had to collect, and he could not give special treatment to only one of them could he?

    ''I also have to collect the wicked eye,

    Realen.''

    This person was one of the supporting characters in the novel. He was a bow master who never missed his target even once.

    He was in the Hevertec kingdom where Zick was nning on going.

    ''Recruiting him should be easy, he should still be staying in the slums right now.'' Zick thought while entering the cave which was a little above the foot of the mountain.

    The cave waspletely empty, the snow wolves had already run away feeling the presence of the snow cyclops.

    Sitting Crossed leg in one corner of the cave, Zick started recovering his consumed mana while lost in thought.

    The reason he was creating two identities for himself was that he could always have a way out for himself if something were to happen.

    If by chance the Everlor organization were to betray him or get destroyed by something, Zick could always use his second identity of being a normal traveler with many kind deeds as a cover. He never trusted some seal or whatever.

    Though it sounded perfect, Zick had to be on his guard all the time if he didn''t want to get dragged into something ugly and reveal his identity.

    All the ces were filled with risk but Zick was not as nervous as he was when he entered the Lectic mountain region. He was able to learn something while going deeper into this ce.

    It was not possible to gain anything without taking risks!

    But this didn''t mean he had to go around taking risks like a madman. If he felt his chances of sess were very low, he would not take the risk until forced otherwise.

    There was a limit to how much he had to restrain his movements.

    ''As to how I can make the dragon race participate...It would be hard...almost impossible for the current me.'' Zick felt pressured thinking about this.

    He could solve the problem of recruiting talented people by thinking extensively, but what about the dragon race?

    Nothing came to his mind even when thinking about it. The only way he could think of making them participate was to make the demonic race go and offend them somehow.

    ''There were only a few demons with grandmaster-level strength and they were all smart too, fooling them to attack the dragon race would be a hard task.''

    For now, Zick put the matter of the dragon race at the back of his head.

    The death of The red thunder qilin, Zrector, one of the five disasters made the war with the demonic race elerate for sure. So he had to prepare for any unforeseen situation that would sprung up at him.

    After a few hours.

    Zick left the cave, heading towards the border of the mountain region.

    ''A little more than a day has passed but I still made it in time somehow. Today is the day I agreed to meet up with Ovelon.''

    Climbing up the mountain, Zick tried to use dragon fear but his heart still hurt so he stopped.

    "Sigh... " He sighed to himself, pain wasn''t a problem to him, he was worried that something might happen which could damage his already weak heart.

    With the snowstorm not getting in his way, Zick moved swiftly. At the speed he ran right at the moment, it would take only six to seven hours to cross the two mountains.

    While crossing the two mountains, he encountered only a few monsters as he and the snow wolf packs had already killed and eaten them.

    Snow boar, wolves, and yeti were the monsters that mostly lived in this snow region.

    The monster encountered by Zick was immediately killed and leftying on the snow floor. He had only a little space left in his space ring so he couldn''t put it in it either.

    He hurried, feeling that he might bete, and used more mana to strengthen himself. All the emotions he felt while exploring the snow spiders node went away. His face was adorned by his usual expressionless face.

    He didn''t rest and continued moving, crossing thest mountain soon and reaching the end of the Lectic mountain region.

    Looking around, Zick could not find Seveleen anywhere. Making him internally a little restless.

    ''Did she run away...? It would not be weird as she must be worried about her sister. Or has something happened and she died along the way, not being able to cross the mountain....''

    The possibility was low but there was a chance that she might have died in the mountain region. After all, there were so many mysterious things that urred in this ce. It wouldn''t be weird if she died encountering a strong being.

    So it made Zick a little restless. He would have to go look for her if she didn''t cross the mountain region, he was unwilling to do this.

    He immediately thought about who to choose between Varine and Seveleen.

    Zick didn''t think Ovelon would wait to sell Varine to him for long. There were many people to whom he could sell her and make tons of money.

    Both personally and rationally, Varine was the best choice for him. But letting go of Seveleen, a future Archmage, was a letdown.

    ''In the end, I can''t get everything I want, can I? I can onlypromise here and let seveleen go....''

    Doing so would drop the chances of him beating the demon Lord to an unknown degree.

    "..." While Zick was lost in his thoughts, Suddenly the howling sound of the snow wolf rang out. Jolting him out of his deep thoughts.

    The howling sound was very weak but with his sharpened senses, he was able to hear it.

    Zick dashed towards it with no hesitation. The howling sound came from his right side, beside the mountain which he climbed, where another huge mountain stood.

    He didn''t have to run for long, within five minutes, he could sense Seveleen and the snow wolf''s presence.

    The snow wolf walked while limping its leg, which was hurt by another monster, and many w marks of boar were left on its tough hide. Seveleen sat on the wolf, feeling extremely dizzy.

    They encountered many monsters along the way, forcing Seveleen to create magic even with her exhausted mind.

    Seeing them, Zick''s eyes shone. ''I guess there is no need for me to change the n.''

    He walked towards them slowly, right at that moment he could not release dragon fear so the snow wolf bore its fangs feeling someoneing towards them, growling weakly.

    Grrrr.....

 Chapter 132 Fame And Reputation, So Pitiful

    After parting with Zick, Seveleen''s journey was very smooth, there was no hindrance at all.

    It all started after the snowstorm stopped, and all monsters started heading in the same direction. These monsters were very ferocious, they killed and destroyed everything that got in their way.

    Seveleen started encountering this monster more and more frequently, she would always change her direction to note in contact with them. Though she had recovered a lot of mental energy in the past few hours, there was no reason for her to take the risk.

    But there were situations where it was not possible to hide from the monsters.

    With the help of the high-rank snow wolf that Zick lent, Seveleen was able to fight and kill them. There were also moments where she had to use healing potions on the snow wolf which was a waste. There was nothing she could do, she needed the snow wolf''s help to cross the mountain faster.

    Having to fight and take roundabout ways all time made Seveleen take more than a day to reach her destination, which would have normally taken around half a day.

    She was able to reach the border of the Lectic mountain region. Her head was dizzy, feeling extremely exhausted.

    The snow wolf she sat on limped and walked slowly, the healing potions on her space ring had already turned empty.

    Suddenly the snow wolf growled threateningly at something, but the very next moment it stopped and stuck its tongue out, whimpering softly. It had sensed its master''s presence!

    Slowly Seveleen lifted her head, Seeing Zick walking towards her with his usual impassive expression. She got a little worried looking at his appearance, there were multiple holes in his leather armor.

    Without saying a word, Zick took out a healing potion and applied it to the snow wolf.

    "Are you alright...? I...got a littlete-" Seveleen spoke in a weak and shaky voice. Her face was extremely pale and there were ck circles below her eyes.

    The silence was broken by Seveleen but Zick stopped her and spoke seriously.

    "I am alright and I know, many monsters appeared for some reason and you had to fight against them so you were dyed. You should just rest instead of speaking." Zick was clear on Seveleen''s condition.

    She was barely holding on to her consciousness, the pressure, pain, and will to live let her stay conscious until now.

    Nodding her head, Seveleen could only close her eyes entrusting her safety to Zick. Her head lightly fell on the white fur which was bloodied right now, Staying awake made her head throb even more strongly.

    There were many traces of monsters heading somewhere which Zick noticed while heading toward the border. Luckily, almost all the monsters from the two mountains he crossed had already gone toward somewhere or it would have taken longer for him to reach his destination.

    Patting the head of the snow wolf, Zick lifted Seveleen by her shoulder, not being gentle at all, and sat in front of her.

    Seveleen''s head leaned on his shoulder.

    Not bothered by a beautiful girl sitting right behind him, Zick ordered the snow wolf to start moving again, it had already recovered to its peak state.

    He held onto Seveleen''s left hand so that she wouldn''t fall off the snow wolf.

    ''I was lucky that I didn''t encounter many monsters, if I did, I would have probably not been able to meet Ovelon today.'' Zick didn''t think of it as a bad thing but it made doubt rise as it seems his luck was good right at this instant.

    He had faced one hardship after another making him have no confidence in his luck.

    ''Well, whatever.''

    By making use of Seveleen''s weak mind right at the moment, Zick could make himself very close to her. And by safely taking her to one of the city''s inns, he could also gain more of her trust.

    Even while being in such a dangerous situation and knowing that she would die soon, Seveleen didn''t give up. This showed her mental fortitude.

    ''But she has not matured yet, there is a long way to go before she has ''indomitable will'' which she had in the novel.''

    ''Thus, I have a high chance to sway her to my side, the only problem is that I can''tmit any crime in front of her.''

    Zick knew Seveleen a lot, she could be said to be on the righteous side partially. Though she would not do or say anything about it, internally she would have a bad impression of him if hemitted a crime.

    With the snow wolf sprinting at full speed, they soon exited the snow domain and moved onto the dry ground. The sun was setting at the horizon making Zick''s face glow in the afterglow.

    ''I can make it.'' Zick felt emotional internally.

    It was a long journey but he made it out somehow clinging to his life to the very end.

    The air around Zick had already changed, giving anyone a sense of pressure. It was the same presence he had around him while staying on the battlefield.

    In actuality, there were many knights on the battlefield who admired him. He always faced his opponent head on winning with pure skill and experience.

    The only reason everyone kept their distance was because of the first battle where he went out of control and killed hundreds of knights whileughing like a madman.

    The knights of the middle continent thought of Zick as a crazy person thanks to this.

    The presence he gave was not matching his age at all!

    The strong and respected live a carefree life and the weak live their whole life in the deception of being protected by the strong, always restless. In truth, they can be killed with a single thought of the strong.

    Strength is the most important thing! Respect, power, ambition, carnal desire, everything without strength is just an afterimage of what people dream of.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    This one point was clearly known and epted by Zick.

    Zick''s eyes shone in profound light: ''With no strength, no matter howplex and well thought a scheme is, executing it would be very hard and have an extremely high chance of failing.''

    But if he had strength, would failing even matter?

    Reputation and fame were already seen through by Zick. It was nothing but a means to be used to attain what he wanted, not something that should control him.

    Living your whole life for the sake of fame and reputation was really pitiful in Zick''s eyes.

    After a few minutes, the fortress of Jeleat city was visible on the horizon. It was already turning dark with the sun vanishing.

    Getting down the snow wolf, Zick put on the white mask and the brown robe. Then he put Seveleen on his shoulder, like baggage.

    He took a deep breath and took off the cor from the snow wolf.

    Grrrr!

    The snow wolf bared its fang ferociously but the very next moment it bowed its head.

    Zick had released a little of his dragon fear, though it hurt like his heart was being poked with a needle.

    "Go and attack the knight guarding the fortress," Zick ordered the snow wolf with a cold voice.

    Grrrr.....the snow wolf dashed forward immediately.

    ''I can sell the taming cor for quite a price, losing it would be a letdown.''

    With the snow wolf distracting the guard, Zick easily got into the city while hiding his presence.

    Entering a dark alley near the inn of the organization, Zick slowly put Seveleen down and got on his knees. He ced his hand on her back and started using his mana.

    A thinyer of mana immediately covered Seveleen''s body before vanishing. Her body slowly started getting up and stood upright. From her face, it was apparent that she was still deep in slumber.

    Taking off his robe, Zick put it on her and put the white mask within his space ring too. He took out a hat from it, putting it on his head.

    Then he started heading towards the inn of the Everlor organizations. Seveleen''s body swayed here and there as she walked like a drunkard so he supported her by cing his hand on her shoulder, sending even more mana.

    ''Barging into the inn would appear suspicious so I can only do this. Sigh....'' Zick felt a little annoyed.

    He knew that many burdens would appear as he collected many talented people before they even started getting stronger. But he could only persist.

    ''Once I am done with the demon Lord, I can continue moving forward the way I want.''

    The people walked past him as he started heading toward the inn. Some people nced at him but he ignored them.

    Wearing a robe and walking in the street was suspicious but it did not garner too much attention.

    Taking a left turn, Zick arrived in front of the entrance of the inn, he entered it without any hesitation.

    CLICK~

    The same reception of the inn weed him. The receptionist looked at him before starting to work again.

    Walking in front of the receptionist with Seveleen, Zick spoke to her: "Give me a single room." A green seal appeared behind Zick''s palm.

    The receptionist saw it and nodded her head.

    "50 merit points." She spoke with no interest.

    Sending the merit points to her through the seal, Zick continued speaking: "I want to use the teleportation circle, destination is the main base of the organization in the Gorthect empire."

    Pausing for a second, Zick continued: "Take this girl to the room, if she wakes up, tell her that I went out and will be back in a while."

    After a mage exhausts their mental power, it takes a long time to recover. So Seveleen shouldn''t wake up anytime soon but Zick still gave such instructions just in case.

    The receptionist pped her hands, calling upon two servants who took Seveleen to the room booked by Zick.

    Passing 1500 merit points to use the teleportation circle, Zick sessfully used the magic circle and teleported to the main base.

    SWOOSH~

    With a sh, Zick''s figure vanished.

 Chapter 133 I Need Strength...

    Everlor organization, Gorthect empire main base.

    Within the teleportation center.

    SWISH~

    With a sh, Zick materialized above the teleportation circle. His eyes opened slowly, exposing his vertical deep red eyes.

    With no hesitation, he started heading towards the trading post.

    The fourth floor of the main base was filled with many people who were looking around the stalls. Most of the people here were wearing shady clothes, looking extremely suspicious.

    All of them had a sinister presence around them. Some even smiled with bad intentions, looking at people around them.

    In between, Zick walked unhindered, he had an expressionless face and his eyes shone as if looking for prey.

    The people made space for him, feeling immense pressure going near him. Almost all of them felt threatened by him.

    The distance between the trading port and the teleportation circle wasn''t toorge. Zick was able to reach the pir in between the trading port soon.

    The shop owner raised an eyebrow seeing Zick''s tattered state.

    "How much will I get for this?" With no hesitation, Zick ced a medium-quality mana crystal in front of the shop owner.

    For the first time, the shop owner''s expression changed. His eyes shone in greed and his face was filled with energy.

    The mana crystal in front of him was almost one meter in size!

    Smiling, the shop owner took the mana crystal and checked its value.

    "10,000 merit points." He spoke bluntly.

    Zick nodded his head with satisfaction, feeling the amount to be quite to his liking.

    "In tinum coins?" Zick spoke without showing any satisfaction on his face.

    "Hm...It should be around 30 tinum coins."

    The amount stated exceeded what Zick expected, giving him a surprise.

    "Let''s talk in private, shall we?" Zick spoke confidently, almost like the shop owner would ept his proposal for sure.

    Doing such a deal in the open would just attract unneeded attention and bad intentions.

    A few people passing by heard Zick speak,ughing at him immediately. There has never been a situation where this shop owner left his post and made a deal in private.

    Hearing Zick''s proposal, the shop owner narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. In his mind, the value of Zick had already risen considerably.

    Has there ever been a person who sold such a big mana crystal in this shop? None!

    How can a green-ranked member ever get such arge mana crystal their hands on?

    At most, they would have a small piece of arge mana crystal.

    After thinking for a few seconds, the shop owner immediately agreed: "Alright, wait for a second, I will call upon my servant to take care of the shop."

    Saying this, the shop owner took out a ck book and used it tomunicate with his servant.

    Just buying the medium-quality mana crystal would make this worth his time.

    After making some preparation and giving strict instructions to the servant, the shop owner led Zick toward the huge pir as the people around them stared at them with astonishment on their faces.

    A guard stood in front of the entrance of this pir, but he immediately moved aside after the shop owner showed his seal.

    The inside of the pir had a clean hall, the interior was made of pure white marble and was decorated in a fancy way.

    "Ohh, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Airaik." While climbing the stairways in the middle of the hall, Airaik spoke with a friendly tone.

    "It''s Zick," Zick spoke coldly, he showed a little rushed expression too. He had no intentions to keep a good rtionship with Airaik. The chances of them meeting again was low as he would be moving around in the Hevertec kingdom in the future.

    "Hahaha, It looks like you are in a rush, let''s get this over quickly then," Airaik spoke amiably, not fazed by Zick''s cold expression, he had dealt with many people like this.

    Shortly, they reached the middle part of the pir, where there was another huge room.

    Entering through the door, a pure white room decorated with many innate essories appeared. In the left corner of the room, two red sofas were positioned facing each other and a ss table was in the middle of it. Zick and Airaik sat on those two sofas opposite each other.

    Zick was in a hurry so he got down to business and spoke of selling all the 53 medium-quality mana crystals in his space ring. He also decided to exchange two of them for merit points; he needed them to use the teleportation center.

    The shop owner was immediately filled with suspicion.

    This deal offered by Zick sounded very unreal no matter how looked upon.

    "I would like-"

    Before Airaik couldplete his sentence, Zick waved his hand creating a small hill of mana crystal.

    Airaik turned his head with a dazed expression, his mind went nk for a second seeing the piled-up mana crystal.

    nk~ a mana crystal slid down and fell on the ground.

    Snapping out of his daze, Airaik''s expression turned to that of shock.

    It was actually real!

    Mana crystals were so sought after that they would sell almost immediately! They were the basic material used in alchemy after all.

    Seeing the piled-up mana crystal, Airaik''s eyes shone with hidden intention. Killing intent rose like surging tides!<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Greed almost made him blind but he was able to control himself. The moment he did anything that could harm an organization''s member, the seal would activate and kill him immediately. This was the deal made between the organization and him.

    ''Sigh, who is this person? Why does he have such a huge fortune with him?'' Airaik was filled with many questions but he swallowed them all and started speaking.

    "Two medium-quality mana crystals for 20,000 merit points and the other 51 mana crystals for 1,530 tinum coins....." Airaik spoke calcting rapidly. Though he could not steal the mana crystal from Zick, this deal was already very profitable to him.

    "Alright, deal." Zick epted immediately, exchanging the merit points and then tinum coins through the space ring.

    Airaik also put the 53 medium-quality mana crystals into his space ring.

    The atmosphere in the room was solemn as they both sat in silence. Airaik sat nonchntly, But internally he was full of expectations and excitement.

    Zick sat on the sofa, not showing any sign of leaving, there was still something else that he needed.

    To buy Varine only 1000 tinum coins were needed so even after he buys her, Zick would have a lot of money left.

    "Do you have Feanert poison?" Zick''s expression waspletely cold as he stated hisst need.

    Airaik got out of his daydreaming hearing Zick''s question. He nodded his head towards Zick remembering there was Feanert poison in the stock.

    "500 merit points."

    "Alright." Agreeing immediately, Zick and Airaik went back to the shop in front of the pir.

    Many people''s gazes were on Zick as he stood in front of the shop waiting for Airaik to bring the poison.

    Feanert poison was a normal poison that causes temporary paralysis for a few hours. This poison was extracted from a flower named the Hargesten.

    "Here." Airaik was a little disappointed that there was nothing else that Zick sold or needed but he didn''t let it show on his face and added on. " I look forward to our future deals."

    "Me too." Zick turned around and directly left.

    Zick started heading toward the teleportation center after getting what he wanted.

    It took 5000 merit points for him to use the teleportation circle to teleport to the side branch of the organization in the Gorthect empire''s capital.

    Opening his eyes, Zick found himself in a familiar room. Looking in front of him, he saw someone standing there.

    A maid stood beside the door like a statue which surprised him. He was not able to sense her at all, which showed that she was stronger than him.

    "How may I help you, sir?" The maid spoke in an alluring voice matching her beauty. She looked quite young too, around 20 years old.

    "Guide me to Sir Ovelon."

    "Have you made an appointment with Sir Ovelon? If yes, please show me the letter."

    "...." Zick was left speechless hearing this, but reacting immediately, he cursed in his head.

    ''That redhead bastard...He never even expected me toe in the first ce!'' Zick got a little restless thinking about this.

    "...Hevish, tell this name to sir Ovelon."

    The maid''s expression changed upon hearing Zick.

    "There is no need to inform sir Ovelon. He has already ordered me to bring sir Hevish to him if you appear." Knowing that Zick was a guest to Ovelon, the maid bowed her head and spoke respectfully.

    "Lead the way then," Zick spoke, feeling a little relieved.

    If Ovelon had expected Zick to not appear from the beginning, there was a high chance that he wouldn''t keep his promise of keeping Varine with him.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door, the maid started leading Zick to the ce Ovelon was currently.

    Looking out of the window, the beautiful city with many colors of light glowing entered Zick''s sight. It had already turned dark by then.

    The corridor Zick walked on was very silent, with the wallmp being the only illumination.

    The window curtains fluttered, softly brushing past Zick''s cheek.

    ''Meeting Seveleen was a coincidence, but I wonder what happened to the other people with talent in the academic city.''

    Whether they survived or died, it was uncertain. That is the reason, Zick was only looking for talented people from the Eastern continent.

    ''Not much should have changed for them. With the knowledge I have, I can try to recruit them one by one but I can only hope that the demonic race doesn''t start moving in earnest before they grow to their limit...''

    ''Hoping....'' Zick squinted his eyes, not liking the word.

    Hoping didn''t suit him at all. He didn''t like relying on his luck in the least.

    ''I need strength...Relying on others to kill the demon lord is important but I can''t let it be my main priority.''

    ''Growing stronger should be my priority right now.''

    Thinking this suddenly, Zick got a brilliant idea.

    What if he used the talented people he recruited in his meatshield team to collect rare potions and materials used to increase potential?

    ''It''s not bad but I will need to think extensively, they won''t do evil things so I will have to make them ''righteously'' get me these things.''

    Zick wanted to smirk evilly but stopped himself knowing the existence of the maid in front of him.

    ''I also need to check out those snow white crystals use. If they can be helpful to me, I will collect tons of them the next time I go to the Lectic mountain region.''

    Soon, Zick and the maid arrived in front of a door.

 Chapter 134 Worst Than Me

    CLICK~

    Opening the luxurious door, the maid stepped aside and bowed her head a little, indicating Zick to go in.

    With a calm expression, Zick entered the room with steady steps. The door behind him closed slowly as he entered deep into the room.

    A smile blossomed on Zick''s handsome face as she said: "It''s been a while, Sir ovelon."

    Hearing Zick''s voice, Ovelon sitting on one of the couches looked at him with a fascinated look.

    Feeling that Zick had grown strongerpared to before, Ovelon eyes brows rose.

    "For some reason, I felt that you woulde from a long time. But for you to really appear....and to be a peak high-rank knight too." Ovelon spoke with his eyes shining in probing intentions in it.

    Bing a peak high-rank knight in just three days was not normal, and this made Ovelon extremely curious.

    "Haha, I was just lucky to get my hands on a Bevour potion, and Sir is the ve...." Zick spoke in a little rushed and restless manner showing his will to buy Varine.

    Hearing the word ''Bevour'' Ovelon''s eyes shone with surprise. This potion was very famous in the eastern continent, it could raise a high-rank knight to the peak of that rank but it had the disadvantage of decreasing the lifespan by 20 years.

    What surprised Ovelon wasn''t how Zick got it but that he actually used it. In his eyes, Zick could be a peak-rank knight by himself in a few years, there was no reason to use bevour potion to increase his strength.

    ''Does he want that ve so badly...?'' Ovelon created his own conjecture.

    "That ve is in the basement of this mansion, you don''t have to worry," Ovelon spoke in a reassuring tone, not showing his surprise.

    He then invited Zick to sit on the sofa opposite him.

    His impression of Zick changed, thinking of him as a rash decision-making type.

    ''There are people like him who can''t control their desires, well not like I can control myself too. The moment I see some new creature, I feel like cutting it into pieces and bathing in its blood.'' Ovelon felt himself to be quite nearer to Zick thinking this.

    "I see, I have brought the amount stated with me," Zick spoke with impatience and immense desire written all over his face.

    To Zick, what Ovelon was thinking was clear as the day.

    Originally, He just wanted to get Varine and get going from here, but after seeing Ovelon taking an interest in him, Zick wanted to get close to Him and make a connection.

    ''Human habits don''t change quickly, sigh.....if I had answered positively when he asked me to experience ying with big things, my rtionship with him would have be very good.'' Zick regretted his past actions.

    At that time, Zick had rejected it immediately not being interested but now that he thought about it, he could have benefited from epting the offer.

    By bing close to Ovelon, Zick could benefit in many ways.

    After he sold so many mana crystals, people would try toe and find trouble with him without a doubt. By putting Ovelon''s name beside his, there would be very few people who would have the guts toe and find trouble with him.

    "Sigh...You really are fixated on little girls too much don''t you think? I can''t understand what you like about them. I know she looks quite pretty for her age so there is that...." Ovelon stopped speaking, thinking for a second, and continued, "or wait, have you never tried it with big women?" Ovelon spoke in an enlightened manner.

    "Hmm, no I wasn''t interested so I never tried torturing or toying with them," Zick showed no interest in this matter.

    "I see, that must be the reason for yourck of interest in bigger toys." Ovelon got up,

    Sending a message to someone through the ck book and heading towards the basement with Zick.

    There has never been anyone who felt the same emotions as him looking at the blood neither in the organization nor the people of the kingdom and empire.

    The immense sense of satisfaction, delight, and exhration that Ovelon felt while looking at and touching the blood was something that he could not feel in anything else.

    Ovelon was born in a normal noble house. From a young age, he knew that he had a weird fetish for torturing his opponent to see more blood.

    He had to hide this fetish from everyone normally as he knew that it was not something to be shown proudly. But it changed when he met his going-to-be bride, she was as beautiful as the flower with deep red hair and jewel-like eyes.

    With only a single nce, Ovelon suddenly lost control of his body. Pulling out his sword, he directly tried to cut her in half!

    But was stopped by the knight around him.

    Even now, he still yearned to find her again and cut limb by limb and bathe in her blood. But fate was uncertain, his bride had be a peak-rank mage who had the highest chance to be an Archmage.

    Blood, yes this was all that mattered to him at that time. But now, he felt a little lonely, he didn''t care about this emotion much as he could still enjoy killing people and seeing blood.

    By meeting Zick who was the first person to ever request to join the organization through him in years, Ovelon felt the urge to make him realize the fun in ying with ''bigger things'' and let him experience the emotions he felt.

    Zick followed behind Ovelon with a confused look, but internally he was cheering.

    ''I should just y along with him for now and show interest in the things he likes.'' Zick couldn''t tell before but now he was sure that the members of the organization kept their distance from Ovelon for sure.

    After all, bathing in blood did seem too much...<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Climbing down the stairs, Zick and Ovelon reached the ground floor and started heading toward the right side of the corridor.

    Few people walked past them, most of them were servants who paid respect to Ovelon and continued doing their work. A few members of the Everlor organization appeared too, they were full of respect and fear greeting Ovelon. They also gave subtle nces to Zick thinking who he was.

    In between, Ovelon spoke a few times to Zick inviting him to stay over but was rejected immediately by him. Zick gave an excuse saying that someone was waiting for him.

    They soon reached the basement''s entrance, Ovelon borough his hand up showing the seal on his hand to the door.

    CLICK~

    The door to the basement''s door opened slowly. A dark stairway appeared in front of them.

    Without a word, Ovelon started descending the steps.

    Walking behind him, Zick could feel many presences in front of him.

    "Haha, I forgot to tell you something, this mansion belongs to me," Ovelon spoke in a friendly tone.

    Zick nodded his head in understanding. He had already tried but it doesn''t seem like Ovelon was interested in getting praised at all. So being straightforward with little bootlicking was the best way of behavior.

    Shortly, both of them reached the basement, exposing the thing there to Zick.

    Zick continued looking emotionlessly at the view in front of him. The smell of blood reached his nose which was very familiar to him.

    ...

    "Sob..."

    "Please save me....."

    "It hurts...it hurts...."

    "Ahh! I want to die! Kill me! Kill me please!"

    .....

    Many types of demihumans were hung on the ceiling with steel chains tied to their hands, they swung to and fro as they resisted. Both men and women without exception were naked. They had many grievous wounds on their body from which blood flowed out like a small river.

    There were a few servants who stood at the corner to heal them the moment they are going to die.

    There were big iron cages in the corner of the room which were filled with many more demihumans. They were unharmed showing that they were the next badge to be hung after this one lost all their will to live.

    The basement was long and the ceiling was also very high from the floor.

    Looking at both sides of the room, Zick could only see blood and nothing else. He had underestimated Ovelon''s thirst for blood, this also showed why the members of the organization had such an aversion towards him.

    Taking a deep breath, Ovelon looked like he was enjoying the most fragrant thing in the world.

    "...."

    Silence immediately descended in the room, the demihuman''s faces froze and their body started shaking rapidly feeling immense terror.

    "Haaa.....You there, bring me the girl I told you to ce here." Ovelon said to one of the servants standing in the corner of the room.

    "Yes sir." The servant immediately went towards the cage.

    Ovelon turned towards Zick and started speaking to him: "That ve seems to have experienced trauma and is out of it so be careful to not totally break her before you have fun." He said in a yful tone.

    Zick''s eyes shone upon hearing this. ''She experienced another trauma huh? Her luck is worst than mine.....''

    He knew about Varine''s past so he knew that she had already gone through a lot. But for her to experience another tragedy made even him filled with some pity.

    ''Well, I will still use her and throw her away after she serves her purpose so I guess her life will end in tragedy itself.'' Zick cast the pity away.

    Even though she was pitiful, Zick was going to use her nheless. This emotion couldn''t affect his decision-making.

    The servant soon came towards him while dragging Varine by the hand.

    Varine still wore the simple white dress given by the vige chief and had a nk expression, with no sign of life.

    Being pulled by the servant with no consideration for her weak hand, Varine felt shocking pain in her hand which made her eye twitch.

    She looked in front of her seeing the handsome person looking at her with no interest. The person standing beside him also entered her sight, immediately causing her to be dumbfounded at once.

    Some life to her dead eyes returned. ''Sir Zick...?''

 Chapter 135 Acquiring What He Wanted

    After waking up Varine was interrogated by a member of the Everlor organization immediately, not even having the chance to understand the situation.

    The higher up of the organization didn''t have much expectation from the beginning. Varine was just 12 years old so the information they could get was limited.

    They didn''t have to resort to using torture as a simple truth-telling potion was more than enough.

    Varine was still a normal human being, her body couldn''t resist the truth potion in the slightest.

    As the organization had expected, there was nothing beneficial in the information they gathered.

    Just when they were thinking of reselling Varine to any of the alchemy towers, Ovelon, a red-ranked member came and took her away saying he got interested in her.

    Even the interrogator who tortured others for information was filled with pity towards Varine. He knew about Ovelon''s personality, which was akin to a drug addict.

    Like this, Varine, while still confused and hateful ridden was taken by Ovelon.

    Varine was filled with rage and hatred as sharp as the sword. She wanted to rip apart Uthyen who killed the people of the vige.

    But she was powerless just like the moment bandits attacked the vige she was in her childhood.

    Experiencing such an event again, Varine knew what she needed clearer than ever.

    Strength! To kill that hateful person and not experience such a situation again.

    Looking at Zick who appeared to be sick with extremely pale skin, Varine was speechless, she didn''t know what to feel at that moment.

    The time Varine and Zick had stayed together was very limited, but seeing Zick as the first person she was familiar with �C made her emotional.

    There was no tear or any change in her expression, only her eyes had a dull light in them.

    Zick''s eyes shone as he immediately created a thinyer of mana barrier around him, stopping any voice to leak out.

    Ovelon didn''t care about the barrier and started speaking: " I won''t go back on my words, she is all yours for 1000 tinum coins!"

    "Yes I have them prepa-"

    Zick''s words were cut off by Ovelon as he spoke with a small smile.

    "But as I thought, making a deal with a person who hasn''t even yed with bigger toys is not something I do." cing his hand on his head, Ovelon spoke in an exaggerated manner.

    Hearing Ovelon spewing bullshit, Zick could only shake his head internally.

    "So first you have to experience it, don''t worry it doesn''t even take 10 minutes," Ovelon spoke very friendly, making Zick stare at him.

    ''This is weird, there is no reason for him to act so friendly....there is something that I don''t know.'' Zick rapidly considered.

    Zick was not aware of Ovelon having lonely feelings, which was driving him to do such a thing.

    But Zick didn''t let the weird situation cloud his judgement.

    On the other hand, Ovelon looked at Zick with an expectant look. He was aware of his obsession with Varine so he knew that Zick would ept the condition he stated.

    "Well, if it means I can have her then I am ready to do anything!" Zick spoke resolutely before continuing.

    "But before that, I would like to move that ve away. After all, I can''t have her frightened out of her wits before I even begin with her."

    Hearing this, Ovelon immediately showed a bright expression and started patting Zick on the shoulder.

    "Hahaha! No worry, no worry. Let''s just enjoy the process, I remember not taking a bath in blood today you should join along too!"

    "....okay," Zick spoke calmly, but internally he was speechless.

    Bloodbath, just the name sounded ominous and creepy.

    Bathing in blood for no reason was something that went out ofmon sense and would be looked at with disgust by the masses.

    Ordering the servant to take away Varine, Ovelon led Zick toward the cage.

    "Let''s walk from the corners, I don''t want to dirty my clothes yet." Zick pulled his hand, seeing Ovelon leading from right below hung demihumans.

    "Oh, alright." Ovelon nodded his head.

    They walked near the walls, far from the hanging demihuman, and reached the iron cage.

    Seeing Ovelon walking toward them, all the demihumans in the cage shuddered, feeling immensely frightened.

    "You can pick anyone you want." Ovelon moved aside, standing beside Zick.

    The demihumans within the cage stared at Zick with their frightful gazes.

    There were many kinds of demihumans in the cage, catman, wolfman, dogman, and so on. They ranged from young to old, they were not ves instead they were captives that Ovelon collected by attacking many demihuman tribes.

    In the eastern continent, demihumans were not discriminated against so there were many ces where they built their tribe and lived openly.

    Zick looked around with a deep in thought look and chose demihuman randomly.

    It was a catgirl looking to be in her mid-20s, with an exceptionally beautiful face and body. She had ck hair and slim legs.

    "Not a bad choice," Ovelon ordered a servant to bring out the catgirl chosen by Zick.

    The catgirl was pulled out roughly and thrown on the ground by the hair.

    "Agh! No! Grek, help me." She pleaded to her husband with tearful eyes.

    "You bastards! Wait for me, Naishia!"

    One of the catman started resisting violently attacking the cage with his ws and fangs.

    "Hmph!" Ovelon flicked his finger from which a ray of red light left and beheaded the resisting catman.

    ng! The cage was also damaged a littleing in contact with Ovelon''s aura.

    Zick squinted his eyes a little, he could feel that Ovelon was at least at a mid-master level not far from reaching the peak.

    "Nooo!!" Naishia wailed loudly.

    The catgirl sobbed, feeling sadness like never before.

    THUD!<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Tch! Shut up, you''re annoying." Ovelon exposed his aura a little, making Naishia mute at once.

    Zick looked at all this without moving an inch and maintained a deadpan look on his face.

    "Alright now, how do you usually y with your toys?" Ovelon asked as if asking the world''s most natural thing.

    To him, this demihuman was nothing more than a ything.

    What happens when you y too roughly with a toy?

    It breaks!

    What happens when you y with a single toy for a long time?

    It gets boring, so you throw it away!

    Just like how Ovelin does with lifeless demihumans.

    It was such a normal thing, but still, no one was able to understand it till now �C Ovelonmented.

    "I like to cut their tendons and let them bleed first, then heal them and again carry out the same process. After that, I leave it up to my feelings and continue trying out new things." Zick spoke after considering for a few seconds.

    "I also leave it up to my feelings and mood." Ovelon nodded his head with a serious look.

    Seeing Ovelon being serious made Zick stare at him.

    "You must not have any experience ying with bigger toys so do as I say," Ovelon spoke in a proud voice, instructing Zick like a teacher.

    "First tear her clothes apart. Hehe, they break quite fast when you break their self-esteem first"

    "Kyaa! No! Please stop!"

    TEAR!

    Zick did as Ovelon told without any hesitation.

    "Next rape her!" Ovelon smiled evilly.

    "...."

    Zick''s expression turned sluggish.

    ''Is this bastard for real?!'' Zick cursed in his mind.

    But he continued following Ovelon''s order, taking off his clothes.

    Like this, Zick continued following Ovelon''s orders with an empty mind.

    Many obscene things were done that could make Zick''s reputation fall to the abyss if known to others were carried out.

    Zick acted a few times showing little interest orughing gleefully, bing closer to Ovelon quickly.

    ....

    After half an hour.

    In the room beside the basement, two bathtubs made of pure white crystal were filled with blood.

    Zick and Ovelon were submerged in blood having rxed expressions.

    While Ovelon had a look like he was in heaven, Zick just showed a rxed expression, like he was enjoying it.

    "What do you think of bigger toys now?" Ovelon asked keenly, this was the first time someone apanied him to the bloodbath, making him very close to Zick.

    "I think it was interesting....no, I liked it quite a bit," Zick spoke with an honest expression.

    But internally, he felt very tired.

    To tell the truth, Zick didn''t have any interest in torturing or killing, he just did it feeling there to be enough benefits.

    Even now, Zick felt disgusted but he didn''t let that emotion control him. Bing closer to Ovelon was all that mattered.

    "...." The blood that Zick was currently bathing in also belonged to the demihuman he tortured.

    Before a veteran soldier would have been able to smell the subtle fragrance of blood on Zick. But now, if any experienced knight were to smell Zick, they would only be able to smell blood from him and nothing else.

    Like the whole person had taken a bath in blood, which was actually the truth!

    "I knew you would enjoy it!" Even while being very joyous, Ovelon didn''t offer Varine for free which disappointed Zick.

    Ovelon wasn''t stupid enough to do such a thing. He considered his personal and business life separately.

    "Bring your seal near me," Ovelon said with an aloof tone.

    Zick pulled out his hand from the blood and extended it toward Ovelon, showing his green seal to Ovelon.

    Ovelon brought his seal near Zick''s and started activating a function exclusive to red and higher rank members.

    A red light shot to Zick''s seal from ovelon''s and entered it.

    "Now anyone would be able to sense that you are under my protection through the seal. You can take that as a present from me, from now on you''re my friend!" Ovelon dered happily.

    Zick''s eyes shined in joy too. He got what he wanted atst.

    "Thank you, sir-"

    "Ovelon will do."

    "Thank you for letting me experience this new feeling, ovelon."

    "Haha, my pleasure."

    Now there would be a very low chance of someoneing and finding trouble with him in the organization.

    ''Sigh...It took longer than I expected.''

 Chapter 136 Recruiting

    Getting up, Zick stepped out of the bathtub exposing his body which looked perfect with not too much muscle or fat. Blood dripped down his body, making him look like a valiant warrior who was bathed in his enemy''s blood.

    Zick cleaned himself using magic shortly, cleaning the blood off with disgust.

    "You''re going already?" Ovelon asked with a disappointed gaze.

    "Yes, As I said, someone is waiting for me and I also can''t wait to y with my new toy," Zick replied with a simple smile.

    Ovelon didn''t say anything further to stop Zick and just invited him toe any time he wanted.

    "Ah, also sorry, I forgot to ask for the instrument and blood to change the ownership of that ve," Ovelon spoke in an apologetic voice but his face was not looking sorry at all.

    "No problem, there is no need for it." Zick spoke as if it didn''t matter as he concluded internally: ''The interrogator must have thought it was a waste of time to pass on the instrument thinking Varine was going to die anyway.''

    Exchanging the 1000 tinum coins as promised, Zick went towards Varine who was out of the basement, in the corridor.

    ''I still smell blood on me...sigh...'' Zick heaved a sigh internally, he felt mentally exhausted.

    He had not rested for even a moment, directlying to get Varine after exiting the Lectic mountain region. With all the mental pressure that Zick had, feeling tired was normal.

    He could only rx now afterpleting the hard part.

    ''There is no need to rush anymore, I should n all my future movements extensively and collect talented people.'' Zick felt some rxation after a long while.

    The feeling of tension and pressure that was around Zick lessened a lot.

    CLICK~

    Opening the door, Zick could see Varine standing beside the door with a servant.

    Ordering the servant to lead him toward the teleportation circle, Zick spoke to Varine with no change in expression.

    "Follow me."

    Varine started following Zick silently.

    Moonlight passed through the window illuminating the corridor and the three people walking in it.

    The night breeze made Varine shudder a little as she was wearing a cloth with thin fibers. Some people walked by but most of them didn''t even bother looking at them.

    Zick could feel Varine trembling but he didn''t do anything. Acting kind will absolutely go against the attitude he showed to her before. This would just make her suspicious and alerted for no reason.

    ''Though it seems like there is a low chance of me recruiting Varine, it is actually the opposite. She would agree to any help I offer with a little hesitation in this situation.'' While thinking this, a brilliant n shed by in Zick''s mind.

    ''Right, I can get her to join my meatshield group without there being a need for me to act excessively.''

    Zick knew about Varine''s parents clearly through the novel. The only letdown is that he remembered her father''s name but forgot her mother''s name.

    ''I can manage with just that I guess.'' Zick didn''t feel unmotivated at all.

    Only Varine and her grandmother knew them so whatever story Zick came up with would have a lot of legitimacy.

    And to add upon it, Varine''s parents and grandmother both were dead which was proven by the novel. This was discovered when Varine and the protagonist were back in the middle continent.

    Zick''s eyes shed with glee. ''Hehe, I didn''t think it would be this easy.''

    Zick knew the value of all the talented people who appeared in the novel, there was no need for him to think about it for long. This just made him all the more greedy to get his hands on them.

    Soon, Zick reached the teleportation circle ordering the servant positioned there to connect it to the Jeleat city.

    Zick had to pay 2,000 merit points which made his 20,000 merit points drop to 18,000 at once.

    The teleportation circle activated with a dazzling light, teleporting Zick and Varine away.

    "Ugh...." Varine felt her head rotating, prompting her to kneel and breathe rapidly. Sweat gathered on her face feeling Sick internally.

    Seeing Varine like this, Zick started training in mana without a word and waited for her to recover.

    Ten minutester, Varine recovered and looked at Zick feeling weird inwardly.

    "Follow me," Zick repeated himself and headed out of the room.

    CLICK~

    The same hall greeted Zick. Walking to the receptionist, he immediately ordered some food for Varine and himself. He didn''t book a room for Varine too.

    Sitting in the dining hall which was right beside the reception room, Zick looked at Varine intently.

    CLANG-CHING!

    Taking out a bag filled with tinum coins, Zick put it in front of Varine.

    Varine''s eyes immediatelynded on the bag of tinum coins feeling confused internally.

    "You can do whatever you want from now, you are free," Zick spoke calmly with closed eyes and rxed back.

    Hearing the words Zick spoke, Varine''s expression changed for the first time since they met.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Her eyes opened wide in confusion and an uncertain expression appeared on her face. This was the first time someone said something like this to her.

    For a moment she thought that Zick was just ying with her but seeing his nonchnt expression and the bag of money on the table, Varine knew that what he said was probably the truth.

    She opened her mouth, not understanding her current situation.

    "Why?"

    Hearing it, Zick felt happy knowing that things were going just as he predicted. If her reply was negative it would have turned annoying.

    But Varine didn''t disappoint him.

    "Why?" Zick opened his eyes slightly exposing a little nostalgic look.

    "I just wanted to repay the debt I owned."

    "Debt...?" Varine was further confused hearing Zick''s answer.

    "Yeah, the debt I have to your father, Zeisix."

    Hearing this, Varine''s expression changed, being filled with shock and expectation.

    The moment Zick spoke of her father''s name she started believing in him a little.

    "Then is my father....!"

    Zick shook his head. "He died, unfortunately, but before his death, he spoke about you, requesting me to take care of you. But he passed away before he could tell your whereabouts to my subordinates. So I have been looking for you for many years."

    "I see...." Varine looked down with a sad face but no tears appeared.

    Hearing what Zick said, Varine was now inclined to believe in him further. It would also exin why Zick treated her well even though she was just a ve.

    Almost all of Varine''s doubts were cleared. There was only one question.

    "Why? Why are you telling me to go away after all the years you spend finding me?" Varine spoke of herst doubt.

    Zick cheered internally upon hearing this. ''She took the bait.''

    A mncholy smile appeared on Zick''s face. "I had to join the everlor organization to rescue you so being affiliated with me would just harm you. Haha, now I am just a criminal too."

    CLICK~

    The door opened making Zick and Varine stop speaking. A maid started cing different types of food on the dining table quietly.

    Zick had been stopping any voice from leaking out using his mana so no one was able to hear them. They were speaking in thenguage of the Middle continent so it would just gather needless suspicion if heard by others.

    While the maid ced the food on the table, Varine''s mind started working at full speed. She felt an unknown feeling rise within her.

    Zick had been looking for her for many years without a stop but after he found her, he had to part ways again.

    Didn''t this seem just too sad?

    What would he be feeling right at the moment?

    Varine looked at Zick''s face past the servant. He had an expressionless look as always with his back reclining on the chair, but he must be feeling immensely indignation internally, right?

    Varine started having goodwill and certain emotions towards Zick thinking of how he saved her from the ve life and again saved her right now.

    But she was not aware that the person she was feeling pity for was cheering like never before.

    Feeling Varine''s gaze changing, Zick knew that the made-up story worked sessfully.

    ''Tricking smart people is normally difficult but with the knowledge I have of the novel, I was able to fool her easily. It would have been nearly impossible without this knowledge to me or anyone else to seed in it.''

    ''Now, if her personality is the same as in the novel, there shouldn''t be any problem.''

    CLUCK~ The maid left with a curt bow.

    Silence prevailed in the room, Varine looked at the coin-filled bag in front of her.

    ".....I don''t need it," Varine spoke resolutely.

    Zick frowned, "You will be needing money to live, especially in this unknownnd so you should take it." He spoke very seriously, showing his concern.

    "No, I will stay with you." Varine didn''t know what to say so she said it childishly.

    The frown on Zick''s face deepened. "That is not eptable. The moment people find out about my identity, your life would be in danger too...."

    "Even then, I want to stay with you."

    Though it sounded quite childish and could be misunderstood, Zick knew what Varine wanted to convey.

    Hearing Varine''s resolute voice and seeing her determined expression, Zick was sure now.

    ''I have recruited my first member in the meatshield team.''

 Chapter 137 Rampaging Cold Energy

    Next Zick spent his time trying to make Varine change her decision. Seeing it getting nowhere, he could only ''give up'' and eat the food on the dining table.

    He also ordered Varine to eat looking at her gawking wordlessly at him.

    ''The matter of Varine is taken care of, I just have to destroy the evidence which led her to find her parent''s whereaboutster on.'' Zick ate with a single hand, with a spoon, not caring about ethics in the least.

    There were many kinds of dishes made of meat that Zick had never tasted. The beef was also especially juicy letting Zick enjoy his first dinner in a long time.

    No one noticed but even now Zick was training in mana nonstop.

    ''By doing this I should be able to be a peak rank knight in three months.'' Zick immediately cut a month from his initial estimation of four months.

    Varine started eating, holding the spoon with her small hands. Actually, Butler Von drilled some lessons on how to eat after he saw her clumsy ways of eating.

    "Did butler Von teach you how to begin your journey as an assassin?" Zick asked, breaking the silence.

    Immediately, Varine answered him: "Yes, but...I didn''t get any time to train...." Varine''s voice trailed off.

    "I see, that''s a good thing. Try to be an assassin as soon as possible. This way you will have the strength to defend yourself." Zick nodded his head as he said with no change in expression.

    Hearing this made Varine involuntarily stare at Zick.

    With the help of the made-up story now, Zick could act a little more freely. It didn''t look out of ce for him to worry about Varine instead it just made her closer to him now.

    Opening his closed eyes, Zick looked at Varine before saying: "Be ready in the morning, we will go to the clothes store." He said it looked like he didn''t like something.

    "Okay, sir Zick." Varine nodded her head and continued eating the food in front of her, she felt hungry as she had not eaten anything in a while.

    After finishing their food, Zick booked a room for Varine and himself. Sending her off, he headed toward Seveleen''s room without any hesitation.

    Arriving in front of it, Zick used the key he got from the receptionist and entered it quietly.

    CLICK-CLUCK~

    Closing the door behind him, Zick looked at Seveleen who was sleeping soundly with hastened breathing.

    He had thought about the matter of Varine for a while but it seemed like the chances of fully recruiting her would be very hard in the current situation, so-

    ''I just have to create a situation where she can only lean on me!'' Zick''s eyes narrowed with evil intentions.

    Without a doubt after waking up, Seveleen would try to go look for her sister without a second thought. Though she would want to repay Zick, she knew her priorities well. Her body was slowly rotting away �C finding her sister and sending her to a safe ce would be her main goal now.

    ''But how can I let such a thing happen?'' Walking in front of the bed where Seveleen was lying deep in slumber. Zick took out the poison he brought from the trading port.

    The Feanert poison!

    The cure for this poison is very easy to find so it was normally useless. But to Zick, it was very useful in his current situation.

    ''This poison would react in a certain way when ites in contact with a person affected by the epidemic of the Hevertec kingdom.'' Zick recalled from the novel.

    The moment Feanert''s poison enters the body of a person affected by the Revelner disease it would react violently. The affected person would lose control of the whole body, vision, the ability to smell, and almost everything.

    The only thing they can do is hear, only that. This caused many people to go crazy in the novel.

    ''She should not break easily, with her persistence she would still not give up.'' With a cold gaze, Zick slowly opened the vial.

    Catching Seveleen''s face with his left hand, Zick forced open her mouth slightly and poured the whole content of the vial into her mouth.

    Seeing the vial had be empty, Zick put it back in the space ring and started heading out of the room with no change in his expression.

    As the saying goes, adding icing on the cake cannotpare to offering help in times of need.

    Troubled times and turbulence revealed people''s true colors.

    ''She will experience many hardships from now on and I will be supporting her the whole time. This would involuntarily make her reliant on me more and more.'' Zick didn''t think even for a second longer to decide whether he should execute this n or not.

    So what if it was an evil action?

    So what if it made her suffer through untold hardships?

    If it would increase the chances of Seveleen joining his team of meatshield even by a little, Zick would have executed the n.

    ''Hmph, After this, she will only have me to rely on. I should have around a week''s time, I will close the distance between me and Seveleen in this time.'' Resolution shed by Zick''s eyes as he reached his room on the first floor of the inn.

    Entering his room, Zick sat crossed-legged on the bed and let his mind rest a little.

    His regenerative powers had fallen by a lot so he felt tired and a little dazed with all the thinking he has been doing for a while.

    After an hour.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Zick opened his closed eyes and found himself feeling a lot better than before.

    ''I should check those weird crystals now....''

    Taking out the snow-white crystal, Zick looked at it intently.

    The snow-white crystal was no different than a mana crystal, leaving its color and the fact that it gives out cold energy instead of pure mana.

    Experimenting for a while by sending his mana into it, Zick found nothing in the end.

    Putting back the snow-white crystal in the space ring.

    Instead, he poured out a little of the snow-white liquid he got from the pound.

    A ball of white liquid floated above Zick''s palm with the help of his magic.

    "Haaaa..." Zick breathed out loudly, preparing himself. ''Though there is a low chance of it strengthening me, It''s still worth a try.''

    With a determined look, Zick put the snow-white liquid in his mouth. In that instant, he felt like a piece of ice was ced in his mouth.

    He gulped it down after a second, Zick was fully concentrating to not miss anything. The cold feeling traveled through his lungs and reached his stomach. At that moment, suddenly the concentrated cold energy dispersed slowly and started heading toward his heart.

    Zick''s eyes shone with joy, this feeling was the same as how it was when he used the unorthodox method on himself.

    All the energy gathered in his heart, and just when Zick''s heart started pumping that energy to the mana nerves, a violent change urred.

    "Kuhhhh!!!" Zick tried to suppress his scream as much as he could. His eyes turned red from pain and his face distorted.

    Pain, immense pain assaulted him!

    It was as if his whole body would blow up at any moment.

    Ayer of frost started forming on Zick''s chest skin intensifying the pain.

    Zick clenched his jaw tightly and checked the situation within his body. Finding out the problem, Zick was immediately filled with despair.

    ''I actually let greed affect my mind!'' Zick regretted.

    ''My mana nerves are rejecting this cold energy leading it to spread all over my body. My mana characteristic and this snow-white crystal characteristic don''t match at all!''

    Mobilizing mana all over his body, Zick started to fight back against this cold energy but they were very persistent, encroaching on his body further. This made Zick fall deeper into despair.

    Shortly, a thinyer of frost covered Zick''s whole body. The pain made him feel dizzy, all the mana within his body was used up. He looked almost like an ice sculpture.

    The cold energy rampaging in his body still made him feel immense pain but he couldn''t scream anymore.

    ''Hahaha, I actually killed myself. Sigh! Howmentable, it wasn''t like me to carry out such actions without thinking but it doesn''t matter anymore I guess....''

    Life was slowly leaving his body as all his internals froze, that was when.

    THUMP! THUMP!

    Zick''s heart started beating rapidly, his original ck heart had a little snow-white color mixed in it now.

    Slowly the cold energy released by the heart started getting absorbed by Zick''s body. The rampaging energy was also absorbed slowly.

    "Haaa....haaa..." Feeling the changes in his body, Zick felt some hope rise in him.

    After a few hours, all the cold energy in Zick''s body was absorbed.

    The whole time he had been recovering his mana in case something happened.

    Breaking the thinyer of frost in his body, Zick looked at the bed which was broken in two.

    While feeling pain, Zick could not control his strength perfectly it seemed.

    Looking at his palm, his pale skin shone in a cold glow, giving a sense of strength.

    ''What exactly happened?''

    Just when Zick was going to check his body, another change started happening �� sending waves of pain all-around his body.

    Now, his mana started affecting his body, sending him to another round of refinement. He didn''t feel it to be bad so he let it continue.

    A turbid breath left Zick, ''That was close, If my heart had not adapted I would have died for sure.''

    Zick felt afterfear.

 Chapter 138 Partially Recruited

    The mana nerve affects the body in certain ways depending on the mana''s characteristics.

    Like Zick, if he didn''t suppress his mana, the people around him would feel goosebumps and have an ominous feeling, their instinct screaming at them.

    Now that the cold energy from the snow-white crystal had be a part of Zick''s body, his ck mana started affecting the cold energy in his body.

    By the time this process was over, it had turned to morning.

    Now the cold energy had a tinge of ck light in it.

    ''Chaotic ice would suit it better now.....'' Zick thought while inspecting the changes in his body.

    Overall, his potential in the knight profession was just a little below mid-peak rank now. But this wasn''t the main benefit brought by the snow-white crystal.

    His affinity with ice had increased immensely and his potential in the mage profession had also reached the high rank.

    Now Zick just had to get used to controlling the mana through his ''will'' and then he could start advancing in this profession too.

    Currently, Zick was a peak low-rank mage outwardly, but he could show the strength of a middle-rank mage.

    Zick''s body gave out cold energy that just highlighted his cold expression. This cold energy could also weaken any attack thatnds in his body by a bit.

    ''My body has also been strengthened a little. Those mysterious Chrystal have some weird ability...As I thought, I will have to explore the Lectic mountain region further after bing a master swordsman.''

    Zick had the urge to take in another drop of that snow white but he stopped himself.

    His mind was still exhausted and it was morning so he resorted to checking his affinity for now.

    A normal fireball appeared above Zick''s palm.

    Looking at it, Zick mused: ''No other affinity probably got any boost excluding the ice affinity.''

    A piece of ice formed above Zick''s palm in ce of the fire.

    Zick nodded his head, creating this ice was very easy almost with a single thought.

    ''There is this too.....'' The ice on Zick''s palm dissipated.

    Slowly a small piece of ice formed on his palm. It was different from blue ice, it was ck and gave a threatening feeling to others.

    This was not created by magic but instead from the special ability that Zick got after absorbing the cold energy rampaging in his body. There was a limit to how much it could be used but he felt it to be very useful.

    ''This small ice shard has the strength to easily kill a high-rank knight. It should also be very useful against peak rank knights.'' Zick yed around with the ice shard before letting it dissipate too.

    Zick threw away the worn-out leather armor in his space ring and took out a normal full-sleeve shirt and ck pants. The moment he finished changing his clothes, there was a loud bang on his door.

    Bang! Zick wasn''t surprised at all and walked towards his door with steady steps.

    CLICK~

    There Seveleen stood like a statue with closed eyes and tightly shut lips. Her body swayed here and there a little and her mouth was closely shut.

    ''She woke up, huh?'' Without a change in expression, Zick spoke with a little confused and worried voice: "Did something happen?"

    Zick got only silence as his reply which made him certain that the poison had worked just fine.

    Shortly, Zick heard a voice in his head.

    [Can you hear me, sir Zick?]

    It was magic exclusive to high-rank mages, called telepathy or consciousness connection.

    "Yes, I can hear you miss Seveleen...Is there some problem with your body?" Zick asked with still a cold voice tinged with worry.

    Hearing Zick''s worried voice, Seveleen became certain.

    The moment Seveleen got back her consciousness, she was shocked and terrified to the extreme. No part of her body moved, almost like she had been separated from her body. She was able to calm down after a while and found that she could use magic.

    She could feel that Revelner disease in her body had made her lose control of the body. The Feanert poison was already absorbed by this disease by then.

    Seveleen could move her body using magic and feel the surrounding using mana filled with her ''will''. She started thinking rapidly.

    Her options were very limited.

    She was thinking of searching for her sister after saying her farewells to Zick, but now she was stumped.

    For how long could she control her body?

    What after she runs out of thought?

    How would shemunicate with others?

    She would just gather suspicion from all over the ce.

    The problem of running out of thoughts could be taken care of with stamina potions but it still didn''t solve how she would search for her sister.

    Endless problems rose, making Seveleen feel like a big stone was ced on her heart.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The image of Zick shed in her mind.

    ''Yes! I can try asking sir Zick for help!'' Hope rose, but within a second cold water was poured up on her rising hope.

    Thinking back on how Zick helped her at the moment she needed it the most, she pursed her lips mentally.

    He even saved her life, he was her life benefactor.

    Asking for something from him made Seveleen feel reluctant and shameful.

    Wouldn''t Zick think of her as an extremely selfish person after that?

    But there was nothing else she could do in her current situation. She had no one to rely on!

    Thus, she came to Zick, hearing him speak with concern made her consciousness hurt.

    After mustering her strength, Seveleen spoke to Zick through [Mind connection] magic.

    [...I currently can''t move my body so...I had a request...]

    "You can''t move your body?" Zick spoke solemnly.

    [Yes...] Seveleen replied with a weak voice.

    Inviting her into the room, Zick let her sit on the chair as the bed was broken in two.

    Zick sat on the table and spoke seriously: "So what is the request?"

    [....Please search for my sister and keep her safe!] Seveleen got directly to the point, Desperation could be felt in her voice.

    She continued speaking: [I will die soon and would be unable to look for my sister, I know that this request is unreasonable but please, please save my sister.] Seveleen begged for the first time in her life. She was currently scared.

    She was scared that Zick would reject her request. After all, there was no reason for him to agree at all.

    Nobles were apathetic creatures, they only moved for benefits. So why must he do such draining work as to look for someone?

    Silence descended on the room, with both of them having emotionless looks.

    "Sigh....." Hearing Zick''s sigh, Seveleen involuntarily felt her heart squeeze.

    "I will ept your request....but that is after we find a cure for your disease," Zick spoke coldly.

    ''Huh...?'' Zick''s answer made Seveleen''s mind nk for a second. Understanding the meaning behind Zick''s words, she started speaking hurriedly.

    [There is no need for such a thing, just finding my sister for me will be more-]

    "You will also have to ept my demand if you want me to look for your sister," Zick spoke resolutely, showing his unshakable attitude in this matter.

    [But Eleoner might be facing danger right now....]

    "Ha!" For the first time anger appeared in Zick''s voice. "So you want me to ignore you who is right in front of me and needs help urgently and go look for someone who might need help?"

    Hearing this, Seveleen was left speechless.

    The information she had of Zick from the middle continent appeared in her head.

    He was an heir to the Melvix family and was very famous all around the continent.

    He was someone who was sent to the battlefield at the age of 12 and broke the record for the highest kill in those minor skirmishes.

    Seveleen had a realization: ''I see, so that''s how it is. Sir Zick was a kind person from a young age but...he must have changed after staying on the battlefield for two years. He put a mask on himself so that he could hide his broken side from the world....''

    That is the reason he wore the mask of indifference all the time.

    That was the reason he kept his distance from others.

    But internally, he was a very kind person who would help anyone who asked him for help, even if there was nothing for him to gain from it.

    Just like how he helped Seveleen''s sister, then saved her life, and right now, how he is trying to help her. He was selfless to the extreme.

    ''Such a person doesn''t deserve to live such a life of falsehood.'' Seveleen felt emotional internally. She tried sensing Zick''s location through her mana, only to find it very faint as he had be stronger than before �� Just a few steps away from peak rank knight.

    "We will head to the Hervertec kingdom today itself and also there will be another person apanying us. Please be ready by the middle of the day." Zick spoke dismissively, not ready to hear any other opposition.

    Seveleen was silent the whole time.

    Zick sent her away to her roomter on and sat in the chair feeling satisfied.

    ''She should think of me as a selfless person from now on without a doubt. Well, I was going to ''reform'' myself as justice in the Hevertec kingdom so it matches quite well.''

    ''And about her sister, I am not against looking for her. I was going to roam all around the continent sooner orter anyway. I also have to pick up the key to control theb of the biological golem from the Leweisert kingdom.''

    Like this, Zick seeded in recruiting a member in his team of meatshield partially.

 Chapter 139 [Purification] Magic

    After 20 minutes, Zick went to Varine''s room to wake her up. Like always, he had a hat on his head hiding the ck horns.

    Zick thought to himself: ''I am already turning into a babysitter, huh?''

    Walking in front of Varine who was sleeping peacefully, Zick pinched her cheek without hesitation. He made sure to not apply too much as to rip her cheeks off.

    "Ah!" Varine got up, holding her right cheek with red eyes.

    "From tomorrow onwards, If you don''t wake up early in the morning, no food for you, and if you are not able to follow my instructions through, I will leave you behind," Zick spoke with a little angered look, putting pressure on Varine''s mind.

    "...yes," Varine answered without much change in her expression.

    It was not weird for Zick to berate Varine like this. Instead, it seemed natural.

    Right now, Zick looked like someone who wanted to make Varine give up and leave his side.

    ''Hmm....'' A realization dawned on Zick, a loophole had gone unnoticed by him.

    ''I can just go away without anyone noticing, if I really wanted to keep my distance from Varine this is what I should have done.''

    ''Instead, I stayed behind for no reason...Varine hasn''t noticed this w as she is still young but she will without a doubt notice it in the future.''

    In the first ce, Zick had made his n in a rush so he hadn''t gotten the time to think deeply about it.

    Varine didn''t need to prepare anything so Zick started leading the way as she followed behind.

    Zick passed on some money to the receptionist for the damage he caused. He also asked the way to the clothes shop and magic tools shop to her as it was annoying to look for them in such a big city.

    Even while heading toward the clothing shop, Zick had not stopped thinking about how to patch up this loophole.

    Suddenly his red eyes shone in sharp light.

    ''I can use the excuse of staying with her until she has enough strength to protect herself, by using this she would not doubt my intentions in the future.''

    Zick looked at Varine from the corner of his eye, ''I will have to start making her train like there is no tomorrow while traveling to give the impression of wanting her to increase her strength quickly.''

    Finding the solution, Zick rxed and looked forward in the street.

    Few people looked at them but their gaze didn''t stay on them for long.

    Varine looked like a ve no matter how looked upon. If it was in the middle continent, people would have frowned and would have looked at them with apprehension.

    But in the eastern continent, ves weremon and were sold like hot pancakes in the street.

    Even Zick had seen a few ve dens while walking through the city so it just showed howmon it was.

    The gazes of other people didn''t bother Zick and Varine; they were expressionless the whole time.

    Following the directions given by the receptionist, Zick and Varine reached the clothes shop in a few minutes.

    Zick didn''t bother looking around and ordered the shopkeeper to bring ten sets of clothes that would fit Varine well. He let Varine change into better clothes in the changing room and waited in the reception.

    CLICK~

    Varine walked out of the changing room soon wearing a dress with abination of blue and ck.

    Finishing buying clothes, Zick headed towards the magic tools shop at a normal walking pace.

    Jeleat city surprisingly had a big shop for magical tools right beside the za so Zick reached there soon and brought a normal space ring and a ring imbued with [Purification] magic, passing them on to Varine.

    The ring with [purification] magic cleanses the air around the wearer. It can also purify dirty water and many simr things.

    He also brought multiple healing and stamina potions along with the rings.

    ''Just that one space ring cost 50 tinum coins and the other ring was 300 tinum coins, sigh...It''s not like me spending my money on others.'' Zick heaved a sigh internally and started heading toward the inn.

    The [Purification] magic can only be cast by peak rank mage so making an enchanted item from it was quite an annoying process it seems. So it sold for an astronomical amount.

    Zick didn''t want Varine to be afflicted by the Revelner disease too. She was still 12 years old so she would die very fast.

    Varine stared at the grey ring with a red gem on her finger. Zick had passed it on as if it was garbage but Varine knew its value.

    The customers who came to the underground ve center wore such a space ring. So she knew that this ring cost a lot.

    She was not able to see the exact amount as Zick and the shopkeeper had exchanged money directly from the space rings.

    ''I will repay him once I am strong enough...'' Varine promised to herself.

    While walking suddenly Zick''s leg tripped to the right, causing Varine to hold his sleeves involuntarily with a surprised look as a way to support him.

    Zick clenched his jaw feeling his head throbbing in pain and his ears buzzing. His eyes turned blurry as he stood in one ce lightly holding his head.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    ''Damn it....'' Zick cursed internally.

    From the morning, he felt tired, seeing he could still go on Zick had continued. But suddenly he felt immense fatigue brush over his body.

    The torture he went through in the night had taken quite a toll on his body, it was a pure test of his perseverance.

    Feeling his mind getting fainter, Zick took out a healing potion and gulped it down at once.

    "Haaa.....haaa....haaa..." rity started returning to his eyes.

    "Are you alright, sir Zick?" Varine couldn''t help but be worried seeing Zick acting in such a way.

    ''Is he alright? He looks extremely pale from before so I thought that something was wrong, but for it to be true...'' Varine considered rapidly as she looked at Zick with worry.

    Varine''s small hand touched Zick''s palm, making her expression freeze in no time.

    It was cold...Zick''s hand was extremely cold, almost like a corpse.

    Zick pulled away his hand from Varine and breathed in deeply.

    "I am fine, let''s go back to the inn," Zick spoke with a calm look but internally he was confused. He could feel Varine''s gaze change for some reason.

    "Yes...." Varine answered back with a slightly dazed look.

    Zick started heading towards the inn again ignoring Varine who looked at him nkly, his mind was already wandering somewhere else.

    ''I should leave this city soon. Hehe, this city would soon be affected by the revelner disease after all.'' Zick smiled coldly at the people of this city.

    The servant who took Seveleen to her room had touched her body so they were affected by it without a doubt too.

    Zick had made sure to not let anyone notice by covering Seveleen''s body with mana, but the receptionist must have noticed something amiss by now.

    Now, the Gorthect empire too will be haunted by the disease which threw the Hevertec kingdom to the depth of despair.

    ''Let it spread more and more. Let all the kingdoms and empires suffer from this disease to the extreme. That way, the more famous I will be after finding the cure to this disease.'' A dangerous glint appeared in Zick''s eyes as he stopped himself from sneering.

    After arriving at the inn, Zick ordered breakfast for himself, Varine and Seveleen.

    Sitting on the dining table opposite Varine, Zick started training in mana with no hesitation. He felt the changes in his mana nerves.

    ''I should be able to breakthrough to peak rank knight in half a month.'' This made Zick cheer up, ignoring the pain he went through in the night.

    Seveleen came down to eat breakfast after a servant notified her following Zick''s order. She was suppressing the revelner disease through magic so no one noticed her being afflicted by a dangerous pandemic.

    Seveleen sensed Varine''s presence making her curious.

    Sitting at some distance from Varine, Seveleen started talking to Varine friendly. She knew that Varine was just a kid.

    "Ah, My name is Varine...." Varine said looking at Seveleen who had her eyes closed.

    Seeing them already getting along, Zick ignored them and waited for breakfast while training.

    The food was served in a few minutes and everyone started eating.

    Seveleen was pleasantly surprised by the enchanted item Varine had on her finger. She started talking about it, especially about its ability and rarity.

    From this, Varine learned of the value of the ring given to her by Zick. This time she was very moved by how he gave it to her so easily.

    Suddenly a thought appeared in Varine''s mind: ''Does he think of me as his niece?''

    Thinking of it this way, Varine felt herself infinitely closer to Zick.

    But she immediately shook her head with urgency, throwing the thought away.

    ''The moment I hold any good emotions for others, they die. I will go away after repaying Sir Zick so nothing bad happens.'' Varine started eating the bread with a calm look.

    Zick had listened to Varien speak so he knew what they were talking about. The end result disappointed him a little.

    ''Vatine keeps her distance from others just like how it was in the novel, but it seemed to have worsened for some reason.'' Zick thought while putting a spoon of soup in his mouth.

    He was not aware that another tragedy had already befallen Varine so it would take some more of his effort to make himself someone who Varine can''t live without.

    ''She must have already gotten quite close to me though not to the extent I estimated. I can only try againter, I have a lot of time left. Varine won''t leave my side until she thinks I am safe.''

    After all, he had joined the Everlor organization for her sake �� is at least what Varine thinks.

    Finishing the breakfast, Zick reminded Varine and Seveleen to be prepared by the middle of the day and started heading to the receptionist.

    "Connect the teleportation circle to the Nerbext city in the Hevertec kingdom." Zick spat out with unknown intentions.

 Chapter 140 Genocide Person

    The Nerbext city, within the winter howl inn.

    The teleportation circle shone in a brilliant light before Zick appeared upon it with closed eyes.

    The room he arrived in was luxurious with many innate essories and furniture. The scent of wood wafted around the room.

    The Hevertec kingdom is famous for the many types of incense they produce and use extensively in many ces.

    Zick felt calm smelling the particr incense burning in the room.

    He headed to the reception without any hesitation.

    ''For some reason, the Everlor organization doesn''t allow its members to use a teleportation circle to teleport to another ruling force''s main base directly using other ruling forces'' teleportation circle. Though it''s for security purposes, they really are thorough when ites to this kind of thing.''

    Through the information passed to him from the seal and oath, Zick was aware of all the rules and taboos of the organization.

    CLICK~

    A corridor greeted Zick behind the door. Unlike the inn, he had been in priorly, this inn seemed to be arge-sized one.

    Walking to the right, he found steps shortly from which he descended at a rxed pace. The receptionist and the servant didn''t even nce at him as they continued doing their work with a perfect demeanor.

    This time, the receptionist was a middle-aged man with a well-shaped brown beard. There were signs of shrewdness in his eyes.

    The moment the receptionist, Deliun, felt Zick walking toward him a natural smile formed on his face.

    "Wee dear sir, would you like to-" Deliun stopped seeing Zick showing his seal on the back of his palm with no hesitation.

    Zick wasn''t a fan of wasting time or trash-talking with others for no reason.

    "Connect the teleportation circle to the main base," Zick said inly.

    Deliun didn''t dare to waste time and did what Zick ordered. ''This kind of people are the most who have a short temper.....''

    Killing a member of the same rank of the organization was prohibited, The seal would activate and kill the person.

    But couldn''t the person do anything they wanted excluding killing? Like torture, humiliation, harming them politically, or just causing the person to die at the hands of others.

    The oath that Zick took could be taken advantage of in many ways. The organization had actually made these ws wantonly.

    The sentence, survival of the fittest fits here perfectly.

    The Everlor wanted elite members, not just in quantity but in quality too!

    While walking behind Deliun, Zick thought: ''This scheme is effective in many ways too. The main point mentioned in the oath was - that "Members of the same rank can''t kill each other", which means that higher-ranked members could kill lower rank members.'' Zick''s eyes shed with a cold light.

    This is the reason he didn''t act conceited and overbearing in front of stronger members of the organization.

    It was not that the other higher-rank members couldn''t kill lower-rank members, instead, it was that they didn''t want to do it for no reason.

    ''The higher ranked members of the organization treat each other as a family....really such a weird organization.''

    Zick liked that the higher his rank was the more influence and freedom he would have. This was the decisive factor that made him ept the oath.

    Deliun was a green-ranked member with a low profile in the organization. He had only survived with shrewd and crafty means until now.

    Using the teleportation circle, Zick arrived at the teleportation center of the main base.

    The scent of incense burning reached Zick''s nose as he opened his eyes.

    First, Zick touched the blue crystal in the reception room, which sent theyout of this base to his mind.

    This base had three pirs unlike the main base in the Gorthect empire. So the posts were also stationed differently.

    Finding the location of the trading post which was below the left pir, Zick went towards it at a fast pace.

    "Hey, do you know, the Revelner disease has already affected the royal family?"

    "There is a rumor that the Yuivel valley is going through an unnatural disaster too. The Hevertec city is going through many misfortune hehe."

    "Lady Philine is also affected by the pandemic, sigh....the world is going to lose another beauty."

    The crowd of people was buzzing and discussing different matters at once.

    Some interested Zick but he put it aside for now and walked towards his destination.

    The trading post was especially crowded with many people walking to and fro. Surprisingly there were demihumans too unlike in the other main base.

    Zick didn''t even have to think about it to find the answer: ''The demihumans must have run away scared by Ovelon without a doubt.''

    Heading to the main trading shop, Zick arrived in front of a three story high building made of pure white marble. He could see his reflection on its wall perfectly.

    Entering it, a clean room with many shelves having ss cases weed him.

    A woman with long ck hair and a soft expression sat on the counter of the reception. Few people were looking around the shelves with interest.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The receptionist gave a nce at Zick before looking at her red book again.

    Zick''s eyebrows rose to feel her potential partially. He could not see her potentially perfectly as his dragon eyes had degraded but he could still somewhat see it.

    ''She must have a potential near the master rank.'' Zick walked in front of her.

    He stated his need directly: " Threleth poison, Gerence poison, gearzel bear heart poison, Heifer root poison, Vermillion snake nd poison..." Zick gave a long list of poison and material while digging deeper into his memories.

    "I need a hundred vials for each poison and a hundred batches of the material I stated," Zick spoke calmly.

    Immediately, the receptionist who was carefully hearing Zick froze. The other people within the room were also hearing with amazement but Zick''s stated quantity made them not believe what they heard.

    "What the...."

    "What is he gonna do with so many poisons?"

    Seeing that Zick was serious they snapped out of their daze and showed bewilderment.

    Everyone couldn''t help but think-

    Was he nning on killing a whole capital? If it''s the truth...

    What kind of genocide person has the organization epted?!

    The receptionist started sweating as she stood up: "Ah...customer please wait, I will call the shop owner immediately."

    Zick nodded his head, not saying anything. The people in his surrounding looked at him with weird gazes as he stood there like a statue.

    ''I am currently rich and there are still high-quality mana crystals in my space ring. With the backing of Ovelon, I can sell it if need be in the future with no problem.''

    The poison and materials he ordered were either connected to the cure for Revelner disease or had certain effects on it.

    Within a few seconds, an old man with his brow tightly knit walked down the stairs. He was also shocked hearing the list of poison and materials Zick needed.

    This old man had trained all his servants very rigorously so they had a good memory and a good grasp on business opportunities. His name was Ghertel.

    Zick''s demand was very excessive when looking at the quantity, but from Ghertel''s experience, he knew that this deal was very beneficial to him.

    Some of the materials and poisons stated by Zick were very rare or cost a fortune. And for him to ask a hundred batches for each!

    Waves were forming in Ghertel''s mind as he felt excitement and palpitation in his heart. He was uncertain as to why Zick wanted so many poisons.

    ''There is definitely something big going to happen soon!''

    With no change in his expression outwardly, Ghertel spoke with an elderly demeanor: "These days young people are extremely conceited, hmph!"

    Ghertel snorted looking down on Zick with no restrain at all. To him, Zick was just a peak high-rank knight, while he was just a step away from master rank.

    But he couldn''t rise to the master rank, his body had already aged and he would not be able to take the pressure while bing a master swordsman. His weak body would never be able to sustain an aura.

    Seeing Zick still looking at him nkly even while he scolded him in front of others, Ghertel felt astonishment rising within him.

    ''He is still so young but is not provoked by my taunting...'' Ghertel decided to change his way of probing.

    "What kind of�C!"

    "Are you going to trade or not?" Zick spoke with no emotions at all, it was like he had never heard what Ghertel said in the first ce.

    "...."

    ''What is wrong with this person?'' The people in the room couldn''t help but think.

    Zick looked at Ghertel who looked at him with amazement visible in his eyes.

    Reacting, Ghertel felt shame rising within him rapidly but he controlled it. He was not someone who let his emotions control him.

    What was most important was for him to agree with Zick''s demand. He was a merchant so obviously, his heart seeks benefits too.

    With a fierce gaze, Ghertel spoke to Zick: "...The things you need are not all avable right now so they will pass on to you in batches."

    "Give me all the things you have currently for now." Zick had already expected this so he asked the very next moment. "And also, there is no need for sending it in batches, tell me when it will be ready, and I wille and take it personally."

    After a while, Ghertel brought many poisons and materials like Pertef panther skin, hail seeker tendons, grave rat heart, Xeces fruit, and many more.

    They covered items used in alchemy, enchantment, and cksmith.

    ''Luckily, I always wrote down names I felt familiar with while reading books in the Melvix family.'' Zick took the item and also brought a map before beginning to move toward the teleportation circle.

    Zick naturally didn''t remember the names of this many poisons and materials. While reading books he would encounter familiar things which helped him in remembering some of the information rted to the Novel, which he would write down in his diary.

    ''Now I just have to find the form to the cure and then I can start my grand tour in the Hevertec kingdom.'' Zick''s lips perked up, regaining some expectation for the future.

 Chapter 141 Accepting A Mission

    Before going back to the winter howl inn, Zick headed towards the mission board below the middle pir, where many low-rank ves were being sold.

    The mission board for the fourth floor was different from the fifth floor. It was an enchanted item that could help people to go through thousands of missions rapidly in seconds.

    cing his hand on the huge ckboard made of glistening ck metal, Zick sent his mana into it.

    At that instant, details of uncountable missions entered Zick''s mind, making him feel a sense of fullness.

    Snapping out of this weird state, Zick started going through the missions with a serious expression.

    There were many types of missions, assassinations, abductions, information regarding certain nobles, and so on.

    Mostly, assassination missions were the most prominent among the others.

    Zick already knew the direction he would be traveling from, so he looked for a mission that didn''t need him to use a teleportation circle.

    ''Wasting merit points for no reason is a huge drawback that I don''t need to sustain.''

    Zick soon found a mission suitable for him.

    [ Assassination of a knight named Levin.

    Rank rmended: Green rank or higher

    Merit points: 3000

    Achievement points: 50

    Additional information regarding the knight-]

    Choosing this mission, Zick ced his hand on the ckboard again.

    With a dim light, the mission he chose had Zick''s name, Hevish written in it now.

    Zick''s gaze flickered a little as he walked toward the teleportation circle.

    ''I need to raise my rank in the organization and even my strength as much as I can. If I can go to the biological golem''sb with master-rank strength, that would be the best oue.''

    Zick''s goal had still not changed, he wanted to get the biological golem at all costs. After all, this way he would have a subordinate who could never betray or harm him.

    After joining the Everlor organization, Zick''s n had already started changing to arge degree. He was nning on picking up the dragon egg after getting Varine but it changed after meeting Seveleen.

    He wasn''t sure if he could find the dragon egg before Seveleen''s time was up. He didn''t take any risks in his current situation, only immense benefits could make him move.

    ''I have to survive, survive and pursue my ambitions and aspirations.'' Zick''s determination red up.

    The annoying emotions he felt while taking care of Varine and Seveleen were swept away by his immense determination.

    ''There are surely many things that I am not aware of right now. Like the being who caused the magic disaster or how those weird crystals were made, but one day for sure, I will unravel them all!'' Zick''s ambition rose by a level. Shortly he started focusing on his situation.

    Zick moved swiftly amidst the crowd and reached the teleportation center.

    ...

    Arriving back at the inn in the Gorthect empire after a few hours, Zick met Varine and Seveleen who seemed to have gotten well together just like in the novel.

    They were currently in Varine''s room.

    Both of their focus went toward Zick the moment he appeared. To them, he was someone for whom they felt immense gratitude. So unconsciously they treated Zick as the leader of the group with no hesitation.

    Zick was aware of their mindset, nodding his head in satisfaction.

    "With the help of the Miss receptionist, We can use the teleportation circle to reach the Hevertec kingdom," Zick looked at both of their surprised faces before continuing.

    "This inn is actually just a side branch and the main one is in the Hervertec kingdom, Nerbext city."

    This supplementary information made Seveleen and Varine slightly nod their head in understanding.

    "So is your preparation over?"

    "" yes."" Both of them spoke at once making their voices ovep.

    "Let''s move then." Zick turned his back and headed towards the receptionist.

    Seveleen followed behind with quiet steps. She feltplex emotions seeing Zick''s nonchnt expression a while ago.

    There was no way he would have gotten to use the teleportation circle for free. He must have paid some sort ofpensation for it without a doubt.

    ''He is probably worried about my weak body.'' Seveleen looked at Zick deeply.

    "Ah, right, let me take some blood from you. I have basic knowledge of alchemy so I should be able to find something about it." Zick rolled his eyes up, looking like he just remembered something.

    Thinking about it for a second, Seveleen epted. Her trust in Zick had already risen by a lot.

    Taking out the inoction he got from the trading center, Zick collected some of Seveleen''s blood quickly. She felt no pain as her senses had already numbed to an unbelievable level. She couldn''t even feel the feet she was walking on.

    Zick had already paid the merit points needed to use the teleportation circle so they directly entered the room with the teleportation circle.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Standing upon the magic circle, Zick signaled the receptionist to activate it with his eyes.

    Nodding her head, the receptionist activated the circle cing her hands on it.

    This immediately made Seveleen stare at her with shock. She was not able to sense her high-rank mage status at all until now!

    But now that the receptionist was using her strength, it was of course noticed by Seveleen.

    This was normal, the organization passed on artifacts or peak-grade enchanted items to hide their presence from others. Even Zick wasn''t able to sense it until she used her strength in front of him the first time they met.

    The receptionist had long found out about her servant being affected by the Revelner disease. But fortunately, she didn''t doubt Zick and Seveleen to be the ones to do it.

    She was a high rank mage so she could clearly feel the harmful particles in the air around the servant. But she could sense none near Zick, Seveleen, and Varine.

    Seeing the receptionist looking restless, Zick was sure that she would be really worried right now.

    Varine''s body shuddered, thinking about her prior experience in the teleportation circle. For the first time, she requested something from Zick.

    "Sir Zick...Can we travel using horses...?" The memory of her vomiting continuously was vividly present in her mind.

    But who was Zick?

    "Just endure it." With no change in his expression, Zick said to Varine.

    Varine mood which was good after talking to Seveleen immediately dampened. She closed her eyes as the bright blue light covered her vision.

    At once, with brilliant light, Zick and the others vanished.

    Arriving at the Winter howl inn, Zick opened his eyes and moved a few steps away, pulling seveleen''s body which had fallen like a puppet whose strings had been cut with his right hand.

    "rgh!" Varine crouched down with an ashen expression and started vomiting the substance she ate at breakfast.

    Seveleen''s body started moving in a few seconds.

    [Thank you...] Seveleen felt weird at how naturally Zick treated her body.

    "No problem." Zick started training in his mana again not wanting to waste time.

    Within a few minutes, Varine recovered and looked at Zick with an apologetic expression.

    "Don''t worry about it, once you turn into an assassin you would be able to resist it to a degree." Zick consoled Varine and walked to the reception.

    Zick knew that Varine was used to hardships, this kind of person tries not to reveal but they seek someone to help andfort them. She had not been able to ovee loneliness in the end.

    She would without a doubt yearn for someone to help too. It wasn''t that they needed help physically but instead mentally, in the form offort or sce.

    But Zick had no intentions of bing her helper like Aeiron.

    ''Instead, I will be a sturdy pir that supports her, that makes her strive to move forward and live.''

    If Zick helped Varine in every single thing, she would be dependent on him for sure. This was a good oue, but it wasn''t what Zick wanted.

    Zick wanted capable subordinates so they could protect him and fight the demon lord. Letting Varine decide for herself would make her mature faster and get valuable experience.

    A sharp light flickered at Zick''s eyes: ''Varine will protect me without a doubt, even if she found out that I am an evil person. She is different from Seveleen, she has experienced the dark side of the world from a young age, and this makes her different from others.''

    ''Even if that is not the case, I will make it so that she would be willing to give up her life for my sake!''

    Heading out of the inn with many eyes on them, Zick opened the door and walked out with no hesitation.

    He has already inquired about the locations of the shops he needed so he directly headed towards it.

    First, Zick brought two horses from a stable, then a wooden carriage.

    Varine and Seveleen had followed Zick closely, feeling surprised internally.

    "The receptionist was a citizen of this city so I have already inquired all about the ces I need to go beforehand." Zick could see through their thought process easily so he added this information.

    Both of them were filled with admiration immediately, Zick hade totally prepared! No problem rose at all.

    They began their journey at once, heading toward Mhelet City.

    Zick was already prepared so he showed his certificate of passing through the fortress to the guard and headed out. He had exited the city before entering it again by paying taxes.

    Mhelet city was also the ce where Zick had to assassinate a knight.

    ''I should use that weird snow-white liquid to strengthen myself too. I should try using it once or twice every day, more than that and my body probably won''t be able to take it.''

    ''Also, though no problem urred, I don''t know if increasing my strength using this method brought some drawbacks with it.....''

    But Zick had no intention of not using such a method just cause there might be hidden dangers.

    ''My heart had adapted to that cold energy so there shouldn''t be any problem unless there was something wrong with that white liquid itself.''

    For now, Zick put it aside and continued traveling.

 Chapter 142 First Mission Completed

    There were many other things that Zick brought with the poisons and materials in the trading port. They were mostly rted to things useful while traveling.

    While traveling through the tracks in the forest, Seveleen focusnded on Zick. It was evening so the orange glow covered thend and trees in their surrounding.

    An unknown emotion rose within Seveleen, doubt. She felt suspicious of Zick''s actions, this thought was abrupt and didn''t mesh well with her prior train of thought.

    But this thought took root deep within her mind, refusing to vanish.

    Why was he helping her? Because he was a kind person?

    Was that really the case, what if he had something to benefit from helping her?

    Thinking about how he asked for a portion of her blood, Seveleen only felt her suspicion rise by another level.

    There was no change in her expression so no one noticed her innermost thoughts. She was still immensely grateful to Zick for saving her life but for some unknown reason, this doubt rose.

    The carriage interior had no cushion and had only hardwood as a sitting ce. On the left, Varine sat while looking out of the carriage and seveleen was seated on the right, upon the cold floor like a corpse.

    Zick was visible to them as there was no interior blocking their view of the couch seat, it was open.

    Driving the wooden carriage clumsily, Zick didn''t stop training in mana like usual. He also made himself familiar with using magic along the way, feeling he would be a middle-rank mage in three or so days.

    He would also try to learn how to read and write from a book slowly. With Seveleen''s help it progressed quite well, she was happy by helping too.

    ''Things are progressing well for now. With this, I can initiate my original n for increasing my rank in the organization. I will need 1000 achievement points if I want to be a purple rank member.''

    Zick thought rapidly before deciding: ''One month, within this time, I will be a purple rank member no matter what.''

    Bing a purple rank member would enable Zick to rise to the third floor of the main base, where many more resources would be avable to him.

    Finishing his thinking, Zick looked around him, the carriage had left the forest a while ago and traveled quite a distance. A grass in was around the carriage.

    He had used his dragon fear a little when he came across a monster, not wishing to waste a second. While doing this he noticed a change in his dragon fear.

    Before it gave rise to overwhelming fear and obedience in monsters, but now a cold feeling came along with it. That wasn''t all, his dragon fear was further strengthened too!

    ''To think, I would find such a thing while going to a danger zone...though, it does seem like any of my other dragon innate abilities will ever appear again, just dragon fear is very helpful to me.''

    The snow white liquid that Zick decided to call snow essence had enhanced his body and heart so this in turn increased his dragon fears capability.

    Vatine was scared listless when Zick used it out of nowhere. The cold feeling had made her body freeze involuntarily with chills rising within her.

    With such a benefit, Zick couldn''t wait to use snow essence again. He started heading towards Mhelet city with enthusiasm.

    ''I will use the snow essence after carrying out the assassination. The cure to the revelner disease is in the basement of the count heifer''s mansion. I should be able to reach it within four days.''

    With the knowledge of the novel, it was not hard for him to get the cure. What matters is that It would look quite suspicious if he found the cure out of nowhere when Seveleen needed it the most.

    ''But I can''t do anything about it, I can''t let her die so easily. If she dies, I will lose an Archmage-level pawn which might be very helpful to fight against the demon lord.''

    ''If I can''t turn Seveleen into my subordinate, then I can only make it so that she would have to participate in the battle alongside me no matter what.''

    Zick considered the worst-case scenario carefully.

    Actually, the chances of Seveleen falling in love with him are abysmal. No matter what he did in the end, he could only make Seveleen feel immense trust and assurance from him.

    Zick recalled the information about Seveleen from deep within his memory.

    ''....If she doesn''t kill me it would be the best oue....''

    There was a huge twist in the novel, where Seveleen goes crazy ravaging a whole capital, no one died but it was hell for the citizens. This was a story for another time.

    Arriving at Mhelet city at night, Zick passed through the checkpoint with the fabricated identity he got from the organization. He booked three rooms for everyone and ate dinner alongside them.

    Returning to the inn''s room which looked normal, Zick started changing into the ck clothes he brought from the trading post. There were many intricate drawings on the pure ck clothes in golden color. This made it shine within the dark room dimly.

    Then, Zick brought out a middle-grade enchanted item. It was a mask, it could change a person''s voice and hide their face to be probed by others through mana.

    The mask was ck and had many scars-like shapes on its surface like it was scratched by someone''s nail desperately.

    Putting the mask on, Zick started thinking about the information provided by the mission.

    ''The knight, Levin should be with his wife right now. This is the best chance for me to kill him.''<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Jumping off from the window, Zick hid his presence perfectly using mana and started heading toward Levin''s house which was clearly stated in the mission''s description.

    Jumping from one house to the other without making a sound, Zick soon reached his destination which was in the south of the city. This ce had many houses and streetmps which shone in bright light, illuminating the streets.

    Zicknded on the house that the knight named Levin lived in and concentrated to feel his presence.

    After shifting his position a little, Zick correctly stood right above the knight''s location. The ck cursed sword appeared in his hand, it started getting covered in a ck glow.

    This didn''t go unnoticed by Levin, he stood up with a stiff expression quickly. But it was toote, Zick swung his sword vertically, cutting the two-story-high house in half.

    BOOM!

    Commotion immediately appeared around the house with the explosive sound.

    Levin was a high-rank knight and was in histe 30s. He was able to somehow save his wife but in the process, he lost his right hand.

    "Dear..!" Levin''s wife looked at him worried and in grief, but he ignored her and took out a sword from his space ring.

    Dust rose everywhere as the debris copsed, in that instant, a ck sword cut through the smoke and headed toward Levin''s neck at an unprecedented speed.

    A blue halo covered Levin''s sword as it came in contact with the ck sword.

    CLANG!

    "Ugh..." Levin felt his palm going fully numb in just this one exchange. His heart jumped in fright.

    ''What kind of swordsmanship is this?!'' Levin''s eyes almost popped out as he jumped backward.

    He was a seasoned knight, who had experienced and seen many things. Through people''s swordsmanship, it was possible to guess a person''s temperament.

    In this exchange, Levin was only able to sense one thing from the sword.

    The intent to kill! The intent to make the enemy bleed, to make them unable to fight anymore!

    The dust dispersed, Exposing the ck figure standing there motionless. Zick was not suppressing his mana at all causing Levin''s wife to be stiff at once, feeling goosebumps.

    ''Just who is this person...? Wielding a sword to kill others and make them suffer...such ominous swordsmanship, he is not normal....'' Before Levin could finish thinking, a ck ice spear the size of an adult''s fistnded on his chest. He was not able to react at all to its speed.

    BANG!

    "Guhhhh!" An excruciating pain appeared at the ce where the ck icended. The ck cold energy started ravaging his body, making him turn pale with bloodshot eyes.

    ck ice started forming from his chest and then extended to every part of his body shortly. Within ten seconds, he turned into an ice sculpture, all signs of life leaving his body.

    The seal on Zick''s palm shined, signaling that the mission waspleted. He started heading back to the inn hiding his tracks and presence.

    Levin''s wife stared nkly until Zick left, beforing starting to run toward her husband.

    Many people gathered around Levin''s house because of themotion Zick caused. No one dared to enter waiting for the guards to arrive.

    ''This knight, named Levin, was very experienced, he was able to block my attack with no hesitation. There was also no dy in his action at all after facing my sudden attack.'' Zick evaluated Levin.

    ''His sword was also of good quality, only its edges cracked after taking my attack head-on.''

    Zick was also quite surprised at the speed the ck ice moved at. For a second he had lost sight of it too.

    Reaching the inn in no time, Zick entered it from the window he left open and closed it. He quickly changed his clothes, wearing another set of red shirts and brown pants.

    ''My first mission was quite sessful.'' Zick looked at the seal on his hand.

    Merit points: 7250

    Achievement points:50

    The achievement points had already been added to his seal. This made him concentrate on other things now.

    ''I should use the snow essence now I guess.'' Zick didn''t waste any time.

    Sitting upon the bed cross-legged, he started meditating to ready his mind for what is toe.

 Chapter 143 Breakthrough To Peak Rank

    A few minutes passed by in silence.

    "Haaa....."

    Feeling ready, Zick breathed out and spread open his fist in front of him. The space ring on his finger shone before a drop of snow essence appeared above his palm. It was the size of an adult thumb fingernail, cold energy flowed out of it, instantly making the room cold.

    Lifting his hand, Zick opened his mouth lightly and ced the snow essence within it.

    GULP!

    Zick gulped it down resolutely.

    The cold feeling traveled from his throat to his stomach. After staying in the stomach for a few seconds, it dispersed �� heading toward his heart rapidly.

    Zick''s heart absorbed the snow essence greedily, before sending it to his mana nerves. The same thing happened again, his mana nerves rejected the cold energy.

    The cold energy spread across his body again. But this time it did not start freezing his internals, instead, it was slowly absorbed into his body.

    Zick breathed out a sigh of relief seeing this and bore the pain with a clenched jaw.

    ''The pain is bearable too. With this, I should be able to breakthrough to the peak rank knight within today''s night.''

    The feeling of his body getting strengthened was intoxicating but Zick kept his vignce up so that nothing unexpected happened.

    After three hours.

    A turbid breath left Zick''s mouth. All the snow essence was absorbed by his body and it also gave out cold energy too.

    At that instant, Zick''s body shook and the mana within the mana in nerves his body started getting condensed at a rapid pace. His ck mana became even darker and denser.

    As the mana evolved, Zick''s body also started getting strengthened. The cold energy also was strengthened to a degree with it.

    After the process was over in a few hours, Zick clenched his fist, feeling the power coursing through his body.

    He was sessfully able to be a peak-rank knight and his potential also increased slightly. His potential in the mage profession also increased to mid-high. Along with it, he also became a middle-rank mage officially.

    This was natural as his affinity with mana increased, it became easy to infect mana with his will.

    Zick felt the speed of his thought process increase slightly. A soft snow-white glow covered his body, its protective feature had been enhanced.

    ''I should be able to use it for another time...'' The recuperation from using the snow essence was milder than the first time, so Zick was not fully exhausted.

    After thinking for a few minutes, Zick decided to use the snow essence again.

    Repeating the same process, Zick patiently waited for the cold energy to be absorbed by his body. This time within two hours all of it was absorbed but his body was only strengthened by a little.

    A cold light flickered in Zick''s eyes: ''I will need to take in arger amount of snow essence if I want to see visible progress but...'' Zick held his head lightly.

    His head throbbed in pain and his ears buzzed, making him feel dazed. He took out a stamina potion and gulped it down at once.

    ''My mind has already reached its limit, I can continue with using the stamina potion but it is already morning.'' Zick looked out the window, where he could see the sunrise from the horizon.

    Getting up from the bed, Zick headed towards the dining hall on the ground floor of the inn, where he could feel Seveleen and Varine sitting, and talking.

    ''They got together so easily, actually, it''s suspicious how they can get so close in a little time. This isn''t like them at all, both of them were people who kept their distance from others but they get along so naturally now....'' Zick felt suspicion rise within him but he hid it perfectly.

    ''The first time I had taken in the snow essence was also weird. It was totally unlike me. Normally, I would have used a ve as a guinea pig and seen the effect of snow essence, but I used it upon myself impatiently.''

    Zick squinted his eyes slightly: ''Something is wrong, I should keep watching further to be sure.''

    Ordering breakfast for himself, Zick entered the dining hall quietly.

    "Good morning sir Zick." Varine greeted immediately after seeing Zick enter.

    Seveleen on the other hand was surprised, she could not sense Zick''s presence at all.

    ''He is the most talented person on the continent, yeah.'' Seveleen thought before greeting Zick: ["Good morning, mister Zick."]

    "Good morning." Zick sat on one of the seats before starting to train in his mana.

    Seeing this, Seveleen could only shake her head. She had never seen Zick waste even a second in the whole time they stayed in the carriage. He would either read, train, or be lost in thought all the time.

    ''Does he even rest at all?'' Seveleen didn''t find it weird if Zick stayed up the whole night to keep training. Though she was also someone who kept her distance from others, she had not fully be a solitary person like Zick.

    Seveleen had been getting suspicious thoughts for a while, but in the end, she ignored it all.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    She was going to die anyway so what''s the point of fretting just because of some feeling that might be true or false?

    Soon, breakfast was served by servants. It was soup and fresh bread.

    Eating the bread slowly, Zick thought to himself: ''It is hard to guess what Seveleen is thinking when there is no change in her expression.''

    The Feanert poison had made it so that Seveleen would stay with him but it also made it hard for Zick to guess what she was thinking.

    Finishing breakfast, Zick got up: "We will leave within an hour, be ready till then."

    Without a change in expression, Zick walked towards the receptionist. The reason he chose this inn to stay in was that it belonged to the organization.

    Using the teleportation circle, Zick arrived at the main base of the organization in the Hevertec kingdom. He headed toward the mission board without any hesitation.

    There were fewer people than before as it was still morning, but there was still quite a crowd of people. Knight had a superior recovery ratepared to normal human beings so it wouldn''t be a problem even if they didn''t sleep for multiple days.

    In the midst of the crowd, Zick walked at a normal pace, he was lost in his thoughts.

    ''Is there something affecting my thought process and theirs?''

    If so, what should he do? What can he do?

    Nothing at all!

    This made Zick feel a sense of helplessness.

    ''Well, it''s a waste of time fretting about it. I can only be guarded all the time and increase my strength so I can respond to any situation.''

    The answer to all of this was still strength in the end.

    Arriving in front of the mission board, Zick started going through the mission.

    At some distance from him, some people looked at him with frowns on their faces. The rumors of Zick buying hundreds of poisons had already spread all over the fourth floor.

    A middle aged man in the group felt cold sweat forming all over his body looking at Zick.

    Zick looked like a normal person with a very handsome face, but to this old man, it was different.

    ''He is a monster!!'' The old man couldn''t sense Zick''s strength but that wasn''t the main point, he could smell a thick smell of blood all over Zick. This smell stuck closely to Zick''s body like he had taken a bath in it, which was the truth in reality.

    Many people retracted their gazes feeling Zick to be stronger or feeling their instinct warning. They all had lived their whole life killing and trying to survive, this made them more aware of the danger than others.

    Zick could feel their gazes but he ignored them seeing no one holding any intention to probe yet. He chose a mission soon.

    [ Kill the military chief of baron rekert, Jeisen

    Rmended: purple rank member or higher

    Merit points: 5000

    Achievement point: 100

    Additional information:....]

    Zick was confident inpleting this mission.

    And currently, Zick was in baron Rekert''s territory so he felt it to be appropriate to choose this mission. Next, he went to the trading port and brought some books about the basics of assassination for Varine.

    Going back to the inn, Zick headed towards the carriage.

    ''My next destination, Chertel city, a side character with immense talent and potential exists there. There are actually two important characters in there, the wicked eyes, Realen, and the two-handed dagger user, Kerene.''

    ''She was an exceptional knight who used daggers and she was a peak master in the novel. She was the most famous mercenary throughout the eastern continent. But now she is just a beggar living in the slums...''

    The only problem was that Chertel city was going through waves of Revelner disease right now. The security would be rigid and on high alert.

    ''Even while entering this city, the guards checked Varine and Seveleen thoroughly. Luckily with her magic, she was able to trick them easily. I don''t know if it will work in Chertel city too...''

    In the worst-case scenario, Zick could only sneak into the city after hiding the carriage.

    After a while, three of them left the city using the carriage.

 Chapter 144 Wuirsec, Wasteland

    The sun shone in the middle of the sky brightly.

    In the middle of barren terrain, a lone wooden carriage moved at a slow pace above the tracks.

    "Take this" Zick lightly threw a brown book at Varine.

    Catching the book from both her hands, Varine looked at it closely. There were unknown letters on it which she saw for the first time in her life.

    The book''s title was the basic letters and definitions. Zick had already finished reading it by now, he learned everything perfectly.

    After he became a middle-rank mage, Zick''s mind was strengthened enabling him to learn and think faster than before.

    "Finish learning that book within two days." Zick ignored Varine''s eyes which were filled with absurdity.

    Though there was no change in Varine''s expression, Zick had learned how to see through it by now.

    Zick turned toward Seveleen and spoke in a graceful tone: "I hope miss Seveleen can help her in learning, I would be thankful."

    ["I will have done it without you having to say it, mister Zick. You can leave her to me without a worry."]

    Zick nodded his head and concentrated on controlling the horses.

    They were currently traveling through the Wuirsec, a wastnd where no nts grow throughout the years. Many mutated monsters were found there and they were all several times fiercer than normal monsters.

    These monsters were beings who survived the extreme heat for a long time and had superior instincts. There were only a few people who used this route as the danger was just too great.

    But Zick wasn''t worried at all, after all, there was a high-rank mage and he was a peak-rank knight too. They could take care of any monster that appeared.

    It would take three days to reach Chertel city using this route. If the normal route was to be used, it would have taken more than a week to reach their destination.

    ''I don''t have much time on my hands, I can''t waste my time by taking longer routes. After reaching Chertel city and recruiting the two talented people, I should be able to reach Heifer''s family territory in a day.''

    A while ago Seveleen couldn''t help but question Zick, confused about his destination and goal.

    Zick skilfully gave his reasons, first, he presented the information he got from the organization about when and Where the Revelner disease started spreading the most.

    Zick stated facts one after another and spoke decisively saying that count heifer''s mansion was herst hope. It was not easy to deceive Seveleen so he hade prepared for any kind of question she asked.

    Where did he get the information?

    From the information guild of course.

    How did he get the funds to buy such information? Zick showed off his high-quality mana crystals.

    How can he be so sure that there would be a cure in count heifer''s territory?

    "It isn''t that I am sure of it, it''s just...I want to believe in it. Believe that we will find a cure to Revelner disease there." Such was Zick''s answer.

    This immediately moved Seveleen, making her feel ashamed of her prior suspicion. Varine''s impression of Zick also slightly changed, she was aware of Seveleen''s situation too now.

    ''If Seveleen can fall in love with me before going crazy, that would be for the best too....'' Throwing this thought out of his mind, Zick thought of another matter.

    ''The Witch...her territory is just beside the region this carriage is passing through. There shouldn''t be a problem until I enter her territory.''

    With it turning lunchtime, Zick let the horses rest and made a tent, and passed out food to Varine and Seveleem from his space ring.

    ["Ah...I forgot to consider about food."] Seveleen apologized.

    ''It has already reached this stage?'' Zick thought and nodded his head outwardly: "You don''t need to worry about it, I will take care of stuff like that. You should let your body rest and not move unnecessarily."

    ["Thank you and I am sorry for the inconvenience...."]

    Zick started chewing the steam bun in his hand: ''If you are sorry, be sure to repay me a hundred folds in the future and not let my effort go to waste.''

    After finishing eating food, Zick started teaching Varine how to control mana and make it her own, so that she could take the first step to bing an assassin. After that, he would make her go through hellish drill sses without any mercy.

    After an hour, Variney motionless on the carriage, feeling her whole body tired and muscles protesting in agony.

    ''She has such a skinny body, some muscles wouldn''t hurt.'' That is what Zick said to Seveleen and Varine. Seveleen had no experience in creating mana nerves or much bodybuilding so she just stayed in the corner and looked.

    Some lizards type monsters headed toward the carriage but were scared away the next moment by Zick''s dragon fear.

    Zick''s dragon fear had also seen an immense boost in its ability, though it was hard to say without checking out in reality, Zick felt it to be a lot stronger than before.

    ''I should try out the ck ice innate ability against some strong monster too.'' Zick thought carelessly.

    He has gotten no time to see the new changes to his ice-creating innate ability. This ability was developed after his body absorbed the snow essence and it had high offensive power. It was ranked first in Zick''s list if only looked at the destructive might.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Continuing to travel, a day went by quickly.

    Zick and the others had to sleep in tents as it was hard to travel at night.

    The next morning they started traveling after finishing eating breakfast.

    The journey was very smooth, no monster got in the way nor were there any terrain problems.

    In the middle of traveling, suddenly Zick came across another carriage which looked superior to his. There were dozens of demihumans riding on horses around the carriage, guarding it loyally.

    Zick''s eyes flickered with uncertainty: ''Almost all of them are high-rank mages. The leader of this group is someone with immense influence for sure.''

    Zick continued moving forward ignoring the unknown carriage.

    "Hm....." Zick squinted his eyes, the other party started heading toward his carriage for some reason.

    ''It would be very hard to kill all of these high-ranking mages and there might be someone stronger too, avoiding conflict is for the best.''

    Zick knew that �� Battle wasn''t the main point, but what he got from it was important. If the losses are higher than what is gained, it''s not worth it at all.

    NEIGH!

    The other party stopped at some distance from Zick''s carriage. Slowly the door opened and the leader of the group stepped down gracefully.

    "You...." Zick was tongue-tied seeing the person walking out of the carriage.

    ''Anelete...so she survived.'' Zick calmed down the next moment.

    On the other hand, Anelete was pleasantly surprised, understanding what Jerg had said about feeling a familiar presence. Soon Jerg walked down the carriage too.

    "It''s been a while, miss Anelete." Zick was the first to speak after getting down the carriage.

    "Yes, it''s been a while, mister Zick. I would have liked to talk about how you have been doing but I am in a hurry so sorry for appearing rude." Anelete spoke with restlessness visible in her eyes.

    She started what she wanted: "Do you have any mana crystals?"

    Silence descended on the barren ground.

    Zick''s mind ran at lightning speed, thinking of the reason Anelete needed mana crystals.

    ''I see, so that''s it.'' Zick''s eyes narrowed.

    Next, he thought of the benefits he could get from making a deal with Anelete.

    ''We have taken an oath seal so she will not be able to vite it.''

    Thus, Zick decided: "I have mana crystal with me, b-"

    "I am ready to pay any price so please sell it to me, I will be sure to repay this debt in the future for sure." Anelete knew Zick, he was someone who only moved when having something to benefit so spoke with carefully selected words.

    "Listen to me correctly before speaking," Zick said angrily, his eyes drooped down and a little dragon fear leaked out.

    From the moment he lost his Melvix family heir position, people kept cutting him halfway through speaking. This had started pissing him off.

    ''Do I appear like someone who they can treat without care? It is my fault that I kept such an image in front of others.'' This realization made him aware of his shorings.

    So he just had to change it.

    The dragon fear just made the people around him feel ufortable.

    "....I am sorry, please continue, mister Zick."

    "I only have high-quality mana crystals with me, so do you have the money to buy them?" Zick folded his hand looking at Anelete arrogantly.

    "..." Anelete felt a sense of helplessness.

    The value of high-quality mana crystal was above 500 tinum coins without a doubt.

    Could Seveleen make such an amount in just two to three weeks, in this unknownnd? Of course not!

    No matter how talented she was in business it was impossible to make such an amount in such a short time.

    In the end, Anelete could only do a lowly thing like taking a loan, which was only done by lowly merchants.

 Chapter 145 A Sense Of Crisis

    The constant pressure of losing arade had been making Anelete feel restless and despair. There was nothing she could do.

    As a precaution, Anelete had passed on the enchanted items to all her demihuman subordinates. Through these items, she and her subordinates were able to regroup to a degree. Though most of them were still missing, which made their battle strength fall, they had Jerg with them.

    With Jerg in the group, Anelete started looking for others but a problem presented itself in front of them.

    Some unlucky demihumans were directly teleported near people infected with Revelner disease. In their unconscious state, they were infected easily, not being able to resist at all.

    For this, Anelete had toe in contact with the people in this unknownnd. She learned thenguage of this continent with some effort and started collecting information about the Revelner disease quickly.

    Not only Anelete, but the other demihuman also looked for a way to cure theirrade.

    They were stumped shortly, finding that there was actually no cure for Revelner disease.

    There were only different ways to extend a person''s life to a degree using external means.

    The best method to slow the Revelner disease encroach was to let a person be soaked in water made of many materials. This method was found after the joint effort of many alchemists.

    But only a few people can use it.

    Why? Because it costs an astronomical amount to buy all the ingredients!

    The amount could even plunge counts family into the depth of despair.

    The ingredient also needed mana crystal, the higher the quality, the longer can the person live soaked in it.

    Mana crystals were very rare and costly, the city Anelete was in ran out of mana crystals in no time. This made her start heading to the other city past the Wuirsec region.

    That was when they came across Zick.

    Zick on the other hand found the reason she needed mana crystal almost immediately.

    If he could, he would have liked to extort Anelete, but currently, he was the weaker party. The other party had Jerg, a mid-rank master.

    Yesterday night, Zick took in six drops of snow essence, so his strength had another boost in strength. But it would take a while for him to be a mid-peak rank knight or mage high rank.

    Passing on a piece of mana crystal to Anelete, Zick got 200 tinum coins from her. The left out amount would be passed on in the future is what Anelete promised.

    ''What a waste of money, showingpassion to someone who is going to die anyway is such a waste. She is doing it anyway, I thought her to be a smart person but she turned out to be stupid in the end.'' Zick looked down at Anelete who spoke after checking the mana crystal again.

    "Are you going to Chertel city?" Anelete was grateful to Zick, for the fact that he agreed on making a deal with her though she was low on money made her look at him in a different light.

    She wasn''t aware that Zick was forced to, the other party had Jerg and he had already exposed the mana crystals to Seveleen and Varine, wouldn''t it be weird if he didn''t help?

    "Yes, that is my destination," Zick spoke coldly.

    "Then, we can go together, there are many monsters in this region but my subordinate can take care of them."

    Zick agreed, seeing there was no reason to reject.

    As Zick told Varine and Seveleen about what happened, Jerg walked up to him. He was internally confused feeling Zick to be a peak-rank knight. In the middle continent, he was sure that he was a master swordsman, so this bewildered him.

    Seeing Jerg, Zick knew the reason he came without telling.

    "Hey there, Thank you for helping us again. My name is Jerg, I am the captain of the Mendert merchant team." He knew that self-instruction was important after staying beside Anelete for so long.

    Looking at Jerg deeply, Zick opened his mount: "Nice to meet you, my name is Zick, priorly an heir to the Melvix family, but currently just a wandering mercenary." That was the identity Zick made for himself.

    The Everlor organization had many connections with the mercenary group, so making an identity wasn''t hard.

    There were no specific ranks for mercenaries, all that mattered were their fame and strength. In other words, the mercenary had to make a name for themselves if they wanted people to hire them more.

    "So what exactly happened to you?" Here spoke bluntly with interest.

    Zick could only tell the same story he told Seveleen to Jerg. Encountering a strong monster, Zick had to use a forbidden technique to kill it.

    "I see, that''s unfortunate. But it doesn''t seem like you are demotivated at all." This made Jerg smile, exposing his sharp teeth.

    Varine within the carriage had a stiff expression looking at Jerg.

    "Hmph, so what if my strength dropped? I still have all my potential, I can rise back to my peak in no time." Zick appeared extremely arrogant, looking at Jerg with no change in expression. But his eyes were as resolute as ever.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Haha, that''s something to take pride in I guess. It seems like you lost some lifespan by using this forbidden technique but you are still young, you still have a lot of time."

    Thinking about lifespan, Zick felt deste: ''I have less than 50 years to live, I have to find a way to live longerter on. My lifespan should increase after bing a master swordsman so I can rest easy for now.''

    Zick was confident in reaching master swordsman within a year as long as he had enough snow essence.

    After a few minutes, Zick and Anelete''s carriage started moving to their destination.

    Sitting in the carriage, Varine read the book which she got from Zick. For now, he only instructed her to read it and not learn to write.

    Zick himself was multitasking too, he was reading a book along with training in mana. His potential had increased, only a step away from the peak of peak rank.

    ''It would have taken me 10 years in the least to reach master rank if I trained ordinarily. But with snow essence, less than one year is sufficient.''

    The only problem was that Zick didn''t have unlimited snow essence, he would have to gather more from the Lectic mountain region again.

    Seveleen sat like a dead body as always, lost in thought. Zick''s n in reality had many ws and jumps in logic but it was still the best.

    As...there was no other lead that they could follow!

    So no one couldin about this n at all.

    By seeing Zick''s behavior and talking with Varine, Seveleen knew that they had a close rtionship but kept their distance for some reason.

    In reality, it was just Varine who kept her distance from him and Zick responded to it.

    ''Varine speaks in our continent''snguage so she must be from the same country. But her knowledge is very shallow and superficial.'' Seveleen thought with nothing else to do.

    The feeling of being able to do nothing but hear made her be in a depressive mood the whole time. Talking to Varine had improved her mood instead. Zick didn''t seem like a guy who talks much to her.

    Sitting on the couch, Zick started training to harmonize with the mana around him. The mana under his control now extended to 10 meters from his body, letting him sense almost all the small details. This was a new experience for him so he was still getting used to it.

    Hours passed by with only the sound of the carriage moving on the barren ground.

    Anelete would have invited Zick to travel in her carriage normally, but now, there was no ce in it with the two infected people in it.

    This showed that Anelete''s funds were running quite low, she could only buy a single carriage with her limited money. She needed it to buy mana crystals after all.

    As the sun was reaching the middle of the sky, suddenly Zick frowned. A bad feeling rose within his heart.

    SCREECH!! NEIGH!

    The demihumans also stopped, looking restless. Both the carriage stopped without a word.

    In the dead silence, suddenly...

    Boom!!!

    Somethingnded in front of the two carriages like a meteor. A deep crater formed and dust rose, obscuring everyone''s view.

    SWISH~

    With a single wave of the hand by the unknown person, the cloud of dust dispersed.

    There a beutiful girl looking to be 20 years old stood emotionlessly, she had extremely pale skin, almost like snow. Her white hair fluttered in the hot winds and her crimson eyes stared at the people in front of her, more Specifically, Zick.

    Feeling her eyes on himself, Zick felt his blood running cold. Sweat started forming in his body feeling something amiss.

    ''Who is she? I feel a sense of crisis for some reason...'' Zick''s eyes turned to Jerg who walked in front of the group.

    It was apparent that, right now, Jerg was terrified. He could sense the difference between himself and the girl in front of him. He was like an ant, no dust whenpared to the white-haired girl.

    Jerg''s hair stood to its end and his teeth ttered. His whole body shook in terror. An experienced fighter, who was not scared of anything and was willing to sacrifice himself for Anelete was right now terrified.

    "...How might we help you?" He spat out somehow while gritting his teeth.

    "I have no business with you, get lost. Only you, you will remain." The white-haired girl pointed at Zick.

    Silence descended on the barrennd.

 Chapter 146 Abandoned With No Hesitation

    Within the ordinary carriage, beside the two roughly breathing demihumans, who had a thinyer of green glow covering them �� Stopping the Revelner disease, Anelete sat with a pale face looking at Jerg''s figure.

    Before getting out, Jerg had warned Anelete about the danger posed by that white-haired woman.

    Anelete had never seen him so frightened. There was a sense of tension in the air, affecting everyone.

    The low-rank spirit had already run away before the white-haired woman even appeared.

    Anelete carefully watched Jerg heading to the white-haired woman. Hearing the word that left Jerg''s mouth, Anelete''s mind almost became nk.

    ''What is he doing?! Not giving even a self-introduction or any formality...I know that he is scared but he will just worsen the situation like this.'' Anelete decided to step out of the carriage.

    "I have no business with you, get lost. Only you, you will remain." The cold voice of the mysterious woman entered Anelete''s ear making her steps freeze.

    Anelete was already out of the carriage, hearing the white-haired woman''s words as she stopped in her position.

    It turned out that the white-haired woman was a lot more peculiar than she thought! She directly ordered them to get lost!

    Anelete followed the person pointed by the white-haired woman.

    Zick with a frown on his face entered Anelete''s sight. Beside him, a ck hair girl also stared forward nkly.

    ''Did he offend this woman somehow...?'' Anelete faced downward thinking rapidly.

    It doesn''t seem like the white-haired woman had any business with them and was instead letting them go.

    There was no need to think for long, Anelete was a resolute person: "Everyone, retreat."

    Thus, Anelete decided to abandon Zick with no second thought.

    This might have been a problem in the middle continent, but in the eastern continent, there is no problem at all. Zick has no influence or social standing in thisnd.

    Zick''s and Anelete''s eyes came in contact, but they both didn''t say anything.

    Zick could understand Anelete''s mind, this woman betrayed him with no second thought, and that was the person he knew from the novel.

    Zick got down from the carriage, seeing the white-haired woman not making a move yet.

    ''She only cares about the demihumans till the very end...'' Zick felt fury boiling within him but he ignored it. His mind and face returned to tranquillity.

    ''Who is this woman? Do I know her or Have I offended her without noticing? There was no one like her in the novel either.''

    Everything was uncertain, one thing was sure his instinct was giving him a warning.

    ''This might be the ce I die....''

    THUD, Zick directly hit Varine in the neck knocking her unconscious. He let her hang on the couch like a dead body and moved toward Seveleen next.

    Feeling that Zick had some bad intentions, Seveleen used her magic and moved out of the carriage.

    [ "Mister Zick, I don''t know what your intentions are but if youe near, I will not hold back."]

    Zick smiled hearing this as he looked at her: "Are you sure you want to hurt me? I saved your life and is this what you''re going to give me in return?" Zick intentionally aimed for Seveleen''s weakness. He could feel the demihumans getting ready so he was in a hurry.

    Seveleen at once felt her emotion revolting, but before she could suppress this emotion, Zick suddenly appeared right in front of her.

    Anelete felt her heart jump, seeing Zick''s body fully covered in ck mana.

    A transparent barrier appeared in between them, but it broke from Zick''s two punches.

    Mages were naturally weak in close-range battles.

    With no hesitation, Zick knocks Anelete unconscious and puts her in the carriage.

    ''With this, it would be hard for me to make her fully trust me.'' Zick thought as he walked toward Anelete who watched the whole process with shock.

    The demihumans around her had already gotten back on their horses, hearing Anelete''s order and Jerg had also returned beside her.

    "Mister Zick, what might you be needing now? We both are smart people so you know that there is no use in further discussion..." Anelete spoke carefully, with suspicion all over her face. She couldn''t understand Zick''s actions at all.

    "Hahaha, You have got something wrong. I didn''te for discussion." Zick had a friendly expression like he was talking to a very close friend.

    The distance between Zick and Anelete decreased.

    "Then what do you want?" Anelete asked, feeling something wrong.

    "Of course, your life!" Zick dashed forward with the cursed sword materializing in his hand. His eyes were as sharp as a sword, filled with killing intent.

    This was a gamble. A gamble where he was putting his everything into.

    ''I alone will never be able to defeat this white-haired woman. I need Jerg to stay behind no matter the cost.''

    Zick couldn''t feel the white girl''s presence so he didn''t know her exact strength, but he knew that he had zero chance of beating her through instinct.

    Zick was using his full power, the world seemed to have stopped as he neared Anelete.

    Just when he was one meter away from Anelete, a great sword headed toward Zick''s neck at an unprecedented speed.

    ''It''s here...'' Zick''s eyes darted to the white-haired woman. She had still not moved an inch and was staring right at him.

    At that instant, right before the great sword touched Zick''s neck an invisible shield stopped it.

    Jerg, who had swung his sword, was surprised.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Seeing this, Zick''s eyes shined: ''Sess!''

    ''I have some worth alive to her for now it seems.''

    Bending down, Zick got past the great sword and sessfully held Anelete by her waist. At that moment, a huge fist made its way toward Zick''s face. If itnded his head would be blown to smithereens for sure.

    But Zick didn''t fret about it and looked at it with expectation.

    And as he expected, an invisible force stopped the punch.

    Three ck ice shards formed instantaneously and shot toward Jerg''s face.

    Feeling that he could resist the ice shard by his physical endurance, Jerg extended his arm and held Anelete by the shoulder.

    BANG!

    The result shocked Jerg, seeing there were two light cuts in his chest skin. ck frost formed slowly but was destroyed with a single m from him.

    Jerg could not use his battle intent right now as it would affect the people around him for sure.

    Immediately ten ice shards formed and aimed for the other demihumans.

    "Don''t move or yourrade will die!" Zick threatened with no hesitation. All this was possible thanks to his dragon eyes which allowed him to see Jerg''s movement to a degree.

    Feeling that the ck ice shard could kill the demihumans, Jerg''s hand loosened.

    "Move an inch and I will kill yourrades with no hesitation." Saying this Zick made some distance from Jerg with Anelete on his shoulder.

    Seeing this, Jerg moved but the very next moment, the ice shard floating in some distance trembled and shot at one of the demihumans.

    This made Jerg change his course of direction and deflect the attack.

    "If you move another inch again, I will shoot all at once," Zick spoke coldly.

    After gaining ten meters of distance, Zick sneered: "So you showed your true colors atst. Miss Anelete had taken care of you for many years but you chose to abandon her and choose the other demihumans. Hmph! Your action can''t lie now can it?"

    Just this one sentence made Jerg shaken, but he recovered in a second.

    "What do you want?" Jerg growled, showing hostility like never before. He knew that Anelete was now a hostage, moving roughly could lead to her potential death.

    "You...." Anelete spoke understanding the situation.

    Not saying a word, Zick looked at the white-haired woman, she had obviously helped him in this fight.

    Thinking of it, Zick had second thoughts: ''I don''t know if I can win even with Jerg on my side....''

    ''Originally, I was thinking she would personally interfere and be a part of the battle, but this is beyond my expectations. From what she showed, she has above quasi-grandmaster rank strength.''

    Actually, holding hostage became a waste now discovering that the enemy was unbeatable.

    "Sigh...." Zick sighed, feeling his effort to be for naught.

    "So what do you need with me, ah, and tell me your name," Zick spoke while his sword was still on Anelete''s neck.

    "I am the witch and I want you to kill me." The white-haired woman spoke crisply.

    Silence descended on the group again.

    Zick felt dumbfounded while looking at the witch. His brain stopped and started running again shortly.

    ''Was my knowledge from the novel wrong? I am sure it said that the witch had blonde hair along with a 12-year-old girl''s body.''

    There was Another thing that surprised him.

    ''Did she actuallye flying for hundreds of meters to ask me to kill her....?''

    The witch''s territory and the wuirsec region have dozens of hundred meters distance between them, for her toe so far like this made Zick gawk at her.

    "Just to ask me that you came flying to this ce?" Zick spoke calmly.

    The witch nodded her head.

    Bing speechless, Zick stared at her again. ''I guess, her head is as messed up as it was in the novel. But it is still weird for her toe here just for this, did she notice me being a transmigrator or something.?''

    The cursed sword in Zick''s hand at that instant glowed dimly in red light and trembled.

    [ "Please free her." ]

    [ "I don''t know what era it is or how you want to use this sword, please free her from her suffering. They don''t deserve to live such a life....]

    Zick''s answer was almost immediate: ''Alright, I understand.''

    A saintly voice rang out in Zick''s head.

    Hearing such clich��d words, Zick looked at the sword in his hand.

    ''So this is the culprit...'' Zick didn''t even have to think hard to know the situation.

    Unknown memory came pouring into Zick''s mind at that instant. His body fell, losing consciousness.

 Chapter 147 The Giant Hero, Fuiren

    In the pitch-ck darkness, Zick''s consciousness floated, feeling a sense of weightlessness.

    Zick''s eyes fluttered open, exposing his deep red eyes.

    ''Now what? I was going to order the witch to kill Anelete''s group but suddenly I lost consciousness....''

    At that instant, unknown memory flowed into his mind like an endless stream of the river.

    ....

    Tens of Thousands of years ago, a prophecy from God was passed on to the people of the world.

    [ "The advent of the giant is nearing and destruction of the world is what they seek."]

    [ "A hero blessed by God shall emerge and fight the giants, saving the lives of all the inhabitants of the seven countries. He will be called....]

    [ The Giant hero.]

    Hearing the prophecy, the people of all seven continents were worry stricken. Turbulence spread all over the ce with widespread confusion.

    Among them, a young man with golden hair and silver eyes looked at the people around him.

    ''The World is in danger? How can that be...sister, yes, I have to take care of my sister somehow. I promised mother.'' Determination passed through the young man''s silver eyes.

    His name was Fuiren, amoner and the person whose memory currently Zick was entangled within.

    Fuiren enrolled in the holy knight, by bing an apprentice. He was currently in the Beleindrasvil empire, Known as a holynd by the masses.

    Fuiren''s talent was extraordinary, he climbed the ranks of the holy knight in no time. He was known by many people for his soft and kind personality.

    Fuiren''s work was to hunt people wielding the devil''s weapons.

    In this era, people could turn living beings into weapons through a forbidden type of magic circle. But this technique users were hunted down by the world. To them, these people were nothing but demons who sacrificed humans to make a sword or other weapon.

    Fuiren hated this devil''s weapon wielder to his bone too. Because they were the people who killed his whole family, leaving behind only him and his sister.

    By Killing hundreds of devil''s weapon wielders aggressively, Fuiren gained a title for himself �� The Devil''s reaper.

    Fuiren soon became one of the executives of the holy knight''s brigade.

    While journeying to thends, Fuiren came across the one known as the ravage leaver.

    The ravage leaver was very famous across the continents, known as an immortal monster who wouldn''t die even if its head was cut.

    It was in between the dense forest, Fuiren wielded his golden white sword with two hands, holding it diagonally to himself. There were numerous wounds on his body, and a trail of blood fell from the corners of his lips.

    ''I can''t defeat her!'' Fuiren felt helpless for the first time in a long while.

    In the beginning, he was shocked to find the Ravage leaver to actually be a beutiful woman with long golden hair, but thinking of the atrocious deeds shemitted, he fought her nevertheless.

    The result was his overwhelming defeat.

    "...." Not saying a word, the ravage leaver started walking away.

    Seeing her move away, Fuiren gathered his courage: "Stop right there! I won''t allow you to harm any more innocent people!"

    The teachings of righteousness were deeply ingrained into Fuiren''s body from a young age, letting him have such a mindset.

    "...Do as you like." She replied curtly and didn''t stop.

    Like this, Fuiren started following Ravage leaver to every ce and challenging her every day. He could feel the difference between their strength so he further trained to the limit.

    After half a year, atst, Fuiren was able to defeat her. He cut Ravage leaver''s head off her body feeling a sense of aplishment and relief.

    While traveling with her, fuiren noticed that the Ravage leaver, Aishel, did not intend to harm the people near her. She just wanted to die and vanish.

    Aishel carried a curse on her, which made it so that any weak people who came near her would lose their minds and die.

    The reason she kept moving from one ce to another was also that she was forced to. The curse became stronger the more she stayed in one ce, it would be so strong that it could even affect people who are a thousand kilometers away from her.

    Not being able to go near a city, Aishel had no map so, in this half a year, Fuiren acted as a navigator.

    Learning about her curse, Fuiren made sure that no one else was implicated in any way. Slowly, he realized that Aishel was also a human like him.

    He had be a lot closer to her too, and that is the reason he wanted to fulfill Aishel''s wish to die.

    After defeating her, Fuiren breathed out and put his sword back in the sheath. He clenched his fist while keeping his index and middle finger extended and straight, he moved it circrly in front of his chest and cut it in half with a serious face.

    This was a gesture which was performed to send people off in the holy knight brigade.

    But at that instant, something unbelievable happened. The head that he had cut off flew back to its body and reconnected in a second.

    Fuiren felt like he was dreaming looking at it.

    "No way...." Fuiren obviously didn''t believe that Aishel was immortal. He thought it to be an exaggeration created by the people.

    "As I said, it''s no use, no matter what you do it''s all pointless," Aishel said before sitting on the huge rock in some distance.

    "It''s pointless, yes pointless, no matter what anyone does I can''t die, I will live as an immortal monster like this forever." A tinge of despair could be felt in Aishel''s voice as she spoke nkly.

    Fuiren didn''t know what to do for the first time in his life, he felt that the world was very quiet, almost like he was excluded from it. He was not used to this kind of feeling at all, from a young age there has never been a thing that was impossible for him.

    The night wind brushed past his face making him turn toward Aishel.

    ''Why can''t I help her? She is clearly not an evil being and has never tried to harm anyone till now. Instead....''

    Fuiren remembered the moment when Aishel saved a girl from sinking to death from a faraway ce.

    ''She is kind and innocent just like anyone else....this is not right, she has the right to enjoy her life, she has the right to live the way she wants. Then why? Why?!''

    Fuiren hadn''t noticed but he held some emotions for Aishel, that is the reason he performed a send-off gesture for someone who is not a holy knight. If someone knew, he would be reprimanded for sure by the others.

    From here on, Fuiren didn''t challenge Aishel anymore and just followed her with a lost look. He was sent an order by an eagle-like bird to return but he ignored it and continued following Aishel.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Atst, Fuiren found the answer to the unknown feeling he felt. But he hid it deep within, he was really unfortunate, the woman he fell in love with wanted to die and nothing more.

    ''The current me can''t do it, but....but in the future for sure, I will grant her wish.'' Fuiren returned to the Beleindrasvil empire.

    ....

    After many years, atst, the day when the Giant descended appeared.

    The world had been looking for candidates who could fit what the prophecy said.

    They had found him, the giant hero, it was Fuiren who became a grandmaster swordsman atst.

    With him as the leader, the whole world prepared to go against the giant who would exit the huge red portal that appeared on an Ind in the north ocean.

    Fuiren was aware that he would not be able to defeat the giants from The beginning, hence he made preparations.

    A seal. A huge seal that uses the divine protection within him as a catalyst was created.

    Before the giant could exit the huge red portal fully, Fuiren activated the circle he had prepared painstakingly for years. Many chains extended out of it and held the big red portal at once.

    Slowly a translucent glow started covering the red portal, stopping any giant froming out.

    In the end, he seeded, he fulfilled the task given to him. He saved the whole world. With this, his strength fell to the normal grandmaster rank.

    The people of the world cheered as Fuiren looked at the endless blue sky.

    ''Atst.''

    ''It has ended.''

    ''Now, I can fulfill my wish with no lingering worry.''

    Fuiren headed toward the ce where Ravage leaver, Aishel was at once. There was no hesitation in his movements, like a meteor he traveled across the sky and stopped in the middle of ake.

    On the shore of theke, Aishel looked at Fuiren with a nk look.

    Landing beside her softly, Fuiren smiled making his handsome face look even more attractive now.

    Fuiren was a straightforward person, he didn''t hide anything: "I love you."

    "Hahaha, I know that you will reject me anyway so you don''t have to say it. It would hurt to hear that In reality....."

    Aishel looked at Fuiren feeling confused. She had thought that he had gone away and would not return but he appeared out of nowhere like this again.

    The words he spoke were also shocking, Aishel had not expected it and was left speechless.

    "If that is the case, then why have youe here?" Aishel''s crisp voice rang out in the calmke.

    "I came to fulfill my promise. I will kill you." Fuiren spoke solemnly with sadness andmentation filling him deep inside.

    Making some distance from theke and Aishel, Fuiren calmly closed his eyes.

    FWISH~

    Air blew harshly around Fuiren before a deep red magic circle started forming around him.

    It was the devil''s weapon-making circle!

    And currently, fuiren was using it upon himself!

    At once, Aishel was surprised and tried to bring out Fuiren from within through magic. But it was useless, Fuiren was stronger than her currently, resisted it with a simple smile.

    Fuiren took out a round object and released the energy stored within. It was one-third of God''s blessing that he received.

    He had extracted it and kept it within his space ring carefully a long time ago. To activate the seal to stop the giant naturally he had to pay another price.

    Fuiren sacrificed five dragons and the whole Qilin race who were the mostpatible with the seal. He did an atrocious thing, but he didn''t regret it. He has matured from before, he knew that to gain something, something must be lost.

    Aishel heard him speak��

    "Let my bones be the handle and let the sh of my body be the de of the sword."

    As Fuiren spoke, the red magic circle glowed in an even brighter light.

    A smoky breath left Fuiren''s mouth: "Let my mana nerves be the driving force of the sword, let my soul be the life of the sword, and let the blessing of God be the power to dispel the curse!"

    Fuiren was the most famous person in the world and had a life full of enjoyment in front of him, but right now such a person was going to sacrifice himself. And by using the method he hated the most.

    Fuiren startedughing loudly: ''I don''t care one bit! This is my life, I will decide how I want to live it.''

    ''I want to sacrifice myself for Aishel, this is my own decision, and no one else has the right to decide for me.''

    ''I don''t care if God had wanted me to fight against the giants and kill them. I fought for my sister and the people I care for, I don''t care about the expectation of a being who I don''t know!''

    Fuiren''s body started melting, getting absorbed by the red magic circle.

    The red magic circle started bing smaller and turned into a cocoon in no time.

    With a sh, a threatening aura started filling the wholeke. The ck sword came out of the red cocoon, levitating in the air.

    A whisper reached Aishel''s ear: ''Let me be the grace that you had been seeking in your life.''

    Such deep emotions reached Aishel''s frozen heart, making her shudder. The emotions that she hadn''t felt for 600 years awakened. But there was no tear in her eyes, her tears had long run dry.

    "Thank you..." Aishel said while trying to smile.

    The ck sword, grace shot right at Aishel, piercing through her heart.

    This is how the cursed sword grace was formed and one of the immortal cursed beings died.

 Chapter 148 Forming A Contract

    "Ugh...." Zick''s eyes opened slowly, and the sun''s rays directly hit his eyes, prompting him to squint his eyes.

    An involuntary sense of revolting took over Zick. He had gone through all the memories of the person named Fuiren. It was truly horrible, yes very horrible.

    ''That guy kept spewing such clich��d words that I almost felt like killing him myself. This kind of cliche is not natural at all, it felt like he was doing it wantonly to piss me off...''

    Thinking of it for a few seconds, Zick''s expression changed. He noticed something.

    Feeling enlightened, Zick thought: ''My emotions...I hadn''t realized it, but now, I feel it. My emotions are very abundantpared to before, this is not natural.''

    From the moment Zick hade into this world, Zick mostly did everything rationally, without a hint of emotions but recently the said emotions kept appearing again and again.

    ''Did using the awakened ability from dragon heart have some other effect? Or is it something else....'' Zick felt uncertain, and he lifted his upper body.

    The sight of the witch standing facing her back towards him entered Zick''s sight. In front of her, Jerg brandishing his long sword could be seen. There were numerous wounds on his body as he attacked the witch with a red battle intent covering his sword.

    Jerg''s attack was easily stopped by an invisible barrier having no effect at all. The magic cast by the demihumans were also nullified easily.

    ''Hmm...'' Zick felt The sticky feeling in his hand and waist. He looked at his hand, which held the cursed sword grace.

    It was totally covered in deep red blood. The cursed sword also had blood on it.

    Shifting his gaze to the source of the blood, Zick found Anelete whose neck had a huge cut in it.

    ''She was a normal human so just a simple touch from the cursed sword killed her....'' Zick ignored her and got up.

    "For how long have I been unconscious?" Zick questioned the witch.

    "...More than two minutes." The emotionless voice of the witch answered him back.

    Seeing Varine and Seveleen was still unconscious, Zick didn''t hesitate: "I see and you can kill them all, leaving the two girls in my carriage. I have no rtion with them so there is no need for holding back." Zick smiled at the witch while looking at the sword in his hand secretly.

    Abruptly, all of the demihumans including jerg, had their head cut flying in the air.

    ''Her strength is otherworldly just like in the novel.''

    The witch turned toward Zick, opening her mouth with an expressionless face: "Please use that sword to kill me, I have had enough of roaming around pointlessly. You may or may not know but that sword can kill a being like me."

    Zick''s eyes flickered in a cold light: ''So she knows that this sword''s ability can only be activated by its wielder.''

    ''If not, she would have tried killing me and taking it for herself, only to regret her decision. Getting the ownership of a cursed sword is a very problematic thing, luckily I knew the novel...''

    Zick had Fuiren''s memory so he was more knowledgeable about it than anyone else. There were many confusing things too, like the existence of seven continents and many others.

    Leaving aside the confusing thing, Zick had benefitted immensely!

    There were many knights, mages, and alchemy techniques that Zick learned through it.

    He got the magic circle of how to make a devil''s weapon and the seal that could stop the giant. The only loophole was that the seal aimed for the red portal and not a physical body.

    ''If it''s possible to modify that seal to aim at the physical body, I can just use it upon the demon lord and be done with all this farce.''

    But the problem was modifying it, it was soplicated that Zick didn''t understand even one percent of it.

    Zick put it aside for now and spoke to the witch seriously: "I have thought it through, I will kill you but I need something in return."

    "What do you need?" The witch was willing to do anything, her answer was immediate.

    "It''s a deal, we can make a contract too. You need my help to kill yourself and I need your help to kill someone."

    Zick smiled, feeling this to be an opportunity: "Help me kill the demon lord and after he is dead, I promise that I will kill you." Zick brought up his hand and clenched it tightly.

    The witch started considering it, she had already waited for thousands of years, and waiting a little more was not hard.

    And seeing that Zick was ready to make a contract she trusted his words somewhat.

    "Alright...Tell me the location of this demon lord." The witch said with no hesitation.

    The faster she kills the demon lord, the faster she would be released!

    "...." Zick involuntarily stared at her nkly. He knew that she was underestimating the demon lord for sure.

    ''Will she be able to defeat him single-handedly?'' Zick was uncertain.

    Zick was not willing to lose a strong asset like her. He was knowledgeable about her curse through Fuiren''s memory.

    They were a kind of blessing that was bestowed by gods or being at their level. So there was a chance that the demon lord could kill her, he was a demigod after all.

    ''Actually, She would head towards the demon lord by herself if she knew that he could kill her. I have to stop that from happening, I have to make use of her to the fullest for myself before that happens.''

    Therefore, Zickughed lightly outwardly: "Hahaha, Before that, we should make a contract."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The witch wasn''t against it, they both held hands the very next moment.

    "Help me kill the demon lord and protect me, you cannot harm me anyway too. In return, I will kill you after the demon lord is dead." Zick added a line with no hesitation.

    The witch didn''t say anything, she was going to protect Zick even if he didn''t say it in the contract. After all, finding a wielder for the cursed sword, grace was an annoying matter.

    They both opened their mouths at once.

    "By the name of Zick."

    "Levienel."

    It turned out, the witch''s name was Levienel.

    A bright light appeared in both of their bodies and vanished. Their soul was now branded by a contract, and breaking it would lead to Zick''s death.

    "At what level of strength are you right at the moment?" Knowing that she can''t harm him, Zick felt a lot better. The contract would make her body freeze the moment she tries to break it.

    "In the high-grandmaster rank," Levienel spoke with no hesitation.

    "Then, you can''t beat the demon lord with your current strength," Zick said with such conviction that Levienel furrowed her brow.

    "At what level is he in?" She asked, seeing Zick''s confidence.

    "He is a demi-human." Zick didn''t hide it anymore and looked closely at Levienelxs expression. There was no change, it seemed like she was deep in her thoughts.

    ? ''Fortunately, she doesn''t know about the origin of her curse yet it seems.'' Zick heaved a sigh internally.

    Understanding the difficulty of the task, Levienel became serious. She was not omnipotent, if the enemy was strong enough, they could just seal her away. Though she would get out of it automatically through her curse, a lot of time would be wasted.

    "What do you n on doing then?" Levienel knew that Zick was a lot more knowledgeable than her in this matter so she asked him.

    "I am nning on collecting strong and talented people for now. The demon lord and his army will be attacking the continents seriously within a few years so we have to be ready before that." Zick knew what he was doing perfectly and he knew the difficulty of his current goal too.

    But with Levienel, a lot of pressure was lifted from Zick. With her, he could get another strong subordinate, the biological golem!

    ''I might be able to regain a lot of my strength too....''

    Hearing Zick being so certain of his future movement, Levienel nodded her head.

    Zick''s thoughtful expression changed, he became solemn: "What is your curse''s effect?"

    Levienel heard this bing silent at once, after a few seconds, she spoke: "My curse causes life essence to be pushed away from me which means..."

    "That, all leaving this would Wither away near you, That exins why you are in this barren region. But why is it not affecting me or them right now?" Zick pointed at Varine and Seveleen in the carriage.

    "It is affecting others like always but....for some reason you and both of those girls are unaffected by my curse...." Levienel was bewildered internally too, this had never happened before.

    Zick frowned: "Has something like this happened before?"

    Levienel shook her head.

    [ "I am protecting you."]

    The voice of fuiren reached Zick.

    ''Ohh, then what about the two of them?'' Zick said with no surprise.

    [ "It''s not me, it is their own blessing that is protecting them."]

    ''Blessing? You mean God''s blessing?!'' Zick found out about it himself.

    [ "Yes."]

    Such a twist made Zick silent, reimagining the memory of fuiren and his own, he found nothing at all in the end.

    ''There was nothing about them being blessed by God in the novel...and I don''t know about what kind of blessing they have too.''

    In the silence, Zick lifted his head first: "For now, please dispose of their body." He pointed at Anelete and The mendert merchant group.

    Their bodies were covered in yellow me in no time and were incinerated, turning into ash.

    Next, using Levienel''s power, Zick carried Varine and Seveleen to Chertel city in no time. Putting them in an inn, he wrote a letter and left.

    ''I hope this works, this way they woulde looking for me and our rtionship would also further be closer.'' Zick didn''t let an opportunity pass by him.

    Returning to the Wuirsec region, Zick started discussing with Levienel about him and even inquired if she had any way to increase his strength.

 Chapter 149 Returning To Middle Continent

    In the evening.

    Chertel City, Golden Reifer Inn.

    Within one of the rooms on the first floor, Varine and Seveleeny beside each other in two different beds.

    Zick could have brought two rooms, but to make it look more realistic, he brought only and left a letter written in the middle continentnguage.

    There was a light ck incense on the table burning lightly and spreading a white smoke within the room.

    Varine was The first to wake up, touching her sore neck. The chop delivered by Zick had made her neck fully numb and swollen.

    Sitting upon the bed, Varine smelled the incense which made her feel calm. Her memory was blurred as all of it happened so fast, she had no idea what happened. Seeing Seveleenying beside her, Varine tried waking her up but it was useless. Seveleen had already lost the sense of touch so there was no outside stimulus that could wake her up.

    Looking around the room, Varine found a letter below the incense burner.

    Walking to the table, Varine took out the folded letter. opening it, she started reading it.

    There were many words that she didn''t understand, so she started reading them with much difficulty.

    [ What is that?]

    Hearing the voice in her head, Varine involuntarily took a step back, with shock pulsing through her body. The letter in her hand fell to the ground, but the next moment it flew toward Seveleen''s bed.

    Seveleen had already gotten up, sitting on the rim of the bed. Holding the letter, she scanned it using her will. After being affected by the feanert poison, she lost the mobility of her body and relied on the mana under her control. Though it was possible to sense things around her, there was a limit to it.

    To read, she had to use her mana and concentrate on it.

    Seeing Seveleen woken up, Varine felt a little better: "Miss Seveleen, where exactly are we?"

    Varine asked, hoping Seveleen to know the reason.

    But Seveleen was also confused just like her: "Mm, Mister Zick had suddenly knocked both of us unconscious so I am not aware of our current situation too." Saying this she concentrated on the letter.

    That was their biggest lead right at the moment. The content went as follows-

    ( From Anelete,

    I know that it is ufortable to be left like this, but we have no other choice....) The letter was written very gracefully.

    It exined what happened after Varine and Seveleen were knocked unconscious.

    Zick didn''t exaggerate as it would look suspicious and wrote inly. After knocking them, he passed them to Anelete along with a space ring.

    The letter also mentioned that Anelete was in an emergency so they left them in this inn. No loopholes were left like how they entered this tightly guarded city or how they could arrive so fast. They were all in just one or two lines but it made all the more sense.

    ''Oh, they left a magic circle near this city so they could return quickly.'' Seveleen didn''t doubt it and continued reading.

    At the end of the letter, it mentioned that the ring passed by Zick was in the drawer of the table.

    Opening the drawer through magic, Seveleen brought the space ring toward her palm. Varine was not surprised, she had seen Seveleen use magic multiple times by now.

    Sending her will into the ring, Seveleen was left speechless. There were around 2000 tinum coins and three high-quality mana crystals. There was some other stuff too but they were not as eyes catching as the prior two things.

    "What did the letter say and what is within that space ring?" Varine was curious and lost at what was happening at all. She could not read Seveleen''s expression in the least.

    Seveleen started exining the content of the letter and ring to Varine.

    They both were formidable characters and they understood what happened at once. They had their conjecture and thinking on it.

    "Mister Zick, he probably knocked us unconscious so that we would not be able to resist anymore. I am sure I would have stayed behind in that situation..." Seveleen felt moved, she even understood why Zick acted like that before knocking her unconscious.

    While on the other hand, Varine was shaken to the limit. She couldn''t take it anymore, tears started forming in her eyes.

    This experience was just too much for her, she felt herself break from within. She was deeply touched and at the same time very sorrowful. Tears didn''t stop flowing out of her eyes, seeing this Seveleen was surprised too.

    It was a weird sight where only tear flowed from Varine''a eyes but no expression changed, it was still nk.

    Seveleen hurriedly started consoling Varine, telling her that Zick might still be alive and so on.

    This was out of Zick''s expectations, he thought this would make Varine a lot more open to him but it looks like it is going to be something more than that.

    Shortly, Varine and Seveleen started heading back to the wuirsec region.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ....

    While on the other hand, Zick chatted with Levienel leisurely. He was in a very cheerful mood, he wanted to head toward the biological golem''sb at once but was stopping himself.

    ''I need to collect human bodies first, the more the better.'' Zick looked at Levienel.

    It was surprising how she had epted his deal with no hesitation, actually, it was very suspicious. If Zick was put in her shoes, he would have threatened using seventeen and Varine no doubt.

    ''It should be okay with the contract but it still gives an unsettling feeling.''

    They were currently in the middle of a barrennd, sitting on a luxurious table. There was a huge umbre stopping the sunray from passing through. Mysterious magic covered the area around them so that no one would be able to sense or see them.

    Zick smiled: "So you have a method that can let you search and find the bloodline of others?"

    They had been discussing this topic for a while now, Zick wanted to kill Ste, the daughter of the Garcia family. After all, the condition to free the mythical beast was the destruction of the whole Garcia family bloodline.

    Zick already had a method for this, it was a certain alchemy item, whose creation process was obtained from Fuiren''s memory. But why waste money when Levienel could do it freely for him?

    "Yes, I can search for any kind of bloodline as long as I have a sample of it and the precondition that they are in this world is met," Levienel answered back nkly, she was not used to speaking for a long time at all.

    "Do you have a way to reach the eastern continent within today?" Zick asked with his eyes shining in anticipation.

    "You mean the continent besides this one, then I left behind a teleportation circle there...." Seeing Zick already getting up from the chair, Levienel knew what she had to do.

    She started creating a magic circle calmly, while she spoke: "Usually it is not possible to teleport to this eastern continent using the magic circle as one of five disasters is present in the sea between. But it suddenly died for some reason, probably because of old age..." Levienel thought of the only qilin in the world. Now, atst, the qilin race just became a legend, vanishing in the river of time.

    "Ohh, so now it''s four disasters, not five disasters anymore." Zick yed along naturally.

    "Yes..." Levienel answered feeling mncholy.

    After the magic circle was created in one minute, Zick and Levienel left using it.

    It would take more than a day for Seveleen and Varine to reach their location so he had a lot of time on his hand.

    ....

    In the middle continent. Currently, the whole academy city and other ruling forces are in a state of upheaval.

    The middle district of the academy city had vanished in the middle of the night. Many heirs and important figures were present there, and with them gone, turmoil spread everywhere.

    A month had passed since that incident, but the cause of this strange phenomenon was still unknown.

    In the feahert desert, below an oasis, the dull teleportation circle shone brightly.

    Zick and Levienel appeared above it.

    Looking around, Zick found simr runes drawn on the ground and the brown wall that he had seen in the dragon lord''sir.

    "They are?" Zick asked curiously.

    "Runic magic," Levienel answered curtly.

    Zick felt very interested in it, this magic or more specifically runes could be used in various ways.

    "Can you tell me more about itter on?" Zick asked probingly.

    Levienel nodded her head slightly. She was very lenient with Zick, not rejecting any request he made. This of course made Zick feel weird, but he just went along with it.

    ''From the prior conversation we had, she doesn''t know anything that can strengthen me. I know a few things from fuiren''s memory, but it can''t boost my strength by a lot at once.'' Zick thought while checking his condition.

    Zick followed levienel as she led the way to the surface. This underground room was made by her in the past.

    Climbing the steps with many pebbles and dust on them, Zick arrived at the surface. With a wave of levienel''s hand, the wall opened and the fresh hot air from the desert brushed past Zick''s body.

    The sun shone brightly as ever, making the oasis glow brightly. The oasis was quite small, only epassing around 100 to 200 meters. Many dunes made of reddish-yellow sand were visible to Zick from the ce he stood.

    Taking out thepass from his left-out space ring, Zick looked at it closely.

    After a while, Zick and Levienel started heading toward the Garcia domain. They traveled like a meteor covered in golden glow.

 Chapter 150 Human Keep Changing

    ''The race of Giants seems very mysterious, there is no information on where they came from and what they wanted anywhere.'' Zick of course didn''t think that the prophecy was hundred percent true.

    ''ording to fuiren''s memory, everyone in this race had a grandmaster level of strength, which is truly terrifying. Unless someone at a god rank appears, it would be impossible to defeat them.'' Zick looked at the desert that was passing by with a sh. A golden light protected his body, stopping the air pressure from harming the body.

    ''The novel had mentioned that the demon lord was held back by the giants, so they must be connected somehow too.''

    Zick had his conjectures: '' It might be that the demon lord is trying to stop the giants from breaking the seal fuiren made.''

    The seal created by Fuiren was not something omnipotent, there was a time limit. 50,000 years is what fuiren had calcted, but it might change ording to the situation.

    The giants were not to be underestimated, they could try to break it from the other side too. Fuiren knew it too, but his mindset like this-

    [ ''The seal should be able to hold on until my sister and other familiar people live their lives to the fullest. Our descendants will be able to get past it, I am sure.'']

    Fuiren had already changed a lot, bing half crazy from love and responsibility. Facing extreme choices makes people a lot more experienced, that is as long as they get past this ordeal.

    ''No matter how stupid a person is, they will gain some wisdom facing the harshness of the world. Fuiren was put under a lot of pressure which broke his personality, if not, he probably wouldn''t have been able to stop the giant and kill Aishel.'' Zick considered Fuiren''s life neutrally.

    If Fuiren was not ruthless enough, he would never have been able to reach the result he did in the past.

    ''As long as the giants don''t get in my way, I don''t care what they do. If they are trying to break the seal, I can just create it again. Though Aeiron would have to be sacrificed...''

    They soon got out of the desert region and entered a grass in. There were a few viges and cities that appeared below them but they passed by them in a blink of an eye. Levienel''s flying speed was terrifying, they left the feahert desert that epassed arge part of the middle continent, in a few minutes.

    The cravion kingdom was the nearest to the Feahert desert, so they directly entered it after leaving the desert.

    After a minute, Zick and Levienel sessfully entered the Garcia family''s domain.

    "We should hide our presence for now." Zick proposed to Levienel.

    With a simple nod of her head, Levienel waved her hand magic simr to the invisible spell that Zick created enveloped them. They both vanished into thin air above the sky.

    "There is a mythical beast in this domain so we should be careful. It probably has already sensed us but is not moving as we didn''t attack." Zick gave a piece of information to Levienel as they headed toward the Garcia family''s mansion.

    "A mythical beast?" Levienel felt surprised.

    "Yes, it is a former member of the four disasters..."

    "You mean the ck cat that likes drinking wine a lot?" Levienel''s eyes squinted a little.

    "Yeah that one, do you know it?" Seeing Levienel''s reaction, Zick was curious.

    "Hmm." Levienel nodded her head: "Thousands of years ago, it had helped me once by giving a certain type of information." Levienel didn''t say anything else about the information.

    Zick didn''t find Levienel''s story weird, the mythical beasts have no lifespan so they live forever and their personality doesn''t change either. Though they might gain knowledge and experience, their temperament never changes.

    Landing on the roof of the mansion, Zick spoke softly: "Why aren''t youing out even after sensing me?" He didn''t doubt his prior guess at all.

    With a swift wind noise, The mythical beast appeared beside Zick.

    "What are you doing here? If you are trying to harm someone from the Garcia family then I will have to fight with you." The ck cat spoke seriously.

    "Hahaha, Wasn''t the contract you made stating that you will protect the mansion and the Garcia family bloodline within it? Don''t tell me you became a loyal subordinate to the..." Zick teased the ck cat whose hair stood up from goosebumps.

    "Don''t say such an ominous thing and what have you be right now?! A half-human and half-monster or whatever it is!" A growling sound came out of the ck cat''s mouth, showing its immense hatred for the Garcia family.

    Then it looked at Levienel who was invisible too: "I didn''t expect to see you here again, I see, so you were not able to find that particr sword and die..."

    "No, I just found it. This man is the wielder of the sword you mentioned." Levienel pointed at Zick.

    The ck cat looked at Zick closely, it was shocked to its core: ''He became the wielder of that cursed sword? And his soul has also changed from before. Rationality is still on the top but now it has fused with his soul, allowing him to rejoin his broken soul. But it is still giving off such a chaotic aura for some reason and his mana nerves are affected by it...''

    "I just happened to find it by coincidence." Zick was able to catch up to their conversation in no time.

    "There is no coincidence in this world and especially for a cursed sword. Either it had chosen you or fate had brought you two together." The ck cat spoke profoundly.

    Zick was not moved at all: ''It''s not fate, it''s just my knowledge from the novel.''

    Zick showed a serious expression breaking the easygoing mood in the air: "I won''t lie, I came to free you from the contract and this mansion."

    Silence descended upon the three of them.

    "You...So you nned to do this from the beginning..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The ck car seems to misunderstand something, but Zick didn''t bother fixing it.

    "Yeah, I also wanted to form a contract with you," Zick spoke with a sincere smile.

    The ck cat became apprehensive, looking at Zick with caution.

    "What contract?" It had experienced a bitter experience from forming a contract five hundred years ago, it won''t make such a mistake again.

    Zick revealed a desperate expression: "I want your help in defeating the demon lord, Ah and I am prepared to provide high-quality wine too." Zick threw out a bait along with his need.

    "Wine...? High quality?" It seems like those words were all that entered the ck cat''s head. It closed its vertical blue eyes.

    Actually, the mythical beast had quite a nice impression of Zick. After all, he was the first person to give it some good wine in hundreds of years.

    Thus, the ck cat decided: "As long as my freedom is not restricted and I can get wine, I am not against forming a contract with you."

    An unnoticeable sh of joy passed through Zick''s eyes: "Alright I just want you to help me kill the demon lord and protect me until he is dead, that is all. In return, I will provide you with wine until the demon lord is dead."

    Hearing this, the ck cat patted Zick''s toe: "Alright we shall form a contract now."

    It seems like the mythical beast could not wait for some good wine.

    "In the name of the mythical beast, Darkness lord, the king of all darkness beasts, I hereby form a contract with you. I will help you kill the demon lord and protect you until the given task is over." This time, it was not a temporary contract, but instead, a contract that could go on forever until the demon lord is dead.

    "I swear by my name, Zick Melvix, that I will provide you with wine as long as the contract is present."

    A dark stream of light exited the mythical beast''s body and entered Zick''s body. The contract was now sessfully formed.

    "Hahaha..." Zickughed lightly. He looked like a viin whose n had seeded right now.

    "What''s with thatughter...it is giving me a bad feeling...." The ck cat looked at Zick with wariness.

    Levienel looked at Zick with interest too.

    Zick realized his slip-up, making him frown: ''I just let myself rx and my emotions red up again, this has been happening regrly since I met Levienel....''

    "I have been thinking but it seems like emotions are abundant in your head unlike before. What happened to you?" The cat looked at Zick''s chaotic soul before speaking.

    "I want to know the reason too. My emotions were not so hard to control before, but now I feel many unnecessary emotions for no reason." Zick didn''t hide anything.

    He picked up the ck cat and held it in between his hands, before looking at Levienel.

    "Can you use your technique to search for the Garcia bloodline?" Zick asked with expectation.

    "Yes." Levienel had already sensed the head of the Garcia family perfectly and was ready to use her technique.

    "Ah, then please use it."

    Nodding her head, Levienel closed her eyes and started concentrating. A red glow covered her body shortly before vanishing, the aura was still hidden perfectly, showing the invisible magic''s versatility.

    If someone looked at them, they could only see a ck cat floating in the air and nothing else.

    Soon, Levienel opened her crimson-red eyes: "There are two of his bloodline in this mansion and others are spread over this continent."

    "Is there no one from this bloodline in the continent we came from?" Zick asked while feeling a sense of softness in his hand.

    "No, there isn''t any." Leveniel''s answer was curt with no emotions.

    "Ohh, then please kill them all, leaving the two in this mansion," Zick spoke with a simple smile.

    ''Ste already died, well that is a good thing for me anyway. I won''t have to return to the eastern continent again.'' Zick thought while looking at Levienel flying away.

    From interacting with Levienel thus far, Zick found out that she had no sense of remorse or much emotion.

    ''Hmm, living for thousands of years probably made her like this.''

    People change no matter the situation or time, their emotions grow numb, and their concept of life changes. They never stay the same, that is just how humans are.

    By facing hardship, a human''s resolve hardens. By facing worldly desires, human be astute and gains cautiousness. Love and hatred make humans braver, letting them surpass their limits. Setback makes humans unmoved and steadfast.

    People''s hearts keep changing throughout the ages.

 Chapter 151 Recruiting The Cat

    The invisible spell cast by Levienel was still in effect even after she went away. This magic couldst for a long time on its own, which made Zick praise the one who created it.

    The mythical beast started asking the same question as Levienel: " At what level of strength is this demon lord in?"

    The ck cat was currentlyying on Zick''sp as he sat on the ceiling. The Garcia family''s mansion ceiling was made of reddish tiles which looked expensive at first sight.

    The mansion itself was very huge, covering an area of more than a kilometer.

    "He is a being with demi-God level strength, many capable subordinates are guarding him too." Zick looked at the mansion''syout while speaking.

    He was in a state of deep consideration.

    ''Both Levienel and the mythical beast agreed to form a contract with me while not knowing the strength of our enemy. I don''t know what I should say about this....''

    ''Is it their pride, or do they not care about the consequences of dying....?'' Thinking this, Zick suddenly realized.

    ''I see, so that''s it. They both can die and revive back to life again which is not an ordinary ability at all. This causes their thought process to differ from others....''

    Only a second had passed since Zick answered the ck cat''s question.

    The ck cat knew the strength wielded by the entity known as god, so it knew that even a demi-god would have the strength that surpasses its expectation.

    The ck cat didn''t doubt Zick''s words, it could tell that he was not lying through its skill.

    "Right, do you know what this is?" Zick brought out a drop of ice essence from his space ring, holding it in front of the ck cat''s eyes.

    "Hmm, it''s been a while since I saw this thing. This drop of ice-cold liquid is an element manifestation that is only formed when certain conditions are met."

    The ck cat continues: "It''s a waste though, only a monster can absorb this kind of thing. To humans and other creatures, it''s useless, it can be harmful too."

    Zick heard the cat intently before he spoke: "So what will happen when a monster takes this element manifestation for a very long time?"

    "Of course, it should be okay as long as they don''t take arge amount at once. Actually, they can gain sentience and have intelligenceparable to humans after using it for a long time." it seems like the ck cat was very knowledgeable in this matter.

    Zick continued asking questions, he wanted to be sure that no harm would befall his body or soul while continuously using The snow essence.

    But Zick had to stop seeing Levienel returning after ten minutes, she had already killed four heirs of the Garcia family. It was a murder carried out in broad daylight!

    But no one was able either stop or could seek any justice for this act. Because in front of strength, the concept of sin and karma was just some shit fallen at the side of the road!

    Without true strength, everything was meaningless in this world.

    Zick got up: "You should go and attack the head of the Garcia family, I will take care of the other heir. Be sure to not implicate me in your attacks." He spoke like it was the most natural course of action.

    "If you attack someone from the Garcia bloodline, I will have to retaliate..." The ck cat spoke feeling this n to not be appropriate.

    "Hmm, what are you talking about? Of course, you can''t harm me, instead, you will have to protect me. Did you forget the contract we made already?" Zick smiled at the ck cat.

    The mythical beast: "...."

    Levienel: "...."

    They were both left speechless hearing this, seeing this Zick could only shake his head: ''They are both just not considering and doubting a thing. I can tell the reason why Levienel is so inexperienced but the mythical beast is no better too...''

    Zick put down the ck cat in his hand: "Hmm, Calling ''you'' doesn''t seem right all the time. Don''t you have a name or something?"

    The ck cat seems to have remembered something from hearing this, its blue reptilian eyes trembling: "...I don''t have one, you can just call me whatever you like." there was a sense of mncholy in its voice.

    Zick spoke with no hesitation: "Cat it is."

    The cat: "...."

    "Can you kill the head of the Garcia family without killing this thing?" Zick pointed at the cat and spoke to levienel.

    "No problem." Levienel nodded to him with a nk face as always. But internally, Hearing the interchange between the cat and Zick, her mood lightened.

    The ck cat didn''t retort as it knew that Levienel was many times stronger than her. Its strength was in the low-grandmaster strength at most, it was no match to her. After asking the direction where the other Garcia bloodline member was, Zick took out the cursed sword.

    "I guess it''s time to free you," Zick spoke to the cat while signaling Levienel to attack by nodding his head. At once both Levienel and the cat''s figure blurred and vanished into thin air.

    Zick started heading toward the direction Levienel pointed to. Within a second, arge explosion urred, blowing the whole left side of the mansion.

    "The cat won''t have the time to protect the other Garcia bloodline like this.'' Zick moved swiftly, reaching the opposite of the mansion where the fight was going on.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His movements were nimble, easily jumping across the mansion''s ceiling. He reached the ce where the Garcia family bloodline was in no time. No one was able to sense him as he hid his presence.

    BANG! Another huge explosion urred with ck and gold power shing with each other. Verse, the one and only master swordsman of the Garcia family also joined the battle by now.

    The cat could not hold back as it would be breaking the contract if it did. A ck figure jumped out of the broken mansion''s ceiling along with Levienel. The ck figure was a light lump of ck mass, it started expanding at a rapid pace in the air.

    A tail extended from its back before the paw started forming too. It slowly turned into a huge wolf with dense ck mane-like fire in its neck. Dark energy rose from all over its body, making it look like a demon incarnate. Its size was more than a hundred meters! It had grown to an unbelievable level.

    It was the ck cat''s real form that it didn''t use for more than five hundred years.

    ROAR! The huge wolf lifted its head and roared. The air vibrated along with the mana. Many lumps of ck mass started flying toward the cat.

    "Dark spirit..." Zick looked at the magnificent sight. The translucent lumps of ck masses were nothing but many dark spirits that ranged from low to high rank.

    At that instant a golden pir headed towards the ck wolf, it was very huge, more than 30 meters long. It directly aimed at the ck wolf''s head.

    Booom!!

    A ck shield stopped the spear, causing a huge explosion that killed off the verse, who couldn''t resist at all. Just the sh of their attack could cause the death of a master swordsman. It was a battle that humans couldn''t participate in, it surpasses their limit to arge extent.

    Zick retracted his gaze not looking anymore, the sight was beutiful and very attractive, but Zick didn''t care about it and moved forward.

    Lifting his ck sword which was covered in a thinyer of ck mana, Zick thrust it right below him, pointing the tip of the sword downwards.

    BANG! The ck mana de directly aimed to split the head of the young woman below the ceiling.

    The cat tried to protect this Garcia bloodline heir but Levienel appeared at the right moment and stopped the ck magic.

    With nothing stopping Zick''s attack, the young woman was killed with her head split in two. She had no time to react at all.

    Zick had held back by a lot after sensing the person below him to be just a low-rank mage, but it still caused a lot of damage to the ceiling wall. There was a small hole the size of a fist but cracks were starting to spread quickly.

    Jumping to a stable ceiling floor, Zick looked at the huge ck wolf and Levienel who was right now fighting in the air.

    ''Why isn''t she killing the Garcia family''s head right away?'' Zick thought feeling something amiss.

    But it seems like Zick''s worries were rootless, soon Levienel performed a huge move that created rope binding around the cat �� immobilizing it at once.

    With a wave of her hand, Levienel created a golden slice thatnded on the ce where the head of the Garcia family was. The attack was very huge, almost covering the whole sky.

    The attack''s impact even reached the ce Zick was, causing the mansion to copse.

    Zick moved a little further away before stopping, he could see both Levienel and the cat stop fighting.

    The golden ropes binding the cat vanished and they started heading toward him.

    The huge wolf which wasparable to a mountain started shrinking visibly, turning into a normal ck cat before reaching in front of Zick.

    "I can feel it! The contract had been voided! Atst! Atst! I am free! Hahaha!!" The cat was flying around the mansion very energetically.

    Seeing it this happy, Zick also clenched his fist: ''With this, I have recruited another strong entity in the group of meatshield.''

    ''With the biological, it would be perfect. For the others, I will have to put some effort into recruiting them and then let them grow to their limit too.''

    Zick waved its hand towards the ck cat, who flew towards him looking quite happy.

    "What happened?"

    "Do you know where the treasury of the Garcia family is? We can''t leave behind such treasures for someone else right?" Zick said while looking right at the cat''s eyes.

    "Hehe, I like that idea. Doing evil things without restraint brings back many memories...."

    Zick was shocked, hearing this he was bbergasted: ''So it knew that it was doing something evil.''

    Zick shook his head shortly, he smiled at the cat: "What are you saying? Evil thing? We are just taking what rightfully belongs to us! It is our right to take the things belonging to the enemy we slew!" His shamelessness reached an all-time high.

    This time the cat was left speechless: "...I have been thinking about it for a while but...You really have be human trash haven''t you?"

    Zick didn''t feel like ying any further, telling the cat to lead the way.

 Chapter 152 Eating Away At The Foundation

    The cat led the way to the Garcia family treasury while hanging on Zick''s shoulder.

    "The treasury is protected by multipleyers of magic circles, but there is nothing to worry about. It can be easily broken with a single attack from me." The cat bragged triumphantly.

    Zick had gotten used to hearing it praise itself by now: ''It probably got some confidence back after bing free again.''

    Zick turned to Levienel: "Miss Levienel, do you know any dead dragon or any of its body parts location?"

    It was an odd question but it held importance to Zick.

    Levienel thought before shaking her head: "No, I don''t know any. Getting to meet a dragon is already very rare, much less a dead one." Her cold voice was like cold water which was poured onto Zick''s expectations.

    ''That''s no good, Do I have to attack the alchemy tower to get potions to increase my talent?'' Zick thought about the pros and cons of this idea.

    Destroying the alchemy tower was out of the question as he needed them to fight against the demon lord''s army. But it would be a different matter if it was just to loot them. After all, taking a potion would not directly harm the tower in any way.

    ''It''s decided then, after finishing curing Seveleen I will directly head towards the dragon egg first, then I will give Jhesker alchemy tower a ''visit''.'' Zick could only temporarily give up one eating a dragon.

    Zick was aware of his dragon yer status, so he knew that eating a dragon body part could surely strengthen him. If it is a dragon heart, it would be the best situation!

    "Well, can you continue exining about the element manifestation now?" Zick looked at the ck cat from the corner of his eyes.

    They had already reached the ce where The cat and Levienel fought. The whole mansion in the area was blown away, with nothing but the barren ground in front of them.

    ording to the cat, the treasury was right below the Garcia family head''s room. Zick and the other moved towards it leisurely.

    "The ice element manifestation must be caused by extreme cold and immense flow of mana. Most likely there was a mana crystal mine around the ce you got this." The cat spoke with azy voice, but Zick focused on the thing it said seriously.

    Hearing the cat say there was a mana crystal mine there so easily, Zick was shocked: ''It really is knowledgeable when ites to this.''

    The cat continued: "There is a limit to how much you can strengthen yourself with this method of course. Everything has its limit, if the monster''s body reaches its limit, taking any more of this element manifestation would just kill them."

    Hearing this, Zick got a basic understanding of the snow essence he has.

    "What do you mean by reaching the limit of the body?" Zick spoke feeling the need to understand it even further.

    The cat spoke in a professional tone: "It is just like what it sounds. Every being has its own biological limit, and going past that is very hard. This is also one of the reasons why no one was able to rise to the God rank, at least theoretically."

    Zick wanted to ask about himself, but he stopped and asked in a roundabout way: "Then, how much time do you think a dragon could strengthen itself using this element manifestation?"

    The cat seems to have fallen into a state of deep thought before speaking: "They should be able to strengthen themselves until grandmaster realm I think, but arge amount of elements manifestation would be required."

    The secret of being able to strengthen himself by using snow essence was something that Zick was not willing to expose even to the cat. He didn''t want to reveal this secret until necessary.

    ''I should really explore the Lectic mountain region after I run out of snow essence.'' Thinking this, Zick looked in front of him.

    He could see an underground passage at some distance from him. It was exposed thanks to Levienel''sst attack in the ending.

    Walking to it, Zick started descending the steps with no hesitation.

    ''What is there to fear? I have two grandmaster-level assets who can take care of everything.'' Zick would be delusional if he hesitated right now.

    Zick thought of a few pieces of information from the novel: ''There were many people who were against forming an alliance between the two continents. I need to plot them to death at all costs!''

    Zick put this matter aside as it was not the time for that now. Causing too many deaths could lead the two continents into a state of extreme unrest. There was no need for such a thing currently.

    The Underground passage was illuminated by the yellowmps attached to the wall. The three of them moved quietly, the cat and Levienel didn''t care much about the loot, while Zick kept some expectation of getting an item that could increase his strength or potential.

    ''Though the Garcia family doesn''t have a foundation as robust as the Melvix family, there must still be some very rare and expensive things in their treasury.''

    ''As the saying goes, the most trustworthy thing in the world is oneself, I have to increase my strength quickly. Relying on others is not good for me in the long run.'' Zick didn''t want to leave any opportunity behind, where he could strengthen himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Soon the group reached the end of the steps. A brown door with the Garcia crest drawn on it beautifully entered Zick''s and the other''s sight.

    "Wait a second." The cat lifted its front paw lightly, and with a ripple in the door, suddenly a cracking sound rang out. Many magic circles appeared and then vanished as swiftly as they appeared.

    Seeing the cat rxing, Zickand and Levienel started walking toward the door. There was clearly a hole for inserting a key, but he didn''t care and delivered a heavy kick to it. Without the magic circle, the door was just a normal enchanted item, with Zick''s peak rank strength it was broken easily.

    Bang! Crack-! The door went flying, exposing the bright light from within. The first room was filled with many kinds of gold and tinum essories. There were mountains made of coins too.

    The whole room was made of mysterious ck brick.

    With a wave of Zick''s hand, All this entered his space ring.

    "Hey! Leave something for me too...." The catined.

    "What are you going to do with it anyway? In the first ce, I can get you many high-quality wines with it." Zick had discovered the peculiarity of the cat, for some reason it was against killing humans.

    ''It still harmed humans while robbing wines though...'' Zick''s thought drifted away.

    "I see, that makes sense. I will be expecting a feast after all this then!"

    "Yeah, yeah." Zick concluded within him: ''Its intelligence is low as well.''

    Zick and the others started walking toward the door at the end of this ck brick room.

    The cat broke the magic circle protections again. This time, there were many more magic circlespared to the first door.

    Crack! the magic broke apart and degenerated in the air. Zick kicked open the door again and entered with Levienel following behind him.

    This time a huge hall weed them. There were many weapons inside myriads'' magic circle. They were positioned one meter apart from each other in perfect rows and columns.

    "Can you disable all this magic circle?" Zick looked at the cat on his shoulder expectantly.

    "It''s no big deal." It lifted its hand, from which a ck ray came out and spread all around the room.

    Crack! Swish~

    At once all the magic circles started vanishing one by one. Zick closed his eyes and concentrated, his consciousness searched every corner of the room. His eyes opened, finding what he wanted.

    He walked toward the left corner of the room, a small red ring wasying on the ground there.

    ''To store this many things, my space ring is not enough, this one seems very high quality so it should be enough.'' Zick bent his knees and picked up the red ring. It looked very beutiful, with a red jewel in the middle and the ring itself made of red and white metal. Some unknown letters were circting within the red jewel too.

    Putting it on his index finger of the left hand, Zixk sent his consciousness within it. He was shocked at once, the space within was more than 2000 Square meters!

    "It''s rare to see such a high-quality space ring. I''ve only seen a handful of them in my whole life." The cat looked at the ring with amusement.

    Levienel added from the side too: "I haven''t seen many space rings but that one gives out an extraordinary amount of mana."

    "Well, let''s continue then." Zick put all the weapons fallen on the ground within his space ring.

    Walking toward the next door, Zick calcted: ''Including the sword, bow, dagger, spear, staff, and other things, I have 35 middle-rank weapons, 12 high-rank weapons, and 2 peak-rank weapons.''

    ''There are also 15 scrolls in which at least high-rank spells are stored.''

    Overall, Zick benefited immensely, he could make a fortune selling this.

    This was to be expected actually. Currently, Zick was eating away the whole foundation of the Garcia family, which has more than 500 years of history. They were one of the highest rank nobles in the Cravion kingdom.

    ''Let''s see what I can get from the nest room.'' Zick looked at the best room''s door.

 Chapter 153 The Seven Continents

    The third room of the Garcia family treasury contained rare materials used for alchemy and enchantment. This was all put in Zick''s space ring with no hesitation.

    Lastly, the fourth room, which was also thest one. Zick looked around himself in silence.

    The floors and walls of the room were reinforced with goldish-white marble. There were dazzling yellow wallmps made of ss, which looked like a lotus bud. Attached to the walls were many shelves which looked well-kept at first nce. A round shelf stood in the middle of the room too.

    There were numerous things on the shelves, potions, very rare materials, weapons with exquisite works on them and there were some things that Zick could not recognize too.

    "That is....a dragon eye?" Zick looked at the things kept within one of the middle shelves.

    The dragon eye was more than 20 centimeters in size and gave off an aura filled with nature''s characteristics, which only belonged to the dragon race. The pupil of this dragon eye was deep brown.

    "That seems to be the case....." The cat answered with shock filling its body, it was apparent that it hadn''t entered the treasury even once.

    To enter the Garcia family''s treasury, the cat would have to destroy the magic circles, which meant it was trying to harm the Garcia family indirectly. For this, it didn''t even bother going near it even once.

    On the other hand, Levienel also had a little change in her nk expression, she looked at the dragon eye with confusion deep within her eyes.

    Zick didn''t miss Levienel''s change in mood, He asked with a smile: "Miss Levienel, Do you know about this eye''s origin?"

    There was no reason to put any honorifics in her name, but Zick had been using it for a while.

    ''My emotions are ring up frequently, it wouldn''t be weird if I let my lips slip for a second unknowingly. So keeping prudence between other people is the best way to stop any unforeseen situation from happening.'' Zick thought at lightning speed with no change in expression.

    Levienel nodded her head with a reminiscing expression: "I know this aura from the past. It belongs to an earth dragon named Olrean, it was known for its unique origin force which could create mountains in a blink of an eye..."

    "Origin force?" Zick heard another foreign word.

    "Yes, origin force. It''s something that only belongs to the dragon and it is also what makes them special." Levienel had her eyes on the dragon''s eye as she spoke.

    "What kind of power is it?" Zick was even more curious, so he multitasked. He heard Levienel speak while collecting the things from the shelf beside him.

    "I don''t know much about it, the dragon race doesn''t use it unless a worthy foe appears. In the first ce, few people can actually fight a dragon on equal ground while it isn''t using its origin force." Levienel retracted her eyes and looked at the potions and material kept here. Especially the flower which shone in a purplish glow caught her eyes.

    "Is this also something special?" The whole time Zick only collected the things from the side shelf ignoring the ones in the middle, where there were rare things. He was taking this as a form of training to control his greed.

    Zick could control his emotions just fine before but recently it has been going out of control very often. This made him decide to start training to suppress his emotions more.

    To Zick''s question, Levienel answered: "Yes, it''s a very rare flower which can only be found in the swamp where Veltes purple snake lives. This flower is called the Purple swamp flower. They can be used for making elixir-level potions."

    "I see, that sounds useful." Zick changed his impression of Levienel, she was also knowledgeable about many things.

    Emptying all the shelves attached to the wall, the middle shelf was all that was left.

    Walking in front of the middle shelves, Zick first picked things one by one and asked the cat and Levienel about them. There were many things like a gourd filled with the blood of an extinct monster or the core of a high-ss undead.

    After ten minutes.

    In the end, Zick stood in front of dragon eyes which were floating within a shelf thanks to a magic circle. It was peak-rank preservation magic.

    The world is really uncertain, just when Zick was considering if he should put some time into creating a new technique using the ck ice, this dragon''s eyes appeared. After eating his affinity with the earth would be bound to rise by an unknown amount. He would have to put some attention in that direction too then.

    Putting it in his space ring, Zick and others looked around to see if there was anything else. But it seems like this room was the end and there was no hidden room. Nothing could escape these two''s perceptions so he didn''t doubt anything.

    Climbing up the stairs, Zick decided: ''For now, I will concentrate on creating techniques using the ck ice. This ice has more potential than earth element to me.'' He made a sensible choice.

    It was possible to increase the potency of the ice element using snow essence. But there was no way he could increase his earth affinity after using the dragon''s eye.

    Zick asked the cat a question: "Do you know the giant hero?"

    "Yeah...I think I heard about him 30,000 years ago." The cat answered back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Then, do you know about the seven continents?"

    At once both the cat and Levienel became motionless upon hearing this.

    "You...Where did you hear about this? Never bring up this matter if you are ever to meet a dragon or else you will die for sure." The cat spoke with a serious expression for the first time.

    "From some book. Tell me more about it." Zick asked patiently. The three of them started climbing the steps again.

    The cat breathed out loudly and spoke solemnly: "I don''t want to speak about this, so I will keep it short. 20,000 or so years ago, originally there used to be seven continents throughout the continent."

    "But then another disaster befell this world. The wrath from an unknown world attacked this one, absorbing the souls of millions."

    Hearing this, Zick could only stay speechless: "...."

    "All the seven continents decided to join hands, not only them but even the neutral races. The dragons were especially important in this battle. The wrath had ethereal bodies so it was not possible to kill them using normal means. Only the dragon race''s original forces and the higher form of energy of the grandmaster rank could harm them..."

    Zick''s eyes squinted: "Weren''t you going to keep it short?" He wasn''t interested in this story, all he wanted to know was how there are only three continents now.

    "Ahem, four continents excluding the one present in this era plotted behind the scenes. For their survival, they created the fog of annihtion around these three continents, where the wrath was invading from."

    "The fog could trap the dragons and every living being without exception. But it still could not stop the wrath, that is the reason they didn''t use it from the beginning."

    While the cat spoke, Zick and the two had already reached the surface. Levienel started creating a teleportation circle as the cat continued telling the story.

    "They aimed to lure the mighty dragon to one ce to fight the wrath species. Wrath is creatures with no intelligence, they attacked the thing which they felt the most danger from."

    "You can tell what happened next, right? Hmph! Those prideful and haughty dragons were on the verge of being exterminated from the world! They defeated the wrath somehow but they paid a very high price." There was a tinge of pity and sympathy in the cat''s voice, but its joy was above this emotion. The cat didn''t seem to like the dragon race much.

    Zick''s eyes shone in understanding, he thought of the interaction Aeiron had with a dragon when he went to ask for help to fight against the demon lord.

    The dragon rejected it with no hesitation.

    [ "The demon race is trying to kill the human race so what does it have to do with me? They haven''t offended us in any way, we have no reason to move. Hmph, you all deserve this, just die and vanish just like how our ancestors did. Just scram."] That''s how the conversation went with the dragons in the novel.

    Zick spoke to the cat: "That exins a lot, thank you for telling me about it."

    "Hmph, it''s no big deal human." The cat looked forward, with a flickering tail.

    Shortly, Levienel finished setting up the teleportation circle. It was huge, covering around eight meters of area.

    Zick took out the map of the middle continent: "Miss Levienel, could you make this city and its people vanish?" His expression was nk with cold light flickering in his red eyes.

    Levienel took the map offered by Zick and looked at the ce he pointed. Not saying anything, she flew away at a rapid speed.

    "Human....Do you like murdering humans that much?" The cat asked, looking at Zick''s nk face.

    "It''s necessary, do you think I am doing it because I want to do it? Of course not! I am doing it because it has to be done." A pained voice left Zick''s mouth. It was filled with righteousness that made the cat shut its mouth.

    "If it hurts that much then you can just give up..." The cat tried consoling Zick.

    "That is not possible, I won''t run from my responsibility. If I do, that wouldn''t be me anymore." Zick''s voice was filled with emotions that made The cat silent again.

    The cat opened its mouth in the end: "Alright, I will support you. As long as I don''t have to kill humans, I am ready to do everything."

    Zick nodded his head and told the cat to activate the teleportation circle, after casting an illusion spell around the magic circle �� which was the specialty of dark magic.

    Zick looked at the cat which worked so obediently: ''So easy, It didn''t doubt me at all. I am going to appear as ''justice'' from now on, so it''s important to maintain a good image. I can just kill anyone who gets in my way in the dark.''

    Soon the teleportation circle activated and both of them vanished.

 Chapter 154 Brain And Will Integration

    There was a reason why Zick wasn''t aiming for other duke families or simr forces. He needed them to fight against the demon army, he could plunder them as much as he wanted after finishing the demon lord.

    The thing which could make him move was only an item or potion that could increase his strength and potential.

    Opening his eyes, Zick found himself in the middle of a familiar barrennd. A table with an umbre entered his sight, the magic caste by Levienel was still working �� hiding this teleportation circle and the table.

    After finding nothing wrong, Zick sat on the chair of the table, the cat jumped off his shoulder and sat on the white table.

    "How exactly did you make that immortal girl an ally?" The cat felt curiosity toward this question; it had never seen Levienel ever work with others on any of the asions it met her in the past.

    "We made a deal, I promised her that I will kill her and in return, she had to help me kill the demon lord," Zick said while looking at the dragon eye in his space ring.

    "Thought as much, but really what happened to you? How did you be a dragon yer all of a sudden...." The cat asked in a matter-of-fact voice.

    A sharp light passed by Zick''s pupil which was deeply hidden. The cat''s words were a little surprising but he had already expected: ''It could probably sense nature''s characteristics in my mana.''

    "I was just a little fortunate that''s all, I found a piece of ice dragon''s heart." Zick didn''t provide any further information.

    Actually, even if Zick didn''t say ice dragon, the cat had already spected that after sensing the cold energy all over Zick''s body.

    "Dragon heart?!" The cat was stuck motionless. It started speaking hurriedly: "Do you know how rare it is to find a dragon heart? It is like finding a needle in the ocean!"

    "Hmm, that''s so?" Zick probed for more information.

    "To the dragon, their heart is very important and is deeply connected to their life. If they die, their heart vanishes too, only when they leave it behind by their own will could it stay behind in this world." The cat seems to be agitated while saying this, there was visible shock present in its eyes.

    "I see, so that''s how it is," Zick revealed an enlightened expression: ''The dragon lord left behind his heart for its egg so that''s that too.''

    With his dragon yer status known by the other party, Zick didn''t hesitate. The brown pupil dragon eye appeared above Zick''s palm.

    Seeing this the cat understood Zick''s intention even without him saying a thing. It had a very deep knowledge about the dragon yers.

    The cat thought: ''After all, at one point in history, the dragon yer race prospered to an unbelievable level before swiftly being killed by the dragons...''

    Not saying anything, Zick made the dragon''s eyes float above his palm. The eye was the same size as his whole face and nature''s characteristic-filled aura around it made it look even more apprehensive.

    Controlling the dragon eye, Zick brought it near his mouth, before taking a bite from it. Crimson blood leaked out of the ce he took a bite but it didn''t fall to the ground and floated beside the eye.

    GULP~

    Zick gulped it down at once: ''Hmm, it''s really soft, it almost melted instantly in my mouth. Though the taste can''t be said to be good...'' Zick was used to eating weird things, just this wasn''t anything surprising.

    A simr process of the dragon''s heart in his body absorbing the dragon''s eye. The energy from the dragon''s eye was very pure, but looking at this, Zick wasn''t happy.

    ''Why the hell is my dragon heart absorbing the dragon eye''s energy?! There is no need for such a thing, it can strengthen me on its own...'' Zick thought rapidly with cold sweat gathering on his face.

    If it went like this, he predicted that it would be just like how he took in the snow essence for the first time. But the thing he expected didn''t ur.

    Zick frowned, the energy that gathered in his heart didn''t start getting transmitted to the mana nerves. This wasn''t how it usually went which made him confused and curious.

    After a few seconds, Zick''s heart started beating loudly, sending pure energy with no form of contamination in it.

    At that instant Zick sensed it, his affinity with earth magic was rising as if it had be a rocket.

    ''So the dragon heart behaves differently when absorbing other dragon''s body parts?'' Zick spected and felt the sense of crisis going away.

    From this, Zick understood that his heart would absorb even the things which didn''t need its assistance for strengthening him. This was important as it might have been dangerous when he took in something more potent in the future.

    Zick had spected it to only absorb things which increase potential but it seems to be wrong now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After a few minutes, all the energy was absorbed into his body. His mana in his mana nerves looked a lot darker and threatening.

    ''I will probably pass the mid-peak rank if I eat the whole dragon eye. This should at least cut six months of hard work from what I predicted. I should be able to be a master swordsman in half a year!'' Zick was overjoyed about this.

    While Zick continued munching on the dragon eye, Levienel arrived back with a bright light upon the teleportation circle.

    Looking at Zick who was busy, Levienel sat on one of the chairs too, she and the cat started conversing while Zick was absorbed in his strengthening spree.

    After an hour, Zick had fully consumed the dragon eye. He has officially broken through to the mid-peak rank and his potential in the mage profession rose to peak rank!

    His affinity with earth magic had also increased by a huge leap. Surpassing even his ice affinity by a little, this was surprising as it was just an old dragon eye that had already lost a lot of its energy.

    In Zick''s eyes, a change started appearing, his left eye''s pupil shrunk at a rapid pace before it started turning dark brown. Throughout the whole process, Zick felt as if his eye was on the fire. He clenched his teeth tightly waiting for the pain to go away but it persisted for a few minutes, torturing him.

    With cold sweat all over his face, Zick breathed raggedly: "What was that...?"

    The cat who was sleeping all curled up looked at him: "Of course, that''s what happens when a dragon yer eats a dragon''s body part. The dragon''s body part eaten bes yours permanently."

    Hearing this Zick fell into silence: ''This...This new eye is just like the dragon eyes I had in the past. I can see the magic cast by Levienel along with their potential and strength.''

    This came as a shock to him, but it turned into uncontroble joy in no time.

    This meant that the more dragon he ate, the more new abilities he would gain!

    This prospect almost made him reconsider if he should just attack the dragon race. But this might be detrimental in the long run.

    ''If the dragon race refuses to fight the demon army till the end, I will make them history. Well, they would be history even if they fight the demon army anyway.'' Zick thought coldly.

    Zick started learning new ice and earth magic from the cat and Levienel to pass his time. He was against collecting the dragon egg, for now, carrying them around was a very messy topic. Especially when Zick''s situation wasn''t that good, he needed a better carriage and identity.

    While learning new magic, Zick noticed the difference from before. He could affect the mana with his will very easily, he became a peak middle-rank mage at once. This might be because dragons have an immense affinity with the mana that it hears to them like a servant.

    Zick wanted to integrate the ice magic and make use of it with his ck ice. But outwardly, he just used magic naturally.

    From Fuiren''s memory, there was another discovery that Zick made that surprised him.

    ''The way people are walking in the mage profession is wrong! This might also be the reason why no archmage appeared in decades.''

    ''There is a different method to walk in the mage profession...''

    Zick had already asked Levienel and she knew this method too. She gave additional information about it.

    With a lot of time in his hand, Zick began preparing to use the process to create a mana nerve using his ''will'' in his head!

    This process was veryplex and hard, he had to make nerves from his ''will'' connect to specific parts of his brain. A little mashup could lead to a dangerous injury, which might even take his life.

    After taking a stamina potion and meditating for a while, Zick opened his heterogeneous eyes.

    The cat warned from above the table: "You will only get a single chance to perform the mind and will integration. Be careful not to mess up and kill yourself human."

    Levienel just nodded her head and looked at him nkly.

    Zick closes his eyes again not saying anything, he took out dozens of healing and stamina potions and kept them in front of him.

    ''Let''s start then.''

 Chapter 155 Will Infusion

    The brain and will integration, which was also known as the will infusion in Fuiren''s memory was a very hard technique tomence. It takes a person''s whole concentration from beginning to end.

    The first step was to bring all ''will'' to the center of the brain. It sounded easy but in reality, it was a very hard process. Both a person''s control and talent will be tested in this process.

    Right at the moment, Zick was controlling all his ''will'' and gathering in the middle of the brain. But he felt a headache looking at the ''will'' which took a long time to gather.

    Zick grimaced: ''Fuiren was easily able to do it, this showed his immense talent in this profession. It''s a letdown that my current potential is still in the peak rank. If it was in the archmage level, this could have been a breeze for me....''

    Zick''s eyebrows trembled as he thought, just by thinking a little, the speed of gathering ''will'' fell by a noticeable rate.

    With all the things that Zick has gone through, he became a lot more cautious than before. He would give up the moment he felt that creating ''will'' veins is not possible.

    Within dozens of minutes, all the ''will'' gathered in the middle of the brain, looking like a round lump of white miasma. This white miasma gave out a sense of energy.

    The second step was the creation of the ''will'' vein!

    A little mashup in this process could be very bad for Zick. Damage to the brain could lead to memory loss and in the worst case, death.

    With Zick controlling the ''will'' using all his concentration, many strands of ''will'' started extending from the round lump of ''will''.

    These strands of ''will'' are first attached to the spinal cord. The spinal cord is very important as the brain uses it tomunicate with the body part. It was important to strengthen it first to make the body and mindmunicate with no problem.

    Now, the strands of ''will'' will act as a means ofmunication between the brain and the body, making it more efficient.

    If the mind is too fast and the body can''t keep up, what''s the point of it then?

    This was one of the reasons why in fuiren''s era every person walked into the mages profession secondarily.

    After the spinal cord, the cerebrum was the next to be connected and started to strengthen slightly.

    One by one all the brain''s important parts were connected to the ''will'' vein.

    Zick''s whole head was covered in sweat. He had already gulped down two stamina potions to replenish his lost ''will'' by now. Strengthening his brain of course needed the expenditure of his ''will'', so he had to refill it again in the middle.

    In the end, the round lump of ''will'' had turned illusionary and shrunk to not even ten percent of its original size.

    As Zick willed, this left-out ''will'' was also transmitted throughout the white veins. There were more than 20 strands connected in ce right below the crown of Zick''s head.

    From now on, the risk of his ''will'' pressuring a single part of his brain would be nonexistent. This is actually what happened to Seveleen in the novel, causing her to lose her sanity momentarily.

    This was the reason she destroyed the capital of a kingdom. Thanks to herst piece of sanity left, she didn''t hurt any citizen, fortunately.

    The most talented person in history suffered such a setback in her path, fate really likes to y with people. For this reason, she suffered from headaches constantly.

    Here was where a cliche situation urred, when Seveleen was near Aeiron, her headache would vanish like it never appeared!

    Because of this, Seveleen''s and Aeironxs rtionship deepened.

    Zick had some spection about it now: ''It might be because of God''s blessing....''

    Zick only felt apprehension toward this being called God. He had spected that the sun God, Velveric, was behind the magic disaster. If it''s true, it would mean God could look through the people they have blessed.

    This sort of thing made Zick reconsider if keeping Seveleen and Varine around was a good thing.

    But the conclusion he reached was: discarding his n for just this kind of spection wasn''t worth it.

    ''They might also be affecting my thought process but it is still spection in the end.''

    The main point was that Zick could tell this ''will'' infusion technique to Seveleen, this would enable her to not turn crazy momentarily like in the novel.

    He withheld this technique for now as there were still more than three years or so before that happened.

    Feeling the ''will'' vein to have formed without any problem. Zick felt joyful inwardly, he didn''t fail in the end.

    There were countless benefits from forming ''will'' veins.

    Thought process speed would increase by leap and bound. This will help Zick to think faster and react to any unforeseen situation.

    Zick could remember things more easily and his reaction speed should have also increased by a lot. The other things rted to the brain would also see a noticeable amount of change.

    Zick''s eyes fluttered open slowly, there was a visible change in his eyes. It shone like there was a star in it, especially the red eyes that gave out a ring glow.

    "So you seeded in your first try. Failing in forming ''will'' veins causes many to have trauma, after all, you are lucky." The cat spoke with a tinge of rxation in its voice.

    Zick didn''t say anything to it and instead turned towards Levienel, he remembered something.

    "You have the ring of the Garcia family''s head, right miss Levienel?" Zick had almost forgotten about this matter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There were no mana crystals in the treasury so it is most probably in the space ring of the Garcia family''s head.

    "Space ring?" Levienel thought before answering: "It was destroyed along with that old man."

    This news was like a lightning sh that struck him, Zick stared at Levienel nkly.

    When a space ring is destroyed, the things within it are also destroyed along with it. So the mana crystal must have also been destroyed along with it.

    Zick ced his hand on the table and breathed in loudly. He self-reflected: ''...This is my fault. I should have considered that to Levienel the space ring of that Garcia family''s head must be useless.''

    Zick sighed outwardly: "Then never mind. Where do you usually sleep?"

    "I don''t sleep." Levienel''s answer was curt.

    Zick could only shake his head internally upon hearing this, but he didn''t mind. He could stay awake the whole night with no problem.

    Levienel''s curse was different from Aishel''s. Instead of the area of the curse, the curse''s potency increases. In another word, it would suck in life force more rapidly as she stays in one ce.

    It had already turned evening with the sun almost setting on the horizon.

    Zick calcted the things he got from the Garcia family''s treasury.

    In total there were-

    Three legendary-grade weapons, a ck dagger, a blue bow, and a silver sword.

    This type of weapon was very rare, only people with high social standing like royalty and dukes have it.

    Other weapons did not have much attraction to Zick. There are around one hundred and seventy of them. They would most probably be sold offter on.

    There were only two elixir-grade potions, which was a disappointment. But it was understandable as alchemy wasn''t widely spread in the middle continent.

    One was a healing type, which Zick could use in an emergency and the other one was a strengthening type potion that could strengthen one''s bone. It didn''t increase potential or strengthen mana nerves, unfortunately.

    With no hesitation, Zick decided to drink it right away.

    The vial it was stored in looked fancy, dark green liquid was stored within it.

    Opening the vial, Zick lifted it and brought it near to his mouth. He gulped it down at once, the liquid was very murky and left a disgusting taste in his mouth. It made him squint his eyes a little.

    "Hmm, I have heard that it would hurt a lot after drinking that poison so be careful." The cat warned.

    Hearing this, Zick tried saying something but suddenly, his face cramped.

    Zick got off the table and moved away feeling a sense of revulsion rising from deep within his body.

    ''Why...?'' Zick wanted to curse, he felt like he was being yed by. This time his heart didn''t absorb the potion!

    This irritated Zick for the first time in a long time. He could not predict the reason this happened at all.

    Zick thought calmly: ''It probably has something to do with the potion. Is it because it does not increase my potential?'' This looked like the most probable reason.

    ''It doesn''t even strengthen my mana nerves, just my bones so that might be the most possible answer....''

    Zick looked at what was going on within his body.

    The dark green liquid was absorbed by Zick''s body, this energy made his body have a sense of revulsion. After being absorbed, it headed to all the bones of his body.

    The green energy actually directly prated his bone!

    "Ugh!" Zick groaned. The process had only started.

    The green energy started prating Zick''s bones from all over the body.

    "Ahh! Kuh!" Zick suppressed his scream with a clenched jaw while crouching down. He looked at the ground with a fierce face, there was sweat gathering all around his handsome face.

    Crack~ Zick''a body shook with the sound of his bones creaking and even cracking ringing out.

    ''Why do all things in this world include going through torture? It is sickening....'' Zickined to vent his annoyance.

    After half an hour.

    The green energy was absorbed by Zick''s bone atst.

 Chapter 156 The Wolf King, Thevel

    There are some twists and turns but in the end, Zick was able to gain both ''will'' veins and strengthen his bones.

    A dim green glow was being released by his bones, and Zick''s bone marrow was strengthened too so his blood recovery rate had risen by thrice.

    ''My bones themselves have be more than three times sturdier. This should give a huge boost in strength no doubt.'' Zick got up and dusted off the brown sand from his hands and leg through magic.

    Zick sat back on the table''s chair and looked at the cat nkly for a second. If he didn''t know better, he would have thought that the cat held bad intentions against him by withholding information.

    Feeling Zick''s gaze, the cat flicked its tail to the side: "What is it now, human?"

    It doesn''t seem like the cat realized anything.

    "Nothing, tell me more about the potion I just took." Zick had no change in expression saying this.

    While collecting the potions, Zick had just asked the cat to exin their usefulness and benefits. He wanted to know more about it as that would give him an incline as to why his heart didn''t absorb it.

    The cat started exining leisurely while Zick concentrated on not missing anything. He understood the reason in the end.

    The bone-strengthening potion''s name was bone tempering potion. It is very beneficial to the bone but to other body parts, it is highly poisonous.

    ''This is the most probable reason my heart didn''t absorb it.'' Zick found the reason and rxed.

    There were hundreds of more potions in his space ring too. Along with many rare materials that he hadn''t even heard of in his life.

    Especially the gourd which was filled with some ancient monsters'' blood. It seems like this monster was super rare in the past and also very useful.

    ''I have learned three ice spells from Levienel and one earth spell. I want to learn more but I am just a middle-rank mage. I can only learn a spell in an hour and I still haven''t mastered them.''

    Zick didn''t like wasting time, seeing there was nothing else to do, he along with the other two headed toward Chertel city.

    The cat was especially motivated after Zick said he would buy wine for it. Along the way, Zick even found Seveleen and Varine who were traveling in a carriage.

    Before, Zick was not able to see anything while traveling with Levienel but now with his one eye turning into dragon eyes, it was possible to see things very clearly.

    ''They will reach the position I was in before tomorrow morning.'' Zick predicted calmly.

    This speed was faster than it usually takes but it was understandable as Seveleen and Varine didn''t rest and rushed with everything they have. Even the horses were not given time to rest and were made to run continuously using stamina potions.

    ''They are kind of wasting my money but never mind.'' Zick didn''t care thinking about all the things he looted from the Garcia family''s treasury.

    They shortly arrived at Chertel city.

    On Zick''s order, Levienel made them invisible again.

    A huge city covered byrge and sturdy walls entered Zick''s sight. The sun had fully set by now and it was turning darker.

    There were signs of smoke rising from multiple ces within the city but it looked natural to him.

    ''The situation was a hundred times worse one yearter. Cities fell every day with people dying everywhere, there were countless dead bodies fallen on the ground like the most natural things.'' Zick remembered the line from the Novel.

    The two talented people Zick came from were living in this city as vagrants because of revelner disease. They lost their family in this pandemic.

    So in many ways, Zick was being helped by this pandemic. He could make a name for himself and recruit talented people into his team of meatshield more efficiently.

    First, Zick searched for a high-ss bar to buy some good quality wine. He found one in a minute andnded right in front of the bar''s door.

    "Undo the invisible magic on me." Zick didn''t care much about people seeing him as the street was empty, to begin with.

    With a sh, Zick appeared before the bar''s door. With no hesitation, he entered it along with the other two who were still invisible.

    DING~

    "Wee, it''s rare to see customers at this time of the day, please sit down." A middle-aged man with a slim body and wide shoulders spoke with a smile.

    Zick directly walked in front of the bar owner and spoke: " Give me all the stock of the best wine you have."

    Zick was very reserved now that he was in the city, he had to manage a good image.

    The bar owner looked at the young man who had a hat with blue leather armor on him. Hearing Zick''s need, he was surprised and doubtful. But he didn''t let it show on his face.

    "Please wait a second." The middle-aged man wasn''t worried about not gettingpensated by Zick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This bar was directly under the baron rekert, which led to there being no one who messed with this bar.

    The whole wuirsec region was actually under baron Rekert, it was a huge territory for just a baron but they weren''t happy with it at all. Because of owning this barren region, there was the very minimum amount ofnd with livable conditions owned by this noble family.

    And the most unfortunate thing for baron Rekert was that they had to fight off against the monsters of the Wuirsec region!

    Thus, Zick knew that once he killed the military chief of this noble family �C the baron rekert would be finished for sure.

    ''Well, it doesn''t matter anymore.'' Zick patiently waited for the bar''s owner to return.

    Soon, the bar owner came back with a low-grade ring and handed it over to Zick to check the product.

    Seeing there were around 30 bottles of wine bottles, Zick nodded his head and looked at the bar owner.

    "They are all 120 years old and made from high-quality materials like pezelt berries and grapes from haltrel trees." The bar owner spoke with pride visible on his face.

    Zick wasn''t much interested in this matter: "How much?"

    The bar owner calmed down and stated: "300 tinum coins sir."

    Zick exchanged with the bar owner through the space ring and got out of the bar swiftly.

    "Hey, you there! Don''t you know it''s not allowed to roam at this time of the day? This is when infected people''s corpses are being burned!" A young-looking soldier walked toward Zick with a suspicious expression.

    The moment the guard was 20 steps away from Zick, he vanished in thin air. The guard was startled looking around, searching for Zick.

    Taking a nce at the guard from the sky, Zick spoke to Levienel while handing the ring over to the cat.

    "Let''s move to the west of the city."

    Getting the cat and Levienel, Zick''s n also had to change. He had not much to gain from the Everlor organization anymore!

    Instead, he had the itch to attack the everlor organization''s main bases and loot them clean!

    ''This needs further nning. One thing is for sure that I don''t need to raise my rank in the organization anymore.'' Zickughed at his situation.

    Before he had to wrack his brain to find a way to raise his rank in the organization and even get strong but now with Levienel and the cat, all these problems vanished.

    ''With my current strength, no one in the peak rank is my match.'' Zick was clearly aware of his strength.

    Zick and the other two arrived above the west of the city in no time. The whole west of the city was slum as per Zick''s observation from the sky.

    Zick started looking for the two people he came from, it was not a hard process. He just had to look at everyst person carefully, with his dragon eyes he would be able to tell their potential.

    Soon Zick''s eyes contracted: "That''s...."

    Hearing Zick speak, Levienel and the cat who was drinking a bottle of wine looked at him.

    Ignoring them, Zick''s sole attention was on the personying in one of the slum alleys.

    The person was breathing raggedly as it supported its back on the wall. He looked to be only 15 years old but there was a fierce glint in his eyes filled with hatred.

    There were two wolf ears protruding from his silver hair and his teeth were sharp. He was a wolfman! Which was very rare even in the eastern continent.

    No one dared to go near this person from the amount of blood thirst he radiated.

    There were two kids beside him looking to be unconscious too.

    ''The wolf king, Thevel....'' Zick was almost sure of this guess by the wolf''s appearance and potential.

    Zick remembered the information from the novel.

    The wolf king, Thevel, was a very important character in the novel. He was neither a viin nor a supporting character to the protagonist but in the final battle, he exposed his quasi-grandmaster rank strength to the world. This threw the world into a state ofmotion.

    ''For him to be in this city right at the moment...what a coincidence....'' Zick''s eyes flickered in an uncertain light.

    This coincidence didn''t seem natural at all and ording to the novel, there was still a year left before the wolf''s tribe would be destroyed.

    ''Is this a butterfly effect caused by the early magic disaster?'' Zick thought before ordering Levienel to let him down near to thevel.

 Chapter 157 The Regretful Soul Entrapment

    The two wolfman cubs near Thevel were already dead with blood stained clothes. They were nothing but cold corpses.

    Landing in the alleyway some distance from Thevel, Zick pursed his lips: ''Thevel is going to die at this rate...Saving him isn''t hard but there was no way he would join my team. To heal his wound which has the enemy''s mana in it at least a peak-rank healing potion is needed.''

    Zick was extremely aware of Thevel''s personality, making him reluctant to help.

    In the novel.

    The tribe Thevel belonged to was attacked after two months from the day the magic disaster urred. Which was in clear contrast to what was happening right now.

    Thevel was an exceptionally talented wolfman even among his tribesmen. But he had a loner personality, which made him have solitary life with only his blood-rted siblings.

    ''Thevel had wanted revenge for his tribesman, wolfmen were not to be looked down upon. They are creatures with immense pride and vengeful spirit when ites to their own kind. Hm..?'' Just when Zick was lost in this thought, Thevel started grunting and spasming on the ground.

    Understanding Thevel''a situation, Zick firmed his resolve.

    ''Though I might not be able to recruit him, having the future wolf king owe a favor to me is enough.''

    Zick dashed forward leaving behind the interested duo.

    Just when Zick was a few meters away from thevel, he heard a muffled grunt.

    "Argh!!"

    A red spear sprouted from Thevel''s chest, it came directly from within his body.

    "Cat!" Zick called out immediately.

    A ck shadow extended from the ground and immediately engulfed Thevel. The red spear was broken into particles in seconds and then it started covering his wounds.

    But suddenly, the ck shadow came to a standstill.

    The cat''s voice rang out in Zick''s ear: "His soul has already left the body...."

    The ck shadow vanished, letting Thevel''s body fall to the ground.

    Zick''s eyes shed with contempt, he felt disappointment internally.

    ''The person who attacked the wolfman''s tribe is really sinister. He wantonly left such an injury to make Thevel suffer further.''

    Zick breathed out in disappointment and started looking for any valuable thing on Thevel.

    "Is he someone you know?" The cat asked from Zick''s shoulder.

    "In a way. He is the son of the Wolfman tribesmen leader." Zick lifted Thevel''s body and ced it supporting the wall.

    "Hmm." Zick found the ne on Thevel''s neck to be interesting as it gave him an unfathomable feeling.

    The neckless was made of pure ck material, it had a squarish shape with an unknown symbol drawn on it.

    "Do you know what this is?" Zick lifted the ne in his palm.

    Looking at the ne, at once Levienel had a visible change in their expression.

    "Don''t touch that! You....."

    "That''s mythical...."

    The voice started trailing away.

    Zick''s vision turned dark at once, his body fell to the side with a thud.

    .....

    In a room with two energetic wolfmen, Zick opened his eyes swiftly.

    Zick''s expression changed looking at the two young women who weren''t even 6 years old ying around.

    "Brother, brother, y with us!" The younger sibling who was a cheerful girl spoke while pulling Zick''s hand.

    At that moment, Zick noticed his sharp nails. His eyes opened wide with confusion visible on his face.

    ''What is happening? I just touched that weird neckless, Then Levienel and the cat seemed agitated to the extreme....'' Zick wasn''t an idiot, he found out that the neckless had something to do with his current situation.

    "Brother! Let''s y with the sword again!" The other woman, who was a boy, waspeting with each other.

    They both had silver hair just like Thevel.

    Zick understood his situation with a little thought.

    ''I must be...Thevel then. Levienel said ''That''s mythical'' so there is a high chance that the weird neckless has some history behind it. I hope they will be able to take me out of this ce....''

    Zick had an idea of what the neckless was but further consideration was needed.

    Zick looked down at the two bickering siblings and spoke with a passive look: "y by yourself, for now, I have something to do." He was sure to not make himself sound too cold as to scare the two siblings, he instead looked strict.

    "Ehhh! You told us that you will be free today!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The sibling startedining, Zick smiled warmly at them and patted them on the head.

    Zick spoke with a soft voice: "I wanted to y too but I can''t put aside my job! The whole tribe is expecting me to be a good leader, I can''t let father expectations down."

    Zick perfectly portrayed Thevel''s personality who was cold to everyone and only warm to his family.

    Convincing the duo siblings, Zick moved out of the room.

    Zick in Thevel''s appearance looked exceedingly handsome, giving a valiant look. He had a well built body even though he looked 10 years old and had long hair reaching to his chest.

    The bright sun ray entered Zick''s sight, making him squint his eyes.

    Many houses made of wood both above the trees and on the ground entered Zick''s sight. The house he was in was made above the biggest tree in the area, giving him a broad view.

    Seeing the wolfman everywhere, Zick thought: ''The tribe of different races live in different ways, the wolfman tribe will also have a unique way of living.''

    Getting down the wooden steps, Zick could hear people gossiping around him.

    "The blood battle will start tomorrow, I can''t wait to see who will be the strongest among the younger generation."

    "Hmph! Of course, it''s Thevel, our tribe leader''s son."

    Looking at Zicking down the wooden steps, people started paying respect to him.

    Zick walked past them with an emotionless face, even having a hint of arrogance in the way he walked.

    Being able to hear all their gossip so clearly showed that Zick''s hearing ability in this body was exceptional.

    He headed towards the forest in the distance to have some alone time.

    ''The mythical item, regretful soul entrapment....'' Zick thought of a certain item in the novel.

    The regretful soul entrapment was an item that was owned by the Everlor organization and used in thetter half of the novel.

    This item was very strong, so much so that all the powerhouses of the eastern continent were wary of it.

    To use this item, it had to be fed a soul. Only after this was it possible to use the ability of the item.

    Its ability was what made it so powerful and famous, it could make a person fall into a subconscious world created upon the memories of the soul fed to it.

    A person has to clear all the regret of the soul to get out of this subconscious world.

    ''If the neckless is what I think it is, then the Everlor organization was the one who attacked the wolfman tribe.''

    This matter didn''t bother Zick that much, what did was-

    ''If I have to clear all of Thevel''s regret, that means I will have to defeat the Everlor organization five years from now. If I die here, I will die in reality too...I don''t know if the cat and Levienel have any method to take me out of here.''

    ''And ording to the novel, there was a time difference between this world and outside. One month here should be equal to a day outside.''

    This was the reason Zick acted so thoroughly in front of others. He would have to live for a long time here.

    Thinking about the thing the tribesmen were gossiping upon, Zick knew what he had to do.

    ''Thevel''s first regret must have something to do with this blood battle. He must have lost or suffered a severe setback in it...I need to win thispetition somehow.'' Zick''s eyes shone in resolution.

    He didn''t want to just rely on outside help and rely on himself too.

    "Sigh....." Zick heaved a long sigh in the middle of a forest.

    But he didn''t hesitate any further. He assessed his body''s strength with a little punching and kicking.

    The tree''s outeryer had some cracks from his punch, but Zick felt his hand throbbing in pain too.

    ''My physical ability is above normal human at this age already, I need to know more about the battle intent which the Demihumans use...''

    Zick had some fundamental knowledge of the battle intent which he acquired through the novel.

    Battle intent was something that was present in the demihuman''s body all the time. Initially, it is in a dormant state but it is awakened by them along the way.

    ''Battle intent...'' Zick closed his eyes, concentrating on his body.

    Zick could feel a certain type of power in his body almost immediately, probably because of his current body''s immense talent and potential.

    The battle intent was present in every fibre of his body, it was faint but it existed very vividly.

    By Zick''s will, this energy started rising and gathering at the palm of his hand.

    Opening his eyes, Zick found a silver battle intent rising from his palm. He clenched his palm, dissipating the silver glow.

    ''The way of using battle intent is different from mana. Using this battle intent, I have to refine my body, strengthening it extensively. As my body grows stronger, the battle intent will too.''

    ''The process of strengthening the body by battle intent is very painful because of this demihumans usually have a strong mentality.''

    Sitting below a tree, Zick willed his battle intent again.

 Chapter 158 Flaring Wolf

    While Zick tempered his body using battle intent, in the outside world.

    Levienel and the cat pulled back to the wuirsec region briskly, they carried Thevel''s body along with them.

    They returned to the ce they were at priorly andnded down.

    Zick had been affected by a mythical-grade artifact, knocking him motionless.

    "Do you have any method to wake him up?" Levienel asked the cat nkly. She didn''t have any method that could save Zick.

    The cat was silent for a few seconds before replying: "...I don''t have a method with a hundred percent sess rate, but I have a way that we can try...." The cat was hesitant while saying this.

    "Then, Why are you hesitating? You know that it would be almost impossible for him toe out. The more time passes, the higher the chance he may die..." Levienel understood The severity of the situation, thus she urged the cat.

    If Zick died, Levienel would have to look for another owner. This task would be hard, especially when she wasn''t aware of the sword, Grace''s ownership requirement.

    The cat didn''t hesitate for long too, it was grateful to Zick for freeing it. It wanted to repay this favor so it exerted itself.

    With a wave of the cat''s hand, the ck neckless left Thevel and flew above Zick.

    The cat was aware of the specifics of this artifact, its origin was unknown but its ability was widespread in a certain era.

    It had gone down in history as an ursed item.

    "This neckless must have absorbed Thevel''s soul, which is the reason I couldn''t save him. That human must be reliving this guy''s memories right now." The cat said while inspecting the neckless.

    Levienel nodded her head not saying anything, she felt it to be suspicious too when Thevel''s soul suddenly vanished.

    In reality, it was just absorbed by the neckless.

    "Dark magic is specialized in destroying connections and any form of energy, this neckless is connected to Zick right at the moment �� so I should be able to break it!" The cat spoke with determination.

    But it was not as easy as the cat made it sound. If it was, the regretful soul entrapment wouldn''t have been so famous.

    The ck neckless fell upon Zick''s chest who wasying on the ground. A deep ck shadow started extending from the surrounding ground and engulfed both the neckless and Zick.

    The cat closed its eyes and seemed to be struggling against something.

    At that instant, a white pir extended from neckless and directly attacked the cat!

    It was so fast that the cat was not able to react at all. At the correct time, Levienel created a golden shield around the cat, saving it.

    But even the golden shield was cracked in multiple ces, this made Levienel stare at neckless with wariness.

    The cat seemed to have realized something, directly retracting the shadows.

    "This...The neckless is directly connected to this human''s soul...If I break the connection, I would be just harming him." The cat looked extremely downcast saying this.

    Soul was a very ethereal thing, some didn''t even believe that it existed. But these two people were aware of its existence.

    Levienel frowned lightly, she thought: ''If the soul is damaged, there is a high chance that he would die...no he would surely die with his soul.''

    ''He still hasn''t risen to the grandmaster rank, so he can not strengthen his soul...''

    This situation made these two formidable characters very helpless. Actually, if the neckless were used upon them, they would have no way of resisting too.

    Before Levienel and the cat were skeptical as to how the regretful soul entrapment could harm them, but now they understood.

    It was because of the soul, there were not many means to fight or resist the soul attack if there was actually one.

    ...

    While the cat and Levienel were stuck in a hard position, in Thevel''s subconscious world.

    The next day, Zick, guided by two wolfmen, arrived at a huge stadium.

    He had strengthened himself until he ran out of battle intent yesterday, he was somewhat confident in winning thispetition.

    ''From what Thevel''s father said, this tournament is very important and I can gain benefits too. Though it''s useless to me...''

    Zick had of course met with his father and showed an image of a hot-blooded youth.

    ''It''s a letdown that there is no recovery potion here, I could have experimented to see if it was possible to recover lost battle intent.''

    Zick walked behind the two who were guiding him.

    A huge crowd of wolfmen surrounded the stadium shouting with excitement. The stadium was also made of a unique tree material and looked huge at first sight.

    The wolfman made way for Zick, soon letting him enter.

    This time, it was Zick''s chance to fight first.

    He went down to the stadium with a calm disposition. His opponent was already on the ground waiting for him, throwing provoking nces at him.

    Looking at his opponent who had red hair with the same build as him, Zick squinted his eyes. The confidence radiated by his opponent showed that he had something to rely on.

    But Zick rxed the next moment, he was confident in his skills.

    ''As long as he doesn''t have the strength to kill me in one move, it should be alright.'' Zick stood 40 steps from his opponent.

    "Wow, the son of Meleny elder and the tribe leader''s son is going to fight first? It really will be interesting watching this fight!"

    "It is chosen by random but they still faced each other so soon, it must be fate, hahaha!"

    Hearing this Zick had a doubt: ''Did the original Thevel lose in the first round?''

    While Zick was lost in his thoughts, the umpire of this tournament walked out. He had a burly and strong build, looking quite intimidating.

    "Are you ready?" The umpire asked.

    Zick and his opponent nodded their heads.

    "Then, start!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The red-headed youth leaped at Zick at once with hesitation, his speed was fast. He arrived before Zick who was motionless in five seconds.

    Zick continued looking on coldly: ''He had clearly strengthened himself with battle intent in the past, but why did Thevel not do it...?'' He didn''t think for long.

    Seeing his opponent a few steps away from him, Zick''s eyes shone.

    The red-headed youth had its right hand''s w ready, not hiding his intent at all.

    "Hmph." Zick snorted before moving a step forward.

    The red-headed youth was waving his right hand, directly at Zick''s face but was surprised to see him move forward so abruptly. He didn''t stop and instead increased the speed of his attack using battle intent.

    At that instant something surprising urred, Zick moved his body right to his opponent''s left chest and caught his hand by the elbow.

    At once the red-headed youth was surprised looking at Zick''s calcted move. There was no error at all, all the elders and tribe leader were surprised.

    Strengthening himself using battle intent, Zickughingly threw his opponent right to the ground using the opponent''s momentum.

    Bam, it was a loud sound, the redheaded youthnded right at his face, screaming in pain at once. His nose bone was broken.

    Zick looked at the umpire, but seeing him not moving, he walked near his opponent and directly kicked him in the face with no regard for the damage he caused to himself.

    BANG!

    Zick''s leg was covered in battle intent so he only felt pain but his opponent was knocked dozens of steps back with cracks in his skull.

    Seeing the redheaded youth had lost consciousness, the umpire dered: " The wolfmen tribe''s leader''s son, Thevel Hirkel won the first round!"

    Hearing this suddenly Zick felt the world turning round.

    The world turned nk at that instant.

    When Zick opened his eyes again, he found himself in the middle of a forest.

    "Kuh...." Bearing the paining from his left hand, Zick turned towards it.

    His left hand was a mess, it bled from multiple cuts, there were many brushes all over his body too.

    Zick was currently in the 13-year-old Thevel''s body.

    Grrrrr...

    The growling of a wolf reached Zick''s ear making him focus on it.

    A crimson-red wolf with its fur ring as a me moved towards Zick with delight in its eyes.

    Looking at it, an rm bell rang in Zick''s head: ''This is ring wolves, they have at least a middle-rank knight''s strength with them....''

    Zick got up at once disregarding the pain all over his body, another despairing fact hit Zick.

    All his battle intent was used up!

    GROWL!

    Seeing its prey hurt, the wolf moved faster, but then a wolfmen girl with zing red hair stood before the wolf.

    Looking at the girl, a feeling of affection rose from deep within Zick: ''Hmm...Did Thevel fall in love with that girl?''

    Zick didn''t find it weird but at once he understood what Thevel''s regret was. This girl must have died here!

    Zick started thinking rapidly at once. His body moved towards the girl while thinking.

    He knew that he had to save her no matter what.

    ''Right, if Thevel had survived this incident it means that someone hade and saved him. The chances of him outrunning the ring wolf in this condition seem impossible.''

    With this in the mind, Zick had to buy time until his savior appeared.

    "Mister Thevel, what are you doing?! Escape quickly!" The girl seemed agitated and scared but still thought of Zick''s well-being.

    ''Their rtion seems quite close.'' Zick didn''t stop moving toward her.

    Feeling threatened, atst, the zing wolf leaped at the girl with intense fire covering its body.

    The girl defended using her battle intent, she seemed to be at a disadvantage at first nce. Her battle intent was consumed at a rapid rate.

    Seeing this, Zick started running with no care about what happened to his body.

    ''I can''t let this go on, if she dies here, I will die too!'' A fierce light shone in Zick''s eyes.

    Thevel was a natural fist fighter, so he had no weapon which made Zick fight with his own body.

    Arriving in front of the ring wolf held back by the girl, Zick delivered a kick to its stomach with full force.

    HOWL-!

    The ring Wolfe''s body only moved by a few centimeters before stabilizing but Zick got what he wanted. Its attention was distracted by him, giving the girl a chance to attack.

    A fist covered-in-red battle intentnded right upon the wolf''s skull throwing it dozens of meters back.

    The wolfmen girl looked at Zick amazement and admiration visible on her face.

    Before she could say anything, Zick some: "I will distract it from now on and you attack."

    Like this Zick distracted the ring wolf at certain intervals and sessfully stalled for time.

    After a while, an elder came and saved both of them.

    While the beutiful girl with zing red hair hugged him with tears in her eyes, the world started turning round again.

    This time he entered the body of the 14-year-old Thevel, who was only one year away from bing 15! Right When the tribe was attacked.

 Chapter 159 Solved Easily By Killing

    ''That was close, if I had no prior information about the ring wolf, I would have died for sure.'' Zick felt fear for a second.

    The ring wolf''s special ability is to spew out the me from its mouth.

    Zick was able to dodge along with the girl with some hard work, though the forest around them was ravaged to the ground.

    Zick looked in front of him, he was in a dark room with all the windows closed.

    ''What might his regret be this time?'' Zick wondered while getting up from the brown matt he was sitting upon.

    Feeling that he was unhurt, Zick checked his current strength.

    ''I have middle-rank strength, hmm....he didn''t improve much, with his potential he should have already had the strength of a high-rank knight by now.'' Zick contemted.

    KNOCK-KNOCK~

    Someone knocked on the door softly before speaking: "Brother...Why don''t youe out today? The-the weather is good and yes, we can y like we used to do..."

    Hearing the voice which appeared hesitant and sad, Zick knew it was one of Thevel''s siblings.

    ''Why does he sound like this? it''s as if he thinks I won''te out even if he begs me.'' Zick was confused.

    He started thinking rapidly, not responding to the voice as a form of caution. The current situation wasn''t normal.

    After a few seconds, another voice appeared on the other side of the door, it was Thevel''s small sister: "We should go Yerter, brother doesn''t want toe out..." this voice had immense sadness in it too.

    Zick had spection at once hearing this.

    ''Did Thevel stop going outside after the Death of his lover? Then, his regret right now must be that he couldn''t be a good brother or that he made his siblings and family very sad by living a shut-in life.''

    Zick sympathized with Thevel, though the reason for them to live a shut-in life was different. They still lived a simr life after all.

    Hearing the sound of his sibling walking away, Zick got up quickly.

    ''I have to y my role now I guess. ying the part of a good brother is not hard for me.''

    Zick opened the door calmly to find the two siblings who have be 10 years old and quite beutiful frozen in their ces.

    Both of them turned their heads toward Zick with an Incredulous expression.

    A smile blossomed on Zick''s face as he looked at the two of them. It looked natural with no w at all, there was a sign of affection in his eyes.

    Looking at their brother for the first time in a long time, both the siblings had a tearful look. They immediately ran toward Zick and hugged him while crying loudly.

    ....

    While Zick caught up with the sibling, in the outside world.

    An hour had passed and both Levienel and the cat felt there was nothing they could do.

    They could only hope Zick would be able toe out somehow. The difficulty of getting out of that subconscious world was known by them.

    Both brawn and brain were needed toplete this task. They were still skeptical about Zick''s experience and ability.

    At that instant, a red light flew toward the two of them at an extremely fast rate. There was clear killing intent being leaked from the red sh.

    But the sh deviated a little andnded tens of meters away from Levienel and the cat suddenly.

    Boom! A huge explosion urred with a meter-deep crater forming in no time.

    With the cloud of dust dispersing, two figures could be seen on the other side. One was a young man with red hair and an old man looking to be 80 years old with white hair and a beard.

    The young man had a wry smile on his face looking at the old man''s ugly expression. It was Ovelon, Zick''s spection turned out to be the truth. The Everlor organization was the one that attacked the wolfmen tribe.

    Right now they followed behind Thevel to get the mythical artifact they wanted.

    Well, that was at least their n, but the old man immediately regretted his decision. The enemy in front of him had unfathomable strength.

    He couldn''t sense them at all even though he was at the peak master rank!

    This terrified him to no end.

    ''Just how strong are they for me to not be able to sense them at all?! It''s just like when I try to sense the leader...'' The old man thought before bowing to Levienel and the cat.

    "Esteemed madam and cat, can you please give us that neckless back?" The old man''s voice was very respectful, he didn''t want to offend the other party. He didn''t have any shame in begging like this, he was old and experienced many things in his life.

    ""No."" Levienel''s and the cat''s answer was clear and curt with no room for negotiation.

    They weren''t willing to trade one bit, the cat was prideful and just felt disdain toward these humans. If not for its past master, it would already destroy many kingdoms by now. His hatred had only grown after being trapped by the Garcia family.

    Hearing their answer, the old man was stumped at once. It was his mission to recover that neckless, that is their sole reason to attack that wolfmen tribe.

    On the other hand, Ovelon was shocked to see Zickying on the ground beside Thevel. He was able to tell what happened to him easily as he knew the specifics of the neckless too.

    Ovelon immediately informed the old man about Zick but this only angered him.

    "So what?! Because of you, we failed to retrieve the neckless!" The old man started berating Oveling while pointing his finger at him.

    Seeing this, Levienel lost interest and waved her hand. The same thing that happened to Aeiron now happened to these two, they were thrown out of the Wuirsec region like a cannonball.

    "They might die, you know?" The cat asked from the side.

    "Let them." Levienel didn''t care at all. She looked at Zick, ignoring everything. He was herst hope of dying, if even this hope goes away, she doesn''t know what to do.

    Her heart had already faced countless setbacks. She stopped bothering about every small matter and only cared about one thing now.

    That is to die.

    Getting such a response, The cat looked at Zick stillying motionless.

    ...

    After a week of ying around with his siblings and even making up with his parents. Zick looked at the sky above him.

    ''Just how long do I have to y this role now? A week has already passed, which means a few hours have passed in reality.''

    Zick had not stopped considering thest hurdle of this subconscious world. It was the Everlor organization.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With his strength, it was impossible to defeat them no matter what.

    Zick''s eyes shined in a fierce light: ''I saw the regretful soul entrapment artifact on Thevel''s father''s neck. As long as I can just give it to the Everlor organization There are chances of them going away. But....''

    Thinking about how all the people of the organization were vicious characters with immense killing intent, Zick hesitated.

    There is a high chance they will attack nevertheless for fun.

    Zick breathed in and looked down: ''Using the neckless to fight against the organization is more feasible. I just have to let it absorb more soul but how do I get my hands on it....''

    At night, the moment Zick stepped into the house, huge cheers erupted from around him.

    "Happy birthday, Thevel!"

    "Happy birthday!" All his family members gathered here.

    Hearing them, Zick was only dazed for a second before he understood what was happening. He smiled wryly and thanked everyone.

    Thevel''s father looked at Zick with immense pride.

    In the wolfmen tribe, they didn''t cut the cake on birthdays, instead, they celebrated the whole night with delicious food and wine. It was like a banquet.

    On Thevel''s birthday, the whole tribe celebrated.

    After the celebration, everything around Zick turned dark again.

    ''The next round begins, I guess.'' Zick waited patiently.

    Feeling that he had a body again, Zick opened his eyes, and an intense odour of a burning corpse assaulted him.

    He was standing at the entrance of his house looking at the fire everywhere.

    "Son! Run right now! Get out of here while I stop them." The tribe leader with the neckless in his hand ordered Zick, he seems to be readying to use the ability of the mythical item.

    Seeing the people fighting everywhere, and the two people who walked towards where Zick was leisurely, Zick made up his mind.

    "Father, please give me that neckless." He had a very determined expression, almost like he decided to give up on his life.

    Zick was aware that �� Not only brains and brawn but even immense courage and determination are needed to fulfill the condition of getting out of this subconscious world.

    His father was dumbfounded: "What are you saying..."

    "Father, please protect my sibling, I am not a kid who needs protection from others. I can do it, please give the neckless to me or the tribe will be destroyed today." Zick didn''t step back.

    This decision was just too heavy. Thevel''s father could not put all the hope of this n in Zick''s hand. But he knew that pushing back the enemy was impossible even if he put those two strong people to sleep.

    Thinking for a few seconds, Thevel''s father decided to trust Zick.

    "Hahaha, you won''t regret your decision father." There was a deep meaning to Zick''s words that his father didn''t understand.

    ''Thevel''s regret must be that he wasn''t able to protect his family, so I don''t have to bother saving the whole tribe. The most important thing is his family.''

    Sending his conscience into the neckless, Zick activated it without any hesitation. At once a dazzling white light erupted from it.

    Seeing this, Ovelon from the distance threw a red spear at him hurriedly but it was toote.

    Both Ovelon and the old man fell Unconscious, the red spear missed its target. But surprisingly the other members of the organization didn''t show any reaction. They continued killing with no hesitation.

    Zick''s lip perked up with no one noticing.

    "Hahaha..." Suddenly Zick who got down the step of the house attacked the wolfmen beside him.

    The wolfman was a normal person, his body was blown to smithereens from Zick''s single attack.

    ''How stupid, even though they have such a useful weapon they only let it absorb two souls.'' Zick sneered internally.

    The wolfmen considered using this mythical item as taboo. They knew that the soul absorbed by this neckless would never return to the cycles of life.

    So they only used it on people who did heinous crimes.

    Right now, Zick was using this item to absorb the souls of all the wolfmen here after killing them!

    ''If the problem can be resolved so easily by killing, why do I need to take the hard way?'' Zick continued attacking the people around him.

    The whole ce went intomotion, and Thevel''s father who was watching Zick all move was shocked to the core. He had a ghastly expression with his blood running cold. Immense anger and betrayal rose in him.

    "You unfilial son! What do you think you are doing?!" A silver glow covered Him and he dashed toward Zick.

    But was Zick not aware of such a threat?

    "Hehehe, father you should appease your anger with this!" He held a captive in his hand, right in front of his father.

    "Move an inch and I will kill this person!" Zick screamed with no change in expression.

    Instead, Zick threw rays of silver light killing more wolfmen around him.

    "You...." Thevel''s father stopped in his tracks, feeling immense fury. His breathing turned ragged.

    Feeling there were enough souls within the neckless, Zick stopped and activated the ability of the neckless.

    All the members of the everlor organization who attacked crazily started falling one by one.

    "See father, as I said, I saved the tribe."

    Thevel''s father: "....."

    The wolfmen: "...."

    This was a ssic method actually, sacrificing a few people to save many.

    Before Thevel''s father could say anything, Zick''s vision turned ck again.

    Seeing this Zickughed: "As I thought, the condition isn''t strict as long as the soul''s regret is cleared it doesn''t matter what method I use."

    He sessfully cleared the subconscious world!

 Chapter 160 The Doll Gallery

    Expecting to find himself back in his original body, Zick slowly opened his eyes.

    What entered his sight were two red eyes that looked right at him. For a second Zick''s whole body went stiff from goosebumps.

    Blinking his eyes, he felt the mysterious feeling go away and regained his senses.

    The two red eyes belonged to a doll the same size as him. This doll had a pensive expression with blonde hair cascading behind her.

    ''Where is this?'' Zick looked around warily.

    He was in a dimly lit room, which had many dolls of different shapes and expressions. But no doll had any positive emotion on their face, all were having a pensive or rather intrigued look.

    In the full-body view mirror in the corner of the room, Zick was able to look at himself.

    He was back in his original appearance and had peak rank knight strength.

    ''Is this reality or subconscious world?'' Zick was not sure, but there was a sense of tension in the air which made him be on his guard.

    Looking around, he found some dolls iplete or destroyed. In the right corner of his vision, a stairway appeared.

    Finding steps, Zick didn''t hesitate and headed toward them with haste.

    Creak~ the steps were old, looking ready to break any instant.

    Reaching the top of the steps, Zick found a gloomy hall with different dolls in the cases decorated on the wall. There were no iplete dolls in the room which looked like a basement.

    At that moment, Zick could see weird energy being released by the dolls. When he closed his dragon eye, the energy vanished.

    ''It''s my first time seeing such a weird kind of energy and every doll has a different energy wave from each other.'' Zick considered while he dashed forward.

    His senses could not extend more than a meter from him. This restriction was very strong, Zick could not tell what it was no matter what.

    Running for a few seconds in the hall filled with dolls, Zick could see the end of the room atst. This room was quite long, and the only source of light was themps that glowed in a dull yellow light.

    "A customer? That''s rare, it''s been more than 10,000 years huh?" An eerie voice entered Zick''s ear.

    A small reception entered his sight at the end of this room. He could not see it till now as a wall was covering the area.

    "Who are you?" Zick spoke while keeping a vignt look.

    "You have no right to know that. Choose a doll and get going already." The robed figure sitting on the chair didn''t seem to like Zick''s behavior. It was not possible to discern its gender through voice, it sounded like a broken radio.

    "Can I return to reality if I pick one?" Zick asked with no hesitation.

    "Of course, entering the doll gallery is your fortune, dragon yer kid." The other party had already seen through Zick.

    Not saying anything, Zick first headed toward the door which looked like the exit, and tried opening it.

    But the door didn''t budge an inch. Zick could only heave a sigh and start looking at the dolls.

    "You can leave only after choosing a doll. As I said, it''s your fortune toe here, you must havee after clearing the trial posed by the regretful neckless. That is one of the many ways to enter this ce."

    "All the dolls in here can be beneficial to you, it is a reward for clearing the trial." The cold voice of the robed figure could be heard.

    Zick didn''t look at the reception and instead looked at the dolls.

    He didn''t think the trial to be that hard for him. As long as a person didn''t hesitate and was vicious enough they couldplete this subconscious world.

    Zick had only one question: "What is the purpose of this doll gallery?"

    Silence descended upon the room, the robed figure seemed to have frozen in ce.

    "You don''t have the right to know." Its answer was filled with animosity.

    Zick didn''t bother probing anymore.

    ''It did tell the truth, this doll can probably strengthen me.'' Zick looked at the dolls who had a variety of different poses.

    He searched for the doll with the most amount of power.

    The ce was unnaturally clean with no existence of dust at all. Zick still didn''t find any doll with a smile or any positive emotions yet. This showed that the dolls all held some kind of negative energy.

    ''That one seems powerful.'' Zick looked at the doll with messy red hair with a crown on her head sitting on a small throne. There was a sense of hollowness in its eyes as if the world looked insignificant.

    ''The dolls in here do have a vividness to them. They looked extremely real.'' Zick had to admit their realism.

    Zick didn''t rush, he continued venturing deeper into the hall. He had been ignoring the doll while heading to the end, so he didn''t see most of them.

    Especially, Zick felt that something bad might happen if touched the dolls.

    ''What kind of ce is this? I have never heard of it anywhere. From what that robed figure said, no one in 10,000 years hase here, the conditions to enter this ce seem too strict.''

    ''I might not get a chance toe here ever again, I should make the most of it. If I can gain a useful skill here, that would be for the best.''

    He found many dolls that gave out energy matching the density of the red-haired one, but no one surpassed it -- they were evenly matched.

    The red doll upon the throne gave regal energy as if everything should follow its wish. While the other gave a variety of different senses of energy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The one Zick stood in front of right now had ck hair with glistening green eyes like crystal, there were chains around her body tightly keeping it in ce.

    This doll gave out energy that gave another feeling that it could devour anything.

    ''All the dolls are women or girls, there must be a reason behind this.'' Zick deduced.

    He continued looking around, and at that instant, an energy that surpassed the other dolls by arge margin entered his sight.

    ''This energy wave...its strength is more than thrice...no five times that of the red-haired and the other which wasparable to it.'' Zick moved towards it immediately.

    This doll was not in the case, instead, it was within a coffin kept supported by the wall.

    The doll within it was around the same size as a young girl.

    Within the coffin was a doll with pale skin and dark ck-red eyes, her whole eye''s white membrane was ck, and her pupil and iris were deep red.

    Looking at this doll, Zick felt his skin crawl. There was a sense of difort that came from all parts of his body.

    Berserk energy unparalleled to any of the dolls wasing out of this doll''s eyes.

    ''I choose this one then.'' Zick was firm on his decision, he felt this doll to be the strongest in this doll gallery.

    "Ohh! I thought that you would choose this one. I suggest you rethink your decision, this doll was something that belongs to someone who once wreaked havoc in the whole universe."

    "Hundreds of Gods died like flies...This doll ended up here because of coincidence." The robed person was not willing to exin further.

    But just from what Zick heard, hundreds of questions rose within him.

    ''Kill Gods like flies and the universe?'' Zick couldn''t stop his thought from wandering off.

    "So? Did you decide? Choosing this doll would just earn you the animosity of the other gods." The robed figure was unwilling to part with the doll.

    "Please answer my question first, will I get a portion of the ability belonging to this doll?" Zick asked the most crucial question.

    "....Yes, but you must know that it isn''t worth offending hundreds of Gods...."

    "I choose this one," Zick spoke with no hesitation.

    So what if God bes offended by him getting this doll''s power?

    They cannot interfere with the world as far as he could see. Their wrath was worth a breeze to Zick.

    ''Above the grandmaster realm, the God realm lies. I will rise to that level someday too.'' Zick felt aspiration boiling within him.

    "You...." Seeing Zick''s firm stance, the robed person could only shut up.

    Zick touched the doll''s head at once, it had a cold surface. With a dazzling glow, the doll turned into the ck miasma and entered Zick.

    "Hmph, good luck being chased around by gods in the future." The robed man vanished into thin air.

    The world started turning round and Zick''s vision turned ck.

    SWISH~

    A cold breeze brushed past Zick''s skin, he also felt the cold ground below his back.

    His eyes fluttered open to find a ck sky filled with stars.

    ''I am out this time for sure.'' Zick breathed out turbid air.

    Zick propped up his upper body only to find The cat and Levienel staring at him warily.

    "What happened?" Zick asked naturally.

    The cat had its fur standing on the edge as it saw Zick: "Human...What did you bring out with yourself?"

    At that instant, Zick noticed a thinyer of miasma covering his body. Slowly this miasma was entering his dragon eyes.

    It felt like this ck miasma had no end, it kept pouring out of his body and entering his dragon eyes at a rapid rate.

    "Ahhhhh!!!!" Zick screamed at the top of his lungs. He felt like this ck miasma was entering his eyes and was directly trying to rip apart his soul.

    The hat from Zick''s head had already fallen while Zick was howled here by Levienel so it exposed his broken horn.

    Right at this moment, his horn started vanishing, assimting with the ck miasma, not only them but even the small shards of dragon scales in his knees, elbows, and other parts.

    "Ahhh!!!" Zick could not stop screaming, and a trail of ck blood fell from Zick''s dragon eyes. His eyes had already turned ck-red by now, just like the dolls.

    Both Levienel and The cat felt their body losing mobility at that instant. They could not move their body at all in front of that ck energy.

    The ck miasma entered Zick''s dragon eyes and was now connected to his mana nerves. It directly started changing the nature of his mana.

    Another wave of pain traveled through Zick''s body, making him scream louder.

 Chapter 161 The Demonic Pupil Scares Away The Cat

    SWISH�C!

    The wind blew harshly forming a Hurricane around Zick. The brown sand was picked up by the wind, making it hard to look at his figure.

    But Zick''s howling never stopped, something was being imprinted into his soul, eyes, and mana nerves.

    This process has been going on for a few minutes now. The pain was driving Zick to the brink of insanity but he couldn''t even lose consciousness.

    His conscience was being held together by him forcefully, and Zick had a premonition that losing his consciousness would lead to severe consequences.

    The ck miasma was very weird, it didn''t strengthen Zick''s body in any way. Instead, it aimed for his dragon eye and soul first.

    As for the mana nerves, it was also not being strengthened. ck miasma was fueling his chaotic mana to evolve to the next level!

    This ck miasma wasn''t trying to evolve his mana into the aura, what it was evolving was his mana characteristic.

    Zick could not sense all this and could only brace himself against the immense pain.

    Slowly, the ck miasma leaking from his body started thinning.

    As it became transparent, Levienel and the cat were able to move their body again.

    "That was soul suppression without a doubt...." The cat was the first one to speak.

    Levienel and the cat didn''t converse, they looked at Zick.

    Palpitations rose within the cat: ''Just how strong must be the owner of that ck energy to be able to suppress us like this with just its remnants of energy?''

    It was the first time the cat had experienced a situation like this.

    In front of that ck miasma, a mythical beast that was more than 100,000 years old was worth nothing.

    Levienel on the other hand had a nk look with her eyes flickering with uncertainty. She had felt a sense of familiarity in that ck miasma but it vanished as soon as it appeared.

    Soon the howling wind came to a stop and Zick in the middle of it looked forward nkly.

    The regretful neckless which was dangling on his neck gave out a dim glow before vanishing.

    rity returned to Zick''s eyes as he looked at Levienel and Cat nkly.

    There were many changes in Zick''s body, his already pale skin now looked no different than a white sheet.

    His dragon eyes had fully transformed into the eyes possessed by the coffin doll. It was ck and its vertical pupil was red. His other eyes had no change.

    This eye gave out threatening energy and it was connected to his mana nerves. Which meant the ck eye would grow along with it.

    Zick was aware of that, he sent his consciousness to the mana nerves next.

    There were no visible changes when looked at externally. But Zick knew that the chaotic mana had reached an unprecedented level of density.

    ''It is almostparable to aura, I wonder how strong it would be after It bes aura...'' Zick thought before moving on.

    He had risen to the limit of the peak rank!

    Zick was only a step away from bing a master swordsman, this made him feel the pain to be worth it.

    The feeling of his body being strengthened was still coursing through his body.

    In this situation, he should have normally broken through to the master rank. But he was still a step away from master rank, this was because of his body!

    ''I had used the snow essence and strengthened myself before, that must be the cause of it.'' Zick analyzed calmly.

    '' I should be able to Be a master swordsman in three months or even before that. I should stop myself from using snow essence, for now, well I couldn''t use it with them around me anyway.''

    Still, the main benefit was that the mana characteristic was enhanced. Zick could feel that his mana had a hundred times the destructive powerpared to before.

    But disappointment rose within Zick: ''Wasn''t the doll belonging to someone who killed many Gods? Is this all that it can give me?''

    Along with this, his potential seems to have risen to the grandmaster rank too. This made Zick rejoice.

    His mage professional''s potential had not increased, but this didn''t make Zick sad. He had the snow essence!

    He could start using them after breaking through to master swordsman rank.

    Zick didn''t hold much expectation in breaking through to grandmaster rank any time soon. So he decided to concentrate on the mage profession too.

    ''I don''t want to reveal that I can absorb snow essence. But clearly, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.''

    Zick got up and dusted the sand off him.

    He looked at the cat and Levienel with a smile.

    "Why are you still like that? Is there something in my face?" Zick said, acting bewildered.

    "For how much time have I been unconscious?" Zick asked another question.

    The Cat snapped out of its daze and spoke.

    "More than six hours...."

    Only then did the cat move towards him slowly and stopped beside his foot.

    "Human, what was that ck thing? And how did you get it?"

    Zick first made Levienel prepare a table and sat upon it before speaking: "I found it in a ce called doll gallery."

    His answer was straightforward with nothing hidden.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Doll gallery?" Both the cat and Levienel were confused when hearing this term. They had never heard of it.

    Seeing the cat''s reaction, Zick felt disappointed internally.

    "Yeah, doll gallery. I got to enter it after I cleared the requirement to leave the subconscious world." Zick didn''t hide it and looked at the neckless on his neck.

    "It has chosen you as its wielder." The cat said with a thoughtful look.

    Zick felt a sense of excitement rising in him. He knew the immense might of this item.

    He could make a person fall unconscious and directly kill him!

    Just this prospect made Zick have the urge to go on small massacres to collect souls. He held in this urge for now.

    The cat and Levienel were still thinking back upon the ck miasma.

    ''Doll gallery? Never heard of it.''

    ''There was such a thing in this doll gallery...I have never heard of such a mysterious ce...''

    Zick interrupted their train of thought: "Can you feel any harmful change in my body?"

    Zick had checked and didn''t find anything out of ce. But he still asked them to be sure.

    The cat spoke with a solemn tone: "There is nothing wrong with your body. But that ck eye is giving out a threatening feeling to me. It must have some special ability for sure."

    Levienel also analyzed: "Your soul has also been strengthened, it is almost at the same level as me...." She felt it to be unbelievable too.

    There has never been a case like this in the whole history. The cat was silent in this regard too, it felt a sense of suppression from Zick for a while now.

    If Zick was able to use his soul, he could easily suppress it.

    This pulled out Zick''s interest: "My soul? What kind of ability can I use with my soul then?"

    He was very curious. He had immense anticipation in this matter.

    The cat shook its head: "Your body won''t be able to take it. You would die before the ability activates at your current level."

    Zick felt like cold water was poured upon his surging anticipation.

    "I see, let''s just check what my eye''s ability is." Zick touched the area below his eye.

    His vision was sharper and broader than before. He could see everything very urately but this was not the main function of the eyes, ording to the cat.

    Turning to the left, he could see a huge boulder hundreds of meters from him. Zick started activating the ck eye''s ability, it was an instinctual action.

    Silence.

    Nothing happened at all.

    "It''s not a destructive type of ability?" Zick was puzzled.

    But it felt like the ability hadn''t even been activated.

    Thinking for a second, Zick found out the reason: ''It might probably need my mana as fuel. That must be the reason it was connected to my mana nerves.''

    Zick had almost no knowledge about these eyes'' abilities. He carefully activated it again.

    At once Zick''s expression stiffened. His mana was being consumed by his ck eye at a rapid pace.

    More than fifty percent of Zick''s mana was consumed in three seconds.

    The red pupil turned golden at once, a chanting entered Zick''s head.

    Demonic pupil, first art �� soul erosion!

    This time nothing happened to the boulder in the distance too. But Zick got to know the ability of the ck eye.

    His ck eye returned to normal. Beside him, both Levienel and Cat were left speechless.

    It was invisible to others, but they were able to see the wave of the invisible energy aimed at the soul clear as the day.

    What surprised them was that they felt it could even harm them. Not kill them but still leave a noticeable amount of damage.

    They both looked at Zick, they never expected that he would find a method that could even harm them.

    Going through the information in his head, Zick opened his eyes.

    A smile adorned his handsome face, he knew the capability of this ck. It could kill anyone below grandmaster rank.

    ''I can match a master swordsman for a while without the ck eye with my current strength. And with the eye''s ability, I can be invincible below the grandmaster rank!''

    Of course, it had the condition that he was able to use it continuously.

    From its consumption, it was apparent that using soul erosion skills two times was his limit.

    Leaving this limit aside, this ability could be considered invincible.

    ''After it is strengthened, I wonder who can defeat me? Hehe, I can even threaten grandmaster-rank people at that stage.''

    Hope ignited within Zick: ''If I rise to grandmaster rank before the demon lord attacks, I might be able to defeat him.''

    While Zick conversed with Levienel and Cat to know more about the soul, Varine and Seveleen were close to the ce Zick was in.

 Chapter 162 Meeting Varine

    Learning about Ovelon''s visit here, Zick was left in a session of deep consideration.

    Right now, he had already changed to new leather armor knowing Levienel and Varine were nearing. The old armor was smeared with ck blood while he absorbed the coffin doll.

    ''Visiting the organization isn''t safe anymore. I have to find another route to collect information.'' Zick didn''t take a risk by visiting the organization''s headquarters.

    Actually, with his current grandmaster potential, Zick felt the need of collecting talented people diminishing.

    But he still decided to do it anyway.

    Zick had gotten a lot more vigntpared to before.

    He didn''t want to risk it one bit.

    So what if he had to put some effort into this matter?

    It was a hundred times better than regretting not doing so in the future.

    ''It''s just a matter of some effort and acting, this is not hard for me.'' Zick''s horizon had broadened. He looked at things from a broader perspective.

    For a while now, Zick felt like some kind of restriction had been lifted from his head.

    This feeling made him specte: ''Did the thing influencing my thought before vanish or became ineffective after my soul was strengthened?''

    This seems like the most likely situation. This made Zick joyful and sigh in relief.

    Soon the sun rose from the horizon, flooding its warm glow into the barrennd. There were some dunes made up of boulders around the ce Zick and the rest were in.

    "It''s about time, Please follow through with how I instructed you," Zick said in a rxed manner, he had been training in mana and felt it to be a lot easier to absorb mana.

    This showed his immense talent! The efficiency was more than ten timespared to before.

    "Human, You want talented people to fight the demon lord, I get that but how long do we have?" The cat asked a crucial question.

    Time.

    Zick had informed them of some of the information about the demon lord while chatting before.

    Zick himself was not certain about this regard.

    How much time did he have before the demon lord''s army attacked? No idea!

    Zick spoke not hiding things: "Truthfully, I am not sure myself. At most, we might have a few years on our hands. We can''t defeat him with our current strength so we can only do this." His voice was solemn.

    Levienel interjected from the side: "The chances of dragon participating seem low. But you want to force them to participate, right?"

    "Yes, and The demon lord''s army cannot be looked down upon. There are grandmaster-rank people in it too." Zick didn''t speak of the specifics.

    They all got up from the table as they talked to each other. With a snap of Levienel''s finger, The table vanished in thin air.

    Before Zick thought that Levienel had a storage-type item in which she stored this table.

    But after getting the weird ck eyes, Zick was able to see that the table was actually made of Levienel''s higher form of energy!

    This left him speechless. Even in the novel, no one was able to create stuff out of thin air.

    It was almost like that table jumped out of the ground!

    Zick took out an eye patch which he made crudely by patching up some of the useless materials he had.

    "Hm, It looks quite neat I have to say." Zick put on the ck eye patch on his right eye which had turned into a demonic pupil.

    The cat jumped to Zick''s shoulder from the ground.

    A gold light enveloped them and they flew towards Varine and Seveleen with a sh.

    Just like how Seveleen appeared in front of them in their first meeting. Shended in front of the wooden carriage along with Zick and The cat.

    Bam! Like a shooting star, theynded a few meters in front of the carriage �� creating a huge crater and dust cloud.

    Varine who drove the carriage looked at the familiar situation, realizing what had happened. She looked at the silver-haired girl, Levienel with a wary gaze.

    Seveleen on the other hand had also felt the familiar kind of trepidation, so she knew that it was the same enemy who appeared and took away Zick.

    But when the dust cloud fully dispersed and Zick was visible to Varine, suddenly the air between them froze.

    "Sir Zick...?" Varine was caught off guard having a frozen expression.

    Zick looked at Varine''s nk expression, Before speaking: "What are you doing here? You should have headed towards Chartel city by now, sigh...Don''t you know we have limited time?"

    Zick added another line pointing at Levienel: "She needed my right eye which was strengthened by a special potion for personal reasons so she sought after me. I just made a deal with her and was heading toward you." he had an expressionless face the whole time saying this.

    Hearing this, Varine looked at Zick''s right eye with an eye patch and hisplexion which looked even paler than before.

    Zick walked forward leisurely with the cat on his shoulder.

    THUD~

    At that moment, Varine got down the carriage with an emotionless face. It was hard to know what she was thinking at this moment. She walked toward Zick slowly.

    Even Zick couldn''t grasp her intentions.

    Arriving in front of Zick, Varine stopped with her head looking at the ground.

    "What...." Before Zick could finish his word, Varine lightly hugged him.

    Zick was left speechless but he didn''t show it on his face.

    ''Even in the novel, Varine had never shown such a weak side to Aeiron.'' Zick knew what this action indicated.

    Zick had be someone irreceable to Varine.

    This made Zick feel his prior effort was worth it.

    ".....ct you." Varine softly mumbled something.

    But Zick was clearly able to hear her words.

    ''I will protect you.'' This line made Zick look at her closely who was hugging him right now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Varine''s height was only around Zick''s chest level making her look quite small.

    Zick showed a ridiculous expression, but he didn''t push her away.

    "Hmph, you say some interesting thing. Protect me? You can''t even protect yourself and you want to protect someone else? Sigh..." Zick sighed deeply in the end.

    Seveleen got out of the carriage slowly too, looking at their close rtionship.

    Seveleen couldn''t help but ask: "What kind of rtion do you exactly have?"

    Her face was expressionless as she was controlling her body through mana.

    Hearing this, Zick felt like he got a chance to strengthen his rtionship with Varine.

    He spoke with no hesitation: "She is kind of my niece." he narrowed his eyes.

    When Zick said this, there was a sense of naturality in it.

    Varine who was embracing him seemed to have frozen after hearing this.

    Zick patted Varine''s head: "Alright now, get off already."

    Encouraging such behavior would only spoil Varine, thus Zick separated her from him.

    Varine looked at Zick''s eyes before looking at Levienel with hostility within her. That person had taken Zick''s eyes away!

    She had no good feelings toward Levienel, to begin with, her impression just grew poorer.

    Seeing this, Zick spoke up: "Let''s get going, stand near to me."

    Everyone stood near Zick within a few seconds. Golden light enveloped them and they flew away.

    After getting out of restraint from whoever influencing his thought, Zick started thinking about all his ns.

    He found many ws which made him feel grim. Going through what he nned before had a high chance of failing.

    ''It''s clear that whoever influenced me wanted to kill me.'' Zick felt the hostility of this unknown enemy.

    As Zick had instructed priorly, Levienel took him to the ce where the wolfmen tribe was located.

    From Thevel''s memory, Zick got to know that a few of the young wolfmen in this tribe survived. He didn''t find it weird, the Everlor organization''s aim was the regretful ne on Zick''s neck, not the annihtion of wolfmen.

    In no time, they arrived above a vast forest.

    It was the Curen forest located many kilometers away from the Wuirsec region.

    Levienel sensed some wolfmen, taking them towards it with no hesitation.

    Landing before the moving wolfmen, Everyone looked at the wolfmen.

    They were all kids. The wolfmen ranged from 6 to 12 years old which made Zick realize the tribe leader''s intention.

    ''He wanted to persevere some of these wolfmen so that they are not fully obliterated.'' Zick walked to the front. There were only 13 of these wolfmen.

    The wolfmen had horrified expressions. Some showed their fangs to Zick threateningly, some had despair-filled looks.

    He hade here to pick them up, he had some use for them.

    "I havee here at the request of the tribe leader''s son, Thevel. You don''t need to worry." Zick smiled with no bad intentions.

    This made the wolfmen''s expression rx a little.

    Varine, Seveleen, and the others looked on from behind Zick.

    A girl with long red hair and one who looked like the leader of the group spoke: "How can we believe a human like you?" There was clear hatred in her eyes.

    She looked quite beutiful for her age, she had sharp brows and eyes, giving an impression of being red at and her clothes quality was above the others, showing her prestige before the destruction of the tribe.

    Zick smiled at the red-haired girl.

    "Can''t you see this ne here? I got this from Thevel before....he died."

    Hearing this the wolfmen looked at the ne on Zick''s neck in a daze. Hearing Zick''sst words some even turned pale.

    One even started crying.

    Seeing all of them having sad looks, Zick also sympathized with them outwardly.

    "Hisst wish was for me to take care of all who are alive in the Wolfmen tribe. That is the reason I came here." Zick got near them and even patted the head of the wolfmen who was crying. He seems to have a closer rtionship with Thevel, though he had no idea who he was.

    "You will take care of us?" The red-haired girl spoke while not hiding the sorrow in her tone.

    "Yes, I will give you a ce to live and provide food too." Zick was all smiles at this moment.

    The red-haired girl introduced herself: "I am Gereel Oustel, daughter of the Oustel family..."

    "My name is Hevish, so will youe with me?"

    Zick looked at all of them, he was fully sure that they would decide toe with him.

    Gereel knew that surviving alone is almost impossible with their current amount of strength. They were just kids, to begin with. If a monster appeared, they would all die.

    Hence, Gereel nodded her head with still a wary look

    "Well follow me." Zick led them toe near Levienel. They all followed him timidly.

    ''Some of them have master-level potential, they are not bad, and they can be nurtured in the future.'' Zick ordered Levienel to take everyone to the ce he told her beforeing here.

    Varine and Seveleen were quite surprised listening to Zick speak. From what he said, Thevel was dead and he almost had no rtion with him.

    But still, Zick decided to help him! This moved them greatly.

    Seveleen thought: ''Even in a situation where he can''t take care of himself, he is trying to take care of others. This...''

    Varine: '' I was right...He should look at himself before talking about me, really...'' She looked at him with aplex gaze.

 Chapter 163 Demon Weiver, Dartons Palace

    The wolfmen cubs closed their eyes shut tightly. Opening their eyes they could only see the world full of blurriness.

    They couldn''t even scream right at the moment, they could only curl up near each other.

    It wasn''t a coincidence that some had master-level potential among these cubs.

    The tribe leader naturally chose people who showed exceptional talent from childhood. And let them live as a hope of the tribe.

    Zick had a firm gaze as he looked forward. After considering the situation for a while, he found what he needed the most for the moment.

    ''It''s mobility. By keeping Seveleen, Varine, and other useless people around me, My movement and options would just get limited.''

    ''So, I have to get a base for this group of meatshields to stay. Carrying them around is not an option.''

    ''And the seal of the everlor organization has been removed from my mana nerves...It was eliminated by that weird ck miasma.''

    Zick was shocked to realize this fact, he would not be able to sense the organization''s teleportation circle anymore.

    He could now only use the ones he knew now. This restricted him but he shrugged it off.

    ''I can take care of the Everlor organizationter.''

    But then a realization dawned upon Zick.

    ''Ah, damn how can I not realize it sooner? Has my IQ dropped? Since when?'' This time the mistake fully originated from his negligence.

    ''The identity Hevish must be discarded, I don''t have to risk using it. Luckily it''s not toote, I can fix this mistake.''

    The mistake might have urred because of his limited time, but not realizing it sooner made Zick reflect on himself. He didn''t like making such mistakes, so he was trying to learn from this one.

    While Zick was lost in his thoughts, Seveleen thought about him.

    Her opinion on Zick losing his eye was different. She was somewhat devastated but admiration rose within her.

    Zick put aside his pride and just gave his eye to Levienel; this showed that he could makepromises when needed, unlike the other noble heirs.

    ''Zick even seems to have made a deal with her.'' Seveleen would never be able to do such a feat.

    Being calm even in front of an enemy who was hundreds stronger than him, Seveleen had no confidence in being able to do such a thing.

    Before she only felt immense gratitude but now there was a sense of admiration mixed in it too.

    Seveleen also felt a sense of agitation for a while now. She knew the condition of her body better than anyone else.

    She knew that there were only around three to four days before she lost her life to Revelner disease.

    Every living being wanted to live, and Seveleen was no different. She wanted to live, her will could be said to be superior to others when it came to this.

    They flew for another few minutes before reaching their destination.

    With Levienel''s speed, they reached the middle area of the eastern continent in no time. It was more than a million kilometers away from the wuirsec region.

    A forest rested below Zick''s feet. There were many kinds of monsters and hills in this area.

    This was also where the dragon egg was located.

    "That way." Zick concentrated on the connection he had with the dragon egg.

    Soon they arrived above a huge craggy hill with greenish boulders.

    Zick and the others got down in front of a cave that was right at the foot of the hill.

    "You all wait here with this cat." Zick handed over the cat to Varine though with slight resistance.

    Varine looked at the cat in her embrace, this ck cat had beenying upon Zick''s shoulder oozing withziness. She was curious but didn''t ask anything, seeing Zick in a rush.

    MEOW~ The mythical beast acted like a normal cat and stared at Zick who was entering the cave with Levienel.

    There was nothing but darkness around Zick but he could see just alright.

    Arriving at an open space, Zick looked above himself.

    Hundreds of red eyes stared at him in the darkness. This cave was inhabited by a bat-type monster with an unknown name.

    Before the monster could make a move, an immense sense of crisis surged within them. They felt so frightened that all of them had lost their mobility at once.

    Zick had released his cold dragon fear, not holding back.

    Zick pursed his lips: ''They are in the middle rank at most, they are practically useless huh...?''

    Zick moved forward, not interested in the bat monsters.

    In the silence, only Zick and Levienel''s footsteps could be heard.

    At that moment, Zick felt a kind of signal being sent to his head. It was the dragon eggs, it was trying to convey its tion in meeting him again.

    Zick also sent some superficial signals back telling it to calm down.

    After walking in the long cave for a while, Zick reached the end of it. There were bones of the animal and monsters the bats ate littered here and there.

    In the deeper part, a silver eggy quietly, there wasn''t even a single scratch on it. The monsters at the middle rank had zero chance of harming it after all.

    Zick walked in front of the egg and picked it up from both of his hands with no hesitation. Mana filled with nature''s characteristics left it and enveloped Zick in joy.

    Even Levienel who was looking from the side was surprised, staring at the dragon egg. She had never thought a dragon egg wouldy in such a ce.

    And it seems like the dragon egg was closely rted to Zick too.

    Zick just yed along and talked to the unborn dragon through The mana.

    ''Still....why is this dragon so timid...?'' Zick was bewildered looking at the dragon egg''s behavior.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Well, whatever. It seems like it is going to hatch soon. In one or two weeks, that''s good. I will have another nice asset around me.'' Zick turned around and started walking out of the cave.

    Levienel, who was shocked, followed behind shortly.

    The wolfmen, cat, and others waited for Zick patiently. They just talked to each other discussing how they just flew here.

    Hearing someone walking out of the cave, Everyone focused on it.

    Zick walked out with an egg that was one to the third of his size. This made everyone look at him with surprised gazes.

    The cat jumped out of Varine''s arm and climbed up Zick''s shoulder again.

    Geleen was the first one to speak: "Sir Hevish, Will we be living in thi-"

    Zick cut her off: " No, We will be heading towards it now." His body was full of leisureliness.

    Gathering around Levienel again, everyone flew up into the sky again. But this time they just levitated in one ce without moving around.

    Levienel waited for Zick''s instruction.

    Zick was looking at hispass right now, he analyzed the direction they needed to go.

    ''Leweisert kingdom should be on that side so...''

    Zick pointed in the right direction: "Head this way."

    Moving in the direction pointed out by Zick, the group passed by many hills and monster habitats.

    They were moving deeper and deeper into the forest.

    A foggy area appeared at the end of Levienel''s vision, prompting her to stop a few meters from it.

    "Just charge forward, My business is in the middle of this fog," Zick said, seeing Levienel''s action.

    Levienel nodded her head and continued moving forward.

    This fog has the ability to suppress a person''s senses, disabling them to sense not more than one meter around them.

    But could this fog affect Levienel? Of course not.

    A grandmaster could sense things normally with no sense of pressure at all here.

    "Look for the pce in the middle like I said before," Zick said, not being able to sense anything around him.

    Levienel had a wide range of sensing capabilities, to begin with, so she was able to find the ce Zick mentioned in no time.

    Levienel and others flew out in a streak reaching their destination in seconds.

    Levienel stopped above the pce.

    Magically, no fog neared this pce which was in the middle of this fog area. There was a huge garden around the pce too.

    This pce was huge, the size of a six-story high building. It was made of pure white and gold marble shining dazzlingly even though ayer of dust covered it.

    Zick smiled looking at it: ''The demon weiver, Darton''s pce. He was someone with fearful might at his peak, after all, he was a dark mage. Luckily, he died a long time ago.''

    This ce was originally found by Aeiron andter on used as a base in the future.

    Now that Zick had decided to take over this ce, it doesn''t seem like going to happen like it was supposed to.

    "That is your home from now on," Zick said, not bothered about the gazes he garnered, and pointed at the pce from his thumb.

    "This... Is our house?" Galeen seems to be having a hard time believing what Zick said.

    "Our house?"

    "Such a huge ce....."

    The wolfmen had varying expressions, some didn''t even believe they could live in such a big pce.

    Zick turned to Seveleen and Varine: "You can stay here and begin your training for real I suppose."

    He first spoke to Varine and then looked at Seveleen.

    "Miss Seveleen can also stay here as long as you want," Zick said with no change in his expression.

    Then with the dragon egg in his arm, Zick turned towards everyone.

    "This is your home from now on so you should clean it up first. Choose whatever room you want leaving the top floor. That would be my room."

    Zick''s voice was unquestionable, it was like no one could oppose his order.

    "You should stay here and guard the ce." Zick handed the cat over to Varine again afternding in the garden.

    The cat looked at Zick with hostility: "Human, I don''t like staying near other humans!"

    The others who heard it were surprised but Zick calmly looked back at the cat.

    "I will bring back premium wine." The words were spoken very inly but they had a sense of the power of their own to the cat.

    "Premium brand?"

    "Yes, premium brand, and All I want you is to train this girl in assassination and guard the ce until my return." Zick spoke persuasively, convincing the cat.

    Zick walked beside Levienel: "Miss Seveleen please wait here, I will be back with the cure, and Varine, listen to the cat."

    Saying this, Zick didn''t waste time and told Levienel to depart.

 Chapter 164 Acquiring The Cure

    As Levienel just prepared to fly, Zick remembered something.

    "Right, Miss Levienel, please make a teleportation circle here. It mighte in handyter on." Zick decided to be vignt.

    It took only half a minute for Levienel to set a teleportation circle in the hall of the pce.

    They next departed not wasting a second.

    ''That was a crude way of taking care of others, but to me, it''s the best way.'' Zick thought while Levienel took him to Baron Rekert''s domain.

    They flew in a streak leaving behind a straight golden trail, it was a speed that was hard to follow.

    Looking at his surroundings, Zick could only vaguely see things passing by him. Right at that moment his demonic eye was closed so he could only use his other normal eye.

    ''The n of bing a ''kind'' person will be carried on like I originally nned. I just modified some parts and I think it has a high chance of sess.''

    By bing the saviour of this kingdom, Zick would open up the road to his future. He would be able to interact with other forces and talented people more naturally this way.

    And regarding recruiting them, Zick was still quite skeptical and unsure.

    There was also the option of just getting close to them and making connections. This way they would help him in the war with the demon lord but in this option, the chances of them risking their lives for him falls drastically.

    ''For now, my main objective is to collect the talented people with immense potential who are recruitable at this moment and spread my name as a messiah around the Eastern continent.'' Zick made up his mind to focus on these two matters wholeheartedly.

    Soon Levienel and Zick arrived above the Rekert family manor.

    The soldiers moved hectically here and there making it obvious that the pandemic had already made its way here.

    By the time Aeiron arrived at the Eastern continent, baron Rekert had already died.

    Right now, he was alive as Zick arrived a year early.

    "Use that invisible magic," Zick said inly to Levienel.

    Both Zick and Levienrl vanished in the middle of the sky with a gust of wind.

    Zicknded in front of the huge mansion not bothered about the soldier moving around there at all. He entered the mansion through the main door from which the soldier entered.

    CLICK~ The soldier closed the door not noticing Zick''s existence at all.

    Zick headed towards the manor lord room, where Baron Rekert was.

    Levienel followed behind Zick quietly.

    ''Searching for the basement seems too annoying and there is also the chance that Baron Rekert has the cure''s form in his hand right now so it''s best to meet him first.''

    It was one year early so there was a chance that the cure was not in the ce Aeiron found it.

    Zick arrived in front of the manor lord''s room in no time and took out the cursed sword from his space ring.

    Click~ opening the door, Zick and Levienel entered the room.

    There was only a middle-aged man on the table, looking out from the window. He was Baron Rekert, Meilsten.

    "Now what happened?" Meilstein asked not turning back.

    "Undo the invisible magic on me," Zick said, readying his sword.

    At that moment, Zick vanished from his original position and reappeared beside Meilsten. He held the sword below Meilsten''s neck threateningly.

    But surprisingly, Meilsten didn''t seem to be scared or intimidated at all. He looked back at Zick''s eyes with an impassive face.

    Meilsten opened his mouth and started speaking in a dry voice: "You can kill me if you want to, I don''t mind. I have already achieved what I wanted after all."

    There was a sense of liberation and peace in Meilsten''s eyes.

    Zick narrowed his eyes, he could see dark spots all over Meilsten and even feel his condition was not good internally. He was infected by the Revelner disease.

    Or more specifically, he infected himself.

    Seeing this, Zick put down the sword feeling threatening to be useless.

    "Give me the cure for the Revelner disease," Zick spoke coldly while ring at Meilsten.

    Hearing this, Meilsten''s expression froze: "You...Sigh...quite brilliant for you to find out it was me. I made hundreds of precautions and measures guarding against almost all that could make me seem suspicious....but it was not enough huh?"

    From Meilsten''s voice, it didn''t seem like he was against giving the cure to Zick.

    Meilsten smiled at Zick: "Why do you need the cure?"

    "My friend needs it...." Zick answered immediately.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Meilsten fell into a session of deep consideration hearing this.

    Zick was losing his patients now: "Give the cure to me fast, she is dying as we speak."

    If Zick could, he just wanted to kill him and look for the cure form.

    But If by any chance, Meilsten had not written or recorded it anywhere, What will Zick do?

    All of it would be useless and he would lose Seveleen, who was a very good pawn.

    Meilsten sighed lightly and spoke with hesitation: "I have already taken my revenge upon the dukes and royalty of this kingdom. Though the royalty is still alive, as long as they suffer it''s enough for me." His voice got firmer as he continued speaking.

    "Only prince Yelster...he had to die. With him now dead, I was going to kill myself too. You are lucky toe at such a time."

    Meilsten took out a parchment from the drawer of the table. He handed over the parchment to Zick and started looking at the view outside again.

    Getting what he wanted, Zick started reading it rapidly.

    ''It''s simr...there were correctly four pages mentioning the way to make it and other important things to consider while producing the cure. There are correctly 43 ingredients like in the novel too..'' Zick''s considered at lightning speed.

    Zick nodded his head towards Meilsten slightly and put the parchment in his space ring.

    Meilsten opened his mouth seeing Zick trusting the cure he gave out so readily: "Do you have medical knowledge too?"

    "No." Zick opened the window with no hesitation.

    He didn''t have to say anything, Levienel knew his intentions.

    A golden glow covered Zick and he flew into the sky turning into a point in Meilsten''s vision in no time.

    Zick looked at Levienel who also undid the invisible magic.

    "Let''s go to Chertel city next," Zick instructed with a rxed look.

    One of his worries was solved now, he concentrated on the next one.

    Zick''s eyes flickered with bright light: ''Realen and Kerene, these two people are the next targets.''

    Recruiting these two people was easy in Zick''s eyes. They are famous mercenaries in the future, but now they are just vagrants who became beggars because of revelner disease.

    There was also another thing that Zick realized along the way. The being influencing his thought did not have anything to do with why he felt a lot emotional these days.

    ''I can control my emotions just fine now, my prior mistakes caused by emotions must be because something was influencing my thought.'' Zick put it aside for now.

    Levienel arrived at the slum area in Chertel city. Beggars slept at the side of alleys like dead bodies, some were already dead, while some were still trying to survive somehow.

    Zick took off the eye patch from his right eye and looked around. His vision expanded to arge area, even the mana in the air was visible to him.

    Zick searched for the person he came for, only a few hours had passed since morning so the ce was quite bright right at the moment.

    He soon found a person with a sizable amount of potential.

    Zick''s eyes widened looking at it: ''Oh, that''s surprising, with this much potential, this person could rise unto the grandmaster rank and rise higher.''

    His attention was taken over by whoever this person was, he told Levienel to fly near the person.

    It was a man with rags as his clothes, there was dirt all over his body.

    It was Aeiron! The protagonist of the Novel- ''The hero of Velveric fights the demon lord''!

    Coming in contact with Aeiron, Zick started thinking at full speed.

    It was a pleasant surprise to find Aeiron here, Zick had no intention of letting such an opportunity go.

    Hended right in front of Aeiron, but then he realized that he got no response back.

    "Ah, he is unconscious...." Zick thought for a second before deciding to let Aeiron stay here for a second.

    "Please make a barrier around this person, Miss Levienel." Zick requested with a smile.

    An invisible barrier that was visible to Zick''s demonic eye appeared around Aeiron.

    Zick and Levienel started flying in the sky again. He searched for his target patiently.

    This time he found one of his targets, Kerene. Shey on one of the corners of the alley and looked forward nkly.

    ''If it went ording to the novel, a family adopts her after nearly a year from now.'' Zick didn''t go to her directly. He considered for a second, and a brilliant light shed in his eyes.

 Chapter 165 Play Along

    The girl identified to be Kerene by Zick had a slim body with a tall nose, she had brown hair with sickly pale skin.

    SWISH~

    A cold breeze brushed past Kerene''s weak body making her shiver nonstop.

    The foul smell of faeces and dead bodies assaulted her nose. The slum alley was very quiet like everyone was dead around there.

    Kerene could only curl up in a corner with a stiff expression. More than a month had already passed since her family was killed by the pandemic. Everything went downhill from that moment.

    It was natural for guards to look into her if her mother was infected, there was a high chance she was infected by Revelner disease too.

    Kerene was lucky to be taken in for a physical examination. A huge uproar urred in the city she was in as the water well, which was the sole source of their had a dead body of an infected person in it.

    This was the final push that made the city''s order fall apart.

    Kerene was lucky to get out of there because of men with red hair.

    In the end, she arrived in this city and became a vagrant.

    Kerene and the red-haired man hid below a caravan and got through somehow but mysteriously the red-haired man vanished, leaving her all alone.

    ''I wanted to thank him but...It doesn''t seem like I will get a chance to...'' Kerene thought with a nk look.

    At that time, they were being chased by the guards, so the most likely oue of the red-haired man was being captured by them.

    RUSTLE~

    The sound of someone walking reached Kerene''s ear. There were multiple footsteps and their destination was right where she was sitting.

    Kerene lifted her head slowly, there were dozens of people looking back right at her. It was apparent that they held bad intentions against her from their menacing looks.

    The one standing in the front smiled with his eyes scanning her body.

    Kerene didn''t need to think to know the reason they were heading toward her. She got up with all her strength and dashed to the opposite side.

    Her body was already very weak with no food to eat, all she could get were the leftover things thrown by the restaurants or inn. Her leg tripped over sometime when she put too much energy into it. But she kept running, getting up again.

    The people from before followed her taking their time as if to mock her effort, that there was nowhere to run. This slum was under their control.

    They were running just 30 meters from her.

    Seeing this, Kerene ran even faster turning to any corner without a second thought. She came across many other beggars who were just like her, but they looked down seeing the people following her.

    After a while, Kerene turned back only to see the people following her to be five meters from her.

    THUD!

    At that moment, Kerene bumped into someone. Her body was weak, colliding with this person made her body fall with no resistance. It was almost like she collided with a mountain.

    Looking up, Kerene could see the person she bumped into look right back at her. He had ck hair with extremely pale skin and there was an eye patch on his right eye.

    Who else could it be but Zick?

    Zick looked weak with his pale skin, but for some reason, there was an oppressive air around him. This was a kind of natural feeling that people give out the stronger they grow.

    "You bastard! What do you think you''re doing here?" One of the chasers spoke threateningly.

    "Sir Herath is here, so why aren''t you scamming already?"

    Looking closely, the chaser found another person standing behind Zick. It was an extremely beutiful girl! They almost involuntarily thought of running forward.

    Comparing Kerene to the women behind Zick was likeparing mud to Diamond!

    Such was Levienel''s beauty.

    Zick opened his mouth and spoke coldly: "Take her away, I will be back in a second."

    He addressed Levienel while lightly ring forward.

    Levienel held Kerene''s hand and immediately vanished in thin air with a sh.

    The atmosphere froze between the chaser and Zick froze.

    The very next moment, the leader of the group chasing Kerene smiled at Zick �� immediately breaking the tense atmosphere.

    The other people also had rxed expressions, with their menacing look vanishing.

    "You will keep your promise, right?" The leader asked with greed visible in his eyes.

    "Of course, I keep my word." Zick smiled too.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Seeing this, the chaser''s leader felt excitement rising within him rapidly. His gaze shone like never before. ''I am gonna make it big! Haha! Living thugs is sickening, I am gonna live in luxury from now on far from here!''

    From his excited sight, he could see Zick slowly lifting his hand. His eyes concentrated, and he could see Zick holding his finger in a flicking position.

    Looking at this, everyone was bewildered.

    ''is he going to flick coins at us?'' Such stupid thoughts appeared in their head.

    In truth, Zick was just passing his time, going back to Levienel too early would look suspicious to Kerene after all. So he was ying along with these thugs.

    He had hired them after showing his strength and promised some reward for doing what he ordered.

    Even Zick had to agree, these thugs were quite good at acting. They had some life experiences it seemed.

    But, Zick had no obligation to pay them in his heart at all. And neither did he like taking chances, it was possible that Kerene woulde to know of his scheme through these thugs in the future. He had grown very cautious after experiencing one annoying thing after another.

    He flicked his finger with leisure.

    A ck wave was released from his hand and passed by the thugs with a sh. Zick''s chaotic mana evolved thanks to that ck miasma, it had improved in speed drastically.

    The thug''s eyes widened before freezing altogether. Blood splurted from their lower abdomen at once and divided from their body.

    THUD! THUD! THUD!

    The whole ce quietened down with blood flowing into the grey tiles below. Their innards leaked out from their body. There was no change in Zick''s expression as he looked at the intestines of this thug. It was quite a familiar sight to him.

    As Zick willed, fireballs flew to the thug''s dead bodies and burned them rapidly.

    They were just normal humans in the end. They were burnt to ashes in no time.

    Their ashes flew away in the air. Zick could feel the ne in his neck shining dimly, it had absorbed everyone''s soul who had died here.

    The reason Zick didn''t use his demonic pupil to experiment was because of this. He wanted the ne to absorb this thug''s soul.

    Using his demonic eyes could damage their soul, weakening the effect of the ne.

    ''I want to go to the Doll gallery again, but right now is not the time. And I can manipte the way I clear the requirement to leave the subconscious world too. I just have to use the soul of a person who I know very closely.'' Zick thought while walking towards Levienel.

    There were many candidates whose regret he could clear. But most of them were important characters from the Novel.

    So the people Zick could choose were limited. But he didn''t worry he had a few people in mind.

    Zick was naturally vignt, there was a chance that he could not clear the subconscious world and be trapped in it forever. But, the benefits were just too appealing!

    Zick was willing to take risks to a certain degree in this matter.

    Picking up Aeiron along the way, Zick arrived out of the slum area, in the street where he could see Levienel waiting for him. Kerene also stood beside her with a pensive look.

    Looking at Zick who walked out of the alley, Kerene bowed her head quickly: "Thank you for helping me, sir!"

    Saying it loudly, her voice was hoarse. She had not gotten water to drink for a long time.

    "No big deal, I felt someone talented there so I was roaming around. You are lucky to find me there." Zick said with closed eyes.

    The next moment, Zick''s expression turned serious.

    "I will be straightforward with you, will youe work below me?" Zick said his true intention.

    Kerene lifted her head and looked at Zick, he had a person on his shoulder who seemed to be unconscious, he seemed familiar to her for some reason.

    She had to admit that Zick was very handsome, even her heart skipped a beat looking at him.

    Those drifting red eyes, long smooth ck hair, and the unique presence he let out made him look different than others.

    Seeing Kerene lost in her thoughts, Zick spoke again to wake her up: "Have you decided?"

    Zick had high expectations of Kerene epting his proposal.

    "Ah, right, yes, I will work for you...." Kerene answered absent-mindedly. She had an innate personality of thinking of herself to be lower than others.

    ''The future twin dagger seems to be quite timid right now. I have to train her properly.'' Zick turned to Levienel.

    "Miss Levienel, please make a teleportation circle in the hidden ce there. I will be back in a few minutes, please keep these two people with you." Zick handed over Kerene and Aeiron to Levienel.

    Zick started moving towards the bakery, he had to buy food for those people he gathered.

    ''I didn''t find realen till the end...Did he die?''

 Chapter 166 I Want You To.....Die For Me

    Originally in the novel, Kerene and Realen were from the same vige, they even escaped together.

    But right now, from Zick''s observation, there was no sign of Realen nearby, almost like he never existed. He was not aware that Aeiron had helped Kerene this time around. Thus, he was not able to connect the dots yet.

    Taking a turn, Zick arrived in front of a bakery. It was a simple shop with a signboard above it, carved on a wooden board.

    Unlike the first time Zick visited this city, a few people could be seen walking around the streets. Still, most of them stayed home for fear of getting infected.

    Ding~ Zick entered the bakery with steady steps.

    Zick stormed through the shop, buying almost everything. The shop owner was surprised, the next moment he started treating Zick with respect and devotion. He was aware of him being a huge customer.

    ''Cheese? It''s been a long time since I saw such a thing.'' Zick looked at the thing he brought.

    After inquiring about the other shop location that he wanted to visit from the shop owner, Zick paid a gold coin and continued moving.

    He next brought many things, some ingredients that he was missing toplete the cure were also collected here. These materials were not rare, all the ones which were rare were already going toe into Zick''s hand in a while.

    ''My identity should not have been revealed...they must have some suspicion but at most, they will just investigate my past again.'' Zick''s eyes shone in understanding.

    ''In other words, I should be able to visit the main base of the Everlor organization with no problem at all. Even if something happened, Levienel is there to take care of it.'' This put Zick''s mind at ease.

    Leaving the material, Zick brought fruits and other few things.

    Zick returned to where Levienel was.

    Kerene had a dazed look on her face as she looked at Aeiron. He was the person who helped her before!

    Seeing Zicking back, Kerene immediately opened her mouth: "Sir..."

    "Sir Leiren." Zick gave out a made-up name with no hesitation.

    "Sir Leiren...This person, do you know him?" Kerene spoke in a surprisingly calm manner, unlike before, when she had a timid attitude.

    "Hm." Zick simply nodded his head, thinking for a little, his brow furrowed.

    "Why do you want to know about our rtionship? What does he have to do with you?" Zick asked with a keen tone, showing his full interest.

    "This person helped me while everyone was running from the city I was in before....bing a vagrant." Kerene''s expression portrayed sadness and grief as she thought of what happened at that time.

    At that moment, Zick realized what happened. Because of Aeiron''s interference, Realen never appeared here.

    Then, what happened to Realen?

    ''No idea! He might have just died....'' Zick heaved a sigh internally.

    Zick nodded his head and sympathized looking at Kerene''s expression: "Many people are suffering from the pandemic. I get how you feel, but you must live strong. The things we have lost cannot be brought back again but it doesn''t mean we should give up."

    Zick''s voice was filled with deep meaning and charisma moving Kerene to the point of tearing. She was 16 years old unlike Varine, so there was no need for Zick''s loving constion.

    "Yes..." Kerene looked down with shaking shoulders.

    "Here take this." Zick handed a fruit to the moved Kerene.

    Zick didn''t speak further and instead looked at the teleportation circle. It was ready and Levienel also stood near it looking at Zick.

    Zick picked up Aeiron and then spoke to Kerene: "Alright, enter the magic circle, we will be going to my base."

    Kerene looked at Zick again before entering the magic circle along with him. She nibbled at the fruit trying to satiate her hunger.

    Levienel activated the teleportation circle seeing everyone entering.

    SWOOSH!

    The four people vanished with a sh, the teleportation circle didn''t vanish. Zick was nning on returning here after dropping Kerene and Aeiron in the base.

    ....

    The demon waiver, Darton''s pce.

    The main hall, the teleportation circle near the entrance shone in bright light.

    Zick and the others appeared upon it, surprising the wolfmen cub who was looking around. Seeing Zick, the startled boy calmed down.

    The cat appeared before Zick from the ground, emerging right through the shadow. It looked at him with expectation.

    But unfortunately,

    "I didn''t bring the wine with me right now, I just came to drop this person here." Zick looked at Kerene subtly.

    He then continued: "I will bring the premium wine on my next journey. Take care of them until then please." Zick had a sincere expression while saying this.

    The cat was disappointed at once. It hade running the moment when Zick appeared.

    Zick looked at his surroundings, he could see the ground which had ayer of dust in it before leaving was all cleaned up now. The marble floor shone in a bright lustre too.

    There were flower pots and some innate ornaments around the wall. The red carpet was also of high quality, not having any problems even after many years.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick moved out of the hall towards Varine and Seveleen. The cat was on his shoulder, lookingzy as ever.

    Soon Zick arrived near Varine and Seveleen who were looking at the weird gem in between the garden.

    The gem was glistening green in color and gave out energy filled with vitality, it was the size of a kid''s fist. This gem was kept upon a tform made of marble.

    Even without anyone saying, Zick knew the function of this green gem. It provided help to the growth of nts and trees.

    ''That exins the reason this garden is flourishing with so many types of trees and crops.'' Zick analyzed.

    Seeing Zicking towards them, Varine who had a lost look at the sudden disappearance of Cat �� rxed.

    The cat had been teaching her about mana and more about an assassin''s profession. She was like a sponge absorbing all this knowledge quickly.

    The Cat was really a treasure trove when it came to knowledge. Though its intelligence could not be said to be outstanding, its knowledge was extremely sought after.

    Apetent person such as Varine immediately got close to the cat. She easily understood the cat''s personality and was able to reap a lot of rewards. Though she had not gotten stronger, she was keenly aware of the benefits brought by this knowledge.

    "Miss Seveleen, pass this food to everyone, they must be feeling hungry. You both should also eat something." Zick had a deadpan look, but his voice was not as cold as it used to be.

    Zick passed on the food from his space ring to Seveleen''s space ring.

    The job of taking care of these wolfmen cubs was immediately thrown onto Seveleen''s shoulder. She didn''tin one bit, instead, she was happy to be helpful to Zick in some way.

    Zick introduced the two people he brought, Kerene and Aeiron who was floating in the air right now.

    Giving instructions to put Aeiron in a room, Zick handed over the cat to Varine. He headed back to Chertel city with Levienel again, both of them vanishing into the magic circle.

    Varine looked at the person Zick brought this time. It was clear that this person lived a hard life from her clothes and appearance.

    For now, Varine and Seveleen decided to gather everyone to eat food.

    .....

    Zick didn''t waste a second. The more time he takes, the higher the chances the organization might give out the order of capturing him if he ever appeared.

    The matter of the regretful ne was really important to the organization. It could be seen from the amount of force they dispatched in this mission.

    And this time around, Zick aimed to retrieve the material he ordered in the trading port of the organization. They were very important in his n after all.

    ''If they try to do something funny, I can only order Levienel to destroy them all. Actually, with my current strength, there shouldn''t be a problem with escaping or retaliating.

    "Miss Levienel, how many teleportation circles can you sense in this city?" Zick asked, smiling lightly.

    "Five." Levienel response was immediate.

    Zick''s smile deepened by ayer: ''Nothing can be hidden by a grandmaster hehehe.''

    "Take me to the teleportation circle which is not in the city lord''s mansion or the mercenary center," Zick said inly.

    There was a reason why he was taking Levienel around here and there. She knew the reason too.

    It was because of her curse. If Levienel stayed at a ce for too long, the curse would start absorbing life force rapidly. Even now the curse was working, but it was very subtle no one would notice immediately.

    Zick''s vision blurred for a second, the next time he opened his eyes, he was floating above the sky.

    "It''s in that house." Levienel pointed at the house below her.

    It was an inn, just like how Zick thought.

    "Let''s enter it."

    Zick and Levienel descended before the door of the inn. He entered it without any hesitation.

    DING~

    "How might I help you sir?" A young receptionist asked respectfully.

    Zick walked before her with a in expression.

    "I would like you to...die for me." The moment Zick uttered this word, many mana waves shot toward the receptionist and servants.

    They were not able to react at all, their heads were cut off from their body immediately.

    Zick had no other choice but to kill them like this, he had lost the organization''s seal. He could neither pay merit points nor prove his identity.

    Now Zick could create mana and shoot it like this from any part of his body, without moving a finger. But the limit still stood, only a certain amount of mana could be used at a time while only using the body.

    ''To use more mana, I can only use my cursed sword....'' Thinking of this, Zick thought of this sword while Levienel activated the magic circle.

    The cursed sword has not responded to any of his questions after their first conversation. It was like Zick was being fully ignored by the sword.

    Because of this, Zick was not able to ask any more questions about what he wanted to know.

    The teleportation circle activated shortly, bringing Zick and Levienel to the main base of the organization.

 Chapter 167 Looting The Organizations Main Base

    A familiar room entered Zick''s sight, the teleportation circle below his feet shone dimly.

    ''With the number of the soul, the regretful ne has absorbed there is really nothing to fear.''

    There were around 22 souls in the ne now, including the receptionist''s and her servant''s souls. He had also taken their space ring with him of course. There was quite some money stored in it.

    Zick wore the ck mask and covered it with a thinyer of mana to not let others see his real face. Levienel was keeping a watch while standing beside him.

    SWISH~

    Someone else teleported behind Zick at that moment, but Zick didn''t even flinch as he looked toward this person.

    Three people fully armed in armor appeared at the ce Zick stood in priority. They too looked at Zick before continuing to head out.

    CLICK~

    Zick also headed out slowly after making sure no one would be able to ascertain it was him easily. The moment he got out of the teleportation circle, a lump of ck translucent object flew towards Zick.

    Looking at it, Zick squinted his eyes: ''Spirit? Why is it heading toward me?''

    While Zick was feeling uncertain, Levienel lightly flicked her finger �� directly destroying the spirit.

    The ck spirit dissipated in thin airing in contact with Levienel''s higher form of energy.

    Zick looked at Levienel: "Miss Levienel?"

    "That spirit was under someone''s control...." Levienel said expressionlessly.

    Zick didn''t know what to say about that.

    ''I get that it was under someone''s control, but now that she destroyed it, the one controlling it would be notified of our existence. But my knowledge of Spirit is really low so I am not sure if that is how it works...''

    Zick could only turn toward Levienel again, he knew that she wasn''t stupid enough to do such a thing for no reason: "Was that Spirit aware of my identity?"

    Levienel nodded her head: "A spirit can discern a person they have met before easily." She saw Zick''s expression which had a frown and continued.

    "Spiritualists can hide spirit in their bodies so it is not possible to sense it usually," Levienel said with closed eyes.

    Zick''s eyes contracted, he never thought spirit would be able to find him so easily. He had known of spiritualists having a wide range of means to find people through the novel, but he didn''t know of the specifics. Spiritualists are very rare after all.

    "Some people are heading towards here," Levienel said in a warning tone from beside him.

    "Sigh...." Zick could only sigh at his situation, he wasn''t nning on causing a ruckus this time around.

    Zick decided the next moment: "Take me to that pir." Zick pointed at the pir of the trading post.

    A golden glow engulfed both Zick and Levienel as they vanished, shing toward the giant pir.

    ''Now that it hase to this, I might as well try to benefit as much as I can.'' Zick thought holding bad intentions.

    They appeared before the pir in no time, Zicknded before the main shop with no hesitation with Levienel''s help.

    "Do you have the things I ordered before?" Zick said calmly, hiding his urgency.

    The shop owner squinted his eyes before a sh of enlightenment passed by his eyes. After all, the mask Zick was wearing was brought from this shop.

    "Haha, I have them prepared." The shop owner rubbed the ring on his finger. He was confident as no member of the organization could harm him because of the oath.

    "Kill him," Zick said inly pointing at the shop owner.

    "What...." A hole appeared in the shop owner''s head, a peak rank knight such as him dead without being able to resist in the slightest.

    Taking the space ring from his body after jumping into the shop. Zick also put all the things on the shelves in his space ring.

    There were many mana bombs, swords, bows, daggers, information, technique, and other stuff. All this went into his space ring.

    There were also things in the shop owner''s space ring. If all of it is counted, Zick made a fortune just like that.

    "Look towards there! Wow, he is looting the shop in broad daylight!"

    "The hell is happening...how can he hurt others? Is the seal not working?"

    "Kill! Let''s kill him, we will be able to get all the things he got." Someone tried to incite others to attack.

    Many people started moving toward Zick at once blinded by their greed. Some smart people not able to sense Zick and Levienel''s presence stood far away.

    "Kill them all." Zick didn''t even nce at them before ordering Levienel. He was still counting the things he got from here.

    A hundred members, who were heading toward Zick, suddenly stopped. The people who had been watching from afar turned pale at once, all blood left their faces.

    All the hundred people had their heads missing!

    They fell to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.

    It was a bizarre scene, their head didn''t blow away to pieces or was cut off from their neck, they just vanished just like that!

    The living organization members felt like they were in a nightmare.

    ''Yes, this must be a nightmare, I should wake up soon.'' A member even had such a thought.

    At that moment, several shes appeared in the sky. Theynded before Zick and revealed their figures.

    ''Priests?'' Zick looked on with amusement, they appeared the moment he was considering if he should attack the next floor.

    There were three priests along with two mages who stood before Zick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The priest wore a dazzling white robe along with their church''s emblem drawn in it with gold threads. They screamed ''Justice'' from all over their body.

    "Kill...." Before Zick could finish speaking, the priest shouted with a fierce expression.

    "You goddamn heretic! Do you think you can escape the wrath of God?!"

    Another one also screamed: "God has already given their divine revtion! You, Hevish, the demon must be hunted at all costs."

    They were looking at Zick like he was their lifelong enemy.

    Zick froze upon hearing them. Aplicated look appeared on his face.

    First, he ordered: "Just kill them."

    Why?

    This was the only word that was present in Zick''s mind.

    Zick was aware that God would be angry or even try to get in his way, but what the hell is this?

    A God revtion? And it directly mentioned his name!

    This is not natural no matter how he thought of it!

    The most ridiculous thing was that �� not even a day had passed since Zick got the demonic pupil!

    A sense of devastation took over Zick: ''If it''s like this, I won''t be able to be a savior....my n is falling apart before it even begins!''

    Still, Zick didn''t regret choosing the ck-eye doll. He decided to choose strength over the god''s wrath. He was now just paying for it.

    ''Sigh...I can only change my n then.'' Zick calmed down slowly. The priests and the mage had already died.

    Zick opened his mouth: "If you want to live, put your space ring before me and scram. Every five-second dy would mean another one of you dies." His voice was enhanced by mana reaching every corner of the fourth floor.

    Silence descended upon the people in the distance.

    Levienel knew what to do, she killed a person every five seconds.

    The organization members were so unwilling that their eyes turned red. In their space ring, all their life-saving were stored. So it was natural for them to feel like that but to live they moved towards Zick while gritting their teeth.

    Levienel looked and moved on to the ve port by Zick''s order. Soon people from the ve trading port also came putting their space ring before Zick.

    Zick kept their space rings within his space ring with no hesitation. There was a principle for this too, only arger space ring could store a smaller space ring. In this aspect, Zick''s space ring that he got from the Garcia family''s treasury was very big.

    Zick also ordered the organization''s members to collect the dead people''s space rings for him.

    After looking at the ve port to see if there was anyone talented, Zick was disappointed to find all of to be them garbage.

    Next, Zick headed towards the third floor along with Levienel without any hesitation.

    But this time, when Zick got out of the pir hundreds of people were surrounding him ready to attack. But his expression did not change, it was emotionless as ever.

    "Attack!"

    "Use all your long-range attacks!"

    "Kill that piece of shit! How dare he look down on us!"

    Most of the people here were peak-rank knights and had a wide range of experience below their belt.

    Hundreds of people readied their magic but at that moment, all of their expressions changed. They could not form their magic at all.

    Zick had told Levienel to stop suppressing her higher form of energy a while ago. It was so that no one escapes using the teleportation circles.

    Zick folded his hand: "Put your space ring before me and get lost if you want to live. If you don''t, I will kill one person every five seconds."

    Hearing Zick''s cold voice filled with dominance, the members were furious at once. They were experienced veterans so they had quite a pride.

    They could tell that Zick was a peak-rank knight just like them. But they all still didn''t move, the beautiful girl beside him was unfathomable giving them a sense of pressure.

    Five seconds passed and a person died with his head missing. They were all terrified at once, Levienel hadn''t moved even an inch from her original position!

    The priest within the group couldn''t take it. Their loyalty to the church was real, they were ready to give up their life for the gods.

    "What are you all doing?! Attack that damn heretic right this instant!"

    "We are willing to pay handsomely for anyone who brings us his head!"

    Zick''s shone in an ominous light that was hidden by the mask.

    ''Heretic, heretic, and Heretic is that all they know to say?'' Zick of course didn''t feel good at all with his n foiled by this ''God''.

    "Kill all the priests here," Zick ordered Levienel with no hesitation.

    This time, Levienel moved her hand and shot golden rays at this priest.

    The moment this ray hit them, the priest''s body exploded turning into blood mist.

    With this as a trigger, the same scene yed out. All the members passed their space RIng to Zick. They knew that their life was more important than their wealth.

    Zick didn''t even bother counting his wealth now. He looted the main shop and then looked at the ve port. But this time too, he didn''t find anyone with enough potential.

    Zick and Levienel continued to the next floor. Going on a path to ughter more people.

 Chapter 168 Looting And Extorting

    The next floor was different from the third. The fourth floor was only one-tenth of the size of the third floor, with only a single pir.

    A single majestic building stood in the middle, connected to the pir. Thus, the moment Zick got out of the pir, he directly entered the building.

    This house was more like an office, the floor and walls were made of very expensive material. The ornament on the steps, wall, and ceiling shone brightly.

    The moment Zick got out of the pir, he was greeted by a long corridor.

    The whole building was silent right at the moment.

    ''Did they already run away?'' Zick was doubtful.

    Levienel spoke beside him: "They are all out of this ce, readying to bury us along with this building."

    "I see, let them try their best." Even in front of multiple master-rank opponents, Zick was not fazed.

    He could feel aura fluctuation after concentrating.

    BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

    The majestic building started copsing, and the ce Zick stood in also shook starting to copse. A golden barrier covered Zick and Levienel at that moment. They flew out of the building like a spear, stopping in the middle of the air.

    The red-ranked members of the organization were astonished, they gasped with horrified faces.

    They had all tried to ambush their enemy, but the result was a total failure. The majestic building was made of a material that even they couldn''t pierce easily, they had to give their all to even break a single wall.

    But what were these two people before them? they directly pierced right through the whole building from the bottom floor!

    And it was done like it wasn''t a big deal at all!

    The red-ranked member''s expression just got uglier as time went by.

    ''What kind of enemy has our organization offended?!'' A membermented, before calming himself.

    These people were all master ranked and had extremely high experience both in fighting and life.

    "Wait, we do not want to fight with you. Why go on a meaningless ughter? We can negotiate the prize for you to spare this base." The one who spoke this looked to be a middle-aged man and had a humble look on his face.

    ''Ohh.'' Zick eximed in his head. There was a deeper meaning in this middle-aged man''s words. While he begged for negotiation, he also warned them by saying "This base".

    This meant that this wasn''t the only base and that Zick and Levienel would be attacked by the other base if this one was destroyed.

    Zick smiled, though it was not visible: "of course, of course, we can negotiate. So the prize you have to pay is..." Zick''s voice was amplified by mana reaching the end of this floor.

    Zick wantonly slurred at thest of his word, making the organization members look at him with all their concentration.

    Zick spat out colding: "All your space rings."

    The red-ranked members were stifled at once. Rage boiled within them like a rising volcano.

    They all wanted to scream- This is just tant extortion!

    Their body shook and their eyes trembled with them not being able to control their expression.

    The middle-aged man spoke bitterly: "Don''t you think that is just going too far? You are trying to cripple us of our foundation, underestimating us would not be good for you." It came down to threatening atst.

    ''Stupid.'' Zickmented in his head and spoke in a cold voice: "Then negotiation breaks here. Miss Levienel please finish them off."

    Their being alive or dead didn''t matter to Zick, all he wanted was their space ring. He can just take it from their dead body.

    "You impudent bastard!"

    "I can''t take it anymore! I don''t know who you are, but I will kill you no matter what!"

    Everyone was stirred at once hearing Zick''s order to Levienel.

    But unfortunately, the red-ranked member was against Levienel, the witch who was considered to be one of the four disasters.

    In front of such an existence, these people were really minuscule.

    A golden streak left Levienel''s palm directly making its way toward the middle-aged man in the front. It was so fast that, even with their monstrous reflexes it appeared in front of them in a blink of an eye.

    The middle-aged man''s expression changed, but the golden streak had alreadye in contact with him. The golden streak pierced right through him and killed the person behind him too.

    The red-ranked member behind the middle-aged man was directly hit on the head. Blowing his head off, which killed him instantly.

    The golden streak hit the wall in the end.

    With a horrified look, the middle-aged man looked at his left chest. A hole the size of two fists had appeared right at the ce his heart was.

    His face paled as blood gushed out like a fountain. He fell from the sky at a rapid speed, not being able to maintain the flight spell.

    Levienel continued to shoot out golden streaks even while the red-ranked member tried to surrender.

    Even while taking care of the Everlor organization, Zick''s mind was wandering somewhere else.

    ''I can try to be a savior in the Hevertec kingdom with the condition it is in. But without a doubt, I will have to face the Leweisert kingdom which is run by the justice church in the future.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    In other words, it would be extremely hard to recruit harem members there. It was not impossible, but it became unbelievably hard.

    ''It wouldn''t be weird if they sent out their troops to kill me as a heretic. In the first ce, how do they know my face?! It doesn''t make sense at all. Sigh.....'' Zick heaved a long sigh.

    From this experience, Zick got to one thing very clearly.

    ''Never judge the gods usingmon sense. oh, the church too. For now, I should try to recruit harem members in the Hevertec kingdom after bing the savior of this kingdom.'' Zick decided.

    The benefits of bing a savior had lessened by a lot. It was only useful in the Hevertec kingdom.

    ''For my n to be affected like this...It is really hard to predict things perfectly.'' Zick could only smile wryly at this matter.

    The moment he joined the Everlor organization, Zick hade up with this n and it was wless too. But now, due to twists and turns, many changes have happened.

    With the master-ranked enemy being killed like flies, Zick concentrated on Levienel who was still standing beside him.

    ''Getting her help was the best situation for me. Only after bing an ally with her did I get the cat and the golem....the Golem!'' Zick remembered something.

    Zick hurriedly instructed Levienel: "Miss Levienel, please leave an intact corpse of their body. They are of some use to me."

    Hearing this, Levienel slightly nodded her head.

    The ce was cleared off soon too, Zick quickly collected the rings and body with Levienel''s help.

    Next, Zick decided to go on a massacre with no hesitation at all!

    First, all the ves on this floor were killed with Levienel''s simple swap of hands. She left an intact corpse just like Zick instructed.

    Zick wore a space ring on all of his ten fingers, he collected their body quickly. There were around three hundred of them.

    The fifth floor that Zick had many expectations upon was unfortunately already destroyed. The leader of the Everlor organization was instructed to destroy the floor when an intruder appeared.

    ording to Levienel, there was no precious thing in there either. Zick could only ept it and continue the massacre.

    .....

    The third floor of the organization base. Hevertec kingdom''s branch.

    The purple-ranked member breathed a sigh of relief as they talked with a dismal look. They had all lost their savings with no resistance at all.

    But they were still feeling relieved internally, Being able to live through this ordeal was enough for them.

    At that instant, they heard footsteps from the pir, their attention was shifted to it at once. From their vision, they could see Zick and Levienel walking out of the entrance leisurely.

    Zick looked around, before smiling to himself: "Kill them all."

    He was happy that they were still in one ce, it would be easy to collect their body now.

    Hearing the words spoken by Zick, the members here were frozen like life left their bodies.

    "You-you bastard! Extorting wasn''t enough for you and now you want to kill us!"

    "Wait, sir please wait!! We can negotiate, yes we can give you what you desire!" A person wailed loudly with terror and palpitation all over his body.

    "Why, Why are you doing this?! We gave you what you needed...." A woman was left with a face filled with despair.

    Theirints were nonexistent to Zick.

    Shortly, Levienel finished killing all the red-ranked members.

    The whole third floor was filled with blood, Almost everything was stained with blood, the interior, stall, and ground

    For the ve, Zick ordered Levienel to cast preservation magic and lock them up.

    ''Sacrificing them alive would increase the life force needed for the golem.'' Zick calcted coldly.

    Next, Zick collected the bodies and moved on to the second floor. There was quite some resistance on this floor too but they were killed easily in the end.

    Collecting the body, Zick did the same process for the ves and moved on to thest floor.

    The members on the first floor were all garbage, they were quickly taken care of by Levienel.

    Zick was sure to destroy all the teleportation circles in this base so that no one else woulde hereter on. There had to be only one, which he could use toe here again.

    ''Still, I should move quickly and try to get the golem by tomorrow itself.'' Zick cautiously decided.

    ''I have around three thousand bodies now. This much should be more than enough.'' Zick sighed looking at the amount of loot he got.

    ''Extorting and looting like this is the best.'' Zick could help but have such thoughts.

    After all, he might be the richest person in the eastern continent for all he knows.

    Just the amount of money he got was unending in Zick''s eyes.

    "Let''s go back to our base then miss Levienel." Zick took off the mask and put it in his space ring. His handsome face had a smile on it right at the moment, fully showing his good mood.

 Chapter 169 Making The Cure

    ''There is no need for me to Visit the capital anymore. Luckily, there were a few bottles of premium wine in this space ring.'' Zick thought with a delightful mood.

    Levienel was creating a teleportation circle right at the moment. It would take 30 seconds at most to finish it.

    Zick calmed down quickly and considered at lightning speed what he should do.

    ''I have the alchemy instrument needed to create the cure of the revelner disease.''

    In truth, Zick got a very expensive set of alchemy kits. Even he was surprised initially. The owner of the main shops in the trading port was really rich.

    ''Even without any experience in alchemy, I can concoct the cure with no problem using this alchemy kit.''

    Revelner disease.

    Strictly speaking, this was not a disease, but a virus. Unfortunately, the concept of a virus was not known by the masses of this world.

    Therefore, it was simply called a disease.

    The concept of gue could be said to be more known throughout the continents.

    ''Well, that aside, I have to collect the biological golem next.'' Zick''s eyes narrowed thinking of this matter.

    He was nning on heading towards it tomorrow but in the end, he decided against it.

    Zick would head toward theb tonight!

    There was no reason for him to waste his time for no reason.

    Zick had a bad feeling deep within him from the moment he got to know of the revtion of the church.

    Now he would be regarded as a heretic and hunted no matter what he tried saying!

    This was the kind of fanaticism the people of the church held for their gods. No matter how absurd the revtion is, this devoted follower would fulfill it.

    ''This is the reason why religious beliefs are a scary thing. Once it''s taken root within a person, discarding or removing it is very hard.'' Zick felt gloomy thinking of this.

    ''For now, I can initiate my n of bing ''Justice'' in the Hevertec kingdom. And for what to do after that...I will need to consider it carefully.''

    Just as he was going to think more deeply into it, Zick heard Levienel speak: "It''s done."

    It was a short and crisp voice.

    Zick looked at the magic circle in the ground and collected his thoughts.

    They were currently near the ve port, within one of the luxurious rooms. This was the ce where beutiful prostitutes were kept.

    Shortly both Zick and Levienel vanished into the magic circle.

    ....

    In the hall of Darton''s pce, the teleportation circle shone and Zick along with Levienel appeared above it.

    The sight of a few wolfmen cubs looking at him entered Zick''s sight.

    Zick''s eyes flickered with unknown intention.

    He smiled and spoke softly: "Tell everyone to gather in the hall for me."

    The cat who appeared before him sent a mental message to everyone with no hesitation.

    Zick took out a bottle of wine which looked expensive at first sight. The ss bottle in which the alcohol was stored gave out subtle mana, which indicated it was strengthened by protection magic.

    Soon others started gathering in the hall, they stood in a semi-circle around Zick. They looked at him with curious looks.

    Seveleen, Varine, and Kerene exchanged greetings with Zick first.

    Kerene had grown used to hearing Seveleen''s voice in her head by now.

    Zick also stered a smile on his face and exchanged a greeting. The ne on his neck shone dimly which went unnoticed by everyone, even Zick himself didn''t realize it.

    Leiren. That was the next identity he was going to use while saving people from the Revelner disease. But after a certain thing that Zick experienced a while ago, he wanted to make sure of something.

    ''The way they could directly deduce my identity isn''t normal at all. If my spection is correct, these people before me might be the cause of it.''

    Deep within Zick''s eyes, a cold spark appeared. From what Zick was able to infer till now, gods can look or more specifically share their senses with the people they have blessed.

    If that is the case, it was entirely normal for the churches to find out about his identity. Varine knew of his connection with the organization after all.

    The ck spirit that Zick met at the beginning must also belong to one of the priests.

    And these being referred to as gods can also influence the mind of the people they have blessed to a certain degree.

    ''Ohh, Also the people around them. Though it only went to the level of influence, not control. Varine is the best example, the chances of her betraying me are abysmal.''

    ''Unless the gods can directly control her to do so. Because of this possibility, I will have to stay on my guard all the time.''

    These thoughts went through Zick''s head very swiftly. Only a second passed in reality.

    Zick smiled lightly and dered: "From today onwards my name is Leiren and I will be working as a mercenary. Be sure to address me as such."

    The people before Zick epted with not much thought.

    "You can continue what you were doing, I will be in my room. You cane to me if you need something." Saying this Zick turned to Gereel: "Have you kept the silver egg in my room as I said?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes, I ced it on the bed as you instructed,"

    Zick praised: "Good"

    A smile appeared on Gereel''s face hearing Zick''s praise. To her, he was a savior who helped her and others. Hearing praise from such a person would of course make her feel good.

    Looking at the cat who just finished the bottle of wine and sighed with satisfaction, Zick smiled not hiding his intention. He picked up the ck cat and slowly passed it to Varine.

    "Please continue teaching her for a while longer," Zick said with a simple smile.

    "What will you give me this time?" The cat asked seemingly not against it.

    ''Oh, so it can learn something from experience after all.'' Zickmented before speaking calmly.

    "A bottle of premium wine." Zick had dozens of them, so there was no problem in this regard.

    "Alright! I will teach her!" The cat said immediately, filled with energy.

    ''...I guess, in the end, it''s stupid. We didn''t even discuss the time frame, well whatever.'' Zick bid well to everyone.

    He moved to his room with no hesitation. It was located on the top floor, which was also the main room of this pce.

    Climbing up the grand stairway, Zick found a few specks of dusk in the above floors.

    ''It shouldn''t be a problem with Seveleen''s magic...It seems she is reaching her limit.'' A sharp light shed by Zick''s eyes.

    The revelner disease causes people to lose their stamina at an extremely high speed. This had a lethal effect on the mages, as their ''will'' was exhaustible.

    Climbing up the two-way stairways, Zick soon arrived at the top floor. He had to climb five floors to reach there.

    A single door appeared in Zick''s sight. This door was made of redwood and had a simple gold coating on its edges.

    CLICK~ CLUCK~

    Closing the door behind him, Zick looked at the room which was dark at the moment. Themp started glowing after Zick sent a wave of mana into it.

    The furniture and couches around the room had dust all over them. The ce had many spider webs, almost looking like a horror room.

    ''Well, it would have been annoying before, but now...'' Zick took out multiple low-rank magic scrolls.

    Zick tossed one of them to the ground, sending in a little mana into it.

    A bright light erupted from it before it covered the matt at Zick''s feet. In a second, the matt was cleaned, almost looking like new!

    With no hesitation, Zick started tossing the magic scroll all around the huge room. The couches, table, chandelier light, bed, and curtains. They were all cleaned one after another.

    Next, Zick started cing things in the right order with swift moves. His body was like a blur as he moved around the room, soon the room appeared well Maintained at once.

    Within one minute, the room was as good as new.

    Zick had also made a ce to put his alchemy kit at. The huge table was emptied and ced in the corner.

    With a wave of Zick''s hand, three ss beakers appeared on the table. Thergest one was half a meter in size and the other two were half the size of it.

    This beaker was very high quality, the dangerous experiment could be done using it with no problem. It was enchanted to help in the material blending process too.

    Three bottles with different solutions appeared on the table from the space ring.

    ''First, the Meltius souren should be put in that one....'' Zick had already memories of the whole cure in his head.

    Picking up the bottle with the green solution, Zick put it into thergest beaker. The other two bottles containing pink solution went into the two small beakers.

    One-third of the beaker was filled by now, and Zick took out three ck roots. He immediately put it into the three beakers, one for each.

    A change started urring in the solutions which were in the beakers, the green solution started turning ck. While the pink solution started turning red.

    This process would take a while, so Zick moved on to the next thing.

    Next, four test tubes appeared in Zick''s hand and a test tube holder also appeared above the table. This holder was very special.

    Below the ce where the test tube would be ced, there are three gems of different colors.

    Red, for heating theponent.

    Blue, for cooling.

    Green, for energizing.

    The whole frame of the holder was made of extremely strong metal and was also strengthened using enchantment.

    cing the test tubes in their ces correctly, Zick took out vials filled with different types of monster blood.

    Filling up half the test tubes with different types of blood, Zick sent his mana into it.

    The red gem shone and a small me appeared below the test tube.

    Adjusting the me, Zick took out different kinds of material from the space ring. They ranged from creepy leaves to different small parts of monsters.

    Zick had a very serious expression as he performed all the steps.

    ''It should be ready in three hours.'' Zick calcted and continued moving his hand.

 Chapter 170 Self-Deprecating

    Szzzzz...

    With the swift sound of something evaporating, the device circting the test tubes rapidly came to a stop.

    The device was shaped in a box shape and had ten test tubes ced within it. It was a test tube mixer and of course, it was different as it was enchanted with magic.

    The test tube within the mixer had purple liquid in it. If anyone had seen the process of how this solution was made from start to end, they wouldbel this purple liquid as poison without any hesitation.

    After all, dozens of poison and creepy things were used one after another, making it look like a process to create a dangerous item.

    But Zick was clear as day that this purple solution was the cure for the Revelner disease.

    ''The process of creating this was quiteplicated and time-consuming. Well, I stillpleted it faster than my initial estimation, only two and a half an hour has passed.'' Zick put all the useless things on the table within his space ring.

    Next, Zick took a test tube out of the mixer and stored the cure in a container of seven to eight centimeters in size. This container or more specifically vials, we''re specially made exclusively to use along with syringes.

    After emptying the test tubes, Zick looked at the vials: ''With this much, curing more than 20 people shouldn''t be a problem.''

    ''I have arge amount of material so creating enough to treat millions of people isn''t impossible. Hmm...Making the biological golem mass produce this cure for a while would be the best course of action.'' Zick considered with a drifting expression, before deciding.

    ncing at the dragon''s egg once, Zick made his way out of the room. It had already turned afternoon, it was hard to deduce this thanks to the fog surrounding the pce from all sides.

    CLICK~

    Closing the door behind him, Zick suddenly thought of a certain matter. His expression didn''t change much, he continued moving towards Seveleen leisurely.

    His senses expanded to every corner of the pce, and he could sense almost everyone''s location easily. He was able to organize the information perceived by his senses easily.

    The speed at which he gathered information had increased by leap and bound after creating the ''will'' veins.

    Finding Seveleen to be on the ground floor kitchen, Zick started heading towards it.

    Zick''s mind wandered as he walked down the steps: ''Spreading the revelner disease to the whole eastern continent was impossible for me before, but now with Levienel and the cat...it is quite possible.''

    The more Zick of this matter, the intenser his vertical red eye glowed.

    Commencing the n to spread the revelner disease had many benefits for Zick. The only downside was that the future would be more unpredictable.

    ''Well, the plot has already gotten destroyed so it doesn''t matter.'' Zick''s eyes squinted with resolution.

    ''Haha, now the kingdom and empire have to decide whether to choose me or the church. I am the person who can save their lives, their hope. while the churches, who want to kill me, trying to extinguish their hopes.'' Zick felt it to be quite hysterical too.

    It was very clear what the higher up of these forces would choose. It was him, humans naturally became self-centered when their lives were at risk.

    Finding such a nice scheme to take care of this matter, Zick was satisfied. In the worst-case scenario, he would just have to go around inciting people to rebellion.

    ''Alright, I just have to collect the biological golem and mass produce the cure next. After that, I can start my journey as a savior.''

    Zick arrived before the kitchen without realizing it, seeing it was all cleaned up, he knew it was Seveleen''s work.

    Zick looked at Seveleen deeply, at first, he wanted her condition to deteriorate further before saving her. But now, he didn''t think that to be necessary.

    Making Seveleen fall in love with him? This thought made Zick''s skin crawl.

    ''Such a stupid thought wouldn''t have appeared in my head if I wasn''t being influenced or if my emotions were not so unstable.'' Zick sighed lightly.

    Just making Seveleen work for him was more than enough, even if she didn''t have any intention to sacrifice herself for him �� Zick could just make her do it for him.

    ''Right at the moment, she is still too weak. Not only her, but the others are also very weak too, I need to give them some more time to grow.'' Zick had a sense of urgency deep within him.

    Zick had gone through the information he got from the Everler organization. The fact that Zrecktor was dead was found out by the Eastern continent a few days ago. They were even preparing to start war at full throttle.

    Before they couldn''t use the teleportation circle because of Zrector, but now it is possible to use it.

    The intensity of this war could already be expected, millions of people would die naturally every day. The demon continent would also try to do something shady from the shadows.

    '' Can I gain something from this war?'' Zick put aside this matter, for now, and he looked at Seveleen.

    Zick knocked at the kitchen wall, bringing Seveleen''s attention to him.

    Zick heard a sound in his head: "Mister Zick, Sorry I didn''t notice you before. Can I help you?"

    Seveleen''s voice was normal with no abnormality in it. The fact that she was nearing her death should be known to her better than anyone. But she could still keep her calm in this situation.

    Zick praised not holding back in his head: ''As expected of a future Archmage, she has matured a lot from before.''

    Zick didn''t bother changing his expression, Seveleen couldn''t see it anyway.

    Instead, he spoke with a serious voice: "Miss Seveleen, I have the cure for Revelner disease with me. I guess now, you can look for your sister without me."

    Zick''s voice was serious, but at the end, there were some suppressed emotions in his words.

    Zick walked beside Seveleen who stood beside the basin.

    "You found the cure...?" Seveleen''s voice sounded unbelieving no matter how one tried deciphering it.

    It was only natural, after all, the cure that was being researched by professional alchemists was actually in Zick''s hand.

    If someone else said these words, Seveleen wouldn''t have even considered it. Only because Zick, who had no reason or purpose in lying said it, she felt unsure.

    "Yeah, Miss Levienel helped me get it." Zick''s voice sounded mncholy right now.

    ''Wait...It couldn''t be...'' Seveleen got to know what Zick traded his eye in exchange for. It was for the cure, this put her mind in a restless state.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''He sacrificed his eye for me....? Why? We didn''t have any kind of rtionship before, so why is he....'' Unnatural suspicion rose within Seveleen like surging tides.

    But soon, all thought ceased within Seveleen''s mind. If her body was not paralyzed, her hand would have been tightly clenched and she would even be shaking from emotions.

    This was the second time Seveleen ever felt so moved in her life.

    Seveleen transmitted to Zick: "Why?"

    ''What why?'' Zick wanted to say reflexively but controlled himself. He could feel the sobbing feeling in Seveleen''s voice.

    He had actually moved Seveleen, the future archmage to the point of crying!

    Zick wasn''t intending to do such a thing, but thinking about it for a second he understood the misunderstanding Seveleen stumbled upon.

    It all contributed to his made-up story of sacrificing an eye! Such heroism!

    ''....Does She really think there is such a stupid person in the world?'' Zick could only shake his head at Seveleen''s mood internally.

    "Why? It''s because �� I just felt like doing it." Zick naturally averted the question skillfully.

    "Alright show me your hand," Zick spoke, ignoring Seveleen''s current state of mind.

    There was nothing more he could do about it. If Seveleen was just misunderstanding and getting attached to him by herself, Zick had no reason to reject.

    It was beneficial to him anyway.

    Taking out a syringe and vial, Zick started filling the syringe with the cure from the vial.

    Seeing Seveleen standing motionless, Zick held her right hand without consent. This would have been a very disrespectful act in the noble society.

    Holding a nobledy''s hand without her consent was enough to make other nobles send out punishment.

    But Seveleen didn''t say anything, she didn''t know what to say, what to think or what to do.

    What was she doing up till now?

    She hadpletely been taken care of by Zick, not even once did he ever ask anything in return. Neither did she try to repay him.

    And the worst part, Seveleen had not even once thought about how she would repay Zick. No, the thought of repaying him had not even crossed her mind.

    ''How...How did I be such a...disgusting person?'' Seveleen didn''t concentrate on her surroundings and only thought of her behavior.

    Zick had already inserted the syringe into Seveleen''s hand directly in the nerves. He wasn''t careful and just did it roughly, seveleen couldn''t feel anything so it didn''t matter.

    "Here, drink this." Zick took out a stamina potion but furrowed his brow seeing Seveleen still unresponsive.

    ''What is wrong with her now? Is she that much ashamed?'' Zick was puzzled.

    Seveleen, after all being affected by some unknown god, did never think of repaying Zick. Realizing her thought process had a huge impact on Seveleen.

    Opening the vial, Zick put it in Seveleen''s mouth lightly, seeing still no reaction he slowly started making her drink it.

    ''Hmm, She must have not realized ''cause she can''t feel anything.'' Zick concluded.

    Finishing the stamina potion, next Zick took out a healing potion and waited.

    The stamina potion could elerate the speed of the cure''s working by a lot.

    The ck regions on Seveleen''s body started shrinking which was visible to the naked eye. Her body which was paralyzed started regaining control and her senses started recovering.

    Feeling that the revelner Disease in Seveleen''s body was destroyed, Zick fed the healing potion to her immediately.

    This time Seveleen reacted, her eyes erged slightly. The familiar sense of touch returned.

    Seeing Zick who still had a nonchnt look as always, Seveleen wanted to bite her lips.

    Zick retracted his hand, he was surprised internally too. Seveleen was not offended by his action of feeding her like that at all.

    "From now on, You are no longer affected by the revelner disease, miss Seveleen," Zick said with a in look.

    Seveleen felt neither happy nor relieved hearing Zick''s words. She had been so distracted and hopeless, thinking she was going to die, she had seldom considered what she would do if she survived.

    Now that she considered it, Seveleen was left unwilling. To look for her sister, she would have to separate from Zick. She had consciences unlike a certain someone, there was no way she could ask Zick''s help.

    "Sad of parting?" Zick asked as he walked near Seveleen.

    "Yes...Truthfully, I never thought I would be able to live...." Seveleen tried her best to control her expression.

    Seveleen shook her head slightly, she smiled self-deprecatingly: "I know that this sounds very weird, can please answer me truthfully?"

    "Sure." Zick''s answer was immediate.

    "What kind of person do I strike you as?" Seveleen''s eyes fidgeted around restlessly.

    Zick pursed his lips slightly looking thoughtful.

    In the end, Zick spat out whatever didn''t make her keep her distance from him: "The fact that you wanted to look for your sister even though you were nearing death, so I think you''re a kind person, miss Seveleen."

    Zick thought internally: ''Herees the emotional part.''

 Chapter 171 Done With Seveleens Recruitment

    Looking at Zick''s earnest expression, Sevleen pursed her lips this time. She had regained most of her control over the body by now.

    Not moving her body for dozens of days, Sevleen felt her whole body sore and stiff. Her blurry vision regained rity as time passed by.

    "That is not what...I am trying to ask...What I want to know is..." Seveleen''s eyes squinted, she didn''t know how to express her question.

    After struggling internally for a while, Seveleen decided toe clear. But before she could say anything, Zick''s voice reached her ears.

    "I know what you want to say." Zick cut to the chase.

    Zick was not willing to go on a drama session when not necessary. He knew what needed to be done.

    That was to not console Seveleen.

    To cope with the disappointment, she felt in herself, Seveleen was going to confess about her prior mindset. This was a reflexive action done by her with not much thought behind it.

    ''The more she feels guilty, the better. This way, she would not be able to leave my side easily.''

    ''With her unstable mind, Seveleen will ept almost anything I say right at the moment.''

    Zick gazed directly at Seveleen''s eyes, her eyes were filled with confusion and they trembled slightlying in contact with Zick''s eyes.

    ''Why is everyone so timid these days?'' Zick thought, seeing Seveleen''s behavior.

    First, Zick smiled slightly to ease Seveleen''s mind and spoke: "You want to look for your sister, right? so, you must be feeling guilty about leaving without being able to repay me."

    Zick spoke in an understanding tone, his voice made Seveleen gain a little of her calmness back.

    Zick continued speaking: "Truthfully, I would have liked to help but...After the churches found out about my coboration with Levienel, they announced me as a heretic." He smiled wryly saying this.

    "All the churches are dispatching their priest to take me down right now. If they find out about your rtionship with me, You will surely face problems too."

    Zick''s expression became resolute: "I advise you to keep your distance from me and Leave quickly. I am sure this ce will be found soon too. The fog won''t be able to hold them back for long."

    Silence descended upon both of them.

    ''He-he offended the churches? For coborating with Levienel...'' Seveleen knew the power held by the churches, it was quite terrifying.

    A realization urred to Seveleen: '' He had coborated with her to find the cure....which means this is happening because of me?''

    And the worst part was that: ''He is telling me to go away....''

    Seveleen''s nk expression turned fierce at once, she stomped her foot on the floor, staring at Zick with a sharp look in her eyes.

    "Why do you...what do you always think of someone else before yourself?!!" Seveleen couldn''t take it anymore, she spoke loudly, no, she screamed at Zick for the first time.

    Seveleen''s white-tinum hair fluttered as the mana in her control became unstable.

    "You want me to leave?! No, I am staying behind! I will...I will not go away Till thest moment." Seveleen chose Zick above her sister.

    This just went to show how much Zick had gotten nearer to Seveleen.

    Zick was satisfied with Seveleen''s decision too. His expression became solemn this time.

    "Miss Seveleen, the church...."

    "Stop it already." Seveleen ced her head on Zick''s chest with slumped shoulders.

    Zick looked at Seveleen with his eye flickering with shock. Seveleen had never shown such a weak side even to Aeiron, the protagonist.

    Seveleen''s blue eyes had a trace of tears in them, and before long, two streaks of tears fell down her cheeks. Seeing Zick not pushing her away, She was a little relieved internally. She didn''t want anyone to see her like that.

    ''In the end, Seveleen is just 15 to 16 years old at most, the cold archmage of the novel has still not appeared.''

    ''I really want to cultivate my mana, but doing so would be weird in this kind of atmosphere.'' Even Zick had an ounce of consciousness it seemed.

    Thus, Zick started thinking of something else.

    ''Seveleen is attached to me now too. Though it hasn''t reached the level of love, she is quite dependent on me now. With this level of trust, there should be no problem even if something tries to influence her thought.''

    Gaining such a pawn, Zick was happy and looking forward to the future.

    .....

    In the garden, Varine listened to the cat''s exnation of the assassin''s mana seriously.

    She had learned quite a few things, both about the assassin profession and the cat.

    The moment Zick was out of the site, this ck cat wouldn''t even let anyone touch it. Even right now, Varine stood a meter away from the cat who sat on the fountain.

    ''And this cat''s rtionship with sir Zick seems to be close too.'' With this thought, Varine was not able to concentrate on the lesson properly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I wanted to ask something...." Varine spoke not being able to control her curiosity.

    "What is it?" The cat askedzily.

    "Have you known Sir Zick for a long time?"

    The cat wondered for a second and answered: "You can say we know each other from a long time ago. I first met him when he was still eight years old. He is as mysterious as ever."

    The cat felt Zick to be very mysterious, even how he knew of this pce was unknown.

    Varine had a calm look, but internally she was still very curious.

    "How was sir Zick back then?"

    "Hmm? He was as rational as he is right now, he is just more stablepared to back then." The cat answered while looking at the garden.

    Varine was confused: more stablepared to before?

    The cat on the other hand had a peculiar expression on its face.

    ''Just how in the world did that human find such a talented person like this?'' Even the cat felt talent oozing from Varine.

    Varine had a natural talent to understand the assassin profession. The more it taught her, the more it understood the monstrosity of her talent.

    "...Alright, let''s continue where we left off. The mana fluctuation must be perfectly hidden below the skin and...."

    ...

    After a few minutes, Seveleen took a step back and gained her bearings. She had a sense of shame deep within thinking about what she did just now. But her face was calm as she looked at Zick.

    "I don''t care what you say, I will not leave your side till the end. I am not doing this to repay you, it''s because I want to do this." Seveleen spoke calmly with a smile. She had sorted out most of her inner conflict by now.

    Zick held his head with a hand, looking to be deep in thought. In the end, he sighed lightly and nodded his head.

    "Okay." Hearing this Seveleen was overjoyed.

    "But, It will be quite tragic if you were not able to look for your sister because of me. Hence...I will help you find your sister." Zick smiled at Seveleen.

    Seveleen wanted to say something, but Zick was faster than her: "I am also doing this because I want to do it, not because I feel bad for you."

    Seveleen closed her mouth, a smile forming on her beutiful face the next moment: " Alright, I will gratefully ept your help, Misster Zick."

    "I am grateful too, Miss Seveleen."

    The air around them was harmonious at once.

    ''Seveleen had be a permanent member now. Next, it should be the biological golem.'' Zick''s eye flickered with a thoughtful light.

    "See youter then. I have to visit a ce quickly." Zick bid her well and moved to Levienel.

    Zick was originally nning on heading to the biological golemb at night. But the production of the cure was done earlier than he thought.

    In the novel, it took more than a day to create this cure. Even with an expensive alchemy set, Zick was not optimistic in the beginning. But its advantage was clearly exhibited at the moment.

    ''Keeping Levienel in a single ce would just strengthen her curse, so it''s a win-win situation for both of us while implementing the n to spread the revelner disease too.'' Zick thought as he walked.

    Zick soon found Levienel on the hall''s couch. Feeling Aeiron still unconscious, Zick and Levienel departed towards the Leweisert kingdom to pick up the key to control theb.

    Zick was nning on taking over theb and making it his second secret base. This base would only be known by Levienel so the chances of it being exposed were low.

    .....

    The old alchemy tower was something that went down in history. It was infamous for the deed which wasmitted within it.

    Right at the moment, the ce where the alchemy tower stood in the past was nothing but ruins.

    The area around the old alchemy tower was emptied by the other alchemy tower, in name of investigating and the risk of a dangerous artifact. But in truth, the alchemy towers were just trying to get whatever remained in thisb, they would send out an expedition team specific period.

    Even till now, no one was able to fully explore this alchemy tower. The whole ce was filled with traps and unknown dangers that could kill even a master swordsman if not careful enough.

    The risk was high, but the gain was tempting too. There were chances of gaining certain research records of the old alchemists.

    These researches were abandoned as at that time when the people of this alchemist tower were escaping they didn''t have any chance to take it with them.

    At this moment, above the ruins, A golden streak stopped and revealed Zick and Levienel within it.

    Zick gazed at the ruin deeply.

    As for the expedition group within the old alchemy tower right at the moment, they were unaware of the danger that was going to befall them.

 Chapter 172 Someone Came Here Before Me?

    The wind picked up Zick''s elegant ck hair, revealing his deep red eye and the patch on the other eye.

    All kinds of architecture were sprawled on the ground, crumbling away by the erosion of time. Green moss was all over the crumbled pieces of architecture remaining.

    There were many nts around the ce.

    There were also puddles of water in some ces showing it had rained a while ago.

    ? Levienel was the first to speak: "There are five people underground."

    "Hmm? That so?" Zick didn''t care much about these five people.

    He looked at the middle of this ruin, where thest remaining of the old alchemist tower stood.

    A worn-out tower that didn''t even reach a three-story high building stood there. But It had a huge base, almost covering three hundred meters of area.

    The above part of this tower was blown up and nothing was left in there.

    A huge magic instrument to sense intruders was hidden in one of the fallen architecture. There were many such devices spread around this tower.

    Levienel waved her hand lightly, casting unknown magic upon Zick and herself. This spell hid their existence from these devices perfectly.

    They were basically nonexistent to it.

    ''The device to control the biological golemb is my main aim this time. But I am not willing to let go of such an opportunity to get more benefits from this ce.'' Zick thought while moving towards the tower.

    There was also the possibility of finding research that might help him, so Zick was fully willing to put some of his time into plundering this ce.

    Zicknded before the tower slowly, the entrance was wide open. The interior was all messed up which was visible to Zick even without entering.

    With no change in expression, Zick walked into the tower.

    A deste atmosphere was present within the hall, there were many cracks all over the ce.

    The huge hall in front of Zick looked very empty, only a desk was present in a corner of this hall. Even this desk was on the verge of breaking.

    There also remained many pieces of the things which existed here.

    ''There is a secret passage on the right side of the wall but that is not my goal.'' Zick looked at the desk intently. He walked in front of it with no hesitation.

    Levienel followed behind with a deadpan look as ever. She was like a puppet that did whatever Zick ordered. She was not interested in whatever he wanted either.

    The thought that she could die once the demon lord died, put her mind in a sense of sce. It didn''t matter what she had to do, as long as she could die, even killing every living being was not impossible.

    CREAK~! CRACK!

    Zick directly pulled out the knob of the drawer. Removing the leftover wood on the knob, Zick looked at it seriously.

    A pattern was drawn on the back of the knob, it was in the shape of a ''Z'' with its corner curved inwards. There was no mana in this knob and it looked exceedingly ordinary.

    Zick threw the knob away after looking at the pattern once and memorizing it. He walked before the wall and started drawing the same pattern on the wall using the mana around him.

    The process of creating it was simr to when creating a teleportation circle, Thus, Zick finished it in a few seconds.

    The moment the pattern was drawn on the wall, a change urred. Millions of letters started spreading from the ''Z'' pattern and illuminated the whole room.

    These letters of unknown origin traveled through the wall and started gathering in the middle of the floor rapidly. The whole process was mesmerizing, Even Zick marveled at the sight.

    Zick admired not holding back: '' Even after many years, this tower''s mechanism is working just fine, the person who made it must be a genius!''

    After a second, in the middle of the floor, a mana circle appeared shining dazzlingly. Zick knew that it would vanish within a minute so he didn''t waste time and entered it along with Levienel.

    This teleportation circle was different from the normal one. It was not possible to modify it, using this magic circle only a single set ce could be visited.

    This method was of course derived from the novel. It was found when Aeiron and Leona, who was another harem member, explored itter to find some benefits.

    ''The other path has many devices to stop intruders and using this method is also the best option. This magic circle will directly take me to the room which contains the device to control the biological golemb.'' Zick''s vision turned blue instantly.

    The next time Zick opened his eyes, he found himself in a messy room, looking at it, Zick''s brow furrowed.

    ''Someone came here before me?'' Zick''s eyes narrowed immediately. Killing intent rose like water flowing from a broken dam.

    ''Someone has without a doubt already explored this ce. They must have taken the device along with them. But...such a thing never happened in the novel, damn....'' Zick''s mind raced at a rapid speed.

    Instantly the reason behind this happening dawned upon him.

    ''It must be the ''gods''.'' Zick had an annoyed face the moment he thought of this.

    But instantly he calmed himself, Zick looked around the room more carefully. The drawer was opened and all the documents within it were already taken away.

    But immediately, Zick''s eye shone with joy. From the amount of dust umted at the ces touched by these ''thieves'', it was apparent that not even a day had passed.

    Which meant that they were still in the undergroundb facility.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick sighed in relief, deducing this far. He also confirmed one of his spections.

    ''The gods can''t affect the world to arge extent directly. Even their range of information about what is going on in the world is shallow.'' Zick''s eyes shone in understanding.

    The god''s appeared a lot more restricted than Zick thought.

    ''The only way they can influence and see the world is through the people they have blessed. This means, there might be someone with God''s blessing among these five people.'' thinking for a second, Zick shook his head.

    It didn''t necessarily mean that the blessed person should be with these five people. He or she could have influenced things while hiding after all.

    "The thing I was looking for seems to have been taken by the five people you mentioned before, Miss Levienel." Zick smiled at Levienel.

    It wasn''t necessary to act before Levienel but Zick did it as a way to train himself and to take precautions of letting emotion influence his action.

    "Can you take me to them?"

    Levienel nodded her head almost immediately. A golden light covered both of them instantly as they zoomed off to the ceiling at once.

    The protective magic and devices which tried to stop them couldn''t even hold onto a second before they broke. They climbed up the floor like a rocket, they were unstoppable.

    ''Haha, She really likes to destroy her way through, doesn''t she?'' Zick chuckled internally.

    Within 20 seconds they reached the same floor that the five alchemists were exploring.

    The golden glow didn''t vanish, instead, both of their figures dashed toward the five people''s direction, not slowing down at all.

    Traps appeared but they were destroyed like some toys. The mana-disturbing devices appeared but they did not affect Levienel.

    Magic circles which appeared for ambushing were destroyed before they even activated.

    The golem in the shape of a spider, snake, wolf, and human was also destroyed within seconds.

    Zick and Levienel reached their target within half a minute.

    ....

    The five people who were from the Leitrester alchemy tower had terrified looks on their faces. They could hear the sound of something breaking and the sound was nearing them.

    Such an abnormal activity meant that something bad was going to happen. They knew that the underground research facility was unpredictable.

    There was once an exploring group that was totally annihteding across something dangerous.

    The four alchemy towers had agreed to explore the old alchemy tower in turns and right now, it was the Leitrester alchemy tower''s chance. Which was located in the Leweisert kingdom.

    Leona was the first one to understand what was happening.

    Something was bulldozing its way toward them!

    It was so absurd that her mouth was agape from shock.

    We''re the trap nonexistent to this thing?

    How can it be so fast?

    And why the hell is it heading towards them?!

    Levienel wanted to scream but at that moment with a loud bam, the wall before them broke and two golden figures appeared.

    The girl with blonde hair stood before Leona trying to protect her from this unknown enemy.

    It was Anastasia! And her expression stiffened looking at the golden glow. She had her special eyes, so she knew that this enemy was on a different level altogether.

    It was impossible to defeat them, Anastasia reached such a conclusion and was filled with despair.

    "You! What do you think you''re doing?! By moving so recklessly many of those precious research must have been damaged!" Leona screamed angrily.

    The moment Leona understood the other party was human, she regained her calm and was instead enraged thinking about the research.

    It was natural for Leona to think and move as such. There were not many people who could mess with the alchemy tower and especially no one would dare harm her. After all, she was the daughter of the Leitrester alchemy tower master.

    Anastasia felt cold sweat forming on her back as she heard Leona.

    She immediately had a pale visage as she looked forward.

    The dust slowly dispersed and exposed Zick who looked at them with interest. His killing intent subsided as he thought about whether to kill this person or not.

    ''I will lose an important asset if I kill these two people so I can let them go for now. They will be useful to me in the future.'' Zick considers quickly.

    ''But If they don''t hand over the device I can only force them.'' A sharp light passed by Zick''s eye.

    Zick smiled harmlessly: "Let''s trade."

 Chapter 173 Apex Grade Mana Crystal

    Leona was having a mood swing right at the moment, she was furious at Zick but suddenly he proposed to trade leaving herpletely dumbfounded.

    Leona had two tempting red eyes, which right at the moment were filled with bewilderment. Her waist was slim and she wore a brown hunting dress along with a white robe. Her golden hair was left free, cascading behind her.

    Leona wore two deep blue gloves reaching above her elbow. She looked to be 16 years old with a strong disposition.

    ''Trade?'' Leona was left speechless for a while, thinking quickly.

    This person, who she had never met in her life appeared out of nowhere and was proposing a trade. Of course, Leona wanted to reject him.

    ''No, in the first ce, these two appeared in the underground research facility, so that must mean they are criminals and must be captured.'' Leona thought quickly and rationally.

    Zick and Levienel appeared here, a ce that was restricted by the four alchemy towers so it was of course a crime. A breach of territory.

    But for some reason, she had a bad feeling in her heart.

    Thinking about how Zick and Levienel broke through the trap and appeared here like it was nothing, Leona was hesitant.

    "Leona, Let''s trade with him," Anastasia spoke with shock and apprehension visible on her face. She was shocked toe across Zick in such a ce.

    Seeing her friend say such a thing, Leona considered it with a difficult look. She was raised as an alchemist from a young age, she knew to think rationally when the need be.

    ''Anastasia is right, we should just trade with this person. Though they are criminals and have to be apprehended, it doesn''t necessarily mean we must do it.'' Leona''s expression turned calm.

    She was the daughter of an alchemy master, but that didn''t mean the enemy couldn''t harm her. They could just abduct her and ask the alchemy tower forpensation to redeem her.

    Leona felt embarrassed thinking about how she scolded Zick before. She had really lost her cool at that moment.

    Fortunately, Zick didn''t care one bit. If scolding and cursing could kill people, he would have probably been the person who cursed the most in the world.

    Leona nodded her head towards Anastasia who looked at her with a worried look.

    just that: '' Even if they captured me, they would unfortunately not benefit. Father will....probably just abandon me.'' Leona smiled sadly thinking about this.

    Leona shook her head lightly dispelling this thought.

    Turning towards Zick, Leona spoke calmly: "What do you want?"

    Zick smiled happily upon hearing this: "I knew that you wouldn''t make the wrong decision. As for what I want...."

    Zick''s expression became serious: "It''s the round-shaped device that you picked up from the room a few floors below."

    Silence descended upon them instantly. Leona''s expression mildly changed, she had a struggling look.

    She was unwilling to part with that round device. It was even considered her main gain this time around.

    Though its function and use were unknown, just the material used, and theplicated work on it showed that it was something important.

    Leona spoke unwillingly: "What will you give me in exchange for it?"

    "Mana Crystals." Zick was totally loaded with mana crystal after looting one of the main bases of the Everlor organisation. He even had a chunk of apex-grade mana crystal, which was the highest-grade mana crystal existing in the world.

    And there was also the Lectic mountain range that he could explore in the future. So he didn''t care about this puny mana crystal.

    Hearing mana crystalsing out of Zick''s mouth, Leona was a little tempted.

    "Which grade and how many," Leona asked immediately.

    "Aplete peak-grade mana crystal," Zick said with a serious look.

    Leona''s expression changed to surprise this time. Zick was actually offering a whole peak-grade mana crystal, this was only used by the most influential and rich alchemist.

    Just using one such mana crystal, tens of golems with quasi-master strength can be made.

    Leona was not aware that Zick had six such mana crystals in his space ring.

    Zick wanted to keep a good rtionship with Leona thus he didn''t sting in giving up this mana crystal.

    People must know to sacrifice smaller things for the bigger picture. This concept was grasped by Zick thus he wasn''t bothered by giving up this mana crystal.

    "Let''s make a deal," Leona spoke with no hesitation. She had never imagined she could gain a peak-grade mana crystal from here.

    Though the device was intriguing and surely important, its use was unknown. For this reason, Leona''s heart was inclined toward trading with Zick.

    Not saying anything, Zick took out a mana crystal from his space ring. Immediately, a meter-long crystal appeared on Zick''s palm. This crystal gave out dazzling light as if trying to blind everyone and it was transparent like ss, in the middle of this crystal blue mana was densely packed.

    This mana was so densely packed that it gave out an inexplicable sensation to anyone who saw it.

    Looking at it, Leona was sure that it was a real peak-grade mana crystal. This sensation had left a deep impression on her in the past.

    A round object appeared above Leona''s palm too. This object looked roughly half a palm in size and had a thick needle protruding from it. Thin Blue lines were flowing on the needle flickering mysteriously.

    The air around the passage became tense, Zick was the first to move towards Leona calmly.

    Leona took a step forward and handed the device to Zick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Looking at the device with a content look, Zick put it into his space ring and put the mana crystal on Leona''s hand very softly. She too put the mana crystal within her space ring immediately.

    Zick stretched his hand forward for a handshake: "It was a pleasure trading with you."

    Leona looked at Zick''s outstretched hand nkly, before hesitantly extending her hand.

    "Ah, Sorry I forgot that you had a problem with your hand." Apologizing with a sincere smile, Zick withdrew his hand.

    Leona''s palm was eight times more sensitive than that of a normal human being, so even the sense of pain was amplified. Just by touching things lightly, the pain would travel like electricity in her hand.

    Because of this, she wore gloves to lessen the pain.

    "....Thank you for your consideration," Leona spoke with a little gloominess shing in her eyes.

    Leona''s hand had be like such because of her father, who experimented on her.

    Zick turned to Anastasia next: "It''s been a while, miss Anastasia."

    Seeing Zick speak to Anastasia Leona was surprised. She looked at Anastasia who didn''t seem to be fazed.

    "Yes, it''s been a while mister Zick." Anastasia of course had a good impression of Zick. He had let her travel with him to the Academic city with nopensation asked. She had no idea about the deal made between Zick and Anelete.

    Leona couldn''t control her curiosity, ending up asking a question: "Do you know each other?"

    "Just an acquaintance from a long time ago," Anastasia answered Leona.

    The other three people who seem to be alchemists 25 to 30 years old, heard them speak quietly.

    "Well, I have to get going." Zick bid well to both of them.

    ''I wonder what kind of expression they will have after finding out that I am a heretic.'' Zick couldn''t help but think this while snickering internally.

    ''Should I explore and loot this ce right now or not?'' Zick''s eye flickered with light.

    If Zick tried exploring the ce right now with Levienel, many things would be destroyed without a doubt. This could cause a cave-in to the upper floors where Leona is.

    ''I shoulde to explore this ce after acquiring the biological golem. It must have all the locations of the research in its database.'' Zick decided after considering it for a second.

    "Let''s get out of the underground," Zick spoke to Levienel.

    Without a word, a golden light covered both of their figures again.

    Bam, they shot to the ceiling and started rising rockets.

    "That guy....!!" Looking at Zick again going on a stage of bulldozing his way, Leona was left furious.

    She wasmenting thinking about the things that might be destroyed by him.

    Leona turned to Anastasia with a thoughtful look and spoke in a small voice so that the other three couldn''t hear her: "If he is your acquaintance then he must be from the same continent as you."

    "Yes, He once helped me," Anastasia answered truthfully. She had be a friend of Leona after helping her once. They had gotten quite close after sticking around each other.

    The fact that Anastasia was from the middle continent was only known by Leona and she has been keeping it a secret till now.

    The group of five people started walking to the other side of the passage. Along the way, unfortunately, the other three alchemists died falling into a trap.

    In the end, only Anastasia and Leona survived and got out of there.

    ....

    A golden streak moved toward the southeast of the Eastern continent at a terrifying speed.

    Theb was located in the furthest of the southeast, near the Elf kingdom.

    Normally it would take around a few months to reach there from the Leweisert kingdom, but with Levienel''s speed, it was only a matter of minutes before they reached their destination.

    ''With the device in my hand, theb would belong to me and I can do any kind of questionable thing there with no worry.'' Zick thought of this before gloominess took over.

    The God or whoever it is had predicted Zick''s next aim and tried to get in his way.

    This also meant that theb, which would be his secret base, was exposed.

    A fierce light flickered in Zick''s eye: ''Hmph, let it send how many priests it wants, I will make it their death ce.''

    There was a reason Zick was confident in taking care of the priest. Once he gets the biological golem in his hand, he could mass produce the golem using the blueprint stored in its database!

    These golems were all very special having the power matching master rank. The only disadvantage was they were specialized in a certain path.

    And an immense amount of material would be needed to make them. Zick did not worry as he already had tons of material and he was nning on looting the other main bases of the Everlor organization in the future.

    ''I can even try creating a second biological golem in the time of war...'' Zick started daydreaming thinking of this.

    He didn''t know the method to make the biological golem so he was uncertain of the level of difficulty to make it.

 Chapter 174 Genie R-38

    ''And the ''god'' also does not know my whereabouts perfectly. It must have not foreseen me getting there just in time and obtaining the device.'' Zick coldly thoughts.

    The beings known as gads have been tantly exposing their hostility towards Zick for a while now.

    ''It might be because I am not from this world, but other possibilities cannot be discarded.'' While Zick was lost in thought, he and Levienel had already arrived at their destination.

    And filled with boulders appeared before them. The wholend was barren as far as Zick could see, mounts rose from the ground in many ces.

    This ce was the southeast border of the eastern continent, known as the great feret desert. It was not known as a desert in the past, a forest and few cities existed here. But suddenly, the soil lost its fertility, it almost became impossible to grow any crop in the area.

    The water became sparse and then vanished, almost like vaporizing in thin air.

    With such strange phenomena urring everywhere in this region, the people could only abandon this ce and relocate somewhere else.

    Thereafter, this ce was known as a cursednd by everyone on the continent.

    A deste breeze passed by Zick fluttering his hair and clothes. Sun had already started setting on the horizon slowly.

    ''Theb should be hidden here if I am not wrong.'' Zick turned Levienel to ask a question, but she beat him to it.

    "There is something underground." Levienel''s deadpan voice reached Zick.

    Zick nodded and looked below intently: "Miss Levienel, please."

    There was no need for Zick to spell out what Levienel needed to do. Both of their figures dashed off right to the ground at once.

    Bang! Sonic booms urred as the sound barrier broke spontaneously.

    BOOM!

    Like a drill, Zick and Levienel dug deeper into the ground. The loud sound of ground being torn apart was being made.

    Bam! Coming across something hard, Levienel''s advance stopped for a second, but the thing stopping their way couldn''t hold on for long.

    BANG!!

    Breaking through the wall, Zick and Levienelnded on a dusty white tform. Looking around, Zick found many chairs with skeletons sitting upon them.

    ''This must be section 2'' Zick remembered such a room from the novel.

    There was of course an entrance to enter theb, but Zick just found it too annoying to go. There were many traps in there and some of his time would be wasted for no reason.

    ''The next section must be the ce where the control center is located then.'' Zick tried remembering all the information about thisb from his memory.

    With the help of ''will'' Veins Zick could remember most things very easily.

    The research carried out in this hidden base was very ssified. Only the ones with high prospects were carried out in this ce and were even given special attention.

    Zick looked at the bones crushed by the debris below his feet. Dusting off the pieces of debris from his clothes using magic, he started walking forward.

    The room was fully white and fairlyrge, the end of the room was almost three hundred meters away from where Zick stood.

    The whole room was quiet, with nothing but white everywhere, themp on the ceiling glowed white, the dress worn by this skeleton was white, and even the chair was made of white substance.

    ''The technology of the past really surpasses the current technology. Even after so many years, themp is working just fine.'' This also gave rise to another question.

    ''How did the alchemy tower with such advanced means die in the end?'' Zick thought for a second and put it aside for now.

    The skeletons on the white chair were bound by chains, and there were many wing marks on the chairs, showing the agony they went through.

    Zick remembered a certain torture from his past life.

    ''If I am not wrong, it was called white torture. These people seem to have been subjugated by it.'' Zick gave a sidelong nce at one of the bones which had a small stature.

    ''Did the research carried in here need to pressure its subject physiologically in some way?'' Zick spected for a second before heading towards the exit in the distance.

    Levienel followed behind him quietly, the air in the white room was tense which might give a suffocating feeling to others, but the both of them were not affected in the least.

    Arriving before the steel door, Zick could see a card swiper on the side and there was also a monitor below it.

    A small fluctuation of mana was being released from it, showing that it was a magical device. The door itself also gave out a huge amount of mana. So Zick knew that he couldn''t break it in a short time.

    "Please break the door," Zick said, stepping aside.

    Levienel ced her hand upon the white steel door lightly, a golden hue traveled from her delicate-looking hand to the door.

    BOOM!

    The door was directly blown to smithereens.

    BEEP!! BEEP!!

    The siren started ringing at once, but no guard came. No one was alive in theb anymore.

    Zick squinted his eyes: ''I guess the ce has degraded a little after all, the siren did not ring when we directly broke through theb before.''

    A long corridor appeared before Zick, there were many doors leading to the different researchbs. Ignoring them all, Zick looked at the ck door at the end of this corridor.

    There was also a long corridor behind Zick.

    This corridor was made of steel and there were railings in the corner. Many yellowmps illuminated the ce around him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Let''s directly break through that door," Zick spoke to Levienel with a smile.

    Originally, he had to ess this door from four different ces located at the left wing and right wing of section 2 to open it. But now, with Levienel, there was no need for it.

    Directly, Zick and Levienel''s figure elerated forward covered in a golden light. The ck door at the end of the corridor appeared before Zick in a blink of an eye.

    A red magic circle manifested above the door blocking Zick and Levienel. But it broke apart in three seconds.

    Bam! mming into the door, they entered the control center sessfully.

    The dust settled and the beeping noise increased frantically.

    CLANK~ Sound of some security function activation rang out.

    Zick instantly ran towards the control monitors which were huge and spread to the corner of the wide room. The device to ess the control board appeared in his hand.

    Zick started scanning the board with many switches looking for the ce to insert the device in his hand.

    BANG!

    A bullet strengthened with pration magic sharply flew towards Zick. Just when it was a meter away from him, a golden barrier stopped it.

    Levienel had stopped it at the right moment.

    Many gun-shaped objects protruded from the wall.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Bullets started flying toward Zick and Levienek but it was useless due to the unbreakable gold barrier.

    Magic circles appeared on the ground and chains extended toward them to bind them. But they were ineffective against the barrier too.

    Zick continued looking for the insert port on therge board.

    The knowledge of the novel was useless as Leona was the one to search for the insert port and Aeiron had defended her at that moment. The particrs were thus not answered.

    BEEP~

    Suddenly the monitor gave out a beeping sound and activated. The image of something loading appeared on the screen.

    After a second all of them turned red with an unknown word written on them.

    A transparent blue figure of a woman slowly materialized in the middle of the control room. It was the controlling Genie of the wholeb. The word AI fitted it more as it was just like software working ording to the immense data set by the alchemist here.

    A robotic voice left theb genie''s mouth: "Security protocol breached. The target thread level was deemed to type red,mencing self-destruction in one minute....."

    Suddenly, Theb genie froze and her transparent body flickered with new information.

    Zick turned to the genie leisurely, and the sound of the gun being shot also stopped.

    Zick had inserted the device into the control board and looked around calmly. He was not surprised by the appearance of the genie, it had also appeared in the novel.

    In reality, only around ten seconds had passed since they entered the control room. He looked at Genie closely.

    The genie had the image of a mature woman in her twenties and had a very lifelike look.

    Many transparent screens started appearing around Zick rapidly, and the system and genie started rebooting.

    The genie started speaking again: "System rebootpletely"

    "Lab authority transferring processplete."

    "The silver wing system sessfully activated."

    The genie courteously bowed her head: "Genie R-38 greets master."

    Luckily, theb Genie spoke in thenguage of the eastern continent, so Zick could understand what it said.

    A smile spread across Zick''s face thinking about all the things in thisb. If he wanted, with all the knowledge and research results stored here, Zick could be the greatest alchemist existing.

    Zick''s prospects in the alchemy profession had skyrocketed at once.

    Zick didn''t even bother going through the information on the transparent screen around him, he spoke to the genie with no hesitation.

    "Take me to the experiment code-named �� bio golem construction!" Zick''s voice couldn''t hide the excitement in it.

    The biological golem would follow all his orders faithfully with no hesitation. This golem would never betray him, just this fact made Zick satisfied more than anything.

    ? Genie''s body flickered: " Searching experiment bio golem construction." It intoned in a metallic voice.

    DING! "Experiment bio golem, pinnacle level research. Located, Section 3, grade Z room."

    The genie extended its hand forward: "Preparing teleportation circle. Commence teleportation in ten seconds."

    A teleportation circle appeared below Zick and Levienel, it was almost instantaneous.

    The wholeb, wall, floor, or ceiling was made of an enchanted item or magical device. This allowed it to create a teleportation circle like this with the help of Genie.

    After all, they just had to store the data on how to create the teleportation in the genie database and she could create it easily by going through that data.

 Chapter 175 The Birth Of Biological Golem

    In truth, section 3 that Zick was in just a while ago was just a fakeb. It was to fool the people who came to invade it in the future.

    That was the reason, the genie without any hesitation prepared to self-destruct at once. The realb was named silver wing, it was hidden even deeper underground, and myriads of golems woulde to attack the people invading it instantly.

    Zick hade to section 3 to gain control of the whole silver wing system.

    In the novel, Aeiron discovered this fact after getting control of theb. The old alchemy tower was very cautious, they even prepared to give up so many of their research center in case someone strong broke into theb.

    It was a decisive move, this showed their fortitude regarding the research deep below the ground.

    Opening his eyes, Zick found himself in a dark room, the magic circle below his feet glowed dimly. With the sound of a machine activating, the light around the room glowed brightly.

    The whole room was in shambles, weird devices were spread all over the room. In the middle of the room, a huge round object was ced upright.

    Looking at the capsule in the middle, Zick couldn''t help but feel the excitement boiling deep within his heart.

    Zick waved his hand, lightly speaking: "Silver wing system, prepare to offer the tribute to experiment code-named �� bio golem construction!"

    At once transparent blue screens appeared around Zick and started executing hismand. He was already epted as the master of this ce by the system, so there was no big deal inmanding it. He had already put the round device back in his space ring, so there was no need to worry about someone snatching it too.

    At once the round device before Zick started changing with a loud noise. The round device opened in three sections with red gas leaking from it.

    The content within the round device entered Zick and Levienel''s sight. It was a huge capsule with a figure of the fetus flowing in the red liquid.

    This fetus was not like a normal human fetus. There was a red gem in the middle and it and a red line spread to every part of it.

    A tinge of frenzied mana was being leaked by the fetus. Seeing this, even Levienel was surprised.

    "An artificial life form?" She asked lightly.

    "Yes, an artificial life form or you can call it a living golem too," Zick spoke leisurely.

    "Please bring the ves that we left behind in that organization''s base." Zick looked at Levienel with a smile.

    Levienel started preparing the teleportation circle after hearing Zick''s instruction.

    Zick walked forward and looked at the round object that had now separated into three sections. It looked like flower petals, but a red magic circle was drawn on it, giving out frightening mana that made people''s hair stand on edge.

    The petal-like devices were also connected to the capsule in the middle.

    ''Let''s begin then....'' Zick took out three corpses from his space ring and ced it upon the red magic.

    A blinding red light was released by the magic circle as it started devouring the corpses. The corpses melted and assimted into the circle slowly, then it was sent to the capsule.

    Zick kept throwing in corpses on the four red magic circles in turn.

    He waited for the magic circle to absorb the corpse and then threw in the new batch. Like this, he kept doing the same process again and again.

    The fetus was growing rapidly which was visible to the naked eye. Legs and hands started growing at a normal pace. Slowly a head started growing from the top too.

    By then, Levienel had already brought all the ves that were left behind in the Everlor organization''s main base.

    Zick simply ordered Levienel to knock them unconscious and continued his act of throwing in the corpse.

    The frenzied mana was growing rapidly too, red sparkles came out of the fetus which had already turned into a vague silhouette of a human. Red lines spread to every part of its body, throbbing with wild energy.

    The golem''s face started growing along with the private parts. The alchemist who created it of course wanted a perfect being, and so they gave the biological golem the ability to reproduce too.

    ''I ran out of corpses.....'' Zick turned towards the ves, there were around three hundred of them. They fitted in the room with no problem as it was quiterge.

    Zick ordered Levienel to put the corpse and started looking at the capsule intently. The biological body had already grown to its peak stage.

    Zick also realized another fact. The biological golem in the capsule body had grown to a sizeparable to a young woman at the age of her twenties. But in the novel, this golem had a very young-looking body.

    ''It must be because of the material used in making her. Aeiron had used monster bodies; thus, her body had not grown properly.'' Zick deduced easily.

    The hair grown on the head of this golem was fully white just like how it was in the novel. Only after the red gem on her head absorbed the blood of the person who imed her ownership, will the hair color change.

    For Aeiron, her hair had turned blue, so Zick was looking forward to the color her hair will change after he ims its ownership.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Hmm...." a frown appeared upon Zick''s face.

    Even after sacrificing all the ves, the biological golem did not seem to bepleted.

    In the novel, around 2,000 monster bodies were enough for her to be born but while using the human body, the need seems to have increased exponentially.

    Zick decisively ordered Levienel with a serious expression: "Kill all the people in the nearby viges and store it in this space ring."

    Zick tossed a ring at Levienel.

    "An, also don''t hurt the elf viges, I only need humans, bring around 10,000 of them and please wear a mask or something while you kill them," Zick said a number with a smile.

    Zick wanted to try out something, he wanted to see what would happen when he fed the biological golem more than its requirement.

    ''Will it be stronger? Or will it gain some new ability?" Zick looked forward to it.

    Levienel left theb almost immediately, she was interested in the result of this experiment too.

    With nothing to do, Zick looked at the blue transparent screen floating around him. Not understanding a thing, he could only ask the genie who was motionless standing behind him.

    "How many materials are avable in the silver wing system''s storage?" Zick waited for its reply patiently.

    After flickering for a few seconds, The genie answered robotically: "Scanningplete, no material avable."

    Hearing the same dialogue as in the novel, Zick revealed a disappointed look. As it seems, a few alchemists had looted the storage clean before making a run for it at thest moment. Well, they were killed in the end so it was unknown where all the material went.

    ''It can''t be helped, I can only collect material, no, I can just loot them from the Everlor organization''s main base.'' Zick thought before asking another question to the genie.

    "Tell me the details of all the body tempering experiments performed in thisb."

    The genie''s transparent body started flickering again before it replied: "Approximately 346 experiments were performed to strengthen the body. Starting to exin the details..."

    Zick cut in: "Tell me about the ones which were sessful."

    "27 experiments deemed to have seeded. Starting the exnation...."

    "Experiment number 48, tendon transformation...."

    "Experiment number 82, brain cell mutation....."

    While hearing the specifics of the experience, time passed by quickly. Levienel appeared atst. She handed over the space ring back to Zick.

    Sending his consciousness into the space ring, Zick slightly nodded his head.

    "Haha, Miss Levienel, please save me if something happens." Zick vigntly ordered.

    Levienel nodded her head in agreement.

    Zick was a little worried that something might happen, after all, the biological golden did have the strength of a grandmaster.

    Zick started throwing the corpses into the red magic circle again. This time, he didn''t bother looking at the biological golem and just kept repeating the process again and again.

    In reality, Zick moved with leisure as the red magic circle took a while to absorb the corpses.

    After a while, Zick looked at the space ring, and all the corpses had been used. He next looked at the capsule with his eye flickering in bright light.

    Within the capsule, bubbles rose rapidly and the biological golem had already fully formed. The red lines upon its body had vanished, being covered in smooth-looking skin.

    The red gem on her forehead glowed in dim light, it had a charm of its own making people look at it with mesmerization.

    With no more corpses being thrown anymore, bubbles started forming rapidly covering the whole capsule, obscuring the biological golem within it.

    Instantly, the capsule''s ss broke apart and the biological golem fell to the floor.

    At that moment, the world''s first artificial living being was created.

 Chapter 176 Yuriel

    Originally, Zick had no intention of killing many people for no reason, he was not a genocidal person. He did all his actions after thinking of the profit coldly.

    Seeing that the body he had was not enough, he could onlye down to carry out a ughter to Levienel.

    Zick knew the general limit of the biological golem so he ordered a number of corpses ording to it.

    The biological golem was made with a certain limit in mind so that no mishaps were urring. This was set by the alchemists of the old alchemy tower.

    If there was no such limit, Zick would have of course gone on a massacre with no second thought. There was no need for further consideration. To Zick, his well-being and benefits were the most important, above everything else.

    Even the ten thousand corpses that Zick used didn''t have a high chance of strengthening the golem. Zick was just being optimistic a while ago.

    The biological golem had already absorbed millions of people, would sacrificing a measly ten thousand make any change?

    Seems unlikely. The biological golem only needed a push for the construction of its body and nothing more.

    Zick looked before him quietly.

    Red electricity coursed through the surrounding using the red liquid. After a few seconds, the electricity emitting a frenzied aura retracted back to the biological golem''s body.

    Seeing the golem''s body which was motionlessly fallen on the ground, Zick started walking towards it with no hesitation. The murky red liquid below his feet stuck to his shoes, giving a disgusting feeling.

    Zick almost felt he was stepping on wriggling flesh, his brow lifted as an interested look formed on his face.

    ''This red liquid feels like it is alive...the process of creating the biological is really mystical.'' Zick thought before continuing to move forward.

    With the sound of the red liquid sshing, slowly Zick arrived before the biological which had a nk expression. It was in a kneeling position with its head slumped to the side.

    The red gem on its head kept glowing mystically.

    The red gem was the means the alchemist created to make the biological golem hear their order. It did not make the golem follow them forcefully, instead, this gem would affect the mindset of the golem, making it loyal.

    But of course, if the biological golem tried to harm their master, the red gem would activate and stop them.

    This gem could not be removed, it was directly connected to the golem''s life. Once it''s destroyed, the golem would die too.

    ''I pretty much doubt anyone can destroy it. Only the demon lord could destroy it in the novel too.'' Zick thought before concentrating on the biological golem.

    The biological golem''s skin was light pale and looked healthy. Her whole body was finely shaped, looking perfect and her beutiful face wasparable to or even surpassing Levienel''s and Seveleen''s looks.

    The biological golem''s intimate parts were fully exposed to Zick, but it didn''t move him. Getting down on his knees, Zick held the biological golem''s face so that it would face him.

    ''I am interested in what kind of thing will be born if she is impregnated but it is impossible currently. Her genome doesn''t match a human''s genome so it is impossible for me or any other human to impregnate her. Only her species, Wertes, or another biological golem which is the same as her can do it.'' Zick thought at a rapid speed before lightly biting his thumb finger.

    A streak of blood slowly dripped down his pale finger, slowly Zick brought it above the red gem.

    Drops of blood fell on the red gem and were absorbed by it. Only after a few seconds when it had absorbed more than ten drops of Zick''s blood did a change ur.

    The red gem shone dimly and the biological golem''s nk eyes became alive. Her white hair started turning ck, it shone dazzlingly as if the universe was reflected in it.

    The biological golem''s bright red eyes reflected Zick''s figure. Now, no one would doubt Zick if he imed her as his rtive.

    "Test subject-1667 greets master." The biological golem performed a perfect greeting. Her voice was crisp and clear, even having a sense of attraction to it.

    A spark appeared deep within Zick''s eyes: "I guess her personality is the same. She acted as if she had no free will just like how she did in the novel.''

    The biological golem continued speaking with an expressionless face: "Database recoveryplete, please give me a name."

    ''Hey, there is a w in your speech.'' Zick wanted to say but decided against it.

    The biological golem had forgotten to address Zick as master. It was inexperienced so this kind of mistake was natural. The concept of honorifics must be foreign to it.

    Aeiron was tricked easily but such a thing didn''t go unnoticed by Zick. Just when he was Going to name it as a biological golem, his eyes narrowed slightly.

    This biological golem would be his first loyal subordinate so he decided to put some thought into its name.

    With his hand below the chin, Zick found thinking of a name to be an annoying process. Therefore, he just chose one of the random names from Earth.

    "Your name will be Yuriel from now on," Zick spoke with a very calm look.

    Yuriel was a simple name also known as the light of God.

    "Yuriel..." A dazed look appeared on Yuriel''s face.

    ''Hmm? She broke her facade by her own volition?'' Zick felt amused.

    "What? You don''t like it?" Zick asked nkly.

    Yuriel returned to her expressionless look and spoke: "Name has been saved, I look forward to working for you master."

    "Call me sir Zick from now on."

    Looking at Yuriel acting like this, Zick felt likeughing internally.

    ''It seems she is different from the novel after all. In the novel, she probably didn''t have a perfect mind or more specifically, emotions like a living being. But now that I have made her be born perfectly, her mind has also beparable to humans in terms of emotions.'' Zick first walked out of the murky red liquid.

    As for the speed at which Yuriel could deduce and analyze things, it was monstrous. it was almost like thousands ofputers were ced in her head.

    Yuriel followed behind Zick quietly.

    "How well do you think you can fight if your opponent was Miss Levienel?" Zick pointed at Levienel.

    Zick could not feel Yuriel''s existence at all so it was hard to say how strong it was.

    Yuriel''s red eyes started flickering rapidly at once while she looked at Levienel.

    ".....Winning chances are 53.34 percent, and Defending chances are 94.89 percent. The chances of a draw are 72 percent." Yuriel spoke in a mechanical voice.

    Zick''s eyes squinted a little, he knew that Yuriel''s calcting ability was immense. All of her analyses were correct in the novel.

    There was also a program in Yuriel that gave the final decision after calcting the opponent''s strength 20 to 30 percent higher.

    Thus, Zick spoke seriously: "Tell the probability of winning after removing the ''overrate'' program."

    Yuriel calcted rapidly and told Zick the result: "Chances of winning are 64 percent and the chances of defending 100 percent. Chances of a draw are 80 percent."

    "Ohh." Zick gasped lightly.

    Zick was pleasantly surprised and excited to hear this. He had another strong asset with him now, this made the chances of his survival skyrocket.

    ''I was thinking of breaking through master rank by myself, but stealing the potion which can increase my strength from the alchemist tower seems more appealing now.''

    What is there that might threaten him anymore? Leaving the demon lord, Levienel and Yuriel could defeat anyone on the continent.

    ''Only the dragon can pose a threat on the continent to me, if I harm any dragon all of them would gather and take revenge for sure.'' Even Zick didn''t know what might happen if dozens of dragons attacked him at once.

    After asking Yuriel a few questions, Zick was disappointed too. No new ability had been born along with her.

    Yuriel''s ability had of course received an immense boost, she even had a chance of defeating Levienel. But it didn''t reach the level Zick had thought of.

    Zick could only sigh and let this matter go.

    ''To break through into the grandmaster rank, I will have to eat one or two dragons.'' This was the only method Zick found to reach the grandmaster rank practically.

    There existed no other means that could increase Zick''s strength at once. Or at least there isn''t any right at the moment, leaving aside the doll gallery which was still mysterious.

    First, Zick let Yuriel connect to the silver wing system after returning to the control room.

    Next, he wanted to change thenguage on the screens but unfortunately, it was not possible. So he could only resort to learning thenguage used in the system interface.

    It was called Be����trul.

    Luckily Zick had enhanced his mind so he was confident he could learn it within two days. Zick Returned to Darton''s pce along with Yuriel and yes, she was wearing clothes.

    Zick introduced her to everyone else and even checked how Varine''s training wasing along. It seems like she was going to create mana nerves tonight.

    He was sure to instruct the wolfmen cubs to train too.

    Zick along with Yuriel returned to his room. He decided to calcte his gains and not rush anymore. He wanted to consolidate his current wealth, Yuriel had connected to the silver wing system she knew everything within theb so she had the total list of things in her head.

    ''I should not bother training in mana for now, I will rob a potion to reach master rank tomorrow so it is a waste of time.'' Zick thought while putting his concentration on the mage profession and learning the Be����trulnguage.

    He threw the work of calcting his death to Yuriel, she was good at that kind of work anyway.

    Zick had asked Levienel about the possibility of her winning against Yuriel and she said it to be bleak in a normal one-on-one match.

    Yes, normal. Levienel was practically immortal so it was impossible to look at her using normal means.

    If it''s killing then, that''s another matter altogether.

    If Yuriel and Levienel fought with the intent to kill, then it was apparent who would win.

    Zick trained and learned with all his focus. He was not sure, it had be an attitude for him to keep moving all the time.

    As the saying goes, only by cherishing every moment of life can a person live his life to the fullest, Zick continued working with no stop.

 Chapter 177 Breakthrough To High-Rank Mage

    Time quietly passed by with Zick concentrating on harmonizing his ''will'' into the mana.

    After the creation of ''will'' veins in his head, the process of interacting with the mana around him became easier. The difficulty had almost been halved in half, with such an advantage, Zick could feel that he would be a high-rank mage within tomorrow afternoon.

    ''Then, I will start moving after officially turning into a high-rank mage. My mind would be strengthened too so deducing and contemting would be easier than before.'' Zick calmly calcted with a closed eye.

    While on the other hand, Yuriel looked at Zick with a nk look. She had already calcted all his assets and wrote them down on a sheet of paper.

    As Zick had deduced a while ago, Yuriel was born with emotions just like any sentient being.

    Looking at Zick, Yuriel felt a sense of devotion rising deep within her. This feeling was foreign to her, but she knew what it meant.

    She wanted to protect Zick, the reason behind this was unknown but all Yuriel knew was that �� She needed to protect Zick!

    And follow all Zick''s orders faithfully!

    The red gem''s effect was clear from Yuriel''s current mindset. She was extremely loyal to Zick from the start.

    Zick opened his left eye and looked at Yuriel who stared at him unblinkingly. She was sitting on the couch, analyzing the thing Zick asked a while ago and thinking of him with devotion in her heart.

    "You can rx in front of me, you know?" Zick spoke with an equally deadpan look as Yuriel.

    Yuriel''s focus gathered upon Zick hearing him speak.

    Zick continued speaking: "You are acting like a normal golem so that I won''t hesitate tomand you with no hesitation, yeah? I appreciate it, but there is no need for it. I will not hesitate to order you if the need be."

    Zick knew all about Yuriel''s personality, so he went into an offensive mode instantly.

    ''Keeping a good rtionship with your subordinate is important after all. Even if by any chance Yuriel was able to break free from the chains that are binding her mind, she would not kill me in the future.''

    Zick had be so cautious that it had reached a very high level. Being ready for anything can be very helpful to him.

    Yuriel''s started speaking with a little hesitation: "....Sir Zick, What do you mean by rxing?"

    Now that Yuriel asked such a question that went against her prior robotic attitude, there was no turning back. It seems like Zick had seen through her so she could only speak in a normal way.

    "I am telling you to be a little more free, you don''t have to act like a machine the whole time. Do what you feel like doing." Zick said before closing his eyes.

    Silence descended upon the room once again. But after a few seconds, the sound of Yuriel moving could be heard.

    Yuriel had been interested in what the egg on the bed was for a while, so she moved toward it like a kid who was filled with curiosity.

    Zick warned lightly from the side: "Don''t damage it in any way."

    "Yes, sir Zick and....thank you." Yuriel''s voice wasn''t cold anymore.

    "No problem, you can ask me if you want anything," Zick spoke calmly.

    Yuriel nodded her head and continued scanning the dragon egg.

    ''With this, our rtionship had deepened by a level. Well, mostly it''s thanks to her current mindset, where she is loyal to me.'' Zick considered at normal speed.

    The red gem only affected Yuriel to feel loyal to Zick and nothing more. Her mind was still free mostly, he could gain her trust, respect, even her love, and many other things by himself.

    Time quickly passed by with Zick only exiting the room once to eat dinner. Though there was no need for it, he wanted to get close to others so he went on acting like a kind person again.

    Zick would randomly open the book he got to learn the Silver wing system''snguage too.

    In the morning the other day, Sweat formed on Zick''s forehead, and his brow was tightly furrowed as he concentrated with closed eyes.

    At this moment, Zick''s ''will'' was interacting with the surrounding mana at a rapid pace. His whole concentration was on the external world right now.

    Slowly the ''will'' in Zick''s head condensed by a level. This process went on for a few minutes before stopping.

    Zick breathed out sharply, rxing at once. He concentrated with everything he had at thest moment to speed up the process of a breakthrough so he felt quite exhausted mentally.

    Zick slightly clenched his fist: ''Now I am officially a high-rank mage. I can cast body-enhancing magic now. I can learn more new magic spells from Levienelter on.''

    Zick''s potential in the mage profession had increased after eating the eye of the dragon so this breakthrough was not that surprising of a matter.

    Yutiel from the side spoke with a not-so-cold look, she instead just had a calm face right now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Congrattions on bing a high-rank mage, Sir Zick."

    Zick epted the congrattion with a nod of his head: "Thank you. Let''s get going then."

    Zick had already spoken of his n for what he was going to do.

    "Yes," Yuriel answered loyally.

    Levienel had also already departed a long time ago, staying in a single ce was not possible for her after all. She was currently trying to search for the other dragon egg.

    Bad news had been delivered to Zick. The golden dragon egg was nowhere to be found. Levienel had even traveled extremely close to the annihtion fog but still not found it.

    This could only mean one thing, the gold dragon egg had been teleported to the other side of the annihtion fog, Zick didn''t know what to do.

    In the novel, a dragon bragged that he could cross the annihtion fog after flying higher into the sky, but Zick found out it was just boasting after getting to know more about the fog.

    ''Sigh! This is really a piece of bad news....but fortunately, the golden egg doesn''t seem like going to hatch anytime soon. For some reason it has not grown much from before, is there something suppressing its growth?'' Zick could only put aside this matter as he didn''t have enough information.

    First, Zick greeted the cat who was in the hall on the ground floor and handed over a bottle of wine to it.

    "Human, you are the best. As I thought, It was the right decision to follow you!" The cat started drinking the bottle of wine hastily.

    Zick turned to Varine next: "Congrattions on bing a Low-rank assassin." He had a small smile on his face while saying this.

    With a thoughtful look, Zick took out something from his space ring: "As a gift, you can take this, be sure to try your best from now."

    Zick handed a beutiful dagger that had an intriguing drawing on it. Strong mana was being released from it right at the moment.

    It was a park-grade weapon!

    Holding the dagger with a nk look, Varine snapped out of her stupor.

    "Thank you very much, Sir Zick." Varine wanted to say more, but she didn''t know what to say.

    "It''s no big deal. It was useless to me anyway."

    Zick ordered the cat to continue training Varine as he started moving toward the teleportation circle in the hall.

    Levienel had already paved the way for Zick to move towards the Jhesker alchemist tower. He had something that he needed to do there personally.

    And of course, Levienel had already collected a potion that can be used to increase potential from an alchemy tower.

    Zick had put it in his space ring, for now, he didn''t want to rush things and harm himself. He had also given the potion to Yuriel to check if there was any adverse effect in it.

    And the result proved it to be harmless to the body.

    ''I will breakthrough to the master rank after this trip I guess.'' Zick was looking forward to it.

    For now, Zick just let both his body and mind rx by not training in anything.

    For some unknown reason, Aeiron didn''t show any sign of waking up at all. From what Yuriel analyzed, he was in a state simr to aa.

    And the worst thing was that there was no way to bring him out of it. Hence, Aeiron had long since thrown out of Zick''s head.

    He even decided that if Aeiron doesn''t wake up in a week, he would just turn him into a demonic sword. With the sun god''s blessing, something interesting would happen without a doubt.

    Soon, the teleportation circle that Zick and Yuriel were standing on activated.

    ....

    The sky was fully clear with no sign of clouds visible. It was just blue as far as the eye could see, it gave out a sense of beauty of its own.

    Looking at this sky from the peak of the mountain, Heirser, a priest, had a sense of realization after reading the message in hismunication book which was sent by the bishop himself.

    "So that''s it, that exins everything. The Heretic named Hevish was hiding in such a ce." A devoted look appeared on Heirser''s face.

    Just a while ago, Another God''s revtion was made, this time the location of the secretb was exposed.

    It seems like the god had made another move against Zick.

 Chapter 178 A Passionate Time With Yuriel

    The priest, Heirser started heading towards the gathering point. The mission of wiping out the band of bandits in this mountain was alreadypleted.

    .....

    Opening his eyes, Zick saw the normal room around him. It was simple and consistent,ing with everything that would be needed.

    "No hostile target found. Environment check shows there to be no danger in approximately one kilometer." Yuriel intoned from beside Zick.

    "Hmm." Nodding his head, Zick took out a pocket watch from the space ring.

    The method of distinguishing time in this world is very simr to the past on earth.

    The surface of the pocket watch had fine workmanship, with twenty-eight small frames inside. Each frame represented an hour.

    It was unknown if the hour of this world was exactly the same as on earth. Zick had no interest in finding out so he didn''t care either.

    Right at that moment, the pocket watch showed that it was still nine in the morning.

    This pocket watch was picked by Zick in the secretb. He took almost all the devices that could assist him in any way.

    Only the golems were untouched by Zick, he left them in the secretb after changing their position. He knew that there was a high chance of the churches attacking that ce therefore, he left behind a gift for them.

    Leaving aside that, Zick couldn''t begin to create a golem yet. Someone needed to be present while making it to assist and many materials were also missing that he needed to collect.

    For now, Zick just ordered theb Genie to start mass-producing the cure. Such a task was easy to perform with the use of many golems and devices there.

    Right at the moment, Zick was in the Neokelt kingdom, which was located in the Northeast of the Eastern continent.

    Levienel had booked this room in an inn and continued to carry out Zick''s order.

    It was to spread the revelner Disease, Zick had decided to carry out this n after thinking it through.

    It was a very simple task, take anyone infected by Revelner disease and put him in the main water supply of the kingdom.

    No organization dared to do such a thing as it was a double-edged sword. Doing so could inflict harm to them too, more so when the cure was still unknown.

    The moment Zick got his hand upon Yuriel, he sent away Levienel naturally. He was suspicious of her from the very beginning. Even if she is just like what she has shown this far, he wanted to keep some distance from her until he grew strong enough.

    Yuriel was more trustable, she would not be able to harm him anyway too.

    ''I would rather keep my guard up even if I appeared paranoid.'' Zick firmly thought so.

    And Yuriel had the capabilityparable to or even surpassing that of an Archmage, so she could cast magic with no problem.

    There was no need to make Levienel tag along for no reason.

    cing the pocket watch within the space ring, Zick sat on the bed and took out a book to learn the Be����trulnguage.

    There was still time left before the thing he came for was in an appropriate condition.

    No one knew but, The Jhesker alchemist tower was conducting a hidden experiment. It was extreme research that went against the taboo of not conducting any experiments on humans.

    This research tried to create a golem of mass destruction by using the impure mana of the dark mage and Necromancer.

    For this purpose, the Jhesker alchemist tower made batches of people drink the worst of the worst drugs to increase mana and contaminate their mana in impurity.

    The pain these people went through could not be described. Once a person turns into a dark mage or a necromancer they keep feeling indescribable pain the whole time.

    This golem didn''t have any sentience, it was just a weapon that could be used for mass destruction. It had the power reaching just a step away from peak master rank.

    The Jhesker alchemist tower had already created three of them sessfully.

    ''They will deploy it in the war soon I guess and this research as I thought came from the old alchemy tower.'' Zick''s gaze flickered for a second.

    A copy of the same research was also stored in the database of the secretb. So it was apparent that someone from the Jhesker alchemist tower found it in the underground research facility of the old alchemy tower.

    Fortunately or unfortunately, they seem to have not found theplete result of this experiment.

    ''Haha, they are not aware of the w in this golem. Impure mana is very potent against the mind, the people controlling it or even the ones around it would lose their mind after using it for a while.'' Zick smiled disdainfully in his heart.

    The Jhesker alchemist tower didn''t have enough opportunities to collect data, which led to such a problem. In the end, heavy casualties urred in the final war against the demon race.

    Zick came here after thinking it through, he was going to expose this heinous crime to the world!

    He wanted the Jhesker alchemist tower to be destroyed. In truth, all he wanted is the resources for this alchemy tower.

    Afterparing both the golem he was nning on creating and this alchemy tower, to see which one would be more helpful in the final war. Zick found the golem more appealing.

    There was also another thing that Zick wanted to do here. It was to recruit another ''ally''.

    This ally was also another harem member. She was very special, she appeared in the final war arc which was thest second Arc of the Novel. Even then, she became a harem member very quickly. She had quite a fiery personality too.

    Her ability was also unique, she was able to perform dark magic and necromancy, which was not possible for any other being.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This harem member was currently in the Jhesker alchemist tower. With all that benefit in Zick''s mind, there was no hesitation in his action at all.

    The reason why he wanted to expose their deed was so that the people''s minds would shift to that, instead of looking at the culprit.

    They might even think that one of their test subjects did it.

    As for the reason Zick was waiting, it was so that the Jhesker alchemist tower would finish extracting the impure mana for today.

    ''This Harem member, Vuerin had spoken to Aeiron about the details of the experiment, she had also said that it would start at Eight every morning and end by either nine or ten.''

    ''In other words, she and the other people with impure mana must be going through immense torture right now. I will meet her at her weakest moment, this way the impact of saving her would increase.'' Zick thought while flipping the pages of the book.

    A content look passed by Zick''s face. After bing a high-rank mage, his learning ability skyrocketed. He was able to learn the Be����trulnguage at a very fast speed.

    An hour passed in a blink of an eye, closing the book, Zick ced it within the space ring.

    Standing up, Zick put on the ck mask and wore wristbands that he picked up from the secretb.

    These wristbands could enhance Zick''s physical ability temporarily by consuming mana. It had abilities that were simr to an enhanced item.

    Zick opened his dress with no hesitation. His well-built body was exposed to Yuriel at once who was looking at the streets from the window a while ago.

    Even the clothes of his lower body were ced into the space ring. He took out the suit he got from the secretb. A glistening blue aura was being emanated by it silently.

    This suit was the thing that Zick was the happiest about. This suit could defend against a quasi-grandmaster rank opponent''s attack with no problem.

    In return, this suit would consume the mana crystal ced in the inner pocket. This meant, as long as there was mana crystal, this suit could be activated indiscriminately.

    ''Hmm?'' Zick''s eyes narrowed with the suit in his hand. From the corner of his eye, he could see a light blush on Yuriel''s face.

    ''Ohh! She has a sexual drive too now? In the novel, her mind was reallycking in many ces it seems.'' Zick''s eyes squinted, and a brilliant light passed in them. A smile appeared on his face instantly.

    "Ohh, You don''t have any sexual experience right? I can be your partner if you want to." Zick spoke like it was the most natural thing in the world.

    "Sir Zick will be my partner?" Yuriel looked at Zick with hesitation.

    Yuriel knew about sex too, there were many experiments in that aspect after all.

    "Yeah, I have no problem," Zick said with all smiles. He didn''t think such an opportunity would present itself. He could strengthen his rtionship with Yuriel by having a sexual rtionship.

    And having sex decreases stress and anxiety too so Zick was not against it at all in any way.

    "Then...I will be in your care." Yuriel was very curious about such a matter thus, she epted with expectation.

    Zick took the lead, walking to Yuriel, he held her chin lightly. Yuriel''s eyes looked directly at Zick''s eyes.

    Zick slowly bent down and shared a deep kiss with Yuriel, he yed around with her tongue yfully.

    Parting after a few seconds, Zick''s brow rose: ''Her mouth was no different than that of a human, huh?''

    The blush on Yuriel''s face continued to grow as Zick looked at her. With a reassuring smile, Zick leads her to the bed.

    There was no rush in the matter of recruiting Vuerin, Zick took his time. Like this, he spent a passionate time with Yuriel.

    .....

    After a few hours, it was already noon.

    Zick wore the suit with a nonchnt look. Yuriel beside him also wore her blue dress silently.

    The whole room was already fully cleaned with magic.

    Zick felt a sense of rxation after doing ''it'' for such a long time. He could think about many things a lot more clearly now with his anxiety decreased

    Both Zick and Yuriel had a very strong sex drive and vitality, they were going at it for many hours with no stop.

    There was also no risk of Yuriel bing pregnant, making Zick lighthearted the whole time.

    Zick and Yuriel had tried out many positions trying to enjoy the process to the fullest too.

    Looking at Zick who shed a smile at her, Yuriel looked down.

    ''So that was sex....?'' Yuriel could only feel dazed thinking of it. She could not even remember some parts because of the amount of pleasure she felt.

    Looking at Yuruel who was acting like some teenager, Zick felt amused internally.

    ''Ah, right I am a teenager too if only looked outwardly.''

    Zick had an appearance that was no different than someone who was 18 years old right now.

 Chapter 179 Entering The Tower

    There was definitely a change in the atmosphere between Zick and Yuriel. With their rtionship turning intimate, Yuriel felt a lot closer to Zick.

    Zick didn''t let the atmosphere affect his thoughts at all: ''Hmm, though some time had passed, Vuerin must be confined in her prison by now.''

    ''I wanted to meet her in her weakest state but it doesn''t matter. Keeping good rtions with every subordinate isn''t necessarily a good thing. As long as she heeds my order I don''t care much.'' Zick didn''t think that good of Vuerin.

    Her personality wasn''t the type that easily bent to other people. Kindness wasn''t that effective against her too, Zick just wanted to try it in the end.

    Vuerin, this harem member, was very important in Zick''s n. She could control hundreds of thousands of corpses at once, forming a formidable force.

    Even her individual strength was not bad, she could threaten the grandmaster rank beings'' life.

    For this reason, Zick still wanted to try to win over this person. Most normal women would naturallye to like the people who saved them.

    Well, it was only for normal women in the end. Vuerin was not in this category.

    Hence, Zick was nning on gaining her recognition in another way.

    ''It must have been four years since she was captured. If my calction isn''t wrong. The experiment to create an impure mana golem started seven years ago and Vuerin was captured three years after that.'' Zick put on the ck mask again.

    "Sir Zick, Do I proceed as instructed?" Yuriel asked for confirmation.

    "Yes, there is no change in n, we are going to enter the alchemy stealthily as I instructed," Zick spoke firmly.

    Nodding her head, Yuriel cast invisible magic upon herself and Zick. With a sh of purple light, both of their figures vanished instantly.

    They reappeared above the sky, right before the alchemy tower.

    This process was very simr to the [ Warp ] that Zick created but at the same time, it wasn''t.

    [Warp] magic turns a person''s body into mana particles before transporting him. But in the case of the magic cast by Yuriel, it used the magic of another element altogether.

    This magic could be said to be real teleporting magic too. After all, this spell was in the space element category.

    Her specialty in space magic was something that Zick yearned for. But unfortunately, Zick had no affinity with space elements at all.

    The majestic tower in front of them was very huge. It almost reached the sky and thousands of different types of magic circles and artistic works could be seen drawn on it.

    It felt like a golden hue was coursing through the whole tower making it look more magnificent.

    And the most outstanding fact was that �� it was more than 1200 meters!

    The tallest tower back on Earth was within 900 meters, totally below this tower before Zick.

    Once again, Zick and Yuriel''s bodies vanished with a sh of purple light. This time, they directly appeared before the top floor of the tower.

    There was a limit to how far the space magic could take you with a single use. ording to Yuriel, her current limit was around one kilometer.

    ''The best thing about this space magic is that it cannot be interrupted easily.'' Zick''s eyes got downcast thinking it was not possible to learn space magic.

    ''Well, I can try increasing my affinity if I ever get my hand on space essence simr to snow essence.'' Zick threw this matter in the back of his head and focused on his current objective.

    Flying near the wall of the highest floor of the Jhesker alchemy tower, Yuriel ced her hand on it lightly. One by one, all the magic spells and devices stationed for surveince stopped working.

    After two minutes, Yuriel retracted her hand and nodded toward Zick.

    Zick''s eyes shone behind the mask: ''Now, even if I destroyed this whole floor no rm would ring out. Unless a person finds out with their senses, it was hard to know that someone had intruded the tower.''

    Zick apuded Yuriel''s ability mentally. Knowing and experiencing the benefits were two different things. This ability had a wide range of use, enough to entice Zick into hoarding it.

    "How many times more can you use space magic?" Zick asked with a thoughtful look.

    "Seven to eight times more...." Yuriel answered with a calm look.

    "Alright save it for now. Is there anyone present on this floor right at the moment?" Zick pointed his thumb at the wall before him.

    After focusing for a second, Yutiel shook her head lightly.

    "Let''s enter if that''s the case." Zick folded his hand.

    BAM!

    Yuriel punched a hole into the tower''s top floor with a simple punch.

    Entering the tower, Zick found himself in a long hall with a huge dining table at the end of his sight. He had entered the tower master''s dining hall.

    Bringing out memories from when Aeiron invaded the Jhesker tower, Zick started moving toward the study room of the tower master. Yuriel had the outline of the whole floor so he was able to reach his destination in no time.

    Zick could currently move so freely because the tower genie had not activated. If it had awakened tons of traps would have been activated by now.

    Fortunately, all the devices and magic spells were deactivated by Yuriel.

    ''It''s like Yuriel''s ability is made to invade the alchemy towers.'' Zick thought with certain spection forming in his head.

    ''It would have been easier if She could just take over the tower genie but that''s not possible.''

    Soon, Zick and Yuriel arrived in a luxurious room. There was a desk with many research papers and couches around the room. At the right corner of the room, a device in the shape of an oven was positioned, and a red potion was within it gurgling wildly.

    Looking at the certain kind of alchemy device for a second, Zick waved his hand, directly cing it within his space ring. There were simr devices in the secretb, so surely it was a useful device.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick turned to the wall behind the desk next: ''The stairway must be behind this wall.''

    Before Zick could say anything, Yuriel lightly spoke to him with keen interest on her face: "Sir Zick, there is a secret passage here that can be opened by pressing upon the right eye of that statue."

    Hearing this, Zick nodded his head: ''Right, she has the whole floor''syout mapped out by using her special ability.''

    Zick looked at the statue of a certain goddess in front of Yuriel. The church in the Neokelt kingdom was called the church of prosperity.

    It was a unique church that could give blessings to people, this blessing could make a person prosperous in the future with a certain sess rate.

    The stronger the blessing, the higher the chances of making a fortune in the future. And of course, the church asked for tons of money to cast the blessing. It was a kind of gamble in itself.

    But It was really an ability that broke allmon sense. A person getting prosperous just like this was not something that could be described using anymon means.

    As for the battle aspect of the priest in this church, it was formidable too. They could strengthen themselves or use many special techniques by sacrificing money.

    In other words, as long as they aren''t killed instantly and still have money, they could keep healing themselves and fight forever.

    "Open the passageway." Zick said with no hesitation.

    Yuriel pressed the right eye of the statue instantly.

    With a rumbling sound, the wall behind the desk caved in and moved aside.

    ''The alchemy tower master was quite cautious. He didn''t make the passage''s door with any magic instruments so that it would not be possible to sense anything.'' Zick walked into the passage with Yuriel.

    The passage waspletely dark with not even amp on the wall.

    The invisible magic cast on them was still active, no one would be able to see them even if they walked right past them.

    After walking for a minute, Zick arrived before a steel door with the same infrastructure as the one in the secretb.

    "Open it," Zick ordered with an expressionless face.

    Yuriel flicked the steel door immediately. The door went flying inside with no resistance. Her physical capability was monstrous too.

    Zick continued moving at once.

    "Sir Zick..." Yuriel called out from behind.

    "Hmm?" Zick looked at Yuriel with a questioning look.

    "I have been analysing the data and it seems your sperm is notpatible to make me pregnant," Yuriel spoke with a calm look like it was the most natural thing in the world.

    ''Oh, she was curious about such a matter? Well, I knew of this fact from the beginning so whatever.''

    Zick smiled: "Isn''t that good then? You cane to me anytime you feel like relieving yourself Sexually. It helps me to rx too, it''s a win-win situation for both of us."

    Hearing Zick openly inviting her, Yuriel nodded her head.

    ''It helps him to rx...? Is he anxious about something?'' Though Yuriel was not that knowledgeable about psychology, she was able to learn things very quickly.

    Human rtion and behavior was a matter that interested her.

    Thinking for a second, Yuriel spoke slowly: "Sir Zick...I belong to you. You can do anything you want with me, there is no reason to ask for my permission."

    Hearing this, Zick''s steps came to a stop. The air around them changed at once, it got heavier by a level.

    Turning around, Zick walked right before Yuriel. He knew that at moments like this, he should show off some of his ''consciousness''.

    "Will that make me any different than a rapist? Or Are you telling me to be a rapist?" Zick spoke angrily, his eyes were filled with rage right at the moment. His breathing turned rough too.

    "No, that isn''t what I meant...." Yuriel averted her eyes. Suddenly, a hand was ced on her head.

    At once Yuriel''s expression turned dazed. A warm feeling on her head gave her a feeling of rxation.

    She kept experiencing this kind of thing with Zick for a while. She didn''t know, but in her mind, Zick''s image was growing stronger.

    Rubbing the head of Yuriel who looked at the ground, Zick spoke with warmth in his voice: "You have your own free will, I won''t force you until it''s necessary. You can voice out your opinion if you want to." Zick didn''t lie fully. He made it clear that he would make her follow his order forcefully when truly necessary.

    "Mmh." Yuriel nodded her head nkly. The weird feeling she had in her heart was iprehensible to her.

    Zick''s and Yuriel''s height was roughly the same and she bowed her head so it was easier for Zick to pat her.

    Zick calcted coldly: ''If there everes a time when Yuriel truly removes the influence of the red gem, she would not turn against me.''

    Actually, the chances of Yuriel getting free were low, but what if God were to influence in this matter?

    Zick would lose a precious asset at once!

    That was the reason he was willing to act to this extent.

    Zick and Yuriel started going deeper into the dark corridor. Yuriel''s body moved near Zick subconsciously.

    And as such, Zick continued brainwashing Yuriel who was still a nk paper in terms of experience in rtionships.

    ''It''s not like I have much experience in a rtionship too. The reason why I have been seeding in reducing things is just because of meticulousness.'' Zick considered his shorings.

 Chapter 180 Enduring Silently

    The duo walked on the dark corridor inplete silence. Only the sound of their footsteps rang out, echoing with a sense of mncholy.

    Without anyone noticing, Zick''s eyes turned hollow. A sense of fatigue and gloominess filled his head.

    It has been nearly a week since Zick started creating the team to defeat the demon lord, the meatshield.

    For his well-being, Zick resolutely decided to deploy any means possible to make them join. But even with that determination, Zick was starting to feel tired.

    Zick''s gaze fell automatically: ''Every time I open my mouth, only cliche words leave it. I already have the urge to give up on this n. Sigh.....''

    Zick was mentally worn down to the point that discarding this n didn''t seem that bad in his eyes.

    ''But...I can''t do that. Losing them wouldn''t matter right now, but it would harm me in the long term.'' Zick''s eyes narrowed behind the mask.

    He thought of it differently. What was necessary for the demon lord was very simple.

    It was strength.

    Zick''s eyes burnt with a dim ck light: ''Eating dragons to increase my strength can get me out of this situation, where I have to keep relying on others'' strength.''

    Zick wanted to just do this. But the vignt nature that he cultivated for a while was against it.

    ''Normal dragons can be taken down with the help of Yuriel, Levienel, and Cat, but the problem is the ancient dragon.....''

    Normal dragons have grandmaster-level strength, excluding whatever the origin power that Levienel was talking about.

    But an ancient dragon is a being who is undefeatable among the normal dragons, their strength was hard to specte.

    If Zick killed its brethren no doubt the ancient doubt woulde seeking revenge madly.

    Zick thought for a while and then looked at Yuriel who was just a few centimeters away from him.

    ''She got close to me so quickly....'' Zick could only shake his head internally.

    Sometimes, being perfect was not a good thing. Yuriel was the best example of this saying.

    With her emotions on the same level as humans, Yuriel could sumb to her emotions quickly. She had no experience in dealing with this kind of thing in the slightest. Even controlling a little of her emotions had been hard for her, which Zick saw from his observation.

    ''Fortunately, she learns fast. She will probably grow fully used to it in a few days.'' Zick thought before asking his question.

    "Do you have any data on Ancient dragons?"

    Yuriel''s red eyes shone for a second, before dimming again.

    "There is a record of an Ancient dragon battle located in the data. This data was gathered when the dragon race moved to annihte the dwarf race." Yutiel answered with a calm look.

    "Then...What are the chances of you winning against it?" These questions answers would decide Zick''s future course of action.

    Hearing Zick''s serious voice, Yuriel became tense too. Her mind started stimting at an extreme speed at once.

    After three seconds, Yuriel opened her mouth: "Winning chances are 28 percent, and defending chances are 69 percent. This oue is calcted by taking the ancient dragon''s data into ount, the chances of it being wrong are high." Yuriel was also surprised internally looking at the oue. She felt a little dejected thinking there were beings who could defeat her.

    "I see...." Zick looked forward again while walking.

    ''I will stick to my original n then. I will get a chance to eat a dragon when I am going to fabricate a demonic race attacking them, so I just have to wait.'' Zick threw thest of his hope into the trash can.

    The hollowness in Zick''s eye increased by a level. He just had to persevere until the demon lord is defeated, thinking this, Zick increased the speed at which he walked.

    Another door appeared before them, which was immediately broken by Yuriel.

    They arrived at their destination. It was a huge room with many golems ced within it for guarding, but they were lying on the ground like some waste toy right at the moment.

    Not only could Yuriel disable them, but she could also even control this golem after she came in contact with them physically once.

    Looking at the hundreds of materials and magic devices kept in order before him, Zick felt his mood lighten up a little.

    ''Even If I can''t recruit Veurin, I must take all the resources from here.''

    Putting all the things in the vault in his space ring, Zick made his way through the vault room quickly.

    After putting all the material, magical devices, and alchemy instruments in his space ring, Zick took out the pocket watch.

    Seeing the time, Zick considered: ''This much time should be enough for them to notice I guess.''

    With the tower genie not operating, the alchemist would find out something to be amiss sooner orter. That was also the reason, he was walking leisurely.

    Destroying and killing everyone in this alchemy tower wasn''t the main thing, to begin with. He was just preparing a show for Veurin.

    "Is it over?" Zick asked calmly, not tense at all.

    In the corner of the room, the golems had already gathered into a formation. They were being controlled by Yuriel right at the moment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    These golems came in many shapes, some had humanoid shapes but with four or six arms or multiple heads withrge bodies. There were also monster-shaped golems like wolves, and spiders, and one even had the appearance of a dragon, though truthfully, it looked more like a wyvern.

    Zick rubbed his chin for a second with narrowed eyes before ordering: "Make it so that these golems don''t go below the 80th floor and just made a mess in the below four floors."

    There were a total of 85 floors in this alchemy tower and its width was also considerably long almost around 150 meters.

    Sending out the golem, Zick didn''t stop, he along with Yuriel directly headed towards the ground floor of the Jhesker tower after using Yuriel''s space magic twice.

    No teleportation circles leading to the underground floor appeared even in the vault.

    It wasn''t stored in the genie''s database too from Yuriel''s statement, which meant, the tower master went there by normal means.

    This just showed how careful the alchemy tower master was.

    Arriving at the ground floor which looked no different than a dungeon with walls, floor, and ceiling made of grey bricks, Zick looked at Yuriel. His senses were fully suppressed in these ces, not being able to even sense past the fall beside him.

    Some device was interrupting his senses.

    "26 people hundred meters before us. 11 humans are looking like a captive, while the other 15 seem to be a guard and alchemists." Yuriel spoke more like a human now, her initial robotic voice slowly vanishing.

    Yuriel wasn''t tense either. She knew the strength of all the people in the whole tower was no match for her.

    A sense of confidence grew within her, which didn''t go unnoticed by Zick.

    ''She doesn''t show it much on her face, but it is easy to find out with her confident body posture which is screaming she will protect me. Well, I have decided to be a babysitter so I will do my job, especially for this woman, she can be easily brainwashed.''

    Yuriel dashed forward along with Zick covered in a red light, which gave out a frenzied aura.

    BANG!

    At once the sound barrier broke, creating a loud sonic boom.

    The long hall before Zick was covered in the blink of an eye and they, now looking like a red sh, directly pierced through the huge metal door at the end of the hall.

    BANG!

    Stopping at the other side of the metal door, The surprised grasp and the rough breathing of the guards could be heard.

    The whole room was made of white tiles along with blue and ck tiles systematically ced around the walls and floor.

    There were 11 people at the end of the room, being chained, and hung on the wall. In front of each one of them, an altar was ced there, with a space in cube shape on it.

    The guard in the foremost was sweating profoundly with his breathing rough to the extreme.

    This trained guard, who was an alchemist too, right at the moment couldn''t control his emotions.

    ''Monsters!! They directly pierced through the Chrystelion door! I mean, what the hell!!'' The guard''s emotions were nothing but horror.

    Chrystelion was a material that was recognized as the strongest among all the alchemist towers.

    Along with the Jhesker towers hard work put on it, the door was considered unbreakable. It was the pride of this alchemy tower.

    But it was broken so easily like it was a piece of paper, which made the morale of the guards fall to rock bottom.

    Zick didn''t bother looking at the guards and alchemists, he directly started walking toward the chained figures.

    Looking at Zick who brazenly ignored them, the guards and alchemists still didn''t move. It was like their body was frozen in ce. Before long, their heads separated from their bodies and fell to the ground.

    Yuriel killed them easily with just a wave of mana, literally, a wave of mana. This alchemist had a very weak physique.

    Zick arrived before the 11 captives and looked directly at the girl with red hair. His brows rose automatically.

    The woman who entered his sight had messed up red hair and aquamarine-blue eyes.

    ''Oh...Veurin''s face is a lot more petite than I thought....'' Zick was expecting a woman with a fierce look in his imagination.

    But it was to be expected, Zick hade very early, and Veurin was still 19 or 20 years old right now.

    These dark mages and necromancers before Zick were the only ones who were sessfully able to survive after their mana turned impure. Leaving aside two to three people who were caught, like Veurin most of them were raised here.

    Veurin, who had a dazed expression looking at the guard''s body falling on the ground, snapped out. She fiercely looked at Zick, who seemed to be looking at her.

    ''Heh, her personality hasn''t changed at least. Looking at everyone with hostility was her signature habit. There were only a few people who she could actually trust like Aeiron in the novel.''

    ''I should start acting now. Hahaha, though I feel sick of saying cliche things, I feel like enduring is important.'' Zick felt like he learned something.

    As long as a person endures, the chance to aplice their goal will appear before them at some point.

    Enduring silently wasn''t a bad thing, it instead showed your fortitude and perseverance.

 Chapter 181 I Am Actually A Very Kind Person

    Probably because Zick was tired from wracking his brain all the time, his thoughts had been steering towards unwanted subjects subconsciously from the moment he entered the Jhesker alchemy tower.

    Noticing this, Zick breathed in deeply to focus while walking before the altar near the captives.

    ? When Zick put more force in his legs, there was a sturdy reverberationing from the floor beneath his shoes, as if he was stepping on a limestone floor.

    In the silent room, the sound of Zick''s footsteps put an invisible pressure on the captive''s mind. Most of them were filled with chills looking at the masked man, Zick walking towards them with unstoppable steps.

    The sight of the guards and alchemist being dissected to pieces passed by before their eyes. Even after killing dozens of people, this man before them showed no reaction at all.

    He was evil without a doubt, such thought appeared in these captives'' minds.

    If they were to think of Zick as a good person, then there must have been something wrong with their heads!

    The floor behind Zick was fully dyed in blood right at the moment, making him appear even more sinister.

    Yuriel went away toplete the task given by Zick, after seeing that there was nothing that could harm him in this room.

    arriving before the altar, Zick gave it a nce feeling the space in the shape of a cube to be interesting. A faint presence of impure mana could be felt in that gap.

    Sitting on the altar, Zick turned to the captives while holding his chin in interest.

    "What do you think these halfwits were trying to create by using your impure mana?" Zick''s voice was filled with yfulness.

    He had an idea of how to take care of his abundant emotions. Letting them umte would just be like putting a block before erupting magma. Therefore, it was better to just let it erupt, this way, he could have peace of mind.

    As long as it didn''t affect his ns, everything was okay.

    "Halfwits...? Are you talking about the alchemist?" A man in his thirties asked with uncertainty.

    "Tch, tch, of course, I am talking about them! Who else could I be talking about if not them? Calling those shits an idiot would be an insult to all the stupid people in the world!"

    "Ha! They think people won''t find out about their little experiment here. Those old fogeys are just stupid." Zick words were filled with mockery.

    Zick waved his wrist in rhythm with his mocking words.

    "So? What do you think?" Zick asked with a rxed demeanor.

    ording to the novel, Veurin liked people who had loose mouths, like how Zick was currently behaving.

    And it helped Zick to relieve his emotions, so it would be a lie if he said he didn''t put any emotions in his speech. It was like hitting two birds with a single arrow.

    Before anyone could speak, Veurin who looked like she was interested spoke: "Isn''t it obvious? They wanted to use it to make some evil golem!"

    Zick shook his index finger: "What do you mean evil golem? Golem is just a golem, in the end, don''t put your personal opinion on it."

    Zick wanted Veurin to not have too bad of an impression on golems.

    "Hey! Veurin, calm down!" A woman beside Veurin tried calming her down.

    Another man who seemed to have a dark face said what was in everyone''s mind: "What are you gonna do with us?"

    Silence descended upon the room.

    ''So there is at least someone with brains here.''

    Zick spoke as if waiting for someone to ask: "Did you put your brain within a wringer or what?! I know, your brain must be leaking out of your skull! You can''t even consider such a simple thing?" Zick exaggeratedly held his head while shaking it.

    Everyone: "...."

    "Hahaha." Only Veurin''sughter rang out in the silent room.

    Some of the captives bit their pale lips, and many bad premonitions went through their heads.

    A few of them just sighed and epted their fate. This group of people had already given up on living, even if they got out of there, they will have to live a life in the run being a dark mage.

    At that moment, Zick''s voice traveled to them: "Do you really think I am chatting with you to waste my time? Do I look like such a person?"

    ''Aren''t you?'' Everyone swallowed the words they were going to say.

    Some smart people shook their heads, they felt some hope rising within them.

    Zick got down from the altar and walked below Veurin.

    "I have been thinking about it from a white but....why do you have a necromancer''s stigma and impure mana nerves within you at once?" Zick''s voice was filled with keen interest.

    Veurin felt her heart jump hearing Zick''s question, even the chemist had taken a while before noticing this fact. The presence of mana nerves was perfectly hidden by the presence of Necromancer''s stigma which could be seen on her waist, shoulders, limbs, and even in her neck. They were like thick threads, looking like a spider web.

    If only looking at the necromancer''s stigma on Veurin''s body, they looked extremely hideous. Fortunately, with her petite face and body, she didn''t look too repulsive.

    But the other four necromancers looked repulsive no matter how looked on, even their faces were covered in ck spider web-like marks.

    Veurin spoke after a second of silence: "....My mother was a dark mage and my father was a necromancer so that...."

    "Ohh, I see, your father and mother were truly fit for each other. For them to be so biologicallypatible, you are lucky." Zick spoke as if understanding something.

    Veurin could feel that Zick was praising her parents thus, she felt good. Though-

    "What the hell is biologicallypatible?" Veurin asked, which Zick ignored and instead cut the chain with the cursed sword that he took out from the space ring.

    CLANG~!

    Zick''s sword blurred along with the hand he held for a second before all the chains holding Veurin were cut, falling to the ground.

    "What are you...." Veurin and the others felt their bodies freezing looking at Zick''s action.

    "You seem interesting,e with me, and I will show you an interesting sight." Zick''s voice was filled with yfulness.

    Veurin thought for a second seeing Zick''s yful attitude and nodded her head.

    Seeing this, Zick could only shake his head: "You know, a strangeres and says- ''Come with me I will show you something interesting'' and you agree? Did your parents drop you in the head when you were a baby?" Zick said while brazenly lifting Veurin''s hand and looking at the necromancer''s stigma.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I don''t have any choice, to begin with, so why bother asking?" Veurin said with a bitter smile.

    "Well, Let''s just go. If we waste more time here, my subordinate is gonna die waiting for me." Zick turned around saying this.

    "Wait! What about us?" One of the men spoke hurriedly.

    "Huh? Just stay here and rot away to death of course." Cruel words left Zick''s mouth as if they were the most normal thing.

    All the captives turned pale upon hearing this.

    "Oh, or not, the alchemy tower is gonna be destroyed so, you will all die by the ceiling getting caved in. You would be pancakes then, hahaha!" Zick pointed at the ceiling with a joking tone.

    Leaving one or two, all the captives frantically started begging thinking about certain death awaiting.

    Zick sneered in his mind: ''Even If I left them, the other alchemy tower would find them, I don''t want that now, do I?''

    The other party did not know this, hence their immense fear.

    "Pfft! pff, hahaha!" Zick''s shoulder shook like he was holding back hisughter.

    "Ahh~ I was just kidding, kidding. Do I look like such a cruel person? I am actually a very kind person."

    Veurin''s face rxed beside Zick.

    Zick cut all their chains quickly and headed towards the first floor of the alchemist tower through the steps. All his actions were filled with leisure as if he owned the ce. Veurin beside him asked a question: "Who are you? And what are you trying to do here?"

    Zick sighed and shook his head: "Do I really have to spell it out myself?"

    "As the saying goes, a healthy brain lives in a healthy body. Has your brain turned ck too, because your body is covered in ck stuff?"

    Veurin''s face twitched intensively hearing Zick teasing.

    "Why don''t you wash your mouth before speaking?" An indirect insult was thrown by Veurin.

    "Hoho, then why don''t you clean up your ck brain a little and then think a little? I feel like my mouth is as clean as it could be so I am sure your brain must just be toocking to hear me." Zick threw tons of insults at once.

    Veins could be seen on Veurin''s face now: "You bastard! I will kill you!"

    Seeing Veurin only speaking and not taking any action, Zickughed lightly. He felt like he was taking care of a kid right now.

    "Alright, alright now. What if I said that I am doing this for you?"

    Feeling the tinge of teasing in Zick''s voice, Veurin red up like a hotblooded youth.

    "Don''t screw with me! Like that can fool anyone."

    Zick held his chin: "Hmm, well I don''t think it is a lie now though." he shed a smile at Veurin.

    "You want to kill the people who tortured you for who knows how long right?" Zick said while speeding up a little.

    Veurin''s expression turned to hatred at once; she was captured along with her family but they were both killed a year ago. Only she survived thanks to her rarity.

    "Yes..." Veurin answered in a voice filled with sadness and hate.

    "Hehe, then you should thank me." Zick smiled while patting Veurin''s head.

    "Hands off jerk!" Pushing aside Zick''s hand, Veurin asked another question with a doubtful look.

    "Why do you want to destroy this alchemy tower? Do you also hold a grudge against them?" Veurin had predicted this by looking at Zick''s actions and words.

    "No, I just don''t like the alchemy tower and it seems fun."

    Everyone: "...." they never thought there would be such a crazy person in the whole world.

    Destroying the renowned alchemy tower for fun?

    Who has the guts to do such a thing?!!

    Veurin''s aquamarine eyes widened before she smiled really for once.

    "So who are you?" Veurin asked with a smile.

    "My name? It''s Zick. I feel like you have quite some potential, will you join my team?" Zick offered naturally.

    "Your team? And the name?" Veurin was interested in the subject.

    "Yeah, I am the leader and its name is...The demon killer." Zick looked at the end of his sight, a door stood there right at the end of the steps.

    Zick offered to everyone seeing this: "You can all join too, so do you want to?"

    Leaving aside Veurin, everyone shook their heads. They thought of the moment when Zick was leaving them behind just like that. They didn''t want to work for such a person.

    ''Sess! abandoning them would leave a bad impression on Veurin as there are a few who she cares a little about, that is the reason, I yed tricks with them before.'' Zick hade after nning everything.

    "I will join, I guess. I don''t have anywhere to go anyway." Veurin spoke resolutely.

    "Haha, let''s do fun things in the future then Whoever you are."

    "Hahaha, It''s Veurin tepsten." Veurinughed again.

    Seeing Veurin who usually had a cold look and always cursed, smiling andughing so often, the other captives were left speechless.

    And thus, Zick opened the door before him.

    The hell presented itself to them. The whole floor was covered in blood and human body parts. An intestine had also fallen a few steps away from Zick. Even the wall had blood stains on them.

    "Hm~ quite an exquisite sight don''t you think?" Zick evaluated.

    To everyone present, Zick felt very cynical right at the moment. Only Veurin looked a little appeased.

 Chapter 182 Too Vicious!

    The hall which was always vibrant with alchemists and schrs was smeared in blood. The intact faces of the corpses were filled with agony and unwillingness as if they had gone through a huge injustice.

    Veurin didn''t seem to be shaken at all, she just looked at the corpses as if it was the most normal thing.

    Such was her personality, Veurin was a neutralist through and through. If she were on the good side, she would perform good deeds and if she was on the evil side, she would perform a massacre like the most natural thing.

    Zick''s eye, hidden by the mask, shone in an eerie light: "If you want to leave the doors right in front of you, why make a face as if you have eaten some bitter medicine?"

    Hearing Zick''s words, the captives had the same thought pass through their head: ''He is not normal...''

    "Let''s get going already, I feel bored. Those wusses would be able to get out of here by themselves." Zick yawned and started walking toward the device which seemed like an elevator.

    Zick could see the captives already beginning to move from the corner of his eyes: ''They will all be killed by a golem the moment they step out of the tower. Like I would leave these people alive, the temple would be able to deduce my action. In other words, the gods will also find out about me.''

    ''Veurin is my hidden weapon, she must not be found out. Luckily, it seems she is not blessed by any good ording to Levienel, her curse affected Veurin normally.'' Zick considered rapidly while briskly walking before the elevator

    Veurin nodded at one of the women who spoke to her sometimes and followed behind Zick.

    "So, what are you nning to do next?" Veurin asked, having many expectations in her head.

    "I was thinking of killing the tower master myself but I will let you do it. Ah, the alchemist who researched on you is also all yours."

    "Say, say, Don''t you think I am a good senior?" Zick shamelessly asked.

    "....Yeah." Veurin''s eyes were filled with killing intent.

    The elevator activated, slowly taking them to a higher floor.

    For a long time, Zick had been bothered by the fact his actions would be limited because of the kind personality that he feigned.

    He found a simple solution, which was to make another group of talented people, who were not against doing evil.

    Though there was a chance of someone finding out in the middle, Zick would still retain most of the benefits.

    ''Actually, I am interested in what kind of expression they will make after finding out my deeds.'' Zick snickered internally, not suppressing his emotions at all.

    On one side, the hero who saved the whole continent from the Revelner disease. And on the other hand, an evildoer, who kills people for fun and pleasure.

    If Zick had to choose personally, he would choose to be the evil doer the most.

    "Don''t you find it exciting? The fact that the Jhesker alchemy tower, which stood for hundreds or even thousands of years is going to be destroyed?" Zick asked with a heated tone.

    "Yeah...But, I am more excited about killing the tower master! That old crone is the reason I suffered for so long, I will be sure to return all that suffering back to him." Veurin''s face was filled with fierceness.

    The grievance and hatred of killing one''s parents were not to be looked down upon.

    Looking at the motivated Veurin, Zick was satisfied internally: ''I am sure Yuriel must have collected all the golems, researches, devices, and space rings from everyone in the tower by now.''

    The golems could be dismantled and used in the creation of another golem after all. So they had high value too.

    TING~

    Zick and Veurin reached their destination. It was on the 55th floor of the alchemy tower.

    This floor was an open field, simr to a grass in. This floor was used to experiment with certain kinds of devices to check their mobility and such.

    There, all the important alchemists and the higher-ups were kept. They all stood in a single area looking horrified, many chains held them in one ce, it was a security method used by them. But right now, being controlled by Yuriel, it was used against them.

    The next moment, Yuriel abruptly appeared beside Zick, startling Veurin.

    Yuriel did not use her space magic, this was just her normal speed produced by her body''s strength.

    "I have ced the apex-grade mana bombs at the assigned ces," Yuriel spoke loyally.

    "Oh, good, I guess the fireworks are ready too now."

    Zick''s and Yuriel''s rxed voices reached the alchemist, making their body shudder.

    "You...You bastard! Do you think the other alchemy tower would just watch from the sidelines?!" An alchemist started screaming at Zick in a threatening tone.

    Zick narrowed his eyes: ''Of course, I don''t want to gather any attention right now, so I am hiding all my traces. In the future, when the time is right and I have enough strength, I will spread my deed myself.''

    If Zick gathered attention now, all his movement would be closely watched by the other colossal forces, thus, he dyed the finding of the culprit who destroyed the alchemy tower himself.

    The one who seemed to be the leader spoke at that moment: "Quiet everyone!"

    The other alchemist closed their mouth immediately.

    The tower master, Gantrece, looked to be in his mid-thirties and had brown hair and a beard.

    "We can negotiate, there is no need to cause any bloodshed right now." Gantrece had a calm expression unlike others as he proposed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick tilted his head: "I Would ept that request before, what bad luck." he shook his head as if it was a letdown.

    "What do you mean?" Gantrece asked, having a bad premonition.

    "Tch, old shit, did you drill a hole in your skull too? Your brain must be leaking out for you to not even understand such a simple thing. Ohh, Or is it that your eyes are rotten?" Zick expressed his disdain in his voice.

    Yuriel: "...."

    The alchemist: "...."

    Zick''s voice just grew in volume: "Can''t you see thedy standing beside me? Hmm? or did you already forget about her, huh?"

    Gantrece had an ugly expression looking at the behavior of the person who made the grand alchemy tower fall to such a state.

    What difference was there between him and a roadside gangster?!!

    Gantrece looked at Yuriel but she stood behind Zick like a loyal subordinate. He next looked at the women beside Zick.

    His eyes shrunk: ''So that''s the reason.'' Gantrece''s eyes narrowed.

    He remembered the prior action of Yuriel. She had already taken all their space rings.

    Gantrece controlled his expression: "For you to be such a kind person, I understand now. But could that woman''s value be more than what I can offer? I will surely satisfy you with thepensation for letting us go."

    Gantrece tried enticing Zick as hisst resort.

    Another alchemist also enticed: "Yes, you will surely profit immensely. Is that woman beside you worth it? Please consider it properly."

    "That''s right....."

    At the moment of their death and life, they discarded their pride with no hesitation.

    Zick shook his head: "Sigh...You dickhead must be talking about the hidden vault on the top floor right? Pfft, you think I will let such a thing go unnoticed?" Zick mocked them tantly while pointing at Gantrece.

    "What....?" Gantrece was shocked hearing this, it was almost impossible to find that ce unless they broke the whole floor into pieces. But these people found it.

    ''How is that possible?!'' Gantrece''s heart bled thinking of all the things within that vault.

    His eyes turned red and his breathing became rough. All the umtion of generations of tower masters was stored there, but now it was all taken by this person before him.

    If it was possible to kill just by looking, Ganrece would have killed Zick millions of times.

    "...." There was nothing else to negotiate, their fate was sealed.

    "Hahahahahaha!" Zickughed as if taking pleasure in their suffering.

    Even Veurin felt chills looking at Zick, she was attracted to his way of doing things and grateful to him as he was going to help her exact revenge but it was her first time experiencing this kind of thing.

    Zick stoppedughing: "Okay, I am willing to let you go, leaving aside the people who worked in the creation of the impure golem."

    Zick felt a sense of excitement, he was enjoying the process for real: "If the people who were working in the impure golem don''t step up within 30 seconds, you will all die."

    The alchemist became frantic at once.

    "Goren, why aren''t you moving forward?!"

    "You bastard!! How dare you abandon me like this?!"

    "Miss Hestelen, please move forward too!"

    "Fuck all your family!!"

    A period of cursing and fighting each other ensued. Even with a little chance of living, all of them leaped to it desperately.

    In the end, with the cooperation of everyone, they pushed forward ten alchemists.

    Looking at the ten people before him, Zick apuded.

    "Ah, I am so grateful for all your help! Now I don''t have to go through the trouble." Zick''s voice was filled with schadenfreude.

    A bad feeling appeared in the alchemist''s heart.

    Zick continued speaking: "Well, As a reward for your hard work, I will send you off painlessly. Yuriel, Leaving aside these ten people and the tower master, kill everyone off."

    Looking at the faces of the alchemists turning pale, Veurin recessed Zick. His means were just too vicious!

    "What? Wait...." Before the alchemist could finish, his head left its body and fell to the ground. The same thing happened to all other alchemists sentenced to death by Zick.

    Zick looked at Veurin from the corner of his eye: ''Burn this sight into your head, think about this if you ever were to think of going against me.''

 Chapter 183 Calculating The Loot And Seclusion

    "Extract all the magical devices used for safety and Security measurement." Zick had no intention of leaving behind a single thing.

    Zick left Veurin with the surviving alchemist and started walking to the lower floor of the alchemy tower.

    "All the space rings you lent me have reached their maximum capacity, sir Zick," Yuriel spoke quietly from behind.

    "Hmm, no problem, just take another batch and use the ones belonging to the alchemist." Zick had tons of space rings, he took back the old ones and gave the new ones to Yuriel.

    Though most of it was acting, Zick still felt a lot better after letting his emotions run wild. His current calm mind was the best evidence for it.

    ''I didn''t think it would be this effective. Most of my insults originated from third-ss viins from Earth, so it wasn''t that pleasant acting like that.''

    The facade was put on for Veurin. If not, he would have just done the deed instead of speaking that much.

    Looking at the content of the space rings, a sharp light flickered in Zick''s eyes.

    There were more than three thousand golems! Though they were not that strong, it was still very useful.

    Around 13 golems were having master-rank strength. While the others were not much appealing in Zick''s eyes.

    Zick couldn''t even count how many potions there were in the space ring, they reached the level of a million.

    ? And another surprising thing greeted Zick, there were seven elixir-level potions. And from it, two could strengthen his body and one could strengthen the ''will'' in his mind.

    ''It wouldn''t be a problem to be a Mid master swordsman now.'' Zick felt this trip to be totally worth it with just these three potions.

    Looking at Yuriel who was sending an order to the golems under her control, Zick remembered something: "Be sure to take the crystelion door in the underground facility."

    Yuriel nodded her head before she hesitated and asked a question: "Was your behavior in front of the tower master the real you?"

    Yuriel was just curious about Zick, she wanted to know more about him.

    "No, I was just acting...90�G of it." Zick was open to Yuriel.

    Yuriel heard him and didn''t ask any further questions.

    Zick arrived at the 54th floor shortly, parting with Yuriel there.

    Sitting on one of the benches in this research center-like ce, Zick waited for Veurin.

    A golem with the shape of a wolf ran past Zick, heading towards the other floor, executing whatever Yuriel ordered.

    ''From the amount of mana released by this wolf golem''s core, it must have strength matching a high-rank knight.'' Zick calcted before looking back into the space ring.

    Many other things were left aside from the golems and potions.

    Material, research results, inspiration from many alchemists, golem core, device core, blueprints of certain kinds of machine, which even made Zick squint.

    ''They were already able to conceptualize many machines simr to Earth''s car, aerone, submarine, and many more. if given enough time, this world would have probably already surpassed Earth within a few decades.''

    Having a fleeting thought, Zick went back to looking at the research details. His mind speed was already very fast, he felt that when he became an archmage, his mind would be no different than aputer.

    ''It might even reach the level of the supeputer if Improved further.'' Zick deduced with excitement. This kind of monstrous calcting capacity would give him immense benefits, both while fighting and scheming.

    While going through the research file, time passed by quickly, and Zick sensed someone walking toward him.

    Lifting his head, the sight of Veurin who had a smile on her face entered Zick''s vision. There were visible signs of blood in her body.

    Zick had left Veurin there as she had strength matching a middle-rank mage and the alchemist was thoroughly powerless.

    "Done with your sweet revenge?" Zick asked in a bored tone, he had to keep up his facade.

    "Hey, why do you think revenge feels so good?" Veurin asked, curious about the new emotion she felt.

    "Why ask such a stupid question? Of course, it''s cause you feel pleasure from taking revenge, letting all your hatred out on someone."

    "It''s the same as when I seek pleasure from other people''s suffering," Zick answers with a still oh-so-bored voice.

    Veurin remembered Zick''s prior action of ying with the Alchemist: " Is it that fun?"

    Zick took his gaze off the ring held in his palm and looked at Veurin: "Of course it''s fun, making others suffer and enjoying their misfortune is the best."

    "Being your senior I will guide you too if you want to. I will lead you on this path of bing a trash!" Zick intently looked at Veurin.

    ''What a sadist person through and through...but I like it.'' Veurin was interested and at the same time, a little bbergasted hearing Zick proudly call himself trash.

    "Pfft, haha, still why do you sound so bored?" Veurin asked while sitting beside Zick.

    "Of course ''cause it''s boring waiting here and doing nothing. I can only count the loot we got this time." Zick asked while again looking at the space ring.

    "What about the other women besides you?"

    "Readying to extract the safety and security devices."

    ".....You are nning on not leaving behind a thing, huh...."

    Their conversation continued like that, Veurin was really surprised and admired how Zick was taking over the alchemy tower so nonchntly, it was as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

    After a few minutes, Yuriel returned to Zick atst. She first handed over the space rings to Zick. There were tons of more golems in it too.

    Breathing out loudly, Zick spoke: "Let''s get out of this shit hole, I feel sick waiting for such a long time. If I stayed here any further, I might just throw up!" Vulgar words left Zick''s mouth.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Without saying a word, Yuriel cast the space and invisible magic on herself, Zick, and Veurin.

    They disappeared at once and appeared at a little distance from the alchemy tower. Floating silently in the sky, all of their gazes moved towards the Jhesker alchemy tower.

    "Start the firecrackers then, Let''s see how wonderfully this tower would be lit." Zickughed lightly with expectations.

    Closing her eyes, Yuriel activated the apex-grade mana bombs ced around the alchemy tower.

    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

    BOOOOOM!!!

    The explosion urred around the alchemy tower magnificently. These explosions were huge, destroying whole floors instantly.

    "Hahahaha." Zickughed looking at the alchemy tower that was falling upon the innocent citizen below the ground.

    "Run! Everyone run!"

    "The Jhesker alchemy tower...tower exploded!! Run for your life!"

    "No, my father was within the tower, move aside!"

    The alchemy tower was of course closed off, saying there was a security breach. So no one could enter or go near it

    Amotion broke out on the ground, many people pushed each other and started running with everything they had. Many people died being trampled by the others in this process.

    But they were toote.

    BOOOM!

    The alchemy tower crashed into the ground taking thousands of lives at once.

    Zick spoke in a condensing voice filled with coldness: "See that, the world is like this, here strength reigns supreme above everything. No matter what an ant does, it can never defeat a giant. These people are no different than Ants!" There were some real feelings in this speech that Zick gave to Veurin.

    Veurin looked below with a flickering gaze, Zick''s advice was ringing through her head.

    ....

    Zick and the others returned to the secretb. The hole that Levienel had made on the ground was already repaired.

    "This is our base, a deserted researchb, you can look around if you want to," Zick said in a carefree voice.

    Giving Veurin a room to stay in, Zick came to the control center.

    With the help of theb genie and Yuriel, Zick was able to organize all the things in the space rings.

    Most of the material, golems, magical devices, golem cores, and mana crystals went to theb genie. Zick immediately ordered Yuriel and The Genie to start producing master-rank golems, anything below that was uneptable.

    Five peak master rank golems were included in the list of production. Zick had carefully selected them.

    Zick also prepared to create another biological golem along with it. The war was nearing, it was the best time to collect corpses from everywhere.

    He even got many materials used to create the cure for revelner disease.

    After finishing all the matters that needed to be done including visiting the darton pce, Zick came back to the secretb. He had already informed everyone that he would be away for a week.

    There was no problem with food as fruits and vegetables can be grown in the garden quickly, thanks to the mysterious green gem.

    Zick had also taught Kerene how to create mana nerves and gave tons of high-quality corpses to Veurin to train.

    Zick totally secluded himself in one of the rooms within the secretb.

    ''I am going to directly break through to the master rank and check my strength by fighting the golem after that.''

    Zick''s eyes zed with determination.

    .....

    "What?! the Jhesker alchemy tower was destroyed?!!" Leona screamed at the informant as if the sky was falling.

    "Ye-yes mam! It has been ravaged to the ground by what we spected to be many apex-grade mana bombs!" The informant spoke with difficulty.

    Anastasia beside Leona also had a dazed look.

    Just what kind of organization had the power and audacity to do such a thing?!

    The informant continued speaking: "And we have found the signs of the Jhesker alchemy tower using Dark mage''s and Necromancer''s impure mana as a catalyst to create some golems."

    A frown appeared on Leona''s shocked face: "Human experiment...That might lead to finding the culprit too. Are the other Alchemy towers looking into it?"

    "Yes mam, they have already dispatched their top alchemist and resources. This threat is just too much of an eyesore to them."

    Leona looked at the sheet on the desk: ''I just hope they can catch them soon....''

    Or does she really wants them to be apprehended?

    Wouldn''t it be better if they destroyed the alchemy tower Leona belonged to? That way....

    Leona shook her head.

 Chapter 184 Let The World Be Covered In Death

    Six dayster.

    In the training room.

    Zick looked at the huge humanoid golem before him. It was made of silver-colored metal and even had four thick hands. Its height was three meters.

    It absolutely looked intimidating with its height and master-rank aura.

    Zick slowly warmed his body while circting the aura around his body in a certain rhythm. Dark ck matter danced around him. He was currently not wearing the eye patch, exposing his demonized eye.

    Zick''s body had be the vessel that held his aura, this showed that he had broken through to master swordsman rank. And with the density of his aura, it was apparent that he had walked further into it, reaching mid-master rank.

    With a metallic grunting sound, the four-arm golem before him activated. It readied its four arms to attack Zick at any moment.

    Looking at this, Zick was unfazed, he didn''t even bother unsheathing his sword.

    The golem unleashed four punches at once aiming at Zick''s weak points, Head, rib, sr plexus, and knee.

    It''s punching, creating a sonic boom heading toward Zick aggressively. Any one of these punches alone could easily destroy a pce within seconds.

    When it was all concentrated on a single target, it became all the more terrifying.

    Breeze harshly hit Zick''s face, the terrifying arm filled his vision but the tranquil look on his face didn''t change.

    The shining dark matter that floated around his body at that moment started entering Zick''s body rapidly. At once, Zick''s body shone in dim ck light, which covered the whole body.

    Zick simply stopped the hand aiming at his head with his palm, surprisingly, his palm was only pushed back by an inch.

    When the other attack touched his body, Zick was sent flying three meters, but he stabilized that next moment. His internal was slightly shaken but nothing more, there was no damage in other words.

    The four-arm golem intoned: "Switching to rapid punching mode."

    Zick fixed his normal clothes and readied himself.

    At once a barrage of punches came at Zick instantly, the golem''s speed was very quick, it reached before him in the blink of an eye.

    This time, Zick simply dodged its attack skillfully. The speed which was impossible to keep up for a normal master swordsman was fully visible to him. It was thanks to his demonic eye which gave him a very dynamic vision.

    Only the afterimage of Zick and the arms could be seen.

    Only a few seconds passed but the golem threw out tens of punches within that time. Which was all dodged by Zick, his aura was really special, it gave him a boost in all aspects.

    To master swordsmen, usually, their aura primarily boosts a single aspect, while strengthening other parts of the body by a degree too.

    But, Zick got a boost in all aspects, whether it was senses, reflexes, strength, agility, or flexibility. It even had extreme destructive might, which satisfied Zick.

    And of course, Zick had unlocked the second technique of the demonic pupil.

    It was called the dark reality.

    Zick readied to use it. Using this technique consumes arge amount of aura. ording to Zick''s calction, it consumed thirty percent of his overall aura.

    Hence, it could only be used twice at best, and can only be considered as a trump card.

    Zick''s pupils started turning golden, and his other normal eyes also turned into demonic eyes temporarily.

    ck substance like water gnashed out from below Zick''s feet, covering the whole training hall which was more than a hundred meters instantly.

    In no time, everything was covered in this weird ck substance. Only Zick''s golden pupil and the golem''s red eyes shone in the darkness.

    From the dark floor, a silhouette in the shape of a human rose and moved towards the golem rapidly. It moved almost like a shadow appearing before the golem and stood there like a statue.

    The four-arm golem punched with all four arms at once toward the human-shaped thing before him, but it was stopped dead in its tracks.

    The human-like dark substance stopped it easily by creating two arms from its back.

    ''Not bad.'' Zick thought.

    This golem of course had the strength of peak master rank, which made it clear that Zick could fight peak master rank easily.

    And with the second technique of the demonic pupil, he could match even a quasi-grandmaster with no problem.

    This technique wasn''t limited to creating just one dark human, it could create hundreds of them. And it was possible to create different kinds of monsters.

    Zick could just control the dark substance around the golem and destroy the golem directly too. But he had no intention of doing that, this golem was very precious after all.

    The other aspect that he received a boost in would be the mage profession, he was currently a peak mage.

    Making such a huge leap in strength, Zick felt a lot better than before. The tension and worries in his head lessened by a lot.

    It was a human''s characteristic to worry about things, Zick was not free from this concept.

    Zick''s mindset was a little free now, small matters couldn''t make him worry anymore.

    The dark substance returned to Zick and his one eye returned to normal.

    Zick opened his mouth and spoke in a foreignnguage: "System interface."

    At once many blue screens appeared around Zick, searching for the one with ess to the teleportation coordination, he found it to be the screen on his left.

    Zick quickly used the messed up keyboard on it and activated a teleportation circle.

    A magic circle appeared below Zick and Teleported him to the control room. It took a while for him to learn all this, but he got used to it soon.<novelnext></novelnext>

    .....

    In the control room, Zick sat on the seat before the screens with the dragon egg on hisp. He had brought it here when he decided to seclude himself.

    The tinum egg was very close to hatching, there were already cracks in its surface. It was going to hatch today itself and Zick was looking forward to it.

    Zick looked at the screen before him, which showed the image of thousands of priests before the entrance of the secretb.

    Not only priests but there were also ten thousand knights, mages, and even alchemists.

    With the influence of the churches, they were able to gather a terrifying amount of troops to raid this ce.

    The alchemists were the easiest to invite. This secretb belonged to the old alchemy tower, so they had toe here to take a look.

    ''How nice of them toe here sacrificing themselves for me.'' Zick was very happy about theming to him like this.

    He needed a lot of humans to experiment and sacrifice to make the biological golem after all.

    Even if roughly counted, there were more than fifty thousand soldiers before the secretb entrance. And many had master rank strength too.

    Yuriel appeared beside Zick. He had continued brainwashing her thisst week. He even slept with her sometimes, spending quite a passionate time.

    Yuriel standing close to Zick with only a centimeter distance between them, looked at the screen intently.

    Zick stopped acting before Yuriel, he kept his usual deadpan look.

    "It seems like they are nning to attack once it turns noon." Yuriel deduced looking at their movement.

    "Yeah, and I am nning on capturing them alive as much as possible." Zick was not worried about his safety. He was currently in the silver wing research center''s control room.

    Theb being invaded by the churches was not the primary research center.

    Zick''s eyes moved to a certain person among the readying army: "They really sent in some interesting people. Hahaha"

    Zick had stopped controlling his emotions too much like before. He felt that he would just break from within like that.

    .....

    Anastasia had a dazed look for a long time now.

    First, it was when she saw the portrait of the heretic presented by the church. Shockingly, it was Zick!

    And now, the fact that she and Leona were being thrown into this battle of invading the secretb.

    Leona beside Anastasia had a pale face. She was sent as the representative of the Leitrester alchemy tower.

    It was clear to her who pulled out such a trick on her, it was her brother who wanted her dead dearly. And her father must have ignored it too, he was not interested at all in Leona.

    Rage, disgust, and indignance boiled within Leona making her body shake uncontrobly.

    She had never tried to stand out even once, but still, Leona was thrown onto the battlefield like this. Her brother was thoroughly a cautionist.

    Leona could only trust Anastasia now, even though she ordered Anastasia to run away, she stayed behind stubbornly, winning Leona''s trust.

    "I have an ominous feeling for some reason...."

    "Yeah, me too....." Anastasia also said with a gloomy look.

    .....

    Zick had a thoughtful look.

    With their presence here, it was clear as day that God could not control everything as they wanted.

    Or is the god sending them in as a spy?

    ''They must have known that I wouldn''t kill them until absolutely necessary, so they might be using that to scheme something.''

    Should I just kill them?

    Such thoughts appeared in Zick''s head.

    Being able to create the biological golem, Zick felt the value of these people fell immensely.

    ''I should just go on a mass massacre n as I thought, I might even be able to create tens of biological golems that way.''

    Zick was just waiting for the creation of golems to bepleted. After that, they would be the ones to enter a mass murdering spree.

    ''And as for the talented people, I will direct all their hatred towards the illusionary enemy, that is me, while still being beside them to help.'' Zick smiled thinking this.

    ''And along the way, I just have to strengthen myself with all the resources I can gather.''

    He now just had to gather enough materials from the Everlor organization and mana crystal from the Lectic mountain region.

    Zick had discarded the n of spreading revelner disease after considering it for a while. Then instead, he ordered Levienel to invade another overload organization''s main base.

    She was invading today itself, Zick was waiting for the result now.

    ''I don''t care anymore, let the whole world be engulfed in death.'' Zick''s expression was emotionless.

 Chapter 185 More Like A Human

    Zick, consumed in his emotions, looked at the screen before him nkly. A sense of depression and sickness crawled into his body, making him despondent. It had been a while since he started feeling like this.

    Zick had not realized it before, but the determination and unmoving attitude that he had till now suddenly disappeared. This made him feel awkward in many ways.

    ''Eternal life, I think I wanted to pursue it, but what the hell is happening? Why do I feel no interest in it at all?'' Zick was not able to control his fluctuating emotions. His face distorted weirdly, it felt like the past him felt infinitely distant.

    ''Just what the hell am I doing?'' Zick could not understand anymore. The desire to grow was present within just like always, but it certainly felt very different.

    "Sir Zick, are you alright?" Yuriel ced her hand on my forehead, scanning my whole body for any abnormality.

    Looking at Yuriel''s action, the familiar feeling of affection bloomed within him.

    Feeling this, Zick sighed deeply: ''I am losing it atst....''

    Zick didn''t care anymore, eternal life? It can just screw itself.

    There was no hesitation at all in discarding the goal he set.

    ''I only do what I want to do...'' Zick firmly thought so.

    With the determination within Zick vanishing out of nowhere, he had almost no attachment

    Currently, he only wanted to grow stronger to defeat the demon lord, hence he was still gonna proceed as nned.

    Zick softly ced his hands upon the worried Yuriel''s palm: "Don''t worry about it, I feel a little weird looking at the speed they gathered."

    Zick was able to keep acting normal even in his emotional turmoil state. He was really gifted in acting as he thought.

    Seeing Zick look deadpan as usual, Yuriel spoke calmly: "Yes, the speed of assembling these forces was fast, something is going on in the background for sure."

    Slightly nodding his head, Zick started looking at the position of the golems carefully, he didn''t want any mishaps to happen even if he messed up.

    Seeing Leona moving to the back of the army, Zick slowly got off the seat. In the end, he decided to let Leona and Anastasia escape, and participate in the apocalypse that he would create at ater date.

    "Well, we have given them enough time for them to prepare." Zick ced the silver egg on the seat.

    He continued: "So is everything ready?"

    "Yes," Yuriel answered seriously.

    Zick put on the ck suit with quasi-grandmaster rank defense and put on the same ck mask. The whole time a smile adorned his face.

    ''Ah...Killing and plundering are very exciting things aren''t they?'' Zick could feel his blood boil unlike before.

    He didn''t know if this was the right thing.

    Neither did he know if the current him was the real him or was being manipted.

    And finally, why are emotions so fun?

    ''I feel very funny about my emotions, it gives me a nostalgic feeling simr to when I was back on Earth. It feels like...I became more human?'' Zick thought carefully.

    But Zick only felt awkward for a little time, he was able to ept it soon and move on.

    Actually, it was all weird from the moment he came to this world. He had not noticed it but looking back on it now, everything seems suspicious.

    Zick was a rational monster the whole time, even now he was such.

    But here a point stood out.

    Zick might have been broken, with a very unstable mind but this could not lead him to be perfectly rational as he was!

    How could a person be rational just because they want to?

    If that were the case couldn''t everyone keep a calm attitude in battle and life-threatening moments?

    Zick sighed The more he thought, only a single point resonated with him.

    It was the promise he made to himself at the start of his stay on the battlefield.

    It was to do what he felt like doing, being true to his feelings.

    ''Hmm, but for some reason, I turned into full-on rational mode after that.'' Zick smiled thinking this.

    Even now, Zick felt a little pity for the people who were going to die here. But he still didn''t stop, because he wanted to do it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick knew more than anything that to defeat the demon lord he would need more powerful Golems and allies.

    When Zick was halfway putting on the mask, he looked at Yuriel from the corner of his eyes. Slowly the corner of Zick''s lips curled up.

    "Yuriel, wanna kiss?" Zick smiled at her like it was nothing.

    Yuriel just nodded her head slowly, she hade to like doing ''things'' with Zick a lot. Though she still had a long way to go in his eyes.

    Sharing a long and intense kiss, Zick and Yuriel continued moving through the teleportation circle.

    ''Am I a pervert? Well, more than that I feel nice teasing her....so I must be a sadist, huh?'' Zick thought while he held Yuriel''s hand. He was currently being pulled along. In a while, they arrived right above the preparing army.

    No one was able to find them thanks to Yuriel''s invisible spell.

    Many temporary camps entered Zick''s sight, they were still in a session nning out the way to invade the secretb. They were very cautious as they knew the origin of this ce.

    Zick''s eyes zed over to the main camp: "It seems they are not aware that I already took over that ce....."

    Zick deduced coldly like usual, it seems like this had be an ability of sorts.

    "Activate the energy field," Zick spoke in an eerie voice.

    Yuriel executed his order with no hesitation.

    At once with immense fluctuations of mana, a pure white mana barrier started to form from the middle of the army and started expanding at a rapid rate.

    The people stationed in the rear guard were in their guards feeling the mana fluctuation. The moment they saw the expanding barrier they started to run in at full speed.

    But it was just toote, only a few were able to escape. And among them, Leona and Anastasia were included.

    Anastasia with her crystal-like eyes must have seen the barrier and made a run for it with Leona with no hesitation. She had used multiple body-strengthening magic, making her breathless.

    After looking at this, Zick ignored them and looked at the restless army before. It was alreadymendable that the army had not begun to be in a state of disorder.

    They were just restless.

    ''This is a trained troop I guess. The training ingrained in their body must be what kept them from breaking the formation.''

    This barrier was created by a very strong magical device, Yuriel made it after using ten percent of the whole mana crystal they got from the Jhesker alchemy tower.

    "Order the golems to start moving." Zick looked forward to the golems'' performance. He had simplye here to collect some soul to feed the regretful ne on his neck.

    Instantly, tens of peak masters and master ranks appeared on the battlefield with a blurred glow.

    This was thest push needed for the army''s order to truly break apart. Just the aura released by one of these golems was breathtaking to these soldiers.

    Alchemists were the ones with the ugliest look, they were not front liners but in this situation, they could only grit their teeth and fight with everything they had.

    At once all the golems started rampaging on the battlefield. screams rang out from every corner filling Zick''s and Yuriel''s ears.

    There were only around four people with master-rank strength, they were no match to the golems at all.

    It was mostly one-sided ughter as far as Zick could see.

    In the corner of his vision, Zick could see Leona vomiting in repulsion, looking at what was happening within the barrier.

    Anastasia too was repulsed, but she had not lost reason, she started dragging Leona and herself far away from that ce.

    Looking at the ne glowing dimly on his neck, Zick was satisfied. The troops which surrendered were left alive by Zick''s order.

    Around 15,000 soldiers survived somehow, kneeling on the ground. It was the most disgraceful moment of their life, but nothing but the thought of surviving was present in their head.

    Zick ordered the dead body to be sacrificed for the creation of the biological golem.

    The survivors were also mostly sacrificed, only the minimum needed amount was kept alive for experiments.

    While taking care of the army, Levienel arrived at the secretb. And as expected, she was able to collect all the resources from the main base of the organization.

    Surprisingly, it seems like Levienel came across the organization''s master, killing him in the process. She had collected all the dead bodies too.

    After considering it for a while, Zick sent Levienel off to loot the other two left bases too.

    ''Let''s see just how much I can develop with all these resources. The organization''s master had some good things with him.'' Zick smiled contently.

 Chapter 186 The Birth Of The Silver Dragon

    The barrennd above the secretb was dyed in fresh blood. Monsters were attracted to the ce, but they moved away seeing there was nothing to consume.

    Within the control center, Zick patiently looked at the dragon''s egg above the seat in silence.

    Slowly the cracks on the silver egg intensified, it was almost time for it to hatch.

    Looking at it, A certain memory within Zick awakened.

    It was from when he was still back on Earth. The first and thest ''birth of a life'' he saw wasn''t that pretty.

    ...

    Though it was rare, Zick still left his apartment to buy groceries.

    At a particr point in time, he came across a certain incident.

    Following down the railway that had a single road nearby, one would end up at a shanty town called Zeirrel, which had very few citizens living in it. The ce was almost like a ghost town with beggars here and there.

    Zick or more specifically Noah, who had visited that ce to find something he needed, coincidentally discovered a pregnant woman painted in dirt and blood, giving birth in the middle of an empty plot ofnd during broad daylight.

    There was an ambnce that was just a few meters from the woman, which had fallen to the side. There were signs of blood in the driver''s seat. It was clear as day that an ident had urred here.

    Zick after struggling internally with the bag in his hand, he started walking toward the pregnant woman. He knew that the women had a very low chance of giving birth.

    The surrounding town''s conditions were also anything but good.

    There was not even a proper sewage system, and the roads were filthy and contaminated while it was a conflict zone where refugees weren''t even allowed to dig up wells. The pregnant woman wailed and screamed. Giving birth was a second priority as she cried in pain for help.

    Although there were many onlookers, there was not a single one approaching her. Her appearance as she screamed from the depths of her lungs with an extremely thin body was very horrifying and the ignorant ones watched from a distance while treating her like a pandemic.

    This wasn''t weird, most of the people here were beggars or vagrants, to begin with.

    The only one that approached her was a sick, hungry wild dog, tilting its head and wondering when this will be its food.

    Following the strange feeling inside him, Zick called the ambnce for the woman who didn''t even have the capability of moving.

    But...It was toote, the woman was already in thest state of giving birth.

    Her expression appeared to be seconds away from having somethingrge escape it but shecked strength at thest minute. In the end, her breath that barely held on soon stopped.

    But when the woman stopped her movement, a baby flowed out along with a discharge of blood. Surprised, Zick moved a step forward, but the baby was already dead for some reason.

    A dead woman gave birth to a dead baby.

    With a dazed look on his face, Zick walked away.

    It wasn''t a great experience and he had never been reminded of that incident ever again. But��

    Crack. Crackk�C

    Why did memories of that time resurface in his head while seeing the cracking egg of the Silver Dragon? This memory was long forgotten.

    Crack��

    The hatch was slow and the crevice slowly continued cracking in the shape of a cobweb.

    Sitting silently in the control room, Zick waited until the dragon could leave its shell on its own. Next to him was Yuriel who also waited patiently like him, now held her breath and watched over the birth of life.

    Drop

    A fragment of the broken egg fell on the ground.

    Soon, a small head of a reptile soared out from the hole. With a swollen face and eyes that couldn''t even open yet, the baby dragon slowly turned its face over to the surroundings.

    At this moment, The silver dragon had been born.

    At that instant, the mystical connection between the silver dragon and Zick strengthened. Zick could feel the presence of the silver dragon better than ever.

    Crack...crack~

    The Silver Dragon broke the crevice of the egg, spilling the albumen, the yellow liquid.

    Zick could feel the goodwill that was transmitted to him like crazy.

    ''More than goodwill, affection would be a better word....'' Zick picked up the silver dragon and held it in hand.

    Instinctually, Zick knew that this dragon was a girl.

    She was heavy. Whenever it wriggled its body, its movement clearly reached him through the Silver skin and when he held it into his arms, he felt the loud beating of its heart.

    Zick took out a clean white cloth and started cleaning the liquid off the silver dragon''s body. Starting from the dragon''s white stomach, he cleaned up towards the chest, and then the wings, as well as the tiny head. The small horn on its head was also fully cleaned.

    The Silver dragon let Zick do anything he wanted without any resistance at all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick lightly held the silver dragon, he was wholly interested in this being before him. It was his first timeing across a real dragon.

    Soon, the Silver Dragon''s eyes quivered before being carefully lifted up.

    It stared at Zick.

    And Zick stared back.

    After thinking silently for a second, Zick spoke while directly looking into the Silver dragon''s eyes: " Arianell, that will be your name from now."

    Zick wanted to give it a proper name, but he really was no good in that sense. Therefore, he named it Arianell, which literally means silver in a certainnguage of Earth.

    Shortly, Zick started feeding milk through a bottle with a passive look.

    Gulping the milk down her throat, Arianell stared back and forth between The silent Yuriel and Zick. Although he had no talent for reading the expression of dragons, Zick knew that the dragon was happy thanks to his connection with it.

    ''I wonder If she can be a match to the demon lord after fully growing up....'' Guilt rose within Zick, he was after all Arianell''s father in a way.

    But, Zick had straight priorities, he was sure that he would sacrifice her if there was a moment when his life was in any danger.

    ''Still, it''s funny feeling this emotion after such a long time...'' Zick was lost in nostalgia for a second.

    Zick looked at Arianell before him after finishing the feeding session. He ced her on the ground.

    Closing his eyes, he sent an instruction to her: "Use Polymorph to turn into your human form."

    It was sent to Arianell like a wavelength.

    Arianell knew what Zick meant instantly, closing her small eyes, she started concentrating. At that instant, with a dazzling silver light, Arianell''s body shape started changing rapidly.

    In no time, Arianell, in her polymorphed state, entered Zick''s sight.

    Curly long silver hair in an unkempt, messy state, and Other than that, a small body, a small head, and an even smaller shoulder. Her skin was pale and she had two vertical silver eyes.

    The child that took the form of a human was sitting on the floor tilting its head in every direction. Zick quietly approached the child and crouched down before calling it.

    "Hello."

    Arianell turned to Zick.

    There seemed to be exhaustion and sleepiness hanging on herrge, clear, silver eyes. Zick knew the reason for this exhaustion.

    ording to the data stored in theb, the dragon at their early age slept more than half of the day.

    But the moment Arianell''s eyes found Zick''s eyes, a smile instantaneously flooded her expression. Making a bright smile, Arianell moved her lips but stuttered, perhaps because she didn''t know how to speak yet.

    Arianell, who looked no different than a three to four year old child, got up on her feet. Dragon grows rapidly, she would have the same age as Zick in three years. And then her body would stop aging outwardly, keeping the youthful look for thousands of years.

    Looking at her, First Zick made Arianell wear the clothes he brought beforehand. It was a simple dress in ck color.

    Just when Zick was thinking about what to do next, Arianell lifted both of her hands toward Zick.

    "...." Zick picked her up slowly, As Zick was about to raise Arianell up for a hug, she threw her arms wide open towards him. When he remained still nkly, she leaned forward and held Zick''s two cheeks before pulling him towards herself.

    A small forehead reached and touched Zick''s forehead.

    In that small distance with touching foreheads, the pair of silver eyes blinked and looked directly at Zick.

    Zick smiled: ''Is this the way for it to show its affection?''

    Seeing the sleepiness in The silver eyes, Zick separated with Arianell: "Let''s put you to sleep now."

    Using the silver wing system, Zick along with Arianell teleported to his room. By the moment he ced her on the bed, she was already fast asleep.

    Leaving Arianell to sleep, Zick went back to the control center. Yuriel stood there with a dazed expression.

    "What? Was seeing the birth of life for the first time such a shocking thing to you?" Zick asked.

    Yuriel snapped out of her daze, looking at Zick with a confused look.

    She didn''t know why but she was fascinated by the process ofing into life.

    Yuriel answered: "I don''t know."

    Zick breathed out loudly and looked at the monitor.

    ''Next would be the Lectic mountain region.''

    He had a lot of work to take care of now, but no sign of expansion appeared within Zick.

    It was thanks to him bing a peak-rank mage and a master swordsman. The fact that he was not suppressing his emotions also yed a part in it.

 Chapter 187 Collecting Apex-Grade Mana Crystals

    The next day.

    After ying with Arianell for a while, he put her to sleep. More than y, he was teaching her how to read and talk most of the time. For now, he just read some old storybooks to her.

    Zick fed her some good food prepared by the golems in theb along the way. He was surprised to learn of the existence of such a golem, but it was understandable.

    It was created by the alchemist for convenience purposes.

    And as he had thought, Arianell was timid for some reason.

    ''Are all dragons timid at an early age?'' This was the only exnation Zick could think of.

    But Zick was sure of one thing, Arianell was quite prideful. Even when Arianell talked to her, Arianell outright ignored her.

    Arianell only responded to Zick and stuck closely to him.

    Putting her to sleep, Zick started to head toward the teleportation circle. And of course, he was wearing an eye patch made by Yuriel.

    Zick returned to the Darton''s pce, greeting everyone. This time, he gave the method to create the ''will'' vein to Seveleen and chatted with Varine.

    Their progress wasing along just fine. With their immense talent, there were a few things that could stop their progress.

    Zick didn''t put much of his attention on Kerene, he was going to sacrifice herter on after her rtionship with others grew. As a motivational creator of sorts.

    Kerene''s talent was just too low, and Zick lost interest in nurturing her. But he still acts normal around her.

    Seveleen was surprised by the fact Zick had be a peak-rank mage. She was very suspicious as to how it was possible, but she knew to not stick her nose in others'' secrets.

    Having a feast with them, Zick was sure to give all of them some presents.

    Taking his rtion a step forward, Zick was sure to catch on to what they had discovered so far in this pce.

    And from the fact that Seveleen had not asked where he had gone, Zick was easily able to deduce that Varine had already exposed his ''secret'' of being a member of the Everlor organization by now.

    ''Well, I didn''t instruct her to hide this fact so I am at fault too. Nevermind.'' Zick wasn''t agitated finding this out.

    The next day, he said farewell to everyone and raced off to the Lectic region with Levienel who just appeared.

    Levienel had already fully looted the whole Everlor organization by now. All the materials and resources were kept in the secretb.

    Currently, Yuriel was busy creating the golems, so she was not able to apany Zick.

    ...

    The Lectic mountain region.

    There was not much dark cloud like the first time Zick hade here.

    Soon a golden streak stopped in the middle of the sky, revealing Zick and Levienel within it. With Levienel''s senses, they found a cave in no time and entered it.

    Killing off the monster in there, Levienel began creating a teleportation circle at once. There was not much conversation between Zick and her, they moved as if it was the most natural thing.

    "Connect the magic circle to the secretb." Zick parsed his lips while instructing.

    Levienel set the coordinates while thinking: ''He has changed...His behavior is still the same but there are some subtle changes in his expression now and then....''

    Appearing within the control center of the secretb, Zick could already feel that Arianell was awake through his connection.

    Using the silver wing system, Zick moved to his room instantly. There, the sight of Arianell looking around with her drowsy eyes entered his vision.

    The moment Zick entered Arianell''s view, The drowsiness in her eyes flew away. Getting off the bed, she moved toward him, throwing her arms wide open towards him.

    ''Sigh...I want to quickly make her battle ready, but I know that forcing things could ruin our future rtionship. Taking it slow is the correct answer, I still have a few years.'' Zick held Arianell in one arm while thinking.

    Arianell closely stuck to Zick''s suit while burying her head into his chest, hiding her embarrassed face.

    Looking at this, Zick''s eyes froze: ''Her timidness and shyness are driving me crazy!''

    ''Though I have no experience in raising a child, I have to find a way to turn this girl into a ''proper'' dragon!''

    Zick started heading towards the Lectic region again using the teleportation circle.

    ''This mystical feeling that lets me know that Arianell is going to wake up is really handy.'' Zick thought while looking at the icy cave.

    Zick wanted to make Arianell used to stay alone, therefore he had experimented a while ago.

    Leaving the woken-up Arianell alone, Zick continued training. But the results were disastrous, his whole room was destroyed by the berserk mana.

    Arianell''s talent with mana was out of this world, the mana around her reacted to her emotions destroying the surrounding. For this reason, Zick had to stay with her all the time she was awake.

    If he had arrived a littlete, the damage to the surrounding area would have been devastating. Manybs might have been destroyed in the worst-case scenario.

    It was shocking that just a newborn dragon wielded such strength.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "...Your daughter?" Levienel asked with a nk look.

    Zick was surprised: ''Ohh, she learned to crack jokes? Or no I guess.''

    "Yeah, this is my daughter, her name is Arianell." Zick introduced her as if it was the most natural thing.

    "...." Levienel looked at the cute little girl on Zick''s arm, she felt a familiar aura, which made her eyes widen involuntarily.

    "This child, she is the daughter of the dragon lord. But how..." A very old memory resurfaced in her mind.

    Levienel still remembered the invincible being that could defeat her with a flick of its finger. At that time, the war was still going on. The dragon lord was angrily trying to break the mist barrier around the three continents.

    Returning to reality, Levienel didn''t know what to say.

    "Let''s do what we came here for first," Zick said with no hesitation. He found very good use of snow essence, it could be used to create a certain kind of golem.

    The alchemist discovered its use a long time ago. Not only snow essence but even fire, water, and wind were included in it.

    The wind-type golem created by Wind essence was the one that caught Zick''s attention the most.

    Its strength was in the quasi-grandmaster rank.

    Thus, Zick was already nning on how to get his hand on it.

    The most surprising thing was that: Yuriel could create a new golem''s blueprint with enough data. In other words, he just has to keep increasing her knowledge. That way he would get many more golem blueprints in the future.

    Yuriel had already created five modified golems with master rank strength.

    With Zick''s instruction, Levienel scanned the whole area around them at once. She found a mana crystal node just a few kilometers away from them.

    At once Levienel started moving towards it with Zick and Arianell. Nothing got in their way as they arrived at the peak of a huge mountain.

    With no hesitation, the golden streak that they were in started digging into the mountain, going underground.

    Arianell held onto Zick''s armor tightly.

    Bang!

    Shortly, they pierced into a passage.

    After the dust resided, Zick could see the end of the passage shining brightly. But before Levienel could move, a hishing of a monster could be heard resounding throughout the passage.

    A monster having the appearance of a snake slithered toward them rapidly. There were two vertical horns on its head and its whole body was covered in a thick cier, acting like a shield.

    Cold mist closely attached itself to the snake, and an intimidating aura was being released from its body.

    Zick was not tense even after a monster with master-rank strength appeared. Before it could even get within ten meters of the radius around Zick, its head was sent flying.

    BAM~

    The cier snake''s head fell on the icy floor.

    Arianell looked at the blood-stained floor quietly. This was her first time seeing such a creature, so she was a little curious.

    Zick and Levienel started moving into the main room leisurely. He passed by the corpse and Entered the dazzling room behind it.

    Zick''s eyes shone looking at the sight before him, as far as his vision could see, only the apex grade mana crystal filled his vision.

    ''Haha, With this much, there shouldn''t be a problem to create another 300 master rank golem.'' A sense of exhration rose within Zick.

    If just one mana crystal node held this many apex-grade mana crystals, then the other node also held just as many mana crystals.

    ''And...The main node might have even more than this...'' Zick smiled.

    Zick started collecting the mana crystal rapidly, he didn''t care about the mud and rock stuck on it. He had dozens of space rings with him.

    Within a few minutes, The whole room became deste. There wasn''t even a piece of mana crystal left.

    Next, Zick took out dozens of humanoid golems the size of a human. This golem didn''t have a human face and instead looked had a mask with only two gems in the shape of eyes on it.

    In this golem''s group, the strongest five had peak rank strength, while the others had high and middle-rank strength.

    After making five teams, Zick ordered: "Go and collect all the mana crystals in the passages, then bring them to this ce."

    The golems started moving at once hearing the cold voice.

    Zick and Levienel started heading toward the other nodes.

    He brought Arianell so that she could gain some experience and be used to stuff.

 Chapter 188 The Minotaur

    Thebination of rationality and emotions, that was Zick''s current state. Many unfamiliar impulses rose within him randomly now and then.

    What would happen if he were to kill all the royalties of the Eastern continent?

    What kind of result might be produced if the whole elven kingdom is put in a dangerous situation?

    Zick was looking forward to it, dragon or world tree, which of these would interfere?

    It was very interesting, especially Aeiron, he was already moved to the secretb. He was kept in tight security where only Zick and Yuriel could enter.

    From what Yuriel could deduce, Aeiron might never wake up from his slumber. Thus, Zick decided to use Aeiron''s body for a certain experiment.

    After all, Aeiron did have a grandmaster rank potential, it would be very interesting if the experiment seeded.

    Zick already had one cursed sword, there was no need for another just yet. Who knows, the blessing of the sun might interfere too.

    Emotions were quite intriguing, they went beyondmon sense, a fully unpredictable concept.

    Especially Zick, he got a little used to his emotional pattern by now, but it still was unpredictable. He had to keep experiencing new things to be fully able to grasp them.

    Heading towards another mana crystal node, Zick thought to himself: ''I am sure of one thing, I am a total hypocrite now haha.''

    He felt pity, but he still killed them non the less.

    He felt sorry for the people of the Eastern continent, but he would still cause an apocalypse-like situation.

    It was hypocrisy in a way.

    ''Well, it''s not like I mind, it feels like my emotions and ideology aren''tpatible. But, I will still follow my ideology while only moving by my emotions when it''s alright. This is the best course of action. I even have impulses of killing some annoying people but hold it in.'' This was long decided by Zick.

    Being controlled by emotions in this situation, where he was not invincible could only lead to certain death in the future.

    "...."

    In the end, his goal came back to attaining immortality and omnipotence. As long as one has strength one can do whatever he wants, this wasn''t fully wrong.

    ''I guess I will still pursue strength above all others. Once I have attained immortality, I will try doing new things... Like ying with Arianell for real, well if she is alive by then.'' Resolution rose within Zick.

    Once that happens, he would not be chained anymore. If he was in a good mood, he would bless the world with prosperity. And if he was in a bad mood, the world would be filled with death. The world, no, the whole universe would revolve around his emotions.

    Expectation rose within Zick, making him look forward to that moment.

    Zick, Arianell, and Levienel next went to all the other mana crystal nodes, there were six of them in total. They came across many monsters, Ice cyclop, ice spiders, ice basilisks (lizards), and more.

    After stationing golems at all the six mana crystal nodes, Zick, atst, set his sight upon the main node of the mana crystal mine.

    It was in the middle of the Lectic mountain region, near the tallest mountain.

    They started digging into the ground like before immediately, Arianell has already grown used to this by now too.

    They pierced through the ground and kept moving deeper. Slowly, the ground grew tougher thanks to the immense flow of mana nearby. But it couldn''t slow down Levienel at all, she moved unhindered like ever.

    Crack!

    Levienel directly pierced through the mana crystal and entered the main node.

    Suddenly, Levienel along with the other two moved away to the distance.

    Swoosh! Boom!

    An ice spearnded on the ce where they stood before. A dense aura was being released by the crystal-like spear.

    Zick''s eyes squinted, his skin was crawling with tensioning in contact with the opponent''s presence.

    The main node''s center point was a huge ce, the ceiling was at least thirty meters high, while the width of this ce was more than hundreds of meters.

    Zick looked at the monster who stood in the distance.

    It had a body the size of a small hill. Its leg was that of a bull covered in thick frost-like armor, ice spikes protruded from its knees while its spiky tail swayed around. Its head was that of a bull with two sharp horns on it.

    A minotaur.

    And from the aura that it let out, it was undoubtedly a grandmaster rank monster.

    Zick''s eye flickered with a cold light: ''It would have been dered as one of the disasters if its existence was known without a doubt.''

    ''Still...Just how many years did it spend here to be such a monster? Normal minotaurs have Peak rank strength so it must have stayed for a long time for sure.''

    The minotaur lifted its right hand at that moment, and a huge axe made of total ice formed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The minotaur could feel that Levienel was an opponent that could not be looked down upon. Its intelligence was on par with humans, it waited for Levienel to be the one to attack first.

    Looking at this, Zick smiled lightly: "Miss Levienel, do you think it is possible to capture this thing?"

    He pointed at the minotaur with no worry, Zick was aware of Levienel''s capabilities better than anyone else. She had strength that almost reached the peak of the grandmaster rank, with her immortality, she was truly undefeatable against any grandmaster-level being.

    "It''s possible," Levienel answered with no hesitation.

    "Then please capture it alive, It wille in use as a study specimen." An emotionless voice left Zick''s mouth.

    Immediately after, Levienel vanished from her position and reappeared above the minotaur.

    A ball of golden light formed in her hand, simr to a flower blooming. It shone in a blinding light not suppressing its aura at all.

    Seeing this move for the first time, Zick looked at it closely with keen interest.

    Arianell in his hand looked at the beutiful sight fixedly. She got a little worried about Zick and scared when the minotaur appeared. It all flew away looking at the sight before her.

    Hundreds of golden chains sprouted out from the golden light in Levienel''s palm, they twisted and moved towards the ice minotaur briskly.

    The minotaur did not stay idle, the axe in its hand grew in size at once as it swung at the iing chains.

    Boom!

    Harsh air pressure was created instantly, impacting even the ce Zick stood in. Arianell and his hair fluttered immensely facing the harsh wind.

    Zick looked forward: ''As expected...''

    Unsurprisingly, the golden chains pierced through the ice axe, wrapping around the Minotaur''s wrist, and restraining it firmly.

    The other golden chains moved to the other part of the minotaur''s body.

    "Rooaar!!" With an angry roar, the minotaur''s body started releasing an icy aura. This aura took the shape of spikes and instantly shot toward Levienel and the chains.

    These spikes could easily kill dozens of peak master-level beings, but it was useless against Levienel.

    The chains twisted moving at an extremely fast pace, breaking these imposing spikes in the blink of an eye.

    The Minotaur was agitated now, its opponent was just too strong!

    Zick eyes flickered in a cold light, the whole fight was mostly one-sided as he predicted.

    Truthfully, there was no need for this fight to ur, Zick could have taken care of the minotaur by himself using the regretful ne. But he didn''t use it.

    It was very rare to see Levienel use her real strength. Zick wanted to find out all of Levienel''s trump cards so that if she were to turn against him, the chances of his survival increases dramatically.

    ''Well, I can straightforwardly ask her, but what if she hid some trump card? In the first ce, her curse is something that holds the power equal to a God''s blessing, if I am not wrong...'' Zick''s eye left the minotaur and looked at Arianell.

    "What do you think?" Zick looked right into her eyes with a passive look. The meaning behind his words was sent through their connection.

    Zick was asking whether she could be as strong as Levienel one day.

    He was not expecting any answer, but he still got an energetic reply.

    A determined look appeared on Arianell''s face as she nodded her head repeatedly.

    Looking at this, Zickughed lightly: "Hahaha, work hard then, I will look forward to that day."

    Zick patted Arianell''s head softly as a show of affection, he meant what he said.

    ''If you grow strong enough in the future, I won''t have to sacrifice you.''

    Arianell''s head automatically buried itself in Zick''s chest, hiding her face.

    Shortly, Levienel walked out of the dust that was created from the fall of the Minotaur''srge body.

    The minotaur''s body was being dragged along with her, through the golden chains. It was motionless with its conscience pulled out of its body by Levienel.

    "Wait a minute." Zick took out a round-shaped device with a green jewel in its middle, its size was the same as Zick''s palm.

    When Zick sent his mana into it, the green gem started shining dimly.

    After a second, Yuriel''s voice left the gem: "What might be your order, sir Zick."

    "Empty the sector A-16 and create arge-scale teleportation circle there. I will be sending an experimental specimen in."

 Chapter 189 The Upper Stage Of The Master Rank

    Many thick clouds of mana particles floated around the main node silently. They were so densely packed that it was even visible to the naked eye of a normal human being.

    A pool of snow essence was in the corner of the gigantic room, with a few snow essence crystals here and there.

    ''Oh, There was no snow essence crystal in the other nodes, but there is some here.'' Zick looked around after sending away the Minotaur to the secretb.

    Walking to the middle of the main node, A small pir entered Zick''s sight. It looked very mysterious, shining in a fluctuating aurora color.

    Levienel''s nk expression had a mild change: "This is a summit-grade mana crystal."

    Zick stared with interest upon hearing this.

    ''So there is a grade above Apex grade in mana crystal. Now that I think of it, Aeiron was quite lucky that he didn''t explore deeply at that time.''

    Zick extended his free hand: "It wille in use I guess."

    The summit-grade mana crystal entered Zick''s space ring. Next, he started looting the whole ce as usual.

    The main node chamber looked beutiful with all the mana crystal shining everywhere, but it turned deste the very next moment. A gloomy atmosphere took ce there.

    Taking out around 50 to 60 golems of which some even had master ranks strength, Zick sent them off to collect mana crystals in groups.

    There might be multiple master-grade monsters so Zick came prepared.

    Zick''s eye turned to Levienel: ''Subordinates are supposed to be used anyway.''

    Zick spoke with no hesitation: "Miss Levienel, please create a teleportation circle here and connect it to the Secretb. And please destroy the one you made prior too."

    After Levienel made the teleportation circle, Zick ordered her to collect all the mana crystals and head back to the secretb; he felt there was no need to do it himself.

    .....

    After a while.

    In the control center, with Arianell in hisp, Zick looked at the result of the thing he asked Yuriel a week back.

    "So, It''s possible to create a golem with intelligence and they would be loyal to me too. Along with that, they would have the capacity to create more golems by themselves." Zick said with a slight smile on his face.

    "Yes, their battle capacity is around peak rank, but they can create master-grade golems by themselves. This new golem would be loyal to you too." Yuriel knew Zick''s personality by now.

    He was a cautionist to the extreme, if there was even a chance of this n harming him, he would discard it immediately. Zick wouldn''t take risks when unnecessary.

    "That''s good, manufacture around 10,000 of them and keep them ready. How many master-grade golems have been created thus far?" Zick turned his head to the screen before him.

    "42 have been created and another 305 are in process of being created," Yuriel reported within a second.

    Hearing the number, Zick was satisfied for now: "With the ones I got from the Jhesker alchemy tower, there must be more than 55 master-grade golems."

    Zick looked at the screen at his left: "Around a million golems have already been created and even more are being made as we speak. What is the estimated time for all the important projects to finish?"

    The golem cores that Zick got from the Jhesker alchemy tower came to good use here. Magical device cores were also put to good use.

    "In a month and a half," Yuriel answered Zick''s question.

    Zick held his chin in contempt: "Send in peak master-grade golems to loot the water crystal mine in Restuckin and fire crystal mine in the Uethec, the volcanic region. Levienel has already gone to the Eirevelt to loot the earth crystal mine."

    "Once this is over, start the construction of other master grade and higher grade golems. And use the low-grade material and crystals to make the mob golems." Zick threw out tasks like a machine.

    Bing a peak-rank mage gave him an immense boost in his mental abilities.

    "Alright and the biological golem V-2 is 30�Gpleted by the humans we sacrificed."

    "Ohh, 30% already? That''s good, you modified it to have no conscience like I instructed right?" Zick rubbed the head of Arianell who was reading the book as per his instruction.

    "Yes, That might also be the reason the required amount of body fell."

    Zick needed puppets that he could control with no hesitation, so he was sure to alter the biological golem to have intelligence but no free will or emotions.

    The biological golem would follow his order like a robot now.

    ''So another two months and I will begin my n.'' Zick did not feel that sorry anymore, he felt like doing this was a normal thing.

    ''Oh, are the emotions adjusting to me atst hmm? Well, that''s for the best.'' Zick''s attention shifted to another matter.

    It was about how to use the next two months to the fullest. Truthfully, Zick felt there to be no need for him to personally step up and act as a viin.

    But a certain feeling told him to do it: ''I just can''t help but feel excited thinking about what kind of expression those guys would have after finding out that I am the one who caused all the disasters.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick turned out to be a sadist in the end. Bing a viin would truthfully gave him a sense of freedom, he could do whatever he wanted, destroy, kill, or any other crime.

    which was also a reason he wanted to do it.

    Zick sent his consciousness to the space ring. There were seven elixir-grade potions within it that could be used to strengthen the body.

    But even with these potions, Zick was not sure if he could reach even the upper stage of the master rank, peak master rank was even faraway.

    Slowly the elixir was losing effect on his body.

    Zick was not willing to take the snow essence too as per Yuriel''s words, having two elements or more in a body might lead to his foundation in the future being damaged.

    ''Dragons...Dragon is the only thing that can boost my strength by leap and bound right now.''

    ''But it is still not the appropriate time, I can move once the demonic race attacks for real.'' A sharp light passed by Zick''s eye.

    The minotaur he captured was put to sleep through the regretful ne too, Yuriel was currently reducing a way to turn it into a golem for Zick.

    After Arianell fell asleep after a few hours, Zick used the elixir-grade potions with no hesitation, taking him to the upper stage of master rank. Which was just a stage below peak master rank.

    Next, Zick moved to Darton''s pce.

    ...

    Listening about Zick''s arrival from the cat, Varine moved towards him immediately. Her steps were nimble and silent, matching that of an assassin.

    Varine''s talent was fully disyed; she was able to be a low-rank assassin in a week from the lowest rank.

    Seveleen was going to be a peak-rank mage in a few months too. The higher the rank, the more time is required to breakthrough. That wasmon sense throughout this world.

    Zick always broke it using unconventional means, not everyone can do such a thing.

    Zick sat on the fountain while chatting with Seveleen.

    "I feel that something big is going to happen soon," Zick spoke with solemness as if he was looking at a big scheme.

    "Something big?" Seveleen asked, a little confused.

    "Yes, the way the main ruling forces are moving and the appearance of a mysterious force....it really is giving me a bad feeling."

    Zick had already spoken about the destruction of the Jhesker alchemy tower.

    Zick continued: "Luckily your sister was not in that alchemy tower."

    A while ago, Zick had given the list of ves in the Jhesker alchemy tower to Seveleen. She didn''t ask how he got his hand on it as she already connected the dots and reached a conclusion.

    It was most likely the nonexistent Everlor organization.

    Seveleen smiled hearing Zick: "Thank you, mister Zick."

    She didn''t know how hard it was for Zick to get his hand on the list, but she knew that it wasn''t something that could be acquired for free.

    "It''s not a big deal, I already said that I will help you find your sister, I am just keeping my word." Zick turned his head to the right, feeling Varine to be arriving.

    "Good evening, sir Zick." Varine greeted Zick with the cat on her shoulder.

    "Human...." The cat jumped onto Zick''sp. The cat was shocked looking at Zick''s growth once again. It was not aware of his action so it was confused in many ways.

    Zick took out a bottle of premium wine with a nk look.

    The cat held the bottle instantly. There was no need for any conversation between them to understand each other.

    Zick wanted the cat to continue doing what it was doing till now and the cat epted.

    Zick turned to Varine with an expressionless face: "How is the traininging along?"

    "It''s going well, I will breakthrough to middle rank in a month," Varine answered nkly too.

    Seveleen looked at this strange duo, where both of them had nk looks. But there was a sense of harmonization between them.

    Zick didn''t change his behavior much from the past. Neither did he feel the need to change it.

    ''These people are going to go through a lot in a while. All I need to do is to make them grow at a rapid rate with all the hardship.''

    Zick and the other three continued chatting away for a while.

 Chapter 190 The Innumerable Flower Garden.

    More than a month quickly went by.

    Within this time, Zick tried using the regretful ne upon himself after killing one of the well-known side characters of the novel, only to find out that it had no effect.

    For unknown reasons, the ne lost its effect on Zick. Many ways were tried, like passing the ownership to Yuriel and using it on himself and many more.

    But all of it failed with no exception.

    In the first ce, the information about the regretful ne was very inadequate. This kind of phenomenon was most likely just one of its functions.

    ''Haha, Well of course the person who made it would do such a thing. If not, it would be possible to visit the doll gallery again and again.'' Zick heaved a sigh and let the matter go.

    If he could not do anything about it, why waste time worrying about it?

    Zick just moved on to the next thing, the construction of the golems.

    With all the resources gathered from the Jhesker alchemy tower, the Everlor organization, and the Lectic mountain region, more than 15 million golems with peak rank strength were created.

    And to top it up, some golems could use the material they gathered from killing and use it to create more golems. These intelligent golems could learn too, in another word they could modify the golems by themselves.

    All this modified golems data would be sent to the secretb''s database, which was enhanced too.

    To store them, Zick used all the space rings he gathered from all around the ce. Most of them came from members of the Everlor organization.

    More than estimated, around 500 master-grade golems were created. Of these, 32 of them had peak master rank strength.

    And for thest, five quasi-grandmaster ranks and one grandmaster rank golem were created.

    The grandmaster grade golem was made from the minotaur, making it a kind of biological golem too.

    While the five quasi-grandmaster rank golems were made from the new Blueprint Yuriel created. Her supeputer-like brain was able to make their draft easily.

    There was still a lot of material in Zick''s storage. If there was any need for it, he could just take it from any one of the three alchemy towers.

    The time for the imminent disaster wasing closer. In three days, the Eastern continent would be thrown into peril that they might never recover from.

    Most of the soldiers from the Eastern continent were gathered in a single ce too. They were preparing for war, but for Zick, It was like they were making things more convenient.

    ....

    Arianell sitting on the corner of the bed hugging a soft teddy bear in small arms had slumped shoulders. The teddy bear was a gift that Zick gave to her a week ago.

    Unlike in the beginning, Zick was able to move away from her!

    After working hard, Zick was able to make it so that Arianell understood that he couldn''t be with her all the time. Like doing many tasks before her, or faking tiredness.

    Another fact was also realized while Zick took care of Arianell, she was actually not timid when faced with others!

    Arianell was only timid with Zick, making him a little relieved. Timidness could lead to cowardly decisions, it wasn''t something that he needed.

    Zick''s room was in with nothing special.

    Arianell fixedly looked at the door, waiting for Zick. She was currently wearing a luxurious dress with glistening pink jewels.

    "Mam, may I read a story for you?" A butler asked. It was a golem that Zick made with intelligence and emotions a few stages below humans, but it was totally loyal to Zick as programmed.

    "...." Arianell ignored the butler golem. Her height grew by a lot in this month, she lookedparable to a six-year-old child. Her strength was also at the top of peak rank mage, ording to Zick.

    In reality, this golem had a special purpose of its own. It was to send a signal to Zick the moment any weird thing happened to Arianell.

    Swish~ Zick appeared along with a teleportation circle below his feet.

    Zick knew better than anyone that it was not good to leave Arianell alone for more than an hour. Loneliness was not something she could bear.

    Arianell put aside the teddy bear on the bed and ran to Zick, signaling to pick her up.

    Seeing this, Zick felt bitter internally: ''She is as silent as ever, huh?''

    Zick held Arianell in his arm, unlike before, her nose reached up to his nose.

    ''She is growing really quick but...I really wish that she would behave like a normal kid...''

    He tried giving Arianell things to y with but she got bored of it in no time.

    Zick tried sending her on a trip with Yuriel or Levienel too, but Arianell shook her head, rejecting it with no hesitation!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Sigh...Butler, stay in this room for now. No one will be visiting for a while." Zick vanished activating another magic circle.

    Zick and Arianell were going on a trip now.

    With Arianell growing rapidly, her sleeping time fell to 10 hours a day.

    After considering it for a long time, Zick chose a spot for them to go on a trip

    The innumerable flower garden.

    The innumerable flower garden was located in the Gorthect empire. It was a ce that anyone could visit, it was artificially created by them. It was one of their pride.

    ....

    The Sevielt city.

    The next time Zick opened his eyes, a normal room greeted him. Arianell in his arm snuggles closer to his chest, settling into a more warm andfortable position.

    Even Zick had to admit that Arianell was very cute, it gave him peace of mind.

    Without a word, Zick got out of the room and headed towards the flower garden leisurely. He had dozens of protective devices on him and his battle strength was also reaching quasi-grandmaster rank, so there were not many things that could threaten him.

    Walking on the streets of Sevielt city which was a hugemercial city, many people filled the sidewalks.

    It was the first time for Arianell to move into such a busy ce, she looked forward closely.

    They soon arrived at the west of the city, where the innumerable flower garden was located.

    Many people stood in multiple long lines waiting to enter. It cost a tinum coin for one member to enter, which was quite costly.

    With no hesitation, Zick activated the item he had on his wrist. A transparent ck glow covered both Zick and Arianell before they vanished in thin air.

    Strengthening his legs with aura, Zick leaped into the air, and at once the beutiful sight of the flower garden entered both of their sights. There were flowers as far as Zick and Arianell''s eyes could see. This flower garden covered around 3 kilometers of area, which was veryrge.

    Propelling himself using magic, Zick arrived right above the center of this garden, where a huge fountain was located.

    Seeing Arianell starting with interested eyes, Zick spoke in a calm voice: "It''s an admirable sight, right?"

    Arianell nodded her head immediately, bringing a bitter smile to Zick''s face. No matter what he says, Arianell would agree to it immediately normally like this.

    Afternding in a ce covered with bushes and flowers, Zick undid the invisible device''s effect. He walked to the road of the garden with a in face.

    Many people were roaming around the huge za of the flower garden. Many stalls were also selling their goods around this za.

    In the middle of this, Zick and Arianell looked like normal father and daughter who came to enjoy their time. Well, of course, if their expressionless faces were ignored.

    But still, they both had very attractive faces which made many people stare at them. No one neared them as Zick walked to the flower to which Arianell seemed to be most attracted.

    People moved away as if they were beings that could not be neared too easily. With Zick''s suit and Arianell''s beutiful clothes, they looked exactly like nobles.

    Walking before the purple flower which glowed mysteriously, Zick looked at Arianell who was staring at a flower. Suddenly, she turned her head away as if lost interest.

    ''....She loses interest quickly like ever.'' Zick noted down mentally.

    Zick moved to the fountain, where most of the people were gathered. He ced Arianell on the grey wall around the reservoir of the fountain and he himself sat upon it too.

    Seeing this, Arianell smiled slightly and started ying with the water like the other kids.

    But it didn''tst long, Arianell lost interest in it rather quickly.

    ''Well, it is my fault to think that a dragon''s child would be normal.'' Zick calmly epted.

    Zick got up and picked up Arianell who sat beside him silently.

    Walking to the stall, Zick looked at Arianell: "What do you want?"

    Arianell shook her head, she let Zick choose whatever he felt to be appropriate.

    Buying some skewers, Zick and Arianell sat on one of the benches, eating the skewer in silence.

    ''Is this how trips are supposed to be? Quite dull from what I expected.....'' This was Zick''s first trip ever too.

 Chapter 191 All Alchemy Tower Destroyed

    Arianell on Zick''sp looked at the people walking around her. The fresh air filled with the pleasant scent of the flowers brushed past her nose. Rxation brushed off her body making her loosen up, it wasn''t unpleasant to experience something new every once in a while.

    Zick looked at the clear sky with a nk look: ''Arianell''s natural element is space just like Yuriel, so should I take her to a ce where space element is abundant?''

    There was only one ce Zick knew where space element materials formed naturally. This information came from the novel and it was located in the middle continent.

    ''I can take her to that ce sometime in the future. It would have been enjoyable for her if we went to an amusement park, but unfortunately, such a thing doesn''t exist in this world.''

    ''This flower garden is more attractive to families and couples toe to rx and enjoy.''

    At that moment, Zick felt someone walking toward him. Not one, but dozens of people were slowly moving toward them.

    "Umh...Kuuh, how can someone be so cute?! Do you want to eat some cream toast?" A young girl offered a toast with a smile to Arianell.

    Looking at the toast with a nk look for a second, Arianell turned towards the flower, fully ignoring the young woman before her.

    The young woman made a heartbroken expression at once seeing this reaction.

    Just then another woman jumped from the crowd: "Then, then how about some fresh Antreil fruit?!"

    This woman was left heartbroken too seeing Arianell not interested.

    Another person offered a skewer but was simrly ignored by Arianell.

    "But why? I saw her eating some skewers a while ago."

    Zick looked at all these nkly, how people came offering something and returned with a heartbroken look.

    ''....Now that I think about it, kids of her age like sweet things. Hmm....'' Zick got up holding Arianell in his left arm, he too ignored the people who came to attract Arianell''s attention.

    With Zick''s wide perception, he found the stall he was looking for immediately. An ice cream stall.

    Zick didn''t bother asking Arianell, he just brought two ice creams of Jelstel vour, which was simr to strawberry vour from the earth.

    "Here." Zick handed over a cup to Arianell in his arms.

    Instantly, a bright smile blossomed on Arianell''s face as she took the ice cream.

    The people from afar,

    "Ah, so she liked ice cream..."

    "Kids of her age like to eat such things, how could I have forgotten?"

    Zick started moving to the other areas of the flower garden. He visited all the main areas, like mirrorke, or the tinum oak tree.

    Arianell enjoyed seeing this new thing, there were even some spirits that appeared and flew around them.

    Everywhere they went, many people''s attention was attracted to Zick and Arianell.

    After roaming around for a while, they visited everything they could visit.

    "Let''s go back shall we?" Zick said while looking at the sun which was already in the middle of the sky.

    Using the teleportation circle in the inn, Zick and Arianell appeared within the secretb. He was sure to make it so that the magic circle vanishes after a second.

    After an hour,

    Sitting on the seat in the observation room, Zick looked at the experiment that was being performed in theb through the ss window.

    Arianell in Zick''sp was trying to eat the jello before her. She picked up the jello from her chopsticks but it escaped into the bowl again.

    Angrily, she directly poked into the jello, and slowly lifted it, but aftering out of the bowl, it separated into two sections and fell.

    Anrianell''s mind froze at that moment with the chopstick motionless in midair.

    "...." Arianell with a nk look stayed silent.

    Seeing Arianell staring nkly at the jello, Zick''s eyes squinted.

    ''What the hell is wrong with that butler? Giving a child a chopstick...That golem''s intelligence is below humans so it could not think this far...Still seeing chopsticks is rare.''

    In truth, The butler golem worked ording to the manual, jello in this world is eaten with chopsticks, and it was kind of a tradition.

    Zick wasn''t well-versed in using chopsticks either, thus he used magic to levitate the jello from the bowl.

    Arianell''s nk eyes were filled with liveliness at once, with a bright smile she ate the jello which floated before her mouth.

    Zick looked towards the researchb before him. There was a bed right in the middle of the research room. And Aeirony on a bed with Multiple blood tubes on him.

    Aeiron''s value in Zick''s eyes was higher than all the others right now. Because, the blessing of the sun god could be used to perform the sealing technique that he inherited from Fuiren, the giant hero''s memory.

    Of course, with theplete blessing of the sun god, a very strong demonic sword would have been created, but it was not as appealing as the sealing technique.

    Hence, Zick didn''ty his finger on the blessing within Aeiron. What he was currently doing was �� trying to extract the potential from his body!

    This experiment was performed by Yuriel herself.

    The result of the experiment was �� only 10�G of Aeiron''s total potential could be extracted. Any more than that and he might die.

    Zick felt that he could use this potential to strengthen himself. If he could, he would have liked to rinse Aeiron of his whole potential.

    ''Everything does not go the way a person wills, I can only ept this result and move on like always.'' Zick thought before looking at Aeiron closely.

    Blood was slowly being extracted through the tubes, entering the devices around Aeiron. Then that blood was again sent back to him, but it looked a little dull as if it had lost its vitality.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This process went on for a while before the devices came to a stop. The limit that Yuriel set had been triggered.

    On closer look, Aeiron appeared a little sick with pale skin and even shuddered randomly.

    Yuriel appeared before the device and took out a test tube filled with shining red blood. She then vanished and reappeared beside Zick, handing over the test tube.

    "Good work, Yuriel," Zick spoke with his attention drawn by the test tube.

    A smile was drowned out by Yuriel hearing Zick''s praise. Their rtionship had also be something that could not be easily broken.

    Zick drank the blood in the test tube with no hesitation. Giving the test tube to Yuriel, he concentrated on the hot energy moving within his body.

    This energy vanished after a second, fully absorbed by Zick''s body, causing him to purse his lips.

    ''I still have a long way to go before I reach a peak master rank. If I try normally, with my potential I should be able to reach it within a year. And to break through to grandmaster rank, around five to six years is needed.'' Zick calcted seriously.

    Taking a deep breath, Zick looked at Yuriel while continuing to feed Arianell: "Has the creation of the fortress beenpleted?"

    A smile appeared on his face automatically.

    "It has beenpleted as per your order, the main core is also made by the Summit grade mana crystal."

    The smile on Zick''s face grew by a level: "That''s good."

    A fortress, it was a fortress just in name. It was actually a flying city-like structure. It could continue to create golems and fix any damage caused to them.

    But that wasn''t the only ability of this fortress, its destructive might was so strong that half of the kingdom could be destroyed with a single strike from its main cannon.

    Hundreds of more functions are also installed in it, making it indestructible.

    There was also a function that helped it collect dead bodies, there was a capsule used to make biological golems within it.

    Veurin had also grown to the point that she could control multiple peak-rank corpses. Zick would talk to her sometime and even assign her some mission to take in some fresh air.

    "Be ready tounch it within two days," Zick said and moved to the control center.

    Arianell in his arms had a sleepy look. Zick seeing this put her on the bed immediately.

    Sitting on the seat in the control center, Zick''s eyes turned cold.

    "Report the result of the experiment code-named biological enhancement."

    Theb genie materialized beside him immediately

    [Result: The test subject died. Cause, rejection of different blood cells and energy.]

    This experiment used the same capsule to create the biological golem but instead of creation, its function changed to strengthening the body.

    Zick''s eye moved to the screen with a thoughtful light passing through it.

    "Put in some more resources in finding the solution to it, and tell me the result of the experiment code-named- wraith."

    Genies'' transparent body flickered before it answered: [Result: sessful.]

    Zick''s head tilted to the side with a little satisfaction appearing on his face.

    "Mass produce them and continue to look for its evolved form," Zick said dismissing the genie.

    Instead, he called Yuriel this time.

    "Install the newly created wraith devices all over the golem fortress."

    .....

    In the Darton''s pce.

    Time went by Swiftly. Everyone lived in it with peace while improving themselves.

    But even after a few days, Zick didn''t appear like he usually did. A week went by and there was still no sign of him anymore.

    This was not normal, Zick would always inform them if he was going away for a long time.

    Varine, Seveleen, and the wolfmen cubs gathered.

    Varine was the first to speak: "Did something happen to sir Zick?" There was a tinge of worry in her voice as she spoke with a nk face.

    The cat tapped Varine''s palm: "That human is still alive so don''t worry. I feel the presence of the contract between us, so he must be just stuck in some ce."

    This calmed them down, but the very next day, Levienel appeared before them with bad news.

    "The whole Eastern continent is currently being invaded by golems, Mister Zick is trying to help out the kingdoms and empire currently. So he sent me to tell you all to not worry."

    Seveleen had a grave expression upon hearing this: " Is there any kind of danger to Mister Zick''s life."

    Levienel nodded her head: "All the alchemy towers were destroyed and both the neokelt kingdom and Leweisert kingdom have been fully destroyed."

    "Huh....."

    "Eh...."

    "....."

 Chapter 192 Its Just A Political Game

    As the saying goes, when misfortune urs, ites crashing onto you.

    That was what was happening currently to the ruling forces.

    The revelner disease that was ravaging the South, the Hevertec kingdom, actually spread to other ruling forces. And obviously, it looked like someone was spreading it with ill intention through the water banks.

    Being aware of the threat posed by this gue, the higher-ups of the ruling forces gave out orders of burning the infected with no hesitation.

    This kind of immoral order made all the natives worried and even reproach such actions.

    However, Losing the trust of the citizens was better than dying. Kings and emperors ignored theints of the masses with iron-hard resolve.

    At that time, people could only drink water generated from water crystals or enchanted and magical devices made from it.

    But even after taking all these countermeasures, it was hard to suppress the revelner disease. It came to a point where viges and cities were ordered to be demolished.

    The Neokelt kingdom was facing even more difficulty after the destruction of the Jhesker alchemy tower.

    Just when they were able to stably suppress the disease, a disaster many times worst came ramming into them.

    .....

    On a normal day, the natives living their life suddenly felt a shadow cast over them.

    Anyone who saw the thing floating in the sky froze in their positions.

    It was a flying ck piece ofnd, what was the most shocking fact was that it was tens of timesrger than the capitals of the ruling forces.

    Green aurora light was being emitted by its whole body intensively.

    Just when the people below the fortress were wondering what this fortress was.

    It began.

    Thousands of blue shes left the grand fortress andnded in between houses below.

    The natives could not even react to the speed these shes moved. Some of them died being crushed by these shes.

    The ground was dyed in blood and the brain matter of someone.

    The blue light dispersed exposing the being within it.

    A golem in the shape of an insect stood there, and many differently shaped golems were revealed one after another.

    Thereafter, a massacre urred, and no one could stop it. There was not even time left for the ruling force to take any countermeasures.

    "Huh...Hey, wait w-what is that?"

    "Move! Let me through, my mother was in that house!"

    "Everyone, let''s get away from here for now!"

    .....

    Just when all the natives snapped out of their daze and started talking in shaking voices. But, the first to move was the golem.

    With the sound of the golem core activating, the golem instantly leaped, executing the order in its head �� kill the humans!

    Before the peak-rank golems, these citizens were just like an ant. They were squished to death like it was nothing.

    The fortress in the sky continued shooting out blue rays continuously. Somerge blue shes headed toward the castle in the middle of the capital.

    The mages were the ones who fell into despair first, they couldn''t conjure magic!

    The fortress had a high-capacity anti-magic field around it, which covered the whole capital currently. Even enchanted items, magical weapons, and magical devices were useless.

    With all their escape routes cut, no one was spared.

    The whole scene became hectic right after.

    .....

    At the same time, Leona and Anastasia were greeted by a shady person, Zick. Or more specifically, a golem controlled by him, having peak master rank strength and a humanoid-shaped one. It had a somewhat handsome face with red eyes and grey hair.

    Zick was not sure, but there was still a chance of any one of these two people being blessed by a god.

    "Work for me and in return, I will grant you your wish," Zick spoke through the golem. He was very straightforward.

    Leona smiled bitterly at the offer of this person, who broke through all the security and arrived before her. A total stranger.

    Leona did not let apprehension show on her face.

    "What do you mean you will grant my wish?"

    The handsome person before her smiled, he looked right into her eyes.

    Zick chuckled while opening his mouth: "Didn''t you want to destroy the Leicester alchemy tower? You want to destroy this ce that took away everything from you, right?"

    "Hmm? Or am I wrong? Don''t tell me you already let go of what happened to your hands and lungs now." Zick was all smiles while speaking.

    Leona''s expression changed, she didn''t expect Zick to know so much about her.

    "What kind of work do you want me to do?" Leona asked.

    "Kill people of course."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Then I refuse."

    Leona''s rejection didn''t faze Zick.

    "Are you sure about that? You won''t get such an opportunity again." Zick said while shaking his head.

    "I don''t want to work for some criminal organization." Leona''s answer was firm.

    With a moment of silence, Zick startedughing in a soft voice.

    Leona''s brow furrowed in confusion.

    Zick had already predicted her decision, in the first ce he didn''te to recruit her, he already had Yuriel.

    "Well, then let''s trade." Zick proposed while looking at Anastasia and Leona in turns.

    "Trade?"

    "Yeah with both of you, a wish for a wish."

    Leona and Anastasia became silent hearing him.

    Leona was the most interested, she spoke with a thoughtful look: "Then what is your wish?"

    Zick smile deepened by a level: "I will keep it with me for now, when the timees I will seek your help. Don''t worry, this wish does not harm human lives in any way, you could say it''s even helping them."

    Only after hearing this did Leona nod her head, Anastasia also agreed. Levienel in disguise appeared beside Zick, and with her help, a contract was made immediately.

    "Well, you should leave the kingdom this instant then. This tower and the kingdom would be destroyed in an hour." Saying this, Zick and Levienel vanished.

    Next, Zick went to the other two alchemy towers with Yuriel and Levienel. They were looted dry by him, he even took Veurin with him to increase the admiration in her heart.

    This time around, Zick with a mask dered that he destroyed the alchemy tower and is the one who is controlling the golems.

    By then, the whole eastern region, half the continent, was already taken over by the golems. In other words, both Leweisert and Neokelt kingdoms were destroyed.

    Zick was sure to thrash the church in there thoroughly, taking out some of his annoyance.

    Many vagrants who escaped took refuge in the Gorthect empire. In such a situation, Revelner disease once again rose. With Zick''s maniption, all the talented people were left to live.

    Even two royal family members from Neokelt and Leweisert kingdoms were spared.

    Now, only the elf kingdom, Gorthect empire, and Hevertec kingdom were left.

    Just when all the natives and the royal family were in a state of turmoil with all these problems after their neck, A man appeared telling them that he had the remedy to one of their headaches.

    It was Zick, who appeared in the Hevertec kingdom and offered the cure to the people there.

    This kind of event would never be missed by the other ruling forces.

    Zick who was treating people at a rapid rate became the center of attention. A meeting with the royal family was arranged at once.

    .....

    "Please, Please save my mother and father! I will give you anything that you desire...Land, title, or anything!" The princess who was the only one who was not affected begged Zick. She was a young woman, 17 to 18 years old.

    Zick smiled: ''For the two-faced Princess to be begging me. She really seems at the end of her wits. It''s not surprising knowing the condition of the Hevertec kingdom. I should appear as thest hope in her eyes.''

    Zick shook his head to the princess, Serina.

    "I don''t need such a thing princess." Zick held a modest smile.

    "Then, what do you need?" Serina was anxious internally while asking this. If Zick wished so, he could even ask for the kingdom''s treasure right now!

    "Haha, I think you misunderstood something. I am saying I don''t need such a thing, I will treat your parents." Zick rubbed his nose oozing with modesty.

    "How can I reject you when you are begging me like this? I am not such a heartless person." Zick said with an earnest expression.

    Serina really wanted to reject the word ''begging'' but she kept her mouth shut.

    Like that, Zick cured the king, queen, and all the other heirs, bing a Savior of a whole kingdom.

    The King wanted to reward him, But Zick rejected him and instead gave the cure form and some hundreds of cure vials too. He contracted the Gorthect kingdom using the king''s connection.

    Zick was simply willing to offer the cure to them. When such an event was made public, his name spread wide and far at once.

    Just after a few days passed by with many people being saved and Zick''s name hailed as a savior, a revtion came falling into the ruling forces''p.

    [ Zick is the heretic, he is the one who was named Hevesh, and he is also the one controlling all the golems. ]

    How will the ruling forces react to such a thing?

    Will they trust the person who saved them in their need of help?

    Or will they believe the revtion, dered by the church which has a strong psychological dominance?

    Rolling forces were confused as there was already a person dering himself as the one who is controlling the golems.

    Zick had prepared to take her off this for a long time.

    ''It''s just a political game after all.'' Zick didn''t worry in the slightest.

    ''Humans believe what they see. Especially the rulers, who decide their actions very carefully. They might even choose me above the words of the church. I just have to y my card properly.''

 Chapter 193 Demonic Generals

    Two weeks after the start of the invasion of golems.

    Zick stayed in the royal pce of the Hevertec kingdom as an honorable guest. By his request, a personal room filled with alchemy instruments was granted by the king.

    In there, Zick posed to make the cure, while providing thousands of cure vials at a set amount of time.

    The fact that Zick was a master swordsman could not be hidden. Therefore, many people were surprised to find out that he had talent and skills in alchemy too.

    Zick sat on the couch, training to strengthen his aura. Currently, two golems were working in the room on a concoction of an elixir-grade potion.

    This elixir-grade potion did not focus on strengthening the body, instead, it recovered the used-up aura.

    Feeling someone heading towards the room from a distance, Zick opened his eyes.

    ''It''s the second prince...What does he want now?'' Zick put the golem into the space ring and changed the instruments.

    Zick had a very vast storage of the cure, reaching millions, thus there was no need to make more. He even donated much of it to the Gorthect empire.

    KNOCK-KNOCK~

    The second prince, Jeisen, knocked on the door softly.

    Zick opened the door, allowing the nation''s prince to enter into his room.

    "Sorry for disturbing you like this, mister Zick hahaha." Jeisen talked friendly while sitting beside Zick on the couch.

    Zick had improved his rtionship with almost all the royal family members, even they themselves held huge amounts of goodwill towards Zick, epting his advances readily.

    "It''s no big deal, mister Jeisen. You cane and seek my assistance any time needed." Zick smiled at Jeisen.

    "I would really like to offer a worthy reward for your deed, s it seems like there is nothing in particr that you like." Jeisen smiled wryly.

    At that time, another knock rang out.

    "Excuse me." Zick opened the door again. He knew the identity of the person who knocked, the two faced-princess and the first prince, also the next kind.

    The first prince, Gurege was supposed to ascend to the throne, but because of the Revelner disease, it was put aside. And even now, with the current situation still heading toward stability, his enthronement was dyed.

    Overall, the rtionship between the heirs was quite good now. Unlike before when they were after each other''s throat for the throne.

    "Sorry for intruding, mister Zick." The princess, Serina, and Gurege entered the room.

    All the heirs had blue hair andplimenting blue eyes, there was a green hue in their eyes, which was proof of their royal blood.

    "Ah, brother, so you came too. But are you sure about putting aside your time like this?" Jeisen said with deep meaning.

    Gurege dismissively waved his hand: "I have already done everything a ruler should do. I don''t have to go out of my way to give a good impression."

    Jeisen''s brow rose hearing this: "You have changed from before, haven''t you brother?" There was bitterness in his voice.

    They both had near-death experiences, making their attitude change in certain ways.

    Everyone sat on the couches, Serina was in a good mood after seeing her world which was breaking apart, return to normal.

    Gurege and the rtion of the other with Zick were very close, he was their lifesaver after all.

    Gurege spoke first: "We havee here to invite mister Zick to the celebration event we''re having in three days."

    "Ohh, an event I see. Hmm, I am not good with such things so I think I will...."

    "Don''t say that now! You are the main focus of this party, you wille no matter what!" Serina dered strictly. She too had changed, but she still looked down onmoners just like in the novel.

    Jeisen and Gurege nodded their heads too. It was disrespectful to force others, but these people knew Zick''s modest and reserved personality so they could only do this.

    Guregeughed internally: ''If I was the same as in the past, I would have be furious seeing someone reject my offer....''

    But there were no such emotions in him recently.

    "Um...I can''t reject it if you put it like that." Zick smiled bitterly, epting to attend the party.

    With their taskpleted, they started chatting ignoring their standings.

    "Still, Mister Zick, you should not lock yourself in a room the whole time like this." Jeisen worriedly looked at Zick.

    "No. Truthfully, I would have liked to go and treat the other people, but I think creating the curees first and is more efficient. As long as others are saved, I think It doesn''t matter." Zick seriously said with a thoughtful look.

    This self-sacrificing personality was what impressed the three heirs the most. Neither did he ask anything in return, nor was he expecting any.

    But in truth, behind the smiles of all the three heirs right now was extreme anger.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was because of the revtion dered by the churches.

    Zick was the heretic? What bullshit are they spouting?!

    The royalty never liked the church and now they even dered something like this and have the face to order them to hand over Zick.

    They were all writhing with anger and humiliation.

    What the hell do those priests think they are? Are we their dogs?!

    They ask to hand over Zick and we will do it?!

    Such thoughts passed through their heads.

    Was it the church, the God they believed who saved them? No, it was Zick!

    In the first ce, the church did not even state the reason Zick was a heretic. Thus, the royalties did not even need to be considered.

    As for Zick being the one who controlled the golems? They thought it to be total bullshit. There was already a person who dered himself as the one who is controlling them.

    Serina and others exchanged gazes, feeling the determination in their eyes of each other.

    "Actually, the Hevertec kingdom does not have an alchemy tower and there are very few alchemists here. We are very thankful for your help, I and everyone from the royal family are eternally grateful for your assistance!" Gurege said and bowed his head. The other two also bowed to Zick.

    "What are you saying? I just did what was supposed to be done. And aren''t we friends? Friends are supposed to help each other." Zick helped Them lift their head while saying such words with a smile.

    Friends, that word involuntarily brought a smile to the face of these people.

    The evening Sun Rays reach the room through the window. Fresh air carrying the fragrances of an unknown tree reaches Zick and the others.

    Zick rejoiced internally: ''If their personality was the same as in the novel, I would have had to put in some hard work, but the current them are easy to sway and control.''

    Originally, the royal family was not supposed to be infected by Revelner disease so quickly, but because of Zick''s interference, the future changed to arge degree.

    Zick spoke as if remembering something: "Right, I actually had some acquaintances who wanted to meet me, can you let them in?" Zick was talking about Seveleen and Varine.

    "Haha, if they are your acquaintance they can stay as long as they want!" Jeisen said with no hesitation.

    "Yes, they can attend the celebration event too." Gurege also gave his permission.

    After chatting for a long time, they began excusing themselves. As royalty, they had many works to do.

    Left alone in his room, Zick gazed at the ceiling.

    ''The Gorthect empire will send an invitation soon too. The church''s influence runs deeper in there after all.''

    ''Even though it seems unlikely, they will try to see if I am suspicious in any way. There, I won''t have any kind of influence, thus it would be quite a peculiar situation.''

    ''Well, I can escape in case things go awry.'' Zick always put his safety foremost, this one thing never changes no matter what.

    The evening''s gentle breeze brushed past Zick, causing his hair to flutter. His gaze went to his palm, The extremely pale palm reflected in his pupil for a while before he closed his eyes.

    ''Some demons were captured by the golems from the north for experimentation, but it will still take a while for Yuriel to create a device that perfectly replicates the dark mana of the demonic race.'' Zick knew that hurrying the matter of killing a dragon would be dangerous, thus he prepared thoroughly.

    Zick''s focus moved to the party next.

    ''Another harem member would be attending it, but do I really need to recruit her personally?'' Zick calmly considered the situation.

    The daughter of Duke Aresenil, Elina. She had immense potential in sportsmanship, enough to be content with Aeiron without the sun god''s blessing.

    She was also the person Aeirom came in contact with just after the magic disaster.

    Honestly, Zick thought she would be useful. Though this time, there was no need for him to interfere.

    Elina would help him as he is the savior of her father, Zick just had to ask her help when the war with the demonic race begins.

    ''I am lucky that I don''t have to go out of my way and make her join.'' Zick was not willing in the slightest to babysit when not needed.

    ''Hmm, Around a thousand master rank and three quasi-grandmaster rank golems have also been created. I can probably be content with the normal army and some demonic generals with all my golems.''

    Almost all the generals of the demon''s army were grandmaster-level entities. There were 15 of them in total, and among them, 9 were immortal in a way.

    These nine generals could be revived by the demon lord again and again. Thus, a decisive battle like the end of the war in the novel was needed. All of them, along with the demon lord, had to die to fully exterminate the demonic race.

    Zick continued training in his aura after thinking this far.

 Chapter 194 Philine

    The sun rose to the middle of the sky, pouring its warm glow onto the royal pce.

    Soldiers and servants moved around frantically, preparing for the celebration event speedily.

    The capital which was filled with burnt corpses and gloominess was now covered in a cheerful atmosphere.

    Families walked on the street merrily, with no fear on their faces. The soldier who had dark looks on their faces also sported a smile and cheerful looks.

    Without exception, everyone held admiration and gratitude for the person who allowed them to live such a carefree life.

    Zick. A mysterious alchemist and swordmaster who found the cure for Revelner disease.

    .....

    With Arianell sitting on hisp, Zick looked out of the window leisurely. The festive mood in the air did not go unnoticed by him.

    ''For some reason, I have a hunch that something major will happen at this party.'' Zick''s eye narrowed.

    It was a weird feeling, but Zick took it seriously. He knew that such instinctual feelings of his were correct most of the time.

    "Yawn....." Zick yawned, feeling bored doing nothing.

    Truthfully, there was nothing to do even in the secretb for him. All the work was managed by Yuriel right now, Zick would only drop by sometime to see the progress and have fun with Yuriel in bed.

    ''Ah~ It feels like I am no longer needed.'' Feeling this new emotion Zick smiled bitterly. In the end, he didn''t let such emotion affect him in any way.

    Zick lightly pressed Arianell''s cheek with his index finger: "Isn''t it boring just sitting and doing nothing?"

    Even he had no idea why he was asking such a question.

    Arianell shook her head with a serious look.

    A pleasant voice left Arinell''s mouth: "With father, not boring."

    "Ha." Zick chuckled hearing her childish and serious voice.

    ''She only speaks in such an insignificant matter...Hmm, it might be important to her, I guess.'' Zick patted Arianell''s small head in silence.

    At that moment, Someone knocked on the door lightly. Zick immediately sent an instruction to Arianell to activate the invisible granting device.

    Arianell had already done it a few times, thus she was not flustered. She did not know the reason for Zick to hide her, but neither did she care. She just did what he told her to do.

    Walking to the door, Zick opened it with a calm look.

    At the other side of the door, Varine and Seveleen stood with the cat.

    "Sir Zick, why are you wearing such casual clothes?" Varine asked as if confused.

    Both Varine and Seveleen were wearing luxurious clothes, given by the royal family.

    Seveleen nodded her head too: "The celebration will start in a few hours so why are you wearing such clothes?"

    Noticeably, Seveleen had dropped the nonprofits while talking with Zick.

    Zick''s brow rose hearing this, he could guess the reason for Seveleen to be acting like this.

    ''She must have realized the position I held in her heart after I vanished for more than a week. It''s surprising for her to hold such feelings toward me, the gods must have been trying to influence her but she still turned out like this.'' Speechlessness rose within Zick.

    Inviting them to sit inside, Zick started speaking with honorifics with Seveleen.

    "I was so busy creating the cure that I lost count of the time. I think I will start preparing in a while, thank you for reminding me, miss Seveleen." Zick rubbed his nose in embarrassment.

    Seveleen wasn''t that downhearted seeing Zick using honorifics, he at least did not reject her advance.

    ''Honestly, I don''t mind having a close rtionship with her, but on the other hand, I feel it to be unnecessary. And there was a possibility of this being a ploy from the gods too. So I have to keep my guard up.'' Zick cautiously considered the matter.

    Seveleen had a question that she wanted to ask but in the end, she just bottled it up.

    It was regarding Levienel, originally, she thought this woman would go away after finding the cure, but she still stayed behind. This confused Seveleen.

    Seveleen had no connection with the reason Levienel stayed with Zick anymore. Therefore, she could not disrespectfully dig into it.

    Sometimes, the biggest enemy to a person is not others but oneself. Being restrained by such a mindset, Seveleen was a good example.

    After speaking for a while, Varine and Seveleen left, seeing that Zick still had to prepare.

    ''Sigh...Girls never change I guess. They got prepared so soon even though the ceremonies would start in the evening.'' Zick shook his head thinking this.

    Putting the reappeared Arianell on one of the couches, Zick moved to the dressing room.

    Yes, there was a dressing room within this room, Zick was also dumbfounded to find its existence in the beginning.

    Opening the wardrobe, a series of different kinds of dresses greeted Zick. All of this was sent to his room a while ago by the other heirs.

    Almost all of these clothes appeared shy, making Zick squint in distaste. He never wore such eye-catching dresses, or more like, he didn''t like wearing them.

    At that moment, Zick sensed the wristband in his hand having mana fluctuations.

    Sending his consciousness within it, Zick saw Yuriel''s message in it.

    ''So a biological golem was created atst.'' Zick felt good seeing his forces increase.

    He didn''t need to go there as this biological golem would not have a consciousness like Yuriel. It was an emotionless puppet that would hear all of Zick''s orders. He had given some of his blood to Yuriel a long time ago too.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thinking for a while, Zick sent back a message: [Its name is Unit one.]

    A very simple name.

    Sending this, Zick continued looking through the wardrobe to find something not so shy looking.

    In the end, Zick settled on a white robe with a flower crest on it and some formal pants, and a shirt with many intricate designs on it.

    Taking a simple hot bath, Zick changed into it and sat on one of the couches. This time around, he began training in mana while teaching Arianell how to master magic and mana.

    Shockingly, there was already a characteristic in Arianell''s mana and there was no need for mana nerves either to store it. Her different body than that of a human could store it with no problem.

    It soon turned evening, putting Arianell to sleep back in the Teleportation circle. Though it was still early, Arianell fell asleep in no time.

    Zick moved to the party hall after fixing his clothes and hair.

    ''I wonder if Elina already reached peak rank by now.....'' Having such random thoughts, Zick walked leisurely in the corridor.

    .....

    Philine, the daughter of Duke Wenerious. She was very famous in the society of the nobles, known as the most beutiful woman of the era. No one denied such ims either, as it was true.

    And Philine was also the one and only heir of Duke Wenerious''s family.

    But, this noble woman''s reputation as a famous viiness was known throughout the noble society. She was arrogant and looked down on others with disdain.

    The only thing that could bemendable would be that she was very smart. She never did anything that could harm her family in any way. Her academic results were astonishing.

    Philine looked at the letter in her hand, this sheet of paper contained the reply to the request she made to her father.

    A beutiful smile was drawn on her face reading the reply on it.

    A perfectly well-kempt white hair, with a face as if crafted by an artisan was reflected in the mirror before Philine. The smile just made her appear even more enticing.

    ''Zick....'' Certain memory rose within her.

    .....

    Using almost everything Duke Wenerious could use, all kinds of medicine were brought to prolong Philine''s life.

    Infected by the Revelner disease, there was no hope left for her. But still, her father tried every way to prolong her life. In hope that a cure for this cursed disease would be found.

    However, such a wish did note true, at least till his daughter was in the final stage of the symptoms. Which meant, she was half step already within the coffin.

    A mysterious man appeared near the area controlled by Duke Wenerious.

    This man could cure the Revelner disease. It felt unreal and even looked like a trap in the eyes of duke Wenerious. But finding some proof that the rumor was true, this man, Zick, was immediately summoned into the manor of duke Wenerious.

    Philine holding herst breaths looked at the person who suddenly appeared before her. At that moment, her beutiful face was covered in ck blemishes and a pungent smell wafted in the room. Most of her skin had already rotted by then.

    Most of Philine''s body was covered in bandages at that moment.

    Zick ying his kind person act did not even bat an eye looking at Philine.

    "Please try to open your mouth, miss Philine. Everything will be alright now." Zick said, smiling harmlessly.

    Philine had already seen many alchemists and doctors say the same thing, so she felt his word to be constion too. There was a weird thing, she could tell that others were lying, but the man before her looked confident in his words.

    But Philine could not open her mouth, she did not want to move it. She tried to convey her denial through her eyes to Zick.

    "Hmm...Excuse me then, it might hurt but please bear with me for a second." Zick slowly ced his hand on Philine''s face as if caressing it.

    Nevertheless, such gentle movement caused waves of pain to travel within Philine �� She was not paralyzed like Seveleen.

    Tears welled up in her eyes enduring the paining from her cheek.

    "It''s alright, please endure it for just a while, I promise that you will never have to go through it again." Zick started pouring the cure through Philine''s slightly opened mouth.

    The cure traveled to Philine''s throat sending another wave of pain. Atst, she couldn''t take it, her hand involuntarily held Zick''s wrist but it couldn''t even budge his hands.

    Seeing Philine trying to block the cure by clenching her teeth, Zick inserted his index finger to stop it.

    Philine''s father looked at all this with a heavy look. Zick wagered that they could kill him if Philine were to die because of him. Thus, he watched all this without moving.

    After a while, Philine stopped struggling by herself. Ridicule passed by her eyes feeling her body stabilizing.

    Seeing her teeth still holding on to Zick''s finger, embarrassment passed through her eyes. She loosened her jaw hurriedly.

    "Don''t move so hurriedly, your body must have be very numb by now, so take it one step at a time." Zick continued feeding her a healing potion, causing all the blemishes on her face to vanish. Then he fed her a stamina potion too.

    Philine opened her mouth slowly: "Ah, Uh, na, na...me..."

    Understanding what Philine was trying to say, Zick smiled: "It''s Zick, take care of your body from now on."

    .....

    "Zick...Though he is the same as others having a mask on his face all the time. I want to break through it and look at the real him." Philine smiled while feeling a certain emotion in her heart, causing her to bow her head to hide her face from the maid behind.

    No one knew, but this woman, Philine, was born with the ability to see through other people''s false nature. A diviner.

 Chapter 195 Diviner

    Zick''s body shuddered remembering a certain gaze that he experienced more than a week ago.

    Whenever Zick remembered it, cold sweat would form on his back without noticing. It was an instinctual reaction as if his most cherished secret was being explored.

    ''Her name was Philine if I am not wrong. Her gaze really makes my body twitch and palpitate like this....'' Zick remembered this woman as she had left an impression on him.

    Zick had treated Philine just as one of his passing good deeds, but he still had a sense of apprehension towards her gaze. He had even ordered Levienel to check whether Philine also had a blessing, however, that was not the case.

    ''A diviner, even in the novel, there were only two such people in the elf kingdom. For her to have such a talent...'' With Levienel''s and Zick''s knowledge, her talent was identified by him quickly.

    Nevertheless, Zick wanted to keep his distance from this girl named Philine. Her talent could be useful, but for the current him, it was quite dangerous.

    Zick didn''t hurriedly kill off Philine like he usually did, this pawn had chances ofing in use.

    ''If her talent was nurtured, I would benefit in the future. I already sent Levienel to keep an eye on her, if she were to try saying any information regarding me, that would be her end.''

    ''I just have to find a way to make her join my side.''

    The dull sound of his shoes hitting the floor rang out.

    Levienel had nothing to do so Zick just gave her a random task. Staying in one ce was dangerous for her anyway.

    ''As for the church, I would have liked to destroy them along with the alchemist tower. But it is hard to aplice as they are all over the ce. The revtion would ur no matter what, and I might gather suspicion too if they are destroyed. If only they gathered in a single ce....'' Zick heaved a light sigh.

    Zick had carefully and cautiously calcted the gains he would have sparing these three ruling forces.

    Would turning them all into biological golems give him the most benefits, or nurturing the important characters from the novel would?

    The answer was very clear.

    And not to mention, Zick always had thest resort of just going on a huge massacre, killing everyone, and then creating the biological golems.

    ''I have to give my best in controlling and nurturing all these people, if I fail I still have ns. But that does not mean I should be negligent, I have to give my all to survive the danger waiting for me.'' Zick looked at the sun that was setting at the end of the horizon, a dazzling orange hue covered the end of the sky.

    Familiar ambition rose within Zick: ''I will one day be stronger than anyone, rising above everyone. Only then can I live my life to the fullest, Immortality and omnipotence might really be something that every being should pursue.''

    Was there any point in things if ites to an end at some point eventually?

    Every being dies someday no matter what.

    Humans name it as the beauty of nature and move on but, Zick was not willing in the slightest to do so.

    Only by bing a never-ending being could there even be the hope of attaining true happiness. That was what Zick came to a conclusion about it in the end.

    ''Though I might not have the determination to sacrifice everything like before, I will still do it if the need be.'' Zick was firm with himself, there were moments when he couldn''t let his emotions dictate everything.

    As he knew that, it was just a momentary pleasure.

    What was there that Zick couldn''t sacrifice?

    There might be some resistance, but he could still resolutely give up on things when necessary.

    ''Emotions...Sigh, It even makes me feel regretful and depressed many times. But I can go through such feelings with no problem.''

    There was a saying back on Earth, As long as a person is willing to walk, the world would stay below his feet forever.

    As long as you walk on the path that you have chosen, worldly desires would always be below you! �� or so Zick thought.

    ''I will let emotions affect me for now, but when it has something to do with my goal of strength, I will never hesitate.'' Zick firmly promised himself.

    Zick did not push away the emotions, it was after all a part of himself.

    Zick''s eyes shone brilliantly: ''I have the right to enjoy myself even if it is just something temporary, one day I will make it evesting no matter what!''

    Zick knew that his personality was heading toward a very twisted side. But he didn''t care.

    A few maids and servants walked past Zick in the corridor. A few soldiers passed by too while giving him a salute in respect.

    ''My reputation is good at the moment. At least the Hevertec kingdom would stand by my side no matter what.'' Zick felt that his first objective had been aplished.

    ''Next is the Gorthect empire, I will take care of the church along with them. Then the elf kingdom, though I don''t know if those prideful beings would ask for a human''s help.'' Zick''s n was connected to the elf asking for help to resolve the Revelner disease. If they refused to do it, he would have to think of another n.

    Levienel had spread it there too after Zick ordered her a month ago.

    Zick arrived at the entrance of the main hall after a few minutes. The fountain before it shone beautifully from the golden lighting from the huge hall. There was a well-maintained garden before the hall entrance. Giving it a serene feeling on the outside.

    As it was the specified time, many nobles with their family entered the hall with their back as straight as a spear.

    Unlike the noble''s party, a gathering announced by the kings is different. Everyone had to be present at the perfect time. If not that would be considered a disrespectful act and even subject to punishment.

    The King has to be thest to enter the ceremony hall. It was a tradition that all the kings and emperors followed.

    If someone enters after the king, it would appear as an arrogant act no matter how looked upon it.

    Climbing up the steps, Zick suddenly felt a familiar gaze on himself. His mind froze at once and his head turned to the back with a calm look.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There, a woman the same age as him stood with her attendant behind her. It was Philine, she wore a dazzling ck dress with a shiny green vine-like design on it. Her amber eyes turned crescent, as a smile bloomed on her face with hidden intentions.

    "Ah, if it isn''t Miss Philine, how is your recovery going?" Zick smiled as if having met an old acquaintance.

    But internally, Zick rolled his eyes: ''She should have been in her stage of recovering, why did shee here? Is it because she is the only heir of her family?'' Zick wasn''t sure, he didn''t know their meeting would be this fast.

    Philine slightly bowed her waist, executing a perfect aristocrat greeting: "It''sing along just fine. As you can see I can walk around like this now."

    There was a smile on Philine''s face as she spoke with Zick. The attendant standing behind her had his eyes wide open seeing this.

    Even in front of the royal family and dukes'' heirs, Philine never smiled or showed any sign of cordiality like this.

    "Let''s enter the party hall, the time for his highness to enter is nearing." Zick proposed normally, wanting to get away from Philine for now.

    "Please wait." But Philine seems to have something on her mind.

    Having some doubt internally, Zick looked at Philine with faked confusion.

    "Is there a problem, Miss Philine?"

    A light flickered in Philine''s eyes hearing this, it was as if she was waiting for Zick to say that.

    With a troubled look, Philine continued: "Yes, truthfully, I am in quite a predicament right now."

    Deep within Philine''s amber eyes, a spark appeared: "My body is in a weak state thus I am worried that I would cause inconvenience to my dance partner. My father is also worried that I might hurt myself."

    Philine smile deepened by a level: "So mister Zick, can you be my ball dancing partner? I am sure you are the best partner right at the moment."

    Her speech was eloquent with no ws at all.

    Zick mind worked at lightning speed thinking of a way to reject her.

    Even Zick had to admit it, Philine''s reason for asking for his help was very practical and the best solution. After all, He knew her body''s condition!

    "I think you should ask for others, I am not that well versed at ball dancing..."

    Zick''s words were cut off by Philine instantly: "You are really humble mister Zick. I heard from the ball dance teacher that you were not bad at it. You should have more confidence in yourself."

    Philine''s attendant looked on nkly, this was the first time he saw her speaking for this long with someone in his life! She would always keep talking to only a few words usually.

    After Zick had agreed to attend the celebration event, the royal family immediately sent a good dance teacher to help Zick.

    Zick revealed a little of his dancing ability, saying he had attended some social gatherings in the past. At that time, he was not willing to waste his time on something useless, but never did he think that it would bite him back like this.

    At this moment, Zick was sure of one thing.

    Philine came prepared.

    A situation where he had to quickly reply to her invitation. And with no practical reason for him to decline.

    ''Did she actually wait for me toe here the whole time?''

    Still...

    ''I fell into her scheme....'' Zick for the first time felt a feeling of loss in a long time.

    The reason for Philine''s n seeding was very simple.

    While Zick was in the open, she worked from the shadows. He was in the dark the whole moment!

    And right now, Zick had to go by the kind and humble attitude he was cultivating.

    How would it appear if Zick rejected her even though she was in trouble?

    It would appear extremely heartless.

    Therefore,

    Zick could only bitterly ept Philine''s request.

    In a bad mood, Zick offered his hand to Philine. To which, she too immediately put her hand covered in white gloves on his hand.

    Philine smiled intently: "I didn''t know mister Zick was aware of nobles'' ethics and was so good at it."

    Zick felt himself freeze at once, but he replied instantly: "Haha, even I know such basic ethics, miss Philine."

    With a merry atmosphere around them, Zick and Philine entered the hall.

    But internally, Zick was anything but cheerful.

    ''I need to calm down now, I can''t show any more ws.''

    ''Sigh...Why is she so keen on me? I don''t even know her ability for sure as all Diviners have different abilities...things are getting out of my hands.''

 Chapter 196 Just Go And Sit In Your Seat Already!

    Looking at Philine from the corner of his eye, Zick could help but think: ''Does she have foresight as her Diviner''s ability?''

    Such a possibility also existed, but it was not set in stone yet. Actually, If Philine had foresight, Zick would order Yuriel to start experimenting with a way to transfer that ability to him right away. It is just that enticing to him.

    ''The chances of extracting an innate ability is impossible ording to Yuriel. But, I would still give it a go if she has foresight...''

    Zick had other doubts too, he was the kind of person who thought deeply about any kind of suspicious matter.

    What might be the reason for Philine to approach him like this?

    ''Is it to ckmail me? But that doesn''t make sense if she is just like the intel mentions her to be �� she would not do such a stupid thing.'' Zick wondered silently walking up the stairs.

    ckmail Zick? What proof does Philine even have against him? Her ability as a Diviner?

    No one would believe her!

    Most people don''t even know that something like a diviner exists. If Philine went talking about her ability, leaving aside the elves and her father, no one would even consider her words.

    ''If she came to collect some proof then, hmph! That would be even stupid.'' Zick had no clear weakness and it would be hard to sway the public sentiments against him.

    Not to mention Levienel would kill Philine if some proof was ever found.

    ''I should keep my hands clean of her in that case.'' Zick''s attention shifted to the hall.

    Zick was nning on just spending his time in this ceremony half-heartedly and then, going back to his room to train in his aura. But with Philine''s interference, he could not rx in this event.

    Philine expression slowly turned to that of indifference as they walked to the entrance. Her attendant moved forward to give the invitation card to the guard.

    Without a word, Zick took out the invitation card from the space ring, maintaining his gentle face.

    Seeing the name on the card, the guard had aplex look, filled with reverence, gratefulness, and many more.

    Instantly, Both Philine and Zick''s names were announced in series.

    Almost everyone''s attention was drowned in their direction. Seeing Philine holding onto Zick''s hand by the elbow, Many nobles felt amused, while some covered their mouth with their hand fans in wonder.

    "I heard this troublemaker was saved by Mister Zick too, it seems to be the truth."

    "....This is actually the first time I have seen her with any partner in a celebration event."

    "I feel kind of jealous, but I would have still never asked her out anyway. I don''t want to end up as Heweir, getting humiliated before everyone."

    The Nobles, young to old age gossiped among themselves.

    ''What kind of Humiliation is it?'' Zick wanted to ask but could only hold it in.

    Zick revealed a nervous look but still moved deeper into the hall, heading to the seats located on the furthest.

    Philine stuck to his side, making him pause and smile at her: "Miss Philine, you can head towards your seat, We can meet again once the ball dance starts."

    Philine turned to Zick and shed a smile: "There is no need for such a thing."

    Seeing this many people were left speechless in the hall.

    "She smiled...? She actually smiled..."

    "No, I remembered she smiled like this after she made young master Gerick eat spicy juice instead of the wine."

    "This is an event set by the royal family, if she yed some trick here...it would not end well."

    All this entered Zick''s ears, making him tense internally. He got on his guard so that he could react to any situation.

    He knew the power of reputation, his current image in others'' heads must not be changed.

    He waited for Philine to continue her exnation.

    "My seat is ced right beside yours." Philine''s answer was very simple.

    "I see, then let''s move to our seats together." Zick smiled, not flustered at all.

    ''The higher the standing of a person, the furthest their seat is. I was given a seatparable to a duke so it''s very apparent the kind of position I hold in the royalty''s mind.'' Therefore, Zick did not feel it to be out of ce that Philine''s seat was near him.

    The three heirs of the royal family sat beside the seat which is meant for the king. They smiled at Zick when their eyes came in contact.

    "Are you close with his royal highness?" Philine asked with interest.

    "Well, you say we are more than acquaintances, We met a lot while I stayed in the royal pce," Zick said bashfully.

    Shortly they arrived at their seats, which were at the right of the hall. Philine''s father, Duke Wenerious, namely Marghes, sat on the table''s chair, which was right beside Zick''s table.

    Marghes got up seeing Zick heading towards him, a smile appeared on his masculine face as he exuded goodwill towards Zick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Maghes Wenerious was also known as a famous master swordsman in the Hevertec kingdom.

    Marghes could not help but sigh bitterly seeing he could still only sense a little of Zick''s presence.

    ''The new generation overtakes the old, huh?'' Marches felt a little downcast but did not let it show on his face.

    Zick could have fully hidden his existence in front of a normal master swordsman like Marghes. But he let Marghes sense his presence by a little, this would make him look like he was just a few steps above Marghes, not fully on another level.

    ''Appearing too strong would make everyone apprehensive after all. Doing this would make others think that I am someone they can take care of, thus lessening my threat level.'' Zick smiled at Marghes who extended a hand to him.

    Towards Zick, Marghes held nothing more than appreciation and goodwill.

    "It''s been a while, Mister Zick." Marches greeted first.

    Zick shook hands with Marghes: "Yes, Long time no see."

    Greeting Marghes, Zick did not hesitate and took back his arm from Philine.

    Diviner''s abilities were mysterious, there might be a requirement toe in contact personally too. Just like the elf princess, who had moved near to the person to look at their soul.

    "If you will excuse me then." Zick moved to his chair with no hesitation.

    ''From the way she acted, it was like she was trying to get a reaction from me. It appears she has skills in provoking people too.''

    ''Still...What is she trying to pull off I wonder.''

    The very next moment, Philine sat at the chair beside Zick.

    Zick''s eyes twitched seeing her action, he really wanted to keep his distance from her.

    "Haha, Miss Philine, you should sit at your table, or else, it might appear offensive to the royalty who set up the seating." There was worry in his voice, but the meaning behind it was clear to Philine

    Zick gave up hiding the meaning behind his words too - ''Just go and sit in your seat already!''

    Philine smiled coquettishly: "Royal highness won''t care about such a thing for sure. However, why do I feel that mister Zick is trying to tell me to go away." Her head tilted to the side with a thoughtful look.

    Zick eyes shrank: ''Those are some poisonous words!''

    Their conversation was not hidden by the others. So, many people with strong senses could easily hear Zick and Philine.

    "Of course not, I was just speaking concerned for you." Zick''s expression did not break, he still had a gentle smile on his face.

    "That so? I felt that you were telling me to go away but it doesn''t seem to be the case. Thank you for letting me sit here!." Philine still smiled yfully.

    Zick breathed in deeply and smiled brighter than before: "I see the reason why Miss Philine is known as a viiness. It must be because you think too deeply about others'' words and misunderstand. I am sure others woulde to understand how wonderful you are if you just spoke to them wholeheartedly."

    This time Zick went into attacking.

    "Kuh! Hahaha....."

    "Pfft! Mister Zick is a very straightforward person, I see."

    A few people who were eavesdropping on their conversation started trying their best to hold in theirughter. They knew Philine''s personality the most and Zick''s words were in mockery in a way.

    No one thought Zick to have done it wantonly though. His expression saying he would cheer Philine up was too real.

    And humans were beings who believed what they wanted to believe. Zick''s image as a kind person was vividly present in their mind. Hence, they believed Zick autonomously.

    Philine''s expression cramped up a little, but her calm look and atmosphere did not break.

    Instead, a sharp light passed through Philine''s eyes: ''He truly exhibits his emotions when he speaks words with deeper meaning like right now.'' She had been analyzing Zick''s words with her ability.

    "I am not sure who said such a thing, but It must be just a bad rumor ndering me because of jealousy." Philine was shamelessly boasting about her beauty right now.

    Zickmented looking at the amount of attention he gathered.

    ''Ah, I just wanted to sit in peace but because of her that''s not possible anymore.''

    ''Well, peace can go to hell. If she wants a wordy, I will grant her just that.'' Zick had confidence in his ''eloquent'' tongue. He let a little of his emotion take over.

    If Philine had no talent, Zick would have really ordered Levienel to kill her with no hesitation.

    ''Or should I just kill her? I am not sure if I can recruit her, to begin with. Diviner is a support type profession too...'' Zick stopped this train of thought, he almost gave on to his emotions there!

    It had to be epted that Philine had a knack to annoy people.

    At that moment, when Zick was thinking of Philine''s attitude �� the grand announcement of the king''s entry rang throughout the hall.

 Chapter 197 Just Die Peacefully, Garbage Women

    ''I should learn to control my emotions from now on I suppose. Philine gave me a good wake-up call this time. Letting emotions run wild could be detrimental to me too.'' Zick found his inner calmness back after his emotions settled.

    With the king sitting on the main seat, which looked like a throne. The party began at full throttle.

    Zick kept an amiable expression but was getting more and more inattentive as time passed.

    The speech that the king said did not interest Zick in the slightest. It was all about the path this kingdom should choose and try to recover their lost military forces.

    At that moment, his attention moved to a certain conversation.

    "Father, weren''t we supposed to sit beside mister Zick today? Why are we on the other side?" A young nobleman asked his father.

    "There is no need for you to know." His father answered as such.

    Zick retracted his senses: ''I see, so there really is something that these women want to aplish. Hmm, or could be another matter altogether.''

    Zick consciousness moved to Philine, who was calmly listening to the speech of the king.

    ''She doesn''t smile much ording to others. But she smiles a lot before me, there is a chance she might have fallen in love with me.'' Zick considered calmly with no emotions this time.

    He learned to not let emotions affect him while considering something.

    Winning Philine''s affection didn''t look that far-fetched. After all, he was the one who treated her disease as she was on the brink of death.

    ''But...I don''t know if I can put her to good use. With her scheming ability, I can be the one that might be led by the nose. Though in the end, I won''t suffer anything.''

    Zick had epted that Philine held the upper hand in scheming with people. While on the other hand, Zick was good at scheming people to their death.

    ''Lately, I have just been ordering the golems, Yuruel and Levienel to do all the killing for me too. So it''s not weird for my skills to deteriorate.'' Zick found this to be troubling, he was someone who liked to trust only himself, not others.

    ''Let''s be straightforward with her for now. From her actions, it is apparent that she knows I am not like how I appear to be.'' Zick turned his gaze to Philine.

    He activated themunication magic that Seveleen used while she was paralyzed by him.

    Even a master swordsman would not be able to sense this magic, as Zick was a peak rank mage, and with the boost of the earring in his ear and another magical device in his wrist �� this spell''s capability was boosted immensely.

    ["What do you want? Can''t you just leave me alone?] Zick simply threw his true emotions in these words.

    Philine''s brow rose to hear Zick''s voice in her head. Seeing her father not reacting from the corner of her eyes, it was apparent that he didn''t notice a single thing.

    This was very surprising to Philine, this spell''s capability was above a master swordsman''s senses!

    ["What are you talking about Mister Zick? So you did want me to go away....] Philine transmitted not fazed by it.

    Zick frowned and interrupted: ["Sigh...Enough with that. Do you really think I won''t notice your diviner abilities?"] his voice was deep and serious which made Philine back straight.

    ''Diviner ability...I see so that''s what my weird ability is called.'' Philine thought internally.

    Philine sends a transmission back to Zick: ["What I want is very simple. I want to know more about you, Zick."] This time, she spoke the truth.

    Hearing this answer, Zick''s eye narrowed to the side. He had not expected that to be the reason for all her action till now.

    Zick smiled to himself internally: ''Let''s see, If she is telling the truth. If she were to spread this, Levienel would kill her immediately.''

    Zick sent a transmission filled with his emotionless voice: ["I am the one who destroyed the two kingdoms in the east and all the alchemy towers. I am also the one who caused, no, I took millions of life just for my benefit."]

    Zick truthfully confessed some of all of his deeds. He was not bothered in the slightest by the things he did actually, he was even enjoying a cold drink while the massacre was urring.

    Philine was not shocked hearing this, she had already spected that to be the case. But, she still felt a sense of loss hearing him.

    ["Then...Your reason for doing such a thing?"] Philine knew that she had to back down now, if not her life would be at stake, but she still asked.

    The reason?

    Zick mused silently before replying: ["So that I could live."]

    Philine became silent hearing this, Zick too thought that it was enough to get rid of her obsession with him.

    ''Well, she won''te to annoy me again I guess. I will consider whether I should leave her alive or not after this celebration is over.'' Zick put this matter out of his head for now.

    Soon, the king''s speech came to an end. The nobles started a conversation between themselves and drank the wine, enjoying the party.

    Many nobles talked to Zick too, among them was Elina too, the future sword grandmaster. A lot of invitations were sent to him, and Zick epted them for now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick was given many presents too.

    And atst, the ball dancing event began.

    Zick and Philine also stood among the other noble couples, readying to start dancing.

    Philine kept a calm look the whole time, internally she did not know what to think or say. To think the person she was interested in was a monster, who killed millions of people.

    However, Philine was aware that she had to keep this a secret. The moment she tried spreading it, she would die.

    Zick could deduce the kind of state Philine was in right now.

    ''Well, she is only 19 years old with not much experience with a battle in the end. Knowing a mass murderer was beside her, she should be confused.''

    Zick smiled and transmitted to Philine: ["So what''s your ability exactly?"]

    Philine answered nkly: ["I can tell if others are showing their real self or not."]

    ''Garbage...'' Zick instantlybelled the ability so.

    Philine''s fate thus was decided with no hesitation too. It was death.

    ''What a waste of time...'' Zick felt dejected that he even wasted his time for such a garbage ability. Even if it was nurtured, the benefits were negligence. Philine did not seem to have any potential in another profession either.

    ''Only her scheming ability wasmendable, I guess.'' Zick danced in the rhythm with Philine with a smile.

    Many nobles looked on from the side.

    Philine, atst, became determined: ''Even if he is a mass murderer, he is still the person who saved me.''

    The transmission was not cut by Zick yet, thus Philine spoke to him: ["Mister Zick, I don''t care about who you are, I Like you!"]

    A straight confession, to which Zick reacted: ["I think you should not take hasty action like that. Sort out your mind and then contact me againter."]

    ''Just die peacefully, Garbage women.'' Zick did not feel conflicted anymore thinking about whether he should kill her or not.

    After a while, the party came to an end.

    Saying farewell to all the royal family members, Zick headed to his room while sending a message to Yuriel. He ordered Levienel to kill Philine along the way too.

    By the time he got back to his room, Yuriel was waiting with a golem looking the same as Zick.

    ''I have wasted more than enough time like this. I can''t let myself be any more muddled-headed.'' Zick and Yuriel moved near the eastern border of the continent, through the teleportation circle.

    The night sky greeted them on the other side, golems stood guard around the ce.

    Zick looked at the sky.

    Right at the moment it was covered in a swarming dark veil. The night sky could only be seen from the few gaps in this weird ck veil.

    On closer look, the dark veil was made of nothing but mechanical flies. Their size was half a palm of an adult, they had shiny blue wings, while the other parts were fully made of metal.

    They moved in the sky like a dark cloud with many blue specks.

    Low-grade golem �� blood collector. It was made by Yuriel.

    This flies-like golem''s work was to collect the blood that was absorbed by the ground. They even collected the blood of dead animals, like a mosquito.

    The reason Zick came here was simple, it was to collect the blood fiends, a type of stone. Only one such stone exists in the world. Anyone who ate it would be given an inhumanly regenerated ability, they could generate lost limbs in seconds. But, there was a drawback that the person would be crazy as they absorbed this stone.

    However, Yuriel had already prepared a tranquillity potion made to fight off this drawback. She had been studying it for a while.

    In the novel, a hungry kid had fallen into a deep pit, finding the stone. This kid in the end turned into a crazy murderer who killed thousands of people.

    This stone was being nurtured by blood right at the moment by the blood collector golem. Yuriel stopped the nurturing when she felt that it had grown more than enough. Any more and the tranquillity potion would not work.

    ''Regenerating abilities are very useful, I would have almost unlimited stamina and can fight a drawn-out fight with no problem even at a disadvantage.'' Zick looked forward to absorbing the blood fiend.

    "This way." Yuriel led the way.

 Chapter 198 Ill Kill You!

    ''Surprisingly, the kingdoms resisted the invasion of the golems. It took around three days to fully take over thends.'' Zick thought while walking deeper into the forest.

    A cave appeared in Zick''s sight as he walked deeper alongside Yuriel.

    "Hmm...." Zick could feel it, the frenzied energy flowing below his feet. This energy was like a fire that was trying to burn everything, it gave an intense feeling of hatred.

    ''Even Aeiron had a hard time fighting the kid who ate the blood fiend. Even cutting the head off wasn''t enough....'' Zick tried remembering the information about this matter correctly, but it still appeared pretty blurry in his memory.

    ''Sigh...I guess it was just too long ago. I was not going to try absorbing the blood fiend before cause I would just turn into a mindless monster, but now with Yuriel''s help, it would be different.''

    Zick and Yuriel began walking deeper into the dark cave. The whole area was already taken over by the golems, there wasn''t anything dangerous in this ce.

    The deeper they walked, the darker it got. At one point, it fully turned dark, however, Zick and Yuriel had no problem and moved even deeper.

    The smell of blood, simr to rust, flowed in the air.

    Zick''s brow rose, feeling the blood smell to be fresh. Shortly, a pit with dim red raysing out of it entered their sight.

    "It''s here, Sir Zick." Yuriel moved aside to let Zick enter first.

    Looking into the pit for a second, Zick jumped into it without any hesitation. Yuriel followed behind him.

    SWOOSH~

    Zicknded on his two legs upon dozens of red flowers. Petal left the flower buds with a simple touch, the red petal flew around Zick and Yuriel.

    The smell of blood was being released by this flower. They shone in a dazzling red glow, illuminating the underground.

    As far as Zick could see, only these red flowers entered his sight. The sight looked beutiful beyond words, but the smell of blood gave a sense of goosebumps to the onlookers.

    Zick''s brow furrowed, he felt as if he was stepping on a dead body for some reason. Ignoring this sensation, he started moving forward.

    The deeper Zick walked, the denser the red flowers appeared.

    At one point, the ground wasn''t even visible anymore.

    In the middle of these red flowers, a brownish coffin wasid straight. There was a glistening red stone on it, the blood fiend. An ominous wave of energy was being released by it intensively.

    Yuriel spoke at that instant: "By investigating the red jewel, we have found out it''s the sole reason for all these blood flowers to grow. The origin of this stone is still unknown though..."

    "Even the coffin is empty, there is no remaining left behind to investigate further."

    There was no information regarding such a weird stone even in the secretb. This made Yuriel very interested, hence she investigated seriously.

    But the result of almost two months of the investigation was that its origin was still unknown, only its capability was found out in this process.

    Yuriel continued: "A huge war once urred in thisnd, that''s one thing we have confirmed."

    Zick pondered silently hearing this. There was a huge forest in this area right at the moment, thus it was apparent that many years had already passed by since this war urred.

    "How many years back was it?" Zick asked while still examining the coffin with his eyes.

    "It should be around 20,000 years," Yuriel answered seriously.

    ''Was it when the mist barrier was made?'' Zick put it aside for now, there was no point digging deeper into it.

    Walking before the blood fiend, Zick held a tranquility potion in his left hand.

    ''ording to Yuriel, As long as I can get past the stage of absorbing it, I should be able to keep my sanity intact with no problem.'' Zick dug out the blood fiend easily with his left hand.

    Breathing in deeply, Zick ced it in his mouth and gulped down the red stone, which was the same size as a human pinky finger.

    Immediately, Zick tried chugging down the tranquility potion, but suddenly his body froze.

    "Haaaaaa!!!!" An ear-rendering voice left Zick''s mouth. Red rays of light were released from every part of his body.

    The tranquility potion in his hand was destroyed in no time.

    Multiple voices rang out in Zick''s mind, it was like the screaming of humans, but at the same time felt like whispers and screeches. These voices were directly echoing within Zick''s head.

    "I''ll kill you!"

    "I''ll kill everyst one of you!"

    "The children,"

    "The man,"

    "The women,"

    "The noble,"

    "The old and the Peasant!"

    "I''ll kill everyone! Everyone who threatens the kingdom''s peace!!"

    "Haaaa!!!"

    The voices took turns speaking, echoing from every direction.

    Images of many soldiers fighting in the middle of the battlefield appeared before Zick. The scene of people dying kept passing his eyes.

    Zick wanted to calm down, but some kind of force kept influencing him more and more.

    "Ahahahahhahahah" Zickughed crazily.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Another pricing sound rang into Zick: "That''s right, let the smoldering me of battle reform you! Let the mes that burn even the soul to ash flow into your veins! Hahaha!"

    Seeing this, Yuriel did not stay quiet. Zick had already ordered in case something happened to him.

    Yuriel''s hand appeared on Zick''s throat instantly, holding him down on the ground. Zick''s left eye, which turned fully red, entered her sight as she did so.

    "Urgh!!" Zick resisted while baring his teeth, his peach-ck aura started ravaging the surrounding. However, Yuriel''s hand did not budge even an inch.

    BOOM!

    The ground below Zick caved in with him resisting ferociously. The red petals danced around him as if attracted by something.

    At that instant, a purple hue left Yuriel''s hand and covered Zick, fully suppressing his aura within the body.

    Another tranquility potion appeared in Yuriel''s hand. She immediately took it near Zick''s mouth, but at that moment, a dazzling red light left his body.

    With the strengthening of this red frenzied energy, Zick was actually able to push Yuriel''s hand by a few centimeters. His hand which became immobilized because of Yuriel''s higher form of energy too regained its mobility.

    Zick started moving his limbs crazily again destroying the surrounding.

    With no other choice, Yuriel got above Zick, holding him down. Using one hand she tried opening his tightly clenched mouth.

    Then, Zick suddenly extended both of his hands and directly tried to strangle Yuriel. But it was useless, she was a golem therefore strangling did not affect her.

    Opening Zick''s mouth, Yuriel poured the tranquility potion into it.

    "Guuh!! You dare!" An unknown voice left Zick''s mouth.

    But the very next moment, the ravaging red energy subsided into Zick''s body.

    Yuriel felt relieved seeing this, she got up from above him.

    Getting back his sanity, Zick opened his eyes that had returned to normal: ''That was close, I did not expect there to be such a weird phenomenon....''

    Just as Zick was rejoicing, the red energy within his body started rising again, the effect of the tranquillity potion could not hold it down!

    Zick''s normal eyes turned red again.

    Another piercing voice entered his mind. This time the images that appeared before him were different.

    "I''ll destroy them all!"

    "I can still fight!"

    "Rip my body apart, but I can still fight!"

    "Pierce me with a hail of bullets, But I won''t fall here!"

    "Even though I will die here...I can still destroy all these scrapheads!!"

    The images of the golems that he created appeared before Zick. The golems killed anything that entered their sight, moving from one ce to another swiftly.

    The images of a golem with dozens of guns in it also entered his sight.

    A red me engulfed Zick''s whole body, trying to erode his consciousness.

    ''Damn it! At this rate, I will lose myself!'' Zick frantically started thinking of a way to get out of this predicament.

    However, the moment this red me began corroding Zick''s consciousness. The regretful ne in his chest gave out a blinding glow.

    The me which covered Zick''s soul vanished like it never appeared to begin with.

    Seeing this process, Zick''s eyes jolted open, and his eye patch was destroyed �� exposing the demonic eye.

    The sight of the regretful ne ceasing to shine entered his sight.

    ''This thing had the power to nullify soul attack...?'' It was the first time Zick got to experience its ability.

    "I''ll kill you!"

    "Destroy them!"

    "Protect his highness!"

    Piercing voices entered Zick''s head, but this time there was no effect on his mind.

    Pondering for a while, Zick deduced the reason: ''I see, so that''s it. My body is being protected by the tranquility potion and my soul is also protected by the regretful ne.''

    The ominous red energy flowed around Zick''s body slowly being absorbed into him.

    Zick''s head turned to Yuriel who was already standing ready with another tranquility potion.

    ''The reason Yuriel did not find out about such an effect must be because her knowledge regarding souls is low.''

    Zick felt fear after thinking about what just happened. It was thanks to a stroke of luck that he survived this time.

    ''I can''t even imagine what might have happened if I lost my sanity. There truly are traps in every step of life, a little carelessness and death Is all that awaits me.''

    Seeing Zick having signs of reasoning in his eyes, Yuriel did not move.

    The voices of different people in his head did not bother him. The cursing and suffering of other people did not move him in the slightest. Instead, he savored the weird feeling in his body.

    It was very soothing, it was like he was being embraced by something warm. This red energy did not strengthen his body in any way. It changed the nature of his body instead, in the process, his pale skin became a little lively too.

 Chapter 199 Whale Tribe

    After a few minutes, the frenzied energy was fully absorbed by Zick''s body. A refreshing feeling circted within his body, making him intoxicated.

    Though his body didn''t particrly receive any boost in strength, Zick''s potential had doubled!

    It was already at the grandmaster level, and with this boost �� it became inestimable.

    ''Unexpectedly, I gained two abilities...'' Getting up, Zick tried concentrating on himself.

    A red light fluctuated from his body. Instantly, the red flower near him turned into red particles and entered his body.

    An ability to absorb others'' blood to recover or boost one''s stamina and regenerative speed.

    ''What a harvest...'' Though it could not strengthen him, having such a trump card was very useful.

    Zick opened his eyes and turned to Yuriel: "Cut my left hand and keep an elixir ready just in case."

    Zick wanted to check the capability of the regenerative ability.

    Yuriel had the urge to decline Zick''s order for the first time, but she couldn''t. She had to follow through once Zick gave the orders.

    "Please prepare yourself." Yuriel lifted her hand with a nk look, aiming toward Zick''s hand.

    Zick nodded his head firmly. At that moment, an ethereal purple wave passed by his arm, right below the shoulder.

    SPLURT!

    "Ugh...." Zick grunted as the intense pain assaulted him. Sweat formed on his forehead as his breathing became ragged.

    Blood fell from his detached hand speedily, but slowly the bleeding stopped.

    Zick clenched his jaw tightly as a warm feeling slowly overtook his left hand. With a red glow, his left hand grew back in a sh.

    ''What the....'' Zick was shocked by the speed too. He was specting that it might take a minute, but it was over in a matter of a few seconds!

    This level of vitality went past the limit and reached the level of immortality.

    Soon after the shock, joy rose at an extremely fast speed within Zick. Now, even if his head was cut off �� there was nothing to worry about!

    Such an unprecedented thing made Zick smile with contentment.

    Yuriel''s eyes shed with surprise looking at such a sight. If not for the remnant energy left by her attack, Zick''s hand would havepletely regenerated the very first second.

    Yuriel used a weaker attack thus its remnant was easily erased by Zick''s aura.

    Zick eyes involuntarily went to the coffin: ''What was the origin of such a treasure? It is interesting.''

    At that moment, a message from the golem he left behind in the Hevertec kingdom came. Varine seems to havee looking for him, their seating at the celebration event was different thus she had not gotten many opportunities to speak with Zick.

    "Let''s move to the next location as nned," Zick instructed Yuriel while taking out a curved device, and putting it on his left ear.

    Zick''s left eye, which appeared to have be even redder than before �� turned nk. Instantly half of his vision changed, showing the sight of his room in the royal pce.

    On the other side, using the demonic eye, Zick could see Yuriel who was walking with him to the exit of the cave.

    Sessfully connecting to the golem, Zick began controlling it to greet Varine, who came to talk. The cat noticed that the person before it was a golem but stayed quiet, receiving a mental message from Zick.

    This golem looking like Zick had master tank strength, It could of course use such simple magic.

    Usually, it would be hard to control two bodies at once. However, with Zick''s prior experience and enhanced mind �� there was no problem.

    CLACK~

    Coming out of the cave, what appeared before was a huge fortress, extending almost to the horizon.

    Zick activated the bracelet on his wrist, which instantaneously caused a blue ray tond upon both him and Yuriel. Their figure vanished into the bright light as if being absorbed into it.

    What greeted Zick when he opened his eyes was a luxurious room, with many screens on the foremost wall. There were dozens of couches and artistic flower pots too.

    Sitting on one of the couches, Zick started training in aura with no hesitation.

    Yuriel began controlling the fortress, moving towards their next destination �� the southern seas.

    .....

    A while before Zick absorbed the blood fiend.

    Deep within the water, where even the light does not reach.

    A small dazzling light could be seen, it appeared as doth in the darkness. Diving deeper, a sight no one expected appeared.

    An underwater city, that too at a huge scale. A huge array, which was simr to weird runes that Levienel made, protected the whole city.

    Most of this city was made of rare sand material looking as if white limestone. Many blue spheres shone in the surrounding area, and people with blue hair, simr to the ocean, could be seen in the area.<novelnext></novelnext>

    They were all members of the whale tribe.

    Right at the moment, at the highest point of this city, where the king of the tribe lived �� A smallmotion urred.

    A golem with an appearance of a beutiful man, having features simr to Zick, broke through their array like some paper shield!

    It was the second Biological golem, which was made only a while ago. This time a man was born, it was totally random which gender golem would be born.

    The reason this golem, Unit one, came here was very simple. To deliver a message from Zick.

    The trained soldier who could easily defeat even master-rank foes actually did not stand a chance against the mysterious enemy that appeared. This was more than enough reason for the ruler of that ce to be surprised.

    "Move aside." A man adorned in the dazzling tinum crown on his head appeared. He had a strong build and did not look intimidated in front of Unit one, a foe stronger than him.

    The king, Selerc, could onlye personally after seeing the situation worsen. He had no intention to wage wars or pick fights, but he wasn''t the kind of person who took passive beating silently. He was a grandmaster rank existence himself.

    Selerc was going to enter his berserk state the moment Unit one was found, but seeing that his soldier was unharmed his body froze. He wasn''t stupid enough to not understand the meaning behind this, The enemy had note to kill them!

    With a burst of light, two more figures appeared beside Selerc, it was his son and daughter. They both also had the appearance of exceedingly beutiful men and women.

    Silence descended upon the area for a second, Unit one was the one to move first.

    "I havee to deliver a message from master." Unit one passed a round object to Selerc, which slowly floated to them.

    "Now then, I will be taking my leave." Unit emotionlessly started preparing to leave.

    "Wait!..." Selerc''s daughter, Airell, moved forward with a furious look but was stopped by Selerc''s raised hand.

    "Father...." Seeing her father firmly shaking his head, Airell moved to the back.

    Reading the message stored within the round device, suddenly veins could be seen burst on Selerc''s face. The round device was broken to pieces in his grip.

    His son calmly asked: "What kind of message did that device hold, father?" Seeing his father''s reaction, he knew that it was nothing good.

    "....Come to the shore in the southern border at midnight, if not, the whale tribe would be destroyed. You cane alone or bring anyone you want....." Selerc spoke of the letter line by line.

    The amount of arrogance in the letter even made the two the heir speechless.

    The whale tribe was famous even among the human ruling forces. Though the extent of their strength was unknown, they were still deemed as dangerous from just what they showed thus far.

    However, all three of them could not refute that this enemy might be able to destroy their tribe. Just Unit one was more than enough for the job.

    "We have attracted quite an annoying existence this time. Sigh...." Selerc heaved a sigh before ordering his most elite group to gather hastily.

    "Father, I will go too!"

    "Me too!"

    Both of the heirs vigorously said.

    Thinking for a second, Selerc nodded his head. They both had peak master rank strength after all and we''re smart enough to not do anything stupid if told beforehand.

    .....

    The fortress moved through the sky, reaching its destination.

    Before it was a huge unending sea. At night, only the rays of the red sun illuminated the water, giving it a reddish hue.

    Within a few minutes, suddenly the wailing of the whales could be heard. It spread to the air, covering the whole area.

    The sight of multiple whales rapidly swimming toward the shore had an intimidating feeling.

    Looking at this through the screen silently for a second, Zick got off the couch.

    At the same time, The whale who arrived at the shore slowly reverted to human form with a sh. Many of them were fearful or gloomy looking at the huge fortress flowing in the sky.

    As the fortress had flown down a little, its end was not even visible to them.

    With a sh of bright light, Unit one, Zick, and Yuriel appeared before them.

    Zick wore a ck demon-like mask with a ck coat, fully looking the part of a shady person.

    Seeing Zick standing at the front, Selerc knew that he was the leader. But...

    ''He is weak.....'' More than Zick, Yuriel beside him gave a more frightening feeling to Selerc.

    Zick extended his right hand at that moment: "The reason I called you here is very simple."

    Selerc eyes shone brightly, no greeting or any kind of apology. He was clear about the reason he was called like this.

    "I want you to work for me." Zick''s emotionless voice reached them.

 Chapter 200 Railgun And Barrier

    The whale tribesmen standing behind Selerc became furious instantly. But none of them moved, instruction had already been passed on to not move harshly in this meeting.

    Airell and Neiren, the son of Selerc, sported dark looks. Selerc himself looked gloomy hearing the words spoken by Zick.

    ''To work for me? More likee be my ves.'' Selerc scoffed in his mind.

    Zick continued speaking, closely looking at their expression: "I don''t need all your tribesmen to work for me, and neither will I try to change or stick my nose in their lives. What I want is only the strong, your soldier to follow my orders."

    There was no need to spell out what would happen if the whale tribesmen rejected Zick''s offer.

    A feeling of helplessness and shame rose within Selerc. He was a prideful man, but he wasn''t an idiot either. If he made a decision based on personal emotions, that would be just in foolishness.

    "What are you nning on making us do?" Selerc in a low voice, his face having a slight unwillingness.

    But Zick was not interested in Selerc''s state of mind at all: "You don''t have to know. So what is your answer?"

    Silence descended upon the shores, with all the whale tribesmen now looking at the ground with desteness.

    Zick stepped all over them, but they could not retaliate in the slightest. This was the power of strength, no matter the situation, it would always prevail above everything.

    With clenched hands, selerc opened his mouth: "Okay, we agree to..."

    Zick raised his hand, stopping Selerc from speaking further.

    "Contract." Zick spat out coldly. Like he would ever trust anyone''s word totally.

    Unit one moved forward to make the contract instead of Zick, he was wary of any sudden attacks.

    Making a ve contract, Selerc looked even more gloomy. Not only he, but all his tribesmen would also die the moment he betrayed Zick. A contract connecting thousands of people was rare, but it still existed.

    Selerc would have fought back if Zick only had Unit one, but he had another monster beside him, Yuriel. It was apparent that the whale tribe would be wiped out if they offended such a force.

    "You can live on as you were thus far. When the timees, I will call you through this." Zick tossed a ck handbook to Selerc.

    Havingpleted what he wanted, Zick did not waste his time and teleported back within the fortress in the air.

    Slowly the fortress began moving towards the middle of the Eastern section of the continent.

    Sitting on the couch, Zick turned to Yuriel and smiled. Yuriel moved into his embrace without a word.

    ''I should not neglect her should I?''

    .....

    Three dayster.

    Zick seriously trained in the aura all this time.

    Arianell, who had woken up, was eating some fruit sd on Zick''sp as he concentrated on training.

    Zick was still in the fortress, there was nothing serious urring in the Hevertec kingdom yet. He continued to be hailed as a savior and won goodwill by making more cures.

    Opening his eyes, Zick breathed loudly and let his body rx.

    What he is using right now was an elixir. Which could boost his mana absorption by more than 30 folds. But this effect onlysts for three days.

    Zick, who trained three days straight, felt some fatigue. His mind was exhausted to the limit, he felt a little sleepy too.

    These three days of training were equal to 90 days for Zick. He had to concentrate harder too as the elixir boosted his natural absorption rate.

    Taking out some test tubes filled with glistening blood, Zick chugged them down his throat. Feeling himself being strengthened further, he waited for the process to bepleted.

    Zick had not fully extracted the potential from Aeiron, needing him alive. But he did not need to care about the others.

    Most of the mermaid tribesmen were sacrificed in this. There was no one with grand master strength in this tribe, thus it did not hold much value to Zick.

    With such boosts, Zick estimated he would reach peak master in two weeks. And grandmaster rank in two years.

    It was quite a leappared to before.

    ''Though the creation of this elixir, which can boost my mana absorption rate is really hard. It requires a monster named soul sucker, which is almost extinct.''

    Soul suckers, they sucked in the mana of their surroundings to live. They have a special ability that lets them even suck the mana and life essence of their opponent.

    Taking some stamina potions, Zick drank them all and began harmonizing with the mana around him. He could feel that reaching Archmage would take several years if he took the normal route.

    However, Zick was not worried. His mage profession would receive an immense boost when he eats the dragons.

    "Silver wing system. Show me the result of the Experiment code-named brainwash." Zick said while still harmonizing with the mana.

    A genie with the mature appearance of a woman appeared before Zick. A genie was set up in the fortress too as it was just tooplicated to be controlled manually. And this one was connected to the secretb too, thus it was possible to control things in there from the fortress.

    "Results: Failure. The cause is spected to be the soul''s resistance." The genie''s mechanical voice rang out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What a letdown..." If it was possible to brainwash, Zick would have had most of his problems settled.

    "What about experiment number 0-6?" Zick closed his eyes, putting more concentration on training.

    "Human subject dead by deformation."

    "Experiment number 0-23?"

    "Sess."

    "Experiment code-named species evolution?"

    "Death by blood cell failure."

    Having such an exchange, time went by quickly.

    In the evening.

    Zick stopped training for a while to let himself rx. Instead, he concentrated on other things.

    "How many wraiths have been created till now?" Zick inquired to the genie.

    "Mid grade: 70,360 and low grade: 320,792."

    Zick nodded his head, finding the number somewhat satisfactory.

    "How is the research on high-grade wraith going then?" Zick held Arianell in his hand and moved before the screens.

    "75�Gpleted." Genie intoned.

    "I see."

    Zick''s eyes moved to the screen on the right. What it disyed was a huge teleportation circle that was being created right now. And on the screen below it, a green core was being constructed by golems.

    This green core function was to create an impregnable barrier around the fortress. Though the fortress was already sturdy, it would still take high damage if a grandmaster-level entity attacked.

    This shield could easily block even a full-power attack from an upper-stage grandmaster.

    As for the teleportation circle, it was connected to the middle continent.

    A massacre was going to ur there and this time the whole continent would be taken over by Zick. No kingdom or empire will be spared.

    ''With that many sacrifices, three or four Biological would be made for sure.'' Zick was not against this at all. Rather, he was looking forward to it.

    The middle continent would be fully taken over and used as a ground for thousands of experiments. It would be one of Zick''s main bases.

    The whole fortress had to be teleported, so some extra effort had to be put into creating the teleportation circle.

    ''Well, I am nning onunching the attack in the morning anyway.'' Zick turned to the screen in the middle.

    A huge cannon could be seen being constructed on it. It had the appearance of a railgun, but had a box-shaped barrel and was more than eighty meters long.

    ''With this, I should be able to blow many of the demonic races'' bases. Even the barrier around the demon king''s abode would be blown away by this.''

    Zick smiled with bad intentions.

    ''They wouldn''t even notice who hit them, hehehe.''

    Still, it was being constructed and many more materials were needed. That was the reason Zick hastened the preparation to attack the middle continent.

    ''Nurturing those people is also important....'' Zick felt troubled thinking on this subject.

    It was a kind of gamble, after all. He wasn''t sure if all the pawns chosen by him could reach the grandmaster rank �� before the demonic race attacked.

    ''It would be disappointing if they don''t...'' Zick put a lot of his effort into this matter.

    Getting up and Picking Arianell in two hands, Zick began lifting her up and down.

    Arianell smiled brightly andughed softly as Zick yed with her.

    ''She is growing fast too....both in strength and body.'' Zick said while looking at Arianell who wasughing happily. She appeared 7 to 8 years old right now.

    After ying for a while, Arianell sitting on Zick''s shoulder �� headed to their room.

    ''Being a father is fun but I wonder if this rtionship willst for long...'' Zick knew that everything came to an end sooner orter.

    To be able to attain something forever, Eternal life is the only way. Only by bing invincible can things cannot be taken away from you.

    ''Reality is always cruel. I am willing to be cruel to both myself and others. I will not stop till I reach my goal, I will sacrifice everything to reach it.'' Zick ced Arianell on the bed.

 Chapter 201 Peak Grandmaster

    In the morning, the Fortress along with Zick were teleported to the middle continent. Their first objective was to take over the Mhydrasvil empire.

    With no prior notice of such a disaster, the Mhydresvil empire could only resist for a few hours before being fully taken over.

    Many golems roamed the streets, killing the citizens left and right. As for the ones who surrendered, they were left alone. All of them would be sacrificed in the end anyway.

    Looking at the sight from the screen, Zick turned away his head, feeling there was no need for his attention in the matter.

    Receiving a message in the bracelet, Zick''s eyes widened: ''He epted.....''

    Zick had actually carried out a risky task �� proposing to the demon lord to join forces with him.

    Before, Zick was still powerless and did not consider executing this n. But after gathering sufficient power, it was highly likely for the demon lord to ept his proposal.

    However, the demon lord asked a very doubtful thing in return. To hand over Aeiron.

    ''How can He know about Aeiron? There was no sign of him knowing about him in the novel....'' Zick frowned, not being able to tell what as going on.

    ''...Aeiron is my trump card that I was going to keep hidden, but it doesn''t seem to be possible anymore. And, hmph, as I thought, he will only ept me as a subordinate in the end.'' Zick could clearly feel the demon lord''s attitude from this.

    Zick had deliberately set their meeting time one week from now. By then, three biological golems would bepleted too. And the rail gun would also be finished along with the barrier.

    ''If he had epted me as a coborator, I would have had no problem. But to be his servant....'' Zick''s eyes narrowed.

    He would be lying if he said this didn''t make him feel exasperated, but he could still ept it.

    What worried him was that all his assets would be known by the demon lord. And he would be disposed of in the future easily.

    ''Well, if it hase down to this then....I have no other choice...'' Determination shed by Zick''s eyes, he did not bother wearing the eyepatch within the fortress.

    Zick got up from the seat, he was going to be busy from this instant.

    What Zick currently felt was utter despair and helplessness. This feeling made his eyes appear hollow.

    Aeiron was his one and only trump card that had high chances of sess. Or it was at least supposed to be.

    ording to the cat''s memory, the ce where the giant species was sealed was near the demon continent. Hence, the demon lord was aware of its existence.

    And from the statement that the novel showed-

    [ The demon lord would have long became a god if not for the giants. ] It was apparent that they had some connection.

    Seeing the giants race still sealed, this method was still usable, but the demon lord would not fall for it anymore.

    And finally,

    Could any of the people he was nurturing reach the demon lord''s level? A demigod?

    No one!

    Not a single one of them could reach it.

    Even if they all could reach grandmaster rank, they along with Zick''s all forces would still have zero chance of defeating the demon lord.

    That was the conclusion Zick came in the end. After all, ording to Levienel and Yuriel statement. A demigod could destroy around half of the world by himself.

    In other words, the strength the demon lord revealed in the novel was just a fraction of it.

    Therefore, Zick felt despair. Now...He could only take a gamble.

    ''All of the blessings....Seveleen''s, Varine''s and all of the people who have God''s blessing, I would need to extract it from them....'' Zick started executing orders to unit one at once.

    ''I was nning on leaving the dragons alone, but now I can only use them and increase my strength. I should start killing them after another two biological golems are born.'' Zick''s mind worked at lightning speed while giving out orders one by one through the wristband in his hand.

    And then he began ordering the genie too, stopping all the long term researches. All focus was put on only some specific experiment.

    There was no hesitation in Zick''s mind.

    He gave another order to the genie: "Create another biological golem only using monsters'' bodies."

    Another message from Levienel was received by Zick. His face grew darker seeing Levienel''s evaluation of the demon lord.

    The sound of Zick''s sigh travelled through the room.

    ''I see, so defeating him isn''t an option as I thought.....''

    .....

    Levienel, who came back after performing her act of a messenger to the demon lord, headed towards Anastasia and Leona to capture them both.

    She still felt her skin tingly remembering the demon lord''s presence. It went past the level of a demigod, he was just a few steps away from entities like gods.

    The chances of killing such a being was not possible for anyone at her level.

    The fact that such being still existed in this world shocked Levienel. Thinking of defeating such a thing was the height of stupidity.<novelnext></novelnext>

    .....

    Six days went by in a blink of an eye.

    And a letter from the Gorthect empire was delivered atst. The content was as Zick expected.

    They grandly invited him to their empire, the reason being �� to express their gratitude.

    But at this moment, the royal pce was in a hectic state.

    Both Zick and hispanions disappeared a few days ago.

    Surprisingly, the two kingdoms were left alone. There was no time to turn them into biological golems.

    And the fact that the fortress and all strong golem vanished was known by them. Many people became suspicious seeing such an urrence.

    Sitting at the couch, Zick slowly chewed at the raw meat before him. A mana filled with nature''s characteristics was being released by it. Evidently it was dragon meat.

    In the past three days, four dragons were killed. A water dragon, fire dragon, wind dragon and a dark dragon.

    The piece of dragon meat in Zick''s hand was thest of it.

    ''I can''t even grow any stronger by eating dragons. There is a limit after all....'' Zick, who had be a peak grandmaster thought so.

    In the process of killing the dragons, Zick surprisingly lost one of his biological golem too. Bringing the number down to four from five.

    Zick could feel the difference between a master rank and a grandmaster. It was not possible to strengthen his higher form of energy through the mana in the surrounding.

    The only way to grow stronger was to condense his high form of energy and strengthen his soul using it. As the soul grows stronger, The higher form of energy does too.

    Zick''s soul was strengthened only slightly as it was already very strong. What mattered was that �� he could use soul skills now!

    Due to the baptism from the ck miasma from the doll, Zick''s soul had a very atrocious ability put into it.

    Along with the soul ability, The third art of the demonic eye was also released.

    ''I am an archmage again too. I have now long surpassed my past strength and reached a new height. But the wall before me is still too high, it is not possible to go past it.'' Zick''s eyes were filled with mncholy.

    Right now, Zick was aiming to kill the ancient dragon. Though its strength was unfathamable, he needed its body to strengthen himself further.

    The ancient dragon''s habitat was found by Levienel, after Zick gave orders to search for it in every corner of the continents. In the end, it was in the middle continent and it was a sand dragon.

    ''I have grasped the origin power of the dragons too. I have already surpassed Yuriel and the others. I will fight the ancient dragon and get used to my strength for now.'' Zick''s eyes went to Arianell who had fallen asleep on hisp.

    Patting her smooth hair for a while, Zick began taking her to his room. It was still morning but she fell asleep like this.

    A certain memory rose within Zick, it was about what happened a few days ago.

    .....

    "We refuse." Aeiron with a nk expression said so.

    This happened when Zick directly tried to interact with God''s blessing within Aeiron. He was asking to join hands again.

    But was rejected with no hesitation.

    The answer Zick got was very strange too: "You demon will betray us without a doubt. In the first ce, there is no need to even talk on such matters. Because of you, everything will be destroyed...."

    Seeing Zick''s confused expression, a mocking look passed by Aeiron''s face. After that, he lost consciousness again, entering aa.

    .....

    With this exchange, Zick was sure that there was something that he was not aware of.

    ''I don''t even have much time left anymore, sigh....''

    An hourter,

    Zick came out of the fortress, to the top where arge balcony existed.

    The dark elves were left alone as they were useless too. Even if Zick began creating a biological golem now, it would not be ready by the time limit.

    ''I could have created another biological golem, but s, I don''t have enough time and even some materials are missing.'' Zick looked down at the endless desert before the fortress.

    After a second, suddenly sand started rising like a huge dune. It kept rising until two horns protruded from the surface.

    ROAR!!!

    A dragon erupted from the sands, it looked majestic with scales shining brilliantly in the sun. Energy waves were being released from its body, shaking the whole desert. It was like an earthquake was urring.

    Feeling the energy brushing past him, Zick smiled: ''It would have been undefeatable normally, but with all the methods that I have, I can defeat it by myself. Even if I can''t, with the help of railgun and biological golems it''s not a problem.''

    Seeing The huge dragon heading up, Zick jumped down slowly. His body that moved slowly the air suddenly erupted with ck light. His figure turned into a spear directly aiming at the ancient dragon.

 Chapter 202 Zicks Origin Force

    The sight of the huge ck spear was reflected on the sand dragon''s eyes. The ck spear continued to grow bigger until it left arge streak on the sky.

    The moment the ck spear was a few meters away from the huge dragon, A golden barrier manifested around the sand dragon, it glowed in a dazzling light giving a sturdy feeling.

    With no hesitation, Zick collided with the barrier.

    Booom!!!

    A huge shockwave traveled to the whole desert, changing many of the in''s terrain.

    The ck higher form of energy continued to swirl around Zick, further strengthening his collision force.

    However, the barrier around the sand dragon did not break. Still, Zick was able to aplish his aim, stopping its charge.

    If possible, Zick did not want to damage any of his assets unnecessarily.

    Suddenly, the sand dragon started moving downwards, moving to the ground on its volition.

    Zick did not pursue and stopped his attack. Hended on the sand in some distance away.

    "Human, daring to challenge me within my own domain, you must have a death wish." There was concealed anger on the sand dragon''s eyes.

    The mana in the surrounding area also reacted to its emotions, trembling intensely.

    "Your domain?" Zick smiled mockingly, as the ck robe fluttered around.

    At that moment, his red pupil turned golden, giving an ominous feeling to the sand dragon. This was the first time it had experienced such a wicked presence.

    Second demonic pupil art �� Dark reality!

    ck substance started spreading from below Zick''s feet. This time it was being strengthened by his peak higher form of energy, thus it appeared even darker, like the space.

    At the same time, The sand dragon used one of its trump cards. Its origin ability.

    The apprehension in its heart caused the sand dragon to use it reflexively.

    A golden shockwave left its body, spreading to the surrounding, the sand on the ground turned golding under his control. The golden sand turned into a domain, contenting with the ck substance.

    Without further ado, the sand dragon leaped forward, it knew its advantages. Dragon''s had very strong physiquespared to other beings. Right now, The sand dragon was trying to make use of it.

    Zick did not stay idle and dashed forward too.

    Instantly, both the ck domain and golden domain shed and became into one, coiling around each other �� fighting for dominance.

    The sight of the semi circle made of these two energy, gave an oppressive feeling. It covered more than a kilometer of area.

    For now, the golden energy had the upper hand, suppressing the ck matter.

    With its head facing forward, the sand dragon used another origin ability, causing its body to gleam and its scales to appear sharper.

    It was nning on finishing this fight in just one move!

    ck substance began covering Zick''s body and his higher form of energy red out even further. ck scales appeared all around his body and two horns protruded from his head.

    His fist came in contact with the sand dragon, right in the middle of its two horns.

    BANG!!

    Ripple appeared on the collision of two forces as Zick and the sand dragon collided. Suddenly, the ck substance was erased by the golden energy. A huge explosion right from the middle of their collision urred at that instant.

    The sand moved like a tsunami, being pushed by this explosion. All the living beings, excluding the dark elves were killed at that moment just from the after shock.

    Luckily, the fortress which had moved high up in the sky was not affected by this.

    After a few seconds, the dust was pushed away by a wind current. Exposing The deep crater, it covered around 90 kilometers of area.

    "....For you to still be alive, you, just how many of my brethren did you eat?" The sand dragon''s furious voice traveled into the air.

    A few hundred metres from it, Zick''s deformed body fallen on the sand. Half of his body was blown away and the other half also not in a functionable condition with many bones and muscles raptures.

    Fortunately, Zick''s head was still intact.

    ''....Twenty percent of my higher form of energy was blown away....'' Zick was not agitated in the slightest.

    His body was already thousands of times strongerpared to any grandmaster, it was because he ate many dragons.

    ? Coming in contact with an attack very near to demi-human level, even Zick''s body could not take it.

    ''So an ancient dragon are being who is just a few steps away from demi-human rank....''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick''s body slowly got up and stood in a single leg. In these few seconds, The remnant energy of that attack was erased by him.

    A red glow erupted from his body, healing all the wounds rapidly. It was such a magical sight that even the sand dragon was frozen in ce.

    A human dies one way or another, by ripped heart, blood loss or destroyed brain. But Zick was breaking all thismon sense right at the moment.

    In just a few seconds, half of his body grew back and he appeared good as new! Albeit naked.

    "....Just what are you? It''s not possible for you to be a human." The sand dragon, who had experienced many things in its life, was surprised again and again by Zick''s means.

    Zick carelessly answered: "Who knows. Let''s continue our fight....then." his voice slowly turned to that of growling.

    ck scales grew around his body again rapidly, but this time they continued growingrger. The crackling sound of bones rang out in the air, Zick bent forward.

    His face and body started growingrger and transformed. A tail extended from his tail bone, growing in size along with him.

    ROAR!

    In no time, Zick grew into arge ck dragon with heterogeneous eyes of red and ck.

    "Impossible! How can such a thing be possible..." The golden dragon appeared agitated atst.

    A dragon hunter can only turn into a dragon only when he eats a dragon heart. However that was impossible, as no dragon was stupid enough to leave behind their heart. And strictly speaking, it was just a spection as no one was able to do it, until now that is.

    After eating a couple of dragons, Zick''s potential increased to an unknown level, he was not even able to sense his limit anymore. If given enough time, he would be able to be a god for sure. His heart also recovered along the way.

    Zick''s huge dragon face turned to the sand dragon: "What? Were you thinking you could kill me that easily? Not using even a single soul ability?" he tried provocation.

    To a grandmaster, their soul skill was usually their strongest means. Only some ability like the Origin force of the dragon''s could match its power.

    Slowly, darkness left Zick''s huge body. They moved around him mysteriously, a chaotic presence was leaked by it. This was his origin ability.

    Origin force, in simple words, were like magic spells. But it was conjured using one higher form of energy, a normal human would never be able to do because of their weak body.

    The spell conjured by a higher form of energy depended on its characteristic. Only origin abilitypatible to their individual higher form energy can be created.

    Then, what kind of characteristic did Zick''s higher form energy have? Chaos, in other words it excelled in destruction. Because of nature''s characteristics, it became something like natural destruction.

    "Shut up! Don''t get cocky with just that!" Along with the sand dragon''s angry voice, the golden sand domain, converted to spikes and moved towards Zick.

    Instantly, many ck spikes appeared around Zick, they gave a solid lustre. Immediately, these two attacks collided creating many explosions.

    After the explosion, both Zick and the sand dragon''s body vanished, colliding in mid air. The air current created by it was enough to kill a normal grandmaster.

    Both of them kept shing for a while in the air, using their tail, ws, wings and even horns to attack each other.

    In the end, the result was a stalemate. Both of them moved away from each other not being able to grasp the upper hand

    ''I really wanted to try this for a while....'' Zick eyes shone in expectation.

    What would happen when he recreated a nuclear magic or something simr from a Higher form of energy?

    It was really an interesting matter, and it was verypatible with Zick''s chaotic higher form of energy too.

    A ck orb slowly formed before Zick, it slowly condensed more and more, wafting its overwhelming presence around the area. He activated dark reality arts too, but this time all of the ck substance flowed into the ck sphere �� further strengthening it.

    The sand dragon did not stay idle, its chest slowly started glowing in a golden light. It was preparing to use breath attack, the strongest racial skill of a dragon.

    Both of their bodies floating in the air gave out a terrifying aura, enough to kill master rank just from sensing it.

    The fortress high above the sky vanished with a sh, it was moved away from the whole desert region. Yuriel followed Zick''s order of keeping it safe.

    "Die!" The sand dragon breathed out a ray of gold light.

    Zick shot the ck orb, which grew to the size of his huge fist forward too.

    These two attacks came in contact with each other right in the middle.

    BOOOOM!!!!!

    An explosion in ck and golden like never before spread to the surround. At that moment, the desert region was fully destroyed. Even the dark elves, leaving some behind, all died in it.

    The desert region covered around half of the middle continent and right now, it was fully erased from the face of the world.

    However, the fight between the two beings who caused it was yet to be decided.

 Chapter 203 The Railguns Might

    Zick had eaten dozens of dragon hearts, his fully recovered heart, unlike the past one simr to dried wood, at this instant beat loudly.

    High above the sky, Zick in his dragon form looked down on what remained of the desert region.

    The ocean water could be seen already covering most of thend, with only a few ces with high ground visible on the water''s surface.

    The ce was affected by both Zick and the sand dragon''s attack. It was not possible for any living being to inhabit the ce.

    Looking forward, Zick could see the sand dragon whose body had grown by a few meters. Its scales had grown by a few centimeters, appearing stronger and glossier. There was wariness and fury in its eyes.

    Zick''s dragon eyes flickered with a cold light: ''So this is its soul ability? To increase the defense of its body. Seeing it''s a higher form of energy characteristic, most of its abilities are more inclined toward self-strengthening or bluff.''

    Zick had taken some damage too, a few of his scales had slightly cracked. But it wasn''t anything serious, his defense was also strong.

    And, with a red glow, all of his scales recovered back to normal.

    ''Soul erosion might not have much effect seeing its soul being specialized for defense. Let''s see how much more it could hold on.'' After the prior attack, Zick only had around thirty percent of his higher form of energy left.

    Using its soul ability, The sand dragon''s defense aspect reached the demigod level. There was not even a scratch on its body after being hit by the aftershocks of their attack.

    Suddenly, the sand dragon''s eyes shrank, and an invisible attack reached its soul. Even it could not sense its presence, sending chills to travel its body.

    The sand dragon''s body trembles and returns to normal the next moment. The soul erosionunched by Zick was not able to breach its soul''s defense.

    "For you to even have soul arts...As I thought, killing all the dragon yers back then was the right choice. If not, a monster like you would have been born long ago." The sand dragon did not seem agitated or hesitant. It was confident that it could defeat Zick.

    Seeing this, Zick was not surprised, instead, he opened his mouth as his chest shone. He was preparing for a breath attack.

    The sand dragon this time dashed forward not willing to give Zick any time.

    ''I have already gotten used to my strength by quite a lot. There is no need for me to fight one on one like this.''

    Zick did not move from his ce, this made the sand dragon feel doubtful. At that moment, a blue spearnded on the sand dragon''s shoulder.

    BAM!

    It was so fast that the sand dragon could not even react. Its body was plunged a few meters down, stopping its charge. As it stabilized, the scales on its shoulder that had visibly cracked entered Zick''s sight.

    In a faraway ce, the fortress had reappeared floating silently in the sky. The railgun that had a squarish barrel was right now, split in two, in between, there was a transparent ss-like material that had thousands of cracks. Blue electricity coursed through it.

    The rail gun could kill an upper-stage grandmaster with a single attack. Thus, it was very useful against the ancient dragon.

    Seeing Zick was almost ready, the sand dragon had no choice but to prepare for a breath attack himself too. It was still wary of the long-range attack just now, hence it kept up its guard, ready to fend against it.

    Zick breathed out a ck ray of me at the sand dragon the very next moment. The sand dragon could only use its weaker breath attack at that instant.

    Just as the two-breath attack shed, another blue spear hit the sand dragon''s head. Not one, but dozens of simr attacks flew toward it continuously. An unbelievable feeling rose within it seeing this.

    ? Zick chuckled in his mind: ''How stupid. As I thought, It conjectured that it would take quite a while to prepare for such a strong long-range attack.''

    The railgun did not need any time to prepare for the next attack. And it was capable of spontaneous attack too, though there were chances of overheating, it could hold on for quite a while.

    Dozens of blue spears directly hit the sand dragon''s body, while some were dodged at thest moment. But it was more than enough, its breath attack was fully pushed back by Zick.

    The sand dragon tried to dodge, by flying up. But at the next moment, a few blue spearsnded on its head and wings, pushing it downwards. The railgun was coordinating with Zick perfectly.

    "You scoundrel!" Anger rose like surging tides within the sand dragon. Dragons were innately prideful after all, being yed around like this made it lose their temper.

    Zick breath attack directlynded on the sand dragon, causing a huge explosion to ur again. This explosion was still smaller than the prior one.

    Zick did not go for a follow-back attack, instead, he felt that his victory was assured now.

    ''Who would have thought the ancient dragon did not even have the capability to scheme? My preparation is wasted upon it.'' Zick thought about just how much he had nned to take it down. Many different kinds of ns were made to deal with it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t even use his ability as a mage.

    ''Well, it is best for me to be cautious till the end.'' Zick looked down at the sand dragon, who was visible after the ck cloud dispersed.

    Its scales were cracked from dozens of ces and its body was in tatters. The shiny scales now appeared dim, giving them an impression of fragility.

    For some reason, The sand dragon had an expression of overwhelming pain.

    "Just when..." It looked at Zick with a dim gaze. Something was eroding its body internally, and it wasn''t even able to stop it.

    "Of course, it''s when I just turned into a dragon and shed with you," Zick said while feeling the sand dragon''s end nearing.

    As Zick wanted, his third art of the demonic pupil specialized in destruction and killing. Its name was eruption, a very simple name.

    The condition for activating it was toe in contact with the enemy directly.

    Zick had been using it the whole time, but the sand dragon had not noticed it in the slightest.

    The sand dragon epted its fate. Determination passed through its eyes, it had no intention to leave behind a thing for Zick.

    "Ah, your pride must have gotten you to your head. Do you think I wouldn''te prepared to take you back intact?" The ck dragon shook its head.

    Instantly, ck substance splurted out from the sand dragon''s body from multiple ces. At that moment, an Almighty being, who was feared by many, died at Zick''s hand. It was killed while not even being able to retaliate properly.

    Zick flew down and put its body in a space ring not to waste its blood.

    ''If it had noticed me using eruption right at the beginning, I would have called all the biological golem with no hesitation.'' Thinking this, Zick''s heated gaze went to the space ring.

    ''I should be able to be a demi-gon after eating this. Though I will still not be a match to the demon lord''s might, my surviving chances will skyrocket.''

    Zick started heading back to the fortress. In the end, there was no need for Yuriel and the others to join the fight.

    Landing on the fortress, Zick slowly reverted to his human form. His breathing was a little ragged, but it recovered back to normal instantly, thanks to his regenerative power. First he wore some clothes for now.

    The moment Zick returned to the control room, Arianell moved and hugged his leg.

    ''Right, she was watching too. It must be her first time seeing a real fight...'' Zick looked at Arianell closely, seeing there was only worry in her eyes, not fear he felt satisfied.

    ''Ah, is this how it feels when a father sees his daughter grow up the way he wants? But, it really is good that she does not have an aversion to fighting.''

    Even in the middle of the battle, Zick felt Arianell trying to contact him dozens of times. However, he ignored it at that time, focusing on the fight.

    Picking up Arianell in his arms, Zick sat on the couch.

    Seeing Arianell sticking closely to him, Zick turned to Yuriel who was standing straight before him.

    "As you instructed, we have recovered the remnant of the ancient dragon''s soul. We are in the process of creating the high-rank wraith." Yuriel spoke with her emotionless voice like always.

    Zick nodded his head: "I will leave all the preparation for tomorrow to you."

    Passing on the space ring with the ancient dragon''s body to Yuriel, he ordered her to process its body and send it to him.

    "How about the biological golem made from the monster''s body?" Zick asked another one of his doubts.

    Yuriel shook her head: "Unfortunately, we do not have enough material sir Zick."

    Zick pursed his lips with a thoughtful look, Many rare or even extinct materials are needed for the creation of biological golems, especially for the red jewel in their head, it was a super rare material. So it was not weird for him to run out of material.

    ''It can''t be helped. In the end, I have four biological golems. In other words, four peak grandmaster assets, even if they specialize in defense, they are very useful.''

    Zick sent away Yuriel and began thinking of all the possibilities of his survival tomorrow.

 Chapter 204 Excitement

    Finishing eating the ancient dragon piece by piece, Zick''s higher form of energy reached a tipping point. He could feel that it had been strengthened by a few levels, but at the same time felt that it had still not evolved to its next form.

    Zick did not know if he had officially be a demigod or not, but he knew that his higher form of energy was stronger than before. In other words, his attacks would receive a boost in strength.

    With that, Zick had reached the limit of how much he could grow in this one week.

    ''Things really can go downhill at an unexpected time, all my prior preparation was wasted, but still, I don''t regret preparing in vain. It was the best course of action I could take at that time.'' Zick moved around his body, feeling the difference from before.

    Zick''s body also received a minor enhancement by eating the ancient dragon. His potential did not get much boost as it was already off-bound.

    For now, Zick put Arianell to sleep on the bed.

    ''This might as well be thest time I see her...But I guess it can''t be helped, she will probably just die in the end...'' Zick looked at Arianell''s face for a second before moving to another room.

    The training room was made just for Zick, a mirror was ced in one of its corners. Standing before the mirror, he started taking off his clothes. His robust body was reflected in the mirror.

    Zick did not appear to have excessive muscles, but his body gave a feeling of fullness.

    Zick turned around, exposing his back. A strange tattoo or a drawing could be seen on his back, it shone in a purple light. It was in the shape of a sphere with many strands like waves in it, and this tattoo-covered half of his back.

    ''This is myst trump card, or more like an escape route. Using this, I should be able to get to the other side of the mist barrier.''

    ''Even the dragon lord could not pass the mist barrier, so it must be able to stop the demon lord for sure.''

    The creation of that tattoo was the first order Zick gave to Yuriel as her first assignment. He was worried that he might not be able to beat the demon lord from the beginning.

    ''....Though it is a 50/50 situation, this inscription or whatever has a chance of failing ording to Yuriel. And it has not been tested, so no one knows if it can even go past the mist of annihtion.'' Zick looked at it intently.

    Even if more time was put into it, that would be a waste of time.

    ''I have a bad feeling for some reason, if I don''t move now I might never get a chance to...'' Zick''s instincts were enhanced after eating dozens of dragons, therefore he put a lot of his trust in it.

    As for what awaited him on the other side of the mist, Zick had no idea. The most he knew is that there are another five continents on that side.

    Zick touched the inscription on his back: ''I will keep this as ast resort, if I can take care of the demon lord, its use would be eliminated.''

    Having such a train of thought, Zick decided to train the whole night to get used to his body and increase his proficiency in controlling higher forms of energy.

    .....

    The next day, in the morning.

    The fortress moved towards the demon continent, located at the western seas.

    Flying to the west for a while, a yellowish continentnd mass became visible at the end of the horizon. The morning sun''s gentle rays fell onto thend and sea, producing a spectacr sight.

    ''So the time hase atst, I hope I can make it through this hurdle without too much damage....'' Zick, sitting on the couch, looked at the yellow-redndmass before him.

    The wholend appeared very barren and deste, with not even a single habitat as far as thend stretched. That was the demon continent, a continent with nothing to offer.

    With a sh, a figure appeared before the fortress, a demon general.

    The general had an appearance simr to humans, excluding the tail and horn.

    Seeing the brown skin demon, Zick knew his identity instantly: ''The ruler of the rock demon, they excelled in defense and have a high affinity with controlling the earth element.''

    Aeiron had faced him once in the novel, facing a huge challenge, he was almost buried thousands of feet underground.

    This demon general''s name was Nheriff, the earth overlord.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nheriff floated before the fortress with no sign of attacking, clearly, he didn''te with bad intentions.

    Using warp magic, Zick teleported before him instantly.

    "His highness has sent me to wee you to the pce." Nheriff bowed elegantly, not like the usual mindless demon who kills a human with immense hatred.

    Zick nodded his head in eptance, However before he opened his mouth to invite Nheriff into the fortress, he was interrupted by him.

    "And hand over the ownership of that flyingnd to us." Nheriff continued emotionlessly.

    Hearing Nheriff speak, Zick felt his eyebrow twitch. There was no way he was handing over the fortress no matter the cost.

    ''He is already treating me as hisckey....'' Zick''s cold eyes traveled to Nheriff with a sharp ze. All of his dragon fear was let free, freezing the air in the surrounding.

    Nheriff body started shuddering involuntarily, Zick''s dragon fear was already off the chart with all the dragons he ate. Even a grandmaster would feel threatened, but they could still move thus it could not render immobile as of yet.

    "It seems like your master has misunderstood something. I never epted his offer of subordination, I only said we can talk about the conditions today." Zick''s voice was so cold that it caused Nheriff to feel chills raise all over his body.

    "Do you understand? Garbage like you doesn''t even have the qualification to touch my fortress."

    Zick was in out humiliating Nheriff now, veins could be seen bursting on Nheriff''s forehead hearing him. Even his colleagues did not ever dare to treat him with such contempt.

    "...Sir, I do note with any intention to offend you. I apologize for my prior request, I was not aware of your standing." But still, Nheriff did not fly into a fit of rage, the demon lord''s order must be followed even if it means that he would die.

    "Just lead the way." Zick snorted and moved back into the fortress using magic.

    The fortress continued moving deeper into the demon continent. Surprisingly the demon continent wasrger than the other two, though its fertility rate was close to zero.

    Within the fortress, Zick who was already wearing tons of equipment put the cursed sword on his hip. He didn''t bother wearing a suit as his natural endurance already surpassed it to arge degree and it would tear when he turned into a dragon anyway.

    Looking at his palm, suddenly his heartbeat thumped louder, with certain emotions rising within him. This feeling traveled to every part of his body, making a smile appear on his face.

    ''Every path I have left is filled with riddles and danger. But, instead of any anxiety or fear, what I feel is excitement. This might be thest moment of my life, but I feel no regret. I followed my path of strength till the very end, even if I were to fall here, I will do so with a smile.''

    There were still many things that Zick wanted to do, but he had epted one thing �� till the very end, he followed the path he believed in.

    ''Bye then, Yuriel, Arianell, and everyone. I will have to abandon you all in the end. I will fight till the veryst moment of my life, to have a chance of survival.'' Zick got up seeing the ck pce in the distance.

    A barrier covered this pce, but a gap appeared the moment Nheriff arrived before it. This hole was only the size that can let in a few people at a time.

    "Let''s go, Yuriel, unit one and unit two." Zick and the three biological golems appeared before the hole.

    Nheriff began leading them into the pce.

    An ominous feeling wafted around the pce as it shone in a grim light. There were many guards stationed around the ce and all of them had peak master rank strength.

    Even without concentrating, Zick could feel the demon lord''s presence. It was on another levelpared to him, though they were in the same rank their strength could not bepared.

    The demon lord was a being very near to godhood. Which meant that he would have ess to energy just a little weaker than divinity.

    The two guards at the entrance opened the huge door, exposing the huge entrance hall.

    "This way, his highness is waiting in the throne room." A servant bowed toward Zick and Nheriff.

    Zick''s eyes closed before opening, filled with immense determination.

 Chapter 205 Red Shards

    The atmosphere seemed to grow dimmer as one walked deeper into the pce. Many strange antiques adorned the walls, disying the strange taste of the ruler of this ce.

    As Zick followed Nheriff, many demon servants bowed their heads before moving on. The air was filled with a kind of tension that made Zick''s face harden.

    ''Those servants...No all the servants are leaving the pce and going away.'' Zick''s eyes sharpened. His eyes zed over to Nheriff, there was no visible change in his expression.

    ''I see, so the oue of our meeting is already set in stone...'' Zick looked forward, feeling the atmosphere grow heavier.

    Could Zick defeat the demon lord with his strength alone?

    He didn''t know this question''s answer himself either. Only by fighting with the demon lord can the clear difference between them can be measured.

    ''I have Yuriel and the other two to shield me and the fortress will attack in ten minutes If I don''t contact unit three within this time.'' Zick felt everything to be in ce for now.

    The barrier around the pce blocked all of Zick''s attempts to contact the fortress. This didn''t surprise him at all, he had already expected this. Therefore, he came prepared.

    "Sir Zick...Please consider your safety above anything else." Yuriel spoke with a frown, she had noticed something out of ce too.

    Zick nodded his head: ''I will do so even without any reminder.''

    Arriving before a huge ck door, Nheriff silently stood in his position.

    Slowly the door before them opened with a rumbling sound. The sight on the other side of the door was exposed to everyone �� A huge throne with other 14 demonic generals beside it.

    And upon the throne, sat a man with hallowed ck eyes �� the demon lord. He had zing red hair and did not have any characteristics of a demon, he looked more like a human.

    Thest boss of the novel, the demon lord �� Reikel. Also known as the immortal God among the demon species. He single-handedly brought prosperity to them, allowing them to live on such a god-forsaken continent.

    Zick and the others walked forward. Reaching a certain distance, Nheriff moved beside the throne alongside the others.

    Zick and Reikel looked at each other nkly. Oddly they appeared simr in expression wise, it was like they could tell what the other was thinking even without exchanging a single word.

    Zick''s eyes twitched, with his dragon eyes he could see Reikel''s potential. And it was the first time he had seen anything like this.

    It was like a pir, or more specifically simr to a shooting star heading to the sky, moving into space. It gave a feeling of awe to anyone who saw it.

    Reikel was the first one to open his mouth with a dry chuckle: "That some ominous thing you have in your right eye." His voice was eerie and gave a feeling of absolute authority.

    Saying this, Reikel got up the throne leisurely, he extended his hand to Zick from a distance.

    "Why don''t you rethink your decision again? If you ept my offer, there will be no pointless fighting." The solemnity in Reikel''s voice was clearly transmitted to Zick.

    The mockery in Reikel''s eyes did not go unnoticed too.

    Zick smiled back at him: "Why don''t you tell me my fate then? I will decide after that."

    This question did not make Reikel hesitate at all, the answer was instantaneous.

    "Of course, it''s death. What I was trying to say is �� why are you uselessly resisting?" Reikel and the other demon generals did not suppress their presence anymore. Zick''s next words would decide their action.

    ''As I thought...For some reason, both the demonic race and the gods have enmity toward me.'' Zick was troubled by this aspect from a long time ago. The God was always getting in his way and now, even the demon lord was oddly inclined towards killing him.

    "I refuse." Zick''s answer was firm. Even if it meant that he would die today, he would still give it his all till the end. It wasn''t for others, Zick fought himself and himself alone.

    "Protect me." Zick nned on going all out from the very beginning. His body began morphing immediately.

    Three purple barriers inyers manifested around Zick and the biological golems. This barrier was their strongest ability, created directly from the core.

    At the same time, Reikel shed with the barrier in the form of a red sh. The barrier made a cracking sound, which made Yuriel stare nkly.

    The first barrier broke the very next second, The other two did not seem to be able to hold on for long either.

    ''So he was holding back in the novel....''

    While Zick who had turned into his dragon form did not stay silent and roared. A shockwave traveled to every corner of the pce, shaking it to the core.

    "Take care of the others, I will fight him." Zick dashed out of the barrier instantly.

    Zick was truthfully not worried about the biological golem not being able to defeat the demon general. In Yuriel''s space ring, there were dozens of quasi-grandmaster and grand master rank golems.

    The advantage of numbers was negligence.

    Both Zick and Reikel shed at once.

    Instantly, a huge shockwave spread to the surrounding area, destroying the whole pce in seconds.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The sh between them stayed in a stalemate for a second, before Zick was pushed back. The scales on his head started cracking, not being able to take the pressure put upon them.

    At the same time, Zick activated the regretful ne on his neck, but as expected there was no effect. The same happened with the ancient dragon too.

    Luckily it was usable on other dragons, thus Zick was able to eat their hearts. That was the main reason he climbed up to his current strength so quickly.

    Everyone broke above the pce that came crashing down.

    Zick and Reikel on the other hand moved into the sky and shed with each other.

    "Such a trick won''t work against me!" Reikel said while kicking Zick away. He noticed him using his demonic arts very easily and erased them using his divinity too.

    Taking some distance, Zick breathed out dark mes, the mes were majestic and appeared dense and ferocious.

    But such an attack was not able to damage Reikel in the slightest.

    A red barrier formed around Reikel, easily enduring the breath attack.

    Three nuclear orbs floated around Zick at once, the energy within them appeared even denser than when he fought against the ancient dragon. He was fully serious right now, and it was thanks to his stronger higher form of energy too.

    At that moment, seven crimson shards formed around Reikel. The presence emanated by these shards made Zick involuntarily feel terror.

    ''There is no way I can block that, I can only use warp. But I will consume too much of my ''will'' as I am in my dragon form....'' Zick chose to dodge using Warp anyway in the end.

    To use the origin ability of the dragon, ''will'' is a very important factor. Just creating the three orbs around him was very strenuous.

    Zick shot the three orbs around him to Reikel not caring about the people below.

    Reikelunched all the seven shards around him at once.

    The moment the Zick''s ck orb came in contact with the red shard, a strange sight unfolded.

    The red shard melted and flowed into the ck orb, causing them to turn red too.

    Zick''s eyes shrank rapidly as this sight unfolded. Immediately, he tried using warp magic. However, it was not working, he could not turn his body into mana particles!

    This made Zick start escaping at once, but the four shards and three orbs followed him like homed bombs.

    Zick did not dare attack them as they were just too unfathomable, they would absorb his attack instantly!

    Zick flew at a speed that was not even visible to most of the people here. The speed of a dragon was not to be looked down upon.

    At that instant, Reilkel who was in the far vanished in thin air. This sight caused Zick to involuntarily move to the side, but it was still toote. A punch covered in red particles was delivered to his face by Reikel, sending Zick right at the attack behind him.

    A huge explosion urred right in the middle of the sky, this explosion turned into a round shape and did not spread to the surrounding. Reikel evidently did something to limit them from damaging anything else.

    As the red explosion slowly disappeared, a figure fell towards the ground from within it.

    .....

    At the ground at the same time, it was a messed up sight, dozens of golems wreaked havoc everywhere.

    All the demon generals right at this instant had an ugly face. The reason behind it was very simple, they just received messages from all their tribes �� They were being raided by golems.

    The fortress executed Zick''s order the moment the fight began.

    Surprisingly, three demon generals began retreating at once; they went against the demon lord''s order.

    They knew this, but in their heart, the members of their family held the higher priority. Some others also had intentions to go back right this instant, but they resisted the urge.

    The demon lord, Reikel, would punish them for such an act no doubt. For such a reason, the other stayed back. They attack more ferociously trying to kill Yuriel and the other golems quickly.

    But these demon generals were not a match for Yuriel and the others. And unit three had also joined, making the result of this fight very clear.

    At that moment, the sound of the huge explosion in the sky attracted their attention. At once, the demon general began cheering.

    "Haha! Your end is nearing, his highness will take revenge for our lost tribesman."

    As the demon generals gloated, they suddenly froze.

    Zick, who was nothing more than some charred piece of flesh suddenly gave a bad feeling to them all.

    Suddenly, Zick''s falling trajectory changed towards them.

 Chapter 206 Usurp And Reform

    Feeling himself falling, Zick''s consciousness, which was in a very pitiful state, activated his one and only soul skill �� Usurp and reform.

    With the amount of energy ravaging his body, it would take a while to regenerate his lost limbs.

    ''I have no choice but to take some risk....and with that attack, it felt like he was not trying to kill me.''

    Zick moved towards the area where he felt the presence of lifeform.

    The fortress appeared above him blocking the finishing attackunched by the demon lord. The rail gun began shooting rapidly at Reikel with no regard for the damage sustained.

    The whole fortress shook as it came in contact with Reikel''s attack, but it still held on for now.

    Slowly, Zick''s huge charred body reverted to human form. But the injuries still persisted, his whole body appeared bleeding and burnt in many ces, and he was missing both of his arms too.

    Such a figure exceedingly appeared weak, but everyone around Zick was right now frightened. It was because of the ck miasma that swirled around him.

    Involuntarily, every living being had a bad feeling in their heart.

    As the ck miasma moved around him, his body began regenerating.

    At that moment, instantly a spear made of golden particles moved toward Zick.

    ''Just as expected, but it''s toote.'' Zick was not surprised by this spear at all.

    Immediately one of his arms regenerated and he held the spear in one hand. The ck miasma absorbed it in a blink of an eye.

    This attack originated from Levienel, Zick had already expected her to betray him.

    Seeing Leveinel bleeding from everywhere from the prize of breaking the contract, she had already died once and again reborn.

    The moment Levienel met the demon lord, an agreement had been made between them.

    Zick did not even turn to her, instead, he dashed toward the demon generals.

    This made the demon generals all start to run away, but Yuriel and the other biological golems interrupted them with their respective strong attacks.

    Zick appeared before them in no time, the moment the ck miasma came in contact with them, they turned into the ck miasma too, and became part of it.

    Seeing the fortress moving away, Zick knew it had reached its limit, he hurried up.

    The stone demon.

    The great electro demon.

    The water demon.

    The death demon...

    One by one, all of them became a part of the ck miasma.

    The miasma became so dense that it obscured Zick''s figure.

    Feeling the connection to his subordinate vanished, for the first time anger passed through Reikel''s face. He kicked with anger, literally sending the fortress flying to the side.

    Even the barrier around it had thousands of cracks in it. Many monuments upon it broke just from the pressure.

    Zick had already regenerated by then, he began transforming into a dragon again.

    "Yuriel, follow as per the n," Zick said before devouring both units one and two at once.

    "Yes sir." Yuriel turned to Levienel who was staring nkly.

    Zick raced off to Reikel who also moved at lightning speed toward him. The ck miasma which had already grown to arge degree seeped into Zick''s body.

    Zick''s whole body turned into ck miasma too, at once, it condensed into a ball.

    Reikel in the form of a red sh shed with the ball of ck miasma with an unstoppable might.

    BANG!

    Within a second, the ck miasma hit the ground from Reikel''s sh.

    A frown formed on Reikel''s face, he looked at his fist: "There was resistance...?"

    Before whenever Reikel hit Zick, it was always his overwhelming victory. But this time it was different, there was a tinge of pain on his fist and the feeling he got was different.

    As the dust and debris settled, Zick''s figure was exposed. A ck robe made of miasma covered him and both of his eyes had turned into demonic pupils.

    His soul ability �� Usurp and reform. It worked in a very simple manner, absorbing anything with energy and then reforming it into one''s body. There was a limit too, absorbing just too much might lead to failure, in other words, death. It was a double-edged sword that might lead to death if not used with care.

    However, this ability had an overwhelming advantage. It could be perfectly controlled, Which meant, Zick could choose what to absorb and what not.

    Thus, the inscription was still in Zick''s body as ast trump card.

    ''Still, I am not a full match for the demon lord, but with this at least I can fight him for a while.''

    Zick''s strength would return to his original state once he fully uses all the energy he absorbed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    SCREECH!

    The cursed sword flew into Zick''s hand with a screeching sound. ck miasma entered the sword, directly destroying the ''will'' within it.

    At once, the ck sword had a change. It began glowing in a red light, and its original ability that was being blocked was revealed.

    It was nothingpared to how it was before, this sword was mythical grade, and it was not to be looked down on.

    Zick''s body reappeared at the same height as Reikel''s.

    Reikel, on the other hand, had a smile on his face: ''Just like that guy told me, this person would not die easily, well I have to capture him so it''s not truly a bad thing.''

    Reikel extended his hand to the side, a spear manifested in it. This spear appeared majestic with a red de with a crescent design and crimson shaft.

    Red particles danced around the spear, showing the joyful emotion being used by Reikel after a long time.

    The mana in the surrounding began moving away while giving a wailing sound. The pressure generated around the area was destroying any mana that came in contact with it.

    Holding the sword in one hand, Zick held it diagonally to his side while bending forward slightly. This was not his usual sword stance, it came from the memory of the Giant hero, Fuiren.

    Both of their figures vanished, reappearing right before each other.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLASH!

    They exchanged blows using their weapons. Many cuts formed on Zick''s body at once, but they vanished just as quickly as they came. His regenerative ability was showing its might at full this instant.

    Even Reikel was amazed by such a sight. He had the upper hand, with not even a single cut on him.

    The reason behind it was very simple, spear users could keep a certain distance from their opponent. If used correctly, they would be the biggest adversary of a sword user.

    Zick''s eyes squinted: ''I can''t reach him like this...''

    In just a few seconds, they had already exchanged hundreds of shes, but Reikel always skillfully parried Zick''s sword, not even allowing him to hit once.

    ...The amount of difference between their skills was just too high.

    Zick used another one of his skills �� Dark reality!

    The ck matter left his body, but instead of spreading, it coiled around Zick''s body �� strengthening him. He felt stronger, but he felt a lot of the stored energy used up.

    Zick moved right into Reikel, not caring about defense at all. He attacked like a madman and did not even bother defending at all. He used all the parts of his body to attack, his leg, hand, teeth, or anything.

    I lost my hand? No problem, I can regrow it!

    Oh, I lost my leg? It''s not a problem either, I can just regrow it too!

    Ohh! My guts are spilling but that''s not a problem at all!!

    This kind of behavior made Reikel have a hard time too, most of his advantages were wasted, causing him to suffer some cuts too.

    A sharp light passed by Zick''s eyes: ''What the hell is his body made of? My sword can''t go deeper than half a centimeter into his skin!''

    Zick''s sword was strengthened by his higher form of energy, dark substance, and even the ck miasma. But the result was still despair-inducing.

    "Enough ying around, Just give up now." Reikel waved his spear at Zick''s sword, sending him flying multiple meters away.

    Dozens of red shards manifested around Reikel, they all melted into the spear.

    ''It could be used in such a way too...'' Zick''s eyes shrank.

    Zick became resolute too, he used another one of his original abilities. ck matters swirled around him and slowly entered his sword.

    At once, both Zick and Reikel shed their weapons at each other.

    BOOM!!

    Air pressure rose from between them, spreading to the surrounding area. One of the mountains in the distance was destroyed immediately.

    "Hmm?" Surprise passed by Reikel''s eyes. He saw how Zick absorbed around twenty percent of his attack''s power and turned it into the ck miasma. Then again, used that ck miasma to strengthen his attack.

    The cycle was just too vicious. If allowed to go on, all of Reikel''s power would be used against him.

    Zick did not dare to absorb this power, he was worried that his body might not be able to reform and die. Taking risks excessively was not good.

    Reikel moved away and looked at Zick closely.

    Silence spread around them, which was broken by Reikel.

    " I will ept it, you are strong. You might even rise to godhood if given enough time. But..." Reikel''s body blurred instantly.

    Chills rose from deep within Zick''s body, he wasn''t able to follow Reikel''s movement just now.

    Before Zick could realize it, his body was cut in two from the hip area. He didn''t even get the chance to resist.

    "You are too early." Reikel spat out behind Zick.

 Chapter 207 Sealing Technique

    Zick''s expression turned weirder as he tried to dispel the remnant of Reikel''s attack. It didn''t waver at all, his higher form of energy could not affect it, instead, it was strengthening it.

    In a closer view, the red energy spewing out of Zick''s detached body was different from before. A strange golden hue could be seen around it. Reikel seemed to have grasped his weakness, using a persistent attack like this.

    With no further ado, Zick activated his soul ability again. But the ck miasma could only contend with red-gold energy, eventually, the red energy would be destroyed.

    ''But, Will he give me enough time for that?'' Even Before Zick who just had half of his body left in the air lookup, a hand held his forehead firmly. A feeling of being pushed down took over him, the world blurred around him instantly.

    BAM!

    Zick was plunged into the ground by Reikel, causing a huge crater to form. At once, dozens of crimson chains portrayed from the air, they curled around Zick, holding him in ce.

    Another kick was delivered to his chest, sending Zick flying into the distance. The pain even caused his head to turn nk for a moment.

    In that kick just now, Zick''s whole chest was blown away along with the heart. It would take a while to regenerate such a part.

    And most of the energy that Zick stored using the soul ability was depleted.

    The feeling of death was sticking closely to Zick.

    Blood flowed from Zick''s wound profusely, and the mud below him was dyed red in an instant. His internal parts like his intestine and half-destroyed lungs were visible through the wounds.

    Reikel appeared before Zick again, who could not move anymore. Zick was suffering from the bacsh of using his soul ability.

    Reforming his body with so much power put a lot of toll on it. Normally, it would not have been a problem with his regenerative powers, but with the energy ravaging his body, it led to him bing immobile.

    Reikel dug his leg into Zick''s head, pushing his face into the ground.

    "Knocking you out seems to be impossible, so I can only destroy your whole head to get a simr result huh?" Reikel put more force into his legs.

    CRACK~

    Just as the cracking sound of the skull rang out, the gruntling sound of a machine rang out.

    Multiple blue spears moved toward Reikal at once. He did not even bother turning towards them, he had already sensed the fortress moving closer a while ago.

    A red barrier formed around him, rendering the attackunched by the rail gun useless.

    "Are these pests yourst resort? What a waste of time." Reikel did not bat an eye saying this.

    Zick slowly opened his eyes, which were filled with exhaustion.

    Breathing in deeply, Zick screamed: "Do it!"

    At that instant, the space around Zick and Reikel shook. At once, the whole ce froze, and both of them could not move.

    The sealing art at that instant was activated.

    In truth, the sealing technique created by the giant hero focused on space particles. Therefore, it excelled in sealing people within a space tunnel or any other thing pertaining to space elements in it.

    This technique was just perfect for the biological golem, as their element was space.

    However, normal space arts could never seal the demon lord, Reikel. Hence, something special was needed.

    In the end, With Yuriel and the other biological golems'' hard work, a device was created. By sacrificing a biological golem, a binding technique would be created. It could not seal Reikel for long, but it was more than enough.

    That was also the reason Zick did not absorb unit three.

    Atst, Zick resolutely ordered Yuriel to not care about himself too. Originally, he was thinking of pinning down Reikel, but he turned out just too strong.

    Reikel punched and kicked Zick like he was a punching bag, sending him flying here and there.

    Thus, Zick was sealed off in this strange space too. But he had already thought of such an oue, hence a way for him to get out of there was already ready.

    As for the people who had the divinity of the God extracted from them, they all fell into an unconscious state.

    Zick and Reikel looked at themselves, but for unknown reasons, Zick felt something was out of ce.

    "....I wish you hadn''t used this move, sigh...." Aplex expression of relief, disappointment, and grief passed by Reikel''s face.

    "What....?" A bad feeling rose within Zick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Reikel knew about this ability? But still did not try to do anything against it?

    If that were to be the case...Spection formed on Zick''s head, which made his spine quiver.

    "It can''t be...." Zick red at Reikel who just looked at him nkly now.

    "You are right."

    The ground began shaking as Reikel finished speaking. It was worst than an earthquake, it felt like the whole world was going to fall apart.

    With a loud bang, a red portal exited from the ground''s surface. The whole demon continent began quivering intensely as its presence wafted in its surrounding.

    The portal through which the giant race was supposed toe out. This had been a headache to every citizen 30,000 years ago, it had thrown many into the pit of despair.

    Until Fuiren sealed it and vanished mysteriously.

    Chains still hung around the portal, tightly sealing it. But there were some visible cracks on the chains here and there.

    The moment this red portal appeared, a suction was created around it. What it was sucking in wasn''t the mana or the ground.

    The divinity that used to create the seal around Zick and Reikel sucked into the gate.

    Zick felt himself regenerating again, but there was no sign of joy on his face. He appeared pale, and his visage was darkened from solemnity.

    The chain around the red portal gave out an ear-rendering sound at once, cracks began to spread on it rapidly.

    ''To think I was the one who was schemed against in the end. I never thought that the portal could be moved, that was a mistake on my part. And neither did I think he would break the seal this very instant using me.'' Now that Zick thought of it, everything appeared to already be nned out.

    If Zick had not contacted Reikel, he might have just done it himself in the future.

    Reikel looked at the portal silently: "All that I wascking was strong Divinity, and now with that provided. The giant race would be allowed to enter this world."

    Hearing this, Zick closed his eyes: ''I guess it''s time to escape. Instead of staying here and risking it, I can only take the other best risk.''

    ....

    Within a dream, Arianell looked at the majestic white dragon before her.

    It was her mother. Arianell had already met her while she was still within the eggshell.

    "Do you want to really protect that sphemous thing?" Arianell''s mother, the dragon lord asked.

    She was clearly mentioning about Zick, he appeared nothing more than a disgusting being who ate dragons as his breakfast and lunch, in her eyes.

    "Just what is with your obsession with him? Didn''t you feel it? He would not hesitate to abandon you if there were any danger to his life!" The dragon lord was out of words right now, Arianell wanted to protect Zick, even while knowing about his mindset.

    Zick''s mindset was very simple �� Never let any worldly desire get in the way of his path. If anything got in his way, it would either be discarded or destroyed.

    Arianell knew of it from the very beginning, it was through the connection she had with Zick. Though Zick could not sense her emotions and fraction of her thoughts, she could do it.

    Arianell opened her mouth: "He would abandon me, but I sensed a feeling of love in his heart...."

    Zick never detested or hated Arianell even once and neither was he dissatisfied with her behavior by much. He even treated her as a daughter sometime, it was because he wanted to relieve a little of excessive emotions, but it was still genuine feelings.

    Andstly, it was thanks to Arianell knowing Zick better, she always tried not to bother Zick unnecessarily. Leaving aside in the beginning, how her emotions affected the mana �� destroying the surrounding.

    "My daughter, I said that you could choose to do what your heart says. And I will not go against my words, I am just a remnant soul, use me as you want." The dragon lord could only heave a sigh and let Arianell do what she wanted to do.

    After all, Dragonlord could sense it, no matter how she tried, Arianell would never change her mind.

    Arianell on the other hand smiled at her mother, breaking her stoic look. The reason she was obsessed with Zick was not known even to her. It was like that from the moment she set her eyes on him.

    Arianell moved out of the dream world.

    Zick got up with all his limbs and the injury healed by then.

    There were around 16 chains around the portal, and seven of them were already destroyed.

    "Hmm?" Both Zick and Reikel felt the space fluctuate around the area.

 Chapter 208 Xespic

    The sun reached the middle of the sky, spreading its sharp glow to thend below. With all the clouds blown away by Zick and Reikel, the sky was as clear as it could get.

    "The world is a step closer to destruction, but here you are, still thinking only for yourself." Reikel misunderstood and looked at the inscription that appeared on Zick''s back.

    "...." Zick still did not rx, he felt the fluctuation of the space in the surroundings to be weird. And he even sensed a familiar presence in it.

    Reikel continued, and it did not seem like he had any intentions to stop Zick: "Your destination must be the other side of the mist of annihtion, right? It won''t take a long time for giants to breach that side too." Instead, he seemed oddly friendly to Zick, like they were long-lost friends.

    "That''s so?" Zick concealed all his emotions and turned to the fortress in the distance.

    ''If I can''t be safe even there, then I will just have to find another way to escape.'' Zick had no problem running away.

    Pride? Zick didn''t even consider such an emotion. If Zick let pride control him, he could never face himself in the future. Such a stupid thing would never happen, thankfully.

    Slowly, the space fluctuation became clearer, even Reikel could tell that it was not from Zick anymore.

    With a ripple in the air, both Arianell and Yuriel appeared beside Zick.

    Arianell''s presence raised to such a height, that Zick stared at her nkly. The presence of divinity around Arianell was so vivid that it almost materialized in the air.

    "That...It''s her! How can she be here, she must not have been born so soon." Reikel reacted in a way that suggested that he knew Arianell''s existence. He seemed to have hostility towards her too.

    Zick had thousands of questions bottled up within him, but he did not have much time left. Feeling horrible inside, Zick turned to Arianell and nodded his head.

    What Arianell wanted to do was already known by him through the connection, she transmitted her intention just now.

    ''If it seeds, I will be able to have a capable helper by my side too.'' Zick looked at Yuriel who had also understood what was happening.

    ''To your sister''s location then.'' Zick transmitted after thinking within a second. He did not know how to tell her the coordinate, thus he put it in simple words.

    Arianell smiled brightly, a feeling of delight rose within her. She was going to be of use to Zick for the first time.

    Reikel showed a vignt expression and did not make a rash move. He appeared even more serious than when he fought against Zick. He just watched how all three of them vanished into the thin air, with a huge fluctuation of the space.

    .....

    At an unknown ce, upon a huge building.

    A ripple formed into a point, and three figures emerged immediately.

    Feeling the polluted air of the city, Zick tilted his head: ''...I am back on Earth?''

    Zick hastily spread his senses to the surroundings, almost the area of a kilometer instantly appeared within his head.

    ''Or not, I guess.'' Zick concluded by feeling the presence of mana, and by thenguage, people were talking in.

    Zick had no idea what thisnguage was. It was not at all familiar to any of thenguages on Earth.

    Arianell moved to Zick''s embrace at once with a smile. But what she did next, made Zick bewildered.

    Arianell began licking Zick''s cheek with her small tongue.

    "Hey, what are you doing?" Zick didn''t expect such an action, he pulled her away by hand.

    Feeling Zick''s troubled feelings internally, Arianell tilted her head: "Mother said -- This is how you show your affection."

    Hearing Arianell speak for the first time, Yuriel''s eyes widened.

    With a small realization, Zick understood how Arianell possessed such overwhelming strength out of nowhere.

    Before the dragon lord''s soul remnant ordered Arianell to tell no one of her existence, but now that she had been fully consumed, Arianell did not hesitate to tell the truth.

    "That''s so." Zick Patted Arianell''s smell head, bringing happyughter out of her.

    ''Well, I am also happy getting out of that ce. I want to celebrate, but I don''t have time to do something like that.'' Zick Heaved a long sigh.

    One problem after another was making Zick feel troubled now. He didn''t even know what to do exactly anymore.

    ''I wonder if I should just leave this...But I don''t know any other ce to go. I don''t want to be drifting in space forever....'' Zick looked at the familiar cars that passed through the road.

    The ce they appeared had architecture at the level of modern society, and the presence of mana in the air was very thin too. It could be used, but the need for concentration increased tremendously.

    ''Luckily, I do not need mana anymore. My advancement in the mage profession may be put to a halt, but it''s not a big deal.'' Zick, Arianell, and Yuriel looked at the familiar, yet unfamiliar surroundings.

    Many huge buildings entered their sight, with a series of monitors ced on top.

    Zick looked below his feet, he could feel that the golden dragon was somewhere within the building. It had not hatched, mostly likely for the low mana.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''If it has been brought here, that means someone is already aware of its extraordinariness. If something happened to it...That would be a disappointment.'' Zick lifted his head, feeling the presence of something moving towards him.

    From the sky, seven ''Machines'' Moved towards Zick and the others.

    "Mecha...?" Zick looked with a nk expression.

    These robots were made of unknown ck metal, and at the chest, the logo of thepany shone brightly. Mana was being radiated by this armored robot, matching master rank.

    Surrounding Zick from all directions, a voice left the armored robot, known as the Xespic: "***** **** *******!"

    "....Do you understand theirnguage?" Zick turned to Yuriel, who shook her head.

    The pilot sitting within the Xespic heard Zick speak, making him confused. He had heard anyone talk in such a weirdnguage.

    These seven Xespic were dispatched the moment spatial movements were detected.

    Immediately, they beganmunicating with headquarters, it was not possible tomunicate with the target.

    The people were hesitant to move recklessly too, seeing Arianell in Zick''s hand. The thing that bothered them the most was that...Why was the man before them naked?

    "Ahh...." Noticing himself naked, Zick put down Arianell and plunged his hand into his pancreas area. Everyone was startled seeing his action, when he took out his fist -- a red ring could be seen within it. The wound healed in no time, sending the pilots of Xespic into another stage of shock.

    Truthfully, most of Zick''s space ring was blown away as he got beaten to a pulp by Reikel. Taking out the suit with high defence, he wore it with no shame at all.

    Fortunately, Some of his resources were stored in Yuriel''s space ring too.

    Zick held his chin in wonder: ''Should I try keeping a nice rtionship with them?'' He was not the kind of person whomitted homicide for no reason.

    And from Reikel''s tone, it seemed like it would take a while to get past the mist of annihtion too.

    For now, seeing the golden dragon egg''s condition was important.

    After concentrating, Zick used his senses to the fullest. The location of the dragon egg was found in no time, it was on the ground floor of the building he stood on.

    The golden egg recognized Zick''s presence too, sending in a wave of transmission. This showed that it was alright, it had not been damaged as of yet.

    ''That''s good. I can just im to be the parent of that egg, and it shouldn''t be a problem.'' Zick thought of a reasonable exnation instantly.

    He could turn into a dragon, so there was no need to even speak of any proof.

    "Go bring me the dragon egg on the ground floor," Zick ordered Yuriel, feeling her to be the best choice as she could just teleport there.

    "Yes, Sir Zick." Yuriel loyally spoke and vanished.

    "****!" A flustered voice left the Xespic.

    A xespic with arge cannon in it aimed at Zick, who sat on the railing with Arianell leisurely.

    Seeing Zick''s easygoing attitude, they were all lost for words. They had still not received an order to use any force.

    Zick had already fully recovered, even if all of them attacked -- they would not even be able to scratch him even in his current state.

    CLICK~

    At once, an order of apprehension was given to all the Xespic pilots. One of the Xespded on the building, it had a height of around four to five meters, making it appear terrifying to a normal person.

    The deck of the Xespic opened, on its back, and a woman with a long ponytail and with aggressive features moved towards Zick.

    Amunity that has grown to such an extent would always havews and regtions to bind its people. With thates many limitations, such as prohibition from using Xespic against normal humans.

    Zick smiled seeing their action: ''As I thought, no matter where -- Human behavior is always the same.''

    Zick had realized long ago that the people here were weak, it was because of the low existence of mana. Even the women before him only radiated energyparable to a middle-rank knight, without a mana nerve.

    This led to no one being able to surpass and rise above the others. Giving rise to a society simr to the one on Earth.

    Yuriel appeared before Zick, with the dragon egg in her hands. Arianell''s eyes widened, feeling the connection with her cousin.

    Zick let Yuriel carry it as he was holding Arianell in his hand.

    With the appearance of Yuriel, the woman who got out of Xespic immediately took out a handgun. It was the first time she had seen such a magical thing, no devices were used either.

    The woman, Yeolen, Pointed the gun toward Zick. But all she got in return were the nk stares of three people.

 Chapter 209 Yeolen

    The Archenst, An ace groupposed of only elites. All the members in this group are strictly chosen and nurtured with care. They were the backbone of the Republic of Threkert.

    After finishing the battle in the eastern province, the Archenst returned to their homnd, but an order to investigate the sudden disturbance of spacial movement was sent to them right after.

    Discovering the incident to be caused by a human, a thorough investigation was supposed to be carried out. Or at least it was supposed to be like that.

    Yeolen, the captain of the Archenst, had cold sweat running down her back, looking at the person before.

    A conspicuous man with a rather young look, his heterogeneous eyes gave a sense of terror to anyone who saw it, with one being blood red and the other ck and red.

    Another woman the same age as the man, and could even vanish in thin air. And finally, a child seeming between 7 to 8 years old.

    As this was not enough bewildering, Yeolen could not sense even one of their presence, not even Arianel''s!

    ''Is my senses screwing with me? A child is stronger than me?'' Yeolen''s hand shook a little, she put down her handgun. She was able to be a middle-rank knight even in such horrible conditions, her talent was apparent from this.

    There were not many people who could escape her senses. Nevertheless, here they are, three people who she could not sense even while they stood right before her.

    Seeing Zick''s vertical eyes, Yeolen had an idea: ''Is he a hybrid?''

    That would exin many things, she had fought some in the past. Hybrids could destroy medium-quality Xespic with their bare hands.

    However, this was not proven yet, as Zick had no characteristics of a hybrid at all. He didn''t even seem to have lost his mind like them, he appeared exactly the opposite.

    "This way." Yeolen showed the way by using her hands, withmunication being simr to a broken bridge, only actions could be used to convey the meaning.

    Yeolen was truthfully a very cautious person, betraying her fierce appearance. To begin with, her job was on the battlefield, not something like this.

    Zick shook his head internally: ''Her loyalty to this nation is very shallow. I wonder what her next action would be.''

    A siren began ringing from the building below, they found out quite fast, within a few seconds. This showed that the dragon egg was kept under tight security.

    Zick sighed and transmitted to Yeolen using magic, it took quite a lot of concentration even for him.

    "Convey to your superior my intentions to have a conference." Zick''s directly sent this message to her head, causing Yeolen to stare nkly.

    Zick was not able to use this magic before as the mana around the Xespic disturbed him.

    Understanding what just happened, Yeolen''s eyes widened: ''Telepathic ability?! Or no...How was I able to understand him?''

    Yeolen for now nodded her head, keeping a solemn look on her face. She began transmitting to the headquarters.

    Yeolen kept her guard up, she was not scared out of wits yet, as she had the Xespic behind her to move in case Zick did anything funny.

    In her mind, no one could go against the best Xespic in the republic of Threkert with their body.

    Soon, Yeolen led Zick and the others to the ground floor using the Xespic, where hundreds of guards seemed to be moving hectically.

    Yeolen looked at the golden egg from the corner of her eyes, she was more than capable enough to connect the dots.

    Still, seeing Zick''s calm demeanor, she was lost for words. He appeared like he had nothing to do with this at all.

    Yeolen''s eyes widened seeing that the golden egg had vanished. She had not even noticed when it had left Yuriel''s hands.

    The citizens kept their distance from the area, while the guards moved aside seeing the Xespded on the sidewalk. The police and guards stood straight after giving a salute filled with respect.

    "Glory to the republic!"

    Yeolen nodded her head seriously: " Continue performing your duties."

    "Yes!"

    Instantly, an order was distributed to all the guards at that moment �� "Look for anyone with an item simr to an egg around a meter in size."

    Immediately, almost all the guard''s eyes moved around looking for anything suspicious.

    A Xespded beside Yuriel: "Hey, I remember seeing an item simr to an egg with you. Where did it go?!"

    Such action of course gathered many eyes on them.

    Yeolen held her forehead with a frown, she was nning on finishing this assignment without any trouble, but it was not possible anymore.

    "...If you are telling the truth, we will need to investigate this person thoroughly. Miss Yeolen, can you please hand them over to the Kortec research group?" A thin person with ab coat moved forward, he was the executive of the research team, which was looking into the dragon egg.

    And as Zick expected, they found out that it was nothing simple extremely quick. They wanted to further research it and it was a very important object, rated to be the only one in the world �� irreceable.

    Yeolen opened her mouth with a solemn look: "That is not possible, as of this instant, they are being taken to the headquarters of the zier Rex. All their responsibility would belong to them, please contact the chairmanter on."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Seeing Yeonel speaking with a glib tongue, Zick turned to the head researcher. He had been counting all his resources as all of this was transpiring.

    "The chairman? No problem, he is one of the biggest sponsors of this research, I will get his eptance in a second." The head researcher, Huisel, conducted himself in a professional manner. Taking out a mobile from his coat''s pocket.

    "Sigh...Hey, look here now, stick-like bastard." Along with Zick''s cold voice, some of his dragon fear wafted into the air, making everyone freeze in their position.

    "Huh..." Surprise passed by Zick''s eyes, just now he actually lost control over his mouth.

    The source of such abnormalities was immediately identified by him.

    It was the red energy that gave him the regenerative ability. He had not used it even once as it did not give any boost like his other ability.

    ''How can this be.....'' Zick had thought that the negative effect of this strange power was removed, but that didn''t seem like the case.

    This ability was something that gave immense advantage to Zick, and everything in this world, there was a prize to pay. This strange power also tended to turn its wielder crazy with bloodlust.

    Zick found the reason behind this immediately, it was because he lost the regretful ne.

    After finding it to be useless against Reikel, Zick put it within a space ring. However, it was lost during the fight.

    It had either been destroyed or below some debris in the demon continent.

    ''To think that it was not fully erased, and now it erupted like this.'' The mental pressure Zick felt increased by many folds.

    Even an indistinct voice appeared in his head, increasing his headache by another level.

    "It''s alright, just let the bloodlust take over you."

    "Being consumed in it would give you the greatest pleasure."

    "Kill them!"

    Zick''s eyes turned hollow as he heard them, the future seemed filled with an unknown riddle once again.

    Arianell''s eyes got filled with concern, she felt something weird with Zick just now. Yuriel kept a straight face, not saying anything.

    Zick looked at Yeolen and transmitted: "When will my ride be here?"

    Yeolen jolted out of her frozen state of mind. The instinctual fear that was rising from her body made her feel her skin was crawling. Sweat formed on her face rapidly, and she was not able to think properly at all.

    "F-five minutes....!" Just speaking these words made Yeolen feel a sense of breathlessness.

    Zick did not stop releasing his dragon fear and waited for whoever wasing to pick him up.

    ''From the look of things, this woman isn''t someone who does this kind of work. Normally, they would try to at least shackle my hands.'' The inexperienced feelinging from these people did not go unnoticed by Zick.

    The people who controlled the Xespic might give out an experienced feeling to others, but their action was not at all professional.

    Soon a long ck car moved near the area, and Zick suppressed his dragon fear. It might lead to an ident if he didn''t stop.

    Many people took a deep breath, while somemon folks held their chests in perspiration.

    The pilot of Xespic had fear still etched into their heart. They were the people who braved even the hardest of the ordeal, but before Zick''s dragon fear, they couldn''t even move an inch.

    The door of the car opened on its own, exposing thefy seat within. More than picking up Zick, this car was sent to wee the captain of the Archenst squad.

    With no further ado, Zick and Yutiel entered the car. Putting Arianell on hisp, Zick sat as if he owned the car.

    "What are you waiting for, enter." Zick transmitted while ignoring the voices in his head.

    Yeolen had a strong urge to reject Zick''s offer, nevertheless, seeing his cold eyes, she crawled into the car and sat with bowed head.

    The driver felt something was out of ce, but he still began driving without a word.

    While the Xespic followed them from behind, Yeolen felt nothing but pressure, sitting before Zick, who looked like he could eat her in a single gulp.

    Yeolen''s Xespic moved on its own, being in autopilot mode.

    Looking at the familiar scene outside the window, Zick closed his eyes and breathed out sharply, making Yeolen tremble.

    Zick concentrated on his soul, after bing a grandmaster, the presence of his soul was hidden from him.

    Zick felt that his soul was still strong as ever, but he felt a sense of corruptioning from it. He began resisting corruption with all his energy.

    ''I didn''t even notice such changes, I was truly walking on a thin rope. It has been suppressed for now, but it still affects my soul slowly. I need to find a way to solve this problem now.....''

 Chapter 210 The Chairman Of Glazier Rex

    Feeling a certain connection to himself, Zick propped his head on his palm: ''I wonder what the cat is doing now....''

    The cat did not participate in the battle between Zick and the demon generals. The cat and Levienel were sent to attack the different tribes of the demonic race.

    Before the demon generals, the cat was not much of use.

    As for Levienel, Zick had been suspicious of her from the moment �� She understood Reikel''s real strength.

    Though a contract was made between them, there was always a way around it. Especially for being who had long surpassed the level ofmon sense.

    Zick had not met Levienel alone even once, he would dodge her most of the time and send her to hunt the dragon along with the golems.

    As Zick distracted himself from the disturbing voices in his head, he suddenly felt the whole world blurring. He did not change his expression, but he was quite surprised.

    The voices in Zick''s head began screeching, the noise was so loud that he felt his ears go numb and bleeding. But that was not the case, Zick''s ears were just alright. e

    The screeches in his head kept increasing, before bing quiet altogether.

    A sense of bloodlust rose within Zick, however, he did not lose his reasons in the slightest. The bloodlust was suppressed within a few seconds.

    This time he was prepared unlike before, rendering such a thing useless.

    ''...They are resisting more than I thought, but it''s of no use. With my current level of soul, it would not be the same as the first time. The only problem is that they can still corrupt my soul slowly, and I have to deal with this no matter the cost.''

    Zick was even willing to discard the regenerative power resolutely, in case no other alternative is found.

    As the saying goes, A double-edged sword is good, anyone with it could perform better than the other. But in the process, they have to pay a price too.

    This price may even include their life.

    ''I have around a few years ording to the speed my soul is being corrupted. This time might extend or even decrease depending on the circumstances.''

    Zick felt a little better considering he had Yuriel beside her. With her ability, most things would go very smoothly.

    Being freed of the voices in his head temporarily, Zick closed his eyes and let himself rx with peace of mind.

    ...

    Unlike the other side of the mist barrier, this world was very developed. Many reasons y a part in it, the pre-eminent reason would be the low presence of mana.

    The reason behind such a fact was unknown, but to the people here, it was like this from the very beginning.

    The video of the incident that just transpired before a research center, spread like a wildfire in the media.

    One of the people walking by, of course, began making a video looking at all the rms and guards moving around. As a result, the video of where everyone froze in ce was disclosed.

    Though the voice was not recorded because of the distance, the sight of Zick opening his mouth was clear to them all, after that no one spoke a single word.

    The sight of Yeolen speaking nervously was also portrayed to the whole media.

    The title went as such-

    [ The hope of the republic, Yeolen was agitated by an unknown person]

    Or

    [ Has the new captain for the Archenst been chosen?]

    But all these kinds of threads and news were once again brushed aside, being reced by the ones who took the statement of the people who were present at that time.

    They recognized Zick as a devil or monster, having fearful looks even thinking of him. Almost all of these people were traumatized.

    This was to be expected, unlike the people where Zick was before, here most of the people were far from the world of violence. They had very few instances where they could actually sense danger to their life.

    Within just ten minutes, Zick became a hot topic in theirmunity.

    The chairman of the zier Rex, also the main military force in the republic, which protected the border which was currently being attacked by enemy forces.

    The first to call the Chairman, Mister Celwent, was the head researcher, Huisel.

    Celwent, who appeared to be in hister twenties with dark blue hair, sat on the desk with a rather disturbed look.

    "I see, that egg is still missing..." Celwent looked at Zick, who was being broadcasted on the Huge TV on his office wall.

    The golden egg, the research X-gold, was very important to Celwent.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ording to multiple scans from devices, the golden egg was going to hatch very soon. The creature within it was also very identical to dragons in the legend, they wanted to control the dragon born from this egg.

    This might have even been the key to ending the war, which was going on for years.

    " I will look into this person myself, so you don''t have to worry, doctor Huisel." Celwent sent his secretary to suppress all articles regarding Zick a while ago.

    Huisel''s voice came from the mobile: "Hmm, be careful of that man, he was very weird. He can even make people immobile..."

    Celwent nodded his head: "I am aware, keep looking for that egg just in case."

    "Cut the call" The moment Celwent said this, the call was cut. The semi-round device on the back of his neck shone slightly, before returning to normal. It was a widespread device that allowed the people in the republic tomunicate, like cell phones, with not much disturbance.

    A look of dissatisfaction passed by his face: ''Yeolen...I thought....No she is very smart, it has been proven by hermands on the battlefield. Doing such a stupid thing, just what is wrong with her?''

    Celwent opened his mouth and spoke in a cold voice: "Connect to �� Yeolen selmar."

    Tinx~ The semi-round device, the mindxec, activated. It transmitted the sound directly to Celwent''s mind, making it impossible to hear externally, even with enhanced ears through mana or technology.

    .....

    The device in Yeolen''s pocket began vibrating, making her hurriedly move her hands. Taking out the same device worn by Celwent, Yeolen put it on her back and joined the small belt extending from its side.

    As the name of the person calling was transmitted to her head, Yeolen turned even paler. Even Zick had to admit that she was quite resilient, she had still not fully exposed her emotions externally, even once.

    With a straight back, Yeolen spoke with resolution and tension: "ept."

    ".....Yeolen, I will need you to exin yourself right this instant." The cold voice was like an icicle that directly thrust itself into Yeonel''s heart, making chills rise nonstop.

    The car that Zick was riding was supposed to be only for Yeolen, but Zick entered like it was owned by him, and was even rxing in the window seat with a nonchnt demeanor.

    The inhumane feeling that Yeolen received from Zick was further strengthened, as she observed him.

    Yeolen publicly entered the car along with Zick, this was the main point. It showed that the way she was treating Zick wasn''t like that of an apprehended.

    ''...I feel like I was the one who was apprehended instead of them.'' Yeolenmented to herself.

    There was an option of directly speaking with thoughts using Mindxec.

    "Brainwave connect," Yeolen spoke softly, what she was nning was very simple.

    Throw all these problems upon someone else, to Zick.

    "I am sorry sir. But I had no other choice. The target seems to have a telepathic ability and was able tomunicate with me breaking thenguage barrier." Yeolen began narrating a long story to Celwent.

    "....With the opponent having the ability to paralyze others, I was worried that this person might harm the people. So, I brought him along with me quickly, before the ride arrived to pick them up."

    There were a few ws, but it was still a reasonable exnation...

    However, just this much was not enough to satisfy Celwent.

    ''Such an emotional choice does not suit her personality at all. Her track record showed her rational decision-making very long ago.'' Celwent smiled coldly, he waspletely aware of Yeolen''s capabilities and tendencies.

    And such a relenting attitude was not something that Yeolen was capable of.

    Zick appeared dangerous, therefore she let him in the car? It looked more like Zick allowed her into his car.

    The fact that Zick wanted to meet him was interesting, but certain procedures had to be followed to do that. If anyone was allowed to meet him like this, what was even the point of all the regtions?

    The authority and the difference in position must be kept vivid at all times. This was the unwritten rule of all organizations or societies.

    Celwent became a little furious, he felt like Yeolen might be looking down on his intelligence.

    "Then let me ask you, why did you not use the Xespic from the very beginning? Not even a restrain was on that person, he has also been spected as superior to you, do you understand what that means?" Celwent words poked into Yeolen, causing her body to tremble slightly.

    Yeolen did not want to speak too many lies as it would all be found out in the end, this exnation was the best one.

    ''....My position as the captain of Archenst might be taken away if this goes on.'' Yeolen was also someone who put a lot of her attention on social standings.

    The authorities would not remove her from the Archenst, as she was very capable. But they could still punish her in many ways.

    "It...It was my mistake, I did not put much thought behind it as I was happy and distracted returning to my hometown..." Yeolen admitted with clenched teeth, this reaction made Zick retract his gaze.

 Chapter 211 The Giant Races Strange Behavior

    It had been dusk from the moment Zick and the others arrived at the Republic of Threkert.

    ''That''s an interesting way ofmunicating, It''s not even possible to hear their conversation.'' There were a few ways of looking into Yeolen''s mind, but using it would harm her in the process. Therefore, even he was not fully aware of their conversation.

    As the car drove forward, Zick tried learning thenguage used in this republic, through the normal conversation of the public, tone, and gestures.

    To a normal human, it would take a lot of time to process this information, but to Zick, it was like a clear breeze.

    With his mind having the capability of aputer, slowly the indistinct words became clearer.

    Zick only had a few words to describe thenguage used in this nation: ''What a tongue-twistingnguage.....''

    It would take a while to be proficient in such anguage, speaking in a foreignnguage was not that easy.

    Just learning it was not enough, getting used to speaking with it was also important.

    ''I was able to get used to the easternnguage in no time, but various reasons yed a part in it. Mostly it all contributed to the fact that thenguage used in the middle continent and Eastern continent were simr.''

    ''However, the speech used in this nation is just too foreign and hard to grasp.''

    Just as Zick was thinking this, Yuriel turned to him.

    "I havepleted decoding this nation''s speech. Conversation, interpretation of words, and reading are possible." Yuriel''s face was emotionless, but the feeling in her eyes was not hidden.

    ".....Good." Zick praised, breaking his train of thought.

    Smiling slightly, Yuriel began looking out of the window too. She had been putting all her concentration on the people in the prior ten minutes.

    The sight of buildings positioned in a perfect alignment and the skyscrapers were very intriguing, both for Yutiel and Arianell.

    Even the mana core within the car was very attractive to Yuriel. Though it was weak, its efficiency and usability were almost godly.

    It was like they had entered a different world altogether. Arianell and Yuriel felt a stronger first impression,pared to Zick, who just epted the situation after considering it rationally.

    ''It''s no different than morning....'' It was so bright even at night, that Yuriel stared at screens and lights with her red eyes.

    The ruling forces in the Eastern and middle continents had also found the problem with the dark at night. Many kinds of crime would have been carried out unnoticed.

    Hence, they implemented devices to light up the streets at night. So it could not be said that it waspletely dark at night, in the ruling forces'' location.

    However,pared to this ce, it was likeparing candlelight to a shlight or torch.

    As time went by, the frown on Zick''s face grew in size.

    After taking away all the divinity from the people who were blessed, Seveleen, Varine, Anastasia, Leona, and others �� were left in the fortress.

    And the fortress was set to self-destruct after ten minutes or if anyone tries to infiltrate it.

    ''There was a chance that Reikel could enter the fortress easily, so I left a hidden mechanism, which would cause the fortress to self-destruct.'' Zick still felt the connections of the contract, which would mean that they were taken out before the fortress detonated.

    Zick was not sure what was happening on the other side anymore. The cat was alive, the harem members were too, this led to the question-

    What is the giant race nning here?

    ''....It''s very strange, The giants were species that were going to destroy the world, ording to the prophecy/revtion done by the gods.... the prophecy might be a lie from the very beginning.'' Zick concluded internally with not much shock, such a possibility had already passed through his head.

    Zick had learned to never believe in any kind of information thoroughly until checked or proven true.

    At that moment, Zick decided to move ording to the prophecy as not much was known about the giants. And the result turned out very puzzling.

    ''Or did I miss something?'' Zick was not able to think of anything that he might have not considered.

    As for the dragon egg, it was right in front of Zick the whole time, floating in the air invisibly. The car was very spacious so no one would notice its existence until someone moved near to him.

    Yeolen, who was silently hearing Celwent''s strict order for a while, turned to Zick. She started moving her hand feeling flustered within. Her hands drew a round shape, presenting an egg and then she pointed at Zick.

    Looking at Yeolen''s behavior, Zick closed his eyes: " Tell her to speak, instead of wailing around her hands in such an embarrassing way."

    Yuriel tranted what Zick told Yeolen: "Speak up and stop making such embarrassing hand signs."

    Yeolen''s eyes widened in surprise: "...So you were tricking me from the very beginning?" A wry smile formed on her face.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "No, I just learned to speak a minute ago." Yuriel shook her head and spoke the truth, but it sounded like she was mocking Yeolen.

    Yeolen''s curled tongue in disdain: ''Learning anguage in ten minutes? Just who will believe such nonsense?''

    Even if it was the truth, no one dared believe it, as this feat just went past the limit of abnormality and reached the stage of a freakshow.

    "....The chairman is asking whether you have the egg with you or not...This answer will decide your fate, as the Xespic flying in the sky would kill you if a lie is spoken." Yeolen spoke while highlighting the word ''Chairman''.

    "Of course, it''s with me," Zick spoke looking at the night sky, Yuriel began tranting again.

    Cold sweat began forming on Yeolen''s forehead, she took deep breaths, thinking: ''It''s alright, no matter what they would not be a match for a Xespic, I have to ovee this fear...''

    After some self-motivation, Yeolen spoke: "You have been branded as a criminal, as per thew of verse 7.88, the chairman has decreed to either hand over the egg or die." Yeolen was able to keep a stoic face till the end.

    "Criminal? Me?" Zick smiled with anger disyed on his face.

    "Why don''t you tell me about my crime?" Everything around Zick felt like it froze as he spoke.

    A frown appeared on Yeolen''s face: "stealing the egg from the research center....."

    "Stealing? I just took what rightfully belongs to me. In the first ce, it was you people who were hiding my child, you are the criminal. Tell me, how should I punish you all?" Zick''s eyes began shining with a ferocious glint, making goosebumps rise all over Yeolen''s body.

    Celwent who was listening to their conversation had an iffy feeling from the beginning, it was all because of the way Yeolen spoke.

    After hearing Zick''s im that the dragon egg was actually his, Celwent became speechless.

    Celwent had seen Zick''s vertical eyes, but that was not enough to prove his im. For all he knew, this might be a scheme. That seemed a lot more probable than Zick being a dragon.

    ''And, The scout team has already thoroughly searched for any trails of their being a parent for this egg, in the area, it was found. The result showed that there was no parent to that egg.'' Celwent talked to Yeolen, thinking that far.

    "Capture all three of them, do it properly this time." Not only Yeolen, but the other pilots of the Archenst also received the same order.

    Immediately, the car stopped and the driver ran away.

    ''Hmm? It went as I expected, huh?'' They were not aware of Zick''s strength or anything, leading to making a rational decision to capture him. To top it up, one of their strongest teams was here, adding up more confidence.

    "See? This is how they treat you when they think you''re weak. Tell me, so what will you do in this situation?" Zick spoke to Arianell, to let her learn a thing or two.

    Understanding the answer that Zick was expecting, A resolute look appeared on Arianell''s small face: "Show them strength."

    Zick smiled with satisfaction hearing this and patted Arianell''s head.

    Seeing Zick acting like a father in these conditions, Yeolen had a bad feeling in her heart grow. Even while she opened the door of the car and got out, Zick did not spare her a nce.

    "Move out and get on your knees or else we will have no choice but to shoot!" Someone dered outside.

    Zick with Arianell in his hand moved out of the car, his movements were oozing leisure, making the pilots of Xespic confused.

    "On knees!" Remembering Zick''s ability to paralyze others, one of them spoke threateningly.

    The people were evacuated from the area in no time. It was rare for Xespic to move against humans, so, many people looked on with curiosity from afar.

    The pilots were on their guards, they all had experienced the immense fear that made their heads go nk instantly. These people, who were not scared of even death, were surprised by their bodies.

    Discussing with each other, they concluded that it might be a special ability simr to that of a few extinct monsters, like Cyclops and the herald shamans.

    They even set their Xespic to move automatically in case their body stopped moving again.

    Zick did not feel any rush, He ced Arianell upon the car and said: "Just watch from there, it was you who wants to learn fighting after all."

    Arianell showed her interest in learning to fight, which made Zick bring her out with him.

    ''Though it wouldn''t be much of a fight anyway. I want to keep a good rtionship with this nation so I will not kill them at least.''

    Zick''s main focus was to show off some of his strength. As that would be the method for setting up bargaining gates between each other.

    Zick waved his palm, signaling the xespics toe at him.

 Chapter 212 Superiors Order Is Absolute

    Truthfully, Yuriel and Zick were both very beutiful, they could make many fall for them with no problem. Appearance yed arge role in psychology in more than one way, beutiful people are of course looked at with jealousy and admiration.

    While the ugly or unattractive make others autonomouslybel them as suspicious or disdainful.

    Leaving a good impression without even moving a finger. That was the first impression Yeolen got too, but it was destroyed as she saw Zick''s attitude and conduct.

    The many people who watched this scene through the online stream website eximed at Zick''s appearance too.

    There were many people watching this fight being broadcasted, as it was very rare for Xespic to be used against humans or citizens.

    Even now, before the seven Xespic which had different models and weapons, like cannons, swords, guns, or spears �� Zick stood with an indifferent look. He signaled them toe at him.

    The anger that the pilots of Archenst were stressing red out this instant, distorting their faces.

    However, none of them moved recklessly, they had experienced many battles on the frontline, along withpanies at the same level as them.

    They learned to never let emotions affect their decision. Even the smallest mistake might cause the death of theirrades.

    This was the main reason they could maintain the title of strongest.

    Though they might be known as the strongest, it did not mean they did not havepetitors.

    Creating apetitive environment was a must in society or many cases of retardation might ur everywhere.

    Without any form of motivation or more specifically, bait �� it was not possible to keep society running.

    Yeolen, who had also be serious, did not hesitate and ordered: "Use the electrocuters to paralyze him."

    Now that the order was already ced in ce, there was no time for hesitation.

    ...

    Celwent sitting on the ck cushion chair looked at the fight unfold too.

    Looking at Zick''s attitude, thousands of spection formed in his head: ''Is this an ambush? No, that is impossible in this situation.''

    ''Are there some helpers hidden nearby to help them? That might be more possible.'' After worrying for a while, Celwent began rxing.

    No matter what kind of Xespic might appear, they will not be a match for the Archenst.

    Shortly, the Xespic with a cannon on its shoulder began moving.

    This Xespic had a unique shapepared to others, it was slim. Focusing on the movement and dodging more than close-range battles.

    With dozens of light waves swirling around the cannon, it shot a spherical-shaped object at Zick with an inaudible noise.

    The area got covered in dazzling white lightning at once, but suddenly, the lightning vanished in a sh.

    Celwent who was looking on with confidence, inclined forward with his mouth agape.

    ''What am I seeing...?''

    What was before Celwent was the sight of Zick holding a blue sphere with oven-like shapes around it. With a ck glow, the electrocuter vanished in thin air.

    At once, a huge uproar urred in the media.

    Magic existed in this world too, but even then such a thing never happened ever before.

    A human was able to stop an attackunched by the best cannon in the republic. The fact that a human eye could follow the projectile of an object moving at such speed, made many think this video was fake.

    After all, many were knowledgeable about the cannon Xespic, it was very famous. This cannon was no different than a rail gun, using electromas strengthened by mana.

    Not only that, he was unharmed, this just went past extraordinary feats and entered the stage of nonsense.

    But at the same time, many were confused as there was no movement of the zier Rex, there was no way they would have stayed quiet if this broadcasted video was fake.

    Celwent, who got a hold of himself, hurriedly connected to Yeolen: "He is most likely a hybrid, there is no need to capture him, just kill him and bring the other two."

    He refused to believe that Zick was a dragon!

    With a kill order, the Archenst did not waste a second and readied their main weapons.

    There was an irond rule that had to be followed, in the military or any army organization �� the Superior''s order is absolute!

    No objection!

    And no hesitation!

    Only freshmen would bother thinking over the orders. Not following the given orders would lead to the fall of faith, and in other words, they would lose their usability.

    As the proverb goes �� a good soldier is a silent and obedient one.

    The military does not need a rebellious soldier. If the orders lead to failure, then the superior would be the one to be held into ount too.

    Yeolen tightened the headset and hand gloves, through which Xespic is controlled.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Controlling the Xespic directly from the brainwaves was possible, but it put a lot of stress on the brain. Hence, controlling it directly like this was the best option.

    All the useless thoughts cleared out from Yeolen''s head, she only had one mission in her head. Kill Zick and capture the other two.

    Many unexpected things happened, and she was even reprimanded. Mostly it was caused by the ruckus that Zick caused, if not for that this matter would have not gotten out of hand.

    Nothing in this world could be predicted perfectly, the same applied to the being proimed as gods.

    Yeolen personally moved Xespic, which held ance and had the robust build of a close-range fighter.

    Zick who was staring nkly did not move an inch seeing the Xespic moving at him. He was like a blind person, who appeared to not even be aware of the danger that was going to befall him.

    As Yeolen''s Xespic moved forward, thrusters materialized behind it, propelling it forward at terrifying speed.

    To normal eyes, it was like the Xespic suddenly vanished.

    Yeolen aimed at Zick''s head, resolutely wanting to kill him. She still had that weird fear creeping into her heart, but it did not matter anymore.

    Zick, to him, it looked no different than before: ''Destroying all of this robot, Xespic, or whatever might lead to the rise to displeasure, So I will have to show them the difference in strength in this one sh.'' he began lifting his right hand.

    Yeolen was able to look at Zick''s actions, and her eyesight was enhanced, as she was using the special mechanical sensory organ in the Xespic. To have perfect control at such speed, showed her hard work.

    Yeolen''s eyes widened, seeing Zick positioned his palm right at the ce where hernce aimed. The fact that he could still react to her speed was already beyond her expectations.

    ''Hmph, he is overestimating his endurance as a hybrid.'' Yeolen did not even imagine Zick having a chance of stopping her attack.

    Instantly, thence entered Zick''s hand, causing a huge shockwave to spread to the surrounding area. The sses broke and dozens of cracks appeared on the road.

    As the dust settled, another otherworldly sight was presented. Yeolen''s Xespic was trying to pull itsnce out but it didn''t even budge in Zick''s firm grasp.

    "Tch!" Yeolen used her other hand to punch at Zick when suddenly he began putting strength on his grasp.

    With a metallic sound, Thence Xespic was mmed onto the ground on the side.

    Understanding what happened, Yeolen clenched her teeth: "Are you kidding me...? My Xespic is heavier than the others and he lifted it so easily!"

    Fear rose within Yeolen, but this time it made her move in a rushed manner. She wanted to extinguish this fear by killing Zick!

    At once, thence Xespic got up and another pair of thrusters appeared behind it. Itsnce extended and shone in a purple hue, using the full power of Xespic might destroy the surrounding, but in her eyes, Zick was more important.

    Immediately, Thence Xespic moved towards Zick breaking sound barriers instantly, creating sonic booms.

    But Yeolen''s eyes widened at the next sight, Zick suddenly vanished and the sensory device of the Xespic couldn''t even keep up with him.

    Appearing above Yeolen, Zick delivered a kick directly to its head.

    BOOM!

    Thence Xespic''s head was blown away, making it immobile. It was pushed into the ground by the force, destroying many of its parts.

    Silence descended on the world, it was like everything was frozen in ce.

    "Miss Yeolen was....."

    "Defeated? And so easily...?"

    "That''s not the point! How can a human be able to do such a feat?!"

    "....He is not human...Maybe a hybrid...?"

    Amotion spread all over the Republic.

    Then, they suddenly saw Zick moving up to the ground slowly, they weren''t even surprised anymore seeing a human fly with no devices.

    Zick''s voice which was amplified reached everyone: "You dare to hide my daughter, which is already an unforgivable act. And now, you even try to attack me. Unforgivable, unforgivable!"

    Zick''s voice began turning into growling as he continued speaking. The dragon''s fears once again spread to the surrounding area and this time it covered more than a kilometer of area.

    In mid-air, Zick began transforming into a dragon.

    At once an apocalypse-like atmosphere covered the area, with hundreds of ck spears forming in the sky.

    "Damn it!"

    Celwent, who was watching till now, could not help but cuss at his past decision.

    It was a real dragon! And not only that, it seems extremely angry and ready to destroy the whole republic!

    The worst part was that it was not even possible to defeat it. There was no need to say anything, if Zick exhibited strength that was unrivaled in human form, what is there that he can''t do in his dragon form?

    ''War does not matter anymore. If I don''t do anything now, The whole republic will be wiped out of the world!'' Celwent felt like the world was turning round and round as he thought nonstop in an extremely quick manner.

 Chapter 213 The Biggest Enemy Is Oneself

    The sky appeared frozen as the ck dragon roared in an extremely loud voice. Shockwaves spread to the surrounding area, breaking much of the ss on the skyscrapers.

    The people who were away from the area, Zick was Rampaging on. looked at the broadcast with their mouths agape.

    While some worried about the people who were present there.

    No one thought this broadcast to be faulty anymore, The zier Rex made an announcement just a few seconds ago.

    The announcement was straightforward �� everyone is to evacuate from Inure city.

    The fact that a magical being such as a dragon appeared, made many feel an inexplicable emotion.

    Everyone was angry at the zier Rex too, they had heard Zick speak.

    Many sympathized with his anger, having one''s family stolen and then even attacked by the person who stole their family, this action was just too much.

    Thus, many could not even find a fault with Zick.

    A woman who sat with both of her hands interconnected before her lips heaved a sigh: " Still, this does not mean it could kill the innocent in rage."

    She sounded righteous, but the next moment a wry smile formed on her face.

    "It does not seem like the republic can defeat this monster....Allen, prepare the teleportation gate, we will retreat the moment it seems like this thing is heading towards the Uverl district. '' She was Jeleve, a trader who was well known throughout the Republic of Threkert.

    Some people even had ns of retreating from the republic.

    Things were not at all looking good. The best Xespic, which was their pride, was yed around by Zick like a toy.

    It did not seem like the one near him could either.

    An unmatched strength.

    What to do when something that cannot be defeated appears?

    It was simple, run away.

    But even if something like that was not possible, there would not be any ce that they could run to if the republic is destroyed.

    .....

    Celwent, who began giving out orders anxiously, started contacting Zick.

    The xespic that was staying motionless in the middle of the road, began glowing. The emblem on it shone the brightest.

    A transparent screen began forming before it rapidly. Slowly, the chairman''s image could be seen on the screen, he appeared calm, with slight anxiety present in his eyes.

    Celwent shed with resolution: "Wait, O mighty dragon. We did not know of your might, thus such an ident urred. We do not wish to offend you!"

    Zick roared with disdain: "I did not have any intention to kill mindlessly either, thus I wasing to meet you."

    "But It doesn''t matter anymore, you all will be punished for your deed!"

    The spear around Zick began growing, giving rise to an ominous feeling within others.

    Celwent clenched his teeth, his eyes began portraying more and more anxiety.

    "Please reconsider! These innocent people have done nothing wrong!" Celwent''s screaming reached Zick and the others who were watching from the broadcast.

    Hesitation appeared on Zick''s face upon hearing this. He began floating silently in the sky.

    ''It''s working.'' Celwent''s face began beaming almost immediately looking at this.

    What Zick was doing was very simple, he was handing over the leash to his non-existent weakness to Celwent.

    He could not appear as an omnipotent being, this would just make the others despair.

    Showing his weakness, on the other hand, could open up the way to strike up a deal with the other party.

    This scheme had to be used carefully, as showing too many weaknesses or more specifically creating them, might lead others to find out the truth fast.

    "....You are right, there is no meaning in killing them. But...." Zick looked at Celwent.

    "There is no need for you to go yourself, we will present the culprit behind all this before you!" Celwent began speaking at lightning speed. He was able to deduce what Zick was going to say in an instant, his mind was working at full speed.

    He performed a bow, showing an extremely apologetic face: "I am very sorry for suspecting an esteemed person like yourself as a criminal, causing me to order them to attack you...."

    Zick flew down while slowly transforming back to his human form. He folded his hand andnded right before the hologram of Celwent.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Bring me the culprit right this instant. And as for your sin, just an apology is not enough at all. You will have to offer something equal to your deed...Hmm, I will think of what kind ofpensation you will have to offer in the future."

    Zick, who appeared prideful, coldly looked at Celwent.

    Celwent did not feel an ounce of shame or anger, even while Zick ordered him like this. He was the one with the greatest standing in the republic, but before strength, there was nothing he could do.

    "No problem, pleasee to the headquarters and rest. We will bring the culprit before you as quickly as possible." Celwent had already sent an order to the car driver a second ago.

    Zick nodded his head and entered the car with Arianell.

    Celwent cut the hologram transmission and heaved a long sigh.

    ''I am sorry my old friend, but you will have to sacrifice yourself for the nation.'' Celwent activated the mindxec, at his neck connected to a certain someone.

    Celwent coldly opened his mouth: "Bring me everyone who was working at project X-gold. Make it so that they cannot speak a word."

    "Yes, sir." The person on the other side responded.

    Cutting the line, Celwent held his head worried. The power that he had sought and obtained was...So brittle.

    That was the truth, strength that was gained through ruling with no power could vanish in a blink of an eye. It was nothing but an afterimage, that people drown themselves in.

    A dream-like position, but it was unstable just like a dream. It could all be taken away with a single mistake.

    ...

    Looking out of the car that was moving at high speed, Zick could see many people who were staring in the car''s direction.

    Most of the things that just happened had already spread throughout the republic.

    Overall, their image of the dragon had improved by multiple levels, while to some Zick just appeared as an enemy that had to be dealt with.

    Zick held enough power to destroy the whole republic, this threat destroyed the whole harmony in the society.

    Everyone had to be treated as an equal, that was the main feature of republicanism. But what just happened inclined more toward monarchical society.

    ''They are all having mixed feelings for sure. But what do the worries of these ants have anything to do with me?''

    No matter what these small characters do, they could never harm even a hair of Zick.

    ''If one wants to live his life with freedom, strength is absolute. Only by rising above the others, could I live my life to the fullest.''

    Omnipotence was not the main part, it was the fact that Zick tried his best to attain it that mattered. Even if there was a time when his life came to an end, there would not be any regret.

    Every person wants to live their life to the fullest, but many factorse their way, binding them to their freedom.

    Moral,ws, or regtion, most of it all originate from themselves. Only by oveing such virtual binding can a person soar to the sky, attaining what they want.

    Zick looked at the night sky with firm eyes: ''I will give it my all, even if it means that in the end, I will attain nothing, I will still not give up.''

    The biggest and first enemy in the world we face is oneself. Without any sacrifice, how could there be any gain?

    Moving forward, discarding all that holds one back, just keeping only the wish that they desire in their heart, would they ever rise to the level of extraordinary.

    ''....Marching forward and forward, I wonder what awaits me at the end of this journey?'' All that was in Zick''s future were riddles again and again, but this just made a smile form on his face.

    The future seemed...more and more interesting.

    .....

    At a faraway ce, on an unknown continent.

    "Has the validity of this information been proved?" Women with silky blonde hair looked at the person who kneeled before her in the throne room.

    "Yes, from the spy, this information has been proven to be true. May our head be beheaded, if this information is to be false, your highness." The information merchant kneeled with perfection, it looked like art with no fault at all.

    "That is interesting...." The woman entered a long session of thinking.

    The minister beside her brought his mouth near to her ear: "I suggest we should give this information to sir ice dragon."

    A spark appeared in the woman''s eyes: "Your right, mister ice dragon would take care of it. We can''t have a dragon getting in our way of conquering the republic."

    Currents were forming as Zick made his entrance into this ce. Many knew of his existence and not even a day passed by.

 Chapter 214 Moving Forward

    At first, everyone finds moving forward to be hard. People can''t give up their current position or attitude so easily.

    What to do and how to aplish, thinking about everyst one of their moves intensively. Only a few keep marching toward what they desire.

    But as they move on, slowly they begin enjoying this moment of tension and countless difficulties.

    What appeared hard at the beginning became something exciting to do.

    The red moon''s rays entered the car, illuminating Zick''s face. It was a full moon today.

    ''The more pressure I feel, the feeling of excitement bes more dominant. The thing doesn''t seem good, but for now, all I have to focus on is to move forward.''

    ''Staying still in a situation, showing hesitation is of no use. I will only know what the future has on hold for me after reaching that stage.''

    Yuriel who was looking into the mana core of the Xespic and the car turned to Zick.

    "Sir Zick, If we implement the method used to create the mana core of this Xespic, all the golem''s strength can be modified by at least 25�G." Yuriel could reproduce this mana core if given enough time. Though it wasplicated, her simtion power gave her immense benefit in this matter.

    "I see, well we can start experimenting and preparing after I get us a base," Zick responded while supporting his chin on the back of his hand.

    Arianell, who was hearing them speak, looked up from Zick''sp: "Father did all that to get us a base?"

    Surprised passed by Zick''s eyes: '' Was she this smart from the beginning?''

    "Yes. I had a question to ask you too. Did your mother ever mention the reason she could not pass the barrier, made of the mist of annihtion?" Zick was curious on this subject, he was unaware of the exact power held by this mist.

    Arianell shook her head: "No, mother only appears sometimes in a dream and asks about how I am doing."

    "I see...." Saying this, Zick thought to himself: ''Fortunately, she is not timid around me like in the beginning.''

    In Zick''s mind, Arianell held a lot of importance. She might even be the key for him to escape from this messed up situation again.

    ''I will have to nurture her as much as possible before the mist of annihtion is destroyed. She can grow stronger naturally as her body grows, and the golden dragon will also hatch within three weeks, I guess.''

    There were a few things that piqued Zick''s interest, like the reason why the mana concentration was so low here. But he did not have the liberty to do such a thing.

    Wasting even a minute might lead to his death in the future.

    Arianell justmunicated with her cousin and Yuriel was already simting in her head.

    Atst, The car reached its destination. Which was a huge skyscraper, it appeared noticeably majestic and longer than the other skyscrapers.

    It was already midnight by that point, and many soldiers stood in rows, weing Zick and the others.

    The pilots of the Archenst squad, including Yeolen, moved behind Zick like some retainer.

    Strength reigns supreme anywhere, they were all aware of Zick''s strength. Thus many looked up to him with admiration, while some followed him feeling the pressure.

    The headquarter of zier Rex, the chairman of the said warfare organization, Celwent stood before at the grand entrance.

    "Wee, Sir! We have prepared everything you will need." The servant moved forward and bowed his head gracefully.

    "Amh." Nodding his head, Zick turned to Celwent who also greeted him just after.

    "Let''s move inside before we speak sir dragon," Celwent revealed a smile and showed the way into the hall.

    Looking at the cameraman in the distance and how the guards didn''t allow anyone else to enter, Zick was able to deduce what was going on.

    ''He probably just wants to maintain his image. Acting all submissively before me would cause his evaluation by others to fall to rock bottom. Well, it might have already fallen to a degree though...'' Zick did not find this to be surprising at all.

    Sitting on the sofa, Celwent showed a pleading expression: "We would like to request just a little more time. There were just too many people involved in this matter, it would take a while to gather them."

    In reality, they were all gathered, but they were still in the process of breaking their mind. Even in such an advanced civilization, it was not possible to brainwash.

    This was mainly due to the soul''s interference.

    However, what Celwent wanted was exactly to break their mind. Presenting them normally and executing them might lead to unforeseen situations.

    Celwent was cautious regarding this matter, after all his life was on the line.

    Zick did not care much about this, but he still opened his mouth with intimidation-

    "Tell me the exact time when they will all be gathered." Zick eyes zed over to Celwent.

    Goosebumps began rising within Celwent uncontrobly: "By...by the morning for sure!"

    Zick folded his hand and looked like he entered a long session of consideration.

    Opening his eyes, Zick spoke coldly: "Alright, As long as all of them are gathered, I can wait a little longer."

    Celwent heaved a sigh internally upon hearing this.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What are you doing? Lead sir and hispanion to their room!" Celwent ordered the man who appeared as the caretaker of the whole building.

    " Sir Dragon, please this way." The caretaker started taking Zick and the others to their room. Which was on the fifteenth floor.

    Celwent did not have the intention of sticking close to Zick in the slightest. Just meeting him once had made his back covered in a cold sweat. He was starting to understand what Yeolen had gone through and the reason behind her action.

    The presence around Zick was just too unbearable to withstand. The difference in their level of existence was just too vast.

    The interior of the zier Rex base was very luxurious and shy. The craftsmanship was on another levelpared to the architecture of the Eastern continent.

    Many devices that Zick had not seen in a long time, such as coolers and fans entered his eyes. Overall, the ce appeared well-maintained and orderly.

    CLICK~

    The caretaker showed Zick''s room to him.

    Zick and Arianell entered the room, while The caretaker continued showing Yuriel her room.

    Zick had already given Yuriel a task for today, it was to gather information.

    Not to be forgotten, Yuriel specialized in taking over magic defenses, simr to the Jhesker alchemy tower safety devices.

    Though not all the things here might run on mana, many things needed mana to run. And Yuriel was strong enough to not even be noticed by anyone.

    Zick put Arianell to sleep and began strengthening his soul using a higher form of energy.

    After thinking for a long time Zick could only find one form to stop the corruption of his soul.

    It was to strengthen his soul to the level that the frenzied energy in his body can''t affect it.

    ''But to achieve that, I will have to rise to the God rank...I have some idea, however, I am still not sure how to ascend.''

    Zick had reached the demigod rank a while back, but since then he had seen no further improvement of his soul or higher form of energy.

    So evidently there were some criteria to achieve the next rank. Reikel was just a few steps away from his rank, he must have been aware of this requirement.

    Zick could feel that Reikel''s higher form was almost identical to divinity. That was one of the main reasons Zick did not stand a chance against him from the beginning.

    ''And, he had used a familiar tone at the end of our meeting, it was like he knew about me for a long time.'' Zick felt the number of mysteries increasing.

    ...

    Quintech, a subpany working for the zier Rex. They were the most famous Xespic manufacturer all over the republic.

    Celwent sat in his private room and waited in a tense atmosphere.

    Not long after, a knock could be heard on the door. Celwent hurriedly ordered the mindxec to open the door.

    CLINK~

    On the other side, a woman with short brown hair and sharp blue eyes could be seen. She was 21 years old and was the captain of Smander, which was a squadparable to Archenst.

    "Has the track record of Heifer been retrieved?" Celwent asked with impatience on his face.

    Heifer was the name of the Xespic used by Yeolen, it meant �� darker-than-hell fire in their mythology.

    "Madam told me to give this to you." The captain of Smander, Belina, tactfully handed over a ck chip, two centimeters in size to Celwent.

    The fight between Zick and Heifer was recorded in this. Every Xespic has it as an inspection, in case any pilot used it illegally.

    After getting the chip, Celwent contemted before letting Beline stay. She was also an experienced pilot, so she would be able to analyze the video better than him.

    Originally, Celwent was thinking of transferring the data in the chip to his brain directly, but to let Belina see it, he connected the chip to the TV on the wall.

    "Start." A video began ying on the screen. As the video was recorded through the Xespic superior artificial senses, Zick''s movement was a lot more clearer and visible.

    Even when Zick stopped the electrocuter, all his movements were perfectly visible.

    In the end, the sensory mechanism of the Xespic could not even keep up with Zick''s movement.

    "....Is it even worth debating if we could defeat this thing?" Belina gave her honest review to Celwent.

    "You are right...It''s not even worth considering. He treated our best Xespic like a ything, sigh....." Celwent discarded any notion of fighting back with this.

    Belina agreed with his decision too: "We should just hide and let this storm move away from here."

    Celwent agreed to Belina''s word, but he was not aware that �� a surprise was waiting for him in the morning.

 Chapter 215 Execution

    The next morning.

    When Zick met with Celwent in the hall.

    What Zick requested as remittance to Celwent, for his past disrespectful action was very simple-

    To provide a base for Zick to use and all the data about the current technology. A prize that made Celwent fall into a state of stillness.

    There was no reason to make up an excuse, as the republic would have to fulfill his demand anyway. But Zick still gave one anyway.

    Hispanion, Yuriel was interested in researching the Xespic and every other thing. And Zick was just fulfilling the needs of his subordinate here.

    Zick did not even bother to pretend anymore, showing his usual expressionless face, even as he walked towards the execution ground.

    Celwent could only agree to Zick''s demand in the end. He did not dare to refuse him.

    Even without concentrating, Zick could hear the announcement out the headquarters, as he walked to the entrance alongside Celwent and others.

    "These are the people who caused the incidentst night! They conducted illegal research on a dragon egg, offending sir dragon!"

    The citizens all showed either furious or dissatisfaction on their faces. Because of what happened yesterday, many properties were damaged.

    ss was the mainmodity that was damaged in this incident.

    "Hmph, they are getting what they deserve!"

    "That''s right, because of what they did, we had to pay."

    "But still...Executing people like this, is it really alright?"

    "It doesn''t matter much, the punishment for experimenting with no permission from the authorities �� is a death sentence anyway."

    Many talked with each other, looking at what was happening before the headquarters of zier Rex.

    There have been very few instances where such an action was performed. The citizens too understood the reason behind this public execution.

    The existence of a dragon was already rooted in the mind of everyone. Its overwhelming strength, enough to destroy the Xespic, which was like an indestructible machine in their mind with just his bare hand, made them all have a sense of reverence towards Zick.

    No matter how much human civilization developed, they would never be a match for a dragon �� such thought appeared in their minds.

    As Zick walked out of the entrance, almost everyone''s gaze moved to him. Silence prevailed among the crowd, making Celwent squint his eyes.

    The scene before him just showed the amount of dominance Zick held. The moment he stepped out of the entrance, it was like time had frozen in ce.

    ''Even I did not have this amount of control over their mind...'' Celwent began shaking his head,paring himself to Zick as a waste of time.

    The sun had already risen from the horizon, spreading its soft glow on the masses below.

    Most of the executives working for zier Rex were gathered here, by Celwent''s order.

    No one dared look arrogant before Zick, they all had their head toward the ground.

    Zick, who was making Arianell walk this time, looked at the stage that was prepared before the headquarters. Around 22 people, ranging from young to elderly were dressed in white clothes.

    Huisel, the head researcher was also among them.

    Truthfully, Celwent would find out that Zick was aware of his involvement with the experiment. It was all thanks to Huisel, who had said that the chairman was also a sponsor the first time he met Zick.

    ''But that is only after a thorough investigation is run on it, by then it doesn''t matter if they find out.'' Zick was surprised Yeolen did not report it in the end.

    ''Did she deduce my true intentions? I cannot underestimate human intelligence.''

    Celwent was very busy from yesterday night, he had to either dispose of or suppress anyone aware of his involvement in the experiment.

    Luckily, not many knew of the existence of X-gold, hence he was able to take care of most of them in such a small amount of time.

    An abnormal expression that exhibited a sense of desteness, could be seen on all of the researcher''s faces.

    Most people would think that this researcher had already fallen into the pit of despair, but Zick was able to tell that their soul was in scrambles, it was done forcefully.

    If left alone like that, these people would die sooner orter by themselves.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''As I thought, the chances of him presenting sane people had an abysmal possibility. These people might spill the beans and expose his connection to the research Inevitably after all.'' Zick crossed his hands and looked at the execution coldly.

    He was not interested in the death of some unknown person.

    The soldiers began climbing up stage one by one, they moved systematically with no sense of disorganization.

    The soldier wore a ckish-blue uniform belonging to the military. All of them stood behind the researchers and lifted their heads by the hair forcefully.

    Taking out a slim gun made of white metal and ss, the soldiers, or more specifically executors began taking out tubes filled with green liquid. They all started to load it into the injection.

    The shiny green liquid was a poison that killed the one injected with it by causing a heart attack in 15 seconds. And it was also the mostmon method of executing criminals in the republic.

    The executors began injecting the syringe into the nape of all the researchers. Slowly, the green poison was injected into their body.

    A pained expression appeared on the faces of these researchers. They began groaning in pain while holding their chest, right where the heart was located.

    Brainwashing them did not make their senses vanish, they all could feel the heart-wrenching pain.

    Almost at the same time, all of their bodies froze in ce. Their hearts had stopped beating.

    Looking at Zick''s expression, Celwent stayed silent. He expected a little more reaction, but as long as no dissatisfaction could be seen on Zick''z face, it was alright.

    At this point, Celwent felt something was weird too. But he had no time to think about it right now, so he walked forward and activated his Mindxec.

    "Everyone, the Republic of Threkert is a free nation, where everyone holds their individual rights! This is only possible because of the cooperation of everyone in the nation. Rules and regtions are the most important factor that..."

    Celwent began giving a grand speech to everyone, which was also being broadcasted throughout the nation.

    Zick returned to his room not interested in hearing Celwent''s speech. Yuriel and Arianell returned alongside him too.

    Zick stopped training halfway through yesterday night, as his higher form of energy could not strengthen his soul in the slightest. He had hit a certain limit atst.

    Even though his potential was very high, it seems like he had hit a different kind of limit. It was probably faced by every being who wished to ascend to godhood.

    ''It can''t go on like this, I will have to find out what was the difference between Reikel''s higher form of energy and mine. That is the best lead I have at the moment.'' Zick thought while leaning within the elevator.

    Entering his room, Zick and Arianrll sat on the bed, while Yuriel stood upright, like a spear.

    "Well then, tell me everyst information you have gathered on the ruling forces in this ce." Zick began hearing Yuriel speak seriously.

    It was as he had predicted, there were four continents on this side of the mist of annihtion.

    Every continent was ruled by a single force, either a monarchy society or a republic.

    The strongest among these ruling forces was �� the Deshrart empire, a monarchy state.

    No one has dared ever to offend this behemoth, before it, the other ruling forces were like chickens or fledglings.

    The other nations did not interest Zick by much, they all had almost identical strengths.

    ''I might gain the most benefit from this Deshrart empire. I will take over that empire through the golemster on.'' Zick did not have any intention to move. Just the golems were more than enough to get the job done.

    If I counted just the ones that Zick had in his space ring, there were only a few thousand. But all of these golems'' had peak master rank or higher strength.

    "Alright, there is no need for us to move immediately yet. The story of their being a dragon in the Garbeller empire is interesting, but it is just a rumor in the end."

    "For now, we will take refuge in this republic. You can continue stimting the things I asked, I will be moving independently for quite a while." Zick looked out of the window.

    With nothing else to do, Zick nned on exploring all the danger zones or anything special in this realm.

    He could only look blindly in hope that there might be anything that will help him in this ce.

    Arianell tilted her head: "What about me?"

    Zick nodded his head: "You wille with me, I will teach you how to fight and make you gain some experience."

    "Ahm!" Arianell felt excited thinking about roaming with Zick.

 Chapter 216 Zicks Soul Corruption

    Time passed by extremely quickly. Four months went by in a blink of an eye.

    There was no unusual incidence since the appearance of Zick. The war continued like usual and people lived their life with nothing out of ce either.

    The Garbeller empire, which was at war against the republic of Threkert, did not seem to be hesitant even with the appearance of a dragon.

    It was all because of the prior meeting Zick had with the ice dragon. He agreed that he would not interrupt this war for no reason.

    Celwent had fulfilled all of the things Zick requested. A base, simr to a huge vi, and all of the research results were sent to him.

    Yuriel entered a state of constant experimentation immediately, before leaving Zick had good nighttime with her.

    Zick left for a journey very quickly, even Yuriel had no idea where he went. There were dozens of tasks that were handed to her.

    It included finding a way to strengthen herself too. Zick was starting to find Yuriel''s strength dissatisfactory. In the demon continent war, Yuriel''s usefulness was very negligent.

    Still, the current main task was to find a way to get rid of the corrosion of the frenzied energy, within Zick.

    .....

    In a wastnd with only a few small hills, Zick berated Arianell before him.

    "Don''t be foolish! you can turn into a dragon too, which means you have the upper hand over normal aerial monsters."

    "A dragon''s flying ability is many times higher than any other normal being. So don''t make such a stupid mistake, no one is stopping you from transforming into a dragon."

    Zick, in these past four months, began to change. It was mainly due to the corruption of his soul, it did not even feel weird anymore, it was like a part of himself.

    Zick began epting his current changes a while ago, there was no way of resisting it.

    Three months ago, a report was made by Yuriel to him. It was not possible to remove this red energy from his body, it had already be a part of himself.

    Discarding it would be no different than killing himself.

    All these four months, Zick has been hearing the voices in his head. At one point, what was bearable before, began turning him insane.

    Every day, he had to go through those voices which were growing stronger. There wasn''t even a minute to rest, if not for his superior willpower and mind �� he would have long gone insane.

    His soul which was altered was also something that could not be undone. It had already be one with himself.

    ''It was a miscalction on my part, For this ''wills'' to have the capacity to grow stronger too...'' Zick looked at Arianell with his nk eyes. She had an appearance of a 12-year-old girl, looking peerlessly beutiful as ever.

    Arianell''s silver hair reached to her waist, tied into a ponytail by Zick. She wore track pants and a white jacket.

    Besides Arianell, was another beutiful girl with golden hair. Her name was Aurel, the golden dragon, with time attributes. Zick was training her too in this journey. She appeared to be 8 years old, with simr features to Arianell.

    Zick would never berate Arianell before, but as time went by he was turning more and more boorish. At first, he treated both of them kindly as he used to, but now...it was just like a shadow of the past.

    Zick squinted his eyes and began moving up the mountain before him.

    Arianell and Aurel followed behind him silently, she was aware of Zick''s condition. Nevertheless, she could do nothing about it.

    Tears almost appeared in Aurel''s eyes: "Sister, what is happening with father? I can feel something is corrupting him from within..."

    Aurel''s voice filled with sadness reached Arianell.

    "Don''t worry, I will be with you. Father will be back to how he was for sure." Arianell held Aurel''s palm and smiled with reassurance.

    Zick felt his headache increase as he reached the peak of the mountain.

    "...Transform to your dragon form, you both will be honing your aerial skills today." Zick looked at both of them with his hallowed eyes and sat on one of the boulders.

    With serious faces, Aurel and Arianell began transforming into their dragon form.

    Arianell''s silver scales and Aurel''s golden scales shone brightly in the radiance of the sun.

    Arianell was noticeably bigger than Aurel, but they were yet to reach Zick''s size.

    They both began sparring against each other in the sky, they had practiced like this two times already. If they still did not get it, Zick would start scolding them again.

    There had been even a moment, Zick pped Arianell for not being able to follow his instruction properly.

    Arianell and Aurel were bright, but they were still with many ws. Their opponents were different kinds of golems most of the time, but they still lost in the end.

    Zick took out an alcohol bottle from his space ring and began chugging it down. This was a very special alcohol made from almost all the materials from the Eastern and middle continents.

    Therefore, there was a limited amount of this alcohol. By drinking this, the headache that Zick felt would subside and let him rx for a little. Though he would grow somber as a side-effect temporarily.

    Zick nkly stared at the clear sky: ''I don''t have a long time left, but then, why am I even bothering training them?''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick was not sure himself, all the path before him was a dead end.

    Within three months, all the continents were explored by Zick. Whether it was the chasm deep within the ground or the giant tree that controlled light particles.

    In the end, the result was very disappointing, there was nothing that could help him grow stronger.

    Zick was not capable of even thinking straight: ''If I try to research or put all my attention on something else, I will go crazy for sure.''

    Feeling sobered up, Zick breathed out with satisfaction.

    At first, Zick was training Aurel in hope that he could use her time element, but it did not affect him. Unless she reaches the demigod rank, her powers would be of no use.

    The dragon lord''s presence could also not be sensed within her. ording to Aurel, no such thing appeared in her dream either.

    ''I feel like killing them both for no reason too, sigh...'' If Zick did not hold back this urge, he would have long killed them both.

    ''Still, I did everything I could in these four months. I feel no regret in my past decision in the slightest.'' The airbrushed past Zick, causing his long hair and clothes to flutter.

    Zick''s eyes moved to the duel between Arianell and Aurel. Immediately anger rose within him, distorting his face slightly.

    "Stop! Why are you two holding back?" Zick red at both of them, making them shiver nonstop.

    Both of themnded before Zick, and apologized: ""We''re sorry....""

    Suddenly, two tight ps were delivered on their faces. A transparent ck hand had appeared before them, slowly vanishing.

    Pain coursed from their cheeks like electricity, making them look down.

    "Do you think the enemy would hold back like this? Never! If you don''t take this seriously, you both will only die in the future for sure." Zick took another mouthful of the special alcohol.

    As the anger subsided, Zick understood what he did.

    ''Again, huh?'' Zick heaved a sigh, at first this kind of outburst troubled him, but now all he could feel was hopelessness.

    Zick''s nk eyes zed over upon both the dragon''s before him.

    "You both, just go away. Live like you want, in the ce you want, and die the way you want to too." Zick looked at the unending sky at the side.

    There was no need for him to train these two, and neither was there a reason for both of them to be treated like this.

    Arianell, who was hearing Zick''s words, instantly transformed into her humanoid form.

    "No...no...I don''t want to!" Hugging Zick tightly, for the first time, Arianell began crying.

    Aurel too hugged Zick from the side with a sad face.

    "I will do anything you say, I won''t make a mistake again! So... Don''t throw Arianell away!" Arianell began begging frantically, feeling like her heart was being ripped apart internally.

    She did not know what to do, she felt sad, despair, and myriads of emotions at once, overwhelming her mind. To her, Zick was everything in the world, if he goes away...

    "If father leaves us behind, I will kill myself," Arianell said the thought that appeared deep within her.

    Aurel nodded her head too, agreeing with Arianell.

    Zick''s eyes kept twitching while hearing Arianell speak.

    "Can''t you tell? It''s over, I am going to die soon. There is no need for both of you to suffer anymore." Zick felt sad and annoyed, he tried showing real concern for the first time in his life, but he was rejected.

    Zick looked at them with a gloomy face.

    "It doesn''t matter!" Arianell sobbed harder.

    "I will stay with father!" Aurel spoke for the first time too. She was not much used to speaking, just like Arianell in the beginning. They both were really simr to each other.

    ''Ah, how pointless, in the end, they want to just die with me. Just what is wrong with both of them? They grew attached to me like this so fast.'' It felt weird even to Zick, they both were ready to give up their lives so easily for him.

    Zick patted both of their heads and looked at the sun.

    "Let''s stop training then. There is no reason to continue. Let''s return to the base and rest."

    Zick found the reason he was training them �� it was so that he would not leave behind any regret.

    ''I never thought that my journey would end like this. Hahaha, dying by growing crazy like how I was in my first life. Just that, I would totally go crazy this time, unlike in the past.''

    Zick closed his eyes and earnestly thought for a while.

    A smile formed on his face: ''Haha, as I thought. Even if I get another chance, I will still choose to walk on this path again with no hesitation.''

 Chapter 217 The Mist Of Annihilation

    The past week, Zick did not dare exert himself in the slightest. He did not let any kind of energy touch him either.

    After some experiments, Zick found that exposing himself to other sources of energy, or even using his higher form of energy slightly strengthened the frenzied energy within him.

    Thus, he could either use his body''s strength or just let Arianell carry him. And that was just what he was doing.

    With alcohol in hand, Zick looked at the scenery that was passing by in the blink of an eye. To a normal person, the scene would appear blurred, because of their current speed.

    Arianell flew in a straight line, with enough speed to break sound barriers like a piece of paper.

    Taking another mouthful of the alcohol, Zick put it back into the space ring.

    ''This is thest bottle that I have. I have yet to lose all my control to be intoxicated by it, so I can use it with restrictions.''

    Zick had truthfully not given up. But right at the moment, he wasn''t even capable of thinking straight. It was not possible to predict his action at all, he might just start killing people for no reason or destroy whatever he sees too.

    ''...Yuriel has not found any breakthrough either. And I doubt I can hold onto my consciousness for more than a few days.'' Zickid down while looking at the sky.

    THUMP! THUMP!

    Zick heartbeat was in an abnormal rhythm, making the blood flow feel clogged. His body was slowly going out of control or reacting in an abnormal way like this, it had been going on like this for a while now.

    The cloud moved along the wind, exposing the sun that was being obscured by it.

    The afternoon sun rays were harsh, flooding onto the ground below.

    Aurel looked at the sun with shining eyes, the oppressive feeling that she was getting from Zick had vanished a while ago. She felt happy as their training came to an end, she even wished that Zick would revert to normal, but his mind''s condition seemed to be just worsening.

    The wind brushed past them harshly as Arianell moved at an extremely fast speed. With a single p of her wings, she traveled kilometers of distance in a blink of an eye.

    With such speed, they soon reached the base that the republic had given them. It was a beutiful mansion, matching the height of a five stories high building.

    Most of the things in here were maintained by the weak golem that Yuriel made.

    Arianellnded in the huge garden, right in the middle.

    SWISH~

    Arge gust of wind was created by hernding, causing the flowers to sway to and fro.

    Getting off the dragon, Zick walked into the mansion without turning back. He did not drown in despair and tried asking Yuriel whether she had seeded.

    Soon, Zick arrived at the undergroundb, and Yuriel could be seen greeting him the moment he arrived.

    The atmosphere in theb was silent, with all the robots frozen in their positions.

    "How is the project going then?" Zick looked at Yuriel grimly.

    "It''s going well, for now, there is no visible problem. If it goes on like this, we can find a way to eliminate the frenzied energy in three months." Yuriel answered seriously, she was aware of Zick''s changes too, there had been a few instances where Zick scolded her too.

    Zick shook his head, with a self-deprecating smile: "You are useless in the end too, me expecting something out of you was stupid. Sigh...So there is no way left anymore, huh?"

    Yuriel looked down: "Yes sir."

    ''So even this junk made of flesh is useless. Do I have no way left?'' Zick entered a deep session of consideration.

    In the end, he was not able toprehend the difference between Divinity and a higher form of energy too. He had not found any other lead either in this whole journey.

    The result of this journey was all useless, he found interesting things, but nothing could help him. He had not left the ice dragon''s den either, he looked through it hiding his presence.

    Even the conversation with the ice dragon spilled no useful information to Zick.

    ''It''s almost simr to carrying an incurable disease or curse. Nothing can help me, nothing in this world is certain. Anyone can die at any moment.''

    ''I might die the very next moment, by going crazy or by the giants on the other side of the mist. Knowing my death is nearby, I can only keep trying without giving up.'' Zick turned around and left theb.

    Even if his death was like an insurmountable wall, Zick wanted to charge right into this wall.

    Whether he seeds or dies in the collision, in the end, Zick had given his all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Failure did not worry him, even if his mind might be corrupted �� his will would fight till the very end.

    Giving Arianell and Aurel a nce, Zick transmitted them to stay here. He was going to try out his final trump card, using this technique would only leave two options.

    Either he dies or he lives.

    ''I have to say, the saying from Earth was true �� Anyday is a very good day to die.'' Zick smiled.

    Two ck wings protruded from his back, and instantly Zick''s figure vanished into thin air.

    Flying in the same direction for a long time, he arrived before a pure white mist wall. This mist extended to the sky limitlessly.

    It was a suicidal method that had nothing certain. After all, once initiated, there was no going back even if he wanted to.

    Strangely, a method that would work very well in the mist of annihtion appeared in his head. It was like it had appeared in his memory out of nowhere, such an urrence made him frantically check himself.

    Zick could find nothing wrong with himself in the end, and that was the main reason he was hesitant on using such a risky method.

    However, it did not matter right at the moment.

    Slowly, red energy and ck energy began leaving Zick''s body rapidly. He entered the mist barrier before him and began moving deeper into it.

    A shocking phenomenon started taking ce around Zick, as the method in his head told, the mist was being absorbed into him.

    The frenzied energy absorbed it, while his chaotic higher form of energy blended right into it.

    ''But in this process, where my higher form of energy and the frenzied energy is merging, I would be the one who would take thergest pressure.''

    The frenzied energy would not be able to affect his body much, as Zick''s higher form of energy continued merging with it, but the will left in his soul was still active.

    "Argh!" Zick clenched his teeth, enduring the pain. Even his strong body began burning in the mist.

    ''However, this is not enough! If I want to perfectly merge with the frenzied energy, I will have to move deeper! I need the condensed mist, which was in the middle of this mist barrier.'' Zick continued flying deeper.

    The consequences of merging with the frenzied energy were unknown, but it would at least allow him to live.

    Zick''s wound healed the next second, but another new wound appeared, taking its ce.

    The mist gathered around him rapidly and entered his body. Almost all the mist was strangely attracted to the frenzied energy.

    Zick did not know what this mist was exactly, but he knew that it could help him.

    So.... let''s gamble away!

    ...

    "So he is going to hold his end of the deal it seems." A giant, with muscles visible all over its body and evenrger than 65 meters, could be seen standing before the mist barrier. A sense of dread could be felt looking at this being.

    The demon lord, Reikel, who was flying before the mist of annihtion nodded his head.

    "Right, it seems we were not betrayed like those idiots. With this, I guess it has been decided." Reikel looked at the ruler of the giant race, who was releasing a presence simr to a God. This being had long achieved godhood.

    The giant God, Kururu, opened his mouth: "No need to fret, I will keep my end of the deal too."

    Behind Kururu was a huge army of giants, giving an ominous feeling to anyone who saw it. They spread to the horizon, looking like an endless army.

    The shrinking of the mist barrier was visible even to the naked eye. Slowly, but surely it was shrinking away.

    Kururu showed delight on his face: ''Atst, after such a long time, I can get my hand on the world''s core. Giving away some space cores for that is not a big problem at all.''

    ''That man and this subordinate are not my enemy. Those damn beings of light, I will kill them all this time. Whether it''s that sun God or death god, they must all die for what they did.''

    Overwhelming rage radiated from Kururu, he, a tyrant that took over multiple worlds was fooled into a cage.

    It was unforgivable in Kururu''s eyes.

 Chapter 218 Two Zicks

    The mist of annihtion around Zick turned gray, as he headed deeper into it.

    "Haaa....haaa..." Zick stopped in his tracks. If he went further in, his regenerative power won''t be able to keep up. The destruction of his body would be just too rapid.

    Zick''s skin and muscles burnt away, before appearing again, this process had been carried hundreds of times by now.

    The amount of pain transmitted to Zick was so overwhelming, that he could not even focus properly. This was a fatal w, the corruption of his soul would be fastened if it was allowed to go on like this.

    The logic behind Zick doing such a reckless thing was very simple, the source of energy to the ''wills'' in his head was the frenzied energy. Which meant, he just had to get rid of this source!

    As for his already corrupted soul, he could find a way to fix it in the future.

    The frenzied energy rejected getting merged into Zick as if having a ''will'' of itself. But in the strength aspect, Zick''s higher form of energy was stronger by arge margin. Which led it to be suppressed by him easily.

    "Ugh!" Zick felt like the world was shaking as he held his head. His heart began beating in an abnormal rhythm again.

    ROAR!!!

    Opening his mouth, Zick roared with all of his might. The space itself shook by his sheer presence, the area he floated on appeared distorted, like everything was being absorbed into it.

    The pain was driving him crazy, while the frenzied energy began to turn him insane. Such a situation led to him losing his reasons instantly.

    Zick, who was feeling the control over his body slip away, at that moment heard a voice in his head.

    "It can''t be helped, this soul can''t hold on anymore."

    In a blink of an eye, the world was dyed white around Zick. Or at least, it appeared so to him.

    Standing in the middle of this white world, Zick felt refreshed. It was because he could feel the voices in his head vanish. He even appeared calm like his usual self, he could not feel the unreasonable anger anymore.

    Just as a wave of nostalgia brushed off Zick, a figure appeared before him without a sound.

    Zick''s eyes shrank looking at this person.

    The reason was, this person had the same face as Zick, though older.

    Both of them looked at each other, their eyes met in the middle, showing interest, surprise, and suspicion.

    The older Zick chuckled slightly: "There is no need for you to act so surprisedly. Didn''t you notice my existence a long time ago?"

    Both of them could tell what the other was thinking, just by looking into each other''s eyes.

    Zick did not retort, instead, he firmly nodded his head: "It was really strange how I acted when I came to this world. Rationality cannot be cultivated so easily, it was almost like I was emotionless then. Though there were a few instances where my emotions fluctuated, it was still quite weird."

    "Then, when I suddenly began pursuing eternal life, that was your doing right? It was very weird, and very sudden too. I might have chosen to pursue such a goal in the future, but at that time I did not have such strong convictions or aspirations. So it was remotely not possible for me to choose such a thing."

    The older Zick heard everything with a smile, he had no intention to reject anything either.

    What Zick said was certainly true, at that time, it was like someone was putting all the emotions and ideology into his head.

    "Andstly, it was when I suddenly lost all my aspirations and ambition, just after I stopped suppressing my emotions."

    Zick presented his spections, that he had been able to think this far-

    "It began after I got the regretful ne, you lost all your control over my mind. And what you had imnted in my mind was also overwritten by my emotions, that you had been suppressing." Zick smiled coldly at the person who appeared just like him.

    The reason behind Zick''s sudden influx of emotions could be exined through this spection.

    With this many strange urrences, Zick was able to grasp a few inclines to what might be going on.

    Something or someone was manipting, or at least leading many of his actions. And this being has been with Zick from the moment he hade to this world.

    What it wanted, or where this being was trying to lead Zick was mysterious.

    There was no sign of this being fully brainwashing Zick or controlling him like a puppet. This clearly showed its limitations.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, even with all the things that this being had done to Zick, there was no enmity at all in the atmosphere around them.

    ? Instead, both of them smirked at each other, though this being appeared suspicious in more than one way, Zick was aware that it was an ally.

    The older Zick, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, opened his mouth with crossed arms: "Most of your spections are true, of course, that includes who I am too."

    Zick eyes narrowed upon hearing this, but he began smiling the very next moment: " I see, so you and I are the same person. Sigh... Things have turned moreplicated than I thought."

    Zick continued, opening his closed eyes: "But, that would exin The reaction of those gods and the demon lord."

    The older Zick nodded his head and showed a serious look: "I must take care of that corruption in your soul, that is how you set me to be. So I don''t have much time, so I will try exining everything as quickly as possible."

    Zick nodded his head and began seriously here to everything this being, or more specifically, the ''will'' had to say.

    "This is currently the second timeline, in the first timeline, you betrayed the God, and ravaged them. And joined the dark side. However, for many reasons, that you will understand after I disappear, you gave up on that timeline."

    "Hence, here we are in another timeline, many gods were sacrificed in this process of turning back. Andstly, you agreed to cooperate with the giant race. Only after this mist barrier, created by one-tenth of the world core is destroyed, will it be fulfilled."

    The older Zick began exining as much as he could while leaving aside the things that Zick would find out eventually anyway.

    "And yes, you sent me back in time using the golden dragon. But in the process, you died at that time. Or more like, you pushed yourself to death purposefully."

    "While creating me, you told me to transmit a portion of your memory to the current you. Be prepared to lose consciousness for a few minutes after waking up." The older Zick finished off his exnation with an expressionless face.

    Enlightenment rose within Zick hearing all this: ''...So I was the one who wrote the novel- ''The hero of Velveric fights the demon lord''. One of my most important doubts was cleared up at least.''

    Zick then squinted seeing the other him motionless.

    "So, how am I going to escape from this ce anyway?"

    The older Zick smiled, they were very alike. They did have the intention to stay in such a messed up ce at all. Unless any benefits were binding him, Zick did not see any reasons to stay behind.

    "The giant God won''t break his promise, as it isn''t so simple. But he might make a move against you after he gets his hands on this world''s core." The older Zick exined solemnly, before smiling slightly.

    "However, there is no need to worry. You will know what to do at that moment surely."

    Zick was not satisfied with that answer, but he could see that the other him was already bing transparent as time went by.

    " So for myst question, why did you not just reveal yourself from the beginning?" Zick was gued by this question quite a bit.

    "What would be the point then? You without any experience or ambition would just rely on me like a parasite. You would never be able to experience being close to death."

    Zick was not fully satisfied, but it was enough for now. He had expected as much, truthfully he thought there was some hidden agenda to it, it turned out wrong.

    The older Zick slowly vanished into thin air, he was made of pure divinity, but it was all gone after it removed the corruption in Zick''s soul.

    Then, the white world began fading away from the horizon too.

    ''As I thought, the novel was just like a guide for me. I was led to the dragon heart so that I could be prepared to face off against Zrector, which wanted to kill me thanks to the sun god''s scheme. Then I received Levienel''s help from the side of the giant race.''

    The giant race was the reason behind the appearance of such an immortal being in the world. It was easy to deduce, as there were only a few being capable of wielding such an evil divinity around this world.

    The giant race''s blessing was to make others immortal, that was the conclusion Zick reached a long time ago.

    With Levienel''s help, Zick was again able to survive against the churches that the gods manipted.

    It was surprising how far ahead the past him could predict, it was almost like he had taken a peek into the future.

    Zick held his chin thoughtfully: "Or did I? Aurel might have such an ability, that exins such unfathomable predictions ability too."

    No matter how long a person thinks, there is no way everything would go ording to their prediction. A mistake inevitably urs one way or the other.

    ''I knew that two children of the dragon lord would be useful. But they keep going past my expectations again and again.'' Zick closed his eyes as the darkness enveloped him.

 Chapter 219 First Timeline

    Just as Zick closed his eyes, fragments of memory flew into his head, merging with his mind.

    Memory began ying before Zick''s eyes as if they hade to life.

    Zick''s body began falling as he lost consciousness. He fell into the ocean, but there was nothing to worry about.

    The frenzied energy entered back into Zick''s body, with nothing forcing them out. Most of it was already merged with his higher form of energy, leaving behind only around 10 percent of it left.

    The most important problem of the frenzied energy was taken care of by the soul fragment in Zick''s soul. And the left-out frenzied energy in his body could not do any harm in its current state, it would take time to recover.

    The Mist of annihtion had noticeably thinned above the ocean too.

    Zick entered into a state of slumber.

    .....

    Coming to this world, in a situation where Zick could die at any moment. There were already signs of him wanting to suicide.

    The pressure was just too much for him, and his intentions to live were also quite low, thanks to what happened on Earth.

    The Melvix dukedom was like an execution ground to him, death could embrace him at any moment with no prior notice.

    Zick was never a stupid person, and neither was he a genius. His capability could only be said to be above average.

    He had noticed that nothing good would be happening to him, through Butler Von''s behavior. It was like he was just performing temporary work, that would cease to exist soon.

    But, such a person, with suicidal intentions somehow survived.

    It all began only after Zick looked at the knights in the training ground.

    A prowess that surpassed the limits of humans.

    A presence that could give rise to admiration to anyone who saw.

    Zick wanted it, such power fascinated him.

    Wasn''t it the power that he seeks from the bottom of his heart?

    Even while he was bullied or when he was announced as a murderer, what was hecking?

    It was strength!

    He wanted this individual strength, something that could never betray him.

    ''...I might not be able to change the past, and it''s a fact. But if I hold such strength in my hand, at least...At least I can dictate my future.'' Fire zed in Zick''s heart and the feeling that he had not experienced in a long time, the feeling of living.

    However, a huge problem represented itself before Zick, he had very low talent, or more like, he had none at all.

    Leaving him with the only other probability, to show his ability in any other field. He first had to survive before hoping to gain any kind of strength.

    Immediately after, the world crumbled and another fragment of memory began ying itself.

    The Zick from reality looked at all this calmly. He was within the body of the eight-year-old Zick, feeling his body and mind working on their own all along.

    But he could still feel and see vividly, even the emotion the Zick from the memory felt were transmitted to him.

    After organizing his mind, the eight years old Zick had begun experimenting. To search for whatever he had even a little talent with. He stayed at the library most of the time, reading through the books with perseverance.

    In the end, Zick turned ten years old and reached a certain height. He had a well-built body, he had trained his body in the past year.

    He excels in the art of military strategist, but it was still after studying for an extended amount of time. Many people were above him in this profession.

    In this round, Zick did not have any knowledge from the novel, leading him to start from scratch.

    ''I am good at strategizing and manipting, but this thing can''t keep me alive for long. ording to the intel that Von gathered, it seems like there have been cases of an heir killing another heir in a roundabout way in this family.''

    ''My siblings are stillpleting the task handed to them, but they wille back one day or another. I will need to find a way to protect myself.'' Zick thought with a frown on his face.

    The Melvix family left him alone, not even bothering to look at him. This made him feel a little indignant for no apparent reason, but he could do nothing about it.

    The other thing Zick excelled in, or at least appears to be is in the merchant profession.

    Zick had opened up his own business using the knowledge from Earth.

    To start any business, a certain amount of money and employees are required.

    The employee could be somehow recruited using his status as an heir of the Melvix family, even if he was considered literal garbage, a few people would still be attracted.

    As for the money, all of it was handled by Butler Von, through and through. He was a servant that had to follow all of Zick''s orders.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick kept his distance from the dirty work though, he knew that all his actions were being watched.

    Zick could only send Butler Von to hunt some monster in the end. It was embarrassing to choose such a course of action, but he could only do that at the time.

    After saving up for more than six months, Zick began the business when he was Nine and a half years old.

    It was an ice cream shop, many ice cream movable stalls were also made.

    To create ice in a ce with no refrigerator, the correct season and environment are needed, usually, that is.

    With a wonderful element of magic mixed into it, many problematic things could be ignored.

    Buying dozens of low-rank enchanted items, to freeze the water and keep the ice cream frozen, no problem arose in this aspect.

    It was a business that began very small at the beginning, but after another half a year, its daily avenue could not be looked down upon.

    With the permission of many city and vige lords, Zick began opening up stalls and shops in other cities too.

    Starting from the simple vor, many other kinds of ice cream that Zick remembered from Earth were being made one by one.

    These products broke through the roof, attracting almost all the children and noble women.

    Many merchants and nobles had already sent requests to either coborate or open a shop in their territory.

    Zick did not stop at that, he opened up coffee and tea shops along with chocte shops, big to small everywhere.

    Right at the moment, Zick was in the main city controlled by the Melvix family, sitting within the headquarters of hispany. He had named this business �� The Gaweil.

    Zick spent most of his time here, only going back to the mansion sometimes.

    ''With all this money, I have already hired tons of merchants and mercenaries as guards. This was the best course of action as I thought, it is best to recruit them and let a piece of profit go than make an enemy.'' Zick grew shrewder living the life of a merchant.

    A week ago, Zick had made up his mind to begin his next business.

    It was to open up food hotels and groceries. For this task, the supply of goods is very important, the reason why he made so many connections and then recruited many merchants too.

    These hotels covered dishes like burgers, pizzas, and other junk foods from Earth and simple dishes that the earth had, which did not exist in this world.

    Zick felt a little bad and put up a notice that eating too much might make you fat, or be bad for health too.

    Zick had already gathered many of his chefs and began experimenting a long time ago. Deciding to make it a seble item now, after gathering surplus funds.

    Many cities epted such projects with open arms, while some looked on waiting for the result first.

    Zick showed the attitude of an open-minded merchant, even making deals with forces out of the Cravion kingdom. His influence had already begun spreading to the pheorous kingdom and Mhydrasvil empire.

    Zick had a wide range of knowledge, including logistics and politics too. But they were not as prominent as these two.

    Many merchants tried to fool Zick, looking at him as a 10-year-old kid. But they all got nothing as a result, he was very cautious from beginning to end.

    Hiring mages, alchemists, and knights to guard and experiment for him.

    Just after this project was executed, Zick got a message from the Melvix family. They were quite straightforward, telling him to go to the Garcia family with the invitation they sent.

    A furious look appeared on his face at once, he felt humiliated. Aplishing so many things, he had developed a feeling of pride.

    The actions of the head of the Melvix family were not putting Zick in his eyes at all. This was to be expected, this time around Zick did not show any talent that might lead him to be the next family head after all.

    Remembering this grievance, Zick began moving to the Garcia dukedom.

    .....

    Zick was quite well received by the whole Garcia family.

    Even in the party venue, many tried making connections or leaving a good impression on Zick.

    This made Zick firmer within: ''Power is everything, and with it, convenience is all that awaits a person. But I don''t want only influential power, individual strength is more important.''

    Zick had learned to not always rely on others from his experience on Earth. He would not make the same mistake as then.

    In the party hall, Zick met with Searre, the daughter of the Velscar family. He performed a ball dance with her and kept a good rtionship with her.

    Putting aside all that, many people here just praised Zick for his wonderful products. Especially since the young noblewomen had all gathered around him, when he showed an interactive type attitude.

    Zick''s life went on with not many obstacles from here on, until when he turned 12. When two of his siblings returned, he was assigned his mission for this round.

 Chapter 220 First Timeline (2)

    The mission assigned to Zick was different than in the second timeline.

    [ "Be the greatest merchant all over the continent. Not only in the grocer''s profession, but in all the other aspects of the merchant profession, you must be the best. Only then will you have any right to fight to be the next head of the family." ] The letter oozed arrogance, giving off a domineering feeling.

    Zick threw the letter in his hand into the dustbin, he did not think such a nonsensical mission would be thrown at him.

    Zick rated his skills in the merchant profession to only be above average. He just had more knowledge than the others.

    It wasn''t worth mentioning before the people who learned and experienced the life of a merchant from a very young age.

    Some people were just born genius, while some were born mediocre. No matter how Zick tried, he would never be able to surpass those geniuses in their fields of expertise.

    Zick, who had turned 12 years old, sent off the messenger. He heaved a long sigh, even if it seemed impossible, he was going to do it anyway.

    The position of a duke was just that appealing in Zick''s eyes. The chances of finding an item that might help him, increase the potential might appear.

    A woman entered the room after knocking, she had sharp brows, a high nose, and aquamarine eyes. She was Jasmine, an executive and a high-rank mage of the Gaweil merchant group.

    Truthfully, Zick found her by chance while exploring a way to strengthen himself, in the ruins of the old civilization. The team he sent brought her back to her unconscious state.

    For unknown reasons, Jasmine had lost all of her memory. Taking advantage of this fact, Zick recruited her while feeling dirty in his mind.

    Feeling like a hypocrite, Zick decided to let her live a somewhat good life as a secretary. She was very talented, she showed impable ability and behavior.

    Zick had to give up on that ruin along the way, as many of the mercenaries he gathered also began losing their memory.

    "Your mood seems to be gloomy as ever sir."

    "Oh, nothing, just another annoying problem that made its way on my list. Well that aside, call all the executives handling the individual projects." Zick said, getting off the chair.

    Time awaits no man, he has to get moving as soon as possible. Zick was currently a low-rank knight, it was thanks to the potions he bought and the result of all the money he put into exploring lost ruins. His potential was at the high rank.

    Like that, time began moving at full speed again. This time around, Zick began moving to be the best merchant, while still looking for a way to grow stronger.

    .....

    Zick, who had turned 14 years old, arrived in one of the cities of the Mhydrasvil empire.

    During this time, he was able to spread his influence to all aspects of the trade. Whether it was transportation, auctions, or gambling houses. Using up all his knowledge, Zick achieved sess in many ces, but failures were bound to ur here and there.

    There were quite a few projects that failed. The one with the most sess would be air transportation for goods.

    After recruiting many alchemists, this project waspleted.

    And now, all that Zick could rely on was his imagination.

    As Zick stayed in the city, an incident urred near that area. A huge explosion urred around the mountains, destroying dozens of hills at once.

    How the incident urred was a mystery to everyone, but Zick was able to tell one thing �� No ordinary being could cause such a thing.

    He dispatched some of his subordinates too, for investigation. Surprisingly, these scouts brought back some clues that Zick was not expecting.

    It was still early morning at that moment.

    After musing over it for a while, Zick decided to dispatch another group of scouts. If he was not wrong, the being that fought there was injured without a doubt.

    Zick and Jasmine moved out this time too, they were nning to continue the journey, after taking a look at this clue.

    The reason for Zick''s rush was very simple, it was because he sent his scout very quickly, so he was the only one aware of it. But after a while, the city lord would dispatch soldiers to look around without a doubt.

    Keeping a positive mind, Zick arrived at the location and began following the trail on the ground. A deep route was made on the ground, destroying many trees in its way.

    Jasmine, who was beside Zick, showed a strange expression. The mercenaries who were peak-rank knights also showed different expressions.

    Zick was a middle-rank knight, but he could not sense anything.

    "Everyone, stop in your position!" Zick lifted his arm, before ordering all the mercenaries who were high-rank knights to guard this ce.

    Zick was more cautious than anyone, his shrewd mind gave him signals saying that �� something good awaited him. His instinct was refined from all his experiences till now, he put a lot of emphasis on it.

    Moving to the side, Zick called out the priest that he had hired. He was going to form a seal with everyone here, so that nothing about this goes out.

    The Mercenary did not find this course of action weird at all. Merchants were beings who put their benefits over others after all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Everyone agreed to Zick''s seal.

    Jasmine sighed looking at his action, the past two years Zick would always behave like this, it was as if he was wary of everything. It didn''t take long for her to notice that he had trust issues, doubting even the smallest thing.

    Leaving the other guarding, Zick, Jasmine, and the peak-rank knights moved deeper into the forest.

    As they went deeper, the presence in the air grew heavier, mana with nature''s characteristics. It was their first time sensing such a thing in their life.

    As they went deeper, Zick could make out some details too. There were two sources of this weird presence.

    After a few more steps, Zick ordered everyone to stop again. He gestured for Jasmine to go forward and take a look first, he somewhat trusted her, at least more than this mercenary.

    Jasmine moved forward with a nervous look, vanishing from their sights. After a minute, she came back with a pale expression.

    Seeing this, Zick smiled to himself: "Stay here and guard this ce, let no one pass."

    The mercenaries were bbergasted at once, they were curious as to what was releasing such presence, but that was not possible anymore, they all felt horrible internally.

    The one''s that Zick recruited recently were staring at him with nk looks. Zick''s cautiousness was on another level, he formed a seal just in case too.

    What Zick found at the end of the trail was a baby dragon, it appeared to have suffered injuries and was unconscious.

    The hand of a dragon wasying in some distance, it was the only part that was left of the dragon that entered the dragon lord''s den.

    Zick from reality squinted his eyes, it was apparent that a huge battle had urred at that time. The only way these two just-born dragons could defeat another dragon was by using the soul remnant of the dragon lord.

    After this, the first timeline''s Zick went on his path like always. He formed a good rtionship with the two newborn dragons. They began living with him, and they both were quite simr in their expressionless faces.

    And he created potions from the dragon''s hands too.

    He went to the academy, then even came to find living excitement. But things did not go on like that for long, the magic disaster urred transporting everyone away.

    That was the real beginning of Zick''s journey, many hardships presented before him, one after another.

    Zick''s personality was tempered by all these events, making him more broad-minded and shrewd.

    At the beginning of the demonic race war, the world distorted and crumbled away again.

    This time a huge amount of time was skipped, directly showing an apocalyptic scene.

    The ground was barren to the extreme, the sky was red with shades of ck everywhere. The air desteness wafted in the atmosphere.

    Zick from reality jerked his eyes, feeling himself to be in control of the body.

    "What do you think? Wasn''t it interesting?" Another Zick who appeared older than him appeared beside him.

    Zick shook his head and firmly spoke: "Not one bit, though I learned hundreds of new things, I would have preferred it if you just appeared like this earlier."

    "Well, I nned to do just that, but because I even sacrificed myself in the end by stressing myself, many of my memories traveled back in time too." The older Zick spoke indifferently.

    Zick got to the point: "Tell me the way to be a god and the reason you or more specifically, why I killed myself."

    The older Zick nodded his head: "You won''t have to worry about that then, the only requirement is for you to be a single entity."

    "A single entity?"

    "Yes, only the power that you have cultivated must be present in your body and soul. The reason you aren''t able to strengthen your soul is for this reason."

    Zick began considering rapidly, he did not think it was so simple, but at the same time so hard, at least for him. He had dozens of different powers in this body, like frenzied energy and the ck miasma from the creepy doll.

    The dragon power had already be one with him, so it could be counted as a whole entity.

    A possibility shed by Zick''s head, making his eyes narrow.

    "That''s right, you can use the mist of annihtion, discarding that one ability doesn''t matter much. This way the agreement with the giant race would be fulfilled too."

    Just as Zick was going to open his mouth, the one from the first timeline lifted his hand: "I don''t have much time left, we are merging into one quite quickly. Let me just send all the important information to your mind."

    Zick nodded his head, he did not like useless chatting anyway.

 Chapter 221 Red Mist

    The requirement to be a god made a lot of sense in Zick''s eyes.

    every god had only a single kind of power, there has not been any case where they ever used any different power.

    Information flew into Zick''s mind as the world turned nk.

    It portrayed how Zick from the first timeline joined the god''s side initially. The gods themselves had invited him after the demonic war began. They were aware of his existence the moment Aeiron came in contact with Zick.

    But never would have they thought that the one they were inviting was despicable through and through. It was no different than inviting a wolf into their house.

    The god''s wanted to take advantage of Zick and his identity as guardian of the dragon lord''s daughters.

    The Zick of that time had exhausted every possible way of strengthening himself. It had led to a fatal w, all kinds of energy inhabited his body!

    Just as a soul can affect our body, which led to Zick having characteristics in his mana when he was just a high-rank knight. The body can affect the soul, the both are connected mysteriously.

    The soul of the Zick from the first timeline was already affected by many kinds of power, his soul was exposed to them for just too long.

    After finding the requirement from the gods'' side, Zick was left in despair. He began looking for a way to discard these sources of energy, but it was not possible.

    The main power source for him was �� The element essence! The same as the snow essence that Zick found in the Lectic mountain range.

    He was a grandmaster at the time, with exceptional strength and wits.

    That was when he was invited by the giant''s race.

    Zick of that time already gave up on that timeline by then. He knew that nothing but servitude awaited him in the future.

    Without any strength, he would be nothing but a servant to these two colossal forces. He could not match any of them.

    He began working on how to restart everything again. So that he could redo his life again!

    Fortunately, there was no need for him to fret too much. The gods would reset everything on their own ord.

    Zick found out about the characteristics of the mist of annihtion. It could erase any kind of power in this world, as long as it''s below God rank.

    Still, if any god entered the mist barrier, they would suffer astronomical losses.

    It was not possible to control this power, it would erase Zick''s whole existence if he tried going near it.

    Only a catalyst made of the world tree that was corrupted with impure mana and fed thousands of souls can have any effect on this mist of annihtion. It was because they both originated from the world''s core.

    Zick wanted to create this catalyst, but it was toote. The demonic race had already destroyed the elf kingdom and the world tree there.

    Zick proposed his time reset n to the giants. He abandoned the gods for a very simple reason �� it was because the gods would be very opposed to this n, though they will proceed withter on anyway.

    The gods'' would have no choice but to rewind the time after Aeiron lost.

    What Zick asked of the giant race was very simple, to not start the war with humanity in the second timeline. And also spoke of the agreement of destroying the mist barrier.

    .....

    Deep within the water, memories kept flowing into Zick''s mind as he closed his eyes again.

    How Zick from the first timeline changed some of his memories also shed in his mind.

    With Aurel''s help, Zick sent a remnant of his soul back in time, right at the moment when Noah''s soul from the Earth flew into the body of Zick''s body.

    Noah''s soul had no material body and was just a simple soul. The first timeline Zick easily manipted his own memory, but he did not have any intention of wasting too much of his energy here, hence he just put an extra memory of the novel in his soul.

    Zick''s eyes slowly opened, immense clearly could be seen in his red-ck eyes. All the dullness that was present in his eyes priorly vanished into thin air.

    Zick had kind of expected it to be this kind of reason, they both were the same after all. As time went on, it was inevitable for both of them to have the same mindset.

    ''I should take care of the mist barrier for now, after I get the space core...'' Zick''s eyes narrowed, his body shot up like a meteor at once.

    There was no mana in the surrounding area, the mist of annihtion did not allow it to get near to it at all. So Zick could not use magic to teleport either.

    Getting back into the mist, red particles began exiting Zick''s body. He was made aware of the right way of using the frenzied energy, which was made of an impure world tree.

    The mist that came in contact with the red particle turned red.

    All the mist that turned red swirled around Zick, following his will like a loyal bird.

    This method of controlling the mist had a fatal w initially. The red mist would be in control of the ''will'' within the frenzied energy too.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This would have led to something disastrous normally. However right now, the ''will'' within the frenzied energy was just too weak.

    Which made Zick use this method with no hesitation.

    Finding the amount of red mist to be enough, Zick collected back the frenzied energy. The red mist around him did not harm his body in any way.

    ''The ck miasma from the doll has already be one with my soul, and be a part of it. Surprisingly, it is verypatible with me. But I will still Have to remove the ck miasma stored in my eyes.''

    ''No other kind of energy must inhabit my body, even the remnant of using snow essence must be removed. Thankfully, the eaten dragon part got tempered with my higher form of energy. If not, I would have had to discard them too.''

    With resolution, Zick controlled the red miasma to enter his eyes.

    An immense amount of pain assaulted him at once, but this time Zick did not even flinch. The experience from the first timeline and this timeline made him indifferent to pain.

    The red mist began entering Zick''s body through pores on his skin.

    The red mist only affected the things that Zick allowed to, exterminating anything that did not mesh well with his higher form of energy.

    In front of the red mist''s destructive might, the different kinds of energy within Zick''s body were erased with no resistance.

    Next, Zick sent the red mist into his soul. Destroying some of his foundations that held any ipatible power.

    Harming his soul like this would inevitably cause some of his potential as a god to drop. But on the other hand, his foundation would be immensely robust, facing no obstruction in his ascension.

    Zick heaved a long sigh and began controlling his frenzied energy. This was also ipatible with him.

    Fortunately, it was possible to merge it into his higher form of energy, Zick did just that, not wanting to discard the precious regenerative powers.

    .....

    On the boundary of the mist barrier.

    "What''s taking him so long?" Reikel folded his hand while speaking out loud. He was getting impatient, though he had a close rtionship with Zick in the first timeline. He knew that trusting him was like serving his own head on a silver tter to a lion.

    He still remembered the scene of Zick smiling as he mocked the gods on their faces, it was at the end of the first timeline.

    When Zick backstabbed Aeiron with a smirk, the sword was drawn right through Aeiron''s heart.

    In the first timeline, Aeiron had grown to the level of a god himself, he was just a few steps away from breaking through the mortal shackles.

    But in the end, he died at the hand of the person in whom he put a lot of his trust.

    Reikel felt chills rise deep within, Zick had used him as bait and perfectly delivered the final hit. There was no hesitation in his actions at all, such unscrupulous behavior made him feel goosebumps.

    Who in this world doesn''t have anything that they want to protect?

    Even Reikel cared a lot for the demonic race, but Zick had no such things. He could backstab his ally as quickly as the blink of an eye.

    And change his face and smile the best moment just as quickly as flipping the page.

    Zick was the embodiment of viciousness in Reikel''s eyes.

    The giant god was very patient, he had already waited for a long time. Waiting a few more hours did not make a change.

    "He can''t betray me, he doesn''t have any other options." The giant god did not speak much, speaking two sentences, and he closed his eyes.

    Shortly, changes began happening in the mist of annihtion. It began turning red mysteriously.

    This change gathered everyones'' attention, many giants smiled feeling that the moment for themy waste to this world was nearing.

    After a few minutes.

    Instantly, the red mist began shrinking, moving toward a certain direction.

    A figure was exposed as the red mist shrunk at a certain point. The red mist, which had thoroughly condensed, swirling around the man.

    Who else could it be but Zick?

    The red mist acted like a cloth around Zick. He first took control of the whole mist barrier, before erasing the frenzied energy. Therefore, he was still able to control the red mist.

    Seeing the familiar figure of Zick, and his same old attitude of being cautious. The giant god smiled till the corner of his lips tore. The excitement of being able to get what he desired for so long made him go crazy.

 Chapter 222 Undercurrent

    Zick entered a state of deep contemtion, after using the red mist to discard any unnecessary elements.

    An unbelievable level of rity took over his head. It was as if nothing could escape his senses, he could feel the restraints that were blocking his way melt away to oblivion.

    The things that were obscured before, appeared like an open book right now. He could sense the presence of the world''s core, and the strange ck particles wafting around him.

    ''This must be my divinity, huh?'' Zick could feel that these particles were deeply connected to him, both in soul and body. Though his divinity was notplete yet, they were stronger than their prior state.

    Zick''s skin appeared healthy with the pale glow nowhere in sight. His hair appeared smooth and firm, exposing some of his mindset.

    The connection between the two dragons did not escape his eyes. He was made aware of them being able to peek at his feelings and thoughts.

    ''But now, I can just transmit fake feelings and thoughts as I want. Everything that is connected to my body is perfectly under my control, this applies to this connection too. This is one of the benefits of truly rising to the demi-god rank.''

    Zick was no longer a demi-god just strength-wise, he had truly be one now flesh. And he could tell that he received quite a boost in strength.

    Merging with the frenzied energy, Zick''s quasi-divinity which gave an intimidating feeling before, now gave out a malicious feeling with it. It was tant malice that stocked close to others'' skin, making them feel apprehensive and ufortable.

    The sunlight fiercely shone upon the sea, highlighting the beutiful scenery. Or at least it was supposed to.

    A few giants with white beards breathed out a white cloud from their mouths. Instantly, the water in the sea began freezing, and this effect traveled to the bottom of the sea, to the ocean bed.

    Coldness covered the sea merely in a few seconds. ck clouds covered the clear sky, blocking the sun.

    The giant god, Kururu moved forward with its majestic figure, leaving thend and walking on the ice.

    Reikel returned to his impassive look, seeing that Zick had truthfullypleted the agreement.

    The demon race had already be one with the giant races'' army.

    "Zick, I always keep my promise, no need to worry needlessly. I hereby bestow upon you the space core." A dark purple crystal flew before Zick from the giant god''s hand.

    Getting his hands upon the thing that he wanted the most, Zick smiled, but with contempt.

    Zick''s eyes shed with coldness as they met the Giant god''s eyes.

    "Why are you bothering to hide it now? Do you think I am stupid enough to not realize? Where is the dragon lord?!" Zick''s words made the giant god freeze for a second, but a smile adorned his face the next moment.

    ? "Nothing goes unnoticed by you in the end. s, you were toote. You should not stick your nose into this matter anymore, if not, I will have no choice but to dispose of you." The giant god did not see Zick as a threat and instead, thought highly of his skills in being able to n.

    After bing one with himself in the first timeline, Zick noticed this fact. The mist barrier could be passed using brute force, and though they might suffer many losses, it was still feasible.

    Then, why didn''t the dragon lord do just that?

    If the dragon lord was alive, just to whom did the heart in thatir belong? A trap?

    Things were not predictable anymore.

    This realization led to Zick being aware that something was happening behind the scene. But as to what this exactly entailed, even he was not sure.

    ''Abandoning both of her daughters...Just what is the dragon lord nning?'' Zick felt an invisible pressure, he felt that nothing good woulde from being unaware of her motives.

    The reason why there was no remnant soul of the dragon lord in Aurel was also found. It was because the Zick from the first timeline had used it up.

    The power used to reset the world does not affect beings or things possessing genuine divinity and it can''t restore something that required divinity either.

    Reikel moved forward: "Are we ready to set off then?"

    "Yeah...." Zick had second thoughts as to whether he should stay on this anymore.

    Levienel was already dead, Reikel granted herst wish not blinking an eye. Destroying some external blessing was child''s y in his eyes.

    Zick and Reikel did not exchange many words and began moving in a certain direction.

    The giant race started heading toward the center of this world too. The core of the world could only be entered from there.

    ....<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zick arrived above his mansion with Reikel, different from the atmosphere above the sea, there was peace here.

    Zick took out some clothes and wore them in a sh. The red mist condensed into a ball as he stored it and the space core in the space ring.

    Immediately, Arianell and Aurel flew out of the house, revealing an unhidden happy face. They could sense that the evil energy affecting Zick had vanished.

    Being embraced by both of them, Zick patted their head, transmitting affection through the connection between them.

    ''It''s not like I hate them, and neither am I dissatisfied with them. I quite like them truthfully, but still, I do not have the right to choose all the time.''

    No one has their rights, that''s what Zick would like to say. However, it always depended on how you looked at it.

    People would proudly proim that �� I have a very high position in society, with smug faces. While some looked at the person treating the restrain, the chain that was binding everyone like a restrained dog, telling that he is proud of being a chained dog.

    ''Human mind is unpredictable andplex, we are nothing but a ve to our mind, the values we build specifically. People believe what they want to believe.''

    ''Only the ones who can surpass such limits and look at everything with a broad mind have the right to be true to themselves and be free of any contradiction.''

    Nevertheless, there was something that could rule out all kinds of human feelings �� powerlessness!

    Hence, though Zick might like these two, they would never truly be someone important to him until he was free of the curse of being on the side of the powerless. There was nothing that could change Zick''s mind.

    Be it may that at the end of his journey, nothing remains, Zick would still walk on this path till the end.

    Zick grew obsessed with his goal.

    ''I will march to my death, or till I reach my goal without stopping.'' Zick''s smile deepened with contentment, he wanted to stay true to his feelings till the end.

    Zick entered the mansion and sat on the sofa. Closing his eyes, he sorted out all of his thoughts one by one.

    Arianell, Aurel, and Yuriel looked at Reikel, who sat opposite Zick, with tant hostility and caution.

    No one moved, waiting for Zick to sort out his thoughts.

    Zick opened his eyes, which zed over with fierceness. His eyes turned back to being deep red after he removed the ck miasma from his body.

    ''Let''s take a gamble, If I try to ascend to godhood normally, an astronomical amount of time is needed. I can''t run away for long, my safety isn''t guaranteed either.''

    Zick narrated his n to everyone in the room.

    Reikel was the first to speak up: "Are you aware of what you are trying to do? There is no way the giant race would reconcile once that happens."

    "Of course. It wouldn''t matter if this n seeds anyway." Zick dismissed Reikel''s worries.

    Reikel just wanted to get out of this right now. He gained his long-awaited freedom, which was always in the giant races'' hands, but it seems like he had to take another risk.

    Zick was the only one who knew how to get out of this world. After struggling internally for a while, Reikel transmitted something to Zick.

    Reikel secretlymented: ''Boarding two ships at once is really stressful....''

    ....

    A report arrived to the giant god, Kururu.

    "I see, so that is what you have chosen. It''s a disappointment, I really would have liked to cooperate with someone who has so many skills. s, it is not possible anymore."

    Philine, who was supposed to be dead by Levienel''s hand, was actually in the demon race''s hands. And now she was in Kururu''s hand.

    Philine''s potential was recognized by Kururu, Levienel, and Reikel. As she had an unawakened ability, her second diviner ability was capable of taking a peek at the future.

    Zick''s betrayal was already predicted a long time ago, but the future is ever-changing. Kururu gave Zick a chance and it seems in the end, their sh was imminent.

    ''Still, I don''t want to suffer unnecessary casualties before fighting those gods. Everyone has not gathered yet, but they will be here soon. I have already sent them the coordinates of this world.''

    Undercurrent brew in the background, but one thing''s sure �� Chaos is all that awaits them.

 Chapter 223 Merging Soul And Quasi-Divinity

    Rays of light passed through the window, waking up Arianrll and Aurel from their deep slumber.

    A shadow cast across half of Zick''s face, as the rays fell on him. He had been meditating and training the whole night, checking his soul and body for any abnormality.

    As expected, Zick could continue strengthening himself normally now.

    Only that, the method to strengthen his quasi-Divinity was different.

    Instead of enhancing the soul using the quasi-divinity, Zick had to merge the two of these right now.

    The requirement for the fusion of the soul and Quasi-divinity was mainly tied up with the soul.

    The soul has to be fully tempered with quasi-divinity thoroughly, only then can merging these two different entities be possible.

    An immense amount of concentration is needed in this process. It brought many risks with it, just a little carelessness could lead the soul to be damaged.

    This led many people to die before stepping into godhood. This showed the difficulty of this process, intense perseverance and time are needed for this process to be over. There is also the chance that the soul might reject the fusion, leading to instant death.

    ''The chances of my soul rejecting me are close to zero. Unlike others, I was able to use the mist of annihtion to cleanse any unneeded element.'' Zick opened his eyes, revealing tiredness deep within them.

    Though he might be able to think at a speedparable to a human brain, Zick was still a living being.

    Fortunately, Zick had another advantage that gave him an edgepared to others. The regenerative powers, recovering from exhaustion in a blink of an eye.

    A mysterious change happens when the soul and Quasi-divinity merge, bringing about a qualitative change in the person''s strength.

    Zick could feel the immense amount of power held by the quasi-divinity, that perfectly fused with the soul. It was more than 20 times stronger and condenser than before.

    Zick breathed out slowly while looking at Arianell and Aurel waking up slowly too. He had decided to rest yesterday and check himself, deep down he felt nothing but urgency.

    The world that Zick was in right at the moment was like a hot potato, which was being advertised everywhere.

    Soon, many woulde running to grab a piece of it too. And Zick did not want a single piece of it, instead, he wanted to gobble up the whole thing for himself.

    For this, Zick had to get moving as soon as possible, trying to grab the world core once many forces gather is dangerous.

    The coordinates of this world were not hidden anymore, the giants reached this world atst from the portal and finally found the coordinates.

    Zick had originally thought that the giant race did not want to share this world core. However, that was not the case, he seems to overestimate the giant race''s strength.

    Just them alone was not enough to defeat the gods of this world.

    From the information that Zick gathered in the first timeline, the gods seem to have been divided into two factions, dark and light.

    Zick already coborated with the dark faction, so it would almost be impossible to join the other side.

    The gods of this world were not totally helpless, reinforcement would arrive from the light faction too. The future was quite predictable after that, nothing but death would cover this.

    "Do you remember what I said yesterday?" Zick seriously questioned Arianell, she had the biggest role in his n. If she failed, he had already made up his mind to run away and hoped that he would be able to deal with whoever appeared on the he went to.

    Arianell nodded her head firmly, she would have not been confident before. But now it was different.

    Rising to the grandmaster rank, Arianell could teleport anywhere on this. With the space core, there was nothing that could block her either.

    "Alright, let''s get going." Zick and the two began moving towards the hall at once.

    Reikel and Yuriel were already waiting in the hall by the time Zick arrived.

    Sitting on the couch, Zick asked a question aimed at Reikel: "How did the negotiation go?"

    The atmosphere was nketed by solemnity at once.

    "It was a sess, but he only agreed after I offered that we will give half of the world core to him." Reikel felt cold sweat forming on his back. He had made a bind, a form of contract with another god, and if he failed or betrayed him, he would die.

    The giant race was not the first one to get this world it seems. A certain god had his eyes on this world for a long time but did not make any move as it was not possible to take over by himself.

    This god was named the god of the weaver, Kheixer. He was quite self-centered, not willing to share such a thing with others. He had been bidding his time, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

    However, now it was different, with the appearance of the giants'' race, many other forces would be heading toward this world too.

    Kheixer epted the deal presented by Reikel as there was nothing for him to lose.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Anyone who was able to rise to the god realm was talented and astute. Or they had a strong background that supported them.

    Reikel tossed a purple crystal to Zick, a space core!

    Reikel took a space core as an advance payment from Kheixer. And demanded coordination for a world ruled by a weak god after half the world''s core is handed over.

    Space cores might be rare, but they have very little use. It was because there were very few people who could wield the power of space. Mostly this was used as a material for a long-range teleportation array, used to go from one gxy to another.

    Zick did not even bother considering using these coordinates. He was not foolish enough to trust such intel so easily.

    Zick was lucky to have someone who could manipte time and another who could control space.

    Right now, both of them were sitting on Zick''sp. Aurel stuck closely to Zick as if she would never let go, while Arianell sat upright, acting like a mature child.

    Zick eyes moved to Aurel: ''She doesn''t have any important role in this mission, but I am sure she will be quite useful in the future.''

    ''And if Arianell bes a god, I am sure no one would be able to ever catch me. If I was ever given a choice, I would have chosen the space element over the others.'' Zick evaluation of space elements was very high in his head.

    Yuriel could manipte space elements too, so she was thest resort if anything were to happen to Arianell.

    "Here take this, use them in emergencies." Zick passed ck cubes to everyone.

    "Just what is this obnoxious thing?" Reikel spoke with a frown.

    "Souls," Zick spoke indifferently, not keen on exining. These cubes were made by the souls of billions of people he killed in the eastern and middle continents.

    These cubes were the highest-rank wraiths that Yuriel made just a while ago.

    Zick was nning on using this against Reikel, in case the sealing technique did not work. Though at that time, he had a weaker version.

    "This thing is more than capable of distracting a god for a few seconds. Use it to escape or attack, as you see fit." Zick had tons of this in his space ring too.

    "I guess, it''s about time that it begins." Zick was aware of the giant races'' true intentions, though they might show an image of only wanting a piece of the world core, in reality, they too wanted to hoard it for themselves.

    Though, how they were going to achieve that was a mystery.

    The ground began shaking as time went by, within a few minutes it turned into an earthquake, shaking the whole republic.

    .....

    The world invaded by the giants was named �� Igmorous, a middle-grade world.

    It was a world that suffered one disaster for another. The universe was never safe, many strong creatures can attack the world at any time.

    The wraths that attacked this world were a good example. The leader of this species was at the god level, giving a headache to the sun god and the others.

    Most of the dragon race was sacrificed to deal with this disaster too.

    This creature of chaos was mostly attracted to the world''s core. After all, these beings grow stronger by leap and bound after absorbing the world''s core.

    This incident made the gods, who were appointed to take care of this world resolute, create a barrier around the world''s core. Then, unless someone was already aware, they would never be able to sense the core.

    But this led them to be stuck in that barrier too, though they were capable of breaking the barrier and going out, they did not do so.

    Their job was to take care of this world for 100,000 years, after that other gods would be assigned here. Therefore, they decided to not go out until someone threatening appeared.

    In the first timeline, these gods had to turn back the time after the demon races won.

    For this, they had to use a little of the world''s core energy and sacrifice some of their own, well they all agreed to do it themselves.

    It was because some of them were not in this world in their real body. In other words, they were great gods, and losing a puppet did not matter much. It was nothingpared to the reward ofpleting the mission.

    People who were able to climb up to the great god rank had high authority anywhere they went. They did not have toe personally to such a remote world.

    Time could have been turned back using just the world core. To fix the chains on the red portal, some of the puppets were sacrificed.

    Right now, the giant''s race was attacking the barrier directly, trying to destroy it.

 Chapter 224 God Of Mirror, Vortex, Wolves, Spear

    When the giant race was trying to invade this world, around 30,000 years ago. The gods were yet to create the barrier around the world''s core.

    Their mobility was not restricted at the time.

    No matter how strong the Giant hero was, he was not capable of creating a seal to stop the red portal.

    The gods were the ones who manipted him from the shadows, leading him by the nose.

    Mostly it was thanks to the gods that Fuiren, the giant hero, experienced one enlightenment after another. Not facing many blocks in his research for a method to take care of the portal.

    The red portal was a mysterious thing, it originated from another world, but it was strangely connected to this world with its own world core.

    This red portal was so deeply connected to the world core, that destroying would be no different than destroying the world core.

    This was what bewildered the gods most, making them n to seal it.

    As to why the sun god sent down the revtion, it was so that he could spread his influence broader than before. The more believers there are, the faster he grows.

    The Qilin race had to be sacrificed, as they were the only species with the strongest lightning attribute alive.

    Unfortunately, there was no god with thunder or electric attributes.

    Everyone who became a god had arge range of knowledge. With their coboration, they came up with a seal that distorted the space within the red portal, by creating a gravitational field around it.

    This gravitation field was mostly made of all the Qilins that were sacrificed and the sun gods'' power.

    However, the seal that was supposed tost for at least 100,000 years was broken by some pawn, created by the giant god.

    The gods had underestimated his obsession with the world''s core, they had not even noticed the existence of the demonic race, being stuck within the barrier. And because the giant god exerted some of his power to hide their existence.

    The gods from the light faction did not dare to destroy the barrier, to recreate it more of the world core would be used. In other words, their evaluation would fall to a not-so-agreeable level.

    Rewinding the time for around 20,000 years, they were able to gain room to breathe again.

    .....

    Zick was aware of philine''s ability after Reikel told him all about it. There was no need to worry though, he became a demi-god so no method of a mortal could work on him anymore.

    Seeing Zick''s future was impossible now.

    Zick and Reikel appeared before the red portal, standing majestically on barren ground. It was like a vortex, swirling endlessly.

    Both of them had their weapon in hand respectively.

    Zick swung the cursed sword, grace, directly beheading the two giants guarding the left side of the portal.

    Reikel did the same, killing the other two giants on the other side.

    To them, who were demi-gods, this grandmaster rank opponent was easy to kill.

    Zick was confident of killing everyst one of them himself, he had unlimited stamina so it was very possible. Overwhelming him in numbers was a waste of time in most cases.

    Flying right an inch away from the red portal, Zick ced his hand into it. His quasi-divinity began entering the portal, carrying a message within it.

    Zick''s eyes widened, before contracting rapidly, a smile adorned his face almost immediately.

    ''Though my profits would be lowered, I will still prioritize my life above it.''

    Zick took back his hand after a few minutes and stood at that location calmly, now it was all up to Arianell.

    ''Ah, Aurel would have to y a part too now.''

    .....

    Within the barrier around the world core.

    The inside of this ce was illusionary, with a in grasnd and chairs in the middle of it. It was a dimension created through the gods'' power.

    Seven translucent figures sat on thrones in a circle. Solemnity filled the atmosphere here, tremors spread across the dimension randomly.

    Most of the time, these seven gods let their bodies enter a state of slumber or hibernation, while their will took care of worldly matters. But, right now they all exited their slumber and gathered here to discuss their course of action.

    "That sphemous human did it, huh?" The god of justice, who had three wings protruding from his back and a handsome face with blonde hair, spoke with an unbelieving face.

    All this mess was caused by a single human, could there be anything else that could be more humiliating?

    Zick was the best example of human trash, he betrayed them and made them spend some of the world core''s energy. Then, he now even let the giant race out.

    Just a few more hundred years and their task would have beenpleted. But it all came falling down this instant, they did not worry though.

    The Sun god, who had zing red eyes and long hair, spoke up: "I am on my way right now, after my main body gets here, we will be mopping all these beings of dark."

    The goddess of fairness, who was a woman with fair white skin and white hair, looked at The sun god, Velceric with her grey eyes.

    "Are you not going to ask the light faction for backup?"

    "Unneeded," Velveric said firmly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Another great god, the god of death also joined in the conversation: "Yes, it is unneeded, my main body is on the way too. We can deal with any being that appears."

    Both the great god became serious, they put aside all the other important matters and began moving to this.

    They did not stop the destruction of the seal because they thought it to be necessary. They could not borrow any more of the world core''s power.

    Unprecedented undercurrents were brewing, the moment the barrier was destroyed, an immense battle would ensue at once.

    "Hmm? Another being of the dark has invaded this world, he seems to be heading towards here too." The sun god spoke while folding his hands.

    With another god joining the fray, the barrier started getting destroyed even faster. This new god cooperated with the kururu. Showing that they had some connections.

    Deep within the ground, standing upon a spherical barrier, Kururu punched rapidly like a god of destruction.

    Two pairs of hands grew from his body, and his body shone in a red glow menacingly. He punched so fast that sonic booms were produced one after another and the shadows of his punches conversed at a single point.

    A few hundred meters away from Kururu was another figure, wearing a white mask and wielding a spear.

    The god of the spear, Jackert. Green rays left his spear, crashing into the barrier.

    This barrier was not meant for defending, to begin with, causing it to start cracking soon.

    Another figure joined in their attack on the barrier, it was the god of the mirror. He too was a being of dark, but he had the human appearance of a middle-aged man. Pieces of mirror flew around him, a strange power was being released by these shards of mirror. Like they had a life of their own.

    Cracks spread on the barrier, it was already showing signs of breaking. At once, the barrier broke apart, crumbling to pieces.

    The presence of the pure energy released by the world core reached everyone. Greed sparked in all the three invading gods'' eyes.

    It was at that moment that everyone''s expression changed at once.

    The world core''s presence vanished!

    Kururu began frantically searching for it, only to feel dumbfounded. The world core was not moved!

    It was nowhere in this world. Rage and hatred rose within Kururu, he had been nning for this moment for who knows how many thousands of years.

    But now, the world core was robbed and right in front of him too!

    ''Zick? No, the dragon child with him cannot pull out something like this. Not to say, I did not sense the space fluctuate in the slightest! How can that child have such frightening abilities? It''s impossible.''

    Kururu never even considered Zick using the space core for such a thing. It was because doing so would mean that Zick would not be able to leave this world anymore.

    The other two gods showed varying expressions too. Their gaze moved to the gods who emerged from the barrier, some of them showed expressions smeared with fury.

    "You fools!"

    A being radiating enough presence to crush the world to smithereens descended from the sky. It was the real body of the sun god!

    Another figure covered in a dark aura appeared in the sky too, it was the death god.

    Both of them felt immense anger, thinking about thepensation they had to give for not being able to guard this world''s core.

    They had to get the world core back at all costs!

    As time went by, the presence of mana grew dimmer and dimmer. The mana was flying into space.

    "Show yourself! You rat!!" Velveric waved his hand, creating two crescent waves shining in a goldish color.

    These waves came in contact with something in the sky, causing a ck fraction to appear.

    "Hoho, I have been found it seems." A man walked out of the void. He wore stylish clothes simr to a suit, and he had a yful smile on his face, but his eyes were cold as ice. The god of the vortex, he was a great god.

    Another figure was also revealed in the ce the second wave hit. A woman with indigo hair and skin as smooth as silk appeared. She had an ominous presence around her, pressuring the normal gods.

    She was a great god too, known as the god of wolves, Sephine.

    The death god and sun god, Velveric stood together.

    "Was it you who did it?" Velveric eyes radiated killing intent as he said so.

    The god of the vortex, Taweir shook his head. They too had just appeared, only to find the world core already stolen.

    "I swear by the name of the god of the vortex."

    "I too, swear by the name of the god of the wolves." Sephine''s melodious voice wafted through the air.

    These two gods hade hoping to take away the world''s core before these two great gods appeared. But it seems like it was not possible anymore.

    Silence descended on the world again.

    The culprit had left no proof behind at all, making them grimace. By now who knows how far this person would have run away to.

    ''We''re stumped....'' They couldn''t believe they were yed around like this.

 Chapter 225 Taweirs Deep Scheme

    A little while before the world core vanished.

    "A deal? I do not have any need for your assistance in this endeavor." A sharp voice entered Zick''s head as he touched the red portal before him.

    "What makes you so sure? You might be able to run away now. But the great gods would notice your connection to this incident in no time." Zick spoke unprotruded by the sharp rejection.

    It was not hard to find out that some unknown god was scheming behind others'' backs.

    This portal could not have been created just like that, though it might seem like a natural urrence. There were cases where two world cores resonated with each other, so taking that into ord, this weird phenomenon was not out of logic.

    Still, the other gods were not fools, they were aware that there was a high chance that this was a conspiracy from a third party.

    So their doubt would of course head to the one who created this portal.

    And it was the vortex god, Taweir, who was the culprit behind it.

    Zick transmitted with a smile: "In exchange for the things I asked, I will give you half the world''s core."

    Zick wanted to join the dark faction, roaming around the universe with no backing might be fatal. Having a background, no matter how small, always came in handy.

    "Pfft! You have not changed one bit, but I like it. Alright, I will agree to your terms, if you join the dark faction." Taweir startedughing, Zick never stopped amusing him, throughout the things he saw in 50,000 years in this world, there has never been anyone like him.

    Such a long time was nothing to Taweir, who had lived for a very long time.

    Taweir was aware of everything that Zick had done in this world. How he forced the time to be reset and then used Aurel''s power to send back his remnant soul too.

    Saving himself in this timeline from being destroyed.

    Taweir had been watching it like a show, even he was amazed by Zick''s determination and courage to sacrifice even himself.

    If giving up just half of the middle-grade world core can help him win over someone like this. Taweir was totally willing to do it.

    Zick was surprised hearing this, he didn''t expect the other party to request what he was going to ask. This was good, the other party was showing his tant desire to recruit him.

    "Then, about the world I wanted...." Zick eyes shed with a light, he wanted to ask for more benefits but was cut in the middle.

    "Alright, let it end here, I agree to your prior demands. You should remember that I can''t help you directly, I have made a bind with the wolf goddess, Sephine, and we will be working together this time. Or it is supposed to be like that." Taweir spoke slowly, with no rush in his voice at all.

    "Of course, sir Taweir. I am just offering sir half a world core as thanks for presenting me a world." Zick''s attitude changed at once. He began acting subservient, after all, Taweir was a great god.

    Zick and Taweir formed a loose bind with each other. At least, ensuring his safety.

    "I will dy my arrival, but if you fail, this deal will be off." Taweir cut off the connection after giving Zick coordinates.

    Taweir had no intention to make an enemy of two great gods, to recruit Zick. Now, he had quite a clear name, leaving aside the fact that he pissed off many gods in the first timeline.

    Zick was already on the hit list of all the gods guarding the Igmorous world. It can be said that all this misfortune originated from him too.

    So it was apparent what would happen if Zick ever met them again.

    Reikel''s betrayal yed a part in all this too, he smuggled all the secret information to Zick.

    Reikel and the giant race were once again plotting something, but Reikel sided with Zick after thinking it through. If it went on, he would turn into a ve for the giant!

    That was uneptable!

    Reikel had been fighting and working hard for his freedom for thousands of years. His bind with the giant race, which was made a long time ago was the reason he had to be loyal to them till now.

    It was Reikel''s biggest mistake, for power he became a ve to the giant race. And then served them for around 40,000 years.

    When Kururu offered the n to kill Zick after luring him to the world core, Taweir epted it but refused to form a bind, telling him that he would withdraw if he felt that his life was in danger.

    Only here did Kururu make a mistake, he thought Reikel to be obedient to him, not bothering to make a bind to ensure he leaks the information.

    And then, the final pawn that yed its part perfectly �� Philine.

    The Zick from the first timeline was long aware of her ability, she was like a hidden card that he prepared.

    By the time Philine prophesied about Zick, he was already a demi-god, so how was it possible?

    It was because Zick''s allowed her to, he was able to feel that some kind of supernatural was gathering around him. He let it do its things, instead of resisting.

    Thus, Kururu thought that Zick would personallye to the world core, falling into the trap heid.

    However, such a thing did not happen.

    ''What a letdown, I thought he was smarter than this. But he was not even able to think of such a normal thing.''

    ''Did he not consider me to have already be a Demi-god? Well, I am sure now that the giant race isn''t the brightest.''

    ''Or....'' Zick''s eyes moved towards the one he suspected.

    Zick had nned on taking action if Kururu changed the n, after noticing this w. But such a thing never came to pass.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Now, only the dragon lord''s whereabouts remain a mystery. I wonder just what she is doing...''

    ....

    Back to the scene, Taweir kept a straight face, appearing a little sad.

    He could swear using his name as he truly did not have the world core yet. It was in Zick''s hand, who had already reached a different world, that Taweir had given coordinates of.

    ''I am leaving, someone seems to be faster than us.'' Sephine transmitted to Taweir, she lost interest, and there were no benefits to make by staying here any longer.

    "Taweir, that red portal was your handicraft, right?" Velveric turned to Taweir with anger on his face

    Taweir sighed, if he hade to attack alone, he would have gathered the ire and killing intent of two gods.

    Taweir could easily steal the world core, it was all thanks to the connection between the red portal and the world core. But doing so would be no different than suicide.

    Taweir stood no chance against two great gods, thus he appeared like this, pulling another great god into this.

    Taweir was known as the god of the vortex, but his real power was the Void attribute. Though there are few gods with that attribute, Taweir was the only great god among them.

    "Yes, I was thinking of taking away the world core, but who would have thought, there was someone who had an even deeper scheme." Taweir shamelessly spoke of his n, it was no use hiding it anyway.

    "I shall remember this." Velveric firmly nodded his head.

    Sephine looked at Taweir, she understood his intentions to pull her into this matter too.

    Without saying anything, Taweir, and Sephine left the world.

    After thinking deeply, a suspect''s name appeared in Velveri''s mind.

    "That human named Zick, where did he go?"

    Silence took over the world, everyone showed varying expressions.

    No one knew the answer, even the Kururu did not have an idea.

    "Hmph, he did not go to the world that I gave coordinates of," Velveric spoke with disdain and disappointment.

    A trap was waiting for Zick there, he would have been killed immediately the moment he appeared.

    Suddenly, Velveric''s expression grew ugly. The dark faction came attacking the ces that he guarded, the moment he left for this world.

    Right at the moment, the light and dark factions were still in a state of war. Attacks like this had be the norm, and it did not seem like they would stop anytime soon.

    Things instead became heated at the moment.

    Velveric could only leave, for now, the other gods began investigating. They put Zick as the priority, starting to search for his whereabouts.

    .....

    Within the deep darkness, where even a ray of light could not be reached, a sparkle suddenly appeared.

    With a purple glow, Five figures appeared within the darkness, where nothing but emptiness was present.

    ''Hmm? Just one space core was not enough to teleport to the destination huh?'' Zick heaved a sigh, thankfully, he knew the direction he needed to move at least.

    "Sorry...." Arianell apologized seeing the space core crumbling away in her hand.

    "No big deal, it''s just some extra time." Zick patted Arianell''s head.

    He got to know more about dragon species after inheriting his memory from the first timeline.

    Dragons were beings who could live for a very long time, hence their emotions grew dull as time went by. The only thing they could take joy in was the memories that they made in their younger age.

    It was called amusement time, and Zick decided to give these two dragons plenty of good memories from now on with him. So in the future, they would always remember the times with him, depending on their rtionship further.

    That could wait for now.

    ''Well, I was nning on stopping by before reaching the destination anyway.''

    Zick and the others began moving through the space at a rapid speed. They were not that far from the destination.

    Zick and Reikel''s speed was already at the level that was infinitely nearer to light speed.

    After reaching a distance that Zick thought to be satisfactory, he stopped everyone there.

    Zick took out the world core from within his body, he had no choice but to suppress its presence. It could not be stored in a space ring, it could not hold this thing.

    The world core was in a squarish shape, simr to a prism. Its body was like space, containing thousands of stars within it. This was an object that could create mana with no limit.

 Chapter 226 God Rank

    ''Well, one of my doubts was cleared off in the end too. The reason why the other side of the mist had so low concentration of mana, must be because the world core was extensively used by the gods.''

    Zick intently looked at the world core in his hand. His red eyes shed with bright light.

    ''Though the world core is a very high-grade item, they are not that hard to destroy.'' Zick let go of the world core, and being in the middle of space, it began floating by itself.

    Time flew by faster as Zick was away from any gravitational field. As people go far from a world''s gravitational field, the lower spacetime curves.

    Zick sliced the world core into two pieces with his cursed sword. He put away one piece into his pocket and held the other one in his hand intently.

    "What are you nning to do?" Reikel transmitted seeing Zick''s reckless action, even though he was not so knowledgeable about world core.

    Who knew the world''s core might just vanish into nothingness once damaged?

    As they were in space, they had to transmit to each other directly in the mind.

    "Breakthrough to god rank." Zick passively answered back, the world he was heading to had a god already present. He had to kill this person before taking over.

    Though having devoted believers gave a boost of around 20�G maximum in the speed of growth, it was not Zick''s main goal this time.

    ''I need a ce toy low the most. This is the dark factions'' territory, it''s unlikely they woulde barging in search of me.'' Zick put a little force on his finger, breaking a small tip of the world core.

    Zick gave this piece to Aurel with a serious expression: "Use this and fasten my body''s time by as much as you can."

    Aurel clenched her fist and the small piece of the world core in it. Immense determination passed through her face, unlike ever before. She nodded her head showing she was ready.

    Zick moved a few meters away and ordered Aurel to proceed.

    A blinding golden light radiated from Aurel''s body, she appeared like a star if seen from afar.

    Reikel watched all of this indifferently, but suddenly his expression changed. With a sh, the golden glow traveled into his body.

    Reikel''s body froze in ce at once, it was like his body had frozen in ce. It was to be expected, he was affected by an attack that used the middle-grade world core as a catalyst. It was something many great gods sought after.

    SPLURT~

    "Kugh...." Reikel spitted out blood from his mouth.

    A hand protruded from Reikel''s chest, right through the heart. Without noticing, Zick appeared behind him.

    Zick pulled out his hand, which was smeared in dark red blood. A smile adorned his face, filled with mockery and wickedness.

    "Did you think such superfluous acting can fool me?" Zick cleaned off the blood on his arm using quasi-divinity.

    Kururu''s action was just too suspicious in Zick''s eyes. No matter how one trusts the others, they would still form a bind just in case, the people who reached godhood would do even more so.

    Therefore, Zick concluded the information that Reikel provided to be false.

    There is no way the giant god, kururu would let Reikel go without making a bind with him.

    "I am sure he didn''t have much expectation to gain anything from me, but he still put you on me right?" Zick held Reikel''s head, ready to crush it any moment.

    Reikel gritted his teeth, no matter what he did, his quasi-divinity did not move. It was frozen in ce, not affected by his will in the slightest.

    ".....You are right," Reikel answered back nkly, he resolved himself internally, this was the end. He had a feeling that things would turn out like this.

    In the end, he had no choice either.

    "I see, so you were going to assassinate me while I was distracted absorbing the world core." Zick deduced Reikel''s next course of action.

    "Yes, that was how it was supposed to be if you got the world core." Just as Reikel finished speaking, suddenly Zick put force in his hand, directly crushing his head into bloody mush.

    Reikel''s blood began to float in the space, and with a sh, his body was destroyed too.

    ''That''s all I wanted to know from you, bye my old friend.'' Zick did not feel anything doing such a thing, but he still gave a farewell to Reikel.

    He had helped Zick a lot in the first timeline, Zick even had fun scheming with him.

    ''He always looked at me warily though...'' Reliving the memories that arose for a second, Zick focused on what was before him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good work, I was able to defeat him all thanks to you." Zick smiled at Aurel while patting her head. Aurel began smiling brightly at once.

    Zick estimated that he had 60�G chances of defeating Reikel, he was a demi-god right now after all. But, it was still better to be cautious at all times.

    Zick had this percentage of victory chances, as he knew all of Reikel''s cards through the first timeline.

    Zick gave another piece of the world''s core to Aurel and instructed her to use her power on him, for real this time.

    It was at that time, a sh of light traveled through the darkness, directly stopping before Zick and the others.

    As the bright light vanished, a figure with shing white hair could be seen standing upright. He had a handsome face and ck clothes with many ornaments on them.

    "You must be Zick?" The white-haired man asked.

    "Yes, Here is what you came for." Zick kept a humble look, he wanted to form as many connections as he could.

    Getting the other half of the world core, The white-haired man nodded his head.

    "My name is Kewerel, I rule over the world named �� ited, visit anytime you want. Sir Taweir and the dark faction have high hopes for you." After saying this, Kewerel just flew away, looking to be urgent.

    Seeing Kewerel fly away a hundred thousand kilometres in a few seconds, Zick retracted his gaze.

    Kewerel was exceptionally fast because his divinity originated from light elements. He was a veteran god who had fought with the light faction for thousands of years. And he was a subordinate of the Vortex god, Taweir.

    ''He seems quite busy for some reason, is the situation so dire?'' Zick felt a feeling of rush, he was not aware of the exact situation between these two factions.

    This might prove to be fatal in the future, who knows when the world under him would be attacked.

    ''....I might have to hurry.'' Zick turned to Aurel while thinking rapidly.

    Getting Zick''s permission, Aurel began circting her aura into the piece of world core.

    Zick''s body began glowing in a golden glow immediately. Zick put aside everything and wholeheartedly concentrated. The world core in his hand began getting absorbed into his body.

    Just as Zick started to merge both his Quasi-divinity and soul, he was shocked speechless.

    His soul easily became one with his quasi-divinity!

    It was even strengthening Zick''s quasi-divinity, bringing it to another level.

    ''I can see why other gods sought for world core.'' Zick was fully awed by the magical sight before him.

    Fusion rate began skyrocketing-

    1�G...3�G....7�G...15�G....30�G...50�G....80�G....100�G!

    After the fusion waspleted, an immense feeling of fullness took over Zick, he continued resolutely until the world core fully dissipated.

    Dark energy as dark as the space left Zick''s body, crawling around his body. Even the space began bending and distorting away in presence of this chaotic energy.

    After a while, the world core in Zick''s hand vanished, as if dissolving into the darkness.

    Zick clenched his hand before him, creating a shockwave from broken space. His eyes gave a brilliant spark, his existence had entered into another level altogether.

    ''Atst, I have reached this stage. I am a god now, a being that every mortal would have to look upon. I have an unlimited lifespan too, it can be said that I have achieved eternal life in a way.''

    ''But, this is not the end, I am still not at the top of the whole universe. As long as there is something above me, my journey has not ended. I will keep moving forward like always.''

    Zick felt his senses inting ridiculously, fusing both his soul and Quasi-divinity bringing upon a mysterious change. His strength increased by so many folds that even he felt it to be ridiculous.

    ''...I might even be able to destroy a with a single punch of just my body strength.'' Zick moved around his body, he was truthfully still getting used to moving around in space.

    Zick''s normal body was already a hundred times stronger,pared to anyone in the same rank as him. Bing a god, this monstrous fact was made even more dominant.

    ''Haha, I guess I am lucky, I wanted to try out my strength, it is good that I already have a test partner ready. Just that, I will have to beat him to death.'' Zick snickered to himself.

 Chapter 227 God Of Life, Lesine

    Exleverious, A low-grade world ruled by a god not so specialized in fighting. Many eyed this world but no one dared to make a move, it is an unsaid rule to not fight with each other, in the dark faction.

    Without a clear reason, the one who initiated the assault would have to pay a hefty prize.

    Attacking the god from other factions was simple, on the other hand.

    Almost no gods move unless there are benefits involved, so it was apparent why no one attacked this world. The prize overruled the benefits they gained through the assault.

    There was only one way to take over a world that was ruled by another god.

    A duel to the death �� having a basic requirement that the challenger must be a new god.

    If a god, who has been living for a long time can''t defeat a newbie god �� he has no right to rule his world.

    Only that, once this duel begins, it must go on until one of them died. That was the policy of the dark faction, it must be followed at all costs �� running away was uneptable!

    The one who ruled the world, Exleverious, was the god of life, Lesine. She controlled any kind of object that contained life essence in it.

    Lesine, who was in seclusion, opened her eyes with a sharp glint in them. She had radiant green eyes, glistening like a jewel, and long ck hair untied cascading behind her. She had an appearance that can only be said to be average at best.

    Lesine''s body vanished with a green sh, reappearing at the outer crust of the world. There another figure stood alone, looking at her menacingly.

    Zick did not hide his killing intent at all. Strange phenomena urred around him, his divinity reacted to his killing intent, moving around him threateningly. The space itself was distorted by his killing intent.

    Lesine squinted her eyes, it was the first time she had ever seen Zick.

    But, she knew one thing: ''He doesn''t appear to be a new god...''

    From the presence Zick gave off, he had walked deeper into the path of godhood. Though he still had a long way to go to reach the mid-god rank, it was still an aplishment that took hundreds of years normally.

    "I, Zick, the god of chaos, challenge you to a duel." Zick decided on his name a long time ago.

    The god of chaos, which suited his divinity a lot.

    Lesine''s eyes turned into a slit at once, hearing Zick, it seems like he imed himself to be a new god.

    "Are you aware of the requirement for the duel?" Lesine asked with doubt all over her face.

    Zick smiled with his head held high: "Of course, I swear by name, the god of chaos, that I became a god just a while ago."

    Lesine looked closely at Zick, and even after a while nothing happened. He was telling the truth!

    This fact threw Lesine''s mind into a whirlpool, making her headplicated.

    ''He might be lying, but if that is the case, he would just suffer after defeating me. Is it the truth? Or a lie?'' Lesine felt confused like never before.

    After all, it did not make sense!

    Bing a god just a while ago, how could Zick have divinity at the same level as her?

    This was extremely nonsensical.

    ''Unless...He got his hand on a world core.'' This thought made Lesine feel horrible all over. Getting a world core for oneself was very hard, she had never been able to get one even after thousands of years.

    If she knew that Zick got a middle-grade world core, just what kind of expression would she make?

    And especially, after knowing that Zick was just a new demi-god a while ago, before breaking into god rank at once.

    "....I ept by the name of the god of life." Lesine had no choice but to ept, rejecting even after he swore by his name woulde as a lifelong shame.

    A sh passed by Zick''s eyes: ''If it was me, I would have just given up on this world and gone away.''

    Zick had considered this possibility with worry, but it seems like not all gods were rational and shameless as he initially thought.

    "Let''s move away from this world first." Zick proposed with a nk face.

    Lesine epted, and both of them moved away from the blue world.

    Arriving at a suitable location, which was in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but emptiness and darkness everywhere. To normal people, it would have been terrifying to stay in such a ce, where not even sound could be produced.

    A few deads could be seen floating around in the distance.

    Making some distance between each other, Both of them looked at each other.

    Zick''s eyes showed his immense concentration, he was taking this seriously.

    ''I am in space right now, to move around I will have to continuously use my divinity. I am going to go all out from the beginning in this form at least.'' As Zick thought this, two wings protruded from his back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Instantly, the two ck wings with sharp edges started getting engulfed with ck me.

    Two horns appeared on Zick''s head, with dragon scales all over his body. He turned into a semi-humanoid dragon at once.

    Before Lesine knew it, Zick suddenly appeared right before her, with a malevolent face.

    In Lesine''s eyes, Zick appeared like the devil incarnate, with the scale on his face.

    Zick''s punch aimed right at Lesine''s face, his in fist with no enhancement, shone Menacingly. The moment it was going toe in contact with her face, she vanished.

    Lesine appeared in the distance with a pale face, right behind Zick. However, the moment she opened her eyes, what greeted her was a ck spear, aiming right at her left eye.

    The spear was very lifelike, not appearing transparent and having a solid body.

    Having no choice, Lesine shed with the ck spear. Dark green matter converged before her, forming a pyramid, which directly shed with a ck spear.

    A soundless explosion urred with the sh of two forces. Shockwaves spread to arge area.

    Lesine appeared with a few bruises on her face, she was pushed back in the prior sh.

    ''Just what kind of instinct does he have?! He was able to send an attack to my side in an instant! It does not make sense!!''

    ''And to top it up, his divinity has immense destructive might, putting me in a severely disadvantageous situation.'' Lesine could feel that her chances of winning were slim if not none.

    ''Why did it have to be me...?'' Lesine felt indignant, she never offended any god and stayed in seclusion most of the time.

    But still, people came to challenge her, this fact made her annoyed.

    ''It would have been a hundred times better if I had just joined the light faction...'' It was toote to regret it now though. She was attracted by the benefits and joined the dark faction, this would not change.

    The fight between them continued again, Zick continuously assaulted with a different kind of attack. Slowly, Lesine''s body started getting covered in injuries.

    Any of Lesine''s attacks would be useless against Zick, any that hit was also no use. Zick''s ck scale could easily block all of her attacks.

    Zick appeared above Lesine again, delivering a kick right at her head. Her body was sent flying downwards at once, stopping only after crashing into the dead.

    A huge crater formed on the dead, covering almost half of the whole. It was interesting how Lesine''s body did not blow away to smithereens by such a collision.

    Taking a closer look, leaves could be seen flying around her, protecting her from Zick''s kick. This leaf was special, having a glossy body, which shone brilliantly.

    The leaves converged, turning into a monster and heading towards Zick. Only to get destroyed by a single swing of his sword.

    ''I guess, that''s enough. I can tell my current limit somewhat.''

    Even if the leaf monster hit him, Zick''s scale could defend against it with a few scratches.

    Lesine''s body healed after a green glow covered his body. This was one of her advantages, but it was rendered useless in front of Zick too.

    His regenerative ability widely surpassed Lesine''s!

    If they were on a with life in it, Lesine might have been able to be content with Zick''s current form. But that was not possible, they were in the middle of space with deads.

    Despair, that was the only word that could exin Lesine''s mental state.

    What exactly was she fighting against?

    She had her share of challenges from newbies, but never did she encounter anyone like Zick. No trick worked against him, no matter how she attacked by luring, trap, or frontal, all of them were useless.

    ''How can such a thing exist in the universe....?'' Lesine still felt fear whenever Zick neared her.

    A single hit from Zick could destroy her limbs, a god''s body appeared so frail this instant. And that was when he wasn''t strengthening himself using divinity.

    What would happen if he used his Divinity? Just this thought made Lesine shudder. Her body might just get blown to pieces!

    Zicknded on the dead with leisure: '' I will destroy her whole body, just to be sure.''

    Zick did not know what kind of trump card Lesine held, destroying her whole existence is the only way he could think of. She was a god of life after all.

    Zick''s body glowed in a dim ck glow, which appeared extremely malevolent in Lesine''s eyes. His divinity was condensing at a rapid pace.

    Lesine leaped forward resolutely to stop Zick, but the moment she got near to him, his nk expression turned to that of wickedness.

    ''Oh, no! It''s a trap!''

    It was toote to realize that.

 Chapter 228 The Emperor

    Hundreds of ck waves converged into one point, forming a dark vortex, between Zick and Lesine.

    This was an origin spell that Zick came up with while staying in the republic. He had gone through the research they were studying, for knowledge''s sake.

    Knowledge was a very deadly weapon when used properly.

    While reading them, Zick got inspiration and decided to consolidate it.

    Which led to this origin spell �� Vacuum!

    Just the pressure from the ck vacuum caused the dead to tremble. The dead began crumbling away, floating into space.

    ''Not good!'' Lesine used all her power to begin running. There was no way she could defend against something like that. It was her first time experiencing such an atrocious spell, the concept of an origin spell was foreign to her.

    But just as she turned around, an immense suction force reached her body.

    "What...." An incredulous feeling rose within Lesine, the divinity she tried using was sucked into the vacuum!

    Not only that, but her body was also getting pulled into it rapidly. She could not resist this force for a long time, no matter what she did, all her attacks were sucked into the vacuum, making them useless.

    "Wait..." Lesine tried speaking to Zick, who was unaffected by the vacuum. However, her transmission did not reach him, it was disturbed by the vacuum too.

    Zick knew what she was saying even without hearing, thus he coldly transmitted: "No point begging now, you will have to die here, no matter the cost. Only when any one of us dies, thus this duel reaches its real end."

    Zick''s transmission perfectly Reached Lesine, not at all affected by the vacuum.

    Lesine''s expression got filled with gloominess immediately. There was no way out for her anymore, she knew that surviving after getting hit by the vacuum was nigh impossible.

    The suction force''s power increased, growing in size ferociously, engulfing everything around it.

    The vacuum expanded, sucking in the whole dead within it instantly. Lesine could not escape this either.

    The ck vacuum condensed and then vanished with a sparkle. Leaving a ce devoid of even a single rock.

    Zick''s body began reverting to normal, with the scales and horn slowly shrinking away.

    Zick contemted for a second: ''The strength behind a vacuum is good, but to use it, I will first have to make the enemye near me. If they are far from the vacuum, there is a high chance that they can escape.''

    ''Well, this disadvantage can be ruled out if I used Vacuum while in my dragon. The vacuum''s strength or more specifically pressure would increase tremendously this way.'' Zick contemted and moved to the world that woulde under his rule soon.

    Now, Zick imed a base for himself legally. Soon an executive from the dark faction woulde, after getting informed by Taweir. Only then will he be able to officially join this faction.

    ''The benefits of joining this faction are not small either. With Taweir''s support, many would have high expectations too, this is good for me in the long run.''

    ''I will be spending multiple years in peace, but after that, I will have to start moving again.''

    Zick smiled to himself, he was not someone who was not prepared to take risks.

    What could be better than ravaging the other world and absorbing the world''s core?

    ''The light faction...I will have to collect as much information as I can on them. And form connections with others, so that I can use themter on.''

    Zick had long thrown the giant race out of his head. Kururu most likely noticed that he had the world core after Reikel died. But it was different now, Zick was a god too, and many times stronger than normal gods.

    Shortly, Zick met Yuriel and the others, moving into the Exleverious world.

    First of all, Zick headed to the world core using Arianel''s space power. Thankfully, there was no problem there.

    In a subspace, with darkness everywhere, the world''s core shone with myriads of color, giving an impression of the stars.

    ....

    The exleverious world was a low-grade world, which was a rank lower than the Igmorous world, from where Zick came. In this world, bing a grandmaster could be said to be impossible.

    Even rising to the master rank needs a catastrophic amount of time. Only one person from among billions of people had the chance to rise to that rank. And most of all, time and special nurturing are critical in it.

    The empire of ancient archeology, Gevereon.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Revtion was released through the church of life god. Saying that a new god has been born, taking over Life god''s role.

    Unlike the world Zick was in, this world''s higher-ups were aware of the tradition of dueling to the death between gods.

    "Ahhh.....For the god of life, miss Lesine to lose..." The higher up of the church and the emperor, with his dukes, gathered to have an emergency meeting.

    "That doesn''t matter anymore! The new god has ordered us to gather here at midnight. Will what we feared happen...? Will everyone be killed to restart from the beginning?" The emperor seemed distressed too, this matter held just that high of importance.

    "I don''t know...They are gods, after all, they might just do that." The pope of the church of life spoke grimly.

    The Emperor held his chin, entering a deep state of consideration.

    In the end, he opened his eyes: "What the gods need are faithful servants, those who pray to them with their whole heart. If all the civilization is destroyed, it would most certainly take dozens of centuries to have humans and other races as popted as now."

    "While it would take us only a few decades to produce believers... no if we used everything at our disposal, it is possible within a decade. There is still hope that we can pass this with no need for genociding."

    Hearing the emperor''s exnation, many of the people in the meeting hall showed an admirable expression.

    Just as hope rose within all of them, a cynical voice reached them: "That''s so? I myself thought it would take at least a decade, so can you do it within that time frame?"

    Everyone froze in ce, with cold sweat forming all over their forehead. Even without anyone saying, they could tell that the person who spoke was a god. Just the familiar feeling was more than enough.

    Zick had made an entry hours earlier than the assigned meeting time.

    Everyone got off the tables and prostrated towards Zick who wore luxurious clothes, appearing no different than a dignified king.

    To obtain something greater than your ability, sacrifices are necessary. The people were aware of this fact, hence they threw away their pride and prostrated to this unknown god with no hesitation.

    Zick felt their attitude to bemendable, all of these people here have experienced the working of the world. And epted that fact too, humanity or any race, without strength they were nothing but chicken on a cutting board.

    Zick smiled malevolently: "Alright, If you are able to turn even 30�G of the citizen of this empire into my devote believer, within the next 10 years, I will spare everyone in this empire."

    Zick did not think this to be that bad of a deal, he did want to move if not necessary.

    Hearing this, the emperor''s body shook: ''There is still hope for humanity to survive! This request is absurd, but I can do it, no we can do it.''

    Determination passed through the emperor''s eyes sharply.

    "Thank you for your generosity, Lord god." Everyone pressed their head harder into the floor.

    This was the truth of reality, no matter who, they have to bow down to the people above them, more so in a strength-based monarchy. But...

    ''It doesn''t matter! If the cost to save humanity is for me to bow my head. I will do it as many as needed.'' The emperor saw hope in the future in his eyes.

    Only the ones who are still able to move forward, even after facing setbacks, are the only ones who have truly be sessful.

    ''This is the only way humanity can move forward.''

    Zick was truly amazed by the emperor''s mindset, he had found his goal and moved towards it with unwavering steps.

    "As a gift for your resolute attitude, I shall give a helping hand too. Tell any new believer that they can get my blessing if they pray for a day straight, without stopping or resting." Zick vanished saying this.

    Zick''s senses covered the whole, nothing could escape him. And as it goes, if someone prays with all their heart, it can actually reach him.

    ''My name...The god of chaos holds special power, it can be said. As long as it is used by a devoted believer, it would reach me certainly.''

    Zick returned to the world core, as per his order, Yuriel had begun investigating it and started to search for a way to make herself stronger.

    ''The current her is too weak, She can''t be much of a use like this. I should let her concentrate on finding a way to strengthen herself from now on.''

    ''Arianell and Aurel can grow stronger even without doing anything, but they will still have to work hard, to fasten their growth. I hope they can be at least a demi-god before the next decade passes away.''

    Zick nned on making some good memories with them too. As he was lost in his thoughts, an executive from the dark faction reached him atst.

 Chapter 229 The God Of Envy, Lifare

    Actually, even if Taweir did not vouch to recruit Zick, the dark faction would have still gone to him anyway.

    After the god of life died, her life candle, an indicator of her life, extinguished itself. Every god that joins a faction would have a candle made, which would have a deep connection with their divinity.

    The one who came to you to recruit Zick was a peak god, having dozens of worlds under her rule. Her name was the god of envy, Lifare.

    Lifare arrived directly at the world core, where Zick was currently at. She had a dignified appearance, wearing a ck dress with red petals, which appeared lifelike, and a dazzling crown, which was an item above the mythic rank, namely transcendent.

    Lifare''s skin was pale and fair, matching her beutiful face, simr to a doll''s. Her crimson eyes shone as she analyzed Zick from head to bottom.

    ''He has already walked quite deep into the god rank, it must most likely be due to a world core. His presence gives out nothing but chaos and menace...It has been a while since a god fully specialized in destruction appeared.'' Lifare could not help but feel slight envy for Zick''s luck.

    Lifare was an executive in the lower ranks, but she was able to only gather a handful of world cores her whole life.

    In the darkness, Lifare spoke first: "For you to have such a rare being able to control space and time." A sharp light passed by her eyes.

    The existence of Arianell and Aurel did not miss her eyes.

    Lifare lifted her thin arm, showing two fingers: "In exchange for them, you can at least get two low-grade world cores for sure."

    Lifare showed her interest in buying them, but what she got in return was Zick''s icy stare.

    "You might be a god, but for you to treat my daughters as merchandise, don''t you think you''re overstepping your bounds?" Zick''s voice wasced with hidden fury, which was noticed by Lifare.

    Thought shed within Zick''s mind: ''Well, I could have considered if my life was at risk, but not now, when I have Taweir''s backing. Even if I do lose them, I just have to reim both of them again in the future.''

    "Excuse me, then how about the doll that can also control space elements?" Lifare showed an adamant attitude, wanting to be able to buy such rare specimens.

    "Not her, but the method to create her can be discussed. Before negotiating, first, let me officially join the dark faction." Zick hurriedly added thest sentence after seeing Lifare''s twinkling eyes.

    Lifare was excited after a long time, it was always better to extort new gods who were not aware of the values in this new environment.

    Lifare quickly gave a candle, a t round device, and many more things to Zick rapidly. The things that exited her hand, floated around Zick, as he looked at them.

    "First, transfer your divinity within the candle, until it ignites," Lifare spoke while folding her hands.

    Zick followed her instruction without hesitation, catching hold of the pure white candle. ck divinity left his hand, entering into the candle.

    ''Interesting material, it is not getting damaged in any way as my divinity touches it.''

    Normally, with Zick''s divinity''s immense chaotic nature, any normal material gets destroyed at once. Only special material, which could withstand his divinity, could be useful to him now.

    After a while, the candle ignited at once, connected to Zick as a whole entity.

    "Next, hold your hand forward." A bottle appeared in Lifare''s palm, containing two heterogeneous eyes.

    She gave one eye to Zick and held the other in her palm, opening her mouth: "just read this paper, it will tell you everything you need to know "

    Lifare showed an urgent attitude and did not at all show patience in the slightest. Her sight was only on the negotiation that was toe after this.

    Zick began going through the page that Lifare handed over to him. He mused thinking about the content he just read.

    ''This organization took a contribution point stance too, huh? I can only exchange things using Contribution points, in other words, I will have to contribute something orplete some task.''

    Truly simple, but at the same time very efficient method. The gods have to work if they want benefits.

    As for the restriction, it would not be possible to change sides to the light faction, or the abyss faction.

    The Abyss faction seems to be another faction that could contend against the other two. Zick heard of it the first time too.

    All the rules will have to be followed, if not,pensation must be offered. This condition was quite loose, not showing much strictness.

    ''As for the joining reward, it did not disappoint me, in the end.''

    Zick could choose any world, which was just a few steps away from forming a low-grade world core. It might not seem an appealing thing to others, as they would have to wait dozens of thousands of years.

    However, for Zick, the wait was only a decade or even low. It was all thanks to Aurel, with her power, he could just fasten the time around the world.

    Aurel was like a cheat, it was apparent why many would seek her. The advantages and benefits were just too good!

    ''I probably can''t keep her to myself for long. Taweir''s name is useful against god, but before great gods, it''s not so useful. I can only depend on myself at that point.'' Zick was made aware of this fact a long time ago.

    If Zick could not rise to the great god rank soon, it would be impossible to keep these two for himself.

    "I agree." Zick spat out nkly.

    "Send your divinity into the eye. That item is a product of a supreme being named the mediator. Repeat after me." Lifare sent her white divinity into the eye too.

    Immediately, both of the eyes in their hand shone with different colors.

    "I vow by the name �� the mediator."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "....I vow by the name �� the mediator."

    The eye in Zick''s hand melted and entered his body, while the other eye dispersed into millions of particles.

    Next, Lifare began exining the functions of the things that she handed over to Zick. The round object was used to look into the items avable for normal gods, while the other device was used formunication and other minor things.

    "That concludes the exnation, let''s get down to business shall we?" Lifare''s eyes shone in expectation, only to turn dull hearing Zick''s words.

    "My basic condition is 5 low-grade world cores and providing me with connections. If you don''t agree, let''s forget this deal." Zick stated his overwhelming needs with a blunt face.

    "....Are you kidding me?" Lifare''s face was almost distorted, forming lines on it.

    Zick spoke with a in face: "Of course not, I think it to be the most appropriate prize. Space cores can be used by being able to

    Wield the power of space, which would mean there would be no need for space formation, which took a hefty prize to construct."

    "And they can be used as a trump card too, with a space core, they can easily affect even gods. Do I need to borate any further?"

    "Not to say, only two people would have the monopoly over it."

    Lifare''s mind turned gears hearing Zick.

    He was aware of the use of the space core!

    Thest line caught her interest the most.

    "You are only going to share this with one more person?" Lifare''s eyes widened, this changed the whole scope!

    Lifare calcted rapidly in her head. In the end, the result was �� the future benefits could outweigh the current loss.

    Lifare thought feeling a little anguished: ''If I liquify some of my worlds and count the world cores I have, it''s possible to pay the prize.''

    Lifare did not care what happened to the people who inhabit the world. Most if not all the gods from the dark faction were such kinds of people.

    Treating others'' lives the same as ants, while cherishing their life more than anything.

    "Can''t the prize be lowered a little?" Lifare tried negotiating.

    "No, these are my bottom lines." Zick showed an adamant attitude, but internally he was shocked.

    Lifare was putting a lot lower resistance than he thought. The knowledge of space elements was truly very low, the gods wielding such power kept it secret too, having an advantage over others.

    This leads to there being very low items that contain space elements in it. The reason for Lifare''s current attitude.

    ''....Just what kind of genius were those alchemists who made the biological golem? The knowledge of space elements in Yuriel''s database might sell for quite a lot.'' Zick reevaluated the knowledge stored within Yuriel.

    Lifare eyes shone sharply: "What are the other conditions then?"

    "Don''t worry, I just want you to provide me with material that I might need in the future. Let''s see, okay, I can request material equal to half a world core. You can only reject it if you can''t collect the resource or can''t afford it." Zick smiled reassuringly.

    "And I only want some of your knowledge, That''s all."

    Lifare''s expression rxed upon hearing Zick''sst request. It was in the future, so there was no problem with it either.

    "Alright, I shall ept your demands!" Lifare nodded her head firmly.

    Making a bind with each other, Lifare left the ce quickly. She headed to the world under her control to take its core.

    ''Hmm, this god was shameless till the end. She tried doping me by saying Arianell and Aurel''s value was only two low-grade works core. Hmph!''

    ''I would have not sold this too normally, but I have to rush a little right now. I need to grow stronger as quickly as possible.''

    .....

    (New power rank:

    Demi-god

    God

    Great god

    Supreme being

    Last rank: (Entity lord) probably

    Zick''s current rank: A little above Initial stage of the god rank.)

 Chapter 230 Zicks Future Plan

    The deal between Zick and Lifare was carried out smoothly. A meeting was arranged by her which was five yearster, it was for Zick to make the connection he seemed interested in.

    This meeting would be to introduce the biological golem, but in shadows, it was set up for Zick.

    The knowledge that Zick sought for was fulfilled too.

    This knowledge included the disadvantages of absorbing world core excessively. It appeared many times more severe than what Zick had expected initially.

    Whenever a god absorbs a world core, it''s like they are forcefully injecting pure energy into their divinity. Doing it once or twice continuously doesn''t bring about an adverse effect.

    But when it is used dozens of times at once, a permanent crippling effect urs. This effect was so devastating that it could take a god''s life too in many cases.

    Gods have their souls fused into the divinity, therefore the divinity itself indicates their life. If any harm was to be done to the divinity, it would be no different than harming the god itself.

    ''....This is the case only with low-grade world cores. I absorbed mid-grade, so if I absorb even one of these low-grade cores, I will be on a one-way ticket to the other side.'' Zick realized his harsh decision.

    This was the disadvantage of not owning correct knowledge. Not being aware of the risks, many get attracted to the benefits and end up dead.

    Zick would have ended up so too if he wasn''t cautious regarding this matter.

    The method to create a biological golem that Zick gave to Lifare was different from the original. The golem created through this method would not have the intelligence and neither the monstrous simting ability.

    Yuriel''s simting ability was very useful to Zick, while he fought against the demon lord, Reikel.

    ''I am not sure, but with this biological golem, I might have gathered attention from any god-wielding space element divinity. I can only hope that they won''t be too pissed off ande to find trouble.''

    ''I would have to wait for three years for the effect of using world core to vanish. Only after that can I absorb another two low-grade world cores.''

    Time was pressing on Zick''s side, he could only do everything he could to ensure his life.

    Many gods were always low on the world cores, instead of time. But Zick was the exact opposite of this. Time was holding him back more than anything.

    Next, he strikes up a deal with Taweir, lowering the world''s core quantity, he puts others'' demands into it.

    Taweir epted the deal with open hands, still, he rejected any overbearing demand. He truthfully put a lot of expectations on Zick, he was sure that this person would be one of the pirs of the war that is toe.

    Other gods were nothing but cornerstones, that did not have much importance. They were just pawns that could be discarded at any time.

    While Zick? He could be someone with enough influence even if he was at the god rank.

    Every god might be a veteran at one thing or the others, but not many have an unyielding and unscrupulous attitude like Zick. Having the determination to even sacrifice the people who are close to him.

    Zick was not blinded by the benefits either, he always put his life above others. With this trait, it was apparent what kind of stance he would take when the timees.

    As for the semi-low-grade world, Zick chose the nearest one to him. He could relocate his world, but it seemed like a lot of work in his eyes.

    ''There aren''t any magical instances in this world, so I can use them and act like a god who caused the world to be filled with mana. I can get followers a lot easier that way.'' Zick sat with crossed legs, he began to train in divinity.

    The method to train in divinity was different from before again. Now, Zick''s divinity was like a world core, which gave birth to fragments of divinity, having chaos in it.

    On the contrary, allows Zick''s divinity to grow stronger even without him doing anything. From the speed of progress, it would take around 100,000 years for him to break through this way.

    ''I don''t have that much spare time, from Taweir''s attitude, it did not seem like the future would be a peaceful one.'' Zick was able to deduce that much at least from the interaction with Taweir.

    It was apparent that Taweir wanted Zick to grow as fast as possible, even when he was making deals with him, it was clear as day.

    Normally, Zick would have put it aside as him being delusional, but he could not think of any other reason for Taweir to bring him to the dark faction side, even giving up on half of a mid-grade world core.

    ''Well, I might have to pay with my life for his generosity if nothing else.'' Zickughed self-deprecatingly internally.

    Back to the topic, Zick needed to condense his divinity into the ethereal core that appeared within his body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This core was transparent and mystical, which was hard to perceive normally. It was round in shape and had ck waves rising within it, simr to the screen of an ECG.

    This core appeared the moment Zick fused both his soul and quasi-divinity. It was also what gave birth to small divinity fragments.

    Strengthening this core would be the same as enhancing his divinity.

    ''I wonder what my divinity would turn into once I ascend to great god rank?'' Zick got curious about this subject.

    For now, Zick concentrated on training for a few days. He wanted to get used to it as quickly as possible.

    Then, he decided to go on a trip with Arianell and Aurel. Yuriel was assigned to research the next step of her evolution. With Lifare''s knowledge and the things avable to exchange through the dark faction, her progress took a huge leap.

    .....

    The Exleverious world that Zick inhabits addressed mana as kier.

    Zick had already taken care of all the human organizations. Now only other races were left to offer some believers.

    The next target on Zick''s agenda was the orcs'' nation.

    Zick went to different nations and tried out different dishes with the two others. Then, he even went to a mysterious ce with mind-blowing sceneries, like the ce he was currently at.

    It was in between the world''s surface and the world''s core. A mystical tree, sorge that it covered an area of dozens of kilometers, stood proudly there.

    This tree had thick roots and purple leaves shining brilliantly.

    The tree radiated pure mana inversely helping the world''s core, it seemed to be an item that the life god nted here.

    All of this was underground, but there was no darkness, just the light from the tree was blinding.

    ''She must have gone through a lot to get this tree, but in the end, this fell into my hand. I will use this well.'' Zick enjoyed the scenery along with the other two dragons.

    Arianell and Aurel walked around the roots of the purple tree, which was just levitating in the air, instead of digging into the ground.

    Zick looked at them walking around with smiles and thought: ''I have the same weakness as the life god too now. I don''t think any new god can defeat me, But there is a chance that someone can conspire against me. I will have to be extra careful.''

    Great gods had no interest in low-grade world core, so if any one of them were interested in the things Zick possessed �� they just had to give some low-grade core to a new god. Then he would kill Zick and take over what was his.

    ''That is a good method, it did not go past the agreement, and neither would it damage their name.''

    In the dark organization, nothing was stopping a great god to attack a god. Just that, they would have topensate for their action. Their reputation would be damaged in the process too.

    ''Well, I am sure some gods woulde to attack sooner orter. There are many gods and great gods who wouldn''t care about reputation in the least.''

    Taweir could only keep Zick safe for a few decades, after that, it would be all on himself.

    ''Can I reach the great god rank within this time? Seems impossible, I will at least need another two mid-grade world cores to achieve it.'' Zick''s eyes shed with determination.

    It was not possible to put his hand on the world below the dark faction.

    But it would be a different matter if it was the light faction. No matter how Zick had to usurp two mid-grade worlds.

    Only then would he have a chance to stand up on his two feet.

    Other gods would think this to be something impossible and ridiculous with no hesitation. However, Zick had set his mind to do this impossible feat.

    Zick yed around with both of them for a while, then moved on to the orc nation.

 Chapter 231 Earth Leach

    "Don''t you have pride as a god! You damned bastard!" The orc king screamed with a hateful face.

    Orcs were not species that could adapt to religious stuff at all. They were warriors who were good at fighting and cared to fight strong opponents only.

    Zick''s shoulder slumped with exaggeration. He could see no reason to leave such a useless species to exist one bit. Thus he offered a proposal to the orc king.

    All the orc race had to do was offer warriors for experiments, at a set amount of time that didn''t go overboard.

    But even after giving them a chance, the orc king did not seem to be the type to make rational decisions. This disappointed Zick immensely.

    "A garbage like your race does not have any worth left, I suppose. You can all just die, your worth as an experiment subject is even below trash." Zick made hisst decision, may this race be set as an example for others.

    Zick could just buy any species he wanted from the dark faction trade service. It was not that hard to procure beings of such standards.

    ''I had been lenient with these orcs as they were not important, but for them to be not able to even realize their positions. Why did the life god even let such useless things live?''

    Zick did not care, he could not think of any other use for this race either.

    Zick snapped his finger with no hesitation. Instantly a ck wave was released from his finger, covering the whole orc nation.

    "What are you doing?! Fight me...." Before the orc king could finish speaking, the whole surrounding turned ck.

    That day, the orc kingdom, a nation with immense military might, was wiped out from the face of the world.

    This news shook the minds of other nations heads, it was their turn next, if they couldn''t satisfy Zick, their fate would be the same!

    Zick didn''t particrly hide his deed, instead he spread it himself through the human nation. It was apparent what he was aiming for, still, other rulers could do nothing but despair.

    The next target was �� the mermaid nation!

    ''Ah, In the end, I abandoned the whale tribe in the prior world, huh? Well, I would rather have loyal subordinates than them.''

    Zick had lost the connection he had with others, through the contract. It had vanished from the moment he ascended to the god rank. He wasn''t sure what the giant race was even nning on using these people for.

    ''Right, the cat too, must have been quite shocked by the turn of events I guess.'' Zick felt nostalgic remembering the past for a few seconds.

    In the end, the fate of the Igmorous world was set in stone. After the world''s core is destroyed, that would slowly convert to a dead as time went by. There was no saving them, only the grandmaster and higher rank being could survive.

    ''ording to my hypothesis, the grandmaster rank is the minimum requirement to even start exploring the universe. And god ranks to even have hope of surviving.''

    ''The gxy I am in is called the sters rift. It''s one of the main gxies under the dark faction.''

    From the information Zick gathered, it seems like monsters attacking a isn''t a rare thing at all. Instead, it happened a lot more than he had initially thought.

    Manys were even destroyed because of these monsters.

    And as it seems, there is a realm that this monster sprawls out of. It was called the Apex realm, no god there entered it through the only gateway it has.

    Just how many monsters were on the other side? This question made them all feel their blood run cold.

    Not so back in the past, a monster with a supreme being level came out of it too. It was a disaster through and through, a few supreme beings, the next rank of the great god, died in the battle.

    Zick put aside this train of thought as he arrived at his next target.

    Many merfolk arrived at the water''s surface, to wee Zick. They had already received a notice of his arrival a while ago. They all weed him into the beutiful hall.

    This time around, the negotiation went much better than the orc nation.

    The merfolk''s queen was a very tactful person, agreeing to almost all of Zick''s demands. She knew her and the nation''s position better than anyone.

    The adjacent beside the Merfolk''s queen was shocked, the way their queen talked was just too submissive. This was the first time she had seen anything like this.

    Zick internally felt satisfied with her behavior. There was no needless race annihtion this time around.

    There was a reason Zick was attracted to the merfolks, from his new knowledge, it is said that they can be used to purify many kinds of impure substances, once they are grandmaster rank that is.

    ''....I will relocate their kingdom once I have a mid-grade world in the future.'' Zick decided quietly within his mind.

    Zick returned to the core of the world for now<novelnext></novelnext>

    To Zick''s dismay, there was no elf race in this world. They could be used to nurture world trees, which would give an immense boost to the world core''s progress.

    The other race left was �� The sand wolfmen nation, ruling over the only desert of this world.

    There were many other races, but there was no nation formed by them.

    ''Alright, I will create a nation of my own for now. I will subjugate all the other races and put them there. The golems that I have will take care of it.''

    After finishing with the sand wolf nation, all Zick did was train day and night, while taking some breaks to y with Arianell and Aurel.

    Zick''s mage professional had hit a wall too, he could use the low-grade world core, but he was afraid of the bacsh. And more than anything, he wanted to concentrate on one main power source for now.

    ....

    Not even a year had passed and a problem presented itself before Zick.

    A monster had unknowingly encroached on the world, and more than 30�G of the world was already affected. Zick had not even sensed its presence until he saw the deterioration, with his own eyes.

    This monster''s name was the earth element leach. Absorbing the whole earth''s elements, leaving behind a deste world.

    The fact that he could not sense the monster''s presence, bothered Zick. His luck was just too bad toe across such a thing so soon.

    Moreover, earth leach was dwelling in this world for a long time, many years before Zick took over.

    Worst of all, it was not possible to kill this monster, it could regrow repeatedly even after being destroyed. It was all thanks to its mysterious phantom body.

    Earth leach was a monster that destroyed many worlds and put the gods through despair.

    The way to deal with such a being?

    ''Simple, let''s just throw this worm-like monster to a faraway ce, someone else can take care of it.''

    Normally, it would be impossible, but Zick had Arianell. Breaking a piece of a world core, he handed it to Arianell.

    "Just throw this thing to a faraway ce," Zick spoke with a deadpan look. He did not feel pressure at all from beginning to end.

    And a disaster was averted just like that, the deterioratednd would take a while to recover though.

    ''I don''t want to waste world cores, they might even be my lifeline in the future. Hmm, but at the same time, it could not be helped, such monsters are quite annoying. Only great gods can destroy them easily.''

    Yurirl''s research was progressing well the whole time. She had already made immense progress, the way for her to evolve would be discovered sooner orter.

    Like this, three years flowed by like a river.

    Finally, the time hade for Zick to absorb some world cores!

    Yuriel had found a way to enhance herself too, the prize was as expected high though. One low-grade world core and many rare materials.

    Still, Zick was willing to pay the prize, he procured the materials through Lifare. The capsule that she would evolve within, was still being constructed. It was arge project, everything had to be delicately made.

    Aurel had already risen to the grandmaster rank and even went deeper into it, reaching mid-stage.

    Arianell on the other hand became a demi-god easily. No outside stimtion was ever used on her, leading her higher form of energy to be pure from the beginning.

    Zick had made progress too, he had been training the whole time. His progress was not to be looked down upon, it was dozens of times faster than any normal god.

    Zick''s talent was very high, not many gods could match him.

    Holding the world core in his palm, Zick concentrated with a serious face. He was in a vi, made for him right at the moment.

    Zick calmly began absorbing the world''s core, he could feel his progress rise again. Not as fast when he was absorbing the mid-grade world core, but it was still very quick progress.

    Before, Zick felt like he was walking a millimeter per second, but now, he felt like he was walking meters per second with ease.

    After finishing the first world core, Zick took out another and began devouring it too. This time, he stopped halfway through, only absorbing half of it.

    ''Well, it''s better to be cautious than regretter. Driving my divinity to the limit always is not a good thing.''

 Chapter 232 Robbing World Core

    A decade passed by after Zick rose to godhood.

    Few problems were faced in this period, Zick could take care of most monsters that attacked his world.

    Surprisingly, Zick had gotten his hand on a unique world, which did not use mana and instead used another power source altogether. This kind of world was very rare, one in millions.

    A rare kind of god can be born from this world.

    Zick took over multiple semi-worlds, where the core was still in the process of being born. No one stopped him, as almost no one was interested in them.

    Like this, Zick got his hand on 12 low-grade worlds, thanks to Aurel''s time flow strengthening.

    No monster above god rank appeared, it was mainly due to the low-grade world core. Such a low-grade core did not interest great god-level monsters at all.

    Zick had looked into the dragon race, and it was a lot moreplicated than he thought.

    A dragon was one of the main pirs of the dark faction. It was known as the dragon court.

    The reason Zick looked into them was very simple, he wanted to eat them. But now, it appeared to be impossible. It was a taboo around here to hunt any dragon, unless provoked.

    And a while back, the dragon court invited Zick to be one of them. This made him feelplex within, and wariness filled him.

    ''If they were to find my dragon yer statues, My death is assured, there is no ce that I can run to....'' Zick opened his eyes, breaking his meditative mood.

    Zick rejected the invitation in the end, showing off an arrogant attitude of being free. This was not weird as most of the dragon race had such a mindset too.

    ''I will keep my interaction with them as low as possible.''

    No one could eat dragons to strengthen themselves anyway too, at least the people who had ascended to god rank.

    It was impossible to add any other characteristic to divinity, once it had fully formed. Hence, Trying to add a draconic element to the divinity was suicide.

    And the dragon race was not stupid either. They had made methods that would destroy their body automatically, the moment they die.

    Zick got up sensing someoneing towards him.

    The door of his room opened, exposing two beutiful girls, who appeared to be 18 years old. They were the twin dragons!

    They had grown up in this past decade, both in appearance and strength. They were both in demi-god rank and Arianell was ticking nearer to god rank!

    ''It is just a matter of time before both of them be a god.'' Zick smiled at both of them.

    Arianell and Aurel smiled too at the response. Unlike in the past, when they would jump into his embrace immediately, they had matured a lot.

    Their beauty had be even more abnormal too, they could win the hearts of many with a single nce.

    "Father, we have moved the other nearer to this one and enhanced the time flow too," Arianell reported with an anticipated expression.

    Zick got up while speaking in a light tone: "Thank you for your hard work. Moving worlds and changing the time flow helps me a lot."

    Both of their expressions beamed at once.

    From Zick''s observation, these two strived to gain his praise. He even felt pride rising within him, these two have learned many things from him.

    Most of the time, Arianell and Aurel maintained cold expressions like Zick. They were even able to carry out the task in another world perfectly, they had a good head, making no mistakes at all.

    "Father, are you going to that meeting? Can wee along?" Aurel asked as her silver eyes met Zick''s.

    "You cane along, it''s not that dangerous." Zick epted with no hesitation.

    They were of course talking about the advertisement party that Lifare was holding in a few months. Only gods wereing, so it did not pose much threat to Zick.

    "Well, leaving them aside, Arianell, are you ready?" Zick turned his gaze to Arianell and Yuriel, who appeared at the door.

    "Yes." She answered with a serious look.

    Zick had only onest low-grade world core left; to refill his stock, he was going to take down some low-grade worlds from the light faction.

    Zick had already entered the mid-stage of the god rank a long time ago. He was nearing the peak of this rank as time went by.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Taking out dozens of space cores, Zick handed them over to Arianell. He had a very serious expression.

    On this trip, Zick only nned on robbing low-grade world cores. It would be too risky to aim for a mid-grade, he was able to seed before only because no great god was present.

    Great gods could easily perceive the fluctuation of space and even stop it. They could influence others'' divinity, easily dismissing the ones who were weaker than them.

    ording to the information Zick gathered, matters connected to their divinity''s elements were easily controble to them. There was no need for any divinity in this process either.

    The thought of fighting any god with fire element near a sun gave rise to goosebumps to Zick. If he had stayed behind while the sun god appeared, he would have been really crushed to death, even if Taweir protected him.

    There are suns in most of the world, and the ones which don''t have them, get an artificial sun that the gods create.

    "Let''s go." Zick did not need to remind them of their roles, they had all matured and be veterans in their paths. If he repeated himself, it would be no different than nagging now.

    Arianell held Zick''s sleeves with her pale hand, and Yuriel moved near them, immediately three of them vanished. Aurel moved to take a rest for today.

    Their first target was �� the merriler world, located in the Gaspelian Gxy.

    Zick was body moving out as a bodyguard, in case some ident urs and Arianell was found out.

    The core of the Merriler world was stolen before the god could even notice. Such an urrence was not shocking anymore, because of the biological golem Zick sold.

    Many countermeasures were made to guard against such a thing. The gods with space elements might not have been willing initially but after such an incident, they had to make countermeasures themselves.

    Like that, the light faction had suffered immense losses. Lifare was the one to get the highest benefits out of anyone.

    The gods from the dark faction were not fools, they bit the light faction like wild dogs, just where it hurt. After all, such a thing would only be possible for a limited amount of time.

    However, such things could not stop Arianell, she bypassed the barrier and arrived before the world core. Touching it, she teleported to the next world.

    Doing such a thing dozens of times, the stock of space cores was emptied. After using her quasi-divinity to the limit, she began to feel burnt out.

    "You did well, take some rest for now." Zick supported Arianell and turned to Yuriel, who nodded her head.

    Yuriel changed ce with Arianell immediately, she had ascended to the god rank. But even for her, teleporting a dozen times was the limit.

    They were teleporting for who knows how many thousand light years away.

    Most of the locations of this low-grade were brought from Lifare and Taweir. They were like Zick''s biggest sponsors.

    Because of past events, the location of the world sold for quite a lot. Still, these two people gave it to Zick at a low price.

    With Yuriel''s effort, Zick easily looted more low-grade world cores. Nevertheless, incidents were assured to happen.

    The world core that Zick was nning on usurping, had a god standing before the World core the moment he appeared. And this was not coincident, news had already spread about their deeds.

    A battle ensued at once.

    ''Hmm, their reaction is fast, I was expecting them to take up their guard a whileter.'' Zick shed with another wave of crimson swords.

    Zick waved his hand as if dusting away some dust. The wave of swords was destroyed just like that, and instead, hundreds of ck swords took their ce.

    The ck sword containing the power of chaos surrounded the god before Zick.

    Zick''s attacks were like a surging tide, attacking from every corner of the world. The des shot at the enemy god, who resisted bitterly. In the end, he died a horrible death submerged in Zick''s attack.

    "Let''s stop for now and go back." Zick wisely decided to retreat.

    If the light faction ambushes him after predicting Zick''s next destination, it would be quite hard to survive unscathed.

    ''Especially the one whom I just robbed, they would attack me holding a deep grudge. They might just put their life on the line to kill me.''

    There was a high chance of such a god existing, not many were like Zick, who was able to gain a supporter and multiple world cores from the beginning.

    These gods had only one or two worlds below them, and now, even that was taken away by some unknown party. Their hatred and fury were understandable.

    Zick returned to his world with Yuriel''s help.

 Chapter 233 Dream World

    The dream world, a low-grade world just a few steps away from reaching mid-grade. It was also Zick''s best world, with a mature economy.

    This was the unique world that Zick got coincidentally. It was named such by him because of the rare power system.

    In this world, anyone who dies near an area with umtive terror, a strange power source of this world, turns into a gray mist. Anyone who touches this fog then enters a dream created by the host''s memory.

    Completing the dreams bestows a portion of the host''s power and knowledge, but failure leads to terrifying penalties.

    People whoplete these dreams were known as a yer, manipted by Zick. They even had a status window so that Zick could watch all their progress.

    No normal person liked these yers.

    It was because clearing dreams lead yers to umte terror in their bodies. Therefore, when they die, they convert to a dream realm too.

    Some yers used the power they gained the way they seemed fit too. However, in the end, it was just an experiment ground for Zick.

    Truthfully, Zick was dying this world to evolve into mid-grade. He did not have the capability of keeping such a treasure to himself. He might just have to extract the world''s core in the worst case.

    Increasing the flow of time was not a good thing all the time.

    Zick along with Arianell and Yuriel appeared in a pce. Aurel greeted them almost immediately.

    In this expedition, Zick gained 12 low-grade world cores, making it the highest number he had ever umted.

    "Rest up for today, we can talk at night." Zick patted Arianell''s head and sent everyone away.

    Zick could feel it, even if he absorbed only one world core, he would step into the next level. After that, there would be only a little gap left to cover up to reach the peak of god rank.

    Zick prepared to absorb the world core in full swing.

    ....

    Arianell leans her cheek on Aurel''s shoulder.

    There was silence between them as they sat on the bed, side by side. However, it was not awkward. It was always like this whenever they were alone, they talked to each other through the bond.

    "Will father go on a trip with us again? It was fun to see the gxy as a whole with everyone." Aurel transmitted with a light voice.

    Arianell began thinking over what Aurel said and replied: "We went to that multiple world contion, just a few months ago, so I don''t know...father might take us if we ask him."

    Arianrll winked at Aurel, trying to imply something.

    "Yes, father will take us on a trip if we asked, but that would disturb him right?"

    Certain memory surfaced within their head

    As the twin dragons matured, they got more and more curious about the things around them. The question that bothered them the most was �� just what exactly did Zick want to achieve?

    Zick worked like a madman with no rest, if just looked on externally. He kept doing one thing or the other, trying to improve himself in any way possible.

    Normally, gods try to enjoy themselves by doing things they find interesting, however, that was not the case with Zick. There was never such a moment for him.

    The term ''rest'' did not exist for him.

    This caused Arianell to question Zick involuntarily.

    "Father, what exactly do you want to attain?"

    The answer to that question was quite dyed, unlike Zick. Who spoke after a few seconds.

    "What do I want to attain?" A smile appeared on Zick''s face, the answer to this question had been with him for a long time.

    "I want to rise to the top, making everyst being bow before me, as I look from the top. It''s a selfish wish that I want to pursue no matter what."

    Getting such a serious answer, both of them felt their mind getting heavier.

    A question arose within them.

    What did they want to do?

    Zick''s determination shook them a little.

    They both were obsessed with Zick, which was not normal at all. The main reason was �� that they were influenced by the first timeline.

    Though not everything, a portion of memory was slowly recovered by them. It was probably the only thing that could reach them from the first timeline.

    It was the memory of them living with Zick, it was a very small memory, but all it showed was their happy moments with him.

    This memory helped them understand the reason for their obsession. They just loved Zick so much, that it affected their mind even a small fragment of memory was received.

    Even in this life, they had received many things from Zick.

    They wanted this life to go on forever, That was their wish.

    Meeting Zick every day, feeling the warmness of his palm every morning, every night. Get his praise and stay near him.

    Hence, they asked another question to Zick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Then, what will you do after attaining your wish, father?"

    And the answer to that was immediate: "I wonder, we can live more like a normal family then if you want to."

    Family, this word resonated deeply with both of them.

    Both Arianell and Aurel smiled.

    "Let''s do our best, sister," Aurel said.

    "Amh." nod

    .....

    Every being needs a reason to live, and Zick was no exception to this.

    ''I can leave all this aside and live an easy life, but that is not how I want my life to be.'' Zick looked at the prism-shaped world core in his hand.

    Zick wanted to enjoy his life to the fullest. Everyone has a different way of living, they would all make varying decisions.

    And the way Zick wanted to live was....Very straightforward. It was to step above others'' dead bodies to rise above the others.

    He was enjoying the difficulty of life like never before. The pressure that was on him was nothing but a variable that colored his life. Whether he was going to ovee the obstacles or sumb to them was always mysterious.

    ''But, isn''t it more fun this way?'' Zickughed lightly to himself.

    So what if he died the very next moment?

    That could not shake Zick.

    Many gods already showed their apprehension toward Zick. It was due to the amount of potential he showed.

    It took around 1,000 years for a god to reach the great god''s rank. But here he was, already reaching the nearer to that stage within a decade or so.

    Zick''s potential was very high, he had draconic power, regenerative power, and a chaotic divinity that had evolved dozens of times. All this made him stand out more than anyone.

    Gods were already joining hands to take care of him, especially the light faction, who were able to gather information on him. It was clear that Zick would be a formidable foe if left alone.

    But, Zick was not at all moved by all these external threats.

    ''Fight, I will keep fighting until I reach my goal or...embrace my death!''

    In the end, it did not matter, this was what he chose to do.

    ''Someone can make a move against me soon, I only have a while left.''

    Zick began absorbing the world core in his hand. His divinity surged, breaking through its current limit after a while.

    .....

    As Zick had deduced, a storm was brewing in the dark.

    The ck serpent, a sub-faction in the dark faction. There were many sub-factions like this, having the same species gathered in them. Calling them a n was more appropriate.

    At this moment, the head of this n was discussing with other n lords. All of them were passionately debating with each other.

    This discussion circled around a new god, namely Zick. A new dragon god, with shocking capability and potential.

    He proimed himself to be the god of chaos.

    "Is there no other way to deal with this matter?" The Serpent n lord spoke in a troubled voice.

    "There is, but this one is still the best. The fact that you''re worried is the weird thing here. Do you think he has a chance to defeat us?" The Falcon n lord mocked.

    "No, but Taweir might interfere in this."

    "Nothing to worry about! He is just one god, what can he do against the four of us? We aren''t moving because of our pride, but we can join if taweir decides to interfere."

    All four of the n lords sitting at the round table had greed hidden deep within their eyes.

    Zick''s wealth made them all more inclined to an assault.

    "As long as I get the dragon child with the time attribute, I don''t care." The lord of the alligator n spoke with a dismissive tone.

    Arianell and Aurel were both the main reasons why many were interested in Zick.

    Thankfully, no supreme being was interested. They did not care as long as both of them were on the dark faction side.

    It was thanks to the dragon n mainly, making a dragon ve would only cause a river of blood to form �� the saying went here.

    As for these four fools? They were just being controlled by their greed. Just because Zick did not join the dragon n, they were moving around fervently.

    Nothing but doom awaited them in the future either way.

 Chapter 234 Dragon Clan

    The dark faction was very huge, multiple gxies with different supreme beings were all over its territory. The number of factions in it was uncountable.

    The secrets of the universe are yet to be fully discovered.

    Among the sub-faction, there was a particr group, who chased after the secrets of this universe.

    Known as the shepherd of the space, this group was not to be looked down upon, many schrs and formidable gods infested this band.

    Many were interested as to how world core came to be, whether it was naturally born or was created artificially. And if it was naturally born, just how exactly was it possible? It was not needless interest, finding the answer to this question could open up many ways to grow stronger.

    Hence many supported this faction, but unknowingly, a rat had made its way into this group. it was also the one responsible for the information leak, regarding Zick. Mostly, all the information was sold off to the light faction.

    Nullifying the bind temporarily was not out of the question at all, with the light faction''s support, such a thing was easily achievable.

    The gods who were interested in Zick were predictable, it was the gods who were in the igmorous world. They were all ridden with multiple punishments once the world core was taken away by Zick.

    These gods searched for Zick with vengeful minds, their only lead to the culprit.

    But in the end, they were not even able to track down Zick''s shadow. Until the great gods decided to give up a little of their fortune and use the information leaker nted by the light faction. Wasting multiple years doing such a thing made them all decide to do so.

    It was simple to deduce what Zick would do once he runs away from that world, it was to turn to the dark faction. There were not many options to choose from to begin with.

    And as expected, Zick was in the dark faction and living quite a sessful life too. This made gods looking for him feel like their stomach was filled with fire, his progress made them all horrified.

    Zick''s track record was truly ridiculous. He was already on his way to breaking the record of the fastest progress in history.

    They didn''t even need to discuss who was the culprit behind their misfortune. ording to the information, Zick was already a god by the time he joined the dark faction.

    These gods joined hands with other dark races, ruled by the great gods. The bind never stopped them from cooperating with the light faction. As long as their interests were not harmed, nothing mattered.

    Like this, the enemies were gathering around Zick, like bees attracted to the flowers.

    It was inevitable that a fight would ur around Zick sooner orter. Most people revolved around benefits no matter where, causing them to be attracted to it.

    While many hoped for Zick''s demise fuelled by their grudge.

    ...

    Back in the dream world, Zick looked at the blue sky above him. His senses spread to the whole world, covering every corner of the world.

    The sun slowly vanished into the horizon, as time passed by.

    Zick knew the reason for his abnormal growth speed. As it turns out, Lifare skipped a piece of information with menace, she clearly did not think anything good while doing this.

    Absorbing too many world cores leads the divinity to deviate, entering a chaotic state. That''s right, chaotic, this was the main reason for Zick''s sudden rise.

    Zick''s divinity contained the power of chaos, so what would happen if it turns even more chaotic?

    It gets strengthened again!

    ''That''s strange, was I aware of this in the first timeline? I don''t think I would skip such important information unless it''s an ident. I only received a fragment of my soul, so that is a possibility.'' Zick did not linger long in this matter.

    Zick was aware of this w from a long time ago, he did not believe in everything Lifare said from the very beginning. He had extracted information from Taweir too.

    But after understanding the bacsh, Zick was immensely delighted. He absorbed the world''s core even enthusiastically after that.

    The only reason he did not absorb world core continuously was that �� It might hurt his potential and cause him to be overloaded.

    ''Well, I am already overloaded right now, if I absorb even one world core now, My divinity would go out of my control. If that were to happen, for it to adjust a lot of time would be needed.'' Zick did not bother training either for now, there was little to gain by doing that.

    It was better to look for other ways to strengthen himself. Reaching his current level was the limit of the god profession.

    The other route to growing stronger was to create a strong technique or origin spell. Leaving these two, creating a trump card was immensely useful too.

    ''I have not fought many intense fights in this decade, so most of my trump cards are hidden. I am confident of taking care of any god with them.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''But the problem is the great gods, there is a high chance of them outright trying to kill me. Taweir doesn''t seem to have any interest in helping either.''

    ''My secret to growing stronger is probably already spected by gods or great gods with immense knowledge.''

    It was not easy to fool others, especially when he was gathering so much attention.

    No hope was lost yet though, just like how many are trying to usurp all of Zick''s belongings. Some wanted to make connections with him, he had received few messages providing help.

    Why would Zick reject something free?

    As for those who demanded something in return, they were rejected without any hesitation.

    These haughty gods thought that Zick would give up and ept their demands. But they were gravely wrong regarding it.

    Still, no great god has extended a helping hand. It was either because they had a tacit understanding with each other, or they decided to take a wait-and-see stance.

    ''There is nowhere I can run either, really what an annoying ce to be in. That is why, living in a hierarchy is so disadvantageous, especially when I am on lower levels, with multiple enemies.''

    Zickined internally but smiled outwards.

    Even if Zick ever redo the past, he would take the same action. Living with Demi-god level strength in space was no different than a gamble.

    ''Hmm?'' Wariness passed by Zick''s eyes.

    The time seems to have frozen as a figure descended through the sky. The man who descended wore a ck robe with long sleeves and had two horns on his head, clearly showing his dragon status.

    The man''s cold vertical eyes met Zick''s gaze. There was no animosity between them, they both continued staring at each other expressionlessly. It was like two statues were looking at each other.

    ''Arrogant, but not a fool I see.'' Seeing Zick, not at all pressured by his presence, the man spoke out.

    "Zick, I know the way you feel about working below a n. But, I advise you to judge things calmly. If youe under the dragon n, you will never have to worry about those weak ns." The man, who was a great god, persuaded Zick with a calm face.

    Zick''s frantic mind attained serenity hearing the man speak.

    ''He doesn''t seem to have noticed my dragon yer status. Most likely because of my dragon heart, I guess.''

    Sending a great god to Recruit Zick, showed just how much worth he held.

    It was probably the best environment for growing stronger with little risk, at least for normal dragons.

    There was no telling what would happen if Zick was found out. It would be certain death with no exception.

    However, Zick felt joyful internally, he was waiting for this moment for a very long time. He was nning on joining the dragon n from the very beginning.

    Zick had firstly rejected, as he would be treated the same as the other dragons. Giving him a not-so-huge edge above others.

    And, Zick wanted to see if he could manage to fend off the attackers by himself, not taking a gamble. In conclusion, it was impossible.

    He had long deduced that the sun god and death god would participate in it. There is no way these two would hold back at all.

    ''I thought for a second that they would not move, and I would have to go there instead, but it ended up alright in the end.''

    If either way was a gamble, why not choose the one which can at least let me survive for now?

    ''Still, I will have to fight off the gods though, the great god would be handled by them....'' Zick revealed an expression of deep thought.

    The robed man waited for Zick to speak with patience.

    In the end, the struggling expression on Zick vanished, and he showed a grim face.

    ".... Let''s talk." Zick invited the man into the mansion.

 Chapter 235 Shocking The Gods

    Five monthster.

    Hidden undercurrents that were brewing around the Sters rift, atst, turned into a horrifying whirlpool, visible to everyone.

    The gods hostile toward Zick moved openly, making dibs on the worlds ruled by him. Their movement was swift and precise, they had nned extensively for this moment.

    However, what they found reaching the world were dragonmans. It had already been sold by Zick, he would rather do this, than let other gods benefit.

    In reality, Zick had benefited a lot by selling off all this world, they did not hold much importance to him anyway.

    Not only one world, but every other world was also in the same condition. Making these gods, with high expectations, angry to no end.

    Nearly a hundred gods were participating in this raid.

    Fights like this were mostly ignored by the higher-ups of the dark faction. Because, in the end, many of these benefits would be delivered to them.

    Usurping other gods'' worlds, came with a prize to be paid �� that was the rule of the dark faction. There was no need to send help when the person in question did not even ask any.

    On the other hand, the gods from the light faction are not allowed to take even a piece of benefit back. This rule was the main reason both faction members did not work together often.

    All of the gods attacking Zick''s subsidiary worlds, moved to the ce he was in. It was towards the dream world.

    Forces gathered around this world, making out an imposing sight.

    There was a certain man who had a zing appearance, looking forward with killing intent.

    ''Hmph, this time you won''t be able to escape, Zick.'' The sun god looked at the world before him.

    Two other great gods stood side by side beside the sun god. One was the death god, while another robed person was a god with a space element in his divinity. Known as the god of wormholes, Uerek.

    The sun god was set on killing Zick here, he would not fall for the same trick twice.

    The sun god''s eyes looked around the world briefly, before smiling.

    There was no sun around this world. Clearly showing that Zick had predicted his arrival here.

    Slowly, Zick could be seen flying out of the world and stopping at a safe distance from them. He had his usual indifferent expression, not at all nervous in this situation.

    Zick turned to Velveric with a calm face.

    ''Sun god...He is the biggest hurdle right now.''

    The sun god, Velveric, was aware of Zick''s status as a dragon yer. The only reason it was still a secret was for their safety. He and the others had hidden the dragon''s existence.

    The dragon n would not leave them alone once this fact was found out.

    ''So, all of you must die for me to live a peaceful life.'' Killing intent filled Zick''s eyes.

    Leaving aside the great gods, Zick''s eyes scanned the other gods who were present in the Igmorous world in the past. These gods must die no matter the cost.

    As Zick locked on to the enemy he needed to kill, Three figures moved toward the army of the gods, they were unafraid and even gave off an arrogant atmosphere.

    These three figures were dragonman, having great god-level strength, and they all gave out terrifying presence, making the gods shudder with cold sweat.

    Dragons were feared both in the light and dark factions.

    Any new Dragon god was always levels above new gods, they could even be said to be invincible from the beginning of their races'' history.

    And now, such formidable beings were standing before them.

    Total silence.

    A voice flowed into the dark space.

    "You vermins who have entered the territory of our brethren, don''t expect to leave this ce with your lives."

    The cold was like a frozen river, directly hitting the back of the gods who came here to kill Zick.

    They were all not idiots, they understood what was going on almost immediately.

    Zick''s menacing eyes reached them.

    He had personally requested the dragon n to keep his recruitment a secret, until this fight at least. The Dragon n was understanding, they agreed without further questioning.

    Though not all of the dragons in this n were friendly to each other, at least they treated each other with respect. Zick''s status was upgraded to a main apprentice. And he would be an elder in the great god rank.

    ''Those dragonmans will take care of the three great gods. I only need to concentrate on the gods before me.'' Zick briefly nced at the sun god, who was creating distance from the gods to fight without holding back.

    ''I have not gone out for a very long time, Let''s see my progress.'' Zick looked at the gods before him with killing intent, many were already showing signs of wanting to retreat, but he had no intention to let that happen.

    ck scales began appearing all around Zick''s body at once. His body inclined forward slightly, as his clothes tore apart in an instant.

    A sh of light directly collided with Zick''s chest, creating a small explosion.

    A god who was able to regain his bearing resolutely attacked Zick.

    "Hmm?" The expression of the god who attacked Zick became pale as he looked at the result of his attack just now.

    Zick stood there still transforming into a dragon, there was not even a scratch at the ce where the sh hit just now.

    As his body began growing in size, a thin line of ck me flowed out of his mouth.

    "E-Everyone retreat at once!!" The gods all took the brunt of the dragon fear, Zick''s intimidating figure made them choose to run right away.

    Many lost confidence seeing the three great gods, who they put their hope on, struggling to fight the dragonman.

    "Fools! What are you afraid of?! He is just one, we can defeat him easily if we attack at once!" The god of fairness said.

    "Are you stupid?! It doesn''t have anything to do with defeating him anymore! If we harm a member of the dragon n, only destruction awaits us!!"

    At that instant, suddenly the dragon breath enveloped them, killing many instantly. The breath attack moved, hitting almost all the gods who had gathered in this ce.

    Only a few survived, who had activated their innate soul ability, which was known as core attack, in the god rank.

    The soul abilities are trump card-like skills to begin with, once the soul fuses with quasi-divinity, it enters a different league altogether.

    The gods who had defensive core skills were the main survivors.

    Zick''s fully transformed into a dragon, and his form was a little different than before. His dragon body grew a little in size and had sharper horns. A menacing presence was being released by him too.

    ''Quite a lot of them survived surprisingly.'' Zick could see around 30 gods before.

    The result of the prior breath attack was easy to deduce. Zick was already near the peak of the god rank, while many of these gods were not even at mid-stage. Not to remind you about the boost he receives from his dragon status.

    Finding a familiar god, Zick''s eyes shed with bright light.

    Devastation took over the gods, who were looking at the result of Zick''s single attack.

    "Attack, we must attack, there is no way out of here. I would rather die while fighting than die like a coward."

    The gods talked between each other and readied to attack.

    "Hmph, dream on." Zick moved at that instant, he directly headed to the god who knew his dragon yer status, the wealth god.

    Zick''s huge wing turned into a ck me, elerating his speed dozens of times.

    Before the wealth god knew it, a wide-open maw appeared in his sight, the maw closed, tearing him into two pieces.

    This action jolted the other gods, causing them all to attack with their trump cards at once.

    Core skill �� Star falling like rain!

    Blood gauge!

    Wailing horse!

    Different kinds of core skills moved toward Zick, wanting to destroy him to pieces. The gods all imagined the oue of their attacks with expectations.

    However, the image they envision never came to reality. ck miasma appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Zick.

    The moment their attack touched this miasma, it vanished, turning into the miasma.

    A particr attack, in the form of a shockwave, was able to shake it a little, but that''s all.

    ''A god with the power of sound?'' Zick looked at the one who caused it.

    The god with the power of sound was in an immensely disadvantageous position in space. Their attack gets very weakened while using it here, where it was not possible to create noise.

    But it clearly did not seem to apply to this god. He was able to get past this disadvantage through extensive research and experimentation.

    Using a method, scientifically known as �� fluctuating electromaic waves.

    The gods could not control their expressions anymore, exposing a horrified look.

    ''Let''s return their attack back to them.'' Zick willed the ck miasma, and at once multiplences formed around him.

 Chapter 236 Death Of Great Gods

    Velveric felt ridiculous as he fought the dragonman before him. He was pushed back no matter what kind of attack he performs.

    All of his attacks would be swept away with a single punch or kick, performed by the dragonman.

    And the dragonman wasn''t even using his full power!

    He was still in the humanoid form, so it showed the amount of leeway he held.

    Velveric clenched his hand, and his body began transforming into the sun itself. He couldn''t afford to hold back. Death was all that awaited him if not.

    ''What''s most surprising is that �� Zick actually joined the dragon n! Taking such a risk...I see, he must want every one of us dead then.'' Velveric''s eyes shed with a gleaming dim glow.

    Zick targeted all the gods from the Igmorous world, that was more than enough to tell his intentions.

    Zick was currently still attacking the gods with no rest, this showed his firm will to not let anyone live. Only a single god had been able to escape thus far, it was a god with light attributes.

    This light god raced off to somewhere the moment Zick began transforming into a dragon. It was the best choice at that moment, allowing him to live.

    Zick did not bother with this light god, he was not the main objective.

    The sight where gods were turning into the miasma,ing in contact with Zick, passed by Velveric''s eyes.

    ''Does he think his dragon yer status can be hidden so easily? A supreme being would easily be able to tell his secrets!''

    Core skill �� Sun form!

    As me converged around Velveric, his new form became visible to the world. He had me armor and his hair turned into a mane zing like a sun. His handsome face was covered in red armor. And in his hand, there was a broadsword, shining dazzlingly.

    "Don''t look down on me!" Velveric swung the broad sword with all his might.

    The broad sword made a perfect arc, creating a me wheel. However, the dragonman who was hit with this attack did not panic.

    CRACK~

    "Not bad." The dragonmanmented looking at the scales that appeared cracked all over his palm. Red scales had appeared around his arm out of nowhere.

    Velveric clenched his hands and continued attacking ferociously.

    ''What is Uerek doing?'' Velveric slightly split his attention, looking at hispanion''s condition.

    Uerek was his and the death gods''st hope, they were aware that they can''t defeat the three monsters before them.

    "Huh?" Velveric''s mouthy agape, his sword came to a stop mid-way too.

    What entered his sight was �� Uerek who had his head missing. The being before his corpse was a beutiful Dragonoid woman, with golden hair. Her presence was not at all hidden this instant.

    A peak great god!

    It turned out the woman who fought with Uerek was the strongest.

    "What did you think? We wouldn''t be aware of your pitiful tricks? Struggling is pointless, ept your fate." Seeing that Zick had almost killed every god in the distance, the dragonman decided to get serious too.

    The dragonman''s body started getting covered in red scales. In a few seconds, he transformed into a half Dragon.

    Both of them were great gods with the same elements. A kind ofpetitive feeling rose within Velveric, but he buried it instantly.

    What''s the point of fighting if there is no hope for surviving?!

    ''I have to get out of here somehow...The death god cannot help me either. I can only rely on myself right at this instant.''

    Fire zed within him, as he plunged his sword forward with all his might.

    "Stupid pest." All Velveric got in return was a cold voice, filled with disdain.

    Velveric''s attack, which was fueled by all his power, was stopped dead in its tracks, with a single hand covered in red scale.

    This caused his mind to go nk for a second. By the time he recovered, his vision was covered by a red fist. The moment this punch hit him, his body shot off soundlessly.

    The armor on his face broke apart revealing his face. Golden blood flew out of his broken mouth.

    The dragonman had not stopped, and breathed mes, which shot toward Velveric like a red streak.

    Velveric was not able to dodge such an abrupt attack, getting swallowed immediately.

    An explosion urred, in a red-goldish color.

    As the explosions'' aftereffects vanished, Velveri''s feature was revealed, he was barely clinging to his life.

    The sun god, Velveric opened his eyes with deep indignation in them. There was no way he could escape!

    ''But...If I am going to die anyway, I would rather ruin that bastard''s life along the way.'' Velveric could feel that his life was slowly leaving his body.

    Gathering the remaining of his power, He prepared to transmit Zick''s secret to all the dragonman.

    But before Velveric could send it, his body suddenly vanished with a purple glow. The next time he opened his eyes, what greeted him was Zick, in his human form, who had ck miasma covering him.

    A hand pierced through Velveric''s chest,ing out from the back. The palm of this hand held a golden heart, from which pure gold blood leaked out.

    "Rest in peace." Zick coldly said as the ck miasma fully covered Velveric, destroying him with ease. He was already near death, so a simple push ended him.

    ''Collecting all this miasma with hard work went to waste, but I guess, it doesn''t matter.'' Zick looked at the three dragonman who flew to him.

    The death god on the other hand was finished off swiftly too. He was given no chance to transmit at all, thanks to the dragonman''s fast attack. Even if he was able to transmit, Zick was ready to interfere at any moment.

    Zick thought calmly while looking at these dragonmans: ''Well If I could instruct them, I would have ordered them to kill all those three great gods instantly. Hmm, or no, I would have set them for an ambush instead.''

    Zick showed a content expression to the dragonman who looked at them. The act of him killing Velveric was understandable by them, it was contributed to Zick''s ''hatred'' and ''anger''.

    "Zick, there will be no enemy that will ever try to attack you again. That is the benefit of joining the dragon n, we will always support you." The dragonwomen with golden hair said with an understanding tone.

    The other two dragonman nodded their heads too, showing a reliable appearance.

    Seeing Zick nod slowly, the dragonwomen continued.

    "You should go to the gxy under the dragon n, and look up the exchange board, I am sure many things will interest you."

    Zick bowed his head slightly: "Yes, madam Keirin."

    The dragonman left after giving him advice.

    Zick moved toward the dream world.

    ''Now, only Taweir is aware of my dragon yer status. I don''t think I will be able to take care of him, he will for sure have many ways to spread the news, as ast resort.''

    Fortunately, the dream world was not affected by the fight just now. It was mostly due to all gods running away at the start. They had created a long distance between them, causing none of their attacks to affect this world in the slightest.

    As Zick arrived at the base, Arianell, Aurel, and Yuriel greeted them.

    "Are you ready?" Zick asked with a smile.

    Nod-nod.

    Seeing them all agreeing with serious faces, Zick''s smile deepened.

    There were tons of gods from the light faction, and they were all killed in the end too. In other words, all of their worlds were ownerless right at the moment!

    Zick felt happy like never before.

    ''With the dragon n backing, I can grow stably with not many obstacles. And after I finish looting this world, I will not be low on resources either!''

    ''I have tons of contribution points from the dragon n too. I am sure I can exchange many things with this.''

    Zick had sold off around 11 worlds after taking any rare thing from it.

    It was, by all means, not a small contribution.

    ''Aren''t things going too smoothly? I feel like most things are working out quite fine, unlike back in the past. Was I cursed or something in that world?'' Zick felt doubt seeing everything going so smoothly. But he could not find anything out of ce anywhere.

    ''Everyone moved for their benefits or were drawn by greed. No one is suspicious as far as I could see. However, this weird feeling isn''t going away.''

    This feeling came from his instinct, which he trusted a lot. So he kept it in his heart even if it made no sense.

    Zick patted Arianell on her head and praised her for the assistance she provided him in the prior battle.

    "Let''s go to the god of fairness, Fiona''s world first."

    Though Zick was not aware of all the gods'' world coordinates, he was able to find some through others'' help. Dragon n had provided some too.

    In this battle, the dragon n benefited a lot. The mid-grade worlds, ruled by the sun, death, and wormhole god, were all going to be taken over by them.

    Zick kept his course clear from mid-grade worlds for multiple reasons too.

    ''I will still try to get my hands on at least a single mid-grade world core.''

 Chapter 237 11 World Core

    Ireque, A world that was surrounded by air that was different from others. Other gods leave aside the world below them alone, as long as they were able to achieve their goals, making believers.

    However in this world, ruled by the god of fairness, the environment here had taken a form very close to fairness, in other words, equality.

    Gods leave their world to go as it is, and this causes it to either develop into a monarchy or a republicanism society. This was the truth of any sentient being, they would always look for a better way of exploitation.

    But in this world, such an incident did not ur, due to Fiona''s interference. All had to live respecting each other, if not divine punishment was delivered, no crime was allowed either.

    At this moment, every being present looked at the night sky. Their eyes shone in a bright lustre.

    Dazzling meteors descended on the world, shining like an aurora. It was a sight that was the utmost beutiful scene many people had seen.

    However, at the same time, for those races who could notice the projectile of the meteor heading toward them, it was not a fascinating sight in the least.

    Nevertheless, these weak species could not do anything before the strength contained within the meteor. They were all directly enveloped by a bright aurora glow. What was left behind was barrennds, with not even a soul left behind.

    Surprisingly, no property was damaged, and thend remained the same as before.

    Zick looked at the sight that urred almost everywhere and yed around with the world core in his hand.

    To normal gods, they have to get to a specific location to reach the world core, That was not the case with Zick. He could easily get in and out of the world core''s natural territory.

    Arianell was capable of such a feat unless a higher-ranked space god made a barrier or prevention method.

    "Have all the rare livestock been transported properly?" A calm voice reached Arianell.

    "Yes, father. All the beings that you marked as rare specimens have been sent to the refugee world." Arianell responded to Zick.

    "Alright let''s move to the next world," Zick instructed to teleport to the next destination.

    He had predicted that he would find interesting species in this expedition a long time ago. Hence, he prepared a ce to put them all temporarily, in an unconscious state.

    The first thing Zick did after the battle with the sun god ended, was to head toward one of the mid-grade worlds. But, it was already toote, some other god had already taken over it.

    Most probably by the dragon n.

    This indicated that the other worlds would be in no better state.

    ''The gxy ruled by the dragon n is quite far, if they reach here so soon, it means that they have an excellent method of transportation too.'' Zick narrowed his eyes as everyone gathered around Arianell.

    Zick''s transportation speed was by no means anything below extraordinary. However, it seems like the dragon n had something up its sleeve too.

    ''Or wait, I see, I understand their actions now.'' Enlightenment dawned on Zick.

    It felt out of ce for the dragonman, who fought against the sun god and death, taking such a long time to defeat their opponents. They were most likely buying time, after finding out the identity of the great gods that appeared.

    It was so that their otherpanion could move behind the scene, taking over the worlds belonging to their enemy.

    Zick had not noticed this before, because of being focused on hiding his dragon yer status.

    ''....Well, I would not have been able to do anything even if I had noticed their objective before. I can''t order them in any way at all.'' Zick threw away this subject from his head.

    There were around eight worlds below Fiona''s rule.

    Zick arrived before another world core again, collecting it carefully, he heard Yuriel''s report on the kind of being in this world.

    "There are unique sand races with very special skills. Water...."

    Zick interrupted: "No need for the report. Give all the coordinates to Arianell."

    "Yes."

    Zick had closely listened to Yuriel''s report at the first world, but now he felt it to be unnecessary. As long as they were seble, he was going to take them with him.

    There was no further conversation with both of them, Zick sometimes conversed with Aurel, and they continued moving forward.

    Zick and the others moved on like that for another four worlds, before stopping, noticing the other two worlds already looted by someone else.

    Just from the world below Fiona''s rule, Zick had gotten six low-grade world cores. And many rare species that could either be sold or used by him.

    Next, they moved to the worlds below the god of Wealth, who had exceptional skills in trading.

    This god held more benefits to be acquired than the others, Making Zick begin looting with more enthusiasm. There were a total of 13 worlds below the wealth god.

    However this time around, after just looting the fifth world, Zick found the others worlds, below the Wealth god, taken over or looted by other gods.

    "Hmm, This is the limit of how much I can benefit from this, huh?" Zick held his chin in wonder.

    "Yes, Sir Zick. However, 11 world cores aren''t a small amount of world cores isn''t it?" Yuriel nced at Zick.

    Zick had still kept a close rtionship with Yuriel, even now. Though the times they slept together were not as high as before, they had an intimate rtionship.

    "I guess for now. Alright, we will move towards our next target, the giant race!" Zick''s eyes zed with a fierce light. Aiming for any other world would be a waste of time.

    Now, Zick was confident in his strength perfectly. Even if dozens of gods banded together to protect, kururu, the giant god, Zick could kill them all.

    After the fight in the Igmorous world, the giant race had taken refuge in another world. They had fled from that world like cockroaches, almost everything was left behind in their hurry.

    The giant race had a strong physique, not even the dragon race could match them if looking only at the physical aspect.

    However they were not perfect, they had a huge w not hidden. Their divinity could only be used within their body, it could not materialize in the external world. It was impossible to affect the world without some connection.

    The dead inhabited by the giant race, at that instant began shaking mysteriously. And it was not to a small degree, it was like the whole world was about to crumble at any instant.

    And that was what happened in reality too, the dead blew up, turning into pieces floating in the nk space.

    Almost all the giants on the were killed before they even noticed. Only a certain giant survived, it was kururu.

    Seeing the brethren that he cherishes dying such an easy death, anger rose within kururu like never before.

    "Bastard show yourself." In space, Kururu''s voice was transmitted like a wave.

    What Kururu got in response was a punch that blew away half of his lower body.

    Seeing the familiar figure of Zick, who was looking at him with contempt, Kururu felt goosebumps rising all over his body. These emotions were all pushed down by his anger.

    "So it''s you! I will kill you no matter what!" Kururu''s eyes turned red and another two pairs of arms appeared behind him.

    "I didn''te to fight though." Zick vanished and reappeared before Kururu''s forehead.

    Tap

    Zick''s hand came in contact with kururu''s forehead. Instantly a wave burst forward from there, nullifying anything that came in contact with it.

    Even Kururu''s extra arms were wiped out easily.

    What Zick did was simply forcefully push his divinity into others'' bodies. But the whole process, he had total control over his divinity.

    Zick''s divinity had nothing but chaos in it, causing it to destroy anything that came in contact, if not controlled otherwise. This property was very good to nullify others'' attacks, especially the attack conjured by weaker divinitypared to Zick.

    ''In other words, if my divinity is strong enough, I just have to cover myself with it and no attack would affect me.''

    Zick looked right at Kururu''s giant eyes. He didn''t just nullify his divinity, he spread his own divinity all over Kururu''s body, restraining him easily.

    "So, my first question is, Where is Philine?" Zick got directly to the point.

    Kururu crazily tried manipting his divinity, but it was useless, it was being suppressed by Zick.

    Zick shook his head, ''He was going to be like this if I appeared anyway, so it doesn''t matter if I kill off his brethren.''

    "No need to be so rash now, if you answer all of my questions, I will let you go. Then you can just build another giant army." Zick negotiated with Kururu.

    After resisting for a while, Kururu uttered in a small voice: "...Bind."

    His huge face was filled with indignant anger. Killing intent in his eyes was not hidden in the slightest.

    "Sure, I swear by the name Zick, the god of chaos, that I will let you go if you answer me truthfully," Zick spoke with no hesitation.

    "By the name of Kururu, the giant god, I swear to answer all your questions truthfully."

    Both of them felt their divinity interconnected.

    Kururu spoke first: "I don''t know, I left all the demon race and others back in the Igmorous world as I escaped."

    A dull light appeared in Zick''s eyes.

    "I see, then tell me all you know about the dragon lord."

    "....what dragon lord?"

    "Huh...."

    Zick was baffled by that answer, kururu was aware of Arianell and Aurel''s existence, but he did not know about the dragon lord. That did not make sense at all, however, such a phenomenon was urring right before him.

 Chapter 238 The Fight Above Igmorous World

    ''...He can''t state a lie, so it''s most probably the truth. But still, things are getting more and moreplicated.''

    There were so many suspicious things around the dragon lord, Zick was feeling ufortable. He did not like things with uncertainty like this.

    Zick took his hand off the giant''s head and turned around, losing interest in Kururu, who was just a puppet in the end, the gods just used him and threw him away the moment their work ended. In many ways, he was just pitiful through and through.

    "Let''s go," Zick ordered Yuriel emotionlessly.

    Without any sound, Kururu''s body split into two and blood floated into space. He did not break the bind as he had ordered Yuriel to kill Kururu before he even came here, and the bind only said that ''Zick'' would let Kururu go.

    Feeling disappointed internally, Zick made his way to the Igmorous world. He wanted to take Philine, who had a very rare talent, and other people like Seveleen and Varine with him, but he was not sure if they were alive.

    ''Collecting them isn''t much help, but I think they would be good assets for the dream world, after all, they were all talented even without blessings. Philine is still the main objective, she is just too immutable.''

    Philine was all that mattered, other things were just secondary. Though the chances of her being left behind were truly low.

    No god would leave Philine if they found her existence.

    Zick felt Arianell grad his sleeves, then his vision turned white for a second.

    With a sh, what appeared before Zick was another world.

    Without hesitating, Zick spread his senses throughout the world, not missing even the smallest object.

    Desteness spread throughout the world, houses had moss all over them, but even that was slowly vanishing in thin air. The ocean level fell more than fifty percent and nothing but drought covered thends. Clearly indicating that no rain urred in years.

    Truly, The Igmorous world was slowly rotting away internally.

    But there were still some left that survived in this harsh environment.

    Like the whale tribe who were still holding on somehow.

    Zick''s brow rose, ''No one took them away? Aren''t the whale tribe very good at arrays and rune magic, particrly in making water runes?''

    If the water dragons are not present, the whale race would undoubtedly be the ruler of the ocean.

    ''Not just that, the sky tree, Mhydrasvil seems unharmed too. Were they not interested in these things? Impossible. They could have just sold them in that case.''

    Zick felt everything moving distant as he kept thinking. Just what was happening?

    Then, Zick found the cat, who seemed to be in a strange state too.

    A ck domain covered arge area, and within it, were people whom Zick found familiar.

    They were �� Philine, Seveleen, Varine, Anastasia, and Leona!

    But noticing their presence, Zick''s expression grew rigid.

    He hurriedly transmitted to the three: "You three! Go to the....!"

    It was at that moment.

    A transparent wave spread all over the area, covering Zick''s surroundings instantly.

    ''...It''s an ambush, thankfully I was still able to at least send a message to the dragon n through the device they gave.'' Sweat began gathering on Zick''s face.

    "Haha, twerp, this will be your ending!" A crackling voice reached him, Without any warning, a punch headed toward Zick''s face.

    A huge forcended on Zick''s head, it was like he was hit on the head by a.

    Zick''s figure flew like a canon bolt, crashing into the moon at the corner.

    "Sir Zick!"

    Everyone was startled by the sudden turns of events. They had thought this trip to be an easy task, but it was turning into the most dangerous one out of all the events they went through.

    All of them moved away from their opponent first, they were not stupid enough to stay frozen in one ce. Arianell transported everyone as far as she could, the barrier made it impossible for her to teleport out of its area.

    The person who hit Zick revealed herself, it was a woman with a luscious body, she wore clothes made of a certain monster mane and hadpact muscles all over her body.

    Zick slowly got up, he felt his head spin from that punch. But he recovered in no time thanks to his regenerative power. He was not even able to bring out his dragon scales, so that punch directly impacted his skull. He could only resist the impact using his divinity at that moment.

    ''.....Peak god rank, to think such an opponent was waiting in ambush for me. I see, so my action was predictable, huh?''

    The sun god seems to have already deduced Zick''s arrival in this world, many years ago. He ordered one of his top subordinates to keep an eye on it. He did not even put his hand on Philine, instead using her as bait resolutely.

    But, Zick was not someone who was moved by his greed. He had only moved now, after sending the sun and death God to their death.

    Philine could not predict the god''s future, however, it was still wasteful to throw such a being away. He only had to improve her talent somewhat, though he had no idea how to because she was a diviner.

    ''For him to not bring this god into the battle, he must have known I would do this after or not...It doesn''t add up.''

    Zick looked up, because he shed with the moon, half of it was blown off.

    The woman was surprised to see Zick still alive, she had used a lot of her strength in that punch. And more importantly, Zick appeared to have suffered no harm too.

    Zick''s voice transmitted into the air: " You, you betrayed the sun god didn''t you?"

    Twitch.

    The woman''s brow twitched by itself hearing Zick, her eyes became more fierce as she looked at Zick.

    "Haha, for you to betray him! He kept you as a reserved force, but you backstabbed him at the end by running away! Do you know how he must have felt?!" Zick mocked her with droopy eyes.

    "Shut up!" Pissed off, the woman''s body broke through material limits and headed toward Zick like a meteor.

    It was a rational decision to betray the sun god, no matter how she looked at it, he would be defeated in that battle. But, she still felt guilty as she was raised by the sun god for a long time, it was like she had backstabbed her parents.

    ''It couldn''t be helped! I don''t want to die like that....'' The woman suppressed the rampant emotions within her.

    It was coincident she found Zick here, she was only nning on taking the resources of this world to sell them off.

    Zick bent down in a ready position, ''She fell for it!''

    Zick''s eyes turned cold as he saw the woman heading where he was. ck scales covered Zick immediately.

    Zick''s body shot upwards, moving like a ck ray.

    Seeing such an impudent attitude from a lower-ranked god from her, the woman''s face contorted visibly. Killing intent poured from her body like an unending river, drowning Zick in it.

    "Die!" The woman swung the huge broad sword in her hands, it aimed directly at Zick, trying to finish him off in one move. Her body plunged forward even faster, as she activated her core skill.

    And as she expected, Zick was not able to react to her overwhelming speed. Zick''s bewildered face was visible clearly in her bloodthirsty eyes.

    The broad sword pierced right through Zick''s chest at that moment, and before even blood could flow, crimson divinity erupted from the sword, going into Zick.

    A red explosion urred, sending shockwaves to arge distance. The moon not far away, blew away to smithereens, not being able to take the pressure in the least.

    ''Hmph! Pest is supposed to act like pests....?!!'' A burning pain seared through the woman''s chest. There a ck sword could be seen, stuck into her from behind.

    "Stupid barbarian." Zick, who did not even have a single scratch on him, stood behind the women with leisure.

    "No way....!!" Before the woman could finish speaking, the sword embedded into her gave a sharp cry, and a ck orb formed and blew away instantly.

    As the explosion subsided, Zick checked for ast time and moved towards the three in the corner of the barrier.

    What he just used to defeat this peak god-rank woman was something to the dream world. It was a method that can affect the mind of the person used temporarily.

    Desirescape, this technique could be used to show a person what they imagined in their head perfectly. It was the best result Zick was able to gain from that world, only a lot of material was needed to make it. It was burdensome even for Zick.

    ''As I thought, the best oue is for me to make someone from that world into the dream god. He must be very loyal to me too, then I will have another useful pawn.''

    Either way, Zick had used the desirescape on the women and then moved out of her trajectory immediately. For a second he was unsure if it would be effective against a peak god, but it ended as a useless worry.

    ''With the number of materials I have, I can only perform this technique for another two times.'' Feeling it to be a disappointment, Zick began breaking the barrier rapidly. It took quite a while to fully dismantle it, even with his chaotic divinity.

    Zick could have defeated the women if he fought with everything he had, but he found it to be a waste of time. If the battle was prolonged, some other god might join in.

 Chapter 239 The Cat

    The reason why the gods lost interest in Varine and the others was simple. Because their blessing was already removed from them, and they even stood with Zick, helping him here and there.

    Well, the whole connection had not been broken, but still, the gods had no intention to refill the power within the remaining blessing in these people.

    ''....Should I discard this n?'' Zick considered while looking at the dark domain before him.

    The sun god most probablyid this trap, hoping Zick woulde to take the people here personally. And it was just like Velveric predicted too, Zick fell easily into this trap.

    ''It must have been a coincidence that I met that woman, but this still shows that I am not good enough.''

    Zick did not consider himself to be perfect, there could have been a better way of oveing that battle, without any fight. In the process, he lost one of his chances to use desirescape too.

    And now, another problem appeared before him.

    The ck domain around the cat and others were not ordinary, most probably made by the death god. It was made so that the people within would die the moment anyone intruded or destroyed it.

    Zick could get past this mechanism, but the prize was not small, in his view at least.

    Using the low-grade world core, Aurel could easily revive this person, as only an instant must have passed.

    This method was only possible as this trap had been long since outdated. Aurel''s growth wasn''t taken into consideration, now she could affect even great gods'' divinity while using world core that is.

    Zick began weighting loss and gain.

    The reason Zick wanted to bring these people back was to make them dream gods. This had been his n for a long time, unlike his expectation, people with talent are very rare, more so for people with qualifications to be a god.

    However, it wasn''t guaranteed that these people could be a god either. So now the question was-

    Were these people worth one world core of investment?

    ''It''s a half gamble, huh?'' Zick did not like that point, but there was nothing he could do either.

    Life is nothing but a gamble anyway, it was up to the person to choose to take it or not.

    ''Let''s take it. I will be sure to make them loyal. Losing one world core is not above my bottom line.'' Zick was confident in bing a great god even if he lost some world core, only time mattered now.

    There was no more hesitation within Zick, he had already taken many gambles one after the other, and just this one decision was a breeze to him.

    ''It''s worrying to see the sun god abandoning Philine though. Is it that hard to increase her talent? I will have to find out.''

    The god of prophecy, just the name made Zick excited. This pawn was just too useful!

    Zick gave a world core to Aurel and began smashing up the ck barrier with all his might. The barrier was made by the death god, so it took dozens of days to fully destroy it.

    Zick had taken rest only a few times in the middle, to recover and conserve his divinity. No one came around the Igmorous world, finding it to be nothing but a dead. No monster appeared either as there was no world core.

    CRACK~

    The barrier cracked and broke into fragments. However, at the same time, the people within it mysteriously died too.

    With a swipe of Zick''s hand, all the ck fragments were removed from the area.

    "Now!" Zick spoke out loud.

    A golden light shot toward the ce where they died, and at once life returned to their body, while they were still unconscious, Zick was relieved.

    Zick sent them all to the dream world, and let some of his subordinates there take care of them.

    After Aurel returned, Zick moved towards the whale tribe.

    There wasn''t even a reason to negotiate, Zick directly sent them to his world, after telling them that they would be his subjects from now on.

    Then, Zick plucked the sky tree from underground and nted it in the dream world. This tree was simr to the world tree, born from the world core''s energy.

    But it could survive even after the world''s core was taken away, thanks to the sky''s existence. This tree can affect the sky, bringing good weather at every time.

    Its power was to be looked down upon either, it was already at the grandmaster rank. And it could still grow.

    After taking anything useful, Zick did not dare to stay any longer, he moved back to the dream world with everyone here.

    Needing some time to consider, Zick arrived at the terrace, looking at the gxy-like sky above him.

    ''I don''t have the time to take care of these people, I will concentrate on going to the dragon n gxy for now. My clone can take care of them, I do have some amount of trust between them.'' Zick thought while holding his chin in wonder.

    The existence of the dream world was found out, thanks to what happened. But Zick still did not sell it, he clearly knew the benefit of having a unique world.

    If enough resources and time are given, it is possible to create quite troublesome trump cards.

    ''I will evolve the dream world to mid-grade, once I ascend to great god rank. I don''t think it would take a long time, within another decade probably.''

    Once the dream world turns mid-grade, the terror can affect the gods too. It would be very beneficial, Zick could gather knowledge easily.

    The dragon n was persistent in buying it, but Zick was adamant till the end. The prize had even reached three mid-grade world cores, however, in the end, it was still rejected.

    Not staying put for long, Zick connected a little of his consciousness with a demi-god rank golem and started preparing to depart towards the dragon n''s gxy.

    .....

    The cat, a mythical beast, was not aware of what was going on at all since the battle between Zick and the demon race.

    Things had truly be blurry. The giants came, imprisoning everyone easily, even stopping the fortress from exploding and saving the people within it.

    It was skeptical as to why the giant race was doing this, but it found out not so long after. To use these people against the other gods.

    The blessing from these people was not fully severed, causing there to be a w left behind. Kururu had intentions to harm the gods using the connection between these people.

    As it was known, kururu needed a catalyst to use his divinity perfectly, for this reason, he developed a technique that utilizes this characteristic perfectly.

    As it turns out, that was his biggest trump card against the gods too. It was all useless in the end though.

    But because of that, they all were able to survive, only to be used by the death god and sun god as bait.

    Truthfully, the cat was ignored by the giant god, he was after all, dead at that moment. A demon general had killed him nine times continuously.

    However, everyone had forgotten his true identity, the lord of dark spirits. As long as dark spirits existed, the cat could resurrect after a while and that was exactly what happened.

    Opening its eyes, the cat looked around its surroundings. What entered its sight was Varine, who slept with her eyes tightly closed.

    ''....What is happening...?'' The cat''s eyes turned round, looking around frantically.

    It still remembered how the death god just sealed it off in a barrier, literally. It was still vivid in its memory.

    Seeing that the five people beside it were safe, the cat slowly got up on the soft floor. It looked at Varine closely for a second, before concentrating on itself.

    ''It''s not working...'' No matter how hard the cat tried, no dark spirits were responding to it.

    "Ah, so you are awake." A voice came from the entrance of the room, jolting the cat to turn around.

    A beautiful girl stood there with a calm look, Arianell''s eyes scanned the cat''s condition. Behind her, Aurel could be seen standing too.

    The cat felt all of its hair stand on the edge, it wasn''t able to sense Arianell''a presence at all, even after she entered through the door.

    Arianell moved forward, as the cat stayed frozen in ce. Even after she stood right before the cat, it could not move an inch, it was feeling that something bad would happen if it did so.

    Slowly stretching her arms forward, Arianell picked up the ck cat, with interest in her eyes.

    "Father said you liked alcohol, do you want some?" Arianell''s emotionless voice made her words appear like a threat. But in reality, she took a liking to the cat.

    Aurel patted the cat''s head, looking at it with interest.

    "...Soft...., sis, can we keep this as a pet?" Without the cat''s consent, Aurel began discussing taking up its ownership.

    That was how it was all the time, Zick''s personality had rubbed off on both of them. They did not care even the slightest about the other party''s situation and mental condition.

    Well, their personality was the reclusive type, to begin with, but now it had downright domineering, in others'' view.

    "Father won''t mind for sure, it doesn''t seem like he put much importance on this creature anyway." Arianell began ying with the cat''s soft paw while answering.

    And in between them, the being that was totally being disregarded thought: ''Just what is going on?''

    Cold sweat formed all around the cat, as he heard the conversation between Arianell and Aurel. Before their presence, the cat was nothing but an ant, without any exaggeration.

 Chapter 240 Varine And The Others

    After a few hours.

    All five people who slept on the floor, opened their eyes one after the other. They felt sluggish as they had not moved around their body for a long time. The cat who was looking at them from the corner, still felt its mind nk.

    The two who cuddled it a while ago shed through the cat''s mind. It had truthfully considered itself one of the strongest beings out there. Thus, it felt a sense of loss meeting two iprehensible beings like that.

    It could not even resist Arianell and Aurel, who went off to the dragon n''s gxy with Zick. The difference between their existence was just too wide, causing the cat to be paralyzed by the pressure.

    "Cat...?" Varine called out to the cat with a spark in her eyes. Finding someone she knew, a feeling of reassurance rose within her.

    Varine still appeared to be around 12 to 13 years old, the others too had the same age as before.

    Seveleen and the others looked around the room too. Everything appeared to be luxurious, giving off an atmosphere simr to the royal pce. However, none of their gazes stuck to the luxurious items for long, almost all of them were very high-ranking nobles and even a princess.

    The air got awkward as they couldn''t even get up properly.

    Seveleen was the most bewildered, ''What exactly is happening...? My mana can''t spread to the surrounding area.''

    Seveleen was a high-rank mage, she was the most sensitive to the mana in the group too.

    On the other hand, Anastasia too was baffled because of another reason. Her eyes, which had a special ability, could only see gray fog around them, instead of blue mana.

    The power contained within this gray fog, terror, was different from mana. It was like the terror had a ''will'' of its own, looking for any being with a strong enough grudge.

    Anastasia could see such a sight only because of the area they were in. Wanting to research terror further, Zick of course built his house in a ce with abundant terror concentration.

    Silence descended on the group, as they felt that they could not move their body. They could only move their head, with a lot of hard work. It felt like they had all turned into statues.

    Only the cat could move around as it was different from humans. The cat walked near to Varine and tapped her pale cheeks lightly.

    A beutiful woman walked into the room through the door, at that moment. It was Yuriel, her ck hair simr to Zick cascading behind her freely, she wore a white coat, simr to the researchers.

    Taking out green potions from her storage device, Yuriel began feeding them to all of the peopleying on the floor. The moment they drank this potion, their body recovered back to normal.

    "You are..." Seveleen felt Yuriel to be familiar, she had seen her with Zick a few times.

    "I am Yuriel, nice to meet you again. Let''s move to the hall, Sir Zick is waiting for everyone." Yuriel coolly began taking them all to the hall with no change in expression.

    Anastasia and Leona followed, feeling Yuriel to be the strongest here.

    "Uhm, So where exactly are we right now?" Seveleen questioned, feeling somewhat close to Yuriel.

    "We are currently in a dream world, ruled by sir Zick. And mana does not exist here like you must have noticed." Yuriel responded passively.

    "Huh..." Varine jerked her head up in confusion. The cat was on her arm right at the moment.

    It was like a bomb was dropped right on their head, making them feel empty for a second. They knew the meaning of Yuriel''s words, but their brain could not process them.

    Anastasia on the other hand felt this to be very usible, her eyes clearly showed her that no mana existed in the surrounding.

    "S-sir Zick is the ruler of this ce?" Varine asked to rify.

    "Yes." Yuriel nodded her head.

    Seveleen, the cat, and Varine felt a little relieved hearing this. They had a lot of trust in Zick.

    But the same could not be said for everyone. Philine was half already out of it, her memories were very foggy.

    She could not remember anything after Levienel abducted her out of nowhere, only certain images of a ck dragon passed through her mind, as she walked in the corridor.

    Leona felt uneasy in her heart as she looked at Yuriel. For some reason her instinct told her that...the woman before her was a golem. It was a baseless guess, so she just kept it deep within her instead of prying at it.

    "I have a question." Anastasia, who was the calmest among the group, lifted her hand.

    "Go on." Yuriel did not turn back while speaking.

    "What exactly do you want from us?" There was a sharp light in Anastasia''s eyes, as said this. She could not understand why she and Leona too were here.

    "I don''t know, Sir Zick will answer that question." Yuriel''s answer was immediate, with nog in the middle.

    Philine pulled herself together and opened her mouth with a dazed look: "Mister Zick..."

    A person with a handsome face passed by her head, his image was etched into her memories. Zick had after all saved her on the brink of death.

    Putting a long face, Seveleen nced at Philine. Seveleen remembered her sitting beside Zick at the party, which was still fresh in her mind.

    After walking for quite a while, they reached their destination atst. The manor that they were in was veryrge, if not careful, people could even get lost within it.

    The air grew tense as they stepped into the hall, it was like an invisible force was pressing on them. The cat held its breath again, feeling a beingparable to the two from before!

    ''Where the hell am I exactly, really why are people with such formidable strength appearing one after the another? Levienel can''tpare to them at all.'' The cat felt indignant all over.

    To the cat, Levienel was the strongest person it met, leaving aside the demon general. However, that belief was broken again and again.

    As they went deeper into the hall, Zick could be seen sipping a cup of lemon tea with leisure, sitting on one of the luxurious couches.

    The cat froze looking at Zick, it had never thought for a second that the existence far above it �� was actually Zick!

    The Zick before them was nothing but a golem with demi-god rank strength. It had the same appearance as him, it was being controlled by him too.

    Zick turned to the six people and the cat, who entered the hall, with no hurry at all.

    "Long time no see, I guess." Zick waved his hand with a friendly look.

    Varine moved before him with a smile immediately, her eyes were beaming with happiness, it was like she was meeting her parents after a long time.

    "You seem to be doing well." Zick nodded towards Varine.

    Leona moved forward before the others this time. Her eyes directly met with Zick''s red eyes.

    "In which kingdom or continent are we right at the moment? And what exactly do you want with us?" Leona felt the current situation to be a mess, she could not hold in her questions anymore.

    "Everyone should sit down first, it is going to be a long story." Zick pointed at the couches around him.

    Slowly everyone began sitting on the couches.

    "You can return to your research." Zick sent Yuriel to her work.

    "Let''s see...." Zick began narrating what happened, while conveniently twisting many parts of the stories. No w appeared in the fabricated story, leaving everyone speechless.

    ording to Zick, the world that they stayed in was already destroyed. He told the back story of how the giant race got sealed, then how he made a deal with the Taweir, giving him the world core for everyones'' sake.

    It was a coincidence for Leona to survive too. That part was not changed in Zick''s story.

    It was very hard to believe, but they could not find any point to retort at. They had all lost consciousness because of God''s blessing, which they had not noticed.

    Everyone was shaken at the end, causing silence to reign upon them.

    Everyone was shaken to the core, and Seveleen and Philine suffered the greatest impact. Their family was destroyed along with the world in the end.

    Truthfully, Zick was currently manipting their emotions slightly. If not, Seveleen and Philine would break down at least. They only sobbed silently right at the moment.

    Bing a god allowed Zick to guide the thoughts of any being near his divinity, of course, they had to be below grandmaster rank. That was how the other gods'' were trying to manipte him, in the Igmorous world.

    This god rank perk did not allow him to fully control the target either.

    Zick had no intention of pulling this conversation to arge one.

    ''There is no real point in this conversation, but I can''t rush it anyway.'' Zick put on a sad face too.

    "Let''s take a break for now, I am sure that you all need time to sort out your head too." Zick began sending Seveleen and Philine to the guest room.

    Only Anastasia, Leona, and Varine along with the cat remained. Their shock was lighterpared to those two.

    "You can ask whatever you want to." Zick spoke with a generous expression, having dark thoughts internally: ''I have to erase Philine''s memory somewhat, she is aware that I was the one who caused the golem outbreak in the past.''

    It might not have been possible before, but now it was different.

 Chapter 241 Collaboration World

    Zick looked at the blinding sight before him.

    Millions of stars gathered into a point, forming into sight beyond words and reason. This gxy was called the dragon''sir, it was one of the top, if not the best gxies in the dark faction.

    Zick did not directly teleport to the dragon''sir, there was no rush to reach there. He did not want to use world core unnecessarily, only depending on Arianell''s quasi-divinity throughout the journey.

    ''Hmm, It took longer because of those weird monsters and natural disasters.'' Zick thought while elerating towards the gxy before him, Arianell and Aurel were pulled along with him.

    It had taken around a few weeks to reach their destination, it was longer than Zick expected because of certain incidents. The space was by no means safe, strong monsters could pop out of nowhere if unfortunate, great god-level or even higher-rank monsters could appear.

    Right now, the chances of encountering such monsters were low, but it was spected that the number of monsters would exponentially increase in the future. And the apex realm, which remained mysterious, would have a deeper connection to the universe.

    Zick came to stop after a while, receiving a message on the device used to connect the dark faction trade port.

    It seems like the thing he put up for sale had all been sold off. It was some of the captives that he got from the worlds he priorly looted. They were not very useful, thus he put them in the sale requesting the things that he needed.

    There was a message for him on the device too, the god who bought the captives seemed to be requesting some more of them.

    ''He is offering a very high price for them, I have no reason to refuse it.'' Zick replied to the god positively.

    The captive that this god requested was the ice hill wolfmen, who were not very rare, but still hard toe by often. They were not much of use to Zick.

    Leaving some for himself, Zick sold all of them for certain materials. The material included many unique things like - Tears of a golden eye goose, the leather of a cross bull, the sand of a freezing star, and so on.

    These were things that Zick needed, to further his experimentation in many fields.

    After finishing with the trade port, Zick moved toward the coboration world, the main headquarters of the dragon n. He passed by many worlds, having dragon gods ruling over them.

    Zick did not encounter many monsters along the way, as he was within a gxy right at the moment. Regr monster hunts were carried around here by high-ranking gods.

    ''It''s not a bad environment to live in, I will be moving in here soon too. I won''t have to worry about encountering monsters anymore then.'' Zick felt satisfied thinking about this.

    The dragons with great god-level strength had invited him to move to the dragonir, a long time ago. And most of all, it was for free, they would be the ones in charge of transporting his world. This made him ept the offer with no hesitation.

    A whileter, Zick arrived at his destination. A World thousands of times bigger than a normal one. It was the coboration world, a high-grade one at that.

    Even Zick salivated thinking about high-grade world cores. With that, he might just jump up to mid-great god rank at once, or even higher.

    ''But, the drawback won''t be small, My chaotic divinity might just go out of my control. So even if I ever got one, I can only absorb half of it at a time.'' Zick slowly descended to the world below him.

    It was a waste of time thinking about something impossible, a high-grade world means there was at least one supreme being in it. There was no way anyone would dare to do anything funny there.

    ''This is the main headquarters, but it isn''t the ce where the leader of the dragon n lives. I don''t want to meet him no matter what, there is no w in my dragon status, but it is never good to let my guard down.''

    As Zick went past the barrier around the world easily, he felt an uncountable number of gods present throughout the world. This world was used for trading and dragon n meetings, more than nurturing rare species and material.

    Nevertheless, as expected of a high-grade world, there was no inadequacy in rare materials or species. The concentration and quality of mana were amazing too.

    As it goes, the higher the grade of the world core, the higher the chance that people with talent are born. This was something epted by every god, as it was a fact proven true again and again.

    Moving ording to the information, Zick arrived at the main capital of the dragon race in this world.

    The capital looked dazzling even from a distance. The capital was huge, covering millions of kilometers of area. There was a silver pce in the middle that especially stood out from the others, it was on high ground, visible even to Zick.

    Only when he arrived near the boundary of the capital, did the guard arrive to check his identity. Only dragon n members can enter the city, no other n or god could enter it.

    Because of the barrier, Zick could only travel through the normal route. Luckily there are trains, teleportation services, and flying machines allowing for fast transportation.

    The atmosphere in the capital was bright, normal dragonman and women could be seen walking in the street. The level of technology was also very high.

    Thinking for a second, Zick along with the other two entered one of the famous restaurants.

    Paying the entry fees through the n merit points, Zick entered the first ss section.

    Sitting on a seat, Zick spoke uninterestedly: "Order anything you want."

    Arianell and Aurel began going through the menu immediately, after getting Zick''s permission.

    Both of them were knowledgeable about thenguage used here, allowing them to read easily.

    Zick chose whatever seemed interesting and submitted it along with the things chosen by Arianell and Aurel.

    ''Though I can go on without any rest or conversation, these two aren''t the same.'' Zick had not exchanged many words with both of them while traveling at all.

    Hence Zick decided to eat food normally and act more like a family.

    "Right, you wanted to keep that cat with you, yes?" Zick initiated a conversation with no hesitation.

    Arianell''s eyes darted toward Zick instantly, "Yes, father. We wanted to keep that cat as a pet." Her crystal clear voice reached Zick.

    There was no awkwardness even as they spoke using their mouths after a long time, they could only transmit to each other in space.

    The atmosphere was quite light with everyone maintaining a smile on their face.

    Zick showed an expression of consideration and then nodded.

    "Alright, you can keep it. But be sure to take care of it, especially teach it how to control terror in the dream world." Zick agreed with not much thought.

    The cat held little importance to him, there were not many things it could do in the dream world.

    As Zick ate dinner while talking to the other two, the golem controlled by him alsopleted exining the situation to Varine and the others.

    Time flew differently in space and the normal world. Many days passed by for Zick, but only a few hours went by in the dream world.

    .....

    The golem Zick spoke with a domineering attitude: "What do I want from you? Do you think you have the right to question me? You, without even any worth?"

    "Ah~ Do you think I don''t know that you made a contract with the person controlling the golems?" Zick released pressure iparable to his prior atmosphere.

    Zick conveniently used the contract he made with them. It did not bound him in any way right now.

    Leona and Anastasia felt their body getting covered in a cold sweat, their body shuddering all over.

    On the other hand, Varine standing beside Zick was not affected by the pressure. Looking at everything like a spectator.

    ''How...?'' Leona felt immense shock internally, her deal with Zick, of helping once in the future was secret.

    Anastasia brought herself together somehow.

    "No, you misunderstood something, sir." Her attitude changed immediately.

    "We were forced to make a contract with him at that moment. And we are sorry for our disrespectful attitude. As you must know, we were very shaken by arriving in a strange environment." Anastasia spoke eloquently, unlike her attitude the first time she met Zick.

    Anastasia too had matured by staying near Leona.

    Hearing her, a random thought appeared in Zick''s head: ''Do people with high potential always get high IQ too?''

    Zick was surprised by Anastasia''s attitude, she was able to put aside any emotions and act subservient, if this was not genius, then what was?

    Zick smiled externally with contempt: "That so? I get it, you don''t have any proof either, right?"

    Anastasia nodded her head helplessly, with relief rising within her.

    "Let me be frank then, The reason that I brought you two along is �� For you to join the chaos temple," Zick said with a thin smile with a hidden motive.

 Chapter 242 Dragon Clan Capital

    Anastasia and Leona had no options to choose from to begin with, following Zick''s order was the only way to survive.

    ''Rejection isn''t an option. Zick was it? He has enough power to rule over a whole world....of course, we don''t stand a chance against such a person.'' Anastasia felt horrible internally.

    They could not even begin to fathom Zick''s current strength, who was a god-like entity. Even his subordinate was not ordinary, from the being they met before, Yuriel.

    "May I ask why?" Anastasia spoke in a subservient tone, as much as she could.

    "Because you have certain talents, a talent that not many have," Zick answered immediately.

    Zick''s voice was calm, however, it put a sense of pressure on both of their minds.

    Leona lifted her hand, showing her will to ask a question. All of a sudden, she felt like she had gone back to her academic days when she had to lift her hand to ask any question to the teacher.

    Zick nodded his head toward her, permitting her to speak.

    "What kind of result are you expecting from us then, sir?" Leona spoke with no hesitation, but internally she was nervous too.

    "Good question." Zick smiled inly at her.

    "What I want from you two is very simple. I want you to explore the dream realms of this world, and find new knowledge, iparable to what I hold right at the moment." Zick''s crystal clear eyes looked right into Leona''s eyes, making her body feel spontaneous goosebumps.

    The task assigned by Zick was just too hard, at least for the two people who were ordered toplete it. They were in a new world, they had to begin from scratch, but now they had to find something that even the people of this world couldn''t find.

    ''Isn''t that too much?'' Even Varine thought it to be so. She did not point out her opinion though. She knew that her persuasion would not change Zick''s decision at all.

    "I see, we will....do our best sir." They could not bring themselves to resist Zick at all, hence epting the task with a grudgeful mind.

    Leona was interested In exploring this new world, so she was not too much against doing what Zick told her.

    Actually thinking about it for a second, epting Zick''s offer brought many benefits to them. They were just vagrants on the run in the Igmorous world after all the alchemist towers were destroyed.

    However now, they would at least hold some kind of position in this new world. Anastasia and Leona were the two people least affected by the destruction of their prior world. They did not have much connection to that world.

    "Haha, did you think I will ask you to do something, without offering anything in return?" Zickughed shamelessly.

    ''Is that not the case?'' Anastasia felt puzzled internally, she felt it was normal for people with higher positions to dictate the life of the people with lower positions.

    "You both can return to your room and rest for today. If you want to eat anything, just speak to the butler in the hall. I will give my present to everyone tomorrow when everyone has gathered." Zick dismissed them with not much interest.

    Varrine and the cat were the only beings left to be dealt with. Zick turned his gaze to them with no change in expression.

    "You don''t seem that shaken by the fact that our world was destroyed." Zick smiled, speaking like a sociable person.

    "That...I am sad but, I feel relieved that sir Zick and Miss Seveleen survived at least." Varine answered truthfully, her rtionship with the others was not that close, she was not much of a sociable person, to begin with.

    "Human...ahem, Lord god, what are you going to do with me then?" The cat asked while feeling somewhat ufortable.

    Zick waved his hand dismissively, "No need to worry, I have a role for you to y too. I know that you can''t ept the power of this world."

    The cat was a mythical beast, a being born in a different world, it was a rare being born from the convergence of the dark spirits.

    With no spirit in this world, the cat could not show much of its true power. At least until world tree and elves races appeared that is.

    Hearing Zick''s words, The cat was interested in the task he would be assigned, so it asked away immediately.

    "What is my role then?"

    Zick eyes darted to him in amusement.

    "To be the pet of my two daughters of course."

    The moment Zick said that the air in the surrounding froze. Both of them were dumbfounded seeing Zick''s attitude which screamed - ''Isn''t that naturally what is supposed to happen?''<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "Wait...You mean those two girls,dies, were your daughters?! And now I have to be their pet?!" The cat had the intention to resist its fate, but the moment it looked at Zick''s red eyes, such intentions were discarded like they never appeared.

    "Hmm? Ah, you were not able to recognize them. Do you not remember the dragon eggs I got a long time ago?" Zick felt the cat''s not so brilliant memory.

    Remembering the small girl with silver hair, the cat felt the face merge with the beutiful woman who he met a few hours ago.

    Varine heard their conversation with her signature nk face. She felt a sense of belonging looking at Zick''s familiar attitude.

    "Well, that aside, you should move to your rooms, and take a rest today too, you can ask anything from the butler in the hall here." Zick put a stop to this conversation.

    Something hade up on the other side, on the real Zick''s side.

    .....

    After finishing the dinner with Arianell and Aurel, Zick began moving to the trade port of the dragon n, through the train services, which moved at a speed that broke the sound barrier.

    Zick was not rich enough to use the teleportation facility here, well he could use it, but he deemed it to be a waste of material.

    Unfortunately, it was banned to use space divinity within the dragon n''s main capital. Therefore, Zixk could not use Arianell''s power.

    Everything could be bought in this capital, as long as there were enough merit points.

    ''With the amount I have, I don''t think it''s impossible to exchange it for a mid-grade world core.''

    Zick sat in the private room on the train, considering the suspicious points in the past.

    First off, the dragon lord''s existence seems just too suspicious. Many things regarding it were veiled in a thickyer of mist, no matter how looked upon it, Zick could not find any lead to find out what happened in the past.

    ''In the worst-case scenario, I might just be dancing upon the palm of the dragon lord. And if not, some other being is trying to cover up its existence.''

    Zick was pulled out of his deep thought, hearing the announcement through the invisible speaker. The train had reached the central district, Zick''s destination.

    Getting off the train, which had facilities no different than the best hotel Zick had seen throughout his life, he moved toward the huge building, the trade port.

    Feeling someone following him, Zick turned around immediately. But surprisingly, he found no one in the ce, he had sensed the presence of the follower.

    "...." Zick turned forward and moved on.

    He did not feel anyone following him again after that.

    Zick flew through the sky in a straight line, reaching his destination not long. Most of the people around him used a device named the rift, to travel around more efficiently.

    These rifts came in many shapes, round, triangle, bird, half-moon, and many more. The rifts were exclusive items only found in the dragon n capital.

    It was very hard to buy these rifts, because of the advantage they brought while traveling, many sought them out. It could be used with any kind of divinity, and it boosted a minimum of around 30�G in speed aspect.

    ''I should buy one before leaving, they cane in handy in battle.'' Zick retracted his gaze, after taking a nce at the rifts, flying around him.

    Arriving before the entrance of the huge building, Zick showed the permit of the dragon n to the guards. This permit was given to him the moment he agreed to join the dragon n.

    There was a thing that troubled him for a while now. After joining the dragon n, Zick had to be epted as an apprentice by a supreme god. But he had yet to choose the supreme being he wanted to work below.

    The time limit was one decade.

    ''There are six Supreme gods in total, in the dragon n. I want to join the one that gives me the most benefits, I can only collect information about them for now.''

    ''I will go to them for an interview (?) and then see which one gives the highest benefits.'' Zixk decided in his heart.

    The moment Zick entered the trade port, what greeted him was an endless hall, which was buzzing with gods. Space expansion was applied to the hall it seems.

    Arianell''s eyes sparkled as she tried to unravel the working of this technique.

 Chapter 243 Central Region

    Zick squinted his eyes, looking at the strange rune drawn on the corner of the ceiling. As his eyes stuck to it, the surrounding turned blurry. In the end, he felt the world suddenly turn ck.

    "Hey mister, You should not stare at those runes. Those are safety measures against anyone who is trying to control the mind of an employee."

    Hearing the call of an unknown person, Zick''s eyes shrunk to pin size and his breathing turned rough. He stabilized instantly, but the fear within him did not fade away.

    ''Those runes are not normal! I almost lost my mind there!'' Zick clenched his fist.

    Looking at the dragonwomen who appeared before him, Zick showed an appreciative face.

    "Thank you for your help miss. This is my first time in the trading port. My name is Zick, the god of chaos." Zick eloquently introduced himself.

    The woman before Zick was an exceptional beauty too, her light purple hair was tied in a high ponytail and her horn appeared different from others, looking ethereal and real at the same time.

    It had be amon sight to see beutiful men and women to Zick. Almost all the dragons had an appearance exceedingly better than the others.

    "No, it''s normal to help fellow nsmen. My name is Berient. I''m in a hurry so I will be taking my leave. Have a nice time looking around trading ports."

    "Good luck in your endeavors." Zick waved bye to the dragonwomen.

    After taking a brief nce at the rune, Zick began walking towards ss cases. There were numerous objects positioned within it, from weapons to unique creatures.

    "Go and look around, if you find anything interesting, inform me." Zick sent Arianell and Aurel to other areas, they could just locate each other using the connection they held.

    Zick looked at the description of the red sword, which appeared like it was crafted from blood.

    [Blood domination sword

    Grade: weapon suitable for great god.

    Ability: 1. The presence of the sword can cause the blood in other being to tremble. Can cause death to weaker-level beings. And can disrupt blood flow if used passively to any bring in or below great god rank.

    2. Can control the blood of the being yed from this sword.....]

    Zick moved forward, feeling the description to be too long, mainly because he did not like the abilities of the sword.

    As he moved along the ss cases, reading the description of any interesting object or creature, he suddenly felt a wave of cold energy pass by his body.

    ''Is it this one?'' Zick stared at the rhombus-shaped blue crystal in the ss case.

    [The core of quasi-great god divinity.]

    The description was very simple and short. But it made Zick''s face harden instantly.

    Zick was expecting that there would be many good things here, but he did not think such a rare thing would be showcased here.

    The core of the great god was just like how it sounded.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As a god strengthen the newborn core within them, it slowly begins to take a solid form. The shape may vary from each other, but the function was the same.

    This core was exactly like the world core, and as it goes, once a person ascends to the great god rank, they have a personal world within themselves, and the core within this world was not steble, at least until they are dead.

    By the time the great god reaches supreme being rank, they have hundreds of worlds within their body. As for how it was once they became supreme beings, Zick was not aware either.

    ''Well, any god with ice attribute would benefit a lot by absorbing this core. Unfortunately, I am not sure if there are any being simr to my attribute....'' Zick moved on after a small pause.

    The main items of the trade port were in the central part, deeper into the ce. However, that did not mean the things here were useless.

    It varied from person to person after all.

    ''I might find something to my liking, or not. But it is still better to take a look, my senses can''t even go past a meter of my surrounding. Those runes are restricting everyone''s senses too it seems.''

    Zick had expected to see extraordinary things, but he did not expect he would find such a rune. His knowledge of runes was not ordinary, so he could tell that this rune was in another league by itself.

    ''Even with my dragon eyes, I can''t analyze anything that is in the great god rank.'' Zick felt it to be a chore, however, he had no choice but to look at every item individually now.

    Finding something interesting again, Zick headed towards it without any hesitation.

    After a while,

    Going along the ss cases, Zick arrived at the central region.

    The central region was different from the surrounding ces.

    "The eyes of the death craver, just for 200 merit points! This material is very helpful to synthesize any potion with mind clearance!"

    "This is the verdant starfish, they can boost the aquatic material production by 30�G in your world!"

    "The wings of the space serpent, a great god-rank monster. This material can be used to make a very good flying device."

    Here, people could be seen advertising their product, trying to appeal to its rarity and use.

    Some gods just stayed in their position, with the description and image of their product, floating on a transparent screen.

    Zick didn''t look around this time and directly headed to the middle of the central region. All the items being sold here are recorded there.

    Many unusual things entered Zick''s sight as he walked forward. ves were also one of themodities, they were quite famous too.

    Especially on the dragon n trading port. Every dragon can see weaker beings'' talent and potential like an open book. This leads there to be many ves with high potential.

    ''ves are good, but I have no interest in buying any right now. Nurturing someone from scratch to god, take a lot of time, patience, and resource.'' Zick did not bother to nce at the ves.

 Chapter 244 The Thousand Astronomal God, Krelein.

    In the middle of the central region, the crowd could be seen gathered in a ce, everyone looking at a certain object with solemn faces.

    ''This strange feeling....'' The presence brushing past Zick''s skin made him curious.

    It was not a familiar feeling, it was the first time Zick ever sensed such presence.

    Walking towards the crowd, what entered Zick''s sight was three golden res, floating in the air with strong pressure released by them.

    ''That is...'' Zick squinted his eyes, finding the identity of the source.

    Spirit dominant, an being so famous that it had once spread its atrocious name throughout the universe.

    From the rumors and story, the spirit dominant was the natural enemy of the spirit, at least to the spirit itself.

    The spirit dominant can absorb the spirit of any being, it grew to the level of being invincible in the great godmunity, after absorbing the spirits of three worlds. The grades of the worlds were unknown though.

    ''.....Selling such things openly, just what is this person thinking?'' Zick concentrated on hearing the gods near him.

    "That spirit dominant...It would be showcased in the auction, right?"

    "For such species to still exist, that is surprising. If I am not wrong, some elf god was taking care of them, right?"

    "Yes, I have heard the rumor, that elf must have been plotting some evil scheme for sure!"

    "I heard she resisted crazily while the spirit dominant was being taken away, so I am not sure..."

    Hearing the gods'' voice, not hiding their schadenfreude at all, Zick''s brow rose in amusement.

    ''Was the elf''s rtion close to this spirit dominant? That''s the only possible conclusion if what they said was true, that''s rather interesting.'' Zick was curious regarding this matter, but he did not stick his nose into things not connected to him.

    More than anything, he could not afford to buy this spirit dominant.

    Zick made his way to the counter, inquiring about the list of the recording of all the items here.

    "Here, sir."

    Getting the list, he began going through it swiftly.

    ''As expected of the dragon n trade center, the things avable here are on another levelpared to others. For there to even be ves of god rank.'' Zick''s eyes sparkled as he saw the products avable here.

    Finding many things that would be useful to him, Zick was troubled. He could buy only two or three items after all, which made him feel his high merit felt low inparison.

    ''Well, My future business will flourish soon, so I will not have to worry about resources in the future.'' Zick smiled internally.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The future business he was talking about, was of course the world formation project. Using Aurel''s power, he could begin mass-producing dozens of low-grade worlds quickly. Zick only had to collect a semi-grade world, where the world core was still in the process of being born.

    Before Zick was unwilling to do this business, the reason was very simple. The benefits that he would make even attract some great gods, who know he might just get assassinated overnight.

    ''It is unlikely for me to get assassinated, but still, I won''t take risks.'' Zick never took risks until necessary and took them when the reward was worth it.

    Finding Arianell and Aurel moving towards him, Zick leaned on the pir, waiting for them patiently. His expression grew sharper as he looked forwards.

    It was because he just received a message from Arianell, someone requests to meet Zick. And it was a being of a high standard ording to the reaction of the dragon gods around the ce.

    ''They have grown up better than I thought. Arianell can deduce people a lot better now, I guess.'' Zick felt the time he spent teaching Arianell and Aurel to be worth it.

    After analyzing both of their growth, Zick concentrated on the god heading to meet him.

    The thousand astronomal god, Krelein.

    It was a name that Zick knew from the information he gathered.

    Krelein was the disciple of the fifth supreme elder, a supreme being. The name of this supreme being was unknown, not only these elders, but every being in supreme being have their name hidden.

    Krelein was in the great god rank and was rumored to enter the supreme being rank soon, bing a supreme elder of the dragon n. Of course, this ''soon'' meant �� a century or two.

    He was a well-known god around the dark faction, having a good track record of defeating many gods from the light faction too.

    ''There can only be one reason such a person is looking for me, to recruit me.'' Zick closed his eyes, entering deep into his thoughts.

    Zick was aware of his own value better than anyone. He was regarded as a genius that appeared for the first time in history. It was a fact that everyone acknowledged, even if he was not, his growth speed went past themon sense of every god.

    The recent battle had fuelled his fame to rise through the ceiling. Zick had defeated...no, killed hundreds of gods, who were in the same rank as him all alone. This battle result once again broke the imagination of many normal gods. That was Zick''s aim from the beginning too.

    ''I will have to reject him, I guess.'' Zick still wanted to stick to his original n.

    Zick was the type of person who always explored to find the best course of action, especially when nothing was forcing his hand right at the moment.

    Zick did not have to wait for long, Krelein along with the other two arrived.

    Krelein appeared to be in his mid-twenties, dazzling with his long silver hair. The atmosphere around this person was different from the other great god, but Zick could not quite put his finger on what was different.

    "This is our first time meeting, Mister Zick." Krelein executed a normal greeting while extending his hand.

    "Yes, but it appears that we will be meeting each other a lot from now!" Zick held Krelein''s hand with no hesitation, sporting a smile.

 Chapter 245 The Complexity Of The Main Trade Center

    Zick would be lying if he said that, he was taking the conversation with Krelein to heart. He heard everything Krelein said with a serious look, but internally it was not so at all.

    Both of them had made their way to a quiet ce, the private restaurant on the second floor, which was also the most famous eatery in the dragon capital.

    The building Zick currently was in, was divided into many economical sub-stations. Because of the space expansion and restrictions, the whole building was veryplex, both in structure and sense of direction. If not for the signs on the wall, many would have been lost here.

    The most important floor in it was the auction room, which was held only once in two years. Presenting materials and objects, which are normally unobtainable or rare to the extreme.

    "Order whatever you want, Zick." Krelein dropped using any kind of formality, after exining to Zick the amount of attention to be paid to positions in the dragon n.

    It was a normal act of teaching a junior, but it gave off much information.

    Zick was somewhat aware of the hierarchy in the dragon n, however, he had turned a blind eye to it. He acted clueless throughout his journey in the coboration world.

    This consecutively caused Krelein to ''Teach'' him. Doing this, Zick was convinced of his prior conjecture. Krelein came to recruit him no doubt.

    Krelein had done a background check on Zick without a doubt too. Hence, he effectively used ''mister'' while addressing Zick for the first time they met.

    This might have been done to gain a good impression, but it could give away one''s intentions too. Such advances may be subtle, but they were not enough to trick Zick.

    ''I was skeptical of using such methods, but they are bearing quite fruitful unexpectedly. Is there a chance Krelein did not look or think deeply of my actions?''

    There was a high chance that was possible. Zick was famous for his battle strength, not wits and schemes. He had not exposed much of his mental capability for a long time.

    Instead, Zick''s image was stained with arrogance and pride, from all his prior actions.

    "Thank you for your hospitality then."

    Zick maintained an unabashed look while epting Krelein''s offer. He and the dragon twin beside him began ordering food from the menu.

    There were many new dishes, prompting Zick to order whichever looked the mostvish.

    Krelein finished off his order instantly and continued looking at Zick''s unperturbed temperament.

    It was amusing for him to see Zick, being so rxed even in presence of a peak great god.

    Krelein''s eyes squinted unnoticeably, ''There is no respect, admiration or fear and nervousness in his attitude. It isn''t the kind of attitude that I was expecting.''

    ''Does he think that I won''t be able to do anything to him, as he is in the dragon n capital? If that is the case, he must be quite ipetent.''

    Zick''spetence fell by a level in Krelein''s mind.

    Krelein had to admit that Zick was indispensable in the future in terms of potential. Nevertheless, in many instances, strength was not the right answer, a level ofpetence and wits were absolutely needed.

    ''At least he is not an idiot, he knows when to advance and retreat. Knowing the concept of sumbing to circumstances, he is the kind of person who doesn''t create trouble until pulled into it.'' Krelein deduced this from the information he gathered.

    The supreme elder behind Krelein, for one reason or another, seems to be interested in Zick.

    Therefore, Krelein got sent to make this neer, Zick, a disciple below his master. It was truly very frustrating to be sent to recruit someone like this, especially for Krelein.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''....I would have never done such a thing normally, however, I could not turn down this request made by master.'' Krelein could understand how his master, the fifth Supreme elder, thought.

    With Krelein bing a supreme being soon, he would have lost a valuable asset.

    This was the universe of gods, no one moved until there was something for them to gain. In such a ce, was it possible for being of supreme rank, to take in disciples and teach them anything?

    There was no way such a thing was possible, hence the annual tournament was hosted every five years as a god-rank disciple and once in fifty years for a great god-rank.

    This tournament held a lot of importance to every supreme being, a good amount of resources appointed to them would be decided by it.

    There were a limited amount of resources in the dragon n, even though they had arge amount of territory under their grasp. This just went to show the number of resources needed by a supreme rank being, the great god and lower rank beings'' expedition was nothing before it.

    Krelein''s synchronizing gaze scanned Zick''s face, thinking calmly: ''I do have thest resort that master handed me, but he warned me to not use it unless I have no other choice. I wonder just what is in that letter.''

    Krelein opened his mouth externally spontaneously.

    "You are not the kind of person who likes twisted words, so I will be straightforward from now on." Krelein rested his back on the soft cushion behind him.

    "Please do, I don''t like to waste time as you said," Zick responded curtly.

    The air around both of them changed, from friendly to nerve-wracking pressure, making some people nce towards them.

    "Do you know about the tradition of bing a disciple, in the dragon n?"

    "Yes. That''smon knowledge."

    Krelein nodded his head and continued.

    "Then, have you decided the supreme elder you would like to be a disciple to?"

    Zick revealed a dubious expression, showing a little hesitation in his eyes.

    "Honestly, I have not decided. It is a decision that can affect the rest of my life, so I want to make it after thinking it through."

    Zick answered carefully to every question, not showing any w or weakness to be explored.

    Zick thought carelessly inside: ''Is he going to give up now that he heard my words? That would be the most rational decision because I made it clear that I will be rejecting his offer in the end.''

    No great god would like to do something like wasting time, more so for people with ambition, like Krelein.

    But something Zick did not expect happened.

    "Okay then, I invite you to be disciple under the fifth supreme elder. Here are the benefits, merits, and many other things that you would receive." Krelein''s in voice with no change entered Zick''s ears.

    ''What....?'' For some reason, Zick''s instinct did not give him a good feeling.

 Chapter 246 Blackhole

    Zick read the parchment, given by Krelein, with a serious face, giving off a calm demeanor. However, internally he was anything but calm,questions came pouring down like a broken dam, making his mind chaotic.

    Zick could not decide whether Krelein waspetent or a dimwit. He had not collected much information on Krelein, but from whatever he knew, Krelein was not an idiot.

    ''Was he really not able to read behind the lines and offered the invitation or is there something that I don''t know?'' Zick gaze flickered inconspicuously.

    Many doubts shed by within Zick''s head, causing him to feel an invisible pressure. Putting a stop to the prior matter, Zick concentrated on the parchment, with a contract on it.

    ''It''s truthfully unbelievable...'' Zick could clearly feel just how much the other party wanted to recruit him.

    The joining reward was mind rendering, a mid-grade world!

    There were many other things included with it, but still, the mid-grade world was the most eye- catching among all of them.

    The silence between the four people carried on, Krelein closely looked at Zick''s face, studying his every action. Even the slightest fluttering of the eyebrows did not go unnoticed.

    Krelein couldn''t help but think to himself: ''He did not show any reactions even when I directly trampled on his subtle rejection. That''s unexpected, did he by chance say it without much thought?''

    ''That''s not out of the question, from his appearance, he does not have much experience dealing with politics and wordy.''

    While Krelein thought this, Zick finished reading the contract too. He appeared to be deep in thought as if struggling to choose the benefits before him or take a wait-and-see stance.

    "So, what do you think of the contract, Zick? Of course, we can modify it if you want to, as long as it''s not overbearing, any demand is eptable." Krelein spoke ambiguously, his eyes sharply gazing at Zick, waiting for his answer.

    Krelein, the fifth supreme elder was ready to concede to any demand, as long as it was not too much overbearing. In other words, Zick could ask for any kind of special perk he wanted!

    If the detail of this contract was made public, all the supreme elders and all the gods wouldbel it as a scream no matter what. It was just too beneficial to the receiving side!

    Gods move for benefit, just like bandits attracted to wealth and beauty.

    No one would give off benefits like this for no reason. As such, it was either there was a deep conspiracy or it was outright fraud.

    There were always people who would give in to such immense benefits, but that was not the case with Zick. His suspicions on this matter had already reached as high as they could get.

    But, Zick did not let any of his emotions show on his face.

    "I am truly very attracted to your offer. I almost involuntarily had the urge to sign the contract." Zick spoke with a thin smile, but slowly the atmosphere around him grew darker and heavier.

    "But aren''t you mocking my intelligence too much? I might not be much cautious, nevertheless, I have the skills to identify the situation, when to ept, and when to step back." Zick exposed a slightly furious look, eyes filled with contempt and slight hostility.

    Krelein felt his eyes twitch a little, though it was not his invention, he had offended Zick.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Please don''t misunderstand, Zick. The content on that contract is all true, I swear by my name." Krelein responded without a second of dy.

    Now, Zick appeared bbergasted, ''I guess this is enough, I don''t have any reason to continue this conversation. If this fifth elder is willing, then there must be others too.''

    Before Zick could speak, Krelein suddenly brought out a piece of paper from his jacket. The paper was an item famous in the upper echelons, once the content of this paper was read, it would vanish in thin air. It was not possible to see what was within it through any tricky means either.

    "The fifth rider told me to give this to you," Krelein spoke in a rather cold and in voice.

    Zick''s brow rose as he received the piece of paper. Before he could admire the smooth texture of the paper, he felt a gaze stuck to him like glue.

    "How rude! We are speaking here in private, but you have the guts to pry into the conversation." An immensely displeased look passed by Krelein''s face.

    Zick looked in the direction Krelein stared at. There, a strange ck hole could be seen, it was not even a centimeter in size. Zick''s pupils shrank as he further tried to probe at the ck hole.

    Zick could not feel its presence at all!

    The ck hole was erased with a simple wave of Krelein''s wrist.

    "The culprit seems to be a great god specialized in moving around unnoticed. You don''t have to worry, there is no one else keeping an eye on us now." Krelein smiled but internally, he felt displeasure rising like a sandstorm.

    Many great gods'' faces passed by Krelein''s mind, and one of them was the culprit behind this ears dropping. Killing intent brewed within Krelein rapidly, he hid it deep in his heart for now.

    Nodding his head, Zick began opening the paper in his hand. It would have been a lie if he said that he was not nervous.

    From Krelein''s behavior, it was clear as the sky that this was his trump card. From the amount of confidence in his action, the paper did not hold some small information.

    Flip~

    Atst, Zick unfolded the paper with a calm face.

    "....." Zick felt his breath stop looking at the words on the paper, the light in his eyes dimmed rapidly.

    Slowly the paper turned transparent and vanished in thin air. However, Zick''s hand stayed frozen in ce no matter how much time went by.

    Zick breathed out softly in a few seconds and then got up from the luxurious chair he was sitting on.

    "Let''s talk about the modification of the contract." Zick passed the parchment back to Krelein.

    Krelein''s brow involuntarily furrowed, looking at Zick''s nk expression.

 Chapter 247 Exposed

    The immense amount of shock that Zick felt was partially sensed by Arianell and Aurel through the connection. He was not able to keep a tap on the connection, which just went to show the amount of shock he experienced.

    Thankfully, Zick was able to snap out of the daze in a split second and regte the connection again.

    As Zick conversed with Krelein to change the contract, he felt the surrounding more distant than ever.

    Nothing but chills filled Zick''s body, there were only a few lines in the paper, but they shook Zick to the core. Enough to make him lose his bearings for a second.

    The content of the paper went-

    [Information on the dragon lord would be provided if you be my disciple. I can swear at least that by my real name, dragon yer kid.]

    The ''dragon yer kid'' was a threat no matter how looked at it.

    Zick did not doubt the supreme elder''s word even for a second because the higher the realm one reaches, the harder it bes to break the oath.

    Would the fifth supreme elder pay such a prize just to recruit Zick? It was most certainly impossible.

    Zick was sure to make a way out for himself anyway, he modified the contract such that he could leave if the other party broke the contract.

    In the future, If Zick found out that the fifth supreme elder was lying, he could use it.

    And if he were to reject this demand, then it went to prove that the fifth supreme elder might just be bluffing. Well, Zick could not run away now that his dragon yer status was known anyway though.

    Krelein did not even bat an eye no matter how absurd of a demand Zick made, he calmly took notes of it.

    As the fifth elder said, the information on the paper was very effective against Zick. Krelein was able to recruit him without any mishap after that.

    Only after discussing and checking for any ws for eight hours, did Zick feel satisfied with the contract and decided to end the conversation.

    "I will be looking forward to working with you, sir Krelein." Zick bowed his head with no hesitation.

    His attitude took a huge turn, the moment he decided to join and be the fifth supreme elder''s disciple.

    "Enjoy the rest of your stay here, and take this card." Krelein passed a ck metallic card to Zick, "It is the proof of you bing a disciple of a supreme elder. It cane in many uses, you can use it to join the auction in a VIP seat too."

    Telling a few uses of the disciple identification, Krelein left the room with no hesitation.

    Arianell and Aurel had already left, looking around the market in the meantime.

    Zick did not move, he stayed glued to the table, appearing frozen in ce.

    ''....how much exactly do they know about me? Do they have a diviner too, or did taweir sell me off?'' A torrent of questions shed through Zick''s mind.

    Zick had been suppressing them while talking to Krelein, now they just kept flooding in unstoppably.

    ''Sigh...No matter what, I havended myself in quite a precarious position. I can''t even imagine a way out right at the moment, I have to think of a method to protect myself. Or else, I will be controlled in the foreseeable future.'' Zick calmed himself down with a nk face.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After a moment of silence, Zick got off the table and began walking towards the trading center.

    Unnaturally calmness and serenity filled Zick.

    ''In the past, I might have been shaken by such a matter, but my heart has already grown used to such a setback. Just this was not enough for me to lose my bearings.'' Zick''s eyes appeared clear, looking at his surroundings like the most natural thing.

    Not longter, Zick met Arianell and Aurel, leading them to the auction that was going to begin tonight.

    ...

    Back in the dream world.

    It has been more than a couple of days since Varine and the others arrived here.

    On the second day, they received a gift from Zick, also known as the god''s blessing, the system used by Zick to extract all the results of the dream exploration and gather information.

    After that, all of them were transferred to the main temple of the kingdom nearest to them. They never met Zick after that, not even once.

    Varine looked at herself in the reflection of the pure gold color, she was adorned by a white robe and garments, showing her identity of being a member of the temple.

    ''System interface....'' Varine called out an unfamiliar name as usual.

    [Name: Varine

    Profession: shadow lurker

    Threat level: C-]

    Shadow lurker, a job Zick chose for Varine after thorough consideration. She was someone who received a blessing from the death god, her talent in the shadow element was indisputable.

    Unfortunately, the others did not receive their profession like Varine, they were told to clear the terror fog and attain a profession by themselves by Zick.

    "It truly is unfortunate that we can''t stay in this ce forever." Aint reached Varine from the side.

    There Leona along with everyone else could be seen standing in a group, fully equipped to the boot. They had gotten to know each other better in the past week, making them at leastfortable near each other.

    Right now, they were being sent to a certain city to purify the terror fog inhabiting the ce. It was their job as a priest of the chaos temple.

    They were aware of how this world worked thanks to the information the system provided, and it seems like they were treated like normal priests by everyone around them.

    Seveleen turned to Varine with a little hesitation, " Be careful in your mission, though we won''t have to fight, those dream worlds are not to be looked down upon. From what information I could gather, many have died encroached by it."

    Varine returned a solemn nod, showing that she understood.

    ''Sir Zick expects us to be strong, I won''t betray his expectation.'' Varine thought with determination.

 Chapter 248 Flying Steel Drill

    Watching the actions of Seveleen and others through the clone, Zick felt no surprise by their attitude.

    It was he, who was manipting their thought process, making them not doubt his action in the slightest. Still, he could not fully control their minds, doing so would damage their soul in more than one way.

    All Zick could do was distort their direction of thought, he could not erase the hostility directly. On the other hand, goodwill and gratitude would not change too.

    ''I guess monitoring them is a waste of time, I will just leave it to the puppets and my subordinate.'' Zick changed the center of his attention to the stage before him.

    Right now, Zick was in the auction house, sitting with a nonchnt look in the VIP room. Below him, a gracefully decorated stage and red seats could be seen positioned in rows.

    The room Zick was in had very good facilitation, even a list as to what was going to be auctioned was provided.

    The auction that Zick was attending was called the monthly auction, nevertheless, the things showcased in it were still many times better than any normal item present in the central trading port.

    A beginner dragon god could not even dream of attending such an auction. Zick, on the other hand, entered freely using the new identity card he obtained.

    The fifth supreme elder was truly generous, the identity card turned out not to be simple. Zick was directly promoted to the position of a true disciple.

    The process of epting disciples was veryplex, unlike how it appeared. Only a handful of talented people could be epted as real disciples, who would directly receive the teaching of a supreme being.

    The dragon gods who were not worthy enough were sent to lower-rank gods, which was a kind of humiliation in itself. A dragon''s pride would no doubt be hurt by such a series of events.

    But in the end, they could notin too. It was clear that they were the ones who werecking in talent.

    ''....To think that a day woulde when I was turned into a puppet to be used by others.'' Zickughed at himself cohesively.

    There was not any way left for Zick currently, he was so easily cornered, that it was almostughable.

    Ting~

    Zick was brought out of his deep contemtion, by the ring of the bell, which marked the beginning of the auction.

    A beutiful woman walked onto the stage, captivating many people at once. Along with her, a middle-aged dragonman could be seen appearing beside her.

    "We will now be starting the monthly auction!"

    The announcement brought everyone''s attention on the stage, many waited excitedly for the items to be presented.

    ''What....?'' At that moment, Suddenly Zick received feedback from his clone.

    A horde of monsters made its way to the dream world.

    Finding this horde of monsters to only have a handful of God-rank monsters, Zick rxed. Yuriel was present there and other safety measures were also made to guard against monsters. There was nothing to worry about.

    Giving out some instructions, Zick concentrated on the stage below him.

    The first item was presented within a cage, it was an elf, having pure blood of royalty. This kind of elf was rare, and not many were willing to sell them. They could bring immense benefit to a world tree after all.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''I don''t need her I guess.'' Zick was not enticed by the first product. He had long created an elf kingdom in the dream world, and there was a high chance a royal elf would be born there anyway.

    The gods in the lower seat bid at the royal elf energetically. In the end, some random god was able to own it with a little difficulty.

    "The next item is a god-rank artifact, which you would not find anywhere in the universe! The impure world tree staff!"

    A ck staff with intimidating miasma was presented on the stage. At once, even the gods from the VIP room were attracted to it.

    ''Impure world tree? A world must have been destroyed to make that then.'' Zick had some knowledge of this subject too. As his regenerative power was rted to it in a way too.

    After going over it for a second, Zick decided against bidding for the staff. If the staff was made from the impure world tree, he would have to face off against some crazy will again, who would try to take over them too.

    To clear up that resentful will Zick would need a mid-grade world core. Which was not worth it at all.

    This staff was a god rank item, so of course the resentment in it would be extraordinary too.

    "Half a world core!"

    "Half a world core and a sun core."

    "A world core!"

    The gods who were not aware of the drawback of the staff, bid enthusiastically, fighting against each other fiercely.

    Like this, items and ves were presented one after the other.

    ....

    In the dream world.

    After receiving the instruction from Zick, Yuriel did not hesitate and headed off to face the monsters.

    Teleporting the world away would be ast resort, doing so would consume a full low-grade world core after all.

    Even Yuriel, who was in the god rank, could not teleport a whole world to arge distance. Moving it nearby would be a waste of time, as the monsters would sense it anyway.

    While Yutiel took care of the god-rank monsters, Zick''s clone fought the other remnant forces. Demi-god-level strength was trulycking when it came to fights like this.

    Not aware that the monster raid was caused artificially, Yuriel fought against it with imposing might. No attack hit her, as she teleported almost immediately when an undodgeable attack headed toward her.

    Still fighting against three monsters at once made it hard to finish it quickly. The monster that attacked the dream world was a species called the flying steel drill, which had a slim body of a fish and a sharp drill on its head.

    ''I should be able to kill them within 12 minutes.'' Yuriel deduced with her monstrous simtion ability.

 Chapter 249 Dark Elf Tribe

    The two flying steel drill fish moved around in space swiftly, simr to how they moved around in the water.

    Making a perfect arc, both of these monsters attacked the woman with dazzling ck hair.

    The coordination between both of these monsters was good, showing their experience. They had surely attacked many worlds and killed the gods ruling over them.

    Yuriel did not be flustered by the pincer attack, the atmosphere around her grew heavier by the second. Immediately, two grey barriers appeared on both of her sides.

    Both the monster performing pincer attacks were surprised by the sight, it was the first time Yuriel used her shield specialty fighting against them.

    However, both of these monsters'' dexterity must not be underestimated. They maneuvered in space, attacking from another side. The opening in Yuriel did not go unnoticed by both of them.

    Both flying steel drill fish elerated, moving at an unprecedented speed,pared to before. The drill on their head rotated faster and sharper, giving out a ferocious red glow.

    They went all out right after noticing their opponent''s weak point.

    The two monsters inched closer to Yuriel, having only a few meters of distance between each other.

    Boom!!!!

    A red explosion urred, forming a beutiful sight.

    The moment the explosion subsided, what appeared was the miserable sight of the fish monster. Numerous wounds appeared on them, with ckish blood floating on the space.

    The sight of what happened in thest moment shed through their heads.

    Suddenly the two great barriers moved around Yuriel, it was so fast that even these monsters, excelling in speed and flexibility could not react too.

    Immediately after gathering around Yuriel, one fused into Yuriel, guarding her body. While the other one split into two, moving towards this monster.

    Both of them were immediately wary of this weird grey barrier. It could change shape with a single thought and move at a speed that was hard to keep up, cing immense pressure on their mind.

    But it was toote.

    The barrier instantly shrunk, forming a spike, zooming right into the monster''s body.

    Then, dozens of spikes protruded from all around the monster''s body, which had white scales. By then, they had alreadye in contact with Yuriel''s body.

    Both of them acted like sinking fish, whose fins were cut. Just now, the spikes had destroyed many parts of their body, even the zypherus, which was used to move around in space, it was located right in the middle of their body.

    Looking at them, Yuriel''s eyes shed with coldness, two ethereal shes left her hand, directly beheading the two god-rank monsters.

    Seeing that there was still quite a bit of the enemy subordinate alive, Yuriel joined in to lower their number, along with Zick''s clone. These monsters were not a threat at all, they were taken care of easily.

    .....<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    With the intruder taken care of, Zick, who was controlling the clone and could not help but sigh softly to himself.

    ''I did not expect such an incident. Thankfully, just Yuriel and My clones were able to take care of it. If not, I would have to use world cores and return to the dream world, along with Arianell and Aurel.''

    Zick looked at the auction, having recovered most of his concentration. Arianell, who was beside him, tugged at his clothes curiously.

    "Ah, nothing to worry about. The monster who attacked our world has been taken care of. Has nothing caught your interest yet?" Zick slightly gazed at Arianell.

    "No. No space material or item has been presented from the beginning of the auction. This auction turned out to be such a low-level ce." Arianell disappointedly stared at the stage.

    "I guess... How about you?" Next, Zick turned to Aurel.

    She too shook her head, finding nothing of interest in the cautioned items. She had the same thought as her sister, causing her to feel the famous auction house was just a farce.

    Looking at both of their disappointed faces, Zick did not know what to say. He had kind of expected this oue, time and space material or anything rted to it was very rare.

    Even a famous auction house like this one did not have many of them. It was rare to see them, once every three years or even over five years.

    Zick was quite helpless on this matter too. Others could raise their battle strength, by using external means like weapons and such. But that was not possible for Arianell and Aurel.

    ''Creating strong technique is the only option for them, at least for now I guess.'' Zick concluded in his head and turned back to the auctioning stage.

    Material and items of the dark path were not hard to find. A few had already appeared on the stage, but they did not peek much of his interest.

    ''Most of the things here are very rare to get your hands on, however, the variety of them seems to be inclined to fire and wood, it seems like most of them came from two or one group.'' Zick was interested in who they were, but he did not stick his nose in something unnecessary.

    "Our next merchandise is a whole tribe of dark elves. We have personally checked, and almost all of them have deep bloodlines!"

    "2,367 male, 1,678 female, 400 children, and 300 elderly. The winner can check their bloodline and quantity before paying." The auctioneerforted the audience''s ufortability.

    ''Ohh...Dark elves.'' Zick''s interest was pulled by the new product.

    If the dark elves are used to cultivate dark materials, their production rate rises through the sky. Unfortunately, there were no dark elves in the dream world.

    Zick had killed almost all the dark elves, while he was fighting against the ancient dragon, in the desert of the Igmorous world, so he did not find any of them, even when he visited the ce.

    The local trade port of the dark faction did not have any dark elves in stock either.

    After a little deliberation, Zick decided to bid for the dark elves. He had high hopes of acquiring these dark elves too, no one would bid for them unless they were a dark element god.

    ''Well, I pretty much doubt there is something like chaotic element material. I will have to do with dark elements, which have high destructive power.''

 Chapter 250 Wolfs Tear

    ?

    "The gentleman from room 12 bids half a world core!" The auctioneer stated loudly, with solemnness all over his face. Half a world core for a tribe of dark elves was truly an overkill.

    But Zick did not mind, soon the low grade world core would be useless to him. And he was going to get a lot of it after joining the fifth elder, as a disciple.

    ''I should ce the dark elves in the subterranean realm. That is an ideal ce for them to grow, they will bring profit to me sooner orter.'' Zick did not care about finances a lot, but he still considered whether these dark elves could bring him results equivalent to how much he paid.

    And the answer was apparent.

    The dark elves were quite precious in his eyes. They were being close to darkness, the amount of change in the world and experimental profits were optimal.

    "Let''s go." Zick got up from his seat with no hesitation. He had the catalogue provided by the auction house, so he knew the items that would be presented in the future and none of them were useful to him.

    Zick had been waiting for the dark elves tribe to be advertised from the beginning.

    Arianell and Aurel followed Zick like chicks following their mother. Their dazzling appearance made many look at them, even among the dragon gods, their appearance was worth beholding.

    ''Sigh, I still can''t kill Taweir.'' Zickmented to himself.

    Taweir was the most probable suspect, who sold Zick out to the fifth elder. This caused killing intent to rise within Zick instantly, he just wanted to kill Taweir, even if he did not open his mouth.

    Nevertheless, Zick could not do such a thing.

    Taweir was not a stupid person,killing him would prove to be a challenging matter. Even if he seeded, the bacsh of his secret being found just made it a one way ticket to hell.

    Zick knew this, but he still felt horrible inside.

    "Haaa....." Zick breathed out loudly and rxed himself. Now that ite to this, Zick thought resolutely-

    ''lets be the best disciple under the fifth supreme elder. I can think of a way to break free from the deadlock then.'' Zick was never someone who wasted his time on something useless.

    Thinking on this matter would be useless.

    Stopping for a second, Zick turned around and faced his two daughters.

    "Do you want to be my disciple?" It was a question, but Zick knew the answer so he did not feel any tension at all.

    ""Yes!"" Arianell and Aurel answered instantly, in unison.

    Zick patted both of their heads after a long time. They had grown up and appeared 18 years old, but when he petted them like this, both of them acted the same as in the past.

    Their heads were low, savouring the warm feeling in their head.

    ''These two are very easy to sooth, truly. I look forward to their growth in the future.''

    The reason Zick wanted to add them off as his disciple was very simple. So that no one else takes them away. Once epted as a disciple, it was impossible to throw away the responsibility.

    ckmail was a possibility after all, the information of him being a dragon yer was just that effective against him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A sense of resistance rose within Zick, as he thought of the possibility of his daughters being taken away.

    ''They are very important to me, both on amercial and emotional level, I can''t lose them easily. Sacrificing them would be thest resort, the same as always.'' Zick walked after a brief family love sharing with the twin dragons.

    There was nothing further for Zick to do in the main trade port of the dragon n.

    After checking a few more things, Zick stayed only for a few more days and made his way back to the dream world.

    eaglesnov?1,��o�� The dark elves had already been transported to the dream realm.

    .....

    "This is the dream realm?" Varine looked at the grey fog before her.

    [Dream realm detected!]

    [Rank: D-

    Clearance reward: a minor rank up in profession( can be chosen autonomously)]

    Seeing this, Varine couldn''t help butin: ''Why is there nothing about the theme of the dream in it?! The priest said that all dreams have different wishes and the system would tell me when the timees.'' Varine felt nervous, cold sweat gathered on her back too.

    This was the benefit only the people blessed by the god of chaos could enjoy. Themon folks on the other hand have to find the purpose and requirement to clear the dream realm by themselves.

    The temple where Varine was sent to weed her with open hands. There was no leader of the priest in this temple, now it was temporarily taken up by her.

    Priests were beings who had to protect the natives of this world, from the dream realm. So they dispatched priests all over the ce, trying to clear the dream realm, before people were hurt...

    Or so how it is on the surface. Truthfully, the temple just wants to hold the power over the whole world.

    If the natives of the world cleared the dream world, they would be the one who would be strengthened by it. Once such an action turned normal, everyone in the world would try to enter the dream realm, toplete them and grow stronger.

    Then the scale of authority would definitely be swift. For such a thing to not happen, the chaos temple did everything they could to cover up the ability of the dream realms.

    A normal person would instantly die once they can''t clear the dream realm. However, it was different for the priest, their body was strong enough to withstand failure dozens of times.

    Breathing in and out to calm herself, Varine made her way to the dream realm, which floated around the ceiling of the basement.

    [Alert: Detected contact with dream realm.]

    [Falling into the dream: wolf''s tear.]

    Varine felt her vision go nk instantly.

    Not just her, all the people who were brought by Zick entered the dream realm for the first time.

 Chapter 251 Dungeon Cleared

    ?

    Heading back to the dream world, Zick suddenly received notification of Varine and the others entering a dream realm, also known as a dungeon, for the people with the system.

    Being the administrator, Zick decided to look at their action, through the system.

    Instantly a screen appeared before him, showing the live-action of Varine, even though he was traveling in the middle of nowhere in space.

    .....

    [Dungeon beginning]

    [The time of purification required to vanquish the dream realm: 20]

    [Quest needed to bepleted to purify the dungeon: Wolf''s tear.]

    [ 1. Kill the rose sword.

    2. Save the noble women of baron rellen.

    3. Save yourself.]

    ''Huh? Save yourself?'' Varine grew confused looking at thepletion requirement.

    Just as she recovered consciousness, A searing pain suddenly traveled through her waist.

    "Argh!!!" Not being ready, Varine screamed in a man''s voice.

    Startling herself, Varine momentarily forgot the pain and looked at herself. She had turned into a man in his twenties!

    After the sudden realization, another wave of pain hit her mind, making her stagger forward.

    Looking at the ce where the pain originated, there was a huge cut made from a razor-sharp object.

    "So this is all the famous lion swordsman amounted to?" A woman''s disappointed voice reached Varine from before her.

    Varine hurriedly looked forward.

    [Found target: Rose sword!]

    Looking at the notification, Varine''s expression grew grim.

    ''You want me to defeat her in this condition?! What is with this unreasonable dream realm?!'' Varine felt like quitting before even trying.

    Varine could vividly feel the strength of the woman before her, she was no match for her.

    "What happened? Why aren''t you speaking with that sharp tongue of yours?" Rose Sword stared at Varine mockingly.

    ''Think! Think!''

    Varine went through everything that the priest thought of her.

    ''That''s right! Fighting isn''t the only way. The dream realm never gives an impossible mission, so there must be a way around it.'' Varine looked around frantically, ignoring Rose sword''s existence.

    Both Varine and Rose Sword stood in a hall, overly exaggerated sculptures were all over the ce. At first nce the marble was of first ss, shining brightly, enough to blind the eyes.

    "Are you not going to attack? What a disappointment...Wait, if I kill your wife, you might show me something above your limit." Rose Sword smiled wickedly, not hiding her intentions in any way.

    Varine involuntarily turned to the woman, who stood multiple meters behind him. She had a petite body, with short brown hair and crimson eyes, zing in a fierce light.

    [ Target: Noble women of baron Rellen.]

    ''Barron Rellen, so I have to save her...'' Varine squinted her eyes.

    Suddenly, Varine felt the control of the body slip by her hand.

    "You bitch! Do you dare toy hands on my wife?! You must have a death wish!" The man jumped towards Rose with no hesitation.

    "Hahaha, that is more like it."

    Both of their swords shone brightly, in bloody light. shing with each other with murderous expressions.

    At that moment, the control of the body was returned to Varine, making her shocked, and freezing her train of thought.

    What the hell?! How can you do this to me, brother?

    You provoke this woman, and when the timees to fight, you just vanish off in thin air?

    ''...coward''

    Varine didn''t know whether to cry orugh, she just felt horrible internally.

    Puchi~

    Not having much experience with swords, Rose''s sword entered Varine''s neck with ease.

    [You died.]

    [Resetting the dungeon.]

    [Entering the dungeon.]

    [Chances left before death: two]

    ....

    Zick, who was looking at Varine, shook his head in disappointment internally.

    Vatine had not been able to even adapt to the new body in time. She couldn''t even get the time to n either, the chances of her failing were almost assured.

    Leaving aside Varine, Seveleen, Philine, Leona, and Anastasia were steadily progressing through the dream realm, clearing it with no issue.

    Zick twisted his lips in wonder, Varine might just die if this went on.

    ''I will send a helping hand for now. It''s her first time, so it can''t be helped. But still, I shouldn''t clear it for her, she needs to learn too.'' Zick controlled the system interface, reaching this point in consideration.

    ...

    "Psshh...." Varine breathed in sharply again, feeling the pain.

    Seeing the same scene y out before her, Varine suddenly found herself incapable of thinking. It was like her mind was frozen, almost bing a retard.

    The pain from before was just too vivid.

    [The system assistance mod has been activated.]

    [Sword and Mana maniption attainment increased to master rank temporarily.]

    All kinds of information flowed into Varine''s mind, making her ck out.

    Light returned to Varine''s eyes rapidly, looking at the notification of the system. It turned out there was such a function in the system!

    With the mastery of a sword, Varine could fight on the same level as the Rose women.

    "Tsk! If I kill your wife...."

    The same storylines went on and on. Knowing the time was nearing, Varine grew tense.

    ''Now.'' Varine shed her sword at Rose''s face with no hesitation.

    Block!

    It was surprisingly blocked, but Rose showed an astonished expression, before smiling again.

    Varine moved her body instinctively, attacking any opening she saw, while perfectly defending herself too. It was like she had be a different person. No hesitation, no mistakes in her stance, and her sword danced in the air.

    "What the...." Those couldn''t take it and tried cursing, only to have a cut made on her left cheek.

    ''This shit ain''t the lion swordsman!'' Rose took a defensive stance.

    Just an unbelievable amount of sword skill was tantly pushing Rose to the limit. It was simple yet frighteningly hard to fight against.

    It was like Varine could predict all of her attacks beforehand,ing up with the best countermeasure.

    Slowly wounds umted on Rose''s body, and being killed by Varine atst.

    [Dungeon cleared]

    [All the requirement has been cleared: 100�G]

    [Additional reward shall be granted to the host.]

    [.....Calcted!]

    [Two minor ranks up in the profession and A skill �� Intimidating aura]

    Varine felt a strange power crossing through her body, it was the terror force of the dream world.

    Getting out of the dream, Varine could see the gray mist shrinking noticeably to an extent, before stopping.

    Varine''s profession, shadow lurker, which was ranked C-, directly shot up to rank C+. She couldpletely tell the difference from before.

 Chapter 252 Arianells Ascension

    ?

    Thinking for a second, Zick took out the space shuttle, which was in the shape of a jet though t.

    This was the flying device that he brought from the dragon n''s main world. It cost him a hefty amount of the n''s contribution points.

    Thankfully, Zick had arge number of contribution points. He got a lot after agreeing to be a disciple of the fifth supreme elder. He brought some weapon he could use or he could give to his subordinate along the way too.

    Arianell and Aurel got on the shuttle and sat beside Zick. At once, they rocketed forward at a speed unprecedented in the past

    ''It stands up to its reputation in the end. I can feel my divinity consumed in a slightlyrge amount, but it is nothing to fret over.'' Zick was overall satisfied with this new traveling device.

    "Father, I feel that I will ascend to godhood if I absorb a world core now." Arianell looked straight into Zick''s eyes.

    Hearing her voice, surprise passed through Zick''s face. He didn''t think it would be this soon, it seemed like Arianell experienced a huge advancement recently.

    "Okay." Zick decided to give a low-rank world core to her with no hesitation. He was very much looking forward to Arianell''s power-up.

    Holding the world core, Arianell stared at Zick with confusion.

    Looking at her, Zick understood what she wanted to know immediately.

    "There isn''t any particr process while ascending to the god rank. Your quasi-divinity will evolve by itself after you absorb the world core." Zick exined patiently.

    That was what happened to Zick too, he had easily broken through after absorbing the world''s core.

    The only requirement was to have no foreign substance present in the body, besides the one originating from a higher form of energy and the soul.

    Arianell nodded her head quickly and looked at the world core closely. Slowly, divinity left the core and traveled to her body, affecting the quasi-divinity.

    Aurel tapped at Arianell''s back, at once elerating the time around her. Within three seconds, the process waspleted.

    Aurel''s time maniption was really a cheat, it made many things very convenient.

    Feeling the changes in Arianell''s presence, Zick was sure that she had ascended to the god rank. She was in the same rank as him now, though it wouldn''t be long before he became a great god.

    "Hmm?" Suddenly, Zick felt an inexplicable burning pain in his palm. To a normal person, this pain would have made them scream and roll around on the floor, but to Zick, it was no different than a bug bite.

    Zick was very used to pain that even many gods could notpare to him. It was all thanks to his regenerative power, which made him fight in a self-destructive manner.

    Zick closely looked at his palm, a mark began appearing upon it, with a faint familiar presence being released from it.

    ''It''s Arianell''s presence...What exactly is this?''

    Sending his divinity into it, Zick felt Arianell''s very being.

    ''This...If I use this, I can kill her with a simple thought.'' Zick looked at Arianell with confusion.

    Suddenly, Arianell hugged Zick tightly, she had grown up, but her actions had not changed. But still, there was a strange sensation in her hug, it was as if she wouldn''t ever let go of him.

    "What exactly did you experience while ascending to god rank?" Zick was keen to understand that something happened.

    "I had a dream and in it, Father died," Arianell said in simple words, but they carried heavy emotions with them.

    Zick wanted to think of it as nothing, but couldn''t help but be cautious.

    Aurel, as if it was unfair for only Arianell to hug Zick, she embraced him from the side too, enjoying the warmth.

    "Tell me in detail." Zick seriously spoke, not pushing away both of them.

    "It was 100 years from now, I don''t know how, but Father died." Arianell hugged Zick tighter saying this.

    ''Now, what nonsense is this? Sigh...It''s 100 yearster, so I will just have to elerate all of my current ns so that I can change whatever happened then.'' Zick still decided resolutely. He was never the kind of person who took chances.

    Communicating using the device the dragon n gave, Zick asked what exactly was the meaning of the strange mark in his palm.

    He soon received a reply.

    ''I see, so when a dragon pledges their life or loves another, as a sign they give their soul mark to the partner. It is only possible once they be a god, huh?'' Zick got a basic understanding by reading the reply.

    "Ah...stop crying now, you have grown uppared to before." Zick flicked the tears off Arianell''s cheek. It was really a surprise to see her crying after such a long time.

    Calming Arianell down, Zick decided to let her sleep in hisp for a while to rx.

    ''Is the dream she saw true? She seems to have experienced it more vividly than I thought. Only that would exin her reaction.'' Zick softly patted Arianell''s head, while thinking nonstop.

    One thing after another sprung itself onto Zick, making him feel tired.

    ''No point in thinking about it. I should take a rest too.'' Zick began cultivating his divinity core, training was resting for him!

    Time went by quickly, after flying in the endless space for who knows how long, Arianell woke up.

    Feeling a soft feeling touching her cheek, Arianell was immediately sure it was Zick''s thigh. She began acting like she was asleep like nothing.

    "You can''t fool me, get up now." Zick tapped on Arianell''s cheek.

    Opening her eyes, Arianell unwillingly got off Zick''s thigh.

    "You seem alright now, let''s see what you are capable of now. Can you teleport with the two of us to the dream world?" Zick questioned with interest.

    Closing her eyes, Arianell began feeling the limit of her power and its range. Her space element divinity had a violet form, appearing extremely beutiful.

    "It''s possible." Arianell revealed a rare smile.

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