《This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange》


 Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Affinity Test

    Kain had been waiting for this day ever since he was reborn into this world 10 years ago.


    Unlike in his original world, in this world, a select number of individuals could awaken an affinity for and bind with certain spiritual creatures.


    Today is the day he would find out if he had what it takes to become a beast tamer. Otherwise, he''d have to be satisfied with a life of mediocrity as an ordinary person.


    ''There''s no way,'' Kain thought. ''There''s no way I''d be brought to this world, bound to a system, and not have any affinity.''


    ''If anything, as a transmigrator I should have an epic affinity like to dragons, or an epic elemental affinity like space or time.''


    ''Hey System! Is there anything you can tell me?''


    ''��''


    Unfortunately, the system was silent as always. He wouldn''t even know it existed if it didn''t announce its existence when he first woke up in this body. The only remaining evidence of its existence being a glowing egg floating in space that he could see whenever he closed his eyes.


    ''Hopefully, you activate once the affinity ceremony is over with.''


    With that thought, Kain moved forward even more anxiously with the long line of other high school seniors.


    Huff


    Looking around, some, like his best friend Bridge, looked like they would faint from the nervousness, while others, the legacies, appeared calm.


    Huff


    The ability to bind spiritual creatures is partially hereditary. Since the legacies'' parents were all beast tamers, they should also awaken an affinity, even if the quality is poor.


    Kain and Bridge on the other hand live together in the local orphanage. Whether either of them has even one parent with an affinity is a complete mystery.


    In fact, Bridge doesn''t even know his real name, only named as such because that''s where the orphanage director found him.


    Huff


    "Bridge, can you stop panting like a god damned dog! We haven''t even walked that far!" Kain was finally fed up with trying to tune out the heavy breathing of the large baby-faced boy next to him.


    "I can''t help it Kain, what if I don''t have any affinity? My grades aren''t as good as yours, so I can''t try to enter a college through an academic major and once we turn 18, the orphanage director might kick us out" Bridge looked at Kain with tears pooling in his eyes.


    Kain''s heart immediately softened. After all, they were each other''s closest thing to family. "Really, how can someone with the body of a football player like you, be such a crybaby? I''m sure you''ll have an affinity. Probably not as cool as mine, but you definitely will!"


    Bridge looked a little comforted by Kain''s word. Despite being the same age, Kain had always seemed like a reliable older brother and he''s never steered him wrong before.


    "What''s football? You always say the strangest things. Do you really not remember anything before you entered the orphanage 10 years ago?"


    "Nope. Nothing." They continued walking forward in silence.


    Finally, they entered the doors of a large building similar to a cathedral, with intricate carvings of creatures similar to what existed on Earth, and completely new ones, all over the stone exterior.


    Above, there was a glass ceiling, allowing the starlight to come down and touch the figures of all the seated children. sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Affinity Test (2)

    "Congratulations my students!" Above was the Principal of the local academy #1200, Principal Waters.


    Obviously, whoever named the schools in this world has the same naming sense as Kain''s orphanage director.


    "This year we''ve had a record number of students achieve the required spiritual power to undergo the affinity ceremony and hopefully become beast tamers" He said with his bushy grey brows twitching constantly from joy.


    After all, the more of his students successfully awaken an affinity, the higher the school''s funding will be next year. Along with his salary, most likely.


    "Now, although not all of you will awaken an affinity. Do not be disheartened. There are still many prestigious careers for non-beast tamers: pharmacists, blacksmiths, and above all the evolutionary planners."


    ''True. It''d be considered great if even a third of these students awaken an affinity. Which is why no matter how certain I feel I am to awaken an affinity, I still took all of my academic courses seriously.'' Thought Kain. ''Although, I have already experienced normal college life in an academic major, and it is not something I want to do a second time.


    The tiring labs, taking notes, being yelled at by my Supervisor. No way I want to do that again! Especially not in a world as fascinating as this one''


    "Now, the ceremony will begin shortly. Although, some of you may already know what to expect from your family members'' past experiences. I hope you all will listen carefully."


    Kain and Bridge sat up straighter. They had absolutely nobody to tell them what the ceremony was like. The orphanage director was just an ordinary man whose spiritual power didn''t even meet the requirements to enter the ceremony.


    "From your first year at the academy, we had taught you the technique on how to collect spiritual power from the stars until your soul was fully saturated. While this first step is easily achieved by even children, the requirement to partake in the ceremony is to condense all of the gaseous spiritual power in your soul into a sphere, a star, that does not unravel without your conscious effort.


    This star will be the home for your first contract. The goal of the affinity ceremony is to mold this star into the most optimal environment for this contract."


    "Once the ceremony begins, you will enter a space. If you possess an affinity you will see it''s appearance in the form of an egg. Once this egg hatches, its form will reveal your affinity and fuse with your star, transforming it into an environment inhabitable by only a select number of creatures �C those matching your affinity. sea??h th�� N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once you bind to your first contract, the star will further continue to grow and transform with your spirit creature to its most optimal habitat. Meaning that every individual''s star is unique, regardless of whether the contract species is the same."


    "Now, some of you will have very narrow affinities, allowing you to only bind a small number of creatures, for example, three years ago we had a student whose affinity was to ice-attribute goldfish, achieving only an F-rating."


    There were some snickers, particularly from the legacies. Goldfish were a notoriously weak species, not to mention this student could only bind to an ice- attribute mutant that could probably only cool down drinks for its beast tamer. However, at least this student awakened an affinity.


    "Others may awaken affinities to whole elemental attributes or beast-types or even multiple affinities. Just two nights ago at high school # 1011''s affinity ceremony, a student achieved an S-rating. After today, the next S-rating in our great Celestial Empire, and the first in over a decade from our Brightstar City may be one of you."


    At his words, several of the more confident students puffed their chests out with pride.


    ''Good luck!'' Kain thought. ''There''s rarely more than 30 students with an S-rating in a given year.''


    "I don''t need an S-rating," Bridge said shakily. "All I need is a B, to have a shot at entering a top college''s beast taming department. Getting a C or D-rating to enter lower-tier colleges would also be okay. I can''t afford to be picky"


    "You will, don''t worry." Kain said, patting Bridge on the back. Trying to convey confidence he didn''t feel into his voice. After all, although genetics are a major component on whether you can awaken an affinity, one''s mentality is probably the next most important.


    Principal Waters continued, "Clear your mind, and you should instinctively be drawn towards your affinity in that empty space. This year is your best chance, with each additional attempt greatly decreasing your chances of awakening an affinity, last year less than 10 repeat students in the entire empire awakened an affinity.


    After the third chance, the strain on your soul will not allow for a fourth try."


    "Teachers please join me on stage and we will begin the ceremony."


    While the teachers moved to the stage, the principal revealed a large statue of a humanoid creature with childish features, gills on its neck, and webbed fingers and toes. Strangely, it was shown playing an instrument similar to the violin. It was a creature Kain had never seen before in any of his textbooks.


    The teachers placed their hands on the statue while channelling their spiritual power. Engravings around the base of the statue lit up. Prompting a beautiful melody to ring through the air.


    ''I see. So the spell of this creature is what makes the ceremony possible.'' Kain thought before sinking into darkness.

 Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Affinity Test (3)

    Although an awakening rate of around 20 to 30% seems low, it is many times greater than the awakening rate before the Empire was established and awakening ceremonies were conducted. Among millions of individuals, it would be considered lucky if even one could enter this space to awaken independently.


    Although such individuals would be considered the absolute best among the talents today. Probably even above the S-rating given out nowadays. Astronomical talents at the level of the Empire''s five founders.


    Thankfully, the ceremony was developed after discovering a creature that possessed a skill able to forcefully drag individuals into this space, even if their talent was greatly lacking.


    Opening his eyes, Kain was distraught when he realized there was nothing around him.


    ''Calm down Kain. Principal Waters said that I should feel a pull to where my affinity is located. Don''t lose hope yet.''


    Slowing his breathing, Kain decided to close his eyes while feeling for any kind of draw forward.


    ''There!'' Kain almost wanted to sprint towards the faint draw he felt in anxiety, but managed to remain calm and keep walking forward with his eyes closed so as to not lose the feeling. After all, it''s not like there''s anything harmful he could bump into around here.


    After what felt like an eternity, Kain finally felt the pull strong enough that it no longer required intense concentration to feel. He opened his eyes while dashing forward.


    ''Damn this is all only in my head, but I feel as though I''m running a marathon. Just when will I see it.''


    Finally, in the distance, Kain was able to see the first bit of light since he had entered. Rejuvenated, Kain sprinted as though he had been given a performance-enhancing drug.


    Finally he was before the most beautiful egg he had ever seen, and right next to it was another, and another, and another�� a quick look around revealed at least a dozen eggs. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Yes! I knew it!'' Kain wanted to jump and scream for joy.


    ''How could I, a transmigrator, with a system no less, live a life of mediocrity? I must be the greatest talent this world has ever seen.''


    ''What are in these? Why are there so many? Is it a collection of all this world''s mythical creatures?''


    While imagining a beautiful future in which beautiful water sprites prepared his bath in morning, his breakfast prepared over his phoenix''s fire, and then making a grand entrance to the college every morning on his dragon''s back, Kain began shiver in ecstasy.


    ''I hope my real body doesn''t have a nosebleed or some other kind of physical manifestation of all this��excitement.''


    ''Which should I absorb first? Will the first be a dragon?! Ah, it doesn''t matter, they''re all mine anyway''


    And with that thought and shaking fingers, Kain reached towards the closest egg.

 Chapter 4: Chapter 4: My Affinity is...?

    Filled with anticipation, Kain placed his hand on the surface of the egg. It was cool and smooth to the touch.


    Strangely though, the moment contact was made his whole body felt as though an electric current was running through it.


    ''Yes! This feeling! The electrifying feeling of this world''s strongest beast tamer''


    Crack


    Fine lines began to appear on the surface of the egg.


    Crack Crack


    ''Come on! Come on! Come on my beautiful dragon!''


    Crack


    ''Beautiful water nymph come to me!''


    Crack


    ''Epic mythical creature of time and space, come to Papa!''


    Crash


    All of the eggshells fell away to reveal��


    Nothing.


    ''Huh?'' Kain''s face stretched into a large grin froze.


    ''Come out little guy! Are you hiding?'' Kain looked around in puzzlement.


    ''Maybe you''re super small? Like a fairy or something?'' Thinking so, he began to lift all of the egg shell pieces on the ground. Still nothing.


    ''Okay, I will figure out what is supposed to be in that one later��On to the next one I guess''


    Moving to the next closest egg, Kain stretched out his hand to the same electrifying feeling. Sear?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Please be something good this time!''


    ''Come on my beautiful majestic phoenix!''


    ��Nothing. Again there was an empty egg. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Kain reached out to the third egg.


    ''Come on lion! King of the jungle!''


    Nothing.


    He reached for the next egg.


    ''Come on elemental affinity! Any would do!''


    Nothing.


    The next egg��


    ''Come on wolf affinity!''


    Nothing.


    ��


    ''Come on cat affinity��''


    Nothing.


    ��


    ''Ice goldfish affinity?''


    Still nothing��


    While opening all of the eggs, Kain fell deeper and deeper into despair.


    ''Do I not actually possess any affinity? But that can''t be true. People with no affinity just have an empty space. Why have affinity eggs if they''re all empty?! Is this some kind of joke?!''


    ''System! Help me! I''m in the process of awakening now so activate and help! Tell me what''s going on!''


    ��


    Like always, the System gave Kain no help, no response. Nothing. Just like his affinity eggs.


    Falling to his knees, he was on the verge of tears.


    Suddenly, the pieces of egg shells all around began to dissolve into small particles before floating to Kain and getting absorbed into the white star in his body. Gradually, the appearance of his star began to change. The process was excruciatingly slow, but Kain could feel that there were definite changes.


    ''So I do have an affinity! I just have no idea what it is��''

 Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Affinity Rating Results

    Outside


    "C-rating, undisclosed" Called one of the homeroom teachers in an open area of the hall next to an instrument meant to assess the affinity of newly awakened students. While another recorded the rating next to the student''s name.


    For the privacy of students, it does not inform the teacher of the exact details of a student''s affinity. Therefore, it is up to the students if they''d like to disclose this information.


    However, it can obtain vague information on whether a student has an elemental affinity, species affinity, the strength of the creature they can bind, and how broad each affinity is. The broader a student''s affinity, the more types of creatures they can bind and the potential of the bound creatures determines a students rating. S��ar?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A student that can bind any type of ice attribute spiritual creature, would have greater potential than one who could only bind ice- attribute cat spiritual creatures. After all the number of species that meet that criteria is quite limited.


    A student that can bind to any lizard type, or better yet all reptile-type creatures, would be rated higher than one who can only bind to geckos.


    Of course, there are exceptions. A student that can only bind fire- attribute dragons would likely still achieve an A-rating simply by the fact that they possess a rare affinity for the powerful dragons.


    However, a student with a low-rated affinity could still achieve great things if they manage to bind an extraordinarily strong creature that meets the conditions of their affinity.


    Additionally, a student that awakens a powerful gift may also have an ability to change their fate, but not even one in 500 awakened may manifest a gift, and most of them are useless.


    The rating of one''s affinity, while an accurate predictor of how likely a student is to achieve success, is not a 100% accurate foretelling of their future.


    "No affinity"


    "D-rating, undisclosed"


    "No affinity"


    "No affinity"


    "No affinity"


    "No affinity"


    "A-rating, feline affinity!!!" At the sudden noticeable change in the teacher''s voice, everyone in the building glanced over. After all, out of the 98 students qualified to undergo the awakening ceremony, so far 58 were unawakened with no affinity, 19 were rated D or less, 10 were rated C, 4 were rated B, and the only A rating so far is this one.


    "He''s probably the one with the highest affinity today." Said one of the legacy students with a C-rating, voice filled with envy.


    "Maybe not, there are still 6 people that haven''t woken up yet." Said another C-rating non-legacy who was just happy to awaken an affinity at all.


    "Oh please," snorted the legacy, "if they are taking this long to wake up they probably don''t have any affinity and are just futilely looking for an affinity egg until their mental strength is exhausted and they''re ejected from the space."


    Bridge''s heart dropped upon hearing those words. He had been so happy to find out that he had a B-rated affinity and had a chance at entering a top college that he hadn''t even considered what Kain not waking up yet could mean.


    ''Please Kain! Please have an affinity!''


    "He''s up!" Someone shouted. Bridge rushed over to where the other students were all gathered.

 Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Affinity Rating Results (2)

    Unfortunately, since those not awake were moved to a corner of the hall to avoid disturbing them and so that those awake could mingle, Bridge couldn''t tell from the location of the chair if the student was Kain.


    Fortunately, with his height, Bridge was able to easily see over the sea of heads to the student that just woke up.


    "It''s not Kain," Bridge whispered with his shoulders slumping.


    "He''s also not likely awakened any affinity if the tears in his eyes are anything to go by." Said a student with no affinity standing next to him who looked at the crying student with empathy.


    Realizing he had no affinity to test, all of the remaining students walked away without a second glance. After all, he''s the 59th student with no affinity so far, and they all react the same way��by crying pitifully. Unfortunately, making this a sight that all teachers and students have grown accustomed to.


    A teacher, likely that student''s homeroom teacher, went over to comfort him, and likely to confirm that he has no affinity to be recorded.


    "Like I said, any student that hasn''t woken up yet has no affinity. Why do we have to even wait for everyone to wake up before concluding the ceremony? We should just leave those talentless losers here and leave," said the C-rated legacy.


    "Shut up!" yelled Bridge. However, the next second he was shocked by his outburst. He never would have dreamed of saying that to a legacy in the past. But he couldn''t stand how he was talking about Kain. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Tsk, whatever." The legacy muttered before walking away.


    At first Bridge was surprised that someone so cocky and from an influential family would back down from him, an orphan. However, upon looking around Bridge got his answer.


    There were 2 conspicuous areas of space everyone else was giving a wide berth. Each only occupied by students with ratings B or higher that were sitting in groups. Students that still had a chance to enter one of the nation''s top 5 colleges.


    Scratch that. There were THREE isolated areas, one with Bridge alone. That''s when he realized that his fate, and the treatment he would receive has already changed forever.


    "Look another one woke up over there!" Anxiously Bridge looked where the finger was pointed, but instantly he knew it wasn''t Kain. After all it was a girl. And not just any girl, Heather Frost. One of the legacies. Unquestionably, the most famous legacy in the school, both beautiful and rich. Supposedly her family is even a distant branch of one of the most powerful families in the empire.


    A family descended from one of the five founders no less.


    Surprisingly, like the previous individual that awoke, she was also crying. However, that didn''t last long before her delicate features twisted with pure rage and she gave the most blood-curdling scream while smashing the chair she was sitting on.


    "Argh! I don''t believe this! I don''t believe this! That bitch! I don''t believe that bitch could awaken as she did and I can''t at this goddamned ceremony!"


    "Miss Frost, please compose yourself!" Yelled her homeroom teacher, Mr. Evergreen. One of the few teachers without an affinity, but was able to get this position due to his being admitted into one of the top 5 colleges based on his academic entrance exam scores alone.


    Mr. Evergreen reached to restrain her.


    Smack


    Everyone stared in shock as the teacher''s left cheek turned bright pink.


    "Don''t touch me you affinity-less trash! Learning from you probably did this to me!"


    "She''s lost it!" One of the D-rated students snickered. A non-legacy that never would have dared to even look in her direction just yesterday.


    ''The results of the awakening ceremony really determine how you''re treated in life huh,'' thought Bridge.


    "MISS FROST!!! RESTRAIN YOURSELF THIS INSTANT" Yelled the Principal. The spiritual power coming from a three-star beast tamer that was injected into his voice caused several of the weaker students to even drop to their knees.


    "Your behaviour is absolutely unacceptable and we will be reporting your conduct to Mr and Mrs Frost." He said, before dragging out a now subdued Heather with streaks of tears running from her piercing blue eyes and her long dark hair covering her face.


    "And then there were four��" Drawled Nigel, one of the few B-rated students, before everyone turned to look at the four individuals still sitting with their eyes still closed.


    ''Come on Kain!''

 Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Affinity Rating Results (3)

    Kain''s mental space


    After a while, the changes Kain felt in his star halted.


    But not because it was finished. Likely, because multiple eggs were absorbed the final environment of his first star will conform to what best suits his first contract.


    Unfortunately, he has no idea what the first contract could be and the environment is too muddled for him to even sense what direction he should go in to find a suitable contract.


    Looking around at the now empty space and sensing if there were any more pulls into the distance, Kain confirmed that there was nothing left for him here.


    ''I guess I should leave now, huh?'' Kain thought, disappointed that there was nothing else here that could give him an answer as to what his affinity is.


    ''How do I leave though? The principal did not cover that''


    Suddenly Kain felt a much stronger pull, although not in any particular direction. Relaxing, he closed his eyes and chose to let the feeling consume him.


    "I think that one''s waking up!" Shouted an unfamiliar voice.


    Opening his eyes Kain was able to immediately spot the brown curly hair belonging to Bridge as he used his massive body to barrel his way towards him.


    "Whoa! Calm down! You''re going to crush me to death!" Kain yelled in fear.


    However, after he wrapped his massive arms around him, Kain could feel him shivering.


    "Please tell me that you have an affinity, Kain. Please!"


    Feeling his shoulder now soaked with tears, Kain patted Bridge on the back. "I did awaken Bridge, don''t worry" he whispered. ''Although I don''t know what it is''


    Leaning back, with his hands still on his shoulders Bridge''s green teary eyes searched Kain''s calm brown ones to see if he was telling the truth. Whatever he saw made him collapse in relief. Before breaking out into a wide grin. "That means our orphanage has two individuals with an affinity!" sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instantly Kain forgot about his own issues regarding his affinity. "You too?!"


    Bridge puffed out his chest, "I received a B-rating"


    Before Kain could celebrate further with his brother, they were interrupted.


    "You''ve awakened an affinity, Kain?" Asked Mr. Evergreen as he approached from behind Bridge.


    "Yes sir"


    Mr. Evergreen instantly looked ecstatic. Kain was his star pupil, and although he was certain that he could enter a top school by the academic exam alone, he knew first-hand how many doors open once one has an affinity. Even if it is only a D-ranked one.


    "Let''s go get you tested" He said, as he led him towards the testing machine, Bridge following closely behind.


    "Please place your hands here and channel your spiritual power into the machine" Directed another teacher Kain was unfamiliar with.


    As Kain reached forward as directed he was incredibly nervous. He had no idea what his affinity was, so he had no benchmark for what his rating might be.


    Also, he could feel over 100 pairs of eyes coming from teachers and students baring into the back of his head.


    Channelling his meagre amount of spiritual power into the machine, Kain waited for his results.

 Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Affinity Rating Results (4)

    Kain waited anxiously for the machine to finally read out his results.


    Beep


    The unfamiliar teacher went to read out the results while Kain, Mr. Evergreen, and Bridge waited anxiously.


    ��


    And waited��


    ��


    And waited��


    Ahem. Mr. Evergreen cleared his throat. "Mr. Coal, would you please be so kind as to inform Kain of his result��"


    Still silence.


    Kain fingers began to riffle through his black locks anxiously. Thankfully, the fed up Mr. Evergreen moved to look at the monitor on the instrument. However, aside from widening his eyes, he also remained silent.


    "Mr. Evergreen."


    ��


    "Mr. Evergreen!!!"


    Startled, his homeroom teacher finally collected himself.


    "Sorry, Kain. I-i-i-it''s an S-rating."


    "What?"


    "An S-rating Kain!"


    Immediately the crowd of onlooking students burst into loud chatter while the remaining teachers ran over to confirm it for themselves.


    Among the students staring at him with envy, and some fear, was Bridge tearfully giving a dimply grin so wide as if it had just been his rating read out.


    Feeling a shiver down his spine, Kain turned to see the returning principal. One of the teachers must have informed him of his rating, because he began to stalk towards Kain with an amorous look in his eyes that he would never want to receive from a middle-aged man.


    Once he reached Kain he began to touch and squeeze various areas of Kain''s body. Had he not been significantly stronger than him, he would have already received a fist to his lecherous eyes.


    "You��" Principal Waters said while gently cupping Kain''s face, "You�� are the first S-rated student in our school''s history. And I am the principal responsible for nurturing you!"


    ''Not really. This is like the fourth time I''ve seen you in my life.'' Kain struggled to not to roll his eyes, as he was forced to stare into the Principal''s eyes which had practically transformed into dollar signs.


    "I''m going to buy a new house��with a pool��a new car too�� I heard that luxury brand just came out with a new model��hehehe hehe" Waters muttered to himself as he walked away to where the other teachers were surrounding the machine.


    After all of the teachers had confirmed his rating, the one responsible for his reading, Mr. Coal, and his homeroom teacher, Mr. Evergreen, approached him.


    "Congratulations Kain," said Coal "Would you like to disclose your affinity?"


    Immediately the surroundings quieted down as everyone curiously waited to hear what affinity would grant an S-rating.


    ''Sorry I can''t satisfy your curiosity since I don''t know either.''


    "I wish to keep it undisclosed" Replied Kain as he immediately heard sighs of disappointment all around him.


    "Smart choice. The less people know about your affinity their ability to target you declines. A lot of students, caught up in the pride of an S-rating would loudly proclaim their affinity. I am so glad you could keep a level head. You truly are my star pupil!" Mr. Evergreen patted him on the back before both teachers walked away.


    Suddenly Kain felt large arms surrounding him, squeezing tightly. It was Bridge.


    "An S-rating Kain! I can''t believe it!" sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yeah me neither��"

 Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Affinity Ceremony Ends

    "This has been the most successful Affinity Ceremony in our academy''s history!" Stated the principal in the closing speeches once the remaining 3 students after Kain, all without an affinity, opened their eyes. "We have an astonishing 36% success rate, as well as our first ever student an affinity rating of S." The principal''s eyebrows twitched repeatedly in happiness, tears pooled in his eyes.


    Kain squirmed awkwardly in his seat while all of the eyes in the hall turned towards him.


    "For those of you that were unable to awaken an affinity, do not be discouraged! There are a variety of very lucrative career paths for you to choose. In fact, many of you unawakened may prove to be more successful than your awakened peers."


    "For those of you that do possess an affinity, do not be content. Now is when the real hard work begins. If you hope to have some measure of success as a beast tamer and be strong enough to leave city walls to enter the wilderness unaccompanied, you would typically need to become at least a 3-star level tamer.


    However, of the 35 of you who can become beast tamers, less than half of you will likely ever reach such a level."


    "However, our school is willing to give you a head start on your journey. Those who wish can follow me once the ceremony has concluded to select your contract from among what the breeders at our school have to offer."


    The majority of the newly awakened students let out a loud cheer. After all, spiritual creatures, even the weakest of them, are notoriously expensive. For orphans like Kain and Bridge this opportunity was an absolute godsend.


    However, the legacy students look unmoved. The quality of potential contracts that the school can provide would obviously greatly pale in comparison to what their own families could provide.


    After concluding his speech, all of the unawakened and legacies left, 24 of the remaining students followed a teacher towards where the school''s breeding grounds were located. Bridge and Kain being the only ones with a rating of B or higher to stay.


    "What are you planning to bind Kain?" Bridge asked, practically shivering from excitement.


    ''I don''t even know what I CAN bind,'' Kain thought.


    "Not sure. I''m not even sure if they will have anything suitable for me once we enter"


    "Figures. An S-rating like you probably needs to bind something like a dragon or phoenix, huh?" Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain flinched as his friend unintentionally dug into the wounds of his crushed dreams.


    "Let''s talk about this later at home," Kain managed to grit out through tears.


    "Of course! Of course. But Kain, can you please help me with my first contract?"


    "Are you sure, Bridge? This is a pretty big decision to entrust to somebody else."


    "Absolutely sure! After all, the first contract position will have a big impact on whether I can go to a top college or not, and I can''t think of anyone I trust more than you who is as knowledgeable as you about spiritual creatures. You have the top theoretical exam scores in our year for a reason."


    Suddenly burdened with a decision that could completely alter the course of his friend''s life, Kain nodded solemnly and entered the breeding hall with Bridge.


    "What''s your affinity anyways?"


    "Wolves"

 Chapter 10: Chapter 10: The Importance of Quality

    The quality of spiritual beasts can be divided into levels:


    Black Iron beasts are the least talented with the lowest upper-limit in strength. They are only slightly better than ordinary beasts which have no spiritual power. No beast tamer would bind to one unless under extraordinary circumstances. Their potential, without evolving, is also very low, likely never graduating from the lowest white spiritual power, to red.


    Bronze beasts have decent fighting power. However, their abilities are really only effective at the one-star level, while their potential without evolving allows them to eventually condense red-grade spiritual power, corresponding to a human''s 2-star level of power. Although they may go one level higher to orange-grade spiritual power with some luck.


    Similarly, Silver quality beasts normally can reach a strength level of orange-grade spiritual power, corresponding to 3-star humans, and yellow-grade spiritual power with some luck and hard work.


    For even higher quality beasts, those Gold and above, they are impossible for the academy to possess. Heck, there may not be a single Gold-quality beast in this entire city. They are exceptionally rare and usually only possessed by beast tamers above 4-stars.


    As for beasts above Gold-quality, they are completely in Kain''s blind spot. He will likely need to enter one of the top 5 colleges to even have a hope of ever seeing one.


    Knowing this, Kain''s goal for Bridge would be to find a suitable Bronze-quality beast with decent evolutionary potential, it is unlikely that the school would possess a single Silver quality one.


    Entering the breeding grounds Kain was fascinated by the many spiritual creatures that he had only gotten to see in textbooks so far. S��ar?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, after the novelty wore off Kain got down to business and began to look for a suitable first contract for Bridge.


    After looking at all of the cages, Kain was pleasantly surprised to find that the school had quite a large collection of young spiritual beasts��over 200.


    However, only 5 of them were wolf-types, two of which were Black Iron quality Sand Wolves, likely littermates. Of the remaining 3, all were Bronze-quality. A water- attribute ''River Wolf'' pup, a fire- attribute ''Ash Wolf'' pup, and a wind-attribute ''Huricanine'' pup.


    Kain quickly went through the pros and cons of each in his head.


    The River pup has the greatest evolutionary potential, immediately skipping over Silver quality in its next evolution to become a Gold quality Clear Spring Wolf, which also possesses some healing capabilities.


    Additionally, because most students choose to go with the offensive fire-attribute spiritual creatures for their first contract, if their affinity does not have an attribute restriction, then the River Pup would give Bridge a huge advantage during the college admissions tests.


    Unfortunately, River Pups need a constant supply of top-quality rare herbs located near rivers inhabited by spiritual creatures with at least orange-grade spiritual power. Making the cost of purchasing said herbs from mercenaries astronomically expensive. In short: it is out of the price range for the orphans Bridge and Kain.


    The Ash Wolf pup is named as such because they feed on coal, and are often found covered in black soot resembling ash in coal mines. Therefore, their biggest advantage is that their preferred food source, coal, is super cheap. Although as far as fire-attributes go, they are quite weak among the rest of the fire-attribute Bronze-quality spiritual creatures.


    This means that Bridge will likely be at a disadvantage when undergoing the admissions tests for college.


    It has 2 known evolutionary forms: A silver-quality Mine Wolf, also not of particularly great strength. And a Gold-quality Gem Wolf. However, there are less than 40 Gem wolves in the entire empire, and the stringent evolutionary conditions would not be known by people with no background like Kain and Bridge.


    Last but not least is the Huricanine pup. They don''t possess many long-range attacks and their wind-attribute is mainly demonstrated through their incredible speed.


    Few contracts of bronze quality, and even silver quality with proper training, would be able to match its speed. Therefore, it would be greatly beneficial for Bridge''s admissions tests.


    Unfortunately, their development path is also the one Kain is least knowledgeable about. Huricanine pups have numerous evolutionary pathways that are determined by how they are cared for and their diet.


    Without being able to afford the help of an official Evolutionary Planner, Kain isn''t confident in being able to properly maximize its potential.


    After expressing his thoughts to Bridge, Kain waited for his decision.

 Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Bridges Decision

    Will it be the expensive, but high-potential River Wolf pup?


    The weaker, but cost-effective Ash Wolf pup?


    Or the malleable wild-card Huricanine pup?


    Bridge gave an audible gulp. This will likely be one of the most important decisions of his life.


    "Before we make the final decision, maybe we should ask a breeder for more information on the needs for raising each of them?" Kain said after 5 minutes passed and Bridge was no closer to a decision.


    The two approached a pink-haired breeder feeding the River Pup.


    "Excuse me, we would like more information on caring for the wolf-type contract beasts?" Kain said.


    "Well once you select your chosen partner you will receive a detailed manual on your contract''s ideal diet, evolutionary path, and other unique needs. You will also receive one week''s supply of all required materials for your contract. Afterwards it is up to you to provide for them.


    Although once your week''s supply runs out you can continue to purchase food for your pet here and receive a student discount until you graduate."


    Kain turned and whispered to Bridge, "How much do you have saved from working as a farmhand the last 3 years?"


    "About 15000 Celestial Dollars."


    "Not bad!" That should be enough to provide for his first contract for a period of time before Bridge has enough strength to explore nearby low-level wilderness regions to hopefully make even more money as a mercenary or explorer.


    "How much would a week''s supply of food for the River Wolf pup be?" Kain asked the


    "19500 CD!!!" replied the breeder with a practiced salesperson grin.


    "��And after the student discount?"


    "That is the price including the 30% student discount!" Replied the breeder cheerily.


    ''Yeah the River pup is definitely out��'' Thought Kain.


    "What about the Huricanine pup?" S��ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, it depends on the development direction you choose to go for your contract. We provide the necessary diet and materials for 2 possible evolutionary directions, both of which are around 1100 CD per week!"


    Both Bridge and Kain breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the River pup is an exception and most contracts are not that expensive to provide for. Although it''s still crazy to think that the Huricanine pup will use up the money Bridge spent 3 years saving in only a little more than 3 months.


    "And the Ash Wolf��?"


    The breeder''s practiced salesperson smile was immediately less enthusiastic. "Since it only needs coal, it''s only around 250 CD per week."


    Turning away from the breeder''s now deadpan expression Kain and Bridge convened to make the final decision.


    "I think I should go with the Ash Wolf, Kain. I''d have no trouble feeding it for a long time, and I''d feel guilty spending money that could probably feed everyone in the orphanage for a year on my contract in just a few months."


    "You need to think long-term, Bridge. The Ash Wolf is pretty weak among Bronze-quality beasts, meaning that you will have one of the weakest contracts when going for the college admissions tests.


    Also, unless we know the evolutionary conditions for a Gem Wolf, which it doesn''t look like our school knows, then it can only follow the path of a Mine Wolf, meaning it''s evolutionary potential is also low.


    "If you contract the Huricanine wolf, your chances of getting admitted into a good college increase dramatically. Although you only have enough money to care for it for 3 months, within 3 months you may be a student at a top college by then and feeding it may not even be a big deal to you.


    Especially since I heard students at the top 5 colleges have the basic nutritional needs for their contracts covered by the school."


    Seeing that Bridge was still hesitating, Kain patted him on the shoulder and continued, "I know you were saving some of that money to help out the orphanage director. However, don''t you think you''d be able to help out the entire orphanage a lot better if you can get into a top college and earn a lot more money in the future?"


    Bridge slowly nodded. Decision made, Kain and Bridge turned to the breeder waiting nearby. "We will take the Huricanine pup, as well as 4 weeks worth of food."


    Seeing that they didn''t choose the Ash Wolf and were even buying a month''s worth of food at once, the breeder''s happy expression immediately returned. "Perfect! Since the school covers the costs of your first contract we can immediately perform the contract before getting you checked out with the food you requested.


    They all made their way over to the cage containing the sole Huricanine pup in the facility. "You made an excellent choice! C0039 is a pup not only with tremendous potential, but out of all the canine''s in the facility she is one of the most obedient"


    "C0039?" Asked Bridge.


    "Ah, that''s just her ID number. You can rename her once the contract is completed. Do you know how to conclude a contract?"


    Both Bridge and Kain tentatively nodded their heads, after all, they knew how to conclude a contract in theory.

 Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Bridges Initial Contract

    Seeing their hesitant nods, the worker decided to still coach them through the contract.


    "To ensure that the contract is concluded, there must be no resistance from either party. Therefore, either both parties agree to the contract, or the unwilling party is unconscious when commencing the contract. Thankfully, as I''ve mentioned C0039 is very agreeable and should not refuse to form a contract with you.


    "At your level, a medium is needed to establish a contract, typically blood. Technically, any bodily fluids can achieve this effect, but considering most individuals do not have an abnormal inclination to swap spit with their contract, blood is typically used as the medium. You will then use your spiritual power to help guide your contract''s spiritual power to your star, its future home.


    Once the contract is concluded, she should appear in your star, and the environment of said star should begin to alter to better suit her needs. Understood?"


    "S-sounds straightforward," Bridge said after giving a large gulp.


    "Excellent! Let''s get started. Please stretch out your hand." Bridge did as directed with his eyes tightly squeezed shut.


    Slash


    Bridge gave a flinch at the sudden cut, before opening his eyes. "That didn''t hurt so much."


    The breeder then bent down to open the Huricanine''s cage. "Come here sweety! Now give me your paw. Excellent! You''re such a good girl!" After making a cut on the pup''s paw the breeder stood up and backed away to give Bridge space. "Make sure that the incisions are making contact"


    Bridge did as directed, and immediately let out a muffled grunt.


    "Very good! She''ll likely need your help to direct her spiritual power to the right location"


    Bridge, while still holding onto the paw, bowed his head while sweat began to form on his brow.


    ''It looks like forming the contract is not as easy as we thought'' Kain thought while watching from the side.


    After nearly 10 minutes, the pup let out a white glow before disappearing and Bridge straightened up while panting heavily.


    "Great job!" Said the breeder, "The first contract is usually the most difficult. After all, it''s not an easy task for students to guide another''s spiritual power with their crude control. You may proceed to checkout, when you are ready to leave. I''ve already gathered your requested materials at the front desk."


    The two nodded before turning to leave when they suddenly felt as though it was hard to breath. This was the pressure of a 2-star beast-tamer''s spiritual power. S��arch* The N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Also, don''t forget to tell the front desk that Merida was the one to assist you. If I lose out on my commission I do know exactly where to find you" came a chilling voice from behind them.


    The two nodded quickly before dashing towards the front desk once the pressure was alleviated.

 Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Clues to Kains Affinity

    After checking out, Bridge decided to head back towards the orphanage, excited to release his first contract and begin bonding. However, Kain decided to explore the breeding grounds a little longer.


    ''Supposedly, when people with an affinity are around a suitable contract they will feel a faint pull similar to the one during the affinity ceremony. Maybe I can get some clues about what my affinity is from exploring around here.''


    Kain took his time stopping in front of all of the cages and sensing if there was any pull. Even the Black Iron ones, after all its not as though he plans to contract any of them, he just needs a clue as to what he can and cannot bind.


    However, after nearly two hours and exploring every cage, Kain was no closer to finding any answers.


    Sigh


    "Do you need any help?"


    "Aah!" Startled, Kain turned around to see the pink-haired scary breeder Merida. Her face was mere inches from his ear.


    "I-I-I can''t find a spiritual creature suitable to contract." sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hmm�� I see. Well, these are all of the spiritual beasts we have available to contract. You could try the Nursery, which contains all of our unhatched spiritual creatures. Most of the eggs are the same species as the young ones out here, but occasionally we get an egg of unknown origin that was sold to us by mercenaries or explorers.


    If you have an affinity for any of the eggs you should be able to sense it."


    "I didn''t know we could select an egg?"


    "There''s no rules against it. But considering most college entrance tests are within 2 months and there''s no guarantee an egg would even hatch by then, it''s very rare for a student to select an egg for the first contract."


    Kain nodded in understanding. He also had no intention of binding to an egg for his first contract, but he feels an affinity for an egg and can figure out what is in that egg, maybe he''ll have a better idea of what his affinity is.


    Making his way to the nursery, Kain spotted hundreds of eggs of varying shapes, colours and sizes within glass incubators.


    As Breeder Merida said, all of the eggs Kain had passed so far had labels for the species as were in the cages outside. It wasn''t until he had looked through over 90% of the eggs that he got to a section of unidentified eggs without labels. There were 20.


    Stopping before the first one, a beautiful multicolored egg with pink, violet, and blue hues, Kain closed his eyes to see if there was any pull. Nothing.


    Stopping before a light blue egg that gave off a chill Kain could feel through the incubator, Kain once again closed his eyes. Again Nothing.


    After going through all 20 eggs, Kain was now at the very back of the Nursery but still did not feel any pull.


    Sigh


    Leaning against a staff only door at the back of the room, Kain closed his eyes in despair when suddenly he felt a pull!

 Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Clues to Kains Affinity (2)

    His eyes snapped open in shock. Finally! Finally, Kain may get some clues as to what his affinity is. Reaching frantically for the handle of the door, He tried to open it. Locked.


    He immediately rushed back towards where Breeder Merida was.


    "I felt a pull! I felt a pull! Can you please help me get that egg?" Kain said excitedly.


    Merida calmly followed Kain as he led the way towards the back of the nursery. She was walking way too slow for his liking but, there was nothing he could do about it.


    "In here!" He said, pointing to the locked door for staff.


    Merida''s face immediately turned strange.


    "I know it''s staff only in there. But could I please at least get a glimpse at what''s causing this draw? It''s the only one I''ve felt since awakening my affinity" Kain begged.


    Merida shrugged and then proceeded to open the door, "Sure it''s not a big deal. It''s not like there''s anything top secret or rare inside."


    As the door swung open and they entered a dimly lit room she explained "this is where we keep all of the dead eggs."


    Kain''s stomach immediately dropped, "what?"


    "Dead eggs. None of the eggs in here will hatch. Sorry to disappoint you."


    Kain entered the room and quickly located the source of the draw. It was the ugliest egg he had seen since entering the Nursery. It was black, and wasn''t smooth like most eggs, full of bumps all over. Then there was the smell.


    "Ugh!" He turned away while covering his nose.


    "Told you. Nothing is ever hatching out of there."


    "Could you at least tell me what was supposed to be in there?" Maybe it''ll at least provide him with some hint.


    "It was found among a pack Shadow Leopards. However, it is known that shadow leopards do eat eggs, and Shadow Leopard eggs do not resemble this one. Also, strangely all of the shadow leopards, at least 200 of them according to the mercenary''s reports, were dead but had no injuries on their bodies."


    That is strange. Shadow leopards are Gold-quality and located at the most extreme eastern borders of the empire. Even among Gold-quality species, they are among the most deadly and difficult to kill due to their ability to jump from shadow to shadow.


    "Did they have any more information about where this pack was located?"


    "Not really��ah! They did say they were coming back from a mission at a relic controlled by Dark Moon College."


    ''Dark Moon College. One of the 5 top colleges, last year ranking third out of the 5.''


    "Can I still use my voucher to exchange for this egg?" After all, since it may not be a Shadow Leopard egg, he''d like to study it longer. Maybe at college, with more access to higher-level books and professors he could figure out its species.


    Also, he hasn''t completely given up on the hideous egg, as far as he knows a pull should only be felt if there is something he can bind to. Once a creature dies the pull should no longer exist unless he has the rare affinity for the undead. But, although rare an undead affinity is not so completely unheard of as to not know what awakening an undead affinity should look like.


    What should hatch from his affinity eggs during the ceremony, if he had an undead affinity, would be the appearance of the undead that he could bind, whether that be skeletal, ghost, or reanimated corpses.


    "There is no need to use your free exchange on a dead egg. You can just take it."


    "Thanks!"


    Not wanting to waste a free opportunity to exchange, Kain decided to take the chilly blue unidentified egg he saw earlier. It resembles the eggs of the Silver-quality Ice Bite Wolf, which is an ice-attribute wolf that causes severe frost burns upon touch. It is typically only found in the northern regions, so, understandably, nobody here recognized its egg.


    Had he not been studying to potentially enter an Evolutionary Planner major in college, he also likely would not have recognized it.


    "I should remind you that any creatures taken from here cannot be sold. Otherwise, you risk receiving severe fines and even jail time," Merida''s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Afterall, she already guessed that he did not have an affinity for this egg based on what he said earlier.


    "I am aware. Thank you." It isn''t selling if he just gives it to Bridge when the time comes for his second contract. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After exchanging for the egg with his free voucher and receiving a free complementary incubator in place of the typical free week''s worth of food, Kain put everything into his school bag and headed back to the orphanage.


    ''Home sweet home. I wonder if Bridge already spoiled the surprise of our results to everyone��''

 Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Home

    In the far outskirts of the city, Kain gradually approached a rundown building��New Beginnings Orphanage. It was surrounded by many fruit trees, and even from a distance he could see the garden full of almost fully grown vegetables.


    Crack


    Kain approached the last group of fruit trees and bushes before the orphanage.


    Crack


    "Shhhh! You idiot"


    Kain proceeded forward ignoring the hushed angry whispers. Rounding the final tree until the orphanage��


    "Arrrggghhhhh!!!!!!"


    Kain stopped in place with a bored expression. "Cherry. Key. Did you two really expect that to work?"


    "Aww man! This is completely your fault!" The blonde pigtailed Cherry yelled while hitting the red-headed freckled boy slightly shorter than her.


    After her short tantrum, the two looked up at Kain in nervous anticipation.


    "So, big brother?" said Cherry "How did the ceremony go?"


    Kain looked down at the two juvenile faces that couldn''t be older than 10 and realized that Bridge couldn''t have spilled the beans.


    "I don''t want to repeat it multiple times. Bridge and I will say our results once everyone is gathered"


    Sigh


    "What, Cherry?" Whispered Key.


    "Learn to read between the lines Key. Big brother Bridge came home and ran straight upstairs without saying his results. Now brother Kain wants to avoid having to say his results more than once. Likely because it hurts too much. Both of them clearly didn''t awaken an affinity," Cherry whispered back.


    ''Should I tell Cherry that her whisper voice is louder than most people''s normal speaking voice?''


    Deciding against it, Kain pretended not to hear their ''whispering'' and headed inside the orphanage.


    "Is everyone including the director back already?" Kain asked.


    "Yup" The two children nodded in unison.


    "Perfect. Can you two call everyone to the living room for a moment please so Bridge and I could get this over with? I will go get Bridge." sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two nodded again as Kain turned to head to the room he shared with Bridge.


    "See I told you they both didn''t awaken. Now his ego is probably wounded. That poor prideful fool," Cherry whispered to Key before the two scampered off.


    Kain''s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he decided against correcting her assumptions and headed upstairs instead.


    Entering the room he shared with Bridge, Kain saw Bridge with his new contract on their bed.


    "Hey Kain! I''d like for you to officially meet Lady." Bridge proudly announced before holding his contract up to Kain''s face.


    "Lady?"


    "Yes! Because she is so well-mannered and beautiful like a noble lady from an old legacy family. Aren''t you, my fair Lady?" Bridge replied, while turning her around and showering her face in kisses.


    Face scrunching up at the public display of affection, Kain quickly interrupted the baby-talking Bridge. "Why didn''t you tell everyone the results already? Cherry and Key didn''t seem to know?"


    "I figured you''d want to be there when I broke the surprise. Not to mention, I didn''t think they''d believe me when I said you''d received a S-rating. So I restrained myself from spoiling the surprise and immediately returned to our room to give you the honours" Bridge grandly announced.


    ''You just wanted to immediately release Lady and not be bothered by the others.'' Kain thought, not buying Bridge''s seemingly noble excuse.


    "Thanks�� Let''s head down and announce the results together. I still haven''t told anyone and I''m sure they''re anxiously waiting."

 Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Breaking the News

    When Bridge and Kain entered the living room they saw all 9 children in the orphanage, plus the orphanage director Silas along with their neighbours Farmer John and his wife Sally, sitting on the couch, chairs, and floor.


    Kain could tell that they were taking extra care to manage their facial expression. However, none of them were skilled actors. All of them had varying combinations of disappointedness, sadness, frustration, and pity on their faces. Probably as a result of his and Bridge''s results already being ''spoiled'' by Cherry''s interpretation.


    ''They really are my family,'' thought Kain.


    Kain took a deep breath to compose himself and prevent his laughter from escaping. While similarly, Bridge lowered his head with his shoulders shaking in laughter.


    Thankfully, based on the increasingly solemn expressions of his family members, they mistook their attempts at smothering their laughter as trying to choke back tears.


    "I''m sure you all know what today was," began Kain. Everyone slowly nodded. "And I am sure you all know that the chances of awakening are not high, so Bridge and I were already emotionally prepared to fail going into the ceremony."


    Everybody''s shoulders dropped. Key and the two youngest children, Charlie and Melody, looked as though they would burst into tears at any moment.


    "Fortunately, Bridge was able to awaken a B-rated affinity to wolf-type spiritual beasts!" Kain put down his solemn fa?ade, and Bridge raised his head to reveal a large smile.


    Everyone''s faces froze into expressions of disbelief before breaking out into large cheers.


    "Really? Really?!"


    Hearing the expressions of disbelief, Bridge proudly released Lady from the space in his star. "This is my first contract, Lady! The most beautiful Huricanine in the empire. No! This planet!" Everyone, especially the children immediately swarmed Lady, while trying to touch her. Thankfully, as Merida said, she''s very obedient and didn''t attack any of them.


    The adults were more focused on the rest of what Kain said. "Did you say a B-rating," questioned Director Silas with sparkling eyes. Kain and Bridge both nodded.


    Farmer John and the director immediately burst into delighted laughter, while Sally enveloped Bridge into a hug.


    "Our boy is going to be a beast tamer! And may even enter one of the top colleges!"


    After ten minutes of celebration, when the children had finished tossing Lady around, and the adults calmed down. Everyone''s faces dropped into awkward expressions once they realized that Kain had never announced his results. Half of the room couldn''t even make eye contact with him.


    Kain changed his voice into a pitiful whisper, "As for me��"


    Whimper


    Key, Charlie and Melody finally couldn''t stand it and burst into tears. Seeing this Kain immediately rushed to put them out of their misery and loudly declared "I received an S-rated affinity!"


    Once again, the room froze. But even after a full minute, everyone did not react.


    Ahem. "Did you guys not hear Kain? An S-rated affinity!" repeated Bridge.


    Sally was the first to unfreeze. "We heard you. Kain, we heard you, it''s just that��"


    "It''s too hard to believe!" Finished the director, "That one of the few S-rated individuals in our Celestial Empire''s history will be coming from my orphanage."


    Seeing that everyone was still not 100% confident that he was telling the truth, Kain removed the incubator from his bag. "Here is an egg I exchanged for at the school''s breeding grounds, only newly awakened individuals have that privilege." S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone began to gradually look more lively but still didn''t seem to 100% believe him. After all, confirming he awakened is very different from saying he also had an S-rating.


    Remembering another detail, Kain dug through his bag.


    "All the students with a rating of B or higher received a certificate from Principal Waters with his signature that would grant us entrance into the admissions tests for the top 5 colleges. It also includes our ratings. Both Bridge and I received one! Here!" Kain announced after handing the slightly crushed certificate over to the director.


    After processing that it was an official certificate, with the Principal''s signature and a stamp from the local government official, the director''s hands began to shake. Farmer John and Sally, were also no calmer.


    "I think today calls for a feast!"

 Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Plans for the Future

    After Farmer John''s declaration, everyone worked together to prepare one of the grandest meals they had had in a while. The director even opened his prized bottle of aged whiskey, and let Kain and Bridge have a sip. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ugh!" They both winced as the adults laughed.


    "Wha da ya young''uns know ''bout quality," the director slurred.


    At this point, all of the other orphans had already gone to bed, and Sally had returned to her and John''s home. Only Kain and Bridge remained with the two tipsy adult men.


    "So what are your future plans?" Asked Farmer John, speech a lot clearer than the director''s.


    Bridge shrugged his shoulders. He hadn''t thought that he would have a chance at a top college, even awakening an affinity feels like a dream.


    "What about you Kain? You will both probably try for the top 5 colleges, after all there is a considerable gap between the funding, resources and instruction they have when compared to those mid and low-tiered colleges."


    "I''m not 100% sure. If necessary, I may try for more than one. But I think my first choice will be the Dark Moon College."


    "Dark Moon?" John asked surprised. That college was all the way in the east. Brightstar City where they lived was in the Southern region. Therefore, most local geniuses'' first choice college was Starfire College, currently ranked fourth among the top 5 colleges.


    "That''s quite far. Any particular reason why?" John asked curiously. Bridge also turned to look at Kain in confusion.


    ''Because so far the only lead I have about my affinity leads me to there��''


    "The needs for my affinity are quite unique. I think Dark Moon College would be best able to meet them." John and Bridge nodded slowly. Seeing that Kain still did not want to disclose what his affinity was they did not pressure him for answers.


    Snore


    Turning to look at the fast asleep director they realized that it was probably time to head to bed.


    Covering director Silas with a quilt they said their goodbyes to John before making their way upstairs.


    ''I need to get more information on the admissions test for Dark Moon College��'' The last thoughts of Kain and Bridge were surprisingly identical as they fell into slumber.

 Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Top 5 College Entrance Exams

    Thankfully, the wishes of Kain and Bridge were answered the next day, as the 6 students with a rating of B or above were called by Principal Waters to a separate conference room. Upon entering, the 6 students were greeted by the sight of 3 unfamiliar individuals.


    After everyone was seated, the principal began with the introductions. "These 3 are former graduates of our Academy 1200. They are also the only graduates in recent years to enter the combat-oriented beast-taming major at one of the top 5 colleges."


    The 6 students instantly became more attentive and looked at the guest lecturers with eyes full of admiration. The guests also seemed to revel in these gazes from their juniors as their chins subconsciously tilted up higher and their backs straightened.


    "They are here to recount their own experiences with the college admissions test and also to provide advice to you. There are over 5000 high school academies in the empire, each of which typically churn out between 2 and 12 students qualified to take the entrance exam for the top 5 colleges.


    This means that thousands of students are competing for only 1 out of around 100 available spots at a top 5 college. Therefore, admissions rates for each school are typically below 5%. S��ar?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The first graduate stepped forward, the only girl of the 3. She had light blue hair and eyes, a childish face and her height barely reached Kain''s chest.


    ''It''s hard to believe that an individual that looks as though they could be blown away with a single punch was admitted into a combat major at one of the top 5 colleges. Although the strength of one''s contracts is most important, a contractor too weak would only be a hindrance in battle,'' thought Kain.


    "I am Bridget, a second-year cadet at Supernova College in the west." Everyone, except the principal, including the other guest lecturers appeared shocked. Supernova College is ranked second out of all the colleges. But above all, they were notorious for being the most bloodthirsty of them all.


    The image that comes to mind of their students from rumours is of war-hungry warriors that lick the blood of their enemies off their blades after they''ve finished decapitating them. Even their way of referring to their students as ''cadets'' shows their militaristic atmosphere. This petite girl goes there?


    "I had an A-rating. Avian-type affinity." She continued calmly, seemingly used to the shocked looks when people heard the name of her school.


    "Supernova College''s entrance test is the only one to remain unchanged for years now. Therefore, if you choose to partake in it, you all will know exactly what to expect. Typically, there are around 7000 applicants for Supernova, which are then sorted into 70 arenas of 100 applicants. The final man, or woman, standing will secure a spot at Supernova College.


    The other top 9 students to last each round will then be given another opportunity to compete against one another for the remaining 30 spots until an entering class of 100 cadets is formed. Pretty straightforward. Any questions?"


    ''An entrance exam that truly befits their reputation��'' thought Kain

 Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Top 5 College Entrance Exams (2)

    After a moment of silence, Nigel, one of the B-rated legacy students, raised his hand, "Yeah, what method did YOU use to survive?" Although it was a little rude in its bluntness, he did ask what they were all thinking. How did someone as small as her manage to beat out 99 other talented students?


    She stared into Nigel''s eyes before moving her gaze to the rest of them. "My method is not easily replicable by anyone here. My strategy could be summed up using two words: height advantage."


    Tiffany, another B-rated legacy, tentatively raised her hand. "What was the initial contract beast you used to complete the exam?"


    "My initial contract is a Crystal Albatross." At those words pretty much everyone in the room nodded in understanding.


    The Crystal Albatross is one of the few Silver-quality flying contracts that could support the weight of a small human, combined with her seemingly light weight and their outstanding stamina, they probably attacked the other applicants from high above so that they could not even fight back.


    Attacks at a long enough range to strike down flying attackers are quite common among 3-star beast tamers who typically possess contracts at the level of orange-grade spiritual power. However, most 1-star applicants, regardless of the quality of their contract, will likely only have white or red-grade contracts. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "However, I was lucky that none of the top applicants were in my group. Otherwise, I would have lost"


    Everyone looked at her in surprise. Who could cause someone with such a seemingly fool-proof strategy to lose?


    "What is the strength of these so-called top applicants?" asked the only A-rated applicant, Arlo, whose expression finally showed some seriousness. Although he was also listening carefully, his expression had always exuded confidence as though he was certain of his passing any admissions test.


    "Well for one, many of the applicants likely have already reached 2-stars by the time of the entrance exam in one and a half months." Everyone looked shocked at those words, most of our teachers were only at the level of 2-stars, while our principal only had 3-stars. "My own arena had at least 12 of them, although thankfully most of them were eliminated by others before we met.


    The one I did meet though was unable to touch me with either of his contracts so that I could whittle away his strength. However, those weren''t the true geniuses."


    ''If that''s not considered genius, what is!'' Kain could see similar expressions of disbelief on the faces of the other students, including the principal. Although the other 2 graduates did not look surprised, probably having similar experiences.


    "One of the arenas with the shortest battle times in my year had an applicant with a Gold-quality Twin-tailed Firefox, moreover both he and his contract had red-grade spiritual power tinged with orange, indicating that they were just a hair''s breadth from the 3-star level."


    ''What a monster''


    Gulp


    Everyone looked toward the sound to find their very own 3-star principal, who appeared more intimidated than his own students.


    "Another arena with a pretty fast resolution had an applicant with an extraordinary gift. He was able to make both he and his contract invisible."


    Everyone sucked in a cold breath. Beast-tamers manifesting a gift are extremely rare, and useful ones even more so. However, the ability to become invisible may not be as useful when facing creatures above the yellow-rank in strength. This gift is too overpowered at the level of fresh high school graduates.


    "Although gifts are extremely rare among the general populace. At the top 5 colleges that only want the best of the best, nearly half of all students manage to manifest a gift before they graduate college, although not all are useful in battle."


    Seeing that there were no more questions, as everyone fell into stunned silence at her shocking revelations, Bridget stepped backwards to allow another former graduate to take her place.

 Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Top 5 College Entrance Exams (3)

    An ordinary-looking blonde boy with freckles stepped forward in her place. "I am Jeremy, and behind me is Kit and we both go to the much more local Starfire College," he said gesturing to the large bearded man behind him. "I am a third year, while Kit is a first year"


    ''That bearded middle-aged-looking guy is a first year!'' Everyone looked shocked.


    Seemingly used to the looks, Kit cut in, "Yes, despite how I look, I am only one year older than you."


    Jeremy took over again. "Although we both go to the same college, Starfire''s exam differs each year, and even between the same group of incoming students, therefore you would benefit from both of our experiences.


    "The Southern region is the most populace next to the central region containing the capital, therefore, the students of our college have a higher mandatory number of missions they must complete each year in the service of the southern region.


    In preparation for this, the prospective students each year are randomly grouped together and assigned to complete one of the tier-1 tasks that first-year college students would usually be required to complete.


    "During the course of the mission, we were followed and those performing to a suitable standard in the teams that successfully cleared their mission would be given an offer to enroll.


    Therefore, if your team successfully clears a mission, you may receive an offer depending on your performance, while if your team fails, regardless of how stellar your individual performance is, you WILL NOT receive an offer. No exceptions. Therefore, cross your fingers and pray you do not get grouped with a bunch of useless individuals.


    Because if the mission fails because of only one of you, then you all fail."


    "Additionally, due to Starfire''s unique recruitment method, the size of the incoming class tends to vary greatly from year to year. My year had the most failed missions in recent history, with only 46 students of the 50 that were part of successful missions admitted. Yes, out of thousands of applicants, grouped into teams of 5, only 10 teams successfully completed their missions.


    However, a year with a much higher success rate may see as many as 200 students being admitted. sea??h th�� novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Also note that the evaluators are there to assess your performance, not to protect you. Therefore, as you are going into an unregulated environment to complete REAL missions there is a very REAL possibility of death. 20 students passed in the year I was admitted alone."


    Gulp


    This time it was all of the high school students that audibly gulped in shock and fear. Although 20 students out of thousands of applicants is not a lot, most of them have never faced the threat of death in their lives.


    "Now I will go into further detail about my admissions exam, which may shed some light on why our year had such an abnormal pass rate and death toll. Think back to three years ago when there was a terrorist attack on the Morningstar Palace, the political center of our Southern Region.


    As you could probably guess, most missions, regardless of the tier, were related to either identifying, scouting, arresting, or assassinating members of the said terrorist group."


    "As we were given tier-1 missions, the risk of death in each mission was extremely low, however, most of us were given missions in which we would have to interact to some extent with these criminals. The college had received information that prior to the terrorist attack, one of the suspects had been spotted at a home in Redstar City, about a 16-hour drive southeast from here.


    Our goal was to obtain information on why he was there, and if there were any of his accomplices still there. As the details of our mission our strictly confidential, I cannot go into too much detail, but as evidenced by the fact that I was admitted you can see that we succeeded in our mission."


    ''Interesting, the contents of their exam differ greatly from Supernova College,'' thought Kain.


    "Any questions?" Jeremy prompted after we all sat in contemplative silence for a while.


    "I do," said the principal, likely to prevent the silence from stretching on longer. "Do you have any general words of advice for our students? Advice that will benefit them regardless of what their mission is."


    Jeremy tilted his head in contemplation before opening his mouth, "Be prepared for anything. Also��" his breath caught as though he was trying to restrain his emotions, "put away any qualms you have about killing other humans. When it comes to enemies of the empire, if you don''t kill them, they will kill you."

 Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Top 5 College Entrace Exams (4)

    After giving those heavy final words, Jeremy stepped back so that Kit could recount his experience.


    "Thankfully, my year was more easygoing, with 113 of us passing. The types of missions we all received were also much more diverse. Our mission was regarding Starfruit Village, a village near the outskirts of our Southern region. This time last year, this village was experiencing a terrible famine, therefore resources and supplies needed to be brought to them as soon as possible.


    However, mysteriously all of the caravans sent towards the village never arrived. Our task was to safely escort the next group of caravans while determining the reason for the previous caravans'' disappearance. I won''t bore you with the nitty-gritty details, but similar to what Jeremy said, beasts aren''t the only ones you may have to kill."


    Again, the room fell into a long period of surprised silence. Most of the high schoolers were not mentally prepared to fight and kill other humans.


    "Thank you Kit! And thanks to the rest of our guest lecturers, your experiences have surely helped our students greatly." The principal broke the silence while applauding. Kain and the others also joined in the applause.


    After all, although their experiences were intimidating, the fact that they were taking the time out of their busy college life to give high schoolers advice and answer their questions was something to be immensely grateful for.


    "Do you students have any questions remaining? Now''s your last chance." the principal said while glancing at Kain and the others.


    Kain immediately put his hand up, "do any of you have knowledge about the Dark Moon College entrance exam?"


    The 3 guest lecturers looked at one another, before Bridget stepped forward, likely realizing that the other two were clueless about the Dark Moon College exam.


    "I have no personal experience with Dark Moon''s exam. However, my roommate is from the eastern region and did take their exam, although she did not pass"


    This filled Kain with anxiety. A student that passed the 2nd ranked Supernova''s exam, was unable to pass Dark Moon''s?


    "As I''m sure you know, the eastern region has the largest expanse of forests and the most diverse range of spiritual creatures in its borders."


    Kain nodded, ''perfect for someone like me who has no idea what their affinity is.''


    Bridget continued, "Due to the high amount of spiritual creatures in their vicinity, every few years a beast tide will occur. When the numbers of the spiritual creatures become too high for the environment to sustain, they attack human cities in search of food. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    My roommate said that for the entrance exam, their task was to endure the attacks from a beast tide while avoiding death, injuries too severe to continue fighting, or draining all of their energy. Apparently, less than 80 students out of thousands of applicants managed to achieve this."


    Kain, immediately felt anxious. He''s not even sure what his first contract will be, he has no idea if it''ll be one suitable to survive a beast tide.


    "She also mentioned another potential exam option. One that was given to her older sister 5 years ago. Dark Moon Academy possesses 4 relics, the second highest amount of all the top colleges, all of which do not allow contact with the outside world once you enter. Many of them also have age and/or strength restrictions that prevent instructors from following you for protection.


    Therefore, once you enter a relic, you are truly alone. In order to filter out prospective students for who could and could not survive their relics, the first level of one of their relics served as the site of their exam. All those that could pass were admitted. However, this admissions method was apparently discontinued because the death toll was too high.


    Less than 40 students passed that year, while nearly 600 students died. 600 students with ratings above B, who were the pride of their respective families, schools, and towns, died."


    After receiving this information, Kain was now very worried about his chances of being admitted as a beast-tamer to Dark Moon College.


    Likely inspired by Kain''s line of questioning, the others also asked for information regarding the entrance exams of the remaining two colleges. However, none of them could provide any information.


    "Frozen Sun College is at the northern tip of the Empire, it''s rare for students outside of the northern region to apply there," Jeremy said in regards to the lowest ranking of the top 5 colleges.


    "While the First Celestial Academy is in the capital, they rarely admit anyone outside of the central region, and most of their recruits are genius top legacies from old prestigious families, many of whom have amazing inherited affinities and even gifts that were further nurtured and refined by the old monsters in their families."


    Arlo, who before this information session seemed extremely confident, began to reveal some anxiety. "What would you say is the average strength of students admitted into the top 5 colleges?"


    "Well," said Bridget, "Students that manage to get admitted one year with a bit of luck, may not get admitted another year. It''s helpful to have some information on these exams though, that way you could prepare for and target the one you feel suits you best and increase your chances.


    "However, the top applicants like those I described for my year likely would be admitted no matter where and when they applied. Some years have more of such talented applicants than others.


    "Although, I did hear that your year had an absolute genius among geniuses. Supposedly, they managed to awaken independently of the help from the affinity ceremony. The first one to do so in decades. Even among S-rated applicants, they must be at the absolute top.


    Although, they seem to be from one of the old families in the Capital, so it''s unlikely that any of you will run into them unless you apply for the First Celestial Academy.


    ''At least that''s one monster I don''t have to worry about'' Kain and the others sighed in relief.


    "Well if there are no more questions, let''s give our guests another round of applause."


    After the 3 graduates left, the principal turned to the high schoolers remaining. "I''ve already spoken with your homeroom teachers, all students with an affinity can take the remaining month of school off until graduation so that they can prepare for the entrance exams at their chosen colleges.


    Since I''m assuming that you all are entering the beast-taming major and not an academic major, this last month of academic review will be useless to you all.


    ''Excellent, that gives me time to act on some of the theories I had regarding my affinity"

 Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Following a Lead

    Given that the only time Kain felt a draw to a potential contract, it had ended up being a dead egg, he began to wonder if his affinity was related to the dead. Although an undead affinity shouldn''t result in a large number of empty affinity eggs, Kain was grasping at straws, hoping that the "empty" eggs actually contained either invisible or ghost-type spiritual creatures.


    However, undead creatures are extremely rare, and finding invisible ghosts will be astronomically more difficult.


    Fortunately, Kain already had a lead. He heard rumors that one of the local mercenaries went crazy and is refusing to leave his home after seeing a ghost in the woods to the city''s east. As for the source of this information, of course it was Cherry. The little gossip knows practically all of the news in the city.


    ''Hopefully, it doesn''t get that brat into trouble one day,'' Kain thought.


    Kain packed a bag with a week''s worth of food and water, a compass, camping gear, a first aid kit, and a long knife for self-defense. Thankfully, all high schools had mandatory combat classes for all four years. Hopefully, considering that he isn''t venturing far from the city, he won''t have a reason to use any of the techniques he learnt.


    "Hey Cherry! Come here for a sec!" Kain beckoned her over after he left their home and saw her playing in the front yard.


    Bending down to her eye level once she came over, Kain then proceeded to pull out a map of the woods surrounding the city. "Your big brother Kain wants to try and find the ghost-type spiritual creature you mentioned to me before. That mercenary that told you that scary story, do you happen to remember any of the details about where he saw that ghost in his story?" Tilting the map towards her.


    "Nooo! Why would you want to go find that scary ghost big brother Kain! What if it eats you?!"


    "Because," Kain replied making sure to adopt a soothing tone, "that ghost may be super important for your brother. Also, your brother is now an official beast tamer,"��not really��"A measly ghost wouldn''t be able to hurt me." Actually a well-placed banana peel could hurt me, which is exactly why I need to fulfill my initial contract urgently.


    "Really?" Cherry asked hesitantly. Kain nodded.


    "Well I don''t remember everything he said, but he did say that after slipping on a patch of wet mud while following along the river to the east, he fell into a hole in the ground. But the hole wasn''t scary, it even had a hot tub!"


    "Do you mean a hot spring?" Kain clarified.


    "What''s that?"


    "Well it doesn''t matter, please continue."


    "He said that he began to swim in the hot tub and it felt amazing. However, after a while he said he heard a woman crying, and then a woman with straight black hair popped up from the water right next to him!"


    "And then?" Kain probed after she fell into silence.


    "And then he said that he got so scared he ran back to the city."


    "Excellent! How long did he say it took him to return from that hot spring?"


    "That I know! He said he ran so fast he reached the city in only an hour. But I''m not sure if I have all of his story correct. You should ask him yourself?"


    ''I would. But he''s refusing to leave his home and turning away everyone who tries to meet with him. Everyone except Cherry, I guess."


    "Thankfully the ghost doesn''t seem to be too far from the city, I should be able to get there and back within a day. Thanks Cherry!" Kain turned to leave when he felt tiny arms wrap around his legs.


    "Be safe��" muttered a tiny tearful voice.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be back soon."


    S~ea??h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Entering the Wilderness

    Leaving the city gates alone, Kain was lamenting the fact that he could not afford to hire a mercenary as an escort. He also didn''t have a contract yet so he couldn''t join a team.


    He could only pursue the ghost, his potential contract, alone. He decided to begin with the first clue he had regarding the ghost''s location.


    He followed the river east. The mercenary also said he managed to run back to the city in a couple hours, his perception of time may not be that accurate due to his fear, but Kain was sure that the hot spring should not be more than a 6 hour''s walk in that direction.


    After all, 6 hours from the city there is a pretty noticeable landmark, a shift in the surrounding green vegetation to all crimson-leaved Viper Oak trees. He made no mention of that in his story, so he couldn''t have gone that far.


    Long-knife in hand, Kain followed the river at a slow pace. He had never felt as bare as he did at this moment. It was an extremely dangerous decision to leave the city without a contract, but he was getting desperate.


    Splash


    Growl


    After following the river for about an hour, Kain heard what sounded like a conflict between two wild beasts.


    Running behind a thick tree for cover, he looked towards the source of the sound. Next to the river ahead is a large feline with long protruding fangs and red-tinged fur, ''A Blood Cougar," thought Kain ''one of the strongest black-iron quality beasts.'' Wiggling around in its jaw was a squirming River Python trying to break free, another black-iron quality beast.


    ''Although only black-iron quality, either one of them could probably kill me, I can''t let them see me''


    Forced to move away from the river, Kain lost the greatest marker he had for his location. ''Fortunately, I packed a compass. But I don''t know how far the entrance to that hot spring is from the river. Hopefully, I don''t miss it by walking too far away."


    After walking another 30 minutes east, this time further from the river, Kain decided to stop to rest and eat. Pulling out an energy bar from his bag while sipping on water, he took out his journal and began noting any of the vegetation and scenery that may serve as a marker for the path he took in case he gets lost later on.


    Snap


    ''I think I passed a Blue Maple Tree, 5 minutes back. Those are pretty rare��''


    Snap Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain''s head turned sharply towards the sound that was now much closer. And there, hidden among the trees he saw a Blood Cougar, likely the same one from earlier, steadily moving towards him.


    Seeing that he had spotted it, it immediately pounced towards him while Kain quickly ducked and rolled away to dodge. Unsheathing his knife from next to him, he tried to parry the cougar''s next blow, but just grazing it blew him away and caused his arm to turn numb.


    ''This isn''t going to work,'' he thought before turning around, leaving his supplies, and rushing towards the direction of the river. He made sure to not move in a straight line and weave between trees to obstruct his pursuer''s path.


    Spotting the river ahead, Kain made a mad dash forward with no trees around him to obstruct the cougar.


    Splash


    He dove headfirst into the water.

 Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Entering the Wilderness (2)

    ''Cougars are not known to be the strongest swimmers and have a general dislike for getting their fur wet. Hopefully, he''s not hungry enough to try and come in here after me''


    After holding his breath for as long as he could, he popped his head up for some air and to look around.


    Instantly he spotted the piercing gold eyes boring straight into his soul.


    ''Shit!'' He thought, before ducking back down. ''Why is it still there?!''


    Swimming further away from the shore, Kain once again came up for air.


    ''It''s still there!'' Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain as something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him under again.


    Looking down, he saw what looked to be a vine covered in sharp needles gripping into his flesh, as it dragged him slowly towards what looked like the gaping mouth of a venus flytrap.


    Gripping his knife, he endured the intense pain still coming from his ankle and tried to cut away the vine. When he was almost out of breath, he finally managed to cut through and quickly swam to the surface again for air. sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Gasp


    ''The river is no safer than land, I need to get out of here'' He thought. But unfortunately, the cougar was still pacing along the shore while staring him down.


    Looking around he spotted a floating piece of land covered in moss jutting out of the river. ''When did that get there?''


    Not thinking anymore about it, he swam towards his only hope and collapsed on its surface while breathing heavily. It was more spacious that he thought, large enough to fit 20 of him lying down.


    ''I''m surprised I missed it when I first jumped in''


    Looking at his ankle, he saw the disconnected portion of the vine still wrapped around it with needles digging deep into his flesh causing him pain.


    Carefully, he unwrapped vine while wincing in pain and the needle were removed. ''I could really use my first aid kit right about now��''


    There was a bright red bruise left around his ankle, but thankfully nothing appeared broken.


    Kain took the opportunity to look around and catch his bearings. Thankfully he could still more or less tell his location. I think I''m only about 3 hours from the city wall.


    ''Today is officially the worst day of my life'' He thought, before closing his eyes in exhaustion.

 Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Entering the Wilderness (3)

    Splash


    Kain had closed his eyes for what felt like a minute, but the sky was already much dark, several hours must have passed. Also looking around, he could see that he was at a much further point down the river. A point he was unfamiliar with.


    More importantly the patch of land he had fallen asleep on was beginning to sink into the water.


    "Shit!" He screamed, before using his knife to stab deep into the dirt and give himself something to hold on to.


    Soon, he sank fully into water, and the identity of his ''island'' was revealed. He was on the back of a massive turtle. From the pressure and size of the creature, he could tell that it was above yellow-grade in strength. It was also likely above Gold-quality, since Kain had never seen it in any of his textbooks.


    He wanted to cry, ''I thought there weren''t supposed to be any creatures above Black-iron quality so close to the city!''


    Fortunately, it didn''t seem to notice Kain''s presence, or it didn''t care, considering him to be like one of the tiny insects that occasionally hitch a ride onto its shell.


    After staying below water for what felt like an eternity, Kain desperately needed oxygen. With burning lungs he dislodged his knife, his only remaining possession, and floated in the direction he felt was up.


    "Ahhh!" Just when he felt as though he would faint from a lack of air, he finally broke the surface. However, looking around, he was no longer outside. His ride must have been swimming through the underwater tunnels of this cave. After crawling towards shore, Kain collapsed onto his back. It was almost pitch black, with only a little bit starlight peaking through a hole in the ceiling.


    He could see that he was in a circular cavern with stone walls all around, except for a tunnel in the direction he currently was.


    ''I guess I have no choice but to go down this tunnel'' After all, he would likely drown if he tried to swim back out of these caves without his previous ride.


    However, without his supplies, Kain would not be able to see in front of him in the tunnels since the faint starlight above would definitely not reach that far.


    ''I guess I''ll be flying blind then��'' he thought. He could either take a chance of finding an exit through these tunnels, or he could slowly die in this cavern. Without really being given a choice, he slowly stepped into the tunnel.


    ''Please don''t let there be anything that wants to eat me down here, just give me a break!" He prayed, before slowly stepping forward.


    After walking forward for several minutes, he gradually calmed down and began to extend his other senses since he could no longer rely on his sight.


    "Aaahhhhh!!!"


    He pushed away what felt like a spider web. ''So gross, please tell me I''m not surrounded by spiders right now.'' Remaining calm was difficult, now that he was imagining a giant arachnid spiritual creature eyeing him from the dark. ''Stay calm. Stay calm.''


    Tap tap tap


    Hearing a noise in the distance, Kain gripped his blade tighter and then crouched along the side of the tunnel to take up less space while remaining quiet.


    Tap tap tap


    Gradually he heard the scampering sound slowly moving away from him. Once the noise was completely gone, Kain stood again and began to make his way down the tunnel. Slowly. Silently.


    ''This isn''t so bad,'' he thought after what felt like hours later, after not encountering anything else. ''Maybe I will be able to survive this. But it''s been at least 12 hours since I ate anything. Even if nothing eats me, I may die from a lack of food and water��''


    Whoosh  Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A breeze! He must be approaching an opening. Picking up the pace, Kain began to move in the direction he felt the breeze, and gradually began to see some details of the walls around him. ''I''m free!''


    However, suddenly he stopped. Because despite the opening to the outside clearly right in front of him, he felt something he was longing for even more within the pitch-black tunnel towards his left.


    A pull.

 Chapter 26: Chapter 26:

    Looking longingly one last time at the exit, Kain turned towards the left. After all, this may be his last chance at finding a suitable contract before the admissions exam for Dark Moon College.


    Once again surrounded only by darkness, he at least had the sensation of the pull to direct him now. Gradually, he began to see light again through a small opening in the ceiling. Another cavern.


    And within this cavern was a steaming hot spring. ''It''s you!'' Kain thought. The ghost in the hot spring must be what he is sensing.


    Looking around Kain tried to see if he could see his future contract anywhere around the cavern.


    "Hello? I know your there. I don''t mean you any harm, I just want to talk with you. Maybe we can even be friends."


    Silence


    "I know you''ve probably been alone for a while now, but don''t be scared. I can ensure that you are never alone again."


    More silence


    Seeing that the ghost wasn''t coming out, Kain decided to focus on the sensation of the pull. It was drawing him strongly towards the hot spring. Beckoning him.


    "I guess I have to go in there to see you." Kain said in trepidation. After all, although he knows that logically his contract may be an undead creature, he still hasn''t fully wrapped his head around it. Asking him to share a hot bath with an undead creature is too much!


    Stripping down to only his underwear, Kain entered the water.


    "Ahhhh. This really does feel great" Kain took a moment to enjoy the warm water seeping into his skin, and leaned back against the wall of the cave.


    However, by the time his fingers were starting to shrivel up from being in the water to long, he still hadn''t seen a glimpse of his potential contract.


    Feeling for the pull again, Kain tried to see if it had moved. ''Nope. Still in the water. Although it''s hard to pinpoint where exactly. It feels like it''s coming from all over''


    Dipping his below water, Kain decided to see if he could find anything below the surface. Surfacing for air and diving again at least a dozen times, Kain was still unable to find his contract. ''C''mon Kain, think! You are so close to finally becoming an official beast-tamer. You can''t give up now!''


    He was about to continue diving when he noticed a very familiar pair of golden eyes in the dark. Pacing along the edge of the hot spring.


    ''No! No way! How could you follow me all the way here!'' Before Kain''s eyes was his old foe, the Blood Cougar. Likely impatient after finally spotting its long-lost prey, it pounced at Kain from the shore into the hot spring.


    "Aahhh!" Kain fell back under the water to escape its claws.


    Swimming deeper Kain turned around when he didn''t feel it''s claws on him.


    Nothing. S��ar?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Wow I guess it must really hate water.'' Kain thought, assuming that the cougar returned to land.


    After holding his breath as long as he could, he resurfaced and looked around in fear.


    Still Nothing. ''did it leave?''


    Sob


    Sob


    Kain looked towards the sudden sobs he heard. Sitting against the side of the hot spring was an adorable little girl with blonde pigtails and sparkling brown eyes. "Cherry? Why are you here?


    "I got worried so I went to look for you. You said you''d come back soon, but it''s already been over a day. And look at you! You''re injured, and when was the last time you''d eaten."


    "How did you even get here Cherry?! We have to get you back quickly, it''s not safe here!"


    Kain immediately forgot about his first contract and moved to exit the hot spring. After all, Cherry was more important than a contract. There was only one cherry, but surely he''d find another suitable contract eventually.


    However, the moment Kain stepped out of the hot spring he was overcome by a wave of dizziness and nausea. He then felt a bubbling sensation in his stomach. Before he could move, Kain threw up the little contents remaining in his stomach all over Cherry. Or where Cherry had been�� she had now disappeared. Just like the cougar.


    Calming down, Kain tried to think through the throbbing in his brain he tried to think clearly. Kain wasn''t an idiot, he was the top of his class for 4 straight years in the academic exams. He had just been too frazzled by the sudden appearance of Cherry to think.


    ''Hallucination? Does the ghost perhaps have a mental attribute? Or maybe there is no ghost, and she was also a hallucination the mercenary saw.''


    "I know they aren''t real! You can''t fool me anymore! Show yourself!"


    Nothing.


    "Stop playing with me and show yourself!" Kain screamed while standing up in anger. Wrong decision. The moment he stood up his vision began to blur as he lost his balance before collapsing back into the water with his eyes closed. Until the very end, the spiritual creature never revealed itself.

 Chapter 27: Chapter 27: The System Activates

    *Spiritual Contract Detected: System Initializing*


    *Compromised Host Condition Detected, Administering Emergency Electroshock Therapy*


    "Ahhh!"


    Cough Cough Cough S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain wheezed while spitting out all of the water he had swallowed. "I''m alive." He said patting down his body, "I''m alive!"


    *Correct Host. Congratulations on obtaining your first spiritual contract and activating the System*


    "Aaaahhhhh ghost!" Kain said whipping his head around in search of the voice.


    *Not a ghost. System*


    "System��? System!" This thing had never responded in the decade he had had it. He was beginning to think that it didn''t exist.


    "Wait��you''re activated��and you said I have a contract!"


    *Correct, please explore your first star space to make contact with your contract*


    Excited, Kain immediately closed his eyes. The star that was previously a mashup of pretty much any environment one could think of, now had a clear appearance.


    ''A hot spring? Did I contract a hot spring?''


    *Please do not be ridiculous host. One can only bind to living creatures with sufficient spiritual power, not inanimate objects. Your star has taken on the appearance of a hot spring because that is the most optimal environment for your contract.*


    "I see��" Kain examined his star again. "I don''t see anything other than a hot spring. Are you sure it''s in there?"


    *I am sure. You can summon it if you would like further confirmation*


    Kain closed his eyes to concentrated and tried to do as directed by the system, pulling an object at the end of his spiritual power outside of his body. Once he sensed its presence in front of him, his eyes snapped open. Still nothing. "Where is it?! Did I actually even make a contract, I thought I''d have to be awake to direct the formation of the contract. I also didn''t cut my hand"


    *Not true. Because white-grade spiritual power in humans and spiritual creatures is weak, bodily fluid is needed as a medium, this is unnecessary as your strength increases. Regardless, all of the conditions to establish a contract were fulfilled. It had very intimate contact with you when it entered your body*


    "It did WHAT?!" Kain shouted, feeling violated.


    *And additionally, neither party rejected the contract. You, because you were unconscious. It, because it sensed a suitable living environment for itself within you that it instinctively made its way towards. Resulting in a contract*


    "So where is it��Is it��still in me?" Kain, asked in trepidation. After all, a creature living in the star space within his body is different from it swimming through his veins.


    *No. After the contract was established. It, and all of its derivatives were absorbed into your star space. Once summoned it appeared outside of your body, in the water surrounding you. Perhaps exploring the system''s features will be better able to answer your questions*


    Of course, now that the System has finally activated, he could get used to its help. No longer forced to do everything on his own.


    "System open!!! Show me what you''ve got!!!" He shouted into the air.


    *There is no need to shout. Simply think what you would like for me to do, and I will read those thoughts*


    ''Kind of an invasion of privacy, but I guess that''s convenient��'' Kain thought while silently asking the system to show him its features once again.


    Immediately a window with several options appeared in front of him. Most of which were blurred out.


    The only available selection was the ''Host Status'' icon. ''I guess this is about me?''


    Selecting the only available option, Kain was brought to a screen showing a 3D scan of his body, along with his height, weight, and other health indicators. Interestingly it has also quantified his spiritual power.


    ''That''s convenient. Usually, people just have to keep absorbing their spiritual power while only having a vague indication when they are approaching saturation and can begin forming their next star. This thing tells me exactly how much spiritual power I currently have and how much more I need to become a 2-star beast tamer''


    Currently it read 150/1000 SP. Kain had not been able to absorb any more spiritual power since reaching saturation and condensing his first star. A level he''s assuming to be 100 SP. Now, after establishing his first contract, he can continue absorbing more already. While asleep it already looks as though he absorbed another 50 SP.


    ''This is why I needed to form a contract as soon as possible. Every day without a contract is another day I cannot absorb more spiritual power and fall further behind my peers.'' Most of his awakened classmates have probably already passed the 300SP by now, even those with the worst talent.


    Focusing on the Contracts icon next to his 3D avatar, Kain was brought to another screen.


    ''Finally, I''ll get some answers''

 Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Kains Affinity Revealed

    ''Just what are you?'' Kain thought while looking at the Blue blob with a darker blue circle in the center like an eye.


    Kain thought he would instantly have a sense of affection for his contract, like Bridge but�� ''it''s ugly. Really, really ugly.'' However, something about it felt familiar.


    "If this is how it looks, why can''t I see it?"


    *Maybe the host should look more closely at its information*


    After receiving the hint. Kain immediately looked at its basic information and was taken a back by its size.


    "15 micrometers? That''s microscopic," Kain muttered in shock.


    "Microscopic��wait don''t tell me��" Kain''s stomach began to sink.


    Kain''s mind flashed back to his awakening ceremony. ''I would love to have an undead affinity right now. The undead are great! Just please don''t tell me that all of those seemingly empty eggs were actually full of��"


    *Microscopic organisms? That is correct host*


    Kain wanted to break down in tears.


    Maybe back on his previous Earth bacteria and viruses could be powerful weapons, but in this world where even children have managed to absorb at least a little spiritual power, most microbes that could cause disease were considered harmless.


    Kain doesn''t even think the people of this world are fully aware of the existence of microbes. Why would they be when there are the much more interesting spiritual creatures to study and diseases are practically unheard of?


    The fact that Kain''s contract even possesses enough spiritual power to alter the mental state of awakened individuals and form a contract with him is an anomaly, he doesn''t hold out much hope in being able to find another.


    "How could this kind of affinity get an S-rating." Kain said despondently. Until this moment he had been holding out hope that his affinity was for some kind of rare and powerful creature, which is what that machine was sensing, but how could this kind of affinity receive an S-rating?


    *Humans'' method of assessing potential encompasses both the strength of the contract creature, as well as the number of types of creatures one can bind. There is no affinity more broad than yours. ALL MICROORGANISMS. That includes all the types of bacteria, viruses, amoebas, archaea, fungi and more that are too small to see with the naked eye*


    "Great! So I can bind thousands of varieties of useless creatures too weak to actually have any combat effectiveness. Awesome!"


    *Although most microorganisms do not possess much, if any, spiritual power, there are always exceptions like the one you contracted. As someone from a planet that has been repeatedly ravaged throughout history by plagues and pandemics, you more than anyone in this world should be aware of their potential. With the power of evolution, even Black-iron quality beasts could reach a much higher level.


    Most microorganisms are already incredibly susceptible to mutating, with this system''s help, you can surely still achieve all you''ve dreamed of*


    ''No I can''t,'' thought Kain disheartened. ''How could I be satisfied when everybody else has bound companions that they can hold, communicate with, hug, and love? Companions that could carry them into the sky or to the depths of the ocean. Can my contract even think? Feel? It''ll definitely never be able to carry me'' S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *The Host should take a closer look at your contract, I think that with time you will come to be amazed by the potential of your affinity.*

 Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Kains First Contract

    Resigned, Kain decided to take the System''s advice and take a closer look at his contract''s information page.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Brain-Eating Amoeba (BEA)


    A rare microorganism typically found in warm freshwater bodies such as hot springs. When a host enters its waters, it typically enters through the nasal cavity in swimmers and moves towards the brain. Early symptoms of infection include headache, fever, nausea, blurred vision and fainting. Later may include seizures and hallucinations.


    The fatality rate in infected at or below the brain-eating amoeba''s spiritual power is 97%.


    Quality: Bronze


    Spiritual Power Grade: White (232/1000 SP)


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba) S��ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Attribute: water, mental


    Skills:


    A-Rapid Proliferation: When entering bodies of water, BEA can rapidly divide. Producing thousands of progeny within seconds that can be controlled by the parent cell.


    A-Brain Infection: Once inside a host BEA can make its way to a suitable host''s brain to cause almost certain death in creatures of equal and lower spiritual power. Symptoms, but not death, will be triggered in infected with spiritual power up to one grade higher.


    B-Seamless integration: Once entering a fluid, BEA integrates perfectly with the surrounding environment becoming completely undetectable to creatures with a spiritual power up to one grade higher


    C-Capsule formation: under harsh conditions such as extreme temperatures and acids, BEA forms a resilient capsule to prevent death. Once activated, no other skills can be used.


    ----------------------------------


    Kain was pleasantly surprised. Shocked really. Bronze-quality? Two A-level skills? Usually only the most talented of the silver-quality spiritual creatures had an A-level skill, and usually only one. His contract had 2!


    Maybe it has to do with the fact that it is a rare mental-attribute spiritual creature. Creatures with a mental-affinity are usually not below Gold-quality. They are also one of the hardest to defend against.


    Moreover, it''s B-level skill isn''t too shabby, allowing it to sneak up on even red-grade spiritual beasts and 2-star beast-tamers. ''That mercenary was probably a 2-star. That''s probably why the mercenary was affected but didn''t die, yet had no idea what really happened to him here.''


    ''Maybe I can make this work��'' Kain thought. Feeling, for the first time in a while, some optimism for the future.


    "Now that I''ve got a contract, I guess I should give you a name��" Kain muttered, finally feeling some semblance of affection for his first contract. "I actually kind of like the acronym for your species, BEA. I will call you Bea from now on."


    ''Now that I got what I came here for, I guess I can head back home now��'' Kain headed back in the direction of the exit after recalling Bea with a pep in his step.

 Chapter 30: Chapter 30: First Kill

    Following his steps back toward where he saw the exit, Kain took a step outside.


    He was back in the familiar woods to his city''s east. ''I entered these woods no stronger than an ordinary person, and I''m leaving as an official beast-tamer!''


    Kain looked at the sky. The sun looked as though it had just finished rising, meaning that he had officially been out here for one full day.


    Based on the direction of the morning sun, Kain headed west, back in the direction of his home.


    The trip back home was much more relaxing than the one coming from the city. ''This must be the comfort having a spiritual contract provides.'' Although he logically knew he wasn''t significantly stronger than before, he definitely felt a lot safer than he did previously. Less naked and vulnerable.


    Snap


    Kain whipped his head around in the direction of the sound.


    Snap


    To the left! Turning that way, Kain still didn''t see anything. However, He could sense that there was something there. Watching him. Circling him.


    Then finally in the dark he saw a pair of familiar gold eyes. This time it wasn''t a hallucination.


    "You again! This time I''m not defenseless!" Kain immediately summoned Bea. Only to realize that although Bea is pretty overpowered against red-grade and below creatures, she''s pretty much useless outside of water, with no way to actually infect the host.


    ''Crap!'' Kain thought before bolting. ''The river! I need to get to the river!''


    Moving as fast as possible Kain moved in the direction he thought the river was. ''Thankfully, all of the wilderness survival courses we were forced to take in school developed our sense of direction. Otherwise, I wouldn''t know which way was up.''


    As he ran Kain could already feel the difference in his body after he made a contract and was able to pass the blockade of 100 SP. It wasn''t a huge difference he found it easier to weave between the trees to avoid capture. He also would have probably been out of breath by now.


    ''Damn! Where is it? The river isn''t supposed to be far from where the hot spring is''


    Hearing the sound of running water, he made a sharp veer to the right. ''There!''


    Making a mad dash towards the river he dove headfirst into the water.


    Fortunately, this time he has some defence against what may lurk in these waters, although carnivorous plants like the one he ran into previously are still a threat.


    He immediately released Bea into the surrounding waters and could immediately sense as her splits (yes, he decided that Bea was a her) spread to cover at least 10 m2 of water in his vicinity within seconds. "Hahaha! I''d love to see you come in here after me now. Nothing with a brain will be able to touch me"


    Once again, the cougar remained on shore while pacing back and forth staring at him.


    "Come on! You hungry?! I promise you that I will be the tastiest thing you''ve ever eaten!" Kain yelled, trying to tempt the cougar into the river.


    Grrrr


    It didn''t seem to be falling for his antics. Once again Kain was reminded of Bea''s limitations, if it doesn''t enter the water, he''s out of luck. He''s also not confident enough that just a quick splash with water will give Bea enough access.


    ''Damn it! How do I make myself more tempting��? Should I undress? Maybe add in some innocent doe eyes like a helpless prey? I''ve never had to seduce a human before, much less a spiritual beast.''


    Crash


    Suddenly a giant wave formed pushing Kain towards shore. In the direction of the cougar. Thankfully it seemed to also be trying to run out of the range of the wave. Although it was unsuccessful.


    As the cougar became drenched in water, Kain could sense from Bea that her splits were successful in entering the cougar, ''it''s done!'' S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Relaxing, Kain spun around to see what caused the tsunami. A giant turtle with a landmass on its shell. "Haha! You''ve helped me twice now, intended or not. You must really be my lucky star."


    Slash


    Vaguely sensing a warning transmitted from Bea, Kain immediately ducked down. "You''re still not down yet?!"


    ''Bea, is there any way you could speed up the process,'' Kain prompted while dodging another attack. Sensing a negative signal from her that her split had just entered its brain and that it would take some time, Kain turned his other new companion.


    ''System! Any help you can provide''


    *Apologies. The Host has not yet earned access to the majority of the System''s features*


    ''So I only have access to a stupid status menu?! You''re still useless just now you talk to me?!''


    *The System''s capabilities are dependent on the host. Please continue to work hard ^_^*


    The response further irritated Kain. Especially the emoticon that felt like it was mocking him.


    ''Ugh! I guess can only wait this out''


    Fortunately, gradually the cougar''s movements began to slow down, making it easier for Kain to dodge. Finally, it stopped attacking and tried to run away before collapsing to the ground.


    No longer having to focus on dodging, Kain could spare some of his energy to watch the effects of Bea''s skill.


    Approaching it, but still staying out of its attack range, Kain could see it glaring up at him in rage, but there was also fear in its eyes. "I guess you never thought the hunter would turn into the hunted, huh?"


    However, Kain eventually decided to put it out of its misery, stabbing straight into its forehead for a quick ending.


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    "GP? What''s GP?


    *GP is the currency of the System. You can use it to upgrade the System to unlock other features as well as spend it for a variety of uses once you unlock said features*


    "Great! Maybe once I upgrade you, I can finally get some help around here" Kain said rolling his eyes. "How much GP do I need to upgrade you"


    *Upgrading the System from level 0 to 1 will require you to spend 100 GP*


    Kain''s brow immediately twitched.


    ''100 GP��That''s 100 White-grade beasts that I would need to kill! Just one of those things could kill me!''


    Looking at the corpse in front of him, Kain was suddenly reminded of another point in training. "Blood Cougar fangs and claws can be used to make weapons, while their soft yet difficult-to-penetrate red coats can be used to make luxury clothes that those legacies adore." Brandishing his wife he immediately got to work.


    Rolling up the fangs and claws in the fur coat, Kain attempted to lift it, "Damn! This is way heavier than I expected. System! I don''t suppose you have anything like a storage space"


    *Please work hard Host to unlock more of the System''s capabilities*


    "Figured you''d be no help��" Kain muttered before putting the rolled-up fur over his shoulder and making his way slowly back to the city.

 Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Returning Home

    Fortunately, the rest of the journey back home was uneventful. After stopping by a shop next to the gates targeting the materials brought back by mercenaries, Kain was finally able to get rid of the materials from the cougar he had.


    ''12000 Celestial Dollars! A mere Black-iron beast was able to earn me almost as much as Bridge saved up after 3 years of part-time farm work. Now I understand better why everyone in this world is so desperate to awaken.'' The ease at which even the lowest 1-star beast tamers can earn money is incomparable to ordinary people. Although the cost of caring for contracts is also astronomical.


    ''Although.. what exactly would the care and evolution plan for Bea be? I don''t think anyone''s ever had a contract like her before''


    *That will be up to the Host to figure out. Out of everyone in this world, the Host is probably the most knowledgeable about microbes*


    "Yeah, my 3 years of college-level biology totally makes me an expert��" Kain said while rolling his eyes.


    * ��.*


    Even the System was unable to provide any more words of comfort.


    ''This sucks��''


    Once Kain arrived home, the first thing he did was take a hot shower before jumping into bed. He hadn''t been able to sleep at ease without fear of a sudden attack in over 24 hours, so as soon as his head hit the pillow he went off into dreamland


    However, after what felt like only closing his eyes for a brief moment, he was violently slapped awake by Bridge.


    "You''re back! You''re back! When we heard from Cherry that you went into the wilderness without a contract, we were all so terrified! Why wouldn''t you take me with you?!" He yelled while wrapping him in a hug.


    Feeling Bridge shaking, Kain didn''t have the heart to yell at him for waking him up.


    "You had just formed a contract a few days ago, you''d not be much safer than me out there. If I''m going to put myself in danger, I''m not going to drag you down with me" Kain said while patting Bridge''s back.


    ''Well, it doesn''t look like he''ll let me go back to sleep right away. I might as well go get some food''


    "When''s dinner, I''m starving?"


    "Right now. You looked exhausted so I didn''t wake you up earlier, but I figured you''d want to eat."


    Kain looked to find it completely dark outside, I guess he had gotten to sleep longer than he felt. "When I told everyone earlier that you were back, they immediately started working together to prepare your favourite"


    "Hot pot��?" Kain asked hopefully.


    After Bridge nodded, Kain immediately ran downstairs, no longer tired.


    "Really, the things that come out of his mind are both great and strange. This hot pot he came up with is delicious, but I don''t know why he insists we eat it with sticks" Bridge muttered before following after Kain.


    Entering the dining room, Kain saw that everyone, including their neighbours, was already seated around a large table waiting for him. A delicious smell was coming from a large pot at the center of the table while a variety of ingredients were washed and cut on plates next to it.


    Immediately Kain used chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat and dip it into the soup. He could barely even wait for it to fully cook before stuffing it into his mouth. Reaching for another piece his hand was suddenly smacked by the director��HARD! Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Go wash your hands! I let one slide because you looked like a starving stray cat, but no more!"


    "Ah, sorry!" Kain quickly scampered off to wash his hands as he heard muffled giggles behind him.


    Once Kain returned, he immediately sat down obediently, looking at the director.


    "Did you find what you needed?" Director Silas asked. Everyone turned to look at Kain in anticipation.


    "Uh-huh" Kain nodded with a big grin.


    "Good" the director nodded, before everyone began to stuff their faces.

 Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Caring for his Contract

    After getting a full stomach and a good night''s rest. Kain woke up happily the next morning. Surprisingly, Bridge wasn''t in the bed next to him. ''Huh, I thought he''s stopped working at the farm for now to prepare for the entrance tests. That lazy guy never gets up early on a weekend otherwise.''


    However, soon the loud shouts coming from the yard answered Kain''s question. "How''s training Lady going?" Kain asked once he joined Bridge outside.


    "Not bad! She''s a hard worker and we''ve managed to graduate from Beginner to Practiced proficiency for one of her moves in only a few days."


    That reminded Kain. He should also work on Bea''s proficiency. As the proficiency of her skills increases maybe it won''t take as long to take down enemies in the future, they may also unlock new effects or graduate to a higher skill grade. However, most of Bea''s skills are not easy or safe to practice in the city. He will need to go back out into the wild.


    It''ll also give him an opportunity to collect more GP and upgrade the system.


    With that in mind, Kain headed back upstairs to write down his plan of action for the next 5 weeks until the entrance exam at Dark Moon.


    After confirming what his affinity was, Kain was faced with a problem. Given that his affinity, as far as he is aware, is completely unheard of, he would not be able to rely on the expertise of an experienced Evolutionary Planner to help him. He also wasn''t sure if he wanted to ever disclose his affinity to others, it''d make it a lot easier to target his shortcomings.


    Therefore, despite still preparing for the beast-tamer admissions exams in 5 weeks time, he also planned to take the academic exam in a month to enter the Evolutionary Planning major. Although double majors are rare, they are not unheard of.


    And given Kain''s unique circumstances he needed the resources of the beast-taming major to increase his strength, but he also needed the knowledge of a Planner to figure out an evolution for Bea, and any of his other future contracts.


    ''This is going to be a real tiring month'' Kain thought. After all, he is attempting to enter the two most competitive majors at a top 5 college. He will need to be among the top applicants in both combat and academics to have even a shot at achieving his goals. sea??h th�� Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''I''m pretty confident in my academic performance, and have consistently scored within the top 1% in the nation for previous mock exams. The most urgent thing is to increase Bea''s strength. Bea''s major short comings are her limited methods of being able to enter a host, needing to have contaminated water enter their nose, eyes, mouth, or wounds. No water, no infection.


    However, I don''t see any immediate method of being able to overcome this shortcoming by the time of the exam, so I will focus on Bea''s second weakness: the speed at which she can kill a host. If the Dark Moon entrance exam is in fact a beast tide, I can''t exactly wait 5-10 minutes as I''m overrun with beasts for Bea''s split to stop them.


    The time from infection to incapacitation must be brought down to a few seconds.''


    As Kain looked at Bea''s status window, he noticed something else of interest.


    ''System, what was Bea''s Spiritual Power immediately after we formed a contract?''


    *Answering Host, it was 232 SP*


    ''What about before we fell asleep last night?''


    *It was 245 SP*


    Kain turned to look at Bea''s current level of spiritual power and suddenly had a headache. It was exactly 245 SP. Completely unchanged after a night of rest in the star space.


    After entering the star space, the absorption of spiritual power should be much higher than when outside. The contract being mutually beneficial for both parties in increasing the rate at which the spiritual power rises. This is why a contract with high potential is so important, as it can greatly impact the speed of the beast-tamer''s growth.


    Typically, a beast with high potential will have an increase of 10 SP a day, even without active absorption, just by staying in the star space. A contract with average potential would absorb around 5 SP a day passively. However, after an entire night of rest, Bea''s spiritual power did not increase by even 1 SP.


    But, in the time between forming the contract and going to bed, Bea''s SP increased by 13, at the level of those with the highest levels of talent.


    ''So what happened between the time of the contract and going to sleep?''


    Staring contemplatively at Bea''s status window, Kain was suddenly drawn to the species name, ''Brain-eating amoeba.''


    ''Don''t tell me that the nutritional source Bea needs for growth are brains?'' Kain thought, feeling nauseous.


    *Host is correct. The fresher the better*

 Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Getting Ready to Go

    Kain took that statement to mean that Bea needed to consume brains that were still in a living host��


    Although sickening, Kain did have to admit that this was quite convenient for his training plans. Bea can train her skills while also increasing her own SP and obtaining GP to use upgrading the system.


    ''Looks like I won''t be able to spend that much time at home in the future,'' Kain thought. Before beginning to pack another bag with all of the supplies he had lost previously.


    Thankfully, the bruising around his ankle had pretty much healed and no longer hurt. ''Ah, the perks of having Spiritual Power. Although it wasn''t a deep injury, it would have taken him at least a week to fully heal from it back on Earth.''


    ''It looks like I''m almost ready to go. However, there''s still a couple more things I want to buy in the city.''


    Kain had never had so much money to spare before, a whopping 22000 CD when combining his previous earnings working as a tutor with the 12000 CD he earned yesterday from selling the cougar parts yesterday. Previously, he hadn''t been able to afford even the most basic soft armour. However, now he should be able to afford at least something.


    Maybe even one with decent quality or high quality if it''s already used.


    Making his way into town, Kain headed towards the commercial district. Due to a lack of funds, he had rarely come here, but now he was amazed at how many stores there were that targeted beast-tamers. Pharmacies, Weapons shops, Training Centers, and more.


    Heading over to a local armory that among the local mercenaries was rumoured to have the most reasonably priced equipment (''thanks again Cherry for that information''), Kain hesitantly stepped through the door.


    He could see a variety of weapons and armor in racks as well as all along the walls.


    ''Where do I even start?'' He ended up pausing in stupefaction long enough that an employee thankfully took pity on him.


    "Can I help you?" Asked a large older man with a long shaggy grey beard. ''He''s likely a blacksmith?'' Kain thought, looking at the man''s red and weathered skin.


    "Y-yes! I am looking for a suitable soft armor"


    "Hmmm��" He said, squinting he already beady eyes while looking Kain up and down. "High schooler? 1-star? What''s you budget" Kain nodded before answering with the total amount of his savings, you can''t cheapen out on safety.


    "Follow me" before leading the way towards a rack of soft armor near the front of the door.


    "I''m assuming this is an armour you will be using to explore wilderness around here. Therefore , you don''t really need one with cold-resistant insulation. Other special features such as being lightning or fire-proof are also not necessary, both of those attributes are extremely rare in our immediate surroundings.


    I would recommend you buy one of these 3" The Blacksmith said holding up a black, a brown, and a dark blue armor.


    "This one," he large man said while holding up the black one, "is made from the hide of a bronze-quality Iron Ursa, offering exceptional defence.


    Although it is a quite heavy, most white-grade attacks, and even the average red-grade ones would find it difficult to penetrate it." Kain picked up the black soft armor and almost tipped over from the weight ''Can anyone actually wear this?!'' This is likely only a high schooler of Bridge''s size could wear.


    Kain shook his head "it''s too heavy for me. I fight using my agility more than raw strength"


    "I figured," He said looking at Kain''s leanly muscled arms. "These 2 may be more what you''re looking for."


    He then held up the brown armor. Looking closely, Kain could see that it had a slight green tinge as well as scales "Made from the skin of Bitter Ground Lizards, they are lightweight and durable, although not as protective as the previous one I showed you. Also, because they are made from Bitter Sand Lizards, they are resistant to corrosive poisons." S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bitter Sand Lizards are bronze-quality lizards that live in tunnels underground, typically in sandy desert regions. Their skin constantly secretes a mildly corrosive poison that makes all of the ground in an area have a slightly bitter taste. Although, most people just take the textbook''s word for it and didn''t actually taste it for themselves.


    "Lastly," he said pointing to the blue armor, "this one is made from a bronze-quality Scavenger Shark. Therefore, it has a similar durability and lightweight as the brown armor I showed you, while also offering excellent water-resistance. You will feel just as light in the water as you do on land." Scavenger sharks are quite common bronze-quality beasts.


    Also, despite being sharks they rarely choose to hunt for prey, instead choosing to scavenge for food on the ocean floor.


    "Hmmm��. How much do the brown and blue armours each cost?"


    "The blue one is 19,000 CD while the other, because sand lizards are less common to find, will be 21,000 CD."


    Kain''s heart bled. Either one of them would end up bleeding majority of his savings. He once again realized how expensive the beast-tamer profession was.


    However, he didn''t agonize over his decision for long. There weren''t many creatures with a corrosive type poison in the area and, given Bea''s characteristics, Kain planned to do the majority of his hunting in and around the river. The fact that it was cheaper was also a nice bonus.


    "I will take the Scavenger Shark soft armor!"

 Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Preparations Complete

    After making a decision and paying with the account tied to his ID card, Kain didn''t immediately leave. He had an idea to deal with Bea''s other limitation��a water gun!


    After explaining his idea to the Blacksmith, he gave him a strange look. "It''s not too difficult to make what you asked. However, most people that order a projectile weapon want it to shoot arrows or bullets, not water. Is this for a child to play with?"


    Kain coughed, "My contract is poisonous"��not, technically true but that''s the easiest way to describe Bea��"I was hoping to shoot the poison at targets from far away"


    The man stroked his beard, contemplating the feasibility of the idea, but looked skeptical. "Is your poison able to exert an effect once it makes contact with the skin?"


    "No��"


    "I see. So it needs to be ingested or get in through some other opening in the body. Do you have an aim good enough to hit rapidly moving targets from far away and aim precisely at the eyes, nose, or open mouths or wounds?"


    "��.No��." Realizing that most spiritual creatures are significantly more quick and agile than him. He also doesn''t have any experience holding a gun from his past life or in the combat training he received in this life.


    "��I think I have a better idea." The man brought Kain to the back of the store. The weapons and armor here were all of a noticeably higher quality than the ones at the front. They also all had markings of abstract symbols.


    They stopped before a dark red spear with intricate markings all along the shaft. "One of the apprentices in my shop designed this spear recently. It is enchanted with a sigil meant to inject a stored poison into the stabbed target once infused with spirit power"


    An enchanted weapon! Armors and weapons sigils that can exert a variety of effects when triggered by the user''s spiritual power. The effect described for this spear seems quite simple, but making even the simplest enchanted weapon takes a huge amount of talent and skill. A mere apprentice made this one?


    Unfortunately, considering Kain could just barely afford an ordinary soft armor, there''s no way he''d be able to purchase the spear, no matter how appealing it is. ''But it really is perfect for me! Although I mostly use knives, I have some experience with spears from class, I can become more proficient with practice in time for the entrance exam. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Also, being able to directly inject Bea into the target is a much more foolproof method than a water gun. Especially since I would only need to cut them and not fatally wound them to achieve victory''


    Perhaps seeing Kain''s awkward expression, he guessed the problem. "I assume you are going into the wilderness soon, correct?"


    Kain nodded.


    "Then I will give this spear to you as an advance payment if you can complete a task for me."


    Kain wanted to immediately agree and grab the precious spear, however thankfully he was able to calm down and hear the conditions beforehand. After all, this sounds way too good to be true. What task can be worth an enchanted weapon?


    "I need you to hunt Armordillos for me, at least 3 in order to make an armor I''m planning"


    "Why would you be asking a high school student like me, rather than hiring a mercenary?"


    "Well as I''m sure you know Armordillos have a defense that''s pretty impenetrable by attacks at the same level. Heck, even a orange-grade attack will likely not even leave a scratch on an Armordillo when it''s curled up. Therefore, to hunt one of them requires a decent poison that is also not corrosive and will weaken the shell. You happen to meet both conditions."


    Kain contemplated. Armordillos are a Bronze-quality beast, and typically have condensed red-grade spiritual power by the time they''ve reached adulthood. However, despite being a whole grade above him and Bea, Kain wasn''t too threatened. Despite their incredible defense, even adult Armordillos don''t normally have any attack skills, preferring to just curl up when they see a predator.


    Therefore, Kain wouldn''t likely be in any danger when facing them.


    The only issue is that Armordillos are pretty rare and there is no guarantee he can even find one, much less three of them.


    "I wouldn''t know where to begin looking��" Kain began hesitantly.


    "Don''t worry about that," the Blacksmith said waving a hand nonchalantly, "I have pretty accurate intel on where a family of 5 of them were recently spotted. I''ll even let you borrow a space ring from me. It doesn''t have much space, about 1 cubic meter, but it should be able to squeeze in 3 fully grown ''Dillo shells plus whatever basic supplies you bring"


    "Deal!" Concerns all taken care of, Kain excitedly agreed. ''I even get to rent a space ring for free!''


    After they signed a contract with the terms of their agreement, Kain was then handed the ring already containing the spear, and the map with the location of the Armordillo family. Before being escorted to the door.


    "Hmmm��." Kain said while looking at the map, "they are on the other side of the river��"


    "Yup! It''s your responsibility to figure out how to get across"


    Bang!


    The door was slammed inches from Kain''s face before the ''Open'' sign was flipped to ''Closed''


    "I guess I should be happy to even receive an enchanted weapon, map, and space ring. If he had to provide me with any more help then he really would probably just be better off hiring a professional mercenary" Kain ran his hands through his black hair in embarrassment before turning to head back home.


    ''I wonder what''s for dinner��''

 Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Hunting Prey

    Kain woke up the next day satiated and well-rested. ''Now is as good a time as ever to head out.''


    He was wary of long drawn-out goodbyes and a ton of tears being spilled, mostly from Bridge, so he decided to just leave a note on his bed before heading out just as the sun was beginning to rise. Thankfully, nobody was up yet.


    After exiting the gate with a large pack of supplies on his back, he glanced around to make sure he was properly covered by the vegetation before emptying his bag into the ring. Still choosing to carry the now empty bag on his back.


    ''Not carrying anything out here is suspicious. Anyone with half a brain would guess that I have a space ring and start seeing me as a walking pile of Celestial Dollars. If anyone tries to rob me I can''t exactly shout for enforcement officers out here.'' Sear?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His current plan was to stay out in the wilderness for a week to maximize efficiency. Considering that he packed enough supplies for two weeks, then he shouldn''t run the risk of running out.


    Taking his new weapon out of the storage space to be ready in case of any sudden attacks, Kain headed deeper into the forest.


    ''It should only take 2, maybe 3 days to locate the Armordillo family, I can spend 4 days focused on training Bea.''


    Last time he went to sell the cougar parts by the gate, he saw that there was an exchange window containing up-to-date information on where some of the more dangerous spiritual creatures inhabit. For a hefty price of course. Now he only had around 100 CD to his name.


    ''Despite the cost I wish I had this the last time I went out. Knowledge really is power.''


    "It looks like I got quite lucky the last time I was here," Kain shivered realizing that the hot spring was very close to a label indicating the nest of an orange-grade White Widow Spider.


    "Let''s stay away from here, here and here��" Kain said after looking at the different orange-grade skulls on the map and deciding on a safe direction.


    After an hour of walking, Kain located a suitable target. A spiritual beast that looked like a brown water buffalo with brilliant golden horns. ''


    A Daylight Buffalo, a fire-attribute black-iron quality spiritual beast. They absorb energy from the sun to make their horns hot enough to melt iron. However, if kept at a distance they''re not a threat.


    ''It''s been a while since I used a spear. I hope I''m not too rusty. However, with Bea I don''t exactly need to fight fair'' He thought slyly while creeping up silently behind the buffalo.


    Swoosh


    Once within range, he immediately stabbed into its side while embuing his spiritual power into the spear to release Bea into the wound.


    It''s hide is think so he couldn''t make a deep wound but�� ''That''s enough,'' he thought slyly, ''Bea, it''s up to you now''


    Aoooooo!!!!!


    Seeing its attacker, the Daylight Buffalo let an enraged roar before charging head-first at Kain with glowing horns. Kain could feel the heat from several feet away.


    Fortunately, right after stabbing forward he got a head start and began running.


    He made sure to constantly change directions as he ran. The buffalo was used to charging in a straight line and had to keep stopping before turning to chase after him again.


    Finally, he no longer felt a scalding heat behind him. He took a peak back and saw the buffalo standing still on shaking legs.


    "Finally! I was about to collapse from exhaustion!" He said, while collapsing on the ground.


    He reached into his pocket and pulled out the stopwatch he had started right after stabbing the buffalo.


    "Ha��.Ha��. 5�� minutes�� and 43��.seconds," He read out while breathing heavily. "That is way too long Bea!"


    Kain stabbed it through the head to put it out of its misery as fast as possible.


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    Sigh


    Kain was tired but he knew it was best to extract the materials as soon as possible before a predator is drawn by the smell of blood.


    Thankfully it didn''t take long since the only material of significant value was the horns. The rest of the body may not add up to even half their value.


    After storing the horns in the space ring, Kain left the scene. Just in time, as he heard wolf howls coming from the direction he just left behind mere minutes later.


    An hour later Kain was hiding behind a bush while staring at his next prey. ''Jackpot!''

 Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Hunting Prey (2)

    Each white-grade beast only gave Kain 1 GP.


    He could work hard honestly and slowly kill one spiritual creature at a time until he met the requirements. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, only a fool would choose such a slow and arduous method. And Kain was no fool.


    He was a firm believer of ''work smarter, not harder.''


    Lounging all over a giant rock was a pack of grey Berserk Coyotes��At least 15. White-grade.


    As he stared at the pack a plan hatched in Kain''s mind. The river was about a 5-minute sprint Southeast of this rock and Kain planned to lure this whole pack into the river.


    When he has tried this trick on the cougar in the past it didn''t work. It remained pacing on the shore.


    However, these coyotes have a crucial feature to ensure the plan''s success��they are EXTREMELY dumb.


    True to their name, once enraged they will chase their target to the ends of the earth. Into a poisonous marsh, a volcano or even off of a cliff��They will follow without a second thought, much less into a river.


    He just needs to find a way to enrage all of them, and the most foolproof method was to find the pack leader.


    After watching the pack for a while he found him. A silver coyote with red chest hair, unlike the white of the others, to signify his spiritual power grade.


    This will be the first red-grade beast that he faced. Although he was nervous, he didn''t feel as though it was not that risky as long as he got a headstart��and if he managed to slow down the leader''s speed a bit.


    Staying concealed in a nearby bush, Kain waited for the perfect opportunity.


    The leader finally left his perch and walked to a bush not far from Kain to relieve his bladder.


    Kain took out his trusty long-knife from the space ring and gently stroked the handle in reminiscence ''goodbye old friend, you''ve been a real one'' he said before whipping his arm to throw it deep into one of its hind legs.


    Awwooooooooo!!!!!!!


    Kain immediately stood up from his hiding spot so that the entire pack could see him before making a mad dash for the river.


    He could immediately hear angry growls and dozens of feet chasing after him.


    ''Damn they''re fast!'' He thought as he dodged a swipe from behind.


    ''Thankfully, I already made a plan to slow you all down'' He thought, before jumping over a thin wire suspended slightly off of the ground. A wire that is a necessary component for suspending his camping tent.


    ''Hopefully it doesn''t snap. I don''t exactly want to sleep outside tonight''


    Hearing multiple thuds behind him, he knew the plan was successful.


    Awwwooooo!!!!


    ''Looks like I just enraged them even more��but that''s not necessarily a bad thing.''

 Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Hunting Prey (3)

    Seeing the river up ahead Kain dove happily into the water, feeling as though he was falling into his mother''s embrace. ''Since binding Bea, being in the water feels like the safest place for me in the world''


    He had already placed Bea into this portion of the river earlier to give her ample time to spread out her splits.


    Splash Crash Splash Awooo


    Once in the water, Kain began to backstroke leisurely as he watched the coyotes chasing him into the water.


    "Haha�� you''re really not great at swimming are you" He laughed while watching them flail about in the water. Kain was still a little worried about outswimming them if they were strong swimmers, but it seemed his worries were for nothing. Kain was already at least 10 meters from shore while they were still splashing about at most 5 meters in.


    Kain continued to dodge them leisurely until he started to see the first ones stop chasing him. Some looked to be unconscious, others were whimpering in pain, one appeared to be having a seizure, while two actually turned and started attacking each other, likely trapped in a hallucination.


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    Kain listened to the sweet sound of his GP going up.


    Whimper


    After all of the System notifications ended, the only thing Kain heard was the painful whimpers of the pack leader. It was impossible for Bea to kill him completely so he swam over while it was dizzy and distracted by the pain and stabbed his spear deeply into its forehead.


    *Ding. Host has killed one Red-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 5 GP*


    Phew


    He was exhausted, but still couldn''t rest. He gathered as many of the floating bodies as he could and dragged them to shore. They were all money after all.


    Three had been taken away by the current further down the river, but he was able to collect 12 bodies, plus the leader.


    ''I need to buy a space ring��'' He thought. Getting completely used to the comforts of being able to easily bring back heavy extracted materials. To save space, he only took the claws and teeth of all the coyotes but also took the fur of the leader


    ''If the fur of a Black-iron, white-grade cougar could get me that much money, a Bronze-quality, red-grade pelt from this leader must be worth a fortune.''


    Seeing that the sun was already beginning to set, Kain realized that he''s already been in the wilderness for over 12 hours.


    ''It''s not safe to hunt at night without a nocturnal contract. Bea is also not the type of contract I can use as a guard while I rest,'' Kain was suddenly struck with worry about the safety of actually camping out here. Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He went back to where he set his trap, only to be disappointed that the wire he needed for his tent had in fact broken from the charge of the coyotes.


    Sigh


    Kain looked around for an idea, before settling on climbing a tree close to the river with branches hanging over the water.


    It had branches that looked thick enough to easily support a fully grown man.


    ''This is probably the safest option for me,'' most creatures on land wouldn''t try to climb a branch hanging over the river by chance. Also, this branch is high enough that no aquatic creatures should be able to catch me from jumping out the water''


    ''Also, if I do get attacked in my sleep, I will fall into the river. Which, with Bea, is one of the safest places for me''


    Satisfied with this plan, Kain climbed the tree and settled on one of its branches, leaning against its trunk. He then took out a blanket and draped it over himself, not used to sleeping without some coverage.


    ''I guess I should take a look at my progress,'' He thought, before tiredly opening the system.

 Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Mission-Armordillo

    On the home screen, Kye looked at his current progress proudly.


    He hadn''t had a chance to condense much spiritual power, it had still gone up by 50 to 200 SP thanks to the feedback from Bea.


    Going to Bea''s status menu he saw that her SP had increased tremendously to 405/1000 SP.


    Although, he had initially considered Bea''s inability to independently condense spiritual power without a host to be inconvenient, he realized that it was also an opportunity to drastically improve their strength in a short time.


    Even the most talented beasts can only increase their spiritual power by 10 SP when not making a conscious effort. With an effort this number can double or even triple.


    However, Bea was able to increase her spiritual power by a whopping 160 SP in just a day, worth at least a week''s worth of the hard work of others.


    Additionally, the system GP has increased from 1/100 to 19/100 GP.


    ''If only I could come across more groups that fearlessly give chase like Berserk Coyotes. I would be able to achieve the upgrade in no time and become a 2-star beast tamer in no time.''


    Sigh


    ''There are so many stars outside of the city.''


    Looking at the beautiful night sky, Kain closed his eyes and went to sleep.


    Kain continued hunting for the next 4 days.


    There was never as great a target as the coyote pack, but he, Bea, and the System had all progressed rapidly.


    After the first night, he had realized that since Bea could not absorb spiritual power on her own, there was no need to return her to the star space.


    Still choosing to sleep in the same spot each night, he instead kept Bea in the water below him to hunt any passing fish or other aquatic creatures.


    Although nothing particularly powerful had been caught yet, every morning Kain would wake up to the beautiful site of an increase in the SP of him and Bea, as well as GP. This arrangement allowed Kain to obtain SP and GP for 24/7.


    ''It''s like getting paid a salary while sleeping''


    "54 seconds again��" Kain said while looking at the white-grade Sand Wolverine corpse in front of him.


    After hunting that pack of coyotes the first day, Bea had made rapid progress in her speed of killing the target.


    However, after crossing the minute mark on the third day, there has only been a little improvement until now.


    "I guess we should get started on our mission now," Kain thought.


    He had already swam across the river on the fourth day in the wilderness. Although extremely tiring, he didn''t run into any danger with Bea surrounding him and no particularly strong creatures swimming by.


    Kain pulled out the map given to him by the Blacksmith, I''m not too far from their location.


    He left the wolverine corpse behind and moved forward. He didn''t have enough room in the space ring for any more materials since he needed to also needed to put in 3 large Armordillo shells.


    Also, the materials from the wolverine were less valuable than the other parts he''s collected so far, so he didn''t feel particularly hurt by their loss.


    "Ahh��. How things have changed. The boy who used to bend over backwards to earn a bit of money is now just leaving money on the ground," he said sounding quite smug.


    Finally arriving at the indicated location, Kain found it empty.


    "Hmmm��."


    They were living creatures so he did anticipate them moving.


    However, he wasn''t in a rush to get to this location when he first entered the wilderness because Armordillos are pretty timid, and once they find a location they feel safe in they may not leave for life.


    Kain looked around and noticed what looked like fresh animal prints in the ground. Therefore, he decided to find a comfortable spot where he could continuously see this location, since they probably just left recently to find food.


    His assumption was correct. Not even 15 minutes later a family of 5 arrived. Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One, the largest, was probably a male and was as tall as Kain''s waist. The three slightly smaller ones were probably females. Following at the end was an obvious infant, so small he could easily carry it in his arms.


    Kain continued to watch. Ideally, when he got the chance, he could stab the male with the spear before it curled up and became defensive.


    All of the adult Armordilllos went behind a large rock, leaving the baby behind.


    Soon a variety of noises, that Kain really didn''t want to think about the reason for, began to be heard from behind the rock.


    Kain''s hands began to itch with renewed determination to stab into the male Armordillo.


    He was completely enraged with his sensibilities as a modern man from 21st-century Earth by the depraved activities of the foursome.


    ''Yes, my sense of decency is what makes me want to punish that despicable Armordillo��no other reason''


    Unable to stand anymore the passionate noises that kept drifting to him, Kain ran behind the rock and stabbed forward.

 Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Mission-Armordillo Complete

    Despite catching the Armordillos at an especially vulnerable time. They still manage to fully curl up within the second of one spotting of him.


    Clang


    His spear hit the back of the shell without even leaving a mark.


    Clang Clang Clang


    He tried giving a full blow to all of them with no success.


    "Damn, your defense really is strong��" Kain said in amazement.


    Seeing that he wasn''t having any success breaking through. Kain decided to remove the cartridge filled with Bea contaminated water and poured it onto the shell. Hoping that there may be some minuscule opening in the shell that Bea could take advantage of.


    After 5 minutes of waiting and receiving no indication from Bea of a successful infection, he knew that plan B had failed.


    "Hmmm��. Time to go with plan C"


    Kain began to roll the male Armordillo towards the water. Thankfully, with renewed confidence in its defence, it still stayed curled up. Once by the shore, he sent Bea into the water and push the Armordillo in.


    "Let''s see how you stay curled up when you need to swim"


    After all, as land animals they were unable to breathe underwater. He will need to uncurl to swim to the surface eventually.


    Kain went back to where the others were. All were still curled up where he left them.


    "Yeah, your defence is tough. But having too much confidence in it being able to protect you from everything will be your downfall"


    He rolled two more adults into the water.


    He thought about getting rid of all 4 adults, but he barely had enough room in the space ring for 3 adult shells.


    Also, since living things cannot enter space rings and he really had no way of carrying an infant across the river to sell in the city, he decided to leave one of the adult females behind to take care of it.


    Standing next to the shore, Kain sensed that they were unable to stay curled up under the water after 10 minutes, allowing for Bea to infect them. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Less than a minute later, the bodies of the two females floated to the surface.


    *Ding. Host has killed two White-grade spiritual beasts, obtaining 2 GP*


    Kain dragged the bodies to shore to avoid them being taken away by the river.


    After 5 more minutes, Kain still did not receive a notification about the male.


    "He never used any skills so I was unable to see the colour of his spiritual power, but I guess he had already upgraded to red-grade spiritual power."


    Kain jumped into the river and found it writhing in pain as it tried to swim to the surface for air.


    Kain stabbed it through the head.


    *Ding. Host has killed one Red-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 5 GP*


    Kain dragged the heavy body to shore and began to take the shells off all 3 bodies.


    "Ugh��" Kain realized that he had stuffed the ring to the brim and was unable to fit the male shell.


    He removed some of the least valuable materials from the space, and stuffed them in a backpack so that he could fit the Armordillo.


    He had planned to do so right before entering the city anyway to avoid raising suspicion that he had a space ring, plus none of these materials he felt were valuable enough to try and rob him.


    The only downside was that now he''d have to swim back across the river with a heavy load on his back.

 Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Making A New Friend?

    Thankfully, the return trip home, while exhausting, was uneventful.


    He was able to sell all of the materials except the 3 shells for the blacksmith and obtained a whopping 183,000 CD, half of which was from the Bronze-quality, red-grade Berserk Coyote pack leader he had hunted the first day. All of the other materials were not even worth as much as the white-grade cougar fur he had sold the first time he went into the wilderness. sea??h th�� Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing that it was bright enough out for the Blacksmith''s shop to still be open, he headed over there.


    However, upon entering he did not see the large man who gave him the task. Instead, there was an almost as large teenager cashing out a customer.


    Once the other customer left, he turned to Kain, "How may I help you?" He said with a practiced sales smile.


    "Umm��I had received a task from a large man with a beard previously. I''m here to turn it in" Kain said, embarrassed that he had forgotten to get the man''s name previously or even look for it on the contract they had signed.


    Suddenly the young worker''s face turned solemn. "So YOU were the one that teacher gave away my spear to"


    Kain shifted nervously as the large teenager marched to within a foot of him while staring him down.


    ''Don''t tell me that HE is the apprentice''


    Kain flinched when he saw the other''s hand reach toward him�� and stroke the spear.


    "How is it? Any flaws in the design? Did the sigil work as intended? Once filled with liquid how much does the weight change?" He shot rapid-fire questions at Kain with his eyes yearning for feedback


    "T-that��the spear is really good��" He replied dumbfoundedly. "Can I please turn in my mission now?"


    "Ah yes! Sorry! I will go and get teacher now."


    Moments later, the large man that he was familiar with came from a back room.


    "I''m glad you didn''t dawdle with the mission," he said while holding out his hand for the ring.


    Kain parted with it reluctantly.


    The man nodded in appreciation when he looked at the quality of the shells.


    "Thankfully whatever poison you use did not have any corroding effects on the shell. I''m satisfied with your surface so you can keep the spear"


    Leaving Kain with those words he marched back into the back room.


    The teenager rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Sorry about Teacher. He usually doesn''t have much patience for conversation when he has work on his mind"


    Kain was suddenly curious, "Do you know what he plans to make?"


    The teen blushed, "He actually plans to make a full body armor for me�� I am taking the beast-tamer admissions test for Starfire College next month"


    "Oh! Good luck!" Kain said surprised. There were very few students with an affinity highly rated enough to take the test. Not to mention he also is an extremely talented blacksmith.


    "Are you planning to give up blacksmithing? Or will you be entering a double-major also?"


    "I would like to do both if I can. I am confident in entering the Blacksmithing department, but I only have a B-rated affinity and could use a little extra luck for the beast-tamer test�� wait! Also?!"


    "Yeah. I plan to also enter as a double-major. Beast-taming and Evolutionary Planning."


    The other teen looked like he had seen a monster. Someone was trying to enter BOTH of the most competitive and rigorous departments in the college?


    ''Maybe he''s planning to enter a low-tier college?'' he thought while calming down.


    "Are you also planning to try out for Starfire College?"


    "No I can''t," replied Kain.


    The teen sighed in relief. ''Yeah, it''d be a little too abnormal to enter both departments at a top 5 college. That''d mean you''d need at least a B-rated affinity''


    "I''m planning to take the exam for Dark Moon College, and with the 3 days it takes to travel each way to and from the eastern region by train, I would have missed the Starfire exam by then"


    Most qualified students could only choose 1 or 2 exams to take due to the close timing of all the dates and the several days it could take to travel between them by the interregional train.


    Although students with extremely strong elders would easily be able to meet all exam dates if flying on a blue-grade or stronger spiritual beast.


    If Kain did not pass the Dark Moon College exam, he would have to pick between Supernova College and the First Central Academy to have another shot at entering a top 5 college.


    The other teenager began to doubt life at Kain''s words "Dark Moon College��One of the top 5 colleges��That''s very impressive�� good luck"


    "Thanks! You too! It''s equally impressive that you are planning to enter 2 departments at Starfire as well"


    ''They aren''t the same, you monster!'' He shouted internally.


    "What''s your name?" He asked, figuring it couldn''t hurt to get to know someone that ambitious.


    "Kain. You?"


    "Pheneos"


    "Well, good luck Pheneos, and thanks for the spear. Hopefully the next time we meet is as students of Dark Moon and Starfire" He said before waving goodbye and exiting the store.

 Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Worries of an Exam Student

    Kain''s encounter with Pheneos served as a huge reminder to him. Not only would students be competing during the exam in terms of talent, but also money and background.


    Not only high-quality and expensive contracts but also expensive weapons and armor.


    Heck, students with beast-tamer family members would just benefit greatly from the combat knowledge and survival tips provided to them, while Kain had to fumble through the dos and don''t for survival on his own.


    Some students with more of a background may even be taught spiritual power techniques, which others would only get a chance to learn once in college.


    Obviously, not only spiritual creatures can utilize their spiritual power to perform skills. There are a variety of skills that humans can also use to amplify their contracts'' strengths or fight alongside them.


    Unfortunately, those skills are not taught in high school classrooms. One can only learn them in a beast-taming major at a university.


    The quality of the skills one can learn also differs by the library catalogue of each school.


    This is just one of the reasons why Kain is so desperate to enter both majors at a top 5 college, rather than just testing into the Planner major.


    Someone with no background like him, and an affinity as unique as his, needs to get 10x out of his college experience than a legacy would need to.


    ''I can''t afford to take it easy. I need to make up for the gap in combat knowledge by myself out there.''


    ''I have a decent soft armor and weapon now, but I''m sure others will have much better.''


    ''If I completely clear my savings after hunting a few more times I could probably get an enchanted armor as well. It is rare for 1-stars to be able to support the spiritual power drainage of 2 enchanted equipment, but by the time of the exam I should be able to become a 2-star beast tamer with red spiritual power.''


    ''Although it is unlikely I could find a suitable contract before the exam to improve my odds even more''


    ''However, if I hurry to upgrade the System maybe I can find something that will help me pass the exam.''


    ''With only 3 weeks left until the academic exam and 4 weeks until the Dark Moon beast-tamer exam, it is crunch time!''


    Kain immediately started to jog home, wanting to even save the few minutes it''d take to walk home for something more important��like studying or training.


    Thankfully, he arrived back home in time for dinner.


    However, he was surprised to not find Bridge anywhere.


    "Where is Bridge, he never misses dinner?" Kain asked while sitting down. This time nobody made a fuss over his return, seeming to have grown accustomed to it.


    "One of the trainers at the Wolfblood Dojo took a liking to him and has been helping him train. Apparently, it''s been a couple of years since a student in the city with a B-rated or higher affinity that can bind wolves has appeared" The director said.


    "He seems even more passionate about getting Bridge into one of the top 5 colleges and spreading their Dojo''s name than even Bridge himself."


    Kain felt immediate relief. With his current training plan he really didn''t have any time to spare to help Bridge train, nor could he provide guidance as well as a training center meant specifically for those contracted to wolves.


    Despite Bridge never saying so directly, he''s not unaware of Bridge''s desire to enter the same college as him, and he also would love the same. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With Bridge receiving professional guidance, Kain could now focus solely on his own training.


    Stomach full, he went upstairs to lay in bed.


    ''Let''s take a look at my current progress''

 Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Rapid Progress

    "Hmm�� Let''s see�� My own spiritual power has finally crossed the half-way point at 513 SP, although Bea''s feedback did most of the work."


    "Bea is much higher at 745 SP while I am more than half-way to the system upgrade with 57 GP."


    Sigh


    Kain really wanted to sleep but he knew that he should continue condensing his own spiritual power.


    His has grown at a fast rate thanks to Bea, but there are benefits to doing the hard-work yourself.


    When condensing the spiritual energy, your control over the force also gradually increases.


    This is extremely beneficial when attempting to condense your next star.


    Additionally, fine control over spiritual power is absolutely necessary when attempting to learn spiritual power techniques.


    Kain uncovered the skylight above his bed, a feature of all homes of the Celestial Empire to all the efficient absorption of spiritual power from the stars.


    Technically, spiritual power could be absorbed from the environment or all manner of other things depending on the method used.


    For example, Bea''s ability to absorb spiritual power from the brains of her hosts.


    However, within the Celestial Empire the spiritual power condensation method taught to all citizens from birth utilizes the stars.


    ''Although I heard that there are other countries with different methods of absorbing spiritual power''


    ''All had their pros and cons. Maybe I will find a method that suits me better in the future.''


    However this method has been the one that their country has been built upon, a cultivation road already paved by the greats that came before him. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain did not feel too tired although he got no sleep last night. It may be due to his improved constitution as his strength increases.


    ''I heard that high-level beast-tamers eventually don''t even need sleep''


    ''541 SP, an almost 30 SP increase in one night, not bad''


    Kain moved his eyes to his hands while concentrating. Eventually a pink glow began to appear in his palms.


    ''My control over my spiritual power has also improved. I wouldn''t have been able to manifest my spiritual power outside my body so quickly in the past.'' He thought, reasserting his decision to condense spiritual energy for himself.


    ''Although the System hasn''t shown me much help yet, it sure is handy having an exact measurement of spiritual power for Bea and I.''


    Thinking of the brilliant pink hue that just came out of his hands. Most people, without the precise instruments usually available only at colleges and rich households that could afford them, would have to base their progress completely off of the gradual shift in the colour of their spiritual power.


    Then they''d have to continue absorbing without knowing exactly how close they are until they feel the bottleneck, unable to absorb any more.


    At which point it will be time to condense their next star.


    Now that there were no longer any stars in the sky, Kain jumped up and headed into town, before leaving into the wilderness again, there was something he desperately wanted to buy.

 Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Money Troubles

    Kain walked out of the store in embarrassment.


    He had wanted to buy a space ring after feeling its usefulness the last time he went out. Figuring that his now 6 figure savings should be able to at least buy him one of the smallest ones.


    He was wrong. Very Wrong.


    He wouldn''t even have the courage to come back here without 10 million CD at least in his account.


    ''I hadn''t expected that Blacksmith to be so rich��'' Kain muttered. A ring with a similar space as was given to him previously would cost at least 21 million CD.


    That''s more than most ordinary families make in a lifetime. Enough to run the orphanage for decades.


    However, he didn''t want to immediately give up. There was still his Plan B.


    Kain walked over to his new friend''s shop.


    "Hey Pheneos Buddy!" Kain yelled shamelessly upon entering the shop.


    The large teen looked at Kain strangely. Buddy? They''d only met yesterday. At most they were acquaintances.


    Never one for small talk, Kain cut straight to the chase, "I was wondering if I could possibly use your teacher''s space ring again? Of course, I won''t just borrow it, I''ll pay to rent it."


    "��I''ll go ask him" he replied, not sure what to make of the sudden request. They aren''t exactly a rental store.


    Within moments he walked back out with a puzzled expression and a familiar ring in his hands.


    Seeing the ring, Kain was hopeful!


    "Teacher agreed to your request. However, He set the rate at 15, 000 CD per day, payment upfront, no bargaining."


    ''15,000CD, thanks to the money I made my last venture into the wilderness I could afford to rent it for 12 days��a little shorter than I had hoped.''


    To maximize efficiency, he had hoped to spend almost the entire 3 weeks leading up to the Academic Entrance Test in the wilderness, to avoid spending time going back and forth.


    Now he will have to come back more than a week sooner than planned.


    However, beggars can''t be choosers. He''d also be able to bring more materials back with him and, as a result, earn more money. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Wincing in pain, Kain nodded in agreement.


    After signing a contract and making the full payment for 12 days and paying 180,000CD with tears pooling in his eyes, he left the shop.


    He now only had a little more than 5000 CD to his name, which he used to restock on food and supplies.


    He didn''t buy a replacement tent, sleeping outside in the tree will be more beneficial now that he''s decided to take his condensation of spiritual power at night seriously.


    After stuffing everything he would need into the ring and filling a decoy bag with some snacks, Kain once again left for the wilderness.

 Chapter 44: Chapter 44: System Upgrade

    10 days later


    After being in the wilderness for 10 days and continuously hunting 3 to 5 white-grade beasts a day, he and Bea were approaching a bottleneck.


    Both he and Bea had passed the 900 SP mark, sitting at 907 and 935 SP respectively.


    However, the spiritual power that would increase greatly each day began to plateau after they had passed 900 SP.


    Now, Bea''s SP, similar to the system, was only increasing by 1 or 2 points with each white-grade beast.


    Similarly, after a night of long-work, Kain may only have his spiritual power increase by around 5 points.


    However, despite the no longer rapid progress, Kain was currently ecstatic.


    He looked down lovingly at the white spider corpse below him, a Venom Spinner, extremely toxic among bronze-quality spiritual beasts. Thankfully, it was still young and had not reached red-grade yet.


    Anyways, the reason he was staring at the spider with such affection was not due to any strange inclinations, but rather because its death had allowed him to achieve one of his major goals.


    He had finally accumulated enough GP to upgrade the system.


    "Hehehe��finally! System! Upgrade!"


    *Ding. Sensing the Host''s intention to consume all available GP to upgrade the system. In order to complete the upgrade the System will be unavailable for 24 hours. Do you still wish to proceed?*


    "Yes!"


    ''It''s not as though when you are available you are that useful anyways��'' Kain muttered.


    *Decision confirmed. Initializing System Upgrade*


    ''I hope after the upgrade you can increase my chances of passing the exam''


    While waiting for the System to upgrade, Kain decided to sit and catch his breath before continuing to hunt.


    Rustle


    Although the spider had only been a child, it was much more challenging to defeat than even the average red-grade spiritual creature.


    Rustle


    Kain began to slowly dissect the spider for the materials that were valuable. Its poison sac alone is probably the most valuable thing he had obtained since entering the forest.


    Skitter Scuttle S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it has been from a fully adult red-grade Venom Spinner, then he would have easily obtained over 7 figures worth of CD with one kill.


    "Hmm��" Kain went still while focusing on his hearing.


    He was alarmed. Not by what he heard, but by the complete absence of any sounds around him.


    Usually there would be a variety of sounds caused by living things moving and communicating with on another in the forest. But now��nothing.


    The only time an entire areas would turn silent like this was if an apex predator was in the vicinity.


    Kain immediately turned to run away when he heard it.


    Screeeeeeeeeeeee


    In front of him was a spider several times his size, staring at him with glowing red eyes.


    Eyes that flicked back and forth in anger between him and��the dead spider at his feet.


    ''I''m screwed''

 Chapter 45: Chapter 45: A Run-in With Death

    When Kain had obtained a map with the known locations of the most dangerous spiritual creatures in the forest, he had made a conscious decision to give all of their territories a wide berth.


    ''So please tell me why an orange-grade spiritual beast is here.''


    The White Widow Spider was likely the mother of the partially dissected Venom Spinner at his feet.


    Kain wanted to cry, the corpse he was looking at with affection before now a source of resentment.


    ''Why the hell did you run so far away from home?! If you want to be a naughty child, don''t drag me down with you.''


    Kain would have kicked the corpse in anger if its mother was not staring him down currently.


    ''I need to distract it and get out of here. What can I use to delay it for even just a few seconds?''


    Although it pained Kain to damage his valuable prize after a long battle, He had already obtained the most valuable poison sac, and his life was more precious than any materials.


    He took a lighter from his space ring, as well as some otter fur covered in oils.


    ''I had found the River Otter''s fur to be oily and gross when I first obtained it. Now it may just save my life.''


    He put the match to the fur and quickly tossed it on the spider corpse at his feet before dashing away.


    Screeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!


    As the spider dashed forward to try and put out the flames covering its child, Kain immediately ran towards his destination. Not the river like usual, he had wandered further away from it as he hunted and he''d probably get caught before getting there.


    Instead, he ran towards the caves he had first found Bea in.


    The walls of the tunnels, although spacious to Kain, it should not be able to fit inside.


    Entering what was originally his exit after finding Bea, Kain took out a flashlight and dashed towards the very first cavern that the turtle had dropped him at. It was the only other exit he knew of.


    Although, he didn''t think he was a strong enough swimmer to leave through there previously, he had no other choice now. Hopefully, his improved physique due to the contract and higher spiritual power would be enough to get him away.


    Crash


    Seconds after entering Kain could hear that the spider had also arrived at the entrance of the tunnel.


    From the sounds of it she was trying to forcefully squeeze her body in, even if it risked collapsing the tunnel on them both.


    ''So fast! Despite getting a huge head start, I only arrived here seconds before she did''


    Thankfully squeezing into the tunnel also slowed her down greatly, allowing Kain to remain just out of her reach.


    When Kain saw the light from the cavern up ahead he pumped his legs even harder, before dashing into the pool of water. Narrowly missing the swipe from a leg behind him as he leaped. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 46: Chapter 46: A Run-in With Death (2)

    Despite only the air from the attack reaching him, he still got blown further away from the shore like a kite.


    It was beneficial because he was able to open up some distance instantly.


    He was sure that if hit directly, even with the soft armour, his organs would have turned into mush.


    Kain began to swim deeper, looking for the opening to the river that first must have been how he entered.


    ''I can''t see!'' The light from the opening in the ceiling was no longer reaching the deep into the water.


    However, he didn''t dwell on his lack of sight for long and released Bea into the water. Hopefully, one of her splits will get dragged into the current of the river and Bea will be able to direct him there.


    Now was a race against time. Will Bea find the opening before he has to go up for air?


    He could already see the spider, despite its huge size, standing on the surface of the water like some kind of deity. Therefore, he doesn''t dare to swim up any higher.


    As his lungs were beginning to burn, the White Widow stabbed one of its legs towards him like a lance. The water offered barely any obstruction at all.


    ''Is this the power of an orange-grade spiritual creature?'' Kain thought, terrified. ''What about those even more powerful?'' Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain swam to the side to dodge the blow, but a glance from the blow was enough to damage several of his ribs.


    The little remaining air in his lungs was immediately pushed out as he gave a silent scream of pain.


    For the first time Kain felt an emotion from Bea.


    Anxiety? Determination? Both? It was hard to identify the emotion. Especially since he wasn''t used to receiving any emotional feedback through the contract.


    In the second that the spider dipped its head under the water to extend its reach towards him, Bea''s true body, not a split, had managed to enter its body.


    However, according to the System description, it likely wouldn''t do any good. The limit of Bea''s abilities was to affect red-grade spiritual creatures.


    Still, Bea made her way toward the Spider''s brain.


    ''What the heck! I''ll die if I don''t try anything anyways'' He could feel darkness creeping into the edges of his vision from the lack of oxygen.


    Through the contract, Kain channelled his spiritual power to Bea in a crude manner. If he had learned a suitable spiritual power technique he maybe would have been able to momentarily increase Bea''s spiritual power in a more effective and efficient way. However, until he entered college, this was his only option.


    Kain, after nearly exhausting all of his spiritual energy and oxygen, quickly surfaced after receiving a signal from Bea.


    He took a sweet gulp of air while focusing his eyes on the massive spider, its eyes were clouded over while its front 2 legs were trembling.


    However, that only lasted for a moment before its vision cleared and focused on Kain.


    Screeeeeee!!!!!


    Kain could almost feel its anger that the murderer of its child dared to show himself again.


    He quickly swam back down below the surface


    Fortunately, right at this moment Kain received a prompt from Bea that one of her splits had exited the cavern as well as the direction it had last been.


    Once he located the opening in the wall, just large enough to fit a full-grown man, he made his exit.


    While recalling Bea from the Spider''s body and, consequently, all of her splits.


    Screeeeeeee!!!!! Smash Smash Smash


    All that remained in the cavern were the enraged screams of the spider mother as she attempted to smash out of the cavern.

 Chapter 47: Chapter 47: No Time to Rest

    Kain wasn''t completely out of danger yet.


    He immediately re-released Bea into the water to scout in front of him and also to deal with any potential threats.


    Now he needed to leave this network of tunnels before his limited oxygen ran out.


    Due to the lack of light, he swam where prompted based on what Bea''s splits conveyed to him of the surrounding environment.


    Just when he was about to lose the last of his oxygen, he sensed an opening and spent the last of his energy moving through it and then to the light he saw at the surface of the water


    "Ha��Ha�� Aaaaahhhhh!" The deep breaths of air he took were immediately released in a loud scream as he revelled in surviving such a severe near-death experience. S��arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just about the last of his energy spent, he decided to float on his back and slowly backstroked towards shore.


    By the time he reached shore, he had regained enough energy to run back to the city. He couldn''t possibly stay out here with an orange-grade spiritual beast on the lookout for him.


    He also should probably warn others leaving the city that the information regarding the spider mother was no longer accurate and it was wandering outside of its territory.


    Looking for him, but they didn''t need to know that.


    Once in the city he went towards the information broker that he had originally bought the danger marked map from and informed him of the spider he ran into as well as its last known location.


    "Thank you for the information��it''s strange that the White Widow would suddenly be outside of its territory when it''s never left in nearly a decade. I will send a 3-star mercenary to go check it out"


    "Yeah super weird��" Kain said, "I wonder why it left? Anyways I gotta go"


    He quickly rushed away with a sigh of relief that more questions weren''t asked and he no longer had to have the potential death of an unprepared mercenary on his conscience.


    Now he could do his favourite part of going into the wilderness��coming back and making money!


    The 10 days he had spent in the wild had been immensely beneficial.


    Not only getting to upgrade the system, but also stuffing the space ring to the brim with materials, including a rare Venom Spinner poison sac.


    After bargaining for nearly an hour over every piece of material, Kain managed to obtain nearly 500,000 CD��493k CD, to be exact.


    Nearly half of which was completely due to the poison sac.


    Although he had nearly died for it, he had no regrets while staring at the new balance on his ID card.


    ''Those that say money can''t buy happiness, clearly did not have enough of it'' He thought, while crying tears of joy.


    ''What should I do with my remaining 2 days with the ring?''


    The contract already said that there''d be no refunds if returned early. But knowing that an orange-grade spider was hunting for him specifically, he did not dare to step into the wilderness again so soon.


    At least not until he received news of it being hunted by one of the stronger members of the city.


    Unfortunately, as a small city, the strongest individuals in the Brightstar City may only have a contract at the orange-grade, making it quite risky to hunt the incredibly poisonous White Widow Spider. Even if a group of 3-star level beast-tamers got together and defeated it, they would likely suffer devastating losses.


    However, even if the recent progress of Kain and Bea was slow, Kain really couldn''t afford to waste even a day not training if he wanted both him and Bea to have red-grade spiritual power by the time of the Dark Moon exam.


    After the chase with the White Widow, there were still 16 hours left until the system upgrade was finished. Maybe he''d have a solution to some of his problems by tomorrow.

 Chapter 48: Chapter 48: No Time to Rest (2)

    Kain decided to spend his unanticipated downtime studying for the academic exam in only 11 days.


    Although, he often performs at the top of his school and even the top 1% in the nation, the test to enter the Planner major may be even more difficult than the beast-taming major.


    All students not entering a beast-taming major, including those without an affinity and those with an affinity too low-rated to enter a college program, will take the academic exam.


    Meaning that over 90% of high school seniors out of nearly a million graduates will be taking this test.


    Being in the top 1% of a million is really not that high when you broke down the numbers, being in the top 10,000.


    To be confident of entering the most selective academic major at a top 5 college, he would need to at least be in the top 500. Assuming that 100 Planners are admitted to each school per year.


    However, to have his pick of which college he could go to, he would at least need to be in the top 100, anything lower is risky.


    Based on previous years'' exam results, to get a ranking that high he would be allowed at most one wrong question.


    Currently, during his best performance, he gave 2 wrong answers, and on average he gives 4-5.


    Which would land him within the top 500 during his best performance, and the top 5,000 to 10,000 on average.


    However, Kain had an advantage compared to most applicants who have no affinity or are not focusing on increasing their spiritual power to become a professional beast-tamer.


    In addition to the benefits to his constitution, a higher spiritual power also has benefits on his mental strength��improving such aspects as memory, concentration, and calculation speed.


    After all, at very high levels, where dozens of moves may be exchanged in a single second, the importance of greater mental strength is great.


    He also felt the difference when he was studying. Textbook pages that would previously have taken him a whole day to memorize, were now memorized in an hour or less.


    His arithmetic and problem-solving ability also greatly improved.


    Suddenly full of confidence, Kain took out one of the practice exams Mr. Evergreen had given to him before he was excused from classes.


    This was the exam given 2 years ago.


    The questions started off easy:


    If given the choice among these 4 spiritual creatures, which would be the most optimal choice for defeating an opponent with a Burning Scarab Beetle?


    A. Vapor Gator


    B. Magmite


    C. Mistoad


    D. Glacedeer


    "Well despite its name, the Burning Scarab beetle is an ice-attribute, bug-type spiritual creature, meaning that it has a double weakness to fire. The reason for its name is due to its bites that cause a frostbite so severe it feels as though your skin is scalding off. A bit of a trick question, but anyone who''s studied should be able to answer it correctly."


    ��


    Who of the 5 founders did not have a known gift?


    A. Calista Eyera


    B. Leopold Storm


    C. Evan Blackheart


    D. Casimir Lysander


    E. Amos Sans


    "E. His last name practically gives it away"


    ��.


    Given that t is a real number, and that f(x) is as shown in the equation below, then please calculate for k.


    "Hmmm��Even math, which was previously my weakness, isn''t giving me much trouble now��"


    After answering a variety of questions about spiritual creatures, history, math, geography, and science, Kain used the answer key to tally up his score.


    "498 out of 500. Even without intensive studying and spending most of my time focusing on increasing my strength, I''ve already managed to match my previous best score.


    Kain was suddenly filled with confidence. ''Forget aiming for the top 100, I want to be one of the few with a perfect score''


    Kain picked up a geography textbook, the source of his two incorrect answers, and was about to continue studying when�� S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Ding. System update completed. *

 Chapter 49: Chapter 49: System Changes

    "Yes! Please have something good"


    With anticipation Kain opened up the home screen and tried to find any differences.


    "System��can you maybe give me a tour of your new features" He eventually decided after nothing different stood out to him.


    *Of course Host*


    *The System now has three new functions*


    *Firstly, the System shop. Where you can exchange GP you don''t want to use on system upgrades for rare items. The contents of the shop will refresh every week*


    Filled with anticipation, Kain immediately went to the shop and saw 3 items available for sale:


    An object that looked like a blank red playing card, a vial filled with a blue liquid, and an object that looked like a fishing net.


    He focused on each object so that the description could appear.


    Red-Grade Condensation Card��this card lowers the difficulty of a beast-tamer successfully condensing their second star. 300 GP


    D-level Mental Strength Elixir��Can increase the users mental strength by 30% for 3 hours. (Note: only effective for those red-grade spiritual power and below). 100 GP


    D-level Capture Net��Can ensure that anything with red-grade or lower spiritual power will be trapped and unable to escape without the user''s wishes. 250 GP


    "Not bad��but everything is pretty expensive." It''ll already took Kain weeks to reach the 100 GP required to upgrade the system.


    He also wasn''t sure how necessary any of these objects would be in his immediate future.


    The mental strength elixir may be useful for the academic exam. However, with how he performed on the last practice test, he already felt confident that with the 2 weeks remaining to study, he could rank safely in the top 100, the elixir is an unnecessary expense.


    For the net, Kain doesn''t need it currently, although there may be some capture missions for specific spiritual beasts once he enters college where it''ll be useful, his immediate concern is to actually enter college.


    As for the Red-grade condensation card��Kain wanted it, but he wasn''t sure if he could afford it.


    There were risks to condensing a new star. Thankfully, both the first and second stars did not have severe repercussions for failure.


    However, failure higher levels at higher levels may result in permanently damaged mental strength, having your ability to condense spiritual power crippled, or death.


    At Kain''s level, the consequence for failing would likely not be more than a terrible headache and the inability to use spiritual power for a week to a month.


    So close to the exam, he would prefer not to take the risk of failing. However, with the resources available to him with his newfound wealth, and the guidance from teachers at his school, he believes that his chance of failure should be extremely low.


    Sigh


    "Looks like I''ll have to wait until next week to see if anything useful refreshes. However, even if it does, I won''t be able to obtain the GP to afford it while that White Widow Spider is out there looking for me"


    "Wait�� I thought you said there were three new functions?" Kain asked. Suddenly hopeful that there will be something he needs.


    *Correct. The second feature unlocked by the System is the Celestial Planetarium*


    "A Planetarium? Not what I was expecting��"


    Kain accessed the screen for the Planetarium and instead of a screen appearing before him, he was suddenly transported to a room that made it appear as though he was floating in a sea of stars.


    *This is the Celestial Planetarium. It was tailored towards the Host''s current spiritual power condensation method*


    *If the Host attempts to condense spiritual power while their consciousness is in this space, you will find that your efficiency is several times greater than when outside*


    Kain was ecstatic. His slower rate of condensing spiritual power was one of his most pressing issues.


    Usually, rooms that would increase condensation efficiency were only available at colleges and students were limited in how much they could use them. Kain now had one of those rooms in his mind at all times for free.


    "It seems like this upgrade has greatly increased your abilities!"


    "How much can it increase my efficiency?"


    *The ability to affect absorption will vary slightly between users. However, the System estimates that it should increase the host''s absorption efficiency by 2.2x*


    "2.2 times��that means, rather than the 5 SP I gain after condensing spiritual power for an entire night, I should obtain around 11 points every night."


    "With my spiritual power currently at 912 SP, I should be able to reach red-grade spiritual power and condense my second star before the Dark Moon entrance test in 3 weeks.


    "What''s the third feature unlock?" Kain asked in anticipation.


    *Replying to Host. The Mission Board is now open*


    "Mission Board��?"


    The System automatically opened up the Mission Board for Kain to see.


    "Hunt 5 red-grade spiritual creatures. Have at least one contract advance the red-grade spiritual power��what is this?"


    *Hunting spiritual creatures is not the only method of obtaining GP. The host may also obtain GP by accomplishing missions*


    Kain clicked on the task to hunt 5 red-grade spiritual creatures and saw that it would reward 30 points.


    Normally, 5 red-grade spiritual creatures would give 25 GP, 5 points each. However, accomplishing the same task as a mission would increase the reward 1.2 times.


    "Maybe I can continue to increase my GP despite not being able to go into the wilderness," Kain pondered as he scrolled down the long list of tasks.


    Of the ones available, there were several that already aligned with his current goals:


    Advancing to 2-stars (100 GP).


    One spiritual contract advancing to red-grade (100 GP). S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Entering the Beast-taming major at a college (reward variable by college ranking).


    Taking the academic admissions exam (reward variable by placement).


    Therefore, it was reassuring to know that with this system upgrade, Kain now had a way to increase his system GP and his own spiritual power.


    "Now the only problem is Bea��"

 Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

    Even without the Celestial Planetarium, Kain''s spiritual power still increases by around 5 points every night if he puts in the work, making it currently at 912 SP.


    However, since he''d left the wilderness, Bea''s spiritual power has not increased at all.


    Bea''s ability to absorb spiritual power directly from brains has allowed for them both to make rapid progress. Now Kain''s SP is far higher than most of his peers who formed a contract days before him.


    But, once there are no suitable targets around to hunt, the speed of Bea''s growth greatly decreases.


    Kain started to think back on all of the times he was in the wilderness, the fights he had, as well as even some of the relevant info in his textbooks to see if there was anything he was missing that could help Bea.


    That''s when he suddenly had a crazy idea.


    However, it can be said that there is a fine line between genius and crazy.


    When Kain had first bound to Bea, she already had some spiritual power, indicating that she had to have already infected multiple living things��such as the mercenary that first made him go looking for her��and himself.


    He also happened to just receive a new method of increasing his own spiritual power absorption quickly.


    He was confident that Bea would be able to absorb spiritual power from human brains, he''s just not sure if the contract would prevent her from doing so, as it would be harmful to her contractor.


    However, he still had some reservations. If Bea would end up causing long-term damage to his mental strength so close to the exams, it''d be too late to regret his decision after not being admitted to his school of choice.


    "Although��if this plan works and I can get Bea to red-grade spiritual power. That would accomplish one of my missions and I can afford to buy the temporary boost for mental strength."


    "System, could you help me assess this plan''s feasibility?" He asked now that he had some insurance in place.


    He crossed his fingers that this analysis was not beyond the AI''s capabilities or that another system upgrade was needed to unlock such help.


    *Answering Host. Prior to binding, the Brain-Eating Amoeba did absorb the Host''s spiritual power. However, the contract''s effect on this ability would need to be assessed by the Host himself*


    Kain nodded and communicated his idea with Bea.


    At first, Bea seemed hesitant. However, given her simple intelligence, she quickly followed her instincts once given permission and infected Kain.


    Kain laid down in his bed to avoid injuring himself from falling and closed his eyes.


    Within 30 seconds he felt a dull ache behind his eyes.


    ''This is uncomfortable but not as bad I thought��''


    However, this idea quickly changed as that dull ache grew to what felt like dozens of nails being hammered into his head


    "Argh!" Kain quickly bit onto his pillow to avoid making more noise and worrying the others in the orphanage. S~ea??h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Kain, make sure you have those reports on my desk by next morning''


    ''The guy next door is an idiot! How could you break a $300,000 machine?! That''s why no lab should hire undergrads''


    "Mmmm��. Go away��I know none of you were real"


    He covered his ears to block out the hallucinations with voices from his past life as a college student, but it was useless.


    By the five minute mark, he didn''t think he could remain conscious. The fact that he could even last this long was likely due to some resistance being provided to him via the contract.


    *ALARM! IT IS STRONGLY SUGGESTED THAT THE HOST IMMEDIATELY STOP HIS CURRENT ACTIONS*


    *IT IS SENSED THAT THE HOST''S CONSCIOUSNESS IS FADING. ACTIVATING FORCED RECALL OF CONTRACT*


    The System''s alarmed voice was the last thing that Kain heard before losing consciousness.

 Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Flashback

    Kain thought that things were finally looking up.


    He had just finished his third year of college after having taken the previous year off due to his entire family, both of his parents and paternal grandmother, passing away in a car accident as they drove down to visit him.


    He took a year off to grieve, but that was all he could allow himself.


    It hurt to say, but he was an orphan now, and he had nobody to rely on but himself.


    Therefore, he needed to make something of himself, not only for the income but also to make his deceased loved ones proud.


    He worked his ass off the past year and achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA.


    Thankfully, one of his professors noticed his hard work and hired him as a research assistant for this summer.


    This professor happened to be one of the most famous in his field, infectious diseases, and so working with him could be a huge boost to his resume.


    ''I can practically have my pick of graduate or medical programs with a reference from him��''


    Furthermore, Kain was getting PAID to travel with his professor to Brazil.


    Some outbreak of some unknown disease had occurred there, and so his professor was asked to see if he could identify the disease and possibly come up with a treatment.


    Of course, as an undergraduate student, Kain wouldn''t be of much help.


    He was practically going there just to fetch his boss drinks, take notes, and organize samples. The rest of his free time he could use to check out the beaches.


    "Ahhh Brazil��the land of supermodels," Kain thought in anticipation.


    They had just arrived at the airport and he had already spotted several women at the level of a Victoria''s Secret runway model.


    ''This may just be the best summer ever. And after what I went through I more than deserve it��''


    However, first he had to do some work.


    After being picked up from the airport they were driven to a remote village surrounded by trees.


    Strangely, the village looked kind of new.


    "This is a temporary village they set up out of the city to quarantine all of the infected identified." A local translator explained to them.


    His professor nodded, "Smart choice. Currently, this illness has a 100% death rate. Are there still no clues as to what it might be? Virus? Bacteria? Maybe even a Prion?"


    One of the local doctors looked embarrassed, "No clue. Which is why we are so grateful to have you here Dr. Blackwell."


    "Here will be your accommodations." The translator said while walking them towards a two-bedroom shack


    ''Not quite what I imagined as my living conditions for this trip. But I guess it''d do. At least everything is clean and all of the furniture and appliances even look new''


    The local doctor and translator were still there once they had finished putting away their bags in their respective rooms.


    The doctor spoke anxiously, "I know you must be incredibly tired from the long plane ride over, Doctor, but is there any chance you could begin looking at the patients from today? After all every second we delay may be the difference between life and death for one of our citizens"


    ''Well if you put it like that��''


    They both nodded in understanding and followed the two men to what looked like a military tent with medical personnel covered from head to toe running in and out of it.


    Inside were dozens of hospital beds with groaning patients.


    ''Ugh��it smells like death in here. I see why they treat them where they have access to fresh air''


    Kain tried his best to maintain his facial expressions so as not to offend any of the patients.


    His professor on the other hand immediately put on a fresh hazmat suit before marching over with no hesitation to one of the patients.


    As Kain was not essential personnel and shouldn''t be directly interacting with the patients, he did not have access to one of the limited hazmat suits. He had to make do with a lab coat, gloves, and mask.


    Splat


    Suddenly a loud exclamation came out of his professor before several medical staff rushed over to the patient he was examining.


    In front of Kain was a bright yellow dotted line that only those in suits could pass. Therefore, he stood on the tips of his toes to get a better look at the patient. sea??h th�� n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain could see a brown and black blob lying on the patient''s lap.


    When he looked at the patient''s face he realized what it was��his nose.


    His nose had rotted and fallen off of his face.


    ''What the f-''


    "Aahhh!!" the patient screamed in pain as the medical staff attempted to clean the gaping hole in the middle of his face.


    ''Flesh-eating disease��although not uncommon, it''s not an unheard of disease. They shouldn''t have had to fly us out for that''


    Kain continued to watch for clues.


    As the patient thrashed about in pain, his gown opened to reveal large black bulges all over his skin.


    ''The Bubonic Plague?'' Kain thought feeling as though he was transported to a medieval-themed hell.


    Then, the bedsheet on the patient''s lap fell to the ground as he thrashed about revealing his deformed legs. ''Elephantiasis?''


    Kain looked around in horror as he backed away towards the entrance of the tent.


    ''What the hell is this thing?! It''s like some mad scientist decided to combine the most horrifying diseases mankind has ever experienced into some kind of freak-disease''


    The patient''s eyes quickly clouded over into white before he fell back and began to have a seizure on the bed. The staff held him down to prevent him falling to the floor.


    ''I need to get out of here��'' Kain felt as though he was going to throw up.


    As he rushed out he bumped into an entering nurse who happened to cough on him at that very moment.


    ''Ugh�� Forget beaches. Forget Supermodels. I want to go home right now''


    Unfortunately, his wish was never granted. Kain''s body, or at least the ashes it was burnt into, never left Brazil.

 Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Mental Handicap

    "AAHHHHHH!"


    Kain panicked as he remembered the sensation of what felt like thousands of worms crawling beneath his skin as it decayed. The immense pain that wracked through his bones with each breath. The feeling of gradually losing his mind as he could no longer distinguish reality from fiction.


    He calmed down as he looked down at his smooth, tanned skin.


    Sigh ''I haven''t thought about my past life in close to a decade'' He shivered, ''And for good reason. I forgot how terrible my ending was''


    He laid down in bed for nearly an hour just staring at his skylight as he tried to compose himself.


    ''If I have to relive that experience every time Bea infects me, I don''t know if I could do this. Even with my college admission on the line.'' sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ah! That''s right Bea!"


    The last that he remembered Bea was forcefully recalled from his brain by the System to his star space.


    Through the bond he could sense��guilt(?) coming from Bea.


    Kain looked at Bea''s status window.


    942/1000 SP. ''It worked!''


    And compared to the 935 SP it was prior to infecting him, it seems to be even more effective than hunting white-grade spiritual creatures.


    With trepidation, Kain opened his own status window, hoping that the damage wasn''t too severe.


    His spiritual power was now at 905 SP. A drop equal to the amount that Bea''s increased.


    However, it was easier to recover lost spiritual power than it was to condense spiritual power to permanently increase the amount of spiritual power you possess.


    It could even be recovered passively with enough time.


    It was the difference in effort between filling a partly empty 1-litre jar to exactly 1 litre of water, compared to trying to stretch the width of that same jar to make it suddenly hold 2 litres of water.


    He saw a flashing red star next to his other personal information, such as height and constitution, which he rarely looked at.


    Clicking on the star next to his mental strength reading he received the message:


    *Abnormal status in host detected triggering a temporary 30% decline in mental strength. It is advised to avoid any exertions in mental strength for at least 24 hours to avoid this condition from becoming permanent*


    "Haaa��. So I can''t even study or condense spiritual power. The academic exam is in 13 days. I''ll feed Bea every 3 days and make sure to get proper rest for at least 24 hours before the exam. Based on the current SP Bea was able to achieve in a sitting, she should be able to upgrade to red-grade safely before the Dark Moon entrance exam in 20 days."


    "I''m practically killing myself to reach 2-stars prior to the admissions test, which should safely land me in the top 10% of applicants. But how did that monster Bridget talked about during her admissions test almost reach 3-stars!?"


    To avoid using any mental strength, Kain informed his family that he would be coming down for dinner and went to sleep with the sun still out.


    ----------


    When he woke up the next day, he still didn''t feel at 100%, but he was reluctant to waste anymore time.


    He cracked open one of his textbooks but was forced to close it in only 10 minutes after not being able to concentrate.


    "Haaaaa��.. I guess I really do need to completely rest my mind for the full 24 hours. The next time I let Bea infect me I will have to set some kind of time restriction to hopefully reduce the penalty"


    Unable to just sit around he decided to go for a walk into the city.


    His first stop was to the blacksmith to return the space ring.


    However, when he arrived he was suddenly reminded of his plan to buy an enchanted armor.


    He had originally thought that he''d have to go hunting a couple more times in order to afford one, but due to how much he made the last time he went hunting, he could look to see if he could afford one now.


    It''s not as if he could do anything else better with his time with the penalty currently in effect.


    Even if he couldn''t afford one he liked, he''d at least have an idea of how much more to save.


    With that thought in mind, after returning the ring to Pheneos he went to the back of the shop where the enchanted armours were located.


    Both Pheneos and his teacher seemed busy in the back room so he didn''t bother them with requesting descriptions when he could read the general effects of each armour for himself.


    It took nearly an hour to read the descriptions of all the armour suitable for those with red-grade spiritual power. That is, 2-star armours��he decided to remain optimistic that he would condense his second star by the time of the exam.


    After reading them all he had a headache. Whether it was due to all the reading or having to make a decision he wasn''t sure.

 Chapter 53: Chapter 53: New Armour

    He eventually settled on choosing between four sets of armour.


    Interestingly, their sigils'' effects were as varied as their gold, black, red, and silver colours.


    The gold armour had the most straightforward effect for armour. Using materials from a gold-attribute spiritual beast and having a sigil to boost defence when injected with spiritual power, it would make the wearer practically immune to physical attacks beneath the orange-grade.


    It would be a huge help if the Dark Moon exam once again requires successful applicants to withstand a beast tide.


    His chances of not being eliminated due to an injury would be much greater.


    However, it had its limitations. For one, it would only protect his upper body, he could still be injured in other areas.


    Additionally, it was a hard armour and much heavier than what he was used to wearing. Its weight would likely impede his movements with the spear or if he had to dodge an attack aimed at an uncovered area.


    Finally, it only offers protection against the most basic physical attacks. Kain would still be vulnerable to poisons, the heat from flames, and more.


    Therefore, Main eventually decided to eliminate it because he did not think it''d provide a significant boost to his chances of passing the exam.


    The black armour was a soft armour with a very unique effect. Created from the materials of a rare shadow-attribute spiritual creature, and enchanted with a corresponding sigil, it led to a miraculous effect.


    When injected with spiritual power at night or in a suitably dark environment, the wearer would become invisible.


    He wanted it! Just looking at it, his mind was full of ninja and assassination fantasies starring him.


    However, his immediate need is to pass the entrance exam��which would most likely occur during the day.


    Therefore, although it was an overpowered piece of equipment in certain environments and circumstances, it really wouldn''t be much help in passing the exam.


    So, with great reluctance, he turned towards the other two pieces of equipment.


    The red armour had a passive effect of granting its wearer a massive boost in their resistance to heat and fire-attribute attacks.


    Additionally, when injected with spiritual power, 70% of the energy obtained from recent fire-attribute attacks can be released. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Therefore, it not only provided defensive but also offensive capabilities.


    Furthermore, fire-attribute contracts are the most common initial contract for 1-star beast tamers.


    Additionally, fire-attribute spiritual creatures are some of the most common in the whole empire, only rare in the North.


    Therefore, he would likely be able to make great use of its functions.


    Although the beast-tide will likely have creatures with a variety of attributes, not having to worry about those with one of the most offensive attributes is a huge advantage.


    Additionally, he could take the energy from fire attacks he receives and use it against attackers with other attributes.


    This armour would increase the tactics he could use. Therefore, it was the one he was leaning the most towards out of the four.


    However, he still had some hesitation with selecting it due to the fourth armour. The wild-card.


    The fourth armour was really not something he ever expected to see here, in a small city.


    It also definitely wasn''t something that someone of his level should have ever had the opportunity to obtain.


    It was made from the materials of a member of the Protean species. The lowest member of this species begins at Gold-quality, while the levels of its future evolutions reach a level beyond Kain''s knowledge.


    Proteans are one of the most difficult species to track and hunt due to their shape-shifting abilities, able to assume the forms and abilities of pretty much any creature at or below their level in spiritual power that they lay eyes on.


    As such the characteristics of the weapons and armours made from their materials are similarly variable.


    The one in front of Kain only had one effect. To absorb the spiritual power of a spiritual creature and give birth to an armour with the abilities of that creature as the basis.


    Therefore, it''s not yet a final product. Its appearance and abilities will differ depending on the wearer''s spiritual beast.


    Bea was a water-attribute, but also a super rare mental-attribute. Although it was a huge gamble to not know what abilities the armour he buys may have if the armour can inherit a mental-attribute from Bea he would have made a lot of money.


    Mental-attribute equipment often will cost several times that of other attribute equipment due to the rarity of the spiritual creatures needed to obtain the materials and how troublesome it is to deal with such creatures.


    If he walked away from it now, he knew he''d be constantly questioning ''what if?'' for months to even years.


    ''But there really is not guarantee that the armour effects that are manifested would even be useful'' Kain was in agony over this difficult choice.


    ''How did this armour even get here? And why is its level so low? Most equipment made from Proteans should require at least 4-stars to operate. No matter how shoddy the workmanship is, its level should not drop to 2-stars. What''s the catch?''


    Realizing that it''d be impossible to decide between the 2 sets of armour alone, he knocked on the door to the back room to request some more information.

 Chapter 54: Chapter 54: A Gamble

    Going to the door clearly marked with ''Do Not Distrub,'' Kain did just exactly that.


    Knock knock


    Nothing�� ''Maybe they didn''t hear me��.''


    This time he knocked louder.


    KNOCK KNOCK


    BANG!


    The door was opened up hard enough to blow back all of the hair from his face. A couple inches closer and he may be leaving the store with a black eye.


    "CAN. YOU. NOT. READ?!"


    "Ahem��" Kain cleared his throat in embarrassment "I wanted to buy another armor��this is a store isn''t it?"


    ''Ahhh�� how I miss the customer is always right attitude of consumerism''


    The blacksmith clearly tried to cover up his embarrassment.


    "Yes�� so buy whatever you need from Pheneos." And moved to close the door.


    Seeing this Kain immediately stuck his foot��ouch!


    "I would�� but Pheneos isn''t in the store��"


    "He isn''t? Where the hell is he?!"


    "Back there with you��"


    He turned around to see Pheneos in a corner of his workshop examining the completed parts of what would be his full body armour


    "Pheneos! What are you doing back here?! Pheneos!" He kept calling to no response. His student was in his own world drooling over the gauntlets he had just completed.


    "Haaaa��. I will complete your order. I could use a break from back here anyways" He left the room while grumbling about kids these days and their lack of work ethic.


    ''I guess some things don''t change no matter the world you''re in'' Kain thought.


    Kain went to where he left the red and silver sets of armour.


    "I need help deciding between these 2. I''m pretty aware of the advantages of the fire-attribute armour, but I would like some more information about why this silver one isn''t a higher level. Is there something wrong with it? Some kind of hidden harm it''d cause the wearer?"


    Seeing the silver armor, he immediately nodded in understanding.


    "Haaa��.it really is rare for an object made of Protean materials to be so low quality. However, it can''t be helped. If they had been of higher quality it never would have been our city''s turn to obtain these materials. They would have been kept in the capital or another major city."


    "The source of this armour was a mutant Protean. Despite reaching adulthood it could not condense spiritual power of a grade higher than red, unlike the average Protean that could easily reach yellow-grade before evolving to a higher level. Therefore, this armor is limited to 2-stars."


    Kain finally understood. Not all mutations were advantageous. Some could be advantageous and give a spiritual creature an additional attribute or even a completely different attribute atypical for their species. Some may also result in a better constitution or higher intelligence. Sear?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Other mutations may not have any practical, resulting in only aesthetic changes like a different eye or fur color.


    However, some mutations were harmful. Like the one this Protean seemed to have. Making it unable to progress to the typical level of strength for their species.


    "Do you think this mutation will have any bad effects on the likelihood of the armour developing a good skill?"


    "Hmm�� your concerns are understandable, which is why despite its source material, it has remained unsold for the months that I''ve had it. Those that can afford an enchanted armor would spend more money on an armor that they know already has great effects. This armour is a gamble. Only those with a lot of faith in the quality of their spiritual beast contract would risk it"


    "However, from the information that I''ve obtain regarding the Protean, despite its inability to condense spiritual power of a higher grade, its basic abilities as a Protean were no different than its peers. Therefore, the armor should function no differently from other similar ones except for having a lower limit to the level of spiritual power it can handle."


    At those words, Kain made his choice.


    He decided to gamble.

 Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Result of the Gamble

    Both of them were thankfully well within his 500,000 CD budget.


    However, either one was easily more than 10 times the price of his current soft armour.


    The flame-attribute armour was 380,000 CD, while the Protean armour, due to its effects being a gamble, only cost 330,000 CD.


    The price also reassured him.


    If he really disliked the effects that were born after it received Bea''s spiritual power, he should be able to scrape up enough to buy the other armour after going hunting again.


    Hopefully, by then the White Widow would either have been killed or returned back to its territory.


    He had also thought about selling his old armour to get back some money, but he wouldn''t be able to get more than 30% of what he''d paid for it, and that amount of money is no longer significant to him.


    It was a decent quality armour that could be used if one of the other kids in the orphanage awakened an affinity later on.


    After making the payment, Kain left the store with nervous anticipation.


    First returned home and had a bath before lighting 4 candles in circle facing each direction


    None of these actions had any practical purpose, but he felt like a sense of ceremony during a luck-based gamble like this would help him calm down.


    It gave the illusion that he had more control than he actually did.


    Laying down the armour in the middle of the candles and sitting cross-legged next to it, he called out Bea, before placing her on the armour and telling her where to direct her spiritual power.


    Gradually the sigil on the armor began to glow with a dark pink hue as it was injected with Bea''s spiritual.


    Even without the System, just looking at the colour of Bea''s spiritual power let him know that she was close to advancing to red-grade.


    Slowly the armour began to glow so brightly he could no longer look directly at it.


    Once he sensed that the light had dimmed, he opened his eyes.


    He was expecting there to be a drastic change in appearance. However, it was still silver, but now with hints of blue when turned in the light.


    Additionally, instead of the smooth appearance it previously had, it now had texture.


    Covering the entire armour were small overlapping circles that resembled scales, however the size of these "scales" was far smaller than any known spiritual creature Kain had seen in person or in a textbook.


    "Are these supposed to symbolize Bea''s many splits?" Kain pondered.


    ''Looking at the armour, and knowing that it is made from a Protean, most people will probably assume that my initial contract is some kind of reptile or aquatic creature. Unfortunately, their attempts to figure out my contract will prove useless. There''s nothing like Bea'' Kain though smugly.


    "Let''s see what effects you have��" For enchanted equipment, unlike normal ones, the information on its effects will appear in the user''s mind when their spiritual power is first inserted.


    Kain began to do so. It clearly took longer than when using the 1-star spear, due to his spiritual power not quite being at the ideal red-grade to use 2-star equipment, however, the level of his spiritual power was close enough to still make it useable by him.


    Once he officially enters the realm of a 2-star beast-tamer he should be able to fill it with his spiritual power instantly. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As soon as it was filled with his spiritual power, the information appeared in his head. He soon began to shake from excitement.


    It had successfully inherited Bea''s mental-attribute!


    In addition to the passive effects of granting the user resistance against mental attacks while slightly increasing their mental strength, it also had an active skill.


    When injected with spiritual power the user could activate an area of effect mental attack that caused disorientation and pain to all in the surroundings. The size and strength of the mental attack were dependent on the amount of spiritual power injected.


    All of Kain''s regrets about giving up the fire-attribute armour were now gone.


    This armour now also added to his attack arsenal, and it was also an AOE attack, which were rare among individuals at his level of strength.


    The passive effects of the armour may also help him with another area he had been having trouble with��feeding Bea.


    Although, it needed to be tested. He was confident that if Bea infected him while he was wearing the armour, he should be able to withstand Bea for longer and hopefully the negative side effects on his mental strength also won''t be as harsh.


    Seeing that the 24 hour hold on using mental strength was up, he decided to put on the armour and give it a test run.


    ''Previously I had only been able to hold on for 5 minutes, I wonder how long I could hold on now?'' He thought once the infection began and he started the timer in his hand.


    By the time 5 minutes passed, he only felt a little lightheaded with no other symptoms,


    It wasn''t until the 9-minute mark that the edges of his vision began to darken and he directed Bea to exit his body.


    "Haa��.System, show me the damage?"


    Immediately, his status screen opened, showing a familiar red star next to his mental strength.


    However, likely because he stopped this time before the most severe symptoms began, the penalty to his mental strength would be resolved in only 12 hours��half of the previous time.


    He then went to Bea''s status screen.


    After another feeding session, her spiritual power had increased rapidly to 953 SP. Thankfully, it doesn''t look like the armour significantly inhibited Bea''s ability to absorb spiritual power, focusing more on inhibiting the mental attacks her infection causes.


    Additionally, since he could tolerate her longer, the amount she absorbed also increased.


    Kain decided to revise his current college preparation plan.


    Instead of feeding Bea every 3 days to avoid the 24 hour penalty, with the armour he could now afford to feed Bea every other day.


    With the Planetarium provided by the System allowing him to absorb spiritual power more effectively, he can make up for what Bea took in the days between feedings.


    With this new plan, Bea may reach red-grade spiritual power in around 2 weeks.

 Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Exam Ready

    Bea reached the necessary spiritual power in only 9 days.


    Once she reached full saturation, she began the process of condensing her energy into a small ball, similar to the stars within humans.


    However, spiritual beasts, unlike humans who condense a second star while their first remains with each increase in spiritual power grade, beasts shatter and replace their previous low-quality orbs with one of a higher grade.


    These orbs not only serve as the site of storage for spiritual power, but they also will passively convert all of the absorbed spiritual power into a grade equal to the orb. Therefore, Bea will no longer have to spend conscious effort to condense the spiritual power she absorbs to red-grade.


    Once she crosses this step, all of the spiritual power in her body will become denser and more powerful��and a beautiful deep red.


    Each molecule of red spiritual power is equal in energy to at least 10 molecules of white spiritual power. That''s why the same moves when executed by red-grade spiritual beasts compared to white-grade ones, use less of their own energy but manage to exert more power.


    However, crossing this step could also be dangerous, or even crippling for spiritual creatures.


    Afterall, in this process they need to also shatter their current source of strength. If they are not able to condense an orb of higher quality all of that unrestrained energy without a container will wreak havoc in their bodies.


    This is why the quality of a spiritual beast is important. It is rare for Black-iron quality spiritual beasts to ever cross this threshold in their life.


    Thankfully, as a Bronze-quality beast, condensing a red-grade orb should be quite simple for Bea. Getting to a higher level though will be challenging without evolving.


    During the time Bea was undergoing this process he recalled her back to the star space, it was the most ideal environment for her after all.


    He anticipated that it would take her 3 more days to fully finish, taking 5 days in total.


    Thankfully, the feedings were finished 2 days ago, the academic exam was tomorrow and he needed to preserve his mental strength as much as possible. In order to be fully prepared.


    In the middle of the night, with only a lit lamp to keep him company, he finished marking his last available practice exam.


    Thankfully, Bridge decided to sleep at the Wolfblood training hall the past week so that he didn''t have to worry about keeping him up and could better focus on studying.


    This exam was one from 4 years ago, and supposedly the most difficult exam in recent years. That year only 3 students achieved a perfect score in the entire empire, unlike the usual 8-10 perfect scorers. Additionally, even students who answered 2 questions incorrectly managed to land in the top 100.


    Therefore, he was saving this exam as his last one to test his ability, in case this year happens to also be more challenging than usual.


    "98��correct. 99��correct. 100��" Kain finished going through the answers for all 100 questions in his last section��Science. He had already calculated his score in the other 4 sections: spiritual creatures, history, math, and geography.


    He had received perfect scores in all 5 of them.


    A perfect score on one of the hardest exams in recent history.


    Feeling fully prepared for tomorrow, Kain finally went to bed after setting his alarm for 5 in the morning, 2 hours before the exam actually started. He absolutely did not want to risk being late tomorrow. Any late entrants will be turned away at the door and have to take the exam next year if they want to enter an academic major. sea??h th�� NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ----


    The next morning he awoke not to an alarm, but to the smell of curry, one of his favourite dishes being prepared.


    ''Who would make curry first thing in the morning��?''


    Suddenly hungry, Kain headed downstairs to find their neighbour Sally in the kitchen.


    "Sally?! What are you doing here"


    Without looking up from the pot she replied, "Isn''t your exam today. It''s a 5 hour exam, I''m preparing the lunch for your half-time break."


    Grrrr


    "Although you can have some now if you''d like?" She gave a smile at Kain''s embarrassed expression.


    "Don''t mind if I do," He said while reaching for a bowl. "Thank you so much Sal"


    After eating breakfast and packing a lunch, he checked his bag for all of his required supplies plus his ID card and headed to the school.


    There was an hour until the exam, and it took 30 minutes to walk to school from the orphanage at the fringes of the city.


    Not to mention, the long process it took to verify his identity, get through security and confirm his attendance for the exam.


    By the time he got seated there were only 5 minutes left until the exam.


    He could see several of his classmates stealing glances at him. Likely wondering why a student with an affinity as highly rated as his was taking the academic exam when he should be preparing for the beast-taming exams that start next week.


    Doing his best to ignore them, Kain sharpened his spare pencil to calm down.


    "Students the exam will be starting shortly. Please put away everything except for a pencil and eraser. Any other unallowed objects will be confiscated and returned to you after the exam."


    A teacher that Kain didn''t recognize began to hand out the exams as the other continued with the opening remarks.


    "Make sure to keep your eyes on your own paper. There are spiritual creatures monitoring this classroom. Any attempts at cheating will have you forcefully removed from the room and your test thrown out."


    Several students looked around to see if they could see the spiritual creature but couldn''t find it. Some began to even doubt if this was a line they used just to scare students away from cheating.


    However, Kain knew that it wasn''t a lie used to scare them. Possibly because he was bound to a spiritual creature with mental attributes, he could vaguely sense his mind being repeatedly scanned by some kind of invisible force for any thoughts of cheating.


    ''The anti-cheating methods in this world are quite advanced. It''s quite hard to defend against something looking at your mind to see if you''ll cheat''


    Once every student had a test, a giant timer was displayed at the front of the room counting down from 60 minutes.


    Kain picked up his pencil and began his first section in anticipation.

 Chapter 57: Chapter 57: To Dark Moon

    Kain returned home in a daze. He felt completely exhausted.


    Not because he found the exam significantly harder than the practice tests he took (it wasn''t any harder than the one 4 years ago), but probably because it was the real deal, not a practice exam, and so his concentration and focus were dialled up to 110% the entire time. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he returned home he immediately returned to his room, wanting to collapse on the bed.


    However, when he opened the door, he spotted Bridge.


    He hadn''t seen his best friend and brother in weeks, and he had missed him dearly.


    Bridge immediately hopped up once Kain opened the door.


    "How did it go?!" He asked anxiously.


    "Easy peasy��" Kain laughed. "now I only have to focus on the beast-tamer exam in a week. How are you feeling?"


    "Great! Professionals really are different. I don''t think I''d ever have a chance at passing the exam if I didn''t have the help of the Wolfblood guys. The training was hard, but it paid off"


    Bridge held out his hand and then slowly a deep red glow began to appear on his fingers.


    "Red spiritual power! You''re a 2-star beast-tamer?!"


    Bridge''s smug face suddenly looked a little embarrassed, "Lady is currently advancing in my star space, but I''m not quite there yet. However, I can''t condense any more spiritual power so I''m pretty sure I''m at the point where I can begin condensing my second star. Since we''re planning to leave for Dark Moon tomorrow, I was thinking I could advance to 2 stars on the train ride over.


    The trip will take 3 days anyway, and it''s not like there''s anything else we can do on there."


    Bridge''s advancement to 2-stars suddenly reminded Kain of the egg he''d exchanged for him.


    "Bridge, by any chance did the trainer that helped you also give you a wolf for your second contract?"


    "No��he thought about it but he said the best he could provide is a Bronze-quality contract. I could probably find a contract with a better quality once I''m admitted to college"


    "What about a Silver-quality Cyan Searing Wolf?"


    "Sure�� I''ll see if Dark Moon City has one. But aren''t they pretty rare outside of the North?"


    Bridge never would have known that 3 months ago. It looks like he had read up on wolf-type spiritual creatures once his affinity was confirmed.


    "They are��but I happen to have the egg of one" Now it was Kain''s turn to act smug.


    He pulled out the incubating egg from under his bed.


    He''d been monitoring it and changing its incubation liquid every few days.


    The colour was now a much deeper blue than when he first obtained it, and the chill was strong enough that if Kain hadn''t already been close to 2-stars, he''d need to wear thick gloves while holding the incubator to avoid getting frostbite. It''ll probably hatch on the way to Dark Moon College.


    "Take this. By the time you form your second star it''ll probably hatch and you can contract it then."


    Bridge''s eyes immediately welled with tears. He had seen the egg Kain brought home previously, but he had no idea that it was for him. He pulled Kain into a hug, "You are THE. BEST. FRIEND. EVER"


    "I need to go back to the dojo. They got together to raise enough money to buy me the lowest quality space ring and fill it with enough food for Lady for weeks. But I need to get the food required for a Searing Pup now too"


    Bridge practically skipped out of the door.


    "Wait��they bought him a space ring?!" Kain was in shock when he thought again about the prices he had seen when looking to buy one of his own.


    "Where the heck can I find a higher-level expert to dote on me?" Kain grumbled as he began to pack his things.


    Thankfully, he only has to pack for himself, since unlike most contracts Bea didn''t require him to pack her food.


    The next morning Kain and Bridge were waved off by the members New Beginnings Orphanage along with John and Sally, as they left for the local train station.


    Once there, Kain used the ample savings he still had from hunting in the wilderness to upgrade both of their tickets to first-class so that they could have private rooms and focus on their advancement.


    Their ticket first stops at Starfire City, the largest city in the southern region and the home of Starfire College.


    After stopping for an hour to pick up more travellers and do maintenance, the train will be going non-stop to Dark Moon City, the home of Dark Moon College.


    Once they entered the train, they were surprised to find it packed almost exclusively with teens. Most beast-tamer exams were this week, therefore regardless of whether they were planning to take the exam for Starfire College, pretty much everyone looking to enter a beast-taming major was on the train headed towards the major train hub in Starfire City.


    Going towards their assigned rooms, Kain was in lucky number 7, while Bridge was right next door in 6.


    When he entered the room he was pleasantly surprised. It wasn''t at the level of a 5-star hotel but it had a desk, minifridge, a decent-sized comfortable bed, and a wide window that let in tons of natural light.


    Technically, it was a nicer room than the one he shared with Bridge at the orphanage.


    He sat on the bed and assessed his current condition for the exam.


    Bea was currently in the process of advancing in the star space, and she should finish around the same time they arrived at Dark Moon, giving him a red-grade contract.


    Due to having to feed Bea continuously and focus on the academic exam, his spiritual power was only at 950 SP. However, if he concentrated day and night solely on cultivating in the Planetarium, he should be able to improve by more than 20 points a day and condense his second star by the time the train arrives at Dark Moon.

 Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Starfire City

    "Good afternoon passengers. We have arrived at the beautiful Starfire City. Please ensure that you have all of your belongings before exiting the train, as this is a layover all vacated carts will be cleaned for their new occupants and all belongings left behind will be placed in a local Lost and Found."


    "For those continuing on non-stop to Dark Moon City, you are free to exit and re-enter the train during the layover as long as you bring your boarding pass and identification. If you choose to leave, please ensure that you bring your belongings with you, or lock your private room, should you have one. The staff onboard are not responsible for any lost or stolen items."


    "Thank you for travelling with Celestial Rails. Please come again."


    After cultivating for several hours, his spiritual power had grown by 10 points.


    However, it was pretty draining on his mental strength to focus for that long, so he decided to exit the train for the duration of the layover.


    After all, this is the largest city in the southern region, and the second largest in the entire empire, he should take a look.


    Exiting the train, Kain bumped into a familiar face.


    ''That''s right, he was taking the Starfire Exam''


    "Hey Pheneos! You''re here for the exam, right? Would you mind if I followed you to the college? I want to take a look"


    "Ah! Kain! Sure��It''s not far from here��"


    They continued walking forward together, the atmosphere a little awkward since they''d only met a handful of times previously.


    "How are you feeling about the exam? Did your teacher finish the full body armor in time?"


    "It''s difficult to know how to feel since I have no idea what kind of mission I might get. However, thankfully the full armor was finished in time, and It. Is. Amazing!" Pheneos said with his eyes twinkling like stars.


    However, he didn''t give more details on the effects of the full set, likely still on guard before the exam.


    "Wow��.major cities really are different." When they exited the station Kain was taken aback by all of the beautiful architecture around.


    Although there were a lot of new buildings, their architecture was still designed to complement the historical buildings interspersed throughout the city.


    Many of the buildings had intricate stained glass windows depicting astronomical scenes or famous scenes from history.


    Every single surface of the buildings was also touched with intricate carvings, almost overwhelmingly so.


    Columns, window frames, balconies, and all the buildings'' edges were full of asymmetrical and curved lines that vaguely mimic shapes from nature.


    If they weren''t so well done, the excessive design would have looked gaudy and overwhelming, but instead it just looked classical and high-end.


    If he had to compare it to a similar place on Earth, it reminds him the most of the buildings he saw on a family trip to Catalonia, Spain.


    It didn''t take long before they arrived at the college located in the heart of the city.


    Once again, Kain felt as though he was transported through time and space back to his family trip.


    The college, towering over every other building in the city, bore a striking resemblance to the Sagrada Familia in Spain. The most major difference being the material used to construct it giving off a golden hue when struck by the sun.


    Even Pheneos, who had not looked phased the majority of the way there, likely having visited this and other major cities in the past with his teacher, looked stunned by its beauty.


    ''It''s so beautiful. I wonder what Dark Moon College looks like?''


    Curiosity satiated, Kain wished Pheneos good luck and headed back to the train.


    "This is the final boarding call for all passengers booked for train 32A, non-stop to Dark Moon City. Please proceed to gate 3 immediately, all doors will close and departure will begin in approximately three minutes. This is the final boarding call for train 32A. Thank you."


    "Ah crap! That''s me!" He must have spent longer loitering around the city than he expected.


    He began to sprint towards the train but bumped into someone along the way, causing them to drop their belongings.


    "I am so sorry!" He bent to help them pick up their belongings and spotted a small boy with green hair and oversized glasses on his face.


    They both began to run towards the train.


    Once they were both safely onboard, Kain once again turned to apologize, he really should not have been running so recklessly. S~ea??h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s no problem��we both got on the train just fine" The other mumbled shyly avoiding eye-contact.


    "Are you by any chance going to Dark Moon City to take the College exam?" Kain asked, unable to contain his curiosity.


    Befriending another test-taker couldn''t hurt.


    "Uh no��." He said in a barely audible mumble with his head still down. "I am currently a student at Dark Moon, a second year"


    "Eeeehhhh!!?? Are you actually a current student?!"" Kain didn''t mean to come off as rude, but he really wasn''t expecting this small and timid kid to actually be his senior. He had passed that hellish beast-tide exam last year?!


    Fortunately, he seemed to think Kain''s astonishment was due to the fact that he was heading to the college a full month before the school-year for the current students officially began.


    "I was recruited to help oversee the test and heal any injured applicants. If they aren''t dead by the time they get to me."


    Ah�� so he must have one or more contracts with a healing ability. Maybe that''s how he survived the exam?


    "Well it was nice meeting you senior��hopefully we will be fellow students at Dark Moon next year"


    Kain then headed back to his room and began cultivating even more fervently.


    Visiting another top 5 college and meeting a current student made the reality that he was about to take the exams even more clear.


    His consciousness once again entered the Planetarium.


    ''I must enter Dark Moon College. No matter what!''

 Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Arriving at Dark Moon City

    Kain managed to reach 1000 SP mere hours before arriving at Dark Moon City.


    However, he did not push on to try and condense his second star with having to deboard so soon.


    If he started on the train and then was disturbed by the staff before he could finish, it may result in a failed attempt.


    Thankfully, a failed attempt at his level wouldn''t be too dangerous, but it would still not be something he could recover from before the entrance test.


    There were still 2 full days before the test he could wait until he was settled into a hotel before attempting to advance to 2-stars.


    Some more good news was that Bea had also finished her advancement in his star space this morning.


    With them both advancing, his odds of passing were looking much higher.


    "Good afternoon passengers. We have arrived at the wonderful Dark Moon City��" The familiar deboarding message began to play.


    After ensuring he left nothing behind he stepped into the hallway to find Bridge waiting for him.


    "Hey! I was scared to knock in case you were in the middle of advancing as well"


    "No��I''ll wait until we check into the hotel to do that. I''m assuming by the wide grin on your face that you successfully condensed your second star"


    "Yeah�� but that''s not the reason I''m so happy. The egg you gave me hatched 2 days ago, and now I have a contract with the 2 most beautiful wolf pups in the empire. Let''s hurry to the hotel so I can show her to you!"


    Bridge began to pull Kain by the wrist impatiently.


    The second they exited the station, Kane felt as though he was transported to medieval England.


    Majority of the buildings had Gothic architecture. It was a city of tall spires stabbing into the sky.


    Additionally, unlike the colourful stained glass windows, and gold-hued buildings common in Starfire City. The colour scheme of Dark Moon City was much more��muted. Mostly composed of Black, grey and silver architecture.


    Combined with the cloudy weather, it definitely had a more gloomy vibe when compared to Starfire City.


    It was also beautiful, but in a more haunting way.


    However, strangely Kain actually preferred Dark Moon City.


    ''It reminds me of Harry Potter!'' The little novel nerd in Kain''s heart was greatly satisfied at seeing architecture that reminded him of one of his favourite series.


    They had reserved a room at a hotel close to Dark Moon College almost immediately after confirming their intention to attend the test there.


    Good thing too, as a majority of the hotels close to the college were fully booked right after the affinity ceremonies and students confirmed that they had an affinity ranked high enough to qualify.


    Kain and Bridge were actually a little late in trying to book a room, with everywhere they tried already being filled.


    They were about to try a hotel towards the edges of Dark Moon City when this one called them back about a cancellation. It seems like an overconfident high schooler, probably a legacy, had booked rooms for themself and their family prior to awakening. After the affinity ceremony though they were forced to cancel the reservation when they didn''t rate as highly as they anticipated.


    Kain and Bridge took both neighbouring rooms available, anticipating that one or both of them may need to try and make a last-minute attempt at advancing and didn''t want to risk being disturbed by a roommate.


    After putting his stuff away in his room, Kain went next door to Bridge''s. Although he wanted to try advancing right away, he was still curious about Bridge''s the Searing Wolf pup that he''d only seen in pictures. Also, he should probably fill his stomach before attempting an advancement.


    The moment he entered Bridge''s room, it felt like it was the middle of winter instead of summer.


    The source of the extreme chill was sitting on Bridge''s bed. A small wolf puppy with shining white fur and large sparkling blue eyes.


    ''It really is adorable��'' Kain thought jealously. This is how he''d always imagined a contract to be! ''Not like��'' he cut off the in-case Bea heard it. After all, although she didn''t meet his aesthetic tastes, she was still a trustworthy companion.


    Kain kept a healthy distance from the Silver-quality pup. After all, he had read that just touching them could result in frostbite.


    Bridge though, as a result of the resistance provided by the contract, had no such worries. Although he still found her extremely cold, holding her wouldn''t harm him.


    He scooped her into his hands and held her up for Kain to see.


    "This is Princess!" Kain was once again blown away by Bridge''s naming sense. "Doesn''t she look like a cold and beautiful, yet aloof princess? It fits her, right?"


    "Uh�� y-yeah"


    "Thanks again for getting her for me Kain. She''s probably too young to be used during the entrance exam, but I can already tell that she''s talented. She has an A-level skill!"


    "Really?!" Don''t let Bea''s possession of A-level skills fool you, having a single A-level skill for spiritual creatures below Gold quality is an indication that their combat talent is within the upper tiers of their species"


    "Which one?"


    "I think it''s called Absolute Zero, it makes her surroundings and all of her attacks extremely cold, even more so than the average Searing Wolf"


    "A passive A-level skill. That''s incredible!"


    After showing off, Bridge recalled Princess into his star space and they both went down to eat dinner. S��arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Looking around at the room full of teenagers and their families they were both filled with anticipation. Their future competitors, but also their future classmates will be from among those here.


    Normally, Kain would try to mingle with those here, but he left that to Bridge. He needed to advance as soon as possible.


    So leaving Bridge to continue his conversation with what looked like a pair of siblings at a neighbouring table, Kain headed back upstairs.

 Chapter 60: Chapter 60: 2-Stars

    Kain closed he eyes and gradually slowed his breathing. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With his eyes closed he was able to focus on his internal space and the shining white star within its center. It was almost invisible among the dense cloud of red spiritual power floating around it.


    This loose spiritual power is what he''d need to condense to form a second star.


    Gradually, Kain began to consciously control the free spiritual power and tried to drag it all to a spot next to his current star.


    "Haa��.Haaaa"


    It was much more difficult than condensing his first star. He hadn''t even fully controlled all of the red gas to a single location but he was already sweating and gasping for air.


    ''Bea officially reached red-grade, rewarding me with 100 GP. Should I have just bought the 2-star guaranteed advancement card''


    ''No! Don''t think about what ifs! Focus on now!


    Gritting his teeth he finally got all of his spiritual power into a ball that couldn''t be further condensed.


    But he couldn''t relax for a second. If he did then the spiritual power he worked so hard to gather would immediately disperse


    He slowly began to apply a rotational force to the ball he formed. The speed had to be just right to achieve the necessary internal pull so that the particles would not fly away and form a star.


    ''Too fast!... Slower��slower��'' Kain eased up a bit on the strength he used to draw the spiritual power together and could immediately sense that they were about to disperse.


    Quickly he exerted control again.


    ''Argh! Now it''s too slow��No wonder it took Bridge over a day to finish condensing his second star''


    He couldn''t sense at all how much time had passed in his mental space, but he was getting exhausted.


    Rather than a test of spiritual power control, every advancement level is moreso a test in mental fortitude and perseverance.


    Back and forth, Kain went through the agonizingly boring process of perfecting the speed of rotation before relaxing control to see if the spiritual power would disperse.


    ''Argh! I can''t give up!! Just a little more!''


    Finally, when Kain slightly relaxed control the star didn''t immediately begin to disperse.


    Seeing this, he slowly began to relax the rest of his control over the star, hoping that it wouldn''t suddenly collapse.


    Before his eyes was a spinning glowing red pearl.


    ''So beautiful.'' Kain felt as though he''d cry looking at the second star. Whether it was actually because it was that beautiful or he was just overcome with emotion from finally succeeding, it was unknown.


    Gradually he could sense a connection between his first and second stars.


    The red spiritual power began to infiltrate the white star, making it red.


    If Bea had been able to absorb spiritual power within the star space like the average contract, then she''d have experienced a boost in her cultivation speed at this moment.


    In return, the energy of his affinity from the first star slowly began to transform the environment of the new star, making it inhabitable for future contracts that meet the conditions of his affinity.


    However, unlike Bea''s star which was tailored to fit her, this star was in the same ambiguous state as right after his affinity ceremony.


    As of this moment, Kain was officially a 2-star beast-tamer and could bind a second spiritual creature.


    ''If I can find one��''


    Relieved to finally be finished with the agonizing process, he opened his eyes and was immediately assaulted by a horrible smell��him


    After the sudden increase in strength, his body must be trying to purify itself.


    He hopped up to take a shower after making a call to the front desk to please come and change his bedsheets.


    When he left the steaming bathroom he felt like a brand-new person, clean from the inside out.


    He went to his cell phone on the dresser to check the date and time.


    Thankfully, only one day had passed. It was now the evening before the entrance test. He hadn''t missed it.


    ''Dinner time in the cafeteria should be ending, if I don''t want to go to bed starving, I better hurry down now.''


    When he arrived at the cafeteria he was surprised to find Bridge still there eating dinner. He was chatting with the siblings he had left him with yesterday.


    Kain quickly filled a plate up with what remained from the buffet, and headed over.


    Bridge looked at him excitedly, "How did it go?!"


    "2-stars" He replied while making a V with his fingers. He may have acted a little more smugly if there weren''t strangers at the table.


    "I knew you''d be able to do it! Guys, this is the brother I was telling you about that got an S-rating. Kain, these are Addison and Aiden��twins" Bridge said while pointing at Kain and then the pair of boy-girl fraternal twins at the table.


    They looked like male and female versions of each other with the same light blue hair and blue eyes.


    The other 2 also looked at Kain curiously. After all, there were reportedly only 26 students to receive an S-rating this year.


    They nodded at each other as Kain sat next to Bridge and began devouring his food like a starved beast. He listened as the others talked.


    "It''s good that you advanced to 2 stars before the test, Kain. We were just talking about how the applicants this year seems to be higher than the last few years."


    Aiden nodded, "The exam 5 years ago that killed nearly 600 students, scared off a lot of potential applicants in the years that followed. Making Dark Moon have the second lowest number of applicants, only above Frozen Sun College in the north"


    Addison continued, "The numbers have been gradually recovering each year and now they are almost at the level as before 5 years ago. Last I heard the 6000th applicant registered this morning"


    "Do have any information on what the exam might be?" Bridge asked. After all, these twins seemed much better informed than he and Kain.

 Chapter 61: Chapter 61: The Entrance Exam

    "It''s not possible for anyone to know for sure�� but it will probably have to do with hunting beasts like the last few years," said Aiden.


    Kain felt relieved. Hunting beasts was something he was confident in.


    "I did hear something interesting though," Suddenly Addison leaned forward and lowered her voice, "In previous years the limit to the number of admitted students had always been 100. It could be less but never more. However, this year the limit to the number of students that can pass is 99. One of the spots for this year has already been filled."


    That finally got Kain to look up from his plate in shock.


    "How is that possible?!" Exclaimed Bridge in shock. "Even Kain, with his S-rating was exempt from taking the exams. I thought the 5 colleges were high enough above that they didn''t have to intentionally try and recruit anyone."


    Kain nodded. He had been hoping that his rating would make it easier to get into a top 5 College, but they really couldn''t care less. They each have several students with an S-rating desperately trying to enter them each year, so they don''t care about trying to recruit one of them.


    Although he, and even Bridge, did receive some tempting offers from some high-tier schools just below the top 5, their background and the resources they could provide for him aren''t on the same level.


    ''Is it nepotism? Some high-ranking professor''s precious baby wanted to come here?'' Kain thought cynically.


    Aiden continued with an even lower voice, "Apparently some legacy from the capital awakened independently. However, instead of going to the First Celestial Academy, they chose to come to Dark Moon instead. None of the top 5 colleges would grant an exception otherwise. No matter your background or affinity rating"


    "Just because they awakened independently?" Kain was surprised that doing so was such a big deal.


    The two twins looked slightly surprised at Kain suddenly joining the conversation, "Well yeah��it''s been over a decade since someone awoke independently. It''s even rarer to do so now than it was back then because, according to my grandfather, the lives of our generation are too cushy"


    Addison continued after her twin, "To awaken independently suggests that you have an affinity so strong that it can''t help but manifest even without the help of the ceremony. I also heard this student has an exceptionally strong gift too."


    ''Now that''s just unfair. Are they the actual protagonist of this world?'' Kain thought bitterly. ''Screw having a System, maybe it''d have been better to transmigrate into that person''s body.''


    *The System''s Capabilities are dependent upon the Host''s own efforts* Kain thought he detected a slight grudge in the System''s usually monotone voice.


    "Wow! I guess it''s good they''re not taking the exam then, huh? One less competitor." Bridge chuckled nervously.


    "Not really��they already took up a spot without having to fight for it." Kain felt some resentment. Is that person''s talent really that high that they don''t even need to fight for their spot? Even S-rated individuals and even the descendants of royalty need to take the admissions tests.


    In an attempt to lighten the suddenly gloomy atmosphere, Addison changed the subject, "You have an S-rating, huh? What kind of affinity gets you a rating that high?"


    Everyone at the table, including Bridge who still didn''t know his affinity, and even individuals at the nearby tables trying to eavesdrop, turned to Kain.


    Kain looked around at all of the people peeking at him from the corners of their eyes. Probably trying to get info on a major contender for a spot at the College.


    "I''d prefer not to say." Suddenly the faces of those around stiffened.


    "Ha ha. Kain hasn''t even shared his affinity with me and I''m his brother. Don''t take it to heart" Bridge said in an attempt to get rid of the awkward atmosphere. But Kain could sense that his refusal to share his affinity, even with him, bugged Bridge.


    ''It''s hard to explain my affinity to the people of this world. I''m not even sure whether or not people here are aware they exist. None of my science books mention anything about them. But I should probably give him some information. I wouldn''t want this to drive a wedge between us''


    With that thought in mind, when they returned back upstairs, he pushed his way into Bridge''s room before he had a chance to close the door.


    Bridge looked surprised at his sudden action.


    "I''m sorry about what happened downstairs. I didn''t mean to make things awkward with your new friends"


    "You don''t have to apologize for that. We just met them, I understand why you wouldn''t want to share something so sensitive with them. I just don''t�� I just don''t understand why you can''t tell me. Do you not trust me?" Bridge asked sadly.


    ''Ugh. I knew he''d be thinking like this'' S��ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I do trust you! I just haven''t told you my affinity because it''s hard to explain��"


    Bridge didn''t look like he believed him. What''s so hard to explain about an affinity? Just say what was in your affinity egg? An animal? Did an element gush out?


    Kain continued to reduce Bridge''s doubts, "When my affinity egg cracked it was a species that I had never seen before. So when I got tested I really had no idea that I''d receive an S-rating, because I didn''t even know what my affinity was."


    "Honestly, I''m still not 100% sure what my affinity is" �C''Not entirely true''��"But I do know that it''s pretty hard to find things that meet the criteria for me to bind. That''s why I was so insistent on coming to Dark Moon. Because the very first time I felt the pull for a potential bond was in an egg found around one of Dark Moon College''s relics."


    Bridge finally seemed satisfied with this information. "I''m glad�� I was afraid you just didn''t trust me. You gave me Princess, so if you need help finding a contract in the future let me know."


    After hugging him goodbye, Kain returned to his room relieved.


    It was time to get a good night''s rest before the most important test of his life.

 Chapter 62: Chapter 62: The Entrance Exam (2)

    Kain and Bridge ran into the twins again the next morning at breakfast.


    Thankfully, none of the awkwardness from yesterday remained.


    "I''m sorry for yesterday. Sometimes I speak without thinking, but Aiden let me know that my question was completely inappropriate given the circumstances."


    "Uh it''s fine��no problem." Kain was slightly flustered by the sudden apology. He had actually expected them to be upset at his refusal to answer after they gave him information yesterday.


    Together they walked towards Dark Moon College.


    It was a giant castle with Gothic architecture like the rest of the city, and similar to Starfire College it was also the tallest building in the city, with its tallest spires being visible even from the edges of the city.


    Arriving at the gates of the College, all 4 of them received a tag with their registration number. Kain and Bridge were #3666 and #3667, respectively. While the twins had arrived in the city and registered the day before them and were numbers 2942 and 2943.


    After confirming their attendance, they followed the long line of students to a circular building with many pointed arches.


    When they entered, he could tell that it was a theatre that could accommodate at least 10,000 individuals, with all of the seats arranged in a ring surrounding the central stage.


    They had to go up two flights of stairs before they could find available seats.


    30 minutes later, when it appeared as though nearly 7000 students had arrived, a beautiful woman wearing glasses and a dark blue dress suit went on the stage.


    "Hello everyone. I am Assistant Professor Nightingale. The instructor for the mandatory Introduction to Spiritual Skills course that all first-years must take." Spiritual skills! One of the things Kain most wanted to learn in college.


    "I will now introduce the conditions for entering Dark Moon College."


    ''Wow she''s getting right to it, huh? Usually these kinds of stuff start with some long speech by the educators, but I guess they can''t be bothered to waste their breath on students who 99% of them they''ll never see again. That''s also probably why a first-year Assistant Professor is the one here overseeing the exams, rather than the Dean, Vice Dean or even just a full Professor attending.''


    "Due to last year''s beast-tide which we used for the exams, the surrounding wild spiritual beasts are not currently at a great enough number to cause another beast-tide. Therefore, this year''s exams will be taking place in one of the College''s relics"


    Immediately the students broke out into panicked whispers. Even Kain and the other three looked at each other with wide eyes.


    Didn''t nearly 600 examiners die in one of their relics in previous years? Their number of applicants had just been restored to the numbers before that whole debacle, and they''re going straight back to their old ways?


    "Everyone please be quiet"


    Chatter Chatter


    "SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRATS!" The refined-looking women suddenly shouted, spiritual power infused into her voice.


    "Ugh!" Kain and majority of the students looked as though they''d been hit. The teacher''s level was clearly far above theirs, a level so high that Kain had never met it before.


    "Ahem��We are aware of your concerns and we can assure you that the site of the examination will not be the same as the one from THAT year." They all knew what year she was talking about.


    "In the relic, you will be brought to an artificial world in which two islands are connected by a bridge. Your job is to cross that bridge. Easy right?" She said with a wide reassuring smile. But it didn''t look the least bit trustworthy in the applicants'' eyes.


    "However, do keep in mind that any injuries received in this world will be sustained by you once you leave. So if you do not think you''ll be able to pass, do not be stubborn and just request to leave. The relic will immediately sense your intentions and you will be ejected."


    "All students that pass the bridge will meet the minimum conditions for admittance. If more than 99 students pass, then the score for your performance, as assessed by the relic, will be used to determine the top 99 applicants."


    "Your ranking in the entrance test will also be your ranking when entering the school, so try your best!" She didn''t say what the point of such a ranking was, but Kain was sure there was some kind of benefit to ranking highly in this test.


    "Now you may all leave your seats and follow your seniors to the entrance of the relic."


    Kain and the rest of the applicants did as directed.


    Their group of 4 was towards the middle of the line. Although there were thousands of applicants, the line was moving forward rapidly. When he got closer to the front he could see why. There didn''t appear to be a limit to the number of students that the relic could accommodate, every second another student entered.


    He could see the green-haired second year that he''d previously met treating a student with a gash across his abdomen. His contract looked like a dandelion that was continuously blowing spores to the wounded. It was a contract Kain had never seen in a textbook before, meaning it was likely extremely rare.


    He also saw a large stone tablet with the names of the students that had successfully passed the test. So far over 1000 students had entered, yet only 9 names were listed. sea??h th�� N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain wondered if the order of the names meant anything. Was it the order in which they cleared the relic? Or was it a reflection of how high their individual scores were?


    After another 500 students entered the relic, and 5 more names appeared, he got his answer. The order of the names was most likely the ranking of their individual scores.


    He wished he knew how the score was determined. Is it timing-based? How few injuries they received? Their ability to cope with dangers?


    From some of the injuries he was seeing the students leave with, he could guess that there were spiritual creatures in there. Does how many we kill affect the score?


    ''Haa�� There''s no use in worrying. I''ll just have to do my best''

 Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Entrance Exam (3)

    By the time more than 2000 applicants had entered, there were only 21 names listed on the tablet.


    There were only 10 more people in front of him before it was his turn to enter.


    It''d take seconds for all of the students in front of him to enter the freestanding stone archway covered with intricate runes.


    Heart beating quickly, he turned back to wish the others good luck before also stepping into the entrance of the relic with his spear and armour already equipped.


    After a bright flash of light and a disorienting feeling, Kain felt a breeze on his face.


    He opened his eyes that he''d inadvertently closed and looked around.


    "You call this an island!"


    He was on a small patch of land in the middle of what looked like the ocean. He couldn''t see any other land for as far as the eye could see


    The land he was standing on was even smaller than the back of the turtle he had hitched a ride on previously. Maybe only 5 adults could lie down on it comfortably.


    In front of him nailed to the "island" was a flimsy-looking rope bridge floating on the surface of the water.


    The bridge extended far off into the distance, beyond what he could see, to what Kain assumed was his endpoint.


    "Yeah. Real easy!" Kai yelled mockingly at the instructor''s previous description of the test.


    He was also confident that there were probably spiritual creatures waiting to attack him on this flimsy bridge.


    However, despite the seemingly daunting task, Kain found the prospect of being surrounded by water reassuring thanks to Bea''s presence.


    The second he had entered this space and seen the water; he had immediately thrown her into the water as was his habit.


    He could sense that her splits had already covered the ocean for miles, her upgrade to red spiritual power being a huge boost to her abilities.


    He could already sense Bea running into some white-grade spiritual creatures, but they died within seconds.


    White-grade spiritual creatures could no longer even put up a fight against her.


    Not wanting to delay any longer in case the time taken affected his score, he began to cross the bridge at a steady pace to prevent falling off.


    Eventually, he reached a point where he could no longer see the land he entered on.


    He could sense through Bea that her splits had probably already killed over one hundred white-grade spiritual creatures by this point.


    However, he hadn''t seen even their shadow. All were killed far before he could even catch a glimpse of them.


    Kain now understood why the pass rate was so low, if those aquatic creatures were to all actually reach the bridge, it''d be like fighting a beast-tide alone while on unsteady ground.


    "Thankfully I have Bea. In certain environments she''s practically a cheat."


    Bea''s unique abilities rendered having a large number of low-level beasts useless.


    However, at some point among the white-grade spiritual creatures, some red-grade ones began to appear. The red-grade spiritual creatures that were weaker still died before they had a chance to actually attack Kain. However, they now got close enough that he could see their bodies.


    One of the more powerful ones, a red shark, even got close enough to try and bite Kain. Fortunately, it was still weakened by Bea and he was able to quickly dispatch it with a thrust of his spear into its forehead.


    "This won''t do�� I don''t want to be a sitting duck"


    Kain began to pick up the pace and ran across, even when some of the spiritual beasts arrived at the bridge, they were often far behind him. Moreover, they often died before they could even begin to pursue him thanks to Bea.


    Those who had the intelligence to try and intercept him were still quite easy to take care of with a single strike to the head.


    However, once Kain was able to spot an endpoint far off in the distance, he received a signal from Bea that some creatures she couldn''t kill were beginning to approach��orange-grade.


    "Stall them! Focus on impeding their senses and causing hallucinations. Forget the headaches."


    With her advancement to red-grade and her increased proficiency with using her skills from hunting, Bea was now able to influence what kind of side effects she would induce, whereas previously the side-effects were completely random and subject to the infected''s own constitution.


    Fortunately, although Bea couldn''t kill orange-grade spiritual creatures, inducing symptoms was no issue for her.


    Kain no longer could afford to be careful with his steps and began to sprint as fast as he could to his destination.


    Crash


    When he was still a dozen meters away, a large tentacle rose out of the water and slapped in his direction almost knocking him off the bridge, if he didn''t have some armour covering him, he may have had to leave due to a serious injury right at that moment.


    "Ugh�� I can''t afford to conserve anything at this point" while clutching the ropes of the bridge to stand back up, he injected his remaining spiritual power into his armour to induce the wide-range mental attack skill.


    Screeeeeee


    The animal that attacked him, which looked like a giant orange squid with a single eye began to screech and flail in pain as its mind was assaulted by both him and Bea.


    While it was distracted, he threw his spear into its large eye as deep as he could and then sprinted the remaining distance forward without stopping to retrieve his spear or see if his attack killed it.


    Seconds later he collapsed on solid ground.


    "I did it! I. DID. IIITTTT!!!!!"


    Panting heavily, Kain was ejected from the space.


    He appeared in the same position a short distance from the stone arch that students were still entering. The line was much shorter now. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After going through the test, Kain was amazed at the fact that even more than 10 recent high-school graduates could pass. It was a testament to how deep the backgrounds and immense the talents of the students that could enter a top 5 college were.


    After all, it''s not likely that any of them had a Bea to drastically reduce the number of attacking creatures before they reached the bridge. And there were even orange-grade spiritual creatures at the end lying in ambush!


    ''I wonder where I placed against such monsters,'' Kain thought turning towards the tablet.

 Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Entrance Exam (4)

    Based on the current length of the line, Kain guessed that over 5000 applicants had already entered.


    He looked at the bottom of the list that had an unfamiliar name next to the number 43 and guessed that probably no more than 50 applicants would pass at this rate. Not unless there were several stronger applicants at the end.


    ''Number 43 isn''t me��'' Kain began to scan up the list, keeping an eye out for not only Bridge''s name but also Addison''s and Aiden''s.


    When he reached the top 10, he didn''t see his own name, or any of the other 3.


    His heart began to pound and instead of going up gradually, jumped immediately to the number 1 position with a small bit of hope.


    1. Kain


    His name looked out of place among all of the others with both a given and surname. Many had quite prestigious last names, signifying their statuses as top legacies.


    Yet it was his familiar name in the first-place position.


    People began to whisper and stare at him as he stood mouth agape in front of the tablet.


    But he could care less, he''d probably never see most of them again anyway. S~ea??h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''I''m number 1! I''M NUMBER 1! I''M NUMBER 1!!!''


    It took all of his self-restraint to not start screaming his rank at the top of his lungs.


    However, at the thought that Bridge''s name also wasn''t on the tablet, he began to feel nervous. He went to where the green-haired second-year and some other seniors were treating students and looked for Bridge''s familiar figure.


    Nothing.


    He then began to look around the nearby campus grounds.


    Still nothing.


    Maybe he''s still in there. Kain began to calm down at the prospect that Bridge hadn''t failed.


    ''I had probably cleared it faster than most, so it makes sense that he''s not out yet''


    ''I hope he makes it��but I really have no idea how he or the other applicants managed to pass''


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    Kain unfortunately had no way of knowing the other methods applicants used to pass.


    While, like he thought, nobody had anything like Bea all of the successful applicants were astonishing in their own way.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    If one had the power to monitor all of the trainees'' admission tests, the method used by Addison and Aiden would likely be the most astonishing. Not due to some overwhelming ability being displayed, but rather because they were the only space with 2 applicants, while all of the others only had one each.


    How could they have accomplished this?


    Less than a minute after Addison entered the space, her eyes began to glow and her features began to look slightly more masculine until there was an unfamiliar individual with very androgynous beauty remaining.


    Suddenly a third and fourth leg extended from the body and a familiar figure stepped out��Aiden


    Addison''s space which originally had only her, now had the complete pair of siblings.


    They both paused and looked around as though waiting for something, before releasing a relieved breath. This had truly been a gamble. They hadn''t known if the space would eject one or both of them after doing this and rule them to have failed.


    Thankfully, as long as the method used is not a cheat item beyond the power level of the participant, any methods to pass will be allowed.


    So of course, the use of a gift, like the one the twins just demonstrated, would not disqualify them.


    Both of them began to move forward and fight with excellent coordination.


    With 2 people their exam just became much easier.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    In another space, an unfamiliar individual stood confidently on the beginning land mass looking around.


    He had blonde hair, green eyes, and looked like the stereotypical image of a handsome storybook prince.


    His very demeanor and equipment practically screamed his legacy status��and it was definitely a high-tier legacy family.


    He had on shining silver armour, with gold rimming around the edges. It was covered in at least three sigils, one more than is typical of 2-star equipment. To achieve an additional sigil beyond the level of the weapon not only is a world-class blacksmith needed, but also the use of materials beyond the 2-star level must also be used. That is materials from orange-grade spiritual beasts and higher.


    Even the average legacy family wouldn''t be able to bear using a higher-level material to make a 2-star armour.


    After understanding the situation, he summoned his contract.


    If Kain had been there he would have immediately turned green with envy and jealousy��a dragon!


    A young one, only a little bigger than a large horse, but a dragon nonetheless.


    It had light green scales, and its wings were nearly 5 times its size. Clearly, it was a dragon species that prioritized flight speed over bodily strength.


    He climbed on its back before flying into the air.


    Most 1-star applicants would not have contracts that could support them in flying to their destination. However, the relic still seemed to be prepared for this eventuality and the dragon was forced by a great pressure to lower onto the bridge


    Taking the bridge was the only allowed method of passing the exam.


    An expression of embarrassment at the failed plan only flashed for a moment before he ordered his dragon to dash across the bridge with him on its back.


    Although not as advantageous as in the air, his dragon was at least Gold-quality, none of the lower quality white-grade beasts and red-grade beasts in the water even came close to him until he was at the final third of the bridge.


    Swipe


    He narrowly dodged a stab from a trident in the hands of what looked like a purple human fused with an octopus'' lower body.


    He unsheathed his sword and began to input his red and orange-tinged spiritual power into the sigils.


    He must now go all out. He could defeat one Orange-grade spiritual creature, but a whole hoard of them is even beyond his capabilities.


    Unlike Kain who had Bea to restrain most of them so that he only really had to face the one lying in ambush near the exit. The majority of the students had to find a way to fight through or avoid the orange-grade attacks on their way to the exit.

 Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Entrance Exam (5)

    In another space the performance of another examiner was also surprising.


    He had a gloomy-looking appearance with shoulder-length black hair partially covering his eyes.


    Unlike most contestants who would usually immediately summon their contracts or unsheathe their weapons to prepare for battle, he began to��strip off all of his clothes.


    Butt clenching in nervousness he began to sprint across the bridge as a certain unmentionable body part flapped in the wind.


    He was quite fast and managed to avoid running into the majority of the white-grade beasts.


    When he occasionally did run into one, he did not choose to fight due to being weaponless, he would instead clench his butt-cheeks as hard as possible before reappearing in a flash of pink spiritual power at the maximum point his eyes could see on the bridge.


    Clearly, this was another student who had already awakened a gift. However, there were obviously limitations on the number of times he could use it. Especially, since the colour of his spiritual power indicated he was still at 1-star.


    When he could finally see the end, his nose had already started to bleed from over-exertion.


    "Haaa��.. Haaaa�� I would have maybe just dodged some of the earlier attacks instead of teleporting if I knew this bridge was so damn long."


    A giant tentacle of a orange-grade creature far stronger than him began to hurtle towards him.


    "Haaa�� they don''t even want to give us 1-stars a chance." But despite his words, his expression was calm. He could already see the exit.


    He emptied all of his remaining spiritual power to appear on the small body of land in the distance. And then fainted. S��ar?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------------


    "Ugh!" Kain was waiting near the stone archway for Bridge to exit when his vision was suddenly assaulted by a naked man lying on the ground. Thankfully he was face down. However, he could see a pool of blood spilling out from the front of his and spreading around the ground.


    "Ahhhh!" There were shocked screams from some individuals also waiting around, likely for their own friends who had entered.


    Thankfully for the passed-out applicant though, there was no longer any line, so less than 50 students were waiting by the gate. Most had left in grief after failing to pass or to immediately head off to try and make either the Supernova or First Celestial Academy exams taking place soon.


    Thankfully, Kain doesn''t have to worry about trying to enter another top 5 college.


    Seeing that nobody else was stepping forward to help, Kain decided to call the green-haired senior he was familiar with to examine the student.


    After the naked boy was covered and removed from the area to undergo a medical examination, the surroundings returned to their previous calm.


    There were currently still thousands of students inside the relic trying to pass the test and another would be eliminated every few seconds.


    With each passing second Kain wasn''t sure if he should be anxious that Bridge had not passed yet, or if he should be happy that he hadn''t been eliminated yet.


    ''Come on, Bridge!''


    A scene so similar to the affinity ceremony, but now their roles were reversed.


    ------------------


    The moment Bridge entered the relic he knew it would not be as easy as the teacher described.


    However, he had trained and prepared intensely for this very test for months.


    Not to mention all of the hours, resources, and money the Wolfblood Dojo invested into him.


    He knows that it wasn''t purely out of the goodness of their heart. He needs to enter a top 5 college so that it validates their training program and their investment pays off.


    After entering he released his initial contract, Lady. She was much larger now than when they first met.


    She would have been large enough to support a lighter contractor if she was not bound to the heavy Bridge.


    Thankfully, the dojo had already analyzed Bridge''s weaknesses and knew that his lack of speed was a problem.


    Therefore, to combat this in a short time they had also equipped him with an enchanted light armour that, when injected with spiritual power, would halve his weight while decreasing his wind resistance.


    It was one of 3 armours prepared by the dojo in the space ring so that he could deal with a variety of scenarios.


    After activating the armour, Bridge boarded Lady before she sped off at full speed across the bridge.


    As a Huricanine known for their speed, none of the spiritual creatures even got close to them until towards the end of the rope bridge. That also happened to be when Bridge''s spiritual power was beginning to bottom out and the lightening effects of the armour were fading.


    Whimper


    Lady could no longer support his immense weight and her legs began to shake. Bridge immediately jumped off while patting Lady to thank her for her hard work.


    They had managed to cross the majority of the bridge without having to fight, now that they could see the exit in the distance, he would need to fight the rest of the way on foot.


    Bridge removed a heavy sword from the space ring.


    Thankfully, he had gone hunting with a few of the trainers in preparation for the exam. However, those were all land-based spiritual creatures, he wasn''t used to fighting on water against fins and tentacles.


    He cut off a tentacle from a red-grade creature reaching toward him and began to steadily move his way forward, sending out another heavy swing of his sword with each step.


    "Ha�� Ha��Ha��" Looking behind Bridge there was a long line of corpses and chopped-off body parts.


    He could finally see the end. He stepped carefully toward the end of the bridge; he didn''t see any more spiritual creatures moving towards him.


    Thwack


    "Aooooo!!"


    Bridge was thrown into the water by a heavy blow. He could hear Lady screaming in fear for him as a tentacle wrapped around his ankle and tried to drag him deeper into the water.

 Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Entrance Exam Completed

    Bridge tried to slash at the tentacle gripping him, but its rubbery texture kept bouncing the blade off.


    His brain worked in overdrive. Using his mind was not his strong suit, but the trainers at the dojo had emphasized the importance of staying calm in desperate situations to find a solution.


    Suddenly, his eyes flashed with light as an idea came to mind.


    He called out Princess. Due to her young age, he hadn''t expected to use her at all during the test, however her abilities were exactly what he needed at the moment.


    He held her firmly since she couldn''t swim, and pressed her paw against the tentacle while directing her to channel as much ice-attribute energy as she could muster into a small area.


    Normally, the attacks of a white-grade spiritual creature would be useless, but the strength of an A-level skill allowed her to freeze over a small area the size of her paw.


    It was an area so small that it couldn''t even be considered as dealing a substantial injury to the enemy, but it was exactly what Bridge needed at the moment.


    The moment the tentacle froze over, Bridge recalled Princess and hurriedly slammed down with his sword at the frozen-over spot.


    Thankfully, this time it shattered instead of rebounding his sword.


    Finally free, he swam as fast as he could back to the bridge and clung to it.


    Lady was still there waiting for him. Seeing that he had expended pretty much all of his energy, she used the last of hers to pull him out of the water and then the few remaining steps to land.


    Finished, she collapsed next to him.


    "You did great, Lady," Bridge said with a weak pat on her head before recalling her to the star space to rest.


    The next moment he felt the grass he was lying on change to a hard rocky surface. And then the familiar face of his best friend was smiling down at him.


    "Welcome back. Congratulations on passing."


    --------------------------------------------


    Kain had been monitoring the number of names on the tablet since he had exited the relic so he immediately noticed that the last name on the list was one rank lower, meaning that someone else had exited.


    Nervously he scanned for Bridge''s name, this would be at least the 10th time he had gone through this process after seeing a change in ranks.


    Fortunately, he did find Bridge''s name this time. Similar to his it lacked a surname and was easy to spot.


    Additionally, it was towards the end of the list, at number 42. But no matter, at least he had passed.


    "You passed!" Kain repeated with a wide smile as he helped Bridge up.


    Bridge also smiled at him as he caught his breath.


    "Thanks to you," Bridge relayed what had happened in the relic and how he had needed to rely on Princess at the end to escape.


    Kain was relieved that he could be of help in some way.


    It wasn''t long until the final applicant exited the relic and their final rankings were confirmed.


    There were 52 successful applicants.


    Nobody surpassed Kain''s score until the end and he managed to finish in first place.


    Bridge moved down one spot to rank 43.


    Both of the twins Addison and Aiden also passed, and were ranked at an impressive 13 and 14.


    Strangely, they exited their respective exams at the exact same time.


    Their group of 4 met up. The other 2 looked surprised at Kain''s ranking, while Bridge looked as though he had expected it. He had endless faith in Kain.


    The 52 future attendees followed one of the senior students to an administration building where Assistant Professor Nightingale was waiting for them in a large meeting room.


    They all took a seat while she began to speak. Her voice was much warmer now that she was speaking to officially accepted students of the college.


    "Congratulations on your successful completion of the Dark Moon College Exam. I will now begin the information session. Under each of your seats is a registration package. You will be required to fill it out with your personal information.


    Additionally, there is a course timetable of all the required courses for first-year students, as well as the available times for open courses you may take as electives. Use that information to register for the courses and times that work best for you and match your goals. Keep in mind though that some required courses are only available at one time and all of them have mandatory attendance..."


    Kain flipped through the information package. Thankfully, there were only 3 required courses for first years: Introduction to Spiritual Skills which Professor Nightingale teaches, Wilderness Survival, and Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers.


    The rest of the minimum of 5 courses that students must take each year need to be filled with electives. However, Kain doesn''t have a choice. He already knew that his spare time would be filled with the courses for his Evolutionary Planner major.


    However, as he flipped through the booklet he was unable to find any Planner courses in the course list provided. He couldn''t possibly plan his schedule without knowing those class times.


    "��not be provided. Please fill out the required forms tonight and return them to this administration building by tomorrow at 4pm. That will be all. We look forward to seeing you all at the start of the new semester in 3 weeks. Are there any questions?"


    Kain tuned back in to only catch the tail-end of the information session. He''d have to ask Bridge if he missed anything important later on. Firstly, he had a more pressing question that needed answers.


    Kain stood up, "Yes. There were no Evolutionary Planner courses in the course list you provided, I was wondering where I could get that information."


    "I''m sorry. The Planner courses are only available to those in that major, so students of the Beast-taming faculty cannot register for them" She looked as though she had expected that question. It seems like Planner courses are a common elective that students want to take. After all, evolving your contract will increase their upper-limit of strength.


    Most people hire a planner to help with this, but having some basic knowledge would also be helpful.


    Seeing that she was going to leave her answer at that and turn to another student with his hand raised, Kain quickly cut in. "I know. I am a double-major and was also admitted into the Planner major. However, they haven''t yet provided me a courselist so I can''t fill out this schedule."


    He had received his exam score, which was an expected perfect score, and the acceptance offer from Dark Moon''s Planner major, which he had listed as his first-choice program when registering for the academic exam, while he had been condensing his second star.


    He had called to accept the offer the night he woke up, but they had not yet sent him any information package. Even if they did it would be at New Beginning''s Orphanage and he wouldn''t have a chance to read it before he had to fill out this timetable for tomorrow.


    At his words everyone in the room turned to him in shock. Majoring in both the Beast-taming and Planner majors at a top 5 college was extremely rare. Not only because they were both the two hardest programs to gain admittance to, they both had some of the most stressful workloads. Only a masochist would want to take both on.


    The twins looked even more shocked. After all, they were one of the few individuals in the room that had identified Kain as the top-ranked student for the relic. Now he''s saying that was also entering the Planner major?


    ''Is he a monster?!'' They shared the same horrified thought.


    "That��well��your circumstances are pretty unusual. You can follow one of our senior volunteers after this information session to the administration office for the Planning department. They should be able to register you for courses in advance.


    Relieved that his issue was taken care of, Kain sat back down while nodding.


    "Ahem, any more questions?" S��ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A blonde princely-looking guy in the front row stood up.


    "Yes. I''d like to know how exactly these rankings by the relic were decided?"

 Chapter 67: Chapter 67: The Exam Rankings

    Not every examiner that passed was pleased with their ranking. The blonde legacy obviously being one of them.


    While some, like Bridge and the naked teen, were just grateful to have passed. Others had a certain expectation for the ranking.


    Looking around, Kain could see several cocky, prideful and unconvinced expressions in the crowd.


    He smiled bitterly, determined to keep his ranking a secret for not in case he''s challenged to a fight on the way to the hotel. A frontal duel is really not his strong suit.


    The Professor seemed to have expected this question. After all, most of the students trying to enter a top 5 college would have a high level of pride.


    "The ranking of an applicant is based on a variety of factors that are combined into a single score. The main 3 factors are: the time it takes to clear the exam, the number of beasts killed during the exam, and the condition of the applicant at the time the relic is cleared.


    For example, the last-placed applicant was within the top 10 for clearance time, but killed no spiritual creatures and was unconscious by the time he reached the exit. If he had not been in a relic, and instead in real life, then he would have been in an extremely dangerous situation. After all, in reality he would likely still receive attacks from aquatic creatures on land."


    Seeing that the blonde teen was still unconvinced, she continued, "Mr. Lysander, you performed exceptionally well."


    ''Ahhhh��. Lysander. That was the last name of the second-placed applicant. He also has the last name as the royal family, no wonder he''s so unconvinced.'' Kain was even more determined to keep his identity a secret.


    The Professor continued, "You were within the top 3 for both speed and ending condition and the top 5 for the number of beasts killed, slaying an impressive 50 red-grade spiritual creatures, and 2 orange-grade spiritual creatures."


    The other applicants began to chatter at the impressive results.


    The blonde raised his chin cockily at the shocked whispers.


    "Any other year and your score would have likely placed you first. Therefore you can be extremely proud of you results." She turned to the other student that had already stood up. Sear?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing that she wasn''t going to share anything more. Lysander interjected again. "So what was the first place''s scores."


    ''Wow! He''s really not letting this go'' Kain was starting to feel both flattered and nervous. But he was also curious. What was the reason for his high score? He seriously doubted he was the fastest.


    The Professors eye twitched in irritation after being cut off a second time.


    "The first placed applicant was only in the top 10 for both timing and condition, but they ranked first for kills, and the gap with second place was substantial."


    "In total there are 800 spiritual creatures in each relic test. 600 white-grade spiritual creatures, 180 red-grade, and 20 orange-grade spiritual creatures. Although, only a small fraction of them would actually attack the applicant at a time, ensuring that more applicants will not actually have to meet even 5% of the total number of beasts if they move fast enough."


    "The first ranked applicant killed all 780 white and red-grade spiritual creatures in the relic space, and 1 orange-grade spiritual creature."


    Shocked Silence


    Even Kain was shocked. He had only seen a tiny fraction of all the spiritual creatures Bea had killed. However, after he thought about it, it made sense. Given enough time Bea would be able to kill anything red-grade and below, therefore all of the water Bea''s splits inhabited as they spread out probably became a land of death, even the areas of water far away from him.


    Kain was also pleasantly surprised to discover that his final blow had managed to finish off the orange-grade spiritual creature. He had lost his spear to deal that blow, so he appreciated the boost to his score.


    The twins and Bridge, the only ones to know the face of the first-place individual, turned to Kain in shock.


    ''How was such a killing spree even possible?''


    The thoughts of everyone in the room were pretty uniform at that moment. Even the professor had been shocked when she read the report.


    Even the use of poison wouldn''t be able to achieve that effect since it would just be diluted by the water. It''d have to be a poison far exceeding the level of the applicant, and the applicant would have been ejected for cheating, not scored first-place.


    Nobody could figure out how this ''Kain'' had done it.


    Lysander sat down stiffly in resignation. Many of the other students who also previously had unconvinced expressions, now looked to accept the rankings.


    Seeing that there were no more interruptions. Professor Nightingale answered 2 more questions before ending the meeting.


    "I will meet you back at the hotel." Kain left behind those words before heading to one of the senior volunteers waiting by the exit.


    The twins still had not fully recovered from their shock. "You didn''t tell us he was such a monster, Bridge"


    "Ahem�� well I don''t like to brag," He said humbly. Trying not to show that he was just as shocked by Kain''s results.


    Kain followed the senior across campus to a separate administration building. After informing the staff of his circumstances they also provided him with a registration package similar to the Beast-taming major and said that they would allow him to register for the courses he would be taking early.


    Thankfully there was no conflict in the class times of both majors, but it''d be a packed schedule.


    Most students only have to take 5 courses. 3 required courses for their major, and 2 optional ones of their choice. He had to take 3 required courses for the Planner Major as well: Introduction to Evolution, Evolution Practicum, and Introduction to Evolutionary Research.


    Meaning that he had to deal with one more course than the average college student.


    When Kain arrived back at the hotel he immediately went to Bridge''s room. He thought that he''d find him still in a celebratory mood, but he appeared slightly downtrodden.


    Confused by the atmosphere, Kain entered and closed the door behind him.


    "What''s wrong? Are you having trouble picking an elective?" He guessed that there was some issue with his registration package since that''s what he was staring at.


    "Ah, your back! No, I already picked my electives with the Addison and Aiden, we''re taking a Spiritual Material Cooking course and a Material Processing course."


    Kain nodded. Those would have been the 2 courses he would have recommended for Bridge. Bridge wasn''t strong in the traditional academic subjects like history or science.


    One course teaches the most valuable parts of spiritual beasts and how to extract them without damaging them or reducing the quality. The other course shows the proper way to cook the edible parts of spiritual creatures in a way that maximizes the preservation of the remnant spiritual power and beneficial effects in dishes.


    "Then��why do you look so gloomy?"


    "It''s nothing��"


    Strange. Bridge usually wouldn''t hesitate to share something that bothered him with Kain.


    Kain sat next to him and look at what he was holding. He had expected him to be staring at the course list, but he was looking at the form where they just had to fill in their basic information."


    "What''s wrong? Tell me." He nudged Bridge''s shoulder.


    Bridge slowly opened his mouth, "We were the only ones without a last name. Addison, Aiden, that arrogant blonde guy��they all have families. And they all have a family name to show where they come from."


    "Ahhh��." It hadn''t really bothered Kain. But unlike Kain, Bridge never knew what it was like to have a biological family and a family name. He could understand why he''d envy it.


    "Let''s make one now"


    "Huh?"


    "Let''s choose a last name for ourselves now. Be officially brothers with the same last name."

 Chapter 68: Chapter 68: A New Man

    Bridge suddenly was filled with nervous excitement. "What do we choose?"


    "Well as you said, last names represent your roots. They can be derived from a hereditary occupation in your family. For example, if your father and your father''s father and so on were all blacksmiths, at one point your family may have taken on a last name based on that, like Jack Smith."


    Bridge looked awkward. "I don''t think that would apply to us."


    Kain nodded, "It can also be based off of the name of a prominent ancestor of yours. Like if you had a famous grandfather named John, you might pick the last name Johnson, to show you are descended from him."


    "Still doesn''t apply to us��is there a method of coming up with a last name that doesn''t depend on knowing who your parents are?"


    "I was getting to that. We can also pick a last name after a unique feature. For example, three of our empire''s founders supposedly picked their last names based off of their gifts. Several legacy families also have last names based off the most common affinity inherited by their lineage.


    For example, while Heather Frost didn''t awaken during the affinity ceremony, many members of her family supposedly have ice-attribute affinities"


    Bridge began to nod, "I don''t have a gift�� but maybe I could pick a last name based on my affinity. Who knows, I may even end up guessing a last name the same as my birth parents!"


    "We said we''d pick the same last name didn''t we? I don''t have a wolf affinity."


    "Ahem��that''s correct please continue."


    "Another method is to base the last name after a prominent personal characteristic, physical or personality-wise, or some kind of aspiration. Supposedly, Founder Blackheart took on that last name after enemies of the kingdom began to call him black-hearted for his unwillingness to spare anyone in battle. Clearly, he took it as complement though"


    "Hmm��are personalities are really different and we look nothing alike. I guess we could make a common last name based off of a goal we both share��but what?" Bridge pondered.


    "Finally, a last name could be based off of where you''re from. Which is the option I was thinking we should go with."


    "Like Kain and Bridge Brightstar after Brightstar city? It could work... but it feels a little awkward to take the name of our city as our last name"


    Kain''s brow twitched in annoyance, "No. I was thinking in terms of the orphanage��New Beginning''s Orphanage. We could take on the last name Newman. It''s not that unusual of a last name, and it has meaning to us. Director Silas took us in and gave us a family, it makes sense to take our name from the orphanage we call home."


    Seeing that Bridge was remaining silent with his head down, Kain thought he wasn''t convinced so he continued, "It can also have an additional meaning that we are now embarking on new lives as beast-tamers at a top 5 college if you''d prefer."


    Bridge raised his head with tears in his eyes, "No. I prefer the first meaning. We should have a last name based on our family. The members of the orphanage�� do you��do you think the other members of the orphanage will also consider taking it as a last name?"


    Kain smiled, "We can ask them when get back home."


    ------------------------


    After they had filled out their registration packets, now with last names added, they went down to dinner with the celebratory atmosphere restored.


    The cafeteria was much emptier since the majority of students had failed and then immediately left the city to head to another exam. Therefore, it was easy to spot the twins already seated and eating.


    After filling their plates, they went over to them.


    Thankfully as they ate they started to discuss some of what Kain missed during the information session earlier when he tuned out.


    Kain already knew that all tuition fees at top 5 colleges were waived in appreciation for their being the Empire''s greatest talent pool.


    Additionally, they will receive a basic amount of school credits every month to provide food for their contracts. Each additional contract also comes with an increase in allowance.


    However, some contracts have more rare nutritional needs, so students are encouraged to talk to the resource manager once school starts to see if the school can provide for any special needs.


    That got Kain thinking. He probably won''t have the time once school starts to go hunting continuously to feed Bea. However, he may be able to purchase the brains of high-level spiritual creatures.


    While not as good as the fresh thing, it should be able to allow Bea to grow while saving him time from having to hunt himself.


    Additionally, he finally found out one of the purposes for the entrance test ranking. Their room assignments once school starts will be dependent on their ranking.


    Bridge looked sad at the prospect that he and Kain would not be neighbours or roommates. While Kain groaned. His roommate will likely end up being that blonde prince.


    The twins giggled at his suffering.


    "Don''t worry. You won''t have to share a room with him," Addison comforted him. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Well, that''s one relief.''


    "Unlike the other students that have roommates and are separated into men''s only and women''s only dorms. The top 5 students of each year live in a separate co-ed building."


    Aiden continued, "I heard that each floor in the building is for a separate year, so your room may not even be that close to his."


    Kain was immediately excited, "Sweet! No wonder some of the students looked unhappy by their ranks. I wasn''t expecting that kind of benefit"


    "Apparently, there are even more benefits throughout the year to having a higher ranking. That''s why the future ranking tests will be intense. People are desperate to even go up one spot in rank"


    "I''m sorry, what?" Another ranking test? This is the first he''s heard about this?!


    Addison scoffed, "You didn''t think the entrance test rankings were permanent, did you? Students will be re-ranked every three months."


    "H-How are we re-ranked?"


    "Of course, by battling one another 1 on 1. You better protect that number 1 spot well, because everyone in our year will be coming for it" She laughed in a somewhat threatening manner.


    ''I''m screwed''

 Chapter 69: Chapter 69: System Shop

    Even after going to bed and waking up the next morning all that Kain could think about was the re-ranking 3 months after school started.


    He did everything from eating breakfast, going to the college registration office, and booking the train tickets with the demeanour of a mindless zombie. He was in a complete daze.


    Bridge finally couldn''t take it anymore when Kain almost wandered straight onto the train tracks in front of an incoming train.


    Grabbing Kain back by the collar he shook him. "What is going on with you?!"


    "Ah! Sorry Bridge, I''ve just been a little distracted"


    "A little distracted?! I overlooked when your fork kept missing your mouth as you tried to eat this morning. I also didn''t think it was a big deal when you almost walked straight into a streetlight on the way here. But just now you almost got hit by a train due to your carelessness! Not even a 2-star beast-tamer can withstand a train. Snap out of it!"


    Kain was embarrassed. Instead of worrying about getting beaten up by his fellow students in a few months, his carelessness may cause him to die before then.


    Kain could now form a contract with a second spiritual creature. S��ar?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But it would need to be one that could actually put up a fight in a frontal duel.


    Bea was powerful, but her strength relied a lot on environmental advantages and the opponent not being able to attack her, while Kain often just avoided the attacks.


    Kain wasn''t sure if they''d be allowed to attack him in the arena. But even if they couldn''t attack him or spot Bea, without water Bea could do nothing to them either.


    The result would probably be a stunningly boring duel consisting of the opponent''s contract pacing around trying to find Kain''s contract while Kain could do nothing.


    He needed a contract that could take the initiative to fight and not just lay a trap waiting for the opponent to fall into it.


    However, he currently had no leads for such a contract.


    He had assumed that there was something he could bind within that dead egg, that also may have killed that pack of Shadow Leopards. However, no matter how much he inputted his spiritual power into the egg, he couldn''t sense anything in there he could form a contract with.


    Also whatever was in the egg seems to have fully died by this point as the already extremely faint pull was now completely gone.


    He guessed that whatever was in the egg was a split similar to what Bea produces. He''d need to find the original microorganism to form a contract with it.


    However, even if he does eventually find it, there''s no guarantee it will have better frontal combat abilities than Bea.


    Sigh


    Once he was settled into his private room on the train, Kain flopped onto the bed distraught.


    With a feeling of it being his final hope, Kain turned to the System. It was supposed to be his greatest cheat but hasn''t demonstrated much value yet. He hoped that the Shop, which had refreshed twice by now would have something good.


    He had successfully completed the following missions:


    -Advancing to 2-stars (100 GP received).


    -One spiritual contract advancing to red-grade (100 GP received).


    -Entering the Beast-taming major at a college (Reward variable by college ranking: Entered a top 5 college and received 500 GP).


    -Taking the academic admissions exam (Reward variable by placement: Scored within the top 10 in the empire with a perfect score and received 200 GP).


    Meaning that he has collected 900 GP out of the 1000 GP required to upgrade the system. However, if something could increase his battle strength in a short time he wouldn''t mind spending some of his GP and delaying the next System upgrade.


    After all, with an increase in strength, he could better complete future missions. Even now, he could easily complete several of the missions to defeat red-grade spiritual creatures now that he and Bea had both upgraded.


    Unfortunately, the beasts in the relic were not real and could not count towards his mission progress.


    With a faint hope, Kain clicked on the System shop.


    Exchangeable items available:


    -A custom 2-star weapon (500 GP)


    -A random silver-quality spiritual creature egg (500 GP)


    -Basic Affinity Radar (200 GP)


    Kain could exchange for a customizable 2-star weapon. Considering that he had lost his main weapon, this wouldn''t be a bad option to increase his strength.


    Not only will he get a 2-star enchanted weapon, but he''d even be able to customize the sigils imprinted into it. Therefore, he''d be able to produce the perfect weapon for himself that he may not be able to obtain in reality without the System.


    Not to mention he was extremely curious about how this customization process occurs. Is there a list of available sigils and designs for him to choose from? Or is it completely up to his own imagination?


    However, it does not solve his most pressing concern about filling his second star space with a contract suitable for 1 on 1 fights against other beast-tamers.


    The silver-quality egg was even more useless. What hatches from it is completely random and while he doesn''t know where a spiritual microbe like Bea originated, he seriously doubts it was from an egg.


    So what hatches will most likely not even be suitable for his, or even Bridge''s, affinity.


    The only thing that may help him is the Basic Radar. According to the item description, when activated it will provide the user with the location of all spiritual creatures that meet his affinity requirements within range for 24 hours.


    This was almost exactly what he needed.


    In fact, it fit his needs so well that he was suspicious. When has his System ever been so generous?


    What was the catch?


    However, he really had no better alternative.


    Resolutely he exchanged 200 GP for the Basic Rada

 Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Contract Clue

    Currently, Kain was on a train, so he did not activate the Radar.


    It was only valid for 24 hours, and even if it did detect something he could contract outside, what could he do about it? Jump outside a train moving over 100 miles per hour?


    He''s already died once, he''s not in a rush to experience it a second time.


    When Kain was scrolling through the Mission Board, something bothered him.


    There were also missions related to the beast-tamer entrance exam, specifically his performance on it.


    One was to rank within the top 5 of entrants and would grant a corresponding amount of GP depending on his ranking, up to a max of 1000 GP. However, it had a pending symbol next to it. He already ranked first in the entrance exam, and should naturally be first among all entrants. If the System had just rewarded him now, he could upgrade the System while searching for his next contract.


    Sigh


    Well, at least he could look forward to a nice reward on the first day of school at least.


    Looking through the other missions he also saw that each time he completed the re-ranking battles in the college, he would also receive similarly lucrative rewards. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nothing else he could do while on the train, Kain spent the next 2 days travelling back to the southern region alternating between using the Planetarium and feeding Bea.


    However, when his consciousness was in the Planetarium, he suddenly felt a pulling sensation outside of his body.


    He snapped his eyes open and immediately ran to the window.


    Trees, trees and more trees.


    There were absolutely no distinguishing features for where they were or anything special about the area, but he was certain he had felt it.


    The pull towards a suitable contract target. Unfortunately, the feeling was rapidly fading as the train sped away.


    Kain really was beginning to consider the likelihood of surviving jumping out of the train, but forced himself to remain calm and not do anything rash.


    Instead, he went to Bridge''s room next door to inform him that he would not be going with him back to the orphanage right away.


    Bridge was confused. "Why would you choose to stay in Starfire instead of coming home? We still have to finish packing. Also, once we are at the college it''ll probably be nearly a year before we can see them all again. We should spend as much time with them as we can"


    "I know. But I have no choice. Remember how I told you that I''m not 100% sure what my affinity is, and that it''s hard to find something that I can bind? Well, I felt the pull from my affinity just now. I need to go see what it is."


    Bridge got silent, before raising his head. "Well, I''m obviously coming to. I did say I''d help you as thanks for giving me Princess."


    "Princess was a gift, you don''t need to repay me. And I don''t exactly know what I''m running into, it could be dangerous"


    "I know. But we''re family and it''s because I know it could be dangerous that I won''t let you leave me behind."


    Kain wanted to continue to refuse because he didn''t want Bridge to be in danger due to him, but he could tell that Bridge would still follow him stubbornly.


    Not to mention��although he hated to admit it his capabilities without water around were severely reduced and where he felt the pull there was absolutely no water that he could see.


    He really did need Bridge''s help.


    Giving in, Kain accepted his offer and returned back to his room.


    When thinking about how he''d fight without water around, he was reminded that he doesn''t currently have a weapon.


    Of his 700 GP remaining, he''d need to use 500 GP to purchase the customizable weapon from the system.


    ''From 900 GP to 200 GP'' Kain was in tears, ''I can''t wait until school starts and I can get my 1000 GP for ranking first.''


    After completing the purchase, he was brought to a customization page.


    There were several shadowy silhouettes of a variety of weapons. Sword, dagger, short-sword, shield, axe, spear, hammer and more.


    Despite originally mostly using daggers and short-swords, Kain had gotten used to using a spear in the past few months, and he also liked the extended reach it provided. Therefore, he selected the figure of a spear.


    After making his choice he was brought to another screen asking him to select the weapon''s attributes.


    Usually, the attributes of the weapon would be determined by the materials it was made out of, therefore attributes that were rarer in spiritual creatures, would also obviously result in those attributes being rarer in weapons.


    It was very luxurious to get to select his desired attribute at whim.


    However, as Kain scrolled he began to realize that sometimes too much choice is not a good thing.


    The long list of attributes had common ones such as earth, water, and fire. It also had attributes that Kain knew were quite rare like the mental attribute and shadow attribute.


    However, there were attributes listed that he hadn''t even known existed. Holy attribute? Evil attribute? Life attribute? Death attribute?


    Although he could kind of guess from the names, he wasn''t 100% sure what those attributes entailed. However, he was still tempted to pick them just out of curiosity.


    ''After all, something with a death attribute couldn''t possibly be too weak, right?''


    Kain was originally planning to just make an upgraded model of the spear he lost, but now his mind has opened up to many more possibilities.


    He needed to think critically about his desired combat style and the sigils that would best complement it.


    The perfect weapon for him wasn''t necessarily the strongest in raw power.


    A powerful and rare attribute may not be what was best for him at this point in time. Especially if he wasn''t familiar with its effects.


    Therefore, he reluctantly disregarded the attributes he was unfamiliar with and chose to only select from those he could already predict how they''d contribute to his combat style.

 Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Perfect Weapon

    His original spear was of a poison attribute. Not because the spear itself possessed any poison, but because it used the materials from a poisonous spiritual creature that, when combined with the necessary sigils, leads to the efficient ejection of poison from the spear''s tip.


    Technically this injection effect could be obtained using the materials of any attribute with enough skill. Pheneos had likely used the remnants of an injection mechanism from the spiritual creature he used to make the spear to make up for the skills he lacked.


    Kain would like a similar injection mechanism so that Bea could show some combat effectiveness on land, but he didn''t think picking the poison attribute should be necessary to achieve this. After all, although he has his gripes with the System it should have more skill than a blacksmith apprentice.


    Kain also disregarded the mental attribute. He already had a mental attribute armour and Bea with a mental attribute, he felt another weapon with this attribute would be redundant.


    While, he was looking through the different attributes, he was intrigued by a combination attribute that he had never considered before.


    If this attribute worked as he thought, then it could completely change his combat style��but for the better. Allowing him to have many more options and the ability to take on multiple opponents even on land.


    Combination attributes are born from the combination of two or more other attributes. For example, the mist-attribute that Kain was interested in would need to be produced from the materials of a spiritual creature with both water and wind attributes. The result would be water droplets suspended in the air.


    Looking at this attribute, Kain wondered��could Bea perhaps float inside the mist''s water droplets?


    Normally, in water, Bea infects others by going up their nose to their brain. Although, she can invade using other locations like the mouth, and cuts. The nose is her preferred method.


    Wouldn''t the same effect be achieved from breathing in mist?


    It would also make Bea''s usage incredibly more versatile if he only had to wait for his prey to take a breath in the mist he created.


    Kain had not seen a back button to go back to the previous screen for selecting a weapon type, therefore he was going to operate under the belief that all decisions were final.


    Hoping that he won''t come to regret his decision, he selected the mist attribute.


    He was brought to another screen with two empty squares and a third square with a plus symbol in the center


    He assumed the empty boxes were meant to contain the sigils with the effects he wanted.


    Clicking on the first box a long list of possible sigils for the attribute he selected appeared.


    When he saw an intricate blue sigil resembling a cloud, he had an idea that this was the effect he desired. However, he wanted the description to be sure. It''s not as though he was a blacksmith and knew what they all meant.


    "System, please place a simplified description of the effects of each sigil next to their image. I don''t want to play guessing games for something so important"


    Thankfully, although the System did not reply to his words it still followed his request.


    Next to the sigil he was staring at was now a description of its effect.


    "''When injected with spiritual power, the weapon will produce a dense mist to obscure the vision of opponents.'' Exactly what I wanted. Although I won''t be using this effect just to obscure vision."


    For the second slot, he selected the non-attribute specific sigil that would allow a poison or other liquid to be stored within the spear for injection. Similar to his previous weapon. With this sigil, he could ensure that Bea''s splits will be injected into every droplet in the mist, instead of just tossing Bea into the air and hoping for the best.


    Finally, Kain turned to the third box with a plus symbol, assuming that it was an option for a third sigil.


    Kain was excited. Any weapon with one more sigil than its level would be incredibly expensive to produce, having high requirements on the materials used and the blacksmith.


    However, when he clicked the square a message appeared requesting that he pay an additional 200 GP to unlock a third sigil.


    "Of course," Kain grumbled.


    Doing this would completely clear out all of the GP he had earned, but a stronger weapon would help with completing missions to obtain even more GP.


    Looking at the expense as an investment, he eventually decided to purchase the option for a third sigil.


    He already had an effect in mind from the sigils he had previously seen, but the two he selected just ranked higher in importance.


    He had once read that high-level spiritual creatures with dual water and wind attributes, use the mist they produce to create illusions and disorient opponents.


    Obviously, such a powerful effect as creating illusions would not be possible for a mere 2-star weapon. However, he did see a sigil earlier that would allow him to manipulate the shape and movement of the mist instead of it spreading out in an uncontrollable cloud around him. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now that Bea can control the symptoms she causes with infection, this sigil might have a great synergy with Bea''s ability to distort thinking and cause hallucinations to further confuse opponents.


    After all 3 sigils he wanted were selected, a 2D image of a furnace appeared.


    The spear silhouette, the name of the attribute he selected, and his desired sigils all flew into the furnace and then a chibi version of Kain with a blacksmith''s hammer appeared next to the furnace to begin working on the spear.


    "Are the animations really necessary? Can''t you just materialize my spear instantly?"


    *What would be the fun in doing so?*


    "And this is fun?" Kain almost felt sorry for the System. It was so bored that chibi blacksmiths were its idea of entertainment? "Whatever. Do what you want."


    A minute later, Kain received a notification that his weapon was ready and he wanted to shout from excitement as it appeared in front of him.

 Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Weapon Test Ride

    When they arrived at Starfire City''s train station an hours and a half later, Kain was a lot more confident with a dependable weapon by his side.


    If anything, he was in a rush to go into the wild and give its effects a test run.


    However, before he could do so he had to let the train staff know that he and Bridge would not be returning.


    They wouldn''t be able to receive even a partial refund, but he still had to let the staff know for safety''s sake.


    The train is large and fast enough that 99% of spiritual creatures would be obliterated if they stood in its way. However, the remaining 1% are the absolute pinnacle in strength. Monsters that can cause natural disasters with their skills.


    Although unlikely for the train to be attacked by such a creature, it has happened in the past.


    In the slim chance that the train would be attacked on the way to Brightstar City, he would not want to be responsible for any staff or rescuing beast-tamers to get hurt or delayed from helping others because they were looking for him on the train, not knowing that he had already disembarked.


    Therefore, it was standard practice to inform train staff of your whereabouts if you will not be where they expect in the event of an emergency.


    Before setting off they would need to pack various supplies. They hadn''t planned for a trip into the wilderness when they had left for the entrance exam.


    After receiving directions to a nearby shopping center, they purchased the necessary supplies. Thankfully, Bridge still had the space ring, to carry all of their supplies and weapons.


    When they were about to leave, Kain spotted beautifully designed bracelets in the window. He imagined the grievances of his younger siblings after missing out on time with him and Bridge before they left for college.


    He called over Bridge and they began to pick out bracelets they felt would match their younger siblings.


    They had also picked out bracelets they liked for themselves. There was also an option to customize the bracelets, so they decided to add their new names. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After contemplating for a while, they also decided to add blank nameplates to their siblings'' bracelets that they could engrave with their names, and potentially a shared last name, if they choose.


    The bracelets would take a few days to finish, so they paid half of the bill in advance and would pay the rest when they came back from the wilderness.


    After buying all the necessary supplies, He and Bridge headed towards the eastern gate of the city, the direction the train had come from.


    The plan was to follow the train tracks back towards the direction of Dark Moon City until he hopefully felt something again.


    "I felt the pull nearly two hours ago. So based on the speed of the train��that position was around 130 to 150 miles from the city." Kain gulped, even with the improved constitution of a beast tamer, walking that far would take at least three days.


    Fortunately, based on the massive size of the Empire, far larger than even the largest continents back on Earth, it was common for individuals to rent spiritual creatures to help with travelling.


    At a certain level, most beast-tamers would have made sure to have at least one suitable mount. However, not everyone had the opportunity to do so, whether due to their talent limiting their number of contracts, or their affinity not being suitable to form a contract with a mount.


    The two headed to what looked like stables near the gate and managed to rent two Black-iron, white-grade mounts; Night Mares. They were a pitch-black horse species without much, if any, combat power. However, their pitch-black coats allowed them to blend seamlessly into the darkness of night.


    Additionally, although not the fastest species, they were well-known for their endurance and ability to carry heavy loads. They were the chosen carriers for merchants carrying cargo on long-distance trips.


    With a mount, they may be able to reach the designated area within two days, or by tomorrow night if they didn''t rest at night or run into any attacks.


    They took out their armours and weapons from Bridge''s space ring in order to respond to any sudden attacks.


    When they were fully prepared, they then mounted their rides and set off.


    Bridge kept glancing at Kain''s spear from the corner of his eye. He could tell that it was of extremely high quality but he couldn''t figure out when Kain had bought it. He had left Dark Moon weaponless, and then when they arrived at the southern region he had given him that spear to store.


    "Did you buy that spear from a merchant on the train? It looks really high quality"


    Kain just nodded awkwardly, he couldn''t come up with a better story.


    Thankfully, Bridge just accepted his words and didn''t question him further.


    Majority of the journey was uneventful. Which was unfortunate for Kain since he was hoping to complete some of the hunting missions on the way.


    They had only received a single attack from a red-grade spiritual creature, a lightning-attribute bird-type Shawk, which Kain was able to easily dispatch with a quick thrust of his spear to its head when it swooped towards him. He hadn''t even needed to test any of the spear''s effects.


    Around the 7th hour into their trip he saw several prints and guessed that a group of spiritual creatures may be nearby.


    Wanting to test the spear''s effects he told Bridge to wait there and followed the prints to a clearing where a group of 7 red foxes were playing around. He could feel the rise in temperature even from where he stood. Ignifoxes. A bronze-quality species. Given that they were all adults they should all have red-grade spiritual power.


    If Kain eliminated this entire group he should be able to almost complete the mission of hunting 10 red-grade creatures.


    Slowly creeping towards the clearing, he inputted his spiritual power into the spear causing a dense cloud to form, which he directed towards the playing foxes.


    Immediately, the foxes stopped their antics and began to group together vigilantly.


    Bea was already in the cloud and had quickly managed to infiltrate the group when they breathed in the mist.


    ''Yes! It works.''


    Then Kain began to experiment with something else he had wanted to try. He told Bea to focus on interfering with the foxes'' senses and causing hallucinations.


    While she did so, Kain tried his best to manipulate the mist into denser shapes in some spots, trying to make them think that there was the location of the attacker. It just looked like a denser blob of mist.


    ''It''s harder than I thought to create shapes''


    Kain wanted to continue experimenting, but the foxes all died within a minute.


    *Ding. Host has killed 7 red-grade spiritual beasts*


    ''That was over way to fast. I should also probably train Bea''s restraint. Otherwise, she may end up killing one of my classmates accidentally in the future.''


    Since the Mission Board has opened, he noticed that he no longer instantly received the GP. Instead, it seems as though if there was a relevant mission available, then the GP will be given once the mission is completed. However, Kain did not mind the delay since he would ultimately receive more GP from the mission.


    It would only be a problem if it was a mission that took an extremely long time to complete. Then it could be months or years before he saw any GP.


    After removing the valuable materials from the foxes, he returned to Bridge and they continued on their journey.

 Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Vespirae

    They continued travelling until it was dark without running into any more spiritual creatures worth hunting.


    Likely sensing their strength, those at the white-grade avoided them. However, Kain wasn''t too interested in them anyways.


    After advancing the spiritual power they could provide Bea was practically non-existent.


    Also, after both he and Bea advanced, the System no longer granted GP for hunting white-grade creatures, no longer considering them to be a challenge for Kain.


    They chose to set up camp in a clearing. Despite sleeping in a tent rather than in the open in a tree like usual, Kain actually felt more exposed. Likely because he didn''t have Bea-filled water beneath him acting as a moat of protection.


    However, one benefit to travelling with others, especially when they have a normal contracted partner was that shifts can be taken to stand watch. Moreover, since Lady was resting the whole day in Bridge''s star space, she could actually stand watch the entire night while both Bridge and Kain rested.


    They both set up their tents and then started a fire to heat up some canned food.


    "After I take the cooking class I will just pack spices and then make delicious barbecue every night." Bridge said.


    "I can''t wait."


    Bridge then looked over at Lady and Princess who were also having their dinner.


    "Doesn''t your contract need to eat?" After all, all spiritual beasts need a source of energy. Even an undead contract would still need to be ''fed.''


    "My contract already ate earlier."


    Bridge looked confused. He was with Kain for almost the entire day. When would he have had a chance to feed his contract?


    "The foxes earlier" Kain clarified. "My contract only eats brains. Preferably fresh."


    Kain was already desensitized to Bea''s gruesome diet, but Bridge immediately looked as though he had lost his appetite and put the canned food down in disgust.


    Kain just shrugged and finished off both of their cans, he hated to waste food after all.


    "Do you think your second contract will be like your first?"


    "Well, they must have something in common since they match my affinity. However, I really have no idea what kind of creature I sensed on the train. If it''s too weak I may not even form a contract with it."


    Although suitable contractees were rare, the contract was also irreversible. Therefore he couldn''t afford to waste a precious spot on something with not much potential.


    Bridge nodded in understanding. "Hopefully, this trip is worth it. But even if it isn''t suitable don''t feel pressured to form a contract. I''ll help you find another one if you get another lead"


    On that touching note, they headed to their respective tents to sleep away the rest of the night.


    Kain wasn''t sure if he was tired, but he thought he heard a faint buzzing before drifting off to sleep.


    ----------------------------


    The night was as uneventful as the day. They set off again as soon as the sun rose to continue their journey.


    Gradually they entered an area full of plant spiritual creatures. Species of plants that can condense a consciousness and absorb spiritual power, the green-haired senior''s dandelion-looking contract, are pretty rare.


    In this grove was an entire field full of them. However, Kain could sense that none of them were particularly strong or of high quality, only at the white-grade after appearing fully grown. Likely, they were all of only Black-iron quality.


    However, while weak, any plant-type spiritual creature is incredibly valuable, often a key material needed by Pharmacists, Planners and Cooks.


    This field was practically a Gold-mine.


    ''I''m surprised that this field hasn''t been picked clean yet'' Kain dismounted and walked into the clearing to pick a flower.


    Bam! Sear?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain was pulled back by a tremendous force before a giant stinger slammed through the air where his head just and into the ground.


    "Holy shit!!!" Kain hadn''t had such a close brush with death since the White Widow mother chased him in anger.


    He looked to the source of the stinger and saw a giant wasp half his size, already beginning to sprout a new sharp tip.


    Grrr


    Bridge immediately released Lady, and she took an aggressive stance at the threat.


    It was a Vespirae, a silver-quality insect with wind-attributes. They typically exist in large colonies protecting a queen.


    They are known for their fast-flying speed and the ability to launch sharp stingers from their tails at targets.


    They are also one of the few Wasp species capable of producing honey.


    They are very rare but if one could find the queen, they would be a very in-demand bond due to the ability to control multiple creatures with one contract. Additionally, they could provide their contractor with a valuable resource since they are able to extract the unique properties of flowers they collect nectar from to produce honey with varying effects.


    However, they are not a popular contract for those with a higher level of talent for two reasons. The majority of the wasps the queen produces are males that are responsible for tending to the queen and collecting nectar to produce honey but have no actual combat power. Usually, only 1 female guard wasp and 5 male worker wasps are produced at each grade.


    Meaning that a red-grade Wasp queen should have only 2 females guarding her, and 10 males.


    Therefore, the numerical advantage is not that significant. While their individual combat power is on the higher end at their strength level, they have several weaknesses such as to poison, ice, and fire. Therefore, a powerful enough contract with restraining attributes would be able to eliminate 2 guards at the same level alone.


    The second drawback is that there is only one recorded instance of a Vespirae evolving, and it was centuries ago. Therefore, it''s generally regarded as not having an evolutionary form since the evolutionary conditions are completely unknown.


    Therefore, usually, only those with not much talent or hope for exceeding orange-grade spiritual power in their lives would consider contracting them in the hopes of still living a rich life off of the honey they produce.


    Kain began to input his spiritual power into the spear to cause a fog that obscured its vision.


    Now all he had to do was wait��Bea should be able to take care of the rest.

 Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Celestiviolets

    However, after a full minute, when Bea''s prey would usually already be dead, the Vespirae was only slightly sluggish.


    ''What''s going on?'' Kain could sense that it was still in the red-grade so a higher level that Bea should not be the issue.


    The only feedback Kain received from Bea was that something appeared to be fighting her.


    This had never happened before. Usually, once Bea successfully enters the body, the infected are completely helpless.


    This was the first time Bea was being restrained by a creature at the same level.


    "Change of plans, Bridge. My contract is having trouble dealing with it. I''ll use the mist to obscure its vision so that Lady can deal a finishing blow."


    Bridge nodded. After all, with the mist''s assistance there was not much risk to Lady, and they needed to deal with this wasp.


    Lady slowly approached, while Kain concentrated the mist around the wasp and directed Bea to expend all of her remaining spiritual power on impeding its senses.


    Snap


    "Move back quickly!" Bridge yelled.


    At the last moment, the wasp dodged Lady''s attack, causing her to snap at the air, before turning around to stab at her.


    Kain quickly concentrated the mist in front of Lady so even if the stinger was launched it''d hopefully miss.


    "Bea I said to focus on impeding its movements!" Kain screamed in frustration. However, it seemed as though with each passing moment Bea was losing energy while the wasp was recovering.


    Desperate, Kain crudely channelled all of his spiritual power into Bea hoping to boost her abilities.


    "Bridge! Send Lady again now!" Kain yelled at Bridge, not confident that Lady would listen to a command from him.


    Crack


    For a moment the remaining sum of both Kain and Bea''s spiritual power was able to restrain its movements, allowing Lady to land a crushing blow to its head with her claws.


    Kain didn''t receive a notification for the kill and the number of hunted red-grade spiritual creatures for his mission also did not increase. Therefore, Kain realized that he or his spiritual creature must be the one to deal the final blow to earn GP


    The moment that it died Bea said that whatever was fighting her split also slowly lost its strength and disappeared.


    Kain slowly walked to its corpse, remaining on the lookout for any other sudden attacks, while Bridge and Lady also stood guard from a distance. Kain grabbed the corpse and quickly left the clearing with Bridge to their mounts a short distance away.


    He had completely exhausted his spiritual power and didn''t want to risk another attack.


    When they rode a safe distance away, he stopped to examine the body. sea??h th�� N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even before Bea advanced, she had no trouble restraining red-grade spiritual creatures, now they rarely survive more than 20-30 seconds.


    He needed to figure out why this Vespirae was so resistant to Bea.


    He thoroughly examined its body and even directed Bea into its brain, now that it was dead she had no issue exploring.


    However, she didn''t note anything different from usual. Whatever was resisting her had already faded.


    Maybe she could have found it while it was still alive, but once it was dead the trail went cold.


    Kain was reluctant to leave a field of spiritual plants alone. Especially, since he was going to enter college not only as a beast tamer but also as a Planner, they may have unexpected uses.


    However, while he was unable to figure out an effective method to dealing with the Vespirae he didn''t want to put himself and Bridge in danger.


    There was one more reason why he wanted to risk going into the field again, and it wasn''t only due to his greed. Looking at Bridge, it was also obvious that he had the same thoughts as Kain.


    "My grades aren''t as good as yours so I can''t be sure, but towards the middle of the field did you see��"


    "Yup." Kain confirmed.


    Legacies are more likely to awaken an affinity not only due to their genetics but also due to their status and connections that allow access to the extremely rare few existing materials capable of boosting their children''s chance of awakening.


    Although even the most effective of these spiritual plants may only result in a 10% greater likelihood of awakening an affinity, it was still that slight likelihood that people pay millions of celestial dollars for.


    As orphans who were always skeptical of their chances of awakening, they, and likely the others in the orphanage, had long memorized the few things capable of increasing the chances of awakening.


    Celestiviolets are the lowest quality and most common of plants with such an effect, although still rare. However, it''s because they used to be more common that they were given the honour of being named after the empire. Much of the progress in the early years of the empire was based on this low-grade flower and its ability to slightly increase the chances of awakening.


    Although excessive removal of it has caused it now become extremely rare.


    If an individual has an affinity, it increases their sensitivity during the Affinity Ceremony to the pull, causing a modest increase in their chances of sensing their affinity egg, even if the pull is nearly undetectable.


    It has also been reported in rare cases to cause a slightly higher chance of awakening an affinity related to plants, which are usually at least C-rated. It is a decent affinity to have, especially when the majority of those who do awaken will only have a grade of D or lower.


    The patch at the center of the clearing had 6 of these precious and rare flowers. Both Bridge and Kain wanted to obtain them for their younger siblings to use.


    Although not enough for all 9 children of the orphanage, the youngest 3 had at least another 10 years before the ceremony, by that time Kain and Bridge should have the connections to buy more. Especially since they are attending a top 5 college.


    Their shared sense of responsibility as older siblings would not allow them to give up such a golden opportunity.


    The chances of any other members of the orphanage having an affinity are very low, and they only have each other to rely on and look out for their best interests.


    If he could increase the number of beast-tamers coming out of the orphanage, then the entire orphanage, both current and future members, would benefit.

 Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Crisis

    After confirming the identity of the flower at the center of the field, Bridge was also on board to go back to the field.


    However, they could not enter the field carelessly. They needed to come up with a plan.


    The fact that the field is still intact and those flowers are still there led Kain to correctly guess that all other adventurers had probably died and become compost for the flower garden.


    The fact that multiple beast tamers died in that area may play a role in why exactly there were so many spiritual plants growing there.


    While those strong enough to easily kill the Vespirae were also probably not interested in a bunch of black-iron quality spiritual plants. Even the Celestiviolets, since they''d probably have the means to purchase better ones.


    Most likely more Vespirae were guarding the field, and using those flowers to produce honey.


    To effectively come up with a plan of action, they first needed to figure out how many enemies they were dealing with.


    They had already killed one female guard wasp, and considering that the guards are usually the same level in strength as the queen, a red-grade queen should only have one more guarding her.


    If they were to try and enter the field, it may not even try to attack them in fear of leaving the queen without protection.


    Therefore, they decided to enter the field again once they had restored their spiritual power to see if the last guard would be lured out once they had restored their spiritual power.


    However, unlike Bridge, Lady and himself who could passively restore their spiritual power, Bea would need some help to absorb spiritual power. Thankfully, the process of refilling spiritual power is not as aggressive as condensing additional spiritual power.


    Therefore, Kain allowed Bea to infect him while ordering her to not get greedy. ''Just passively absorb the spiritual power in my body without doing any damage''


    Then Kain went into the Planetarium to speed up the rate of his recovery.


    Unfortunately, by the time everyone had their spiritual power recovered, it was already getting dark. They didn''t feel confident about being able to fight it with limited vision.


    Therefore, they all decided to go to sleep after a quick meal. However, due to the intense battle during the day, this time Princess stood guard while Lady rested in the star space.


    The next day, after everyone woke up and ate, they left the Night Mares tied up at their campsite while they crept towards the field of flowers again.


    They didn''t see anything in the field. However, yesterday they also didn''t see the Vespirae before it attacked. Clearly with its wind attribute it could fly towards them from a point beyond their vision extremely quickly. Instead, they planned to obscure the vision of anything that may be looking at the field.


    Kain produced a thick cloud over the clearing before he, Bridge and Lady slowly crept toward the location of the Celestiviolets.


    Phew


    They all breathed a sigh of relief at reaching the flowers without any sign of an attacker.


    Slowly, Kain knelt down to begin digging out the flowers from the root while Bridge removed a preservation box from the storage space. This was a must-have item for anyone going into the wilderness.


    After all, even if you weren''t looking for a spiritual plant, anyone would kick themselves if they were unprepared in the event that they did run into a rare spiritual plant.


    The preservation container would ensure that the flowers remained fresh and didn''t lose any of their beneficial properties with time. After all, most space rings did not have a preservation ability, those that did would be an astronomical price.


    The flowers could stay in there for over a decade and look as though they were just picked. That way they didn''t need to worry about keeping them fresh for their siblings when the next one''s affinity ceremony won''t be for at least 3 more years.


    After digging up all 6 flowers, Kain glanced at the rest of the flowers tempted to dig up more. However, he ultimately decided to not push his luck and to quickly leave before their presence was noticed. S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Taking care to be as quiet as possible, they slowly crept out of the field. Right when they were about to exit��


    Bzzzzz


    Whimper


    "Lady!"


    Suddenly, a stinger came through the mist and stabbed into Lady''s hind leg.


    Kain immediately covered Bridge''s mouth before dragging him from his initial position.


    Just in time too, because another stinger came flying from a different direction than the other stinger flew from.


    ''There''s more than one! How is that possible? Are there 2 queens?''


    Kain quickly chose to exhaust half of his remaining spiritual power to make the mist around them more dense. They were just about to leave the field and in a moment of laxness at feeling as though they had gotten away with their heist, he had let his control of the mist slip for a moment. That short moment of laxness was probably when they spotted Lady who was in the lead. It was his fault.


    He leaned next to Bridge''s ear while keeping a tight hold of his mouth to avoid him making any more screams.


    "They are locating us by sound." He whispered. "Stay silent and recall Lady before another round of stingers is fired. I think there may be more than one."


    Bridge nodded with tears in his eyes. When he sensed that he had calmed down, he let go of his mouth. He also heard no more noises from Lady, so he assumed Bridge had followed his instructions.


    When the wasps had entered the mist, Bea''s splits had infected them. Unfortunately, similar to yesterday she wasn''t able to exert much of an effect. However, that''s not why he had still sent Bea.


    He planned to use the information relayed by the splits to keep track of their position in the mist and avoid another sneak attack.


    However, it was easier said than done. Bea was relaying constant changes in their position as they searched the field. They were extremely fast, and it wouldn''t be long until they located Kain and the others.

 Chapter 76: Chapter 76: The Source of the Draw

    Kain''s mind worked in overdrive trying to figure out a solution.


    Lady was too injured to attempt a similar strategy as yesterday. He also didn''t have enough spiritual power to channel to Bea and stall two, or maybe even more, attackers. Especially since he used the majority of it to increase the size and density of the mist.


    ''First things first we need to slow them down.''


    Kain once again whispered in Bridge''s ear his plan. "We may need Princess. Does she have any skill that could instantly decrease the temperature in an area remotely?"


    Bridge nodded and called out his second contract.


    ''Thank god! We may be able to get out of this without any more injuries''


    "I am going to point in the direction it currently is and whisper to you distance. Would you be able to convey the distance to Princess accurately?" After all, she was just a baby.


    Thankfully, he nodded again. Bridge had not been slacking with the education of his newest contract.


    He asked Bea to let him know when one paused for long enough to attack.


    "Stay ready" He whispered.


    A few seconds later he pointed diagonally 30 degrees to the left. "12 feet away"


    Screeeeee thump


    Kain quickly ran to the source of the scream with he spear in hand.


    Just as he had planned. The water droplets in the mist around stuck to the wings and caused them to freeze over when the temperature suddenly dropped.


    The wasp was now unable to fly and struggling on its back Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bang


    ''Ugh! But it''s still clearly not defenceless'' Kain thought after deflecting a heavy blow from the stinger it waved at him.''


    Moving swiftly, he delivered a deep blow into its abdomen, hoping that it''d be fatal, before running away. He couldn''t risk delaying for more wasps to arrive or for its wings to thaw.


    Kain crept quietly back to where Bridge was waiting and held a thumb up to show that the plan had succeeded.


    Kain wanted to try the plan again, but he sensed through Bea, that there was suddenly another guard wasp that had entered the mist, while his spiritual power was continuously being drained to maintain the mist.


    "We need to move. Keep Princess ready to do the same things again if we need to while we leave while I maintain our coverage.


    They slowly crept towards the tall line of trees while Kain used Bea to monitor the location of the wasps.


    Thankfully they seemed distracted by their fallen comrade and they were able to leave safely. Once under full coverage, they burst into a full sprint for several minutes until they returned to where their mounts were tied to a tree branch.


    "Haaa��Haa��How''s Lady?"


    "She''s okay, it was just a graze. We were both just shocked by the sudden attack" Bridge calmed down when Lady informed him that the injury wasn''t serious.


    "I don''t understand what''s going on. For a red-grade queen, there should be at most 2 guards. The rest should be harmless workers."


    However, there were at least three in the mist just now, plus the one they defeated previously, totalling 4 guards, exactly double what there should be. Also, strangely despite all of the time they''ve spent around those flowers, they haven''t seen a single worker bee. Just what is up with this queen?


    "Well, it''s not our concern anymore, we got what we came for so we can just continue looking for your second contract once lady heals up."


    True. Although Kain was incredibly curious about this situation that seemed to contradict everything he had learned about the species in textbooks.


    They decided to move further away from the field of flowers before stopping to rest for the night.


    However, Kain wasn''t sure if it was some kind of post-traumatic stress response, but he kept feeling like he could hear the buzzing of wasp wings before he went to sleep.


    The next morning, Kain decided to finally activate the 24-hour radar he had previously exchanged for.


    Instantly in the bottom corner of his vision a circular display appeared with a black background, and 3 concentric rings like a bullseye target, each ring Kain assumed was indicating the distance of 1 mile. At the very center of the bullseye was a blinking white dot, Kain''s location. Every few seconds sweeping lines would pulse outwards to scan the area.


    ''Figures there was a catch. It can only detect up to 3 miles? That''s practically nothing in this huge forest''


    As Kain expected, the range was too short for his potential contract to show up on the map. He and Bridge on horseback rounded the field of flowers and began to move in a zigzag maneuver to cover more area.


    ''I''m certain that we are almost at the distance the train was at when I felt the pull.''


    Kain thought correctly, although he could not see any changes to the map, he began to feel the faint pull again. He turned to Bridge in excitement to let him know and they set off in that direction stopping every second to make fine adjustments in the direction they were headed.


    Eventually, the pull led them to another clearing full of flowers.


    This field was much larger than the previous one. The quality of the spiritual plants was also of a higher grade. While most were still of Black-Iron quality, Kain could sense red-grade spiritual power from at least 3 fully-grown plants, meaning that they were of Bronze-quality.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t get a closer look at them from beyond the field to identify them.


    Also, learning from his previous mistakes he didn''t dare to carelessly enter the field, afraid that there would be another ambush.


    Bzzzzzz


    His hunch was correct. The next moment, 4 Vespirae guards flew from the center of the field towards the field of flowers and extended a long, slender straw-like structure into the flowers to suck up nectar.


    ''What the hell is going on? Why are there so many guards? And where are the male worker Vespirae, isn''t this their job?


    And beyond the group of Vespirae, in the center of the field beyond his vision, was the source of the pull from his contract.


    *Beep* At this moment a new red dot appeared at the edge of the radar.

 Chapter 77: Chapter 77: The Source of the Draw (2)

    Kain and Bridge slowly backed away to discuss a plan.


    "The pull is coming from within that field"


    "You''re sure, maybe it''s just on the other side of the field and we have to circle around?" Bridge asked nervously.


    ''I wish. I would have hoped for that too if the radar hadn''t also clarified the position


    "I''m certain that it''s coming from the center of the field.


    Sigh


    Both of them couldn''t help but release a sigh of distress.


    "Could you maybe try a similar strategy to last time? Cover the whole field in mist?"


    "My mist can''t cover the whole field at a density thick enough to fully cover our figures, but I don''t think we have a choice. I can maybe make it dense enough to cover all of us, and Princess can drop the temperature in the areas I direct to freeze their wings like last time. We''ll have to be fast though; I don''t think all of our spiritual powers could sustain this plan for long.


    Is Lady fully healed?"


    Bridge hesitated, "She''s not fully healed, but she feels good enough to battle again"


    Thankfully spiritual power allows for an increased speed of healing. Otherwise, it''d probably take a week before she was battle-ready again.


    "Okay, we''ve got our plan. I will focus on using the coverage from the fog to cover our figures while Princess incapacitates them and Lady goes in for the kill. What is their night vision like?"


    Wasps usually go to sleep at night and don''t have the best night vision. Therefore, they''d have an additional advantage if they could implement their plan during the nighttime.


    The dual coverage of the night and mist should be sufficient to fully cover them. sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, Kain and Bridge''s own visions will also be impeded and if there was just one enemy, he wouldn''t want to take this risk. But up against at least 4 they really need every advantage.


    "The north, where Princess is originally from, often stays dark for several months on end so her vision at night isn''t much different from during the day. Lady''s night vision also isn''t bad."


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Okay. We move at night."


    They hunkered behind the bushes at the periphery of the clearing to keep track of the wasps'' movements and to hopefully get a better idea of their numbers.


    Occasionally, 1 or 2 would head off into the distance, likely to the other flower patch.


    However, at least 4 always remained guarding and collecting nectar in this field.


    Kain still had no idea how the queen was able to go against common sense to produce so many guard wasps. With the 2 killed before, plus the 6 he counted today, that''s at least 8.


    They ate dinner to ensure their bodies were at optimal condition. However, they didn''t set a fire to heat up the cans, to avoid risking detection by the wasps, instead suffering through eating the cold and congealed soup.


    When night finally fell, they heard a brief period of buzzing periodically, as all of the wasps that had left the area during the day to other flower patches, rushed home. Kain finally realized why he''d heard buzzing right before bedtime the last couple of nights.


    When it was finally all quiet they chose to wait another hour to be extra sure before slowly leaving the coverage of the bushes and creeping towards clearing.


    At the same time, Kain also caused a thick mist to surround them.


    They slowly began to creep towards the center of the clearing.


    "Oomf!"


    Something grabbed Kain''s ankle and tripped him to the ground. He turned to see a root extending from one of the few red-grade spiritual plants in the clearing. Clearly, the plants developed some offensive capabilities by this level, unlike the white-grade plants around them. Red-grade plants also would no longer die once uprooted and could have limited mobility.


    Kain used the spear to cut himself free and quickly distanced himself from the plant.


    Thankfully, the sleeping wasps didn''t appear to have woken up due to the small commotion.


    They continued with their journey, this time taking care to avoid the areas where he sensed red-grade plants during the day.


    They were only around a mile out from the center of the clearing, and the radar showed that they were almost upon the prospective contract. Kain was filled with anticipation, hoping that it''d be a big enough boost to his offensive abilities to allow him to keep his top ranking once school started.


    However, even a mile out they were able to faintly see the giant figure in the distance. As they got closer, its identity became clear��the wasps'' nest.


    Under the dim moonlight, the massive nest loomed over them, casting an eerie shadow across what should have been a dreamy scene of a beautiful garden at night.


    The nest, roughly the size of a two-story house, resembled a monstrous, warped honeycomb, with layers of grayish, paper material clinging together in a chaotic, irregular pattern.


    Its surface was rough and uneven, with gaping holes the size of an adult human and bulging, irregular ridges.


    Kain wasn''t sure if it was a trick on his mind from the horrific appearance and creepy atmosphere, but the whole nest seemed to be pulsing rhythmically like the steady beating of a heart.


    However, Kain knew that the true threat was hidden from view inside.


    He looked back and forth between the radar and the nest.


    ''Please��Please tell me that I don''t need to go in there''


    However, as they got closer to the nest, and its location coincided with the red dot on the radar, Kain got his answer.


    "We''ll stick to the plan," he whispered, "the only change is that we need to go in there and that I will be the one to deal the final blow if they are asleep."


    Kain figured that the spear would be more quiet than Lady crushing their exoskeleton.


    Bridge, looked horrified at the prospect of him going in there but didn''t fight him on it.


    "Hopefully, they stay asleep, and then Princess can just simply freeze any resting guards we see on the way."


    They cautiously approached the nest before climbing through one of the lowest holes.

 Chapter 78: Chapter 78: The Source of the Draw (3)

    Inside the wasp''s nest was no less creepy. Winding passages twisted and turned in a disorienting maze. The narrow corridors were dim and oppressive, increasing Kain''s feelings of claustrophobia. The eerie silence was occasionally broken by the faint, rhythmic rustling of sleeping wasps.


    Close to the entrance they just came through was a chamber containing 2 guard wasps squirming in their sleep.


    Following the plan, Princess froze their wings to prevent them from suddenly moving after waking.


    Then Kain stabbed his spear into their heads.


    *Ding. Host has killed 2 red-grade spiritual beasts*


    Now he was only one red-grade kill away from completing the mission.


    They exited the chamber as quietly as they had entered, killing another one along the way.


    *Ding. Host has killed 1 red-grade spiritual beast. Rewarding 60 GP. Mission to hunt 10 red-grade spiritual creatures is re-issued*


    Thankfully, the hunting mission was just refreshed once completed so he could continue to benefit from the higher GP of the missions.


    Everything so far had been going according to plan. He wasn''t sure how many guards there were in total, but they have killed 5 in total between yesterday and today. It takes time for the queen to hatch more, so Kain didn''t think there could be too many more.


    Following the lead of the pull from his affinity and the radar, they entered a vast chamber at the center of the nest. The floor was slightly sticky with patches of dark, glistening honey.


    Amid the honey, a single wasp egg was nestled in a corner. Through the egg''s translucent surface they could see a wriggling larva inside, twisting and squirming as it developed.


    In the center of the chamber was a surprisingly refined throne emanating a regal aura. It was elevated high above on a platform composed of steps of carefully arranged honeycombs. It had elegant and delicate curves and was decorated with the most beautiful of the flowers collected by the wasps. Many of which were red-grade spiritual plants.


    The only reason those 3 red-grade spiritual plants outside probably avoided being brought back to decorate the chair was because they had more aggressive tendencies and the overprotective guards didn''t want to risk them attacking the queen.


    "Mmm��" Princess moaned in pleasure after licking the honey on the floor. Completely breaking up the solemn atmosphere.


    Kain was sure that his contract was on that throne. However, the wasp queen shouldn''t meet the criteria for his affinity.


    Confused, he climbed the steps to the platform and looked at the figure perched on the throne.


    In striking contrast to the guard wasps and eerie atmosphere, the queen had a harmless appearance. Despite the commanding aura emanating from her, she was surprisingly small and delicate. Resembling a bumble bee more than a wasp, she had a chubby mostly yellow body, with tiny wings that glowed faintly in the darkness. S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mismatched size of her wings to her body, gave a surprisingly cute and harmless look.


    As Kain examined her, her large eyes also looked curiously up at him. Thankfully, she didn''t feel threatened and immediately call for her guards. He cut his hand to initiate the contract and slowly held it out towards her. He didn''t dare try and forcefully cut her.


    She examined his hand before a tiny straw-like protrusion extended into the wound.


    "Ugh!" It didn''t hurt. But it was definitely uncomfortable feeling something sipping the blood from his body.


    He waited a moment without feeling the beginnings of a contract being established. He was about to try something else when the abdomen of the wasp queen began to emit a faint red glow, had it not been dark, the glow would have been faint enough to miss in the daytime. The glow steadily moved from the abdomen to the head, and then to the wound in his hand.


    He didn''t even need to direct the entering spiritual power as it rushed toward his second star. The moment the contract was established, the queen looked as though something had been lost and began to die at a visible rate.


    Screeeee


    Kain could also hear the sound of the wasp guards waking in alarm as they sensed their queen''s imminent death.


    However, the first wasps to enter the chamber no longer appeared threatening. Their legs were shaking as though they too would drop dead at any moment.


    Not understanding the cause, Kain quickly sensed the location of his second contract and released it from his body, back into the queen.


    Through the queen, he could sense a fainter connection being established with the wasp colony. A connection that likely already existed but was unintentionally broken by Kain''s contract.


    Figuring that Kain was the cause of their queen''s sudden weakness, they moved to attack the intruders.


    However, just as several stingers were about to be ejected in his direction, the queen sent out a barely audible sound.


    All attacks halted. Kain''s group and the wasps appeared to be at a stand-off staring each other down.


    However, with each passing moment, he could feel the connection between the queen and himself strengthening. Now he could even faintly detect the presence of the wasps in the nest. It felt like a gentle tugging at the edges of Kain''s consciousness.


    His connection with the queen was much stronger, it was at a level second only to Bea and his new contract.


    This sensation of secondary, and even tertiary contract was a completely new sensation to Kain, and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all of the faint thoughts and emotions coming to his mind by all of the wasps.


    He chose to recall his new contract to his second star, this time the queen and her remaining 7 guards, plus the egg were also drawn into the space.


    Gradually, he could see the star space gradually taking on the appearance of a wasp''s nest. However, this time much less crudely designed and less grotesque in appearance.


    Kain and Bridge look around at the now empty hive.


    ''Jackpot!'' They both thought.

 Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Harvest

    "How many preservation containers are there in your storage space?"


    "Only 10��one of which already contains the Celestiviolets."


    Neither of them could have imagined that they''d run into so many spiritual plants.


    The number of containers was not nearly enough to collect every single plant in the field.


    They needed to be selective with what they chose to bring back.


    Thankfully, the majority of the plants with the most beneficial effects, such as calming the mind, increasing the ease of absorbance for spiritual power and more, had already been sorted by the guards and inserted into the queen''s throne.


    Stripping the throne of the black-iron grade spiritual plants, they were put into a preservation box.


    The red-grade plants were an issue though. After all, they were technically still spiritual creatures, and wouldn''t die when uprooted like the white-grade ones. Therefore, they could not be put into the storage space which could only contain dead things.


    Instead they removed several large satchels from the space and began to carefully place them in." Thankfully, they had the Night Mares to help them bring them back to the city. After cleaning out the throne, they had filled 3 preservation boxes and 4 satchels with spiritual plants.


    They then looked at Princess and Lady having a field day licking the walls, the honey here was also incredibly valuable.


    Kain released the queen and asked her to direct him to where the majority of the honey was stored. They followed behind her chubby body as it clumsy flew forward supported by tiny wings.


    Quickly they reached a chamber composed of honeycomb and had a glistening thick liquid spilling down its walls. The honey appeared to be separated into distinct categories, likely dependent on the effects of the flowers they used to make it.


    Kain then released the rest of the guards, now a lot more docile around him, and ordered them to begin collecting the honey honeycombs so that they could be taken into Bridge''s space ring. Hopefully, his ring could hold it all.


    However, the queen then mentioned that all of this honey could instead be brought to the new hive in his star space. Taking this as a much better option, Kain gave them permission to do so.


    While they went about deconstructing the honeycomb walls of their old home, he and Bridge went outside.


    They had 6 preservation boxes left, but the enormous field would likely require at least 20. Therefore, he and Bridge could only select the most valuable ones. They located more Celestiviolets which were put in the same container as the others. Now there were 19 in total, more than enough for all of their siblings. Each of them could even afford to take more than one.


    They then began to rank the flowers in order of importance.


    They disregarded all of the poisonous ones. Any white-grade poison would be useless at their level anyways. Instead, they focused on those that could increase the rate of spiritual power condensation, improve mental strength, heal, and slightly improve their physical constitution.


    There were also some plants that slightly improved the sensitivity of spiritual creatures to an element, if they already possessed that element, to improve the ease with which they can learn new skills and improve the proficiency over their existing skills of that attribute. There were 5 of such plants, 3 for the fire attribute, and 2 for wind.


    The 2 for wind will be split between Bridge and Kain since they both now have contracts with a wind-attribute. Although Kain''s contract is a secondary one.


    They also stuffed the 3 red-grade spiritual plants into separate satchels each to avoid them hurting one another. They were not threatening once you were aware of their presence and trimmed the roots, vines and thorns that they used to launch attacks.


    Satisfied with their collection. They filled up all of their remaining preservation containers and left behind a field with only poisonous, illumination, or other less useful effects.


    They returned back to the hive to find high stacks of honeycomb ready to be transplanted to the new hive. The guards each gripping a stack of honeycombs and Kain recalled them. Likely because it was something they had produced, there was no resistance from the space.


    Kain turned to the queen, the honeycomb that she held had a different appearance. It had more of a jelly consistency and was a deep auburn colour.


    She expressed through their secondary contract that it was royal jelly, a necessary component if she ever hoped to evolve. Although she mentioned that she is unaware of the other conditions for their species'' evolution.


    Kain nodded. He already knew that it''d be difficult to evolve the queen, but at least he now knew one of the key components. Hopefully, he''d come up with more ideas while at college.


    After collecting everything of value they headed back to their waiting Night Mares and loaded them with satchels filled with the Red-grade spiritual plants.


    It had been a very eventful night, so Kain and Bridge decided to set up camp and sleep the rest of the night away. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain had thankfully been able to complete his second contract without anyone getting hurt, but it had still been a nerve-wracking process, every moment leaving him on edge.


    However, there was one thing that Kain needed to do before going to sleep.


    He needed to use the System to figure out the true identity of his second contract.


    The queen was obviously not who he was directly contracted to, merely serving as a host for his contract. Yet, her life and the lives of all of the other wasps seem to strangely be in his contract''s hands. When his contract was removed, their appearance of quickly moving towards death was very apparent.


    Not to mention his contract was likely responsible for Bea''s lack of effectiveness on the wasps and may even be responsible for why this queen unusually only produces female guards.

 Chapter 80: Chapter 80: The New Partners

    Kain moved to the system page for his contracts'' information and looked at the new information panel.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Matronia


    Matronia is a bacteria inherited from mother to daughter in insect species. It usually inhabits the reproductive organs of its host and uses a variety of methods to ensure that the future generation is all female.


    Such methods include, but are not limited to killing all male embryos before they can hatch, male eggs from infected mothers developing as females or infertile pseudofemales, enabling females of a species to reproduce by parthenogenesis, and more. In return, it grants its host increased resistance against diseases and poisons, while also increasing the growth speed of its host.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power Grade: Red (500/1000 SP)


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria)


    Attribute: Life


    Skills:


    S-Eve''s Law: It can exert supreme authority over its host''s future descendants. From whether or not they''d be permitted to be born, to their gender. This control also extends beyond the womb to control the life or death of all progeny.


    A-Perfect Symbiosis: The infected host and all future descendants will be conferred with increased resistance to poisons and disease, while also benefitting from a faster growth speed.


    ----------------------------------


    Kain was pleasantly surprised. While it didn''t have as many skills as Bea, the skills it did have were of supreme quality.


    Looking at the information panel he could finally understand the cause of the previous things that puzzled him. The reason why there were no male wasps, was likely because his contract had turned all of them into females or pseudofemales. There were 7 wasps remaining, and Kain had killed 5, which perfectly adds up to the 12 wasps you''d expect in a red-grade Vespirae nest.


    Except instead of 10 males and 2 female guards, they were now 12 guards.


    The wasps'' resistance to Bea could also be explained. The life-attribute energy from Matronia was continuously fighting against Bea.


    Similar to Bea, Matronia also seems to need a host to absorb energy. However, thankfully Kain doesn''t have to worry about this, and similar to a normal contract, the queen bee is able to absorb spiritual power in Kain''s space that has already been perfectly tailored to her, and that spiritual power will in turn be fed back to Matronia.


    In addition to the boost in absorption the star space will provide, Matronia''s A-level skill will also increase the rate of absorption. Therefore, Matronia and the queen will likely be Kain''s first contract to enter orange-grade, they may even advance before college starts in 2 and a half weeks.


    Before turning to the additional information panels the System provides for the Vespirae queen and her daughters, he decided to first give his new contract a name. sea??h th�� Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After thinking for a while, he decided to take her name from her main skill, Eve.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Vespirae Queen (Host-Secondary Contract)


    The Vespirae queen reigns supreme over its hive and her comfort and safety is to the utmost importance of her children. The honey produced by their species can take on the effects of the flower whose nectar was used to produce it. Due to being the host for Matronia, all of her offspring are female.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power Grade: Red (500/1000 SP)


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attribute: Wind


    Skills:


    A-Royal Command: She can boost the stats of her offspring by 30% for a limited time. Duration depends on the number of children being affected and skill proficiency.


    A-Noble Breeze: She can summon a gentle gust of air to induce a calming effect to reduce the aggression and vigilance of enemies. On allies, it can heal minor mental ailments and restore mental strength.


    ----------------------------------


    The great luck continued. Although she doesn''t have much combat ability herself, the queen acts as an excellent support to her daughters in battle. Additionally, her second skill to restore mental strength was of extra importance to Kain as it would speed up his recovery after feeding Bea. Although he''d need to test the skill at a later date to see its effectiveness.


    Kain was also relieved to see that the amount of spiritual power the Queen possesses seems to be identical to Eve, meaning that he didn''t have to worry about one lagging behind the other if their growth occurs simultaneously.


    Similar to Eve, Kain felt like it wasn''t appropriate to keep calling her wasp queen. She needed a name. Not wanting to be too complicated he eventually settled on Queen and for her children he will just name them One through Twelve.


    Kain nodded satisfied with his excellent naming choices and continued to look at the information panel for the wasp guards.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: One/Two/Three��


    Species: Vespirae Guard (Tertiary Contract)


    The elite protectors of the hive that are born from their eggs as warriors. Their fierce combat prowess is supported by their incredibly fast flight speed, hard armored exoskeleton and a razor-sharp ejectable stinger. Due to no males being in the nest, these females are also uniquely responsible for the production of honey and care of the queen.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power Grade: Red (500/1000 SP)


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attribute: Wind


    Skills:


    B-Berserk: When sensing that the queen is in danger, all of their stats will double at the cost of large decrease in intelligence. This skill cannot be activated at will and is only triggered under specific conditions.


    B-Storm Eject: Ejects the stinger with a burst of wind to increase its speed and the damage dealt.


    D-Dauntless: These soldiers are fearless and immune to any fear-inducing mental attacks.


    ----------------------------------


    ''It''s okay, but there''s still room for improvement.'' Kain felt that his standard for skills had risen due to the skill levels of his primary contracts. Even Queen, his secondary contract, has two A-level skills.


    However, two B-level skills are quite decent for a red-grade spiritual beast. The top students at high-tier colleges just below the top 5, may only have their main contract be at this level.


    After getting a better understanding of all his new partners, Kain finally went to sleep with his curiosity satisfied.

 Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Family Name

    The trip back to the city progressed a lot faster. Kain sent 3 Wasp guards ahead to scout for any danger in front of them while they rode the Night Mares at a sprint back to the city.


    With reliable scouts ahead the whole trip back was not only leisurely but fruitful, with Kain receiving 6 kill notifications without him having to lift a finger. Now he was 4 kills short of receiving 60 GP.


    They returned to the city the next morning after only one night of rest and immediately went about disposing of the materials and plants collected that were of no use to them.


    Even after splitting the profits, Kain should have enough to buy a smaller space ring of his own.


    The bulk of the money came from the red-grade spiritual plants. Whether someone decides to contract them or use them as an ingredient, they were extremely valuable.


    However, out of the red-grade plants, there was one that Kain and Bridge decided not to sell. An Aurose. The large red flower had been the key decorative feature in Queen''s throne originally. The guards likely collected it due to its ability to increase the amount of spiritual power in the vicinity by a marginal amount, providing a slight boost to the speed of condensing spiritual power.


    The slight increase would be negligible to Kain due to the Planetarium. They had also learned at the college information session that the dorms and several key locations on the campus were equipped with sigils to help increase the students'' condensation of spiritual power. Therefore, Bridge didn''t really need it either.


    They planned to plant it at the orphanage, hoping to further improve the ease with which the others could cultivate.


    "Aahhhh�� The things we do for them. We''re such good big brothers" Bridge said smugly. But Kain couldn''t help but agree, full of pride that since awakening an affinity they could be of greater help.


    They also decided to keep some of the plants that can improve mental strength and constitution. Their effectiveness decreased with repeated usage, so they brought back just enough to be gifts to everyone in their family.


    Kain also prepared a little extra to gift to Mr. Evergreen to thank him for being a great teacher during the time he''d known him and also to gift their neighbours John and Sally.


    They then went to pay and collect the bracelets they had previously ordered before heading to the train station. They were finally heading home.


    On the way, he fed Bea and then asked Queen to use her skill to restore his mental strength. The duration of the 24-hour 30% decrease in mental strength penalty was already reduced to 12 hours when he used his mental-attribute armour. With the help of Queen, the penalty was further reduced to a 20% reduction in mental strength for 10 hours.


    Kain, also decided to be a little extravagant with his suddenly rich resources. He made a tea with the petals of a spiritual plant that is said to increase mental strength. He also sweetened the cup with some of the spiritual honey in his star space.


    After finishing the cup, he looked at the system. There wasn''t a further reduction in the penalty. He wasn''t sure if it was because the max reduction was already achieved or if the white-grade plant whose petals he used was too weak to have an effect on him. Still, the teat was delicious.


    If he''s struck by a sudden urge to act pretentious in the future he could consider greeting his guests with to quality spiritual tea and honey.


    Immersed in his fantasies of the life of a nouveau rich, he took a quick nap to wait our the remainder of the penalty.


    By the time they had arrived back to Brightstar city, the penalty was already more than half done.


    Not wanting to delay the time with their family any more they headed back to the orphanage. S��ar?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The moment they entered the door��


    Oommff Oomfff


    Kain and Bridge fell down dramatically at the tackles of the youngest children aged 6 to 8.


    "Aaah! Charlie, Melody, Parker, Sunny! You guys have gotten so much stronger since the short time we''ve been gone."


    They got up from the giggling pile of bodies and made their way further into the room. It was now close to dinner time so they could hear bustling noises in the kitchen. In there was Sally, so it seemed that the neighbours would be joining them. Perfect! Kain and Bridge can share their examination results along with the gifts they brought back with everyone at once.


    After everyone was seated around the long table for dinner, Kain and Bridge cut to the chase without teasing them this time.


    "You are looking at the 2 newest additions of Dark Moon College." Kain said to a room full of cheers.


    "We knew you''d both make it!" The director said.


    "Actually, we all thought that you''d failed and you were taking so long to come back in order to try another entrance exam or compose yourself and not burst into tears the minute you walked through the door," Cherry said before everyone gave awkward and embarrassed chuckles.


    Kain''s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Leave it to Cherry to ruin the atmosphere.


    "We were delayed because we were finding my second contract and also getting gifts for you all. Although now I''m not sure if we want to give them out."


    Immediately, the children burst into loud appeals to not withhold their gifts and that they only had doubts due to Cherry''s big mouth.


    "Okay. Okay. Ahem, we will now begin handing out the gifts."


    They had already paid someone in the Starfire city to package and wrap up what they wanted to gift nicely."


    "For the director, John and Sally. Here. We brought back spiritual tea leaves. The effects of the different leaves are labelled on the container"


    They all looked shocked at a gift more extravagant than expected and tried to hand it back. Tea with effects such as these would cost close to 6 figures, and they were each given at least 3 containers full of them. However, Kain and Bridge to take them back so they eventually all reluctantly accepted.


    "For the rest of you brats." Kain turned around and pulled out small beautifully wrapped boxes containing each one''s personalized bracelet. "We picked out the ones we thought would suit you best, and in the middle is a name plate you can engrave with your name like Bridge and I did." He held up his wrist to show his own engraved.


    The kids, even the older ones looked satisfied with the gift and immediately tried to put them on with sparkling eyes.


    "Why do your bracelets say Kain and Bridge NEWMAN?" Cherry asked.


    At those words, the rest also looked over to confirm and then looked at Kain and Bridge in confusion.


    "Well��" Bridge began awkwardly. "When we were registering for college, I was upset that we were the only ones without a last name. Kain suggested that we add one, and we eventually settled on Newman, after New Beginning''s orphanage."


    The director looked like he was about to burst into moved tears, while the rest also looked at the bracelets in contemplation.


    "Me too��" Charlie mumbled. "I want to share the same last name like a real family too��"


    The rest also slowly nodded and looked at the director. "Can we add last names too?"


    Finally, the tears boiled over as he hugged the youngest ones while nodding.


    The room suddenly devolved into an extra emotional atmosphere. The only exception was Milo, who was still staring down at the bracelet in contemplation.


    Unlike the rest of them who were orphaned young enough to not have much if any memories of their birth parents, Milo still remembered his birth parents, they named him and he still carries their last name��Milo Whitaker. He may not want to alter his last name.

 Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Hope

    After everyone dispersed after the meal. Kain and Bridge called the director and Milo aside to speak privately. The director then led them to his office.


    They had one last item to give the director. However, the fewer people that know about this item the better. Not that he doesn''t trust the others and their neighbours. However, they were very young, and John and Sally were also pretty simple. Therefore, any of them may accidentally let something slip.


    An item that can increase the chances of awakening would definitely cause a lot of unkind eyes to focus on their little orphanage.


    After everyone was seated Kain pulled out the preservation box containing the Celestiviolets.


    "In this container are 19 Celestiviolets. I want you to hold onto them until everyone is ready to use them. There should be enough for everyone to use two. Although the second one won''t cause much of an effect after the first one, it''s still something."


    The director accepted the container gratefully, but Milo looked as though he was going to hyperventilate.


    Unlike the majority of the orphans who don''t know their parents, and therefore hold onto the hope that they may have a chance at inheriting an affinity, Milo knew that both of his parents and grandparents were unawakened. Therefore, his chances of awakening an affinity are extremely slim.


    Therefore, he had long given up hope of becoming a beast-tamer and instead focused the majority of his energy onto his academic courses. Similar to Kain, the 14-year-old had entered high school with the highest exam ranking and hoped to maintain that ranking until college when he could hopefully enter a decent academic major.


    However, instead of being thrilled by the presence of the Celestiviolets, he looked scared. They had ignited something very dangerous in him��hope. And he did not want to futilely get his hopes up only to be crushed at the ceremony in 4 years.


    Aware of Milo''s worries, Kain knelt next to him while signalling with his eyes for the others to leave the room.


    Milo had always admired Kain the most due to his stellar grades. This admiration only grew when he found out that he had also been admitted into the competitive Planner Major with a perfect score. Therefore, Kain knew that he''d listen the most to what he had to say now.


    "Milo, I know you must be filled with uncertainty and fear right now. It''s completely natural to be overwhelmed when faced with an opportunity for something you''d always thought was impossible, it''s as if the very ground beneath you has shifted.


    "But remember, this chance isn''t something to be apprehensive of, and hope isn''t some huge enemy. This is an opportunity to step into a new chapter, one where you get to explore a side of yourself you''ve only dreamed of. And while it''s true that you may not awaken, what is certain is your courage and worth.


    "It''s okay to be afraid. It''s okay to have doubts. What matters is that you have the courage to embrace something new and take a leap of faith. Whether or not you awaken an affinity, what you already possess��your character, your spirit, your ability to face the unknown��is truly extraordinary.


    "Whatever happens, remember that you''re not alone in this. You have people who care deeply about you, who believe in you no matter what. So you can take this opportunity not just with hope, but with pride in who you are now.


    "You''ve got this, Milo Whitaker. And whatever the outcome in four years, you''re already an outstanding person." S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain then pulled him into a hug, and felt his shoulder gradually get soaked.


    "��taker��man��" Came a faint voice.


    "What?" Kain wasn''t able to hear him clearly.


    "My name is Milo Whitaker-Newman." He said clearly, after lifting his tear-streaked face from Kain''s shoulder. His face now filled with a lot more confidence.


    Kain''s face immediately broke out into a huge grin, and pulled him back in for another hug.


    ----


    The next morning, Kain went downstairs to see Milo in the backyard next to the Aurose. Usually, by his age students have already fully, or almost fully saturated their spiritual spaces with spiritual power. That is, unless their talent is extremely poor. The remaining time until the affinity ceremony is usually spend on trying to condense all of that free spiritual power into a star.


    It''s a difficult process that is difficult to guide others through, therefore a lot of trial and error is needed for the first star especially.


    Milo, wasn''t untalented, however since he had no hope in awakening an affinity, he thought it''d be useless to take time away from studying to cultivate. Especially since the boost to mental strength provided prior to the first contract is not huge.


    However, now Milo was working diligently to increase his spiritual power.


    "How long has Milo been out there," he asked Bridge who just came back in for a break after training his contracts.


    "He was already out there when I got up to start training, so since before the sun rose."


    Kain was touched by Milo''s sudden determination. Wanting to give him a little extra support, he went into the kitchen and began to brew a pot of tea made from the leaves of one of the spiritual plants they collected that can increase the rate of spiritual power condensation and added some spiritual honey to the cup.


    While he was in the kitchen, he also added a few more containers of tea to the pantry and a jar of honey.


    He then went out to where Milo was with the teacup and a journal. "Milo, you must have been out there for at least 5 hours now, come take a break."


    Sitting next to Milo, Kain handed him the cup after explaining the effects, and handed him his journal. "This was a journal I wrote during the time I was struggling to condense my first star. It has all of my mistakes as well as the different strategies I tried. The process of forming each start is very different between individuals, but I hope this will be of some help to you."


    Kain wanted to continue talking about his experiences and even offer to buy Milo his first contract as an incentive, but decided against it in fear that Milo would feel pressured to succeed in the affinity ceremony.


    So he headed back inside and began to organize a training plan for himself and his new partners so that he could familiarize himself with their abilities.

 Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Old Enemy

    Compared to before he left for the exam, and he and Bea only had white spiritual power, they had now both advanced and were joined by a team of red-grade Vespirae guards.


    Kain was filled with renewed confidence in his strength and for a while there was one personal goal that he wanted to achieve as the ultimate indicator of his improvement in strength. He wanted to hunt the orange-grade White Widow mother that he''d been helpless against previously.


    Now that Bea had advanced, while not able to kill, she should be able to greatly affect its movements unlike before. Also, now he had two pieces of 2-star enchanted equipment. Not to sound overconfident, but he didn''t actually think it''d be that challenging anymore.


    Therefore, after buying a space ring and filling it will supplies he went into the woods he''d previously been too scared to re-enter.


    He looked down at the map he''d purchased at the gates and realized that the White Widow Spider had last been seen in her nest, indicating that she''d stopped looking for him.


    He released all 7 of the remaining guards and headed in the direction of the White Widow''s territory.


    Surprisingly, along the way, likely intimidated by a large group of red-grade creatures, they ran into no other spiritual creatures.


    "Ugh!" At some point, Kain started to occasionally feel thin invisible threads stick to his body. He reached towards where he felt the thread on his forehead and pulled it off.


    Gradually the number of webs became visible due to their density. So dense that the sunlight above began to be filtered out.


    The webs stretched from tree to tree like colossal, ghostly tapestries. Draped over branches, and wrapped around trunks, they formed a translucent dome that dimmed all light to a pale, sickly hue.


    Wrapped around one of the tree trunks were the remnants of a once majestic creature. An enormous elk, its body suspended in an unnatural pose in the webbing. Evidence of the White Widow''s past feast was obvious in the once vibrant fur becoming matted and blood-stained.


    The elk''s limbs were twisted and bound, with eyes lifelessly staring out and the webbing covering it was discoloured from the dried blood and decaying flesh.


    Screeee


    One of the wasp guards got caught in a web while moving forward. Kain quickly cut it down while reminding everyone else to be careful.


    From what he knew of spiders they used vibrations in their webs to detect when a prey had been caught. Therefore, it could already be on its way towards them.


    To be safe, Kain released the mist in advance around them while using his spear to cut down any webs around them as they moved deeper into the spider''s lair.


    When they reached what Kain assumed was the heart of the nest due to the dense number of dried carcasses, he still didn''t see the White Widow. Kain decided to expand the mist''s distance so that hopefully a few of the droplets containing Bea''s splits would make contact and give him some information on where it was hiding.


    After a few minutes he received information from Bea that the absolute edges of the mist had made contact with something in the shape of a spider leg. However, none of the splits were breathed in.


    ''Maybe she''s too far away for the mist to be breathed in?'' However, Kain had already extended the mist to the limit.


    Kain had already cut away all of the webs in this area to prepare for the upcoming battle, he didn''t want to change the battlefield only for himself or the guards to end up stuck in a web laid as a trap.


    ''I need to lure her here, and I have the perfect method.''


    Kain removed all of the mist covering the area for a brief moment, knowing that he was being watched.


    He looked straight in the direction that Bea had sensed a spider leg in.


    "Remember me?! Your kid''s corpse made me a pretty penny last time. Thought I''d drop by and thank you in person!"


    Screeeee!!!!!


    Orange-grade spiritual creatures can usually understand humans they aren''t bound to, therefore it perfectly understood Kain''s words of provocation and they infuriated her!


    Kain''s plan worked as it rapidly headed towards him at a speed far faster than he anticipated.


    ''It''s even slightly faster than the wind-attribute Vespirae guards.''


    He immediately covered the area in a dense fog while moving from his previous location.


    Good thing too because the ground he''d previously been standing on was destroyed with a violent stab downward not long later.


    However, he wasn''t as afraid of her much longer, once her body was covered by the dense fog, Bea''s splits found an opportunity to enter. Gradually her speed lowered to a level slightly beneath the guards after Bea began to take effect. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Knowing that Bea wouldn''t be able to kill her, Kain was finally able to experiment with some of the strategies he''d wanted to try in the past but couldn''t due to Bea always causing a quick kill in white and red-grade beasts.


    He told Bea to focus her effects on causing disorientation and impaired vision.


    Kain then began to alter the density and shape of the mist in certain areas to mess with the spider.


    With repeated usage of the spear, he''d already developed much better control over the mist than when he first started. He began by trying to replicate the shape of a large bear. It looked��kinda bear-like. The silhouette still wasn''t perfect but it was more than enough to distract the spider with its senses and thinking ability impaired by Bea.


    At the moment it was distract by the bear. The 7 wasps lying in wait from the opposite direction launched their stingers.


    However, despite being distracted and the surprise attack, the spider managed to dodge most of the stingers with only 3 successfully hitting. And the ones that did hit were only at nonvital limbs.


    ''The orange-grade is really different. I can''t believe she still dodged that!''


    But although they didn''t cause fatal damage, the successful hits were able to drastically limit her mobility. The future attacks should be more successful.


    However, the spider rapidly turned in the direction the stingers flew from and threw up a large amount of corrosive poison. The bulk of it hit one wasp, killing it instantly, while some splashed onto the wing of another causing it to drop to the ground unable to fly.


    ''Damn it! Now there were only 5 guards with some combat effectiveness''


    Seeing that it wanted to pursue in the direction the injured wasp dropped. Kain directed Bea to cause a headache, while Kain recalled the injured into his star space.


    Screeeee


    While the spider was suffering from crippling pain, the rest of the wasps moved from their original locations, while Kain continued to direct them from the shadows.

 Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Pheneos Turmoil

    With 3 of its 8 legs out of commission, Kain had them launch another attack as soon as their stingers had regrown. He also reminded them to immediately change their locations this time after launching an attack.


    This time all 5 shots managed to land, with 3 actually landing on its main body. However, its hard exoskeleton caused the shots to not go in as deeply as he''d expected. Although, it was clearly in great pain from the injuries, they were far from fatal.


    Kain called out Queen next to him, ensuring that the figures of both of them were covered by the dense mist, he didn''t want to risk her dying. Although she wasn''t his main contract, he wasn''t sure what the impact of her death would be on Eve as their lives are closely intertwined.


    After she activated Royal Command to boost all of their stats, the guards launched another attack. By this point the spider was practically a sitting duck. He''d have felt bad for her if she didn''t almost kill him previously and lose one of his guards now. It''d take at least a month for numbers of the guards to be restored to a full 12, with Queen only being able to lay one egg a week.


    This time the attacks pierced much deeper into the spider and she dropped to the ground motionless not long after.


    ''How spiteful!'' Kain would have walked over to examine the corpse by now and extracting parts if Bea had not relayed to him that she was not actually dead. Her performance was impeccable, and perfectly fooled him. She likely was playing dead in the hopes of launching a surprise attack on him in her last moments to go down together.


    Once their stingers grew back, and with the boost from Queen still active, he had them launch 3 more rounds of attacks on the body before finally receiving confirmation from Bea that she had died.


    Throughout the whole process the spider remained unmoving, completely committed to the act. Even if Kain had been cautious and launched a round of attacks at the corpse, without Bea he wouldn''t have thought she could be so resilient and still hold and would have definitely went up to her after the first round of attacks.


    *Ding. Host has killed one Orange-grade spiritual beast*


    ''Ah! That''s right! I also have you System'' Kain vowed to always wait for the notification in the future before moving to extract parts.


    Kain was grateful that he now had a space ring of his own. Although not the largest space, he should be able to squeeze the entire body in. Especially once it is disassembled.


    He began by carefully removing the exoskeleton, before moving onto the most valuable poison sac. He then removed the eyes, and fangs. Once all the parts of significant value were removed, only two-thirds of the space was actually taken up. Kain moved to leave the nest with a pile of valueless internal organs behind him when he spotted a cloudy pearl covered by webs.


    ''Aaahhh. That''s why she stopped looking for me. She probably just decided to make a replacement''


    The offspring of a silver-quality orange-grade spiritual beast would be quite valuable. Even if before it evolved it was only a bronze-quality Venom Spinner. The fact that it had a parent that successfully evolved, boded well for its level of talent and potential once it hatched.


    If its pedigree could be proven, it''d probably fetch double the price of a random Venom Spinner egg in the wild.


    However, since Kain could not put the egg into the space ring and he didn''t want to cart around an egg for days in the wilderness, he decided to head back to the city.


    For general parts, he''d usually sell them by the gate, but for the high-quality parts of a orange-grade spiritual creature, Kain felt as though he''d receive more from a blacksmith who''d have a tangible use for the parts. Thankfully, he was already very familiar with one. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He went back to the familiar shop and immediately saw Pheneos. He didn''t look depressed so he assumed that he''d also passed his entrance exam. Kain, jovially went over prepared to congratulate him. "Can I assume that we''ll both be students at a top 5 college this fall?"


    Pheneos also grinned, "I assume you passed the Dark Moon exam then?"


    Kain nodded, "How did the Starfire exam go? What was your mission?"


    Pheneos'' expression turned awkward, "It was an intelligence-gathering mission, rather than one that required fighting. Our team completed the mission, but unfortunately my individual performance wasn''t strong enough to receive an admissions offer."


    Kain was confused. Why did he nod when he had asked if they''d both be top 5 college students?


    "So I rushed to take the Supernova College exam and barely scraped in at the 100th spot."


    "Well the ranking doesn''t matter," Kain comforted, "The important thing is that you got in."


    Pheneos looked touched at his words, "Thanks. How was the Dark Moon exam?"


    Now it was Kain''s turn to look awkward. Seeing his expression, Pheneos misunderstood the reason and tried to comfort him. "As you said, the ranking isn''t important don''t be afraid to tell me. Whether rank 1 or 100 we''re all students at the same top 5 college anyways."


    Kain sighed in relief and shared, "I did pretty well and was lucky enough to finish in first place."


    Pheneos, frozen in shock, looked as though he had turned into stone.


    "Pheneos? Pheneos?" Kain waved his hand in front of his face.


    Pheneos got up without another word and headed into the backroom to call his teacher. He refused to converse with Kain any longer. Every time they spoke he left with his pride crushed.


    Shortly after, the owner of the shop walked out from the backroom looking awkward. "Pheneos, suddenly had urgent business to attend to so I''ll be helping you instead."


    ''It must have been an emergency for him to walk off suddenly like that. I hope everything is okay.''


    "That''s okay. You were actually who I needed to speak with. I have some spiritual creature materials I want to dispose of and wanted to sell them to you."


    "Okay, let me see what you''ve got." He didn''t have high hopes. After all, Kain awoke just three months ago, the max level he could hunt was probably of red-grade.


    Kain pulled out the exoskeleton of the White Widow and place it on the floor.


    "Is this��"


    Kain confirmed his doubts "It''s the White Widow Spider from outside the city"


    The max strength of the spiritual creatures around their city was the orange-level and they were all well-known by the beast-tamers of the city, so he was naturally surprised at its body being casually placed in front of him. This spider had lurked outside of the city for over a decade.


    "And why is its body with you��?" He had a hunch but he couldn''t believe it.


    "Because I killed it��?" Kain was confused, how else would he have her body?


    Crash


    Pheneos eavesdropping on the other side of the door fell over in shock. ''That''s it! I am staying far away from that monster from now on! My self-esteem can''t take much more of this.''

 Chapter 85: Chapter 85: The Art of Negotiation

    Outside, both of them looked towards the sudden loud noise startled, but quickly forgot about the disturbance.


    The blacksmith was giddy at the prospect of making a weapon from a material higher in quality than he''d usually get in this city. Usually to make 2-star weapons he needed to go to Starfire city to buy materials, which was obviously more expensive than buying it from the young man in front of him. sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain was thinking about how much money the parts of an orange-grade spiritual creature would fetch him.


    "1.2 million" The blacksmith offered.


    Kain was internally shocked that it''d be worth that much, but decided not to show it on his face. He didn''t know how much this body should be worth, but he had a feeling the man in front of him was a sly fox and wouldn''t immediately give him the max price he''d be willing to offer.


    "I won''t accept lower than 3 million"


    The blacksmith''s face turned awkward. "The highest I can go is 2.5, it''s already an incredibly high offer, and I probably won''t even be able to expect much of a profit"


    Kain stared him down, but his face looked sincere. "Deal" He held out his hand.


    "Deal." And the exchange was sealed with a handshake.


    "The name''s Dorian Anvil. If you have any more materials of similar quality in the future, please come to me. I''ll definitely give you a decent price."


    Kain nodded before leaving the store with a wide grin.


    When Kain was out of view, Dorian smirked.


    Clearly, both of them walked away from the deal feeling like they''d pulled one over the other.


    Kain then headed to the school. He planned to sell the egg to the school''s nursery. It''d probably not be highest price he could fetch for it, but he already picked up a bargain from them with Princess, who not only helped Bridge pass his exam, but also played a huge role in Kain being able to get his second contract. Therefore, he wanted to pay it forward.


    While he was there, he also wanted to give Mr. Evergreen the spiritual tea leaves he prepared for him.


    Going towards the nursery Kain flagged down the breeder who had helped him previously, Merida. She seemed to pretty intensely value the commission. Also, she''d allowed him to take the dead egg for free and still exchange for Princess.


    She immediately ran over, thinking that he was a prospective customer, but slowed down when she realized it was just him and he didn''t look like he wanted to make a purchase.


    "Don''t turn away! I came here to sell an egg�� a very valuable egg!" He hurriedly called out when she looked like she wanted to turn away to find someone that would provide her with commission.


    She paused her turn but her unimpressed eyes seemed to scream that she doubted he''d provide anything of value.


    Kain pulled out the egg from where he had it stored in a satchel.


    "This is a Venom Spinner egg. Not only that, it''s an egg laid by the orange-grade White Widow in the forest."


    She stepped forward to examine the egg. Venom Spinners were a pretty rare species, and if everything he said was true then even if she didn''t get a commission, she''d be handsomely rewarded by the school.


    She could pretty easily confirm that it was a Venom Spinner egg, but she wasn''t sure if what he said about its parent was also true.


    Seeing the doubt on her face, he continued, "I have the eyes and fangs from its mother. Also, you can probably confirm by now at the city gates that the White Widow spider is dead."


    Kain took the remaining parts he had from the mother out and let her see. It''s unlikely that someone who could obtain orange-grade materials would be trying to scam a public school, so she took Kain to the back office and completed the sale.


    He obtained 500,000 CD. And that was due to its genealogy, otherwise it''d have been at most 400,000 CD. He could have probably easily obtained a million from a purchaser outside of the school, but he had already known that when he resolved to sell it to the school as repayment for their care of him for the past 4 years.


    He then headed to Mr. Evergreen. Although the school year had ended, the diligent teacher never took a break and was in attendance all year round. Kain knocked on his office door to see him revising lesson plans that he''d probably already revised continuously for years.


    "Kain! I''m surprised to see you. How did your exams go?"


    Kain grinned, "You are looking at a double Beast-taming and Planner major at Dark Moon College."


    "Great! That''s great. Out of all of my students, you were the one I was most confident in. Glad to see my instincts were correct"


    "I also came to give you a gift to thank you for taking care of me the past year." Kain then took out the spiritual tea for increasing mental strength that he''d had transferred to a decorative container with the description engraved on its side.


    His teacher accepted it gratefully, surprised by the high value of the gift, but didn''t try to refuse it.


    Task completed, Kain was about to leave to avoid disturbing him while he worked.


    "Wait!" Mr. Evergreen suddenly stood up and went to a painting on the wall. Removing the painting he revealed a hidden safe that he then unlocked.


    Kain was curious but restrained himself from peaking inside.


    Mr. Evergreen then pulled out a vibrant green��seed?


    The moment it appeared the very air in the room seemed to be cleaner and Kain''s mind was clearer.


    Suddenly, Kain felt a response from his second star space. Eve conveyed that similar to her, that seed had the rare Life-attribute. And Kain felt the strongest emotion he''d probably ever felt through the contract before�� an overwhelmingly intense hunger.

 Chapter 86: Chapter 86: The Legacy of Verdaris

    "I majored in history at Starfire College. As a history major, like most academic majors, we are required to write a senior thesis in order to graduate. However, history majors must write a thesis related to our Empire''s history. Thesis topics vary greatly and could be translating a dead language, reinterpreting historical text, uncovering new details about historical events and more.


    I chose for my thesis to analyze the key events that led up to the Battle of Verdaris."


    "As I''m sure you know, before the Celestial Empire was established this continent was in a chaotic state where the majority of the people lived in city-states that usually centered around one very powerful beast-tamer responsible for protecting the nation. One such city-state, Verdaris, was said to not only be one of the most powerful, but also the most abundant in natural resources.


    It was as though their very land was blessed. When there was a famine throughout the region and all of the other nearby states were starving, they were the only ones left unscathed."


    "Naturally their wealth caused them to be eyed by everyone around them. In order to establish a strong ally for themselves, they entered a political marriage with the neighbouring city-state of Sylvoria. Naturally this marriage would be between the daughter of Verdaris, to the ruler Sylvoria.


    However, on the night of the wedding, the ruler of Sylvoria decided to kill his fianc��e and her entire family, desiring to take the fertile land for himself rather than share. However, not long after the Verdaris family died, the once fertile lands were also struck by a famine; before they eventually devolved into the barren deserts we now see beyond our nation''s most southern borders."


    "Most historians had assumed that the source of the Verdaris city-state''s rich resources was due to the blessing of some extremely powerful spiritual creature contracted by the ruler.


    However, when I had analyzed the historical texts I''d received from abroad previously for an ancient languages course, I''d realized that similar stories had been replayed throughout history during different time periods, in different regions, and even on different continents. The protagonists of these stories, or at least the ones we know enough about, also all have different affinities.


    So I began to wonder what was causing these resource rich areas in otherwise deserted regions? It can''t possibly be a contract."


    "Therefore I took a trip to the most recent location where such a story had occurred, the northern region of our own Celestial Empire. It wasn''t always such a frigid wasteland, you know? At least not completely. The northwestern portion used to be described as an abundant utopia. But now it''s no different from the rest of the north.


    "While I was acting as a visiting exchange student at Frozen Sun College I had visited an area I had believe to most closely match the location of that previously fertile zone. It was pretty much a dead zone, but while I was searching some ants grabbed some of the crumbs I''d dropped while eating lunch.


    They were just ordinary ants, with no spiritual power, yet somehow they were surviving in the freezing cold. I hadn''t expected for there to be anything around me in the freezing cold, at least not anything without an Ice-attribute.


    "I followed the ants and found a hidden hole in the snow where their colony was located. As I approached the hole, the surrounding temperature was slightly warmer, the air was fresher, and I felt as though I''d just woken up from an excellent night''s rest, and not been tirelessly exploring the snow for days. sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I wasn''t sure what was in there, but I felt strongly that it was likely what I''d gone there in search of. Or at least closely related to it. So I pushed down my disgust and dug through the ant colony to obtain this seed. And from the moment I first laid eyes on it, I knew it was special. My life''s wish is to uncover its origin.


    "However, unfortunately, that''s where my capabilities end. I don''t think I can uncover its mysteries or the true history of what happened back then. So, I''d like to give it to you. Hopefully, you can finish what I started."


    Kain was stunned by the unexpected story and the seed. However, he couldn''t bear to refuse it, especially not after feeling Eve''s desperation for it. He knew that whatever this seed was, was of absolute importance to Eve. Therefore, it was of absolute importance to HIM.


    "After you brought back the seed, nobody from either Starfire College or Frozen Sun, helped you investigate its origin? Surely they''d be more useful than me. I''m not even entering college as a history major."


    Mr. Evergreen looked embarrassed. "When I told my professor my chosen thesis project, he thought it was a fool''s errand and didn''t support my idea. I had to change my topic, so technically when I got permission to do an exchange at Frozen Sun College, I was supposed to be investigating the history of one of their relics.


    All of the texts they lent me and resources they provided were supposed to be for that project, and that project only. I could have gotten into trouble for wasting valuable time and resources on investigating something off-topic.


    "Although not a historian, you are now a beast-tamer. Therefore, you''ll have the ability to travel to regions I could never hope to enter. This seed would be better off in your hands."


    Kain no longer refused and tried to put it into his ring''s space. However, unlike most seeds, it was rejected due to the strong aura of life it emitted. He could only place it into his bag to carry it home.


    Kain originally came here to give Mr. Evergreen a gift, but instead he''d received something so valuable in exchange. He felt pretty guilty.


    Therefore, Kain decided to take out two more containers from his stash of spiritual tea and place them on the desk before leaving.

 Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Second Home

    Kain didn''t immediately give Eve the seed. He had no idea why she felt this hunger or if the seed would actually be beneficial.


    Even if it is beneficial, would he regret using it right now if there was a better usage for it in the future? What if it was a key ingredient for Eve''s evolution and so its energy wasn''t used as efficiently than if combined with other materials?


    He returned home to stash the seed under his bed. The room had been empty the last few days, since Bridge had been training overnight at the dojo. They were practically holding him hostage after finding out that he''d be starting at Dark Moon soon, wanting to cram as much knowledge and training into him as possible.


    Therefore, it''s unlikely that the remaining unawakened people in the house would be able to detect the aura given off by the seed.


    Kain didn''t want to waste even one moment of his remaining two and a half weeks before school started.


    Therefore, he went back out into the wild to continue familiarizing himself with the weapons at his disposal. Maybe he''d even try to clear out all the orange-grade spiritual creatures around the city. After all, with them gone then even in the unlikely event of a beast-tide it is unlikely that the city''s walls would even be broken.


    --------------------------


    2 weeks later


    Kain looked down at the body of the massive Spikeroot Wyrm.


    Its dragon-like body was covered in thorny, bark-like scales that blended seamlessly into the surrounding vegetation, allowing it to ambush unsuspecting prey. The wyrm had a spiked tail and claws that could easily shred through armor and flesh alike.


    This was the last remaining of the 9 orange-grade spiritual creature in the forest. It was also the undisputed ruler of these forests and supposedly the strongest. It should have also been the most difficult to hand but��


    "That was surprisingly easy��" sea??h th�� n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He had left this one to the end because he''d though it''d be the most challenging due to its reputation and remnant dragon-blood, but after having its vision and senses impaired by Bea-infected mist, it had pretty much served as target practice for the wasps. 3 more guard wasps had been born, giving Kain a total of 10 now.


    However, despite its formidable close combat abilities, unlike the White Widow it didn''t even have any long-range capabilities, therefore Kain had not even had to suffer from losing one of his guards. Good thing too, since college classes will begin in 4 days.


    He''d completed the goal of hunting 10 red-grade twice over, receive 120 GP. And with this wyrm he would have completed 10 orange-grade kills for the first time to receive 400 GP, meaning he was now halfway to the system upgrade. Once he enters the college to receive the 1000 GP for his ranking, he will be able to upgrade with over 500 GP spare.


    Today would be the day he''d head off to the train station to begin his first day as a college student.


    He had already gone back to the city more than once to sell the materials he''d obtained to Blacksmith Dorian. Now his space only contained the wyrm, however, despite Kain being unimpressed by the battle he had with it, it was objectively a dragon-blooded creature. Therefore, its body may have additional uses that he was currently unaware of.


    He decided to not sell it until after he''d entered the college, maybe it''d come in handy later on.


    After going home and packing his school supplies and the mysterious seed. He and Bridge had a late lunch with the members of the orphanage before they both set off to the train station. However, when they boarded the train he came across Pheneos, likely taking the train to Starfire City before getting off and transferring to a train headed west to Supernova College.


    Kain raised his hand to greet him when they made eye contact from far away, but surprisingly he turned around and quickly boarded the train. Perhaps he didn''t see him?


    When Kain and Bridge boarded the train, Kain glanced around a bit for Pheneos, wanting to continue their chat about their respective exams. He was curious what the top performers at the Supernova exam were like.


    However, it seemed like he''d already entered a private room so Kain couldn''t find him. After all, he wouldn''t go and knock on over a hundred room doors just to chat with an acquaintance.


    The whole ride to Starfire City they unfortunately never crossed paths, disappointing Kain. Now that the train was headed east, Pheneos had likely already gotten off and was heading on another train west.


    When they finally arrived Dark Moon City, Kain couldn''t help but take a deep breath of air. The very atmosphere of the city felt different to him now that he was officially a student. It was likely just in his head, but it felt much more comfortable being here. As if the very city was greeting him saying ''welcome to your second home for four years.''


    Kain and Bridge confirmed their attendance with the administration office in order to receive their schedules and the keys to their respective rooms. As they''d been informed previously, he and Bridge were in separate buildings. Kain would be living in the dorms only for the top 5 students of each grade level. Meaning that there would only be 20 people in the entire building.


    Meanwhile, Bridge would be in one of the two male college dorms housing around 100 students.


    They both headed to the campus bookstore to get the required textbooks for their classes, Kain obviously needing to purchase several more than Bridge due to his second academic major before heading back to their respective dorms.


    Kain was filled with anticipation at finally getting to see the dorms exclusively used by the top 5 students of each year. And fortunately, he was not disappointed.


    Rather than a dorm building, his new residence looked like a sprawling five-story mansion that the English royal family back on earth may live in. Past the ornate black iron front gate that scanned his student ID card before granting him entrance, there was a black marble fountain in the shape of a winged horse-like creature but had dragon scales covering its body.


    The front garden was also beautifully designed with hundreds of spiritual plants, all of which he could feel had the function of increasing the density of spiritual power in the surroundings.


    Entering the mansion, the floor was covered in black marble tiles and a giant chandelier hung down from the foyer. Above a massive winding grand staircase that he could see extended up 5 floors. The whole mansion seemed to continue the theme of medieval elegance that the rest of the city had.


    Kain walked up the stairs to the second floor to find his assigned room��Room 202. Floors 2 to 5 had the bedrooms, while the first floor had the shared amenities. It seems that with the central staircase as the dividing line, two rooms were on the east side of the house, while three more rooms were on the other side to the west.


    Entering his room, Kain was extremely impressed. He couldn''t believe he''d get to live here for 4 years, that is if he kept his ranking.


    The room boasted high vaulted ceilings adorned with detailed paintings of flowers. A massive chandelier hung from the center, casting a dazzling array of lights across the room. Dark red velvet sofas and ornate armchairs surrounded a grand fireplace, creating an inviting sitting area. Opposite the fireplace, a polished mahogany study area was equipped with a seemingly antique writing desk and chair.


    Through large glass double doors, Kain could even see a sweeping balcony with wrought-iron railings offering breathtaking views over the campus.


    Turning, his head Kain could see the doors to his bedroom, the bed a regal centerpiece with deep, dark mahogany carved with intricate lines. Heavy, embroidered drapes framed the bed, adding an extra touch of elegance and privacy, while a tufted, footstool completed the room.


    Finally, Kain explored the private bathroom. It exuded luxury with its dark marble surfaces, freestanding clawfoot tub, large walk-in shower and ornate gold fixtures.


    Kain was extremely satisfied. The room seamlessly fused classic elegance with modern comforts. It was just to his taste.


    ''Bridge might just die of envy.'' Kain thought gleefully.


    *Ding. Sensing that the host has confirmed his college admissions ranking. Rewarding 500 GP for a second-place ranking*


    Kain''s joyful thoughts came to a screaming halt.


    ''EXCUSE ME?! SECOND-PLACE?!''

 Chapter 88: Chapter 88: A Mistake?

    ''System! I think you made a mistake. I''m rank 1, you forgot to give me the other 500 GP''


    *Rest assured Host. The System does not make mistakes*


    ''Yes you did!!!'' Kain was struggling to remain calm now. He had been anticipating the 1000 GP he''d receive upon entering the school, and suddenly the expected amount had been cut in half!


    Kain immediately walked out of the bedroom door and looked at the 202 intricately carved into it. Two. Zero. TWO! Then he turned to the only other room next to his which read 201.


    ''Don''t tell me the numbers are based on our rankings?'' Kain thought they were just assigned randomly on the same floor and didn''t think too much about his room number ending in a 2.


    ''Did that blond prince make enough of a stink that they just gave him the top rank? No. Even the royal and all of the old noble families in the capital wouldn''t be able to force the top 5 colleges to do anything of the like. It''d only serve to piss off all of the colleges, which the majority of the most powerful Beast-tamers in the empire happen to be affiliated with.''


    Kain really couldn''t figure it out. How could his ranking suddenly just drop by one?


    He knocked hard on the neighbouring door. However, after waiting a while there was no answer.


    It was almost time for the dinner appointment he''d made with Bridge and the twins. The twins seem pretty well-informed, maybe they''d have answers for him?


    Kain therefore rushed to the cafeteria. If he could get this issue fixed, maybe the system would still give him the remaining 500 GP.


    Using the campus map they''d been given earlier at the registration office he located the cafeteria. The massive dining hall had massive arched ceilings and a massive candle chandelier hanging in the center above rows of long mahogany tables.


    At the side of the room was a buffet set up, with fresh food being constantly refilled by staff. Kain filled up a plate with the delicious-looking food before heading over to where he''d already spotted Bridge seated with the twins and three more unfamiliar individuals.


    Actually just 2, a boy and girl, were unfamiliar, upon closer inspection he believed that the gloomy-looking kid seated next to Bridge was the applicant who exited the relic naked.


    After getting seated, Kain put a piece of meat into his mouth. It practically melted in his mouth before providing his body with a minor increase in spiritual power. They must have used to top ingredients in order to produce food with such effects. Not to mention the craftmanship of the chef must also be top-notch.


    The food was so good that Kain almost forgot what he''d wanted to ask.


    He turned to Bridge, "What''s your room number?"


    "632. Why, you wanna come visit?" Bridge mumbled through a mouthful of delicious food.


    Kain couldn''t help but furrow his brows. That number meant absolutely nothing to him. Bridge''s ranking was supposed to be ranked 43.


    "How were your rooms assigned? I thought your room would have some indication of your ranking."


    Aiden likely knowing Kain''s rank cleared up the confusion. "Only the top 20 students have room numbers somewhat related to their rank. As I''m sure you''ve already seen your dorm room, I''m sure you already know that you top 5 students live in a separate mansion. The top 6 to 20 of each year also have private rooms, but our rooms are still within the regular dorm buildings.


    Those after rank 21 have shared dorm rooms so their room numbers are just randomly assigned to whatever is available."


    The three new additions to their group looked shocked at the news that Kain was in the top 5.


    "Weren''t you the one that also said he was double-majoring as a Planner, you''re also within the top 5?! Why is the world so unfair?" Said the gloomy guy, voice pretty energetic despite his appearance.


    "Not only in the top 5." Addison bragged. "He was the top-ranked applicant during the admissions test. He also got a perfect score on the academic exam."


    ''I see Bridge has been bragging about me behind my back''


    "So you''re Rank 1?! Congratulations!" Said the gloomy kid.


    "That''s actually what I wanted to discuss. Aiden, Addison. You guys are in the top 20 so you should have room numbers based on your rankings, did you notice anything off about your room numbers?"


    "Not really��" Aiden said. "Since the dorms are separated by sex, our room numbers have our rankings among the respective girls and guys of our year. So although I''m ranked 14 in my year. My room number is 106, because out of the first-year guys, outside of the top 5, I''m the sixth.


    So it''s kind of difficult to get someone''s precise rank from their room numbers aside from the top 5, you can just estimate their approximate ranking."


    Addison also nodded "I am 103 in the girls'' dorms because out of the girls not in the top 5 mansion and living in the dorms I am third."


    Kain frowned. So they hadn''t yet noticed anything off.


    "You said the top 5 rooms were assigned based on ranking, right? But I was assigned to room 202, for the second-placed entrant."


    Everyone at the table looked surprised by this. Who could rank first if not the number 1 from the entrance exam?


    Aiden and Addison tilted their heads in an identical manner, before Aiden spoke. "I think I know who the Rank 1 might be then. Remember how we said that one of the admissions spots this year was already taken up, which is why there were only 99 spots max available?"


    Kain and Bridge both nodded, while everyone else at the table looked as though this was news to them.


    "Well, that early admit is probably ranked first if you were pushed down to second."


    Kain was irritated, ''someone that hadn''t even had to take the entrance exam had unfairly placed above him and cost him 500 GP? Just because they awakened independently? Maybe if he''d actually tried to awaken independently, he could have done it too!'' S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Likely seeing the upset look on his face Addison comforted him, "The difference in treatment among the top 5 is really negligible. At most they may just have a slightly larger room than you. The difference in privileges only really becomes apparent when you compare the top ranks to the lower ranks."


    ''Easy for you to say! You didn''t lose 500 GP!''

 Chapter 89: Chapter 89: The Meaning of the Top 5

    Kain spent the remainder of the meal in silence. Distraught that there was no fixing the issue with the System. Instead, he just listened in on the topics of conversation around him.


    "Do you have any idea what the classes are like? Nobody else from my hometown has gotten into Dark Moon in decades." Elias said. Elias��that was the name Kain found out of the gloomy-looking kid.


    "I heard it''s pretty much like high-school, just the content is different. We''ll still have exams, just that the form of the exams will be different. However I did hear that wilderness survival could be a pain for students that aren''t accustomed to staying in the wild for long periods of time."


    ''Huh, I guess that''s one course I don''t have to worry about. Considering that I already have a lot of experience''


    "However, I did hear that they will take us to extreme climates as well such as in the far north, or the deserts to the south to test our ability to survive.


    ''Nevermind''


    "However, we are first and foremost beast-tamers, so they shouldn''t overload us too much with class work to the point that it impedes our progress. We also have to complete a certain amount of missions every year in order to move on to the next year. Not as many as Starfire students, but still quite a few."


    "I''m more worried about the re-rankings��" Said Finn, who was Aiden''s neighbour. "I barely scraped into the top 20 at rank 17. Who knows if people''s strengths have grown greatly since the admissions exam? I don''t want to have to give up my single room."


    Leonara, Addison''s neighbour, also nodded in agreement, "Tell me about it, I''m ranked right at 19. Not to mention the re-rankings are usually determined by a head-to-head battle, my contracts are more focused on support and healing��"


    "Huh, that''s right. Some people''s contracts may not have the best offensive capabilities. Why do they decide the top 5 by a person-to-person battle?" Bridge questioned.


    Aiden, ever knowledgeable, clarified "It has to do with what the top 5 candidates for each year symbolize. Do you know how the colleges are ranked? First Celestial is first, Supernova is second, we''re third, Starfire is fourth, and Frozen Sun is fifth. While the rest of the colleges fight over the rest of the rankings after that, the top 5 have never changed.


    However, the order within the top 5 can change each year."


    Addison scoffed, "Except First Celestial, I think the last time they slipped to second place was at least 20 years ago."


    Aiden continued, "The top 5 of each year must fight against the same-year students at the other colleges. Points are then awarded based on the final ranking. A maximum of 100 points each for first place among the first years, second years, and so on. The competition format is a single one-on-one battle, a three-on-three battle, and one five-on-five battle.


    Whichever side can win 2 of the three matches will win the round and advance.


    "Then there''s the measure of the college''s overall combat power, one-on-one individual matches of the top 5 strongest students of each school, a face-off of the elites. Regardless of year level. It''s usually composed of third and fourth years, but occasionally a second year manages to make the elite team. I believe the current captain of our school''s elite team entered it in his second year.


    The first-place team will receive 200 points. So, in theory, a school could win a maximum of 600 points if they take first place in everything."


    Addison cut in, "That''s why the re-rankings favor individual combat abilities. If you have excellent crowd-control abilities, then you should still be able to rank high enough to be in the top 5, and there''s not really any need for a healer in the fast-paced competition.


    Rather it''s more detrimental if the enemy senses that there''s a weak link in the team who can''t take care of themselves and needs to be protected. Therefore, regardless of whether you classify yourself as more of a control, support, or healer, your solo combat abilities must meet a suitable standard to represent the school.


    The competition doesn''t bar the use of gifts, therefore it''s actually not that unusual to see those that didn''t contract offensively focused beasts within the top 5 of their year. They make up for their shortcomings in combat with incredibly powerful gifts."


    Aiden finished off, "that''s also why the treatment for the top 5 of each year is so much better compared to the rest of the students. The school''s ranking for the next year and, consequently, the amount of funding and resources we''ll all have access to is dependent upon them."


    The other 3 at the table looked as though they weren''t that surprised by the news, but this was the first Bridge and Kain were hearing about it. Perhaps because they were both so focused on either studying (Kain) or working to earn money (Bridge) neither of them had paid much attention to the college competition scene the last few years.


    ''So that means that I''m going to represent the school?! I guess that amazing room isn''t given for nothing,'' Kain will have to work his ass off for the school in return.


    Kain was now incredibly nervous. He had hunted numerous wild beasts, but he had no experience fighting beast-tamers. Much less the most talented of beast-tamers among his peers. sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He could imagine that fighting against talented beast-tamers would be much more difficult. He''d have to deal with more than one spiritual creature working together at the direction of their contractor. Not to mention, he''d also have to deal with a variety of troublesome gifts. He wasn''t confident about the school''s future ranking resting on his shoulders.


    "We''ll be in your hands then, Kain. Take us to first place next year please." Bridge joked while patting him heavily on the back, while Kain''s eye twitched in annoyance.

 Chapter 90: Chapter 90: A Chilling Encounter

    Kain walked back to the mansion with his head down in contemplation.


    Was he really good enough to represent the school? Especially, while having to double the course load.


    He was suddenly overcome with the feeling that he''d bit off more than he could chew. However, Kain was greedy. He wanted to continue in both majors. He wanted to represent the school. And he wanted that first place ranking back!


    Oomf


    Kain chest suddenly collided with something soft and fragrant. He finally looked up from the ground to find the most beautiful woman he''d ever seen. And that included both of his lifetimes.


    Her delicate features looked as though God had spent the majority of his time and attention on sculpting her face, before roughly slapping together the rest of the population. She had long slightly wavy bright white hair. And although he didn''t want to come off as a creep and stare at her body, the brief glance and collision they had led him to believe her proportions were as perfect as her face.


    Making eye contact with the her cold and intense blue eyes framed by long white lashes, he felt as though he''d lost all ability to speak. However, as her gaze grew colder at his continued staring he finally snapped out of it.


    "Ah! Sorry! I wasn''t paying attention." Kain then held out a hand for her to go inside first , but she continued to just stare at him coldly.


    ''Okay�� She''s as cold as she is beautiful.'' Unable to stand her gaze any longer Kain went in first and began to climb the stairs. He could hear her light footsteps following behind him as he climbed the stairs.


    Suddenly he felt self-conscious and had to make sure he wasn''t walking awkwardly with both his right leg and right hand lifting at the same time.


    It was so quiet in the large foyer that he even began to get self-conscious of his breathing.


    ''Did I always breath this loud? I haven''t felt this tense since being chased by the White Widow while still a 1-star.''


    Thankfully, the climb to the second floor was over soon and he was able to leave her behind as he headed in the direction of his room.


    However��


    Click


    As he fumbled with his keys due to lingering nerves from the unsettling encounter, a shorter white figure crossed from behind him and then swiftly entered the door labelled 201. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain froze in shock.


    ''IT. WAS. HER!!! She''s the one that lost me 500 GP and stole my rightful ranking''


    Any burgeoning feelings of infatuation died before it could even be born.


    All that Kain felt was anger and resentment.


    Whether in this life or his past one, Kain''s core values have remained unchanged. Regardless of whether it is money or GP, beautiful women can only come second.


    Head still steaming, Kain entered his suite. He then couldn''t help but glare at the shared bedroom wall separating them.


    ''Just why is SHE ranked above ME?!''


    Kain flopped on his bed and opened the System. Now it was time for the upgrade. He looked sadly at the 1180 GP remaining, once he used 1000 of it for the upgrade, he''d practically be the GP equivalent of penniless.


    He has only delayed upgrading the System until now instead of doing it as soon as he received the 500 GP because he had been futilely hoping that there was a way to fix his ranking and obtain the lost points. Now, however, it seems as though such hopes were pointless.


    Sigh


    ''System start the upgrade''


    *Ding. Sensing the Host''s intention to consume 1000 GP to upgrade the system. In order to complete the upgrade, the System will be unavailable for 2 days. Do you still wish to proceed?*


    ''Ugh. Proceed with the upgrade��''


    Kain hoped that the downtime wasn''t going to keep increasing with each System upgrade. Is he one day going to have to wait a whole year to upgrade the System?


    Frustrated for a variety of reasons, Kain fell asleep while tossing and turning all night.


    When Kain woke up the next morning, he took a hot shower hoping to wash away all of the negative feelings of yesterday. Today was a new day!


    However, when he entered the dining room downstairs and saw the head full of white hair already seated, the little bite of optimism he managed to scrounge up was obliterated.


    No longer having much of an appetite, Kain went to the breakfast platter filled with various muffins, pastries and fruits, and just filled up a plate with some spiritual fruit.


    In addition to the common cafeteria available to all students, the top 5 dorm also had a private dining room where breakfast and dinner would be provided if the students would prefer to stay home rather than dine with all the other beast-tamer students. While lunch, if they really needed it, was up to the individual student to prepare for themselves.


    Kain found a seat far away from THAT person and began eating his fruit. He had had a restless night''s rest so woke up early. They were probably the first ones up in the entire building.


    Swish


    A human figure jumped out of a shadow, grabbed a muffin and bottled drink, before using another shadow to disappear just as suddenly as he''d arrived.


    Not long after a monkey dressed like a butler came downstairs and filled up a towering plate of food before carefully bringing it back upstairs to its master.


    ''College definitely has some interesting characters��''


    Not long later a green-haired woman came down the stairs.


    "EEEEEHHHH! The first years are here! Aren''t you both just adorable!"


    Despite his negative feelings towards the Cheat, that''s what Kain has decided to call her until he learns her name, he couldn''t help but make an expression identical to hers. One of cold rejection mixed with slight bafflement at this strange overly familiar senior.


    What man likes to be called adorable?!


    Not receiving a reply she approached Kain, who she probably judged to be the slightly more amicable of the two.


    "Hey!" She said, getting way too close to Kain and invading his personal space. "Both of you good-looking first years are the first ones up. Was it planned? Are you a couple? Oh NO! Am I interrupting your alone time?"


    Kain couldn''t stop his face from grimacing in disgust. Although the Cheat was objectively beautiful, he had absolutely no warm and fuzzy feelings for her.


    Not receiving a reply, she continued, seemingly content to continue chatting with herself.


    "What''s your affinity? Can I see your contract? You look like the type who takes appearance into account when making a contract? Am I right? Is your contract good-looking? Ooohhh I really wanna see it!"


    As she continued to prattle on, the only other person in the room quickly made her exit, leaving Kain and this annoying senior alone.


    "Do you and your contract ever argue? How do you deal with it? Usually, I just have to pat my Stella on the head and she immediately agrees with me. She''s just perfect!"


    Kain could feel his ears turning red from the auditory torture.


    "I have to get to orientation. I can''t be late on the first day. It was nice meeting you senior. See you around!"


    Without waiting for a reply, he quickly rushed off toward the location of the freshman orientation. Not giving the annoying woman a chance to reply.

 Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Ranking Revealed

    Kain arrived at the auditorium that his registration packet indicated would hold freshman orientation.


    Pushed out of the dorm earlier than he had planned he was one of the first people in the auditorium.


    Having his pick of seats, he chose one in the middle of the third row, not too close, not too far.


    It also had the added benefit of being quite far away from the Cheat who had already arrived and was settled into a spot in the front row.


    Slowly others began to also filter in and fill up the remaining seats.


    Thankfully, there was still enough room for Bridge and the 5 others from yesterday next to Kain.


    "Good morning everyone! I am the Director of Academic Affairs for the Beast-Taming Department, Rowan Voss. It is a pleasure to welcome some of the most talented young members of the Celestial Empire to Dark Moon College. You''ve all demonstrated exceptional talent and potential to be here, and we are thrilled to have you join our vibrant community.


    At Dark Moon, we pride ourselves on our rich history and our dedication to excellence in teaching��


    ''Ahhh��No matter the world the orientation speech is always needlessly long and boring'' Kain began to tune out the director as he droned on about the college''s impressive history, its core values when educating its students, commitment to the ethical treatment of contracts, academic integrity, blah blah blah. Until finally he got to the important parts almost 40 minutes later.


    "As I''m sure you all know, you are required to take 3 core mandatory courses. You must obtain at least a B in all core courses in order to move on to the next year. Elective courses only require a passing grade.


    "Additionally, for the successful completion of the academic year, each student is required to obtain a minimum of 100 credits through missions each year. However, there is no limit to the number of missions a student can take. These credits can also be exchanged for valuable and rare resources that would be almost impossible to get outside of the academy.


    Please take advantage of this system and exchange for them while you have the opportunity to do so.


    "Every year, our college also publishes several lists. Getting your name on these lists comes with a variety of benefits.


    "One such list is the Mission Leaderboard. A ranking of the number of mission credits obtained within a given academic year. It is separated into leaderboards by school year, and also an overall leaderboard not separated by year level. There are also the Academic Rankings, organized by year level, based on your grades within the 3 core beast-taming courses.


    A place on the list of any of these rankings will come with lucrative rewards that will help you to greatly improve in strength.


    "The most important ranking, however, is that of the Combat Rankings. Currently, you are ranked based on your entrance test results. However, every 3 months you will compete head-to-head with one another in order to determine your new ranking among your peers. Therefore, those in the top ranks shouldn''t dare to slack off, as those around you will be itching to take your place.


    Although rare, we have had instances of lazy over-confident students falling out of the top 5 to even below the top 20. Conversely, we''ve had plenty of students in our history who have come from the bottom rankings to go on to represent the college at the National Collegiate Beast-Taming Championship.


    "This ranking is especially important because as the representatives of the school, the top 5 students will be the key focus of the university''s resources and opportunities. One such opportunity I''m sure many of you are aware of, which is unique to the top 5 colleges, is the opportunity to enter Enchanted Spring in 3 months.


    For those of you who don''t know, the top 5 colleges all possess a spring that, when entered, increases the likelihood of manifesting a gift.


    "However, the order for entering the pool is based on your rankings, with the top 5 students of each year being granted first access, followed by those ranked 6 to 20, and so forth. However, the magical properties of this pool are limited in effectiveness. For those of you at the later rankings, there may not be much of an effect remaining by the time that you enter.


    "Therefore, all of you must strive to not only maintain your rankings, but also to improve your rankings.


    "Now, I''d like to call the following individuals to the stage: Serena Storm"


    At the very end of the front row, the Cheat stood up and made her way to the stage. Kain could immediately hear the whole room become abuzz with hushed whispers as they couldn''t help but marvel at her stunning features.


    "Kain Newman. Soren Lysander. Ranya Elaris. Kairos Umbrae." S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Heart pounding, Kain made his way to the stage with the other individuals who had had their names called. He tried to appear a lot more confident than he felt. Soren, the arrogant blonde guy during the entrance exam who questioned the rankings, was glaring fiercely at Kain. Likely having identified him as the one who pushed him down to second, now third, place.


    ''But why is he glaring at me and not that Cheat who pushed everyone down without even taking the exam? Can''t bear to glare at the beauty?" Kain thought in disgust, having lost a lot of the respect he''d had for him and glared right back.


    "Take a good look at these faces. These are the individuals you should be aiming to surpass for the next re-rankings."


    Suddenly, it wasn''t only Soren glaring at Kain, the entire room full of students was glaring at the 5 figures on the stage. Over 50 pairs of eyes were examining them critically for any weaknesses they could pounce on. Their eyes more resembled those of starving animals than people, Kain thought he saw one guy even lick his lips while staring at him.


    Sigh


    ''This day just keeps getting better and better.''

 Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Mission Hall

    After being stared at hungrily like a piece of meat for nearly a full minute, Kain and the others were finally allowed to leave the stage and head back to their seats. However, Kain was still able to feel the intense stares coming from the people around him, which he futilely tried to ignore.


    When the orientation was adjourned a short while later Kain and the others had an hour break before their first actual lesson.


    Thankfully, Beast-tamer courses were on Mondays and Wednesdays, while Planner courses were on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays are always off to give students an opportunity to complete missions or tasks they may have. Therefore, he only had one boring orientation to attend today. The Planner orientation and first day of classes began tomorrow.


    To pass the time, they decided to go to the mission hall to see what kind of missions were available to students.


    When they arrived at the mission hall, it was already bustling with activity.


    At the center of the hall were three giant electronic boards. The title of each board was titled with Bronze, Silver, and Gold, mimicking the rankings used for describing spiritual creature quality. However, here they were likely a measure of the difficulty of the mission.


    The Bronze missions rewarded between 1 and 10 credits and were relatively simple for even the lower ranked first-year students, much less the upper-years. The tasks largely consisted of hunting orange-grade and lower spiritual creatures. Some also were escort missions or to collect a specific spiritual plant from a known location.


    The Silver Board gave rewards between 10 and 50 credits each. It consisted of missions where it was recommended to have the strength to take down a yellow-grade spiritual creature. There were also missions to find specific materials that were more rare, located in dangerous areas, or didn''t have as detailed information about where to find them, causing students to waste more time looking.


    The Gold Board had missions worth more than 50 credits, that would be considered challenging for even 4-star beast-tamers. They also seemed to have more difficult completion requirements. For example, one such mission was to hunt an Infernaut. A gold-quality species that is usually yellow-grade by adulthood.


    It was a humanoid creature whose skin was in a constant flux shifting between solid rock and flowing lava, making it rather difficult among those of a similar grade to kill. However, the reason it was a Gold mission and not Silver was because they lived deep within lava, and rarely left.


    Most students would not have a contract suitable to dive into the lava and kill a creature that already has outstanding combat power.


    There was also something else unique about the Gold Board. Unlike the other boards that had all missions clearly displayed and the number of credits obtained upon completion, some of the Gold missions were blacked out to obscure any details.


    "What are those black missions?" Kain asked nobody in particular.


    All of the first-years around him shrugged. Even Addison and Aiden didn''t know the answer.


    "The Black missions are those whose details can only be disclosed to the recipient of the mission. This is often to avoid unnecessary security risks to the student or for the target to become unnecessarily cautious."


    "Target?" How would a spiritual creature even become aware that it was a mission target? It seems like an unnecessary concern.


    "The Black missions are usually some combination of assassination and/or intelligence gathering. Since humans are more tricky opponents, and some of the targets may even be prominent and influential figures, a higher number of credits is rewarded to reflect this difficulty. Not only excellent combat strength would be needed for these missions but also resourcefulness and cunning."


    "If you have no information on the mission though before completing it, then how can you even know if you''re qualified?" Kain asked in confusion.


    "Well when you go over there to select the mission you''d like, if you select a Black Mission then you will be brought to a questionnaire.


    Depending on your responses to the questionnaire, if you are suitable for a mission you will be allowed to accept it and the details will be disclosed to you." The staff member clarified while point to an area with large touch screens sectioned off by privacy curtains to keep more specific mission details only available to those accepting the mission.


    "Want to try and accept one now? We could take a group task as our first mission." Aiden asked. Kain and the others nodded.


    They all went to a screened off area and began to look at the tasks on the screen. As they went behind the screen, Kain realized he was no longer able to hear the bustling in the mission hall. He realized that the screens were equipped with a variety of sigils to prevent eavesdropping.


    "Greetings students!" A female robotic voice suddenly sounded in the space. "It is detected that 7 individuals are in the vicinity. Please keep in mind that you are unable to accept individual missions in the presence of others. Therefore, only missions suitable for parties of 7 will be shown.


    If you would like to look at the individual missions please do so once the other 6 individuals in the vicinity have left."


    They all nodded, and then the long list of tasks suitable for groups appeared along with their difficulty rating, and the credits to be obtained. For group tasks, the number of credits listed would is what each individual in the mission would receive, rather than the total amount to be split amongst everyone.


    However, because of the assistance groups can provide to one another, the profit from group missions is a lot lower than individual ones.


    "Hmmm�� for the bronze-grade tasks we could accept the mission to clear out the Desolaphids. They are only white-grade spiritual creatures, I''m surprised they are even rewarding 5 credits each for it, that''s more than the usual for white-grade creatures." Finn suggested.


    Aiden shook his head, "The reason it is offering so much despite it being a white-grade species is because a Desolaphid infestation of a farm would involve potentially hundreds of thousands of the bugs. We''d need to eliminate every last one otherwise if even one escapes the infestation could start all over again.


    Also, the task description even says that they infested a spiritual plant farm and we need to preserve the plants, so it''s not like we can even burn the field to the ground. And for all of that hard work, we''d only have 5 credits each. Can we even exchange that for anything?" S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It might be difficult for others, but Kain could easily solve it within minutes with a Bea-covered mist.


    "We can accept it." Kain said, and didn''t elaborate.


    The others looked at him in surprise. But Bridge, having ventured into the wilderness with Kain before, likely guessed the method Kain would use and nodded his head.


    Although they seemed a little hesitant, Kain''s first-placed ranking in the entrance exam did have some sway and they still nodded in agreement.


    "Although it is a little wasteful to go all that way just for 5 credits. Look at the Silver and Gold missions to see if there are any other missions in that area we can accept and finish while we''re there." Kain suggested. Thankfully they all seemed to agree.

 Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Black Mission

    "Are we allowed to accept more than one mission though?" Elias asked.


    "Yes. Students can accept up to 3 missions concurrently"


    "Ahh!" They couldn''t help but scream after receiving a response from a disembodied voice. They had thought the previous time was a standard introduction message played for all students, not that the voice could actually respond to their questions. Kain though, already used to having a disembodied voice in his head, didn''t react.


    "G-Great!" Aiden then continued to read through the missions with the others.


    "That one! It''ll give us 33 points each and it doesn''t look as difficult as most Silver missions. It also takes place in the Stormclaw Mountains which are less than an hour walk from the village with the Desolaphid mission.


    The only difficult thing would be that the Pterix we need to hunt will require battling at high altitudes, but several of us��Me, Aiden, and Leonara��all have contracts that can fly." Addison shouted.


    The mission required hunting a group of Tempest Pterix, a gold-quality avian dual attribute wind and lighting spiritual creature that would reach yellow-grade in adulthood. It commands powerful wind and lightning attacks, making aerial combat essential, otherwise they''d just be helpless targets on the ground as they were bombed with lightning strikes.


    Kain agreed. After all, he also had a contract��well, a secondary one��that can fly.


    Confirming that they accepted both missions everyone began to leave. Except for Kain�� he was curious about what the solo missions looked like.


    "Greetings Student. It is detected that there is only one individual in the vicinity. Therefore, only missions suitable for one individual will be shown."


    Kain immediately went to the icon for Black missions. Surprisingly they weren''t listed among the Gold missions as they were outside. After clicking on the icon he was brought to the questionnaire he had heard about.


    "Question 1. Please state your year?"


    "First year��"


    "2. What is the identity and spiritual power level of your contracts?"


    "Both contracts are red-grade. I prefer not to disclose their species��"


    There was a pause, as though its AI was not used to having a student refuse to answer a question.


    "3. What are the attributes of your contracts?"


    "My first is dual water and mental. My second has a wind attribute"


    Kain decided to just answer the questions as though Queen were his actual contract and not Eve. After all, Eve only can exert her effects through Queen.


    "4. Do you have any moral objections to performing assassinations?"


    "Not really. As long as they deserve it I guess." S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "5. You answered that you have a contract with mental attributes. Does it possess any skills to allow the extraction of information from a target?"


    "That''d be cool. But no"


    ��


    After answering more than 30 questions, Kain was beginning to get fed up. He already felt like whatever this test was, he''d very clearly already failed it since he could only answer ''no'' to most questions.


    "37. If given a target for assassination would you be able to discretely complete the mission without the use of poisons?"


    Well, Bea isn''t poison, so��"Yes"


    "38. If given a target for assassination that required no evidence of bodily harm or poison be found in or on the target''s body, would you be able to complete the mission?"


    "Yes"


    This time there was a much longer pause after Kain answered the question.


    "A suitable mission has been assigned. Expected reward: 350 credits"


    "Wait what?!" Kain didn''t actually think he''d be suitable for a mission. Not to mention one so valuable.


    "This mission has stringent requirements on secrecy and the manner of death. Absolutely no physical evidence of foul play such as wounds or poison can be detected. However, due to the target''s identity those above 3-stars will have difficulty interacting with the target. It is imperative that the target''s death look as natural as possible, even when examined by a 6-star beast tamer.


    Therefore, in order to assess your ability to successfully meet these requirements, a test will be held."


    ''Ahhh��it''s those last 2 questions that allowed me to get this mission. It must be rare for anyone, regardless of strength level to have a method of assassination not involving poisons or physical injury. Even most mental attribute skills are more focused on causing hallucinations and manipulating the mind, not capable of killing. At least not until the spiritual creature is above green-grade.


    Therefore, it must be difficult to find anyone at 3-star or below capable of getting close to the target and killing him undetected.''


    The next moment a cage was elevated form the floor. It contained an ordinary mouse, not even of Black-iron quality barely any spiritual power. However, wrapped around its neck was a collar with several gems exuding green-grade spiritual power.


    ''That collar around its neck is probably worth ten times more than everything I own combined��''


    Curious about the purpose of the collar, Kain took his spear out and tried to give a tentative jab in its direction��only to be blown back by a huge force until his back hit the wall.


    "Please note that no physical or poisonous attacks will work. It is encouraged that the student only use the methods you plan to use to complete the mission"


    "You could have mentioned that from the start��" Kain said, while rubbing the bruise at the back of his head.


    Kain then sent a Bea covered fog in the mouse''s direction. In less than three seconds it was dead, completely unable to mount any amount of resistance with no spiritual power.


    The cage then disappeared back into the floor. Likely examining the mouse to see if the method of death is acceptable.


    "Test successful. Do you accept the mission?"


    "Yes"


    Immediately after Kain''s reply, the details of the mission appeared on the screen.


    "Target: Aric Nightsbane"


    "Oh hell no! Absolutely not!"


    "Please note that due to their sensitive nature, once the details of a Black mission have been shown you are obligated to complete it. Failure to do so will result in severe repercussions, including detainment for an indefinite period of time and/or expulsion from the college. It is strongly encouraged that you successfully complete this mission."

 Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Nightsbane

    ''Nightsbane, isn''t that the last name of an old legacy family in the capital. Even I''d heard of them. Although not as influential as the 5 founders, his ancestors also played a role in the establishment of the Empire. I''m supposed to kill one of them?! Why would the college even issue a mission targeting a noble?'' S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The target details are as follows: Aric Nightsbane is the only legitimate grandson of the Nightsbane family. However, despite their illustrious history Aric was unsuccessful in all three of his attempts to awaken an affinity."


    "He''s not even 1-star then. Why is the difficulty of the mission worthy of receiving 350 credits?"


    "Despite his status as an ordinary person, he is nevertheless the legitimate heir of the Nightsbane family, therefore strict measures have been taken to ensure his safety at all times. Elite 5-star guards ensure that nobody above 3-stars is able to approach him unless they have been authorized by the family patriarch, his grandfather Edric Nightsbane��a 6-star beast-tamer."


    "Great��Great! So you want me to kill the grandson of a 6-star beast tamer!"


    Kain was beginning to feel like he was in way over his head.


    "However, the guards are the least challenging obstacle you will have to overcome. Similar to the mouse in the test you just undertook, Aric is adorned in spiritual equipment of at least 5-star quality that prevents assassination attempts by both physical and poisonous means."


    "Haaaa��. So not only a high-profile target, but also one stacked with security measures. How exactly am I supposed to accomplish this?"


    "The target rarely appears in public, and chances of successfully infiltrating the Nightsbane mansion to successfully launch an attack are miniscule. Therefore, the College will notify you of a suitable assassination opportunity when it arises, you are expected to follow the details of the notification immediately upon being informed."


    "So that''s it��you won''t provide any more details until it''s time to start the mission?"


    "Correct. You can go about your daily life as normal."


    "Well, it''s kind of hard to go about my daily life with this hanging over my head. What if the notification occurs years from now? Am I supposed to not go past 3-stars in all that time? Can''t you give me at least a time period I can expect the mission to be?"


    "Apologies. In order to keep the vigilance of the target to a minimum, you will only be made aware at the moment the mission is to occur. Student Kain has now officially accepted 3 concurrent missions and is unable to accept any more. Please make way for the next applicant."


    Since he had been practically kicked out, Kain didn''t insist on overstaying his welcome and left the stall.


    ''So I guess I''m just supposed to go to my first day of classes then, and not think about how my future attendance relies on being able to kill the son of a NOBLE family. If it ever leads back to me I am doomed.''


    He had spent quite a while in the mission hall and there were now mere minutes until his first Introduction to Spiritual Skills class. Therefore, he sprinted across the campus as fast as he could, only arriving at the class with seconds to spare. No time to try and find the others, he just sat in the closest empty seat he could find.


    Almost at the same time he sat, Assistant Professor Nightingale


    "Welcome students to Introduction to Spiritual Skills. I''m sure you all know me from the entrance exam so I will not bother to re-introduce myself. I''m also sure that you''re already fed up with long drawn out speeches on your first day of classes, so I will dive straight into the lesson plan"


    ''Oh, thank god!''


    "Some of you may have already been exposed to using spiritual skills when taught by your families. However, in order to ensure that everyone is caught up we will start from the very basics."


    "Many of you will not be used to using your spiritual power in a meaningful manner. The use of spiritual skills requires extremely fine control. Therefore, we will begin with actively manipulating your spiritual power in a controlled manner to trigger the most basic sense enhancements. These do not require any special technique and can be performed by anyone with fine enough control."


    "Please close your eyes and try your best to follow along. Direct your energy to your head. If you have a migraine, then you have to use too much force. First, we will concentrate the energy to your eyes. If done correctly they should feel warm, if you were to open your eyes you would find that your vision has been magnified several times over."


    "The next key locations are the ears, now listen to see if you can hear the sounds of your classmates'' heartbeats.�� To the nose, can you smell anything new? I had rubbed the oil obtained from a Ribbon Eel on the bottoms of each of your chairs��and then the mouth, to amplify your senses of taste."


    "Thankfully these senses are all within close proximity to one another, so moving between them is extremely simple."


    ''No it''s not!'' Kain wanted to scream. He had superior mental strength compared to the average student, which is supposed to help with control of spiritual power, but even he hadn''t successfully been able to channel the energy into his eyes without feeling as though they were going to burst. Then he had a painful ringing in his ears when he attempted the next location.


    Then he just had an overwhelming urge to sneeze due to his nose tickling, and now his tongue just feels heavy and swollen in his mouth.


    "Now we will work on the last sense, the sense of touch. Move the energy in your head to the palms of your hands. You can try stroking your chairs. Can you more acutely feel the fine lines of the wood?"


    "This rotation among all the five senses will be the subject of your first assessment. However, if you were not able to successfully amplify all 5 senses, don''t be discouraged, the assessment will be not be performed until 2 weeks from now."


    ''I''m not even sure if 2 weeks will be enough time for even me to complete the full rotation, I hope Bridge will be okay''


    "The next few classes until the assessment will consist of independent studying. Therefore, for those of you confident in passing, you can choose whether or not to attend lectures. One of the rare few times this semester when attendance in classes will be optional. These first two weeks are intended to give those of you whose families may not have been able to teach them, an opportunity to catch up.


    Therefore, take advantage of this time and come to class to have any questions answered. This will be the only time that the College will show such leniency."

 Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Conflict Boils Over

    Immediately after Spiritual Skills, they went to the advanced knowledge for Beast-Tamers course, the last course of the day since all of Wednesdays are for the Wilderness Survival course.


    Unfortunately, the old man teaching that course, Professor Wexley, did not have the same philosophy against speeches as Nightingale, and spent the full 2 hours droning on about academic integrity and the expectations for excellence he has.


    By 1 in the afternoon, all classes were thankfully over. Likely because they weren''t in an academic major, they were given ample time outside of classes to train, cultivate, and go on missions. Tuesdays and Thursdays when Kain has his Planner courses would unfortunately be much longer.


    Kain headed back to the dorms immediately. He wasn''t able to successfully amplify even one of his senses, much less all 5. He''d need every second before the assessment to practice if he was going to have any hope of passing.


    However, upon entering the entryway of his new home he was suddenly faced with a piercing green glare for Soren Lysander.


    ''What the hell is his issue with me?!''


    "Sorry, but I don''t swing that way. Maybe that big guy over there will appreciate your flirtatious glances a little more" Kain said while nodding his chin at the largest senior student in the seating area on the first floor.


    "Pfftt hahahah! Aaahhh the first years this year are really interesting" Said a freckled red-head boy with a mischievous grin.


    Soren, likely not expecting Kain''s response, stood there sputtering in shock.


    Not waiting for his reply, Kain walked past him up the stairs.


    "Wait!"


    Kain just continued walking up the stairs.


    "I said, WAIT!"


    "So? I don''t take orders from you."


    That comment seemed to set the blonde boy off, his right arm transformed into the shape of a dragon claw and took a swipe at Kain''s back


    Fortunately, due to his extensive experience in the wild, he was able to dodge in time. After all, the prince couldn''t possibly be faster than an orange-grade spiritual beast.


    "Ha..wow! I didn''t expect you to be so cowardly as to take a cheap shot at someone''s back" S~ea??h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "If you get hit with your guard down, that''s your own damn fault," He said shamelessly, before taking another swipe at Kain, which he once again dodged.


    Kain was now supremely irritated, why exactly does this guy have a grudge against him? If he disagrees so much with the ranking then just wait 3 months to challenge him then.


    "Since you clearly don''t like using your brain, I don''t mind removing it for you," Kain said, stepping towards him now with his spear in hand. ''Bea hasn''t eaten in a couple of days, I guess it''s dinner time.''


    "Enough!" suddenly a tall figure with sandy brown hair appeared between them and intense gold eyes stared sternly at them both. "Fighting is forbidden outside of official duels. Because it''s your first offence, I''ll let it slide just this once, but any future violations will be punished with a fine in credits."


    "Booooooo!"


    "So boring captain!"


    "Why''d you break up the fight?! The newcomers are so wonderfully feisty this year."


    All of the upper-year students that were downstairs started raising a ruckus at having their source of entertainment stopped.


    Suddenly the front door of the mansion opened and the Cheat, Serena, stepped in.


    Immediately all of the shouts stopped.


    ''She really does have a face that could stop traffic''


    Kain noticed that the idiotic prince also had a foolishly infatuated look.


    "You have got to be shitting me! Her?! You''re acting like such a damn fool due to her?!"


    Kain didn''t bother to keep his voice down to spare the oaf''s feelings so likely everyone in the foyer heard, especially with their more sensitive hearing due to spiritual power.


    Suddenly they were once again the targets of everyone''s gazes. And Soren''s face turned red from embarrassment.


    Kain stepped closer to him and lowered your voice. "You know��if you really want a rank next to her so bad, you''ll have it once I push her down to second."


    Kain then marched up the stairs to his room. What a joke! He couldn''t believe that the other was prepared to fight him just because his room was in the wing of the house next to his crush. Kain didn''t even think he could look at the other guy seriously from now on.


    ''But he was like this since the admissions exam. I thought he just couldn''t take being second. But did he already know that she''d be coming here and be first place no less?''


    "Whatever. I don''t care about that idiot''s love life��" Kain muttered before stepping into his bedroom.


    Kain had more urgent matters to attend to��passing that spiritual skills assessment in two weeks.


    Outside


    After Kain left the scene, Soren was the sole bearer of all those stares.


    Serena, expression as cold as ever, simply walked up the stairs past everyone, including Soren.


    "Serena," He called reaching out to her.


    However, she simply gave him a cold glance before continuing upstairs and out of sight.


    "Aaawwww. Don''t mind it first-year!" yelled out the red-haired boy.


    "Fuck off!!!" He yelled before storming up the stairs as well.


    The front door once again opened to reveal another first-year, shorter than average with slick-backed black hair and dressed neatly in a fitted casual suit��Kairos Umbrae.


    "What?" He called out hesitantly at being suddenly stared at by a lobby full of seniors.


    Seeing that he wouldn''t be adding to their entertainment they all let out bored sighs before going back to their business.


    Kain spent the rest of the day practicing his control over his spiritual skills, only stopping briefly to eat dinner downstairs, not wanting to spend the extra time to go to the common cafeteria and eat with Bridge and the others.


    However, he had to stop at night due to a terrible migraine although he hadn''t yet made much progress.


    Instead, he just spent the majority of the night condensing spiritual power. The events that day had made him realize that there were dozens of talented students all coveting his spot. Even he wasn''t fully content with his rank and wanted to be first. Thankfully, the environment here seemed to complement the Planetarium, allowing him to cultivate with even greater ease.

 Chapter 96: Chapter 96: System Upgrade

    The next day was extremely uneventful.


    Despite being very different departments, the Beast-tamer and Planner orientations had almost identical content, the only difference being that instead of completing missions, Planner students are required to complete at least one evolution plan for a Beast-tamer per year, the quality of which will be assessed by the Professors of the department and assigned a grade.


    The grade at the end of the year will reward a certain number of credits that can be exchanged for items from the school.


    To maximize his income, Kain couldn''t afford to slack off in either major.


    Additionally, all of the professors for the Planner courses also decided to just spend the day giving long speeches.


    ''What a waste of a day. Couldn''t they just send out an email with all this information?''


    At least before his other classes pick up, he''d have an opportunity to continue focusing solely on his spiritual skills course. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, during the night he received a System notification distracting him from practice.


    After a moment of hesitation on whether or not he should stop practicing to check out the results of the upgrade, he eventually concluded that he wouldn''t be able to focus from the curiosity and went to investigate.


    ''I''m short on time so summarize the results of the upgrade as soon as possible''


    *Host''s request confirmed. Preparing to summarize the results of the upgrade��*


    *Host now has access to the laboratory*


    Kain waited for more. However, after over a minute passed, no more information was provided. It looked like the System really chose to summarize the results of its upgrade as concisely as possible.


    Sigh


    ''Please open the panel for the laboratory and summarize its function''


    *Now bringing Host to the Laboratory*


    Kain thought that the laboratory was just a new function in the System panel. However, similar to the Planetarium his consciousness was actually brought to a large mostly empty room with white tile floors and white walls.


    ''Shouldn''t a laboratory have more stuff in it? This is pretty much empty''


    *Additional equipment and functions will be added to the laboratory with system upgrades. However, the Host will not be disappointed by the current equipment available*


    The only piece of equipment was a futuristic machine featuring a large, ultra-thin holographic screen with a nearly invisible metallic frame. Next to this screen was a glass cell, illuminated by internal lights.


    Kain walked up to it but couldn''t figure out its function.


    ''Please explain what this is for me''


    *Answering Host. It is a Simulator. The machine allows the user to scan available materials and spiritual creatures to simulate evolution. Allowing the Host to accurately predict the evolutionary form and success rate without having the risk of wasted materials from an unsuccessful evolution or, even worse an unfavourably weak evolutionary form*


    ''Holy shit! I didn''t know you had it in you'' Kain was used to the System being quite mediocre as far as cheats go. However, this was the first time he''d actually been pleasantly surprised at the System''s capabilities.


    ''How does it work? Can it only work on my contracts''


    *The Simulator can be used with any spiritual creature you have made contact with, not only your contracts. It can also use any evolutionary materials you have made contact with to run a simulation. The Host can use the screen in front of you to select from the available database of spiritual creatures and materials to run a Simulation right now*


    With anticipation Kain immediately turned to the screen, There were dozens of creatures in the database: ones seen at the breeding grounds, ones he''s fought in the wild, contracts of others that he''s met.


    ''Hmm��which should I pick?''


    He selected the Lumifin, in all of the nights Kain spent in a tree above Bea infected river water, a few of her victims over the nights were this light and water dual attribute, Black-iron quality species. Kain looked at its image on the computer��It was quite good-looking, although it was extremely weak.


    The Lumifin resembles a small, ethereal fish with translucent, shimmering fins that glow softly in various hues. About the size of a house cat, it has a streamlined, serpentine body and delicate, bioluminescent markings that change color according to its emotions. Its bioluminescent scales allow it to create flashes of light to provide temporary cover and disorientation.


    However, such defensive measures against predators were useless against Bea.


    It was usually caught as a decorative fish for the ponds of affluent families due to its beauty. But it had no combat power, and no known evolutionary form, therefore no beast-tamer would ever form a contract with it.


    Although, it not being suitable contract likely played a role in no Planner researching it to find a decent evolutionary form, if it has one. If it can evolve, the form probably has unusual requirements not commonly met in nature, otherwise, there''d also be reported cases of it evolving in the wild.


    After selecting the Lumifin, Kain was given the option to select up to 5 evolutionary materials.


    Selecting 5 options randomly to try it out, the fish on the screen became obscured by the blinding light of evolution.


    Gradually the light faded to reveal��a truly hideous creature. It has a bloated, misshapen body with uneven, ragged fins that barely glow. Its skin is a murky, mottled gray with patches of a sickly yellow, and it lacks the smooth, streamlined appearance of its successful ancestors. Its eyes are small and beady, giving it a perpetually disoriented look.


    Kain then read the species description provided by the System. Based on the description it was a black-iron quality spiritual creature that had poorly developed abilities: its light manipulation was weak and unreliable, often producing dim, flickering glows or unwanted shadows.


    In summary, it was a complete failure. Not only did the quality not go up. The few merits that Lumifin originally did have were completely gone with this evolution.


    If he tried to sell this Gloomtail it''d probably be worth less than any one of the materials used in the evolution.


    However, Kain was not surprised by such horrid results. He had not learned the necessary knowledge to plan an evolution from his Planner major.


    Also, it''s not like this simulation costs anything, he can continue to experiment whenever he has some free time.


    *Actually Host, only the first Simulation is free as a test trial, every subsequent simulation will cost 100 GP*


    ''Damn it! Then tell me that beforehand! I would have taken this one more seriously.''

 Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Spiritual Skill Assessment

    Two weeks later


    The workload for both majors quickly started to get a lot more intense. Thankfully, Kain was able to just barely complete the rotation of sense enhancement, and the assessment was today.


    With a feeling of nervousness, he headed to the exam room, not even bothering to have breakfast in case the lingering tastes and smells from the food impeded his performance.


    He honestly hadn''t felt so uncertain about the outcome of a test in his life. Yes, he had succeeded at enhancing all five senses, but he still didn''t have a 100% success rate, and he wasn''t sure how nerves may impact his performance.


    Kain ran into Bridge outside of the exam building. Due to the nature of many exams for various departments, isolation between test-takers is necessary. Therefore, the majority of exams were held in a building with small individual rooms for each student.


    "How do you feel?" Kain asked.


    "Not sure�� most of them are okay, but smell is only 50/50. I wish we had more than 2 weeks to prepare."


    Kain nodded. Many students have had the chance to practice this for months already with their families. However, I guess he should be grateful that they are even giving them an opportunity to catch up and not just dive straight into the more complicated lessons.


    After entering his assigned room, Kain sat at the sole desk in the room.


    Moments later a volunteer senior student came in to the room placed a test paper and a box on the desk, and then hung a poster and placed an open jar of liquid on the wall opposite him.


    "Proctors for this test will be coming to each room and placing your exam materials. Please note that at no time during this test, except explicitly stated otherwise, are you allowed to leave your seat. Nor are you allowed to utilise your spiritual power prior to the exam''s official start time.


    All rooms are heavily monitored and the inability to abide by these guidelines will result in immediate failure. The assessment will begin in exactly 5 minutes, and the duration is 1 hour." Professor Nightingale''s voice rang out from the speakers of each room.


    Exactly 5 minutes later a notification to start the assessment began while a quiet humming appeared in the background.


    Kain decided to start with what was easiest for him��sight. He looked at the test paper for directions.


    "Please write down all of the words that appear on the opposite poster below."


    Originally, the poster just looked blank, but upon enhancing his sight, he could see extremely tiny text in a font so small that it was hard to read even after the enhancement, and to make it even more difficult the text colour was only slightly off-white. Even after enhancing his sight, reading it all was a headache.


    However, Kain took his time writing down the short passage on the wall word for word. It appeared to be an excerpt from some historical text retelling the events of when Dark Moon College was first officially established.


    Sigh


    Kain''s head had already begun to pound and he''d only done one sense.


    He decided to focus on smell next. According to the test paper, the jar opposite should be giving off a distinct odour that he must describe.


    However, even after enhancing his sense of smell��nothing.


    Therefore, he was forced to enhance the sense of smell even more until he felt as though he''d sneeze, but he finally smelled something. And it was horrible! How was she able to even suppress such a smell to where he had to work so hard to smell it?!


    The jar had a terrible stench of rotting fish and mildew. The smell was a nauseating blend of decay and sourness, like a forgotten dumpster left to fester in the summer heat.


    Looking at the test paper it appears as though he was required to write down the large number on the side of the jar, visible even without enhanced senses, and then circle a description for the smell from sweet, flowery, spicy, stinky, and musky.


    ''Did we all not get the same scent?! Don''t tell me others are getting to smell rosses while my nose is being clawed at by this foul odour!''


    After circling his answer, he continued the directions on the test paper and lifted the box on his table to reveal a smooth white tile, and what looked to be a cracker.


    He smelled the cracker, but even with that sense enhanced got no clues. He then moved his spiritual power to his tongue and took only a tiny piece of the cracker off in case it tasted horrible.


    Surprisingly, it tasted as though he bit directly into a lemon. The tartness hit the palate with electrifying intensity, causing him to pucker his lips.


    Similarly, he got 5 options to choose from and a space to record the number on the box. He circled ''sour and citrusy.'' Looking at some of the less pleasant options available he felt a little better about the previous attack on his nose.


    He was now more than halfway done and had 30 minutes left��the sight test took longer than expected.


    Unfortunately, the other 2 tests did not appear as though they''d be any quicker. According to the test paper, the seemingly smooth surface should have an image on it.


    On the test paper was an empty box to draw the shape. Thankfully, although it did take a while to feel all of the details, it didn''t require the artistic talent of Picasso to draw the shape. It was simply a hexagon with 6 triangles projected from each side. At the tip of each triangular projection was a small circle. Now that Kain looked at it, it resembled a sheriff''s star badge.


    Now he had 18 minutes left according to the timer on the wall.


    According to the test paper the faint humming sound that began at the start of the test should actually be a voice repeating the same phrase over and over. S��ar?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "��stars��sweet��you��" Focusing on his hearing, Kain could only faintly make out some of the words. However, he could now tell that it appeared to be a nursery rhyme only about a minute long. Therefore he focused even harder at the cost of a splitting headache and was able to gradually make out the words:


    "Beasts and stars will sing you through,


    Nighttime''s magic all for you,


    Close your eyes and dream so sweet,


    Magic dreams are yours to meet��"


    After listening to it at least 12 times he was able to get the verses along with the chorus. It also had a slight trick at the end where the lyrics in the last chorus changed a bit. If a student decided to just lazily right down the previous chorus lyrics they heard before at the end, they would lose valuable points.


    He had 3 minutes left, but was unable to leave unless authorized, therefor he spent the remaining time just going over his answers.


    "Time''s up! Please drop your writing utensils and immediately exit your exam room."

 Chapter 98: Chapter 98: A Grave Mistake

    Exiting the room Kain and the others had already decided to meet up at a caf�� on campus for lunch.


    "So what flavour did everybody get? Mine was disgustingly bitter." Elias said. His face even looked paler than usual, likely due to whatever flavour he obtained.


    ''Nice to know I wasn''t the only one to suffer for the exam''


    "Mine was sour. It could have been worse. But I definitely got the worst smell available"


    "Me too!" Yelled Leonara. "Jar number 3, right?"


    Kain nodded in agreement.


    "Was number 3 all of the bad ones? The super bitter cracker was also in box number 3."


    "My luck wasn''t so bad. I got scent number 4, which smelled like lavender. And the number 1 cracker which honestly tasted delicious." Kain couldn''t help but glare at Finn. This guy hadn''t had to suffer at all?! The test probably felt like a tea party in a flower garden for him.


    "What are all these numbers you guys are talking about?" Bridge interrupted.


    "Dude��the numbers that were on the jar and box for the test?" As Aiden answered, everyone turned to see clear confusion on Bridge''s face.


    "Please tell me that you are kidding me, Bridge. You did write down the numbers on the jar and box on the test paper, right?" Kain implored.


    "No�� were we supposed to?"


    Everyone at the table couldn''t help but burst into laughter. Aiden shook his head in disbelief, while Kain facepalmed, trying to suppress his chuckles. The other students around them snickered, some barely containing their amusement as they glanced at Bridge''s puzzled expression.


    Bridge looked around, his face flushed with embarrassment as he realized the gravity of his mistake. "Wait a minute," he said, his voice faltering, "you''re telling me I won''t get any of those marks because I didn''t put down the numbers for the jars and boxes? That''s 3 out of 5 questions that I''ve failed!" His eyes widened as the realization sank in. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yeah," Aiden replied, trying to hold back his laughter. "Without those numbers, the teacher can''t even tell which jar or box you were answering about. It''s like you left the answers completely blank."


    Kain patted Bridge on the back in comfort, "It''s just the beginning of the year and there will definitely be more opportunities to bring your grade up to the minimum B."


    After the assessment, they continued to their Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamer''s course. The main topic for the last few weeks has been focused on understanding attribute interactions and their applications.


    Kain was especially interested in these lectures due to the mist he creates being an example of the fusion of two attributes��water and wind.


    The lecturer went into depth about how the different attributes interact can create a synergistic effect greater than the sum of their parts. For instance, combining light and healing skills to create powerful restorative spells or integrating water and earth skills to create mud and change the terrain for strategic purposes.


    Due to beast-tamers being responsible for multiple contracts, it is a waste to think of them independently. Therefore, if Kain wanted to ensure his success in the re-ranking, or even at the national tournament, he must begin to explore how the different skills of his contracts may enhance one another.


    Thankfully, this course gave him some brilliant ideas. The professor went into depth analyzing historical cases where the combinations of attributes and skills have played a critical role in legendary battles or the creation of revolutionary inventions.


    For example, in the absence of a creature like the Desolaphid that destroys crops, famines are now extremely rare due to the creation of artifacts that combine earth, wind, and water attribute sigils to manipulate soil and weather conditions in a small area.


    He also went into detail about historical examples of failed attribute fusions with unintended disastrous consequences.


    The most famous example was the Eclipse of Serenis. Before the establishment of the empire, beast attacks were more common on city-states. Therefore beast-tamers of one city-state, Serenis, wished to combine the dark and light attributes to create an all-encompassing shield that could protect an entire city. They believed that the balance of light and darkness would result in an impenetrable barrier.


    And if done correctly, the perfect fusion of opposing attributes can be incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, they were not precise enough in the techniques. Instead of a balanced shield, the clash between the opposing energies created an unstable vortex that began to absorb everything in its vicinity.


    The city was engulfed by this vortex, which drew in both light and matter, causing widespread destruction and leaving the city in ruins. Survivors reported the area becoming a barren wasteland with severe elemental anomalies.


    Naturally, Kain doesn''t plan to do anything as ambitious as forming a shield over a city. But the current attributes he has access to��water, mental, wind, and life��may be able to exert an effect of 1 + 1 is greater than 2, if he uses them correctly.


    Therefore, in addition to increasing his contracts'' raw strength, he will need to focus on improving their teamwork as well. Heck, when he goes on the upcoming group mission, it may also be an opportunity to experiment with the combination of skills between his contracts and Bridge and the others''.


    Speaking of, after finishing up the remainder of the week, Friday morning Kain left with Bridge and the others to Moonvale village, the location of their first mission. The village''s main source of income was the spiritual plants that the villagers grew, which is precisely why this infestation was so devastating.


    Unfortunately, because the roads there were not paved and required driving through dense parts of the forest, using a much faster motor vehicle was not possible.


    However, the college also occasionally bought spiritual plants from that village, and a group of workers will be travelling there that morning.


    After paying 1000 CD each in order to hitch a ride along, they all boarded the spiritual beast carriages and headed on their way to the village.

 Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Ambush

    The sun dipped below the horizon, casting an amber glow over the dense forest as Kain and his friends settled into the spiritual beast carriage.


    The rhythmic clatter of wheels on the track filled the air, blending with the murmured conversations of the group. Everyone was very relaxed. The journey to Moonvale village was expected to be smooth, and the mission ahead clear and straightforward, especially with the help of Bea.


    Kain sent his consciousness into the Planetarium to not waste time on the trip that he could be practicing. Bridge, had released both Lady and Princess and was fussing over them.


    The twins Aiden and Addison were deep in discussion about the latest gossip they had heard; Leonara, looked serene as always, but especially so when taking a nap like she was currently; Finn, absorbed in his own thoughts; and Elias appeared to be playing a game of chess against himself with a board that appeared out of nowhere.


    However, despite their separate actions, the sense of camaraderie among them was palpable. As was their collective excitement about the upcoming mission mixed with a tangible sense of anticipation.


    Suddenly, the peaceful journey was shattered by a deafening roar.


    From the dense forests ahead, a pack of rogue spiritual beasts emerged, their eyes glinting with hunger.


    The workers on the carriage exchanged alarmed glances and sprang into action. "Stay back!" one of them shouted, his voice tense. "This is a dangerous situation!"


    Attacking the carriages were a group of red and orange-grade creatures from several species: Hungralisks��massive, serpent-like creatures with razor-sharp teeth and mouth so large they could easily swallow a full-grown man in one bite; Brambleskins��a stout, thorn-covered creatures resembling a walking thorn bush that launched spikes like projectiles and manipulated the surrounding vegetation to attack; and Shadeclaws��nimble, feline-type spiritual creatures with dark fur that seem to absorb all light, that were occasionally unleashing disorienting bursts of shadows to confuse the workers.


    "Stay inside!" one of the workers barked at Kain and his friends. "It''s unnecessary for paying customers to step in!"


    "I thought different species of spiritual creatures only work together in the event of a beast tide?" Leonara questioned within the carriage.


    "They usually do��unless they are that desperate for food and resources. This doesn''t bode well. There may be another beast tide within the next year," Aiden said solemnly.


    "But wasn''t there one just last year? They used it for the previous entrance exam." Bridge questioned.


    "Yeah�� and there''s usually at least 3 to 5 years between them. But they have apparently been picking up in frequency lately, but another one in less than 2 years must be a record��I wonder what the reason is?" sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The workers, though experienced, were clearly overwhelmed.


    Their variety of contracts deployed barriers and elemental skills, but the relentless assault of the rogue beasts made it clear they needed more help.


    There were at least 16 creatures attacking. A Hungralisk had wrapped its coils around the wheels of the carriage, and the Shadeclaws'' shadows were causing chaos. The Brambleskins hurled thorns and created barriers of tangled vines, further complicating the workers'' efforts.


    Despite the workers telling them to stay in the carriage, Kain and his companions could see the severity of the situation. The carriage was being battered, and the workers struggled to maintain control. It was clear that they needed to step in.


    Kain immediately released all of his Vespirae guards, now the full 12, who quickly flew through the field and began sniping at the attackers with their ejected stingers. He didn''t release a Bea containing mist to not reduce visibility for the workers and further endanger them.


    Bridge sprang into action next, releasing Lady, who promptly darted around the battlefield with breathtaking speed, her incredible agility allowing her to evade a Hungralisk''s attacks before counterattacking.


    Aiden and Addison, each called upon their contracts to target the surrounding Brambleskins. Like themselves, they also had similar contracts, bound to wind and fire sprites, respectively.


    The Wind Sprite soared through the air, its wind blasts sending the searing flames produced by the Fire Sprite flying above the battlefield at the Brambleskins, incinerating their thorny projectiles and forcing several to retreat with the overwhelming blaze.


    Leonara''s contract, a light-attribute butterfly the Aurelia, soared high with its wings emitting brilliant beams of light that cut through the darkness and inhibited the creation of shadows by the Shadeclaws. Aurelia''s light not only dispelled the shadows cast by the Shadeclaws but also had a calming effect on the minds of the scared and disoriented workers below.


    Finn summoned an ice-attribute serpent, a Frostfang. Biting into the Hungralisk wrapped around the carriage, it caused it to be afflicted by an icy chill that hindered its further constricting, buying time for Elias to take action before the carriage was permanently damaged.


    However, Elias'' contract was probably the most surprising. In contrast to his sombre appearance, he was bound to a large ball of cotton with large drowsy-looking eyes, a Slumberpuff. Pieces of fluff began to stick to the Hungralisk wrapped around the carriage. Gradually, its eyes also began to look as drowsy as the Slumberpuff''s.


    The battle was intense, but the combined efforts of Kain''s group and the workers eventually began to turn the tide. Bridge took out his heavy sword and began to chop the large snake wrapped around the carriage''s wheel into pieces. The Shadeclaw, once a formidable opponent, was repelled by Aurelia''s radiant light.


    Addison and Aiden''s combined attacks successfully subdued the Brambleskins, rendering them harmless.


    Exhausted but victorious, Kain and his friends helped secure the carriage and assess the damage.


    The workers, though relieved, were visibly shaken. However, they did not scold Kain and the others for going against their instructions, and thanked them for their timely assistance.


    Although they knew they were students at a top 5 college, in the face of a group of orange-grade beasts, they had not expected the group of 2-star beast tamers with only red-grade contracts to actually be the key to turning the tides of the battle.


    As the carriage resumed its journey to Moonvale village, Kain and the others reflected on the unexpected battle.


    The ambush gave them a chance to better understand each other''s abilities, and though it had delayed their progress, they were more prepared for their future missions.

 Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Moonvale Village

    Thankfully, the rest of their journey to Moonvale Village was uneventful.


    The vale was a serene haven nestled within a lush valley, surrounded by towering, mountains that rose majestically all around it.


    The mountains created a natural barrier that sheltered the village, giving it an almost enchanting quality.


    They were arriving early in the morning, so the vale was bathed in a soft, warm light.


    The village itself was a picturesque gathering of quaint, charming cottages with thatched roofs and stone walls covered in climbing ivy. Wooden beams and colorful flower boxes add a touch of warmth and homeliness to the architecture.


    Cobblestone pathways wind through the village, leading to small, well-tended gardens and a central square where villagers gather. The air was filled with the sweet, fresh scent of blooming flowers and herbs, although this pleasant aroma was now marred by a faint, unpleasant odour caused by decaying spiritual plants.


    Next to the village was a large field. As Kain and the others approached the field they saw a large variety of spiritual plants.


    These plants, which range from tall, luminescent grasses to delicate, glowing flowers, add to the vale''s enchanting atmosphere. However, the beauty of these plants had been compromised by an infestation of small insects crawling all over��Desolaphids.


    They were small, white translucent bugs with a soft, glowing sheen. They are clustered in large numbers on the plants, feeding on their essence and causing significant damage.


    The plants'' once vivid colours had faded, their leaves now covered with brown and yellow patches, and many had gaping holes where the Desolaphids had fed. The damage was particularly severe in some areas, where entire patches of plants were wilting, their vitality sapped by the feeding insects.


    Someone must have notified the villagers that a mission had been taken up by Dark Moon students because they began to gather in large numbers outside of the field.


    They turned questioningly to the village chief who had escorted them to the field upon their arrival.


    "Please forgive them. The spiritual plants are the main source of income for the village, so everyone is incredibly concerned with the eradication of these pests. They are also worried about your chances of success.


    After all, it''s been a while since help was requested from the College, but it doesn''t seem as though this is an easy problem to solve even for you top 5 college students," the chief explained.


    At his words, everyone began to look graver and more burdened by their mission. The livelihoods of all these people depended on them. Then they all turned to Kain. They had been apprehensive themselves about accepting this mission but had chosen to do so due to Kain''s confidence in being able to remove the infestation. S��arch* The ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Without another word, Kain inputted his spiritual power to cause a mist to spread throughout the field.


    It was difficult to see deep into the mist, but those watching saw that almost instantly wherever the mist passed the bugs began to drop off the plants quickly.


    The mist was unable to cover the entire field at once, only about a third. Therefore, Kain began to slowly walk into the field where the mist had already passed.


    Until eventually, every inch of the entire field had been covered once by the mist. However, to make absolutely sure, Kain continued to do several more loops around the field to ensure not a single Desolaphid escaped.


    After receiving further confirmation from Bea that none appeared to be alive still, he withdrew the mist. Finally, the others were able to see the now-uninfested plants.


    All of the soil was now covered in the translucent shiny insects that fell to the ground, appearing like snowflakes. Despite their immense destruction, they were quite beautiful.


    Seeing all of the dead bodies, everyone watching appeared hopeful but also doubtful. If even one managed to escape, they''d have another infestation in a few weeks.


    "Are you confident?" The village chief asked hesitantly.


    "I can''t say for 100% certain that every single one is dead. However, if another infestation does occur, I will provide my contact details and return for free if it is necessary. Hopefully, by that time my spiritual power would have also increased to a level that I can cover this whole field."


    Kain hoped that this answer was satisfactory. After all, this chief would need to sign off on their completion of the mission for them to receive the credits.


    The chief held Kain''s gaze for almost a full minute before nodding and turning to the villagers "The infestation is gone!"


    After his words, the Moonvale villagers erupted into a jubilant celebration to honour Kain and his friends.


    The village square, which had been sombre and subdued during the infestation, now brimmed with life and festivity. Lanterns crafted from luminescent blossoms were hung from every available surface, casting a soft, enchanting glow that bathed the entire area in a warm, golden light.


    The soft, melodious chords of traditional music filled the air, played by local musicians using instruments crafted from natural materials and enchanted with sigils to enhance their effect on the listener.


    Villagers, adorned in colourful, handwoven garments and floral garlands, danced with infectious joy. Their movements were fluid and graceful, reflecting the rhythmic beauty of the music.


    The centrepiece of the celebration was a grand feast set out on long, wooden tables covered with intricately embroidered cloths. Traditional Moonvale foods and spiritual wines were prominently displayed on the table.


    The most prominent component of the table was the Moonlight Elixir; a sparkling wine infused with the essence of moonflowers, a low-level spiritual plant known to have a soothing effect on the mind. Its flavour is crisp and refreshing, with hints of citrus and a touch of sweetness.


    Sipping the wine, Kain was suddenly struck by the idea, that his affinity is perfectly suited for the production of wines, beers and other fermented products. Perhaps he could consider this avenue for income in the future.


    After they finished with the festivities, they retired to the rooms the villagers assigned them to. The first mission they took up was easier than they all anticipated due to Kain, but the second mission would surely be much more difficult.

 Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Pterix Hunting

    After a night well rested, Kain and the others set off for the location of their second mission��Lunar Peak.


    Only a 2-hour ride on Night Mares, the towering mountain was shrouded in a soft, mist veil that gave it an otherworldly appearance. That combined with the smooth, silvery rock composing majority of the mountain that shimmered under the sunlight, one could imagine for beautiful it''d look under the moonlight��likely being the cause for its name.


    The Lunar Peak sits at the intersection of 4 villages including Moonvale Village and holds great significance for all villages. It is considered a sacred place, and various lunar festivals and ceremonies are held at its base or even at its summit, depending on the time of year. The peak is associated with wisdom, tranquility, and the moon''s mystical powers.


    Additionally, historically the affinity ceremony for all 4 villages'' children are held together at this very mountain each year.


    However, recently a flock of Tempest Pterix, mostly all orange-grade juveniles but led by one adult yellow-grade, have settled into the top of the mountain, preventing the villages from holding this year''s Lunar Radiance Festival in a week.


    Therefore, it was urgent that this group either be driven away or, preferably, eradicated.


    As they approached the mountain, even from far away they could occasionally see some Pterix take flight and circle the mountain. They were easy to spot due to the impressive wingspans. Each wing is probably longer than 2 Kains lying down.


    As they got closer, they were able to make out more details, especially after enhancing their eyesight as they had learned in class.


    The feathers of the Tempest Pterix were a mesmerizing blend of electric blue and stormy gray, interspersed with streaks of bright, lightning-yellow. The feathers had a metallic sheen, especially around the edges, giving them a slightly reflective quality that glimmers in the light.


    Indicative of their penchant for launching devastating lightning bolts at targets, there were faint, glowing veins running through their feathers, which pulse with a soft, electric blue light.


    One of them likely spotted Kain''s group in return and suddenly a chorus of loud screeches began to sound out. Possibly to inform the others of the group that they had company, or it could have been directed at Kain''s group as a warning to not approach any closer��a warning they would obviously not follow.


    Likely seeing that the intruders were still approaching, they grew louder in agitation, and Kain and the others could see the distinctive crest of feathers on their heads begin to stand erect from the static electricity like a mane when it prepared to attack. The crest feathers were a vibrant, electrifying yellow and often crackled energy.


    "Ready? We follow the plan," Kain said. On the 2-hour walk over they had each summarized their contracts'' abilities to better help to come up with a plan for battle. Although obviously nobody probably disclosed everything. Although friends they were also all opponents in the next re-ranking.


    Without warning, a powerful gust of wind swept through the trees, causing them to sway violently. The sudden shift in the air was accompanied by the thunderous flapping of wings. Five Pterix had decided to launch an attack and were swiftly headed towards them.


    Kain covered their group in mist to obscure their ability to aim at them. Unfortunately, he could not extend the mist to fully cover the mountain or those in the sky, only able to prevent the Pterix from accurately aiming at them. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The first Tempest Pterix descended like a bolt from the blue, unleashing a powerful lightning strike that sizzled through the air and struck the ground near Kain and his friends. Thankfully, they had all moved from their original spots otherwise it would have hit Finn straight-on.


    Still they could feel the force of the blow as the ground erupted in a shower of sparks and debris, sending the group scrambling for cover. The Tempest Pterix''s electric aura crackled menacingly as the creatures flew overhead.


    Within the mist, the others'' contracts were already prepared for battle. Not able to afford to hold back against an orange-grade opponent, Kain not only released the guards, but also Queen, who promptly used her skill to boost their abilities.


    Due to Lady not having any long-range skills currently, Bridge was relying mostly on Princess in this battle, while Lady remained in wait in the mist. Similar to the battle against the wasps, Princess used a skill to drastically decrease the temperature in the area. Kain could see the wings of one Pterix being covered in frost as it frantically flapped its wings to stay in the air.


    Aiden''s Wind Sprite, soared into the fray, summoning powerful gusts to deflect the Pterix''s lightning although, due to the gap in power between them, the sprite could only slightly alter the course of each strike. Still, its control over the wind allowed it to alter the course of several attacks and shield her allies from the worst of the storm.


    Addison and Leonara''s contracts, being the only other ones that can fly, launched a coordinated assault on another Pterix. The goal of all of the flying contracts was cause the Pterix high above to sink into the mist, where Kain''s "poison" in the mist will be able to affect them.


    Surprisingly, Princess was the first to achieve success, likely due to her Absolute Zero passive skill that made all skills she launched even colder than average. A Pterix with frosted wings finally sank into the mist and Bea was able to infect it.


    However, as an orange-grade creature, Bea couldn''t kill it directly. However, she was able to affect it severely enough by impeding its sense of balance so that it could not fly up, and slowly sank to the ground. In wait was Elias'' Slumberpuff, who began to make it drowsy by covering it in pieces of fluff.


    This contract works perfect with Bea, once the target began to be dazed, Bea found it a lot easier to affect. Soon, it was in a coma on the ground and a waiting Vespirae guard, already boosted by Queen ended with a shot to the head.


    *Ding. Host has killed one orange-grade spiritual beast.*


    After the attack on the way to Moonvale Village, Kain had already completed the missions of killing 10 orange-grade and red-grade creatures once each, giving him over 400 GP. After this battle, he may be able to complete the mission for hunting orange-grade beasts a second time to receive another 350 GP.


    Good thing too, since he hadn''t had any opportunities to increase GP while at school and he was left quite poor after the upgrade.

 Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Pterix Hunting (2)

    They continued a similar strategy of Princess, some of the Vespirae guards, and Addison and Leonara''s contracts working together to drop them into the mist where Slumberpuff and Bea will then make them sink to the ground in a daze. Aiden''s contract will deflect any attacks aimed at their contracts fighting above.


    Then on the ground the finishing blow was dealt either by the remaining 3 Vespirae guards in the mist, Lady, or Finn''s contracts��Frostfang, who Kain had seen before, and a Terravipe, an earth-attribute snake.


    In no time the five Pterix were cleared. However, they knew that this was just the warm-up. They had still not seen the yellow-grade adult supposed to be leading the flock. Also, there were probably more orange and red-grade juvenile Pterix on the mountain.


    Before the team could even catch their breath, the air around them began to stir ominously. The sky darkened, and the once-clear atmosphere grew charged with energy.


    A low, rumbling growl reverberated from the direction of Lunar Peak, the towering mountain that looms in the background.


    A Tempest Pterix at least double the size of the others quickly descended the mountain in their direction with a fierce screech that echoed across the vale, signaling its anger and intent. The creature''s eyes were ablaze with a fiery intensity, and its wings crackled with electrical energy.


    Lagging behind it were 3 additional, much smaller reinforcements. Kain used more of his spiritual power to make the mist as dense as possible. He could feel the immense pressure from where he stood. If he was alone, he''d feel as hopeless as he did when attacked by the White Widow the first time.


    To eliminate the subordinates as quickly as possible, Princess and the wasps launched attacks to cause them sink rapidly into the mist.


    The quickest of those on the ground, Lady quickly sped up to where they landed and snapped the neck of two, only leaving one for a Vespirae to finish off.


    ''My GP points!'' Kain thought in tears. But he couldn''t dwell on it too long before more serious matters.


    ''Now is the hard part, how do we bring it down?''


    "Try aiming for one of its wings! The right one!" Kain shouted. If they could damage a wing, it shouldn''t be able to continue flying.


    Immediately, everyone who had a contract with a long-distance attack aimed for the wing on the right��except for Bridge who directed Princess to attack the other wing.


    Kain couldn''t help but stare at him blankly, as Bridge blushed. "I-I wasn''t sure if you meant our right or its right��"


    "OUR RIGHT!"


    Unfortunately, their attacks didn''t have any effect except to piss it off.


    "Hmm��" Kain needed to drastically increase their strength to leave a heavy enough blow. But how?


    Suddenly he remembered the wasps'' berserker skill that could only be activated when Queen was in danger. Struck by an idea on how to activate this skill when he wanted, Kain directed Eve to leave Queen''s body. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Immediately he could sense an intense rejection for the order from hid contract. After all, although Queen''s life was dependent on Eve, Eve was as dependent on Queen after the establishment of the secondary contract.


    Whimper


    Queen couldn''t help but let a stifled noise out as her strength began to fade. Immediately the guards sensed the change and their eyes began to slowly change from black to red.


    "Hurry!" Kain yelled, "It''s doing something to Queen."


    Not questioning his words with their reduced intelligence, and also not thinking he could have anything to do with Queen''s reduction in strength due to the contract between the two that they sensed, they immediately turned in anger to face the Pterix.


    When their eyes were fully red, the Berserk state was activated and all of their stats doubled.


    Boom


    Screech!


    The next strike to land on the Pterix left a blood hole in its wing, but it was still not enough to bring it down.


    "Aim for the right wing again, everyone!" Kain directed.


    Scrreeeeeccchhh!


    Finally, the head of the flock crashed down to the earth. But it was far from defenceless. Instead, it began to launch lightning strikes all around it with abandon. After all, it did not need to worry about any of its children still being alive in the mist.


    Even after having the blows diverted by the Wind Sprite and barely successfully dodging the attack, Kain and the others were still injured from the large debris flying from where the attacks hit the ground.


    The lightning was so dense around the Pterix that they couldn''t even get a solid blow to it.


    ''We need to interrupt the attacks''


    "Elias! Can you give me some of your contract''s puffs?" After receiving an affirmative nod from him he put some into a satchel he pulled out of a space ring and handed it over to Kain.


    "Make sure not to let them touch you!"


    Kain then had the now-strengthened guards carry him on their backs towards the Pterix. After all, unlike the others who could not afford the permanent loss of a contract, rendering the star space housing that contract useless, the guards were expendable to Kain. They weren''t his primary or even secondary contract, and with enough time Queen is able to produce more of them.


    They quickly sped toward the Pterix while acting as Kain''s ride and shield


    Bang


    One down


    Bang Bang


    Another two lost.


    By the time Kain was close enough to throw the satchel at the Pterix he had lost half of the guards, leaving him with only 6.


    However, they had played their role. The pieces of fluff covered the Pterix, but only had a marginal effect on slowing down its rate of attack, but Kain had never intended to rely on that anyways.


    Kain then abandoned his control of the mist, allowing it to begin dispersing away, and input the rest of his spiritual power in the armor he wore to trigger a mental attack. At the same time, Bea also put all of her energy into stopping its movements.


    For a brief moment, it went still.


    "Attack now!" Kain yelled, before dropping to the ground to dodge the attacks that soon came. This was their only shot. He hoped that they would succeed.

 Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Harvest

    *Ding. Host has killed one yellow-grade spiritual beast. Would Host like to start a mission for 1500 GP or receive the 100 GP for 1 kill immediately?*


    ''Well, how nice of you to ask��maybe it''s because it senses that killing yellow-grade creatures is not a common occurrence for me'' Kain thought.


    ''I will collect them now.'' He didn''t foresee being able to complete 10 kills soon anyways, and he may need the GP before he could complete the mission.


    With that notification, Kain could confirm that the Pterix was dead. Thankfully, it appears as though one of wasps landed the finishing blow.


    After receiving the notification, he had Eve return to Queen''s body. The life energy that immediately flooded her removed any lingering weakness.


    "Is it dead?" Finn asked hesitantly. It seems as though he had also learned the hard way at some point that spiritual beasts may fake death to deal a final blow.


    "Yes it''s dead. Don''t worry, my contract has a way to sense the life force of spiritual creatures." Kain made up an explanation to put everyone at ease.


    Everyone couldn''t help but immediate sag in relief and begin tending to their wounds. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured from direct hits, but the debris had definitely caused many cuts and bruises to the group.


    Aurelia thankfully was able to heal such simple wounds quickly with a burst of a light-attribute skill.


    While everyone was recomposing themselves, perhaps as an occupational habit, Kain couldn''t help dragging his exhausted body to begin breaking down the Pterix bodies into parts. Especially since he knew that even the parts of orange-grade spiritual creatures had given him 7 figures before, much less the parts from a yellow-grade spiritual creature.


    He took special care to extract the spiritual power orb that remained after death only in creatures yellow-grade and above. He learned during his first few Planner courses that this was a key evolutionary material.


    After breaking down the parts of the yellow-grade Pterix leader and its 10 underlings, the parts were placed into all of their spiritual rings, leaving most of them with not much space remaining.


    "I know we''re all tired, but we need to examine the mountains for any other Pterix. The mission is to make sure we get rid of ALL of them." Aiden said.


    Everyone nodded tiredly in agreement and began to head up the mountain.


    All along the way they didn''t see any more Pterix, but they couldn''t help but admire the incredible views. Looking down they could faintly see 4 villages in each cardinal direction.


    One village surrounded by spiritual plants��Moonvale. One sitting on the edge of a tranquil lake, which was sparkling under the midday sun��Moonspring Village. One was harder to see than the other three, surrounded perpetually by mist��Mistmoon Village. And one was surrounded completely by lush trees, with even the homes appearing to be integrated with the forestry��Greenmoon Village. S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "So beautiful��" Leonara whispered. And everyone else also agreed.


    Near the peak of the mountain they spotted a giant nest resting on the edge of a cliff. It was composed of from a variety of branches and spiritual plants, and inside laid 3 large eggs that reached up to Kain''s knee.


    Each egg was a deep azure colour, with intricate patterns resembling lightning bolts and storm clouds etched into its surface.


    Among the other two that were still, one egg would occasionally pulse with a faint, electric glow, a sign that it will soon emerge.


    "What do we do with these?" Bridge questioned.


    "Well, we can''t leave them here. Once they hatch they will continue to be a nuisance for the villagers. We need to take them back to the college, we can then exchange the eggs for credits from the school and split them." Kain replied.


    "Actually��I may want to bind one." Aiden said, "I haven''t found a suitable second contract yet and it meets the conditions of my affinity. Also, I could do a lot worse than a contract of gold-quality. It also has a lightning-attribute along with the wind-attribute, and since I have a wind attribute affinity its dual attributes will give my lineup some diversity. I won''t be unfair to you all.


    Once we find out much credit we can get for each egg, I''ll pay you guys that same amount to split"


    Everyone nodded. There was no problem with that plan.


    Excitedly, Aiden took the initiative to carry the egg close to hatching, while Bridge and Kain carried the other two down the mountain before loading them on the Night Mares they had stashed further from the base of the mountain to avoid them dying in the aftermath of the battle.


    Then they headed back to the village. Thanks to their removal of the infestation, there were still some spiritual plants that could be harvested for the college workers, although their quality and quantity was lower than usual.


    Therefore, Kain and the others did not need to worry about their transportation back to the college.


    The trip back to the college was uneventful aside from the one Pterix egg hatching. Since they''d all already agreed to leave the egg to Aiden, he immediately just signed a contract with it, while once again reaffirming to the others that he''d pay them back at campus.


    Similarly, due to his Evolutionary Planner major, Kain also mentioned wanting to keep the yellow-grade spiritual power orb. The others didn''t seem to know the purpose of the orb, even the well-informed Aiden and Addison, and allowed Kain to keep it after getting it appraised and exchanging some credits with each of them.


    Unable to resist the allure of credits that can be used to increase their strength, after quickly turning over a signed statement from the village chief to confirm their completion of the first mission and confirming their completion of the second mission, they went to an exchange hall to sell all of the parts.


    Each of the orange-grade bodies gave around 100 credits, and the yellow-grade body provided approximately 500 credits, even after Kain removed the valuable spiritual power orb, which was worth around 100 credits alone.


    ''It seems that the bodies obtained from hunting missions are much more valuable than the mission itself,'' Kain thought. Noting to take more such hunting missions in the future.


    Each of the two eggs was also worth 600 credits due to their being future high-potential contracts for Dark Moon students, they were even more valuable than the full-grown body of their parent.


    It was more expensive than expected, and Aiden was forced to remove some objects for exchange from his space ring in order to make up for the gap in credits.


    However, despite having all of his newly obtained credits being sent to Kain and the others, Aiden did not regret his new contract. After all, exchanging for a young Pterix from the school would probably cost more than 600 credits later on.


    After Kain also paid the others for the spiritual orb he took, Kain was left with around 450 credits from the exchanged materials and the completion of the mission. However, to have a better understanding of the value of over 400 credits, he''d need to look at what was available for exchange from the college.

 Chapter 104: Chapter 104: The Principles of Evolution

    At the exchange hall, similar to the mission hall, there were sectioned-off large electronic screens separated by privacy screens, that would allow students to search for what they need a lot more efficiently than browsing shelves of items.


    Kain looked at the armours and weapons to get a judgement of how much school credits were worth in comparison to Celestial Dollars.


    2-star armours and weapons would usually cost between 300,000 and 1 million CD, depending on its material, effects and number of sigils.


    However, at the exchange hall they could be exchanged for 300 to 500 credits. Therefore, Kain concluded that school credits were each worth around 1000 CD.


    Finally, having an idea of their value, Kain went to the section labelled as evolutionary materials.


    As silver-quality creatures, Eve and the Vespirae would not reach much of a bottleneck when advancing to orange-grade. However, Bea, after absorbing a lot of spiritual power on their recent missions, was quickly approaching her limit. Kain needed to start planning for her evolution. Fortunately, he wouldn''t waste the materials in vain with the Simulator provided by the System.


    During his first few lectures as an Evolutionary Planner they focused on identifying the necessary components of an evolution plan and even had an assignment related to it.


    Therefore, in contrast to when he threw together random materials to hope for a successful evolution in the Simulator, Kain now at least had some theory to support him.


    The first component was the Spiritual Power Source, during the process of evolution, contracts are not able to absorb spiritual power from the surroundings to support the evolution.


    Therefore, one of the materials provided must have a sufficient amount of energy to allow them to upgrade to a higher quality. If there is not enough energy then the evolution will fail, or an unfavorable evolution not higher in quality will occur; like what happened during Kain''s evolution of Lumifin to Gloomtail.


    The best such energy source was the spiritual power orb obtained from yellow-grade and higher spiritual creatures. However, the use of such a high quality orb was often considered wasteful at lower levels, therefore the empire had managed to produce artificial spiritual power orbs to support the evolutions of Black-iron, Bronze, and Silver quality creatures.


    However, since Kain already had a yellow-grade orb, he figured he might as well use it. Bea deserved the best.


    The next component is the Evolutionary Catalyst. It is what destabilizes the genetics of a spiritual creature enough to allow evolution to take place. They may be magical elixirs produced by pharmacists or a natural material.


    However, the level of the elixir must increase with the quality of the contract you hope to upgrade. Therefore, very few pharmacists in the empire are at a high enough level to allow the evolution of contracts past Gold-quality.


    However, as a top 5 college Dark Moon College naturally has access to the top pharmacists in the empire to support their students'' contracts'' evolutions well beyond Gold-quality.


    However, after a certain point obtaining a high enough level elixir will be so rare that another option such as ancient artifacts or powerful natural substances will be usually used as a catalyst.


    The final component needed is the Evolutionary Base Material.


    This is the material that actually serves as the basis for the final evolutionary form and there may be more than one in an evolution plan.


    However, care must be taken to make sure they do not impede one another otherwise the evolution may fail and lead to the materials being wasted, or worse a disadvantageous evolution.


    The base material often depends on the spiritual creature. For example, spiritual creatures such as elemental sprites, which are energy forms, usually rely on elemental crystals.


    Most beast-type spiritual creatures usually rely on the core body parts of much more powerful spiritual creatures.


    These 3 components are the minimum three requirements to have even a sliver of hope of evolving.


    However, some evolutions may also have environmental requirements, needing the evolution to occur in areas with high enough elemental energy to be supplied during the process.


    Kain currently needs a catalyst and base material.


    However, thankfully as a student of a top 5 college, catalysts will be supplied for each contract for free once he can prove that he his contract has reached the limit of its potential and he has an evolutionary plan signed by a planner.


    Thankfully, as a student of the Planner major he can easily get a professor to sign off on his own plan. S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In fact, beast-tamer students in the Planner major are strongly encouraged to come up with plans for their own contracts.


    Therefore, all Kain needs is a suitable base material.


    Scrolling through the base materials available, Kain could see that majority were mostly for the most common elemental attributes such as fire, water, and wind-attributes.


    Which is understandable because most of the more common creatures hunted to obtain these materials were probably of elemental attributes.


    After applying a filter only for mental-attribute materials, there were only 7 materials available. At least among what Kain had access to. He was sure that the school had materials with a higher level that could only be exchanged by students after making extraordinary contributions.


    One such exchange opportunity was apparently given depending on their performance at the National Competition.


    The five available materials were:


    Psionic Crystal - A rare crystal imbued with concentrated psychic energy from an orange-grade creature, enhancing intellectual and telepathic abilities during evolution.


    Neural Fiber - Extracted from a highly intelligent mental-attribute an orange-grade spiritual creature, this material aids in the development of advancing intelligence during evolution.


    Eye of Illusion - A gem-like eye derived from a yellow-grade spiritual creature skilled in weaving illusions. It enhances a creature''s ability to create and perceive illusions, making it ideal for evolution focused on illusionary skills.


    Dreamweaver''s Silk Core- The core of an orange-grade dreamweaving spiders'' silk-spinning organs, enhancing a creature''s ability to enter and manipulate dreams.


    Subliminal Orb �C An orb obtained from an orange-grade spiritual creature skilled at subtly altering the perceptions and subconscious of those nearby, enhancing the creature''s ability to subtly influence and manipulate others.


    Mindleech Vine �C A rare yellow-grade spiritual plant vine who feeds via its tendrils ensnaring passing prey and then consuming their memories. All those caught by Mindleech Vines become permanently amnesic at best and brain-dead at worst.


    Cerebral Core - The central nervous system component of a powerful yellow-grade mental creature, providing a solid foundation and increasing the chances of success during evolution for those with a mental-attribute.

 Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Evolution Simulations

    Kain was hesitant to choose any of them. After all, he may have an idea of what their effect on Bea'' evolution would be, but he couldn''t know for sure until the evolution was completed.


    Thankfully, he had the simulator.


    Since the area was enclosed, he decided to briefly head into the Laboratory to see if he could use the GP he recently collected to run some simulations for Bea.


    However, while several new evolutionary materials were added after their travelling during the missions, such as the yellow-grade Pterix Spiritual Power Orb, none of the mental-attribute materials he was currently looking at were in the System.


    Kain realized that he must see an object in person before he could have it added to the Simulator.


    Therefore, with hope Kain went to the only employee currently in the Exchange Hall.


    "Is there any chance that I could see some of the evolutionary materials in person?"


    "Why?" The worker looked at Kain puzzledly. This wasn''t an unheard of request, but it was usually only used for weapons so that the student could feel the weapon in their hands before making the purchase. After all, a description on the screen will only tell you so much.


    If the weapon''s weight ends up being too much or the grip is uncomfortable, then it''d actually be detrimental to their combat strength.


    Evolutionary materials though had no such concerns. Pretty much all the information one would need would be in the description, and nothing more would be determined by seeing it in person.


    "W-Well I need to see them because��" Suddenly Kain was reminded of Eve''s reaction to that seed, "I am a Planner major and I had heard that in rare cases spiritual creatures will be instinctively drawn to materials extremely beneficial to them. On the off chance that my contract has a reaction to one and I pick something else because I thought it was better, I''d regret it."


    "You do know that such instances are extremely rare?" The worker replied. Collecting multiple materials from the back just for an experiment, although not hard, was an annoyance for someone not paid a lot. sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain also guessed the likely reason for his reluctance, "I''d greatly appreciate it. For your great service, I''d also be willing to tip you 10��no 15 credits!" Kain internally cried at having to spend even more credits.


    The worker was finally moved to action. 15 credits were more than he could obtain from a Bronze rank mission, and he''d receive them just for collecting 7 materials from a back room, no danger involved.


    Soon 7 materials were placed in front of him. As he expected, Bea did not have an intense feeling of hunger, but he had gotten what he wanted. Now all materials should be available in the simulator.


    "Unfortunately, there is no draw to any of them. Thank you for your service" The worker wasn''t surprised by Kain''s lack of success, but why should he dissuade a fool willing to pay him just to test it out?


    Kain then went back behind a privacy screen to re-enter the Laboratory.


    This was only his second time using it, but his knowledge since the first time had already grown greatly.


    After this trip, he had obtained 570 GP. Adding to the 180 GP he already had, he now had 750 GP. Just enough to test each of the 7 materials once.


    ''Although I will be completely penniless after doing so.''


    Kain selected the Brain-Eating Amoeba as his subject of Simulation.


    This time he made sure to select a Spiritual Power orb, and a catalyst that had been shown to the students in one of his Planner courses.


    Now it was time for the truly important part, what would serve as the blueprint for the final evolutionary form, the Base Material.


    The Psionic Crystal and Neural Fiber had very similar descriptions, so he just wanted to test the more appealing of the two, rather than try both.


    He chose the crystal due to its description of the original spiritual creature it came from having both telepathic abilities and increased intelligence. Instead of the intelligence boost only provided by the fiber.


    After confirming his selection, a white light of evolution began to fill the glass chamber. Although Bea wasn''t visible to the naked eye, the light of evolution certainly was.


    In less than a minute the light faded to reveal a potential evolutionary form for Bea. Similar to Bea, Kain couldn''t physically see an changes in the microscopic creature, and was forced to look at the System description. Now the previous blue portrait of Bea in the system, had a purple tinge similar to the crystal used.


    Kain looked at the description:


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Psyche Guardian Amoeba


    The Psyche Guardian is a never before seen evolution of the Brain-eating amoeba. Evolving from its previous form, this species is characterized by an extraordinary enhancement of mental faculties and telepathic prowess. It prefers to stay in environments rich in psychic energy.


    Those infected experience a profound increase in intelligence, allowing them to solve complex problems and strategize with precision. It also is able to telepathically communicate detailed information with all of its progeny.


    Quality: Silver


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    A-Multiple Consciousnesses-The true body can produce many replicates of itself that can invade multiple targets and lay dormant in their brains for prolonged periods of time to extract collect for the true body.


    A-Telepathic Mastery: This skill allows the Psyche Guardian to establish strong and precise telepathic connections with all of its splits, regardless of distance. It can communicate complex thoughts and commands with clarity. It can even share the senses of its splits to allow it to obtain greater information about the split''s host.


    A-Enhanced Cognition: Those hosting the Psyche Guardian''s true body may experience a profound increase in intelligence, allowing them to analyze and solve complex problems with ease. Their enhanced cognitive abilities will enable them to adapt quickly to new situations and develop advanced strategies.


    A-Psychic Insight: With its heightened intelligence, the Psyche Guardian can detect and interpret hidden mental patterns. This allows it to predict the attacks of opponents before they occur.


    B-Mind Shield: A protective barrier that the Psyche Guardian can generate to shield its host from mental attacks and intrusions. This shield provides substantial protection against psychic damage and enhances mental resilience.


    C-Psyche Stabilizer: Under extreme stress or in hazardous conditions, the Psyche Guardian can allow its host to enter a state of mental focus that stabilize their mind.


    ----------------------------------


    Kain was extremely pleased by this evolutionary form. At least this showed him that the knowledge he had obtained in class was useful enough to produce a decent evolution.


    However, he didn''t think that he''d ultimately select this as Bea''s evolution. Selecting this evolution would essentially convert Bea from an offensive spiritual creature to a support.


    This evolution would allow Bea to greatly enhance Kain''s mental strength and intelligence, and the improved telepathic abilities with the splits would be greatly beneficial for intelligence gathering, but then Bea will no longer be able to kill those that she infects.


    If he selects this form, how would he even be able to complete that mission looming over his head? If he can''t complete it, his very status as a student would be jeopardy.


    Also, his combat style has become extremely reliant on Bea''s ability to mass kill weaker creatures.


    Kain decided to continue simulating.

 Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Evolution Simulations (2)

    Kain went through the exact same steps, but this time substituted the Psionic Crystal for the Eye of Illusion.


    After waiting for the light of evolution to fade, he rushed to read the new description.


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Illusionbane Amoeba


    A dramatic shift from the original Brain-Eating Amoeba, now possessing the ability to manipulate reality through illusions. This evolved microorganism has absorbed the essence of the Eye of Illusion, enabling it to create powerful, disorienting hallucinations within its hosts.


    By distorting the perception of reality, the Phantasmic Devourer can induce fear, confusion, and vulnerability in its victims, making it a formidable predator in both mental and physical realms.


    Quality: Silver


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    S-Hallucination Inducer: The Illusionbane Amoeba can infect a host and project vivid, terrifying hallucinations directly into their mind. These illusions can range from visual distortions to disturbing scenarios, causing severe mental distress and disorientation.


    Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Phantasmic Devourer are entirely consumed by these hallucinations, while those with up to one grade higher experience intense fear and confusion.


    S-Illusionary Veil: Outside of a host, this skill allows the Illusionbane Amoeba to cloak itself and its immediate environment in illusions, making it completely conceal its presence or appear as something entirely different. This ability is highly effective against creatures with spiritual power up to one grade higher, providing stealth and evasion in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.


    A-Mind Warp: The Illusionbane Amoeba can warp the perceptions and senses of those it infects altering their sense of reality and making it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is not. This can lead to impaired decision-making and susceptibility to further attacks.


    B-Illusionary Spawn: The Phantasmic Devourer can create illusionary duplicates of other entities, which can be used to mislead, confuse, or distract opponents. These illusions can mimic physical attacks but do not cause real harm, making them effective for tactical deception.


    ----------------------------------


    There were 2 S-level skills!


    However, similar to the previous evolution, Kain was worried about a reduction in Bea''s killing abilities. Bea''s ability to create detailed hallucinations and illusions would undoubtedly be greatly enhanced as a result of this evolution, but her killing ability was once again practically gone.


    Additionally, there was no mention of the production of any kind of split or clone. Is this evolution only able to infect one individual at a time?


    Kain was getting worried. Although he had the Vespirae to serve as attackers, and Bea becoming an extremely formidable support wasn''t the worst thing, he still did not want to give up her lethality either.


    ''Third time''s the charm'' Kain thought, before starting a third evolution with the Dreamweaver''s Silk Core.


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Nightmare Weaver Amoeba


    An evolved form of the Brain-Eating Amoeba, having absorbed the essence of the Dreamweaver''s Silk Core. This advanced microorganism can now traverse and manipulate dreams with ease. By integrating dreams with reality, the Nightmare Weaver can inflict real damage based on what occurs within a host''s dreams.


    Its presence induces a constant state of unease, as the line between dreams and reality becomes dangerously blurred.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental, Dark


    Skills:


    S-Nightmare Weaving: The Nightmare Weaver can enter the dreams of any sleeping creature within its range up to one grade higher. Once inside, it can manipulate the dreamscape, creating scenarios that cause psychological distress. Injuries or traumatic events within these dreams can manifest as real physical harm upon waking, leading to severe consequences for the victim.


    It is possible to cause fatal injuries in hosts up to one grade higher, but those with higher spiritual power than the Nightmare Weaver may fight the dream and wake before a fatal injury can be dealt.


    A-Multiple Manipulation: The Nightmare Weaver can alter the dream environments of multiple targets simultaneously through the use of split-off mental projections of itself.


    A-Terror Projection: The Nightmare Weaver can project intense fear directly into the minds of its targets, making them more susceptible to manipulation and psychological damage. This terror can affect creatures with spiritual power up to two grades higher, causing significant mental and emotional turmoil.


    B-Dreamweaver''s Embrace: By connecting with a target''s dreams, the Nightmare Weaver can create a telepathic link that allows it to feed on the target''s emotional and psychological states, which can then be converted to a constant supply of spiritual power.


    ----------------------------------


    Gold quality! And finally, some fatal attack abilities!


    However, Kain noticed that the Nightmare Weaver had a fatal weakness, it can invade the dreams of those sleeping, but nowhere in the panel does it describe a skill capable of making that target fall asleep! If he had a contract similar to Elias, they could maybe work together. But he didn''t!


    Was he supposed to wait until those against him got tired out and fell asleep during the re-ranking and National College Championship?


    ''Ugh! And so it continues��''


    Kain continued the process substituting the Subliminal Orb and Mindleech Vine each during the fourth and fifth simulations. The following evolutions were obtained:


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Subjugator Amoeba S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An evolved form of the Brain-Eating Amoeba, having absorbed the essence of the Subliminal Orb. This microorganism now excels in subtle, yet profound, mind control and influence. The Sovereign Manipulator can subtly alter perceptions, control thoughts, and direct the actions of its victims with remarkable precision.


    By embedding itself in the subconscious, it becomes an unseen puppet master, able to bend others to its will with minimal detection.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    S-Mind Dominion: The Subjugator Amoeba can exert subtle control over the thoughts and actions of its hosts, influencing their decisions and behaviors without their conscious awareness. Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Sovereign Manipulator are fully controlled, while those with up to one grade higher experience strong but less complete influence.


    A-Generals of Subjugation: The Subjugator can produce progeny capable of infecting and subjugating a target.


    A-Covert invasion: The presence of the Subjugator is nearly impossible to detect in the environment by those at the same level of spiritual power and lower. However, once the Subjugator Amoeba integrates perfectly with the brain it becomes completely undetectable to creatures with a spiritual power up to one grade higher.


    B-Mental Shield: The Subjugator Amoeba generates a psychic barrier that protects it from mental intrusions and counter-manipulation attempts. This shield also helps it maintain control over its targets by preventing external mental interference.


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Memory Devouring Amoeba


    The Memory Devourer represents a terrifying evolution of the Brain-Eating Amoeba, transformed by the essence of the Mindleech Vine. This advanced microorganism has evolved to possess incredibly potent mind-reading abilities, capable of extracting and consuming the memories of its victims.


    The Memory Devourer''s presence is marked by its ability to delve into the deepest recesses of the mind, unraveling thoughts and memories with surgical precision. Unfortunately for its victims, this process is not without severe consequences��those who fall prey to the Memory Devourer often suffer from complete brain death.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    S-Memory Extraction: The Memory Devourer can invade the minds of its targets and extract their memories with extreme precision. This ability allows it to read and understand every detail of the victim''s past experiences and knowledge.


    Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Memory Devourer are completely drained of their memories and die from the immense damage to their brain, while those with up to one grade higher experience severe memory loss and cognitive disruption.


    S-Mind expansion: Vine-like psychic tendrils can be extended from the main body to infiltrate the minds of nearby entities upon contact and begin the memory extraction process.


    A-Memory Corruption: The Memory Devourer can implant temporary false memories or temporarily distort existing ones, causing confusion and disorientation. This ability can lead to severe psychological distress, as targets struggle to distinguish between reality and the fabricated memories.


    B-Psychic Harvest: The Memory Devourer can consume the extracted memories to enhance its own spiritual power and cognitive abilities. This ability allows it to pass on knowledge to its contractor and there is an extremely small chance of realizing new skills from the memories of its victims.


    ----------------------------------


    It seems that no matter what, Bea is destined to lose the water attribute and the seamless integration and rapid proliferation skills along with it.


    Although many of the evolutions seem to still possess the ability to produce many splits, he was unable to tell from the description how long or many splits would be produced and how it compared to the original skill.


    Additionally, unlike seamless integration, not all of the evolutions have the ability to perfectly conceal themselves from the target.


    Kain believes that due to Bea''s small size, she can still integrate into the mist and be carried by water droplets larger than her, but now her presence may be more easily detected by targets without a skill for concealment.


    All of the evolutions have their own pros and cons, which was why he wanted to try some additional experiments.


    Kain had learned in class that it was possible to use multiple base materials, but a strong stabilizer would be needed during the evolution to allow the multiple base materials to seamlessly integrate into one form.


    This is the reason he did not yet use the Cerebral Core. It was described as providing a solid foundation and increasing the chances of success during evolution for those with a mental-attribute.


    Based on this description he felt it would function more as a stabilizer, rather than the basis for an evolutionary form. Therefore, he wanted to use his remaining 2 evolution attempts to try combining the different evolutionary forms to hopefully get one able to satisfy him.

 Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Evolution Direction Decided

    Kain decided to summarize the pros and cons of each evolution to make things easier for himself:


    Psyche Guardian will improve Bea''s ability to control many splits. However, it''d virtually eliminate all of her offensive capabilities. Instead, she''d become the ultimate contract for those involved in selling information, able to seamlessly integrate into multiple targets minds for prolonged periods of time and feed the detailed information back to Kain.


    The Illusionbane evolution has increased Bea''s concealment abilities from beyond just water to any location. Additionally, it has upgraded Bea''s hallucination inducing abilities into vivid illusions that she can control and also can affect those of a higher level. However, this evolution has no real ability to harm others aside from causing emotional distress.


    Another con is that it appears that the stronger effects on the mind were traded in for the ability to infect multiple individuals at once. Therefore, Bea will lose her ability to produce many splits.


    The Nightmare Weaver evolution has offensive capabilities, and can affect multiple individuals at once. However, the targets would all need to be asleep already. It was probably the most restrictive evolution. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Subjugator evolution will allow Kain to best retain Bea''s ability to control multiple splits while also maintaining a lot of her concealment ability. However, similar to the Psyche Guardian, and Illusionbane evolutions, it has no offensive capabilities. Unless, since he can control the targets'' actions, he directs them to kill themselves. But that is not always feasible.


    Thinking of the Desolaphid infestation, Kain wondered how he''d be able to make such small and simple insects injure themselves. He''d probably need to direct them away from the plants and have Addison burn them all. Therefore, his ability to kill mass amounts of creatures alone would weaken in return for greater control abilities.


    Finally, the Memory Devourer evolution was able to affect multiple individuals not through splits, but through the use of psychic tendrils. It''d also be a huge boost to Kain''s information collection abilities, able to extract vivid memories from the targets.


    It even has the incredible ability to implant memories into targets, a skill Kain knows is virtually unheard of in Gold-quality spiritual creatures. It also has the ability to kill multiple targets at once. However, it has lost Bea''s concealment abilities, and Kain was unsure the number and range of these so-called psychic tendrils.


    After weighing all of the pros and cons, Kain felt like his best chance of obtaining a evolutionary form with offensive abilities, concealment abilities, and the ability to target multiple individuals would be to combine the Memory Devourer with either the Subjugator or Illusionbane evolutions.


    Using his remaining two chances to try both combinations, Kain examined the two results and finally settled on Bea''s evolution:


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba


    An advanced evolution utilizing both the Subliminal Orb and the Mindleech Vine. It is an ultimate sovereign of the mind, capable of reading, altering, and deleting memories, while also exerting a potent psychological influence over the actions of those infected.


    Quality: White-Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    SS-Mindshard Manipulation: The Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba can fragment a target''s mind into separate cognitive shards, each containing different memories and aspects of their identity. It can then permanently manipulate, erase, or reassemble these shards to alter the victim''s perception of its present and past reality. Erasure of all mind shards will lead to death.


    Erasures of mind shards are only possible for targets with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Phantasmic Amoeba. Manipulation and reassembly of mind shards are possible temporarily for those up to one grade higher.


    S-Imperceptible Control: It can exert nearly undetectable control over the thoughts and actions of its targets, subtly guiding their behaviour while remaining hidden from psychic detection. Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba are fully under its control, while those with up to one grade higher experience less complete but still significant influence.


    A-Subjugation Progeny: The Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba can produce subjugation progeny that are capable of infecting and influencing targets with all of the skills possessed by the original body. These progeny act as extensions of its will, spreading its influence and control further.


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Sovereign Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power. There is a very small chance of it developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.


    A-Mindveil Network: By creating a network of mental veils, the Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba protects itself from being detected by creatures with spiritual power up to one grade higher. These veils also aid in maintaining control over its victims by preventing external mental interference.


    B-Psychic Assimilation: By consuming extracted memories, the Dominion of Oblivion Amoeba enhances its spiritual power and cognitive abilities.


    ----------------------------------


    Although the other evolution was quite strong as well, Kain was certain that this was Bea'' ideal evolution. It maintains her concealment and multi-infection abilities, while also not eliminating her lethality.


    Additionally, Bea''s utility, and the ability to use different tactics has also been enhanced with her ability to now manipulate the actions of those she infects.


    Not to mention this was the only result so far to have a SS-level skill.


    Additionally, Bea''s quality rating is also interesting.


    "System, what is white-gold quality? Is it inferior or superior to a standard gold quality?"


    *White-gold is simply an additional subclassification used to separate Gold-quality spiritual beasts that are much higher in quality than the typical Gold-quality beast, and have a slightly higher chance of upgrading to Green-grade without dying. However, there is still a gap in quality between them and true Platinum-quality spiritual creatures.*


    *It is not a term typically used, with most individuals choosing to still refer to them as Gold-quality spiritual creatures.*


    *A White-gold quality evolution is likely the highest jump in quality the Host can hope to achieve directly from a Bronze-quality contract. Even if a better Spiritual Power orb, catalyst, or material is substituted, a higher quality will not be achieved.*


    "Understood. It looks like Bea''s evolution has been decided."

 Chapter 108: Chapter 108: Field Assessment

    After running the simulations in the space and settling on a direction for Bea''s evolution, Kain returned to the Exchange Hall, prepared to trade for the 3 items.


    However, he ran into an issue. He was only able to barely afford the cheapest Cerebral Core, deducting 430 credits from his previous 435.


    Leaving him with only 5 credits to his name. He was seriously regretting giving the worker that tip right now.


    "I haven''t felt this poor in a long time��why the hell are they so expensive? I''d have to complete dozens of Bronze-grade missions to even afford one of them."


    Kain understood that due to the mental attribute being more rare, materials of this attribute would cost more, but that could not prevent him from venting.


    ''I also have that Black mission to complete, but I have no idea when they''d even assign it to me. I''d hoped to have the evolution completed before the mission, but it looks like that dream is hopeless''


    ''However, maybe this is for the best. I''m still not sure how the concealment abilities of Bea''s evolution will compare to her current form''


    ------


    Another month passed with Kain going through the mundane routine of a double-major student.


    He had completed two more missions with Bridge and the others, but unfortunately, none were as lucrative as that first mission, and he still hasn''t raised enough to even exchange for the second evolutionary material. sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Additionally, he likely won''t have a chance to complete another mission this week due to their very first field assessment in their Wilderness Survival course.


    They were now in the middle of the woods about an hour walk from their university.


    "Listen up brats! Now is the time for you to put the theoretical survival training of the past month to use!" Yelled Professor Flint, a tall broad-shouldered man with a grizzled beard and weathered skin, as his beady dark eyes stared holes into the rowdy first years. He was the professor responsible for the survival courses of each year level.


    "Since this is your first assessment, and you are all weaklings, your first assessment will be easy and take place in these very woods surrounding the university.


    "You will be split into teams of 5 or 6. Teams that I have already organized, and I don''t want to hear any bitching and complaining about you being separated from your friends


    "Each team will be given a unique task that you must work together and complete. You have until Monday morning, so 3 full days, to complete your task.


    "Now line up before me to receive your task and group number"


    Kain and the others all glanced at each other nervously. They were hoping to be in a group with each other. After all, they had gone on several group missions together since the semester started and already had a decent understanding of each other''s abilities and excellent teamwork.


    Kain received a badge and an envelope with the number 2 on it.


    Unfortunately, Bridge''s badge had a 7.


    It appears that the top 10 students of the year were all separated into different groups, and then the other students were all randomly assigned to each of them.


    The twins were also separated, while Elias was in one of the only two groups of 6.


    The only two groups with 6 members, groups 9 and 10, also had the two students with the lowest rankings, with Elias and another student being the last ranked out of 53 students.


    From this arrangement, Kain could see the effort made by Professor Flint to make the strengths of all teams relatively equal.


    Thankfully, Kain had Finn within his team of 5. Therefore, he wasn''t with only strangers.


    The other 3 members were 1 boy and 2 girls.


    One girl, Aria, was petite with long, curly auburn hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her clothes were surprising vibrant, leading Kain to believe that she did not have much practical experience in the wild. After all, who would wear a rainbow coloured sweater into the wild? They''d be a walking target for spiritual creatures. Not to mention, Kain couldn''t even see any armor on her.


    The other girl, Fiona, was tall and quite robust looking, with a freckled face and blonde hair. She appeared to be the quiet type, and thankfully she had the foresight to wear more practical clothing.


    The last boy, Liam, had slicked-back silver hair and piercing green eyes, along with an aristocratic air. Just from looking at him, and the equipment he was wearing, one could tell that he probably comes from a legacy family with an old history. He was also the student on the team with the second highest ranking after Kain, Rank 12.


    While Finn also had a decent ranking at 17, the girls were ranked at 45 and 51, respectively.


    ''However, Elias was the last ranked student and he is quite skilled. Hopefully, these two are not too bad.''


    Kain opened up the envelope with their assignment and read it aloud to the group.


    "Collect the flag attached to the antlers of the Astral Stag leader intact."


    The Astral Stag leader is typically of Yellow-grade, while the members of its herd made up of its lovers and children usually range in strength from White-grade to Orange-grade. It is very unlikely that the herd will have a second Yellow-grade Astral stag.


    It had the rare star attribute and had the unique ability to collect spiritual power collected from the stars into its antlers. Therefore, its antlers were a common ingredient used by Pharmacists in potions used for improving cultivation.


    Their task was just to capture the flag, not to hunt the leader or eliminate the entire herd. Therefore, if the other members of his group were not too powerful, Kain also had the option of just trying to sneakily obtain the flag without fighting.


    ''The Professor was correct, this first field assessment isn''t too difficult''


    Kain didn''t know how very wrong this conclusion would turn out to be. He will soon be cursing all nine generations of Professor Flint''s family in the very near future.

 Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Field Assessment (2)

    "I think we should begin by familiarizing ourselves with the skills of each other''s contracts." Kain began. Considering that he was the highest rank and the envelope with the task was given directly to the top 10 students only, it seems as though they had already been pre-assigned as the group leaders.


    The others began to just glance at one another while remaining silent.


    After all, most of them were unfamiliar with one another, and in 2 months the information they give to each other now may be used against them in the re-ranking.


    "I will go first then," Kain eventually decided to take the lead in breaking the tension, "My initial contract can create a poisonous fog while my second contract is with a Vespirae Queen."


    At this information, everyone except for Finn looked shocked. How could the second-ranked examinee be bound to a Vespirae?


    However, they still had the sense to not look down on him. They had all taken the same entrance exam. They were also aware of how many beasts he had killed in that exam thanks to Soren Lysander''s outburst after the exam. Therefore, they figured that there was more to Kain than meets the eye.


    Finn, likely to show support for Kain was the second to disclose his contracts, "I am bound to two snake-type creatures of ice and earth attributes, respectively."


    Aria spoke hesitantly next, "I-I only have one contract. A Cantata Chime. I bound it to compliment my talent�� which is to calm down the aggression of attacking spiritual creatures by singing."


    Once again everyone looked shocked. Surprisingly, this student that was third from the bottom had a talent. Especially one with such practical effects. Kain reconfirmed that there was no truly simple student at a top 5 college.


    "I am bound to a Crystal Ore Golem and a Boulder Tortoise," said Fiona. Both earth-attribute contracts didn''t have the best offensive strength, but had probably the most formidable defence among creatures of a similar level of strength. Kain was able to guess that Fiona was able to slowly cross the Bridge by using her contracts as shields.


    Everyone then turned to Liam, who after a full minute still hadn''t spoken.


    Under the pressure of all their gazes, and likely knowing that not sharing anything would likely not allow them to succeed in their task, he finally opened his mouth. "Hurricane Gryphon. Whirlwind Wraith."


    ''Rich man!'' Both of them were Gold-quality species at birth, not requiring an evolution to reach such potential. Contracts of such a high quality were quite rare for the first two contracts, even within a top 5 college. Once again, Kain confirmed that Liam was likely from one of the so-called "noble" families.


    "Great! Now that we have a better understanding of one another, we can hopefully find a way to capture that flag."


    Due to the restrictions of their respective affinities, it was difficult for beast-tamers to form a fully comprehensive team of spiritual creatures on their own.


    Although Kain did not know the full information of their affinities, he guessed that Finn was limited to snake-type contracts, while Fiona and Liam appear to be limited to earth and wind attribute contracts.


    However, Aria''s affinity was still a mystery. The Cantata Chime was a bell-like spirit with wind sound, and mental attributes. It has almost no attack power, but Kain could see how its ability to amplify and complement the singing of Aria by producing soothing notes would be uniquely suited to her.


    If he had to guess, she probably had a sound and/or mental affinity. After all, wind-attribute contracts should be much easier to find and she''d have her second contract by now otherwise. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Due to the limitations of their respective affinities, colleges would often foster an environment of working together to accomplish tasks. As a result, likely all future field assessments will be in teams.


    Thankfully though, Kain had heard that due to the more challenging nature of future field assessments, students will have the opportunity to select their own teams which would likely have better teamwork.


    "Before we begin there is one thing I would like to point out. I understand that some of you may not have any practical experience in the wild, however I do. I hope that if I give you instructions you understand that they are for practical reasons and listen."


    Although Liam seemed resistant to being bossed around, and the other two unfamiliar with him also appeared hesitant, eventually they all nodded.


    "Great! First things first. Aria, please change. Your flamboyant sweater is practically a walking bullseye out here. I don''t know how you could think it''d be appropriate to wear rainbow clothing out here. You should also have already been equipped with your gear from the moment we entered the forest.


    There are no safeguards in place to bring us back to the college when we encounter danger, if a powerful creature attacks, you can die."


    Aria''s face turned as red as her hair before quickly nodding and lifting up her sweater.


    Finn quickly covered his eyes, but it was easy to see the gap between his fingers that he could still see through.


    However much to his disappointment, underneath the sweater was a black T-shirt. Which she then covered with a brown leather light armor.


    "Great! Do you have any weapon that you could use since your contract has no combat ability?"


    Aria embarrassedly shook her head.


    ''Sigh. How on earth did she not end up in last place?'' Kain was now even more curious about Elias'' performance during the exam that would warrant him having a lower score than her.


    Liam began to even look at Aria with disdain as she lowered his head, but Kain honestly couldn''t even blame him. She seemed to be seriously lacking in common sense. Who goes into the wilderness without a weapon?! Just what kind of high school did she go to that she lacks even the most basic knowledge of survival?


    Having a weapon. Not wearing flashy clothing. These are the absolute basics of the basics. So much so that the Professor didn''t even feel to reiterate the obvious. Likely they had rarely admitted a student as clueless as her in the past.


    "Now let''s go over the knowledge we have about the Astral Stag from our Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers course." Thankfully, the target was one they had learned about in another course. Kain wasn''t sure if everyone received targets that they had learned about in the lectures of their other course, or if they were just lucky.

 Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Field Assessment (3)

    "For one, they are known to eat almost exclusively spiritual plants that have also absorbed spiritual power from the stars," Finn began.


    "They also, tend to not travel too far from large sources of water" Aria said. Thankfully, although she lacks some practical knowledge, her theoretical knowledge is up to standard.


    Kain nodded in satisfaction.


    "Does anyone know one of the most distinguishing characteristics used to track Astral Stags?" Kain asked.


    Nobody replied after a while. However, he wasn''t surprised, this was not knowledge taught in the lecture. They would have had to have taken it upon themselves to complete all of the optional supplementary reading material.


    "Due to its strong star-attribute, some of the residual energy from the stars will remain in the hoofprints. Given that our empire''s cultivation is strongly related to the stars, beast-tamers of the Celestial Empire with a sensitivity to spiritual power can usually distinguish the tracks of Astral Stags from other creatures by carefully sensing the energy in their prints.


    If the prints are fresh, they may even have a faint glow at night."


    "Therefore, we should begin with searching areas they are likely to frequent and then looking for their tracks."


    "How do we know where to go though?" Aria said.


    "We use our maps��the professor did say that you should always purchase a map before venturing into the wilderness. They will also usually have the hunting grounds of the most powerful creatures marked." Finn said in disbelief.


    ''I take back any credit that I gave her. That was definitely taught in class, so she likely is just dense'' Kain thought in exasperation.


    Kain pulled out his own copy of a map of the woods surrounding the college. Every time he went out on another mission he also made sure to get it continuously updated to account for any changes.


    Unfortunately, likely because the standards of power for those at the college were too high, it only had labels for the most threatening creatures with Green-grade spiritual power and higher. Therefore, there was no label for the Astral Stag.


    "There is a lake only about an hour''s walk from here, let''s check there first. Everyone should summon their spiritual creatures out from now in case of any sudden attacks"


    With those words, Kain released two only Vespirae to scout ahead, and the others also summoned their contracts. Unless absolutely necessary Kain hoped to only reveal the standard 2 Vespirae wasp guards. Although his teammates now, they will be his competitor in two months and he didn''t want detailed information about his contracts spreading among the students.


    They then began to set off.


    Looking around Kain could see that their group was the last to leave the clearing the professor left them at It was likely because they had needed to waste time knocking some common sense into Aria.


    However, not even 10 minutes into their journey, they were attacked by a lone red-grade spiritual creature.


    Such a level of creature was no longer a challenge to Kain and he solved the attacking fire-attribute fox with a quick strike to the head with his spear, there was no need to use the either the wasps or Bea. S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    10 minutes later they had all been attacked at least once by red-grade spiritual creatures. However, all of them didn''t even need to have their contracts solve it, instead killing them directly.


    Due to the low grade of the beasts, none of them could even be bothered to extract materials. All of them had space rings, and I think they all unspoken agreed that wasting time and space for materials of only red-grade was not worth it.


    "It''s unusual for red-grade spiritual creatures to be attacking us so frequently. Usually, they''d run away once they saw a group as large as ours with contracts more powerful than them. This is completely outside of character" Finn said.


    Kain nodded, "The beasts in this forest are much more aggressive than the ones I usually come across. However, their eyes and other behaviours are pretty normal, so I doubt that they are being manipulated or lost their intelligence. They''re just desperate for some reason."


    "Anyways their behaviour is not our problem, just focus on the mission." Liam said impatiently before taking the lead.


    Kain wanted to criticize him for being short-sighted. After all, what if the more powerful creatures in the forest are also suddenly more aggressive and leave their typical hunting territories?


    They continued to make their way towards the lake. However, suddenly one of the Vespirae guards said that she faintly sensed some spiritual plants up ahead.


    Kain shared this information with the group and they decided to detour, after all their target also mostly eats spiritual plants.


    Kain also had his own selfish reasons for wanting to do so. Less than 20% of honey that was originally transferred from the old nest to the new one remains. Kain had been taking up easy 1-3 credit missions to help with pollinating the spiritual plants owned by the school which has allowed the wasp colony to start producing more honey.


    However, the spiritual plants they give students access to in these missions are all very low in quality and mostly of white-grade, with the occasional red-grade plant. It''d probably be a long while before they trusted him enough to have access to the plants of higher quality.


    Although this level is okay for now, the spiritual power of Vespirae is almost fully saturated, and the queen and the rest of her colony will probably advance to orange-grade spiritual power within a week. At that point, plants of better quality will be needed.


    Kain hoped to find some plants of decent quality from now. Even if he couldn''t transplant them back to the school, they could be used to make reserves of higher-quality honey in advance to prepare for the colony''s advancement.


    The group followed the Vespirae to a small clearing full of spiritual plants��dead spiritual plants.


    Aside from the odd plant that was holding onto its last breath, most were already shrivelled, dry, masses of leaves and petals.

 Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Field Assessment (4)

    "What could possibly have caused this?" Kain was puzzled. Spiritual plants were much more resilient than the plants from Earth, so diseases were practically unheard of. Additionally, he didn''t see any bugs or holes in the leaves to indicate anything like the Desolaphid infestation.


    Kain released a mist around the spiritual plants to see if Bea could detect any lurking creatures that may explain this.


    However, after Bea''s splits had covered every inch of the clearing, no other signs of life were detected.


    As a last ditch effort, he released Queen. Her intelligence is greater than her guards, so she may be able to detect something they can''t.


    Surprisingly, while Queen didn''t detect anything, Kain did receive some feedback from Eve.


    Based on what the information he could sense from her, there was something that was draining the life force of the spiritual plants. However, she could provide no more information on what it was or where this mysterious life sucker was located.


    However, if something was killing the spiritual plants in the forest, that would explain the increased frequency of beast tides and the increased aggression of the beasts they came across.


    Since the resources of the forest are running out at a faster rate, out of desperation more creatures will attack humans. Although not the typical food source for most spiritual creatures, humans, and especially powerful beast-tamers, can serve as practically a tonic for many species.


    "According to my contract something is draining the life of all spiritual plants in the vicinity. I have no idea how wide its area of influence is though. But regardless, our target won''t be here, all the plants are dead or close to it. Let''s keep heading to the lake." Kain said.


    The others didn''t look too shocked by this news. There are all kinds of spiritual creatures, one that likes to drain the life of plants isn''t too surprising.


    "Hopefully we find the Astral Stag by the lake. If all the plants in this region really are dead then we may need to travel quite far before we find where they may have migrated to for food," said Fiona with a worried look on her face.


    However, against all of their hopes, there was no sign of their target around the lake. In fact, there wasn''t much evidence of any life surrounding the lake.


    "It''s weird that there''s no sign of any life around the lake. Check around the shore for any footprints you think would match the Astral Stag, if they''d been here recently there''d be evidence in the wet mud around the lake. I will investigate the lake itself." Nobody questioned his task distribution and split up to investigate.


    Kain released Bea into the lake and pretty quickly her splits had covered a large portion of the water. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before Bea evolves she is unable to give detailed feedback to him on the environment under the water, however Kain did get a piece of valuable information through her.


    After her splits had covered a large portion of the lake, and then were even carried to cover majority of lake, Bea still did not receive any indication that had successfully hunted an aquatic creature.


    Typically, by now Bea''s splits should have come into contact with most of the creatures in the lake. However, it was completely empty.


    "Any signs of our target?" Kain called out to the others.


    "No"


    "None here either"


    "Nope��actually there''s no evidence of anything coming here for water in a while."


    Kain also shared his findings to the rest of the group once they regathered.


    "Could the lake be poisoned?" Finn questioned.


    "I don''t think so�� I had one of my Vespirae guards drink the water and she was fine. It could be a similar issue to the dead spiritual plants. Maybe the fish migrated due to a lack of food in this lake? Or they could also all be dead themselves, my contract is only able to detect creatures that are alive." Giving a brief and vague explanation for Bea''s investigative abilities.


    The others seemed shocked that he''d risk one of his only two guards to see if it was poisoned, but they didn''t know that he actually had 12 guards.


    "What do we do now then?" Aria asked looking distraught. A task they thought they''d be able to complete quickly now may not even be finished by the deadline.


    "It looks like most of the creatures migrated to a different region. Those that didn''t are probably are starving which is why they attacked us. We need to figure out where they may have migrated to." Finn said.


    Kain nodded in agreement, "we need to expand our search from just looking for Astral Stag tracks, to looking for any recent footprints, preferably herbivores since they seem the most likely to migrate first due to the lack of spiritual plants here. We can then hopefully follow the tracks to an area not affected by whatever is causing all of this."


    They then began to expand their search from around the lake and looked for any tracks they felt would meet the criteria.


    "Here!" Aria called out and the rest all rushed over.


    They looked like the hoofprints similar to the Astral Stag, but much larger. Maybe the creature more closely resembles a moose?


    "Do any of you know what kind of creature made these prints?" Kain asked the others.


    Everyone looked clueless, except for Fiona who was hesitating to speak.


    "Fiona? If you have any ideas, please share them even if they''re wrong. After all, we currently have no leads."


    "Umm�� the prints look like a large hoof, but the center of the hoof has the faint outline of a leaf."


    "Does that mean anything? I thought it just stepped on a leaf."


    "No Fiona is right��the leaf is the exact same and perfectly in the center of all 4 hoofprints, that''s unlikely to be purely due to coincidence."


    Fiona nodded, "I had heard about a Bronze-quality spiritual creature called the Meadow Moose that was pretty common in the woods back in my hometown that has that characteristic. They''re very gentle, and similar to the Astral Stag the almost exclusively eat spiritual plants."


    "Great! Let''s follow these prints. Hopefully, it''d migrate to a similar area as our target." With their hopes of successfully completing the mission renewed, they quickly set off again.

 Chapter 112: Chapter 112: Field Assessment (5)

    They followed the tracks for several hours until it got so dark that it was difficult to continue tracking.


    "Let''s set up camp for tonight and continue searching in the morning. I will take the first watch, and then we can switch every 2 hours." Kain said before assigning watch times to the others.


    After they had all set up their individual camping tents and eaten the food they had packed, the others crawled into their tents and left Kain alone.


    Kain couldn''t help but reflect on all of the new information since they''d entered the forest. He seriously doubted that the school wasn''t aware about the mass dying of spiritual plants, why hadn''t they solved it yet? Or was the problem even beyond the school''s capabilities?


    Since he didn''t have anything else to do for the next two hours, Kain decided to summon the Eve-infected Queen, to see if there was anything that Eve could detect.


    Vespirae aren''t nocturnal so Queen and the two guards were obviously unhappy to be summoned at this time.


    "Just sleep, I don''t need you to do anything."


    Queen doesn''t need to be awake for Eve to still be able to detect her surroundings.


    Kain transmitted his thoughts to Eve, and then suddenly, similar to when he had first established a contract with her, Queen''s abdomen began to glow.


    However, this time the glow was much more faint, and it instead travelled down Queen''s legs into the ground.


    Once the glow met the ground, some of the previously slightly limp looking weeds in the vicinity appeared to be a much more vibrant green.


    ''It seems that even without the use of a skill, Eve can just roughly wield her element to a certain extent. However, the effect would probably be much more potent if she had a corresponding skill.''


    However, it was possible with a lot of repeated wielding of a certain element, to realize a unique skill from it. Kain put it on the agenda to begin training with Eve alone. He had been mostly focused on training her host Queen, Queen''s guards, and Bea. Eve may have more potential left to be explored.


    Looking at the revived plants though, Kain noticed that their improved appearance was temporary. Within minutes they were right back to their old state.


    ''I guess the effects of what Eve did aren''t long-lasting'' Kain thought with some disappointment, if they had been, he could have maybe used it to grow some rare spiritual plants that are difficult to grow.


    However, Kain suddenly received some new information from Eve that while the effects aren''t permanent the raw administration of life-attribute energy should have had an effect for weeks. In fact, many of the spiritual plants that had grown in the field surrounding their initial nest had benefited from this energy.


    The effect was so short now because Eve could sense that something was hungrily devouring the life-attribute energy the second it had entered the ground.


    And now that Kain looked at his surroundings, although not as extreme as seen in the spiritual plants, many of the ordinary trees and weeds did look more limp than usual. Obviously whatever had targeted the spiritual plants wasn''t letting the ordinary plants off easy, perhaps just due to their lack of spiritual power they just weren''t as obviously targeted.


    ''Can you sense where the energy is going too?''


    After feeling a little disappointed, he quickly realized that this information could still be used to figure out a vague direction to travel.


    Every so often he can have Eve inject her energy into the ground and see how long it lasts. This would give Kain a rough idea of the area of influence for this energy-draining effect.


    Most of the spiritual creatures have probably migrated beyond this sphere of influence.


    Grrrr


    Suddenly, Kain looked up to see a glowing pair of green eyes in the dark. However, Kain could sense that it was still a red-grade spiritual creature.


    Too lazy to get up and kill any random low-level mob that happened across their camp, Kain decided to just release a Bea-infested Mist and have it surround the camp like a shield.


    Within moments, Kain has received the information that the intruder was dead.


    ''Huh?''


    Approximately 5 minutes later, Kain also received the information that along with the death of the creature, Bea''s connection to her split has also been completely cut off.


    Out of curiosity, Kain ventured closer to where the corpse would be in the mist, however all that remained was an already decomposed pile of bones.


    ''Did this happen to the previous creatures they killed? Or is there something special about this creature or this area?''


    None of them had stayed around any of the creatures they killed long enough previously to see if this had happened to them. They were too lazy to extract materials from red-grade creatures and just quickly left the corpses behind.


    Additionally, since they had entered, Kain had chosen to kill most of the creatures that attacked him with the spear. Occasionally, the scouting Vespirae wasps also contribute a kill. But this was the first kill done by one of Bea''s splits.


    Therefore, they may have missed out on discovering this phenomenon all this time.


    Grrrrr


    Lucky! It looks like the thing Bea just killed had a friend.


    Kain had Bea go through the same process of infecting and killing the targets. However, this time, Kain moved in front of the dying spiritual creature while it was still convulsing on the ground and not fully dead. He wanted to witness what exactly happens the moment it dies for himself.


    After the first minute, there were still no noticeable changes in the corpse.


    However, by the second minute its fur had lost a lot of its luster and had begun to fall out, falling to the ground in brittle chunks. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    By the third minute, the skin revealed beneath the fur had turned a sickly gray and started to sag, splitting open to reveal the underlying muscles.


    By the fourth minute, the muscles had melted into a foul, viscous sludge, and the organs burst out spilling their contents onto the ground. Kain had to step back at the sudden assault of the smell of decomposing flesh on his nose.


    By the fifth minute, the creature was reduced to a skeletal frame, and the surrounding rotting internal organs had already disappeared into the ground. Thankfully, the smell was also gone now too.


    Throughout the duration of his watch, they were attacked several more times by different creatures. However, the decomposition process that Kain witnessed remained roughly the same, with the time until full decomposition fluctuating between 3 and 11 minutes.


    Once his shift was up, Kain woke up Finn, who had the next shift, and crawled into his own tent. However, he found it challenging to sleep after that night''s discoveries.

 Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Field Assessment (6)

    Fortunately, Kain was able to eventually get a couple hours of rest before the sun rose.


    Once everyone awoke they packed up their belongings and continued following the tracks of the Meadow Moose.


    Every once in a while, Kain would summon Queen so that Eve could release some life-attribute energy into the surrounding vegetation.


    Then began a cycle of the ordinary weeds perking up for a short while only to sag over soon after.


    However, once they had been travelling for nearly 10 hours following the tracks, finally the weeds began to remain vibrant for a noticeably longer duration.


    Kain was now more confident that they were headed in the right direction.


    He then pulled out his map, thankfully although they had travelled far from the school they were still within the borders shown in the map.


    Judging by the direction they had headed in and the distance travelled, Kain tried to determine their approximate location.


    "I''m pretty sure that we''re here. There is a body of water about 2 hours East of us. We can start looking for signs of the Astral Stag there." S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unsurprisingly, since entering a region without as much dead vegetation, the number of spiritual creatures they came across increased drastically.


    However, likely because they were not as desperate for food, they did not attack Kain and the others and just ran off.


    When they did experience an odd attack, it was from an orange-grade spiritual creature, but even then just one of their group, aside from Aria, was able to kill a creature of that grade alone, much less when all together.


    Gradually the density of the trees began to reduce and they can see something sparkling in the distance. When they got closer, they realized that it was the sun hitting the surface of the lake.


    "I don''t think I''ve ever seen so many spiritual creatures all in one place ever in my life," said Finn.


    Flying across the lake were delicate creatures, Flutterflies, with shining translucent wings, that resembled a cross between dragonflies and butterflies. They hovered above the water, occasionally dipping down to sip from the shimmering surface, leaving trails of luminescent dust behind them.


    Within the lake, a group of small, floating creatures called Glintfish glided gracefully through the water. These fish had scales that reflected light like tiny mirrors, causing them to appear as glistening streaks beneath the surface. They fed on Lunarells, a type of aquatic plant that floated lazily on the surface, glowing soft blue colour.


    The Lunarells had large, translucent leaves that were dotted with bioluminescent spots, giving them a magical quality as they bobbed gently.


    At the edge of the lake, a lizard-type creature with scales resembling bark, known as a Rootveil Lizard, was partially submerged in the water. Its scales had a rough, textured appearance that helped it blend seamlessly with dense mass of aquatic plants floating on the lake''s surface. It moved slowly and deliberately, inching closer to a young ice-attribute swan spiritual creature.


    This swan, with feathers that sparkled like frost under the sun, was paddling around with carefree innocence unaware that predatory eyes were fixed intently on it.


    Dashing mere feet from where Kain and the others were hidden by the surrounding bushes was a group of Mistbunnies. The Mistbunnies'' fur shifted colors with their surroundings, making them appear like wisps of fog. They nibbled on the glowing petals of a spiritual plant resembling lilies located near the edge of the clearing.


    Occasionally, a Mistbunny would jump towards a passing Flutterfly, trying to catch it with playful hops.


    The lake was a vibrant, bustling haven of activity. Looking around there must have been thousands or even tens of thousands of spiritual creatures, all of different species, in the surroundings.


    Despite the beauty of the scene, Kain and the others were aware that it was unusual to see so many types of spiritual creatures around one water source. It was as if all the creatures within a days travel East of their college had chosen to abandon their homes and native water sources and use only this.


    ''Not as if. That''s probably exactly what happened''


    Kain signalled to the others to back away from the clearing and gather together.


    "The amount of spiritual creatures is enough to be a small-scale beast tide, there are also probably hundreds of yellow-grade spiritual creatures and maybe even stronger ones that we can''t see. We absolutely cannot make our presence known to them."


    Everyone nodded in agreement to Kain''s statement. None of them wished to turn what was supposed to be a simple field assessment into a suicide mission.


    Although they were the elites among students of their age across the country, when faced with hundreds of yellow-grade spiritual creatures, and thousands of spiritual creatures orange-grade and below, they knew it was a hopeless battle. Doing so would be several times more challenging than their entrance assessment.


    At least then they just had to use whatever means they had to cross the bridge, they were not required to solo-clear the beast-tide head-on.


    "We first need to see if our target is around this lake. Let''s travel in groups of 2 and 3 to be safe. We will then meet back up at this location in an hour to share any discoveries."


    Everyone once again nodded in agreement.


    "Great! Then I will organize the teams. Liam, Fiona and Finn will be one team and head in that direction around the lake. Aria and I will take the opposite direction."


    ''I don''t need to worry about Liam, Fiona and Finn. They are all pretty level-headed. The only one likely to mess everything up is Aria. Unfortunately, I don''t think Liam has the patience to try and save her even if she were dying right in front of him due to her own stupid actions. I''m also not sure if Fiona and Finn would be able to effectively hunt for clues while keeping an eye on her.


    Therefore, I am stuck with baby-sitting duty.'' Kain thought sadly, wishing that there had been another suitable teammate he could have appointed as team leader to make them responsible for Aria.


    The others had no problem with Kain''s arrangement. After all, they had managed to dodge being responsible for the biggest baggage.


    Nobody thought anything more about Kain''s arrangements��that is except for one person whose face turned a deep red to match her hair.


    ''He sent everyone else away to be in a group alone with me. Does he perhaps l-l-like me?!''

 Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Field Assessment (7)

    Kain and Aria explored around the southern half of the lake, making sure to remain covered by the vegetation.


    Kain also had the additional task of keeping an eye on Aria.


    Thankfully, she wasn''t causing any trouble. However, her face was strangely flushed whenever he checked on her.


    If diseases weren''t practically unheard of in this world, he''d be worried that she was sick with something.


    An hour later they met back up as planned with the other three.


    "Any chance you guys spotted the target? We did find an Astral Stag group, but neither the leader nor any of the members of the group had a flag" Kain asked hopefully.


    They all shook their heads. "No luck. However, we did come across Addison''s group. They said that they''d keep a look out for Astral Stags with a flag if we also kept an eye out for their target��A Mirror Hummingbird nest. Apparently, there should be a small badge with the college''s crest inside of the nest."


    "Hmm��I haven''t seen a single Mirror Hummingbird, but I''ll keep an eye out."


    "Sigh�� what do we do now then?" Fiona asked.


    "All we really can do��keep searching. We only have the rest of today and all of tomorrow to find the flag. We''re extremely far from the meetup spot so we need to every minute count," Kain stated in a resolute tone.


    It had been almost exactly 12 hours since they had woken up and the sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the landscape.


    "Alright, all of us will head back to the southern part of the lake. Maybe the Astral Stag group we saw earlier moved to another location, possibly one with the spiritual plants they like to eat. Then we''ll have a second location we can search. At the same time, we''ll keep an eye out for potential nesting spots for the Mirror Hummingbird."


    "What does their nest look like anyway?" Aria asked.


    Sigh


    All of them couldn''t help but let out a breath in exasperation.


    "They were literally one of the main subjects of yesterday''s lecture. They are attracted to shining things, therefore their nests are a combination of shining spiritual plants, their own mirror-like feathers, and their saliva as glue. Therefore, their nests from afar may just appear as a shining spot," Finn said.


    Aria, not realizing that she was the cause of their irritation, suddenly perked up. "Actually, I think I remember seeing something unusual around the south end of the lake earlier, but I didn''t get a good look."


    Kain raised an eyebrow, glancing at Aria. "Something unusual? What do you mean?"


    Aria''s cheeks flushed suddenly once again, "I-It was just a glimpse of something bright and shimmering near the trees, but it could have been anything."


    "Alright, we''ll meet up with Addison''s group and start with that lead then. If it really is a Mirror Hummingbird Nest, then they owe us and we''ll have more eyes looking for our target," Kain decided. "Finn, Fiona, Liam. You guys lead the way to where you saw the others."


    The group then headed to the North, with Kain and Aria following at the back.


    Kain couldn''t help but notice Aria''s flushed face again. He decided to address it directly. "You''ve been acting a bit off all day. Is something bothering you, Aria?"


    Aria''s eyes widened slightly, and she seemed to struggle for words. "Eeek! I-I-It''s nothing, really."


    Kain frowned. "If you''re not feeling well, it''s okay to say so. We can take a break or��"


    "No, really, I''m fine," Aria interrupted, forcing a smile. "Let''s just focus on the search."


    Kain nodded reluctantly, but he kept a closer eye on her as they moved, and as he did so he noticed that her complexion kept getting a deeper and deeper shade.


    ''There''s definitely something wrong with her.''


    As they made their way north, the sun lighting began to dim and the sky was painted with shades of orange and pink.


    "This is where we met them last time�� I think this is their team''s meet up spot" Finn said, as the group stopped next to a tree with an X carved into it.


    The group was too cautious to risk calling out to Addison in case it attracted the spiritual creatures by the lake. The forest had grown quieter as the day transitioned to dusk, and the canopy above cast deep shadows on the ground.


    Thankfully, after a few moments, Addison''s group emerged from the forest.


    "What are you guys doing back here already. Don''t tell me you''ve already managed to find some clues. Or did you just miss me Finn?" she said jokingly.


    "We did actually get a lead for your task. However, before tell you we once again need to confirm that you will repay the favour."


    This time another boy stepped forward, Dwayne, the 6th ranked trainee just outside of the top 5, and the leader of Addison''s group.


    "We promise to also help you look for your target once we get our badge." He stated.


    "I''m going to need something more substantial than empty promises. If we do find this badge based on our lead, we''ll be holding onto it to make sure you hold up your end of the deal." Kain said.


    Dwayne frowned, before stepping back to communicate with the rest of his team.


    Fortunately, after a few minutes they agreed to the deal. Although everyone except for Addison appeared quite upset about it.


    With Addison''s group joining forces, they retraced their steps southward. The sky was now a deep, velvety blue with the first stars appearing. The air had grown cooler, and the sounds of the forest seemed to have taken on a more serene quality.


    As they approached the area where Aria had seen the shimmer they continued their search, scanning the ground and the trees for any sign of a shimmering nest. However, likely due to the lack of sunlight the nest was much harder to spot at night than during the day. S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Aria, looking increasingly weary, suggested, "Maybe we should take a break for the night and start fresh tomorrow. I don''t think we''ll find it like this"


    Kain glanced at the others who also all looked exhausted and nodded. "Alright, let''s set up camp a further distance from the lake. Make sure not to make too much noise or start a fire. We can continue the search in the morning."


    The group dragged their tired bodies about a half hour from the lake to be safe and set up camp.


    The forest around them was quiet, the only sounds being the distant calls of nocturnal creatures.


    After coordinating the look-out shifts for both groups with Dwayne, those not on first watch went to sleep. Or at least they tried to. Both groups were covered by an air of anxiety.


    Kain knew that time was running short, and they had to make every effort count. Tomorrow would be their last chance to complete the task and secure the flag, and still have enough time to head back to the meet-up location.

 Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Field Assessment (8)

    As the first light of dawn crept through the trees, the forest began to stir.


    Kain who had only managed a couple hours of sleep due to his anxious thoughts, was up before the sun, shaking off the remnants of exhaustion.


    He glanced around at the makeshift camp, where his team members were slowly rousing themselves from sleep.


    The group gathered their things and made their way back to the southern part of the lake. The sun had risen fully, casting a warm glow that made the search easier compared to the previous night. The shimmering nest would now be easier to spot in the daylight.


    The group made their way back to where Aria said she had seen the glimmer among the trees.


    They moved methodically, checking every likely spot in the dense undergrowth and the low branches of the trees.


    After about an hour of searching, Fiona called out, "I think I see something over here!"


    The group hurried over to where Fiona was pointing. There, nestled among the lower branches of a tree, was the Mirror Hummingbird nest at around the height of Kain''s chest. It was adorned with an assortment of shimmering feathers, glowing spiritual plants, and a mixture of twinkling materials that caught the morning light.


    "Looks like we found it," Addison said, stepping closer to inspect the nest. "Let''s see if the badge is inside."


    Kain had no problem with Addison collecting the badge since he trusted her, however he noticed Dwayne, who had been relatively quiet, eyeing the nest intently and approaching from behind her.


    As Addison carefully pulled the badge from the nest, Dwayne''s behavior took an unexpected turn. He shifted closer to the nest, his movements deliberate but seemingly casual.


    Kain''s heart raced as he realized what was happening.


    "Dwayne, what are you doing?" Kain called out sharply, stepping forward and grabbing the badge from a shocked Addison. "We agreed that I''d be holding onto the badge."


    Dwayne froze, his hand inches away from Addison. He looked up, caught off guard, and forced a smile. "I was just... checking to see if everything was alright. That it truly matched the description of the badge we''re looking for."


    Addison turned, her face a mix of confusion and concern. "Dwayne, why are you trying to grab the badge?"


    Dwayne''s face reddened. "I��I wasn''t trying to take it. I thought��"


    "Thought what?" Kain interjected, his tone firm. "That you can just back out of our deal once you''ve got everything you need." Kain put the badge away in his space ring to make sure no further attempts at it could be made.


    Dwayne''s attempt to worm his way out of the situation fell flat. He stepped back, visibly flustered. "Sorry, I didn''t mean to��"


    Addison, looking visibly irritated at her leader almost double-crossing her friend turned to him. "Dwayne, we agreed to work together. I hate people that go back on their word."


    At that, Dwayne''s face visibly turned pale. After all, he had had his eye on Addison pretty much since the semester started and was ecstatic when he found out she was in his group. The last thing he wanted was to leave her with a negative impression. He really didn''t think that she and this Kain were so close.


    With the situation under control, Kain refocused the group. "Alright, let''s put this behind us and concentrate on finding our flag. We still have time, but we need to stay sharp."


    Kain''s group no longer could see the Astral Stag group from yesterday. However, they were able to spot their tracks leading away from the lake and followed them.


    They followed the tracks a short distance away from the lake to a clearing of spiritual plants. They didn''t find the group of Astral Stags from yesterday. Even better they saw a large Astral Stag with a black flag bearing the college''s crest dangling from one of its antlers.


    "There it is," Kain whispered to Addison and the others. "That''s the flag we need."


    The members of his own group practically started to vibrate from the excitement of being able to complete a task that had started to feel hopeless.


    Addison nodded. "Let''s approach carefully. We need to retrieve the flag without startling the Stags."


    With practiced precision, the team moved closer to the Astral Stags. Kain led the approach, ensuring that he maintained a respectful distance from the majestic creatures. The Stags were grazing peacefully, oblivious to the approaching humans.


    However once they were closer to the leader, Kain made a disheartening discovery. His gaze narrowed as he saw that the flag was not simply wrapped around the antler. Its side was practically fused with it.


    Kain couldn''t help but curse their professor under his breath. They needed to retrieve the flag intact, but it was clear that removing it would be no simple task. The obscure phrase about the flag needing to be "intact" had seemed trivial at first, but now it was a significant obstacle


    If it wasn''t required to be in tact, he could''ve cut it off the antler, even if it ended up in tatters.


    "We''ve got a problem," Kain said, turning to Addison and the others. "The flag is fused to the antler. We''ll either need to chop off the antler, which''ll piss off the stag, or kill it and then cut it off. Regardless we are in for a fight."


    Everyone''s eyes widened and many members of Addison''s group looked reluctant. Among yellow-grade spiritual creatures the Astral Stag was quite powerful, and they could see that this herd had over 20 orange-grade Stags, and dozens of red-grade ones. It was a daunting task, especially since it wasn''t their own task.


    Aria, her face pale, spoke up. "There are so many of them. Is there really no other way?"


    Kain shook his head. "The flag is fused with the antler. Unless someone has a better idea, fighting might be our only option."


    Liam''s expression hardened, before taking the initiative to speak. One of the few times that he did so. "We need to be smart about this. If we provoke the herd, we might not just have to fight one Stag but the whole group. It''s better to focus on the leader and keep the rest of the herd at bay." sea??h th�� NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain nodded. "Agreed. We can create a distraction to draw the leader away from the herd and then deal with it. Let''s set up a plan."

 Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Field Assessment (Final)

    After familiarizing the members of each group with each other''s skills, they quickly devised a strategy.


    Surprisingly, Aria was a key component of the plan. Her talent along with her contract will be used to lull the surrounding Stags.


    However, her talent even when amplified by her contract has limited effect on yellow-grade spiritual creatures. Therefore, Queen will also use Noble Breeze to further reduce all of their vigilance before a Bea-containing mist will begin to infect all of the Stag.


    Kain made sure to let the others know that the mist will ensure that all red-grade spiritual creatures and below die within seconds. Therefore, the remaining individuals each would be responsible for hunting the orange-grade Stags.


    Although none of the students had yet crossed the threshold to 3-stars and have orange-grade spiritual power, after the Stags had been physically weakened by Bea, and their vigilance and aggression reduced due to a combination of skills, even the weakest of them should have no problem killing an orange-grade Stag solo��except for probably Aria, who seems to have little, if any, offensive capabilities.


    After all of the weaker stags were taken care of to avoid them interfering in the larger battle with their leader, all of them will then encircle the yellow-grade leader and attack to kill.


    "Everyone familiar with the plan? We will begin on the count of 3. 1��2��"


    "Wait!" Aria yelled. "Do we start when you say 3 or right after you say 3."


    Kain glanced at Aria, barely concealing his irritation. "We start right after I say 3, I will even say ''Go!'' so that it is extra clear for you," he confirmed. "Be ready."


    Aria nodded, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. Kain raised his hand, preparing to give the signal.


    "1�� 2�� 3��GO!"


    Aria drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to sing.


    Her voice, soft and melodious, floated through the clearing as an ethereal chant. The melody was both haunting and calming, as it wove a spell of tranquility over the clearing.


    Even though he was prepared, Kain could even feel his muscles unconsciously relaxing. If his mental strength was not so high, he really may have forgotten his purpose for coming here.


    Thankfully, Bea and Queen remained largely unaffected. True to the plan Queen began to flap her wings rhythmically as the Noble Breeze swept through the surrounding. The previously on-guard creatures now appeared drowsy and sluggish after the combination of Aria and Queen.


    Kain then summoned a mist to envelope all creatures in the clearing. The red-grade Stage quickly began to fall, their bodies convulsing briefly before going completely still.


    The red-grade Stags were now completely neutralized by Bea, leaving the remaining threat��the orange-grade Stags��vulnerable but still very much alive.


    "Now!" Kain barked, signaling the group to engage. S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Addison and Finn, likely the most familiar with receiving orders from Kain, quickly had their contracts launch into the mist.


    However, not long after, the remaining teammates also sent the summons to go hunting in the mist.


    Through Bea''s feedback Kain could sense that the orange-grade Stags were dropping like flies, the combat power of his allies truly formidable.


    ''I can''t afford to slack off at all. If I do I may find myself overturned by a much lower ranked trainee during the re-ranking.''


    As the last of the orange-grade Stags fell, the group regrouped, preparing for the final confrontation.


    The yellow-grade leader could be seen shaking its head erratically about as it tried to get rid of the multiple skills affecting its mind.


    Kain exchanged glances with the other members to confirm that they were all ready before signalling to launch their attacks simultaneously.


    The leader Stag''s head snapped up as it sensed the incoming threat. With a mighty bellow, it charged, its antlers swinging menacingly. Fiona''s defensive inclined contracts played a crucial role in holding it back. However, despite their impressive defense, cracks that shimmered like stars began to be left on their surfaces due to the Astral Stag leader''s attacks.


    Many of the melee spiritual creatures, such as Finn''s serpent contracts, moved in for the kill. While Kain''s Vespirae guards, Addison''s Fire Sprite, and other more long-distance attackers launched their attacks from afar. Thankfully, they had worked out a tempo beforehand on when each group of long and close distance attackers would go so that there were no cases of friendly fire.


    Kain had actually been worried about if a lack of practice and mutual understanding may lead to some of their attacks hitting their own. Thankfully, such worries were useless.


    Kain''s team was relentless. Each attack was calculated, aimed at weakening the Stag further. The coordinated strikes from the group, combined with their spirits'' abilities, began to take their toll. The Stag''s once-proud stance faltered as it was besieged from all sides.


    Finally, the Astral Stag leader collapsed with a mournful cry.


    The group paused, catching their breath as the clearing fell silent.


    ''Thankfully, we grouped up with Addison''s team. The difficulty of the mission was lowered substantially. Had it been us 5 alone, it would have taken a lot longer and we would have likely sustained much more injuries''


    Kain approached the antler, carefully prying to saw the antler fused to the flag off with his spear. However, it was to no avail.


    "Anyone got a saw or anything?" Kain asked looking around.


    Thankfully, Addison handed over a 2-star short sword. It wasn''t anything impressive, but it did have sigils that increased sharpness and cutting ability. Kain could tell she probably bought precisely for extracting more challenging materials.


    After he''d finally managed to remove the antler, Kain held the flag aloft, the crest of their college shimmering in the light.


    "Well done, everyone," Kain said, his voice a mix of exhaustion and relief. "We pulled it off."


    Finn, Fiona, Aria, and even Liam, all gathered around with relieved smiles on their faces at having finally completed the mission.


    As they began to collect their spoils of war from the Stags, Kain couldn''t help but feel a surge of pride for his team. The battle had been intense, but their planning and teamwork had seen them through. The flag was theirs, and with it, a hard-earned victory.

 Chapter 117: Chapter 117: Stampede

    The forest was bathed in the soft glow of the afternoon sun as Kain and his team made their way back to the meetup location.


    Despite their fatigue, the mood was buoyant in both groups. Especially since the successful completion of his mission Kain had handed the badge needed for their task to Dwayne.


    As they walked, the path was clear, although they took care to bypass the lake that they had seen many spiritual creatures around.


    Suddenly the jubilant chatter between groups was interrupted by a loud mix of crashes, roars, and screeches.


    "What the hell is that?" Addison exclaimed, her eyes scanning the horizon for the source of the commotion.


    Before Kain or anyone else could answer a black cloud was observed in the distance slowly approaching their location. Then came the loud rumbling noise, getting higher in volume with each second, and the vibrating ground.


    Finally, they could see the source of the "cloud" it was a massive stampede, that was kicking up the surrounding dirt into the air.


    The sheer number of spiritual creatures was staggering��hundreds, if not thousands, of creatures stampeding through the forest, uprooting trees and crushing everything in their way beneath them.


    The cloudy mass surged forward with a frenzied determination. Gradually more distinct forms could be made out among the rising dirt. A chaotic blend of scales, feathers, and ethereal glowing eyes would be revealed every once in a while, letting Kain know that this was a true beast-tide, not an attack by a single spiritual creature ethnic group.


    In front of the wild stampede were six students, their faces filled with panic and desperation. They stumbled over each other, struggling to keep their footing as they fled. The lead student, a tall figure with a wild mane of brown hair, clutched a large, spherical object wrapped in a shimmering, protective cloth. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is that��an egg?" Fiona questioned, her voice barely audible over the roar of the approaching creatures.


    "It must be," Kain said, his eyes narrowing at the 6 unfamiliar students. "And based on the cloth used to conceal its aura and appearance it is probably quite valuable."


    In a burst of realization, Kain and the others understood that the stampede was no random occurrence. The students must have disturbed a powerful spiritual creature who just so happened to be one of the parents of that egg.


    "Everyone, move!" Kain ordered, his voice rising above the loud chaotic sounds. "We need to get out of here��NOW!"


    The group turned and sprinted through the forest, their hearts pounding as the ground seemed to quake due to the relentless purs. They dodged trees and leaped over fallen logs, their legs burning with the effort.


    As they fled, Kain glanced back, catching a fleeting glimpse of the source of the mayhem. A spiritual creature whose location had been marked as a great threat on his map. Although its current location differs from where it typically resides. It was a Glacial Leviathen��an ice-attribute green-grade spiritual creature.


    The Glacial Leviathan was a behemoth of ice and frost, its serpentine form had translucent scales that reflected the sunlight like shards of broken glass. Each of its movement sent ripples of cold through the air, and its blue eyes glowed with a menacing intensity. From its massive jaws, thick plumes of white smoke escaped. However, he could tell that the "smoke" was most definitely not hot.


    It was a manifestation of how ice-cold its breath was that it caused the air to condense. As a result, an aura of freezing mist was produced that clung to everything it touched.


    The Leviathan''s roar echoed like the cracking of icebergs, a deep, resonant sound that seemed to shake the very earth. It was clear that the egg, likely its own child, had triggered the Leviathan''s rage, unleashing a horde of "younger brothers" to retrieve it.


    Kain''s group pushed themselves harder, knowing that their survival depended on their speed and their ability to navigate the treacherous terrain.


    The spiritual creatures in pursuit varied widely in appearance and ability. However, they were all single-minded in their pursuit of the college students. Including Kain and the others who they clearly regard as accomplices.


    Kain felt resentment at having his life put in danger due to a classmate''s greed. If you were going to steal, don''t steal from a creature 3 power levels higher than you. Not to mention that the terrifying creature even has some Frost Dragon blood. Amongst the creatures of green-grade it was within the top tier in strength.


    Suddenly with a rage filled roar that almost brought Kain and the others to their knees form the spiritual power pressure, the Leviathan launched an attack.


    Dense clouds appeared over all the fleeing students, and Kain''s instincts immediately screamed DANGER!


    He was unable to continue caring about concealing his contract''s abilities. He summoned all 12 Vespirae guards.


    "Recall your contracts and jump on!" Kain yelled.


    Suddenly each fleeing member of Kain and Addison''s group was then carried by a guard into the distance.


    Fortunately, despite the weight of having a rider, the wind-attribute guards known for their speed were still several times faster than the students or most, if not all, of their contracts.


    Two guards without riders served to clear any spiritual creatures in the students'' paths.


    Soon Kain''s group of ten was outside of the range of the clouds. However, they had never been their target. The others of that group had also likely sensed the danger and employed all kinds of lifesaving measures. Two of the more resourceful ones just managed outrun the clouds that were gathered the thickest over the fleeing member with the egg.


    Pouring rain began to fall from the clouds, however before the droplets touched the ground they were struck by an incredibly low temperature and turned into crystal clear gems of ice.


    They fell, no longer liquid, but solidified into a string of ice beads softly falling in the air with a mysterious beauty.


    The trees, spiritual creatures��and even the 4 fleeing students unable to escape in time. Everything touched by the ice skill was covered with a thin layer of ice shells in a short time.


    If the instant death of 4 of his colleagues wasn''t so terrifying, Kain would have admired the strange and charming beauty of the scene filled with ice sculptures that appeared intricately carved.


    Even from where he is Kain could feel the piercing cold dig through his skin almost to the bone.


    ''Too strong�� are we going to die?''


    Kain released a frozen puff of air with a pale face. This was the first time in his life he had experienced such power. Seen what the top spiritual creatures were capable of. Before the Leviathan, Kain and the others were no different from ants.

 Chapter 118: Chapter 118: A Force of Nature

    The roar of the Glacial Leviathan reverberated through the forest, even as Kain and his team, carried by the Vespirae, fled the scene. The oppressive cold that followed its roar was like a vice around their chests that made it challenging to breathe.


    Kain glanced back at the chaotic scene receding into the distance, his breath misting in the frigid air.


    One of the Vespirae, its transparent wings shimmering as it darted through the air, let out a low, agitated hum. It was clear that even the normally fearless Vespirae with the Dauntless skill were unnerved by the Leviathan''s display of power.


    Thankfully, after retrieving back the egg, the Leviathan and its followers did not continue their pursuit. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, Kain still had the Vespirae flee with them for nearly three hours just to be safe.


    Finally, the Vespirae set them down in a clearing that seemed momentarily safe.


    As soon as they touched ground, Kain and his group dismounted. He took a deep breath, attempting to shake off the cold that had seeped into his bones. "Everyone, check in. We need to assess if anyone was heavily injured just now."


    Thankfully, aside from some minor scrapes that obtained while fleeing, and a persistent chill, there were no major injuries.


    In addition to their group of ten that had all made it, there were now two new additions.


    The two survivors, clearly traumatized and exhausted, were now huddled together near a fallen tree, their faces ashen with fear and fatigue.


    They had been fortunate enough to not be the main target of the Leviathan''s rage and to have effective life saving measures. However, majority of their group, including their group leader, was now dead. Moreover, they had still not even completed the task assigned to them by the professor.


    Obviously, their task had not been to steal an egg from such a powerful creature, that had been completely their leader''s decision.


    They had stumbled across the existence of the Leviathan at the bottom of the lake by accident, as well as the egg it had in its nest.


    Although they weren''t experts on all spiritual creatures, they knew that the Leviathan was at least of Platinum quality to reach its current level of strength. Its child must also have fearsome potential.


    Their captain was not content with being towards the bottom of the top 10, he felt as though he could be in the top 5. Moreover, the Leviathan also happened to be compatible with his affinity, so likely its offspring would be too.


    He felt as though it was a sign from the universe signifying his future ascension into the big leagues. He had even vetoed the concerns of his teammates and coerced them into helping. He also lied that the Leviathan''s nest would provide the clues needed to complete their mission, which also involved hunting an elusive water-attribute creature under the lake.


    The atmosphere surrounding the pair was incredibly somber.


    Kain wanted to tell them off for their greed endangering all of their lives, however after hearing their story and seeing their pale, snot covered faces and hollow eyes, he could no longer work up the anger.


    They were also victims of an absolutely terrible leader. And the main perpetrator deserving of Kain''s wrath was now dead.


    Kain and the others had purposefully fled back towards the direction of where the life-draining effects within the environment were still present, which also likely played a role in why they were no longer pursued.


    They set up a fire, unable to care about potentially attracting spiritual creatures. They were freezing and most of the high-level beasts in the area had already migrated away.


    Kain couldn''t help but stare blankly into the flames as he relived what he had experienced earlier that day.


    "I''ve never seen anything like it," Finn said to nobody in particular, his voice heavy with the weight of their close call. "It was more than just a powerful creature. It was like facing the raw force of nature itself."


    The others also nodded blankly.


    Addison who had been talking to the new arrivals off to the side approached Kain and the others.


    "The survivors from the other group��Riley and Elara��are in pretty bad shape. They need rest and medical attention. We can''t afford to push them too hard."


    When Kain observed them closely, he could tell that in order to preserve their lives Riley had used a secret spiritual skill that seems to have pretty severe side-effects.


    Elara had sacrificed a one-time use magical equipment and was in much better shape. However, she still had a deep gash in her side that she obtained while fleeing the beast hoard.


    Unfortunately, neither of their two groups had a healer. Leonara had been the healer for their group missions in the past, but unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen.


    Their only option was to administer first-aid while making their way to the meet-up location.


    As the hours passed, the team settled into a restless sleep, their minds haunted by the day''s events.


    However, they couldn''t afford to rest for long. Kain had calculated their current distance from where they needed to go and woke everybody up before the sun rose. If they hoped to make it in time to not fail their first field assessment, they needed to get moving.


    To further increase their speed, those that had mounts with a decent speed carried their owners, and as many others as they could comfortably support to their destination.


    Kain had the Wasps scouting the way ahead since many of the contracts of the others were serving as mounts.


    Thankfully, by the time the sun had fully risen they were already back at the meet up spot. Although, they were one of the last teams to arrive.


    Kain saw that Bridge and others were all safe in their respective groups and let out a sigh of relief.


    Suddenly they heard loud movements through the thicket before they saw the appearance of their professor on a massive furry beast that brought a great deal of pressure to the students just by standing there.


    Professor Flint dismounted his contract, and looked at the students gathered with an unreadable expression. Although, when looking at Riley and Elara his expression went noticeably more cold.

 Chapter 119: Chapter 119: The Price of Failure

    "Team leaders please turn in the objects you were tasked to retrieve for the field assessment."


    Kain went to Professor Flint with the flag alongside Dwayne carrying their groups badge.


    Soon all nine remaining group leaders had handed over their assignments to the professor.


    Riley and Elara stayed in place. They were neither their group''s leader, nor did they have the task item.


    The professor accepted the items with a nod, his expression remaining unchanged.


    There was a brief, uneasy silence as the professor inspected each turned over item with meticulous care ensuring that the requirements of each task were made.


    Finally, he turned his attention to Riley and Elara, who stood apart from the others, their faces pale and eyes downcast.


    "Riley. Elara." Professor Flint''s voice was sharp, cutting through the silence with an edge of impatience. "Where is your team leader and task item?"


    He was asking, but Kain had a feeling as though he already knew. Likely the school has knowledge of everything that happens in its backyard. Therefore, the decision to not intervene in the Leviathan''s chase was a conscious one.


    Perhaps issuing a powerful enough individual that can get there in time was not worth the effort for them when the group brought it upon themselves.


    Maybe they wanted the group to serve as a lesson for the others to not be driven mad with greed.


    Riley swallowed hard, the lump in his throat making it difficult to speak. His eyes flicked to Elara, who stood beside him, equally grim-faced. They were neither their group''s leader nor did they have the task item, a situation that left them exposed to the professor''s displeasure.


    "Our team leader," Elara began, her voice trembling despite her efforts to remain steady. "Our team leader is dead. So are three other members of our team."


    Immediately hushed whispers were heard within the other groups due to the shocking announcement. All of the tasks were difficult. However, none were particularly life threatening.


    Even Kain''s task, while it would have been extremely challenging to complete it without Addison''s group wouldn''t have been life threatening. As individuals that passed the college''s entrance exam, many of them had been able to kill or severely wound the orange-grade spiritual creature at the end of the exam alone.


    After several months all the students'' strengths should have improved and be able to easily kill orange-grade species solo. Working as a team, hunting a yellow-grade spiritual creature is actually the perfect difficulty of exercise for them. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The real challenge for most of the groups, such as Dwayne''s, is actually navigating and surviving in the forest while using the knowledge obtained about the target creatures from the Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers course to actually find their targets.


    Therefore, nobody in the groups that hadn''t seen the rampaging Leviathan could understand how 4 students at a top 5 college would die during their first field mission.


    Professor Flint''s gaze grew colder, more penetrating. "And the task item?"


    Riley spoke up, his voice quieter but no less resolute. "We don''t have it. The team leader made a decision to deviate from our assigned task and��"


    "And you followed," Flint interrupted, his tone leaving no room for excuses. "You followed a course of action you knew was wrong. You did not question it, and you did not have the courage to stand against it. You almost died as well. I can summarize my opinion of you to from this first task assessment with one word��brainless."


    Riley flinched at the harsh assessment from the professor. He and Elara had indeed followed their team leader''s decision due to fear and the misguided opinion that all leaders must be unconditionally followed.


    After remembering the Glacial Leviathan that almost killed him, he couldn''t help the shiver of dread that travelled down his spine.


    Flint''s disappointment was palpable. "Explain to me how a simple retrieval task turned into a mission that cost lives."


    Based on the professor''s attitude from when he first entered the clearing, Kain had a faint idea that he already knew exactly what happened. The reason he''s criticizing Riley and Elara now, surrounded by their peers, and having them state it for themselves is because he wants all of the others to also learn from their mistake.


    Riley and Elara exchanged a hesitant look before Riley met the professor''s cold gaze and opened his mouth. "Our team leader tried to steal the egg of a Glacial Leviathan to contract it��"


    "And it''s strength?" The professor interjected.


    "G-green grade. We knew it was a bad idea. A terrible idea! But we didn''t think it was right to to opposed our team leader. We thought��"


    "Though?" The professor cut him off again. "It didn''t sound to me as though you did much thinking. You thought what? That you would succeed in stealing the sole child of a creature 3 grades higher than you. A child that, given the immense difficulty of the Leviathan species to reproduce, may be the only heir it could ever have."


    At this point Riley and Elara could no longer respond coherently to Professor Flint, their chest''s heaving erratically from trying to contain their sobs.


    Professor Flint''s eyes narrowed. "You are students at a top 5 college. Our graduates should become the leaders of the empire, not mindless idiots who can only follow orders from those in the capital without another thought. The source for the empire''s mindless soldiers are those from the lower rank colleges, not you."


    From his words Kain could already feel the pride and arrogance of the top 5 colleges that had seeped into the professor''s bones. He truly thought that the 5 colleges were equal to, if no superior to the government. However, given that most of the top beast-tamers were affiliated with the colleges, this idea wasn''t incorrect.


    "You," Flint said, his gaze piercing through Riley and Elara, "are not merely being judged on the items you retrieve but on your ability to handle responsibility, make sound decisions, and show leadership when necessary. You were trusted with a task, and you failed to meet even the basic expectations of that trust."


    The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the distant rustle of the forest and the subdued murmurs of the other students. Riley and Elara stood, their heads bowed in a mix of shame and regret.


    "When we return to the college, your actions will be reported to the Vice Dean of the Department. A suitable punishment will be arranged. Please reflect on your actions."


    The professor didn''t spend anymore words on them and walked back to his contract. It seemed to sense its contractor''s irritated mood and shifted restlessly. Once mounted he then set off back to the college without another glance at the students.


    The others then went on their own mounts, or on their classmates'' contracts that can fit multiple individuals.


    Those with neither a suitable mount nor friends simply walked. After all, they were only a little over an hour walk from the college.

 Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Silent Departure

    When they arrived back at the college, all students were required to write a report on what occurred during the field assessment.


    Kain made sure to explain his findings regarding the area in the forest draining life-attribute energy as well as the rapid decomposition.


    However, even after a couple of weeks he was not requested for further questioning so he could assume that all of the information he provided was already known by the school��as expected.


    Although the school did not address the changes in the forest directly to the students, Kain did notice them take action in different ways.


    The map for the surrounding wilderness had huge changes in the territories of the more threatening beasts.


    Additionally, students were cautioned against taking missions solo and instead encouraged to always leave the city in groups.


    Queen and Eve had fully saturated their spiritual power and were in Kain''s star space in the midst of breaking through to orange-grade. As silver-quality creatures the success of their breakthroughs were pretty much guaranteed, so Kain had no worries regarding their success.


    Kain and Bea were unfortunately still quite a distance away from their own breakthroughs.


    Although a beast-tamer''s contract can be up to one level higher than themselves, this had several disadvantages.


    For one, Kain''s star space would only have red-grade spiritual power, therefore the benefits and quality of spiritual power provided to Queen and Bea would be miniscule compared to before their breakthrough.


    Additionally, the restraint of the contract on the spiritual creature will diminish. If the spiritual creature was willing to pay the price of long-term damage to their and their owner''s soul, they could unilaterally break the contract. Even worse, because the contractor''s star space had already been modified for that specific contract, they''d be unlikely to bind another.


    Star spaces are unique to each creature, even within the same species. They are fine-tuned to meet every aspect of the bound spiritual creatures needs, including personality needs. Therefore, even if a contractor binds another creature of the same species, they''d probably be less than thrilled at the prospect of a second-hand space not tailored to them.


    While a contract with a completely different species would be impossible. sea??h th�� Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Additionally, the damage to a beast-tamer''s soul from a broken contract due to the spiritual creature''s death or leaving would make it difficult for future contracts or progress in cultivation to even be made. At least not without the use of incredibly rare and expensive materials. Materials that even the most powerful individuals in the country would have a hard time getting their hands on.


    Thankfully though, Kain was confident in his relationship with Queen and Eve. Therefore, he did not prevent them from continuing to break through. Even if it meant he''d be down to only one spiritual creature for approximately a week.


    However, soon Kain was regretting that decision.


    ''Why now of all times?!''


    To Kain''s cell phone he received an encrypted message from the school. It was finally time to complete his Black Mission.


    The mission offered no other details, aside from demanding that he be at the teleportation gate within 6 hours, whose coordinates were provided in the message, and to tell no one of his departure.


    The Empire was so large that travelling on land took several days. Flying using a powerful spiritual creature may also take hours or days depending on the distance. Therefore, in emergency situations, teleportation portals may be activated. However, even for the ultra-wealthy, it was unusual to activate the portals for non-urgent matters. Each activation costing a huge amount of expensive resources.


    Additionally, despite it being a Wednesday morning Kain didn''t have to worry about explaining his absence from his classes. All lessons this week had been cancelled as the professors across the college were all summoned for a reason undisclosed to the students.


    However, Kain was willing to bet that it was to finally address the situation within the forest.


    Kain packed his space ring with clothes, and his usual spear and armour.


    He wished he had more details regarding the mission to help with planning what to bring, but he could only stuff the space with a variety of other random goods he felt may come in handy.


    Making sure to be there at least 20 minutes early, Kain had stealthily arrived at the scene of the teleportation gate. It was noticeably empty of any staff, likely because even the usual workers here had not been informed that it''d be activated today.


    When he entered further into the building until he arrived before the inactivated gate, Kain couldn''t help but call out to see if anyone was there.


    It''s not as though he knew how to work this damn thing himself.


    Fortunately, next to the gate was an envelope that finally cleared his confusion.


    Nobody else would be arriving.


    To keep the identity of himself safe, the coordinates that he''d be arriving at had already been set and the gate would be automatically activated at exactly 6 o''clock. All he needed to do was step through it.


    ''I appreciate the thought, I guess��after all the less people that can place me at the scene of a soon-to-occur murder the better''


    According to the message in the envelope, further details and all resources necessary to gain access to the mission target will be at the next location in a safe accessed by using the 6 digit pin in the envelop.


    Kain put the paper into his space ring and then prepared to wait the 15 remaining minutes until the gate activated.


    Zzzzzzzt


    Suddenly the sigils carved into the gate began to glow a faint silver. At its center, a swirling vortex of electric blue and violet energy formed while emitting an faint buzz.


    Honestly, the prospect of stepping into it terrified Kain. What if an important body part didn''t travel with him to his destination?


    However, he already knew that he had no choice. From the moment he accepted the Black mission, it was mandatory that he complete it or die trying.


    With that thought, Kain put aside his hesitation and stepped forward.


    Soon the room was once again empty, dark and silent.

 Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Mission Details

    Kain felt as though he was going to throw up.


    It felt as though his body was being stretched and then compressed, and then twisted though this tunnel of searing blue light and pulsing energy.


    The experience was unsettling and disorienting but thankfully over quickly. Soon the world snapped back into focus and he felt the ground beneath his feet again.


    Kain took a moment to reorient himself with his eyes closed since it still felt as though his world was spinning.


    Once he felt more stable he opened his eyes.


    He appeared in a room. There was no sigil marking or object to indicate that this was a target for his teleportation. Kain really didn''t know anything about teleportation and had no idea how this room had been so accurately pinpointed. He also had no idea of how to make his way back to the college as discretely as he left.


    Kain examined his surroundings further. He was in a room��one that appeared even more old and rundown than his room back at the orphanage.


    The wooden floorboards were scuffed and worn, marred by deep scratches and stains. The wood has lost its original luster, showing patches of discoloration where years of use have taken their toll.


    The walls, a faded, peeling shade of cream, reveal the scars of age and neglect, with cracked paint and strange dried on white stains that Kain really did not want to investigate further. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An open window was partially covered by tattered curtains that let in a meagre amount of sunlight and helped to clear the musty air within the room.


    The room was also quite bare with only minimal pieces of furniture��a rickety chair, a sagging mattress on a simple frame, and an old wooden dresser with chipped red paint.


    The only thing the room had going for itself was that it was somewhat clean and free of dust and insects.


    ''I hope that it''s not required of my mission to stay here. Based on the suspicious white stains on the walls, I don''t want to use any of the furniture in this room.''


    Kain went to the safe at the foot of the bed. It stood out in the room due to the obviously expensive spiritual metal it was made out of which contrasted with the decrepit surroundings. He then entered the 6-digit pin that was in the letter left at the teleportation gate.


    After the safe popped open with a beep, Kain inspected the insides. There was a black formal suit with a white dress shirt and black tie, a black ornate venetian mask with gold trim and floral design that would cover the top half of the face, a key with a room number on it, an ID card, several papers, and an envelope.


    Kain pulled out the envelope hoping that it would provide more instructions.


    According to the envelope the formal suit and mask were part of the waiter uniform for Eli Cross��his alias. The ID card and the temporary worker paperwork form were also present within the safe. Additionally, there was also a recent photo of his target��a somewhat chubby and pale man in his late twenties to early thirties with dark hair and cold grey eyes.


    "Eli" had been hired to cater an extremely exclusive event tonight attended only by the most affluent members of the capital.


    Yes, according to the letter Kain was currently within the Celestial Empire''s capital city��Celestial City. Which also is home to the nation''s top college, and their biggest rival during the national competition, the First Celestial Academy.


    Apparently this event was something many members of high society looked forward to every year and was even attended by those that usually disliked attending social events, such as Kain''s target Aric Nightsbane. Aric usually remains within a villa in the city''s outskirts all year round, so this is one of the few instances when he appears in public.


    The event is to commemorate the day that the first Affinity Ceremony was held��a major turning point in the nation''s history and also an achievement credited to the royal family. Although the date is not an official national holiday that all workers can take off work, it is probably the most important sate within the social calendar of those nobles.


    Any member of high society, as well as their children above a certain age, that does not attend without good reason will be considered to be personally insulting the royal family. An accusation that would make even the most antisocial individuals not want to deal with the ensuing headache from skipping the social event.


    Tomorrow morning at 8 am, another opportunity to teleport back to the school will be provided within this room.


    Therefore, although Kain had no intention of spending the night in this room, he will still need to keep the room key and come back here tomorrow morning.


    Kain put everything in the safe into his space ring and then ventured out of the room, which he discovered was located within an inn, in one of the most poor areas of the capital.


    Kain then headed to one of the nicer areas of the city to book a more comfortable hotel room to sleep in, although not too high-end a hotel since he wanted to keep a low profile. It took a while to find a non-sketchy hotel that would accept cash payments since his bank account was attached to his real identity and he made sure to book the room under his alias.


    There were still 2 hours left until the event, but Kain figured he should head over there early. So once he had a place to sleep for the night he flagged a cab and made his way over to the event venue.


    In the back of the car as the moved towards the more affluent areas, Kain finally took the time to examine the famous city.


    Due to its long history, there was a captivating contrast between historic charm and modern additions. However, the well-preserved historical buildings became more plentiful in the direction they were headed.


    At a certain point, there was a gate blocking the road. Thankfully, Kain''s work order allowed him and the cab access to the "aristocratic" area in the city''s North.


    The modern sleek lines in the newer middle-class area transitioned to be exclusively lined by grand Renaissance-style architecture with ornate designs along the walls, arched windows, intricately carved columns and domed ceilings.


    The smooth concrete of the newer areas also transitioned into cobblestone roads that shockingly incorporated precious stones that sparkled under the setting sun, displaying the wealth of local residents in an ostentatious manner.


    Every few blocks there were roundabouts at intersections with fountains and statues in the shape of famous spiritual creatures.


    He got out of the cab a short 10-minute walk from the venue outside of a restaurant. After paying the staff at the front in cash to turn the other way as he used the washroom, Kain changed into his uniform and made his way over to his worksite.


    Just outside of the building, he also put on the black face mask.


    The location of the event was held at what appeared to be a Renaissance castle that was cast in a warm amber glow under the setting sun.


    Crimson and gold banners��the royal family''s colours�� decorated the castle''s massive grounds. While the royal crest��a magnificent golden dragon on a red background��was featured in a massive banner above the grand entryway.


    An entryway the Kain bypassed as he went towards the side door of the castle. Obviously as the help he was completely unqualified to enter through the front door.


    After handing over his papers and (fake) ID, Kain was granted entry.

 Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Undercover

    In the bustling staff room of the grand castle, the air was thick with anticipation as the chefs and other workers hurried to complete their tasks last-minute.


    The wait staff, dressed in crisp black suits and black masks, stood in rows attentively, their expressions a mixture of nervousness and a forced calm professionalism.


    At the front of the room, an impeccably dressed stern elderly woman with a tight grey bun, the head of catering, addressed the team with a commanding presence.


    "Listen carefully. I will not have any of you tarnishing my business'' reputation." She began in a strict tone that promised severe consequences should they cross her. "Tonight''s event is of utmost importance. It will be attended by not only the most powerful families of our great Empire, but also members of the royal family��your every action must be perfect."


    "Rule number 1. You will NOT speak to or make eye contact with the guests unless spoken to. You are to be an easily ignorable ghost that just happens to be there when needed."


    "Rule number 2. Every request by a guest must be addressed promptly. Ideally you anticipate their needs before they voice them. If a guest''s glass is almost empty, you are to ensure it is refilled immediately��no guest should ever be seen holding an empty glass."


    Her gaze swept over the staff, ensuring they absorb every detail. "Rule number 3. No matter what you hear at this event, it must be immediately deleted from you mind. You do not show any emotional reaction to what you hear, and above all you do not share it with others once you leave��unless you want to die."


    "Maintain a calm demeanor, and remember to keep your movements smooth and silent. Any mistake tonight is unacceptable. Your efficiency, discretion, and grace reflect on the reputation of this establishment. Now, get ready and make sure you understand the importance of every action tonight."


    The team nodded in unison, their collective focus on the high stakes of the evening ahead.


    They then lined up to receive their catering trays.


    Due to Kain''s true purpose for being here, Kain made sure to collect a tray only with drinks. However, he did not put Bea into the drinks just yet.


    He had no guarantee that Aric has even arrived yet. Not to mention, the level of some of the attendees may be at 6-stars or even higher, while anyone with 4-stars or higher may be able to detect Bea''s presence if they had extreme vigilance. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thankfully, Aric was just an ordinary person. All Kain had to do was find a way to serve him a contaminated drink without any of the more powerful individuals noticing.


    Kain entered the ballroom with his tray full of golden spiritual cocktails.


    Kain noted that the faint hum of spiritual power within the drinks may also help to conceal Bea''s presence from those who were not consciously investigating the liquid.


    Therefore, Kain may be able to move his estimation of Bea''s effective complete concealment to include those of 4-stars as well��Aric''s guards are anticipated to be between 4- and 5-stars. Therefore, he hoped that during a moment of distraction none of them would notice a sudden addition to their charge''s glass.


    Kain was actually grateful that the overindulgence of the nation''s most rich and powerful had caused them to use extremely potent spiritual plants just for party cocktails.


    As the door separates the back kitchen from the party, a breathtaking sight unfolded within. The room, a magnificent embodiment of classic opulence was similarly adorned with crimson and gold tapestries and banners around the hall.


    The soaring ceilings were covered with realistic paintings of the founders'' legendary battles while establishing the kingdom.


    Golden chandeliers were dripping with spiritual crystals that had a faint effect of lifting the attendants'' moods. Although their effect was ineffective on the more powerful beast-tamers present.


    The polished marble floor stretched beneath the socializing guests'' feet. While opulent dining tables draped with red and gold linens were interspersed throughout the room and were set with gold-rimmed dishes and crystal glassware. At the center of each circular table were large spiritual flower arrangements in elaborate vases that cast rich floral scent into the air.


    Likely because not all guests had arrived, and it was not yet time for dinner, the guests were all still standing around and conversing.


    However, possibly due to the live string quartet''s musical instruments being engraved with sigils that had a slight concealment effect, Kain would have to arrive practically right next to the guests in order to eavesdrop on their conversation. All he could hear aside from some vague murmurs was the music.


    Kain did his best to blend in and not raise any suspicion. He naturally walked around the room while serving glasses and collecting empty ones. All the while he kept an eye out for his target who seemingly hasn''t arrived yet.


    And so for the next 30 minutes, Kain was a completely ordinary waitstaff. He returned to the kitchen to refill his drink tray, and conveyed special requests to the kitchen.


    ''This is so freaking boring. Why would anyone even want to come to this thing? I understand that some of the mid-level beast-tamers of 5 and 6 stars probably felt pressured to come. Those 7-star and above should be free from any such repercussions. Are these aristocrats just bored and dying for socialization?''


    Finally, at the chime of a bell the guests moved to their assigned seats and a hush fell over the grand ballroom.


    At the front of the room, a middle-aged man acting as the host in a finely tailored suit took the stage, commanding the room''s attention.


    A smooth and resonant voice cut through the silence, "Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, welcome to this illustrious evening where we celebrate the anniversary of our Celestial Empire''s first affinity ceremony established by our infinitely blessed and wise royal family."


    At his gesture to the side, a spotlight illuminated two distinguished figures sitting at the head table, the guests of honour��a middle-aged woman and teenage boy, the representatives of the royal family.


    The room erupted into a wave of applause. Whether the expressions of deep respect and admiration on their faces were genuine, Kain did not know.


    With the formalities complete, the host continued, "Tonight, you are invited to indulge in an exquisite banquet prepared by one of our nation''s finest chefs, and to partake in an exclusive auction featuring rare and coveted items from both our empire and abroad." The host''s tone is enthusiastic, promising an evening of luxury and excitement.


    ''Auction?! Now that explains why many of these people still came.'' Kain himself was also full of anticipation. Although he couldn''t participate in the auction himself, nor would he likely be able to afford even the cheapest item if he could, this auction would still serve to broaden his horizons.


    At the mention of the auction, applause once again rang out in the room even more enthusiastic than before.


    The staff then sprang into action, serving the first course of the lavish meal. Kain made sure to be responsible for the table of a chubby man with cold grey eyes��Aric Nightsbane.


    However, he made sure not to give him excessive attention, he kept his eyes away from all individuals at the table as he was instructed and paid attention to ensuring the height of their glass remained at a high level.


    All of the guards for these rich and powerful individuals were stood against the walls of the room, keeping an eye on their charges. However, the fact that they weren''t hovering right above the shoulder of those they were responsible for was an additional assurance for Kain.


    From that distance, he didn''t think they''d be able to detect Bea''s presence, especially not when in a liquid brimming with spiritual power.


    Likely they didn''t think anyone would be so bold as to try anything at an even with beast-tamers even above 7-stars. Not to mention, most powerful individuals have extremely effective defensive measures against poisons and sudden attacks. And indeed, no assassination has been launched at this event in the past��at least not successfully. Even when attempted by 6-star assassins in the past.


    The sound of cutlery and polite compliments to the chef filled the room. However, Kain could tell it was perfunctory. Everyone''s focus was on the first covered item being wheeled on to the stage by a beautiful young girl in a form-hugging sparkling red dress.

 Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Auction

    There was an art to the order of auctions. To maximize the enthusiasm of the atmosphere the host would want the first item to be excellent enough to raise the anticipation of the guests. However, the real showstoppers must be left until the end.


    Therefore, the first item of an auction is usually appealing enough to rank just within the top 10 of the items being shown, while also being widely desired and usable by majority of the beast-tamers in the room. That way as many individuals are drawn into the auction early as possible.


    And once they place their first bid, even if they don''t win, their resistance to casting a second, then a third, then a fourth, gradually declines.


    The red covering was removed from the covering to reveal I shining gold piece of armor, with 7 intricate designs all around the armour. S��ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Created by the Grandmaster Blacksmith Ragnar Aegis, I present to you the 6-star amour, the Aegis of Valor. Despite being a 6-star enchanted armor, it has 7 sigils. In order to preserve the cards of its future owner, I will not reveal all of their effects, but I can reveal that this armor has exceptional defensive and offensive abilities.


    And based on Grandmaster Aegis'' resounding reputation I''m sure you can imagine how outstanding the effects of the sigils and their combination of effects must be."


    Immediately a buzz of anticipation was felt within the room. With each increase in level it becomes harder to create an enchanted piece of equipment, much less one with an additional sigil beyond its level. Many of the individuals within the room were 6-star beast tamers, and they probably did not have a piece of equipment with 7 sigils, despite their many connections.


    Additionally, those in the room below 6-stars probably have a relative at the suitable level whether that is an older relative or a junior.


    With one eye on his target, Kain could also tell that Aric was tempted by the armor, after all his grandfather was a 6-star beast tamer. As an ordinary individual, everything he currently has and all of his current status despite his lack of strength is completely due to his grandfather''s favour of him.


    Otherwise, he would have been long cast aside in favour of one of his father''s illegitimate children that have managed to awaken an affinity.


    This armour would make an excellent gift for currying favour with the old man.


    "We will be starting the bids at 50 million Celestial Dollars!"


    The initial bids started to roll in quickly, while Kain was internally still in shock at the startling starting bid. However, the price of the armour quickly went far beyond that.


    The host, now auctioneer, was skilled in his handling of the bids and the mounting excitement in the room set off a flurry of raised hands. Each individual making sure to increase the bid by at least 5 million CD. Kain wasn''t sure if these high-end auctions had some kind of minimal raise rule.


    Eventually there were no more hands in the air.


    "115 million CD, going once��"


    He paused to give time for a new competitor to interject.


    "Going twice��"


    Bang Bang Bang


    "Sold! To Sir Whistlemore for 115 million CD" The auctioneer said before banging a gavil that suddenly appeared three times on the table.


    This early auction item, while not the most extravagant, perfectly succeeded in drawing in a broad array of participants, creating a competitive atmosphere that ensured the evening''s subsequent lots would benefit from the heightened anticipation and engaged crowd.


    For nearly two hours Kain enthusiastically paid attention to the auction items while also making sure to bring in the subsequent food courses and topping up the drinks of all the guests of the table he was in charge of.


    Kain''s horizon''s were definitely broadened. He witnessed the sale of ancient artifacts with mysterious effects, powerful weapons, extremely rare spiritual plants and spiritual creatures, spiritual creatures and specialty items from foreign nations, manuals for rare spiritual skills, and more.


    "Now we are entering the highlight of tonight''s auction. I am sure you have all been waiting in anticipation of tonight''s final 3 items."


    Dessert had just been served and the night was coming to an end, but Kain still hadn''t found an opportunity to infect Aric. Based on this being the last course, Kain had a feeling that this will be the last time Aric will be consuming any beverages. It was now or never.


    Moreover, now the more shocking items of the auctions should be appearing. Hopefully, they were surprising enough to distract the guards from watching Aric.


    Thankfully, for the dessert the paired beverage had been changed to cut through the sweet richness of the final course. Therefore, he would need to clear away their current glasses and replace it with new ones. One that he can already have spiked with a little something��special.


    Kain steadily approached the table with a tray full of red spiritual cocktails, these ones with an even stronger hum of spiritual power��even the kitchen staff were unintentionally helping him!


    Kain began to slowly place the glasses down. Taking his time as he made his way to Aric


    "I present to you the first item of the grand finale��an Elysian Bloom. Brought back at the sacrifice of numerous lives from the far Verdant Empire. I''m sure many of you already know, but I will still go over its extraordinary effects. The Elysian Bloom can guarantee the success of forming up to the seventh star space. Regardless of any latent injuries, or deficiencies in talent that the user may have.


    With this spiritual plant, our great Empire will welcome a new high-level beast tamer."


    This was the moment Kain was waiting for. When even the guards were staring at the stage in envy and longing, Kain placed the last glass on the tray down��Aric''s.


    Kain could understand the appeal of this object. Every 3 levels of beast tamers represented a great divide. The gap in lifespan, strength and abilities between the 3rd (low-level beast-tamer) and 4th (threshold for a mid-level beast-tamer) star is greater than the sum of the strength of the first 3 levels all together.


    The difference in strength between the 6th (mid-level) and 7th (high-level) star is even greater. Similarly, the difficulty of breaking through to the 4th and 7th stars is also the hardest.


    Therefore, while 6-star beast tamers are the backbone of the country''s elite warriors. The number once you get to 7-star beast tamers is drastically reduced. For every 20 6-stars, there may not even be one 7-star.


    A family having a 7-star beast-tamer will result in a huge increase in status and strength compared to one headed by a 6-star beast-tamer.


    Many individuals in the room practically had fire spitting out of their eyes in greed��including Aric.

 Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Auction (2)

    "The starting bid is 1 billion CD. But I''m sure you all know that a 7-star beast-tamer is actually priceless."


    ''Damn!'' Any satisfaction Kain might have felt in the past from making a substantial amount of money from hunting spiritual creatures was now completely gone. In front of the real rich he was still no different from a beggar.


    Soon the price passed 10 billion and showed no signs of going down. The most active and desperate bidders were individuals from families headed by a 6-star beast tamer��such as Aric.


    The amount of times he''d shouted out a new bid had practically caused his voice to grow hoarse. As a result, he was drinking a lot to soothe his throat. Kain no longer had to worry about the completion of his mission and just sat back to watch the show.


    Kain had already instructed Bea to restrain herself and not kill Aric until after he''d already left the venue. After all, as the one serving Aric, Kain would be among the first suspects.


    However, as an ordinary individual, it was really difficult for Bea to not kill him. Any slight action may cause him to collapse since he has no resistance.


    Once the bids passed 15 billion, only then were there signs of the bidding reaching its end. However, it was not because they felt it was becoming overpriced, but rather because they were running our of money to bid.


    For many of the 6-star beast tamers, especially the older ones closer to the end of their life-span, they''d be willing to give up all of their family property to have a chance at breaking through and living for much longer.


    "18.3 billion CD going once��Going twice��Sold to Sir Ironbane. I wish you great success in your future breakthrough Sir Ironbane." An elderly man could be seen smiling in relief at having finally secured the item.


    His eyes were literally red from the stress of this auction, if he hadn''t quickly contacted some distant relatives and friends to raise more money hope of any future breakthroughs would have been lost and he''d have to resign himself to dying.


    Aric''s face on the other hand looked as though he''d smelled something horrible. Kain could tell that he was pissed and no longer in the mood to remain here. Likely the moment the event ended he will quickly leave without bothering to wait around and socialize��which perfectly suited Kain''s interests.


    "Up next we have something I''m sure even some of our 7-star beast-tamers and above will desire��The Fruit of Renewal.


    "Under normal circumstances the loss of a spiritual creature is devastating, not only are you one companion short, but the damage to the soul also prevents any future breakthroughs. But alas, it truly is difficult to reach a certain level of strength without suffering any losses.


    "With the Fruit of Renewal, not only will all damage to the soul be completely restored to allow those of you stuck at your current levels an opportunity. To advance further, it also completely resets the landscape of a star space with a previous occupant to allow you to contract a new spiritual creature.


    Not only will your strength return to its peak��you may even quickly surpass your strength at its peak."


    "The bids will be starting at 10 billion CD!"


    Kain''s hand holding a jug to refill the beverages unintentionally shook at the startling starting bid. Thankfully, none of the drink actually spilled, the last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself.


    However, he was shocked that the starting bid was directly double that of the previous item. Likely because the previous item was only useful for 6-star beast-tamers and below. However, this item was invaluable for the real high-level beast-tamers with 7 or more stars.


    As the highest fighting force in the nation against foreign enemies, many of them have had to lose a companion in the past which prevented them from progressing further. Many of whom were considered geniuses in their youth and without the damage to their soul would have had the hope of condensing 8- or 9- stars. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Additionally, some of the more ruthless individuals in the room were considering using the fruit as a method to further ''improve'' their lineups. It is quite common to have one contract that didn''t live up to its full potential or due to non-ideal circumstances they signed with a spiritual creature earl on without much potential.


    The Fruit of Renewal finally released a long-repressed desire to replace some of the less useful members of their squad without any backlash.


    "20 billion CD!"


    The initial bid was directly doubled by a desperate member of the crowd.


    "35 billion CD!"


    The price was still going up extremely fast. Even for the 7-star and 8-star beast tamers, this amount of money must have been extremely burdensome. Likely the news of this auction item had been leaked beforehand to give an opportunity to raise funds from their friends and family.


    Kain''s heart couldn''t take much more, so after trying to block out all of the bids Kain quickly refilled the glasses without spilling a drop and then quickly returned the empty jug to the kitchen to give himself a chance to calm down.


    Strangely, he was as cool as a cucumber once it was time to assassinate the target, but he was beginning to lose his composure after seeing the crazy spending.


    "Hey Eli"


    Kain continued to staring down trying to calm his heart.


    "Eli?" Someone patted his shoulder, and Kain turned to face another masked boy around his age in shock. Right, "Eli" was the name of his alias.


    "Ah! Sorry I just need a moment to calm down. I don''t come from the best background so seeing them bid billions without hesitation was shocking to me."


    The other boy nodded, "don''t worry about it. Most people are similar to you the first time they see one of these auctions. Even the cheapest item sold tonight is probably worth more than any of us will ever see in our lives. Last year one of the waitresses actually fainted from shock at the final sale price of the last auction item.


    I wonder if the final auction item this year will beat the price of the one from last year."


    Suddenly, a loud applause could be heard from the ballroom.


    "I guess it was sold. They should be moving on to the last item now. You should begin collecting the plates. But leave the glasses, we usually collect them once they leave."


    Kain nodded and then headed back into the room. He wondered what the item that could even place above the previous two would be.

 Chapter 125: Chaper 125: Grand Finale

    "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, and honoured patrons,


    "We have arrived at the pinnacle of tonight''s event. As we near the conclusion of this extraordinary evening, it is my pleasure to present to you the crowning jewel of our auction��the pi��ce de r��sistance that I am sure you have all heard rumours of prior to the auction and are waiting to behold.


    Tonight''s final item is not merely an artifact; it is a legend in its own right��a symbol of access to unparalleled power and the wisdom of the ancients. Allow me to introduce to you the God''s Eye."


    The auctioneer gestured to a velvet-draped pedestal where a small round shining crystal was bathed in a halo of light.


    Kain was confused. He couldn''t sense any particularly strong spiritual power coming from the object. Why was it the last auction item to be presented?


    "The only key that allows the bearer access to the most coveted relic on our continent, maybe even in the world��God''s realm. It is a rare treasure, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have access to a space that if your encounters are fortuitous enough may grant you power far beyond what can even be imagined.


    "As you prepare to place your bids, consider not only the sheer rarity of this key to the relic but also the profound significance it holds. This is likely the sole opportunity to have a hope of stepping beyond the level of 9-stars to a mythical level that has only existed in legends.


    "With that, I invite you to raise your bids and claim this unparalleled ticket for yourselves. Let us celebrate this final chapter of our auction with the grandeur and reverence it truly deserves.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, the God''s Eye is now open for bidding. May the most visionary and daring among you seize this opportunity to etch your name into the annals of legend. We will be starting the bids at 50 billion CD."


    Just by the long speech provided for this item compared to the previous items, Kain could tell that it was extraordinary. However, to be quite honest he really still didn''t understand its significance. It would provide access to a relic? And seemingly this relic also allows its entrants the slim possibility of gaining the knowledge of a level beyond 9-stars?


    However, 9-stars, much less the level beyond it, was way too far away from Kain. The item didn''t actually hold as much appeal to him as some of the others shown.


    But the same could not be said for the few 9-star beast-tamers in the audience. There were only eight 9-star beast-tamers in the entire empire, and four of them were here. All of whom were competing fiercely to obtain the God''s Eye.


    The weaker individuals, even if they had the financial resources, did not compete with them. After all, even if they spent their entire fortune to obtain the object, they did not have the strength to keep it under the covetous eyes of those at the peak.


    There were few items that would cause 9-star beast-tamers to transform into shameless thieves, and this was one of them.


    The atmosphere in the auction hall crackled with palpable tension as none of four 9-star beast-tamers gave in.


    The auctioneer''s words had set the stage for an intense showdown among the most powerful beast-tamers in the empire. The room, previously buzzing with the murmur of guests and the clinking of glasses, now focused solely on the four titans engaged in a battle for this elusive key to legendary power.


    "115 billion CD! I hope my respected colleagues can show this old man a little face as an elder and step down in recognition oof my many years of service to the Celestial Empire," said a small old man who looked like he''d die any day but whose voice boomed with power.


    Kain recognized him as Lord Viad Ignis. There were only eight supreme 9-star individuals, so most college students, and even the average citizen, knew most of them. They were the greatest source of power that the country relied on and had been defending the country for decades, even centuries. Everyone in the nation respected and worshipped them.


    Lord Ignis also comes from an old beast-tamer family that dates back to the empire''s founding, although he was the first of his family to reach 9-stars. He, like majority of his ancestors has an affinity related to the fire-attribute. However, he is even more known for elevating his family''s ancient fire spiritual skills passed on to each generation.


    Therefore, his own combat power isn''t much inferior to his contracts'' despite his feeble appearance. He also happened to be the Chancellor of Supernova College.


    "Ha! Don''t try to intimidate me with age old-man," said a woman with dark skin and silver hair that looked to be in her fifties. Although her true age was likely at least 5 times that. Lady Seraphina Mindshade. A 9-star beast tamer known for her mental-attribute spiritual creatures.


    Although her head on combat power may not be among the top of the 9-star beast tamers, she is the individual everyone is the most wary of making an enemy of. After all, it is easier to defend against a head on attack compared to one against the mind. "I believe that the key should find its way to someone who truly can make use of the opportunity it presents. My bid stands at 130 billion CD.


    This is an opportunity for our entire nation to increase its top power. Naturally, it is more suitable for a younger and more talented individual to go."


    At her words Ignis'' face immediately turned ugly.


    "The God''s Eye is a treasure that promises a chance at unimaginable power and knowledge," said Lord Xavi Oakland, who appeared to only be in his late thirties and had dark green hair and eyes. He hails from a long line of beast-tamers with affinities related to plants. However, unlike his family members he has an affinity limited to binding spiritual creatures with giants'' blood.


    He also has a resounding reputation for his unyielding courage and resolve. "It would be remiss of me not to secure it, as the best candidate from the Empire. I offer 145 billion CD. This key should belong to the one who will ensure its responsible and beneficial use."


    Finally, Lady Elara Windrider, an elderly woman who had not yet spoken and the Chancellor of First Celestial Academy, placed her first bid with an imperceptible smile. "I offer 155 billion CD." Unlike the others she didn''t spare any additional words to try and intimidate her opponents. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The room erupted in murmurs and gasps as the bids continued to escalate. The four 9-star beast-tamers were locked in a fierce battle, each vying for the God''s Eye with a blend of wealth, power, and the occasional verbal intimidation.


    The auctioneer, standing at the center of this high-stakes contest, watched with an almost palpable sense of satisfaction. The bids were reaching astronomical heights, and the intensity of the competition was a testament to the extraordinary value of the final item.


    With each successive bid, the tension in the room mounted. The other guests watched with bated breath as the titans of beast-taming clashed. The auctioneer, barely able to keep up with the rapid-fire increments, prepared for the moment when one of the titans would make their final, decisive move.


    Until finally�� "I bid 1 Trillion Celestial Dollars!"

 Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Grand Finale (2)

    The entire room froze at the unexpected amount. After all, the bid right before it had been only for 600 billion CD. This bid nearly directly doubled it. Not to mention the amount of individuals that could afford to spend an amount into the trillions could probably be counted on one hand.


    Even the auctioneer was so shocked he couldn''t say anything for a moment.


    "Ahem! I said that I will be bidding 1 Trillion Celestial Dollars.," repeated Lady Imogen.


    The auctioneer''s voice trembled slightly as he processed the bid, his excitement barely contained. "1 trillion Celestial Dollars!" he echoed, his eyes widening with the shock of the unprecedented sum.


    "Do we have any higher?" The auctioneer composed himself and looked at the other three in hesitation, likely already predicting that 1 trillion will be the limit for tonight. The highest an auctioned item had ever sold previously was 5 years ago for 850 billion CD. This was an all-time record.


    Lord Viad Ignis''s eyes widened in disbelief, his frail fingers clutching his bidding paddle as if to steady himself. He glared across the room at Lady Windrider who dared to eclipse his previous bid by such an enormous margin. The shock on his face was evident, and his usually authoritative demeanor faltered under the unexpected weight of the bid.


    Lady Seraphina Mindshade''s dark eyes narrowed in displeasure, her serene fa?ade cracking for a moment. The bidding war had shifted dramatically, and her voice, previously calm and composed, now carried an edge of frustration. "A trillion Celestial Dollars? Imogen, I didn''t realize that college Chancellors were paid so handsomely."


    Anyone could tell that she did not believe that Imogen did not have that much money and that it was a fake bid to intimidate the others. She hoped that the auction organizers would invalidate her bid.


    "Stop with the mind games Seraphina, it''s useless. You and I both know that the consequences for reneging on a bid are greater than even we can handle calmly." Lady Imogen responded calmly with an eyeroll.


    Lord Xavi did not enter the conversation. Instead he just leaned back in his chair in resignation.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, we have just witnessed an unprecedented bid of 1 trillion Celestial Dollars for the God''s Eye! Does anyone else wish to challenge this offer, or shall we conclude this remarkable auction?"


    None of the four 9-star beast-tamers answered him. As the seconds ticked by, the room held its breath, awaiting the response of the other three individuals to the bid.


    Finally, with a visible effort, Lord Viad Ignis relinquished his paddle, his face a mask of begrudging acceptance. "It seems," he said, his voice a mix of resignation and respect, "that this key shall go to the one with the deepest pockets."


    Lady Seraphina Mindshade, after a brief pause, followed suit, her gaze lingering on the auctioneer as she nodded in reluctant acknowledgment. "Very well. Let it be so."


    Lord Xavi Oakland, his expression blank aside from a hint of frustration yet grudging respect in his eyes, also conceded. "I have no further bids."


    Lady Imogen Windrider remained seated with an almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips. Her demeanor was one of quiet satisfaction, as if the astronomical bid truly was nothing to her. Or perhaps the value of the key made the expenditure worth it to her.


    With the concession of the three 9-star beast-tamers, the auctioneer''s face broke into a broad smile of triumph. "Going once, going twice�� Sold! To the esteemed Lady Imogen Windrider for 1 trillion Celestial Dollars!"


    The room erupted in applause and cheers, the sheer scale of the final bid turning what was already an impressive event into a legendary occasion. The God''s Eye, a symbol of unparalleled power and potential, had found its new owner. And with the exchange the next 9-star individual with the hope of a further breakthrough has been unveiled.


    As the auctioneer began to conclude the event, the guests were buzzing with excitement from a record-breaking auction bid.


    Some speculated on what Lady Imogen might be able to gain from the relic after entering, while others marvelled at the financial prowess of the Chancellor. The general consensus was that this auction would be remembered for years to come.


    Kain, observing from the sidelines, felt a mixture of admiration and frustration. Truly, given his background, he does not have the immense financial resources of an old family to support him.


    However, if he ever hoped to gain access to these kinds of events and obtain the more rare resources than he also needed to start paying attention to his financial situation as well.


    Kain decided to put some plans he''d been putting off on the agenda.


    With the final bid concluded, the auctioneer''s attention turned to the logistics of finalizing the final sale of the auctioned items.


    Lady Imogen Windrider was surrounded by her aides, who began the process of arranging the transfer of the God''s Eye. The scene was a blur of activity as the prestigious item was carefully handled and prepared for its new owner.


    As the guests began to disperse, the mood was one of both relief and exhilaration. The event had been a resounding success, and the news about the God''s Eye would undoubtedly spread throughout the entire empire by morning.


    Kain began to slowly clean up the emptying hall with the other staff. As Aric got up he stumbled and Kain had to once again remind Bea that now was not the time.


    "Oof! I guess the drinks were too strong for an ordinary person like me. I will be taking my leave, good day everyone." Aric said farewell to the others at his table and left while leaning on one of his guards.


    ''Remember what I said Bea. Restraint. RESTRAINT!''


    Kain got sensed her unwilling confirmation, but Aric Nightsbane still left the vicinity of the event alive. Kain sensed that he''d already entered his car and was driving away.


    Phew


    ''It''d have been horrible if he dropped dead in here.''


    Keeping his head down to continue collecting the objects and working as fast as possible to get out of there, Kain then turned to head back into the kitchen.


    Oomf


    "Ahh!" S��arch* The nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh my god! I am so sorry." Kain said before immediately bowing down and avoiding eye contact with the guest. He could tell from what he could see of the dress with his head down that he had bumped into one of the remaining guests. Based on the spiritual power humming off of their jewellery it''s a pretty wealthy guest too.


    Kain began to get nervous. He was so close to completing his mission, the last thing he needs is an aristocratic young lady throwing a tantrum and drawing attention to him. He really wasn''t sure if the fake identity that the college created for him could withstand an intense investigation.


    "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I''m so sorry!" Kain decided to go the pitiful route to get out of this situation and tried to make his voice as tearful as possible. Although no tears could actually be seen on his bowed head��after all, he isn''t an actor.


    Thankfully, the guest just casually waved their hand. "It''s no matter. Just continue about your work."


    Kain once again bowed in thanks before heading back to the staff room with his head lowered.


    However, behind him there was a cold pair of blue eyes gazing at his fleeing figure in confusion.

 Chapter 127: Chapter 127: News

    Kain quickly finished up his chef and departed the venue.


    With each moment he could feel Bea''s split moving further and further away. He''d need to complete his mission and recall Bea before the splits were too far away for a successful recall.


    Therefore, he patiently waited until he sensed he was just about to lose contact and sent a signal to Bea to go in for the kill quickly.


    Not even 5 seconds later he received a confirmation of death and brought Bea, along with all of her splits into the star space.


    Thankfully, ordinary individuals have no resistance. If he had been a 2-star beast tamer it''d have taken a little longer to kill him and Kain may not have been able to recall the split in time.


    Kain flagged a cab and then calmly made his way back to the hotel he''d booked for the night. Nobody would be able to tell that he was responsible for the death that would make headlines tomorrow.


    Even Kain was surprised by how quickly he adapted to his new role as an assassin and his first human kill��he slept like a baby that night.


    Should he feel guilty?


    Well, no matter, he decided to just put yesterday''s events behind him and leisurely made his way back to the rundown inn.


    On the walk towards the inn with his breakfast of a pastry and coffee in hand, he happened to pass a newspaper stand and decided to purchase it to see if the news of Aric''s death had been reported. And, more importantly, if a cause of death had been determined.


    Stuffing the rest of the pastry in his mouth and leaving a ridiculous white sugary coating on his lips, he opened the paper with anticipation.


    "Record-breaking auction held last night. Final piece sold for 1 trillion CD. Huh..they really left out a lot of information��" Kain muttered under his breath while reading.


    Kain finally realized just how much information was censored before it was released to the masses. The news article went on and on about how lucrative last night''s auction was and the record-breaking final bid. However, it never actually mentioned the details of any of the items auctioned last night or the identities of the final winners.


    If Kain wanted to get any accurate information in the future it looks like he''d need to get access to exclusive places like that event, rather than relying on the information provided by the media. And to get access to those spaces Kain will need both money and power��a lot of it.


    Kain continued to flip through the newspaper.


    "There was an explosion in the western region��32 civilians are injured, 5 dead��suspected to be due to terrorists but their motives are unknown��"


    Flip


    "Random beast attacks against civilians are becoming more frequent in the eastern region, it is suspected that another beast tide is eminent��" Kain continued to read on the next page. "Well they''ve got that right. Although I didn''t realize that the beast attacks were increasing throughout the entire east, not just in the vicinity of the school."


    Flip


    "Another child missing in the capital believed to be in connection to the mass amount of kidnappings over the past 2 years��still no leads have been found." S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well crap! I should read the news more often. Fortunately, it doesn''t seem like there''s been many, if any, disappearances in the southern region. The kids back home should be safe��"


    "Congratulations to Lady Callista Blackheart and Lord Cassian Evermore on their engagement��who gives a crap!" Kain was getting irritated at not finding the information he wanted. I know that guy wasn''t a beast-tamer but surely as the son of a prominent figure his death should cause some buzz. Kain was actually starting to pity the guy.


    Flip


    "A new evolutionary form for the silver-quality Nyxara has been found by Professor Thalorix of Starfire College. It is predicted that the price of Nyxara throughout the empire will usher in an explosive growth as its popularity as a contract increases��Specific details of the evolutionary requirements can be purchased from the patent holder Professor Thalorix." Kain stopped walking for a second.


    ''How did I miss this? What good is the System if not for this?!''


    Kain had been coming up with a variety of money-making plans, but he had really overlooked the profit that could be obtained from patenting a new evolutionary form. However, he couldn''t be completely blamed. He hadn''t been aware that the discoverer could choose to conceal the knowledge since most evolutionary plans he''d come into contact with were publicly available.


    However, that was because majority of them had been discovered centuries ago and the methods had been turned over to the government for the betterment of the nation upon their death. New evolutionary forms were quite rare now.


    Kain decided to get more serious with completing the system tasks to hopefully come up with a new evolutionary form that he could profit from.


    Heck, if he was really ambitious, he could even choose to hoard the spiritual creatures before announcing the new evolution and selling them for a much higher amount.


    Several money-making schemes swirled around in him mind.


    Flip


    "Ahhh�� finally! We regretfully announce that Aric Nightsbane, son of Galen Nightsbane, and grandson of Lord Edric Nightsbane past away last night. The cause of death��excessive spiritual power poisoning."


    Phew


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief. It appears that due to the many glasses of spiritual cocktails last night, Bea''s symptoms resembling intoxication, the absence of any poisons or injuries, and, most importantly, Aric''s status as an ordinary person, it was determined that Aric got spiritual power poisoning.


    A phenomenon usually only seen in ordinary individuals when they consume objects with more spiritual. Power than they could handle.


    Kain still couldn''t be sure if the Nightsbane family had any doubts about Aric''s true cause of death. However, at the very least there shouldn''t be a public investigation. Additionally, Kain''s methods and identity should have been concealed well enough to not lead the trail back to him.


    Nobody at the event, including the other staff members, had even seen his face since he''d worn a mask before even entering.

 Chapter 128: Chapter 128: Planning for the Future

    After re-entering the room at ten minutes to 8 am, Kain stood around and waited. He still couldn''t figure out how exactly anything in this run-down room would enable him to teleport.


    However, after the hearing the chime of the large clock tower at the center of the city to signal that it was 8 o''clock and the start of the work day, the safe suddenly began to vibrate violently. The inconspicuous sigils carved into the exterior of the safe that Kain had not previously noticed began to glow.


    The once-sturdy safe door creaked and slowly retracted into the body of the safe, which split apart with a soft hiss.


    The safe''s base lifted and rotated, revealing more hidden complex sigils.


    Panels around the safe''s front folded outward in to form a ring, revealing a luminous core of pulsating energy at its center that began to float within the room.


    Suddenly the core collapsed in a short burst of light and the energy released was absorbed by the full-formed ring. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The components of the ring continued to shift and reconfigure, seamlessly integrating into the structure of a newly-formed teleportation gate with a swirling vortex of energy at its center.


    Once the transformation was completed, the temporary teleportation gate emitted a strained hum and cracks began to form around its edges. Kain could tell that this gate would not last long.


    Therefore, despite a great degree of fear and hesitation. Kain stepped through the gate with the sensation that he was boarding an airplane that looked like it would fall apart the moment it hit the air.


    ''If there is a god, please don''t let me die. And please let all of my body parts travel with me��''


    The journey back to the college was no better. In fact, Kain wasn''t sure if it was due to the shoddy gate, it was actually much worse.


    A sudden dizziness overwhelmed all of Kain''s senses and he couldn''t tell which way was up or down.


    Then there was the pain, which he didn''t have to experience the first time. It was a painful pressure that seemed to originate from within him and seemed to want to tear apart his very being.


    If Kain''s senses weren''t so overwhelmed, he''d be absolutely shaking in fear.


    Then, as abruptly as it started, the sensation halted just as he felt he couldn''t hold on any longer.


    The moment his feet touched the ground his stomach churned and he couldn''t help but throw up all over the ground.


    As he tried to open his eyes and focus his blurry vision Kain was pleased to discover that he hadn''t been transported back to the school''s teleportation gate. Instead, he was outside in a concealed alleyway between two buildings. He would not have to worry about cleaning up the vomit from the scene to conceal his presence on a Black Mission.


    Unfortunately though, once Kain recognized his surroundings, he realized that he was on the opposite side of campus from his dorms and would have to make his way back while feeling drunk out of his mind.


    Every shaky step made his body lurch to the side and caused a splitting pain to shoot through his mind. The whole journey back was absolutely torturous.


    Thankfully, when he reached the top 5 mansion there was nobody around to witness his plight and he was able to discretely return home.


    Without even being bothered to change his clothes or shower, Kain collapsed into his bed while cursing whatever staff member had stitched together that shoddy excuse of a teleportation gate.


    ----------


    Kain didn''t leave his room for three days and just ate the food remaining in his star space. In fact, he barely left his bed except to occasionally shower.


    He was still suffering from extreme vertigo due to the last teleportation so whenever he moved too much he felt like throwing up��which he couldn''t help but do a couple of times.


    However, although he didn''t feel 100% ready after the third day, with 48 of his peers breathing down his neck to defeat him during the re-ranking, he couldn''t stomach laying down for another day��although he couldn''t stomach much period.


    He had some crucial plans to increase the strength of his contracts that he needed to implement.


    Since the university provided beast-tamers with the basic food for their contracts up to a certain value, Kain had asked them to procure the brains of spiritual creatures kept as fresh as possible.


    Although the freshness of the brains often left much to be desired, thankfully the brain for most spiritual creatures is a pretty useless material. So Bea was able to regularly eat the brains of yellow, and even green-grade, spiritual creatures.


    It was no longer required of Kain to feed her himself. Nor does he have to put up with the impaired mental strength the feedings caused.


    Therefore, Kain didn''t need to worry about Bea''s source of food.


    However, once Eve and Queen break through to orange-grade Kain wanted to provide them with the nectar of spiritual plants of a higher level.


    Not only due to the benefits for their own growth, but also due to the economic benefits of spiritual honey made from plants of a higher level.


    However, spiritual plants orange-grade and above exceeded the subsidized amount for food allocated to each student.


    And although the college had its own fields of plants he wished to have access to, the teachers wouldn''t easily allow a first-year student access to them in case he damages the plants. After all, most of them were grown to provide materials for important industries affiliated with the college, such as Evolutionary Planners, and Pharmacists.


    If Kain can''t properly control his contract the harm to several departments within the college would be devastating.


    So despite his numerous applications for entry, pestering of staff, and even attempted breaking and entering, Kain was never able to enter.


    Therefore, Kain had long had the intention of growing his own spiritual plants. However, he couldn''t do so in his current living area. If another student, such Soren Lysander, messes with or even takes from the garden, then it''d be too late to cry in regret then.


    Additionally, due to the auction Kain had witnessed during the Black Mission, he decided to scale up his initial plans. He was going to start a business.

 Chapter 129: Chapter 129: A Perfect Match

    In order to put his plans into action Kain needed land. A lot of land. However, unfortunately the land in one of the empire''s 5 major cities is not cheap.


    Even if he emptied out all of his savings he would at most be able to buy an apartment in Dark Moon City.


    Therefore, he turned his attention to the surrounding suburbs.


    "And here we have the 34th home that I''ve shown you today, dear customer," said a real-estate agent that Kain had hired through clenched teeth. He was completely annoyed. Kain had been spending less than 5 minutes in each of the homes before shooting them down. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain took a look around, "I don''t think this is for me."


    "WHY?! Ahem�� I mean why, dear customer? It is a beautiful home with a large backyard, which was your main requirement. The home itself has several upgrades such as marble flooring, upgraded lighting fixtures, 10-foot ceilings and a balcony! Please tell me what it lacks"


    "The yard isn''t big enough. I told you that I want REALLY big yard. I don''t care about the house, I want as much land as possible."


    "I see��then I only have one option left to show you."


    Ten minutes later towards the very outskirts of the city, in a region that could barely be called still within Dark Moon, Kain stood in an expansive field.


    At the center of the field was a rundown "house" that more resembled a wooden shed. The total space within it was probably smaller than his dorm room at the college.


    However the property that the shack sat on was at least several acres wide. It was overgrown with weeds and completely unkempt, but that''s precisely why such a large amount of land less than 30 minutes from the core of Dark Moon City has been left unsold all this time.


    The real estate agent already had a face of resignation as Kain looked around in silence. He knew that his day was probably completely wasted. In the future he''ll have to vow not to take clients on that are so young. Clearly they don''t know what they want��


    "I''ll take it!"


    "Huh?" The real-estate agent turned to him in shock. He was unsure if he''d heard Kain correctly.


    "I said I''ll take it. It''s perfect!"


    Immediately the real-estate agent sprung into action and dragged Kain back to the city to fill out the paper-work. He buzzed about the office as though high on adrenaline. He wanted to get that land that hadn''t sold for years off his hands, not to mention one of the most annoying clients he''d had in a while, he was afraid that Kain would change his mind.


    A perfect match. A terrible property and a terrible client, they absolutely deserved each other.


    After quickly getting Kain to sign all the paperwork, and even offering him a hefty. Discount to get him out of his hair, he practically shoved Kain out of his office.


    Click


    Kain turned around to look at the door that was locked behind him and the closed sign that had been promptly displayed on the door.


    "Wow! He must really be in a rush to get somewhere. I wonder if he had to use the washroom��"


    Now that Kain had the land, he needed the spiritual plants that he wanted to grow. Thankfully, although getting access to fully grown spiritual plants was difficult, seeds were not as difficult to obtain. That was because many spiritual plants had specific and difficult to meet growth conditions.


    Not to mention most spiritual plants did not have a use until they were fully mature, but they were very easy to die before reaching maturity. And that time until maturity may take several years, or even decades in certain species of plants. In short, growing them for yourself was tedious.


    However, Kain had the life energy that could be provided by Eve. Once she finishes breaking through to orange-grade she should be able to release the life-attribute energy into the surroundings even more easily and have a more profound effect.


    Therefore, the hurdle for getting the spiritual plants to grow for Kain is much lower. Not to mention the time until maturity will also be reduced.


    What he needed to focus on were obtaining seeds from plants that increased spiritual power and had a short growth period. Therefore, the honey produced can also help Kain and his contracts to increase their strength more rapidly.


    Thankfully, plants that increased spiritual power were not among the most expensive and rare.


    Unlike plants with mystical effect such as increasing the chances of awakening an affinity or gift, increasing the chances of breaking through to the next level, or serving as a necessary material for a powerful evolution, momentarily speeding up the rate of spiritual power condensation is not a particularly powerful effect.


    Such spiritual plants are often used as a supplement to cultivation in middle-class families and above that want to give their children an edge.


    Kain will definitely consider planting more rare and powerful spiritual plants in the future, including growing the seed given as a gift to him by Mr. Evergreen.


    Many of the tea leaves and batches of honey that Kain had left at the orphanage also had this effect.


    Kain had 3 avenues for obtaining spiritual plant seeds: the college using credits, at a retailer in Dark Moon City, and the System Shop. Several times when the System Shop was reset there was an option to exchange for spiritual plants or spiritual plants seed. Many of them also had unusual and powerful effects.


    Kain went to 3 retailers in Dark Moon City and managed to purchase over 400 seeds for red-grade spiritual plants, 150 orange-grade spiritual plants, and 20 yellow-grade spiritual plants that increase spiritual power for around 4 million CD.


    Thankfully, Kain had also kept many of the materials he''d obtained during missions and the field assessment to exchange for celestial dollars, instead of using all of the materials to exchange for school credits. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to afford the property or the seeds.


    If he didn''t need to save up his school credits to buy Bea''s evolutionary materials he would have also like to buy some from the school, but that would need to be put on hold.


    Therefore, Kain decided to explore the third option for obtaining seeds��the system shop.


    The next system upgrade costs 10 000 GP, after the numerous times Kain had gone into the wilderness he had managed to obtain 2450 GP.


    This week also happens to be one where spiritual seeds are available for purchase, although not in the manner in which they usually are.


    *Selective Wheel of Fortune Ticket��10 available for 100 GP each*


    Unlike in the past where there were specific seeds and plants available, this time there were tickets available for Wheel of Fortune tickets.


    However, unlike a general Wheel of Fortune that would have a wide variety of lavish prizes, the prizes up for grabs in selective wheels are of a lower maximum quality, but in turn the user can select what type they wish the prize options to all be selected from among the 3 options available: spiritual seeds, equipment, or elixirs.


    For example, a wheel that only has weapons as an option. Although whether you get an axe, sword, or spear is left completely up to luck. Also, none of them will be enchanted weapons with an extra sigil, the quality of all the available options will be kept at a moderate level for their grade. Decent weapons, but not the top.


    Similar rules apply for the spiritual plants wheel that Kain selected as an option.


    The options ranged from obtaining spiritual plants and seeds with a variety of effects that were red-grade to orange-grade at maturity.


    Kain spent 1000 GP in order to purchase all the available tickets. Then he pressed the button to start the first spin.

 Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Wheel of Fortune

    The hologram of a wheel spun with a hum and Kain''s eyes tried to follow the plant names as they flashed before him. With a final dramatic slow turn, the wheel stopped on his first draw.


    The image that the wheel stopped on showed vibrant green leaves with silver veining.


    "A juvenile Ethereal Moonleaf. Orange-grade at maturity. It is a relatively rare plant and when its leaves are consumed it significantly boosts the rate of spiritual power condensation. Not bad��" A satisfied grin spread across Kain''s face. This seed would be an excellent addition to his collection.


    He eagerly spun the wheel again, hoping for a similar outcome. This time it landed on a deep purple flower. "A Venus Blossom seed. Red-grade. Another spiritual power booster, although of a lower grade." While not as potent as the orange-grade Ethereal Moonleaf, it would still be a useful asset.


    Kain quickly pressed the button again. However, it seems that his good luck ran out for this draw.


    The wheel stopped at a pale blue flower. "A fully mature Aetheric Breath Orchid. Red-grade. When consumed, it grants temporary underwater breathing.


    This could be useful in specific circumstances, and at least Kain could just keep it stored in his inventory without it degrading until he needs it since it''s already fully grown and doesn''t need to plant and care for it until it reaches maturity like he would the juvenile Moonleaf and Venus Blossom seed.


    Kain continues to spin the wheel, each stop yielding a mix of red and orange-grade seeds and plants. After using up all 10 tickets, he had amassed a collection of seeds with a variety of effects.


    Kain thankfully was able to obtain 5 draws for plants that improve spiritual power, 3 orange-grade and 2 red-grade. He obtained one plant that was able to allow him to breath underwater. And he drew 3 fully grown plants that act as antidotes for different types of poisons.


    The last draw though was surprising, it was only a red-grade plant, but it had an effect that Kain had never even heard of before.


    "The Bloom of Ascension. A flower that when consumed in its entirety can cause ordinary animals to become the lowest quality black-iron quality spiritual creature."


    This was something that Kain had never been exposed to. There had always been a clear divide between ordinary creatures, and spiritual creatures. There had never been a reported case of an ordinary creature becoming a spiritual creatures, even if only an ordinary black-iron quality one.


    This is because their bodies inherently lack the ability to condense spiritual power, and therefore were missing a necessary component needed to become a spiritual creature.


    And since they were unable to evolve, and any past attempts to turn them into spiritual creatures had caused them to die due to the energy their bodies were unequipped to handle��similar to the spiritual power poisoning that Aric''s death was blamed on.


    However, the deaths from experiments on ordinary creatures were more gruesome, more so resembling the results from experiments on ordinary people who in a desperate bid for power try to forcefully awaken an affinity. If they are lucky, they become soulless shells. If unlucky, neither their bodies nor their souls are left intact in a violent and bloody explosion.


    And Kain had an idea of just what kind of ordinary creature he''d want to convert.


    Most microorganisms have no use to him precisely because most of them, aside from Eve and Bea who he''d met so far, are ordinary creatures. They are completely no threat to most creatures, since even most ordinary creatures and people have a small amount of spiritual power and, therefore, a more robust immune system than people back on Earth.


    Although Kain does find it weird that microorganisms, which are usually the first to evolve, strangely in this world seem to be so weak��


    However, most of microorganisms Kain has come into contact with, in addition to being ordinary, also don''t have harmful effects. Instead, they are most often seen in the beverage and food industries playing a role in fermentation, alcohol production, cheese production, and more.


    Therefore, Kain didn''t think he could obtain a suitable contract for himself using this Bloom of Ascension. Kain decided to use the flower to help him with his not yet started business.


    Kain pushed open a heavy wooden door to a bustling pub, and a wave of rowdy laughter and warm air greeted him. The establishment was packed, with customers chatting animatedly, laughing, and clinking their glasses, while music from a lively band in the corner added to the mixture of sounds.


    The pub''s interior was predominantly composed of dark woods. Old pictures and newspaper clippings featuring the pub with famous figures in the past adorned the walls.


    The air was thick with the scent of grilled meat and the tang of beer, mixing into an intoxicating aroma that caused Kain''s stomach to growl.


    Kain made his way through the sea of patrons, dodging the occasional swinging arm. sea??h th�� Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, he reached the which stretched the length of the room. Behind it, the bartender was a tower figure of solid muscle, with a bushy beard that framed his weathered face and sharp eyes that could seemingly pick up on even the smallest details of his customers.


    His movements were smooth and quick, clearly familiar with the routine of working the bar.


    Kain approached and raised his voice to be heard over the noise. "Evening! I''ve heard nothing but great things about this place. Business seems to be booming."


    The bartender glanced up, a flash of pride flickering in his eyes. "Ah, welcome! You''ve come to just the right place if you''re looking for a good time. I''m Barret��the bartender, the owner, the brewer, and occasionally the chef. I do it all! What can I get for you?"


    Kain flashed a smile, "I heard that your bar is the most famous one in Dark Moon. It has an old history and the spiritual beer your ancestors produced is considered by the locals to be the best within the whole Celestial Empire. You''re truly a local gem! The pride of Dark Moon City."


    "Flattery will get you everywhere. But the locals are just bragging! Probably just wanting to butter me up for some free beers. Is that what you''re doing now? It won''t work!" Barret said while laughing.


    "It was worth a shot!" Kain said while chuckling. "I''d love to try one of your renowned beers. Maybe a plate of ribs as well. I just realized I haven''t eaten all day."


    "Coming right up!"


    A few minutes later a plate of steaming hot ribs was placed before Kain. Once Kain began to dig in, Barret poured a foamy mug of a rich amber ale and slid it across the bar. Kain took a sip, savoring the complex flavors that danced on his tongue��notes of malt, subtle spices, and a very faint fruity undertone.


    Kain could also feel his star space unconsciously reacting, drawing in spiritual power at an extremely slow rate due to he not consciously attempting to draw it in. However, if he did try to cultivate right this instant, he could sense that his efficiency would definitely be greatly improved.


    "This is exceptional," Kain said, setting the mug. "You definitely live up to you reputation."


    Barret''s eyes gleamed with pride. "Thank you. I put my heart and soul into every batch."


    Kain finished his meal and the beer. At the bottom there was a tiny amount of cream-coloured residue��Kain''s target.


    "Could I actually get another one to go?"

 Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Aby

    Kain entered his dorm room with a takeout cup conspicuously labelled with the Golden Barrel. He got some strange looks of judgement from classmates along the way. Probably thinking that he doesn''t take his rank seriously and is out drinking when they''re all training.


    However, Bea''s skills couldn''t be trained in the traditional sense. The best way for her to train is to kill.


    Regardless of the looks, Kain jovially looked at his take-away cup. However, instead of drinking the glass as one would expect, he retrieved the Bloom of Ascension from his inventory and placed it in the cup. Replaced the lid and left it on his nightstand.


    "Hopefully this works��" The description of the flower''s usage did say that it needed to be consumed in its entirety, Kain just hoped that if given enough time, the flower will dissolve in the liquid and achieve a suitable effect. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While Kain waited for the results of his experiment, he had something else to keep him preoccupied.


    After showering and getting ready for bed, Kain received a notice from Eve of her and Queen''s successful advancement. They were one day earlier than he initially predicted, perhaps the effects of their symbiotic relationship also eased the difficulty of breaking through to the next level. If so, that was great news for him.


    After the breakthrough Eve had no noticeable changes aside from more potent orange spiritual power. However, Queen had actually realized a new skill.


    SS-Essence of Life: The royal jelly produced is a powerful elixir that can heal severe, life-threatening injuries within moments, relieve temporary negative status effects caused by spiritual creatures at and below yellow-grade, and slightly increase the probability of successful breakthroughs in both humans and spiritual creatures to yellow-grade spiritual power.


    Kain was shocked by the presence of a new skill. Naturally, Kain had done extensive research on the Vespirae species in the hopes of finding a suitable evolutionary form. However, nowhere in the literature has such a powerful skill being realized ever been reported.


    Kain suspected that it was due to Queen''s symbiotic relationship with Eve. After all, Eve has already caused subtle changes within Queen''s body, such as ensuring the production of only female children, increasing her resistance to pathogens and poisons, and increasing her rate of spiritual power condensation.


    Kain already knew from Queen that the royal jelly produced must act as a material in her evolution. However, the other evolutionary conditions are unknown.


    With the introduction of this new skill, one that uniquely has the life-attribute of Eve rather than Queen''s own wind attribute, perhaps the evolutionary direction Kain could move towards would encompass the life-attribute.


    Kain also suspected that whatever evolutionary materials used to evolve Queen would also cause Eve to evolve due to their relationship. Therefore, he was even more certain that the next evolution will encompass the life attribute. Although he will try to maintain the wind-attribute as well so that the guards'' combat effectiveness and style of combat isn''t changed for the worse.


    The Life-attribute, while powerful and can cause miraculous effects, isn''t exactly known for its offensive capabilities.


    Speaking of guards, after her breakthrough, Queen immediately laid another egg. Typically, at each level the Vespirae Queen could produce 5 more worker wasps and 1 guard. Therefore, the red-grade Queen had 12 guards, which would have normally been 10 male workers, and 2 female guards, but were instead all female guards due to Eve.


    After her breakthrough Queen could now produce 6 more guards for a total of 18, although it will take a while for them all to hatch.


    Looking at the cup on his nightstand one more time before turning off the light, he could see that the deep blue colour of the flower''s petals has begun to bleed into the amber beverage, causing it to have a green tint.


    "Hopefully, I wake up to a new species of spiritual creature tomorrow morning."


    -----------


    After a night of rest Kain turned to cup on the night stand.


    The bright sunlight peaking through the window caused the liquid in the cup to glow an almost fluorescent green.


    He also no longer saw any remaining parts of the flower floating. Thankfully, the flower seems to dissolve quickly.


    ''So how do I know if it worked�� unfortunately my System doesn''t allow me to know everything about a spiritual creature at a glance��Ah! Usually a profile of the spiritual creatures I''ve seen or made contact with will appear as an option in the Simulator, but since the yeast used to brew beer is a microbe, I can''t even be sure if what I''m looking at is the real thing.


    Maybe��I should stick my finger in it to make contact. Just to be sure.''


    Kain then picked up the covered cup and gave it a vigorous shaking, making sure to hold the lid in place, before sticking his finger into the cup.


    ''Hopefully this works��System bring me to the Simulator in the Laboratory.''


    With nervous anticipation Kain then scrolled through the different options for simulation, to see if there were any new additions. Thankfully, it did allow him to sort the options by the date added rather than alphabetical only, so after adjusting the settings Kain was able to see the new entry at the top.


    "Aetherbrew Yeast��It worked!" Kain quickly selected the new addition to see its full profile.


    -----------------


    Species: Aetherbrew Yeast


    Aetherbrew Yeast (ABY) evolved from ordinary yeast used in the brewing of spiritual beer. It retains the fundamental characteristics of fermenting beer, but has developed some minor abilities to enhance the resulting product.


    Quality: Black-Iron


    Type: Microorganism (Yeast)


    Attribute: Water


    Skills:


    B-Stable Infusion: ABY can significantly prolong the minor magical effects imparted to a spiritual beverage based on the spiritual plants used.


    D-Flavor Enhancement: ABY can slightly enhance the flavor profile of the beverages to make it more enjoyable for the drinker. The improved taste would not be replicable without ABY.


    D-Extended Freshness: ABY can modestly extend the shelf-life of beverages. While the beverage won''t last for centuries, it will stay fresh and enjoyable for a much longer period than typical drinks. This preservation effect is enough to keep spiritual beer in perfect condition for several months.


    F-Stable Fermentation: ABY ensures a consistent fermentation process every time, reducing the likelihood of unwanted variations or spoilage. With ABY the quality of each batch will be of a consistently high quality.


    ------------------


    Yes! This was what Kain wanted. Not to mention, now that it was a spiritual creature, Kain in the future could also pursue evolving some of his stock of ABY to create new, stronger versions of spiritual beer.


    All kinds of business ideas were pinging around in his head, and he even heard the faint illusion of jingling coins.


    However, before he could get too caught up in his fantasy, Kain realized that he still greatly lacked two necessary things: a brewer, and a factory with staff to make beer company that can supply the whole empire.

 Chapter 132: Chapter 132: The Hospitable Host and His Guest

    At the same time Kain was fantasizing about his own business empire, the lives of many individuals were unknowingly impacted by a college freshman.


    In an opulent villa located in the suburbs of the capital city, a man dressed in all black robes was hosting a similarly dressed guest.


    They were in an intricately designed large drawing room. The entire room was softly lit by the only source of light, the crystal chandelier suspended above, due to the absence of any windows.


    In the center of the room were two antique armchairs tilted towards each other that the robed figures were seated in while sipping from glasses of red wine.


    In the corner, a beautiful child with golden curls and a delicate demeanor captured the attention in the room while playing the violin. However, despite his beautiful appearance, his eyes were empty, more so resembling a dead fish than a lively and adorable child''s eyes.


    Dressed in a light blue suit, his small fingers danced across the strings with effortless grace. The haunting melody filled the room and weaved an enchanting spell that caused the guest''s eyes to glaze over to a cloudy white colour momentarily, before he snapped out of the trance and blinked his eyes furiously until they returned to their original dark brown.


    "Fascinating! As a 5-star beast-tamer his gift can even affect me. You mean to tell me that he hasn''t even awoken an affinity yet?"


    The host''s eyes shone with pride as he smiled, "Indeed. Technically within this empire''s cultivation system he would be considered a normal person. He''s the product of just one of the research areas we''ve been working on in the hopes of allowing even ordinary individuals an opportunity to access great power. However��"


    His smile dropped. "However, lately we''ve hit a small snag. Our former, ''sponsor'', if you can call him that, recently had an accident."


    "An accident?"


    "He''s dead. They say it''s spiritual power poisoning. Really, ordinary people are just so fragile!"


    The guest nodded, "Indeed. I''m sure your former sponsor was also aware of that fact, probably why he was so generous in his financial support of your research. But are you absolutely sure that it was an accident? It won''t be difficult to find you another, even several, sponsors. But if they find out that the previous sponsor was dead there will be concerns."


    The host went silent. However, just when the guest thought that his question wouldn''t be answered, the host finally opened his mouth. "We aren''t sure ourselves��we also examined his body. There were no signs of any injuries. There was no poison found in his body. Honestly, the spiritual poisoning explanation is what makes the most sense, but something feels off.


    The amount of spiritual power he ingested really shouldn''t have been enough to kill him."


    "Hmm��What about mental attacks?"


    "Impossible. After he was accepted as a peripheral member of our organization, he was secretly given equipment that will trigger a shield around his body to prevent mental probing and mental attacks as they approached his body. It was necessary since he was just an ordinary person and we couldn''t risk him being controlled or his memories read.


    For a mental attack to bypass that piece of equipment it''d need to come from a high-level beast tamer at or above 7-stars. And their movements would have been so obvious in a room full of high-level beast-tamers."


    "What about the gap between when he left the auction and died? Any evidence of attacks then."


    "None. I''m telling you, the equipment was set to defend against any mental energy that came from outside of the wearer, that way it wouldn''t be set off by the wearer themselves if they have a mental-attribute gift. But there was absolutely no movement in the equipment.


    Even if Lady Mindshade herself had forcefully broken through the shield, we still would have sensed that it was activated and then quickly broken. But nothing! We can only conclude, no matter how implausible it seems, that the idiot can''t hold his liquor and overdosed."


    "It''d be hard to find a sponsor as rich as the legitimate heir of the Nightsbane family��" The guest said hesitantly, trying to lower the other man''s expectations.


    The host waved his hand, "I don''t expect you to find one as wealthy as Aric. Heck if you can find two or three new sponsors that''d be fine."


    The guest nodded, "That makes it easier then. There are plenty of children of rich and noble families that didn''t successfully awaken an affinity and feel unwilling. As long as you can show them some promising results whether it''s money or��''test subjects''��they should be willing to help. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    You may need to consider moving your base of operations outside of the capital momentarily though to accommodate your new sponsors. Also because the disappearances have been making the news more and more often. I heard they even sent out a captain of the Shadow Guards to investigate. It''s best to lie low for now."


    The host also nodded, "I had the same idea. I just haven''t decided on the next location yet. Show me some of the potential sponsors that you''ve made contact with."


    The guest pulled out two papers with the profiles of two different individuals. "These two are in the northern region. Due to the large amount of land, and low population, it should be easy to conceal your location out there. Although obtaining more test subjects will be challenging due to the scarce population. But both of them are illegitimate twins of a noble family.


    Their father currently has no legitimate so the position for heir is up for grabs among the illegitimate children and they''re both desperate to awaken an affinity."


    The host nodded noncommittally. Likely sensing that he wasn''t thrilled about the prospect of moving to the north, the guest pulled out another paper.


    "Ahem. In the west we have the younger brother of Lord Emberfell. He''s approaching the limit of his lifespan as an ordinary person. He may sign over all of his net worth to you if can see any hope of being able to cultivate and extend his lifespan."


    "Hmm��wasn''t one of the Emberfell industries in the news lately for unpaid employee wages? How much money can he actually provide even if it''s all that he owns."


    "Okay. Okay! I think you''ll prefer these sponsors." He quickly pulled out two more papers and shakily handed them over. His forehead was starting to bead with sweat due to his host''s unimpressed face. He didn''t want this man who had a higher ranking than him within the organization to write him off as useless. People deemed useless never end well within the organization.


    "These two are both young individuals in the south that carried much of their families'' hopes, but failed to awaken an affinity this year. The male is the eldest grandson of the Silverhart family��super rich! But after failing to awaken an affinity, his title as heir has been temporarily removed and may be given to one of his younger siblings if he fails to awaken again next year.


    He''s absolutely desperate for power to keep his status."


    The host stared at the profile pensively. Seeing that he didn''t immediately shoot down this sponsor, he began to push the other profile.


    "In addition to him, we have this young lady of the Frost family. Although not as wealthy as the Silverhart family, they are still quite rich. Not to mention they completely surpass the Silverharts in terms of power and connections as a branch of Storm family, one of the founding five families.


    If you choose the south as your new stomping grounds, these two sponsors will ensure that you have adequate money and connections to conceal your activities.


    The host examined both profiles before nodding in acquiescence.


    "I heard the weather in the south this time of year is quite nice��" He said with a smile.


    The guest finally released the breath he''d been holding and was finally able to lean back to try and enjoy the music.


    BOOM


    However, the tranquility of the atmosphere was abruptly shattered by a sudden explosion. In a horrifying explosion of flesh and blood, the serene elegance was obliterated.


    The crystal chandelier hanging above now painted the room in a ghastly red colour as it was entirely covered in blood and guts.


    And the source of the explosion, the violin playing child, was now reduced to a pair of bloody shoes with a broken violin laying next to them.


    Sigh


    The host sighed in annoyance before yelling, "B042, hurry up and clean up A037! A037 managed to last for over a month so I had hoped he''d be our first success. Useless trash!"


    I child that looked like as though he''d been stitched together with several parts from both human and non-human individuals, quickly limped into the room on a mismatched pair of legs. One human, and the other noticeably more goat-like. The deformed child began to clean up the scraps of his former colleague unphased. Clearly this was not the first time this had occurred.


    The host picked up the now bloody sheets of paper in annoyance.


    "Ugh! Maybe a change of scenery is just what I need to get the creative juices flowing. Make contact with the sponsors and I''ll arrange for the transfer to finalize within the month."


    He tossed back over the two sheets of paper to the guest. The one at the top coincidentally having the name of the potential supervisor underlined in blood due to the explosion��Heather Frost.

 Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Beast Tide

    Unfortunately, recently the college declared that all students were forbidden from leaving the premises and all students outside had been recalled. Therefore, Kain was unable to take on any missions to test out the strength of the newly upgraded Vespirae.


    Kain was in a private room at the school training ground using their equipment to analyze the increase in strength for the Vespirae Guards after the breakthrough. There were 13 guards now after the upgrade, and there were 6 more eggs to be hatched in the star space until Queen could reach the maximum of 18 for an orange-grade Vespirae Queen.1


    He also formulated a training plan, using some of the training plans given to Bridge by the Wolfblood Dojo, to help improve their aim, speed and penetration power.


    Thankfully, Queen was quite intelligent and was able to direct them adequately, so that Kain could have his mind wander.


    Particularly focusing on how to drag Barret into his business venture.


    Beep-Beep-Beep


    Suddenly a piercing siren rang through the air, and the training room was bathed in a flashing red light.


    "Ahhh! Please tell me you guys didn''t break anything!" Kain turned to look at his contracts frantically. However, they looked as confused by the sudden alarm as Kain.


    Thankfully a message was kind enough to solve his doubts.


    "Attention students, this is Vice Chancellor Windermere. We have received confirmation that a beast tide is swiftly approaching Dark Moon City. However, do not be alarmed. According to our current intel it is currently classified as a level 4 beast tide, and the strength of the spiritual creatures should not exceed Blue-grade."


    ''Really?! Don''t be alarmed?! If I run into one of the few blue-grade creatures I''ll die within seconds.''


    "All beast-taming students are urged to take immediate action to defend the city. Unawakened students of academic majors are to return to their dorms and remain there until further notice. At the front of your dorms, you will meet a professor of the faculty who will divide you into squads and brief you on your assigned area of reinforcement and task.


    Please cooperate fully and follow their instructions precisely."


    As the announcement concluded, Kain could hear a flurry of movement coming from the hallway. Kain too also left the training room and made his way back to his dorm building.


    On the way he could see that the entire college had fallen into an anxious atmosphere. However, some of the older students who had likely already experienced a beast tide were putting on their gear with practiced efficiency, while the first years, after seeing their seniors, began to fumble nervously with their equipment with shaking hands as they ran towards the location of their dorms.


    Professor Aelinor Night, a stern-faced instructor with a reputation for being no-nonsense, stood in front of the top 5 dormitory. She glanced at her watch, then turned to face the 20 students gathered before her��the top 5 of each year.


    "Typically, you would be divided into squads of 20, but considering that only 20 of you actually reside here, all of you have been automatically sorted into a single squad. The captain of your squad is Ezra Vauss. Here is your squad''s assignment." The senior with sandy brown hair and gold eyes that broke up his fight with Lysander previously stepped forward to receive the assignment.


    Nobody raised any objections. After all, he was the captain for the team that represents the team at the national competition as well.


    "Arrange yourself into a single file! We don''t have all day. Each of you will receive a single Elixir of Vitae. As long as you are alive, it will heal all of your injuries. These elixirs are incredibly expensive, even by the university''s standard.


    Therefore, each of you will only be given one, it is expected that it would only be used in life threatening instances where you are unable to access a healer.


    "You will also receive 10 Spiritual Elixirs to restore your spiritual power. However, please note that they are ineffective when used more than once within 12 hours. Therefore, please don''t waste an additional elixir trying to restore your spiritual power after the first time." S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After handing out the elixirs, Professor Night left. Kain and the others all turned to face their squad captain.


    Ezra Vauss surveyed the group with an air of authority that left no room for hesitation. His gaze swept over each member with a level of scrutiny that made Kain shift slightly. Ezra had a presence that commanded respect, and his reputation for not only his combat skills but also his leadership was well-earned.


    Kain especially respected him. At a college where the child of a noble or upper-class member of society could be easily hit from casually throwing a stone, Ezra was just from an ordinary low- to middle-class family. Apparently, the only beast-tamer in his family before him was a grandfather who only reached 3-stars.


    Similar to Kain he awakened an S-class affinity, although his is a rare space-type affinity, one of the affinities that Kain desperately wanted. In recognition for his talent, he was thankfully sponsored by his home city''s mayor who supplied him with a high-quality space-attribute initial contract, and the rest was history.


    "Alright, listen up," Ezra''s voice cut through the air. "As the top 5 students of each year, we''ve been assigned to reinforce one of the areas expected to be the heaviest hit by the beast tide��the main gate of the city. Ensure that you do not venture too far away from the squad. First-years in particular, stay close together. Jade and Oliver, you two will be travelling with the first-years."


    "Yaayyy!" Two voices rang out at the same time. Probably the only two individuals that would be excited for baby-sitting duty.


    Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, Kain recognized them. Jade was the green-haired annoying senior that he ran away from on the first day of classes. While Oliver was the red-headed instigator during his conflict with Soren. Neither were exactly the epitome of calm and dependable seniors. But at least their strength should be decent is they''re both in the top 5 of their year.


    "Let''s go!" Ezra called out, and everyone followed him through Dark Moon City to the Main gate.


    As they marched, Kain''s mind raced. The Vespirae and Eve were now at orange-grade, and the guards'' performance during the training had shown great promise, but facing a level 4 beast tide was a different challenge entirely. He was still utterly hopeless in the face of green-grade spiritual creatures, much less blue-grade ones.


    All he could do was pray that he wouldn''t be so unfortunate to run into any creatures at that level.


    He also sent out an extra prayer for Bridge and the others that they were hopefully at a much safer location.

 Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Scoping Out the Competition

    As the squad moved through the city, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Seeing the previously bustling streets now resemble a ghost town as all of the citizens huddled at home with their loved ones was eerie.


    Especially, when the quiet was broken by the occasional roar of a beast in the distance outside the city wall. Kain glanced around, taking in the sight of the heavily fortified walls.


    Thankfully (?), Dark Moon City suffered from beast tides more frequently than other cities. Therefore, all of the city guards were relatively calm. There was the odd nervous looking newbie that flinched whenever they heard a roar, but they were few and far between.


    Ezra led the group forward calmly to their assigned post. After coordinating with one of the captains of the guards, their squad of 20 was settled at a location several meters to the right of the main gate.


    Thankfully, they were not far from a group of professors from the university. They didn''t just throw them to the wolves.


    How could they? After all, they were currently the individuals that would be representing the school if they don''t lose their place in the re-ranking.


    At the main gate, Kain could see the full scale of the preparations. Sigils carved into the walls of the city began to glow. A massive transparent barrier flickered into existence above the city to prevent aerial attacks.


    All of the beast-tamers that will be defending the city, stood on the city walls.


    "Alright," Ezra said. "Remember, stay in constant communication and keep an eye on the status of your peers. If one of you becomes too injured to get yourself to safety, too a healer, or even to use the elixir by yourself, then you''ll need each other. Understood?"


    Jade, with her green hair tied back in a high ponytail, gave a casual salute, her light-hearted demeanor standing out in the heavy atmosphere. Meanwhile Oscar seemed preoccupied with removing a stubborn piece of hangnail and didn''t seem to be listening to Ezra at all.


    "Son of a bit��" He muttered as he tried to bite the stubborn piece of skin off the side of his nail.


    Compared to the other seniors that were the epitome of professionalism, they somehow got assigned to these two weirdos.


    ''They''re supposed to be babysitting us�� why do I feel like we may end up babysitting them?''


    As Kain stood in his assigned position, he could feel the tension building as the distant roars grew closer. He could see the silhouettes of the creatures in the distance, their menacing forms becoming more distinct as they approached.


    Kain''s heart raced as he saw the dense crowd of spiritual creatures. Their population was so dense that he couldn''t even see the floor beneath the tens of thousands of moving bodies rushing towards the city��towards him.


    He could feel the entire city wall vibrating due to the force of thousands of creatures trampling the earth.


    The vision was intimidating due to the sheer number of the creatures, but the actual level of strength of the creatures in the initial wave didn''t even exceed red-grade. They were cannon-fodder.


    Kain released a mist beneath his portion of the city walls and nothing that approached lasted longer than a few seconds. After so easily dealing with this first wave he calmed down.


    He could see the other students glancing at him, as well as at each other. However, he was doing the same; scoping out potential threats to his rank within his year, and also curiously investigating the standard of strength for his seniors who had consistently defended their own rankings.


    Time seemed to stretch as the battle raged on. Bea must have killed hundreds of red and white-grade spiritual creatures by this point��ushering in probably her biggest spike in spiritual power since he''d first contracted her.


    Although the beast tide was a grave threat, it was an amazing opportunity for a creature like Bea who improves her strength through killing.


    Kain diverted his attention to watch some of his opponents. Based on what they showed now, during classes, and rumours from their performance during the field assessment, he tried to gauge their threat level to him.


    Although people don''t just stupidly share their affinities because it can make it easier to plot against them once you''ve narrowed down the limits of what creatures they can contract, after looking at their contracts, some of the requirements of their affinity can usually be guessed.


    From the S-ranked awakened each year, majority, if not all of them, enter the top 5 colleges, and then usually occupy the top 5 student placements of each university.


    Except for the First Celestial Academy. Addison had told him previously that apparently 10 S-ranked students had entered the first-ranked college this year. Therefore, the competition to enter the top 5 over there is definitely the steepest.


    However, affinity rankings at the end of the day are really just an aggregate measure of how many types of creatures one can bind and the strengths of said contracts.


    In theory, someone with a D-ranked affinity to mouse-type creatures, that manages to contract an exceptionally powerful mouse-type spiritual creature could still do great things. Although, Kain had never heard of any mouse-type spiritual creatures above gold-quality��


    Therefore, it isn''t unheard of for S-ranked students, intoxicated on their highly rated affinity and high ranking at the start of year, to lose their place to A-rated and B-rated hard workers with exception gifts, contracts, and/or fortuitous encounters.


    Two such examples are the current rank 4 and 5 of their year, who had slightly edged out the performance of the 6th placed examinee, who apparently was the 4th S-rated affinity admitted to their school. The other ones being Soren, Kain, and Serena.


    Kain examined the boy with black hair and eyes who was the current rank 5 among the first-year��Kairos Umbrae. He apparently comes from an old beast taming family.


    Although their history is not as illustrious as some of the founding noble families that have had 8-star and 9-star beast tamers among their ancestors, each generation of the Umbrae family manages to produce at least one 6-star beast-tamer.


    Members of the Umbrae family usually have an affinity for dark-attribute spiritual creatures. Both of Kairos'' contracts, are quite unique��cursed constructs. A rare type of spiritual creature formed from inanimate objects that were imbued with dark energy and gained consciousness. Their skills are usually extremely unusual and unique amongst spiritual creatures.


    Additionally, they are usually one-of-a-kind existences since they are not a naturally born species, but rather their births occur by chance. The skills they develop are also usually closely tied to their forms. Therefore, there may be huge differences in the strengths and abilities between two cursed constructs.


    A can-opener that develops consciousness may only have skills related to efficiently opening even the hardest to open cans, while Kain has heard of cursed constructs with legendary effects, such as an hourglass with the rare time-attribute.


    Kain was unsure if Kairos'' binding of dark-attribute cursed constructs was a personal choice, or a limitation of his affinity. If it was the latter, then he could cross out the majority of the known dark-attribute spiritual creatures he''d read about as Kairos'' future contracts.


    Kairos'' first contract was a creepy looking cloth puppet with a wide smile on its face and a needle in its chubby hand. Every time it would focus on a spiritual creature and jab the needle into its head, the head of a spiritual creature would also be strangely pierced through. The attack method seemed extremely difficult to guard against.


    Although, Kain was confident it shouldn''t be able to effect Bea, its threat to him and the Vespirae was very real.


    Kairos'' second contract was a floating book with sigils carved into its black cover. The pages of the book would flip to a different page and release a dark-attribute spell at the beast-tide.


    Whenever an attack approached Kairos or the puppet, the cursed book would also release a shield to protect them. It was a well-rounded contract adept at attack, defense, and support. However, Kain could see many pages in the book.


    He was unsure if most of them were empty pages to leave room for the acquisition of skills in the future, or if each of those pages actually currently possessed a different skill. Kain really hoped it was the former and not the latter.


    S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 135: Chapter 135: Scoping Out the Competition (2)

    Kain then turned to look at the blonde girl with multicoloured streaks in her hair��the fourth ranked first-year, Ranya Elaris. She had only revealed one contact so far, a purple butterfly that seemed to shift in and out of existence as it flapped its wings, making it incredibly hard to focus on.Many of the spiritual creatures around Ranya suddenly began to attack one another as they spontaneously took on the form of humans for a second. The illusion attribute, unlike the mental attribute that altered the mind to cause visions only the target could see, created visions in real-life that all could see.


    Therefore, whenever one of the beasts outside the wall suddenly "transformed" into a human, it''d be frantically attacked and killed by its peers.


    Kain recognized it as an illusion-attribute Mirage Butterfly, although the members of this species are usually more blue than purple. Kain was unsure if it was just a useless cosmetic mutation that caused a colour change, or if the difference in colour also hinted at the butterfly''s more unique abilities when compared to other members of their species.


    ''Sigh. All of these guys are so troublesome��Thankfully Bea is even more unique and difficult to guard against than their contracts.''


    Kain then turned to look in the direction of the piercing glare that had been digging into the side of his face since they left the dorms. Soren Lysander. The third-ranked student who had long made it clear that he had it out for him.


    Soren''s affinity was pretty easy to guess, not only from the spiritual creature he''d revealed during the field assessment, but because of his family name. The Lysanders, as the royal family of the Celestial Empire, naturally couldn''t conceal the most common type of affinity inherited by their family members. Most members of the Lysander family have an affinity for dragons.


    Whether that''s an affinity for specific attributes of dragons, such as fire or wind-attribute dragons only; dragons of a certain blood-line such as 5-Colour or Gem dragons; or, if lucky, they will have an affinity for all dragons.


    Kain didn''t know about Soren''s specific affinity, but the only contract that Soren has revealed so far is a wind-attribute dragon. However, whether Soren can bind dragons of other attributes is unknown.


    From what Kain managed to gather from the well-informed Aiden and Addison, who could both probably prosper in careers related to intelligence gathering, Soren was one of the more valued members of the Lysander family''s youngest generation. Although not the number 1 among the young Lysanders, he''s definitely, within the top 3 and has a S-rated affinity.


    Therefore, Kain guessed that Soren wasn''t limited to wind dragons, but also wasn''t able to bind all dragons, otherwise he''d definitely be the top of his generation within his family. Kain guessed that Soren''s affinity was either limited to more than one attribute, or limited to a specific bloodline.


    For example, the Storm Dragon bloodline, whose members often have lightning, wind, and water attributes.


    Soren also appeared to have some kind of gift related to transformation. Whenever a wild spiritual creature would get too close to him, his arms would transform into what resembled a dragons claw and easily tear apart the approaching spiritual creatures.


    However, the extent of the transformation and if it could cover his whole body was unknown.


    Although Kain didn''t know the boost in power the transformation provided, he also guessed that it was similar to the average enchanted weapons of their level, but slightly inferior to the top enchanted weapons of their level with an extra sigil. As a member of the royal family, he probably has access to some of the most powerful equipment at each level within the entire empire.


    Therefore, once the strengths of the attacking beasts increased, he''ll probably switched to using an enchanted weapon.


    Last but not least was Kain''s greatest nemesis. The one, who despite not even taking the entrance exam, was still the first-ranked first-year and cost Kain 500 GP��Serena Storm.


    Despite being the current rank 1, and having the most eyes on her, compared to the other top 5 there was actually the least amount of confirmed information known about her.


    Although the general form and observed abilities of her contract had been shared, it''s exact species and skills were unknown. Heck, even the affinity of the one contract she''s shown wasn''t known.


    Kain diverted a large amount of his attention to examine her contract, but still couldn''t tell what it was. All he did know was that it had potent shape-shifting abilities and could utilize all four fundamental elements��earth, water, wind, and fire. Dual attribute spiritual creatures were uncommon. Kain had never even heard of a spiritual creature that could use four elements.


    One moment it had the sturdy form of an earth golem and manipulated the earth to unbalance the approaching herd.


    The next second it would take the form of a blazing, phoenix-like entity composed of molten lava to send a wave of intense fire to the creatures below.


    An aethereal form resembling a translucent fairy made of air would send gusts of wind to spread the fire or to divert attacks approaching its owner.


    Finally, when the blaze was too intense a serpent-like form composed of water would be used to quench the flames.


    Kain had no idea what its true form was, or if it even had a true form and all of these versions could be considered its true appearance.


    The only creature Kain knew of that could shape-shift into multiple forms, and assume different abilities depending on the form, were the Proteans, which Kain''s armour was made from. However, whenever Protean''s shapeshift they require the target they are shifting into to be before them. Serena''s contract was different. It seemed to have four forms saved that it could switch freely between.


    Additionally, due to its multi-element nature and shapeshifting it was practically impossible to determine Serena''s affinity based off just this one contract. Maybe even if Kain saw her second contract he still wouldn''t be able to guess her affinity. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Boom


    "Whoa!" Kain narrowly dodged an icicle that was aimed at his head.


    "Pay attention!" Jade scolded, for once resembling an authoritative senior.


    This was a battle-field after all. He shouldn''t be distracted looking at his peers. Similar to him, the other first-years also had near misses while checking out the competition. Everyone except for Serena, whether she was so focused on the battle before her, or she just didn''t consider the rest of them as competition to be checked out was unknown.

 Chapter 136: Chapter 136: End of the Day Shift

    As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the battle continued unabated. Thankfully there were no serious injuries due to the low strength level of the creatures. However, Kain and his contracts were running out of spiritual power.Kain could tell that his same-year peers were also in a similar predicament, they''ve switched to combat styles that conserve spiritual power, and more often elect to use physical attacks that don''t even require spiritual power.


    The only exception was Serena, who was either foolishly choosing not to conserve her spiritual power, or perhaps she had a quick way to replenish it, such as another higher-level elixir that can be used even after she''s already taken the Spiritual Elixir.


    ''Although��now that I think about it, I don''t actually recall her ever taking the elixir��''


    Everyone else had also given up on concealing their strength, including many of the seniors, and released their remaining contracts after the first ones released ran out of spiritual power.


    Again, everyone except Serena, who faithfully only revealed the one contract��


    Most of the first, second and third years had already used the Spiritual Elixir, so they were completely tapped out. But the sea of spiritual creatures seemed endless.


    Suddenly amidst all the background notifications of death that Kain had been tuning out, one was finally different.


    *Ding Host has completed the hidden achievement of killing 1000 spiritual creatures in one day and will be rewarded 3000 GP*


    Kain was pleasantly surprised by the completion of a hidden mission. Although the completion requirements without a beast tide would be almost impossible to complete.


    However, considering that the System had stopped providing GP for white-grade spiritual creatures after the first upgrade, probably because they are only slightly stronger than ordinary animals, it was nice that when in special situations like this they still met the requirements to complete the mission.


    Majority of the 1000 spiritual creatures he''d killed today had definitely been white-grade, and it would have been challenging to fulfill a mission like this limited to creatures red-grade and above.


    This hidden mission, when combined with the mission to hunt red-grade spiritual creatures that he''d completed several times over, Kain was more than half-way to the amount he needed for the next System upgrade. If he was lucky this beast tide may help him raise the full 10 000 GP, plus give him some extra to spend in the shop and Simulator.


    If he can live��orange-grade spiritual creatures had begun to appear more frequently in the hoard. They wouldn''t normally be a problem, but the earlier cannon fodder had consumed majority of their energy.


    The orange-grade spiritual creatures smartly chose to only begin appearing after they had already consumed the Spiritual Elixirs and began to run out of spiritual power for the second time. They were definitely being directed, and by a spiritual creature that was intelligent and knew about the limitations of the Spiritual Elixir.


    Kain had heard that the average high-level spiritual creature was as smart as, if not smarter, than, the average human. However, the tactics displayed now definitely proved that fact to him.


    The difficulty in hunting spiritual creatures at the higher-levels probably increases exponentially since they are not only much more powerful with each breakthrough, but also smarter. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "All students and day-shift guards are relieved from their post. The night-shift guards will take over your duties."


    ''Oh thank god! The Vespirae can''t see well in the dark nor are they nocturnal, it would have been challenging to fight through the night. Not to mention that none of us had any energy left''


    He had wondered why it didn''t seem as though there were as many guards as expected, but it looks like most of the guards were allowed to rest during the day while the students and professors were responsible for guarding the walls, and then would take over guarding the city against the hoard at night.


    Some of the strongest members of the college, those 7-star and above, never made an appearance, so Kain assumed that they were on standby 24/7 in the event of an attack that the students, guards, and other professors couldn''t deal with.


    Kain and the others weren''t sent back to their dorms. Instead, they were provided with a simple dinner of sandwiches and sent to sleep in temporarily living quarters set up close to the city wall. All of the male students in their squad, 11 in total, were housed together along with the male day-shift city guards. The girls were housed with the female guards in another tent.


    Kain was exhausted and almost fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.


    Tap


    "Mmm��"


    Tap Tap


    "Ugh go away��" Kain said before turning over.


    Tap Tap Tap


    "WHAT THE HELL IS IT?!" Kain screamed while sitting up only to be faced with surprised eyes of Oliver. The rest of the students, and some of the guards, also turned his way after hearing his outburst.


    "Geeeeez��what crawled up your ass and died to make you so grumpy"


    Sigh. Kain rubbed his tired eyes and sighed in resignation. This pesty senior likely won''t let him go to sleep until he got what he wanted.


    "Sorry��senior. I am just very, very, VERYYYY tired and want to just go to sleep. Aren''t you?"


    Oliver wiggled his head back and forth noncommittally. "Sure we''re tired, but since this is a rare opportunity for us all to be together, we figured now would be a good time for some team bonding."


    Kain looked at the exhausted Soren and Kairos nearby. They also looked exhausted. For once Kain and Soren were on the same page and looked fed up with Oliver.


    "If you wanted to do team bonding, why didn''t any of you invite us to a get together with you all before a BEAST TIDE."


    "Well you see��it''s customary to wait until after the first re-ranking to bother getting to know the first-years. Some of the seniors won''t even bother remembering all of your guys'' names until after the re-ranking. After all, the first re-ranking is usually when there are changes among the top ranked students.


    The lower ranked students exchange rankings all the time, but usually the top 20 is fairly stable.


    "Surprises usually only occur during the first re-ranking after the entrance exam, since the type of exam given that year may cause some students to be ranked higher or lower than their actual 1-on-1 combat ability warrants. It happens almost every year. A member of the enter top 5 drops out of the top 5, or even the top 20, after the first re-ranking."


    "So��continue ignoring us. We''re dead tired." Kairos said with a deadpan expression. Kain couldn''t help but agree with him. Every second holding his eyes open felt like a chore.


    "Well, we saw your guys'' performance today, and we figured that it''s unlikely that you 3 would drop out of the top 5. And so we''ll likely all be teammates at the National Competition at the end of the school year!"

 Chapter 137: Chapter 137:

    Kain, Kairos, and Soren sat in a row facing seven of their male seniors. Thankfully, the captain wasn''t present, likely reporting to the professors, so the atmosphere was quite relaxed.Or maybe it was unfortunate. Because surely if he were here, he would force Oliver to leave them alone so that they could sleep.


    "I guess we can begin with sharing our names!" Oliver began. "Obviously you already know me, but I will still formally introduce myself. I am Oliver, and I a third year along with Jade who you met earlier.


    "Theo," Oliver continued while pointing to a boy with dark brown skin and grey hair, "and Dmitri" he then pointed at an extremely pale boy with black hair and red eyes, "are also third years."


    "Alexei," he pointed to another extremely pale boy with red eyes and light blonde hair, "is Dmitri''s younger brother and a second year along with Jin" he pointed to a pale boy with dark brown hair and eyes.


    "Finally, for our fourth years, you already know our captain Ezra, and we also have Ravi," he pointed at a boy with bronze skin, black hair and hazel eyes. "And Edward" He pointed at a hulking figure, even larger than Bridge, who had piercing green eyes and light brown hair.


    "N-Nice to meet you all��" The three first-years muttered. Being the focus of attention among individuals much stronger than you was unsettling. Especially, since it looked like Edward had a breakthrough recently and wasn''t fully adept at restraining his spiritual power. With his intimidating figure and the pressure of his spiritual power, being the focus of his gaze was nerve-wracking.


    "So�� what did you have in mind for team bonding?" Kain asked. After all, just introducing their names to each other could hardly be considered bonding.


    "Ah! I didn''t really think about it. We''ll wait until after the first re-ranking to conduct the hazing like we usually do-" sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I-I''m sorry what? Hazing?" Kain interjected, his voice trembling slightly.


    However, Oliver just ignored him, continuing to talk with an almost exaggerated excitement. "-so I guess we can just play a game. Oooh yaay! I love games! And I have the perfect idea for one to break the ice!"


    Kain''s unease grew as Oliver''s enthusiasm seemed to intensify. "What kind of game?"


    Oliver clapped his hands together, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "It''s called ''Truth or Challenge.'' It''s a classic. We go around in a circle, and each person has to choose between answering a personal question truthfully or completing a challenge. It''s a great way to get to know each other better and have some fun!"


    Looks like that dastardly game exists no matter the world. Although the name is slightly different than what he''s familiar with.


    Kain glanced at the other first-years, who looked equally apprehensive. The seniors seemed much more relaxed though.


    Theo spoke up with a grin. "Sounds like a good idea. It''ll help us learn more about you guys and make the night a bit less boring."


    Dmitri nodded in agreement, "But be warned that if you pick ''challenge,'' please make sure you''re prepared for anything. We won''t hold back on you guys just because you''re younger."


    His brother, Alexei, added with a smirk, "And if you pick ''truth,'' don''t expect us to go easy on you either."


    Kain gulped, feeling a little nervous. However, it wasn''t that big of a deal. He could always just pick truth and lie if he was uncomfortable with the question.


    Likely sensing Kain''s intention, Oliver also piped up, "I should also mention that Theo has a gift that allows him to sense lies. So you better be truthful or there will be hell to pay~" Oliver said while wagging his finger at them in a playful manner and tone. But the expression on his face had a vague threat.


    ''Goddamn it!''


    Kain, Soren, and Kairos all looked hesitantly at one another and tried to communicate their intentions through eye contact. Unfortunately, none of them had any tacit understanding strong enough to come up with a gameplan without the use of words and could only eventually nod in resignation.


    Oliver''s grin widened. "I''ll go first! That way you''ll see how it''s done. I pick challenge!"


    Jin, who hadn''t said much until now, finally spoke up, "Do your best impression of one of the professors."


    Oliver didn''t seem phased by the request, he took a deep a deep breath and the careless smile on his face dropped and an icy aura began to emanate from him as he began to mimic Professor Aelinor Night''s stern demeanor. From the authoritative voice and precise mannerisms, the resemblance was uncanny.


    If Kain were to just close his eyes he may actually think that he was listening to Professor Night but she was ill for some reason and had a slightly deeper, huskier voice.


    Everyone couldn''t help but applaud the convincing impression. And Kain and the other first-years also relaxed. That challenge wasn''t so bad, maybe this could be fun!


    "Thank you! Thank you!" Oliver said while giving bows after his performance as though he were an actor on stage, "I''ll pick you who goes next. Let''s see��" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Soren, you''re up!"


    Soren''s eyes went wide. "Why me?"


    Oliver waved his hand dismissively. "Because I said so. Now, truth or challenge?"


    Soren took a deep breath to compose himself and returning to his usual calm, yet arrogant, demeanor. "I pick truth."


    Oliver''s eyes lit up with mischief and his curled into a Cheshire grin. Looking around, Kain also saw that majority of the seniors had a cunning look in their eyes.


    ''I think we''ve been duped��''


    "Soooo��. Lover boy is it true that you enrolled at Dark Moon instead of the First Celestial in the capital because you were chasing after Miss Serena Storm like a lovesick puppy?"


    Soren''s unflappable mask that he''d just restored immediately cracked as a tidal wave of red began to climb up his neck to cover his entire face in an intense blush.


    ''It''s been confirmed. We were 100% duped.''

 Chapter 138: Chapter 138: “Team-Bonding” (2)

    Soren''s face turned a deep shade of red at the question. For a moment, he seemed paralyzed by the embarrassment as everyone in the room just silently stared at him.The seniors burst into laughter, enjoying the discomfort of their underclassman. Kain and Kairos also exchanged glances, their own apprehension replaced by curiosity and mild amusement.


    After all, no matter what the seniors asked them it shouldn''t be this embarrassing.


    Oliver''s grin widened, clearly enjoying his reaction. "Come one Soren! Don''t leave us hanging. Is it true?"


    Soren, still blushing furiously, tried to regain his composure. "N-no, it''s not true. I��I chose Dark Moon City for myself due to its excellent training facilities. It had nothing to do with anyone else."


    Oliver turned to give Theo an exaggerated look of expectation.


    Theo then narrowed the grey eyes that matched his hair and gave a slow, dramatic shake of his head. "That was a lie. At least partially. You may have passed if you didn''t add the part about it having nothing to do with anyone else."


    Oliver sighed dramatically in disappointment like he was an upset elder that caught his grandson in a lie, but the smile that he couldn''t completely cover up revealed that he was enjoying the situation greatly.


    "Okay! It may have been influenced by someone else. But I didn''t choose to not attend First Celestial due to Serena. That is the truth!"


    This time Theo nodded. "Hmm, you''re telling the truth. Surprisingly."


    Oliver looked disappointed that he couldn''t obtain more juicy gossip surrounding the love lives of his juniors.


    Soren let out a sigh of relief mixed with frustration. He shot Oliver a glare, before turning to Kain. "I pick Kain to go next. Truth or Challenge?"


    ''Wow! What a surprise!'' Kain thought sarcastically. He knew Soren wouldn''t give up a chance to pick him due to their previous conflicts. If he picked truth, it''d surely be something uncomfortable and if he picked challenge, it''d probably be just short of torture.


    "Truth." Kain was more confident in his ability to bend the truth. Not to mention that Soren''s conflict with him seems to be largely due to Serena and the rankings. If he were to ask Kain a question it''d most likely be related to those two things. S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If a senior was questioning him he might be more apprehensive about having to answer a question truthfully, but a question from Soren? Nah!


    Soren revealed a smug smile. "Do you think that you will be able to keep you current ranking at the re-ranking?"


    ''Sure enough��'' Kain looked at him calmly. ''What? Is he trying to take this opportunity to see if I''m actually intimidated by him?''


    "Do I think I''ll keep my current ranking at the re-ranking? No." Soren''s chin rose and he seemed about to open his mouth to say something taunting, but Kain continued. "I think I''ll go up to Rank 1 after the re-ranking."


    The smile on Soren''s face immediately dropped, while Oliver and some of the other seniors clapped enthusiastically.


    Although it was unnecessary, Theo still confirmed that his answer was true, which only made Soren''s face uglier.


    "I pick Kairos. Truth or Challenge?" Kain said without hesitation. After all, he was quite curious about the kid. Regardless of whether he picked truth or challenge he was going to make sure he got some valuable intel from him.


    Kairos, who had been relatively quiet throughout the previous rounds, glanced around thoughtfully before making his choice. "Challenge."


    "Hmmm��" Truth would have been better, but he could make due with challenge.


    "I challenge you to show us all of the pages in the cursed book that you contracted."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, while all of the other seniors smirked having realized Kain''s purpose when selecting Kairos.


    "Ahhh we have a sly one here��" Oliver said in a loud stage whisper to Dmitri that everyone heard despite the fact that he covered his mouth for show.


    However, Kairos still released his contract and flipped through the pages of his contract. Kain was initially surprised that he was so willing to do so, but quickly realized the reason.


    Like Kain had hoped, majority of the pages in the thick book were empty. However, there were still quite a few pages that Kairos hadn''t activated during the day, meaning that the cursed book still had several more skills hidden. However, the pages did not have any images to hint at their effects, nor was the text in a language that Kain had ever seen.


    Therefore, the only information that Kain was able to obtain was that Kairos definitely had more cards he hadn''t shown, he wasn''t able to get any information on what exactly those cards were.


    "I want to select Kain." Kairos said with an expressionless face, likely wanting to pay him back and try to obtain some information that would be useful during the re-ranking.


    "Nuh-uh! What fun would it be if there are all of us playing but the rounds just keep going back and forth between the two of you! Kain can''t be chosen again until after everyone has gone at least once."


    "Tsk." Kairos couldn''t help but click his tongue in annoyance. "I''ll pick senior Theo then. Truth or Challenge?"


    "Ah! It''s unfair for Theo to pick truth since he''s the only one that can actually determine if he''s telling the truth. So, whenever we play he''s only allowed to pick challenge. Still want to pick him?"


    Kairos nodded nonchalantly. He didn''t care if he''d have to come up with a challenge for Theo, he had really wanted to pick Kain, or even Soren, but was unable to do so since they''d already gone.


    "Okay a challenge��I''m actually not really sure what would be a suitable challenge for you senior."


    "I do!" Oliver yelled enthusiastically while raising both of his hand. Kairos waved his hand to Oliver to defer the choice of challenge to him.


    "Summon Kitsu, and have him transform you into a girl!"


    Theo narrowed his eyes at Oliver. Likely this wasn''t the first time that he''d requested this, but whether he''d gotten his way in the past was unknown.


    Theo summoned out one of his contracts, a cream coloured fox with five tails. Kain didn''t see Theo actually give his contract any instructions, but in the next second it sent a burst of green coloured spiritual power towards Theo. After a blind flash of light, in Theo''s place was a beautiful woman with dark brown skin, and long grey hair.


    Surprisingly, Kitsu had also made the transformation quite generous in the chest area, a fact that Oliver couldn''t help but comment on before receiving a fist to the nose.


    However, seeing Theo''s female version, Kain was reminded of someone else��Seraphina Mindshade. Could Theo possibly be related to one of the few 9-star beast tamers in the empire?

 Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Day 2 of the Beast-Tide

    In a flash of light Theo returned to his original appearance, now with a much more disgruntled appearance.As the night wore on, the game eventually wound down. The seniors seemed to have shed their desire to maintain a sense of distance from them until the re-rankings. They chatted casually with the first-years, discussed their experiences and offered advice on the upcoming re-ranking and the challenges they might face. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone had a turn at Truth or Challenge, some even two, but before Kairos had an opportunity to target Kain, Ezra returned and then ordered them all to bed.


    Despite their being some moments where they were intentionally teased by their seniors, Kain would consider the "team bonding" to be a success. They definitely felt much closer to the older students than they did before.


    The exhaustion from the long day quickly caught up with him and it didn''t take long before he sunk into dreamland.


    Ding Ding Ding


    "Everyone get up and ready!" After closing his for what only felt like a moment, Kain was awoken by the loud ringing of a bell and the captain''s voice. It was still dim out, as they were awoken before the sun had even fully risen.


    After using getting a simple breakfast of porridge and bread, they headed back to their same area of the wall as yesterday to relieve the night-shift guards.


    Looking down, Kain could see that the vast majority of the spiritual creatures were now red-grade, the white-grade ones all likely already killed. With orange-grade spiritual creatures being a lot more common than yesterday and even yellow-grade spiritual creatures being occasionally seen.


    However, despite the level of the attacking beasts increasing, they still had no hope of actually breaking through the walls. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of spiritual creatures had probably died between the start of the attack and now, but the walls showed no sign of being breached.


    "What''s the point of this?" Kain asked nobody in particular. "Surely, they know that the chances of breaking through the city walls is almost impossible. Not to mention, even if they do break through there''s still the high-level beast-tamers in the school who haven''t yet taken action."


    Jade was the one to answer. "The high-level ones have enough sense to know that. The low-level ones don''t have that much intelligence. They''re starving and desperate, so when their leaders tell them that they can obtain the food they need for themselves and their children behind these walls, they don''t question it and attack desperately.


    The high-level ones in turn use us to drastically cut down the population of spiritual creatures in the wilderness to a level that can be sustained for a longer period of time. Not to mention, many of the creatures we kill do end up becoming food for the survivors."


    "This kind of population control is practically an unwritten agreement between the leaders of the city and the high-level spiritual beasts out there. They don''t really have any intention of breaking through our walls. Even when some blue-grade spiritual creatures appear later, it''d probably just be for show to give the low-level ones some motivation and make them more fearless.


    The actual damage they cause is minimal compared to the damage they could cause at their levels of they actually tried."


    Kain nodded slowly as he absorbed Jade''s explanation. It made sense; the high-level spiritual creatures were using the current chaos to control the population of lower-grade creatures. It was cruel, but a necessary process to ensure the long-term sustainability of their ecosystem.


    However, Kain also wondered if they would truly not try to expand their territory into the city in desperation if that dead zone in the wilderness continues to expand��


    Kain fought back a yawn, as his body was bathed in the warm light of the rising sun. As the morning wore on, the steady stream of spiritual creatures continued. Kain continued his steady operation of Bea being responsible for killing the red-grade spiritual creatures, and impeding the movements of those orange-grade and above while the Vespirae Guards landed the final blows.


    Due to the higher grade, Kain and the others ran out of spiritual power even earlier than they did yesterday, despite consciously only sticking to attacks and strategies that would conserve their energy.


    Boom


    Kain had just worked together with Kairos to kill his fourth yellow-grade spiritual creature today. Thankfully, Kain had managed to land the finishing blows for 3 of the 4 and was able to add their deaths to the completion of one of his missions.


    It''s just so unfortunate that due to the dense bodies beneath him there would be absolutely no way for him to retrieve the bodies to extract the materials. If the materials collected from all of the red, orange, and yellow-grade spiritual creatures could be sold, Kain would have made a fortune.


    Unfortunately, he''d have to wait until the beast tide was over to see if any of the dead bodies he''d contributed were intact enough to salvage anything of value.


    However, Kain had seen some of his seniors that had managed to take down green-grade spiritual creatures send some flying contracts to retrieve the corpses. The materials from a creature at that level made the risk worth it, not to mention most of their contracts were at a strength where they could break into the horde for a few seconds without much danger.


    Kain and the other first-years had no such ability.


    Bam!


    One of the contracts of a guard, a orange-grade spiritual creature that resembled a hawk, was slammed into the city wall and eviscerated by the claws of a wild yellow-grade Griffin.


    "Aaaahhhhhhh!" The contractor of the hawk was easy to spot as he doubled over in intense pain from the backlash of a broken contract. As he screamed while gripping his head, another guard had to forcefully pick him up and remove him from the walls so that he would not be killed while incapacitated from the pain.


    Kain''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat. He''d heard that the backlash from a broken contract was devastating, but this was the first time he''d witnessed it. Not to mention that after the pain to the soul gradually subsides, the emotional pain at having lost a valued partner will become more prominent. Thankfully, both of Kain''s contracts weren''t so easy to kill.

 Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Ambush

    After the unsettling scene, Kain glanced back outside the wall, where the battle continued unaffected by the devastating blow to the guard. Despite the many that died, their numbers still seemed endless.Even if the defenders still had spiritual power, Kain could tell that everyone was becoming mentally exhausted from having to maintain their vigilance against attacks to themselves, their contracts, and even their peers for hours without rest.


    "How long do you think this will last?" Kain asked, his voice tinged with exhaustion.


    Jade sighed, the day''s events likely taking a toll even on her as her usually annoyingly loud personality had been greatly dampened.


    "It''s hard to say. We''ll know once some of the blue-grade spiritual creatures decide to appear. They''ll usually appear when the tide is reaching its end and they''re about to announce the withdrawal of the attacking spiritual creatures."


    Bam


    Suddenly an intense blaze instantly killed all of the spiritual creatures and scorched the earth for miles outside of the city walls. Kain could see that the very ground had turned into a molten lava like substance that would be challenging to cross for majority of the spiritual creatures below yellow-grade.


    Seeing that they no longer had the cover of the low-level cannon fodder, there was a momentary halt in the attacks of the beast-tide as they waited for the land to cool.


    One of the high-level beast tamers in the city must have taken action after seeing them all exhausted.


    "You have 30 minutes to take a break." A disembodied voice sounded over the entire city. "Tend to the wounded and rest until the beast tide recommences."


    Kain took the opportunity to catch his breath and assess the situation. His body ached from moving about all day.


    As he sipped on a flask of water, Oliver approached him, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You handling it alright?" For once have the demeanor of a thoughtful senior.


    "Yeah," Kain replied, wiping the sweat from his brow and retrieving a snack from his space ring to refuel. "It''s just��very intense"


    "Yeah, the hardest part about a beast-tide is not running out of physical endurance and spiritual power, but the mental strength to keep focused. That''s what weeded a lot of even the strongest entrants out in my year. They were too mentally weak."


    Kain looked at Oliver with renewed admiration. He had forgotten that the notorious beast-tide entrance exam that Bridget, who was in her second year at the time and would now be a third-year, had told him about would have been for Oliver''s year.


    Kain was already a beast-tamer for several months, as well as many of the seniors and guards appeared to be getting mentally drained. He couldn''t imagine having to face a horde like this as a newly awakened student fresh out of high school. Even if the examinees wouldn''t have been placed at such a busy area as the main gate, the other areas are still only slightly better.


    BAM! BAM BAM!


    Suddenly, simultaneously, dozens of spiritual creatures were attacked by a hidden enemy. A couple of the guards'' contracts instantly died in the attack and the soul wrenching screams of their contractors rang across the wall as they suffered from the backlash.


    Kain also instantly lost one of his Vespirae Guards, but thankfully unlike the others who lost a contract he suffered no real consequence from the loss except for a temporary reduction in troops he could deploy.


    However, one of Alexei''s contracts, a yellow-grade deep red spider, was hit heavily and the injury may even be fatal if not treated in time.


    Immediately, Dmitri sent his contracts, a small flying humanoid creature that resembled a fairy but with bat wings instead and a deep red hulking beast with a demonic aura, to drag Alexei''s contract to safety. sea??h th�� Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Immediately Alexei''s spider was sent to one of the healers at the foot of the wall to be treated. It''s life likely won''t be in any danger since there were now several healers to care for it, but 3 of its legs had been torn off and it had a large hole in its abdomen that was continuously leaking blood. Therefore, the spider will likely be out of commission for the remainder of the beast tide.


    After the attack from the unknown enemy, there was a momentary lull in the human camp as everyone was too scared to continue sending their contracts outside the wall to kill. What if their own contract was also instantly killed like some of the guards'' contracts.


    Instead, contracts that had long-range skills continued to attack from on top of the wall, while those with only close-combat skills stayed next to them as a guard.


    "D-Did anyone see what attacked us? Or maybe know a way to guard against it?" Ranya asked with a trembling voice.


    Nobody was able to answer her. It seemed as though multiple contracts were attacked by an invisible opponent within milliseconds of each other. Not to mention that the form of the attack seemed to resemble an explosion that occurred next to the contract without any warning. It was practically impossible to guard against.


    "Did anyone see anything that may be useful for determining what it is or when it attacks?"


    Serena opened her mouth, which was the first time many had heard her speak since the beast tide even began. "It wasn''t a long-range attack. It was instantly appearing next to the target before launching an attack and jumping to the next target."


    Everyone looked at her in confusion and doubt. Nobody had been able to even see an attacker so they''d assumed it was some ability that triggered explosions from a long distance. Now she was claiming that the "explosions" were actually a physical attack?


    "How can you be so sure?" Theo questioned. Seeing that he wasn''t refuting her words, that likely meant that what she was saying was the truth, or at least what she strongly believe to be the case.


    "Because whatever it is meets the conditions of my affinity. I was able to vaguely sense its movements. It''s stopped now. It''s probably around 15 miles in that direction" She said pointing in a direction.


    Everyone turned in the direction that she pointed to try and see if they could spot the perpetrator, but Kain was more preoccupied by something else mentioned by the person he considered his biggest competition.

 Chapter 142: Chapter 142: Dividing the Spoils of War

    The hours wore on, and the intensity of the battle showed no signs of waning. Kain''s arms ached from the constant motion, and sweat poured down his face.His breathing was ragged, but he couldn''t afford to slow down. Each beast killed brought him closer to his goals, and kept the citizens of the city safe.


    As night fell, the long-awaited bell to relieve them of their duty finally rang. After coming down from the top of the wall, Kain slumped against its hard surface, his body trembling from exhaustion. However, he still dragged his exhausted body to the few yellow-grade and orange-grade beasts that he''d managed to kill.


    He signalled to Kairos and they both headed to their four joint kills.


    "Any preference for the parts you want?" Hopefully, he doesn''t have a need for the brain like Bea, since the brains of all their joint kills have already been taken care of.


    "We can each take two spiritual orbs each. And I also want the talons and eyes of the Night Echo Owl," Kain nodded in acquiescence. Both the talons and the eyes were quite useful and the most valuable parts of the owl. However, the Night Echo Owl had a dark-attribute, which would obviously be more useful to Kairos than himself.


    Therefore, Kain chose to give up the more useful parts of the owl now in order to have his pick of material from the other spiritual creatures.


    "I''ll take the feathers then, and its voice box, and we can just divide the meat equally." Kain pulled out a knife and began removing the black and white speckled feathers that were shimmering faintly in the moonlight. The Night Echo Owl isn''t known for its defense among spiritual creatures of a similar level. The value of its feathers were more so in their beautiful appearance.


    They should sell for quite a lot to be made into items of clothing and accessories for rich women. Additionally, the Night Echo Owl produces sound attacks, therefore its voice box should have some value and may be used to produce enchanted equipment engraved with sigils that cause sound attacks.


    After Kairos and him had both used their knives to extract the materials they agreed on, they moved to the next one.


    Next, they went to a large insect with wings, the Flickerfly. When it was alive it was difficult to look at clearly due to the intense light that it gave off. However, now they could see the delicate iridescent wings that glimmered in a kaleidoscope of colours in a mesmerizing effect.


    It''s not a particularly powerful spiritual creature, in fact its probably among the weakest of those at the same level. Its most prominent features are the soothing light it emits and its great beauty.


    "I want the light-emitting glands," Kain said pointing to the abdominal region, "and I want its wings." Kain then pointed to the wings that occasionally still had arcs of light flickering through their intricate patterns and veining.


    Considering that Kairos got his pick of the last one, he didn''t fight with Kain and accepted the antennae and other sensory organs of much less value. Majority of the Flickerfly was actually quite useless, even less valuable than many orange-grade spiritual creatures. The only parts of any real value were what Kain took.


    The next shared kill was a dark red bat-type creature that Kain was unfamiliar with. However, he suspected that it had the rare blood-attribute.


    Since neither he nor Kairos had read about this creature before, and even after asking some of the seniors and guards still around who also couldn''t identify it, they decided to just take it apart and go back and forth in picking the parts they wanted.


    Considering it was a bat, Kain took the ears, which were still attached to the cochlear nerve, the vibrant red fur coat that may be valuable to make clothing, and a small blood red crystal.


    Kairos then chose the wings, eyes, fangs, and claws. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The last spiritual creature left to divide was very rare, a Whisper Wisp. When it was alive, it resembled the will-o''-the-wisps that Kain remembered reading about in storied back in his original life on Earth. It looked like a giant blue ball of fire and was said to have the ability to communicate with the dead and guide lost souls.


    However, after it had died it looked like a giant diamond the size of his head.


    Thankfully as they chipped away at it to pry it open it didn''t prove to be as hard as diamond. Although it was definitely harder than the average 2-star weapon.


    After removing the spiritual orb, there wasn''t much else left inside of it. There was a blue stone that was giving off a faint heat still, likely the source of its flames and a clear coloured stone that they couldn''t figure out the purpose of.


    "How should we divide this��? I''m not sure about the value of most of these parts." Kain admitted.


    "Well the stone shell had been almost evenly cut in half, so we can each take a half, as for the blue and clear stones we can decide by minotaur, golem, phoenix." Kairos suggested using this world''s version of rock, paper, scissors.


    After counting to three out loud, Kain threw out his hand in the "devil horns" gesture with his pinky and index fingers extended, and the middle and ring fingers curled down to represent the minotaur. Kairos revealed his hand that had all 5 fingers splayed out to represent a Phoenix wing.


    "Ahh��Phoenix burns minotaur. I win!" Kairos said, before selecting the blue crystal which they had some inkling of its purpose, leaving Kain with the colourless crystal that they knew nothing about.


    Sigh


    Kain couldn''t fault him for his choice, he likely would have made the same choice. All he could hope for is that it was something useful and or valuable once he got it appraised.


    If it could serve as an evolutionary material it may also appear in the simulator to provide Kain with a hint of what it is and its purpose.

 Chapter 143: Chapter 143: System Shop

    After Kain divided the materials with Kairos, and also extracted the materials from his solo orange-grade kills, he headed back to his temporary living quarters in exhaustion.I guess due to the poor atmosphere from Alexei''s contract being severely injured, Oliver wasn''t inclined to continue pestering everyone to stay up and play games.


    Additionally, unlike yesterday, Ezra stayed in the living quarters with them this time. So without any delay, everyone quickly showered, changed, and then went to bed.


    However, while everyone was in bed and snores began to ring out around him, Kain decided to look at his System.


    The past two days of battle, while difficult, had been the most lucrative period by far for Kain for GP.


    After two days of battle, he now had 8630 GP. The distance to next System upgrade no longer felt so far. Therefore, as long as it wasn''t anything too expensive, if he saw something that would be helpful in the System Shop, or if had a Simulation he wanted to try, he wouldn''t be so resistant.


    Kain first opened the System shop which had refreshed this morning.


    The first option was for a custom 2-star weapon, an item that Kain had exchanged for previously. However, Kain chose to not exchange for it since his current weapon was suitable for him. Once he breaks through to 3-stars, hopefully an exchange opportunity for a custom 3-star weapon will be made available that he will definitely purchase.


    The next option was an Enhancement Elixir. It will temporarily boost the physical abilities, and spiritual power of the user by 100%. It also won''t conflict with the use of any other elixirs, so Kain would still be able to use it after using the Spiritual Elixir. It can serve as an additional trump card for him if he were in a desperate situation.


    After all, today''s events showed him that the situation can change at any time. Therefore, it''d be nice to have this potion to depend on.


    However, the cost of 1500 GP seemed a bit steep. Kain decided to hold off on purchasing it until the battle situation really called for it. If he, ideally, is able to get through the entire duration of the beast tide without having to make the exchange, then that would be the best case scenario.


    Then there was a ticket for a Wheel of Fortune that already had a theme selected��Lab Equipment. And the cost was 2000 GP, even more expensive than the Enhancement Elixir. However, Kain was extremely tempted to make the exchange. Kain currently only had one piece of lab equipment, the Simulator, and it was already a huge game changer for him. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was intrigued by what otherworldly effects the other pieces of equipment may have. However, making the exchange wasn''t urgent, and it was unlikely that it''d boost his current abilities greatly within a short period. Therefore, Kain decided to wait until the beast tide was finished before making the exchange.


    However, he decided that even if it did delay his System upgrading, he will make the before the System Shop refreshes again.


    After all, if he misses this opportunity who knows when another suitable opportunity will present itself.


    Last, but not least, available for purchase was a B-level spiritual skill tome. According to the description, the skill tome will allow the beast-tamer tome to exchange their spiritual power to an all-round boost to their contract''s abilities and spiritual power at a ratio of 2 to 1 once mastered.


    Meaning that if Kain sacrificed 100% of his spiritual power, he could provide his spiritual creatures with a 50% of boost to their strength and abilities, and restore their spiritual power by 50%. Considering that majority of a beast-tamer combat ability is reliant on their contracts, it wasn''t a bad exchange at all.


    Especially, when without the use of a skill that allows for a more efficient exchange of his spiritual power to his contracts, when he supplies his spiritual power to Bea and Eve to boost their abilities and increase their spiritual power, the exchange is definitely much worse.


    After exchanging 100% of his spiritual power, he may be lucky to even restore Bea''s spiritual power and give a boost to about 10-15%


    The cost of 800 GP, also isn''t too bad. However, to fully master the skill will take time. Until he fully masters the skill, the exchange ratio will be much worse, likely starting at 5 to 1 and then gradually improving to a ratio of 2 to 1 may not be achieved until months from now. If his talent for spiritual skills is really poor, it may even take years.


    This was another purchase that Kain decided to table for now and then consider making after the beast-tide ended. After all, more GP may be made from missions in the future, but there''s no guarantee that these items will reappear in the shop in the future. If he misses them now and needs them in the future, he''d regret it greatly.


    If Kain were to exchange for all of these items, it would total 4300 GP. Which would almost perfectly reduce the GP he''d currently saved by half.


    Therefore, he chose to categorize them based on the order of importance by situation. If the beast-tide tomorrow and the coming days takes a turn for the worse, then he will resolutely make the exchange for the Enhancement Elixir.


    Once the beast-tide ends, regardless of how much GP he saves, he will exchange for the opportunity to get more lab equipment, and considering how cheap the skill tome is, he will also purchase it after the beast-tide. If he''s lucky, he''ll be able to fully master the spiritual skill before the re-ranking.


    But even if he doesn''t have it fully mastered, being able to provide an all-round increase to the abilities of his contract by even 30 to 40% would be a huge advantage against his peers.


    Next Kain decided to see if there were any new additions made to the Simulator.

 Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Satisfying His Curiosity

    Kain then entered the laboratory. Looking around he was once again struck by the urge to purchase the Wheel of Fortune ticket specifically for laboratory equipment after seeing all of the empty space. The potential for new and advanced equipment was extremely tempting, but he knew that he needed to be strategic with his GP while he was in such a precarious battle situation.Kain opened the Simulator and went to the evolutionary materials. In addition to the spiritual orbs he''d obtained today, there were also several of the materials he''d obtained today such as the cochlear nerve and red crystal from the bat, the light-emitting glands and wings from the Flickerfly, and the unknown colourless crystal from the Whisper Wisp.


    Unfortunately, the Simulator did not provide a detailed description of all of the materials. However, it did provide a name for the two materials that Kain was unsure about, therefore with the correct names he could research them at the college after the beast tide. The Sanguine Purity Crystal was the name for the red gem that he obtained from the blood-attribute bat of an unknown identity.


    As for the colourless crystal, its name is the Haunting Echo Jewel.


    With at least a name to go off of while researching, it''ll make his search a lot easier.


    "But since I''m already here��" Kain continued to look at the panel for the Simulator. Each simulation is only 100 GP, if he performs a few of simulations now (just three!) he could easily make back the GP spent tomorrow after completing a mission to hunt 10 orange grade spiritual creatures. In fact, he was only 2 kills short of completing that mission and receiving 350 GP.


    "Plus there was plan that Kain had wanted to put into action for a while��patenting an evolutionary form. If he could successfully produce a new evolutionary form, the money and connections provided will definitely help him with opening doors that would eventually lead to an increase in strength��yup! It''s decided I will perform 3 simulations."


    Kain finally convinced himself with a virtuous sounding reason, but really, he was just dying of curiosity and wanted to try out some more evolutionary forms.


    Based on the name of the Sanguine Purity Crystal, Kain made the reasonable assumption that it would have an effect on purifying bloodlines.


    He was debating on whether to test out this hypothesis or if he should first try out the effects of one of the other materials he''d obtained that he wasn''t sure about its function. Not to mention, neither of his contracts are spiritual creatures with a legendary bloodline that he''d benefit from purifying, nor will it be easy for Kain to obtain such a creature.


    Any spiritual creatures with a high-quality bloodline from creatures such as dragons, phoenixes, or giants, will be much more expensive to purchase than those without. This is because with future evolutions and bloodline purifications, there is still hope to evolve into a pure form of their ancestral bloodline. Although it will take a considerable amount of resources to do so.


    One of the side businesses Kain was considering was to come up with a new evolutionary form for a spiritual creature, and he actually had one in mind. The evolutionary form that he was interested in was for the Lumifin.


    The Lumifin was actually the very first creature that he''d tested the Simulator on, although at the time he had no theoretical knowledge on evolutionary forms and ended up creating a failure of an evolution��the Gloomtail.


    The reason Kain was interested in the Lumifin for this endeavor is that it had light and water dual attributes. The water-attribute is one of the more common elemental attributes, and among C, D, and F ranked affinities many of them are for fish. Therefore, the base population for awakened individuals will be quite large.


    Additionally, although the Black-iron quality Lumifin is not particularly powerful, it has an additional rare light attribute. If Kain can find an evolutionary form with decent skills and it retains the light attribute, it''d probably become a pretty popular choice for a first contract among newly awakened individuals with low ranked affinities.


    Additionally, currently the Lumifin has no known evolutionary form and it is quite common in all fresh water lakes and rivers across the Empire. Therefore, buying one would be much cheaper than other initial contracts. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Rather than going the high-quality route and targeting evolutionary forms for expensive spiritual creatures that typically only the wealthy can bind, Kain decided to appeal to the masses. He was targeting those with affinities at C grade and under, who maybe don''t come from the best-off families.


    Such individuals are quite common in the Empire, and many parents who are low-level beast-tamers or even ordinary people, may bankrupt themselves trying to give their child that managed to awaken an affinity a decent start. But what if Kain presented an option for an initial contract that was not only cheap, but also had a dual attribute for the more rare light element.


    The Lumifin may become one of the most common initial contracts within the nation. And as the patent holder he''ll get paid with every purchase of the evolutionary formula, having a larger quantity of such purchases would be beneficial for him.


    However, in order to realize this plan an evolution for Lumifin with decent strength must be discovered. Additionally, since Kain''s target demographic were poorer new beast-tamers, the evolutionary materials used should not be too expensive. Otherwise, who''d want to contract a Lumifin whose evolutionary materials were more expensive than a gold-quality spiritual creature.


    They could just directly buy a gold-quality spiritual creature!


    Therefore, after selecting the Lumifin, a spiritual orb, and a catalyst within the Simulator, he sorted the options for the Evolutionary Base Material but the level. With the materials he''d extracted from red-grade spiritual creatures towards the top. He then filtered out the all of the materials with attributes other than water and light.


    It is possible to cause find an evolution that has attributes different from the original form. However, the requirements for the balance of the materials used was a lot more exacting. Kain isn''t confident in being able to find such an evolution without dozens of test simulations for trial and error.


    Probably only the top evolutionary planners could discover such a form without relying purely on dumb luck.


    After looking at his options, Kain made his first selection.

 Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Searching for an Evolution Patent

    Kain''s first selection for an Evolutionary Base Material was the glowing "lure," or esca, of a Ether Lurefish. The Lurefish is an red-grade spiritual creature that resembles an anglerfish. It is quite ugly, and uses a glowing ball attached to its head via a rod to hunt for prey.However, this is one of the few evolutionary materials that Kain had with dual water and light attributes, it also happened to be the cheapest.


    After making the selection, Kain pressed the button to start the simulation and a glow began to emit from the Lumifin projected within the Simulator. However, the glow was much weaker than he remembered it being when testing Bea''s and Aby''s evolutions.


    After the glow only occurred for a fraction of the time it usually would, what appeared before Kain was��a Lumifin. Although the projection appeared much more frail than it did before, probably a setting built into the Simulator to realistically portray the consequences of failed evolution for the user.


    Kain looked at his remaining GP. "Are you kidding?! The evolution didn''t even work, can''t you refund the 100 GP I used?"


    *The System does not allow for refunds. All transactions are final. It is encouraged for the Host to perform more thorough research in the future before performing Simulations in the future to prevent more instances of failure.*


    "Damn��" Kain had to admit that maybe he''d gotten overconfident. He had never had a single case of a failed or disadvantageous evolution ever since he''d started his Evolutionary Planner major and learned some of the theory behind evolution. However, it looks like there was a reason the profession was considered difficult and was so in demand.


    If people could achieve a successful evolution after throwing in a spiritual orb, catalyst, and any base material every time, there wouldn''t be much of a need to pay planners.


    However, it is strange that not a single one of his simulations with Bea or the yeast Aby, had been unsuccessful. Perhaps that was an advantage of microorganisms? Maybe their simple single-celled bodies make them more easy to successfully evolve? If so, Kain will now look at his affinity much more kindly and not regret missing out on being able to contract with a dragon or phoenix.


    Actually no��he still really wants a dragon!


    "Okay��so that didn''t work at all. I have only two tries left before I exceed the budget I laid out for myself."


    Kain continued to scroll through all of the evolutionary materials he had available and was struck by the materials he''d obtained today from the Flickerfly. However, there is no way that an average new beast-tamer can hunt a yellow-grade Flickerfly to evolve a Black-iron beast, the cost to benefit ratio would be horrible.


    However, the light-emitting glands that Kain obtained from the Flickerfly are a pretty common material obtainable form red and orange- grade spiritual creatures as well. However, kain doesn''t have any more of such glands in his Simulator.


    However, if the Flickerfly''s light-emitting glands prove useful for causing a beneficial evolution, then Kain could try obtaining the glands from a creature of a lower grade, these glands don''t have much use and should be able to be bought cheaply.


    Typically they are just used to make charms for illumination, additionally some wealthier households may use them as a component to make nightlights for their children.


    Decision made Kain selected the light-emitting glands and started the evolution. This time the light emitted from the next simulated Lumifin was much greater. Kain hoped that it was a positive sign of a successful evolution. Once the light faded, Kain took a look at the new creature that appeared. It looked almost exactly like a Lumifin, who is a very attractive aquatic creature.


    Traditional Lumifins had translucent, shimmering fins that glowed softly in various hues. They were about the size of house cats and had streamlined, serpentine bodies and delicate, bioluminescent markings that changed color according to their emotions. These colour changes and flashed of light can aid in either camouflaging it from predators or disorienting predators, whichever it should choose.


    However, this resulting evolution, while similar in shape and appearance definitely appeared much more bloated.


    Additionally, the light emitting from the creature was only slightly worse than the light of evolution, making it difficult to look at.


    -----------------


    Species: Glimmerfin


    The Glimmerfin is a new evolutionary attempt for the Lumifin. It retains much of the Lumifin''d ethereal appearance, but now has an enlarged light-emitting gland that gives it an overly bright, almost blinding, glow. Its fins are slightly larger and more elaborate, with intricate patterns of shimmering light, but it is now less agile than its predecessor.


    The Glimmerfin is most suitable as an ornamental plant rather than release into the wild. Its uncontrolled luminosity is likely to draw unwanted attention from predators.


    Quality: Black-Iron S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Type: Fish


    Attribute: Water, Light


    Skills:


    D-Blinding Flash: The Glimmerfin can emit a sudden, intense burst of light from its gland intended to disorient enemies. However, the light is too bright and indiscriminate, often causing the Glimmerfin itself to be temporarily blinded as well.


    D-Glimmer Shield: The Glimmerfin can create a shimmering barrier of light around itself. While it provides some basic protection, it will be inactivated after receiving one physical or magical attack from a target at the same level.


    F-Luminous Trail: The Glimmerfin leaves a glowing trail wherever it swims or moves. This trail is useful for marking its path or guiding allies, but it also makes it very easy to track. The glowing trail attracts predators and foes, making stealth and escape difficult.


    -----------


    Kain looked at the panel unimpressed.


    This evolution didn''t not provide any beneficial increase to the Lumifin''s abilities. If anything it actually made it weaker. One of the Lumifin''s few profitable points, its beautiful appearance, has also been greatly impacted since. The bright light it emits now makes it too difficult to look at. This is definitely a worthless evolutionary form.


    "Well at least it''s better than the Gloomtail��"

 Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Searching for an Evolution Patent (2)

    ''Maybe I was thinking in the wrong direction, I was focused on improving the light attribute, because that was it''s most valuable attribute. But this evolution made me realize that the initial potential of the Lumifin is too low for it to suddenly become a powerhouse at wielding the light-attribute. That''s why this evolution isn''t even able to control the greater amount of light energy it possesses.Let''s look at some other directions I can head to instead...''


    It is unusual for first years, or even any college student period, to begin investigating new evolutionary forms. That kind of work is usually done in post-college internships under an established professor at one of the colleges, similar to the graduate studies done back on Earth.


    However, there was a brief summary on the investigation of evolutionary forms that was mentioned, almost like a fun facts section, in one of Kain''s textbooks.


    From what Kain recalled of the text it defined evolution as the he process of revealing the hidden potential within every spiritual creature. Every creature harbors this potential, even if its next evolutionary form has yet to be discovered.


    To identify a potential evolutionary path, it is the job of Evolutionary Planners to first examine what makes a creature unique and enhance that defining characteristic to its extreme.


    Firstly, if a lower-grade spiritual creature has a latent high-level bloodline, an Evolutionary Planner should focus on methods to purify and amplify this bloodline. For example, a common evolutionary direction of Wyrms and Wyverns with some dragon blood is to continuously purify the bloodline through multiple evolutions until they can become a true dragon.


    Similarly, if a creature possesses two powerful attributes, such as ice and time, the evolutionary strategy might involve concentrating on one attribute and elevating it to its maximum potential, even if it means sacrificing the other. Balancing multiple Evolutionary Base Materials from the same element can be challenging and often requires another stabilizing material.


    Perfecting an evolution with mixed attributes will have even more stringent requirements on the balance of materials used and the strength of the stabilizer. Even for skilled Evolutionary Planners, it is rare to pursue investigating an evolution that perfectly balances both attributes.


    This was the direction that Kain went in for Bea, and it was also the direction he had planned to go in for the Lumifin, although it doesn''t seem to be working out.


    Additionally, unique skills can also indicate potential evolutionary paths. Certain species may develop new skills as they approach their maximum potential, which often provides clues about their next evolutionary stage. These skills typically remain significant even after the evolution occurs. Occasionally, mastery of a skill is even a necessary precondition to achieve a successful evolution.


    For example, the Cinderheart, which is bronze-quality spiritual creature resembles a large lump of black stone with a face. However, it possesses a seemingly useless harden skill. The effect of the harden skill doesn''t instantaneously give a large boost to its defense. Instead, its repeated usage can result in a permanent increase in the Cinderheart''s hardness. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once the skill is perfectly mastered, meaning that the cinderheart is now as hard as a diamond, it can evolve into the gold-quality Diamondheart.


    Kain suspects that the new skill that Queen obtained after breaking though to orange-grade was one such skill that hints at a potential new evolutionary form for the Vespirae Queen, one with life attributes. However, whether certain acheivements are needed in the skill to successfully evolve is unknown.


    What would even indicate mastery for a skill that essentially involves making a really strong elixir out of royal jelly.


    Finally, overlooked physical traits might reveal evolutionary directions. For example, the evolution of the ice-attribute bronze-quality Frostreave into the silver-quality Frostveil was well-known. However, Evolutionary Planners had been puzzled for centuries by mutant Frostreaves with white or black fur, who could not evolve into Frostveils.


    Afterall, changes in fur colour are usually just cosmetic mutations that shouldn''t actually have any impact on the potential of the creature. And aside from being able to evolve, the Frostveils with black and white fur were just as strong as their blue counterparts. In fact, they were often found to be even more talented.


    It was eventually discovered that fur color was a key indicator of their potential evolution. Frostreaves with blue fur evolved into Frostveils with ease, using common ice-attribute plants found everywhere in the northern region.


    However, those with black and white fur evolved into the gold-quality dark-attribute Gloomfrost and light-attribute Glacierflare, respectively.


    It was a complete coincidence that such a discovery was made, because apart from fur colour, there was no indication that the Frostveil''s next form could ever be from these two relatively rare attributes.


    The example of the Frostveil is one of the few instances of physical features with no impact on ability actually being the key to finding a suitable direction for evolution.


    Kain already knew that the Lumifin had no bloodline to purify, which ruled out the first method.


    He had already tried the second method of enhancing the light attribute with little success, but he will also try to enhance the water attribute for good measure, although it will likely not be a particularly impressive evolution.


    The Lumifin doesn''t have any particularly unique skills, which would make investigating along the third method difficult.


    That leaves Kain only with the fourth option��looking at its unique physical qualities for clues.


    In addition to amplifying the water attribute, this seemed to be the most promising direction.


    After all, although extremely weak, the Lumifin''s uniquely beautiful appearance is one of its only strengths.


    Therefore, Kain opened the Simulator once more, but instead of immediately selecting evolutionary materials he approached the projection of the Lumifin and began to analyze its appearance from all angles.


    "System. Is it possible to see past evolutions in the Simulator again?" Kain also wanted to investigate the failed Gloomtail and Glimmerfin once more. Perhaps if he can find something unique about all 3 forms, it may indicate that the feature is of extra importance.

 Chapter 147: Chapter 147: Breakthrough Discovery?

    The System didn''t answer Kain directly, but suddenly projections of all of the past evolutions Kain had created in the Simulator appeared before him."Filter out all of the past evolutions that aren''t for Lumifin." Suddenly the crowded description screen filled with the profiles of a myriad of creatures only had 2 profiles, and the glass container which showed the simulated results of the evolution had two creatures within it��Gloomtail and Glimmerfin.


    "Can you place a projection of the original Lumifin next to the two evolutionary forms?" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Looking at the three creatures side by side, Kain tried to find any meaningful connection between the three forms.


    However, finding a connection, especially to the Gloomtail was difficult.


    Without question the unevolved Lumifin was the most aesthetically pleasing, while the Glimmerfin looked like a bloated, too bright, version of Lumifin.


    However, Gloomtail could only be described with one word��UGLY. Kain had already seen it before, but its grotesque appearance was still very shocking the second time it appeared before him.


    Its body was even more bloated than the Glimmerfin and swollen in unnatural ways that gave it an almost cartoonish appearance.


    Unlike the almost mirror-like appearance of Lumifin''s silver scales, the Gloomtail was a sickly gray, with patches of jaundice yellow. If Kain had seen a fish that looked like this back on Earth, he wouldn''t have dared to touch it for fear that it was suffering from some kind of contagious disease.


    Unlike the Glimmerfin that was too bright, and the Lumifin that had flashes of light flickering through its scales and on its fins, the uneven and ragged scales and fins of the Gloomtail were barely illuminated. Its fins also appeared tattered and worn, with frayed edges.


    The eyes of the Gloomtail were small and beady, set deep into a misshapen head. The eyes looked perpetually disoriented, like the Gloomtail was forever lost in a haze of confusion or fear. They were very unlike the lively and playful eyes of its predecessor Lumifin.


    However, as Kain was forced to examine the creature for a longer period he discovered something interesting. A pattern of curved lines, barely visible, weaved across its fins.


    The dark, almost imperceptible lines were occasionally broken in some parts and not continuous, before they ended abruptly two-thirds of the way up the fish''s fins. The lines loosely resembled interlocking spirals arranged next to each other, composed of the fish''s scales.


    Kain looked to see if these patterns were also on the Lumifin and��they were! The spiral pattern was still not super obvious, but the pattern was more clear on the Lumifin since there were no large breaks in the lines. However, they extended across nearly the entire body of the fish.


    Starting from the center of the fish''s forehead, its scales were arranged in a spiral, with each new scale in the pattern growing in size until the midsection of the Lumifin where the spiral pattern stops and all scales are uniform in shape and placement until the tail. The arrangements of the scales are what caused, when examined very closely, the appearance of lines in a spiral.


    Faint spiral patterns originating on each fin were also visible.


    The scales were mostly silver, but their shiny mirrorlike quality caused it to glisten with hues of deep blues, greens and gold as it moved and light reflected across its surface.


    Kain then looked at the evolutionary form that was closer in appearance to the Lumifin, the Glimmerfin, to see if this pattern once again changed.


    Similar to the Lumifin, the barely noticeable spiral pattern extended from the forehead, but this time they ended at the head and did not extend into the midsection. The patterns were also present on all of its fins.


    "These markings are probably the key!" After making this discovery Kain chose to pursue this direction of searching for an evolutionary form for now instead of focusing on amplifying the water-attribute.


    The markings were the most prominent on the Lumifin, slightly fainter and covered less area on the Glimmerfin, and extremely faint. And the most limited in area on the Gloomtail. Perhaps a reduction in the markings is an indication that Kain is moving further away from its next ideal form.


    He should instead be pursuing how to make the spiral pattern cover more of, if not all of, the Lumifin''s body in the subsequent evolution.


    But how can he enhance a physical feature during evolution? It''s not like enhancing a spiritual creature''s affinity for an element. What kind of materials would even be used?


    Also, what are these markings indicative of? Light-attribute strength?


    The patterns are the faintest on the Gloomtail, which also is the form with the weakest control over the light element. Its ability to manipulate light is frail and unreliable; any attempts at using the light element are characterized by dim, erratic flickers that would barely cut through the dark.


    However, the Glimmerfin, with probably the most abundant amount of light-energy available at its disposal, also saw a reduction in the size of the pattern.


    Could control be taken into account? Because although the Glimmertail has a lot of light-attribute energy, its control and ability to utilize that energy is quite low.


    Maybe an evolution that favours better control over light-attribute energy is the next evolutionary step? Maybe this is another case where improving the proficiency of a light-attribute skill is a necessary condition to successfully evolve?


    However, as Kain continued to look at the patterns, he couldn''t help but feel as though that hypothesis wasn''t quite right. He recognized this spiral pattern, although he couldn''t place it quite yet��


    But he was sure that this pattern was the key to unlocking the next evolutionary form, and his gut was telling him that enhancing the Lumifin''s elemental control was not what they were connected to��


    Zzz Zzzz


    Unfortunately, before Kain could continue down that line of reasoning, the day''s events finally caught up with him and he ended up falling asleep in place. The System promptly ejected his consciousness from the Laboratory as Kain''s snores joined the chorus of those from his peers.

 Chapter 148: Chapter 148: Unknown Nuisance

    When Kain woke up he was incredibly disoriented. Last he remembered he was examining the Lumifin in the Simulator. He also made a pretty promising discovery, which was��Which was��


    ''Damn! This is why you should always keep a lab book with you?''


    ''I think it had something to do with patterns��on the fish''s scales? Yeah that was it!''


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief at not having the progress he made yesterday go down the drain.


    ''System by any chance do you have an ability to record notes?'' Kain asked off-handedly without much hope.


    *Affirmative*


    ''I figured you didn''t��Wait! What?! Why didn''t you tell me?''


    *The Host did not ask*


    ''What other features are you keeping from me then simply because I didn''t ask?!''


    This time the System didn''t bother to answer.


    Kain made a mental note to interrogate his System once the beast tide was over. He could already hear most of the other individuals in the room getting up and preparing for battle, and so he joined them before heading out for breakfast.


    Thankfully, possible due to all of the higher-quality spiritual creatures killed yesterday, that was brought back into the city, they had enough meat to provide bacon, sausages, and other sides with their breakfast.


    Unfortunately, on the first day of the best tide with mostly white and red-grade spiritual creatures, few people could be bothered to enter the hoard to retrieve their corpses and they had to go meatless.


    Kain could immediately feel his spiritual power becoming more active and guessed that the meat served was at least from an orange-grade spiritual creature.


    ''Back on Earth they said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day��and I couldn''t agree with that statement more right now'' Kain thought, as he stuffed his face with the welcome change from porridges and soups.


    They headed back to their places atop the castle wall, but Kain could immediately feel a huge difference when compared to yesterday. A pressure from a large amount of spiritual creatures more powerful than him.


    It looks like the majority of the remaining red-grade spiritual creatures were killed by the night-shift guards. Now the most commonly seen creatures were at orange-grade, followed by yellow-grade. Kain could also occasionally see green-grade spiritual creatures at a much more common frequency than previously.


    One such creature, that Kain could see in the distance was a Glacial Leviathan, likely the same one that had killed 4 of his classmates previously.


    "Due to the higher level of spiritual creatures today, first years will move in groups" Ezra began.


    "Kain, Soren, and Kairos will be one group. Serena and Ranya another. Oliver and Jade, you two will be responsible for protecting each group of boys and girls respectively, in the event that they encounter a spiritual creature that they can''t handle."


    Kain figured that he meant green-grade, since if a group of them can''t take down a yellow-grade spiritual creature then they have no place representing the school in the future.


    Soren didn''t look pleased with the assignments, likely preferring to partner up with Serena rather than Kain and Kairos, but he smartly didn''t vocalize his objections.


    The three still hunted orange-grade spiritual creatures independently and, when possible, Kain had the Vespirae guards try to carry the corpses killed back into the hospital. However, when one of his Vespirae was trying to bring back its harvest, a large hole appeared in its back, and tore off its wings.


    With an ear-piercing shriek, it sank into the excited hoard of beasts below and was quickly torn into shreds.


    "Damn! It''s that same attacker from yesterday!" Kairos called out. It had been quiet after that initial attack yesterday and there were no reports of it attacking again during the night, they''d all thought it''d either been killed silently or was no longer in the vicinity.


    However, they were clearly very wrong and it had a degree of patience much higher than the average spiritual creature to wait so long until they all lowered their vigilance before launching another attack.


    "Serena!" Ranya called out nervously, "Can you sense its location right now?"


    "It''s currently around 9 miles Southeast of here, but that doesn''t mean much since it can appear right before us in an instant," Serena replied calmly.


    Normally, in a group Kain wouldn''t feel threatened by a yellow-grade spiritual creature. Maybe if he were alone most yellow-grade spiritual creatures would be a threat to him, but he''d successfully managed to kill several with a partner. So deep down most of his caution when facing creatures two levels higher than Bea, and one level higher than the Vespirae, had diminished.


    However, this was the first yellow-grade spiritual creature that really made him feel the gap in abilities. When it approached and launched an attack, neither Kain nor the Vespirae could even detect it before the attack occurred, much less counterattack.


    Kain had only felt this helpless since entering college when facing the Glacial Leviathan. Although the pressure from the Leviathan was definitely leagues above this unknown creature.


    Kain looked at his partners, since it was still at yellow-grade, neither Oliver nor Jade would step in to help.


    "Any ideas on how to get rid of it?" Kain asked. After all, while this thing was lurking around it''d be hard to focus on their own battles. They''d always have to withhold a portion of their attention to guard against an ambush, which would be like having to fight with shackles on.


    "I''m not sure how helpful this is," Kairos began. "But I noticed that it tended to launch an attack right when its target was finishing up with a battle and their guard is lower because they''d just successfully killed the enemy in front of them. It was like that for you just now, and it was like that yesterday for Alexei''s contract and the targeted guards'' contracts.


    Maybe we can use this to lure it out?"


    BAM!


    "Arrgghhhhhhh!!!!!"


    The contract of another guard was instantly killed by the unknown spiritual creature, and the cost of the backlash was immediately heard throughout the city walls.


    "We NEED to get rid of this damn thing!" Kairos said in irritation. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thankfully, this time Serena had been focused on the spiritual creature the entire time. Although it moved too fast to provide a warning in time, she did make a useful discovery.

 Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Unknown Nuisance (2)

    "Its distance from the wall increased by a little more than a meter before it appeared next to that guard''s contract. I think before it ''jumps'' next to its target it needs to make a short running start. If so, I can try to give a warning in time before it appears. But I won''t be able to predict where exactly it''ll be moving to." Serena said.That was promising. Even if they couldn''t know for sure that it was appearing next to them, it was helpful to know when it''d be appearing on the battlefield again even if they weren''t the immediate target.


    "If it realizes that we can sense when it''d appear, it may run away again and harass the guards at the night shift. Or worse, move to another area of the wall where some of the weaker first-years are," Ranya said.


    ''Like moving to where Bridge is�� we need to take care of this thing now so its threat isn''t constantly hanging over our heads!''


    "Yes. We need to make a plan that can kill it immediately for sure without any risk of it running away again��" Kain said.


    "To do that," Kain continued, "we''re going to need someone''s contract to act as bait." Seeing the screwed-up faces of resistance Kairos, Soren, and Ranya were making, Kain immediately volunteered. "Which will be me, obviously. I am the only one that has contracts that they can afford to lose without damage to their soul."


    He had 11 Vespirae Guards remaining after losing 2, and another 3 were set to hatch any day now to replenish their ranks. Therefore, losing one more, while unfortunate, would hardly cripple his strength.


    "However, we need to make sure that it dies during the first attack. We can''t risk it running away. Does anyone have any foolproof methods to ensure it can''t run away?" Kain looked at each of them but received now response. However, he seriously doubted that it was because all of the other members of the top 5 had no such trump cards.


    Especially Soren with his royal background, and Kairos who has several more filled out pages in his cursed book that he hadn''t revealed the purpose of yet.


    Likely they were withholding their cards to not give too much away during the re-ranking.


    ''Seriously?! I am willing to send one of my contracts as bait and they can''t even be a little helpful? Bastards.''


    "Sigh. I have a one-time use talisman that can rebound a fatal attack at the perpetrator" Serena thankfully broke the silence. "However, if it doesn''t immediately die, we all need to be prepared to attack it immediately."


    Everyone else nodded.


    "I know that you all have your reservations about showcasing your full strength for your future competitors to see, but I hope that you will take the direness of our current situation into account and not hold back. Or at least not hold back too much. Especially since it may take more lives if we can''t kill this thing now," Kain said.


    Kain took the talisman, and stuck it in a hidden area underneath one of the guard''s abdomen.


    Kain then sent that guard at a further distance from the wall than usual to hunt orange-grade spiritual creatures.


    "Don''t let it sense that anything is wrong. Continue your attacks." Kain said while looking at the others who, all except Serena, had halted their attacks outside of the city walls.


    The tagged guard killed several more attackers while steadily moving closer and closer in the direction that Serena had indicated that the invisible attacker was located.


    "It''s going to attack!" Serena called out.


    ''Its fast!'' Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before she was even halfway through her call, an attack was already launched at Kain''s guard. Thankfully, sending it closer to its location and further from the wall made it the wild spiritual creature''s next target.


    The talisman activated and rebounded the attack. However, the ferocious attacks that had previously been strong enough to instantly kill many of the creatures on this battlefield only served to stun and slightly injure it.


    Kain''s guard, as well as Serena''s contract, were the first to have their attacks reach the stunned target.


    Then Kairos, thankfully choosing not to keep his hand, sent out a new skill from the Cursed Book that caused a chain to form around the creature and reduce its chances of running away. However, Kairos'' Cursed Book, which is also his highest-level contract, was only orange-grade similar to Kain''s Vespirae, and so the chain likely won''t hold the attacker for long.


    Once it was trapped, its appearance became more clear.


    ''It is��cute.'' Kain thought.


    It resembled a large silver-white cat with larger-than-average floppy ears. Occasionally its figure would become less clear as it tried to phase in and out of existence.


    "It''s either a space attribute or a spirit-type creature," Kain said. However, considering that Ezra did not sense any pull to it, Kain was leaning towards it being a spirit.


    By this point, Soren''s dragon and Ranya''s butterfly were also in the vicinity and together with Kain and Serena''s contracts launched attacks at the cat.


    The cat went down and Kairos used the still-wrapped chain to pull it to the wall. Kain internally noted that after wrapping the chain around the target, that the Cursed Book had no other actions. Is it unable to have more than one skill activated at the same time? Or was he still holding back?


    ''If it''s the former that''d be invaluable intel for the re-ranking��''


    Unfortunately, because Kain, Serena, Soren, and Ranya''s attacks landed around the same time, Kain couldn''t be sure if he was responsible for the kill. He didn''t receive a notification nor was it included in his mission tally. But if he didn''t land the final blow, then that is to be expected.


    Therefore, he couldn''t be sure that the cat was actually dead, or just feigning death until it could get closer to the human beast-tamers and launch a final devastating blow.


    When the body was dragged a closer distance to the wall, Kain used the mist containing Bea to infect it and see if it was alive.


    However, likely because it was an undead spirit, there was no brain to infect. And therefore, no way to confirm its death.


    ''Well that is an unfortunate limitation of Bea that I''d never considered...''


    Thankfully, Serena was instead able to confirm its death due to there no longer being a pull from her affinity.


    Once the body was on top of the walls, they threw it into the city. They''ll deal with dividing it up after their shift.

 Chapter 150: Chapter 150: Breach

    After killing the only particularly threatening yellow-grade spiritual creature, all of the remaining spiritual creatures that attacked were able to be handled either alone or within their smaller group of 3.However, as the average strength level of the attackers began to climb, the shaking of the city walls also became stronger.


    "All first and second years have your contracts retreat back to the city walls!" Ezra yelled.


    Kain was puzzled but did as directed. However, his confusion did not last for long when one of his guards, coincidently the same one that managed to survive the ambush from the yellow-grade cat-like creature, froze into an ice sculpture within milliseconds.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat as he saw the main character of his most recent nightmares, the Glacial Leviathan marching towards the city walls. Along with it were hundreds of other green-grade spiritual creatures.


    Immediately, the contracts of the third and fourth-year students, as well as most of the professors who had not been actively participating in the battle except at critical moments to save lives, intercepted them.


    Kain, nor the other students, dared to send their contracts too far out. Instead, they made sure to keep themselves and their contracts by the city walls to ward off one of the weaker spiritual creatures that squeezed through and managed to get to the walls.


    At the same time, Kain also kept an eye on his seniors, curious about the level of strength of individuals who have represented the college for years. Particularly the captain.


    Kain already knew that the captain had a space-attribute affinity and creatures that fit that criteria are extremely rare. Therefore, he was curious about the abilities of Ezra''s contracts, even if he couldn''t identify them.


    He revealed 5 contracts, although he had apparently broken through to 6-stars over the summer break. Whether he hadn''t yet found a suitable contract or it wasn''t yet strong enough to make a difference in the current level of battle, he had never revealed a sixth contract.


    For the majority of the beast tide, he''d been using three of his contracts. The first one Kain could identify. It was a blue-grade Void Lynx, and apparently the captain''s first-ever contract��although it was initially an Ethereal Lynx and had evolved. The Void Lynx isn''t the most powerful in terms of frontal combat ability, but its support abilities are among the best at its level.


    It is extremely skillful in its ability to manipulate space allowing it to teleport, hide within the void, and transport attacks so that a ball of fire several meters away from the target will appear right before the target in the next second. And those were the only abilities Kain was able to observe after glancing at it over the past few days.


    The second contract, Kain did not know the name of but it was a green-grade snake with scales that shimmered and warped as it moved. Its fangs appear to be able to render space apart, making any defence before it useless. Additionally, it seems to be able to freely adjust its size to ensnare creatures of varying sizes.


    The third contract, also green-grade appeared to be a small dragon, a drake. Kain saw it tear apart holes into the space to cause an almost black hole effect that sucked in much weaker spiritual creatures. And similar to the fangs of the second contract, its claws also seem to ignore all defensive measures.


    Now Kain was getting to see the remaining two contracts for the face of their school.


    One had a semi-transparent appearance and was humanoid in shape. Its body was a deep, cosmic blue that shimmered like the night sky. Its eyes were a mesmerizing mixture of silver and azure that seemed to draw in anyone who dared to stare for too long.


    The air surrounding it seemed to pulsate, therefore Kain guessed that it also had the ability to teleport and/or shift space. Kain wasn''t 100% sure about its identity, but he guessed that it was some kind of Djinn, a rare type of spiritual creature that resembles the stories about genies back on Earth, although they don''t grant wishes.


    Based on the pressure it gave off, Kain guessed that it was at blue-grade, although it hadn''t yet made a move for him to see the colour of its spiritual power.


    The final contract revealed also was likely at blue-grade. It had an incredibly fearsome appearance and its head looked like the combination of a tiger and dragon. Its face had large bulging eyes, and a gaping mouth filled with large fangs and tusks. The rest of its body was muscular and covered in a thick fur, while its powerful legs ended with incredibly large claws.


    It had a long, serpentine-like tail tipped with a sharp spike. Kain had never seen anything that resembled it in a textbook here, nor could he think of any mythical stories back on Earth that described a creature like this.


    However, once it took action, Kain had a guess about what it was when all of the weaker spiritual creatures surrounding it appeared to be picked up by an invisible force, shrunk, and then swallowed in one bite.


    ''A taotie?!''


    As the unending waves of green-grade spiritual creatures continued without end, many blue-grade spiritual creatures were also beginning to appear. The professors, who hadn''t taken much action until now except at critical moments to save lives, also stepped in.


    Suddenly, a roar that shook the very ground around them signalled the arrival of an indigo-grade spiritual creature. Kain''s heart sank as he saw it��a massive, shadowy entity with eyes that glowed like molten lava. It exuded an aura of palpable menace, its very presence causing the defenders to falter. sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The pressure from its mere presence on the battlefield almost caused Kain and the rest of the first-years to collapse to their knees.


    "H-hey Oliver!" Kairos called out to the one responsible for their group. "Do you recall creatures at this level appearing in the beast-tide you were in previously? I thought the max attacker was supposed to be at blue-grade!"


    Oliver''s eyebrows were also bunched together in confusion, the current events completely went against how things were historically. What happened to the unspoken understanding between man and beast that the purpose of the beast-tide was just to cull their numbers, not actually break in?!


    Before Oliver could open his mouth to reply a sudden explosion rocked the city. The blast was so violent that it knocked Kain off his feet, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The shockwave sent debris flying, and a cloud of dust and smoke enveloped the area.


    "What the hell was that?!" Soren shouted, struggling to get back up.


    Kain barely managed to regain his footing when he heard a panicked shout from a nearby guard. "The southern gate! It''s been breached!"

 Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Breach (2)

    The gravity of the situation hit Kain like a sledgehammer. The southern gate, one of the city''s weaker points, was now breached. The gate was quite a distance away from main gate and not as heavily reinforced since it wasn''t even easy to access from the forest and so always had less attackers. And yet it had fallen.The translucent barrier that had kept aerial attacks at bay was gone. The city''s defences were failing.


    Before Kain could fully process this new development, a professor burst into their midst, his face pale and breathless.


    "The sigils at the southern gate have been destroyed! A violet-grade spiritual creature and three indigo-grade beasts tore through it. The Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Deans of the beast-taming department are heading there now to handle the situation."


    "We need to hold this line while the higher-ups deal with the breach over there," Ezra commanded, his voice steady despite the turmoil around him.


    Kain''s heart pounded in his chest, but he forced himself to focus on the immediate threat. The city''s fate depended on their ability to keep the remaining spiritual creatures at bay.


    The battlefield seemed to shift as the breach at the southern gate created a ripple effect. The green-grade and blue-grade creatures grew more aggressive, sensing the shift in the city''s defenses. Their attacks became more frantic and powerful, pushing the defenders back and causing the city walls to shake more frequently.


    "Now that the wards are momentarily gone, focus on preventing any and all aerial attacks into the city. If even one yellow-grade spiritual creature manages to fly into the civilian areas it will wreak havoc." Yelled one of the guard captains.


    Thankfully, all of them have contracts with the ability to attack spiritual creatures in the air.


    Kain''s remaining 11 guards would gang up to bring down a yellow-grade spiritual creature while being supported by Bea.


    Soren''s dragon alone was able to contend with most yellow-grade spiritual creatures despite being a grade lower.


    Kairos'' Cursed Book and Doll, and Ranya''s Mirage Butterfly were more focused on impeding the movements and abilities of those trying to fly into the city, while Kain''s Vespirae Guards, Soren''s Dragon, and Serena''s contract dealt the finishing blows. Together, they managed to prevent any invasions from occurring through their area of the wall.


    Meanwhile, the professors, higher-level guards, and senior students at the main gate were engaged in a desperate battle to hold their ground. Kain could see flashes of powerful skills and the clash of high-level spiritual creatures from afar. The intensity of the conflict was staggering.


    Most of the professors were at 6-stars, so they weren''t in any immediate danger. However, fighting against so many creatures at a similar level was exhausting. The situation was not looking optimistic.


    Ezra''s voice cut through the turmoil, "We must not falter. The safety of the city and its inhabitants rests on our shoulders. If we can hold the line, the higher-ups will manage the breach."


    Despite the captain''s unwavering determination, Kain could see the strain on his face. Ezra''s contracts were pushing back the green-grade and blue-grade creatures, but the pressure was immense. The sheer number of attackers was overwhelming, and every minute stretched on for what felt like an eternity.


    Kain''s thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shift in the battlefield. A new wave of blue-grade spiritual creatures emerged from the distance, their presence causing a collective gasp among the defenders. Within their ranks, Kain could also see a massive beast that towered over the rest, it resembled a ginormous turtle with what appeared to be a volcano on its back. Likely another indigo-grade.


    An ominous air began to spread, the sheer number of high-grade attackers was unprecedented, and it was clear that the city''s defences were stretched thin.


    Professor Night, one of the only remaining 7-star beast-tamers remaining there after the breach in the south, moved to intercept the new arrival since the only other remaining 7-star beast-tamer, a Commander of the city guards, was dealing with the other one.


    However, in doing so, the vast area of the wall that she''d been guarding against a breach was vacated. Kain and the others were now stretched even more thin trying to compensate for her absence.


    With the sudden absence of a critical line of defense, Kain felt the pressure of the situation intensify.


    The defenders had to adapt quickly to the changing circumstances. The flying spiritual creatures, sensing the gap in the city''s defenses, surged forward with renewed vigour. S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite all of their efforts, the gap left by Professor Night was proving difficult to close, and many of the younger defenders'' resolve began to shake.


    To make matters worse the indigo-grade spiritual creature targeted by Professor Night let out a deafening roar, causing the ground to tremble. The defenders nearby were thrown off balance, and the sheer force of the beast''s presence seemed to sap the rest of their morale.


    Seeing that the mental state of some of the younger guards wasn''t optimistic, Kain summoned Queen, who he up until that point had kept in the space for her safety.


    "Use Noble Breeze and direct it to them." Kain said pointing towards the guards. Noble breeze has a soothing effect on the mind, can restore mental strength in allies and heal minor mental ailments. Kain hoped that it''d be effective on the guards'' current state.


    Thankfully it did seem to have a beneficial effect, but just to be sure, Kain still shouted, "You are all residents of Dark Moon. Most of you grew up in this city. Behind you aren''t just random strangers, but your parents, partners, children, and neighbours. If you falter now be prepared to lose everything!"


    While not the most comforting of speeches he wanted to impress upon them the importance of maintaining the defensive line here.


    As long as they could hold the line and keep the invaders at bay, there was still hope that there would be minimal civilian casualties until the defensive wards are back up. Faltering here is not an option.

 Chapter 152: Chapter 152: The Puppet-Master

    Objectively, the chances of Dark Moon City actually falling are abysmal. At least as long as the Chancellor was here. As of yet, the highest-level attacking creature confirmed was the violet-grade one responsible for the breach at the southern gate, which is comparable to an 8-star beast-tamer. In contrast, the Chancellor is one of the few 9-star beast tamers in the empire.However, the wards were damaged, and the Chancellor couldn''t be everywhere at once while reinstating them. Therefore, the amount of damage that could be done to the city in the meantime while the city was vulnerable was great.


    ''But what is the point of all of this? They know they have no chance of winning!'' Kain thought in frustration.


    He had been suffering from intense anxiety ever since the wards fell, much of which was due to not being able to see Bridge and the others. Bridge was out there somewhere, and the possibility of him being dead or severely injured gnawed at Kain''s sanity. The helplessness of not being able to assist, to even confirm his brother and best friend''s status, was unbearable.


    Kain had to use all of his restraint to calm himself down and not send one of his Vespirae Guards to go look for Bridge, or to go look for him himself. Of course, if he did so he''d likely be severely punished as a deserter.


    Not to mention that their group was already stretched so thin to maintain the defense now, if he sent away one of the Vespirae and a spiritual creature managed to break through to harm the ordinary civilians he''d rightfully be treated as a criminal. Kain also didn''t think he''d be able to forgive himself if civilian casualties were to occur due to his actions.


    He needed to have faith in Bridge.


    However, it seemed that Kain wasn''t the only one who anxiously wanted to check on their loved ones.


    "Remember why we fight!" Ezra''s voice cut through the noise of the battlefield. "Each and every one of you has the strength to make a difference. Do not let fear control you! Stand firm!"


    Kain could see the strain on Ezra''s face. The captain''s contracts were engaged in a fierce battle against the beast tide.


    The Void Lynx moved erratically through the battlefield using teleportation, it created portals that redirected attacks and allowed endangered allies to move to a safer location.


    The green-grade snake coiled and struck with ruthless efficiency, each attack causing another green-grade creature to fall.


    The drake created waved its claws in the air to cause small-scale black holes that sucked in many of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures in the vicinity.


    The Djinn''s presence alone seemed to inspire awe and fear as it simply seemed to cause the bodies of its foes to break apart with a wave of its hand, and the taotie continued to devour its foes as though it''d been starved for months.


    Yet, even with their extraordinary abilities, Ezra and his team were being pushed back. The many green and blue-grade spiritual creatures were relentless, their overwhelming numbers forcing the defenders to fight with everything they had just to keep from being overwhelmed.


    Not only them, but everyone on the battlefield was probably feeling overwhelmed.


    As if the situation wasn''t bad enough, a new threat began to approach Kain and the others. The third and fourth years were overwhelmed and unable to offer support, it would be up to the first and second years to stop its advancement.


    The green-grade spiritual creature was a spider. Its body was enormous, with legs that spanned dozens of meters each, and its entire body was covered in a sleek, silver-blue exoskeleton. Its abdomen was large and slightly translucent and its many red eyes glowed sinisterly.


    From it abdomen extended hundreds of fine shimmering threads that had a faint flow. Each of the threads were long enough to extend dozens, if not hundreds, of meters, and soon all of the wild spiritual creatures attacking the city were connected to a thread. Once touched by the thread their eyes all turned completely white and stared blankly forward.


    The sight of the spider''s controlled puppets, their eyes glowing white, was enough to send shivers down the spines of even the most experienced guards. The mental control was not just a physical threat but an emotional and psychological one, creating an atmosphere of fear and helplessness that spread across the battlefield.


    All of their actions also became incredibly coordinated as though instructed a skilled general. Their threat level also increased severalfold. Kain and the others were already in a precarious position when the beasts were attacking separately, now that they were working as a team, holding the defensive line was much more difficult.


    Seeing that the source of this coordination was the threads ejected by the spider, Kain and the launched attacks and weapons to try to cut them. However, all of their attacks went straight through them as though the threads didn''t even exist.


    Kain sent Bea towards one of the controlled orange-grade spiritual creatures and managed to conclude that the threads were composed of mental-attribute energy. Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was a little jealous. The number of people the spider could control was lower than Bea once she had enough time to produce many splits, but the mobility and flexibility provided by these threads were incomparable to Bea relied on mist to be able to move around and infect others.


    As the spider approached the wall, some of its threads even managed to make contact with the defenders, turning them against their comrades.


    The defenders futilely tried all manner of methods to cut the threads or to awaken their controlled comrades but to no avail.


    The situation had become even more precarious as the defenders not only had to fight against external attacks but also attacks from their allies within the city. The defence was crumbling under the dual onslaught of both internal and external enemies.


    A drastic change would need to be made, otherwise the defensive line won''t be able to last until the wards were back up.

 Chapter 153: Chapter 153: The Puppet-Master (2)

    ''We need to support the second years.'' Unlike the first years whose contracts usually range in strength from red-grade to orange-grade, second years'' contracts are usually between orange and yellow grade.Although it''s still a challenge for them to take on the approaching green-grade spiritual creature, it is a lot safer than sending out the first-years to intercept it.


    "Jin! If we take care of most of its puppets, do you think that you and the other second years can kill the green-grade spider?"


    Jin immediately nodded without hesitation. None of the top 5 students of each year should have much trouble contending against spiritual creatures one level higher than themselves. And while the gap in strength between levels increases with each step, working together as a group they should be able to take it down.


    The most annoying part of fighting this spider would have been fighting against its hundreds of controlled spiritual creatures moving in sync. Since Kain and the other first-years promised to take care of the puppets so they would not interfere in their battle, he was even more sure that they could achieve success.


    After all, this wouldn''t be the first green-grade spiritual creature the top 5 second-years had hunted down together as a group.


    Every time it was challenging and there were injuries, but never any casualties.


    Jin called together the other top 5 students of his year including Alexei, who looked even more pale than usual due to his injured contract, and 3 girls that Kain hadn''t yet been introduced to. One of the girls only paled slightly in beauty compared to Serena and sported pink hair and eyes. Another had black hair and tan skin, with eyes that were deep, hypnotic violet.


    The last had a valiant atmosphere and long wildly curly hair that was a fiery blend of gold and red and framed piercing golden eyes.


    They huddled together briefly, likely to come up with a game plan, but they didn''t need long considering their familiarity with each other''s abilities.


    At the same time, Kain and the other first-years began to attack the "puppets."


    "Focus on damaging the brain. If you damage other body parts they will still be controlled to move by the spider. Destroying the brain is what will keep them down for good." Kain shared his knowledge of the mental-attribute that he''d collected over time working with Bea.


    The spider was of mental attribute, not controlling the undead, therefore destroying their minds was what they needed to do to defeat them, targeting other body parts was a waste of time.


    However, for the controlled guards, the best they could do was tie them up for now.


    Thankfully, even though the beast-tamers were controlled, their contracts weren''t.


    While some of their contracts mindlessly followed their beast-tamer''s directions to betray the humans, some of the smarter ones realized that their beast-tamer was being controlled and continued to help the humans to maintain order or even took the initiative to tie up their contractors so that they would not do something that they''d regret later once they were of sound mind.


    Following Kain''s instructions they all went about taking care of the puppets. Kain used Bea to restrict the strength of the orange and yellow-grade spiritual creatures.


    Unfortunately, she was unable to just kill them directly, but since she was at the threshold to break through to orange-grade, and could do so as soon as she evolves, she still exerted a strong control effect over orange-grade spiritual creatures.


    Many of the weaker ones immediately collapsed while convulsing, while the stronger ones, and many of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures, appeared drunkenly unsteady on their feet.


    With their fighting strength reduced. Kain''s remaining Vespirae guards were easily able to dispatch all of the orange-grade spiritual creatures and ganged up on the remaining yellow-grade ones to hammer them to death alongside the others who saw the weakened yellow-grade spiritual creatures once Kain. Retracted the mist.


    At the same time the first years were following the pattern of a mist covering a large area to infect the attackers and then retracting the mist to blast the weakened foes to death, the second years'' contracts had approached the most powerful target, the "puppet master" spider.


    Alexei''s main fighting force and strongest contract, the yellow-grade blood-red spider was still recovering from its severe injuries and so did not join in. Since orange-grade spiritual creatures would usually be useless against an enemy at this level, Alexei only had one more contract that he could use, his second strongest contract, a yellow-grade white albino snake with blood-red eyes.


    Suddenly through Kain''s connection with Bea, Kain could sense that many of the infected puppets closer to the white snake suddenly had their blood boiling. And then��


    BAM!


    All of the controlled spiritual creatures in the snake''s immediate vicinity exploded and rained down scorching hot blood. Hot blood that Kain could see was being absorbed by the snake through its scales. Kain could see it wiggling in pleasure at the hot bloody bath.


    The blood-boiling effect also seemed to exert a slight effect on the green-grade spider who was now staring daggers at the snake while its legs were shaking slightly in discomfort.


    Meanwhile, Jin also sent his two yellow-grade contracts to circle around its sides and launch attacks at the spider who was distracted.


    One contract was a fire-attribute tiger larger with a robust and muscular body, and a blazing orange coat with stripes that seemed to flicker like flames as it moved. It had piercing eyes that were a bright yellow at the edges that darkened to a crimson red closer to the black pupil.


    Its sharp black claws also left scorching marks on the earth wherever it moved showing that just a casual swipe from it would have a devastating burning effect. S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other wind-attribute tiger was more slim and graceful in its movements. Its fur was a soft, silvery-blue that shifted in hue as it caught the light, creating the illusion of constant movement. Its stripes were more delicate and wispy, like gusts of wind that blended seamlessly with the coat. Its clear, sky-blue eyes also appeared to have a high amount of intelligence as it studied its target.


    In practiced unison, both tigers struck at the same time, targeting one of the spider''s back legs to hinder its movements.


    The colossal spider then sank down with an enraged screech before sending even more threads out, the majority now targeting the second years and their contracts.

 Chapter 154: Chapter 154: The Puppet-Master (3)

    The pink haired senior suddenly emitted a soft pink glow, becoming the sole focus of every living creature in the vicinity. Any slight gap in appearance between her and Serena had been completely erased as she became the most charming figure on the field.If Kain didn''t have an armor that dulled the effects of mental-attribute attacks on himself he''d probably be completely enamored by her and, like Kairos, abandon his post to move closer.


    Kain quickly grabbed him and smacked the back of his head hoping to wake him up. Thankfully, the hold didn''t appear to be too strong when not the intended target of the skill and after blinking a few times Kairos'' eyes snapped back into focus. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He rejoined their siege of the spiritual creatures who were now no longer targeting them but moving towards the pink-haired girl in the distance, making them much easier to kill. However, every so often Kairos would still turn his head to secretly glance at the pink-haired second-year and then blush a deep red.


    Thankfully, the others didn''t seem to be greatly affected by the skill used.


    Along with the puppets, the threads that were previously spread out trying to target everyone suddenly shifted to target only her.


    ''What is this? Some kind of agro skill or gift? Or based on Kairos'' reaction is it more directed at charming others?''


    The red-headed female second year tried to obstruct the threads, but again, all attacks seemed to go through them and all shields were ignored by them.


    Thankfully, the senior with hypnotic purple eyes released a flimsy looking purple shield that was surprisingly effective at restricting the threads. However, due to the gap in strength, the shield likely won''t hold for long.


    Kairos'', likely still under some emotional effects from the skill, passionately ordered his contract to use a skill from a page Kain had not yet seen before that slightly helped to reinforce the shield created by their senior. However, it is unlikely that it''d last long due to the gap in strength between the two sides.


    While the spider appeared to only have eyes for the pink-haired senior. Jin, Alexei, and the red-headed second-year had their contracts continue to launch coordinated attacks on the enemy.


    The red-headed senior''s contracts were both fire-attribute avian creatures. One resembled the Vermillion Bird of legends. It took to the sky appearing like a second sun as it soared above the spider. With a commanding cry, it released a series of fireballs that rained down the spider''s back.


    Each fireball exploded with a burst of heat that scorched the spider''s exoskeleton and caused it to writhe and screech in pain. The lingering heat was so strong in its intensity that any wild spiritual creatures close to the spider went up in flames despite not being in the firebalss'' direct path.


    Her second contract, a Fire Crow with 3 legs and likely has a strong bloodline from the legendary bird, darted around swiftly. Its fiery crimson feathers were a blue as it flew and left blazing trails of energy behind it.


    With each dive, it unleased strikes that Kain could feel the power behind even from a distance, and targeted the spider''s remaining vulnerable leg joints to cause the spider to be unable to stand again.


    Meanwhile, Jin''s two tigers were now targeting the more vulnerable underbelly of the spider. The orange-tiger left scorching claw marks that continued to sizzle long after it had already darted far away from the collapsing spider.


    The wind-attribute tiger, in contrast, was focusing on targeting the joints damaged by the crow. With each swift attack it made a sickening crack could be heard. Each attack was also accompanied by a powerful gust of wind that further served to destabilize the spider. Without an incredibly powerful healer, that spider will never be able to stand again.


    Alexei''s snake further exacerbated the damage caused by its allies when the blood seeping from the spider''s wounds began to boil more strongly once exposed to the air and had an almost corrosive effect on the spider''s exoskeleton and nearby puppets as it slid down and splashed out of the wounds.


    And more incredibly, despite the immense amount of damage they were inflicting, the spider still seemed unable to focus on them, to preoccupied with trying to get its threads to control the pink-haired, glowing second-year.


    Kain didn''t know if she was immovable during the use of this gift, but it was undeniably a powerful strategic weapon when used properly. The target of the draw, even when at least a full level higher than her, was completely unable to break away from being under her spell.


    Thankfully, it was unable to get to her due to one of the second years, the girl with purple eyes, staying constantly by her side while responsible for her defence.


    Kain could see from this that the top 5 second years probably had a lot of experience fighting alongside one another and the trust they''d built up as a team was huge as a result.


    ''Would we ever reach such a level of mutual trust and understanding? There are team battles in the National Competition, so naturally, it''d be beneficial. But we are all so wary of one another currently it''s hard to imagine ever becoming like them.''


    As the battle raged on, the combined efforts of all of the second-years proved fruitful. Especially, since Kain and the other first-years were most able to fulfill their promise of preventing the other weaker spiritual creatures from interfering with their battle. Therefore, they were able to single-mindedly focus on their target.


    The spider''s form eventually began to shake, the coordinated assault taking its toll, and its movements became increasingly sluggish and erratic.


    Finally, with a heavy thud, the spider collapsed to the ground. However, the second-years did not relieve their onslaught and continued to bash the fallen body to confirm its death.


    Kain also covered its head in mist to confirm its death, which also had the added benefit of providing a quick luxurious meal for her. After all, it''s not every day that she had access to a fresh green-grade spiritual creature for food.


    They had won.

 Chapter 155: Chapter 155: “Field Evacuation Specialist”

    "Ahhh!""Help me please!"


    ''Oh god! What is it now?!'' Kain didn''t mean to sound insensitive, but this entire day had consisted of crisis, after crisis, after crisis. He was emotionally drained. All the joy from receiving a large influx of GP each day had completely faded. The sun was still high up in the sky and he felt like he was going to collapse at any moment.


    However, he quickly snapped out of it when it clicked that some of those screams sounded surprising young��childlike.


    "Shit!" He yelled turning to face into the city. He could see some of the guards abandoning their posts to run to the core of the city. But he couldn''t blame them.


    During havoc caused by the green-grade spider taking over some of the guards, a many spiritual creatures had managed to sneak past the holes in their defence and were now attacking the regular civilians. sea??h th�� N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain could see some plumes of smoke rising up from a nearby residential area and the occasional explosion followed by screams.


    Kain sent 5 of his Vespirae guards, into the city with instructions to hunt as many of the invading spiritual creatures as possible, with extra priority being placed on the residential areas.


    However, after many of the guards had been taken out of commission due to injuries, and some had abandoned their posts to protect the civilians, the defence at the wall was now stretched even more thin. Especially since, like Kain, many other guards and students remaining at the wall had still sent one of their contracts into the city to defend the civilians.


    ''God! When will this day end?!''


    ---------------------------------


    Contrary to Kain''s worries, Bridge''s assigned post was quite far away from danger. He had been given the important task of acting as a "Field Evacuation Specialist"��which is an important sounding title he had made up for himself since he was upset at not being placed in a position to actually battle the beast-tide.


    Instead, the professors had deemed him more suitable for the role of a paramedic. Lady is one of the fastest contracts that can also support a larger human body as well as many spiritual creatures so that they can receive timely care.


    Additionally, Bridge had never skipped out on training either of his contracts and had received praise from several professors and training instructors for his diligence. This diligence has led to Princess having some of the most fine control over her ice-attribute energy.


    Therefore, over the past few days Princess has become more and more skilled at stopping bleeding using her ice-control to prevent excess bleeding for patients that can''t receive medical attention right away.


    In short, Bridge was never in any real danger over the past few days.


    That is until now.


    Currently, Lady was speeding towards him with an unconscious spiritual creature on its back that looked like a yellow lynx.


    And close behind them was a flying spiritual creature that looked like a hawk. At first, Bridge was thinking that it was a contracted spiritual creature of one of the guards. Perhaps it shares the same beast-tamer as the lynx and wanted to ensure it arrived safely to receive medical attention? Or maybe it was carrying an urgent message from the frontline?


    That''s what he thought until Lady narrowly dodged a lightning bolt sent from it while ensuring that the lynx remained balanced on her back.


    Bridge''s eyes widened. "What the hell?" He shouted as Lady swerved and ducked again, narrowly avoiding another bolt of lightning. He was assigned to the medical center in the northern edge of the city. It was the gate that had the second most casualties after the main gate, but it was the furthest distance from where the breach was at the southern gate.


    It was unlikely that it had managed to arrive from the southern gate already. Therefore it is more likely that like the breach at the southern gate and the main gate to the wild in the east, which Bridge didn''t currently know about, the northern gate was also experiencing some spiritual creatures breaking through the guards'' defense.


    Without hesitation, Bridge leaped into action. He directed Lady to a nearby alleyway to momentarily shield them from the hawk''s attacks. "We need to get this Lynx to safety, now!" Bridge ordered as he quickly assessed the unconscious creature. It had no visible wounds or bleeding on it, so he couldn''t determine the reason for its current unconscious state. It could be poisoning or even a concussion?


    "Lady, keep moving!"


    He directed Princess to target the joint of one of the hawk''s wings. Thankfully it was only at orange-grade and due to Princess only targeting a key joint in a small area, rather than trying to freeze the entire wing, she was able to successfully send it crashing to the ground despite the level difference between them.


    Bridge was on the ground waiting to send a heavy blow to its head with his heavy two-handed sword.


    Splat


    After shaking off the gruesome mixture of blood and brains on his sword, he chased after Lady in the direction she''d headed off to in order to deliver the lynx to an actual medical professional.


    Bridge and Princess eventually arrived at a medical tent located at a safer distance from the chaos and was well-stocked with medical supplies. Shockingly, outside of the tent were 3 dead corpses that were not there when he''d left.


    Thankfully, Bridge could see that the lynx had already been safely transported to one of the available beds.


    Just then, the medical tent''s head healer, an elderly woman with a calm demeanour, approached. "We''ll take over from here," she said firmly. "There have been more reports of wild spiritual creatures being seen in the city. You and your contracts need to focus on protecting this area."


    It seems that Bridge will finally realize his wish to be part of the action. Although, it wasn''t quite in the way he had imagined��

 Chapter 156: Chapter 156: The Girl Who Cried Wolf

    At the same time��12-year-old Patty''s family has run one of the largest spiritual plant farms within Dark Moon City for generations.


    They weren''t affiliated with the College and were responsible for providing the spiritual plants that the local restaurateur and bar owners used in their foods and beverages.


    She sat cross-legged on the worn wooden floor of her room, her fingers tracing the carvings she had scarred the floor with over the years. All of which looked like vague outlines of animals.


    Her room, with its simple furnishings and faded wallpaper, was decorated with posters of famous figures from the past College National Competitions and sketches of spiritual creatures next to a young girl that looked a lot like her��a gray-eyed brunette with freckles.


    Despite her room''s humble appearance, it was her sanctuary, a place where her imagination could run wild, even if reality seemed far more restrained.


    Like most civilians, she was stuck locked away at home for her own safety since the beast-tide began. The only thing she had to look at being the sprawling fields of spiritual plants that her family had tended to for generations.


    When the wards surrounding the city had initially activated it had shut down all the residents'' access to even receive radio and tv signals from elsewhere in the empire, so she really had nothing else to relieve her boredom with the past few days except for her imagination�� and wild it ran.


    Despite being from a long line of farmers, Patty knew from a young age that she wanted to become a powerful beast-tamer.


    However, given that beast-tamer affinities are usually hereditary and her family mostly consists of ordinary people, and the odd time someone in her family did awaken an affinity it didn''t change their trajectory in life much since they were usually of D-rank or lower, Patty''s dreams of becoming a powerful beast-tamer that competed at the College National Competition felt as distant as the stars.


    Her parents, practical and rooted in reality, had made it clear from an early age that their family''s legacy lay in cultivating spiritual plants, not in the wild pursuits of beast-taming. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Therefore, the closest Patty could ever come to her dreams, were the stories she''d make up. Stories starring her going on grand adventures alongside powerful spiritual beast companions. However, she''d tell these stories to others as though they had actually happened.


    Put nicely, she was a genius storyteller, or at least that''s how she always referred to herself. Put not so nicely, she was a liar, which is how most of those around her referred to her as.


    Therefore, with her fantasies highly discouraged by her family, Patty had taken to putting her stories in drawings and text, rather than sharing them with those around her as much recently.


    Locked away in her room, Patty felt a sense of growing restlessness. The confinement was starting to wear on her nerves. She would often sit by the window, watching the fields and letting her imagination run wild. But today, as she gazed out at the familiar expanse, she noticed something alarming.


    A portion of the field seemed to be...disappearing. It was a small patch at first, but as she squinted, the area seemed to expand, swallowing all the plants in its vicinity.


    Her heart raced. Patty rubbed her eyes, thinking it must be a trick of the light or perhaps the result of too much time spent indoors. But no matter how many times she blinked, the empty space remained, growing larger each second.


    "Mom?" Patty called hesitantly, her voice tinged with anxiety. When there was no immediate response, she got up and made her way downstairs, her mind racing with confusion and fear. She found her parents in the kitchen, where the comforting aroma of hearty, homecooked food did little to ease her nerves.


    "Mom! Something strange is happening outside!" Patty''s voice was urgent, but her mom''s expression was one of immediate skepticism.


    Her mom, a no-nonsense woman in her mid-forties, had a steadfast demeanour suited for their line of work. Her brown hair, tied back in a practical bun, was streaked with gray, a testament to the hard years spent under the sun and amid the dirt of the fields. Her eyes, a steely gray, could pierce through any bullshit, and her voice had a commanding quality that left little room for argument.


    "What are you going on about now, Patty?" Her mom asked, her voice edged with impatience. "Another one of your stories?"


    "This isn''t a story!" Patty insisted, her eyes wide. "I saw it with my own eyes. The plants��they''re disappearing! There''s a gap in the field that keeps getting bigger."


    Her mom''s eyes narrowed. "How would anyone even get into the field during a beast-tide? We have wards in place, and there''s no way anything can get past them. Besides, we''re in the westernmost part of the city, far from the areas at the greatest risk of a breach."


    Patty''s shoulders sagged at her mother''s words and the fact that she wasn''t believed. However, it was hard to argue with her mother''s reasoning.


    The wards surrounding the field would immediately alert them if something entered the fields. It''d need to be a spiritual creature at yellow-grade or higher to get through undetected. And why would a creature at that level visit their farm? While they grew spiritual plants, most of them were orange-grade and lower, nothing rare or strong enough to draw it in.


    Perhaps it was just her mind playing tricks on her due to boredom. Exhausted and disheartened, Patty nodded and turned away, heading back to her room.


    The quiet of her room was a stark contrast to the turmoil she felt inside. She lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts a tangled mess. Had she really seen what she thought she had? Or was it simply a figment of her over-active imagination born from too much time alone?


    Patty''s eyelids grew heavy as fatigue set in. She''d had to receive a tongue lashing from her mother for over an hour for daring to spin more "lies." She could really use a nap.


    She closed her eyes, trying to push away the unease that clung to her. But if she had looked out her bedroom window one more time, she would have seen a more disturbing sight: the once green and vibrant fields now only consisted of acres of churned mud.

 Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Beast-Tide Ends

    Bzzzzz


    Just before the sun was beginning to set, and Kain was on the verge of collapse, the sigils in the city had finally been restored and the translucent barrier surrounding the city flickered into being again. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, all of the spiritual creatures crazily attacking the city, seemed to have received some kind of signal undetectable to Kain and started to retreat. Unfortunately, neither of the attacking indigo-grade spiritual creatures were successfully killed by the city guard commander or Professor Night.


    However, there were also no losses among Dark Moon City''s high-level combatants, those 7-stars and above.


    Everyone became busy once again, but for a much more happy reason��collecting their rewards. Students and guards flocked outside of the walls and pushed their tired bodies to the limit to collect as many of the dead bodies they were responsible for producing as possible.


    Thankfully, due to mental strength increasing with cultivation, for the most part they all remembered which corpses their contracts were responsible for producing. At least as long as the bodies were in tact enough to be identified.


    Kain hurriedly extracted only the most valuable materials from the orange-grade spiritual creatures he''d killed on his own and coordinated with the Kairos and Soren of desired parts over their shared yellow-grade kills. For the yellow-grade cat they''d killed as a group, they decided the picking order using the old-fashioned way��a game of minotaur, golem, phoenix.


    Based on the rankings after the intense "battle," Kain was the third to choose after Kairos and Serena.


    ''Why is he so damn good at this game?'' Kain had never won against Kairos at the game, nor had he ever seen him lose to any others. Now that he thought about it�� he was also the one to always suggest deciding the selection using a game of minotaur, golem, phoenix!


    Putting his suspicions aside for now, Kain looked at what remained. Its spiritual orb and a transparent crystal located where its heart should be had already been selected. Kain wasn''t confident that anything else left was particularly valuable, but he still selected its eyes.


    Since its an undead cat spirit, and on Earth cat''s were often rumoured to be able to see strange things like ghosts, he was hoping that they would be surprisingly high in value.


    Eventually the red translucent barrier surrounding the city turned into a soft blue and became practically invisible.


    It had switched back from its active state that uses a lot more energy and will kill powerful wild creatures trying to enter the city and reflect any attacks made at the city, to its regular defensive state that uses less energy and allows the entry of things like sound transmissions to receive radio and tv broadcasts.


    After cleaning up the battlefield and receiving a very luxurious dinner to celebrate getting through their first beast-tide, where they also took the opportunity to say goodbye to some of the guards they''d befriended over the past few days.


    "Students, gather your attention." Called out Professor Night. "The beast-tide has ended, and the immediate threat to the city has been neutralized. I would like to acknowledge the role you all played in this effort.


    "Your performance during this crisis has been noted and you will be sufficiently rewarded once we return to the school. We understand that this was not a trivial task. The danger was real, and the stakes were high. Your actions helped prevent further disaster and safeguarded lives.


    "However as students at one of the most prestigious colleges in the empire you are expected to be the first-line of defense for the civilians and even lay down your lives when necessary. Thankfully, there are no cowards among you and your actions did not shame Dark Moon College.


    "Consider this an acknowledgment of your duty fulfilled. Remember the lessons learned here. They will be vital for future challenges. That is all."


    Everyone hesitantly clapped at the rather lukewarm speech delivered by Professor Night. However, considering her usual personality none of them were really expecting an overly emotional send off.


    When dinner was over, the students did not continue back to the temporary living quarters and instead headed back to their much more comfortable dorms.


    Kain took the opportunity on the journey back to call Bridge, but he did not pick up or reply to any texts. This only fuelled the anxious thoughts that Kain had been trying to push aside for the past day. He jogged forward to where Professor Night was at the front, leading the students back to campus and couldn''t help but ask.


    "Excuse me Professor Night. By any chance would you be able to tell me if there were any casualties among the students? My brother was assigned to a different post than me and I''d like to know if he''s okay."


    Her expression, initially cold due to being disturbed, softened slightly after hearing that he was asking due to a sibling.


    "Although I am not aware of the status of every single student that partook in the battle, I can tell you that there were no casualties among the beast-tamers and that only two students, both first-years, had lost a contract. After all, none of the other locations were as dangerous as the main gate you all were assigned to.


    The events at the southern gate were completely unexpected, but the timely reinforcement of the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Department Deans prevented many casualties."


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief. Although there was a chance that Bridge was one of the students who lost their contract, which would be devastating, actually losing his best friend and brother would be 1000 times worse.


    As soon as Kain returned to his room he had a much-needed hot shower. After leaving the steaming bathroom the first thing he did was to check for a reply from Bridge. Unfortunately nothing.


    However, he did receive replies from everyone else in their usual team of 7 �CAddison, Aiden, Elias, Finn, and Leonara��confirming that they were safe and that nobody was badly injured.


    Kain asked them if they had been stationed nearby any of them. But unfortunately only received negative replies. Although Aiden did share that he believed that Bridge was actually never assigned to guard the wall, and was instead responsible for transporting injured individuals from the wall to the medical tents.


    Kain''s heart that was in his throat came back down, if that was true then Bridge was likely perfectly fine. He was probably never in any danger to begin with.


    He also opened another notification that arrived on his phone in nervous anticipation. The assessment of his performance and the amount of school credits that he''d received.

 Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Performance Review

    The evaluation of Kain''s performance during the recent beast tide was surprisingly thorough considering he hadn''t felt as though he was being examined the entire time. S��arch* The N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The assessment contained notes from nearby professors and high-ranking guards, they meticulously reviewed the actions of every student and guard involved in the crisis.


    Kain''s contributions were highlighted in detail and were fortunately mostly commendatory, reflecting his resilience and ability to work well in a team.


    Some of the comments provided by the professors and guard captains were as follows:


    "Kain''s performance was marked by his effective management of the defensive line, particularly in the absence of critical reinforcements. His use of a poisonous fog to control and weaken the enemy forces proved crucial in stabilizing the frontline. Such control abilities will be useful in future endeavours representing the school.


    Further investment from the college into strengthening his abilities will not be wasted."


    "As a guard, I commend his ability to maintain composure and drive under duress, which played a significant role in preventing breaches and minimizing civilian casualties."


    "As a leader myself, I commend his burgeoning leadership qualities, especially his efforts in rallying and encouraging his fellow first-years during the most desperate moments. His quick adaptation to the shifting battlefield dynamics, including the successful coordination with second-year students to address the green-grade spider threat, was exemplary."


    The average grade they gave Kain was an overall evaluation of 92 out of 100.


    Kain was pleased with the largely positive feedback, however�� ''Why 92? None of them even mentioned any critiques. Are they all just like one of those annoying teachers who don''t believe in handing out grades of 100 because nobody is perfect?!''


    Regardless of his gripes, he was happy with the large reward. 2000 credits were worth dozens of normal missions, and even several challenging Black Missions. He now had more than enough to get Bea''s evolutionary materials. Not to mention that it didn''t even include all of the credits he could obtain from exchanging the materials he''d collect tomorrow.


    Adding the credits rewarded from his previous Black Mission, smaller group and solo missions he''d taken up since then, and materials he''d exchanged from said missions, Kain now had over 3000 credits.


    ''I''ve never felt so rich!'' Kain thought with moved tears in his eyes.


    Looking at the System Kain was also pleasantly surprised by how much GP he''d managed to raise after 3 days of mass killings. He currently had 13 550 GP. Well over the 10 000 GP, he needed to upgrade the System.


    Although it was a little short of what he needed to exchange for the B-level spiritual skill tome (800 GP), Wheel of Fortune ticket for lab equipment (2000 GP), and the Enhancement Elixir (1500 GP) after upgrading, he could still buy any combination of two of them.


    He chose to make the purchase now since the last System upgrade lasted 2 days and he wasn''t sure how long this one would be. What if the System Shop had already refreshed by the time he had access again?


    After thinking only for a short while he decided to exchange for the skill tome and Wheel of Fortune ticket.


    He eliminated the Enhancement Elixir for two reasons:


    Firstly, unlike the skill tome that would be a permanent boost to his skills and help him in the re-ranking, the elixir was a one-time use item that Kain wouldn''t even be able to use during the re-ranking due to elixirs being banned.


    Secondly, the enhancement elixir is a huge boost to Kain''s spiritual power and physical abilities, but since he hasn''t awoken any powerful gift yet, nor does he have any particularly powerful offensive spiritual skills, most of Kain''s combat strength relies on his contracts. In fact, Kain''s main usage of spiritual power is in driving the Bea mist.


    Even if his spiritual power is boosted, it likely wouldn''t have a huge impact on his combat abilities.


    After making the exchange for both items, Kain didn''t immediately use the Wheel of Fortune ticket in case this upgrade also rewards him with lab equipment for free.


    He''d be pissed if he spent 2000 GP on a ticket and won a piece of lab equipment that would have been rewarded for free in the upgrade. At least after the upgrade, hopefully any redundant items will be removed as options from the wheel.


    *Ding. Sensing the Host''s intention to consume 10 000 GP to upgrade the system. In order to complete the upgrade, the System will be unavailable for 7 days. Do you still wish to proceed?*


    ''Proceed''


    After completing all he''d wanted for the night, Kain closed his eyes and went to sleep. He would have another influx of income after exchanging his materials for school credits and Celestial Dollars in the next few days. Then he could put some of his long-awaited plans into motion.


    -----------------------------


    The next day��


    Kain went to the Exchange Hall and sold many of the materials he collected from orange-grade and yellow-grade spiritual creatures. The total income was an astonishing additional 5000 credits. And that''s without exchanging some of the materials, like the colourless crystal from the Whisper Wisp that he had killed with Kairos, that he hadn''t yet identified.


    Or exchanging items like the Sanguine Purity Crystal that he could see coming into use in the future. He also retained many materials from orange-grade spiritual creatures that he planned to exchange for actual money. After all, it costs a lot of money in order to start a business.


    With over 7000 credits to spend, Kain immediately exchanged a little more than 1000 for Bea''s evolutionary materials. He also found in the item inventory of the Exchange hall a sparkling white crystal that, according to the description, was obtained from the Green-grade mental-attribute spider that the second-years killed. The one that had Kain envious of its abilities.


    According to the description, this crystal was the source of those mental threads that allowed it to turn hundreds of spiritual creatures and guards into puppets instantly.


    It cost 2000 credits, a steep jump in price compared to the other materials considering that it was sourced from a more powerful creature.


    It could also serve as an evolutionary material for Bea, one even more powerful than his current plan. Unfortunately with the System out of commission, he couldn''t run a Simulation.


    However, given his excess of school credits he still chose to be safe rather than sorry later. If he waited until the System upgrade was completed to make the exchange and it was already gone, he''d regret it deeply. Not to mention, if the material didn''t result in a good evolution, he could still return it back to the school for credits.


    He probably won''t get a full refund, only around 70-80% back, but it was still better to secure the item from now.


    Kain then went to the spiritual plant section of the inventory and purchased a multitude of orange-grade spiritual plants and seeds. He was going to put his previous plans of growing his own spiritual plant field into action.


    Finally, Kain went to a section containing an item that he''d long wanted to buy but had been unable to afford. Not to mention that he''d only know how to buy this item from the school, seeing as how he''d never seen it for purchase elsewhere. There were probably channels, but he didn''t have them. Not to mention that the quality of this item coming from the school would be guaranteed.

 Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Farming

    Kain didn''t actually start planting any of the spiritual plants because they''d be completely vulnerable to being damaged or taken away by any passing human or spiritual creatures.


    What Kain needed for his future base of operations were wards.


    Unfortunately, the cheapest wards that the college had to offer with no defensive abilities and only served as an alarm notification of invasion for Kain, was 1000 credits. Not to mention that it would be easily bypassed by any orange-grade spiritual creature or 3-star beast-tamer.


    Now with 5360 credits to use, Kain could purchase a much more powerful ward to protect his plants.


    He filtered the wards to limit them to ones that would be effective against yellow-grade spiritual creatures.


    There were wards that repelled all unauthorized entrants and all attacks unless granted permission. Others also had an auto-repair function that could regenerate the ward''s energy and the spiritual power contained within it given enough time. Some also had unique effects such as rebounding a certain percentage of physical and energy attack damage to the ward.


    Then there were the wards that didn''t have such a strong effect on preventing entry but were more effective at harming invaders once they entered.


    These types often also had elemental attribute effects. For example, the Inferno Ward that inflicts continuous fire damage on creatures attempting to breach the ward and the fire damage increases with time.


    Or the Frostguard Ward which applies a chilling effect that drastically reduces the speed and attack power of invaders while also causing frostbite effects.


    Then there were wards that didn''t prevent entry or cause much harm to invaders such as illusionary wards that create a complex array of illusions that mislead and confuse invaders. This makes navigation through the ward difficult. Or wards aimed at impeding or even eliminating all of the senses of invaders.


    Given that the purpose of the ward Kain wanted was to prevent the damage and theft of his spiritual creatures, he figured that the best ward for him would be one that prevented entrants to begin with. After all, even if an invader received continuous damage after entering, they could still persist in trying to damage or steal his spiritual plants.


    Therefore, Kain limited his options to the Sentinel Barrier and the Ethereal Ward, which cost 5000 and 5300 credits each.


    The Sentinel Barrier provides a strong energy barrier that prevents unauthorized entry, and repels physical and energy-based attacks. It also has an auto-repair function that regenerates the ward''s integrity over time. Additionally, it reflects 10% of physical and energy damage back to the attacker.


    The Ethereal Ward was a barrier that incorporated a small amount of specific spiritual materials that needed to be replenished every 6 months to run. It can prevent the entry of yellow-grade spiritual creatures. It is also able to distort and deflect spiritual and physical attacks back to the source at full strength.


    In the event of an invasion by a green-grade spiritual creature, or a 5-star beast-tamer, it can cause an all-round reduction of abilities by around 30%.


    The Ethereal Ward''s abilities are stronger and can even help Kain with dealing with invaders he''d be helpless against otherwise. Although even with a 30% reduction in strength he wouldn''t be able to kill a Green-grade spiritual creature yet, but he may be able to escape with his life if ambushed by a creature like the Glacial Leviathan while alone.


    However, he wasn''t hesitant about the cost of the materials he would need to supply it with each month. After all, if he couldn''t afford to activate it, then it would be no different from having no wards in place.


    Therefore, he went to speak with one of the employees present. Likely due to the sudden influx of students wanting to exchange their materials from the beast-tide and purchase new items to strengthen themselves, there were many more employees present than usual.


    However, even then it took Kain quite a while to flag someone down and get a more detailed list of the spiritual materials needed to keep the Ethereal Ward activated and their cost.


    If Kain purchased it from the school, it would cost around 300 credits every 6 months. However, if he were to try and purchase them outside of the school the cost in CD would be much higher. And if he tried to gather them all on his own it may take him the full 6 months, while compromising his training and cultivation time.


    Weighing the pros and cons, Kain figured that an expenditure of 600 credits every year to have some protection against Green-grade spiritual creatures and 5-star beast-tamers was worth it. And made the exchange. Thankfully the first set of spiritual materials was included with the purchase, because after buying the Ethereal Ward, Kain was once again destitute.


    He headed back to his large plot of land. He''d already had someone remove all of the weeds overgrown on it and turn over the soil.


    Kain also took some of the body parts without any value that he''d collected during the beast tide and used them as a fertilizer to ensure that the soil had enough spiritual power. After all, the field had only been used to grow ordinary weeds for years, there were was definitely not enough spiritual power to grow orange-grade spiritual plants as Kain planned. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After following the relatively straightforward instructions to establish the ward, Kain began to transplant the delicate juvenile spiritual plants to the field.


    He also handed the many seeds he''d collected to the released Vespirae Guards who planted them as instructed by Queen.


    Whether it was an innate ability of the Vespirae species, or due to her symbiotic relationship with Eve, Queen was extremely sensitive to the growth conditions and health of spiritual plants. Having her responsible for seeding the field was a lot more reliable that Kain.


    On top of that, after reaching orange-grade, the potency of the life-attribute energy Eve released into the ground was greatly improved. In less than an hour, every inch of the massive field had been influenced by Eve and many of the seeds majority of the had already begun to sprout.


    The different species of spiritual plants had different growth rates. Normally it may take several months or even years for a spiritual plant to reach maturity. But with the help of Eve, Kain may see his first fully mature spiritual plant among the juvenile plants in less than a week, and among the seeds in around 3 months.

 Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Brewing Doubts

    Kain walked through the Dark Moon City towards the bar the Golden Barrel. However, he noted that the once-vibrant street, was now a shadow of its former self.


    The block, which had been a bustling hub of activity, was now eerily quiet, except for the occasional distant murmur of repair work.


    The damage from the recent beast-tide was apparent everywhere. Scorched marks and charred debris were all over the pavement and what remained of the building, serving as frightening reminders of the creatures that had breached the city''s walls.


    The previously sturdy and welcoming building that had a kind of old England charm, were now battered and bruised by the brutal assault. The walls had deep gashes and cracks, with some structures partially collapsed.


    The pub, a main attraction on the street, had fared no better. Its wooden exterior was blackened and splintered, the once-proud sign now hanging crookedly, barely clinging to the roof.


    Inside, the damage was even more striking. The heavy wooden door was now splintered and hanging off its hinges. Broken furniture lay scattered around, and the bar itself was scarred with deep burn marks, the polished surface mangled beyond recognition.


    The walls that once proudly displayed newspaper clippings and rewards for the pub''s beer were now empty, some of them had even collapsed under the weight of falling debris.


    Barret, the one-man owner, brewer and bartender of the Golden Barrel, stood amidst the wreckage. His usually proud and imposing figure was now slumped vulnerably. He looked to have aged a decade overnight. His bushy beard and sharp eyes, usually so full of life, now seemed heavy with tiredness.


    He gazed over the ruin of his business with a deep sadness that spoke volumes. The once-lively atmosphere of his pub was replaced by a grim silence, broken only by the occasional hiss of steam from cooling rubble or the distant clatter of the ongoing repair work.


    Kain approached him carefully, "Barret," he said softly, "I''m not sure if you remember me, but I''m Kain. I was one of you customers a few weeks ago." Sear?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Barret''s blurry eyes momentarily focused on Kain''s face. "I remember. I remember all of my customers. You''re the boy that kept flattering me��"


    ''That''s what you remember? Couldn''t you remember me as the handsome customer or something more flattering?''


    Shaking the slightly narcissistic thoughts from his head, Kain placed a reassuring hand on the bartender''s shoulder. "I''m sorry to see the place like this. It must be devastating."


    "It''s more than I ever imagined," he replied, his voice heavy. "The beasts caused a lot of damage, but we might have been able to recover from that. The real blow came after."


    Kain raised an eyebrow, confusion evident on his face. "What do you mean?"


    "The spiritual plants," Barret explained, his gaze dropping to the ground as if the weight of his words was too much to bear. "Every last one of them in the city vanished overnight. The red-grade spiritual plant we use for brewing, the common Brewer''s Barley��it''s gone. Without it, I can''t make any more beer. Even if we fix up the bar, there''s no telling when or if I''ll be able to brew again."


    Kain''s eyebrows raised in surprise. "I had no idea! Any clues on what cause it?"


    ''I guess it''s a good thing that I waited so long to plant my own field of spiritual plants otherwise I may have been picked clean too if the perpetrator was green-grade or higher.''


    Barret shook his head, his shoulders sagging slightly. "We only suspect that it was a wild yellow-grade spiritual creature that entered while the city''s wards were down. Not just my bar. The whole city is affected. The spiritual plants were used to supply every food and beverage industry in this city, and now that they''re gone, none of us business owners have a clue what to do.


    We''re working on getting things back to normal, but it''ll be a long time before we''re fully operational again."


    Kain offered a sympathetic smile. "I''m sure you''ll overcome this. You''ve always put your heart into what you do. Once the city recovers, I''m sure you''ll be back on your feet in no time."


    Barret managed a small, appreciative smile. "Thank you. I hope so. For now, I guess it''s just a matter of patience and rebuilding, both for the city and for my pub."


    Kain went silent for a moment. Barret was very emotionally sensitive right now, and he worried if it''d be insensitive to bring up the topic now. However, there was a small cruel part of him that felt like now that Barret no longer had the bar to focus on, it increased Kain''s chances at succeeding in bringing him into his own business.


    "By any chance do have any beer left for your personal use? I was one of the defenders on the city wall so I was really looking forward to getting a drink here to unwind."


    Barret perked up slightly at the prospect of being able to fall back into his familiar routine as a bartender.


    "I do have some used for personal consumption back at my home. I usually only serve it to friends and family, but considering that you are one of our city''s heroes I''d be honoured to serve you a drink."


    Barret led Kain through the winding streets of the residential area, past homes that thankfully appeared untouched by the recent chaos.


    After a short walk, they arrived at a modest, yet well-kept home that exuded a sense of warmth and stability.


    As they entered, Kain was greeted by the comforting aroma of wood smoke and simmering herbs, a welcome change from the charred smells around the bar''s ruins.


    The interior of Barret''s home was cozy, with wooden beams and stone walls that gave it a rustic charm. A large hearth was on one side of the living area, where a fire crackled softly, casting a warm glow over the room.


    Barret led Kain to a door at the back of the house, which opened into a small, private bar. The room was a miniature version of the Golden Barrel, meticulously designed to mimic the ambiance of his pub, but also had some more hominess.


    Similarly, a polished wooden bar stretched across one side of the room. The decor was a blend of nostalgia and personal pride��framed photographs of past gatherings, old brewing awards, and handcrafted mugs adorned the space.


    Barret moved behind the bar, his demeanor shifting from despondent to the familiar confidence of a host. "This is where I keep some of my personal stock," he said, selecting a slightly smaller barrel than was at the pubs from a shelf behind the counter. "It''s not as extensive in selection as what we had at the pub, but it''s the best I have left."


    Kain settled onto one of the high stools, feeling a sense of comfort in the familiar setting. Barret poured a cold dark amber beer into a glass, the rich white froth rising to the top.


    Barret slid the glass across the bar. "Here you go. It''s a special blend I''ve been working on for years. Still haven''t introduced it to the bar yet though since I feel something is missing. But I can assure you that it still tastes excellent."


    Kain took a sip, savoring the complex flavors��the maltiness with hints of caramel, and a subtle spiciness that danced on his palate. It was even better than the beer he''d had previously "This is excellent," Kain said, setting the glass down with appreciation. "You''ve really outdone yourself. Are you sure you''re not just being to picky?"


    Barret''s eyes lit up with a glimmer of pride. "Thank you. It''s always good to hear that. Everyone that''s tried it has also always said the same, but I''m still sticking with my gut on this one��it can get better. I know it can"


    Kain took a moment, letting the silence settle between them. The comforting atmosphere of the personal bar seemed to create the perfect backdrop for the conversation he was about to start. He leaned forward slightly, choosing his words carefully. "Barret, I''ve been thinking.


    With your pub currently out of commission and the city in a difficult spot, maybe now might be a good time for you to explore new opportunities."

 Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Brewing Doubts

    Barret''s brows furrowed, a hint of curiosity mixing with caution. "What do you mean?"


    Kain took a deep breath, weighing his options. "Well, with my connections through the school I should be able to procure the barley you need from fields outside of the city.


    I also have my own spiritual fields, and the Brewer''s Barley was one of the ones I''d planted, although I''ll need to greatly scale up production if we were to consider selling." Kain was thankful that when he saw the Brewer''s Barley seeds available for cheap that he''d purchased them in preparation of this very moment.


    "I''m sorry? Selling? Aren''t you a student? You want to help me reopen my bar?" Barret asked puzzledly. Somehow the kid he''d invited over offhandedly to thank him for his service was now trying to enter business talks with him. But he also felt hope that he''d be able to reopen for business sooner.


    "Ahem! Not a bar" Kain clarified awkwardly. "I''m interested in starting a venture that''s looking to ship bottled spiritual beers across the empire. With your expertise and reputation, I think there''s potential for us to collaborate."


    Barret''s face darkened as he absorbed Kain''s proposal. The initial glimmer of hope in his eyes quickly faded, replaced by a guarded skepticism. His shoulders stiffened, and his posture became defensive. "Are you trying to scam me?" he demanded, his voice rising. "How can a student from a top college come in here and suggest that we ship spiritual beer across the empire?


    Everyone knows spiritual beer loses its potency in just a few days once the barrel for fermentation is opened. How could you possibly keep it viable for such long distances? Are you mocking my situation?" Once a spiritual beverage or elixir is made and placed in its initial container, barrels for beer and glass vials for elixirs, it begins to lose its effectiveness.


    The shelf-life lowers drastically once that container is opened. The shelf-life of elixirs once opened can be weeks due to the stronger ingredients used and the fact that many vials they are added to have preservation properties. If the vial is kept sealed, many elixirs can last for years or decades.


    But once the beer barrel is opened to distribute the beer into bottles, the spiritual beer will begin to go bad in a few days. Especially since nobody would waste expensive preservation bottles used for elixirs on beer. That''s why most mass-produced foods and beverages were just ordinary items without spiritual plants and materials from spiritual creatures used as ingredients.


    Kain''s heart sank at the immediate shift in Barret''s demeanor. He had anticipated some resistance but not this level of hostility since Barret had previously always appeared so laid-back and happy. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He quickly assessed the situation and realized he needed to address Barret''s concerns head-on. "I assure you, I''m not trying to scam you," Kain said earnestly. "I understand your doubts. The spiritual beer''s short shelf life is a valid concern. But I have a solution that could preserve the quality for months."


    Barret''s eyes narrowed, his anger tinged with suspicion. "You''re telling me that you, a student, have a way to keep spiritual beer fresh for that long? You must be joking. Centuries of people much more powerful and intelligent than a con artists like you haven''t even been able to figure it out."


    ''Ouch��''


    "Not to mention the logistics alone would be impossible. The empire is so huge, and it can take weeks to transport goods from one end to another. How exactly, are you planning to get this done?"


    ''True the logistics is something I''d need to work out. But once I can prove that I have the ability to improve the shelf-life, I should be able to hire workers and even a logistics manager. As an investor and the source of the extended preservation method I shouldn''t have to do everything myself."


    Kain took a deep breath, determined to prove his sincerity. "I understand your skepticism. To show you that I''m serious, I''d like to test something first. Do you have any unfermented beer left? If you do, I can demonstrate how my method works."


    Barret''s expression hardened, but he motioned to a corner where a single barrel sat, still filled with the last batch of unfermented beer he had. "I have some left, but I''m not sure I want to risk it. This is my last batch."


    Kain''s eyes gleamed with hope. "Please, just trust me on this. If I ruin it, I''ll compensate you ten times its value. I only want a chance to show you what I can do."


    Barret hesitated, his gaze shifting between Kain and the precious barrel. Finally, he nodded, though reluctantly. "Alright, but if you ruin it, you''ll pay dearly." At least is Kain fails he''d receive a lot of money in return. Considering he''s unable to open his bar for now he needs money more than he needs this barrel.


    Kain carefully approached the barrel, pulling a small vial from his pocket. Inside were gold pellets��Aetherbrew Yeast. He could see Barret''s face looking suspiciously at the vial''s unknown contents. His family had worked as brewers for generations and he had never seen anything like what Kain had just pulled out.


    Kain poured the yeast into the barrel and sealed it. "It''ll need about 1 week to finish fermenting," Kain explained. "I''ll come back then to show you the results."


    Barret watched, his expression a mixture of hope and skepticism as Kain prepared to leave. "Fine," he said gruffly. "I''ll be waiting. I hope for your sake you can back up your claims."


    "I can." Kain nodded with determination. "I''ll see you in a week. Thank you for giving me this chance."


    As Kain departed, Barret''s initial skepticism remained, but a glimmer of hope flickered in the back of his mind after seeing Kain''s confidence. But he knew he needed to see tangible results before he could fully trust Kain''s claims. As the young man walked away, Barret prepared himself for the wait, hoping that the bold claims were not just empty promises.

 Chapter 162: Chapter 162: System Upgrade

    Kain spent the next week catching up with Bridge and the others and sharing their respective experiences. By far he received the highest amount of credits, but then again he was also at a much more dangerous location.


    Students were once again allowed to take on missions that required them to leave the city since the wild spiritual creatures were no longer so aggressive. They should have enough to eat for a while considering the drastic reduction in their populations and that they''d essentially cleared out all of the spiritual plants within the city that were not on the college campus.


    In fact, many of the ordinary plants civilians had grown for food had also been taken away.


    Instead, now it was the civilians of Dark Moon City that had a food shortage issue. It''d take a long while before all of the plants in the city could be regrown and until then many civilians were relying on the meat of ordinary animals raised locally, which were thankfully left untouched during the beast-tide.


    Unfortunately, the amount of ordinary livestock raised locally was hardly enough to support a whole city switching to a carnivorous diet, especially since most middle-class and above civilians had previously chosen to eat the meat of spiritual creatures brought back from hunters.


    However, since the wild spiritual beast population had momentarily declined, they were now unable to even hunt as much as they could previously.


    In response, the college had been opening its doors and allowing the public to purchase a limited amount of ingredients from their stocks with the amount allowed for purchase being determined by the number of individuals on the family register.


    However, this is not a long-term solution. Kain could sense that even the college was feeling the strain and that the quality of food in their dorms had begun to decline.


    During this past week, Kain had also had some of the orange-grade juvenile plants he''d obtained reach full maturity and Queen and her guards had enthusiastically gotten to making honey of a higher quality.


    And today Kain finally received the long-awaited notification that the System update had been completed.


    With anticipation, Kain entered the house, which was really a shack, that existed on the property he had purchased.


    It was still old and shabby-looking but Kain had added some furniture and d��cor to make it a little more comfortable to rest in while Eve, Queen and the guards were busy taking care of the garden and making honey.


    ''Once I have some more money saved up I should consider tearing this house down and making a nicer one��''


    The instant Kain opened the System window he immediately noticed the difference.


    Previously on the main screen there were only options to look at the profiles and stats of himself and his contracts, the System Shop, the Laboratory, the Mission Board, and the Celestial Planetarium��which he had still been making sure to enter to cultivate every day since it increased his efficiency by 2.5x after the last upgrade.


    However, now on the home screen there was an additional icon for a Training Arena. Kain selected that icon and suddenly appeared in what looked like an extremely large and empty room.


    He couldn''t see anything noteworthy.


    "Sigh�� System please explain to me the functions of the Training Arena."


    *Of course, Host*


    *The Training Arena has two different functions*


    *The first function is the Battlefield. The Host can simulate a large range of environmental conditions and generate spiritual creatures as enemies to practice against. The condition being that the Host must have seen the proposed enemy in person.*


    Two boxes appeared one with different environments such as in a northern icefield, the middle of the ocean, inside an active volcano, and more.


    The other box had an extensive list of every spiritual creature Kain had ever come into contact with. Including many of his classmates'' contracts.


    ''This will be extremely useful when preparing for the re-ranking.'' Kain thought, now filled with a lot more confidence at his chances of securing first place.


    ''You said 2 functions, what''s the other?''


    *The second function is the Skill Optimizer.*


    *You can select a contracted spiritual creature and its skill. A specialized training plan will be developed in order to increase your contract''s proficiency in that skill. Once the proficiency increases to a high enough level it may be upgraded to a higher level skill or two skills that your contract has Mastery over may be combined to create a new skill.*


    "Not bad�� let''s give it a try now" Considering that Eve and the Vespirae were all currently busy in the spiritual plant fields, Kain decided to have Bea try the Skill Optimizer on her Brain Infection skill.


    This skill was currently Bea''s main source of offensive power. If it can be improved it may increase her killing speed or maybe even increase the level of the spiritual creatures she can successfully kill.


    Additionally, although he does plan to have Bea evolve soon and her set of skills will likely change, skill proficiency doesn''t just disappear into thin air. The skills derived from Brain Infection after evolution may end up being at a higher level and she''d have better proficiency over the new skills from the beginning.


    However, once Kain made his selection, his heart couldn''t help but skip a beat. For the first time since binding Bea, he had lost all contact with her and was completely unable to sense her. He knew rationally that this was likely due to the System, but this was an extremely disconcerting feeling.


    *Do not worry Host. The Brain-Eating Amoeba has been transferred to a training field most suitable for the training of the selected skill. If the Host at any point is in danger, he can withdraw her from the Training Arena instantly.*


    After receiving that reassurance, his racing heart calmed down. Although, he probably won''t be completely relieved until contact with her is re-established, but he restrained his impulse to withdraw her immediately and let her continue training. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What are some of the other changes following this System upgrade?"

 Chapter 163: Chapter 163: System Upgrade (2)

    *The increase in cultivation proficiency for the Celestial Planetarium has now increased to 2.8x after this system upgrade.*


    *Additionally, the Host will find some changes within his Laboratory.*


    With excitement Kain went to the Laboratory as directed. Compared to other areas of the System, the Laboratory is the one he feels has the most untapped potential.


    The second he entered, he immediately spotted a new addition, a white futuristic-looking robot that looked vaguely familiar, within its hand was a bronze coloured ticket.


    "And this is...?"


    *Every researcher needs a laboratory assistant. It''s form is completely up to you and can take the shape of anything that you wish. It''s current form was extracted from a cartoon in your memories��Wall-E, was it?*


    ''Ah! Now I remember where I''ve seen it!'' Kain looked at the robot that greatly resembled the white robot in the kids movie he loved. ''Now that I think about it, that robot in the movie also has the same name as my second contract��'' S~ea??h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "So what can this assistant do?"


    *Your lab assistant will be responsible for compiling all research ideas and results that you have made. Additionally, it can help you to analyze the probability of a certain evolution succeeding before using GP to run a simulation. However, to determine the probability it would need a lot of accurate data to begin with, therefore its predictions may not be so accurate at the start.*


    "Well something is better than nothing. Especially considering that you don''t refund me for failed evolutions. What''s the orange thing its holding?"


    *That is a one-time exchange voucher at the Lab Equipment Store. The Host can exchange one piece of Bronze equipment with the current voucher.*


    "Bronze? What level is that? Low or High?"


    *Bronze is currently the lowest level of lab equipment.*


    Kain was a little disappointed that it was at the lowest level, but maybe the Bronze lab equipment was very powerful?


    "What level would the Simulator be considered?"


    *The Simulator is considered to be Silver level lab equipment*


    ''So it''ll be worse than the Simulator��but that doesn''t mean it''ll be bad!'' Kain chose to maintain an optimistic outlook.


    *Additionally, Host you will find that there is a new feature available in the Simulator.*


    Heart-racing Kain immediately ran to the screen of the Simulator. This piece of lab equipment was how he planned to spread his name in the future as a legendary Evolutionary Planner.


    *Now if special conditions such as skill proficiency or a specific environment are needed for the evolution to succeed, these special requirements will be automatically applied to the simulated spiritual creature and a pop-up will explain the necessary special condition.*


    Kain selected one of the spiritual creatures that he''d seen during the beast-tide that he knew had a special requirement for its skill proficiency��the silver-quality Scarlet Emberfox. It has the diluted blood of the Legendary Nine-Tailed Fox and to into a platinum-quality Three-Tailed Emberfox it must learn and master the Inferno Mirage skill.


    After making the selection a small red exclamation mark appeared at the corner of the screen. After clicking it, it outlined the skill and proficiency requirements as the System said it would.


    This function will greatly reduce the time and challenges Kain will face with finding new evolutionary forms. Now all he has to focus on is finding suitable materials, other evolutionary conditions will be automatically shown to him.


    Kain pulled up the Lumifin profile and the exclamation point did not appear again.


    ''At least that confirms that a specific skill or skill proficiency isn''t needed in order to successfully evolve.''


    Kain then substituted the simulated creature to be a Vespirae Queen and the exclamation mark reappeared.


    ''Despite being relatively common as a contract among those that wish to make a living producing spiritual honey, only one Vespirae Queen has been observed in the empire''s history, and it was centuries ago. Now I guess I''ll find out why��'' Kain looked at the pop-up description.


    *Vespirae Queens must realize a skill that applies an attribute to their royal jelly. The attribute of the skill and the skills level will be the basis for the form and quality of the evolved form.*


    Beneath that description there was a drop down menu so that Kain could select among skill attributes such as fire, poison, and more. And next to it was another drop down menu to select its skill level.


    The skill that Queen realized, the Essence of Life was a SS life-attribute skill that applied to Queen''s royal jelly. It more than exceeded the conditions of evolution. In fact, an SS skill as the basis of a spiritual creature''s evolution was more than most people could hope for.


    Just realizing a skill that applies an attribute to the royal jelly is an extremely difficult condition to meet, if it wasn''t for Queen''s unique circumstances of being a host for Eve, Kain would really have no idea about how to go about obtaining such a skill.


    The royal jelly and honey automatically taken up some of the effects and characteristics of the plants used to produce the honey, but a skill that ensures that all the royal jelly produced will have a certain effect or attribute regardless of the plants used was unheard of to Kain.


    ''Once I''m done exploring all of the new features of this update, I''ll have to do some simulations with Eve. It doesn''t mention anything about a required skill proficiency, but just for good measure I should have Queen train the Essence of Life skill in the training arena.''


    ''Now I guess it''s time to finally add to this barren looking space'' Kain thought while looking at the mostly empty Laboratory, the exchange voucher and the Wheel of Fortune ticket he''d exchanged right before the update.


    Kain decided to use the Wheel of Fortune ticket first. That way there was no risk of using the voucher to exchange for a piece of equipment and then winning that same equipment on the Wheel of Fortune.


    Kain selected the Wheel of Fortune ticket for lab equipment in his inventory and what appeared before him was a circular wheel divided into 24 sections. The most amount of sections, 20 of them, were bronze in colour. 4 of them were silver.


    But looking closely, Kain was able to see a 25th "section" that at first glance just like any of the other lines separating each section. However, when looking closely this "line" was a dark gold rather than black like the other lines.


    ''Is it even possible to win a Gold level equipment when the section is so small?!'' He thought angrily while glaring at the golden line only slightly thicker than a strand of hair.

 Chapter 164: Chapter 164: New Lab Equipment

    Kain wasn''t originally a superstitious individual, but after transmigrating into a fantasy world and literally reading about skills, items, and spiritual creatures that can influence luck, that changed.


    Therefore, before spinning the wheel, Kain exited the System and partook in every superstition he could think of, both from this world and his previous one.


    He first began with throwing a pinch of salt, taken from the seasoning rack in his space ring, over his shoulder. Then he lit 4 candles in each cardinal direction of the room.


    Then he meticulously washed his body to scrub off any bad luck. He knocked on his wooden bedpost 3 times, and finally placed a dried four-leaf clover he''d found at the orphanage years ago on his chest before lying down and re-entering the Laboratory.


    "Okay! I''m ready!"


    He pressed the button to spin the wheel while crossing his fingers for good measure.


    Kain watched the wheel spin around and around with anticipation until it finally stopped upon a silver section.


    "Yes!" Kain screamed while pumping his fist after seeing it land on one of the only four silver sections.


    From this day forward, Kain also unintentionally developed a more superstitious attitude and would even spend a great deal of time and money collecting items and spiritual creatures related to improving luck.


    Suddenly, in a previously empty corner of the room appeared a new set of laboratory equipment.


    It has a sleek, cylindrical base constructed from polished, dark metal with many finely calibrated dials and glowing sigils embedded into its surface.


    Atop the base is a transparent, dome-shaped chamber made of high-quality glass, within which a large, translucent sphere that radiated shifting, multicoloured lights resembling the aurora borealis, was floating high above.


    The rest of the machine included several adjustable mechanical arms, each equipped with sharp tips and needles, that extended into the glass chamber.


    At the base of each arm was a network of intricate, gleaming tubes and carved with sigils that pulsed with faint spiritual power.


    Finally, similar to the Simulator next to the machine was a large screen, where Kain assumed he could control the lab equipment or receive information.


    "So what does this thing do?"


    *This is a Genetic Reconstructor. It allows for the targeted manipulation of genes to cause a mutation without undergoing evolution or changing its species*


    *However, please note that genetic material cannot appear out of nowhere. The Host must work hard to collect a large genetic library to make the full use of this equipment.*


    Kain tried to think about what the implications of this piece of machinery would be.


    Using this machinery, Kain could mass produce mutants.


    Spiritual creatures with mutations may have beneficial mutations, like a stronger than average body for its species. Or it may just be a cosmetic mutation, like a different hair or eye colour. However, they could also be disadvantageous mutations, like the mutant Protean that could not upgrade to a higher-level and eventually became Kain''s armor.


    However, although not as profound a change as actually undergoing an evolution, changing the genes of a spiritual creature could have a profound impact on its evolution.


    For example, the evolution of a Frostreave is determined by its fur colour, with blue fur being the most common, and black and white fur being much less common. With this piece of machinery, Kain could in theory mass produce the uncommon black and white Frostreaves able to evolve into Gloomfrosts and Glacierflares, respectively.


    However, the note about a genetic library put a damper on his plans. He couldn''t just let his imagination run wild and begin manipulating genes as he wished, all genes he wished to transfer to another spiritual creature must first be found and extracted from a spiritual creature that already exists.


    Kain decided to put off testing this piece of equipment for now, he had a bronze lab equipment he could still exchange for. Who knows, maybe there will be something that compliments the Genetic Reconstructor''s abilities.


    After activating the voucher, descriptions of laboratory equipment didn''t appear in front of him as he''d expected. Instead, Kain was transported to a dark room that had dozens of pieces of lab equipment under a spotlight.


    *Welcome to the Interstellar Lab Emporium, where the collective scientific wisdom of a myriad of galaxies is available for exchange here*


    *Currently being shown to you are what would be considered Bronze level lab equipment.*


    Kain walked to the nearest piece of lab equipment for exchange. It appeared like a normal flask, but the descriptions said otherwise.


    "Essence Distillation Flask. A common specialty of the X Nation on planet X. The flask is designed to distill and purify magical essences and fluids to give a modest boost to its magical properties." sea??h th�� n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the first time Kain had heard anything about other magical worlds. He wished that they hadn''t been censored by the System.


    "Aura Calibration Beaker�� No thanks"


    "Elemental Infusion Vial��don''t want it either��Is this the section for Alchemists?"


    "Ah��finally something different. A Sigil Etching Set. This seems more so like it''d be useful for blacksmiths��"


    "Bronze level equipment really has a huge gap with Silver level equipment huh��I wonder what Gold level lab equipment would be like? Could I destroy worlds with the press of a button?"


    Kain continued to move down each aisle, making sure to read every description. After all, he doesn''t know when he''ll get another chance like this and wants to make sure that he makes the best choice.


    Like the first description, all of them had their original nations and worlds blurred out, unless the equipment originated from the planet he currently resided on: Blue Star.


    Likely, equipment from Earth also wouldn''t have been censored, but there was no magical equipment on Earth that would meet even the lowest standards of being considered Bronze level equipment.


    Finally, after spending what felt like hours combing through each description, Kain finally narrowed his selection down to three choices that he felt would best meet his needs.

 Chapter 165: Chapter 165: New Lab Equipment

    Kain looked at his first selection that resembled a finely crafted antique magnifying glass with a bronze frame covered with intricately carved sigils.


    "The Mystic Analysis Lens. A magnifying lens used by the alchemists of X that contains basic enchantments to identify the magical properties and purpose of analyzed spiritual materials. Only rudimentary results are provided and only materials below Yellow-grade can be analyzed."


    Its large lens was made of a crystal that shimmered with a soft multicoloured glow. The handle though was surprisingly bare. It had a smooth rectangle without any design along its side. Based on the description, this is where the information about the analyzed material will be provided.


    Kain was considering using his exchange opportunity on this item because he has several materials that he doesn''t know the identity of and he''d need to pay an appraiser in order to find out. If he were ever out in the wilderness or in a relic, having an item that could help him identify new things would be useful.


    The next piece of equipment was a large circular ring made from a dark, weathered bronze with sigils engraved all around it.


    "The Beast Bonding Collar. An ancient piece of equipment of the long-forgotten Kairo Nation of Blue Star. Unfortunately, the knowledge on how to produce such collars has also been lost to time. This enchanted collar is used to control spiritual creatures no higher than red-grade.


    The binding of the collar is not as restrictive as that of a contract, and spiritual creatures can attack the owner of the collar if the relationship is extremely poor."


    It featured a broad, adjustable band that comfortably fits around a beast''s neck, with a series of small, embedded gemstones that emitted a soft, calming glow.


    The collar is fastened with a secure but easily adjustable clasp, and the inner side is lined with a padded, enchanted leather for comfort.


    Kain was considering exchanging for this collar due to the particularities of his affinity. Although he likes Bea and Eve, he could hardly hold and be affectionate with them like Bridge is with Lady and Princess.


    A small part of him did still desire to find a spiritual creature that could almost act like an emotional support dog. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, he knew that this collar would hardly be of any benefit to him. He is at the cusp of upgrading to 3-stars, and Bea after evolving will also be orange-grade. This collar would really not provide any boost to his strength.


    Finally, Kain turned to the last item, which is probably the one that only someone with an affinity like his would desire.


    It was a piece of lab equipment that Kain was extremely familiar with since it greatly resembled a similar piece of equipment he used while back on Earth��a Microbiological Incubator.


    "The Arcane Incubation Nexus. A magical incubator invented by X on Blue Star designed to maintain the perfect living conditions for a wide array of microorganisms at or below orange-grade."


    This was the first time that Kain had seen any evidence of someone else on this planet being aware of, and even studying microorganisms. Kain was curious though about why their name was censored when previously all information about equipment originating from Blue Star had not been.


    It resembled the incubators back on earth, but more high-end in appearance. It had a sleek, rectangular design made from polished bronze and reinforced glass panels. The main chamber was a transparent, temperature-controlled box, featuring adjustable internal shelves to accommodate various cultures and specimens.


    On each shelf were transparent orbs, 10 in total, that were likely meant to house the different microorganisms. These orbs are meant to resemble low-grade versions of a beast-tamer''s star space, and will provide a suitable environment for any inserted microorganism. Although the quality of the environment will be far inferior to that formed from a star space with a contract.


    The front of the incubator had a digital control panel displaying real-time data on temperature, humidity, and magical energy levels, along arrows to make precise adjustments to any values.


    Unlike the incubators back on Earth that would only maintain the necessary temperature, humidity, and oxygen levels for optimal growth of microbes, this piece of equipment will provide an all-around suitable environment with renewed resources for each microbe added.


    Considering that Kain was currently keeping Aby and her progeny in a glass vial full of beer that he changed every couple of days next to his nightstand, this was a much better option.


    Not to mention this incubator would allow him to collect many more microorganisms he wasn''t contracted to, without having to worry about caring for them.


    Although it was rare to find spiritual creatures that were also microbes, similar to Aby Kain could just make them when he found a chance to in the future. Not to mention he may come across some interesting ones in the wild, that are maybe not suitable to form a contract with, but have unique abilities that he doesn''t want to let go of.


    Decision made, Kain exchanged for the Arcane Incubation Nexus, and returned to the laboratory. When he returned he saw the new addition in a corner of the room. And after reconfirming with System on how to bring an unbound spiritual creature into the Laboratory, he poured Aby into one of the empty glass orbs.


    Quickly the orb took on a dark amber colour resembling beer, likely to mimic Aby''s ideal living environment, and Kain could see that a continuous supply of spiritual power was now being funnelled into that orb. If he wanted Kain could decrease or increase the spiritual power supplied. However, he decided to keep it at the default setting for now until he better understood the equipment.


    Looking around at his laboratory, Kain admired the space that was finally starting to come together and no longer looked like a cold and barren white room.


    With the new pieces of lab equipment settled, Kain decided to focus on the next item on his agenda��Bea''s evolution.

 Chapter 166: Chapter 166: Preparing for Beas Evolution

    For Bea''s evolution, he had exchanged for the Mindleech Vine and Subliminal Orb as the Evolutionary Base Materials, and the Cerebral Core to stabilize his usage of multiple materials. He already had several yellow-grade Spiritual Orbs, and he had obtained a catalyst elixir already for free after speaking with one of his professors in the Evolutionary Planner major.


    The only thing holding him back is that he''d impulsively also purchased the source of the Green-grade spider''s mental threads��the Mindweaver Crystal.


    Kain was quite satisfied with Bea''s current planned evolution��but what if there was an even better option?


    Therefore, Kain did one last simulation for Bea, this time using all 3 evolutionary base materials.


    However, after the Simulation flashed with light, Kain was notified that the evolution was considered a failure.


    He turned angrily to his new assistant, "aren''t you supposed to prevent me from making more failed evolutions?!"


    The robot faced the irritated Kain calmly, "I need a large amount of data in order to make accurate predictions. Considering that this was the first evolution I had personally witnessed, my predictions were off. However, I can help you to deduce the cause of the failure.


    According to my calculations, due to you suddenly increasing the number of spiritual materials, and one being of Green-grade, the spiritual power contained in the yellow-grade spiritual orb you supplied is insufficient to support the evolution."


    Kain''s irritation calmed down at his assistant''s answer. If he sat down to think about the source of his failure, he likely would have been able to reach that conclusion for himself, but it was nice to have it confirmed by his assistant within seconds.


    "Ahem! Good work! I think you''ve finally earned yourself a name. Hmm�� let''s see�� how about VERA because you''re a Versatile Experimental Research Assistant!" Kain settled on the name quickly while patting himself on the back for his cleverness. Unfortunately, Vera didn''t seem to appreciate the effort he''d put into choosing a name and just continued staring at him blankly.


    "So��let''s try this again with a Green-grade spiritual orb." Unfortunately, using multiple spiritual orbs of yellow-grade was not possible due to the subtle differences in spiritual power between the original owners of the orbs.


    Absorbing one source of spiritual power during the delicate process of evolution is stable, but from multiple sources, it would greatly increase the likelihood of failure due to so many types of energies, some of which may be conflicting.


    Therefore, for the sake of a stable evolution with a lower risk of failure, it was customary to just use one spiritual orb.


    Unfortunately, while Kain had many yellow-grade spiritual orbs from his kills, he didn''t have a single green-grade one, but he had seen one previously and was able to use it in the simulation.


    Therefore, after making the same selections but changing the power source, Kain started the simulation.


    The glass chamber containing the simulation began to be filled with an extremely bright white light. Once the light faded Kain looked at the creature description that appeared on the screen.


    "Huh?! There''s more than one!" Kain thought while buzzing in anticipation while looking at one of Bea''s potential future forms.


    ------------------------------


    Kain had to sell the majority of the materials and spiritual orbs that remained in his space ring in order to exchange for a single green-grade spiritual orb. Sear?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the green-grade orb also happened to be from the defeated mental-attribute spider, meaning that it should be even easier for Bea to absorb during evolution.


    Usually, matching attributes aren''t so important for spiritual orbs since they mostly contain pure spiritual power and have very little amounts of remnant attribute energy, however during high-risk evolutions it may have a slightly beneficial effect of increasing the chances of success. After all, a 31% chance of a successful evolution is still better than a 30% chance of evolution.


    And unfortunately, Kain''s System as well as his assistant had concluded that the evolutionary form he was now planning for Bea would have two possibilities when supplied with the same materials. Both were excellent forms, but one was definitely better than the other. Unfortunately, Bea successfully undergoing the higher-quality evolution was around 20%.


    With a spiritual orb of the same attribute, that percentage may increase slightly.


    Additionally, Kain was planning to use credits to rent one of the college''s attribute rooms. Attribute rooms are filled with a high concentration of a specific element and are usually used by students as a site of evolution, or to practice certain elemental skills.


    The room Kain wanted to rent would naturally be of the mental-attribute.


    However, all attribute rooms provided by the college were extremely expensive. Kain had to sell practically everything on his body, aside from his weapons in order to buy the green-grade orb. He absolutely did not have enough credits left to rent out a room.


    Therefore, Kain either had to grovel to borrow credits from a classmate or obtain a large amount of credits for himself. Since the attribute room is charged at 10 credits each minute, and Kain wanted to rent it out for one hour just to be safe, that would require at least 600 credits.


    Although he knew that if Bridge had it he''d give, not loan, that amount to him in a heartbeat. He didn''t have the heart to take that much from his brother, especially since the re-ranking was coming up soon and every moment taken to improve his strength was needed.


    Kain also knew that he was preparing for Lady''s evolution as well, and he didn''t want Bridge to have to put that off for his sake.


    Therefore, Kain decided to raise the amount of credits he needed for himself.


    With his strength, he could defeat orange-grade spiritual creatures on his own. And the whole body of each orange-grade spiritual creature would usually be worth about 50 to 100 credits, so he could raise the needed amount after hunting only around 10 orange-grade spiritual creatures.


    However, even without going into the wilderness, Kain had already heard about how difficult it was to find any spiritual creatures below yellow-grade due to most of them being killed during the beast-tide.


    Therefore, Kain headed to the Mission Hall and went to one of the compartments to select his mission in privacy.


    Considering that most Bronze, Silver and even Gold missions were completely insufficient to meet his needs, and that the Gold missions that did reward over 600 credits required hunting down more powerful than average green-grade spiritual creatures and blue-grade spiritual creatures, Kain knew he''d have no shot at completing them.


    Kain then put all of his hopes onto qualifying to receive another Black Mission.


    After completing another questionnaire similar to the previous time, Kain was notified that there were no suitable missions available for him at this time.


    ''Figures�� Black Missions suitable for a 2-star beast tamer probably only occur once every 10 years. I was lucky to even receive the previous Black Mission.''


    With a heavy heart, Kain returned back to the main mission selection screen.

 Chapter 167: Chapter 167: New Mission

    Within the dozens of minutes, it took for Kain to go through the Black Mission questionnaire there was a new addition to the Gold Missions window. One that rewarded 400 credits and was one of the few that rewarded so many credits and didn''t require hunting a spiritual creature more powerful than he could handle alone.


    Although it wasn''t the full amount that he wanted, it could get him more than half-way there. Maybe he''d run into more than one orange-grade spiritual creature along the way.


    Or if he was okay with rushing Bea, he could pay for just 40 minutes but considering that the probability of her getting the best evolutionary results was already below 50%, he didn''t want to add any mental stress to her by rushing her during such a sensitive time.


    The new Gold Mission Kain recalled seeing on the Silver Mission board earlier worth only 40 credits.


    ''Perhaps there were some new developments in the mission that suddenly warranted increasing the reward by 10 times��''


    However, interestingly it was not a mission that required a beast-tamer to complete it. Rather it was an information-based mission. Specifically, one targeted more at evolutionary planners.


    According to the mission description, a bronze-quality fire-type Glimmering Salamander had failed twice to successfully evolve into a gold-quality Infernal Salamander.


    Similar to the affinity ceremony in which the soul can only handle 3 tries, typically each spiritual creature can only unsuccessfully evolve 3 times at the same stage without fatal damage to their soul. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Not to mention that just after the first evolution the damage to the spiritual creature''s vitality and soul will make future cultivation difficult, especially if they don''t manage to eventually successfully evolve to restore the lost vitality by reaching a higher order of life.


    However, it was surprising that the Glimmering Salamander wasn''t able to successfully evolve. The evolution to the gold-quality Infernal Salamander was a pretty low-risk evolution. In fact, it was extremely rare for it to fail to evolve as long as enough energy and the correct materials were provided.


    However, considering that the mission wasn''t solved when it was a Silver Mission, Kain assumed that the issue wasn''t that easy to solve.


    Normally, as a first-year student of the Planner major, Kain would not have any confidence in taking on a mission like this. However, after the most recent System update, if there were any special evolutionary conditions that needed to be met by the Glimmering Salamander he was hoping that the Simulator would shed light on it.


    Not to mention, that he would just need to come up with a confirmed explanation for its failed evolution, not even come up with a complete evolutionary plan.


    It didn''t cost him anything except time and maybe some GP to give it a shot, and it was the highest-valued mission he felt like he''d even have a shot at completing. Therefore, he decided to give it a try.


    After accepting the mission, it disappeared from the mission board, and it will only reappear if Kain fails or gives up the mission.


    However, Kain didn''t immediately leave to complete the mission. Tomorrow was his appointment date with Barret to look at the results of using Aby in the beer.


    --------------------------------------


    The next day, Kain arrived at Barret''s modest home and knocked on the door.


    Barret answered promptly, his eyes holding a mixture of guarded expectation and reluctant hope. The dark circles around his eyes and unkempt beard betrayed the tension of the past week.


    As he led Kain into the room where the barrel had been stored, he shot Kain a skeptical glance. "So, it''s been a week. I hope you''re not just wasting my time."


    Kain nodded, trying to match Barret''s seriousness with his own resolute demeanour. "I understand your doubts, but I''m confident you''ll see the difference."


    Barret rolled his eyes slightly at Kain''s confident statement.


    Barret''s eyes followed Kain as he approached the barrel, his arms folded defensively. Kain carefully unsealed the barrel and took a sample. The aroma that emerged was rich and inviting, a noticeable improvement from the smell released from the barrel a week earlier.


    Kain poured a small amount of the beer into a glass, its deep, amber color gleaming in the soft light of the room. He handed the glass to Barret with a hopeful expression. "Go ahead. Try it."


    Barret took the glass, eyeing Kain with a mixture of skepticism and curiosity. He sipped the beer slowly, and as the complex flavors��notes of caramel, toasted malt, and a subtle yet distinct hint of spice��danced on his palate, his eyes widened in surprise. The beer was smooth, well-balanced, and possessed a richness that was both familiar and novel.


    A flicker of appreciation crossed his face, and he took another, more deliberate sip.


    "Well, I''ll be damned," Barret muttered, setting the glass down with a hint of awe. "This does taste exceptional. Far better than anything I''ve managed before. I''ve got to admit, you''ve improved the flavor."


    "However," the Barret''s face darkened again, "this does not at all prove your claims about preserving the spiritual power contained in the beer."


    Kain nodded thoughtfully, acknowledging Barret''s lingering mistrust. "Here''s what I propose. Reseal the barrel and continue to sample it every few days. Track the changes in flavor, texture, and spiritual power. Normally, once the barrel is opened for the first time after fermentation, the spiritual power and quality would rapidly decline, but the method I used should slow down that process."


    Barret''s eyes narrowed, but he seemed to consider the suggestion seriously. "And you think this will work?"


    "It''s the best way to prove it," Kain said confidently. "If my method works, you''ll see a much slower decline in quality."


    Barret gave a curt nod, still skeptical but willing to give it a chance. "Fine. I''ll do as you suggest. But remember, if this fails, it''s on you. I can''t afford any more setbacks."


    Kain smiled, relief washing over him. "Thank you for giving it a chance. I''m confident you''ll be pleased with the results. I am going away for a while due to a mission, but I trust that you''ll sample it as we agreed."


    As Kain prepared to leave, he saw Barret taking another, more appreciative sip of the beer. Despite the lingering doubts, the slight glimmer of hope in Barret''s eyes was undeniable.

 Chapter 168: Chapter 168: Moonstone City

    The location of Kain''s mission was the second most populous city in the eastern region, Moonstone City. Fortunately, it was not too far from Dark Moon City, and after meeting with Barret and opening the beer barrel, Kain was able to arrive the very same day after only a few hours of travel by train.


    The second Kain left the train station he noticed the stark difference in the local architecture from Dark Moon City. While the gothic-style of the cities remained similar, the buildings in Moonstone were largely made from locally-sourced moonstone, which gave off a soft, iridescent glow under the moonlight that gave the entire city a dream-like quality.


    By the time Kain arrived in the city, the sun had already fallen therefore he was able to see the glow of the city in all of its glory.


    Walking away from the train station, Kain entered into the central plaza which featured a grand moonstone archway, which served as both a beautiful architectural centrepiece and a symbol of the city''s identity for tourists like Kain.


    In the center of the plaza stood a tall moonstone fountain, its cascading water catching the light and creating an enchanting sparkling effect that further added to the dreamy quality of the city.


    The surrounding streets were lined with moonstone lamps that provided both illumination and aesthetic charm, casting a soft glow that guided visitors through the city.


    Since it was late, Kain decided to book a hotel room at one of the nicer hotels in the city before meeting the individual who issued the mission tomorrow.


    -------------


    The next day Kain headed towards the address provided on the mission information while munching on Moonstone Scone��a local specialty.


    Contrary to the stone in their name, the scones were light, airy, and melted in his mouth. They were also sprinkled with a white edible glitter that the worker called "moonstone dust," but really was probably something much more normal.


    He eventually arrived in front of a sprawling manor that sat behind large wrought-iron gates. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain wasn''t given any other means of contacting the issuer of the mission and so just pressed on the intercom button next to the gate. After a brief moment, a cold, detached voice came through the speaker.


    "State your purpose," the voice demanded, its tone stern and unyielding.


    Kain took a deep breath before responding, "Hello, I am Kain Newman. I''m here regarding the mission about the Glimmering Salamander. I received the mission to investigate its evolution issue."


    There was a pause on the other end, followed by a skeptical tone. "And who might you be? Another admirer of our young lady''s residence, perhaps? You seem rather young for such an important task."


    Kain''s eyebrows furrowed at the misinterpretation. "No, I''m not here for that. I''m here to address the Glimmering Salamander''s evolution issue. I have the official mission form right here." He pulled out the form from his space ring, ensuring the intercom speaker could hear the rustling of paper.


    "I assure you, as an Evolutionary Planner major at Dark Moon College I''m equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge for this issue." Kain decided to exaggerate his skills and neglected to mention that he was a first-year, but that''s not important.


    "Even if I can''t solve the issue, you won''t lose anything by letting me try."


    The voice hesitated, clearly grappling with the unexpected nature of Kain''s response. "Very well. Please wait at the gate. I''ll inform the young lady of your arrival."


    The intercom clicked off, and Kain waited patiently as the gate slowly creaked open. He followed a stone pathway embedded with moonstones. It''d probably make a mesmerizing site at night as the path to the manor lit up.


    Inside, the manor exuded an aura of understated luxury. The entrance hall was expansive, with high ceilings and large, arched windows that let in an abundance of light from outside.


    The floor was a shiny polished marble that reflected Kain and the butler''s figures as he was escorted to the waiting room.


    The room was furnished with velvet armchairs and sofas arranged around an antique wooden coffee table. The furniture was a deep, midnight blue, complementing the moonstone accents in the room. Along one wall, a grand fireplace crackled softly, its warm light providing a cozy contrast to the cool-toned colours of the room.


    Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with neatly arranged volumes bound in leather. Many of the books Kain could tell were several times older than himself. And the occasional antique item on the shelves between books for decoration also hinted at the family''s refined taste.


    A large, moonstone-framed painting dominated one wall, depicting a serene night sky with a silvery moon casting its glow over a tranquil landscape.


    Kain took a seat in one of the armchairs, his mind racing with thoughts about the mission ahead and the impression he needed to make. He had already anticipated the butler having doubts about his ability, but this mission required for the issuer to confirm that Kain had found the solution. Even if he does find the solution, how would he get them to believe him?


    Judging from the scale of their home and the age of many of the items Kain saw along the way, he could assume that this was probably a relatively old and prominent beast-taming family.


    They probably already called upon many more established and experienced evolutionary planners prior to each try at evolving.


    In particular, after the first failure, they probably had dozens of planners examine the Glimmer Salamander to no avail. Why would they trust the words of a first-year college student?


    Especially, when this time, should the evolution fail, it would likely spell the death of the Glimmer Salamander.


    After waiting for what felt like an eternity, and finishing all of the refreshments and snacks provided, the large doors leading to the waiting room were finally opened and the butler re-entered followed by a smaller figure dressed in white holding a burnt orange bundle in their arms.

 Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Underestimated

    The young lady that entered the room had golden hair and green eyes and was undeniably beautiful.


    Kain wasn''t surprised that she would have admirers infatuated enough to come to her front door. However, her appearance still greatly paled in comparison to Serena''s. It wasn''t even as good as the pink-haired senior that Kain had met during the beast-tide.


    Without any preamble, Kain reached for the dark orange figure she was holding.


    However, she moved it away from his reach.


    "Proper manners would dictate that you introduce yourself when you meet a new person." The girl said. Her face had noticeably darkened after Kain had reached for the salamander.


    However, rather than due to the lack of manner as she said, it was more so because she was offended by the lack of attention that Kain had paid to her. She was used to members of the opposite sex staring entrancingly at her unable to focus on the task at hand. However, this annoying guy looked at her no differently than you would the average rock by the roadside.


    Kain felt his patience wearing thin as he watched the girl''s haughty demeanour. He had wanted to quickly get to the task at hand, especially since he''d been made to wait here for over an hour.


    ''Remember you need her to sign off on the completion of the mission.''


    "My apologies," he said through gritted teeth, his tone respectful despite his irritation. "I''m Kain, a first-year Evolutionary Planner at Dark Moon College. I''m here to assist with the Glimmering Salamander''s evolution issue."


    The young lady''s expression remained guarded, her hair cascading down her shoulders like a golden curtain. She shifted the dark orange bundle in her arms, revealing the Glimmering Salamander more clearly.


    The creature was clearly in a terrible state due to the failed evolutions. In contrast to the burnt orange colour it currently possessed, Glimmering Salamanders were usually a brilliant shimmering gold colour that could be spotted from miles away.


    The girl''s eyes narrowed slightly as she studied Kain. "I''m Alaina Ashenclaw," she said coolly. "This is Yara, the Glimmering Salamander. She has failed to evolve twice already, and we''ve had experts in the field try to resolve the issue without success.


    I''m not sure what you can do to help." Her voice clearly reflecting her doubts about his abilities, but her tone of voice also revealed her frustration with the repeated failures and her worry for the salamander


    "I understand your doubts due to my young age. But, I''m here to ensure Yara''s successful evolution. I can assure you that I have my own methods as an evolutionary planner that may have not been tried by the previous individuals you sought out."


    Without waiting for a response, Kain turned his attention to the Glimmering Salamander. He approached the table where Yara lay and began to examine the creature with focused intent. Despite his irritation at being left to wait for over an hour and then repeatedly doubted, he knew that showing any additional emotion could undermine his professionalism.


    Alaina watched him, her expression a mix of curiosity and residual irritation. Kain could almost hear the wheels turning in her mind as she grappled with the fact that someone as young as him was taking charge of a task that had stumped more experienced experts.


    "I hope you understand the gravity of this situation," Alaina said, her tone softening slightly but still tinged with an edge of defensiveness. "Yara''s failed evolutions have put her at serious risk. We need results, not just theories."


    Kain nodded, determined to prove his competence. "I get it. I''m here to find a solution, and that''s what I intend to do. If you could provide me with any additional details or previous assessments related to Yara''s failed evolutions, it would be helpful."


    Alaina hesitated, and there was a long pause where Kain wasn''t sure if she''d abide by his request. Fortunately, she soon stood up and walked over to a nearby desk. She retrieved a stack of documents and handed them to Kain. "These contain the reports and observations from the previous attempts. Review them carefully. If you find anything useful, let me know."


    Kain took the documents with a curt nod. "Thank you. I''ll start right away."


    Thankfully, she did not remain after handing Kain the documents and left the room followed by her butler.


    Now alone with the Glimmering Salamander, Kain entered the Laboratory. In front of the Simulator, he looked at the new addition for Glimmering Salamander. However, the simulated salamander had the standard golden scales for their species, so it wasn''t an accurate reflection of the Glimmering Salamander right in front of him.


    However, Kain did note that there was an exclamation mark that contrary to usual had been greyed out.


    "System. Vera. Can either one of you explain why the exclamation mark is greyed out here?"


    His assistant didn''t respond to his question, likely because it doesn''t know. As a newborn artificial intelligence, it was still learning about the world around it.


    *The model of each spiritual creature in the system is the default average member of its species. However, if the Host has come into contact with a mutant of that species, the Host can instead substitute the default model for the mutant model. Would the host like to do the substitution?*


    "Yes!" Kain was really pleased with this new feature. And this also provided him with the information that the likely reason for the failed evolution was that it was an unidentified mutant.


    Suddenly the Glimmering Salamander on the screen changed to have scales and eyes of a slightly lighter gold colour.


    If Kain hadn''t immediately seen the normal salamander, the difference in colour would have been so slight that he wouldn''t have even noticed the difference.


    After the substitution was made, the greyed-out exclamation mark became the familiar red colour.


    Kain clicked on the red exclamation mark in anticipation and received the pop-up notification that the skill Light Shroud needed to be learned in order to successfully evolve and that this condition had already been applied to the simulated version of the salamander. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, most likely the resulting evolutionary form will require the use of new light-attribute materials or may require both fire and light-attribute materials. Unfortunately, the Simulator does not help Kain with narrowing down what items would and would not be suitable.


    ''Sigh��One step at a time I guess. Focus on it learning the necessary skill and then we can figure out its evolutionary materials.''

 Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Incompetence

    However, after getting a clue about the issue, Kain had to figure out a way to convince Alaina about his explanation.


    Kain exited the Laboratory and returned to the waiting room. He saw the stack of papers next to the listless salamander and started to rifle through the papers.


    The first pages were an observation report, likely written by one of the previous evolutionary planners that they''d hired.


    "The Glimmering Salamander was subjected to the standard evolutionary process aimed at evolving it into a gold-quality Infernal Salamander," Kain read aloud.


    "The evolution procedure commenced with the standard preparatory phase, including mental conditioning to ensure a calm psychological state for the salamander before the catalytic elixir was ingested. A yellow-grade spiritual orb the necessary fire-attribute materials were either held or left within close proximity of the salamander."


    "As normal, the light of evolution began to emanate from the Glimmering Salamander. However, approximately midway through the process, anomalous reactions were observed."


    "The salamander''s scales, which normally shimmered with a rich gold hue, began to exhibit erratic fluctuations in colour, transitioning sporadically between deep orange and an unsettlingly pale gold. The expected stabilization into the fiery orange of the Infernal Salamander did not occur."


    "Instead, a violent surge of raw energy erupted from the salamander, creating a dissonant clash between the fire-attribute materials and the salamander''s inherent energy that would normally readily absorb the escaping energies from the fire-attribute materials."


    "After the light of evolution had completely faded, the weakened salamander emerged from the turmoil in a weakened state, its vitality severely depleted, and with a noticeably darker shade of scales. Further analysis is required to determine the precise cause of the aberrant reaction during the evolutionary process��"


    Kain finished reading through the report and could see faint hints within the report that may have pointed to an undiscovered recessive light-attribute. However, it may have only been obvious to Kain who already knew what to look for.


    Kain turned to the next sheet. It has the insights from multiple evolutionary planners who collaborated and eventually settled on a reason for why they felt that the previous evolutionary attempt failed.


    According to them, the failure was completely the fault of the previous planner who obviously did not accurately calculate the fire-attribute energy within the two materials used or use a stabilizing material. The fire attribute energy was then too strong for the young salamander to handle, which caused a failed evolution.


    Kain could understand how they reached such a conclusion. But really the evolutionary formula that the first planner had used, while not perfect and tailor-made to every Glimmering Salamander, was a well-established protocol.


    And considering that this evolution was typically fool-proof even without fine-tuning the amount and energy levels of the different ingredients, it was understandable that he hadn''t put in the extra effort.


    ''Poor guy is being blamed and completely labelled as incompetent��I wonder how this group justified their own failure after the deed was done.''


    "For the second attempt, adjustments were made to rectify the issues arising due to the previous planner''s incompetence. Specifically, the quantity of fire-attribute energy within the evolutionary materials was reduced, and a stabilizing agent was introduced to mitigate the risk of excessive energy surges. The second evolution ceremony commenced under the revised conditions."


    "However, while the evolution had initially appeared to progress more stably and the light of evolution persisted for a longer period of time, there was still a re-occurrence of unstable energy discharges.


    "The Salamander once again emerged from the light in a debilitated state, its condition even worse after the second failed attempt. Our group of Planner''s has collectively determined that perhaps this salamander is an anomaly with low potential, destined to never reach a higher order of life."


    ''Trash! This group of idiots just couldn''t figure out the root cause and decided to blame the Glimmering Salamander itself. No wonder they were forced to try a long-shot attempt at recruiting help through the university.


    Many of the evolutionary planners they contacted may have read this report and not even wanted to try.'' Kain also understood why Alaina showed a slight hesitation in handing over the reports.


    Kain then flipped to the last pages which were general details about Yara the Glimmering Salamander''s life. sea??h th�� N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Apparently, Alaina was a senior high-school student who would be undergoing the awakening ceremony at the end of this year. Therefore, she was not technically contracted with Yara. Like many noble children, she had a young spiritual creature with high potential raised with her from young in order to cultivate a stronger bond and give her a head start over her peers.


    Yara was currently red-grade and likely will hold off on breaking through to the next level, so as long as Alaina awakens an affinity suitable to bind her she will have a spiritual creature one grade higher than most of the other newly awakened students. And because of their close bond established from childhood, there was little to no risk of Yara unilaterally breaking the contract.


    ''Argh... it''s so unfair. Down with the rich!''


    This Glimmering Salamander is actually the child of her parents'' contracts, who were each bound to one half of a mated pair of diamond-quality Blazing Ember Wyrms��the evolutionary form following the Infernal Salamander that had some of its extremely remnant dragon''s blood activated.


    Usually, mutations could happen in 3 ways: completely by chance, which is the rarest occurrence; due to strange occurrences while the spiritual creature''s parent was conceiving, such as eating a rare spiritual plant or entering a strange relic; or occasionally when cross-species pairings manage to result in a conception and the other parent''s attribute or other characteristics was retained by the offspring.


    However, considering that cross-species conceptions were extremely difficult, especially when the parents aren''t even of the same attribute, the last option was also extremely unlikely.


    The likelihood of a whole new attribute being attained due to a chance mutation was also completely unheard of. Usually, such mutations only result in cosmetic changes or an amplification (or reduction) of the qualities that species already possess such as a stronger-than-normal shell or a hotter-than-average flame.


    Therefore, Kain was going to operate from the theory of the mother having eaten something or gone somewhere unusual while forming the egg.


    With that plan in mind, Kain delicately picked up the fragile Glimmering Salamander and exited the room. Fortunately, a lady, who Kain presumed to be a housekeeping staff, was waiting for him outside of the door, and he was instead able to request the presence of the young lady of the house instead of having to search for her in this enormous place himself.


    Kain returned to his seat with Yara and thought about just how he was going to present his findings to her so that she''d believe him.

 Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Bullshit

    Kain sat across from Alaina who was now holding and stroking the head of the Glimmering Salamander Yara, the butler standing behind her.


    Fortunately, this time she did not leave him waiting as long, and Kain had already thought about a feasible story for how he figured out the reason behind the failed evolution.


    Alaina''s demeanour was a mix of cautious optimism and lingering skepticism. He could tell she was bracing herself for another potential letdown.


    "Alaina, I believe I''ve identified the issue with Yara," Kain began, trying to keep his voice steady and reassuring. Kain saw her face momentarily shift into one of shock, before once again falling into one of doubt.


    Kain continued without waiting for her to express her doubt. "There''s a unique evolutionary condition at play here, one that hasn''t been accounted for in the previous attempts."


    Alaina''s eyes widened slightly. "Go on��"


    Kain cleared his throat, putting on an air of confidence that he hoped would be convincing. "From my examination, it appears that Yara has a rare mutation involving a previously unidentified recessive light attribute.


    This wasn''t detected previously because you had never before tried to have her learn a light-attribute skill and because the difference in Yara''s appearance from a normal Glimmering Salamander is quite subtle." Kain took out his phone to show the photo that he''d saved of a normal Glimmering Salamander.


    "The gold colour of the scales for most salamanders is usually slightly deeper than Yara''s scales."


    Alaina stared at the photo thoughtfully, before finally raising her gaze to Kain. "This is an interesting story. But how am I supposed to just believe that Yara is really a light-attribute mutant as you said based off of a slight difference in scale colour? There are slight variations in colour and pattern within a species, that doesn''t at all mean that it''s due to a second light-attribute."


    Kain took a deep breath, he knew his next story would be the important part of convincing Alaina. "I have a gift." Kain paused for added effect while feigning arrogance.


    "A gift?" Alaina asked with a raised brow in disbelief.


    "As I''m sure you know, Dark Moon College provides beast-taming students with an opportunity to increase their chances of awakening a gift. A method which is a secret to outsiders." Kain said with his chin raised as he mimicked what he felt a prideful top 5 college student should appear as to outsiders. He made sure to pre-emptively add the last part so that she would not ask for details.


    Considering he hadn''t yet undergone whatever opportunity it was, as it was only provided after the first re-ranking, he knew very little about the specifics.


    Alaina turned to her butler in confirmation, and thankfully he nodded in support of Kain''s story.


    Kain mentally breathed a sigh of relief.


    "During this opportunity, I was fortunate enough to awaken a gift. My gift allows me to sense and identify hidden evolutionary conditions and mutations. When I manifested this talent, the professors were astonished. They saw it as an extremely powerful gift for the field of Evolutionary Planners, and so an exception was made and I was admitted into the Planner major under special consideration.


    They were convinced that this talent of mine could be of great benefit."


    "It was this gift that activated when examining Yara. From my examination, it appears that Yara has a rare mutation involving a light attribute and on top of that she needs to learn the skill Light Shroud in order to successfully evolve"


    ''Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit��But I really hope that her sense of smell isn''t good enough to smell it.''


    There are all kinds of weird gifts in the world. Kain had even heard of an absurd one that can create a ''mood lighting'' that instantly puts all humans in the vicinity in a very ''frisky'' mood. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His so-called gift is hardly unbelievable.


    Alaina still seemed doubtful. "That''s impressive, but... how can I be sure you''re not lying or exaggerating?"


    ''You can''t. Because I am.''


    Kain nodded, with a forced calm. "I can''t expect you to take my word for it without evidence. Let me show you why I believe Yara has a light attribute mutation. The evidence is also in the words of the so-called experts that you''d hired previously."


    He pulled out the stack of documents and pointed to the sections detailing the previous failed attempts. "These reports indicate several anomalies. Yara''s scales fluctuated between a pale gold and a deep orange-gold, and there were erratic flashes of light. Also, Yara didn''t absorb as much of the fire-attribute materials as expected."


    Alaina leaned in closer, her eyes scanning the reports. "You''re suggesting that Yara''s mutation is a combination of fire and light attributes?"


    "Yes��or no." Kain took a deep breath. "Since Yara''s evolution will not be an Infernal Salamander, it means that all current knowledge about the evolutionary path from Glimmering Salamander to Infernal Salamander to Blazing Ember Wyrm will be useless. We really don''t know what she''ll evolve into, if it will have one or both attributes or, although unlikely, if it will even remain as a Salamander.


    Therefore, we''ll also need to account for the possibility that Yara''s eventual evolutionary form might not align with your affinity, especially since you haven''t awakened your affinity yet."


    Alaina''s expression turned sombre. "I understand. But�� Yara has been with me for years. She''s more than just a spiritual creature to me. I don''t want her to die, and she will soon if she can''t evolve."


    Kain could see the emotional turmoil in her eyes. He nodded sympathetically. "I understand. I''ll do everything I can to help her. However, considering that this is a completely new evolutionary path we don''t know the exact material requirements for this new evolutionary path. Unlike other evolutions that have been repeatedly tested and confirmed by our predecessors, we''ll be moving forward blindly.


    It will take a lot of work and luck."


    Alaina''s demeanor firmed up. "So, what''s the next step?"

 Chapter 172: Chapter 172: A Mystery

    Kain coughed into his hand awkwardly while covering up a slight smile at the corner of his lips.


    ''Now it''s time to put the rest of the plan into action.''


    "Given the new circumstances, my job is technically complete once I''ve identified the problem. However, I understand the need to confirm the evolution. If you want me to see this through to a successful evolution, I''ll need more resources and support. And, of course, a higher reward��"


    Seeing that Alaina wasn''t responding and just staring at him in silence, Kain continued, "The mission was initially not intended to include the actual evolution. It was only about identifying the problem. But considering the complexity of this situation, I think we''ll need to revise the current reward amount you agreed upon with the college."


    After a moment of deliberation, Alaina looked at him with a resolute expression. "If you can get Yara to successfully evolve, I''ll increase the reward to 800 credits."


    Kain''s eyes widened slightly. He had only needed 600 credits, so the offer was more generous than he had expected. "Ahem! I suppose that amount will be okay�� just barely."


    "Great," Alaina said while nodding in satisfaction. "Geoffrey, will you please settle this matter with the college?" After a curt nod and a slight bow to Alaina, the butler left the room.


    "To achieve this, there are two main tasks at hand��having Yara learn the necessary skill, and determining the new evolutionary materials. However, it will be difficult for me to take charge of both tasks��" Kain said, hoping that she would get the hint.


    Alaina''s eyes lit up with understanding. "I can arrange for a professional trainer to teach Yara the Light Shroud skill while you focus on determining the necessary materials."


    "Excellent!" Kain said with a bright smile. "In order to narrow down the required materials, I suggest we start by investigating the source of Yara''s mutation. It might have been caused by something her mother ingested or encountered."


    "I see�� I''ll escort you to speak with my father. He''s bound to Yara''s mother and might have some insights into this."


    "Perfect," Kain said. "Let''s get started."


    Alaina led him through the sprawling estate to the garden where her father was reportedly located. The garden was lush and meticulously maintained with a large amount of fire-attribute spiritual plants.


    As they approached, Alaina pointed to a man tending to a variety of exotic plants. "There''s my father. I''ll introduce you."


    Kain took a deep breath, preparing for the conversation that would hopefully lead to the information he needed to help Yara. Alaina made the introductions between Kain and her father��Darius Ashenclaw.


    Then Kain began to outline the situation, carefully balancing the need for useful information with the need to maintain credibility in his fabricated story.


    "Hmmm��" Kain was examined by a pair of piercing green eyes identical to Alaina''s but much colder, "I didn''t take my Yanna to any unusual locations around the time that she would have been pregnant. So according to you, Yanna may have ingested something... but if she did, I''m not aware of it. I''ll take you to her to ask."


    Darius gestured for Kain and Alaina to follow him toward the expansive garden area where two Blazing Ember Wyrms were resting.


    As they approached, Kain saw the pair of majestic wyrms basking under the sun, their red-orange scales shimmering in the light. The larger wyrm, who Kain assumed to be the father, was lounging comfortably on the grass. The smaller, more delicate wyrm, who Kain presumed to be the mother, was nuzzling close to him. The two wyrms'' interactions showcased their deep bond.


    Darius called out to the mother wyrm with a voice that carried both authority and affection. "Yanna, come here, please."


    The mother wyrm gracefully rose and moved towards them, her movements fluid and elegant. As she approached, her large, expressive eyes studied Kain with a mix of curiosity and a hint of wariness.


    Despite not being in a hostile relationship with her, Kain couldn''t help but be intimidated by her imposing figure. She and her partner both possessed dark, volcanic-red and molten-orange scales that seemed to flicker like embers.


    While slightly smaller than her male counterpart, her body was still muscular and possessed fierce claws and a powerful tail tipped with a flame that left a trail of heat waves as she moved toward them.


    Along both of their backs were jagged, sharp ridges that shifted in colour as she moved and gave the appearance of moving flames.


    Darius introduced Kain. "Yanna, this is Kain. He''s been helping us figure out the reason for Yara''s failed evolutions. He has discovered that Yara might have a unique mutation involving a light attribute." S��ar?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The wyrm''s gaze shifted to Kain, who offered a respectful nod. "Thank you for meeting with us, Yanna. We''re trying to determine if there''s anything unusual that might have happened during the time you were pregnant with Yara''s egg?"


    Yanna''s face was an impassive mask, though Kain thought he glimpsed a fleeting look of something unusual in her eyes��Worry? Sadness? Panic? It was difficult to identify. Perhaps it was due to parental concern for Yara?


    Darius prompted, "Did you eat anything or go somewhere I wasn''t aware of? I know it was a few years ago, but can you remember anything?"


    Yanna''s deep, rumbling voice echoed softly as she replied, "I do not remember consuming or encountering anything out of the ordinary during that time."


    Despite being shocked by his first conversation with a spiritual creature, he knew that higher-level spiritual creatures may eventually develop the ability to speak, Kain had the presence of mind to study her expression closely. She had a calm appearance and a lack of any visible signs of distress. However, his gut was telling him that there might be something hidden beneath her composed mask.


    But it''s not as though he could force a blue-grade spiritual creature to speak if it didn''t wish to. He just hoped that she wasn''t really hiding anything due to her concern for Yara''s well-being being great enough.


    "Thank you for your cooperation," Kain said, trying to keep his tone neutral. "It''s crucial that we gather as much information as possible to address Yara''s issue effectively."


    Darius nodded in agreement. "I understand. If there''s anything more you need from us, please don''t hesitate to ask."


    With that, Kain and Alaina separated from her father and walked back to the house. Kain couldn''t help but take a peak back at Yanna who, likely not realizing that she was being watched, had dropped her guard.


    Finally, Kain could identify the emotion that showed briefly in her eyes��pure panic.

 Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Inventory

    Alaina walked beside him, "What do you think? Any other ideas on what could have caused the mutation?"


    ''Yeah. I do. But you''re not gonna like it.''


    "Nope. It may just be a random mutation��"


    "For now, could you perhaps show me the collection of spiritual materials your family has at its disposal? Preferably only those of fire and light attributes."


    She hesitated for a moment. After all, who lets a stranger they knew for less than 24 hours have access to their family''s inventory?


    Seeing her hesitation Kain quickly added, "Due to the current quality of Yara and the likely quality of her evolution being at gold-grade, it is only necessary to see materials yellow-grade and under."


    Finally, she nodded in agreement. Yara had already been taken away to meet with a trainer skilled in light-attribute


    Alaina led Kain through the opulent halls of the Ashenclaw estate, their footsteps echoing off the marble floors.


    They reached a large wooden door intricately carved with flames and sigils. Alaina hesitated for a moment before opening it with a key she retrieved from a necklace around her neck.


    The door swung open to reveal a vast room lined with shelves and display cases. Inside were numerous items, each meticulously organized and labelled. sea??h th�� N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is our collection of spiritual materials," Alaina said, the pride in her family''s rich heritage was obvious. "I hope it''s enough to allow Yara to evolve."


    Kain''s eyes scanned the room eagerly. His gaze landed on the various items: enchanted weapons, delicate vials of glowing liquids, and numerous talismans. He followed Alaina toward another aisle where the spiritual materials were located. By far, the majority of everything there was of the fire-attribute. However, there were still materials of other attributes although they were few and far between.


    "Excellent," Kain said, allowing a small smile to form on his lips. "I appreciate your trust. This will definitely help narrow down the potential evolutionary materials needed for Yara."


    He began to methodically examine the items, noting the various fire and light attribute materials. As he picked up a vial of golden liquid and a shard of pale crystal, he murmured to himself, pretending to be deep in thought.


    Of course, it was all a show. He didn''t learn enough theoretical knowledge to accurately calculate what materials would be best to evolve a spiritual creature. Once he was left alone, he was going to use the Simulator.


    Alaina watched him closely, her expression a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. "Do you need any assistance? I can help you identify specific items or provide information about their origins if that would help."


    Kain waved his hand dismissively. "No need. No need. I''ve got it covered. What I need is just some privacy."


    Immediately she got a suspicious look on her face. "Just so you know, every single item here is cataloged, so don''t even try to steal anything."


    Kain rolled his eyes, "I am a respected student of Dark Moon College. You literally recruited me through the college. If I steal from you it''s hardly like I can run off into the night. And I''d hardly jeopardize my college career to steal yellow-grade materials."


    Alaina blushed slightly at the sound reasoning, however she still didn''t leave the room. Instead, she stood by a nearby table, observing Kain''s every move.


    An hour passed as Kain continued to pick up random items and pretend to examine them while humming thoughtfully. At some point, he''d even taken a notepad out of storage space to take "notes." Really he was just drawing random doodles.


    As he continued his examination, Alaina''s phone buzzed. She glanced at it and her expression shifted to one of concern.


    "I''ll be right back," she said, stepping out of the room. "There''s an urgent matter I need to attend to."


    Another 30 minutes passed before she returned and Kain prepared to leave. It was already pretty late in the afternoon once Kain had entered the inventory, now the sun was beginning to set and it was about time for him to leave.


    "I hope everything is alright," Kain said, glancing up from a fire and light dual attribute sunstone he was examining.


    Alaina''s expression noticeably darkened, "Yara collapsed after only some light exercises and was barely breathing. I don''t know how long it''ll take for her to learn the skill in her current condition. Maybe months, if she can hold out that long."


    ''Oh no no no! I do NOT have time to wait around for months until she learns the necessary skill and I get paid. Light Shroud is only a B-level skill, I thought it''d be learned in a few days with a skilled trainer. Especially since the Glimmering Salamander already knows a similar fire-attribute skill, Ember Shroud.''


    Kain thought about a method to speed up her learning of the skill. Unfortunately, due to the lack of a contract, he could not bring her into the Training Arena. Maybe in the future, that limitation will be lifted. However, for now, Kain only had one thing he thought might be of use.


    "I have an item that may be of some use in improving her condition��"


    Alaina shook her head, "No need. We have access to some of the best elixirs on the market. None have been particularly effective. The damage to Yara is at the level of her life force��her soul��it''s not like healing a wound."


    "I understand. But still, I would like to try my method. It''s not as though you have anything to lose anyway. I assure you that Yara''s condition with either remain the same or improve, but it will definitely now worsen.


    Finally, she relented. Although she didn''t seem to have any faith that what Kain would do would have any effect.


    Kain was planning to use Queen''s royal jelly produced by her skill the Essence of Life. The strong life-attribute energy in the jelly should have an affect on restoring lifeforce.


    Kain took out a small amount he''d already stored in a jar in case of emergencies. After all, it was more effective than most healing elixirs at and below yellow-grade.


    Compared to regular honey which was more of a deep amber colour and translucent, it was an opaque cream colour.


    Retrieving a spoon from his space ring, he spooned some into Yara''s mouth. This was the first time Kain was getting to try the effects of the royal jelly, so he was also filled with curiosity.


    Within seconds there was a noticeable improvement to her appearance. Although her scales did not return to their previously golden hue, they much more closely resembled how they probably looked in her prime based on the simulated version of her provided by the System.


    Alaina''s eyes widened in shock at Kain''s unexpectedly effective treatment.


    Meanwhile, Kain hid the great shock he felt under a calm mask. The royal jelly produced by the SS-level skill Essence of Life was even more effective than he''d thought.


    "I will focus on developing the evolutionary plan, but we can''t delay Yara''s training for so long. Whenever her condition begins to decline, please call me to treat her again."


    Kain then left the manor for the night and returned to his hotel room after a luxurious dinner in the heart of the city.

 Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Suspicions Confirmed

    Once Kain was back in the privacy of his own bedroom, he began to run Simulations for the mutant Glimmering Salamander using the spiritual materials in his employers'' inventory and his own. However, every single Simulation was unsuccessful.


    And now he''d completely run out of GP to use since only 650 GP was remaining after the System upgrade and the purchases he''d made.


    "Vera. Any insight that you could provide would be great right about now. Surely after seeing 6 tries you''ve collected enough data."


    "Six attempts are not nearly enough in order to deduce the source of the failure 100%," Vera said.


    "However, I do predict that along with the Infernal Stone that is the irreplaceable centerpiece of the evolution to an Infernal Salamander and used in conjunction with other fire-attribute materials that can be substituted, there must be a similar necessary material needed by the other bloodline it possesses."


    Vera''s statement confirmed a guess that Kain had hoped was incorrect. After all, how exactly was he going to broach this subject with Yara''s mother without being torched to death.


    "You can confirm with 100% certainty that the mutation is due to another bloodline? Not a random mutation." Kain asked. He had to be sure before he went around throwing out accusations.


    "There is no 100% in science, but I can say with at least 99.99% probability that the mutation is due to an additional bloodline. Likely, a light-attribute lizard-type spiritual creature similar in appearance to its other parent so that the appearance of this bloodline is subtle."


    Kain really did not know how to feel after having his suspicions confirmed. His mind flashed back to the male half of the loving pair he''d seen earlier.


    "Sigh��poor guy��"


    However, completely unable to continue with his simulations Kain had to develop a plan to increase his GP. Due to being a city more to the west and slightly closer towards the core of the Empire, and not along the Empire''s border acting as a defensive wall to the vast wilderness to the east like Dark Moon, Moonstone City did not have as many high-level spiritual creatures surrounding it.


    In fact, the lack of danger is probably why this city is so large. Had Dark Moon City not been the site of the college, it likely would have been surpassed in scale long ago.


    However, while this safety was great for the residents, it meant that Kain couldn''t even go on a quick hunting mission to solve his issue of low GP.


    "If I knew this mission would take so long, I would have risked missing class on Monday to go to a far enough region with powerful enough spiritual creatures. Now, if Yara can''t quickly learn Light Shroud, I''ll be in a similar predicament of missing class. Maybe I could request to return back to the college until Yara is finished learning? But while Darius would likely agree, Alaina seems��difficult. S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Especially now that I revealed that I can improve Yara''s condition, she may not let me go��"


    "Ugh! All of my professors have said that attendance was mandatory. I''ve never seen anyone miss a lecture before, and I absolutely do not want to be the first."


    "I''ll settle the issue of GP by maybe asking the Ashenclaws to provide me with living spiritual creatures to feed my spiritual creature. I only need to kill 3 more orange-grade spiritual creatures to complete the current mission anyways and have it reset."


    "However, 3 to 4 more tries won''t be nearly enough if I can''t at least narrow down what that other required material is. Which means��I''m going to have to have a little chat with Yara''s mother."


    A shiver ran down Kain''s spine at the thought. When Yanna wasn''t hostile to him she was already terrifying, once she does become hostile to him he really doesn''t even know what he''ll do�� What he CAN do. He''s completely hopeless against green-grade spiritual creatures, much less the more powerful blue-grade spiritual creatures.


    ''I wish the Genetic Reconstructor also could identify genes and tell me the species. Then I could skip out on a very awkward conversation. Unfortunately, it could only take the genes of certain traits and put them into another creature.''


    With a feeling of futile hope, Kain went to the System Shop praying that there was something he could exchange for that could maybe protect him against creatures at Yanna''s level.


    However, there was nothing of the sort, not that he''d have been able to afford it anyways with only 50 GP left.


    "Argh! I''ll think more about it in the morning��"


    Kain went to sleep, but it was definitely a restless night filled with tossing and turning as his dreams were filled with 100 ways to die, starring him and the Blazing Ember Wyrm Yanna.


    ---------


    The next day Kain woke up with huge dark circles under his eyes.


    Thankfully, he wasn''t questioned about the reason behind his evidently poor quality of sleep. In fact, the members of the Ashenclaw family took it for granted that he must have been staying up late working on Yara''s case. As a result, the faces of Alaina, her father, and even the butler, were much more gentle today than yesterday.


    "You didn''t have to come so early to continue working. Yara''s trainer and many of the staff for the manor haven''t even arrived yet since they come later on weekends."


    Kain waved his hand carelessly. Like hell he''d want to stay in his hotel room and be killed by Yanna 100 more times in his dreams. It was best to get an early start and preoccupy his mind.


    Seeing Kain''s "dedication" to his work, Alaina''s voice became even softer. "Please then, join me for breakfast. Yara will also be there, so you can also take the time examine her again."


    At this Kain nodded. He hadn''t had an appetite when he first woke up so it wouldn''t hurt to get a free meal off of them.


    Kain followed Alaina to what was likely a less formal sitting room used only for family and not for hosting. However, he only said so to the smaller more intimate size of the dining table. Everything else from the massive hanging crystal chandelier to the intricately carved wooden table and chairs screamed opulence.


    After sitting down at the table with Alaina, her father Darius, and her mother who he''d just met today��Seraphina Ashenclaw. She was also contracted to the male Blazing Ember Wyrm Kain saw yesterday��Yara''s "father."


    Seeing her, Kain was once again reminded of the awkward secret he seemed to have stepped into and looked at Yara who looked noticeably better than yesterday and was eating a bowl of specially prepared food next to the table.


    However, as Kain continued to examine Yara, an idea hatched in his mind on how to more safely get the answers he needed��

 Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Awkward Conversation

    At the same time that Kain was examining the Yara, the surrounding members of the Ashenclaw family were also examining him.


    ''This young man is so devoted to his work, the raise in reward is well deserved,'' Darius thought while looking at Kain.


    ''I was doubtful when my husband revealed that the solution to Yara''s problem was such a young person. However, it looks like age is not as much an accurate predictor of success as hard work. He''s so diligent.'' Thought Seraphina.


    ''Maybe this guy isn''t so bad. At least he''d better than the other guys in the city who only try to appeal with the money earned by their parents and their looks but have no real skills of their own.'' Thought Alaina with a slight blush creeping across her face.


    However, unbeknownst to them who all were admiring the seemingly hard-working Kain��


    ''It''d be hard for her to torch me if I use her daughter as a shield. He he he'' Kain was thinking deviously while planning to hold a juvenile spiritual creature captive while interrogating her mother.


    "Ahem! Since it''ll still be at least another couple of hours before Yara''s trainer arrived, I was wondering if I could take her around the grounds. Particularly where her mother may usually roam. Occasionally, spiritual creatures may have a reaction to the spiritual materials they need for evolution. Perhaps, if there is something on the grounds that triggered this mutation, she will react to it.


    It''d be even better if Yanna could escort me. It is a long shot though, but I figured we should explore every possibility." Kain said while facing 3 gentle gazes.


    Kain couldn''t help but have goosebumps appear across his arms at the looks so different from yesterday.


    "You truly do not stop thinking about work, do you young man?" Said Darius. "Do not mind, I will make sure that you are granted all of the necessary provisions and have Yanna escort you around the areas she most frequents."


    "Excellent! You all can continue with your meal. Thank you so much for inviting me, but I would love to get straight to work."


    Kain then quickly stood up, picked up Yara from where she was lounging with a full stomach and left the room. He followed his memory to once again reach the lush gardens outside.


    The moment he stepped into the garden he spotted Yanna alone. Likely she had already been debriefed on the situation through her bond with Darius.


    The towering figure of Yanna, the Blazing Ember Wyrm, cast a shadow over him. Her scales shimmered with a fierce orange glow, and her eyes, sharp and piercing, seemed to analyze his every movement. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hello, I am Kain. We met briefly yesterday��" Kain decided to break the silence.


    Yanna''s her expression was unreadable. However, unlike the other 3 in the house, there was absolutely no warmth in her cold gaze.


    Without a word, she turned and started down the path into the forest, her massive body swaying with each step. The air seemed to hum from the intense heat waves her body gave off.


    The path twisted and turned, leading them deeper into the garden and further from the Ashenclaw manor. Now he could now longer see the house��meaning that they could no longer see him.


    Kain clutched his little meat shield, Yara, closer to his chest. He wasn''t sure if it was just him but the whole atmosphere of their silent walk felt unsettling.


    The only sound was Yanna''s heavy body crushing the plants as she moved with purpose. Kain''s mind raced as he tried to formulate his approach. He needed to be careful�� a wrong move could lead to disaster.


    He wasn''t sure if it was all in his head, but he felt as though there was an underlying hostility coming off of her, and he couldn''t afford to provoke her. He kept a close watch on Yanna''s form, trying to discern any sign of her mood or if she''d make any sudden actions.


    Eventually, Yanna stopped in a small clearing surrounded by ancient trees. The area was tranquil, the only sound being the rustling of leaves in the breeze. She turned to face Kain, her eyes narrowing slightly. The silence was heavy, and Kain could feel the weight of the Wyrm''s gaze.


    "Alright," Kain began, using all of his self-control to keep his voice from quivering under the gaze of a creature far more powerful than him. "The gift I had previously mentioned that allowed me to determine that Yara was a mutant with unique conditions for evolution, also provides me with some additional information that I chose not to disclose.


    For example, that Yara''s mutation is from her bloodline rather than a random mutation or due to you ingesting a unique spiritual plant."


    Yanna didn''t reply. Instead her gaze got narrower and narrower while the surrounding air got hotter and hotter. Kain couldn''t help but to raise Yara up higher in his arms, hoping to silently remind her that he was currently holding her only child.


    ''Please don''t kill me. Please don''t kill me.''


    Kain took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. "I do not care how this bloodline was acquired. It isABSOLUTELY none of my business."


    ''And I don''t want to risk you killing me to keep your secret.''


    "However, I need some kind of information about the identity of the recessive bloodline to help Yara evolve. She is your only child, and I''m sure you can sense that her life-force is weak. She will die young if she cannot successfully evolve."


    Yanna''s gaze softened ever so slightly and her expression became extremely complicated at the reminder of her daughter''s predicament.


    However, the temperature around them still continued to steadily rise. He felt the greatest pressure of his life, he seemed to be pressed by a heavy mountain, and he did not dare to act rashly or even move a finger suddenly.


    ''Don''t tell me she''d even risk killing her own daughter to keep this a secret?!''


    "Truly! I have no intention of prying! Even if you could not provide me with the specific identity of the bloodline, would you at least have any clues about the important evolutionary materials for that bloodline? An object similar in its importance to the Infernal Stone that Glimmering Salamanders usually need to evolve.


    Even if you''re not sure, a list of possible objects to narrow it down to could save Yara!"


    Kain had probably never spoken so quickly in his life. However, even faster than his speech was his racing heart. At any moment she may decide that it was worth it to just blow the two of them up.


    ''Please��'' Kain prayed.

 Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Awkward Conversation (2)

    Kain could barely maintain his composure as he faced the imposing figure of Yanna.


    He held Yara close, her small frame was honestly more reassuring as a shield than any enchanted weapon he''d have access to. Each second felt like an eternity, and Kain could almost feel the oppressive heat seeping into his bones.


    Yanna''s eyes seared into him as though she were trying to gauge the sincerity of his words��that he would truly not try to pry into the past.


    Kain knew he was treading on thin ice, and the stakes were higher than ever. His and Yara''s survival both depended on the outcome of this conversation.


    "Please," Kain said, his voice steady despite the heat. "I don''t need to know the exact source of the bloodline... maybe it happened due to the ingestion of something unusual that happened contain a bloodline. Although extremely rare, it isn''t unheard."


    ''In reality it is��suddenly acquiring a bloodline through ingestion of a special material or the corpse of another spiritual creature only happens in stories. Mutations are more possible, but not a bloodline. And even if a bloodline were to be obtained in such a manner, it''d be unlikely to pass on to the next generation.


    Typically, the introduction of a new bloodline can only occur under extremely rare conditions during evolution, and such acquired bloodlines are not passed on to the children.''


    "It''s clear that this is a sensitive subject��What I''m asking for is simply a list of possible clues that you suspect may be related to Yara''s mutation.


    Perhaps a light attribute spiritual material was near you at the time you were pregnant that could affect you without you knowing�� If you could provide me with that, I can focus my search and perhaps uncover the necessary item without probing into matters that are personal and painful."


    Yanna''s gaze remained intense, her eyes narrowing slightly as if assessing the weight of his request. The air around them grew hotter still, a clear indication of her inner turmoil. Kain took a cautious step back, giving her space to consider his words��but mostly to cool down.


    For a long moment, Yanna remained silent, her massive form seemingly lost in thought. The rustling of leaves was the only sound that broke the oppressive silence since every other living creature in the vicinity had long been scared away.


    Kain held his breath, every second feeling like it might be his last, but he knew that pushing too hard could be catastrophic.


    Finally, with a heavy sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the world, Yanna spoke. Her voice, though still gruff, carried a note of reluctant resignation. "Very well. I will tell you some of the events that could potentially be linked to the light-attribute bloodline that Yara mysteriously acquired."


    Kain nodded vigorously, his heart pounding with a mix of relief and anticipation. "Thank you. That''s all I ask. Any information you can provide will be invaluable."


    "Now that I am thinking back, there are some things that may be related to Yara''s mutation, although I couldn''t remember when you and Darius asked previously��"


    ''Yeah sure, you stick with that story��''


    "During the period I was pregnant, an unusual spiritual creature broke into the garden. It seemed quite mischievous. Now that I think about it, it seemed to resemble a pure-blood genie, and as you know pure-blooded genies can create completely unbelievable effects due to their influence over the practically unheard-of attribute of fate.


    Perhaps a spiritual material related to a genie would be the possible spiritual material��"


    ''Wow! I don''t know if it''s because she''s a spiritual creature or if she''s just unused to it, but she is an absolutely terrible liar. Nobody would ever believe that story. At least I won''t have to waste my time with following that lead.''


    Likely because Kain was still looking at her expectantly, she continued with her next story. "A-Also, now that I think about it. I happened to eat a Bloodline Bloom which, as I''m sure you know as such an educated person, can allow the user to absorb part of the bloodline of the next creature they ingested. And right after eating the Bloodline Bloom I happened to um��eat��a Solarflare Drakeling."


    ''Isn''t the Bloodline Bloom a make-believe flower in the children''s novel My Little Dragon? Does she actually believe that it''s real?'' Suddenly Kain was no longer as terrified of her. In fact, she was almost cute, in a really obscure way, in her naivety and bumbling attempts to conceal the truth.


    ''However, the mention of a Solarflare Drakeling may be significant��Yara''s biological father?''


    "F-finally��there is one last possibility. Ah, yes! R-right before I had actually laid Yara''s egg, I soaked in the pond at the back of the property. However, at that time it was unusual. VERY unusual��" Then she fell silent. Kain waited to no avail for her to continue her next story.


    At least a full minute passed with them in complete silence.


    "Um��How exactly was it unusual?" Kain prompted her to continue her story.


    "Well��it was just unusual��so unusual because��it was red! Like blood! Maybe an extremely powerful spiritual creature with a light attribute got injured and bled in the pool, and that''s where Yara''s bloodline came from."


    ''That would not have any chance of allowing Yara to acquire a bloodline. She really has no idea about how bloodlines are acquired does she��''


    "Any idea on what kind of spiritual creature bled in the water?" Kain asked.


    "Uh��no"


    ''Okay, no need to continue wasting my time.''


    "Great! Thank you for all of your help. I have a lot to think about. Yara''s trainer should be arriving soon and I better get her back." Kain took his leave and left Yanna behind.


    Yanna noticeably sagged in relief that Kain did not ask for too many details about her stories. She also looked visibly exhausted as though she''d just been through a tough battle. Clearly, having to come up with so many stories had drained her mentally.


    However, her clumsy attempts at concealing Yara''s bloodline were pointless.


    Kain walked back to the manor much more happily. He glanced down at Yara in his arms.


    ''It looks like you are one-half Solarflare Drakeling.'' S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Radiant Salamander

    After giving Yara some more royal jelly to ensure she could handle the training, Kain went to a private study in the Ashenclaw household that they were kind enough to lend to him.


    Additionally, upon his request, they provided him with books about the Solarflare Drakeling and its pre-evolution forms.


    The Solarflare Drakeling is a light and fire dual attribute spiritual creature. Similar to the Blazing Ember Wyrm it also had a small amount of dragon''s blood. Looking at its appearance, it had radiant golden scales that transitioned to a fiery orange at its underbelly. However, its appearance is quite different from Yara''s.


    Kain turned to the portion of the text that talked about its two prior forms. They usually start as light and fire attribute Luminous Lizards as juveniles, which look like small lizards with scales that glow a soft light-yellow. The appearance of the Luminous Lizard more closely resembles Yara, and he could see why her scales were probably lighter.


    Then the next evolutionary form is the Radiant Lizard, which closely resembles the Luminous Lizard but is larger and more robust and also has a large orange crest surrounding its head resembling the sun.


    The predominant attribute for both of the earlier forms is the light-attribute, however the two attributes become more equal in the Solarflare Drakeling.


    ''So should I try to balance the attributes from now, since the light attribute is very weak right now? Should I have the fire-attribute continue to be the dominant one? Or should I have the light attribute become the dominant attribute?''


    Kain had already requested to have living orange-grade spiritual creatures delivered to him to supposedly feed his contract. Thankfully, their good impression of him made them very agreeable to his request.


    Moonstone City were not surrounded by as many woods rich in spiritual creatures as Dark Moon City, therefore they can''t as easily hunt for the spiritual creatures they want for meat. Therefore, Moonstone City, not Dark Moon City, actually had the largest livestock industry in the eastern region by far.


    It would be even easier to obtain living spiritual creatures for meat here than it would at Dark Moon.


    Also, unlike Kain''s hometown Brightstar City that rarely saw a spiritual creature above red-grade and didn''t have much of a spiritual beast farming industry (the limited amount of decent quality spiritual creatures would be used to breed new contracts and not killed easily) there were many more orange-grade and even yellow grade spiritual creatures raised in captivity simply to supply food.


    Of course, after generations in captivity they are among the weakest at their level and the benefits they provide upon consumption aren''t even a quarter of their wild counterparts, but an orange-grade spiritual creature is still an orange-grade spiritual creature and it shouldn''t matter to the System.


    Three orange-grade spiritual creatures were delivered to Kain as requested. They were extremely old and would be on the verge of death anyway. Kain was told that they were recently retired members of breeding pairs that had been used to produce the next generation of spiritual creatures for food.


    However, the remains of the body had to be returned back to the farmer, they had agreed under the condition that Kain would just need the brains.


    Kain used them to finish his remaining mission, and put in a similar request for the next day. Kain had arrived here Friday, today was Saturday, and he would need to catch a train back tomorrow night in order to attend classes. Before then, he''d need to tie up as many loose ends as possible.


    After finishing this mission and adding the 350 GP to the 50 he already had, Kain had enough GP for 4 Simulations. He''d still need to be very careful with each attempt.


    Thankfully, the information on the evolution of Luminous Lizards was easy to obtain, and Kain was able to narrow down the required evolutionary material to the Radiant Flower, a spiritual plant with light and fire attributes.


    Along with the Infernal Stone required by normal Glimmering Salamander for evolution, Kain only needs a suitable stabilizing material to reduce any negative reactions during an evolution with 2 or more elements. He eventually settled on a tear-shaped gem in the Ashenclaw inventory, the Sunblaze Tear which has just this property.


    Kain put the necessary materials into the Simulator for the mutated Glimmering Salamander, and the light of evolution began. Fortunately, the light appeared stable. Much more stable and long-lasting than any of his previous tries.


    Finally, Yara''s future appearance was before him. Thankfully, it still closely resembles the appearance of the Infernal Salamanders. However, the difference in colour is very apparent.


    Unlike most Infernal Salamanders with a deep red-gold scale colour, this evolutionary form had the stunning appearance of molten gold across most of the body and faded into a gradient of shimmering pale gold along the underbelly.


    The name attributed to it by the System is also a combination of its two lineages��Radiant Salamander.


    ''However, it''s the first of its kind that I know of, I guess I can just make up another name that doesn''t so obviously hint at Yanna''s infidelity. After all, there''s no reason to stick my nose into a much more powerful family''s business. What if I''m killed to keep this scandal a secret?''


    Kain proudly exited the System and left the manor in the afternoon under the excuse that he needed a change of scenery to help him think. In actuality, he already had the evolutionary plan and just wanted to use the remainder of the day touring the city. And it was an enjoyable mini-vacation indeed.


    Although the potency of spiritual beast meat is much lower here than at Dark Moon due to most of the meat coming from beasts raised in captivity, and was also more homogenous due to the limited number of spiritual creatures suited for being livestock, the food in the city made up for it with quantity and cost.


    Kain could get a heaping stack of spiritual creature meat at most restaurants��ribs, steaks, and more��for only a fraction of the cost at Dark Moon City.


    Stomach bulging slightly in contentment, Kain retired to his hotel room for the rest of the evening.


    ----------------


    Kain notified the Ashenclaw family that he had formulated an Evolutionary Plan he was confident in the next day.


    Thankfully, their trust in him now was much greater than it was when he first arrived and they didn''t make any snide remarks about needing to get it checked by another planner��especially since all of the planner''s they''d previously requested couldn''t even figure out what was wrong with Yara.


    Yara''s progress in learning the new skill was slow but steady. That also probably helped with their confidence in Kain since, although she hadn''t learned Light Shroud yet, the trainer also supported Kain''s claim that Yara definitely is able to manipulate the light attribute.


    Unfortunately, since Yara hadn''t yet met the requirements for evolution, Kain wasn''t able to finish his mission.


    "I gave you the plan. You can just have Yara evolve once she learns the necessary skill. You really don''t need my presence here." Kain''s lips twitched in irritation as Alaina once again refused to sign off on his completion of the mission and insisted he returned to oversee Yara''s evolution.


    Unfortunately, neither of her parents were currently in the manor otherwise he''d have had more success convincing them to not be so unreasonable.


    Likely, because she knew how unfair of a request this was Kain was welcomed to 5 elderly orange-grade spiritual creatures this morning to contribute to the renewed System Mission and Bea''s meal. He''d thought it was out of their appreciation for him, but he sees that it was more likely out of guilt. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ahem! The trainer says that Yara is making rapid progress. If you come back next weekend she should have completely learned the skill by then." Alaina said awkwardly.


    Kain didn''t even bother to reply. He stared unhappily at her to wordlessly express his protest with this arrangement. ''Now I have to put off evolving Bea for another week! Just great!''


    "How about you take something from our inventory as a token of my apology? It can be anything orange-grade or lower."


    The expression in Kain''s eyes lightened up slightly. Likely seeing this Alaina pushed on.


    "Really! I have full authority over any spiritual materials in that range. And I promise to have 5 more��no, 10!��orange-grade spiritual creatures waiting for you when you return."


    "Sigh�� fine." Kain finally relented and followed Alaina to the inventory, there was already a material he''d had his eyes on from the first time he''d entered. Although not for Yara or any of his own contracts��it was a breakthrough in the Lumifin evolution investigation.

 Chapter 178: Chapter 178: First Patent Pending

    Kain hadn''t given up on investigating the Lumifin''s evolutionary form ever since the previous Simulations. However, he didn''t want to waste any more GP on simulations when he wasn''t sure about how to increase the faint line pattern covering the Lumifin to the rest of its body.


    However, when he was taking his sweet time going through the Ashenclaw inventory and pretending to mull over each item, there was one item that did stop him in his tracks��Opal Glow Lotus.


    The Opal Glow Lotus is a breathtaking flower with broad, gracefully layered petals that shimmer with an ethereal, pearly white glow. Its hues blend together soft shades of white, pink, and blue, creating a mesmerizing, shifting glow as light dances across its surface.


    The petals are smooth and translucent with a constant dewy quality, making it ideal for infusing a subtle, moonlit dewy glow to the skin when smeared on.


    The lotus is a white-grade spiritual flower that has very little value in increasing the strength of a spiritual creature or human. It has only one known purpose, to improve the quality of the skin when used over time. It is a common ingredient in at-home skin masks and beauty regimens for housewives across the nation.


    However, it was this useless light-attribute flower that stopped Kain in his tracks in the inventory. As he stared at it for close to an hour, he finally figured out in what way it resembled the faint lines on the Lumifin, and the identity of those lines, a concept that he hadn''t come across since he was on Earth in his past life��the Golden Ratio.


    Kain suspected that the lines, if he were to measure their proportions, would adhere to the golden ratio like this flower. Therefore, in order to increase the coverage of such lines, he may need to focus on these seemingly useless but beautiful spiritual plants that adhere to this ratio��and the closer the plant adheres to this ratio the better.


    This cosmetic ingredient, out of all the plants that Kain''s seen so far, most perfectly adheres to this ratio. Moreover, it is extremely cheap compared to most evolutionary ingredients, meaning that it perfectly suits Kain''s needs for an evolutionary form that targets the masses.


    Kain could easily buy some on his own, but most are gathered in the western and southern regions where there are a lot more bodies of water, therefore it can be weeks or even months before he receives his order. None of the other red-grade or orange-grade materials were particularly desirable for him at this point, so he went with the extremely cheap but plentiful box of lotuses.


    When Kain indicated that he wanted the entire box of Opal Glow Lotuses, Alaina was confused and a slightly judgmental glint appeared in her eye.


    "Based on how you usually look, I didn''t think you were the type to take such careful care of your appearance. However, since it''s not particularly valuable, you can take the whole box"


    ''Excuse me?!'' Kain decided not to even acknowledge the insulting statement. Instead he just stepped forward to retrieve the box containing dozens of the flower, likely her mother''s stock for several months.


    ''Your mother will likely be pissed at you giving away all of them to me, since this is probably her personal stash that she just stored here��but dealing with the fallout is your problem'' Kain thought happily at the coming retribution. Unfortunately, he won''t be around to see it.


    After putting away the flowers, Kain left Moonstone City and headed back to Dark Moon College.


    He spent the remainder of the week attending classes and visiting Barret to test out the preservation of the beer.


    Additionally, learning from Moonstone City, Kain visited all of the livestock owners in Dark Moon City to see if they had any retired elderly orange-grade and above spiritual creatures he could use to complete his hunting mission.


    Fortunately, because he only wanted to kill them to complete the mission and feed Bea, they were mostly all receptive to the arrangement.


    Unfortunately, because the scale of the livestock industry is so much smaller than Moonstone City, after scouring the whole city, Kain only managed to obtain 8 old spiritual creatures, and it''d likely be a long time before he could get another one from them. sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Additionally, due to the spiritual power in them after generations of taming and a reduction in their capabilities, the spiritual power they contained was not much better than red-grade spiritual creatures and Kain still had to supplement Bea''s meals with the brains yellow and brains green-grade supplied by the school.


    ''Sigh��I thought I''d finally found a way to hack the missions and get Bea a steady supply of fresh food. Maybe once I get the business up and running, and I have more money, I can consider starting my own livestock farm or shipping a steady supply of living spiritual creatures from across the empire for her to eat and finish the missions.''


    However, with the increased amount of GP Kain was able to do several simulations on the Lumifin, not only with the Opal Glow Lotus, but also with other spiritual materials that closely match the golden ratio, including weak white-grade ones and more powerful-orange grade ones, to see if the evolutionary form will change.


    He also used a couple of the simulations to try different attributed spiritual plants that match the golden ratio.


    Finally, Kain developed a set of rules for the Lumifin''s evolution and only needed to start the process of proving that it works in reality and filing the patent.


    The first rule was that the materials used must be of the water and/or light attribute. Any other attributes will cause the evolution to unquestionably fail.


    The second rule was that rather than the spiritual power in the material what is more important is how closely it aligns with the golden ratio. A material that doesn''t closely align with the golden ratio with result in failure. The degree to which a material matches the sequence can be graded on a scale from 0 to 1��something Kain called the Golden Score.


    The third rule was that no matter what materials were used, the total Golden Score must exceed 1. If multiple materials need to be used to match this requirement, then materials used to stabilize the evolution must be used and the chances of failure increase. That is why it is best to use only 1 to 2 materials with a higher golden score.


    From all of the ones Kain has studied so far and had Vera calculate a Golden Score for��it''s wonderful having an assistant to do the grunt work��the best material in terms of score and cost is undoubtedly the Opal Glow Lotus with an impressive score of 0.97, meaning only 2 of the cheap flowers were needed to succeed at the evolution.


    Additionally, since they are the same material and low in spiritual power, a stabilizer isn''t as necessary and an evolution can be attempted with a 97% success rate if the beast-tamer doesn''t want to splurge on a stabilizer.


    Finally, no matter what materials are used for evolution, as long as the evolution is successful the evolutionary form will be the same:


    --------------


    Species: Gilded Serafin


    The Gilded Serafin is the evolutionary form of the Lumifin, perfectly embodying the balance and beauty of the golden ratio. Its body is adorned with intricate spiral patterns that follow this mathematical principle, creating a beautiful visual harmony.


    The creature glows with a soft, ethereal light that reflects its emotions, resulting in a stunning display of colors that shift and dance across its surface. Its mesmerizing beauty will mesmerize other spiritual creatures and humans alike.


    Quality: Silver


    Type: Fish


    Attribute: Water, Light


    A-Ethereal Charm: With the combination of the Gilded Serafin''s appearance as well as a calming glow, it can enthrall nearby creatures and make enemies temporarily unwilling to attack. The effective time is 5 minutes for spiritual creatures at the same level, and 1 minute for those one level higher.


    Spiritual creatures beneath the Serafin in strength will be enthralled until the Serafin runs out of spiritual power.


    B-Luminous Mirage: The Gilded Serafin can manipulate light to create a dazzling illusion that mimics its surroundings, making it difficult for enemies to pinpoint its location. This skill enhances its stealth and allows it to evade threats effectively.


    C-Spiral Torpedo: A swirling vortex of water can be launched at opponents. The strength of the skill, and whether it has the strength of a water balloon or sharp lance, is highly dependent on the skill proficiency of the user.


    ----------------------


    When Kain first saw the evolutionary form, he was more than satisfied. Silver-quality was even higher than he''d hoped for considering it was originally only a black-iron quality spiritual creature and white-grade spiritual plants were used for the evolution. Plus it has an A-level skill that will allow safety from higher level creatures for one minute.


    It perfectly met all of Kain''s requirements for a spiritual creature that would target the masses. Plus, its beautiful appearance will make it even more popular, not only with low-level beast-tamers but powerful people who''d want to collect it as a pet.


    Finally, since neither group would likely expect it to ever reach a level above orange-grade, they won''t be put off by the lack of a known evolutionary form. Most beast-tamers level D and under will likely never pass being a 2-star beast-tamer in their life.


    After all, while the affinity rating is more so a prediction of the creatures that can be contracted, being bound to more powerful spiritual creatures would definitely help with condensing each star. For example, now that Eve had broken through to orange-grade, Kain will have a much easier time at condensing his next star due to the feedback from her.


    However, Kain does not plan to leave them high and dry. Since it is the first evolutionary form developed by him, and the species will likely be associated with him forever, Kain planned to take responsibility and develop the Lumifin until the end. That way it''d also provide some hope for even the lower-level beast-tamers to one day reach the middle-level of 4-stars and above.

 Chapter 179: Chapter 179: Mission Finally Over

    Once the next weekend arrived, Kain headed back to Moonstone City.


    After establishing the rules for Lumifin''s evolution, Kain had spent much of his free time working on the patent.


    The patent first requires for Kain to prove that the proposed evolutionary formula is reliable, with at least 5 proven instances of success (of course the more the better) and a success rate above 90%.


    Additionally, to prove that the credit of the research is his own, Kain must organize his research notes and write a report outlining his thought process when encountering any successes and failures. Thankfully, Kain didn''t have to actually re-enact all of the failed evolutions, and the descriptions of the failed evolutions and evolutionary forms such as Gloomtail will suffice.


    Since they were failures, if he claimed to have discarded them, nobody would dig too deep. Especially since he was a newbie.


    However, Kain must also successfully evolve at least 5 Lumifin, and he must have them in person to present when someone comes to actually verify his results. Therefore, he put in a rush order for the capture of 10 wild Lumifins in case, and is simply awaiting their delivery to Dark Moon City.


    Over the past week, in preparation of them he''d paid a local company to dig up a large pond in the backyard of the property he owns in the suburbs. He had already purchased some artificial spiritual orbs at only orange-grade and cheaper catalysts on the market, keeping in mind that he wanted to prove the effectiveness of his evolution plan even with lower-quality materials used for evolution. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Additionally, although only a little more than a week had passed since first opening the beer barrel, Kain could already see that Barret was leaning towards partnering with him since barely any reduction in quality was sensed each time they reopened it to obtain a sample.


    ''Everything is finally coming together. I just need to finish this one mission to get Bea to evolve and then all of the plans I''d made recently will be on track.''


    Thankfully, Kain had confirmed before making the trip that Yara had learned the necessary skill so this trip wasn''t a waste. Plus he could take this trip to prey on their guilt of having him make this trip to complete more orange-grade hunting missions.


    When Kain arrived in Moonstone City Friday morning, he was pleased to find that they''d sent a car for him. They must have been even more anxious than him to get Yara''s evolution completed.


    Thankfully, everything went smoothly. In an open clearing surrounded by the anxious members of the Ashenclaw family, Kain, and her "parents," Yara began to glow with the light of evolution due to the plan Kain had created.


    After the glow emitted had lasted far longer than the previous attempts without any signs of the energy going out of control, the tense bodies of those watching in the clearing relaxed.


    Finally, after some more minutes the figure of the Radiant Salamander was revealed. However, that species name was only known to Kain, since it was the first of its kind that they knew of, the members of the Ashenclaw family selected a name themselves and eventually settled on Cinderlight Salamander.


    After participating in a celebratory dinner in which they all thanked Kain for his work, and he was given the promised orange-grade spiritual creatures for Bea to feed on and complete the mission. Alaina escorted him to the front door of the manor.


    "By the way Alaina, by any chance have you ever met a Solarflare Drakeling?" Just before leaving the manor Kain was finally unable to repress his curiosity about Yara''s potential father.


    "Yes. Our former neighbours across the pond at the back of our property had one. Why?" She asked in confusion.


    ''The neighbour? Tsk tsk.''


    "No reason," Kain said while making sure to have no changes in his face or tone, "I''ve just been researching a lot of fire and light attribute lizard-type creatures lately for Yara and I became curious about it because they''re so rare."


    Alaina didn''t question him anymore about the uninteresting topic. "By the way, I hope you don''t mind, but my parents were so excited at the prospect of Yara successfully evolving that they told some of their friends after the last time you came about your gift.


    People weren''t too interested at the time since Yara hadn''t evolved yet, but once word gets out that you did manage to accomplish what the previous planners had been unable to, you may be contacted for some more help requests."


    ''I suppose that''s not so bad�� but I should probably keep the details about this so-called gift vague if more people will be taking an interest in it.''


    "I don''t mind�� it can''t be that many people anyways that need help. Instances like Yara''s are pretty rare. See you again when it''s time for Yara''s next evolution!"


    Kain waved his hand nonchalantly and then headed back to the station. This quick trip hadn''t even taken a day.


    Finally, he could focus on the most important task at hand with the sudden influx of credits��getting Bea to evolve.


    However, once Kain re-arrived at the college he was shocked by the sudden barrage of mission requests being specifically sent to him through the school. There must have been dozens.


    ''There''s no way that all of these people have problems that other planners can''t solve.'' He strongly suspected that some of these so-called missions were just pretenses to find away to make contact with him. For what purpose? He didn''t know and he didn''t care.


    He had no desire to waste his valuable time preparing for the re-ranking to just socialize with some annoying rich people curious about his gift. He''ll have to carefully comb through each request to see if he can filter out the few that actually need his help.


    Maybe using his ''gift'' he can create a greater reputation for himself as a planner, which will help once the Lumifin evolution is launched. Additionally, if he becomes highly desired as a planner then even if he ignores many of these people now they''d still be eager to meet him in the future.


    Kain now had 3 plans for wealth: the spiritual beer company, creating evolutionary patents, and fulfilling challenging missions for planners.

 Chapter 180: Chapter 180: Beas Evolution

    The next morning Kain booked the mental-attribute room for Bea''s evolution. Finally, it was the long-awaited moment.


    Due to the continuous delays with getting the necessary amount of credits to book an attribute room for Bea, her evolution actually coincided with Lady''s. Therefore, Kain and Bridge decided to witness the evolution of each other''s contracts. A privilege that they would only grant to each other due to their bond as family.


    It was decided that Bea would go first since Lady was still extremely anxious.


    As for Bea, as her strength increased the clarity of the thoughts and emotions Kain could receive from her through the contract have also become more clear. Thankfully, he could sense that there was no nervousness, only anticipation.


    Kain released Bea into the center of the room surrounded by the necessary materials, including the 3 evolutionary base materials he''d selected. Since Bea wouldn''t be able to drink the catalytic elixir, Kain placed her into the liquid, with worked out perfectly since she herself prefers to be in liquids.


    He then backed away against the wall to stand next to Bridge.


    "Aren''t you going to release your contract?" Bridge asked. He still wasn''t too sure what Kain''s contract was. The last time he''d asked Kain about his affinity he wasn''t even sure what his affinity was himself. However, he assumed that Kain''s contract took the form of a mist. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Given that Kain''s second contract was also of the wind-attribute, the prevailing theory among their classmates was that Kain''s affinity was related to the wind-attribute.


    However, Bridge knew that this wasn''t correct. If Kain''s attribute could be described so simply, he believed that he''d have told him by now.


    "Bea is already there." Kain replied while pointing to the obviously empty space. Typically when there is an invisible spiritual creature, beast-tamers could still sense their presence due to fluctuations in spiritual power. But in the space that Kain pointed at Bridge sensed nothing.


    And as the minutes continued to tick by and there were no changes or anything moving. Bridge even began to think that this was a prank done by Kain and that any point he''d yell out ''Gotcha!''


    "Take your time, we paid for an hour and I can add more time if needed," Kain said aloud to the seemingly empty space while Bridge looked at him as though he questioned his sanity. That is until a faint glow originating from the bottle of elixir began to appear.


    The ball of light grew larger and larger until the light consumed the nearby materials.


    The duration of the light far exceeded Yara''s when she evolved. At least 10 minutes passed without any signs of the light fading.


    "Is it supposed to last this long?" Bridge asked worriedly. He didn''t want Kain''s contract to have any problems, especially not when the re-ranking was less than a month away. He took more pride in bragging about his brother''s top 5 status than Kain himself.


    Kain shook his head but he wasn''t worried. He had already run the simulation and he knew that the chance of failure was extremely low. His major concern is which form the evolution would take.


    The more likely form is the white-gold Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba that he''d initially had planned with only minor changes to the skills due to the newly added material from the spider�� the lack of significant changes to the evolutionary form is likely a result of Bea being unable to adequately assimilate the energy of the green-grade material meaning that''s addition was practically rendered useless.


    The less likely evolutionary form is for if Bea can assimilate with the green-grade material from the spider, resulting in more significant changes. Such as an increase in quality to Platinum��a jump so large that even the System said would be almost unheard of.


    Kain couldn''t help but put his hands together and close his eyes in prayer. He wasn''t praying to anyone in particular, it was more so just to comfort himself. He couldn''t do any of his other superstitious actions like lighting a candle or washing his body, because he didn''t want to distract Bea.


    Finally, when only 20 minutes were remaining in their booking of the room, the light began to fade and both boys stared anxiously at the now mostly empty center of the room. Where there''d previously been many materials, there was now only an empty glass bottle that previously contained a catalytic elixir.


    Bridge looked around the empty space with growing confusion before turning to Kain, "Did it succeed or not?" Considering that Bea couldn''t be seen with the naked eye, Kain would need to either look at the System or sense her changes through the contract. The former was much faster and easier so it was what he did.


    Closing his eyes to give the appearance that he was communicating with Bea through the contract to determine her changes.


    Heart beating so loudly he could hear it in his ears, he went to Bea''s new profile:


    ---------------------------------------------


    Species: Apex Mindshard Amoeba


    An advanced evolution utilizing both the Subliminal Orb and the Mindleech Vine and enhanced by the integration of the crystal core of the Mindweaver Spider. This evolution represents the pinnacle of mastery over the mind at its level, capable of reading, altering, and controlling not just memories but entire thoughts and actions of multiple targets simultaneously.


    The Apex Mindshard Amoeba embodies a nearly omnipotent presence within the mental realm, commanding legions of minds with a mere thought.


    Quality: Platinum


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    SS-Mindshard Manipulation: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba can fragment a target''s mind into separate cognitive shards, each containing different memories and aspects of their identity. It can then permanently manipulate, erase, or reassemble these shards to alter the victim''s perception of its present and past reality or to temporarily completely control their actions.


    Erasure of all mind shards will lead to death. Erasures and manipulations of mind shards are only possible for targets up to one grade higher.


    SS-Threaded Dominion: By utilizing mental-attribute threads, the Apex Mindshard Amoeba can send splits of itself that can exert up to 90% of the original bodies'' strength to numerous targets over vast distances. Skills performed by splits can only affect those equal to or lower in level than the Mindshard Amoeba.


    S-Mental Veil: This advanced protection mechanism allows the Apex Mindshard Amoeba to hide its presence from entities with spiritual power up to two grades higher, while simultaneously maintaining control over its puppets, ensuring minimal interference.


    A-Mental Nexus: This ability establishes a powerful network of shared consciousness among all connected targets, allowing the Apex Mindshard Amoeba to communicate and coordinate strategies instantaneously.


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Apex Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power. There is a very small chance of it developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.


    B-Psychic Assimilation: By consuming extracted memories, the Apex Mindshard Amoeba enhances its spiritual power and cognitive abilities.


    ---------------------


    ''Yes!'' Kain almost screamed out loud at Bea successfully achieving the desired evolution. He recalled her back to her star space after praising her on a job well-done. Once she returns to optimal condition, she can then attempt to breakthrough to orange-grade.


    Kain opened his eyes with a smile and turned to Bridge, "Your brother is going to aim for the number 1 spot." Bridge''s smile soon mirrored his own.

 Chapter 181: Chapter 181: The Cost of Business

    Thankfully, after calming down Lady''s evolution was also a huge success.


    When Kain had first helped Bridge decide on his initial contract, one of the pros that they''d discussed was the multiple evolutionary pathways available to Huricanine Pups. Although the evolutionary plans for all forms weren''t readily available in their small city, at Dark Moon Bridge and Kain got access to the full catalog of possible evolutions.


    And one of the first things they did upon entering the college was to settle on which evolutionary route Lady would take, especially since she was of a species that would need to be primed over a long period of time through her diet in a certain evolutionary direction.


    After weighing all of the pros and cons of each form, and how well each would match with Bridge''s and Princess'' combat styles, they finally settled on one form��the gold-quality Tempest Wolf.


    It wouldn''t require major changes to Lady''s combat style and would provide an all-around enhancement to her physical attributes, particularly her speed. However, this evolution would also make up for one of Lady''s biggest weaknesses��her lack of long-distance attack abilities.


    This form presents a drastic increase in her ability to manipulate the wind for both offensive and defensive purposes.


    Additionally, the Tempest Hound also has a weak affinity to the lightning attribute. Although its control over the element is very weak and at most effective for giving a strong static shock to those in direct contact with it, the strength of this additional attribute will truly show itself when it is time for its third evolution. S��arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After briefly celebrating the success of both of their contracts with a quick meal, Kain and Bridge separated. Bridge to familiarize himself with Lady''s new abilities. Kain to meet with. Barret who finally conceded to starting a company with him after there was still no decline in the spiritual power and quality of the beer after over a week since opening the barrel.


    They were going to be meeting up with a lawyer to establish the rules of their business relationship and also with a businessman that Barret highly recommended to assist in the logistics of their business.


    After meeting with the lawyer and drawing up the paperwork, it was established that Kain would receive a 70% share in the business for providing the preservation method to actually allow the large-scale exportation of spiritual beer and investing more funds, while Barrett would receive 30% for managing the creation of the beer and the development of future beer recipes.


    Additionally, while with the lawyer they settled on the trademarked name for the company. After numerous discussions, they finally settled on Aetherbrew, which Kain convinced Barett would hint at the fact that it was a beer rich in spiritual power, considering that it used the ancient term for spiritual power. But really it was a nod to Kain''s secret ingredient��Aetherbrew Yeast.


    Afterwards, they headed to a massive property on the outskirts of the city��it was a farm that the owners with money-problems had hastily sold in order to receive a large influx of cash after the land had been ravaged by spiritual creatures during the beast tide. They met their future operations manager there��Collin.


    The plan was to grow their own large supply Brewer''s Barley. However, It would take a while for the barley to fully grow, so they will begin on a smaller scale testing out their marketing strategies and setting up shipments to nearby cities using the Brewer''s Barley the Kain currently had growing on his personal property.


    In their free time, the Eve and the wasps will come here to speed up the development of these barley fields.


    Additionally, on this land they planned to set up the factory where not only will the beer be brewed on a large-scale, overseen by Barret, and then bottled and shipped out, overseen by Collin.


    "Did you already get an estimate of the cost for setting up the factory with all of the machinery we''d need?" Kain asked.


    Collin nodded, "The costs of construction, machinery, workers, and transportation are outlined in this document here. I met with some of our potential future partners for the shipment of the bottles this morning." He handed over a document with a long string of numbers at the bottom.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat at the astonishing figure. ''What they say is true, it takes money to make money��and that is A LOT of money.'' However, he made sure to keep his face unperturbed, as the one primarily responsible for the company''s finances.


    Although looking at the number on the paper he was quite a bit short of all the money he needed in order to get the company up and running, even after selling all the materials he got in the beast tide that he hadn''t exchanged for school credits.


    ''I''m gonna have to take on more of those evolutionary planner requests than I anticipated. And I''m also going to have to increase my fee��''


    "I brought my personal stock of barley that I''d grown. Barret, you use it to create the first few batches that we will send out on a smaller scale to some influential individuals to get the name out there." Kain handed a small space ring filled with barley he''d already prepared.


    He couldn''t help but think back to the days when a small space ring would be way too expensive for him, and now he can give one away at his convenience.


    "Leave the marketing to me," Collin said. "We can even set up a meeting with a marketing firm. I went to college with someone who now works at one of the top firms in the empire. I can get us a cost estimate for their services."


    Kain''s eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch at the prospect of spending even more money.


    "Leave that for now��let''s first focus on getting the business up and running."


    Before Collin could come up with any more expensive ideas, Kain excused himself.


    ''There''s one more day before classes start on Monday. Let''s see how many of the simpler planner requests I can complete by tomorrow. I only have a few hundred GP left, maybe in addition to the increased cost I should also include providing living orange-grade spiritual creatures as part of my fee?''

 Chapter 182: Chapter 182: The First Re-Ranking Tournament

    The next few weeks flashed by quickly as Kain rushed between classes, meeting with Barret and Collin for the business, and completing as many Evolutionary Planner requests as possible to get enough funds for the business. S~ea??h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Strangely, after finding out that Kain had quite a high fee for a first-year student who hadn''t even graduated yet, the people directed to him by the Ashenclaws seemed to have even more faith in his abilities.


    In fact, despite charging more than many official planners, Kain''s skills were even more in demand. In combination with his mysterious ''gift'' and his request for orange-grade ''offerings,'' Kain''s reputation actually grew greatly as his image in the eyes of others became shrouded in mystique. Maybe he could even increase his fee again��


    During this time the Lumifins that Kain had ordered had all successfully evolved into Gilded Serafins with a 100% success rate, and are being kept in an artificial pond on his property.


    With the assistance of Vera and the lab notebook provided by the System, Kain put together the research report needed for the patent application and was just waiting for the validation process to be initiated, in which they will visit Kain in person and attempt to independently recreate his results using his research notes.


    However, Kain was certain that he''d eventually have his patent approved, and so in preparation, he had invested heavily in several companies that specialized in breeding and capturing water-type, and particularly fish-type, spiritual creatures. Also as an investor he''d also given them a tip to begin capturing Lumifins and collecting any Opal Glow Lotuses they see by the way.


    Thankfully, with his crazy running around to complete planner requests, he''d made enough to support both business ventures.


    Currently, he was very tight on funds, and if food for him was not provided by the university, he may be forced to live off of cheap bread for the rest of the month.


    However, money, or lack thereof, is not what Kain''s mind needed to be focused on right now. Currently, he was standing amongst all of his peers at one of the college''s large stadiums as they listened to the lecture being delivered to them by Professor Flint, their instructor for Wilderness Survival.


    Today would be the beginning of the first re-ranking of Kain''s career, and one could practically feel the palpable tension humming through the air.


    Due to constantly being on the move, Kain hadn''t yet had the opportunity to set multiple days aside to focus on breaking through to 3-stars.


    Although, based on the number of leave requests being granted leading up to the re-ranking, Kain was certain that at least 10 of his classmates, including the twins Addison and Aiden, had attempted to breakthrough and were likely successful given that nobody had returned to classes looking ill.


    However, despite not being at 3-stars, Bea had successfully broken through to orange-grade. Meaning that the strength of Kain''s contracts was not inferior, and may even be superior, to many official 3-star beast-tamers.


    He''d gone on some hunting missions in his limited free time to familiarize both of his contracts with each other''s skills and different battle strategies.


    However, those few missions were still not enough. If he did not have the newly provided Training Arena from the System to practice battling against known spiritual creatures owned by his classmates or practice honing their skills, he would be feeling a lot more unprepared.


    "Your first re-ranking today is of particular importance because it will determine the order in which you will have access to the Enchanted Spring. As I am sure you all know, entering the spring increases the likelihood of manifesting a gift and might slightly improve the strengths of gifts in those that already possess one."


    "However, the magical properties of this pool are limited in effectiveness and the order for entering the pool is based on your rankings, with the top 5 students of each year being granted first access, followed by those ranked 6 to 20, and so forth.


    With the magical properties of this pool being limited in effectiveness, there may not be much of an effect remaining by the time those of you at the bottom of the rankings enter."


    "Therefore, I hope you all will put your best efforts into improving your rankings as the gap between you and your higher-ranked peers will only continue to increase due to the differences in resources provided. For those of you in the top 20, and even top 5, we will see today which of you have relaxed during your time as students and are destined to be surpassed."


    "I will now be revealing the matchup results for your first re-ranking battle."


    The format of the Re-ranking Tournament is as follows:


    ----------------


    Phase 1: The Group Stage


    Of the 53 students that were originally in their year, 4 students had died during the first field assessment, and one of the two that lost a contract during the beast-tide was unable to recover from the trauma and grief and dropped out. Therefore, there were 48 names shown on the screen above.


    Likely due to there being 48 students, they sorted the top 8 students into separate groups as seeds and then randomly assigned the remaining students into groups 1 to 8 to form even groups of 6.


    Each group of 6 will compete against one another in a round-robin format to form a within-group ranking of 1 to 6.


    Phase 2: The Ranking Stage


    All students with the same within-group ranking will then compete against the others with the same rankings from their respective groups in a round-robin format.


    That means the first place of each group will compete against one another to determine ranks 1 to 8. The second place of each group will determine ranks 9-16. The third place of each group will determine ranks 17-24, and so forth until every student has determined their final ranking.


    ----------------


    As one of the seeded candidates, Kain wasn''t too worried about anyone that would be in his group for Phase 1. In fact, aside from Serena, he wasn''t too worried about the strength of any of his peers.


    And looking at his group, Kain''s feelings of confidence were re-affirmed. There was nobody he thought would force him to show any major cards before Phase 2. He was grouped with ranks 10 (newly crowned after the death of the previous rank 10), 23, 31, 35, and 42. None of which were any individuals he was particularly close to.


    In fact, the only one he''d even spoken with previously was Riley at rank 35 who was one of the two survivors in the group that enraged the Glacial Leviathan during the Wilderness Survival field assessment.


    He was more anxious about Bridge''s assigned group.

 Chapter 183: Chapter 183: First Battle

    Thankfully, out of all of the groups, Bridge seemed to be in one of the easiest groups.


    Bridge at rank 39 (his rank now higher due to four of the 5 students dying or dropping out being ranked above him) was placed into group 8 which had the eighth seed, rank 14, Riley''s fellow survivor Elara at rank 37, Aria at rank 46 who was in Kain''s group for the field assessment, and rank 47 who was one of the two students to lose a contract during the beast tide.


    Kain was confident that aside from ranks 8 and 14, Bridge could defeat any of the other 3 easily. With a little luck or a favorable matchup between spiritual creatures, he may even be able to defeat the 14th ranked student. Therefore, regardless of if Bridge is ranked second or third in his group, he can look forward to a substantial increase in rank.


    If he finishes second he''d be able to automatically receive a single room, while if he places third he''d still be able to fight for a position in the top 20.


    Among the others that Kain was close with, Aiden and the last-ranked Elias, were both in Kairos'' group 5.


    Finn and Leonara were also together in group 6 led by Dwayne, who as the only S-rated affinity not in the top 5 had a lot to prove during this re-ranking.


    Finally, Addison was sorted into group 4 led by Ranya.


    Looking at the groupings, Kain felt optimistic that most of his friends should either remain at a similar rank or go up.


    With the group stage requiring 5 matches per group, it was decided by the teachers that they''d each participate in 2 matches per day to strike a good balance between pacing and intensity, allowing participants to compete while minimizing fatigue. This means that the group stage will last for 3 days, with the last day only having 1 battle so that they have more time to rest before Phase 2.


    Thankfully, the battles occurring on the same day were spaced far apart and there were teachers with healing contracts available at all times, as well elixirs to restore spiritual power that can be taken after each battler. Therefore, it could be ensured that each participant were competing at max strength.


    "Can the first set of students set to battle from each group make their way to the stage assigned for their group. Up first for Group 1: Seed 1 Serena and Rank 22 Lila Carrington; Group 2: Seed 2 Kain Newman and Rank 31 Julian Carr; Group 3��"


    Kain made his way to the second stage from the left with a large 2 carved into the center. There were 8 large stages separated by translucent barriers to prevent interference between the matches.


    Kain noticed that the first called upon were the seed candidates for each group, likely as a way to heat up the atmosphere and also to clearly show the other students the targets they should be aiming to surpass.


    And the Kain could sense that the teachers'' intentions were achieved. Kain could feel many pairs of eyes practically digging into the flesh of himself and the other 8 seeds like the pricks of needles.


    Unfortunately, this arrangement meant that Kain was unable to watch the battles of who would likely be his biggest competitors.


    Based on the field-assessments, beast-tide, and missions, information about every students contract had likely already been spread around and could be obtained if desired. In particular, information about the members of the top 5 was especially valuable and the most discussed.


    However, during the past month since the beast-tide, Kain was sure that like him many of the other top students had evolved their contracts, had breakthroughs, or maybe even acquired a new contract.


    Therefore, the best information would be the first-hand observations he''d get by watching them today.


    ''Maybe if I finish this match early, I can watch and get some more info...''


    Kain looked at his opponent, Rank 31 Julian Carr. Despite in the lower half of the rankings based off of strength, Julian would probably be ranked within the top 10 of their year based off of appearance.


    Julian stood at around 6 feet tall with a lean, athletic build. His tousled dark brown hair framed a chiseled face, with high cheekbones and a strong jawline. His piercing green eyes stood out against his sun-kissed tan skin and seemed to glimmer with either curiosity or mischief. He didn''t at all seem intimidated by Kain''s ranking.


    ''I guess he wouldn''t be fit to be a Dark Moon student if he didn''t even have that much fighting spirit.''


    Julian''s contracts was an orange-grade Steelwing Hawk and red-grade Storm Albatross. Both of which were wind-attribute bird-type spiritual creatures, likely due to the limitations of his affinity.


    The second he was given the signal to start, Kain covered the arena in a mist. After losing the water attribute, Bea could no longer integrate into liquids as easily as before. However, Kain''s knew style of battle did not require Bea to be within the mist.


    In fact, Kain didn''t plan to use Bea at all for the duration of Phase 1 and this mist was purely to conceal more of his information from the watching crowd.


    For added concealment of his strength, Kain also only summoned 6 of the 18 Vespirae he could currently summon. He had only ever summoned 12 Vespirae in front of others, therefore none of the students knew the maximum guards he had. Still, Kain felt that 6 were enough to deal with the two contract before him.


    As Julian and his contracts looked warily through the mist for any sign of movement, without warning the six Vespirae shot forward, their wings creating a powerful gust that momentarily parted the mist as the surrounded Julian''s contracts.


    Each wasp zipped through the air with remarkable speed, barely visible to the naked eye. Julian''s hawk roared, instinctively flaring its wings to take to the skies, but resistance was futile.


    In an instant, the Vespirae launched six stingers with pinpoint accuracy. The first projectile sliced through the mist and struck the hawk in its side, piercing through its defences. The creature let out a shriek of surprise and pain, spiraling slightly as it struggled to regain its balance and doge the remaining.


    However, the intensive training inside of the System had drastically improved the accuracy and predictive ability of the Vespirae guards, and only one stinger was able to be successfully avoided while the other 4 hit the target.


    As the hawk crashed to the ground, the mist momentarily cleared due to the movement, revealing Julian''s wide-eyed shock and the formidable figure of his once-majestic mount, now incapacitated. The Vespirae then moved to surround the previously ignored Albatross.


    "I concede!" Julian quickly called out before Kain could seriously injur the reminder of his two contracts.


    Kain recalled the Vespirae before dispersing the mist.


    Finally, those in the audience could see the arena. All they''d been able to see was mist before they heard a screech, a loud bang and Julian''s signal of defeat. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The whole battle was over in less than 10 seconds.

 Chapter 184: Chapter 184: Seckill

    The whole stadium was quiet at the shock from such a quick battle. They had figured that the gap between themselves and the top of their year would be great, but none had thought the gap was great enough to achieve a seckill.


    Kain didn''t mind the reactions of the crowd, and looked at the other stages to see some of his competitors'' performances.


    However, looking around Kain realized that the shocked silence of the crowd wasn''t due to him��at least not entirely. Not only had Kain defeated his opponent before the crowd could even fully grasp what was going on, but Serena, Soren, and Kairos had also all defeated their opponents within seconds. In fact, the order in which they''d defeated their opponents almost perfectly matched their rankings.


    Serena, the quickest, couldn''t have taken 3 seconds, while the relatively ''slow'' Kairos had taken closer to 9 seconds.


    Not long after, the rank 4 Ranya''s opponent also admitted defeat.


    Kain and the other winners returned to their seats directly having not expended much strength, while those they''d defeated went to get healed.


    The gap between those in and outside of the top 5 was definitely apparent as the other 3 stages, while definitely one-sided battles, were still ongoing. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''I don''t think the difference in strength between us and them was that great during the entrance test. Can the slight difference in resources and spiritual power in the top 5 dormitory really cause such a gap in 3 months? It''s also possible that the gap is due to the beast-tide. Being in the most dangerous area forced the 5 of us to constantly push ourselves and grow.''


    Although not as jaw-droppingly quick as the battles in the first 5 stages, the remaining 3 battles all finished within 2 minutes. The surrounding students applauded those still on stage for their performance, but all of them, especially Dwayne, sported unhappy expressions.


    All of them had entered the re-ranking with the goal of finally entering the top 5. After all, they were the closest ones to being able to dethrone the current top 5. However, the gap in their time for finishing off their opponents was large enough to make them wonder if all of their hard work over the past few months was futile.


    However, nobody could spare any attention to comfort them as the next round of matches began��including Bridge.


    Before Kain could even become anxious on behalf of his brother, he saw that his first opponent was Aria. Despite having a pretty useful gift she truly is no threat. In fact, she may even lose her position as third from the bottom and directly sink to last place after this re-ranking.


    This was especially so since unlike all of the other students with at least one orange-grade contract by now, the only contract Aria''s revealed so far is still red-grade. Bridge hadn''t even needed to use Lady to defeat her, and chose to battle using the red-grade Princess.


    Taking Kain''s advice, Bridge was trying to conceal as much of his strength as possible.


    The day dragged on as students were continuously called for round after round of matches. Among the other battles, surprisingly there was an instance of another kill within seconds. A dark-horse in group 7 ranked 15, named Lucas Montgomery, was surprisingly able to defeat rank 20 who was not too far beneath him in less than 13 seconds.


    Moreover, similar to the strange methods used by the top 5, it was similarly difficult to determine his combat method.


    ''He looks more threatening than the actual seed of group 7, there will probably be an upset within that group.''


    Kain finished his second match of the day against the student at rank 42 even more quickly than the first one.


    Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for him, the other times the top 8 students were called upon did not overlap in timing so he was able to observe their performances��as short as they may be.


    However, this also meant that they were given the opportunity to also observe him.


    Finishing his own second battle and witnessing the remaining battles of students he thought may give him some trouble, he left right after checking out the performances of the rest of his friends.


    Bridge was able to win against Elara at rank 37. Meaning that Bridge had currently one both of his fights.


    Thankfully, as Kain predicted, none of his other friends seemed in danger of finishing outside of the top 3 of their respective groups except for Elias in last place.


    Of his two battles today, the first was against the seed of his group, Kairos, and Elias had directly abstained. The second was against the 26th ranked student who he once again lost against. However, he put up a surprisingly good fight. Despite the huge difference in rank, this was actually the longest matchup of the day, extending for longer than 30 minutes.


    Proving that Elias'' current ranking is definitely not an accurate reflection of his current strength.


    In fact, the fight may have dragged on for longer if at the 30-minute mark Elias did not attempt to use his gift.


    Before anyone knew what was happening, a naked Elias appeared next to the female rank 26.


    After a squeal in shock and a sharp exclamation of ''pervert!'', she then proceeded to punch him in the face as hard as possible. It was an instant knockout. In a sense it was a seckill in a different sense...


    That''s right. Elias was not eliminated due to the fight between spiritual creatures, but rather due to he himself being knocked out by his opponent''s fist.


    Strangely in a beast-taming battle, the outcome was decided by the strength of the fists of the tamers...


    Sigh


    Kain couldn''t help but expel a deep breath as Elias made his way back to the stands with a tissue paper stuck in his nostrils, presumably to stop the bleeding.


    Elias was the last match of the day he was interested in, so he immediately returned to the dorm to rest and also formulate a strategy for the next day.


    Thankfully, with the Training Arena''s Skill Optimizer Bea was able to still train while Kain was doing the re-ranking with Eve and the Vespirae, so her time wasn''t wasted.


    Since the Vespirae weren''t tired due to the quick battles, Kain also sent them to practice battling against some of the spiritual creatures Kain knew were contracted by the remaining opponents in his group in the Training Arena''s Battlefield.

 Chapter 185: Chapter 185: End of Group Stage

    Unsurprisingly, Kain finished at the top of his group and will enter Phase 2 to compete for ranks 1-8.


    All of his battles ended almost as quickly as the first one. The longest battle was against the rank 10 student, but still did not surpass 1 minute.


    Similarly, Serena, Soren, Ranya, and Kairos also ran through their opponents with incredible speed. Therefore, Kain was unable to obtain any more practical information on their contracts'' skills.


    Among the other seeds, ranks 6 and 8 also advanced at the top of their groups, but there was one surprise within group 7. The rank 15 Lucas advanced at the top of group 7. Therefore the original seed of that group will at best be able to compete for rank 9 in Phase 2.


    Addison and Aiden easily advanced in second place of groups 4 and 5, respectively.


    Finn and Leonara competed intensely for the second place in their respective groups. After a long battle Leonara, who was originally ranked 2 places below Finn, managed to prevail and will also compete in the second group in Phase 2. However, Finn who is currently rank 16, may not have his final ranking adjusted greatly if he can finish at the top of the third-placed group.


    Within the same group as Finn is Bridge, who narrowly lost out to his opponent at rank 14 in the battle for second place due to an error in choice made by Lady. However, it''s been less than a month since she evolved and upgraded. Bridge also doesn''t have a System with a Training Arena that can help with rapidly improving skill and battle proficiency.


    At the next re-ranking, as long as he keeps up the hard work, Kain predicts that Bridge may be able to finish within the top 2 of his group.


    Finally, Elias, likely due to the limitations of the frontal combat ability of his contracts, finished last in his group.


    Professor Flint posted the final placements of each student within their respective groups, and the rankings they''d be eligible to compete for in Phase 2. Kain, of course only paid attention to the names of those he knew, which pretty much just consisted of. Those that were in the top 20 since the beginning of the school-year and his friends. The final groupings were as follows:


    --------------------------------


    Phase 2: Ranking Stage


    Ranks 1-8: First place from each group.


    Participants (current rank in brackets): Serena (1), Kain (2), Soren (3), Ranya (4), Kairos (5), Dwayne (6), Lucas (15), Hailey (8).


    Ranks 9-16: Second place from each group competes.


    Participants: Camille (9), Mike (10), Liam (11), Addison (12), Aiden (13), Leonara (18), Michael (7), Rai (14)


    Ranks 17-24: Third place from each group competes.


    Participants: Finn (16), Bridge (39) and Ranks 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25 sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ranks 25-32: Fourth place from each group competes.


    Participants: Elara (37), Ranks 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31,


    Ranks 33-40: Fifth place from each group competes.


    Participants: Riley (35), Ranks 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 47


    Ranks 41-48: Sixth place from each group competes.


    Participants: Elias (48), Aria (46), Ranks 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45


    ----------------------


    Likely because the students are now closer to one another in strength and effortless quick-decision matches won''t occur as frequently, the remaining battles in Phase 2 only occur at a pace of one per day��which explains why they were given two full weeks off from classes during this period.


    Kain''s first opponent of the day was Hailey at rank 8.


    Thankfully, due to her higher ranking quite a bit of information about her had been spread around. Although, the accuracy of the information still needs to be confirmed.


    From what Kain had heard, her affinity was related to metal-attribute spiritual creatures and she had a gift that can also add a strong metal defense to a designated target. As a result, of the already strong metal defense of her contracts getting stronger due to her gift, it was difficult to do any damage to them.


    Kain had already used the Training Arena''s Battlefield to practice fighting against Hailey''s two known orange-grade contracts: an Ironhorn Juggernaut, which resembles an extremely large rhino, and a Mercury Sentinel Beetle, which appears like a large beetle made of blue shining, fluid metal.


    Of course, he couldn''t also simulate the effects of Hailey''s gift on them; however, even without the addition of her gift Kain discovered that it took multiple strikes by the Vespirae in the exact same spot to penetrate their defence. And during a high-intensity fast-paced battle achieving that would be difficult.


    Therefore, this would be the first battle in which Bea will be revealed. Similar to the Mindweaver Spider from which she got some of her abilities, her mental attribute threads also ignore most defensive methods.


    Of the 8 stages set up in the Stadium, 2 were removed to leave only 6 stages that were slightly larger. The first battles for each group were then called to the stage.


    The first matchup in Group 1 was between Serena and Lucas.


    Surprisingly, the opening match of Group 2 was between the siblings Addison and Aiden.


    Therefore, Kain focused the majority of his attention on stages 1 and 2, since the remaining stages didn''t include matches with anyone he was particularly close with.


    ''Hopefully this dark-horse can hold out long enough for me to get some more information about Serena''s strength.''


    In all field assessments, the beast-tide, and even during the re-ranking so far, she had only revealed one contract��the elemental spirit with 4 attributes. According to the System''s Battlefield when Kain simulated battle against it, it is called an Elemental Guardian.


    After much practice, Kain was able to defeat it without significant losses to himself. But he knew that Serena''s Elemental Guardian was on a completely different level compared to the simulated one, likely because it was benefitting from her gift in some way.


    Hopefully, Lucas or some of the others would be strong enough to get her to reveal at least one more contract, or even the identity of her gift.

 Chapter 186: Chapter 186: Serena vs Lucas

    Lucas was bound to a spiritual creature that resembled a snake, but it could also be a wyrm due to the two curved horns coming out of its head, although its scales and face were definitely more snake-like. The spiritual creature had black scales that shimmer with violet undertones. Its two black horns flashed and crackled with electricity, and its eyes glowed an eerie, electric blue.


    So far Lucas, like Serena and Soren, was the only one within the top 8 to only reveal one contract. Surprisingly, facing Serena he still chose to only release one contract.


    ''Is it overconfidence, is his other contract too low level to make a difference, or is it some other reason��''


    The arena was charged with tension and the whole arena seemed to collectively hold its breath at the first battle between two top students of their year. Finally, they will get to see what a battle between those at the peak of strength in their age-group looked like.


    Lucas and Serena''s contracts stood facing each other. Serena''s Elemental Guardian was starting off in its sturdy earth golem form.


    The second the match was signalled to start, Lucas'' contract surged forward, unleashing a volley of black lightning that shot through the air like a twisted spear.


    The golem summoned a sturdy shield composed of the earth element, however the unusually coloured lightning seemed to penetrate the shield easily. The golem was forced to raise its massive arms just in time to absorb the brunt of the attack.


    However, the black lightning didn''t lose much of its momentum going through the shield and shattered the rocky exterior of the golem''s arms, sending debris flying. The destructive nature of Lucas''s lightning was evident, as it tore through the extremely sturdy earth element like paper.


    Observing the black lightning, Kain eventually concluded that it was far more dangerous than ordinary lightning and seems to have a strong destruction or decay property added to it.


    Not content with remaining on the defensive, Serena''s contract transformed into a blazing, phoenix-like entity. Waves of molten lava cascaded from its wings as it soared toward Lucas. The heat radiated through the arena, forcing Lucas to shield his face.


    However, this form definitely had a much weaker defense and didn''t dare to face the black lightning head-on. But it had much greater agility and focused on dodging the snake''s attacks. For a moment the battle was at a standstill as they exchanged long-distance attacks.


    The entire battle had now exceeded 20 seconds, far surpassing the length of time anyone else had lasted against Serena. However, Kain could sense that while Lucas was extremely focused on the battle, Serena wasn''t yet taking things seriously.


    The elemental Guardian transformed again into an ethereal wind fairy, as Lucas'' contract eadied another bolt of black lightning, Serena commanded her wind fairy to create a barrier of swirling air. The winds picked up the debris previously created and sent it spiraling toward Lucas and his contract, momentarily obscuring their view.


    A gust of wind far stronger than one would expect to be produced by an orange-grade spiritual creature then redirected the oncoming lightning. The wind shield shifted, causing Lucas'' contracts own attack to instead spiral toward his vulnerable body. And, due to having his vision obstructed, he wouldn''t even be able to dodge.


    Serena chose the more efficient method of taking care of the contractor before the spiritual creature.


    ''So ruthless��that lightning may very well kill him.'' Likely having the same thoughts as him, Kain could see Professor Flint shifting closer to the stage preparing to jump in. However, once he did so the match would be declared over and Serena would be granted the win.


    However, fortunately it seems as though Lucas received a signal from his contract and managed to dodge in time. The lightning instead struck the ground right next to him causing a massive crater of damage to form on the stage.


    Serena''s contract at some point had shifted back into the earth golem form and slammed its fists into the ground, sending shockwaves toward Lucas, who struggled to regain his footing amidst the chaos.


    Lucas'' unsteady body then fell from the stage with barely any injuries. The battle was over in a surprisingly anti-climactic manner.


    Despite the seemingly ruthless tactic half-way through the battle, she had been surprisingly gentle in how she chose finish things.


    ''Did she anticipate that he''d dodge the lightning? Or did she truly not care that he''d be seriously injured? But if she didn''t care why choose to end things as she did? She could have just bombarded him and his contract to exhaustion or serious injury. After all, he''d personally witnessed her seemingly limitless supply of spiritual power.


    The battle was over within 30 seconds, but it was riveting nonetheless.


    With it over, Kain turned to focus on Addison and Aiden''s battle as some professors with earth-attribute contracts were responsible for repairing the stage. It''d probably take a few minutes to perfectly repair, so he had a little more time before he''d have to go down and prepare to fight Hailey.


    Addison and Aiden were currently evenly matched. Addison and Aiden''s fire and wind sprites respectively were extremely familiar with one another and perfectly restrained each other.


    Aiden''s second contract was an orange-grade Tempest Pterix that he''d gotten in his first mission with Kain. He must have spent a ton of resources and effort to get a spiritual creature that hatched less than three months ago up to orange-grade.


    Bridge''s Princess was slightly older and yet had just barely managed to break through before the re-ranking.


    As for Addison, this was the first time that Kain was seeing her second contract. It was a fire-type butterfly spiritual creature, with wings that flickered and danced like living flames. Each wing was a colourful gradient of deep crimson at the base, that transition to bright orange and finally to a golden yellow at the edges, resembling a fiery sunset. It was as beautiful as it was deadly.


    Unfortunately, their battle still wasn''t complete by the time Kain was called up to the now repaired stage. It was time for his first match of Phase 2. sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Kain vs Hailey

    The eyes of those in the arena once again moved from stage 2 to stage 1, as the battle between the next two contestants of the top 8 made their way onto the stage.


    Included among those watching was a pair of ice-blue eyes watching the stage critically, or more specifically one figure on the stage.


    Noticing the attentive gaze, Soren''s green eyes looked as though they wanted to skewer Kain alive.


    Without any exchange of words, the moment the fight was scheduled to start, Kain released a dense mist to cover the stage. He had no plans to let his future opponents easily obtain any information on his spiritual contract.


    He had already summoned Bea before the battle began, but of course nobody else realized the fact. Instead, it looked as though Kain was planning to fight Hailey''s two contracts, known for their formidable defence, alone with a spear.


    Barely visible threads of mental energy emanated from Bea, weaving through the mist like silken strands. Unfortunately, although not as obvious as the Mindweaver Spider''s mental threads, Bea''s threads were not completely invisible. Therefore, some of her stealth abilities were exchanged for increased mobility.


    The thick mist helped to conceal the threads making their way towards the large figures of the Ironhorn Juggernaut and Mercury Sentinel Beetle.


    However, likely sensing the impending threat, The Juggernaut, a colossal rhino with a gleaming metallic hide, stomped its feet, creating tremors in the ground to halt whatever threat its animal instinct could sense was approaching, however it was useless.


    Hailey and the Mercury Sentinel did not sense anything like their ally, but the figures of both contracts began to glow with a metallic sheen as Hailey''s gift was applied to them. But it was just another useless action.


    The threads, nearly invisible in the dense fog, connected with the Juggernaut''s mind, bypassing its formidable defenses. For a brief moment, the beast''s movements became sluggish, confusion evident in its eyes. However, the confused haze quickly faded after only struggling for a few seconds. And the mental threads retracted back into the fog without Hailey being able to see anything.


    An added benefit of a split being transmitted using the threads as a vehicle was that Bea did not have to maintain contact with the target like the Mindweaver spider did, and once the thread was retracted and the split integrated into the mind, it''d be almost impossible to detect anything. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain could get Bea to control both contracts, but he wanted to experiment a little more with Bea''s new abilities. Plus, he could conceal his ability to control more than one target at once for a little longer. After all, even if majority of the audience couldn''t see anything, there''s no guarantee that Hailey won''t say anything.


    Not to mention there were items and spiritual skills that may be allowing some watching to see his every move.


    Hailey, sensing something was amiss, commanded her Juggernaut, who had the best senses and could more accurately find a target in the fog, to charge at Kain''s last known position. She expected its massive horn to barrel directly at Kain However, its charge faltered as Bea''s split tightened its control over its mind, a subtle puppeteering that left Hailey momentarily unsure about what was going on.


    "Come on!" Hailey shouted, hoping to overcome whatever was disrupting its concentration.


    It appeared to work as the Juggernaut''s eyes seemed to clear and it began to charge again, but to her dismay it charged straight for her Mercurial Sentinel Beetle. Bea''s split had taken full control, and it now had no ability to resist. The Juggernaut, the beetle in its perception was called Kain��the target that its master told it to attack.


    "Snap out of it!" She screamed, hoping to stop her contract as it barreled towards the beetle.


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    With no other choice, Hailey quickly summoned the full might of her gift. She removed the defense from the charging Juggernaut, and instead applied as much as she could to the beetle.


    Kain could have easily stopped the battle by seizing control of the beetle as well, but he was suddenly overcome by curiosity. Who would win this contest between two of the metal-attribute spiritual creatures with some of the hardest defense at this level?


    As the Juggernaut closed the distance, the Mercury Sentinel''s body shimmered with enhanced metallic energy. Kain watched with an almost morbid curiosity. Will the Juggernaut become like a flattened car driving into a brick wall after the beetle''s defense increased? Or will the innate defense of the Juggernaut be enough to overpower the reinforced Mercury Sentinel.


    The ground shook as the Juggernaut lowered its horn and charged forward, while the Mercury Sentinel lowered its body to brace for impact.


    BOOM!


    The collision of the two sounded more like an explosion, and the force was strong enough to momentarily clear the mist enough for the audience to see what was occurring. The arena erupted in gasps as spectators witnessed the shocking scene of infighting occurring. That was until Kain increased the density of the mist once again.


    ''Sorry. No peaking.''


    The Juggernaut collided with the Mercury Sentinel, sending shards of metal and splinters flying in every direction.


    To Kain''s surprise, the Juggernaut managed to push the beetle backward far enough that it left the arena, but not without consequence. The rhinocerous horn at the front of the juggernaut had been damaged so badly it had been broken almost completely off.


    The fight was over. While the formidable defense of Hailey''s gift was proven with the Mercury Sentinel only receiving superficial injuries, it had been pushed off the stage and could not rejoin the fight. Meanwhile, her only remaining contract on the stage was no longer under her control.


    Clenching her hands in unwillingness, she declared that she gave up the battle. Kain dispersed the mist as the overseeing professor announced his victory.


    Kain could see the curious eyes of those in the audience as they tried to figure out exactly what happened.


    Having seen the end of the battle, an intense blue glow faded from Serena''s eyes as she stopped the use of a spiritual skill and got up to leave.


    "The ability of his contract is different��maybe it wasn''t him at the auction��" She mumbled under her breath.

 Chapter 188: Chapter 188: Kain vs Kairos

    After his own battle, Kain stayed to watch the remaining ones.


    Among the matches to decide the rankings of the top 8, Soren unsurprisingly defeated Dwayne. While the close match between Ranya and Kairos ended in Kairos'' victory.


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    However, Kairos'' contracts are definitely an unfavourable matchup for Ranya.


    The evenly matched and familiar with one another Addison and Aiden, were undoubtedly the longest battle of the day. However, it ended in Aiden''s narrow victory over his sister, meaning that there would be a reversal in the order of their current rankings.


    Leonara''s matchup against the rank 9 Camille was unfavorable and ended in defeat.


    However, both Finn and Bridge were successful in their respective first matches.


    Finally, Elias also caught a break and managed to defeat his first ever opponent��Aria.


    After a night of rest and some time in the Training Arena''s battlefield to practice against prospective opponents, Kain was ready for the next day''s battle. His opponent today was Kairos.


    Kairos was also an opponent Kain had been particularly wary of, particularly before Bea evolved. Kain had never faced anything similar to a cursed construct before in his life. Would the "brain eating" effects of a brain-eating amoeba be effective against a book?


    However, after Bea''s evolution, Bea no longer kills in the same manner as before, she kills by erasing all of a spiritual creatures "mindshards" �Can embodiment of their memories, emotions, knowledge, and more. Essentially she erases their sense of self��their consciousness.


    Since even cursed constructs are living creatures with a consciousness, then Bea should be effective against both of Kairos''s contracts.


    And the simulations Kain ran in the Battlefield also supports this point. However, from the simulations, Kain could tell that it takes several times as long to achieve full control over them than most other spiritual creatures.


    Therefore, Kain had adjusted his strategy for this battle in preparation for a drawn out fight.


    Today, Kain was arranged to be in the last match in group 1.


    In the three matches before him, Serena defeated the current rank 6 Dwayne, Ranya defeated the current rank 8 Hailey, and Soren narrowly defeated the dark-horse Lucas.


    Meanwhile, Addison, Aiden, Finn, Bridge, and Elias all defeated their respective opponents in earlier matches and were sitting together to cheer on Kain who was currently on stage.


    While both of Kairos'' contracts, the cursed doll and magic book, were already released, Kain was again starting alone on the stage equipped with an enchanted armor and spear.


    However, everyone knew that this was just to conceal as much of his information as possible and that he''d release his contracts soon enough. In fact, Bea was already on the stage invisible to the naked eye.


    At the signal to start, Kain began his familiar operation of covering the field in mist. Not that Kairos particularly cared. Neither of his contracts had eyes in the traditional sense, so neither sensed their opponents relying on sight.


    Of course, Kain already knew this based on the simulation in the Battlefield, where one time the cursed book had even managed to strike his body directly through the mist.


    Therefore, at the same time Kain produced the mist, he also released all 18 of his Vespirae guards. Kain had discovered during the simulations that having as many creatures present as possible was the most effective strategy for confusing the opponent. Especially since the cursed doll was extremely powerful in 1 to 1 combat, but had no area of effect skills.


    While the cursed book was much more balanced, most of its skills also favoured attacks directed at a single target, defense and control.


    At the same time the Vespirae guards were moving around rapidly to distract and confuse their senses, Bea''s threads were creeping towards both of Kairos'' contracts.


    When the threads were almost upon them, both of the sensitive spiritual creatures sensed that something was amiss and tried to move from the area. However, Bea could produce hundreds of threads, each capped with a split, and it was impossible to dodge all of them.


    The moment even one of the threads made contact and a split was added, the threads were retracted.


    Bea''s split got to work with trying to exert control over its new host, and even Kain began to use the spiritual skill to boost Bea''s all-round stats that he''d traded from the System. He''d been learning it during his free time since the beast-tide and his current proficiency with the skill allowed him to boost Bea by 30%, as long as he sacrificed 100% of his spiritual power.


    Finally, the Bea was able to make some headway in controlling both of the cursed constructs. Within all of the time it took to see some effects, the cursed book had mounted a defence around itself, Kairos and the doll. Meanwhile, the doll was taking the time to launch targeted attacks one by one against the Vespirae in the mist.


    So far, one of the guards had actually died, and another two were seriously injured.


    However, with Bea beginning to exert more control, there was finally a gap in the cursed book''s defence. Kain directed all of the Vespirae flying around as a distraction to launch attacks at the three the second that the shield went down.


    Unfortunately, that brief moment of weakness in the shield only allowed for three stingers to penetrate the shield. Of which only 2 actually hit their target��the doll.


    However, that was enough to knock it out of commission. Now Kairos was only left with the book.


    But this confirmed one thing for Kain. In all that time that the book was maintaining the shield, it had not launched any attacks whatsoever. Meaning that the book must be opened to the page in order to use the skill. It was limited to using only one skill at a time.


    However, since it was no longer limited to the one page for the shield, it turned to a new page that Kain was unfamiliar with.


    A glowing black circle of sigils appeared on the ground beneath the book, from which three large shadowy entities crawled out.


    ''Well he didn''t do that during the beast tide��is it a new skill or was he holding back even during the most tense moments.''


    Each of the figures moved as fast as the Vespirae, and one that didn''t start moving quickly enough had a massive torso punched through its abdomen by the shadow. A nearby wasp to the one just murdered sent a fierce attack in the shadow''s direction, but it went straight through it to strike the ground. It appeared to be able to control whether it was a solid entitity or not.


    Now Kain only had 14 guards left, 2 dead and 2 injured. Two of the remaining shadows continued to chase after the Vespirae darting around, while one of them went searching the mist for something��Kain? Whatever was, to this moment, impacting its mind? Or maybe both?


    All the while, Kain was channeling his spiritual power into Bea to continue wearing down its mind. They were now in a battle of attrition. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, finally Bea broke the balance. The book began to fall gently to the floor. Its pages slowly fluttered closed and then all three shadows faded into nothingness.


    He had won.

 Chapter 189: Chapter 189:

    After three more days of battle, Kain managed to defeat Ranya, Dwayne, and Lucas. So far, Kairos was the most challenging opponent he''d had to deal with both in terms of resistance to Bea, and the number of Vespirae killed.


    Lucas'' contract had very little resistance to Bea, but had still managed to take down two more Vespirae. Now Kain was down to only 12 guards when he still needed to fight against his two toughest opponents��Soren and Serena.


    However, with his current winning streak, Kain had practically confirmed a placement within the top 3.


    So far the current tally of wins and losses was as follows:


    Serena: 5 wins, still to fight against Ranya today and Kain tomorrow


    Kain: 5 wins, still to fight against Soren today and Serena tomorrow


    Soren: 4 wins, 1 loss (to Serena), still to fight against Kain today and Lucas tomorrow


    Kairos: 4 wins, 2 losses (lost to Kain and Soren), still to fight against Dwayne tomorrow


    Ranya: 2 wins, 3 losses (lost to Kain, Kairos, and Soren), still to fight against Serena today and Hailey tomorrow


    Lucas: 2 wins, 4 losses, still to fight against Soren tomorrow


    Dwayne: 1 win, 5 losses, still to fight against Kairos


    Hailey: 0 wins, 6 losses, still to fight against Ranya tomorrow Find adventures at m v lem|p-yr


    The arena buzzed with anticipation as the crowd settled in for what was the highest ranked match of the day, between their year''s second and third places.


    This match could unofficially be considered a semifinals of sort, since it would likely determine the new second and third place position between them.


    Kain stood at the edge of the stage, feeling the familiar adrenaline course through him. Across from him, Soren Lysander, glared daggers in his direction.


    ''And I thought we bonded a little during the beast-tide. What''s crawled up his butt?'' Kain thought in irritation, unaware that a certain object of Soren''s affections had left right after watching Kain''s first match a few days ago and not stayed to watch Soren''s.


    The refereeing professor signalled the start of the battle. Kain wasted no time in unleashing his signature mist, enveloping the arena in a thick cloak that the audience could not see through.


    He had seen the power of Soren''s dragon in the previous matches, and he wasn''t about to underestimate the potential threat they posed.


    Soren, however, appeared unfazed by the swirling haze, his determination burning brighter than ever.


    Soren''s familiar initial contract, a wind-attribute dragon, spread its wings wide and let out a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very foundation of the arena. The crowd erupted in cheers, despite not being able to see much.


    ''Is all this showmanship really necessary? He must be really fired up.''


    The wind-attribute dragon took to the air, clearing away much of the mist with a flap of its wings. Soren''s gaze flickered momentarily to where Kain last seen through the mist, and the distaste in his gaze deepened.


    As the dragon circled overhead, Kain decided to shift tactics. He knew Soren relied heavily on the aerial advantages of his dragon, and that was where he could gain an edge.


    Bea extended mental threads toward the wind dragon, seeking to connect. Just as Bea initiated contact, Soren sensed the impending threat.


    "Watch out!" the dragon unleashed a powerful gust of wind. It was useless for destroying the threads, however it did clear away a substantial part of the mist and allowed Soren, his contract, and many of those seated in the stands to witness the faint mental-attribute strands.


    Moreover the wind seemed to contain sharp blades that instantly decimated 2 Vespirae and cut off the wings of another that went crashing to the ground.


    The remaining 9 Vespirae attacked the dragon flying above to try and limit its movements, and increase the likelihood of one of Bea''s strands making contact. Thankfully, Bea was able to make contact, and all of its defensive measures proved useless.


    However, Kain didn''t leave it at that. He directed Bea to also send some threads in Soren''s direction. After all, when at war it was always best to directly capture the enemy king.


    Unfortunately, an amulet on his wrist lit up at the approach of the threads, and actually provided an obstruction to their advancement.


    ''Tsk��annoying legacies��''


    Although Soren himself was safe, he could sense that something was wrong with his contract as it began to sway unsteadily side to side in the air.


    In a desperate move, Soren called upon his second dragon for the first time in the competition��a lightning-attribute dragon.


    ''I guess that confirms that Soren''s affinity is most likely for spiritual creatures with a storm dragon bloodline��''


    Soren directed his second contract to keep the Vespirae circling his contract above at bay. Just remaining mere feet from it caused another Vespirae guard to freeze as though electrocuted, and then drop heavily to the ground with a loud crash. Now there were only 8 guards.


    Meanwhile, Soren used a spiritual skill to help the wind dragon resist Bea''s infiltration.


    Kain sensed the shift and knew he had to act fast. He commanded Bea to intensify her control of the first dragon, while trying to wrap the threads around the newly arrived dragons. To support her, he once again activated his spiritual skill.


    Finally, despite the continuous movements, a thread made contact with the lightning dragon, and unlike the cursed constructs, it didn''t take nearly as long for Bea to trigger some effects. Especially, now that Soren was having to divide his attention and spiritual power evenly between both contracts. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Soren''s face contorted with rage and disbelief as he felt his control over them both slipping away. Both dragons began to thrash about as they fought against the threads with all their might. But Bea''s relentless assault began to take its toll. Soren''s dragons, though powerful, could not withstand the weight of the mindshard manipulation.


    Both dragons landed roughly on the ground of the arena while nodding in and out of consciousness. The Vespirae also were relentlessly leaving deep injuries on the now fallen dragons.


    However, Soren was never a helpless beat-tamer dependent upon his contracts for protection. With top quality equipment, he made his way towards one of the Vespirae at a speed only slightly inferior to the guards themselves.


    Kain could tell through the clothing, that Soren''s limbs now had an unusual appearance. He had likely used his gift to transform them and grant this physical boost.


    Kain directed the Vespirae to avoid a direct confrontation with Soren and instead attack from a distance. Unfortunately, Bea''s threads were unable to affect Soren due to the many amulets and enchanted equipment he wore.


    Instead, Kain decided to try getting Soren to ingest a split, similar to the method he used prior to Bea''s evolution. Losing the water attribute, she could no longer blend seamlessly into the mist, and so Soren will be able to detect that there was now something added to the surrounding mist.


    However, as a microorganism, the floating water droplets were still large enough to carry Bea and some of her splits.


    The ease with which she infected the fog was greatly reduced, but once a decently size portion of the mist had her splits in each droplet, Kain directed the fog towards Soren.


    The mist was able to penetrate whatever barrier had been able to keep the mental-attribute threads at bay. However, Soren was able to sense that there was something in the mist and managed to avoid the infected sections of fog.


    In turn, Kain directed the mist and also instructed Bea to add more splits, until he was able to form a ring of infected mist to trap Soren.


    Finally, a split managed to make contact with Soren''s body. However, for the first time since Kain first met the Vespirae, there was something fighting hard against Bea''s control. Kain could see one gem stone on an ancient looking necklace Soren was wearing was lighting up crazily.


    ''Why do these legacies have so much damn equipment��?'' Kain had never even heard mention of microorganisms from another person since transmigrating to this world, he was shocked that Soren, unlike Aric Nightsbane, had equipment to successfully combat infection.


    Once again supporting Kain''s hunch that microorganisms aren''t completely unknown in this world, the knowledge of their presence may have just been lost with time��or perhaps it was hidden from the general populace.


    Kain knew that Soren''s target was him, so he made a great effort to continuously keep a distance from him through the fog.


    Finally, he received some good news from Bea. Both dragons had been successfully controlled. He had them both stand up and then encircle their contractor along with the remaining Vespirae. Of course, if Soren tried to attack, he''d have his own contracts meet him and take the beating.


    Kain could sense that Soren tried to retract his contracts back to his star space, but Kain told Bea to help them resist the pull.


    Likely sensing Kain''s intentions to try and force he and his contracts to harm one another, with an extremely unwilling expression, Soren declared his defeat.


    Kain felt a surge of triumph as he retracted the mist along with his contracts, leaving only a glaring Soren on the field that looked like he wanted to eat him alive.


    He couldn''t shake the feeling that this battle had only further deepened the rift between him and Soren.

 Chapter 190: Chapter 190: The Grand Finale

    Serena easily won her battle against Ranya, meaning that despite their still being a day before the final matches, the first and second place of their year was pretty much confirmed to be between Serena and Kain.


    The majority of the students were betting on Serena''s final victory. After all, she still hadn''t even needed to reveal another contract and all of her battles had ended in less than a minute so far. Fighting against her same-aged peers just appeared so effortless for her.


    On the actual day of Kain''s match against Serena, perhaps because this was the deciding battle for the champion of their year, their match was arranged to be the final battle of the day. Meaning that all the other rankings had been pretty much decided. They even removed all the stages for each group to form one larger central stage for the two of them.


    However, considering both Kain and Serena had used the strategy of pushing their opponents off the stage, it was unknown who a larger battleground benefitted��Probably the viewers since Kain wouldn''t be able to make a mist as thick that covered a stage several times the previous size.


    Aside from Kain and Serena who would fight to confirm first and second place, the other rankings had been pretty much determined:


    Confirmed Ranks 1-8:


    Rank 3: Soren, Rank 4: Kairos, Rank 5: Ranya, Rank 6: Lucas, Rank 7: Dwayne, Rank 8: Hailey


    Aiden and Addison finished at ranks 10 and 12, respectively. Leonara finished at rank 16. Finn finished at rank 17, and Bridge rank 20. Elias finished second in the bottom group at rank 42.


    Aside from Bridge, there were no significant changes in the rankings aside from Bridge, who is now in the top 20 and will be moving into a single room.


    Additionally, due to their being subtle differences in the size and spiritual power of each top 5 room, despite only being a one rank difference, Ranya and Kairos will need to switch rooms so that Kairos can get the benefits deserving of his rank 4 placement.


    Thankfully with the existence of space rings and special skills, moving from one home to another is not nearly as a time consuming or difficult process as it was back on Earth.


    With their own ranks already determined, all of the other students, regardless of if they were pleased with their new placement, were now much more relaxed. Kain could sense that their much more leisurely attitude has caused them to regard Kain and Serena''s battle with an almost festive air.


    Kain could even swear that he heard someone calling out bets, how much money was supposedly in the pot, and the payout odds of either Kain and Serena winning. Serena being the crowd favourite was definitely reflected in the odds called out. Kain could make a killing is he bet on himself and won! Unfortunately, it was too late to get involved.


    Serena and Kain stood facing each other on the stage. Serena stood confidently next to her Elemental Guardian already in the form of the wind spirit. Kain, his expression impassive, tightened his grip on his spear. Despite not being able to make a dense mist that can cover the now enlarged stage, the presence of even a thin mist will help with concealing Bea''s thin, difficult to see, mental threads.


    At the signal to start, Kain released the mist and his remaining 8 Vespirae. However, his practiced movements proved fruitless when the wind spirit let out a massive gust to disperse all of the fog. Kain cursed under his breath; he knew better than to engage in a battle of attrition with Serena to try and produce more mist.


    Her contract would never tire while dispersing the mist, so he quickly stopped wasting his spiritual power.


    The crowd buzzed with anticipation. This was the peak battle, and thanks to Serena they''d get to see every moment clearly.


    Kain wasn''t too fazed by not being able to use the mist, already anticipating that she wouldn''t give him that level of leisure. But it was worth a shot.


    He knew that this fight would require every ounce of strategy he had developed in the simulations. While Serena''s Elemental Guardian could be aggressive and relentless, Kain had learned to exploit weaknesses. He decided to bide his time, watching for the right moment to make his move.


    Serena''s contract sent sharp blades of wind towards him and all of the Vespirae.


    He reacted swiftly, using his spear to deflect the projectiles that while sharp were not too heavy, while his Vespirae zipped around him, creating chaos in the air.


    However, the wind blades cut through the air with alarming speed, and while he managed to deflect most of them, a few grazed his arm, drawing blood.


    Kain took a deep breath and Bea released a series of mental threads, aiming to fragment Serena''s focus. The threads weaved barely noticeable through the air, trying to connect with the wind spirit.


    However, Serena noticed the threads and quickly had her contract shift forms, transforming into a fiery phoenix that soared into the air out of the range of the Vespirae and the threads. Kain channeled more spiritual power into Bea to support her extending hundreds of threads over such a great distance.


    Those in the audience couldn''t help but shudder at the scene. Some knowledge about Kain''s abilities had already spread despite his best efforts, so they knew that if even one of those hundreds of delicate looking threads briefly made contact, Kain''s unknown contract will use it to control the target.


    Therefore, seeing hundreds of such threads, that couldn''t be blocked by ordinary means, making their way towards the Elemental Guardian in the sky, they couldn''t help but break out into a cold sweat on Serena''s behalf. Especially, since the vast majority of them had bet on her.


    The phoenix, now far above, unleashed a wave of flames that cascaded down toward Kain and the Vespirae. The fire ignited the air, and Kain felt the intense heat wash over him.


    He commanded the Vespirae to create a barrier using their subtle control over the wind element, but considering that they didn''t have a specific skill to achieve this effect, whatever shield they made wasn''t too strong. It briefly blocked the attack, but the flames were relentless, forcing him to distance himself from blaze.


    Due to their seemingly endless supply of spiritual power, Serena''s Elemental Guardian was a lot more aggressive in its attacks than the one simulated in the Battlefield. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Likely, distracted by concern for Kain''s well-being, Bea''s advancing threads momentarily halted their advancement. Read the latest on M-VL-em|p,yr


    Seeing this opportunity, the Elemental Guardian dodged to stationary threads and began to fly away��straight towards Kain.

 Chapter 191: Chapter 191: The Grand Finale (2)

    As the phoenix lunged at him, Kain quickly redirected his Vespirae to create a swirling vortex of wind similar to what they''d produce when ejecting their stingers, hoping to disrupt the trajectory of the fiery assault. Likely due to the familiar movement of the wind, their creation of a vortex was more seamless than the shield.


    The phoenix opened its beak, unleashing a torrent of fire that rained down like a meteor shower.


    Kain narrowed his eyes, feeling the heat wash over him as he leaped to the side. The flames scorched the ground where he had just stood, and the force of the attack sent some of the Vespirae tumbling through the air. But he had anticipated this moment. Read new stories on m_vl_em_p_yr


    ''Now Bea!'' He directed. The hundreds of threads already produced dispersed and Kain used his spear again to produce a mist that caught the microscopic splits that were previously suspended at the end of each thread. Instead of waiting for the already elongated threads to change direction and come back, it was better to just disperse them.


    Using the mist that he could instantaneously produce and suddenly had hundreds of splits dropped into it. He quickly moved the infected mist to surround the area only around the phoenix.


    The heat coming off of the phoenix increased as it sensed that something was wrong with the approaching fog.


    The hot temperature of the phoenix caused much of the water droplets in the mist to turn into steam and destroy the splits, however, during the time when its vision was obstructed by dense steam, Kain and Bea concentrated their combined spiritual power into creating a thread that approached the phoenix through the steam before it could react.


    Thankfully, within the protection of the mental attribute threads, the heat from the flames were ineffective at preventing the advancement of the split inside of it. Additionally, thanks to the properties of the Mindweaver''s Spider threads, only a brief graze of the wing was enough to inject the split. Bea no longer needed to be ingested to exert a role as long as the threads were used.


    He could sense the struggle within the elemental spirit, the tug-of-war between its consciousness and Bea''s control. However, he could also sense the endless supply of spiritual power being channeled to it to fight the infection coming from Serena.


    Kain directed the remaining Vespirae to swarm around and attack the phoenix, creating a distraction for Bea''s easier control. The combination of Kain''s mental threads and the Vespirae''s relentless attacks began to turn the tide.


    Kain channeled much of his remaining spiritual power into boosting Bea. The Elemental Guardian''s thrashed wildly and sent out uncontrolled bursts of heat while struggling against Bea''s control.


    "Almost there��" Kain muttered to himself, sweat beading on his brow as he maintained the connection while dodging the phoenix''s attacks.


    The crowd was now on the edge of their seats. Would their be an upset? Will there be a new rank 1?


    Kain''s heart raced, each moment drawing him closer to victory or defeat. He needed to land a decisive blow. To corner the elemental and ensure that Bea''s control solidified.


    With this battle, he could prove not only to Serena but to everyone watching that he was the rightful rank 1.


    However, just when Kain was getting ready for the final push to exert full control, there was suddenly a new presence in the arena. It was a spiritual creature that Kain had never seen before, but he instantly knew its origins with a sinking feeling.


    At the same time that Kain noticed the new addition, so did the audience, which broke out into hushed whispers.


    For the first time in the re-ranking, Serena had summoned a second spiritual creature.


    Moreover, unlike the other members of their year, it was yellow-grade. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain couldn''t help but wonder why she had never revealed such a powerful trump card at any point. Not even when there were civilians in danger during the beast-tide. Despite looking extremely cold, Kain could tell from the lack of injuries in her previous opponents that her character was not bad.


    However, upon examining the new addition, Kain could tell from the lack of any green-tinge to its spiritual power that it was likely in the very early stages of yellow-grade and had probably only broken through within the past 2 months. Most likely, due to the suddenness of the beast-tide, Serena''s yellow-grade contract was actually in the process of breaking through for those days.


    Therefore she was greatly limited to what spiritual creatures she could call upon. However, as she''d likely been atleast a 3-star beast-tamer for quite a while, Kain found it hard to believe that she didn''t have a third contract. Why limit yourself to only using one? Was something wrong with the third? Or did it have some kind of unusual circumstance.


    Serena''s second contract was a majestic spiritual creature that appeared like a sylph composed of stars. With a translucent form that shimmered like starlight, she appeared as a tall, graceful figure made of cosmo energy.


    Her wings resembled a serene night sky filled with constellations. And she had a serene, almost wise expression that seemed to reflect the universe''s vastness, giving her an air of both beauty and authority.


    Kain could sense that this contract had one of the most mysterious and rare attributes of the empire. It also happens to be the most worshipped and respected attribute of the empire��the star-attribute.


    Kain had never even seen a spiritual creature with this attribute before, nor was he familiar with what a star attribute skill would look like.


    Unfortunately, Kain wasn''t given much time to examine the rare creature. Not long after being released, the sylph raised her delicate arms and a cascade of stars began to descend appearing like the most beautiful glowing rain.


    As the stars approached Kain and his contracts, they transformed into shimmering, golden particles. Kain felt the warmth of the stars wrapping around him, a protective cocoon infused with otherworldly strength. He knew logically that this couldn''t be good, but he couldn''t bring himself to resist the comfort they provided. However, soon Kain had no more thoughts.


    The crowd gasped as Kain and his contracts were gradually made into golden statues flickering with light, their forms frozen in time with serene expressions. The statues glimmered and shimmered, reflecting the sky above which was suddenly covered in stars despite it being daytime still, a breathtaking display that captivated everyone watching.

 Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Re-Ranking Done

    One moment Kain was in the middle of a battle, the next he was lying in an infirmary room with his last blurry memory being of falling stars.


    ''Sigh��Looks like I will be second place for 3 more months. But mark my words, after the next re-ranking I will definitely be number 1.''


    After all, it was understandable to lose against a strong contract higher in level. Not to mention that she may have more yellow-grade contracts. She had a head start due to awakening an affinity early. However, Kain had total confidence that once he caught up, he wouldn''t be at all inferior to her.


    After a brief check-up by a professor to make sure there were no lingering side-effects from being frozen like that, Kain made his way back to the dorms. The battles today were intense, so the closing speeches by the professors will be held tomorrow to give the students a chance to rest and recuperate.


    Additionally, tomorrow is when they''d be given their first access to the Enchanted Spring. Up to one day of rest to restore their condition after a series of stimulating battles, has been shown over the years to slightly increase the chances of getting a gift.


    Which is precisely why this opportunity is provided after the first re-ranking of each year, which usually has the most intense battles as the students returning from the summer break had spent much of their time improving their abilities drastically. If there are any drastic changes in rank, it is unlikely to occur after the first re-ranking of the year. Read today on m,v,l,e,mpyr


    The next morning Kain and the other first-years, as well as the upperclassmen who''d completed their own re-rankings in other arenas, were brought through a dense patch of trees to a clearing with rows of seats arranged in circles that got progressively higher up to see a over the heads of those in front.


    The step-like seats were composed of a pale white stone, and covered in Ivy with moss-covered benches that increased the students'' comfort.


    The sun streaming through the leaves of the tall trees was focused on the low stage at the center of the clearing.


    It was as though this gathering area had been composed by nature itself and was incredibly calming to the entering students.


    All of the students were dressed in a fully black uniform that stood out against the white steps. The uniform of unknown material had been given to everyone after the re-ranking yesterday, and they''d been instructed to wear it today.


    The Dean of the Beast-taming Department made his way to the stage while they all applauded. This was actually the first time Kain was getting to see any of the college''s Deans, much less the even higher-up Chancellor.


    After applauding, the gathered crowd settled into a respectful silence, eager to hear his words.


    "Greetings students and faculty. I am Dean Evermore of the Beast-Taming Department." He began, his voice steady and commanding. "Today marks not only the conclusion of this year''s first re-ranking but also the culmination of each of your hard work and determination."


    "I will keep this brief, as I am sure each of you are eager to enter the Enchanted Spring�� a sacred place that has nurtured countless talents before you. This Spring offers a unique opportunity for those without a gift to awaken their true potential, while also granting those of you with gifts the chance to strengthen and refine your abilities.


    "The order in which you will enter the spring reflects your hard-earned placements, beginning with the top 5 of each year. May the top 5 determined yesterday for each year please make their way to the stage. "


    Kain went to the stage along with the 19 other students who were crowned as being within the top 5 of their year. Looking around, Kain could see that similar to the first years, there were no new additions to the top 5 in the upper years either. Kain was glad, since he''d gotten to bond with many of them during the beast-tide and didn''t want anyone to them to have to leave.


    "Congratulations once again to each of you. You may enter the spring, and I wish you the best of luck!"


    With a sweeping gestured he directed them to leave the stage and go down a path carved out of the dense trees to the left of the stage.


    Kain followed the upperclassmen off of the stage. Surprisingly though, only three of the second-years, Jin and two girls Kain wasn''t as familiar with, and Oliver among the third-years, continued forward. All of the fourth years, and many of the third and second years returned to their seats. Kain went next to the still-walking senior he was the most familiar with to ask about it��Oliver.


    However, before Kain could even open his mouth to ask, Oliver likely already anticipated his question and spoke up pre-emptively. S~ea??h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The spring is only effective for awakening a gift, and strengthening it one time. After your gift has experienced being strengthened once, it won''t continue to work."


    "So not only do they all have a gift, they''ve also all successfully strengthened it? I thought the success rate wasn''t so high for either?" Kain asked in confusion. Was obtaining benefits form the spring guaranteed?


    Oliver shook his head, "The success rate isn''t so high. Once those outside of the top 5 enter, more and more students will still not have received both opportunities from the spring. The reason why the success rate seems so high among us is because many of them already had gifts upon entering the school, and so they managed to strengthen it during the first or second time entering the pool.


    "Additionally, those with a higher ranking will receive more of the pool''s benefits. The potency of the spring for those ranked 6 to 20, may than 75% of what you''d have access to, and as you keep going down the rankings, the less effective the spring will continually go down."


    Kain nodded in understanding, and continued following the leading upperclassmen to make sure that he was going in the right direction until they reached what appeared to be the opening of a cave.


    As they got closer to the mouth of the cave, Kain could feel a density of spiritual power that pressed on his body and made it feel as though the gravity in the area had doubled. However, despite the immensely uncomfortable feeling, Kain still didn''t have his anticipation dampened.

 Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Enchanted Spring

    With each step forward, the spiritual power grew heavier and wrapped around him like a heavy cloak, intensifying with every inch they drew nearer.


    Kain clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood to prevent himself from showing any strain. He could see Ranya begin to walk unsteadily and start panting, but the upperclassmen didn''t seem to feel anything. Similarly, Soren and Serena also seemed to be having no issues.


    "If you didn''t already learn to do so in lectures or at home, this may be challenging for you, but you can try having your spiritual power circulate throughout your entire body to provide an all-round increase to your constitution." Oliver instructed.


    However, Kain was never the most talented at manipulating spiritual power and couldn''t achieve the effect Oliver mentioned just based off of a brief description. He could only continue to endure. Thankfully, although the pressure was uncomfortable, it wasn''t painful. And in fact, the sensation was pretty exhilarating raising his anticipation for the spring even higher.


    Inside the cave, the walls sparkled with mineral deposits that shimmered like stars caught in stone, casting reflections that danced across the smooth, wet floor.


    The deeper they travelled, the more vibrant the colors became��emerald greens and sapphire blues mixed with soft purples, creating an otherworldly picture.


    As they entered the main chamber, the Enchanted Spring lay before them, a crystalline pool surrounded by luminescent stones that seemed to vibrate to a certain rhythm with the movements of the water in the spring. It was as though the entire chamber was alive and breathing.


    Kain stepped forward, drawn to the edge of the pool. The weight he felt began to transform into something lighter, almost buoyant, as he approached the water. The very air felt electric, charged with possibilities, and for a moment, he allowed himself to dream of what might come next.


    However, after the disappointment of his affinity ceremony, he no longer allowed his imagination to run wild with hopes and dreams of an ideal gift. He would take what he could get. Although a teeny tiny part of him couldn''t help but think of some of his favourite superheroes back on Earth with some longing��


    "No need to disrobe, the uniform provided to you will not only help you regulate your body temperature, but it will also efficiently allow the properties in the water of the to make contact with your body. Otherwise, to maximize the full effects of the spring you''d need to get naked." Oliver said.


    Hosted by m_vl_em_p_yr


    As the only third-year present, he had easily taken on a leadership role, unlike his usual playful self.


    However, Kain could tell that Oliver was also unusually tense. Despite the great help his presence was for Kain and the other first-years, to Oliver being the only top 5 student in the third-year who hadn''t yet strengthened his gift, if he''d even awakened a gift to begin with, was nothing to be proud about.


    "How do you know if you''ve awakened your gift or successfully strengthened it?" Ranya asked out of curiosity. Was there a specific moment when they knew they had achieved their goal? S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s much easier to tell if you''ve successfully strengthened your gift. Most people with a gift are already in tune with their gift, and can easily notice subtle changes to it even without using their gift." Oliver said.


    "However, knowing when you''ve awakened a gift and figuring out what the gift is exactly is more challenging. It''s like you suddenly have an additional limb or tail on your body that you can''t see. You can feel that something is different��something is there that wasn''t before. But if you suddenly had a small tail growing out of you, would you be able to move it freely?


    In fact, it may even take you a while to figure out exactly what is different about you. That''s why there are some rare cases of people awakening a gift, and feeling the presence of a gift, but not successfully being able to use it until years later. Although such cases are definitely rare."


    ''Please don''t be me��'' Kain really didn''t think he had any luck with these sorts of things. It took him a long time to even figure out what his affinity was, much less the more confusing gift.


    ''Wait�� System! If I awaken a gift, would you be able to help me identify and use it?''


    *Identify, yes. Use, no.* Kain only received a cold reply in return. However, he wasn''t disheartened. At least unlike some who''d be searching blindly, the System could help him figure out exactly what it is.


    As Kain dipped his fingers into the pool, a shock of warmth surged through him, a huge contrast to the coolness of the surrounding cave.


    He quickly sank the rest of his body into the water following the upperclassmen who''d already done so without hesitation. After all, they needed to suck up as much of the energy in the pool as they could before more people came.


    The moment his body made contact, he felt a rush of energy pulse through him. The spring felt alive as it flowed into him. It coursed through his veins, igniting every nerve ending, a delightful tingling sensation that spread from his skin to his core.


    The moment they fully immersed themselves, a collective gasp among the first-years echoed in the chamber, a sound filled with astonishment and exhilaration.


    The world around him blurred as the spring enveloped him completely and he sank fully beneath the water. However, despite being submerged, he had no trouble breathing.


    Kain felt weightless, as if he were floating in a void, the confines of the cave fading away. The colors swirled around him, vibrant and alive, each hue pulsing in sync with his heartbeat. He could feel the energy of the spring merging with his own spiritual power, amplifying it in a way he had never experienced before.


    Visions danced before his eyes��scenes from both his past and current life. Moments with his parents, hanging out with friends, touching moments at the orphanage, snippets of his past battles, moments of growth, and flashes of potential futures.


    Time lost meaning as he remained suspended in that moment, enveloped by the spring''s energy. Kain understood that the awakening of a gift was more similar to that of spiritual creatures evolving. Each student was being reshaped, their destinies rewritten, and when they re-surfaced from the depths of the spring, they would have a new power within them.

 Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Gift?

    After closing his eyes for what felt like only a brief moment, Kain was roused from the dreamy feeling he was experiencing.


    With each breath, his mind grew clearer and clearer until he could sense the subtle changes within him��a latent power just waiting to be harnessed. However, he could tell that his gift was not one that he''d readily be able to use anytime soon.


    As he stepped out of the pool and back onto the stone floor of the cave, he was shocked by the dense mass of floating bodies beneath the pool. It seemed as though he was in the spring for much longer than he''d thought considering he recognized many students much further down the rankings within the pool.


    He didn''t want to hog the properties of the spring, especially when so many others were relying on this chance as an opportunity to drastically increase their power. It was vital for everyone to have an opportunity to awaken their gifts, whatever they may be. He turned away from the spring, heading for the cave''s exit.


    As he stepped outside, the bright light of the sun momentarily blinded him. The area outside of the cave was alive with the happiness of the students who had just emerged from the spring. He squinted, taking in the scene: laughter, shouts of joy, and the occasional gasp of surprise floated through the air, mingling with the sweet scent of blooming flowers and fresh earth.


    At the entrance, Kain noticed a group of professors standing vigilantly, likely to prevent any accidents from students unable to control their new gifts. Their expressions were a mix of concern and anticipation. Kain recognized Oliver among them, the unfamiliar serious and tense expression from before entering the pool now a lot more loose.


    Presumably whatever goal he''d entered the spring with had been achieved.


    Nearby, another student, a second year just outside of the top 5, was causing mischief by uncontrollably summoning flames, igniting nearby foliage and causing a commotion. Laughter erupted from the crowd as a couple of students dodged the fire, their expressions a mixture of shock and amusement.


    "Be careful!" one professor shouted, waving a hand to extinguish the flickering flames before they spread.


    "Are we supposed to stay here?" Kain asked Oliver, gesturing toward the exit. Stay connected with m|vl|e|mp|y|r


    "Depends��did you awaken a gift or strengthen your current one? Once everyone''s out, the professors will conduct a brief session to help those who have awakened or strengthened their gifts," Oliver explained. "It''s crucial that we help them learn to control it before letting them run wild."


    Kain nodded in understanding and then went to an isolated area of the clearing to investigate the gift he''d awakened. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he was not one of the students who could have an instant sense of how to use his gift like the second-year pyromaniac who was still occasionally setting fire to random objects.


    Kain opened the System and went to his profile looking for any changes. Finally, he found the new addition of a ''gift'' section within his profile amongst all of his other stats.


    "Traveller''s Souvenir"


    ''Seriously System?! That''s all the help you''ll give me? That name tells me absolutely nothing!''


    Kain tried to figure out what exactly the name could possibly mean, and possibly explore his body along those lines, but the name was just too abstract.


    Just as Kain was about to lose himself in frustration, he spotted Bridge emerging from the cave. His brother looked a bit excited but mostly confused.


    "Bridge!" Kain called out, rushing toward him.


    Bridge turned, a mixture of emotions playing across his face. "Hey, Kain! Did you��"


    "Did you awaken a gift?" Kain interrupted, his heart pounding with anticipation.


    Bridge shook his head vigorously, then hesitated before nodding slowly. "I think I might have, but I''m not sure. I felt�� different when I was in there. But now that I''m out, I can''t really pinpoint what it is. I left because the spring didn''t feel like it was working on me anymore."


    Kain furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"


    "I just�� can sense something, but it''s like it''s hiding from me," Bridge replied, glancing back toward the cave as if expecting an answer to emerge from it. "I can''t activate it like either of those guys. So that must mean I failed, right?" Bridge pointed at the guy who was still occasionally setting fire to things, and another first-year who exited the spring not long before Bridge.


    His eyes kept suspiciously changing color and he''s been sneakily passing glances over the chest area of a female third-year student for a while now.


    As if on cue, another fire erupted in a corner of the clearing, and the fed up third-year student suddenly yanked the suspicious first-year with colour-changing eyes away with an exasperated expression. Soon the sound of loud, painful screams echoed back to them, causing Kain to wince. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''I guess nobody explained to him that not all gifts are able to be identified and used right away��''


    "If you feel that something is different, that''s a good sign. You probably have a gift, but just haven''t met the conditions to activate it. Don''t worry and take your time exploring it." Kain tried his best to comfort him despite also being frustrated by his own situation.


    However, unlike Bridge, who had no leads to go off of or even a way to conclusively determine that he had a gift, Kain at least had a name for and confirmation that he had a gift.


    "That''s nice to know, but I wish I could figure out what this ''gift'' is. It feels frustrating!" Bridge exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.


    As more students continued to filter out of the cave, Kain and Bridge were greeted by their friends and acquaintances with varying expressions. While many students had awakened or strengthened a gift. The vast majority were still left with feelings of disappointment at not having a gift.

 Chapter 195: Chapter 195: A Surprising Offer

    Thankfully, the day that the students'' re-ranking tournament ended on a Thursday so that the students had the weekend to rest.


    However, Kain didn''t get to relax after entering the Enchanted Spring. He was summoned to a meeting with Professor Gregory Lume, one of the newer Assistant Professors at Dark Moon College, in his office. Although he wasn''t responsible for any planner courses that Kain would be taking this term.


    However, despite not having any classes with him, Kain was called upon because he happened to be assigned the duty of acting as an authenticator for Kain''s Lumifin evolution patent by the NEPA��the National Evolutionary Planners'' Association. The governing body for all official planners in the Empire.


    They are responsible for managing patents, enforcing patent rights, investigating instances of Evolutionary Planner misconduct, and more.


    As Kain walked through the empty halls of the college, he couldn''t help but feel a wave of anxiety wash over him as he approached Professor Lume''s office. Authenticators usually just test the evolutionary plan for themselves and visit the researcher in their place of work to look at their own experimental results in person.


    They don''t usually request for the researcher being evaluated to meet with them beyond these instances in different locations.


    He knocked lightly on the door, and a voice called out, "Come in!"


    Kain opened the door to find a tidy office filled with bookshelves crammed with volumes on evolutionary theory and spiritual creature studies. The room was well-lit, with sunlight filtering through the window, casting a warm glow over the polished wooden desk where Professor Lume sat. He was a man who appeared to be in his early thirties.


    He had a stern and rigid appearance, but it was softened by the slight smile at the corner of his mouth.


    "Ah, Kain! I''m glad you could make it," Professor Lume said, motioning for Kain to take a seat. "I know you''ve been quite busy lately��the first re-ranking for you first years was recently finished, wasn''t it? I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me." Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Professor Lume cleared his throat, shuffling some papers before focusing his attention on Kain. "First, I''d like to congratulate you on your Lumifin evolution patent. Your findings are quite remarkable, and they''ve garnered significant interest from those within NEPA.


    Those within the more organization that like to take a more mathematic approach to their evolutionary plans were especially thrilled by your paper. To think that the sequence of numbers you identified can be seen within nature in so many ways. Just how does your mind work?"


    "Although technically the process of your authentication is still supposed to be ongoing, but between you and me I can assure you that it''s already been accepted. Your results have been independently verified several times, not to mention it has tremendous research value in that it opened the minds of several researchers to exploring what unusual factors may be impacting evolution."


    "By the end of this week, it should be made official and there will be a public announcement detailing some of the details of the newly discovered evolutionary form to stimulate interest. Of course, though, the specific details and skill information will only be available with the purchase of your plan." Experience more tales at m vl-em|p-yr


    ''Sweet! The beer business is a constant money pit, I could use a new influx of cash.''


    Once the patent is approved, Kain would be entitled to 70% of the income produced from that pattern, while the remaining 30% went to the NEPA.


    Considering that Kain did all of the work on his own, one would think that he should be entitled to even more than 70% of the income. However, the 30% NEPA uses is to fund their activities as the ones responsible for enforcing the patent such as cracking down on people attempting to re-sell the plan for a profit and charging them huge penalties.


    Kain felt a burst of pride at the notification that he''d succeeded, and his previous nervousness began to disappear "Thank you, if you don''t mind my asking, why was I called here then?"


    Professor Lume cleared his throat and leaned forward. "In light of your achievements and the unique gift you possess for identifying unique conditions for evolutionary forms, the school has decided to reward you with your own personal laboratory."


    Kain couldn''t help but flinch at the mention of his "gift." Apparently the college had noticed the large influx of people attempting to contact him for his services as a planner specializing in unusual cases. But once, he fully processed what was said, Kain''s eyes widened in disbelief. "A lab? For me?"


    "Yes," Professor Lume confirmed, a proud look on his face. "The school would like to invest in your clear potential as a planner. You will receive a set amount of research funds, equipment, and staff support to aid you in your studies. The funding can increase based on your research outcomes. This level of support has never been granted to a first-year student before."


    Kain''s heart raced as the implications of the offer sank in. "But�� what if I don''t meet expectations?"


    "Every researcher faces challenges," Professor Lume said kindly. "But you''ve already shown extraordinary talent. The last student that could be considered a genius close to your level raised by our planning department, now Professor Virell, discovered a new evolutionary form in his third year and was awarded his own lab after completing his third year.


    He then went on to find another form in his fourth year and made several more contributions to the field since. You, however, have shown remarkable results in your first year, which is why we believe you deserve this opportunity."


    The weight of the professor''s words settled on Kain, but it was a welcome pressure. "Thank you," he finally said, feeling a rush of gratitude. "This means a lot to me."


    ''Especially since future experiments outside of the System won''t need to occur in a makeshift pond or rickety old shack.''


    "Good," Professor Lume said, a satisfied smile on his face. "I''ll arrange for the necessary paperwork and details about the lab to be sent to you shortly. If you have any questions or need guidance, don''t hesitate to reach out."


    As the meeting concluded, Kain felt a whirlwind of emotions��some pressure, but mostly excitement.

 Chapter 196: Chapter 196: 3-Stars

    The next day, Kain was called upon again by Professor Lume, but this time to give him a tour of his new lab provided by the school, which the school didn''t know is actually his second lab.


    He brought him to a metal sliding door with a scanner and key pad next to it. He instructed Kain to scan his student ID, and then coached him through the process of setting up a pin that only he''d know.


    "Once this is all set up, you can add access to your lab for others as well so that they can enter using their IDs and the pin. I know it''s a bit of a hassle, but this two-step security measure is necessary to protect the research results of those affiliated with the college��I''m sure you understand. What if a rival tries to steal your results?


    In fact, some of the more secret labs at the college require to clear several security checks before being granted entry."


    Once Kain set up the code, the thick metal door slid to the side to allow them entry.


    Although smaller than the space in the System''s Laboratory, it was a decent size��around 1000 square feet. Interestingly, a third of the room was isolated by a thick glass that only allowed one point of entry. It also had several pieces of machinery��although nothing even close to being as advanced as what was provided by the System.


    "Every researcher''s lab will be slightly different depending on their individual needs," Professor Lume said. "Equipment you can apply for is in the package I had delivered to your dorm room this morning. However, for not the most basic equipment has been provided."


    Kain followed him over to a corner of the room, and he gestured to several machines lined up in a row.


    "These machines are basic must have for any planner. They will give you a precise reading of the levels of spiritual power and elemental energy in a certain material. Similarly, this one is used to read the spiritual power of a creature."


    "And I''m sure you noticed the observation area set up. Typically, it is used to house spiritual creatures you are currently working with, which is why the wall separating you from it is completely glass��so that you can observe. The glass is a new and improved product capable of withstanding the blows of spiritual creatures at and below green grade.


    Not to mention that the observation area is tightly sealed. Nothing will be able to escape once it enters. In fact, the observation area even operates on its own air filtration system so that spiritual creatures that produce poisonous gases won''t be able to affect the entire lab.


    "Currently, your authorization level only allows you a lab of this size, but after a few more achievements you should be able to apply for a much larger one. Professor Virell has an entire building on the outskirts of the campus built as his personal laboratory."


    Kain''s mind began to wander with fantasies of his own high-tech research building with his name stamped on the front.


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    "Ha ha ha! Of course, you are an extremely long way from being anywhere close to that level," Lume quickly put Kain''s fantasies to a grinding halt. "But it''s a good goal to look forward to."


    After the brief tour, Kain then returned back to his dorm. There was something he had been putting off due to how time-consuming it may be and with having to continuously complete evolutionary planner requests to fund his new business, and prepare for the re-ranking, he hadn''t yet had time to complete��breaking through to 3-stars.


    It took a couple of days for him to break through to being a 2-star beast-tamer. Becoming a 3-star beast-tamer can take anywhere from a single day, to a week. Therefore, although it was still early on a Saturday, Kain still requested for a leave of absence for the next week of classes as well.


    The timing couldn''t work out better because, since many students with gifts often need to miss classes the first couple of days of classes after entering the Enchanted Spring to get their abilities under control, no crucial topics were lectured on and notes for those lectures were made available to students.


    However, this period of leniency was only granted during this time, and afterwards attendance, unless approved by the professor, is mandatory.


    Kain returned to his dorm room to begin the process of forming his third star.


    Due to the much more powerful spiritual power compared to when forming his second star, Kain could already tell that it''d be an extremely arduous process.


    However, it was a step that all beast-tamers needed to go through unless content with remaining at their current level. Or unless they were to scared to attempt continuing to advance��after all the price of failing to breakthrough at each level increases exponentially.


    While breaking through to the third level is very low risk for Kain due to him having the feedback of two talents spiritual creatures who were already a level above him, if he were to fail the prices would most likely be severe, but temporary, damage to his soul and mental strength.


    However, should he fail when forming the fourth star, it''d likely result in permanent damage to mental strength and the soul��a consequence of which is a reduced lifespan. The amount of lifespan lost when failing also continues to increase from the fourth to sixth stars. sea??h th�� N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, when attempting to become a high-level beast-tamer with seven or more stars, the only result for failure would be an immediate painful death due to severe damage at a soul level.


    As time went on, Kain''s previously nonchalant attitude became increasingly more solemn.


    Kain was expecting it to be harder to control the spiritual power and form a stable star, however the spiritual was much more difficult to control than he''d anticipated. Not to mention there was an unfamiliar resistance when he tried to move the spiritual power as it seemed to be sucked somewhere else.


    ''Something is very wrong��''

 Chapter 197: Chapter 197: 3-Stars (2)

    Kain could tell that some of his spiritual power that was supposed to be used to form the third star was being sucked to a fourth location. Therefore, the already great resistance he felt while forming the star was now double what it should be.


    However, gathering all of the spiritual power, now a reddish-orange leaning more heavily towards orange, to form a stable star was necessary to advance.


    Kain tried to form the star closer toward the opposing force, but it seemed as though it was persistent in maintaining an equal distance from all of Kain''s current and future stars.


    Therefore, Kain could only continue through the extremely stressful situation.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kain managed to loosely gather all of his spiritual power to one location that he could then begin trying to form into his third star.


    However, within the expanse of the area of the space now devoid of spiritual power, Kain saw a faint flicker.


    ''What is that? Am I just so tired from all of this stress that I''m seeing things?''


    He decided to ignore it for now and focus on the more important task at hand.


    Time continued to go on and on for what felt like an eternity. However, what was even more burdensome than controlling the spiritual power against an opposing force, was the mental anguish at not knowing how much time had passed or how much longer it''d take before this dreadful process was over.


    To avoid going mad with boredom, Kain would also divert some of his attention when he took a break to the flicker of light in the distance, which was continuously increasing and decreasing in size.


    He eventually figured out that when he was on the correct path of forming a stable star, and there was less escaping spiritual power from the region he collected it into, the light would grow larger. However, he wasn''t able to get it just right.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kain was able to get a form he thought was stable. However, when the light in the distance reached its greatest size yet, the gravitation pull destabilized all of his hard work, and the extremely compressed spiritual power started to fluctuate as though a severe explosion was imminent.


    It took all of his concentration to get it under control and prevent a disastrous outcome.


    However, he was still left with the upsetting realization that once he was close to accomplishing his task an external force would interfere in the star''s formation.


    ''What the hell is going on?!''


    Kain felt a wave of frustration wash over him, but he quickly pushed it aside. He couldn''t afford to let anger or despair cloud his judgment now. He needed clarity. S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was exhausted and stopped trying to condense the star into a stable form. Instead, he just kept all of the spiritual power loosely gathered into a certain area. However, despite no longer trying to condense the star, Kain noticed that the flickering lights, while much dimmer than when condensing the star, were still in existence.


    Kain decided to change his plan. The third star wasn''t meant to be forced into existence amidst this chaos; it needed to wait until after the completion of whatever that light was first. The creation of the star could come afterward, once there was no longer such a strong interfering force present.


    Kain focused on maintaining the absence of spiritual power from where the light was instead of on condensing it. It took slightly less energy, and being able to focus on the single task ensured that less spiritual power accidentally escaped from where he''d collected it.


    Finally, the light began to grow and stabilize into a coherent circular shape. He could feel the tension easing and the gravitational pull no longer felt hostile. Rather, Kain felt a warm connection to whatever was about to emerge.


    Once the light completely faded, Kain could see the identity of whatever was forming. It looked like a beautiful small mostly blue marble full of green and white swirls.


    ''Earth?''


    Kain examined it even more closely and couldn''t disregard the striking resemblance it had with his original Earth. However, rather than the many separate continents he was familiar with, it more closely resembled the Ancient Earth with only one Pangea supercontinent.


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    ''Perhaps��is this related to my gift? Is that what the name Traveller''s Souvenir meant? Is this like a souvenir from Earth? Like a little souvenir model of Earth instead of a model of the Eiffel Tower?'' Kain had been puzzling over what the name given to his gift by the System could possibly mean, but he hadn''t expected for the elusive gift to make an appearance at this point in time.


    However, now wasn''t the time to examine it further, he was in the middle of a breakthrough.


    Fortunately, perhaps the previous resistance had a tempering effect, but Kain found it extremely easy to form his third star.


    Now, his space had 3 stars with orange-grade spiritual power, and an object that resembles Earth, that absolutely no spiritual power could be sensed from.


    Exhausted, but still curious about the strange new addition, Kain didn''t immediately exit the star space, and instead examined the strange planet. However, no matter how much he tried, he could not figure what its purpose was. Or if it''d be a good or bad thing for him.


    Unable to obtain any more information, Kain''s consciousness returned to his bedroom and he immediately collapsed on the bed in exhaustion.


    He had no idea how long he''d been in the space, but judging by how starved he felt, and the smell of his body, he was willing to guess that several days had passed.


    Beast-tamers can go progressively longer without food and water with each star they condense. So for him to be so starved, it must have been several days. The date on the phone next to his bed also confirmed that 4 days had passed.


    He quickly just grabbed a filling but tasteless ration from his space ring, and fell asleep without even bothering to shower.

 Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Fame

    Kain woke up after another 2 days straight of sleeping. Therefore, he had fully missed an entire week of events that he needed to catch up on, from the school to the business to his work as an Evolutionary Planner.


    Groggily, Kain went for a shower and then cleaned up the now filthy sheets. He could see hundreds of unread messages on his phone. However, he wasn''t yet awake enough to go through the overwhelming number of messages. Hopefully, there was nothing too important��


    Kain went down to the first floor of the top 5 residence, and thankfully breakfast was still being served.


    He filled up 3 large plates packed with hills of food and then proceeded to stuff his face with food.


    Kain could occasionally see some of the catering staff refilling the food pointing at him and whispering. Even a couple of the upper-year students were staring at him in curiosity.


    ''What?! Has nobody ever seen someone be hungry after a breakthrough before?''


    Finally, Kairos came down from upstairs and, after filling up a plate of food, sat across from Kain.


    However, Kain couldn''t ignore the fact that like the others, Kairos had his gaze fixated on Kain and wasn''t even eating the food he''d brought.


    "What?! Why are you all staring?" Kain said while taking a large bite of a sausage. Maybe his table manners weren''t currently at their best, but it''s not like the school cafeterias are some uppity high-end restaurant. Several of his seniors often come down to eat still in their pajamas. He was fed up with all of the stares. Can''t he eat in peace?


    "Ahem! Sorry��I think we''re all just surprised by seeing the so-called Evolutionary Planner genius being constantly talked about online and on tv in person."


    Bang!


    Kain couldn''t help dropping his constantly moving fork in surprise.


    "I''m sorry, what?"


    "You know�� everything that their saying would make anyone can''t help but stare at you��" Kairos pulled out his phone and began to read out loud, "''The youngest person to ever develop a new evolutionary form!'' ''A genius of the empire!'' ''A first-year given a lab at a top 5 college.


    Will he reach Assistant Professor status before he graduates?'' Those are titles filling pretty much every site since yesterday. You really didn''t know?"


    ''Ah! Looks like they announced the new evolution for the Lumifin!''


    "No��I was breaking through to 3-stars and just woke up. I had no idea that they made the announcement already." Kain shrugged nonchalantly before going back to eating. Now with his curiosity satiated he was a lot less bothered by the stares.


    Kairos still hadn''t put his phone down and was continuing to scroll through his new feed. "''The secret behind the empire''s latest genius''��Hey! Is this true? Did you already have a gift before the re-ranking that allows you to find new evolutionary forms?"


    ''Huh, no? Why the heck is that in the news?''


    Likely seeing the confusion on Kain''s face, Kairos continued. "According to this article, apparently you already had a reputation for helping to solve difficult evolutions. Several of your previous clients have even given interviews. Such as the Ashenclaw family, the Darkstar family, the Blueblood family��Hey! Do you only help nobles or something? How much do you charge?


    Oh wait, nevermind! ''How much does the first-year newly talked about genius Kain Newman charge per consultation.''" Kairos continued to read out loud.


    "What the hell?! Is there no privacy?" Kain yelled out loud.


    He pulled out his own phone and began to scroll through what other articles were saying.


    His school, his status as a double-major, his supposed gift, his known contracts, and even the orphanage had all been aired out for everyone one in the empire to see.


    ''What the hell is this�� it''s only been one to two days, hasn''t it? How do they even have all of this information? Why isn''t the college doing anything? They shouldn''t want the details of my contracts exposed either before the National Competition.''


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    Kain finally pulled out his phone to go through all of the messages he''d been putting aside.


    He started with the messages from Barret and Collin about the business. Thankfully, everything was coming along smoothly.


    In fact, they were even asking if they could use Kain''s newfound fame to advertise the beer. Kain put off answering for now. He didn''t originally plan to have his name and image tied with the company and would have preferred to be a silent investor. That way his personal image and that of the company would be independent from one another.


    Now that he was in the public eye, if public opinion of him flips one day it could affect the business. He needed to think long and hard about it�� S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then Kain saw the messages from a sudden influx of new clients wanting to connect with Kain as an evolutionary planner. Clearly whatever price was being quoted in those articles hadn''t scared them away.


    Then there were the messages from old and current classmates and acquaintances wanting to reconnect or asking questions. Strangely, it was the messages from Bridge and the others he was actually close with that were much less prying and pushy.


    ''Is this what overnight fame is like? I don''t even remember the names of half of these people��did I go to elementary school with a Jared? How the heck did he even get my number��''


    However, it was the messages from the orphanage that worried Kain the most. They congratulated Kain on his accomplishments, but Kain could read between the lines in the messages sent from the director and the older children that the newfound attention to the orphanage was stressful.


    ''This can''t go on much longer��'' Kain quickly sent a message to Professor Lume, the only one he had the direct contact information for within the faculty that may be able to help him. Maybe with some prompting, Kain could get the school to get everything under control.

 Chapter 199: Chapter 199: The Spirit Moth

    "Sorry. Can''t help you." Professor Lume said.


    "Huh? Why not? The college should have enough power and influence to remove all of these articles."


    "It does��but it won''t. You do realize that there hasn''t been a young planner as anticipated as you. There are new beast-tamer geniuses every year that appear at the national competition. However, you and your gift are one of a kind. The more publicity there is about you, the better the school looks. I''ve heard the last couple days the Chancellor has been holding gatherings to play Warlords."


    Warlords is an ancient strategy game comparable to Go and chess back on Earth. It''s not that popular among the younger generation, but it is a common pastime for elderly nobles.


    "From what I heard he''s even invited the Chancellors of the other four major colleges, likely to rub it in that he has something that they do not��or someone. Of course, none of them have come. However, everyone among the higher-level staff from what I''ve heard has been able to tell that his mood has been great lately��"


    ''Seriously?! That''s why the school hasn''t taken down all of these articles?!'' Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sigh��well I''m afraid that he''ll have to be disappointed then." Kain began while feigning a sad expression.


    "What?"


    "Well, all of this attention to me and my family has made me very uncomfortable��I''m not sure I''m in the correct frame of mind to continue with research. I am a really shy person you know, so all of this attention has made me so uneasy for my and my family''s safety that I''m thinking about just retiring from research altogether."


    Kain exited Professor Lume''s office while trying to conceal his smug smile after he''d received his confirmation that the college would more closely moderate the types of articles that could be published.


    And the college truly did work quickly. Within a couple hours, all reports about the orphanage and Kain''s contract were pulled. However, it didn''t seem like the college could pull all of the articles related to Kain��or maybe they just didn''t want to.


    There were still many annoying gossipy articles about his work as a planner, his discovery of the evolutionary form, his school-life, and even his supposed dating-life (?).


    ''Who the heck is she? Since when do I have a single ex, much less 5?!'' Kain thought while staring at a tabloid article with the pictures of 5 attractive women that he''d never seen before in his life but had supposedly been romantically linked to him in the past.


    However, it was much better than the uncontrolled media attention of before.


    Just to make sure, Kain called the director and Milo to further confirm that any reporters sniffing around their home were now gone.


    On the Brightside though, Kain had been notified of the amount of copies of the evolutionary plan that had been purchased so far, and the value of the first settlement of money he could expect to receive in a few days. The amount was several times the amount of money Collin had quoted him for starting the business.


    Therefore, Kain could now take a break from crazily completing clients and instead focus on some of his more personal pursuits.


    However, his desire to cut back on the amount of clients he took seemed to have only increased people''s desire to work with him, and suddenly Kain was reading a new news article with an interview from a noble in the southern region who quoted a ridiculous price in order to convince Kain take their case.


    ''Ahem��maybe I can take on a couple more cases before school starts on Monday. What is the name of this person? Let''s see if they''ve sent me a message��''


    --------------------------------


    Thankfully, within a few days, most people had moved onto gossiping about another topic and interest in Kain was no longer so high.


    Kain visited the newly built factory that, with the help of spiritual creatures did not take nearly as long to build as it would have on Earth.


    With the help of Eve, the crops needed were also fully matured and the first batch of beer to be shipped out went into production.


    With Kain''s increased income from the patent, he also agreed to Collins idea of hiring a big-name marketing firm for the company. Once the first batch launches, complimentary samples have already been arranged to be delivered to celebrities and individuals with influence.


    However, before the first batch is finished, there was something that Kain needed to perform but hadn''t been able to due to being so busy. Stay updated with m-v le-mpyr


    Although the knowledge about microorganisms in this world is clearly not widespread, it doesn''t mean that someone won''t try to mix the beer that they produce into their own batch to produce their own spiritual beverages.


    Since the Aetherbrew Yeast doesn''t have any special growth conditions and only needs a beverage with spiritual power, a small sample of the yeast can continue to divide and produce descendants that aren''t controlled by Kain, but by a competitor.


    To combat this, Kain was reminded of one of the frowned-upon business practices of biotechnology companies back on Earth��Terminator genes.


    While usually used in plants to prevent people from regrowing their patented seeds, Kain didn''t see why such genes couldn''t be used on the yeast Aby as well?


    The very universe seemed to be pushing him in this direction too, since one of the latest pieces of lab equipment given to him by the System allowed him to extract the genes of one spiritual creature and put it into another. Therefore, all Kain needed to do was find a spiritual creature with the trait that met his needs.


    In addition to his hectic schedule while preparing for the re-ranking, Kain had also been using his free time to do research on such a creature, and he finally found it.


    The Spirit Moth is a spiritual creature that upon hatching imprints on the first item that it consumes, typically a spiritual plant since it is an herbivore.


    When it reaches adulthood and it''s time to reproduce, it must once again consume the same item before an egg can be laid. It is believed that it is due to the first item being consumed being associated with a feeling of safety, a feeling that they need before reproducing.


    With this gene, Kain could completely control not only the Aetherbrew Yeast''s future descendants, but also control what material would be used to unlock the ability to reproduce.

 Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Genetic Reconstruction

    The moment Kain had first received the piece of laboratory equipment, he''d had this idea.


    After reading about the Spirit Moth, he had issued his own mission on the school mission board and offered credits for its capture as a Silver Mission.


    Although it was very rare and difficult to locate due to the preferred food source changing from generation to generation from imprinting, It was only an orange-grade spiritual creature and not particularly powerful, therefore with enough time and financial incentive, a student finally completed the task.


    The live captured moth was just in the Mission Hall, waiting for Kain to receive it.


    He approached the single-use capture container, a sleek cylinder about the size of a soda can, shimmering with faint sigils that pulsed gently in the dim light. Inside, the Spirit Moth flitted gracefully, its delicate wings shimmering with iridescent colours that danced like sunlight on water.


    The containers are similar to space rings and allow for the transportation of large spiritual creatures in a relatively small container.


    However, additional materials needed for the spiritual creature to survive need to be added to the container, which is why the containers are not as compact as space rings, and also why after being used once they will become useless trash without spending a lot of time and money to restore the sigils and materials within.


    Considering the better soundproofing and the difficulty of breaking through the door compared to his dorm room, Kain had taken to doing any more secretive work, like interacting with System, within his private lab on campus.


    To bring a spiritual creature into the laboratory, Kain needed to make physical contact with the moth. He went into the observation area of the laboratory to prevent the moth from escaping. He opened the container and as it was released, it suddenly expanded to its true size of half Kain''s height.


    In order to bring a spiritual creature into the System, it must not be hostile to him and must be equal to or lower than Kain''s own spiritual power.


    In order to decrease its hostility to him, Kain took out some of his spiritual honey. The student that captured it had reported that it''d found it within a meadow with many Cloud Flowers, therefore Kain assumed that that was either its preferred source of food, or the item it had imprinted on.


    Thankfully, Kain had some spiritual honey made specifically from the Cloud Flowers, a red-grade flower that happened to be among those Kain had growing in his own personal field.


    Once Kain took out the honey, the Spirit Moth hesitantly flew towards Kain him and after its guard was lowered while eating the honey, Kain touched it on its head. S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In an instant, both Kain and the moth appeared within the System''s lab next to the genetic Reconstructor. Read further on m-vl-em-pyr


    Kain felt a rush of excitement. The machinery hummed softly after he inserted the moth into the necessary compartment, its intricate dials and glowing sigils waiting for his command. He had been wanting to test out the machine for weeks, but wanted to wait until he needed it in case the cost for each use is high and he ends up using up his one free attempt pointlessly as he did with the Simulator.


    Kain activated the control screen, its interface lighting up with a series of prompts. He selected the option to extract genetic material, and as the machine whirred to life, he could feel the anticipation build.


    The screen flashed, and Kain''s heart raced as he saw a list of extractable traits, including the one he wanted. He removed the moth and allowed it to return to the observation room outside of the System��he still had plans for it, which is why he did not just kill it for its genes.


    He then added a vial of the Aetherbrew Yeast, before selecting his desired gene extracted form the moth from the list on the panel and clicking the option to add genetic material.


    As the machine calibrated, the adjustable mechanical arms extended, ready to begin the intricate procedure. The tubes of the machine pulsated with energy as it prepared to intertwine the moth''s genetic essence with the yeast.


    As the machinery hummed and the chamber filled with light, Kain waited for the results. Finally, after several minutes the machine stopped working and the profile of Aby appeared on the screen.


    Because it was essentially more similar to adding a mutation and not evolution, there was no change to its skills.


    However, there was an additional note within the profile about the genetic modification.


    "''The Aetherbrew Yeast will be prevented from dividing in the absence of the spiritual material it first consumes after the genetic modification''��Excellent!" Kain had already thought long and hard about exactly what material he wanted to use to control Aby��Queen''s royal jelly produced by the Essence of Life.


    All the other ingredients within the beer recipe would be readily available to competitors. And even if Kian were to use a spiritual plant that can fulfill the role, traces of the plant could still be detected and found by competitors.


    Obtaining a plant rare enough to not be found by competitors also has the added issue of not being large enough in quantity since Kian would likely only be able to find one of them. Additionally, there''s the issue of how any additions will affect the flavor��


    However, the Essence of Life is something that only Kain has access to, and even a 9-star beast-tamer or top Evolutionary Planner wouldn''t be able to recreate it.


    Secondly, Kain has a replenishable as the Vespirae continue to make more and not much is needed for Queen''s evolution anyways. Therefore, Kain has quite a large stock he''d just been keeping in the case of emergencies.


    The final benefit is that while not a lot of jelly needs to be added to each batch, even after being diluted and likely not being able to heal serious injuries, the jelly should enhance the beneficial properties of the beer by quite a bit.


    Now all that was left was to assess the exact benefits it''d have to the beer and how the jelly might affect the taste��

 Chapter 201: Chapter 201: Earthquake

    With the Aetherbrew Yeast now genetically modified, Kain decided to split the vial of modified yeast he had into 2. Half was put into container of royal jelly and given to Barret to test the effect on the beer. After a week of waiting, they finally tested the finished product, and confirmed that not only did the royal jelly improve the taste but also the amount of spiritual power in the beer.


    It even had an added bonus of slightly restoring mental strength.


    "Make sure to mention all of the benefits to the marketing firm!" Kain instructed Collin before leaving the factory filled with workers transporting boxes full of beer bottles for their first shipment.


    He spent most of his time not cultivating or running the business, within the laboratory on campus to begin some of the preparatory work for the other experiments that he had planned for the future


    The moth had already been moved to his spiritual plant fields off campus. Spirit Moths, true to their name can increase the spiritual power slightly of spiritual plants they land near. This results in a slightly faster maturation time and better plant quality than average.


    Therefore, the observation area was currently empty and ready to welcome new spiritual creatures.


    However, before he could start working on his new research direction, he first had to complete some of his backed-up Evolutionary Planner requests. All of these requests were actually quite far from Dark Moon which was why they''d been delayed until now, but they all were also offering to pay him a ton of GP to make the trip more than worth his while.


    Darkstar City was a city in Eastern region located pretty far from Dark Moon, closer to the border of the Southern region and would take about a day by train to arrive.


    It was a fairly large city within the Eastern region and due to its proximity to the Southern region had architectural elements of both regions.


    The client Kain was helping this time was an intriguing case similar to Yara the Glimmering Salamander, Kain''s first client as a planner.


    It was another case of a spiritual creature having a mutation preventing it from evolving normally. This time the client had an Aurora Silkworm, a spiritual creature with many evolutionary forms depending on what it is fed over a prolonged period of time, that was still not showing any indication of being ready to evolve after over a year of eating the required materials.


    Certain species must be primed for a long period of time using a certain diet in order to successfully evolve. When they are ready to evolve, a certain change will be observable.


    For example, when the silkworm was fully saturated with a certain element, it will begin to form a silkworm cocoon around itself and the required evolutionary materials.


    Using the System, Kain managed to determine that the silkworm''s current evolutionary path based on the materials it was fed was not suitable for it. The mutation dictated that the resulting evolutionary form must be of the wind-attribute.


    Therefore, the fire-attribute materials its contractor was feeding it to result in the desired fire-attribute evolution, would never result in an evolution and were actually slowly harming its health.


    Thankfully, the client wasn''t difficult, and after the issue was clarified they didn''t require Kain to remain in the city to oversee every aspect of the silkworm''s diet and future evolution.


    "That was a lot easier than I expected��" Kain muttered happily while looking at the large deposit just added to his bank account.


    He was currently sitting down and eating lunch at a restaurant within Darkstar City since he''d managed to finish the mission before lunchtime was even over.


    Kain dug into his steaming bowl of noodles, the background noise due to hushed conversations conversation and the clinking of cutlery created a cozy atmosphere.


    Suddenly, a gentle tremor coursed through the restuarant, barely even detectable if Kain''s senses weren''t heightened as a beast-tamer. Kain paused mid-bite, his focus momentarily drawn to the ice in his glass. The cubes bobbed lightly, swaying as if caught in a slow dance.


    Some of the other beast-tamer patrons also stopped mid-conversation or while eating to look around curiously for the source of the tremor while the ordinary patrons asked what was wrong.


    The gentle shaking slightly nudged a cup off of a patron''s table and it crashed to the floor at almost the same time the tremors stopped.


    If Kain couldn''t see the curious looks in the other patrons'' eyes or the shattered cup, he''d almost think the shaking was in his head.


    Ding


    Ding


    Ding


    Suddenly the sound of phone notifications began to ring out constantly in the restaurant. Nobody could focus on their meals any longer as they pulled out their phones to investigate��Kain included.


    "Crap!" Apparently the faint tremor they felt was only due to the tremendous distance. The impact at the earthquake''s core was tremendous. And unfortunately, the core happened to be not far from Dark Moon City.


    Thankfully, Kain received confirmation from Barret and Collin that while there was a lot of damage due to the shaking within the city, their factory remained in tact. S��arch* The N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the major source of news was not due to the damage caused by the earthquake, but rather what had caused the earthquake to occur in the first place.


    Kain looked at the image uploaded online of a giant black box covered in intricate sigils that suddenly appeared in the wilderness not far from Dark Moon City.


    It was difficult to judge the scale of the "box" based on the image alone, but considering the size of some of the enormous spiritual creatures in the photos next to the relic that were dwarfed by its size, Kain could determine that it was massive, far greater in height than even the tallest of building in both this world and on Earth.


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    It appears that Dark Moon College now had another relic in its vicinity and it only allowed entrants at or below yellow-grade spiritual power. Therefore, the majority of the first explorers will be made up of Dark Moon College students.


    And unfortunately, Kain was now too far away to be within the first batch of entrants��

 Chapter 202: Chapter 202: Caught?

    Catching a train back to the college, Kain was constantly bombarded by gloating texts from Bridge, Finn, Leonara Addison, and Aiden about being within the first batch of students to enter the relic.


    It seems like only volunteers among the top 20 first and second years were being initially accepted.


    Therefore, by the time Kain arrived back on campus he could only twiddle his thumbs in his lab.


    "Sigh��I wonder what it''s like in there. Hopefully all of the good stuff aren''t already taken by the time I get to enter. Why couldn''t this relic appear before I left to meet the client��" Kain grumbled while sadly looking at his phone for any news about the first batch of entrants.


    Considering that only those with spiritual power at or below yellow-grade were able to enter, everyone thought that the level of danger within the relic should also not exceed that level. Experience the best from m|v|l|e|mp|y|r


    Since they''d also be travelling with the second years, many of whom are at that level, Kain wasn''t worried about his friends'' safety.


    Instead, he tried to preoccupy himself for the next few days with planning out future experiments and overseeing how the business was coming along.


    The first shipment of beer had been sent out and the marketing firm''s plan was going flawlessly. Kain was already seeing a lot of buzz online about the spiritual beer.


    In fact, Collin had already arranged to buy more neighbouring land in order to expand their production. Without the income from the Lumifin evolution, Kain would have been completely unable to keep up with the financial demands of the company.


    Once production increases, with the current increasing demand, Kain anticipates that the income from the spiritual beer should exceed that of the evolution plan in no time.


    Bang Bang Bang


    "Hmm?" Kain was brought out of his thoughts by the sudden heavy knocks at his door. sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bang Bang Bang


    "Open the door!"


    ''Who''d want to open the door when asked like that?'' Kain grumbled as he moved towards the door. Despite what he said, he still opened the door since he recognized the voice. Although he wasn''t sure why she''d be coming to his lab. Wasn''t she supposed to be in the relic at this time?


    Kain opened the door and was quickly shoved out of the way as Serena Storm entered the room carrying an unconscious Bridge.


    ''She is much stronger than she looks.'' Kain though while looking at the slender figure maybe half of Bridge''s size carrying him over her shoulder into the room.


    However, Kain soon snapped out of his distracted thoughts one he realized that there was something wrong with his brother.


    Thankfully, the lab was equipped with a large gurney-like bed that Kain usually used to take naps on. Serena placed him onto the bed and then stepped back so that Kain could finally get a good look at his brother.


    Despite his large figure, Bridge''s body appeared frail and gaunt. His skin was pale, almost ashen, with a thin layer of sweat giving it an unsettling glimmer.


    Dark circles surrounded his eyes. His hair was disheveled, matted against his forehead, and the strands clung to his skin.


    His breaths came in shallow, uneven gasps, and he shivered slightly despite the warm temperature of the lab. His clothes were tattered and stained, showing that he''d likely been rescued from a dangerous situation.


    There was a faint tremor in his hands, and his lips were cracked, and a dull shade of purple. Compared to his normally bright and energetic brother, Bridge now more closely resembled that of someone teetering on the edge of death.


    Kain tried to keep his calm but he could feel his heart start to race once he took in the full extent of his brother''s condition.


    "What the hell is wrong with you? Something is obviously wrong with him, why would you bring him here instead of to a healer?" He turned angrily to Serena.


    "They won''t be able to do anything. Currently, the medical staff are completely helpless and in the dark about what''s wrong with your brother and the other students like him who suddenly collapsed in the relic."


    "The relic��? Explain what happened, how you even ended up with him, and why you''d bring him here instead of to a professional healer."


    "I was one of the team captains for the relic exploration, and he was assigned to join my team. Once we''d entered, there were several different directions to travel, we and a group of second-years were assigned to travel within the same direction."


    "Honestly, within the relic there didn''t appear to be any danger. After travelling for hours there were no attacks or any visible threats. Many students unconsciously relaxed their guards and took in the scenery. The inside of the relic was strange but beautiful. It felt as though we''d been transported to an alien planet, and there were many plants we''d never seen or heard of before."


    "It''s my fault. I should have watched the students assigned to my group more closely." She said while bowing her head in apology. "Somebody within the group tried to pick an unfamiliar flower and a black mist was suddenly released. To be safe, we all evacuated from the area and we thought it was no big deal.


    That is until a few minutes later one of the second years suddenly dropped to the floor unconscious. Soon after nearly half of the students were on the ground and unresponsive��including Bridge."


    "We immediately signalled that there was an issue within our group and moved back to the meetup area to regroup with the others. However, on the way there we were suddenly attacked by these grotesque black-looking creatures that smelled like decayed flesh.


    "When we finally escaped the relic, I realized that the professors couldn''t help us and brought Bridge here."


    "Yeah I know that part," Kain interjected, "but why?"


    "I''m not sure�� I just know that his condition isn''t due to a physical injury, and even the most powerful antidotes for poisons that the teachers have tried have been ineffective. Whatever is killing him is something that seems to resemble poison, but is alive��similar to your contract and how you killed Aric Nightsbane."


    ''Huh?!''

 Chapter 203: Chapter 203: Helpless

    Kain''s heart began to beat furiously and all the surrounding sounds seemed to fade as he immediately became immersed in a feeling of panic.


    ''What did she just say?''


    ''How could she possibly know about that? Or is she bluffing?''


    Kain used all of his energy to restrain his facial muscles and not give anything away.


    "I wasn''t completely sure before, but based on your reaction now I can be. Aric was hardly famous. If you had nothing to do with his death wouldn''t the natural thing be to look confused and ask about who I''m talking about?" Serena continued while looking at the Kain''s left brow that was unconsciously twitching furiously.


    ''Damnit!'' Kain could now confirm that he had absolutely zero talent as an actor.


    "Anyways I''m not going to tell anyone��I only brought it up because I suspect that whatever is affecting Bridge and the other students is similar to whatever you are contracted to."


    Concerned at this revelation, Kain turned toward his brother. Maybe Eve will have an effect since she increased the resistance of the Vespirae to Bea?


    Kain immediately summoned Queen, and after sensing his intentions, a green light of Light-attribute energy from her abdomen shot out and straight into Bridge.


    His condition did improve momentarily, but quickly worsened again. Unlike Queen who is a host for Eve, and the guards who were modified by Eve before they were even born, there is only so much that Eve can do for an unrelated individual. Also Eve doesn''t seem capable of taking a human as a host.


    Even if she were to leave Queen, another suitable host would likely be the queen of a similar insect-type species.


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    Bea can readily take Bridge on as a host, but doesn''t have the abilities to fight off an infection. She''s more of a destroyer than a healer.


    "Is it contagious?" Kain asked Serena, concerned about the possibility of an epidemic starting in the college. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m not sure�� I managed to bring him here without getting sick myself, but others in our group gradually began to fall ill as we made our way out of the relic. It''s hard to know if they caught whatever this is from another person or if they breathed in any of that gas the initial flower sprayed out." Kain nodded before rolling Bridge into the observation area just to be safe.


    It''s set up to prevent the spread of even poisonous gases from escaping so it should be effective at preventing Bridge from infecting others.


    However, Kain knew that although someone may not have any symptoms they could still be a carrier and looked at Serena suspiciously. ''Should I lock her in there too?''


    Likely sensing the intent behind Kain''s gaze, her eyes staring back at him grew even colder.


    "I said that I am not infected. This family heirloom should have protected me." She said while pulling out an ancient looking enchanted necklace from underneath the collar of her shirt. It had dozens of sigils carved into the surprisingly delicate and thin chain. There were also several stones carved with sigils dangling from necklace like charms.


    One of the stones, a mix of green and yellow was slightly glowing.


    The appearance of the necklace on Serena reconfirmed Kain''s belief that long ago there must have been the presence of spiritual creatures that were microorganisms. Otherwise, why would a family as old and powerful as the Storm family have bothered to add protective sigils against them unless they knew that they existed.


    Kain couldn''t help but stare concernedly at Bridge.


    When Bridge was next to him, he''d attempted to insert his spiritual power to see if there was anything he could contract with. Although there was a faint pull, he knew that there was nothing contractable. Similar to the dead egg that had initially drawn him to the eastern region. Could whatever have infected that egg also have escaped from this relic earlier?


    He suspected that whatever was infecting Bridge and had infected that egg were just splits, similar to Bea''s splits. Which was why, although Kain could feel a faint pull, he was unable to form a contract.


    Likely Kain would need to enter the relic for himself and control the original body behind this infection in order to heal Bridge and the others.


    Kain shared his theory with Serena.


    "Hmmm�� since the danger in the relic is clearly higher than predicted, they won''t let students re-enter the relic easily. However, they can''t risk having whatever is causing the sickness escaping. Not to mention that this relic re-appearing is likely what had been draining the life from the surrounding vegetation in the wilderness.


    For whatever reason, the sigils concealing the relic seem to be weakening and so to refuel it was probably sucking energy from wherever it could. Therefore, whether it is to reduce the things from within from escaping or causing further harm to the wilderness, the college will probably send an expedition in to control the relic��


    "Although many of the professors may not know what''s within it, the college has a long history and access to a wealth of information. By now those at the level of the Dean and above have probably already gotten artifacts from the warehouse that can prevent infection to equip the next batch of entrants.


    They''ll probably be more strict with who they let enter now, but they are limited in who they can send since most professors are too powerful to enter. If you can prove that you''re immune they may let you join the second expedition despite being a first-year.


    "For now, all we can do is wait for the next notification that they are recruiting entrants to help control the relic."


    Kain nodded in understanding while continuing to stare at Bridge through the glass wall in concern. He had never felt so helpless in this lifetime. Despite having an affinity that should be able to help Bridge, none of them were specialized in healing infections.


    Considering most microorganisms outside of the relic aren''t even dangerous, Kain had never even tried to find a contract with such a purpose.


    ''Don''t worry brother. I swear that I''ll make sure that you get better��''

 Chapter 204: Chapter 204: Origins

    Serena gazed calmly at Kain as he stared at his brother. S��arch* The N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You two look nothing alike." She said to break the silence.


    "We''re not related," Kain said without looking away from Bridge, "we were taken in by the same orphanage. However, despite no blood relation, we''re just as much a family that loves each other."


    "Care for one another is what''s most important in a family. Blood ties aren''t everything," Serena said while looking a little sad.


    "Especially when those blood relatives try to kill you��" she muttered under her breath.


    "Huh? I didn''t here you clearly." Kain turned to her in confusion.


    "Nothing��how did he get the name Bridge? It''s quite unique, especially when compared to your name." She discreetly tried to change the subject.


    "Ahhh��haha��Our orphanage director''s naming sense��I''m very glad that I already had a name when I was brought to the orphanage."


    "Bridge, Cherry, Key, Parker, Sunny, and Melody were all named by the orphanage director. And he always uncreatively names them after the first thing to pop into his mind after finding them.


    "Bridge was found on a bridge as a baby, and so was named Bridge. Cherry was found beneath a cherry tree. Parker in the public park in the middle of the city. Sunny and Melody''s name origins are at least a little better.


    Sunny is called that because of how bright and happy she was even as a baby, also on the day she came to the orphanage the sun seemed to create a halo around her head��she was truly the most adorable baby��" Kain though wistfully.


    "Meanwhile Melody would not stop crying as a baby no matter what. However, when we found out playing music could get her to finally be quiet and fall asleep, we started calling her Melody. Before that, the director just kept calling her Scream, we had to beg him to change her name."


    "Scream��that sounds more appropriate for the name of a horror story not a baby girl." Serena interjected while chuckling.


    "Indeed��but it''s still not nearly as bad as the name that he tried to give Key at first. Key''s origins are probably the most confusing. He was found in a cabin deep within the wilderness. It was smack dab within a dangerous area filled with yellow-grade and higher spiritual creatures. Imagine how surprised the mercenaries were when they heard a baby crying inside of an abandoned cabin."


    "I''m surprised he wasn''t eaten by the time the mercenaries got to him��many species prefer to eat humans over spiritual creatures." Serena thought in disbelief.


    "That''s the thing, there were no spiritual creature for miles around that cabin. The cabin had been sprayed by a green-grade spiritual creature��Reekling." Serena winced slightly at the name of the skunk-like spiritual creature who was known to emit an odour so foul that even blue-grade and higher spiritual creatures would give them a wide berth.


    "The smell from the Reekling still clung to Key for months after he was brought back from the wilderness. Which was why the director had initially named him Stinky. Once the smell faded, we were thankfully able to convince him to change the name to Key and drop the Stink��" Kain told the story while chuckling in remembrance.


    Serena looked at his nostalgic smile with a hint of envy. "You''re all so close. I always wished to have a sibling or relative my age that I could be close with. How many of you are there in total?"


    "Well we didn''t have our birth families, we didn''t have much money either, we only had each other. Of course we''ll become close. In order of age, there are eleven of us in total. Bridge and I are the same age and don''t know our real birthdays, but everyone usually considers me to be the oldest and then Bridge.


    Then there is Milo, the twins Jasper and Jasmine, Cherry, Key, Parker, Sunny, Charlie, and Melody. There was another member of the orphanage a couple of years older than Bridge and I who went missing when I was around 10 as well.


    However, we try not to mention her since her disappearance was so painful for the director�� She was his biological niece, and pretty much the inspiration for why he opened an orphanage in the first place." Kain smiled sadly.


    "Ahem��a-anyways��" Kain tried to choke back tears to prevent the atmosphere from becoming awkward and tried to think about a suitable subject change.


    Ding


    Thankfully a new notification on his phone saved him from a potentially awkward situation.


    It was the notice for the next recruitment of entrants into the relic. However, this time they limited the entrants to those in the second-year.


    "Damnit��" Kain muttered while reading the notice.


    "As I said before. They''ll probably let you and I enter once we can prove that we are not at risk of getting sick." Serena stated as a matter of fact.


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    "YOU and I. Why would you be re-entering it again?"


    "Of course I''m re-entering. I was the team leader for Bridge and the other first-years that got sick. I need to take responsibility until the end and find a way to cure them. Let''s go." She said coolly before getting up to leave.


    Kain nodded in agreement and left to follow her out. However, he still left behind a single Vespirae guard to care for Bridge while he was gone. Although not at the level of human intelligence, as orange-grade spiritual creatures the guards'' intelligence has developed enough to know how to guard, feed, and care for Bridge.


    Kain also left behind a packet of medicine to help with the fever and instructions on how to use them. Although the Vespirae won''t be a great help to him, it can prevent him from dying of an overheated brain or starving to death in Kain''s absence.


    ''Wait��She never did say how she planned for me to prove that I have resistance against whatever is making them sick. Am I even resistant?'' Suddenly Kain was struck by another worry.

 Chapter 205: Chapter 205: Entering the Relic

    It was surprisingly easy for Kain to be granted entry into the relic.


    He had thought that they would intentionally infect him with something in order to see if he truly was resistant to whatever was in the relic. However, there were no tests or even any verification about what his contract was.


    In fact, as soon as he signed up his name, after some back and forth with someone through the phone, Kain was approved and even given an ancient looking bracelet that supposedly would help prevent infection. A lower grade version of Serena''s enchanted necklace.


    Kain suspected that certain members of the faculty had an idea about what he''d contracted. After all, when he was taking up the Black Mission, he had to kill that test mouse using Bea.


    From that moment on, Bea was probably on their radar.


    Kain followed the others through the wilderness towards the relic. It was located over an hour walk from the campus. As they got closer and closer, Kain could see the gradual decline in vegetation.


    About 40 minutes out from the relic, the leaves of plants were mottled with yellow and brown spots. 30 minutes from the relic and most of the vegetation appeared like brown dried husks. 20 minutes from the relic it was a complete wasteland that more closely resembled the desert.


    However, with no plants or trees to block the way, Kain was able to see an outline of the relic even from far away.


    Although Kain had seen images of the relic online, as he got closer and closer he was struck by its size.


    Also he was better able to see many of the details of the relic that weren''t able to be captured by the photos.


    The large black box''s surface was a smooth obsidian-like stone and radiated an otherworldly sheen that seemed to shift subtly with the light.


    Hundreds of thousands, or possibly even millions, of intricate sigils were meticulously carved into every side. The sigils glowed faintly, pulsating with a soft, golden light that varied in intensity, creating an almost hypnotic effect.


    The air around the box feels charged with energy, and a subtle hum resonates, as though the relic is alive with magic and ancient power.


    Kain didn''t see anything resembling a door into the relic so turned to Serena in confusion. However, rather than address him directly, she simply placed both of her hands on the wall of the relic along with the other members of their party.


    In the blink of an eye Kain was left alone outside of the relic and quickly stretched his hands out as well so as not to be left behind.


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    Kain was transferred to a clearing of a forest that looked like nothing that would be only found on an alien planet.


    Towering trees stretched high into the sky, their trunks were a glistening luminescent turquoise, that resembled two thick ropes twisting around eachother as they reached towards the sky. The leaves of many of the trees were deep purples and electric blues, and emitted a gentle glow, creating a celestial atmosphere that bathed the forest floor in an otherworldly light.


    Vines hung down from the branches, and were adorned with bioluminescent flowers that pulse softly, like the heartbeat of the forest. The flowers emitted a sweet, intoxicating scent, reminiscent of exotic fruits, mingling with the earthy aroma of damp moss and fertile soil coming from the rest of the forest.


    The ground was a collection of vibrant red, green and gold ferns and moss that also emitted a dim glow, softly illuminating the forest floor. Despite their being no source of light like a sun above in the relic, the amount of light being emitted from the vegetation completely negated any need for Kain and the other students to use a flashlight or torch to light the way.


    From what Kain could see there weren''t many animals within the forest. However, a nearby body of water had continuous streaks of light flitting beneath its surface, likely due to some glowing fish.


    However, rather than the otherworldly appearance of the forest within the relic, Kain was struck by something else��the pull from his affinity.


    More specifically, multiple pulls from his affinity all around him. Unlike when outside of the relic where most microorganisms were ordinary creatures with no spiritual power, Kain could sense that pretty much everything within this relic was either composed of or the host of some kind of microorganism, whether that be bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses or more.


    ''Is this where most of the microorganisms with spiritual power are being kept? But why?''


    "So where do we go?" Kain said turning to Serena. They came in here to find the core of the relic so that it could be controlled by the college. But as this was Kain''s first time within the relic he was relying on her to lead the way.


    "We did not travel very far before some of the students started to fall sick, however we were assuming that the core of the relic was most likely within the center of this forest, as that was the direction that we''d headed.


    We are currently on the outskirts of the forest where there isn''t much danger, as we move towards the center the amount of threats drastically increases, so stay on guard." Serena said, before taking the lead in one direction. Kain followed closely behind her. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since the priority of this expedition was to find the core as quickly as possible, despite the evident danger present, it was agreed upon before entering the relic that the students would be travelling in smaller groups to scour the forest.


    Which is why only a small group of elite students chosen by the faculty was allowed to re-enter equipped with the limited amount of enchanted items that could prevent infection that the school had.


    Kain and Serena chose to form a group with only themselves. They of course did want to find the core of the relic, but they had the added task of trying to find the original body of whatever was infecting Bridge and destroying or controlling it.


    The whole journey Kain couldn''t help but revel in the intoxicating feeling of so many contractable spiritual creatures. In contrast to his barren options outside of the relic, Kain was confident that he should be able to find a suitable third contract.


    While the relic was dangerous to others, but he felt incredibly at home here.


    However, as they got closer to the center of the relic, Kain began to understand precisely why these creatures had been locked away and their existence seemingly intentionally scrubbed off the face of the earth.

 Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Pandoras box

    According to the story of Pandora''s Box, Pandora was created by the gods and given many gifts��beauty, wisdom, and curiosity, among others.


    Favoured as she was, the king of the gods personally gave her a beautiful box as a wedding gift, but warned her that she must never open it.


    Unfortunately, curiosity just happened to be one of the other ''gifts'' the gods had bestowed on her.


    Unable to stay away, Pandora opened the box and released disease, despair, pain and countless other misfortunes to plague humanity.


    Horrified by what she had unleashed, Pandora quickly closed the box, but it was too late��the world was forever changed.


    However, as she closed the lid, one last entity remained inside: hope.


    Looking around the relic, Kain couldn''t help but recall the story of Pandora''s box and the parallels it had with his current situation.


    Disease is practically unheard of on this planet, and Kain had always assumed that it was due to the more hardy constitutions of the natives of this planet who''d been breathing in a faint amount of spiritual power since birth.


    However, as Kain smashed in the head of a grotesque black and slimy figure that vaguely had a humanoid outline, Kain knew that his assumption was wrong.


    Someone, or possibly many individuals, had gone through the effort of locating as many spiritual microorganisms as possible and locked them away.


    They hadn''t even just stopped at the ones that could cause disease, like whatever had reanimated the corpses currently in front of Kain. Possibly knowing about the quick mutation rate of microbes and not wanting to take any risks, they''d gone through the effort of locking up every single microorganism with spiritual power that they could find.


    Obviously, a few, like Bea and Eve, had managed to escape. But it is hard to imagine how much time and effort had gone into carefully combing essentially the entire continent, or maybe even beyond, in order to locate and lock up creatures that were difficult to even detect.


    ''Unless��they had someone like me��with an affinity for all microorganisms��'' Kain pondered.


    However, despite how challenging it made finding a contract for himself, Kain couldn''t say that he blamed him. Even on Earth there were countless times when entire populations were decimated by a disease. In this world where they''d probably be even more dangerous and develop strange mutations and evolutions, more likely than not a mankind-ending illness will come into being.


    ''Rather I''m more surprised that nobody from the college has tried to restrict me due to my affinity. Obviously, they have some idea of what it is��''


    As they got closer and closer to the center of the relic, the hotter the enchanted bracelet given to him by the school felt against his skin. Obviously, something unseen was trying to enter his body and the bracelet was exerting all of its efforts to keep it out.


    The mere fact that pretty much everything in this relic, including many of the ''plants'' that were actually composed of what Kain assumed to be types of fungi or algae.


    Therefore, since nearly everything around him was causing a pull from his affinity, it impeded many of his senses and made it difficult to judge when something potentially dangerous that he couldn''t see was approaching.


    He tried to create a barrier around him and Serena using Bea''s splits, but, although it helped with keeping some of the invisible enemies at bay, similar to Eve and the Vespirae many of the creatures inside of this relic were also quite resistant to Bea and did not die or even weaken much.


    "There is one of the flowers that released the mist right before Bridge and the others fell ill." Serena said while pointing to a field of glowing white flowers that looked like lilies with their petals closed.


    "Once one of the flowers was picked, it opened and released the mist so remain cautious." Kain nodded. Kain wasn''t sure how strong the bracelet provided by the school was, but he didn''t want to test it with a shot to the face with whatever made Bridge sick.


    Kain slowly approached the field to avoid startling the flower buds open and tried closing his eyes to enhance his sensitivity to the pull and find the original body of whatever had infected Bridge with its splits, but there were just far too many spiritual creatures present.


    "Every individual flower seems to be the host of some kind of spiritual creature. It might be better to just try and kill them all." Kain turned to Serena, who then promptly summoned her Elemental Guardian in its fire-attribute form and began to set the field ablaze.


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    However, discreetly Kain touched one of the flowers and transported it into his System''s Lab. A while ago he''d bought an incubator that could house some microorganisms Kain wasn''t contracted with, like Aby. Although space was limited, this relic was a good opportunity to collect some creatures of interest.


    Along the way he''d already collected some glowing specks of blue light from a body they had passed previously that he guessed was similar to phytoplankton, as well as some kind of fungi that had almost knocked him and Serena unconscious due to some kind of gas it emitted.


    Now he was adding what was inside of this flower to his collection. One never knew when some of this stuff would come in handy.


    "Sigh��if the symptoms hadn''t taken so long to show previously until we were far away from these flowers, I could have destroyed them all the first time we were in here." Serena said in irritation. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You can''t take the blame for that. I''m sure you could tell that it wasn''t poison, and you weren''t on the lookout for something living inside of the flowers and causing the illness. It''s understandable that you let your guard down. Hopefully, killing the original body will cure those outside of the relic." Kain said.


    They then turned away from the scorched field and continued on their journey after Kain did his best to sense that no living microorganism was still within the field.


    He hoped that Bridge''s condition would improve, although ideally while inside the relic they''d also find something with some healing properties for good measure.

 Chapter 207: Chapter 207: Origin of the Relic

    Eventually, at the center of the relic they saw a large opening for a cave. Just outside of it were 5 of the second-years that had entered, including Alexei and Jin.


    "Why are you guys waiting outside of the cave instead of going in?" Kain asked.


    "We suspect that the core of the relic is inside of this cave, but NJ," Jin said while pointing to a plain-looking freckled boy with sandy brown hair, "has a gift that allows him to sense danger and strongly suggested waiting for more people to arrive. Aside from you two, only 3 others have yet to arrive."


    Kain nodded in understanding. Even if they have enchanted items that help to resist infections, there is no guarantee that the only source of danger would be getting sick. Kain had already seen how dead bodies were being controlled by an unknown creature. Even his own contract is capable of controlling other spiritual creatures to cause physical and elemental damage. S��arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After about another 40 minutes, the remaining 3 seniors arrived.


    Jin and Alexei led the way into the network of caves. The glowing moss lining the walls of the cave prevented the need for any kind of illuminating device as they moved forward with an unsettling silence hanging over them, broken only by the distant drip of water echoing through the cavernous halls.


    His heart raced with anticipation and trepidation. However, the walls of the cave helped to dampen the pull from the creatures from outside so the cave so that Kain could focus on any approaching enemies.


    "Stay sharp," Jin murmured, raising a hand to signal a halt. He knelt to inspect the ground, tracing the faint outlines of a series of markings etched into the stone. "There are traps here. They''re ancient but should still work. We must move forward carefully."


    As they moved deeper into the cave, the walls began to narrow, and the air grew colder. A large second-year with a bulky build, moved to the rear carrying a massive sword, muscles tense as he listened for any signs of danger. "I don''t like the feel of this," he muttered. "It''s too quiet."


    Suddenly, a soft click echoed through the chamber, and Kain''s instincts kicked in.


    "Move!" he shouted, darting to the side just as a series of darts shot from hidden alcoves in the wall. A female second-year barely evaded the barrage, her agility on full display as she rolled beneath the lethal projectiles.


    "Clear!" Kain called, and the group regrouped, hearts pounding. "That was too close."


    "Let''s not linger," Alexei urged, his voice steady despite the rising tension.


    Kain could feel the weight of the darkness pressing in around them. They reached a large cavern, its ceiling so high it was lost in shadows. Stalactites hung like jagged teeth overhead, and in the center lay a massive mound of stone. The stone wasn''t a single colour and was composed of several layers of varying colours form grey to orange to a deep red.


    Suddenly, a low rumble echoed through the cavern. The ground beneath them trembled.


    Before they could react, all entrances into the cavern began to slide shut, blocking their exit.


    Apprehension surged through Kain as he leaped back, his heart racing. Everyone gathered closer together in preparation for whatever would happen next.


    However, preventing their regrouping, he ground shifted violently, sending everyone sprawling in different directions.


    Kain scrambled to his feet, heart pounding as he scanned the cavern. The massive mound of stone at the center began to crack and shift, its surface glistening under the glow coming off of the moss and stalactites above. Discover worlds on m-v le-mpyr


    The cavern with filled a deep, resonant growl that reverberated through the chamber, sending shivers down his spine.


    As the stones shifted, the figure of a golem-like creature emerged, towering above them. Its form was composed of the same reddish-orange stone as the mound, intricately layered with veins of grey and deep red that pulsed like flowing blood.


    The golem stood so tall that its head almost grazed the jagged stalactites, giving it an imposing presence that filled the cavern with a sense of dread and awe.


    Kain could sense its energy, the familiar tug of from his affinity indicating that whatever this thing was, it was either composed of or host to a microorganism. Like all other creatures in the relic, its strength was limited to yellow-grade, but its immense size was rare at that level.


    Even among the green-grade spiritual creatures Kain had encountered before��none were as large as this behemoth. If it wasn''t for the pull from his affinity or that it was composed of stone, he''d almost think that it had giant''s blood.


    "Form a defensive line!" Jin shouted.


    A similar rock-golem-like spiritual creature moved in front of all of them, although it was only a fraction of the size of their opponent. It was quickly joined by two spiritual creatures resembling a tortoise and elephant. Looking at their bulky figures they were clearly all specialists in defense.


    Their defense was further bolstered by buffs and translucent shields added to them by other spiritual contracts.


    The others quickly gathered behind the defensive line, eyes fixed on the towering figure opposing them. However, after several minutes it didn''t make any movements towards him.


    "Do you think that��maybe it isn''t hostile?" One of the second year''s asked.


    Before anyone could respond, the golem''s eyes flared to life, glowing with a bright amber light. It surveyed them, its massive stone hands flexing, the ground trembling with each subtle movement. A low rumble emanated from deep within its chest, almost like a voice trying to break free.


    "Is it speaking?" A female student asked, eyes wide with wonder and fear.


    But as the golem shifted, it did not attack. Instead, it extended one enormous hand toward them, as if beckoning. Kain''s brow furrowed in confusion. "What does it want?"


    The golem''s eyes flickered, and Kain felt a connection, a sense of purpose radiating from the creature.


    "Wait," Kain murmured, "I think it''s trying to tell us something."


    Jin hesitated, but the urgency in Kain''s voice was undeniable. "We don''t have time for misunderstandings, Kain. We need to prepare for the worst."


    Before Kain could argue, the golem raised its other hand, palm upward, and a wave of energy flowed from it, creating a gentle vibration that resonated through the cavern. The air thickened, and Kain felt a shift, a calming influence washing over him and his allies.


    "Listen!" Kain urged, his voice barely above a whisper. "It''s showing us something."


    When the barely visible sigils carved into the cavern''s walls began to glow, images were sent directly into the minds of Kain and the others.


    ''Maybe finally we can get some answers about this place.''

 Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Origin of the Relic (2)

    Kain saw visions of an ancient period.


    A man with tan skin and brown hair and eyes was saying something indiscernible to four others: A regal-looking man with gold and eyes and hair, a large burly man with red eyes and black hair, a frigid-looking man with piercing blue eyes and silver hair, and the only woman who had hair that faded from grey at the roots to a light violet at the bottom and strangely had both of her eyes covered by a black blindfold.


    They were all dressed in attire from centuries ago, leading Kain to believe that these event s must have taken place not long after the Empire''s founding.


    Kain was unable to understand what was being, but it seems as though the brown-eyed man was able to convince the others of something as they all nodded in agreement.


    Quickly scenes of the relics construction flashed by. Kain had wondered how such a large object had managed to be carved with so many sigils. It definitely utilized advanced techniques that had been long lost and would be difficult to find among anyone today. However, it seems as though humans weren''t used.


    Flying all around the relic on the backs of red hawk-like birds were hundreds of small muscular-looking men with pointed ears��dwarves? Kain had heard rumours about non-human civilizations, such as the elves and dwarves, but majority of them had long disappeared with no contact with humans. Therefore, this was the very first time Kain was seeing them.


    Kain then saw the scene of the original 5 individuals at the beginning of the vision having an intense fight with what appeared to be a black dragon.


    The dragon was perched atop a massive hill, but upon closer inspection, Kain could see that the ''hill'' was made up of corpses. Corpses that were in various states of rot and gradually turning black. Some of those corpses had reanimated to resemble the black rotting creatures present within the relic that Kain and the others would occasionally come across.


    However, unlike the modern ones, the ones in the vision were on a completely different level in terms of strength. Based on the colour of their spiritual power, Kain concluded that the weakest of them were indigo-grade, equivalent to a 7-star beast tamer, and many of them were even stronger than that. Even more terrifying was the fact that there were hundreds of creatures at that level.


    The group of 5 were made up completely of 9-star beast tamers, but even they struggled against the dragon and its underlings.


    Finally, at the cost of the blind-folded woman dying, they managed to defeat the dragon.


    However, terrifyingly it seems as though it was unable to be killed. It wasn''t a dragon in the truest sense, Kain suspected that the dragon may have just been a host for something much more terrifying.


    They destroyed and burned all of its underlings, however the body of the actual dragon was completely immune to burning despite their best efforts, and they could sense that what possessed the dragon was not truly dead. All they could do was divide up the body of the infected dragon and apply many seals to each piece. Each piece was then transported to a different location.


    The vision then changed to a glass box covered in sigils containing one of the pieces, a large dragon tail, being carried into this relic where the strength of all creatures within had been restricted to yellow-grade, the lowest they could weaken the creature, due to the intricate sigils carved into the relic.


    However, since they were unable to definitively kill whatever it was previously, and only sealed it, it appears as though the creature living inside of the dragon had even managed to outlive the sigils powering its cage, and occasionally some of its aura had managed to leak outside to infect passing spiritual creatures within the relic, and even occasionally outside of the relic��explaining the rotting egg and completely dead colony of spiritual creatures the egg had been found in.


    Kain blinked his eyes as he came back to his senses and saw the others around him doing something similar.


    More than ever Kain was struck by the importance of their mission to find the core of this relic so that they could better control what comes in and out, and also use resources to refuel and repair the sigils.


    Fortunately, it appears as though the core of the relic was located just beyond this cavern behind the sealed doors. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unfortunately, the core was in the same room as the extremely terrifying spiritual creature that could probably easily kill all of them since that was the area with the strongest sigils to restrict it within the relic, even if it was weakened to yellow-grade and was only a single body part, it was still probably a more dangerous enemy than any other Kain had previously faced.


    However, it was a definite fact that the sigils of this relic were weakening, and in order to repair them the core was needed. If they just closed their eyes to this enemy already at their doorstep, it''d be only a matter of time before it and many of the other more dangerous microorganisms escaped and caused havoc.


    Kain stared long and hard at the golem. "I''m sure you showed us this so that we could have a better understanding of what we are going to face. Also, based on your actions so far, can I assume that you are a kind of guardian placed within this relic? Would you be willing to help us?"


    It didn''t give any kind of reply to Kain, but instead made a gesture at the sealed door behind it, which then opened to reveal a dark passageway. It then lumbered slowly towards the passage while bending its body forward awkwardly due to its immense size being restricted by the slightly lower ceiling of the tunnel.


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    "I guess that means we should follow it��" Kain said before glancing at the others still waiting around awkwardly. He then led the way just behind the golem into the tunnel.

 Chapter 209: Chapter 209: Facing the

    Kain and the others followed closely behind the golem, the air thick with tension as they ventured into the dark passageway.


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    The looming presence of the golem was a reliable reassurance for what they''d encounter next, but Kain''s mind was still heavy with the visions he had just witnessed.


    It was a terrifying task, to confront something so powerful, even if it was in a weakened state. He exchanged worried glances with the others. He could see the determination on their faces mixing with fear. Except strangely, Serena, who appeared more pensive after the visions, but not particularly frightened.


    ''Does she have some kind of hidden card to remain so confident?''


    "Stay close," Jin murmured once they began to see an end to the tunnel. "We don''t know what lies ahead."


    The passage opened into a larger chamber, its ceiling soaring high above them, but the air felt heavy and thick with some kind dark energy that made it difficult for Kain and the others to breath.


    "Ah!" One of the second-year girls in their group while grabbing the necklace provided by the school for this expedition. She moved the necklace away from her skin and Kain could see a large red welt appear just below her collarbone as though she''d been branded.


    Clearly, her necklace had been working so hard at keeping something away from her that it''d gotten hot enough to scald her as a result.


    Hiss


    Kain couldn''t help but expel a sharp whistle of air between clenched teeth as he also felt he bracelet heating up to an unbearable degree. Similarly, many of the other second years were also clutching at various parts of their bodies as, what Kain assumed to be the enchanted objects they were carrying, got so hot that they were burned.


    Nothing visible had attacked them yet, but despite the hot objects pressing against their skin, a chill crept down the spine of Kain and the other, as an eerie silence fell.


    Ignoring the pain coming from his wrist, Kain looked around the chamber they''d just entered.


    The room was vast and cavernous, the air thick with the scent of decay. In the center, on a raised stone altar, lay a massive tail, coiled and twisted as if in eternal agony. The tail shimmered with a dark energy, that seemed to absorb all of the light in its surroundings.


    Kain''s heart raced as he looked at the object from the vision. However, contrary to the intense pull he''d expected from his affinity, the pull was no stronger than what he''d experienced from the dead egg previously. He practically had to be next to it to feel the pull without concentrating.


    However, now that his spiritual power had grown and he was next to what he assumed to be a portion of the original body, he''d thought the pull would be much more intense.


    Suddenly, a low growl reverberated through the chamber, shaking the very ground beneath them. The tail twitched before grotesque sore-like bumps began to appear on its surface.


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    Kain and the others couldn''t help but flinch as the bumps burst open. But rather than something disgusting like puss splattering in all directions, instead limbs, wings, and a faint head shape burst out from the lumps.


    Soon, what was previously only a dragon tail morphed into a much smaller weakened version of the black dragon, its scales dulled and its wings tattered. It raised its head, eyes glinting with malice, and opened its mouth, releasing a stream of dark energy that curled through the air like smoke.


    "Back!" Jin shouted, pushing the others away as the dragon lunged forward. The golem stepped into action, its massive form stepping between the group and the creature, fists raised as it prepared to defend.


    The dragon roared, a sound filled with fury, and lunged at the golem, but the golem''s massive hand grabbed both sides of its open mouth to keep it from tearing at its limbs. Kain felt the ground tremble beneath him, the raw power of the clash palpable in the air.


    The creaking and occasional pieces of rock falling from the rock let Kain know that the current stalemate was at the expense of much of the golem''s energy. They couldn''t afford to waste this opportunity.


    "Now''s our chance!" Kain yelled, summoning Bea and the Vespirae to attack from a distance.


    The others also used their contracts to launch their attacks at the dragon from a distance.


    A barrage of energy bolts was unleashed, striking all areas of the dragon not blocked by the golem.


    Mostly long-distance attacks were used. Based on what they''d seen in the vision, most of them didn''t dare to let their contract get too close. Only those with contracts resembling the golem holding off the dragon dared to get a little closer, hoping that the absence of any flesh would prevent the dragon from infecting them.


    However, the dragon soon proved that hope to be useless.


    Even in its weakened state, the black dragon was formidable. It retaliated with a swipe of its tail at an approaching smaller golem contract and sent a blast of dark energy erupting from its open mouth straight at another lion-like spiritual creature that appeared to be made of shining crystals.


    The crystal lion, despite having no flesh, soon began to decay and crumble at a rate visible to the naked eye.


    "Ahhh!" A second-year boy unfamiliar to Kain let out a panicked scream, before moving to recall the lion into his star space.


    "Wait! Don''t recall it!" Kain called out. Kain had never tested if one of Bea''s splits could be recalled into the star space of another beast-tamer if a contract is infected. He hadn''t needed to use Bea much in the re-ranking and there weren''t many opportunities for him to fight against other beast-tamers.


    Moreover, he also didn''t know if the split was brought into the star space if it could still exert any effect.


    However, this dragon was clearly the host of something far more dangerous than Bea, and he had a hunch that recalling the lion would only result in his schoolmate''s death as well.


    Unfortunately, Kain''s warning came too late and the lion disappeared from the cavern.


    Kain looked worriedly at the boy, but after a few seconds passed with no changes, he began to let down his guard. That was until the seniors ear suddenly fell off without warning.


    "Ahhhhhh!" The student suddenly dropped to the floor and began to thrash in pain as black bulges slowly began to rise up all over his skin.


    A shiver ran down Kain''s spine as he began to hyperventilate. Serena turned to him in confusion, since he was usually more mentally resilient and would not panic at just the sight of a dead peer he wasn''t close too.


    However, Kain had no time to pay attention to the glances of concern around him as his memories transported him off of the current planet to somewhere light-years away��Brazil.

 Chapter 210: Chapter 210: Memories

    "Kain my boy, I am sorry that you ended up like this due to an incompetent supervisor like me."


    Kain looked up weakly from the bed through his blurred vision at his research supervisor who was covered head to toe in a hazmat suit. This summer "job" was really supposed to be more like a reward for Kain who had lost his parents.


    An all-expenses paid trip to another country while working under a prestigious professor, which would look great on future job applications.


    However, Kain knew that there was no hope of him ever leaving this country. If even his professor, Dr. Blackwell, couldn''t figure out what exactly this thing was, then there was truly no hope for him.


    What''s even more strange is that up until this point they couldn''t even get a hint of if the perpetrator was a bacteria, virus, or something else.


    "Ah��" Kain tried to offer some words of comfort to the professor, but was too weak for more than a faint gasp to escape his lips. The bandaged hand he raised was also promptly lowered since he realized that seeing Kain with only 3 fingers on his hand would likely only make him feel worse.


    Thankfully, Dr. Blackwell didn''t seem to come here to receive words of comfort. He seemed to just want to get some words off of his chest and clarify some of his jumbled thoughts by saying them aloud to a student he was close to. Get more chapters on m v l e mpyr


    "We figured out that patient zero was in an expedition group studying a recently found temple in the Amazon Rainforest. Previously, there was no indication of any advanced ancient civilization like the Mayans, Aztecs, or Incas having expanded into Brazil, so they were extremely excited.


    The architecture was also slightly different from temples previously found, so they had thought that maybe they''d identified the remains of a completely unidentified civilization."


    "This belief was further bolstered by the fact that after entering the temple, the carvings seemed to be in worship of some kind of god of death whose image had never been seen before."


    "Sigh. However, everyone in that team is now dead. It''s possible that the so-called ''God of Death'' is really some kind of devastating disease that they locked away to keep from spreading."


    "Unfortunately, since everyone who entered is now dead, we have no first-hand accounts of what the inside of the temple looked like, and nobody dares to re-enter it to find out more. Thankfully, they at least took some photos of the inside of the temple that we can maybe get some clues from about the origin of this thing. I figured you''d be bored and like to maybe look at them.


    You don''t exactly have access to the internet in here."


    Kain professor then handed over some laminated images of what looked to be photocopies of images taken from within the temple and the dead archaeologists'' journals.


    After handing over the images and offering some more words of comfort and empty vows to find a cure, Dr. Blackwell left. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain used his remaining good hand to weakly raise the laminated sheets of paper. Likely due to the poor lighting within the relic, the quality of the images was not ideal.


    However, Kain could still make out some details from the temple.


    The images depict wall paintings of a black star falling from the sky��the God of Death, Kain assumed. But based on his modern sensibilities, Kain would be more inclined to call it a meteor.


    The so-called God of Death then began to torment the locals, and so to appease him, they built a grand temple over where he descended from the godly realm to Earth��which Kain assumed to be the location where the meteor landed.


    Then to further appease the god, all individuals who had been marked by the god were then sealed within the temple as sacrifices��Kain assumed that considering the ''marked'' individuals all had black bumps, they were likely the infected.


    Therefore, based on their superstitious beliefs, this ancient civilization actually found an effective way to prevent the spread of the disease.


    They built a massive temple over the landing site so that future humans couldn''t reach it, and then all the infected were essentially quarantined and left to die within the temple, thus preventing a devastating epidemic��that was until their curious descendants happened upon it centuries later.


    ''Based on this story, is the disease something that originated from outside of the Earth? Humans had been looking for some evidence of life beyond just us, but this is really not what we wanted��''


    ''I wonder where it came from? Sigh��but it doesn''t look like I''ll live long enough to receive any answers to that question.''


    ------


    "Kain!"


    "Kain!"


    Kain felt a hard shove that practically sent him reeling to the floor. He turned to see Serena''s typical cold expression, and returned to his current reality.


    ''That was dangerous. I can''t afford to get distracted like that in the middle of a battle.''


    He turned to look at the battle''s current progress. The attacks they''d landed on the dragon had barely even left a scratch, however thankfully their new ally was still keeping the dragon away from them.


    The senior who''d recalled his infected contract was now lying dead on the floor, and Serena ordered her contract to light his body on fire to, Kain assumed, prevent the spread of whatever had killed him.


    In the few seconds Kain was lost in his thoughts, another contract, this one resembling a floating jellyfish, had its iridescent and translucent appearance ruined by specks of black dots that were gradually spreading��likely another victim.


    A girl, who Kain assumed to be the contractor of the jellyfish, was howling in grief as she felt its fading life force.


    They''d just started the battle not long ago and were suffering devastating casualties, Kain hoped that the loss to their group wouldn''t get much worse.


    He looked around for the core of the relic. While the dragon was being held off they had also been looking for the core. After all, even if they couldn''t defeat the dragon but could take off with the core, it''d be considered a successful mission.

 Chapter 211: Chapter 211: Relic Core

    The golem held its ground against the black dragon, each clash of scales against stone sending tremors through the chamber. Despite the turmoil, Kain''s focus remained on the search for the core of the relic.


    "Over there!" Jin shouted, pointing toward a darker recess in the cavern, away from the central altar where the dragon was wreaking havoc. "I think I see something!"


    They rushed toward the shadows, their breath quickening with hope. The closer they got, the more Kain felt a faint thrumming in the air from an intensely powerful spiritual power, at a level far beyond what was restricted by the relic.


    He rounded a corner, and there it was: the core of the relic. Nestled in a rocky alcove high above, the core appeared to be a smooth, crystalline orb that shimmered with a rainbow of light. It was approximately the size of a head and had a translucent shield surrounding it.


    An electric blue eagle, the contract of another second-year, flew above to try and grab the core but was violently repelled by the shield.


    "Sigh," Alexei said, shaking his head. "It may only allow humans through. The contracts can''t retrieve it."


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    "Then I''ll go," Kain decided, before boarding the back of one of his Vespirae while several others surrounded him. Determination flooding through him as he ignored the screams and chaos behind him. As he neared the core, the shield flickered, as he reached his arm in, allowing it through.


    He reached out and grasped the core, its energy coursing through him like a torrent of electricity. A surge of warmth flooded his senses, momentarily banishing the fear that clung to him.


    "Got it!" he shouted, holding the core up high so the others could see as he removed it from the shield, but his triumph was short-lived.


    The black dragon roared, its body tensing as it prepared to unleash a devastating attack. Kain''s heart sank as he realized the dragon was likely to perform its greatest attack yet. "Get back!" he yelled, but the words were drowned out by the dragon''s growl.


    Before anyone could react, the dragon''s form began to swell, dark energy coiling around it like a storm. Kain''s instincts screamed at him to flee, but he was rooted in place, core in hand as what felt like an invisible hand of evil energy had a vice grip on him to prevent his movements.


    With a final surge of energy, the golem stepped forward, its massive frame moving to shield the group. It thrust its arms upward, summoning a barrier of rock to encase the dragon. The ground quaked as the blast erupted, the force shaking the cavern.


    Kain shielded his eyes as the explosion detonated, a violent wave of energy erupting from the dragon. The golem''s rock barrier expanded outward, struggling to contain the blast. But the strength of the explosion was overwhelming, sending chunks of debris and rock flying in every direction. Kain felt himself thrown back, the core slipping from his fingers and rolling away.


    As the dust settled, Kain staggered to his feet, scanning the chaotic scene. The golem had been utterly consumed by the explosion, its rocky form reduced to rubble. The air was thick with the horrid scent of burnt stone. However, its sacrificed prevented anymore of the 9 students and their contracts from dying.


    A stillness fell over the cavern. Kain turned, his eyes narrowing as he searched for the dragon. There was no sign of it, no growl of fury. No pull from his affinity either. However, he didn''t feel reassured by the absence of the pull.


    "Is it�� dead?" a second-year asked, his voice trembling.


    Kain shook his head, unease creeping in. "No. It''s too quiet. It shouldn''t be this easy. Even a group of 9-star beast tamers hadn''t been able to completely eradicate whatever was inside the dragon."


    His instincts flared. There was no sense of relief; instead, a chill of dread settled in his bones. The remnants of the golem were all that remained, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that the ancient enemy had escaped in the chaos.


    Likely taking advantage of the moment the core was removed from the shield where it couldn''t access it, it sacrificed the body of its host to form a terrible explosion.


    There were already cracks in its cage, as evidenced by the fact that Kain found an egg contaminated by it, and its minions are running around in the areas of the relic outside of this cave.


    Therefore, it likely used the blast to exacerbate one of the cracks after the core was exposed momentarily, just wide enough so that the portion of whatever was controlling this dragon and was stuck in this relic could escape.


    Kain shared what he sensed with Serena. After all, he was the only one that could sense what was controlling the dragon and could confirm that it was gone.


    He was worried that the terrifying microorganism had managed to escape. sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I don''t think it''s truly escaped." Serena said coldly. "Although whatever was controlling the dragon is an unusual creature, it still has a soul, otherwise you wouldn''t sense a pull from it. Its soul was divided and sealed with its dragon host in a variety of relics. When it exploded the dragon, it didn''t just destroy its host, it also completely abandoned its material form as well.


    I could sense its spirit for a fraction of a second. Normally that spirit would also be trapped within the relic, but taking advantage of the explosion the spirit escaped, and as an incomplete spirit it can''t exert much power. Most likely, the portion of the spirit will make its way towards the nearest relic containing another portion of its soul with the aim of eventually becoming whole."


    ''She could sense it for a second? Does her affinity have to do with the spirit or souls? But based on the contracts of hers that I know of, that''s not quite right��''


    "Although this is just a theory, I do have a method of confirming for sure. But it will come at a great cost. It''d be better to just inform the school and have them investigate for themselves.


    After all, if this portion of the soul is added to another relic, it''d suddenly strengthen the trapped creature within that relic, meaning that another one of these prisons would likely re-emerge in the future."


    Hearing Serena''s explanation, Kain was a little more reassured. If it had taken the opportunity to start infecting everyone in Dark Moon right now, Kain would have thought it''d have been better to not even try to get the core.


    After all, although the relic was clearly beginning to fail and it''d likely have escaped in the future anyways, it''d have still been better if its escape was far off rather than now.


    However, if their entrance into the relic resulted in it damaging itself enough to escape that it was only the powerless remnant of a soul until it joins with another piece, then he could say that they''d at least accomplished something worthwhile.

 Chapter 212: Chapter 212: Third Contract

    Kain didn''t immediately leave the cavern with the others, instead he headed over to the pile of rubble that had once made up their ally.


    The others had assumed after seeing the explosion and the absence of any intact core that the "golem" was dead. And that would have been true if it had been a golem in the traditional sense.


    However, unlike the others, Kain knew that while its body was destroyed, what truly controlled it was not any kind of core, but rather some kind of microorganism. Otherwise, he would not have sensed any kind of pull from his affinity towards it.


    As Kain looked at the pieces of rock, he was even more sure of his guess. In contrast to the typical solid coloured stone of most golems, this "golem" was made of rock with hundreds of thin differently coloured layers of grey, orange, and red stone. It closely resembled the layered stromatolites formed by bacteria on Earth.


    Kain recalled collecting a piece of one such rock when he visited the beach on a family vacation in his past life.


    Kain''s experience within this cave made him very aware of his current limitations. When Bea is faced with an enemy, such as the hosts of other spiritual microbes or humans with the necessary enchanted items, who are resistant to her, she can''t play much of an effect.


    Conversely, the Vespirae have a numerical advantage and high penetration power from their stingers, but no strong attacks with elemental effects or any way of providing defense for Kain.


    This "golem," although it had lost majority of the rock forming its body that it''d built up in the years it was trapped in this relic, would make up for many of Kain''s current weaknesses.


    Finally, Kain located a smooth piece of bright red rock that was strangely giving off a pull.


    "I know that you can understand me, and I know you can sense my affinity. Since the creature you were guarding is no longer here, I was hoping you''d be willing to continue looking for it with me." Kain whispered to the rock as he held it preciously in his hands. If any of the members of the group were to come back for him, they''d probably immediately want to send him to a mental asylum.


    However, he needed the agreement of the golem in order to form a contract, especially since it was one spiritual level higher than him. If he tried to force it, he''d only end up seriously hurting himself.


    The rock emitted a dim glow, as yellow spiritual power left the stone and travelled up Kain''s arm to his chest area.


    Closing his eyes, Kain''s consciousness entered his star space and could see the spiritual power moving towards his recently formed third star. The surface of the star began to slowly shift and change to better suit his newest contract, but Kain couldn''t stay to watch the entire process, the others in the group were waiting for him and he had something important to quickly do.


    Although it would take a while to reform the body, Kain hoped that collecting the pieces of its former body would help to shorten the process. He collected as much of the massive body as he could into his space ring. Although its massive size made it impossible to fit all of it.


    ''Hmm�� I was able to put much of Queen''s old nest into her star space, I wonder if these rocks also apply?''


    Giving it a shot, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked and he was able to fully take away every ounce of the giant body.


    Task completed, Kain turned around and chased after the group that''d left him behind. Thankfully, he hadn''t taken too long, so nobody except for Serena noticed his absence and just assumed that he was walking at the back.


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    The journey leaving the relic was much more uneventful than the one into the relic.


    Unfortunately, there wasn''t anything in the relic that seemed to be a cure for infections, therefore Kain and the others could only hope that killing the original bodies had stopped the patients'' conditions from worsening.


    With the relic now under control by the school, Kain could also continue re-entering the relic in the future. Now, he had many more options for future potential contracts.


    After leaving the relic, they were all separated to recount their own versions of what happened in the relic and turn over the core which Jin had taken responsibility for on the way back.


    With worry, Kain headed back to his laboratory with Serena to check on Bridge.


    Thankfully, although still extremely weak, his brother was sitting up and awake by the time he arrived.


    Since Kain had stolen away one of the flowers to put in his incubator, there was a risk that the one out of hundreds that he''d chosen to save was the one that happened to infect Bridge, meaning he''d have to destroy the new member to his collection.


    Thankfully that wasn''t necessary.


    After confirming that Bridge was okay. Serena coolly left, the previous concern she''d displayed seeming like an illusion.


    Kain then spent the remainder of the day recounting what had happened to his brother, before helping to escort him back to his dorm room.


    Exhausted, Kain also returned to his own dorm room to eat and take a shower before lying in bed.


    However, he didn''t immediately go to sleep. Kain had made his third contract and had no idea about its name or skills. Thankfully, due to the System all of that information would be laid out for him.


    The anticipation was slow to creep up on him, otherwise he would have checked the System panel before they''d even left the relic, but he''d strangely not been tempted to do so��maybe his concern for Bridge had preoccupied his mind?


    In fact, this was the quickest he''d ever managed to find a contract after forming a star due to the rarity of suitable contracts for him, so it was also likely that it hadn''t even fully sunk in that he had a third contract��and that it was a powerful yellow-grade one no less. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 213: Chapter 213: Aegis

    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Biolith Sentinel


    An ancient being who uses layers of sedimentary stone to form a solid and powerful exterior. Its body has incredible resilience and incredible strength, while the absence of a conventional core makes it significantly more difficult to kill than similar rock-based spiritual creatures.


    The Biolith Sentinel embodies the essence of both strength and adaptability and given enough time it is capable of reshaping itself to respond to threats and environmental changes.


    Quality: Platinum


    Spiritual Power Grade: Yellow


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria)


    Attribute: Earth


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    SS-Layered Defense: Utilizing its unique stone composition, the Biolith Sentinel can absorb and dissipate incoming attacks. Each layer of its body can absorb a certain percentage of damage, allowing it to mitigate damage more easily.


    S-Geoform Transformation: The Sentinel can reshape nearby stone and its own body at will, creating protective barriers or weapons made from its own and nearby stone. It can also temporarily absorb and integrate nearby stones to provide a temporary boost to its strength and resilience.


    A-Tectonic Resonance: The Biolith Sentinel can generate seismic shockwaves that ripple through the ground, destabilizing the terrain and disorienting foes within a wide radius.


    A-Earth''s Embrace: This ability allows the Biolith Sentinel to meld into the ground, appearing like a collection of stones, its lifeforce is undetectable to foes with spiritual power up to one grade higher. While in this state, it can restore health by drawing energy from the earth itself.


    A-Stone Regeneration: This ability allows the Biolith Sentinel to regenerate lost stone layers over time, gradually restoring its physical form and enhancing its strength.


    B-Crystalline Burst: Upon taking significant damage, the Sentinel can unleash a shockwave of sharp crystalline shards, dealing damage to nearby enemies. However, the attack is indiscriminate and will harm both friends and foes.


    ---------------------------------


    Kain''s heart raced as he read through the abilities. Many of the skills sounded promising. And in the recent battle with the dragon, Kain had gotten to see its power in person. The thought of having such a dependable ally capable of shielding him and his friends filled him with hope.


    He also couldn''t help but feel giddy at the prospect of someone trying to destroy his contract by looking for the core but being unable to find one.


    After all, the Sentinel''s "core" was microscopic and difficult to find. They''d have to make sure to destroy every single speck of the golem in order to ensure its death.


    Kain then looked at the empty Nickname column, and fell into a contemplative silence.


    Many of the previous nicknames Kain produced such as Bea, Aby, and even his lab assistant Vera, were all acronyms for what they were and hadn''t required much thought. Meanwhile, Eve also felt like an obvious name for her due to her characteristics.


    ''I can''t exactly use the initials for its species as a name��BS as a name is kinda��''


    Kain shook his head at the image of his contract having the same initials as bullshit.


    But unlike Eve, there was nothing that jumped out to him as a name for his new contract.


    However, given its role as a guardian and how it selflessly sacrificed its own body to protect Kain and the other, and how it will also function as a shield in the future for Kain, Kain decided to go with a name that most reminded of a strong shield.


    ''I will call you Aegis'' Kain decided.


    The decision settled, Kain fell asleep with a smile on his face.


    ------------------------------------


    Kain didn''t hear any more news about the relic from the professors at the school, but he knew that they must have gotten it under control. Much of the vegetation surrounding the college had also been restored.


    With the life force of nearby creatures no longer being sucked away by the relic, it can be assumed that the frequency of beast-tides will finally start to decrease as the resources of the forest are replenished.


    Kain''s life over the next six months gradually fell into a stable routine of going to classes, brainstorming for his next research project, fulfilling requests as an evolutionary planner and receiving updates about the business.


    Speaking of the business, its launch was a resounding success. The creation of a spiritual beer whose effects don''t diminish with time, allowed to quickly gain a foothold within the empire and the scale of their production had to be increased several times.


    After the first month of their launch, Kain was able to make back all of the money he''d initially invested and finally see some profit. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, by now Kain was receiving substantial dividends from the company and its profit for him now far exceeded the profit from the evolutionary patent for the lumifin he developed. Especially, since after a few months the craze for the new evolutionary form had cooled down and people purchasing the plan were not as frequent.


    Although due to its beautiful form and decent strength, it was still a popular contract. Additionally, its beauty makes it a popular ornamental fish within the artificial ponds and lakes of many noble homes.


    Additionally, Kain and the others had already undergone their second and third re-rankings. However, unlike the first re-ranking of the year, the ones afterwards usually do not see any large changes in rank.


    The top 5 of their year remained as Serena, Kain, Soren, Kairos and Ranya. Unfortunately, while Kain was strong enough to defeat pretty much all of his peers using the Vespirae alone, and only really needed to use Bea against the other members of the top 5, even with the addition of Aegis, he had been unable to defeat Serena.


    Even more irritatingly, he still had not been able to force out her third contract and was defeated with only 2 of her contracts against his 3.


    Addison, Aiden, Finn, Leonara and Bridge all kept their rankings within the top 20, with only slight shifts in rank.


    The greatest change in rank was actually Elias who went from his initial last-placed rank to rank 42 at the first re-ranking, and then up to rank 32 by the third re-ranking. He''d finally found a suitable second contract for himself with some decent combat abilities.


    If he were able to use his gift without the unfortunate side-effect of becoming naked, he''d probably have a solid chance of entering the top 20 as well.


    There was no fourth re-ranking in the year, so all rankings were finalized. Therefore, the college could now confirm its definitive lineup that would be representing the school.


    After the first re-ranking, they had bi-weekly joint training sessions with the seniors, but considering the rankings could still potentially change, and the most changes in rank are typically among the first-years, they were still not heavily invested into or required to devote much joint practice time.


    By the time of the second re-ranking, the practice sessions were more frequent and brought to once to twice a week.


    However, as Kain glanced down at the new training schedule after their place in the top 5 for their year had been confirmed, he was overcome with dread.


    A jam-packed schedule that barely left time for him to breathe, especially since the summer vacation would be starting soon after their exams so they could devote every waking moment to training.


    However, he knew that the intense practice was necessary��after all, the national competition was only a short month away.

 Chapter 214: Chapter 214: Training for the National Competition

    The format of the National Competition had the top 5 students of each year must fight against the same-year students at the other colleges.


    Points were then awarded based on the final ranking. A maximum of 100 points each for first place among the first years, second years, and so on. The competition format is a single one-on-one battle, a three-on-three battle, and one five-on-five battle. Whichever side can win 2 of the three matches will win the round and advance.


    Additionally, there was the measure of the college''s overall combat power. A one-on-one individual match of the top 5 strongest students of each school, a face-off of the elites. Regardless of year level. This elite team that represented the school''s strength in its entirety was usually composed of third and fourth years,


    The first-place team will receive 200 points. So, in theory, a school could win a maximum of 600 points if they take first place in everything. 100 points each for ranking first in years one to four, and 200 points for the strongest multi-grade team.


    However, Kain was not yet strong enough to enter the elite team, and could instead focus completely on preparing for the competition against the other first-year teams.


    The representative for the single one-on-one matches could be changed with each school they face. However, the three-on-three and five-on-five matches required for them to develop their teamwork, therefore the representatives of each team match would need to practice together beforehand.


    For the team of 5 match, they''d all be working together and must therefore improve their coordination. However, the team of 3 match still needed to determine its representatives.


    Ranya and Kairos both have contracts with decent control and support ability that shine greatly in group matches and were therefore chosen unanimously as the definitive representatives for the team of 3.


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    For the final spot, Serena, Kain, and Soren all have stronger frontal combat abilities to make up for Ranya and Kairos'' shortcomings and were therefore planning to rotate into the team of 3 depending on the composition of the enemy lineup. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, since Serena and Kain were decided to take on the majority of the one-on-one matches, Soren was decided to take on the majority of the team of three matches.


    This arrangement also helped Kain a lot since he did not have to focus as much of his energy on training as a group with Ranya and Kairos. Instead, he could mostly just focus on his individual training and the team of 5 training.


    Currently, the seniors were assisting them in their cooperation as a group of 5. And in order to improve their teamwork, the second years were serving as their opponents. Of course, though they only limited themselves to yellow-grade and below contracts and could only summon 3 spiritual creatures since it was unlikely for a first-year to exceed being a 3-star beast-tamer.


    Facing them as representatives of the top 5 second-years, were Alexei and Jin, who Kain grew familiar with during the beast-tide and the relic exploration, and three female students: Kyria, Cressida, and Rhiannon.


    Kain had seen them and some of their contracts during the beast-tide, but he hadn''t known all of their names yet at the time.


    Ranked fourth among the second-years was Kyria. Kyria had black hair and tan skin, with eyes that were a deep, hypnotic violet. From what Kain had seen during the beast-tide and rumours he''d heard, she seemed to specialize in support and defensive abilities.


    However, rather than the typical defensive type spiritual creatures with a burly physique and were usually of earth-attribute, instead her defensive capabilities were described as more ''magical'' and difficult to circumvent.


    She and her contracts could apply buffs to herself and allies and magical elemental shields with a myriad of effects such as reflecting damage or absorbing the energy from the attack to partially heal wounds.


    Ranked fifth among the second-years was Cressida. Cressida was the girl with pink hair and eyes who had a gift for forcefully gaining the attention and infatuation of all living things in an area. The effect of her gift was so strong that, even Kain, despite his strong resistance to mental attribute attacks, found it difficult to resist the effects of her gift.


    Although he hadn''t been able to see much from her contracts, from what Kain could tell, they also seemed to specialize in the mental attribute.


    However, like most mental-attribute spiritual creatures in the mid and lower levels, they were not particularly lethal but had extremely strong control abilities��a mental-attribute spiritual creature that can directly cause death like Bea at their current level is rare after all.


    Finally, Rhiannon had a valiant atmosphere and long wildly curly hair that was a fiery blend of gold and red and framed piercing golden eyes. She had a fire-attribute affinity and among all of the second-years had the strongest destructive capabilities, which probably explains why among the rankings of students which prioritizes frontal combat abilities she was ranked first.


    Following her were Jin with an affinity related to the wind-element at rank 2 and Alexei with a rare blood-attribute affinity at rank 3.


    Even before the battle started Kain was extremely worried the average level of the second-years'' contracts was higher than the first-years''.


    However, even if that wasn''t the case and the level of their contracts was similar or the first-years'' contracts were slightly higher, Kain would still not be optimistic about their chances. He had witnessed the second-years'' tacit understanding during the beast-tide when they worked together to kill the mental-attribute green-grade spider.


    With their excellent teamwork they achieved an effect where their combined strength was far greater than just the sum of each of them.


    ''We just have to try our best. After all, this will be the first really intensive training for the National Compeition that we''d have undergone as an officially determined team. Nobody will be expecting us to win, let''s just try our best to not get thrashed too badly��''

 Chapter 215: Chapter 215: Training for the National Competition (2)

    Kain''s expectations about the practice battle were completely fulfilled.


    He wouldn''t call it a thrashing due to his pride��but their lack in cooperation compared to their opponents was readily available.


    Seamless move combos gave Kain the illusion that they were facing more than just five opponents.


    In fact, the talent of Kain''s year was so overflowing that some of the professors secretly referred to them as a "golden generation" that may allow the college to reclaim the first ranked seat in a couple of years.


    One-on-one Kain, Serena, and even Soren would likely be able to be evenly matched or even able to beat many of the second years, and possibly even weaker members of the top 5 if it were a favorable match up.


    In raw strength, Serena was already similar to the top second-years since both of her revealed contracts were now at yellow-grade, and when combined with her limitless spiritual power she was an overwhelming opponent to face in battle.


    Kain''s battle methods were extremely difficult to guard against in battle, and with the exception of the defensively focused Kyria, and Cressida who specialized in the mental-attribute, none of the others really had any defensive methods against Bea.


    And with the powerful offensive and defensive abilities of the orange-grade Vespirae and yellow-grade Aegis, Kain wasn''t afraid of those resistant to Bea anyways.


    Finally Soren, despite never having beaten Kain or Serena, wasn''t some weakling either. He was someone with a powerful and rare dragon-related affinity. Any one of his dragon contracts could probably fight many average spiritual creatures at the same level.


    However, all of their individual strengths ended up greatly reduced in the face of their enemies'' careful planning and collaboration to make up for each other''s weaknesses.


    Despite having limitless spiritual power, most of the attacks from the only two contracts Serena has exposed were unable to pass the defensive measures set up by Kyria.


    Normally, her limitless spiritual power would have allowed her to bide her time until her enemy''s spiritual power was exhausted.


    However, Alexei''s gift can send any chosen targets into a berserk-like state of increased power but reduced intelligence and consciousness, meaning that they may even attack allies indiscriminately. Unfortunately, this con was completely negated due to Cressida.


    Kain noticed that all of their opponents'' contracts had a strange brand on different locations of their bodies, but was unable to deduce their purpose until they were activated. The brand was apparently applied by one of Cressida''s contracts and allowed the contract to control the bodies once they lost their intelligence due to their berserk-like state.


    Although the effect is similar to what Bea can achieve, it is far inferior in flexibility since the brand takes time to apply and the target can''t resist during the application. Therefore, it''s a seemingly useless skill that would really only be able to be applied to already unconscious foes or allies rather than enemies.


    However, the cons of this skill and Alexei''s gift perfectly counteracted one another.


    On top of all that, the brands seemed to have a similar effect to Eve''s effects on the Vespirae and made all of the controlled targets extremely resistant to Bea''s effects. Most of the opposing contracts were yellow-grade, so Bea already had to exert more effort to try and control them one level lower, now with the increased resistance full control was almost impossible.


    With much of their two strongest students'' offensive means neutralized, the first-years fell into an immediate disadvantage. Especially since all of their opponents'' spiritual creatures had their strength boosted due to Alexei, while the role of their brain was taken over by Cressida.


    However, the first-years were still able to put up a fight. Even in a berserk state, the first-years only fell behind the second-years slightly in strength, mostly due to the strength of their top 3 students.


    Therefore, the match for a period fell into a boring stalemate for a period with neither side being able to cause significant damage to their opponents.


    At one point, Kain even tried to play dirty and control the second-year students directly, but unfortunately during the expedition to the relic Alexei and Jin must have gleaned some information since they were wearing equipment that greatly increased their mental strength and Kyria also seemed to be on guard�� particularly against Kain.


    A turnaround almost occurred at one point. Kain used the skill tome he''d exchanged for to greatly enhance Bea''s abilities and allow her to wrestle for control of the spiritual creatures with Cressida, causing a delay in the enemies'' collective movements.


    During that brief period, most of the enemy lineup could have been eliminated if Cressida hadn''t unfortunately activated her gift. Sending the myriad of attacks sent towards the helpless spiritual creatures, instead flying towards Cressida who was safely behind the several layers of shields set up by her allies.


    She did suffer some damage due to the high strength of the bombardment, but unfortunately one of Kyria''s contracts also happened to have some healing ability.


    Only the attacks of Serena''s star-attribute contract and Kain''s Vespirae guards still struck the spiritual creatures controlled by Bea, since they had the most resistance to mental-attribute attacks. Resulting in 3 among the enemy lineup, the contracts of Alexei, Jin and Rhiannon, being eliminated due to the severity of their injuries.


    Afterwards, all of the enemy was more on guard and despite Bea managing to slightly mess with their coordination, another opportunity so great never presented itself again.


    Instead, because all of the minds of the contracts were being manipulated by either Cressida via her contract or, for brief moments, Bea, the illusion abilities of Ranya weren''t able to exert any effect. Meaning that they were essentially fighting 4 against 5. Read latest chapters at m_v-l''e|m,p| y- r S��ar?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kairos'' cursed book had almost as diverse a range of support and defensive abilities as Kyria''s contracts, but all at a much lower level.


    Honestly, despite not being able to exert his full strength in this battle, he seemed to be greatly inspired by Kyria and even after the battle would continue to stare at her with sparkling eyes of admiration��she was the direction he should be heading towards when refining his future combat style!


    Although Kain was gratified that Kairos will likely usher in an explosive increase in strength in the near future, it also meant that he''d also be a greater opponent in the future as well.


    Soren''s contracts had some of the greatest frontal combat abilities of their side and were still able to suppress 1 to 2 of the berserk enemies alone. Similarly, Serena and Kain''s contracts were also fighting 1 against 2 or even 3 in some cases.


    The real turning point came when Jin and Rhiannon likely activated their respective gifts, because suddenly the strengths of the opposing wind and fire-attribute skills of the spiritual creatures on the opposite side strengthened.


    Aside from Serena, Kain and the others were already becoming exhausted and were unable to prevent being knocked out of the arena by a fierce and extremely hot gust of wind.


    Serena managed to stay standing in the arena, but likely not seeing a means of turning the battle around, at least not without revealing another contract, and also since this was just a training exercise, she chose to forfeit.

 Chapter 216: Chapter 216: Upgrading Equipment

    Aside from the intense training, Kain also had another crucial aspect he needed to pay attention to in terms of strength improvement, and after several weeks of waiting, the Kain finally presented itself to him in the System''s store.


    After becoming a 3-star beast-tamer, although extraordinary equipment for their level, both the armor and spear were no longer as useful to improving Kain''s strength.


    Before the second re-ranking, Kain had already upgraded his armor and spear for ones at the 3-star level by exchanging his school credits. However, despite the high quality of the equipment provided by the school, they couldn''t at all compare to the custom spear provided by the System that Kain got accustomed to.


    Even his armor, while not provided by the System, had been shaped using Bea''s spiritual power and was in a way a piece of custom equipment.


    However, until now no opportunities to exchange either a custom armor or weapon were available for exchange from the System shop. That was until now, a mere 3 and a half weeks before the National Competition. Where Kain saw vouchers for both a custom weapon and armour available in the shop after the latest refresh.


    The moment Kain saw the two vouchers available for exchange, tears couldn''t help but well up in his eyes.


    ''Awww thank you System��maybe you really do care for me��'' He thought as a deeply moved expression fell across his face.


    *The items available to the host through Shop are completely random and not subject to the System''s intervention*


    ''Tsk��you could just accept the thanks without ruining the moment��''


    The voucher for a custom 2-star weapon that Kain had previously exchanged for was 500 GP, now the amount of needed GP had more than doubled to 2500 GP.


    Thankfully, much of the wilderness outside of the college had been restored in the months following the beast-tide and the control of the relic, allowing Kain to more frequently go hunting and obtain GP.


    Additionally, Kain had also managed to receive GP after ranking second at the last re-ranking of the year, confirming his place on the team, and after completing a certain number evolutionary planner requests��which was a pleasant surprise to Kain.


    Therefore, he had the required 5000 GP for both vouchers. However, he was still far from the amount required for the next System upgrade which required an overwhelming number of 100,000 GP. Unfortunately continuing the System''s pattern of needing 10x more GP at each level.


    Kain decided to start with the armour since he hadn''t had an opportunity to create a custom armour previously and was therefore more curious about the process of creating a custom armor.


    It is common for beast-tamers to receive feedback from their contracts to enhance certain aspects of themselves. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain wasn''t sure if it was because Bea was his first contract, or if it had more to do with the strength of the emotional connection between them, but Bea was by far responsible for majority of the feedback Kain received from his star space.


    After Bea''s breakthrough, Kain resistance to mental-attribute attacks was no worse than when he had the mental attribute armour and his mental strength was also greater than those at the same level as him��which has greatly helped him keep up with his school work along with everything else he had to take care of.


    Therefore, Kain didn''t plan to have his next two pieces of equipment so focused on the mental attribute.


    Kain hasn''t really noticed much improvements to other aspects that may come from his other contracts such as an increase in the strength of his life energy or defense��but to test either of those out he''d probably have to get injured, possibly even repeatedly, and he had no plans to do so.


    There were two main aspects that he felt he couple improve upon prior to the competition.


    Since the beast-tamer must also enter the arena and if he''s too weak he may be eliminated due to injury to himself, even if his contracts overpower the enemy, he thought about focusing purely on improving his defensive abilities.


    Aegis also acts as a defence for Kain but it is limiting for him to remain next to Kain the entire time of the competition and not attack at all.


    Additionally, Kain can''t eliminate the possibility of attacks that can ignore earth-attribute defenses to attack Kain directly.


    The other aspect that Kain felt as though he could strengthen has been made readily apparent to him during his battles with Serena and against the second-years��his amount of spiritual power and the ease with which he could manipulate it.


    In raw power, Kain is not particularly threatened by Serena or the third-years especially not after receiving Aegis and Bea becoming more proficient in her skills. Even Eve has gradually become more proficient at manipulating life-attribute energy after improving the growth of the plants related to Kain''s business and can now exert a weak healing effect from afar even without the royal jelly.


    However, Kain''s greatest disadvantage against Serena is her inexhaustible spiritual power. Even against the second-years, after the time when Kain provided a boost to Bea with the skill tome passed, he practically had none left.


    Although once mastered Kain''s skill should allow him to improve his contracts abilities and restore their spiritual power by 50% if he uses 100% of his own spiritual power��an exchange ratio of 2 (used by Kain) to 1 (actually transmitted). It leaves him completely powerless afterwards.


    Additionally, Kain has not yet mastered the technique and only has an exchange ratio that fluctuates between 4 and 3 to 1. Meaning that he typically only can improve his contract''s abilities by 25-33%.


    It is rare to find any spirit skills that provide an all-round increase in abilities and restore spiritual power at the cost of the beast-tamer''s spiritual power at such a high exchange ratio��otherwise with Serena''s gift she''d be completely overpowering with such a skill.


    Without such a skill, if a beast-tamer just tried to forcefully inject their spiritual power through the contract, it''d be lucky if 10-15% of it reached the contract and there also wouldn''t be an all-round boost to their abilities.


    Therefore, Kain knew that if he could improve the ease with which he could use this skill and/or had a method to instantly replenish his spiritual power to use it on more than one contract, it would be like adding wings to a tiger. He may even be able to take the rank 1 placement at the next re-ranking.


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    And fortunately, although rare, there just so happened to be sigils with such effects within the System''s customization window.

 Chapter 217: Chapter 217: Upgrading Equipment (2)

    With that plan in mind, Kain decided to select the star-attribute as the basis of his armour. It is an attribute that is resistant against most other attributes, and will therefore provide great defense even without any defensive sigils being used. Additionally, it''s a flexible attribute that won''t reject being engraved by sigils of other attributes if Kain wishes to do so.


    Additionally, while Kain had heard briefly about other cultivation techniques used by other nations in lectures and casual conversations with others, the cultivation technique used by those in the Celestial Empire happens to be one that uses star-attribute energy.


    Therefore, sigils geared towards boosting spiritual power, restoring spiritual power, or increasing the proficiency of his usage of spiritual power would likely be more effective using a material of the star-attribute.


    Additionally, Kain chose to create a light armor so as to maintain flexibility and also to allow him to wear it comfortably at all times.


    Kain then went to the next window that allowed him to select his sigils. There were 3 sigils that Kain could select for free due to it being a 3-star enchanted armor, or he could purchase the right to choose a fourth sigil for 500 GP.


    Despite feeling the pinch, Kain knew that it was important to invest into his own strength so that he could more easily complete missions and perform well at the upcoming competition.


    Kain scrolled through the different sigil options and finally settled on the first 3 which were all related to spiritual power.


    The first one had the effect of doubling the rate at which his spiritual power is restored passively and tripling the restoration rate if he is actively trying to restore his spiritual power. Meaning that even in battle, Kain would be able to restore much of his spiritual power if it drags on long enough.


    It typically takes Kain an hour to passively restore his spiritual power fully. This sigil will allow him to be fully restored in only half that time. Or he could have half of his spiritual power restored passively in only 15 minutes. Considering that many evenly matched battles can drag on for over half an hour, Kain was pleased with this timeframe.


    The second one acts as a kind of backup battery that Kain can immediately use to restore his own spiritual power once he has completely run out. Therefore, with the sigil, Kain''s spiritual power has essentially doubled.


    The third one, Kain was contemplating about for the longest period among the three since there were other sigils that had similar but slightly different effects, but eventually decided to select it. The effect of the third sigil was that it would increase the ease with which Kain could manipulate the spiritual power as it leaves his body.


    Therefore, it would have no effect on the ease with which Kain could manipulate the spiritual power within his own body for certain skills, such as boosting his senses like he learned at the beginning of the school year.


    However, Kain''s most important spiritual skill required him to efficiently transmit spiritual power from himself to his contract via their bond and so he chose this sigil after contemplating.


    For the fourth sigil, Kain was going back and forth between the various sigils that provide greater defense against physical attacks or attacks of specific attributes, however since Kain also had the option the voucher for a custom weapon, he decided to select a sigil that would allow for resonance between his weapon and armour to provide a boost to all of the effects of both.


    Kain wasn''t extremely familiar with the effects of such sigils, but he did know that Soren''s armor and sword seemed to be a pairing with this effect.


    After clicking the button to generate the armour, it appeared in all of its glory before him only a few moments.


    Kain''s new armour was blend of elegance and practicality.


    The inner layer was a lightweight fabric that shimmered faintly with a spectrum colours that changed with his movements��deep blues, silvers, and soft whites that reminded him of the night sky.


    Additionally, the comfortability of the armor was an improvement over anything he had previously. The material felt almost like silk against the skin, allowing for exceptional flexibility and comfort, while providing him with protection.


    The armor was tailored to fit snugly, accentuating Kain''s form without restricting his movements.


    The chest piece was reinforced with overlapping plates that resembled clusters of stars and was engraved with intricate sigils that pulsed softly with a bluish light when Kain put the armor on his body. Particularly, the first sigil glowed the brightest, signifying that its passive effects were being triggered.


    Happy with the first product, Kain immediately triggered the voucher for a custom 3-star weapon.


    By this point, Kain was already the most familiar with using a spear and appreciated the reach that it provided. Especially since most of his opponents would be spiritual creatures more physically powerful than him.


    He contemplated adding some offensive sigils as well, but since Kain rarely fought with opponents himself, he decided to instead make a matching a spear for the armor that would further improve Kain''s spiritual power and selected the star-attribute material for the base with the same 4 sigils. S��ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Meaning that separately both the armor and the spear doubled Kain''s ability to passively restore his spiritual power and could provide one instance of a full instantaneous refill��the increase in his efficiency in using the spiritual skill though would need to be tested to see the effect.


    However, when equipped together with the resonance effect between them, in total Kain''s passive restoration of his spiritual power was now 5 times faster, meaning Kain could have his spiritual power completely restored in under 12 minutes.


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    Additionally, the capacity of each sigil used to store the spiritual power that would instantly refill Kain has slightly increased, meaning that it is now more similar to 2 and a half instant refills.


    Although Kain still doesn''t have Serena''s seemingly endless spiritual power, as long as the battle did not extend for more too long, he should be able to exert a similar effect momentarily.

 Chapter 218: Chapter 218: Relic Training

    In addition to boosting his strength via the System, since the team representing the college has been conclusively determined, the school has finally begun to invest in Kain and the other first-years in earnest.


    This investment came in the form of a practically limitless supply of resources for feeding their contracts daily, opportunities to exchange for materials not available in the regular exchange area at an extreme discount, and access to the best evolutionary planners and trainers the college had to offer.


    However, Kain didn''t take them up on their offers of a personal trainer since Kain already had the System''s Training Arena to improve the combat experience and skill proficiency of his contracts.


    However, the most prominent opportunity would definitely be the chance to enter one of the college''s relics.


    In fact, it is the exact same relic that they had entered for the entrance exam, but this time with all of its features completely unlocked.


    During the entrance exam, they had created the same environment and enemies for all entrants to ensure an equal level of difficulty across all students.


    However, the role of the relic is actually to function as a highly advanced training center for beast-tamers.


    Therefore, normally the relic would have the environment and opponents tailored to target the weaknesses of each student to effectively train them. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Additionally, the completion of each level will result in the relic granting an award beneficial to the trial taker, with the rarity of the rewards increasing with each level.


    Kain had heard about rare evolutionary materials, eggs, enchanted equipment and spiritual plants all being granted to past entrants.


    However, obviously, the resources consumed to activate the full abilities of the relic are quite substantial, and also the amount of rewards it can provide is not infinite. Although nobody knows the exact limit to the resources it possesses and if certain rewards are able to be regenerated by the relic (such as regrowing spiritual plants handed out), there definitely is a limit.


    Therefore, only the top 5 students of each year plus any students that have made outstanding contributions towards the school have been granted access to the full trials of the relic.


    Kain and the others stood at the familiar clearing that they''d entered for the second time since what felt like ages ago.


    Similar to the last time they also lined up to enter one by one, although this time the line was much shorter.


    It was decided that they''d first take the trials given by the relic separately to receive target training and rewards targeted for their own individual weaknesses, before re-entering as a team to work on their teamwork.


    Unfortunately, once you enter as a team the rewards are no longer so targeted and are more general rewards that would benefit any entrant, such as spiritual plants and elixirs that provide a temporary cultivation boost.


    All of the students, Kain included, were full of anticipation. While Kain''s Training Arena allows him to similarly set an environment an enemy to face, if it''s a spiritual creature he has not seen in person it won''t be available.


    Additionally, the Training Arena doesn''t automatically generate an environment and enemy that targets Kain''s weaknesses, he would have to make the selections for himself.


    But if he isn''t aware of his own weaknesses then how could he possibly select environment and enemies targeted at them?


    Therefore, Kain was forward to what his first trial would be.


    Kain stepped into the relic, and was immediately struck by the steep drop in temperature compared to the summery weather outside of the relic.


    However, the "coldness" didn''t seem to purely be coming from the weather inside of the relic, it was more of a chill targeting Kain''s soul. The atmosphere inside the relic carried an unsettling stillness that sent shivers down his spine.


    He found himself in a desolate graveyard, where gnarled trees loomed over crumbling tombstones, their twisted branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. A pale moon hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow that illuminated the fog creeping along the ground.


    From what Kain could see of the ground it was uneven, with patches of overgrown weeds tangled among the stones, serving as an additional obstacle to his movements and a tripping hazard.


    ''Thankfully, the relic at least generated an artificial moon, otherwise it''d be completely impossible to see anything without having to carry around a flashlight.''


    As he moved deeper into the graveyard, the temperature seemed to drop further.


    The ground beneath his feet was damp and cold, and the distant sound of mournful wails filled the air, increasing the tension he felt.


    Shadows kept moving just along the edges of his vision, and he could almost feel the weight of eyes hidden in the darkness and fog watching him.


    Suddenly, a figure emerged from the mist, floating silently above the ground. It was a wraith-like spirit, its form shimmering like smoke. The ghost wore tattered remnants of what might have once been elegant robes, but were now faded and torn.


    Its features were indistinct, but Kain could see glowing blue eyes that were filled with sorrow and rage.


    As more spirits materialized around him, Kain realized they resembled lost souls��a type of spiritual creature that forms when an individual dies with resentment so strong it causes part of their spirit to linger. If spiritual power is able to be absorbed by the resulting energy and consciousness formed, then an independent spiritual creature will be born.


    The circumstances for such a creature to be born are extremely rare, therefore this is the first time that Kain had ever even seen one, much less the dozens or even hundreds more that may be hidden in the fog. Your next chapter awaits on m v|l--NovelFire.net


    Some floated with arms outstretched, their fingers elongated and claw-like, while others hovered in the air calmly, their mouths stretched into ghastly screams.


    Each spirit had a unique appearance: young and old, male and female, noble and penniless.


    Kain''s heart pounded as the spirits began to circle him, their whispers echoing in his mind. Each one seemed to carry the weight of untold stories, regrets, and vengeance. He could feel the oppressive atmosphere pressing down on him, and he knew he had to focus.


    It would be way too shameful to be eliminated in only the very first round of the trial.

 Chapter 219: Chapter 219: First Trial

    As Kain started to face the lost souls, he began to realize why they were selected as his first trial.


    Kain had thankfully not had to face many spirit-type spiritual creatures prior to Bea''s evolution.


    Prior to evolution Bea destroyed her enemies by targeting their brain��but what if they had no brain? She could still exert an effect by targeting whatever brain-like entity was responsible for controlling the body of the spiritual creature. However, she wasn''t nearly as effective against them.


    However, this became less of an issue after she evolved and instead focused more on manipulating and consuming mental energy made up of memories, emotions, and their sense of self. Now she kills by destroying mindshards��that is destroying the consciousness directly��rather than targeting a physical brain.


    But lost souls, perhaps due to their identity as creatures made up from remnants of an extremely strong emotional attachment, grudge, or memory, were difficult for Bea to "erase" their sense of self.


    Thankfully, the majority of their attacks seemed to target the mind. Therefore, since all of his contracts are pretty resistant against attacks on the mind��especially Eve, Bea, and even Kain himself��and they weren''t harmed. They also weren''t very effective at harming any of the surrounding souls.


    Around 10 minutes had passed since Kain had entered the relic, but only 2 lost souls had been killed by Bea. Averaging at a kill every 5 minutes.


    Despite her ability to produce multiple splits that managed to infect the majority of the souls present already, to actually kill any of them and not just impede their movements, Bea had to concentrate much of her energy on one at a time due to their high resistance against her attacks��meaning that their progress was extremely slow.


    Kain used his spiritual skill now to boost Bea''s abilities, but did not use one of his instant refills, instead choosing to wait for his spiritual power to restore passively, since he didn''t want to waste one of his few refills on the first trial.


    But even after Bea received the boost, the kill rate only increased to about a kill every 2 to 3 minutes��a massive improvement, but still way too slow for Kain.


    ''Sigh��I don''t think boosting Bea is the solution. This relic is supposed to be a trial to help me improve my weaknesses, just brute forcing my way through using a spiritual skill isn''t the way.''


    Kain began to look at his Vespirae. Since they mostly use physical attacks, they hadn''t been able to play much of a role against the immaterial souls.


    However, since the souls were also of the undead attribute, perhaps Eve may be able to play a larger role?


    But despite getting better at manipulating earth attribute energy, no attack skill had actually been developed using that attribute.


    The only life-attribute skill Kain had at his disposal was the SS-skill Essence of Life that creates the life attribute royal jelly.


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    Not to mention, until she evolves, Queen herself doesn''t actually possess the life attribute and is unable to freely wield the attribute outside of one skill she has.


    ''Maybe a fusion skill?'' Kain had learned about fusion skills and combinations of skills early on as a student and had been brainstorming different moves that could be developed by his spiritual creatures working together.


    One of the fusions that Kain had tested out was having Eve imbue her life-attribute energy into Queen''s skill Noble Breeze to see if the wind generated by Queen could be used to more efficiently carry the life attribute energy around the field to the various plants��it was effective and also slightly enhanced the beneficial properties of Queen''s skill.


    However, Kain had positioned the combination as more of a support skill which he called Life Breeze


    But perhaps against the undead it could have an offensive effect?


    With nothing to lose Kain decided to give it a try. He instructed Bea to no longer waste energy trying to kill them but instead to just try and keep the enemies in place. He also gave instructions to produce the fusion skill Life Breeze to Eve and Queen.


    As the energy flowed, a gentle green glow extended from Queen''s abdomen, radiating outward until it enveloped her whole body.


    The gentle light emanating from her contrasted greatly with the eerie darkness of the graveyard.


    Kain watched as, at the same time the green light was being controlled by Eve, wind-attribute energy began to concentrate and swirl around Queen.


    When both energies were concentrated around her, Queen pushed the energy outward. Instead of a brilliant blast of light, the green light previously covering her dimmed and a soft, green-tinged breeze extended from her, weaving through the air like a whisper.


    The breeze flowed toward the now motionless lost souls, wrapping around them gently in an almost loving caress. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As it made contact, the spirits seemed to recoil, their features twisting in confusion and pain. The gentle breeze acted like a corrosive acid, quickly dissolving their ethereal forms. Wisps of smoke erupted from where the breeze touched and the lost souls evaporated into nothingness as if their very essence was being consumed.


    Kain felt a surge of happiness; the fusion skill had worked beyond his expectations. He also got a better understanding of the goal of these trials. Instead of trying to forcefully boost his strength through artificial means like a spiritual skill or equipment, the first few trials should be able to be overcome at his normal level of strength with more creative thinking.


    In moments, the eerie graveyard fell silent as the last few of the spirits dissolved into the night air, leaving only the soft glow of Life Breeze surrounding Queen.


    Kain stood at the center of the graveyard, heart pounding with excitement. Not only had he developed a new application for a skill he''d previously only used for gardening, but he also had a prize to look forward to.


    Rubbing his hands together greedily, he couldn''t resist laughing happily as he was transferred out of the graveyard and in front of 3 objects.

 Chapter 220: Chapter 220: First Reward

    Unfortunately, Kain wouldn''t be able to take away all 3 objects. He''d already heard upon entering that every once in a while entrants will also be given a choice among multiple rewards instead of just given one chosen for them by the relic.


    Kain was quite lucky that he was being given this opportunity after his very first trial.


    There were 3 objects available for selection on ornate golden pedestals, all of which he assumed were evolutionary materials suitable for his respective contracts.


    The one on the left was a bright green crystal that emitted life-attribute energy��for Eve and Queen''s evolution most likely.


    The middle object in the center looked like the eye of some kind of spiritual creature, however the colours were inverted. Majority of the eye, which would typically be white, was now black. And at the center was a white pupil surrounded by a golden iris. Since Bea could sense the mental-attribute spiritual power emitting from it, Kain assumed that it was a material prepared for her.


    Finally, was a black obsidian-like ore that gave off a heavy atmosphere, almost as though it had its own immense gravitational pull��for Aegis, Kain assumed.


    All 3 objects were never seen before by Kain, but based off of the energy they emitted, he was able to conclude that they were evolutionary materials of a quality much higher than any of the ones he''d ever seen before.


    Unsure about which would be best to select, Kain was about to enter the Laboratory and run simulations using the 3 materials in front of him, to see what forms may come out. However, with a soft rumble, and three pedestals began to gradually lower into the floor.


    ''Are you freaking kidding me?!'' It seems as though the selection comes with a time limit.


    Unable to take his time to run simulation, Kain ran over to grab the life-attribute stone before he was left without an reward.


    He was already leaning towards the stone since the evolution of Eve and the Vespirae is more urgent than the other two.


    Bea, after evolving into the Apex Mindshard Amoeba of Platinum quality, will not face a bottleneck until green-grade.


    Similarly, Aegis was also. Platinum quality and won''t face a bottleneck for a while.


    However, Queen and Eve are both still silver grade, and without evolving won''t be able to surpass their current grade to reach yellow-grade spiritual power.


    Kain had also been contemplating what spiritual materials would be most suitable for them, but aside from the seed given to him by his high school teacher Mr. Evergreen, had not found any other suitable materials. Life-attribute materials are even rarer than mental-attribute ones, not to mention not all materials of that attribute would be suitable as the evolutionary base. Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelFire.net


    Since the next evolutionary form will also impact any potential future forms, he couldn''t just carelessly make the decision from the few materials he was able to spot at the college''s exchange center.


    He does have the seed given to him as a gift, but he was reluctant to use it for the evolution since, from the aura it gave off, Kain believed that its value if he could get it to grow would far exceed being just a consumable evolutionary material.


    Thankfully, since this relic seems to believe that this crystal would be suitable, Kain chose to trust its judgement without running any simulations with the System.


    The moment Kain made his selection by lifting the green crystal, the scenery around him began to fade as he was transported to the location of another trial.


    The second trial took place in a dense, enchanted forest. The trees were tall and their gnarled branches intertwined overhead to create a natural canopy that filtered out most of light coming from above.


    The forest floor was filled with ferns, shrubs, and moss, making movement challenging on the ground. Thankfully, only Kain''s movements were impeded. The Vespirae could all fly, Bea did not need to move and instead sent threads carrying her splits to the targets, and Aegis was so massive that the dense underbrush was no different from a well-manicured lawn to him. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain glanced around uneasily as he tried to spot their next enemy.


    "Argh!" Kain had a deep gash suddenly appear on his leg as something attacked him and then quickly moved away. Somehow despite Aegis guarding him closely, it had managed to get through.


    The Vespirae guards were sent out to try and identify the enemy while remaining in Kain''s line of sight, and Bea also sent out a dense mass of threads to comb the area and attach to anything living nearby. However, there was no luck and after several minutes their enemy was still not identified.


    Unfortunately, their enemy appeared to be quite smart and wasn''t lured to attack any of the Vespirae and instead attacked Kain again.


    On the bright side, Kain was on better guard this time and deflected the attack with his new spear and was even able to finally get a glimpse of their enemy.


    It was a small and agile bird-like spiritual creature resembling a sparrow in shape. Its feathers were mostly a deep, muted gray with subtle gradients that shift to lighter shades, creating a shadowy effect. The edges of the wings and tail feathers have shimmering effect that caught the light and gave it a mesmerizing quality.


    However, its most mesmerizing quality were the cold and calculating eyes that Kain made direct eye contact with before it disappeared. They were large and luminous, with a reflective quality that caused them to glow faintly. The eye color shifted slightly based on what Kain assumed to be due to the usage of a skill. Right before it disappeared it shifted from deep blue to a shimmering silver.


    The good news was that Kain recognized this spiritual creature from his lectures and knew its name and qualities��the Fadecrest Sparrow, a space-attribute spiritual creature that has practically gone extinct and hasn''t been seen in the wild in decades.


    The bad news was that it was in the lecture of the most difficult spiritual creatures to deal with among yellow-grade creatures.

 Chapter 221: Chapter 221: Second Trial

    The Fadecrest Sparrow was notorious for the practically impossible feat of landing a hit on it without also having a contract of the space attribute.


    Rather, even for individuals with the space attribute, there was no guarantee that they''d be able to land a strong blow on it.


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    It has the annoying tendency to phase in and out of reality whenever an attack approaches it. Therefore all attacks, no matter the attribute, won''t be able to land on it. Only an attack strong enough to destroy the area of space it had taken refuge in would be capable of harming it. However, space-attribute creatures strong enough to do so were typically only those in the higher levels.


    Not to mention its ability to phase in and out of space makes most defensive measures against it useless. How can Aegis block it from attacking Kain when it can just phase through him at any point?


    And when it comes to actually attacking it, how can Bea have a split infiltrate a creature that isn''t in the same space as it? How can the Vespirae land a hit on something that isn''t materially there?


    Although its offensive abilities are not the strongest among space-attribute yellow-grade creatures, its means of avoiding harm are definitely within the top 3.


    ''God, this will be a headache��'' Kain thought disgruntledly as the identity of his opponent in the second trial revealed itself.


    He also felt pretty wronged. Yes, technically this opponent targeted his weaknesses, but it wasn''t like it was due to a gap in his current usage of his contracts'' abilities like in the first trial. This opponent was almost impossible to kill for pretty much anyone without a space-attribute contract.


    On the bright side, in the wild a Fadecrest Sparrow would simply use its formidable abilities to run away, and it would be practically impossible to prevent it from doing so.


    Another fortunate thing was that it looked like this trial only had one of them.


    However, this sparrow generated by the relic seemed to be incapable of doing that and would keep coming back to attack Kain.


    Not having to worry about having to confine it to prevent its escape was a relief, but Kain was still without any ideas on how to actually cause damage to it.


    The brief moment when it phases back into the same space as Kain and the others to attack rarely occurred, and based on how quickly it phased out when Kain blocked its last attack, he could tell that if they tried to counterattack it when it appeared, it would likely be able to disappear before any of their attacks actually hit it.


    It would be able to sense of any of the attacks from his contracts, and even the most covert Bea could be detected if on guard since the threads, while hard to notice, were not invisible. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a long time, this was the first time that Kain was missing his mist tactic.


    Unfortunately, although Bea can produce over a hundred splits still, it wasn''t enough to cover a whole area in mist and have each tiny droplet able to possess a split.


    In exchange for greater mobility and the ability to infiltrate the body with a touch, Bea had to sacrifice the number of splits she could produce (since her previous skill rapid proliferation occurred in water) and she also lost her affinity for water.


    Therefore, if Kain were to try and use the mist tactic again, he''d have to concentrate all of the splits in the area just around his body due to their lower number, but then it may not even attack him since it''d probably sense something wrong with the mist since Bea could no longer seamlessly integrate into water.


    However, considering that Kain rarely felt the effects of this decrease from thousands of splits to over a hundred in combat since he rarely faced more than a few enemies at once��he considered the trade-off more than fair.


    ''The mist tactic would be the most suitable method right now though��however after losing her water-affinity, Bea could be more easily detected in the mist. However, how exactly is she detected? Is it her mental-attribute energy being released? The presence of spiritual power in general? A combination of all three?''


    Despite his contracts currently or previously having skills that mention something along the lines of ''prevent detection by spiritual creatures up to one grade higher,'' Kain always just took the skill description for granted and never dug into it too deeply.


    However, he could better figure out how spiritual creatures detect one another, maybe he could develop tactics to better conceal Bea in the future even with the lost water-attribute.


    ''Bea, forget the threads and cover all of our bodies in the splits. Once it makes contact with any of us, the split should be able to infiltrate. However, try to restrain any of the mental-attribute energy and spiritual power you may be unconsciously releasing. Maybe we can lure it into attacking.''


    However, even after close to an hour passed, it still wasn''t launching any attacks on Kain and the others.


    Kain could sense Bea''s splits due to his contract with her. However, none of his opponents in the re-rankings seemed to be able to detect Bea when there were no threads to see.


    Kain understood that the sparrow was likely much more sensitive than the average spiritual creature, but was Bea really that noticeable?


    ''It has the space attribute, is it really sensitive enough to space to able to detect Bea?''


    Kain decided to cover all of his bases. First, he had Bea remove all of the splits from the surface of Kain and the others.


    He then took out his trusty 2-star spear that he hadn''t used in a while to generate a mist that covered the whole clearing.


    It was hard to get a 2-star spear with 3 sigils even with a lot of money. And after the business took off and he became quite famous as a planner, Kain wasn''t exactly in need of money. Therefore, he was planning to save some of his best equipment to be used by his younger siblings if it suits them and they awaken an affinity in the future.


    Kain released the mist because the fine water droplets everywhere in the clearing will make it more difficult to detect Bea on the off chance that the sparrow, which was sensitive to space, was actually able to detect the microscopic space that Bea and her splits took up.


    Additionally, to conceal the little bit of lifeforce that Bea may be leaking out, Kain had Eve and Queen release their combination skill Life Breeze so that life-attribute energy emanated from everywhere in the mist.


    Finally, since Bea''s splits hidden in the mist couldn''t fill every single droplet like previously, Kain had Bea place her splits just in the mist closest to Kain and the others.


    Thankfully, after Bea evolved, the sparrow only has to make brief contact with just one water droplet containing a split in order to be infiltrated and the split doesn''t need to be inhaled or ingested in some way.


    Fortunately, all these strategies combined seemed to be able to fully conceal Bea''s presence and the sparrow reappeared.


    Unfortunately, when it did reappear, its sharp talons were only a hairsbreadth away from Kain''s neck.

 Chapter 222: Chapter 222: The Gambling Addict

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    Kain tried to quickly dodge but couldn''t prevent the talon from making a bone-deep lash along his collarbone.


    Thankfully, he was able to prevent any major artery from being severed, otherwise even with the healing abilities of Eve and the Essence of Life, there''s no guarantee he wouldn''t lose so much blood that the relic would just eject him.


    Another fortunate piece of news that Kain received was that one of Bea''s splits had managed to make contact during the brief moment it had reappeared and was now wrestling for control of its body.


    He activated the spiritual skill to boost Bea once again to more quickly bring an end to the battle, but considering that now Kain had a way to monitor its movements and was no longer so threatened by it he once again chose not to instantly refill his spiritual power and simply rested against Aegis leisurely while eating some royal jelly to quickly heal his wounds.


    After receiving a boost to he abilities, and because she only had to concentrate on subduing on yellow-grade spiritual creature, within a minute Bea was able to control it enough to leave its pocket of space and reveal itself to the attacks of Kain and the others.


    Once its death was confirmed, Kain was once again transported to the bare room to receive his reward.


    This time Kain did not get any choice and there was only one pedestal supporting what appeared to be a silver ore that was difficult to focus on due to the space-attribute energy emitting from it in high volumes.


    ''Not bad�� not having any way to directly target a creature hidden in a pocket of space still is a disadvantage I possess. If the sparrow wasn''t probably programmed to attack me if certain conditions were met, and instead hid indefinitely there would really be nothing I could do.''


    Kain put away the ore in his space ring. He''d decide what to do with it later on.


    Soon after a momentary weightless sensation, he was brought to the site of the next trial.


    --------------------


    Outside of the relic, the professors were able to monitor the progress of each entrant.


    It''d now been over 2 hours since all of the students had entered the relic and, although they couldn''t see what was occurring inside, they could see how many trials each student had completed.


    "Ezra has completed the most, as expected. In only 2 hours he''s already reached his 13th trial." A professor with dark hair and glasses said in admiration.


    A blonde professor nodded in agreement. "I bet that he''d pass 22 trials this time, surpassing his previous record. You?"


    "I bet that he''d stop at 21 again." After mentioning the ongoing bet between the professors he also looked at the other entrants.


    All of the fourth years had passed at least their 9th trial, as had two of the third-years with the other 3 still on their 8th trial.


    "Surprisingly, among the second-years, the fourth-ranked Kyria is the furthest along at trial 8. Is she concealing her strength during the re-rankings? Or is the boost in strength something more recent?" Sear?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hmm��personally I''ve always felt like she was hiding something so I''d bet on the former. That''s actually a great idea! Should we start another bet?" Said the blonde one excitedly. However, his colleague just waved his hand dismissively.


    "Are you sure you don''t have a gambling problem? You always want to make everything into a bet."


    "Haaa��" He couldn''t help but sigh in disappointment at having his idea turned down, and then turned his attention to the first years.


    The first-years didn''t seem as familiar with the more creative usage of skills often required by the relic in order to complete the trials more efficiently.


    However, as befitting the "golden generation" they were secretly called by the teachers, Serena was on par with most of the second-years on her 7th trial, while Kain had been on his sixth trial for a while and would probably advance soon.


    Soren had also just entered his 6th trial, and the other two were still on their fifth trial.


    After stalling for a while at their first two trials, all five of them quickly adapted and began to complete the trials at a much faster rate.


    "How about betting on who among the first-years will complete the highest number of trials? I bet on Serena," the blonde professor said.


    This time the dark-haired professor didn''t immediately refuse the bet. And stared at the screen displaying the number of completed trials next to each name in contemplation. "Hmmm��I''d like to bet on Kain. However, I''d like to add that the object won should be given to the winning student as a reward."


    "Ha! Are you sure you aren''t just favoring that boy because he''s part of your Planner department? Well, whatever. It''s none of my business if you want to make a losing bid due to personal feelings." The blonde nodded in agreement to the terms. After all, he didn''t like to bet purely due to the profits, but rather due to the joy that came from besting others in a field outside of combat.


    "Great! Let''s determine what we are both offering to the other''s winning candidate from now." The dark-haired professor said while pulling out a thick leatherbound manual from his space ring.


    "Considering Serena''s gift, I think this spiritual skill would be quite suitable for her." He said while placing the manual on the table next to them.


    The other professor''s eyes widened, since this skill was extremely high in quality, and one that only the professor was privy to due to him finding it on his travels. However, it had one major con in that the spiritual power required for activation was immense. Without a gift like Serena''s, the user would likely need to be at 6-stars or higher in order to use the skill.


    He was also a little upset. He thought that he could just casually bet a low-grade spiritual plant and be done with it. Now he has to come out with something that can match what was offered by the other professor.


    "Tsk��" He couldn''t help clicking his tongue before pulling out an object from his space ring.

 Chapter 223: Chapter 223: The Winner of the Bet

    "Ugh��" Kain couldn''t help groaning due to the large hole in his abdomen caused by the previous trial.


    After exhausting both of his instant refills, he''d managed to reach trial number 12. After the 10th trial, there was a large spike in difficulty, therefore after just barely finishing the 11th and 12th trials, he was eliminated at trial 13.


    Kain was pleased. His journey into the relic had been quite rewarding and he was managing to walk away with a variety of spiritual plants, ores, and evolutionary materials for both Eve/Queen and Aegis. Thankfully, the evolutionary material that he hadn''t selected in the first trial was his reward for completing trial 10.


    However, he had no idea how he compared to his peers. Find your next read at m_v l|e-NovelFire.net


    ''It''d be pretty embarrassing if I was one of the earliest ones to be eliminated.'' He thought while eating some of the royal jelly to mend the massive wound on his abdomen since being transported out of the relic.


    Kain could have waited for one of the healers to come to him, but since the royal jelly was so effective and was able to heal him while providing a sweet treat, he preferred to use it to heal himself usually.


    Especially since some contracts with healing abilities had unfortunate side effects such as causing excruciating pain or unbearable itchiness to the wound as it heals. Kain''s even head of unusual cases where healed wounds would be temporarily covered by a thick layer of hair until the hair naturally sheds off.


    Fortunately, looking around Kain was able to see that all of the first-years except for Serena had already exited the relic.


    At the realization, he couldn''t help his heart sinking slightly��did he seriously lose to her again?


    There were also some second-years that had already exited the relic, but he knew from the conversations he overheard that they''d advanced through the trials much faster than him and reached further along before being eliminated.


    After another 10 minutes Serena exited the relic. However, despite her expression and demeanor being like usually, Kain couldn''t help but feel as though she seemed a little��tired?


    If so, then that was the very first time he''d ever seen any hint of exhaustion on her.


    ''I wonder what was in her last trial to make even her tired?''


    After another 3 hours, all of the third and fourth years also exited the relic and Kain finally determined everyone''s performance.


    Captain Ezra managed to complete 23 trials before being eliminated.


    The Vice Captain Ravi managed to complete 20 before being eliminated.


    Of the remaining fourth years, one completed 18 and the other two completed 17.


    Among the third-years, the green-haired Jade, who Kain still wasn''t fully comfortable around due to her chatty nature, managed to complete 18 trials.


    Meanwhile, Dmitri completed 17, Theo 16, and Oliver and a female third-year Kain was unfamiliar with completed 15.


    Among the second-years, Kyria completed 16 trials, Alexei, Jin and Rhiannon completed 15, and Cressida only completed 13.


    "The first-years this year performed better than usual," said a professor with dark hair and glasses while looking pleased.


    Kain had found out that usually the gap in completed trials was usually the largest between the first and second years due to them having never experienced the relic''s trials before.


    However, the first to be eliminated was Ranya after completing 9 trials, and Kairos after completing 10.


    Soren had managed to complete the 11th trial, meanwhile both Kain and Serena had tied and completed 12 each.


    "This year we''ve also decided to reward the best-performing first-year." The dark-haired teacher continued. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He previously wouldn''t have had much hope since he exited before Serena, but since they had both completed 12 trials, then maybe there was some hope.


    "As I''m sure you know, two first-year students completed 12 trials each. Therefore, the number of trials completed cannot be used to determine better between them. However, one student, Kain, managed to clear the 12th trial before the other, therefore��"


    "Ahem! Professor Sage, while the ability to clear the 12th trial sooner is admirable, wouldn''t the length of time one can persist for in the more difficult 13th trial would be a more accurate reflection of strength. Therefore, student Ser��" the blonde instructor interrupted.


    "Professor Tameridge, since the trials are different among students, its difficult to compare the times for which a student can persist in a relic. What if Kain''s opponent in the 13th trial was more offensively powerful��"


    "I could make the same case for why Serena was slower in completing the 12th trial!"


    ''What is happening right now��?''


    Kain and the others looked at each other in consternation as the professors continued to bicker with one another.


    Clap Clap


    "Excuse me professors. We are all extremely exhausted. Perhaps you can just consider the final ranking to be a tie and provide both Kain and Serena with a reward." Captain Ezra interjected after clapping to gather their attention, much to the relief of everyone present.


    ""Alright��"" They said in unison, although neither seemed fully satisfied with the arrangement.


    The dark-haired professor handed over an old leatherbound book to Serena.


    "This is a spiritual skill that I believe would be quite suitable for you. Please come to me if you have any questions," Professor Sage said while smiling kindly. Although he hadn''t bet on Serena, he was still happy to invest in such a talented pupil.


    The blonde Professor Tameridge on the other hand rudely shoved an egg into Kain arms with a slight pout before turning and marching away in a huff, no explanation provided.


    Seeing the immature behaviour of his colleague, Professor Sage stepped in, "Don''t mind him. He''s just a sore loser��although a tie can''t really be considered a loss. That egg was something that he''d obtained from a relic when he younger, it was expected that a powerful spiritual creature would hatch from it but after decades it''s shown no signs of hatching.


    Until recently, he''d actually kept one contract spot always open in the hopes that it''d one day hatch. Hopefully our resident star Evolutionary Planner will be able to come up with a solution." He said while giving Kain a supportive pat on the back.

 Chapter 224: Chapter 224: Harvest from the Relic

    Since they had no more training that day, Kain instead returned to his laboratory on campus to further analyze and organize his harvest from the relic.


    He''d completed 12 trials, and along with the reward provided by Professor Tameridge, he now had 13 more rare objects than before he entered the relic.


    He obtained 2 evolutionary base materials from the relic, the life attribute crystal suitable for Eve and Queen, and the black ore suitable for Aegis. Despite the ore only being slightly larger than his fist, it was extraordinarily heavy and Kain hardly lift it with all of his strength.


    It also seemed to have either a magnetic or gravitational pull on nearby lighter objects within the laboratory, leading Kain to believe that this material will maybe give Aegis'' next evolution a similar gravitational skill.


    Kain also obtained a space attribute ore, which can also probably serve as an evolutionary material, but considering he had no spiritual creatures with the space attribute, he would prefer to use it to commission the creation of a piece of equipment that would allow him to no longer be so defenceless in the face of space-attribute attacks.


    After the 11th trial where he faced an undead spiritual creatures with the ability to directly target the soul, an extremely rare ability, Kain was given an iridescent smooth white gem resembling opal. Just hold it in his hand he felt refreshed, and he could vaguely feel that it seemed to have a strengthening effect on his soul.


    If combined with the appropriate sigils, a pretty powerful piece of defensive equipment that can protect his soul from such attacks can be produced.


    "It looks like I need to make some connections with a powerful and skilled blacksmith. The only one I currently know is Dorian Anvil back in Brightstar City��" However, Kain wasn''t sure if Dorian was capable of making equipment to his current standards. Not to mention it''d be annoying to have to travel to the southern region whenever he needed a piece of equipment made.


    Of the remaining 8 rewards from the relic, 6 of them were mature spiritual plants that Kain was planning to keep in his personal spiritual plant field.


    "Come to think of it, now that I have some money to spare, I should tear down the shack on that property and build a decent house��"


    He didn''t know the exact identities of all the spiritual plants, but he could pretty reasonably guess their properties, especially with the help of some of the equipment in his laboratory that can analyze the properties of materials.


    One was an unusual plant that Kain had read about called Gravitas. It closely resembled a shorter tree, standing about six feet tall with a stout, thick trunk that resembled a dark, twisted vine. Its bark was textured and rugged, resembling the surface of a meteorite, with small, glimmering particles embedded within that catch the light. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Its leaves were extremely broad and heavy, and if Kain rests under it, no light from above would reach him��it''d probably be a great nap location if, after approaching it, Kain didn''t feel slightly uncomfortable from the heavy feeling.


    The Gravitas tree generated a localized gravitational field around it. However, this pull was only strong enough to really restrict the movements of smaller animals nearby, making them feel much heavier and sluggish to the point of barely being able to move. It can also draw in stray debris and even small rocks from the surrounding area, creating a subtle swirling motion around the plant.


    Once every few months it will produce a fruit that upon consuming can slightly enhance the control of a spiritual creature, or a human with a suitable gift, over gravity. Based on this tree and the previous black ore, Kain got the hint from the relic that the next most appropriate evolution for Aegis should move in the direction of gravity manipulation.


    Kain was thankful for the entire tree rather than just the fruit, but since the improvement given from each fruit is not substantial, he was probably given the entire tree because the fruit would need to consumed continuoiusly over time to see a major difference.


    Two of the other plants rewarded to Kain were flowers than can enhance the affinity of a suitable spiritual creature to the life-attribute and another 2 had a similar effect for the mental-attribute.


    The remaining spiritual plant was actually one with offensive abilities and consciousness, making it suitable as a contract for those with a plant affinity��unfortunately Kain did not have such an affinity.


    Kain actually recognized the identity of the plant��a gold-quality Venomous Wraithvine, which was an extremely rare spiritual plant and was effective a targeting undead spiritual entities, which is likely why it was given as a reward to Kain after completing the 12th trial, since most of his trials consisted of defeating spiritual entities.


    It had serpentine, trailing vines that can extend up to twenty feet. The vines had a dark green base that transitioned to a deep, iridescent violet at the tips, giving them a ghostly appearance. The ghostly tips have the unique ability to grip the forms of spiritual entities as well as physical ones.


    Small, translucent leaves sprouted along the length of the vines, resembling delicate wings that fluttered constantly even without the presence of any wind in the laboratory.


    Clusters of eerie, bioluminescent flowers bloomed sporadically along the vines. These flowers were bell-shaped, and emitted a faint glow in hues of blue and green. The petals had a velvety texture and were often covered in tiny, shimmering droplets of a potent, sticky nectar that is known to have toxic properties.


    ''I wonder if poisonous honey could be produced from it?'' Kain thought. Poisonous plants are usually poisonous due to some liquid it produces, or due to their fruit, but their nectar is usually not poisonous because this would prevent it from being pollinated by insects. Since the Vespirae''s honey is made from nectar, Kain hadn''t had an opportunity to test if poisonous honey could also be produced.


    The gold-quality plant was only at red-grade currently, so it couldn''t provide much offensive help to Kain, but over-time it can easily reach yellow-grade without evolving. Therefore, Kain thought it would serve as a suitable guard at his house off-campus.


    It also had several powerful abilities, two of which were A-level skills:


    -Necrotic tendrils: The Wraithvine can extend its vines to ensnare and immobilize its targets. Upon contact, these tendrils inject a necrotic toxin that drains the life force from living beings, weakening them significantly. This ability is particularly effective against spiritual entities, causing their ethereal forms to destabilize.


    -Hallucinogenic Pollen: When threatened, the plant releases a cloud of hallucinogenic pollen from its flowers. This pollen can induce vivid illusions, causing enemies to perceive terrifying visions that disrupt their focus and coordination. The effects can vary from mild disorientation to complete incapacitation, depending on the target''s mental strength. Your next chapter is on m v|l-e''-NovelFire.net

 Chapter 225: Chapter 225: Harvest from the Relic (2)

    Pleased with his new "guard dog" Kain then turned to the last two rewards from the trial.


    The first one was a small green bead the size of a marble that was his reward from the third trial. It seems to be a default trial reward for people that enter the relic, it''s similar to a space ring but specifically able to allow spiritual plants entry while preserving their quality. Your next journey awaits at m v|l-e''-NovelFire.net


    With the exception of seeds, since they are in a dormant state that doesn''t require anything like oxygen to survive, most space rings can''t contain other living things.


    Therefore, preservation containers, which Kain typically uses to carry spiritual plants are relatively cumbersome to carry compared to space rings while not having particularly large spaces, this green marble was an extremely valuable reward for Kain.


    Artifacts similar to this bead are several times more difficult to create than space rings, which is why Kain hadn''t even seen the option to buy something similar until now.


    The second reward from the relic was actually the thing that looked the least remarkable at first glance, it was in an ancient language Verdarian, the language of the long extinct city-state Verdaris that existed before the empire was founded.


    Kain couldn''t understand any of the words, but as he flipped through the notebook he did see some illustrations: a castle, what appears to be a map, and a seed��


    And it just so happens that Kain was the owner of a seed that greatly resembled the one in the drawing, and that same seed happened to be given to him by his former teacher who studied the history of Verdaris.


    ''Did it sense that I either had or came into contact with the seed and so rewarded me with this book?''


    Kain carefully put away the book and then looked at his last source of income from the day''s events��the unknown egg given to him by Professor Tameridge. However, Kain wasn''t sure if he''d actually categorize the egg as a reward.


    Since Professor Sage seemed much more friendly, and the one who''d actually given him the prize had long left, he pressed Sage for more details about the egg, such as where it came from, when it was obtained, and if there were any clues to why exactly it couldn''t hatch?


    However, the enthusiasm Kain had for the reward dampened with every question answered.


    Professor Sage apparently attained the egg inside of a relic overseas when he was much younger. The value of the things obtained in the relic were extremely rare and valuable, and much of the legend behind the relic was related to the Four Gods of the eastern continent which resembled a Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, and White Tiger.


    Professor Sage at the time had been among the weakest to enter the relic back then, and was essentially recruited into a team as cannon fodder. It had been an intense battle for him to even leave the relic with the one egg, apparently the only egg within the relic, which he''d secretly hidden and left with while everyone was busy fighting over the myriad of other treasures within the relic.


    Considering that he''d risked his life to leave with the egg, and it was the only thing he''d managed to leave with from his harrowing journey to the east, it''s understandable that he wasn''t willing to part with it even after decades of it not hatching.


    He probably would have been willing to wait for the egg to hatch until his death if he hadn''t finally obtained some information on why it was unable to hatch.


    Apparently, it is strongly suspected that the spiritual creature inside of the egg is a mutant. Moreover, it''s one of the few mutants with an unfavorable mutation.


    It was determined that spiritual power, which is an omnipresent substance on this planet, was like poison to it and preventing its birth.


    Unfortunately, spiritual power is everywhere and in everything. Even before a baby is born in this world they would have been exposed to spiritual power. Every breath taken will have some within the air, every piece of food will have remnant traces of spiritual power.


    All ordinary creatures do have spiritual power in them, hence why most ordinary people that never awakened an affinity are able to cultivate to make their first star��what determines whether they can eventually become a beast tamer is if they awaken an affinity.


    Similarly, all ordinary creatures possess spiritual power, they just have no way of condensing it or manipulating it to cultivate or develop skills. Sear?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It would be practically impossible for there to be any place on the planet without any spiritual power.


    ''Sigh��can this even be considered a reward compared to what Serena got? He practically just threw whatever he couldn''t use himself at me.''


    ''Hey System! Is there a way to control any of the spiritual power within the System Laboratory to completely remove all spiritual power?''


    *The System is an entity that is largely composed of and powered by spiritual power. Doing so would be like preventing blood flow to one of your limbs for a prolonged period of time, the result would be the death of that limb.*


    ''So��is that a no?''


    *Ding, ding, ding! Gold star to the host for deciphering the obvious.*


    ''��You''d been quiet for a while so I thought your annoying personality had improved��'' Kain grumbled.


    *And I thought that the host had gotten smarter. Looks like we were both wrong ^_^*


    Kain turned his head away from the annoyingly passive-aggressive emoticon, determined to not engage his irritating companion in any more conversation.


    ''Whatever�� at least I can store it in the laboratory until I figure something out��''


    Kain placed his hand on the egg and willed it to go inside of the System.


    However, the laboratory within the System remained completely empty, despite the egg disappearing from in front of Kain.


    Unfortunately, it would be a long while before Kain noticed the egg''s disappearance.

 Chapter 226: Chapter 226: The Hive Evolves

    There was still some time until the national competition, and considering the rewards that he received, Kain figures it was time to finally evolve Eve and the Vespirae.


    He knew that the royal jelly was a necessary evolutionary material, and that a skill used to permanently change the attribute of the royal jelly must be acquired. This was the most challenging requirement, and probably why there had only been one historical instance of a Vespirae evolving, especially since this evolutionary condition was completely unknown to everyone except for Kain.


    Additionally, he received an unknown life attribute crystal from the relic that was probably another suitable evolutionary material��so Kain had everything that he needed.


    However, to ensure that the evolution would be successful, Kain of course also ran a Simulation using the System.


    Unfortunately, despite the suitable materials, the success rate of evolution was still not 100%.


    But an 80% success rate was still decent, especially since now that Kain had been confirmed to be a member of the team representing the school, after telling one of the professors responsible for their training about his wish to evolve one of his contracts, he was allowed to use one of the life-elemental attribute rooms for free.


    Another factor influencing the success rate was the amount of energy provided. Due to the symbiotic relationship between Eve and Queen, Queen''s successful evolution is also responsible for driving Eve''s evolution. Therefore, twice as much spiritual power and catalyst was needed that the typical evolution.


    Once again, thanks to his status as a member of the top 5 students of his year, Kain was able to easily obtain both at a huge discount.


    If Kain didn''t know that they''d penalize him for taking advantage of the perks of being an official member of the team leading up to the national competition, he would seriously consider stockpiling all kinds of resources and materials from the school.


    Unfortunately, there was always an evolutionary planner that was a member of the faculty to oversee any of the requests Kain and the other students made.


    However, Kain was still more than happy with the current level of perks provided.


    He went to one of the life-attribute rooms located on the campus and released Queen into the center of the room along with all of the guards.


    Thankfully, the evolution and breakthrough of the guards are completely determined by Queen, otherwise Kain would have to provide several times more of the required materials.


    Handing Queen a vial of catalyst twice the average size to consume while placing a blue-grade spiritual orb, the royal jelly and the crystal next to her. Kain also left an additional dual wind and life attribute material from a yellow-grade spiritual creature.


    The next evolution definitely favored the life attribute since that was the attribute of the royal jelly that was the basis of the evolutionary form, but Kain wasn''t willing to completely abandon the wind attribute that contributed to the guards'' strength.


    Kain then left to give her some space.


    As he stood in a corner of a room, he saw Queen sit in the middle of her guards, wings anxiously buzzing.


    Over 10 minutes passed with no movements from her, but he didn''t rush her. The mental condition of a spiritual creature during the evolution can have a slight effect on the success rate. Not to mention, that Kain didn''t even have to pay for his usage of the room.


    "Take as much time as you need." Kain comforted.


    After another 5 minutes passed, the frequency with which her wings buzzed, and her antennae rubbed together, drastically reduced. Finally, the catalyst was consumed and a bright white glow began to emit from her. Stay tuned to m-v l|-NovelFire.net


    Kain stared at her anxiously until it was eventually to bright for him to continue staring directly, shielding his eyes he then shifted his gaze slightly to the side while he waited for the results of the evolution.


    The light continued for well over 20 minutes, however considering that so many creatures were technically having to evolve at the same time, Kain wasn''t discouraged by the long wait time. In fact, the longer the light lasted the more Kain was relieved, if it was going to fail it should have already done so by now.


    After another half an hour, the light that originally only covered Queen''s form increased rapidly and enveloped the Vespirae standing in a circle around it.


    Finally, after the light lasted for over a full hour, which might just break some kind of record for evolution time, the light began to fade.


    Due to being at the edges of the source of the light, the Vespirae guards were the first to be exposed. Although, he supposed he should now call them Verdant Vespid Sentinels


    -------------


    Nickname: One/Two/Three��


    Species: Verdant Vespid Sentinels (Tertiary Contract)


    The elite protectors of the hive, born from their eggs as fierce warriors. With incredibly fast flight speed, hard armored exoskeletons, excellent regeneration and ejectable stingers that act as a siphon for their enemies'' life-force, they excel in combat. In the absence of males, these females also take on the unique responsibilities of honey production and caring for the queen.


    Quality: Platinum


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attribute: Wind, Life


    Skills:


    A-Windborne Assault: Launches stingers as projectiles that slice through the air with enhanced speed and precision, dealing additional wind attribute damage. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A-Life Absorption: When a stinger remains lodged in a target, it absorbs life energy, healing the Vespirae Guard.


    A-Vital Surge: When sensing that the queen is in danger, the Vespid Sentinel unleashes a burst of life energy stored within, restoring a portion of health and temporarily doubling all stats at the cost of a large decrease in intelligence. This skill cannot be activated at will and is triggered under specific conditions.


    A-Vital Link: Establishes a temporary bond with an ally, allowing them to share a portion of the damage taken by the ally. Links of multiple Vespid Sentinels can be stacked.


    B-Guard''s Heart: Immune to any fear-inducing mental attacks, and heightened resistance to mental attacks with other effects due to their single-minded focus on their queen.

 Chapter 227: Chapter 227: The Hive Evolves (2)

    Kain was pleased with the evolution of the guards and was already thinking of strategies that could utilize the new skills.


    In addition to the new skills, Kain could also tell that these Vespid Sentinels were physically stronger than their previous form.


    After evolution, they were half a size larger than their predecessors.


    Their exoskeletons shined a brilliant yellow with patches of black so dark it seemed to absorb all incoming light, accented by hints of gold and blue, symbolizing their life attribute connection.


    The larger, enhanced wings featured intricate patterns resembling flower petals and emitted a gentle glow.


    The stinger also evolved into a sleek, spear-like form with thorn-like protrusions for life energy absorption.


    Their elongated antennae and brilliant emerald eyes showed keen awareness, indicating that their intelligence had also likely improved. T


    The light continued to fade until Kain was also able to see the figure of Queen.


    Queen, who had previously been only about a third of Kain''s height, now reached up to shoulders.


    Her wings were larger and more intricate, featuring translucent membranes with faint, iridescent patterns that caught the light.


    These wings also emitted a soft glow when she channelled her life-attribute energy, adding to her regal aura.


    The queen''s large eyes also seemed to have greater intelligence now, while her elongated antennae now were adorned with green feathery extensions that further differentiated her from her daughters.


    Kain then looked at Queen''s new panel in the System. Interestingly, while the evolved guards still had the wind attribute as their primary attribute, the Life-attribute was now Queen''s primary attribute


    --------------------


    Nickname: Queen


    Your next journey awaits at m v|l-e''-NovelFire.net


    Species: Verdant Vespid Queen (Host-Secondary Contract)


    A rare successful evolution of the Vespirae Queen who reigns supreme over her hive. With her life-attribute abilities, she not only ensures the safety and comfort of her offspring but also enriches their growth through her unique royal jelly. This elixir is enhanced by her connection to the life attribute, granting her children a formidable edge in battle and growth.


    Due to a unique symbiotic relationship, all offspring are female and therefore have an offensive edge over other similar wasp species.


    Quality: Platinum


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attributes: Life, wind


    Skills:


    SSS-Essence of Life: The royal jelly produced is a powerful elixir that can heal severe, life-threatening injuries within moments, relieve temporary negative status effects caused by spiritual creatures up to one grade higher, and significantly increase the probability of successful breakthroughs in both humans and spiritual creatures up to yellow-grade spiritual power.


    SS-Revitalizing Surge: A powerful burst of life energy that can restore a significant amount of health to all allies in a radius, providing a last-minute lifeline in dire situations. Only usable once every 48 hours.


    S-Royal Edict: Boosts the stats of her offspring by 50% for a limited time. Duration depends on the number of children being affected and skill proficiency.


    A-Rejuvenating wind: Releases a restorative wind that dispels negative status effects and heals minor physical injuries to allies within its area.


    A-Energy Transfer: Allows the queen to share a portion of her own spiritual power with a single ally, temporarily boosting their capabilities at the cost of her own stamina. Only usable once every 24 hours.


    A-Resilient Exoskeleton: Temporarily hardens her exoskeleton to absorb incoming damage, reducing the impact of physical attacks for a short duration.


    B-Guardian''s Whirlwind: Creates a swirling gust of wind around her, deflecting incoming projectiles.


    ----------------


    Despite the name for the Essence of Life not changing, the quality had increased, likely due to the healing properties being enhanced, and now that it can significantly increase the chance of a breakthrough. If enough is able to be made, and after testing exactly how much "significantly" means, he may consider selling some at a high price to develop another income stream.


    Additionally, now even without Eve injecting life attribute energy into the wind she produces, the wind attribute skills Queen produces now carries the life-attribute.


    Moreover, the skills Revitalizing Surge and Rejuvenating wind now give their team a member with long-distance haling abilities who could be used in battle, while Energy Transfer essentially has the same usage as Kain''s spiritual skill, so that a boost can now be provided one extra time to a contract each day��this time by Queen.


    Finally, the last 2 skills also gave Queen some defensive abilities to not be as helpless as she was previously.


    Although, Queen still doesn''t have particularly strong offensive abilties, she is now an excellent support and healer. Considering she also has 18 new and improved guards that she can also provide various boosts to, she''d be a fearsome opponent in any battle.


    Finally, Kain opened the System description of the one spiritual creature he couldn''t see, but who he was directly contracted to��Eve.


    ------------------


    Nickname: Eve


    Species: Vitae Matronia


    Matronia is a unique life-attribute microorganism that enhances the reproductive capabilities of its host while ensuring that all offspring are female. This evolved strain not only maintains its core functions but also grants new abilities to support the Vespid Queen and her hive.


    Quality: Platinum


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria)


    Attribute: Life


    Skills:


    SS-Eve''s Law: Exerts absolute authority over the reproductive fate of its host''s future descendants. It can determine whether offspring are born, their gender, and even enhance specific traits to suit the hive''s needs.


    S-Vital Infusion: Infuses a chosen ally with life energy, instantly healing significant injuries at the cost of a large amount of spiritual power. Only usable once every 24 hours.


    A-Perfect Symbiosis: Confers significant resistance to poisons, mental attacks, and diseases for the host and all future descendants, along with accelerated growth and development, improving overall hive health.


    A-Mother''s Embrace: Temporarily increases the life energy of the Vespid Queen and her offspring, enhancing their vitality and recovery rate in battle.


    B-Fertile Growth: Boosts the hatch rate and strength of newly hatched Vespirae, ensuring that the restoration of hive health is completed quickly.


    --------------


    Previously, Eve didn''t play much of a role in battle actively. Her main role was in the improvements she provided to Queen and the hive overall. Only when the ability to infuse some life-attribute energy into Queen''s skills was developed, did Eve have some use in battle.


    However, the new skills Vital Infusion, which provides a powerful healing effect, and Mother''s embrace, to temporarily boost the Vespids'' vitality in battle, has finally allowed her to play a greater role.


    The effect of all of the new skills still needed to be tested in battle to fully understand them and improve proficiency. Thankfully, there was still some time until the tournament. With the help of professors, his seniors, and the System''s Training Arena, Kain was confident that he would be at a completely different level of strength during the national competition. S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 228: Chapter 228: A Festive Capital

    The weeks passed quickly until it was finally time for Kain and the others to head to the Capital for the tournament.


    Likely due to the importance of the event, the college was willing to start up the teleportation gate.


    After all, why waste valuable training days on a moving train when they can train for an extra week and arrive at the Capital instantly?


    Kain lined up with the others while the familiar hum of the gate starting up triggered a feeling of noxiousness in Kain.


    Kairos on the other hand, likely not knowing what they were about to suffer through, was jittering with excitement.


    "This is both of our first time going to the capital. I created a list of must see attractions for tourists while we''re there." He said to Kain excitedly.


    Kain decided to not dampen his excitement by informing him that he had in fact gone to the capital previously, especially since that trip was supposed to be a secret. He simply nodded his head in agreement while trying to choke down the bile rising from his throat. S��arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain went to the very back of the line to postpone the inevitable. When only one of the remaining staff members who was travelling with their team was left behind Kain to ensure they all entered, Kain couldn''t help but stop just before the gate, finger fiddling at his sides.


    "Ahem! Lady''s first��" Kain tried to step aside while waving his hand towards the gate in a gallant gesture when he felt a hard shove into his shoulder as he was in the process of turning around.


    Mouth open in a silent scream, Kain was once again forced to go through the uncomfortable ordeal. Strangely after the extremely painful travel through the temporary gate the previous time, this time the feeling as though his body was being stretched and then compressed was more bearable than he''d expected.


    The experience was unsettling and disorienting, but thankfully over quickly. Soon the world snapped back into focus and he felt the ground beneath his feet again.


    As well as the chatter of all of his teammates. Well not all of them, since this was Kairos and Ranya''s first time through a teleportation gate they were supporting each other with extremely pale faces. Next to their feet Kain was a brown chunky puddle of what vaguely resembled the porridge he''d seen Kairos eating for breakfast that day.


    "H-how��how are you so fine��?" Kairos said while staring at Kain in amazement. This was both. Of their first times teleporting, why was the difference in their ability to endure so great.


    ''Is this the difference from a student in the top 2?'' Kairos thought in self-pity.


    After getting his bearings, Kain took a look around at his surroundings. Obviously, they weren''t teleported into a sketchy-looking motel room like he was previously. Instead, they were teleported to a very large clearing just mere feet from the city''s walls.


    The clearing was inlaid with a very large circle of grey stones that were carved with sigils in the process of dimming. Likely the sigils had a guiding effect for those teleporting to the capital, and were likely responsible for why this ride felt smoother than the previous times he teleported.


    Kain followed his seniors and the staff travelling with them towards the city gates. After showing his identification, they were able to smoothly enter the city.


    Transportation had likely been arranged beforehand, and they were brought to the core of the city where a large stadium stood towering above them.


    The Capital''s Grand Arena was the site of most major competitions within the empire.


    The Grand Arena was a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture that embodied the competitive spirit of beast-taming. Its towering columns of polished marble rose majestically, each adorned with intricate carvings of legendary beasts and heroic tamers locked in battle with one another.


    Since the tournament would only start in a couple more days, they did not enter and Kain and the others would have to wait until later to see the inside of the arena.


    However, likely due to the influx of tourists that wish to watch the tournament in person, there were still many vendors outside the arena, filling the entire street with the scent of roasted meats and sweet pastries.


    The air was humming with excitement and Kain could already see evidence of tourists coming from afar to show off their regional pride.


    Colorful banners flapped in the breeze hanging outside the main entryway of the stadium. Each banner adorned with the school crest of all the Empire''s colleges eligible for the National competition.


    There were dozens of banners of every colour of the rainbow, but 5 large ones were larger and took center stage just above the doors of the arena.


    The one in the center was red and gold with a crest composed of a dragon soaring towards the sun. At the top were the arrogant words of the empire''s first college''s motto: "Unrivaled in excellence, Unyielding in purpose." Looking around Kain could also see many civilians wearing red and gold while waving around small flags with that same crest.


    Majority of the vendors were also handing out merchandise and snacks with that colour scheme.


    ''Looks like the number 1 college also has the home advantage��not that they even needed it...'' Kain grumbled.


    To the left of the center was the second-place college, whose crest was mostly a deeper blood-red��befitting their notorious blood-thirsty nature. At its center, a striking orange phoenix rose dramatically, its wings outstretched with flames trailing behind it, symbolizing rebirth, resilience, and the fierce spirit of its students.


    Surrounding the phoenix, sharp orange flames rose and coiled around its legs, representing the fierce competition and challenges faced by tamers of the college. Above, the banner had the motto in bold, angular lettering: "Rise from the Ashes," emphasizing resilience and their determination to conquer any obstacle. Stay tuned with m-v l|-NovelFire.net


    After the capital''s colours, the blood red of Supernova College was the second most populous colour Kain saw on the street.

 Chapter 229: Chapter 229: Settling In

    On the other side of the center was the banner for Dark Moon college, the only one among the top 5 without the clear depiction of a spiritual creature''s full body.


    The Dark Moon banner was made of rich black fabric, and it exuded an air of elegance and mystery.


    At its center, a radiant silver crescent moon glowed softly, likely due to the luminescent threads used to make the tapestry. The moon was surrounded by intricate filigree patterns that resembled swirling clouds and stars, adding a rich brightness to the dark fabric.


    Below the moon, a pair of silver talons grasped a shimmering orb, symbolizing the college''s preference for moving in the shadows against its enemies rather than bloodthirsty frontal combat like Supernova.


    The edges of the banner were adorned with silver stitching, adding a refined touch, while a bold motto in an elegant cursive script was in an arch above the moon: "From Darkness, Knowledge Emerges."


    The school''s motto means that wisdom and understanding often arise from the exploration and confrontation of the unknown. It reflects the idea that challenges, mysteries, and even adversity can lead to enlightenment and discovery.


    Dark Moon College emphasizes that delving into the shadows��whether they be hidden truths, complex subjects, or untapped potential��can ultimately illuminate greater insights and foster growth. It celebrates the transformative journey of learning, where darkness serves as a backdrop for the light of knowledge to shine through.


    To the left of Supernova''s banner was the banner of the fourth place Starfire college. Set against a bright yellow background that radiated positive energy, the centrepiece was a majestic white griffin with its wings outstretched and a large shield behind it. The crest symbolizes strength, protection, and a commitment to serving others.


    The griffin is depicted in mid-flight, embodying the college''s dynamic spirit and readiness to aid those in need. It was fitting for a college known for the extensive amount of missions its students are required to perform to aid civilians.


    Surrounding the shield were white and green stars in varying sizes, representing hope and the college''s aspirations to illuminate the path for others. Above the shield, a flowing ribbon in light green bore the college''s motto: "Courage in Service, Valor in Protection."


    Although the college''s valiant spirit is exemplified now in acts of community service, it does have a glorious history as the empire''s first shield against invaders from the southern barbaric tribes outside of the nation.


    Finally, to the right of Dark Moon''s banner was the most mysterious of the top 5 colleges: Frozen Sun College in the far north.


    The banner of Frozen Sun College was a stunning representation of its icy environment. The background featured a gradient of icy blue that transitioned to a crisp white.


    At the center, a stylized sun radiated shimmering white light with icy blue rays, symbolizing resilience and warmth amidst the cold.


    Flanking the sun was white wolf, embodying the strength and loyalty to ones'' group needed to survive in the north.


    Below the wolf was an icy blue ribbon with the college''s motto: "Guided by Light, Strengthened by Cold."


    Kain and the others walked through the dense crowd towards a towering hotel across from the stadium.


    Considering the prime location of the hotel, and how expensive it looked, Kain was able to tell that the school had probably booked their rooms several months in advance, and that they were prepared to fork out a ton of money to make sure the quality of living here would not negatively impact their performance.


    One of the professors handed out their room assignments and key cards. Kain and Kairos, Serena and Ranya, and Soren and the third-year Oliver were all roommates.


    Since all rooms were on the same floor, practically reserving an entire floor of the hotel for just Dark Moon staff and students, everyone headed up together.


    After an hour of rest in which Kairos was oohing and ahing over the hotel room the landmarks that can be seen from their room''s view, they headed to the spacious single room of their captain Ezra��who was the only one without a roommate, and also whose room would be serving as the site of their team''s strategy meetings.


    While they all found an area of the floor to get comfortable, one of the professors stood at the center of the room and called for the attention of everyone in the room. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hello everyone! For those that have finished their second year, you''d all already know from the mandatory second-year course ''Beast Behavior and Communication''. However for the first-years this may be your first time seeing me. I am Professor Dawnstrider. Find your next read at m_v l|e-NovelFire.net


    Since the first round matches had been determined, I figured now would be an excellent opportunity to debrief everyone on our opponents and strategy for our first opponents." Said a relatively short professor with ashy blonde slick-backed hair and hazel eyes framed by fine wrinkles.


    He then turned to look only at Kain and the other first-years. Considering that they were seeds and would not be facing a difficult opponent in the first round, the upper-year students were completely relaxed. Only the first-years, aside from Serena, had some degree of tension at the thought of their first battle against people outside of the school.


    "Our first-round opponent is Pioneer Beast Academy, a college ranked in the low 40s. Looking at their current lineup, there are no surprises. All of their representatives are at least a full grade below their same-year counterparts at our school.


    First-years, I understand your nervousness before your first fight, but the highest level spiritual creature among the opposing first-years, according to the latest intelligence, is still at red-grade. Just one of you can probably defeat all 5 of the enemy lineup alone."


    "Therefore, to avoid exposing too much of our current strength, Soren will be responsible for the 1-on-1 battle tomorrow and the 3-on-3 will consist of Soren, Ranya, and Kairos. I trust that the 5-on-5 will be unnecessary since you will win the first 2." He said with a threatening glare that caused the three to sit up straighter.

 Chapter 230: Chapter 230: Foreigners?

    Since their first opponent wasn''t considered to be challenging, the first debriefing session mostly consisted of common errors and rules to watch out for among first time competitors.


    However, after being informed that he likely wouldn''t be seeing any action for the first few matches, Kain left the room in irritation. Especially after seeing the smug smile that Soren flashed his way, Kain practically felt like his stomach was burning in anger.


    Thankfully, while Kain wouldn''t be facing any of the weaker opponents, they were given brief profiles of students from the other top 5 colleges to watch out for.


    Kain reclined on his bed while leafing through the booklet provided with all of the opponents they would have to be even mildly concerned about.


    Thankfully, since Serena was the only one in the empire to awaken independently in years, none of the other students their age were even remotely close to surpassing her in cultivation level. Therefore, all of their opponents were also 3-star beast-tamers with contracts no higher than yellow-grade. S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the exception of First Celestial Academy, who kept their students under tight wraps, and Frozen Sun College, which is geographically isolated, there was a decent amount of information about their potential opponents from Supernova College, Starfire College, and a few standout students from other colleges within the top 10.


    Thankfully, based on the information in their files, none of them seemed particularly threatening.


    Although there was one student from Starfire College in the south that made Kain very curious��


    Kain had learned after entering college that the cultivation method of the Celestial Empire, which focuses on harnessing star-attribute spiritual power to condense "stars" within their own body, was not the only cultivation method that this world had.


    Other cultivation methods are used by other nations. Unfortunately, due to genetic reasons, the cultivation method most people can use is already determined by their ancestors.


    All the way back to when the Celestial Empire in the center of this continent didn''t exist and everyone still lived in city-states, and even the millennia before that, the cultivation method utilizing star-attribute spiritual power had been used by the ancestors of what eventually became the Celestial Empire and, via natural selection, now the bodies of all citizens are best suited for this cultivation method.


    It''s not uncommon for those unable to awaken an affinity to try switching to the cultivation methods of other nations, however since their bodies are even less suited to those methods, the results are often disastrous.


    To the south of the empire is a large desert area inhabited by loosely governed tribes. Due to the scarcity of resources and spiritual creatures in the barren landscape to the south, the cultivation method their ancestors had developed was completely different from the one developed by the ancestors of what eventually became the Celestial Empire.


    Typically, they could only form a contract with one spiritual creature.


    Fortunately, while few and far between, the spiritual creatures that do inhabit the southern deserts are often more hardy and powerful than those that live in the resource-rich wilderness of the Empire and can take on multiple at once.


    Additionally, due to the harsh environment of the desert that favored the survival of the fittest, the percentage of individuals that can cultivate among the tribes is much higher than those within the Empire��almost 80%. Although since their population is much smaller it works out to around the same amount of beat-tamers as within the empire.


    However, the upper limit of those among the tribes is higher, with most managing to become at least the equivalent of a 4-star beast tamer��a relatively rare level among citizens of the empire, and the highest level in Kain''s hometown, Brightstar City.


    The cultivation method among southerners usually consists of a tattoo-like birthmark spontaneously manifesting somewhere on their bodies around the time of their 18th birthday. This tattoo will be in the form of a spiritual creature that they can form a contract with. Once the contract is formed the spiritual creature will reside within that tattoo.


    The growth boost provided to their singular contract is much greater than what is provided by the star space, and the feedback provided to the contractor is so strong that it usually allows them to exhibit abilities and strength similar to the spiritual creature itself. Therefore, every Southerner can be considered a powerful spiritual creature in their own right.


    Interestingly, it was determined after studying captured tribespeople that had tried invading the empire in the past, that the tribespeople carry remnant amounts of blood from spiritual creatures that manifested in the form of a tattoo.


    The legends circulated among the tribes state that they "are blessed by the gods" and the form of the tattoo is in the shape of the "god" that has blessed them.


    However, since some spiritual creatures at the highest levels can take on human forms, the empire''s researchers hypothesized that most, if not all, tribespeople have a powerful spiritual creature among their ancestors.


    The reason Kain was remembering the lecture he''d had on the cultivation method among the tribes in the south, was because one of the students participating on behalf of Starfire College was noted to have had a conspicuous birthmark in the shape of a dark red scorpion manifest on his body a week before his 18thbirthday, despite no known ancestors being from the tribes.


    "Tsk tsk��is this another instance of paternity fraud?"


    Kain couldn''t help but recall his first client as an evolutionary planner, Yara, while reading about the Starfire College student''s profile.


    Kain looked at the picture of a muscular young man with bronze skin, green eyes and what appeared to be a dark red scorpion tail coming up from beneath the collar of his shirt, over the side of his neck, and ending on his left cheek.


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    Based on the size of just the tail, Kain was able to tell that the size of the entire scorpion shaped birthmark probably covered the majority of the guy''s chest.

 Chapter 231: Chapter 231: Foreigners? (2)

    According to the profile, the guy''s name was Jacob Flynt. His talent in cultivation was deemed to be hopelessly poor when he entered high school, since he was far from being able to even condense his first star by the time of the awakening ceremony.


    In fact, despite persistent effort day and night to condense enough spiritual power and form his first star, he still only had as much spiritual power as the average elementary school student.


    Overwhelmed with a feeling of helplessness, and certain that he''d be destined to never become a beast-tamer, it came as a shock to everyone when he woke up screaming from pain due to a burning sensation one night. A burning sensation that ended in the manifestation of a scorpion shaped birthmark.


    A lot of effort went into finding a spiritual creature from the south of the border that matched the appearance of his birthmark. Fortunately, his parents (?) were quite wealthy and managed to procure the capture of a juvenile platinum-quality fire and poison dual-attribute Firescourge Scorpion.


    Kain looked at the image of the Firescourge Scoprion within the profile. This particular spiritual creature was extremely rare even within the southern deserts where it is exclusively found.


    It looked like a nightmare from the depths of a molten wasteland. Its carapace shimmered with hues of red and black, resembling flowing lava, while its massive pincers, emitted a temperature so high that distortions could be seen in the captured image due to heatwaves.


    The creature''s tail arched menacingly, tipped with a venomous stinger that could emit a corrosive poison capable of melting through armor and flesh alike.


    This venom doesn''t just burn; it eats away at anything it touches, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.


    Victims stung by it experience an agonizing fusion of searing pain and relentless corrosion, every part of their body dissolving under the relentless assault.


    Despite its rarity, it does have an infamous reputation among the tribes. When a full-grown one is spotted, most tribes, which are already semi-nomadic, would prefer to just pack up their stuff and run, rather than fight.


    Most spiritual creatures with healing abilities are useless against its poison and would only help to prolong the life, and thus the suffering, of the poisoned. After all, very few causes of death could be more painful than the sting from its venom.


    Thankfully, the rules of this national competition dictate that any poisonous spiritual creatures taking part must also have an antidote provided by their beast-tamer or give the organizers enough notice to manufacture an antidote.


    Therefore, Jacob''s contract won''t be able to kill anyone, but the brief period between the sting and when an antidote is administered would be absolute torture.


    Thankfully, Kain''s affinity seems to be uniquely primed to combat the scorpion.


    Bea is so small and invisible it''d be impossible to sting her. However, whether the splits could survive the poison coursing through its body is unknown.


    The newly evolved Vespid Sentinels are large in quantity, so as long as Queen is alive more can always be produced.


    Finally, Aegis is mostly made up of rock and his "core" is mobile and microscopic compared to most golems. So while the corrosive properties of the poison may cause damage to him, it won''t cause any pain, and the core microscopic body controlling the large rock exterior would also be difficult to harm directly.


    It''d probably be a difficult fight, and he''d probably have to be prepared to lose some Vespids that could have been used in future matches, he was confident in achieving the final victory.


    Another contestant of note was one not from a top 5 college, but one of the few stand-out competitors among the colleges outside of the top 5.


    Kain looked at the image of the girl who deceptively looked no older than 12, with light green hair and eyes. Despite her childish appearance, according to the profile she was in fact 3 years older than Kain, despite also being a first-year.


    She was also another student who practiced a foreign cultivation method. S��ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Based on her childish appearance, Kain could tell that she was at least half Elorian��the humans native to Elowen Haven.


    The humans that live in Elowen are rumoured to be partially descended from an elf-like humanoid species that had long gone extinct.


    Likely due to this ancestry, they tend to grow at a slower rate than humans, which explains her childlike face despite being in her twenties.


    She was a student of Lunaris Vale Academy, which is a college within the eastern region that is currently ranked 8.


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    Lunaris was a unique college in that they are located northeast of Dark Moon College and border Elowen Haven directly.


    Thankfully, out of all foreign nations, the Celestial Empire has the best relationship with the Elorians, and they are also a peaceful and non-confrontational nation.


    Due to the excellent relationship between the founder of Lunaris and a member of the Elorian royalty, there was a longstanding tradition of young Elorians entering Lunaris College to study.


    Clearly this girl, Elysara Virelith, was one such foreign-exchange student.


    In addition to having the best relationship with us, the Elorian''s cultivation method mostly closely resembled the one of the celestial empire.


    However, they absorb life-attribute spiritual power directly from nature, rather than the stars. The absorbed spiritual power takes the form of a tree within their bodies, and every "fruit" that the tree produces can serve as the home to a spiritual creature that suits their affinity.


    Another difference from those within the Empire, is that the affinities of Elorians are almost exclusively to spiritual plants, and they almost all are able to awaken a gift related to plant-life.


    Plant-type affinities aren''t nearly as common within the Empire so Kain was intrigued by the combat style of those that specialize in spiritual plants.


    Additionally, considering that there are probably many Elorians at that college but only Elysara was in the top 5, leads Kain to believe that the plants she''s bound to are particularly powerful.


    Unfortunately, all of her contracts seem to be native to the territory of Elowen Haven, so not much information was able to be found on their specific abilities.


    All that was able to be uncovered was that they all have a physical form resembling a rose, and all 3 of her contracts seem to specialize in either offence, support/healing, or control. It was a well-rounded lineup.

 Chapter 232: Chapter 232: Target

    After several more strategy sessions, and bringing Kain and the others to the Arena the day before the competition started in order to register them and their contracts, it was finally time for the National Beast-Taming Tournament to begin.


    Kain woke up the morning of the tournament and put on the team uniform. The uniform featured a sleek, skin-tight black athletic shirt crafted from a durable, heat-resistant and moisture-resistant fabric.


    The shirt was designed for maximum comfort and flexibility, incorporating silver mesh panels that enhanced breathability during intense activities.


    A small Dark Moon crest was prominently displayed on the left side of Kain''s chest. Complementing the shirt were form-fitting black pants that featured silver trim. And lastly, The lightweight black sneakers, adorned with silver accents.


    Pleased with his appearance in the mirror, he headed down with Kairos to have breakfast and meet up with the others before they headed to the stadium. In a large dining room on the first floor of the hotel, Kain could see several other groups of college students in uniforms as well as what appeared to be school staffs.


    It looks like for the duration of this competition, this hotel was being exclusively used by the various participating colleges.


    Kain even saw what appeared to be the representatives of Frozen Sun College, who they knew the least about. Kain couldn''t help but give them an extra glance. Most members of Frozen Sun College are already residents of the northern region, making it difficult to find any detail about them even if you go back to their high school days. After all, the entire northern region is relatively isolated.


    However, based on the fact that most of the students of the college are from that region or those whose contracts and affinity would best grow in the northern region, it was safe to assume that most of the representatives of Frozen Sun probably had some type of ice-affinity.


    After finishing their breakfast, they headed as a group over to the arena. Kain could see the tourists pointing and whispering at them as they passed. Kain and the other first-years'' back couldn''t help but straighten slightly at the unfamiliar attention. Only now were they fully realizing the name recognition, attention, and expectations placed upon students at the top 5 colleges.


    -------------------------


    "Is that them?"


    Not only were tourists looking at Kain and the others, but students and staff from rival schools were also taking not of their arrival.


    Particularly, Serena and Kain amongst the first-years. Although Serena''s name wasn''t well-known amongst the public, the fact that a member of the famous Storm family had awakened independently a year ago was known to many of the better-informed beast-tamers in the capital. S��ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite things having quieted down the last few months, and even Kain himself forgetting about it, Kain''s name and face was actually the most well-known to the general public amongst all of the first-years from the top 5 colleges. This was due to the hundreds of articles written about the "genius young evolutionary planner" right after the evolutionary form of the Lumifin had been publicized.


    "Yeah, that''s them" A short freckled boy said while nodding his head towards Kain and Serena. His shoulder-length blonde hair just touching the Supernova ensignia on the red and orange uniform he was wearing.


    The boy next to him leaned against the wall in the shadows casually. His blood-red hair and eyes matched well with the predominantly dark red uniform. His extremely pale skin gave him an almost sickly appearance, which was in stark contrast to the smug smile on his face.


    "They don''t look that strong��I don''t know why Alexei and Dmitri talk like the points for the champion among the first-years is practically in Dark Moon''s pocket." His blood red lips twisted into a grimace of dissatisfaction.


    "Maybe your cousins are bluffing. Serena has a few months on us because she awoke early, but the importance of that short headstart is probably gone by now. Although I did hear rumours that she managed to also awaken the legendary gift of the Storm family, it''s not like that gift is unbeatable. Kain on the other hand��"


    Alexei and Dmitri''s cousin couldn''t help but let out a scoff as he interjected, "he''s nothing special. Sure he''s a talented evolutionary planner, I''ll give him that, but that doesn''t mean anything in a competition like this. From the public information that I read about him, his contracts don''t seem all that impressive.


    "He wasted one of his contract spots on a Vespirae Queen. Sure that queen seems pretty unique in that she only has females in her hive, but its not like Vespirae are particularly powerful, just one of my contracts can probably destroy that hive on its own. I also heard he''s got a golem now, again nothing special.


    Yeah, their defense is hard, but their weak once you expose and threaten to damage their core."


    "I did hear though that he has one contract that nobody''s been able to identify so far though. Not even a picture of it had managed to be taken. All anyone knows about it is that it''s of the mental attribute, and it seems to require being touched by some threads in order to have an effect."


    "If it requires being touched by a thread, then it''s still not much of a threat��I''d like to see the looks on Alexei''s and Dmitri''s faces when I pummel the first-year they keep bragging about into the ground." Red eyes staring at Kain narrowed sinisterly.


    "Ugh!" Kain couldn''t help but look around at the sudden chill that snaked down his spine. The instincts of beast-tamers is quite sensitive, but unfortunately he was unable to tell where the malicious gaze was coming from.


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    ''Not that it matters��I''m sure that there are tons of people here who think of us as a threat. But no matter how much they''re on guard against me it''s useless. I have no intention of losing again to someone my age. I will start with crushing everyone we face here, and then I''ll defeat Serena at the next re-ranking too.''


    Kain continued forward casually, while putting the dozens of gazes behind him out of his mind. There was only one person his age worth his vigilance.

 Chapter 233: Chapter 233: The National Tournament Begins

    Kain and the others lined up in a row and made their onto the arena stage behind Ezra who was carrying a large black banner with their school insignia on it.


    The air buzzed with excitement and anticipation, a palpable energy coursing through the stadium as students from various colleges entered one by one, each team proudly displaying their own colors and crests.


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    They all climbed the stage behind their respective captains who were also carrying the banners of their college.


    Due to their college''s ranking, Dark Moon was located to the right of First Celestial Academy in the center.


    The captain of First Celestial Academy had blonde hair and green eyes, and a striking resemblance to Soren��Cassian Lysander. Soren''s older cousin who impressively was the captain of First Celestial Academy despite only being in his third year.


    Kain couldn''t help but notice the brief moment of tension between him and Soren as their respective teams passed one another on their way to the stage.


    Putting the potential family drama that had nothing to do with him out of his mind, Kain looked around the arena.


    The arena itself was a spectacle, a sprawling venue filled to the brim with spectators. The stands were a kaleidoscope of vibrant fan shirts, with flags and banners waving like a sea of colors under the bright midday sun.


    The atmosphere was electric, with the excited chatter of thousands of voices blending into a deafening roar, punctuated by the occasional cheer as fans spotted their teams and favourite contestants.


    ''I hope they''re watching right now.''


    Kain had been sending orphanage money for a while now, especially after the business took off. But he knew that the orphanage director would be hesitant to spend it on anything considered non-essential. Therefore, a while ago Kain had purchased a television and had it delivered to the orphanage.


    To ensure that it wasn''t refused he''d even called ahead to let him know him important it was that everyone in the orphanage be able to witness his debut on the national stage.


    The crowd erupted into applause and cheers as Princess Elena, who only looked to be in her mid-twenties despite being well into her forties, and the beloved younger sister of the current king, stepped forward to give the opening speech.


    She was dressed in a regal yet modern outfit that blended traditional elements with contemporary style, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders.


    With a confident smile, Princess Elena raised her hand to calm the crowd, her voice resonating clearly through the arena''s sound system. "Welcome, esteemed competitors, loyal citizens, and distinguished guests! Today marks the beginning of an extraordinary event, where courage, skill, and the bond between beast and tamer will be tested like never before!"


    Her words ignited a wave of enthusiasm among the spectators, who responded with cheers and applause.


    "Each of you has worked tirelessly to reach this point, training day in and day out, forging connections with your beasts, and honing your skills," Elara continued, her gaze sweeping across the assembled teams, but lingering slightly longer than average on the faces of Soren and Cassian.


    Her sweet smile also dropped to induce a more solemn atmosphere.


    The crowd quieted, their attention fully captured as Elara continued. "You, the future leaders of our great empire, stand before us as the next generation of protectors and guardians of the Celestial Empire.


    "Each battle you engage in here is a testament to your courage and dedication. You are not only competing for glory; you are preparing to safeguard the values that our ancestors fought for��the values of justice, integrity, and compassion. In this arena, you will demonstrate that you are ready to carry the torch of leadership, to stand as symbols of hope for our citizens.


    To act as the shield empire''s shield against its foreign enemies��whether they be man of beast."


    "Remember, true honor lies not in victory alone, but in how you conduct yourselves in the face of adversity. Treat your opponents with respect, and learn from every encounter, for each of you has the potential to be a beacon of light in times of darkness."


    With a determined gaze, Princess Elara concluded, "As you embark on this journey, carry with you the knowledge that your actions here today will resonate far beyond these walls."


    At those words that almost felt like a pre-emptive chastisement, some of the more malicious thoughts and plans of the hot-blooded participants calmed down.


    "You are the future of our empire, and it is your duty to protect and uplift those around you. Now, let the games begin, and may each of you shine brightly!"


    The crowd erupted into applause, the sound washing over Kain and his team like a wave.


    Everyone made their way down from the stage to their respective waiting rooms. Unfortunately, for some schools the quality of the waiting rooms were not all equal. However, as a member of a top 5 college, this was of no concern to Kain.


    Dark Moon College was naturally places in one of the few rooms with a full floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the arena��similar to the private suites in certain sports arenas back on Earth.


    There were dozens of matches that would need to occur each day, many of which may take a long time if the school are evenly matched.


    However, although it may be unpleasant to hear for some schools, most of the attendees in the audience and those watching at home really only cared about the colleges within the top 10, particularly those within the top 5.


    Therefore, majority of the matches that did not have one of the top 10 colleges participating would occur at a nearby smaller stadium without television coverage.


    Likely to further excite the crowd, the opening match of the main arena was arranged to be the First Celestial Academy against a much weaker opponent who wasn''t even within the top 40 colleges.


    However, despite being aware that the match will probably be a one-sided beat down, the roars of the audience still increased in volume due to the appearance of the home team. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 234: Chapter 234: Opening Match

    The First Celestial Academy was facing a smaller college from a remote part of the northern region��Starfrost College.


    Starfrost College was located in the mountains inhabited by gold-grade Crystal Eagles. Therefore, pretty much every student within the school had an affinity that could bind the Crystal Eagle. In fact, a young Crystal Eagle is given to every entering student for free.


    For those with only an average level of talent at D-grade or lower, and a weak family background, a free gold-grade spiritual creature was too great an offer to pass up, even if they had to move to a relatively cold and remote college in the north.


    Kain and the other first-years all sat up straighter as they examined who would probably be their greatest opponents in the tournament��the First Celestial Academy.


    Although there were no expectations for their opponents to actually hold out long enough to glean any significant amount of information or identify their trump cards, at least they''ll be able to see some of their contracts and/or gifts.


    Even if only a little bit of information is revealed in each match, by the time they have to face them for themselves, they''d thankfully not be completely blind to their opponents'' information.


    Up first was the 1 vs 1 battle, and on behalf of the First Celestial, a boy smiling smugly with ombre hair that faded from dark at the roots to blonde at the tips took the stage.


    Although they didn''t have a lot of information on them, Kain was willing to bet that the boy was not one of the top members of their team. Most likely, similar to their own team, all the top 5 colleges were planning to conceal the top members of their teams.


    On behalf of Starfrost was an extremely large and bulky guy that looked to be more than twice the size of his opponent. However, despite his intimidating stature, nobody watching became more optimistic about his chances. In a world where people primarily use spiritual beast contracts and gifts to fight, people''s physiques weren''t particularly important.


    After all, no matter how impressive their build is, without an extremely powerful gift it''d be hard to compare physically to most spiritual creatures.


    The representative of Starfrost summoned 3 spiritual creatures, all orange-grade.


    One was the expected Crystal Eagle, one resembled a polar bear with a light blue crystal in the center of its forehead, and one was a spotted blue, white, and grey leopard with long fangs that extended beyond its chin.


    On the other hand, the representative of First Celestial only summoned one contract��a yellow-grade a Taranis.


    Taranis are extremely rare spiritual creatures, in fact there probably aren''t more than 3 in the entire Empire and its evolved form happens to be the contract of one of the nation''s few 9-star beast-tamers.


    They are a type of dragon-blooded unicorn. They are a deep purple so dark it appears black from afar and have scales instead of fur. Their dark figure is occasionally illuminated with flashes of lightning, which has an almost mesmerizing effect as it illuminates the various colourful undertones in their scales.


    Strikingly, it had a snow-white mane that stood out against the rest of its body and gave the tall unicorn, several times the size of a normal horse, an almost handsome appearance.


    At the center of its forehead were three horns arranged vertically, with the one in the center being more than twice as long as the ones above and below it.


    As the match began, the three Starfrost creatures coordinated their attack. The Crystal Eagle took to the skies with a graceful arc, its wings slicing through the air as it summoned a small snowstorm to obscure the Taranis''s vision. The flurry of snowflakes sparkled in the arena lights, creating a dazzling but disorienting spectacle.


    Meanwhile, the polar bear positioned itself to the side, its figure gradually blurred by the snow flying around, ready to pounce at a moment''s notice. It crouched low, muscles coiling like springs, its light blue crystal shimmering with latent power as it prepared to strike, likely preparing to use a skill that required some degree of charging time.


    The spotted leopard stealthily circled from behind, its keen eyes locked onto the Taranis''s movements, every fibre of its being focused on finding the right moment to attack. Kain could see a faint glow emitting from its long fangs and what appeared to be a viscous, transparent liquid with a blue tinge flowing from its fangs like saliva��a poison?


    The atmosphere crackled with tension as the audience watched the Starfrost student execute his strategy. However, it wasn''t due to the suspense of the outcome of the match, but rather due to anticipation of how powerful exactly this rare spiritual creature that they may never see again in their lives was.


    The Crystal Eagle screeched, diving in with blinding speed, its talons outstretched, creating a wind that whipped through the arena. However, the Taranis couldn''t even be bothered to shift its attention.


    At the same time, the polar bear charged, attempting to close the distance. The leopard took advantage of the diversion, launching itself towards the Taranis from its blind spot, its lean and muscular body moving with an elegant and soundless grace as it approached its enemy concealed by the flying snow.


    The audience gasped as the three creatures executed their plan, a whirlwind of coordinated attacks that aimed to overwhelm the Taranis. The Crystal Eagle, high above, summoned icy shards that rained down like daggers, sparkling as they caught the light. The polar bear, powerful and relentless, lunged with its massive paws aimed directly at the Taranis''s flank.


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    Meanwhile, the leopard dashed forward, its instincts sharp, seeking to deliver a decisive blow from behind. It moved silently under the attacks of its allies which were meant to distract the enemy; the leopard was the true key to their team''s strategy. If it could even land a small bite anywhere on the Taranis'' body, their team may stand a chance at victory.


    However, the Taranis remained perfectly still, exuding an aura of calm confidence. Its owner leaned casually against the arena''s edge, a smirk on his face, and a rapier in hand, as if he were enjoying a leisurely afternoon rather than a fierce battle.


    Suddenly, a low rumble echoed through the arena. The Taranis''s eyes glowed with a brilliant blue and purple light as it unleashed a powerful barrage of lightning energy into the surroundings that momentarily shocked the approaching enemies into immobility, their fur and feathers almost comically standing up around them due to the static.


    However, Kain could tell that the electric discharge wasn''t even the true intention of the skill, it was merely a side-effect of the immense electric energy being summoned.


    The unicorn reared back, its three horns igniting with electric energy. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning fell from the heavens like a descending giant sword, converging on the entire stage and enveloping it in a radiant light. S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A storm of electricity surged through the arena, making it hard for anyone in the audience to see what was occurring on the stage. The force of the move created a shockwave that knocked the three Starfrost creatures off their feet covered in electric burns, their attacks thwarted in a heartbeat.


    As the light faded, Kain and the others could get a better look at the stage. All three opponents were severely injured, and flickers of lightning could be seen discharging from their bodies as they lay twitching in pain, their movements erratic and desperate. It was not a pretty sight, and many couldn''t help wincing on their behalf.


    ''I hope the kids watching at home don''t get too scared��'' Kain thought worriedly. He hadn''t anticipated the battles being so gruesome when he''d insisted that all the members of the orphanage make sure to watch the tournament.


    The overwhelming display of power left the spectators in stunned silence for nearly ten whole seconds, before the arena erupted into deafening cheers.


    "That Taranis was practically playing with them," Kairos said with a sense of foreboding. He was a member of the top 5 more skilled in control than frontal combat, therefore he wasn''t feeling optimistic about facing such an offensively powered opponent. Thankfully, all of the 1-vs-1 matches were handled by Kain, Serena, or Soren.


    Instead, he and Ranya were in only the team battles where they could shine best.


    Kain turned to his right to see Soren, who would be handling their first 1-vs-1 match to see if he was at all intimidated. He found him looking at the field with a twinkle in his eye, and a familiar expression on his face of rivalry that he usually only looked at Kain with.


    ''Don''t tell me��''


    "Hmph! They''re all acting like it''s a big deal to beat three orange-grade spiritual creatures from a low-ranking school with one move. I''ll send my opponent packing without even summoning my contracts," Soren boasted with his chin raised.


    ''Sigh��''

 Chapter 235: Chapter 235: The Subjectivity of Genius

    The remaining matches for First Celestial were also as quick, if not quicker.


    They also maintained their humiliating tactic of defeating their enemies with as few contracts revealed as possible.


    While for the 3-vs-3 they had to send up 3 participants to the stage, each member of First Celestial only summoned one contract each, while their opponents summoned 3 each.


    However, even despite the severe numerical disadvantage of 3-vs-9, First Celestial still won overwhelmingly. sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    And because they won the first two matches, there was no need for the 5-vs-5, therefore the two strongest members of the top 5 first years at the College were still not revealed.


    The pattern remained the same for the upper years as well. The 1-vs-1 battle winning with only one contract revealed, and then winning with only 3 contracts against the opponent 9, for the 3-vs-3. Not a single year level had to participate in a 5-vs-5 battle.


    However, it was while watching the higher year levels that Kain made a discovery. Perhaps because the National Tournament is one of the most watched event in the Empire, the professors did not waste time explaining the obvious larger rules of the competition, and instead spent time clarifying some of the smaller rules that viewers at home would likely not even be aware of.


    For example, the rule that for a poison to be used in competition, an antidote must be provided, or that only beast-tamers can wear equipment for protection and not the spiritual beasts.


    However, there was one super obvious rule that nobody had bothered explaining to Kain��regardless of level, only a maximum of 3 contracts could be summoned by a beast-tamer at any given time.


    Which was why, despite there being many 5-star beast-tamers among the upper years, they still only used 3 contracts each. Kain had thought the second-years, who were the ones who had mostly been responsible for helping them train, had limited themselves to only 3 contracts each in order to level the playing field with the first-years, who had at most 3 contracts.


    Therefore, for those with more than 3 contracts, a lot of strategy went into which ones to use for each opponent, and the possible lineup combinations were endless.


    After making this discovery, Kain honestly felt like an idiot. Yes, he''d never had the privilege of watching the tournament before, but if each side had been able to summon all of their contracts in a 5 vs 5 match, there could have ended up being more that 50 contracts on the arena stage at a given time.


    The stage, although massive and the size of multiple football fields placed together would have felt crowded with over 50 ginormous green-grade spiritual creatures on the field at once.


    Kain, couldn''t help but shudder at the thought. Even with the shield around the stage to protect the audience from becoming casualties of skills flying off the stage, it''d be hard-pressed to withstand the attacks of 50 mid-level spiritual creatures at once.


    To ensure that there were no accidents, every match in both the main and smaller arenas would probably require at least an 8-star beast-tamer to preside over it, and considering individuals at that level are the most powerful, and busy, in the Empire, it''d be a complete waste of their time.


    All of First Celestial''s matches across all year levels ended in less than half an hour, therefore the stage was quickly taken over by another top 5 college��Starfire College.


    From what Kain had seen of the schedule the first round of matches would extend over 2 days, and Dark Moon was scheduled to have its first match today and then rest tomorrow. Supernova and Frozen Sun College would be having their first matches tomorrow.


    Considering that they needed to fill up several hours each day with matches, and that most matches featuring a College in the top 20 were eligible to be on the main arena stage, they probably divided up the top 5 colleges who would draw in the most viewers between the 2 days.


    Otherwise, if all of the top colleges appeared in a row, viewers would probably tune out the second that all 5 colleges finished their matches unless they were tuning in due to a personal connection with a college outside of the top 5.


    Starfire College adopted a similar strategy to First Celestial, whether that was planned in advance or adopted after seeing First Celestial''s match out of pride like Soren, Kain didn''t know.


    Their matches ended even faster than First Celestial''s, not because they seemed stronger, but because their opponent was that weak.


    They were facing a College ranked in the low 80s. It was the type of College that students would only go to if they were a (1) a local and (2) had an affinity so poor that they couldn''t get in anywhere else.


    Unsurprising, all of the representatives of that school were still 2-star beast tamers, and even the highest level fourth-year at that college was only a 3-star beast-tamer. Not a single representative, regardless off year level had a contract stronger than orange-grade.


    It was at that moment that Kain realized the unrealistic expectations of cultivation speed Kain had for those in his age range.


    Even the lowest ranked student among the first years, Aria, had an orange-grade contract and would probably break through to being a 3-star beast tamer before the school year started again. Not to mention that she also had a pretty useful gift.


    But when looking at the Empire as a whole, the strength of students at the top 5 colleges was completely abnormal.


    In Kain''s hometown, the strongest individuals in the entire city were several times Kain''s age but were only 4-star beast tamers.


    The average student Kain''s age with a C or D affinity and only a bronze or silver quality contract would probably be considered as quite talented if they already became a 2-star beast-tamer at this age.


    ''The fact that Aria would be considered a genius at most schools is a tragedy��'' Kain thought, in pity at the dismal talent supply at most schools.

 Chapter 236: Chapter 236: Signboard

    The day dragged on and started to darken as they waited for their turn. Similar to First Celestial who was the opening match, since Dark Moon was the next highest ranked college meant to appear to day, they were arranged as the last match of the day.


    Therefore, Kain and the others had to suffer through watching dozens of matches that were quite boring considering that most of them were either one-sided beat downs, or even the stronger side was not particularly impressive to Kain.


    However, there were a few shocking developments, surprisingly a second-year from a college ranked only in the 40s managed to win the 1-vs-1 match against the second-year representative of the 13th ranked college.


    Admittedly, the loss probably happened due to the conceit of the stronger side not sending out their strongest student, however it was the only case of the underdog winning a match that day so it was memorable.


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    One of the professors travelling with them said that the likely cause for the victory seems to be due to that underdog student awakening a gift recently that increased the power of his contracts'' flames and added an almost corrosive property to them. It was an extremely useful gift if paired well with suitable contracts. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the professor said that the low-ranked college would likely not be able to hold on to him after exposing him on this stage.


    Looking around Kain could see some members in the front rows of the audience, likely staff and scouts collecting information for various schools, rushing from their seats with hungry expressions.


    Although, the boy would be nothing special enough to specially recruit among the top 5 colleges, many others would probably offer lucrative conditions in order to recruit him into their school for the next year.


    Finally, it was the turn of Dark Moon College when the sun had already long left the sky.


    By this point, Kain''s eyelids felt heavy enough that he almost could even be bothered to make his way to the side of the arena where participants on standby should be waiting as their colleagues fought on stage.


    Unfortunately, none of the professors seemed sympathetic to his reasoning that his presence wasn''t even necessary for this first match since he wasn''t even participating unless the unlikely happened and Soren, Ranya and Kairos some how lost to opponents far weaker than them.


    Instead Kain was forcefully dragged to the side of the stage half propped up by Kairos while almost pulling a muscle in his jaw from yawning so hard.


    Thump


    Placing Kain roughly on one of the benches next to the stage, Kairos stomped off to register his attendance for the 3-vs-3 battle that would be taking place. Thankfully, since by default all of their participants were automatically slated to take part in the 5-vs-5, should it come to that, Kain didn''t have to move from his new spot.


    However, despite his strong urge to nap, the grogginess gradually faded from Kain''s mind once in front of the crowd. Not due to the excitement from the atmosphere��even the crowd had begun to lost most of its energy as the day progressed, although the atmosphere picked back up slightly at the appearance of Dark Moon.


    And it was also not due to the anticipation of their team''s debut match��their was no suspense for this match and its not like he was participating either.


    ''Ugh��'' Glancing around Kain realized the real ulterior motive of the professors and why they insisted on Kain appearing at the side of the stage.


    Despite Kain not participating. Despite the actual participants climbing the stage to partake in the match at right that moment. Despite the fact that Soren was a member of the ROYAL FAMILY!


    ''Why the hell are you all watching ME?!''


    Everywhere Kain looked at least half of the cameras and audience members that should be watching the stage, instead had their gazes stuck on his figure. Under the watchful eyes of practically the entire nation, naturally it was impossible to fall asleep.


    As Kain''s expression contorted in irritation, he saw that all of the attending professors of Dark Moon had a smug expression on their faces.


    Despite the real height of the buzz from his discovery of the Lumifin evolution having subsided months ago, it still looks like many in the audience were surprised by the "genius" boy that took practically the entire nation be storm.


    In fact, Kain didn''t know this, but while the interest in him seemed to have died down on the surface, at least based on the number of news articles about him, mentions of Kain in informal media spaces such as in forums was still quite strong.


    In fact, Kain even had his own fan page (as well as an anti-fan one).


    Kain had been unaware of this attention due to him not spending much time online��but the college was not. In fact, they were subtly supporting the spread of his name online and some staff would even occasionally "slip up" and leak interesting information about him online to ensure that interest in him never fully died.


    After all, every year there is a new beast-taming genius��but they had been using Kain''s name to attract significant attention to the evolutionary planning department as well.


    What was the use of this?


    Well many spiritual creatures had more difficult evolutionary conditions, or even a following evolutionary form wasn''t even known.


    Therefore, many individuals took a great interest in Kain''s supposed ''gift'' and abilities as a planner that may help their spiritual contracts reach new heights.


    The increase in planner requests Kain had received over the months were unknowingly already screened by the College, in reality hundreds of individuals had made inquiries about him.


    The Dean of the Planner department at Dark Moon watching the broadcast at home, couldn''t help but smile broadly and develop a ruddy complexion at the repeated focus of the camera on Kain''s figure.


    ''Ahh��you truly are the best signboard for our department��'' He thought while staring at Kain''s face with so much affection that Kain would surely shudder in disgust if he were to see the expression in person.

 Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Stealing the Show

    Thankfully, Soren didn''t seem to be aware that he was unfairly having to divide the audience''s attention with Kain.


    Even more upsetting, in the battle for attention he actually seemed to be on the losing end against the half-asleep boy doing nothing but sitting at the side of the stage.


    Soren took the stage confidently with his chin raised arrogantly and firmly believed that the sudden increase in audience discussion and attention were completely due to his handsome figure��not because the commentators and many members of the audience had recognized Kain and were now sharing all of the information that they knew about the boy to those around them.


    It''s also good that Soren didn''t notice that the loudest area of the audience consisted of many members waving banners with the image of Kain, Lumifin, or its evolved form Gilded Serafin.


    However, Kain noticed the small area of fans and kindly gave them a wave in greeting.


    With an unnecessary theatrical flourish of his hand, Soren''s right arm transformed into that of a dragon''s. He let out a small smirk as ecstatic screams erupted from a corner of the audience��unaware that this transformation happened to be at the same time as Kain''s wave and those cheers were from his fans who weren''t paying the least bit of attention to Soren.


    However, Soren was further emboldened by the cheers, and made a cringey come hither motion with his now transformed finger at the opponent. Thankfully, majority of the eyes in the stadium were not on him at the moment. Explore more stories with m,v l''e-NovelFire.net


    But one of the few eyes that were, was his incensed opponent from Pioneer Beast Academy. After all, even if they were aware that they were outclassed by their opponent, that didn''t mean that they had no pride as beast-tamers.


    It was extremely humiliating for a student the same age as him to be practically proclaiming to the entire nation that he could defeat him without even summoning his spiritual creatures.


    However, he didn''t let hot-headedness cloud his judgement and still chose to summon all three of his contracts��two orange-grade spiritual creatures, and one red-grade one.


    All 3 contracts were cats, the 2 orange-grade ones were of fire and lightning attributes and slightly larger than the third. Meanwhile, the red-grade contract had a lovely and innocent appearance and gave off an icy chill.


    ''Ahh��Maybe I should consider adopting a cat��'' Kain thought while looking in slight envy at the boy from the opposite team. After all, none of Kain''s contracts were what one would describe as ''cuddly.''


    Kain didn''t agree with Soren''s arrogant strategy and, judging by their expressions, neither did the professors. However, the gap with their opponent was too large for there to even be a significant risk of Soren being overturned.


    Although disrespectful, Kain still had no worries about their losing and started to get sleepy again as he leisurely counted the kittens, both on and off the stage.


    ''One kitten��two kittens��three kittens��oh there''s a fourth kitten over there��''


    As the match began, Soren''s three opponents took a moment to assess him, their gazes steely with determination.


    The fire cat, sleek and nimble, flicked its tail, flames licking at the air around it. The lightning cat crackled with energy, its body twitching with anticipation. And the red-grade ice cat emitted an icy chill, a deceptive calmness masking its deadly intent.


    They all sensed their beast-tamer''s indignance at Soren''s arrogance and were more determined than ever to make him pay for it.


    With a dramatic flourish, Soren launched himself forward, his dragon arm slicing through the air as he taunted, "Let''s see if you can make me summon even one of my contracts!" He felt invincible, the earlier roar of the crowd (not for him) igniting his ego.


    The fire cat was the first to strike, charging at him with flames trailing behind it, a blazing comet racing towards its target. Soren dodged effortlessly, his dragon arm extending to block the next attack from the lightning cat, which burst forth with a speed that caught even him off guard.


    "Is that all you''ve got?" Soren jeered. His arrogance was palpable, a bright beacon for his opponents to zero in on.


    The red-grade ice cat remained stationary, its icy aura filling the air, seemingly biding its time.


    The two orange-grade cats flanked Soren, one attacking from the left while the other struck from the right.


    Soren managed to parry their attacks, but as he focused on the two, he failed to notice the red-grade cat unleashing the skill it had been charging for a while. An icy wave swept across the arena, but despite the strong appearance of the skill, it only had a minor effect on the higher-level Soren and caused his left foot to momentarily freeze.


    However, since the frozen foot was timed perfectly with when Soren was dodging the others'' attacks, it caused him to stumble to his knee momentarily.


    Capitalizing on the great opportunity, the fire cat lunged at him again, this time successfully landing a strike. Its fiery claws raked across the side of his face, igniting his anger with searing pain. "You little��!" he shouted, momentarily losing composure, his bravado dimmed by the unexpected blow.


    "Even a wolf should use its full strength when hunting a rabbit��" Kain murmured to himself, a mix of mild concern and mostly amusement playing across his features.


    The fire cat, sensing the shift, leaped forward again, determined to capitalize on Soren''s moment of weakness. But Soren was quick to recover, and finally decided to fight more intelligently.


    His determination flared like the very flames attacking him. He quickly sprouted a dragon''s wing from his back, creating a powerful gust of wind that pushed the fire cat back, giving him just enough space to regain control of his body.


    "You think you can take me down that easily?" Soren challenged, now fully focused. With a newfound intensity, he withdrew the wing and transformed his legs to charge at the nearby lightning cat, using his enhanced speed to close the distance in an instant.


    However, a barely noticeable layer of ice appeared on the stage before his rushing figure, causing him to once again lose balance and have to give up on the attack.


    In that moment of distraction, the lightning cat retaliated, launching a surprise attack at his face. Soren barely managed to block it with his arm, but the force of the hit knocked him off balance, the pain now a sharp contrast to his earlier arrogance.


    Realizing that the seemingly weakest ice-attribute kitten was his most irritating opponent, Soren, after regaining his balance, darted in its direction instead.


    He dashed forward, avoiding the incoming attacks from both the fire and lightning cats, and landed a decisive blow that sent the ice cat crashing to the ground unconscious in an instant.


    Finally, Soren launched himself at the remaining opponents. The fire and lightning cats, battered and bruised, managed to withstand a couple of blows each before also collapsing.


    Around the same time, the crowd also erupted into shocked screams that Soren had assumed were for his performance. After all, although there were some embarrassing moments, he still defeated his enemies alone in only around a minute.


    But in actuality, while counting kittens Kain unconsciously lured his mind back into a sleepy state and his sleeping form was caught on camera as his head slumped over onto the shoulder of an incomparably beautiful girl.


    The camera captured a face so beautiful that it caused many of the audience to scream��some in shock at her beauty, some fangirls of Kain in heartbreak that their idol was now resting on her shoulder, and some young men in the audience in indignance as they wished to take Kain''s place. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Something smells really good��'' was Kain''s last thought as his mind sank into oblivion.

 Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Placating Kairos

    When Kain awoke it was already the next day and he was in his room, unaware of how he even got there.


    However, based on the pointed glare coming from Kairos all throughout breakfast, it was safe to assume that it was Kairos who''d protected his beauty sleep and allowed him to get back the room without waking up.


    "Ahem! Thanks for carrying me back. But you know, you could have just woken me up��" Kain said awkwardly as Kairos'' expression only grew colder.


    "No I couldn''t!" Kairos expression contorted with immense rage. "I tried every method short of maiming you and you didn''t wake up! Did you take some kind of drug?!"


    Kain lowered his head awkwardly, but also in confusion. Beast-tamers are usually quite light sleepers, Kain included.


    Otherwise, if they were sleeping when an enemy approached, they wouldn''t be able to react in time. Therefore, all beast-tamers were subconsciously on guard, even in their sleep. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Being able to sleep so deeply would have to mean he''d felt safe enough to completely let down his guard��but in a crowded stadium full of people watching him, and his greatest rival Serena so close by, that''d be absolutely impossible��Right?


    "I didn''t��I''m not sure why you couldn''t wake me up. Maybe you didn''t try hard enough?" Kain proposed awkwardly. However, this explanation only made Kairos'' enraged face even redder.


    Kain moved his eyes awkwardly everywhere and not make eye contact, probing his mind for a possible explanation.


    ''Maybe it was that smell��'' Kain decided after searching back through his vague memories.


    "It won''t happen again I promise." Kain said while placing his hands together, and trying to make his expression as cute and pitiful as possible.


    But Kairos'' disgusted face didn''t seem to appreciate Kain''s attempts. Explore hidden tales at m,v l''-NovelFire.net


    "Ahem! I know. What if I work for you as an Evolutionary Planner for free once? Since you''re bound to cursed constructs, and all cursed constructs are unique, its more complicated finding a suitable evolutionary formula for them.


    Therefore, a talented planner will need to research a brand new plan just for you." Kain proposed, finally regaining his confidence after talking about a field he was experienced in.


    Kain could tell from Kairos'' expression that he''d already put down most of his anger at Kain''s proposal, and was just continuing to feign irritation so as not to seem so easily placated.


    Kain decided to give one last push. He pulled out his phone and search up one of the more recent gossip articles about him.


    "Look right here," He said while pointing at the screen, "That''s usually how much I charge per consult, not to mention how difficult it is to even arrange a meeting with me. With this we should be more than even."


    He straightened his back in pride. For once, having so many articles about him online wasn''t annoying. At least it came in handy during times like this when he needed to brag.


    Kairos, finally reluctantly nodded in resignation. Although, the slight smirk on his face belied the fact that he was actually ecstatic about this deal. After all, as Kain''s closest direct competitor, it wasn''t even for any of the members of the top 5 to reach out to Kain for help.


    Now he not only got the help of Kain''s "gift" to help him deal with an issue that''s been hanging over his head for a while, he got the service for free!


    "Fill me in on what happened after I fell asleep." Kain said, while picking up a pastry to munch on.


    "Nothing much��We all won our matches. Both us and the upper-years. Since we don''t have a match today, the professors said that we can choose to watch the broadcast in our rooms or go to our college''s personal observation box to watch the remaining matches."


    After thinking about it, Kain decided to watch the matches in person, and based on the crowded state of their personal box, it looks like many of the other participants also had the same thoughts.


    After all, there were many details about the battle that can only be seen well in person.


    Unfortunately, similar to yesterday, most of the higher-ranked schools concealed their strengths as much as possible, so they weren''t able to obtain a significant amount of information. The gap in strength between the top and lower ranked colleges was too great to force the members of the top 5 colleges to reveal any of their cards.


    There were hundreds colleges within the Celestial Empire, however only the top 100 were even eligible to participate in the National Tournament.


    As a student at a top 5 College, Kain''s school was automatically always allowed to participate, so he wasn''t clear on how the ranks were distinguished among the lower-ranked schools to decide who participates.


    However, he had vaguely heard only those who were in the top 50 were guaranteed to participate again next year. There seemed to be preliminaries held throughout the to decide the remaining 50 schools participating.


    Therefore, all of the teams that won their matches yesterday were able to secure their tickets to the National Tournament next year.


    For some of the lower-ranked schools with no hopes of winning, that was their ultimate goal when coming here, and so they felt much more relaxed after successfully passing one round than they did yesterday.


    This was in contrast to the mid to higher-ranked schools, who usually got more anxious with each round they passed under the pressure of getting a better rank than the previous year.


    Kain could more accurately see the differences in tension when the draws for their second round opponents began.


    Although, members of the upper-ranked colleges were still pretty relaxed, since the officials would make sure the higher ranked teams wouldn''t face each other so early.


    Shortly, Dark Moon''s opponent for the next round was revealed, a college in top 30. After that was revealed, he could immediately see many faces in the crowd crumble, either members of or supporters of their next opponent. Kain''s face also crumbled after their opponent was revealed. Unfortunately, it looked like he''d still be benched for the next match.

 Chapter 239: Chapter 239: Kains Debut

    Dark Moon, without suspense easily defeated their next opponents. However, their opponent for the third match was not immediately revealed. After the second round there were now 25 teams. Of the teams 25 within the top 50 that had been eliminated, they would also compete amongst each other.


    This has two purposes:


    1) Determining a more precise ranking for each of the teams within the top 50, which will then impact things such as resource allocation. After all, how could a school strong enough to be ranked 26 or 27 be roughly ranked into a "top 50" category and given the same amount of resources from the country as those ranked 49 and 50.


    Since the ultimate importance of ones rank in the national tournament is seen in how many resources are ultimately allocated to that college for the rest of the year, a more precise ranking is needed. S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2) The second purpose is to bring the total number of competing teams up to 30. This ensures that any teams strong enough to rank higher were not wrongfully eliminated due to facing a college in the top 5, while also evening out the number of competing teams from 25 to 30.


    Therefore, all of the students who had already safely advanced into the top 25 were given an extra day of rest before their opponents for the next round were revealed.


    By this round, all of the top 5 colleges were still considered seeds and so there was no risk of drawing one another. However, all of the remaining colleges were fair game.


    Not that anyone at Dark Moon was worried about their opponent for the next round, whoever it may be��they were confident to defeat anyone ranked 6 and under.


    However, that didn''t mean that their opponent for the next round wasn''t important. Naturally, all of the colleges were hoping for a weaker opponent��even those colleges at the top.


    After all, if you could fight against the a weaker school and conceal more of your cards for use in later matches, who would want to face against a stronger team?


    However, Kain didn''t know what to say about the luck of their captain Ezra who was arranged to represent them at the drawing ceremony.


    Somehow, of the 25 colleges outside of the top 5, they were eligible to draw, he had managed to draw the rank 8 Lunaris Vale Academy.


    Faced with the first opponent that can put up a decent fight, Kain had a slight hope that he''d finally get to see some of the action.


    And his hopes became a reality at the briefing right after their next opponents were announced. Kain would be responsible for the 1-on-1 battle against Lunaris Vale Academy, who they suspected would be sending foreigner Elysara Virelith, who had been specially highlighted in their notes about potential competitors.


    Everyone, especially Kain, seemed satisfied with arrangement. Everyone, that is, except for one person��


    Soren fidgeted in his seat, irritation flashing across his face. "I should fight her," he grumbled, casting a pointed look toward the tournament board displayed at the front of the briefing room where Lunaris Vale''s emblem��a delicate flower entwined with sharp thorns��was displayed. "I can easily take her."


    The teachers exchanged glances, clearly not as convinced that he''d EASILY take her. "Soren," one of the lead instructors responsible for their strategies began, "it''s not about strength alone. You''ve already competed in several solo and 3-3 matches; whereas she is virtually unknown.


    They have a lot more information about you than we have about her, and can therefore make more targeted strategies against you."


    "But she''s an Elorian!" Soren protested, crossing his arms defiantly. "How tough can some flowers be?"


    "Enough," the instructor said firmly, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You''re not suited for this match. Not to mention you are indispensable part of the team of 3. Since this will likely be our most challenging match yet, we need you to save all of your energy for that match. Kain will handle the fight." Once the instructor emphasize his importance, Soren seemed to be somewhat placated.


    Soren huffed but eventually relented, knowing better than to argue further with the teachers. The strategy had been meticulously laid out, and it was crucial for them to utilize each member''s strengths effectively.


    The next day, the excitement Kain felt intensified. Finally, he would be making his debut!


    Thankfully, Kain didn''t have to wait the whole day in order to finally release this pent up excitement. It seems like they arranged First Celestial to be the finale match today.


    On the other hand, Dark Moon was arranged to compete first. Unlike the other top 5 colleges who all drew significantly weaker opponents ranked somewhere in the 20s. The match between Dark Moon and Lunaris Vale was the only match containing a member of the top 5 colleges with some degree of suspense and tension about the outcome.


    Nobody thought that Dark Moon would lose though. But they definitely believe that it will be a close battle��probably the most exciting one yet.


    Therefore, they probably wanted to use their match to further ignite the excitement of the crowd since it was one of the most anticipated match up of the day.


    Kain made his way to the stage, and the volume of the crowd noticeably increased by several levels once they all realized that one of the most famous contestants within the competition would be making his debut in this match.


    Kain in his uniform stood across from what looked to be a child with light green eyes and hair. The differences in their heights and apparent ages made the scene even more shocking.


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    The commentators went into explaining the features of the Elorians for those civilians that were unfamiliar and how, despite her appearance, she was actually several years older than Kain.


    With the beep of the starting whistle from the refereeing staff member, both Kain and his opponent summoned their respective contracts.

 Chapter 240: Chapter 240: Kains Debut (2)

    As the match began, Kain quickly assessed the arena and his opponent. Elysara, confident and poised, began weaving her own strategy as she summoned her contracts.


    All three of them had the appearances of roses. However, the colours of their petals all differed. And from what Kain had read in the report, so did their abilities.


    One of the roses was white, and from what Kain knew was an extremely rare spiritual plant called the Dream Flower that could only grow within a relic controlled by the Elowen royal family.


    Similar to its name, the Dream Flower had a dreamy quality and was said to be a species closely tied to the elf-like ancestors of the Elorians.


    It would typically appear white under ordinary lighting condition, but directly under the moonlight, it will reveal its original stunning appearance.


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    Under the moon, it supposedly had an almost translucent quality, constantly emitting the 5 colours of the rainbow. Unfortunately, only under the moonlight can its truly dreamy and magnificent appearance be seen, and due to its rarity very few people have seen its true appearance.


    At the moment it appeared on the arena, an overwhelming amount of white petals were scattered throughout the battlefield, it was difficult for Kain to discern all of the functions of the petals, but Kain did instantly notice a drastic decrease in his perception abilities.


    His enhanced senses that he''d unconsciously gotten used to as he increased in strength, were now lowered to a level more close to when he''d been a 1-star beast-tamer.


    Kain assumed that this was the contract that was responsible for her control abilities.


    The second rose, vibrant and fiery, pulsed with raw energy. Kain recognized it immediately as Elysara''s offensive contract, capable of delivering devastating attacks. Even from afar, Kain could tell that the red petals that should have appeared delicate, had a sharp knife-like quality to them.


    The final rose was aqua-colored, and emitted a soothing green mist with a refreshing quality that Kain assumed would rapidly heal any injuries made by Kain''s contracts��taking on the role of the healer in his opponent''s lineup.


    Kain on the otherhand, did not want to reveal Bea too soon. The mental attribute is most effective when working against unprepared enemies. After all, there were various skills and equipment that could defend against mental attacks.


    Most of the participants were not wearing them because the mental attribute was rare and not often seen, so he didn''t need to take the initiative to inform his future opponents that he had a contract with this attribute beforehand.


    Some, with better intelligence networks, may already be aware of some of Bea''s details, but Kain still considered her his trump card and didn''t want to reveal her to so many eyes this early on.


    Therefore, only Queen and her guards, and Aegis would be competing in this battle.


    Almost at the same time the summoned contracts appeared, the battle began.


    As the petals of the red rose unfurled, they transformed into a flurry of sharp projectiles, launching toward Kain like a barrage of arrows. However, Aegis was already prepared. Aegis manipulated the stones on the stage, as well as those integrated into his own body, in order to produce a large shield covering both Kain and all the Vespids.


    The Dream Flower continued to scatter its white petals across the arena, further clouding Kain''s senses. He struggled to maintain focus, and the difficulty of remaining lucid increased with every passing moment.


    Kain could tell that if he had not been extremely resistant to mental attribute attacks due to the feedback from his contract with Bea, he may have already completely lost many of his senses.


    Thankfully, the Vespids also had an extremely high resistance to mental attribute attacks, while the only consciousness within Aegis to be impaired was located in a microscopic organism concealed and protected by several layers of rock.


    Neither of his contracts were particularly affected.


    The Vespid Sentinels launched their projectiles, the stingers slicing through the air with enhanced speed. The red rose responded by releasing more of the red petals, deflecting the incoming strikes. Kain saw Elysara''s confidence grow as her beasts seemed to thrive in the chaos, bolstered by the healing mist from the aqua rose.


    Not wanting to drag out the match for too long, and knowing that he wouldn''t need to fight again soon, Kain decided to reveal some of his methods to boost his contracts abilities.


    Using royal edict to boost her guards, and then instructing Queen to stand in the way of a deflected petal to trigger the berserk effect of the guards, they experienced a massive surge in strength.


    Elysara''s white rose flared, and the white petals formed swirling patterns that began to twist and twine around Kain and his creatures. "Entrap!" she commanded, and Kain felt the pressure of the petals constricting around him, further dampening his senses.


    "Aegis!" Kain shouted, urging his contract to reshape the ground again. Aegis responded by creating rocky protrusions, pushing against the constricting petals. With a massive effort, he reshaped the terrain to break free from the Dream Flower''s grasp. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, the now enhanced guards were attacking the aqua coloured rose. At the same time, to reduce its healing abilities, he instructed Eve, who was able to control the more powerful life-attribute compared to their plant-attribute, to impede its healing abilities to the best of her abilities��a strategy that Kain had been working on in the Training Arena for just such an opponent.


    Seeing the multitude of injuries appear on her contract, but the sudden inability to heal them, instantly made Kain''s opponent extremely flustered.


    At the same time Aegis unleashed a seismic shockwave that rippled through the ground, destabilizing the battlefield and disorienting Elysara''s creatures. The red rose faltered for a moment, and Kain was aiming to seize such an opportunity.


    Unfortunately, not everything could go according to his carefully laid out plans. She wasn''t a specially flagged opponent for no reason.

 Chapter 241: Chapter 241: Violent Ending

    Suddenly the originally white petals began to be stained black��almost as though they were being gradually dyed with ink.


    At the same time Kain began to gradually lose all feeling from his limbs, a numbing sensation washing over him. He struggled to maintain his focus, each movement feeling like it was weighed down by an invisible force.


    Similarly, the feedback from his contracts also revealed that their bodies began to feel heavier, although the impact was not as great on them as it was on Kain.


    It was disconcerting; he could sense the drain of their spiritual power and health with each passing moment. Although the speed of the drainage wasn''t rapid. If given enough time it''d surely have a decisive impact on the outcome of the match.


    The energy being siphoned from their bodies was being diverted to the previously gravely injured aqua-coloured rose. Within moments, the pesky opponent that Kain though he''d finally managed to get rid of was almost fully healed.


    Kain could see a vine with rose thorns covering it, attached to the aqua-coloured rose and assumed that it was responsible for signifying the target of where the energy should go. S~ea??h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since their intelligence was greatly reduced, Kain had Queen continuously launch a rejuvenating wind to ensure that the negative skill effect of reduced intelligence after going berserk would not have as much of an impact and so that they could accurately follow his instructions.


    He instructed the Vespid Guards to attack the vine, and although hardy, with all of the boosts being provided to them it was still eventually cut through by them.


    Unfortunately, by that point, much of Kain''s efforts to injure his opponent had been reversed. The aqua-coloured rose, which had seemed on the brink of collapse, now stood defiantly, its petals shimmering with renewed life.


    Thankfully, a couple of ejected stingers from their previous attacks, remained lodged in his opponent, and with their new effect of slowly absorbing energy from their targets, the aqua-coloured rose was incapable of completely healing. Surprisingly, his opponent didn''t seem to have noticed this problem yet, possibly because the time they''d been lodged inside of the rose hadn''t been for very long.


    Moreover, as long as Eve continued disrupting its ability to heal, the stingers would eventually be able to finish off the job. He only needs to bide for time now to finish off one of his opponents.


    He only needed to bide his time now to finish off one of his opponents.


    At the same time he had Aegis produce a container only slightly larger than the aqua-coloured rose around it by manipulating the earth.


    Although doing so could not prevent the control and release of the healing mist, it had the benefit of preventing its allies from helping to remove the stingers.


    Also, whatever skill resulted in the petals turning black, didn''t seem to be easily re-launched and the Dream Flower seemed to have a slightly more wilted appearance, as though exhausted from the use of the skill.


    Likely suspecting Kain''s new target, the red rose flared up, creating a barrier of sharp petals that swirled around itself and its allies.


    Forming a shield, Kain decided to have Aegis breakthrough with force.


    Marching towards the enemy, and serving as a shield for the guards following closely behind him, soon Aegis'' massive figure was right in front of the enemy.


    However, instead of attacking the enemy immediately, Kain''s next actions surprised the audience.


    The guards following closely behind actually launched their stingers into the right arm of the massive golem. Thankfully, Aegis had no sense of pain, otherwise it''d be an extremely torturous experience.


    Aegis transformed his right arm into a massive club that incorporated the embedded stingers. However, now the stingers were now having their sharp points facing outward, rather than into Aegis'' rocky exterior.


    The result was a spiked club that had become one of Kain''s favourite transformations for Aegis developed during training. Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelFire.net


    The reason Kain chose such a roundabout method of producing this weapon was because he realized during the training that while producing large and crude objects was easy for Aegis, finer details like decoration or adding many sharp points, like now, was not easy for him��draining an excessive amount of energy and time.


    Additionally, the club made with the help of the Vespirae also had the effect of siphoning off energy from any creature hit with it.


    Moving from behind the massive shield temporarily created from stone, Aegis began a crazy bashing spree.


    Watching Aegis, Kain couldn''t help making the slightly disturbing yet amusing connection to the wack-a-mole game back on Earth, alternating back and forth between both the red and white flowers.


    At the same time, the guards also provided support and launched attacks.


    Since the aqua-coloured rose''s healing abilities were reduced, and much of its energy was being siphoned off, the healing buffs applied to its allies were greatly reduced.


    Several women in the crowd couldn''t help but wince at the eventual scene that looked as though a car had run over a beautiful bouquet of roses.


    The previously floating petals began to sink to the ground like black snow.


    The delicate structure of the Dream Flower lay shattered, its stem bent at various unnatural angles, fraying where it had once stood proud.


    The once-lush petals, vibrant and inviting, were now a tragic mosaic of crushed black remnants, scattered across the arena floor.


    The red rose, once fierce and unyielding, now lay crumpled, its petals torn and jagged, like broken glass.


    The previously threatening dagger-like petals had their sharp edges dulled by the violence of the encounter.


    The aqua-coloured rose, which was fortunate to not be brutally bashed in, had also finally had the rest of its energy sucked out. It appeared forlorn, its petals wilted and drooping under the weight of its defeat.


    The usual cheers at the end of a match were a beat slow. Not because they were disappointed by it. Definitely not, this battle was more intense than majority of the previous matches and both contestants had shown a riveting array of skills.


    It was because, while they''d expected the ultimate winner of the match, absolutely nobody expected for it to end so violently��

 Chapter 242: Chapter 242: Top 8

    After Kain successfully won the 1-on-1 match, the 3-vs-3 match also ended in victory. Considering that none of Elysara''s were at their peak condition, and she was the strongest first-year attending Lunaris Vale, the trio of Soren, Kairos, and Ranya had an. Easier time at achieving victory.


    After this round of matches there were now 15 teams remaining. However, in order to even out the numbers, more precisely rank the eliminated participants in the top 30, and allow any wrongfully eliminated teams a chance to return, a day of rest was provided to Kain and the others already moving onto the next round, while matches were being conducted among those just eliminated.


    However, this time only the single top team from those eliminated will have be able to continue on. And as expected the team to win that opportunity was Lunaris Vale, who was the highest ranking team among those eliminated.


    As a result, there were now 16 teams. However, after the decrease in the number of teams, the rules of the competition also changed slightly.


    Ultimately, the final winner of the National Tournament is determined by how many points each team is able to obtain.


    Points are awarded based on the final ranking within each year level, therefore it is possible for one school to have the top ranked team among first years, yet have a team from another year ranked only in the top 16.


    A maximum of 100 points each for first place among the first years, second years, and so on is awarded. With second place receiving 90, third place 80, fourth place 70, fifth place 60, sixth place 50, seventh place 40, eight place 30, and those stopping at ranks 9-16, receiving between 10 and 20 points.


    Therefore, if a school obtains first place across all year levels they could theoretically obtain 400 points. However, such a feat, even despite the consistent streak of First Celestial Academy in obtaining first place overall, is still uncommon.


    Typically, even First Celestial only achieves first place in 2 to 3 year levels, and second the others. However, they also typically achieve first place in the second phase of the competition in order to safely secure their top ranking.


    Since the points come into play starting only from the top 16, it is at this point that the progression of each year level in the tournament may differ.


    As a result, the opponents drawn for each year level also differs. If the first-year team wins for a school, they will advance, while if the second-years do not win, then they will not.


    Thankfully, there are still some protection measures in place to ensure no two colleges among the top 5 have to face each other so early, and all of the opponents for each respective year for Dark Moon were not too challenging.


    The first, second, third, and fourth years unsurprisingly all managed to win their matches and advance to the top 8.


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    Within the top 8, to get a more precise ranking the rules of the tournament has now shifted to a round-robin format, in which all teams within the top 8 will face one another, with each team having to compete in a match each day. S~ea??h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Due to the results of each year level being considered separately within the previous round, the top 8 for each year were slightly different. However, there was one consistency no matter the year-level��all top 5 colleges were within the top 8 for each year.


    After being previously eliminated by Kain and the others, the first-years of Lunaris Vale Academy managed to reach the top 8. Lunaris Vale was also within the top 8 for the second-years.


    The other two colleges within the top 8 were Starlight College, from the Southern region and Nebula Taming Academy in the Western region.


    Since all colleges would have to face each other regardless, there were no longer any measures in place to prevent the top colleges from drawing one another.


    However, nobody wanted to face a strong school for their first match, or even a couple of matches, if possible. Not because they were intimidated. After all, any student capable of representing their school up to this point would not easily back down from facing off against their peers.


    Rather, nobody would want a particularly tough first draw in order to conceal as many of their cards as possible for as long as possible.


    Since each year is now drawn independently, 4 draws must be held for each year level.


    Starting with the first years, they all watched in nervous anticipation as the host suddenly called out the first team drawn.


    "Supernova College!" Immediately a large cheer erupted from the audience, after all Supernova had the second highest number of supporters in the audience. Additionally, many were also just happy that a big name was drawn first.


    The host reached in to draw Supernova''s opponent for the next round and after looking at what was written had inscrutable expression appear on his face.


    "Dark Moon College!" Many supporters of Supernova that were previously cheering had their voices catch in their throats as they were choked by a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and unhappiness.


    Supernova is known for its bloodthirsty fearlessness, but that doesn''t mean that they wanted the team they support to partake in such a difficult match so soon!


    However, while many in the crowd were supporters of Supernova, the majority of them were either fans of another team or nobody in particular. Therefore, after a brief shocked silence, even more loud cheers were heard at the thought that the first match of the round would be such a high-end match-up.


    Although, slightly disappointed Kain and the others refocused as they prepared to study the information about their next opponents, they still had the utmost confidence in beating their opponents.


    At the same time, many of Supernova''s first-years also took on a more serious attitude as they knew they were in for a tough battle ahead. Everyone, that is, except for a young man with red hair and eyes that looked at the two college names displayed on the screen with a cocky smirk on his face.

 Chapter 243: Chapter 243: The Reputation of the Blood-Attribute

    In their upcoming battle against Supernova, Kain and the others were surprised by the profile of one first-year that looked suspiciously like Alexei and Dmitri, aside from his dark red hair. In particular, all three of them have the same identical red eyes��Nikolai Sanguine.


    Like Dmitri and Nikolai he is form the Sanguine family and, like pretty much everyone else in that family, someone with an attribute related to blood-type spiritual creatures.


    Kain and the others would probably be interrogating their seniors for information about this cousin, if each year level were not separated for targeted debriefings since each of them has a different school as their opponent and their performances are now evaluated separately.


    Nikolai was highly suspected to be the representative for the 1-vs-1. Unfortunately, he''d only participated in one match, and for that match he had won with summoning 2 contracts.


    Therefore the identity of his third contract was not 100% certain, and even based on the information collected prior to the actual tournament from informants and scouts the details about the third contract were still unclear. S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Likely even during competitions within his own college he''d been on guard enough to reveal many of the skills and abilities of this third contract to the public.


    ''Unfortunately, I didn''t get that opportunity with dozens of articles publicizing what was known about my contracts being plastered everywhere,'' Kain thought in irritation.


    "The two confirmed contracts are both of dual blood-attributes. The Crimson Wraith has both dark and blood-attributes."


    What appeared on the screen was a shadowy figure that was difficult to focus on. Crimson Wraiths were an extremely rare species, but one that Kain had learned about. It feeds on the life force of its enemies, and it is said that it leaves behind a chilling aura and drains vitality with each touch. Its presence is also apparent by a dark, blood-red mist that obscures the surroundings.


    Kain flipped through the sheets for as much detailed information as possible, as well as brief descriptions of the skills that it has revealed so far.


    "The second contract is the Sanguis Snake with dual blood and poison attributes." It was a long, sinuous serpent with scales that resembled flowing blood. It was able to can siphon life energy from its surroundings, healing itself while weakening its foes.


    It can emit a toxic blood mist when threatened and has the terrifying ability to manipulate the blood inside of any target that it successfully bites.


    "The final contract hasn''t been revealed during the tournament yet, but although they themselves weren''t fully clear on the details, you can thank your seniors for providing what they knew about their cousin as well as a picture."


    The picture of the third contract was obviously secretly taken, and not of the best quality. The third contract, according to the information provided, is a blood and fire dual attribute spiritual creature that had a fierce and imposing appearance.


    It appeared similar in appearance to a wolf, but was several times a wolf''s size and with a more muscular build. Its fur is a deep, rich red, resembling blood, with flickering flames visible occasionally between strands of fur. The hound''s eyes glowed like burning embers, exuding an intense, fiery gaze that seems to pierce through screen at Kain and the others.


    "Now to decide who would be competing first��since our opponent''s contracts all have the blood-attribute, in order to limit its abilities, we decided that it''s be better for those with contracts without blood to take the stage."


    At those words Soren immediately slumped in his seat, knowing that his dragons obviously did not fall into the category. However, the reasoning was sound so he didn''t protest.


    Serena has revealed 2 contracts so far, both of which are energy based spiritual creatures without blood��one made up of the four primary elements, and the other of star attribute energy.


    Similarly, of Kain''s 3 contracts, neither Bea nor Aegis have any blood to be manipulated in case the enemy had any skills with such effects.


    The Vespirae guards do, but there were so many of them, and since they are not Kain''s primary contract, any losses to them were only temporary and not too damaging to Kain. He would just need to protect Queen, who is the direct host of his actual contract�� and himself. Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelFire.net


    Unfortunately, blood-attribute beast-tamers do have an unpleasant reputation of attacking the beast-tamer directly. There are no rules in the tournament to not directly attack the beast-tamer, and the beast-tamers can participate in the battle directly themselves.


    But unless they have a gift, most would not choose to arm themselves and participate directly. And as long as the beast-tamer doesn''t take the initiative to participate, there is an unwritten rule and tacit understanding among participants to not attack them.


    After all, humans are much more squishy than spiritual creatures, and an attack that may just push a spiritual creature back, may end up shattering all of the bones in a human''s body unless that have a gift or powerful defensive spiritual skill.


    Since this is just a competition and they are all loyal citizens to the same country, most participants have been abiding by this rule.


    However, blood-attribute beast-tamers have a tendency to ignore this unwritten rule��


    Of course, they usually prioritize attacking the spiritual creature who is more threatening��but if none of the opposing contracts have any blood, while most of their attacks rely some degree on their effects on and manipulation of blood, then they may switch their target to the squishy beast-tamer who can definitely bleed.


    According to the report, Nikolai also has a habit of capturing the king to force the surrounding knights to surrender.


    In preparation for such opponents, the college did bring enchanted equipment that can combat the effects of such attacks, but there is no guarantee that such defensive measures will completely eliminate the threat, especially not since the equipment Kain was permitted to use within the competition was limited to his level��3-stars.


    Therefore, whether it was Serena or Kain, since both of them have contracts without blood, more than any other battle this will probably be the one in which they would need to watch out for their own safety rather than their contracts.

 Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Kain Vs Nikolai

    It was eventually decided Kain would be the one to partake in the 1-vs-1 match.


    Firstly, because he''s already appeared and therefore they don''t have to reveal Serena''s abilities too soon.


    Secondly, because Kain was really interested in the opponent whose contracts all had an extremely rare attribute and who was related to two of his seniors. Therefore, while Kain expressed a desire to compete against Nikolai��


    "I don''t care." Serena said with cold expression before turning away when asked.


    Therefore, it was unanimously decided that Kain was their representative for the first match.


    Walking towards the stage, while Kain wasn''t expecting a warm greeting from his opponent, he also wasn''t expecting his face to reveal open disdain.


    "��"


    ''What the heck is up with him?! Did I piss in your cereal bowl?''


    However, based on the attitude of his opponent, Kain had an unsettling feeling that he''d probably have to protect his own safety even more than he''d expected.


    Thankfully, the college also temporarily lent Kain some enchanted pieces of equipment targeted at defending against the blood-attribute.


    Therefore, in addition to his normal set of light armor and spear (which he''d never had to use yet, but kept on hand in case of unexpected attacks). Kain had a single earring resembling a red crystal dangling from one of his ears. This earring has no other purpose but to resist the invasion of blood-attribute energy.


    Unfortunately, it was the only piece of equipment prepared specifically targeted against the blood attribute, therefore Kain was also sporting a necklace which slightly increased defence against attacks from all attributes, although its effects against each single attribute was not outstanding.


    Kain could also see several pieces of equipment on Nikolai that was not there previously and, sensing the energy coming off of them, they all seemed to possess the mental attribute��likely a defensive measure against Bea.


    It seems that despite his attempts to not expose Bea''s presence as much as possible during the tournament, similar to how Dark Moon was still able to obtain information about Nikolai''s concealed third contract, Supernova still knew about Bea and, it appeared, found her to be the greatest threat.


    Standing calmly across from his opponent who only smirked arrogantly at Kain after receiving a nod in greeting, he also resolved to no longer hold anything back.


    If Nikolai actually decided to attack Kain directly��well, he''d already advised Bea to repay him in kind.


    When the match started both of them summoned all 3 of their contracts for the first time in this tournament. Immediately cheers erupted in the crowd at the reveal of a new spiritual creature from Nikolai��although Kain''s also summoned all of his contracts, but unfortunately nobody paid any attention to the invisible Bea.


    As expected, there was the Crimson Wraith, looming like a living shadow, its form shifting and undulating as if composed of pure darkness. Clad in tattered, billowing robes that seem to absorb light, it drifted silently. At its appearance crimson mist began to spiral into the air like wisps of smoke.


    Its face is a haunting mask, devoid of features except for glowing blood red eyes that burn with an otherworldly fury, piercing through the mist. Sharp, jagged tendrils blood red tendrils extend from its body, reminiscent of clawed hands. And as the mist continued to spread, a thick iron-like smell of blood began to permeate the entire arena.


    Even those in the rows far back and away from the stage had their faces shift slightly in discomfort at the smell.


    Unfortunately, since the smell is not tied to any kind of attack or poison, the wards around the stage did not activate and did nothing to prevent the smell from spreading to the stands.


    Next to the wraith was a striking and terrifying creature, its long, sinuous body coiled and ready to strike at a moments notice. Its scales shimmer with a deep, crimson hue, reminiscent of freshly spilled blood, creating a mesmerizing effect as they catch the light.


    Each scale appeared to ripple and flow, giving the entire body of the snake a pulsing effect that more closely resembled vein or artery of blood, rather than a separate living creature, if one did not look at its head.


    The snake''s eyes were a piercing shade of yellow, reflecting a predatory intelligence. A faint, eerie mist emanated from its mouth even without its conscious effort.


    Different from the wraith''s mist that had more of a concealment effect, Kain knew from the intelligence provided by the school that this mist was toxic, thankfully, it was also not capable of spreading too far before sinking to the ground uselessly. It''d have to exert a great deal of effort and spiritual power to send the mist all the way from its current position to Kain.


    However, since the purpose of the mist is to absorb energy and return it to the snake, and both parties must remain in the mist for the energy exchange to happen, Kain knew that it''s be useless for it to even attempt sending the mist over to him. It''s energy draining properties would be reduced, and unless the snake is also close by within it, then the energy would not go to it.


    Finally, the cause for the cheers, was the massive wolf-like creature that reminded Kain of a hell hound, and was radiating primal ferocity.


    Its deep red fur, reminiscent of freshly spilled blood, danced with flickering flames that peek through the coarse strands, giving it a hellish, living glow. The hound''s eyes burn like molten coals, glowing with a malevolent intensity that seems to bore into the souls of onlookers. S~ea??h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As it moves, an unsettling heat radiates from its body, warping the air around it and leaving a faint trail of ash where it stepped.


    Kain was thankful for the mist emitted by the opponent, since it concealed the twisted expression of glee on his face as he looked at the terrifying, and not particularly aesthetically pleasing opponents.


    He hadn''t realized that the mist emitted by the opponent was so widespread since in its single previous match it hadn''t bothered to increase the spread before the opponent was defeated within seconds. Now Kain was thinking about if he should try his old strategy��


    As the match started, Kain could immediately sense, that as expected, they were targeting the Vespid guards. While normally, their numerical advantage is great, when faced against those of the blood attribute, it may result in their being mere blood packs.


    However, Kain wasn''t planning to have them be primarily responsible for the victory and defeat of this battle, their primary role was to serve as a distraction.


    The Vespids attacked from a distance and made sure to keep their distance from the enemy, particularly the snake.


    At the same time Aegis continuously disrupted the landscape to ensure that none of them could get too close.


    Suddenly, Kain received feedback that one of the guards felt an intense burst of energy trying to enter its body, thankfully, the enhancements provided to it from birth by Eve, seemed to make it resistant to such invasions.


    Noticing this however, the wraith suddenly appeared next to one of the guards and swiped down to leave a massive wound, but left quickly before the over a dozen other guards could concentrate firepower on it.


    ''Is the mist only for concealment? Or is it able to teleport within it?'' Kain suddenly raised his guard against an enemy that may appear next to him.


    But suddenly his attention was drawn to an inhuman screech of pain that emitted from the guard that was just injured. Considering their typical fearless behaviour, he''d honestly never thought that they could feel pain. Or if they could, that it was greatly dulled.


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    However, the pain was so great that it was even able to transmit through the tertiary contract to the now trembling Queen, to Eve, and then to Kain��

 Chapter 245: Chapter 245: Kain vs Nikolai (2)

    Thankfully, the pain, while extremely intense for the Vespid guard, was at a level that could be ignored by Kain and Queen, feeling similar in strength to a stomach cramp but throughout his entire body.


    Although the persistent pain did still serve as a distraction to him��


    He could sense through the contract, that the guard''s connection with Queen was fading. Clearly, whatever this pain was, it was killing the guard and no amount of healing skills or life-attribute energy was preventing the gradual approach to its doom, at most it was just fruitlessly extending its suffering. Therefore, Kain ordered for no more life attribute energy to be sent out.


    Once the guard dies, at least Kain would no longer have to deal with the pain.


    Meanwhile, Bea released many threads and sent them towards his opponents. However, already aware that contact with the threads would result in the triggering of a mental attribute skill, all of the opponents dodged successfully.


    Even when surrounded by dozens of threads each, none managed to touch their opponent. Many of Kain''s supporters were disappointed by the seemingly clumsy use of the threads.


    "Argh! Is he even trying?! How could he not manage to corner a single one?" One of Kain''s fans couldn''t help shouting out in irritation and worry.


    Seeing this, Nikolai''s arrogant demeanor grew, but if he could also witness Kain''s face through the mist, he''d see that Kain didn''t appear upset at all.


    In fact, Kain was purposely ensuring the threads were easier to dodge than usual, as they moved in a clumsy and lumbering way.


    If any of the threads actually touched one of the opponents, probably everyone watching, as well as the opponent, would be shocked to realize that absolutely nothing would happen.


    Afterall, the threads are merely a vehicle to carry Bea''s splits to the target, they aren''t able to exert any effects over the mind on their own.


    Additionally, Bea''s microscopic body is still small and light enough to be suspended by the mist his opponent kept emanating. Only, after evolution the integration is not so seamless and, if on guard, the presence of something foreign within the mist would be detected, especially since it is controlled by the opponents. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Therefore, after the splits had long hitched a ride on the threads and been deposited in floating mist particles close to the opponents'' spiritual contracts, Kain used the more obvious threads as a distraction for them to focus on.


    Therefore, none of the opponents noticed that while preoccupied with moving around to dodge the approaching threads, their bodies had still managed to come into contact with Bea''s splits within the mist.


    Also, since Bea no longer needs to be inhaled or ingested, and can instead penetrate the body via brief physical contact, all of them had actually been successfully infected.


    Unfortunately, the blood-attribute is one of the attributes that is probably the best at withstanding the attacks of microorganisms. After all, microbes, including Bea''s split, if they must travel through the body, it will primarily be through the blood.


    However, their ability to restrict the advance of Bea''s splits through the body to the brain was more effective on some than on others.


    After a long while, not much impairment was seen in the hellhound, while the snake appeared very sluggish. The wraith hadn''t yet revealed any impairments, but from the feedback provided from Bea, she''d be able to begin exerting some control soon.


    Suddenly, a shiver crept down Kain''s spine as a he felt a malicious and predatory gaze focused on him.


    At the same time, his ear gradually heated as he felt the piece of enchanted equipment begin to heat up. Clearly Nikolai had begun to notice something was off and wanted to end this by dealing with Kain directly.


    However, the wraith and snake still had enough presence of mind to apply light injuries to many of the remaining Vespirae.


    And it was shortly after all of these wounds appeared that the familiar intense screeches of pain were heard.


    Seeing this, Kain made a realization while staring at the "hellhound" whose eyes were glowing red. Likely, the repelled energy at the start of the match was from the hellhound, seeing that Kain and the Vespirae were resistant to the energy''s penetration, Nikolai adopted the strategy of adding wounds to the guards so that their blood could be exposed and manipulated.


    Feedback from the contract that the most painful areas were those that already had wounds, even if those wounds were no more serious than a paper cut, also supported this.


    Unfortunately, he made this realization too late, and while the pain was greatly dampened by it being from a tertiary contract, when multiple guards were going through it at the same time, it caused Kain''s face to noticeably pale from the pain.


    Thankfully (?), with time the pain gradually began to diminish as a sense of emptiness replaced it with each guard''s death.


    Suddenly the mist surrounding the field retracted, giving Kain a clear view of his opponents. Thankfully, Bea''s splits had already hitched a ride into all of their bodies, therefore the mist wasn''t as important to him anymore.


    With the mist retracted Kain could see a cruel grin stretching across Nikolai''s face as he raised the dagger that had appeared in his hand at some point.


    ''I hadn''t heard that Nikolai likes to take part in the battle himself?'' Kain thought in confusion.


    However, Nikolai''s next actions surprised him even more. Instead of, going forward to attack with the dagger, Nikolai raised his hand and sliced down hard on his own leg��all while staring straight at Kain with a small smile. Nikolai didn''t have any reservations and was extremely cruel to himself with the amount of force used, causing a small fountain of blood to shoot out from his thigh.


    "Argh!" The audience was surprised to find that the scream of pain that should have been coming from Nikolai, was released from Kain.


    Everyone, including Kain himself, looked at Kain''s thigh in surprise to find a bloody wound identical to the one that Nikolai had made on himself.


    "Brother really dares to do it��" A girl in the stands with red eyes and hair said with a frown on her face. Indeed, this young girl was another member of the Sanguine Clan, and Nikolai''s younger sister. Although based on the expression of disgust and disappointment on her face as she looked at her brother, they were seemingly not on the best of terms.


    She then looked at Kain who was still bleeding and in shock, although Eve was working to close the wound.


    "It''s already too late," she said before closing her eyes in resignation at the gruesome spectacle that would soon occur. Stay updated with mvl


    As is the case in most major families, there is always conflict and competition for resources and power amongst the branches. Therefore, Dmitri and Alexei, as mere cousins, naturally would not know too much information about Nikolai from another branch. However, as Nikolai''s own sister, how could she not have a better understanding of her brother''s abilities?


    The cut on Kain''s thigh was for no other purpose than to expose his blood to be manipulated by her brother''s contract��the Blood Flame Hound.


    When burned by this "blood flame", they would naturally lose the ability to heal themselves and will continue to hurt deep into their soul. As long as the Blood Flame Hound is still conscious, it will not stop.


    Since there is a deep connection between the blood and the soul for most creatures, this special flame can indeed cause irreparable damage to one''s soul.


    For weaker opponents the hound could directly set their blood on fire from within their bodies, however, when the opponents were stronger, naturally resistant to the penetration of blood-attribute spiritual power or were armed with enchanted equipment, then her brother must resort to causing a wound that exposes the blood.


    Unfortunately, her brother''s gift also happened to take care of that issue. His gift allowed him to transfer any physical injuries he obtained to a target within his eyesight. Truly an incredibly suitable gift for him��


    Right when Nikolai''s sister began to sigh in resignation, the Blood Flame Hound''s eyes also began to glow while staring sinisterly at the blood leaking from Kain''s thigh.


    Kain''s instincts also began to scream at him that something was terribly wrong.


    Slowly a blooming blood-red colour flame began to appear within his wound, deep within so that it was unnoticeable to everyone except Kain himself. Which is probably why he didn''t witness the flames previously attacking his contracts.


    Knowing that soon he may not have the presence of mind to give instructions during the battle, he decisively activated his spiritual skill 3 times, using up all of the energy stored within his equipment, to provide boosts to all 3 of his contracts.


    Leaving them with brief instructions, it wasn''t long before he could no longer think about the current battle with his mind consumed by pain.


    However, it was not the pain of flesh and blood, but rather the soul. He could feel the fatal threat!

 Chapter 246: Chapter 246: End of Match Against Supernova (2 in 1)

    Kain felt like he was experiencing an unprecedented trial, and his soul was being ruthlessly burned by the blood-red flames.


    However, before Kain could start screaming, writhing in pain, or some other action that would end up embarrassing him for a long time, Aegis acted in accordance with one of the few brief instructions Kain had managed to give before the pain overtook him.


    Four walls sprang up from the stage in order to conceal Kain''s appearance from the crowd. After all, who knows how the human body would react when experiencing extreme pain? What if he cried, peed himself, or did something else that he''d find embarrassing? Those images would be broadcast and preserved online for everyone to see forever.


    Thankfully, in Kain''s last desperate act he had managed to provide boosts to all of his contracts to strengthen their abilities.


    Therefore, Bea managed to finally start to make some rapid progress in being able to control his opponents. Thankfully, after breaking through the mental guards of her enemies, the minds of the serpent and wraith experienced a drastic change. No more would Kain have to worry about them causing injuries that the Blood Flame Hound could take advantage of.


    Bea began to read and manipulate their mindshards, and finally learned the identity of the third contract, as well as details about Nikolai''s gift.


    From the information, she knew that the pain being caused to Kain would only stop if he died or the hound was knocked unconscious.


    Rearranging the mindshards of the serpent and wraith with careful precision, she instilled a certainty within them: the beast-tamer they should listen to was Kain��or, in his absence, herself, whose intelligence had sharpened with every spiritual creature she had killed. And their greatest sense of loyalty should therefore lie with their side.


    Likely sensing that something was wrong with his contracts and seeing that they were no longer fighting Kain''s contracts, Nikolai''s venomous gaze shifted from the walls concealing Kain to the guards. Just because the serpent and wraith were no longer producing wounds, that didn''t mean that he had no way of inflicting injuries that the Blood Flame Hound could exploit.


    Nikolai began to continuously inflict wounds on himself, all the while shifting his gaze between different targets, that became incapacitated not long after due to the blood flames.


    Aegis reacted quickly, and knowing that the gift was dependent on sight, formed a wall in front of Nikolai to block his view of the match. Now both beast-tamers within this match were secluded in "cages" made of stone and not visible to the audience.


    Although, Aegis acted fast, 3 more guards had been take down, leaving only 9 intact on the stage. Never had Kain had to suffer through losing so many at once against a single enemy.


    With her mental hold tightening, Bea directed both the serpent and the wraith to turn their attention to the hellhound, who no longer had its master''s support and was still resisting her influence.


    The remaining Vespid guards encircled it as well, ready to take action. Their stingers, imbued with the ability to drain energy, glinted ominously in the light.


    As the serpent lashed out, its scales glinting like rubies, and the wraith surged forward, cloaked in a shadow mist-like veil of concealment, the Blood Flame Hound faltered. After all, until seconds ago these were its allies. However, very soon it began to attack them back as well. But it was definitely much more restrained than when it faced Kain and the others.


    In support of their new "allies" the Vespid guards, boosted by Queen, also launched strengthened attacks at the hound, to which it retaliated more fiercely.


    However, this time not much of an effect was seen on the remaining guards since they had no injuries to exploit.


    Although the Blood Flame Hound came out relatively unscathed, a couple of stingers from the guards and a shallow toxic bite from its former serpentine ally managed to land. S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The lodged stingers began to steadily drain its energy.


    Additionally, the bite from the Sanguis Snake had an effect that usually allowed it to exert control over the victims'' blood.


    While, as a blood-attribute spiritual creature itself even stronger than the snake, complete control of the Dark Flame Hound''s blood was impossible, the snake was still able to exert enough control to decrease its ability to resist the advancement of Bea''s splits to its mind.


    Bea, seeing its momentary wekness ,pushed her influence further, weaving through the hellhound''s thoughts. She focused on its primal instincts, drawing out fear and confusion, heightening the internal struggle within the creature.


    All the while, she continued to urge her allies to attack. More wounds began to appear on its body as it struggled to fend off multiple enemies and had its energy continuously drained by the stingers of the guards, and the abilities of its former allies who both had energy draining ability.


    In a final, desperate attempt, the hellhound bared its teeth, a low growl rumbling in its throat. But Bea was ready; she pushed her influence one last time, commanding the serpent and wraith to strike with all their might.


    Then finally, with an anguished howl, the hellhound collapsed under the onslaught, its flames extinguishing as its body succumbed to exhaustion.


    Kain felt the pain begin to ebb, the oppressive weight of the blood-red flames lifting, and he knew that they had won.


    Aegis removed the walls surrounding Kain and Nikolai to reveal Nikolai, whose expression was twisted into a mask of disbelief and frustration. His brows furrowed deeply, and his eyes, usually sharp and confident, now widened in shock.


    The corners of his mouth, previously always upturned in an arrogant smirk, were turned down, revealing a mix of anger and humiliation. A flush crept up his cheeks, betraying his attempts to maintain composure.


    He clenched his jaw, fists tightening at his sides, as if trying to hold onto the last remnants of his shattered pride.


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    Meanwhile, despite being the victor, the state of Kain definitely looked a lot poorer.


    Kain emerged from cage surrounding him looking hauntingly worn yet fiercely resilient. His face was etched with pain, the usually tan skin now pale and clammy, with beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.


    Dark shadows underlined his eyes, a testament to the torment he had endured, while bloody teeth marks marred the back of his hand, a testament to his attempt to silence his screams by biting his own hand. After all, while the walls Aegis produced could conceal Kain''s figure, they couldn''t silence his screams of torment.


    Knowing that the members of the orphanage would definitely be watching, there was absolutely no way that he''d allow even a whimper to of pain to escape his body, in case he worried them or even traumatized his youngest siblings.


    However, despite his current dishevelled appearance, there was a fierce light in his gaze��a steely determination that shone through the exhaustion��he had won!


    --------------------


    After the 3-vs-3, which Dark Moon also won, the first-years managed to secure their first victory. The audience was surprised by the result of the first match up between two members of the top 5 colleges. It was rare for matches between the top 5 to end by the 3-vs-3 matches, and typically they would have to go into the tiebreaking 5-vs-5 matches.


    The second-years were even more unlucky than the first-years, and had also managed to draw an opponent within the top. Even worse it was the top ranked First Celestial Academy. Unfortunately, while they had put up a good fight and managed to defeat First Celestial in the 3-vs-3 battle, they''d still narrowly lost the other two matches.


    The third and fourth years had much better luck than their juniors, both drawing opponents outside of the top 5, both easily securing victory for the first round.


    Their opponents for the next round of the top 8 was thankfully not within the top 5 colleges��Starlight College. Neither Kain nor Serena even needed to step forward and partake in the match.


    This time the luck of each year was reversed. The second years also drew a team from outside of the top 5, and won. Meanwhile, the third years drew Starfire College. After a bitter match, one that was probably the longest since the tournament had started, Dark Moon managed to secure the victory.


    The fourth years also drew a top 5 college, Frozen Sun, and managed to secure the victory with a narrow victory of 2 wins to 1 loss. However, it seems as though the fourth years are concealing much of Captain Ezra''s strength for the match against First Celestial, and the second stage of the competition in which the top 5 students, regardless of year, compete.


    Afterall, the first place reward for the second phase of the tournament was 200 points, therefore, if they want to secure the highest possible overall ranking, they couldn''t abandon it. Therefore, up to this point in the tournament, Ezra had not played a single match. Pretty much all of the more challenging opponents had instead been dealt with by Vice Captain Ravi.


    For the third match, the first-years once again drew an opponent within the top 5��Starfire college, the representative of Kain''s home region.


    Considering, that the opponent was likely to be Jacob and his Firescourge Scorpion, and that Kain''s contracts had not fully recovered from the intense battle against Nikolai, it was decided that Serena would be responsible for dealing with him.


    Kain didn''t disagree with this decision. After evolution, the time it took for each guard to hatch had greatly shortened, therefore he may have majority of their numbers restored before the last match within the top 8, but before then he''d prefer to not to have to decrease their numbers any more.


    And since the Firescourge Scorpion was such a devastating opponent Kain was certain that if he were to fight, he may not leave with any of the Vespirae guards remaining.


    Today they were arranged to be the last match of the day. However, since Kain wasn''t slated to participate unless they lost both matches, he didn''t particularly care about the timing of the battle.


    Instead he leisurely enjoyed the other matches and made note of any particularly powerful future opponents.


    In particular, he paid attention to the high-end match between the current first and second placed schools��First Celestial and Supernova.


    First Celestial won, but Kain wasn''t sure if it was because of the amount of energy and skills revealed yesterday in their match against Dark Moon, or if there was really so big a difference in strength, but First Celestial won a lot easier than Kain and majority of the audience had expected.


    Moreover, they''d managed to win without revealing too much of their strength, which was even more annoying.


    Kain also made note of Frozen Sun, who seemed to have invested greatly in their younger generation in order to increase their ranking this year. While the third and fourth year teams didn''t appear particularly noteworthy, both the first and second year teams were on a winning streak and managed to suffer no losses yet.


    Impressively the second years at Frozen Sun managed to defeat Dark Moon today, meanwhile the first years at Frozen Sun had achieved victory over Starfire College previously, only losing the 1-vs-1 match against Jacob, but showing the effect of 1 + 1 being greater than 2 for both team matches.


    Although no single student appeared threatening to Kain individually, the teamwork and synergy of skills displayed made them among the biggest threats in the team competitions.

 Chapter 247: Chapter 247: Starfire College

    Finally, it was time for their turn to take the stage.Kain once against lounged against the side of the stage leisurely, he lacked any tension since he knew that the only chance of him being able to make an appearance was if they needed to proceed to the final 5-vs-5 match.


    However, despite Kain''s appearance at the side of the stage, for once none of the cameras and attention was actually on him.


    As Serena made her appearance, and her face was displayed on the screen. There was a brief period of stunned silence before the audience got noticeably louder and broke out into conversation.


    Even her opponent, Jacob, had a stunned expression on his face as he stared at her. Despite his deep bronze skin tone, a noticeable blush crept up from his neck and managed to cover his entire face.


    Thankfully, due to the hue of his skin it wasn''t too noticeable, and the slightly red undertone that was suddenly added to his skin could be played off as just nerves before the battle��


    That is if he wasn''t also sporting a lovestruck expression with wide, sparkling eyes lit up with admiration, his mouth parted into a soft smile, and a slightly bashful look in his eyes��


    "Ugh!" Kain couldn''t help grimacing in disgust. From Soren to now this guy, Kain was beginning to feel extremely irritated by the constant string of admirers following in her wake.


    Of course, the irritation is completely because all of these men are making their gender look bad��There wasn''t any other reason. Why can''t they be as steady and completely unmoved by looks as him?


    Brushing aside such irrelevant thoughts as well as suppressing the irritation that kept flaring up whenever he looked at Jacob''s stupid face, Kain refocused on their match.


    The loud discussions about Serena came to an abrupt halt after the appearance of the massive Firescourge Scorpion, which appeared like a living embodiment of nightmares.


    Its carapace shimmered in shades of red and black, like molten lava caught in a slow, furious boil. The heat radiating from its massive pincers shimmered in the air, creating visible distortions, as if reality itself warped around the creature.


    Each step it took sent ripples through the arena floor, and many in the front row began trembling in fear, despite the knowledge about the wards in place around the stage.


    The scorpion''s tail arched high above its back, poised like a deadly weapon, the stinger glistening with a menacing sheen. The predator assessed Serena who was completely dwarfed by its size, unlike its contractor it had no tender feelings towards the human girl.


    In the hushed crowd, the occasional commentary from more knowledgeable viewers about the foreign creature was noticeable. Whispers of its infamous reputation spread like wildfire among the spectators��stories of its venomous sting that could corrode flesh and armor alike.


    As it moved forward, the arena seemed to shrink under its presence, the atmosphere thick with the promise of danger. However, Serena didn''t seem the least bit intimidated by its appearance. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain had originally expected her to summon the Elemental Guardian, however during the debriefing yesterday it was concluded that the extremely tough exoskeleton of the scorpion would make it difficult for it to play a role.


    Not to mention, the poor climate and environmental conditions in the far south are much harsher than within the empire, therefore most spiritual creatures native to the south of the empire have an innate passive resistance against the primary elements of fire, water, earth, and wind.


    Therefore, Kain knew that she''d only be summoning one spiritual creature today, since there was no purpose in revealing a contract that couldn''t play a decisive role in this battle.


    However, Kain knew that she didn''t just have 2 contracts to choose from. Kain had managed to confirm the existence of Serena''s third spiritual creature based on things he''d overheard from the staff a while ago and, interestingly, that the contract that nobody had ever seen was technically her initial contract��not the Elemental Guardian like he''d always assumed.


    However, for some strange reason, Serena was resolute in her determination to never summon her initial contract. Even during the strategy meeting prior to today''s match, she''d explicitly stated that her only two spiritual creatures available for use in the competition were the two that she''d revealed during the re-ranking.


    Therefore, Serena summoned the only other spiritual creature he''d seen from her��her star-attribute contract. Although he never learned its name from her, thankfully after facing Serena for the first time, the name of it appeared within the System''s Training Arena as it became selectable as a potential opponent.


    He''d also fought against it many times in the Training Arena, in his preparations to finally defeat her.


    The System had called it a Starweaver. And based on those simulations Kain was able to tell that during that very first match against her, it''d only revealed a fraction of its true abilities.


    The variety of skills it had was also annoyingly broad and flexible in their ways of usage. Even after facing it multiple times in reality and within the simulator, Kain still wasn''t sure that he''d fully seen everything it was capable of.


    The interesting thing about the Starweaver, is that the single ultimate skill that had originally turned him into a golden statue, as well as the ultimate skills he''d lost to in subsequent matches, all likely stemmed from the same skill.


    The Starweaver has the unique ability to draw upon the power of various constellations to produce a variety of skills��offensive, defensive, healing and more.


    Kain had never seen a skill so varied in its effects, yet so powerful, but if he had to wager a guess, the ranking of such a skill had probably long exceeded the SSS level.


    Probably the only con was that Kain had noticed that certain constellations seemed difficult to draw upon depending on the time of day or year��likely due to the changes in the visibility or distance the Starweaver was from the constellation.


    Another interesting point was that most, if not all, of the constellations Kain had researched to better understand his enemy seemed to have no resemblance to those seen on Earth. Therefore, Kain could confirm that he was a long long way from his old home��

 Chapter 248: Chapter 248: Starfire College (2)

    Serena''s contract also caused a stir within the crowd. The star-attribute was so incredibly rare that a spiritual creature with this attribute hadn''t been seen publicly in decades.Purely based on its attribute, her contract could aim to become the new mascot of the empire even if it wasn''t so good looking. However, on top of its attribute, it had a uniquely stunning appearance.


    The arena buzzed with excitement as Serena''s Star Weaver took center stage, shimmering like a celestial beacon with a humanoid shape and wings.


    Its translucent form glowed with starlight, wings unfurling to reveal a breathtaking display of constellations that seemed to resemble the night sky. The crowd gasped, captivated by the rare creature with an attribute that many may not get to see again in their lifetime.


    With the signal to start, the fight began with the Firescourge Scorpion lunging forward, its tail arched high and stinger glistening ominously. It unleashed a wave of scalding heat, the air crackling as it attempted to overwhelm the Star Weaver. But Serena remained composed; her creature gracefully ascended, evading the fiery attack with effortless agility.


    Suddenly a cluster of stars on its wings lit up. If the stars were to be connect, they would probably resemble a bow. Kain knew that this was the precursor to the Starweaver drawing on the energy of the constellation displayed.


    Shortly after a barrage of streaks of golden light descending from the heavens to strike the scorpion was seen.


    The projectiles struck the scorpion with pinpoint accuracy, exploding upon impact in dazzling bursts of light. Yet the scorpion was resilient; it retaliated with a ferocious swing of its pincers as it leaped, narrowly missing the Star Weaver as it dodged and soared higher.


    However, while it was in the middle of dodging, the tail of the Firescourge Scorpion suddenly elongated several times in length and quickly tried to stab the Starweaver while it was off guard.


    ''I didn''t know it could do that?!'' Kain thought in surprise. Kain wasn''t sure if that was a universal ability of all Firescourge Scorpions or if it was due to some kind of unique skill or gift��


    However, despite being slightly caught off guard by the sudden elongation of a body part, Serena''s expression didn''t change at all. The Starweaver summoned a protective barrier of starlight that the sharp tail slammed strongly against, causing a rippling effect on the shield as it struggled to remain intact.


    Kain couldn''t help but wince. Kain had fought Serena''s contract enough times both in reality and in the System, therefore he knew just how resilient that shield of sparkling energy truly was. The fact that it was rippling and straining in order to remain intact, Kain could guess how heavy the blow the scorpion unleashed truly was.


    Seeing that it wouldn''t be able to strike her contract with its tail directly, it decided to take a more widespread attack approach.


    Afterall, the poison ejected from its tail is known to be extremely corrosive and dissolve entire settlements overnight. Therefore, Firescoourge Scorpions don''t use their poison to only affect living things. Sear?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Indeed, the scorpion made a decision that surprised many watching and inserted the point of its tail into the stage.


    Suddenly an unpleasant smell��a mix of melting rubber and metal��began to spread. Soon the audience was able to see the effects of the tail''s insertion on the stage, as the scorpion now stood in a corrosive puddle emanating steam as it spread outwards. The entire region of the stage surrounding the scorpion had become a no man''s land.


    Then striking the ground that now has a texture more similar to magma, pieces of molten stage went flying in all directions.


    The Starweaver reacted swiftly, weaving through the debris with an elegant grace, and then summoning a shield of starlight to absorb the impact of any lingering projectiles.


    However, the corrosive nature of its poison was even able to dissolve its shield. Small circles appeared on the shield where it had been hit by the debris, giving the shield''s previously sturdy appearance a resemblance closer to swiss cheese.


    Even more unpleasantly, now that so much of the area around the scorpion had become a toxic wasteland, the attacks used against it must also be more carefully chosen since it may cause toxic shrapnel to go flying around in retaliation��harming themselves and increasing the spread. Any attacks launched must hit the scorpion, and only the scorpion precisely.


    Moreover, the scorpion was now beginning to sink into the now sludge-like stage, and those watching could tell that the corrosion of the stage had now gone deep enough that it could probably submerge its entire body beneath, further reducing the number of effective skills that could be used.


    Afterall, majority of the attacks Serena''s contract used come from the direction of the stars: The volley of arrows composed of starlight previously used, the golden starfall that had previously turned Kain into a statue.


    Serena''s gaze sharpened, a flicker of determination lighting up her expression. The Star Weaver drew upon the energy of the constellations once more, and the crowd held their breath.


    Suddenly, on its wings, stars began to light up. However, the figure was too abstract to be able to tell what its purpose was.


    ''What is that? It looks like a stick figure standing on a line and holding a stick. Is it a swordsman? Magician?'' Kain wasn''t sure about the identity of this skill since he hadn''t seen it before.


    With wings outstretched, it summoned a swirling vortex of starlight directly above the Firescourge Scorpion''s toxic pool. The arena dimmed as if night had fully fallen, as celestial energy concentrated above the battlefield, and the atmosphere of the audience filled with anticipation at witnessing a star-attribute attack.


    Suddenly, a dazzling beam of starlight descended, splitting apart the darkness like a silver-blue dragon and headed straight for the scorpion who, after an intense feeling of foreboding, began to dive deeper and deeper.


    The light pierced through the toxic sludge, illuminating the arena in an ethereal glow. The scorpion was momentarily lifted from its corrosive protective barrier, and suspended in midair as it struggled��like a fish caught on the end of a fishing rod.

 Chapter 249: Chapter 249: Starfire College (3)

    ''Fisherman?''Kain tried to connect this scene to the constellation that hade previously appeared briefly. Remembering the vague figure of a person holding a stick��was that the fishing rod? Then the line it was standing on was a boat?


    Kain felt like he''d need a degree in abstract art in order to understand that. Not to mention, someone with a very creative mind must have looked at those random dots of stars and actually seen that picture to designate it as a constellation.


    ''I supposed I just don''t have any talent in this regard��''


    With the scorpion suspended in the air, the Starweaver did not continue to attack it. After all, since most of its skills are actually derived from one single skill, which is to draw on the power of the constellations, its hands were tied. It had no attacking skills outside of drawing on the constellations, therefore as long as it kept the scorpion suspended it had no way of attacking.


    Kain''s eyes lit up as he noted this weakness. In all their previous matches, it had moved so seamlessly from using one skill to another, that he''d never made the connection that it had no attacking skills independent from the constellations. Also he had never had to face this fisherman skill before, or any other skill that required a long usage time. If he could somehow create a strategy that would lure it into using this skill, wouldn''t he be able to prevent it from using many of its other abilities?


    However, just because the Starweaver couldn''t attack, that didn''t mean Serena couldn''t. Suddenly a beautiful shimmering bow appeared in her hands.


    It was crafted from a wood that shimmered and appeared to glow with a soft, ethereal light. Its limbs were elegantly curved, adorned with intricate carvings of constellations that seemed to shift and shimmer as if alive under the light.


    It was strung with a silken thread spun from the hair of a powerful, and presumed to be extinct, spiritual creature, and seemed to hum with an otherworldly energy, that amplified the wielder''s strength and precision. The grip, was wrapped in midnight-blue leather, providing a cool and firm hold even in the heat of battle.


    At its center, the bow featured a stunning gemstone, a deep sapphire that mirrored the night sky, embedded within a golden filigree. This gem not only served as a focal point of beauty but also as a conduit for spiritual power, allowing the bow to form arrows made purely from the power of the stars themselves once injected with spiritual power.


    A couple people in the audience''s eyes widened. This bow looked remarkably similar to the Storm family''s most precious heirloom��the Celestial Bow. The bow that was wielded by the founder of the Storm family, and one of the founders of the Celestial Empire. However, the competition limits the strength of any weapons used, obviously one of the most powerful weapons ever made would be off-limits. Is it a replica they made for a doted on child of the family? Or did they actually take out that heirloom and seal its abilities for a mere descendant? Either explanation would be surprising and display just how much Serena was valued by the Storm family.


    Serena drew the bow and a shimmering arrow began to shimmer into existence as the string was pulled taut. As Serena drew the bow, she became a captivating figure against the backdrop of the arena. Her silver-white hair flowed like liquid moonlight, cascading down her back in shimmering waves that caught the light with every movement.


    The ethereal glow of her hair framed her delicate, almost elf-like features that were in stark contrast to her cold blue eyes that sparkled with a fierce intensity. They were sharp and piercing, focused entirely on her target.


    When drawn, the bow emitted a faint hum, and the arrow released glided through the air like a shooting star, leaving a trail of shimmering light that lingered for a moment before fading out of existence.


    The arrow landed perfectly in the centre of the back of the suspended Firescourge Scorpion''s abdomen. A brilliant explosion of starlight erupted from the impact, illuminating the arena in a dazzling display.


    The scorpion thrashed against its confinement, its exoskeleton cracking under the weight of the attack, but it could do little against the overwhelming force of the starlit arrow. Suddenly arrow continued to move beyond the cracked open exoskeleton until it reached a tube-like structure that contracted rhythmically to pump blood through the scorpion''s body��its heart.


    Thankfully, Serena seemed to have calculated the strength needed perfectly, and the arrow made of starlight disappeared right before the heart could be penetrated.


    Sensing that its most important organ was also left exposed to the enemy, the scorpion stopped thrashing and slumped over in submission.


    Jacob stood frozen for a moment, disbelief etched across his face. He had always been confident in his creature''s abilities, but the strange skills displayed by the Starweaver, combined with the sheer might of her arrow, had shattered his resolve. The scorpion, once a fierce and terrifying force, now lay still, remnants of starlight that had composed the now-gone arrow illuminating its body.


    Swallowing hard, Jacob glanced at his fallen companion, its once-menacing pincers now limp and its eyes dull. He could feel the weight of the crowd''s anticipation pressing down on him, the exhilaration of victory turning to a heavy sense of loss. He took a deep breath, steadying himself as he raised his hand, calling for the match to end. "I forfeit!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the cheers like a knife.


    A hush fell over the crowd for a split second before a wave of applause erupted once more, celebrating the end of the incredible match.


    Serena gently lowered her bow as her mouth lifted into a faint smile that Kain and the others had never seen before. However, that slight upturning of her lips seemed to light up the arena as it was displayed on the screen for everyone to see, and it caused the cheers of the crowd to briefly stagnate collectively, before once again cheering even louder��this time not purely due to the match. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 250: Chapter 250: Current Tally of Wins and Losses

    Starfire College managed to drag back a win, by narrowly defeating Dark Moon''s first years in the 3-vs-3 competition.However, since Jacob''s scorpion was the undisputed center of the other sides strategies due to his offensive power, when his scorpion was practically out of commission due to the match with Serena, they quickly fell apart in the 5-vs-5 battle. Shamefully resulting one of the fastest match endings of a match between 2 colleges within the top 5.


    Therefore, winning 2 matches, to 1 loss, Dark Moon continued its undefeated streak.


    After defeating Starfire College, the next two matches were quite leisurely, as they were against the only two remaining schools outside of the top��Lunaris Vale Academy and Nebula Taming Academy.


    Kain didn''t need to partake in the fight against Lunaris Vale again. Elysara''s contracts had gotten seriously injured in a fight against First Celestial the day before, therefore she was unable to take on the responsibility of the single person match. None of her peers were as threatening as her, therefore Dark Moon was able to dispatch their entire team using only Soren, Kairos, and Ranya.


    Nebula Taming had been on a losing streak since the top 8 began, and had been considered the weakest among those that got to this stage. Even their advancement to the top 8 had been partially attributed to luck. All of their opponents up until the top 16 had been among the weakest within the entire tournament, and so they had managed to advance without being drained of too much energy.


    However, there were no weak opponents within the top 16, and in fact their opponent was even ranked slightly higher than them. However, unlike Nebula''s lucky streak since the tournament began, their opponents had been mired by a string of bad luck. Experience more tales on mvl


    Their first two opponents since the tournament began were much weaker than them, both happened to have students that used poisons. Therefore, even though they managed to easily defeat them, and antidotes were provided, there did seem to be some sequela remaining from the poisons that continued to affect the contracts of two of their first-year students even days later.


    To compensate for their slightly weakened comrades, the others had to pull their weight more and overextend themselves in the following battles, leading to them also suffering more minor injuries and being more exhausted than one would expect considering they were a college that had always consistently ranked within the top 20. Sear?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, when it got to the top 16, all of these little events that gradually chipped away at their strength showed their effect, and they lost against the lower ranked Nebula Taming, who nobody had expected to advance into the top 8.


    After Nebula''s unconvincing advancement, there had been many calls to change the tournament rules and either allow an additional team eliminated to advance like in previous rounds to create a top 9, or have a round robin format starting from the top 16.


    However, considering the amount of time it would take to arrange for every college within the top 16 to face one another, this proposal was promptly vetoes by the tournament organizers.


    Instead, when questioned on if the controversy over the advancement of Nebula Taming Academy would have an adverse effect on the reputation of the tournament and the validity of the assigned rankings, the only reply from the organizers was that "great luck is also a form of strength."


    Therefore, while irritated, fans of the tournament did not continue to kick up a fuss, since they knew their efforts would be fruitless in the end. But even still, whenever Nebula Taming took the stage there would always be a noticeable dip in the liveliness of the crowd, and loud cheers for their opponent, even if you didn''t necessarily support the opposing team.


    Honestly, seeing their haggard faces, Kain couldn''t help but pity them. Clearly, what should have been a moment of great joy for their college since this was the first time any year from their college had managed to advance to the top 8, which would have a huge boost to their college''s ranking and resources in the coming year, was now stained with a feeling of shame.


    Clearly the mental impact from the audience''s lack of support was so severe that it adversely impacted their performance. When they performed poorly, the audience looked down on their ranking even more and got even harsher in their criticisms. And so a vicious cycle with the first-years of Nebula Taming was born.


    By the time Kain and the others had to face them, they barely put up any resistance and were practically just shoved down and conceded defeat.


    Therefore, Dark Moon''s first years had managed to win all 5 of the 7 matches they must participate in: Supernova College, Starfire College, Lunaris Vale Academy, Starlight College, and Nebula Taming Academy. The only opponents remaining were Frozen Sun and First Celestial, who also happened to be the first year teams with the most amount of wins under their belts. First Celestial, like Dark Moon, has a perfect record until now, while Frozen Sun had only lost 1 to 2 against First Celestial.


    First Celestial''s performance had been similar to Dark Moon''s up until now, managing to defeat most of their opponents within the first 2 matches.


    On the other hand, Frozen Sun was a complete anomaly in that they had lost nearly every single 1-on-1 match they''d participated in so far. However, they''ve managed to obtain victory in almost every single team match so far. The only team match they''d lost was a narrow defeat against First Celestial in the 5-on-5 match, after losing the singles match and winning the 3-on-3 match against them.


    Therefore, Frozen Sun''s wins were a result of consistently losing the 1-on-1 matches, and then sweeping the remaining team matches.


    Clearly, likely as a result of the more homogenous affinities of the students at Frozen Sun, they were a school that specialized in team battles.


    They were also the next opponents of Kain and the others within the tournament.

 Chapter 251: Chapter 251: Frozen Sun

    The following matches went exactly as Kain had expected, almost as if the tournament was following a prepared script.Soren was sent as the representative for the 1-on-1 match, which he won without too much difficulty. However, Soren, Kairos and Ranya lost the 3-on-3 match.


    Compared to most top colleges, the students admitted to Frozen Sun are typically more homogenous in their affinities, almost all having ice related affinities, with water and wind affinities also being fairly common. Therefore, even when coordinating 9 contracts, the other side had a much easier time since none of these affinities are particularly incompatible.


    Meanwhile most teams may have spiritual beasts with fire and water, light and dark, ice and fire, or other attribute pairings that would counteract one another''s skills if not careful.


    Indeed, this was seen in the 3-on-3 match when Soren, Kairos, and Ranya were ultimately worn down when they were unable to weather the beating from a hurricane summoned by the combined skills of the other party.


    The water produced by 2 spiritual creatures on the other side was then frozen to produce sharp ice shards that glistened and looked like floating knives by several of the ice-attribute spiritual creatures. These "knives" were then suspended and whipped around without any pattern by a tempest summoned by 3 wind-attribute spiritual creatures.


    The end result was a colossal cyclone of frozen water, swirling with brilliant blue and white light, ready to unleash a devastating storm upon their opponent. The shields summoned by Kairos did not persist for long before whiplike marks began to appear on their bodies from the ice-shards and they conceded the match.


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    Now it was finally time for the 5-on-5 match. Unfortunately, Kain and the others still knew that in terms of teamwork and the ability to complement one another in battle, they were grossly outmatched by the other party.


    However, individually they felt that the other side''s strongest may only rank within the ranks of 5-7 at Dark Moon��far from Kain, Serena, and even Soren.


    Therefore, even though they lost the 3-on-3 match, they still were not disheartened, confident that the addition of Kain and Serena''s contracts would result in a different outcome this time.


    The atmosphere in the arena crackled with tension as the two teams took their positions for the 5-on-5 match.


    On one side stood Kain and the others from Dark Moon: Ranya, with her three contracts adept at wielding illusions; Serena''s Elemental Guardian and Starweaver; Kairos'' cursed doll and book; and Soren, flanked by his twin dragons of wind and lightning attributes.


    Including Kain''s 3 contracts, there were 12 spiritual creatures on their side instead of the maximum of 15. However, it was not uncommon for the 5-on-5 battle or even the 3-on-3 battle to not have the maximum amount of contracts on the field at a given time.


    Every contract is practically irreversible, therefore a lot of thought is put into each contract position. Therefore, if a suitable spiritual creature isn''t found, or none are available that meet the beast-tamer''s standards, its not uncommon to leave a contract position open for years in the event that they come across a spiritual creature that can satisfy them.


    Which can partly explain why only 12 spiritual creatures were on the side of Dark Moon: Serena refuses to reveal her third contract even until now; cursed constructs are rare, and powerful ones even more so, which has delayed Kairos'' third contract��after all, he can''t just contract a cursed potato peeler because it''s all that''s available; and Soren did recently find a suitable third contract, but due to the rarity of dragon''s the only one available that was suitable for his affinity is extremely young and only at red-grade, it also lacks a tacit understanding with Soren and was unsuitable for appearing at this stage of the competition.


    Thankfully, the numerical disadvantage against the opponents wasn''t large. Opposing them were a total the thirteen spiritual beasts from Frozen Sun poised for battle.


    As the match began, the Frozen Sun team sprang into action. Three ice-attribute creatures unleashed a torrent of glacial shards, which spiraled toward Kain''s group, their sharp edges catching the light.


    However, Kain could tell that it wasn''t a serious attack and was just meant to test their group. And indeed, Serena''s Elemental Guardian easily used its wind-attribute form to easily cause the ice shards to veer off course and explode harmlessly against the shimmering walls that sprang up around the arena due to the wards.


    As a group of 5, they actually had a well-established strategy that surprisingly focused on Kain.


    Kain had Bea summon the threads. However, unlike in her previous appearance, he did not bother trying to conceal them.


    Tens of thousands of threads were produced within seconds, far greater in number than anything he''d show before. The audience couldn''t help but gasp at the dense net of threads that barely left any free space on the stage. Even the opponents couldn''t help but pale, seeing that there was no way to avoid these mind-controlling threads.


    However, unknown to everyone majority of these threads were fake��illusions prepared by Ranya''s contracts in order to distort the perception of the true threads carrying splits.


    If this move had been shown previously, and the opponent was given enough time to calmly think about why the number of threads had suddenly increased hundreds of times over, they''d realize that it was a trick. But fortunately, all of their matches had ended within 2 rounds.


    As the real threads slipped blended in seamlessly with the fake ones, Kain could see the opposing team hesitating about what to do next, after all they already knew from their limited intelligence of Bea that these threads were able to ignore most shields and defensive measures.


    Additionally, Ranya''s illusions also heightened the tension. The threads created by her contracts were even more flexible than Bea''s, making it seem as though the threads were alive, writhing and dancing, and more difficult to dodge, enhancing the fear in their opponents'' hearts.


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 Chapter 252: Chapter 252: Frozen Sun (2)

    The five beast-tamers from Frozen Sun exchanged quick glances, their expressions a mix of determination and anxiety.Each wore enchanted equipment designed to counteract the effects of mind-controlling attacks��likely targeted at Kain beforehand. The subtle glow of protective runes shimmered against their icy blue uniforms, a testament to their careful preparation. Therefore, even when real threads did manage to touch their bodies, they were useless. Sear?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, their spiritual creatures had no such equipment to obtain resistance and, like the original spider through which Bea obtained this ability, most defensive measures were also useless against them.


    A large blue ice-attribute bird emitted a chilling cry, resonating through the air as it unleashed a swirling blizzard, an somewhat weak countermeasure against the dense net of threads.


    Flakes of ice and wind spiraled through the arena, creating a barrier that obscured the vision of Kain''s team and formed a shield of frost. However neither the illusionary threads nor the real ones composed of mental energy were particularly impacted by the storm.


    Simultaneously, a pair of aquatic serpents that shimmered like liquid sapphire, coiled around each other and lashed out, sending waves of freezing mist across the battlefield. The mist thickened the air, further distorting visibility.


    At most, the enemies'' attempts only served to obstruct the vision of Kain and Ranya as they directed the threads.


    Thankfully, potentially due to the fact that as spiritual creatures specializing in illusions they are more resistant to having their 5 senses interfered with and can skillfully detect the surrounding environment, Ranya''s contracts could still sense the enemies in the storm, although Kain and the others had trouble seeing.


    Knowing that Kain and Bea were no longer able to navigate their threads, Ranya had already anticipated the need for misdirection, and her illusions shifted in tandem with the incoming storm, creating a dynamic dance of false threads that deceived the eye.


    They moved skillfully so that the spiritual creatures would accidentally knock into the real threads, that did not move as flexibly due to the reduced vision of Kain and Bea, when dodging.


    Soon enough, they were all successfully infected by Bea''s splits. However, Kain didn''t want to just control them, the most important part of the plan was to actually rifle through all of their memories to obtain any information on the ultimate moves and trump cards of the opponent.


    Therefore, Bea focused most of her energy on searching their memories rather than on controlling them. Especially since obtaining full control of so many spiritual creatures equal to her in strength would be a very time consuming and draining process.


    As Bea concentrated, her consciousness surged into the minds of the spiritual creatures. She navigated through layers of instinct and loyalty, sifting through fragments of memories and training experiences, seeking the hidden depths of their knowledge.


    Visions flickered in her mind��images of past battles, strategies developed in secret, and anything else that may be relevant to their victory.


    At the same time, within the field obscured by the elements, 5 more threads from Bea connected to Kain and the others. Enjoy exclusive chapters from mvl


    Was this a backstab? Infighting?


    Of course not. While resistant initially, this was a strategy developed that they had all consented to in the past.


    Since Bea''s splits could obtain information from the minds of the infected host and transmit it to Bea practically instantly, it would allow for their group to more intimately share their thoughts, senses, and plans without the enemies'' detection while essentially using Bea as a relay station for their communication.


    Of course, none of Kain''s allies fully trusted him or Bea enough to allow unfettered access to their minds, and all of them had on equipment that resisted her penetrating too deeply and getting access to thoughts and memories that she shouldn''t.


    The invisible lines of communication between them buzzed with energy, transmitting real-time tactical updates through Bea''s split consciousness and allowing all members to instantly become aware of the knowledge Bea was obtaining from the infected enemy spiritual creatures.


    As Bea pressed on, suddenly a cascade of information flooded her consciousness��images of a catastrophic blizzard summoned in the heat of battle, painful practice sessions in which they had to continuously restart the training due to errors made by their contractors and not themselves, and whispers of a powerful group spiritual skill known only to the top beast-tamers of Frozen Sun.


    Kain''s heart raced. This was it��this was the insight they needed. As Bea sifted through the memories, illuminating the depths of Frozen Sun''s strategies, all of this information was simultaneously shared with Kain and the others.


    Suddenly, a cute furry white creature that looked like a ball with limps and a single eye, emitted a piercing ray of light from its singular eye that struck the minds of every single one of its allies��Brain Freeze!


    This was a last ditch protective measure made against Bea that was cruel to its allies and itself. The skill of this spiritual creature greatly lowered the temperature and thought speed of the contracts in the event that they were about to be controlled. This skill''s goal is to prevent further thoughts that could be manipulated by the enemy.


    However, since Bea''s splits were actually living creatures within the minds of the enemy, the skill was even more effective than they probably even realized, as many of the splits were directly frozen and/or killed.


    Thankfully, by this point much of the information needed had already been obtained from the minds of the enemy. Now, with their minds linked, it was up to Kain and the others to think of defensive measures against the trump card seen in the information sent over by Bea.


    From the information obtained, the skill was able to combine the power of all water and ice-attribute spiritual creatures on the side of the enemy��the more creatures of these attributes, the more powerful the effect.


    Considering that the ice and water attributes were the most common ones amongst the enemy, from the information they''d obtained the combination of the 8 ice-attribute spiritual creatures and 2 water-attribute spiritual creatures in the enemies'' ranks could result in a skill with strength close to a skill from a blue grade spiritual creature.


    The skill, Frozen Cascade, was a devastating group attack that combined the powers of all the ice and water attribute creatures in a concerted effort. This technique created a massive wave of frigid energy that could sweep across the battlefield, targeting every enemy creature simultaneously.


    When unleashed, it was capable of freezing opponents in place, immobilizing them with the sheer force of an avalanche, while simultaneously dealing crippling damage due to the extreme cold.


    And, considering the force of the combination skill��none of them had a defensive skill strong enough to resist.

 Chapter 253: Chapter 253: Frozen Sun (3)

    Kain stood at the center of the chaos, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he absorbed the weight of the knowledge Bea had relayed. The impending threat of Frozen Cascade loomed over their group, and he knew that if they were to survive, they needed a plan��fast.Their thoughts bounced off of one another until they eventually settled on a reasonable solution. As a spiritual skill, it was reliant on the beast-tamers working in tandem to execute it. That is also likely the reason why they did not use this skill against First Celestial previously and lost that 5-on-5 match. Kain vaguely remembered that one of their team members was accidentally injured in the 3-on-3, and therefore was not fit to bare the strain from activating the group spiritual skill.


    It''s not customary in this tournament to attack the beast-tamers, especially if they don''t take to the initiative to enter the battle. Therefore, under the coverage of the skills their contracts just launched which makes it difficult for Kain and the others to sense their movements, they were probably already preparing to launch the skill.


    The average opponent would be spending their time hunting down their spiritual creatures and not the beast-tamers, therefore they felt secure in their next actions. Read new chapters at mvl


    If they wanted to prevent Frozen Cascade''s launch, then they must go against the normal social norms of the tournament and instead focus on hunting down the beast-tamers.


    Kairos'' cursed book flipped to a page and after the activation of the sigils on that page, a 3D projection of the stage suddenly appeared with over 30 dots of various colours. Based on their locations, Kain could tell that the 17 white dots were the 12 spiritual contracts of Kain and the others, plus the 5 beast-tamers themselves.


    On the other side were 18 black dots representing the enemy, however it wasn''t easily distinguishable which dots were of the beast-tamers and which were their contracts.


    With a thought, Kairos eliminated all of the white dots, so that their group only had to focus on the black.


    Then with the lightning-fast exchange of information that Bea allowed, Ranya and Kain quickly provided the last known location information they had for the spiritual creatures either touched by the illusory or real mental threads.


    Cross-referencing the last known locations with the current locations, they were roughly able to eliminate guess the identity of the remaining dots��although the locations of many changed too much to be accurately identified.


    However, they could see that 5 dots that were previously far apart, were suspiciously making their way towards one another. Making note of their locations, Kain asked Aegis to disrupt the surrounding terrain at those locations and delay their regrouping.


    At the same time the remaining Vespid guards, boosted by Queen, were ordered to travel in groups of 3 to harass the opponents'' contracts and prevent them from protecting their beast-tamers.


    However, although with the reduced growth time following evolution Kain did manage to restore their numbers back to 15, after the mass death toll in the fight against Nikolai, they were still far from enough to be able to restrain all of the opponents'' spiritual creatures.


    But Kain chose not to have them travel in smaller groups in order to be conservative and reduce the likelihood of anymore dying before they had to face First Celestial.


    Therefore, with Aegis focused on preventing the beast-tamers from getting together, and 5 of the opposing contracts being preoccupied by the 3 guards each, the eight remaining spiritual creatures on the other side were divided up between Kairos and Soren. Of course, while their main role was to prevent them from supporting their contractors, neither Kain nor the others gave up on actually eliminating the opponents if they had a chance.


    At the same time, Ranya contributed her illusion abilities to disorienting the opposing beast-tamers and further reducing the likelihood of regrouping.


    Based on the map still being shared by Kairos, while 2 of the opposing people had managed to overcome the blockades created by Aegis to approach a location probably designated beforehand, 1 was not as resourceful and stuck in place, while the other 2 had actually begun moving in the opposite direction��likely due to Ranya.


    Meanwhile, Ranya''s third contract happened to stumble across Soren''s lightning attribute while traveling through the mist and snow on stage. Therefore, it took advantage of the opponent the dragon was fighting being unaware of its presence, to make it appear as though it was being attacked from all sides by the lightning skill, heightening the chaos. After its elimination, the number of beasts on each side was now even.


    The other 2 opposing beast-tamers, unconsciously moved in the wrong direction until they were practically on top of Kain''s group of 5. Seeing that the enemy was waiting in what they thought was their meet up location, their eyes widened in shock.


    However, before they could think of any defensive measures or regroup, Serena had already taken action.


    One of the constellations on the Starweaver lit up��this one unfortunately very familiar to Kain. Suddenly a golden shower of starlight fell on the defenseless enemy and turned them into golden statues which were then promptly carried off the stage by a gust of wind summoned by her Elemental Guardian.


    Sensing that something had happened to their masters, 5 spiritual creatures suddenly became distracted and roared in anxiety. Taking advantage of the distraction, their opponents took the opportunity to launch heavy blows that they''d already prepared beforehand after receiving the information that 2 of the opposing humans were about to be eliminated.


    Now that they were down to only 3 human and 7 spiritual creatures, the remaining battle ended fairly quickly.


    Since one of the eliminated creatures had been responsible for maintaining the storm covering the field, visibility began to improve, allowing both the audience and the opponents to see that Frozen Sun was now at a huge numerical disadvantage.


    The audience erupted into cheers, however rather than it being due to Dark Moon appearing to have one, it was more so to do with the annoying storm that blocked their vision finally being removed.


    Once the vision on the field was obstructed, it had been quite boring for those watching. S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now, although they missed the majority of the battle, they could still catch the tail end of the drama.

 Chapter 254: Chapter 254: Prelude to the Final Match

    Unfortunately, the remaining scenes were not nearly as stimulating for audience.Experience exclusive tales on mvl


    Faced with a huge numerical disadvantage, and 2 beast-tamers and 6 spiritual creatures that were meant to be a part of the Frozen Cascade skill now being out of commission, there wasn''t much that the opponents could do to turn things around.


    Therefore, Dark Moon finally managed to secure the victory against Frozen Sun without spending too much of their remaining energy.


    After defeating Frozen Sun, Dark Moon currently was on a winning streak with 6 wins. Their only remaining opponent, First Celestial also had 6 wins. Therefore, the ultimate winner among the first-years will be decided by the match tomorrow.


    However, even if they were to lose, Kain and the others have at least secured 2nd place, and 90 points��but of course, they still have no intention of taking it easy and will aim for first place.


    With first and second place amongst the first-years still to be decided between Dark Moon and First Celestial, the approximate rankings have already been pretty much revealed:


    With 6 wins each, both First Celestial Academy and Dark Moon College will take first and second places.


    Frozen Sun College currently has 4 wins, and only has a fight against the weakest Nebula Taming Academy remaining, and so will likely secure 5 wins and finish in third place.


    Supernova College and Starfire College both have 3 wins and 3 losses (against Dark Moon, First Celestial, and Frozen Sun), and they also happen to be facing one another in the finale. Therefore, fourth and fifth place will be determined between them.


    Both Lunaris Vale Academy and Starlight College have only 1 win (against Nebula Taming) each, and will be competing tomorrow to determine the sixth and seventh places.


    Finally, Nebula Taming Academy has not won a single match since the top 8 round-robin matches began, and will definitely finish in last place.


    All of the Dark Moon first-years were in a great mood due to their winning streak; however, not all of the year levels from Dark Moon were equally happy.


    The only year level that may be as jubilant was the fourth-years, although due to their more extensive experience, they buried their happiness more deeply knowing that they still had one match remaining and it was too soon to be happy.


    However, like the first-years they also had not yet suffered any defeats. Moreover, unlike the first-years, they had already faced the strongest First Celestial and won. Therefore, their final ranking remaining at first place was even more secured.


    Especially since their remaining opponent was outside of the top 5 colleges and they were confident in defeating them. Therefore the first rank placing for the fourth years was practically already determined in advance.


    Meanwhile, the increased investment seen by Frozen Sun in their lower years, was also seen in their second years. Therefore, while the second-years managed to defeat powerful opponents like Supernova College and Starfire College, they had lost to both Frozen Sun and First Celestial and were currently only ranked third in their year. Since their next opponent was outside of the top 5, it seemed likely that they would finish with that ranking. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The third years were currently tied for second in their year, after losing only one match against First Celestial so far, and the tie breaking match was tomorrow against Supernova who also only had one loss in the third-year.


    First Celestial had practically secured first place among the third years in advance. However, this was not a surprise to anyone. Unlike most colleges that had most of their strongest students in the fourth year. The third years at First Celestial were considered to be stronger than their seniors and called the school''s "golden generation," similar to Kain and the others at Dark Moon.


    Cassian Lysander, Soren''s cousin, was the undisputed strongest of the school despite only being in his third year. Moreover, the second strongest vice captain also happened to be a third year as well��Isolde Blackheart, another descendant of one of the 5 founders.


    Therefore, the estimated final rankings of Dark Moon''s grade levels were:


    First years��first or second place (100 or 90 points)


    Second years��third place (80 points)


    Third years��second place (80 or 90 points)


    Fourth years��first place (100 points)


    For a total of around 350 to 370 points depending on the outcome of the final battles the next day. If both the first years and third years secure victory against their matches against First Celestial and Supernova respectively, they would finish phase one of the competition with a very nice 370 points.


    The attending professors were ecstatic. This was one of the best results they''d had at the national tournament in years, and it was pretty much guaranteed that they would increase their ranking this year. They may even be able to strive for first place and dethrone First Celestial depending on how they perform in the second phase!


    First Celestial''s current tentative rankings were:


    First years��first or second place (100 or 90 points)


    Second years��first place (100 points)


    Third years��first place (100 points)


    Fourth years��second place (80 or 90 points)


    For a total of 370 to 390 points, depending on the final outcomes of the first-year and fourth-year matches. Currently, First Celestial''s fourth-years were tied with Starfire''s fourth-years for second place and will face them in a tie breaking match. If they lose both of their matches tomorrow, they may also only finish phase one with 370 points��tying with Dark Moon College.


    Even if Kain and the others do manage to defeat First Celestial and secure first place for their year, they will not be able to finish phase one of the competition in first, and will at most tie with them.


    However, the closer they are to First Celestial going into the second phase, the more likely it is that they could turn things over.


    Therefore, despite knowing that their victory alone won''t be able to overturn the current rankings, Kain and the others were still determined to win.

 Chapter 255: Chapter 255: Preparing for Battle

    Knowing how high the stakes were for the final match against First Celestial Academy, both the students and the staff were more focused than ever during the strategy meeting.Based on the information compiled by the staff, there were two students in particular among the opponents that would need to watch out for.


    The first was Tobias Blackheart, the younger brother of the Vice Captain Isolde Blackheart. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tobias was relatively short, with a slim and almost childish build. His skin had a pale and delicate, almost translucent quality, contrasting with his dark, tousled hair that fell just above his eyes.


    His large eyes were a deep, piercing shade of blue, with a hint of mischief lurking behind them. Tobias has delicate features��long lashes and a soft jawline��that give him an innocent look. However, despite his juvenile features that may disarm an unprepared opponent, he was one of the strongest first-years in the country.


    Tobias'' innocent features were in stark contrast to his affinity, which was reportedly to creatures with the rare infernal bloodline.


    The infernal affinity is one of the rarest, and so far only the descendants of the Blackheart family have been reported to possess it. And even then it only appears in each generation a fraction of the time. Therefore, the Blackheart clan was both ecstatic and surprised when Tobias was able to awaken this rare affinity after his sister already had.


    The origin of the infernal bloodline is not well understood, but it is believed to originate from another realm that in the legends was just termed "the underworld." Creatures with the infernal bloodline encompass pretty much all attributes, but due to the strength of the bloodline even if one has the matching elemental affinity, they will likely still be unable to form a contract with an infernal creature��similar to how a individual with a lower ranked fire-attribute affinity won''t likely be able to bind a fire-attribute dragon. This is because the spiritual creature will be able to sense that their star space would not be able to transform to their standards, and will instead unconsciously reject them.


    Interestingly, infernal creatures are practically impossible to find in the wild. Therefore, all of the infernal spiritual creatures that the Blackheart family currently possesses were born in a relic produced by their family''s founder, and one of the 5 founders of the nation��Evan Blackheart. He''d apparently found an access point to the underworld and captured a wide variety of infernal spiritual creatures which were then transplanted to the relic owned by the Blackheart family. The opening to the underworld has since been sealed and any mention of its location in text has been completely wiped.


    Unfortunately, Tobias hadn''t had to reveal much of his strength in the previous battles. Therefore, the intelligence reports only had the appearances of 2 contracts, and not much detail on their abilities.


    The first was a juvenile version of the current head of the Blackheart family''s contracts. Therefore, the professors were able to provide a name for it. However, due to the Blackheart head also concealing his own contracts'' abilities, not much more could be provided.


    The species is called Abyssal Echo, and appeared like a floating, amorphous shape that shifted between various dark colors, with wisps of shadows trailing behind it.


    The second contract appeared similar to the stereotypical image of a demon from texts back on earth. It was a large hulking creature with two horns, fans, black claws, and leathery wings. It''s body radiated an intense heat, and its red skin was adorned with molten patterns��a Scorchwing Demon.


    The other top student among the first years that Kain and the others had to watch out for was Thorian Draegor.


    The Draegor family was a distant branch of the royal Lysander family, and the distant royal lineage could be seen in his shining golden hair.


    In line with their relation to the royal family, occasionally their family would also have some of their descendants awaken a dragon affinity��although at a much lower frequency.


    More often than not they''d possess affinities to lesser dragon-related species such as drakes, wyrms, wyverns, hydras, basilisks, etc. Discover more stories at ��??


    Based on the visible sneer on Soren''s face that he made no attempt at concealing, Kain could sense that there was some kind of undercurrent of superiority present within the Lysander royal family that seemed to disdain any impure dragon-related species.


    However, in Kain''s opinion such disdain was not only unnecessary but also ridiculous. Although called "lesser" dragons, many of the rarer dragon relatives such as basilisks and hydras were even more powerful than the average pure-blooded dragon.


    Since beast-tamers should only speak with their strength, the superiority complex Soren was showing right now while they were reading Thorian''s profile was quite idiotic.


    Thorian''s affinity happens to be to the basilisk species.


    Basilisks have eight legs, a more bulky build than the average dragon, and come in a variety of colours��often indicating their elemental affinity. Basilisks possess a single row of bony spines along their backs and a few have a curved horn atop their noses.


    However, the most prominent feature of basilisks, are their almost toxic green eyes. Basilisks have the passive ability to petrify prey significantly weaker than them, turning weaker victims that make eye contact with them into porous stone statues.


    The image of Thorian''s first contract reveals a pale blue reptile with hundreds of red spikes of various sizes running from the tip of its nose to its tail. It was also unique from the average basilisk in that it had a massive horn-like spike at the end of its tail. It was reportedly the strongest and largest of his contracts, but hadn''t really made any moves in the tournament yet, so its attributes were unknown. Even the current picture provided to them was quite blurry and had probably been taken secretly by a paid off member of the staff at First Celestial.


    The second was slightly smaller, but still massive. Its scales were a dark grey with pitch black spikes, and reportedly had the dark-attribute.


    Finally, the last contract was a bright orange-red, with pale yellow spikes that ran along its back. This one had appeared the most the tournament so far and had the fire-attribute.

 Chapter 256: Chapter 256: Dark Moon Vs First Celestial

    Eventually, in order to secure the victory, the professors eventually decided to send Serena as Dark Moon''s representative for the 1-on-1 battle. Find adventures at ��??Kain, while disgruntled by this decision, couldn''t fault their reasoning. Unlike Serena, Kain had participated in more battles throughout the competition and revealed more about himself.


    On top of that, while the buzz surrounding had faded for several months, they couldn''t underestimate the intelligence network of the top ranked college, so they probably had even more information about Kain than he''d revealed at the tournament.


    Serena, on the other hand, hadn''t revealed as much within this competition. Not to mention, the variety of skills her Starweaver could display was a lot greater than Kain and the others, and many of them had never been revealed publicly, neither before nor during the competition.


    Therefore, Serena presented a greater element of surprise. sea??h th�� novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From the intelligence they''d obtained, while Tobias Blackheart was the current top-ranked student at First Celestial, there wasn''t much of a gap between him and Thorian Draegor. In fact, they''d actually traded the first-place ranking multiple times since entering the college.


    Therefore, they couldn''t be certain about which one they''d be facing in the 1-on-1 match. Additionally, neither one of them had revealed many trump cards in the previous matches, and so the flexibility of Serena''s contracts with multiple attributes (Elemental Guardian), and unpredictable and varied skills available (Starweaver) made her a better candidate for securing the win.


    The next day, Kain and the others arrived at the arena that seemed to overflowing with energy even more than usual. After all, today will have the final matches of phase one, and the final rankings of all colleges in phase one will be determined.


    However, the audience will have to wait until later for one of the most anticipated matches of the day��the first-year match between Dark Moon College and First Celestial Academy.


    The organizers knew what they were doing, and left the most suspenseful matches towards the end of the day: the first-year match for first place between Dark Moon College and First Celestial Academy; the third-year match for second place between Dark Moon and Supernova; and the fourth-year match for second place between First Celestial and Starfire.


    Therefore, pretty much all of the other rankings were revealed prior to their match. As expected, for the first years, Frozen Sun confirmed its ranking at third, and Supernova prevailed in their match against Starfire to achieve fourth place. Finally, Lunaris Vale defeated Starlight and managed to secure sixth place with two wins under their belt.


    Additionally, the more predictable outcomes among the upper-years did occur as expected, meaning that Dark Moon did confirm its first-place ranking for the fourth-years and third-place ranking for the second years.


    Finally, it was the turn of Kain and the others, who were the third last match to take place.


    As Serena made her way to the stage, their opponent for the singles match was finally revealed��Tobias Blackheart. It seems that despite them being so close in strength, they still decided to go with their current rank 1.


    The arena buzzed with anticipation as the crowd''s energy surged, filling the air with excitement. Kain stood at the edge of the stage, his eyes locked on Serena as she approached the center. Her confident stride and calm demeanour spoke volumes; she was ready for the challenge ahead.


    He had the utmost confidence in her strength, however not knowing much about the enemy still filled him with anxiety. Out of everyone on the team, he probably had the most emotionally complex reason for not wanting her to lose.


    After awakening an affinity early, it had always been tacitly agreed that she was the strongest amongst their peers, not only at Dark Moon, but also within the entire Empire. Therefore, although he hated to admit it, Kain did take some pride in following her so closely in strength despite awakening months after her. And a small part of him even unofficially crowned himself the second strongest first-year in the nation��although he''d never admit it out loud without cringing.


    However, if she were to lose, Kain would have to face the fact that all of the excuses he''d made about awakening time were useless, since a peer who''d awakened an affinity through the ceremony at the same time as him had managed to do something that he couldn''t��defeat Serena.


    Simply put, until he was able beat her, he hoped that she wouldn''t lose.


    As the match began, the announcer''s voice echoed through the arena, heightening the tension. Providing a spirited introduction that wasn''t given for every single matchup of the top 8.


    Both Tobias and Serena summoned their contracts. Serena''s were the familiar pairing of the Elemental Guardian and the Starweaver.


    On the other side were 3 terrifying-looking spiritual creatures that were in stark contrast to Tobias'' almost cherubic appearance. Finally, Tobias'' third, and most powerful, contract was revealed.


    There was the familiar swirling, dark mist that coalesced into the shape of the Abyssal Echo, its shadowy form pulsating with an otherworldly energy.


    There was also the noticeable increase in heat present even off of the arena at the appearance of the devilish Scorchwing Demon.


    Finally, Kain looked at the only spiritual creature on the stage unfamiliar to him. However, in addition to its appearance, which was absolutely hideous, even off of the stage Kain was struck by the horrible rotting stench it emitted. Appearing like a twisted entity with a rotting appearance, adorned with thorns and dark, pulsating veins, it was truly the stuff of nightmares.


    As soon as the match started, Tobias took action immediately. The Abyssal Echo expanded, seeming to engulf much of the light entering the arena like a black hole, tendrils of shadow reaching toward Serena and her contracts as if to ensnare her in its grasp.


    Serena''s Starweaver responded swiftly, conjuring a barrier of light that shimmered brightly against the encroaching shadows. The impact sent ripples of energy through the air, illuminating the arena in a brilliant flash.


    However, despite blocking the attack, Serena did not show any proud expression, nor did Tobias look disheartened. They both knew that they were currently only testing the waters and observing their enemy.

 Chapter 257: Chapter 257: A Rare Gift

    Meanwhile the Scorchwing Demon tore through the air with its powerful wings, casting a blistering heatwave that seemed to warp the very space around it.Serena''s Elemental Guardian, now in its golem-like earth form, braced itself against the infernal heat, its rocky skin cracking under the pressure, but still standing strong.


    It seemed like both sides had reached the consensus that the time for testing one another was over��They would both be going all out.


    The shadowy form of the Echo seemed to pulse before shifting and morphing into a shadowy form reminiscent of the Starweaver, only with the complete absence of any starlight on its figure, moreso resembling a blackhole.


    As the Starweaver beat its wings to stay afloat, the wings of the Abyssal Echo, now a shadowy replica of the Starweaver, beat in opposition to it, perfectly mirroring its movements in the opposite direction.


    Strangely, this had a resistant effect on the movements of the Starweaver and it seemed to struggle against some invisible force to keep its wings moving and remain int eh air. Unfortunately, it seemed to lose this battle and crashed hard onto the surface the of the stage.


    Tobias, still with that strange, almost innocent smile on his face, had yet to truly unleash his full strength, and Serena could sense that he had something planned as she made sure to keep an eye on.


    Fortunately, he didn''t keep her in suspense for long. Tobias raised his hand, his fingers curling into a fist. For a split second, the shadows around him thickened as if the arena itself was bending to his will. Meanwhile the thick scent of sulfur began to permeate the entire stadium and the temperature rose.


    Suddenly a portal like structure, forged from jagged obsidian that seems to absorb the very light around it, began to get clearer behind Tobias. As the temperature continued to rise with the appearance of that portal or gate, the ground surrounding it cracked and seemed to get dry and brittle, as if the spiritual power and energy within the stone was absorbed by the dark power emanating from beyond the gate. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Carved into the gate''s surface were twisted sigils that looked far more ancient than Kain had ever seen before, that pulsed with an eerie, blood-red glow.


    The air seemed to hum with the whispers of lost souls, and the chilling sound of distant growls echoes from within, as shadowy tendrils of smoke seemed to extend from the opening, reaching out as if alive.


    However, despite the disturbing appearance of the gate, Tobias'' three infernal contracts all responded in a way that no one could have predicted.


    The Abyssal Echo, usually an eerie, silent presence, shuddered violently, almost orgasmically, its form rippling like the surface of a disturbed pool of black ink. Its usual stillness is replaced with an intense hunger, as if it sensed something distant yet familiar beyond the gate.


    Meanwhile, the Scorchwing Demon, shook with barely contained excitement. Its crimson wings crackled with bursts of flame as it lets out a low, rumbling growl that filled through the air, its molten red skin glowing brighter.


    The heat it radiated became even more unbearably hot, the flames from its wings flickering like tongues of fire as its massive form shifted restlessly. It glared at the gate with intensity, its eyes filled with a mix of anticipation and longing.


    Finally the third contract, had its thorn-covered body shuddering as if on the verge of collapsing. But it doesn''t. Instead, the air around it becomes sickly with an almost perverse joy, the rancid stench of decay growing stronger. Its pulsating veins throbbed, as if something deep within it was coming alive, rising from the dead.


    The eyes of the creature��beady, milky, and deathly pale��glow with an ethereal light as it cackles, a sound that chills the soul, yet carried an unmistakable undertone of glee.


    The gate let out a faint hum as if responding to their collective excitement.


    All three of Tobias'' contracts seem to share a single, unspoken recognition��that gate wasn''t to just anywhere, it was to the home of their ancestors that had been forcibly transplanted in the Blackheart family relic. A location that called out to their very souls��the underworld.


    Read new adventures at ��??


    Indeed, Tobias happened to awaken one of the rarest possible gifts within the Blackheart family, a gift that had only appeared twice before in their lineage, the first of which was the founder of their family. A gift that allowed for a connection to be made to the underworld to allow for the temporary summoning of additional infernal creatures directly from the underworld.


    While the infernal creatures summoned are typically not be as powerful as his main contracts, they could still serve as useful allies or distractions in battle.


    The gate to the underworld trembled violently as it opened. From the swirling abyss a tall, impossibly thin humanoid figure began to materialize.


    Although humanoid in shape, the proportions of its limbs were elongated to an inhuman degree.


    As the figure stepped fully into the arena, its impressive height of least nine feet was showcased. Its pale, featureless face was devoid of any distinguishing marks��no eyes, no nose, no mouth��just an unsettlingly smooth, blank surface that seems to draw the light away, leaving behind an almost ethereal, ghostly pallor.


    Along with its limbs, even its head was elongated, perhaps too long for its body, and its neck contorts and twists in an almost unnatural manner.


    The creature''s body was cloaked in a tattered, black cloak that fluttered due to a non-existent wind. The figure''s hands exposed hands were also elongated and tipped with clawed fingers that are far too long for a human.


    . Slick, tendrilled appendages snake out from the edges of its cloak, almost like shadowy tendrils, but these appendages seem to grow and retract in unpredictable, twitching movements��more akin to shifting, writhing smoke.


    Looking at the figure that emerged from the gate, Kain was preoccupied with a legend from bak on earth that is vaguely resembled.


    ''


    Slenderman


    ?!''

 Chapter 258: Chapter 258: Gemini?

    The battle had already escalated beyond an ordinary first-year match, with Serena''s contracts and Tobias'' infernal creatures clashing in an overwhelming display of power for their age.Although, with the addition of the summon, Serena was at a numerical disadvantage and seemed to be the weaker party.


    The atmosphere with the watching Dark Moon students and staff became solemn. Although they knew this battle would be tough, they never thought that Serena would lose.


    The Slenderman-like summon moved towards her. But strangely it did not walk, nor did it step like a normal being. It glided, its limbs twisting and elongating unnaturally as it slid across the ground, leaving behind an unsettling trail of dark smoke that curled into the air.


    Every shadow in the arena seemed to bend toward the creature, drawn to it as if it were a gravitational force as it moved its hands forward towards Serena''s Starweaver.


    Summoning an armor of starlight closely around itself, the resistance from the Echo seemed to somewhat reduce.


    The Starweaver flew back into the air with all its might, despite the tugging influence of the shadow that seemed to fight against its every movement. The Abyssal Echo mirrored it closely, but the starlight surrounding the Starweaver continued to flicker defiantly.


    Tobias'' creatures were relentless in their pursuit, and the Slenderman-like creature was not only a physical threat��it radiated a psychic pressure that seemed to reach directly into Serena''s mind, forcing her to focus on defending not just her body, but also her thoughts.


    But Serena''s expression remained calm as her Elemental Guardian shifted forms, the massive golem-like figure crumbling into a serpent-like form composed of water in order to keep the Scorchwing demon focused on it at bay.


    However, the mysterious rotting contract seemed to have a curse-like ability as the elemental guardian was incapable of moving beyond a small black square that appeared on the floor beneath it. Therefore, much of its energy had to be focused on repelling the two approaching contracts while it itself could not move.


    The air filled with the sharp hiss of steam as the heat from the Scorchwing Demon and the overwhelming presence of the summoned creature combined to raise the temperature to unbearable levels. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    Serena no longer hid one of her greatest trump cards. She made a signal to the Starweaver, calling forth a brilliant glow of light from the Starweaver''s wings. This was another constellation that Kain had never seen before either in person or inside of the Training Arena. However, if he knew the effect of this constellation he''d understand why it would be useless to the one in the arena.


    The constellation appeared like 2 identical stick figures holding hands, and was one of the few constellations he''d seen that somewhat resembled one from earth. Although there were slight differences, it looked incredibly similar to the Gemini twins.


    Once the "twin constellation" was called upon, a pulse of energy shot through the arena, allowing the Starweaver''s ability to activate. The surge of energy all shot towards the Elemental Guardian. Then, before everyone''s eyes, the two forms of the Elemental Guardian��water and earth��merged into a single hybrid form.


    Based on the two fused forms, the upper-half of the creature was a massive, golem-like structure, built from rough, dark stone, with jagged edges and sharp, angular pieces of stone, resembling a colossus of rock. Its arms were thick with layers of cracked rock, but the surface of the stone seemed to breathe with water seeping through the cracks, flowing like streams or rivers between the stones.


    All of these thin streams connected to a thick river of water that ran along its spine, constantly flowing with swirling, frothing currents down to its "leg" that was completely composed of water. Its bottom half was composed of a singular serpentine "leg" composed of water.


    With its rock humanoid upper-half and water serpentine lower half, it looked similar to the legendary Naga.


    However, what was even more shocking was the intense energy that it gave off. For the first time in possibly the history of the National Tournament, a contract emanating the aura of a green-grade spiritual creature was seen on a first-year stage.


    It was already impressive for a first year to have a contract reach yellow-grade. And typically only students within the top 5 colleges would have more than one yellow-grade contract in their first year. Many of the lowest-ranked colleges'' students have most of their contracts still at the red-grade, and their strongest at orange.


    Serena''s contract now jumping to green-grade after 2 of its forms were combined, was like a high-level player appearing in the newbie village��it disrupted the whole ecosystem.


    Even the opponents that were previously arrogant due to their numerical advantage unconsciously began to slowly back away due to the pressure of a creature at a higher life level.


    Of course it''s not unheard of for a group of yellow-grade creatures to hunt a green-grade one, but that''s usually a wild one that isn''t as strong or intelligent as one supported by a beast-tamer. Not to mention, with the support of Serena''s gift and the powerful Starweaver, they''d all have to focus on only the Elemental Guardian to beat it and hope that the Starweaver and Serena wouldn''t interfere��which is


    extremely


    unlikely to happen.


    To prevent the Starweaver from being targeted as the weaker threat, she directed it to fly higher while summoning a shield and armor made of starlight.


    However, despite having his initial thoughts to get rid of the Starweaver seen through, Tobias remained composed, and showed no sign of faltering. He directed the hesitating Abyssal Echo to try and restrain the movements of the hybrid.


    A new, stronger curse also fell upon the Elemental Guardian from his other contract, the rotting corpse-like spiritual creature.


    Together, they barely managed to slow down its movements, but it wasn''t nearly as great a restriction as previously.


    The Slenderman-like entity began to move again, its limbs stretching impossibly long, reaching out toward Serena''s guardian with an eerie swiftness. Its fingers were like daggers of shadow. Its limbs slithered through the air, casting the arena into deeper darkness.


    At the same time, the Scorchwing Demon bared its molten teeth, roaring as it launched itself forward, flames dancing around its wings.


    However, the Elemental Guardian was hardly fighting alone. The Starweaver, circling above like a constellation come to life, sent out a pulse of light that severed the shadows around it.


    The moment the creature recoiled, the hybrid Elemental Guardian moved in. Its stone arms grabbed the Slenderman-like summon by its thin, skeletal body, the jagged rocks digging into the dark tendrils of shadow. The creature shrieked, but it was drowned out by the sound of stone grinding against shadow. With a violent twist, the Guardian ripped the creature apart, flinging its shredded form into the air as the shadows evaporated in a burst of light from the Starweaver above. Since it wasn''t a real contract of Tobias, she wouldn''t have any reservations about killing it.


    Tobias did recoil slightly upon its death, indicating that its death wasn''t without consequence to him, but it shouldn''t be anything more than a temporary headache.


    Meanwhile, the Scorchwing Demon that was trying to approach from its blindspot and sent jets of fire toward the Guardian, wasn''t as much of a threat to the strengthened Guardian.


    The Guardian easily absorbed the heat while its water leg swept across the stage like a whip, knocking the Scorchwing Demon to the ground and dousing it in a crashing wave of liquid fury.


    The demon''s molten red skin sizzled and steamed, but it was too slow to dodge.


    The water constricted around its limbs, rendering it immobile as the stone fists of the Guardian came crashing down, breaking most of its bones in a single, crushing blow.


    The Scorchwing Demon''s wings crumpled beneath the force, its body battered and doused in a torrent of water that put out all of its flames. It collapsed completely into unconsciousness.


    Within moments, two of Tobias'' contracts were neutralized.

 Chapter 259: Chapter 259: Victory

    With the Scorchwing Demon and the underworld summon already dealt with, only the remaining two of Tobias'' infernal spiritual creatures stood between Serena and victory.Not wanting to give the enemy any more time to breathe, the Elemental Guardian''s serpentine lower half lashed out, cutting through the air like a deadly whip.


    The black tendrils of the Abyssal Echo tried to wrap around it, but the force of the attack from a creature one grade higher was difficult to resist, and the dark tendrils released by the Echo were shattered.


    The stone body of the Guardian, which had been mostly focused on brute force up until now, shifted its weight to move with a surprising amount of grace. Reaching towards the Echo, and giving it a push so strong that it would have cracked the ribs of most humans. The Abyssal Echo shrieked as its body was forcibly pushed back, its tendrils stretching in all directions like the limbs of a broken spider.


    But the Echo was not so easily defeated. It retaliated with a burst of dark energy, creating a vortex of shadow that threatened to consume everything within its grasp.


    The swirling mass of darkness tried to pull the Elemental Guardian in like a black hole, distorting the light around it. The Guardian''s movements slowed for just a fraction of a second, while the curse from Tobias'' other contract worked to restrain it as well.


    The Echo''s tendrils reached for the Guardian''s arms, dragging them down with an almost suffocating pressure. It wasn''t enough to fully hold the Guardian, but for a moment, it seemed like the tide might turn.


    However, while the stalemate between the 3 spiritual creatures was ongoing, the Starweaver flying above drew upon the power of a familiar constellation, a beam composed of starlight fell directly on the Echo, drawing its now immobile body up towards the sky.


    The Guardian took advantage of the opening, lifting its stone fist high and hammering it straight on its floating body with an explosive force.


    The punch sent shockwaves through the air as the creature''s form cracked and momentarily dispersed under the impact in a violent explosion of shadow. Thankfully, the dispersion was temporary, and its body reformed quickly, although its appearance was now visibly weaker.


    Where previously, its figure was composed of the deepest black shadows that seemed to consume all the surrounding light, now its slumped figure was a translucent grey.


    ''Only one left!''


    Kain and the others who supported Dark Moon, couldn''t help buzzing in anticipation. Winning the first match will get them one step closer to being declared the overall first-place team among the first-years.


    However, the remaining contract of Tobias was the most mysterious and the one they knew the least about. It also did not appear as intimidated by the green-grade Guardian as its teammates were.


    Indeed, at this moment, the rotting spiritual creature let out a horrific, otherworldly cackle.


    As the Elemental Guardian''s oppressive figure approached it, the rotting contract didn''t react immediately. Instead, it slowly raised one arm, and the air around it seemed devoid of any energy as if the very atmosphere was being drained of life. T


    he Guardian, still energized from its earlier victories, charged forward, its stone fist raised high. However, the moment the Guardian''s hand closed in on its target, the opponemt''s eyes flashed, and an almost imperceptible ripple seemed to pass through the arena.


    Before the Elemental Guardian could react, the rotting creature''s next curse took hold fully. The stone arm of the Guardian started to crack, as if the very earth that composed it was beginning to rot away.


    Chunks of stone flaked off the arm, turning into brittle dust that drifted into the air. The water flowing along its leg grew sluggish, as if it were losing its momentum in the face of an unseen force.


    This was one of this contracts'' most powerful curses, and the power of it was clearly exemplified by its ability to still be so effective against a green-grade spiritual creature.


    The curse, Time Decay, is a rare skill with both dark and time attributes. Although the time attribute is secondary. It causes a time distortion that results in a temporary rapid aging.


    Therefore, if Kain were struck by this curse he may take on the form of a frail old man for a period of time until the curse was either lifted or the opponent ran out of energy.


    However, despite its seemingly perverse effects, it was not limited to use by higher-level creatures because the "aging" was only temporary and completely superficial, with only physical strength being somewhat impacted by the decay due to aging. The mental strength, intelligence, spiritual power, etc. were all left intact.


    Rather than a true aging effect, it was more like an illusion of aging, and once the target''s strength surpassed a certain threshold��


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    The water flowing on its body unfroze with a violent crash reminiscent of the sound of waves hitting a cliff. The stone arms that had been rotting began to grow stronger as, with support from Serena and the Starweaver, the effect of the curse began to fade. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The guardian then summoned a wave of water to engulf the opponent. However, likely due to the minerals present in the water due to its dual earth and water attribute, the water was much heavier than normal.


    The heavy water slammed into the rotting spiritual creature with the force of a crashing tide. Its murky depths surged around its body, the minerals present in the water weighing down its limbs, creating a crushing pressure that restricted its movements.


    The creature shrieked as the oppressive liquid squeezed its form, its decaying body straining against the immense weight.


    Eventually, the thrashing spiritual creature''s movements grew sluggish, and then its body began to break apart under the pressure, its rotting limbs cracking and snapping as the weight of the heavy water pinned it down.


    Serena quickly ordered the Elemental Guardian to stop, in case it was actually killed.


    Tobias, standing in the midst of the arena surrounded by the cheers of the audience, could only watch as his final spiritual creature was defeated.


    The Dark Moon team was now one step closer to victory.

 Chapter 260: Chapter 260: End of Phase 1

    Likely due to their loss in the first battle, a frazzled professor probably sought to add Tobias and Thorian Draegor both to the 3-on-3 line-up.However, what should have been a dream team ended up suffering a defeat at the hands of Soren, Kairos and Ranya against expectations.


    Tobias'' contracts were still too exhausted and injured from his match with Serena, and he likely still sustained some backlash from the dead summon and was unable to use his gift.


    Meanwhile Thorian''s Basilisks, while powerful and could even turn enemies into stone if eye contact is made, weren''t add effective against the Dark Moon lineup.


    Due to their being a lesser dragon species, true dragons are immune to many of the basilisk''s effects, not to mention the sense of oppression through the bloodline, making it unable to display the full extent of its abilities.


    Basilisks, despite not being true dragons are extremely powerful, therefore not all dragon species are strong enough to exert pressure through the bloodline.


    However, naturally Soren as a valued member of the royal family and someone with a storm-dragon bloodline affinity, which even amongst dragons is quite a high-level bloodline, it is natural that his dragons would have this effect.


    Additionally, neither of Kairos'' contracts, a book and doll, really had the ability to make eye contact. After all, the cursed book has no eyes, and the doll''s "eyes" are really sewn on buttons and really for aesthetics with no seeing function. Like most cursed constructs the doll senses its environment in a amore abstract manor, rather than through the use of eyesight or using ears to hear like most organic creatures.


    Finally, Ranya''s contracts, with their impressive illusion abilities, not only did not fall prey to making eye-contact with the Basiliks, she even managed to craft an illusion that had it instead petrify two of its own teammates.


    Clearly, shoving the strongest Tobias and Thorian into the top 3 match had been a desperate attempt to secure a victory and force a tie-breaking match, however they had clearly never collaborated with one another and their third teammate as a group of 3, and their lack of teamwork showed.


    Their third teammate, who while not offensively strong as Tobias and Thorean, had incredibly powerful support abilities, capable of healing, providing boosts, and providing timely defense.


    However, who would have thought he''d be pitted by his own teammates'' lack of coordination and have two of his contracts turned into statues by his own teammate! S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for Soren��Kain only saw Thorian whisper something to him just as they both made their way to the stage.


    Kain was unable to hear what was said, but Soren seemed to be injected by stimulants and proceeded to attack the opponents with greater ferocity than he''d ever seen come from him.


    It wasn''t until after the match that Kairos confided than Thorian had mocked Soren as not entering First Celestial Academy because he was afraid he couldn''t cut it in the competition at their school and that he was destined to always be the loser younger Lysander always living in the more talented Cassian''s shadow.


    The words weren''t even directed at Kain and he felt like he wanted to slap Thorian, much less Soren who was the actual subject of the mocking.


    So after exhausting what felt like 200% of his energy to beat Thorian''s contracts into a half-dead state that one of the referees even had to step in to stop, the 3-vs-3 match between Dark Moon and First Celestial ended in Dark Moon''s (bloody) victory.


    After this victory Dark Moon was crowned the final winner of the first-years and granted 100 points.


    Additionally, the third years secured their second place ranking with their victory against Supernova.


    Therefore, Dark Moon was entering Phase Two with 370 points.


    Unfortunately, with two second place rankings (first and fourth year) and two first place rankings (second and third year), First Celestial was entering phase Two with 380 points and still had a lead over them.


    Kain and the others headed back to the hotel in an exhausted yet jubilant mood. The tournament no longer had anything to do with themselves, they had done the most that they could and had even exceeded the expectations of the staff by getting first for their year. The final ranking of the school was now up to the following performance of Captain Ezra and the other representatives as the school''s strongest 5 individuals.


    *Ding*


    *Congratulations to the Host for completing the following Hidden Missions��*


    Kain was lying in bed just about to dose off, when he was jolted awake by the System notification. All signs of sleepiness disappeared from his face as he peaked over at his roommate Kairos to ensure that he was asleep and wouldn''t notice anything amiss.


    Thankfully, heavy breathing and faint snores were all that greeted him as he looked to the other side of the room.


    Excited, Kain opened the full System notification.


    *Congratulations to the Host for accomplishing the following Hidden Missions:*


    *Representing Dark Moon College as a top 5 student of your grade level��1000 GP*


    *Help Dark Moon''s first-year team achieve a ranking within the top 3 (Rewards variable based on performance)��First-place team within year-level, granted 5000 GP*


    *Bonus points based on general performance assessment: The Host played a key role in several difficult battles. However, the quantity of battles was lacking and no role was played in the final match of the tournament. Therefore the grade granted it��''


    B''


    and 3000 GP are rewarded*


    Kain couldn''t help wincing at the final assessment. Although he had played a crucial role in defeating several tough opponents like being responsible for facing Elysara from Lunaris Vale, and Nikolai from Supernova, since the professors had adopted the strategy of concealing Kain and Serena''s strength for majority of the competition, the vast majority of the matches were represented by Soren, Ranya, and/or Kairos.


    However, if he''d known that there was this kind of mission and hidden assessment conducted by the System, he would have been more proactive in volunteering for matches, rather than having Soren pick up all of the small-fry matches. He couldn''t help but lament the B-rating, while vowing to be more proactive in the future. Stay updated via M V L


    Still the extra GP was a welcome gift considering the next system upgrade was a long way away and required 100,000 points��

 Chapter 261: Chapter 261: The Top 5 of Dark Moon College

    *Contribute to Dark Moon College increasing in ranking��mission in progress, reward variable based on the final ranking of Dark Moon College*Kain looked at the final mission regarding the National Tournament that could possibly give him rewards. However, likely because the final results of Phase Two were not yet out, the rewards couldn''t be issued since Dark Moon College having an increase in ranking wasn''t official yet.


    After playing around and celebrating with the majority of the other Dark Moon students who no longer needed to compete in the tournament, they went to bed.


    However, it would be a long night for the top 5 students with the strongest combat ability across the entire school who were assigned to represent the school in Phase Two.


    The first of which, was the undisputed strongest student from Dark Moon and the Captain of the representative team��Ezra Vauss. Kain hadn''t seen his contracts since the beast-tide, and at that time he''d only revealed 5 despite being a newly upgraded 6-star beast-tamer.


    Based on the most recent information he had shared with the college so that the staff could to create suitable strategies, he now had 6 spiritual creatures at a level strong enough to be used in battle.


    At the time of the beast-tide, 2 of his 5 contracts were green-grade, however after a long period of intensive training, all of his contracts now had blue-grade spiritual power.


    However, unfortunately, none of his contracts had made the leap to having indigo-spiritual power.


    Although it only seems like a difference of one grade from blue to indigo, or from 6-stars to 7-stars, this is a blockade that has prevented thousands of beast-tamers and their contracts from advancing.


    There is a reason that 6-star beast tamers with blue spiritual power are only considered middle-level, while those 7-star ones with indigo spiritual power are considered high-level beast-tamers.


    The difference in strength with that one step between both levels was greater than the sum of all previous levels combined. As was the difficulty in breaking through to that level. The breakthrough to indigo-grade is also the first time when a failed breakthrough can directly result in death, rather than just injury or even crippling.


    Therefore, while it was common for fourth, and even third-year students, within the top colleges to reach blue-grade spiritual power, an indigo-grade contract hadn''t been seen in decades within the college tournament.


    In addition to Captain Ezra, the second strongest Vice Captain Ravi was also an undisputed representative for the school, with 4 blue-grade spiritual creatures and 1 green-grade contract already known to Kain and the others. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He had advanced to being a 6-star beast-tamer around the time of the beast-tide, however Kain didn''t know if he''d found a suitable sixth contract yet. At least no sixth contract was ever revealed in the training.


    However, considering the importance the college attaches to this competition, it was certain that they wouldn''t spare any effort in finding him an additional contract that perfectly suited his needs��that was the benefit of being a highly-valued member of the team representing the school.


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    Ravi has an extremely versatile affinity to insect-type spiritual creatures. Therefore, it wouldn''t be difficult for the school to find him a spiritual creature with high potential that he could form a contract with. The only question would be if it was currently at a high enough level and had enough tacit understanding with Ravi to make a beneficial addition to his lineup.


    Surprisingly, the third strongest individual within the school is considered to be the third-year Jade. Despite only being in her third-year, was infinitely close to breaking through to the 6-stars, and also 4 of her 5 contracts were all blue-grade.


    Originally, Kain had doubted her ranking so high as a third year, but after witnessing her fight first hand during the beast-tide and the team training that they''d participated in for the past couple of months, Kain had to acknowledge that she was as talented as she was annoying.


    At one point Kain had thought that her incessant ability to chatter and ask invasive questions was related to some kind of mental-attribute gift she had. But it is actually just her personality.


    Her ability was actually quite powerful and useful in battle. Similar to her younger green-haired sibling who is only in his second year and one of the top student healers in the school due to possessing a healing gift and several contracts with a healing-ability, Jade''s gift allows her to provide a powerful regenerative effect to her contracts.


    Kain had witnessed for himself how her contracts were practically no different from the undead during training, capable of regrowing limbs, healing severe wounds within moments.


    Heck, in battle with her the others have grown so accustomed to not pulling their punches that they regularly used killing moves during the training. In one memorable spar, Ezra''s contract had actually damaged the head of one of Jade''s contracts so severely that its brain matter was seen splattering on the floor and one two-thirds of its head was missing.


    However, while it took a little longer, even an injury that severe was recovered from within a couple of minutes. From what Kain heard the only side-effect seeming to be some memory loss due to the lost brain matter.


    Clearly, due to her gift not only is conversing with her exhausting but even fighting with her was extremely tiring��


    More annoying for the opponent is that this seemingly overpowered skill doesn''t even seem to use much of her spiritual power.


    Likely as a consequence of this powerful gift, most of her contracts are not naturally defensively strong and instead focus on having powerful offensive abilities. Considering that an damage would be recovered in a few moments time, and killing them would practically require destroying their entire body at once, the choice to choose contracts that neglect defense in favor of offensive is somewhat understandable.


    Although Kain wasn''t sure about the exact details of her affinity, he did know that every single one of her contracts involved some kind of big cat��lions, tigers, jaguars. Under the influence of her gift, they all had a tendency to attack with great ferocity, not caring about any potential damage to themselves.

 Chapter 262: Chapter 262: The Top 5 of Dark Moon College (2)

    The fourth representative for the school was a fourth-year girl named Venessa, who Kain was the least familiar with. He hadn''t had much opportunity to interact with her in the past and even during the beast-tide she was consistently located at a further distance away from them, therefore he''d only gotten a sense for how strong she was within the past couple of months.The reason that Venessa kept a distance from them all during the beast-tide was due to her contracts all being poisonous��likely the poison-attribute being a necessary requirement of her affinity.


    Not to mention she herself rarely stays within close proximity to others due to the nature of her gift.


    Honestly, when Kain had first heard about her gift, while he admired its powerful abilities, he also couldn''t help but feel extremely sorry for her.


    She has the unique ability to purify and strengthen her contracts'' poisons so that they are several times more deadly than their wild counterparts. However, the method by which she does this requires for her contracts to first inject their poisons into her. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, she doesn''t immediately have immunity to all poisons, when encountering a poison for the first time, while her gift ensures that it won''t kill her, she has to suffer through all of the effects of the poison as at it brings her to the brink of death before her body can resist it.


    However, after her body assimilates the poison it then becomes like a natural component of her bloodstream and she is able to recover normally.


    However, as the poison, now a normal part of her blood, cycles through her body, her organs help to purify and strengthen it. If this blood is then fed to the original creator of a poison in her blood, its body will inherently pick up on the improvements and strengthen its poison to match the fed poisonous blood��even if said poison includes poisons from other spiritual creatures.


    Therefore, unlike other members of their species, all of Venessa''s contracts have the same deadly combination of poisons that flows through her veins. Moreover, due to having to assimilate all of these poisons within her, Venessa herself is extremely deadly to most humans.


    If some of her extremely poisonous blood, spit, or tears somehow lands on an unsuspecting classmate, they''d be done for.


    While much effort had been made by the top researchers within the college to develop an antidote so that she could participate in the competition, the poison is still so strong that it could cause some side effects for up to a year, even with a cure.


    Therefore, Venessa is doomed to leave an extremely lonely life, with only her immune spiritual creatures able to keep her company.


    Finally, the last representative of Dark Moon was between Theo and Dmitri in the third-year, and Edward among the fourth-years.


    Up until mere weeks before the tournament the final spot was constantly rotating between them since the gap in strength among them wasn''t significant.


    However, eventually it was decided, that the fourth-year Edward would be the final representative by the staff. However, it was unknown if they thought he was actually stronger, if it was because he was more emotionally steady, or if it was because this would be his final opportunity to represent the school as a fourth-year.


    Therefore, Jade was confirmed to be the only third-year in the lineup.


    With three blue-grade spiritual creatures, the same amount as Jade and Venessa, Edward didn''t stand out within the lineup The most memorable thing about him was his impressive hulking figure that would even dwarf Bridge.


    He was relatively slow in cultivating spiritual power, surprisingly being even slower than most of the third-years in the top 5 at breaking through to 5-stars.


    However, this was because it was found that he had a unique constitution that would absorb part of his spiritual power while cultivating and use it to strengthen his body. Therefore, despite being a human, his physique wasn''t weaker than many blue-grade spiritual creatures even without the use of a relevant gift.


    Thankfully, he was able to keep his spot within the top 5 despite being among the slowest fourth-years at cultivating due to the diligence of his contracts who, knowing the weakness of their master, trained twice as hard.


    Therefore, while he was still a four-star beast tamer he was able to defeat most 5-star beast tamers who had 5 contracts at uneven levels of strength, with 4 peak, heavily trained green-grade spiritual creatures.


    Following this pattern of diligently making up for his weaknesses, within a weak of him advancing to 5-stars, three broke through to blue-grade, almost as if they were just waiting for their lagging master to catch up��.


    The other two could also probably break-through within the next couple of months and instantly bring him to one of the top 3 of the school, if the tournament was held a little later.


    After the top 5 was settled they began the battle strategies targeted at their opponents for the upcoming rounds.


    Only colleges that placed within the top 16 in Phase One are eligible to participate in Phase Two, therefore they didn''t need to collect information on all participating colleges.


    However, all top 16 colleges would be participating in a round-robin format to get the most accurate ranking of each college.


    Therefore, despite some teams within the top 16 like Nebula Taming getting lucky enough to scrape through to the top 8 for a single year due to good luck in the match-ups, no such thing would be occurring in Phase Two.


    However, despite the fact that all colleges would eventually face one another, it has been arranged for fights between members of the top 5 colleges to be arranged for the last two days of Phase Two.


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    The way in which Phase Two works is that 5 students from each school will fight against the opposing school individually, with all of their spiritual creatures being allowed to be summoned. Therefore, in Phase Two, the numerical advantages of 6-star students will be more clearly highlighted.


    Since it is a "King of the Hill" format, the winning participant after each battle can choose to remain on the stage or give up the stage to a teammate after each round. But once they step off of the stage, they are not able to return.


    As a result, every year has the humiliating example of a single person managing to defeat an entire team of 5 on their own.

 Chapter 263: Chapter 263: The Start of Phase Two

    The strategy for Phase Two of the competition was similar to that of Phase One for most teams��unless it couldn''t be avoided, the strongest individuals on each team would not appear.Therefore, even after several matches, neither Ezra nor Ravi had made a move yet.


    In fact, Dark Moon actually probably had one of the easiest times advancing through the competition. For those teams lower in the ranking, Edward was able to handle three or four of the opponents without getting too tired. Occasionally, managing to get rid of whole teams on his own.


    However, the true key to the ease with which they advanced was probably Venessa.


    One match.


    It only took


    one match


    for Venessa and her contracts to build an infamous reputation as living toxins.


    After one of her opponents had had all of his contracts poisoned, and the antidote administered, it was found that all of them were still not in a good enough condition to continue competing. No amount of elixirs and healing skills would improve their condition in time before the tournament ended��forcing the rest of his team to continue with only four, since substitutions are not allowed. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That student was forced out of the competition after just meeting Venessa once, so from that moment on, an interesting phenomenon was seen whenever Venessa took to the stage.


    "We abstain!"


    "We give up!"


    "We would like to concede the remaining matches��"


    Venessa, despite only really fighting once, managed to be in the top ranks for the most amount of wins within the tournament since all of the remaining opponents she would have to face always gave up without a fight.


    Of course, this was only possible because the opponents were outside of the top 5, they had no hope of actually defeating Dark Moon or ranking within the top 5. Their priorities were to secure a ranking outside of the top 5 as high as possible.


    But if they fought with her and she ended up removing some of the contestants completely from the tournament, they would have to face the remaining matches at a huge disadvantage.


    Why would they fight with her and cripple themselves over a match they hadn''t planned to win in the first place? For pride? What use is pride when your entire college''s funds and resources are cut for a year due to a lower ranking.


    Just look at the school that had one boy unable to continue due to her! They were originally ranked 11th and had high hopes of being able to increase their ranking this year due to a talented lineup.


    After defeating the higher-ranked 9th and 7th-place teams, it did seem like this dream could be realized��


    However, all of these dreams were brought to a screeching halt by that damn woman!


    Since only being able to continue with four members they''d even lost to the lowest ranked 16th placed team!


    If they are lucky, their earlier wins against stronger schools still might help them to preserve a relatively decent ranking and not drop too far beneath their current 11th placed ranking, but if not��


    The lead professor of the 11th ranked college shuddered at the thought of what awaited him once he went back to face their iron-blooded Chancellor. The same Chancellor that tied up all staff and students who represented the school in the one year they had dropped outside of the top 20, and hung them outside of the school gates to shame them for a week�� Stay updated through M V L


    Watching the other colleges learn from their miserable defeat and resolutely giving up whenever Venessa took the stage, he couldn''t help his face turning red with hatred.


    Cowards!


    But he knew that he was just upset that nobody was taking the initiative to jump down to join him in the pit he''d already sunk into.


    Therefore, by the time only 4 matches were left in Phase Two (all against the other top 5 colleges), Dark Moon hadn''t had to reveal much of any of its strength.


    Jade, Ravi, and Ezra hadn''t had to fight even once, and Venessa after one relatively easy battle, won by just climbing the stage��


    That was until the match against Frozen Sun.


    The difference between students in and outside of the top 5 colleges was apparent from the first match.


    Frozen Sun had invested much of their resources into the younger generation, preferring to invest in the future and achieve a ranking within the top 3 in two to three years, instead of right now.


    However, even despite their third and fourth years being considered as the weakest within the top 5 colleges, not one of their students shied away from Venessa��nor did they need to.


    It just so happens that ice-attribute spiritual creatures are among the least susceptible to poisons, and with the college''s rich heritage and resources, the top 5 students of Frozen Sun would naturally have multiple means of dealing with Venessa.


    Bam!


    A giant fist made of ice landed heavily on the body of a neon-green serpent�� one of Venessa''s contracts.


    Naturally, the surrounding spiritual creatures attempted to retaliate, but even with the various effects of their poisons��not only capable of causing illness, but capable of corrosion and intense heat as well��barely any damage was done to the fist. Clearly, the black ice composing the opponent''s ice golem was exceptional in hardiness.


    Similarly, one of the few of the opponent''s spiritual creatures that was squishy enough to be bit or scratched by Venessa''s simply froze the infected area and continued on as if nothing had happened. But despite the ease with which this was done, very few creatures at the blue-grade level could create ice at a low enough temperature to achieve this effect��not that everyone watching realized how difficult this feat was.


    Those watching from other teams couldn''t help but be stunned. Their faces then began to blush at the stinging and disdainful eyes of the audience. If that inhumane combination of poisons could be so easily frozen, wouldn''t they have done that?!


    Frozen Sun so easily handling her was making them all look bad, dammit!

 Chapter 264: Chapter 264: The Cunning of Frozen Sun

    The fight between Venessa and her Frozen Sun opponent ended a lot sooner than was expected. However, it can be mostly attributed to the excellent strategic lineup of the Frozen Sun staff, they knew which of their students would have the most advantageous time against her, and chose to have him go first.Moreover, since only 3 contracts at a time could be summoned in Phase One, Dark Moon hadn''t known that this particular participant would be so difficult for Venessa to handle since this ice golem and another powerful contract weren''t revealed in Phase One, nor did he participate in any of the earlier Phase Two matches. sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Did they intentionally not reveal much of their strength in Phase One to bank on a higher ranking in Phase Two?


    If so, Kain had to admire their guts. If anything went wrong and Frozen Sun had a lackluster performance in both phases, they may be the subject of unfavorable public scrutiny.


    Although being part of the top 5 colleges comes with many privileges and resources, it also comes with a lot of pressure. Kain vaguely remembered the adults in his hometown ranting about Starfire College losing a single match in Phase One against a "no-name school" many years ago.


    Of course, that "no-name school" was Black Star College, which has consistently held a rank between 6 and 7 for decades, but the fact that Starfire dared to lose to a school outside of the top 5 was a great source of shame for all the people of the Southern region at the time.


    Therefore, for Frozen Sun to gamble with their Phase One rankings like this to maybe perform better in Phase Two was risky��


    However, despite the critiques over their strategy, it couldn''t be denied that their choice to conceal their strength in Phase One has led to Dark Moon being completely out strategized.


    They knew much more about the Dark Moon participants than Dark Moon knew about theirs.


    Kain and the audience all admired the tactical ability of Frozen Sun, and they couldn''t help but wonder about their performance in the following matches.


    Suddenly the team that was expected to safely come in at fifth was showing its fangs and showing that it was aiming for a higher ranking this year.


    They secured 2 higher rankings than usual for the first- and second-years in Phase One, and while limiting their strength revealed for the upper years in Phase One resulted in lower rankings for the third- and fourth-years, it increased the likelihood of attaining a better rank in Phase Two.


    Dark Moon had sent Venessa first in order to secure a strong start, but now they''d lost one match, while their opponents still had 5 participants. Moreover, the boy on stage didn''t even appear too tired.


    Jade took to the stage following Venessa''s defeat. Many of the members of Dark Moon shifted in their seats while watching, knowing that they should get comfortable since they would probably be in for a long and tiring match.


    On one side was Jade with her perverted regenerative ability that tired out all of her opponents, if they weren''t injured by her offensively powerful contracts.


    On the other side was the student from Frozen Sun, Axel Berg, whose contracts had an extremely formidable defense.


    Both sides were used to battles of attrition as their enemies could seldom hurt them enough to cause a quick defeat.


    Jade took the stage under the excited gazes of the audience, summoning all 5 of her contracts��3 blue-grade, and 2 green-grade.


    Surprisingly, she and Axel were perfectly matched with 3 blue-grade, and 2 green-grade spiritual creatures each.


    Standing at the center of the formation on Jade''s side was the blue-grade Shadowstrike Jaguar, Jade''s initial contract. The dark-attribute jaguar had a sleek, muscular frame covered in dark fur that allowed it to blend into the shadows with ease. Its glowing amber eyes exude intelligence and predatory focus, while watching their opponents.


    To its left was a blue-grade massive tiger with striking orange fur and yellow, jagged stripes that looked like lightning bolts��the lightning-attribute Thunderfang Tiger. Its raw power was apparent in its muscular form, as well as based on its claws and fangs that crackled with electrical energy.


    To the right of the central Shadowstrike Jaguar, was the dual Earth and Fire attribute Earthshatter Lion, and Jade''s last blue-grade contract. It had a golden, thick mane and muscular body that exuded strength and authority. Its amber eyes burned with a fierce, commanding presence, and its slow and deliberate march forward brought an intimidating feeling. movements are slow, deliberate, and incredibly powerful.


    The remaining two contracts that stood on each end were green-grade: a Viperfang Lioness whose claws and fangs secreted a paralyzing venom useful for when hunting prey; and a Windstrike cheetah whose body was built for speed.


    Jade wasted no time. The Shadowstrike Jaguar sprang forward, its dark body blending with the shadows as it streaked across the arena, its amber eyes glowing fiercely as it launched a deadly flurry of claw strikes toward Axel''s Ice-Golem. The Ice-Golem, made of black ice, stood motionless, its impenetrable form absorbing the hits with a resounding screech like nails on a chalkboard


    "Ugh!" Many in the audience couldn''t help flinching at the unpleasant noise.


    However, even the jaguar''s clearly powerful body, couldn''t break its defenses.


    On the other side, the Thunderfang Tiger let loose a terrifying roar that echoed through the arena, the sound crackling with the energy of Lightning. It pounced toward Axel''s ice-attribute fox, which responded with a chilling burst of cold energy, aiming to freeze the tiger''s path.


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    But the Thunderfang Tiger was faster. In a blinding flash, it sidestepped the blast and unleashed a bolt of Lightning from its claws, surging through the air to strike the Ice-Fox, sending the creature skittering back in a puff of steam.


    At the same time, a rare Frost-Warden Behemoth, equal to the ice golem in height, but even broader in girth, had an icy wall surge up from the ground, blocking the Earthshatter Lion powerful assault.


    Meanwhile, Axel''s remaining green-grade spiritual creatures: a Frozen Bloodhound and an Icecargot, that looks like a blue snail, met their respective green-grade opponents on Jade''s side.


    Looking at the evenly matched pairings, Kain could tell that they''d be in for a long match��

 Chapter 265: Chapter 265: Defeat Frozen Sun!

    One hour!Kain''s mouth stretch open into a wide yawn as the match''s length was now approaching one hour without either side suffering from extensive injuries.


    The match had dragged on far longer than anyone had anticipated, and yet, neither side had managed to land a decisive blow.


    The blue-grade participants had exchanged partners several times, but��


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    Kain looked at the field where the Earthshatter Lion had switched its opponent again and was was now holding off the Ice Golem. However, despite the strength of its blow and the fire-attribute energy on its claws��


    "Not even a scratch," Kain muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing in concentration. The golem''s ice-like skin was practically invulnerable, a testament to how much resources had been poured into the contract since the defense of the average Ice Golem was not nearly as high. Its body was forged from the most resilient ice, and no matter how hard the Earthshatter Lion''s fiery claws raked across it, it was as if they were striking a mountain.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Jade''s Shadowstrike Jaguar was now moving in and out of the shadows as it stalked and sought to ambush the most squishy looking Ice Fox.


    The fox had proven far more agile and resilient than anyone could have predicted, especially considering how small and seemingly fragile it appeared. Many had expected it to fall in the first few minutes, but here it was, holding its ground��its icy coat shimmering like a fine mist of frost, providing not only speed but also impressive protection.


    Kain was extremely impressed by the resilience of the little fox, and had been sure it would be eliminated the fastest, but it had now been an hour and it was still going strong.


    It was fast, flexible, and not so easy for even the assassin-like Shadowstrike Jaguar to successfully land a hit on. Especially since its senses seemed to be several times more sensitive compared to the average contract.


    Each time the jaguar lunged, attempting to tear into its foe with razor-sharp claws, the fox responded with bursts of freezing energy that would halt the jaguar mid-air. Its keen senses allowed it to react faster than Jade''s beast could anticipate, and with every shadow strike, the fox''s ice mist shielded it, nullifying the blows. Even when the jaguar''s claws did manage to land, they simply slid off the fox''s armor, leaving it unharmed.


    However, no damage was done to the fox since an armor composed of icy mist had surrounded itself at the last moment. It also created an additional wall of ice to impede the jaguar''s subsequent actions towards it.


    The jaguar growled in frustration, retreating into the shadows only to reappear in another attempt to flank the fox.


    The fox wasn''t nearly as sturdy as the golem, but its speed and control over ice allowed it to weather the storm, healing and shielding itself as its opponent circled, waiting for an opening.


    Meanwhile, Frost-Warden Behemoth, a titan of ice and power, stomped the ground, sending icy shards up like spears. Jade''s Thunderfang Tiger had to leap back to avoid being impaled by the barrage of ice spikes. Yet, as Jade''s tiger retreated, its fur flared with static electricity, and it let out a guttural roar, shaking the air around them and sending a barrage of lightning strikes at the enemy.


    Still, the Frost-Warden Behemoth stood tall, its status as having the second strongest defense on Axel''s team being put on full display.


    Crack!


    The audience no longer even flinched in sympathy when seeing Jade''s contracts injured. Looking at the Windstrike cheetah that had just had its two hind legs shattered by the Behemoth while passing by, before the Behemoth was once again preoccupied by its same-level opponent, nobody felt anything anymore.


    And true to the audience''s relaxed attitude to the severe injury, within moments its legs were both intact and it ran off to harass those enemies locked in battle at the same speed as before.


    Axel''s contracts were equally as annoying. The Icecargot, Axel''s green-grade contract, its thick, indestructible shell had proven almost impervious to the relentless onslaught of Jade''s other creatures. The Viperfang Lioness had bitten and clawed at its shell for minutes without making any noticeable progress, the venom it released simply running off the Icecargot''s icy surface like water.


    Fed up with the snail, the Viperfang had tried its luck with the Frozen Bloodhound who looked more soft compared to the heavily armored snail.


    However, Jade''s Viperfang Lioness, though venomous, had not been able to incapacitate the Bloodhound, whose frozen blood literally froze any poison or toxin that entered its system. Jade had expected the Bloodhound to fall within minutes, but after every attack, its frozen blood simply halted the spread of the venom, and it continued to fight as fiercely as ever.


    The whole arena seemed locked in a tense, unrelenting stalemate. Each side had come to a standstill, trading blows that never seemed to land with full force.


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    Much of the audience was now beginning to dose off due to the protracted war.


    Kain sighed heavily while watching the spectacle.


    ''This is ridiculous. When are they going to get to the part where someone actually wins?''


    Jade''s face was set in determination as she swept her gaze across the battlefield, calculating her next move. Her spiritual creatures were starting to show signs of exhaustion, despite their regenerative abilities, each failed strike was still draining their stamina.


    It was time to change the tempo.


    Jade sent her Windstrike Cheetah to assist her Shadowstrike Jaguar in flanking Axel''s Ice Fox.


    The Windstrike Cheetah, its body a blur of speed, zipped through the battlefield, its speed and agility making it difficult for Axel''s Ice-Fox to keep up. However, their gap in level didn''t make it too much of a threat. Although it was an annoying distraction, and its main role was to help create openings for the Shadowstrike Jaguar��or so Axel and those watching assumed.


    Momentarily freed from its stalemate with the Ice Fox, the jaguar left its position. In one swift movement, it leapt, sinking its claws deep into the unsuspecting Bloodhound''s side. The green-grade spiritual creatures had been using extra caution to avoid the higher-level opponents, but it hadn''t expected the Jaguar who was just preoccupied with the fox to appear before it.


    For the first time in the match, a contract on Axel''s side was heavily wounded, and Jade knew that this was her chance to press forward.

 Chapter 266: Chapter 266: Defeat Frozen Sun! (2)

    Jade knew that now was her moment to turn the tide.Her Shadowstrike Jaguar, moments ago locked in a tense battle with Axel''s Ice Fox, had finally found an opportunity to knock out one of the opponents.


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    After what seemed like an eternity of near-misses and frustration, the jaguar had stealthily moved from the shadows, the calculated predator now poised for a direct attack. The Ice Fox, distracted by the flashing blur of the Windstrike Cheetah, hadn''t seen the danger until it was too late and was unable to warn its ally.


    With a brutal, fluid leap, the Shadowstrike Jaguar''s claws dug deep into the Frozen Bloodhound''s side��its razor-sharp talons finding purchase in the beast''s softer underbelly. The Bloodhound''s surprise yelp echoed through the arena, but the jaguar wasn''t about to let it go so easily.


    At the direction of Jade, the jaguar simply dug its claws in deeper as it struggled instead of immediately removing them. The jaguar''s grip prevented the Bloodhound from healing, from freezing the blood to slow the bleeding, or from generating any defensive layer of ice between it and the jaguar.


    The Bloodhound was held to the ground, pressed by the Jaguar''s weight, and as it struggled to rise it only made the damage caused by the lodged claws even more severe.


    The arena fell deathly silent, save for the wet, sickening splashes of the Bloodhound''s frozen blood spilling onto the stone floor. Its once-pristine, ice-blue fur was stained red as it struggled, but there was no escape. Jade''s jaguar stood tall over it, its amber eyes glowing with dark satisfaction. The Bloodhound''s movements slowed, its strength drained, the battle lost.


    It was now 4 to 5��advantage Dark Moon.


    Jade didn''t waste a moment. She pressed the advantage.


    The Windstrike Cheetah, using its speed and wind manipulation, began creating gusts of wind that circled around its own body. These gusts surged like a mini-tornado around the fox as the Cheetah kicked up a trail of snow, stone, dust, and ice from the arena floor��obscuring the vision of the ice fox.


    After confirming that it wouldn''t be re-entering the fray, the jaguar abandoned its hold on the Bloodhound.


    In the blink of an eye, its shadowy form melding with the darkness as it stealthily moved to the fox. The fox had no time to react, not with the Windstrike Cheetah creating whirlwinds of distraction in its wake.


    Appearing from the tornado to its right, the cheetah concentrated all of its power to launch a heavy blow on the fox. However, the fox was able to materialize a shield to the right to block the attack.


    However, the cheetah was merely fulfilling its role of diversion, ad at the same time from the opposite direction appeared the jaguar.


    With a sharp crack, the jaguar''s claws found their mark, raking across the Ice Fox''s side, once again it adopted the strategy of leaving its claws embedded in the target��especially since the fox is even more adept at healing and creating armor on itself than the Bloodhound.


    However, it was also much stronger than its ally, and taking advantage of all the wind created by the cheetah, it increased the power of the wind and also added hundreds of sharp blades of ice in the swirling tornado that continuously attacked the jaguar.


    Although the jaguar could easily heal from the injuries, that didn''t mean it didn''t feel the pain caused by them. Its concentration broken by the sharp ice shards constantly slicing it, it ended up unconsciously letting go of the fox. Capitalizing on the opportunity, it immediately tried to flee the area.


    However, unfortunately waiting for it was the Thunderfang Tiger, who had been momentarily free from its scuffle with the Behemoth due to the swift Cheetah zipping around it as a distraction. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a mighty roar, the Thunderfang Tiger leapt forward. Its powerful, muscular frame crackled with electricity as it launched itself at the Ice Fox. Before the fox could even begin to shield itself, a bolt of lightning shot from the tiger''s claws, surging through the air and striking the fox with such intensity that its body locked up, paralyzed from the sudden shock.


    The Ice Fox''s form sagged, its body twitching as the lightning coursed through it. It collapsed to the ground with a final yelp, unable to rise again.


    Jade let out a breath of relief, but there was no time to dwell on the victory. Axel''s remaining beasts��Frost-Warden Behemoth, Ice-Golem, and Icecargot��were still on the battlefield, and they were not to be underestimated.


    However, unlike the powerful innate defense of the Ice Golem and Icecargot which doesn''t consume any spiritual power to maintain, the ice shields and armor that the Behemoth could maintain to boost its defense relatively easily, still consumed some spiritual power. Usually the amount is negligible, but this high-intensity battle had been going on for around an hour now, therefore its previously impenetrable defenses were no longer as tough.


    Despite the Behemoth''s seemingly impenetrable defenses, Jade could sense the cracks beginning to show. The Behemoth''s movements were slowing, its towering form becoming sluggish with each step.


    With a deep, rumbling roar, the Earthshatter Lion charged at the Behemoth. The massive titan attempted to create an ice barrier in front of itself, but the Lion was faster��its fiery claws slashed through the ice, each strike turning the frozen pillars into steam.


    The Frost-Warden Behemoth attempted to retaliate with a powerful swipe of its own, but the Earthshatter Lion dodged easily, its agility belying its size. With another strike, the Lion landed a powerful blow, the heat from its fiery claws melting through the Behemoth''s ice armor, weakening its once-impenetrable defenses.


    The Behemoth staggered back, its massive frame groaning under the pressure of the attack. Axel''s giant ice-beast tried to summon more ice to regenerate its shattered defenses, but it was too late.


    With a final, devastating roar, the Earthshatter Lion leapt forward, its claws piercing the Behemoth''s chest, the fire from its claws being pumped into the core of its body continuously.


    The Behemoth let out a deafening scream in agony as the scorch heat ripped through its body, before collapsing to the ground in an exhausted and steaming heap.


    Seeing that it had no more energy for further resistance, the claws were promptly removed to prevent killing the Behemoth.


    Jade allowed herself a single, triumphant breath. One more down. Two left.


    The Viperfang Lioness'' venomous fangs had been ineffective against the Icecargot''s defenses. The green-grade snail''s thick, frosty shell had proven difficult to penetrate. But Jade had a plan.


    The Thunderfang Tiger, finally freed of its duty of holding off the blue-grade opponents, could finally pay attention to the snail with their numerical advantage.


    It darted around the snail''s shell, staying just out of range of the Icecargot''s defensive slime and sharp spines. Then, with a sudden, forceful leap, the tiger forcefully struck the Icecargot''s shell from the side, sending a shockwave through the snail''s body. An deafening electrical hum began to resonate through the shell, considering that snails hear by sensing vibrations with their entire bodies, the sensation must have been unbearable.


    The Icecargot''s defenses momentarily faltered as the vibration forced it to move slightly out of its shell, a defensive response to the sudden shock. The shell shifted, the snail''s body becoming exposed for a brief, vulnerable instant.


    Capitalizing on that brief instant, the Viperfang Lioness lying in wait leapt with precision. It sank its venomous fangs deep into the exposed soft flesh of the Icecargot, biting down with all the force it could muster.


    The shell had protected the snail from most of the earlier strikes, but now the Lioness''s venom began to spread rapidly throughout the creature''s body, and causing it to be paralyzed while exposed from its shell''s protection.


    The Icecargot writhed, its body stiffening and convulsing as the venom took hold. With one last twitch, the snail collapsed, its body succumbing to the venomous attack.


    Jade allowed herself a single, triumphant breath. Only one left.


    With Axel''s Frost-Warden Behemoth and Icecargot dispatched, only the Ice Golem, Axel''s final blue-grade contract remained.


    Jade''s gaze never left the hulking, impenetrable form of the Ice Golem that stood resolute at the center of the battlefield. Its thick armor of ice was unyielding, and even her contracts'' most powerful attacks had done little to dent it.


    The Thunderfang Tiger, its body still crackling with residual electricity from earlier, leapt forward, its paws slamming into the ground with a burst of energy. The air around the beast hummed with static, the electrical energy gathering as it prepared to strike. The Tiger released a bolt of lightning that crackled toward the Golem, hoping to overload its ice defenses.


    But as the lightning struck the Golem, the ice simply absorbed the energy, causing no visible damage. Jade gritted her teeth in frustration. Until finally her eyes glinted with realization.


    The Golem''s defense is a fortress, and no direct attack is going to break through it... Jade''s mind raced


    . ''But what if we don''t need to break the ice?''


    Since she couldn''t crack its defense, she would give up on doing so; after all, as a golem it has one clear weakness��its core.


    Using the Earthshatter Lion to manipulate the ground and destabilize the golem. With a push from both the Windstrike Cheetah, the Viperfang Lioness, and the Thunderfang Tiger at its back, the golem was pushed to the ground.


    The Thunderfang Tiger sent massive amounts of electricity through the Golem''s prone body. However, the electricity caused no damage. However the lightning wasn''t aimed at the surface��it was designed to travel through the Golem''s icy form, searching for its internal core, the source of its energy.


    With the information transmitted through her contract, Jade directed the Shadowstrike Jaguar on the location of the core.


    Since its defenses couldn''t be penetrated to target the core, instead the faint shadow the core cast within the body will be capitalized upon and used to launch an attack by the Jaguar.


    However, due to the many shadows cast by the chunks of ice composing the body, the jaguar needed the precise location of the core in order for the plan to work.


    The Golem let out a deafening roar, the sound echoing through the arena, but Jade could see the signs��its core was struggling to maintain its power as it was enveloped by dark energy and disconnected from the rest of the body.


    Finally the Golem slumped weakly to the ground��she had won.

 Chapter 267: Chapter 267: The Benefits of Concealing Strength

    After the long drawn-out battle, Jade''s contracts, while not injured, were too exhausted to persist for long in the following round.Thankfully, since Axel was one of the most difficult students to deal with at Frozen Sun, majority of the remaining matches were able to be handled by Edward, until the opposing side''s captain took to the stage. However, Ravi was able to dispatch the opposing captain without his contracts suffering too much and after a night of healing and rest they were as good as new the following day for their match against Supernova College. Your journey continues at M V L Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Supernova, like Frozen Sun, naturally was not too intimidated by Venessa''s poisons and had their own means of dealing with her.


    They chose to send up a beast-tamer with a plant-type affinity as their representative against her. All of this opponent''s plant contracts had regenerative abilities not inferior to Jade''s. However, whether that regenerative ability was innate or due to a gift or spirit skill was unknown.


    Whenever the plants were stabbed and poisoned, the plant contracts decisively discarded any contaminated vines, roots, leaves, and petals, and carried on as though nothing had happened.


    Eventually, after having 2 of her contracts put to sleep by yellow pollen-like spores released a large orange flower, one wrapped tightly until it was immobile by vines that kept regenerating when poisoned, and the remaining 2 being covered in a moss-like substance that slowly sapped their strength.


    Although Kain was upset for his low rating given by the System due to the low number of matches he participated in, seeing how easily Venessa was targeted by other top 5 schools reaffirmed that the college''s strategy of concealing the strengths and skills of their top students was necessary.


    Additionally, due to Jade revealing much of her skills in the fight with Frozen Sun, she had a much more challenging time against Supernova. Once she took to the stage, after defeating only one of the opponents, she had to face an opponent that seemed to perfectly target her.


    Although she has powerful regenerative abilities, that regeneration is useless when her contracts'' minds were targeted.


    Therefore, after having all 5 of her contracts either reduced to being mindless zombies, put to sleep, or mind-controlled, she was forced to step down from the arena.


    Thankfully, while ample preparations had been made targeting their students, more and more information was also being revealed by their opponents in each match.


    By the end of the match against Supernova, Ravi managed to defeat 2 previously studied opponents in a row to secure the final win.


    The match against Starfire College, while occurring after Supernova so that both sides had more time to prepare, was not as difficult of a match up��likely because none of the 5 students representing their school were so obviously able to target the weaknesses of Jade and Venessa.


    While Venessa was eventually defeated, she managed to take down 1 student with her, while Jade was able to defeat 2.


    Surprisingly, it was Edward, and not Ravi or Ezra, that secured the final 2 victories due to the excellent strategies created by their staff that capitalized on their enemies'' weaknesses and Edwards'' strengths.


    Edward''s gift consists of him being able to generate a high-frequency hum that directly causes pain in the minds of all living things in an area, making them unable to focus or think clearly, and overtime can lead to confusion, disarray, and in extreme cases, temporary mental damage.


    Unfortunately, this skill is indiscriminate and will attack both friends and foes��including his own contracts. Which is why he had seldom used it in this competition.


    However, over time his contracts have grown accustomed to this gift, not to mention that due to their resilient and single-minded focus when it comes to training, they all have very focused characters that don''t get easily distracted and have extremely strong will-power. Heck, even if Bea tried to infect them at the same level, it would probably take twice as long as the average spiritual creature to take full control.


    Therefore, when the opposing side frequently made errors due to the mental bombardment on their concentration due to Edward''s gift, Edward''s contracts were still able to think clearly enough to defeat them.


    However, if the opponents had stronger will-power or been prepared it would not have been accomplished so easily.


    The success of this strategy hinged on 2 factors:


    Firstly, Edward never having used his gift before at the tournament so that they were unprepared and had no enchanted equipment or spiritual skills prepared to counteract his gift.


    Secondly, the fact that their information on their opponents identified them as 2 young masters from old prestigious families. Normally, this would be a pro, due to the resources their family could provide allowing them to have contracts with a higher potential and access to secret spiritual skills unique to the family.


    However, an unintentional consequence of such a privileged upbringing is that due to their lack of hardships in life, both the beast-tamers and their similarly pampered contracts had relatively weak will-powers.


    After all, the word "suffering" had never been a part of their lives before. They had been carried on a cloud of luxury since birth, with every privilege handed to them as effortlessly as the air they breathed. The idea of scarcity or struggle was as foreign as another country to them.


    This difference in mental state was obvious as soon as Edward activated his gift. With little more than a slight twitch of a whisker or ear, none of his contracts revealed any other signs of distress.


    On the other-hand, both of the opposing beast tamers practically collapsed to the floor screaming once the hum started, and many of their contracts struggled to remain upright on their trembling legs.


    However, next would be their final, and toughest, match yet against First Celestial Academy. And considering the perfect record of both sides, this would be the match that determined the first-placed college of the entire tournament and who would rank first the following year.


    Many of the cards of both sides had been forced out, so the final outcome was completely unknown.

 Chapter 268: Chapter 268: Dark Moon vs First Celestial—Start!

    The arena buzzed with an electric tension as the final match approached, the air thick with anticipation.As the most anticipated match, theirs was arranged to be the finale of the entire tournament. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, eyes fixed on the colossal stage where the last two competitors would soon face off. The temperature had dropped with the setting sun, but the wind did little to cool down the excited crowd. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Dark Moon team stood at one end of the arena, their dark and silver uniforms giving them a militaristic and cold presence.


    On the opposite side, the representatives from First Celestial Academy��radiating an aura of unshakable confidence and nobility��stood poised and ready in their uniforms of red, white, and gold.


    Both sides seemed determined to go in an increasing order of strength, with Dark Moon sending Edward, and the opponent sending a girl in her fourth-year with bronze skin and hair so dark it appeared blue under the setting sun.


    Edward summoned his contracts, all of whom were slightly larger and more muscular than their wild counterparts due to the extensive training that they regularly undergo.


    All of Edward''s contracts were of the metal attribute, but only looking at their muscular physiques Kain was reminded of the "fighting-type" attribute from a certain video game back on earth that unfortunately does not exist in this world.


    The first was a dual metal and lightning attribute hulking bear-like creature with thick, matted fur that crackled with electrical energy. Its claws were oversized and sharp, capable of rending rock.


    The bear''s presence was imposing, with glowing blue veins running through its body that pulsated like lightning during storms. Unlike most spiritual creatures in this tournament who were essentially "naked" since enchanted equipment was banned on spiritual creatures, the bear had on a thick metal armor and carried a massive double-headed hammer that both crackled with electricity. Since the metal and weapon were a product of its own metal attribute, they were naturally not banned. Like most members of its species it preferred to create a hammer as its weapon of choice, hence the species name Stormhammer Bear.


    The second contract was a colossal, bull-like creature, an Onyx Bison, with skin resembling polished onyx, hard as stone but flexible. Its massive horns curved upward like a curved mountain, and its hooves left deep impressions in the stage when it charged.


    The third and final blue-attribute contract was a large, muscular gorilla-like creature with silver fur. Its arms were disproportionately long and powerful, capable of flexibly wielding the spear in its hand, its preferred weapon, with ease. The Stonefist Gorilla''s agility belied its massive size, as it was a fast, flexible, and efficient close-combat fighter.


    Edward''s final 2 contracts were both green-grade: one a deep grey rhinoceros-like creature, Steelhorn Juggernaut; the other a burly warthog, called the Ironspike Warhog. Enjoy new adventures at M V L


    Meanwhile, the opponent''s contracts were all water-attribute spiritual creatures. She was also equipped with a full set of armor and a spear. Unlike most beast-tamers, she readily participated in battle herself. Similar the Soren, her contract boosted her own combat abilities rather than those of her contracts, giving her the ability to turn her body into a mist-like form to avoid being injured when attacked.


    As the bottom-ranked individuals for both of their teams, they had long had the details of their contracts and gifts exposed, therefore this match up and also the strategies each side will use could be predicted to an extent.


    Based on the slight twitch of his contracts, and the more visible flinching in the opponents'' contracts, Kain could tell that Edward had used his gift. However, considering that the opponents were mentally prepared this time, and the opposing beast-tamer had equipment that seemed to nullify the effects of his gift on her, the results were not nearly as miraculous as in the fight against Starfire College.


    Moreover, neither the opponent nor her contracts looked like pampered individuals unable to withstand pain. They quickly shook off their distraction due to the gift. However, the gift''s effects did seem to be present and have a slightly stronger impact on the opponents than his own contracts who were used to it, therefore Edward kept his gift activated.


    The first clash came as the Stormhammer Bear charged, its massive paws sending shockwaves through the stage. It was met by the opposing River Leviathan, a serpentine water creature with smooth, cyan scales that shimmered under the arena lights. With a deft twist, the Leviathan slid through the air, its massive body coiling in midair to slam into the bear with a force that sent it stumbling back. The water-attribute creature''s tail whipped forward, sending a gush of pure water that drenched the bear''s armor, dampening its electrical abilities.


    The bear, unfazed, shook off the attack, and with a roar, swung its hammer in a wide arc. The River Leviathan reacted in the blink of an eye, darting to the side with incredible agility. The force of the swing gouged the stage beneath them, sending shards of rock flying into the air. The Leviathan''s tail whipped toward the bear''s exposed side, delivering a powerful force that hit the bear squarely in the ribs.


    The Stormhammer Bear staggered but didn''t fall and moved to retaliate. The Leviathan was fast, but not fast enough, the minor influence of Edward''s gift may have also played a role in its dulled reaction speed. The bear''s next swing of its hammer landed with a deafening crash, forcing the water serpent to spiral out of the way. The sheer force of the blow sent a shockwave of energy pulsing through the arena, and a gust of wind that blew all the way to the audience seats.


    Time moved forward, the battle stretching on. The Stormhammer Bear and the River Leviathan were locked in a brutal exchange of injuries, each trying to outmaneuver the other. The audience could feel the tension in the air��each strike, each counter, a game of nerves and sheer power. But as the battle wore on, it became clear that the Leviathan''s endurance was being stretched thin. The water creature could not outlast the bear''s sheer resilience.


    Edward had secured victory on one side of the arena, and this would inevitably tip the scales for all other ongoing battles on the field.

 Chapter 269: Chapter 269: Shameless...

    After the Stormhammer Bear dispatched its opponent, the remainder of the battle went as expected.Using the newfound numerical advantage, it assisted its allies to gradually clear the rest of the opponents remaining on the field.


    Although much of his contracts'' energy was consumed, Edward still chose not to step down and instead managed to at least drain some of the energy of the second opponent sent out so that the next individual sent up had an easier time. Additionally, the longer he could remain on the field, the longer the staff could observe the next opponent and decide to send next in response.


    Originally, Venessa as rank 4 in the team should have been the second to take the stage. However, the next opponent sent by First Celestial had to advantageous an attribute over her.


    All of the opponent''s contracts were rare undead spiritual creatures��particularly immaterial ghosts. Therefore, Venessa''s ability to deal damage or poison them was greatly reduced.


    Most ghosts are immune to physical attacks, and unless she improves her poison further to be able to attack the soul, then it is useless against them.


    Therefore, Jade was sent in response. While not as effective as skills that can directly attack the soul, most elemental attributes still have some effect on undead spirits. Therefore, with the help of the energy consumed by Edward, Jade was able to defeat her opponent.


    However, it was truly not the best matchup for her, and 2 of her contracts (one blue-grade and a green-grade contract) were incapacitated in the battle and didn''t last long in the next match-up��not even serving a role in draining the opponents'' energy.


    Therefore, the match was once again brought to an even standstill of 2 beast-tamers on each side having been eliminated. Funnily enough, the ranks of the individuals eliminated on both sides also happen to be equal��with the 5th and 3rd rank of each school now out of commission. S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Almost as though it was agreed upon, the two individuals on the stage currently were the fourth-ranked individuals of each school.


    On behalf of First Celestial was a fourth rank student who quickly dispatched the drained and battered Jade.


    He was another third-year student and had dark brown skin, hazel eyes, and dark curly hair. He had an affinity related to the fire-attribute. Additionally, Kain wasn''t sure about the details of his gift, but it seemed as though it was able to drastically increase the temperature of his contracts'' flames and even add a slight corrosive effect.


    Therefore, both Venessa and him ended up in a. standstill for quite some time. Her spiritual creatures weren''t able to get close enough to bite or sting his, without sustaining serious injuries due to burns.


    When poison was occasionally ejected by her contracts, the poison was also quickly burnt by the hot flames into an incredibly noxious gas.


    Alternatively, the opponents'' spiritual creatures couldn''t get too close for similar reasons, and when flames were released to target Venessa''s contracts, she either used an identical method ejecting poisonous liquids that would cause the flames to fizzle out, or dodging.


    Due to this pattern persisting for a long time, an interesting phenomenon occurred.


    Gradually, the toxic gas released by the combination of the poison meeting the corrosive flames began to build up more and more within the arena. Since the wards around the arena activated to prevent the gas from spreading to the audience, the gas was trapped on the stage and got more and more concentrated.


    Due to majority of the gas'' toxic properties being from Venessa''s contracts who has immunity to their own poisons, the opponent was more quickly feeling the negative effects of the gas.


    However, his gift also applied some toxic properties to his contracts'' flames that were also released in the resulting gas��a toxin that Venessa''s contracts don''t have an immunity against. Continue reading at M V L


    Therefore, before long all of the First Celestial Contracts were collapsed on the stage, breathing heavily. Only their beast-tamer remained standing, likely equipped with some anti-poison enchanted equipment in preparation of facing Venessa.


    Meanwhile Venessa''s contracts'' legs began to tremble faintly. However, they all held their heads up high in feigned bravado to not let the enemy know.


    Unfortunately, if Kain could tell their poor condition from the stands, there is no way that the experienced First Celestial staff standing right next to the stage wouldn''t be able to see that they were in bad shape.


    Indeed, instead of immediately sending the next opponent, First Celestial cunningly drew out the time it took for them to fetch the bodies of their students'' contracts. Instead of him just collecting them into his star space, they''d even made the excuse that they couldn''t be sure that there was no component of the poison that was capable of escaping the star space to infect his body.


    The tournament organizers had no choice but to concede to their time-consuming method of body collection due to their extreme "caution" and "care" for their student.


    And so an almost comical scene was staged where a few staff volunteers bumbled around the stage trying to lift the heavy spiritual creatures from the stage, wasting time staggering and dropping limp limbs on the floor as they took frequent breaks.


    Never mind that they could have summoned some stronger contracts to swiftly carry them down��


    All those minutes that they were "clumsily" trying to carry the contracts from the stage Venessa was forced to remain inside the toxic gas permeating the stage, since once she stepped down she''d be out of the competition for good.


    The staff at Dark Moon couldn''t help staring coldly at the staff from First Celestial as they continued with their performance.


    "I hadn''t expected the top-ranked college to be so shameless��" Ranya muttered stunned.


    "It''s because they could be so shameless that they''ve probably managed to keep the top rank for decades. You don''t think there weren''t the odd years that another school had a stronger lineup? In such cases, they''d need to resort to tactics like these" Kain said.


    Personally, he didn''t see anything wrong with First Celestial''s spirit of doing anything for the win. It was just irritating when they were the victim of it��

 Chapter 270: Chapter 270: The Vice Captains

    As expected, it wasn''t until Venessa collapsed on the stage that the First Celestial side wasfinally


    ready to send up their next representative. Considering that the time-limit between when one participant clears the stage and another goes up, was about to be reached, if she hadn''t collapsed they would have had to send up the next participant.


    However, using the excuse that they couldn''t start the timer until the previous student had completely cleared from the arena, and they took their sweet time clearing said student''s contracts, they did manage to draw out what was probably the longest break between matches since the tournament began.


    After Venessa stepped down, considering neither of the participants involved in making the poisonous mist remained on the stage, both sides agreed to allow a staff member to clear the gas in the stage��something that can only be done if both sides agree.


    Unfortunately, while only Venessa was on the stage there was no way that First Celestial would have agreed. Alternatively, if Venessa had been immune to the poison, there is no way that Dark Moon would have agreed to clear it.


    However, since the poison was only harmful to both of the next participants, it was unanimously agreed to clear it.


    The next two individuals sent to the stage were expected��the Vice Captains of each team.


    On behalf of Dark Moon, Ravi wearing the black and silver uniform of Dark Moon had dark bronze skin, hazel eyes, and chiselled features.


    A stark visual contrast, Isolde Blackheart, had pale and delicate features like her younger brother, pale blue eyes, and ashen-grey hair.


    All of Ravi''s spiritual creatures were insect-species. And as, one of the most populace and diverse groups, naturally he had a wide variety of potential contracts to select from. Among S-rank affinities, his definitely would rank towards the top in terms of the breadth of species he could contract.


    The first was his initial contract a dual metal and wind-attribute praying mantis with long, sweeping limbs and sharp blades that glinted under the arena lights��the Zephyrstrike Mantis. Considering that Ravi was just from an ordinary family, it''s impressive that he managed to evolve and train what was originally only a bronze-quality Blade Mantis to diamond-quality and blue-grade, which is a testament to how much effort he had put in.


    The second blue-grade contract was the light-attribute Dawn Butterfly. It is an exquisite butterfly with golden wings that shimmered with iridescent light. Its wings emit soft, radiant beams that illuminate the surroundings and cast golden halos around it.


    Flying next to it was the blue-grade Vermix. It appeared like an enormous dragonfly with translucent wings that crackled with lightning. Its body was armoured in a sleek, dark metallic exoskeleton that hummed with electric power, and its eyes glowed a vibrant electric blue. Your journey continues with M V L


    The fourth blue-grade contract was a massive dark-attribute spider with jet-black fur and glowing red eyes, from a species unfamiliar to Kain. However, he had heard that it was provided as a reward in a previous year from the college and was born in one of the college''s relics.


    The last blue-grade contract was a massive golden-brown beetle with armor-like plating and wings that shimmered with dust and sand��a Seismic Stone Scarab.


    Ravi''s final contract was green-grade, but is actually his contract with the most potential, and probably the contract that many would be the most envious over. It was also another contract provided by the school, and was a perfect advertisement for how much they were willing to invest into their students. It was a golden cicada with the time-attribute. With such a powerful attribute, despite it being one grade below most of the creatures on the field, it was still a great threat.


    Unfortunately, Kain had never seen Ravi activate his gift, although he was sure that he had one. Therefore, he wasn''t sure if the gift would have any beneficial effects on the match.


    Isolde, unlike Ravi, had all 6 of her contracts at glue-grade. Moreover, like her brother, they all were powerful spiritual creatures with the infernal-bloodline.


    The one in the center was a large, flame-wrapped Burning Abyssal Phoenix with black and red feathers that appeared to burn with eternal fire. Its eyes were like molten lava, and its wings left trails of fire in the air.


    Flying alongside the phoenix was a Demonwing Harpy. She had a lithe, birdlike body and long, muscular legs ending in sharp, obsidian claws. Her massive bat-like wings were made of leathery, ember-glowing membranes, capable of unleashing fiery winds. Its humanoid face had glowing molten amber eyes and a wide, sharp-toothed grin. Her long, black, smoke-like hair flickered with streaks of flame, and her presence radiated an oppressive, sulfurous heat. Her chest was covered with an armor-like material composed of feathers that directly grew from her. Her claws and tail both emanated sharpness and power, indicating that they were additional close-combat weapons at its disposal.


    The third contract appeared with an earthshaking roar. It was a massive, lion-like creature with a spiny tail that ended in a scorpion-like stinger. Its body was armored in hell-forged scales and its claws easily tore into the stage as it walked��a Manticore.


    The fourth was one of the opponent''s most regularly used contract, and one the Dark Moon staff had done extensive research on��an Infernal Sentinel Gargoyle. The stone gargoyle had fiery, demonic eyes and cracks in its rocky body that glowed with embers. Its wings were bat-like, and its sharp claws appeared to be forged from blackened iron.


    Her fifth contract, while lacking in frontal combat abilities, had profound mental manipulation abilities��the Soulreaver Incubus. It was a seductive, yet menacing, humanoid demon with sleek, obsidian skin and bat-like wings that shimmered in the darkness. Its eyes were like pools of a liquid night sky, and its smile revealed sharp, predatory teeth.


    Her sixth and final contract was a Dreadclaw Demon��a terrifying creature that resembled a twisted, hulking gorilla, with blackened fur and claws that had a corrosive effect. Its glowing eyes pierce through the darkness, and a dark shadowy aura emanated from its body. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 271: Chapter 271: The Vice Captains (2)

    The arena hummed with tension as the two vice-captains stepped onto the stage. Isolde Blackheart, the icy-hearted strategist of Dark Moon, stood poised with a cold, calculating gaze.Ravi, in his sleek black and silver uniform, looked every bit the warrior. His amber eyes glinted with focus, the determination of a fighter who had honed his strength for years to rise above the limitations of his origins.


    The two vice-captains locked eyes for a brief moment. No words were exchanged, but the silent battle of wills had already begun.


    The referees examined the stage, ensuring the poisonous mist had dissipated entirely, before stepping back and signalling the start of the match.


    Ravi''s Zephyrstrike Mantis was the first to make a move due to its speed of reaction. The creature''s sweeping, metallic limbs sliced through the air, its razor-sharp claws shimmering in the light. It darted forward, a blur of motion as it aimed to close the distance with lightning speed.


    In response, the Burning Abyssal Phoenix, soared higher. Its wings spreading with a deafening crack of air, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The massive bird circled above, its molten eyes locked onto Ravi''s mantis as it descended with a terrifying, predatory grace.


    However, the mantis wasn''t alone, the Dawn Butterfly cast a radiant halo over the battlefield.


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    The butterfly''s light pulsed, causing the Zephyrstrike Mantis to become more agile, its movements a blur of silver.


    Meanwhile, the movements of all the infernal opponents slowed. All of them were momentarily encased in a golden and shimmering casing that seemed to impede their movements.


    The Demonwing Harpy dove toward the butterfly, her screech ripping through the air as her claws swiped through the space where the butterfly had been moments before. However, in a flash of light from its delicate wings, it appeared a short distance away, successfully dodging the attack.


    Meanwhile, the mantis'' sharp, sweeping limbs crashing against the claws of the phoenix that had finally arrived in a symphony of sparks.


    Additionally, the dragonfly Vermix shot a lightning bolt toward the phoenix, forcing the creature to swerve just out of reach before it could launch another attack. However, when the insect wanted to continue its pursuit it was stopped by the gargoyle that had long had its fiery eyes locked onto the Vermix.


    As it bobbed and weaved through the air, the gargoyle didn''t give up its pursuit, continuously swinging its claws, it caused the air to crackle with heat, the stone claws glowing as if forged in the depths of a volcanic furnace.


    Lastly, the manticore, which had been watching these events from the side, finally made a move, a cloud of dust and debris shot into the air as it charged forward, its claws tearing into the stage.


    Its target was the dark-attribute spider that had been steadily weaving a web around the entirety of the arena��its plans unknown, but leaving an ominous impression on the First Celestial team.


    However, impeding the manticore''s plans, as it was forced to dodge, were sharp spikes that suddenly appeared in its path.


    Wanting to quickly get rid of one of the opponents, the incubus'' eyes began to emit an ominous glow before the mantis began to screech in pain while covering its head. In coordination with it, the circling phoenix and waiting Dreadclaw demon took that moment to attack it from both its front and back.


    Essentially ganged up on 3 to 1, nobody was expecting the mantis to weather the attacks.


    Suddenly a golden glow began to emit from Ravi, or more specifically the small cicada on his shoulder no larger than the palm of his hand.


    The next moment, the mantis was completely free of its encirclement and instead had one of its blades pressed against the incubus'' neck from behind.


    The Incubus''s eerie eyes widened in shock as the cold, razor-sharp edge of the mantis'' blade hovered a mere inch from its throat.


    Meanwhile, the cicada that had clearly taken the opportunity to manipulate time and relieve the mantis of its predicament, took on a pallid and sickly yellow colour, its once-shimmering wings now dull and drooping. Clearly, manipulating time for so many blue-grade spiritual creatures while being one grade lower had expended the majority of its strength.


    Suddenly, the Soulreaver Incubus, still held at bay by the Zephyrstrike Mantis, let out a bone-chilling laugh. Its dark eyes shifted from Ravi to the weakening Golden Cicada, understanding its critical state. Without warning, the Incubus''s wings flared out, and it released a shockwave of mental energy��targeted not only at its captor, but also the golden cicada.


    Completely spent and defenseless, the cicada was forced to withdraw back into the star space.


    Ravi''s mantis staggered, its limbs jerking in confusion. For a split second, its blade wavered��just enough for the Incubus to shift its position out of the hold in a single, fluid motion.


    Unfortunately, aware of the cunning nature of the incubus species dark threads had long surrounded the area it had been stalled in with the mantis. Threads that immediately robbed all of its senses upon contact and allowed the waiting spider to wrap it up helplessly. After a brief period in which the bundle of threads bulged and squirmed as its captive struggled for freedom, the threads unwound��now empty. Clearly the incubus had been recalled.


    Both sides were now down to 5 contracts each.


    Meanwhile, the Dawn butterfly was showing traces of exhaustion from continuously avoiding the gargoyle that was now pursuing it.


    It fluttered weakly but persisted, its wings glowing faintly as it unleashed another pulse of light, forcing the gargoyle to veer off course as it swooped toward it again. The gargoyle screeched in frustration but couldn''t land a blow as the butterfly''s light flared, slowing its movements to a crawl briefly as a shimmering substance surrounded its body to impede its movements.


    Unfortunately, while adept at support and control, the butterfly didn''t have an offensive skill strong enough to get through the gargoyle''s stone skin and capitalize on its advantage. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 272: Chapter 272: The Vice Captains (3)

    The battle raged on, and the tension in the arena thickened as both sides now had only five spiritual creatures left. The balance had shifted in subtle ways, with each move growing more deliberate, more calculated.Every action, and every counteraction, had become much more purposeful.


    The spider''s web now covered much of the field at a height or around 15 feet, completely isolating the creatures capable of flight, from those on the ground. As a result, the manticore and Dreadclaw demon were now at a numerical disadvantage against the ground-bound mantis, spider, and scarab beetle.


    However, the Dawn Butterfly and Vermix were now under greater pressure from the flying harpy, gargoyle, and phoenix.


    However, whereas the butterfly and Vermix had the wide open skies to continuously dodge their pursuers and stall for time.


    The breathing space of the manticore and demon was being continuously reduced as more and more threads that could remove their senses were appearing in their paths.


    Clearly the pros and cons of splitting into 2 battlefields with uneven numbers had been thoroughly considered by Ravi.


    Likely sensing the emanant demise of its allies, the circling phoenix began to bombard the webs with fire from above. However, despite their delicate appearance, the threads were incredibly durable and quite resistant to its flames.


    In the midst of the chaos, the Vermix, now charged with energy, zipped around the Phoenix in bursts of lightning, crackling through the air like a living bolt of pure power. However, the Gargoyle was more than prepared for the electric dragonfly''s agility. Its stony eyes glowed, and with a low rumble, it raised its massive lightning-resistant stone claws to intercept the Vermix''s attack.


    The air around the Gargoyle grew heated as it swung its claws in a wide arc. A single swipe sent the Vermix spiralling toward the mass of webs covering the floor of the arena. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Vermix was stunned, its body humming with residual power but unable to move quickly enough to recover. Thankfully, the webs it landed on were from its own ally and did not attack it or remove its senses, giving it a moment to compose itself.


    From above, the Demonwing Harpy and Phoenix screeched, diving toward the vulnerable butterfly. The harpy''s sharp talons gleamed in the dim light as she made her descent. The butterfly, weakened from earlier skirmishes, barely managed to move out of the way in time. However, a single claw grazed its wing, sending ripples of light cascading outward like shattered glass.


    Capitalizing on this weakness, a wave of combined red and black flames from both the harpy and phoenix pursued the butterfly.


    The Dawn Butterfly fluttered desperately, a pulse of light sending a barrier outward to slow the flames'' pursuit. But this time, there was no dodging the massive amount of flames, their heat generated gusts of wind that pushed the butterfly back.


    Meanwhile, despite Dark Moon in a precarious position in the skies, the Manticore and Dreadclaw Demon were in far worse straits on the ground.


    With the threads of the Spider tightening around their movements, the manticore was already beginning to stagger. The sharp, spiny threads had started to wrap around its limbs, restricting its movements.


    The Dreadclaw Demon was a powerhouse, but even it could not avoid the webs completely. Each step it took, the threads seemed to multiply, slowly numbing its senses and making each swing of its claws more sluggish and less coordinated.


    The Manticore, with a low, guttural growl, made a desperate charge forward, only to have its body jerk to a halt as more webs wrapped around its legs. Its powerful muscles struggled to break free, but the more it fought, the tighter the webbing became. Isolde''s eyes widened with a mixture of frustration and calculation. This was bad. The Dreadclaw Demon was no better off, its colossal claws swinging more wildly as it tried to lash out at the webbing, but with little effect.


    Suddenly the shared infernal blood of both the Demon and Manticore began to boil. Meanwhile, Isolde''s eyes shifted from blue to violet, and then to a bright red.


    Instead of continuing to attack the Dark Moon contracts, the demon and manticore suddenly seemed drawn to one another by an uncontrollable force.


    Isolde had activated her gift for the first time in the tournament. A gift that capitalized on all infernal creatures being descended from a common bloodline and allowing them to combine their strength.


    Suddenly a hybrid creature much greater in strength than the two individual creatures appeared in the arena��the addition of their respective powers not unlike the Gemini transformation Serena had achieved on her Elemental Guardian in her previous match.


    Unfortunately, because the gap between indigo-grade and blue-grade is far greater than that between yellow and green grades, her contracts were not able to advance a whole level like Serena''s were. If her other contracts weren''t separated by the annoying web, they could have also been combined using her gift. However, even then they still might not be enough to create one indigo-grade hybrid. The gap between the middle-grade and high-grade spiritual creatures was far too great.


    Still, the pressure from their combined spiritual power definitely adds a great deal of pressure to the Dark Moon contracts, and the hybrid was no longer as easily restrained nor had its senses removed like before.


    The hybrid is a terrifying colossus, its body is a twisted amalgamation of the Manticore''s lion-like form and the Dreadclaw''s hulking demon and gorilla-like features. The creature''s fur had turned into a dense, spiked carapace, darkening to a deep, mottled crimson and obsidian. Massive claws��like those of the Dreadclaw Demon��emerge from its forelimbs, each one as long as the average height of a person, their jagged edges sharp enough to tear through stone.


    Its back is hunched while the manticore''s iconic scorpion tail, now brimming with an ominous red energy, has grown longer and more lethal.


    The hybrid''s breath, a thick cloud of sulfur and smoke, released as it released a roar that shook the very ground beneath it, rattling its enemies with fear. Experience tales at M-V-L


    Muscles rippled beneath the creature''s skin, making every movement a display of overwhelming power and unrelenting brutality. When it stepped forward, the arena even trembled beneath its weight.


    The large hybrid, standing nearly 15 feet tall was now in position to easily tear a gap into the webbed roof above it��and so it did.

 Chapter 273: Chapter 273: The Vice Captains (4)

    The hybrid of the Manticore and Dreadclaw Demon towered over the battlefield, its every step causing the ground to tremble beneath its weight.The massive beast roared, sending a shockwave that knocked several creatures back, their senses jarred by the sheer force of the hybrid''s roar.


    Technically, Ravi''s side was now fighting at a 5 against 4 numerical advantage. But many of his contracts were low on energy and injured, meanwhile the hybrid seemed to have had all of its energy restored and was now far more powerful than just a 1 + 1 increase.


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    However, Ravi wasn''t going to just wait around for the powerful hybrid to defeat his contracts one by one.


    Despite its immense size, the hybrid wasn''t slow and clumsy. In fact, its powerful muscles ensured that it was faster than either the manticore or demon were previously.


    Limiting its movement was of paramount importance.


    The Dawn Butterfly focused on creating intense flashes of light to disorient it. One con of heightened senses and abilities, is that the flashes were even more impactful.


    Unable to see, the hybrid began to thrash and swing its tail around sporadically to ward off any approaching threats. While simultaneously it sent out blasts of heat�� a casual brush with these blasts ended up incinerating a portion of the Dawn butterfly''s wing. Flapping frantically it was barely staying afloat, but it was only a matter of time before it''d be forced to withdraw.


    The mantis attacked the manticore, but its flesh was tough to make a significant injury. They needed to find is weak spot ��or make a weak spot themselves.


    The Stone Scarab shifted the floor beneath its feet to further limit its movements.


    With its movements restricted, the dark-attribute Spider got to work. The tatters of its webbed covering were now scattered all over the arena floor. Taking advantage of the ready made material, it quickly packaged its webs and reused them to quickly entwine them around key joints.


    It began to spin with greater urgency, until a dense mass of cords was created at key joints of the hybrid. The hybrid, struggling against the webs, growled in frustration as the silken threads tightened around its massive limbs.


    The Spider''s eyes gleamed with focus as it manipulated the threads to constrict more around the creature''s key joints, limiting its range of motion.


    Meanwhile the Zephyrstrike Mantis and Vermis focused on warding off the other enemies.


    The Vermix, its body crackling with stored lightning energy, darted into position above the hybrid''s head. The electric dragonfly zipped around its enormous form with blinding speed, charging its body with the raw power of an impending lightning strike. However, it was merely a feint.


    When the Phoenix, circling overhead, released a series of scorching fireballs aimed directly at the Vermix to force it to halt its attack, it dodged and the fireballs happened to head straight for the hybrid''s back��which it was unable to see within all of the flashes of light surrounding it created by the Dawn butterfly.


    The hybrid was forced it to shield its body as it sensed the approaching heat. And the flames from the Phoenix helped push the hybrid forward, momentarily unbalancing and distracting it further and making the spider''s job easier.


    Simultaneously, the Demonwing Harpy dived toward the weakened Dawn Butterfly that was playing a pivotal role on the field, her sharp talons gleaming in the dim light.


    She was fast and vicious, her screech tearing through the air as she rushed to catch the butterfly. But the Butterfly was ready. In a desperate bid for survival, it sent out a burst of dazzling light directly into its path disorienting and blinding the Harpy and forcing her to veer off course and collide with the hybrid.


    Stunned, while on its ally''s back, the harpy soon found itself covered in a heap of threads the spider was reusing.


    The Gargoyle, seeing the Harpy''s predicament, swooped in to try and tear the threads, its massive stone wings casting a shadow over the arena. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a low, rumbling growl, it raised its stony fists, which glowed with molten energy, ready to strike. Vermix, still crackling with stored lightning energy, zipped through the air, launching bolts of electric energy at the Gargoyle. The creature swung one massive claw, deflecting the strikes with ease, but Vermix''s agility was more than enough to keep it from easily approaching its tied-up allies.


    The Zephyrstrike Mantis, still positioned strategically, saw an opening. The Harpy, tangled in the Spider''s web and struggling to free herself, was completely vulnerable.


    With blinding speed, the Mantis darted forward and, using its razor-sharp limbs, sliced at the parts of the Harpy''s exposed from the webbing. The Harpy screeched in pain as one of legs was cut almost to the bone.


    Now, with the Gargoyle distracted by Vermix and the Harpy temporarily neutralized, the hybrid and phoenix were the last real threat on the field.


    Despite its great strength, the hybrid was pinned down by the combined efforts of the Spider and Stone Scarab, disoriented by the Dawn Butterfly, and partially burned by its ally Phoenix''s flames.


    The Dawn Butterfly, now at the edge of exhaustion but determined, released one final blinding pulse of light, flooding the battlefield with brilliance. The hybrid, unable to shield itself from the intense brightness, was blinded, its senses overwhelmed.


    The Stone Scarab, using its last reserves of strength, caused the ground beneath the hybrid to collapse into a pit, the stone splitting open beneath its weight. With its movements severely restricted and its vision gone, the hybrid fell into the jagged pit, struggling and unable to rise as it was further entangled by the webbing.


    With the hybrid now trapped in the pit, struggling against the webbing and disoriented by the overwhelming light, Ravi''s contracts had one final opportunity to strike. But they had little time. The Phoenix, sensing that its ally was on the verge of defeat, swooped down with a burst of flame. It screeched in fury, its wings leaving a trail of heat in the air as it spiralled toward the pit, intent on burning away all of the annoying threads.


    The Gargoyle was still locked in combat with Vermix, its stone claws clashing with lightning bolts as the dragonfly darted in and out of reach. But the Gargoyle had grown frustrated, its stone muscles straining with the effort to corner the nimble creature. It swung its massive arm with the intention of crushing Vermix, but the electric dragonfly zipped out of the way, trailing arcs of lightning that caused the Gargoyle to stagger back in confusion. Vermix wasn''t concerned with the Gargoyle anymore��its focus was on the Phoenix.


    The Phoenix, wings blazing, was bearing down on the pit where the hybrid was trapped. The Vermix dove toward the Phoenix, sending a surge of electricity onto the diving bird''s defenceless back.


    The Phoenix screeched in pain, its fire momentarily sputtering as the lightning coursed through its body and paralyzed its movements. The Phoenix faltered, its wings flapping erratically as it tried to regain control, but the electrical charge pulsed through its feathers and caused it to hurtle to the ground like a comet��right on the head of its ally.


    Knocked unconscious from its crash landing, the phoenix was recalled by Isolde.


    The hybrid was also quite stunned from the collision and a blood wound appeared on its head with burnt edges. The Zephyrstrike Mantis took the opportunity to strike at the now bruised and tender spot on its head created by the phoenix.


    Now only the gargoyle was left, while Ravi had 4 contracts still on the field��the Dawn butterfly having collapsed from exhaustion.


    However, the Vermix''s lightning strikes were ineffective against its stone exterior, while its other allies were incapable of flight making it challenging for them to target the flying gargoyle.


    Thankfully, at some point during its distracted chase with the Vermix, a single thread had managed to make its way around one of its wings. And at the other end of the thread was a sinister-looking spider that now sent the gargoyle careening to the ground against its will.


    Although, it wasn''t yet injured, surrounded while being stared down at by 4 enemies, it already knew��it was over.

 Chapter 274: Chapter 274: An Heir of Mystery

    "So is he the reason you chose not to go to First Celestial?"Kain said while turning to Soren and pointing at the golden figure on the stage��Cassian Lysander. Soren''s cousin and the current heir apparent to the Celestial Empire''s throne.


    He had noticed that as it got closer to the time that Cassian was about to board the stage, Soren gradually got paler and tenser. And now he sat glaring at his blood-relative with both fists clenched in his lap.


    However, he didn''t reply to Kain''s question, only giving a sidelong glance that expressed his dissatisfaction with the line of questioning.


    But Kain didn''t need a willing conversational partner to keep talking.


    "So do you know what his gift or affinity is? I think I know what yours is��Storm Dragon''s descendants are pretty recognizable and so is your gift. And a storm dragon affinity aint too shabby. But what are his to make pretty much all of the Lysander family''s younger generation constantly in his shadow?"


    Soren looked like he was about to snap at Kain when Theo sitting nearby surprisingly interjected.


    "Most people conceal the specific details of their contracts and gifts to prevent being targeted��nobles even more so. Did you think that the details of the heir to the country''s affinity could be easily found? Even if they are family, he probably doesn''t know much��but I do" Theo said smugly.


    ''Ah yes�� he''s so laid-back most of the time I forget that Theo is a noble��''


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    In fact, although Theo had never officially revealed his family origin and they have different last names, based on the strong physical resemblance to the 9-star Seraphina Mindsahde, whom Kain had seen at the auction, and his penchant for the mental-attribute, he guessed that they were closely related��likely grandmother and grandson.


    Soren even looked shocked at Theo''s revelation, and after a moment of internal conflict, he also looked at Theo with some expectation. Likely, also wanting additional information on someone he didn''t seem to be on the best of terms with. The royal family had kept many details about Cassian, his gift, and his contracts under wraps that even as a relative he didn''t know much about him.


    Moreover, their supposed physical features and abilities, based on rumours, are so variable that it''s difficult to determine what his affinity is. Also, he hadn''t had to play in any solo matches in Phase One, since Isolde was powerful enough to handle the toughest opponents. Therefore, none of his contracts had even been revealed yet at this year''s tournament.


    When he represented First Celestial in his first and second years, he''d only had to reveal one contract in the few instances that he fought.


    Therefore, despite him now being the captain of the team for the top college in the country, very little was actually known about him.


    "I think it was around 14 months ago��the royal family asked for my grandmother''s help with capturing a suitable contract for his fifth star." Theo said, while pausing to add suspense to the story.


    "And your grandmother actually told you what they wanted her to capture? For people who are so strict with their precious heir''s privacy, that seems like a huge oversight��" Kain said skeptically.


    "My grandmother didn''t tell me. I was staying with her during the summer they made the request, and based on her movements in the following period I was able to make an educated guess on what they wanted her to find. After all, there aren''t many species that need a 9-star beast-tamer with the mental attribute to find them." Theo said while looking smug. He still didn''t get to the point, likely wanting those listening to beg him for more details.


    However, with the hints already provided, Kain already had an idea and didn''t want to give him that satisfaction.


    "A dream dragon." Kain said deadpan, while making eye-contact with Theo as his face dropped and then pouted.


    "Tsk��planners are so annoying." He muttered while turning away.


    Dream dragons are one of the most rare and elusive species in the world. Their native habitat is in the realm of dreams as they jump from mind to mind, seldom coming into the real world.


    Even for a 9-star beast-tamer it couldn''t have been easy to find one.


    For one thing, they do not have a single fixed form in dreams, unlike in the real world. Therefore, they may take on any form in the dream realm and so tracking them based on anecdotes is almost impossible.


    For another thing, most humans forget their dreams once the dream dragon enters��likely due to the very dream serving as a source of food for them. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There are two types of dream dragons��mostly distinguished by the dreams that they prefer to frequent: nightmares or positive dreams. And their preferred dreams also influence their abilities.


    It is reported that they are descended from the mythical Divine Dragon, and so even in the physical world which isn''t their preferred domain, they are probably more powerful than the average dragon.


    Soren''s gaze hardened as he absorbed what the conversation between Kain and Theo likely meant, the air around him thick with tension.


    His cousin, Cassian, had always been the prodigy, the one constantly hovering over him like a shadow that he couldn''t escape, even within his own family. Now, learning that Cassian might possess a Dream Dragon��a being so rare and powerful��was like the final confirmation that he would always be ahead of him.


    "I heard his other contracts look and act nothing like a dream dragon though, so that doesn''t really answer the question about his affinity. Is that all you''ve got?" Kain said, slightly goading Theo for more information. Unfortunately, Theo merely shrugged and didn''t offer up anything else.


    Cassian''s movements drew their attention back. He moved with the effortless confidence of someone accustomed to being the center of attention, and when he raised his hand to signal the start of the next round instead of the referee, it was clear he saw himself not just as a participant, but as the one in control, issuing orders with a calm authority.

 Chapter 275: Chapter 275: The Battle of the Strongest

    The tension in the air was palpable as the two captains took their places on the grand arena stage. Representatives of the two most formidable forces in the nation stood face-to-face, their spiritual creatures arrayed before them.Ezra Vauss, the captain of Dark Moon Academy, stood with a quiet confidence, his gaze piercing and focused. He summoned all six of his powerful blue-grade spiritual creatures for the first time in the tournament.


    At the center of the formation was the Void Lynx��Ezra''s first-ever contract.


    With the ability to teleport, hide within the void, and redirect attacks, it was an expert at altering the flow of combat.


    While not offensively dominant, its agility and tactical capabilities were key to Ezra''s strategy. It could move away and redirect all attacks, making it a deadly support asset on the battlefield.


    Just behind it was a ginormous snake, despite being coiled up, its body took up a large portion of the field and its shimmering scales glimmered like a living constellation. ��the Magnimorph Snake.


    This creature was a true terror in both offense and defense. Able to adjust its size at will, the Magnimorph Snake could ensnare creatures of all sizes, while its fangs, capable of ripping apart the fabric of space itself, made any defense seem useless.


    To the right of the Lynx at the front, was Ezra''s third contract��the Voidrake. A small, draconic creature whose abilities were far more dangerous than its size suggested.


    The Voidrake had the terrifying power to tear holes in space itself, creating small, black-hole-like effects that could devour weaker spiritual creatures with ease. Its claws were capable of ignoring any defensive measures, cutting through barriers like a blade through paper.


    To the left of the Lynx was Distortdjinn�� Semi-transparent humanoid that seemed to shift and twist in the light, its eyes shimmering with silver and azure hues.


    It has powerful space-shifting abilities, and its teleportation and space-altering powers would likely play a pivotal role in turning the tide of the battle against Cassian.


    Next to it was Ezra''s fifth contract, an extremely rare creature that has the legendary taotie bloodline.


    It was a terrifying creature with a face with features that were a mix of both a tiger and a dragon.


    Its face had large bulging eyes, and a gaping mouth filled with large fangs and tusks.


    The rest of its body was muscular and covered in a thick fur, while its powerful legs ended with incredibly large claws. It had a long, serpentine-like tail tipped with a sharp spike.


    The final contract next to the Voidrake, was Ezra''s newest contract��the Gravitoise. It is a colossal tortoise with a massive stone-like shell that seemed to have its appearance distorted by heat waves. However, the distortions were really due to warping the gravity around it passively.


    It could manipulate the earth and create gravitational fields capable of crushing or repelling enemies.


    However, Cassian actually only summoned 4 contracts. Immediately the audience broke out into shocked discussions that in the finals, against such a tough opponent, he was only summoning 4 spiritual creatures.


    Is he overconfident? Looking down on Ezra? Or was he unable to find two more creatures that could meet the requirements of his affinity and his assuredly high standards?


    Kain''s gaze was immediately drawn to the dragon that had just come up in their conversations��a dream dragon.


    It was a shimmering, translucent entity whose scales shift in colour and texture, sometimes resembling the soft glow of moonlight, other times a kaleidoscope of vibrant, shifting hues.


    Its wings were delicate and gossamer, often appearing as if woven from the very fabric of the night sky��faint stars stretching across their span.


    Its eyes were perhaps its most captivating feature��wide, luminous, and swirling with visions. These eyes seem to pierce through the veil of the mind, reflecting the true nature of those who gaze into them. Any weaker creature that made eye contact would probably be drawn into a dream world.


    Next to it was what appeared to be its dark and evil counterpart��A Nightmare Dragon.


    ''I wonder if Seraphina Mindshade caught both or only one of them for him?''


    The Nightmare Dragon radiated an evil aura, its form dark and imposing, with scales that gleamed like black obsidian, its form forged from shadows and darkness, as though it were a living embodiment of terror itself.


    Massive, bat-like wings stretch out with an ominous, leathery texture, covered in jagged spines that glisten like shards of broken glass.


    Its eyes burn with a malevolent, fiery glow, casting an eerie crimson light that sends a chill down the spine of anyone who dares to look into them.


    Next to the Dream dragon was a shining being of pure light, its scales radiant and golden, like molten gold reflecting the sun''s fiery brilliance��a Solar Dragon.


    ''Hmm��another dragon that is rumoured to have the Divine Dragon bloodline��'' S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The solar dragon was a rare spiritual creature with 3 attributes: light, fire, and star-attributes.


    The final dragon was one that Kain had never heard of previously.


    Its form was like shimmering wisp or mist. Its scales having the appearance of stardust, sparkling in shifting, iridescent colors, while its wings, light as air and barely visible, seem to be woven from the very fabric of outer space.


    Cassian stood calmly, not a trace of worry in his posture despite the apparent numerical disadvantage. His gaze, locked on Ezra, was unwavering, as though he expected nothing less than victory.


    Cassian''s dragon all took to the skies, seeking to use a height advantage against their opponents.


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    However, the massive Magnimorph Snake that already dwarfed everything else on the field, expanded its body even further, then swiftly took a bite at the unknown dragon in the sky.


    The dragon didn''t even bother to dodge, turning completely transparent��and apparently incorporeal. Its shimmering, iridescent form flickered like a mirage, before reappearing high above the battlefield.


    The snake''s head went right through it and its massive jaws closed on nothing but air.

 Chapter 276: Chapter 276: The Battle of the Strongest (2)

    Ezra''s Magnimorph Snake��having missed its target��let out a low, rumbling hiss. It quickly coiled back, its massive form undulating and twisting, readying itself for a second strike.Explore stories on M-V-L


    But its targeted Dragon, in its ghostly state, was already moving again, fading from view only to reappear in the blink of an eye. It darted across the sky, moving with uncanny grace as though it were an extension of the wind itself.


    Unlike Cassian''s contracts that could all fly, only Ezra''s Distortdjinn and Voidrake have the ability to fly, which would normally make them extremely susceptible and passive against aerial enemies��but those restrictions don''t apply to many of Ezra''s space-attribute contracts.


    At ground level, Ezra''s Void Lynx sprang into action, its form vanishing before repairing on the back of the flying Voidrake as a stepping stone, and then appearing above the head of the flying Dream dragon in the blink of an eye. The Lynx was quick, far too quick for most to follow.


    However, seeing that it had approached so close to an enemy spiritual creature, most of those who knew Ezra''s contracts were confused. After all, the Lynx wasn''t exactly known for its offensive abilities and a blow from one of its paws would likely not hurt the dragon. In fact, it is more likely that it''d actually end up breaking its paw against the dragon''s tough head.


    Usually, it just focused on supporting and redirecting the flow of battle from afar by causing attacks from both enemies and allies to disappear and reappear in unpredictable locations.


    None of its actions usually require close proximity.


    However, when the air above the Dream Dragon began to shimmer and waver like heatwaves.


    Then a rift of dark, shifting energy hole torn into the space widened into existence, its edges crackling with distortion.


    Through this portal, the Gravitoise''s head emerged, its colossal, stone-like features looming in the sky. The sheer size of the head alone seemed to present a great strain on the Void Lynx''s portal, likely why it needed to appear so close to its desired target.


    It was a disorienting sight. It was as if the head had been severed from its massive body, now drifting in the sky, alone and detached.


    Looking below was a scene with a sickening sense of disconnection, the creature''s head had vanished. The Gravitoise''s gargantuan form, already imposing on the battlefield, suddenly seemed incomplete.


    Its colossal body remained a large and steady presence firmly rooted to the arena, but now, a large, empty space gaped where its head should have been. Its neck appeared abruptly severed at the portal''s edge and covered in an almost mirror-like rippling substance��the portal.


    Everyone watching was confused. What use would transferring a head have? However, their questions were solved in the next moment when a gravitational force dozens of times greater than normal suddenly bore down on the flying dragon''s body.


    At the moment the gravity suddenly increased, the Void Lynx quickly flashed away, forcing the edges of the portal to begin closing around the head of the Gravitoise.


    However, the gravity increase was enough to cause the Dream dragon to suddenly begin freefalling towards the stage. And before the Dream dragon could steady itself and lift its body higher once again,


    The Gravitoise had already retracted its head from the portal and began to pull on it from below since it was now within range.


    Unable to resist despite attempting to shapeshift into a variety of other forms, the Dream dragon was forcefully brought to the stage, and to prevent it from taking flight again the Gravitoise focused the majority of its attention and energy on keeping it earthbound. S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unfortunately, while the plan to lower the Dream dragon worked according to plan, the Void Lynx caught the undesirable attention of the Nightmare dragon while it was in the middle of its second space jump back in the direction of the stage.


    The Nightmare Dragon''s eyes burned with a malevolent crimson glow, its gaze sweeping across the battlefield. As its eyes locked onto Ezra''s Void Lynx, the surrounding air seemed to tremble with an oppressive force, a wave of dread radiating outward in ripples. The Lynx��normally elusive and untouchable��paused mid-stride, its form flickering as if unsure of itself.


    And since it does not have the passive ability of flight, since its form had been forced to pause in midair, it began to freefall to the stage like a comet.


    However, the taotie waiting below seemed prepared. As it opened its mouth an invisible force seemed to wrap around its rapidly descending body, slowing down its fall, while also shrinking its body��all in preparation of being "eaten" by the taotie.


    Thankfully, since they were allies, at the direction of its master, the taotie reluctantly spat out its "food" and the lynx reappeared on the stage, but now covered in a disgusting amount of partially digested substances and a strange-smelling liquid.


    Perhaps it''s a blessing that it still seems to have its thoughts impaired by the Nightmare dragon, otherwise it''d probably be freaking out due to the stench and filth covering it.


    Meanwhile, Ezra''s Voidrake darted across the field, similar to the other flying dragons but much smaller in size. yet deadly form an explosive burst of energy, its claws extending to tear through the Nightmare''s scale and make it release its control of its ally.


    However, the Nightmare Dragon retaliated by unleashed a devastating blast of shadowy flames in its direction. The flames spread outward, consuming the air with a sickening black mist. The Voidrake created a black hole in front of it to consume the flames, but for the first time in its existence, the black hole it created actually seemed to be reaching some kind of limit on what was being absorbed, forcing the Voidrake to close the hole and begin fleeing from the Nightmare.


    However, its efforts were not useless and its distraction of the dragon served to alleviate some of its control on the Void Lynx and its eyes could be seen opening and closing repeatedly as it fought the mental invasion of the Nightmare dragon.

 Chapter 277: Chapter 277: The Battle of the Strongest (3)

    Ezra''s Void Lynx, still reeling from its near-death encounter with the taotie''s digestive system, staggered to its feet, its shimmering eyes flicking back and forth as it struggled to shake off the lingering effects of the Nightmare Dragon''s mental attack.The Lynx''s form flickered in and out of space, its movements unsteady and disjointed, as if it were trying to regain its bearings after being pushed to the brink of collapse. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Meanwhile, the Dream Dragon, having been brought crashing down to the stage by the gravitational force of the Gravitoise, had regained its composure after realizing that it wouldn''t be able to take off again as long as the Gravitoise was around��better to get rid of it than keep futilely trying to fly.


    The previously calm and dreamy multicoloured eyes now took on a sharp quality as they turned to the giant tortoise.


    However, Ezra''s other contracts wouldn''t let it easy attack the Gravitoise.


    Due to its currently massive size, the Magnimorph Snake would be even more heavily impacted by the higher gravity in the area with the Dream Dragon, and if it were to instead reduce its size it would also be reducing its threat-level. Therefore, the snake stayed far from the area and instead left the Dream Dragon to the tortoise and taotie duo who were the most used to working together.


    Perhaps due to both having a relaxed, sloth-like and gluttonous nature that preferred to have their large amounts of food sucked towards themselves using their respective powers. They also happened to be Ezra''s two most recent contracts.


    Therefore, they very naturally developed a close relationship and their pairing was even affectionately coined T-Squared by Oliver, a name that stuck once it was found that their combination was more than just the sum of their respective powers��the boost they provided to each other''s abilities was closer to multiplication.


    Kain had learned on Earth that gravity was able to affect time. However, the strength of the Gravitoise isn''t quite enough to achieve that effect on its own, but when combined with the Taotie who has a very similar ability, suddenly a time dilation effect significant enough to make a difference in battle is achieved.


    Suddenly, from the audience''s perspective a portion of the arena seemed to be in a completely different world��one in which everything moved at half of the speed.


    Every little blink and movement of the Gravitoise, Taotie, and Dream dragon had slowed to a snails pace.


    Although, from the perspective of the 3 in the time dilation zone, everyone else in the arena suddenly became much faster.


    Sensing something wrong, the Dream Dragon attempted to decrease the effects of the gravity on it by becoming smaller. However, the taotie wasn''t only able to decrease the size of targets, it could increase them as well. Therefore, an interesting phenomenon was occurring in which the audience was watching the Dream dragon slowly decrease and expand in size repeatedly.


    At the same time, while the Gravitoise was maintaining an even stronger gravitational field with the help of the taotie, the taotie opened its mouth and also began to slowly draw the dragon toward it.


    Although it knew that it would eventually be spat out and not digested, due to this being a competition, thinking of the disgusting situation that the Void Lynx had been in, made the elegant Dream Dragon who loved cleanliness shudder in disgust��Absolutely not! Never! Explore more stories at M-V-L


    The Dream Dragon stopped resisting the pull and decided to use one of its abilities to bring dreams into the real-world by conjuring some helpers.


    The strength of the creatures conjured by the Dream Dragon could vary greatly, depending on the template they are basing the summon on. How much of the template creature''s strength and abilities can be channelled was dependent on various factors.


    Firstly, naturally the strength of the template can''t exceed the Dream Dragon''s by too much. If the template is too strong then it''s more likely to end up making a paper tiger that looks ferocious and powerful but has no real strength.


    Secondly, the Dream dragon''s understanding of the template will allow it to make a more realistic summon of it. Therefore, a high-quality and powerful summon won''t be achieved just off of a textbook description��the best objects for templates are creatures it knows and has interacted with many times.


    Prior to being contracted by Cassian, the Dream dragon drifted mostly in the dream realm, hopping from one person''s dream to another. Therefore, the types of spiritual creatures it could come into contact with was limited.


    However, its current allies were no weaker, and possibly even slightly stronger, than itself. Therefore, the amount of energy it would take to create a summon based off of them would be immense and may not even have half of their strength.


    Therefore, the Dream dragon chose to summon one of the few creatures it had become intimately connected with while traversing the world of dreams��Dream Sirens.


    Similar to Dream Dragons, they mostly choose to live in the dream realm and feed on dreams. They also have an instinctive worship for Dream Dragons and will follow them around in the dream realm to sing passionate hymns about the glory of the great Dream Dragon��particularly about its majestic power, incredible wisdom, and transcendent strength.


    Honestly, being followed around and praised by these noisy little fans had actually annoyed and embarrassed the Dream Dragon greatly and so it wasn''t even resistant to forming a contract with a young human when captured by that powerful woman back then.


    However, due to the many years of being followed around by these loud groupies, they were undoubtedly the spiritual creatures it was most familiar with��even more familiar than its current allies. And it just so happened that their abilities were perfectly suited for its current predicament��


    The Gravitoise and Taotie were working together to create an environment that was advantageous to them, it was time to change the battlefield to its own home court!

 Chapter 278: Chapter 278: The Battle of the Strongest (4)

    "O Dream Dragon, your beauty is so dazzling that even the sun hides its face in shame whenever you appear! Your eyes? So radiant, they could make stars cry with jealousy. Your scales shimmer brighter than a thousand gems!""Truly, if we could bottle the essence of your greatness, it would be sold for a price too high for even the richest kings to afford!"


    "When it rains, it''s due to the gods weeping in awe and sorrow, because they know they could never shine as brightly as the glowing wonder that is you!"


    The moment a group of Dream Sirens appeared on the stage, they filled the stage with loud chatter praising the glory of the Dream Dragon, just like their templates.


    Actually, the time dilation had an even more unfortunate effect at this very moment. Typically, the chatter of the sirens would occur at a speed too fast to be easily understood by ordinary humans. However, every cringey word they were saying was now perfectly slowed down due to the time dilation and broadcast across the empire for all to hear.


    "I didn''t expect the Dream Dragon to have this taste��" Kain said aloud what many were thinking. Silently judging the dragon in their hearts.


    After all, these weren''t real creatures summoned from elsewhere, they were born from its mind. Therefore, they could only be saying these things if that is what it wanted to hear��right?


    The Dream Dragon, hearing the muffled judgemental whispers of the audience and feeling the weight of their stares felt very wronged!


    Obviously, in order to conjure a spiritual creature as close in power and ability to its template, he needed to make it resemble it as much as possible��even down to the personality! Which is why familiarity is so important!


    Couldn''t they see its own tail curled in shame? Couldn''t they see its claws digging into the stage as it physically recoiled from the verbal bombardment? Couldn''t they see that IT WAS A VICTIM?!


    It had just conjured them as faithfully to its memories as possible, and that happens to include these words that it had had to suffer through hearing for years.


    The Dream Sirens, oblivious to the growing embarrassment of their summoner, continued their hymn at an agonizingly slow pace, their voices rising in pitch as they praised the Dream Dragon''s supposed "flawless" grandeur.


    "Your wings are so vast, they could wrap the world in a blanket of dreams and warmth!" one siren cooed.


    "Your beauty is like the endless sky, and even the moon envies your radiance!" another chimed in.


    "Your majestic tail��oh, how it sways with such grace, like a comet streaking through the heavens!" the third added, her voice dripping with reverence.


    The words, meant to uplift the Dream Dragon, only served to make it look more and more ridiculous.


    The Dream Dragon''s eyes narrowed in mounting frustration. The more they sang, the more it felt its dignity slipping away. Why had it thought summoning these pests was a good idea?


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    With a flick of its claws, the Dream Dragon''s body trembled with tension. Its tail lashed behind it, the force of its anger sending a ripple through the air.


    "Enough!" it growled under its breath, its voice crackling with irritation.


    The Sirens stopped mid-song, their voices faltering as the Dream Dragon''s command resonated through the space.


    "Shut up and get to work!" it snapped, its voice louder now, the frustration impossible to conceal.


    The Sirens, now silenced, blinked in surprise, momentarily flustered by their summoner''s outburst. They had always taken great pride in their praise-songs, thinking it was the highest honour to sing such flattering words. After all, if even one of their words could leave even the faintest impression of themselves in their Lord''s heart, they could die completely content. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Honestly, the fact that the Dream Dragon could create such realistic conjures of them that even seem to have emotions, must mean that their wishes had come true. They had made an undeniably strong impact on the dragon��whether it liked it or not.


    However, despite their desire to continue praising their Lord. They could never disobey a direct order from him. Their ethereal bodies flickered with energy, and as they were commanded, they began to focus their powers on the surrounding environment.


    When they sang��especially when their songs were directed with intent��they had the power to turn reality into a dreamscape where illusions and distortions reigned supreme.


    In the blink of an eye, the bright lights and hard stone of the battlefield began to blur and waver, as if the entire stage had become a brightly coloured painting.


    The Dream Sirens'' chanting transformed into a surreal lullaby, the melody taking on a strange, hypnotic quality.


    The audience, already struggling to make sense of the slowed-down environment due to the time dilation, now found themselves slipping deeper into an ethereal fog.


    Their perception of reality blurred as dream-like illusions began to manifest before them��phantoms of dragons flying across the sky, gigantic flowers blooming in an instant, and strange landscapes rising up in every direction. The very fabric of the arena seemed to warp, making it almost impossible to tell what was real and what was just an illusion.


    Honestly, had it not been for the powerful song being greatly dulled by the wards surrounding the stage, the majority of the audience probably would have directly fallen asleep without any fight.


    Even with the wards, the song of the sirens was so powerful that at least a third of the audience had their eyes closed.


    To those in the battle, the effects were even more dramatic. The Dream Dragon, aided by the terrain constructed by the Sirens, began to distort the field to its advantage.


    Although the Sirens were annoying, there was a reason he always allowed them to follow him. Although it had supreme control over dreams, the sirens were more adept at drawing individuals into the dream realm with their songs or blurring the line between the dream realm and reality. Although the Dragon could do something similar, it would take a lot more energy, and it would not be as able to exert its power when focused on maintaining this dream-like field.


    Under its machinations, the gravitational field created by the Gravitoise and Taotie now seemed to fluctuate unnaturally as if the laws of physics themselves were bending to the Dragon''s whim.


    Time seemed to stutter and warp, creating moments where the battlefield slowed to a crawl before snapping forward at dizzying speeds.


    Ezra''s Void Lynx, still struggling to regain its bearings from its earlier ordeal, flickered unsteadily around the field, its form blinking in and out of reality, even its space-warping abilities were starting to behave strangely against the surreal nature of the field.


    Meanwhile, the Nightmare Dragon, as a close relative of the Dream Dragon, felt right at home and as though it had been injected by a stimulant, putting greater pressure on its opponent.


    With a powerful beat of its wings, the Dream Dragon surged forward, the ground beneath it warping into a landscape like a watercolour painting as it glided above the arena, no longer restricted by the gravity that previously kept it down.


    The Gravitoise was particularly negatively affected by the dream realm, likely due to being the main target of the Dream Dragon. It had always been able to control gravity with precision, but here, in this dream-saturated world, its gravitational manipulation was more erratic��sometimes moving exactly as it wanted, other times in the exact opposite manner.


    With the dream realm created by the Dream Dragon spreading, it began to affect all of the ongoing battles.


    The Magnimorph Snake who was in a fierce confrontation against Solar Dragon, was occasionally finding its perceptions altered and missing its attacks more frequently.


    The Distortdjinn, who was elected to confront the Nightmare Dragon due to having the highest mental resilience, was having its mental defenses impacted for the first time in the competition.


    The Void Lynx, who had finally recovered, was assisting the Voidrake against the fourth dragon that, due to its seemingly immaterial nature, Kain was calling the Ethereal Dragon. Therefore, it wasn''t able to play as great a support role across the whole field as it usually could.


    The battle was once again brought to an even playing field��if anything it was tilting slightly in the direction of First Celestial.

 Chapter 279: Chapter 279: The End of the Tournament (2 in 1)

    The arena had descended into a chaotic blend of dream and reality, with the Dream Dragon''s influence stretching across every corner of the battlefield.Currently, the Dream Dragon, Gravitoise and Taotie were in a standoff with the Dragon continuously bending the laws of gravity while sending conjured weapons and skills, many from his allies, at the Gravitoise and Taotie. Thankfully, the conjured skills were merely replicas and not nearly as powerful as the original skills, giving T-squared time to adjust to the strange new environment.


    When the Gravitoise tried to increase gravity, it sometimes decreased or didn''t increase enough; or when it tried to repel it would often attract. However, the tacit understanding it had with the Taotie worked to stabilize the desired effect it wanted.


    While getting accustomed to the current dream field on the arena, they were taking less and less hits from the approaching skills.


    On the other side, the Nightmare Dragon, as a dark counterpart to the Dream Dragon, seemed far more accustomed to the warped battlefield. It had always been a creature of shadows and fear, and now, in this dream-warped reality, it thrived.


    The Distortdjinn, tasked with facing this terror, had never been tested like this before. Its space-shifting abilities were powerful, but even it was beginning to crack under the pressure of the Nightmare Dragon''s overwhelming presence.


    A pulse of power emanated from its eyes��fiery crimson orbs filled with malice. For the first time in the tournament, the Distortdjinn''s ability to warp space seemed to flicker, and it staggered back, its form bending like light through a warped lens.


    With a roar, the Nightmare Dragon dove toward the Distortdjinn, its body a blur of shadow and flame. The dragon''s claws stretched toward the Djinn with unnerving speed, intending to slice through its form before it could even react.


    The Distortdjinn, anticipating the attack, bent space around it in a desperate attempt to evade. The air twisted violently, and its body flickered from one point to another.


    However, an unfortunate consequence of the dream field covering the arena was that the Distortdjinn didn''t always teleport to where it had planned. Even worse, due to its sensitivity to changes in said dream field, the Nightmare Dragon was able to accurately predict where the djinn would appear��even better than the djinn itself.


    Therefore, once the Nightmare dragon finally got accustomed to the rhythm of the djinn''s dodges, a massive black tail was waiting for it at the next teleportation point to knock the wind out of it.


    Before the Distortdjinn could recover, the dragon unleashed a surge of dark, primal energy. A pulse of fear and shadow erupted from its body, expanding outward in a wave of pure terror that cracked the air itself. The wave swept through the arena, bending the very reality around it as it reached the Distortdjinn.


    For the first time in the battle, the Djinn''s control over space faltered. The edges of its form rippled uncontrollably as the boundaries between the physical world and the dream world seemed to blur completely.


    However, the Distortdjinn wasn''t resigned to its fate of being knocked out of the competition. Using the remainder of its energy, the djinn twisted the space around the Nightmare Dragon and itself, locking them both in a perfect pocket of distorted reality.


    What fell to the ground of the arena was a small snow globe-like sphere that had the frozen images of them both sealed inside.


    For good measure, the Taotie then swallowed the sphere and kept it in its near impenetrable space pocket that also doubled as its stomach.


    Now Cassian had only 3 contracts, and Ezra had 5.


    Moreover, among Cassian''s contracts, the most offensively powerful Solar Dragon can''t exert the full extent of its abilities since they chose to arrange their schools'' match in the evening as the finale for the tournament.


    However, although it wasn''t able to draw upon the power of the sun, its inherent abilities were still more than powerful enough.


    The Solar Dragon hovered high above the battlefield, its golden scales gleaming like molten fire. Although it was late in the day, the shining dragon emitting a warm glow made it feel as though the sun had never set.


    Opposite it, on the ground below, lay the massive form of Magnimorph Snake, a towering behemoth that coiled and writhed in anticipation��its body stretched across the arena like a vast, serpentine mountain, coiled in a near-perfect circle.


    The Magnimorph Snake suddenly uncoiled its massive body with terrifying speed, its body surging forward like a tidal wave. The ground shook beneath it as it launched itself into the air, its tail a whip of crushing force that aimed straight for the Solar Dragon above.


    The two creatures clashed in midair, the Solar Dragon meeting the Magnimorph Snake''s massive form head-on. The dragon''s claws raked through the snake''s scales, leaving trails of white-hot fire in their wake.


    However, despite not losing out in the confrontation once the Solar dragon got close enough to the snake, a suction-like force seemed to draw it in so that its claws were forced to remain in contact with the snake.


    This suction-like quality is a technique the Magnimorph snake usually uses once it captures a target and begins constricting��a double insurance to prevent its prey from escaping. And it wanted to make the Solar dragon its prey.


    But the Solar Dragon was not so easily caught. It flapped its wings hard, creating a shockwave of pure solar energy that sent its body upward. Interestingly, due to its claws attached to the snake, it actually managed to carry the massive snake upward with it��showing just how powerful the force of its wings are.


    Ascending higher into the sky, the Solar Dragon unleashed a concentrated burst of solar flame from its mouth. The energy poured out like a river of molten gold, searing everything in its path.


    The Magnimorph Snake now raised higher in the air, wasn''t able to gain purchase on anything and shift to a more defensive posture. And so the searing beam was able to land just below its head on its neck.


    Likely to prevent killing it instantly, the beam was shifted lower. But the piercing heat ray left a giant cauterized hole in its neck that it would need to receive medical treatment for immediately, otherwise it may be one of the few casualties of the tournament.


    Now the number of spiritual creatures on each side are 3 (First Celestial) to 4 (Dark Moon).


    The Solar Dragon, now free, went to join the Dream Dragon and bombard the tortoise and taotie on the stage.


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    As it descended toward the Dream Dragon, the two creatures exchanged a glance��a silent agreement passing between them.


    The Gravitoise and Taotie had just grown accustomed to the strange rules of physics in this dream world governed by the Dream dragon, and now there was another powerful enemy! Give them a break!


    The Solar Dragon opened its maw wide, unleashing a barrage of solar flares that streaked toward the Gravitoise. Each flare burst against the tortoise''s mighty shell, producing shockwaves that cracked the stone beneath it. The Gravitoise groaned, its gravity field fluctuating wildly as it struggled to stabilize against the onslaught.


    The Dream dragon must have altered the rules again, because then it had tried to repel the flames, it just slowed them down slightly even with the taotie''s help.


    Realizing the growing danger, the Taotie attempted to counter. With a deep roar, it released a wave of bile so corrosive it could melt anything that ended up in its iron stomach and even degrade space itself. As the wave of corrosive force surged toward the two dragons, it left sickening ripples in the air due to the destabilization of the space as it passed. The Solar Dragon, undeterred, flared its wings and released a protective shield of solar radiance, neutralizing the attack before it could reach them.


    Knowing that it''d be difficult to significantly damage the tortoise with the shell on its back, the Solar Dragon emitted a blinding light, and under the cover of that light and not much slower than the speed of light itself, it appeared before the Gravitoise before it could react.


    It struck the floating Gravitoise with a ferocious shoulder slam, sending the enormous creature hurtling across the battlefield. The tortoise crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact, dazed and vulnerable as it lay prone on its back.


    Not wanting to give the taotie a chance to save its ally, the Dream Dragon had the two wrestling spiritual creatures vanish from sight.


    The Solar Dragon, not missing the hard-won opportunity, unleashed another solar beam��this one aimed directly at the Gravitoise''s neck that it was currently clutching to prevent it from retracting back into its shell.


    The Gravitoise was now eliminated and the numbers on both sides were now equal.


    Sensing that its closest ally was now gone, the taotie screamed in fury and began to rapidly digest everything it had previously eaten to drastically boost its abilities.


    With the boost it practically turned into a sentient black hole and began to devour everything around it. Even the far-off Void Lynx, Voidrake and Ethereal dragon were being unconsciously sucked over to its side. The Dream dragon, who was the target of the suction, was helpless in the face of the force drawing it.


    However, the Solar Dragon, who was still concealed by the illusions crafted by its ally, released another beam from behind the taotie. The taotie managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, but the residual heat singed it, leaving scorched patches along its sides.


    Taking advantage of it being distracted by the pain, the Dream dragon rapidly rose higher.


    The Dream Dragon, now in the air, unleashed its most disorienting assault yet. It conjured an illusory army of dragons��each a shimmering, indistinct mirror of itself. Unlike the previous conjures, these were merely realistic illusions of itself with little of the combat power of the original. After all, due to its strength, creating even one perfect replica of itself with all of its abilities would take a significant amount of spiritual power.


    The illusory creatures circled the Taotie, creating a surreal whirlwind of images that confused its senses and forced it to halt its destructive devouring to assess the threat. S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Solar Dragon, hidden among the illusions, struck again. This time, it unleashed a series of radiant orbs that orbs exploded one after another around the Taotie, each detonation releasing intense waves of light and heat. Due to the ongoing suction, some of the orbs were even swallowed by the taotie while its vision was distorted by the circling Dream dragons and other illusions.


    Thankfully, due to its "iron stomach" the internal explosions didn''t do much harm, but suppressing the internal explosions used up much of its energy and disrupted the Taotie''s digestion boost.


    But the Taotie''s momentum wasn''t fully stopped��it retaliated by generating a gravitational pull so intense that the hidden Solar Dragon was dragged toward it. The beast clamped its jaws around one of the Solar Dragon''s hind legs, its mouth glowing with corrosive energy.


    The Solar Dragon roared in pain but summoned a surge of radiant power, blasting itself free. The energy tore through the Taotie''s jaw, leaving it dizzy and visibly weakened.


    To ensure its ally''s escape, the Dream Dragon pulled the Taotie into a trap of endless illusions and ever-shifting reality. The Taotie lashed out in every direction, but it was unable to land a decisive hit.


    The Solar Dragon ascended again, gathering all its remaining power into a single, blinding beam of solar fire. This time, it aimed not at the Taotie''s body, not wanting it to snap awake from the illusions when sensing the impending danger, but at the arena floor beneath it.


    The searing attack destabilized the ground, causing a massive eruption of molten stone and radiant energy that engulfed the Taotie.


    When the dust and light cleared, the Taotie lay motionless, its form battered and its energy spent. The referee declared it eliminated.


    Now only two creatures remained on the Dark Moon side��the Void Lynx and the Voidrake. Both hovered warily, knowing they were now outnumbered by the Solar Dragon, Dream Dragon, and Ethereal Dragon on the First Celestial side.


    However, although they were outnumbered, the Dark Moon pair was still full of energy, while the Solar Dragon was seriously injured and drained after its fight with the taotie, and the Dream Dragon was also almost out of energy. Therefore, the most the two dragons could do was support their ally.


    However, despite 2 of their 3 opponents being nearly spent, that didn''t mean they''d risk keeping them around any longer.


    The Voidrake slashed both of its claws into the air. Before anyone could be confused about why it was seemingly attacking an invisible enemy. Each claw respectively appeared elsewhere in the arena by the Void Lynx. One just above the corroded bite mark on the Solar Dragon, and the other at the neck of the Solar Dragon.


    The tired Solar Dragon wasn''t able to block both attacks and chose to protect its next, suffering a painful blow to its already seriously injured leg.


    When the Dream Dragon launched a wave of heat at the Void Lynx, mimicked from its Solar Dragon ally, the Lynx also redirected the attack to the leg of the Solar Dragon.


    Finally, the severity of the injury became too much for it to bear��they were now 2 against 2.


    Ah no, scratch that! The last blow had apparently taken out too much of the Dream dragon''s remaining energy, and it was unable to maintain the dream field or its summons. Unable to continue playing a role, it was also retracted back by its master.


    However, despite having only one contract left, Cassian didn''t seem at all worried. The Ethereal Dragon, who was the most unknown variable on the field and hadn''t shown much strength yet, made its move.


    The Ethereal Dragon''s wings flared wide, and with a deep, resonant roar that echoed through the arena, a surge of cosmic energy pulsed through its body.


    A blinding beam of pure, white light shot down from the night sky, cutting through the remaining dream-like haze of the field like a comet.


    The Void Lynx, sensing the oncoming attack, attempted to evade, but even hiding in a pocket of space couldn''t protect it. The beam lanced through the air, striking the Void Lynx dead center. The creature howled in agony as it was engulfed by the energy, its form beginning to crumble away��thankfully the referee stepped in and a one-time use artifact to halt time was used to save its life. It''d be too unfortunate for such a talented citizen of the empire to be crippled at this tournament. However, the Void Lynx, who Ezra had the longest relationship with, was still in a precarious situation and a lot of energy and resources would need to be used to heal it. Heck, a healer no weaker than indigo-grade would need to be employed to have a hope of saving its life. Ezra''s face, as well as the faces of many from Dark Moon went pale at the sudden turn in the battle that almost resulted in a contract''s death.


    The Voidrake, caught off-guard by the sudden ferocity of the Ethereal Dragon''s assault, tried to retaliate. But the Ethereal Dragon was already in motion, its wings shifting with unbelievable speed. Another pulse of cosmic energy spiralled out, striking the Voidrake with the force an immense starlit force.


    Thankfully, this time the Voidrake was able to absorb and deflect much of the force using the black holes it could summon. However, its form was still blasted back to the ground and a large crater formed beneath it as the energy tore through its body.


    It let out a final, desperate cry before it was knocked out of the competition in a terrible state.


    It seemed as though this unknown dragon was Cassian''s trump card, and not the weakest like many had assumed. Rather, the reason it hadn''t made a move until now was likely because it was too strong and afraid of killing the opponents.


    The match was over.


    And the final victory of the tournament belonged to First Celestial Academy.

 Chapter 280: Chapter 281: Closing Ceremony

    "Citizens of our great Empire, the National Tournament has always been an opportunity to witness the brightest talent our nation has to offer. This year, it has been no less than extraordinary." Princess Elara Lysander, began her speech, her gaze sweeping over the assembled audience.The main arena, now a battlefield no longer, had been transformed into a colourful spectacle of streamers and banners. The colourful d��cor and anticipation in the air gave the whole arena a festival-like atmosphere.


    A wave of applause rippled through the crowd at her speech and the reminder of the numerous entertaining battles they had gotten to witness over the past couple of weeks since the tournament began.


    "Let us not forget that this tournament is about more than victory. It is a celebration of growth and potential. Each participant has shown us the boundless possibilities that arise when they are pushed to the limit. You are the future of our Empire, and from where I stand, this future shines brighter than ever."


    She paused, the weight of her words settling over the crowd like a warm embrace.


    "And now," she said, her tone softening and her smile deepened as she looked affectionately at her nephew just beneath the stage, "as your princess and your servant, it is my honour to bestow the laurels of victory upon the champions of this tournament��First Celestial Academy."


    A deafening roar erupted from the stands as Cassian and his team began their walk to the dais. Cassian''s expression was one of pride and a natural arrogance, almost as though this outcome was to be expected.


    Elara walked over to the approaching group, the ceremonial gold medals in her hands. As she placed it gently on Cassian''s head, her gaze met his.


    "Congratulations, Champion," she said warmly.


    The crowd erupted into cheers once more, this time with some exuberant whistles from the crowd at the tender family moment they were witnessing.


    Kain couldn''t help sneaking a peak at Soren, whose expression was no different from an emotionless statue.


    "Next I would like to call this year''s runner-up, who gave us some of the most riveting matches this year��Dark Moon College."


    The members of Dark Moon made their way to the stage where they were all rewarded silver medals.


    The final rankings for all colleges for the rest of the year, and what would determine the resources allocated to each school for the remainder of the year, were as follows:


    First:


    First Celestial Academy


    Second:


    Dark Moon College


    Third:


    Supernova College


    Fourth:


    Frozen Sun College


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    Fifth


    : Starfire College


    ...


    Kain and the others, although tired from the long day, were high on the adrenaline of a better ranking, although Ezra and the others who represented them in Phase Two, still looked disappointed about the outcome. Therefore, nearly all of the team members decided to gather together at a local bar instead of just heading back to their hotel rooms.


    Additionally, since Ezra''s Void Lynx was so severely injured, he wasn''t exactly in a celebratory mood.


    Watching Oliver and Theo regale everyone with funny and embarrassing stories about one another and the other upper-years, Kain was suddenly interrupted by his phone ringing. Looking down, he saw that the incoming call was from Bridge.


    Standing up to leave the noisy ruckus behind and go to a quieter hallway leading to a staff-only area.


    Once in a more secluded area, he quickly answered the phone.


    "Hey, man! Did you guys all watch the competition? Do you want my autograph? I can give it to you now for cheap, but it''ll definitely cost you more in the future" Kain answered the phone with a teasing voice, expecting to hear the cheers and reciprocal teasing of his siblings.


    However, all that awaited him was silence.


    "Bridge?"


    More silence.


    "C''mon, man! Why call if you''re not going to say something? You''re starting to worry me!"


    This time Kain was able to hear something, it sounded like a muffled whimper and a few stifled cries.


    Kain instantly sobered up from being drunk on the beer he had drank��which happened to be his very own beer brand. Not that anyone knew. However, seeing how deeply the brand had managed to penetrate into the capital, Kain made a mental note to give their operations manager Collin a raise.


    "What''s going on��" Kain asked. This time a lot more calm and serious. It was probably the seriousness of his tone, that Bridge was finally able to compose himself enough to respond to Kain. Although the sound of muffled cries could still be heard through the phone, likely his siblings.


    "I-it''s Cherry" Bridge began in a quiet voice. "She''s been missing for days now."


    "At first, we weren''t too worried about it. You know she''s so sociable and practically a free spirit. We figured she was just staying over at a friend''s house and forgot to mention it to one of us��it''s happened before." sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain nodded in remembrance of his troublesome younger sibling.


    "However, it''s been days now! And she''s still not back!"


    "And I know I wasn''t supposed to��but we were so worried��so I read her journal. And I''m not 100% sure what happened, but I think something bad happened to her or someone took her."


    "Why would you think that, Bridge?" Kain scrunched his eyebrows together.


    ''Who would want to take a random 10-year-old girl? Actually, 11 now since her birthday recently passed. Could someone have figured out that we have a lot more money now since we send some back every month and chose to hold her for ransom?''


    "It''s not a kidnapping for ransom either," Bridge continued, almost like he could read Kain''s mind. "There''s been no contact made requesting money, and also before she disappeared��" Bridge''s voice lowered to a level Kain could barely hear, "And before she disappeared she was investigating something."


    Kain''s eyebrow raised at this revelation. Thankfully, Bridge continued to explain without further prompting.


    "Many local children have gone recently in the past few months��including a close friend of Cherry''s. I think she''d been investigating the reason."


    "And one more thing Kain��on the last page of her journal, starred and underlined, is Heather Frost''s name!"

 Chapter 281: Chapter 281: A Surprising Helper

    Kain didn''t notice that when Bridge''s voice elevated in the loud hallway, the heightened senses of a passing beast-tamer picked up on what was said on the phone.Nor did he notice that at the name ''Heather Frost'' the passing person''s cold blue eyes flickered slightly with recognition and some other unnamed emotion before they stopped at the entrance to the hallway to continue listening.


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    "I don''t know why. Cherry should never have had an opportunity to make contact with Heather." Bridge continued. "But��you know Cherry. There are very few things she loves more than a good secret. If she found out something about Heather that she wasn''t supposed to know and got into trouble�� Kain I''m worried. Heather''s parents may not live in Brightstar City, but they are still 6-star beast-tamers, so it''s not easy to investigate her! And if we do cross them, while they can''t do much to us under the protection of the College, especially to you, that wouldn''t prevent them from retaliating against the orphanage once we''re gone."


    The reason Heather Frost, who is supposedly a distant branch of the prestigious Storm family, was sent to a school in a third-tier city, instead of settling into the first-tier Starfire City with her parents, was a longstanding mystery for everyone. S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But considering that she treated all the locals as beneath her, and so never got close with anyone, nobody had any clues as to the reason behind her apparent banishment to the fringes of high-society.


    "Just calm down, Bridge. I''ll head over first thing in the morning and help you look for her. We will definitely find her."


    After appeasing Bridge a little longer, Kain hung up the phone with shaking hands and a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.


    ''God Cherry, just what have you gotten yourself into��''


    Storming out of the hallway to go and tell the others that he''d be heading back to the hotel room early��he obviously could no longer continue celebrating with this weighing him down. But he also couldn''t head back to Brightstar City right this second since there were no trains leaving at this time, and he would need the help of the College staff in the morning to teleport closer to his home since a train ride from the capital may take over a week��a week that he did not have.


    However, once he left the seclusion of the hallway he bumped into an unexpected figure��Serena Storm. However, his mind was too preoccupied to care about why she was loitering alone outside of the hallway.


    "I will help you," she said coldly.


    However, over the noise of the bar and his own chaotic thoughts, he couldn''t hear her. When a small, pale hand suddenly grabbed his wrist and prevented him from moving forward, surprisingly strong, he finally snapped back to reality in confusion.


    "What?!" He snapped, not in a conversing mood.


    "I said that I will help you," She calmly repeated.


    "Help me with what?" He asked in confusion. Had he asked for her help with something before taking the call? He had had a few beers and now his thoughts were so scattered he couldn''t even remember much of what was said prior to finding out about Cherry.


    "Look for your sister."


    Kain''s eyes snapped open in shock. She had heard! But why would she want to help him? She didn''t seem like the type to meddle in the search for a missing child that had nothing to do with her, and may even just be a misunderstanding.


    Likely seeing the confusion and skepticism on Kain''s face, she continued, "I promise that my skills will be extremely helpful in the search for your sister."


    "And why exactly, would you do that?" Kain asked in suspicion, they weren''t exactly close. Nor did the Storm family live in the Southern region. And with most of their summer vacation spent preparing for the National Tournament, there were only a little more than 2 weeks left before the start of the new semester, so if she were to go to Brightstar City with him, she''d have no time to go see her own family and, depending on how long the search for Cherry took, may even risk returning to the college late, which will have severe repercussions.


    After biting her lip briefly in hesitation, for the first time Kain saw something remotely resembling fragility on Serena''s face, "I can''t tell you why exactly I need to come. However, I heard you mention the Frost family, as relatives I can definitely help you in your search and also ensure that they won''t retaliate against your family."


    Kain froze, his sharp brown eyes narrowing as he processed Serena''s unexpected declaration.


    "You''re saying you want to help me because of Heather Frost," he said, crossing his arms. "Your cousin. If that''s the case, then do you know something and are trying to cover up for your family?"


    Serena hesitated, her icy composure wavering for just a fraction of a second. "Heather and her branch of the family have been... estranged for some time. But if her actions have brought harm or danger to your sister, that''s something I can''t ignore. The Storm family has a reputation to uphold. And despite our estranged relationship, their action still reflect on our family."


    Serena''s blue eyes met his, and for once, there was something vulnerable in her gaze. "It''s not just about your sister," she admitted quietly. "Heather''s been a problem for years, and her family has ignored it. If she''s involved in this, it''s my chance to address something that should have been dealt with long ago. After all, we also bear responsibility as her relatives for how she turned out."


    There it was��a flicker of truth. Kain wasn''t sure if that was the full story, but he could sense the weight behind her words. Whatever Heather Frost represented, it was deeply personal for Serena.


    "And if Heather''s parents retaliate against the orphanage?" Kain pressed. "You can''t just wave the Storm name around and expect everything to be fine."


    "They won''t," Serena said firmly. "I''ll make sure of it. The Frost family owes the Storm family far more than you realize. They wouldn''t dare jeopardize their positions or risk further estrangement by going against me."


    "Fine," he said finally. "You can come. But this isn''t about settling your family''s issues��it''s about finding Cherry. If you have another agenda, you can leave it behind."


    With a cool nod of agreement, she turned and strode away, her usual indifferent confidence back in place.


    Kain exhaled heavily, running a hand through his hair. He didn''t know if letting Serena get involved was the right choice, but with so many unknowns, he couldn''t afford to turn down any advantage.

 Chapter 282: Chapter 282: Free Advertising

    The next day, the students were given the opportunity to teleport with the staff back to Dark Moon city or to another first-tier city.Given that they''d performed so well in the tournament, there would naturally be school credits and other opportunities rewarded to them once they went back to the school, wanting to capitalize on the opportunity to gain some more strength before the start of the school year in a few weeks, majority of the students decided to head to the school first before going back to their respective homes.


    The only exceptions were Kain and Serena, who knew that time was of the essence to find Cherry and decided to immediately take the school up on its offer to teleport them to Starfire City which was only a short train ride away from his hometown.


    After enduring the nauseous feeling that comes with teleportation once again, a feeling that is gradually getting less strong the more times he suffers from, it they arrived at the familiar Starfire City and then boarded a train to Brightstar.


    Looking at the familiar scenery passing by Kain, was continuously weighed down by the anxiety of not knowing what had happened to Cherry��or even if she was still alive.


    It would take a couple of hours to arrive at his hometown, and knowing that he needed a distraction, Kain decided to check some of the System notifications he''d received since the end of the tournament.


    The first was the only tournament mission that had not been completed after Phase One:


    *Contribute to Dark Moon College increasing in ranking��reward variable based on final ranking of Dark Moon College*


    *The final ranking of Dark Moon College is 2nd for the next year. An increase in one rank will grant the Host 10,000 GP*


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    Kain was pleasantly surprised by the large reward, considering that he needed 100,000 GP for the next system upgrade, this single mission gave him a tenth of what he needed.


    There was also another system notification for a completed mission that hadn''t appeared immediately after the tournament ended, but instead right as they were boarding this train, making Kain curious if it was unrelated to the tournament.


    *Have 10,000 citizens use an evolutionary form created by you��10,000 points*


    Kain hadn''t expected for the evolutionary form he created to trigger the completion of a hidden mission. He''d already developed several unique evolutionary forms for his own contracts, but there was never any notification of a mission.


    It looks like the System rewarded him for creating evolutionary forms that have a far-reaching impact more so than it cared about him developing new forms only for his own contracts.


    Just the fact that the required number of citizens using a contract with a form created by him needs to reach a whopping 10,000, shows how much value the System places on the far-reaching impact of any form he makes.


    Kain was also surprised that the number reached 10,000. Prior to the tournament, when Kain had gotten his last portion of the dividends from the exchange of the patented evolution plan, the number of recorded citizens to use his evolution was only half of that �Caround 5300.


    The largest influx of exchanges for the patent had been right after the press release revealing the new evolution, and things slowed down greatly in the months after.


    However, out of nowhere that number suddenly doubled? Pulling out his phone, Kain decided to investigate online and quickly found the answer.


    It appears like it is completely due to his good luck that someone took the tournament to advertise the Lumifin''s evolved form, the Gilded Serafin, at the tournament for him for free.


    During Phase One, a second year from a lower-ranked school (ranked in the 40s) actually competed in a solo match using the Gilded Serafin.


    Normally the match of a lower-tier school wouldn''t get any coverage, but their opponent was actually a school in the top 20, meaning that they were one of the few lower-ranked schools that would get to compete on the main arena''s stage.


    And although this lower-ranked school did ultimately lose the round, that second-year student put up a good fight and actually managed to win their solo battle against the student representative of a top 20 school.


    The Gilded Serafin already got a ton of attention due to its beauty and novelty when it was first released. However, it was really only popular among those who didn''t plan to go far on the path of becoming a beast-tamer.


    However, this student''s match revealed that the Gilded Serafin, with proper training, could also have decent strength. Therefore, after the match the Gilden Serafin, which was now recognized to have both beauty and strength, ushered in its second spring and its popularity��along with Kain''s��reach new heights. Although there was no follow-up form, so most students at higher-ranked schools still wouldn''t contract it.


    Kain decided to put his other projects he was currently working on to the side for now. If he could develop the evolutionary pathway of the Lumifin even further, he was sure that the exchanges for his patent would go up drastically. After all, the potential of a creature who will stop at Silver-quality and only reach orange-grade spiritual power was different from one with a known evolutionary form of a higher gold or platinum quality. Of course, to keep its appeal to the masses, the evolutionary materials can''t be too expensive or challenging to find.


    Since the day of the match that the Gilded Serafin took the stage was one of the few days Kain had elected to stay in the hotel room, he was unable to see it in person. He was also curious about the match and, despite being the creator of the evolutionary form, he had never actually seen the species he created in combat. Therefore, he decided to pull up a recording of the match.


    The recording was from the official live broadcast and so the quality was excellent. However, it''s because of the excellent quality that Kain could readily tell the difference in the treatment of matches between schools in the top 5 and outside of the top 5. Since the highest-ranked school in this match barely scraped in at rank 20, the match was able to appear on the main stage and be broadcast. But the lack of enthusiasm of the commentators and audience, and the high amount of empty seats in the audience showed the lack of attention lower-ranked schools get.


    But under these adverse conditions, Kain was wondering how good of a promotional effect this student must have done for him for the sales of the patent to double in a mere week��surpassing months worth of sales in a matter of days.


    On one side stood a short female beast-tamer with an unassuming appearance. Before her was a Gilded Serafin floating in the air on a cloud composed of mist and light. Flanking it were two water-attribute fish-like spiritual creatures��hinting at the identity of her affinity.


    A pool of water was gradually spreading under the collective action of the three.


    On the opposing side, a male beast-tamer stood amidst a lineup of fire-attribute spiritual creatures. Although they were at an elemental disadvantage, he didn''t at all appear like he thought he had a chance of losing.


    The male beast-tamer began aggressively, with fire-attribute bird taking to the air and launching a relentless rain of fiery orbs toward the opposing team. The fire-attribute hound charged forward, sending waves of molten lava surging across the arena and disrupting the spread of the water sent out by the opponents.


    The female beast-tamer''s water-based team struggled initially under the oppressive heat. A barrier of water created by a contract that looked like a swordfish absorbed much of the incoming damage, but cracks began forming under the relentless assault.


    Meanwhile, a wave of heat produced by a fire-attribute centipede caused the water in the arena to evaporate, creating a rising mist that weakened the water team''s effectiveness.


    However, instead of being discouraged by their plans of creating an advantageous terrain being foiled, it seemed as though they had been planning on using the opponents to create a mist from the beginning.


    The resulting mist not only boosted a Rejuvenating Mist skill produced by one of the girl''s contracts, but it also showcased the Gilded Serafin''s remarkable control abilities using illusions to confuse and disorient the opponents'' senses.


    With the combination of their sight being covered by the mist, and the illusions made to disorient them further, the fire-attribute opponents were consistently unable to respond to incoming attacks. S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the end, the opponents were gradually worn down while not being able to effectively retaliate. However, the moment that probably served as the best advertisement for the Gilded Serafin was when it launched what appeared to be its strongest move towards the end of the battle.


    The skill used by the Gilded Serafin, a massive vortex of golden water and light energy swirled outward, extinguishing the fire skill hurtling towards it, cooling the lava on the arena floor, and enveloping all three fire-attribute creatures in its radiant embrace. With that one move all three enemies, although they were already quite exhausted and damaged, were ultimately eliminated��and the credit for that final win happened to fall on the Gilded Serafin.

 Chapter 283: Chaper 283: Home (Bitter)Sweet Home

    Thankfully, Kain didn''t need to distract himself from not being able to take immediate action for Cherry for long.After the train arrived at Brightstar City, both Kain and Serena left their respective private cabins and met up.


    Serena followed Kain back to his home in complete silence, he was too anxious to cosplay as a good host and tour guide, while she seemed to prefer the silence anyway.


    The streets of Brightstar were relatively narrow, and everything was within an hour''s walk of each other, therefore cars were not very common.


    Given the strength of their bodies as beast-tamers ,and that the orphanage was only a 30-minute walk for even an ordinary person, they would usually choose to walk the distance, but Kain wanted to get back home as soon as possible. Therefore, he called 2 of his Vespid guards to carry him and Serena at their fastest speed back to the orphanage.


    The winding road to New Beginning''s Orphanage was as familiar to Kain as the lines on his palms. Yet, as they drew closer, an unexpected tightness gripped his chest. Serena rode on the guard beside him, her gaze forward but unreadable, the occasional flicker of curiosity crossing her otherwise cold demeanour.


    When they reached the property gate, Kain''s pulse quickened. The orphanage stood there, nestled amid the trees, the same as always��yet subtly transformed due to the increasingly better conditions his and Bridge''s awakening had for the orphanage.


    The fence surrounding the property was no longer the rickety structure he''d grown up with; it was new, freshly painted white, and sturdy enough to keep even the most adventurous children from sneaking out.


    The house itself had undergone a quiet transformation. Much of the chipped and weathered paint he remembered had been replaced, the walls now gleaming with a warm, soft yellow hue that seemed to radiate comfort.


    The playground he''d requested shortly after entering Dark Moon college, funded by the money he sent home, was no longer just an idea; it stood proudly near the side of the house. Slides, swings, and even a climbing structure glittered in the sunlight filtering through the surrounding fruit trees. Beneath the branches of a pear tree, small benches and picnic tables had been placed.


    But the joy and pride he might have felt at these improvements was swallowed by an ominous silence. The usual chorus of laughter, the spirited arguments of children, and Cherry''s unmistakably boisterous voice were absent. The house that was usually a bustle of activity was now dead silent.


    The two stepped into the yard, and the air seemed heavier with each step. Kain''s boots crunched against the gravel path leading to the front door, a sound that felt deafening in the absence of the usual chaos.


    Even though the house looked livelier than ever, it felt lifeless now. The fruit trees bore ripe apples and pears, but there were no tiny hands reaching up to pluck them. No impromptu games were being played in the yard. Only the rustling of leaves filled the stillness.


    As they reached the steps of the porch, Kain stopped and glanced at Serena. Her expression was unreadable, but there was a knowing sadness in her eyes. After all, while caring for Bridge previously she had heard him retell stories about the members of the orphanage and knew that this silence was atypical.


    The front door creaked open before they could knock. A familiar figure stepped out��the orphanage director. His lined face was etched with exhaustion and warm brown eyes dulled with worry.


    "Kain," the director said, his deep voice cracking. "You''re finally here."


    Kain nodded, swallowing hard. The director''s gaze shifted to Serena, lingering briefly before a flicker of curiosity crossed his face.


    "And this is��?"


    "A friend," Kain said quickly. "Someone who wants to help."


    The director''s lips pressed into a tight line, and he nodded. "Come in. We need all the help we can get."


    As they stepped inside, the warm smell of freshly baked bread and lavender cleaner filled the air, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere. The walls were still decorated with the children''s drawings��something that hadn''t changed��but the vibrant interior seemed muted now.


    "I''m glad you''re back, all of the children look up to you so much, and watching you compete nationally has filled them all with a sense of pride. You should hear them boasting around town about how their older brother is one of the strongest people in the world." The orphanage director spoke to try and lift the heavy atmosphere, but a deep sadness marred the smile he was forcefully making.


    "With you back, the children will feel more secure and hopeful that we will find Cherry. Her disappearance has shaken all of them. All of


    us


    . The kids are terrified. They barely play anymore. And I��"


    The words hung heavily in the air.


    Kain''s jaw tightened as guilt clawed at him. He thought sending money had been enough, but given that the strongest individuals in the city were now weaker than him, he hadn''t thought that his family would need any protection��that was an oversight on his part and something he should have thought about when reporters were previously hounding his family after the reveal of the Gilded Serafin.


    "Where was she last seen?" Serena asked, her tone direct but not unkind.


    "In the middle of the city. In the middle of a crowd, she just suddenly up and vanished when she went travelling in a group with the others."


    Kain clenched his fists. "Did anything strange happen before she went missing? Anyone new around? Anything unusual?"


    The director hesitated, his brows furrowing. "There were rumours," he said slowly. "Some of the kids at Cherry''s school had been going missing, and you know Cherry��she can''t have a mystery in front of her and not try to get to the bottom of it."


    Kain couldn''t help gripping his hair in exasperation, having a sinking feeling that she got involved in something that she shouldn''t.


    "If kids are going missing, she should leave it to the adults! What was she hoping to accomplish as an 11-year-old with no strength?!" He screamed in anger, but most of it was targeted at himself. S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Thankfully, Cherry had a habit of writing down anything of interest in her journals��we''ll start there," Kain said before leading the way down the familiar hallways to the room shared by the two oldest girls��the 11-year-old Cherry and the 13-year-old Jasmine.

 Chapter 284: Chapter 284: Suspicious Tutor

    Kain pushed open the door to Cherry and Jasmine''s shared room, and the stark contrast between the two halves of the room immediately struck him.Jasmine''s side was immaculate, reflecting the quiet maturity of a teenager who also has the added responsibility of being the eldest daughter among many children.


    The walls were painted in calming pastel shades��soft lavender and pale peach. A delicate jewelry stand displayed bracelets and necklaces, most of them likely handmade or gifted by the other children.


    A vanity table stood against the wall, its surface arranged with care: a comb, a small mirror, and a bottle of jasmine-scented perfume.


    Her neatly made bed had a quilt of soft blues and pinks, and beside it sat a stack of novels, their spines showing well-loved creases.


    Cherry''s side was its polar opposite. The walls were adorned with vibrant, clashing posters of beasts, far off landscapes, and hand-drawn doodles taped haphazardly.


    Her bedspread was a mish-mash of color��bright yellows, greens, and blues��crumpled and half-falling off the mattress.


    Trinkets of all kinds cluttered her desk: a chipped snow globe, a box of shiny stones, a bird feather tied with a string, and what appeared to be a broken compass.


    Kain''s eyes locked onto a peculiar item on Cherry''s desk��a glowing spiritual orb. Its soft, pulsating light shifted between hues of blue and green, radiating an energy that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. His brow furrowed. How had she gotten something like that?


    The creatures near Brightstar City were far too weak to create a spiritual orb, and Cherry wasn''t even a beast-tamer.


    "Cherry��" he murmured, a mix of pride and exasperation in his voice. Truly out of all the members of the orphanage she was definitely the most resourceful�� and worrisome.


    Kain''s attention shifted to the floor near Cherry''s bed. A single wooden board had been pried loose, revealing a hollow space beneath. The edges of the opening were slightly worn, as if this hiding spot had been used frequently.


    Inside were stacks of journals, meticulously organized into two neat piles��one black, one white. The covers were worn, evidence of countless hours Cherry must have spent writing in them. Two books, one from each pile, lay at the edge of the opening, as if someone had set them aside.


    "The other children must have already gone through these," Serena observed, gesturing to the slightly haphazard arrangement of the books around the hole. "They probably left these out, knowing you''d want to read them."


    Kain picked up the white journal first, its cover cool and smooth under his fingers. He opened it, revealing Cherry''s neat but slightly rushed handwriting. Sketches filled the margins, and notes jotted down with enthusiasm covered the pages.


    The first few entries were harmless, detailing school days, playground dramas, and her attempts to convince Jasmine to join her "adventures." But as he flipped further, the tone shifted. Mentions of strange disappearances began to surface.


    [Another kid from school is gone. Third one this month, and the eighth since the school-year started. The teachers aren''t telling us anything, and it doesn''t look like the city guards investigating the incidents have a clue.]


    [Harvey hasn''t come to school in 3 days! I''d never wished for someone to just be sick more. But I hope he''s not missing. I went by his home, but the house was empty.]


    [Something is weird. Harvey recently started seeing a tutor, and I found out that Jessica B from the year above us who went missing two months ago had the same tutor. It''s only a connection between 2 of the 8 disappearances, so is it just a coincidence.]


    [I asked around, the tutor''s name is


    Heather Frost


    ]


    Reading this, Kain realized that this must have been the passage that stood out to Bridge. Cherry''s mention of Heather was the last entry before her disappearance. There''s no guarantee that shortly after this entry she didn''t start asking around about Heather or even gone to meet her.


    Not to mention there was something else that stood out to Kain��


    "Why would your cousin be a tutor?" Kain turned to Serena interrogatively, "Did her family cut her off?"


    The Heather Frost that Kain knew was not the type of person anyone would expect to volunteer as a tutor��or succeed as one. She was the epitome of arrogance, carrying herself with a sense of superiority that bordered on disdain for anyone she deemed beneath her��which was everyone in the small Brightstar City.


    Patience and understanding were qualities she seemed to lack entirely. If a student struggled, Heather was more likely to roll her eyes or offer a biting comment than to find a new way to explain the material. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Her self-centered nature only worsened the problem. Heather''s world revolved around herself. If the slightest inconvenience arose, she would abandon any responsibility without a second thought. It was easy to imagine her showing up late��or not at all��for a session, claiming she had "more important things to do"��after all, she''d acted exactly like that when Kain had had the misfortune of being assigned group projects with her in the past.


    And even if she managed to show up, her attention would drift toward herself! Heather loved to talk, but only about topics that involved her, her accomplishments, or her opinions. Any student she was teaching would quickly find themselves sidelined in their own lesson.


    That


    kind of person suddenly wanted to be a tutor for children?!


    Even Serena with what she knew of her cousin wore an uncharacteristically dumbfounded expression.


    "No��not to my knowledge. My uncle and aunt spoiled Heather greatly growing up��to a fault. I could never imagine them cutting her off��even if she didn''t manage to awaken an affinity." The end of the sentence was finished off much quieter, with a slightly solemn tone, but Kain was to preoccupied to care about the reason.


    His attention had now shifted to Cherry''s "Little Black Book," which was what Cherry liked to call "the good stuff."

 Chapter 285: Chapter 285: 100 Reasons to Kill

    Kain set the white journal aside, his chest tightening as he picked up the black book. Its worn cover seemed heavier in his hands, as if the secrets written inside had a tangible weight.Cherry had always been a naturally curious��and remarkably nosy��child, but the black journals were infamous within the orphanage.


    Everyone knew they contained more than idle musings or playground drama��no that stuff was for the white journals.


    The black journals were her treasure troves of secrets, carefully cataloged through her relentless eavesdropping and keen observation. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He flipped open the book, and the pages immediately revealed her meticulous nature. Each entry was written with precision, every line crisp and legible.


    While the white journals more closely resembled a child''s diary, the black journals more closely resemble the meticulous notes that a detective would be making on an ongoing case.


    Kain''s eyes skimmed over a few entries, his unease growing with every sentence.


    [A Mrs. H that lives in a nearby red bricked house and runs a local bakery has been living with someone who isn''t her husband whenever her husband leaves to travel for work. I innocently asked about it when I went to visit previously, and I haven''t had to pay for cookies since!]


    The very first entry of the book, which only includes her discoveries of the past year, made Kain slowly close his eyes in shame and resignation. Serena also turned to look at Kain with a deadpan expression��this was the cute and innocent younger sibling that he''d described to her?


    ''Seriously Cherry! Is this the kind of stuff a child should be investigating?! Not to mention blackmail! And if you were going to use code names to hide Mrs. Hayward''s identity, don''t include so much identifying information!''


    Kain flipped the page that suddenly felt extremely heavy to look at the next entry.


    [A certain Mr. JC is a crook! He parades himself around like he''s a great handyman, but I saw him intentionally break the satellite on a certain family''s roof in order to get their business! Not to mention that he will make up additional stuff being wrong so that he could charge his customers more!]


    Kain''s mind immediately brought up the image of James "Jiffy" Carpenter who had an an approachable, down-to-earth appearance. He always greeted people by name, remembered small details about their lives, and was always prompt in offering his services if someone needed a repair��


    Even the orphanage had called him over a few times, but was this his true nature?


    This was exactly why Kain and the others were reluctant to dig through these black journals.


    One moment they were your most admired teacher who you looked up to greatly, and the next their pristine image in your heart was forever shattered after you found out they regularly partake in illicit orgies with up to a dozen participants at a time��yes, this was a recounting of Kain''s personal experience��


    Pretty much everyone in the orphanage goes through a phase where they initially are curious and relish in wanting to find out the secrets in the black journals, until they read something about someone that they wish they''d never learned. By now, not a single person in the orphanage wished to read these books.


    Kain sighed heavily, closing his eyes briefly before daring to flip to the next entry. As much as he dreaded reading further, he needed to understand the trail Cherry might have followed to her disappearance.


    The secrets she uncovered, scandalous as they were, could hold the key. After all, the hundreds of secrets in these black books, were hundreds of reasons that someone may want to get rid of her.


    [A certain elementary school principal Mr. B, has been embezzling funds! The school''s budget reports that I borrowed from the staffroom when nobody was around showed there''s money allocated for repairs and new supplies every term, but the leaks in the gym roof are still there, and I overheard him talking about his new boat last week!]


    "Seriously Cherry! Just use the full name if your going to half-ass concealing their identities!" Kain couldn''t help yelling out loud in exasperation.


    Meanwhile, Serena''s lips twitched slightly in amusement. It''s only because she has no chance of someone she knows and likes ending up in these books that she could be so relaxed!


    He flipped another page, and this one made him audibly groan.


    [The mayor''s son, W, has been sneaking out at night to meet various female "workers"! One of these "workers" accosted him at the mayor''s home in broad daylight with a small bundle wrapped in blankets in her arms, demanding financial support before she was escorted away by security. Unfortunately, she was unaware that there were probably close to 20 such illegitimate children that have unsuccessfully tried to get recognized by the mayor''s family.]


    Kain rubbed his temples, his frustration mounting. Why did Cherry feel the need to meddle in such things? Their ordinary neighbours were one thing, the mayor, who is one of the strongest beast-tamers in the city, was another!


    [A certain tutor with the initials HC, and whose last name rhymes with ''Lost,'' came to the school yesterday and she was talking to the headmaster, and I swear she slipped him a thick envelope��was it money?]


    Kain assumed that this entry was about Heather. Her giving money to the top person at an elementary school raised his suspicions of her further.


    [There is someone new in town and he gives me a bad feeling. I had never seen him before, and I should at least recognize everyone that''s local. However, he probably isn''t just passing through since I''ve been occasionally catching glimpses of him for weeks now. A glowing blue orb dropped from his pocket one time as we passed each other. It looks expensive! A new addition to add to my collection!]


    Kain turned to look at the spiritual orb on Cherry''s dresser that, based on the colour and spiritual power it was emitting, came from a blue-grade spiritual creature.


    Suddenly Heather was thrown from his mind. Someone with the strength and/or finances to obtain a blue-grade spiritual orb would not typically choose to settle down in Brightstar City. Although it was his home and he was fond of it, Kain had to acknowledge that it was a barren wasteland for beast-tamers above 3-stars, without any valuable resources.


    Probably the biggest advantage of Brightstar City is the trusting and welcoming nature of its citizens for one another, meaning that children aren''t easily skeptical of a strange adult wanting to talk to them��


    Whoever this unidentified man was, he had definitely moved toward the top of Kain''s list.

 Chapter 286: Chapter 286: Breakthrough in the Case

    After reading through the rest of Cherry''s books, Kain and Serena met up with the rest of the members of the orphanage for dinner.What should have been a celebratory meal in a warm atmosphere due to it being his first time home in a while, instead was full of tension.


    Cherry was the loudest voice in the house, and so the chattering voice that was practically like a constant background hum that they''d all grown used to was now gone.


    Had she been there Kain was certain that he would have been undergoing interrogations about his first year in college, what the National Tournament was like, and probably also a lot of teasing due to bringing home a beautiful girl.


    Instead, the room filled with people had only a crushing silence.


    Serena wasn''t too picky about her living accommodations and didn''t mind staying in Cherry and Jasmine''s room. Thankfully, Jasmine also didn''t mind her presence and, since she''d seen her strength at the National Tournament, she claimed that she actually felt much safer with her around. In fact, the two youngest girls Sunny and Melody, also seemed to think the same way and somehow all four of them ended up crammed into a single room.


    Similarly, all of the boys had been squeezing into a single room with Bridge to feel safer, but now with Kain around they split into two rooms. Kain was rooming with the eldest Milo and the two youngest boys Parker and Charlie in the room that was originally shared by Milo and Jasmine''s twin Jasper.


    Meanwhile, Bridge, Jasper, and Key had taken over the room Kain shared with Bridge.


    He had heard from the director how difficult it had been to get everyone to sleep immediately after Cherry''s disappearance, so he was pleasantly by the deep breathing and snores he quickly heard. Although he hadn''t found Cherry yet, at least he''d managed to help in some way.


    However, Kain himself was suffering from insomnia. How could he sleep when his younger sister could be being tortured or even killed right now?


    So he instead spent the entire night absorbing spiritual power with the boost provided by the System''s Planetarium. If he''s lucky he may even be able to break through to 4-stars within a couple of months.


    ''Maybe I can even pass Serena,''


    Kain thought with anticipation.


    That was until he woke up to find Serena eating breakfast in the morning with a suddenly increased spiritual power that she was unable to restrain. Bridge was sitting next to her in shock, meanwhile, all of the ordinary members of the orphanage seemed to suddenly find her presence to be pressuring due to the power she kept unconsciously emitting.


    ''Who the hell completes a breakthrough to 4 stars within a single night?!''


    As the level increases, so does the time it usually takes to breakthrough to the next level. For Kain''s own breakthrough, he was prepared to have to suffer for at least a week. However, she had managed to successfully breakthrough in only a few hours.


    Kain felt as though he had been hit in the head and even began to fall into an intense self-doubt.


    ''Have I been doing it wrong? No! Everyone takes around that long. The abnormal one is her!''


    However, the secret to her overnight breakthrough needed to be put aside for now. Finding Cherry was the most important thing.


    They had already worked out a plan for the next few days on how they were going to gather more information about Cherry��and it was going to start with this corrupt principal of the elementary school that seemed to have some kind of intersection with Heather. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, to avoid potentially startling the mastermind behind the scenes by going around and asking questions, they couldn''t exactly interrogate him directly��but they also didn''t need to.


    Thanks to Bea''s new evolutionary form, they had managed to sneakily infect him with one of Bea''s splits when he stopped by the local coffee shop on his way to work like he always did and that split has been continuously feeding back information to Bea��from his memories, to relaying his actions in real-time.


    As an ordinary person, the principal had no way of resisting the infiltration.


    While rifling through his memories, although they found many many


    problems


    with this principal. Most of them involved accepting bribes, embezzlement and other forms of corruption. He was not directly involved in the kidnapping cases��at least not knowingly.


    However, unable to continue just waiting for more clues to appear, he decided to be proactive and actively control the principal to fish out Heather.


    In his office, Principal Baker adjusted his tie nervously, his thoughts swirling with mundane concerns about budgets and minor disciplinary issues. But, as Bea exerted a subtle nudge, an impulse arose in his mind��a perfectly logical desire to call Heather Frost, disguised as his own initiative.


    He picked up the phone and dialed.


    "Ms. Frost," Baker began, his tone overly accommodating, "I''ve been reviewing some of the profiles you asked for. There''s one student I thought might interest you, her grades dipped recently and could definitely use the help of an excellent teacher like you. However, convincing her to accept your help may not be as smooth as previously��"


    "Oohhh��and why would that be?" Heather asked finally, her tone filled with barely restrained irritation.


    "It seems as though some idiotic student started an unpleasant and completely untrue rumour about you. It seems as though you were spotted before several of the students disappeared, and you just so happened to tutor two of those students��But do not worry Miss Frost, we are in the process of hunting down the source of that horrid rumour!"


    Kain suppressed a smile. The story about a rumour was completely fabricated��a soft push from Bea to set the stage for the next stage of their plan.


    "You damn well better! And when you do find out who is defaming me, make sure to tell me as well!" She screamed through the tone in a venomous voice. Thankfully, their rumour starter was completely fictional, otherwise he''d be quite concerned about their safety.


    "Oh course! Of course�� So I hope you can understand why our exchanges cannot occur at the school during this period, and I was hoping that there was somewhere else off campus that we could meet." This was the true purpose of their call.


    Heather rarely left her home, not finding anything worthy of her attention in the small Brightstar City and due to the strength of her parents, she was probably in the most heavily guarded home in the city. Therefore it was hard for Kain and Serena to get to her. They needed to create a suitable opportunity to infect her with one of Bea''s splits.


    There was a long silence. Kain felt his pulse quicken, waiting for her response.


    "Alright��" She finally conceded with obvious reluctance. "I will send you a suitable location where we could meet."


    Shortly after, an email was sent to the Principal containing only an address and a time. At the designated time and location, the Principal went to meet her, with the profile of a fictional student��they couldn''t put a real student in danger after all.


    The location was a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with barely any customers, so Kain and Serena would have stood out if they were the only other individuals inside.


    Therefore, they sent Bea in alone while carried by the Principal and she finally found a suitable opportunity for infection.


    Heather was wearing several pieces of enchanted equipment, many of which were focused on warding off the invasion of mental attacks. However, the power they could exert was limited since she, as an ordinary person with minimal spiritual power, couldn''t channel any spiritual power into them.


    Therefore, Bea was eventually able to succeed in her mission��


    ''Bingo!


    '' Kain and Serena thought almost simultaneously while glancing at each other with slight smirks.

 Chapter 287: Chapter 287: Seeds of Resentment

    Heather Frost grew up the apple of her parents'' eyes.Anything she wanted, she received. Anything she disliked was swiftly removed from her sight.


    Heather''s whims dictated the atmosphere of the Frost estate. Her parents, as relatives of the prestigious Storm family, had amassed their wealth by capitalizing on this blood relationship. With the money they garnered through shrewd connections and implied prestige, they lavished Heather with gifts and attention as if she were a rare jewel.


    By the age of seven, Heather was accustomed to the adoration of her tutors, the endless compliments of family friends, and the envy of other children. She had never once doubted her importance.


    But there was something more insidious beneath her privileged life: the unspoken lesson that she was superior simply because she was a Frost. And so, she felt an added pressure to prove that she was superior not only for her last name.


    When her parents announced they would visit their distant relatives, the Storm family, Heather was curious but indifferent. "Why should I care about them?" she had asked, her voice petulant. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Her mother''s soft laugh rang out. "Oh, darling, the Storms are family. Not to mention that much of our current business relies on our relationship with them. From what I''ve heard, the Storm family has a girl your age��Serena Storm. She''s quite special, Heather. You''ll see."


    It was the first time she heard the name Serena Storm, and though she didn''t realize it then, it marked the beginning of a deep fissure in her carefully curated world.


    The Storm estate was nothing like the Frost manor.


    Where Heather''s home gleamed with polished marble, gilded edges, and opulent displays of wealth, the Storm estate exuded understated power and elegance. It wasn''t loud in its splendor, but the sheer scale of the estate and tasteful additions of rare and significant historical artifacts hinted at their superiority and prestige. For the first time in her life, Heather was forced to interact with someone whose background overshadowed her own.


    Heather, dressed in her finest pastel gown with ribbons in her hair, expected to be the center of attention upon their arrival. But as soon as they stepped into the grand hall, she was overshadowed.


    Serena Storm was the first person she noticed, as though a spotlight followed her around the room. The other girl stood near the adults, her long, silvery-white hair flowing like a cascade of moonlight over her shoulders. Her piercing blue eyes seemed to glow with an ethereal light, a fitting match for her aloof, yet captivating, demeanor.


    Serena''s beauty was striking, but it was her presence that truly set her apart. There was an air of quiet confidence in the way she stood, as if she didn''t need anyone''s approval yet naturally drew it anyway.


    Heather had never seen someone so beautiful��Serena looked like one of the princesses in her storybooks brought to life.


    Heather was used to compliments, but when the gathered Storm and Frost relatives turned to look at her, she felt the weight of their indifference.


    Her parents ushered her forward. "Go on, darling, introduce yourself to Serena," her mother whispered.


    Serena turned her bright blue eyes toward Heather and gave an impassive smile. "Hi, I''m Serena." Her voice was calm, polite, but carried a subtle distance, as if she were measuring Heather with her gaze.


    Heather hesitated before taking Serena''s hand. "Heather Frost," she replied.


    That was the beginning of their acquaintance, and at first, Heather found Serena pleasant. The Storm family seemed to adore her, but Serena wasn''t arrogant or dismissive. Her cool demeanor gradually softened as the two girls spent hours exploring the expansive grounds, chatting about their lives, and discovering common interests.


    For the first time, Heather enjoyed the company of someone her age who didn''t seem to envy her.


    But the friendship quickly soured.


    "She''s a good influence on Heather," one of the adults remarked at dinner, loud enough for Heather to hear. "Serena''s strength and discipline might rub off on her."


    Another laughed softly. "Not everyone can be a prodigy like Serena, but I''m sure Heather will find her way."


    The words, though offhand, planted seeds of resentment. Heather began noticing how Serena effortlessly charmed everyone around her, how the Storm family looked at her with pride and admiration. How no matter what Heather did, Serena always seemed to do better.


    Simple manipulations of her small amount of spiritual power were already an astounding feat for a child. However, Serena had been manipulating her spiritual power and even boosting her senses since she was five. She was now learning simple spiritual skills that Heather couldn''t even fathom attempting.


    Even her parents, who had always doted on her, seemed to prefer Serena to her.


    Heather overheard her father speaking to her mother in hushed tones. "The Storms are incredible. Their daughter��did you see her control during the sparring demonstration? If only Heather had that kind of talent."


    Unable to confront any of the adults around her about their unintentionally hurtful words and comparisons, Heather could only grit her teeth and clench her fists in silent resentment.


    Serena, oblivious to Heather''s growing discontent, continued treating her as her only friend of the same age. But every compliment Serena received, every comparison to her strength, intelligence, or looks, gnawed at Heather''s self-worth.


    As the years passed and their families crossed paths more often, Heather''s bitterness deepened. However, she became skilled at hiding her resentment, smiling sweetly at Serena while seething inside.


    Also with age, the pressure from her parents to be more like Serena began to increase. After all, in this world, more than a good business, a powerful beast-tamer in the family was invaluable. They placed much of their family''s hopes of elevating their status on their only daughter.


    "Why don''t you try sparring with Serena? It could be fun, and you could learn from her!" or "Serena says she''s been practicing a new spiritual skill��maybe you could ask her for tips on improving your control of spiritual power?"


    The idea of asking Serena for help was unbearable. Heather wanted to surpass her, not rely on her!


    What little friendliness Heather had for Serena turned into a deep, burning hatred. Her smiles grew sharper, her compliments more calculated, and her schemes began to take root.


    If Serena Storm was like a princess, Heather Frost was determined to become the one who pulled her down from her throne.

 Chapter 288: Chapter 288: The Seed Sprouts

    By the time Serena Storm and Heather Frost reached high school, the rivalry��one-sided as it was��had become the defining element of Heather''s life.They both attended the same elite high school within the Imperial Capital. For Heather, this was both a blessing and a curse. While the Frost name, or more like their relation to the Storm family, held enough weight to ensure her place among the school''s upper echelons, she could never escape Serena''s shadow.


    The spotlight on Serena was no less bright at school than it was at the Storm estate. If anything it was brighter. Teachers praised her intellect and her unparalleled control over spiritual power, while the students, although conscious of her talent, mostly praised her beauty.


    Rumors swirled endlessly about Serena, and one in particular made Heather''s blood boil: that one of the Lysander princes, might have a crush on Serena. Heather overheard the whispers in the hallways and the giggles of her classmates. It wasn''t fair. Serena didn''t even seem interested in the attention, nor did she probably even know that the prince pursuing her existed. Why couldn''t it have been her?


    The pressure only mounted as their final year approached. The upcoming Awakening Ceremony loomed over them all. The biggest event of their lives that would set the trajectory of their futures. For Heather, the stakes couldn''t have been higher. Her parents made it clear: the Frost family''s continued prestige depended on her results.


    Meanwhile, Serena, who had always been exceptional, seemed entirely unbothered. Her calm face almost seemed to be taunting Heather, like she was sure that even without trying she would definitely be able to obtain an affinity that left Heather in the dust.


    She couldn''t take it anymore!


    That summer before their senior year of high school, Heather reached her breaking point.


    The Frosts'' neighbors, the Harringtons, were preparing for their son''s Awakening Ceremony. As part of this preparation, they had secretly procured a red-grade spiritual creature��a cub of a high-level predator, at least gold-quality��brought in from beyond the city''s borders.


    When Heather learned of this she concocted a plan so reckless it even frightened her�� She would get rid of Serena once and for all.


    Using Serena''s trust, Heather invited her for a "private walk" in the sprawling forest bordering the properties of several estates. However, it was a private forest in the center a prestigious gated community, with no wild spiritual creatures in it��and no danger. Therefore, it was common for members of the community to go for relaxing walks within the forest since it was a safer version of the wilderness outside of the city.


    Heather guided Serena to a secluded area under the pretense of showing her a hidden stream. Then, making an excuse about fetching something she "forgot," Heather ran off, leaving Serena alone.


    She had already convinced the Harrington''s son to secretly release the cub��with a bit of flirting, of course. And it just so happened that its favourite food, something irresistible to it, had been left near where Serena was. The creature''s senses would naturally drive it in that direction. And given its inherently vicious nature, it would definitely attack a strange girl that was seemingly standing in between it and its food.


    Heather returned to the Frost mansion, her heart pounding in anticipation. Guilt and fear flickered in the back of her mind, but she pushed them aside. All she could think about was the end of the comparisons, the end of being second-best.


    This was her chance to finally step out of Serena''s shadow.


    Hours passed. No news came. Heather paced her room, her stomach twisting with nerves. Had it worked?


    Then, the report arrived��but it was nothing like she expected.


    Serena had survived. Not only that, but she had


    awakened independently


    . S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Heather''s jaw dropped as the details were explained. Alone in the forest, faced with the danger of the red-grade cub, Serena had instinctively awakened her affinity. This was an extraordinary feat in itself and would surely raise her value and reputation even more, but the shocks didn''t stop there.


    At the moment of her Awakening, Serena also activated her gift, as well��moreover it was the legendary gift that the founder of the Storm family had once wielded.


    And as if fate itself conspired to elevate Serena further, apparently at the time of her awakening, a suitable contract also just happened to be in the vicinity and immediately submitted to her, allowing her to defeat the red-grade cub without any injuries. Supposedly her first contract, while its identity wasn''t revealed, had an unimaginable potential.


    Heather felt her world crumble.


    The envy bubbling inside her erupted into a hurricane of rage. She smashed mirrors, threw vases, and tore apart her room in a hysterical frenzy. How? How had Serena turned what should have been her death sentence into yet another opportunity to get ahead of her?!


    Her tantrum was interrupted by the Frost family''s steward. "Miss Heather," he said, his voice grave, "the Storms have arrived and are demanding to see you."


    The investigation didn''t take long. The evidence of Heather''s involvement was damning. The Frost family was humiliated, and Heather''s parents��although ashamed and furious��still did everything in their power to protect her.


    By giving up much of their family''s properties and interests, they managed to reduce her punishment to what was, by all rights, a slap on the wrist: banishment to a third-tier city in the empire''s southern region.


    But for Heather, it felt like a death sentence.


    She screamed at her parents, begging them to reconsider. "You''re throwing me away!" she cried. "You''re ruining my life!"


    Her mother''s face was pale but resolute. "We''ve done everything we can to help you, Sweetheart. Be should be grateful this isn''t worse."


    Be grateful? Grateful?!


    Her hatred, once directed solely at Serena, now encompassed everyone around her. As she boarded the carriage that would take her away from the Imperial Capital, Heather vowed that one day, she would return with immense strength.


    And when she did, she would make them all pay.

 Chapter 289: Chapter 289: Greatness Demands Sacrifice

    However, things didn''t go quite according to plan.She sucked it up to attend a high school in the middle of nowhere surrounded by plebians.


    After all, she is still of a high bloodline and would definitely be able to awaken a powerful affinity and make a comeback, but��


    "Where is it? Where the hell is it?!" Heather''s voice cracked as she screamed, her composure shattering.


    She ran through the darkened space of her consciousness, her spiritual senses searching desperately. The vast, empty void mocked her with its emptiness.


    Her heart pounded in her chest as panic set in. She tried to stretch out her senses to see if there was a pull again and again, her hands trembling as if she could physically grasp what wasn''t there.


    This wasn''t how it was supposed to go.


    Every instinct told her that the egg should be here, waiting for her, glowing with the promise of power and greatness. But the space remained empty.


    Heather fell to her knees, her hands clawing at the ground. The darkness closed in around her, suffocating and cold. Her breath came in shallow gasps as reality began to sink in.


    She had failed.


    For the first time in her life, Heather Frost, the girl who had always been told she was destined for greatness, felt the sting of being utterly ordinary.


    When she was finally forced to exit the space formed from her unconscious, she stood in front of her peers, trembling and humiliated. The whispers behind her back were deafening.


    "She didn''t find an egg?"


    "How is that possible? She''s a legacy."


    She felt as though every hushed word was taunting her. Even the teacher that had approached to comfort her, was merely rubbing in her face her current predicament.


    "Argh! I don''t believe this! I don''t believe this! That bitch! I don''t believe that bitch could awaken as she did and I can''t at this goddamned ceremony!"


    After her temper got her thrown out of the hall where the ceremony was taking place, Heather was overcome by despair.


    "How could this happen?!" She was a legacy who came from a long line of beast-tamers. Statistically, the chances of her not awakening even the lowest level of affinity was miniscule.


    But this miniscule probability had still fallen on her��


    In the months following the disastrous Affinity Ceremony, Heather Frost''s life descended into monotony and bitterness. The ordinary high school felt like a prison.


    She was surrounded by ordinary people whose lives revolved around unremarkable goals. They had no aspirations for greatness, no understanding of what it meant to bear the burden of bringing a family to glory. Heather couldn''t decide if she hated them more for their mediocrity or their contentment.


    Her days blurred together, consumed by thoughts of what could have been.


    One evening, Heather sat at her vanity, staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Her fingers absently traced the edge of the polished wood as her mind churned with anger and self-pity. She leaned closer, inspecting her tired, pale face.


    "This is your life now?" she muttered bitterly. Her reflection scowled back, and for a moment, she could almost see the mocking expressions of her former peers in her mind. Former classmates who had once been beneath her, but were now more powerful than her.


    Suddenly, the reflection in the mirror did something strange��it stopped mirroring her.


    Heather froze. Her hands had stilled on the table, but the image of her in the mirror tilted its head, a sly, knowing smirk creeping across its lips.


    Heather''s heart pounded as a chill snaked down her spine. "What is this?!" she demanded.


    The reflection didn''t answer immediately. Instead, it leaned forward, its eyes gleaming with something unnatural. "I''m here to help you," it said finally, the words dripping with dark amusement.


    Heather''s breaths came in shallow gasps, but her fear was quickly eclipsed by curiosity. "Help me how?"


    The reflection chuckled. "You were meant for greatness, Heather Frost. You were destined to rise above the commoners you''re surrounded by. But fate has been cruel to you, hasn''t it? Stripped you of your rightful place, left you powerless and alone. I can change that. I can give you power, respect, revenge��everything you desire."


    Heather swallowed hard, her hands gripping the edge of the vanity. This mysterious figure was offering her everything she''d ever wanted, but she didn''t immediately give any indication that she would take up the offer.


    Heather was vain, self-centered, and arrogant, but she wasn''t stupid. She knew that who or whatever this was would want something from her in exchange.


    "What''s in it for you?"


    The reflection''s eyes gleamed with an unnatural light. "Our research is in need of the resources, influence and money you could provide."


    "Research?"


    "Awakening an affinity," the reflection replied smoothly. "The very thing you''ve been denied. The research requires both funding and test subjects. But with your help, we can refine the technique. And once we perfect it... your power will know no bounds."


    Heather frowned, doubt creeping into her mind. "Test subjects?"


    "Ordinary people," the reflection said dismissively. "Or more specifically the offspring of ordinary people. Those who have no real future, no greater purpose. They''ll be able to serve a more noble cause��helping someone like you reclaim what''s rightfully yours."


    The words struck a chord in Heather. She thought of the people in this low-class city��their dull lives, their limited aspirations. They didn''t understand greatness, didn''t strive for anything beyond their mundane existence. And she... she was meant for so much more.


    Seeing that she close to agreeing, the reflection made one final push.


    "Think about it, Heather. Do you want to stay here forever, trapped in mediocrity? Or will you seize this opportunity to rise above it all?"


    Heather''s mind filled with visions of Serena Storm��her perfect face, the constant comparisons, always being one-upped by her��and the life that had been stolen from her.


    "I''ll do it," she whispered.


    Getting the response it wanted, the figure identical to her in the mirror stretched its mouth into a wide, cruel grin. "Excellent. Let''s begin."


    S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 290: Chapter 290: The Rescue Operation Begins

    Once the mysterious man in the mirror had laid out his plan, she began to act with an almost frightening efficiency.Bribing the principal had been surprisingly easy. The man was a greedy opportunist who didn''t ask questions as long as the money was good and the risks were low.


    Heather had spun a convincing story about wanting to help struggling students as a way to rehabilitate her tarnished reputation. The principal, eager to see a prominent name like Frost associated with the school in a positive light, handed over the files without much hesitation.


    The students she targeted were easy to identify��average grades, unremarkable family backgrounds, parents who worked long hours and wouldn''t have the time or influence to dig too deeply if something went wrong.


    Heather would approach their families under the guise of being a caring tutor, offering her services at a rate far lower than anyone else of her supposed calibre would charge. The parents, reassured by the principal''s endorsement, readily agreed. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once Heather became a fixed feature of the child''s life, she would begin her reconnaissance. She''d note the child''s schedule, their habits, and, most importantly, the gaps in their parents'' attention.


    It was a cold, calculated process, but she justified it to herself as necessary. These children weren''t exceptional��they wouldn''t achieve greatness in their lifetimes. By helping with their cause research, they''d be contributing to something far more significant.


    When she had all the information she needed, Heather would discreetly pass on the information, including the most suitable times to "retrieve" the test subject, during their regular communication intervals using the mirror.


    And not long after passing on the information the student would mysteriously go missing.


    Of course, being a tutor for all of the subjects that went missing would raise suspicions against her, so some of the students she tutored were not targets to be kidnapped. And some of the students she flagged as targets using the information provided by the principal were not approached by her to be a tutor, but by a proxy paid by her.


    The only other chance to interact with the mysterious man was when she had to provide her "financial donations."


    For the financial transactions, Heather was forced to deal in cash. Large sums were involved, so cash was very inconvenient, but due to the sensitive nature of the man''s identity they also didn''t want to risk leaving a paper trail.


    Instead, she withdrew the money in chunks and stashed it in a space ring that is then brought to an abandoned house on the city''s outskirts at regular intervals��and one of those dates just so happened to be coming up.


    Completely controlled by one of Bea''s splits, they used the next financial exchange opportunity to plant another split on Heather''s space ring.


    Although, when outside of the brain Bea''s concealment abilities were not as strong and the split could be detected by a vigilant 6-star beast-tamer, after repeated tests they confirmed that the likelihood of the split being discovered was low.


    The space ring that they used for the exchange is of high quality and had many added measures to ensure that no unrelated individuals could access what was inside.


    An unintended consequence of that is that the space ring emits stronger fluctuations of spiritual power than the average space ring, and so the presence of the split attached to the inside of the ring band was much more difficult to detect.


    On the night of the scheduled exchange, the controlled Heather followed the routine she had performed many times before, not revealing any abnormality in case someone were to be watching.


    She arrived at the abandoned house under the cover of darkness, her footsteps soft against the cracked pavement. She approached the rusted mailbox, and familiarly slipped the space ring inside.


    She didn''t linger. Once the ring was in place, she turned and left and continued about her day as usual.


    Not long after her departure, they sensed movement of the ring. However, since the split could sense that the spiritual power fluctuations of the person carrying the ring was at least 2 levels above itself, it did not make any moves to infect them.


    However, there was no need for that. As long as it remained concealed, Kain and Serena would eventually be able to get to where they needed.


    And true to what they thought, after nearly an hour of travel to another area of the city''s outskirts almost on the complete opposite end of the city, the movement of the ring stopped.


    Based on the limited information transmitted by the split, it was a large building��a factory? school?�� that was completely abandoned.


    Serena and Kain headed over there together with only the two of them.


    Bridge desperately also wanted to come, but Kain managed to prevent him from also coming by stating that since they didn''t know if this man had any other partners, they would need someone to remain at the orphanage in order to be assured of the others'' safety while they were going to get Cherry.


    Finally convinced by the reason given Kain, Bridge agreed to remain at the orphanage��much to Kain''s relief.


    Although Bridge was by no means weak, based on the information that they had, their opponent was likely at least a 6-star beast-tamer, and he didn''t want to also have to worry about his brother''s safety while fighting. Taking care of his own safety was challenging enough.


    Fortunately, during the time that they were obtaining information while staying at the orphanage, Serena somehow managed to make all of her contracts also advance to green-grade, so the gap between her and the opponent wasn''t so big.


    By this point Kain wasn''t even shocked at the overnight breakthroughs anymore, and given that these breakthroughs were advantageous to their rescue efforts, he was actually quite happy that his greatest rival suddenly had a huge boost in strength.


    "Based on what we know, at least 8 children have gone missing," Kain said while looking at the silent and dark building in the distance, "hopefully it''s not too late to get them all back��"

 Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Clinging to Hope

    ''It''s cold''Cherry huddled in the corner of an empty, locked room, her knees drawn to her chest. The cold concrete floor sent a chill seeping into her bones.


    She shivered, not just from the cold but from the gnawing fear that had taken root in her heart.


    It had been two days now since she had last seen Harvey who had previously been kept within the same cramped cell as her.


    But one morning, the door to their cell had creaked open, and a dark figure had taken Harvey away. Cherry had screamed and clung to him, but he had cruelly ripped Harvey from her grasp while launching a hard kick at her stomach.


    Thankfully, their kidnapper had kept his strength measured and while the kick had been painful and given her a bad bruise, she had no internal injuries.


    After sending her sprawling to the floor in pain however she had not been able to say or do anything as her closest friend was dragged kicking and screaming from the cell.


    He had promised he''d come back.


    He hadn''t.


    Now, she was alone.


    She hadn''t seen any of the other kidnapped children aside from Harvey since arriving, so she was unsure if there were any other children in the neighbouring cells. However, she couldn''t stop the sinking feeling that even if they were alive, they would likely be no longer be whole was beginning to press down on her.


    The silence in the building was suffocating, broken only by distant sounds that made Cherry''s skin crawl. There were screams sometimes��raw and agonized, echoing through the empty building like ghosts wailing.


    And occasionally there would be the disturbingly jovial whistles of their keeper��completely incompatible with the horror of the current environment.


    As the days ticked by, and she could feel the approach of the day in which she will be brought from the cell, she began to be consumed by a feeling of helplessness.


    When she closed her eyes, she tried to picture family at the orphanage, her friends at school, or even the last rays of sunlight she had seen. But those memories were growing faint, overshadowed by the oppressive darkness around her.


    Harvey''s face flashed in her mind, his warm smile now replaced by the haunting image of him being dragged away. She bit her lip, refusing to cry.


    The sound of approaching footsteps froze her in place. Her heart thundered in her chest as she backed away from the door, her small frame pressing against the wall. Sear?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A shadow passed under the crack of the door, lingering for a moment before moving on. Cherry let out a shaky breath, her knees threatening to buckle beneath her.


    Somewhere in the distance, a scream ripped through the air, cutting off abruptly. Cherry squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hands over her ears. Once again trying to focus on finding comfort in the faces of her family.


    In particular, she clung to the memory of her oldest brother who she''d witnessed competing on a national level just a few days ago. He would come for her. He had to.


    "Please, Kain," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the distant tortured screams that had started up again. "Please find me."


    After all, aside from her eldest brother, she really wasn''t confident in the local guards even looking for, much less finding, her.


    --------------------------


    Kain looked at Serena, "I know it''s difficult to fully trust one another but, considering the circumstances, I hope that you can trust me enough to clarify what abilities you have at your disposal."


    Seeing that she remained silent, Kain continued, "As a show of good faith, I will go first."


    Kain then began to explain what abilities all of his contracts had at their disposal, he even went into detail about the abilities of the sigils on his enchanted equipment.


    "That''s everything��I do think that I awakened a gift, but I have no idea what it is yet, and so can''t exactly factor it into any plans we make."


    After a long moment of silence while making eye-contact with Kain. Serena finally opened her mouth��


    The explanations about the abilities of the two contracts that had already been revealed were pretty much along the lines of what he expected. The only new information was about some constellation abilities of her third contract that hadn''t been revealed in any of the prior matches with her.


    Her gift was also what Kain expected��a near limitless amount of spiritual power. Even without the use of a relevant spiritual skill to funnel the spiritual power to her contracts, just brute force shoving the excess spiritual power through the contract is still able to fuel all of her contracts for many hours of intense battle, if not days.


    The only new information, and the information that Kain was the most interested in, was the identity and abilities of Serena''s unrevealed contract, which also happened to be her first contract.


    His curiosity about this contract only grew greater after looking at the memories that he received from Heather Frost through Bea''s split.


    How had it just happened to be around to form a contract with Serena when needed? From the Heather''s memories no spiritual creature was frequently around Serena or prepared for her by her family to contract immediately after awakening an affinity.


    Also, why is Serena so averse to exposing it? After all, fighting with one less contract all the time is like voluntarily going into battle with one of her hands tied behind her back.


    Finally, Kain was going to get some answers��


    In a flash of light, what appeared to be a balancing scale. However, based on its lifeforce and its movements and animated expressions on the face carved into its central pillar which clearly indicates consciousness, Kain knew that it wasn''t a piece of enchanted equipment and was a spiritual creature.


    However, despite its physical appearance, the lack of dark-attribute energy radiating off of it indicated that it was also not a cursed construct.


    Therefore, the remaining options on what it could be were limited. But based on the aura it emitted...


    "Is that what I think it is��?" Kain asked.


    Serena nodded, "Yes, an Emanascion."

 Chapter 292: Chapter 292: The Emanascion

    Beliefs have power. In fact, a far off nation on the western continent supposedly uses beliefs, and the strengths of those beliefs, as their method of cultivation. Unfortunately, this was only briefly mentioned in one of his lectures, and so he was not sure about the details.Emanascions are unique spiritual creatures that are actually born from beliefs.


    Unlike cursed constructs that are also spontaneously born due to dark energy giving birth to a consciousness in an item, or the spontaneous birth of elemental spirits in locations with a high density of a certain element, such as the birth of a fire spirit in a volcano, emanascions often have more mystical and unpredictable abilities��they are also much more rare.


    When a large enough population shares a singular, powerful belief, feeling, or yearning, their emotions coalesce, giving birth to a sentient being imbued with the characteristics and skills related to the beliefs that gave birth to it.


    Although, no emanascion had been seen in centuries, one example that Kain had read about in books was from centuries ago when the class differences between those with and without power led to massive amounts of ordinary people becoming enslaved. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The generations of oppression eventually gave birth to what is now referred to as the Emanascion of Liberty�� a radiant figure clad in ethereal light that rallied enslaved populations, breaking chains with a single glance and inspiring uprisings that changed the course of history.


    It is unknown if the strength of the Emanascion of Liberty, that appeared to be on par with the highest 9-star beast-tamers from the moment it appeared, was strength it had from birth or if it had kept itself hidden for years until it was strong enough. However, regardless of if emanascions are strong from birth, it is undeniable that they always have high potential.


    Unlike cursed constructs that vary greatly in power depending on the contaminated object they inhabit, Emanascions almost always begin their existence at diamond quality or higher, their potential unmatched among spiritual creatures. Even pure-blood dragon species rarely start at diamond-quality from birth without evolving.


    Another characteristic of emanascions is that, due to essentially being born from the beliefs of a large number of people, they appear to have an innate reluctance to forming contracts with humans. In fact, the only reported time that an emanascion had become a spiritual contract was for one of the empire''s 5 founders��Calista Eyera.


    Serena''s contract evidently did not get released often, since it seemed to be ecstatic and curious about everything around it.


    "You have something so powerful at your disposal. Why have you never summoned it before?" Kain asked in confusion. Kain had to admit that the emanascion had a high enough potential for someone to want to kill her and steal it for themselves, while exhausting as many resources as needed to heal the damage to the creature''s soul from the broken contract.


    However, Serena is a member of the Storm family which means that very few people would be gutsy enough to attempt something like that.


    Moreover, another reason why contracts with emanascions are so rare is due to few people having a suitable affinity to bind one, so even if someone was driven blind by jealousy, they''d unlikely be able to form a contract with it themselves.


    Lastly, even if someone did kill Serena to break her contract with it, its unlikely that the emanascion would be willing to a form a contract afterward, and even the weakest emanascions have unpredictable evasion abiltiies that makes their capture difficult.


    "I c...an''t co...ntr...ol it..." Serena mumbled quietly.


    "Huh? What''d you say?"


    "I said that I can''t control it!" Serena finally blurted out in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.


    Now it was Kain''s turn to be stunned. Serena, who had always served as the target for all of her same-aged peers couldn''t control her own spiritual creature? Even most newbie beast-tamers could control their contract well enough for battle within a couple of weeks.


    After a big sigh, Serena elaborated, "Balins had followed me around from before we formed a contract, but always kept himself hidden unless we were alone��even the high-level beast-tamers living in the estate couldn''t sense him. Therefore, its not an issue of tacit understanding or not getting along, his skill is just too unpredictable."


    "Balins has the fate-attribute, and only one skill��equivalent exchange. I can make almost any wish so long as my spiritual power is enough to supply it��but given my gift, that is rarely an issue�� and so long as there is even a 0.0001% of it occurring naturally by fate. Whatever improbable actions or events are needed for that wish to come true, Balins will make sure that it can happen."


    "However, the desired outcome must always have an equivalent price, and while Balins often tries its best to make sure that the price does not negatively impact me��it''s impossible to fully control what the price I''d have to pay would be."


    "So how could I ever use Balins in a competition? If I make a simple wish for victory, it may result in irreparable harm to my opponent or even one of my friends or family members not even competing��"


    "I had already seen first-hand how devastating the consequences of one of my wishes could be��and I��" Serena choked up, unable to continue.


    "It''s my fault��" She whispered. "I am so sorry Kain, but Cherry being kidnapped may be partly my fault. And if she or any of those other children die, then I also have to carry that burden."


    Now Kain was confused. Unless Serena was helping with kidnapping the children in his hometown while far away in another region of the country, he failed to see how Cherry''s kidnapping had anything to do with her��


    Likely seeing the confusion on his face, she clarified. "Heather released a wild spiritual creature to attack me before I had awakened my affinity, and during the attack I awakened an affinity independently and made a contract with Balins to defeat it," Kain knew all of this, having seen this story from Heather''s perspective using Bea.


    "However, the reason I was able to awaken my affinity at that exact moment was due to making a wish to Balins who was nearby at the time��and the price paid was that Heather lost any hope of ever awakening hers��"


    "It''s impossible to know the price to be paid until after the wish is granted, and if I could go back in time, I would likely make the same decision. Considering how she''d targeted me, I had even thought that the price falling on her worked out perfectly��But if a consequence of her not ever awakening an affinity is the lives of numerous innocent children��then I also bear some of that responsibility."

 Chapter 293: Chapter 293: Equivalent Exchange

    After a moment of stunned silence, Kain opened his mouth. "So is it possible for you to just wish for Cherry to be released? Or for the powerful beast-tamer running this place to die?"Even before Kain finished talking, Serena was already shaking her head, "I already said that I can''t know the equivalent price to be paid until after the wish is granted, and the most Balins can help me is ensuring that the price doesn''t fall on me directly��my friends and family are fair game."


    "If I make that wish, are you okay with another child, or even one of your other siblings, being kidnapped by someone else in exchange for Cherry? If I wish to kill that beast-tamer, are you okay with the director of your orphanage suddenly dying from a heart attack or freak accident in exchange?"


    Serena just listed a few examples, but they immediately shut his mouth. He got the point.


    Although the skill of her contract was fantastical and practically balance-breaking, the potential consequences of it were also terrifying.


    "The exchanges are always equivalent, right? So I''m sure by now you''ve come up with a general set of rules to somewhat predict what the price may be. After all, you used it to drastically reduce the breakthrough time for you and your contracts right? That must mean that you weighed the possible price to be paid and considered that it was worth it."


    Serena didn''t deny it, so Kain continued. "What if we just made smaller wishes? Like wishing for the strongest individual in the building to suddenly suffer from intense stomach cramps or have to leave the building due to an emergency? What would be the possible price for that?"


    Serena briefly went silent, thinking.


    "If we have the strongest individual here suddenly fall sick, there are many possibilities for a possible price it considers equal: we or someone close to us may also fall ill, or an important enchanted item may suddenly break or be lost."


    "However, making a wish for an emergency bad enough for him to leave, would mean that emergency would actually need to happen��and a similarly severe emergency may also befall one of us or someone close to us in the near future."


    "It''s best to make harmless wishes that don''t actually result in any of them actually being harmed��we could make a wish for information instead�� but it would likely result in some important knowledge being forgotten by us as well��" Serena finished.


    Kain''s jaw tightened as he mulled it over. "What about something else small, then? Like asking Balins to make sure the guards don''t notice us when we move through the hallways?"


    "That could work," she said cautiously. "The price for that might be less severe, something like one of us becoming temporarily less perceptive or losing track of time at a critical moment. However, when going into a dangerous environment, being less perceptive may result in the death of one or both of us."


    "I think knowledge is the safest bet�� let''s start with something relatively small. The knowledge of Cherry''s exact location within the building? It would save us time from running around looking for her." S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena hesitantly nodded. Kain could tell by how reluctant she was to even make such a simple wish that she was very averse to making wishes and would probably not have summoned Balins if the situation were not so dire.


    Making eye-contact with her contract, Kain assumed she was communicating the wish to Balins.


    The next moment a very clear 3D blueprint of the building with all rooms shown and Cherry''s location appeared in his mind, available to be accessed whenever he wished.


    A glowing dot, which Kain assumed represented Cherry, was in one of the many rooms in the basement level of the building.


    "Magical��" Kain revelled at the information that spontaneously appeared in his mind, "What was the price? I don''t feel like I''m forgetting anything��?"


    "You wouldn''t know what you were forgetting anyways, I''ll ask." Serena communicated with her contract and then answered Kain, "The price did fall on you, and you are going to have a very difficult time navigating the campus when we get back since it seems as though all that information was taken from your mind."


    Kain shrugged, not too worried. Although, now that she mentioned it, several of his memories navigating the campus appeared to be blank. However, having to re-learn his way around campus was a small price to pay for having a better chance of getting Cherry.


    Kain then looked at Serena wondering if they should make another wish, only to receive an eye-roll. "This is also why I don''t often reveal Balins. It''s hard to stop after just one wish, but just because the first price was something you could easily live with, doesn''t mean that the next will be."


    "You said that Balins is able to prevent the consequence from falling on you, can he at all direct it to someone specific."


    "No. I''ve tried it in the past. To direct the price to an enemy or someone I wouldn''t feel too guilty about harming, but it was never successful in the past��"


    Jingle jingle


    Suddenly the chains attached to its scales jingled as it shook them around trying to get Serena''s attention, causing her to pause in the middle of speaking.


    "It says if it has a target fully willing to bear the price, then it would increase the probability of it falling on them. Likely, subconsciously, you had no resistance to bearing the price for the previous wish, which is why it fell on you��but I''ve never had a target fully willing to bear the price before, so I''m not sure exactly how much an ''increase in probability'' means."


    Kain nodded, that had been precisely what he was hinting toward. If the price couldn''t be directed to any enemy of theirs, he had hoped that it could be directed to just him instead, sparing the members of the orphanage from potentially ending up as collateral damage from the wish.


    "I am willing. Let''s make some more wishes��"

 Chapter 294: Chapter 294:

    While Cherry was inside of her cold and damp cell alone, the almost constant background noise of screams suddenly stopped.''They''re done early��


    '' Usually, the screams would last much longer, but from when they began this morning until now, not much time had passed. S��ar?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Suddenly she heard the steady rhythm of approaching steps that echoed throughout the corridor, and for the first time, they stopped in front of her room.


    The sound of a chain latch being removed and the door unlocked, echoed ominously in the room, and was still extremely clear over her heavy breathing.


    The cell door creaked open, flooding Cherry''s dim, damp prison with the harsh light of the corridor outside. She instinctively shielded her eyes with a trembling hand, the sudden brightness searing after days of complete darkness. A cold gust swept in, carrying with it the sharp, metallic scent of blood and harsh chemicals.


    Two figures stepped inside. One was a towering man with a cold expression, his presence alone filling the room with dread. He was the same man that Cherry had been wary of after seeing him around town lately.


    Beside him, a pale man in a pristine white coat exuded an unsettling calmness. his glasses reflected the dim light, obscuring his eyes, but the corners of her mouth curved into a slight, predatory smile.


    Cherry scrambled backward, her small, shivering body pressing into the hard stone wall. The man in black reached down without a word, grabbing her wrist with a grip so tight it felt like her bones might snap.


    "Please�� no��" Cherry whimpered, tears spilling from her eyes as she tried to resist. Her legs kicked out, but her movements were no match for the man in black''s strength. He hoisted her up like a rag doll, the restraints tied to wrists and ankles biting into her skin as she struggled.


    However, Cherry''s pleas were ignored as the man dragged her out into the corridor and then up a set of stairs to a laboratory.


    The laboratory was starkly different from the dark, grimy cells. As they entered, Cherry''s senses were assaulted by the sterile brightness of the space. White walls gleamed under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, every surface clinically clean yet carrying a lingering chemical smell that stung her nose.


    In large containers filled with a mysterious liquid, were 6 children floated��the local missing children, including Harvey. However, from what she remembered there were 8 children missing, meaning that one was unaccounted for��and possibly already dead.


    At the center of the room was a long examination table, its surface cold and metallic, equipped with heavy restraints.


    Above it hung a morbid chandelier made up of machinery, needles, tubes, and sensors all within the researcher''s easy reach.


    Cherry''s breathing became frantic as the guards dragged her toward the table. Her small cries turned into screams as she kicked and twisted, trying desperately to break free. The sound echoed off the sterile walls but did nothing to deter the emotionless figures in black carrying her.


    The man slammed her onto the table, and the cold metal sent a shock through her body. She struggled as he fastened new restraints, but the difference in strength was too great and she was strapped down to the examination table against her will no matter how much she fought.


    "Good," the man in the white coat said. "Let''s proceed immediately."


    The machinery above whirred to life, its needles descending slowly, casting long shadows over her pale, terrified face.


    Ring ring ring


    Cherry cried out in pain, as the machine made the first cut into her body.


    Ring ring ring


    "


    Sigh


    . Would you shut up that phone?!" The irritated man in white said while turning off the machine. With the machine no longer on, the loud ringing of the phone became even clearer in the quiet space.


    "My apologies, I will just be a moment��" The man stepped to the side to answer the phone call, and for a moment, the only sound aside from the heavy breathing and occasional whimpers coming from Cherry were the intermittent one-word responses of the guard in black to whoever he was on the phone with.


    "


    Sigh


    ��my apologies Doctor. It''s so hard to get good help these days. It looks like the site in the neighbouring Morningstar City has an emergency that they need me to personally tend to."


    The man in white, the "Doctor," just dismissively waved his hand in annoyance. "Go! I still have some hands to help me manage things around here. Go and help that incompetent Dr. Burrows!"


    The man in black nodded in relief before leaving the room.


    "He''s a shame to our teacher. God knows why he was so often pampered by teacher when he''s so incompetent��" The Doctor grumbled while moving to the side of the examination table next to Cherry to restart the machine.


    In Cherry''s horrified eyes, the machine whirred to life again and restarted its operation on her.


    "


    Ahhhhh


    !"


    --------------------


    "I don''t feel good about this�� how much longer do we need to wait for the wish to go into action," Kain said anxiously.


    About half an hour ago, the light representing Cherry''s location began to move to another room, and ever since a feeling of pure fear and panic began to overwhelm him. He just knew that something was wrong with Cherry, and he couldn''t stand just waiting here instead of rushing to her side!


    "Be patient Kain. I know you''re afraid, but we can''t risk barging in too early and then not being able to rescue them. Or worse, them killing all of the kids to conceal their operation before leaving."


    Thankfully, it was only another 5 minutes before they saw a figure in black rush out of the building. Serena grabbed Kain''s shoulder as he attempted to immediately rush over to the building, "Wait a little longer to be sure that the coast is clear��"


    Kain, bit his lip in reluctance, but he had to acknowledge that waiting until he was further away was the safest course of action. After all, their wish is kind of wasted if an alarm or signal is sent to him immediately after they enter and they aren''t given enough time to rescue Cherry and the other kids.


    "By the way, Balins said that the price to be paid isn''t clear yet, the time for it to occur is still a bit further into the future. Once it is closer to the time that the accident resulting from the price is closer, it will have a more precise idea and I will be able to warn you."


    Kain nodded absentmindedly, not really caring about the price that he figured would probably fall on him. He was more foused on the current state of Cherry. It took all of Kain''s self-control to remain where he was until they received confirmation from Balins that their wish for him to momentarily leave the city had been fully granted, meaning that even if an alarm is set off from their invasion it will take him a while to return.


    ''Cherry, hold on! I''m coming��''

 Chapter 295: Chapter 295: Lights Out, Game On

    Pain��


    There were no other thoughts in Cherry''s head except for the intense pain that filled her entire body.


    However, whereas previously the pain had been external due to the knives and needles digging into her skin, now it was coming from within her. She could sense that something had been placed within her and was now subtly controlling the flow of the very limited amount of spiritual power within her body.


    The sterile hum of the laboratory lights faltered for a split second, followed by a faint


    pop


    before all of the lights within the laboratory went out. The constant humming of the various equipment also stopped, indicating that it was a facility wide power outage.


    However, it wasn''t as simple as the electricity simply being turned off��


    Wish 3:


    To prevent the activation of any electronic devices within the vicinity of the building.


    Price: Currently unknown.


    The reason the wish was phrased this way was to prevent a back-up generator from kicking in, thereby rendering the wish useless. Additionally, it would also prevent the activation of any electronic alarm systems or phones that could be used to request help.


    Kain and Serena discretely made their way into the building, taking one of the hidden side entrances that led to what appeared to be a discrete corner of the building��at least based on the 3D blueprint of the facility in their minds.


    When they entered, they were pleased to see that there weren''t any guards and if there was an alarm at the door, it was currently inactive.


    Kain summoned all of his Vespirae guards and sent them to hunt down the guards. There were 5, and the strongest should only be 5-star beast-tamers. Moreover, all of them should be located at various washrooms, making them much easier to find��


    Wish 4: Severe diarrhea for all of the guards present.


    Price: Severe illness befalling an ally.


    Surprisingly the price for this wish did not fall on Kain himself, after all Balins couldn''t guarantee that it would fall on him every time.


    ''Sorry Bridge��


    '' Kain thought, trying not to imagine the current poor state that his brother was likely currently in.


    ''Maybe when I get back I can pay to renovate the orphanage''s washroom''


    Kain decided after passing by one of the washrooms on the way to the laboratory.


    The washroom presented a grotesque scene. A sharp, gag-inducing stench dominated the air, so thick it seemed to stick to the walls. The sour, acrid smell of bile mixed with the overpowering reek of excrement created a miasma that could turn even the strongest stomach.


    Pools of watery feces were spread in uneven, nauseating splashes across the tiles, some smeared by desperate handprints as though the guard had tried and failed to regain balance. The toilet itself was a disaster zone: the seat and surrounding wall were streaked with brown, the result of a catastrophic loss of control.


    And there, lying in the middle of the washroom floor, was the unfortunate guard. He was slumped unconscious, his pants bunched around his ankles made a humiliating picture.


    His face was pale and glistening with sweat, his body twisted awkwardly as though he had collapsed mid-struggle. There was a large and bloody injury at the back of his head, and the Vespid standing above him had obviously knocked him out while he was vulnerable dealing with his��unfortunate situation.


    However, despite the horror of the scene, the guard was still alive, as should the other four guards since he''d need them for information.


    Kain, standing just outside the doorway, pinched his nose and grimaced. "This... is worse than I expected." The stench seemed to claw its way into his lungs despite his best efforts. He glanced at the Vespid, which clicked its mandibles smugly, as if proud of its efficient work.


    He planted one of Bea''s splits on the guard, and since he was unconscious and unable to put up much of a fight, Kain quickly got the information he wanted and began walking to the laboratory while avoiding triggering any of the traps set up that weren''t reliant on electricity.


    As Kain approached the lab, the atmosphere grew heavier��as did the metallic scent of blood barely covered by the smell of harsh chemicals.


    The silence within the powerless facility was oppressive, broken only by the faint echoes of dripping water and the occasional creak of the old infrastructure settling. He motioned for Serena to follow close behind, her steps careful and precise as they navigated the dim, shadowy corridors. S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The laboratory door was ajar, and the horrifying scene was just barely illuminated by some glowing stones embedded into the walls and various mechanical devices. Clearly not everything in the lab was powered by electricity, much of them must have been reliant on spiritual power.


    After quickly taking in the scene of the room, Kain ran forward.


    "Cherry!"


    In the center of the lab, strapped to an ominous-looking metal table, lay Cherry. Her small frame trembled, her skin slick with sweat and her own blood.


    Kain didn''t notice it in his distress, but Serena who was taking in everything in the room for hidden threats did��there was faint, unnatural movement beneath her skin. It was unnerving, as though something foreign and alive had been placed inside her. Her breathing was shallow and she seemed to have lost consciousness form the pain.


    Kain quickly got to work unstrapping her and just handed her over to one of the Vespid guards to carry when a slow, deliberate clap echoed through the room.


    Clap. Clap. Clap.


    The sound cut through the tense air like a knife, freezing Serena and Kain in place. Both spun around toward the source, instincts on high alert.


    Standing in the doorway was a tall, gaunt man, his lab coat pristine despite the bloody experiment he had just inflicted upon Cherry.


    A cruel smirk twisted his thin lips as his predatory gaze flicked between the intruders and the pale, bleeding girl on the table.


    "Well, well, well," he drawled, his voice dripping with mockery. "It seems we''ve developed a bit of a pest problem��"

 Chapter 296 Chapter 296 Battle With Abominations

    The air thickened with the oppressive aura of spiritual power as the Doctor mobilized his, which was stronger than both Kain''s and Serena''s as a 5-star beast-tamer, to summon his contracts.Although, he was only a 5-star beast-tamer, his strength may exceed weaker 6-star beast-tamers with not many blue-grade spiritual creatures, since 4 of his 5 contracts were all blue-grade.


    The green-grade spiritual creature was a snake-like creature but instead of scales, it had a dark-red chitinous exoskeleton and mandibles. It looked kind of like a centipede, but without any legs. Its tail ended in a scorpion-like stinger that was more orange in colour, and didn''t appear to blend in naturally with the rest of the exoskeleton��almost as if it were artificially added.


    Of the blue-grade contracts, one was a massive beetle with a reinforced shell and mechanical enhancements that appeared to be fused with its being, rather than just being worn like normal enchanted equipment.


    The third contract looked to be a spider-scorpion hybrid also fitted with mechanical limbs.


    The fourth contract was shaped like a locust, with mechanical attachments fused with its legs and the addition of sword-like forelimbs that resembled those of a praying mantis.


    The final contract looked like a fusion between a giant horsefly and a mosquito, and it immediately filled the vicinity with the stench of rotting corpses upon its appearance. S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain''s eyes flickered across the Doctor''s summoned abominations, his mind quickly assessing the threats.


    The grotesque contracts stood as twisted amalgamations of an unnatural fusion between life and machine.


    "Five contracts," Serena muttered beside him, "Four blue-grades. This won''t be easy." So she said, but she didn''t appear to have the slightest bit of tension as she summoned her Elemental Guardian, Starweaver, and even the rarely summoned Emanascion Balin. Experience more content on empire


    Kain nodded, summoning Aegis with a flash of light. The rock golem''s massive frame blocked the containers holding the unconscious children, its arms spread protectively. "Aegis, don''t let anything through to those containers."


    Kain also assigned 12 of his Vespid guards��thankfully after advancing to yellow-grade he now had 24 at his disposal��to guard Cherry and the containers holding the children.


    He didn''t order the guards to take them out of the containers they were suspended in just yet though, since he wasn''t sure what procedures were done to them and if the liquid was needed by them to survive.


    The green-grade snake-like creature slithered forward, its segmented body gleaming under the dim light. It lashed out with its scorpion-like stinger, aiming directly at Kain. Kain immediately felt the difference between matches and real-world battles. In the real-world, it made the most sense to directly target the beast-tamer.


    However, Kain wasn''t weak and helpless. Parrying the attack with his spear, he took the opportunity to also have one of Bea''s splits infect it.


    Although due to the level difference, and some modifications done to it that seemed to make it more resistant to invasion, Bea was eventually able to cause its movements to become slower and more jerky.


    The swarm of remaining Vespids not assigned to guard the containers descended on the creature, their sharp stingers glinting.


    The opponent writhed, its mandibles snapping at the attackers while its stinger flicked back and forth. Though the Vespids had the advantage of numbers, the creature''s hardened exoskeleton made it difficult to inflict serious damage.


    Since it was difficult to inflict serious damage externally, Kain chose to activate his go-to spiritual skill to boost Bea''s abilities and attack the enemy from within.


    Although it was difficult to control its movements and make it attack the enemy��after all, most spiritual creatures have an instinctive, soul-deep aversion to harming or betraying their beast-tamer.


    However, Bea was able to get the leg-less centipede to lie down prone and not resist as Kain and the Vespids gradually wore down its tough exoskeleton.


    Meanwhile, the locust-mantis hybrid let out an ear-piercing shriek as its wings buzzed furiously, sending gusts of wind through the lab and then launched itself at Serena, its sword-like forelimbs cutting through the air with deadly precision.


    At some point, thin twin swords appeared in her hands, which she used to directly defend against its attack.


    Her twin blades met the creature''s in a clash of sparks. The force of the blow sent her skidding back, but she regained her footing quickly, her eyes narrowed with focus.


    At the same time, the beetle lumbered forward, its mechanical enhancements whirring as it released a foul-smelling gas into the air. The gas spread quickly, forcing Kain and his contracts to back away.


    It seemed to want to attack the containers directly, which Kain had feared. Whether it was to destroy any evidence of them being here or to distract Kain and Serena, or both, Kain had to admit that their need to keep the containers safe definitely restricted their actions.


    However, he chose to trust that Aegis, like his name, would serve as the strongest shield for those kids.


    And true to Kain''s faith, Aegis prevented the approach of the beetle while forming solid shields in front of all of the containers.


    The Vespids also tasked with protecting the children remained behind the walls erected by Aegis while launching their stingers at the beetle. Similar to the other contracts of the Doctor, its exoskeleton was tougher than the average spiritual creature at the same level, and so not much damage was dealt. However, the beetle also didn''t seem to be having much luck with breaching the Aegis'' walls.


    Kain didn''t think he needed to worry about that side for now, and turned his attention to the other opponents.


    The spider-scorpion hybrid clicked its mechanical limbs as it fired acidic silk projectiles toward Kain''s Vespids. The corrosive strands caught several of them, dissolving their exoskeletons with horrifying efficiency.


    As horrifying at the corrosive properties of its silk were, the boost in speed provided to it by the mechanical attachments to its limbs was equally as horrifying.


    Kain finally understood why the Doctor seemed to prefer making these cyborg-like abominations, rather than just outfitting his spiritual creatures with enchanted equipment��Kain had never heard of a boost to speed so great being given using enchanted equipment.

 Chapter 297 Chapter 297 Battle With Abominations (2)

    Kain''s mind raced as he assessed the battlefield as the battle raged on.The green-grade spiritual creature of the opponent lay dead after being bombarded continuously for several minutes by stingers, a small victory amidst the chaos.


    But the four remaining blue-grade contracts, with their enhanced bodies and mechanical augmentations, were much harder to eliminate. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The beetle was currently deadlocked with Aegis, who was proving surprisingly difficult to deal with despite the level difference between them. Although Kain''s contracts were also unable to harm the beetle, while focusing all of its energy on defence, Aegis seemed to be able to hold out for a little longer. However, the drain from warding off an enemy 2 levels higher was great and Kain already had to use one of the instant refills provided by his equipment to also provide a boost to Aegis after Bea. Once the enhancement provided by the spiritual skill wore off, then it''d only be a matter of time before Aegis'' defences were breached.


    They needed to quickly eliminate the other opponents.


    However, considering that all of the opponents had extremely tough defences, Kain chose to learn from the opponent and instead target the opposing beast-tamer.


    Clang


    One of the Vespids'' stingers struck the arm of the dodging figure in white, but instead of a cry of pain or the splash of blood, instead it sounded as though the stinger that landed struck a metal plate.


    Kain looked closer to see that the covering resembling skin had peeled off where he was hit, revealing that his arm was completely made of metal��clearly the Doctor didn''t spare even himself from undergoing experimental modifications.


    ''Looks like we''ll have to target him from the inside'' Kain thought before, before directing Bea to encircle the opponent with threads to ensure that he was infected by a split. However, upon infection it became clear that he''d also likely undergone some kind of modification to make himself resistant to mental invasions. It''ll be difficult for Bea''s splits to influence him in any great capacity.


    While Kain focused on the surprisingly tough beast-tamer, Serena dealt with the other 3 blue-grade spiritual creatures.


    The Elemental Guardian shifted into its fire-attribute form resembling a blazing phoenix. It screeched as it dove at the Mantis-Locust hybrid, flames licking at its mechanical legs. Serena followed closely behind, her twin swords now glowing to activate the sigils embedded within them.


    The locust hissed, its wings buzzing furiously as it tried to gain altitude to escape the flames. Serena anticipated its movement, leaping into the air with an agility that belied her human frame. Her blades met its sword-like forelimbs mid-air, sending sparks and embers flying.


    However, after the activation of the sigils on her swords, they seemed to have increased greatly in sharpness, leading to the metal scythe-like arms of the hybrid to crack.


    Kain saw a shocked expression on the face of the beast-tamer he was focused on. The Doctor knew better than anyone just how hard those mantis blades were to damage. They were modified by him using a special allow blend of different metals and were extremely difficult to damage for even the strongest blue-grade spiritual creatures. It should require at least a high-level spiritual creature at indigo-grade or higher to begin to see damage, and yet a mere 4-star beast tamer managed to create cracks in it?!


    Meanwhile, the modified spider-scorpion hybrid that was spitting corrosive silk was being preoccupied by the Vespids working hard to distract it��although by their point there were already several casualties and Kain only had 8 guards left in addition to the 12 guarding the children. Therefore, he was forced to summon 6 more away from the containers to help him distract the spider. They weren''t being too much help to Aegis anyway.


    They also weren''t able to cause too much damage to the spider, but their main role was to distract it, while the real heavy-hitter was the Starweaver.


    The familiar constellation resembling a bow lit up on its wings as a streak of light landed hard on the spider-hybrid''s abdomen.


    For the first time since they started fighting, a heavy blow was landed on one of the opponent''s blue-grade spiritual creatures. Unfortunately, it also seemed to have extremely powerful regenerative abilities, and the deep win that was leaking a thick green liquid quickly closed.


    Realizing that the flesh regenerated quickly, the Starweaver chose to target one of the mechanical joints in its next strike��it''d also serve to slow the speedy spider down. Although with its great speed, even landing a strike on one of its mechanical legs proved challenging.


    Suddenly an inconspicuous ringlet on the Starweaver''s header began to glow as its sigils were activated, a glowing ring then appeared around one of the Starweaver''s eyes and a red ring also appeared on one of the legs of the spider at a key joint like a bullseye.


    The next strike didn''t miss.


    The arrow streaked through the air and struck perfectly on the red bullseye, severing one of its mechanical limbs in a shower of sparks and acidic fluid.


    "Good shot!" Kain called, briefly glancing toward her.


    "Focus on the beast-tamer!" Serena snapped back, not unkindly.


    After coughing embarrassedly at being caught getting distracted in the middle of battle, he used his remaining instant refill for spiritual power provided by his equipment to provide another boost to Bea since the previous one had long worn off.


    It was still difficult to control him completely, but Bea was able to slow him down quite a bit and his movements became much less smooth, allowing for more of the attacks from Kain and his contracts to land.


    The final opponent��the fly-mosquito hybrid��was being targeted by Serena''s Emanascion, and this was the first time Kain was getting to see it use its skills for battle.


    Balins'' ability wasn''t a direct attack. A faint, translucent barrier formed around the area, cutting off the creature''s path of retreat.


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    Kain noted that Balins also was entrapped within the field, likely a method it developed to more predictably offset the price of its equivalent exchange skill by choosing to make wishes that would also impact itself as well as the opponent.

 Chapter 298 Chapter 298 Battle With Abominations (3)

    The fly-mosquito hybrid buzzed violently within the translucent barrier, its gray wings struggling to lift its grotesque, bulbous body.Its multifaceted eyes glowed with a sickly green light, oozing malice as it launched venomous darts at Balins'' barrier but the barrier formed by an equivalent exchange wasn''t so easily broken, creating a sealed arena where predator and prey would clash.


    "Kain! On the count of 3, I want you to have all of your Vespids target that fly! 1��2��3!" Serena called out.


    Kain didn''t question how the stingers of his guards were expected to strike the fly through the shield erected by her own contract. Nor did he mention how it was unlikely for the stingers to penetrate its artificially reinforced body. He figured that she had a plan for both issues and chose to trust her.


    As soon as Serena finished counting, stingers from over a dozen Vespids headed towards the fly beyond the translucent barrier.


    However, just before the stingers were about to be blocked, the barrier surrounding the fly and Balins was removed.


    Moreover, the fly hybrid''s exoskeleton shimmered and began to soften, taking on a waxy texture that was far less resistant to damage.


    Clearly, Balins had made another equivalent exchange for this outcome.


    But the wish had a price.


    A similar shimmer ran across Aegis, Kain''s contract locked in combat with the beetle. The metallic lustre of its stone exterior dulled, and Kain''s heart sank as he realized what had been sacrificed.


    "Damn it," he muttered, clenching his fists. "We don''t have much time before Aegis and those kids are in serious trouble!"


    Thankfully, they were on their way to eliminating another powerful enemy. The numerous stingers struck the now weakened hybrid.


    Although with its great speed it managed to dodge nearly half of them, each of the ones that did hit caused immense damage to its weakened form.


    Not resigned to its demise, the mosquito began to swell and increase drastically in size. Kain had an ominous premonition and began to prepare to activate any and all defensive equipment that he had.


    However, whatever plan was about to be enacted was once again thwarted by the surreal abilities of the Emanascion.


    The fly hybrid that appeared as though it had just taken a stimulant and was about to usher in a grand reversal, suddenly had its stinger droop and its size visibly deflated. The buzzing of its wings weakened further, and its strikes became feeble, as though drained of all power.


    However, the cost of this wish sent a chill down Kain''s spine.


    Bea, who had been instrumental in subduing the Doctor, suddenly faltered. Her split drastically decreased in effectiveness and no longer restricted the movements of the opponent.


    When Bea''s control over the Doctor weakened. He took advantage of the lapse, wrenching himself free of her mental control and retreating toward the battlefield''s edge. Moreover, he pulled out another piece of equipment from a space ring that appeared to boost his defence��both physical and mental��even more. Sear?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, although the price for Balins'' latest wish was steep, it was worth it.


    The Rotfly twitched once, then lay still, its toxic aura fading into the air.


    Across the field, both Kain and Serena were actively engaged in their own battles, but most of them were coming to a close.


    But likely, sensing that their side was at a disadvantage, the poisonous spider-scorpion hybrid et out a high-pitched screech. Its body convulsed, glowing with an eerie green light.


    "Serena!" Kain shouted. "It''s going to��"


    The hybrid exploded in a violent burst, spraying corrosive acid in every direction.


    The acid rained down like a deadly storm. The remaining Vespid guards screeched as the acid melted through their exoskeletons, leaving only six survivors.


    The Starweaver, too slow to escape, was struck directly. The "stars" composing its body dimmed as it let out a mournful cry.


    Kain watched in horror as a glob of acid hurtled toward him, barreling through a 3-star defensive artifact he had previously bought like it was paper. He raised his arm instinctively, but before the acid could hit, Serena was at his side, pulling a small, intricately-carved amulet from her belt.


    The artifact glowed as she activated it, a shimmering shield forming around them both. The acid splattered against the barrier, sizzling harmlessly.


    When the acid storm subsided, the shield flickered and shattered, the amulet reduced to ash in Serena''s hand. Clearly, it was a powerful defensive item, but only for one-time use.


    Surprisingly, with three of his contracts now dead, the Doctor seemed surprisingly unfazed, not letting out the typical screams due to the soul-deep pain of a connection to a spiritual contract breaking.


    Crash


    At that moment, one of the walls erected by the weakened Aegis crumbled and Kain realized that since the price for one of Balins'' exchanges had fallen onto him, he was probably no longer able to hold on and the kids were in danger.


    "Serena, we need to bring the beetle down now!" Kain shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos.


    Serena turned her attention to the hulking beetle towering over Aegis. Its reinforced shell gleamed like polished steel. It was locked in a physical confrontation with Aegis as it pinned him against with its large mandibles while Aegis pummelled its now extremely close face with his fists.


    The sigils on Serena''s twin swords flared to life once more, their glow casting an eerie light across the battlefield.


    Her blades were a blur of steel, each strike aimed for the joints in the beetle''s thick carapace, exploiting the few vulnerabilities in its otherwise impenetrable armor.


    The beetle roared, rearing back as Serena''s blade found a weak point in one of its legs. But its retaliation was swift. It lashed out with its spiked forelimbs, forcing Serena to dart backward in a hurry.


    However, before it could continue to attack her, it was blocked by a shield of starlight created by the Starweaver.


    Kain''s focus shifted to the mantis-locust hybrid. It had turned its sights on the remaining Vespid guards, tearing through them with terrifying efficiency.


    Even for the extraordinarily fast Vespids, the mantis-locust hybrid with its reinforced limbs was able to catch up to them within moments.


    Kain could sense the spiritual power around Balins activating, and then shortly after the mantis-locust hybrid staggered, its previously blinding speed reduced to a sluggish crawl.


    But the cost was immediate and brutal. Aegis, already weakened, let out a strained hiss as his movements slowed down as well. The creation of new walls to protect the containers also slowed down drastically, leaving a couple of containers defenceless.


    Thankfully, the second strongest defensive contract, the Starweaver, was now also on that side but it wasn''t able to defend completely against the beetle''s attack and one of the insect''s sharp forelimbs managed to make contact with the container holding Harvey.


    Crash!

 Chapter 299 Chapter 299 The End of the Doctor

    The sound of shattering glass rang out like a thunderclap across the battlefield.Kain''s heart stopped as the protective container holding Harvey splintered under the beetle''s assault. Sharp shards of enchanted glass scattered in every direction, glittering in the dim light. For a moment, it felt as though time itself had frozen. Then, a frightened wail broke the silence.


    "Harvey!" Cherry, who seemed to have woken up at some point during the battle shouted, her voice raw with panic.


    The beetle''s mandibles clicked, its attention shifting toward the now-exposed child. Its monstrous body surged forward, intent on finishing the job.


    "No, you don''t!" Serena growled, her swords lighting up once more with sigils. She sprinted forward, placing herself between the beetle and Harvey. With a roar of effort, she drove both swords downward into the beetle''s jointed forelimbs. The creature shrieked, the harsh screech of metal being shredded reverberated around the laboratory as a thick green liquid spurted from the wounds.


    But the beetle was far from done. It reared back, its spiked legs scraping against Serena''s swords, creating showers of sparks. It swung the massive horn on its head downward in an arc, aiming to stab straight through her.


    Before she could fully retreat, the Starweaver appeared again, weaving a protective wall of light between Serena and the descending horn. The blow struck the barrier, but the force sent both Serena and the Starweaver sprawling to the ground.


    Additionally, the beetle was showing signs of regenerating from the severe wound.


    "Balins!" Kain called out, his voice sharp. "Nullify its ability to regenerate, but only temporarily!"


    Balins hesitated with following the directions of someone other than Serena, but it eventually obeyed after considering that the price of a temporary loss of regeneration rather than a permanent one should not be too steep. To better control the potential consequences, it specified to only impede the beetle''s ability to regenerate for 5 minutes. Hopefully, its allies could finish the beetle off in that time.


    The insect screeched in anger as the shimmering aura of regeneration faded from its body.


    Similarly, Aegis who had already barely been holding on, let out a tortured groan as his stone-like form cracked further. Normally, it could easily reconstruct its form using nearby stone, but it seemed to have lost the ability.


    One of Aegis'' arms shattered and the walls surrounding the remaining children faltered, exposing more containers.


    But despite crumbling Aegis didn''t move from his post. Despite the cracks running through his body, he stood firm, what remained of his body standing in the way of the relentless beetle.


    Serena, taking advantage of the temporary pause in the beetle''s regeneration, charged again. With a cry, she drove both blades down in a single, devastating strike.


    The loud screeching of the beetle abruptly cut off as a bloody stab wound was made between its eyes. Its massive body came crashing to the ground with a deafening thud, dead.


    Meanwhile, the mantis-locust hybrid, still sluggish from Balins'' earlier exchange, turned its sights on the exposed children. Its razor-sharp forelimbs glinted menacingly as it crept toward a container holding another child.


    Thankfully, due to its reduced speed, Kain was able to place himself as well as many of the Vespid guards between it and the children.


    He also ordered one of the guards to quickly carry the child that had gone crashing out of the container��Harvey, according to Cherry��to Queen, who was treating him with a combination of life-attribute energy and the royal jelly.


    Thankfully, the price that had drastically decreased Bea''s strength was only temporary.


    Bea quickly regained control of the splits that had infected the Doctor and the mantis hybrid previously but had been unable to exert much of an effect. She exhausted all of her remaining energy into causing them to freeze momentarily.


    Timed perfectly with the halt in their movements, the Elemental Guardian, who had at some point activated its hybrid form of 2 elements with the help of Starweaver, had finished preparing a grand move.


    Unlike the previous fusion that Kain saw at the National Tournament which was a fusion of its water and earth forms, this time it was a fusion of its water and wind attributes.


    Its translucent serpentine body shimmered with the fluid grace of flowing water, constantly shifting and rippling as though it were alive. A cold mist trailed from its body giving it an appearance both solid and intangible. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It then encased both the Doctor and the mantis-hybrid in a solid block of ice, although the head of the director was left outside of the ice��after all, Bea still had to rifle through his memories for information.


    The aftermath of the battle was a grim, chaotic scene. Kain''s breath came in short gasps as he surveyed the battlefield. The beetle and mantis-hybrid lay still, their monstrous forms reduced to lifeless husks. The Elemental Guardian hovered nearby, its watery and wind-infused form still shimmering faintly before it began to dissipate back into its lone water-attribute form.


    Serena slumped against a nearby wall, her twin swords planted in the ground for support, their sigils flickering weakly.


    Kain turned his attention to the children who were still unconscious but stable. Kain had instructed the Vespids to remove them from the containers after confirming using the Doctor''s memories that it was safe to do so.


    Kain had exhausted every last scrap of spiritual power that he had to strengthen Bea so that she could break through the Doctor''s mental defences as efficiently as possible.


    She worked with precision, extracting every scrap of useful information. The process left the Doctor groaning faintly, his features contorted in pain even as the ice kept him immobilized.


    After about a half hour, Bea confirmed that she''d stored and made copies of all the memories she considered to be useful.


    Kain wasted no time. "Good. Then we''re done here." With a swift, deliberate motion, he drove the blade of his spear blade into the Doctor''s forehead. The man''s eyes widened for a moment before dulling as the light of life left him.

 Chapter 300 The E-Series

    Kain retrieved the space ring from the Doctor''s hand after Elemental Guardian, now in its fire-attribute form, melted the ice surrounding his body. Kain''s fingers curled around the small object that, according to the extracted memories, contained the man''s twisted research notes.The guards who were previously knocked unconscious all had a split of Bea in their minds in order to extract their memories, since they were no longer able to resist and had no further value, Kain ordered Bea to simply eliminate all of them by wiping their consciousnesses.


    While the Queen and her guards focused on guarding and healing the children, Kain and Serena swept the rest of the building.


    In one of the larger rooms, they stumbled upon a treasure trove of research notes and books about the cultivation methods of other nations as well as less sensitive research results compared to what was in the space ring that Kain obtained.


    About to leave, they happened upon a small, almost hidden room tucked away in a far corner of the building, and within it they found another child. Kain looked at the child''s face and compared it to those of the missing children''s posters that he''d seen, and confirmed that this was the very first child to have gone missing��all 8 children were now accounted for.


    Unlike the others, this one was not in a container but restrained to a bed, his frail form lying unconscious. The child was pale, his breathing shallow but steady. The colour of his dishevelled hair had changed since the kidnapping from the brown seen in the photos to a light blue-grey. The faint scars lining his wrists where the restraints had bitten into his skin were almost fully healed, showing how much longer he''d been held compared to the others.


    Serena stepped forward, her face a mixture of relief and pity. "When we only saw seven children in the laboratory��I honestly thought that we were too late and one had died."


    Kain nodded grimly. "Let''s get him out of here."


    Carefully, he lifted the boy into his arms, his expression softening as he felt how light and thin the child was.


    With the final child secured, they regrouped. The laboratory was silent now, the echoes of battle replaced by a heavy, oppressive quiet.


    Before leaving they chose to have Serena''s Elemental Guardian set the entire building ablaze, not wanting to risk that they accidentally left behind any clues that would have what happened here getting back to them and the people behind this lab finding trouble with Kain''s family.


    The group moved swiftly, the oppressive silence of the burned laboratory behind them, carrying the unconscious children toward the isolated house they had rented before this operation began, just in case they needed a location to heal themselves and/or the children.


    After all, they couldn''t take their time healing the children in the laboratory where the 6-star beast-tamer could be coming back at any time, nor did Kain wish to worry his family with Cherry''s current state by bringing her and the others back to the orphanage.


    Once they reached the house, Kain gestured for the Vespids to set the children down gently in the prepared beds.


    Each child was had a pallid and sickly complexion, their breathing steady but shallow.


    Cherry, in particular, seemed restless, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Kain frowned, his sharp eyes catching the subtle movements beneath her skin��small, disturbing ripples that seemed almost as though something alive was squirming within her. Find your adventure at empire


    "What the hell is this��?" Kain muttered, kneeling beside her. His gaze swept over the other children, who showed similar signs, though the movement under their skin was subtler.


    Unlike Cherry, they seemed to have adapted more to whatever was inside them, likely due to the longer acclimation time, their expressions while asleep did not seem as though they were uncomfortable.


    Serena joined him, her brow furrowed. "Do you have any idea what could be wrong with them?" After all, between the 2 of them Kain was the only one with some research experience, and due to the nature of his second major he may have been exposed to knowledge not taught to the pure beast-taming students.


    Kain shook his head. "No, but I will in a bit. Give me a moment." He reached into his pocket and retrieved the Doctor''s space ring.


    Although their was a security mechanism on it to prevent anyone from accessing its contents, Kain and Serena were already prepared for this before this mission, and Serena had already brought a high-quality one-time use artifact capable of resolving the security mechanism. Kain was once again thankful that he had her help, because to get an artifact at such a high-level would not have been possible within a short time with his current meagre connections.


    After a brief focus of his spiritual energy into the artifact, the contents of the ring were made visible to him: stacks of books and papers, an assortment of peculiar tools, and a variety of valuable spiritual materials that could be used for evolution.


    He retrieved the research notes and began flipping through them, his expression darkening as he pieced together the truth. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "These children�� are part of what they call the E-series experiments," Kain explained, his voice heavy. "The Doctor and his backers were trying to create beast-tamers��allowing those without affinities to develop them by implanting what is called an ''artificial star space.'' It''s supposed to guide their spiritual energy into forming a star space resembling a natural one. This unnatural star space, in theory, should possess the materials within the artificial implanted device that can boost the chance of awakening an affinity."


    Kain continued reading further solemnly, "However, none of the test subjects have survived long enough to prove his theories. According to these notes, the implanted star spaces tend to destabilize and�� well, explode. Cherry and the others are essentially ticking time bombs."


    Kain continued skimming the notes, his gaze sharpening as he searched for clues. "The Doctor was studying cultivation methods from other nations to refine his technique. There''s a chance we can reverse this��or at least stabilize the star spaces��if we act quickly. But I''ll need more time to go through all of this."


    As Kain spoke, Cherry stirred, her eyes fluttering open. She whimpered in pain, her small hands clutching at her stomach. Queen leaned closer, her antennae twitching as she continued to channel life-attribute energy into her.


    Kain looked at his sister with a pained expression, "Thankfully��thankfully, it doesn''t seem as though the device they implanted into Cherry has been in her for long and it hasn''t been fully assimilated yet. Therefore, it can still be removed. However, we would need to cut her open...and she will need to be awake while we do it."

 Chapter 301 The Cure for Pain is Pain Itself

    It wasn''t only due to the researcher''s sadistic tendencies that he kept Cherry awake throughout the procedure, hearing his subjects scream in pain and terror was just a bonus for him.However, according to the notes that Kain read, the subjects needed to be awake due to the intricate connection to the soul, spiritual power, and consciousness the embedded star space would need to make with its new host. Establishing and breaking these connections is easiest and safest when the subject is awake. However, once the connection has been initially established, the test subject can rest.


    However, unlike the Doctor, Kain had no such sadistic tendencies, and with the help of Bea he was able to keep Cherry awake while removing the object implanted into her.


    As Kain prepared for the procedure, Serena stood by Cherry''s side, holding her small hand gently. Cherry''s breaths were shallow and rapid, her sweat-soaked hair sticking to her pale skin. Even if she wasn''t in pain, it was still a horrifying experience to be cut open. S��ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From what Kain had read, there were two objects inserted into Cherry, one in the chest and another in her head.


    Locating the small glowing orb located close to her heart was the easy part. However, this glowing orb was mainly responsible for the stabilization and amplification of the connection between the artificial star space and the host.


    The main object needing to be removed was located at the base of Cherry''s brain, close to her brain stem.


    Thankfully, there was a shaved and evidently surgically altered part of Cherry''s skull, practically forming a bullseye to the location where the artificial star space was embedded.


    When Kain finally exposed the artificial star space embedded in Cherry''s head, the sight was both bizarre and horrifying.


    The artificial star space was translucent, its form a complex, ethereal network of faintly glowing threads, as though spun from liquid starlight. The structure pulsed faintly, radiating a weak, otherworldly light that dimly illuminated the surrounding tissue.


    It appeared as if it was being absorbed into her very mind. The edges of the network of threads blurred and shifted, seeping into Cherry''s flesh and merging unnaturally with her brain.


    The veins and tissues near the star space had already started to change, their color taking on a faint luminescent sheen as though infused with its power. The artificial structure was firmly nestled in the center of her head, interwoven with the nerves and pathways that carried spiritual energy through her body.


    The most unsettling part, however, was the movement. The object seemed alive, writhing faintly as though aware of Kain''s desire to remove it, and it was trying to guard against him. Occasionally, small tendrils of glowing material reached inward, attempting to anchor deeper into Cherry''s brain.


    Kain couldn''t help but be reminded of the invasive nature of many parasites, despite the lack of life in the orb. Looking at the artificial star, space Kain couldn''t help but feel as though it was unnatural and evil.


    Kain grit his teeth, steadying his hand as he prepared to extract the artificial star space. With each pulse of light from the object, Cherry''s body twitched involuntarily, her brows furrowing in discomfort despite Bea''s influence. "Hold on, Cherry," Kain whispered softly, his voice strained but gentle. "I''ll get it out, I promise."


    Thankfully, they caught it early enough, and Kain, after struggling for close to half an hour, was able to fully dig it out, despite it doing its best to fight against him.


    Cherry was then put to the side and watched over by Queen, while sipping on a special rejuvenating cocktail made from Queen''s life-attribute royal jelly.


    Kain then looked to the other unconscious children, most likely Cherry would be the easiest one to remove the foreign objects from��


    -------------


    It was exactly as Kain thought. After waking up each child, they would often scream in panic and fear, thinking that he was one of their kidnappers intent on continuing to torture them.


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    It''s only after a long period of time that Kain would be able to calm them down, with a lot of help from Cherry and Serena��whose face served to disarm the children.


    After explaining what needed to be done and why, he was able to eventually remove all of the artificial cores from the other 6 children that were taken from the containers.


    Although, after calming them down, and severing all of the connections between the artificial star space and its host, a connection that had more time to deepen in the other children compared to Cherry, the sun was beginning to rise the next morning.


    The warm golden morning light almost acted as a symbolic halo of hope and healing as it illuminated the faces of the children, now free of the invasive devices that had been tormenting their bodies.


    Though their complexions remained pale and their bodies weak, the oppressive aura surrounding them had lifted, replaced by a sense of peace.


    After performing the first urgent operation on Cherry, while Kain was reading the notes to prepare for the more difficult following procedures, Serena had also contacted her family, Dark Moon College, and the more local Starfire College.


    Therefore, during the period that Kai was urgently operating on the children to remove the devices as swiftly as possible, investigation teams had been sent out by both schools in order to track down any other personnel related to this horrifying case��particularly the 6-star beast-tamer that had been lured away by Balins previously.


    However, the news they got back was grim. The mysterious organization responsible for the experiments seemed to have cut all ties to the abandoned laboratory. Their trail vanished like smoke, the investigators finding no leads to follow.


    Even more troubling, another lab was discovered in a neighboring city that had also had several cases of missing children��it was completely abandoned.


    Unlike their operation, no children were recovered, and the facility had been cleared out so thoroughly that it offered little hope of uncovering further information.


    Kain read the report over Serena''s shoulder, his jaw tightening. "It''s like they''ve sacrificed a limb to save the body."


    Serena nodded, his expression dark. "They''re covering their tracks. Whoever these people are, they''re organized and resourceful. And this isn''t the end of it. Not by a long shot."


    The room fell into a tense silence. Their victory while saving Cherry and the others was only a small one. The children they had saved were lucky, but many more may never return home.

 Chapter 302 Erasing Scars

    Meanwhile, word of Heather Frost''s actions had spread like wildfire.The government, alongside the influential Storm family they were affiliated with, acted swiftly and decisively. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Heather was imprisoned and subjected to a public trial where her role in facilitating the kidnappings and experiments was laid bare.


    It was eventually concluded that after a period of imprisonment, she would be subjected to a public execution. The punishment was severe, as both a warning and a statement: treasonous actions of this magnitude would not be tolerated by the empire.


    The fallout for the Frost clan was catastrophic. Once a powerful and influential family, they were entirely severed from the Storms. Their businesses collapsed under the weight of the scandal, their allies abandoning them one by one. In a matter of weeks, the Frosts had gone from a position of prestige to the brink of ruin��of course, all of this was in the future.


    Despite the losses, there were glimmers of hope. The children, now free of the invasive devices, were recovering slowly but steadily under the combined care of Queen, Kain, and Serena. Cherry, in particular, had begun to show signs of her old self, her innate resilience shining through.


    She acted as a natural leader to the other children, and was already up and about assisting Kain and the others with caring for the other children��particularly the grey-haired boy that was kept imprisoned away from the others.


    Surprisingly, despite the fact that several days had passed, there was still no sign of him waking.


    Moreover, when they were contacting the family members of each of the children to let them know that they''d been rescued and would be returning home once fully healed, they realized that the young boy didn''t seem to have any close family.


    His primary guardian was a great-uncle that didn''t even reside in Brightstar City, and simply sent funds to a caretaker for the boy��most of which were embezzled by said caretaker who provided the bare minimum of care and attention to him.


    It''s no wonder that Heather quickly identified him as the perfect first target, when he went missing, it wasn''t until several days after his kidnapping when the uncle wished to speak to him that the caretaker reluctantly confessed to his disappearance and reported it to the local authorities.


    Once the children were healed physically��which didn''t take too long due to the combined efforts of Queen and Eve��it was almost time to send them back home.


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    However, despite their restored health, the memories of the torment they endured hung heavily over them, manifesting in frequent nightmares that Kain and Serena had had to wake and comfort them from during their healing periods.


    Therefore, with the consent of all of the children, their memories formed while imprisoned would be scrubbed clean by Bea��even Cherry''s.


    They all knew logically that they''d been kidnapped, because that''s what they had been told by everyone around them, but the specific memories of the torture and pain they went through were completely gone��even from their subconscious.


    Following the erasure, the haunted looks in their eyes were replaced with tentative smiles. The memories of the ordeal��the cries, the cutting, the suffocating fear��were gone.


    ---------


    The sun shining down seemed to reflect the positive moods of the soon-to-be reunited family members.


    Thankfully, Kain and Serena did not have to escort every child home��that task was assigned to the local guards.


    Kain walked beside Cherry as they approached the orphanage, her steps quicker than usual. "Do you think they''ll all be waiting?" she asked, her voice a mix of hope and apprehension.


    "They''ve been waiting for you every day since you went missing," Kain said with a reassuring smile. "They''ll be over the moon to see you."


    As they rounded the corner, the orphanage came into view. The front yard was bustling with life, unlike the last time Kain had been there. The children, Bridge, the director, and even their neighbours all stood in a line with nervous anticipation as they waited for Cherry.


    They were all holding small confetti poppers, balloons, or banners with a welcoming message for Cherry, but whatever exclamation they had collectively planned to shout out together went down the drain as soon as Cherry''s siblings spotted her��their world seemed to pause.


    "Cherry!" Bridge, the eldest of the group, was the first to shout as he launched his massive body towards her and picked her up in a hug. His cry was a signal for the others to join. Milo and Jasper rushed out next, followed by Jasmine, Key, Parker, Sunny, Charlie, and the youngest, Melody.


    They surrounded Cherry in a flurry of hugs, tears, and overlapping voices.


    "We missed you so much!" "Are you okay?" "You''re really back!"


    Cherry laughed, her voice breaking slightly. "I missed all of you too."


    The orphanage director stood on the porch, his face streaked with tears. "Thank you," he whispered to Kain and Serena as they approached. "Thank you for bringing her home."


    After the tearful reunion between Cherry and the others, Kain motioned for one of his Vespids to carefully bring out the unconscious grey-haired boy. The moment drew everyone''s attention, curiosity and concern mingling in their faces.


    "Who''s that?" the director asked gently.


    Kain sighed, his gaze heavy. "His name is Gabriel. He doesn''t have anywhere else to go, and��" He paused, choosing his words carefully and keeping his explanation vague to avoid scaring the children. "And he still hasn''t been fully healed��therefore he will be staying with me until I can find a solution."


    "We will be staying here for now, but if he still can''t be fully healed by the time we need to head back to college, I will have to take him with me. Thankfully I have my own lab on campus and should be able to provide better care for him there."


    ----------------------


    Kain and Bridge spent the remainder of their vacation at the orphanage bonding with their family, while Serena headed back to the Storm estate with some relatives who had come to the southern region to deal with the Frosts.


    Although he was grateful for her help, he was more relieved to see her leave��Cherry had not stopped making suggestive innuendos or teasing remarks about the two of them since they''d returned and he couldn''t stand it anymore!


    It was finally the date for them to leave in order to get back to the college in time for the start of school.


    Thankfully, due to his contribution to the college''s representative team, they arranged for him to teleport back to Dark Moon City, so he could spend an extra few days with his family.


    The children waved goodbye from the porch, their laughter filling the air. Cherry stood beside her siblings, her smile radiant.


    "Come back soon, Kain!" she called out.


    Kain raised a hand in acknowledgment, his heart lighter than it had been since he''d first arrived home, before turning to leave with Bridge and a new small addition to his life in Dark Moon City.

 Chapter 303 The Colleges Rewards

    The teleportation array crackled with energy as Kain, Bridge, and the unconscious Gabriel reappeared on the Dark Moon College campus.The familiar sight of towering obsidian spires and the intricate designs of gothic architecture welcomed them back.


    Despite not getting as much time as he would have liked to spend time with his family, Kain also felt a sense of security in what was now his second home; here, he could have access to better resources and improve his strength, and also to find out how to help the unconscious Gabriel.


    On the campus, Kain and Bridge separated��Bridge to settle in early to his new dorm room, and Kain to settle Gabriel into his lab. S��ar?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The college had invested greatly into Kain, since they valued the fame having such a young researcher brought to the college. However, the room was hardly fit for a recovering human.


    Therefore, with the help of the Vespids, he repurposed a section of the lab and the spiritual creatures he''d been experimenting on were carefully relocated to the college''s bestiary.


    In their place, he installed a comfortable bed on the other side of the glass wall leading to the observation room that previously housed various spiritual creatures.


    Gabriel was laid gently on the bed, still unconscious but stable. His pale face, framed by his blue-gray hair, looked fragile and as though he could die at any moment��which is actually possible considering that his body was still in danger of exploding according to the research notes.


    --------------------


    With Gabriel settled, Kain turned his attention to another pressing matter: his promised reward for representing the college at the National Tournament.


    The next morning, after moving to his new room, now on the third floor of the top 5 residence, Kain was summoned by one of the professors of the beast-taming department, who guided him to a secluded part of the campus.


    After weaving through a maze of buildings and hallways, they arrived at what appeared to be a warehouse��one that many students and staff would likely never be able to enter.


    The warehouse had an imposing appearance: a massive entrance, glowing sigils, and what appeared to be various deadly security measures.


    The doors themselves seemed alive, shifting faintly between solid metal and translucent energy. As they opened, a cool gust of air rushed out, carrying the faint hum of stored power.


    Inside, the warehouse was a sprawling space of seemingly endless rows, each packed with treasures. Shelves stretched into the distance, holding rare spiritual materials��ores, divine beast parts, spiritual orbs, vials of glowing liquids, and more.


    In another section, there appeared to be various spiritual skills contained within glowing scrolls and books.


    Next to it was an extensive catalogue of high-quality weapons, artifacts, and even barriers for the visitors to choose from.


    Finally, in a distant corner many multi-coloured spheres were arranged in neat rows with descriptions beneath them. Each sphere contained a spiritual creature that appeared to be frozen in time.


    Meanwhile, an adjacent shelf held many eggs of varying shapes, colours, and sizes with detailed descriptions of what each contained.


    The professor gave a slight smile seeing Kain''s admiration for one of the college''s most exclusive warehouses��a place many students and staff will never enter in their lives. "For your contribution, you may select three items from this warehouse. Anything you choose will be yours��unconditionally."


    Kain stepped forward, his analytical mind already at work on what he needed most.


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    -------------


    It took Kain hours to go through everything available for exchange within the warehouse. However, he took the time to carefully do so, in order to avoid missing out on something that would be more useful to him.


    The first item that Kain decided on for exchange was the Starlight Bind barrier, his property off campus only has barrier effective for yellow-grade spiritual creatures currently, which isn''t particularly valuable for him, whereas this barrier is completely effective for beings with up to blue-grade spiritual power.


    If he were to try and by this barrier himself, it''d probably cost millions of school credits or even hundreds of millions of Celestial Dollars.


    Not to mention, there is a note that a 3 year''s supply of the pricey materials needed to maintain the barrier would be provided up front after the exchange.


    Another reason that Kain picked this barrier specifically, was because it may also have an improvement effect Gabriel.


    After analyzing Gabriel with the equipment he had in his lab, and finishing going through the Doctor''s research notes, Kain concluded that the spiritual power within the boy following the completed fusion with the artificial star space was several times greater than his ordinary body could handle. So great that his body is forcefully maintaining his unconscious state to conserve all of its energy as it focuses on not having him implode.


    Therefore, although not a permanent solution, one way to wake the boy up is to restrict the rampant spiritual power in his body. However, things that could do so effectively enough to extend the boy''s time to live are not easy to come by. Even the organization that the Doctor belonged to had few that they could provide��and they were only given to the absolute top researchers, like his teacher.


    However, the Starlight Bind Barrier, was one such method of suppressing the boy''s rampant spiritual power with enough effectiveness to wake him up.


    Most skills, barriers or equipment able to restrict spiritual power would be considered very effective if they could even reduce the strength of the target''s spiritual power by 30% up to the blue-grade. Such an object would probably sell for close to a hundred million CD.


    However, the Starlight Bind Barrier can completely sever he connection between spiritual energy and its wielder.


    Within the barrier, even blue-grade spiritual creatures��those capable of reshaping landscapes and wielding devastating abilities��were reduced to practically ordinary beings stripped of their spiritual power and can only rely on their enhanced physiques to fight.


    As long as Gabriel remained in the barrier, it wouldn''t be a problem for him to live to a normal old age��although it''d be a pitiful life spent in confinement.


    But the barrier would reduce the clock ticking down Gabriel''s remaining time and allot Kain to search for a solution with peace of mind.

 Chapter 304 Manipulating Fate

    As Kain paced through the sprawling warehouse, his eyes took in the endless treasures lining the shelves while his mind was constantly making comparisons and weighing the pros and cons of each object.With the Starlight Bind Barrier already selected, he now had two choices remaining.


    With Kain''s affinity for microorganisms, he had expected for there not to be a suitable spiritual creature to contract in the warehouse��he was correct.


    However, despite the fact that he was preparing to form his fourth star space and had no clues on a potential fourth contract, Kain was not discouraged. Instead, he focused on the other objects within the warehouse.


    He also happened to have an inkling already about what his next item for exchange would be.


    When touring all of the shelves briefly upon entering, he felt a slight reaction from the mysterious seed he''d gotten from Mr. Evergreen months ago.


    Once he sent his consciousness into the System''s Laboratory, which he''d taken to using as a storage space for living things or particularly valuable objects, Kain saw that the seed emitted a soft, green glow, reacting subtly to something nearby.


    He took it out of the laboratory and was finally able to better identify the source of its abnormal reaction: the Heartwood Catalyst, a fist-sized crystalline sphere encased in roots and faintly glowing with golden light.


    According to the item''s description, the Heartwood Catalyst was a unique treasure capable of awakening dormant potential in spiritual plants, particularly rare seeds. It could nurture and accelerate growth, and unlock hidden abilities. The description alone would have piqued Kain''s interest, but the resonance with the seed sealed his decision.


    Kain had already tried numerous times in various locations to grow the seed, but it never showed any sign of germinating��not even with the assistance of Queen and Eve.


    Perhaps what it needed was this catalyst.


    With his second choice pretty much confirmed, Kain needed to make his final selection��however, this was much more difficult than the previous two selections.


    He moved to the section dedicated to spiritual skills. Most were combat-oriented, their pages described aggressive techniques, elemental strikes, and defensive barriers. Yet, none of them so far aligned with Kain''s needs perfectly.


    Although they would all boost his strength greatly, after all only the best of the best techniques were stored in this warehouse; none were so exceptionally unique that he''d be filled with a lifelong regret for missing out on them��


    That was until he finally found that irreplaceable technique.


    At the far corner of the shelf, tucked away as though forgotten by time itself, he spotted an unassuming, tattered book that he must have missed on his first walk-through of the warehouse. Read latest chapters on empire S~ea??h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Its cover was worn to the point of illegibility, and the faded bindings barely held the ancient pages together. A faint but strange aura surrounded the book, one that seemed to unconsciously repel the gaze of passersby and reduce its presence, but once it was noticed it seemed to draw him in, daring him to come closer.


    The description plate beneath the book was sparse, as though whoever cataloged it had struggled to classify the skill:


    "Threads of Destiny: An unfathomably rare spiritual skill. Few have ever successfully learned it." Kain read aloud.


    Kain picked up the book to read it and eventually concluded that the skill granted the user several abilities, each ability unlocked with each level of greater mastery of the skill.


    It was also the only time Kain had seen a skill with the fate-attribute, and considering his recent exposure to Serena''s contract with that same attribute, he was further intrigued by the skill.


    The first level of mastery would allow the user to perceive the threads of fate present around all living and non-living things with the exertion of spiritual power.


    The second level of mastery would allow the user to subtly influence their own strings of fate to slightly improve their luck and increase the likelihood of fortuitous encounters.


    The third level would allow the user to influence the threads of others, affecting the outcomes and actions of others in subtle yet profound ways. For example, bringing up the time two lovebirds were originally destined to meet or temporarily decreasing the luck of a certain target. Although it can''t prevent inevitable events, like the destined meeting of two individuals, it would allow the user of the skill to bring forward or delay that meeting.


    Supposedly, there are higher levels of the skill as well, but nobody except for the skill''s founder had ever managed to surpass the third level of mastery. In fact, it is considered one of the most difficult spiritual skills in existence. And the idea that it could be fully mastered at all remains as speculation.


    Although, the description does say that the success rate of learning this skill is extremely low, and if Kain can''t learn it then it would be a wasted exchange, Kain couldn''t resist the mystical effects in the skill''s description.


    For most people, attempting to cultivate such a skill would be akin to chasing a mirage in the desert. But for Kain, the challenge itself made the choice all the more compelling. After all, while inferior or different versions of the other skills in the warehouse may exist outside available for purchase, nothing remotely resembling this skill could probably be obtained without connections to the top individuals within the empire or extreme luck.


    As he reached out to pick up the book, his fingers tingled, and for an instant, his vision blurred. Dimly glowing lines, almost imperceptible, shimmered in the air around him before vanishing. The fleeting vision left his heart pounding and his curiosity burning.


    "This one," Kain murmured. "I''ll take this."


    All of his choices selected, Kain rang the bell by the entrance to report his choices to the escorting professor.


    When the professor saw his choice of skill, a trace of surprise flickering across their face. "An ambitious choice," they said, their voice tinged with a mixture of admiration and caution. "Few would dare to attempt the Threads of Destiny. I hope you understand that the chances of anything coming from exchanging it are quite low."


    "I do," Kain replied. His tone was calm but resolute. After all, if it was a common, easy to learn skill, he wouldn''t have wanted to exchange for it.


    The professor nodded slowly. "Then may fate be kind to you, Kain."

 Chapter 305 A Brewing War

    When Kain returned to his lab on the college campus, he set up the Starlight Bind Barrier, and left Gabriel hooked up to machines that would monitor his vital signs while supplying him with the nutrients he needed using an IV.He then went about moving into his new room. The first re-ranking of the school year wouldn''t be for another few months, therefore the rankings everyone ended with last year were carried over to this meaning��meaning that Kain was still within the top 5 mansion. However, instead of his room being 202, the second-years were placed one floor higher, meaning that he was now in room 302.


    Since Kain had been away for a while, he also chose to check on the progress of the spiritual beer business. Especially, since he had received a call from his operations manager Collin about an emergency��apparently, the construction of an additional factory they were planning to build to meet the greater demand for their beer across the empire, ran into some trouble��


    Coincidently, just when Kain was about to arrive at the construction area for their new factory, he received a message from Serena��she had received a notification that the price for having the 6-star beast-tamer vacate the premises back in Brightstar City, was an emergency befalling some kind of business related to Kain.


    ''Thanks�� but the warning is a little late''


    Kain thought as he looked at what should have been an almost finished second factory, but was instead more akin to a disaster site.


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    The area that should have been bustling with workers putting the finishing touches on the factory was instead littered with debris.


    The skeletal structure of the building had collapsed, and large fissures ran through the foundation. Equipment that had been brought in for installation lay twisted and broken, some of it buried under rubble.


    Collin was already at the site, pacing anxiously while speaking to the head of construction. When he saw Kain approaching, he rushed over, his face pale and drawn.


    "Boss, it''s worse than I thought," Collin said, running a hand through his dishevelled hair. "We initially thought it was an accident��some kind of structural flaw��but after investigating further, we found clear signs of sabotage."


    Kain''s expression darkened. "Sabotage? Are you certain?"


    Collin nodded grimly. Then lowered his voice while glancing around to make sure they weren''t overheard, "Positive. The foreman discovered that several load-bearing beams had been tampered with, weakening the structural integrity of the entire building. Not only that, but the foundation cracks��those weren''t natural, they were likely the result of an earth attribute skill that caused a focused vibration on the floor of the building and took advantage of the weaknesses in the support beams to cause the entire building to come down��thankfully there were no casualties though, since the collapse happened early in the morning before the first workers arrived"


    Kain''s jaw tightened. "Do we know who''s behind it?"


    "Not yet," Collin admitted. "But, I do have a guess��you may have been too busy to notice, but a competitor had popped up recently. They might''ve realized they couldn''t compete with our product and decided to resort to dirty tactics."


    The mention of the competitor brought a grim smile to Kain''s lips. That particular issue had practically resolved itself on its own, so while he had heard vague mentions of another spiritual beer hitting the shelves, he hadn''t paid it too much attention.


    When the rival company had tried to replicate their spiritual beer, they quickly discovered that the properties of the brew weren''t something that could be copied.


    Thanks to Kain''s foresight, the Aether Brewing Yeast had been genetically modified before they went public. This ensured that without also having access to Queen''s spiritual honey, the standard brewing process couldn''t replicate the unique characteristics of their product.


    The competitor''s beer had been a poor imitation, greatly lacking the spiritual energy and rich flavor profile that had made Kain''s beer a sensation.


    Public backlash against the knockoff had been severe, and the competitor had folded within weeks. However, if they were responsible for this sabotage, it meant they weren''t entirely out of the picture.


    "Anything else unusual?" Kain asked.


    "Yes," Collin said, frowning. "The workers mentioned seeing strange spiritual fluctuations around the site a few days ago, but by the time anyone investigated, there was no one there. I''ve already doubled security at our existing factory, just in case."


    Kain nodded, and already put identifying and dealing with the perpetrators on his future agenda for when he had more time. After all, their unsportsmanlike actions were a direct attack on his business, and even jeopardized the safety of his workers.


    "We''ll have to rebuild," Kain said decisively. "But not here. Find another location. Somewhere more secure, where it''ll be easier to monitor for spiritual interference."


    Collin hesitated. "But the cost��"


    "I''ll cover it," Kain interrupted. Thankfully, he received a large influx of funds due to a renewed interest in the Lumifin evolution after the National Tournament. "What matters is keeping the momentum going. This setback won''t stop us."


    Collin''s shoulders relaxed slightly, reassured by Kain''s confidence. "Understood. I''ll start scouting new sites immediately."


    "Additionally, we''re going to have to increase our selectivity with staff. Someone willing to go this far, definitely wouldn''t be above bribing a worker to get more detailed information on our brewing process." Although, without access to the spiritual honey, something only Kain had, all of those efforts would be useless��but it''s not as if they knew that.


    Kain even decided to have Bea periodically "inspect" the minds of the staff that work at each of the factories in order to identify any potential spies among them.


    In fact, their current factory may already have one or two eyes and ears working on behalf of their enemies��


    As Collin left to make the arrangements, Kain lingered at the site, surveying the damage. He would make sure that whoever had dared to sabotage his factory and attack his work would come begging him for mercy in the future.

 Chapter 306 Series Notes

    Kain returned to his lab after inspecting the disaster site, and hoped that no other consequences for wishes made by Serena would fall on him.''That''s one more incentive to learn that new spiritual skill. At least with it, I should be able to decreased my likelihood of being the target of fate-attribute skills.''


    Kain found solace in the quiet hum of his equipment and the faint glow of the Starlight Bind Barrier covering Gabriel in the observation area.


    Despite the chaos surrounding the factory incident, Kain couldn''t let it consume his focus entirely��there were other pressing matters demanding his attention.


    Seating himself at his desk, he pulled out the thick stack of research notes he had recovered from the Doctor''s laboratory.


    He had already scoured the Doctor''s personal files from his space ring, but found no viable solution to Gabriel''s condition. Now, he turned to the notes from the room adjacent to the laboratory��those detailing experiments from other branches of the organization.


    These experiments, while not directly linked to the E Series that Kain and Cherry were part of, painted a broader picture of the organization''s goals and methods.


    The notes described four primary research paths: Series A, Series B, Series X, and Series E. Each was an attempt to push the boundaries of human potential, often inspired by the unique cultivation methods of other nations.


    The first series, Series A, was based heavily on the cultivation methods of the nation directly west of the Celestial Empire, Karnath Dominion.


    The Karnath Dominion''s cultivation method revolved around individuals'' natural Gifts moreso than an affinity, which were often even more powerful than those that individuals in the Celestial Empire tend to awaken.


    In Karnath, they do not form contracts with spiritual creatures in the same manner that citizens of the Celestial Empire do.


    Instead, they kill spiritual creatures related to their Gift and by harvesting life essence from these spiritual creatures, Karnathians could integrate the skills of the slayed spiritual creature into their Gifts, creating devastatingly versatile warriors.


    Although beast-tamers of the Celestial Empire have a massive numerical advantage when fighting against those from Karnath, while Karnathian''s pursue personal strength, exceptional combinations of extracted skills that would normally not be seen on the same living creature, means that each Karnathian is usually much strong and more versatile than spiritual creatures at their level.


    Series A''s experiments aimed at forcefully implanting gifts into test subjects without to ideally develop a cultivation style reminiscent of the Karnathians''.


    The result so far have been mostly poor��while some gained extraordinary gifts, the majority faced physical collapse or violent rejection due to incompatibility or an inability to control the gifts they didn''t awaken naturally.


    Series B''s research direction was inspired by the tribal nations to the south, and focused on hybridization.


    The southern tribes'' affinities stemmed from remnants of ancient spiritual creature bloodlines likely resulting from cross-species relationships centuries ago between tribal humans and powerful spiritual creatures capable of shifting into a human form. Therefore, modern tribesmen had strong affinities to spiritual creatures that are kin to their dormant bloodline. sea??h th�� NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Series B sought to replicate this by introducing spiritual creature DNA into human embryos or grafting it into existing subjects.


    The results were unpredictable. Some subjects developed extraordinary traits, such as heightened senses or elemental control, but most others became grotesque hybrids, unable to survive the transformation for long.


    The third series, Series X, aimed to enhance human Gifts and affinities beyond the affinities inherent to everyone.


    The limited information in the notes suggested that the organization regarded this series as the crown jewel of their research��both for its high stakes and the immense potential rewards.


    While Series A focused on acquiring abilities externally, Series X sought to amplify what already existed. This series appeared to be the most secretive and crucial to the organization, likely because its success was tied to the interests of sponsors who were already powerful beast-tamers and wanted to go further.


    The experiments sought to break through the natural limitations of affinities, granting participants the ability to form contracts with whatever they desired��if the research is successful.


    Finally, Series E, which Cherry and Gabriel belonged to, aimed to turn ordinary individuals with no natural affinity into beast-tamers.


    The methods ranged from artificial star implantation to manipulating embryos, spiritual energy infusions and more.


    So far, no cases of success have emerged from Series E, the casualty rate was staggering, and the possibility of there ever being results remained questionable��although the organization will never tell that to the sponsors of Series E, like Heather Frost, who were desperate for results.


    Kain let out a tired sigh and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples due to the rising headache.


    Hours of poring over dense research notes, fragmented ideas, and the scribbled formulas of madmen had left his eyes strained and his mind spinning.


    Even with his endurance and background in research, the sheer volume of material was overwhelming��he had barely made it through a third of the books and notes.


    Kain rubbed his strained eyes, trying to suppress the intense disappointment he felt at not finding a solution or cure within the notes for Gabriel''s condition.


    As Kain lowered his hands, ready to take a short break, a strange sensation prickled at the back of his neck��a sense of being watched. His head snapped up, his heart lurching as his eyes locked onto a pair of pale grey irises staring back at him.


    Gabriel was awake.


    His eyes were unsettlingly pale, their almost transparent quality making it difficult to discern where his irises ended and the whites of his eyes began. They seemed to pierce straight through Kain, holding a mix of wariness, confusion, hatred, and fear.


    ''Oh no��does he think I''m one of them?!''


    For a moment, neither of them spoke, the silence in the lab growing heavy. Kain opened his mouth to say something reassuring, but Gabriel''s lips parted first, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.


    "...Where am I?"


    The question was laced with suspicion, which confirmed to Kain that Gabriel believed he was still in the clutches of the kidnappers who had experimented on him, just moved to a different location while unconscious. Experience new stories with empire


    "Dark Moon College." Kain explained, "During a rescue mission we brought you back from the lab, you''ve been unconscious ever since. The individual that was experimenting on you is dead by the way, and all the other children kidnapped were also released and returned to their families. But unfortunately, you can''t return home��"

 Chapter 307 Research Assistant?

    After explaining to Gabriel what had happened during the period he was unconscious, his current state, and why he couldn''t leave, Gabriel''s suspicious expression eased slightly and he seemed to reluctantly buy Kain''s story��for now.However, Gabriel''s pale, piercing eyes��the eyes of someone who had seen far too much and lost far too much faith in the world��seemed to still indicate that he didn''t have much trust in Kain. Whether that mistrust stemmed from not believing Kain was who he said, or that Kain could actually find a solution, he didn''t know.


    "I know it will be difficult for you to trust someone that you''ve never met before, but if you want to leave this room and confirm for yourself that what I say is true, and get your freedom back, we need you to be stable enough to leave the confines of this barrier. So Gabriel�� do you want to help me think of a solution?" Kain said while tentatively holding up some of the research papers that Kain had already gone through��after all, it always helps to have another look from a different perspective.


    Gabriel''s gaze shifted between Kain''s face and the stack of research papers he was holding. After a long moment, he nodded slowly, his hands trembling slightly as he reached out to take one of the papers.


    "Fine," Gabriel murmured, his voice still hoarse but steadying. "But I doubt I''d be of much help��"


    Kain smiled faintly, lowering the stack onto the edge of the cot. "A second set of eyes is all that I need for now. Maybe see if anything triggers a memory about something the Doctor said."


    Kain had already had Bea go through Gabriel''s and the other children''s memories, but it''s not as though significant information is tagged within their minds. Bea needed to go through each memory and use her own judgment to determine if the information was important or not.


    Therefore, a one-off comment from the members of the organization that Bea may have discarded as insignificant, might suddenly come to Gabriel''s mind when reading the notes.


    Gabriel picked up a sheet and scanned it, his brow furrowing. Kain noticed his hands were still shaking, whether, from weakness or residual fear, he wasn''t sure. He refrained from offering assistance, giving Gabriel space to assert himself.


    "What exactly am I looking for?" Gabriel asked after a pause, his tone flat but his eyes sharp.


    "Anything that may hint at a solution. Your current state could be theoretically solved if you were able to awaken an affinity and bind to a spiritual creature��the feedback due to the contract should be enough to prevent you from essentially exploding due to the excessive amount of energy in your body that is currently being suppressed.


    "Unfortunately, only artificial star spaces are implanted into people young individuals who have formed their first star space yet have been successful��the younger the better. Unfortunately, the younger they are the less likely they are to survive the Awakening Ceremony due to the fragility of their souls��there is a reason why the ceremony isn''t conducted until students are at least 17 to 18 years old. Each attempt is a huge strain on the soul, and that is the youngest age where it is considered safe. But after 3 failed attempts the damage to the soul is typically bad enough to instantly cause death.


    "You��we can try to have you undergo the Awakening Ceremony, but you are only 11, and likely won''t survive."


    Gabriel nodded in understanding. He remembered overhearing that all of the previous attempts by the organization to have children implanted with the artificial star space awaken an affinity, had ended with their souls, already fragile from prolonged torture, collapsing. sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I vaguely remember something��they said at one point that the solution may come from Series X��but I''m not sure what that means."


    Kain went silent as he pondered that information. The goal of Series X was to eliminate the restriction of affinities entirely��Did they want to bypass the dangers of the Awakening Ceremony by just having the children bind to spiritual creatures without an affinity? But that''s impossible.


    Still, Kain decided to shift much of his focus to the research results from Series X, although the information on this series was quite limited.


    Seeing Kain''s focused and tired expression, clearly having spent all of his free time on finding a solution for him while he was unconscious, Gabriel couldn''t help asking, "Why do you even care? You don''t know me. You''re not one of their victims. Nor can you even benefit from this research, you''re��" He trailed off, as though realizing he didn''t know enough about Kain to finish the sentence.


    Kain hesitated before his voice softened. "Because I have a gut feeling that I can help. And because people like you and my sister, another of the victims, didn''t deserve what happened to you." Experience new tales on empire


    Gabriel''s jaw tightened, but he said nothing, his eyes returning to the papers.


    Kain also didn''t mention the less noble reason about the great fame and national power increase to the empire that would result from developing a method capable of allowing all the citizens of the country, most of whom were ordinary, to awaken an affinity. He also wouldn''t have to worry about his own family members not having affinities in the future��


    The hours ticked by as they continued to sift through the notes, exchanging the occasional comment or observation. Gabriel''s insights, though sparse, proved valuable. His unique perspective��shaped by firsthand experience as a victim of the experiments��highlighted flaws and inconsistencies Kain hadn''t noticed. It seemed like certain information was intentionally left out of the notes to make it difficult for unrelated individuals to decipher the true results and intentions of the various experiments.


    At one point, Kain placed a sheet with an intricate diagram of the artificial star space and the human body in front of Gabriel. "This is part of the E-Series. You were subjected to this one, right? Does any of this seem familiar?"


    Gabriel stared at the diagram for a long moment, his pale eyes narrowing. "Some of it... They mentioned things like ''remapping affinity nodes'' and ''stabilizing spiritual influx.'' But��" He hesitated, his fingers brushing the edge of the paper. "There was something else. A term they used. ''Heaven''s Will.''"


    "Heaven''s Will��" This was the first time that Kain had come across this term and it wasn''t in any of the notes. However, when looking through the Series X, he did see some mention of a "strong will," but he''d thought that they were talking about one of their subjects with a particularly strong willpower.


    "''It was determined that the affinity is based on the strong will of H, which is impossible to resist��''"


    Kain had interpreted this sentence to mean that the ultimate affinity that one awakens may be dependent on the strong will of a person��but is this "Subject H" actually Heaven? In which case, are all affinities actually dependent on some abstract entity called Heaven? Kain found it difficult to believe.

 Chapter 308 The Eggs Disappearance

    Following that line of logic, Kain re-read most of the notes about Series X in a new light.He came to a conclusion, the reason why humans can only form a contract with a limited number of spiritual creatures, known as their affinity, seems to be due to some kind of mysterious restriction. Something that this mysterious organization refers to as Heaven''s Will.


    If one wants to form a contract with a spiritual creature beyond the limitations of their affinity, then they must find some way of overcoming this so-called "heaven." Unfortunately, from the moment a living thing is born on this planet, the laws dictated by the planet''s mysterious will seems to be imprinted into their soul.


    Kain had always thought that the affinity merely dictates the variety of forms one''s star space can take on, therefore someone with a fire-attribute affinity cannot bind to a spiritual creature with a water-attribute affinity because the star space will be an inhospitable environment to the contract and be unconsciously rejected.


    However, it seems like this is only half of the story. Looking at the notes of the Series X experiments, it appears that even when extremely powerful spiritual creatures that should be able to survive an inhospitable environment, for example dragons, attempt to form a contract with someone without the suitable affinity, the souls of both the spiritual creature and the contractor are gradually stomped out of existence within moments.


    It seems that this world is making a conscious effort to prevent the unrestricted formation of contracts. Why that is? Nobody knows.


    Therefore, when possible solution that has been brought up is binding to creatures not born on this planet�� unfortunately, powerful alien spiritual creatures have never been found. And spiritual creatures born in subordinate realms anchored to this one, such as the underworld where infernal creatures reside, seem to have the same restrictions placed upon them.


    However, Kain had access to something that the researchers at this organization do not��the System.


    And based on his past experiences with the System, he could confirm the existence of other worlds��whether contracts with the creatures of these worlds can be formed, he didn''t know. However, at the very least he has a better starting point to explore this hypothesis than they do.


    Making an excuse to Gabriel that he was going to rest his eyes, Kain went to a lounge set up for researchers and staff within the same building.


    Closing his eyes as though to take a nap, Kain entered his System, along with the notes of the Series X experiments.


    "Vera" Kain called out to his lab assistant. After all, his primary help for going through these notes couldn''t just be an eleven-year-old, "I would like you to help me go through these notes and craft suitable treatment plans for Gabriel." Kain then shared the data he''d collected on Gabriel using his equipment outside.


    Vera, hovered closer to receive the notes with a cheerful hum. The large digital blue eyes, that make up the majority of her "face" flickered slightly as she read through the notes within seconds and tried to complete her master''s request.


    "Processing request," she chirped, her tone light and slightly melodic. "Compiling data on Subject Gabriel. Shall I prioritize physical stability or look for potential long-term solutions first, Boss?"


    "Start with physical stability," Kain replied, distracted as he glanced around his lab. "I''ll explore some other avenues in the meantime."


    Vera nodded��or rather tilted slightly in acknowledgment��and began processing the data. She hummed faintly, her "face" lighting up with graphs and equations as she worked.


    As Vera busied herself, Kain took a moment to survey the laboratory. While the number of pieces of equipment he currently had, paled in comparison to his lab on campus, the lab provided by the System was unique in the world in that it had pieces of equipment utilizing technology far more advanced than what currently existed on this planet. Maybe one of them will help him in his quest to save Gabriel?


    His eyes fell on the Genetic Reconstructor, a sleek machine that occupied the far corner. It was the only one he felt might be remotely useful, but he doubted that manipulating genes could get rid of the restriction of "Heaven''s Will."


    Maybe he could manipulate Gabriel''s genes to make him better able to contain the massive amount of spiritual power in his body and not explode? But Kain had never used the Genetic Reconstructor on anything more advanced than the single-celled Aether Brewing Yeast, and wasn''t sure how safe it was to use on Gabriel.


    "Best-case scenario, I stabilize him," Kain murmured to himself. "Worst-case��he ends up like those abominations from Series B. Not worth the gamble without more data." sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He moved on, cataloging the various things he''d chosen to store in the System''s laboratory: microorganisms from the relic he entered to save Bridge, rewards granted to him by the training relic prior to the National Tournament, and various rare spiritual materials he''d collected during missions or were given to him as rewards while acting as an Evolutionary Planner for various rich people.


    However, he couldn''t shake the feeling that something was missing��


    "Where''s that egg?" he muttered, once again going through his entire collection in case he''d missed it��which was unlikely considering its bright golden sheen.


    He''d received it as a reward from Professor Tameridge for tying with Serena in the relic used for training but hadn''t paid it much attention due to it essentially being unhatchable in any environment with spiritual power��an environment practically impossible to create.


    Kain''s brows furrowed as he considered the missing golden egg. He couldn''t shake the unsettling feeling that its absence might be crucial.


    "Vera," Kain said, his tone sharper than before. "Where is the golden egg? The one I collected from Professor Tameridge a couple months ago. Did you move it?"


    Vera paused her work on the Series X notes, her luminous blue eyes flickering as she processed the query. "Golden egg?" she repeated, her voice tinged with confusion. "Cross-referencing laboratory inventory logs now�� Scanning complete. No object matching that description has ever been registered or entered into the system."


    Kain blinked. "What? That''s impossible. I specifically collected it into the lab the day I received it. It vanished right in front of me when I willed it to enter the System''s laboratory."


    Vera tilted her head, her expression shifting into what could only be described as robotic concern. "I have no record of such an event. The lab''s collection protocols would have automatically logged any item entering the system, regardless of form or material. If an item was not logged, then it did not enter here."


    Kain went silent, his confusion growing greater by the second. The egg had disappeared right before his eyes when he''d thought about collecting it. That much he was certain of. Yet, if Vera and the system logs showed no trace of it, then where had it gone?


    Kain frowned. "Then where did it go?"


    "That," Vera said, her tone almost apologetic, "is beyond my current database to answer. I suggest expanding your search parameters to external storage objects or re-evaluating the collection process."


    Kain pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to piece the puzzle together. It''s a living thing, despite it not being able to hatch, therefore it couldn''t have been accidentally collected into his space ring��


    ''what else is there?''

 Chapter 309 Life in a Dead World

    Kain stood still, running through possibilities. He definitely knew that the egg had been collected by him, but it was unlikely for the Vera to make a mistake and misplace it.That left him with one possibility: the egg had ended up somewhere other than in the System.


    As his thoughts churned, his mind drifted toward an overlooked possibility. His star space.


    Queen, when he first contracted her, had brought honey and parts of her old hive into the star space. Therefore, he knew that select objects, especially those created by the spiritual creature, could be brought into the star space.


    "But the egg isn''t related to any of my spiritual contracts��" he muttered. Then his gaze sharpened as he remembered something peculiar that happened when he was forming his third star.


    When forming it, a planet resembling an ancient Earth had materialized within his star space. It was completely devoid of spiritual power and at the time, he''d been perplexed by if it even had a purpose, moreover he''d gotten so busy since then that he hadn''t been able to explore it in more detail.


    "The egg couldn''t survive in this world''s spiritual environment," Kain said to himself, pacing. "But my star space�� That planet��" His voice grew quieter as a realization took hold. "It''s exactly what the egg needed to hatch."


    The more he thought about it, the more certain he became.


    Likely when he was trying to collect the egg, either the System had instead redirected it to his star space, or the planet that had formed sensed its compatibility with the egg itself and collected it itself.


    Driven by a mix of urgency and curiosity, Kain closed his eyes and willed his consciousness into his star space.


    ------------------------------


    Inside the boundless dark space of his star space, Kain''s consciousness floated amidst the only four sources of light: three spiritual stars that were the homes of Bea, Queen/Eve, and Aegis respectively; and a fourth planet that resembled his old Earth but with all of the continents connected.


    Focusing on the green and blue planet, Kain suddenly appeared on its surface��it was almost as though he''d been transported to a completely separate world, unlike the sense he gets when examining his other spaces which he feel like the inside of intricately designed space rings that are perfectly tailored to each contract, but he is unable to enter himself.


    The air of this "earth" was crisp and untouched, free from any trace of spiritual power.


    The planet was stark and lifeless, without even the slightest sign of life, including vegetation. Jagged mountain ranges reached toward the sky. Plateaus and canyons stretched endlessly, their surfaces rough with weathered stone and coarse gravel.


    Rivers of dark, silvery water wove through the desolate landscape, reflecting the faint glow of 3 different coloured stars on their surface.


    The ground crunched beneath Kain''s feet as he walked, his every step amplified in the oppressive silence.


    Following a faint draw due to his connection with the planet, which seemed to be directing him towards what he desired, he made his way toward a clearing where the land sloped gently downward into a shallow basin.


    At its center, nestled among a patch of smooth, glass-like stones, was the golden egg.


    Kain''s breath caught as he approached. The egg looked different now. Its surface, once pristine and unblemished, was marked with delicate, glowing cracks that pulsed faintly, casting dim light onto the surrounding stones.


    A subtle warmth emanated from it that he felt as he knelt beside it and touched its surface. It looked as though it would hatch soon.


    "This world�� It''s perfect for you, isn''t it?" he murmured, his voice barely audible in the vast emptiness. "Perhaps we were really destined for each other��"


    The egg seemed to respond to his words, its glow intensifying for a moment before settling back into its soft, rhythmic pulse. Kain studied it closely, noting how its once-uniform surface now seemed alive, shifting ever so slightly as though something within was preparing to break free and was just waiting for him to do so.


    The warmth radiating from it grew stronger, and a sudden surge of connection jolted through him.


    A contract? But he hadn''t formed his fourth star yet. Moreover, whatever kind of bond this was didn''t feel like his contract with Bea, Eve, or Aegis. Or even like his secondary and tertiary contracts with Queen and the Vespid guards.


    His contracts with them were deep, and equal partnerships. He could sense that they were life-or-death partners and that the end of one would greatly harm the other.


    This was different. It was almost as deep, but the nature of the connection was different.


    The being within the egg felt entirely subordinate to him rather than an equal contract, its life completely based on his will. If he desired, he could extinguish it with a thought��an unnerving power that he vowed to never abuse.


    Despite the sudden connection with a creature he hadn''t even seen yet, Kain felt an overwhelming fondness for the spiritual creature inside, as though it were an extension of himself.


    The egg''s surface began to fracture, the cracks spiderwebbing outward with a soft, melodic hum. A faint golden light spilled out, casting long shadows across the rocky terrain. The egg trembled in his hands, and with a final, resonant crack, it shattered.


    The fragments dissolved into shimmering motes of light that scattered into the air, leaving behind a small, golden serpentine figure curled in the basin.


    Looking closer, Kain realized based on the claws it had, that it wasn''t a snake, but it looked like one of the dragons native to the eastern continent.


    Its gold scales shimmered with a faint iridescence, catching the limited light from the stars above. Tiny, delicate antlers were growing from its head, and a pair of round, inquisitive eyes blinked open, locking onto Kain with a teary and innocent gaze.


    Kain couldn''t help but marvel at the creature. Before awakening his affinity, it had been his dream to form a contract with a dragon��and now that dream seems to have been granted in a different way...


    It let out a soft, trilling sound, almost musical, as it rose slightly off of the ground��flying despite the lack of any wings.


    He could sense its thoughts, though they were simple and unformed��an overwhelming trust in him, a quiet dependence. sea??h th�� N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain knelt before the egg, his hand hovering over its golden surface. The warmth radiating from it grew stronger, and as his fingers finally brushed against it, a sudden surge of connection jolted through him.


    This wasn''t like the bonds he had with Bea, Queen, or Aegis. Those connections felt like friendships��equal and cherished partnerships. This was different. It was deeper, more absolute. The being within the egg felt entirely subordinate to him, its life intrinsically tied to his will. If he desired, he could extinguish it with a thought��an unnerving power he knew he''d never abuse.


    Yet, instead of being disturbed by the connection, Kain felt an overwhelming fondness for the creature inside, as though it were an extension of himself. A fragment of his soul.


    His fingers pressed more firmly against the egg''s surface, and the glowing cracks spread rapidly, the faint pulses growing brighter and faster. It was waiting for him��waiting for his touch, his acknowledgment��to awaken.


    "Alright," Kain whispered, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Come into this world."


    The egg''s surface began to fracture, the cracks spiderwebbing outward with a soft, melodic hum. A faint golden light spilled out, casting long shadows across the rocky terrain. The egg trembled in his hands, and with a final, resonant crack, it shattered.


    The fragments dissolved into shimmering motes of light that scattered into the air, leaving behind a small, serpentine form curled in the basin.


    A golden dragon��sleek and elegant, its body long and sinuous like the dragons of ancient Eastern myths. Its scales shimmered with a faint iridescence, catching the light of the stars above. Tiny, delicate antlers crowned its head, and a pair of sharp, inquisitive eyes blinked open, locking onto Kain''s gaze.


    Kain couldn''t help but marvel at the creature. It was no larger than a housecat, its movements deliberate and graceful as it stretched its lithe body for the first time. It let out a soft, trilling sound, almost musical, as it coiled slightly around itself, seemingly testing its new form.


    As the dragon rose, Kain felt their bond solidify further. He could sense its thoughts, though they were simple and unformed��an overwhelming trust in him, a quiet dependence.


    "Welcome to the world," Kain murmured, reaching out to gently stroke the dragon''s head. It leaned into his touch, its scales warm and smooth beneath his fingers.


    The ground beneath them pulsed faintly. For the first time since the planet''s formation, Kain sensed spiritual power on it. It was faint��almost imperceptible��but it was there.


    The lifeless terrain seemed to hum with a new energy, as though the dragon''s birth had awakened something dormant within this world.

 Chapter 310 The Worlds Insurance Plan?

    After only flying around for less than a minute, the newborn dragon quickly ran out of energy and curled into a tight coil at the basin''s center, its breathing slow and steady.A faint golden aura radiated from its scales, blending seamlessly with the newly awakened spiritual energy in the air.


    With the small amount of spiritual energy now present on the planet, Kain''s thoughts turned to another item in his possession: the seed that he suspected to be from the Tree of Life.


    Up until now, he''d avoided planting it, unsure of where a treasure at that level would be safe. But now, standing on his own personal planet planet, he realized it was perfect��as long as the spiritual power here continues to increase.


    Not to mention, the seed descended from a tree was known to be a source of immense vitality and life, and transformed deserted landscapes into rich fields in the past.


    If planted here, it could accelerate this planet''s transformation from barren to something brimming with life and spiritual energy.


    Careful not to disturb the dragon, Kain rose and walked a few steps away while still in the basin.


    Through his connection with the System''s Laboratory, he withdrew the seed that pulsed faintly like a beating heart. He also summoned, the Heartwood Catalyst to plant alongside it.


    He dug a shallow hole in the stony soil, placing the seed inside before positioning the Heartwood Catalyst above it. The moment the catalyst touched the ground, a faint light spread outward, sinking into the soil.


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    The seed began to react almost immediately. Tiny green tendrils sprouted from it, weaving their way into the earth. A delicate sprout emerged from the dirt within moments, its single green leaf shimmering with a faint golden hue.


    After the sprout reached only a few inches high, it stopped growing, but Kain could sense that there was nothing wrong with it��the meagre amount of spiritual power currently present was simply not enough to support its growth at this time, but as the concentration continues to increase, it will be able to reach its full potential.


    And even as a mere sapling, Kain was able to see subtle changes to the environment.


    The ground closest to the where the seed was planted grew darker, as the coarse, rocky soil gradually taking on a richer, more fertile appearance.


    Moreover, short and delicate blades of grass, no taller than a finger, began to sprout in a small ring around the base of the sapling.


    The faint golden glow from the sapling pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat, sending gentle waves of energy into the surrounding area.


    A faint smile touched his lips. Even in this early stage, the Tree of Life''s influence was undeniable. Though the changes were minor, they marked the beginning of the planet''s evolution.


    Maybe one day soon he''ll have a planet teeming with life that was his exclusive property. He still wasn''t quite sure what benefits this planet would bring to him, or if the presence of life on this planet would be a positive or negative influence in the long run, but still couldn''t resist having his imagination run wild.


    However, he couldn''t dwell on such thoughts for too long�� he still had pressing matters to resolve outside of his star space, especially finding a solution for Gabriel.


    As he prepared to leave, his earlier thoughts about the unique nature of this world resurfaced. If spiritual creatures were born here, would they be subject to the same limitations as those tied to the Heaven''s Will of the main world? Is this place, considered merely a subordinate realm of the main world like the underworld where infernal creatures are born. Or will the creatures born here be free of the influence of Heaven''s Will and allow him to bypass the restrictions of having an affinity?


    "Time will tell," Kain said softly. After all, he''d need to wait until there was more life on this planet to begin testing this idea.


    With a final glance at the sleeping dragon and the tiny sapling, he willed his consciousness to return to the outside world.


    --------------


    Feeling like the changes to the planet in his star space may be beneficial to Gabriel, he began to turn his attention to researching the origins of the golden dragon.


    He knew that Professor Tameridge took it from a relic on the eastern continent and following the clue of the identity of the relic, Kain''s attention was brought to some of the fragmented myths and legends on the eastern continent that were supposedly related to this relic.


    One myth, in particular, caught his eye��an eastern myth detailing how this planet was supposedly created.


    In the myth, before this world existed, a single egg floated alone in the infinite cosmos.


    From this egg hatched Huanglong, the Golden Dragon. It was said that Huanglong wielded immense power, and with said power was able to form the planet.


    Moreover, with the remnants of its egg''s shell, Huanglong created four holy beasts: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North.


    These four powerful beasts, shaped the world''s laws and ensured that the elements of the world remained balanced.


    The myth described Huanglong as the leader of the Four, embodying the essence of creation itself. It was the dragon''s duty to reignite life should catastrophe ever erase the world��a being of renewal and rebirth.


    Kain leaned back, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. While the myth was simply a fairy tale, and he didn''t take majority of the information in the story seriously, but certain details of it struck a chord.


    His own golden dragon shared some striking similarities with this Huanglong��


    For one, its need to be in a primitive world devoid of spiritual power, may be due to it serving as a catalyst to restart life on the planet in the event that spiritual power is eliminated in some kind of catastrophe.


    "If the myth has even a grain of truth," Kain murmured, "then this dragon wasn''t meant to just exist��it''s a failsafe, designed to rebuild life after destruction."


    That thought gave him pause. If the dragon was meant to restart life after some catastrophic event, then its presence here, in his star space, meant he had unknowingly taken away this world''s insurance policy. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh well��I''m sure if something like that is ever needed in the future, it''d work itself out��"

 Chapter 311 Unwelcome Addition to College Life

    The next month or so, Kain''s life at Dark Moon College settled into its usual rhythm from his first year: attending classes, training, receiving reports on the beer business and going on the occasional mission.Aside from the addition of Gabriel and the search for a solution to his predicament, life was as usual. With the exception of some new faces��


    Though it hadn''t been long since he was a first-year himself, the difference felt stark. The first-years seemed so much younger, their expressions bright and unguarded, their voices carrying a mix of wonder and nervous energy. Compared to them, he felt like a seasoned veteran��a strange thought, considering that there was only a one-year gap in their ages.


    "They''re like a bunch of wide-eyed chicks," he muttered under his breath, smirking as he watched one group of first years practicing enhancing each of their senses for the spiritual skills assessment held not long after school started.


    He too remembered how anxious he was for that test and found their familiarly nervous faces cute, in a way, but also a reminder of how much he''d grown.


    His thoughts were interrupted when he sensed a familiar presence nearby��or maybe it was the sudden stunned silence of the first-years practicing nearby that clued him into who was approaching.


    Turning slightly, he spotted Serena approaching at a measured pace, seemingly unaware of all the stares, or more likely just accustomed to it by now.


    "We have another field assessment in a month or so, will Gabriel be okay in your absence?" She asked. Despite appearing cold and aloof, the question showed her concern for the child Kain had hidden away in his lab, that the school was technically not informed about.


    If the college were to know, Kain wasn''t confident that they''d let him continue to be in charge of Gabriel, and with everything Gabriel had been through, he would be unlikely to trust an unfamiliar researcher.


    Moreover, Kain wasn''t sure if anyone else assigned to take care of Gabriel would have his best interests and not resort to turning him into an experimental subject again.


    Therefore, due to the secretive nature of Gabriel''s identity, he''d only allowed Serena, and occasionally Bridge, who both already knew about him, to enter into his laboratory.


    Kain replied to Serena''s question, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah��similar to when I left one of the Vespids to watch over Bridge when he was sick previously, I will leave one to watch over him as well. Moreover, I''ll be able to communicate with him at any time using Bea."


    "You''re still coming to the lab later, right?" Kain continued, "Gabriel has been asking almost everyday about when you''d come again."


    "Of course." Her words were even, almost indifferent, but there was a subtle weight to them that conveyed her reliability. "I don''t understand how you could describe him like a guarded wild animal when he first awoke��he seems pretty warm to me."


    Kain rolled his eyes, though he couldn''t hide the faint irritation that flared at her words. "Yeah, he seems to prefer you. Despite that I am the one that provides his food and shelter, accompanies him everyday, and use all my freetime to pour over research notes


    for him


    ! He prefers


    you


    ! Curse, this cruel looks-based world��"


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    Serena, didn''t reply to his grumbling, but the twitching corners of her lips seemed to indicate that she heard him and didn''t sympathize with him in the slightest.


    The conversation on the way to laboratory might have continued had they not been interrupted by a haughty voice.


    "Kain!"


    Turning toward the source, Kain inwardly sighed as he saw Alaina Ashenclaw striding toward them. Her long blonde hair swayed behind her, and her green eyes gleamed with a mix of arrogance and excitement.


    That was one new unwelcome addition to Kain''s school-life this year. Alaina Ashenclaw, who Kain had helped previously to evolve her Glimmering Salamander Yara into the Cinderlight Salamander, had successfully awakened an affinity, formed a contract with Yara, and enrolled at Dark Moon College��where she just so happened to keep running into Kain.


    "Fancy seeing you here, I wasn''t expecting you! We keep running into each other by accident!" She said.


    Kain looked around at all of the buildings that were in the section of the university almost exclusively only frequented by professors and staff, since every building was pretty much used to house their personal labs and were not open to students.


    "Yes�� what a coincidence��"


    Serena''s gaze flicked toward Alaina briefly before returning to Kain, her expression unreadable.


    Alaina didn''t seem to notice his lukewarm response, her attention quickly shifting to Serena. Her smile grew sharper. "Oh, Serena. I didn''t see you there. I wasn''t expecting to see you here."


    ''


    Didn''t you just say, you weren''t expecting to see me either��? S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    '' Kain made the conscious choice to remain silent and not call out her poor lying ability.


    But Serena had no such reservations, "Likewise, it''s interesting how often you end up in unexpected places, Alaina. Particularly areas of the university where students are typically not allowed to enter."


    Alaina faltered for the briefest moment, but her confident smile quickly returned. "Well, I''m sure it''s not off-limits to students��"


    Alaina turned her attention back to Kain, her expression softening into something she likely thought was charming. "Kain, you still haven''t shown me your lab. It''s unfair that Serena gets to see it and not me."


    ''What''s our relationship that me not allowing you into my lab would be considered unfair?!''


    Serena''s expression didn''t shift, but there was an unmistakable sharpness in her gaze as she spoke. "Fair? The lab is restricted and under tight security. It''s not a playground for children with no relevant business to some and tour."


    Alaina''s smile tightened as she glanced at Serena''s chest, and then her own flat one, clearly reading too much into the ''child comment''. "I wasn''t talking to you!" She snapped.


    Kain stepped in before the tension could escalate. "Serena''s right. The lab isn''t open to just anyone��it''s not personal, Alaina. It''s about keeping things secure."


    "But she gets to enter," Alaina pressed, her tone sharper now. "Why her and not me?


    Serena tilted her head slightly, her gaze steady. "Because Kain trusts me to help him with his research, and that''s not something you can force."


    Alaina bristled, but before she could respond, Kain spoke again, his tone firm. "I don''t have time for this, Alaina. If you''ll excuse us, we will be on our way."


    The dismissal was clear, but Alaina didn''t move immediately. She looked between Kain and Serena, her jaw tightening. Finally, she huffed a sharp breath and stepped aside, her heels clicking loudly against the pavement as she stalked away.


    Kain let out a low exhale once she was out of earshot. "She''s persistent, I''ll give her that."


    "She''s something," Serena replied dryly.


    Kain shook his head and gestured toward the lab. "Come on. Gabriel''s probably already sulking about us being late."

 Chapter 312 The First Native Spiritual Creature

    In addition to Gabriel''s fondness for Serena, there was another reason that Kain allowed her to be so involved��the connections that she had through her family, and the wealth of information and resources she had access to because of it.With his business now booming, and the income provided through his patent and work as an evolutionary planner, Kain had quite a lot of money��but there were many things that one couldn''t buy just because they had the funds.


    However, with the help of Serena, Kain was able to obtain quite a number of rare and expensive spiritual materials that he felt would be useful in more quickly promoting the "planet" in his star space, the golden dragon, and the tree of life.


    Thanks to emptying out over 90% of his personal funds, the environment of the planet looked very different from the previous time he had entered.


    Leaving, Serena to care for Gabriel, Kain''s consciousness returned to his personal planet, that he''d now decided to call Pangaea, as a nod it resembling Earth when it only had the one supercontinent.


    The changes to Pangaea were apparent compared to when Aurem, they name he had decided for the golden dragon, had first hatched.


    The barren, rocky world he had first encountered was almost unrecognizable. Blades of grass now blanketed the once lifeless landscape, their vibrant green hue stretching as far as the eye could see. Interspersed among the grasses were clusters of trees, most not much taller than Kain, but he could already anticipate the towering heights they''d grow to in time.


    In addition to the grass, there were also now delicate flowers in a spectrum of colours that added life to the environment, though all the plants were ordinary, lacking any trace of spiritual power.


    Near the basin where Kain had planted the Tree of Life, the transformation was even more pronounced. The sapling he had left behind had grown taller, its trunk now as thick as his waist and green leaves had golden veins that glowed faintly.


    Around it, the soil was rich and dark, supporting an even greater variety of vegetation��including several varieties of fruits that Kain had never seen before, but had to admit tasted delicious.


    Originally, he was ecstatic at the prospect of practically having a limitless supply of food for himself. Or, more epically, an army of spiritual creatures born on this planet that he could summon with a thought. But after several experiments, he confirmed that while he could bring objects onto the Pangaea, nothing born on this planet, whether it''s the dragon, or even a single berry, could leave this space.


    Moreover, it appears that the dragon egg and seed of the tree of life were rare exceptions to whatever rules governed this place, since the average living creature, plant, or seed, could not enter��greatly hampering many of the plans Kain had for the space.


    This also further complicated his plan of potentially having Gabriel form a contract with a spiritual creature eventually born on Pangaea since he had no method of Gabriel and a creature born in Pangaea being able to establish contact.


    However, although the planet was devoid of any advanced forms of life aside from Aurem, Kain had full confidence that spiritual creatures and spiritual plants would eventually be born here. And although he won''t be able to bring any of them out, he was sure that the rich resources of an entire planet will prove useful to him in some manner in the future��


    Curled around the base of the juvenile tree of life, was the golden dragon Aurem, lounging lazily.


    The once tiny and fragile creature now dwarfed Kain.


    Kain frowned slightly as he observed the dragon. Contrary to the myth of Huanglong, Aurem seemed entirely uninterested in creating new life or influencing the planet''s development. It appeared content to merely exist, radiating the spiritual energy that nurtured the environment but doing little else.


    "Guess the legends were just that��legends," Kain muttered to himself, crossing his arms as he surveyed the landscape. "Looks like I''ll have to provide a catalyst myself if I want to see the first spiritual creature born sooner."


    A long time ago, Kain had managed to obtain the Bloom of Ascension, a flower that Kain had never heard existed outside of the System. The function of the flower was that, when consumed in its entirety, it can cause ordinary animals to become the lowest quality black-iron quality spiritual creature.


    Finally, after a long period of waiting, another one of these had appeared in the newly refreshed System Shop.


    However, given that the flower needed to be consumed, he wasn''t sure how he could make the plants growing around the tree of life consume the flower, therefore he had been waiting until something resembling a sentient creature was born��and finally that time had come.


    Thankfully, Kain had absolute control over the planet, and was able to sense any and all changes that occurred on it. Therefore, not long after something other than a plant had been born, Kain had immediately sensed it��although he wasn''t yet sure on what it was. S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, drawing on that faint connection, one substantially weaker than the one he had to Aurem and the tree of life but stronger than to the various ordinary plants around him, a creature shimmered into existence in front of Kain��a jellyfish.


    The comb jellyfish was only about the length of Kain''s finger, hovered delicately in the air, its translucent body refracting light into a mesmerizing spectrum of colors. It pulsed rhythmically, its tentacles rippling like tiny rainbows as it struggled to orient itself in this strange environment. Despite its simple structure, the jellyfish''s shimmering appearance lent it an otherworldly beauty, as though it had been crafted from liquid starlight.


    Although it was a relatively simple organism, unable to express itself, Kain could faintly sense its anxiety at being pulled from its native habitat to appear somewhere strange next to two large and powerful creatures.


    Aurem watched Kain''s actions lazily through half-lowered lids, its eyes following his movements. Seeing that a small creature, sentient life other than itself, appeared in the palm of Kain''s hand, the dragon stirred from its coiled position at the base of the Tree of Life.


    Kain felt a strange tension in the jellyfish, and it even seemed to be shivering slightly as Aurem''s presence loomed over it.


    Yet, after a moment, the dragon snorted softly, a wisp of golden mist escaping its nostrils, before resting its head back on its forepaws. It appeared uninterested, perhaps deeming the jellyfish too insignificant to warrant its attention.


    Kain used his other hand to pet and sooth the jellyfish. "Don''t worry," he murmured. "I''m not going to hurt you." Thankfully, due to their connection, it seemed to vaguely understand that Kain was not a threat, and the slight shaking in his palm stopped.


    From his inventory, he retrieved the crushed body of the bloom of ascension. Since he was unable to bring in living plants to the planet, Kain had had to crush the plant and ensure that it was no longer alive, before he could bring its body in to be consumed. Thankfully, although it being fresh was the best, it wasn''t a requirement for the flower to work.


    The jellyfish''s tentacles gripped the body of the flower and drew it towards an opening at the bottom of its body.


    Knowing that the process would take some time, once he saw that the flower was wholly consumed, Kain willed the jellyfish back to its native habitat.


    After a quick glance around, with a faint smirk on his lips at the planet finally taking shape. Kain''s consciousness left the star space.

 Chapter 313 New Black Mission

    Surprisingly, both Kain and Serena were exempted from the first field assessment of the year��and it wasn''t because the school had found out about Gabriel.Rather, it was because, upon going over the debriefing reports provided to the college about their rescue of Cherry and the other children from the laboratory, some undisclosed high-up individual took notice of their abilities��specifically, Bea''s ability to control the mind, and extract information directly from memories.


    For Serena, they took notice of Balens'' ability to deal with any and all manner of situations using the equivalent exchange skill.


    And so, for the second time, Kain was assigned a Black Mission, but this time Serena would be his partner.


    However, neither Kain nor Serena raised any objection or expressed any disagreement with taking the mission, even after knowing that it may take them away from their classes and Gabriel for an unknown amount of time.


    This was because, based on the vague information provided to them before they formally accepted the mission, they were able to confirm that it was actually to take down another hidden laboratory in a different city��more specifically, they suspected it to be the laboratory of researchers from the city neighbouring Brightstar that had fled previously.


    Meaning that Kain and Serena may get the opportunity to rescue the kids who had been taken away by them, and it will also give Kain an opportunity to obtain more research notes��and maybe something new will be in them that will help Gabriel.


    After accepting the mission, they were both called to a secure, soundproofed briefing room to be informed on more details about the case��of course, they couldn''t actually remove any of the files to risk information leaks.


    The debriefing room was cold, sterile, and lit by a harsh white light that reflected off the polished metal surfaces.


    Kain sat at one end of the table, fingers steepled as he scanned the papers inside of the mission folder. Beside him, Serena flipped through her own file.


    Once they had both finished memorizing the information, they did as instructed and set fire to the leaks as a security measure.


    "Fallingstar City��" Kain murmured, his voice low but steady. "It makes sense. The remnants of the lab from Morningstar City had to go somewhere, and it was the nearest viable option after Brightstar, which just had one of their laboratories destroyed."


    The new lead in their mission wasn''t just the remnants of the lab, though. Roman Silverhart''s name was prominently displayed in their brief, along with a detailed profile.


    Roman Silverhart


    Age: 23


    Status: Eldest grandson of the Silverhart family


    Affinity: None (Failed to awaken)


    Current Position: Former heir, disinherited


    Thinking back to the profile he''d memorized, Kain summarized "Like Heather, he''s a legacy that was unable to awaken and affinity. So, he''s desperate to regain his position as heir."


    Serena nodded, "But despite being ambitious, he isn''t very smart, otherwise the college wouldn''t so easily be able to flag him as a person of interest."


    Kain couldn''t help agreeing, "The Silverhart''s are filthy rich. And the Silverhart family is probably among the wealthiest legacy families with a 7-star beast-tamer. Even with his status stripped as an heir, he shouldn''t need to resort to these lengths for money. His remaining inheritance alone could sustain him luxuriously for decades."


    Kain thought back to the papers outlining the former heir''s various illegal activities to raise funds rivalling Kain''s beer business.


    It''s one thing if, using his family''s connections and money, he set up his own business to preoccupy his time like Kain did.


    But drugs? Facilitating sex work?


    He should have no reason to do that��unless he desperately needed a ton of money quickly.


    But why would that be?


    He''s burned through a significant amount of money recently. His expenditures are erratic, bordering on reckless, and much of it is untraceable.


    That''s the first red flag that the investigators affiliated with the college noticed, and also the first area they want them to dig into. S��ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Classic signs of funding something off the books," Kain remarked, his voice dry. "And that''s where we come in. Find out if Roman''s tied to the lab and, if so, bring it down."


    Their mission targets were clear: enter the Southern Region, investigate Roman Silverhart''s connections, locate the remnants of the lab, and dismantle the operation.


    The files also noted the inclusion of a third participant in this operation, a student from Starfire College, but their identity hadn''t yet been disclosed, they would meet at a discrete location once they arrived at Fallingstar City.


    Kain and Serena, quickly finalized their arrangement to leave.


    However, the time required for the Black Mission would far exceed the days they had initially planned to be away for the field assessment.


    "I''ve confirmed with Bridge," Kain said as he closed the storage container. "Once his assessment''s done, he''ll check in on Gabriel regularly. I don''t trust leaving him entirely alone, even with the Vespid watching."


    After confirming with Bridge that he''d watch out for Gabriel once he''s finished his own field assessment, leaving a Vespid guard infected with Bea''s split to keep tabs on Gabriel, and enough food to last him for over a month, Serena and Kain left Dark Moon college and teleported to Fallingstar City.


    When they teleported into Fallingstar City, Kain stumbled slightly, catching himself before he could lose his balance. He straightened, brushing off imaginary dust and shaking his head with a faint smirk.


    "Finally getting used to this," he muttered. "I didn''t even feel like throwing up this time."


    "Congratulations," Serena replied dryly, already moving to the edge of the temporary teleportation circle, without any signs of discomfort.


    She didn''t wait for Kain, expecting him to follow, and he did, falling in step beside her as they navigated the sparsely populated city streets.


    Fallingstar City was a larger city that Brightstar City, but still didn''t have a permanent teleportation center like the first-tier Starfire City. Therefore, it seems as though a temporary teleportation circle was set up in a relatively unpopulated area of the city, in a back alley away from prying eyes.


    And not far from their target destination��an isolated house on the city''s outskirts that would serve as their base of operations for this mission. And also where their new teammate will be waiting for them.

 Chapter 314 New Mission Details

    The house was unremarkable, with weathered walls and a modest garden overgrown with ivy. The faint creak of wood greeted them as Serena pushed open the front door. Inside, the furniture was sparse but functional��two furnished bedrooms, a couch in the living room, a small dining table, and a kitchenette.Standing in the dimly lit living room was a girl about their age. She turned at their entrance, her dark eyes assessing them cautiously.


    Sitting in the dimly lit room, she practically fused with the shadows. Her pale complexion, jet-black hair, and all-black attire only added to the slightly gloomy air around her.


    Her hair was cut into a short, uneven bob, with strands framing her face in a way that looked both deliberate and careless. She was slender, almost willowy, her posture slightly hunched as she sat on a stool, as if to make herself less noticeable.


    "Hello. I assume you are the students from Dark Moon? I am Lina Crestfall," she said, her voice soft but steady. Although her lack of prolonged eye contact seemed to hint that she was feeling uneasy in their presence.


    Kain nodded, stepping forward. "I am Kain," he said pointing to himself and then Serena, "This is Serena. You are Starfire College''s choice for this operation, I presume?"


    "Correct." Lina''s eyes flicked between the two of them before lingering on Serena''s face for a moment longer.


    Serena spoke next, her tone cool. "You''ve been briefed on the mission?"


    "Only the basics," Lina replied, crossing her arms loosely. "Roman Silverhart, the lab remnants, and the Southern Region''s underground networks. I was told to follow your lead once you arrived."


    Kain raised an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with Serena. That was a relief. Neither Kain nor Serena were keen on taking orders from someone they''d never worked with before, especially since they had a decent understanding of one another''s abilities but knew nothing about hers.


    The three sat around the small dining table, the faint hum of the ceiling fan the only sound breaking the silence. Kain leaned back in his chair, studying Lina with casual curiosity.


    "I can understand why Serena and I were chosen for this mission," Kain began, tapping his fingers against the table. "We''ve taken down one of these labs before, and our contracts have unique abilities that are tailored for missions like this. But why were you chosen?"


    Lina blinked, surprised at the question. "I wondered the same thing," she admitted. "I''m not even in the top five of my year, so you wouldn''t have seen me at the National Tournament��I saw you both compete on TV though so I don''t need any convincing on why you were chosen," she said while lowering her head with an embarrassed blush. "And my ability�� it''s not combat-focused at all, so I don''t know how much help I''ll be. Even all of my contracts are more focused on healing and support than direct combat"


    Kain couldn''t help scrunching his eyebrows in confusion. Did they just assign them a partner as dead weight?


    "Why then, did they say you were chosen?" Serena asked, her voice neutral but direct.


    Lina hesitated for a moment before reaching for her glass of lemonade. "It''s easier to show you," she said.


    Explore more at empire


    She lifted the glass and concentrated, her eyes narrowing slightly. After a few moments, Kain and Serena watched as the dissolved sugar in the lemonade began to crystallize, forming tiny white granules that sank to the bottom of the glass. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I can separate components," Lina explained as she set the glass down. "Anything unnaturally mixed or combined, I can break it apart. But it takes time, and it''s�� pretty useless in a fight."


    Kain tilted his head thoughtfully, his gaze fixed on the sugar crystals. "That''s an unusual ability."


    "Unusual, but still doesn''t make clear why you are critical to be included in this mission," Serena added, her tone measured.


    "Exactly," Lina said with a self-deprecating shrug. "I was as surprised as anyone to be assigned to a Black Mission. They just told me I''d be ''useful for dealing with the Bees?'' Or Bee-people? It wasn''t clear."


    Kain''s brow furrowed as he exchanged a look with Serena. "Bees��" he murmured, before realization struck. "Do you mean the B-series? The B-series of experiments?"


    Lina''s eyes widened slightly. "That sounds familiar. Yes, I think that''s what they said."


    The room grew heavy with an unspoken tension. Kain''s jaw tightened, and Serena''s usually composed expression darkened.


    "What?" Lina asked, her voice tinged with unease. "Why do you both look so upset? Sorry that I''m not super helpful or anything, but��"


    "It''s not you," Serena interrupted, her voice unusually sharp. She softened it slightly as she continued. "We''re not upset about you being our partner. But by the fact that the lab we will be taking down is part of the B-series of experiments..."


    Kain nodded grimly. "It''s one of the cruelest experimental series for the subjects. They focus on extreme physical and mental modifications by adding animal and mechanical parts to the subject��most of the time, the procedures cause irreversible damage. The casualty rate is also the highest among all of their experiments."


    Serena folded her arms, her gaze distant. "If the lab we''re after specializes in the B-series, our chances of rescuing all the children taken from Morningstar City�� they''re much lower than we hoped. It''s been over a month now since they were taken��we''d be lucky if even one or two of them are still alive."


    Lina''s face fell as the weight of their words sank in. "I had no idea��" she murmured. Her voice wavered slightly. "That''s horrible."


    Kain leaned forward, his tone firm but not unkind. "We''ve seen firsthand what these labs are capable of. The fact that you''re here means someone likely believes that you can help them. If they''re working on B-series experiments, then being able to separate components��whatever that means when it comes to people��might be more useful than you think."


    Serena nodded, her expression softening slightly. "We''ll find out soon enough. For now, get some rest. We start tomorrow."


    Lina hesitated, her lips pressing into a thin line before she nodded. "Alright."


    Serena took the other bedroom, while Kain as the only male was relegated to the couch. However, regardless of the sleeping arrangements, it was difficult for any of them to get a decent night''s rest.

 Chapter 315 Red Magnolia

    It wasn''t difficult for Kain and the to locate their target Roman Silverhart. He apparently spent all of his time at a local club.The club is situated at the edge of Fallingstar City''s thriving entertainment district, the entrance is hidden behind a dark archway illuminated by flickering red lights and a simple red light-up sign with a red flower its name��the Red Magnolia.


    The exterior was unassuming, but the muffled bass of music and the faint scent of something floral teased that there was more than met the eye.


    Kain, Serena, and Lina stepped through a pair of heavy velvet curtains, finding themselves bathed in dim red lighting. The atmosphere was suffocating yet hypnotic, the air thick with a faint, sweet haze that seemed to cling to their skin.


    The source of the haze became apparent almost immediately: a towering flower dominating the center of the club that was the club''s signature feature and the source of its name. Explore more adventures at empire


    Its petals glistened as if coated in dew, the deep red was only slightly more vivid and bright than blood. Periodically, it pulsed, releasing another wave of the crimson mist that swirled lazily around the room, sinking into the lungs of everyone breathing.


    The moment he stepped in, Kain was immediately able to feel something trying to eat away at his sanity and manipulate him mentally, therefore he swiftly directed Bea to infect not only himself, but Serena and Lina with a split.


    Almost immediately, the flower was no longer able to affect them, and they were able to calmly take in the scene of depravity around them.


    The music was an intoxicating blend of bass-heavy beats and sensual melodies, resonating so deeply that it felt like an extension of the flower''s spell. The patrons moved with languid, sensual movements, many of them without even key private body parts covered.


    Everyone''s faces including Kain and the others were obscured by masks either obtained from the front desk or brought on their own. The masks ranged from elegant to grotesque, but the aesthetics of the mask didn''t matter, they only served to obscure identities. The guarantee of their anonymity encouraged acts they wouldn''t dare do in the daylight.


    Kain''s gaze swept the room, not sure how to feel that among the numerous unidentified liquids and substances, his bottles of spiritual beer were the most common beverages being served.


    ''Tsk tsk��looks like I''m going to have to deal with one of my most loyal customers��''


    In this club, Kain''s spiritual beer was practically used as water, as people used it between breaks of harder liquors. Some that Kain recognized, he knew were only slightly better than directly ingesting poison.


    Tables were lined with exotic fruits and bottles of hard glowing spiritual liquors catered to patrons who lounged carelessly on plush cushions or draped themselves over one another.


    A businessman in a crisp suit reclined with a glass of neon-blue liquid, his tie undone and a woman on each arm.


    Across the way, a celebrity whose face was unmistakable despite the mask, leaned over to whisper something to a local politician, her hand resting far too familiarly on his thigh.


    In the shadows near the back, one particularly round man, his wealth evident in the heavy gold chains and rings he wore, sauntered toward a series of darkened doorways, flanked by four young and beautiful women who giggled and clung to him. The door he opened offered a fleeting glimpse of a room bathed in scarlet light, with only a single large bed and various interesting "devices" hung up on the wall that Kain had only seen in some 18+ movies back on earth.


    There were over a dozen of doors in that area, and Kain suspected that all of them had a similar setup and were currently home to various��" group bonding activities."


    As they ventured further in, the oppressive influence of the red haze became more apparent. Patrons seemed less like individuals and more like animals acting on primal instincts.


    A couple openly embraced on a corner couch, their actions far beyond the bounds of public decency. Nearby, two men argued, their voices growing louder before one of them smashed a glass against the table, shattering it. No one intervened��most didn''t even notice. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This place is��" Lina hesitated, her normally pale face tinged slightly red, whether from embarrassment or the haze itself, Kain couldn''t tell. She stayed close to them, her eyes darting nervously.


    "Disgusting," Serena finished for her, her tone clipped. Her hand rested on her weapon, fingers twitching as though she was considering drawing it if anyone got too close to her.


    "But profitable��both financially and socially," Kain said. "Roman owns part of this place and out of all of his business, this is the only one that can somewhat see the light. This is due to it catering to the whims of high-profile patrons. For added insurance, I''m sure many of those backrooms also possess recording devices to film any of the less savoury acts performed by any of the visiting men in power, thus ensuring that none in power would dare shut it down. In case those images leak."


    They moved toward the bar, keeping their heads low as they scanned the room. The bartender, a tall man with sharp eyes, prepared drinks with practiced ease, his movements unhurried despite the chaos around him.


    To avoid standing out too much, they all ordered bottles of Kain''s spiritual beers��might as well support his own business.


    "Roman Silverhart is over there," Serena said quietly, her eyes following a man seated at a secluded booth near the far end of the room. His features were partially hidden by a mask, but his confident posture and the entourage surrounding him left no doubt.


    Kain nodded slightly, before they as a group tried to seem as though they were just so happening to wander in Roman''s direction.


    However, just when one of Bea''s threads, under the cover of the hazy lighting and inhibited senses of the patrons, was just about to make contact, she realized that there were various high-level pieces of enchanted equipment to prevent their approach.


    ''Looks like they learned from their mistakes with Heather, likely suspecting that her mind was read and/or controlled at some point. Or maybe they just valued Roman more to begin with��''


    Kain explained the situation to Serena and Lina via their connection with Bea''s split.


    They would need to find a way to infect him that would bypass the guards of the enchanted equipment. Thankfully, Kain just so happened to have experience with doing just that from his first black mission.


    ''We will need to get him to ingest one of Bea''s splits in a manner that doesn''t raise his guard��'' Kain transmitted this thought to the others.


    ''How do we do that?'' replied Lina mentally.


    Instead of answering, Kain just looked with some guilt and hesitation at the stunning figure who, even despite wearing a mask, stood out like she had her own personal spotlight in this dimly lit club.


    Sensing his gaze, Serena''s blue eyes filled with resistance, looked as though she was contemplating how to dispose of Kain''s body after murdering him��

 Chapter 316 Beauty Trap

    Serena''s icy gaze pinned Kain in place, her sharp blue eyes a clear warning: Do not even think about it.But Kain held his ground, the faintest flicker of guilt evident in his expression as he transmitted his plan mentally through Bea''s connection.


    ''It''s the surest way,'' he reasoned. ''If you just walk close enough to Roman''s table, there''s no way he won''t invite you over. You don''t need to do anything beyond getting close enough to drop Bea''s split into his drink. That''s it.''


    Serena crossed her arms, her posture rigid. ''You''re suggesting I lower myself to��''


    Kain coughed out loud to interrupt her rant that was just beginning and hopefully relieve the atmosphere a bit��not that it worked.


    ''I''m not asking you to ''lower yourself'' to anything,'' Kain explained, careful to keep his tone even in the charged atmosphere. ''Just... distract him long enough to get the job done. You''re strong enough to handle it. It''s not ideal, but we don''t have many other options. And the longer we take, the more likely that the kidnapped people will die.''


    That final statement seemed to finally chip away slightly at Serena''s intense resistance.


    Lina fidgeted uncomfortably, her expression torn. She glanced between the two before finally murmuring, ''Serena... I know it''s awful, but it''s the best shot we have. We need a distraction so that Roman won''t notice anything, and you are the best distraction. Even I found it hard ot focus when I first met you because of your face��''


    Serena''s lips pressed into a thin line, her jaw clenching in suppressed frustration. After a long moment, she exhaled sharply through her nose and straightened. ''Fine,'' she bit out, her tone clipped. ''But don''t think for a second that I won''t get you back for this, Kain.''


    Kain rubbed the goosebumps that suddenly rose at the back of his neck at the very real threat as Serena strode toward Roman''s table, each step measured and deliberate, her figure commanding attention even amidst the haze-filled chaos of the club.


    Heads turned as she passed, her natural elegance heightened by the low lighting and the mysterious allure of her mask. Kain''s confidence in her ability to seduce Roman was not misplaced; by the time she reached Roman''s section, the men at the table had already taken notice.


    Roman himself leaned back in his seat, a cocky smirk spreading beneath his elaborate black-and-gold mask.


    His entourage of high-profile second-generation rich young men and a smattering of women in slinky dresses watched as Serena approached, the men with intrigue and the women with undisguised envy.


    "Well, well," one of Roman''s companions chuckled, elbowing him. "Looks like Roman''s picked his flavor for the night a bit earlier than usual."


    Another man snorted, swirling the drink in his glass. "Can''t blame him. She''s leagues above the usual crowd."


    The comment drew soft laughter from the table, though the women accompanying Roman glared daggers at Serena, their jealousy palpable. One particularly bold woman in a red dress leaned close to Roman, draping herself over his arm as if to mark her territory. Roman, however, shrugged her off with a dismissive gesture, his focus solely on Serena.


    "Care to join us, darling?" Roman drawled, his voice laced with the kind of arrogance that made Serena''s skin crawl. He patted the seat beside him, his predatory grin widening. "Don''t be shy."


    Serena hesitated for the briefest moment, her body unconsciously stiffening as she approached. She lowered herself onto the plush seat beside him, her movements controlled, her spine as straight as a blade.


    Though her lips curved into a polite smile, her eyes betrayed her loathing, a fiery glare that could have set Roman ablaze if he had the sense to notice.


    But Roman, either too inebriated to notice or too arrogant to care, leaned closer. "What''s your name?" he asked, his voice low enough to force intimacy.


    "Lily," Serena replied smoothly, picking a random name off the top of her head��likely inspired by the giant flower at the heart of the club. "And you must be Roman Silverhart."


    Roman''s grin smugly widened at her recognition. "Ah, I see my reputation precedes me. Tell me, Lily, what you to my club?" He makes sure to emphasize his ownership stake in the business, hoping to impress her. Your journey continues with empire


    "Curiosity," Serena answered, deflecting with practiced ease. Her voice was cool but not cold, the perfect balance to maintain his interest without encouraging him. "I''ve heard stories about this place, and I wanted to see for myself."


    Roman chuckled, his hand sliding a little too close to her knee. "You''ve chosen the right guide, then. I''ll make sure you see everything worth seeing."


    Serena resisted the urge to recoil, her fingers tightening into a fist beneath the table. Roman''s companions continued their teasing, making crude jokes about her presence and Roman''s luck, while the women at the table looked as though they might claw Serena apart.


    "Tell me, Lily," Roman said, his gaze raking over her, "where are you from? I haven''t seen you around before, and I''m sure I''d notice a woman like you"


    "I travel often," Serena replied, sidestepping his question. "I don''t stay in one place for too long."


    "Interesting." Roman''s hand grazed hers under the pretense of reaching for his glass. Serena barely resisted the urge to pull away, her nails digging into her palm instead. "A free spirit, then. I like that. I also like to act��without any inhibitions." He said while placing one of his arms around her shoulder.


    Serena, lowered her head, but Kain could tell that she was mere seconds away from breaking the hand on her shoulder that was in danger of brushing a little too close to an unwanted area.


    Kain had Bea suppress her negative emotions briefly to prevent her acting out��otherwise all of the effort they''d already made would be wasted.


    As the conversation continued, Roman''s questions grew more invasive and Serena played along, her responses calculated and succinct. All the while, she bided her time, waiting for the moment she could complete her task. Finally, Roman grew distracted, turning to laugh at a joke one of his companions made and taking his eyes off of her for the first time in a while. His glass, still half-full, sat unattended on the table.


    With a practiced motion, Serena reached for her own drink and brushed her hand against Roman''s glass as she picked up her own. In that brief contact, one of Bea''s splits slipped from her palm and into the liquid, instantly infecting the liquid without a trace.


    Serena leaned back, feigning relaxation as the conversation resumed. Inside, her tension didn''t ease until Roman lifted his glass to his lips, taking a long sip without suspicion. S��ar?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Making eye contact with her as he drank, Serena gave him a genuine smile for the first time that night��likely encouraged by the attention, he made sure to quickly finish the glass.

 Chapter 137 Four-Stars

    With her mission accomplished, Serena found an excuse to leave��much to the dismay of Roman. He leaned back in his chair, a glint of frustration barely masked by his smirk as she rose gracefully from the table."Leaving already, Lily? The night''s still young," Roman called after her, probably in a tone that he considered charming, but was just irritating to Serena and clearly showed his possessiveness.


    Serena didn''t falter, her mask concealing any hint of discomfort as she turned slightly, offering a polite but curt smile. "I''ve seen enough for one night. Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Silverhart."


    When it seemed Roman might stoop so low as to gesture for one of the guards to block her path, Kain acted swiftly. Through the split now connected to Roman, he had Bea subtly control the man''s thoughts, redirecting his attention. Roman''s hand, which had been halfway to signalling at a guard, fell back to his lap, his gaze growing momentarily unfocused.


    "Suit yourself," Roman muttered after a beat, brushing off the moment with a slightly slurred voice, as if the various substances available in the club were finally getting to him.


    The ease with which Roman relented surprised even his entourage, who exchanged confused glances. Kain, watching from a distance, smirked faintly.


    Seeing how surprised his entourage was, Kain and the others could tell that he is not one to typically take no for an answer from women. Although surprised, the members of Roman''s group chose to not mention it to spare his pride.


    Once he and Lina had left the club and met up again with Serena, Kain turned his focus to the information transmitted by Bea.


    Now connected to Roman''s mind, Bea was sifting carefully through memories to uncover anything of value. Scenes flickered past like shards of glass��parties, meetings with other elite figures, clandestine exchanges of information... and then something more significant.


    The image of a polished laboratory flashed vividly. Roman had stood in the center of a high-tech room, his usual swagger replaced by an almost reserved attentiveness of a student before their professor as a scientist presented their findings to him.


    Apparently, unlike Heather, Roman was offered a "sponsor''s showcase" where the laboratory would present its most recent results to Roman. This was enough to confirm what Kain had already thought, for whatever reason this organization seemed to value Roman a lot more than they did Heather. She was a lower-level pawn that never got the opportunity to see anything related to the research.


    Kain dug deeper. The showcase was an event scheduled two weeks from now, an opportunity for Roman to witness firsthand the results of the research his generous funding had enabled. Therefore, as long as Kain and the others waited for this so-called showcase, they would be directly brought to the laboratory.


    When Kain resurfaced from Roman''s thoughts, Bea relayed the new intel to the group. "We have a solid lead," she said. "But the bad news is... we''re stuck waiting for two weeks. Roman has no way to naturally make direct contact with the lab until the showcase."


    The team groaned collectively. Two weeks of idle waiting while people could be experimented on and dying was frustrating.


    However, back at their base, Kain was determined not to waste the downtime. "I''m going to use this time to break through to four-stars," he declared, his determination clear.


    Lina perked up and nodded happily. After all, she wasn''t meant to be the main combat force of this mission, so the stronger her partners were, the better and safer it was for her.


    Seeing her agreement, Kain turned warily toward Serena. Her icy glare met his gaze, her crossed arms radiating silent fury. Clearly she had not let go of him using her as bait��


    He cleared his throat, opting for diplomacy. "Serena... I''d appreciate it if you refrained from any acts of vengeance while I''m breaking through."


    Her lips quirked into the faintest smirk before she rolled her eyes. "Relax, Kain. I know when it''s the appropriate time to settle personal matters. You''re safe... for now."


    Her response, though not entirely reassuring, was enough to allow Kain to focus.


    He went to the room previously used by Lina, since he would be too easily disturbed if he were to remain in the living room. Lina, likely intimidated by Serena presence, offered to take the couch instead of pushing her way into sharing the other bedroom with Serena.


    Closing his eyes, his consciousness sank into his star space, where the shining light of three stars in a row plus a fourth dimmer planet were silently suspended in a triangular formation, with the sole planet acting as the single point far from the base composed of three stars.


    During his previous breakthrough, the planet Kain believed to be related to his gift had formed. He wondered if this breakthrough will also bring any changes to it.


    Steeling his mind, Kain drew in a deep breath and began. The process was familiar but no less daunting, especially due to the much greater amount of spiritual power that surged through his body.


    The spiritual power, now a bright yellow only slightly tinged with orange, was far denser than what he had worked with during his third breakthrough. The strain was immediate, and Kain clenched his teeth as he guided the energy in his star space to a single location to begin the delicate task of condensing it.


    He focused on gathering the energy at an equidistant point from his existing stars, aiming to form a stable fourth. But just as before, resistance emerged.


    The same strange force originating from the planet that he''d encountered during his third breakthrough pulled spiritual power towards itself, complicating his efforts.


    This time, however, the resistance was more aggressive, likely due to it being fully formed and much greater in power, compared to when it was just being born.


    The spiritual energy he directed seemed to flow backward at times, dispersing chaotically and threatening to destabilize the entire process.


    Kain didn''t panic. He''d been here before. He just needed to stay focused. He adjusted his approach to the one reminiscent of what he''d adopted during the formation of his third star.


    Yet the resistance only grew stronger as spiritual power kept getting drawn to the planet. The once-silent orb began to emit a faint hum, its surface glowing softly as streaks of spiritual energy coiled around it like tendrils of light.


    ''What now?'' Kain grumbled already exhausted by this strenuous process that had already been going on for who knows how long. His frustration was mounting. But even as he considered ignoring the planet and focusing solely on the star, an instinctual voice in the back of his mind stopped him.


    The planet was reacting to the spiritual energy, just as it had during his third breakthrough. This time, though, the reaction felt more deliberate, as if the planet itself was alive and...hungry.


    Kain shifted his focus. Instead of resisting the pull of the planet, he allowed a small amount of spiritual energy to flow toward it. The reaction was immediate.


    The planet absorbed the energy greedily, and its surface grew brighter, the swirling colours of white, green, brown and blue on the planet grew more vivid. Moreover, the resistance within his star space lessened slightly, enough for him to regain control.


    Kain carefully allocated a portion of the spiritual energy to the planet while continuing to condense the core of his fourth star. The process was delicate, requiring him to balance the demands of the planet and the star simultaneously. Enjoy new chapters from empire S��ar?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, Kain was worried about the planet''s demands for spiritual power would impact the size and quality of his fourth star. Thankfully, after allowing for a momentary laps in concentration to send a portion of his consciousness to his equipment, he was able to activate the instant refill of his spiritual power.


    It looks like in the future, Kain would need to always have equipment capable of restoring his spiritual power nearby when attempting future breakthroughs due to the planet in his star space.


    Hours��or perhaps days��passed in this timeless expanse. Kain''s mind ached from the effort, his concentration was pushed to its limits. Yet as the fourth star began to take shape, the planet also underwent a transformation. It had almost doubled in size, and now somewhat dwarfed the stars meant to house his spiritual contracts.


    With one last surge of willpower, Kain compressed the spiritual energy into a stable form. The fourth star emitting a brilliant glow finally stabilized, its bright yellow light pulsed rhythmically. The strain in the space vanished, replaced by a harmonious balance as the fourth star settled into place.


    Exhausted, Kain turned his attention to the planet. The planet''s massive size seemed to inadvertently have another effect on the space.


    The smaller stars housing Bea, Eve, Aegis, and soon his fourth contract, orbited the planet in a synchronized dance, the various colours emanating off of them casting an aurora-like effect on the surface of the planet.


    Moreover, he could feel a deeper connection to the planet than ever before. It pulsed faintly, almost as if acknowledging his presence��as if it had some slight consciousness.


    For now, though, Kain was far too drained to delve further into its mysteries. His mind left the star space, returning to the physical world. As his eyes fluttered open, he felt the ache of his body from not moving for days. His surroundings were quiet, save for the muffled sounds of his companions in the living room.


    He reached for a ration from his space ring and ate mechanically, before promptly falling asleep in an exhausted heap.

 Chapter 318 Massive Changes

    Once Kain slept for��according to his phone nearly 20 straight hours, he immediately sent his consciousness back into his star space, wanting to investigate the changes.The familiar sensation of weightlessness enveloped him as his awareness slipped into the star space.


    Immediately, Kain was struck by the huge changes before him, which he hadn''t been able to fully process immediately after his breakthrough due to how exhausted he was.


    The planet at the center of the star space was colossal now, far larger than it had been before. Its surface radiated a natural brilliance of jewel tones greens, blues, and yellows that seemed almost unreal. It was as though every corner of the planet pulsed with life.


    Surrounding the planet, the four stars orbited it in sync. Their light spilled across the surface, casting an aurora-like glow that danced along the clouds, seas, and vast landscapes. It was beautiful. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain focused on the planet itself, descending his consciousness toward the surface. What he saw made him pause in awe.


    It was no longer a barren sparsely populated place��it was a paradise untouched by the scars of human civilization.


    Enchanted forests stretched endlessly, their sky-high canopies shimmering under the lights of the stars above. Rivers, so clear they seemed like liquid crystal, snaked gently through emerald-toned valleys.


    But what truly caught Kain''s attention was the sheer abundance of life. For the first time, he could sense the presence of spiritual creatures aside from Aurem.


    Most of them were aquatic, concentrated in the vast oceans that made up the majority of the planet''s surface.


    The most plentiful spiritual creatures in the ocean were jellyfish, their translucent bodies glowing faintly with the hues of the spiritual power that suffused them.


    Kain couldn''t help but think back to the jellyfish he had fed the Bloom of Ascension. Likely these were its descendants.


    These jellyfish descendants displayed incredible diversity. Some were massive, their bell-shaped bodies spanning several meters, while others had developed long, trailing tendrils that glimmered and shone like cords strung with Christmas lights.


    Although varied, all of them were still at Black-iron quality and had not managed to surpass white-grade spiritual power.


    In fact, Kain could sense that, despite being latecomers, there were some spiritual creatures and plants in the water that surpassed the jellyfish in quality and level.


    There were other aquatic spiritual creatures, too��sleek fish with scales that shimmered like rainbows, serpentine eels coiling gracefully among coral formations, and even enormous, turtle-like creatures with shells that gleamed like polished onyx.


    Kain''s gaze shifted to the land, where a smaller number of spiritual creatures lived��by far, the majority of land creatures were still ordinary.


    He observed agile, fox-like animals with golden fur that shimmered faintly and antelope-like creatures with spiralled horns that pulsed with faint energy.


    Birds with luminescent feathers soared in the skies, their calls resonating with a soft, almost musical tone.


    What truly shocked Kain, however, was the number of spiritual plants on land. Scattered across the surface, but most dense around the tree of life, they grew in extraordinary abundance, outnumbering the spiritual creatures on land and in the sea several times over.


    Continue reading at empire


    From glowing ferns to trees with fruits that radiated gentle light, the spiritual plants were all unique species that Kain had never seen before.


    As he observed the plants. He realized that he could instinctively sense their effects due to his control over all creatures on this planet.


    Most were designed to increase spiritual power, but some had unique properties��plants that exuded calming auras, fruits that sped up healing, and flowers that seemed to give a chance at obtaining a specific elemental attribute if eaten.


    None of these plants or creatures exceeded red-grade spiritual power, but their sheer presence was a remarkable shift from the planet''s previous desolate state.


    Kain was marvelling at the transformation to the planet when something drew his attention��a connection far greater than the others and only slightly inferior to his connections with Aurem and the Tree of Life.


    It came from a region close to where he had sensed Aurem, but he could confirm that it was not him.


    Kain willed himself toward the source of the pull. He instantly appeared surrounded by a dense forest near the base of a small mountain, not far from the Tree of Life.


    The pull became stronger as he approached, and when he broke through the last line of trees, the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.


    There was Aurem, still bearing its signature radiant, golden form. The dragon now exuded a more overwhelming presence than before, and this time it wasn''t alone.


    Standing nearby was a magnificent azure dragon, its scales shimmering like sapphire gemstones under sunlight.


    The dragon''s lithe, serpentine body moved with an almost regal grace as it carefully gathered various items��berries, roots, spiritual plants, and even the remains of recently hunted creatures��and presented them almost reverently to Aurem who was lounging under the shade of the tree of life lazily.


    "Finally this lazy dragon took the initiative to form life," Kain thought, as he compared the new blue dragon, the Azure dragon in the eastern myth. But it got harder to compare this servile blue dragon to the mighty Azure dragon in the myths the longer Kain watched.


    A dry smirk tugged at his lips, "Figures that you would only take the initiative to create life in order to just be more lazy��"


    Aurem''s creation clearly wasn''t motivated by a desire to populate the world. No, this dragon wasn''t a companion��it was a servant that Aurem had created to serve its needs.


    Kain''s attention shifted back to Aurem who had noticed Kain''s presence. Its golden aura pulsed faintly and its long tail wagged leisurely back and forth as it raised its chin as if to proudly say: Look at what I''ve done.


    Not wanting to discourage more creation, Kain only pat him on its massive head with a wry smirk while taking out some of the highest quality fruits he''d collected along the way.

 Chapter 319 Sponsor Showcase

    The two weeks leading up to Roman''s sponsor showcase passed quickly. S~ea??h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.Kain spent much of the time training, both alone and with his team, ensuring that they adjusted well to their new increase in strength.


    After his breakthrough, all of his spiritual contracts��Bea, Queen/Eve, and Aegis��also brokethrough to green-grade. Stay tuned to empire


    The location of Roman''s sponsor showcase was an unassuming building on the outskirts of the city, a stark contrast to the opulence he usually surrounded himself with.


    A dirty and shabby exterior, heavily guarded by security teams hidden in concealed locations. If one were to just chance upon the laboratory, they probably wouldn''t even notice that they were being watched by numerous guards.


    Kain couldn''t help but compare the security here to the one they previously destroyed. Either the research here was more valued, or they upped their security at all of their locations following the last laboratory.


    Roman, dressed in his usual sharp suit, exuded his characteristic arrogance as he arrived. Yet, his movements betrayed a flicker of excitement. Who cares how many people and children need to die during the course of research, as long as they can help him achieve great power.


    Roman was not allowed to bring anyone with him into the building, preventing Kain and the others from controlling him to say that they were members of his entourage so that they could enter through the front door with him.


    Once Roman entered the building, Kain continuously communicated information obtained from the split inside Roman, to Serena and Lina, building a detailed map of the lab and identifying potential points of interest.


    "Second floor, southeast wing��storage for research records," Kain noted mentally, Bea transmitting the details instantly. "Underground level, heavy guard presence. Likely where they''re keeping test subjects."


    As Roman reached a large conference room, he was greeted by the lead scientist��a gaunt, sharp-featured man with a cold demeanor.


    The room was filled with two other ordinary people��who Kain assumed were also likely sponsors or related to the research center in some way. They were all seated around a long table, each bearing an air of wealth and entitlement. Monitors lined the walls, displaying diagrams, data charts, and video feeds of the lab''s operations.


    "Mr. Silverhart," the scientist began with a thin smile, addressing Roman. "Welcome to the showcase. We''ve prepared a presentation tailored to your esteemed status as one of our most generous benefactors." Roman was led to sole chair at the end of the table, that the other two unknown men were flanking. The other two men showed clear dissatisfaction at being seated at a position inferior to Roman, but Roman seemed to revel in it.


    Roman grinned cockily, reclining in his chair. "Let''s see if your work is worth the investment."


    The showcase began with a sterile walkthrough of theis scientific achievements since the last showcase. It was all highly technical, meant to impress the wealthy sponsors with talk of "progress" and "revolutionizing humanity."


    But as the presentation progressed, the tone shifted.


    "Now, we''ll introduce you to the results of our latest human trials," the scientist announced. The casual nature of his words sent a chill through Kain. Roman, however, leaned forward, clearly intrigued.


    The lights dimmed, and a large monitor displayed a series of video clips. The footage was horrific.


    The first clip showed a group of test subjects strapped to tables, their bodies writhing as scientists injected them with glowing green liquid. The substance spread visibly through their veins, turning their skin a sickly hue. The subjects'' screams were muffled, but their pain was evident.


    "Subject B053," the scientist narrated. "A failure. The infusion destabilized cellular structures, resulting in a complete breakdown of biological integrity."


    The video showed the subject convulsing violently before their body seemed to disintegrate into a disgusting flesh-toned puddle of goo.


    "Subject B057," the scientist continued, the footage shifting. This time, the subject survived the process but had undergone grotesque transformations��elongated limbs, distorted facial features, and a constant, twitching motion.


    "These subjects possess enhanced physical abilities but limited cognitive function. They serve as excellent disposable assets for high-risk operations."


    Roman''s expression was one of cold fascination. "Impressive. But surely you''ve produced more... refined results?"


    The scientist nodded. "Indeed. Allow me to introduce Subject B71."


    The screen switched to a live feed from a containment cell. Inside was a figure that appeared almost human��tall, lean, and radiating an unnatural aura. Its eyes glowed faintly, and its movements were smooth and deliberate. But something was chilling about its expression, a soulless malice that sent a shiver down Kain''s spine.


    "This subject has achieved stable integration of the genetic materials from a unique species of spiritual creature developed in an affiliated lab, resulting in significant enhancements in strength, speed, and endurance. We''ve also maintained higher cognitive function, making it suitable for advanced operations."


    A large older man seated to Roman''s left clapped slowly, clearly impressed. "Now that is what I''m paying for."


    Kain transmitted this information to Serena and Lina in real time, "I think we''ll need to be mentally prepared," Kain said afterwards. "Not only may we not be able to rescue most of the kidnapped civilians, we may even have to fight and kill them if they''d been turned to mindless abominations used for combat."


    As the scientist continued the presentation, Kain''s attention was drawn to a side monitor displaying a live feed from the underground level. Rows of cells lined the walls, each containing a single, haggard individual.


    Kain''s fists clenched in anger. Clearly, it was more than just the children kidnapped from Morningstar City that were being kept here. Probably civilians from multiple nearby cities were kept in the cells at this location. This laboratory was definitely of a higher level than the one at Brightstar City.


    The showcase''s sterile horror was a jarring juxtaposition to the nonchalance with which the scientist continued. The presentation transitioned seamlessly into a live demonstration as armed guards escorted Subject B71 with thick metal cuffs encasing all of its limbs, onto a stage separated from the meeting room with a glass wall.


    A set of humanoid dummies rose from the floor of the stage area at the side of the room, equipped with defences and equipment meant to simulate the average 4-star beast tamer. Without hesitation, the moment its chains released B71 sprang into action.


    Its speed was breathtaking, crossing the space in a blur. One dummy was reduced to fragments with a single swipe of its elongated claws. Another, fortified with a metal frame, crumpled under the force of a powerful kick.


    Roman leaned forward in his seat, enthralled. "Impressive. What would its strength be comparable to?"


    "A green-grade spiritual creature, Mr. Silverhart," the scientist replied. "We''ve stabilized its energy output at this level for now, but we believe it has potential for further advancement."


    Roman''s lips curled into a smirk. Even if it took time for the research to reach a level where he could awaken an affinity himself, he should be able to solidify his status and get rid of any obstacles with these humanoid weapons. The other two sponsors also likely had similar thoughts.


    Applause from the satisfied sponsors rang throughout the room.

 Chapter 320 Sponsor Showcase (2)

    The presentation continued, moving on to more experimental and grotesque displays of humanity''s desperation to transcend its limits and unethically obtain power.A series of live feeds played across the monitors, showcasing abominations created in the lab''s pursuit of forcing humans to awaken an affinity or gift.


    The next video after the live demonstration showed a subject strapped to a table, their torso bare. Scientists in sterile white coats operated with methodical precision as they opened up his ribcage to expose the still beating heart.


    Next to the metal table that the subject was lying on, was a reptile with all four limbs also chained to a neighbouring table, on its back with its chest also cut open to expose its heart.


    "What you are seeing now is the procedure of subject B083. This subject has been grafted with the heart and bone marrow of a rare Holy Flame Gecko," the scientist explained, his tone clinical.


    "Historical accounts of this creature describe instances where those exposed to its blood developed rudimentary fire-based gifts. Early tests indicate limited success in transmitting this potential through heart and bone marrow transplantation. However, this subject''s synchronization remains unstable, and his body is deteriorating under the strain."


    Another screen switched to a figure whose legs had been replaced with what appeared to be the lower half of an Abyssal Panther. The creature was infamous for its ability to manipulate shadows and merge with its surroundings. Unlike the previous subject, this individual had retained some measure of physical capability, pacing the cell in visible agitation.


    "Subject B091," the scientist said. "Leg grafting from an Abyssal Panther. It has been reported in ancient texts that consumption of its raw flesh has led to the awakening of dark-attribute affinities in rare instances. No observable awakening of an affinity yet, though enhanced agility and reflexes have been noted. We''re still analyzing the subject''s exposure to spiritual energy radiating from the graft."


    The monitors cycled through increasingly grotesque attempts: a man with grotesque wing-like appendages fused to his back, an elderly subject whose body had been partially submerged in a solution derived from Spirit Jellyfish. One particularly interesting experiment had them using a combination of sigils and materials to form a portal to one of the few realms anchored to their planet (such as the infernal realm), in order to attempt to form a connection between the test subject and whatever was through the portal. Unfortunately, the attempt was a failure.


    Unlike the laboratory in Brightstar City, the subjects in this laboratory were far more numerous and variable in age.


    However, despite the variety of test subjects, the results were uniformly horrifying��grotesque hybrid transformations, mental degradation, or outright death.


    The rare success stories seemed as much the product of luck as science, with the recipients showing either incomplete or unstable increases in power, with no reported success stories of a stable means of awakening affinities or gifts.


    However, Kain forced himself to continue watching. Every video provided them with slightly more information. Every new room was to be added to the search agenda. Every time a new guard was caught in the frame of the video, Kain kept track of them to get a more accurate count of the total number likely present.


    Kain monitored these broadcasts with grim determination while passing on all of the information obtained to his allies. Big or small, all information was recounted in order to help them with refining their strategy. As always, Serena''s wish-making contract, Balens, was the keystone of their plans.


    "How about something to limit their power?" Lina suggested. "Like making anyone stronger than us unable to fight at full strength."


    "It''s a good option," Kain replied, "but I''m worried about the cost of a wish that strong. We also need intel. A wish to locate all test subjects would let us prioritize our objectives and reduce the likelihood of them taking off with or putting down any subjects they can''t escape with."


    Serena said thoughtfully. "We can split the cost if we limit the duration of the wishes. Say, 90 minutes for suppressing stronger enemies and 60 minutes to reveal the subjects'' locations. That''ll reduce the overall price to be paid but still give us a clear edge."


    Kain nodded in agreement, "Then we need to plan when we make the wishes precisely since there will be a time limit."


    "First, we need to figure out how we''ll safely infiltrate the facility," Kain began. "Which will be difficult based on the information collected so far."


    "Based on the security footage we''ve seen, the facility operates under extremely tight surveillance," Kain continued, gesturing to a crude map they had drawn from the data gathered so far, marking the approximate locations of the guards, their routes, and any other staff and subjects. "There are multiple layers of defence��patrolling guards, high-tech cameras, and most likely hidden spiritual wards that''ll alert them to intruders."


    "Not to mention," Serena added coolly, "that they''ve likely installed countermeasures against invaders, especially after what happened in Brightstar City. They are on higher guard than ever against another breach." S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "However," Kain smirked slightly, "Most of their countermeasures won''t matter if Bea can covertly take over some of their guards��we''d get all the information we needed on their security measures and be able to infiltrate more easily.


    "I think once it''s dark enough, Bea''s threads��which are already practically unnoticeable��would become invisible in the night. Not to mention, all of the guards at the front door so far have been 5-star beast tamers with the same level of spiritual power as the green-grade Bea. Therefore, they wouldn''t be able to sense the threads either, and she would be able to fully control them."


    Kain was thankful that unlike the sponsor Roman, the guards were each equipped with expensive pieces of enchanted equipment to repel mental-attribute attacks and infiltrations��likely they all lived at the facility and are not expected to frequent anywhere where they''d run into someone other than their co-workers. Stay updated with empire


    "However, I''m worried about any surveillance equipment they have capable of picking up spiritual power fluctuations."


    Serena was about to suggest that they could, unfortunately, make another wish when Line cautiously raised her hand. "I think I will be able to help with that��"

 Chapter 321 Rescue Operation Begins

    The operation began as soon as night completely fell. Of course, by this point all of the sponsors had already left. However, Kain, Serena, and Lina had already sent the information and names of each of them to their respective colleges��they would all be paid a visit before the sun rose again. sea??h th�� novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.One of Lina''s contracts had the ability to obscure spiritual power fluctuations, therefore Bea''s threads were even more difficult to detect in the darkness.


    Therefore, contact was successfully made with all 5 guards on lookout duty outside of the building.


    Once Bea was able to rifle through their memories, a more detailed plan was made. Now they had knowledge of all the security measures, alarms that could be tripped, and surveillance cameras within the video.


    Sketching a map of the building with all surveillance measures, alarms, and traps marked, Kain and the others noticed that in an obscure area of the wall, there was a brief blind spot��one that they chose to capitalize on.


    All 3 of them discreetly made their way to the spot, and then when the guards passed by the blind spot as though fulfilling their normal duties of making the rounds, Kain quickly controlled them to strip and hand their clothes to him.


    He redressed himself in their uniform, and then, making sure to keep his face slightly lowered, continued on surveilling the outside of the building as though he was the guard��using the memories obtained from Bea to act as naturally as possible.


    In less than 30 seconds, the figure of the "guard" reappeared back in front of the cameras, with the guards monitoring inside none the wiser.


    Over the course of 20 minutes, Serena and Lina did the same, although they were unhappy at the prospect of wearing the clothes of strange men, they did what was needed.


    They selected the shortest two guards from those on duty, but even still the physique of the guards wasn''t a great match for the 2 women. Therefore, they kept several layers of their own clothes on underneath to appear bulkier��this also helped to prevent their skin from touching the fabric of the uniforms.


    They all acted as naturally as possible, communicating with one another silently by using Bea as a relay center for their messages.


    Finally, at around 2 in the morning, there was a shift change after a brief break, and they rotated with the guards indoors to switch routes��seamlessly penetrating into the building.


    During the process of the changeover, noticing that there were no cameras in the staff lounge, Kain had Bea infect every single guard he came across, including those about to take over touring the outside of the building��ensuring that they wouldn''t report the corpses of the 3 guards whose bodies were hidden in the camera blind spot.


    Once Kain and the others were alone in the lounge, Kain leaned against the doorframe as they were about to leave "Lina, Serena, you''ve got the map and route assigned to the guard you''re imitating memorized?" Continue your adventure with empire


    Serena adjusted the ill-fitting guard uniform, her voice calm and measured despite her discomfort. "Every detail."


    Lina also nodded nervously, this was her first mission at such a high difficulty and danger level.


    "Great." Kain continued, "The guards that were just in the lounge won''t notice anything since they''ve been controlled, but inside, there are still higher-ranked personnel. A few are resistant to Bea. We will avoid them if possible and travel together until it''s time to perform more broad searches of specific areas. Let''s go." Kain doubted that Serena would need any help, especially with Balens, this statement was mostly to placate the nervous Lina.


    Thankfully, all of the staff responsible for monitoring the cameras were fairly low-level, and so Bea had easily managed to control most of them during the shift change. He made sure that the ones successfully controlled selected monitors responsible for monitoring the cameras on the routes of Kain, Serena, and Lina.


    They moved swiftly through the corridors, their stolen uniforms blending them in with the environment. Every time they passed another staff member, Bea also infected any they hadn''t yet had a chance to and subtly adjusted their movements or memories to keep suspicions at bay.


    The facility was a labyrinth of cold steel and glowing monitors. Rooms lined with cages held test subjects in various states of experimentation, their muffled cries and rasping breaths filtering through the metal doors.


    Lina flinched as they passed by the rooms. "We''ll come back for them," Serena reassured her, "Focus on staying unnoticed for now."


    Finally, they reached the reinforced door leading to the east wing basement where the majority of the researchers, high-level guards, and "complete" experiments were being kept. Two guards stood at attention, their spiritual power radiating faintly in the air��a clear sign of their higher level.


    "Hey! Who are you and why have you left your posts? Nobody else should be assigned to this location." One of the guards interrogated them.


    ''Now would be the time to make the wishes, Serena'' Kain transmitted silently to her through the connection with Bea.


    "Hey, you punks! I asked why you��"


    Suddenly the guard felt as though his body became twice as heavy in an instant and his words cut off in shock.


    They could both sense that something was wrong and moved their hands to trigger their own respective alarms.


    Kain and the others struck quickly. The wish for the reduced strength of any enemies they came across was only 90 minutes. Thankfully, the weakening effect wasn''t widespread throughout the facility and only came into effect when within attack range of an enemy. Otherwise, even if they did manage to take down these guards, alarms still would have been raised.


    Lina had one of her contracts, a large silk worm, create a small wave of shimmering threads that wrapped around the guards'' wrists, immobilizing them further. Her voice trembled slightly, but her resolve didn''t waver. "They''re pinned. Finish it quickly."


    Thankfully, after their strength was reduced, they were unable to break free. Moreover, the weakening effect of the wish was all-round, meaning that Bea was able to take control of them, despite being one level lower. However, it still presented a challenge and strained her connection to the other guards she was controlling. Therefore, unfortunately, Kain was unable to use these guards to attack or access other areas of the facility. They were both immediately killed after reading their memories without even being able to summon their contracts.


    Kneeling by the guards and rifling through their pockets, Kain pulled out a pair of encrypted communication devices and a ring with a faintly glowing inscription. Based on the memories of the guards, the door required 3 methods of authentication to open��a retinal scan, a handprint scan, and this ring that acted as a key.


    Once Kain shared this news with the others, Lina looked on with confusion as Kain approached the 2 guards with a dagger now in his hand, before the horrifying realization of what he was about to do dawned on her.


    "I think I''m going to throw up," She mumbled while covering her mouth. Her face now a sickly pale green.

 Chapter 322 Body Disposal

    Kain didn''t know if he should be disturbed or proud that he''d gotten so adept at butchering apart bodies for parts.The blade in his hand moved with practiced efficiency, slicing cleanly through flesh and bone as he removed the guard''s right hand and eye. His movements were deliberate and controlled, no hesitation slowing him as he completed this grim task.


    ''No different from obtaining spiritual materials from any other spiritual creature��'' Kain thought with a dark sense of humour.


    "Disgusting," Lina muttered, her voice strained as she turned away, pressing a hand to her mouth. She kept her distance, avoiding the metallic tang of blood in the air.


    Serena, remaining composed, stood nearby and on guard of any other guards happening upon this scene her gaze sharp and unwavering. "Just make sure you don''t damage the handprint,"


    "I''m not an amateur," Kain replied curtly, rising to his feet with the severed parts in hand.


    "Any ideas on how to dispose of the bodies?" Kain asked. None of his nor Serena''s contracts quite had that skill. Now more than ever, Kain wished that he had a space-attribute spiritual creature like the captain''s taotie.


    And they couldn''t exactly risk the attention destroying the bodies with fire would bring, it was easiest to stash them away somewhere. And unfortunately, due to their inexperience, all 3 of them had packed their space rings to the brim with all manner of supplies in case of an emergency. Therefore, there was no room for 2 large bodies unless they were willing to leave some of their materials in the hallway��which would defeat the purpose of covering their tracks.


    Moreover, Kain had already told the others about his full space ring so he couldn''t even stash the bodies in the System Laboratory, while pretending to put them in the ring.


    Swallowing down the vomit that was about to rise up her throat, Lina shook her head "I have a contract that can swallow up a large volume, but it''s an herbivore."


    "Unfortunately, that doesn''t help us Lina since these men are clearly not plants��wait will it eat mushrooms?"


    Kain suddenly remembered the incubator in the System Laboratory where he''d stored all manner of microorganisms when entering a relic previously. One of the microorganisms he stored happened to be a fungus that would rapidly decompose flesh within seconds to quickly grow mushroom shoots.


    Lina nodded hesitantly, "It''s not his preferred meal, but he''ll eat it��" Find more to read on empire


    Receiving the confirmation, Kain immediately knelt next to the bodies and sprinkled a handful of the mushroom spores that were stored in the incubator onto the body, making it seem as though he was taking it out of his space ring to not raise any questions in the others.


    Immediately upon the release of the spores, the air grew damp and earthy, carrying a faint, fungal scent as the first signs of activity began to stir.


    From beneath the corpses, thin tendrils��mycelium��sprouted. They were pale white and delicate, quickly threading through the flesh like invasive roots. Within seconds, the threads thickened and multiplied, overtaking skin and muscle with alarming speed. Patches of the guards'' uniforms tore as clusters of mushrooms burst forth��small at first, then swelling into vibrant caps of red, brown, and ghostly white.


    The bodies shuddered as decomposition accelerated unnaturally. Skin shrivelled, collapsing into a papery layer that flaked away; muscle fibres dissolved into a viscous, blackened mush; even bones softened and cracked as the mycelium wrapped tightly around them, feeding voraciously.


    Lina turned away, horrified, the nauseating sound of soft squelching and crunching filling the air. "You want my precious Silky to eat THAT?" she whispered, her voice shaky. Kain didn''t even bother answering the obvious question.


    Within less than a minute, the guards'' bodies were completely gone, reduced to a sprawling carpet of plump mushrooms. Kain would actually be tempted to pick some to eat if he was in the wild and didn''t know what they grew on.


    Kain rose to his feet, brushing dust from his hands, "Call out your ''precious Silky'' and let him know it''s dinner time."


    Lina nodded reluctantly and immediately summoned a fat white silkworm and conveyed her intentions to it. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thankfully, unlike its owner, the worm didn''t have any resistance to the free meal and put away all of the mushrooms in less than 30 seconds. What remained was a sterile tiled floor without even a speck of blood remaining. ''That''s a heck of a way to clean up a crime scene��'' Kain thought, making sure to keep this method in his back pocket.


    With the matter of the dead bodies dealt with, Kain turned to the thick metal door blocking their path.


    He placed the stolen key ring on the ring finger of the decapitated hand and stepped toward the biometric scanners embedded in the door''s frame.


    He read in the guards'' memories that the security system checks for more than just physical matches. It looks for warmth, circulation, and even traces of living energy��likely to guard against situations like this. But this was nothing to Kain.


    Summoning Queen, after transmitting his thoughts to her, she immediately radiated a soft, green glow that enveloped the hand and eye, and within moments, the hand and eye warmed slightly, their pallor replaced by a faint vitality.


    At least temporarily, the hand and eye should read as being attached to a living person. But the effect won''t last long.


    Kain positioned the severed eye against the retinal scanner, after a tense pause, a beep rang out. Kain then pressed the warm guard''s hand wearing the key ring against the scanner, and a soft beep signaled success.


    The reinforced door hissed and slid open with a mechanical whir, revealing a shadowy staircase leading deeper into the facility.


    "Let''s move," Kain ordered, glancing back at the others. "No time to waste."


    They descended quickly but made sure to keep their footsteps as silent as possible, Kain summoned some of the Vespid guards to fly in front and behind them to guard against any sudden attacks.


    The staircase led them into a sprawling, dimly lit corridor with caged rooms lining both ends of the sterile hallway. However, all of the rooms they had passed so far appeared empty.


    The way forward was led by the Vespids, however just as they passed one of the seemingly empty barred rooms, a razor-sharp claw reached through the bars and tore into Lina''s side.

 Chapter 323 Mercy Kill

    Kain rushed to Lina''s side, cursing under his breath as blood seeped between her trembling fingers. The wound was deep, the rough and jagged edges making any possible stitching of the wound even more difficult��thankfully that was unnecessary for him."Stay still!" Kain ordered, his voice firm as he directed Queen to begin healing Lina.


    Lina gritted her teeth, tears of pain welling in her eyes, but she nodded wordlessly. After all, the last thing they''d need after getting this far would be too be exposed by her screaming out loud.


    A pale green light surrounded the wound, and Kain could see its edges begin to fuse together at a rate visible to the eye.


    Serena, had already summoned all of her contracts and had a sword in each hand, while staring guardedly at the figure inside of the cage-like cell.


    Inside the cell, a hulking hybrid loomed that was almost a solid black that seemed to fuse with the shadows��explaining why its presence wasn''t sensed until it got too close.


    Its body was grotesquely muscular, with patches of black scaly, reptilian skin stretched taut over bulging muscle.


    Its clawed hands gripped the bars, and its feral eyes glowed faintly in the very limited light that reached the cell from the hallway.


    This was definitely a product of the B Series, Kain confirmed upon seeing the fusion of human and spiritual creature.


    Its face retained a vaguely human shape, but the distortion of its features made it clear that whatever it once was, humanity had been stripped from it.


    The hybrid let out a guttural snarl, its claws scraping against the steel bars. It was imprisoned, for now, but the force it exerted made the reinforced metal groan ominously.


    "It''s quite powerful," Kain murmured in contemplation. He could understand why Roman and the others would be so excited upon the proposal of receiving a small personal army of them.


    Kain himself contemplated controlling it to fight for him, especially since its reduced intelligence meant it had a lower mental strength than the average green-grade spiritual creature and controlled by Bea with greater ease. After all, they were created to be easy to manipulate and control by their masters.


    However, despite its monstrous form, its gaze held a fleeting quality that gave Kain pause��something sad, pleading, even as it bared its teeth.


    Kain hesitated in enacting the plan that crossed his mind. He knew that hybrids like this were created by forcibly fusing unwilling civilians with spiritual creatures. This wasn''t just a monster; it was a victim.


    ''On the flip side, wouldn''t the victim inside appreciate the opportunity to take down the owners of this lab itself?'' Kain tried to justify to himself.


    But as the hybrid met his eyes, Kain''s resolve faltered. Was that truly sadness, or was he imagining it? His mind flashed to the captives described in earlier reports��their lives destroyed, turned into tools for others'' gain. Would using this creature be any different than what the lab had done to it?


    His jaw tightened. No. This wasn''t right. Assuming that he knew what it wanted to simply continue using it as a weapon for himself, would make him no different from the researchers in this lab.


    It''s better to put it out of its misery. S��arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Decision made and without consulting his allies he issued a command mentally to the Vespid guards. A few lined up outside of the cell, and proceeded to launch their stingers at the hybrid.


    The creature thrashed violently, its claws raking the air and its tail slamming into the cell walls. But as the energy-draining effect of the lodged stingers took effect, its movements slowed.


    It dropped to its knees, chest heaving, its feral snarls fading into weak, rasping breaths. The glowing eyes softened as it sagged forward, its enormous frame trembling under its weight.


    Kain met its gaze one final time. The rage was gone, replaced by something quieter, almost peaceful. In the fading light of its eyes, he thought he saw a glimmer of thankfulness, faint but unmistakable. He knew that he had made the correct decision.


    "Let''s move," Serena urged, her voice cutting through the stillness.


    Kain nodded, turning his attention back to Lina. "You okay?" During the time it took to kill the hybrid, she appeared to have been pretty much healed. There was a ton of blood on her uniform now, but she was no longer actively bleeding.


    Lina nodded hesitantly, and Kain saw that, after a round of healing and being fed royal jelly, she didn''t even have a scar remaining.


    The trio pressed onward, and the sterile corridors gave way to a new section of the facility��dimly lit and lined with unmarked doors on either side. The faint sound of muffled breathing and the occasional shuffle of footsteps made it clear that they had entered the residential quarters for the facility''s top personnel.


    They crept along the hall, their footsteps light to not make any noise. Occasionally, the soft snore of a sleeper behind a closed door reassured them that the occupants were still unaware of their presence.


    But not everyone was asleep.


    Two doors opened as they passed, each revealing a figure stepping out. The first��a wiry man rubbing his eyes, clearly just awakened��never had a chance to process what was happening.


    Kain surged forward, his blade piercing the researcher''s chest in a swift, calculated motion while Kain''s other hand covered the researcher''s mouth. The man fell silently to the ground, his blood pooling on the pristine tiles.


    The second figure��a woman clutching a steaming mug��managed a half-formed scream before Serena''s blade arced through the air, silencing her. The two bodies were swiftly dragged back into their respective rooms, out of sight. Kain and Serena exchanged a glance but said nothing.


    They pressed onward, reaching the end of the corridor without further incident. But just as Kain reached for the handle of the next door, a faint click echoed above them.


    His blood ran cold.


    "Freeze," Serena hissed, her eyes darting to the ceiling. A small, nearly imperceptible sensor blinked to life��a red light flashing ominously.


    "A pressure-sensitive panel," Kain realized aloud, his voice bitter. "Even the guards we killed didn''t know about it. Dammit!"


    Before they could react, a shrill alarm blared through the corridor, its deafening wail splitting the silence. Enjoy new stories from empire

 Chapter 324 Outnumbered

    The loud alarm blared relentlessly through the corridors, an earsplitting ringing that would make sure that everyone in or around the building would hear it.The once empty hallway within the sleeping quarters erupted into chaos. Doors burst open, and over a dozen heavily armed guards stormed into the corridor, their expressions ranging from groggy confusion to razor-sharp focus.


    The first wave of spiritual creatures appeared almost instantly. Most of the guards were 5-stars, but due to their higher ranks than those guards without the privilege to enter this level, they mostly all had at least one blue-grade spiritual creatures, one level higher than their masters'' five-star level of strength, not to mention that there were two six-star guards among them


    They were completely outnumbered.


    Their only saving grace was the wish made by Balens was still active, ensuring that the blue-grade spiritual creatures were not much stronger than their own contracts, while the green-grade spiritual creatures were not much of a threat.


    Kain barely had time to process the overwhelming force before the first wave of attacks came.


    Serena dove into the fray with her twin blades, slicing through a water-element beast that lunged at her. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lina, now mostly recovered from her previous injury, summoned a light-attribute butterfly, the same species that Leonara contracted, which formed protective barriers around each of them. Along with the walls of stone formed by Aegis, and a shimmering shield of starlight formed by Serena''s Starweaver, they were able to buy precious seconds as Kain began the process of leveling the playing field.


    They were outnumbered, badly. Even with their wish weakening their opponents, the sheer volume of enemies and the presence of the six-star guards tipped the scales against them.


    Thankfully, he had Bea.


    Bea''s spiritual link pulsed, and Kain could feel the ripple of control she exerted on the guards stationed in the less confidential areas of the facility. Moments later, the sound of heavy boots and growls of spiritual creatures approached.


    The controlled guards and their beasts flooded the room, seemingly rushing to assist their supposed allies. But as they entered the battle, Bea issued a silent command to attack their "allies" from behind.


    Chaos erupted.


    The controlled guards turned on the unsuspecting high-ranking personnel, catching them off guard. The room descended into pandemonium as friends became foes, and confusion spread like wildfire.


    Spiritual creatures turned on individuals who were previously friendly with them, and the air was filled with screams of betrayal and the visceral sounds of combat.


    One of the six-star guards roared in frustration, rallying the remaining uninfected guards. "They''ve likely controlled them! Focus on the intruders!"


    The distraction bought Kain, Serena, and Lina some breathing room, but it wasn''t enough to turn the tide entirely.


    Therefore, while many of the guards and their contracts were distracted by the betrayal of their former allies, Bea''s barely visible mental threads darted out, seeking targets among the remaining weaker 4 and 5-star guards and any green-grade and lower contracts. Even one more turned guard will greatly ease their pressure.


    Then, amid the chaos, one of the researchers bolted toward a console at the far end of the room. Stay updated with empire


    Kain''s heart sank. His instincts were telling him to stop him.


    "Stop him!" he shouted, but Serena and Lina were both too preoccupied to act.


    Kain could only send one of the Vespid guards after him, and it did manage to send its stinger straight into the spine of the running researcher, but not before he hit a button.


    The researcher used the last of his life force to slam his hand onto a control panel as he felt his energy and blood being drained from his body.


    A series of metallic clanks echoed from the walls. A dozen concealed openings in the ceiling were revealed. They must lead to the cages in the levels above, releasing a variety of hybrids. Who immediately attacked those around them.


    Kain braced himself for an assault, but the hybrids ignored him entirely, their savage eyes locking onto Serena and Lina instead as well as many of the controlled guards.


    He realized the reason in an instant: the key ring that he currently had in his pocket. The hybrids had been trained��or conditioned��to identify some aura emanating from the ring as a marker of authority.


    Serena''s eyes darted to him, her face grim as she deflected a hybrid''s claws. She seemed to have made the same conclusion.


    Fortunately, Serena and Lina weren''t their only targets. Unfortunately for the controlled guards, many of them lacked the ring to access this floor and became instant targets.


    As the hybrids tore through their ranks, Kain took advantage of the confusion to strike at the six-star guards.


    He and Serena''s contracts attacked together.


    One of the blue-grade contracts of the opponents, easily one of the most powerful on the field, was a hulking lava-coated bear.


    Currently, Serena''s Starweaver was using a huge amount of its energy to suspend it in the air like a fish on a hook. Meanwhile, her Elemental Guardian, now in its water-attribute serpentine form was bombarding it alongside many of the Vespid guards.


    Its hide was thick, so most stingers did not penetrate deeply; however, the ones that did were constantly draining its energy, and the strung-up bear was helpless to remove them.


    Bea''s threads, meanwhile, snaked toward the one green-grade contract of the same 6-star beast-tamer wrapping around his mind. Bea made a conscious decision to not try to control any of the Blue-grade contracts��even if Kain boosted her abilities with the spiritual skill, it would still take a massive amount of her energy and concentration. While wrestling for control of a 6-star beast-tamer or a blue-grade contract, she may end up losing control of the individuals she already has working for her.


    Indeed, the green-grade contract bound to a 6-star beast-tamer was different. There was a wave of energy coming through its contract, preventing them from controlling it easily. The resistance was formidable, but Kain activated the spiritual skill and Bea pushed harder.


    With a guttural scream, the spiritual creature, a green-grade fire-attribute serpent succumbed, and turned on its former ally, unleashing a torrent of flames that seared the corridor at the blue-grade spiritual creatures it shared the same master with.


    It didn''t do much harm to them, but it was the most formidable distraction. After all, they couldn''t kill it since the broken contract would cause severe backlash to their shared beast-tamer.


    Kain had used just one of the beast-tamer''s contracts to limit the movements of his remaining 5 contracts. And not only did Kain not feel bad about ''playing dirty,'' seeing the twisted expression on his opponent''s face, he revelled in it.


    ''It really is true that victory favours the cunning, not the noble��''

 Chapter 325 Carnage

    The sound of chaos filled the air��cries of pain, the clash of claws against barriers, and the guttural roars of hybrids tearing through anything in their path��including some guards that had come as reinforcements that Kain hadn''t controlled.And as the battle worn on, the exhaustion of their group began to show.


    Controlling the minds of so many spiritual creatures and their tamers, including some that were just a hairsbreadth away from blue-grade and stronger than her, was taxing enough, but in this frenzied environment, the pressure mounted. Bea was nearing her limit. And Kain had already used his second instant refill of spiritual power.


    Thankfully, there was no immediate danger to their safety. Aegis slammed its massive stone fists into the ground, summoning a wall that erupted between them and an incoming horde of hybrids. The monstrous humanoids clawed at the barrier, their sharp talons leaving deep gouges in the stone, but they didn''t get through.


    Serena''s Starweaver unleashed a storm of arrows, each bolt piercing a hybrid or blue-grade spiritual creature at vulnerable areas with pinpoint precision. However, while the mobility of many of them was affected, it still didn''t drastically reduce the threats they had to deal with, especially since hybrids were occasionally still falling through the openings in the ceiling.


    However, at least slowed down, the Vespid guards were able to lodge stingers into them that continuously drained their energy.


    Lina, as the weakest stayed further back behind them, her contract worked frantically to keep as many of Kain''s Vespids alive as possible.


    Her light-attribute butterfly hovered behind the line of Vespids, its glowing wings casting a protective armour that absorbed attacks around each of them. A fireball exploded against one Vespid, sending ripples of golden light around its abdominal region, but it held firm.


    Her silk worm spat adhesive threads at a pack of hybrids rushing toward Serena. The threads hardened on contact, tangling their legs and pinning them to the ground.


    But it was her dark-attribute contract the Shadow Veil Moth that made the greatest difference. With a flutter of its black wings, the moth emitted a dark mist that swallowed the battlefield, plunging it into a disorienting darkness. The guards and their creatures faltered, striking out blindly at shadows.


    However, Bea was able to still sense much of her surroundings using her now even more obscured threads and transmit the locations of certain targets to her splits. Therefore, the darkness hardly affected them.


    Thankfully, the wish from Balens was still in effect, or the sense-dampening effect of her contracts would be nearly so useful. Even now, the blue-grade spiritual creatures were not as affected as the green-grade contracts and were still able to locate and target enemies in the mist.


    Indeed, even with the thick mist a pair of black wolves, both blue-grade, were still able to locate Kain and the others.


    They impressively managed to jump over the wall created by Aegis and lunged at them. Aegis braced itself, intercepting the attack with its stone arms. The impact sent cracks spidering through his surface, but their trusty shield Aegis held firm.


    Bea''s threads darted toward one of the wolves, but the beast resisted fiercely, snapping and thrashing. Kain cursed under his breath. Controlling a blue-grade creature was nearly impossible without sacrificing the control of the weaker ones already under Bea''s influence.


    Thankfully, Serena''s Elemental Guardian had seen their predicament and doubled back.


    Her Elemental Guardian shifted again, this time into its fire-attribute form. One wolf howled in pain as the intense flames engulfed its fur, forcing it to retreat.


    But the other massive wolf leapt over its fallen ally and the surrounding flames, its jaws snapping at Kain. Aegis intercepted once again, tackling the beast mid-air. The two tumbled across the ground, locked in a brutal struggle.


    Taking advantage of Aegis'' advantage in size, it pinned the wolf down, just long enough for both Kain and Serena to move forward and stab the wolf''s vital areas. S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Not before long, a loud scream rang out as one of the 6-star beast-tamers sensed the loss of his contract. And it was precisely during that moment of vulnerability that Bea struck.


    A thin thread of mental energy waiting nearby, concealed by the mist, sprung forward the moment the beast-tamer screamed in pain. Its mental defences were much easier to penetrate during this period.


    Now, for the first time, Bea was controlling a 6-star beast-tamer. Kain, still a newly advanced 4-star beast-tamer was actually controlling someone 2 ranks higher than himself.


    There was a reason the mental-attribute was so greatly feared by all. Whereas physical and mental defences could be easily established, mental ones are not so easily strengthened naturally or by using equipment. Not to mention any sudden emotional or mental turmoil, such as the loss of a contract, can greatly lower these mental defences and allow an individual weaker than themselves access.


    The controlled six-star beast-tamer froze for a split second, then turned on his allies. His remaining contracts hesitated briefly, however as blue-grade spiritual creatures, they weren''t foolish. They didn''t immediately start attacking their allies and they were aware that their master seemed to be under some kind of terrible mental influence.


    ''I guess they need a little push��'' Kain directed Bea to have the beast-tamer enter the fray directly to attack his allies. And said allies were then forced to attack back in confusion.


    Now, even if his contracts knew that this wasn''t the normal actions of their master, they also couldn''t allow him to be maimed or killed by the other guards who were defending themselves. Although they did their best not to kill the other guards, they were practically out of commission as they all tried to frantically restrict the movements of their contractor and prevent him from attacking others.


    Kain and the others were immediately able to breathe easier on the battlefield as all of the 6-star beast-tamer''s contract withdrew to guard him.


    With their new reprieve, they took the opportunity to kill the majority of the opposing 4 and 5-star guards not yet under their control, as well as their contracts. For the remaining two 6-star guards, they sent the dozens of controlled guards to encircle and attack them. Despite the difference in level, with the debuff provided by Balens to the 6-star guards, which no longer affected the controlled guards as allies, they would eventually be able to kill them.


    After all, even an army of ants could bite an elephant to death.


    Therefore, Kain and the others focused mostly on cleaning up the numerous hybrids, which had fortunately stopped entering but were still over a dozen in number and ruthlessly attacking the controlled guards.


    The hybrids, feral and seemingly inexhaustible, were still the most immediate threat.


    Kain''s Vespid guards swarmed them, their stingers piercing tough hides and sapping the creatures'' strength.


    Lina''s light-attribute butterfly bolstered the Vespids, its radiant wings forming shields that absorbed heavy blows from the hybrids'' claws. Even so, the tide of battle remained precarious due to their presence alone, with the hybrids tearing through several of the controlled guards and leaving their corpses scattered across the battlefield.


    Kain had Bea attempt to control them, but appears as though, after all their mental strength shouldn''t be very high.


    However, it appears as though, in order to ensure that they did not attack the researchers and obeyed commands, something had been implanted into the brains of these ''completed'' humanoid weapons. And so controlling them wasn''t much easier than attempting to control a 6-star beast-tamer.


    Since Bea was ineffective, they moved on to Plan B


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    Serena''s Starweaver sent an avalanche of starlight arrows, many of which punctured vital points. Her Elemental Guardian, back in its wind form, whipped through the battlefield like a sentient storm. The vortex it created not only immobilized several hybrids but also hurled them into walls and each other with bone-shattering force. Two hybrids collided mid-air, their forms crumpling lifelessly to the ground.


    By now, both of the 6-star beast-tamers had also fallen, despite their resistance, they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers, so the controlled guards also joined the fray against the hybrids.


    Bea directed the controlled guards to deliver coordinated strikes. In a synchronized onslaught, swords, claws, and stingers descended on the hybrids, leaving no survivors.


    As the opponent crumpled to the ground, a tense silence settled over the room. The mist from Lina''s Shadow Veil Moth began to dissipate, revealing the carnage left behind. Bodies of hybrids and guards alike littered the floor, their blood pooling in the cracks of the stone.


    "Is it over?" Lina asked, her voice trembling as she surveyed the aftermath.


    Kain looked around instead of answering her. Something was unsettling him.


    There were dozens upon dozens of corpses��human, animal, in between��but aside from the two that Kain had discreetly killed when they first entered, all of the dead humans were in guard uniforms.


    Most of the researchers were still at large.

 Chapter 326 The Summoning Circle

    Their mission was far from complete as long as those researchers weren''t dealt with.Kain and the others looked for them together, while the remaining guards controlled by Bea were used to expand the search. Under Bea''s influence, the controlled guards spread out across the facility, methodically searching each room for any of the remaining researchers.


    Of course, when a kidnapped civilian was located Kain made a mental note of their location and vowed to come back for them once it was safe.


    Finally, good news came from one such controlled guard who transmitted the location of a hidden room.


    Although they couldn''t see into the room, the spiritual contract of this particular guard, which appeared as a ghost-like figure, was apparently extremely sensitive to auras of life��and it happened to sense 5 such auras within this hidden room. Which also happened to be the number of total missing researchers that should still be alive.


    The three headed toward the transmitted location, while Bea also controlled the guards still searching around the building to also head toward this room.


    Upon arrival, they burst into room locked room by forcefully barreling it down��the massive Aegis playing the main role in destroying the door.


    Inside, the room was as chaotic as the scene of carnage they''d just left.


    One researcher, a wiry man with frantic movements, was collecting notes and materials, stuffing them haphazardly space rings��interestingly he had one for each finger.


    Another, a stout woman with a grim expression, was methodically destroying equipment and even the living test subjects they couldn''t take with them, shattering glass containers and slitting the throats of tied up kidnapped victims, whose now pale and lifeless faces were frozen into expressions of shock and despair.


    The remaining three researchers were crouched in a circle, their hands glowing with spiritual energy as they worked on activating an array carved into the floor. The sigils glowed with an ominous red light, pulsing like a heartbeat.


    Not knowing what they had planned, but knowing they should stop it, Kain and Serena both ordered their contracts to attack them.


    Unfortunately, before the attacks could be released, the array flared to life. The room trembled, and an ear-splitting roar tore through the air. The glow from the array became blinding, and a massive, grotesque figure emerged from the light.


    The creature was a nightmare brought to life��a hulking abomination of mismatched parts. Its body was a patchwork of spiritual creatures fused together, their forms barely recognizable beneath the hideous fusion of them all. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Multiple heads, each resembling a beast mid-scream, jutted from its torso, while its many limbs were a ranged from humanoid, to clawed, to taloned.


    The creature''s roar reverberated through the room, a chilling blend of anguish and fury. The air around it distorted, and an oppressive aura descended, forcing even Kain and Serena to momentarily falter.


    The researchers looked on in twisted satisfaction.


    Kain gritted his teeth, as the numerous pairs of eyes turned in their direction. "You''ve got to be kidding me."


    The creature lunged.


    Aegis moved to intercept, slamming its stone fists into the abomination. The impact sent shockwaves through the room, but the creature barely staggered.


    It retaliated with a swipe of its massive claw, leaving deep gouges in Aegis''s surface.


    Its immense strength was a shock to Kain and the others, there was still a little less than 10 minutes left in the active time of the debuff, and yet it was proving far stronger than any of the blue-grade spiritual creatures they''d previously faced, although it was technically weakened.


    This thing was probably the closest Kain had ever come to an indigo-grade spiritual creature.


    Serena''s Starweaver loosed a barrage of arrows, each one aimed with precision. The bolts struck the creature''s exposed joints, but the abomination seemed almost impervious, shrugging off the attacks like they were insect bites.


    Lina''s Shadow Veil moth unleashed thick dark mist. The researchers cried out in alarm as their vision was obscured and they were unable to continue their activities, but the summoned creature was undeterred. It moved with uncanny accuracy, its many heads swivelling to track its prey as if its vision was completely unaffected.


    When its numerous cold eyes locked precisely onto him, a shiver went down Kain''s spine. Thankfully, by this point the controlled guards had arrived, and he immediately had them stream into the room to target the researchers and serve as meat shields.


    With creature''s focus no longer on him, Kain felt as though he could breathe again, and immediately ordered his contracts to focus on killing every researcher present. As long as the people responsible for the horrible research that went on here weren''t alive, then it''d be a horrible blow to the organization. They''d lose much of the knowledge accumulated here, as well as the brains capable of performing future experiments.


    However, the chaos of the laboratory made them challenging to target, since whatever they summoned also seemed to be protecting them, tearing through the controlled guards with brutal efficiency. Each swipe of its mismatched limbs sent bodies flying, the sound of snapping bones and tearing flesh reverberating through the room.


    The wiry man with the rings cursed under his breath as a Vespid guard lunged toward him, its stinger aimed for his throat. He ducked just in time, activating a defensive artifact on one of his wrists. A translucent barrier flared to life around him, deflecting the attack.


    "You want these notes?!" he screamed, holding up a bundle of parchment. "I''ll burn them all! Years of research��gone forever unless you let me leave!" Experience more on empire


    Kain wasn''t sure if the man had delusions of grandeur to think anybody would obviously want his research notes��very few people probably would. But it just so happened that Kain was one of them�� However, although he did want any and all notes here to better help Gabriel, that didn''t mean that he''d ever consider letting this guy go.


    "Try it," Kain growled, his voice cold. He directed Bea''s threads toward the man, and before he could react, a split darted past his mental defences, latching onto his mind. The man froze, his hand trembling as he clutched the papers.


    "Good choice," Kain muttered, forcing the man to drop the notes and having Bea rifle through his memories. Once he was sure that there was no. more information to obtain from his mind, he had Bea kill him quickly.


    Meanwhile, the stout woman who had been ruthlessly destroying test materials and subjects abandoned her work. Blood still dripped from the blade in her hand as she stepped forward, her face twisted in anger and desperation.


    "You think you can do this without repercussions?" she snarled, brandishing the knife. "Do you have any idea who we work for? If you kill us, you''ll be hunted down like dogs!"


    ''Wow��such a clich�� statement'' Kain thought, not the least bit intimidated. Although Lina beside him started to shake like a leaf.


    Serena''s Starweaver sent a single arrow composed of starlight whizzing past her face, embedding itself in the wall behind her. "Spare me the threats," Serena said icily. "You''re not leaving this room alive."


    The woman hesitated, then lunged at Serena in a last-ditch effort. Serena sidestepped with fluid grace, and her Elemental Guardian, now in its fire form, incinerated the woman before she could get close.


    The remaining three researchers abandoned their attempts at bravado, their faces pale with terror.

 Chapter 327 Retribution

    One of them, a tall man with a sharp face, dropped to his knees, raising his hands in surrender. "Wait! Please! We can make a deal!" he cried.Not that he truly meant it, he was merely hoping to buy time until the creature they summoned managed to kill the young man and woman in front of them.


    Kain''s eyes narrowed. "A deal?"


    "Yes!" the man said frantically. "You think killing us will stop this? You''re fools! This organization runs deeper than you can imagine. You''re just scratching the surface!


    "However, I can tell you everything��our contacts, our sponsors, even the location of other main research facilities. You''d never get that information otherwise. Just let me live!"


    Kain just looked at him with an eerie smile on his face, "Unfortunately for you, I don''t need you to live to obtain that information."


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    Before Kain even finished his statement, threads of mental energy darted through the air, silent and precise, latching onto the remaining researchers. Their eyes widened in unison, their bodies freezing as Bea infiltrated their minds.


    The tall man, who had just been pleading for his life, twitched violently. His sharp features contorted in panic as he realized that Kain had zero intention of negotiating with him. "No... no! Stop! You don''t know what you''re��" His voice cut off as Bea''s control solidified, silencing him mid-sentence.


    Kain''s eerie smile widened. "That''s the wonderful thing about Bea. You''ll tell me everything you know, whether you like it or not."


    Lina looked pale, her gaze flickering between Kain and the now-stiff researchers. She knew Bea was powerful, but seeing the sheer violation of people''s minds left her uneasy. Especially since she currently had one of Bea''s splits inside of her��


    Serena remained impassive, her gaze fixed on the controlled researchers. "Focus," she said coldly to Lina, while directing the Starweaver to continue attacking the summoned abomination that still rampaged in the background, held at bay only by the combined efforts of their contracts and the controlled guards. "Kain has the researchers covered, but we only have a few more minutes to deal with that thing."


    Kain nodded. His eyes flickered as Bea began extracting memories. The researchers'' thoughts and knowledge flowed into him in fragmented pieces��a tangled web of locations, names, and horrifying experiments.


    Unfortunately, although this man was the highest-ranked individual in this facility, he didn''t know nearly as much information as he''d alluded to.


    Apparently, as a security precaution, all of the laboratories affiliated with this organization function in secret, independently of one another.


    Therefore, he knew nothing about other labs, the organization''s future major actions, or really anything unrelated to this facility.


    Instead of information about who they worked for, what Kain mostly received through Bea were glimpsed flashes of their memories��gruesome experiments, desperate children, and the cold efficiency with which they''d justified their actions.


    Seeing that Lina seemed to be pitying them, Kain kindly shared the memories obtained with her and Serena through their mental connection with Bea.


    "They''re monsters," Lina whispered, her voice trembling.


    "They''re worse than monsters," Kain corrected, his tone icy. "They knew exactly what they were doing."


    Kain took a step closer to the researchers, his voice low and menacing. "You''ve outlived your usefulness."


    The tall man''s face twisted in terror as Bea forced him to his feet. Kain wanted to make sue this man was conscious and felt every moment of fear and pain as he died��it''s what he deserved.


    "No! You can''t��"


    Kain''s spear pierced his chest, purposely missing his heart by the width of a finger. He couldn''t let this man die quickly. The researcher screamed as his body crumpled to the ground.


    The others met similar fates, their final moments marked by panic and futility. The stout woman attempted to activate a hidden artifact, but Serena''s Starweaver ended her with a single arrow in her spine before she could succeed, rendering her immobile. Although they didn''t communicate it directly, it seemed as though neither of them wished to let them die quick and easy deaths.


    Kain stood over the stout woman, her body twitching as she tried and failed to move. Serena''s arrow had severed her spine with precision, leaving her alive but utterly paralyzed. Her eyes, wide with terror, darted around the room as if searching for salvation.


    Kain crouched down, meeting her gaze. His expression was unreadable, but his voice was low and venomous. "I hope that there is an afterlife, and you receive back the suffering you inflicted on those innocent people a hundred times over."


    He then stood and walked away, leaving her to die a slow and painful death. Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The abomination let out a guttural roar, pulling their attention back to it, breaking through the protective line of controlled guards. Its grotesque form barreled toward them, its heads snapping and its claws destroying everything in its path.


    Serena''s Elemental Guardian shifted into its earth form and as if perfect mirrors of one another, it and Aegis, slammed their massive fists into the ground at the exact same time. The resulting quake was far stronger than what they could achieve individually, sending it sprawling backward for a moment.


    Aegis and Serena''s Elemental Guardian surged forward again, their massive forms coordinating as if they shared one mind. Aegis''s stone fists slammed into the creature''s chest, staggering it, while the Elemental Guardian, shifted into bird made of flames, unleashed a torrent of searing fire.


    The abomination shrieked, its many heads snapping in all directions as it lashed out blindly, but it was still not critically injured.


    Kain''s Vespid guards darted in and out of the mist, their stingers striking at the creature''s exposed joints. The stingers seeped into its patchwork flesh and began absorbing its energy, slowing its movements.


    Lina''s light-attribute butterfly hovered over the group, its golden wings casting protective barriers around their contracts. When the abomination''s claws raked against Aegis, the barrier absorbed the brunt of the attack, leaving only shallow cracks in the stone.


    But even with their combined efforts, the creature refused to fall.


    "It''s not enough!" Serena shouted, her Starweaver launching arrow after arrow into the creature''s vulnerable points. Each bolt struck true, but the wounds seemed to close as quickly as they opened.


    Kain clenched his fists. "Then we hit it harder. Bea, focus everything on controlling the guards still alive. Force them to attack with everything they''ve got!"


    The controlled guards ran forward without regard for their own life or death, their spiritual creatures unleashing what each would consider to be their trump card. Fireballs, icy blasts, and piercing winds struck the abomination from all sides. The room trembled under the onslaught, but the creature held its ground, although now it at least looked visibly fatigued. But even then, it seemed to be recovering its energy at a rate greater than it was drained.


    Serena''s voice cut through the din. "The array! It''s still active! In addition to summoning it, it may also have support effects.


    Kain''s eyes darted to the glowing sigils on the floor. The red light pulsed faintly, possibly feeding a limitless supply of energy into the abomination.


    This time Kain and Serena directed Aegis and the Elemental Guardian to target the array on the floor, while applying every spiritual skill and boost they had available to them.


    Their efforts paid off, and a small crack appeared in the array��so small it felt as though their boosted attacks were weak; however, considering the precious metal the array was composed of, it was impressive that anything below indigo-grade could damage it at all.


    Moreover, that small crack was all they needed to make it stop working.


    The abomination faltered as the array''s glow dimmed, its movements growing sluggish


    Kain''s eyes narrowed, realizing that it was now or never. Based on the time they''ve been keeping track of, there was less than a minute left until Balens'' debuff on the enemy would wear off. "No holding back. Everyone, hit it with everything you''ve got!"


    Lina''s light t-attribute butterfly pulsed with golden light, strengthening the protective barriers and granting a faint healing aura that restored some of the surrounding contracts'' stamina.


    The controlled guards, though dwindling in number, launched a final, desperate assault.


    Aegis surged forward, slamming its stone fists into the ground once more. Jagged stone spikes erupted from beneath the abomination, piercing its legs and anchoring it in place. The creature thrashed violently, its many heads roaring in unison as it struggled to break free.


    Previously, Aegis'' and the other contracts'' many attempts at restraining it were ineffective. However, now it could be restrained by him alone. That array did indeed play a crucial role in its overpowered abilities.


    The Starweaver used a skill he''d never seen before, which caused the red flames of the Elemental Guardian to shift into a blinding white.


    The Elemental Guardian unleashed a devastating wave of fire, engulfing the abomination entirely. The creature''s screams pierced the air as its patchwork flesh began to disintegrate.


    Kain and Serena dashed forward, their respective weapons simultaneously hitting the core of its chest. The abomination let out one final, deafening roar. Its massive form convulsed violently before collapsing into a heap of smouldering remains.


    The room fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the three beast-tamers and the faint crackling of the fire as it spread from the monster to the nearby bodies of the researchers, guards, and various spiritual creatures.


    However, they still had a ton of work to do.

 Chapter 328 Survivors

    The room was heavy with the smell of charred flesh and smoke, the remains of the abomination sizzling on the floor in front of them.Kain wiped his spear clean on the clothing of one of the fallen researchers as he passed.


    Kain surveyed the room and then said to Serena, his gaze hinting at her. "Let''s start by securing any information we can. Lina��would you mind restoring the energy and healing some of the remaining guards and their contracts."


    Kain quickly came up with an excuse to keep Lina preoccupied while he and Serena collected the research notes.


    Unlike when rescuing Cherry, this was a formal mission. Therefore, Kain knew that they''d likely be required to turn over any of the research materials that they found to the college


    However, Kain and Serena had an ulterior motive for obtaining the research notes here��Gabriel. Therefore, they needed to be the ones to collect all of the notes and materials here, and if they delayed for enough time with turning them over, they should be able to make copies of most of them.


    Lina nodded, though her hands shook slightly from exhaustion. Her light-attribute butterfly hovered near her, its wings glowing faintly as it provided what little healing it could. "Thanks, I don''t think I could stomach reading through any of the notes here."


    The three of them separated to perform their respective tasks.


    They moved quickly, knowing that the longer they stayed in the building, the more likely it was that someone��possibly the organization''s remaining forces��might come here.


    Kain moved through the room to where the researchers were lying on the ground dead, examining the now-destroyed tables and counters. He kicked over shattered vials and splintered glass containers, most of which had either been smashed in the chaos or destroyed during their fight.


    Once he was next to the lead researcher, he removed all of the space rings on his hands. There were 5 rings and if each was filled, that would mean the amount of information obtained from here would be several times more than in the previous lab they took down.


    Serena moved to the far corner of the room, where a set of filing cabinets had been upturned to look for any information not yet collected. She quickly sifted through the scattered papers, her sharp eyes scanning for anything of importance. "There''s something here," she said, pulling out a folder filled with hastily scrawled notes and research logs. "But it doesn''t seem directly related to their research on modifications or strengthening humans and spiritual creatures."


    Kain stepped over to Serena, his interest piqued. "Anything specific?"


    Serena''s fingers traced the notes. "It''ll take time to determine�� pretty much the entire document is just filled with sigils. It looks like they were planning to dive further into research on sigils and even began carving them into some of their test subject" She grimaced at the images of various body parts with bloody designs carved into them, before throwing the folder into one of the space rings she''d taken from a guard��one of the few without any security measures and could be used by them immediately.


    Serena glanced over her shoulder, having moved back toward the door. "We''ll have to look into it later. Right now, we need to get out of here and rescue anyone still alive."


    Upon leaving the research area, their next stop was where, based on the memories stolen by Bea, the test subjects were held.


    Those in the process of becoming mindless hybrids and still retained some of their sense of self, were housed separately from the "complete" hybrids that were their perfect little soldiers.


    This was also why Kain had no reservation about killing the hybrids instead of having Lina try to treat them, mentally they were no longer human and he has no way of restoring someone''s mind��Bea specializes in destroying it.


    They moved through the sterile, cold halls, the silence broken only by their footsteps.


    Turning down a dimly lit hallway, they found a row of reinforced cells. Through bars separating them from the cell''s inhabitants, they could see crammed together human shapes curled up inside, some unmoving, others twitching slightly as if still in a state of shock.


    The air was thick with the stench of sweat and despair. Discover hidden stories at empire


    Lina''s face paled even more at the sight, but Kain kept his expression grim. "Check them," he ordered.


    Lina approached the nearest cell, pressing her hand against the metal bars. Inside, a young woman lay curled on the ground, her skin pale and splotched with bruises. Her eyes were wide open, but unfocused, as if lost in some nightmarish trance. Next to her lay 2 small children, weeping as they clutched one another. One of the young boys seemed to have bloody tears leaking through his closed eyes, while the boy he clutched on to was slightly bigger and strangely had 2 bat-like wings sprouting from his back.


    Kain''s gaze hardened as he took in the scene before him. He crouched next to the bars, studying the two boys huddled together. The wings were malformed and unnatural, the skin where they sprouted raw and inflamed, Kain couldn''t quite tell if they grew from the boy on their own due to some kind of genetic modification, or if they were sewn into him. Either way, it didn''t appear as though they were fully accepted by his body yet.


    Lina knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she reached through the bars to brush the older boy''s hair back. "They''re just kids..." she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. S��arch* The ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena stood back, her expression unreadable. "We don''t have time to dwell on this. If we''re going to save them, we need to move now. We can''t afford to linger here and risk reinforcements showing up."


    Then with a glance at Balens, all of the locks for the cells containing survivors opened with a soft click.


    Lina immediately stepped inside, kneeling next to the children. "It''s okay," she said softly, her voice soothing. "We''re here to help you."


    The older boy whimpered, his small frame shivering. "It... hurts," he whispered, his voice barely audible.


    Lina''s light-attribute butterfly moved closer, its wings casting a gentle glow over the boy. The healing energy radiated outward, calming his tremors and easing the pain etched into his face.


    However, to truly help him, and even return him back to normal, it will be a much longer and strenuous process.

 Chapter 329 Survivors (2)

    The group moved down the hallway, systematically opening each cell. Some were empty, others held people in varying states of experimentation. Most were too weak to move, their bodies damaged by the various horrors they suffered through.Thankfully, Kain had the Vespid guards to help transport the survivor and fortunately, or rather unfortunately, the number of survivors was not greater than the number of Vespids. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were 19 survivors in total, and unlike the laboratory in Brightstar City that only had children, this one held children and adults.


    Watching as the last survivor was carried outside of the building, Kain turned to Serena.


    "Time to make this house of horrors disappear." He said.


    Despite its massive size, the majority of the building was still made of ordinary construction materials.


    Therefore, the combination of both Kain and Serena''s contracts, specifically Aegis and the Elemental Guardian, was able to turn the majority of the building into rubble within moments, with all of the controlled guards still inside. For good measure, they even burned the remains of the building.


    Carrying the survivors using their contracts, they reached the house on the outskirts and contacted their respective schools. However, help from Starfire College won''t arrive until tomorrow, while Dark Moon College may take even longer.


    In the meantime, Lina finally demonstrated why she was included as the third member of this mission.


    Kain and Serena helped categorize the survivors according to the severity of their injuries.


    Of the 19 survivors, one girl who appeared to be in her early twenties hadn''t yet been operated on, according to her she was a waitress at one of the clubs owned by Roman before she was kidnapped. They had had her for less than 48 hours before Kain and the others arrived. Aside from some bruises that were easily treated, and the mental scars from the horrors she witnessed that Bea helped erase, she was fine.


    However, the situations of the other 18 survivors were much worse. Surprisingly, the next "healthiest" survivor was actually the boy that had bat-like wings grafted onto him. Since an important organ or body part of his hadn''t been cut off, his situation was relatively easy to deal with.


    Lina separated all of the tissue from the grafted-on wings from his own using her gift, while Kain provided royal jelly to quickly heal the remaining scars and Bea offered ''mental treatment.''


    There were 4 other survivors with alterations that were almost as easy to fix��one with gills transplanted onto their neck, one with feathered wings, and 2 that had additional limbs grafted onto them. Once these foreign body parts were completely removed, their situations returned to normal.


    The next easiest to deal with were probably those injected with foreign substances��had Kain and Serena been alone, they would have been helpless to purify their blood.


    However, due to her gift, Lina was easily able to separate the components of the blood that came from spiritual creatures, the thick black liquid they''d injected into 8 of the patients was collected into a bucket which they then set aside for the staff from the colleges to analyze when they arrive.


    However, there were 5 survivors that Lina wouldn''t be able to treat alone.��4 of them were like the young boy they had previously found who was crying tears of blood. Once they had gotten him to finally open his eyes, they were greeted by the jarring sight of large yellow eyes with horizontal rectangular pupils��resembling a goat.


    Like those that had unimportant body parts transplanted onto them, Lina could easily separate the goat eyes from the boy, without any harm to his actual body. However, neither Lina nor Kain and Serena had the ability to grow back body parts.


    Therefore, the boy as well as another 3 victims that had more important body parts��a heart, a pair of legs, and a portion of the brain��removed and replaced, couldn''t be treated through Lina''s efforts alone.


    They would need to wait for help from the colleges who would likely have healers capable of regenerating body parts��hopefully, the healers are willing to take the request��


    There was only 1 survivor whose situation was drastically different from the others. A boy who appeared to be in his early teens was not injected with any foreign material or had any foreign body parts transplanted onto him. In fact, at first glance the boy appeared to be perfectly fine.


    Kain stood over the boy with the sigils carved into his back, his expression dark. The sight of the intricate, blood-red markings made his stomach turn as they seemed to emanate a malevolent aura. The array was elaborate, its lines and symbols etched with cruel precision, glowing faintly as if it still retained some dormant power.


    Once Lina finished helping the others to the best of her ability, she joined them next to the young teen lying on his stomach shirtless. "Can we help him?" she asked, her voice trembling with concern.


    Kain frowned, his gaze lingering on the markings. "Not here. This isn''t something we can just remove with brute force or healing. If we damage the array the wrong way��" He let the thought hang in the air, the implication clear.


    Serena sighed, frustration flashing across her face. "We''ll need an expert. Someone who can decipher what these sigils mean and how they''re tied to him."


    This boy was different from Gabriel. Kain knew next to nothing about sigils and wasn''t confident in helping him; however, there were many blacksmiths, array masters, and other professionals affiliated with the colleges that were experts in sigils and would better be able to help.


    Meanwhile, Gabriel''s predicament of needing to become a beast-tamer and cultivate to better control the excess power in the artificial core implanted into him was a different problem that Kain knew all of the top researchers in the empire would be just as helpless against. After all, getting ordinary people to reliably awaken an affinity was something all nations had been helpless with since the dawn of time.


    But Kain''s gut told him that he may actually be Gabriel''s best chance.

 Chapter 330 Mystery Array

    The next morning staff from Starfire College came to escort the 14 survivors ready to go, or take care of the remaining 5 who Lina couldn''t treat on her own.Knowing that the treatment for the boy carved with sigils may require the notes they took from the library, Kain and Serena didn''t sleep the night before night.


    Instead, after removing the furniture to fill the living, dining, and second bedroom with temporary beds for those recovering, Kain and Serena stayed in the other bedroom to copy as many of the notes related to sigils as possible��surprisingly there were far more than expected.


    Even with the 2 of them working all night, and the use of an enchanted artifact they had brought along for this specific purpose, capable of scanning and rewriting a page''s contents, they almost didn''t have enough time to finish scanning them all.


    When the two exited the bedroom the next day, to Lina''s blushing face while giving them strange looks, they handed her over a space ring with all the notes they''d already made copies of��which probably only amounted to less than 20% of the total contents.


    Thankfully, neither Lina nor the Starfire staff noticed that the quantity of notes was much less than expected, and it should by them some time to copy the rest. So while nobody was focused on them Kain and Serena headed back to Dark Moon College.


    Upon arriving they immediately went to Kain''s laboratory. They hadn''t seen Gabriel in weeks and needed to check up on him, plus it''d give them a private area to make copies of all the remaining notes before they were forced to turn them in��hopefully, requests for the remaining notes slipped through the cracks for a few more days.


    As they stepped into Kain''s laboratory, the familiar scent of ink, parchment, and faint alchemical fumes greeted them. The space was cluttered but orderly, with rows of neatly labeled jars and stacks of research notes lining the shelves.


    Gabriel was seated at comfortable bed that Kain had installed along with some other furniture to form a makeshift bedroom for him.


    At the sound of the door opening, he glanced up, his tired eyes brightening instantly.


    "You''re back," Gabriel said, jumping up from the bed. "I was beginning to think you''d forgotten about me."


    Kain decided to take Gabriel''s happiness at his as an indication that they had grown much closer over this period��not that he was mostly happy about Serena arriving, or that he''d have some more company period.


    Kain and Serena recounted the story of how they took down another lab to the eagerly listening Gabriel.


    "How were they? Do you think they''ll be alright?" Gabriel asked sadly, he could empathize with the terror and pain of being held captive by these people much better than Kain and Serena could.


    "They should be," Kain comforted him, "most if not all of their injuries are easier to deal with than yours, so let''s just focus on you. We brought back some more notes that may be helpful. You rest, while we make copies of these." Kain said before going to his workstation in the laboratory with Serena.


    Likely because they didn''t arrive back at the college until quite late, it didn''t take long for Gabriel to fall asleep, even though he seemed so eager to accompany them as they went through the notes.


    Kain and Serena worked tirelessly in the quiet of the lab, copying the remaining notes with the enchanted artifact they had brought from the facility. The device hummed softly as it scanned and rewrote each page.


    Meanwhile, they began to go through the notes already copied in more depth.


    Many of the documents were written in a cryptic shorthand, with diagrams of body parts, sigils, hybrid creatures, and arrays scattered throughout.


    "What do you make of this?" Serena asked, holding up a diagram of a large sigil array carved into what appeared to be the floor of a chamber.


    Kain studied it for a moment. "It looks similar to the one they used to summon the abomination. But this one is... different. It''s larger, more intricate."


    "And there''s this one," Serena said, pointing to a line of text written beside another diagram.


    Kain squinted at the words, his brow furrowing. "''To commune with the divine.'' What the hell does that mean?"


    Serena shook her head. "I don''t know. But if they were carving these into people, it was likely that their experiments didn''t just plan to end at creating those hybrid soldiers��as we already guessed, they may even intersect with some of the research being performed for the other series of experiments."


    Serena leaned closer to him, and a subtly sweet scent immediately filled his senses. Her sharp eyes scanned the intricate web of sigils composing an array meant to be on a human body. "Look at the center," she said, pointing to a set of overlapping symbols. While Kain forced himself to snap back into focus.


    ''I must be tired from working for so long��''


    "This is the focal point of the array. If I''m reading this correctly, and I may not be since many of these sigils are ones I had never seen before, the most important points in this array seem to have the meanings of ''heaven,'' ''destiny'', ''resonance'' and a ''request for blessing.'' Perhaps this organization is affiliated with some kind of religious extremist group?" Serena stated with evident confusion in her voice. S��ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, although other nations may have a major religion, the Celestial Empire is largely atheistic. And from what they''d seen of the members of this organization, none made mention of acting in service of some kind of ''higher being.''


    However, after being momentarily surprised that Serena was so adept at reading sigils, Kain''s thoughts headed in a completely different direction. Could these arrays be related to the mysterious Heaven''s Will?


    The one thing that was serving as the major roadblock in both Kain''s plans for Gabriel to begin cultivating and the main goals of both the Series E and Series X experiments?

 Chapter 331 Mystery Array (2)

    "Are you sure? How confident are you in your knowledge of sigils? Why do you even know so much about sigils?" Kain asked. After all, if Serena''s interpretation was wrong, then he''d waste a lot of time researching an array with little importance to him."I''m confident enough," she replied, her tone carrying an air of certainty. "And as for why I know so much about sigils, it''s not exactly a secret. The Storm family is one of the founding families of the Celestial Empire. Our education was... comprehensive, to say the least."


    Kain raised an eyebrow. "Comprehensive how?"


    Serena smirked faintly. "Comprehensive as in ''you don''t get to choose.'' From the moment we''re old enough to hold a book, we''re taught everything deemed important to the family''s legacy��strategic thinking, spiritual power theory, extinct languages, and, yes, sigils. They were a significant focus."


    Kain''s skepticism softened as he listened, and couldn''t help but compare her privileged but burdensome life as a Storm, to the humble yet warm childhood afforded to his siblings at the orphanage. ''I never thought a day would come where I''d consider my siblings and I to be more fortunate than a legacy.''


    "Sounds exhausting," Kain finally said after remaining silent for several seconds.


    Serena''s smiled sadly, "It was. But it''s also why I recognize sigils like these. Many sigils are related to extinct languages or ancient systems of belief. My studies covered both extensively."


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    Deciding to trust her knowledge, Kain decided to confide in her some of the knowledge he''d previously kept hidden.


    Kain hesitated for a moment before speaking, his voice low. "In some of the previous notes we had taken from the Brightstar lab, I came across references to something called Heaven''s Will."


    Serena''s expression grew serious. "I''ve heard the term before," she said cautiously. "But only vaguely in very old text. What those ancient scholars even meant by the term is unknown."


    "From what I''ve gathered, Heaven''s Will is described as a kind of governing force��something that enforces the natural laws of the world. And more importantly, it''s the reason why beast-tamers have affinity limitations."


    Serena''s eyes narrowed. "Affinity limitations? You''re saying this... Heaven''s Will is what prevents us from contracting beyond our natural affinities?"


    Kain nodded. "That''s how the notes I read describe it. They think of it as a shackle, something that locks each of us into predefined roles with predetermined potential. No matter how hard you wish, Heaven''s Will sets a hard limit on you from the moment of your awakening ceremony. You can''t bypass it."


    "And they''re trying to break that limit," Serena said, piecing it together.


    "Exactly," Kain confirmed. "The hybrids, the sigils, the arrays��they''re all part of an attempt to communicate, circumvent or even manipulate Heaven''s Will. If they succeed..." He trailed off, the implications hanging heavily in the air.


    ''They could probably easily lead a revolution and take over the nation��after all, very few people are probably fully satisfied with their affinity''


    Kain frowned, his mind racing. "The question is, can it even be done? If Heaven''s Will is as absolute as they describe, their experiments might be doomed to fail."


    "However,��" Serena, began as she continued to read the notes, "it doesn''t yet seem as though they have gotten crazy enough to try and challenge or control Heaven''s Will. Rather, based on the few sigils I can understand, it''s more likely that this array is more so focused on attempting to rewrite one''s affinity.


    "Most ancient civilizations believed that one''s affinity is due to a blessing bestowed upon them based on what is most suitable for their personality and/or a future obstacle they may encounter later in life. This array seems more like an attempt to cajole the Heaven''s Will into giving another suitable affinity as an option instead."


    If that''s the case, then this organization wasn''t as far in their research of eliminating the need for affinities entirely, as they''d expected. However, just the opportunity to reroll the dice and awaken a different affinity was still priceless to many.


    ''I''m sure the infamous student that awoke an F-rated ice-gold fish affinity in my hometown would jump at the opportunity��''


    "However, if we really want to fully understand this array, we''d need to carve and activate it. Thankfully, it doesn''t seem as though it''s necessary to do so on human flesh, we could carve it into anything with a semblance of consciousness." Serena finally finished.


    Kain readily agreed to her proposal, and he just so happened to have the perfect candidate.


    There were many researchers at the college that also needed to perform experiments on living creatures��not everyone focused on developing new evolutionary forms like Kain.


    However, as normal law-abiding citizens, all research was done on spiritual creatures, moreover before their request to be provided a specific spiritual creature is provided, their research proposal is thoroughly reviewed by a board to make sure it wouldn''t result in any unnecessary cruelty or suffering.


    Even with all of those safeguards in place to make the research as humane as possible, most research also still had to be performed on a specific type of spiritual creature developed many years ago called the Nihilrat. A small spiritual creature that resembles a rat and is completely devoid of any pain sensors.


    Once the plan of action was decided, things moved quickly. Kain had put in a request for a Nihilrat due to his curiosity long ago, and had had one put aside for him months ago that he hadn''t picked up.


    Going back through his approval documents, he finally located the pick-up room number and the ID of his assigned Nihilrat and fetched it back for Serena. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They began with shaving the majority of the fur on its back before a sharp metal pen emitting a buzz was pulled out of Serena''s space ring.


    It was unnecessary and crude to carve a sigil deeply into flesh for it to work, and more likely was the option selected by those at the organization due to their unique inclinations for cruelty.


    However, tattooing the sigil onto the body''s surface should be almost as effective, without the grim visuals��


    For a while, only the faint hum of the vibrating ''pen'' Serena was using to work filled the room. The Nihilrat waited patiently in place as she worked, without any signs of discomfort aside from wanting to stretch its legs every couple of minutes.


    Unfortunately, due to the frequent breaks, and the many finite details of the array, it took almost 8 hours in total to complete. Gabriel had long woken up and was now perched on a stool near the workbench, watching intently. His wide eyes were filled with a mix of curiosity and unease as he observed Serena and Kain''s intricate work on the Nihilrat.


    "Is this going to hurt it?" Gabriel asked softly, breaking the silence.


    Serena glanced up, her hands still steady as she worked on the final sigil. "No. That''s the reason we''re using a Nihilrat," she said reassuringly. "It doesn''t have any pain sensors. It can''t feel anything from this process."


    Gabriel nodded slowly but didn''t look entirely convinced. "What happens when you activate it?"


    "That''s what we''re here to find out," Kain replied, his tone more matter-of-fact. He gestured toward the array etched onto the rat''s back. "If this array works the way we think it does, we''ll see some kind of reaction��hopefully one that doesn''t involve the lab exploding."


    "Comforting," Gabriel muttered, folding his arms as he leaned back on the stool.


    Serena finished the last line of the sigil, sitting back with a satisfied sigh. She placed the pen down and wiped her hands clean with a cloth. "Done," she announced.


    At the same time the final line of the sigil was activated, the entire array on the spiritual creature began to emit a faint glow.


    However, while Serena and Gabriel were watching the rat intently for any changes, Kain was more focused on something else. The array that was supposed to communicate with Heaven''s Will, strangely seemed to be calling to him.

 Chapter 332 Alternative Contract Method?

    ''Did Serena get it wrong?''But looking at Gabriel and Serena, neither of them seemed to feel anything unusual.


    This array was similar to the one carved into the final victim they rescued, but at that time Kain hadn''t felt anything unusual. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain didn''t know enough about sigils and chose to ask Serena about the differences.


    "That one was targeted," She replied, "If you''ll remember, it emanated a red and creepy aura. That array had sigils that pointed to the underworld realm, likely in an attempt to direct the possible awakening of an affinity to infernal creatures��but clearly it didn''t work. Since I didn''t make this one targeted at anything, it should just be focused on communicating with Heaven''s Will."


    Kain was still confused. How could it be confusing him with Heaven''s Will? But upon thinking of the planet currently home to numerous creatures in him star space, perhaps��


    Kain''s heart raced as he mulled over the implications.


    ''If my star space is a planet, does that make me its will?'' he thought, his heart pounding. It wasn''t an idea he had considered before. He had always viewed the star space within him as a unique phenomenon��an isolated area, that honestly still wasn''t sure how to fully use since he couldn''t yet figure out how to take out or bring in living things. The creatures born within that world, the environment he had played a role nurturing��it was more than just a collection of lifeforms. It was an entire system governed by his energy and his influence.


    The thought was staggering. To the creatures of this space, he supposed he was like a god... everything about their lives was completely subject to his will.


    He recalled the creatures in his star space, from the simplest beings to the most complex. They moved, lived, and interacted without direct interference from him, yet they were all connected to his energy. He had given them life�� and he could also take it away.


    The pull from the array began to make sense. It wasn''t confusing him with Heaven''s Will. It was recognizing a force similar to it��a will that governed another world.


    ''If Heaven''s Will dictates the rules for forming a spiritual contract in the outside world, then... can I do the same for the creatures in my star space?''


    The idea was both thrilling and daunting. If the creatures in his star space could establish contracts to those in this world without being limited by the Heaven''s Will here, it could completely revolutionize the current cultivation methods used.


    Those without an affinity would be able to form a contract�� as long as he allowed it.


    "Kain," Serena''s voice broke through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. She was staring at him, her brow furrowed. "You''ve been quiet for a while. Something on your mind?"


    Kain forced a neutral expression. "Just thinking about this array compared to the other one. How was the sigils targeted at the underworld even determined. Moreover, even if they developed an affinity to infernal creatures, how would they even get a spiritual creature from there? The entrance to the infernal realm had been closed by the Blackheart founder long ago."


    Serena answered him. "It''s not impossible to form a contract with a spiritual creature across realms. Rare, but not impossible. There have been several instances in legends, where someone managed to summon a suitable contract for themselves from another lesser realm��such as the elemental realm��but the means of doing so have been largely lost. However, in the Western Continent, their resources and variety of wild spiritual creatures is poor, so they pretty much all form contracts with suitable creatures summoned from the ''Holy Realm'' as they call it. Maybe they adapted the method used by them?"


    Kain raised an eyebrow. This was the first he''d heard about such a method. When at a 1-star level, most required the exchange of bodily fluids with the spiritual creature to establish a contract��like he did with Bea. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    For Even and Aegis, a blood exchange was no longer required, but he had to at least make physical contact.


    Now as a 4-star beast-tamer, he could probably form a contract without touching the target directly, but he was pretty sure that he had to at least be in close proximity��much less able to form a contract across separate realms.


    Serena turned her attention back to the notes, rifling through the stack until she pulled out a particularly worn page. The faint traces of a crude array were scrawled across it, with hastily written annotations in the margins.


    "This," she said, tapping the page, "is a prototype array I found among the notes. It''s incomplete and poorly designed, but the theory is intriguing. It''s intended to form a spiritual contract across realms��not the way we normally do through proximity or mutual acceptance, but through what those in the West called a ''destined connection.'' Really, it''s leaving the object of your contract completely up to luck or, according to some people, ''Heaven''s Will''�� similar to when awakening an affinity. The beast-tamer will have no control over the contract, and the contract is automatic, so even if they do not like the spiritual creature chosen for them, they are helpless to refuse."


    "Destined connection?" Kain repeated, practically leaning on her in his eagerness to more closely examine the page.


    Serena''s face shifted slightly, but ultimately decided not to shove him away. After a moment''s hesitation she nodded. "Supposedly, it means that the spiritual creature and the person forming the contract are already compatible on some fundamental level. The array facilitates the bond, allowing the spiritual creature to cross realms to join the contractor."


    Kain''s mind buzzed. Could this be the solution he was looking for?


    "But how would the creature physically cross realms? Many realms, like the underworld have been sealed, and so people can''t enter them, and nor can anything in them leave."


    That was also the issue Kain was currently facing with the creatures in his own star space. He had no way of getting them to leave his space.


    "That''s the beauty of the spiritual contract," Serena replied. "Once the contract is established, it''s not about physically crossing realms. The creature is drawn directly into the contractor''s star space, since spiritual contracts are bonds of the soul. Once in the star space, of course, the contractor can naturally release them in our world."

 Chapter 333 The Language of Heaven

    Find more chapters on empireKain leaned against the edge of the workbench, his thoughts swirling as he studied the prototype array Serena had uncovered.


    "How did humans determine the sigils to locate the other realms?" Kain asked, his curiosity finally breaking the silence. "How could they pinpoint something as intangible as a realm''s existence and define it with a few symbols?"


    Serena, her exhaustion evident but her mind still sharp, glanced up from the notes. "It''s not a simple process," she admitted. "But it ties back to the theory that all sub-realms without their own will are connected to Heaven''s Will in some way. In a sense, it''s like they''re subordinate to it. The names we use to reference these realms were likely derived from that connection. In a sense, in the same way that you gave all of your contracts names, Heaven''s Will also has names for its subordinate realms, and corresponding sigils for each."


    Kain frowned. "But how would humans figure out those names in the first place? It''s not like Heaven''s Will hands out a guidebook."


    "They didn''t exactly stumble upon them overnight. Ancient scholars experimented for centuries. The prevailing theory is that they used lost spiritual techniques to attune themselves to that realm. Through that connection, they isolated the symbolic representation��what we now call a sigil. That sigil becomes the ''name'' of the realm in Heaven''s Will''s language."


    Kain leaned forward, intrigued. "So sigils are more than just symbols. They''re... words in the language of Heaven''s Will?"


    "Exactly," Serena said, her voice steady despite her exhaustion. "Think of sigils as the written language of Heaven''s Will. Each one represents something specific��a realm, an object, a force. But here''s the interesting part: humans sometimes create sigils that Heaven''s Will didn''t originally recognize. If enough intent, belief, or spiritual power is poured into a symbol, Heaven''s Will can adopt it. From that point onward, the sigil becomes the universal representation of what it stands for."


    Kain''s thoughts drifted to his star space. "So if I wanted to create a sigil for something new. The symbol just needs to be recognized by the will of the world to gain any real power?"


    Serena nodded. "Exactly. It''s rare, but it happens. And once Heaven''s Will acknowledges a sigil, it becomes permanent."


    Serena stretched and yawned, her exhaustion finally catching up with her. "I think I''ve done enough work for one day," she said, packing up her stuff to leave. "I''ll head back to the dorm. Are you coming?"


    Kain shook his head, "I''m interested in these sigils. I think I''m going to study them a little more before heading back."


    Serena hesitated, "Many sigils have immense power and unpredictable effects when combined��don''t go crazy with studying them and accidentally blow up your lab."


    Kain smirked faintly. "No promises."


    Shaking her head, Serena left, leaving Kain alone in the quiet lab.


    His thoughts returned to Pangaea��the name he had given the planet in his star space. As the ''Heaven''s Will'' for that planet, couldn''t he also create a corresponding sigil for it?


    However, if he was going to create a sigil for his planet, he didn''t want to just make a simple one casually. It would represent the planet and everything within it, so enough thought should be put into it.


    Kain checked-out a thick book from the library. Thankfully as a researcher, his card had access to the building even after its opening hours.


    The book''s spine was worn and its pages filled with sketches of commonly used sigils. He flipped through it slowly, studying the shapes, patterns, and meanings of each one. He needed to ensure his design didn''t overlap with any existing sigils, as that could lead to confusion��or worse, interference when he made an array.


    He set the book aside and pulled out a clean sheet of paper.


    ''It needs to be elegant, but not overly complex,'' Kain thought. ''I want it to be recognizable, but also practical to carve.''


    He began sketching, his hand moving with careful precision.


    The sound of pen scratching against paper filled the room. Occasionally, it''d be interrupted by the sound of him crumpling and chucking the paper with the disliked designs to the floor. S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is it!" Kain decided after finally creating a design he was relatively satisfied with.


    The base of the sigil came to him quickly: a large circle meant to symbolize the planet itself.


    Within the circle, Kain added a smaller circle, slightly off-center, representing the single massive supercontinent of Pangaea.


    He then drew a vertical line bisecting the smaller circle. This line, he decided, would symbolize the Tree of Life itself��one of the most important features of the planet, and what was largely responsible for life to develop so quickly.


    Finally, he added four small stars, evenly spaced, placed in the 4 cardinal directions. They could not only represent the 4 creatures supposedly created by the golden dragon Aurem in the legends, each of which was responsible for a direction, but they''d also represent the 4 stars currently orbiting Pangaea.


    The moment, Kain developed a sigil he was satisfied with, the change happened almost instantaneously.


    The parchment began to glow faintly, the lines of the sigil lighting up with a golden hue. Kain felt a pulse of energy radiate from his star space, resonating with the design. It was as if Pangaea itself was acknowledging the sigil, accepting it as its own.


    He placed the parchment carefully on the workbench, his mind already racing with possibilities.


    ''Now the real work begins,'' he thought.


    Kain wasn''t confident in being able to completely carve an array while abiding by his desire to not blow up the lab��


    Therefore, using a simple pen and paper without any spiritual power embued into it, Kain began to draw some drafts of the array carved into the Nihilrat.


    However, referencing the array that targeted the underworld realm, Kain modified it slightly to target Pangaea.


    Once he copied it down, his confidence grew and he decided to attempt carving it for real using one of the enchanted pens Serena had left on the workbench.


    Not wanting to accidentally kill a living thing, he carved it into a chair in his lab. Within moments, the chair exploded into a shower of splinters that closely resembled a shrapnel bomb.


    Thankfully, Gabriel was far away. Even as a 4-star beast tamer with a strengthened body, the blast was strong enough to cause numerous deep cuts to Kain. If an ordinary person were nearby, the result would have been disastrous.


    ''I think I''ll just wait for Serena to come back��'' Kain thought, as he set about the painful process of removing the numerous splinters lodged deep into his flesh and healing his open wounds.

 Chapter 334 Amateurs vs Experts

    Looking at the splinters and damaged pieces of furniture caused by the previous explosion, Serena stared at Kain with a deadpan expression, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.Gabriel, seated on a stool nearby, mirrored her expression, though his furrowed brows and a faint pout added an extra layer of judgment.


    "You know," Serena said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "when I warned you about not blowing up the lab, I didn''t think you''d take it as a challenge."


    "I wasn''t trying to blow it up!" Kain protested, his voice slightly higher-pitched than usual.


    "Could''ve fooled me," Gabriel muttered, wincing slightly as he shifted his weight on the stool and ended up getting pricked by an errant splinter Kain must have missed. "You realize I was asleep in here when you decided to make shrapnel furniture, right?"


    Kain rubbed the back of his neck, guilt written all over his face. "Look, I messed up, okay? But that''s why I''m asking for help. Serena, can you... you know, help me not almost kill myself��and Gabriel��again?"


    Serena raised a brow, skepticism plain on her face. "You''re actually admitting you need my help? This must be serious."


    "Very funny," Kain grumbled, but his tone softened. "I tried to modify the array to connect to this... realm I came across in a text I read before."


    Serena''s expression shifted from mockery to half curiosity and half skepticism. "What realm? And why?" she asked, stepping closer.


    Kain pulled out the sigil he had created for Pangaea, keeping his face as neutral as possible. "I found this sigil mentioned previously but don''t have the original text. It''s supposed to represent a realm that may allow Gabriel to form contracts without a specific affinity, however, it doesn''t seem to be recorded in many texts and I only saw it mentioned once. I thought the array could help establish a spiritual contract with a creature from there."


    Serena squinted at the sigil, tilting her head. "I just explained to you yesterday that realms also have corresponding sigils, and yet you just so happened to have one memorized?" she looked at him as though she was looking at an idiot. "If you''re going to lie, please do better."


    ''Damn it!''


    Seeing her attitude, he quickly tried to convince her to help him. "I''m sorry! The truth is that I can''t explain to you how I came across this sigil. But I promise you that what I''m saying is true. I think this is the one thing that Gabriel needs to be able to become an official beast-tamer without an affinity."


    Seeing his statement, Serena examined the sigil more closely with interest. "I''ve never seen this before��and there''s nothing in these notes or my studies about a realm matching that description. Are you sure this is legitimate?" Find exclusive stories on empire


    Kain nodded to express his certainty while maintaining eye-contact, hoping that she''d be able to feel his confidence in this plan. "Even if it''s not the perfect solution we need, I figured it wouldn''t cause any harm and was worth a shot."


    Serena sighed, her gaze drifting to the damaged furniture. "Well, considering the explosion, I''d say your ''shot'' missed. Let''s see what went wrong."


    She grabbed the parchment with Kain''s modified array, her eyes scanning the lines. After a few moments, she clicked her tongue. "You made several mistakes. This is why amateurs shouldn''t think they can just wing it with complex arrays. Sigils aren''t scribbles, Kain."


    Kain winced. "Like?"


    "First, this line here��it''s incomplete and doesn''t connect fully. It would have caused the energy flow to escape instead of remaining inside, destabilizing the entire array," Serena explained, tracing the offending line with her finger. "Second, you didn''t account for the fact that this specific array requires a sentient vessel. A chair wouldn''t have worked even if you''d carved it perfectly."


    Kain groaned, slumping against the workbench. "Of course it wouldn''t. Figures."


    "On the bright side, you didn''t blow up the entire lab," Serena added dryly.


    "Not helping."


    Serena smirked faintly. "Fine. Let''s fix this. Do you have another Nihilrat?"


    Kain nodded, quickly retrieving one from the storage area he had fetched the first from previously. Thankfully, is approval for the previous Nihilrat was still valid for another.


    Serena injected spiritual power into the enchanted pen again to tattoo the creature. And while watching her work he realized that even if he had drawn the sigil perfectly, without the expert control of spiritual power during the drawing process, it likely would have failed once he tried ot activate it anyway


    When the final line was completed, the array began to glow faintly, just as it had before.


    Almost immediately, he felt a connection form between himself and the Nihilrat. It was stronger than the pull he had felt previously with the untargeted array��now there was an almost tangible presence tugging at the edges of his consciousness. S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Moreover, instead of the connection focusing on pulling his attention like previously, he felt the majority of this connection being established between the Nihilrat''s spirit and the planet in his star space.


    He also sensed that with a slight thought he could completely cut off this connection or even completely annihilate that portion of its soul. If he chose to do so the Nihilrat would likely end up brain dead.


    Kain closed his eyes, focusing inward. He could sense the fragment of the Nihilrat''s spirit entering Pangaea. It didn''t remain there for long though, though. Almost the moment it arrived, it dispersed back into its body without causing harm to its soul.


    ''It worked,'' Kain thought, his heart racing. Without a beast-tamer on Pangaea to form a contract, the bond couldn''t manifest and so the connection quickly ended. But this was enough to support Kain''s theory. Although, there are no beast-tamers on Pangaea to allow a contract to flow in that direction, there are beast-tamers in this world to form contract with the creatures on Pangaea.


    When he opened his eyes, Serena and Gabriel were both watching him with expectation and confusion, wondering why he''d closed his eyes. After all, the sigil was carved into the Nihilrat not him, and they couldn''t sense the momentary connection that had just occurred between the Nihilrat and Kain.


    "It worked," Kain said carefully, suppressing the enthusiasm that threatened to spill over. "The connection formed. No explosions this time."


    Gabriel''s expression softened into one of cautious hope. "Does that mean...?"


    "You may be able to leave soon," Kain interrupted, keeping his tone neutral. "But there''s still more testing to do. We don''t know if it''s safe for humans yet, and I don''t want to risk trying it on you until we''re sure."


    Gabriel nodded his head naively. He also didn''t want to risk being hurt, or even exploding, if the array isn''t compatible with humans. Therefore, he also didn''t pester Kain to try it on him then and there.


    However, when Gabriel went aside to continue reading some stories on the laptop Kain had brought back for him, Serena''s apprehensive gaze met Kain''s.


    After all, unlike the young Gabriel, she had quickly realized that the only method they could use to be certain that the array was safe for Gabriel to use would be to test it on another human��

 Chapter 335 The Search for a Volunteer

    "How would that make us any different from them?!" She whispered to him harshly while keeping her voice out of earshot of Gabriel.Kain winced, glancing over at Gabriel, who was engrossed in the laptop.


    "It wouldn''t," Kain admitted quietly. "That''s why we can''t force anyone into this. We need someone willing. Someone who understands the risks."


    Serena folded her arms, her eyes narrowing. "You think anyone in their right mind would agree to this? Even if the reward is becoming a beast-tamer, the potential risks�� It could kill them, Kain. You know that."


    "I do," Kain said, his tone heavy with guilt. "But we also know there are people out there who would take that risk if it was their only option. Someone like Gabriel��someone whose life is likely to end soon if they can''t extend it by cultivating."


    Serena shook her head, pacing the room. "Manipulating emotionally vulnerable dying people to get them to agree will definitely not make my conscious feel any better."


    Kain remained silent for a moment, his mind working through the problem. She was right��coercion through desperation wasn''t much better.


    Finally, he sighed. "What if we''re upfront about everything? Lay out the risks, the uncertainty, and the potential rewards? If someone still volunteers after knowing the truth, then it''s their choice. Whether it works or not, I''m not going to have it keep me up at night."


    Serena stopped pacing, her gaze piercing into his soul. "And if no one volunteers? What then?"


    Kain avoided her eyes. "Then the rest is my problem. I will find someone on my own, you don''t have to worry yourself."


    ''Testing on a horrible criminal or even capturing one of the members of that organization to test on are both feasible options,'' but Kain didn''t say those thoughts allowed since she seemed averse to any actions that even remotely resembled what the organization that took Gabriel and Cherry would do��meaning that involuntary human experiments were a no go in her book.


    ''Sigh��''


    Serena''s gaze softened slightly, though the tension in her posture remained. "Fine. But if I think for even a second that you''re crossing a line, Kain, I''m out and you can find someone else to make the array."


    Kain nodded solemnly, grateful for her reluctant agreement. "Fair enough."


    Serena sighed, rubbing her temples as she resumed pacing. "So, what''s your plan? How are you going to find someone willing to volunteer for this? I''m pretty sure asking everywhere outright that we want to perform a questionable and dangerous experiment on another person will raise alarm bells at the college."


    "Easy�� look at the mission boards requesting spiritual plants that can slightly extend the life spans or treat the chronic illnesses of ordinary people."


    There were always such missions on the mission board, not because they were so frequent, but because the acceptance rates for such missions were very low.


    The issuer was usually a relatively wealthy ordinary person, but they were unable to offer truly valuable resources as a reward. And the monetary rewards often offered in addition to the school credits, while substantial amounts to ordinary people, were rarely enough to move most beast-tamers. Especially since locating rare herbs is usually a long and tedious process. Moreover, since little danger was involved, the school credits rewarded for missions at that level were usually quite low.


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    Kain nodded. "If someone is willing to spend the majority of what they have to extend their life by a few months or years, it means they''re at the end of their rope. Those are the people who might consider this."


    Serena nodded in agreement with the current plan.


    Kain continued, "We''ll need to sift through the mission board carefully. Only people with no other options��those who''ve exhausted all traditional avenues for treatment."


    -------------------


    Kain and Serena found themselves in the Mission Hall sorting the missions for any dedicated to spiritual plants, using one of the touchscreens in the isolated mission acceptance areas.


    Most were typical requests for herbs to treat common ailments or support low-level cultivation. But after about fifteen minutes, Kain''s finger paused over a listing among the bronze-level missions.


    "''Seeking Silverblossom Root''


    "''Details: My condition is terminal, and traditional medicine has failed. The root may slow the progression of my illness, but my time is limited. Offering 10 credits in addition to a monetary reward.'' I think this could be our guy. He most likely is an unawakened individual to request that spiritual plant, and with a terminal condition he doesn''t have many other options" Kain said.


    This mission had been up for what appears to be months now since the Silverbloosom Root is pretty rare, but only really helpful for ordinary individuals, meaning most beast-tamers would not even bother to pick it if they came across it in the wild. So it was understandable that it was an unpopular mission��hopefully, the requester was still alive��


    They used the contact information provided in the request to arrange a meeting with the issuer of the mission at an office Collin had set up for him in the city for the company, but Kain rarely used. However, now it was the perfect location to get away from prying eyes and ears.


    The person who issued the mission was named Ferrin Voss. He appeared to be in his late twenties, his gaunt frame and pale complexion a testament to the illness ravaging his body. Despite his frail appearance, his gaze was sharp and focused. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I appreciate you meeting with me," Ferrin said, his voice steady despite his condition and filled with hope. "I was beginning to think nobody would ever take on my mission."


    ''Well this is awkward��''


    "Technically, we aren''t planning to take on your mission." Kain said, trying to appear steady and not suspicious.


    Ferrin''s face twisted in a mix of confusion and anger. "Then why are we even meeting? To mock me for posting a mission nobody wanted? To waste my time?"


    "Not at all," Serena interjected smoothly, her voice calm but firm. "We''re here because we believe we can offer you an alternative. One that, if successful, could likely eliminate your illness due to strengthening your body and change your life completely."


    Ferrin''s frown deepened, his eyes narrowing. "An alternative? You mean a spiritual plant other than Silverblossom Root? Just so you know, I likely won''t be able to afford the price of a spiritual plant at a much higher grade."


    "No," Kain said, waving his hand dismissively at the suggestion. "We''ve been working on an experimental method. One that might not just extend your life but give you the ability to cultivate as a beast-tamer."


    For a moment, there was only silence. Then Ferrin let out a short, bitter laugh. "Beast-tamer? Seriously? Why not promise me a royal princess as my wife while you''re at it? That''s more believable than someone without an affinity becoming a beast-tamer."


    Kain sighed in annoyance, but he kept his tone even to try and convince him. After all, Serena who was watching from the side wouldn''t exactly tattoo the array on him unless he was fully willing. "We understand how it sounds. It''s unprecedented. Impossible, even. But the research we''ve been conducting suggests it might not be as impossible as people think."


    "And why me?" Ferrin asked, his voice sharp. "Surely, if your results were feasible, plenty of people would jump at the chance. Why pick someone like me?"


    "Because it''s never been tested yet and you have nothing left to lose," Kain said deadpan, meeting his gaze head-on.


    The words hung in the air, heavy and unflinching.


    Ferrin''s expression flickered, a crack forming in his defiance. "What exactly are you proposing?"


    Taking this as the opening he needed, Kain vaguely touched upon how they planned to go about allowing him to form a contract without an affinity. Of course, he also mentioned that there was a very real possibility that he could die immediately��


    Ferrin stared at him, his mouth tightening. "So, you want me to gamble my life on an unproven theory? And you expect me to believe this isn''t some scam?"


    "It''s not a scam," Serena said firmly. "But yes, it''s a gamble. We won''t lie to you about that. We don''t know for sure if it will work, and we can''t guarantee your safety. But we''ll take every precaution we can to minimize the risks."


    Ferrin shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "You''re asking a lot. Even if I am dying, this... this sounds insane."


    "Maybe it is," Kain admitted. "But consider this: what are your other options? Even if you manage to get the Silverblossom Root, how much time will it really buy you? A year? Two? This might be your only chance to truly change your fate."


    Ferrin''s fingers drummed on the armrest of his chair as he mulled over their words. His gaze flickered toward Serena who, despite her perpetually cold demeanour, was clearly more hesitant about the whole scenario compared to Kain. "And you? You''re okay with this? With performing a dangerous experiment on someone like me?"


    Serena hesitated for the briefest moment, then nodded. "I''m not comfortable with it, no. But I believe in being honest about the risks. And I believe in giving you the choice. If you say no, we''ll walk away, and you''ll never hear from us again."


    The room fell into a heavy silence as Ferrin stared down at his hands, his thoughts clearly racing. Finally, he looked up, his expression a mixture of fear and determination.


    "Alright. Let''s do it." Ferrin said, resolved to not just give in to his current fate.

 Chapter 336 The Experiment Begins

    Read exclusive chapters at empireKain and Serena gave Ferrin a week to think over his decision calmly and be sure that be wished to go through with the experiment. It was also to get his remaining affairs in order in the event that the experiment was not so successful��


    During that time they went to classes like normal, concealing their anxious feelings skillfully beneath blank masks of indifference.


    During that week they also finally turned over the remaining research notes to the college administration, claiming they''d forgotten they had them stored in other space rings. The administrators, though mildly skeptical, seemed satisfied enough not to press further.


    When the week was up, Kain contacted Ferrin, confirming he was still willing to go through with the experiment.


    "I''ve made my peace with it, whether it succeeds or fails," Ferrin said over the phone. "Let''s get this over with."


    With his confirmation, they smuggled Ferrin onto the college campus late in the evening in a large container typically used for transporting spiritual creatures. While it wasn''t the most comfortable ride for him, the container ensured that no one would see what��or who��was inside.


    As the container was brought into Kain''s lab, Ferrin stepped out, wincing as he stretched his legs.


    "Fancy place," he remarked, his eyes scanning the lab. Though he couldn''t see much of the campus during his transport, just being here was enough to leave him awestruck. "So, this is where the best of the best train, huh? On the ride over it felt like the quality of the air and even the concentration of spiritual power was different here." sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain smirked slightly with pride in his school, but didn''t answer as he focused on hooking Ferrin up to the various machines in his lab that could monitor his vitals and spiritual power.


    The very reason they had chosen to do it in his lab was due to all of this equipment Kain had to better monitor the experiment.


    Serena stepped forward once she saw that Kain had stepped away, finished setting up the equipment. "Are you ready?"


    Ferrin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Let''s do this."


    Kain also nodded, although she wasn''t asking him, "There''s a few things we need to go over first." He said to Ferrin.


    Ferrin sat up straighter as he listened attentively. Possibly to prevent him leaking out the details of their research, he hadn''t heard in detail about how it would work or what would be done to him.


    "Firstly, Serena is going to tattoo this array onto you," Kain said while holding up a piece of paper with the array drawn onto it. "Do you have a preferred location? Ideally, somewhere it won''t be easily seen, just in case."


    Ferrin thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Back of my right shoulder blade. That should work, right?"


    Serena nodded. "That''s a good spot. Easy for me to work on, too."


    Kain continued. "The process will take some time. To make sure you don''t feel anything, I''ll use my spiritual contract to temporarily cut off your sense of pain."


    Ferrin''s eyes widened slightly at the mention of the abilities of Kain''s spiritual contract, as an ordinary person he didn''t have much contact with spiritual creatures. He was still extremely nervous, but he also couldn''t help thinking if after today he would have his own spiritual contract like them?


    One of Bea''s threads of mental energy darted forward, latching onto Ferrin. The man stiffened momentarily, then relaxed as a split gradually solidified its connection with him.


    "You shouldn''t feel anything now," Kain said.


    Ferrin tested by flexing his fingers, his expression shifting to one of mild surprise. "Huh. Nothing. That''s... unsettling."


    Serena stepped forward, rolling up her sleeves as she pulled out the enchanted tattoo pen. "Alright. Stay as still as possible. This will take a while."


    She began her work, the faint hum of the enchanted pen she was using to tattoo him filled the room.


    ---------------------


    The array''s design was intricate and hours passed as Serena worked and Kain monitored Ferrin''s vitals closely.


    Gabriel had briefly shown himself, curious about the new arrival, but quickly left in boredom after nothing had changed after 2 hours.


    Ferrin, for his part, remained silent, though his fingers occasionally pinched himself to test the lack of sensation.


    Serena''s movements were precise, each line of the drawn expertly. The sigils forming the array had a faint lustre as she infused them with spiritual energy, the design gradually coming to life on Ferrin''s skin.


    Finally, Serena sat back, exhaling deeply. "Done."


    The array, now complete, glowed softly on Ferrin''s shoulder blade. Its intricate lines and symbols seemed to pulse faintly, as if waiting for activation.


    Kain released Bea''s influence, restoring Ferrin''s sense of feeling.


    "How do you feel?" Kain asked.


    Ferrin flexed his shoulder experimentally, his brow furrowing. "Feels... fine. A bit tender and warm, but nothing bad. What''s next?"


    "Now, we see if it works." Kain replied, while instructing Ferrin to control his meagre amount of spiritual power and send it to the array. This is where they ran into another problem��


    Serena had been learning how to manipulate her spiritual power since she was young, so it was understandable that she didn''t think of this, but��


    ''How could I have forgotten how difficult it was for me to precisely move my spiritual power where I wanted when I was a first-year?''


    If he had remembered this, he could have at the very least spent the past week training Ferrin on how to move his spiritual power. Now they could only watch as their progress was once again delayed due to this oversight.


    Ferrin was panting and sweating as he tried to essentially move an extra dead limb he hadn''t tried to move or pay attention to in the decade since failing to awaken his affinity. After all, as an ordinary person with barely enough spiritual power to just form his first star, why would he bother practicing the manipulation of spiritual power?


    Thankfully, under the attentive dual coaching of Kain and Serena, and even using Bea to transmit some of their memories and experiences while controlling spiritual power to him, they were able to expedite the process.


    In only a few more hours, the array on the back of his shoulder began to glow, and Kain was able to sense as something attempted to enter his star space.

 Chapter 337 Birth of a New Bond

    He felt a faint but distinct presence brushing against his star space��a subtle, alien energy that didn''t belong. It wasn''t threatening; in fact, it was fragile, like a flickering candle caught in the wind that he could snuff out at any time.''This must be it,'' Kain thought.


    He didn''t block its entry, knowing that it was likely a fragment of Ferrin''s soul.


    The foreign energy moved swiftly towards Pangaea once in his star space, as though it is equipped with a homing beacon, and soon entered the small world.


    Pangaea had continued to develop over time. The massive supercontinent was filled lush greenery broken only by winding rivers and towering mountain ranges.


    Massive trees, each brimming with spiritual energy, dotted the land like skyscrapers built by Mother Nature. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The spiritual creatures that thrived on Pangaea were numerous and diverse, and many did not resemble those seen in the main world.


    Kain''s focus shifted as he tracked the soul fragment, its path winding erratically as though uncertain of its destination. The fragment floated across rivers and meadows, pausing occasionally near certain creatures before moving on.


    It loitered briefly around a pack of scaled wolves prowled dense forests, then it flew high above to circle around a shimmering winged serpents swimming through the skies.


    Perhaps tired of staying in the air, the soul fragment dropped to the forest floor to where tiny insects with iridescent shells buzzed around glowing flowers.


    Looking at the busy planet and variety of creatures, Kain couldn''t help being filled with pride.


    Unfortunately, his pride in the numerous creatures was short-lived once he realized that the fragment''s energy grew weaker with each passing moment, and the glow of the array on Ferrin''s shoulder also began to dim alongside it.


    In the lab, Kain''s peripheral senses picked up Ferrin''s labored breathing. His complexion had turned pale, beads of sweat dripping from his face. The man''s spiritual power reserves were clearly running dry, and without them, the soul fragment''s connection with Pangaea would sever entirely.


    Kain was about to step in, prepared to guide the fragment manually to a spiritual creature, when it finally stopped.


    It hovered above a small black fox curled up at the base of a tree. The creature was tiny, its fur as dark as the void of a starless night sky. It slept soundly, its chest rising and falling with slow, rhythmic breaths.


    The moment the soul fragment made contact with the fox, both it and the fox disappeared from Pangaea in an instant.


    At the same moment, Kain felt as though something had been taken from him. Undeniably, whatever connection he''d had with that fox had been severed.


    Kain''s awareness returned to the lab, his heart pounding as he looked to see Ferrin''s state.


    Ferrin gasped audibly, clutching his shoulder as the array flared brightly for one moment, making it not visible to the naked eye, before it faded. In its place was a faint white scar, as if from a wound that healed long ago, in the shape of a fox where the array had previously been.


    "Did it... work?" Ferrin asked weakly, his voice trembling.


    Before Kain could answer, a faint glow emanated from the air in front of Ferrin, and with a soft, almost musical hum, the small black fox materialized at his feet. Its bright silver eyes blinked open, meeting Ferrin''s gaze first before looking around the unfamiliar surroundings.


    Its fur bristled slightly, and its slender body was taut, ready to spring into action at the first sign of danger. The bright, sterile light of the lab and the hum of the machinery were a stark contrast to the tranquil forest it had always called home, and its nose twitched as it sniffed the air, searching for any familiar scents. Enemies, friends, its family? But there were none.


    It let out a soft, high-pitched growl, clearly unsettled.


    Ferrin, meanwhile, sat frozen, his wide eyes fixed on the creature before him. He barely dared to breathe as he felt the faint but undeniable connection between himself and the fox. It wasn''t just a presence in front of him; he could feel its emotions��its wariness, its confusion, and its desire to flee.


    "I can feel it," Ferrin whispered, his voice tinged with awe. He extended a hand slowly, his movements careful and deliberate. He truly wanted to scoop it into his arms, but could sense that doing so would not be welcomed by it.


    The fox didn''t immediately respond to Ferrin''s outstretched hand, its ears swiveling toward him but its body remaining tense.


    "It''s not rejecting you," Serena said softly, observing the interaction with a critical eye. "That''s a good sign. We''ll leave you two alone to get more familiar."


    Kain agreed, and so, although curious, they left the observation area sectioned off by glass walls and Kain even used the controls on the side to make the glass opaque and give them some privacy.


    Gabriel, already waiting outside of the observation area was ecstatic. Doesn''t this mean that he''d soon be able to form a contract? At only 11-years-old, wouldn''t he set a record! Most kids his age didn''t even have their first star condensed yet, but due to the help of the implanted artificial star, he was able to skip that step.


    Thankfully, it didn''t take long for Ferrin to calm the fox down, likely due to the connection they shared, and after calling out, Kain and the others re-entered the room to continue examining Ferrin and his contract.


    Firstly, Kain noticed that although he no longer had the connection and control over the young fox''s life like he did on Pangaea, he did have an instinctive knowledge of the fox''s attributes and abilities.


    -----------------------


    Species: Unnamed


    This dark-attribute fox is naturally cautious, preferring to observe and strategize before taking action. Small and agile, it is highly suited to stealth and ambush tactics, and rarely confronts opponents even weaker than it head-on. The fox''s connection to darkness allows it to manipulate shadows, making it a formidable opponent even in low-light conditions.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power: White-grade


    Type: Fox


    Attribute: Dark


    Skills:


    B-Shadow Meld: The fox can merge seamlessly into shadows, becoming nearly invisible in dim environments to creatures even one level higher than it. While in this state, it is harder to detect and gains increased speed. The effect is nullified in brightly lit areas.


    B-Dusk Step: The fox can perform short-range shadow teleports, disappearing from one patch of shadow and reappearing in another within 5 meters. This ability is limited by the availability of nearby shadows.


    D-Nightfang: The fox imbues its bite with dark energy, for additional power.


    F-Moonlit Howl: The fox releases a soft, eerie howl that grants a slight boost to its own speed and attack for a short duration in the presence of moonlight. The effect is diminished in brighter environments.


    ------------------------------


    ''Not bad''


    Kain felt a burst of pride. Although a spiritual creature at this level isn''t particularly appealing to Kain now, it is a decent quality for a newbie beast-tamer, and even arguably stronger than Bridge''s first contract Lady before she evolved.

 Chapter 338 Confidentiality Contract

    After confirming what kind of spiritual creature Ferrin had formed a contract, with, Kain busied himself going through the data from the monitoring equipment around them.He activated one machine that was quite hard to get, even via the university, that would allow Kain to visualize the changes to Ferrin''s star space.


    The holographic projection flickered to life, revealing the lone star in Ferrin''s star space.


    Kain''s brow furrowed as he studied the projection, surprised at the appearance it had taken on.


    "It''s not tailored," Kain muttered under his breath, leaning closer to the display.


    Unlike most star spaces tailored to the specific needs of their contracted spiritual creature, Ferrin''s was different. It was a vibrant and lush forest exactly like the ones on Pangaea.


    One would expect, that since Ferrin''s contract is of the dark-attribute, it would take on the most suitable environment for his affinity, rather than a generic forest setting. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What do you mean?" Serena asked, turning her attention from Ferrin and the fox.


    "Since most star spaces are customized environments, designed by the contractor''s affinity to perfectly accommodate their spiritual creature and Ferrin doesn''t have an affinity, I think his star space was unable to form a more suitable environment." Kain gestured toward the hologram. "It''s like it took a snapshot of the area in Pang-��ahem in the relic where the contract was formed and copied it. That''s why it''s full of forests."


    Gabriel cut in, upon hearing their conversation, looking slightly disappointed that the contract method he would likely have to use in the future was considered inferior. "So the star spaces formed using this method aren''t as good? It can''t provide the perfect environment for the contracted creature?"


    "In a way, yes," Kain said. "A tailored environment would have exactly what the fox needs to thrive. This is more generalized��it''s enough, but it''s not optimal."


    Ferrin, overhearing the conversation, turned his attention away from the fox for a moment. "It might not be as good as a star space created by those with an affinity, but..." He glanced back at the black fox, which was now cautiously sniffing his hand. A tentative smile spread across his face. "...I''m not complaining. I have a spiritual creature. I''m... a beast-tamer now, right?"


    Kain and Serena exchanged a glance.


    "You are," Kain confirmed, his tone carrying a mixture of satisfaction and relief.


    The fox hesitated for a moment longer before nudging Ferrin''s hand with its nose. The man''s face lit up, his earlier nervousness melting away into pure joy as he gently stroked the fox''s fur.


    "Thank you," Ferrin said, his voice thick with emotion. "I don''t know how you made this possible, but... thank you."


    Kain readily accepted the thanks, before awkwardly shifting the topic of conversation, "So�� we didn''t bring this up prior to the experiment because of the possibility you''d explode��"


    "I''m sorry what?! You said I could die, not explode!"


    Kain continued as though he''d heard nothing, "We chose not to bring this up. However, now that the experiment has been proven to be a success, we''re going to need you to sign a little contract��"


    Kain finished with an awkward smile while pulling out a thick stack of papers from his star space, under the stunned gaze of Ferrin.


    Thankfully, Ferrin was in a great mood as one of his greatest dreams which he''d thought was impossible��becoming a beast-tamer��had come true. So he agreed to sign the contract without harping on the whole ''exploding'' possibility Kain had neglected to mention previously.


    Ferrin skimmed through the dense stack of documents in his hands, his expression ranging from awe to suspicion and back to bewilderment. "This is... extensive," he muttered.


    Serena crossed her arms and leaned against the workbench, her gaze fixed on Ferrin with mild amusement. "You did just survive an experimental process that should''ve been impossible. We can''t have you running off and spilling secrets that bring unnecessary attention to us all��or worse, someone dissecting you to figure out how this happened."


    Ferrin paled visibly. "D-Dissecting?"


    Kain waved a hand dismissively, his tone casual but firm. "It''s a precaution, Ferrin. The details of how this was done are sensitive, and there are people out there who would do far worse to you for that knowledge." He tapped the contract with his finger. "Think of it as insurance��for you and for us."


    The contract was not a normal one written by a lawyer, rather it was an extremely expensive contract written by someone with a rare gift that made breaking of the contract have much more harsh consequences than just legal trouble��


    "''Clause One:''" Ferrin glanced at the first clause, mumbling as he read aloud. "''The sigil and process used to create the spiritual contract shall remain strictly confidential under penalty of... death by star space explosion?''"


    Indeed, if Ferrin were to break any of the clauses in the contract, it would spell his immediate doom.


    Some of the additional clauses in the contract included: Your journey continues on empire


    Clause Two: Returning to Kain periodically so that he could monitor any changes in his condition.


    Technically, since this contract was the first of its kind, they really couldn''t be sure that there wouldn''t be any adverse effects to Ferrin.


    Clause Three: Not attempting to recreate the sigils or array used to form the contract from memory.


    Clause Four: Not concealing unusual changes to his or the fox''s condition from Kain.


    And there were also additional minor clauses, but the gist of the very thick document was simple:


    "Okay, so basically shut up and show up��" Ferrin sighed, running a hand through his hair and signing his name on the dotted line and handing the thick stack of papers to Kain.


    He felt as though he was signing his life away but��


    Petting the small black fluff ball lying on his lap, and thinking about how his incurable illness should be resolved as his body strengthens due to becoming a beast-tamer, he felt as though everything was worth it.

 Chapter 339 The Hidden Trials

    The fox shaped ''scar'' on Ferrin where the array previously was located, was similar in appearance to the tattoos that would spontaneously manifest on the bodies of those from the nomadic tribes south of the Empire. The only difference was the colour, a tattoo for a dark-attribute fox should be much darker in colour.Thankfully, there was a special ink to create tattoos indistinguishable from those that naturally manifest among the southerners. Apparently, it was developed when the relationship between the tribes and the empire was at its worse and they needed to send over spies that could blend in.


    Now they could reap the benefits of their ancestors.


    Serena tattooed over the white fox using black ink, and they decided that their cover-story would be that Ferrin had spontaneously manifested the tattoo at a late age to become a beast-tamer.


    While the story was improbable, it was not impossible and was definitely a lot more likely in most people''s books than what actually happened.


    After everything was settled, Ferrin was snuck back out of the college, and he''d have no intersection with Kain and the others until the scheduled check-up in a month.


    Instead, Kain and Serena''s attention turned to Gabriel. They had shown that this method worked, and Kain didn''t detect any dangers during the process, meaning that it should be safe for Gabriel.


    However, they still needed to ask Gabriel for his opinion. After all, this method of becoming a beast-tamer still has some known, and possibly still unknown, shortcomings. Perhaps Gabriel would want to try his luck with becoming a traditional beast-tamer.


    Additionally, even if Gabriel did elect to use this method, they could do it right away. They should still watch Ferrin for any changes for at least another month.


    Therefore, there was still some time before Gabriel had to decide if he wanted to remain confined to a laboratory in the slim hope that he''d awaken an affinity normally, or regain his freedom now using an alternative contract that had some disadvantages.


    At the same time, Kain mind also began to stir at the prospect of what the success of this experiment meant.


    Gabriel was young, so more thought needed to be put into whether this path was suitable for him or not.


    However, there were still many individuals, approximately two-thirds of the Empire, that had already had the door to being a traditional beast-tamer shut to them��Pangaea and Kain would be their only option. And many would give anything to undergo the procedure.


    Perhaps he could put building his own force, one loyal only to him, on the agenda. Of course, though he''d need to spend more time studying Ferrin and gauging the strength and potential of those who become beast-tamers using this method.


    ----------------


    Time passed and over the next couple of months, in addition to the scheduled visit with Ferrin��where both he and the fox, now named Nyx, were developing well together��Kain and Serena''s lives returned to normal as they attended their classes.


    However, strangely both of them were spending only a fraction of the time of the other students actually in their classes.


    That was because the Black Missions which were supposed to be extremely rare, were suddenly being assigned to the both of them at a high frequency.


    In just two months, Kain and Serena received 2 Black Missions together.


    The first was to assassinate and obtain the information from a high-level member of the parliament who had defected to a nation hostile to the Empire and was attempting to escape across the border with classified materials.


    While the other joint mission was to obtain proof of a high-ranking noble family suspected of secretly funding a terrorist organization''s anti-Empire activities. The leader of this family was an 8-star beast-tamer, but thankfully they were not required to eliminate him, only to collect evidence.


    Kain also obtained a solo mission in which he was required to infiltrate an underground auction house known for selling and trafficking forbidden items. There had been news that an evil artifact capable of discretely of absorbing the lifespan of a selected target to enhance its own power, was being auctioned. Kain simply needed to retrieve it before it was sold. While tedious, the mission hadn''t been that dangerous.


    He didn''t know if Serena also received any solo missions, but combined they''d likely completed more Black Missions in a couple of months than all the Black Missions that would be received by the rest of the school in a year.


    Kain and Serena were confused by the sudden influx of Black Missions assigned just to them, but perhaps their questions were about to be answered��


    ---------------------


    One day, both Kain and Serena were called to the office of the Vice Chancellor of the College��an 8-star beast-tamer only below the 9-star Chancellor.


    The two of them ascended the marble stairs leading to the imposing double doors of the Vice Chancellor''s office. The air here seemed heavier, almost saturated with spiritual energy. Likely due to arrays gathering spiritual energy to this office.


    Kain could also sense faint barriers layered over the structure��meant to keep prying eyes and ears away.


    A secretary, her face emotionless, led them through a grand hallway to the Vice Chancellor''s door and knocked.


    "Enter," a deep voice resonated from within.


    The doors opened smoothly, revealing the office of Vice Chancellor Darrow. The man himself stood at the far end of the room, his broad frame backlit by the light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Despite his age, Vice Chancellor Darrow radiated an intimidating presence. His dark blue suite trimmed with silver shifted slightly as he turned to face them, his powerful gaze pinning Kain and Serena in place.


    "Sit."


    Neither of them hesitated, taking their seats in the wooden chairs opposite his massive desk. Kain kept his expression calm, though inwardly his mind raced through all the possible reasons for this meeting.


    Vice Chancellor Darrow''s steely gray eyes moved from Kain to Serena before he finally spoke. "You''ve both been assigned an unusual number of Black Missions recently. I assume you''ve noticed."


    Experience tales at empire


    Serena, sitting straighter, nodded. "We have, Vice Chancellor. But we assumed there was a reason."


    "There is," Darrow said simply, folding his arms behind his back. "And you two may now be privy to it since you''ve passed the tests given to you." S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 340 Eclipse

    Vice Chancellor Darrow''s fixed his steely gray eyes fixed on Kain and Serena."Your recent influx of Black Missions was not a coincidence," Vice Chancellor Darrow began, his voice deep and deliberate. "You''ve both been under evaluation for membership into an organization that has existed since the founding of the Celestial Empire. Its existence is known to only a small number of the top beast-tamers and government officials."


    Kain''s brows furrowed slightly while Serena maintained her composed demeanor, though her eyes betrayed a flicker of intrigue. Even as a member of a founding family, she''s heard of no such organization.


    "This organization is known as the Eclipse Order," Darrow continued, his tone weighty with significance. "It is the Empire''s most elite force, operating outside the boundaries of conventional law and governance. Members of the Order complete missions critical to the survival and prosperity of the Empire��missions that often take them across borders and into enemy territories. Some of these missions are covert intelligence-gathering operations, while others... require more direct intervention. Compared to the missions you would have completed recently, the difficulty level would have increased several times over."


    Kain remained silent, though he couldn''t deny the stir of curiosity��and apprehension��building in his chest.


    "The Eclipse has operated for centuries," Darrow continued. "Most of the Empire''s 9-star geniuses have risen through its ranks. It is the nurturing ground for the Empire''s strongest talents, refining unpolished gems, into legends. Captain Ezra, who recently graduated, joined towards the latter half of his second year��in fact, the resources he obtained from joining probably played the largest role in how he was able to join the College''s representative lineup at the nationals in only his second year. The crown prince and current captain of First Celestial Academy, Cassian Lysander, was also recruited in his second year."


    Likely seeing their calm faces, not realizing the difficulty in successfully being recruited, he elaborated. After all, they were recruited in their second-year as well, perhaps in their minds everyone was.


    "It is highly unusual for second-year students to be inducted. Most recruits enter after they''ve already graduated, and a single third or fourth year recruit may not be seen each year. Cassian Lysander and your captain were the only exceptions in recent decades... along with you."


    "However, all of those recruited so early have extraordinary abilities that warrant their early inclusion. While you''ve yet to reach the level of raw power typically required, your respective skills make you uniquely suited for various missions, and your contributions have already set you apart."


    He turned to Serena. "Serena Storm, your independent awakening and the legendary gift inherited from your founding ancestor make you an anomaly even among the Empire''s finest. Few in the Empire''s history have managed to accomplish what you have. You are a rare talent."


    Then his attention shifted to Kain, and for a moment, Darrow''s neutral facade wavered, replaced by something akin to curiosity and suspicion. "And you, Kain. Are quite unique..." He paused, his gaze sharpening. "Spiritual creatures like yours haven''t been seen since potentially the founding of the Empire."


    Kain met his gaze, his face betraying nothing, though internally his mind was not nearly so calm. The Vice Chancellor, and obviously several other higher-ups who reviews his profile for admittance, clearly had suspicions about his affinity. Thankfully though, it seems that they had no intention of exposing his affinity outright to others.


    "Not to mention, your name had already been proposed the previous year��although for a different department," Darrow continued. "Developing a new evolutionary form suitable for mass distribution is impressive enough. But the exclusive evolutionary forms you created for the Ashenclaw girl''s Salamander and your own Vespirae Queen demonstrate your potential as an evolutionary planner of the highest calibre."


    Kain couldn''t help but note that while the Vice Chancellor had mentioned the Salamander and Queen, he made no mention of Bea evolving. Meaning that they likely didn''t have too much information about her, or really even sense changes in her. ''That''s good��''


    He''d gotten used to Bea being his secret weapon unknown to others.


    "Originally," Darrow said, "you were slated to join Eclipse''s research division in a couple more years due to the talent you revealed in evolutionary planning. However, your field performance has far exceeded expectations, prompting us to accelerate your recruitment and allow you into the combat division��which also has the priority in resource distribution."


    After explaining, Darrow fell silent, maybe for the added suspense, to add gravity to his words, or potentially to give them time to digest all of the information��not that any of it was really needed.


    "And what happens now?" Serena asked, likely impatient at the prolonged silence.


    "Ahem��You''ve both passed your initial screening," Darrow replied. "From this moment on, you are provisional members of the Eclipse. Over the next year, you will undergo further evaluation and training. Your development will be prioritized��resources, techniques, and even mentorship opportunities with some of the Empire''s strongest. In return, you will be expected to serve the Empire with absolute loyalty, even putting your life on the line."


    ''Well with it all laid out like that, there was no reason to refuse��'' Kain had already made his decision after seeing the big cake drawn out by the Vice Chancellor.


    Serena spoke. "What are we expected to accomplish during the provisional period?"


    Darrow nodded, pleased with the question. "As provisional members, you are not yet full members, but you will be given more sensitive missions than you''re used to. Your ability to complete these tasks while maintaining the Eclipse''s secrecy will determine if you are granted full membership. However, unlike when you were secretly being assessed, you now will have access to some of the resources of Eclipse."


    "And if we fail?" Kain asked, his tone casual, though his golden eyes glinted with curiosity.


    "Failure is not tolerated lightly in the Eclipse," Darrow said, his gaze hardening. "But we do not throw away talent carelessly. If you fail due to circumstances beyond your control, you will likely be reassigned to roles more suited to your abilities. However, failure due to negligence or betrayal..." His voice trailed off ominously, the unspoken consequences clear.


    Both nodded their heads in understanding that they would probably be hunted down should they choose to give up or betray their assigned mission.


    "Good," Darrow said. "Now, one final piece of advice. As members of the Eclipse, you will often find yourselves operating in moral gray areas. Decisions made in the field will not always align with your personal ethics. Remember, the Empire''s survival is paramount. You must be prepared to make sacrifices, including sacrificing your humanity if necessary."


    ''That''s ominous��'' Kain''s jaw tightened, though he gave no outward sign of discomfort.


    Likely already sensing that they both had the intention of joining��not that they had a choice�� Darrow quickly finished his explanation. "This meeting is concluded. Take the next month to prepare yourselves. An orientation for the latest recruits will occur in one month at a secret location, we will arrange for your travel at that time."


    As Kain and Serena stood to leave, Darrow added one final remark, his tone almost casual. "Oh, and Kain. Even in Eclipse, it is best to keep the identity of your affinity as concealed as possible. It''s... unique. And such uniqueness often draws attention��both the kind you want and the kind you don''t."


    Kain nodded, his expression betraying nothing.


    --------------------------


    Not much changed in the month that they were told to prepare for the orientation, an orientation they both felt probably wouldn''t be too simple.


    When they told Gabriel that they may once again have to leave for a while, he immediately protested. He even insisted on forming a contract immediately before they left so that he was no longer bound to the confines of Kain''s laboratory and could leave with them.


    After all, Ferrin had been back twice, and there had so far been no issues in him, or his contract Nyx. S~ea??h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, after explaining that even if he left the laboratory, he wouldn''t be able to join them to prevent him from making any rash decisions, he calmed down��although his displeasure was still evident.


    Kain made a note to ask Bridge to drop by more frequently in their absence so that the young boy wouldn''t be too lonely.


    Before they knew it, the date of their orientation arrived.


    They weren''t given a specific date, only told that it would be in around "a month," and so they had already prepared themselves and stocked their space rings long in advance, making sure to always be wearing them.


    Good thing to, since one night Kain was suddenly woken from his sleep by a dark figure standing over his bed. However, before he screamed or lashed out, his eyes adjusted to the dark to recognize the figure grabbing him��Vice Chancellor Darrow.


    Pulled from his room to the hallway, he already saw Serena standing there awake and dressed in combat gear.


    ''Damn it��'' Kain thought looking down at his sleep attire that would offer him no protection.


    Unfortunately, Darrow didn''t seem to care in the slightest about his predicament and promptly dragged them both to the college''s teleportation array and shoved them both mercilessly in��without any time for them to prepare or equip themselves in preparation for what may be on the other side.

 Chapter 341 The Unknown

    The disorienting feeling of the teleportation array left Kain''s stomach churning, but thankfully his feet quickly met solid ground. He stumbled slightly, cursing under his breath.He quickly looked around to catch his bearings, but unfortunately, there was nothing to see��


    An oppressive darkness wrapped around Kain like a shroud, and he could barely see his hands in front of his face, much less the environment around him. He could vaguely tell that he was in a forest based on the air which was heavy and damp, carrying the faint scent of decaying leaves. But the thick canopy above him blocked out any light coming from the stars and moon, leaving the forest floor in a pitch-black gloom.


    "Well, this is just fantastic," Kain muttered under his breath, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the eerie silence.


    After enhancing his eyesight using his spiritual power, he turned in place, trying to find some sense of direction. But the gnarled, looming trees all looked the same, and he was unable to find a direction using the stars due to them being blocked from his vision.


    He quickly noticed that he was alone.


    "Serena?" Kain called, his voice echoing faintly. No response.


    ''Just great...I honestly should have expected this. Why would I expect a normal orientation in which we sit in chairs while listening to someone on the stage drone on and on for hours?''


    The sudden rustle of leaves to his left made his blood run cold. Without even bothering to look in the direction of the sound, he ducked and rolled away from the direction he felt a movement in the wind.


    Boom! S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Where Kain had been previously standing a dark figure resembling a whip struck the ground, leaving an indentation in the earth several feet deep.


    Kain followed the ''whip'' and realized that it was the tail of what appeared to be a black snake, almost indistinguishable from the shadows around it, aside from its glowing green eyes.


    It didn''t give him a chance to catch his breath and quickly struck again��this time with its head.


    "Seriously?!" Kain yelped, throwing himself to the side just in time to avoid the snake''s deadly bite. He hit the ground hard, the damp earth soaking into the pajamas he was still wearing.


    Frantically scrambling to his feet, he summoned his contracts, muttering under his breath, "A little warning would''ve been nice, Darrow. Or, you know, a chance to put on actual gear!"


    The snake coiled back, seemingly unfazed by the sudden appearance of many more spiritual creatures. If anything, catching sight of over 20 Vespid guards, all weaker than its blue-grade self, just made it excited. This kind human must have come specially to deliver a large meal to it! It''s cold-blooded heart was almost touched.


    It flicked its tongue, a move that Kain strongly suspected was done due to its appetite being aroused, and lunged forward, this time aiming for Aegis.


    The golem didn''t flinch. Instead, it raised one massive arm, a wall of jagged stone erupting from the ground in an instant. The snake collided with the barrier, its body rebounding with a sickening thud.


    However, its tough body appeared unharmed, although it did seem stunned by a green-grade creature being able to resist so strongly.


    Seizing the opportunity, the Vespid guards swarmed the snake. Their buzzing filled the air as they darted toward the serpent, their stingers glowing faintly as they rotated and stored up wind-attribute energy to increase the penetration power of their attacks.


    The snake snapped at the wasps, happy at their approach, but they were too quick. They jabbed at its scales repeatedly, leaving faint indentations, but a stinger had yet to lodge firmly into its flesh to drain its energy��although it did seem to cause it a small amount of pain.


    The snake hissed, a low, menacing sound that reverberated through the darkness, and its tail whipped through the air with startling speed. Several Vespid guards narrowly avoided the attack, but one was hit and instantly exploded into a shower of blood and limbs.


    However, while the snake was distracted, Bea was extending ts influence toward the snake. The creature''s movements faltered briefly, its glowing green eyes narrowing in confusion. But it was difficult to exert a strong degree of control in a short time on a creature one level higher.


    Managing to take control of the odd blue-grade creature during the previous laboratory mission in which they were weakened by Serena''s contract Balens, almost made him forget how difficult it usually was for Bea to fully control blue-grade spiritual creatures.


    The serpent''s body writhed violently, slamming into nearby trees as it tried to shake off the invisible invader. Its thrashing created a loud ruckus, but the moment of vulnerability was all Kain needed. "Aegis, now!"


    Aegis'' massive figure, which even dwarfed the blue-grade spiritual creature, moved with surprising speed for its size. It raised its massive arms high before bringing them down with crushing force��straight onto the head of the disoriented snake. The ground trembled at the huge force.


    At the same time that its struggles momentarily halted due to the shock of the blow, the ground trembled as jagged spires of rock erupted, forming a cage that pinned the snake in place.


    Sensing the constriction, its thrashing grew more desperate, but the stone bars held firm.


    Queen''s wings emitted a resonant hum, as a green-tinted wind blew that enhanced the attack power of the guards.


    The wasps formed a tight formation around the cage, and the increased power of their stingers created audible whistling sounds more closely resembling the launch of missiles.


    The serpent let out a final, furious hiss as the wasps'' attacks finally broke through. One stinger embedded itself deep, and with it came the draining surge of energy being siphoned away.


    Once there was the first stinger breaking through, there was a second, a third��


    The snake''s struggles weakened, its movements growing sluggish as its vitality was sapped.


    Aegis delivered the finishing blow. With one massive arm, it brought down a crushing strike. With its vitality drained, and the blow occurring in the same spot as before, the snake''s skull was shattered. The serpent''s glowing green eyes dimmed, and its body went limp, slumping to the forest floor.


    The forest fell eerily silent once again, save for the faint hum of Queen''s wings and the rustle of Aegis''s movements as it retreated.


    However, Kain knew that this was momentary. He quickly extracted what he could from the corpse before fleeing as far away as possible. He had no idea where he was and there could very well be strong creatures drawn to their location��hungry and drawn by the thick scent of blood.

 Chapter 342 North?

    Using the Vespid guards to scout ahead, Kain eventually found a relatively clear patch of ground encircled by trees. Directing Aegis to construct a makeshift stone barrier around the area, he finally allowed himself a moment to breathe. The barrier wasn''t particularly thick, but it would provide him some measure of protection and made him feel much more secure while changing his attire.Stripping out of his damp, dirt-covered pyjamas, he changed his lightweight but durable armour. Finally dressed and feeling more prepared, he let out a breath of relief.


    ''Okay, let''s think.'' Kain rubbed his temples, trying to recall any information the Vice Chancellor had given before unceremoniously shoving him into the teleportation array. Sear?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He barely recalled him stating to "head North." He pulled a standard compass from his space ring, but the dial was spinning wildly the moment he held it up. No matter how he turned it, the needle continued its erratic movements, clearly influenced by something that influenced the magnetic field in the area.


    "Just my luck��," Kain muttered, shoving it back into his space ring with frustration.


    He recalled seeing a compass provided in the System Shop that, instead of North, would always point toward the destination the user sought. However, at the time it appeared, he''d been low on points and hadn''t seen the need for it. Now, that decision was biting him in the ass.


    ''Okay, Plan B.'' Kain directed one of his Vespid guards to carry him toward the treetops. He recalled learning in a lecture about the different constellations that could be used to find direction.


    As they ascended to be among the branches of the massive trees, an oppressive atmosphere grew. Just before his head broke through the canopy, an unsettling instinct from his subconscious tickled his mind.


    "Wait." He halted the Vespid carrying him, choosing to trust his instincts.


    Kain directed another Vespid guard to fly above the canopy. It did so without hesitation, buzzing eagerly, before obeying the command.


    The moment it breached the top of the canopy, a deafening crack split the air, followed by a dull thud as the guard''s lifeless body crashed to the forest floor. Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He hadn''t even seen what had killed it��just a faint blur of movement, if that.


    "What the...?" His voice trailed off as his blood ran cold. Whatever had attacked was fast, precise, and overwhelmingly powerful. The guard hadn''t stood a chance. In fact, even if all of his spiritual creatures worked together, he doubted they''d stand a chance


    ''That had to be at least Indigo grade.'' The realization sent a shiver down his spine. Even in the best of circumstances, an high-level spiritual creature would be able to easily kill him, and here, in this unfamiliar and hostile forest, it might as well be a death sentence.


    The oppressive silence that followed was deafening, and for a moment, Kain stood frozen in shock. ''Where the heck is this place?!''


    He quickly retreated, ordering his remaining Vespid guards to keep a much lower flight path. The snake earlier had been bad enough, but this? This was on an entirely different level. Whatever was above the canopy wasn''t something he wanted to encounter.


    ''North.'' Kain gritted his teeth, the word echoing in his mind. He would have to find a way to determine the direction without looking at the constellations himself.


    Thinking of Bea, he decided to find a spiritual creature that was��expendable.


    In the brief moment before the controlled creature''s inevitable death, Kain hoped to glimpse the night sky through Bea. It wasn''t foolproof, and there was a chance the death would be over too quickly to even see the necessary constellations, but it was the best he could think of under the circumstances.


    He directed the Vespid guards to fan out in search of potential targets, and within minutes, they returned, buzzing softly as they led him toward a creature that appeared to be resting in a small clearing.


    The target was a bird-like spiritual creature with dark plumage that blended seamlessly into the shadows of the forest and was resting on one of the lower branches of the forest, just a few feet above the ground.


    Its ability to fly suggested that it was a suitable target for his plan, but its spiritual energy signature was blue-grade. That made it potentially challenging for Bea to control.


    Bea''s tendrils snaked through the air, invisible to the naked eye, and latched onto the bird''s mind. The creature stiffened slightly, its glowing eyes narrowing in confusion as it fought against the foreign presence invading its thoughts.


    The bird twitched and flapped its wings once, twice, before finally freezing in place. Its resistance was strong, but Bea didn''t have much trouble, like with the previous snake, stopping and confusing it briefly.


    "Now, get it airborne," Kain commanded softly.


    The bird''s wings unfurled and gave a brief twitch. But the moment Bea tried to direct it toward the treetops, the creature''s survival instincts kicked in with ferocious intensity.


    It let out a piercing screech, thrashing violently as it resisted Bea''s influence. Despite her best efforts, the bird refused to rise higher than a few feet off the ground.


    "Damn it," Kain hissed under his breath, frustration mounting. Bea''s control was powerful, but survival instincts, especially in ones stronger than her, often made them harder to manipulate. The bird broke free of Bea''s hold entirely, flapping away into the darkness, instead of choosing to stay and fight them.


    This pattern repeated itself several times. Each creature the Vespid guards located��whether it was a small mammal, an insect, or another bird��fought tooth and nail against Bea''s attempts to send them skyward. Even with Bea''s abilities stalling their movements, their instincts to avoid rising above the canopy were unshakable.


    Kain was now extremely exhausted from the several battles and had not much results to speak of.


    It''s as though fear of flying above the trees had been engrained into every creature of this forest. But the only way to override these instincts would be to either find a green-grade spiritual creature, which they surprisingly haven''t come across yet, or to give Bea a boost, but the amount of refills for spiritual power Kain had was limited, and he didn''t want to use them so quickly in case it took a long time and many battles to reach his needed destination.


    ''Would sacrificing one of the guards be a better payoff?''


    But Kain was reluctant to reduce his strength like that.


    Suddenly a loud rustle appeared close to his side, only a couple feet away form him


    ''Not again��''

 Chapter 343 Repeated Danger

    Kain''s heart skipped a beat in his chest as he stared at the rustling bushes, his mind getting ready for yet another battle.The oppressive silence of the forest was broken by a low, guttural growl that seemed to reverberate through his very bones. Emerging from the shadows was a massive tiger-like spiritual creature, its fur blazing with flickering orange flames. Its piercing amber eyes locked onto Kain, and the ground beneath it left scorched earth in the shape of a paw print with every step.


    Based on the spiritual power and pressure it emitted, it was stronger than the snake Kain had first come across, as well as all of the other creatures he''d fought so far. But it was thankfully still a blue-grade spiritual creature��otherwise this battle would be hopeless.


    "Aegis!" Kain shouted, his golem springing to action. The massive creature slammed its arms into the ground, summoning a barrier of stone between Kain and the tiger. The tiger didn''t even hesitate, its flaming claws tearing through the rock that had previously withstood blows form other blue-grade spiritual creatures, with ease; scattering molten shards across the clearing.


    The tiger lunged again, but this time the Vespid guards took action, their formation tightening as they released a flurry of stingers toward the tiger. Though many of the projectiles burned to ash before making contact, a few struck true, forcing the beast to reel back slightly away from Kain.


    He took the opportunity to distance himself and ran in the direction of Aegis, while wals of stone formed behind him as cover.


    Invisible mental threads controlled by Bea snaked toward the tiger, probing its mind. However, the creature''s fiery spiritual energy burned through Bea''s threads with alarming speed. Threads that usually couldn''t be touched by most attacks. Indicating that the fire of this tiger is far from normal.


    The Vespid guards launched a flurry of stingers at it again, and Kain noticed that when boosted by Queen, and wrapped with a thin layer of life-attribute energy, the odd stinger is able to make it through and land a hit.


    In the next series of attacks, each stinger carried one of Bea''s splits, and thankfully one was able to finally make contact after its body was protected from the heat by the stinger that had shortly disintegrated after it made contact. Unfortunately, Bea could only slow its movements, not control it fully��but that still helped greatly.


    Aegis slammed its massive fists into the ground, sending shockwaves toward the tiger. The earth trembled as jagged spikes erupted, encircling the beast and briefly pinning it in place. sea??h th�� Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Enraged, the tiger let out another deafening roar, its flames intensifying. With a burst of power, it melted the stone spires and leapt toward Aegis, its claws carving deep gouges into his rock hard body.


    Finally, Kain decided to use one of his boosts of the day, thankful that he hadn''t used any yet today.


    He was about to use the boost on Bea so she could exert better control, but at the last minute instead chose to use it on Queen, allowing her to strengthen all of the guards to an even greater degree. For added measure, Kain intentionally had Queen stand too close to the line of fire during one of the tiger''s attacks to trigger the Berserk state of her guards��a state Kain rarely used due to the decrease in their intelligence and inability to follow orders.


    However, what he needed now was for them to just bombard the tiger crazily��no elaborate planning needed. With the several boosts stacked on top of one another, the over 20 Vespid guards were now not much different from a weaker blue-grade spiritual creature. While individually they were still much weaker than the tiger, they made up for it in quantity.


    With numerous boosts, the Vespid guards became a relentless force. Their wings buzzed with an almost deafening intensity, and they swarmed the flaming tiger with reckless abandon. Stingers, now glowing with enhanced power, peppered the creature''s blazing fur, piercing through its defences more effectively than before.


    The tiger snarled, whipping its tail of flame through the swarm, but the guards pressed on undeterred. One after another, they launched their stingers, and even themselves occasionally at the tiger with reckless abandon, some sacrificing their lives as the intense heat consumed them.


    ''Sigh. This is why I rarely activate this berserk skill. Them launching their bodies at that tiger is like an egg hitting a rock. Complete suicide.''


    Taking advantage of the chaos, Kain directed Aegis to launch another wave of jagged stone spikes. A series of sharp pillars erupted around the tiger, restricting its movements further.


    The tiger''s flames surged in response, its body radiating an oppressive heat that even Kain, standing a fair distance away, could feel searing his skin. With a guttural roar, it unleashed a devastating shockwave of fire, incinerating several of the guards and shattering the stone prison around it.


    However, it just seemed like a final struggle. Bea, sensing that it was getting drained of energy, was able to exert slightly more control and prevent it from moving around as much��turning the tiger into a sitting duck.


    After a few more rounds of attacks the tiger stumbled, its fiery aura flickering erratically. Then guards launched their final assault, their attacks hitting with devastating precision at its vital areas.


    The tiger let out one last furious roar before collapsing to the ground. Its flames sputtered and dimmed as its life force drained away. Kain quickly approached the corpse upon confirming its death using the system notification and Bea, and began to skin its high quality and take the parts most valuable.


    Kain finally noticed that despite the ever-present darkness, he could see quite well to perform his task.


    The faint scent of charred wood drew his attention, and Kain turned to see that the tiger''s final fiery outburst had set several trees ablaze��which had been providing him with light. Their thick trunks, now weakened, groaned under their weight before collapsing to the ground with thunderous crashes.


    Through the newly opened gap in the canopy, Kain finally glimpsed the night sky. The stars shone brightly above, their constellations glimmering like ancient guides. He immediately searched for a familiar pattern and quickly spotted the Northern Shield��a distinct constellation composed of seven stars arranged in a graceful spiral, with a bright star at its core.


    It resembles the spiral of a snail shell, but likely Northern Shell or Northern Snail didn''t have the same ring to it, and so it was named the much more elegant Northern Shield due to its appearance and its ability to act as a marker for the northern direction for travellers.


    "There," he muttered to himself, his eyes locking onto the constellation that always pointed North. "Looks like I don''t have to keep wandering around aimlessly." Relief flooded him, but it was short-lived.


    A sudden, bone-chilling sensation washed over him, freezing him in place. It was a presence unlike anything he''d encountered before��cold, oppressive, and suffocating. It snaked up his spine, a primal warning that screamed one thing: Run.

 Chapter 344 Threads of Destiny?

    Without hesitation, Kain bolted in a direction his instincts directed, abandoning all thought of heading North. "Guard! Carry me!" he barked, leaping onto one of the surviving Vespids.Thankfully, its boosts provided by Queen were still active, and the berserk state had worn off upon the tiger''s defeat, meaning that its mind was restored and able to take direction.


    He recalled Aegis and Bea into his star space and clung tightly to the Vespid guard as it surged forward, its wings beating furiously.


    A deafening roar echoed from behind him, the sound so powerful it shook the trees, the earth��the very air itself even.


    The crackling sound of flames that had engulfed the small area of the forest suddenly ceased, snuffed out in an instant, and the oppressive presence grew fainter as the Vespid guard carried him farther away.


    Kain didn''t stop until the feeling completely vanished. Only then did he command the guard to land, his heart still pounding in his chest.


    He leaned against a tree, trying to steady his breathing.


    However, upon calming down, his thoughts were a whirlwind of confusion and frustration.


    "I went West��" he muttered, his eyes narrowing. He''d been so focused on fleeing that he hadn''t noticed until now. "Why didn''t I run North?" Then he could have at least made some progress in heading to his destination.


    He couldn''t even sense where the creature was coming from, heading North should have been as good an option as West. It was strange that his body didn''t move as he''d expected�� S��ar?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he ruminated over his failure, he caught sight of faint strings of light at the corners of his vision. The threads shimmered and twisted in a way that was both mesmerizing and unsettling, disappearing whenever he tried to focus on them directly.


    His breath hitched. Threads of Destiny.


    The spiritual skill he''d exchanged points for long ago as one of his rewards for representing the school, was finally showing signs of progress.


    It had been months since he''d received the skill, but hadn''t seen any indication that he was close to success��until now.


    The first level of the skill, which allowed the user to sense the threads of fate, was likely finally learned during the outbreak of his potential in this life-or-death situation. Warning him of danger or highlighting opportunities.


    ''That''s why I fled West,'' Kain realized. ''The threads must''ve guided me toward the safest direction. If I''d gone North��perhaps I wouldn''t be here now.''


    That aura emitted from it was likely even beyond indigo-grade. He would have had no chance of survival if they were to have met.


    He shuddered, not wanting to dwell on what might have happened. For now, his priority was clear: make his way North. Thankfully, with the spiritual skill Threads of Destiny finally preliminarily learned, that task got a whole lot safer.


    Focusing on the shimmering threads at the edge of his vision, he tried to get a handle on sensing them more accurately.


    They flickered in and out of sight like flashes of light and were difficult to focus on, weaving an intricate web that seemed to stretch endlessly into the darkness.


    He couldn''t yet make out the full meaning of their colours, but he didn''t need to��he chose to trust his instincts, which had proven much more reliable the last few minutes since the skill activated.


    Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Kain recalled the location of the Northern Shield constellation he had glimpsed through the canopy earlier.


    Thankfully, since he''d headed West without taking any turns, he was pretty easily able to re-orient himself to the North.


    "Let''s move," he murmured, climbing back onto the Vespid guard and directing it forward. "Fly low, and keep quiet."


    He had only 15 guards remaining after the last attack, but they were still enough to surround the guards carrying him and provide a sense of security.


    The buzzing of the guard''s wings was muted as it skimmed just above the forest floor, weaving between the gnarled roots and dense undergrowth.


    Kain kept his eyes on the threads coming off from the Vespid Guards at the corners of his vision, noticing how they shimmered more brightly when he veered slightly toward a direction that they ultimately didn''t get ambushed on. The only time the threads dimmed was when they were attacked by a massive rodent-like spiritual creature lurking beneath the ground.


    It had managed to instantly kill a guard after leaping from the earth and would have killed more had Kain not seen the rapidly dimming threads and told them to scatter in time.


    It wasn''t a battle as difficult as the tiger, but after defeating it, instead of security, he saw that the light of the threads around him were continuing to dim, indicating that company would likely be joining them soon if they continued to stay. Kain didn''t bother to remove any parts from his kill and quickly left the area.


    Thankfully, as they travelled, the threads of the guards grew brighter, indicating that the danger had passed.


    The second test of the skill came not long after. A faint ripple in the threads caught his attention, and he tugged on the guard''s antenna, signalling it to stop. Moments later, a shadow passed silently in front of them, its form obscured by the dense foliage.


    Kain''s breath hitched as he caught a glimpse of the creature��a panther-like spiritual beast with glowing red eyes, its sleek body blending seamlessly with the darkness.


    Its spiritual power was released freely to ward off any creatures from its territory, indicating it was indigo-grade. Not something he could face and survive currently.


    The panther prowled away without noticing them, and the threads shimmered faintly in approval as Kain directed the guard to take a detour.


    As they pressed on, Kain noticed other areas where the threads'' played a role aside from avoiding spiritual creatures. At one point, the threads dimmed slightly when he veered left, urging him to adjust his course to the right. Moments later, he saw why��a nearly invisible array of spider threads were hidden within the vegetation to his left, a trap that would have been invisible to him in this dim lighting, had he not been warned.


    The journey was slow and fraught with tension, but the threads of light never steered him wrong. When he finally felt safe enough to land and give his Vespid guard a moment''s rest, Kain took stock of his surroundings.


    Using what he''d learned in his Wilderness Survival Course, Kain was able to notice some odd features of the surrounding environment.


    At first glance, it appeared unassuming, but he noticed several points that looked as though it was fraught with human activity and those tracks were being intentionally concealed.


    That gave him hope. If a lot of humans were passing this point��that meant he was close.

 Chapter 345 Both Paths Lead to Death

    The forest opened up gradually as Kain moved further north, the signs of human activity becoming more apparent as he got closer and closer to what he assumed was his destination.Broken branches, faintly worn paths, and even occasional scraps of fabric snagged on bushes hinted that there were several others who had passed this way before him. The canopy began to thin slightly, allowing slivers of moonlight to illuminate his surroundings until he didn''t even need to exhaust his spiritual power to keep his enhanced sight active, he could see the surroundings clearly without it.


    After what felt like hours of being trapped with enemies all around, Kain finally reached a clearing not filled with only trees��the edge of a large body of water.


    The stillness of its surface mirrored the night sky above, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he could see the stars and moon above clearly.


    High above, a dense, almost unnaturally white cloud hung in the air above the forest, its edges shimmering faintly in the moonlight. Something about it seemed off��too heavy, too opaque to be a normal cloud.


    As Kain squinted at it, he soon saw movement from within it.


    A massive, winged creature suddenly emerged from the cloud, diving toward the forest with incredible speed.


    Its form was an uncanny blend of a pterodactyl and a falcon. Its body was sleek and muscular, covered in metallic feathers that glimmered faintly in the moonlight.


    It had a long, pointed beak with serrated edges like shard teeth, and its talons were razor-sharp, designed to shred its prey in seconds.


    A wide wingspan carried it effortlessly through the air, and every time it beat its wings a faint metallic hum like a tuning fork would echo through the trees below.


    The creature flew toward the forest canopy, its sharp eyes scanning the foliage below. Without warning, it struck��snatching an unfortunate bat-like creature from just above the leaves. It ascended back toward the dense cloud with its prey, disappearing from Kain''s sight.


    That "cloud" clearly wasn''t natural. It was probably a nest, filled with those terrifying creatures. As he watched, more of the feathered predators emerged and repeated the same hunting process, their movements swift and practiced, clearly it was the usual hunting method.


    Most were undoubtedly indigo-grade, though the occasional one radiated an overwhelming aura that was likely belonging to a violet-grade spiritual creature.


    "So that''s why flying above the canopy is suicidal," he muttered. Most powerful spiritual creatures take a certain area as their territory. This arrogant clan of birds took the entire sky above this forest to be its territory, and any that dared to fly too high would be mercilessly targeted.


    And seeing how quickly they managed to target anything the second it got even slightly close to the tree tops, Kain was suddenly glad for meeting that fire-attribute tiger, even though it ended up luring an extremely powerful spiritual creature.


    Even if Kain had managed to find a weaker creature for Bea to control, based on the swift timing in which they hunt anything remotely close to entering their ''territory'' it was entirely possible that whatever creature they controlled would be killed before it could even properly locate the Northern Shield constellation��then all that time finding a creature for Bea to control would have been wasted.


    A thunderous roar shook the air as a massive, golden-furred bear emerged from the forest, its body crackling with arcs of electricity, as it was carried by an even larger winged creature. Both the bear and the winged creature were likely violet-grade, equivalent to an 8-star beast-tamer.


    The bear roared in fury, releasing a pulse of electricity that caused the creature holding it to falter, but it was only for a moment, and its grip on the bear did not slacken.


    Another of the winged predators dove towards the bear swinging its limbs around in the air, its serrated beak piercing the bear''s neck. Blood sprayed in an arc as the bear''s struggles weakened. Working in perfect coordination, the birds lifted the massive beast into the air, their claws and beaks ripping flesh from bone with a horrifying swiftness.


    Kain could only watch in stunned silence as the once-mighty bear was reduced to a gruesome bloody mist.


    Tearing his gaze from the sky, Kain focused on the massive body of water before him. Far in the distance, he could see what appeared to be a wall, its silhouette faint but unmistakable.


    If he could see it from this distance, it had to be enormous, and the water surrounding it seemed to act as a natural moat.


    "That has to be it," Kain said softly, a flicker of hope sparking in his chest. That was most likely his destination. Now he just had to cross the water. Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain finally felt relieved that this trial seemed to be almost over. However, as if to put a damper on his enthusiasm, the water''s surface rippled. The movement was faint at first, then grew more pronounced as something massive shifted beneath the surface. A chill ran down Kain''s spine as an overwhelming sense of danger washed over him.


    He froze mid-step, his instincts and the almost pitch-black Threads of Destiny at the edges of his vision were signalling danger.


    Kain squinted, his gaze locked on the water. He couldn''t make out the creature beneath, but the faint outlines of a serpentine form, enormous in size, were visible just beneath the surface.


    Just a slight leakage of its aura above the water alone was enough to confirm it was at least indigo-grade, if not higher.


    "Of course," Kain groaned, taking a step back. "Because this orientation wasn''t hard enough already."


    He clenched his fists, frustration bubbling within him. The air above was dominated by predatory flyers, the water below teemed with an unknown aquatic menace, and the only way forward was blocked.


    "How the heck am I supposed to cross this?" Kain muttered, his mind racing for solutions.


    If he flew above the water he''d be a target to those things above with no trees as cover, plus the creatures within the water may just choose to leap up and attack him from below.


    However�� looking at the massive shadow swimming beneath the water''s surface. He was also very reluctant to enter the water as well.


    There was no clear path, no easy answer.

 Chapter 346 Battle Between Wings and Fins

    Thinking again of the numerous creatures above and the fate of that bear, Kain ruled out flying above the water.If he did so, he''d likely be the target for those flying creatures, as well as whatever was within the water.


    Both of them could easily kill him, but at least within the water he''d only have to worry about one.


    He recalled how ages ago, he''d obtained a spiritual plant that would allow him to breathe underwater for a period of time when he was spinning the Selective Wheel of Fortune provided by the System that exclusively provided spiritual plants and seeds.


    Every week, he''d also make sure to visit the System Shop whenever it refreshed and purchase anything that seemed as though it would be helpful to him in the future.


    Although certain useful objects likely slipped through the cracks��like the true compass which always pointed to your destination�� that would have come in handy now or in the future, he''d also built up quite a stash of unique objects that may help him now.


    Already deciding to use the Aetheric Breath Orchid which he''d kept in storage this entire time, he looked at what other tools he had at his disposal to swim across the water with his head and all of his limbs intact.


    Kain rummaged through his space ring and also asked his lab assistant Vera for a catalogue of all of the objects he''d stored in the lab.


    Many of the objects he''d exchanged for from the System had been chosen for their potential usefulness in situations just like this��though even he couldn''t have predicted something quite as ridiculous as swimming across a predator-infested moat with an indigo-grade monster lurking beneath the surface.


    The Aetheric Breath Orchid was carefully removed first. Its translucent petals glowed faintly in the dark, and its roots still exuded a soft, ethereal mist. Crushing a single petal between his teeth would allow him to breathe underwater for up to an hour. While that didn''t guarantee safety, it at least solved one immediate problem.


    Setting the orchid aside, Kain turned his attention to other listed objects in the catalogue proved by Vera. The description for a small vial caught his eye:


    "Murkveil Oil, capable of temporarily concealing its user''s spiritual presence. Most effective for spiritual creatures at and below indigo-grade."


    He wasn''t sure how effective the oil would be within the water, especially since their may be other spiritual creatures higher than indigo-grade underneath, but anything that reduced the odds of detection was worth trying.


    Finally, his attention turned to a set of Aqua-Fin Bands, lightweight metal rings he had exchanged on a whim.


    Once activated, they would attach to the wrists and ankles, allowing the user to swim much faster than normal. He hadn''t tested them yet, but if they worked as described by the system, they could mean the difference between life and death. Even if something does detect him, if he swims fast enough they wouldn''t be able to catch him.


    When he almost finished going through everything he owned, one final object he''d exchanged from the System came to mind.


    Kain removed a small, glowing white fruit encased in a protective crystal shell.


    The Lurefruit emitted an alluring fragrance even through its container. It was said to be irresistible to most spiritual creatures, drawing them in like moths to a flame.


    There was always a chance that he''d catch the eye of a spiritual creature beneath the water above indigo-grade. And if he did, then whether it''s the oil to conceal his presence, or the bands to increase his speed��they''d all be useless.


    Therefore, to increase the safety of his journey, he''d need to make sure that the creatures in the water were distracted by something else. S��arch* The ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Without the fruit even being removed from its casing yet, the water before him began to churn violently, the surface breaking as dark shapes swirled beneath, their movements frantic and aggressive.


    Moreover, activity erupted in the cloud above, which Kain hadn''t expected but welcomed. The metallic feathered birds shrieked, and one dove sharply toward the water as though hunting prey, only to swoop back up and circle the area after a massive fish-like head filled with thousands of needle-like teeth rose to meet it, they were both clearly stimulated by the fruit''s presence, trying to locate its exact location.


    Kain handed the encased fruit to a Vespid guard who would have to act as the sacrifice. The poor creature buzzed solemnly as though sensing its imminent doom��however, the fearless guards never shied away from death, even when it was certain.


    Kain smeared some of the Murkveil Oil on the guard to buy it a few extra seconds, and directed it to fly above the water as far from Kain''s location as possible before opening the container and the guard did as Kain directed.


    The guard didn''t hesitate to follow the command, darting toward the designated area with the encased fruit held firmly between four of its six legs.


    It didn''t make it far.


    Even before the Vespid guard neared the center of the water and opened the container, chaos erupted.


    An aquatic monster beneath surged upward, breaking the surface with terrifying speed as it snapped its massive jaws around the fruit and the Vespid in a single bite. Simultaneously, several of the skyborne predators dove toward the water, talons outstretched, shrieking in fury.


    What followed was a storm of violence. Spiritual creatures from the water, and sky met, tearing into each other with wild abandon. Blood sprayed in every direction, staining the water crimson as roars, screeches, and splashes filled the air.


    Kain watched the carnage for a brief moment, a Thread of Destiny at the corner of his vision emitted a soft glow��not exceptionally bright but a huge improvement over the pitch black it was before.


    Realizing this signalled that the time had come to take advantage of the opportunity he''d created, without hesitation, he crushed the Aetheric Breath Orchid petal between his teeth, applied the Murkveil Oil, and activated the Aqua-Fin Bands.


    As the creatures tore at each other apart in a berserk frenzy, Kain slipped into the water on the opposite side of the chaos, his form disappearing beneath the surface with barely a ripple.

 Chapter 347 First High-Level Opponent

    As Kain glided through the water, propelled by the Aqua-Fin Bands, he was struck by the surreal beauty surrounding him.Luminescent plants in shades of blue, green, and violet swayed gently in the currents, their glow casting an ethereal light over the underwater terrain.


    Long, ribbon-like plants��perhaps algae�� spiraled upward from the lakebed, their tips adorned with shimmering orbs that pulsed like heartbeats.


    Tower-like structures made of coral formed intricate patterns that looked almost deliberate, as if crafted by some unseen hand.


    Tiny glowing particles emitted from some bioluminescent plants floated lazily in the water, adding to the dreamlike ambiance.


    However, despite the beautiful environment, it was completely devoid of aquatic spiritual creatures making the surroundings quite dead. The eerie silence broken only by the faint hum of his bands cutting through the water.


    The chaos he''d left behind with the lurefruit seemed to have drawn away most of the spiritual creatures in the lake, especially now that it had practically devolved into a battle of pride between the spiritual creatures in the sky and those in the water.


    or a brief moment, Kain allowed himself to relax, his focus fixed on the center of the lake in the distance that marked his destination.


    Halfway to his goal, the tranquillity shattered. A sudden, oppressive presence surged through the water, sending a chill down Kain''s spine.


    He stopped abruptly, his light brown eyes darting around for the source of the disturbance. The Threads of Destiny at the edge of his vision pulsed weakly, but their dim light offered little comfort. However, they weren''t completely pitch-black, indicating that this wasn''t a sure-death situation.


    The creature appeared as a shadow at first, emerging slowly from behind a towering coral spire. It was massive, its serpentine body covered in dark, purple scales that shimmered faintly in the dim light.


    Its head was elongated and angular, with six glowing cyan eyes arranged symmetrically, each one radiating an eerie intelligence. Tendrils extended from its jawline, tipped with glowing light blue orbs.


    Its fins were tattered and torn, trailing ribbons of flesh, but the sharp, jagged spines along its back with chunks of blood and tissue caught between them showed that it didn''t passively take a beating from whatever hurt it.


    Despite its injuries, the sheer pressure of its aura was suffocating.


    ''Definitely indigo-grade and based on the feedback from Bea, it also is of the mental-attribute!'' Kain thought depressedly while glaring at the thread he''d been using to guide himself. It still had weak flickers of light despite the desperate situation, like it wasn''t caring about the horrible enemy before him at all!


    However, Kain quickly realized that the pressure it emitted wasn''t as sharp or overbearing as other indigo-grade creatures he had encountered. The creature''s movements were slower, its body carrying a distinct stiffness. It was heavily injured, and likely starving��a dangerous combination.


    Kain''s heart sank as he pieced together its intent. This intelligent predator had likely avoided the chaos of the lurefruit due to its injuries and higher intelligence from the mental-attribute, conserving its strength while waiting for easier prey. And now, it had found Kain, who it clearly saw as a meal that had conveniently delivered itself right to its door.


    "Great. Just my luck," Kain muttered under his breath, the water distorting his voice. His mind raced as the beast moved closer, its unblinking eyes locking onto him.


    Most of his spiritual creatures weren''t effective combatants under the water, and so he''d recalled all of them, except for Bea. However, the two-level gap in strength between the two sides was enormous, not to mention that the target also having the mental-attribute would make it much more resistant to anything Bea attempted.


    The serpentine creature''s six glowing cyan eyes locked onto Kain, the very water undulated as it it unleashed a pulse of mental energy.


    The attack struck with the force of a tidal wave, bypassing the physical defences Kain could muster and targeting his mind directly. A searing pain lanced through his skull, his vision momentarily blurring as disorienting whispers filled his ears.


    He was practically incapacitated immediately, despite the fact that he has a strong resistance to mental-attribute skills due to the feedback he''s received from Bea over the years. If it were someone without a mental-attribute contract or suitable equipment, they may have become instantly braindead.


    His instincts screamed at him to retreat, but the creature lunged forward, its jagged fins slicing through the water with deceptive speed. Kain barely managed to regain enough of his consciousness to twist out of its path, the sharp edges of its spines grazing his armor and sending him spiralling through the water.


    Thankfully, he wasn''t alone.


    Hundreds, if not thousands of mental energy threads, practically invisible under the water surged from Bea, attempting to influence the creature''s mind in an attempt to slow it down.


    The predator recoiled, its glowing eyes narrowing in annoyance, but the resistance was immediate and intense. Its mental energy surged through its body and surroundings like a tidal wave, cutting through Bea''s threads with ease and also crushing all of the splits that had managed to gain entry into its body.


    Seeing the gap in strength, Kain made a snap decision. He activated his spiritual skill, channelling every drop of his remaining energy into Bea, plus the complete spiritual from the one-and-a-half instant refills he had remaining from his enchanted equipment.


    This was the first time he''d attempted to send over more than a refill''s worth of spiritual energy into Bea to boost her abilities, and the effect was immediate.


    Bea''s presence flared with newfound power, making her microscopic presence even faintly detectable by others other than Kain, due to her not being able to restrain all of the energy. Even Bea seemed overwhelmed by the sudden influx.


    Through their bond, Kain was able to detect that while she felt strained and bloated, it was manageable, with no signs of her exploding or suffering permanent irreparable harm.


    ''Game on!'' Kain thought. He''d long wanted to test himself against an indigo-grade spiritual creature, and a heavily injured one would make the perfect opponent.


    S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 348 First High-Level Opponent (2)

    Bea''s threads surged forward with renewed strength, more numerous than ever before.They lashed out like ethereal whips, completely unavoidable, and much more resistant to the cutting of the serpent. Finally, a few managed to make contact, snaking into its mind.


    The creature roared in rage, its body convulsing violently as it thrashed against the intrusion. The water churned around them, sending a shockwave rippling outward.


    This time, Bea''s threads didn''t disintegrate upon entry into its body.


    Bolstered by the massive influx of spiritual energy and the boost it provided to their strength, they wormed their way deeper into the creature''s psyche, seeking to exploit its injuries and momentary disorientation.


    Kain could feel the strain through their bond, Bea''s consciousness pressing against a barrier far stronger than any they had encountered before.


    The creature, however, was far from helpless.


    It retaliated with another pulse of mental energy, the sheer force of which sent Kain reeling backward. His head pounded as disorienting whispers flooded his mind, faint glimpses of the serpent''s memories bleeding into his thoughts��visions of a brutal fight, its attacker''s visage obscured but its aura unmistakably violet-grade. The serpent''s pain and desperation were overwhelming, but its hunger and rage burned brighter.


    The memories were so vivid, that Kain almost got consumed by them, thinking of himself as this aquatic serpent.


    During the period of Kain''s helplessness, the serpent moved rapidly toward him with its massive, fang-filled jaw stretched open��wanting to swallow him in one bite.


    Seeing Kain''s plight, Bea redoubled her efforts, her threads shifting from direct control to creating a web of confusion. They tugged at the serpent''s instincts, making it hesitate in its movements and misjudge Kain''s position.


    Coming to his senses, Kain kicked his legs and darted to the side, narrowly avoiding a vicious swipe of the serpent''s serrated fins as it passed him by.


    The orbs at the end of the whisker-like tendrils coming off of its face glowed ominously, releasing cyan blades that hurtled toward him. Clearly, although the mental-attribute was dominant, it had a sub water-attribute as well.


    Kain twisted and turned, barely avoiding the attack as it passed dangerously close, the residual energy cutting against his armour and into his skin.


    "Damn it," Kain muttered, his breaths coming in ragged gasps. Even with Bea''s enhancements, this was far from a fair fight.


    Kain''s mind raced as he dodged a lash from the serpent''s tail as it spun around to meet him again. The creature was relentless, its massive form moving with surprising agility despite its injuries. Each attack sent shockwaves through the water, letting Kain know that if his dodging were even a fraction of a second off, he''d probably be dismembered.


    Thankfully, Bea gave up on controlling it and focused on shifting its senses slightly, causing it to inaccurately gauge Kain''s location several times.


    However, even with the massive boost to her abilities, Kain could feel the strain through their bond, a constant reminder of the massive gap between their efforts and the serpent''s raw power. He needed a strategy to exploit its injuries and end the fight before both he and Bea were overwhelmed.


    The serpent lunged again, its glowing cyan eyes locking onto Kain with predatory intent. He dove downward, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaws as they closed with a deafening crash, sending shards of broken coral scattering through the water.


    Kain noted that, despite the gap in power and it being a mental-attribute spiritual creature, it keeps trying to crush Kain physically, rather than with its skills. As a creature with the mental-attribute, that''s practically giving up its greatest advantage to instead stubbornly try to kill them with its weakness.


    Yes, it''s physically powerful in comparison to the squishy Kain and Bea, but compared to most indigo-grade spiritual creatures, its physique is lackluster.


    Kain''s gaze darted to the jagged spines along its back where some of the worst of its injuries were. Each spine was pulsing faintly with spiritual energy. An idea began to form in his mind.


    He also noticed that the orbs at the end of its whiskers also seemed to flicker unstably.


    Perhaps this creature had a unique energy circuit, that flowed through its spines as well as those orbs, that were damaged in the previous fight? Making it difficult for it to exert any moves that consume spiritual power.


    ''Bea,'' Kain called through their bond, his thoughts sharp and focused. ''See if there''s a way to disrupt the flow of energy to its spines as you disrupted its senses. If we can destabilize it enough, I might have a shot.''


    Bea did as directed, although manipulating the flow of spiritual power was a new task for her, she barely managed to accomplish it by subtly manipulating the serpent''s own control over its energy, gradually having it unconsciously siphon off much of its energy elsewhere in its body.


    The glow of the spine dimmed slightly, and the serpent''s movements faltered, but it retaliated with a flick of its tail that sent Kain tumbling backward��its aim now more accurate now that Bea had to focus on redirecting its spiritual energy.


    Kain reached for an object in his space ring which he''d purchased from the college in the event of an emergency��a specially crafted explosive orb infused with spiritual energy.


    It was a single-use item capable of delivering a devastating localized blast, that he''d thought about using on the laboratories of that organization should their walls prove to be fire-proof.


    He hesitated for only a moment before activating it, the orb glowing with a vibrant orange hue as it charged.


    Kain propelled himself upward, the Aqua-Fin Bands giving him a burst of speed as he positioned himself above the serpent''s head. The creature, seemed surprised by him taking the initiative to approach for the first time. But then under its shocked eyes, with a forceful throw, he launched the glowing orb directly at its damaged back. Before taking off in the direction of the center of the lake as swiftly as possible.


    The explosion was almost instantaneous. A blinding light filled the water as the orb detonated, sending a shockwave that rippled through the lake. The serpent let out a deafening roar, its body convulsing as the blast shattered several of its spines and left a gaping wound along its back.


    The injured serpent that now found it difficult to activate its spiritual power to defend itself due to Bea had needed to weather the blast with its body.


    Kain didn''t wait to see if it would recover. He darted away from the blast zone, the Aqua-Fin Bands propelling him toward the towering wall in the distance. Behind him, the serpent''s roars grew weaker, and it didn''t seem to plan to chase. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And with the way clear in front of him, and the Threads of Destiny glowing brighter in his vision, Kain was sure that he would arrive at his destination soon.

 Chapter 349 Waiting Room?

    Thankfully the rest of Kain''s journey was uneventful and less than 20 minutes later, while making sure to move at max speed and no breaks, he reached the opposite shore.Kain exited the water looking like a drowned rat, his clothes uncomfortable soaked through.


    He pressed a hand to his aching side as he moved, and removed the Aqua-Fin Bands which had burned through most of their charge during his desperate dash across the lake. While they''d propelled him forward at incredible speeds, his muscles were still stiff and sore from the effort.


    But despite his physical discomfort, he was ecstatic.


    He looked at the massive black wall in front of him. The black stone shimmered faintly in the moonlight, giving it an otherworldly appearance. Its smooth surface was devoid of seams, cracks, or any discernible entry points.


    Its sheer size dwarfed anything Kain had ever seen, appearing to stretch into the clouds, while the length of one side stretched so far in both directions it may take an hour at full sprint for him to reach another side of the wall.


    "Of course, no obvious entrance," Kain muttered under his breath, running a hand through his still-damp hair. "That would be too easy."


    Using a temporary shelter made by Aegis as cover while he changed, Kain made himself look more presentable before beginning his journey along the wall in search of an entrance.


    After exhaustedly walking along the same side of the wall for what felt like an eternity, he still hadn''t even reached the point of intersection with another wall.


    Just as doubt began to creep into his mind if perhaps this was not the correct location, he hadn''t seen any other people either, a low mechanical whirr broke through the still night air, causing him to freeze mid-step.


    From the seamless black stone, a small rectangular section of the wall suddenly retracted, revealing a doorway no larger than a person.


    "What the��?" Kain''s voice trailed off as he stared at the newly-formed opening, his heart pounding.


    The space beyond the doorway was pitch black, an abyss that seemed to devour any faint source of light that filtered into the clearing. There were no lights, no sound��nothing to indicate what lay beyond that lightless tunnel.


    Kain took a cautious step toward the opening, his instincts and the evident glow of the Threads of Destiny letting him know that at least there should be minimal to no danger to him present within these walls. But the oppressive silence and the impenetrable darkness set his nerves on edge.


    "Guess there''s no turning back now," Kain muttered, steeling himself as he stepped toward the waiting shadows. After all, if he came all the way here only to turn back because he was scared of the dark, that''d be idiotic.


    Due to the narrow fit of the tunnel, he had to recall Aegis, but still had several of the Vespids in front and behind him, along with Bea, to give him a greater sense of security.


    Kain took slow, cautious steps as he entered the pitch-black tunnel. The oppressive silence was broken only by the faint buzzing of the Vespid guards flanking him, their presence offering some measure of reassurance.


    Bea''s mental threads were also extended all around them, scanning the environment for any potential threats, but the darkness ahead seemed completely devoid of life.


    Kain''s footsteps echoed faintly off the walls, amplifying the eerie atmosphere. He tried not to dwell on the disorienting feeling of being swallowed by the blackness, focusing instead on the Threads of Destiny that faintly flickered at the corners of his vision, constantly reassuring him that it was safe ahead.


    After several minutes of walking, a faint light appeared at the end of the tunnel, growing steadily brighter with each step. Kain''s pace quickened, relief washing over him as he neared the exit.


    Emerging from the tunnel, Kain found himself in a fluorescently lit sterile room with light grey tiled floors and bare walls and ceilings. The stark contrast between the natural beauty of the forest and what looked like the inside of an empty factory, was jarring.


    However, the room was spacious. Allowing for the dozens of beast-tamers present and their contracts to roam around comfortably.


    Along the walls were several large screens, each displaying various scenes of the forest Kain had just been in.


    They would frequently change the location of broadcast, but each one tracked the movements of individuals making their way through the terrain. Kain quickly realized these were the other participants, all fighting their own battles to reach this destination.


    Another screen caught his attention. Instead of broadcasting a contestant, it showed a countdown timer ticking down. Next to the timer, three numbers were displayed in varying colours.


    The green number read 27, which, after a cursory look around at those gathered, Kain immediately associated with the number of people already present in the room.


    The red number was 2, likely indicating those who had failed this final orientation test��either through death or withdrawal.


    The yellow number, 11, likely represented the remaining participants who had yet to arrive.


    "I guess that means I''m in the latter half of arrivals," Kain muttered under his breath, feeling both slightly disconcerted.


    However, he wasn''t too disappointed. As he assessed the spiritual fluctuations of those around him. The majority were clearly 6-star beast-tamers, with some at 5-stars. It was rare for someone as low as a 4-star beast-tamer, let alone a second-year college student like him to be recruited.


    Kain scanned the room and quickly spotted Serena glowing white hair among those who arrived since she easily stood out. She stood near one of the walls, her posture relaxed but her eyes sharp as she observed the screens.


    Seeing her brought a small wave of relief��at least there was someone he was familiar with in this unfamiliar environment.


    Kain moved through the room to stand next to her and as he walked he noticed the quiet conversations taking place among the participants, each assessing the others as potential allies or rivals.


    ''Looks like everyone is trying to find someone to rely on in this unfamiliar environment, in case there are more tests.''


    But Kain''s attention remained fixed on the screens, particularly the timer that continued to count down, showing that there were less than 5 hours remaining. Even though they were not made aware of any time limit, it appears as though they were expected to arrive within 24 hours.


    On one of the screens, Kain noticed a familiar face, who would likely be the next to arrive after him. The former Vice Captain of the Dark Moon College team��Ravi.


    In fact, when Kain more closely examined those around him, he spotted several familiar faces that played prominent roles in the last National Tournament. Although, unlike Kain and Serena, most were seniors who had just graduated.


    And even they would probably be considered a young minority, since more than half of the arrivals definitely looked as though they hadn''t been a student of a college in years.


    Kain''s gaze lingered on the screen tracking Ravi. The former Vice Captain of Dark Moon College''s team was seated on the forest floor near the edge of the lake, his normally commanding demeanour replaced with one of fatigue.


    His light-attribute Dawn Butterfly hovered over his shoulder. Pulses of radiant energy flowed from the butterfly into Ravi''s body, clearly working to heal the deep gashes and burns marring his arms and legs. Nearby, his other insect-type spiritual creatures stood on high alert, their eyes scanning the area for potential threats.


    "Looks like he''s injured," Kain murmured. He wasn''t surprised. Kain had run into indigo-grade spiritual creatures, and almost even stronger ones, several times. If he hadn''t had the Threads of Destiny he likely would be an additional tally in the red number of deaths above.


    Moments later, another familiar figure appeared on a different screen. Isolde, the Vice Captain of First Celestial Academy and now a fourth-year, trudged toward Ravi''s location. Her usually pristine silver armour was battered, her movements sluggish as blood seeped from a cut across her forehead. Despite her injuries, her aura was still fierce enough for most to not dare and mess with her.


    As Isolde reached Ravi''s side, the two exchanged a brief nod. Though they had been rivals during the tournament, it appeared they were working together now, likely having met at some point earlier in the forest. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain wondered if they were both injured when they teamed up or if they''d run into something powerful enough to greatly injure the Vice Captains of the top 2 colleges at this past National Tournament while they worked together.


    Kain watched as Ravi gestured toward the lake, his expression serious. The camera zoomed in just enough to show Isolde''s furrowed brows as she looked out over the water, likely trying to strategize a way across.


    If Kain remembered correctly, she had an attribute for creatures with an infernal bloodline, none of them would be particularly adept at moving under the water.


    Likewise, Ravi''s lineup of insect-type contracts also didn''t happen to have any with a water-attribute.


    Kain couldn''t hear their conversation, but it was clear that both were struggling to come up with a solution.


    "I wonder how they''ll handle it," Kain thought aloud, his eyes shifting to the timer, hoping that he''d get to see and team up with the formidable former Vice Captain again.


    "Kain." Serena''s voice drew his attention. She was now standing beside him, her sharp gaze fixed on the wall opposite to the one Kain was looking at��a wall that was previously empty but now had pretty much everyone surrounding a newly appeared screen, packed so densely that he couldn''t see through them. "It looks like this room isn''t just for waiting."

 Chapter 350 The Subdivisions

    Serena''s remark immediately drew Kain''s attention from watching the advancement of the former Vice Captain Ravi to the newly appeared screen.Unfortunately, the bodies were so packed around the new screen that not even a glimpse of it could be had, even after Kain had one of the Vespid guards carry him slightly higher for a better vantage point.


    Others seemed to have similar ideas, and so the large and flying bodies of other spiritual creatures carrying their masters still blocked his view.


    Finally, he gave up and decided to take the approach of Serena to just patiently wait for the others to leave so that he could take a look.


    An hour later, as expected, the number of individuals surrounding the screen was a lot les dense than it was previously.


    On the screen there was something like an automatic slide show introducing something to the new arrivals.


    Kain unfortunately arrived in the middle of the slideshow and so was unable to understand the point the first time around; however, after waiting for the presentation to restart he gradually understood.


    It appears as though, in addition to the academy branch briefly mentioned by the Vice Chancellor, the Eclipse Order also had numerous other branches, which the Vice Chancellor had previously all lumped together as the "combat stream." However, it would be more accurate to categorize them as the field personnel, in contrast to those of the academic personnel.


    The academic stream was only briefly glossed over in the presentation, likely because none of those recruited here were eligible for the academic stream. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To be accepted within that stream, they would not be forced to partake in a deadly field exercise like now��such a thing would be useless to them.


    Instead, all members of the academic stream were recruited on a probationary basis based on their scholarly achievements or original creations.


    This division recruited talents in the fields of blacksmiths, alchemy, evolutionary planning, research of ancient civilization and more.


    To be recruited, one must not only be skilled at their trade, but an innovator. Therefore, an extremely high-ranking alchemists would not be recruited over a lower-ranking one, if they show no ability of being able to produce their own potion and alchemical recipes. After all, the Eclipse order would prefer to invest in the talents of a young alchemist capable of innovating than an established stagnant one. The innovator will do more to raise the strength of the entire nation as a whole.


    This was why, despite his fulfillment of many difficult evolutionary planner requests, Kain was only somewhat eligible for this stream after he''d developed a mass-produced evolutionary form that could be used by many citizens��unlike a specialized evolutionary form like Bea''s, Queen''s, and Yara''s that could likely not be replicated. One can increase the collective strength of the empire, whereas the other only benefits his personal strength.


    However, just one such achievement is not enough. Likely, Kain would need to make at least 2 more significant breakthroughs in the field of evolutionary planning in order to be recruited.


    Of course, if Kain disclosed his ability to turn affinity-less individuals into beast-tamers they may immediately recruit��or hold him captive and torture him to control this ability for themselves. But he had no intention of disclosing this ability to anyone to just be recruited.


    Not to mention, he hadn''t given up on researching other evolutionary forms, including a follow-up form for the Gilded Serafin. Therefore, he was confident in gaining access to this department sooner or later.


    In fact, he had one new research discovery in the works that had been put on hold due to Gabriel, but he could consider expediting publishing those results if the resources provided within the academic department of the Eclipse Order prove lucrative enough.


    Likewise, the field personnel stream of the Eclipse Order, which encompassed all combat-focused and active field roles, was further divided into specialized subdivisions, each catering to unique tasks and missions critical to the survival and dominance of the Celestial Empire.


    Kain read the descriptions on the screen with interest, assuming that once the timer went down, a choice or task related to these subdivisions would appear next.


    He also noted that, unlike the academic subdivisions that clearly stated their purpose, such as "the Alchemical Research Division," and were extremely numerous; the subdivisions of the combat stream had more obscure names and were limited to just 6 in number. The presentation went deep into elaborating upon each of them, as well as providing a brief description on how "contribution points" would be rewarded within each subdivision.


    The first subdivision was called the ''Lunar Veil.'' They focused on espionage and deep-cover missions. More specifically��


    "Our members specialize in long-term undercover assignments, infiltrating enemy nations, rogue factions, and even domestic organizations that might harbor traitors or dissenters. Agents of the Lunar Veil are masters of disguise and deception, often spending years or even decades embedded in their roles. Their missions are high-risk, with no guarantee of return, but their work lays the foundation for many of the Empire''s strategic victories. As such, due to the importance of our role and extended periods of absence, each of our missions usually comes with a corresponding reward several times greater than the missions given by the other subdivisions��"


    Kain looked at the plain-looking man, likely a member of the Veil, as he explained his work.


    Based on the description and the man they used as the representative of this subdivision, Kain could tell that having an easily overlooked and unmemorable appearance was probably an important prerequisite of this department.


    He looked at Serena standing next to him, whose blonde head was practically like a glowing beacon and knew she was unsuitable for this department.


    He also didn''t feel as though he was particularly suited for this stream due to still being a student and having a business and minor family members that could need his attention at any time.


    He had already read that upon joining a subdivision, you did not select your mission, and they assigned whoever they felt could best accomplish it. Therefore, joining could end up taking him to a country across the ocean for years.


    Thankfully, although it was suitable for him now, there does appear to be the possibility of transferring between subdivisions within each stream, so he could consider joining in the far future and using it as an opportunity to see the world.

 Chapter 351 The Subdivisions (2)

    Kain continued reading the other descriptions.As a pair with the Lunar Veil, are the "Dawnbringers." While the Veil delves into the shadows to obtain information, the Dawnbringers are the ones that shed light on those similarly lurking in the shadows of the Empire.


    The Dawnbringers are the Empire''s counter-intelligence and internal security subdivision. They root out spies and infiltrators, ensuring that the nation remains impenetrable. They also monitor other members, ensuring loyalty and discipline within the ranks.


    "They must be those paranoid guys I heard about��" Kain heard an unfamiliar man next to him mutter. However, the members of this subdivision exhibiting excess paranoia is to be expected��their job is to literally look at any and everyone they come across as a potential spy and then root them out.


    Similar, to the Veil, they may also go long periods before a task is completed. Therefore, each spy or vulnerability in the Empire''s defense that they identify also usually comes with hefty rewards.


    In summary, the first two divisions can be summarized as being for those better at intelligence gathering than raw combat strength and the payoff for rewards is very slow, however the rewards in both departments are extremely lucrative.


    The third subdivision is the "Night Hunt." The Hunt''s members are the elite combatants of the Eclipse, that specialize in assassinations and hunting down enemies or traitors.


    If someone were to betray the Eclipse Order, a member of the Hunt would be tasked with tracking them down and disposing of them.


    Thankfully, instances of betrayal are rare and most of their targets range from rogue beast-tamers and traitorous officials to high-profile enemies of the Empire. The Hunt often operates solo or in small units, which is why the personal combat strength of the members of the hunt tends to be the highest.


    This is also one of the subdivisions that were apparently the most difficult to gain access to. The Night Hunt is feared even among other members of the Eclipse, their name synonymous with death. Therefore, only the best of the best could join their ranks.


    In contrast to the Hunt, the fourth subdivision, the "Celestial Vanguard", usually consists of people that shine greatly in team-combat or group war-fare.


    They often act in concert with the Empire''s general army as an elite combat division of the military, leading large-scale field operations during times of war or crisis.


    The Vanguard is deployed when brute force and overwhelming strength are required to secure the Empire''s interests and their presence alone is said to turn the tide of battles. Every member is a seasoned warrior with extensive field experience.


    However, large-scale conflicts have been more infrequent in recent years, therefore the turnover of receiving contribution points in this division is likely the lowest during times of peace like now��although it could go up exponentially during times of war.


    The final two subdivisions are also somewhat intertwined. The fifth subdivision is the "Pathfinders" which are responsible for the exploration and recovery of ancient relics and unknown territories.


    These individuals are tasked with uncovering and traversing new or forgotten regions, often where the remains of ancient civilizations are or recently found relics filled with unknown danger. They are often the most resourceful, trained to navigate dangerous ruins, decipher ancient texts, disarm traps and combat unknown spiritual creatures that may have not been seen in millennia.


    In summary, like their name they are the pathfinders of the Eclipse, often returning with knowledge, artifacts, subdued relics that can greatly boost the collective power of the Empire.


    The final, and sixth subdivision, is the "Starchaser." Similar to Pathfinders, they also explore unexplored territories, but rather than unexplored territories left by ancient humans that often requires historical knowledge and the ability to decipher ancient text, the specialize in deep- wilderness expeditions to acquire rare spiritual creatures and materials. Unlike the Pathfinders that often bring back important historical knowledge and discoveries, Starchasers tend to travel places not left by man and are specialists in traversing the uncharted wilderness.


    Starchasers are responsible for capturing rare spiritual creatures and recovering valuable natural resources that are often then supplied to the Order as rewards exchangeable using contribution points. Their missions often place them in environments dominated by powerful spiritual creatures, requiring extensive knowledge of ecology and survival skills.


    Due to the Pathfinders and Starchasers often being the ones at the forefront of discovering rare materials, their missions usually have much lower contribution points given as a reward, due to them having first access to the valuables and knowledge that they bring back as compensation.


    Kain mediated on the 6 subdivisions he''d learned about, wondering about the process for joining them.


    Thankfully, the wait to find out wouldn''t be much longer.


    The room buzzed with faint conversations and murmurs as more participants trickled in, the fluorescently lit number on the countdown screen decreasing steadily. The timer quickly approached 00:00, and with the exception of 2 more participants that didn''t arrive in time, 36 individuals, including Ravi and Isolde, arrived at the facility just in the nick of time.


    However, before he could properly greet Ravi since he hadn''t wanted to disturb him while he was watching the presentation, the screens around the room flickered simultaneously.


    One by one, each screen went dark, only to be replaced by a single massive display that spanned the wall opposite the entrance. A hush fell over the room as an imposing figure appeared on the screen.


    The man radiated authority, his aura so overwhelming that even through the display, Kain felt the weight of his presence settle like a heavy stone on his chest. Kain knew instinctively that he must be one of the few 9-star beast-tamers of the empire. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man was dressed in a sleek, black uniform. His face was sharp, with eyes that gleamed like polished obsidian, and his graying hair was tied neatly at the nape of his neck. He stood with an air of absolute confidence, his gaze sweeping over them all. Despite them being separated by the screen, Kain felt the physical weight of his gaze as though he were in the room with them.


    "Welcome," the man began, his deep voice reverberating through the room like a drumbeat. "To the Eclipse Order."

 Chapter 352

    The man didn''t bother to introduce himself, likely feeling as though it was unnecessary to do so to people so much lower than him in strength and status."You have proven your worth by making it here. This was the first step��a test not only of your strength but also your resourcefulness, intelligence, and resilience under pressure. But let me be clear: arriving here is no guarantee of success."


    Kain felt a ripple of tension pass through the crowd. Even those who had been lounging or speaking softly now stood at attention, their focus solely on the screen.


    The man continued. "As you have likely already realized, the Eclipse Order is not a monolithic entity. Within our ranks exist numerous divisions, each with its own purpose, its own challenges, and its own expectations of you. The journey you undertake now will shape the course of your future, should you be deemed worthy of continuing."


    The grey haired man snapped his fingers, and a thin booklet materialized in the hands of each participant.


    Kain glanced down at his, his name emblazoned in bold letters across the cover. Opening the booklet, he found a detailed profile of himself.


    The first few pages outlined his basic information��his age, star rank, and what was known about his current contracts and their abilities.


    The descriptions of his contracts were surprisingly thorough, detailing Queen, Aegis, and Bea, although Kain noted with some relief that all of them didn''t seem to have been identified as being microorganisms. Bea was suspected of being one, however it doesn''t seem like whoever wrote this has managed to correlate a Vespid Queen or a giant golem as having anything to do with microscopic creatures.


    Flipping further, he found summaries of his recent accomplishments, including his performance in each of the Black Missions he had completed over the past few months.


    Each mission was listed with a grade, presumably reflecting the difficulty and his performance as well as brief notes on the skills he displayed when completing each of them.


    Kain couldn''t help but smirk slightly at the high scores, the average score was an A, with his lowest rating being an A- rating for taking down the latest laboratory, because he apparently showed a "willful oversight in his untimely turning over of confiscated laboratory materials."


    ''That''s fair��'' Kain couldn''t argue it, especially since he had intentionally delayed handing over the research notes.


    On the final page was a neatly arranged list of subdivisions.


    Each subdivision was listed followed by a note indicating their degree of interest in recruiting him.


    "Based on your performance during this assessment period, and while observing your performance in person today, representatives from each department have made a decision on whether or not they desire you in their ranks.


    "Some of you may have received offers from multiple subdivisions, while others only one or none."


    Kain looked at a legend included with the list of subdivisions to better understand what each rating meant:


    Optimal Candidate��The division considers the candidate an ideal match and will accept them without the need for further assessment. Conditional Interest��The division is open to recruiting the candidate upon successful completion of a closed assessment. Marginally Aligned/Low interest�� The division is somewhat aware of the candidate but sees no pressing need to recruit them at this time. Incompatible�� The division is not interested and will not consider the candidate


    "If you manage to receive one of the few ''A��Optimal Candidate'' ratings from a division, then congratulations, you can immediately join that subdivision without any further tests.


    "For those of you with B and C ratings, you can consider applying to the division, and they may accept or turn you away upon further assessment.


    "As for the D-rating, any application to that subdivision from you at this time will be unsuccessful.


    "If you have not received a single A rating, and do not pass the assessments for any of the subdivisions in which you have a B or C rating, then you will not be accepted into the Eclipse Order at this time and may reconsidered at a later date.


    "For those of you without an offer from your preferred division, do not worry, your profiles are being constantly updated, and an offer to join another division may present itself at a later date."


    Kain eagerly looked at the offers from each department. He had an average rating of ''A'' across his missions, therefore he should have quite a few offers��right?


    1. Lunar Veils (espionage and infiltration): C��Low Interest


    2. Dawnbringers (counter-intelligence): B��Conditional Interest


    3. Night Hunt (assassination): D��Incompatible Celestial


    4. Vanguard (military): C��Low Interest


    5. Pathfinders (relic exploration): A��Optimal Candidate


    6.Starchasers (wilderness exploration): D��Incompatible


    Kain stared at the list in disbelief.


    "Are you kidding me?" he muttered, his frustration about to overflow.


    Despite his stellar performance on the Black Missions that averaged A ratings, the subdivisions had shown lukewarm interest in him.


    Only the Pathfinders seemed to consider him a good match, while most others either expressed little or no interest.


    The Night Hunt, the most elite division, had given him a D, outright dismissing him as incompatible. However, this was expected by Kain. Most of the people the Eclipse Order would set as targets of assassination would likely be high-level beast-tamers at 7-stars at least, or in possession of guards and protectors that strong. Kain was currently far too weak to be recruited by this subdivision. In fact, pretty much all members of the Night Hunt originated in other subdivisions before receiving an offer to join once they were strong enough.


    Similarly, the Starchasers that needed to go deep into the wilderness and probably regularly needed to travel through areas inhabited by high-level spiritual creatures, was also out of depth.


    Therefore, their low ratings for him were understandable. S~ea??h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the militaristic Celestial Vanguard, a division that was low in popularity, and much lower in entry strength requirements, had given him a C-rating. And considering they were supposedly understaffed, this was likely a rating they offered to all entrants to give them at least a chance at joining one subdivision.


    And the Lunar Veils and the Dawnbringers, where intelligence gathering was important, and therefore he thought having a mind-attribute contract would be greatly valued, also didn''t rate him as high as he''d expected.


    "What more do they want?!" He exclaimed. Sure, he received an A rating form the Pathfinder''s, but his gaze couldn''t help drifting to the other much lower ratings��after all, it''s true that what one can''t have becomes more appealing��


    Before he could stew further, he overheard snippets of conversations from the others in the room.


    "Look at this. D for everything except a C in the Vanguard��don''t they offer that to everyone? If I can''t pass their assessment I''m doomed��."


    "Everywhere gave me a D-rating except for the Vanguard. Oh, and Dawnbringers gave me a C too! Honestly, it''s better than I expected after what happened in the forest at my last assessment mission��"


    Kain blinked, his ears perking up. He turned his attention to the nearest group, who were discussing their results openly.


    "...D-ratings for 4 subdivisions. Not surprised, really. But at least they didn''t give me straight Ds, right?" one participant said, trying to sound upbeat.


    Kain glanced back at his own report-card with only two D-ratings and suddenly, his frustration ebbed.


    "So, I''m doing better than most," he murmured, before taking a peak at Serena''s report card next to him.


    Her ratings during the missions were similar to his, however aside from a C-rating from the Night Hunt, all other subdivisions had at least a B-rating.


    ''Goddamit!'' The minuscule amount of pride he''d managed to re-establish was once again shattered.

 Chapter 353 Perfect Fit

    Based on the comments of his profile, the main limiting factor for not receiving greater recruitment efforts was due to his low level of strength��which was insufficient for most subdivisions.Despite being at the same level as him, the disadvantage of her star level was offset by the presence of Balens who could even curse or make bad luck befall an individual several levels higher than her as long as she had enough spiritual power to grant the wish. And considering that her gift also just so happened to be limitless spiritual power, this was not a concern for her.


    Meanwhile, the Pathfinders were the most enthusiastic about him joining since it was the only subdivision that required members with a variety of ranks��after all, many relics had maximum strength requirements for its entrants.


    With his strange and varied spiritual creatures, including a Vespid Queen with two dozen guards at her disposal to serve as scouts in dangerous relics, Kain was extremely desirable to them.


    In fact, the Pathfinders were the only subdivision that ranked Kain higher in desirability than Serena, who only received a B rating from them.


    Moreover, out of all of the subdivision, Kain also was inclined to joining the Pathfinders even prior to receiving the report.


    Due to his level, he would likely only traverse relics and ruins that limit the level of the explorers to his own level. Meaning that out of all the divisions, it was one of the least dangerous to him.


    Moreover, as someone with academic interests, uncovering the secrets present within ancient relics was extremely appealing to him and he''d also have the right to select a certain number of materials he recovered from the relics for himself.


    Finally, in contrast to the extended periods of travel that several of the other subdivisions requires, most relics could be cracked within a week.


    Considering that he was still a student, and also the other commitments that he had, being away for a couple of weeks at the maximum, was far better than being away for months, or even years, at a time.


    It was clear why the Pathfinders wanted him. And, likewise, Kain couldn''t deny that they were truly a perfect fit for one another.


    "Well," he murmured, shoving the folded booklet into his pocket with a faint smile. "At least someone sees my worth."


    Serena glanced at him from the corner of her eye, clearly noting the shift in his previously gloomy demeanor. "So, are you going to accept their offer?"


    "I''m considering it," Kain replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "It makes the most sense. Their tasks align with my strengths, and I wouldn''t have to be gone for too long."


    "Hmm," Serena said, flipping her own booklet closed. "It''s a good fit for you. Thankfully, even if you do regret your decision, you can always switch subdivisions later on."


    Kain arched an eyebrow at her. "And what about you? Where are you going?"


    "I haven''t decided yet." Serena''s tone was calm, but her eyes betrayed her contemplation. "Though the Pathfinders definitely seem the most suitable for our current identities as students. But, the Hunt may also suit me��"


    Kain lips twitched. "The Hunt, huh? Figures you''d aim high."


    Before Serena could reply, the heavy sound of a door unlocking drew everyone''s attention. The massive door to the room creaked open, its weight causing the ground to tremble slightly. A beam of natural light spilled in from the other side, starkly contrasting the sterile glow of the room they were in.


    Kain exchanged a glance with Serena before stepping forward, joining the line of participants as they filed out of the building. What awaited them beyond the door was nothing short of breathtaking.


    The clearing they entered was wide and shone faintly under an otherworldly ethereal glow cast by the moon above as well as some of the faintly glowing plants present.


    The ground beneath their feet sparkled faintly as though it were dusted with crushed gemstones and at the center of the clearing stood a magnificent statue of a flying spiritual creature Kain had never seen before.


    Its wings in the statute were spread wide, and appeared almost alive due to the intricate carvings of its feathers and features. The creature''s eyes, which possessed two glowing gems, seemed to an aura of mystery and power.


    Surrounding the clearing were towering buildings of various architectural styles, each with a sign indicating the subdivision it belonged to.


    The sleek, minimalistic design of the Lunar Veil building stood in stark contrast to the fortress-like structure of the Vanguard. sea??h th�� novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nearby, the Pathfinders headquarters boasted a blend of old and new, with ancient stonework and antique exterior features, such as what appeared to be extremely old sconces, integrated seamlessly with modern materials, hinting at the subdivisions identity of uncovering and combining the old relics of the past to be combined with modern knowledge and technology.


    Aside from the building for each subdivision there were other structures, clearly marked as training facilities or contribution point exchange centers.


    Participants loitered around the currently sparsely populated clearing, most unsure of where to head next since they were undecided about who to join or which subdivisions'' assessments they wished to complete.


    Eventually, some headed toward the buildings bearing their chosen subdivision''s sign, while a few undecided individuals chose to spend some of their time wandering to explore the various facilities.


    Kain''s eyes lingered on the various buildings, his gaze eventually settling on the Pathfinders'' headquarters��a blend of antique and modern.


    Kain didn''t see any point in dragging out a decision when they were currently perfectly suited for one another, and he could switch subdivisions later on anyways. Therefore, after saying his goodbyes, he started toward the Pathfinders'' building.


    The closer he got, the more details he could make out. The sconces embedded in the walls weren''t just decorative; they emitted a soft, steady light that seemed clear the mind and speed up the restoration of spiritual power. Intricate carvings adorned the doorway, depicting constellations and ancient symbols Kain didn''t recognize.


    After briefly hesitating in the massive doorway, he finally stepped through to begin a new journey.

 Chapter 354 The Pathfinders

    Kain stepped into the Pathfinders'' building and immediately felt as though he had travelled back in time or entered another world.The very air contributed to the antiquated atmosphere as the scent of various herbs mingled with the scent of aged parchment and something faintly sweet, like the sap of ancient trees.


    The lighting was dim, provided not by modern fixtures but by softly glowing orbs encased in sconces shaped like dragon claws, which looked as though they''d been chiselled from some black shining metal that faintly pulsed with spiritual power.


    The floor beneath his feet was a patchwork of materials: some tiles gleamed with the sheen of polished stone, while others had the silver and gold speckled coloured reflective quality of a metal Kain had only read about in ancient texts��solvanium, a legendary alloy said to calm the mind and amplify the spiritual energy of those who stood on it.


    Intricate patterns covered the walls, carved in ancient scripts that had long since died out with the nations that created them.


    Their meanings were lost to time, but Kain couldn''t help but feel they seemed to emit a tangible power, only slightly weaker than sigils.


    Interspersed among the carvings were paintings depicting scenes of exploration: adventurers crossing rugged landscapes, deciphering relics, and battling towering spiritual creatures.


    "The entire building, aside from the murals, is composed of materials brought back by our pathfinders." Kain turned to see a faintly lit individual in what appeared to be a reception area.


    The reception area was marked by an arched entryway flanked by two towering statues. These statues depicted figures faintly resembling the almost mythical sirens, women with the upper half of a human and a lower body that could take on the form of a myriad of aquatic creatures.


    The ones depicted in the statues had delicate features, and one had the lower body of what appeared to be an octopus, while the other''s lower body was an elongated fishtail resembling a cross between an aquatic serpent and fish.


    They were both holding lanterns made of what appeared to be pure starlight that pulsed rhythmically. And their vacant gazes somehow seemed to follow Kain as he passed beneath the arch, adding to the building''s sense of pressure and mystery given to the new arrivals.


    The receptionist sat behind a long, polished desk made of a rich, dark wood veined with streaks of silver��likely harvested from some ancient forest now extinct given the words they''d mentioned before about the source of everything in this building.


    The attire of the receptionist fit in perfectly with the surroundings: he wore a fitted coat of deep blue velvet trimmed with silver thread, paired with bracers made of some kind of an antique, dull bronze alloy.


    Beneath the coat, hints of an embroidered tunic peeked through, with intricate vine-like patterns.


    A silver circlet adorned his forehead, with a small, faintly glowing gem at its center, which seemed to pulse in sync with the starlight in the lanterns held by the two statues.


    He had long light-blue hair and a thin, delicate figure that gave him an almost androgynous appearance.


    The receptionist''s eyes, were a piercing gray that shimmered faintly in the dim light, fixed on Kain as he approached. A faint smile curved their lips, and they inclined their head slightly in greeting.


    Kain cleared his throat, trying to match their calm demeanour. "I''m here to join the Pathfinders. I''ve reviewed my profile and decided this subdivision aligns best with my strengths."


    The receptionist extended a gloved hand, and Kain handed over the booklet containing his report card. They opened it carefully, their gloved fingers skimming over the pages with practiced ease.


    Then, in a move that broke the ancient atmosphere of the space, an extremely modern holographic screen appeared before them which he seemed to use to confirm that Kain was indeed a candidate able to instantly join the Pathfinders. S��arch* The Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After confirming, he closed the booklet with a soft snap and met Kain''s gaze. "Your decision is noted, and your report reflects a promising alignment with our subdivision''s needs. If you''re certain, we can begin the formal process of welcoming you into the Pathfinders. Be advised��this subdivision is not without its unique challenges and the opportunity to change subdivisions is not available until you have accumulated a certain amount of contribution points. However, the rewards and feelings of accomplishment granted to Pathfinders are unlike any others."


    "I''m certain," Kain said firmly.


    The receptionist nodded and gestured toward an ornately carved door to the right of the reception desk. "Very well. Through that door lies the Orientation Chamber. It will provide you with the next steps to formally integrate into our ranks since further assessment for you is unnecessary. Take this with you."


    They handed Kain a small medallion, the size of his palm, made from the same silvery-gold alloy that glimmered faintly in the floor tiles. The second it landed in Kain''s hand, he felt a refreshing feeling pass through his mind and the ease with which he could utilize his spiritual power was faintly stronger.


    The center of the medallion was etched with a constellation that Kain had never seen before on any star maps��and he was unsure of its significance.


    It resembled a compass rose, with four smaller stars positioned at the cardinal points��north, south, east, and west. However, at the center of the constellation was a large, luminescent star, slightly elongated, as if it were stretching to reach each of the cardinal points. Encircling the large central star. And between it and the 4 stars in each cardinal direction was a ring of six smaller stars, arranged in a perfect hexagon.


    It was an extremely distinct constellation, so Kain became even more certain as he examined it that it didn''t represent any constellation that existed. He didn''t even think there was a star close enough to the planet to appear so much larger in comparison to the others.


    "Place the medallion on the pedestal inside the chamber within the platform in the adjoining room and it will automatically transport you into the orientation room specific to the Pathfinders. Also, make sure to keep the medallion on you at all times, not only does it have tangible benefits and is expensive to replace. It will also be your entry ticket into all areas with restricted access available to you in the Eclipse Order," the receptionist instructed. "I wish you luck on your future path."

 Chapter 355 The True Orientation

    As Kain stepped through an ornately carved door in the direction indicated by the receptionist, the grand and ancient atmosphere from the reception area transitioned into a smaller, more plain space. Sear?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.The room was dimly lit, the unadorned walls a stark contrast to the opulent surroundings he had just left.


    Unlike the rest of the building, this chamber was mostly devoid of decoration, save for a single pedestal in the center that drew his attention.


    The pedestal was made of the same gleaming solvanium alloy as the medallion in his hand, and reached about the height of Kain''s stomach. At its top, there was a circular groove, perfectly matching the size and shape of the medallion Kain had been given.


    As he approached, the groove began to faintly hum with a soft, resonating tone, as though it could sense the medallion''s proximity, and Kain immediately placed the medallion into the groove.


    The moment it made contact, the faint carvings on the pedestal that were previously invisible lit up with a vibrant white glow.


    A soft chime echoed through the room, and a holographic screen materialized before him. It hovered in mid-air, its surface shimmering as though it were woven from threads of starlight.


    In contrast to the holographic screens provided by the system that seem to be composed of advanced technological capabilities, the holographic screens of the order seemed to be created through the use of spiritual power and sigils, and so had a faint shimmering quality as though they''d been dusted with glitter.


    Kain leaned closer, squinting at the names of what he assumed were various floors or sections of the building: the Archives, Training Rooms, Lecture Halls, Artifact Storage, Debriefing Hall, etc.


    But to his disappointment, each name was blurred out, all an unselectable translucent grey colour. As Kain attempted to select one of the sections, a faint red warning flashed across the screen: Access Restricted. Orientation Incomplete.


    A soft sigh escaped him as he resigned himself to his options��or lack thereof. His gaze drifted to the bottom of the list, where a single location stood out, its name glowing a bright white that stood out amongst the other faded options: Newcomers.


    Realizing that this would be the only location he''d have access to for now, he reached out and pressed the glowing option with his finger.


    The room''s ambient hum intensified as the medallion in the pedestal seemed to sink slightly into its groove. A stronger ripple of light surged outward from the pedestal to make the markings carved into it even brighter, before spreading to light up more carvings that were also not previously visible on the floor, walls and ceiling, spreading outward in a mesmerizing display.


    After a faint tug that hinted at some kind of spatial manipulation, but was far more stable and less disorienting than using the teleportation gate, Kain was notified that he''d successfully arrived and the door, in front of him opened��a door that he''d just entered from the receptionist area and now led to a completely new space.


    The doorway now led to a circular chamber bathed in the soft glow of light orbs floating above. The room, much like the first floor and the rest of the building, had an antique charm, with intricate carvings running along the walls and a mosaic floor depicting a massive star map. Waiting for him in the center of the room was a man with a seemingly nonchalant attitude, leaning casually against a polished stone pilar.


    His posture was relaxed, almost lazy, but his sharp hazel eyes took in Kain''s arrival with interest.


    He was dressed in attire similar to the receptionist''s. His tailored coat was a deep forest green, trimmed with golden thread that shimmered faintly as he moved. Beneath it, he wore an embroidered tunic marked with constellations, paired with bracers created from a golden alloy.


    A gold circlet adorned his head of short light-brown hair, though it lacked the glowing gem of the receptionist''s.


    The man straightened up, giving Kain an easy smile. "You must be Kain, right? Welcome to the Pathfinders. I''m Benji, your guide for today."


    Kain blinked, caught off guard by the presence of a personal guide. He''d been expecting a large orientation with all of the newcomers to the pathfinders. "Uh, yeah, that''s me. Nice to meet you."


    "Nice to meet you too," Benji replied, gesturing toward a nearby archway. "Alright, let''s get started."


    He nodded before following Benji through the archway and down a long hallway lined with murals. Each painting depicted explorers in perilous situations��one deciphering a glowing tablet while surrounded by skeletal remains, another fighting off a towering spiritual creature.


    Benji caught Kain glancing at the murals. "Cool, huh? Those are all based on real missions. Some of these guys are legends. No pressure, though��most Pathfinders don''t make any lifechanging discoveries, much less multiple, in their lives."


    "Right," Kain muttered, feeling the weight of the murals'' stares as they moved further down the hall.


    They soon arrived at an ornate door carved with the image of an open book surrounded by stars. Benji pushed it open with a dramatic flourish. "Behold, the true site of newbie orientation!"


    Kain stepped inside and froze. It was a library��a massive one.


    The room''s shelves stretching far into the distance. The air smelled of parchment, ink, and faintly metallic tang. But as he took a closer look, he noticed something strange��most of the shelves were filled with duplicates of the same thirty or so books.


    "Why are there so many copies of the same books?" Kain asked, his brows furrowed.


    Benji grinned and then clapped his hands. Numerous golden birds resembling sparrows appeared in Kain''s vision and began to carry the hefty down from the shelves, to a nearby table with a loud thud, clearly demonstrating the weight of each one. Each book was massive, its spine thicker than Kain''s fist.


    "Good question," Benji said, stacking the books into two intimidating towers, each one taller than both him and Kain. "These, my friend, are your first big challenge. Every new recruit has to memorize the contents of these books."

 Chapter 356 The Tour

    Kain gawked at the twin towers of books. "You''re joking.""Wish I was," Benji said with a pained chuckle, seeming to be briefly lost in his own tearful memories. "But nope. This is your bread and butter as a Pathfinder. Ancient languages, knowledge on extinct spiritual creatures and plants that may reappear in relics, important historical events and figures, sigils, notes from past missions, the works. If you don''t know what you''re dealing with in a relic, you''re toast."


    Kain slumped into a nearby chair, staring at the mountain of knowledge. "This is insane. Why am I having to study more here than ever do in school��"


    Kain rubbed his temples as he slumped even lower into the chair, unwilling to even look at the books, already feeling overwhelmed and preferring to stay in denial.


    Benji smirked and gave Kain a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Welcome to the Pathfinders, Kain. The relics may be dangerous, but the homework is the real killer."


    Looking at the expression of schadenfreude on Benji''s face as he seemed to subtly revel in someone else sharing in his fate of suffering, Kain suddenly understood why there was no mention of the ''scholarly'' requirements of this subdivision prior to joining��yes, it may result in an even lower recruitment rate than the Vanguard. But Kain personally, felt it was more so due to the ''misery loves company'' mentality of its members.


    Thankfully, unlike when Kain was studying for the college entrance exam, he now had a more potent secret weapon. If he could find an opportunity for Bea to infect another Pathfinder and extract the information, then perhaps she could just transplant everything he''d need to know into his mind.


    Likely, seeing hope begin to dawn on Kain''s face once again, Benji couldn''t resist bursting his bubble with an almost cruel grin.


    "According to your profile, you have a mental-attribute spiritual creature, correct? Although the profile didn''t go into too much detail on its abilities. However, you wouldn''t be the first newbie with a mental-attribute contract wanting to take a shortcut. Unfortunately for you, the medallions bound to the identity of each Eclipse Order member also have the additional function of resisting mental intrusions. After all, most of us deal with sensitive information. Not to mention, among the current Pathfinders, you are at the lowest level. Therefore, don''t even think of reading the information from our minds. Just be a good boy and study!" He finished with a sly grin and a deprecating pat on Kain''s back.


    Kain groaned and buried his face in his hands.


    Benji leaned casually against the table, his grin widening. "Come on, it''s not all bad. Sure, memorizing these books might take you a few months��or years��but once you''ve got this stuff down, you''ll feel like a walking encyclopedia. Plus, it really does save your life out there. Trust me, when you''re standing in a relic and a sigil starts glowing, you''ll be glad you know whether it''s about to grant you treasure or turn you into ash."


    "That''s supposed to make me feel better?" Kain muttered. He glared half-heartedly at Benji, who only shrugged with a mock-innocent expression. "I''m beginning to think you''re enjoying this far too much."


    Benji chuckled and straightened, crossing his arms. "Hey, it builds character. Besides, the faster you start, the faster you''ll finish. And I might even have a few tips to make it less painful��if you ask nicely."


    Kain rolled his eyes but perked up slightly. "What kind of tips?"


    Benji gestured toward the books. "For starters, focus on the basics first. Get a handle on the most commonly encountered words in each language and sigils. If you run into something too obscure in the field, that''s what the senior Pathfinders are for��you won''t be alone for your first few missions anyways. Also, you might have mentioned a Lecture Hall in the building, where we''ll occasionally have experts from the Academic stream give a relevant lecture. Usually, the best teachers are selected, and their way of explaining things is really quite helpful."


    Kain felt slightly better, but couldn''t resist groaning again as he stared at the towering books. "I''m starting to think I should''ve joined the Vanguard instead."


    "Too late now," Benji teased, clapping him on the shoulder again. "Welcome to the Pathfinders, rookie. Better get used to it. Collect your study materials and let''s head to the next location of our tour."


    As Benji sauntered off, Kain glared at the books once more. "Just great," he muttered. Before collecting them into his space ring.


    He followed Benji back to the small bare room with the podium, but this time Benji''s medallion was used, and Kain could readily see the many more options available for selection to him.


    "Hmmm�� I already explained the Lecture Hall, and there''s nothing really to see there��just a bunch of rooms��How about going to the Archives first!?" Benji said, before making the selection without waiting for Kain to answer.


    A faint hum and the glow of the various sigils filled the room before another subtle sinking feeling filled the pit of Kain''s stomach. Within seconds the single set of doors leading into the room reopened to what Kain assumed was the "Archives."


    The very air in the archives seemed to carry a solemn air that made even Benji''s typically relaxed demeanour shift slightly.


    The room stretched out before them in a vast labyrinth of towering shelves, each containing expertly preserved ancient books, scrolls, stone tablets, and other remnants of lost civilizations.


    The soft glow of enchanted lights illuminated the aisles, their golden hue creating an almost sacred atmosphere.


    Kain''s gaze was immediately drawn to the two figures standing at the entrance. They were imposing��two 8-star beast-tamers clad in matching dark, metallic armor that seemed to shimmer with a faint iridescence. Their faces were obscured by sleek, featureless helmets, and their presence alone was enough to make Kain instinctively straighten his posture.


    On their right chests was a symbol of a shield with a lancer in front of it��a logo Kain had recently learned would be on the medallions of the members of the Vanguard. Experience tales with empire sea??h th�� N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Clearly, due to their not being a massive war movement at the moment, these members of the Vanguard had elected to take some simple guarding tasks for most contribution points.


    Benji whispered as they walked past, "Those guards don''t just stand there to look intimidating. Try anything funny, and they''ll put you down before you can blink."


    Kain nodded stiffly, keeping his eyes forward and his hands to himself as they entered deeper into the Archives.

 Chapter 357 The Tour (2)

    Alongside the numerous books and scrolls were display cases holding relics, ancient works of art, and strange devices Kain couldn''t begin to understand.Pathfinders and researchers from the Academic Stream of the Eclipse Order moved quietly between the shelves, some wearing the blend of ancient and modern uniforms of Pathfinder subdivision, while those in the academic stream had no uniform but instead had medallions pinned to their chests with the insignia of an open book.


    One scholar was carefully inspecting a glowing stone tablet, his gloved hands tracing the etched lines of what appeared to be a long-lost script.


    Kain''s attention was drawn to the rows of bookshelves stretching endlessly. "What''s the deal with this place? Isn''t it basically the same as the books you just handed me?"


    Benji grinned. "Not even close. Those are just the basics. If you want specific info on a time period, civilization, or relic you''re cracking, you''ll need to come here. Every piece of knowledge we''ve ever recovered is stored in this place."


    "See those folks?" Benji gestured toward the academic stream staff bustling about. "They''re the brains behind a lot of what we do. And they also don''t take kindly to us touching many of the items ourselves in case we damage them, so if you ever hit a dead end in your studies, it''d be easier to just ask them than to go through the extensive paperwork required to touch these antiques yourself. These guys are like your lifeline. Just make sure to bring coffee or snacks or something��they''re not known for their patience when it comes to human interactions."


    Kain wandered deeper into the Archives, his steps echoing softly against the polished stone floors.


    As he turned a corner, a subtle sensation brushed against his mind. Kain paused in alarm, but realized that the sensation didn''t seem to be directed at him, but something within his Star Space��the Tree of Life.


    A faint sensation, almost like a feather rubbing against the back of his mind, seemed to guide him to a particular display case nestled near the far end of the room.


    Inside the case was an object that looked like the dried and dead pit of a large fruit, encased in a protective crystal display case. The pit''s surface was a deep emerald green, but as Kain stared closer, faint golden veins ran across its surface that seemed to become slightly more distinct in Kain''s presence. And the faint aura of life began to emit from it once again. However, it was so faint, that had Kain not been the one in possession of what was causing this reaction, he''d be completely oblivious to the pit''s changes.


    Surrounding the pit was a tangle of petrified roots and tiny flecks of silver and gold dotted the roots, resembling minerals being embedded within them.


    "Benji," Kain said, his voice lower than usual. He gestured toward the encased dried pit. "What''s this?"


    Benji raised an eyebrow, strolling over to the display. "Huh. Haven''t paid much attention to this one before. Looks like a fruit pit though��but the flesh of the fruit was either eaten or decayed long ago." He leaned closer to read the plaque beneath it but frowned. "Doesn''t say much... just that it was recovered from a relic site in the northern region. Hold on."


    Benji flagged down one of the Academic Stream researchers nearby��a short, stout man with graying hair and a perpetually annoyed expression. The researcher wore a heavy set of spectacles perched on his nose and was currently juggling a stack of papers in one hand while examining a scroll with the other.


    "What is it?" the man snapped, his tone impatient. "Can''t you see I''m busy?"


    "Ahem��my apologies, Professor Fenwick," Benji said with an easy grin, completely unbothered by the man''s brusque manner. "What''s the story behind this pit? My friend here''s curious."


    Fenwick let out a huff, muttering something about "field division simpletons," but set his work aside to glance at the display. His expression softened, if only slightly, as he adjusted his glasses and scrutinized the fruit pit. Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This," he began, his voice taking on a more lecturing tone, "was retrieved from a relic in the northern region about fifty years ago. The site was thought to be part of the remnants of the Verdaris City-State, a civilization long extinct. We suspect it''s one of their unique agricultural items. After all, they were renowned for their vibrant environment that was home to unique plant life not seen before or since the city-state''s extinction."


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat and he became even more certain of his conjecture that this fruit pit was related to his Tree of Life.


    Verdaris��The very same city-state that his high school teacher, Mr. Evergreen, had been researching when he had found the Tree of Life pit he''d eventually gifted to Kain.


    Fenwick continued, oblivious to Kain''s inner turmoil. "Unfortunately, its exact properties remain unknown and since its long dried up and died, and whatever fruit tree that produced it seems to be extinct, we may never know its purpose. Now, if you''re done wasting my time��" He turned back to his work with a grumble.


    "Hey Benji," Kain called out, "Is there any way to request the missions we get assigned? I know for the most part they assign the mission to the individuals they feel are most suited and have the best chances at success, but what if you don''t have another mission assigned to you for a while? Rather than twiddling your thumbs waiting for an assignment, wouldn''t it be better to actively sign up for one?"


    Benji nodded, "Correct. Which is why the degree of freedom for the Pathfinders is only second to the Starchasers. If 3 months go by without you being assigned a task, you can volunteer to join another member''s task. However, there isn''t a guarantee your request would be granted. After all, they can''t send a deadweight teammate into a dangerous relic just because they wanted to join. Therefore, the more you prove yourself and explore more relics, the greater the degree of freedom you''ll eventually enjoy." Find your next read at empire


    Although it wasn''t quite the news Kain wanted, it was still good to know that he''d have some control over the relics he''d get to explore in the future.


    There has been one ''side quest'' he''d left unfulfilled for quite a while he''d be interested in completing��exploring the origins of the tree of life.

 Chapter 358 The Three Types of Relics

    After touring the archives, Benji took him to the various other areas of the building, including the Resource Exchange Area (which catalogues all of the objects available for exchange with contribution points from all of the subdivisions), the Lecture Halls, Debriefing Halls, and more.The final stop of the tour was the Training Hall, in which they could train in simulations of various relic environments��mostly all based on relics actually completely explored by other Pathfinders.


    And it was when exploring these Training Halls that Kain finally learned the origin of the non-existent constellation on the Pathfinder''s medallions. sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Apparently, there are several types of relics:


    The first types were called "Trial Relics" or "Proving Grounds." They were relics with trial spaces that would reward entrants on completion of each level��similar to the relics owned by Dark Moon College used during the entrance exam and when they were preparing for the National Tournament.


    The second type of relic were called "Habitat Relics" or "Sanctuary Vaults." These relics are like habitats created for the captivity, preservation and/or care of rare spiritual creatures��almost like a zoo. Relics that fall into this category are the black "Pandora''s Box" relic rife with microscopic spiritual creatures Kain had entered previously, or the relic possessed by the Blackheart family that contains spiritual creatures with an infernal bloodline descended from those previously captured from the underworld.


    The final type is the most difficult to deal with, they are called "Memory Relics" or "Historical Echoes." And these types of relics were what the Training Hall mostly simulated in order to mentally prepare and train Pathfinders.


    "These are what we call Memory Relics," Benji began, his tone uncharacteristically serious as they walked through the expansive Training Hall. The hall itself was filled with people, but most of them appeared solemn or in a daze��not the filled with the bustle of activity and sparring Kain would have expected of an area used for training.


    "Memory Relics?" Kain asked, his curiosity piqued.


    "Yeah," Benji nodded, leading Kain to a quiet corner where holographic displays showed scenes of explorers living as natives in what appeared to be ancient towns and bustling cities.


    "They''re like a snapshot of a moment in time, left behind by civilizations long gone. When you step into one, it''s as if you''re transported into that time period. You live as one of the residents of that era."


    Kain blinked at the transmitted scenes of towns filled with people, people that did not appear to be Pathfinders. "Wait, so you interact with people? Like, real people?"


    Benji shrugged. "Sort of. They''re not real in the way you or I are. Think of them as echoes, or memory shadows. They''re fully interactive, can hold conversations, and even react to you. But they''re not real humans. Moreover, they are bound by historical events of that era, unable to deviate significantly from what was imprinted in the relic."


    "That sounds��" Kain trailed off, searching for the right word.


    "Insane?" Benji offered, a wry smile on his lips. "You''re not wrong. These Memory Relics used to have some of the highest failure rates among explorers. The danger isn''t just from spiritual creatures or traps like in other relics. It''s psychological. When transported into a relic, you are typically assigned the life of a person that lived in that time and replace them, with many of their memories implanted into you. Some people forget they''re in a relic if enough time passes and get completely absorbed into their new life and identity. They settle down, marry or take up new careers. They start living lives they weren''t meant to live and, well�� never come back."


    Kain shuddered. He was resistant to mental-attribute attacks, but it didn''t sound as though these relics attacked the mind at all. More like after living in an era for long enough, the Pathfinders themselves gradually get confused and think of themselves as natives of that time. Perhaps they even regard their time in the modern era as just a dream��


    Could Kain really say he''d never succumb? Now that he thought about it, when he first transmigrated to this world, he didn''t have much resistance or questioning of his new reality��he readily accepted it. What if he just subconsciously accepts that he''s transmigrated again inside of the relic?


    ''No. That can''t happen. I readily accepted my new reality because I had nothing waiting for me back on Earth, all of my family had already died. But that''s not the case now! I have many people I''d fight to get back to.'' Kain somewhat calmed down with that reasoning, but was still extremely apprehensive.


    "How do you avoid that happening to you?" He asked Benji.


    Benji tapped his medallion. "That''s where this little guy comes in. Look at the constellation on your medallion��see the large central star surrounded by smaller ones?"


    Kain nodded, pulling out his medallion to examine it more closely��the two rings of smaller stars surrounding the larger star in the center.


    "That constellation used to exist in the star map above the planet a long time ago," Benji explained. "It was known as Auralis'' Eye. But the central star��the big one��exploded in a supernova and wiped out all the surrounding stars. That happened so long ago that no one alive has ever seen it in the night sky. So, we use it as a marker of sorts: if you ever find yourself in a Memory Relic and you look up at the stars, and see this constellation? You''re in a fake reality."


    Kain frowned, his brow furrowing in thought. "It''s like a totem, then. A way to ground yourself and confirm if what you''re experiencing is real or not." Thinking of the hit movie from back on Earth about people travelling through the dreams of others.


    Continue your journey on empire


    "Sure! Although, I''ve never heard that term used for this before, it fits." Benji said, clapping his hands together. "And trust me, it''s a lifesaver. Because when you''re living among those memory shadows, everything feels real. The people, the places, even the air you breathe. If you''re not careful, you''ll lose yourself in it."


    "Has anyone ever come back from that? I mean, once they are consumed by that era?"


    Benji''s smile dimmed. "Rarely. Once someone succumbs to that version of reality, it''s almost impossible to pull them out. After all, they usually now have ties and families within that historical echo��even if those people aren''t real, they feel completely real once you''re in there. That''s why this constellation is drilled into every Pathfinder''s mind. You''re not supposed to forget it, no matter what."


    Benji then gestured to the solemn and dazed Pathfinders in the training hall, "Just look at them. This was just training and they all managed to extricate themselves, but none seem particularly thrilled or energetic about it. It''s not easy to reconcile the fact that the people you lived with, befriended, and fought alongside are now all long dead and merely echoes of time."

 Chapter 359 Easy Training Relics?

    "Before you enter your first relic though, you need to study all of those books I gave you. Therefore, you have a few months leeway before receiving your first mission. Moreover, you also must first practice and successfully complete some of the relics we have of each type that have already been brought under the full control of the Eclipse Order." Benji finished his speech as they almost completed their tour of the Training Hall.Kain paused before a screen broadcasting the scene within one of the relics. Due to the large number of individuals in ancient style clothing similar to what many of the Pathfinder''s he''s seen so far wear, Kain assumed that this was a Memory Relic��he doubted that there were thousands of Pathfinders, much less that they all happened to be in the same relic of the Training Hall.


    The city portrayed was shrouded in the thick haze of fire and ash, with buildings crumbling and crushing fleeing citizens below. Screams of terror mingled with the guttural growls and unholy shrieks of the creatures tearing through the streets.


    Currently, everyone within that relic was running around in terror as the ground cracked open to reveal massive amounts of magma and fire that instantly vaporized anyone that got close.


    The very colour of the sky also changed as it took on an ominous dark red hue.


    Moreover, even if the fleeing civilians somehow avoided instantly burning to death due to the flowing magma and bursts of intense flame that spontaneously spurted out of the ground, they may still be killed in a more gruesome and painful fashion by the thousands of chasing creatures that took on a variety of forms.


    Creatures that looked like Imps chased them across the cobblestone roads, their wiry, emaciated bodies barely three feet tall but brimming with malevolent energy. Their skin was a mottled red and black, their elongated claws leaving deep gouges in the stone as they ran. One leapt onto a fleeing man, its claws slicing through his back in a flurry of sickening, wet sounds. The imp let out a shrill cackle as it tore out his spine and waved it like a grisly banner before leaping onto its next victim.


    A skeletal beast the size of an rhinoceros prowled through the carnage, its ribcage containing a flickering infernal flame. Whenever it caught someone, it would clamp its jagged teeth around them and hurl them into its chest, which was like a cage made of bones, where they burned alive within seconds. The shrieks of agony were enough to freeze the blood of those still alive, forcing them to run faster in any direction just to escape the sound.


    However, many of those fleeing were still caught by near invisible threads of giant black spiders, with 3 pairs of glowing red eyes each. Each was as large as a small house, with long, limbs that gleamed faintly in the fiery glow of the city''s destruction.


    The threads strewn about the fleeing civilians wrapped tightly around them, pulling them together in a grotesque cluster as a spider descended upon them. Its mandibles clicked in anticipation as it approached its helpless prey. One by one, the civilians were pierced by a an elongated tube that emerged from the spider''s mouth, their bodies convulsing as they were drained of all moisture, leaving behind dried husks.


    Further down the street, a desperate man, his face streaked with soot and blood, released a roar of defiance. From his side, he summoned a spiritual creature��a heavily armored boar with tusks that glowed faintly with a bluish hue. The boar charged at one of the imps, tossing it into the air with its tusks before trampling it underfoot.


    For a moment, the man''s actions inspired hope in the other fleeing civilians, but it was short-lived. A skeletal beast turned its attention to the boar, emitting a bone-chilling roar that caused the boar to hesitate.


    Then, with a leap far too quick for its size, the skeletal creature latched onto the boar, its ribcage opening to envelop the spiritual creature entirely. The boar''s anguished squeals were drowned out by the roaring flames emanating from the skeletal beast as it consumed the summoned creature and its master in a fiery blaze.


    Kain''s attention shifted to another corner of the screen, where a young woman, barely out of her teens, managed to summon what appeared to be a massive serpent with shimmering emerald scales. It coiled protectively around her, hissing at the oncoming horde of imps. The serpent lashed out, snapping up an imp in its jaws and flinging it against a wall.


    But even as the serpent fought valiantly, it was overwhelmed by a swarm of smaller spider-like creatures that poured out from the shadows. They climbed over its shimmering scales, biting and tearing until the serpent collapsed, its protective shield broken. The young woman barely had time to scream before she, too, was torn apart.


    Kain was surprised to note that aside from those two individuals, and a handful of others, among the thousands of civilians there didn''t seem to be more beast-tamers. However, he quickly identified the reason. This scene was likely far before the founding of the Empire, and so there was no affinity ceremony during that ceremony and everyone could only rely on independent awakenings which were rare and unreliable.


    However, what shocked Kain the most was the behavior of the fleeing civilians. No one, not even the beast-tamers, seemed to spare a thought for those left behind. It was every man for himself. Which is very different from the values and responsibilities engrained in him as a beast-tamer.


    A child tripped and fell, crying out for help, but the adults nearby didn''t even glance back.


    A man desperately clung to a woman''s arm, begging her to wait, but she shoved him away without hesitation, sprinting ahead as he was swarmed by imps.


    Some people even went out of their way to push others down. Almost as though their only chance of survival was to outrun the people around them as their torn apart bodies hopefully delayed their pursuers for a few extra seconds.


    However, soon Kain found the reason.


    Behind the massive tide of horrifying spiritual creatures��which Kain strongly suspected were infernal creatures that had somehow managed to escape the underworld��was a colossus.


    Looming over the city was a giant creature, its form so massive it seemed to stretch into the blood-red sky. It resembled a muscular goat, except that it had four solid black eyes and its fur was so dark it seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Its mere presence cast an immense shadow that blanketed nearly the entire city.


    Kain''s mind reeled at the scale of the creature. Even Aegis, which was relatively large, would be utterly dwarfed by it��perhaps no taller than a strand of this monstrosity''s fur. S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The creature moved slowly but deliberately, its hooves smashing buildings into rubble with every step. Each time it exhaled, a wave of molten ash spread through the city, incinerating anything in its path. The civilians running for their lives knew the truth: there was no fighting that thing.


    Benji walking slightly ahead didn''t notice that Kain had paused to stare at the screen displaying the images inside of one of the Training Halls, and continued talking.


    "However, don''t worry about having to complete the training relics! Most of the relics we have for training are quite easy to beat."


    Kain: "��"

 Chapter 360 Returned

    After finishing his tour with Benji, which ended on quite a worrying note, Kain returned back to Dark Moon College.Serena didn''t seem to be finished yet with her own matters, so Kain went back alone. Thankfully, the Eclipse Order, as the cradle for the talents of the empire, seemed to be rolling in cash, so they didn''t force him to wait for her nor make him travel back to college without the use of teleportation.


    However, he supposed this was to be expected. After all, although short-distance teleportation was much cheaper in comparison to long-distance teleportation, they still utilized it for travel between mere floors of a building. Although it likely had more so to do with the medallion + pedestal teleportation mechanism serving as a security checkpoint rather than extreme laziness��right?


    Therefore, he was able to teleport immediately back to the college when he wanted. Moreover, now that he was a member of the Eclipse Order, he could also use his medallion to gain access to the College''s teleportation array to come here at any time.


    Back at Dark Moon College, Kain''s life quickly settled back into its usual rhythm. His days were filled with a mix of studying, receiving business updates, research on new evolutionary forms, and entertaining Gabriel. It was a balance he''d grown used to, though it now carried an additional task of frantically studying, and memorizing the content of dozens of textbooks. Thankfully, after advancing to 4-stars and also bonding with a powerful mental-attribute spiritual creature, he found his mental strength to be far above the average beast-tamer at, or even slightly above, his level.


    Another new update, and he supposed benefit amidst misfortune, was that Bea had learned a new skill.


    Amidst Bea''s many skills there was an additional feature of one of them, he''d unconsciously overlooked all this time:


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Sovereign Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power.


    There is a very small chance of Bea developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.


    And it just so happened that a few days after their battle with the aquatic injured mental-attribute spiritual during the orientation, Bea reported to Kain that she''d understood a new skill:


    A-Mind Chorus: This skill bombards the target''s mind with a chaotic symphony of phantom voices, disrupting their concentration and decision-making. The mental assault causes confusion and paranoia, rendering the target''s thoughts fragmented and actions clumsy for a short duration. It is extremely effective on spiritual creatures up to one grade higher, and its effectiveness decreases the larger the level gap.


    While travelling through the forest for the orientation, Kain had noted that the ability of Bea to control the movements of spiritual creatures greater than her in level was not great, and often relied on him using his spiritual skills to boost her and fill in the gap.


    This skill, while not deadly to higher level opponents, will greatly increase Kain''s ability to control them. Moreover, unlike the aquatic serpent, Bea has many splits that could exert up to 90% of her main body''s strength, meaning that he could potentially perform crowd-control on multiple blue-grade spiritual creatures even if he still finds it difficult to kill them.


    Aside from Bea, Kain also received news that Ferrin��the man he''d helped to form a contract despite lacking an affinity��had shown a surprising development.


    Ferrin''s spiritual power, originally the bright white characteristic of 1-star tamers, had deepened into a rich red hue, signifying his advancement to a 2-star beast-tamer.


    Ferrin had progressed remarkably quickly, likely due to years of accumulated effort before this contract was formed.


    However, the real surprise came when Ferrin shared a peculiar sensation: he felt no bottleneck as he continued to absorb spiritual power, and therefore didn''t have the sensation indicating that it was time to form his second star.


    Moreover, Ferrin described the spiritual energy within him beginning to shift toward an orange tinge, indicating that, despite not forming his second star, he was already heading towards orange-grade spiritual power.


    Ferrin was initially confused and worried if there was something wrong, but Kain immediately recognized it as resembling the Southern tribes'' approach to beast-taming��not something of concern.


    The method of becoming a beast-tamer for Southerners only allowed for the formation of a single contract. However, it accelerated the growth of both the beast-tamer and their spiritual creature, due to the near absence of a bottle-neck until blue-grade, and the closer bond between the contractor and contracted.


    This also reassured Kain. He''d already planned to have any other affinity-less individuals he helped to form a contract, to pretend to have awakened dormant southern blood, and the development of Ferrin reassured him that upon investigation it would be unlikely to notice something amiss.


    However, when Kain shared these findings with Gabriel, the boy who was constantly clamouring to undergo the procedure right away was uncharacteristically quiet.


    "So, this might only let me have one contract, huh?" Gabriel finally said, somewhat despondently.


    As a commoner, with commoner parents, he''d always known he''d be unlikely to awaken an affinity. However, despite the low likelihood, every civilian still harbored a little hope that they''d be able to awaken as a beast-tamer��a traditional one with tons of contracts. S��arch* The N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, Kain didn''t burst his bubble and tell him that even if he did develop an affinity, it could very well be D- or F-grade and he may not advance high enough to have multiple contracts even with an affinity. Plenty of beast-tamers stop at 1 or 2-stars their whole lives.


    In fact, within Kain and Gabriel''s hometown, Brightstar City, most of the adult beast-tamers did stop at 1 or 2 stars, with 3-star beast-tamers taking on prominent roles within the city.


    Perhaps residing at a top 5 college accompanied by the talented Serena and Kain, had given the boy unrealistic expectations of how easy it is to increase in strength. But the top 2 students in a year for a top 5 college are definitely not what you''d call the average experience of a beast-tamer��

 Chapter 361 FMT

    Kain also continued his research pursuits during this time. Currently finding the next evolutionary form of the Gilded Serafin, the evolved form of the Lumifin, hasn''t shown much progress, however another research idea Kain had had for a while has finally born fruit.Kain held up a small brown pill capsule to examine and gently sniffed it. Gabriel, watching from the side recoiled in disgust at his action, while a multitude of bronze-quality River Wolf pups and several of its evolved form, the gold-quality Clear Spring Wolf, were noisily scampering about in the observation area separated from Kain by a glass wall.


    The River Wolf was one of the three initial contract Bridge was considering binding due to its high-potential, however at the time it was too expensive for them to afford. S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Therefore, despite being a relatively common species with excellent potential and would meet the requirements for many A, B, and C-grade affinities��water-type, wolf-type, or canine-type affinities are all not too uncommon��it is still not a popular choice since usually only wealthy civilians can afford to raise them.


    As a result, most civilians are forced to bond with spiritual creatures of a lower potential that they may not be as satisfied with, and most River Wolf Pups go unclaimed every year.


    Certain spiritual creatures need to be fed a special diet for a prolonged period in order to successfully evolve��the River Wolf is one such creature.


    River Wolf pups need a constant supply of top-quality rare herbs located near rivers inhabited by spiritual creatures with at least orange-grade spiritual power. Making the cost of purchasing said herbs from mercenaries astronomically expensive.


    Therefore, it wasn''t a feasible option for the orphans Bridge and Kain.


    However, not long after Kain realized the nature of his affinity, and his mind was still limited by poverty, he''d long thought about a potential solution to other spiritual creatures that would be costly for him and Bridge to raise.


    He''d wondered, why exactly do certain spiritual creatures need to be consistently fed specific evolutionary materials for a prolonged period in order to evolve? What changes are occurring in its body, if any, that makes this prolonged duration necessary?


    One of the first aspects Kain chose to start with, given the nature of his affinity, was the microbiome.


    Kain, under the grossed out and judgemental gaze of Gabriel, collected the poop samples of the pups he''d ordered for his research over a period of time, and checked for changes in the bacteria present in the feces after being fed the specific diet required for the pups to evolve.


    Thankfully, the Genetic Reconstructor provided by the system allowed him to also record the DNA he analyzed and extracted.


    Therefore, Kain found that while eating those precious herbs, over time inside of the River Wolf, the population of the microbiome would greatly shift to favour the presence of certain bacterial species. Of the key ones in this population Kain decided to name Puribactis, Aquabactis, and Claribactis. Kain found that when these guys were alone they didn''t have any impressive effects, however when their populations grew to be a specific ratio to one another they had the ability to purify and add slight healing properties to water.


    This is why, when fed those spiritual plants, River Pups will exude water of greater and greater purity. Everyone took that purification to be due to the plants��but it''s actually due to the bacteria that thrive in the presence of those plants.


    In theory, what the River Wolf Pups needed more to evolve is those bacteria rather than the expensive spiritual plants.


    Therefore, Kain tried to grow them in the lab, but unfortunately, they don''t seem to grow well when not inside of the River Wolf Pup and in the presence of those expensive spiritual plants.


    Next, Kain used the Genetic Reconstructor to alter their DNA and make them grow even without the need for those plants and at a much faster rate��which should, in theory, drastically cut down on the spiritual plants and time they''d need to evolve. However, it seems like the ratio of each bacteria is very specific to achieve the desired effect and after genetically modifying the ratio got messed up��what Kain needed was the ratio present in those that have successfully evolved into Clear Spring Wolves.


    Thinking of this, Kain was reminded of a procedure done on Earth when you wanted the beneficial bacteria present in one individual to appear in another person��a Fecal Microbiota Transplant.


    And facts proved that Kain''s theory worked. He received one Clear Spring Wolf and several River Wolf Pups, one of which was only slightly away from evolving.


    After performing the fecal microbiota transplants, one of the River Wolf Pups evolved immediately, while the purification of the others has been greatly sped up��they probably only need a third of the time to evolve now than they did previously if they are still fed those expensive spiritual plants every day. If a beast-tamer can''t afford to feed them those spiritual plants every day, even if they feed it weekly, the pups can still evolve around 20% faster than one not fed this small brown pill.


    Even more, if they can only afford to feed those spiritual plants once a month, the foundation of the pup won''t be harmed and can still eventually evolve, it will just take slightly longer than when fed every day but not given the pill.


    All around the income threshold for owning the River Pup has decreased several times over. And even those who can afford to raise this pup normally would still want this pill due to its ability to drastically reduce the time it would take to evolve.


    When Kain had first introduced this concept to Gabriel, he looked at Kain as though he was a pervert playing with animal feces and even trying to feed said feces to others��


    However, all of Kain''s numerous attempts to explain that most of the ''dirty'' parts will be removed to leave only the bacteria, were just met with a scornful eye.


    ''Sigh��the great minds of an era always must face the rejection of those too small-minded to understand their brilliance,'' Kain thought as he gently placed the pill capsule back into its container, ignoring Gabriel''s exaggerated gagging noises.

 Chapter 362 FMT (2)

    Kain''s specialty was research, not business, therefore he called Collin��the current operations manager for his beer business��over to discuss the sale of these pills.Kain had been incredibly impressed by Collin''s business acumen with getting the brewery up and started, and even making its name well known throughout the empire.


    The fact that many establishments in the capital and Southern Region were selling Kain''s beer when he''d visited, definitely filled him with pride��except when he saw it in the seedy clubs owned by that deposed heir Roman Silverhart.


    And nothing better reflected the success of the business than the balance reflected in his bank account.


    The large figure in the millions even grew as he slept, providing him an excellent source of passive income.


    However, after experiencing that auction in his first Black Mission, he is still not content. Unless he can smash others with billions, or even trillions, of Celestial Dollars, then he isn''t a true bigshot.


    And now that the beer business was more stable, aside from the odd competitor trying to make trouble, Kain thought that he could leave this next venture to Collin.


    Moreover, Collin just so happened to be someone with a water-type affinity. When he''d first met Kain, he''d been stuck at the level of a 3-star beast-tamer for years.


    However, after the business took off, he used much of his funds to exchange for rare materials that would help him break through to 4-stars and now should still have an open contract position��perhaps he could convince him to contract a River Pup to test the effects for himself��


    That way he wouldn''t only be the manager for this business, but also like a spokesperson who could speak personally about the ''magical pill''s'' effects.


    Deciding to put his thoughts into action, Kain immediately arranged a meeting with Collin to come visit him at his laboratory and it wasn''t long before. He arrived.


    Collin entered Kain''s laboratory, his expression a mix of curiosity and anticipation. His sharp eyes scanned the room, taking in the odd assortment of equipment and the sterile atmosphere before landing on a child lounging in a chair near Kain.


    "Uh�� morning, boss," Collin greeted, his tone laced with confusion as his gaze darted between Kain and the child. He quickly masked his bewilderment, though, and gave a polite nod toward Gabriel, deciding it was best not to question his boss''s unusual company. After all, that can''t possibly be his boss''s kid, and the future young master of their company, right?


    "I heard you''ve got a new venture in the works?"


    Kain smirked at Collin''s thinly veiled curiosity. "Indeed. Come in. I''ve been working on something that could have quite the impact, not just for business, but potentially for the empire as a whole."


    Collin''s brows arched as he stepped further into the room, his focus now fully on Kain. "That sounds promising."


    Kain gestured toward a small glass case containing a bottle of neatly labelled capsules. "This is the result of my latest research��a pill designed to drastically reduce the cost and difficulty of raising River Wolf Pups, as well as speed up their evolution into the Clear Spring Wolf."


    Collin leaned in, his interest clearly piqued. "River Wolf Pups, huh? Not a bad choice for marketing. They''re common enough to be accessible but so expensive that most families can''t afford to raise them properly."


    "Exactly," Kain said, his voice slightly raising due to his enthusiasm. "The Clear Spring Wolf is gold-quality and can heal. It has massive potential for families, mercenary groups, and even lower-level military units. These pills could make the River Pup''s evolution accessible to a much broader range of people, which could elevate the lower-level strength of the entire empire."


    Collin nodded slowly, the wheels of his mind already turning. "If it''s as effective as you say, I could see this being a massive hit. And since the Clear Spring Wolf has healing properties, we might��unlike with the beer business��even gain support from the government."


    "Excellent! But I''ll need your expertise to push it forward. What do you think the prospects in terms of profit are?"


    Collin grinned. "Boss, I think you''ve got another winner here. With the right marketing, we could position this as a revolutionary product, something that could change lives. Most middle and lower-middle class parents that are surprised and grateful for their child even developing an affinity, will want to invest in their child''s potential as a beast-tamer. Therefore, they would jump at the chance to give their kids a spiritual creature that can heal and protect the life of their child after it evolves. And if we can get even a hint of official backing, it''ll sell itself."


    Kain''s smile widened, pleased with Collin''s analysis. "That''s what I wanted to hear. Now, I was also thinking about a spokesperson��"


    He reached into a nearby enclosure and carefully retrieved a squirming, grey-furred River Wolf Pup. The small creature yipped and wriggled in his grasp before settling down, its large blue eyes peering curiously at Collin.


    "I remember you recently broke through to 4-stars and have a water affinity. This pup could be your next contract��on the house, of course," Kain offered, holding out the pup.


    Collin blinked, his surprise quickly shifting to misty-eyed gratefulness. His long period of hard work and accomplishments must have touched the boss. "Seriously? You''re giving me one of these guys for free?" Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain nodded, handing him the pup and then the bottle of pills. "Think of it as a business investment. You''ll not only help manage this venture but also act as its spokesperson. You''ll have firsthand experience with the pill''s effects, which will make your marketing all the more convincing."


    Collin cradled the pup carefully, already bonding with the little creature. "I''ll do my best to live up to the expectations, Boss! I won''t let you down!"


    As Collin happily tucked the pup into his jacket with a bottle of pills and turned to leave, Gabriel, who had been quiet until now, opened his mouth as if to say something. But a warning glance from Kain stopped him in his tracks.


    Once Collin was out of earshot, Gabriel finally burst out. "You''re really going to let him take and sell those pills without telling him they''re made from poop?"


    Kain rolled his eyes. "Does it matter? The pills are sterilized and effective. Besides, some truths are best left unsaid."


    Gabriel crossed his arms with a huff, though the corners of his lips twitched upward. "You''re a piece of work, Kain."


    Kain smirked. "I try."

 Chapter 363 New Employee

    Naturally, given the disgust Gabriel had for the wonderful pills, and that most individuals are unaware of and can''t wrap their minds around feces that has been ''cleaned'' to just keep the bacteria, Kain decided it was best if the people of this world just never found out.As a result, unlike the beer company that he could be completely hands off with and just count the money as it rolls in, he would need to do the bulk of the preparation for the pills.


    Rather, the formation of the pills, and the preparation of a precise mixture of the spiritual plants the bacteria need to survive that''s also inserted into the pill can be prepared by others, and Collin will be arranging the construction of an additional factory for this purpose.


    However, when it comes to the ''secret ingredient'' of these pills, Kain will either have to do it himself or find someone he trusts enough or can control well enough not to rat him out��


    Kain started the process of collecting the droppings himself, thankfully each piece of poop can be used to make hundreds of pills so Kain doesn''t need to raise too many Clear Spring Wolves, and once the River Pups he currently has evolved, they should fully meet his needs. So it''s not too much work for him alone to do��or so he thought.


    Eventually, by the third time he was scooping up the waste of a Clear Spring Wolf, Kain threw up his hands and decided to hire a worker to do this.


    "The sharpest captains know their value lies in steering the ship, not rowing it." Kain justified. It was not because he was simply disgusted by the wolf shit. After all, he could best demonstrate his value when coming up with new ideas, not to mention he''s a busy man, no matter how he looked at it, he would be best suited for another task.


    Thankfully, Kain had just the individual in mind for this task. Someone that Kain already shared a deep secret with, is dissatisfied with their current job, has the strength to manage a group of spiritual creatures, and may even enjoy being around a bunch of River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolfs. Ferrin.


    Kain already has a soul binding contract in place with him, and an additional term in the contract can just be added to facilitate his employment. Since he already has such a contract with Kain, he''d be less resistant than the average person to signing another.


    Also, Ferrin has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with his current job. Since Ferrin was an ordinary person not long ago, he still had a decent job as a white-collar worker in a relatively large multi-city business.


    However, while his current salary was quite high as an ordinary person, it was completely insufficient to raise a spiritual creature��especially not one that advances so quickly.


    Not to mention his office job seemed too mundane in comparison to the life he''d always imagined as a beast-tamer.


    Being a care-taker for many spiritual creatures would probably be preferable to him��especially if Kain could offer a salary that would better meet his needs.


    After contacting Ferrin, Kain arrived at his property on the outskirts of the city. Its rolling fields filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of various spiritual plants that Kain had been adding over time, were broken up by the artificial lake Kain had previously used to contain the products from his Lumifin evolution experiments and still contains the first ever Gilded Serafins to successfully evolve. The artificial lake practically glowed due to the dual effects of the sun rays glinting off of its surface, and the light emitted by the Serafin''s swimming beneath its surface.


    Towards the entrance of the massive fields was a small wooden house with three rooms that was previously the rundown shack, but Kain had since renovated��although he may likely expand it into a larger home in the future.


    It would look like the perfect idyllic country home paradise if it were not surrounded by a shimmering high-grade defensive array that obstructed any peeping eyes and promised no mercy to any intruders.


    Ferrin was led past the barrier looking both intrigued and confused as to why Kain had called him here, while taking in the beautiful scenery and then proceeded to follow Kain down a dirt path he had travelling throughout the property for when he wanted to conveniently walk through the fields.


    As they walked, Kain explained, "You''re familiar with River Wolf Pups, right? High potential, but prohibitively expensive to raise. They''d probably be a default first-choice contract for many if they weren''t so expensive to raise."


    Ferrin nodded. "Yeah, I''ve heard of them. They''re great for water-type or canine-type affinities, but the upkeep is ridiculous. When I was a teenager fantasizing about what my affinity might be, they were one I definitely dreamed about. But the cost of single week of their food is several months of my current salary, not to mention my much poorer parents. It''d have been impossible. What about them?"


    Kain stopped in by a section of the fields not far from the artificial lake where several River Wolf Pups frolicked alongside a few larger majestic Clear Spring Wolves. "I''ve developed something that makes raising them much more affordable. Even for the standards of ordinary families."


    Ferrin''s eyes widened. "You''re serious?"


    Kain pulled out a bottle of brown capsules and held it up. "These pills. They contain a ''secret ingredient'' that drastically reduces the cost and time required for River Wolf Pups to evolve into Clear Spring Wolves. With these, more people will be able to raise them, and the overall strength of beast-tamers in the Empire could increase significantly."


    Ferrin frowned as he studied the pills. "Secret ingredient? What kind of ingredient are we talking about here?"


    Kain hesitated for a moment before answering, "Let''s just say it''s derived from something Clear Spring Wolves produce naturally. It''s perfectly safe, sterilized, and concentrated to maximize effectiveness."


    Ferrin squinted at him suspiciously. "More specifically��?"


    "Ahem�� it is the purified remnants of the spiritual plant material consumed by Clear Spring Wolves, which is processed by their bodies into a biologically potent output in a natural cycle of purification."


    Ferrin''s eyes went hazy as he tried to decipher the long and convoluted explanation Kain came up with. However, while not one of the top minds in the Empire, he''s a college graduate from a decent university who managed to be recruited to a mid-level company upon graduation��he was far from dumb.


    "You mean��you''re selling wolf poop?" He said in astonishment while giving Kain the look one would expect to be given to a shady and immoral con artist.


    Kain coughed shyly, rubbing the bridge of his nose in slight embarassment. "I am not selling poop. I''m selling a carefully extracted and clean material that happens to come from Clear Spring Wolf poop. It''s not dirty and it''s incredibly effective. Don''t reduce my scientific breakthrough to�� that."


    "This is insane," Ferrin muttered.


    Seeing that convincing Ferrin didn''t seem to be going as smoothly as he''d expected, Kain pushed on quickly. "Listen, rather than sitting in a dusty cubicle all day with an annoying boss breathing down your neck, you can work here, surrounded by adorable spiritual creatures in a serene natural environment with next to no interference from me.


    "Not to mention this property is perfect for raising the wolves and will take off most of the stress from caring for them. The defensive array will keep them safe and contained, and the spiritual plants they need to be fed have already been transplanted and grown by the lake here. The River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolves can even graze on the plants they require for their own maintenance without you having to feed them more than once a day with some spiritual beast meat. All I need from you is to manage the wolves, collect their waste, and send it to me for processing.


    "And you don''t even have to pick up all of the poop��only those from the Clear Spring Wolves. And look here," Kain said holding up a bottle of blue dye for Ferrin to see, "Mix this into the food of the Clear Spring Wolves. It''ll dye their waste blue so you can tell it apart from the others. I only need the waste from the Clear Spring Wolves for the pills. So that also reduces your work load. You could probably even finish all of your work in a couple of hours each day."


    Ferrin raised an eyebrow. "You want me to be a glorified poop collector? Although I don''t exactly love my job, I do work for one of the largest companies in this region with offices in all neighbouring cities. Not to mention I''ve worked my ass off for them for years and am now on track for a promotion within the next couple of years."


    "I will triple your current salary."


    "Deal."


    S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 364 Shortcut (2 in 1)

    With the gains Kain received from delegating some of the more menial labor tasks, Kain became more and more determined to find a shortcut for the immense amount of knowledge to be learned as a member of the Pathfinders."An architect builds the vision, not the walls. The conductor waves the baton, he doesn''t��" Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Blah, Blah, Blah. How many high sounding sayings are you going to come up with just to excuse your laziness." Gabriel interrupted when Kain was in the middle of writing his post.


    This idea came to Kain once he realized that in addition to being a student dual enrolled in both the Beast-Taming and Evolutionary Planning faculties, he also had an honorary title of ''Research Professor.''


    This title was given to him a long with the lab and comes with absolutely no real power, salary, or right to teach any classes��but most students wouldn''t know that.


    Combine that with Kain''s immense popularity and while some upper-year and graduate students may be resistant to working for him, many newbie freshmen and even some second-years may not be.


    In fact, when Kain sees the eyes glowing with admiration when he occasionally passes a first-year, he becomes much more confident in his plan.


    Then when he thinks about when he was just starting in College back on Earth and most lower-year students would gratefully do all the tedious low-skill grunge work in the lab for free just to be able to put the prestigious sounding moniker of ''research assistant'' on their resumes, Kain was even more confident in his decision.


    He couldn''t extract the necessary information he needed from the minds of his fellow Pathfinder��but couldn''t he extract it from the minds of some ''assistants.'' Heck, he may not even have to pay them!


    Kain could barely sit still at the idea of this brilliantly crafted shortcut and immediately began to write a post on the College''s public job board, ignoring Gabriel''s snide remarks from the side.


    The ad was simple but intentionally crafted to sound prestigious:


    ----------------------------------------


    Creator of the New Evolutionary Form Kain Newman Seeks Assistants


    Field: Ancient Languages and Histories


    An unparalleled opportunity to work with Kain Newman, Evolutionary Planner and Research Professor at Dark Moon College. Applicants must have a strong foundation in ancient scripts, forgotten civilizations, or historical linguistics.


    Requirements:


    -Enrolled in Academic Departments specializing in ancient languages or history.


    -Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.


    What''s in it for you?


    -Work under one of the youngest and most innovative minds of our time.


    -Exclusive insight into the collaborative intersection between history, linguistics, and evolutionary planning.


    -Letters of recommendation for exemplary contributions.


    Apply today! Positions are limited.


    -------------------------------------------------


    Satisfied, Kain submitted the ad. He leaned back in his chair, smirking. "There. Let''s see how many bright-eyed underclassmen I get to exploit��err, guide."


    The response was almost instantaneous. Kain''s phone pinged with notifications within the hour, quickly becoming overwhelming. He skimmed through the applicants, his eyebrows rising higher with every message.


    First-years? It was to be expected. Second-years? The ideal candidate in his mind, and likely the highest-level he''d be able to recruit.


    But what really startled him were the upper-year students and even graduate students expressing interest. Many of them had already published research papers or contributed to major academic projects. Some messages even included professional portfolios with glowing recommendations from professors.


    Kain tapped his chin in thought, reviewing the unexpectedly high-quality pool of candidates. "What''s going on?" he muttered. "These are way overqualified��"


    It didn''t take long for him to discover the truth once he engaged in further communication with these high-level applicants.


    The older students weren''t applying out of pure academic interest, or really out of any expectations of Kain making a breakthrough in the field of History and Linguistics.


    However, in him they saw an opportunity. An opportunity to potentially request the services of one of the most notorious, and expensive, Evolutionary Planners��a field with enormous demand and limited experts.


    After all, although all of these students were in an Academic Department, many of them were also beast-tamers. They either just had lower-grade affinities, preferred being an academic student, had a strong aversion to the fighting required of enrolling in a beast-taming department, or simply couldn''t afford the resources required to raise a high-quality contract capable of keeping up in the beast-taming department.


    But even if they had no interest in fighting, that didn''t mean they would want their contracts to go further.


    The feedback provided by a stronger contract will also increase their own strength and cultivation speed��extending their lifespan and increasing their mental strength.


    However, for most beast-tamers that would choose to enroll in an Academic department, most of their contracts wouldn''t have the highest potential. Many of them may not even have known evolutionary forms, making seeking the help of most evolutionary planners useless.


    But, Kain was one of the few planners to come up with a widely used evolutionary form��not to mention the new forms of his own contracts and the story of Yara the mutant lizard which has spread, which all demonstrated that it wasn''t a fluke that he could come up with new forms.


    Rumours of Kain''s supposed ''gift'' that allows him to more easily sense the hidden evolutionary conditions of a spiritual creature, also increased their hopes in Kain being able to help them.


    However, to seek the services of a planner at Kain''s level to come up with a new evolutionary form would probably bankrupt even a smaller noble family��it was completely out of the means of these applicants.


    Thinking about it this way, Kain wasn''t sure of who technically would be taking advantage in this arrangement��


    Gabriel looked over Kain''s shoulder and remarked, "I didn''t expect the title of ''genius Evolutionary Planner'' to be so powerful, nor for them to believe it. What part of you looks like a genius?"


    Kain puffed his chest out slightly in pride, and chose to ignore the latter sentence.


    He didn''t care about the ulterior motives, and he also recognized the potential. These upper-year students would pick up the material far faster than the inexperienced first-years. Not to mention, Kain is planning to just absorb everything that they will learn, and the likelihood of their being errors in the knowledge of these more experienced students was much lower.


    Moreover, even if they came to him with some pretty advanced evolutionary planner requests, Kain had the System to help him and would also benefit greatly if he could come up with some more widely useable evolutionary forms. And considering he''s about to launch a new product with his identity as a Planner, a newly created form and boost to his image as a ''genius'' would be just the publicity he needed for the FMT pills to take off!


    It was a trade-off, but he didn''t see any disadvantages in it for him.


    Over the next few days, Kain interviewed applicants, narrowing down the list. The sparkly-eyed freshmen were enthusiastic but lacked the depth of knowledge he needed.


    The older students, meanwhile, were much more knowledgeable and professional, and although they unfortunately didn''t flatter and admire him like the freshmen did��they still held great respect for him as a planner.


    Ultimately, Kain chose three graduate students and two fourth-years. Each had a solid background in different ancient languages or civilizations, and all had specific requests regarding his potential services as an Evolutionary Planner in exchange for their assistance that Kain felt he could meet.


    Many of the students'' requests were even quite interesting to him and lit his enthusiasm for research. In the end the assistants Kain hired, as well as their requests from him were:


    1. Rivian, a graduate student, was a tall man with dark brown hair tied back into a loose ponytail, piercing green eyes, and a constant air of quiet focus. He specialized in Ancient Verdarian and Eldrathic and the Verdant Epoch civilization��a long period of time of relative peace when the Verdaris City-State was without question the strongest of the time and could have even expanded into an Empire if they''d had the ambition. Meanwhile, in addition to Verdarian, which was spoken by most citizens of Verdaris, Eldrathic was the common tongue spoken by all city-states of that period��both were must have languages for Kain to learn.


    Considering that the Tree of Life he currently possessed likely was last seen in the Verdaris city-state, it was a no-brainer for Kain to hire him.


    As for his request, Rivian was bound to a gold-quality Leafwing Moth, a spiritual creature thought to be a dead end in evolutionary potential. He wants Kain to discover an advanced form for it.


    2. Elera Ash, a female graduate student with short blonde hair and amber eyes specialized in the Celestial Ascension Period, which was an important period for the Celestial Empire because it corresponds to the time period just before the founding of the Empire when the 5 individuals who eventually founded the empire were the most active. Out of interest in the beautiful supposedly extinct elves, she also picked up Ancient Elvish as a hobby, which is one of the languages Kain must learn.


    Elera has a silver-quality Moonlit Otter that does have a known gold-quality form after evolution, but for some reason it is unable to evolve. Similar to Yara, Kain suspects that it may be a mutant, although he''d need to see it in person to determine the details.


    3. The final Graduate Student was Dravis Norrik, a stocky man with a thick beard and eyes that gleam with intensity. However, despite his intimidating build, his voice is extremely calm and soothing. He specializes in studying the Warring Periods, a chaotic era right before the Celestial Ascension Period marked by fragmented city-states and tribes that were frequently broken by strong wild spiritual creature battles and fights with one another. This period was among the least stable and filled with the most human deaths. He also knows the common language of this period, Myrthali, as well as several other less commonly spoken languages.


    As for his request, he''d actually somehow managed to get a contract from a relic of the Warring Period to a Raging Steel Boar, which was often used as a war mount during the Warring Period. However, the method of its evolution has been lost in time, so he was hoping the receive Kain''s help.


    The two fourth-years consisted of one boy and a girl each, and Kain also made sure that their knowledge did not overlap greatly with any of the graduate students.


    Their knowledge, unfortunately, isn''t as in depth as the graduate students, but thankfully neither of their requests were particularly difficult either and could probably be accomplished by planners other than Kain but would cost quite a lot.


    Neither of them required the creation of a new evolutionary form, just a detailed plan on how to increase the probability of their contracts evolving into the rarer, less-likely form.


    Both of their requests could probably be completed by Kain within a couple of days, but he, of course, won''t hand over the finished plans until he also got what he needed.


    "Welcome aboard, students. Now, let''s see how much I can squeeze out of you." Kain said with a cruel smirk, already mentally preparing the catalogs of books for each to read. Now that he had helpers, why should he stop at just ''learning'' the introductory knowledge of Pathfinders?

 Chapter 365 A Kind and Caring Boss

    Of course the Kain''s new ''assistants'' couldn''t possibly stay in his usual laboratory.For one, he had too many secrets there, including the notes and research results based off of those stolen from that evil organization created in their efforts to help Gabriel.


    However, after Kain had notified the university about his latest research achievement, the FMT pill, it immediately took the top brass by storm and they readily agreed to any of his requests��including an additional research space.


    Of course they were also much more willing to grant him an additional lab once he clarified that it didn''t need to be equipped with any expensive equipment, he just needed it to essentially convert it into a shared office space for his research assistants.


    After some simple furnishing, the office space Kain prepared seemed luxurious at first glance��especially since it would just be used by unpaid assistants.


    Each desk and chair was custom-fitted with sleek, ergonomic designs meant to optimize comfort, while the chairs were plush and adjustable with memory foam cushions.


    The assistants looked around in awe, their eyes misty with gratitude. The air even carried a faint scent of lavender, thanks to a discreet spiritual plant Kain had brought in to enhance focus and ease mental exhaustion.


    "This�� this is incredible," murmured Rivian, running a hand along the smooth surface of the desk assigned to him.


    "I''ve never seen a setup this good, even in the graduate faculty lounge," Dravis added, his already calming voice, now practically a gentle whisper.


    Elera sighed contentedly, sinking into her seat. "He''s�� surprisingly thoughtful."


    The fourth-years, likely intimidated by the presence of more senior students didn''t express their thoughts, but their twitching lips as the felt around their new desks also clearly showed that they were pleased by their new workspace.


    It seems like their new boss was much more thoughtful than they''d expected.


    But their sentimental moment was short-lived.


    Kain smiled gently before stepping forward. With a casual motion, he placed a massive stack of thick, ancient-looking textbooks on Rivian''s desk that he took from his space ring.


    Then another stack on Elera''s. And another for Dravis. And the fourth-years. The piles towered over the assistants, teetering slightly unsteadily due to their significant height.


    Each assistant''s initial gratitude morphed into horror as the stacks kept coming.


    "These are handpicked for each of you," Kain said, his kind tone utterly incompatible with the sinister glint in his eye. "I made sure to match them to your specialties. These books represent hundreds of years of recorded knowledge, carefully preserved and a great boost to your current knowledge reserves. Isn''t it wonderful?"


    The assistants exchanged uneasy glances, their earlier happiness evaporating.


    Dravis cleared his throat. "Uh, Kain, these�� seem a bit excessive."


    Elera nodded, her fingers gripping the edge of her desk. "Is�� is all of this necessary?"


    They could tell that many of the documents Kain pulled out, god knows where he got them from, started to exceed the scope of what the college''s records even contained. Kain had used his newfound access to the knowledge reserves of the Eclipse Order to create a reading list for each assistant.


    "Of course!" Kain''s gentle smile widened, his expression terrifyingly serene. "You never know what may come in handy. A book skipped could result in death so I trust you''ll give these your full attention. After all, a solid foundation is crucial for any great scholar."


    ''In death?! Isn''t that being melodramatic!''


    Of course, they didn''t know that Kain, as a new member of the Pathfinders was being quite literal. After all, a missed important chapter may mean unnecessary danger or greater time spent in solving a relic.


    Knowing that his request was a bit excessive��especially since he even wanted to give them a time limit but figured he''d ease into that topic later on lest they revolt��Kain just tried to make his smile as gentle and welcoming as possible.


    However, to the assistants, his smile now looked less like that of a caring mentor and more like a demon relishing their impending suffering.


    "Now then," Kain continued cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Make yourselves at home. If you need anything, let me know. Especially if you need any more books!" sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And with that, he left, leaving his assistants staring at the intimidating towers of books as if they were staring down a death sentence.


    Dravis leaned back in his chair with a resigned sigh. "Well�� at least the chairs are nice."


    The assistants exchanged one last glance of shared despair before reluctantly opening their first books. Meanwhile, Kain was already on his way back to his primary laboratory, completely unconcerned with the chaos he''d left behind.


    The enthusiasm expressed by the higher-ups for the FMT pill had been much greater than anticipated, and rumours that the ''genius planner student'' came up with a new ground-breaking contribution to the field of Evolutionary Planning were already circling around.


    Therefore, Kain was having to move up some of his plans.


    The concept of these pills has never been seen before, therefore many would likely doubt their effects, therefore he had planned to use the buzz produced from a new widely applicable evolutionary form to publicize the FMT pills.


    If at the time of the launch of the pills their creator had an even greater ''genius'' aura and they managed to get official backing, it would increase their credibility greatly and he likely wouldn''t even need to spend much on advertising, they''d probably sell out within seconds.


    The droppings collected by Ferrin were kept within a special extremely cold container to preserve their special qualities and Kain would only need to pick them up to make the pills once a week.


    Also, so far Kain already had thousands of pills prepared and wasn''t in a rush to prepare more.


    Therefore, he turned his attention to the most important part of their launch plan��a new evolutionary form.


    And it just so happened that one of the requests he needed to fulfill for his new assistants perfectly met these conditions.

 Chapter 366 Silkworm Evolutions

    Rivian''s gold-quality Leafwing Moth was one of the numerous evolutionary forms of the black-iron-quality Silkworm, a spiritual creature so common it bordered on mundane.But despite its low quality, the Silkworm held a unique position among contracts��they could meet the contractual needs of over a third of newly awakened individuals, while also being incredibly cheap.


    Actually, cheap isn''t even the correct term for them. They were pretty much free.


    Silkworms could be found in almost any garden or park, their tiny, white plump bodies inching along leaves or spinning fine silk threads among the branches.


    They were a creature the poorest of beast-tamers could easily contract by just plucking one from a bush.


    In towns and cities, children played with them, fascinated by the shimmering silk threads they produced, unaware that this humble creature was also one of the most popular beginner contracts among the underprivileged. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Moreover, if one couldn''t even afford to feed them with the spiritual plants needed to evolve, letting them just graze on normal plants outdoors will cause it to eventually evolve into its default form��the black-iron Silkmoth. However, this form is so low in potential, that even the poorest of individuals would at least attempt to make it evolve into something better.


    What truly set the Silkworm apart wasn''t just its high population��it was its array of evolutionary forms.


    While most spiritual creatures were limited to one or two evolutionary paths, the Silkworm had known forms that corresponded to nearly every element.


    Feeding a Silkworm a diet rich in spiritual plant materials imbued with a specific element would cause it to spin a cocoon of silk infused with that same element.


    When it emerged from this elemental cocoon, it would take on an evolved form aligned with the element of cocoon it used for its metamorphosis. This unique property made the Silkworm a viable option for tamers of nearly any elemental affinity, even if it wasn''t their ideal choice.


    However, despite this impressive range of evolutions, the Silkworm''s lack of popularity among those with even a slightly decent affinity grade. All of its elemental evolutionary paths were dead ends, unable to ascend beyond gold-quality, a ceiling that disqualified it from the considerations of more talented or wealthy tamers.


    However, the resources required to evolve a Silkworm in either of these two directions were too high for most ordinary families, and those that could afford to raise one, or even several, would simply buy more powerful spiritual creatures.


    Nevertheless, despite its disadvantages, the Silkworm was a staple of lower-class tamers. To the talented, it was a creature of last resort, its potential for nearly any element was tempting but rarely worth the investment.


    However, to the poor it was a lifeline, a creature that could at least offer compatibility with their affinity and reach the fairly decent gold-level, even if it didn''t promise greatness.


    Rivian''s Leafwing Moth was one of the gold-quality forms that, while aesthetically stunning and moderately useful for reconnaissance, still failed to rise above the Silkworm''s limitations.


    It was often described as a "pretty face" in the world of spiritual creatures��a creature valued more for its elegance than its combat abilities.


    Yet, Kain saw potential. He didn''t believe that a race as malleable as the Silkworm wouldn''t have more advanced evolutionary forms��they just haven''t been found yet or all required some special evolutionary condition.


    If he could crack the code to push the Leafwing Moth beyond its known limits, and maybe even find some commonality to push forward other evolutions of the Silkworm, it could reshape the reputation of the Silkworm entirely. A creature dismissed by the talented could become a cornerstone of tamers across all walks of life.


    Kain had already asked to see the contract of all of his assistants in person, so he should be able to call up virtual representations of all of them in the System''s Evolution Simulator.


    Not wanting to waste his very limited amount of time until the launch of his project, Kain mentally entered the System while pretending to take a nap.


    At the center of the room stood a tall glass compartment of the Simulator. Within moments of Kain selecting the Leafwing Moth, a shimmering virtual image materialized inside the compartment.


    The Leafwing Moth was as elegant as a butterfly, despite its name. Its delicate, semi-transparent wings shimmered with an iridescent green hue, veins of gold tracing intricate patterns reminiscent of leaves. Its body was slim and silken, with soft tufts of fur around its neck like a fur collar. Long, feathery antennae extended from its head, glowing faintly with spiritual energy.


    Kain swiped his hand along the touch screen of the Simulator, pulling up the creature''s profile.


    Immediately, his eyes caught on a flashing exclamation mark within its profile that Kain knew indicated a special evolutionary condition.


    "Bingo," Kain muttered under his breath, leaning forward as though the virtual image would yield its secrets faster that way. Clicking on the notification, he opened the detailed explanation of the condition.


    Silken Harmony: The evolutionary form requires the Leafwing Moth to spin its cocoon using silk threads contributed by at least three other Silkworms or their evolved forms, each representing a different elemental attribute. The combined silk must be woven together with its own threads to form a cocoon infused with harmonized elemental energy.


    Kain''s eyebrows shot up once he read this condition and immediately understood why this condition hadn''t been satisfied before, even by coincidence.


    Silkworms and their evolved forms were naturally solitary creatures. Even in captivity, keeping Silkworms of different elements together was nearly impossible without rigorous effort and training.


    It wasn''t just about putting a few Silkworms in a room and letting them do their thing. The process required a perfect balance of attributes and cooperation among multiple moths, two things that were fundamentally alien to Silkworms and their evolved forms.


    Even if someone managed to get three Silkworms with different attributes together, getting them to contribute silk for one cocoon? That''s asking for a miracle


    Now with his biggest obstacle identified, Kain took a look at his abundant amount of GP, and immediately got to work simulating.

 Chapter 367 Silken Harmony

    Once Kain had an idea, he immediately acted on it.He placed an order for all known evolutionary forms of the Silkworm, such as:


    -The natural/plant attribute Leafwing Moth


    -The fire attribute Flamesilk Moth


    -The water attribute Tidalace Butterfly


    -The wind attribute Skythread Butterfly


    -The earth attribute Granitewing Moth


    -The metal attribute Bladewing Butterfly


    -The light attribute Haloed Butterfly


    -The dark attribute Obsidian Moth


    Not only did he get an almost excessive amount of each evolutionary form, but the college even allocated to him a private spiritual creature care facility that they could remain in and have staff care for them round the clock.


    Moreover, they''d even assigned several upper-year and graduate students of the "Spiritual Creature Care and Breeding" major to assist him.


    These services, plus the costs for care and food, were completely covered by the university. Sear?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And all of this was arranged in less than 48 hours


    It seems like after Kain presented his second major research achievement, the enthusiasm and support of the top-brass for his research went up another level��or even several levels.


    The common care facility was located near the eastern wing of the university, nestled in a quiet section of the campus surrounded by gardens and dense groves of trees. A series of interconnected structures that looked like greenhouses formed the bulk of the facility, with controlled climates and environments tailored to the specific needs of different attributes.


    Naturally, when researchers are working on a project that may need dozens or even hundreds of spiritual creatures, or a project that uses incredibly large spiritual creatures, it isn''t feasible to house them all within their own lab.


    Therefore, most of the time majority of the spiritual creatures that a researcher has are housed in the common care facility and cared for by breeders��for a fee, of course.


    Usually each ''greenhouse'' is used to house the spiritual creatures of multiple researchers with similar attributes. However, Kain was given one all to himself. A fact, naturally not looked at upon too kindly by the older, more senior, researchers of the college. However, since the top-brass had already spoken, there wasn''t much they could do aside from venting their frustrations in silence and excluding Kain from various meetups and social activities among the staff��something that Kain was not even aware existed and, even if he did, would likely still not attend.


    But these were all unimportant background events. Currently, Kain was stepping into his private care facility and immediately found himself impressed by its quality.


    The greenhouse was meticulously organized, with separate spacious enclosures for each type of Silkworm evolution. The Tidalace Butterflies fluttered over shallow pools of sparkling water, while the Flamesilk Moths basked near controlled fires that emitted soft, radiant heat and grazed on transplanted fire-attribute plants. The Obsidian Butterflies resided in a darker corner of the facility, with artificial shadows cast by carefully designed structures and dimmer lighting.


    The staff, dressed in uniforms with the college''s emblem, greeted him warmly. The graduate students assigned to assist him looked eager at getting a chance to potentially see the formation of a great research achievement up close.


    However, Kain noted that there were quite a few breeders, particularly among the fourth-years and graduate students, that seemed particularly wary and almost afraid of him.


    Unknown to him, all of these wary students were friends with Kain''s new ''research assistants'' and had long heard about Kain''s harsh expectations of his current assistants.


    Since they were ordered by the college to help him with whatever he needed and follow his instructions exactly, they were slightly afraid that he''d pull out a massive tower of textbooks on spiritual creature care and breeding and demand they learn all of the material within a time limit.


    So when Kain arrived and simply waved them off and ordered them to stay outside the facility while he conducted his research, they all breathed silent sighs of relief as they left.


    When he was alone Kain used a button on the wall to remove the screens acting to form separation enclosures for each type of evolutionary form.


    However, just as Kain read, the moths and butterflies didn''t even like to mingle with other of their same ethnic groups, much less the other evolutionary forms.


    The conditions needed for evolution would be practically impossible to achieve in nature.


    But, Kain had a way to force out the behaviour he needed.


    Suddenly dozens, if not hundreds, of threads extended from Kain, or more specifically Bea who was on him, and attached to the flittering spiritual creatures. Any efforts to dodge were completely rendered useless due to the difference in level and combat experience.


    Within seconds, the dozens of spiritual creatures flying around crazily arranged themselves in neat rows in front of Kain, sorted by attribute.


    Kain couldn''t resist smiling as he observed the orderly rows of moths and butterflies now standing at attention.


    Something about seeing the perfectly spaced creatures, all similar in size and appearance, in neat rows sorted by attribute and wing colour, satisfied some latent OCD tendency he may have possessed.


    "Much better," he murmured, stepping closer to examine the creatures.


    "Alright, little ones," Kain said, crouching to examine them closely. "Time to see if you all can evolve."


    Immediately, a variety of humming, buzzing, and clicking noises echoed in the facility as they seemed to understand what he said.


    Bea didn''t control their minds, only their actions, to hopefully train them to spontaneously work together without her control in the future.


    After all, Bea''s skills, while far reaching, did have a distance limit and, since he may even be entering relics cut off from the world in the future as a Pathfinder, Bea couldnt control them all fo the time.


    Therefore, the best case scenario would be for them all to be able to work together to form the silk needed to evolve on their own.


    Then Kain could once again discuss with Collin about an possible business ventures using these trained moths.


    Although they don''t currently seem amenable to trainingr, based on how enthusiastic they seemed at the prospects of evolving, once they see and understand the benefits of working together, this individualistic group may form a cohesive and powerful workforce.

 Chapter 368 What Genre Is This?!

    Using Bea, Kain split them into groups, each group containing one of each attribute.He instructed Bea to send faint nudges of calm and cooperation through the threads, urging the moths and butterflies to interact. At first, there was resistance; the creatures fluttered their wings irritably, some even attempting to pull away. But Bea''s influence held firm, and gradually, the spiritual creatures began to settle into their groups.


    Due to the over enthusiasm of the higher-ups for Kain, there were over 10 of each types��meaning that there were over a dozen groups and nearly 100 spiritual creatures in the space in total.


    Kain walked to a nearby group and reached into his space ring and withdrew a bundle of spiritual plants, each corresponding to the elements of the different moths and butterflies. Gently, he placed the plants in front of the creatures, coaxing them to feed and spin their silk.


    However, after a few minutes of them either refusing to do so, or not fully understanding his intentions, Kain had Bea once again take full control of their bodies to begin spinning the silk.


    Part of the reason Kain had selected this group was because he could sense the saturation of energy in their bodies, this group had the members of each ethnic group that were the most ready for evolution.


    Kain removed a spiritual orb and catalyst from his space ring, and waited for a certain amount of silk to be produced.


    Thankfully, for most spiritual creatures like the River Wolf Pup, the Silkworm, and now these moths, their long-term grazing of specific spiritual plants has resulted in them not requiring an additional base evolutionary material��only a catalyst to trigger the evolution, and the spiritual orb to support the energy needed to evolve.


    Therefore, contracts that don''t need an additional purchase of an expensive and/or rare evolutionary base material to succeed in evolving are quite popular among the masses. However, among more talented beast tamers they are still typically not chosen since lack of a special or particularly potent base material during evolution means that all of them are relatively uniform after evolution, and they tend to be weaker at the same level than other species that need a base material to evolve.


    Kain closely monitored the group of moths as the silk began to accumulate in soft, shimmering piles. Using Bea''s influence, the creatures produced their threads at a steady pace, each one glowing faintly with the spiritual energy of its respective attribute.


    The vibrant hues of the silk��green from the Leafwing Moth, blue from the Tidalace Butterfly, silver from the Skythread Butterfly, and golden from the Haloed Butterfly��made for a mesmerizing sight.


    It''s no wonder that, like the typical Vespirae Queen renowned for its spiritual honey, Silkworm moths and butterflies, while not popular among powerful beast-tamers, are still desired by low-level beast-tamers who don''t like to fight and would like to use the silk produced by their contracts to earn money.


    Seeing the silks of all different attributes and colours made for a stunning sight, and Kain was almost considering entering the fashion industry, but quickly put that thought on hold��its best not to enter a field he knew nothing about.


    Once he felt there was enough silk, Kain carefully collected the threads, placing each type into separate bins labeled with their attributes.


    Then, he selected one Leafwing Moth from the group and gently guided it to begin spinning a cocoon around itself��a necessary condition for it to evolve.


    As the Leafwing Moth began spinning its cocoon, weaving its own silk threads into the mix. Kain gradually added small amounts of the collected silk from the other attributes, observing how they blended into the forming cocoon.


    At first, everything seemed to proceed smoothly��the threads harmonized, creating a multi-hued cocoon that pulsed with spiritual energy.


    However, as the cocoon neared completion, Kain''s expression darkened. He could feel the energy within the cocoon becoming unstable, the delicate balance between the elements starting to collapse.


    Suddenly, a burst of fiery energy erupted from the cocoon, consuming the nearby threads and overpowering the natural-attribute silk still being produced by the Leafwing Moth, and even beginning to damage the moth which was vulnerable to the fire-element, which was still spinning away inside the cocoon.


    "Stop," Kain ordered sharply, quickly halting the process to prevent further damage. Bea immediately controlled it to stop its movements while Kain used a knife to begin cutting away the now useless threads. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain stepped closer to examine the incomplete cocoon, his eyes narrowing. The threads that had been infused with fire-attribute energy were noticeably more potent than the others, the saturation of energy slightly exceeding that of the other attributes.


    Even though he had used equal amounts of silk from each attribute, the imbalance in the spiritual energy levels of the silk threads themselves had caused the cocoon to destabilize.


    "Silken Harmony, huh?" Kain muttered, recalling the description in the Evolution Simulator. "It''s not just about mixing threads��it''s about achieving a perfect balance of the different attributes."


    He sighed, rubbing his temples. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."


    Kain would need to perfectly calculate how much of each type of silk to use along with the Leafwing Moth''s own silk in order to achieve a perfect balance, which is extremely difficult and near impossible for him to do on his own.


    Thankfully, when he was provided with a lab it did come with a machine that gave detailed figures on the amount and attributes of spiritual power present in an object or creature, a machine Kain hadn''t used often until now.


    Moving the machine to the care facility with some help, Kain began feeding it samples of the silk from each attribute, using its advanced sensors to measure the precise spiritual energy levels in each thread. The results confirmed his suspicion: the fire-attribute silk had 50% more energy density compared to the others, with the remaining threads also displaying minor differences form one another.


    "If I want this to work, I need to figure out exactly how much silk to use from each type to achieve balance," Kain realized.


    He then reread the Silken Harmony description. Only three additional attributes were needed for the evolution, not all of them. To simplify the process, Kain decided to limit the attributes he used.


    After running multiple calculations and simulations, he identified a promising combination: water, wind, and light. These attributes had spiritual energy levels closer to each other and to the natural-attribute energy of the Leafwing Moth''s silk.


    But then a new problem arose��certain attributes seemed to require their counterparts for balance. Light could not exist in harmony without dark, and fire required water to offset its intensity. Moreover, all of these elements seemed to interact with one another more or less.


    "F***!"


    Thinking of the Chinese elemental pentagram he''d read about in some Chinese cultivation novels in his past life and his future struggles, Kain wanted to flip a table.


    When had this modern fantasy world shifted into the realm of Chinese Xianxia!!!

 Chapter 369 The Price of Mad Genius?

    "You look like you lost a fight with your alarm clock and it got the last punch." Gabriel said to Kain while wincing at his dishevelled appearance.Kain''s appearance was nothing short of a disaster, the kind of soulcrushing exhaustion that would cause anyone to confuse Kain with an undead creature rather than a human.


    Dark circles framed his eyes, so deep and shadowed they almost looked like he had dual black eyes.


    His usually sharp and composed gaze was dulled, the whites of his eyes bloodshot with tiny red veins crisscrossing now yellowed parts of his eyes.


    His normally sunkissed skin was pale, bordering on having a sickly green tint, with a slight sheen of sweat that hinted at the hours of work he''d been putting in lately.


    His hair was an unkempt greasy mess, sticking up in random directions and his chapped lips were surrounded by a faint shadow of stubble on his jawline, as though he''d completely abandoned any form of basic grooming.


    His clothes matched the rest of him. They were rumpled and slightly askew, with his shirt untucked on one side and covered in wrinkles.


    The way he moved didn''t help either��sluggish and unsteady, like his limbs were operating on borrowed energy��adding to the illusion of him being undead.


    His shoulders slumped, his posture a complete betrayal of his usual confident demeanor. Even his voice, when he spoke, carried the unmistakable rasp of someone who hadn''t slept properly in days.


    All in all, Kain looked like a walking embodiment of burnout��someone who had pushed far beyond their limits and was now paying the price in every visible way.


    However, sleeping was easier said than done. Even with the best spiritual plant teas to soothe his mind, or even stooping to using Bea to forcefully put him to sleep, his sleep was always restless.


    And the reason for his insomnia was completely the infuriating puzzle that was the different elemental reactions.


    Even if after much training, Kain was barely able to get the spiritual creatures to infuse similar amounts of energy into their silk, he couldn''t add even amounts of each silk.


    All of the elements interacted with more than one other element, and it wasn''t at a 1 to 1 ratio.


    Water could extinguish fire, but when the energy of fire is large enough it can cause water to evaporate. Therefore, for a perfect balance between them, more fire-attribute energy is needed.


    However, if only things could be so easy and stop there.


    Kain found that in the presence of the natural/plant attribute, the fire element would receive a slight boost, while the water element present in the silk would be slightly suppressed making balance between the 3 elements more difficult.


    In fact, the majority of the interactions between the plant, water, fire, metal, and earth attributes almost perfectly matched those described in the Chinese 5-elements pentagram.


    But, unfortunately, Kain wasn''t working with only 5 elements��he was working with 8.


    And those extra 3 elements��wind, light, and dark��were completely screwing with his mind! S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tossed into the perfectly nice 5 element pentagram, they wreaked complete havoc.


    The wind element at low levels could boost the fire element, but at high levels would suppress it.


    Similarly, the combination of the water and wind attributes are often used in fusion skills to create ice, and so in the presence of the wind attribute, the fire suppressing effect on the fire attribute may strengthen.


    Moreover, achieving balance between the light and dark attributes, which Kain had hoped would stand alone, was also difficult since Kain noticed that they also interacted with the other elements.


    For example, in the presence of the fire element, the light element in the silk would be slightly boosted.


    Every time Kain thought he''d finally had everything figured out, a new interaction between the elements would be uncovered so that, until now, Kain still hadn''t managed to find a perfect balance among 4 elements even once.


    ''This is impossible��'' Kain thought as tears unconsciously dripped from his face and smeared the words written on his research notes.


    "I think�� I might have shot myself in the foot��" Kain had employed 5 research assistants to avoid memorizing the necessary knowledge of the Pathfinders on his own, and instead to "cheat" and take a "lazy" way out.


    But now, in the process of fulfilling his "payment" to the new assistants, he was working so hard he wasn''t sure if just memorizing the content on his own would have been more exhausting.


    "Kain, maybe you should take a break. If your Fanclub members saw you now, they''d probably immediately turn their back on you," Gabriel said with a slight sneer, though the concern in his eyes was evident.


    Kain waved him off, too drained to muster a witty retort. Instead, he buried his head in his hands, his ink-stained fingers rubbing against his temples. "A break won''t solve this, Gabriel, because whenever I do close my eyes, all I see are numbers and equations. I swear these damn elements are conspiring against me!"


    Just when Kain would think he''d perfectly balanced even just the minimum of 4 elements, something else he didn''t expect would pop up and ruin everything!


    However, the more difficult it was to get it to work, the more Kain was determined to succeed. Something was telling him that an evolutionary form with such difficult to meet conditions must result in an incredibly special creature.


    ''It definitely must!'' Kain said in determination, otherwise he may kill something if all of his hard work only resulted in a creature with a strength slightly higher than their current forms.


    As he prepared to get back to work and test his next idea, Gabriel watched with a mix of admiration and exasperation. "You''re going to kill yourself with all this overwork, you know."


    "Probably," Kain replied, his voice dry. "But at least I''ll die a genius."


    However, in Kain''s obsession with living up to the "genius" moniker, he was forgetting about something very very important��it was now the time for the first Ranking Tournament of his second year as a College student.

 Chapter 370 The Adventures of Bea

    For as long as Bea could remember, existence had been one long, murky stretch of endless monotony, only broken by the occasional arrival of prey.Due to her nature of being able to infect her target''s mind, it also allowed her to better understand the world outside of its little hot spring.


    However, for the most part, her life was extremely boring, with her only company actually being her own splits.


    Her world was simple. There was no past, no future��only the comforting rhythm of the spring and the occasional flicker of prey foolish enough to wander close. But somewhere deep within her essence, there was an unfulfilled yearning, an instinctive drive to grow, to explore, to connect with another living thing.


    The arrival of the human was like a ripple that broke the surface of her calm existence.


    She felt him long before he entered the cavern. A bright spark of spiritual energy��a presence more vibrant than anything she had ever encountered. It was chaotic, raw, and unrefined, but it was enough to draw her attention.


    Unlike the other humans that she would occasionally come across, this one had a strange draw to her, almost as if they were connected.


    Bea watched him as he explored the area of the cavern. He seemed to be searching, speaking words she didn''t fully understand, but the intent resonated with her.


    "Hello? I know you''re there. I don''t mean you any harm, I just want to talk with you. Maybe we can even be friends."


    ''��what is he looking for? There shouldn''t be another living creature here other than me��''


    "I know you''ve probably been alone for a while now, but don''t be scared. I can ensure that you are never alone again."


    Bea still didn''t respond to him, although it''s not as if she could even if she wanted to, she lacked a mouth. She lacked eyes as well to see him, at least not as he saw the world. She felt his energy, his movements disturbing the air.


    However, whatever he was looking for, seemed to not be here since he abandoned his search and instead approached her domain, the hot spring.


    His presence disturbed the delicate equilibrium of the waters, and her splits that practically saturated the water surged toward him unseen, but Bea held them in check to prevent them from consuming his mind too soon. She wanted to observe him, to see what he would do.


    The human dipped below the surface, again and again, his movements erratic but persistent. His bright spark flickered each time he re-emerged, growing dimmer as exhaustion set in. Perhaps he didn''t give up, he now seemed to be looking for whatever he needed beneath the water.


    However, Bea was now bored��and hungry. So she released the reigns on her splits and they finally began to exert their effects. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The feedback from the splits was chaotic and fragmented, filled with the vague shape of a large black feline, similar to ones that would occasionally wander into this cavern and emotions. Her splits had stirred something within him��a primal response to their influence. She couldn''t understand what they showed him, but she could feel his reactions: fear, confusion, and an odd determination that burned brighter than his panic.


    Whatever he was seeing made him terrified enough to dive beneath the water to flee. Bea felt some pity for him and stopped her splits from continuing to influence him momentarily.


    She prefers for her prey to be alive as she eats, she couldn''t have him die of fear before she was done.


    The hallucination should have stopped but the human''s panic didn''t subside. He emerged from the water, trembling. Once his heartbeat slowed own a bit she entered him herself and began eating, and his mind began spiraling into another delusion triggered by her. This time, Bea felt an unfamiliar warmth in his emotions��concern and love, emotions he directed at the figure he was hallucinating.


    Cherry


    She had heard this term before from a previous human she''d infected. It looks like the subject of this next hallucination was a fruit?


    ''He must really like fruit��'' she thought.


    The hallucination had shifted his focus entirely, his desperation to protect the illusion overriding his fear of the unknown. But as he reached for the mirage, his already exhausted body suddenly collapsed.


    He fell.


    This was her moment to feast!


    Instinct and need drove her forward, but suddenly an overwhelmingly appealing force seemed to be calling to her. It was so appealing that she couldn''t even think about continuing to eat.


    Once she made contact with that bright spot, she and her splits began merging into a single cohesive force as they entered it together. The effect was immediate��a surge of energy and awareness that felt like entering the most perfect hot spring for the first time.


    Star Space. Contract. Beast Tamer.


    All kinds of foreign information instantly appeared in her mind.


    In a few moments the space she entered had finished changing into the form of the hot spring she''d always known. No, it was far superior to the original.


    This space was familiar yet foreign, a sanctuary that promised protection and boundless growth��it was home.


    ---------------------------------


    Since leaving that cavern Bea had seen all kinds of places and creatures, and even managed to completely change her species.


    As she grew in strength, so did her intelligence. If she were to now compare it to a human, her intelligence may be close to the level of a 12 or 13 year-old?


    Although sometimes she felt even smarter than her master.


    And as she grew, she gradually was able to understand the words spoken by her master at the beginning.


    ''I can ensure that you are never alone again.''


    And she believes that he''d keep that promise.


    They were the closest partners who had been together the longest time, and she was also confident that she knew him the best!


    Which was why, while she pitied his exhausted figure, she knew that her master would be devastated to have missed the re-ranking. She also knew it could result in a drastic cut in the resources given to them.


    Unfortunately, she was the only contract outside of the star space right now, and his body was so exhausted that even when she attempted to control him, his limbs would barely move.


    ''What do I do��?''

 Chapter 371 Beas Plan

    If Bea had a brain it''d probably be overheating right now.Aside from Kain sleeping on a couch, the only other living creature in the laboratory was Gabriel. However, Gabriel''s identity was quite sensitive and he couldn''t be seen. Moreover, he couldn''t exactly leave the lab that had an array to suppress his spiritual power��unless he wanted to explode, that is.


    Bea once again entered Kain and managed to trigger the release of Aegis, Queen, and the guards. Immediately, the previously spacious lab was filled to the brim. But what could she do? She didn''t have enough fine control to selectively release a few of them, so out they must all go.


    After relaying the situation to the others, Aegis and the Vespids all headed towards the arena that would be the site of the re-ranking while Bea was carried along with them.


    When they arrived at the arena however, their advancement was stopped by what appears to be a teacher.


    It seems like their troop of spiritual creatures unaccompanied by a beast-tamer had raised some alarm bells.


    How could they explain that they were here to participate? Bea had never wished more than now to have a mouth of her own.


    And this teacher was at least a 6-star beast tamer, she wouldn''t be able to perfectly control him enough to allow them through without leaving any traces or raising any alarm bells and getting Kain into trouble.


    Thankfully, right at that moment, a low-level staff member happened to be passing by and she took the opportunity to have one of her splits enter him.


    His figure stagnated, and his expression shifted into one of confusion before returning to a perfect blank.


    The controlled body walked towards the group of spiritual creatures stopped by the teacher, and the teacher looked at him in confusion at his approach.


    Does he know where these strange and unknown spiritual creatures came from?


    He''s definitely not their contractor, since she could sense this low-level staff responsible for cleaning up the arena was only a 2-star beast-tamer, these green grade spiritual creatures are impossible to be bound by him.


    The man marched somewhat stiffly towards the front of the group until he faced the teacher.


    "I am Bea." He said, while waiting expectantly.


    "��."


    "I am Bea." Perhaps the message isn''t getting across? Usually, when Bea controlled a target''s mind in past Black Missions, Kain was next to her telling her what to have them say word-for-word. Now that she was alone, perhaps it was stage fright, but she really couldn''t think of how best to diffuse the increasingly tense situation.


    "I am��"


    "Bea, yeah I got that. I am certain you aren''t a student of our college nor is there a Bea scheduled to fight today, so please take these spiritual creatures away."


    If Bea had tear glands she would probably be in tears right about now��


    ''Why is talking so difficult?!'' She felt like she was juggling too many things at once!


    "I��am��" Bea hesitated. ''What else can I say? What would Kain say in this situation? Something that gets my purpose across��''


    "��a representative for Kain Newman!" she finally blurted out through the man, the words stiff and halting.


    The teacher raised an eyebrow, her gaze shifting suspiciously between the spiritual creatures and the possessed staff member. "A representative? Kain Newman? Are you telling me the owner of these creatures is too important to show up in person?"


    Bea internally panicked. The teacher''s tone was dripping with sarcasm. ''Oh no, is that bad? Did I mess up? Maybe I should''ve said I was someone else! No, wait�� that would''ve been worse!''


    The possessed staff member awkwardly cleared his throat, his movements unnaturally robotic. "Yes! He is��very busy��doing��something!" Bea forced the man to fold his arms confidently, though the result was closer to a wooden mannequin attempting a power pose. However, at least that time her speech was smoother! ''I''m getting the hang of this!''


    The teacher''s frown deepened. "If that''s the case, where''s his proof of authorization? You can''t just waltz in here and claim to represent someone without credentials." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The gears in Bea''s metaphorical brain ground to a halt. ''Proof? Credentials? Oh no�� Humans have so many unnecessary rules!'' She briefly considered possessing the teacher to force her way in but immediately discarded the idea. Even a faint trace of her influence could leave evidence that Kain would have to clean up later. ''No, no, I need another plan��''


    Her attention flickered to Aegis, standing stalwartly behind the group. An idea sparked. She made the possessed staff member turn to gesture dramatically at the spiritual creatures.


    "Look at them! They are his contracts that appeared during the National Tournament. Do you think someone without Kain Newman''s approval could control these beings?" The staff member waved wildly toward the massive stone form of Aegis, and buzzing Vespids. All of them were species unique to Kain, so they must belong to him. "They are here for the re-ranking, under his orders!"


    The teacher glanced at Aegis, her expression faltering slightly. "That��doesn''t explain why Mr. Newman isn''t here himself."


    Bea clenched her metaphorical fists in frustration. Why are humans so stubborn?! "He''s��sick!" she blurted through the man, desperate now. "He caught��a terrible illness�� Likely the flu��I mean, poison. Vomit and diarrhea everywhere."


    Bea almost tripped up by mentioning an illness she''d heard Kain mention in his ''past-life'' ��whatever that is. But quickly remembered that no such thing existed now, and that there are ''practically no contagious diseases in this world, unless you count the undead.''


    The teacher stared at the possessed staff member with a mixture of skepticism and disgust. "And he sent you instead?"


    "Yes!" Bea replied eagerly. "Because I am the trustworthy and competent BEA!" These words sounded very convincing, if she must say so herself. ''That ought to convince them!''


    The teacher sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. They weren''t fully convinced, but were tired of this conversation. All else considered, this strange ''Bea'' was correct in saying that these were Mr. Newman''s contracts. "Fine, fine. Just��keep them under control. And if there''s any disruption, you''re all getting thrown out. And you can explain to Mr. Newman why he was disqualified from participating."


    Bea barely managed to stifle a whoop of triumph. She had done it! Somehow, she had actually managed to talk her way through.


    Guiding the staff member into the arena followed by the other, she made him smile awkwardly to the spiritual creatures and muttered through him, "Good job, team."


    Aegis didn''t move. Queen''s antennae twitched. Bea could almost feel the silent judgment radiating from the group. Okay, okay, maybe the plan didn''t go as smoothly as expected, but it worked, didn''t it?


    She had survived this round. Now, all she had to do was make it through the actual re-ranking. Easy��right?

 Chapter 372 Arrogant

    The arena buzzed with anticipation as students and some teachers of the second-years filled the stands, eager to see the re-ranking matches unfold.This was the moment when the hard work they''d put in since their first-year ended would finally bear fruit and they''d be able to hopefully go up in rank.


    The opening speeches thankfully didn''t last too long, not that Bea would listen to it. Her mind was completely focused on just listening for the name "Kain Newman."


    Thankfully, perhaps because the recognized Aegis and Queen, a few of Kain''s classmates that Bea remembered teaming up with on missions in the past, and Kain''s brother Bridge, also sat close to them. They seemed confused by Kain''s absence and tried to strike up a conversation, but after sensing that this mysterious man directing Kain''s contracts didn''t seem to want to converse with them, they just watched the stage in silence.


    Bea breathed a sigh of relief. Humans are just way too chatty!


    Thankfully, the occasional roar or explosion from an ongoing match filled the silence within the group.


    Soon enough, Kain''s name was called to the stage.


    "Alright, team," she whispered through her human puppet, and pointed at Aegis. "Aegis will go first. Just fight like usual. We''re professionals, right? Right."


    She tried to make the staff member exude confidence by puffing out his chest, but the result looked more like he was awkwardly trying to burp.


    When Kain''s group was announced but only Aegis climbed on the stage, the murmurs started immediately.


    "Wait, is Kain actually not here?"


    "Are you kidding me? He just sent his contracts? How arrogant can he be?"


    "He has a right to be arrogant, he''s in the top 5 so most matches wouldn''t be of interest to him. Not to mention, have you seen those spiritual creatures? I bet that stone golem of his could crush my whole team by itself!"


    The apprehension of the backlash Kain would receive faded from Bea due to the pride felt at that last remark. ''That''s right! My master is amazing! WE are amazing''


    The announcer''s voice boomed through the arena, calling the next match: "Jeremy Sorran versus��Kain Newman!"


    Aegis stepped forward, his heavy stone footfalls echoing like thunderclaps across the arena. His massive, rugged form glinted faintly in the sunlight, and the crowd erupted in an awed discussion at his massive and imposing form.


    Jeremy, a wiry young man with sharp eyes, strode confidently into the ring. His three contracts were all summoned by him, and among the 3 big cats, his wind-attribute jaguar was undoubtedly the one with the strongest aura, its sleek fur rippled as if caught in an invisible breeze. And its eyes exuded a quiet but lethal determination.


    Bea could see the anger simmering just beneath Jeremy''s calm exterior. His clenched fists and narrowed eyes betrayed his thoughts.


    ''How dare Kain Newman disrespect me by not even showing up!''


    Jeremy had worked harder than he ever had in his life in the hopes of advancing into the top 20 and securing the huge boost in resources that would come from such a ranking.


    He had initially felt nervous about his first match being against someone so powerful, but now he was just filled with anger. Whatever admiration he had for Kain as a beast-tamer and evolutionary planner went up in smoke. He would show Kain the price of his arrogance and make sure to defeat him!


    The whistle blew to trigger the start of the match.


    While the smaller contracts, a cougar and cheetah, stayed further back to gather power to strike, the wind attribute jaguar moved like a streak of lightning��a blur of motion barely perceptible to the naked eye. The air itself seemed to twist and ripple around it as it hurtled toward Aegis with terrifying speed.


    Gasps rippled through the crowd.


    "Jeremy''s Windclaw Jaguar has gotten a lot faster since last year!"


    "Not to mention it looks like he''s going to use his strongest skill from the beginning. I heard Galestrike is incredibly difficult to learn and usually only blue-grade spiritual creatures are able to use it."


    "Wow, that jaguar is no joke. Even if Kain''s not here, his contracts might actually have to work for this one."


    "Who knows, maybe there will be the biggest upset in decades and a member of the top 5 will get defeated in the group stages."


    "I hope so. That guy is so effing arrogant. Is he too good to show up himself?"


    BOOM!


    It was as if a bomb went off on stage. The jaguar, which had been charging with incredible momentum, was swatted out of the arena like a fly by a single devastating swipe from Aegis.


    Sec-kill


    The crowd fell silent, stunned by the sheer brutality and efficiency with which Aegis got rid of the opponent.


    When the dust cleared, the jaguar lay outside the arena in a boneless heap, unconscious. Jeremy stood frozen, disbelief plastered across his face.


    Aegis stood still, lowering his massive arm with all calm of a warrior who had just swatted an annoyingly buzzing fly.


    The silence in the arena gave way to a chorus of whispers:


    "Did��did that just happen?"


    "I didn''t even see it move!"


    "That poor jaguar! Someone call the healers!"


    Jeremy''s face turned crimson as he gritted his teeth, clearly furious and humiliated.


    Bea, meanwhile, struggled not to laugh through her puppet. She felt an overwhelming sense of pride. ''That''s my teammate!'' S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jeremy directed his 2 other contracts to surround and strike Aegis, but they were similarly dispatched in seconds by the towering golem.


    The announcer cleared his throat, his voice echoing awkwardly through the stunned crowd. "Jeremy Sorran Vs Kain Newman. Winner: Kain Newman!"


    As Aegis returned to his group, Jeremy shot him��and the possessed staff member��a glare that could have melted stone. Bea made the puppet offer a sheepish shrug in response.


    It was another couple of hours before they completed their second, and final, match of the day. A match that was once again won in seconds by Aegis.


    "Kain Newman Vs Celina Nevermor. Winner: Kain Newman!"


    The group of spiritual creatures happily left the arena behind, the now silent audience still dissatisfied by what they considered to be Kain''s arrogance, but also disheartened at their inability to teach him a lesson.

 Chapter 373 Targeted

    Since Kain had gotten a taste of the sweet life in delegating tasks to others, upon learning what Bea and the others did when he woke up, his first thought was not fear at having almost been disqualified, nor was it self-reproach for failing to get up, but rather��"That could be done?! Great! We''ll continue like this from now on!"


    For one thing, he would not have to waste his time attending matches in the early group stage, only needing to attend Phase 2 of the competition where the first place of each group will compete against one another


    Moreover, Kain had been quite worried about what would happen if he went on a Pathfinder Mission for a prolonged period of time and missed the re-ranking. However, knowing that he doesn''t need to be present means that he could always leave one of contracts stationed at all times at the College to participate. While it may be difficult for that one contract to fight one against many, Kain firmly believed that any one of his contracts could at least maintain a top 5 ranking even if competing alone.


    Not to mention that Kain is now a 4-star beast-tamer and needs to find a fourth contract, which would give him even more options to select from.


    Yeah it''d suck being one spiritual creature down within a relic, especially since every one of his contracts can have a practical role in a relic: Bea for obtaining information and controlling spiritual creatures in the relic; Queen is the team''s healer while her guards serve as the best scouts; and Aegis is the team''s shield during unexpected emergencies.


    Every single one is indispensable. But Kain is really not willing to replace Aria as the last ranked student of their year��


    There is a possible extended leave option, but during that period he''d have to forfeit all of his resources, room, rank and retake many of his courses��this was the absolute last choice!


    Over the following days of the group matches, Kain continued to not show up. And while there were many voices of discontent at his choice, Kain wasn''t exactly around to hear it, and even if he did hear their grumblings, he still wouldn''t care.


    He felt as though he was extremely close to making a breakthrough in his research on the Silkworm evolutions, and didn''t even bother to show up during the first couple matches of Phase 2.


    His first match of Phase 2 was against the current rank 8, and Bea and the others were able to defeat her without any issues.


    However, god knows what progress Kairos had made since he''d last fought him, but it had almost caused Kain''s team to capsize in his absence.


    Kairos'' affinity is to cursed constructs, items that had been contaminated by dark-attribute energy for a prolonged period of time and eventually gave birth to a consciousness.


    Due to their manner of birth, they are extremely rare, but their abilities and potential will vary greatly.


    Therefore, a legendary shield may become a powerful spiritual creature with high potential, or you may have a can opener that also opened up its consciousness with extremely low potential.


    This is why, despite being a 3-star beast-tamer for a long time, Kairos still only had 2 contracts. Now Kairos recently advanced to 4-stars, and while he still doesn''t have all his contract positions filled, he did manage to find a third contract that meets his standards��and strangely, this third spiritual contract makes Kain feel like it was targeted at him! Or, more specifically, Bea!


    Kairos'' new contract was a sword that seemed to be capable of precisely cutting only whatever it or Kairos willed.


    Bea shared the scenes of the match directly into his mind, and so he was able to see what happened in the match through what she transmitted and feel her intense feelings of frustration and helplessness.


    The cursed sword exuded an oppressive aura that seemed to sap the light from the surrounding arena. Its blade was sleek and pitch-black, appearing almost liquid.


    Along its edges, faint streaks of crimson pulsed like veins, giving it the illusion of a living animal with a beating heart.


    The hilt was simple, wrapped in what looked like aged leather, but its pommel held a redeye-like gemstone that glowed faintly.


    The sword floated and moved on its own, reminding Kain of those flying swords often described in cultivation novels. However, rather than its creepy appearance, it was its intangible cutting ability that sent shivers down Bea''s metaphorical spine��and, through her, Kain''s.


    The sword''s ability to cut physical objects wasn''t extraordinary. During the match, Aegis blocked its physical attacks with ease, even reiterating to Kain that its cutting ability was not a threat to him. Its blade struggled to leave more than surface scratches on his stone body.


    But its true power revealed itself when facing Bea.


    Most attacks were completely unable to affect Bea''s mental attribute threads��however, this sword was able to easily cut through.


    However, that wasn''t the worst part. after all the threads just carry the splits and increase their mobility, while the splits can still exist without the threads. In fact, in the past Kain had employed other strategies of having the split on an ejected stinger or on a surface he knew that target would make contact with, in order to discretely infect them.


    But somehow this sword was even able to "cut" the connection between Bea and her splits.


    Bea could feel the exact moment it happened: a split-second of sharp pain, as though an invisible cord tying her to her extension had been severed, leaving that part of her completely isolated. It wasn''t destroyed, but the bond that allowed her to control and sense through it was gone.


    But the sword wasn''t limited to cutting off the connection between Bea and her splits, it could also precisely destroy the splits themselves.


    When she finally managed to infect Kairos with one of her splits in a desperate bid to eliminate the opponent''s leader, the sword seemed able to accurately sense the split''s position once it was inside Kairos��which was something Bea had never experienced before, her skills had always ensured that upon infection, even blue-grade spiritual creatures should find it almost impossible to sense her presence unless that have a special skill.


    Kain watched the memory from Bea''s perspective as Kairos, unfazed by the infection, allowed the sword to strike at him directly.


    Bea was shocked at the sword''s action of seemingly turning on its beast-tamer. But the moment the blade made contact with Kairos'' head, it didn''t harm him physically. Instead, it struck the split hiding within his brain. S��ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The infected split dissolved instantly, its presence eradicated so thoroughly that Bea couldn''t even sense a fragment of it remaining.


    The memory continued, showing how the sword disrupted not just Bea''s abilities but the cohesion of their entire team.


    To better coordinate the movements of everyone in the absence of Kain, Bea had always infected Aegis, Queen and the Vespid guards with a split as well so that they could communicate in battle mentally.


    However, that infuriating sword upon realizing their connection also made great pains to cut her connections to everyone else as well.


    With her essentially rendered useless, and the others unable to coordinate as well as before, they''d only managed to win by the skin of their teeth.


    However, Goddesss of Victory eventually smiled down on Kain''s team and the sacrifice of several guards was able to take Kairos'' puppet and book out of commission.


    Meanwhile, due to the sword''s lack of physical offensive ability, Aegis was able to imprison it into a stone prison before tossing it off of the stage.


    But in the process of the battle, Queen had lost several of her guards while some kind of corrosive skill emitted by Kairos'' cursed book in its efforts to free the imprisoned sword had managed to erode quite a lot of the stone composing Aegis.


    Thankfully, Kain always kept suitable stones that Aegis could easily incorporate on hand, so he should be able to restore himself by the next day. However, Kain was definitely not expecting for his spiritual creatures to end up so embarrassed in a fight against peers of the same age. After all, they''d been on challenging Black missions and partaken in battles to the death with beast-tamers and spiritual creatures of a higher level.


    However, it seems like Kain had underestimated the talent and determination of his peers. While he was improving, so were they. Absolutely nobody, aside from Serena that is, was satisfied with their current rank��everyone was striving for a higher position.


    Kain was a little frustrated upon watching what had transpired through the scenes transmitted by Bea.


    To think that Kairos would contract a spiritual creature that so perfectly counters Bea��did he actually seek out a spiritual creature for that purpose or was it a happy coincidence?


    Kain was more inclined to the former. After all, while practicing as a team in preparation for nationals they''d all gotten to know one another and each other''s contracts much better.


    Kain was sure that the other members of the top 5 also had similarly targeted strategies against him as well as each other.


    Kain''s mouth couldn''t resist twisting into a sneer. "Should I be honoured that you factored me into the decision of your lifelong contract? But if you guys think you''ve figured us out��"


    Kain sat up straight from where he was previously lounging on the couch and smiled, his exhaustion completely forgotten.


    "��we''ll just have to prove you wrong."

 Chapter 374 An Upset

    The next day, Kain strolled nonchalantly into the arena. His calm and composed demeanor showed none of the turmoil and exhaustion he''d been dealing with recently.His steps were steady, his expression neutral, but the moment he entered, a wave of whispers rippled through the crowd.


    "Look who finally decided to show up!"


    "Guess yesterday''s match against Kairos put him in his place. Must''ve realized he''s not as untouchable as he thinks."


    "Arrogance only gets you so far. Looks like Newman learned that the hard way."


    Kain heard every word, although it didn''t seem as though they had any real intention of not allowing him to hear. They were meant to sting, to provoke.


    But Kain didn''t care. He didn''t flinch, didn''t so much as glance at the murmuring crowd as he made his way through the seating area.


    Instead, he let their words wash over him like rain on stone.


    Perhaps he was a little arrogant��but so what? He had the capital to be.


    He felt that his time the previous few days could be better spent in research and he wasn''t wrong, he did finally start to see some progress and figured he''d see some new additions to the Silkworm evolutionary pathway.


    As he approached his usual group, his friends greeted him with warmth and familiarity, which was a welcome sight after the scathing comments of the crowd.


    Bridge''s eyes lit up with a mixture of excitement and relief. His broad, football-player-like frame towered over most of the other students around him, especially after he stood up.


    "KAIN!" he bellowed, his deep voice booming across the seating area.


    Before Kain could react, Bridge closed the distance between them in just a few strides and scooped him up into a crushing bear hug.


    "Where the hell have you been, man?!" Bridge exclaimed, lifting Kain off the ground like he weighed nothing.


    Kain wheezed, squirming slightly as he tried to speak. "Bridge��can''t��breathe!"


    "Oh, right! Sorry!" Bridge laughed as he set Kain down gently but clapped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward.


    Kain shot him an exasperated look and slightly confused look while straightening his rumpled clothes.


    Bridge had always been physically strong, but since becoming a beast-tamer Kain had thought the gap in strength between them had closed. However, it seems like the Bridge''s physical strength was growing at a terrifying rate, even despite the fact that the feedback from both of his contracts wouldn''t prioritize physical strength.


    However, he does have a third contract now that Kain had never seen, perhaps that third contract favoured physical strength? Unfortunately, Bridge had filled his third contract spot before Kain''s research on accelerating the River Wolf evolution had been completed, otherwise he''d have given Bridge one of the most talented pups he had in his possession.


    "I''ve been busy with a new project," he said, his voice a little strained. Discover hidden stories at empire


    Addison rolled her eyes, flicking her long blue over her shoulder. "I told you he''s probably been holed up in some lab or doing who-knows-what weird experiments. That''s why he looks like he hasn''t slept in a week."


    Aiden chuckled, leaning back in his seat. "She''s not wrong. You look like you''ve been fighting with your research instead, not your opponents."


    Kain smirked faintly as he settled into his seat. "Let''s just say I''ve been busy." And he had been. He found a way to allow affinity-less individuals to form contracts; he will have a new product, the FMT pills, revealed to the public soon; and he was close to finally figuring out several new evolutionary forms for the Silkworm pathway.


    The first achievement could likely never be publicly revealed, but either one of the latter two would bring in a ton of fame and money.


    "Next time, maybe warn us before you disappear into whatever lab or cave you''ve been hiding in," Bridge added, his tone softer now. "We were starting to think something happened to you."


    Leonara also nodded in support of Bridge''s statement, "It''s not like you to miss matches, though, Kain. You sure everything''s okay?"


    Before Kain could respond, Finn interjected, his cheerful tone breaking the slight tension. "Don''t mind them, Kain. We''re just glad to see you here. We all knew the rumours about you being arrogant were total nonsense." S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Well, it wasn''t COMPLETELY untrue��'' Kain thought guiltily.


    As the group settled back into their seats, the arena buzzed with anticipation for the next match. Kain leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the field as he mentally prepared for the day''s match against Dwayne.


    Kain didn''t underestimate Dwayne despite him not being in the top 5. Dwayne was the only one with an S-rated affinity to not be in the top 5, and that fact had continuously stung at his pride since he entered the college.


    Kain was sure that Dwayne had probably done some intensive training in the past few months in order to stage an upset and boot out one of the members of the top 5.


    However, contrary to Dwayne''s plans, the first major upset of the top 5 was not staged by him��


    Ranya, a member of the current top 5 known for her powerful illusion-based contracts, was kneeling on the ground. Her posture was heavy with exhaustion, her head bowed, and her breaths ragged. Surrounding her were her contracts��all of them unconscious, their battered bodies sprawled across the arena floor.


    Standing opposite her was a young woman with brown hair and eyes that wouldn''t stand out in a crowd, and Kain didn''t really recognize her. She stood tall in the center of the arena, her expression calm, betraying none of the strain of battle.


    Kain squinted at her, a faint sense of familiarity nagging at the back of his mind. "Who is that?" he muttered, leaning toward Aiden.


    "I think her name is Mira," Aiden replied, his voice laced with disbelief. "She wasn''t even ranked in the top 20 last year. Now she''s taken down Ranya?"


    Kain frowned. Mira? The name rang a faint bell, but he hadn''t paid much attention to anyone outside the top 20 unless absolutely necessary.


    For her to not only finish first in her group but to now defeat one of the top 5? That was incredibly shocking.


    The arena was dead silent, the audience too stunned to even murmur. Then, like a dam breaking, the noise erupted.


    "Unbelievable!"


    "Ranya''s out? Who is this Mira?"


    "Did she really just beat one of the top 5?"


    Kain''s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the aftermath. Mira''s calm demeanour and the shocked faces in the crowd told him one thing: Mira''s sudden increase in strength was hidden from practically everyone.


    "Looks like there may be some changes in the top 5��" Kain muttered.


    This re-ranking had just gotten a lot more interesting.

 Chapter 375 The

    There were no more upsets until the time of Kain''s match against Dwayne.Once summoned, Kain entered the arena, his steps steady and his expression composed as always. His opponent, Dwayne, was already waiting for him, his imposing frame standing tall at the center of the field.


    The buzz of anticipation in the crowd was palpable. After Ranya overturned, many in the audience were hoping for something similar to happen to Kain��not that Kain had any intention of granting their wishes.


    Dwayne was a well-known figure, not just because of his undeniable skill but also due to his rare and coveted S-rated affinity.


    His affinity was linked to creatures possessing the "Triton Bloodline," a rather infamous lineage.


    This bloodline was said to originate from a spiritual creature that had transcended the 9th rank to essentially become a god on earth.


    According to ancient legends, Triton, who controlled the world''s oceans with a wave of his hand, was practically unrivalled in power��particularly in oceans. However, his impressive strength is greatly overshadowed by his insatiable lust.


    Stories told of how this god would transform his appearance to mate with anything and everything: common birds, fish, humans, dragons, infernal creatures and even, supposedly,��some plants.


    Whenever he came across a new living, or maybe even non-living, creature his first thought was not what "it could do", but rather how he "could do it."


    Over millennia, his progeny spread across the globe, resulting in more than five thousand distinct species bearing traces of his bloodline. Sirens, mermaids, undines, Pengs, sea monsters, certain insects, many land animals, some sub-dragon races and even some humans��were all counted among his descendants.


    The diversity of his descendants huge. Moreover, their potential varied widely, but one thing was consistent��any creature with the God of the Sea bloodline possessed at least gold-quality potential.


    This gave tamers with an affinity for his bloodline an unparalleled variety of spiritual creatures to choose from, spanning numerous attributes, since the great Triton didn''t limit himself to water-attribute creatures, and forms.


    It''s even been rumoured that human''s that awaken this affinity also likely carry his bloodline. Therefore, although a powerful affinity, they often can''t resist some looks of schaudenfreude and teasing from their peers. Although, such teasing is usually masking envy, since most would happily take an S-rank affinity and simply have to claim a lustful ancestor in exchange.


    Even now, as Dwayne took the stage there would be whispers in the crowd questioning his lineage and if his character may in some way resemble Triton''s. Given the god''s infamous habits, it wasn''t impossible that Dwayne himself was a distant descendant.


    Despite this strong affinity, Dwayne had failed to break into the top 5 rankings thus far. It was a sore point for him, and the fiery determination in his eyes made it clear that today, he intended to change that.


    Dwayne practically sprinted to the stage and already stood on it when Kain was still leisurely making his way down the steps of the aisles in the stands. However, the increasingly fierce expression on Dwayne''s face suggested that he took Kain''s leisurely pace as a personal insult.


    "Newman," Dwayne called out, his voice resonating across the arena as the crowd fell silent. "You''ve been looking down on everyone for a while now. Let''s see if you can still afford that arrogance after today." S~ea??h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain smiled faintly, his hands in his pockets. "Looking down? I was just busy. But if you''re in a hurry to receive your beating I''d be happy to oblige."


    The referee, a senior beast-tamer, raised a hand to signal the start of the match. "Begin!"


    Dwayne wasted no time, summoning his contracts in a flash of light. Three enormous spiritual creatures materialized before him. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    The first was a Tidebreaker Leviathan, a massive, water-attribute serpent with shimmering blue scales that glowed faintly with runic patterns. Its body coiled like a living tidal wave, and its piercing yellow eyes glared at Kain with feral intelligence.


    The second was a Stormstrike Siren, a lightning attribute variant of the siren race. It appeared like a half-humanoid creature with dark midnight blue, glistening skin that sparkled like the ocean under moonlight. Her long, flowing hair crackled with arcs of lightning, and her voice echoed with an unearthly melody that could paralyze weaker wills.


    The final spiritual creature appeared to be a sentient cloud of poisonous gas, a Noxious Cloudling. Knowing the origins of all of these spiritual creatures, Kain once again had to marvel at the impressive determination of Lord Triton��how do you even attempt to procreate with a cloud?


    All Kain could say is that he was truly a powerful, resourceful, and "capable" man��at least Kain didn''t think anyone could ever again compare to him in this department.


    Kain also summoned all 3 of his current contracts, despite being 4-star beast-tamers both only had 3 contracts on the stage and nobody was able to take the numerical advantage.


    Kain, had 3 green-grade spiritual creatures and was not able to find a suitable contract yet.


    Two of Dwayne''s contracts recently advanced to green-grade not long after he advanced to 4-stars, one was still yellow-grade, and his most recent fourth contract was extremely young and had high potential, but was only at red-grade. Therefore, it couldn''t yet add to his strength.


    If he dared to summon the red-grade youngling, Kain would not have any qualms about smacking it out of the arena.


    The Leviathan surged forward, its serpentine body undulating with incredible speed. It launched a torrent of pressurized water directly at Aegis, the force of the attack carving grooves into the arena floor, showing the penetrative power of the water.


    Aegis raised its massive stone arms, forming a shield that absorbed the brunt of the attack. The water splashed harmlessly against its unyielding form.


    Meanwhile, the Siren began to sing, her voice a haunting melody that resonated across the battlefield. Tendrils of lightning crackled in the air, darting toward Queen and the rest of the guards.


    As for Bea? Almost as soon as the match began, she''d managed to easily infiltrate the mind of the yellow-grade cloudling��its large body that covered much of the stage to obscure Kain''s vision and hopefully poison the Vespids, easily allowing Bea to covertly make contact.

 Chapter 376 Quick Decision

    Bea''s infiltration of the Noxious Cloudling went unnoticed by Dwayne. The sentient cloud of poisonous gas was supposed to be a trump card.Find exclusive stories on empire


    It loomed over the battlefield, its dark green and purple mist swirling ominously. Its form constantly shifted, expanding and contracting as if it were breathing. Occasionally, bright green sparks crackled within the haze, giving it a menacing aura.


    The Cloudling''s primary ability was to control and spread its toxic form, seeping into every crevice and choking out all life within its reach. However, its secondary ability, was to assimilate other mists, fogs, or gases, turning them into extensions of itself.


    Dwayne had clearly chosen the Cloudling to counteract Kain''s infamous mist strategies that he''d frequently used in the past, likely assuming Kain needed the mist for some kind of ability of his spiritual creatures��specifically Bea.


    Kain had long heard the speculations of others about whether the mist he used was what was responsible for mentally controlling the targets. Although Serena, Soren, Ranya, and Kairos have more knowledge about him and know that he''s not at all dependant on the mist, most of the remaining student body is not.


    However, considering that Bea used to need the mist to carry herself to the targets, this idea wasn''t 100% unwarranted.


    Unfortunately for Dwayne, Kain''s strategies didn''t rely on anything so trivial, and Bea had already infected the Cloudling''s mind, establishing control with ease.


    The Cloudling does have a true body composed of a denser mass of clouds that it can instantly shift in position to anywhere else in the area covered by its mist. However, once Bea''s splits entered the vast majority of the floating water droplets composing the mist, something Bea was greatly accustomed to doing, it was only a matter of time before one of them made contact with the Cloudling''s true body.


    Meanwhile, the Tidebreaker Leviathan surged forward again, coiling and striking like a massive whip at Aegis. Aegis, solid as a boulder, deflected each strike with his stone arms. Occasionally, chunks of rock broke off from Aegis'' exterior, but they would almost immediately regenerate as his innate ability to assimilate surrounding stone into himself kicked in.


    On the other side of the arena, the Stormstrike Siren continued to sing a haunting melody.


    Her voice seemed to carry a paralyzing effect that made the normally speedy wasps at least 30% slower, as well as the ability to influence the weather. Over time a denser and denser mass of clouds covered the arena in shadows, and the occasional streaks of lightning within the gathering cloud could be seen.


    With a low rumble proceeding a massive crack bolt after bolt came hammering down onto Kain''s contracts. Considering that Aegis''s properties made him largely immune to lightning and electricity, and Bea was invisible to the opponents, pretty much all of the bolts were concentrated on Queen and the guards.


    However, Queen''s command over the swarm was impeccable. With precise movements, the guards weaved through the bolts of lightning, meanwhile after dodging a couple of bolts herself, she emitted a green healing glow to help those that didn''t successfully dodge to recover.


    Bea, having taken control of the Cloudling, was already in the process of turning Dwayne''s trump card against him.


    She subtly redirected the poisonous mist, swirling it closer to the Siren. The Siren''s lightning strikes began to falter as the toxic fumes infiltrated her lungs, disrupting her concentration while singing.


    The poison wasn''t deadly due to the level difference, but in order for a yellow-grade spiritual creature to play a role in this battle against the green-grade contracts of Kain and the other top 5, Dwayne had spent a lot of time and money on strengthening its toxins��now all of his past efforts were coming back to bite him in the ass.


    Dwayne''s eyes narrowed as he realized something was wrong. The Cloudling wasn''t spreading its poison as intended. Before, its movements seemed erratic, as though it were hesitating or confused. And now, it seemed to even be directing its allies. "What the��"


    Before he could finish his thought, Bea made her move. The Cloudling, now fully under her control, expanded its form and moved to surround the Tidebreaker Leviathan. The toxic cloud wrapped around the massive serpent, eliciting a guttural roar of irriation as a faint stinging sensation began to seep through its scales.


    However, the poison was far from the most influential aspect of the mist. Most of these droplets now contained one of Bea''s splits, many of which had taken this opportunity to jump ship in the Leviathan.


    Kain was once again able to take this opportunity to reuse his old strategy��and he wasn''t even the one who had to expend spiritual power to produce the mist!


    Perhaps he should thank Dwayne? But if he did, he may just welcome a fist to the face.


    Dwayne gritted his teeth and redirected his focus to his Siren. The Cloudling might be compromised, but the Siren still had fight left in her. She unleashed a desperate, high-pitched wail, summoning a storm of lightning bolts aimed directly at Kain''s spiritual creatures.


    Queen buzzed loudly in fear. Two things that most insects do not like are fire and lightning.


    Sensing the danger to their Queen, the Berserk skill of all the guards activated, and they surged in strength. They used gusts of wind generated by the wings, while Bea-infected Cloudling used the water droplets in its mist, to slightly deviate all of the lightning strikes aimed at Queen. All of the strikes ended up hitting the stage around her and only managed to kick up some rocks that ended up hitting Queen.


    Seeing that a few harmless speckles of rock and dust hit their queen, the guards dank into an enraged frenzy, launching themselves at the siren with wild abandon.


    Dwayne was losing control of the battlefield. The Leviathan was writhing in agony and was practically incapacitated by Bea, the Siren was being made into a pincushion by the Vespids, and the Cloudling had completely turned against him.


    It was only a matter of time before the referee raised his hand, declaring Kain the victor. The crowd, though stunned by the swift and decisive outcome, erupted into cheers and murmurs of disbelief. The battle was much less suspenseful than they''d expected.


    S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 377 The Hardworking Underdog

    The next day, there was a lot less snide comments among his classmates about his previous decision to not attend the re-ranking in person.That day he fought his fourth match against Ranya, and likely due to their overfamiliarity with one another, it was an interesting battle to behold.


    Even despite the gap in level between the two sides, Ranya managed to cause Kain quite a bit of trouble.


    Unfortunately, for Ranya, in the end she had lost another match against Kain, largely due to Bea being mostly immune to illusions while also being able to restrain her spiritual contracts.


    Now Ranya had had matches against the previously unknown Mira, Serena, Kairos, and Kain, all of which she had lost. It now seemed as though her removal from the top 5 was all but guaranteed.


    Kain had to admit that, as the professors would sometimes joke under their breath, Kain''s year really does seem to be a ''golden generation''.


    One should note, that usually yellow-grade spiritual creatures are the dominant fighting force for second years, and it would be considered excellent for a top 5 member to have one or two.


    Now, Serena, Kain, and Kairos both have at least 3. Soren had only revealed two of his contracts so far, and they were both green-grade. Even two individuals outside of the top 5��Dwayne and Mira��both have 2 green-grade spiritual creatures.


    It''s no wonder that Ranya who only had 1 green-grade spiritual contract and 3 yellow-grade contracts, which would have been considered excellent in any other year, has not been able to maintain her rank.


    Finally, it was time for Kain''s fifth match, and it was one he found himself looking forward to more than he''d expected.


    Mira''s ranking the previous year fluctuated between the mid-early thirties and the late twenties.


    Her previous peak ranking was actually rank 26 in last year''s second re-ranking, before she dropped to the thirties by the end of the year.


    However, she was an incredibly hard worker, and after being reminded of who she was, Kain recalled her often staying behind to ask for questions and advice from professors after class, and she currently has the most amount of completed missions within their year. Although the level of difficulty of those missions varied widely and Kain doubted there were any Black Missions among them, it goes to show how much effort she put into improving her strength.


    Unfortunately, although talent isn''t everything, one''s affinity certainly can play a devastating role in ruining someone''s aspirations.


    Mira, like Bridge, was one of the few B-rated affinities that were successfully admitted into Dark Moon.


    Moreover, even among B-rated affinities, hers would probably be considered on the lower end��even bordering C-rated. At least Bridge''s affinity, although limited to only wolves, allows him to contract many species with a variety of attributes that traditionally have strong potential��after all, there are several wolf-type spiritual creatures that reached the 9th level, or even beyond, such as the legendary wolf Fenrir that had long disappeared.


    Meanwhile Mira''s B-rate affinity was to small cats��hence the low rating.


    Kain has met a few people in the college and national tournament with an affinity for felines or big cats in general, which would include a large variety of powerful lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar species. Such affinities are almost all at least A-rated.


    However, small cats don''t have nearly as much potential. They include small and cute cat species traditionally kept in legacy households as pets, and some wild cats like bobcats, servals and lynxes. Most of which only have silver or gold-qualities, even after evolution.


    Probably the most powerful of the felines included among the small cats would be pumas and cheetahs, where a few species can even reach diamond or platinum quality.


    Unfortunately, whatever the more specific limitations of Mira''s affinity are, she doesn''t seem to have bound any cheetah or puma-type spiritual creatures��or perhaps she just hasn''t wanted to.


    Nevertheless, despite having one of the lowest rated affinities among those in Kain''s year, she has managed to fall no lower than being in the 30s, with many A-rated affinities ranking after her.


    Moreover, she''s used the school credits from the many missions she''s completed to continuously improve her own strength and the strength of her contracts.


    Speaking of which, after finding out how many missions she''s completed, Kain had thought that her sudden boost in strength was due to a fortuitous encounter during one of her missions.


    However, while she may have obtained some valuable resources or opportunities while undertaking so many missions, the main cause for her sudden boost in strength was the awakening of her gift.


    Mira was one of the few people in the mid-low rankings that managed to awaken an affinity last year, despite entering the Enchanted Spring much later than Kain and the others.


    It seems like she finally managed to master the gift during the summer period and came back much stronger than before.


    Discover hidden stories at empire


    The specific details of her gift aren''t known, but from what Kain could see, it seems to be some kind of resonance ability in which the collective strengths and injuries of all of her contracts can be redistributed at any time within a fraction of a second.


    For example, if the strength of contract A is 20, B is 30, and C is 50, all together they would have a collective strength of 100. S��ar?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Mira could choose to equally distribute this value, slightly boosting contracts A and B, at the expense of weakening C. Or Mira can pour everything into a single contract, giving one the collective strength of the entire group, and leaving the others drastically weakened, and this ratio can be adjusted continuously every second at the expense of Mira''s spiritual power.


    This also applies to injuries. If contract A is facing a powerful attack it can''t carry, Mira can distribute the damage equally to all of her contracts or entirely to another contract with a much better defense.


    All of this can occur in a fraction of a second, and this flexibility and sudden changes in strength are what can cause the tides to instantly turn in battle.


    Imagine if all of a sudden an opponent you were evenly matched with suddenly triples or quadruples in strength for a fraction of a second right as they are launching an attack on you?


    Or what if you go through a ton of tactical effort to finally injure the opponent greatly enough to remove them from the competition, but instead all of the damage is transmitted to one of its allies with a much hardier defense, leaving your target undamaged and its ally only slightly damaged.


    Its infuriating! And its exactly what Kain will have to deal with next.

 Chapter 378 The

    The atmosphere in the arena was tense with anticipation as Kain walked toward the stage. This was one of the most anticipated matches of the day.On one side was Kain, who many in the audience still wanted to be knocked down a peg or two.


    On the other side was Mira who was the only one outside of the top 5 who has managed to defeat someone who was part of the top 5 since they all entered the college. Would she be able to stage another upset again?


    "Come one, come all! Place your bets on the match of the day��Kain vs. Mira!"


    The voice rang out loud and clear, amplified by an obvious lack of shame. Kain froze mid-step, his expression shifting to one of incredulity as he turned toward the source of the commotion.


    There they were��his so-called "friends"��operating a full-blown gambling ring in the spectator stands.


    Elias, the most shameless of the lot, was at the center of the operation, his dramatic black coat flaring slightly in the breeze as he gestured with exaggerated enthusiasm to the gathering crowd.


    "You don''t want to miss this chance, folks!" Elias shouted, his expression the perfect mix of smug confidence and theatrical excitement. "The Oracle Elias, blessed with divine insight and unparalleled judgment, guarantees Mira has the best shot! Trust me, I''ve spoken directly with fate!"


    "Fate?" Finn muttered under his breath to Addison, who was scribbling down bets with meticulous speed. "Pretty sure ''fate'' is just Elias''s gut feeling and whatever nonsense he can spin to sucker people in."


    "And it''s working," Addison replied, smirking as received another notification about someone transferring a sum of school credits that they chose to bet on Mira.


    Kain''s eye twitched as he watched the scene unfold. Not only were they encouraging bets against him, but Elias was also somehow managing to milk the crowd with his ridiculous antics.


    "Don''t believe me?" Elias continued, gesturing grandly. "See that big guy over there?" He pointed toward Bridge, who was sitting calmly and munching on a snack. "That''s Kain''s adoptive brother��our inside man. Do you really think I''d risk advising you all to bet on Mira if I wasn''t confident based on the inside info he gave me? And risk tarnishing my good name?! This is the Oracle''s blessing, people!"


    ''What good name?! And nobody calls you Oracle Elias except for yourself! Just because your gut warned you a few seconds before we were attacked by a green-grade spiritual creature during a mission last year, all of a sudden you think you have the power of prophecy?!''


    Kain had to actively suppress the urge to facepalm.


    "Five to one odds on Mira!" Addison called out. "Place your bets now, or regret it forever!"


    Aiden, meanwhile, was stationed nearby, loudly counting the incoming credits and hyping up the crowd with exaggerated gasps. "Oh no, look at these odds! A fivefold payout, people. You''ll never see something like this again!"


    Unable to contain his growing exasperation, Kain spun on his heel and marched toward the group. His aura practically radiated a sense of impending doom, though the group seemed too caught up in their scam to notice. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As Kain approached, Elias finally noticed him and immediately sauntered over, plastering on his most charming smile. Or at least he thought it was charming. In Kain''s opinion, it was more akin to the sleazy smile of a shady businessman.


    "Cough, cough," Elias began, feigning a sheepish tone. "Oh, uh, hey, Kain! Funny running into you here, buddy."


    "Elias," Kain said flatly, crossing his arms.


    "You''re probably wondering what this is all about," Elias continued, his smile growing wider. "Don''t worry! It''s all part of a plan to�� uh�� boost your reputation!"


    "My reputation?" Kain arched a brow. Continue reading at empire


    "Of course!" Elias declared, puffing out his chest. "You see, if Mira is the crowd favorite and you still win, it''ll only make your victory all the more impressive! And trust me, Kain, I''d never bet against you. This is just good business strategy. Purely for show. You''ll get a cut of the profits, obviously. The Oracle always rewards his chosen champion."


    Kain''s narrowed gaze lingered on Elias for a moment, the silence stretching just long enough to make Elias sweat.


    Finally, Kain released a faint smirk. "Maybe I should intentionally lost to bankrupt you."


    Elias''s grin faltered. "W-Wait, what?"


    Ignoring him, Kain turned back toward the stage. As he walked away, he could hear Elias whispering, "You think Kain would actually lose just to teach us a lesson?"


    Addison snorted. "He might. I wouldn''t put it past him."


    Aiden, ever the optimist, chimed in. "Nah, no way. He''s too competitive for that. Right?"


    ''These brats are actually convincing people to bet against me! Where was the support for their good friend?!''


    After getting along with Elias for so long, Kain was well acquainted with his true mischievous personality.


    In contrast to his serious and almost depressing emo-esque appearance, Elias had a soul that was the combination of 5 parts jokester, 4 parts fraudster and 1 part perverted streaker with a penchant for nudity.


    However, the fact that he''d roped the other 3 into his shenanigans was surprising.


    Kain didn''t glance back once at his friends who were looking to profit off of his next match. He couldn''t continue to dwell on them lest he be tempted to throw the match to stick it to them out of spite.


    Mira was already on the stage waiting for him, her small frame dwarfed by the grand scale of the arena, but her stance was steady and confident. The crowd buzzed with murmurs. Mira''s impressive performance so far had won her newfound respect, and everyone was curious to see how she would fare against Kain.


    Beside her stood 3 contracts. She had a fourth, but it was only orange-grade and had only appeared during the group stage matches of phase 1. In phase 2 of the re-ranking against the top 5 students it would only be useless cannon fodder.


    Of the 3 small cats on the stage, the first was a sleek yellow-grade Shadowclaw Lynx, a dark-attribute spiritual creature with a silver sheen to its fur and glowing amber eyes that seemed to pierce straight through the soul of every audience member it made eye contact with.


    The second was a green-grade Sunflare Bobcat, a fire-attribute feline with fur that shimmered like embers. Its tail flicked back and forth, leaving faint trails of fire in its wake, while its claws glowed with a faint heat that suggested they could sear through any non-enchanted metal��although they may not be as effective against objects reinforced with spiritual power and sigils.


    The third was a green-grade Psychat, a mental-attribute spiritual creature not much bigger than a house cat. Its sharp, pointed ears constantly twitched as if it was picking up every word spoken by the audience, or possibly even those words they weren''t saying out loud.

 Chapter 379 Mira Vs. Kain

    The whistle to start the match pierced through the buzzing crowd, silencing murmurs and heightening the tension.Mira''s contracts sprang into action immediately. The Shadowclaw Lynx darted forward, its sleek form a blur as it melted into the shadows on the stage. Despite being one-level above it, even Kain''s contracts weren''t able to accurately sense its whereabouts. Continue reading at empire


    The Sunflare Bobcat also moved forward, its embers glowing brighter with each step. Meanwhile, the Psychat remained near Mira, its unblinking eyes locked onto Kain''s contracts.


    Kain directed Bea to send her nearly invisible mental threads toward the advancing Sunflare Bobcat. Since it wanted to offer itself up on the chopping block, Kain would happily oblige.


    However, things didn''t progress as expected.


    Bea''s threads touched the bobcat and her invading splits attempted to exert control, after a few seconds, they found that they were completely unable to influence the target. Bea''s confusion rippled through her connection with Kain. And Kain shared her confusion. How could this fire-attribute spiritual creature seem to have complete immunity against Bea.


    Then he realized what had happened��Mira''s gift must be sending the full effect of the splits'' mental control toward the Psychat. And as a mental-attribute spiritual creature, with who knows what mental defense skills, Bea''s splits didn''t cause much influence on it.


    Kain frowned, his sharp eyes narrowing. "Tsk��I see why Ranya overturned" he muttered while clicking his tongue. After all, as someone that specializes in illusions, if all of her illusions have an effect on only one opponent due to the attacks being transferred, then she wouldn''t have many other means of fighting the unaffected opponents.


    The Shadowclaw Lynx materialized from the shadows, launching a rapid attack toward Queen''s guards. Its claws left faint dark streaks in the air, each imbued with concentrated dark energy. It seems like much of the strength of its allies had been momentarily added to it, because a huge threat was sensed in that claw attack and would likely severely injure any guard it lands on.


    The guards scattered, buzzing angrily, but Queen remained unperturbed. With a graceful movement, she directed her guards to surround the lynx, their formations tightening to cut off its escape.


    At the same time, the Sunflare Bobcat lunged toward Aegis, its claws glowing with fiery heat. The impact of its strike sent sparks flying, but Aegis barely flinched.


    "Aegis'' defense isn''t so easy to break," Kain muttered calmly, observing the futile attack.


    But just as the words left his mouth, the bobcat''s aura surged. For a fraction of a second, its strength increased exponentially, and its claws gouged deep grooves into Aegis''s stone surface.


    Bea, now aware of the Psychat''s trick, shifted tactics. Instead of trying to control the Sunflare Bobcat, she directed her threads toward the Shadowclaw Lynx as it was dodging to attacks of the guards. Once again, the influence was intercepted by the Psychat, but this time Bea didn''t pull back.


    Instead, she pushed harder, testing the limits of the Psychat''s resistance. The mental energy flared between them, creating an almost visible ripple in the air. Kain could feel Bea''s frustration��this wasn''t a battle she could win quickly.


    Meanwhile, Queen''s guards had successfully cornered the Shadowclaw Lynx. With a coordinated attack, they forced the lynx onto the defensive, but Mira''s gift activated again. The lynx''s speed and strength surged momentarily, allowing it to break free from the encirclement and retaliate with a swipe of its claws, scattering several guards.


    "Annoying," Kain muttered under his breath, though his tone was more amused than irritated. Mira''s gift undoubtedly made the match more interesting. This was undoubtedly the most entertaining match he''d had with someone other than his teammates in the top 5 in a while.


    Suddenly, the Sunflare Bobcat turned its attention toward Queen, its flames intensifying as it prepared another strike. Kain recognized the familiar buildup of Mira''s gift.


    "Not this time," he said, his voice low but firm.


    Aegis stepped forward, placing himself between the bobcat and Queen. The bobcat struck again, its flames surging, but Aegis raised his massive arms and absorbed the blow. This time, Kain had anticipated the burst of strength. Aegis''s stone form glowed faintly with a reinforcing spiritual energy due to Kain choosing to use his spiritual skill to boost strength on Aegis.


    As the battle continued, the crowd was on the edge of their seats. Mira''s contracts, though smaller and less powerful on paper, were holding their own against Kain''s formidable team. The audience couldn''t tear their eyes away from the back-and-forth exchanges, the rapid shifts in momentum, and the sheer intensity of the fight.


    But Kain knew this couldn''t last. Mira''s gift was powerful, but it came with limits. Redistributing strength and injuries consumed a lot of her spiritual power, and the longer the battle dragged on, the more strain it would cause, and the more anxious she would be.


    Mira clenched her fists, her gaze darting between her contracts as their movements grew increasingly sluggish. The strain of her gift was beginning to show and not all of Bea''s influence was able to be transferred to the Psychat now.


    Mira''s lips pressed into a thin line, and a spark of defiance ignited in her eyes. "I''m not done yet," she muttered under her breath.


    Raising her hand, she channelled a massive wave of spiritual power. A shimmering aura enveloped her and her contracts as a fierce, almost feral, determination spread across her face.


    Kain wasn''t sure if what was happening was a spiritual skill or an effect of her gift, but regardless he felt an immense threat gradually approaching.


    The crowd gasped as the three creatures moved in perfect sync, their individual auras merging into a single, chaotic storm of power.


    A massive vortex of flames, shadows, and mental energy erupted in the center of the arena, its power crackling like a living storm. The heat was palpable, the oppressive weight of the mental energy suffocating, and the darkness obscured all sight save for flickers of glowing embers.


    The combination of energies was incredibly unstable but the power it contained was well into the strength of a peak blue grade spiritual creature.


    Seeing that dodging wasn''t possible, Kain''s contracts braced themselves, each reacting instinctively to the overwhelming force. Queen''s guards buzzed defensively around her, forming a barrier, while Aegis raised a rock wall to add another layer and shield everyone from the initial blast of energy. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain could already tell that the damage left to his team after weathering this attack would be immense.


    The crowd held its collective breath as the storm of energy closed in on Aegis'' wall. Would this be the moment Mira toppled one of the top 5?

 Chapter 380 Mira Vs Kain (End)

    The vortex of chaotic energy struck Aegis''s wall with a deafening crash, the collision sending shockwaves throughout the arena. Continue your journey with empireAegis''s wall quickly cracked under the strain, thin lines spiderwebbing across its surface as the stone guardian strained to hold it together. However, after enduring over 50% of the energy from the combined attack it collapsed.


    With a thunderous boom, the wall shattered.


    Dust and fragments of stone exploded outward at a speed resembling bullets. Thankfully the barrier surrounding the arena prevented the audience from also getting injured.


    Aegis staggered backward, his massive form now riddled with deep gouges where the attack had broken through. He let out a low rumble of effort as he slammed his stone fists into the ground, anchoring himself to avoid toppling and using his massive body to better shield his allies, while focusing on reinforcing his body and creating more shields that were still swiftly torn through.


    The force of the blast reached Queen and her guards next. Queen directed her remaining guards into a tighter formation around her, their buzzing wings creating a faint hum of determination. Seeing that their Queen was in danger, the all were able to boost their strength using the berserk skill. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, even despite their boost in strength the queen''s defenders were overwhelmed, scattering several guards into lifeless heaps on the arena floor. Only a small handful remained, circling Queen protectively as they weathered the tail end of the vortex.


    Bea, as the smallest target at the very center of the formation, appeared mostly unscathed but was visibly agitated.


    Bea exhausted the majority of her spiritual power trying to control the enemy with the splits remaining in their bodies.


    Once this skill was used she''d sensed the weakness of the enemy spiritual creatures, and Mira should no longer be able to use her gift either due to running out of spiritual power or having to control the storm.


    When the dust finally began to settle, Everyone surveyed the aftermath on the battlefield. His team was still standing, but barely. Aegis had lost nearly a third of his stone body, and more than half of Queen''s guards were gone. Even Queen herself looked slightly drained, her usual elegance marred by her drooping antennae and small chips and holes in her delicate, translucent wings.


    On the other side of the arena, Mira swayed on her feet, visibly drained from channelling such an intense combination of energies. Her contracts were similarly fatigued��the Shadowclaw Lynx''s movements were sluggish, the Sunflare Bobcat''s embers dimmed, and the Psychat''s twitching ears now drooped slightly.


    But Mira wasn''t finished yet.


    With one final surge of energy, Mira raised her hand, and the Psychat''s eyes glowed with a piercing light. Its mental energy surged outward, a concentrated blast aimed directly at Aegis, while the Shadowclaw Lynx and Sunflare Bobcat gathered their remaining strength for one last coordinated strike.


    The audience was on the edge of their seats, the tension in the arena so thick it was almost suffocating.


    This was it. The next few moments would decide the winner. And for those that had been convinced by Elias, they were ecstatic at the current battle situation.


    The Shadowclaw Lynx and Sunflare Bobcat both headed toward Queen.


    Queen directed her remaining guards in a last-ditch effort to intercept them both. Despite their battered state, the guards swarmed with precision, slowing them both just enough for Queen to dodge their lethal claws and retaliate. She released a concentrated green aura that healed her remaining guards instantly while also further boosting their skills.


    Fire and shadow met sharp thorns and more and more dust in debris got kicked up, blocking the audience''s vision.


    Aegis braced himself, his cracked stone form glowing faintly with the remnants of Kain''s reinforcing spiritual energy. Thankfully, the spiritual skill Kain used didn''t seem to be identified by his competitors yet for its ability to provide an all-round boost to all stats��physical, mental, spiritual. Therefore, when Mira assumed that Aegis only had a physical reinforcement and chose to attack him mentally, it wasn''t as effective as she''d hoped.


    Unfortunately, even with the boost Aegis wasn''t naturally particularly resistant to the mental attribute. The Psychat''s mental blast surged toward him, an invisible force that warped the air around it and Aegis'' spiritual power flared as he withstood as much of the impact as possible.


    Eventually, the Psychat''s mental energy wavered, its mental attack weakening and Mira also visibly staggered, her reserves of spiritual power almost entirely drained. However, Aegis wasn''t looking any better.


    The arena was enveloped in a dense mist of dust and energy residue, obscuring the battlefield from view. For a moment, everything was silent.


    Then, as the mist began to clear, the audience erupted into cheers. Mira''s contracts stood��albeit unsteadily��while Kain''s contracts appeared to be motionless on the ground. Those who had bet against Kain shouted triumphantly, their earlier doubts now replaced with jubilation.


    But the cheers were premature.


    From within the fading mist, a faint shimmer of threads became visible. Bea emerged, her threads elegantly weaving through the air. The subtle but deliberate movement of the threads was enough to signal to the referee that she was still intact.


    Mira''s triumphant expression faltered as her knees buckled beneath her. At the same moment, all three of her shaking contracts collapsed, their last reserves of energy finally spent. The arena fell silent once more as the realization dawned on the crowd.


    The referee stepped forward, raising a hand. "Winner: Kain Newman!"


    A mix of cheers and groans erupted from the stands. Those who had bet against Kain were left grumbling, while his supporters celebrated his hard-fought victory.


    The audience, including Kain, also began to applaud the collapsed Mira. This battle was far closer than he''d expected, and if anyone had said before the start of the competition that a student outside of the top 20 would manage to take down a member of the top 5, and almost defeat the second-ranked Kain, nobody would believe it.


    Despite the difficulty of this match, this was probably the most fun he''d had competing in a while.


    Kain exhaled quietly, his gaze sweeping over the battlefield. His contracts were battered and bruised��Aegis was missing a third of his stone body, Queen was surrounded by fallen guards and Kain knew that less than half remained, and Bea was incredibly drained despite her outward composure.


    Yet they had endured. They had won.

 Chapter 381 The Semifinals-Soren Vs Kain

    The aftermath of Kain''s battle against Mira left both competitors utterly spent. While Kain had emerged victorious, it was clear the cost of the battle had been steep. As he walked back to the waiting area, his contracts were recalled into his star space, each suffering from injuries and spiritual exhaustion.Aegis was particularly concerning. He''d need time to perfectly regenerate his damaged form with reinforced stone, but he was thankfully able to assimilate some high-quality stone Kain had on hand to restore most of his appearance by the next day


    Queen''s condition was even more disheartening��less than half of her guards remained, and those who had fallen wouldn''t simply recover overnight. It would take weeks to regrow their numbers.


    Only Bea, with her unique nature, had emerged relatively unscathed, though even she had expended an immense amount of energy in the fight.


    Kain entered the care facility provided for competitors, where specialized staff and equipment were available to tend to spiritual creatures. A healer in charge approached, one of the few that were a senior professor and not just a lower level staff or volunteering student. Since Kain would likely have intense matches tomorrow to determine the rankings of the top 5, the senior healer''s priority was on his and Mira''s contracts.


    "Mr. Newman, we''ll take care of your contracts immediately, most of them should be like new by tomorrow."


    Kain nodded and handed Queen, and the most severely injured guards to her, hoping more could be saved. Aegis and Bea didn''t need her help to restore their strength.


    A few hours later, Kain checked on his contracts. Aegis was resting in his star space, his regeneration progressing steadily. Queen was similarly healing, though the loss of her guards would require careful planning in the next couple of matches. Thankfully, 3 more guards that Kain thought were done for were able to be restored to fighting strength.


    Moreover, Kain was pleased to see that after just some rest Bea was already communicating through her bond with Kain, eager to strategize for tomorrow''s match against Soren Lysander.


    The next day, the arena was alive with renewed energy. The roster for the next match was announced, and Kain''s name appeared opposite Soren Lysander.


    Everyone had seen the aftermath of Kain''s battle yesterday and many seemed even more confident that there will be a shift in the rankings again��this time between second and third place.


    ''Fat chance. Like I could ever stomach losing to Soren.'' After being part of the team representing the school and training and fighting together, the relationship between the two had eased��but they were definitely not friends. They didn''t even like each other and still were extremely competitive.


    Soren stood at the opposite end of the arena, his blonde hair catching the sunlight and his sharp green eyes gleaming with confidence. He''d been planning and training for his revenge match against Kain for months, and now after knowing Kain''s strength was weakened after yesterday, he was even more sure of victory.


    His only regret was that he couldn''t pummel a Kain at full strength into the ground.


    "Don''t expect me to hold back, Newman. And don''t try to use sequelae from yesterday as an excuse for your loss" Soren called out to Kain in a mocking tone.


    Kain smirked. "You''ve been dreaming a little too much Lysander if you think you have a chance of winning."


    Not giving them any more chances to exchange verbal blows, the whistle blew, signaling the start of the match.


    Soren wasted no time. He raised his arm, and a burst of spiritual energy erupted around him. Two familiar figures materialized��his wind-attribute and lightning-attribute dragons.


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    The audience cheered loudly at the appearance of Soren''s contracts. The power of dragons always drew admiration and awe. Especially since this was the symbol of the royal family and, consequently, the mascots of the empire.


    However, the already loud cheers went up a notch at the appearance of a third dragon, this one unfamiliar to the crowd and Kain alike. It was a water-attribute dragon, its shimmering blue scales reflecting the light like a flowing river. It had a serpentine body, sleek and agile, with large gossamer fin-like wings coming from its body and webs between its claws.


    Its aura was unstable, a telltale sign that it had recently broken through to green grade. But even so, its presence was daunting, and the audience erupted into murmurs of surprise. sea??h th�� NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now, after Kain had summoned his own contracts, both sides possessed only green-grade spiritual creatures.


    "A new contract?" Kain muttered, his mind racing. "He''s been busy. I should hurry up and find my next contract too, preferably one with overwhelming offensive ability."


    Previously Kain hadn''t felt the pressure to find a fourth contract. After all, 3 green-grade spiritual creatures would be enough to sweep away all of the competition.


    Unfortunately for him, but I guess fortunately for the school, the standards for the top 5 students of each year seem to be getting higher.


    The two sides didn''t waste any time confronting one another. Soren pointed forward, and the wind-attribute dragon launched itself at Queen with blinding speed, its wings slicing through the air like blades. At the same time, the thunder-attribute dragon released a powerful bolt of lightning aimed directly at Aegis.


    Aegis reacted swiftly, raising his stone arms to absorb the brunt of the lightning. He has an inherent resistance to lightning but his body still crackled and smoked, he stood firm, demonstrating the sheer power in each lightning bolt.


    Queen directed her guards to intercept the wind dragon, but its speed made it difficult to pin down. The guards buzzed frantically, creating a defensive formation, but its sharp wings tore through their ranks, scattering several of them.


    Meanwhile, the water attribute dragon remained near Soren and began to steadily flood the arena floor, by this point the water was already above the soles of Kain''s shoes.


    The next moment, a trace of alarm blared in Kain''s mind. Soren, uncaring about the fact that Kain was also standing in the pool of water and seemingly wanting to perform an area attack on the invisible Bea, actually had his lightning-attribute dragon launch an attack right at the water.


    "Aahhhh!"

 Chapter 382 Soren Vs Kain (End)

    The arena seemed to explode with energy as the lightning dragon''s attack hit the water, sending a crackling surge of electricity rippling in an indiscriminate attack against everyone standing on the arena.Soren, as the originator of the plan, had long been prepared and jumped on the water dragon''s back not long after the plan was initiated. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain, however, was a very different, more pitiful, story.


    Kain''s scream pierced the air, his body convulsing as the electricity coursed through him. His muscles seized painfully, locking his limbs in place as he fell to one knee, unable to resist the sheer force of the attack. The shock spread through his system, wreaking havoc on his spiritual power as it tried to shield him. Explore more adventures at empire


    "Kain!" Bridge shouted from the stands, his deep voice barely audible over the crackling energy.


    The electrified water evaporated rapidly, forming a thick mist that began to obscure the battlefield.


    Queen flew to his side, her glowing antennae releasing a wave of green energy that spread over Kain. Her healing ability eased the pain in his body, soothing the burnt nerves and calming his spasming muscles.


    Still trembling, Kain gritted his teeth and forced his spiritual power to circulate through his body. He directed it toward the residual electricity that was wreaking havoc within him, isolating and pushing it out bit by bit. His body slowly began to recover, though he could still feel the lingering ache from the lightning''s intensity. It''d probably take a while to recover the residual damage this attack left on him.


    Thankfully, Queen and the Vespids were unaffected by the initial attack. Their ability to fly had kept them above the electrified water.


    Bea, too, was unscathed, having hidden herself inside a pocket of rock on Aegis''s massive stone body earlier in the competition, making Soren''s plot against her useless.


    Aegis was the only other individual that stood solidly on the ground, the electricity surging through his stone body with visible arcs of energy. However, his natural resistance to lightning kept him standing, and due to the power of the lightning attack being dispersed as it hit the water, the electricity emitted from the electrified water honestly felt like a vibrating massage to him.


    It seems like the only one to suffer from Soren''s plan was�� Kain.


    However, although their relationship wasn''t the best, Soren couldn''t have possibly come up with this strategy with the expectation of taking out his anger on Kain��right? That would be way to petty.


    Unfortunately, the previous attack doesn''t appear to be the end of Soren''s electrifying strategy.


    The lightning dragon roared and released several more bolts of lightning, this time targeting the mist that had formed from the evaporated water during the previous attack.


    These bolts interacted with the water droplets composing the mist and they carried and dispersed the electric current through the air, spreading the attack across the battlefield in a wide range.


    The attack wasn''t concentrated or deadly, but its reach was devastating and managed to even effect the flying spiritual creatures now.


    Several of Queen''s remaining Vespid guards, caught in the electrified mist, were paralyzed mid-air. They dropped to the arena floor, their wings twitching as they struggled to recover.


    Kain''s eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation. The battlefield was becoming increasingly hazardous. Soren''s control over the arena''s environment, using both the water dragon and lightning dragon in tandem, was suffocating.


    "Enough of this," Kain muttered, his voice hoarse but resolute. He directed Queen to heal the remaining Vespids and launched a mental command to Bea.


    Bea''s threads shot out from her hiding spot, weaving through the mist to target the wind dragon. Thankfully, Bea''s position on Aegis was concealed within the mist, otherwise she''d not only be easier to target, but her covert attack would be easier to defend against.


    Once a thread made contract, the split was able to bypass the dragon''s defenses and she began to exert her influence. The wind dragon faltered mid-flight, its movements becoming erratic as it struggled against Bea''s control.


    At the same time, Aegis moved to shield the paralyzed Vespid guards from the attacks of Soren''s other dragons who tried to capitalize on their advantage. His stone body absorbed the residual electricity from the mist, cracks forming along his surface but holding firm.


    Meanwhile, Queen released a powerful pulse of healing energy, restoring her remaining guards to fighting condition. The guards, reinvigorated, buzzed aggressively toward the water dragon, their stingers glowing with concentrated energy. However, although they were now able to fight, even after receiving a boost to their abilities from one of Queen''s skills, they all only had about 60% of the strength of their peak.


    Unfortunately, if they had been at their peak, they would have been able to take down the newly ascended green-grade water dragon with still unstable energy much sooner.


    The battle raged on, each move from Soren met with a counter from Kain. The audience sat at the edge of their seats, captivated by the ferocity of the fight.


    The mist that cloaked the arena began to clear, better revealing the events on stage to the audience.


    What they saw seemed to indicate that Kain held the upper hand.


    The water attribute dragon was surrounded by around a dozen battered and bruised Vespid wasp guards.


    The guards buzzed around the blue serpentine dragon. Each time one managed to lodge a stinger in the dragon, it would siphon off a bit of its energy before it was quickly removed. However, the small opportunities to drain its energy began to accumulate.


    The water dragon desperately thrashed, sending powerful waves crashing against the annoying bugs that surrounded it, but it was clear that it was on the back foot.


    On the other side of the arena was the wind dragon which, under Bea''s influence, was thrashing about on stage. Its once-graceful movements had become jerky, each wingbeat a struggle.


    Soren''s eyes narrowed as he noticed the change.


    "Gale, focus!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the cacophony. His spiritual power flared, surging into the wind dragon to help it resist Bea''s control.


    The dragon''s wings beat powerfully, sending gusts of wind slicing through the arena and even affecting the other flying spiritual creatures.


    Bea redoubled her efforts on controlling the wind dragon''s mind, forcing it into a constant tug-of-war.


    As the one with the greatest resistance, Aegis took the initiative to confront the lightning-attribute dragon.


    However, as the concentrated target of its attacks, the force of the lightning was much greater than when dispersed through the water or mist.


    The impact sent shards of stone flying, but Aegis held his ground, his massive feet seemingly fused into the arena floor to steady himself.


    Screeee


    Finally, the water dragon seemed to be completely out of commission. Several stingers were lodged into its side, draining its energy, but it was too exhausted to continue removing them.


    With a final, anguished roar, the water dragon collapsed, its massive form splashing into the shallow pool it had created.


    Soren''s jaw tightened as his most recent contract fell. The loss of the water dragon disrupted the balance of the match.


    The wind dragon, now fully under Bea''s control, turned on the lightning dragon. It unleashed a powerful gust of wind, forcing the lightning dragon to retreat. Soren''s face twisted in anger as he became more certain that the tide of the battle was shifting. Unless he did something quickly, it''d only be a matter of time before he lost.


    His dragon-like arms shimmered with spiritual energy as he prepared to intervene directly. With a roar, he leaped into the fray, his claws slashing toward the weakened Vespid guards.


    Drained from the electrocution and then fighting with the water dragon, they could barely mount a defense against him, and instead focused on dodging and counterattacking when possible. After all, as long as they delayed long enough their side should win.


    With the Vespids forced to fight with Soren, the Bea controlled wind-dragon and Aegis devoted themselves to taking down the lightning-attribute dragon.


    Thankfully, due to its seeming reluctance to severely injure its ally, it eventually fell under their coordinated attacks.


    Soren''s eyes widened as he realized he was now alone. His dragons were down, and his spiritual power was nearly depleted.


    A lurking Vespid guard launched a sneak attack from behind as he was distracted, forcing Soren to stumble backward, his dragon transformation fading.


    The referee''s voice cut through the tension of the arena. "In the match between Soren Lysander versus Kain Newman��the winner is Kain Newman!"


    The crowd erupted into cheers and groans as they looked at the result of their bets. However, even those that had lost quite a lot of credits weren''t too upset. The intensity of the battle was exhilarating to watch. They sided to just take the lost credits as a ticket fee for watching a good match.


    Kain exhaled deeply, his body sagging with exhaustion as he recalled his battered contracts into his star space.


    Soren glared at Kain, his pride clearly wounded. "The next time will be your loss, Newman."


    Kain smirked, his confidence unshaken. "It seems you still haven''t woken up from dreamland, Lysander."


    As he walked off the stage, Kain couldn''t help but feel a sense of satisfaction. The battle had been grueling, especially since he had gone in at a disadvantage. But once again, he had proven why he belonged at the top.


    Now the only one blocking his path to the top was his long time rival��Serena Storm.

 Chapter 383 Peak Rivalry

    The arena was electric with anticipation.Students, professors, and even alumni had gathered in greater numbers than usual.


    There were separate arenas for the re-rankings of each grade level, but it appears as though the second years'' finale match had as much public interest as the fourth years'', which was typically the most popular due to them making up the bulk of the representative team.


    However, this year the match between Serena and Kain seemed to have the most interest. In fact, if one looked carefully they could even see some students surreptitiously setting up cameras to film the stage.


    Filming the re-ranking was strictly forbidden to control the spread of information to their rival colleges, but public interest in the ''genius researcher'' Kain and ''beautiful goddess'' Serena had grown since the National Competition and so footage and/or pictures of their fight could sell for quite a lot of money.


    Whispers and murmurs filled the air as Serena entered the arena. Her very presence caused a wave of stunned silence to wash over the audience.


    "She''s so�� beautiful," someone in the crowd said, their voice almost reverent.


    "I mean, we see her every day, but still�� she''s just unreal," another added, their words laced with awe.


    One student that was trying to conceal a filming camera by hiding it up his sleeve couldn''t help but nod numbly in agreement. He''d thought disdainfully that the fan clubs for Serena and Kain. That had popped up since the National Competition were quite pathetic to offer such an overwhelming amount of money for the footage of her during the re-ranking��but now he thought that he could empathize with them��


    Her silver hair cascaded down her back like liquid moonlight, and her piercing blue eyes seemed to look right through the crowd, sending chills down the spines of those that happened to make eye contact with her.


    She moved with an effortless grace, her pristine white battle uniform catching the sunlight, making her appear as though she descended from the heavens. Based on the sigils etched into the fabric, anyone watching could tell that her outfit was out of the ordinary and most likely far out of the affordable range of most students.


    "She''s already won every match without breaking a sweat," a student whispered to their friend next to them. "Newman''s good, but he''s never beaten her. Not once."


    Another chimed in, "You''d have to be insane to bet against her. This''ll just be another win for Serena." With that statement he walked up to a student taking bets��most likely to bet on Serena.


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    Speaking of which, Elias and the others were no longer in the business of collecting bets. After Kain''s match against Mira resulted in many students losing their hard earned savings at the suggestion of Elias and the others, they had been chased and hunted down by an angry mob of students.


    If those troublemakers dared to try and collect bets again, they''d probably be beaten by their classmates black and blue. Even now, none of their figures could be seen in the audience as they avoided the masses and only appeared when they had to compete themselves.


    Kain, who in the minds of many was the underdog, stood in his designated corner of the arena, watching Serena intently. He''d known her long enough to recognize her tells, no matter how subtle. Something was off about her today.


    Her breathing was faintly labored. It was barely noticeable, but Kain''s sharp eyes picked up on the slight irregularity. After all, they''d practically lived together for days over the course of several Black Missions and when searching for a cure for Gabriel.


    It didn''t add up. He''d watched all her previous matches in this re-ranking tournament, and not a single one of her opponents had pushed her hard enough to leave her injured or exhausted.


    ''What happened to her?'' he wondered, his brow furrowed.


    Then he remembered something strange. After returning from the Eclipse Order Orientation, Serena hadn''t come back to the college until almost a week after him. Had the department she''d joined immediately sent her on a mission? Was that where she''d picked up an injury?


    The referee blew his whistle and both sides summoned their contracts.


    Serena wasted no time summoning her contracts. First came the Elemental Guardian, shifting seamlessly into its wind-attribute form which resembled a sprite. The air around it shimmered with energy as it hovered near her, its small, wispy frame ready to strike.


    This was the contract that everyone watching was the most familiar with. In fact, majority of the time it''s the only contract that she bothers to summon. Even now, she only used the Elemental Guardian throughout Phase 1.


    The audience gasped as Serena''s second contract, the Starweaver, was also revealed. The familiar humanoid figure composed of stars and constellations appeared, its wings spreading out like a fragment of the night sky. The constellations on its wings shimmered faintly, hinting at its powerful skills.


    At this point Kain couldn''t help revealing a smirk due to being confident that he would be able to win. He had extensive knowledge of all her contracts, and even practiced against virtual version of them in the System''s Training Arena. He felt that he could probably accurately predict what movements she would make before she even did so.


    However, Serena wasn''t going to play along as he wished.


    Kain''s smirk was quickly wiped off of his face as she summoned a third contract��one that was NOT BALENS.


    It was a small, rabbit-like creature that appeared to be made of translucent crystal, its body radiating a soft, calming glow. Its large, luminous eyes seemed almost too innocent for the battlefield. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The audience tilted their heads in confusion.


    "What is that?"


    "Oh my god! It''s soooo cute!"


    "It looks so�� harmless."


    However, despite its meek appearance, Kain''s unease grew.


    Serena''s contracts were never chosen for their appearances. If she had added this one to her team, it was undoubtedly powerful in ways he couldn''t yet comprehend.


    And most likely it''s appearance would put a giant wrench in all of his carefully thought out plans.

 Chapter 384 Unfair

    More closely examining Serena''s contract, Kain was struck by a sense of familiarity, but it took him a while to figure out from where��Finally with the reminder of Bea, he seemed to vaguely remember that in all of the texts he was asked to memorize as a Pathfinder, there was a brief paragraph during the Warring States Period about one of the stronger city-state being built around a 9-star beast tamer whose strongest contract was�� a deceptively weak appearing rabbit made of crystals.


    ''I think it was called a Prismarin��damn it! Of course, none of her contracts could be simple!''


    During such a chaotic period of history for a city-state to be built largely on the back of this rabbit-like creature and its master, of course it couldn''t be simple.


    Unfortunately, aside from that brief paragraph about that city state, no more in depth information about its attributes or skills were described. Explore more stories with empire


    ''Did she get this contract while fulfilling a mission for the Eclipse order? Or did she exchange for it using points she obtained from the mission?'' S~ea??h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Either way, she couldn''t have had it for long, so Kain hoped that their coordination and tacit understanding would be comparatively weak in the next match.


    The Prismarin twitched its crystalline ears, and the battlefield shimmered. It was as though light itself bent around the arena, scattering into dazzling rays that obscured visibility and distorted perception.


    Seeing this effect, Kain didn''t waste any more time.


    He directed Bea to focus on the Prismarin, aiming to either remove this disruptor of his carefully laid plans, or control it to better figure out its abilities.


    At the same time, Queen directed her Vespid guards to harass the Elemental Guardian, which had now shifting into its fire phoenix-like form.


    Meanwhile, sensing that the Prismarin seems to be good a distorting perception or manipulating light, Kain directed Aegis to build barriers of rock that would likewise obscure the vision of their enemies and act as additional protection if they somehow manage to sneak up on them.


    The Starweaver reacted quickly, a constellation resembling a bow lit up on its wings and then it fired arrows of starlight that rained down on the Vespids. Several guards were struck mid-air and fell to the ground, while Queen narrowly avoided the assault.


    However, even the struck guards weren''t too badly injured as they managed to move slightly so that only non-vital areas were struck. And despite the arrows of light being nearly as fast as literal light, they had fought against a simulated version of the Starweaver at least dozens of times, so by now they had grown accustomed to its tricks.


    Unless it suddenly pulled out a new, never before seen skill, Kain had countermeasures in place for every other ability it had shown in the past.


    Meanwhile, the fire phoenix shot a wave of flames toward Aegis and his barriers, however he managed to withstand the heat with some straint, and most of his barriers barely stayed in tact as well. In preparation for the rematch against Serena, Kain had been collecting rocks and minerals with a high resistance to heat, just for this moment and Aegis had been steadily absorbing them to make them a natural part of himself for a while.


    If only he hadn''t had some of the stone integrated into him damaged in the previous matches, then he''d have probably been able to effortlessly carry the fire attack.


    On the other side of the arena, Bea''s targeting of the Prismarin has hit a snag. The rabbit didn''t even bother to dodge the threads coming toward it, but once they made contact, it was almost as if nothing was there. Bea was completely unable infect it with a split.


    ''Is that not it''s real body? Is it an illusion? Or can it form splits like Bea?''


    Still, Kain decided to look on the bright side despite the failed attempt, any information that could be gleaned about this mysterious creature was a positive to him.


    The Vespids surrounded the Starweaver that had finally paused its rain of arrows, however at that moment Serena''s new contract released a burst of refracted light that created dozens of illusions of the Starweaver around the arena. Kain''s team was immediately thrown into disarray, unable to discern the real threats from the false ones.


    Kain''s jaw tightened. The illusions appeared to have no differences from the real thing, so he couldn''t tell which was the real body.


    "Stay alert!" he shouted through his bond to his contracts, his tone sharp.


    Queen and the Vespid guards immediately adjusted their positions, but the confusion was evident. The swarm buzzed around the battlefield, targeting several illusions only for their stingers to pass harmlessly through the projections.


    Kain quickly assessed his options. He couldn''t afford to waste resources on fake targets. Bea, attempted to use her threads to scout for the real Starweaver.


    In the chaos, one of the illusions lunged at a Vespid guard, its glowing palm flashing with a faint starlight. However, Kain could tell from the energy it emitted during this so-called ''attack'' that it was not the original body and, like all illusions, wouldn''t have any physical attack power.


    Kain, having dismissed the illusions as harmless, ignored the attack, instead directing Queen to focus on the phoenix-like Elemental Guardian and its fiery barrage. He''d have to wait until the real body revealed a flaw.


    However, to his shock, the illusion''s strike landed.


    The Vespid let out a high-pitched screech as the starlight palm smashed into its side, leaving deep imprint and breaking its left wing. The guard fell, its remaining intact wing struggling to lift its weight.


    Kain''s eyes widened. "They can attack?!" How can the attacks directed at these substance less illusions go straight through them, and yet they can physically attack Kain and his allies?


    That has defied all the common sense he knew about illusions, at least when created by creatures at their level. This shouldn''t be possible!


    He immediately shifted tactics, directing his team to treat the illusions as potential threats.


    But even so, the damage had been done. Losing a Vespid guard was a blow, not just to their combat strength but also to morale.


    Moreover, when they attacked that same Starweaver in retaliation, their stingers went straight through.


    ''What kind of disgusting and unfair ability is this? You can hit me but I can''t hit you?!''

 Chapter 385 Kain Vs Serena

    Kain didn''t believe that this cheat-like ability was without flaws.Deciding to allow a few of the Vespid guards and Aegis, who has the hardiest defense, to show flaws intentionally, he finally figured something out.


    Indeed, the illusions are just illusions 90% of the time. However, it appears as though right before launching the attack, they are able to solidify their bodies��which also explains why these illusions are only resorting to physical attacks for now, while the original Starweaver usually chose to fight from afar.


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    Therefore, while the attacks of the illusions are major disruption to his strategy and can turn the tides of the battle, the moments they approach to launch an attack are also when they are at their weakest and can be destroyed.


    With that in mind, Bea increased the number of threads she had present on the field.


    Kain would have preferred to just use the enchanted spear that he''d used throughout the first half of his first year as a student to create a mist full of Bea''s splits. That way, whenever an illusion solidified to launch an attack, a split would make contact and Kain would be notified.


    Unfortunately, as long as Serena''s Elemental Guardian was on the field, it would be impossible for Kain to grapple for control of the mist using only a 2-star weapon. Speaking of which, although the custom 3-star spear and armour set provided to Kain by the System were much stronger than the average 4-star weapon, and complemented his current combat style perfectly, he should consider upgrading his gear soon.


    Unfortunately since he''d advanced to 4-stars another opportunity to customize gear had not appeared in the System Shop, however�� ''Perhaps living in poverty for years has limited my imagination. With the business taking off, I should be able to purchase equipment not much inferior to what I''d be able to obtain from the System''


    Anyways, shaking his head to refocus back to the battle and less on future major purchases, Kain looked at the current situation on the field.


    While Bea worked hard to counter the Prismarin''s illusions by making hundreds of threads, Aegis engaged the Elemental Guardian, now in its fire phoenix form.


    The phoenix dove toward him, its fiery wings leaving trails of embers in the air.


    Aegis braced himself, raising a reinforced stone shield to absorb the impact. The phoenix collided with the barrier, flames erupting around them, but Aegis held firm.


    "Push it back!" Kain commanded.


    Aegis countered with a powerful strike from his stone fist, sending a shockwave rippling through the air. The phoenix staggered mid-flight, its flames momentarily dimming, and capitalizing on that opportunity, almost as if they''d been waiting was a relentless barrage of Vespid stingers.


    This was a strategy Kain had prepared beforehand. Kain had noticed during the simulated training sessions with the system, that the Elemental Guardian, since it was composed of elemental energy, was very resistant to most physical attacks and elemental attacks from attributes it contains.


    Therefore, while its body scattering and reshaping when receiving Aegis'' heavy fist looked quite scary from an audience''s perspective, it was actually largely unharmed.


    Moreover, since Serena''s gift seemed to provide her contracts with a limitless amount of spiritual power, and she could use that constant injection to fight against Bea''s control of her contracts, Bea also wasn''t the best opponent to counter the Elemental Guardian.


    However, then Kain realized that his strongest weapon against elemental bodies was the energy siphoning properties of the Vespid Guards'' stingers.


    The physical damage caused by the stingers to the Elemental Guardian was miniscule; However, even a slight brush of a stinger that would siphon off its energy had a several times more devastating effect than it would for creatures made of flesh-and-blood. After all, their very bodies are made up of elemental energy, so for that to be absorbed they wouldn''t have the strong physical body of most spiritual creatures to fall back on. S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The elemental guardian managed to dodge or quickly dislodge the stinger, so the effects were subtle at first��a faint dimming of the flames that composed the phoenix''s wings, a slight sluggishness in its previously fluid movements. But as the stingers continued to make contact, the impact became undeniable. It momentarily shifted to its slightly more speedy wind-attribute sprite form, but the energy drained had already slowed it down, making it unable to fully exert its advantage in speed. Not to mention although this form was the fastest, it was lower in defense and attack power than its fire-attribute phoenix form, and so it quickly changed back.


    Eventually, the Elemental Guardian''s fiery form began to flicker after being constantly bombarded, the vibrant orange and red hues of its flames fading into a translucent, pale glow. It let out a sharp, piercing cry, its movements becoming more erratic as its energy was slowly drained away.


    Then, before the audience''s stunned eyes, the once-mighty fire phoenix began to dissolve. Its body turned almost entirely transparent, the fiery intensity that once radiated from it reduced to faint embers that looked as though they could be blown out easily.


    On the edge of the arena, Serena''s expression remained unchanged to the general viewer; however, Kain noticed the slight scrunching of her eyebrows.


    With a wave of her hand, she recalled the Elemental Guardian into her star space. The phoenix''s form shimmered one last time before vanishing completely.


    With the Elemental Guardian recalled, a noticeable shift in the battlefield''s energy occurred. The once-overbearing presence of Serena''s most versatile contract had vanished, leaving a void that Kain sought to exploit immediately.


    "One down, two to go! Just like we practiced!" Kain commanded through his bond, his sharp gaze fixed on the remaining threats.


    However, Kain didn''t get arrogant, especially with an unknown spiritual creature present on the field.


    "I can''t afford to let this slip now," Kain muttered under his breath.


    Despite their hard-won advantage, the battle''s conclusion remained far from certain.


    No matter what it would cost, he wanted to finally win!

 Chapter 386 Kain Vs Serena (2)

    With the elemental guardian disposed of according to plan, Kain''s focus shifted immediately to the Prismarin. If it wasn''t for this new contract, then the same way he''d meticulously planned to get rid of the elemental guardian, he could have removed the remaining Starweaver and beaten Serena for the first time.With the dozens of Starweavers it had produced, it was impossible for Kain to accurately determine which one was the true body��at least not until the true body unleashed a long-distance attack.


    To counter this, Bea blanketed the field with threads. They couldn''t control the illusions themselves, obviously; instead, they acted as tripwires, alerting Kain to any solid movements in the chaotic field of illusions.


    Still, the Prismarin''s illusions remained dangerous. Another Vespid guard, caught by an unexpected solidification, took a piercing blow from a glowing palm. Its small form crumpled to the ground, its wing bent unnaturally. Queen buzzed furiously, summoning the remaining guards to surround the Prismarin, but their stingers only passed through empty air. Evidently the Prismarin appearing in their field of view was also an illusion.


    Above the battlefield, the true Starweaver with its body hidden hovered ominously as it looked at the chaos below, its wings glittering with constellations.


    The glow of starlight intensified as a constellation began began to glow��a magnificent crown composed of stars.


    Suddenly a rain of golden starlight began to fall from the sky.


    Kain narrowed his eyes. This was the move that had defeated him in seconds the first time they had fought, capable of turning all creatures within range into golden statues.


    Despite its power, Serena had never used this move during missions with him. For one, it was an indiscriminate attack that would affect Kain as much as their enemies. For another, it would leave her contract extremely weak after use.


    The arena grew silent as golden flecks began to fall, descending toward Kain and his contracts. The Vespid guards buzzed erratically, their instincts screaming at them to escape, especially since they remembered the effects of these seemingly harmless lights, but there was nowhere to run.


    Kain clenched his fists, his voice firm. "Aegis, you know what to do!"


    With a low rumble, Aegis began to expand his stone body. His massive arms stretched outward, forming a protective dome that encased Queen, the surviving Vespids, and even Bea, who retreated into the safety of his rocky embrace.


    It was this move that the System generated version had frequently used to defeat Kain in the Training Arena. However, no matter what defensive measure were used, it proved to be useless.


    Eventually, Kain realized that the golden star flecks falling won''t stop until the make contact with a living body, so shields are useless against them. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Therefore Aegis, befitting his name, chose to act as a shield for the others and expanded his body to completely cover all of its allies


    As the golden flecks made contact with the rock dome made out of his body, his stone surface began to shimmer with a metallic sheen as the flecks made contact, turning parts of his body into gold.


    Kain felt the strain through their bond. Aegis was pushing his limits, but he didn''t falter. "Hold on just a little longer," Kain muttered, his voice laced with determination.


    If Aegis turns completely into a golden statue and is assimilated by the skill before the star fall ends, then they will be able to penetrate him to make contact with Bea and the others Experience new stories with empire


    The Starweaver''s ultimate move continued for several agonizing moments before the constellation dimmed. The golden flecks ceased their descent, and Aegis lowered his arms, his body marred with patches of gold but still standing.


    With the ultimate move completed, the illusions surrounding the Starweaver began to flicker and fade. For the first time in the match, the true Starweaver was exposed, its glowing wings dimmed and its aura significantly weakened.


    "Now!" Kain commanded. At almost the same time he recalled the barely standing Aegis into his Star Space to recover, he directed the others to attack the now revealed figure.


    The surviving Vespid guards surged forward instantly, their stingers glowing with concentrated energy. The Starweaver attempted to retreat, its wings flickering weakly as it tried to summon another constellation, but it was too late.


    One by one, the guards struck, their stingers piercing the weakened Starweaver''s form. The glowing figure let out a soundless cry before collapsing, its form dissolving into motes of starlight as Serena recalled it to her star space.


    ''Exactly according to plan�� if Serena didn''t suddenly contract another spiritual creature, I''d be crowned the winner at this moment'' Kain thought in exhilaration.


    However, he didn''t let the repeated successes get to his head, staying constantly on guard. After all, the battle wasn''t truly over yet.


    For the first time since the battle began, Serena appeared to have her composure slightly shaken, and the bad condition Kain had already noticed she was in before the battle began, was made apparent to the audience watching from the sidelines.


    Many began to whisper and wonder if she was perhaps injured. The change in ranking between the top 2 became a much more real possibility now.


    A crystalline rabbit twitched its ears, and the battlefield shimmered once more. The fragments of illusions scattered across the arena suddenly reformed, converging into a single radiant image��a larger, more intricate projection of the Prismarin itself.


    "Finally, making a move?" Kain muttered, his tone curious but also apprehensive of the unknown.


    The projection of the Prismarin began to move, its crystalline body refracting light in dazzling, unpredictable patterns. The ground beneath it shimmered with energy, and Kain felt a jolt in his heart via the Threads of Destiny��whatever it was preparing, it was dangerous. Dangerous enough for his new spiritual skill to activate on its own.


    Despite the pressure coming from the body of a tiny creature that Kain realistically knew was only green-grade, the aura it emitted was no less threatening than some of the more powerful blue-grade spiritual creatures he''d had to face in the past.

 Chapter 387 Kain Vs Serena (End)

    The tension in the arena was palpable, the air heavy with anticipation as the shimmering projection of the Prismarin began its ominous advance.Each step it took refracted light into an array of dazzling patterns, almost mesmerizing, but Kain knew better than to lose focus now. His instincts screamed at him that this was no ordinary move��it was like one of the rabbit-like creature''s strongest abilities, and Serena wouldn''t have revealed it unless she believed it could still turn the tide despite being two spiritual creature down.


    "Bea, stay alert. Queen, prepare the guards for evasive maneuvers," Kain commanded, his tone sharper than usual. Find more chapters on empire


    The projection suddenly felt much more solid��the true body had finally revealed itself?


    Several crystal pieces fell from it and split into multiple smaller images, each radiating an aura weaker than the original, but definitely at the peak of green-grade.


    ''What kind of monster is this? And how can it exert such a strong feeling of a threat?''


    However, unlike the earlier illusions, these projections didn''t simply have the stingers launched at them as a test fly through them, it was almost as if each body was the true body��with full or even stronger strength than the original.


    The over a dozen rabbits moved synchronously, surrounding the remaining Vespid guards and Queen. One struck with a swipe of its crystalline paw, forcing the guards to scatter. Another lunged at Bea''s threads, the delicate strands which were usually untouchable shattering upon contact.


    Queen buzzed in a frantic pattern, coordinating the guards into a unified counterattack. They aimed their glowing stingers at the projections, landing several direct hits. Their defense appeared to be weak, each time the construct merely dissolved into a burst of light. However, a new one would almost immediately begin reforming elsewhere on the field.


    Therefore, their numbers never actually reduced. However, Kain did not believe such a strong ability was without cost to it.


    The largest Prismarin, which Kain suspected to be its true body, suddenly stopped moving, its body glowing brighter as Serena''s spiritual power surged into it, and Kain''s ominous feeling coming from his spiritual skill grew stronger with each passing second.


    Moreover, the smaller projections were now surrounding Kain and the others and also beginning to glow��likely to form a final synchronized attack with the main body.


    As the Prismarin prepared its final surge, Kain''s mind raced. Aegis was completely out of commission to help defend against whatever was coming, and he couldn''t think of many other options.


    The battlefield shimmered with refracted light as the Prismarin and its projections unleashed a pulse of energy. The glow intensified, signaling the final attack.


    Supported by Kain, Bea produced tens of thousands of splits threads that spread outward in a lattice of mental energy.


    Her threads sought to destabilize its focus, interfering with the synchronization of the smaller projections.


    Thankfully, unlike the earlier illusions, all of these appear to actually be splits of the Prismarin with a simple rudimentary consciousness of their own that could be manipulated. And after being boost by Kain, it wasn''t difficult for Bea to seize control once a split landed��actually getting a split to make contact was the more difficult part since the glow they emitted seemed to be able to deflect or shatter approaching threads. But with tens of thousands of splits produced, one eventually got through!


    Meanwhile, Queen directed the remaining Vespid guards to harass the true body. Their glowing stingers landed successive strikes, siphoning its energy and appearing to slightly slow down the rate at which the light it was emitting grew.


    Finally, the Prismarin''s form dimmed, its projections flickering as their synchronization faltered. Kain relaxed, although it was close they had managed to succeed at thwarting whatever they had planned.


    But suddenly, the Prismarin''s glow spiked, and a beam of refracted light burst forth. The beam wasn''t aimed at a single target or just Kain and his contracts��it spread out like a fan, sweeping across the battlefield.


    "Dammit!" Kain yelled.


    Queen and the remaining Vespids were swallowed by the light. Even Bea, as a microscopic organism, couldn''t avoid the sweeping attack. S��arch* The N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Moreover, the attack was as cruel to its allies as it was to itself. After launching the attack that its own body was drowned in, it collapsed. But with its collapse the attack did not end, drowning Kain, Serena, anything and everything that was location on the stage.


    For nearly a full 10 seconds, the arena was bathed in a light so intense that even majority of the high-level teachers watching couldn''t see what was going on inside.


    The Prismarin''s devastating final attack left the battlefield in eerie silence, the air thick with residual energy. Dust and fragments of stone glittered faintly under the arena''s lights, suspended in the aftermath of the blinding beam. Even the audience, boisterous and rowdy only moments ago, was struck silent, collectively holding their breath as they strained to see through the dissipating light.


    As the light faded, the battlefield was silent. Kain''s vision blurred, his body trembling as he struggled to stay upright. His body felt like it had been through a wringer��his spiritual power drained, his muscles heavy, and his thoughts were a fuzzy garbled mess. But there was one clear thought in his mind��to be the last one standing.


    Across the battlefield, he could make out Serena, her normally pristine and composed figure hunched over, her breath ragged, with a now much smaller crystalline rabbit perched asleep at her feet.


    They made brief eye-contact, aware that as the only remaining being conscious on the field, the outcome of the match with be down to them. Unfortunately, both were far too weak to attack the other and decide the outcome.


    "This�� isn''t over��" he muttered hoarsely, forcing himself to stay standing, though his legs trembled beneath him.


    Serena looked far from her usual elegant state, her piercing blue eyes locking onto his. However, despite the injuries she already had worsening, her expression remained resolute, her pride as the number-one ranked student refusing to allow her to show weakness.


    Then, as though in unison, both competitors collapsed.


    The crowd erupted into chaos, cheers and gasps mixing into a deafening roar.


    "Who won?!"


    "What about my money?!"


    But there was no answer.


    Even the referee hesitated, their gaze darting between the two unconscious competitors. Neither Kain nor Serena stirred, their contracts recalled into their star spaces just before they collapsed, the battlefield now devoid of any lingering threats.


    For Kain, the world faded into darkness, the outcome of the match unknown.

 Chapter 388 The Aftermath of the Match

    Kain was pissed.It would have been one thing if he''d lost. But that indecisive referee had actually announced it as a tie. Which had never happened before in the final re-ranking match of the top 2 students.


    But that wasn''t what upset Kain. Tell him why, even though they technically tied and he should technically now be Rank 1, he was still in the room for the second ranked student!


    Moreover, the way his classmates and underclassmen describe Kain hasn''t changed!


    "Oh my god! That''s Kain, the famous Evolutionary Planner, he''s also the second strongest of the second years."


    "Oh, of course I know Kain Newman! He''s Rank 2 of our year!"


    They tied, okay! TIED! Why is he still considered as the second rank!


    When he''d raised his grievances about the room to the staff, they''d embarrassedly said that such a situation wasn''t expected when they''d built the dorms, and since Serena already lives in the room for the rank 1, and him in the room for the rank 2, it was simpler and natural to just leave things as they were.


    He disagreed! It wasn''t about what was ''simpler,'' it was about the principle! He''d been denied his rightful residence in the Rank 1 room once again, since he was bumped down a spot after the entrance exam.


    Kain couldn''t help but think back to when he''d first suggested that he and Serena could live together in the Rank 1 room, but the backlash to what he felt was a reasonable suggestion was greater than he''d expected��


    --------------------


    After the closing ceremony when the results of the re-ranking were announced, Kain, with the utmost sincerity, suggested that he and Serena could share the Rank 1 room, a moment of stunned silence followed. Then chaos erupted.


    A group of women from the audience gasped in unison, their faces twisting with a mix of outrage and disgust.


    One of them, a fiery redhead, snapped, "Typical! Just trying to take advantage of her under the guise of practicality!"


    "What?" Kain blinked, genuinely perplexed. "It''s a big room. More than enough for two people. Considering that the Rank 1 room has the most powerful sigils to gather spiritual power, it would only be fair for us to share it!"


    "Fair?" another woman hissed, crossing her arms. "We all know what that means, you pervert!"


    ''Yeah we do��it means to distribute the rewards impartially and without favoritism. My solution is the most fair. Is there some other definition I''m missing?'' Kain couldn''t help furrowing his brows at the women''s strong reactions.


    Kain''s expression became even more confused as people echoed their support of the woman''s statement. "It''s not as if we are sharing a bed. What''s the big deal?"


    Meanwhile, a group of male students who were not-so-secretly infatuated with Serena glared daggers at Kain.


    "That bastard!" one of them growled. "Does he think just because he''s Rank 1��or Rank 2, whatever��he can make such a bold move?"


    "He must''ve planned this all along," another muttered darkly, fists clenched.


    At the same time, another contingent of students, mostly men, had a very different reaction.


    "Did you hear that? He just suggested it to her face. No hesitation! In front of the Ice Princess!"


    "That''s legendary."


    "What a move! Only someone with balls as big as my head could pull that off."


    Kain overheard some of their whispers, but instead of understanding their awe, he tilted his head. "It''s just logical��"


    When Serena heard about his suggestion later, her piercing blue eyes narrowed slightly. "You can''t be serious," she said in a deadpan tone.


    Kain crossed his arms. "Why not? It''s the most logical solution. I''m not asking you to move out or anything, and I wouldn''t take up much space."


    "Much space?" Serena echoed incredulously, her voice rising just a fraction. "You do realize how this sounds, right?"


    "What sounds?" Kain frowned. "Everyone''s making a big deal out of nothing. It''s just a room!"


    Serena sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Kain, you''re completely oblivious, aren''t you?"


    "Oblivious to what? It''s my Rank 1 room, too!" he shot back.


    However, seeing how strong the surrounding reactions were, he chose to make a concession.


    "Fine." Kain said and the surroundings finally calmed down since it appeared as though he''d finally found reason. "But, if I can''t sleep in our Rank 1 room, I should at least get a key to it and be able to enter whenever I want. It''s the principle of it."


    Once again those surrounding him blew up in anger��


    ---------------


    To avoid further controversy, the school decided to compensate Kain in other ways.


    For starters, he was given an increased allocation of resources compared to Serena. His credit allowance for the year was also higher than hers, allowing him more flexibility in buying custom gear and spiritual materials.


    Additionally, Kain was given priority access to various training rooms, elemental rooms, and relic opportunities. Stay updated via empire


    With all of these concessions, they just barely managed to shut him up.


    "They gave me more credits than Serena," Kain grumbled later to Bridge, still fuming over the Rank 1 room issue. "Do they think I can just buy my way to feeling better about this injustice?!"


    Kain still remembered when as a bright-eyed young lad (only one year ago��) he''d joyfully started his first day at College only to find out that he''d been unjustly bumped down a rank and his GP reward from the System greatly reduced out of thin air. That deep scar on his heart wouldn''t be healed so easily with some credits!


    Bridge, trying to suppress a laugh, shrugged. "Well, at least they acknowledged you tied."


    "Tied!" Kain growled, pulling his hair. "Then why does everyone still call her Rank 1?!" sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bridge''s mouth twitched. "Who knows��it couldn''t possibly be because you keep trying to use the basis of the tie to share a room with her."


    Kain''s scowl deepened, clearly still missing the point.


    As he stormed off, muttering about "principles" and "room politics," the campus buzzed with the story of his suggestion. The rumors grew wilder with each retelling, turning Kain into a mix of an audacious pervert and a clueless villain.


    But for Kain, he was a victim. Not only once, but twice!

 Chapter 389 Research Complete

    As time passed Kain reluctantly got over his hang up of still not getting to stay in the Rank 1 room.However, rather than him maturely choosing to let it go, rather other more important events preoccupied his attention.


    Finally, after an extended period of training with the various evolutionary forms of the silkworms to get them to inject only the desired amount of energy into their threads and analyzing the various reactions between the different elements and how they work to counteract and bolster one another, Kain finally felt as though he''d met the bare minimum to successfully evolve his first test subject.


    In the housing facility assigned to Kain, before him were 8 spiritual creatures resembling moths and butterflies that were floating at Kain''s eye-level in a perfect line��all of different colours.


    These 8 insects were the 8 possible evolutionary forms for the Silkworm and were the 8 largest, strongest, and most ready to evolve. More impressively, these typically disobedient spiritual creatures were lining up straight with military precision without the control of Bea.


    Kain called forward 4 spiritual creatures: a plant attribute Leafwing moth, a fire attribute Flamesilk Moth, a water attribute Tidalace Butterfly, and an earth attribute Granitewing Moth.


    These 4 moths represented the relationships between the elements that Kain was best able calculate their possible effects on one another.


    He had each of them produce a certain amount of silk, and once a small mountain appeared next to each of them, Kain began to distribute the freshly produced silk to each of the other 4 at previously calculated ratios.


    "Hmm�� according to my calculations, each coccon using these 3 elements should have plant-attribute energy make up 35% of the cocoon to account for the massive amount that will end up being used to fuel the fire-attribute energy present in the cocoon. By that reasoning, only 10% of the cocoon should be from the Flamesilk Moth, 30% from the Tidalace Butterfly, and 25% from the Granitewing Moth. Sigh��hopefully this works." Kain mumbled as he repeatedly rechecked the data collected from his previous experiments and portioned out the correct amount of threads to be used by each of the spiritual creatures.


    Each of the 4 insects began to form a cocoon while steadily integrating the silk threads of other attributes.


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    After nearly half an hour of work, when Kain noticed that they were all almost finished forming the cocoons, he tossed a spiritual orb and catalyst into each cocoon (a costly investment of evolutionary research that was thankfully covered by the college). Sear?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once the cocoon was fully formed, and Kain assume each spiritual creature wrapped inside had taken the initiative to consume the catalyst, he waited for the signature bright white light of evolution to emit from each of the cocoons.


    But after an hour of waiting��nothing.


    ''Did it fail?''


    Thankfully before Kain did something rash in his worry, a faint light began to emit from the cocoon containing the water-attribute Tidalace Butterfly. Not far behind it, light began to appear on the cocoons of the Leafwing, Granitewing, and Flamesilk Moths, respectively, and Kain was able to breathe a sigh of relief.


    As the light from the cocoons began to intensify, Kain couldn''t help but lean forward in anticipation. Even the other dozens of moths and butterflies that were ignorning what was happening here, began to gravitate towards where Kain and the 4 cocoons were.


    The steady glow filled the room, shifting in color as it emanated from the cocoons: a deep blue from the Tidalace Butterfly, a verdant green from the Leafwing Moth, a rich earthy brown from the Granitewing Moth, and a vibrant red from the Flamesilk Moth.


    The first cocoon to burst open was the Tidalace Butterfly''s. A shimmering, watery light spilled into the room, and out floated a surprising figure.


    ''I never imagined the following evolutionary form to look like this.''


    The revealed creature was humanoid in shaped and resembled a fairy or sprite. However, unlike the typical image of a fairy it possessed a pair of antennae that sprouted from its forehead that hinted at its insect heritage.


    Its skin was a soft blue, while its hair shimmered like deep blue cascading waves, and its eyes gleamed with the clarity of pure water. Four delicate butterfly-like wings extended from its back, their translucent surfaces glowing faintly with a blue hue. It donned a shimmering blue dress that sparkled and reflected light like the surface of a still pool of water.


    The sprite tilted its head at Kain, emitting a series of melodic chirps and trills, a sound so delicate and sweet that Kain couldn''t help but smile.


    "Adorable," he muttered under his breath. Kain could already imagine the frenzy this new spiritual creature will set off once revealed to the world. Moreover, he could imagine the boatload of money he''d get from people purchasing the evolutionary formula for it.


    Based off of its appearance alone he could tell it was destined for fame, if after further tests it proves to have formidable combat strength, then considering the widespread availability of Silkworms it may very well be the most popular spiritual creature in the near future. Heck, it may even replace dragons as the nation''s mascot.


    Next came the Leafwing Moth''s cocoon. A burst of green light revealed another sprite, this one with light green skin and hair resembling vibrant foliage. Its antennae twitched playfully as it darted around the room, letting out higher-pitched trills. Its every movement was accompanied by the rustling of the leave that composed the ''clothing'' covering its body.


    The Granitewing Moth''s cocoon was next. The sprite that emerged had smooth earthy-brown skin with dark brown hair, while its ''clothes'' appeared to be composed of pieces of stone jigsaw pieced together.


    It chirped excitedly, its voice not as high-pitched as the others but exuding a slightly raspy warmth, and it immediately began inspecting the other sprites, curious about these unfamiliar creatures.


    Finally, the Flamesilk Moth''s cocoon erupted in a burst of crimson light and heat. The sprite that emerged had pink-tinged skin, with its bright red hair resembling flickering flames. Like its dress composed of flame, its wings glowed like embers while its chirping voice crackled like tiny sparks.


    As the four sprites floated together in front of Kain, a bright smile gradually appeared on his face.


    However, whether it was due to their endearing appearance or the massive amount of money they represented, one couldn''t be sure.

 Chapter 390 Fairies

    Of course, before Kain fully revealed this new evolutionary form to the world, he needed to collect more data on it.How strong is it? What would its quality be considered as? How does it compare to other spiritual creatures of the same quality? Does integrating more attributes into the cocoon change anything?


    Thankfully, unlike most planners that would have to perform a variety of tests to assess the quality of a new completely unknown species, Kain had the System.


    Based on the System, Kain determined that the quality of these ''fairies'' was platinum. A decent improvement compared to their quality prior to evolution.


    With the experience gained from the first success in just a few more weeks, his efforts finally bore fruit.


    Not only had he managed to stabilize cocoons integrating 5, 6, 7, and even all 8 elemental energies, but he had also uncovered the significance behind how many were integrated.


    ---------------------------


    Let''s start with the simplest of forms, those that only used 4 types of silk to evolve.


    The simplest chance of success was with cocoons integrating only four elemental energies. These fairies, which Kain dubbed "lesser fairies," have childishly adorable humanoid forms but showed significant improvement in combat power compared to their pre-evolved insect-like state. Also, in addition to losing their appearances as moths or butterflies, they also are no longer capable of producing silk.


    Each lesser fairy had two pairs of translucent butterfly-like wings that shimmered in colors corresponding to their primary attributes. Their attacks had now shifted to elemental magic��blasts of fire, torrents of water, slicing gales, or crushing vines depending on their element. While their strength fell on the weaker side of platinum-quality spiritual creatures, their versatility in elemental magic made them valuable.


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    Changes are less noticeable, but definitely present once integrating 5 types of elemental silk.


    By integrating five stable elemental energies into a cocoon, Kain produced fairies that were still considered by Kain to be "lesser fairies".


    These fairies still had two pairs of wings but possessed far greater energy reserves, elemental control, and skill variety. Their attacks became more intricate, capable of affecting wider areas or hitting with pinpoint precision.


    Though they lacked the raw power of higher-grade spiritual creatures, these fairies evolved from five-elements could hold their own against most mid-tier platinum-quality spiritual creatures.


    ---------------------------


    The major breakthrough came when Kain successfully integrated six elemental energies.


    These "greater fairies" were more mature in appearance, appearing like slightly older children with less baby fat, and their clothing was far more detailed, almost resembling ceremonial robes.


    Moreover, unlike lesser fairies they possessed three pairs of wings (six wings total).


    In terms of strength, greater fairies reached the pinnacle of platinum quality, rivaling and sometimes surpassing weaker diamond-quality spiritual creatures. Their elemental control was near flawless, and they displayed an impressive repertoire of high-level magical abilities.


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    Greater fairies had another advantage��an inherent bloodline suppression over lesser fairies. This made it almost impossible for lesser fairies to effectively resist or fight against them.


    ---------------------------


    Similarly, the integration of 7 elements into the cocoon still produced "greater fairies", but they were improved in quality.


    These fairies retained their six-winged form but surpassed their counterparts evolved with 6 types of silk in every aspect��energy reserves, elemental mastery, physical resilience, and skill diversity.


    This evolution represented the silkworm lineage''s first entry into diamond-quality spiritual creatures. While these fairies were on the lower end of the diamond spectrum, and couldn''t compare in strength to the pure-blooded dragons and phoenixes which are often diamond quality at birth, it is still a huge accomplishment.


    Their bloodline suppression over lesser and even other greater fairies was huge, and they carried an almost noble presence, commanding respect from all who saw them.


    ---------------------------


    However, Kain''s crowning achievement came when he successfully integrated all eight elemental energies into a cocoon. What emerged was nothing short of perfection��a creature he dubbed a "royal fairy."


    These fairies possessed four pairs of wings (eight in total) and their clothing was ornate, almost regal, adorned with intricate designs reminiscent of ancient royalty.


    Moreover, their appearance differed from lesser and greater fairies in that they had a gemstone, corresponding to their element, embedded into their foreheads, radiating an aura of power.


    Royal fairies were leagues above their peers, their strength placing them firmly among the stronger diamond-quality spiritual creatures.


    Their abilities were not only more powerful but also more refined, capable of both devastating destruction and excellent support.


    Their bloodline suppression extended over all lesser and greater fairies, and they possessed the terrifying ability to forcibly control lesser fairies, and even greater fairies if their level disparity was significant enough.


    Unfortunately, successfully integrating all energies to create a "royal" required quite a lot of luck, and even Kain had only succeeded once with a light-attribute Haloed Butterfly.


    Kain looked lovingly at the fairies flitting about, and even the students sent to support him in the animal care facility had, upon getting over their initial shock, gradually fallen in love with these adorable and beautiful creatures.


    In fact, after someone had secretly leaked a photo online of an adorable water-attribute lesser fairy and revealed it to be the latest product of Kain''s research, the number of volunteers to work with Kain and people loitering around the facility had increased into the dozens. There''d even been a few attempted break-ins.


    And with more and more leaks, the anticipation for this new spiritual creature was already great enough to suppress any news in the press.


    Kain had even received inquiries on how to purchase those in this facility, and some of the figures they had quoted for a greater fairy almost had him immediately hand one over.


    However, in the end he resisted. After all, he currently had the perfect amount to support all of the research data he''d need to present when getting his patent approved.


    He had a couple lesser fairies of each element, but only one greater fairy for each element evolved from 6 and 7 types of silk, respectively.


    Moreover, he only had the one Royal Fairy.


    Kain called down the single Royal Fairy, which happened to be evolved from a light-attribute Haloed Butterfly.


    It was a breathtaking vision. Its 8 shimmering golden wings appeared to possess abstract patterns of sunbursts and halos.


    As it moved toward him it unconsciously scattered soft beams of light across the room, creating a warm, ethereal glow.


    Its flawless features were more refined and elegant than the cute lesser fairies, with skin that gleamed with a faint golden glow resembling sun-kissed skin, while its flowing hair was like a cascade of pure liquid gold.


    Embedded in its forehead was a gleaming yellow gemstone resembling topaz, the same brilliant gold as its eyes, which radiated a calming and majestic energy.


    Its gown, composed of a fabric resembling silk was adorned with patterns of stars and was what one would expect from a member of royalty.


    When its palm-sized body landed in his hand, Kain''s eyes sparkled with what the volunteers around thought were tears of love.


    Some of the female students couldn''t help "oohing and ahhing" over the visual. They decided that the strange rumours about his personality must be false. After all, he clearly treats these cute sprites like his precious daughters so he couldn''t be a bad person.


    However if they could read his mind at this moment as he tearfully gazed at the queen in his hand, they may reach a different conclusion.


    ''SO. MUCH. MONEY!'' He couldn''t help but think back brokenheartedly to the astronomical sum that had been offered to him that morning for this single royal fairy that he''d turned down, and couldn''t help feeling a twisting and stabbing sensation in his chest.

 Chapter 391 Fairy Frenzy and Fame

    Due to the intense buzz about these 8 new evolutionary forms in the Silkworm pathway, the process of approving Kain''s patent this time was completed much faster than it was the first time with Gilded Serafin.Soon, the announcement of Kain''s patent approval for the evolutionary forms of the fairies set off a frenzy across the empire.


    The fairies, with their high potential and irresistibly cute appearances, became an instant sensation.


    Silkworms, once a common insect seen crawling through civilian gardens or on trees, quickly became a rarity as people scrambled to catch them. The idea of owning a fairy��especially a royal fairy��had become a dream for citizens of all backgrounds.


    Kain''s success earned him a new nickname: "The People''s Planner" due to his two successive revolutionary evolutionary paths��fairies and the Gilded Serafin��being accessible to the average citizen. Both evolutionary lines offered significant potential at relatively low costs, creating a massive appeal.


    However, not all nicknames were as flattering. Another title gained traction: "The Face Fanatic." This stemmed from the undeniable beauty of both the Gilded Serafin and the fairies.


    Moreover, images of Kain unintentionally dozing off on Serena''s shoulder during the National Tournament resurfaced online, fueling rumors of his supposed obsession with good looks.


    Kain, as always, was oblivious to the nickname''s implications, shrugging off the gossip. "I didn''t intentionally discover only good-looking evolutionary forms. But its undeniable that a spiritual creature''s appearance can play a part in its popularity. And more popularity means more money for me. I''m just being practical!"


    Collin, acutely smelled the business opportunities and worked with Kain to open an additional workshop dedicated to producing silk infused with precise elemental ratios.


    The silk would allow others to attempt the fairies'' evolution without the need for advanced calculations or experiments. With this infrastructure in place, Kain''s company stood poised to dominate the market.


    However, not everything went as according to plan.


    The FMT pills for River Wolf Pups, meant to be a flagship product, had been entirely overshadowed by the fairies.


    While the pills received government support and attention from those already raising River Wolf Pups, the excitement around the fairies drew all eyes elsewhere.


    However, the pills, despite being overshadowed initially by the dazzling fairies, proved to be a cornerstone of Kain''s growing reputation as "The People''s Planner."


    These pills significantly reduced the costs associated with raising River Wolf Pups. And with Clearspring Wolves, their evolved form, being highly sought after for their healing and combat abilities, Kain''s invention drastically lowered the barrier for ordinary citizens to own and raise one.


    Communities of aspiring beast tamers, particularly in rural areas where resources were scarce, hailed Kain as a genius. Online forums buzzed with success stories of families finally being able to afford a Clearspring Wolf pup. Even the empire''s military training academies began purchasing the pills in bulk, taking the opportunity to raise a healer regiment with the Clearspring Wolves as the basis.


    Collin, while outwardly grumbling, couldn''t hide his delight as pre-orders for both the silk and pills exceeded expectations. S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Collin, while outwardly grumbling, couldn''t hide his delight as pre-orders for both the silk and pills exceeded expectations. "The pills were supposed to be the headline product! But fine, let the fairies hog the spotlight for now. Money is money," he muttered while adjusting their marketing strategies to ride on the fairy frenzy''s coattails.


    -------------------------------------


    However, Kain''s newfound fame came with its share of complications, particularly thanks to his new nickname as "The Face Fanatic."


    The internet, fueled by rumors and leaked photos, painted Kain as someone with a particular fondness for beauty��not just in spiritual creatures but also in humans.


    This had led to increasingly awkward encounters for the nouveau riche Kain.


    Whenever Kain stepped outside, it wasn''t uncommon to "accidentally" run into heavily made-up and extravagantly dressed women.


    Some of them wore dresses adorned with butterfly motifs in a blatant bid to get his attention. To his confusion, even some handsome men had set their sights on him, often exaggerating their fragility in his presence. Find your next read at empire


    One day, while heading back to his lab after a meeting with Collin, Kain was cornered by a group of admirers. "Mr. Newman! Could you share your ideal type?!" one woman called out, her eyes sparkling with determination.


    Before Kain could respond, a stunningly beautiful male underclassman, with a delicate appearance rivalling a woman''s, emerged from the crowd.


    With a dramatic flourish, the student pretended to faint, aiming to fall gracefully into Kain''s arms. Kain, oblivious to the theatrics, instinctively sidestepped, letting the student plop to the ground with a loud thud.


    "Hey, are you okay?" Kain asked, his tone genuinely concerned as he peered down at the fallen student. The crowd fell silent for a moment before bursts of muffled laughter rang out.


    The underclassman, clutching his bruised ego and elbow, stammered, "I-I''m fine��"


    Word of the various incidents and shenanigans people have pulled to catch his attention spread online almost instantly, with a small community forming focused on sharing their experiences and strategies in seduction.


    Moreover, the less successful these attempts were, the more his reputation for having ridiculously high aesthetic standards spread.


    Meanwhile, Kain remained utterly confused by the unwelcome attention.


    "Why are people acting so weird lately? I don''t get it," he muttered to Collin during their next meeting.


    Collin replied with a smirk, "You''ve got money, fame, talent, and now this ridiculous ''face-con'' reputation. There is even a trend among some online celebrities that seems to take your approval as the benchmark for being good-looking."


    And indeed, in the coming days, Kain came across more and more individuals "by chance." Many of whom he vaguely recognized as somewhat famous figures.


    Unwilling to deal with the escalating chaos, Kain began isolating himself. He rarely left his lab, dorm, or classes, only going into public when absolutely necessary. But even then, the shiver running down his spine whenever he felt a "wolf-like" hungry gaze on him was a constant reminder of his current unfortunate popularity.


    For now, Kain decided to stay focused on his work, pretending the outside world didn''t exist.

 Chapter 392 Studies Complete

    Kain had received 5 requests from his new research assistants, 3 of which were relatively simple.The other 2 were virtually impossible if one didn''t have the help of a System like Kain: Finding a new evolution form for Rivian''s Leafwing Moth, and rediscovering the lost method of evolving Dravis'' Raging Steel Boar.


    Now Rivian''s Leafwing Moth had evolved into a plant-attribute greater fairy. With Kain''s help, he''d attempted to evolve into a Royal Fairy with 8 elements, but a certain amount of luck was needed to succeed and luck was not on his side.


    The 3 other simpler requests were also completed by Kain, meaning that all the assistants worked happily and more eagerly than before. S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Only Dravis'' request was unfulfilled, however he did not rush Kain.


    Honestly, the uncovering of a further evolution in the Silkworm evolutionary pathway would have been considered to be impossible by many a few weeks ago��but Kain made the impossible possible.


    Therefore, although his request also seemingly appeared impossible, he had full faith in Kain and was confident that as long as he diligently did his job as an assistant, he''d also be able to take a leap forward in strength.


    Moreover, with the increased motivation due to the fulfilled requests, Kain finally felt as though they''d grasped all the elementary knowledge of the Pathfinders.


    It was now time to make that knowledge his own.


    "Bea, let''s begin," Kain said, his tone filled with enthusiasm.


    Immediately, Bea extended her mental threads toward the unsuspecting assistants. The process was painless, though the assistants couldn''t help but shiver as the faint, tickling sensation of Bea''s influence brushed their consciousness. One by one, their memories of their recent readings were neatly compiled and transmitted to Kain.


    The knowledge flowed into Kain''s mind like a rushing stream.


    From Rivian, he absorbed a wealth of knowledge about Ancient Verdarian and Eldrathic��languages spoken during the Verdant Epoch. Snippets of Rivian''s research on the culture, artifacts, and spiritual techniques of the Verdaris City-State flashed before Kain''s mind.


    Elera''s memories came next. It mostly included her study of the Celestial Ascension Period which revealed fascinating tidbits about the five founders of the Empire and their legendary spiritual contracts. Her grasp of Ancient Elvish added another layer to Kain''s linguistic arsenal.


    Dravis'' knowledge focused on the Warring Periods. Moreover, an intermediate understanding of Myrthali, one of the most common languages of this period, entered Kain''s mind.


    Lastly, the two fourth-year assistants were tasked with learning all of the miscellaneous knowledge of the Pathfinders that didn''t overlap with the specialties of the others, adding breadth to Kain''s knowledge reserves.


    Part of the reason that Kain had chosen this moment to finally read their memories was because of an unexpected announcement from the Eclipse Order.


    His first excursion opportunity had finally arrived. After reporting to the order that his studies were "completed," using the shortcuts provided by Bea''s mental abilities, Kain was included in the possible candidates for what has been rumoured to be a unique opportunity that would extend to all members of the department under 6-stars.


    "This is cutting it close," Kain muttered, leaning back in his chair. "If I hadn''t decided to access their memories today, I might have missed this entirely."


    Kain sighed, rubbing his temples as the large influx of knowledge showed signs of causing a headache. His mind felt like an overstuffed library, shelves crammed with information, but it was a worthwhile price to pay.


    It would take a few days to make the knowledge completely his own, but by the time they arrived at the mission location, it should be fully digested by him.


    Finally, the flow of knowledge ended, showing that the rest of the knowledge in their minds wasn''t considered useful to him by Bea.


    He glanced at his assistants, who seemed to be working but if one glanced at their eyes they would see that they were blank. However, after Bea released her control they seemed to quickly snap back into focus, unaware that their minds had just been invaded.


    "Keep at it," he said to them, his tone unexpectedly warm. "You''re doing well."


    They looked up, startled but pleased, before returning to their tasks with renewed vigour.


    However, there was no more time to continue processing the new information. A notification from the Eclipse Order pinged on his communication device. It was time for him to leave.


    Kain headed to the college''s teleportation array, where Serena was already waiting. Her silver hair caught the light of the array''s runes that had already begun to light up. Clearly Kain arrived just in time.


    "You''re cutting it close," she remarked, glancing at him.


    "Still made it," Kain replied casually.


    The array began to hum as the runes activated, glowing faintly before intensifying into a bright circle of light. Serena stepped onto the platform first, and Kain followed.


    The journey was disorienting, as teleportation often was��a brief moment of weightlessness, followed by a rush of sensation as they reappeared in the headquarters of the Eclipse Order and headed towards the location indicated on their notification.


    The room they arrived at was massive, its vaulted ceilings supported by dark stone pillars etched with glowing sigils. Hundreds of people were already there, many were grouped in clusters defined by their department uniforms.


    However, although everyone was from a different department, they all had one thing in common: none of them had exceeded 6-stars, and no one had contracts of indigo-grade or higher.


    An amplified voice echoed through the hall, cutting through the murmurs. "Attention!"


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    The crowd stilled as a figure in a dark military uniform stepped onto a raised platform at the front of the room. His voice carried an air of authority.


    "For this mission, the situation and danger level on the other side remain unknown. That is why individuals from all six departments will be chosen. Ten from each department will be selected to ensure a balance of skills."


    A murmur rippled through the crowd. The uncertainty of the mission''s nature and danger level was unsettling to many, but those who could join the Eclipse Order weren''t easily frightened.


    "The selection process will begin shortly," the speaker continued. "Only those selected will be briefed on the mission details. Prepare yourselves."


    This was not the first mission Kain had anticipated upon completing his "studies."


    "Well," Kain muttered, cracking a small grin to ease his nerves, "this just got interesting."

 Chapter 393 Interrogation

    Kain had imagined all kinds of methods that they''d select the individuals to go from each department: a battle royale, a field assessment, a grueling team challenge, or even using one of the relic simulations like the Pathfinders have.But never in his wildest dreams did he think that the small elite team from each department that would take on this potentially extremely dangerous mission with little information would be decided by��interviews.


    Now Kain sat before a middle-aged serious looking man from the Dawnbringers, the counterintelligence department of the Order. Their department, fittingly, was in charge of interviewing each applicant for the mission.


    "Name?"


    "Kain Newman"


    "Department?"


    "Pathfinders"


    "Languages and Civilizations studied?"


    Kain assumed that he was talking about those other than were required in the most basic learning materials of Pathfinders, and so Kain listed all of the various languages and histories that he''d "learned."


    "Elvish, Ancient Verdarian, Eldrathic, Myrthali��" Kain rattled off the list confidently, though he couldn''t help but feel like he was being evaluated on every syllable.


    The man''s gaze flickered with a hint of approval. "You''re fluent in Elvish?"


    Kain hesitated slightly before responding in relatively fluent Elvish. "*Somewhat. I love to study and enrich my mind during my spare time*"


    ''I wasn''t expecting knowing Elvish to be considered so highly. Perhaps I should consider giving my assistants raises��''


    The interviewer''s expression softened ever so slightly.


    The interview stretched on for close to an hour. The questions ranged from superficial��"What''s your contract count?"��to almost disturbingly personal��"What is your relationship status?" "How often do you shower each week?"


    The final question caught Kain off guard.


    "Do you have an open contract position?"


    "��Yes," Kain replied cautiously, unsure of its relevance.


    Kain left the room feeling like he''d been through an interrogation rather than an interview. He rubbed his temples, shaking off the invasive questions as he rejoined the crowd in the waiting area.


    "Open contract position? What does that have to do with anything?" Kain muttered, shaking his head as he rejoined the crowd in the waiting area. Even if they were going somewhere with rare spiritual creatures that they could contract, he doubted it''d apply to him��he doubted that this excursion would be related to the microscopic creatures most people in this world didn''t even know existed.


    The large hall had grown more subdued since the interviews began, with candidates exchanging hushed conversations. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Every so often, someone would emerge from their interview with either a relieved grin or a pale, shaken expression.


    Kain couldn''t help but notice Cassian Lysander��the crown prince, captain of First Celestial Academy, and Soren''s cousin�� standing among the crowd. He''d already heard from Vice Chancellor Darrow that he was a member of the Order, but he was still somewhat unprepared to see him.


    It was disorienting to think that people they''d competed against a few months ago may end up teaming up in the Order.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a high-ranking officer of the Eclipse Order stepped onto the platform, holding a list. The murmurs in the hall immediately ceased as everyone''s attention snapped to the front.


    "We will now announce the selected individuals for the mission. Step forward when your name is called."


    The officer began with the Dawnbringers, listing off ten names with calm authority. Each department followed, their chosen representatives striding forward confidently.


    "Cassian Lysander, Night Hunt." The announcement sent a ripple of surprise through the room.


    "Night Hunt?" Kain whispered under his breath, bewildered. "I thought that department was only for 7-star beast tamers and above."


    The murmurs around him confirmed his confusion. It seemed Cassian''s inclusion in such an exclusive department was a surprise even to those who were familiar with him.


    And unsurprisingly, Cassian''s name was the only one called from the Night Hunt��likely because they didn''t have anyone else that met the requirements of being a 6-star beast-tamer with no contract at indigo-grade or above.


    "Serena Storm, Starchasers."


    Another wave of murmurs swept through the hall. After all, it was unusual for a newcomer to beat out numerous veterans to snag a spot.


    Kain blinked in surprise. Starchasers specialized in wilderness exploration and acquiring rare resources��it wasn''t the department Kain would have immediately associated with Serena, but considering the high degree of freedom the department allowed, he wasn''t too surprised.


    "Maybe this mission is favoring talented young people the order wants to invest in," Kain muttered as the names continued. The fact that most of the names called out were on the younger end and the last contract about an open contract position supported this idea. Discover exclusive tales at empire


    One by one, the other Pathfinders were called, and Kain''s nerves grew sharper with each passing name.


    Finally, just when he was convinced he''d been passed over, the officer spoke again.


    "Kain Newman, Pathfinders."


    Kain exhaled sharply, relief washing over him. He could feel the weight of dozens of eyes turning toward him, and while some looks were merely curious, others carried an edge of incredulity.


    "Didn''t he just join in the last round? How did he finish the infamously thick learning materials of Pathfinders already?" someone whispered behind him.


    "Two newbies made it in? Really? Didn''t they say this mission could be dangerous and they had limited information. Wouldn''t they just drag everyone else down?"


    "Well, she''s from the famous Storm family, so I can somewhat understand, but who''s this guy?"


    Kain ignored the muttering as he stepped forward to join the others, his expression calm despite the pounding of his heart.


    Serena, already standing in the Starchasers'' group, gave him a brief nod, her piercing blue eyes betraying no emotion.


    Kain offered a small grin in return. "Didn''t think we''d be teammates again so soon."


    She didn''t respond, but the faintest hint of a smile tugged at her lips.


    Kain was the last name called and so those not called were unceremoniously kicked out of the conference room not long after.


    Once the hall was cleared of those who hadn''t been selected, the officer on the platform raised a hand for silence. The room, filled now with only the chosen representatives, grew still.


    "First, congratulations," the officer began, his voice steady and commanding. "You are the most promising young members of the Eclipse Order. Your departments have chosen you not just for your skills but for your potential. For this mission, that belief in your potential will be put to the test."


    Kain glanced around. The air was thick with tension and anticipation. The members of each department stood in tight clusters, some whispering among themselves, while others stood rigid, their focus locked on the officer.


    The officer continued, "The mission ahead is shrouded in uncertainty. Danger is a given, but with danger comes opportunity. Many of you have open contract positions, and I can assure you that the mission site is not without its rewards. Be prepared to seize every opportunity to strengthen yourselves."


    Kain''s eyebrows twitched. So that''s why they asked about open contract positions. Are they really expecting us to contract something mid-mission?


    The officer''s gaze swept across the room. "Some of you may be wondering why so many younger members were chosen. Let me be clear. The Eclipse Order is not interested in keeping you safe. We are interested in sharpening you into the finest tools we have. You have been selected because you are the best of your generation, and this mission is your whetstone."


    A ripple of murmurs ran through the room at the officer''s blunt words.


    "You will be briefed on the specifics of the mission shortly. Until then, prepare yourselves mentally and physically. Once we depart, there will be no turning back."


    The officer stepped down, and a low hum of conversation filled the hall.


    Kain found himself next to Serena, who was staring at the officer''s retreating figure with her usual composed expression.


    "Well, this should be interesting," Kain said, his tone light despite the heavy atmosphere. "Unfortunately, you were so quick to fill your fourth contract position, otherwise you may even get a better one in this mission" He added somewhat mockingly. However, he didn''t strongly believe that there''d be a more suitable contract for her in this mission. He was just bitter that her contracting the Prismarin before the re-ranking had marred what should have been his first time at Rank 1


    She glanced at him, but didn''t reply, simply rolling her eyes.


    Nearby, Cassian Lysander caught their exchange. His piercing gaze lingered on Kain and Serena for a moment, likely recognizing that they were underclassmen from a rival college and was surprised by them being able to enter at such young ages.


    "Any idea what we''re walking into?" Kain asked Serena in a quieter tone.


    "No," she replied. "But it''s clear the Order sees this as more than just a mission. It''s a test for all of us."


    Kain''s grin faded slightly as he nodded. Whatever lay ahead, he had the sinking feeling it was going to be anything but straightforward.

 Chapter 394 A Foreign Mission?

    The rhythmic sound of hoofbeats and the occasional screech of an avian spiritual creature echoed through the dense forestKain adjusted his position on the broad back of a Midnight Stag, a spiritual creature provided by the Eclipse Order. Its sleek black coat shimmered faintly under the canopy, and its glowing silver antlers provided valuable illumination under the dense canopy of trees. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Around him, others in the group rode their own mounts��some their own contracts, others borrowed like his.


    They had set off not long after being notified that they''d been assigned to this excursion and still didn''t know too many details. Therefore, a tense atmosphere seemed to pervade the group, broken only by the occasional rustling of leaves and soft murmurs between members.


    The forest around them was unlike anything Kain had seen before. Ancient trees as tall as building reached toward the sky, their massive trunks would need maybe 10 people to circle them entirely. The air was rich with the scent of damp earth and blooming flowers, and faint glimmers of bioluminescent insects danced in front of them from time to time.


    Their leader, a middle-aged man from the Starchasers named Ashen Voril rode at the front on the back of a Dawnwolf, its silver coat blending seamlessly with the surroundings. His sharp eyes scanned the path ahead to respond to any emergencies at a moment''s notice.


    "Stay alert," Ashen''s deep voice rumbled, breaking the quiet. "We should arrive at our destination soon."


    Kain raised an eyebrow but said nothing, his curiosity piqued. The forest was dense and seemingly untouched, yet there was an unnatural order to it. Each tree was perfectly aligned in neat rows, giving the illusion that they were giant soldiers standing perfectly in line rather than trees.


    Suddenly, the group came to a halt as a figure appeared in their path.


    The young man couldn''t have been older than 20 by human standards. He had shoulder-length light green hair and piercing emerald-green eyes that seemed to shimmer faintly, reflecting the surrounding forest.


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    He wore ornate white robs, woven with green and gold patterns of leaves and vines that seemed to shift subtly as he moved.


    On his back was a bow, and at his hip a dagger glinting with emerald light. Despite his youthful appearance, the pressure radiating off of him let Kain know that he was at least equivalent in strength to an 8-star beast-tamer��possibly even stronger.


    Ashen dismounted smoothly, raising a hand to signal the group to stay put. He approached the young man and inclined his head respectfully. "Guardian Selevan," he greeted, his tone deferential. "It''s an honor."


    Kain frowned, his mind racing. Guardian?


    Kain briefly remembered in the knowledge he "learned" from Elera who had a special interest in the long-disappeared Elvin race.


    Elorians, as descendants of elves, have retained many of the traditions of their predecessors. Even the language spoken by them today closely resembles Ancient Elvish.


    And the second-highest rank, only beneath the royal family, is what the elves called "Natures Guardians."


    If this young-looking man truly has such a prominent title, and remembering the fact that Elorians age much slower physically than full-blood humans, this ''youth'' could easily be over 100 years old.


    "Welcome to Elowen Haven," Selevan said, his voice smooth and calm, with an accent that gave his words a melodic lilt. "The Council has granted you passage, but you must follow me from this point onward."


    The group exchanged glances but quickly complied, following Selevan as he led them deeper into the forest. Kain noticed how the trees seemed to grow closer together the farther they went, their intertwined branches forming natural archways and bridges that would allow one to easily walk from one canopy to another.


    After an hour of walking, they reached what appeared to be a border town of Elowen Haven.


    The village seemed to grow out of the trees themselves. Homes were built into the trunks of massive oaks, their curved doorways and windows seamlessly blending with the bark. Bridges of woven vines connected the trees, forming an intricate web of paths above their heads. Lanterns carved from crystals hung along the paths, their gentle green light illuminating the area and adding a dreamy quality to the surroundings.


    The new arrivals couldn''t help marveling at the seamless blend of natural beauty and architectural craftsmanship.


    Before they could take in more, Selevan led them to a central platform surrounded by twisting roots. With a soft hum of magic, the platform lit up, and the group was enveloped in a soft green light. A moment later, the forest vanished, replaced by a view that made Kain''s jaw drop.


    They were no longer on the ground in a border town.


    Instead they''d appeared on a massive platform built out of an even more massive tree into what looked like a massive city built within the tree tops.


    The capital of Elowen Haven was a masterpiece of natural majesty. Towering trees, even larger than those at the border, formed the backbone of the city, keeping the city suspended high above the ground.


    Suspended bridges crafted from glowing vines and branches connected the trees, creating an ethereal network of walkways high above the forest floor.


    Homes and shops nestled into the trunks, their walls seamlessly blending with the bark.


    At the heart of the city stood the royal palace, known as the Palace of the Eldertree. It was a marvel unto itself, seemingly grown from the tree rather than built upon it. The tree''s colossal trunk had been carefully hollowed and shaped, forming grand halls and spires that spiraled upwards like vines reaching for the sun. Massive branches beneath the palace, formed natural terraces adorned with gardens of rare, glowing plants.


    The palace''s walls glistened with veins of luminescent crystals, and intricate carvings depicting scenes of the Elven ancestors��hunters with bows, scholars reading ancient tomes, and warriors standing against fierce spiritual creatures.


    As Selevan led them in the direction of the palace, Kain realized that it was their destination. Kain wasn''t even sure if the mission had officially begun or what kind of gains there would be from this mission, but just this trip alone made the experience worth it.

 Chapter 395 Demigod

    The grand hall of the Palace of the Eldertree was nothing short of magnificent, a testament to the fusion of their Elven ancestry and their deep connection to nature.The chamber was vast, easily large enough to accommodate the 50+ travelling members of the Eclipse Order, yet it retained an air of intimacy due to the natural warmth of its design.


    The floors were a smooth, polished wood with golden veins that pulsed subtly with life running through it, as though carved and directly polished directly from the tree that this palace was built upon.


    Tall, arched stain glass windows let in streams of filtered sunlight, casting dappled patterns on the floor.


    Hanging above were massive chandeliers made of vines interwoven with glowing flowers that sent a kaleidoscope of colours throughout the room.


    Massive wooden pillars twisted upward like spiralling vines, etched with intricate carvings of Elven myths and histories.


    The ceiling stretched high above, where a dark green-blue bioluminescent moss created the illusion of a starry sky. Kain could imagine that it''d be even more stunning at night.


    At the far end of the hall stood the centerpiece of the room: a throne carved from a solid piece of glowing green emerald-like stone. Vines wound around the base, while golden ivy dotted with white flowers climbed the entire structure.


    Seated upon the throne was an ethereal woman, her long silver hair shimmered like moonlight, cascading down her shoulders in soft waves.


    Her striking purple eyes gleamed with intelligence and a calm yet commanding presence. Her beauty was so radiant that Kain momentarily froze, a small voice in his head whispering conspiracies.


    His eyes flicked between the queen and Serena. The resemblance was uncanny��the silver hair, the regal demeanor.


    Then, he noticed the ring on the queen''s finger. His mind began spinning its own melodramatic tale. Could it be? A forbidden romance between one of Serena''s relatives and the Elorian queen? A love that defied kingdoms? A secret affair hidden under the veil of political meetups? Is it a secret marriage? Or does this queen already have a husband and instead had an affair with one of Serena''s ancestors?!


    As his imagination ran wild, he felt a sharp, icy sensation, like being doused in cold water. Serena''s piercing gaze met his, and her expression was one of pure disgust. Before he could react, her voice resonated in his mind, transmitted through a spiritual skill.


    "Whatever nonsense you''re imagining, stop it right now."


    Kain coughed, his face flushing in embarrassment. Ahem. I guess I was wrong, he thought, hastily redirecting his attention to the queen.


    The queen''s gaze briefly swept over the group before pausing on Kain. For a fleeting moment, her piercing purple eyes locked onto his, and the pressure in that glance alone felt as though it could crush his heart.


    Then, just as suddenly, her gaze moved on, leaving Kain gasping inwardly for breath. The moment passed, but the memory of her cold, assessing look lingered, sending a shiver down his spine.


    ''Ahem. Let''s remember not to think nonsense about the private lives of people far more powerful in the future��''


    Ashen Voril stepped forward, bowing deeply. "Your Majesty Ev��, on behalf of the Eclipse Order, I extend our gratitude for granting us passage into Elowen Haven." S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The queen''s voice, smooth and melodious, filled the hall. "The honor is shared, Ashen Voril. The Eclipse Order''s reputation precedes you. I trust you understand the delicacy and purpose of your presence here."


    Ashen nodded, "We do, Your Majesty. We are prepared to cooperate fully and respectfully."


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    The queen''s gaze swept over the group again, her expression unreadable. "You have been granted access to the heart of Elowen Haven because of the urgency of this matter. However, act carefully. Our land and forests are not to be disturbed or harmed in any way."


    Seeing that this was addressed to all of them, Kain and the others nodded solemnly to show that they took her words to heart.


    "The dragons appeared to the kingdom''s east, but there appears to be a ban on the area limiting the strengths and ages of those that can enter. The ban is extremely powerful, likely created by a group of Demigod-grade dragons. When they arrived, hundreds of Elorians in a nearby village were enveloped into their territory��their life and death unknown. I do not care about what you do or how you interact with those dragons, as long as you bring back our citizens safely."


    ''Demigods��dragons��'' Kain was surprised that this mission seemed to be a rescue mission against dragons. Moreover, it will likely involve the presence of dragons far more powerful than any of those partaking in this mission.


    Moreover, he also understood why most participants were now so young��nobody above the age of 30. And why the Elorians requested the help of the Empire whom they had a good relationship with.


    Since Elorians age so slowly, a full-blooded Elorian under the age of 30 may physically and mentally be no older 10 and likely wouldn''t have a spiritual contract yet. Moreover, most Elorians can only contract plants��which are at a huge disadvantage against dragon''s breath.


    But what surprised Kain the most was the imposing title of ''Demigod''. This was the first time Kain had heard of this term used to describe a spiritual creature, and the features and terminologies used for high-grade spiritual creatures was largely still a mystery to him.


    From what he''s heard, such information is usually only provided to fourth-years, since thinking about preparing to break through to that level too early on is likely to just impede forward progress of the student. But he made a mental note of the new term.


    The grand hall fell into a tense silence at the Queen''s words, broken only by the faint rustle of leaves from the bioluminescent vines above. This was the first time any of them had heard the true details of their task this time.


    Demigod dragons. What exactly have we gotten ourselves into? The weight of the mission seemed to press down even harder now, and he could sense similar unease coming from those around him.

 Chapter 396 Ghost Town

    The dense forest shifted subtly as Kain and the others approached the boundary of the dragon''s territory. The air grew heavier, charged with an unnatural stillness, as though the forest itself was holding its breath. Even the Midnight Stag beneath Kain seemed uneasy, its glowing antlers dimming slightly.Eventually, they reached a point in their journey where any of the mounts borrowed by the Order refused to go further. They bucked and dug their heels in, determined not to take even one more step forward.


    Ashen Voril raised a hand and exuded a powerful pressure far stronger than anyone else present, bringing the group''s momentary chaos to a halt.


    His sharp eyes scanned the treeline ahead, where the faint shimmer of a barrier became visible, stretching like a translucent curtain between the towering trees.


    "They must sense the boundary of the dragons'' territory. This is where we leave you," Ashen said, his voice steady despite the solemnity of the moment. "The ban will reject anyone of my level of strength or age."


    He scanned over the group of over 50 people in their 20s from high above on his Dawnwolf. "Until you return, leadership of this mission will fall to Lieutenant Caelum Ardent of the Celestial Vanguard."


    A man in his late twenties stepped forward. He had sharp features, neatly cropped auburn hair, and wore the distinctive armour of the Celestial Vanguard��sleek, polished plates etched with a variety of sigils that had a resonance effect with other soldiers in their cohort. A sword with a glowing hilt hung at his side, and a shield with the Vanguard''s crest was slung over his back.


    "Thank you, Commander," Caelum said, bowing respectfully. His voice was calm and authoritative, carrying the weight of someone accustomed to leading in high-stakes situations. S��arch* The Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ashen placed a firm hand on Caelum''s shoulder. "Remember, your priority is the safety of the Elorian citizens. Of secondary importance is to hopefully establish friendly long-term relations with this dragon colony. Any personal gains made by you all outside of these two objectives are your own and must not conflict with those primary objectives."


    Caelum nodded. "Understood."


    With a final glance at the group, Ashen stepped back. "Good luck. May the stars guide you."


    His Dawnwolf let out a low howl before the two turned and vanished into the forest, leaving the group to face the barrier ahead.


    Caelum wasted no time. "Stay close and move carefully. If the dragons have set this barrier, we''re likely already being watched."


    The group exchanged uneasy glances at that idea but obeyed, following as Caelum stepped through the shimmering boundary. The moment Kain crossed, a wave of energy washed over him��a mix of oppressive heat and chilling cold that left his body tingling.


    The forest on the other side of the boundary looked exactly the same. However, the air definitely felt thicker, and more oppressive. It was only faintly noticeable to him, but his contracts who were stronger than him definitely communicated that they were experiencing a greater suppressive feeling.


    Kain could only imagine the discomfort of those in their group who were at the peak of blue-grade spiritual power and close to the limits of what this ban would allow.


    And indeed, many of the blue-grade spiritual creatures used by some of the other entrants seemed to get more and more irritable as time went on and the occasional small skirmish would break out in their ranks just from two spiritual creatures accidentally brushing up against one another.


    The oppressive atmosphere and tension of the group were only heightened by the knowledge that they were likely being watched by being far more powerful than them, that they could not sense.


    Every brush of wind, every snap of a twig would cause someone in the group to flinch or launch an attack against an imaginary threat��which in turn only increased the number of fights breaking out when some errant attacks hit allied spiritual creatures.


    It took quite a lot of effort for their new leader Caelum to get everyone in line and calmed down.


    The oppressive atmosphere inside the boundary seemed to amplify the unease of the group. Even Kain, who usually found curiosity overshadowing fear, felt a gnawing sensation in the back of his mind that they were being watched.


    The forest around them was eerily silent. No birdsong, no rustling leaves from scurrying animals��just the rhythmic crunch of boots on the ground and the occasional snort of irritation from a spiritual creature. Every so often, Kain noticed shadows flitting through the trees, their forms too indistinct to make out clearly.


    "We''re nearing the village," Caelum announced, his voice low but carrying an edge of tension. "Stay together. Do not wander off under any circumstances."


    The group murmured their acknowledgment, their formation tightening as they continued forward. After another hour of cautious travel, the forest opened up into a clearing, and the village came into view.


    Unlike the doomsday scenes that they''d anticipated, the village looked completely untouched.


    The houses, built in the distinctive Elorian style of blending seamlessly with nature, stood perfectly intact. Vines wound up the walls, flowers bloomed in window boxes, and soft green light from hanging lanterns still illuminated the area.


    But it was empty.


    The group hesitated at the edge of the clearing, their gazes sweeping over the village. There were no signs of destruction and no damage to the buildings or the surrounding forest.


    Caelum motioned for them to spread out in small groups. "Search every building. Look for any signs of where they might have gone. Be thorough."


    Kain joined a group of four other Pathfinders and cautiously approached one of the larger homes near the center of the village. Pushing open the wooden door, he was hit with the faint scent of burnt food. Inside, the house was neat and orderly, as though the occupants had only just left.


    The dining table was set for a meal, with plates of food still sitting in place. However, the food was now cold and shrivelled, some of it burned to a crisp, suggesting it had been left on the stove for far too long. A pot of stew had boiled dry, its bottom charred black.


    They moved to another house and found a similar scene. A half-mended garment lay abandoned on a chair, the needle still half-inserted. A child''s toy rested in the middle of the floor, its owner nowhere to be found. Find exclusive stories on empire


    The pattern repeated in every home they searched. Half-finished tasks, meals left uneaten, tools dropped mid-use. But there was no blood, no signs of a struggle, and no tracks indicating that they''d walked away from here at all.


    It was as though the villagers had simply... vanished.

 Chapter 397 Suicide Mission?

    your next chapter is on empireby the time they regrouped in the village square, the unease among the group was palpable. the other teams had found similar scenes��intact homes, abandoned belongings, and no sign of the villagers.


    caelum stood in the center, his expression grim as he addressed the group. "there''s no sign of violence, which means there''s still a chance the villagers are alive."


    the group remained silent, but despite the creepy ghost town, their faces were a little more optimistic now than an hour ago. after all, while there were undeniably powerful creatures in this boundary, perhaps they weren''t hostile and prone to killing��one can hope, right?


    before caelum could continue, a massive shadow passed over the square, blotting out the sunlight for a brief moment. the temperature seemed to drop instantly, and a crushing aura descended on the area.


    every spiritual creature present froze in place, their eyes wide with terror. one by one, they prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling violently.


    even cassian''s contract��a pure-blooded dream dragon��lowered its head, an action that sent a wave of shock through the crown prince. pure-blooded dragons, even when faced with stronger beings, rarely showed submission, let alone fear.


    "what... was that?" kain muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.


    cassian, standing rigid, his normally confident expression turned solemn, broke the silence. "they''re definitely dragons," he said, his voice tinged with both awe and determination. "and their bloodline is unimaginably pure." sea??h th�� ��ovelfire.��et website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    however, while most of the group was consumed by unease due to his statement, cassian could barely conceal the ecstasy filling his heart.


    as a member of the royal family, cassian was born with an affinity for dragons. moreover, unlike many of his royal peers, he is so greatly valued by the royal family because of how broad his affinity is. there are very few dragons that he can''t contract.


    during the national tournament though, despite being a 6-star beast tamer, cassian had only revealed four contracts. however, this wasn''t because finding dragons he could contract with was so difficult. rather, it was because as the top talent of his generation and the crown prince, his standards were sky-high. even while exercising all of the resources of the royal family, he''d only managed to find 4 that met his exacting standards. therefore, he still possessed two open contract positions��perhaps he could fill one or even both of them on this trip.


    "this is it," cassian muttered under his breath. "the purity of their bloodline... if i can contract even one of them..."


    his words trailed off, but the fire in his eyes spoke volumes.


    caelum raised a hand, bringing the group back to focus. "don''t forget why we are here. that thing is likely headed to exactly where we need to go. we must follow it."


    the suggestion stunned everyone into silence��except for cassian who immediately expressed his support��and sent ripples of unease through the group.


    "follow it?" one pathfinder echoed incredulously, breaking the stunned silence. "that thing could kill us all with a look!"


    several murmurs of agreement followed, and the tension among the group grew palpable. after all, as members of the order, they were far from timid and would frequently fight beings stronger than them. but when the strength difference was too big, any struggle they''d put up would be meaningless. and while many here weren''t afraid of death, they also didn''t want to die pointlessly.


    caelum, unfazed, turned to address the rising concerns. his voice was calm but carried an edge of authority. "think about it. if that dragon wanted us dead, we wouldn''t be standing here now discussing it. it knew we were here��the difference in strength is too vast for it not to have noticed us. yet, it didn''t attack."


    the murmurs quieted, though the unease didn''t dissipate entirely.


    "but what if it''s leading us into a trap?" someone else argued.


    "or what if it kills us for daring to track it down?"


    caelum crossed his arms, his sharp gaze sweeping over the group. "possible, but unlikely. after all, the difference in strength is too great for it to bother using petty tricks to kill us. and with its strength, it could have hidden its presence entirely. the fact that it allowed us to sense it��and even left such a blatant trail��means it likely wants us to follow."


    kain frowned, his mind racing. caelum''s logic was sound, but the idea of walking into the unknown, especially with beings as overwhelmingly powerful as these dragons, was unsettling.


    cassian, however, looked incredibly eager, his gaze fixed on the horizon where the shadow had disappeared. "if it''s leading us back to the colony, then this is our best chance. we were sent here to make contact and retrieve the villagers. this is the fastest way to achieve both objectives."


    many couldn''t help but glance at him sideways, noting the subtle excitement in cassian''s expression and guessing at his ulterior motive.


    caelum nodded "then we''re all in agreement."


    many, including kain, shook their heads��they most definitely were not��but caelum ignored their silent protests.


    "we will set off immediately before we lose track of it. it likely isn''t travelling at its full speed so that it can be tracked by us, but this doesn''t mean we can lower our guard. the colony likely has many dragons just as strong, if not stronger, than the one we sensed, and there is no guarantee that they will all welcome our presence. one wrong move and this mission turns into a suicide run. no one is to act without my explicit orders. do i make myself clear?" caelum finished, making a point to glance purposefully at prince cassian.


    a tense silence followed before the group reluctantly nodded.


    "good," caelum said, his tone firm. "form up and move cautiously. watch your surroundings and keep your spiritual creatures in check. we can''t afford any mistakes."


    the group tightened their formation, every member scanning the surroundings with heightened vigilance as they left the abandoned village.


    however, with each step forward, kain couldn''t resist the feeling that they were willingly walking straight into the giant gaping jaws of a terrifying dragon.

 Chapter 398 Coloured Dragons

    the group tried to move as swiftly as possible so as not to lose the dragon''s trail. however, they didn''t need to put much effort in when tracking the dragon.the ground bore slight scorch marks and massive footprints from where it would occasionally land, and the branches above were bent and snapped, clear evidence that it had passed through the area.


    the trail wound through increasingly treacherous terrain, the once dense and orderly forest giving way to rocky hills and uneven ground. massive roots jutted out from the soil like claws, creating natural obstacles that slowed their pace.


    every so often, the dragon would appear far in the distance, its massive shadow briefly visible through gaps in the canopy before it disappeared again. these occasional glimpses confirmed they were on the right track.


    the dragon would stop and rest, allowing the group time to close the distance before it took flight again. at first, this reassured them��after all, a being of its strength had no need to rest so often unless it wanted them to catch up.


    but as the pattern repeated, unease crept back into their ranks.


    moreover, as they got further and further away from the heart of elowen haven to a territory that may be considered no-mans-land, their travelling conditions only got harsher.


    steep inclines on cliffs forcing them to scramble over loose stones and narrow passes where a single misstep could send them tumbling into ravines.


    finally, after what felt like days of travel, the group reached the base of a towering mountain range. s~ea??h the n?vel_fire.��et website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    their jagged peaks stretched so high they disappeared into the clouds, their sheer cliffs glistening with veins of silver and gold that reflected the sunlight and gave the mountains an otherworldly glow.


    the dragon flew high above them and disappeared into the clouds, leaving the group staring in silence.


    "is this... where the nest is?" someone whispered, their voice barely audible over the harsh wind coming in from the mountain range.


    "this has to be the nest," caelum said, breaking the silence. his voice was steady, but the weight of the situation was clear in his tone. "the question now is how we''re going to reach it."


    climbing the smooth and shiny cliffs seemed impossible without extensive preparation. the peaks were jagged and treacherous, and the higher they went, the more oppressive the aura of the dragons, which would negatively impact their contracts.


    "we could try flying," suggested a pathfinder hesitantly, their voice uncertain. "some of us have contracts that can manage it..."


    kain frowned, glancing at his vespid guards. they could carry him, but something told him that it wouldn''t be wise to fly unannounced into a dragon''s territory.


    caelum shook his head. "flying is risky. if the dragons consider it an intrusion, they won''t hesitate to attack. and given their strength..." he trailed off, the implication clear.


    the group fell silent, their options were limited and none seemed particularly safe.


    before the debate could continue, a powerful gust of wind rushed through the valley, followed by the sound of massive wings beating against the air.


    a shadow loomed over them, larger and more oppressive than before. a second dragon descended from the clouds, its red scales gleaming like molten metal in the sunlight. it landed with a resounding thud that shook the ground beneath their feet.


    the dragon was enormous, easily five times the size of cassian''s largest dragon contract. its golden eyes scanned them with a predatory intelligence, and the aura it exuded was suffocating.


    the spiritual creatures in the group once again prostrated themselves in submission, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. even cassian''s dream dragon, though clearly struggling, bowed its head slightly.


    looking at the trembling spiritual creatures and humans, a clear expression of smugness mixed with disdain flashed across its reptilian face.


    given that its strength seemed even stronger than the last one, kain was willing to bet that it was at least violet-grade, the equivalent of an 8-star beast-tamer.


    the dragon''s deep, resonant voice broke the silence, reverberating through the valley like thunder. "you have entered the territory of the colored dragons."


    the group froze, their breaths caught in their throats.


    "i am here to escort you to the nest," the dragon continued, its golden eyes narrowing. "with my guidance, you are permitted to fly. without it, any attempt to take to the skies will be met with... death."


    a ripple of relief passed through the group, though it was tinged with lingering anxiety.


    ''thank the stars we didn''t just start flying after the first dragon,'' many thought after hearing of the death sentence such an action would bring down on them.


    "prepare yourselves," the dragon commanded, spreading its massive wings. "we leave now."


    the group hurried to mount their flying contracts or clamber onto the mounts of those who had them.


    kain motioned to his vespid guards, who hovered around him obediently. five of them latched onto him and four other members without flying contracts, each guard was now far larger than an adult human male and could carry the load without issue.


    serena, meanwhile, summoned her elemental guardian, which had taken its wind sprite form. the ethereal figure grasped her hand, lifting her gracefully into the air.


    once everyone was airborne, the dragon let out a deep, echoing roar and launched itself into the sky. the group followed cautiously, their flying formations tight as they ascended toward the mountains. stay connected via empire


    the higher they flew, the more breathtaking��and intimidating��the landscape became. the peaks of the mountains shimmered with what looked like solid gold.


    cave openings dotted the mountainsides, and surrounding each cave opening, interestingly, it looked like the cave owner embedded a variety of glittering gemstones.


    the higher the cave, the more golden the mountain peak, the more gems surrounded the cave opening, and the stronger the pressure that emanated from its occupant.


    looking at the golden and bedazzled homes of the dragons and remembering the introductory statement of their current dragon guide, kain was reminded of the legends of dragons back on earth. particularly, those talking about the greedy and somewhat evil nature of a certain 5-coloured dragon clan��

 Chapter 399 Coloured Dragons (2)

    as the group ascended higher into the dragon''s mountainous domain, the oppressive aura of the dragons seemed to grow thicker with every passing moment. yet, as they flew, the air around them stirred, and a new commotion arose.from the distant cliffs and hidden caves, smaller dragons emerged. they ranged from the size of large horses to small houses, their scales gleaming in vibrant hues of red, black, green, blue, or white and the voices emitted from them sounded child-like.


    "young dragons," someone muttered.


    the smaller dragons, clearly much younger compared to the massive adults, flew out in chaotic patterns, their curiosity piqued by the unusual sight of humans and unfamiliar spiritual creatures flying in their skies.


    the young dragons began to approach the group, their glowing eyes filled with a mix of mischief and curiosity.


    one bold red dragon swooped closer, its wings stirring the air as it circled the humans like a predator sizing up its prey.


    considering that all of them were weaker than their group, kain could only say that they were very bold to consider the blue-grade spiritual creatures in the group as prey. or should kain say it''s fitting of the notoriously arrogant dragon clan��


    "they''re green-grade... maybe some are yellow-grade," cassian murmured, his sharp gaze sweeping over the rowdy crowd of young dragons.


    the young dragons didn''t seem particularly disciplined. when two of them accidentally bumped into each other, a fierce scuffle immediately broke out, claws slashing and tails whipping wildly in the air. the scuffle ended just as quickly as it began, with the defeated dragon slinking away sulkily.


    kain''s vespid guards trembled slightly, their buzzing wings faltering whenever one of the young dragons came too close, afraid of a fight breaking out.


    similarly, the majority of people''s contracts put in extra effort to avoid even grazing these hot-tempered children.


    meanwhile, cassian''s gaze was locked onto the young dragons with an intensity that could melt iron. his eyes gleamed with an almost hungry light as he examined each dragon, clearly assessing their potential.


    one perceptive blue dragon, its scales shimmering like a clear summer sky, noticed the fiery gaze directed its way. its flight wavered for a moment, and it flew slightly farther away from cassian, muttering in a low, panicked voice, "this lord blue dragon is so beautiful... that human couldn''t possibly be having strange, dirty thoughts about lord blue dragon, right?!"


    the other dragons ignored their panicked companion, too engrossed in their squabbles or too fixated on the humans to notice its plight.


    their red-scaled guide, soaring ahead of the group, cast a glance back at the rowdy juveniles but made no move to intervene. it had long grown accustomed to their antics��this was how all young 5-coloured dragons were. even many of the adults weren''t much better��


    after what felt like an eternity, the guide veered sharply upward, heading toward the tallest peak of the mountain range. the juvenile dragons, sensing the change in direction, immediately straightened their flight patterns, their unruly behaviour more subdued.


    kain assumed based on the appearance of this tallest peak and the more restrained behaviour of the dragon children, that this was likely the home of their leader.


    as they neared the peak, and the clouds covering it cleared, the impressive features of the leader''s cave became more apparent.


    the mountain''s peak shimmered with solid polished gold. s��ar?h the n?vel_fire.��et website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the entrance to the nest was a massive, arched tunnel carved into the gold-covered mountain. the walls of the tunnel were studded with gemstones of every size and colour, their brilliance casting kaleidoscopic patterns across the interior.


    the juvenile dragons gazed longingly at the gemstones, their eyes going hazy with envy and greed.


    one bold white dragon, unable to resist temptation, tried to discreetly use its claws to pry a large purple gemstone from the corner of the tunnel wall.


    another smaller red dragon, thinking itself unnoticed, hid behind the group and began gnawing on a bright yellow gemstone embedded near the ground.


    "hmph!"


    before anyone could react, a loud, domineering sound echoed through the tunnel.


    the sound carried such immense pressure that it felt like a physical force, slamming into the group and their spiritual creatures. every person and spiritual creature, including the young dragons, collapsed to the ground in a trembling heap.


    even their red-scaled guide, though managing to stay upright, had its legs visibly shaking under the oppressive weight of the sound.


    the pressure receded as quickly as it had come, leaving the group gasping for breath as they climbed to their feet.


    the juvenile dragons, clearly chastised, abandoned all thoughts of stealing the gemstones. they followed the group in a much more subdued and obedient manner.


    the group continued deeper into the tunnel, the walls becoming more intricately decorated with gems the further they went. the shimmering light cast by the stones illuminated their path, creating an otherworldly atmosphere.


    honestly, kain found the overuse of the jewels to be gaudy, but based on the glittering eyes of all of the dragons, this was clearly to their taste.


    finally, at the tunnel''s end, a massive figure perched on a massive hill of gold, jewels, and other treasures came into view.


    the young dragons stared at their leader perched on the pile of treasures in awe.


    this is how a dragon should be! not discretely hiding away their small collection of jewels and gold from their greedy parents who would confiscate it in the name of ''taking care'' or ''guarding'' it for them.


    a real dragon must have a mountain of treasures to sleep and lounge on! a real dragon must be so domineering and rich that they could decorate every inch inside and outside of their cave with jewels to show off, but nobody would dare to steal them!


    the eyes gazing at their leader became hot and misty as they set him as their future goal.


    sensing the shift in their gaze, the leader slightly puffed out his chest and stayed on top of the pile for almost a solid minute longer than he''d intended, wanting to imprint his majestic image into their young minds.


    eventually, feeling as though he''d postured enough, the massive red dragon, even larger than their guide, dismounted from his glittering "throne."


    his scales gleamed like molten lava and his golden eyes seemed to burn into each of their souls as he scanned them all.


    the pressure he exuded was suffocating, far beyond anything they had felt from their guide.


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    "i am the red dragon king," he announced, his deep voice reverberating through the tunnel. "we have been waiting for you, humans."

 Chapter 400 News of Rescue

    after a brief and terrifying introduction, the red dragon king directed the one who had escorted them, who kain had learned was called errol, to bring them to what was called the "village."the only exception was caelum who, as the appointed leader of our group, was asked to stay behind.


    kain assumed that there must have been some kind of communication between the order and this group of dragons in the past, and "rescuing the elorians" may have just been a fa?ade set up in order for the two groups to communicate covertly.


    however, these secret dealings had nothing to do with kain, and likely only caelum within their group had some more information.


    at almost the exact moment they arrived at what looked like a recently built quaint village on a flat expanse of land halfway up another mountain, a loud bell rang out that could be heard throughout the mountain range.


    at the moment this ringing began, the originally quiet village became a bustle of activity as dozens of individuals with light green hair, green eyes, and slightly pointed ears, came out of their temporary dwellings��the missing elorians. s��ar?h the novel?ire(.)ne*t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    they appeared intact and uninjured, but incredibly exhausted.


    in an almost habitual manner, the elorians silently split into groups to accomplish their tasks for their "lord dragons."


    many began to season and prepare meat that was then put over a barbecue spit. once cooked, the massive pile of meat was then placed into a cart and brought to who, kain assumed, were the various caves of each dragon.


    considering that elorians are notoriously vegetarian and can''t stomach the thought of killing for food and eating meat, kain could only imagine what kind of anguishing mental conditioning the dragons had performed to get them so "well trained."


    another group of elorians held massive brushes and occasionally a passing dragon would land to get its scales brushed and cleaned��ensuring that even the smallest of rocks or debris that was caught under their scales was removed.


    kain couldn''t help but think back to the dream sirens cassian''s dream dragon had summoned during the national tournament.


    while many species of dragons are solitary, the majority of wild dragons do have a habit of gathering "servants."


    some creatures such as kobolds or dream sirens will instinctively follow and worship dragons, thinking it an honor to even be in their presence.


    however, in the absence of such creatures, it is not unheard of for dragons to forcibly kidnap intelligent creatures to serve them��which is likely the current predicament of the elorian villagers.


    the villagers moved with mechanical precision, their faces gaunt and eyes dull, as though their spirits had been crushed under their new status as slaves.


    even as the group of humans arrived��an event that should have sparked some emotion, or at least curiosity��there was no reaction.


    the villagers continued with their tasks, whether tending to enormous spits roasting meat, scrubbing debris from the scales of lounging dragons, or organizing supplies that likely catered to the dragons'' whims.


    a few of the order members stepped forward, trying to engage with the villagers. "we''re here to help!" one called out in imperial common, the common tongue spoken within the celestial empire.


    the nearest villager, a middle-aged woman with green hair tied back in a messy braid, looked at them with a flicker of fear before quickly turning away, pretending not to have heard.


    "they don''t understand us," serena noted, brows scrunched. her education as a child had been extensive, but her knowledge of elorian was incredibly limited.


    kain frowned, stepping forward to observe the interaction. "this is similar to elvish," he murmured, catching snippets of their hushed conversations.


    based on the elvish he knew��largely thanks to elera��he could tell it was heavily rooted in ancient elvish.


    "let me try," kain said, stepping closer to the woman.


    switching to ancient elvish, he spoke carefully. "*we are not enemies. we came to help you return home.*"


    the woman froze, her body going rigid at the sound of the slightly familiar language being spoken by a human. slowly, she turned her head, her wary green eyes locking onto kain. "*you... help?*" she said haltingly, her voice trembling with both suspicion and a faint glimmer of hope.


    "*yes,*" kain replied, nodding exaggeratively to make sure his point got across. "*we are from the celestial empire. the queen of elowen haven sent us to find you and bring you back.*"


    her eyes widened, and she seemed to struggle to process his words. behind her, other villagers began to notice the interaction, their tasks slowing as they cautiously drew closer.


    "*home?*" the woman whispered, the word catching in her throat.


    "*yes, home. we can take you away from here,*" kain assured her.


    the villagers exchanged whispers, their voices growing louder as the news spread. tears began streaming down the faces of some, and others dropped whatever they were holding, overwhelmed by the possibility of freedom.


    "*is it true? you will take us home?*" a young man asked, stepping forward.


    "yes," kain affirmed, meeting his gaze.


    the mood shifted rapidly at the confirmation from kain. cheers and sobs broke out among the villagers, their long-suppressed emotions bursting forth like a dam breaking. for the first time since they arrived, the air felt alive with hope and anticipation.


    but the jubilation was short-lived.


    a nearby black dragon, its scales gleaming like obsidian, turned its head sharply at the noise and gave out a loud roar. it had been enjoying the attention of a group of villagers brushing its massive body. the feeling was so comfortable it was about to fall asleep. but suddenly the loud exclamations coming from these servants woke it up! find adventures on empire


    the villagers immediately fell silent, their joyous expressions vanishing as though wiped away. they scrambled back to their tasks, their movements frantic and fearful.


    the black dragon snorted in satisfaction before settling back down, eyes closing in relaxation as the brushing resumed.


    though the villagers had returned to their tasks, their earlier despair was gone. there was a new light in their eyes��a spark of hope that hadn''t been there before.

 Chapter 401 New Contracts?

    kain and the others lived in the temporary village created by the elorians while they all went about their own business.caelum had already negotiated the release of the elorians with the dragons. however, they absolutely refused to be without servants for a day, and so "suitable replacements" had been promised to the dragons to take the place of the elorians.


    whatever other agreements were settled between caelum and the red dragon king on behalf of the empire were not the business of kain and the others. caelum, under a dragon escort, flew back to the borders of what the dragons considered their territory to deliver the demands of the dragons back to the order and the elorian queen.


    however, in the meantime, kain and the others were to remain behind. nominally, it was to ensure the safety of the villagers, most of whom were unawakened and had no combat power.


    however, realistically, if the dragons wished to kill all of the villagers, there was not much that they could do.


    in actuality, the members of the order took the opportunity of being the dragon''s territory to accomplish some of their own personal goals. and as long as they didn''t go to certain restricted areas, they were free to move about.


    some chose to help the elorians complete their tasks, feeling pity for the elderly individuals slaving over a fire to barbecue meet, scrub scales, or complete a variety of other tasks.


    some, like cassian, wanted to take this time to see if they could kidnap back a young dragon as their spiritual creature. s��ar?h the n??efire.��et website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    kain on the other hand, already knew based on his affinity that a dragon contract was not in the cards for him.


    cassian, however, was pulling out all of the stops in order to seduce a young dragon back home.


    approaching a group of young dragons, he began his attempts at wooing them.


    "i must admit, staying here has only reconfirmed the rumours i''ve heard about the great coloured dragon clan."


    the young dragons exchanged glances, some preening slightly under the praise.


    "but it''s such a shame��" cassian trailed off sadly, while the dragons glanced at one another in confusion at the sudden shift in tone.


    "it''s such a shame that such great dragons don''t have nearly as much wealth as one would expect."


    some of the dragons looked slightly offended by his statement, while others, while unhappy, had no choice but to agree.


    but what could they do?! while living under the gaze of their parents, if any one of them could hoard more than a handful of treasure, it would be considered an impressive feat.


    their shameless parents would even steal from their own children to add to their own bed of jewels, and they, as young dragon lords, were left to sleep only on the bare cave ground!


    but still��who was this human to poke at their sore spots!


    "what do you know?!" a hot-tempered blue dragon called out.


    "i''m cassian lysander," he said, his tone carrying the weight of someone used to commanding attention. "crown prince of the celestial empire."


    the young dragons perked up slightly at the title. even among dragons, the concept of royalty carried an air of intrigue and respect.


    "in my homeland, i am fortunate enough to have access to treasures beyond your imagination. vaults filled with gemstones that shine brighter than the sun, enough gold to fill all of the rivers surrounding this mountain range, and ancient enchanted items with powerful abilities."


    a few of the dragons perked up at this, their eyes glinting with interest. treasure had an undeniable allure to them.


    "my contracts��dragons just like you��live lives of unimaginable luxury," cassian continued, his voice steady and sure. "their lairs are filled with treasures beyond your wildest dreams. each one of them probably has more gold and jewels than all of your parents combined!"


    the dream dragon standing behind him tilted his head in confusion. ''i do? why don''t i know this?''


    likely sensing the gaze from his contract cassian hurriedly transmitted a thought to remain quiet.


    "they have access to the rarest resources, the finest meals, and the most secure and well-guarded lairs. my family ensures that every dragon in our service has everything they could ever want. practically the resources and wealth of an entire country is at their disposal."


    a young red dragon shifted closer, its sharp eyes gleaming with interest.


    cassian''s smirk widened as he noticed their reactions. "of course, i don''t form contracts lightly. only the strongest and most exceptional dragons can stand by my side. but if any of you think you''ve got what it takes, i might consider forming a contract with you."


    the young dragons exchanged glances, their curiosity piqued despite their lingering skepticism.


    kain watched the scene from a distance, bemused. "truly only dragons could probably be lured using this method?" he muttered to serena, who stood beside him.


    however, they didn''t stay to watch the spectacle for long.


    kain and serena had just finished assisting an elderly elorian woman with brushing a large green dragon''s teeth��a task neither of them had ever imagined doing in their lifetimes.


    upon the completion of their task, serena had made a suggestion:


    "territories with a high concentration of dragons tend to produce rare spiritual plants. their aura acts as a catalyst for their growth. we could find some valuable materials down there." she said while gesturing to the lush forest below the mountains. since joining the starchasers she''''d definitely become more knowledgeable about the environments likely to give birth to rare resources.


    "what kind of plants?" kain asked, his curiosity piqued.


    "things like dragon vein orchids, ember lilies, and dragon dew vines," serena said. "any of those could fetch a fortune in credits. it''s worth looking."


    and so, as agreed, the two of them ventured into the forest, searching near streams and shaded groves where such plants were likely to grow.


    with serena''s knowledge on where to find these rare plants, and the ability of bea to read the minds of the spiritual creatures native to the area, they quickly got a substantial harvest.


    as they neared a clearing, however, the sound of giggling and scuffling reached their ears.


    kain and serena froze, exchanging a confused glance. moreover, kain felt a familiar pull from his affinity in the direction of the childlike giggles. whether out of curiosity at the presence of young children in the middle of nowhere, or a desire to find the source of this draw, kain headed in the direction of the noise without consulting serena.


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    pushing through the underbrush, they stepped into the clearing and found two young red dragons play-wrestling. the larger one pinned the smaller one to the ground with a triumphant growl.


    the smaller dragon squirmed free, huffing indignantly before they both noticed kain and serena.


    the larger dragon tilted its head curiously, its gaze flicking between the two humans.


    however, the smaller dragon glared at kain with undisguised hostility and wariness.


    kain felt a familiar but surprising tug deep in his chest from his affinity��and it centered on the smaller dragon that was gazing at him with increasing hostility.

 Chapter 402 True Dragons

    the larger red dragon stood up straight, its posture exuding curiosity and slight arrogance.after all, although these humans that suddenly appeared were stronger than him, this was still his territory��or rather his father''s.


    its voice, though tinged with the gravelly timbre characteristic of dragons, still carried a childlike innocence.


    "humans?" the larger dragon asked, tilting its head slightly. its crimson scales glinted brilliantly as it looked at kain and serena.


    "yes," kain replied. "we''re part of the group that came to resc��ahem��assist the elorians."


    the larger dragon''s eyes lit up, interest clearly sparked. "assist the elorians? hmm... they''ve been quite useful to us. will you be joining them?"


    "uhh�� no. we plan to trade them for better servants for you all." kain quickly clarified, lest this horrifying idea that they wanted to join the elorians as slaves spread to the rest of the dragon colony.


    the smaller red dragon, meanwhile, bared its teeth slightly and stepped back to stand behind its larger counterpart. its hostility was palpable, and its golden eyes seemed to burn holes into kain specifically.


    kain couldn''t suppress the slight frown forming on his face. ''why is it so focused on me? is it the draw from the affinity? but shouldn''t creatures matching a beast-tamer''s affinity have a naturally more positive impression of them? did i do something to offend it?''


    kain addressed the larger dragon again, subtly ignoring the smaller one''s aggression. "might we know your name?"


    the larger dragon puffed up slightly, proud to introduce itself. "i am galadriel admonai von vulcunthimmorhar, son of the red dragon king, vulcun."


    kain had learned during his stay with the dragons that true dragon names are very long (and hard to pronounce) and often denoted their lineage. for example, their guide errol''s full name is erroldhein admonai haurkrecagakk. s��arch* the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "ahhhh�� prince galadriel. we''ve heard so much about you��"


    ''not at all.''


    galadriel beamed under the praise and puffed out its chest, its tail swinging in happiness behind it.


    "of course, i am the young genius who will even surpass my father one day!" he gestured to himself with a flourish before turning to the smaller dragon. "this is vauleth. he''s... my younger brother. unofficially though."


    vauleth''s glare intensified, but he remained silent, his tail lashing behind him as if he were ready to strike at any moment.


    "vauleth doesn''t speak much," galadriel continued, glancing at the smaller dragon with a mix of fondness and exasperation. "but he''s clever. perhaps too clever for his own good sometimes."


    kain''s curiosity deepened. "it''s impressive that you''re able to speak so fluently at such a young age. most spiritual creatures can''t speak until they''re much stronger."


    all of kain''s contracts were stronger than galadriel, but only aegis could occasionally form a short sentence out loud.


    most spiritual creatures needed to be at least blue-grade, or even indigo-grade to speak human languages aloud.


    however, kain noticed that all of the young dragon''s they''d come across��including the recent hatchlings that were only white or red-grade��could still speak to some extent.


    galadriel raised its head proudly. "that''s because we are true dragons. the moment we hatch, our bloodline inheritance gives us knowledge, language, and a name from our ancestors��but only for us true dragons. not those defective products from marking-less egg."


    serena''s gaze sharpened with interest. "bloodline inheritance? does that mean every true dragon is born with knowledge of its lineage and culture?"


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    "precisely," galadriel said with a satisfied nod. "follow me." it said before scampering off without stopping to see if they''d follow. with one last glare at kain, vauleth followed, and after a quick glance at one another, so did kain and serena.


    eventually, they stopped underneath a tree that had a green egg hidden in the underbrush. the egg''s shell was composed of what looked like emerald-toned dragon scales.


    "this is a defective egg. usually, our eggs are marked with the sigils of a true dragon. these markings carry the memories of our ancestors, so when we hatch, we already know who we are. and we are born with combat capabilities far exceeding the creatures at the same level."


    kain frowned thoughtfully. "and if an egg doesn''t have markings?"


    galadriel''s expression darkened slightly, and its voice lost some of its playfulness. "an egg without markings is defective. no inheritance, no name, no future as a true dragon. they''re cast out to fend for themselves and not acknowledged as members of the same race. their intelligence is far inferior, no different from a wild animal. most of the sub-dragon species that exist like drakes or wyverns are actually descendants from these defective dragons. of course, though, their strength is not as strong as a true dragon''s due to the lack of inheritance but they still possess the valuable bloodline of true dragons, so most will be hunted down and not survive until adulthood��" it trailed off, its gaze briefly flicking toward vauleth.


    "but sometimes eggs that could hatch a true dragon are discarded by mistake. sometimes an originally unmarked egg will have markings appear shortly before hatching. although dragons born from such eggs are usually a little smaller and weaker physically, they are still true dragons. vauleth is one such case. thankfully, he made his way back to the mountain range, with the knowledge from his bloodline inheritance. unfortunately, we couldn''t trace his lineage based on his true name or his parents, so i''ve taken him under my wing. us true dragons have got to stick together." galadriel said while giving vauleth a hard pat on the back with his front paw.


    vauleth shot kain another glare, his golden eyes had been watching kain''s expression throughout the whole conversation. and as kain and galadriel continued to converse, the hostility in his eyes only grew stronger, along with what looked like��fear?


    "fascinating," kain murmured, his voice soft enough that only serena caught it.


    she glanced at him, her expression unreadable but clearly aware of the strange tension between him and the smaller dragon.

 Chapter 403 Vauleth

    "vauleth" doesn''t have many early memories.he only recalls living in a haze, drifting in the wind. sometimes it felt as though he''d become an extremely small ant and live its life serving its queen.


    then there were the many years he''d spent in a daze as a towering tree.


    unfortunately, none of his ''past lives'' had been as particularly intelligent or powerful creatures, and so he barely had any consciousness or self-awareness.


    that is until one day as a dying (the memories were hazy��) mayfly (?) his weakening body landed on a cool round and white object. it was an egg composed of what looked like white scales.


    until then, all of the creatures that vauleth had become were ordinary animals or plants. since he needed to consume and take the genes of the creature he infects into himself to form his own body based on these genes, he wouldn''t be able to overpower a dragon to do so��even a defective unborn one.


    thankfully, the white dragon that was originally within this egg was on the verge of death and was never going to hatch.


    therefore, although it took many years, the dragon within the egg was eventually replaced by another smaller white ''dragon'' created using the genes stolen by vauleth from the original.


    however, for some reason, the dragon marks that had long been absent on the surface of the egg, took the moment when vauleth had completely taken over to appear.


    at that moment, the dormant genes in the dragon bloodline that vauleth had spliced up and incorporated into himself seemed to undergo a shift and a large influx of information was transmitted into his unborn mind.


    with the newfound strength and knowledge from this change, vauleth managed to break free from the egg and at the moment of its hatching�� "agrellatheg albinai thlaaklauthimir"


    that was the name that instinctively appeared in his mind. or rather her mind. in this first iteration as a dragon, he was a she. a female white dragon named agrellatheg or agrella.


    based on the hazy memories present in the bloodline, she''d fumblingly made her way back to the dragon''s ridge.


    although the dragons in the ridge had been surprised by the sudden new young dragon, upon her uttering her true name, they acknowledged her as a true dragon and accepted her into their fold.


    they all understood that this was likely a hatchling from an abandoned defective egg that had developed its bloodline markings after being discarded in the wild.


    although, whether it was due to the marking appearing late, or due to "agrella" not truly being a dragon, a lot of information seemed to be missing from its bloodline inheritance.


    therefore, aside from being smaller and weaker than the average true dragon, agrella was also much dumber.


    perhaps she should be thankful that the first dragon she''d turned into was a white dragon, which already had a reputation as the weakest and dumbest of the coloured dragons. therefore, although this was agrella/vauleth''s first time as an intelligent creature and she/he lacked a lot of common sense��none of the other dragons dug too much into it.


    white dragons are already known to be weak and stupid, this white dragon just happens to be more weak and dumb than average. but no matter how inferior agrella was to the average dragon, she was still considered a true dragon and superior to those defects without a bloodline inheritance and was allowed to stay in the colony.


    however, coloured dragons were not known for being kind. as the weakest of their kind, agrella was the punching bag for all the other young dragons.


    however, even the weakest bullied dragon, was still a much better life than its previous lives as short-lived ordinary insects or plants.


    unfortunately, the longer agrella lived, the more subtle differences began to appear from the normal aging of a dragon.


    for one, agrella seemed to reach adulthood quicker than the average dragon.


    upon reaching adulthood she also wasn''t able to reach blue-grade like the average dragon.


    finally, agrella didn''t go through the same "maturation" changes as other adult dragons that would��ahem��allow for reproduction.


    after having to dodge the concerned examination of the elders in the clan, agrella decided to simply disappear one day.


    eventually, agrella disappeared from all of their minds. after all, she wasn''t closely related to any of them and there were hundreds of young dragons in the clan to take care of.


    years later a slightly dumb and smaller-than-average male black dragon that must have hatched from an abandoned egg returned to the clan. unfortunately, this slightly dumb dragon seemed to have died or gotten lost when going hunting one day.


    a few years later, a smaller-than-average female blue dragon from an abandoned egg entered the clan. but this time his intelligence was comparable to its kin��if anything he could even be considered a little clever.


    finally, most recently, a clever little red dragon had appeared at the base of the mountain range named "vaulethaerha admonai cauridillec."


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    he had managed to find an abandoned egg from the red dragon clan��the strongest of the coloured dragons.


    even with his inherent limitations that allowed him to have only 70% of the full strength of a same-aged red dragon, he was still stronger than most coloured dragons.


    he was stronger than the physically weak and dumb white dragons his age. their icy dragon''s breath was completely incapable of penetrating his ruby scales.


    the cunning blue dragons more known for their elemental control over the lightning attribute, were also no threat to him. all their cunning tricks had no role in front of absolute strength.


    the poisonous green gas sprayed from the highly deceptive green dragons only made him a little dizzy, but it didn''t have too much of an impact.


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    only other red dragons, and the most cruel and sadistic of the coloured, the black dragons, who were comparable to red dragons in strength and only slightly weaker in their magic abilities, could pose a threat to him with their corrosive acid breath.


    moreover, he''d even managed to befriend the sole heir of the red dragon king, allowing him to act unbridled within the clan with the young prince as his backing.


    but now, all of his efforts to gain a foothold within the dragon clan and the life of ''infinite reincarnation'' he''d gotten accustomed to, may end up imploding due to this human that he could instinctively sense was a threat to the exposure of his true identity.

 Chapter 404 Luring Attempts Begin

    back in modern times, galadriel took on the role of a guide with gusto, pointing out the most beautiful and majestic parts of the dragons'' massive territory.the prince explained the significance of certain landmarks, the history of the dragon clan, and the shiny mineral resources that the dragons, mostly its father, had access to mine.


    vauleth, however, followed begrudgingly, his irritation palpable.


    kain, intrigued by the connection between them, kept trying to engage vauleth in conversation.


    "wow vauleth!" kain said casually, brushing aside a branch as they climbed a rocky incline, "for someone your size, you''re surprisingly nimble." sea??h th�� ��ovelfire.��et website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    vauleth shot him a withering glare. "flattery won''t make me like you, human," he snapped.


    "who said i was trying to make you like me?" kain grinned, unfazed by the frosty reception. after all, it''s harder to hit a smiling face. "i''m just pointing out facts."


    "stop talking to me."


    despite the constant rebuffs, kain wasn''t discouraged. in fact, the hostility only piqued his interest further. vauleth''s behavior, combined with the strange resonance he felt through his affinity, made him more certain there was more to this dragon than met the eye.


    serena, meanwhile, remained composed, occasionally shooting kain a subtle warning glance when his persistence seemed to push vauleth to the brink of exploding. after all, they were still in the territory of the dragons and vauleth seemed to be greatly valued by the young prince of this territory. pissing either one of them off too much wouldn''t do them any good.


    as the day wore on, the group''s search bore fruit. serena, with her starchaser expertise, identified several rare spiritual plants growing under the dragons'' influence.


    dragon vein orchids and ember lilies were successfully found and harvested carefully.


    as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the mountains in hues of gold and crimson, galadriel stretched its wings and declared it was time to head back.


    "we''ll split up from here," galadriel announced, tone commanding, which is typical given the little heir''s status, but cheerful.


    in exchange for the information galadriel had provided, kain and serena had also shared a lot of interesting information about life in the empire and even let the dragons look at some of the videos of battles between beast-tamers on their phones.


    seeing all of the creatures that it could not have even imagined or come into contact with in the dragon''s territory, its eyes began to sparkle out of curiosity and longing for adventure.


    as they split, kain couldn''t resist glancing back at vauleth. the smaller red dragon avoided his gaze and seemed quite irritated by galadriel''s cheerful discussions about life outside of the dragon clan as they flew back home.


    ------------------------


    a few days passed without kain meeting galadriel or, more importantly, vauleth again. however, he remained constantly on guard for an opportunity to ambush��ahem�� bond with vauleth again.


    and eventually, one such opportunity presented itself. kain found himself venturing deeper into the forest alone, drawn by the faint tug of his affinity.


    when he entered a secluded clearing, he froze. standing in the center was vauleth, who seemed to be in the process of collecting some fireberries��tasty but not particularly valuable fruits that kain had learned previously that galadriel was fond of.


    the dragon turned, and his eyes narrowed the moment they landed on kain.


    "what are you doing here, human?" vauleth''s voice was sharp, but there was a flicker of unease behind his irritation.


    kain didn''t respond immediately. instead, he stepped closer, his gaze steady. "i was wondering when i''d run into you alone."


    vauleth tensed, his tail flicking in agitation. "leave. now."


    kain stopped a few paces away, arms crossed. "i could do that. but you see��i''ve been thinking, and something about you doesn''t seem quite right. perhaps when i leave from here my tongue will accidentally slip and bring it up to one of the other dragons..."


    the words hung in the air, and for a moment, there was only silence. then, vauleth''s lips curled into a snarl. "you don''t know anything."


    "maybe not," kain admitted, his tone calm. and indeed, although kain knew that vauleth wasn''t a normal red dragon based on his seemingly uncalled for hostility to him and the draw from his affinity, he had no idea whathe was.


    was he just the host to another microorganism and in a symbiotic relationship like eve and queen? or was he actually a microorganism that had managed to construct a body for itself like aegis?


    even the system couldn''t identify it beyond ''red dragon.'' and considering that the red dragon king seems to have not noticed that there was an imposter following his son around for years, it can only further confirm how amazing this creature''s disguise abilities were. and it only made kain more determined to contract him...


    vauleth let out a low growl, his claws digging into the earth. "whatever delusions you''ve cooked up in that human brain of yours, keep them to yourself. i am a red dragon. nothing more, nothing less."


    "then why are you so hostile to me?" kain countered, taking another step forward. "not to mention that i have no affinity for dragons but can contract you . you feel it too, don''t you? that pull? it''s not normal."


    "that ''pull'' is your death wish," vauleth hissed, but his voice wavered.


    kain tilted his head, studying the dragon. "you''re scared," he said, his voice softening. "not of me, but of what i might uncover. what are you so afraid of, vauleth?"


    for a moment, vauleth didn''t respond. his gaze darted to the ground, then back to kain. when he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost a whisper. "you don''t understand what you''re meddling with. leave me alone."


    ''fat chance of that happening. i''d thought my hopes of contracting a dragon were gone, but now it might be possible.''


    "what if i could help make you a true dragon? you may not know this but i am one of the most famous evolutionary planners and researchers in the empire"


    ''hey, if cassian can use his reputation to seduce a contract, why can''t i?''


    the words seemed to strike a nerve. vauleth''s eyes widened slightly before narrowing again, his defensive mask slipping back into place. find adventures on empire


    "i am a true dragon," he muttered, turning away.


    kain smiled faintly. "maybe you truly believe that. but if you don''t, and you''re tired of living under this constant fear of exposure, then you know where to find me."


    vauleth didn''t respond to his statement. instead, he spread his wings and took off, disappearing into the forest canopy, kain stood in the clearing watching him seemingly flee in a panic.


    he wasn''t discouraged. he had the patience and the faith that eventually vauleth would realize that his best option would be to leave with him.

 Chapter 405 Invaders?

    the days following kain''s encounter with vauleth were marked by a strange anticipation. though the little red dragon had fled their previous meeting, kain could tell his words had left an impression.kain and serena kept finding galadriel under the pretext of needing a skilled guide. well for serena it was the truth. but kain really just wanted to brush up his sense of existence in front of vauleth. maybe spending more time together would warm him up to kain!


    unfortunately, vauleth remained a storm cloud of irritation whenever kain was near. the smaller dragon trailed behind galadriel, occasionally adding snide remarks or grumbling under his breath whenever kain attempted to engage him in conversation.


    suddenly, a strong earthquake rocked the entire region and a loud dragon''s roar sounded from the dragon''s mountain range.


    "not again!" galadriel shouted. "head back now!"


    "not again?" kain questioned.


    "no time to explain. let''s head back!"


    galadriel frantically started flying back followed by the others after a brief pause.


    the group landed at the base of the mountain range, greeted by a tense and chaotic scene. dragons of all colors and sizes were moving with urgency, some flying in tight patrol above. the air was filled with tension, creating a nearly suffocating atmosphere.


    galadriel wasted no time, wings folding as it landed quickly and turned sharply toward kain and serena. "head back to the village and don''t move around," he barked, the usual lighthearted tone in its juvenile voice replaced by authority.


    "what''s happening?" serena asked, her brows furrowed in concern.


    galadriel hesitated for a moment, glancing at vauleth, who looked just as agitated. "it''s... dangerous matters. something we dragons can handle ourselves. you''re too weak to interfere."


    ''but you''re not?'' kain thought while glancing at the two green-grade dragons. s��arch* the n??efire.��et website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    kain''s curiosity flared, but he knew better than to press galadriel for answers now. the prince''s expression was tight with worry, and even vauleth, despite his usual defiance, was unusually subdued.


    the ground beneath their feet rumbled again, a deep, unsettling vibration that seemed to resonate with the very core of the mountain range. kain and serena instinctively stepped back as small cracks began forming in the earth around them. from these cracks, wisps of black smoke curled upward, twisting unnaturally in the air.


    galadriel froze, the usual cheerfulness replaced by a grim expression. "it''s worse than i thought," he muttered under his breath.


    the smoke thickened, spreading an acrid, metallic scent through the air. kain coughed, covering his mouth with his sleeve. even serena, with her composed demeanor, looked unnerved.


    a thunderous roar suddenly erupted from above, shaking the ground even more violently. the red dragon king''s form appeared high in the sky, following the roar that presumably came from him.


    a bright wave of scarlet tinged energy radiated outward from his body.


    the cracks in the earth sealed themselves as if stitched together by an invisible hand, and the black smoke dissipated, pulled back into the ground as though retreating in fear.


    but the reprieve was short-lived.


    a second roar echoed across the mountain range, this one distant and sharp. it came from the east, its tone filled with urgency and fury.


    galadriel''s eyes widened in alarm. "no... that''s aunt gwendamere. aunt gwen was assigned to watch the east outpost this month. something''s wrong!"


    without hesitation, dragons of all colors took to the skies, their powerful wings creating gusts of wind that sent loose stones scattering. the atmosphere grew even more charged as the dragons headed eastward, their roars filling the air as they prepared for battle.


    similarly, galadriel and vauleth took off without another word to kain and serena, their forms quickly disappearing into the growing chaos above.


    back in the elorian village, the tension was palpable. the elorians, though freed from their servitude to the dragons, still had a degree of fear and awe toward them. therefore, whatever seemed to be alarming these dragons was even more terrifying to them.


    as the elorians huddled together, exchanging anxious whispers, kain and serena remained at the edge of the village, their gazes fixed on the horizon. the air was thick with unease, and the fading roars of the dragons heading east did little to comfort them.


    kain paced restlessly. "do you think this has something to do with that black smoke?" he asked serena.


    "maybe," serena replied, her tone unusually uncertain. "whatever it is, it''s clearly serious. the dragons wouldn''t mobilize like this otherwise."


    their conversation was interrupted by the faint sound of footsteps approaching from the forest.


    "kain," serena said sharply, pointing toward the tree line.


    emerging from the shadows was an elorian man. at first glance, he appeared to be one of the villagers, but as he came closer and out of the shadows, something about him seemed... wrong.


    his once pale skin and green hair were now an inky black, as if he had been dipped in tar. faint wisps of black smoke curled off his body, and his eyes glowed faintly, their original color obscured by an eerie crimson hue.


    the mutated elorian staggered into the village, his movements jerky and unnatural


    "isn''t that..." serena began, narrowing her eyes. your next chapter awaits on empire


    "it''s fennel," kain said grimly, recognizing one of the villagers who been the most active in interacting with the members of the order the past few days.


    the elorians closest to him hesitated, relief flashing across their faces at the sight of a familiar figure. but as they moved to greet him, fennel let out an inhuman snarl and lunged at the nearest villager.


    "get back!" kain shouted, but it was too late.


    fennel''s claws��when had he grown claws?��raked across the chest of an elderly elorian, sending him sprawling to the ground. chaos erupted as the villagers scrambled to flee.


    kain reacted instinctively, summoning aegis. the stone golem appeared with a low rumble, positioning itself protectively between fennel and the retreating villagers.


    but before kain or serena could act further, more shapes emerged from the forest.


    several spiritual creatures stepped into view, but like fennel, they were wrong. their fur, feathers, or scales were stained black, and their bodies emitted the same ominous smoke. the corrupted creatures ranged from small mouse-type spiritual creature to larger creatures resembling mountain lions.


    more terrifyingly, the elderly elorian who''d been scratched by fennel, after barely a struggle, was soon dyed in the same black smoke and joined their ranks.


    "what the hell is this��?"

 Chapter 406 A Familiar Foe?

    Kain barely had time to process the horrific scene before another corrupted spiritual creature��a blackened wolf-like beast��lunged at a group of fleeing Elorians. Aegis intercepted, raising a wall of earth to block its path."Help them get out of here!" Kain barked at the Vespid Guards, his mind racing.


    Serena also did her part, her Elemental Guardian, now in its wind attribute form, helped push the frightened Elorians away from the advancing corrupted creatures with gentle gusts of wind.


    But it wasn''t enough. Experience new tales on empire


    More figures began emerging from the forest. Some were villagers who had likely been out gathering supplies or hunting when the strange phenomenon began. Now, they staggered into view, their bodies twisted and warped, covered in that ominous black smoke.


    "They''re coming from the north!" A nearby member of the Order shouted in panic.


    Kain turned his gaze toward the darkened treeline. The corrupted figures were indeed converging from the north, their numbers steadily growing.


    ''The dragons flew east�� but they are coming from the North,'' Kain thought, unease clawing at him. ''Are there perhaps even more of these things in the East? Or did something else draw their attention away?''


    "Serena, keep them safe!" he yelled, summoning Queen and Bea to help reinforce their defense. Strangely, once Bea tried to control the advancing contaminated creatures, she felt as though her splits had been cut off from her or assimilated as well.


    However, when by accident dozens of threads made contact with a thrashing large contaminated spiritual creature resembling a solid black giant water buffalo, an effect was gradually seen.


    It appears as though they were resistant but not immune to her mental control. But each one would require dozen''s of splits and several times the amount of energy to seize control. Not to mention with each passing second, she could feel some energy withering away the splits that were present in the buffalo''s body.


    Fortunately, the Vespid guards were proving to be much more effective. The energy draining capabilities of their stingers has already led to the collapse of several invading creatures. Unfortunately, many of the guards also were preoccupied with protecting and evacuating the Elorians, so the decrease in the enemies'' numbers wasn''t so severe and seemed to form a strange equilibrium with the quick rate that people and other spiritual creatures were being turned.


    In particular, ordinary Elorians who were scratched or bitten were succumbing almost instantly, their bodies twisting into blackened forms as they joined the ranks of their attackers.


    Kain gritted his teeth as he watched a young Elorian woman collapse, her screams cutting off abruptly as her skin turned black. The speed of the transformation was horrifying.


    However, not everyone was equally affected. A member of the Order��A 6-star beast tamer��was surrounded by a group of corrupted creatures. Though he managed to fend them off for several minutes, the smoke clinging to his wounds eventually overwhelmed him.


    Kain watched in horror as the man''s body began to change. His contract, a large bear-like spiritual creature, tried to resist the contamination as well but succumbed shortly after its master. Both let out guttural roars as their forms were overtaken by the black smoke, joining the ranks of the corrupted.


    "Kain!" Serena''s voice cut through his thoughts.


    He turned to see her fending off a corrupted bird-like creature, its blackened feathers shimmering with an unnatural sheen. She managed to push it back with a gust of wind, but her expression was grim. "We can''t keep this up forever!"


    Aegis''s deep voice surprisingly rumbled in Kain''s mind. "This is familiar." Aegis��ever the strong and silent type��rarely took the initiative to speak. S~ea??h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What?" Kain asked mentally, even as he directed a Vespid guard to intercept a contaminated black fox rushing at a villager.


    "The aura... the black smoke. It resembles the creature I once guarded."


    Kain''s blood ran cold. Memories flooded back to the relic filled with microorganisms that had a dark dragon-like entity as the final boss but Kain felt an aura similar to a microorganism emanating off of it. Now that he thought about it, it had been capable of corrupting and creating minions like these. However, he didn''t recall its corruption abilities being so powerful.


    "You think this is connected to that thing?" Kain asked, his chest tightening.


    "I cannot be certain," Aegis admitted, its tone grave. "I was created not long after the relic was formed, with the only instruction being to prevent whatever was being imprisoned from escaping. Therefore, I do not know much about its identity, and abilities. But the resemblance is undeniable."


    Kain clenched his fists as Aegis''s words echoed in his mind. If this black smoke and the corrupted creatures were connected to the entity Aegis once guarded, then they were partly responsible for these people dying.


    Perhaps there was something they could have done or some sacrifice they could have made to destroy or reseal it. However, after it escaped, not realizing the substantial threat it could pose, none of the higher-ups of the college was even sent to pursue it.


    "Serena," Kain said, his voice low but urgent. He stepped back to where she was holding off another wave of attackers with her Elemental Guardian. "We might have a bigger problem than we thought."


    Serena glanced at him, her expression sharp. "What do you mean?"


    "Aegis says this smoke is similar to the one we fought in the college''s relic."


    Serena grew sombre at the memory of the dragon-like creature. It had had its strength suppressed to yellow-grade, but it was practically invincible within the same weight class.


    "It does appear similar to some of the creatures we fought in the relic�� but we can''t be sure. I''m more concerned about the dragons'' response. Notice how the dragons didn''t seem surprised by this?"


    Kain frowned, his gaze flicking between the encroaching creatures and the direction the dragons had flown. "You''re saying they expected this? That our actual mission��or whatever deal they made with the Order��has something to do with these things?"


    A loud crash interrupted their conversation as a contaminated bear-like creature, likely blue-grade, barreled through a makeshift barricade. Kain quickly directed Aegis to intercept, and walls were raised in its path to slow its advance.


    "Focus on staying alive for now," Serena said, her tone sharp but steady. "We can worry about the purpose of the dragons later."

 Chapter 407 Reinforcements

    The battle raged on, and Kain couldn''t shake the nagging suspicion that Serena might be right.The dragons'' apparent lack of surprise, their abrupt departure to the east, and the growing wave of corrupted creatures all pointed to a deeper connection. However, the immediate crisis demanded their full attention.


    The corrupted creatures showed no signs of slowing, and despite their best efforts, the defence lines were steadily being overwhelmed.


    The black smoke clung to wounds made by the corrupted and worked to gradually change them from the inside.


    Many injured individuals and spiritual creatures could be seen seemingly internally struggling with something before their entire body is made pitch black��except for their eyes which glow an eerie red.


    Therefore, despite fighting for a long time, the numbers of enemies they''ve faced has not reduced due to their own allies replenishing their numbers.


    Kain thought that only creatures of flesh and blood were at risk of turning, but after a member of the Order''s contracted blue-grade Rock Golem also got corrupted, Kain realized that all creatures were at risk.


    Seeing this, Serena''s contracts who had previously been very active on the field thinking themselves immune, grew much more reserved.


    Kain continued to direct the Vespid Guards assisting the evacuation, he''d lost several of them in the course of the battle to save others, but interestingly not a single one had turned. All of them had simply died after their injuries grew too severe.


    However, before Kain could continue exploring why, a loud, echoing roar filled the air. It was followed by another, and then another��a cacophony of dragon roars that rolled across the mountain range like thunder.


    Kain whipped his head around, squinting at the horizon. The skies to the east were filling with shadows as dragons of all colors returned, their powerful forms blotting out the setting sun.


    "They''re back!" Serena shouted, her voice a mix of relief and urgency.


    The dragons descended like an avalanche. Dragons of varying sizes and colors swooped down, engaging the corrupted creatures with unrelenting ferocity.


    "Step back!" bellowed a familiar voice��Galadriel, his red scales gleaming as he landed with a heavy thud near the remnants of the village. His gaze swept over the defenders. "We''ll take it from here!" Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain hesitated, his instincts screaming against retreating, but Serena grabbed his arm. "Let them handle it," she urged. "We''ve done what we can."


    Reluctantly, Kain signaled for Aegis and his other contracts to fall back. The members of the Order and the remaining Elorians followed suit, retreating behind the dragons'' massive front line.


    Kain and Serena regrouped with the others, watching the battle from a safer distance.


    The powerful might of the dragons was on full display as they devastated the ranks of the enemy.


    What caught Kain''s attention most, however, were the younger dragons. Despite their smaller size and lower strength compared to the elders, they charged into battle without hesitation.


    A trio of young dragons��one blue, one green, and one red��working together to subdue a larger corrupted bear-like creature. The blue dragon used its lightning breath to paralyze the creature, while the red and green dragons took turns delivering powerful physical strikes.


    "They''re fearless," Kain noted, voice tinged with admiration.


    "But reckless," Serena added, as the green dragon was swiped aside by the bear''s massive paw, leaving a deep gash along its side.


    The dragon let out a pained roar but quickly rejoined the fray, undeterred. What surprised Kain was how the black smoke clinging to its wound dissipated almost instantly, as though unable to take hold.


    Serena and some of the other more astute members of the Order narrowed their eyes as they also noted this detail about the dragons.


    Kain frowned, watching as another young dragon��a black-scaled one��sustained several injuries but continued fighting without any sign of corruption.


    A thought nagged at Kain as the battle began to turn in their favor. The dragons'' overwhelming strength was pushing the corrupted creatures back, and the tide of battle seemed to shift.


    But even as the immediate danger lessened, something kept bothering him��where were the adult dragons? The sounds of fighting to the east had stopped, so they were likely free. Moreover, a single high-level dragon could probably wipe out all of the corrupted creatures in seconds alone.


    Why have the reckless young dragons risk injury?


    Did they just want to train them in actual combat?


    Or��


    Kain couldn''t help but note that the young dragons tended to not use their heads much when fighting, leading to them suffering way more injuries during the battle than was needed.


    Therefore, by now, even the dumbest of viewers were able to ascertain that the dragons were somehow immune to being converted by this black smoke. Explore stories on empire


    Perhaps they wanted to use the reckless nature of the young dragons to fully display this unique advantage of the dragons? But why?


    What could they possibly gain by showing off to some ordinary Elorians and young humans much weaker than them?


    I should think that with the pride of dragons, seeking the approval of creatures weaker than them would be something they''d disdain to do.


    He turned to Serena, his expression grim. "You said you think this mission might have been about these creatures. What if the dragons have been dealing with them all along? And what if the Order or Elorians knew but were helping as much as the dragons would like?"


    Serena nodded slowly, "Allowing citizens of both nations to see for themselves the potential threat, and how indispensable the dragons were would be beneficial for them in terms of negotiations."


    Another roar echoed across the battlefield. It seems like the battle was taking too long for one of the adults, and so a several bolts lightning rained down from the sky from the largest blue-dragon Kain had seen yet and annihilated the remaining corrupted creatures.


    The dragons regrouped, their injuries glowing faintly as they began to heal naturally.


    The battle was over��for now.


    But for Kain, the questions were only beginning.

 Chapter 408 Answers

    The aftermath of the battle left a heavy tension hanging in the air. As the corrupted creatures were cleared out and the remaining villagers and members of the Order regrouped, Kain couldn''t shake the questions swirling in his mind. He glanced at Serena, who looked just as troubled."We need answers," Kain muttered, his gaze fixed on Galadriel, who was organizing the young dragons into clean-up teams.


    "Agreed," Serena replied. "This wasn''t just an ordinary attack. The dragons knew something like this might happen, didn''t they?"


    Kain nodded, his jaw tightening. "And if they knew, there''s a chance the Order knew too. That means we were sent like lambs to the slaughterhouse without being told the full truth."


    As the dragons finished regrouping, Kain and Serena approached Galadriel, whose usual jovial demeanor had not yet returned. Vauleth was standing nearby, scowling as usual, but he didn''t make any snide remarks for once.


    "Galadriel," Kain began, his tone firm, "we need to talk."


    The prince glanced at them, golden eyes narrowing slightly. "Talk? About what?"


    "About this," Serena said, gesturing to the battlefield. "About the corrupted creatures, the black smoke, and why the dragons didn''t seem surprised by any of it."


    Galadriel sighed, wings drooping slightly. "Fine. Ask your questions."


    "Did you know this was going to happen?" Kain asked directly.


    Galadriel hesitated, then shook its large head. "We didn''t know about this specific attack, no. But we did plan to delay you here until another attack started."


    Kain''s eyes narrowed. "Why?"


    "Because we needed you to see," Galadriel admitted. "You humans, and even those cowardly Elorians, have been shirking your responsibilities for far too long. It''s time you understand the stakes."


    Serena crossed her arms, her tone icy. Many innocent people had died due to this attack. "What responsibilities? And what do the Elorians have to do with this?"


    Galadriel''s expression darkened. "The Elorians and their ancestors were once responsible for guarding these lands alongside us. But over the centuries, they''ve withdrawn further and further into their precious forests, hiding behind their barriers and letting us handle the real danger."


    "What danger?" Kain pressed.


    "The Abyss," Galadriel said, voice dropping into a growl. "The mountain range we live in wasn''t formed naturally. It''s a giant array constructed jointly by the most powerful beings of several races including dragons, humans, and elves��it''s built atop one of the entrances to the Abyss. That black smoke you saw? It''s a byproduct of the Abyss''s influence leaking out due to the weakening seals."


    Kain and Serena exchanged a shocked glance.


    "The Abyss?" Kain murmured under his breath, the unfamiliar word heavy on his tongue. He had never come across the term before, even despite having access to far more information than the average citizen.


    Galadriel nodded. "The Abyss is an endless void of corruption and destruction. It''s a realm of chaos where even the strongest creatures can be turned into mindless abominations. Our job��our burden��is to guard the entrances and ensure nothing escapes."


    "But if you''re immune to this corruption," Kain began, "why do you need help?"


    Galadriel''s gaze hardened. "Figures you''d make the same excuses as your lazy leaders! Immune doesn''t mean invincible! Abyssal creatures can''t convert us, but they can still kill us. And dragons, especially pure-blooded ones like me, are slow to reproduce and take decades to centuries to grow to full strength. Every loss we suffer is a devastating blow."


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    "And those Elorians are just as useless." Galadriel finally snapped and went on a tirade. "They call themselves guardians of the forest, but when the corruption began seeping into their lands, they retreated behind their barriers and left us to deal with it. That''s why we took their villagers. Yeah, we needed new servants since most intelligent creatures closer to the mountain range had already been corrupted, and we figured those pointy-eared cowards could at the very least be servants if they wish to shirk the responsibilities of their ancestors. But even more than that, we needed leverage to see how much the situation has declined and force them to take this seriously!"


    Serena''s eyes narrowed, "And the barrier was to prevent anyone too powerful from coming in to rescue the villagers before the attack occurred? Or was it just to prevent anyone too powerful among the Elorians from possibly being corrupted and giving you a bigger headache?" S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Galadriel nodded its head hesitantly, before shaking it. "Yes and no. The barrier was to prevent them from being rescued too soon. But while not immune like dragons, Elorians who have awakened, unlike these ordinary ones, are also very resistant to the corruption of the Abyss. That''s why they were also tasked with guarding this entrance! But just because one of their higher-level Elorians got corrupted back then, those cowards got scared and decided to completely withdraw!"


    Serena''s eyes narrowed. "And the Order? Did they know about this?"


    Galadriel shrugged. "I don''t know. Maybe. The agreement was between my father and your higher-ups. But your presence here was deliberate. Apparently, there has been a lot of conflict even amongst the humans about whether or not to help. After all, unlike dragons who are immune, and Elorians who are more resistant to the corruption, humans have very little resistance. But if we can''t hold on to this mountain range, you would also be in danger. Some of those in favour of supporting us wanted you to see what we''re dealing with. I believe most of the young members brought this time are valued talents or from influential households?"


    Kain clenched his fists, frustration boiling beneath his calm exterior. "So, the Order, or at least those in favour of assisting the dragons, sent us here to witness this... as a scare tactic?"


    "Call it what you want," Galadriel said, tone unapologetic. "The point is, this is a war that affects all of us. And whether you like it or not, your kind will have to step up."


    Kain''s thoughts spun as Galadriel''s words sank in. But many questions lingered in his mind, all about one thing: the Abyss.


    The dragon-like creature they had fought in the relic��was it an Abyssal entity? And if so, was that just the tip of the iceberg?


    Are there other entrances to the Abyss or sealed Abyssal creatures whose seals are weakening?


    How powerful is this Abyss that so much effort needed to be made to seal its entrances rather than just try to destroy it?

 Chapter 409 The Orders Stance

    A couple days after the attack Caelum returned, with the villagers ''replacements'' in tow.Caelum was leading a line of short, reptilian humanoid creatures through the village. Their scaled bodies were brown and dull compared to the true dragons'', and their expressions were almost disturbingly joyful.


    The villagers, who were being released from their servitude and were giddy with excitement, still paled in comparison to the sheer joy on the faces of these scaled creatures taking their place


    The creatures, which Kain found out were kobolds, chattered excitedly among themselves, their large, expressive eyes darting around the village with undisguised glee.


    "Praise the dragons! Glorious masters of fire and might!" one of them exclaimed, its voice high-pitched and grating.


    "Finally, we get to serve them directly!" another shouted, practically hopping as it scampered to keep up with the others.


    The Elorians and remaining members of the Order exchanged puzzled glances as the kobolds flooded into the area, their energy filling the previously sombre atmosphere with an odd, chaotic buzz.


    "Caelum," a member of the Order, a tall plain-looking woman from the Lunar Veil, responsible for espionage, asked skeptically, "why does the Empire even have kobolds?"


    Caelum, who appeared exhausted after being the sole individual responsible for transporting the Kobolds (after all, it''s not like they''d try to escape), sighed. "They weren''t exactly invited..."


    "What do you mean?"


    "They broke into the dragon housing area for the royal family��repeatedly," Caelum explained, rubbing his temples. "You know, the area where uncontracted dragons are kept for potential royal contracts."


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    There was a collective intake of breath at the apparent determination of these Kobolds. The dragon housing area was heavily guarded, practically impenetrable to anyone without clearance.


    "They begged to be caretakers for the young dragons," Caelum continued. "We shooed them away a few times��because they''re noisy and annoying��but they just kept coming back. Eventually, the caretakers got fed up and let them stay." He gestured to the kobolds, who were now gleefully scrubbing a nearby green dragon as though it was the greatest honour within several generations of his family. "They''re obsessive, but they''re also surprisingly good at what they do. Dragons don''t seem to mind them either."


    "Convenient excuse to get rid of them," Kain muttered under his breath, earning a smirk from Serena.


    "Exactly," Caelum said, clearly hearing Kain''s comment. "This was the perfect opportunity to relocate them somewhere they''d be happy and out of the royal family''s hair."


    ----------------------------


    Later that evening, the remaining members of the Order gathered in a large hall assigned to them within the village.


    There were originally 51 members of their group, 10 representatives from 5 departments plus the sole representative of the Night Hunt Cassian. But the once-bustling group of 51 had dwindled to 42 after the attack, and the mood was sombre despite the dragons'' victory.


    Conversations buzzed quietly around the room.


    Most of the members had either formed bonds with certain dragons like Kain and Galadriel, or picked up enough from their interactions to piece together the situation. Rumours about the Abyss, the entrance, and the dragons'' role in containing it were spreading like wildfire.


    Kain and Serena sat near the back, observing the others.


    "It seems like we weren''t the only ones who noticed," Kain said softly.


    The door to the hall opened, and Caelum entered, his expression grim. The room fell silent as he moved to the center, standing tall as he addressed the group.


    "I know many of you have questions," he began. "And while I don''t have all the answers, I can confirm some of your questions."


    He paused, letting the weight of his words settle over the room.


    "Firstly, yes, the dragons have been fighting this threat��the Abyss��for centuries. Their mountain range is built atop one of the entrances, and their immunity to the corruption makes them the best possible guardians. But even they can''t hold out forever. They''ve been losing ground lately due to their decreasing numbers and the seal weakening."


    Murmurs rippled through the group.


    "And the Order?" one member asked. "Did they know about this?"


    Caelum hesitated. "Those higher up or who have been in the Order for a long time were aware. There''s been... debate among our leaders. Not everyone agrees that aiding the dragons is worth the risk. After all, humans are far more susceptible to Abyssal corruption than they are. But the argument against helping them is short-sighted. If the dragons fall, the corruption will spread unchecked, and we''ll all be in danger."


    Another murmur swept through the room, this one laced with unease and tension.


    Caelum''s expression grew darker. "What you might not know is that the Abyss isn''t just affecting this region. Reports have been coming in from across the continent. Isolated villages��Elorian, human, even nomadic tribes in the south��are turning into dead zones filled with the corrupted. Just in the time I was bringing back the agreement of the dragons, there was news that an entire town in the Southern Region had been wiped off the map."


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. His family lived in the southern region, in a relatively isolated city. Honestly, Brightstar City was so tiny, to those from the big cities they may call it a town�� S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Was there..." Kain''s voice wavered slightly before he steadied himself. "Was there more specific information on what town it was?"


    Caelum looked at Kain, likely seeing something from his expression, despite Kain''s attempts to hide his unease. "The town was called Starspire Village."


    Relief flooded through Kain, but it was short-lived as the weight of Caelum''s words settled over him again. His family was safe currently, but the next outbreak of the corrupted could very well be in his hometown.


    He had previously asked the orphanage director to consider moving closer to the college or even to Starfire City, the largest city of the Southern Region, but he''d been reluctant to leave home and all of their neighbours behind. However, now Kain didn''t think he could continue to take no for an answer.

 Chapter 410 New Team Member

    "The incidents are becoming more frequent," Caelum continued. "And the voice in favor of being more proactive against the Abyss is growing louder. This mission wasn''t just about rescuing Elorians or training you. It was about making sure you understood the stakes firsthand. You''re not just soldiers of the Empire anymore. You''re witnesses. It''s easier for people to want to stick their heads in sand when they don''t know what''s coming."The room fell silent, the gravity of Caelum''s words sinking in and not long after a few more questions were answered, everyone dispersed in a sombre mood.


    Since the Elorians had been freed from their ''active duty'' they would be leaving the dragons within the next couple of days��they only need to wait for some of the people injured in the attack to completely finish recuperating. Although they''d had their physical injuries healed already, some of the more severely injured were still not 100% travel-ready.


    However, while the others were preoccupied with preparing for the journey back home or stressing over the looming threat of the abyss, Kain was preoccupied with his own thoughts.


    Their time here was coming to an end, and if he was going to convince Vauleth to sign a contract with him, it had to happen soon. But every interaction with the prickly red dragon had been met with resistance or disdain.


    "I''m running out of time," Kain muttered to himself as he walked toward the edge of the village, he vaguely sensed that Vauleth was in the forest not far from here and he was debating going to find him in a last-ditch attempt to convince him to form a contract.


    Finally deciding to follow his gut, he left in search of Vauleth.


    Fortunately, it wasn''t long before he finally found his target.


    As if summoned by Kain''s thoughts, a pair of distant figures came into view��Galadriel and Vauleth. They were standing in a clearing next to the closest body of the water to the mountain, their conversation carrying faintly on the wind.


    Kain instinctively ducked behind a tree.


    "...disgusting creatures," Galadriel was saying, voice dripping with disdain.


    "You didn''t seem to mind the Elorians," Vauleth replied, his tone slightly strained.


    "Elorians are half-elves," Galadriel said dismissively. "They have nothing to do with us, nor are they an affront to our dignity. Those Kobolds... they''re pathetic. A disgrace to the entire true dragon race!"


    Vauleth''s expression shifted briefly��something between pain and nervousness��but he quickly schooled his features into indifference. "You mean just because they''re impure?"


    "Exactly," Galadriel snapped, wings rustling in agitation. "The idea that such creatures even have a trace of dragon blood... It''s offensive. Honestly, abominations like them make me question if those dragons born from defective eggs should even be born. They keep making new abominations."


    Vauleth''s jaw tightened, but he forced a smirk. "I guess if I wasn''t a true dragon you wouldn''t care about me at all then..."


    Galadriel frowned, clearly thinking the remarks made had hurt Vauleth''s about his late-marked egg. But in actuality, Vauleth was sensitive about his current identity as an imposter. "But you are a true dragon, Vauleth. So don''t think less of yourself."


    With that and an apologetic pat on his back, Galadriel flared its wings and launched into the air. "Come on," he called over its shoulder. "We have a patrol to finish."


    Vauleth hesitated for a moment, looking much less energetic than unusual, before following Galadriel into the sky.


    Kain, still hidden, watched them disappear. After going over the details of the conversation, he couldn''t resist letting out a smirk.


    Kain was no longer anxious about convincing Vauleth before they left, he was sure that Vauleth would come to him soon enough.


    And true to his gut feeling, the night before they were set to leave a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts while he was exploring the forest��after all, who knows when he''d be able to come back here and he wanted to get as many spiritual plants unique to this region as possible.


    "Kain."


    He turned to see Vauleth emerging from the foliage behind him, his red scales glinting faintly in the moonlight. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Vauleth?" Kain said, trying to maintain a surprised fa?ade, but after eavesdropping on the conversation between Vauleth and Galadriel, Kain had been waiting for this moment.


    The dragon''s eyes glinted with a mix of determination and something darker. "I''ve decided."


    "Decided what?" Kain asked trying to tamp down on appearing too excited.


    "I''ll sign a contract with you," Vauleth said, his voice firm. "But only on one condition."


    Kain raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"


    "You have to make me a true dragon. The strongest true dragon," Vauleth said, his tone laced with determination.


    Kain''s heart raced as he met Vauleth''s fiery gaze. He had suspected for some time that Vauleth harboured a deeper ambition, but hearing it stated so plainly was another matter entirely.


    "The strongest dragon?" Kain repeated.


    Vauleth nodded. "You said you''re one of the Empire''s best evolutionary planners. If that''s true, then prove it. Make me stronger than anyone else��including the Red Dragon King."


    Kain chuckled. "I like your ambition. I''m not one to back down from a challenge. But if you want to be the strongest true dragon, you''ll have to trust me completely"


    "Trust..." Vauleth''s expression faltered briefly before hardening again. "Fine. But if you fail to deliver on your promise, I''ll rip you into shreds."


    "Fair enough," Kain said, extending his hand. "Let''s make it official, then."


    Vauleth hesitated for a moment, his crimson eyes flickering with a mix of apprehension and determination. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he stepped forward, raising one claw. He placed it against Kain''s hand, and a ripple of energy surged through the air as the contract began to form.


    A surge of power coursed through Kain, signalling the completion of the bond and Kain''s fourth star began to transform, turning into an environment that Kain assumed was ideal for red dragons.


    Kain grinned, feeling the familiar surge of spiritual power as a new connection settled into place. "Welcome to the team, Vauleth."

 Chapter 411 A Parents Care

    The Red Dragon King Vulcun reclined on his ''throne'' of shimmering gold and glittering gemstones, his massive frame shifting comfortably against the treasure.His fiery eyes lazily scanned the collection, gleaming with pride. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his unparalleled ability to accumulate such wealth. Truly, no dragon''s hoard could compare to his. Probably only that detestable king of the metallic dragons who live far to the south would be able to compare to his wealth.


    Suddenly Vulcun''s heart skipped a beat, ''In the time that we''d been isolated from the other races, I''d heard that stupid lump of fake gold Allmonis had been interacting quite frequently with some tribes to the south��Wouldn''t that mean that bastard may be richer than me?! NO! That can''t happen!''


    Scared by his own thoughts, he immediately straightened up in discomfort and then thought of his heir, Galadriel. Lately, the young one had been spending far too much time with humans. Vulcun snorted. Humans were cunning and weak but they tended to have good stuff��artifacts, rare materials, treasures they didn''t deserve. Was it possible Galadriel had acquired anything of value from them?


    His gaze sharpened as he mused. ''It is my responsibility as a father to ensure that Galadriel wasn''t burdened by the dangers of hoarding too much wealth at a young age. What if someone tried to rob the child''s cave? It wasn''t healthy for a young dragon to keep too many treasures.''


    Of course, Vulcun conveniently ignored the fact that Galadriel, as the sole heir to the Red Dragon King, was practically untouchable. No dragon, no matter how powerful, would dare invade Galadriel''s territory. But Vulcun wasn''t about to let a little thing like logic interfere with his justified, parental concern.


    With a rumbling growl, Vulcun made his decision. He would conduct his routine "parent check" of Galadriel''s cave. He performed these checks every couple of decades, like most coloured dragon parents, for Galadriel''s own good, he assured himself, as a faint spark of greed lit up his eyes.


    Immediately acting on his thought, Vulcun rose completely from his pile of gold and stretched, shaking loose a cascade of gold coins and jewels from his scales. A beat of his powerful wings sent him soaring toward his offspring''s lair just below his own.


    However, when he landed at the mouth of the cave, he immediately noticed something that gave him pause: the jewels embedded into the walls��or lack thereof.


    This confused him. His last inspection had been decades ago, and while he knew Galadriel might not amassed as much wealth as himself, surely enough time had passed for the child to replace at least some of what he had confiscated back then�� Could his own child possibly be so poor? Vulcun''s nose twitched in disbelief.


    He moved deeper into the cave, his talons clicking against the stone floor. The silence was almost eerie. No faint echoes of movement, no ambient sounds of a young dragon''s hoard being fussed over.


    When Vulcun reached the main chamber, his frown deepened. The cave was empty. Completely empty. Not only was his only child not here, but there wasn''t a single scrap of treasure to be seen. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Unbelievable," Vulcun muttered, his voice a low growl.


    He turned and immediately flew toward the base of the mountain range. He had a feeling about where. Galadriel was, but thankfully the child shouldn''t have gotten too far yet.


    As he flew over the mountain range, it was much noisier than usual�� thanks to the new Kobold servants. Vulcun could hear their grating voices from above, praising the dragons as they worked.


    Unlike the Elorians, who had been quiet in their servitude due to their immense fear of them, these creatures took every opportunity to loudly declare their devotion.


    Not that Vulcun minded. His chest puffed out slightly as he flew over them, enjoying their adoration. They might be ugly, but the Kobolds were proving themselves to have other advantages.


    It wasn''t long before Vulcun spotted what he was looking for. Inside the forest close to the base of the mountain, a small, chubby figure waddled forward, struggling under the weight of an enormous bag strapped to its back. Vulcun''s eyes narrowed.


    He gave a loud, rumbling huff. The sound carried through the air and hit the small dragon squarely on its round, red-scaled behind.


    The dragon yelped in surprise, lost its balance, and went tumbling to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop in a comically dishevelled heap.


    Galadriel scrambled upright, eyes blazing with indignation. "Who��" The words died in the young dragon''s throat when Galadriel turned and saw Vulcun. The indignation it felt was immediately replaced by a sheepish look.


    Vulcun''s lips curled into a cruel smile. "Planning to run away with the humans, are we?" he asked, his tone deceptively casual.


    Galadriel''s eyes widened comically, silently asking, How could you possibly know?!


    Vulcun sighed in exasperation, not bothering to answer the unspoken question. "Fine. You may accompany them to the border to say goodbye to your little friend, but only to the border. Understand?"


    He raised a claw, and a faint leash of red magic appeared around Galadriel''s neck. The leash faded to invisible, but Galadriel stiffened, clearly feeling its effects. Galadriel knew that as long as this leash was in place, that its dream of leaving the dragons'' territory and swimming in the ocean of treasures the humans promised would only be a dream.


    Before Galadriel could protest, Vulcun leaned down and plucked the massive bag from the smaller dragon''s back. He gave it a cursory glance before slinging it over his own shoulder. "I''ll hold onto this for now," he said with mock sweetness.


    Galadriel''s claws clenched, and a muttered comment about "greedy fathers" escaped under their breath, but Vulcun pretended not to hear.


    With an angry huff, Galadriel took to the air, at a much faster pace without its burden, heading off toward the humans marching away in the distance. Despite the sour mood, there was a determined glint in their eyes.


    Even if Galadriel couldn''t leave with Vauleth as planned. She wanted to say goodbye to her best friend.

 Chapter 412 Dragon Knight?

    Kain felt like he was on top of the world. Literally.Sitting atop a dragon��a red dragon, no less��had been a childhood dream of his, and now that dream had come true.


    He couldn''t resist running his hand along Vauleth''s scales, admiring the way they gleamed like polished rubies in the sunlight.


    ''The kids at the orphanage would probably be shocked if they saw me right now. I must look so handsome,'' Kain thought, a self-satisfied grin spreading across his face. If only there were a mirror��or better yet, an audience. Surely, anyone who saw him would think, Wow, now that''s a dragon knight!


    The wind whipped past him as they soared at a moderate pace through the air, the rescued Elorians and some Order members without flying mounts were travelling below on foot or with their own mounts. It was a slow march for most of the group, but for Kain, it was glorious.


    Well, mostly.


    "Stop squirming," Vauleth growled, his tone laced with disdain.


    Kain shifted in his seat, wincing as another sudden jolt rattled through him. Throughout the entire trip, a certain sensitive body part had been made to suffer. "You''re doing this on purpose, aren''t you?"


    Vauleth simply huffed smugly but didn''t answer out loud.


    ''You wanted to ride me like some lowly beast. Consider this your lesson in humility, human.''


    Kain muttered something under his breath, gripping tighter to the reins he''d borrowed form another member of the order.


    Despite the bumpy (and painful) ride, he was determined not to let Vauleth ruin his mood. This was a dragon he was riding��a dragon!


    Still, he couldn''t help but feel a pang of jealousy as he glanced ahead at Cassian.


    The crown prince sat on top of his own young red dragon, looking far more comfortable. The two of them seemed to be getting along far better than Kain and Vauleth.


    "You really can give me all that treasure, right?" Cassian''s dragon was asking, its voice filled with excitement. "I mean, you are a prince, so you must have vaults full of jewels, right? Riiiight?"


    "Of course," Cassian said smoothly, his tone confident. "I wouldn''t have made those promises if I couldn''t keep them."


    Kain groaned internally. Cassian''s dragon practically radiated excitement, its tone almost giddy as it pressed him for more details on the dragon cave he''d build just for him in the capital that would be filled with as much treasure as the Dragon King''s��that''s the Dragon King!


    He never imagined he''d be able to match the Dragon King in wealth, and definitely not before even reaching adulthood!


    Meanwhile, Kain''s mount was doing everything in his power to make the ride as uncomfortable as possible.


    ''Why couldn''t I have gotten a dragon that actually liked me?'' he lamented. Forgetting that he lacked the necessary affinity, and it was a pleasant surprise that a creature like Vauleth even existed for him to fulfill his dragon knight fantasies.


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    Kain''s grumbling thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, high-pitched roar.


    Kain straightened in his seat, his hand instinctively moving to Vauleth''s neck for stability as the sound echoed across the landscape. It wasn''t like the deep, powerful roars of the older dragons. This one was... lighter, more childlike.


    After living with the dragons for a while he could easily distinguish the roars of the dragons of different ages and even colour.


    Vauleth''s head swiveled toward the source of the sound, his golden eyes narrowing. "It''s Galadriel," he muttered, his tone filled with a mixture of sadness, anxiety, and��longing?


    Before Kain could respond, a red blur appeared on the horizon, rapidly closing the distance.


    And soon enough, Galadriel''s familiar form came completely into view.


    "Vauleth!" Galadriel''s voice carried through the air, clear and bright.


    Vauleth stiffened beneath Kain, his usual aloof demeanor faltering. Kain caught the subtle way his gaze lingered on Galadriel, a fleeting look filled with something... softer.


    Kain tilted his head, curious. Now that he had a contract with Vauleth, he was far more in tune with his emotions and subtle actions that he wouldn''t have noticed before.


    Galadriel hovered beside them and said in sad tone, "I wanted to catch up before you left,"


    Vauleth turned his head toward Galdriel, his expression hard to read. "You didn''t have to come all this way."


    "Yes, I did," Galadriel said firmly, golden eyes meeting Vauleth''s. "You''re my best friend. Do you think I''d let you leave without saying goodbye?"


    Kain sat silently, sensing the tension between the two dragons. It wasn''t the usual kind of tension he''d come to expect from Vauleth. This was... different.


    Vauleth''s eyes moved frantically around the surroundings, looking anywhere but at the red dragon opposite, and mumble "Thanks, Galadriel. That means a lot."


    For a moment, there was a comfortable silence between them, broken only by the wind and the distant sounds of the marching group below. Kain, however, couldn''t stop glancing between the two dragons. There was something in the way Vauleth looked at Galadriel��


    ''Wait a second... Does Vauleth... like Galadriel?'' S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The thought hit Kain like a lightning bolt. He''d never seen this side of Vauleth before��almost bashful and shy.


    Through the faint connection of their contract, he could sense a swirl of emotions emanating from the red dragon.


    Finally, their goodbyes finished and Galadriel turned to leave. Vauleth watched as the red figure got smaller and smaller, his gaze lingering far longer than necessary.


    Kain cleared his throat awkwardly, breaking the silence. "Uh... Vauleth?"


    "What?" Vauleth snapped, his usual edge returning.


    "Um��uh��do you like��"


    Vauleth''s golden eyes narrowed. "Spit it out you bumbling human?"


    Kain''s face flushed slightly as he stumbled over his words. "I mean, it''s fine! Really! If you like... um, you know, boys��"


    Vauleth blinked, his expression shifting from confusion to incredulity. "What are you talking about?"


    "I''m just saying I don''t judge!" Kain blurted, his hands raised defensively. "If you like Galadriel, that''s cool! I mean, I can see why you would. He''s strong, confident, has great scales��"


    "Galadriel is a girl, you idiot," Vauleth interrupted, his tone dripping with exasperation.


    Kain froze, his brain grinding to a halt. "...Wait, what?"

 Chapter 413 Returning Home

    Kain couldn''t be faulted for mistaking Galadriel for a boy. Really, it all came down to cultural differences and mistranslations between the dragon tongue and the language of the Celestial Empire.How was Kain supposed to know that in the dragon language, there was no distinction between the words for "sons" and "daughters"?


    Most dragons simply referred to all their offspring as "sons" when speaking to humans for simplicity''s sake.


    How was Kain supposed to know that among the Dragon Kings, there was no concept of a "princess," and that the firstborn heir��regardless of gender��was titled "*Atherranai"*, a term that loosely translated to "prince" in human languages? To make matters even more confusing, any additional children weren''t given princely titles at all unless the firstborn died.


    Vauleth, however, was far from understanding, his offence on Galadriel''s behalf evident.


    "First of all," Vauleth said, his tone sharp, "Galadriel is obviously a girl''s name. How could you possibly not know that?"


    Kain blinked. "...Fair enough."


    Vauleth practically turned his head 180 degrees to look down his snout at Kain, clearly not finished. "And then there are her features."


    "Features?" Kain asked, genuinely confused.


    "Yes, her features," Vauleth said impatiently as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Her strong, elegant muscles, with perfect definition." Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Uh... okay."


    "And her scales," Vauleth continued. Once the floodgates opened he seemed unable to shut his mouth. "Hers are shinier than any males'' scales��than any other dragon''s scales really. And they have this wonderful subtle gradient from red to slightly darker red. You can''t tell me you missed that. It''s so obvious."


    Kain rubbed the back of his neck but decided to refrain from refuting Vauleth''s claims. "Yes�� her scales are quite beautiful..."


    Vauleth snorted in disbelief. "Humans really are blind. And her roar! It is so melodic. It has the brightness and delicate tone of a Sunlight Lark, but with the addition of a certain... finesse."


    The Sunlight Lark was a spiritual creature known to sing beautifully. They tend to sing all the time, but particularly in the early morning as the sun rises.


    Kain gave him a blank look and tried to come up with a response but quickly realized he was out of his depth. Dragon gender distinctions clearly didn''t translate well to human perceptions, and he wasn''t about to argue with Vauleth over where a dragon falls on this shiny-muscle-roar scale.


    "Fine, fine," Kain said, raising his hands in surrender. "She''s a girl. Got it. My bad for not noticing." Explore stories at empire


    "Obviously your bad," Vauleth muttered. But his irritation seemed to fade slightly as he turned his gaze to the horizon, where Galadriel had disappeared from view quite a long time ago.


    ''He is completely whipped��''


    Kain thought with some amusement as he watched him for a moment. He had to admit getting to see this side of Vauleth was quite amusing.


    "So�� you really like her, huh?" Kain asked, his voice softer now.


    Vauleth stiffened, his golden eyes snapping back to Kain. "That''s none of your business."


    "Right, of course," Kain said, not entirely able to keep the teasing grin off his face. "It''s just�� I didn''t think you were so brave to target the Dragon King''s daughter right under his own nose. I truly admire you!"


    Vauleth bucked, trying to throw Kain off of his back, and Kain scrambled to hold on. He decided that while he was on Vauleth''s back hundreds of feet in the air, it would be best to keep his lips shut��


    However, perhaps Kain had a short memory because he couldn''t resist opening his mouth once again.


    He leaned closer to Vauleth''s head and whispered, "Of course with me, you''ll definitely become stronger than the Red Dragon King. Then nobody would be able to prevent you and Galadriel from being together."


    Vauleth huffed sharply in response, refusing to dignify Kain''s comment with a reply. However, the rest of the ride back was much smoother.


    ''Huh,'' Kain thought, suppressing a smirk. ''Looks like I hit the right nerve.''


    ----------------------------------


    When they finally landed back at Elowen Haven''s main teleportation array, Kain stretched out his aching limbs and shot Vauleth a pointed look. "Thanks for not throwing me off at the end."


    "Don''t tempt me," Vauleth growled, though his tone lacked its usual bite.


    With a satisfied grin, Kain stepped off and joined the line of Order members entering the lit-up teleportation array.


    The Elorians had already been escorted to safer accommodations, their village relocated to be further from the dragons'' territory.


    Once back at the familiar grounds of the Order, Kain quickly realized that something had changed. The atmosphere was different��heavier, more serious.


    He passed groups of people huddled together, their hushed conversations filled with tension.


    "What''s going on?" Kain asked Serena when he finally found her near the Exchange Hall. They''d received quite a lot of credits for this mission into the dragons'' territory and he wanted to see if the items available for exchange were really better than the college''s Exchange Hall like he''d been told.


    However, the strange atmosphere of the entire hall sidetracked him from his original intention.


    Serena glanced up from a report in her hand, her expression impassive. "A lot. The Abyss has been made public��to Order member, at least."


    Kain blinked. "What? You mean everyone in the Order knows now?"


    Serena nodded. "It was announced while we were gone. And they''re already beginning to inform members of local governments and planning to introduce it to beast-tamers, starting with those enrolled at the top 5 colleges."


    Kain frowned. "And the civilians?"


    "They''re next," Serena said, lowering her voice. "The plan is to start gradually informing the public. Enough to prepare them��warn them to flee at the first signs of corruption and notify authorities��without causing mass panic."


    "That... makes sense," Kain admitted, though he couldn''t help but feel uneasy. "What changed? Why now?"


    "Disappearing villages," Serena replied, her tone grim. "They''re becoming more frequent, and it''s getting harder to hide it. People are starting to notice, and the higher-ups can''t keep sweeping it under the rug. It''s better to control the narrative than let rumours spread unchecked."


    Kain took over the document from Serena and saw that in just a matter of days a southern tribe, Elorian village, and a town in the empire had all turned into dead zones.


    Along with knowledge of the Abyss becoming public, to incentivize the members the credits offered for each mission are now substantially greater��but the difficulty and frequency of assigning missions has also increased.


    It was now much more common for the new recruits to be assigned missions far more dangerous than they would have been assigned previously.


    Ding


    ''Well, speak of the devil��'' Kain thought as he opened the new notification from the Order that appeared on his phone.

 Chapter 414 Returning Home (2)

    The notification blinked on Kain''s screen, its contents stark against the backdrop of his unease. He quickly scanned the text, Serena leaning in slightly to read over his shoulder.A subtle sweet smell filled his mind briefly, distracting him from the text, but familiar words snapped him back into focus. S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Location: Brightstar City, Southern Region.


    Objective: A relic related to the Warring States Period has been found. Information about the Abyss and/or Abyssal creatures may be obtained.


    Type of Relic: Unknown


    Participants Required: Minimum of 5 Pathfinder members, including at least one 7-star beast-tamer or above.


    Reward: 20,000 credits, additional hazard bonuses depending on the situation.


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    Kain''s heart that was in his throat immediately dropped back down. Seeing the familiar city name, he''d initially thought there was an outbreak of the corrupted or some other life-or-death emergency in his hometown. Thankfully, it was just a new relic.


    He immediately confirmed his participation and then used his newly obtained credits to exchange for some supplies that were recommended by the more senior Pathfinders and would come in hand during an emergency.


    Although, he wished to buy some rare evolutionary materials, spiritual skills, weapons or even ''special experience opportunities'' (whatever that was) that could greatly bolster his strength, aside from a weapon, the others can''t be converted instantly into strength. Considering that he had an urgent mission hanging over his head, he decided to exchange for other items that would increase his chances of survival.


    Additionally, since Kain wasn''t required to attend a meeting for the mission or enter the relic right away, he had some family matters to take care of.


    Given the chaos from the Abyssal creatures that was just bubbling beneath the surface and could erupt at any time, he wouldn''t feel comfortable leaving his family in Brightstar City right now while he went in the relic. After all, he''d heard cases of individuals being trapped in a relic for years. He wouldn''t want to risk that happening to him in these chaotic times.


    He tasked Collin with buying more of the land adjacent to the one he already was raising the Clear Spring Wolves on and to build a new home for his relocating relatives (although they hadn''t agreed to the move yet).


    Of course, Collin grumbled and complained the whole time about already being busy managing the new industries Kain now possessed��the spiritual beer, elemental Silkworm silk, the FMT pills. Kain''s fame had even led to him receiving endorsement requests and requests to attend important events. And all of these tasks and requests were being managed by Collin alone.


    ''I guess I should really hire a personal assistant��'' Kain made a mental note.


    After finalizing the land purchase and construction plans with Collin, Kain turned his attention back to his family.


    His family in Brightstar City was relatively small, and the director had always been stubborn about staying put. But with the increasing reports of Abyssal activity, Kain knew he couldn''t afford to let the director and the children stay there unprotected.


    Thankfully, after Kain explained the situation, although still extremely resistant, the director finally agreed to move to Dark Moon City.


    By the time Kain met up with his team at the meeting point designated for the participants of Brightstar City mission, he felt more prepared��both mentally and physically. Especially, now that he didn''t have to worry about the safety of his loved ones. Collin had texted him that morning to confirm the safe arrival and settlement of his relatives in Dark Moon City.


    Kain, as the rookie, had taken the initiative to arrive early and was the first at the location. It was at least another half an hour before the other team members began trickling in.


    Kain was pleasantly surprised to see that Benji, his guide during the Pathfinder orientation, would be participating. It was nice to have at least one familiar face. The other 2 participants to arrive were both similar-looking women with red hair, likely sisters, named Claudia and Clara.


    After waiting at the designated meeting point for close to one hour, the last member of their five-person team arrived��a tall, stern-looking woman from the Pathfinder branch named Nadia.


    She was a 7-star beast-tamer and their de facto leader for this mission. Her contract beast, a massive indigo-grade spiritual creature that resembles a griffin, stood silently at her side, exuding a menacing aura.


    Nadia wasted no time. "You''ve all read the mission briefing," she said briskly. "Our objective is to explore the relic, assess its connection to the Abyss, and retrieve any information or items of value. This is a priority mission, so no unnecessary risks. Stick together, follow my orders, and we''ll get through this."


    The team nodded in unison, and Nadia signalled for the teleportation array to activate. The air around them hummed with energy as the light from the array grew brighter, enveloping them in a blinding glow.


    When the light faded, the team found themselves standing on the outskirts of Brightstar City. The familiar streets stretched out before Kain, but something felt�� off. The air was thick with tension, and the usual hustle and bustle of the city seemed subdued.


    However, the last Kain had heard from his family, who had only evacuated yesterday, the news of the Abyss still hadn''t spread to here. So what was with the strange atmosphere?


    "Did something major happen in the city lately?" Kain asked, as a native he was sensitive to the changes in the city. Although his family had moved, he still knew and cared for many of the locals, and so was concerned about the status of the city.


    "Probably the relic," Nadia said. "It may be a Historical echo. They have a way of affecting the area around them and the people in the surroundings unconsciously."


    Kain''s gaze lingered on the city for a moment before he followed the group.


    As they approached the heart of the city, the streets grew quieter. Shops that were usually bustling with activity were closed, their shutters drawn tight. Only a few people moved about, their expressions wary and their steps hurried.

 Chapter 415 Another Kain

    As the team approached the temple, the oppressive energy grew stronger, wrapping around them like an invisible weight. Kain''s instincts prickled, he felt as though he was being watched by dozens of invisible eyes, however no matter how much he searched there was no one."You can stop searching," Benji said, likely fed up with Kain tossing his head around to locate the source of the uncomfortable gazes. "Most relics that are historical echoes will give off the uncanny feeling of being surrounded by invisible people��likely due to the many souls caught in limbo, destined to repeat the events of that relic repeatedly. However, Habitat relics can also give off a similar feeling, but it''s usually in the case of a large amount of intelligent creatures being kept captive inside."


    Not that Kain knew the source of the unsettling feeling, he was able to better focus on the task at hand.


    The temple loomed before them, its entrance framed by a pair of weathered stone columns etched with intricate carvings.


    ''Crazy��I lived in this city my whole life, but don''t think I''ve seen this building even once��did it just appear? Or for some reason was it unconsciously ignored by everyone for decades, centuries even.''


    Nadia motioned for the group to halt just outside.


    The temple clearly worshipped an entity whose identity had been long lost and the key features of the worshipped creature had long faded with time. However, Kain could tell that this temple was extremely old and may even predate the empire.


    If his guess is correct and it truly is that old, then Kain was no longer surprised by it being the site of a relic.


    "Check your gear one last time," Nadia instructed. Her dark-winged griffin stood alert beside her, its sharp eyes scanning the surroundings for threats. Clearly, it wasn''t only the humans that found the heavy aura to be unsettling. "And place your badges on your chests. Should we get separated they will allow us to easily identify one another."


    "Stay behind me," Nadia said bluntly. "And don''t touch anything unless I say it''s safe."


    With that, she stepped forward, leading the team into the temple.


    Inside, the air was thick and musty, carrying the faint scent of earth and decay. The light from a fire attribute hawk-like spiritual creature summoned by Nadia was leading the way and ensuring they could all see. It''s flaming body cast flickering shadows across the walls, illuminating more of the intricate carvings that lined the corridor.


    "These markings��" Benji murmured, running a hand along one of the walls. "They''re consistent with relics from the Warring States Period, but they''re... warped. Look at the patterns��they''re spiraling inward, almost as if��"


    "As if they''re drawing something in," Nadia finished. She glanced back at Benji. "Good eye. That''s consistent with relics related to the Abyss. These strange designs actually contribute to the formation of an array that''s probably been running this whole time for centuries. They help to conceal the location, making it unconsciously ignored by everyone. Which is why this old building was never torn down."


    ''That also explains why this building was practically invisible to me until I was forced to look at it due to a mission''


    Nadia continued, "They also serve as a guide for the corrupted. If there is ever an outbreak of the corrupted in this city now, the corrupted will unconsciously move toward this building rather than continue to attack civilians. Therefore, this array is a double-edged sword. It may protect more civilians in the event of an outbreak, but it will also draw in any corrupted within miles toward the city. Thankfully, it doesn''t seem as though many entrances have broken down yet, and there are no corrupted in the city." Read new adventures at empire


    Kain''s stomach churned slightly at the mention of the Abyss. He couldn''t shake the memory of the corrupted creatures he''d faced during the attack at the dragon''s territory. If this relic was connected to the Abyss, there was no telling what they might encounter.


    The group pressed on, the corridor gradually widening into a larger chamber. At the center of the room stood a raised dais, upon which rested an ornate, rectangular mirror twice as large as the average person. Its surface was dark, almost liquid-like, and faint ripples spread across it as if it were alive.


    "That must be the entrance," Nadia said, her voice low. She gestured for the group to spread out and secure the area. "No one touches the mirror until I say so."


    As the team fanned out, Kain felt a strange pull toward the mirror, like an invisible thread tugging at his mind. He shook his head, trying to shake off the sensation.


    Out of everyone there, Vauleth was probably the most familiar with Abyssal energy, so Kain summoned him and Bea, who could inconspicuously remain on Kain''s body.


    Similarly, those that didn''t already have contracts summoned began to do so as well. It was common practice to go into a relic ready to engage in a battle immediately.


    Nadia, her eyes fixed on the mirror, inquired. "Benji, can you sense anything?"


    Benji possessed a Spirit Mouse, a spiritual creature with practically no combat abilities, but is capable of seeing things that normally can''t be detected. Reportedly it even has the ability to see through time and observe past events that occurred in an area. It was an invaluable resource for Pathfinders.


    After Kain''s inquiry, and direction from Benji, the mouse stared into the mirror while its eyes turned an eerie pale blue.


    A moment later, its eyes snapped back to their normal black, and Benji conveyed what it had seen to Kain and the others. "It can be confirmed that it is a historical echo. However, some of the creatures on the other side feel��twisted. There are likely corrupted��many of them."


    Before anyone could react, the mirror''s surface began to ripple more violently. A low, guttural sound emanated from it, sending chills down Kain''s spine.


    "Positions!" Nadia barked, her griffin stepping forward with a fierce screech. "We''ve got company!" S��arch* The N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mirror''s surface bulged inward, and with that inward pulling, Kain and the others were also all sucked in no matter how badly they struggled.


    -----------------------


    Kain had never been special. At least, that''s what he thought growing up. He was the eldest of three siblings in a small, struggling family in the fragmented city-state of Ishvaran, a place constantly teetering on the edge of survival.


    Life in Ishvaran wasn''t easy. Between the ever-shifting borders of rival states, raids from spiritual creatures, and the unrelenting pressure of external conflicts, survival often felt like an achievement in itself.


    Thankfully, compared to other city-states rife with internal conflict, Ishvaran was relatively harmonious internally.


    His father was a blacksmith, his mother a weaver, and Kain spent most of his childhood helping with whatever needed doing��hauling water, delivering messages, acting as an assistant to both or watching his younger siblings while his parents spent the bulk of their time working. It was a hard life but a simple one.


    Until the day everything changed.


    When Kain turned 19, a massive Storm Drake attacked Ishvaran. The city''s defences barely held, and though the beast was eventually driven off, the devastation it left behind was immense. Kain''s family home was among the casualties, and in the chaos, his younger brother went missing. For days, Kain searched tirelessly, scouring the wreckage and calling out until his throat was raw.


    On the seventh day, he found his brother trapped beneath a collapsed section of the city wall. Unfortunately, the wall was too heavy for ordinary people to lift on their own, but awakened individuals were also too scarce to request help from. He''d never even met a beast-tamer in his life, who would he know to even contact?!


    The child was barely clinging to life, and Kain, along with some good Samaritans trying to help, was too weak to lift the debris. Overwhelmed by desperation, Kain shouted to the heavens, his voice hoarse with anguish.


    That''s when it happened.


    A surge of power coursed through his body, alien but undeniable. He had a vague memory of entering a dark space filled with nothing except for a large egg that appeared right in front of him. Unconsciously, he touched the egg��and awakened an affinity.


    The spiritual power fluctuations from his independent awakening could not be hidden, and a high-level official soon came to the area. After easily assisting and treating Kain''s brother, Kain was carted away by who, Kain later found out, was the Vice City Lord.


    In the years that followed, Kain''s life changed dramatically. Beast-tamers were rare and highly valued, especially in struggling city-states like Ishvaran.


    He was quickly taken in as a personal disciple of the Vice City-Lord, a prestigious 7-star beast-tamer whose job was to train any new talents that arose.


    Under the Vice City-Lord''s guidance, Kain honed his abilities, forming contracts with four spiritual creatures: an invisible creature capable of controlling a target''s mind, a vespid queen, a sturdy Earth golem capable of creating defensive barriers and a rare Red Coloured Dragon.


    But life as a beast-tamer was far from easy. Ishvaran''s precarious position meant Kain was often called upon to defend the city or negotiate with rival states. His youth and humble beginnings made him an easy target for those who viewed him as unworthy of his position.


    He worked harder, trained longer, and fought more fiercely than anyone else, determined to prove himself��not just to his superiors, but to himself. He refused to let Ishvaran fall, no matter the cost!

 Chapter 416 A Day in Ishvaran

    Kain stirred from his sleep, his mind clouded with fragments of unfamiliar dreams and confusing scenery.The scenes in the dream were of a seemingly unfamiliar world, but it also gave him a strong sense of d��j�� vu.


    He blinked against the soft light streaming through the tall windows of his quarters, their frames adorned with intricate carvings of mythical creatures.


    The room around him was far from modest��polished wood floors, silk drapes, and walls lined with shelves holding rare scrolls and artifacts. His bed alone was large enough for several people, its frame made of dark lacquered wood inlaid with silver filigree.


    Despite having lived in this room for a year, he couldn''t get used to the drastic change in his living arrangements and status after becoming one of the rare beast-tamers.


    The faint scent of sandalwood lingered in the air, a mark of the Vice City-Lord''s estate. As one of Ishvaran''s rare beast-tamers and the personal disciple of the Vice City-Lord, Kain was afforded privileges that few in the city could imagine. Yet, something about the opulence of his surroundings felt... unfamiliar. Even more so than usual.


    He sat up slowly, his movements careful as though testing his body for injuries.


    ''But I haven''t left the city in weeks. Where would I get injured?'' Kain himself was puzzled by his own behaviour. But he still didn''t stop his puzzling actions.


    As he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his gaze fell to his attire. Gone were his usual traditional Ishvaran garments. Instead, he was wearing a set of light armor. The armor glinted faintly in the sunlight, its surface etched with swirling patterns that pulsed faintly with spiritual energy.


    Kain frowned, running his fingers over the intricate designs. The armor was far superior to anything he owned, both in craftsmanship and spiritual resonance. "Where did this come from?" he muttered under his breath. He didn''t remember putting it on, but it fit perfectly, as though tailored for him.


    He decided against taking it off and instead moved to just put his traditional robes over the armour.


    As he adjusted the garments over the armor, something cold brushed against his hand. He pulled back the fabric to reveal a strange badge pinned to the inner armour. It bore the symbol of Auralis'' Eye��a constellation he recognized from countless nights spent gazing at the stars.


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    ''This wasn''t here before,'' Kain thought, his brows furrowing. The badge emitted a faint warmth, and an inexplicable sense of familiarity tugged at the edges of his mind. He turned it over in his hand, deciding on whether to keep it or discard it.


    Something deep within urged him to hold onto it. Deciding to trust his instincts, Kain repinned the badge to his inner armor before standing and stretching and leaving his room.


    The Vice City-Lord''s estate was a sprawling compound of polished stone and towering pagodas, nestled within Ishvaran''s inner district.


    It served as both a residence and a center for training Ishvaran''s few beast-tamers.


    Kain''s room was among the most luxurious, due to his status as one of the city''s few awakened. Not to mention, the frequency of people awakening has been so low, that Kain was currently the City-Lord''s only active student. All of the other students had ''graduated'' and took over important posts and positions within the city.


    The compound did have other young beast-tamers, but the vast majority of them did not have an affinity strong enough to warrant personal instruction from the Vice City Lord.


    Unlike Kain who had like up all 5 stars of the Spiritual Podium��a device used by many of the city-states to measure the potential of a newly awakened''s affinity.


    As Kain stepped out onto a balcony at the front of the mansion and open to all residents, the city stretched out before him. Ishvaran was bustling even at dawn, with merchants setting up their stalls and soldiers patrolling the walls.


    Below, a group of junior tamers were sparring in the training courtyard, their movements precise but lacking the fluidity of seasoned warriors. Spiritual creatures of various forms darted around them as they play sparred.


    "Kain!" a voice called from below. He looked down to see one of the senior tamers waving at him. "The Vice City-Lord is expecting you in the strategy hall."


    Kain nodded, turning to make his way down the stone steps that led to the estate''s main grounds. His boots clicked softly against the polished stone, and as he walked, he passed the estate''s gardens��filled with rare spiritual plants that shimmered faintly in the sunlight.


    The strategy hall was a grand chamber adorned with maps and relics from Ishvaran''s history. The Vice City-Lord, Nadia, stood at its center, her presence commanding as always. Her dark eyes were sharp, her crimson cloak trailing behind her as she gestured toward a map pinned to the far wall.


    "Kain," she said without turning, her voice firm. "You''re late."


    "Apologies, Vice City-Lord," Kain said, bowing respectfully.


    "Come," she said, motioning for him to join her. "We have a lot to discuss."


    Kain approached, his gaze falling on the map. It showed Ishvaran''s borders, with markers indicating recent sightings of spiritual creatures and areas of concern.


    "The situation is escalating," Nadia said grimly. "Scouts have reported increased activity in the eastern forests��rogue spiritual creatures and signs of Abyssal corruption. If the reports are accurate, we may have less time than we thought to strengthen our defenses."


    Kain''s stomach churned at the mention of the Abyss. He had heard whispers of its influence spreading across the region, but the thought of it reaching Ishvaran was unsettling.


    "I''ve arranged for additional patrols along the eastern border," Nadia continued. "And I''ll need you to lead one of them. Take your contracts and assess the situation. If you encounter any Abyssal creatures, do not engage unless absolutely necessary. Is that clear?" S��ar?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yes, Vice City-Lord," Kain said firmly.


    ----------------


    By the time Kain returned to the estate from his shift on the patrol, the sun had already completely set.


    This isn''t your world, Kain.


    He shook his head, and forgot about the irrational thought that suddenly sprang up in his mind.

 Chapter 417 Familar Faces

    Days passed, and Kain settled into a routine that felt strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.As one of the city-state''s prized beast-tamers, Kain''s duties alternated between patrolling the outskirts to keep rogue spiritual creatures at bay and assisting the Vice City-Lord in planning defences against rival states and potential Abyssal threats.


    As time went on, the feelings of unfamiliarity and the uncomfortable feeling of forgetting something began to fade. He couldn''t help but feel like this had always been his life.


    But sometimes certain events or people will bring up those unsettling feelings again��


    One morning, Kain descended from the estate''s main building, his gaze sweeping the training grounds below. A familiar figure caught his eye��a man with a wiry frame and sharp hazel eyes directing a group of junior tamers.


    "Benji," Kain called, descending the steps.


    The man turned, his features lighting up in recognition. "Kain! Done patrolling already?"


    Kain approached, taking in the sight of Benji''s Spirit Mouse perched on his shoulder. The tiny creature twitched its nose, its beady eyes scanning Kain with an unnerving intensity.


    Benji had quickly risen in the ranks since awakening his affinity, becoming a trusted scout and analyst for the Vice City-Lord. His Spirit Mouse''s unique ability to sense threats, locate treasures, and more made him an invaluable resource.


    "Finished yesterday''s patrol late, but I have another one in the western sector this afternoon," Kain replied. "What about you?"


    "Preparing the juniors for their first hunt," Benji said with a smirk, gesturing to the sparring pairs before him. "They''ve got potential, but they''re still green."


    One of the junior tamers stumbled mid-swing and was hit hard to the ground by the large tiger-like spiritual creature it was sparring with.


    "If only these newbies could be as worry-free as mentoring you," Benji said with melancholy, while heading over to the newly injured young beast-tamer.


    However, Kain couldn''t help but dwell on Benji''s statement. Kain was brought to this compound and was placed directly under the instruction of the Vice City Lord, he couldn''t actually recall a time when he had actually even been mentored or received any advice form Benji.


    However, despite the lack of any such memory involving Benji, Kain instinctively felt like his statement wasn''t false.


    ''Weird��'' The annoying feeling that his memories and surroundings weren''t matching came up again.


    -------------------------------


    Later that day, Kain led his patrol along the western edge of Ishvaran''s borders. The terrain was rocky and uneven, with sparse vegetation hanging on stubbornly within the harsh environment.


    He was accompanied by two of his contracts, the Vespid Queen (and her guards) and the Earth Golem, flanked him, their presence a comforting reminder of his strength.


    On one such day, Kain''s patrol brought him to the southern sector, where he encountered two of Ishvaran''s risig stars: Clara and Claudia.


    The two women were sparring in the central training grounds when Kain arrived. Their movements were sharp and fluid, a striking contrast to the more hesitant techniques of the junior tamers nearby. A crowd had gathered, watching in awe as the pair engaged in a fierce battle.


    Clara''s contract, a fox-like spiritual creature with crystalline fur emitting light, moved in perfect harmony with her commands, darting in and out of Claudia''s shadow panther''s range.


    Meanwhile, Clara and Claudia were engaged in a fierce battle with one another.


    After all, during these chaotic times, a beast-tamer without their own combat power was a dead beast-tamer.


    Currently they were evenly matched, and even their fighting styles were similar. From the current tally of their wins and losses they also had an equal number of wins.


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    Kain leaned against a nearby pillar, watching with admiration. Despite only joining the patrol recently and supposedly having little practical experience, they exuded the confidence and skill of seasoned warriors. Clara and Claudia quickly became rising stars within the patrol and were both up for a higher-up position.


    The fight ended when Clara''s fox leapt over Claudia''s panther in a dazzling display of agility, landing on Claudia''s shoulder and pinning her to the ground with a triumphant growl. The onlookers erupted into cheers and applause.


    Clara extended a hand to Claudia, who accepted it with a wry smile. "You''ve gotten faster," Claudia said, brushing herself off.


    "And you''ve gotten stronger," Clara replied, her tone warm but teasing. "If that last strike had landed, I''d be in the healer''s ward right now."


    Kain approached as the crowd began to disperse. "Impressive as always," he said, nodding to both women. "You joined the patrols only recently but you two make the rest of us look like amateurs."


    Clara turned to him with a smirk. "I don''t know about amateurs�� I hear you''ve been holding your own on the eastern patrols, Kain."


    Claudia crossed her arms, her panther curling at her feet. "Although, you''ve still got a lot to learn if you want to keep up with us."


    Technically, Kain''s position and practical experience should be slightly higher than the other two, but none of the three seemed to see any problem or inconsistency with them taking on a slightly superior and instructional tone with Kain. The two sisters then began to recount various pieces of practical advice to Kain, like usual.


    However, their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger, a young boy out of breath and clutching a scroll. "Tamers Kain, Claudia, and Clara!" he called, his voice urgent. "The Vice City-Lord requests your presence at the strategy hall. According to her, the need for the presence of the three of you is extremely urgent."


    The three tamers exchanged a glance before heading to the hall together.


    When they arrived, the Vice City-Lord was already waiting. Surprisingly, Benji was also present. The gazes of the both of them swept over the 3 new arrivals.


    Interestingly, despite having just seen Benji that morning Kain couldn''t help but feel something odd in the way he and Nadia were staring at the 3 of them. Something had clearly changed in how he treated Kain in just these couple of hours.


    "See I told you they don''t remember anything."

 Chapter 418 True and False

    Kain, Clara, and Claudia halted mid-step at Benji''s words.Don''t remember anything? What the heck are they talking about?


    Kain''s brows furrowed as he exchanged a glance with the two women beside him. Neither of them seemed outwardly alarmed by the statement, but there was a momentary flicker of something in their expressions��confusion? Or perhaps�� recognition?


    Clara tilted her head, her stance shifting slightly. "I''m not sure what you mean, Vice City-Lord," she said cautiously. Her usual confidence was still there, but there was an edge of uncertainty in her voice. "We wouldn''t have reported here if we weren''t in full control of our faculties."


    Kain crossed his arms, nodding. "If there''s a problem, just tell us directly."


    Benji clicked his tongue, rubbing his temple as if this was giving him a headache. "The problem is," he said slowly, "you don''t know that something''s wrong. If I asked you right now how long you''ve been in Ishvaran, what would you say?"


    "Ten years," Claudia answered instantly.


    Clara nodded. "Same here. We arrived together after fleeing the wilderness and joined the patrols together."


    Kain frowned. "I was born here, my affinity was discovered a year ago and I have been training under the Vice City-Lord since."


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    Benji let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head. "No. That''s completely false. None of you have been here more than a few days."


    A tense silence fell over the room.


    Kain opened his mouth, ready to refute the ridiculous claim, but�� something stopped him. A tight, twisting feeling in his chest.


    This isn''t your world, Kain.


    The words slithered through his mind unbidden, and he inhaled sharply. A flickering memory��faint, like a shadow slipping through his fingers��flashed across his consciousness. A temple. A mirror. A pull��


    No.


    He had always been here. Hadn''t he?


    Clara''s fingers twitched at her side, and Claudia''s normally cool expression flickered with an emotion Kain couldn''t quite place.


    Nadia''s voice cut through the silence. "If I told you that a week ago, none of you existed within Ishvaran''s records, how would you respond?"


    Kain''s breath caught.


    Clara and Claudia stiffened.


    "Impossible," Clara said, shaking her head. "I have memories��clear ones. Training in the patrols, fighting rogue beasts, even my first hunt��"


    "Fabricated," Benji interrupted. "They were given to you. By this relic. We are currently within a historical echo."


    Historical echo? Why does that sound so familiar?


    A slow, creeping unease crawled up Kain''s spine. He pressed his lips into a thin line, forcing himself to think rationally.


    "��If what you''re saying is true," Kain said carefully, "then why do we remember so much?"


    "Because that''s how a historical echo relic works," Benji said grimly. "It forces you into a role. Usually the necessary knowledge and identity are given to you while you retain your sense of self. Allowing you to act in a manner not to out of the ordinary. Similar to actors being given a script��they''re still usually aware that they are acting. It''s only in rare cases that someone gets ''too into their role'' and begins to believe they truly are the character they play."


    However, Nadia picked up where Benji left off. "This relic, possibly due to its connection to the Abyss, appears to have a strong assimilating power on the mind. Therefore, we all entered fully consumed by the ''roles'' we were given. And unless something triggered the break, we would never realize it''s not real." Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She continued, "Likely because my cultivation level was stronger than the rest of you, I was able to snap out of it the fastest. Especially since in my free time I had been studying the Pathfinder''s badge, trying to remember its purpose. Benji breaking free at almost the same time as me was a surprise though��"


    Benji smiled humbly, "Ahem��it''s no big deal. Its completely the credit of Aura." He said while gesturing to the Spirit Mouse on his shoulder, whose beady black eyes glowed faintly. The small creature twitched its whiskers as if there was an interesting or embarrassing story behind how they recovered their memories but, unfortunately, Benji did not elaborate further.


    The more that Nadia and Benji spoke, the more Kain believed their words. However, he still couldn''t remember much about the life they say he supposedly led outside of the relic. It was like trying to grab hold of mist��whenever he thought he had something, it would slip away.


    And unfortunately, since neither Nadia nor Benji were personally close with him, they couldn''t give any names for family members or friends that may serve as a trigger for him.


    Claudia and Clara were also in the same boat. They were a team of 5 put together temporarily and hadn''t thought to exchange such information. After all, a situation like this where they all lost their original identities at once was unprecedented.


    The three of them left the strategy hall in silence, given the sole task of remembering their lives outside of this city��this relic.


    Kain''s mind was spinning as he walked back to his quarters. The familiar smiling faces, the family members and friends that he felt he''d known for years��none of them were real? Or at least they were all long dead��


    At the thought, Kain couldn''t resist a sudden burst of sadness consuming his heart.


    But still, although he didn''t want to come to terms with the saddening thought, he didn''t have the idea of sticking his head in the sand and continuing to live in this false reality.


    Although he couldn''t remember anything of his real life, he was certain that there must also be friends and family waiting for him outside of this relic��real, living people.


    And then, his gaze landed on the badge pinned beneath his robes.


    Auralis'' Eye.


    His fingers twitched toward it before he stopped himself. He had almost thrown it away the first time he saw it. Something had told him not to.


    Now based off of the information he''d received from Nadia, he was certain that this badge would be his best shot at breaking whatever ''spell'' this relic had on him.

 Chapter 419 Competition

    Time blurred.Kain had remained completely isolated in his room and was relieved of all duties by the order of the ''Vice City Lord'' Nadia. This was so that he could focus on recovering his lost memories.


    At first, Kain wasn''t even sure how long it had been since the revelation in the strategy hall. The weight of Benji and Nadia''s words had settled into his bones, gnawing at his thoughts even when he tried to push them away. But the moment he began actively questioning his memories��digging into every interaction, every familiar face��the cracks in his mind widened.


    His supposed first childhood friend Klaus who lived next to his family? He could remember his name, face, voice, the scent of their home, but�� he couldn''t remember any specific interaction they had with one another.


    Games they played? Secrets they shared?


    Nothing.


    The first time he held a weapon? He recalled the feel of the hilt in his hands, the rush of battle, but not where it happened or why he was fighting.


    Slowly, the fractures in his mind deepened, and piece by piece, the memories that had once been sealed away came flooding back.


    The Order. The Abyss. His contracts. The real world.


    The realization hit him with the force of a collapsing mountain. He wasn''t Kain, a disciple of the Vice City-Lord in Ishvaran. He was Kain of the Celestial Empire. A Pathfinder.


    His life here had all been a lie.


    And yet�� it had felt so real.


    Kain summoned all 4 of his contracts, when Kain''s memories resurfaced, so did there''s.


    Queen and Aegis seemed to not care too much. The most important things to them (Kain, their allies) entered the relic with them and weren''t forgotten. Therefore, forgetting their memories of the real world wasn''t a particularly disturbing experience for them.


    Vauleth on the other hand was absolutely horrified. He''d forgotten Galadriel! Completely forgotten her. Not to mention, due to the lack of past memories these past few days his relationship with Kain had softened. He''d willingly allowed that guy to use him as a mount frequently! Moreover, once when Kain wished to take a nap while on patrol, he''d allowed Kain to use himself as a bed.


    This was a great loss to his dignity!


    Vauleth wished he could scrub these embarrassing memories from his mind!


    He looked at Kain with a dark look, contemplating knocking his head hard enough to damage all of his memories.


    However, looking at the massive Golem, Vespid Guards, and knowing that Bea was also lurking around invisibly, he knew that his chances of hurting Kain would be slim.


    Unlike the indifference of Queen and Aegis, and the horror of Vauleth, Bea was actually quite intrigued by her experience in this relic.


    As a mental attribute spiritual creature who was also undetectable to the vast majority of creatures, she''d never actually been victim to any kind of mental manipulation before.


    However, now, despite being a green-grade spiritual creature she had not been able to resist this mental erosion at all. Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    Perhaps this relic could serve as an opportunity to take her mental-attribute skills one step further.


    --------------------------


    By the time Kain made his way back to the Vice City-Lord''s estate��or what his mind still stubbornly labeled as such��he found Nadia, Benji, Clara, and Claudia already waiting in a private chamber.


    From the brief expressions that flickered across Clara and Claudia''s faces, Kain could tell that they had remembered before him.


    And that realization stung.


    He wasn''t arrogant enough to think he was the strongest among them. In fact, in terms of cultivation level he was by far the weakest among them. But his mental defenses should have been superior due to Bea''s influence.


    He had a mental-attribute contract, damn it! He should have been the first one to break free.


    His frustration must have been obvious because Benji clapped a hand on his shoulder, offering a knowing smirk. "Don''t look so disappointed. You actually did well, considering the circumstances."


    Kain frowned. "How do you figure?"


    Benji leaned back, crossing his arms. "Look at it this way��You''re only a 4-star beast-tamer, while Clara, Claudia, and I are all 6-stars, and Nadia is a high-level 7-star beast-tamer. That kind of mental disparity matters when it comes to resisting external influences."


    "Not to mention," Nadia added, "Clara and Claudia had been exposed to the Pathfinder''s Badge for far longer than you. I had already been studying mine for days before I woke up, and Benji''s Spirit Mouse has a unique sensitivity to foreign energies. Considering all that, the fact that you broke free only slightly slower than the two of them is actually impressive."


    Kain nodded, but still wasn''t completely sold.


    Claudia, who had been silent until now, gave him a sideways glance. "What really matters is that we''re all on the same page now."


    Clara nodded. "And now that we remember, it''s time we figure out our next steps."


    Nadia exchanged a look with Benji before straightening. "We''ve been investigating since the moment we regained our awareness. There''s a lot to go over, so listen carefully."


    The room fell into silence as they all focused.


    Nadia unrolled a parchment she had been keeping at her side, one that was filled with notes, observations, and hastily drawn symbols. She tapped a finger against the ink-stained page.


    "The first thing we needed to determine was why this relic was so much more immersive than any historical echo we''ve encountered before." S~ea??h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain folded his arms. "And? What did you find?"


    Benji was the one to answer. "We were right in assuming it had something to do with the Abyss. But what we didn''t realize at first was that this relic wasn''t just contaminated with some remnant energy from the Abyss��this relic actually serves as an active entrance to the Abyss and while the people of this world are just memory fragments, the Abyssal creatures are very much real. And they are looking for a way out, just like us."


    "Moreover," Nadia added, tone suddenly dropping, "they appear to be much closer to accomplishing this goal than we are."

 Chapter 420 Discovery

    Kain followed behind a small group of large grotesque creature as black as ink except for their armour.Their body was covered with glowing bone armor, the right hand was similar to a dragon claw, but without scales, and the left arm was a huge bone blade.


    There was a huge single horn on their head, no nose, exposed fangs in their mouth, and a golden single eye.


    Behind each one, was a tail that was tens of feet long, also covered in bone armor, and the end was like a sharp spear tip!


    ''Damn its ugly��I''ve never seen an Abyssal creature wear armour before though.'' Not to mention this one seems a lot more intelligent than the corrupted spiritual creatures and people Kain had seen in the Dragon''s territory.


    The corrupted creatures in the dragons'' territory had been relentless, but ultimately, they had acted on pure instinct��devouring, spreading, corrupting. But these creatures? They moved like an organized unit. They weren''t just wandering aimlessly or attacking whatever they saw.


    For the past few days, Kain and the others had been following traces of the abyssal creatures in order to get clues about how to leave this relic.


    Moreover, Abyssal creatures hadn''t appeared in the world in centuries, therefore not much was known about them.


    Kain and the others also wanted to take this opportunity to learn about them as possible.


    Do they have a larger goal? What are their weaknesses? What exactly is the Abyss?


    Although they likely wouldn''t be able to get all of their questions answered, any bit of information they obtained may end up playing a crucial role in the war against them when they returned back home.


    Currently, based on the pressure they emanated, the group that Kain was responsible for following would be the equivalent of a blue-grade spiritual creatures, or 6-star beast-tamers.


    Therefore, Kain was being extra careful to not be caught and kept his distance from them as much as possible.


    Instead, he''d been monitoring their movements and keeping track of them using birds and other easily ignorable creatures controlled by Bea, and having her feedback what she saw through the splits into his mind. S~ea??h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Meanwhile, Kain stayed far behind, outside of the creatures'' sensory ranges.


    A spiritual creature resembling a cheetah slowly crept up behind Kain, getting ready to pounce on him.


    However, before it could even reveal itself, its ''prey'' quickly turned around and stuck a spear into its head.


    ''How could a red-grade spiritual creature seriously expect to defeat me?'' Kain thought with a roll of his eyes.


    *Ding. Received 1 GP.*


    After Kain had reached 4-stars, the amount of points received for killing spiritual creatures had drastically decreased.


    He received only 1 GP for red-grade spiritual creatures (he used to receive 5 GP), 10 GP for orange grade (30 GP previously), and 30 GP for yellow grade (100 GP previously). Kain once again realized that once the level difference between him and the spiritual creature was too great, he would get a lesser amount of points, while the reward he''d receive for defeating creatures stronger than him was substantial.


    For example, each blue-grade spiritual creature that Kain had managed to defeat would grant him 500 GP.


    Considering that the upgrade points had been increasing while the items in the store got more expensive as their level increased, the discovery of the decrease in points rewarded had completely pissed him off.


    Every time he saw he only got 1 GP per red-grade spiritual creature when he used to receive 5, made him feel like smashing something, and so he''d turned off the system notifications to avoid going crazy with rage.


    Instead, if he needed to check if a powerful spiritual creature was dead, he''d have to open the System menu and look at the recent notifications, which was a bit more of a hassle.


    Unfortunately, since Kain had lost his memories while in this relic, he hadn''t remembered even having a system and so hadn''t checked it.


    Kain couldn''t help but think if he hadn''t silenced the notifications, then he may have been able to come to his senses sooner.


    At the very least he''d begin investigating why a strange Ding and some points would be given every time he''d kill something.


    The System was intimately tied with Kain and his biggest secret, it would have done a far better job at making him remember than the Pathfinder badge.


    Therefore, despite how annoying he found the notifications, he decided to activate them before entering any relics in the future��maybe even all of the time.


    While continuing the kill various weak creatures that tried to attack him, Kain followed the hulking group of Abyssal creatures from a distance while the birds, mice, and insects infected by Bea got much closer.


    Kain had the various animals follow the creatures for hours before he saw them walk behind a massive boulder.


    However, after almost a minute their figures didn''t reappear on the other side.


    ''The boulder wasn''t that big...not to mention they''re huge! They should have walked past it by now��''


    Kain had Bea direct one of the birds to fly around the massive boulder, but the huge figures of their targets were not found. They had completely disappeared.


    Bea directed one of the squirrels she controlled to go much closer to the boulder, but nothing outside of the ordinary could be identified. Experience new tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    That was until a massive foot that resembled the clawed feet of a giant bird came out from the wall of the boulder and stepped on the investigating squirrel, squishing it into a puddle of flesh and blood.


    After killing the squirrel the foot retracted back inside of the boulder.


    Kain was now certain that there was more than met the eye with this boulder, but no matter what creature he sent to investigate, they''d be quickly discovered and destroyed before they could even touch the boulder.


    Kain clearly didn''t currently have the ability to investigate.


    At least not on his own.

 Chapter 421 Spirit Mouse

    After discovering the specialness of that boulder, Kain had used controlled spiritual creatures to issue a secret signal to Nadia and the others to meet. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library EmpireNow he was moving swiftly through the ruins, heading toward the designated meeting point at the dilapidated watchtower.


    He kept his movements small, suppressing his presence as much as possible. Even though he hadn''t been spotted by the Abyssal creatures, there was no telling if they had hidden scouts lurking about.


    The watchtower was nothing more than a crumbling structure of aged stone that once belonged to a long annihilated city-state that stood on the grounds Ishvaran is currently located.


    The colourful, once-proud banners of the fortress were long reduced to faded and tattered remnants. Despite its sorry state, it provided them with a secure vantage point over the surrounding area, making it the ideal place to regroup.


    As Kain arrived, the others were already waiting for him. Nadia leaned against the watchtower''s crumbling wall, arms crossed, her dark eyes flicking toward him as he approached.


    Benji was crouched nearby, idly petting Aura, the Spirit Mouse, who had proven to be invaluable in their reconnaissance efforts so far. Clara and Claudia stood off to the side, deep in a hushed discussion.


    The moment Kain stepped into the circle, all eyes turned toward him. After all, he was the one that had requested this meeting.


    Kain took a moment to compose his thoughts before explaining what he had found. How had followed a group of what appeared to be smarter Abyssal creatures not far from these ruins. How they had walked behind a massive boulder, but they never came out the other side. They had disappeared. He also explained his complete helplessness in being able to enter the boulder, likely ordinary means of investigation would be fruitless.


    Benji''s brows furrowed. "A hidden entrance?"


    Nadia''s expression darkened. "The boulder isn''t just hiding the entrance. It''s being guarded."


    Clara exhaled sharply. "That means whatever''s inside is important. Hopefully, it''s not the location of the relic''s core. The last thing we need is them finding it and being able to enter the real world using it."


    Like all relics, historical relics typically have a core, and once it is found then it can fall completely under the control of the one holding the core. Meaning that any entrants to the relic can be forcefully expelled or prevented from leaving. In the case of historical echoes, the ''time setting'' of the relic can be rewound or fast forwarded to different time points in the overall ''plot'' of the relic.


    All of the relics the Order currently had control of were obtained due to having absolute control over the relic''s core. Sear?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Benji rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If it''s being guarded, brute force isn''t going to work. Although Nadia is a high-level beast-tamer, there''s no guarantee something stronger won''t be in there. We need a way to get in without setting off whatever detection system they have."


    Nadia turned to Benji. "Your Spirit Mouse��how close do you think it can get?"


    Benji didn''t hesitate. "Closer than anything else we''ve got. Aura''s ability to go unnoticed is second to none." He lifted his hand, and the small mouse twitched its nose as if understanding its assignment.


    "Then let''s move," Nadia said, pushing off the wall. "The longer we wait, the more time they have to accomplish whatever it is they are doing inside."


    The group did as they said and moved swiftly away from the ruins, keeping to the shadows.


    By the time they reached the boulder, the sun had begun to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows over the landscape.


    Kain crouched low behind a collapsed pillar, scanning the area. The massive rock stood exactly where he had last seen it, unmoving and unassuming. If he hadn''t actually seen the Abyssal creatures vanish into it, he would have assumed it was just another ruin among many.


    Benji knelt beside him, cupping Aura in his hands. "It''s up to you now."


    Suddenly Aura began to wheeze, cough and choke as though she were struggling to remove something blocking her throat. The sight was concerning, but seeing that nobody, including her own beast-tamer, stepped forward to help, Kain refrained from ''helping'' impusively.


    Eventually, a massive fur ball was coughed up by Aura.


    The ball of fur twitched.


    At first, it was only a faint shudder, but then it began convulsing violently, jerking and writhing as if something inside was trying to claw its way out. The tangled mass of golden fur pulsed unnaturally, inflating and deflating like a grotesque lung.


    Then, with a wet pop, small limbs burst from its sides��thin and bony at first but rapidly thickening as the fur melted away to reveal skin-like tissue stretching over them.


    A tiny head, eerily identical to Aura''s but unsettlingly blank, pushed its way out from the top of the mass. Its beady black eyes blinked once, twice��then the entire thing spasmed as if testing its new form.


    With a final, sickening squelch, the grotesque transformation was completed. The newly formed creature, now identical to the original Spirit Mouse, shivered before scurrying up Benji''s arm and settling on his shoulder.


    Kain swallowed back his discomfort. "That was�� disgusting."


    Benji only shrugged. "You get used to it once you see it a lot of times."


    Noticing Kain''s surprised eyes that he''d have to see that scene frequently, Benji explained. "You didn''t think I''d send my contract inside somewhere so dangerous right? She has many skills to escape detection, but it''s still too risky. What if a high-level creature is in there? Instead, Aura is capable of creating a single split from herself that has her full abilities. In fact, if her true body ever dies, her consciousness will be transferred to the split, and it will become the true body instead. Unfortunately, though, each time the split dies it causes some backlash that may take months to recover from."


    Benji murmured something under his breath, and the duplicate Aura twitched before leaping down onto the rocky ground. She blended seamlessly into the environment, her fur shifting in colour to match the surrounding terrain.


    Moreover, even though Kain could physically see the mouse. For some reason, his mind seemed to refuse to acknowledge that it was right in front of him. Had he not been making the extra effort to watch her, or Bea didn''t have a split on her to transfer images back to the rest of them, he would likely have unconsciously ignored her.


    Then, without hesitation, she scurried toward the boulder, vanishing into the distorted space where Kain had seen the Abyssal creatures disappear.

 Chapter 422 Gate

    Benji closed his eyes as Aura''s duplicate scurried into the invisible entrance within the boulder, his breath slowing as he focused on their shared perception.Thankfully, Bea''s influence ensured that the information wasn''t limited to just Benji. Nearly invisible threads extended from Bea''s tiny form, connecting subtly to each of them��thin strands of mental energy that transferred the images and sensations obtained from Aura directly into their minds.


    Suddenly they weren''t in the clearing, it felt as though they had been transferred to Aura''s body, looking at the world through her perspective.


    Kain felt the shift in temperature, the unnatural density of the air once Aura entered the boulder. It wasn''t cold in a normal way. It was a soul deep chilling sensation�� heavy, suffocating, like something unseen was pressing down on them. The unpleasant temperature had more to do with the atmosphere in the boulder and less to do with the actual temperature.


    Aura moved cautiously through the entrance, her small frame scurrying between the jagged formations of stone and pulsing blackened roots that wove along the walls like veins.


    Then, she saw it.


    This was likely the "guard" that had killed everything else that had tried to approach.


    The creature stood motionless at the cavern''s entrance, not far from where Aura had just entered.


    It was grotesque, even by Abyssal standards. Its hulking frame was hunched, its body a mass of shifting, pulsating black muscle covered in jagged bone plating. It had too many limbs��six arms, each ending in a different kind of blade or claw��and its head was completely featureless except for a gaping, vertical slit where a mouth should be.


    Aura paused, her tiny nose twitching, scanning for any sign of awareness from the monstrous being. If it detects her, she''d immediately give up her cover and try to enter the cavern and obtain as much information as possible before dying.


    And yet��nothing.


    It didn''t react.


    Not to her presence. Not to her movements.


    Thankfully, it appears as though the combination of skills she usually employed was enough to keep her undetected.


    She ran right past its feet, so close that she could feel the heat radiating from its abyssal flesh, but it remained utterly still.


    Past it was a long tunnel that after travelling a short distance split into three.


    However, the confusion on the correct path only stopped Aura briefly, through her shared vision with her, they saw the group that Kain had previously been following. However, they weren''t solid. They more closely resembled holograms. Kain realized that Aura must be using her ability to see past events in order to determine which path to take.


    The ''holograms'' took the path to the right��so Aura did as well.


    "This space is huge," Benji murmured, voice tense as Aura travelled down the selected hallway for what felt like several minutes. The space inside of the boulder clearly exceeded the massive boulder''s size by hundreds of times. "it is much bigger than it should be based on the size of the boulder. And the walls are��alive?" He paused, and through the mental link, Kain saw what he meant.


    As Aura travelled, the originally black stone walls took on more of a fleshy-grey-toned hue.


    The walls pulsed. Slowly, sickeningly. Like veins. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain exhaled sharply. The sensation crawling through Kain''s skin told him that although they couldn''t be sure the walls were alive, there was definitely something off about them.


    And then, the images changed once again. Aura had finally reached the end of the tunnel.


    The space opened up into a massive tunnel. And it was so large that loud screams, likely generated by a large amount of wind, practically blocked out all other noises.


    Is there another opening? To outside? Otherwise, why would there be such loud, high-pitched screech noises, as if from wind?


    A deeper section of the cavern. The Abyssal creatures��the same ones Kain had been tracking��were no longer walking. They were working.


    Building something.


    "A Gate," Benji said, voice hollow.


    The word settled over them like a weight.


    Kain''s stomach twisted as he took in the grotesque sight through Aura''s connection.


    The structure was massive, far larger than any of the creatures surrounding it. Its frame was bone, twisted and warped into a jagged arch. But what lay within the half-formed structure was worse.


    The center of the Gate wasn''t solid. It wasn''t stone or metal. It was flesh.


    The flesh was alive.


    Kain watched as it moved��twitching, shifting, like it was trying to form something but couldn''t quite take shape.


    At the same time, Kain and the others saw the source of the screams��it wasn''t from the wind.


    Claudia inhaled sharply and her voice reverberated through the mental connection they all held with one another. "That''s not��That can''t be��"


    "They''re using people," Benji cut in, his voice thick with barely contained rage. "The bodies are being absorbed. Their flesh melts into the structure, their bones fuse with the frame. They''re alive when it happens."


    How were they even able to get people? All of the civilians here are products of the memory relic, aren''t they? They shouldn''t be able to accomplish whatever their goal is.


    Unless, similar to Kain and the others, some other citizens of Brightstar City were sucked into this relic against their will��


    Kain''s hands curled into fists at the thought that people he knew and grew up with��teachers, shopkeepers, neighbours��could be those integrated into this gate.


    He could see it now��figures, twisted beyond recognition, writhing within the Gate''s growing form. Their mouths opened in silent screams, their limbs fused together in unnatural angles as they were pulled into the structure itself.


    Some still had vaguely recognizable faces.


    The flesh that made up the center of the Gate rippled again, and for the first time, Kain''s gaze locked onto a single, twisted face embedded within it.


    Or rather��half a face.


    The other half was fused seamlessly into the grotesque structure, as though it had been sculpted from the same material. The skin was stretched unnaturally, merging into the pulsing, bone-like frame of the Gate, yet the visible portion retained its human features��enough to be recognizable.


    A single, bloodshot eye stared outward, blinking sluggishly, as though struggling to remain conscious. The pupil twitched, unfocused, rolling in its socket before locking onto Aura''s tiny form.


    Surprisingly, despite the guards seemingly not being able to detect Aura, those fused into the gate seemed able to see her.


    The mouth��half-formed and fused into the living mass��parted slightly, as if trying to form words, but only a weak, garbled noise escaped.


    A choking whimper.


    Kain felt his stomach twist violently.


    He knew this person.


    Mister Yan.


    The elderly man who had once owned a tea shop on the outskirts of Brightstar City. Kain had passed by his store countless times growing up.


    The scent of roasted tea leaves and aged parchment was seared into his childhood memories. He could remember the old man''s wrinkled hands carefully pouring a cup of jasmine tea, the warm smile he had offered to customers, the way he would always slip extra cookies into the bags of Kain and his siblings who wandered into his shop but weren''t able to afford much of anything.


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    Kain''s breathing hitched.


    Master Yan was here.


    He had been sucked into the relic just like they had. Who knows how many others��


    Kain clenched his fists so hard that his nails bit into his palms and drew blood.


    He had to fight every instinct screaming at him to charge in there and do something. But what could he even do? Master Yan wasn''t just trapped. He was part of the Gate now. There was no way to tear him free without��


    He swallowed back bile.


    Without killing him.


    But could he even be truly considered alive?


    A fresh wave of horror surged through Kain.


    "If they''re still conscious��" Clara began, voice shaking.


    "They are," Benji confirmed, his tone grim. "At least�� for a while."


    A nauseating silence filled the link.


    Nadia broke the silence, "We can''t get hung up on these individuals. Yes, what happened to them is terrible. But we are helpless to save them. The best thing we could do, would be to make sure that the Abyssal creatures don''t succeed. To make sure that these people don''t need to watch as their bodies are used to form a gate to the real world and launch an attack on their friends and families."


    After making a sound that seemed like they were choking down their vomit, Kain and the others did as Nadia directed and focused on the task at hand.


    Using the connection to Aura, they examined the gate with a more calm and critical eye. Now looking for any information that may help them and not focusing so much on the ''materials'' the gate was composed of.


    Benji''s voice broke the silence once again, "Aura said that she can somewhat detect the purpose and function of the gate. I think they are trying to use the connection between the flesh and blood creatures in our world to construct a gate that would lead to the ''origin'' of those fused into the gate."

 Chapter 423 Gate (2)

    Benji''s words settled over them like a heavy weight.The very air around them seemed to grow heavier, and Kain suddenly found it much harder to breathe as he processed what Benji''s words likely meant for his hometown.


    A deep, oppressive silence followed, stretching between them like a suffocating shroud.


    "The origin?" Clara finally broke the silence, brows furrowed.


    Benji hesitated, seeming to parse through the information Aura was providing. "It''s complicated. The gate isn''t just some random passageway into the real world. It''s being calibrated. They''re attuning it to somewhere��or some people��from the real world."


    Kain''s stomach churned. "You mean it''s locked onto Brightstar City?"


    Benji nodded grimly. "It makes sense, doesn''t it? Everyone used in this gate has ties to Brightstar, their families who they have blood ties with and can serve as anchors are probably mostly all in Brightstar. And if I had to guess�� the more people they fuse into it, the stronger the connection becomes. The moment it''s complete, it won''t just open anywhere��it''ll lead straight to there."


    A cold dread seeped into Kain''s bones.


    He didn''t just feel fear��he felt rage. A festering, boiling rage that made his fingers twitch with the need to lash out, to do something. These creatures weren''t just invading��they were targeting his home, the people he cared about.


    Yeah, he had transferred his family members beforehand, but there were still many within the city that he or his family had emotional ties with��their close neighbours Farmer Joe and his wife Sally; Kain''s former teacher Mr. Evergreen; former classmates; kind-hearted members of their small city who would frequently gift living essentials to the orphanage to help them get through the toughest times.


    Destroying the gate wasn''t just a matter of stopping the Abyssal creatures from leaving the relic. If they didn''t intervene, Brightstar City��his home��would become the starting point for an Abyssal invasion of the entire Empire.


    But before anyone could voice their ideas, something else happened.


    A shrill, piercing screech split the cavern. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire


    Aura flinched, the sound reverberating through their mental connection like nails dragging across their very souls. It was high-pitched, unnatural��somewhere between the wail of a dying animal and the distorted static of a broken machine.


    The source?


    A woman, half-merged into the Gate.


    Kain vaguely recognized her.


    Madam Rulien. He had never really spoken with her. He mostly knew of her from Cherry''s ''little black book'' of secrets. Kain must say, that since her husband passed, she has lived quite the colourful nightlife.


    However, this well-known female merchant with a penchant for a flamboyant lifestyle, a staple of Brightstar''s high society, had been reduced to this��a half-formed, screaming horror bound in flesh.


    Her mouth was stretched open unnaturally wide, the scream bursting from her lips in a desperate, grating wail. Her bloodshot eyes were wild with panic, her exposed fingers twitching spastically as if trying to claw her way free from the Gate.


    The Abyssal creatures below recoiled at the sound. Many of the weaker ones, moved all the way to the chamber, looking as though they wished to flee the noise. Even the stronger ones flinched at the noise, their expressions twisting in what could only be discomfort


    Aura too, tried to discretely move away as far as possible without drawing attention to herself.


    Then, one of the Abyssal creatures moved.


    A massive one��easily the largest in the chamber��turned its grotesque head toward her. Its golden eye gleamed with something between irritation and cold amusement.


    Without hesitation, it raised one of its massive, clawed arms and swung toward the Gate.


    Its movements were swift and effortless.


    And for the first time, the creatures fused into the Gate showed an unmistakable emotion��terror.


    Madam Rulien''s eyes widened in horror as the attack descended upon her. Her scream cut off into a choked gurgle, her face contorting in agony as if she already knew what was coming.


    And then��


    The blow never landed.


    Just as the Abyssal creature''s strike was about to connect, something invisible caught it mid-air.


    A shimmering, translucent barrier flared into existence. The creature''s attack dispersed into a wave of energy upon impact, sending rippling distortions through the air resembling heat waves.


    Kain and the others tensed.


    A shield?


    Or some other kind of automatic defence mechanism?


    Whatever it was, it was a powerful one. The largest Abyssal creature there was at least the equivalent of a high-level indigo-grade spiritual creature��equal in strength to their current strongest member, Nadia. And yet its attack had done nothing.


    The Abyssal behemoth didn''t react with surprise. It merely withdrew its arm, clicking its jaws together in what might have been frustration��or amusement.


    A deep, guttural noise rumbled through its chest, something between a growl and an eerie chuckle. It seemed�� satisfied. But with what?


    Satisfied that it had terrified those fused into the gate?


    Or was it satisfied that the strength of the shield covering the gate was working or even getting stronger?


    However, while the other Abyssal creatures revelled in this ''interesting'' scene. The hearts of Kain and the others dropped.


    The Gate wasn''t vulnerable. It wasn''t something they could just destroy with brute force like many of them were going to propose they do.


    Kain exhaled through gritted teeth.


    Claudia broke the silence. "That means��" S��ar?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We can''t just smash it," Nadia confirmed, her tone grim. "At least, not with the strength we have now. Whatever protections are in place, they''re strong enough to withstand an attack from that." She motioned toward the Abyssal creature that had attempted the strike.


    Clara clenched her fists. "Then we need more information. There has to be something we can use against it."


    Benji inhaled sharply, refocusing. "Aura needs to check the other two paths. Maybe we''ll find something useful."


    Kain forced himself to nod. "Then let''s move."


    Aura turned back, scampering quickly out of the cavern and retracing her steps to the three-way split.


    She had just witnessed the horror in the path to the right.


    This time, she took the leftmost path.

 Chapter 424 Survival of the Fittest

    The tunnel here was different.If the previous path had pulsing, vein-like walls, then this one was wrong in an entirely different way.


    The stone here was dark��darker than natural rock, as though it had been drenched in black liquid tar.


    The walls exuded an eerie sheen, almost like they were sweating, releasing thick droplets that oozed down their surface.


    The air was damp, humid, and carried an unsettling scent��one that was both cloyingly sweet and rancid at the same time, like honey left to rot in the sun.


    Aura scampered forward as quietly as possible, her tiny frame barely making a sound.


    Then, the tunnel widened��into another chamber.


    And inside was something they couldn''t immediately comprehend.


    A pit.


    A massive one.


    Almost the entire chamber was taken up by it.


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    The surface of it was black, its shifting mass undulating like the surface of a slow, oily tide. It twisted and rippled, forming patterns that seemed to dissolve before they could truly take shape.


    Kain''s gut immediately told him something was wrong.


    His eyes narrowed. The surface of the pit wasn''t water.


    It wasn''t liquid at all.


    No��


    It was moving. Squirming. Wriggling. Pulsating.


    And then Kain saw the true identity of this moving ''liquid''.


    Not waves. Not liquid.


    Worms.


    Microscopic. Squirming, writhing, wriggling over one another in numbers so vast that they blurred together into an endless sea of shifting black.


    Billions. Possibly even trillions.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat.


    "What�� what is this?" Claudia murmured, voice unsettled.


    Benji frowned. "It looks like�� some kind of dark fluid."


    Kain''s eyes flickered. His stomach churned. "You don''t see them?"


    The others turned toward him.


    Clara frowned. "See what? It''s just black water. Right?"


    Kain swallowed hard. To them, it still appeared as a liquid. But possibly due to his affinity, he could tell that this ''water'' was very much alive.


    He could see them. Their tiny, wriggling bodies. Their gelatinous, black-translucent forms, each a hundredth the size of a grain of sand. Their jaws, were filled with hundreds of needle-like teeth arranged in concentric rows like leeches.


    And they were eating each other. Slowly. Deliberately.


    The smallest ones devoured their similarly-sized neighbours whenever they saw an. opportunity.


    Tiny maws latched onto their kin, tearing them apart and absorbing them. Their flesh twisted, hardened, and grew thicker as they consumed more and more. The process was slow, almost imperceptible at first, but as Kain continued watching, the black mass thickened.


    Over the course of ten minutes, the others finally began to see it.


    What was once indistinct black sludge became a seething mass of millions of barely visible things.


    They were growing.


    And as they continued to consume one another, they were transforming.


    The creatures started to take form.


    Their bodies convulsed, bulging as they expanded in grotesque bursts. Limbs sprouted��uneven, misshapen as if trying to decide what shape they wanted to be. Their skin was thin and translucent at first, before darkening into a solid black.


    And what emerged was the lowest tier of Abyssal creatures that Kain or the others had ever seen so far��small, hunched, feral-looking things. Their limbs twitched erratically, some dragging themselves forward on malformed arms, others scrambling with multi-jointed legs that bent the wrong way.


    Their bodies were grotesque, their flesh stretched unevenly across their twisted, newly-formed skeletal frames. Some had no eyes. Others had too many. Their mouths gnashed��slits filled with jagged, overlapping rows of razor-sharp teeth.


    Based on the energy they emitted, sensed by Aura, Kain and the others placed them at around red-grade in strength.


    There were thousands of them.


    Then��


    They attacked each other.


    The feral Abyssal creatures lunged, tearing into one another with a savagery that defied reason. Their screeches filled the chamber.


    Some ripped chunks of flesh from their rivals, gnawing on sinew and muscle as they grew larger with each bite. Others were torn apart in seconds, devoured by their stronger kin before they could even fight back.


    Claws sliced through bone like butter. Fangs pierced through skulls with sickening crunches.


    One by one, the weak were consumed by the stronger of their kind.


    Over the course of hours, the cycle repeated.


    Thousands of red-grade Abyssal creatures evolved into hundreds of orange-grade ones��the victors of their respective battles, having consumed nearly a dozen of their peers around them.


    Their bodies began to stabilize, becoming more defined. Their limbs solidified, no longer twitching erratically. Their skeletal frames thickened, their muscles coiling with clear strength.


    The hundreds of orange-grade Abyssal creatures fought and fed until only a little over a hundred yellow-grade ones remained.


    Their appearances became more refined��sleeker, deadlier. Their once-emaciated bodies filled out, their movements fluid and calculated rather than wild and erratic.


    The process continued from yellow-grade to green-grade.


    And at the very end��


    A single, monstrous being stood in the now empty arena��all other Abyssal creatures having been made into food.


    Its form was towering, refined, a perfect amalgamation of its predecessors. It stood on two powerful legs, its four arms ending in deadly talons. Its face was devoid of any features except for a gaping maw filled with writhing, barbed tongues that flickered in and out like serpents. Its body was plated in hardened bone-like armour that grew from its flesh.


    Blue-grade.


    Clara inhaled sharply. "This is��"


    "A breeding pit," Nadia finished, her expression unreadable. "They''re cultivating their warriors here."


    Kain''s jaw tightened. A sharp pang of horror settled in his chest.


    Blue-grade spiritual creatures were considered the peak of power in many cities. Brightstar City didn''t even have anyone close to that level of strength. Even many first and second-tier cities, aside from the 5 capital cities of each region, typically only had a couple dozen of such elite fighters.


    And yet this pit was being used to mass-produce them.


    Kain and the others watched as the victor let out a guttural snarl, stretching its new limbs as it surveyed its surroundings��then exited the pit through the only exit in the chamber.


    The pit, now empty, stilled.


    Then, without warning��


    The surface writhed again.


    More black ''water'' surged upward, filling the pit with another generation of microscopic Abyssal worms, ready to start the cycle anew.


    Before they knew it, they had watched the previous round for around six hours. sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That meant that an Abyssal creature equivalent in strength to a blue-grade spiritual creature could be created around four times each day.


    In one week, that was nearly thirty. In a year�� thousands.


    Considering the many years it took for most individuals to raise a blue-grade spiritual creature��


    The sheer number of creatures that must have already been produced here was beyond terrifying.

 Chapter 425 Final Chamber

    Aura scurried through the pitch-black tunnel leading to and from the breeding pit''s chamber, retracing her path back to the three-way split.The weight of what they had just seen��the grotesque, ritualistic cycle of Abyssal evolution��hung over Kain and the others like a shroud of unease.


    How many blue-grade spiritual creatures had they churned out over the years?


    Moreover, how many similar breeding pits were there scattered across various relics and Abyssal entrances throughout the Empire?


    They needed more information. Perhaps the center chamber could answer some of their questions.


    The right hallway had been a nightmare of living flesh and tormented souls being helplessly fused into a gate.


    The left hallway had been a horrifying forge of endless Abyssal warriors formed through cannibalism.


    But the center hallway��


    The center hallway was normal and quiet.


    Too normal.


    Aura''s tiny form hesitated at the threshold, her nose twitching. The cavernous tunnel stretched forward made of seemingly normal-looking stone, smooth and undisturbed, its walls lacking the grotesque pulsations or ink-like coating of the others.


    The tunnel appeared normal until it almost reached its end.


    Kain''s breath was slow, and controlled, but he couldn''t shake the discomfort pooling in his gut.


    Kain had anticipated the most important area to the Abyssal creatures being in the center, but��


    "Why is this place so�� normal?" Clara asked, her voice laced with unease.


    "It''s not normal," Nadia muttered. "It must be hiding something."


    However, whether she believed that or was saying it to comfort everyone was unknown. After all, they had all been hoping that the center chamber held the answers to their unanswered questions or, better yet, the key to ruining the Abyssal creatures'' plans entirely.


    Aura continued forward, slipping through the dark, her small frame silent against the lifeless stone. The chamber at the end of the hallway wasn''t large��nowhere near the scale of the breeding pit or the flesh-forged Gate.


    And yet, something about it felt infinitely more dangerous.


    The chamber was simple��almost unassuming.


    Three things stood within it. No more. No less.


    At the center of the room, a single black stone sat upon an altar of carved bone.


    It was small��no larger than a fist. It did not pulse. It did not glow. It simply�� sat there.


    Aura crept toward it cautiously, her senses stretching, searching for signs of life or danger.


    But the stone was lifeless. And yet��Kain and the others felt uneasy.


    "What is that?" Benji murmured.


    "A rock?" Claudia guessed, though her voice wavered with uncertainty.


    Aura got a little closer. But still, nothing happened.


    No sudden surge of power. No eerie hum of abyssal corruption. It remained completely unremarkable.


    And that, more than anything, worried Kain and the others. The unknown was always more terrifying. And they knew, based on the prominent position of this ''rock'' in the center chamber it must be incredibly important.


    Something deep within them all screamed that the stone wasn''t just a stone.


    But there was no way to know.


    Aura moved on.


    In a corner to the right of the room, almost as if it had been tossed aside on the floor due to its unimportance was a massive, fractured crystal the size of a melon.


    But unlike the cold, lifeless black stone, this one was fighting.


    The Relic Core.


    It pulsed��slow, laboured, like a heartbeat on the verge of stopping. Its once-pure energy still shone at its core��a brilliant, shifting golden-blue light��but it was trapped, strangled by countless black tendrils that coiled around it like parasitic vines.


    The tendrils pulsated, twisting, writhing, slowly digging deeper into the crystal''s fractures, infecting it bit by bit. The core shuddered, trying to push back, but its light was flickering.


    It was losing. Aura crept closer and suddenly��


    A ''voice.'' But it wasn''t really words nor speech.


    Just a whispering presence, brushing against their minds through the connection with Aura to convey a single message.


    "Help��"


    "The core is still resisting," Benji muttered. "But it won''t last. The Abyss is forcing its corruption onto it. Once it''s fully controlled, by them, they will likely begin to fuse it into the gate they made and open up a stable channel to the real world."


    "Why do they even need the gate if they have the core?" Kain asked. After all, he''d learned something about relic cores while studying to be a Pathfinder. It was typical for relic cores to fight against being controlled, even when the controller wasn''t an abyssal creature. However, once it is controlled, they shouldn''t need to put the effort into making that gate.


    "We haven''t been exposed to Abyssal Creatures too often," Benji began to explain his hypothesis, "but my guess is that either the energy they use isn''t like spiritual energy and can''t be used to efficiently control the core, or this relic has a strength limit on the creatures that can pass through it, and that gate is to help exceed that limit. Perhaps it''s both. Either way, we should be grateful that they needed to delay."


    Aura backed away from the Relic Core. Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire Sear?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The moment she did, the black tendrils loosened, almost as if they were sensing her presence and had tightened themselves around the core to guard against her. The golden-blue light inside the core continued to dim, a weak, flickering ember in the suffocating dark.


    It didn''t have much time left.


    "We need to find a way to take the core, without question. But first, we should see what else is in here. The more information we obtain the better." Nadia decided against just immediately making a grab for the core and bolting.


    Not to mention finishing their exploration of this last chamber shouldn''t take too long, there was only 1 unexplored object remaining.


    At the far end of the chamber, behind the unidentified crystal in the center a coffin stood upright��a massive, glass-like crystal, carved into the shape of a perfect black monolith.


    The thing inside seemed dead at first glance.


    Its body was encased in midnight-black armour, etched with markings that seemed to shift when not directly observed. Its limbs were too long, its fingers ending in blade-like claws. A single slit for what Kain assumed to be an eye sat at the center of its forehead, closed��unmoving. Its mouth was slightly open in its rest and they all could see the rows of razor-sharp teeth, not too dissimilar from the rows of teeth of the original Abyssal worms in the breeding pit.


    Aura hesitated, but the others felt it too. The pressure in the room had shifted during her approach.


    The eye inside the crystal coffin did not open. The limbs did not move. The body did not breathe.


    And yet, Aura��tiny, unnoticed, insignificant��felt the crushing weight of awareness.


    Aura turned and ran.

 Chapter 426 Consumed by Fear

    Aura ran.No conscious thought. No strategy. No hesitation.


    Pure, primal terror consumed her tiny body, overriding every instinct, every learned behavior. The moment she had felt the weight of that thing''s awareness��the Abyssal being slumbering inside the coffin��her mind had snapped. Not with reason, not with logic, but with the inescapable certainty of death.


    Aura had encountered many powerful beings before. Nadia, a 7-star beast-tamer, the indigo-grade Abyssal creatures they''d seen in the other chamber, even the horrifying process of the breeding pit.


    But this? She had never faced anything that made her feel so certain of her impending doom before.


    It had barely done anything��hadn''t moved, hadn''t stirred, hadn''t even acknowledged her.


    Yet that presence had completely overwhelmed her mind with terror.


    Her heart pounded, and her tiny paws blurred as she bolted from the chamber, retracing her path blindly down the center hallway, desperate to put distance between herself and that thing before it could open its eyes and see her.


    Through the link, the others felt her terror. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Aura!" Benji''s voice snapped through the connection. "Calm down! You need to get the core! Don''t forget the core!"


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    But she wasn''t listening. She was mindless, reduced to nothing but a small creature trying to flee a terrifying predator.


    "Shit��" Benji cursed as he felt the overwhelming panic surge from Aura. His bond with her meant that even he was struggling to think straight under the sheer weight of her fear.


    "She''s not responding!" Clara snapped. "Damn it! Just grab the core and go! You sent a split in there, Aura! It''s not even your real body!"


    Aura didn''t hear her. Didn''t care. She had to run.


    But Kain, his mind whirling through the possibilities, refused to let this mission fail.


    Aura was too far gone to listen to Benji. Too deep in panic to make rational decisions.


    Thankfully, he''d unintentionally kept a backup security measure on her beforehand��Bea.


    He immediately drained all of his spiritual power to provide the needed boost of energy and power to her so that she could momentarily control the blue-grade mouse.


    For a split second, Aura''s world froze.


    A foreign presence slipped into her mind. Not in a violent, forceful way, but like a shadow curling around her thoughts. Gentle yet overpowering.


    For an instant, Aura felt herself slipping��control of her limbs, her frantic breathing, the sheer animalistic urge to flee.


    But unlike most other creatures Bea had influenced before, Aura fought back hard.


    Aura''s mental strength was stronger than the average blue-grade spiritual creature. Likely due to the unique attributes of her species.


    She kicked and thrashed against the influence, her mind screaming in rebellion, refusing to be controlled.


    Kain clenched his fists, sweat beading on his temple as he pushed everything he had into Bea, even using elixirs and his equipment to refill his spiritual power and provide additional boosts. Never had he done so before, and he could feel the painful strain of using the spiritual skill so frequently on the same target put on himself and Bea.


    However, his efforts paid off. For a brief moment, Aura''s body stilled.


    Her paws stopped their desperate scrabbling. Her breathing slowed. The blind, mindless terror loosened its grip.


    She was still afraid. Terrified beyond measure. But she was thinking again.


    She wasn''t being chased. Nothing had moved. The coffin hadn''t opened.


    She was slightly embarrassed to admit that she had panicked over the mere presence of the Abyssal being.


    Aura reassured Benji of her well-being, still shaking but aware once more, and Bea''s influence faded, retreating as soon as Kain felt her stabilizing.


    Benji let out a breath of relief.


    But Claudia wasn''t nearly as understanding.


    "Oh for fuck''s sake, Benji," Claudia exhaled sharply. "Your contract nearly lost us everything because it got scared? The core, Aura! The one thing we''ve been searching for, for days! Stop being a scaredy mouse and grab the core before those tendrils finish corrupting it!"


    Benji''s entire demeanour snapped.


    "Are you serious right now?" His voice was sharp, uncharacteristically angry. "You felt that thing, Claudia! That wasn''t some regular monster! It likely had the strength of a Demigod! Do you think you could think clearly when faced with it?!"


    "She sent a split," Claudia countered. "If it dies, she''ll recover with time after a period of weakness. The mission is more important than a little fear."


    Benji''s jaw tightened, his fingers clenching into a fist, but didn''t argue further. As the one with the closest connection with Aura, he''d more vividly felt the pressure emanating from that creature. He was also slightly embarrassed to admit, that he almost wanted to bolt from this area as well. He didn''t normally react this way to creatures stronger than him, but it was almost as if this creature had the passive ability to drive people crazy from fear.


    Kain, meanwhile, took a steadying breath. The argument didn''t matter. Not right now.


    Aura was calm. That was what mattered.


    "Alright, focus," Nadia''s voice cut through the air. "We need to figure out how to take the core without setting off any defences."


    Aura turned, cautiously re-entering the central chamber and approaching the Relic Core once again.


    The black tendrils twitched.


    Not from awareness of her��no, they were still focused entirely on strangling the core itself. But that meant if she disturbed them, they might react.


    "How do we even grab it?" Kain murmured. "If the tendrils detect movement, they''ll tighten around it completely."


    "Not if they''re distracted," Benji said.


    Nadia caught on quickly. "You mean force them to divide their energy?"


    Benji nodded. "They''re actively corrupting the core. If we feed it energy, the tendrils will be forced to counteract the purification. That could weaken their hold long enough for Aura to grab it."


    Kain frowned. "Do we have anything that can purify it?"


    A beat of silence.


    "Ahem��remember that list of objects I gave you previously, about the must-have objects for Pathfinders in the event of an emergency," Benji began hopefully, "by any chance Kain, did you actually manage to purchase the items on the list��"


    "Of course! You emphasized that those were the objects Pathfinders should keep on themselves at all times." Kain confirmed. Benji''s words while passing that list had left quite the impression. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn''t have used the credits he''d just gained from the mission in the Dragon Territory to purchase a bunch of things he didn''t even know how to use. He would have spent it on weapons, evolutionary materials, or other stuff he actually could visualize how it could boost his strength.


    Wait��


    Kain looked around at the lowered and embarrassed expressions of his teammates. Even their leader Nadia, looked as though she was chastising herself. "Don''t tell me that you all didn''t bring anything on that list?!"


    ''If they don''t purchase that stuff, why the heck did they ask me to?!''

 Chapter 427 The Price of Power

    Silence.Kain folded his arms and let out a slow, judgmental sigh, his gaze sweeping over the more senior members of the Order��Benji, Claudia, Clara, and even Nadia.


    The tension in the air was palpable as they all avoided eye contact, suddenly very interested in admiring the surrounding scenery.


    Benji, looking increasingly uncomfortable, was the first to break the silence.


    "W-Well, Kain, you see�� It''s not that we didn''t want to buy those things, but, uh��" He cleared his throat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and desperately trying to shake off the feeling of guilt.


    It wasn''t like they hadn''t wanted the relic supplies. If anything, everyone knew they were essential for Pathfinders operating in relics. But... they were expensive.


    Benji sighed, finally relenting. "Look, Kain, you''re still a 4-star beast-tamer. You don''t understand how astronomical the resource costs become when you reach 6-stars and beyond. Each breakthrough at the higher levels is a life-threatening endeavour. If you don''t have the proper resources, you risk permanently damaging your foundation or dying. The safest way to breakthrough requires a rare elixir worth tens of millions of Celestial Dollars or tens of thousands of credits from the Order. And that''s just for one attempt! Let''s not even talk about advancing our contracts to indigo-grade spiritual creatures!" He threw up his hands in exasperation. "The three of us��Clara, Claudia, and I��have been stuck at 6-stars for years because we just don''t have the resources to safely advance! If we ever get a big windfall, do you really think we''d spend it on these so-called essential relic supplies?" S��ar?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain''s unimpressed stare remained unwavering.


    Clara sighed. "We''re not saying the stuff on that list isn''t useful��obviously, it is. It''s just�� when we have to choose between making real progress in our cultivation or stocking up on ''just in case'' items, the choice is obvious."


    Kain''s expression darkened. "So you''re saying," he said slowly, "that despite being experienced 6-star beast-tamers, none of you had even a single credit left to buy essentials? Even after insisting that I buy them?"


    Benji hesitated before giving an awkward cough. "It, uh, seemed more reasonable for you to get them, y''know? Since you weren''t breaking through anytime soon��"


    Kain inhaled deeply through his nose. "Unbelievable."


    His gaze shifted to Nadia, expecting her to be the voice of reason.


    Surely she had been prepared, right?


    But even she avoided his gaze, suddenly looking�� bashful?


    "��You too?" Kain asked incredulously.


    "��It''s not like the pursuit of strength stops after becoming a high-level beast-tamer," Nadia mumbled, visibly uncomfortable. "Just because I''ve reached 7-stars doesn''t mean I can just stop investing in my own progress. I might be a long way from 8-stars, but my contracts�� out of all of them, only one has reached indigo-grade. Naturally, I want the others to break through as well." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "The cost of high-grade resources is insane. Any spare credits I get are immediately funnelled into my contracts. If they don''t improve, even if I one day break through to 8-stars, I wouldn''t be much stronger than the average 7-star beast-tamer, or even the top 6-star beast-tamers."


    Kain stared at them all.


    ''Oh, spare me the sob stories! I am the youngest. I am the lowest-ranked. I am the one with the least resources. And yet, I am the only one who actually followed your own damn advice!''


    He mentally imagined hammering the heads of all four of his teammates.


    Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kain exhaled heavily.


    "��Fine. Fine. Whatever. There''s no point arguing about it now��"


    ��However, for the sake of group harmony, he decided against screaming at them.


    Kain exhaled again, shaking his head. "So, in summary��all of you are broke."


    His pointedly dry words hung in the air.


    The three 6-stars and their 7-star leader all awkwardly coughed and looked away.


    Kain glanced at his storage ring, feeling both annoyed and relieved that he had actually followed Benji''s advice.


    "��Let''s just focus on the situation at hand," he muttered tiredly. "Which items from the list will actually help here?"


    Kain dug into his storage pouch and withdrew a few items.


    Under the scrutinizing gaze of his more experienced teammates, they narrowed down the selection to two items that could help with the Relic Core''s extraction.


    The first was a Vessel of Purification��a small, unassuming crystal vial that, when activated, would release a concentrated burst of purifying energy. Its main purpose is to purify the mind of ''corruption.''


    Benji''s eyes lit up. "Thank god you managed to get this, Kain!"


    Kain raised an eyebrow. "It''s that useful?" Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire


    Benji nodded. "It''s pure essence from a certain high-grade Light-elemental creature. Typically, it is used to cleanse the minds of Pathfinders who have fallen ''too deep into the act'' of a memory echo and snap them out of it. But it also has a unique side effect: it can reverse control progress on a Relic Core as long as it''s not completely controlled."


    "Although, this function is rarely used, it''s an invaluable resource to have when entering relics that may have entrants from other nations. After all, in such cases, the final control of the relic was a matter of national pride and could contribute to the country''s strength." Benji finished


    "Therefore," Nadia cut in, "when we pour this on the core, it''ll force the Abyssal tendrils to react��they''ll have to counteract both the purification of their corruption and the weakening of their control.


    Kain nodded. "And the second item?"


    He pulled out the second item��a Space Severing Nail.


    A dark metal spike about the size of his palm, etched with intricate runes pulsing with faint silver light. This unimpressive-looking nail was by far the most expensive item that had been on the list given to him by Benji.


    It was the purchase of this nail that had essentially wiped out so much of his credits he couldn''t even upgrade his equipment.


    ''This nail better be damn important, otherwise, I''m going to nail it through Benji''s head��''

 Chapter 428 The Plan Begins

    "This is a good thing! A great thing, actually! Without it, I was only about 10-20% sure of getting the core. Now I can be about 80% sure." Benji exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement."Man! I really wasn''t expecting you to be able to buy this, Kain. These are ridiculously expensive, and I never thought as a newcomer you''d have enough mission credits to buy one."


    ''I know it''s expensive!'' Kain internally yelled at the words from this unreliable senior, ''So it better be damn impressive otherwise, as the person who suggested I buy it��''


    Kain began to internally debate with himself which areas of the body would be most painful for this nail to be shoved into.


    Kain narrowed his eyes. "So? What exactly does this Space Severing Nail do?"


    Benji grinned and lifted the small dark metal spike, his fingers tracing the glowing silver runes. "This thing is loaded with an insane amount of space energy. It can force open a temporary spatial crack between two locations��so long as they share a strong enough connection."


    Kain''s brow furrowed. "A connection?" sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Benji nodded. "Think of it this way��space can''t just be ripped apart at random. There has to be a bridge, a resonance of sorts. Fortunately, every single Pathfinder badge is designed with internal sigils that connect us to one another. It''s a standard safety measure in case teams get separated in a relic. The sigils naturally sync whenever we enter the same relic, creating a spatial tether between all of us."


    Claudia narrowed her eyes. "I''ve never heard of that function for the badges before."


    "Because it''s not commonly used," Benji replied. "The channel isn''t stable enough for a person to pass through. If we tried, we''d be sliced apart by the spatial turbulence before we even got halfway through."


    "However��" Benji continued with a widening grin. "Objects small enough��things around the size of a shoebox��can pass through. Small spiritual creatures that fully suppress their power, messages, rare materials�� and most importantly, relic cores."


    A hush fell over the group as the implications sank in.


    "This means," Nadia began, "that we don''t have to physically carry the core out and risk Aura''s split being attacked and failing the mission. We can release it from the tendrils and send it straight to one of us outside the Abyssal stronghold."


    Benji grinned. "Bingo. Once the core is in our hands, the Abyssal creatures won''t have a chance to react before it''s gone."


    Kain nodded slowly. "Alright. But considering Aura''s split doesn''t have a badge, how exactly can we open a space channel to her? What''s your plan?"


    The other members also looked disappointed when Kain pointed this out. They weren''t as familiar with the usage of this item as Benji was, and couldn''t think of any solutions.


    "No worries. I only said there needs to be an anchor between two locations. As my spiritual contract who is tied to my Star Space, naturally, Aura and her split are both connected to me through space. Therefore, my contract with Aura can serve as an anchor. It may not be as stable as the typical connection between badges due to the lack of stabilizing sigils, but it will do."


    "And once the space channel is opened��," Benji took a deep breath, glancing at the vial of purifying energy, and then continued. "Originally, I was planning to just feed the energy from the Vessel of Purification to Aura through our connection��which would greatly weaken its effect and was why I was only 10% sure of success."


    "But now, we can use the Space Severing Nail to open a channel and send the entire vial to Aura. As long as we work fast enough, she should be able to take out the core and send it through the channel before it collapses."


    -----------------------------


    With the plan in place, the team swiftly took action. Benji held the Space Severing Nail in one hand and focused on opening the channel using his connection with Aura''s split, while Kain held the Vessel of Purification.


    The others positioned themselves at the perimeter, watching for potential disturbances. They had no way of knowing how the Abyssal creatures might react once the tendrils lost control of the core.


    Benji took a steadying breath. "Alright, I''m going to activate the nail. Kain, be ready to throw the vial through the channel the moment it stabilizes."


    Kain gave a firm nod, clutching the Vessel of Purification tightly. "Got it."


    Benji pressed the Space Severing Nail into his forehead, however instead of the expected gruesome scene, the nail seemed to gradually melt away as it was inserted into his forehead.


    ''Well, I guess I managed to fulfill my wish in a sense��'' Although, Kain had to admit that anticlimactic scene wasn''t exactly what he was imagining as he was making mental threats to Benji''s well-being.


    Benji didn''t show too much discomfort, showing that the nail truly wasn''t entering him physically and focused on channelling his spiritual power into the runes. Immediately, the air around them warped, the space distorting as faint silver cracks appeared in the air.


    The runes on the nail pulsed, sending ripples into the air that increased in strength as the nail dissolved and resembled heat waves. A faint shimmering portal began forming between them and Aura''s split inside the stronghold.


    Through the link, they could all sense Aura tensing on the other side. The connection wasn''t perfect��fluctuations in space energy caused the portal to shimmer unstably, but it was enough.


    "Now!" Benji barked through his clenched teeth as he focused on maintaining the portal.


    Kain hurled the vial of purifying energy into the rift. The moment it passed through, the portal flickered dangerously before stabilizing once more.


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    On the other side, Aura''s tiny form hesitated for only a fraction of a second before snatching the vial in her paws.


    ''Go, go, go!'' Benji urged through their mental link.


    Aura wasted no time. She scurried toward the corrupted Relic Core, uncorking the vial with her teeth. A brilliant, golden-blue light spilled out, washing over the dark tendrils constricting the core.


    The reaction was immediate.


    The tendrils writhed violently, recoiling as the purifying energy seeped into them. The abyssal corruption fought back, but the purification forced them to redirect their focus, struggling to suppress the invading force.


    Aura darted forward, her tiny paws gripping the core as tightly as she could. The tendrils spasmed, sensing her movement, but they were weakened��too occupied resisting the purifying force.


    Through the flickering portal, the team could see it happening in real-time.


    "Hurry!" Nadia barked. "The core is breaking free!"


    Aura pulled with all her might, her claws digging into the crystalline surface. The tendrils coiled around it to the best of their ability, desperate to reclaim their prize.


    Finally, when it appeared as though Aura was finally going to get it free��


    "It looks as though we''ve got ourselves a little rat infestation." A cold deep voice called out behind her with amusement.

 Chapter 429 The Cost of the Core

    The words rang through the chamber like a death knell.Everyone''s breath hitched. A cold, paralyzing dread gripped their hearts as the deep, amused voice echoed through their minds.


    Unfortunately, since the portal was opened up facing the relic core so that it can be easily tossed in and taken away, they weren''t able to see who, or what, was behind Aura.


    Moreover, since whoever had spoken was behind Aura they couldn''t use her perspective to see who the newcomer was either.


    Last they had checked, there wasn''t anybody behind Aura��she was supposed to be the only living thing in that room��aside from the suspected Demigod-level Abyssal creature in the coffin.


    The sudden realization hit like a sledgehammer.


    Had it woken up?


    Benji''s hands trembled, his focus on maintaining the spatial channel wavering for the first time. If that thing had truly awakened, their entire plan was finished before it had even begun.


    Kain''s entire body tensed. The sheer presence seeping through the portal was overwhelming, suffocating��enough to make even Nadia stiffen.


    However, after a few agonizing seconds, he noticed something odd.


    While the pressure coming through was enormous, it wasn''t as suffocating as what they felt through their connection with Aura when she had first approached the coffin. It was strong��far too strong for comfort��but not enough to be that thing. Not enough to be the slumbering monstrosity they had feared.


    Still, it was powerful.


    Aura, paws still gripping the Relic Core, turned around slowly, her small body taut with tension.


    As she rotated, the team''s perspective shifted through their connection with her. The portal itself remained static, fixed on the core, but now, finally, they could see who��or what��had spoken.


    And their hearts sank.


    Standing there, at the entrance of the chamber, was the lead Abyssal creature from the right hallway.


    The one overseeing the construction of the horrifying gate made of fresh bodies.


    A being equivalent to an indigo-grade spiritual creature or 7-star beast-tamer. However, likely due to their powers to corrupt others, Abyssal creatures were far more threatening than spiritual creatures and beast-tamers of the same level.


    Therefore, although it was only one level higher than Aura on paper, none of them had much hope of Aura defeating it. Especially since fighting wasn''t exactly Aura''s strong suit.


    Kain''s mind reeled. That thing had been stationed at the Gate. It wasn''t supposed to leave its post. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So why was it here?


    The creature loomed over the chamber, its massive frame covered in the same eerie, bone-like armour that shimmered faintly in the dim light. Its single golden eye gleamed with dark amusement as it took in the scene before it��


    Aura, caught mid-theft.


    The Relic Core, moments from being stolen.


    And an unstable, shimmering spatial rift directly in front of her.


    A low, grating chuckle reverberated from its throat. "How very interesting�� I was going to merely check on the core''s progress, but instead, I find a little rodent trying to steal it."


    Aura froze, her fur bristling. The core pulsed in her grip, so close��so damn close��to being free. But now, she had a much bigger problem.


    Through the mental link, Kain could feel Benji''s panic rising.


    "Aura, move," Benji hissed. "Get the core out of there. Now!"


    But the Abyssal creature took a slow, deliberate step forward, but somehow this step seemed to shift the space subtly, causing it to leap forward by meters in an instant. Seeing that this thing was either ridiculously fast or was capable of manipulating space, she no longer had the confidence to get the core out.


    "There''s no need to run, little one," it said smoothly. "You''ve already done such a fine job, so why don''t you hand that over before you get yourself hurt?" Despite its terrifying appearance, the words of the Abyssal creature seemed to have a slight coercive ability to prompt the listener to do as instructed. A mentally weak creature probably would have already dropped the core already.


    ''High-grade Abyssal creatures are nothing like those mindless lower-grade Abyssal creatures we saw in the breeding pit or the corrupted. Their threat-level was incomparable.''


    After all, while the strength and corruptive abilities of creatures related to the Abyss are a huge threat, there was a huge difference between a mindless and intelligent enemy.


    If anything, Kain would prefer to face a physically strong idiot, than a cunning, but weaker, genius.


    With the latter, you may not even know how you died��


    Aura''s tiny paws clenched around the core as she tried to resist the coercion in the opponent''s words.


    She knew she couldn''t fight this thing. Not alone.


    Benji, voice tense, whispered through the link. "Aura�� you have to toss it into the portal. Now."


    Aura didn''t need to be told twice.


    With every ounce of her strength, she wrenched the core from the weakened tendrils.


    The Abyssal creature''s eye flickered.


    It lunged.


    Aura spun, hurling the core toward the waiting portal. At the same time, she also dove in between the lunging abyssal creature and the core, using her body as a shield.


    For a split second, the world seemed to freeze.


    The core tumbled through the air, the space rift flickering, unstable from the sudden rush of movement.


    Then��


    A blur of motion.


    The Abyssal creature moved faster than anything Aura had ever seen.


    Its clawed hand slashed toward the core��


    And missed.


    The core passed cleanly through the portal, vanishing into the waiting hands of the team outside.


    Benji gasped as he felt the weight of the core land in his grasp. "Got it!"


    But there was no time to celebrate.


    The Abyssal creature''s eye flared with fury. Its attack hadn''t stopped when the core disappeared��


    It was still coming.


    Straight for Aura.


    "AURA, COME TO THE PORTAL!" Benji roared.


    But the spatial portal was collapsing. The large amount of energy in the core had caused the connection to begin to destabilize.


    Through the flickering link, they could all see Aura, her tiny form scrambling backward, desperately trying to evade the massive, clawed hand slamming down toward her.


    The portal snapped shut.


    Cutting off their connection.


    Silence.


    The team was left standing in the ruins, the Relic Core safely in their hands, but their hearts pounding with terror.


    But after a second of stunned silence, everyone, aside from Benji, let out a cheer. The mission wasn''t a perfect success since Aura''s split had had to be sacrificed. But Aura''s strength could be recovered with enough time. What was really important was that they''d gotten the core!


    Nadia approached Benji who was still in a daze and appeared to be frozen due to his distress. She patted him on the back and comforted him, "I know you must be sad since losing the split must be painful to Aura and will cause a temporary loss of strength, but the most important thing was that we stopped their plan. I will make sure to report your contributions to the order and they will definitely arrange proper compensation."


    However, Benji still did not reply to Nadia''s words of comfort, still staring blankly into the air. Suddenly, his body began to tremble slightly, barely perceptible, before his shaking and convulsions grew greater and greater.


    Then Benji collapsed as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, convulsing violently. His body spasmed, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps, before he coughed up a thick mixture of blood and foam. His entire form trembled as if he had just suffered a catastrophic backlash.


    Kain, Claudia, and Clara all stopped their celebration after hearing Nadia scream and seeing the current state of Benji.


    Seeing Benji''s state, they all immediately checked on Aura''s main body which hadn''t moved from the corner since its split was being controlled by its consciousness.


    But what they saw made their blood run cold.


    Aura''s real body lay curled in on itself, her golden fur matted with sweat and black patches of what looked like corrosion. Her tiny frame twitched sporadically, as if locked in an invisible battle, her whiskers flicking as she gasped for air. Unlike Benji, whose backlash was severe but didn''t seem to be life-threatening, Aura''s condition did not look promising and the black spots were spreading by the second.


    "Damn it," Kain hissed under his breath. His hands clenched into fists as he helplessly watched Aura and Benji, the person he was closest to on the team, writhe about in pain. "We need to do something��fast."


    Nadia immediately knelt beside Aura, and after wearing a pair of gloves that glowed with sigils, she pressed two fingers to the soft fur on the creature''s side. Her expression darkened. "Her energy flow is completely erratic. Whatever corruption this is�� it''s sinking deeper by the second."


    "Can we purify it?" Claudia asked. At her words, Kain was already reaching for a small vial of cleansing elixir, a weaker version of the Vessel of Purification, from his space ring. "If we act fast��"


    "No," Nadia cut in, shaking her head. "It''s unlikely that anything we''d have on hand would be effective enough to treat this. Not to mention that this doesn''t seem like ordinary corruption. Usually, when a contract gets injured or corrupted, it doesn''t affect the beast-tamer like this. There should be no backlash from injury, only death. But Aura isn''t dead yet��I don''t know. If we use the wrong method, we could make it worse."


    Any lingering joy they may have had about obtaining the core was now gone. Their plan had succeeded, but at what cost?

 Chapter 430 The Calm Before the Storm

    Looking around at the expressions of helplessness on everyone''s face, Kain knew that they couldn''t come up with any decent solutions.Healing her didn''t seem possible under the current circumstances, the best they could do was find a way to keep her alive and repress any further spread of the corruption.


    ''Looks like it''s up to me again��'' Kain thought helplessly, already mourning the large amount of credits this was about to cost him. Again.


    With a sigh of resignation, he reached into his space ring and pulled out one of the other (extremely expensive) essential items from the purchase list he had been given. The moment it appeared, the temperature in the surrounding air plummeted, sending a biting chill through everyone''s bones.


    A translucent sphere, swirling with deep blue and white energy, hovered in his palm��the Cryostasis Nexus.


    A device utilizing a combination of spatial, temporal, and ice-attribute energies, it was capable of preserving the state of any living being beneath the indigo-grade threshold.


    As long as someone still had a breath of life left, they could be stabilized inside and transported back to the Order for treatment.


    Such an advanced lifesaving tool was naturally rare and extremely expensive, nearly impossible to obtain had he not been a member of the empire''s most elite organization.


    Thankfully, its limitations meant that it could only contain low to mid-tier spiritual creatures and beast-tamers��if it worked on high-level individuals, Kain wouldn''t have been able to afford it even if he sold a kidney, a lung, and his last shred of dignity.


    Claudia whistled lowly, the earlier panic and sadness at Aura''s state being forgotten as Kain flaunted an item many of them weren''t even able to afford without giving up on making any further progress in their strength for a long period of time. "Damn, Kain, you''ve really been holding out on us. You should have let us know you had this thing earlier." Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain shot her a look, already feeling a pang in his heart at having to use two of the most expensive items he''d purchased, just within a couple of hours. "I was saving it. You know, for emergencies? Like the current ''our tiny teammate is rotting from Abyssal corruption'' kind of situation?"


    Claudia snorted. "A real tragedy. Your wallet, I mean. I doubt you even have any credits left to purchase resources for you and your contacts."


    ''And whose fault is that?!''


    Ignoring her, Kain turned his attention to Aura''s trembling body. The black patches had spread further, dark veins pulsing beneath her golden fur. He had to act fast.


    Taking a deep breath, Kain activated the Cryostasis Nexus. The swirling energy inside the sphere flared to life, and a thin, frost-like mist spread outward, wrapping around Aura''s prone form. The temperature dropped even further as faint lines of glowing sigils appeared along the surface of the orb.


    "Alright, let''s hope this works," Kain muttered, placing his palm against the orb''s surface.


    A complex array of symbols illuminated beneath his hand, and in the next moment, the mist surged forward, enveloping Aura completely. The black corruption visibly slowed, the spread freezing in place as if time had been momentarily halted around her.


    A soft, pulsing glow settled over Aura''s body, and then, with a final pulse of icy light, she vanished��her form completely absorbed into the Cryostasis Nexus.


    The orb, now containing Aura''s suspended state, hovered slightly before settling back into Kain''s palm. The temperature around them slowly returned to normal, though the air still felt unnaturally crisp.


    Kain exhaled, letting go of tension he hadn''t even realized he was holding. "Well�� that should keep her alive for now."


    After the spread of the Abyssal corruption was halted and Aura was absorbed into the Cryostasis Nexus, Benji''s condition noticeably improved. After only a couple more minutes he even regained consciousness and was able to sit up with some assistance from Nadia.


    Benji, still visibly shaken but slightly steadier than before, looked at the orb with a complicated expression. "Thank you, Kain. I promise that I''ll pay you back once we leave here."


    At the promise from Benji, Kain''s expression noticeably brightened. Thankfully Benji still has a conscience. To avoid having to use his own credits to purchase items that he felt would be useful, he''d essentially scammed Kain to carry the costs of these items alone, while he used his credits to buy a rare item his sixth contract needed to evolve.


    With the promise from Benji, Kain released much of the discontent he felt. "There''s no rush. Once we get back you should focus on getting treatment for Aura."


    With Aura and Benji momentarily stabilized the mood of the group noticeably improved. Clara nudged Kain with a smirk. "Guess that means we need to finish this mission quickly so we can get our credits and get you reimbursed before you cry."


    "Too late. I''m already crying. On the inside." Kain sighed, putting the Cryostasis Nexus back into System Laboratory but pretending as though it was put into his space ring. Since the Nexus now contained a living creature, only special, far more expensive, space rings would be able to contain it. However, with the System, Kain had never felt the need to buy one and instead just pretended as though he possessed one of those high-end space rings.


    -----------------------


    The urgency of the situation didn''t allow them to linger. After all, they did technically just steal the relic core. They had only remained in their current location due to the suddenly bad states of Benji and Aura.


    But Aura''s condition was stabilized for now, and they still had to deal with the ever-present danger of being pursued by Abyssal creatures.


    They had stayed in the ruins longer than they should have, and it was only a matter of time before the creatures started tracking them to here.


    Nadia wasted no time giving the order. "We''re moving out. Now."


    With swift coordination, they departed, heading back toward the city at their fastest possible pace.


    As expected, they encountered resistance. Several Abyssal creatures, equivalent to blue-grade spiritual creatures blocked their path several times throughout the journey.


    But this time, they weren''t the ones at a disadvantage.


    Nadia, as a 7-star beast tamer, had several spiritual creatures either equal in strength or stronger than them.


    Meanwhile, as elites of the empire Benji, Claudia, Clara, and even Kain, were all capable of taking down a blue-grade spiritual creature alone, much less when in a group with others of similar strength.


    Therefore, the encounters on the way back to the city couldn''t really be called "a battle." It was an execution.


    Thankfully, it seemed like high-level abyssal creatures like the one who had attacked Aura or the one inside of that crystal coffin, did not seem to be that common. Otherwise with the powerful corruptive abilities they had shown, even as a group they would struggle to defeat it without devastating casualties


    -----------------------


    By the time they finally reached the city, exhaustion weighed on all of them. But before they could even begin to breathe a sigh of relief, an urgent message reached Nadia.


    A scout had reported something unsettling.


    Several Abyssal creatures had been spotted just outside the city walls��watching. Not attacking, not moving, just�� observing.


    The implications sent a chill down everyone''s spine.


    "They''re gathering intelligence," Nadia murmured darkly. "Or worse�� waiting for reinforcements to take down the city."


    If the Abyssal creatures were planning an attack, the city needed to prepare. Immediately, Nadia began organizing defences. Patrols were doubled, anti-siege weapons moved to the walls, and the entire city was placed on lockdown. In addition, now civilians could only consume a set number of rations, after all, there was no telling when the attack of the Abyssal creatures would end and they couldn''t have the soldiers crumbling from hunger before the city walls did.


    In addition, in the event of a worse-case scenario, emergency evacuation procedures were reviewed for civilians. Maybe a handful of them could escape and survive if the Abyssal creatures broke through the city walls.


    As the preparations were in full swing, tension hung thick in the air. The city''s defenders, while experienced, were all too aware of how devastating an Abyssal siege could be. After all, several far more powerful city-states have gone extinct under their raids in the past. The creatures didn''t just conquer��they corrupted, turning allies into enemies, leaving nothing but twisted husks in their wake.


    Then, just as final defences were being put into place, the first tremors shook the ground.


    A distant, guttural roar echoed through the night air, followed by the heavy thud of countless feet running enthusiastically toward the city. The horizon darkened, shifting like a writhing mass of shadows. Then, as the first Abyssal creatures crested the distant hills��the army came into view.


    Thousands of grotesque figures, their twisted forms illuminated by the dim glow of the city''s outer lanterns, advanced at a horrifying pace, their scarlet eyes gleaming hungrily as they gazed fixedly at the city.


    The city wasn''t ready. They weren''t ready.


    Kain felt the blood drain from his face.


    "...We might be screwed."

 Chapter 431 Clearing Conditions

    "Yes." Nadia said calmly, "The citizens of this Ishvaran were completely screwed. Hence why they all died with barely a survivor to remember that it ever existed. Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire"However," she continued. "This may just be what we need."


    ''How can an approaching army that resembles a never ending black tsunami be exactly what we need?'' Kain thinks in confusion. Clearly he and Nadia have very different perspective on what they need.


    Likely seeing Kain''s skepticism, Nadia elaborated. "Obtaining the Relic Core is only one aspect of clearing a Historical Echo relic. Nobody knows how Historical Echoes are formed, since unlike trial and habitat relics humans are not able to make them, but one thing is for certain��they all present a unique event in human history."


    Benji, still looking pale but steadying himself, chimed in. "Indeed. Even the most innocuous-looking historical echoes eventually reveal themselves to be a pivotal turning point in human history."


    Taking a breath, he recounted, "A couple of decades ago, another group entered a Historical Echo relic that was set in a small, unassuming village right before the Celestial Ascension period. It was just a rural settlement, barely worth mentioning. There weren''t even any beast tamers among its people, and for the longest time, there were no clues on the clearing conditions of such a mundane setting. It was frustrating. People were stuck in that relic for months to even years with no progress.".


    "But then, guess what they discovered?," Benji paused for dramatic effect, not really expecting them to answer, "it was discovered that this small village was the birthplace of Calista Eyera, one of the five founders of the Empire."


    Claudia let out a low whistle. "Damn. That must have been incredible. You could actually meet her?"


    Clara nodded eagerly. "Eyera was the only female founder and was famous for her beauty. Imagine how adorable she must have been as a child!" S��ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Benji shrugged. "She was only twelve or thirteen at the time of the Historical Echo. But despite not even having awakened as a beast tamer yet, she already possessed the gift of prophecy."


    Kain raised a brow. "Prophecy? You mean like divination? Those types of abilities are usually vague at best and unreliable at worst."


    "That''s what most thought at first," Benji admitted. "But in her case, it was real. From practically the time she was born, she had innate foresight abilities. The problem was, the things she saw were never good. Every prophecy she made foretold tragedies that could rarely be changed. That kind of thing makes people uncomfortable. Terrified, even."


    Nadia frowned. "They turned on her." She said as if she already knew the outcome with a bitter smile on her face. "People tend to react to the unknown with fear and hatred rather than just trying to understand."


    Kain couldn''t help but give a side glance to her. She seemed as though she was speaking from practical experience.


    Benji nodded. "Some of the villagers spread rumors. That she was a jinx, a demon, or worse��that she was causing the tragedies herself just to make her ''gift'' seem real. There were even suggestions to cast her out or kill her. She probably would have been if not for the village chief taking pity on her. He protected her from the shadows, but he couldn''t shield her from the fear, contempt, and isolation of the rest of the villagers. So, to survive, she stopped speaking aloud many of her prophecies. Instead, she internalized them."


    "So a bunch of her visions were lost to history," Kain guessed.


    "Exactly," Benji confirmed. "When she suddenly disappeared one day, she took all that knowledge of the future with her. That relic''s clearing condition wasn''t a battle, but rather gaining her trust and retrieving the prophecies she never spoke of to others, or at least the ones she made in her youth. The information they uncovered was so valuable that it changed the trajectory of the Empire, cementing its long reign of power and influence."


    "And what exactly were those prophecies?" Claudia asked in interest.


    Benji shook his head. "Only the highest-ranked individuals and those who cleared the relic know. It''s classified."


    Kain scoffed. "Figures."


    Returning to the present matter at hand, Nadia gestured toward the approaching Abyssal horde. "Anyways, what I was trying to say is that this army may not necessarily be a bad thing." Benji said, "Not to mention that this city getting besieged and destroyed��whether by a tide of Abyssal creatures or spiritual beasts��must be a fixed plot event. It''s likely the clearing condition of this relic. Therefore, there''s no reason to feel guilty about bringing the abyssal creatures to the city or feel as though you caused this attack-it would have happened regardless. If anything it is probably a little weaker now since the Abyssal creatures also had much less time to prepare too."


    Claudia furrowed her brows. "So this was always going to happen? Even if we weren''t here?"


    "Yes, since it is likely the clearing condition," Nadia affirmed. "The Abyssal creatures likely planned to use that flesh gate to bypass the clearing condition and claim the core without following the relic''s rules. But we don''t have that option. If we can successfully defend this city against the attack, not only will we clear the relic, but we''ll also gain full control over the Relic Core. If we completely assimilate it with our spiritual power, we take ownership of this Historical Echo relic."


    Kain pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, to summarize: we have to stop a doomsday-level siege, prevent history from repeating itself, and claim the core�� all before we end up like the original citizens of this place."


    Nadia smirked. "Now you''re getting it."


    Clara exhaled sharply. "No pressure, then."


    Benji let out a dry laugh. "We might as well start preparing now. The way that horde is moving, we don''t have much time."


    Kain sighed. "Alright. Since this city is destined to be destroyed, let''s see if we can defy fate."

 Chapter 432 The Battle to Defend the City

    The first wave hit like a crashing tide, an endless swarm of grotesque forms clawing their way toward the city walls. The air filled with the deafening screeches of the abyssal creatures, their twisted bodies shifting and writhing as they advanced. Some bore jagged, bladed limbs, others had grotesquely elongated arms ending in serrated claws that snapped hungrily at the guards above.Their hungry red eyes glowed terrifyingly as they stared at the city, while the few high-grade ones among them, marked by their golden eyes, observed the battlefield with a terrifying calm. Kain and the others were certain that they must be plotting something bigger.


    Kain stood at the front lines, hundreds to thousands of Bea''s threads of mental energy were lashing out like whips, but instead of slicing through the abyssal creatures as they surged forward, they seemed to just harmlessly touch the approaching creatures.


    Unfortunately, the abyssal creatures seemed to be extremely resistant to her control, but she was able to break up the rhythm of the approaching army. Some of the abyssal creatures she managed to briefly stall at the front were quickly heartlessly trampled by their comrades.


    Aegis had already raised a stone wall to slow their approach, but the creatures climbed over it with unnatural agility, their hunger for destruction driving them forward.


    The Vespid guards tried their best to destroy the never ending tide of abyssal creatures, and would occasionally block attacks for the other guards using well-placed ejected stinger or their own bodies��after all, their Queen was healing them as a support from behind. Queen was also healing other wounded, but by far the effectiveness of her healing was greatest on her own guards.


    "Keep them off the barricades!" Nadia''s voice rang out as her contracts unleashed a barrage of star-attribute infused attacks. The star-attribute was incredibly rare and previously the only star-attribute spiritual creature Kain had seen, either in person or in video, was Serena''s Starweaver. However, Nadia''s affinity seemed to be exclusively for creatures of that attribute.


    Her main contract, the indigo-grade griffin, unlike most griffins that only had the wind-attribute, Nadia''s was dual attributed and had the star attribute��was it a mutant? Or a species Kain had never heard of?


    Nadia''s other contracts were also either suspected mutants or star-attributed species Kain had either never heard of or only heard about in rumours.


    Each blast from these star-attributed creatures seemed to be coated with the brilliance of starlight, carving through the abyssal army, but for every creature that fell, another one took its place.


    Benji summoned 4 more of his contracts Kain had never seen before. Since Aura was incapacitated and his more recent contract was too low in level to be of use, he only had 4 to use.


    Interestingly, like Aura that seemed to possess a secondary time-attribute, so did all of his other contracts. Kain wasn''t sure if it was his choice to have spiritual creatures that didn''t specialize in the time-attribute, but rather had it as a weaker secondary attribute to power a couple very unique skills, or a limitation of his affinity.


    Find more to read at My Virtual Library Empire


    One of his contracts, was likely capable of warping time subtlety as it travelled. Its blurred figure was cleaving through the abyssal creatures with precision, its sword like arm was crackling with energy. Its strikes sent limbs and black abyssal ''blood'' flying, but the abyssal creatures did not falter. One lunged at it from the side, its bladed arm moving toward its neck. Before it could land the blow, Clara''s contract, a light-attribute fox, intercepted with a sweeping strike, severing its head from its body.


    "Watch your flanks!" she warned as she drove her own weapon into another creature''s chest. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then came the first screams.


    A soldier fell, his leg mangled beyond recognition by the serrated jaws of an abyssal creature. The black corruption spread from the wound, consuming flesh and bone. His screams soon turned into guttural, inhuman growls as his body darkened with thick black smoke pouring from his body. His comrades hesitated, horror-stricken as he rose to his feet��his eyes now a bright, soulless red. A newly turned Corrupted.


    "Damn it!" Claudia cursed, severing the creature''s head before it could attack, but more followed. Each injured defender twisted and contorted, their bodies warping into nightmarish forms, their souls lost to the abyss.


    The corruption spread faster than expected. Every slash, every bite, every drop of abyssal blood splattered onto human flesh risked turning another ally.


    And despite being physically weaker in the same level than the born abyssal creatures, in a way the corrupted were even worse than the abyssal creatures��their attacks carried an overwhelming taint of corruption that spread on contact much faster than the corruptive abilities of abyssal creatures.


    A high-grade abyssal creature stepped forward, its golden eyes gleaming with malice. Unlike its mindless kin, this one observed, analyzed. Then, with terrifying speed, it moved. A single sweep of its bladed arm cleaved through three warriors, the abyssal energy in their wounds consuming them almost instantly. It turned toward Kain and his teammates on the wall, tilting its head in eerie amusement.


    "You think you can stop us?" It spoke, its voice like a chorus of overlapping tones, each more grating than the last. "You will join us. It is inevitable."


    "Like hell we will," Kain spat, Bea''s threads headed toward the high-grade abyssal creature, as did the contracts of most of his allies. Since this high-grade abyssal had taken the lead of approaching the city in order to intimidate them, they may as well not allow it to return.


    The abyssal lord deflected them effortlessly, countering with a brutal strike��toward Kain who he perceived to be the weakest. Kain barely managed to evade, the force of the attack shattering the section of the wall where he had stood moments ago.


    The battlefield erupted into chaos as the golden-eyed ones joined the fray, their superior intellect making them deadlier than the mindless corrupted pawns they were using as meat shields.


    Everyone defending quickly used their strongest skills and a myriad of abilities rained down on the approaching creatures like divine judgement.


    But still, the tide did not slow.


    One by one, warriors fell. One by one, their allies turned. Eventually, the city defenders were not just fighting an army, they were fighting against their own increasing feelings of hopelessness and desires to flee��the fear that any wound, any misstep, would lead to their own conversion into the enemy was impacting many of them mentally, making their attacks less sharp.


    The battle, both the physical and mental one, was just beginningr.

 Chapter 433 Cracks in the Defense

    The battle raged, an unrelenting onslaught of blood and desperation.The defenders fought like animals backed into a corner, their bodies pushed beyond their limits as the abyssal tide surged forward. Some clung to their weapons with white-knuckled grips, their breath ragged, their eyes wild with fear. Others collapsed where they stood, their wills breaking beneath the weight of hopelessness. Those who lost themselves to despair crumbled to their knees, sobbing, their contracts succumbing moments later��either turning against them or perishing outright.


    The ranks of the corrupted swelled with each fallen soldier. Twisted bodies rose once more, their grotesque forms turning against former comrades. Progress was an illusion, and the defenders could feel it. The sinking realization gnawed at their resolve, feeding the very despair that threatened to unravel their resistance.


    Stopping this collapse was paramount. Kain might not have been the strongest among his team, but his contracts were best suited for this moment.


    He had almost forgotten about the auxiliary effect of status effects for Queen''s ability, instead focusing on the healing aspect:


    A-Rejuvenating Wind: Releases a restorative breeze that dispels negative status effects and mends minor wounds within its radius.


    The defenders'' spirits were wearing down faster than their bodies, so Kain made a choice. Instead of directing Queen to inject potent life-attribute energy toward grievously wounded guards, he had her continuously cast Rejuvenating Wind. It wasn''t a perfect solution, but there were many others capable of healing physical wounds, but only Queen could strengthen the minds of these soldiers.


    Meanwhile, Bea also shifted priorities. Her infection ability had proven ineffective against the abyssal creatures, her mental threads consuming too much of Kain''s spiritual power just to maintain control. Rather than wasting energy on the enemy, she turned her influence inward. After all, there were many times in the history of the Empire where the ultimate victory wasn''t determined by the physical strength of the enemy, but rather by the internal cohesion of the Empire''s civilians.


    Subtly, carefully, Bea extended her reach. Nearly every soldier atop the walls soon carried a fragment of her within their minds. The moment she sensed the inclination to surrender, she acted��seizing control of their bodies before they could back away, forcing them to keep fighting.


    At first, Kain had worried about whether diverting the efforts of Bea and Queen would put a strain on the defensive line, but the defensive line became more stable after Bea abandoned controlling more of the enemy and instead focused on preventing some idiotic actions of their allies.


    However, despite the immediate possibility of the city collapsing decreased, the odds of victory were still not in their favour.


    Vauleth descended from the sky, his wings churning the air into a violent storm. Streams of searing flame erupted from his mouth, engulfing abyssal creatures in an inferno that burned impossibly bright. Yet, for every foe incinerated, another surged forth to take its place. The crowd opposite of Kain never thinned.


    "We''re making no progress!" Clara shouted. Her light-attribute fox darted between enemies, blinding them with bursts of radiance before tearing into their bodies with claws sharp as crescent moons. Above, her golden hawk carved through the air, its wings slicing abyssal flesh like divine blades.


    Then came the screams.


    The abyssal creatures breached the line, landing devastating blows before the defenders could react. The weaker beast-tamers were the first to lose their contracts. Black corruption spread like wildfire, their spiritual creatures twisting and warping, howling as their bodies became something monstrous.


    One by one, the bonds shattered. The severance struck the tamers like a blade to the soul. Blood sprayed from their lips as they crumpled, unconscious, their ability to fight lost. Those who could still stand dragged the fallen away from the frontlines lest they contribute the enemies'' actions.


    Even among Kain''s allies, the corruption was spreading. Another of Benji''s contracts, a bear whose attacks seemed to be imbued with time-attributed energy that caused the target''s flesh to quickly rot as though speeding up the rate of decay, staggered back, its powerful frame marred by seeping black wounds. The corruption spread rapidly, forcing Benji to recall it before the infection could take hold completely.


    Likewise, Clara''s hawk faltered mid-flight, its brilliant feathers darkening as it let out a piercing cry. With a flash of light, Clara dismissed it, her face pale as she sent spiritual power to her contract to help it combat the corruption in its body.


    Clara''s hawk faltered mid-flight. She recalled it in a flash, her face pale, channeling spiritual power to halt the infection.


    The burden on those who remained grew heavier with every retreating ally.


    Vauleth bore the brunt of it. He tore through the abyssal hordes without hesitation, his scaled body riddled with deep gashes. Though his True Dragon nature rendered him immune to corruption, it did not make him invincible. He could still be broken. He could still die.


    Kain could feel it��his companion''s pain, his exhaustion. He urged him to fall back, but Vauleth ignored him. Pride, instinct, and the desire to embody the unyielding will of a True Dragon drove him forward. Even if he wasn''t yet a True Dragon, that doesn''t mean he couldn''t act in accordance with the values embedded in him by the elder dragon.


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    Unfortunately, if things continued like this, Kain was certain that he would soon be facing the pain of a broken contract due to death.


    Then it happened.


    A shadow moved��an indigo-grade abyssal creature lunging straight for Clara. She had stepped too far from the defensive line, focused on finishing a group of enemies.


    Her instincts screamed. She knew she wouldn''t be able to dodge it in time.


    A blur of stone intercepted the strike.


    Aegis had chosen to withstand the attack with his body, considering raising a shield would take too long.


    The corrupted blade carved into him, cleaving through solid rock with sickening ease. A leg was severed. Black veins spread rapidly from the wound, tendrils of corruption sinking deep into his being.


    Kain''s breath caught. "Aegis!"


    The golem rumbled in defiance, trembling as he fought to stabilize himself. His massive arms braced against the ground as he tried to regrow his severed limb. But the corruption did not stop. It burrowed deeper, insidious and relentless, threatening to consume him from within.


    The battle roared on, but for Kain, the world had narrowed to this single moment.


    Aegis��his immovable shield, his guardian��had fallen. sea??h th�� Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 434 Resistance

    Kain''s breath caught in his throat as he watched the black corruption spread across Aegis'' massive stone body.The earthen texture and sandy colour of the golem darkened, the once sturdy and familiar surface now appearing slick, as though coated in black oil or tar.


    Fissures broke out along his rocky body that emitted black smoke, and his massive form trembled. Then, his eyes��his once unwavering, sandy-yellow eyes��began to bleed into a haunting, soulless red.


    "No��" Kain whispered, his voice barely audible over the battle''s din, dread settling like a vice around his chest.


    The moment a contracted creature succumbed to corruption, the contract itself would shatter, sending a backlash of pain deep into the beast tamer''s soul.


    Worse still, the turned contract would immediately become another enemy, no different from the abyssal creatures they had been fighting. sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And Aegis, who had been acting as the final protector for many of the defending guards, was standing mere steps from the defensive line. Now, the position he had taken to better defend his allies would prove to have disastrous consequences once the change was completed. If he turned completely, he would become a huge threat to their already dwindling forces.


    Kain braced himself, his body tense, waiting for the unbearable agony of a severed bond.


    He also recalled his other contracts from their various tasks and told them to focus on guarding his body in the inevitable event that his defenceless body was attacked by the nearby Aegis while he was coping with the backlash.


    But the backlash never came. His breath remained steady, his mind unpierced by the soul-shattering pain of losing a contract.


    Moreover��


    Aegis didn''t move.


    The golem''s massive figure remained still. Save for a faint, almost imperceptible tremor, Kain would have thought that Aegis was a silent statue. His massive fists clenched and unclenched, as if wrestling with something.


    And his eyes that had almost fully shifted to red, were now changing. Between pulses of crimson (the sign of the corrupted), streaks of sandy-yellow flickered desperately, as though waging a battle of their own.


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    Kain''s heart pounded. Corrupted creatures didn''t hesitate. They didn''t struggle. They simply turned and attacked their former allies like mindless creatures with no memories of their former selves.


    But Aegis�� Aegis wasn''t attacking.


    He wasn''t lunging at Kain or the others, nor did he let out the twisted, otherworldly screeches of the fully turned. Instead, he stood frozen, his entire body wracked with violent tremors.


    The corrupted abyssal energy surged through him like a storm, but something��some part of Aegis��was resisting it.


    A spark of hope flared in Kain''s chest. "Aegis?" he called out hesitantly, stepping forward, despite every instinct screaming at him to stay back.


    Aegis'' head twitched in his direction, but the motion was sluggish, unnatural. His mouth, which rarely ever moved beyond speaking a few words to Kain occasionally, opened slightly as if he wanted to respond. Instead, a deep, guttural sound rumbled from within him, a cross between a groan of pain and a growl of a hungry beast.


    The battlefield continued to rage around them��abyssal creatures swarmed the walls, corrupted humans and beasts alike turned on their former comrades, and Vauleth, as an immune ''True'' dragon, fought tooth and claw to hold the line. But for Kain, all of it became background noise. His focus remained entirely on Aegis.


    Aegis let out another strangled sound, his body convulsing as if trying to shake off an unseen force. The corruption on his body pulsed violently, spreading in jagged lines across his stone form, but then��


    A single patch of his body lightened.


    Just slightly. Just barely.


    But Kain saw it.


    The corruption wasn''t advancing as fast as it should have��in fact, it was the opposite. It seemed more like it was losing ground. It was as though Aegis was holding it back, gradually adapting to the invasion and fighting against it, resisting it with every ounce of his being.


    Kain''s mind raced. Could it be possible? Could Aegis�� withstand the corruption?


    If Aegis was truly fighting back, then Kain couldn''t just stand there. He had to act.


    He reached out through their bond, pushing past the distortion, searching for any trace of Aegis beneath the abyssal taint. The connection was muddled, unstable, but there��deep beneath layers of encroaching darkness��Kain sensed something familiar. A presence that had not yet been consumed and turned.


    "Aegis," Kain said, his voice carrying over the chaos. "You can fight this."


    The smoke that escaped from the cracks on his body seemed to be escaping from within him, as though being expelled by Aegis himself. With each new fissure, more of his body reclaimed its original colour and texture.


    The black spots signifying his corruption were continuing to spread while being simultaneously expelled. Kain now had hope of not losing Aegis.


    But it still wasn''t enough. Aegis'' body was now in a balanced equilibrium that may tilt against them at any time once Aegis lost the energy to resist.


    Kain stepped closer, placing a hand against Aegis'' shaking arm. He poured all of his remaining spiritual power into their bond, reinforcing the connection between them and channelling as much spiritual power as possible to support Aegis'' internal battle. Unfortunately, due to his constant refuels of Bea, he was practically an empty tank.


    Therefore, Kain actually overdrafted his own life force, converting it into spiritual power��a last-ditch life-saving means possessed by all beast-tamers but is scarcely used due to the long-lasting and potentially permanent negative effects doing so could have to their potential.


    Receiving the last of Kain''s energy, a deep tremor ran through Aegis'' body. But before Kain could see the effect, see if Aegis was saved, the side-effects of burning his lifeforce caught up to him.


    His vision blurred, his knees buckling as exhaustion clawed at his very core. Aegis'' form flickered between corruption and resistance, the battle waging on inside him far from over. But Kain had no strength left to watch the outcome. As darkness overtook his mind, a single thought lingered��had he done enough?

 Chapter 435 If You Gaze into the Abyss...

    Kain drifted in nothingness. A weightless, formless void pressed in from all sides, an oppressive lightless space that stretched infinitely in every direction. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above, only a vast, consuming darkness. It was as if the world had forgotten him, leaving him adrift in a realm without sound, without light, without time.He didn''t know how long he had been there��seconds? Hours? Years? His thoughts felt sluggish, muffled by the all-consuming darkness. But then, finally, he felt solid ground beneath him again. He had never realized how reassuring being grounded was before.


    Kain took a cautious step forward. At least, he thought he did. He couldn''t see. Couldn''t feel where he was stepping. Only the unsettling sensation of shifting pressure beneath his feet gave any indication that he had moved at all.


    The ground was�� wrong. It wasn''t solid, nor liquid, nor anything he could name. It squished underfoot with a sickening give and a faint squelching noise, pulsing, undulating, as though something beneath the surface moved with his every step.


    If he had to compare it to something, it''d be like trying to walk steadily on a perpetually moving waterbed.


    A deep unease settled in his stomach as he moved forward, the ground writhing subtly beneath him, pressing back against his weight.


    A shudder crawled up his spine as he reached out, searching blindly for something��anything��to orient himself. His fingers brushed against a surface, and immediately, a wet, crawling sensation spread across his hand. It wasn''t stone, nor wood, nor metal. It felt alive.


    Slimy, wriggling bodies coiled around his fingers, shifting beneath his touch, clinging to his skin like living filth. A nauseating squelch filled the silence as his hand sank slightly into the mass. The things beneath his fingers twisted and pulsed, some tiny and slick, others thicker, their movements slow and deliberate, pressing against him as if responding to his presence. But after a brief moment of contact, none attempted to recontact or pursue him further��his presence already forgotten.


    A horrified shiver ran through him, and he yanked his hand back with a sharp breath, shaking it furiously. The sensation lingered, phantom squirming worms crawling along his skin.


    Kain had probably never been more horrified by a lack of sight in his life. He needed to see. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Gathering what little strength he could muster, Kain reached inward, grasping at the remnants of his dwindling spiritual power. He activated a simple spiritual skill to increase his eyesight in the dark. However, the darkness was so thick it barely was cut through with the assistance of the skill.


    Still, it was enough.


    His faintly glowing eyes took in his surroundings��or rather, what lay within them. And Kain almost wished he had remained blind.


    They were everywhere.


    Writhing, churning, an unfathomably dense mass of abyssal worms stretched beyond sight. Their slick, segmented forms twisting and slithering in a ceaseless, sickening rhythm.


    There was no end to them. No space between them. No escape from them. They pulsed like a singular, living thing, a disgusting ''ocean'' of worms too vast for Kain to comprehend just how many of them were present.


    A chill far deeper than fear rooted Kain in place. His breath came in ragged, uneven gasps. The sheer magnitude of what he was seeing threatened to unravel him, to consume what little remained of his reason.


    Then, he felt it.


    A pull. Subtle. Faint. But it felt remarkably similar to the pull from his affinity, but slightly different, more dull.


    Somewhere beyond the writhing mass, something was pulling him in a certain direction.


    Kain moved before he could think better of it. The worms did not react to him, their undulations unaffected by his presence. He drifted past them, practically weightless. Even the worms he stepped on directly only paused briefly, unsquished and still alive, before continuing on with their low-level lives.


    As he moved further out of (or into��it was hard to tell) the tunnel, the scenery changed. He left the portion of the dark tunnel filled with worms and entered a slightly wider portion that branched out into several narrower tunnel openings that led who knows where.


    As he continued forward, he saw more.


    The horrors of this place were not limited to the churning worms. Monstrosities lurked in the shadows just beyond his limited vision��things that defiled normal aesthetics. Hulking beasts made of solid black muscle or chitin, elongated figures with too many limbs, too many mouths, or too many eyes that glowed like red embers in the darkness.


    Eventually, Kain saw a source of light in the distance��an exit?��and instead of picking up the pace, he slowed down out of caution. He still had no idea where this was. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire


    Gradually, he approached the mouth of what looked like the opening to the tunnel he arrived in.


    It opened out to the ''outside.'' But Kain wasn''t strictly sure he could consider this outside. At least it didn''t resemble an outdoor environment he''d ever seen.


    The ''sky'' was solid black without a single constellation or celestial body.


    The ground lacked any kind of vegetation and was just solid black stone. And built onto, and likely from, this black stone was what looked like a ''town'' that appeared to have abyssal creatures and the corrupted as its inhabitants.


    Then Kain saw the others.


    They were not abyssal creatures or the corrupted.


    People��living beings��trapped, used, and abused.


    Kain''s stomach twisted as he saw them. Humans, but not ones from the Empire. Their clothes, their features appeared foreign.


    And others too. A lithe figure with long, pointed ears and bright silver hair. A stout being with heavy chains binding his limbs, his face gaunt, hollow. The long-lost Elves and Dwarves. Even creatures Kain could not name.


    They were not simply killed. They were made to suffer.


    Some were hung in writhing translucent cocoons, their bodies pierced through with wriggling tendrils siphoning something Kain couldn''t identify.


    Others were forced into torture shows for the amusement of the watching high-level abyssal creatures, their limbs reshaped, their body parts stolen, their minds shattered. Some still clung to life, their eyes wide, their souls intact but barely holding on. Others had become soulless shells��mentally dead from the horrors they''d suffered.


    A convoy passed through the town, abyssal creatures dragging captives from this small town toward an unknown destination.


    Kain barely had the sense to hide, pressing himself into the shadows of a large boulder as they moved. His breath hitched as he watched, heart hammering. Thankfully, none of them seemed to sense his presence.


    Then, it came.


    A creature among the convoy unlike the others. Its form was not monstrous, not in the way of the other abyssal creatures.


    It was tall, eerily elegant, draped in black silks that wove and unwove themselves with each movement. But its eyes��


    Gold and violet flecks, a rare source of beauty among the hideous surrounding��an Abyssal Demigod.


    Kain didn''t need it confirmed, he knew instinctively that that was what it was.


    And it was looking right in his direction.

 Chapter 436...The Abyss Gazes Back At You

    A terror unlike any Kain had known before rooted him in place. Every fiber of his being screamed to run, to hide, to do anything but remain where he stood. But he did not move. Could not move.After staring in his direction for what felt like an eternity, it turned its eyes back forward and continued on its way.


    The Demigod being passed him.


    ''Did it not see me?''


    Kain remained frozen long after it was gone, his breath shallow, his body rigid. Then, slowly, he straightened from the rock he hid behind.


    Could they not see him?


    A realization settled over him. His presence here didn''t seem to be detected by the abyssal natives. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With this realization, his fear did not fade. But now, it warred with something else:


    Curiosity.


    Steeling himself, Kain stepped forward.


    If they could not see him, then he would watch. And he would learn more about these creatures who hadn''t been seen in centuries.


    -----------------------------


    Kain followed at a measured pace, keeping his distance as he trailed behind the convoy. If there was any place worth seeing in this wretched place, surely it was wherever a Demigod was headed. After all, no matter where it was, Demigods represented the peak of power and status. How could they be bothered with completing trivial tasks?


    The procession travelled from the abyssal town for a few hours to an area more densely populated with abyssal creatures and buildings. A city.


    However, unlike the cities Kain was familiar with since being reborn from earth, this city had no walls��likely because it had never been at risk of being attacked by enemies or a beast tide before.


    The convoy continued into the city, winding through streets paved with smooth, obsidian-like stone. Find more adventures on My Virtual Library Empire


    Strange, towering structures flanked the roads��some appearing sculpted from bone, others pulsating as if alive, their surfaces shifting with a sickening organic rhythm.


    Shadowy figures lurked within the buildings, their indistinct shapes pressing against warped windows, watching with hollow, lidless eyes as the convoy passed.


    Kain felt no wind, no warmth or cold, just the unnatural stillness of a world unbound by natural laws. The only sounds were the shuffling feet of the prisoners, the guttural murmurs of abyssal creatures, and the occasional gut-wrenching scream ringing out in the distance.


    Kain noted that the city was built in a ring. A massive, circular void stretched at its center and Kain could only barely see the city on the other side of it. The extremely wide pit was also seemingly bottomless and seemed to swallow all light.


    At the edges of this pit were many of what Kain could only describe as "altars".


    They looked like obsidian spires rising along the pit. The structures pulsed with a deep, internal glow��violet, red, and gold light flickering in uneven intervals. Suspended above each altar were bodies, or at least what had once been bodies.


    Humanoid figures hung high in midair, their limbs stretched unnaturally, as if something invisible was pulling them in multiple directions at once. They twitched sporadically, their mouths open as if to scream, but no sound came out. Their skin was fracturing, tiny pieces of it lifting into the air like dust was being brushed off of them and then carried away by an unseen current, dissolving into raw energy that funneled into the altar below.


    On one altar, an elf with silver hair had its emaciated body drained beyond recognition��and after the absorption of its blood, gold and violet lights began to flicker on its body and then move to the alter below.


    Kain looked at the innumerable altars that held up creatures all in different stages of decay, their bodies unwinding as their blood and souls were slowly, methodically harvested.


    After a while, Kain noticed a pattern. Early on, as mostly blood and flesh were harvested by the altar, it flickered mostly with red light. When there was much less blood to absorb, golden lights seemed to be painfully yanked from the body��which Kain assumed to be their souls.


    But what did the absorbed purple lights represent?


    As Kain was watching and analyzing the altars, so too were the abyssal creatures��although for a different purpose.


    They gathered at the edges, their red and gold eyes gleaming with grotesque fascination, their expressions twisted with something akin to reverence.


    All of the lights seemed to funnel into the impossibly deep pit that the altars lined. Kain, at the first quick glance of the pit, didn''t notice anything unique about it besides its width and depth, but he decided to take a closer look.


    Kain approached the edge cautiously, peering down into the darkness.


    Nothing.


    Not even the faintest glimmer of depth. It was as if the world simply ceased to exist beyond the pit''s threshold. His instincts recoiled, warning him of some fundamental wrongness, but curiosity overpowered caution.


    He reached inward, drawing on his limited amount of spiritual power, pushing it into his eyes to enhance his vision once more.


    And then, he saw it.


    His breath caught in his throat.


    The darkness wasn''t just an empty void. It had shape. It had form.


    It was an eye.


    A closed, massive eye.


    Then, it opened.


    A slow, deliberate motion, as if something ancient and unfathomable had been disturbed from an aeons-long rest.


    A terrible, gut-wrenching wrongness slammed into Kain, freezing him in place as a pupil of impossible size revealed itself beneath the lid.


    The eye was a deep, cosmic purple flecked with shifting specks of gold and red.


    And it was staring right at him.


    He should not have looked. Yet he had, despite all of his instincts screaming not to.


    And now, that thing��whatever it was��was aware of him. Not just as a passing anomaly, not just as an unnoticed speck in its domain. It was looking at him. Studying him.


    Kain stumbled backward, his heart hammering. The abyss, the city, the Demigod, the rituals��it all faded into background noise at the wake of the horror now staring back at him.

 Chapter 437 A Dream?

    Kain jolted awake.His breath came in shallow, rapid gasps, his body slick with cold sweat.


    His fingers curled instinctively against the rough fabric beneath him, his senses frantically grasping for something��anything��familiar.


    Gone was that horrifying city of nightmares. Gone was the monstrous, staring eye. Instead, a dimly lit room greeted him, lined with rows of occupied gurneys. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and antiseptic, the low hum of whispered conversations and pained groans surrounded his disoriented mind like an unpleasant background noise.


    ''Was it a dream? But it felt so real�� like I was actually there.''


    Kain''s heart pounded against his ribs. The image of that eye��its sheer, overwhelming presence��refused to get out of his head, lingering in his mind with an intensity far beyond any nightmare. It had felt real. Too real.


    His body ached, a deep soreness settling into his bones. Particularly his back, as though he lied in only one position for days��perhaps he had.


    He attempted to shift, but the effort sent a sharp sting through his side, forcing him to grit his teeth. Only then did he notice the tubes attached to his arms, thin lines connecting him to outdated medical machines injecting various colored liquids into his veins like some kind of primitive I.V. drip.


    His gaze drifted to a bag on the floor, stuffed with his clothes��dirty, sweat-soaked, and clearly changed at least twice. If nothing else, it was clear he''d been here for a while. Likely ever since he collapsed on the battlefield.


    ''Then�� I never actually left, right? My mind must have been messed up from overdrafting my lifeforce. I must have hallucinated�� that horrible place.'' Kain comforted himself, but deep down, he wasn''t sure if he believed it.


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    A soft rustling interrupted his spiraling thoughts.


    The curtain surrounding his bed shifted, and a woman stepped into his sectioned-off space.


    She wore a healer''s uniform��practical and somewhat worn, the fabric stained with dried blood from treating the wounded.


    Light brown hair was tied back in a loose bun, stray strands framing her face. In one hand, she held a clipboard filled with what appeared to be his medical records, while the other carried a glass container filled with bright blue liquid.


    Kain''s eyes flicked between the strange-looking container and the tubes in his arms, and he guessed that she must be here to refill this strange looking "I.V. drip"


    Then, she looked up.


    Their eyes met.


    The healer''s breath hitched audibly. A startled yelp escaped her lips. Clearly, she hadn''t expected anyone in this ward to be awake.


    For a moment, neither of them moved.


    Then, without a word, she turned on her heel and bolted.


    The clipboard slipped from her grasp, clattering against the floor, its pages fluttering wildly as she shoved past the curtain and disappeared down the aisle of the ward.


    From beyond the thin fabric walls of his makeshift room, hurried footsteps echoed, fading into the distance.


    Kain blinked.


    ''What?''


    His sluggish mind struggled to catch up.


    ''What kind of bullshit medical care is this?! I''m a patient, how could you just run away?! Zero-star review!''


    But the absurdity of the situation faded quickly as Kain tried to reason her actions. If she had simply been unprofessional, she might have gasped or hesitated. But the way she ran, the sheer urgency of it��


    His pulse quickened. Something was wrong.


    And now that he was paying attention��there was something else. The battle.


    Or rather, the lack of it.


    The distant booms of colliding steel and monstrous roars that had become the constant backdrop of the city''s defense were gone. No fresh waves of injured were being brought in.


    What the hell happened while I was unconscious? Did we win? Or did we lose and were forced to flee to a neighbouring city-state?''


    Before he could entertain worse possibilities, the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears��quick, purposeful strides. The curtain was yanked aside.


    A familiar face stood there.


    Nadia.


    Her piercing gaze swept over him, sharp as a blade, as if she was assessing whether he was real or some illusion her mind had conjured.


    The moment he saw her, Kain forced himself upright. His muscles screamed in protest, but he ignored them.


    "The battle," he rasped. "What''s happening? Did we lose? Are we prisoners?"


    Nadia''s brow furrowed slightly. "You don''t know?"


    Kain blinked. "Know what?"


    For the first time since she entered, Nadia hesitated. It was brief, but it was there��a flicker of uncertainty. Then she exhaled through her nose, shaking her head before leveling him with a measured stare.


    "We aren''t 100% sure what happened either," she admitted. "We were hoping you could answer our questions. After you collapsed, Aegis�� changed."


    Kain frowned. "Changed?"


    "Yeah," she said. "Aegis, at first, resisted the abyssal corruption with your help. But shortly after you lost consciousness, he began to change."


    Kain''s breath hitched. "Change how?"


    Nadia crossed her arms. "At first, we thought he had succumbed to corruption. His body looked like theirs. His presence felt like theirs. We thought we''d lost him."


    Kain became frantic at this description and tried to check Aegis'' status through their bond. He''d wait to check the System when Nadia left.


    Nadia shook her head. "Don''t worry. He turned on them instead." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain''s mind reeled. Aegis�� fought the abyssals?


    "Physically, he now resembles the corrupted, but his intelligence seems intact," Nadia continued. "More importantly, when the healers examined you, they found no signs of a broken contract. Whatever happened to him��it didn''t sever your connection."


    Kain exhaled, trying to process the information. If Aegis had truly been corrupted, their bond should have shattered. That was the natural order of things.


    "But that''s not all," Nadia said, her voice quieter now. "Aegis didn''t just fight. He suppressed them. The moment he awakened��or evolved, or whatever it was��his presence alone seemed to weigh down the abyssal creatures. It was like�� they feared him. Even the few high-level ones couldn''t use their full strength"


    Kain swallowed hard. "And that made them retreat?"


    "We didn''t win," she reminded him. "Not even close. But between his sudden transformation that caught them off guard and the fact that we fought harder than they anticipated, the enemy chose to withdraw. For now."


    Kain could only stare at her, his mind struggling to process everything.


    Aegis had changed. Become something new.


    Whatever had happened on that battlefield, it had completely changed Aegis. And, if Kain''s ''dream'' was any indication, may have even extended to him.

 Chapter 438 Aegis Changes

    Kain exhaled slowly, trying to process everything Nadia had just told him. His body still felt like it had been run through a meat grinder, but the news about Aegis kept his mind painfully alert.Aegis had evolved��or maybe mutated was a better word for it. Whatever the case, his presence alone had been enough to force the abyssal creatures to withdraw.


    That wasn''t normal.


    Kain couldn''t even be happy at the knowledge that Aegis may have increased in strength or, at the very least, had an advantage over abyssal creatures and corrupted.


    However, now wasn''t the time to get lost in speculation. He''d need to wait until Nadia left to get some answers from the System.


    Kain looked up just as Nadia turned toward the exit. "Rest," she instructed. "We''re still keeping Aegis under observation, and the city''s on high alert in case the abyssals return. When you''re in better shape, we''ll talk more."


    Kain watched her go, her footsteps fading down the corridor. He let out a breath, finally allowing his body to sink back against the stiff mattress.


    But resting?


    Yeah, that wasn''t happening.


    ''System, pull up Aegis'' profile,'' he commanded.


    A familiar blue screen materialized in front of him. His gaze zeroed in on Aegis'' digital model.


    The golem that appeared before him was unrecognizable.


    Gone was the rugged stone form he had known composed of various shades of orange, grey and brown stone.


    Now, Aegis'' entire body was composed of sleek, solid black marble, polished to an unnatural smoothness. His once-dull eyes had transformed into an eerie reddish-burnt orange colour. It was a stark contrast��something between his original self and the abyssal corrupted they had been fighting against on the battlefield.


    Kain''s fingers twitched as he navigated through the details, searching for any additional changes in stats or abilities. Whatever had happened, it had fundamentally altered Aegis.


    "��What the hell did you become?" Kain muttered under his breath.


    Kain immediately opened his full profile to get some answers.


    --------------------------


    Nickname: Aegis


    Species: Biolith Sentinel (Mutated)


    A once-ancient being of stone and earth, now reforged like a diamond while withstanding the pressure of abyssal corruption. Its body, once composed of layered sedimentary stone, has transmuted into an obsidian-like material infused with abyssal energies. Despite this change, it has retained its intelligence and autonomy, standing as a paradox��neither fully abyssal nor fully pure.


    Quality: Platinum


    Spiritual Power Grade: Green


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria) S��ar?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Attribute: Earth, Abyssal


    Abilities:


    SS - Abyssal Layered Defense: Aegis'' new form allows it to absorb and neutralize abyssal energy from attacks, significantly reducing their impact. Each layer of its abyss-infused stone body disperses energy in a way that weakens the effectiveness of abyssal corruption and direct spiritual assaults.


    SS- Black Geoform: Retaining its ability to manipulate stone, Aegis can now shape rocky structures and reshape his own body with not only surrounding materials, but also solidify the power of corruption emitted by others into a stone for its own use and healing. However, the process momentarily increases its abyssal aura, which can be disorienting to allies.


    S - Abyssal Suppression: Aegis emits a natural suppression effect against abyssal entities, reducing their combat effectiveness within a certain radius. The effect varies depending on the strength of the opponent, but weaker abyssal creatures may directly collapse on the spot.


    A - Earth''s Dark Grasp: Aegis can meld into terrain to hide, however it leaves behind an unsettling aura within the fused area that deters abyssal entities from approaching. Additionally, it restores vitality by absorbing not just the energy of the earth but also the residual abyssal energy lingering in the battlefield.


    A - Ruptured Crystalline Burst: Upon taking critical damage, Aegis releases a violent shockwave of abyss-infused crystalline shards. These shards embed themselves into enemies, disrupting spiritual energy flow and temporarily reducing their defensive abilities. However, the effect is unpredictable and can cause instability in its own form.


    ---------------------


    Before he could dig further, a commotion outside the medical tent drew his attention. He barely had a second to process it before hurried footsteps approached, followed by the urgent rustling of the curtain.


    Someone else was coming.


    Kain barely had time to react before the curtain was thrown aside.


    An unfamiliar young woman stood in the entryway, her chest rising and falling as if she had just sprinted across the camp. Her appearance, though neatly kept, bore the telltale signs of long hours��creased fabric, a sickly complexion, dark circles around her eyes and sunken in cheeks.


    "Hello, Kain," she said, her voice clipped yet controlled. "I am one of the guards responsible for monitoring your contract after it��changed. You need to come with me. Now."


    His muscles protested as he pushed himself upright, his instincts already shifting into high alert. "I''m still recovering," he said dryly, gesturing toward the various tubes still attached to him. "Unless this is a life-or-death situation, I''d prefer not to rip these out and collapse on the floor."


    The woman hesitated, clearly wrestling with something, before exhaling sharply. "Then listen carefully," she said, lowering her voice. "Something''s happening with Aegis."


    That got his attention.


    Kain''s fingers twitched, itching to pull the System interface back up to check for changes to his condition, but he kept his focus on the girl. "Define ''something,''" he demanded.


    "His abyssal presence��it''s getting stronger." She took a step closer, her voice barely above a whisper now. "We''ve been monitoring him in a secured area with some of the other contracts that were injured and considered to be at risk of turning, but just now, the suppression field we placed around him seemed to be weakening. And then�� the abyssal remains in the camp��ones we hadn''t burned yet��started crumbling into dust. Moreover, his aura as an Abyssal creature keeps increasing. Now most employees refuse to step into the area, and the owners of the other contracts in the secured area are expressing concerns and protesting, wanting Aegis to be removed��possibly even from the city entirely."


    A chill ran down Kain''s spine. He hadn''t even had time to process Aegis'' first transformation, and now there was another?


    Swinging his legs over the edge of the cot, he grimaced at the dull ache in his limbs. "Get these damn tubes off me," he ordered. "I need to see him for myself."

 Chapter 439 A Horror Movie Scene

    Kain''s entire body protested with every step as he made his way toward the secured facility, Mira, the guard who had gone to fetch him, walking briskly beside him.His body ached, and his balance was unsteady. But none of that could compare to the pain deep in his soul that came from overdrafting his lifeforce. If he had suffered the usual injuries, he could have gotten Queen to heal him within moments, unfortunately, the recovery of one''s lifeforce wasn''t so simple.


    But none of that mattered right now. He needed to see Aegis.


    Kain could tell they were almost at their destination not by the scenery, but by the loud commotion he could hear from several meters away.


    Voices overlapped in frantic arguments, panic thick in the air. Beast-tamers, guards, and staff crowded around the perimeter, their faces tight with anger and concern.


    "What the hell is that thing?!" someone shouted.


    "How do we even know our contracts are still stafe in there?" said a disgruntled owner.


    "They clearly aren''t! We should have kicked that thing out, not taken care of it and kept it around waiting for it to only get stronger!"


    "That thing may have even been a conspiracy by the Abyssal creatures! You saw how powerful they were! What if they wanted to take us down from the inside using that mutant!"


    ''From what I heard, you all were getting your asses kicked without my Aegis. Did the abyssals even need to come up with some kind of elaborate plan to kill you all? What a joke��''


    Kain''s eyes swept across the scene, quickly spotting the source of the unrest. The containment barrier��which according to Mira was originally a translucent energy field designed to allow observation��had been completely replaced. In its place stood a dome of smooth, opaque black metal.


    Mira inhaled sharply. "It wasn''t like this before," she muttered. "The original barrier was meant to contain and monitor the spiritual creatures inside. This�� this was made by Aegis."


    The realization sent a fresh wave of unease rippling through the gathered tamers. Their ability to see their contracts had been stripped away, leaving them in the dark��both figuratively and literally.


    The shouting grew louder. Tamers shoved forward, their voices laced with desperation and hostility.


    "What if they''re already dead in there?!"


    ''Then you''d feel the broken contract, idiot��''


    "This is your contract''s fault, isn''t it?" A woman glared at Kain, stepping toward him aggressively. "You need to fix this��now."


    A few others murmured in agreement, some angry, some hopeful. Kain''s presence brought a measure of expectation. If Aegis was the cause of this, then surely his tamer could make him undo it.


    Kain was honestly fed up with these people. If there was any danger to their contracts in there, they would feel it. He opened his mouth to give them a piece of his mind , but before he could say a word, Mira stepped forward and let out a sharp, commanding shout. "Enough!"


    The crowd flinched. The raw authority in her voice cut through the chaos, forcing silence to settle over the gathering.


    Mira turned in a slow circle, her gaze sharp as she addressed them. "I understand you''re scared. I get it. But let me remind you all of something��you''re still alive because of Aegis. The only reason the abyssals haven''t torn through this camp is because his unique ability to suppress them bought us some more time. We owe it to both Aegis, and Kain, to not just throw them away like discarded trash once we''ve gotten what we needed. Shame on you all!"


    Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Some looked skeptical, others conflicted.


    Mira''s voice remained firm. "Right now, he might be the only reason this camp is still standing. And you think turning against him is the right move?" She folded her arms. "Instead of panicking, maybe try supporting the damn thing that''s keeping us alive."


    A tense silence followed.


    Kain exhaled, stepping up beside her. He could still feel the weight of glares on him, but at least the immediate hostility had lessened.


    He turned his attention to the dome, unease curling in his stomach.


    "Aegis," he muttered under his breath. "What the hell are you doing in there?"


    Under the expectant eyes of those around, Kain placed his hand on the black metal dome. However, unlike the cold metal feeling he expected, all Kain touched was air as he fell straight into the dome without meeting any resistance.


    The moment Kain disappeared, another commotion arose in the surroundings, but thankfully not as big as before. Since Kain was able to enter, unlike them, that surely meant that Aegis hadn''t completely lost his mind, right? He should listen to Kain��at least they hoped so.


    The moment he crossed the threshold, a suffocating weight settled over him. The air inside was thick with the smell of decay. Not to mention, that Kain wasn''t sure what this facility looked like originally, but he was sure that it couldn''t have looked like this��


    The ground, once laid with a smooth white tile was now filled with cracks��jagged veins of black rock snaked through it, pulsing faintly like living arteries.


    Similarly black pulsing tendrils climbed up the walls of the facility and the dome, and would pulse rhythmically.


    But the worst part��the part that sent a sharp chill down Kain''s spine��was the contracts.


    All around him, the at-risk spiritual creatures lay sprawled across the ground, their bodies twitching and writhing as thick, black tendrils extended from Aegis and latched onto them like grotesque vines wrapping them up and absorbing their energy.


    Their eyes were flickering between red and their original colours unstably, and their spiritual energy was fluctuating wildly as if struggling against an unseen force. Some let out distorted cries��weak, pained sounds that barely resembled their usual selves.


    And at the very center of it all stood Aegis��like a tall, looming harbinger of death.


    For a moment, Kain could only stare and blink as he took in the scene. There was only one thought in his mind�� sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Thank god those idiots outside couldn''t see this scene. They definitely would have overreacted.''

 Chapter 440 A Most Deserving Death

    Had they seen this nightmare��a scene that looked like something straight out of abyssal corruption itself��there would have been no convincing them to stay calm. No persuading them that Aegis wasn''t dangerous.


    Hell, even he was shocked by this scene, and he had complete faith in Aegis'' character.


    Kain stared at the grotesque vision before him��the writhing contracts, the pulsating black tendrils, the eerie glow in Aegis'' eyes��and tried, really tried, to find a reasonable explanation.


    ''Maybe�� maybe this was just some kind of deep-tissue massage?''


    Yeah. That could be it. Those groans of pain could technically be groans of enjoyment. Some of the best massages were painful, right? Right?


    Kain watched as one of the contracts��a fox-like creature��let out a choked whimper while its limbs spasmed wildly, but still kept a death grip on that tenuous explanation��


    Still, Kain wasn''t ready to jump to worst-case scenarios just yet. Aegis had always been a gentle giant��only ever fighting when threatened. Otherwise, his big, lumbering tank of a golem even kept an eye out to avoid crushing ordinary ants when he walked.


    He wasn''t some abyssal horror. He wasn''t corrupting these contracts. If anything, knowing Aegis, he was probably trying to help.


    Swallowing hard, Kain forced his voice to remain steady as he stepped closer.


    "Aegis."


    The writhing tendrils stilled for just a moment.


    Kain took another breath, ignoring the unease crawling up his spine and tried to stay as normal as possible.


    "Ahem��whatcha doing there buddy?"


    Aegis looked at Kain, and tilted his head slightly at an angle in confusion. Kain didn''t receive a response, but still understood his reply through the contract��isn''t it obvious what I am doing?


    ''If it was obvious, I wouldn''t be asking you!'' Kain thought in frustration. But he was a lot more calm now. At least in this brief exchange of unspoken words, Kain could confirm that Aegis hadn''t actually become an Abyssal creature.


    "I''m�� helping ��them��" Aegis'' deep gravelly voice range out.


    Kain took another cautious step forward, schooling his expression into something resembling calm. "Helping them��?" he repeated slowly. "Okay. And, uh�� what exactly does that entail?"


    Aegis shifted slightly, his massive form casting an even larger shadow over the twitching contracts beneath him, appearing even more ominous. His deep, rumbling voice echoed through their bond.


    "I am�� absorbing the contamination."


    Kain blinked. "The what now?"


    "The abyssal energy within them." Aegis sounded completely serene, as if the others weren''t currently wrapped in squirming black horrifying tentacles. "They were clearly suffering. I am fixing them."


    Kain recalled Aegis'' new SS-level ability that did mention absorbing the power of corruption and solidifying it into a ''stone'' for his own use. However, while the positive impact of that ability was great and undeniable��the appearance of this ability was easy to cause misunderstandings in others��


    Kain opened his mouth, closed it, then rubbed his temples. "Okay. Cool. Love the initiative." He forced a smile. "But�� maybe, just maybe, you could have done it in a way that didn''t look like you were eating their souls?"


    Aegis tilted his head again, clearly confused. "I am not eating anything."


    "Yeah, buddy, I know that, but anyone looking at this wouldn''t!" Kain gestured wildly at the contracts still twitching on the ground, one of whom let out a particularly pitiful whine. "Seriously, do they look like they''re having a good time?! They are in pain!"


    Aegis paused. He turned his head slowly to observe the creatures beneath him. His massive, jagged fingers carefully poked one of them��a trembling bird-like creature��that immediately let out a gurgled squawk of distress.


    Kain inhaled sharply, forcing down a laugh that was definitely not appropriate for this situation after seeing the dawning realization on Aegis of how this all looked.


    Aegis remained still for a long moment, as if processing this shocking revelation. Then, with the utmost gentleness, he retracted the tendrils, pulling them away like a kid being scolded for drawing on the walls.


    Instantly, the contracts collapsed onto the floor, panting and shaking, but noticeably�� better. Their spiritual energy, which had been fluctuating wildly, was now stable. Their previously darkened auras now shone with a purity that hadn''t been there before.


    Kain stared. "You actually completely cured them?"


    Aegis nodded. "Yes." S��ar?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain looked between the recovering contracts and Aegis'' still-monstrous appearance. "You couldn''t have, I don''t know, said something first? The guards and beast-tamers outside are in a complete uproar right now because they don''t understand the reason for your actions. Maybe you could have given everyone a heads-up before wrapping their contracts in your ''evil'' doom tendrils?"


    Aegis hesitated. "��I did not think it was necessary."


    Kain sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This had been way too much stress for his still-recovering body. But at least��at least��he could be sure of one thing.


    Aegis hadn''t gone rogue. He was still his same, lovable, gentle giant.


    And with their contracts now fully cured, there shouldn''t be any difficulty with explaining this to the people outside. If anything, they should be dropping to their knees and kissing Aegis'' feet.


    With all the bad things they were saying about Aegis, they were lucky that he wasn''t a vengeful person and would still let Aegis cure their contracts.


    He turned to Aegis with a pleased smirk. "Alright, buddy. Let''s drop this thing and let them know the good news."


    Aegis obeyed immediately, the stone dome crumbling away into harmless dust. Sunlight streamed in, illuminating the expectant faces of the gathered beast-tamers and guards��faces that quickly twisted into horror the moment they saw the aftermath.


    "My baby!" one of them shrieked, rushing forward to scoop up their trembling contract.


    Another gasped, their eyes darting between their collapsed partner and Aegis, who still looked like some terrifying abyssal monster. "What�� what did you do to them?!"


    Kain raised a hand, prepared to graciously accept their gratitude. "Relax, relax. Your contracts are fine��better than fine, actually." He gestured grandly at Aegis. "My buddy here just saved their lives! You should be thanking him."


    A brief silence fell over the group.


    Then, one of the contracts��a fluffy, deer-like creature��gave a wobbly, traumatized bleat. Kain assumed, he was describing all that Aegis had for them while under the dome.


    Similarly, a variety of squawks and buzzing noises rang out as the contracts communicated with their beast-tamers.


    However, instead of receiving their gratitude�� the entire courtyard exploded into shouts of outrage.


    "You tortured our contracts?!"


    "What kind of sick freak does something like that?!"


    Kain''s confident smirk twitched. "Okay, first of all, cured, not tortured��big difference."


    But it was no use. The beast-tamers were fuming, clutching their ''babies'' like overprotective parents ready to march into battle. Some of the more rational ones were at least acknowledging that their contracts were healed, throwing out reluctant thank-yous in between their panic, but others were already demanding compensation.


    "You need to pay for this!" a man with a massive falcon shouted. "My Softwing has been completely traumatized by you! She said your sadistic contract even poked her for his own sick pleasure in there!"


    "Compensation?!" Kain sputtered. "Are you people serious?! Your contracts were turning��if not for Aegis, they''d be corrupted! You should be throwing a damn parade in his honor!


    But it was no use, Kain felt a vein in his forehead throb as more ridiculous complaints piled on. One tamer was even blaming them for their contract now having ''trust issues,'' another now claimed that his contract was now ''scared of the dark''. Explore hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    He dragged a hand down his face, barely containing the absolute fury bubbling inside him.


    And as he listened to their continued whining, their refusal to acknowledge how close they had come to total ruin, their sheer stupidity in the face of Aegis'' curing abilities��


    Kain thought, ''It''s no wonder you all and your city-state went extinct. You idiots deserve it!''

 Chapter 441 Renewed Hope

    Kain ignored the indignant shouting behind him, tuning out the absurd demands for compensation. He''d done what he came to do, and if these people were too dense to appreciate it, that was their problem. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a sharp turn on his heel, he strode back toward the Vice City Lord''s mansion. He wasn''t about to return to the public infirmary, where he''d no doubt be swarmed with more useless questions and paranoia. His head was already pounding, and he had absolutely no patience left for dealing with these idiots.


    Thankfully, not everyone in this world was hopeless.


    When Kain entered the mansion, he was met with an entirely different atmosphere. Nadia and his original teammates��Benji, Claudia, and Clara��were already waiting for him, their expressions ranging from excitement to cautious optimism.


    "This is amazing!" Claudia said, shaking her head with something almost like awe. "The story has already spread throughout the city. Aegis just�� cleansed the corruption completely? No lingering traces?"


    "What? I thought the story those idiots would try to spread would be that Aegis had tortured their contracts. Completely neglecting to mention that he was helping them." Kain replied in irritation.


    An embarrassed smile appeared on Claudia''s face, "they did try. And there are some rather strange rumours being spread about you and Aegis. But when they were forced to answer more in depth questions about how exactly their contracts that were previously on the verge of corruption could be released, the true story began to spread. Not to mention, the guards at the scene at the time are much more sensible and clarified many strange rumours spread by the others. Now pretty much all of the beast-tamers in the city know that Aegis has this ability, and morale is beginning to pick back up."


    Nadia''s sharp eyes gleaming with interest. "This is huge, Kain. If this ability works consistently, it''s not just a solution for what happened here��More importantly, it could be a game-changer for the Empire''s ongoing fight against the Abyss. After all, the Ishvaran''s are already dead sacrifices of history, but the Empire still has hope."


    Benji crossed his arms, frowning thoughtfully. "We already know most if not all known purification skills and items have next to no effect on abyssal corruption. If Aegis can absorb and neutralize it, that''s beyond anything many in the empire would currently have access to. After all, those few peak-level skills that can purify the corruption are probably only deployable by Demigod level spiritual creatures, and aren''t something the average citizen, or even Order member, could contact��"


    Benji, who trailed off thoughtfully seemed to be suddenly struck by a thought, his voice hesitant. "Kain�� do you think Aegis could help Aura?"


    The room fell silent at his words.


    Aura.


    Injured by a high-level abyssal, she had been placed in a frozen stasis to prevent the injury and corruption from spreading further, but no one had been able to fully purge it.


    Kain frowned, considering the idea seriously. It was tempting. If Aegis could purify her, they would be able to add an additional member to their fighting force.


    But�� it was too risky.


    After a moment, he exhaled and shook his head. "No."


    Benji''s expression fell. "Why not?"


    "Aegis'' ability works, but we still don''t know its limits," Kain explained. "Aura''s in a delicate state. Once we unfreeze her, she might only have one shot at recovery. If we try and fail, she''s dead. And besides�� her injury isn''t just abyssal corruption. There''s something else going on there. It''s safest to get her looked at in the Order."


    Benji clenched his fists, clearly frustrated but ultimately nodding in understanding. "I just�� I hate keeping her like that. It feels like we''re delaying the inevitable."


    "We''re not delaying. We''re making sure we get it right," Kain corrected him firmly. "We follow the plan. We bring her back to the Order, and we don''t waste the one chance she has on a gamble."


    Benji sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Yeah�� yeah, you''re right."


    Clara put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We all want her back, Benji. But we have to be smart about it."


    The tension in the room settled into something more somber from the original jovial mood. Aegis'' ability was a breakthrough, but it wasn''t a miracle cure for everything.


    At the very least, though, it was a step forward��something that could change the way they fought against the Abyss. They no longer needed to be so fearful of even receiving a scratch from the corrupted. They no longer had to be so fearful that their allies or own contracts would turn on them within the next second due to becoming corrupted.


    The moment of reflection was violently shattered by the sudden blare of alarm bells.


    A chilling wave of tension rippled through the mansion as everyone immediately snapped to attention. The deep, resounding bell chime echoed across the city, signaling the one thing they had all been dreading.


    Another abyssal attack.


    Kain''s heart slammed against his ribs as he exchanged glances with Nadia and the others.


    "Damn it," Nadia hissed, already reaching for her weapon. "Looks like our break is over."


    Benji wasted no time, rushing to the window and peering outside. The streets below were already in chaos��citizens scrambling for shelter, guards barking orders, beast-tamers calling out their contracts in preparation for battle.


    Nadia cursed under her breath. "It''s so soon. I was hoping we''d get more time to bolster our defenses."


    "That''s probably exactly why they decided to launch another attack now," Kain replied. After all, the high-level abyssal don''t seem to have intelligence any less than humans''. They wouldn''t give their prey too much time to prepare. "But It doesn''t matter. With Aegis'' new ability, they will find that this round of attacks will be very different from the last time." Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    Nadia nodded sharply. "Let''s move."


    Without another word, they surged forward, rushing out to the already war-torn city walls where the nightmare was already beginning.

 Chapter 442 When Hope Shatters

    The alarm bell rang through the city, its sharp, urgent sound echoing off the stone walls, ensuring that all residents heard what, to many of the citizens, was like the urgent warning of their impending doom.


    Soldiers and beast-tamers scrambled to their positions, gripping weapons with white-knuckled hands as they rushed toward the city walls. The air was thick with tension, the scent of sweat, metal, and lingering abyssal rot filling up their lungs.


    Kain vaulted up the nearest set of stairs, taking two steps at a time as he reached the top of the city wall.


    From his elevated vantage point, his eyes swept over the battlefield. The Abyssals had regrouped��a seemingly never-ending wave of corrupted spiritual creatures and abyssals moving toward the city like a nightmarish tide. But this time, they weren''t just mindlessly charging.


    Towering at the rear of their ranks were massive war machines, dark and jagged, constructed from what appeared to be bones, metal, and some unidentifiable objects. They loomed like grotesque monuments, pulsating with an eerie red glow as if alive. Strange currents of light ran along their surfaces. The defenders immediately noticed the addition of these monstrosities, but their purpose remained unknown��at least for now.


    However, despite the abyssal seemingly being better prepared to launch an attack this time, the pressure on the defenders was actually much lighter than it was before.


    The defenders unleashed volleys of arrows and spiritual skills, and were largely responsible for cutting down the smaller Abyssals before they reached the walls.


    Meanwhile, the more powerful abyssal creatures were handled by the spiritual creatures. The air shimmered with bursts of flame and lightning as various creatures hurled attacks into the fray. Kain''s own spear stabbed straight through a low-level Abyssal drone that had attempted to scale the wall, the creature''s inky-black blood splattering against the stone before quickly disappearing��the remnants of its body absorbed.


    Aegis.


    The entire floor of the city wall and the ground just beyond had become a pitch-black surface, as if tar had seeped into every crevice and hardened. Whenever an injured soldier, beast, or even an Abyssal itself landed on this surface, writhing tendrils that resembled cilia or sea anemones shot up and coiled around them. But instead of pulling them under or attacking, the tendrils extracted the corruption, draining the abyssal energy and leaving the soldier rejuvenated, their aura stabilizing.


    The moment one of the defenders collapsed, gasping and trembling as the corruption threatened to overtake them, the tendrils lashed out and latched onto their body, siphoning the corruption away in thick, oily strands. Seconds later, the soldier was back on his feet, grabbing his weapon with renewed strength and charging back into the fray.


    Even the Abyssal creatures were not immune. Those that had fully succumbed to corruption screeched and thrashed as their power was drained, their flesh turning pale and brittle until, eventually, they became nothing more than husks��hollow shells of what they once were.


    Aegis took the siphoned corruption and molded it, the swirling darkness condensing into a massive obsidian wall just beyond the city''s original wall. This new barrier grew thicker with each moment, absorbing more and more energy until it stood as a second line of defense. The corruption that had once threatened them was made to protect them all.


    For the first time in what felt like ages, hope flickered in the hearts of the defenders.


    "We might actually win this," someone muttered breathlessly.


    That hope was shattered in the next instant.


    One of the originally silent Abyssal war machines shuddered to life.


    A deep, resonating hum filled the air, a frequency so low it made Kain''s bones vibrate. Crimson light pulsed along the grotesque artery-like chords around the machine, gathering into a single, blindingly bright core. The defenders barely had time to react before the weapon discharged.


    A beam of pure abyssal energy launched forward, carving through Aegis'' newly formed wall like it was nothing more than paper. The sturdy blackened defense��once thought impenetrable��melted away in an instant, the stone formed from corruption turning into tiny dust-like particles.


    Unfortunately, after destroying a section of Aegis'' wall, the beam did not stop.


    It sliced clean through a section of the city wall behind it, vaporizing stone, steel, and flesh alike. An entire stretch of the defensive line crumbled in an instant, taking the defenders standing there with it.


    Screams filled the air as bodies tumbled from the collapsing wall, some lucky enough to merely suffer broken bones, others not surviving the fall at all. Those directly caught in the beam''s path never had the chance to scream��they were simply gone, erased as if they had never existed.


    Chaos erupted as the city wall trembled under the devastating impact. Dust and debris clouded the air, mixing with the horrible scent of burned stone and flesh. The cries of the wounded mingled with the shrill screeches of the low and mid-level Abyssals pushing forward, sensing the momentary lapse in the city''s defenses.


    Kain barely had time to regain his footing before the second war machine roared to life. A deep, pulsating hum reverberated across the battlefield, signaling another impending attack.


    "Move!" Kain barked, already launching himself off the targeted section of the wall. The defenders scattered just in time, the second beam of abyssal energy slicing through another section of the wall not far from where Kain had been standing, reducing it to rubble in mere seconds.


    Then came the third.


    And the fourth.


    The once-sturdy walls of the city, which had held strong despite past invasions and beast-tides for decades, were now filled with holes like swiss cheese.


    Through the gaping wounds in the city''s defenses, low-level and mid-level Abyssal creatures poured in like a relentless tide. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire


    Aegis attempted to drain the abyssal energy of the infiltrating abyssal to reform the city defenses. However, the quantitative change triggered a qualitative change, and their massive amount of numbers became too much for Aegis to fully drain them all before they infiltrated the city.


    After they scrambled over broken stone, and only had some of their energy siphoned off by Aegis, many of them still surged toward the inner city where civilians were huddled in their homes in fear.

 Chapter 443 Strike Teams

    Over the screams of fallen comrades and civilians, Nadia shouted, "We have to take those machines down before they fire again!"


    "No shit! But look at them!" Benji growled, driving his dagger into the eye socket of a lunging beast. "Each one is guarded by a high-level Abyssal. If we don''t plan this right, we''ll be slaughtered before we even get close."


    Clara gritted her teeth, a shield of light launched by one of her contracts barely fending off a strike from a charging Abyssal creature. "Then who takes them on? We''re stretched thin as it is!"


    Kain''s mind worked fast, assessing the battlefield. The defenders were still holding, thanks to Aegis'' ability stabilizing their forces and preventing any of them from becoming corrupted.


    But the Abyssals were pushing harder now that the walls were breaking and they could practically taste the flesh of the helpless civilians. If the machines weren''t stopped soon, there would be nothing left to defend.


    His gaze locked onto the four towering war machines and the monstrous Abyssals standing guard around them.


    "We need strike teams," Kain decided. "One per machine. We take out the guardians first, then disable or destroy the war machines before they recharge."


    "You say that like it''s simple," Clara muttered, shooting an arrow straight through the skull of a mid-tier Abyssal who was about to chomp down on the neck of a guard. "But you''re right. We don''t have another choice."


    "I''ll handle one of the machines," Nadia stated, gripping her sword tightly. "Benji and Kain, you take another. Clara and Claudia, you two each lead the third and fourth teams."


    There was nothing to argue about with that arrangement. Benji was originally only inferior to Nadia in strength in the team. Even despite lacking the injured Aura, Benji may still be slightly stronger than the other two. Therefore, it was best for him to be responsible for the newbie Kain on such a dangerous mission.


    Benji taking care of Kain''s safety will also free up Nadia if she needed to quickly assist any of the others.


    Benji nodded, also agreeing with the plan while wiping a streak of abyssal blood off his face. "Stick close to me, kid. This isn''t like fighting those cannonfodders��these things are on another level entirely."


    Kain didn''t argue. He had already seen what a high-level Abyssal was capable of. Just one of them had the power to tear through a squad of trained defenders like paper.


    Nadia had assigned additional guards to each strike team, carefully selecting individuals whose contracts and abilities would complement the group.


    Since Kain and Benji already formed a duo, only two more were added to their team: Mira, the guard who had previously called Kain to assist with Aegis, and another young woman named Sera. Both had been chosen for a reason.


    As they maneuvered through the battlefield, Mira quickly spoke, her tone steady despite the chaos. "My contracts are all of the wind-attribute and I have a gift, but it''s not very special. It lets me generate concussive force blasts. Short-range but strong��enough to knock back or destabilize something big."


    Sera followed up without missing a beat. "I also have a gift but it is of the reinforcement-type. I can fortify weapons or armour for a short duration. I have 2 water-attribute contracts and 3 ice attribute ones."


    After hearing about everyone''s abilities Benji shared the gameplan with everyone.


    "��Okay everyone, remember to follow the plan but also keep your safety in mind. We really can''t afford to lose any more fighting force right now. Unless your sacrifice can turn the tides of the battle or destroy those machines for certain, don''t take unnecessary risks."


    After everyone nodded to signify that they were okay with the plan, they headed out.


    Meanwhile, Nadia had long set out with her team, wasting no time charging forward, cutting a path through the abyssal horde, several of her spiritual creatures clawed and bit their way through the masses in order to open up a path.


    But it wasn''t her style to sit back safely either, her sword flared with spiritual energy as she cleaved through a mid-level Abyssal blocking her way, its shriek cut short as its body was split in two.


    Her eyes locked onto the grotesque war machine ahead��standing before it was a towering high-level Abyssal, clad in obsidian armor, its glowing gold eyes watching her approach with eerie stillness.


    With a burst of speed, she closed the gap, swinging her sword in a wide arc.


    At the same time, a star-attribute flying serpent lashed out, weaving around her opponent in a blinding flash of light, its scales burning through the Abyssal''s black armor.


    Unfortunately, not much damage was inflicted. The Abyssal moved unnaturally fast, its clawed hand deflecting her blade with a ringing clash while avoiding the more lethal attacks from her contracts. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, forcing Nadia back a step.


    A slow, guttural chuckle rumbled from the creature''s throat.


    "More prey," it hissed, abyssal energy radiating from its form like a heatwave. "If only you knew how futile your own resistance was. Any creatures that dared to defy the mighty�C"


    "You talk too much," Nadia spat, lunging again, this time accompanied by her star-attribute contracts as well as the contracts of the accompanying guards.


    Across the battlefield, Clara and Claudia were already engaged with their own targets. Clara''s arrows rained down like a relentless storm, piercing through lesser Abyssals as she fought to clear a path to the target for her new temporary teammates.


    But her true focus was on the towering figure guarding the third war machine��a monstrous fusion of beast and metal, its body plated with abyssal-infused steel, four arms wielding massive, jagged blades. Every step it took sent cracks through the ground.


    Clara''s contract, a massive light-attribute falcon, swooped down with a screech, slamming into the creature''s side with a burst of spiritual energy. Meanwhile, her other contracts were responsible for controlling its movements.


    At the same time, her new teammates also launched a variety of their own strongest attacks on the high-level abyssal. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Abyssal staggered, but only for a moment. Then it turned its glowing golden eyes to Clara and let out a deafening roar.


    "This is gonna be rough," she muttered, knocking another arrow.


    Claudia was faring no better. The high-level Abyssal before her was shrouded in darkness, its form shifting like living smoke, making it almost impossible to track its movements. Every time she struck, her blade met only empty air before the creature reappeared elsewhere, striking back with nightmarish speed. A sharp claw raked across her side, drawing blood and forcing her back.


    Clenching her teeth in pain, thankfully Claudia''s contract formed a dark shield that seemed to absorb all light and attacks around her as she repositioned herself.


    The moment the Abyssal lunged again, another contract shot forth a barrage of sticky black threads, attempting to pin the creature down. It snarled as the threads clung to its form, slowing it just enough for Claudia to drive her blade forward.


    Not long after, a barrage of attacks from her other contracts and her new teammates also landed and kicked up a cloud of smoke, obstructing the vision of the abyssal for everyone��its life and death unknown.


    Back at Kain''s position, their group had reached their target. The war machine''s guardian was unlike anything Kain had faced before��a monstrous, centipede-like Abyssal with a humanoid upper body, with multiple lanky arms wielding serrated blades. While its insect-like lower body was supported by hundreds of thin legs.


    Benji barely ducked in time as one of its bladed arms slashed past his head. "Damn thing''s fast!"


    Mira''s wind contracts surged forward, twin hawks buffeting the creature with razor-sharp gales, forcing it back just enough for her to unleash a concussive blast straight at its midsection. The impact sent cracks through the exoskeleton of its lower body.


    Kain saw his moment. "Aegis!"


    In an instant, the blackened ground beneath the Abyssal writhed to life. Tendrils aimed at draining its abyssal-energy shot up, latching onto the creature''s body. The monster screeched as its abyssal energy was forcefully stripped away, its movements slowing as its power was drained.


    However, it was still a high-level abyssal. The extent of Aegis'' ability was to cause a debuff to its strength, but it still had much of the power of a high-level abyssal.


    Sera didn''t hesitate. She touched Benji''s daggers, and a faint silver glow enveloped them. "Now!" she shouted.


    Benji intentionally disrupted the flow of energy in the enchanted knife, a method commonly used when wanting to cause any enchanted item to explode. However, due to it resulting in the loss of the item it was seldom used.


    Moreover, it was hard to control the timing of when the object finally blew and it was just as likely that the sacrificed object would end up blowing up the owner before it could be thrown out.


    However, with the reinforcement ability of Sera, it delayed the timing of the explosion, ensuring that Benji didn''t blow himself up.


    Throwing the dagger forward, it pierced deep into the creature''s core. With a final shriek, the guardian convulsed as if resisting a massive amount of energy, an energy far exceeding what even an indigo-grade spiritual creature could produce, before exploding from the inside out in a gruesome display.


    No time to celebrate. The war machine loomed before them, far larger once up close than it appeared from the city walls. Moreover, a couple of strikes to the machine by them didn''t even leave the slightest of marks and its glowing core began to pulse again.


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    "How the hell do we take this thing down?" Benji murmerd.

 Chapter 444 The Plan

    Kain''s mind raced as he stared at the towering war machine, its glowing core pulsating with black and red ominous energy.


    The high-level Abyssal guardian was down, thanks to Benji''s sacrifice of one of his enchanted daggers. Considering it was Benji''s only 7-star weapon that he''d splurged on in preparation for his breakthrough, to a high-level beast-tamer, Kain could only imagine how much the sacrifice had hurt. However, he could also understand the urgency he felt to finish this mission quickly and get Aura treated.


    However, while they were the first group to get rid of the guardian, the machine itself was a different beast entirely.


    Its surface was smooth, almost organic, with black and dark red veins filled with abyssal and other energies coursing through it like blood through arteries that led up to a glowing core.


    The faint hum of its power reverberated through the ground, growing louder with each passing second as the glow of the core intensified��a constant reminder of the devastation it could unleash if they didn''t act quickly.


    "We need to hit its core," Kain said, his voice tight and urgent. "That''s where it''s drawing its power. If we can disrupt it, we might be able to disable the machine."


    Benji frowned, his eyes scanning the war machine''s structure. "Easier said than done. That thing''s built like a fortress. Even with Aegis attempting to drain its energy, it''s still too durable. Our attacks are barely scratching it."


    Mira stepped forward, "What if we combine our attacks? If we focus all our spiritual energy on one point, we might be able to create an opening."


    Benji hesitantly nodded, not having a better solution. But neither he nor Kain was convinced of the plan. After all, unlike the natives of this world, they were members of the Order who had received elite education��Benji was also a graduate of a Top 5 College.


    So they better understood that combining attacks was easier said than done. More often than not the skills and attributes will just interfere with one another and lower the strength of the attack below a single powerful ability of a contract alone. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire


    Benji, after explaining the difficulty of this feat, asked them to share every detail about their contracts skills��a rather invasive request that was granted due to the urgency of this mission. With the collected information, he and Kain began to work together to figure out what skills may work better together than others. In fact, considering the extensive research Kain performed to combine different elemental attributes when researching the new evolutions for the Silkworm pathway, Kain actually had more experience in this field and took the lead.


    Sera, after realizing how hard they were working to come up with a plan also volunteered, "I can also reinforce your weapons and certain skills, but it''ll only last for a short time. And if we''re not precise, we''ll just waste our energy." S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain glanced at Aegis, who stood silently nearby, his massive form radiating a faint, abyssal-draining aura. "Aegis, can you weaken the machine''s defenses further? If you can siphon more of its energy, it might make it easier for us to break through."


    Aegis rumbled in response, his deep voice resonating through their bond. "I will try. But the machine resists. It feels almost alive."


    "Alive?" Benji muttered.


    Kain''s eyes narrowed as he studied the machine. The veins of abyssal energy pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat. If the machine was alive in some way, that meant it could adapt��or worse, fight back. They couldn''t afford to waste time.


    "Alright, here''s the plan��," Kain began, sharing the current combination he calculated to have the greatest odds of success with the help of his lab assistant VERA.


    Everyone nodded, their expression grim, but hopeful and the operation began.


    Aegis stepped forward, his obsidian-like body shimmering as he extended his tendrils toward the war machine. The blackened tendrils latched onto the machine''s surface, and Kain could feel the faint pull of energy as Aegis began to drain its abyssal power.


    The machine''s hum faltered for a moment, its glowing core flickering as if struggling to maintain its charge. But then, the veins of energy pulsed brighter, and the machine seemed to fight back. Aegis'' tendrils trembled under the strain, and Kain felt a surge of pressure through their bond.


    "It''s resisting!" Kain shouted. "Mira, now!"


    Mira didn''t hesitate. Her wind contracts surged forward, twin hawks creating a tornado-like vortex of razor-sharp winds that focused on a single point on the machine''s surface and seemed to draw in all the surrounding debris to that single point as well.


    At the same time, over a dozen of the Vespid guards who travelled with Kain, the others remaining to help guard the city, also aimed their energy-draining stingers in the general region of that vortex. The vortex would not only correct the differences in their aim and drag all the sharp projectiles to a single point, but the swirling wind would provide a speed boost and further increase their penetrative power.


    At the same time one of Sera''s contracts capable of launching ice arrows was also included in the attack, since Kain determined that its skill shouldn''t conflict with any others used.


    Sera stepped forward, her hands glowing with a faint silver light as she touched a backup weapon Benji kept on hand��this one only 6-stars. She had already reinforced the stingers of the Vespids and some skills of her own contracts


    The blade shimmered, as it sapped the last of her energy, its edge sharpened to an almost unnatural degree. "This will only last for a few seconds," she warned. "Make it count."


    Benji nodded, his eyes locked on the machine. "Ready when you are."


    Kain gripped his spear, channeling as much spiritual energy as he could into the weapon. The air around him crackled with power as he took aim at the swirling gust of wind that practically served as an unmissable target. "On my mark!"


    The combined force of their attacks struck the war machine with a deafening explosion. The ground shook violently, and a shockwave rippled through the air, forcing them to shield their faces from the debris. When the dust settled, they saw the result of their efforts.


    The war machine''s core was cracked, its glowing energy sputtering and flickering like a dying flame. But it wasn''t enough. The machine''s veins pulsed again, and the cracks began to seal themselves, the core''s light growing brighter as it drew energy from its surroundings.


    "It''s healing itself!" Mira shouted, her voice tinged with panic.


    Kain''s heart sank. They had poured everything they had into that attack, and it still wasn''t enough.

 Chapter 445 Drinking Poison to Quench Thirst

    Suddenly Kain recalled that after Aegis seemed to extract the abyssal energy from the target and reshape it for his own use, Abyssal creatures seemed to have no means of manipulating it any more. Perhaps they could make use of that?


    "Aegis," Kain said, his voice steady despite the desperation clawing at him. "Instead of draining the energy as it comes into the machine, can you let it through, but focus on converting it into your own use? Of course, you don''t need to fully convert the abyssal energy into that stone you''ve been making, start with little changes to its properties and we''ll go from there after seeing the effect.


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    Aegis tilted his head, his glowing eyes meeting Kain''s. "I�� can try." S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Do it," Kain urged. "We''ll buy you time."


    Benji and Mira didn''t need to be told twice. They launched another barrage of attacks, their contracts unleashing everything they had to keep the machine''s defenses occupied. Sera reinforced their weapons once more, though her face was pale with exertion.


    Aegis stepped forward again, his tendrils latching onto the machine''s surface. This time, instead of draining its and taking it away from the machine energy, he focused on just trying to gain control of the energy without redirecting its path.


    Aegis'' tendrils pulsed with a faint, almost imperceptible glow as they latched onto the war machine''s surface. The machine, sensing the sudden lack of resistance, eagerly guzzled more energy from its surroundings.


    The veins of abyssal energy running through its structure flared brighter, the hum of its core growing louder and more erratic. It was as if the machine was reveling in its newfound freedom, unaware of the poison it was consuming.


    Kain watched with bated breath, his grip tightening on his spear��either this plan worked or they may have just sent the city to its doom with their own hands.


    The air around them crackled with tension, the battlefield momentarily frozen as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Even the Abyssal creatures seemed to pause, their glowing eyes fixed on the war machine as if sensing something was wrong.


    "Is it working?" Mira questioned fearfully as the core''s brightness continued to increase.


    "It must be!" Kain replied firmly, though he wasn''t entirely sure. The machine''s core was glowing brighter than ever, its energy swirling chaotically within. Aegis'' influence was subtle, almost invisible, but Kain could feel it through their bond��a faint, steady pressure as Aegis slowly altered the properties of the energy flowing into the machine. At least visually, while the incoming abyssal energy wasn''t made into stone, it definitely took on a more viscous, lava-like consistency as it flowed into the machine.


    The machine didn''t seem to notice. It continued to draw in energy, its core pulsing with an almost greedy intensity. The ground beneath it began to tremble, cracks spreading outward as the machine''s power grew unchecked. The air grew heavy, charged with an oppressive energy that made it hard to breathe.


    "What''s happening?" Mira asked, her voice tinged with unease. Her wind contracts circled above her, their movements agitated.


    "I don''t know," Kain admitted, his eyes never leaving the machine. "But if Aegis'' plan works, it''s not going to end well for that thing."


    As if on cue, the machine''s core began to flicker, its light shifting from a steady red to a chaotic mix of colors��gold, purple, and black. The hum of its power grew louder, more discordant, like a symphony falling out of tune.


    The veins of energy running through its surface pulsed erratically, their rhythm breaking down as the machine struggled to maintain control.


    "It''s destabilizing. At least it looks like it is" Benji said, a hint of hope in his voice.


    But the machine wasn''t going down without a fight. Its surface shifted, forming jagged spikes that lashed out at Aegis, trying to destroy the thing it recognized as the cause for its repeated struggles.


    One of the spikes pierced through his obsidian-like body, and Kain felt a sharp pain through their bond. Aegis didn''t falter, his focus unwavering as he continued to manipulate the energy flowing into the machine.


    The machine''s core began to glow brighter, its light almost blinding. The air around it crackled with power, and Kain sensed through the bond that they were running out of time.


    "Get back!" Kain shouted, grabbing Benji and Sera who were the closest to him, and pulling them away from the machine. Mira followed, her eyes wide with fear.


    Aegis remained where he was, his tendrils still latched onto the machine. With a final, deafening roar, the war machine''s core exploded, sending a shockwave of energy rippling through the battlefield. The force of the blast knocked them off their feet, and Kain hit the ground hard, his ears ringing.


    When the dust settled, the war machine was nothing more than a smoldering wreck, its core completely destroyed. Aegis stood amidst the debris, his body cracked and scorched, a third of it gone, but still alive. It was moments like this when the advantage Aegis'' core being microscopic and also easily moveable in his body became apparent. As long as a small debris particle containing his microscopic core remained, he could theoretically recover given enough time and resources.


    Aegis had managed to form a shield at the last moment, protecting Kain and the others from the worst of the blast.


    Kain let out a shaky breath, his heart still pounding. They had taken down one war machine, but the cost had been high. And as the sound of another war machine discharging its beam echoed across the battlefield, followed by the deafening crash of collapsing stone, Kain knew their fight was far from over.


    "We need to take out the others," Kain said, his voice filled with urgency. "Even if we managed to take one down, it won''t count for much if the others are still in operation."


    Benji nodded, his expression grim. "Let''s move. We''ll regroup with the others and take them down one by one."


    As they raced toward the next war machine, Kain couldn''t shake the conflicting feelings of dread and hope that settled in his chest. The Abyssals were relentless, and their war machines were only the beginning��after all, the true top-level combat power of each side, the Demigods, still hadn''t appeared.

 Chapter 446 Reinforcements

    The battle raged on, each strike team fighting desperately to disable the remaining war machines. Nadia''s team had managed to take down their target, but not without heavy casualties. Clara and Claudia were still locked in combat with their respective guardians, their contracts struggling to hold the line against the relentless onslaught.


    Kain and his team reached the next closest war machine, its guardian still engaged in combat with Claudia''s group.


    The high-level Abyssal was a towering figure, its body covered in jagged armor that seemed to absorb the light around it. Its golden eyes glowed with malice as it swung a massive, serrated blade, cutting through a spiritual contract with terrifying ease. One of the guards, likely its contractor, immediately collapsed in pain and emitted gutwrenching screams at the sensation of having his contract broken.


    "We need to take it down fast," Benji said, his voice tight with tension. "If it gets another shot off, the city''s done for."


    Ishvaran was geographically situated at a location that was considered strategically advantageous.


    At its side were too towering mountains with harsh conditions, difficult to scale for low-level spiritual creatures, and at its back was an extremely large and difficult to cross rushing river. Therefore, the city only had to worry about beast tides or attacks from enemy humans in one direction, due to the natural barriers provided in the other directions.


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    However, the downside of these natural walls is that they can quickly become a cage should the city become penetrated. Should the city walls fall, majority of the low and mid-level beast-tamers and all of the ordinary civilians would not be able to cross the harsh mountains or river to escape. They can only sit and wait for death.


    With that grim reality pressing down on them, Kain forced his mind back into the battle. They had no choice but to win.


    "Same strategy as before," Kain commanded, his voice steady despite the chaos. "Aegis, begin altering the machine''s energy intake. The rest of us should help Claudia take down the high-level abyssal."


    Their team moved like a well-oiled machine. Having already taken down one guardian and war machine, they now understood each others strengths and abilities much better. They were easily able to integrate into the fighting arrangement of Claudia''s side without disrupting their rhythm��after all, having too many combatants isn''t necessarily a good thing if their skills end up interfering with one another. But thankfully Kain''s teammates just supported the others and didn''t try to completely take over the attack.


    Mira''s wind contracts provided constant interference, slowing down the Abyssal guardian''s movements, while Sera reinforced their weapons to maximize their striking power. Benji and one of his speediest time-attribute contracts weaved in and out of combat, delivering swift, precise blows to exploit any openings in the Abyssal''s defense while another of his contracts also focused on impeding its movements.


    Bea wouldn''t have a substantial effect on the enemy, so Kain had been focusing on having her control nearby mid-level abyssals to prevent their interference or getting swarmed by a group of them��after all, they were quite far from the walls now and surrounded by enemies all around. Therefore, most of the green-grade and weaker blue-grade spiritual creatures were tasked with killing any abyssals who wanted to attack them from behind.


    Aegis latched onto the machine, his tendrils pulsing as they adjusted the abyssal energy flow. Once again, the war machine greedily absorbed the altered energy, oblivious to the slow poison infecting its core. The machine''s structure trembled as its internal energy became unstable, the once-fluid abyssal power thickening like molten rock.


    Claudia, recognizing what was happening, adjusted her team''s strategy accordingly. Her contract released thick dark threads, binding the Abyssal''s limbs and forcing it to stay in one place for a brief second.


    Meanwhile, a light-attribute bird, likely belonging to one of her new temporary teammates swooped down and created a blinding flash of light to disorient the target.


    "Now!" Kain shouted.


    Claudia''s team seized the opportunity, her contracts unleashing a barrage of attacks. A dark shield formed around the Abyssal, pinning it in place as sticky black threads wrapped around its limbs.


    A dark-attribute bear wielding a giant metal axe, reinforced by Sera, hurled the massive weapon at the creature''s core. The blade struck true, piercing through the Abyssal''s armour and embedding itself deep into its chest.


    The guardian let out a final, guttural roar before collapsing, its body dissolving into a pool of black sludge. With the guardian down, they turned their attention to the war machine, where Aegis was repeating the same strategy they had used before.


    By now, the machine''s hum had already grown louder, more erratic, its veins of abyssal energy flickering chaotically. The air around them crackled with tension as the machine''s core began to destabilize. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Get back!" Kain shouted, already knowing what to expect, pulling Claudia and her team away from the machine. Aegis remained where he was, his tendrils still latched onto the machine as its core exploded in a blinding flash of black, red and golden light. The shockwave rippled through the battlefield, sending debris flying in all directions. When the dust settled, the war machine was nothing more than a smouldering wreck.


    Claudia let out a shaky breath, her face pale but determined. "One down. How many more are there?"


    "Two," Kain replied, his eyes scanning the battlefield. "But we''re not alone. The others are closing in on the remaining machines. It''s just that these things are so hard to take down, and nobody else can use Aegis'' method."


    With two machines down, the battlefield was beginning to shift. The remaining defenders fought with renewed vigor, emboldened by the sudden destruction of the enemy''s devastating weapons that had been aimed at them and weighing on their chests this entire time.


    Kain''s team didn''t stop. They pressed forward, moving to support Clara''s group, who had nearly finished off their own war machine''s guardian. With their combined strength, the third machine was taken down even faster than the last.


    But despite their progress, Kain couldn''t shake the unease that gnawed at him. The Abyssals were relentless, their numbers seemingly endless. And as they closed in on the final war machine, he couldn''t help but feel that something was wrong.


    Finally, they reached Nadia''s group at the fourth machine. The battlefield was littered with bodies, both human and abyssal. Nadia''s team was exhausted, their contracts wounded and spiritual energy reserves running low. By far, as the machine deepest into the enemy ranks and guarded by the toughest Abyssal, they had had the hardest time.


    The last war machine stood at the edge of the battlefield, its guardian a monstrous fusion of beast and metal. Its golden eyes glowed with an almost sentient malice, its movements calculated and precise. The defenders struggled to hold the line, their attacks barely scratching its surface.


    "This is it," Benji said, his voice tight with tension. "We take this one down, and the city might just have a chance."


    Kain nodded, but his eyes were drawn to the horizon. The sky, already darkened by the Abyssal presence, seemed to grow even darker. A chill ran down his spine as he felt a shift in the air��a pressure so heavy it made it hard to breathe.


    "Something''s coming," Kain muttered, his voice barely audible over the chaos of the battlefield.


    Before anyone could respond, the fighting came to an abrupt halt. The Abyssal creatures froze in place, their glowing eyes fixed on the horizon. The defenders hesitated, their weapons raised but their movements faltering as an oppressive silence fell over the battlefield.


    Kain''s heart pounded as he turned to look. Emerging from the darkness was a figure��a humanoid Abyssal with golden eyes flecked with violet. Its presence was overwhelming, a suffocating aura of power that seemed to crush the very air around it. The ground trembled with each step it took, the battlefield falling eerily silent as both sides stared in awe and terror.


    "Demigod��"

 Chapter 447 The Demigods

    The battlefield fell into an unnatural stillness, the air thick with tension as the Demigod Abyssal stepped forward. Its golden eyes, flecked with violet, scanned the battlefield with an almost casual indifference as if the carnage around it were nothing more than a trivial spectacle.


    The Abyssal creatures, once frenzied and relentless, now knelt in submission, their grotesque forms trembling under the weight of a presence so far above them in the hierarchy.


    Even the defenders, hardened by hours of brutal combat, felt their resolve waver. The sheer magnitude of the Demigod''s aura was suffocating, a palpable force that pressed down on every living being within its reach.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat, his fingers trembling as though his body was instinctively rejecting the idea of fighting such an entity.


    He had faced high-level Abyssals before, but this�� this was something else entirely. The Demigod''s power was on a completely different level, a force of nature that defied comprehension. His mind raced, searching for a plan, a way to counter this overwhelming threat. But deep down, he knew that no strategy they had would be enough. Not against this.


    Just as despair began to creep into the hearts of the defenders, a new presence emerged��one that rivalled the Demigod''s in sheer intensity.


    From within the city, a figure rose, his arrival heralded by a surge of spiritual energy that washed over the battlefield like a tidal wave��a spiritual force as radiant as the sun breaking through a storm. The sky above Ishvaran burned with golden-red light, illuminating the battlefield like dawn after an endless night.


    The City-Lord of Ishvaran had finally appeared.


    He descended from the sky, his figure bathed in a radiant golden light. His presence was commanding, his every movement exuding an air of authority and power.


    He was tall and broad-shouldered, his armour a masterpiece of craftsmanship, adorned with intricate engravings that seemed to shimmer with an inner light. His face was stern, framed by a dishevelled mane of golden hair that flowed like liquid metal. His eyes, a piercing shade of amber, glowed with an intensity that matched the Demigod''s.


    "Lord Valenar Ishvaran," Nadia murmured, her voice filled with a mix of awe and relief. "He''s here."


    Neither the natives nor Kain''s group could resist staring at the City Lord, practically to the point of impoliteness. After all, 9-star beast-tamers were incredibly rare and even despite being members of the Order, neither Benji, Nadia, Claudia, nor Clara, had ever seen one in person before. They weren''t exactly easy to meet.


    In fact, the only reason Kain had seen 9-star beast-tamers was due to his first Black Mission when he infiltrated a high-level auction.


    And even then it wasn''t as though he''d gotten to really see them fight or feel the full extent of their auras, since they''d restrained much of the pressure their bodies would emit during the auction. If they hadn''t, many weaker individuals sitting in the hall may have collapsed then and there from their auras alone.


    The Demigod Abyssal tilted its head, its expression unreadable but its gaze fixed on Valenar. For a moment, the two stood facing each other, the battlefield holding its breath as the tension between them reached a breaking point.


    The weight of their auras clashed, the battlefield trembling under the sheer force of their existence.


    Then, without warning, the Demigod Abyssal moved. It was a blur of motion, its form shifting and twisting as it closed the distance between them in an instant. Its clawed hand lashed out, aiming to strike Valenar with a force that could shatter mountains.


    But Valenar was faster.


    The City-Lord''s ethereal blade intercepted the attack, the clash of their powers sending a shockwave that rippled across the battlefield. The ground beneath them cracked and splintered, the sheer force of their collision creating a crater that swallowed the nearest Abyssals whole.


    In the first confrontation, the City Lord definitely seemed to be on the weaker side, pushed back dozens of meters while deflecting the enemy''s blow. But he wasn''t alone.


    With a single movement, Azar unleashed his contracts. Two titanic figures materialized beside him��two more demigod-level beings had appeared on the field.


    One appeared like an eastern dragon, its long serpentine body had red scales burning with divine flames.


    The other was an armoured giant, a colossal warrior wrapped in red and golden energy, its every movement exuding overwhelming strength and heat.


    The moment they appeared, the atmosphere shifted once more. Their combined presence was enough to counterbalance and even greatly pressure the demigod Abyssal. And then, in a flash, the two sides collided.


    The dragon''s roar shook the battlefield as it lunged, its fiery breath surging forth like an inferno to meet the abyssal demigod''s outstretched hand. The titan followed, raising its massive warhammer and bringing it down with enough force to fracture the very ground beneath them.


    Valenar''s expression remained calm, almost serene, as he fought along his contracts to increase the pressure on the Abyssal. His blade flared with red-golden light, and with a swift, precise motion, he slashed upward, forcing the Demigod to retreat into the path of his contracts'' Warhammer��a devastating blow it was forced to take on with a hastily conjured shield of Abyssal energy.


    The Abyssal hissed, its golden eyes narrowing as it reassessed its opponents. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The battle between the demigods was unlike anything Kain had ever witnessed��truly befitting their title as god-like beings.


    Their movements were a blur, their attacks so fast and powerful that they seemed to warp the very fabric of reality. Each clash of their powers sent shockwaves through the air, the ground trembling beneath their feet. The defenders and Abyssals alike were forced to retreat, the sheer intensity of their battle making it impossible to remain close.


    Yet City Lord Valenar Ishvaran was not finished.


    His violet-grade contracts��unable to put up much resistance to the Demigod level figures��spread out across the battlefield to alleviate the pressure on the city guards.


    A radiant phoenix soared overhead, its golden flames searing through abyssal ranks. A twin-headed serpent slithered between enemy lines, wherever it passed a scorched serpentine trail remaining. A lion cloaked in fire charged forward, its thunderous roar sending lesser Abyssals into a panic. And more fire-attribute spiritual creatures that ranged from a couple of indigo-grade ones that appeared to be juveniles, to stronger violet-grade contracts, all rushed into the enemy army and trampled on them easily.


    The defenders of Ishvaran, seeing their City Lord in action for the first time, felt their spirits ignite. The once-despairing soldiers now fought with renewed vigor, pushing back against the tide of Abyssals. The pressure on the city walls lifted, and for the first time since the battle had begun, it felt as if victory was imminent.


    Kain, watching from afar, exhaled a breath he hadn''t realized he''d been holding. "Unbelievable��"


    Yet, even with the battlefield shifting in their favor, his unease did not fade.


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    The demigod Abyssal, though now engaged in battle with the City Lord and his contracts, did not appear desperate or even slightly concerned. It was as if it had been waiting for something.


    And then, the earth rumbled.


    Kain''s stomach twisted. He turned his head, and what he saw made his blood run cold.


    From the abyssal ranks, a new war machine emerged. It was larger than the others��easily towering over the battlefield like a behemoth of blackened metal. Its form pulsed with abyssal energy, its veins glowing not just with the usual golden and red hues, but now streaked with deep violet, an unsettling change.


    Its limbs bore abyssal runes, thrumming with power unlike any of the previous machines.


    The defenders, just regaining their morale, faltered once more at the sight of the monstrous war engine.


    Benji cursed. "You''ve got to be kidding me. Another one?"

 Chapter 448 A New Nightmare

    The battlefield, once filled with the clash of steel and the roar of spiritual creatures, once again fell eerily silent as the new war machine emerged from the abyssal ranks. The memory of the destruction caused by the previous smaller ones was still fresh in the defenders'' minds, and this one was unlike anything they had faced before.


    Its massive limbs, adorned with glowing violet runes, moved with a mechanical precision that belied its monstrous size. The ground trembled with each step it took, the air around it crackling with an oppressive energy that made it hard to breathe.


    The defenders, who had just begun to rally under the City-Lord''s presence, now faltered once more. The sight of the behemoth was enough to crush their newfound hope, replacing it with a sense of dread that spread like wildfire through their ranks.


    "We destroyed the previous ones we can destroy this one too!" One of Clara temporary teammates called out in an effort to rally their spirits.


    A half-hearted chorus of agreement sounded out, but it was evident that there wasn''t a huge improvement in morale.


    This one was obviously a step up from the others. Its sheer size and the ominous violet energy coursing through it suggested that it was far more powerful��and far more dangerous. The only consolation was that as it was absorbing energy from its surroundings the increase in the glow of its core seemed to occur at a much slower rate.


    However,��


    The giant machine, surprisingly nimble despite its size, moved with an agility that the previous machines didn''t have and approached the sole remaining warmachine that Kain''s group had been unable to destroy due to the arrival of the demigod. After all, if they had lingered for even a second longer and didn''t retreat to the city walls, they''d die without being able to resist.


    Once it arrived next to the smaller machine, which originally looked massive but now appeared like a child next to an adult, a large crack opened down the center of the larger machine and it began to engulf the smaller one whole.


    Almost immediately the glow of its core got several times greater. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Thank god we had managed to destroy the others��" Kain murmured after watching this scene. If they hadn''t that machine would have immediately had enough to charge to fire off a shot at the city. And considering the devastation caused by the smaller warmachines��


    ''Yeah, I definitely don''t want to even think about that��''


    The City-Lord, still locked in combat with the Demigod Abyssal, seemed to sense the shift in the battlefield. His amber eyes flicked toward the behemoth, and for the first time, a flicker of concern crossed his otherwise calm expression. He knew, just as Kain did, that this new threat could turn the tide of the battle in an instant.


    "We need to stop that thing," Kain said, his voice tight with urgency. "If it fires at the city, it''s probably game over for us."


    Nadia nodded, her expression grim. "But how? We barely managed to take down the others, and this one''s on a whole different level."


    Before anyone could respond, the behemoth let out a deafening roar, its voice a cacophony of mechanical grinding and abyssal screeches. The sound reverberated through the battlefield, sending a chill down the spines of everyone who heard it. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, it raised one of its massive limbs, the violet runes glowing brighter as it prepared to strike.


    "Retreat!" Nadia shouted, directing those whose spiritual creatures who were still outside the city walls to return. But the warning was too late, reaching their ears just as the behemoth''s limb came crashing down.


    All over the ground where fighting guards or the contracts were standing, the ground exploded like a geyser in a shower of dirt and debris, the force of the impact sending shockwaves through the battlefield. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire


    The defenders scrambled to regroup, their movements frantic as they tried to put distance between themselves and the behemoth. But the machine was relentless, its massive limbs hammering the ground with a steady, almost musical, rhythm. Each strike led to another explosion coming up from the ground. Since the explosions came from beneath the feet of the fleeing guards, they were nearly impossible for those who couldn''t fly to defend against it.


    More ominously, Kain noticed that as the death toll increased, so too did the brightness of the machine''s core, almost as if this devastating attack was just a low-energy passive ability it possessed in order to harvest more lives and feed itself.


    With this thought, Kain really hoped that he''d never have to see what a full-powered ''active'' ability from this thing would look like.


    Even the other non-Demigod contracts of the City Lord began to attack the massive machine, but even creatures as strong as them weren''t even leaving a dent in its surface.


    "Skreeeeeee!" One of the City Lord''s violet-grade contracts that resembles a phoenix was struck in retaliation by the war machine, and now had its left wing bent at an unnatural angle. Unable to support itself, its body began to plummet from the skies towards the avaricious claws of the abyssal creatures waiting hungrily below.


    Thankfully, with a swift motion, one of the flying spiritual creatures of a city guard, resembling a large pterodactyl, swooped down to rescue it from its predicament.


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan. They couldn''t fight this thing head-on��not without suffering catastrophic losses. They needed to find a weakness, something they could exploit. But what?


    His eyes fell on Aegis, who stood nearby, his obsidian-like body shimmering faintly in the chaos. The golem had been instrumental in taking down the previous war machines, but this behemoth was on a completely different level. Could Aegis even affect something this powerful?


    But looking at the increasing number of guards that would have the ground beneath them explode and then be dissolved into a blood mist��


    "I guess we still have to try��" Kain murmured.


    Benji looked at Kain, likely hearing what he said and understanding his intention. "Do it. We''ll cover you."

 Chapter 449 A Gamble

    The City-Lord''s contracts, though powerful, were struggling to make a dent in the machine''s impenetrable defenses. The best solution Kain and the others could think of was to deal with it as they did the previous machines��attacking it from the inside. Sear?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Aegis," Kain said, his voice steady despite the chaos around them. "Can you do it? Can you alter and control its energy?"


    Aegis tilted his head, his glowing eyes meeting Kain''s. "I�� can try."


    Kain nodded, his expression grim. "Do it. We''ll cover you."


    With that, Kain turned to the others. "We need to buy Aegis time. Keep the behemoth distracted while he works."


    Benji and Mira nodded, their expressions determined. Sera, though pale and visibly exhausted, stepped forward, her hands glowing with a faint silver light as she prepared to reinforce their weapons once more.


    Their small group moved in the opposite direction of those fleeing, steadily approaching the machine. Around it were still two of the City Lord''s contracts, a violet-grade lion and an indigo-grade three-headed hellhound whose massive heads looked like young puppies.


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    Kain''s Vespid guards, Vauleth and the other contracts of their group, launched their assault, their attacks focused on the behemoth''s massive limbs in an attempt to slow it down. Bea, due to previous attempts to affect the machines being ineffective due to them not having a mind, focused on holding off the surrounding abyssal creatures.


    Their team tried their best to coordinate and not interfere with the City Lord''s spiritual creatures. In the beginning, the lion and hellhound looked at them with slight confusion and even disdain, as if questioning what they could possibly hope to contribute if the two of them were struggling so much, but after seeing that they didn''t drag them down, they thankfully didn''t shoo them away. In fact, with Kain and the others acting strategically to assist them, their pressure actually decreased��albeit slightly.


    But the behemoth was relentless. Its massive limbs swung with terrifying speed, each strike sending defenders flying. The violet runes on its surface pulsed with energy, absorbing the attacks and redirecting them back at the defenders in bursts of abyssal energy.


    Kain gritted his teeth as he dodged another strike, his spear crackling with spiritual energy as he launched a counterattack. The behemoth''s defences were unlike the ones they had faced before. The violet sigils on its surface seemed to be feeding off of their attacks and its core was growing stronger with each strike.


    "We''re not making a dent!" Benji shouted, his voice filled with frustration. "This thing''s too strong!"


    Kain didn''t respond, his eyes fixed on Aegis, who had discretely now latched onto the machine''s surface. Black chords led from Aegis and connected to the key nodes of the machine that the majority of the incoming energy needed to travel through. However, even though he hadn''t started his main task yet, his body was already trembling and fissure-like crack broke out on his surface just from the strain of infiltrating the machine. The machine seemed to notice the intrusion, and a massive opening that was originally always aimed at the city wall was now turning toward Aegis with a low, mechanical groan.


    The second it was aimed steadily at Aegis, Kain could sense the all-consuming panic that flooded their connection. Even if Aegis'' survival abilities were far greater than the average golem, Aegis could sense that he would not survive this blow. Thankfully, the core didn''t seem fully charged for firing off a shot yet, but Aegis also could not move from his current location easily��after all, it had taken much of his energy to even penetrate the machine in this spot.


    "We need to keep it distracted!" Kain shouted in panic, launching himself at the behemoth with everything he had. Likewise, the others also began to attack the machine frantically.


    Likely realizing that they weren''t just here to be barely helpful, and actually had a plan to take down the machine, the City Lord''s contracts also became more proactive in protecting Aegis.


    Annoyed, the machine struck out��directly at Kain.


    Kain barely had time to react, diving out of the way just as the limb came crashing down. The ground where he had been standing exploded, the force of the impact sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, his vision swimming as he struggled to get back to his feet.


    But he didn''t have to. Aegis, his tendrils still latched onto the behemoth, let out a deep, resonating roar. The abyssal energy coursing through the machine began to flicker, the violet runes dimming as Aegis wrestled for control of the abyssal energy and turned it from a gaseous free flowing energy, to one that bordered on solid and began to clog up its ''veins''. The behemoth staggered, its movements slowing as its flow of energy was disrupted..


    "It''s working!" Kain shouted, his voice filled with hope. "Keep it up, Aegis!"


    But the behemoth wasn''t going down without a fight. Its massive limbs swung wildly, its movements erratic as it tried to dislodge Aegis. The golem held on, his body trembling under the strain as he continued to manipulate the energy.


    Their team rallied, their attacks focused on the behemoth''s weakened limbs, and their attacks focused on destabilizing the machine.


    Finally, with a deafening roar, the behemoth''s core exploded, sending a shockwave of energy rippling through the battlefield. The force of the blast knocked everyone off their feet, the ground trembling as the machine collapsed in a smouldering heap that left behind a massive crater.


    Through the ringing in his ears and falling debris, Kain looked around to check on his allies.


    Clara was on the floor, screaming from pain, Kain could see that the bottom half of one of her legs was missing and the ground around her was soaked with blood.


    Similarly, Nadia was shivering in pain and throwing up on the floor. At first, Kain couldn''t tell what was wrong with her, but then he spotted the mangled mess of flesh, blood, and fur next to her. Clearly one of her contracts had fallen and she was suffering from the backlash of the broken contract.


    The others and their contracts only seemed to suffer from mild to moderate injuries.


    But after looking around for a while, Kain realized��Aegis was nowhere to be found.

 Chapter 450 Amoeba Vs Abyss

    Kain''s ears still rang from the explosion, his vision blurred as he struggled to his feet. His body ached, every movement sending sharp jolts of pain through his limbs, but he forced himself to focus. He had to find Aegis.


    "Aegis!" Kain shouted, his voice hoarse and desperate. He stumbled forward, his boots crunching over shattered stone and twisted metal. The crater left by the behemoth''s destruction was massive, its edges jagged and smouldering. The ground was littered with fragments of the machine, some still glowing faintly with residual abyssal energy.


    Kain''s heart pounded as he scanned the area, his eyes darting over the wreckage. Aegis had been right there, latched onto the machine when it exploded. Where was he? The golem''s obsidian-like body was durable, but even Aegis had his limits. The sheer force of the blast could have shattered him into pieces.


    "Aegis!" Kain called again, his voice cracking. He dropped to his knees, sifting through the debris with trembling hands. The faint connection of their contract tugged at the edge of his consciousness, a fragile thread that led him deeper into the crater. It was weak, almost imperceptible, but it was there. Aegis was alive��somewhere.


    Around him, the battlefield was descending into chaos. With Aegis gone, the abyssal creatures grew bolder, their corrupted forms surging forward with renewed ferocity. The defenders, already battered and exhausted, were struggling to hold the line. The absence of Aegis'' abilities to drain and re-use the corrupted abyssal energy was keenly felt; the corruption spread unchecked, like a virus that suddenly grew wings and was liberated, turning allies into enemies with terrifying speed.


    Kain barely registered the screams of the wounded or the guttural roars of the abyssals. His focus was singular, his mind consumed by the need to find Aegis. He followed the faint pull of their bond, his hands bleeding as he dug through sharp fragments of metal and stone. The connection grew stronger, guiding him toward a small, unassuming black pebble nestled in the debris.


    Kain''s breath hitched as he picked it up, his fingers trembling. The pebble was smooth and cold, its surface faintly shimmering with a familiar energy. He could feel it��Aegis'' microscopic core, barely clinging to life. The average-sized core of a golem would have been dozens to hundreds of times greater, meaning that this explosion would have spelled certain doom for them. Thankfully, Aegis was much harder to kill.


    Relief washed over him, so intense it made his knees buckle.


    "You''re alive," Kain whispered, his voice barely audible. He cradled the pebble in his hands, his chest tightening with a mix of gratitude and guilt. Aegis had sacrificed himself to destroy the machine, and now he was reduced to this. But he was alive. That was all that mattered.


    Kain quickly retrieved Aegis into his star space, the pebble disappearing into the safety of his spiritual storage. He exhaled shakily, his shoulders slumping as the weight of the moment settled over him. But there was no time to rest. The battle was far from over. Sear?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The absence of Aegis'' presence was already taking its toll. The defenders were being overwhelmed, their ranks thinning as more and more fell to corruption. The abyssal creatures, no longer hindered by Aegis'' draining aura, were tearing through the city''s defences with terrifying speed. The walls, already collapsed in several areas by the earlier attacks of the war machines, were easily penetrated and crumbling even further under the relentless assault.


    Kain''s stomach churned as he saw the first abyssals breach the city. They moved with predatory grace, their glowing eyes fixed on the quiet homes of civilians that had whole families huddled in them. The screams of the innocent echoed through the air, a haunting reminder of what was at stake.


    "We need to fall back!" Nadia''s voice cut through the chaos, her tone sharp with urgency. She was on her feet now, though her movements were stiff and pained. Her remaining contracts circled her protectively, their forms battered but still fighting. "If we don''t regroup, the city could fall at any moment!"


    -------------------------------


    Bea had never felt so frustrated. Her splits had long spread throughout the chaotic battlefield, but their limitations pressed down on her like a weight she couldn''t shake off.


    It was one thing for her to struggle against indigo-grade creatures��after all, the difference in power was substantial. But here, even creatures that should have been within her grasp were resisting her control.


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    The abyssal and corrupted creatures, twisted and malformed by the energy that birthed them, were stubborn beyond reason. It took her an immense amount of effort just to fully control even the weakest among them, and those of similar strength to her required everything she had just to slow them down. It was inefficient, exhausting, and infuriating.


    But Bea did not give up.


    She was a being of adaptation, of evolution. If something wasn''t working, then she would find a way to make it work.


    Not to mention, when she realized she''d had her memories manipulated along side Kain''s when they first entered she hadn''t been upset. In fact, she''d enthusiastically felt as though she had a great deal to learn from this relic.


    And that faint feeling that this battle presented an opportunity for improvement was only stronger now. Amidst the struggle, something tugged at the edges of her awareness��a strange familiarity, between herself and the abyssal energy that permeated the battlefield. It was almost as if she recognized it. She could instinctively sense that it was something she could understand. Something she could use. She just needed to figure out how.


    With renewed focus, Bea pushed deeper, stretching her consciousness to probe the abyssal energy within her controlled victims. It wasn''t merely corrupting them��it was rewriting them, reshaping them from within to follow a new will. That process intrigued her, and she wanted to grasp it, dissect it, and make it hers.


    Bea was extremely competitive. And even though she could sense the difference between herself and whatever created the abyssals was like the difference between heaven and earth, she hadn''t given up hope of learning from and, eventually, beating it.

 Chapter 451 Blessed or Cursed?

    She latched onto one of the struggling low-level abyssals under her control, who would be comparable to a stronger red-grade spiritual creature.


    Rather than suppressing or competing with the abyssal energy, she allowed her split to study it, to sync with it, guiding it, moulding it, and redirecting its flow until it became�� compliant albeit only slightly.


    And then it happened.


    A rush of knowledge, an instinctual understanding flooded into her being. Bea realized that the process of forming corrupted wasn''t about dominating them��the energy was assimilating them. And she would go a lot further if she could also master this more gentle approach to complete control.


    The creature beneath her influence gradually stopped struggling, its resistance melting away as if it had accepted her presence entirely. Its body, still abyssal, still dark and monstrous, now moved with her will, not as a puppet forced into motion, but as something that had its own autonomy but had been rewritten to recognize her as its superior.


    Excitement surged through her as she tested it again. Another abyssal, stronger and closer in strength to a yellow-grade spiritual creature, one that had been resisting her grasp, suddenly stilled as she refined her influence over it. The change was subtle, but it was there. Rather than pushing back, rather than fighting her, the abyssal''s corrupted energy had aligned with her own.


    Abyssal energy, twisted as it was, no longer repelled her as strongly as before. She could shape it, twist it to her advantage, and bend it toward her will with far less strain than before.


    If she had a body, she would be humming with satisfaction right now. If this was the nature of abyssal energy, then she would turn it into her weapon.


    And with this power, she would devour this battlefield.


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    -------------------------------


    Harris was a new recruit. Speaking of, his luck could be considered to be quite strange.


    On the extremely negative end, on his first of his new job as a city guard, the abyssals launched a full-scale attack. He may not even be able to collect his first paycheque before dying!


    However, in another sense, Harris could also argue that he was extremely lucky. After all, despite being probably the weakest and least experienced beast-tamer on the field, he was still alive with all of his contracts intact while many of those stronger and better than him had fallen.


    In fact, when those war machines had first appeared on the field and blasted the city walls, he had thought he was certainly done for.


    He was certain that the first machine to fire was aimed directly at his section of the wall, and before he could react that attack had already blasted a section of the wall and the guards on it into dust��less than a meter to the right of where he was standing.


    Just when he was about to praise his good luck and his pounding heart began to slow, another blast also arrived from another machine��this one even closer but to his left.


    And so, Harris became the only guard remaining on a thin section of the wall still standing��less than a meter wide��completely isolated from his allies on an island of crumbling stone.


    And throughout the battle, there were several more instances of near misses. A cat-type corrupt suddenly appeared at his side, face mere inches from his neck, when it suddenly began convulsing and choking while collapsing on the floor. Harris, quickly fled the area, but when he glanced back he could see the corrupted cat spitting up what appeared to be a massive black hairball. With the massive ball dislodged from its throat, it returned to normal and began attacking everyone around it, Harris long forgotten. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And in another instance, Harris was cornered by a charging abyssal beast��some sort of grotesque, six-limbed wolf hybrid. Harris had braced himself for death, clutching his trembling sword, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a severed abyssal arm��from a far-off corner of the battlefield��came flying through the air and smacked the creature directly in the face.


    It let out a garbled yelp, its many legs tangling beneath it as it tripped over the rogue appendage and tumbled straight into a crater. Before Harris could even process what had happened, an explosion from a spell gone wrong sent a chunk of rubble crashing down, sealing the beast inside its impromptu grave.


    He had stared blankly at the scene for a full five seconds before deciding to just accept it and run in the opposite direction.


    Even just now, Harris was currently without any armour on his upper body due to his uncanny luck happening to strike again.


    When he''d been trying to find cover behind a collapsed barricade, he had barely crouched down when a corrupted bird��a horrific vulture-like creature��descended upon him. Harris had swung his sword wildly in sheer panic, missing entirely, and instead cutting the strap to his own armor.


    His breastplate, unbuckled and free, somehow flung itself off his body and directly into the bird''s face, lodging over its beak like a poorly fitted muzzle. The creature flailed, smacking itself into a nearby spiked barricade temporarily constructed by an earth golem and skewering itself instantly.


    Harris had stared at the scene, still gripping his sword with both hands in a battle stance, before slowly lowering it with an incredulous look. "��Huh."


    But now, standing frozen as the corrupted beast loomed over him, its massive jaw wide open and dripping with corrosive saliva, Harris finally felt like his ridiculous lucky streak had run out.


    His mind blanked. His contracts��though eager and loyal��were utterly outclassed by the abyssal in front of him. This thing was likely green-grade before it turned, and Harris'' strongest contract was only orange-grade and the others all red-grade.


    His fingers twitched on his sword''s hilt, though he knew swinging it would be as effective as slapping a mountain.


    Time slowed, and he found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, he should have taken up his father''s offer to run the family bakery instead. Live life as an ordinary civilian. But it was so rare to have the opportunity to become a beast-tamer that he''d immediately signed up to become a guard in training��receiving training, resources, and suitable contracts in return.


    The entire world slowed down to a crawl was especially torturous, extending the time and anticipation to the inevitable moment of his death.


    But suddenly, the terrifying creature paused after a slight spasm. Its red eyes blinked repeatedly in confusion, before it turned around and began to strike at the nearby abyssal creatures and corrupted with feral aggression.


    Harris blinked.


    Then he slowly, very slowly, stepped backward, putting as much distance between himself and whatever the hell had just happened. He had no idea what had caused the abyssal to switch targets��divine intervention? A secret guardian angel? Dumb, stupid, stupid luck?��but he wasn''t going to question it.


    He exhaled, shaking legs carrying him forward as he muttered under his breath, "I should''ve just baked bread."

 Chapter 452 Counter Corruption?

    It wasn''t only Harris who was experiencing this odd phenomenon of their foe suddenly turning and fighting alongside them.


    All across the battlefield, small pockets of corrupted and abyssals��formerly ravenous and relentless��suddenly halted their assaults. Their glowing red eyes flickered with hesitation before they turned their claws and fangs on their own kind. The effect was slow, almost imperceptible amidst the chaos of war, but the change was undeniable.


    Moreover, while the rate of conversion was nothing compared to the rapid speed of corruption that abyssals inflicted upon humans and spiritual creatures, it did seem as though those abyssals that turned were capable of turning others, although more often than not the other abyssals just died without turning.


    Soldiers who had been on the verge of despair now found themselves with unexpected allies��albeit monstrous ones.


    Benji, who had been using all of his energy to barely hold the defensive line, wiped the sweat from his brow as he witnessed another abyssal rip into its former comrades.


    "Counter corruption? Anti-abyssal corruption?" He muttered, still trying to process what was happening. He needed a term for this, something that made sense.


    But only Kain knew the true source behind this phenomenon. S��arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bea had made a breakthrough in her control abilities under the pressure and inspiration of abyssal energy.


    Somewhere amidst the chaos, she had developed a new ability. Just like Aegis had learned to manipulate abyssal energy to strengthen himself, Bea had also found a way to assimilate it��altering some of the weaker abyssals to obey her instead. And now, like a virus in reverse, her influence was spreading, albeit at a fraction of the speed at which abyssals turned others. Kain clenched his fists, his mind racing at the implications, and also curious about the strange reactions all of his contract seemed to have to abyssal energy.


    Unfortunately, while Bea could temporarily change the allegiance of the abyssal and corrupted, Kain didn''t know how long this effect would last and it also wasn''t a cure for those that already turned.


    -----------------------


    While the tides of the battle on the ground were constantly shifting back and forth. The battle between demigods raged in the skies above, a clash of titanic power that shook the heavens and sent shockwaves cascading down to the war-torn ground below.


    Unfortunately, even though some had managed to avoid being killed by the opposite side, they would instantly turn into vapor by a stray attack launched by one of the fighting demigods.


    Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to dodge these errant strikes. Blinding arcs of black and red spiritual energy clashed, the sheer magnitude and speed of their battle beyond mortal comprehension.


    Yet, amidst their struggle, the abyssal demigods suddenly hesitated, and in that brief moment of distraction, a massive dragon claw almost sent one of his arms flying, while he hurriedly snapped back into focus and dodged.


    His piercing, abyssal gaze shifted downward, focusing intently on the battlefield below. Down there was something��unpleasant.


    Something that made him even more disgusted than this human demigod in front of him.


    Something that, while he could sense it was physically weak, still gave him a vaguely threatened feeling.


    The presence was subtle, barely detectable. But anything that could even vaguely make him feel a threat needed to be paid attention to. He hadn''t felt alarmed in centuries, possibly even millenia.


    Unfortunately, it was difficult to sense the origin of this feeling, its presence seeming to be spread out throughout the battlefield.


    He continued to hurriedly dodge the opponents strikes as he examined the battles going on below and the occasional abyssal or corrupted that suddenly changed its allegiance.


    Logically, he should focus on his current battle. After all, the speed of the abyssal below turning was so slow that it hardly made a difference in the grand scheme of things. It was like removing a drop of water from the ocean��they, the superior Abyssal army, still had the capacity to ''drown'' their opponents.


    But even a drop lost was unacceptable. And unheard of. Never before had someone escaped the control of the Great Mother, even temporarily.


    And worse��he could vaguely sense that the speed of this counter-conversion was increasing.


    The more that turned, the more they seemed capable of spreading this influence further.


    A snarl formed on his lips, his abyssal energy flaring as his fury grew.


    "This cannot be allowed."


    He prepared to descend, ready to annihilate whatever was responsible for this contamination before it could fester. Whatever force could resist the Great Mother��no, even begin to corrupt the Great Mother''s ''blessing''��needed to be eradicated at all costs.


    Just as the abyssal demigod began to move, a fiery force intercepted him.


    A shimmering barrier of radiating intense heat erupted in his path, halting his descent with an ear-splitting boom as the abyssal demigod knocked into it.


    The city lord��his presence like a beacon amidst the darkness��hovered before him, his expression unreadable.


    "Your opponent is right here," the city lord stated calmly, though the authority in his voice left no room for argument.


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    The abyssal demigod narrowed his eyes, his form bristling with hostility. The insect, this heathen, who was trying to prevent him from spreading the Great Mother''s benevolent grace and blessings was once again standing in his way!


    The city lord remained silent for a moment, his gaze flickering downward, analyzing the battlefield. He could see it too��the strange phenomenon spreading ever so slowly. He did not yet know the cause, nor whether it was truly an advantage or a hidden danger, but for now��


    "As long as it benefits us," the city lord murmured to himself, his expression unchanging, "I will allow it to continue��for now"


    The abyssal demigod let out a low growl of frustration. He knew he could not take action without first defeating the demigod opposite.


    Moreover, as he continued to fight the opposing demigod, and even severely wounded the armoured giant on the opposite side, his unease did not fade.


    Something was changing the abyssal below.


    And whatever was causing it�� could not be left alive.

 Chapter 453 The Taste of Betrayal

    Unaware of the battle of wills above, Bea continued refining her newfound control. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The battlefield had become her laboratory.


    Her splits adapted, her influence deepened, and with each abyssal turned, she received invaluable feedback��tangible proof that her methods were improving. The process was still slow, each conversion requiring careful manipulation, but the efficiency was increasing. The more abyssals she controlled, the easier it became.


    It was a delicate balance. Push too hard, and the abyssal would resist or collapse, its mind shattering under the strain. But if she adjusted just right, subtly weaving her influence through the abyssal energy to change the target of their blind allegiance from what she gathered from their memories was called the "Great Mother"�� then they would turn. And they would fight.


    At least for now. She had no plans of trying to keep and raise a group of abyssals.


    However, even as her influence spread, it remained a slow trickle compared to the abyssal corruption that raged unchecked across the battlefield and turned city guards and spiritual creatures at a faster rate. This wasn''t a solution��just a fracture in an otherwise overwhelming tide.


    But then something shifted.


    A sudden rupture in the abyssal ranks.


    The battlefield quaked as something massive crashed down from the skies. A grotesque, armored abyssal��a monstrosity nearly the size of a warship��had been forcefully thrown from the high-level battles above, its body gouging a massive trench in the earth upon impact.


    It was one of the few abyssal equivalent to an 8-star beast-tamer or violet-grade spiritual creature, and had arrived not far behind the Demigod, although its presence was almost completely overshadowed by the overwhelming aura of the abyssal demigod, it and several other high-level abyssal had also been quite difficult to deal with for the city-guards��more specifically the retired guards.


    That''s right. Despite Nadia being a 7-star beast tamer, she was far from being the strongest under the City Lord, naturally there were stronger 7-star and 8-star beast tamers, otherwise the city would have fallen long ago only supported by City Lord Ishvaran.


    However, all of them are quite old and have long since ''retired'' to various private areas to quietly cultivate away from the common affairs of the world. Many of them hadn''t been seen in decades and had been naturally forgotten by the residents with time, only appearing now when the city was on the brink of collapse.


    Now it finally seems as though a decisive outcome has been made in the high-level field, just below the demigod level.


    The knocked down massive abyssal wasn''t dead, but it was struggling, abyssal energy leaking from its many wounds.


    Unfortunately, unlike human armies with independent thought, abyssal armies seemed to have an almost perfect, mindless coordination that made them so dangerous.


    Abyssals did not fear pain. They did not fear death. They did not break formation.


    And so,l many of the abyssal simultaneously acted without communication and rallied around the fallen abyssal captain. Some even directly through themselves into its wide-open jaws in order to sacrifice themselves and provide their injured superior with much needed sustenance.


    The fallen abyssal captain, though grievously wounded, was being rapidly reinforced by its mindless underlings. The abyssals'' coordinated efforts to heal their superior were disturbingly efficient, a testament to the hive-like nature of their kind. If this continued, the high-level abyssal would recover and rejoin the fray, balancing the hard won advantage the humans now possessed on the field.


    If they let this abyssal fully recover, they would have to injure it again.


    "ALL UNITS! TARGET THE FALLEN ABYSSAL! BRING IT DOWN BEFORE IT RECOVERS!" A lord cry rang out from one of the more senior guards.


    In reply a wave of spiritual skills and attacks immediately converged on the abyssal general''s massive form.


    Naturally, the humans wouldn''t sit back and allow their plans to succeed, but their efforts to attack the fallen abyssal captain were held back by the many abyssal and corrupted creatures that greatly outnumbered them.


    But Bea took a different approach. She decided to take control of the abyssal already standing close to the fallen captain.


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    Discretely sending a nearly transparent thread of mental energy through the field unnoticed, the first corrupted she turned was a small, insect-like creature skittering near the abyssal leader''s massive form. It froze for a moment, its glowing eyes flickering as Bea''s will took hold. Then, without warning, it lunged at another abyssal, its mandibles tearing into its former ally. The attack was swift and brutal, catching the other abyssals off guard.


    And slowly, she began to also control some others around to ambush their own allies.


    Chaos erupted.


    The abyssals, so perfectly coordinated moments before, now turned on each other. Bea''s controlled abyssals attacked their kin with savage ferocity, disrupting the flow of energy, and fresh flesh and blood resources meant to heal the fallen abyssal captain. The high-level abyssal itself roared in frustration, its massive limbs thrashing as it tried to restore order to their ranks, but the damage had been done. The carefully orchestrated recovery effort was unraveling.


    Bea continued to weave her influence, turning more abyssals and deepening the chaos. The battlefield around the abyssal leader became a maelstrom of violence, abyssals tearing into each other with mindless abandon. The high level abyssal''s wounds, instead of healing, began to worsen as the flow of energy was disrupted and some controlled abyssal even took the opportunity to bite and tear into its wounds.


    Moreover, after seeing the actions of the controlled abyssal, those uncontrolled strangely joined in their actions without Bea''s influence.


    They tore into the flesh of their superior and consumed it, using the ''high-level meat'' as an elixir to help them breakthrough. Soon many of those that weren''t controlled by Bea increased in strength, and seeing the benefits to eating their own superior, other abyssal not controlled by Bea also enthusiastically began to tear the high-level abyssal apart. Their previously organized behaviour was long gone as they succumbed to their most carnal instincts.


    Finally, with a deafening crash, the general collapsed. Its massive body shuddered once, then went still, its abyssal energy dissipating into the air. The remaining abyssal scrambled to collect and absorb the remnants of its energy.

 Chapter 454 A Chaotic Battlefield

    The battlefield was filled with chaos and destruction.


    And survival became only more difficult for the average guard due to the constant instability of the allegiances on both sides.


    Imagine how confusing it was! One moment you are fighting alongside your comrade, watching each other''s back when suddenly your good friend becomes corrupted and attacks you from behind.


    Moreover, at the same time you are being attacked by a massive abyssal creature right in front of you, caught in a pincer attack you can only wait for death.


    But then suddenly, the abyssal about to bite your head off shifts its target and launches itself at your corrupted ally, saving your life. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Your friend became an enemy, and in the next second your enemy became an ally.


    This confusing situation was what was being showcased in various corners of the battlefield and began to affect their abilities to differentiate who they should be fighting.


    Some people even hesitated to attack an abyssal, thinking that it had become an ally, and had paid dearly for it with their lives.


    The abyssal demigod, a humanoid figure about double the size of the average adult human, watched the chaos and loomed over the field like a god of annihilation. Its hovering figure over the battlefield casting a shadow on the hearts of all those fighting below.


    Its presence alone was suffocating, the air thick with the stench of decay and the oppressive weight of its abyssal energy.


    The ground it hovered above cracked and splintered, almost as if its very presence emitted a gravitational pressure too great for it to bear.


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    The demigod''s glowing gold-violet eyes scanned the battlefield, and for the first time, a flicker of irritation crossed its otherwise impassive expression. Its subordinates were being turned against it, and now even one of its strongest generals had fallen. Something��or someone��was interfering with its plans.


    The demigod shifted its strategy. Its massive form pulsed with an ominous black energy, the air around it distorting as if reality itself was bending under its will.


    A low, resonant hum filled the air, vibrating through the bones of every combatant on the battlefield. The abyssals, both corrupted and those under Bea''s control, froze momentarily as if responding to some unseen command. Then, the horror began.


    Bea felt it first��a sudden, violent tug on the abyssals she had painstakingly turned. Her microscopic form quivered as she sensed the connections she had worked so hard to establish being forcibly severed. The abyssals she controlled began to dissolve, their grotesque bodies twisting and contorting as black mist poured from their forms. The mist was drawn toward the demigod, swirling into its aura like water spinning down an unclogged drain.


    Each abyssal lost was like a severed thread in Bea''s mind, there was no hope of re-establishing a connection to them.


    Kain''s eyes widened as he watched in horror. The abyssals that had been fighting alongside him, their grotesque forms now writhing in agony, were being consumed by the demigod. Meanwhile, very few of those that Bea hadn''t infected were being consumed. Clearly, this ability was aimed at eliminating Bea''s influence. Moreover, it seemed to even have the added benefit of strengthening the abyssal demigod.


    "Damnit!" he shouted, his voice barely audible over the sounds of battle. Though Bea couldn''t speak, the intense irritation and frustrated screams he picked up through their bond let him know her emotions were even worse than his. She was furious, desperate, and utterly powerless to stop what was happening.


    Bea reached out with her will, trying to reinforce her control, but it was futile. The demigod''s power was too vast, its dominance over the abyssals was absolute. The level difference was insurmountable. The battlefield was being cleared of the creatures she had turned, and the demigod was growing stronger with every abyssal it consumed. As its form swelled, its dark energy intensified, and its oppressive aura crushed the spirits of all who stood against it.


    The City Lord, Ishvaran, and his two contracts��the dragon, its scales glistening like molten gold, and the armored giant, its massive frame battered and bruised��were struggling to hold their ground.


    The dragon''s fiery breath, once a blazing inferno, sputtered and died under the weight of the demigod''s aura. The armored giant, already wounded, was practically forced to return to the ground and leave the battlefield in the sky under the crushing weight of the demigod''s aura.


    Ishvaran''s face was grim, his usual calm demeanor replaced by a look of desperation. He knew they were losing.


    Bea knew she had to act. She couldn''t let the demigod absorb all the abyssals. If it grew any stronger, it would become unstoppable. Her microscopic form quivered as she focused her energy, her splits that were now floating in the black mist emanating off of the dissolving abyssals. She couldn''t control the abyssals anymore, but her splits were still present in the mist until they were absorbed and destroyed by the demigod.


    With a surge of effort, Bea injected as much of her spiritual power into her splits as she could, causing them to self-detonate. Kain also used all of his means to channel as much spiritual power into her as possible and boost her abilities.


    The force of their detonation wasn''t immense��her splits were too small to hold much energy and cause significant damage��but it was enough to destabilize the abyssal energy in the mist. The black mist churned and swirled violently, expanding and growing denser until, with a deafening boom, it exploded. The shockwave rippled across the battlefield, sending abyssals and combatants alike stumbling back. The ground trembled, and the air was filled with the horrible smell of burning abyssal flesh and blood.


    The demigod roared in surprise. The explosion hadn''t harmed it��even if the blast had been a hundred times greater, it wouldn''t have been a threat��but the sudden disorientation disrupted its absorption process. For a brief moment, its oppressive aura wavered.


    The City Lord and his contracts seized the opportunity. Ishvaran''s dragon unleashed an outburst of flame, the fire blazing brighter and hotter than ever before. The armored giant, though injured, surged forward with a roar, its massive fists slamming into the demigod''s form with earth-shaking force. The combined assault forced the demigod back, its momentarily enlarged form wavering under the onslaught.


    Meanwhile, Bea''s energy was spent, her microscopic form trembling from the strain. She had bought them a chance, but the battle was far from over.

 Chapter 455 Historical Relic (End)

    The abyssal demigod, though momentarily staggered by Bea''s desperate attempt, was far from defeated.


    Its massive form loomed over the battlefield, its dark energy surging once more as it began to recover from the disruption. The City Lord, Ishvaran, and his two contracts��the dragon and the armoured giant��were holding the line, but it was clear they couldn''t keep this up forever. The dragon''s flames were growing weaker, and the armoured giant, though still fighting, was visibly struggling under the weight of its injuries.


    Fortunately, due to Bea, it had given the City Lord a chance to wound the abyssal severely enough to relieve their pressure. Now the abyssal demigod was absorbing more of its underlings, these ones not controlled by Bea, in order to heal itself.


    Kain watched the scene unfold, his mind racing. The relic core had been fully saturated with Nadia''s spiritual power not long ago, allowing them to completely control it, use all of its abilities, and leave once they''ve finished the clearing conditions of the relic.


    They assumed the clearing condition was ensuring Ishvaran''s survival, but if the high-level battle above is lost, and the city falls, even in spite of Nadia''s control of the relic they won''t be able to leave here. They needed a solution.


    Kain could feel Bea''s exhaustion, her frustration, and her determination to continue fighting, but he still recalled her back into his star space. She had done everything she could, and now it was his turn to act.


    "We need to get out of here," Kain muttered, his voice low but urgent. "But we can''t just leave the City Lord and the others to deal with that thing. If the demigod isn''t stopped, it''ll destroy the city��and maybe even break out of the relic."


    Kain''s eyes scanned the battlefield, searching for an answer. And then looked at Nadia who had the relic core not far away. Until the clearing condition was completed, they couldn''t leave, but the relic core still had some uses.


    Inspired by the disruption Bea caused to the demigod''s absorption of abyssal energy, Kain approached Nadia with his plan.


    Explaining his idea, she reluctantly agreed. However,��


    "It''s hard to know if the demigod will be caught off guard again. The intelligence of high-level abyssal is no worse, and may even be superior, than the average human''s. This plan may backfire." Kain, deep down, also agreed with Nadia''s assessment, but they had no choice! If they sat around and did nothing then they might as well wait for death.


    Nadia knew this too.


    So she turned her attention to the relic core and focused her energy, channelling it into the core to activate its teleportation function. But instead of using it to leave the relic, which wasn''t an option for them, she manipulated the energy to create a temporary rift��a small, unstable portal that would appear directly in front of the demigod.


    The plan was simple but dangerous. They hoped that the rift would disrupt the demigod''s energy, creating a momentary weakness that Ishvaran and his contracts could exploit. But maintaining the rift would require all of Nadia''s focus, leaving her vulnerable. Moreover, considering the damage to her soul from the lost contract, she wouldn''t even be able to cause the distortion in the space for long. She would only have one shot at this. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ready?" Kain asked, though he already knew the answer.


    Nadia nodded solemnly before taking a deep breath and activating the relic core. A faint glow spread from the core, and a small, shimmering rift appeared in the air in front of the demigod. The rift was unstable, its edges flickering and sparking as it struggled to maintain its form. But it was enough.


    The demigod appeared slightly surprised as the rift disrupted its energy, but definitely much more prepared than the previous time Bea interfered.


    The main thing to catch it off guard was that Kain and Nadia had timed the formation of the portal to be when it was just about to land a heavy attack on the City Lord''s dragon, so the abyssal demigod couldn''t help but be a little complacent internally��his guards lowered.


    But now its good opportunity had been ruined and it couldn''t resist emitting a roar of frustration and anger.


    Moreover, the instability of the space made the mist from the absorbed abyssal unable to reach it.


    Ishvaran, once again sensing the opportunity, didn''t hesitate and launched a devastating combined assault with its contracts was devastating. A second sun high up in the sky seemed to be rapidly born and then collapse and fall right on the head of the abyssal.


    Unfortunately, this attack seemed to instantly drain and age the City Lord quite a bit, while his armoured giant contract immediately collapsed and was collected by himself into his star space. The dragon also seemed to barely maintain its consciousness, but it still put on a brave face. After all, they were still surrounded by enemies, the death of the abyssal demigod was not yet confirmed, and in the weakened state of itself and its master, the numerous 8-star level abyssal on the opposite side could probably take them down if surrounded.


    Gradually the smoke and debris concealing the abyssal demigod faded and they could see its situation. The demigod''s form began to unravel, its dark energy dissipating into the air as it let out a final, ear-splitting roar. Its massive body collapsed, the ground shaking as it hit the earth. The battlefield fell silent, the oppressive aura of the demigod fading away.


    Kain let out a breath he didn''t realize he''d been holding. It was over. The demigod was defeated.


    But there was no time to celebrate, a sudden presence made Kain freeze. He turned to see City Lord Ishvaran teleporting above them, his expression a mix of gratitude and suspicion. His dragon behind him, although battered Kain was still certain that they could destroy them all with a thought.


    "You," Ishvaran said, his voice calm but commanding. "who are you, and where did you come from?"


    Kain''s heart raced from the intimidating aura that pressed down on him.


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    Kain and the others didn''t respond. Instead, Nadia tightened her grip on the relic core and the figures of all of them began to fade. Ishvaran reached out, his hand glowing with spiritual energy, but he was too late.


    The portal closed just as Ishvaran''s hand passed through the space where Kain and Bea had been standing. The City Lord stared at the empty air, his expression unreadable. He was grateful for their help, but their sudden disappearance only deepened his suspicions. If they were allies, that was fine.


    But if they were secretly hostile or spies�� he would find them, and he would destroy them. After all, he couldn''t risk the biggest secret of their city being leaked.

 Chapter 456 The Orders Attention

    The world outside the relic was a stark contrast to the chaos they had just left.


    The air was crisp and clean, without the horrid smell of burning flesh.


    The sky was a serene blue, and while the city was quiet, unlike the usual hustle and bustle of Brightstar City, the faint hum of life in the distance was a welcome reminder of the world they had fought to protect and a welcome change from the constant cries and screams ringing out around them.


    The figures of Kain, Nadia, and the others stumbled out of the mirror that acted as a portal into the relic and returned back to the temple where everything began, their bodies heavy with exhaustion but their spirits lifted by the knowledge that they had succeeded in their mission.


    But their relief was short-lived.


    As the portal closed behind them, Kain''s eyes fell on three figures lying unconscious on the ground. They were ordinary civilians��two men and a woman��dressed in simple clothing that marked them as locals. Kain frowned, his mind racing. He vaguely recognized them, though he couldn''t quite place where he''d seen them before. But it was undeniable that, like him, they were native to Brightstar City, and most likely they had not awakened as beast-tamers.


    "Who are they?" Nadia asked, her voice sharp with concern as she knelt beside one of the unconscious figures.


    "Civilians," Kain replied, his tone grim. "They must''ve accidentally entered the relic when it activated. Most of the others�� didn''t make it."


    The memory of the grotesque flesh gate made from the other civilians to accidentally enter the relic made all of their stomach''s churn. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The abyssals had sacrificed countless civilians to create that abomination, which Kain and the others assumed was meant to form a stable channel between the Abyss, the relic and Brightstar City. These three had somehow escaped that fate, either by sheer luck or by being assigned identities within the relic that kept them away from the abyssals'' reach.


    Nadia''s expression darkened, but she quickly composed herself. As the team leader, it was her responsibility to contact the Order and report their success. She pulled out a small communication device used by members of the Order to communicate on a secure, untappable line, and began speaking in low tones, her voice steady despite the fatigue etched into her features.


    Kain, meanwhile, turned his attention to the unconscious civilians. He summoned his contract, Queen, and delicate wings fluttered as she hovered over the civilians, her antennae twitching as she assessed their condition and fed back the results of her assessment to Kain.


    "No physical injuries," Kain muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. "It''s probably a mental issue. Bea could''ve helped, but��"


    He trailed off, his thoughts shifting to the small, silent presence currently resting in his star space. Kain''s chest tightened with worry, but there was nothing he could do for her now. She needed time to recover and to see if there were any long-lasting effects in her and Aegis due to their continuous intimate contact with the Abyssal energy.


    Queen buzzed softly, her life energy flowing into the civilians in an attempt to stabilize them. But despite her efforts, they remained unconscious. Kain sighed, running a hand through his hair before relaying to the others, "It''s not working. Whatever''s wrong with them, it''s not something Queen can fix."


    Nadia finished her call and turned to Kain. "The Order''s sending a team to assist us. They''ll take the civilians for treatment. In the meantime, we need to head back to the headquarters for the debriefing."


    Kain nodded, though his mind was still preoccupied with Bea and the civilians. He couldn''t shake the feeling that there was more to their condition than simple exhaustion. But without Bea''s mental abilities, he was at a loss. As fellow members of the same city, Kain was extra worried about them. However, knowing the strong abilities of the Order, Kain was confident that they were in good hands.


    ----------------------


    The Order''s team arrived within minutes, their sleek, black vehicles cutting through the serene landscape like shadows. They moved with practiced efficiency, loading the unconscious civilians onto stretchers and whisking them away for treatment, while others stayed behind in order to continue guarding the entrance to the relic. Although without Nadia''s permission, due to her current control of the core, nobody should be able to enter or exit, in this strange world with all kinds of abilities and gifts, who knows what accidents could happen. Kain watched the unconscious civilians go, the knot of unease in his chest slowly unravelling


    "They''ll be fine," Nadia said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder after seeing his lingering gaze. "The Order has the best healers in the empire. If anyone can help them, it''s them."


    The team returned to the Order''s headquarters, the journey passing in a blur of exhaustion and quiet reflection on all that occurred in the relic and what each of them wished to share (or not) with the Order as they sorted out their stories.


    When they arrived, they were immediately ushered into a debriefing room.


    Kain''s debriefing was the last to occur and was led by a high-ranking member of the Order, an 8-star beast-tamer with sharp features and piercing eyes.


    He introduced himself as Commander Veylan and the man exuded an air of authority, his presence commanding respect and caution in equal measure.


    "Your teammates have already given their accounts," Veylan began, his voice calm but firm. "Now, I''d like to hear your version of events."


    Kain nodded, launching into a detailed recounting of their mission. He spoke of the extreme mental manipulation abilities of the relic that were capable of causing them all to forget their true identities. He spoke of the abyssals'' invasion into the relic via (what they assumed) to be another entrance connected to the relic but were never able to find, the flesh gate, and their desperate battle against the abyssal demigod.


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    Veylan listened intently, his expression unreadable. When Kain finished, the commander leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled in front of him.


    "Your story lines up well with your colleagues, but I am more interested in their accounts of your contracts'' abilities," Veylan said after a moment. He had already heard the details of everything Kain said from his subordinates. That''s correct, Veylan was not responsible for interviewing Kain''s teammates. After all, as a high-level beast-tamer how could he have the time to waste on completing debriefing interviews. Most interviews are completed by 5 and 6-star members of the Dawnbringers, the counter-intelligence division of the Order, but when he received the report from his subordinates he was intrigued and decided to speak to Kain himself.


    "Your contracts��Aegis and Bea, was it?��seem to possess abilities that defy conventional understanding. Aegis can manipulate abyssal energy��previously thought to be impossible for non-corrupted creatures�� and Bea can control abyssals in a way that even Seraphina Mindshade, the empire''s sole 9-star beast-tamer specializing in the mental-attribute specialist, cannot."


    Veylan, as an 8-star beast-tamer and high-ranking figure of the Order, could naturally come into contact with the 9-star Seraphina Mindshade.


    He recalled that from his discussions with her it was almost impossible to control abyssal creatures, unless as powerful as her. And even she wasn''t able to control abyssals similar or even slightly weaker than her in strength��limited to controlling low and mid-level ones and it took a great deal of effort


    She said that this was because she could sense that there was a higher-level being that seemed to be connected to the mind of each abyssal and corrupted. A being that even filled her, as a 9-star beast tamer, with dread. But Bea was able to control those similar in level to her and, from the reports of Kain''s teammates, even spread her influence using the controlled��almost like a weaker version of the abyss.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He hadn''t expected the conversation to turn so quickly to his contracts and was instantly on guard. He wasn''t dumb, and he knew that his contracts were likely no normal. But until he fully figured out the reasons for their changes he didn''t wish to expose them to such powerful figures in case their abilities were exploited beyond what they could bear.


    "They''re unique," he admitted cautiously. "But they''re heavily damaged and exhausted right now. I can''t showcase their abilities at the moment."


    Veylan''s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn''t press the issue, likely also receiving similar information from Nadia and the others. Instead, he leaned forward, his gaze piercing. "Tell me more about them then. How exactly did their abilities occur?"


    Kain hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "I�� I am not sure. But both of their abilities are not easy to use. It takes a lot out of them and may come with hidden dangers."


    Seeing Veylan''s unhappy expression, Kain immediately continued, "But once they recover their strength and awaken, I will definitely use the full extent of my abilites as a researcher to identify the reasons for the change" He said hoping that that reminder of his second identity as an accomplished researcher could give him the opportunity to lead the investigation himself.


    The room fell silent, the weight of Kain''s words hanging heavy in the air. Kain could feel the tension building, the unspoken questions and suspicions lurking just beneath the surface.


    As the debriefing continued, it became clear that Veylan''s interest in Kain''s contracts went beyond mere curiosity. The commander''s questions grew more probing, his tone more insistent. Kain did his best to answer honestly, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that his greatest worries may come true.


    "Your contracts are�� unusual," Veylan said finally, his voice low. "If what you''ve told me is true, they could be invaluable in our fight against the Abyss. But we''ll need to see them in action to confirm their abilities."


    Kain nodded, though his stomach churned with unease. "I understand. But like I said, they''re in no condition to demonstrate anything right now."


    Veylan studied him for a long moment before nodding. "Very well. We''ll give them time to recover. But when they''re ready, I expect a full demonstration."


    The debriefing ended shortly after, and Kain was dismissed. As he left the room, he couldn''t shake the feeling that he was being watched. The Order''s interest in his contracts was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it could mean more resources and support for his team. On the other, it could put a target on his back.

 Chapter 457 Changes in the System Profiles

    Kain didn''t immediately leave the Order. For one, he was too exhausted to return to Dark Moon College. His body ached, his mind was foggy, and the thought of traveling through the treacherous forests surrounding the Order''s headquarters was enough to make him want to collapse on the spot. Besides, he hadn''t yet received the rewards for completing the mission or been reimbursed for his expenses during the mission. Those credits were crucial��not just for his own growth, but for the recovery of his contracts, especially Aegis and Bea, who were in dire need of resources to heal and evolve.


    Thankfully, the Order had a reimbursement policy in place to prevent its members from stunting their growth due to the high cost of mission-essential items. A certain portion, around 50%, of the cost of rare items purchased from the Order and used during the completion of a mission could be reimbursed. This policy was a lifeline for members like Kain, who often found themselves spending exorbitant amounts on tools and artifacts necessary for survival. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain had used several expensive items during the mission, and he was hopeful that he could get at least half of his credits back. The Cryostasis Nexus, which Benji had taken away for Aura treatment, the Vessel of Purification used to cleanse the Relic Core, and the Space Severing Nail used to extract the Relic Core��all three items had been essential to their success. Their usage was clearly documented, and Kain had made sure to emphasize their importance during the debriefing. He was optimistic that the Order would reimburse him for more than the standard 50%, given the mission''s high stakes and their success in neutralizing the abyssal threat.


    While waiting for the Order to calculate his rewards, Kain rented a temporary living quarter within the headquarters. The room was simple but functional, with a plain double bed, a desk, a chair, and a window that overlooked the dense forests surrounding the compound. The same forests Kain had traversed to enter the Order for the first time now seemed almost peaceful in the fading light of dusk. He sat by the window for a moment, staring out at the treetops and letting the quiet calm his frayed nerves.


    Once he was alone, Kain finally took the time to open the System and check the profiles of his contracts. He needed to assess their conditions and plan for their recovery. The mission had taken a heavy toll on all of them, but Aegis and Bea had borne the brunt of the damage.


    Aegis''s profile was the first Kain opened. The System provided a detailed overview of his condition, and Kain''s heart sank as he read through it. Aegis''s entire body had been essentially destroyed, reduced to nothing more than a small piece of rock that could fit in the palm of Kain''s hand. This fragment contained Aegis''s microscopic core, the essence of his being, but it would take time for him to recover and regain consciousness.


    The System confirmed that there was no immediate threat to Aegis''s life, but the road to recovery would be long and��expensive. If Kain wanted to speed up the process, he would need to feed Aegis rare minerals that he could use to rebuild himself. Kain had every intention of helping Aegis recover, but it would need to wait until he returned to Dark Moon City to complete the purchases, he had no plans to use his precious Order credits in order to purchase the metals. He had other channels for acquiring rare metals, ores, and minerals in massive quantities, due to his large amount of elite clientele as an Evolutionary Planner, and an ample supply of Celestial Dollars. The Order credits were better saved for items that couldn''t be bought with money alone.


    Kain made a mental note to reach out to his contacts as soon as he had the chance. For now, though, Aegis was stable, and that was enough. Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire


    Next, Kain opened Bea''s profile. Her condition was less dire than Aegis''s, but she was still unresponsive, her microscopic form trembling faintly as she rested in the palm of his hand. Kain''s chest tightened with worry, but he pushed the feeling aside and focused on the System''s update.


    Two new abilities had been added to Bea''s profile, both related to her newfound connection to the Abyss and her ability to control abyssals. Kain''s eyes widened as he read through the descriptions:


    SS-Abyssal Subjugation: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba can bypass the mental defenses of Abyssals and corrupted creatures, dulling their connection to the "Great Mother" and redirecting their allegiance to itself. This skill is only effective on Abyssals of equal or lower level.


    S-Contagion of Will: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba''s splits can now divide and spread like a mental virus, infecting the minds of nearby targets after repeated contact with a creature already possessing one of the splits.


    Kain''s mind raced as he processed the implications of these new abilities, particularly the fact that she could now spread her influence like a contagious disease, and this wasn''t just limited to abyssals, made her an even more formidable force. Normally, Bea''s splits needed to come directly from her main body and find an opportunity to infiltrate the target. But now, the splits also developed a kind of ability that allowed them to create their own ''splits.''


    Next, Kain opened the profiles of his remaining contracts on the off chance that there were also changes in them that he hadn''t yet detected.


    Opening, the profile of Eve and her symbiotic host Queen, Kain wasn''t surprised to find that there were no changes. Eve/Queen had played mostly a supporting role during the mission, responsible for healing the injured and providing buffs to the Vespid guards when required. Therefore, even if Eve and/or Queen would have had an unusual response to abyssal energy was not able to be determined.


    Lastly, Kain opened up the profile for Vauleth with the same expectations, but was pleasantly surprised to see that his most mysterious contract��who even the System couldn''t fully see through��also had a change.

 Chapter 458 Changes in the System Profiles (2)

    Kain had managed to contract Vauleth with the promise that he would help him to become the strongest True Dragon.


    Considering that he was not born as a True Dragon and possessed a congenital defect that made him weaker than other Red Dragon''s of his age, this was something he could only hope to accomplish by following Kain. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain, due to his previous successes discovering new evolutionary forms had been fully confident in being able to complete this task.


    That was until, after he''d seen Vauleth''s profile after initially contracting him, which appeared as follows:


    -------------------


    Nickname: Vauleth


    Species: Red Coloured Dragon (Re%$#vi$&s)


    The Red-Coloured Dragons, also known as the the Crimson Tyrants, are the strongest and leaders of the Chromatic 5-coloured True Dragons and the favourite children descended from the evil dragon goddess of greed Tiamat (&%%& &%&%& $%&$$). Towering in size with massive, armored crimson scales that shimmer like molten metal, these dragons are renowned for their raw power, destructive capabilities, and insatiable greed. Red dragons have been reported to cause immense ruin, death, and destruction due to coveting even ordinary jewels.


    They are the embodiment of arrogance, ruling over their domains with an iron claw and seeing all other creatures as either subjects to be ruled or threats to be annihilated.


    Born with an innate connection to fire and destruction, Red Dragons typically thrive in volcanic regions, although they may choose to dwell in mineral-rich caves and mountains. Their prolonged presence is capable of altering the environment to become more hostile and inhospitable to lesser beings. Their intellect rivals their might, making them cunning tacticians and fearsome foes.(%%&f&% &%& &s% $ &%&g%& $& # #&&$h&$&#&)


    Quality: Platinum (S&$#&&l)


    Spiritual Power Grade: Green


    Type: Dragon


    Attributes: Dragon, Fire (%&$$)


    Skills:


    X-Abs%&ute Mimic&%: Th$%& $&&$ %h%& #&#$& $&f$&$$ &##r&& #&$$&$&$.


    Temporary Skills:


    SSS-Due to the bloodline inheritance of Coloured True Dragons that intimately connects them with their almighty dragon ancestor Tiamat, all True Dragons are immune to Abyssal corruption as long as it is not directly from the ''Great Mother''.


    SS-Dragon''s Breath: It unleashes a torrent of fire hotter than molten lava, capable of reducing fortresses to ash in seconds. This flame burns not just with heat but with abyssal intensity, consuming everything it touches, including magic defenses.


    SS-Draconic Fury: When enraged, the Red Dragon''s physical strength and speed increase exponentially. His claws and fangs become sharper, and his scales harden to near-impenetrable levels. This skill transforms him into a whirlwind of destruction, capable of tearing through even the toughest defenses.


    S-Scorching Barrage: The Red Dragon releases a rapid series of fireballs, each one capable of causing massive explosions on impact. The barrage can be directed at multiple targets or concentrated on a single enemy, making it a versatile offensive skill.


    S-Molten Armor: The Red Dragon''s scales heat up to extreme temperatures, creating a protective layer of molten armor. This armor not only enhances his defense but also damages any enemy that comes into direct contact with him.


    A-Blazing Dominion: Vauleth exerts his dominance over fire, allowing him to manipulate existing flames within a large radius. He can extinguish fires, intensify them, or even redirect them toward his enemies. This skill is particularly useful in environments where fire is already present.


    A-Infernal Roar: Vauleth lets out a deafening roar infused with fire-attribute energy. The roar disorients and terrifies enemies, lowering their morale and causing some to flee in panic. It also has a chance to ignite flammable objects in the vicinity.


    B-Flame Cloak: Vauleth surrounds himself with a cloak of fire, increasing his resistance to fire-attribute attacks and dealing continuous damage to nearby enemies. This skill is ideal for prolonged battles, where sustained damage and defense are crucial.


    B-Wingstorm Inferno: Vauleth takes to the skies, using his massive wings to create a vortex of fire and wind. The vortex pulls enemies toward its center, where they are incinerated by the intense heat. This skill is particularly effective against groups of weaker enemies.


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    --------------


    When Kain had first scene Vauleth''s profile he''d been absolutely stunned. This was the first time he''d come across a being that even the System couldn''t fully see through��even despite him having a contract with it.


    Never before had whole sections of text in the System Profile been concealed in such a manner.


    Moreover, this was also the first time that Kain had come across a skill at an ''X'' level, the highest rating previously being SSS and the fact that most of Vauleth''s skills were categorized as only temporary was surprising. When he''d first seen the profile he''d been left with more questions than answers.


    Had it not been for the draw from his affinity and Vauleth personally sharing his own past experiences and ''reincarnations'' as various other creatures, Kain would almost think that he was a True Dragon��albeit a strange one.


    All Kain could hope for was that the next System upgrade would provide enough of a boost to the System''s abilities to fully analyze Vauleth.


    However, despite it being the only profile that has obscured content, it was the one that Kain had read the most often recently��trying to fill in the gaps for himself. Therefore, Kain immediately noticed when there was a slight increase and change in one of Vauleth''s abilities.


    SS-Molten Armor of Corruption: The Red Dragon''s scales heat up to extreme temperatures, creating a protective layer of molten armour. This armour not only enhances his defence but also damages any enemy that comes into direct contact with him. Abyssal Energy can act as fuel for the armour and prolonged fighting with Abyssal creatures will gradually increase the temperature and defensive abilities of the armour.


    Based on the profiles of his contracts, as well as the strange but very lifelike ''dream'' he had while unconscious in the relic, Kain was able to reach the conclusion that his contracts will evolve or awaken new abilities when in contact with Abyssal energy for prolonged periods of time. They all seem to have a strange connection with the Abyss��and so probably did he.

 Chapter 459 Riches and Ruins

    The next morning, Kain received a notification from the Order. His rewards had been calculated, and he was to report to the administrative office to collect them. He made his way through the bustling corridors of the headquarters, his mind still preoccupied with the strange connection he and his contracts seemed to have with the Abyss.


    When he arrived at the office, he was greeted by a stern-faced administrator who handed him a detailed breakdown of his rewards. Kain''s eyes widened as he scanned the document. The Order had been generous, reimbursing him for 60% of the cost of the Cryostasis Nexus, the Vessel of Purification, and the Space Severing Nail. On top of that, he had been awarded a substantial amount of credits for completing the mission and neutralizing the risk of abyssal invasion from Brightstar City.


    Kain couldn''t help but smile as he received the notification about the arrival of the credits into his account. This was more than enough to replenish some of the ''necessities'' that Benji had previously convinced him to buy as well as resources to increase the strength of his contracts.


    However, Kain had heard that the most invaluable opportunity in the order wasn''t the rare items, evolutionary materials, weapons, or spiritual skills for sale. Apparently, the greatest chance to increase their contract''s strength was an "opportunity for realization"��whatever that meant.


    Unfortunately, nobody felt inclined to explain it to him in detail since it was only useful for blue-grade spiritual creatures about to advance and high-level spiritual creatures. Otherwise, attempting to enter it may do more harm than good.


    Therefore, although Kain suddenly had an abundance of credits he wasn''t in a rush to spend them. With his current financial resources, connections with nobles due to being a top Evolutionary Planner, and his status as a top 5 student at one of the top 5 colleges, he could obtain most rare items without the help of the order. Heck he even had a system that could provide him with many new resources as long as he paid the corresponding amount of GP.


    He planned to save his credits for those opportunities exclusive to the Order that the more senior members kept lamenting not having enough credits for.


    ''Speaking of��according to the people that received us when we left the relic, we had been in there for over a month. By now another re-ranking should have occurred, so I guess I''m not a member of the top 5 currently��'' Kain lamented the sudden drop in status.


    However, he wasn''t too upset. There would be a final re-ranking before the national tournament and given his current strength he had no doubt that he''d be able to reclaim his spot. He''d consider having someone new enjoy the fruits of being in the top 5 for a few months as his latest act of charity��


    Not to mention the current privileges and resources given to the top 5 weren''t particularly valuable to him now since he could receive the majority of them through other channels.


    The main appeal of the top 5 for him was going to the National Tournament and getting to enter one of the college''s resource vaults again that contained resources that he may not even be able to get in the Order, such as that fate-attribute spiritual skill ''Threads of Destiny.'' During his previous walkthrough of the vault, there had been many items that appealed to him, but he had been forced to restrict his selection to only 3 items. To go in again, he had no choice but to make achievements on the College''s behalf at the National Tournament.


    ''I guess I''ll also miss the top 5 dormitory too though��'' Kain suddenly recalled one more privilege he supposed he would miss. After all, since he''d missed the latest re-ranking there was a possibility that he had dropped from the top of his year to the very bottom. In which case, he may very well end up in a closet-sized room.


    With his business at the Order concluded, Kain made his way to the teleportation array. The array was a massive, intricate structure carved into the floor of a grand chamber and had connection points to all major colleges and cities of the Empire.


    Kain stepped into the center of the array, feeling the familiar hum of spiritual power as the runes activated. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a flash of light and a brief sensation of weightlessness (thankfully he seemed to be getting accustomed to teleporting), he was standing in the teleportation chamber of Dark Moon College.


    But he immediately sensed that something was wrong.


    The college was eerily silent, the usual hustle and bustle of students and faculty conspicuously absent. As Kain walked through the campus, the grounds were completely empty, and the buildings were pretty much all dark��with no lights left on to indicate that people were inside.


    Kain quickened his pace in unease, his footsteps echoing through the empty corridors. As he approached the main entrance, he noticed a thick column of smoke rising in the distance, its dark plume staining the otherwise clear sky. His heart sank. Something had happened while he was away.


    He ran through the open, and seemingly unattended, college gates and into the city, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of life. The streets closest to the college were intact but completely lifeless��like a ghost town.


    But as he moved further toward the outskirts in the direction of the smoke, the damage became more apparent. Buildings were reduced to rubble, their walls blackened by fire. The streets were littered with debris, and the air was thick with the horrifyingly familiar smell of burning flesh mixed with rot��a smell that had practically permeated the entire battlefield during the fight against the abyssals in the relic.


    ''There''s no way��''


    The closer he got to the edges of the city, the more people he saw. They were working tirelessly, clearing debris, rebuilding structures, and tending to the wounded. The atmosphere was one of grim determination, the kind that comes after a disaster has passed but its scars remain fresh.


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to piece together what had happened. He pulled out his phone and dialed Collin''s��the manager in charge of most of his businesses��number. He had noticed that the region of the city that seemed to be affected was where one of their newest factories were being built and, knowing Collin''s professionalism and workaholic nature, he should know best what happened here. After a few tense moments, Collin''s voice crackled through the device.


    "Kain? Are you back!" Collin''s voice was a mix of relief and exhaustion. "Where are you?"


    "I just got back to the college," Kain replied, his tone urgent. "What the hell happened here?"


    There was a pause on the other end before Collin spoke again. "It''s�� complicated. While you were gone, there was a sudden outbreak of corrupted in the outskirts of the city. It happened so fast��one moment everything was normal, and the next, people were turning into corrupted and attacking others. The college mobilized immediately to contain the spread, but it was chaos for a while." Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain''s grip tightened on the communication device. "An outbreak? How did it start?"


    "We''re not entirely sure," Collin admitted. "Some people just�� turned. No warning, no signs of abyssal creatures beforehand. The college managed to contain the outbreak pretty quickly, and so the casualties were kept low, but the damage was already done. Pretty much the entire city has been focused on rebuilding ever since and all regular events and operations have been significantly delayed."


    Afterwards, Collin began to lament the loss and damage to their factory and workers, reporting the costs, delays, and other business related things to Kain. But Kain''s mind had already flown far away.


    ''If all events were delayed or cancelled, maybe I don''t have to give up my top 5 dorm��'' Kain thought, while trying to find a silver lining in this otherwise bleak event.

 Chapter 460 Home Sweet Home

    Kain''s heart pounded as he approached the outskirts of Dark Moon City, but in a different area that the outbreak, his steps quickening with every passing moment.


    The sight of the city in ruins had shaken him.


    Before going into the relic, Kain��knowing that instances of Abyssal attacks were becoming more frequent��had relocated his family from Brightstar City to Dark Moon City.


    Considering his mission was in Brightstar and there had been risk of an abyssal invasion at that location, he had felt good about his choice. However, not long after he''d left, corrupted were seen in Dark Moon City, one of the most powerful cities in the Empire!


    Due to the city''s strength. it was quickly contained, and although the outbreak wasn''t too close to his family and his family should have wards surrounding the property, Kain was still worried and wouldn''t feel fully relieved until he met them again.


    He still felt as though he had made the right decision to relocate them from Brightstar City to Dark Moon City, and the strength of the city showcased in this attack just reinforced that, but the corrupted outbreak here had been a grim reminder that nowhere was truly safe from the Abyss.


    Gradually, Kain approached the newly expanded property. Originally, Kain had had Collin purchase land neighbouring the property he currently was growing his spiritual plants and River Wolf Pups on, and his new family home would be built on that neighbouring land. However, just before entering the relic Collin called Kain to tell him that the plan had changed.


    Although Ferrin was currently living on the old property, the idyllic scenery filled with what was now probably thousands of spiritual plants, with numerous River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolves frolicking through them immediately captured his siblings'' hearts.


    Not to mention, that in order to help Kain take care of the constantly growing number of spiritual plants in the field, Kain had brought back many of the first batch of elemental fairies evolved from the Silkworm evolutionary pathway��including the light-attribute royal fairy, there were dozens of other greater and lesser fairies helping him to manage the property.


    The moment his siblings had seen this fantastical environment, they''d absolutely refused to leave.


    Therefore, the new land Kain had purchased was used to expand the spiritual plant gardens and integrated into being part of the roaming areas for the fairies and wolf pups, while the original home that Ferrin was currently living in, was torn down after the mansion right next to it was almost finished construction.


    As Kain approached the property, he finally saw the massive mansion he''d only ever heard about in reports from Collin.


    And the second he spotted his new home, his anxiety also began to ease. Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    The wards surrounding the property were intact, and the lack of damage in the area reassured him that the outbreak hadn''t extended to here.


    The sprawling land was a stark contrast to the chaos of the city. The air was fresh, filled with the scent of blooming spiritual plants and the distant sound of River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolves playing in the fields amid the bell-like calls of the elemental fairies.


    A massive mansion stood at the center of the property, its design a perfect blend of elegance and practicality. Kain could tell that Collin had taken the opinions of his relatives into account, and the architecture reminded Kain of their old home in Brightstar City�� but elevated.


    The walls were adorned with intricate carvings, and the windows were framed by lush vines that seemed to glow faintly in the sunlight. Fruit trees, that weren''t there before, dotted the landscape, their branches heavy with ripe fruits, and a large playground stood nearby that would be loved by any of his youngest siblings.


    Kain paused at the edge of the property, taking in the sight of the River Wolf Pups frolicking in the fields, their playful antics bringing life and joy to the land. He could see that Ferrin, the affinity-less volunteer that Kain had helped to become a beast-tamer, was among them, clearly he had naturally grown accustomed to his role as a caretaker. Kain couldn''t help but smile as he watched Ferrin interact with the pups, knowing that he''d made the correct choice.


    As Kain approached the mansion, the front door swung open, and a chorus of excited voices greeted him. His siblings spilled out onto the porch, their faces lighting up at the sight of him. The youngest, Melody, was the first to reach him, her small arms wrapping around his legs in a tight hug.


    "Kain! You''re back!" she squealed, her voice filled with joy.


    Kain knelt down to her level, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I missed you too, Melody. How have you all been?" He turned to ask the others as they streamed out of the house. He saw that Bridge was also there, likely going to guard them during the attack��once again reassuring Kain that moving his family closer to both Bridge and himself was for the best.


    The others quickly surrounded him, their questions and laughter filling the air. Kain''s heart swelled with warmth as he greeted each of them, his worries momentarily forgotten.


    The orphanage director stood at the edge of the group, his expression one of quiet relief. He had been unsure about moving, but since Kain had left, sightings of Abyssals and corrupted creatures became more frequent across the empire, and he no longer regretted his decision.


    "It''s good to have you back, Kain," he said, his voice soft but filled with emotion. "We''ve missed you."


    "I''ve missed you too," Kain replied. "It''s good to be home."


    As the initial excitement died down, Kain''s siblings led him inside the mansion, eager to show him around. The interior was just as impressive as the exterior, with spacious rooms, high ceilings, and an abundance of natural light. Each of his siblings had their own room now, a far cry from the cramped living quarters of their old home. The walls were adorned with family photos and mementos from their time in Brightstar City, a subtle reminder of where they had come from.


    Kain''s room was on the second floor, its large windows offering a stunning view of the property. The room was simple and familiar since they chose to move most of his belongings from his old room to here. But there were some welcome changes: there was now a larger bed, a new mahogany desk, and a bookshelf filled with both his old and new books. A small sitting area by the window was the perfect spot to relax and take in the view overlooking the property.


    As Kain settled into his room, Ferrin appeared at the door, his expression one of quiet pride. "Welcome back, Kain. I hope you like what we''ve done with the place."


    Kain smiled, gesturing for Ferrin to come in. "It''s incredible, Ferrin. You''ve done an amazing job. I can''t thank you enough for looking after things here while I was away, Collin told me how invaluable you were to resettling everyone."


    Ferrin shrugged modestly. "It''s been my pleasure. Your family is wonderful, and the land here is a dream to live on. However, there was one thing I feel I should tell you..." He began hesitantly.


    Kain''s heart dropped at the suddenly more serious atmosphere surrounding Ferrin. "I''m afraid that something is wrong with the spiritual creature you helped me to summon." sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 461 Shifting Bonds

    Kain''s smile faded as Ferrin''s words hung in the air. The sudden shift in tone was enough to make his stomach twist with unease. He gestured for Ferrin to sit down, his mind already racing with possibilities. "What''s wrong? Is Nyx okay? Is there an issue with the contract."


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    Although Kain and Ferrin got along well now, the reason Ferrin was initially recruited was to act as a guinea pig to see if Kain''s new method of creating beast-tamers was safe for Gabriel.


    If Gabriel cannot become a beast-tamer he was at a great risk of dying. Therefore, he had Ferrin try it first and would periodically give Kain updates on how he and his contract are.


    After Kain confirms that it is safe and there are no side-effects later on, he would have Gabriel also undergo the procedure so that he can walk around freely and healthily again.


    So far there had been no side effects. The only con was that Ferrin seems to only be able to contract 1 creature. But he and that creature appear to have very little bottlenecks. This is very similar to the method of cultivation of the southern tribes, which typically can only have one contract, but the growth rate and strength at the same level of that single contract are far superior to those in other nations. Kain was waiting to see if there would be any more discoveries or cons before letting Gabriel do the procedure soon, but now Ferrin was telling him that there was another issue��


    Ferrin hesitated, his hands fidgeting nervously in his lap. "I''m not sure. During the outbreak, I�� I left the property for a while. Bridge had arrived, and with the wards in place, I thought it would be safe. There was someone I needed to check on."


    Kain raised an eyebrow but didn''t interrupt. Ferrin''s expression was a mix of guilt and worry, and Kain could tell this wasn''t easy for him to admit.


    "There''s a woman," Ferrin continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "She works as a bank teller in the city. We''ve been�� talking. When the outbreak happened, her bank was closer to where the chaos started. I couldn''t just sit here knowing she might be in danger. So, I went to check on her."


    Kain''s initial surprise gave way to understanding. He nodded, encouraging Ferrin to continue.


    "When I got there, the bank was overrun by corrupted. Nyx and I fought our way inside, and we found her barricaded in a room with some coworkers. We managed to get them out, but�� Nyx was attacked during the escape. She killed the corrupted, but afterward, she started acting strange. She''s been in a coma ever since."


    Ferrin''s voice broke due to the immense guilt he felt, and he looked down at his hands, his shoulders slumping. "I don''t know if she''s just exhausted from fighting off the abyssal energy or if�� if she''s still at risk of being corrupted. I''ve tried everything I can think of, but nothing''s worked."


    Kain''s mind raced as he processed the information. Nyx, the black fox Ferrin had contracted through the unique method Kain had invented, was in a coma after being exposed to Abyssal energy. This was uncharted territory. The procedure had been experimental, and while it had worked flawlessly so far, there was always the risk of unforeseen complications.


    "Show her to me," Kain said, his tone firm but reassuring. "I''ll see what I can do."


    Ferrin nodded, relief flickering in his eyes. He led Kain to a small room on the ground floor, where Nyx lay on a soft bed of moss and spiritual plants. The fox''s sleek black fur was dull, her breathing shallow and uneven. Kain knelt beside her, his hand hovering over her body as he activated his System to assess her condition.


    Unlike most spiritual creatures that Kain can only get vague details about their species as a whole or form a replica of them in the Training Arena with the System. Kain found that those that originated from Pangea would have more detail in their System profile��almost to the levels of his own contracts. Likely due to their unique origins as spiritual creatures born from the planet inside of him.


    The System''s interface flickered to life, displaying Nyx''s status in stark detail. Her spiritual energy was dangerously low, and there were traces of abyssal energy lingering in her system, but the invading abyssal energy was decreasing at a slow rate. Kain''s brow furrowed as he studied the data.


    "She''s fighting it," Kain murmured, more to himself than to Ferrin. "The abyssal energy is trying to take hold, but her body is resisting. Honestly, this isn''t a bad thing. It could even be considered great. Most spiritual creatures would simply become corrupted and not have the ability to fight off the abyssal energy in their bodies."


    Ferrin''s face relaxed slightly, but it was still quite pale. "Can you help her?"


    Kain didn''t answer immediately. He activated his spiritual skill Threads of Destiny, to get any hints of if a solution was around him. If Aegis wasn''t currently out of commission, Kain could simply ask for his help, but Aegis was still recovering, so Kain couldn''t readily think of any more solution.


    Activating the skill, he first focused on the connection between Ferrin and Nyx. The bond was still strong, but it was strained, as if Nyx''s condition was pulling her further away from Ferrin with each passing moment.


    But interestingly, the connection that was only faintly existent between her and Kain after she''d formed a contract with Ferrin, was increasing with each passing second. Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain closed his eyes again to feel if a connection between Pangea and Nyx had been re-established, and did find that, while barely noticeable, the connection that had been previously cut off had been re-established.


    ''What does this mean? If contracts outside are injured badly enough or at risk of becoming corrupted, will they be recalled to Pangea? What does this mean for the contracts they have with their beast-tamer?''

 Chapter 462 The Strength to Protect

    Kain knelt beside Nyx, his mind racing as he processed the implications of the re-established connection between her and Pangea.


    The faint thread of energy linking the black fox to the planet inside him was growing stronger by the second, and Kain could feel the subtle pull of Pangea''s influence. It was as if the planet itself was reaching out to heal one of its own.


    "Ferrin," Kain said, his voice calm but urgent, "step back for a moment. I need to focus."


    Ferrin hesitated, his eyes darting between Kain and Nyx, but he nodded and took a few steps back, giving Kain space to work. Kain closed his eyes, his breathing steady as he tuned into the connection between Pangea and Nyx. The bond was fragile but growing, and Kain could feel the faint pulse of purple energy emanating from Pangea, flowing through the connection and into Nyx.


    The process was slow at first, but as Kain''s proximity to Nyx increased, the rate at which the connection strengthened accelerated. It was as if the two had been attempting to connect for a while but, possibly because the Kain was inside the relic and then at the Order headquarters, the distance had been too great. Now, with Kain right beside her, the link was rapidly solidifying.


    Kain''s System interface flickered to life, displaying real-time data on Nyx''s condition. The abyssal energy in her body was decreasing rapidly with the stronger connection to Pangea. Kain watched in awe as the purple energy surged through Nyx, cleansing her body.


    Soon enough, the abyssal energy in Nyx was completely eradicated, and her breathing steadied. Her fur, once dull and lifeless, began to shimmer with its usual sleek black sheen. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, and she let out a soft whine as she stirred.


    "Nyx!" Ferrin exclaimed, rushing forward to kneel beside her. He gently stroked her fur, his relief palpable. "You''re okay�� you''re okay."


    As Kain watched the reunion between the two, he noted that the connection between himself and Nyx, which had grown so strong moments ago, was now fading. He activated his spiritual skill Threads of Destiny once more, observing as the link between Nyx and Ferrin was re-established. The bond between beast-tamer and spiritual creature was intact, and Nyx was once again fully connected to Ferrin.


    Kain couldn''t shake the implications of what he had just witnessed. Spiritual creatures originating from Pangea were not only somewhat resistant to abyssal energy but could also be healed by a strange energy the planet emitted.


    This was a game-changer for the future battle situation against the Abyss!


    But Kain''s excitement soon dampened. Kain immediately noted a slight decrease in Pangea''s spiritual power concentration��only a fraction of a percent, but it was enough to give him pause.


    If too much of Pangea''s energy was expended, it could harm the planet and, by extension, Kain himself. The idea of creating a massive million-strong army of beast-tamers connected to Pangea to fight the Abyss was tempting, but it was not possible��at least not for now.


    Kain knew he would have to carefully calculate how many individuals Pangea could support, ensuring that the planet''s energy reserves weren''t depleted too much in the process.


    ------------------


    With Nyx stabilized and Ferrin by her side, Kain stepped out of the room to gather his thoughts. The events of the past hour had made him realize that during these chaotic times he could no longer afford to hesitate when it came to strengthening those he cared about.


    Gabriel, the young boy who was practically still a prisoner due to his condition, needed to undergo the procedure to become a beast-tamer. The risks were minimal compared to the potential benefits, and Kain knew he couldn''t delay any longer.


    But Gabriel wasn''t the only one who could benefit from this. The orphanage director, a man Kain trusted with his life, was another perfect candidate.


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    Although he had never awakened an affinity, he still had a single star space that could be used to form a contract. Most ordinary people were capable of condensing their first star��the real roadblock to becoming a beast-tamer was awakening an affinity.


    If the orphanage director formed a contract, not only would this give him the ability to protect himself and Kain''s siblings, but it would also extend his lifespan, ensuring that he could continue to guide and support them for many more years.


    Kain found the director in the mansion''s library, quietly reading a book. The older man looked up as Kain entered, his expression softening at the sight of the young man who had quickly become the spiritual pillar and support for the family.


    "Kain," the director said, setting his book aside. "Is everything alright?"


    Kain nodded, taking a seat across from him. "Everything''s fine. But there''s something I need to discuss with you."


    The director''s brow furrowed, but he gestured for Kain to continue. Kain took a deep breath, then explained his unique ability to create beast-tamers, detailing the procedure and its benefits. He also shared Ferrin''s experience, emphasizing the lack of side effects and the incredible potential it offered.


    The director listened in silence, his expression growing more and more stunned as Kain spoke. When Kain finished, the older man leaned back in his chair, his eyes wide with disbelief.


    "This�� this is incredible," the director said finally. "But Kain, do you realize how dangerous this ability is? If anyone were to find out, they would stop at nothing to exploit you."


    Kain nodded, his expression serious. "I know. That''s why I''ve been so careful. But the world is becoming more dangerous each day, and I can''t afford to hold back anymore. You''ve always been like a father to me, and I want to give you the chance to become a beast-tamer." S~ea??h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The director hesitated, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I''m an old man, Kain. I''ve lived a good life. Do I really need to become a beast-tamer at my age?"


    Kain leaned forward, his voice earnest. "This isn''t just about you. It''s about the children. Bridge and I won''t always be here to protect you all, and the world is only getting more chaotic. This would give you the strength to protect them, no matter what happens."


    The director was silent for a long moment, his hands clasped tightly in his lap. Finally, he looked up, his eyes filled with determination. "Alright, Kain. If you think this is the right thing to do, then I''ll trust you. But promise me one thing."


    "Anything," Kain said without hesitation.


    "Promise me you''ll be careful. This ability of yours�� it''s a gift, but it''s also a burden. Don''t let it consume you."


    Kain smiled, his heart swelling with relief that the director agreed. "I promise."

 Chapter 463 The Second Attempt

    Kain went to the basement of the newly constructed.


    Thoughtfully, due to his current status as an evolutionary planner and researcher, Collin and his family decided to construct a private area in the basement, just for him, meant to double as a private lab and office for himself.


    Naturally, due to all of their lack of knowledge on how lab are typically set up there were many shortcomings when compared to his lab on the college campus, and his lab provided by the System, but it was more than enough to serve as an isolated and soundproof location for the procedure Kain was about to perform.


    Kain had invited his four oldest siblings��Bridge, Milo (now 16 years old), and the twins Jasper and Jasmine (14 years old)��to observe the procedure. They stood near the doorway, their eyes wide with curiosity.


    Kain had warned them beforehand that what they were about to witness could never be shared with anyone. This was a secret that, if revealed, could put all of them in danger.


    "Remember," Kain said, his voice firm but calm, "this stays between us. No one outside this room can know what you see here today."


    The siblings nodded solemnly, their excitement slightly dampened by the gravity of Kain''s words. They watched as Kain prepared the tools for the procedure, his movements precise and deliberate.


    Although the more people that knew about Kain''s ability the more dangerous it was, Bridge had been told about Kain''s ability a while ago, so there was no reason to hide it from him��rather Bridge had always wanted to see it for himself and made Kain promise to take him along the next time.


    As for his other siblings, they were all approaching the age where they would awaken an affinity. Kain''s newfound wealth had given them access to better resources that would slightly increase their chances of awakening an affinity, but the chances of awakening normally were still not extremely high if they didn''t have any ancestors that were beast-tamers.


    Kain wanted them to witness this scene so that they could rest assured that even if they failed to awaken an affinity, they could still form a contract of sorts. Who knows, maybe the more relaxed attitude during the affinity ceremony will increase their chances of success?


    Kain approached the director, who was slightly reclined in a plush chair in the center of the room to ensure his comfort, holding a small vial of crushed spiritual plants known for their pain-dulling properties. "This will help, but it won''t completely eliminate the discomfort," he explained. "Bea was able to completely eliminate the sensation of pain for Ferrin, but she''s still recovering. We''ll have to make do."


    The director nodded, his jaw set with resolve. "I''ve dealt with worse in my long life. Let''s get this over with."


    Kain applied the paste to the director''s shoulder, the faint scent of herbs filling the air. He then picked up a thin, needle-like tool infused with spiritual energy and began to etch the array onto the director''s skin. The process was slow and meticulous, each line of the array requiring perfect precision. Thankfully, though Kain had been practicing drawing this array in his free time so that the process wasn''t drawn out longer than it needed to be��after all, he couldn''t always rely on Serena.


    The director''s eyebrow twitched slightly as the needle moved across his skin, but he otherwise remained perfectly still, his breathing and expression relaxed.


    "You''re doing great," Kain said, his voice calm and reassuring. "Just a little longer."


    The array began to take shape, its intricate lines and symbols glowing faintly as Kain infused them with spiritual energy. The room seemed to hum with power, the air thick with anticipation. Finally, Kain sat back, exhaling deeply. "Done."


    The array, now complete, pulsed softly on the director''s shoulder blade, its glow a testament to the energy flowing through it. Kain stepped back, allowing the director a moment to adjust.


    "How do you feel?" Kain asked.


    The director flexed his shoulder experimentally, "I thought you said it''d hurt. That was nothing. What''s next?"


    "Now, we see if it works," Kain replied. He instructed the director to focus on his meager amount of spiritual power and direct it toward the array. This was the most critical part of the procedure and something Kain would not be able to help him with��without precise control, the array would fail.


    -------------------


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    The director closed his eyes, his brow furrowed in concentration. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled to manipulate his spiritual power, it had probably been decades since he''d actively tried to manipulate his spiritual power, so activating the array was more difficult for him than it was for Ferrin. Kain watched closely, ready to intervene if necessary.


    "Focus," Kain said, his voice steady. "Imagine your spiritual power as a river. You need to guide it to the array, like diverting water into a channel."


    The director nodded, his breathing becoming more controlled. Slowly, the array began to glow brighter, its light intensifying as the director''s spiritual power flowed into it. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a long wait, Kain could sense a faint presence from the director, like a fragment of his soul, entering his star space.


    Inside Pangea, the soul fragment moved erratically, its path winding through the lush landscapes of the planet. Kain tracked its progress, his heart pounding as he watched it pause near various creatures before moving on.


    Thankfully, unlike Ferrin whose soul fragment took forever to find a suitable contract, a suitable spiritual creature was quickly determined.


    Soon enough, a spiritual creature that had previously been lounging lazily on a rock as it bathed under the starlight emitted from the 4 multicoloured stars perpetually orbiting Pangea, disappeared.


    Back in the workshop, the director gasped, his hand instinctively reaching for his shoulder as he felt it begin to heat up.


    "Did it�� work?" he asked, his voice trembling. Bridge and the other siblings also looked on with nervous anticipation at what kind of contract the orphanage director may have formed.


    Kain too was extremely curious. Although the creature disappeared quite quickly, based on the brief glimpse Kain had of the creature, he knew that it didn''t resemble any spiritual creatures he''d ever seen or heard of.

 Chapter 464 A Perfect Match

    The room fell silent as the director''s shoulder, the location Kain had chosen to place the tattooed array for convenience, began to glow faintly, the array''s light intensifying until it was almost blinding.


    The air seemed to hum with energy, and then, with a soft, melodic chime, the light dimmed, and a creature materialized in the center of the room.


    It was unlike anything Kain or his siblings had ever seen or read about. And considering Kain''s second major, that was quite a feat.


    The creature stood about two feet tall, its form a curious blend of humanoid and animal features. Its body was covered in soft, moss-like fur that shimmered with a faint green hue, giving it the appearance of a living, breathing piece of nature. Its face was round and expressive, with large, luminous eyes that glowed like polished amber. Its ears were long and pointed, and tipped by a small green leaf at the end. Its hands and feet were delicate, with tiny, claw-like fingers.


    The creature''s most striking feature was its tail��long and bushy, with green tufts of fur. Around its neck was a vine string that carried a small, glowing orb, which pulsed gently with a soothing, rhythmic light. The creature''s presence was calming, and it could probably calm down a irritated child by just standing there.


    "What�� is it?" Milo whispered, his voice filled with awe.


    Kain activated his System, pulling up the creature''s profile. The information that appeared was unlike anything he had seen before, even among the unique creatures of Pangea.


    ---------------------


    Species: Unnamed


    A rare and nurturing spiritual creature born from the most nurturing of elemental energies on Pangea��nature and light. This creature embodies the essence of care and order and is a natural caretaker, its abilities focused on healing, organizing, and maintaining balance in its environment. It is deeply attuned to the needs of those around it, making it an ideal companion for those who dedicate their lives to protecting and nurturing others. Notably, this spiritual creature cannot stand disorganization and mess and will be unable to rest in an untidy environment.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Nature Gnome


    Attributes: Nature, Light


    Skills:


    SS-Harmonic Restoration: A powerful healing skill utilizing both natural and light elements. This skill not only heals physical injuries but also restores spiritual energy, making it invaluable in prolonged battles or recovery efforts.


    A-Nature''s Ward: It can summon a protective barrier of vines and moss that shields itself and nearby allies. The barrier absorbs incoming attacks and can convert a small amount of the attacking energy to restore its own spiritual power.


    B-Guiding Bloom: It can release a burst of glowing pollen that illuminates dark areas and reveals hidden dangers. This skill also enhances the senses of those it touches, allowing them to detect threats or resources they might otherwise miss.


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    C-Tidying Touch: Using its delicate hands it can repair and organize objects with incredible precision. This skill can sort through cluttered spaces, remove dust/dirt and can even mend broken ordinary items,


    ------------------------


    Reading through the System profile, all Kain could think was that it and the orphanage director were a perfect match. And after sharing the details of the unknown spiritual creature with everyone, clearly they also shared his thoughts


    The unknown spiritual creature looked up at the director, its amber eyes glowing with warmth and understanding. It took a few cautious steps forward, its bushy tail swishing gently behind it. The director knelt down, his expression a mix of awe and curiosity. On his aged and wrinkled face, there was uncharacteristic childlike excitement that Kain had never seen before.


    "Hello there," the director said softly, extending a hand. It tilted its head, studying him for a moment before placing its tiny hand in his. The connection between them was immediate, a bond forged not just by the array but by a shared sense of purpose and care.


    "I can feel it," the director whispered, his voice filled with wonder. "Its thoughts�� its emotions�� it truly is such a magical connection." Kain and Bridge didn''t feel much, but Milo and the others immediately had an expression of longing after hearing those words. Never before had they longed to become beast tamers more than now.


    The gnome-like creature let out a soft, melodic hum, its glowing orb pulsing gently. It seemed to radiate a sense of calm and reassurance, its presence instantly putting everyone in the room at ease.


    "It''s adorable," Jasmine said, her voice barely above a whisper. The twins nodded in agreement, their eyes wide with amazement. sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the director bonded with his new companion, Kain began the next step of the coverup.


    Although Kain didn''t know if any creature like this was possible to be a mark awoken within the Southern tribes, he still had to continue the plan of concealing all of the individuals he helps as having awoken some kind of dormant southern blood.


    After the contract was formed, similar to Ferrin, the previously intricate array had transformed into a white faded scar that resembled the silhouette of the gnome-like creature.


    Kain changed the ink in the ''pen'' he''d used to tattoo the array to a green one to match the contract''s dominant attribute. The ink was made from a special material meant to be indistinguishable from the ''innate bloodline markings'' that the tribespeople would awaken. And using that ink he began to fill in the white silhouette until it was no different from a natural tattoo.


    After Kain finished, the director stood, his posture more confident than before, and


    turned to the younger siblings watching from the side while holding his new contract. "What you''ve seen today is a should reassure you that thanks to your brother no matter what happens in the future, you can gain the strength to protect yourselves. But remember, this secret must stay with us. The world isn''t ready for this kind of power."


    The siblings nodded, their expressions serious. If anyone knew what Kain was capable of while Kain wasn''t yet able to fully protect himself it may spell his doom. The Empire may even move to eliminate him if they couldn''t control him out of fear of him creating an army of his own outside of their control.

 Chapter 465 A Major Decision

    Kain sat across from Gabriel, the young boy''s expression a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. Serena was beside him, her sharp eyes focused on Kain as he finished explaining the unique features of forming a contract through the summoning array. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The room was quiet, save for the soft hum of the lights that lined the walls of the laboratory that had become Gabriel''s temporary home (and prison).


    "��And that''s what happened," Kain concluded, his voice calm but earnest. "The creatures we summon using this method have a natural resistance to abyssal energy. But there are cons, too��so far, as far as we know, those that become beast-tamers in this manner can only form one contract. Therefore, if you are dissatisfied with whatever creature you get, too bad. It can only remain your one and only partner."


    Serena leaned forward, her expression thoughtful. "The resistance to abyssal energy is fascinating. If these creatures can truly resist corruption, it could be a huge advantage." She turned to Gabriel with an almost teacher-like disposition. "You''ve never faced abyssal creatures or the corrupted, Gabriel. Therefore, you have no idea how horrifying their corruptive abilities are. Being immune to such corruption was a huge boon. But Gabriel, this is your decision. You need to think about what you want."


    Gabriel looked down, his brow furrowed in thought. Kain could see the weight of the decision pressing on the young boy''s shoulders. It wasn''t an easy choice��Gabriel still had a chance to awaken an affinity naturally, and becoming a beast-tamer through the summoning array would mean giving up that possibility.


    "I thought we decided to just wait?" Gabriel asked finally, his voice small but steady. "If I try to awaken an affinity and it doesn''t work�� can''t I still do this later?"


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    Kain nodded. "You can. The procedure will always be an option for you. Waiting is definitely an option. However, with the current chaotic times, there is no telling what could happen tomorrow, and none of us can guarantee that you will live long enough to undergo the awakening ceremony. The world is changing quickly, Gabriel. Wars are brewing, and chaos is spreading. We have to be realistic about our survival. I know only having one contract wasn''t the future that you imagined, but�� "


    Gabriel''s eyes flicked to Serena, seeking reassurance. She gave him a small, encouraging smile. "Whatever you choose, Gabriel, we''ll support you."


    The room fell silent as Gabriel considered his options. Kain could see the conflict in the boy''s eyes��the desire to follow a traditional path, to have the same opportunities as everyone else, warring with the fear of failure and the allure of getting a massive head start over his peers in becoming a beast-tamer.


    Finally, Gabriel looked up, his expression resolute. "I�� I want to form a contract," he said, his voice firm despite its softness. "Ideally I could wait to try to awaken an affinity��and if it doesn''t work, then I''ll do the procedure. But, as you said the current state of things is more dangerous, and I want my freedom back. None of my parents or other relatives had been beast-tamers anyway, so the likelihood of awakening an affinity, even after all the experiments those people did on me, probably isn''t too high."


    Kain nodded, a little relieved at Gabriel''s words. Although he loved having Gabriel around, he was forced to essentially share his personal lab space with Gabriel''s living quarters since he couldn''t leave. However, it was Gabriel''s life and he couldn''t enforce such a huge decision on his behalf. But thankfully, Gabriel''s thoughts were in alignment with his. "That''s a brave decision, Gabriel. And whatever happens, we''ll be here for you."


    Serena nodded in agreement. "I have a feeling you''ll do just fine."


    Gabriel smiled, the tension in his shoulders easing. "Thanks, Serena. And thank you, Kain. For doing all of this so that I even have the option."


    This groundbreaking ability to awaken non-beast tamers had been developed by the two as they combed through dense sheets of paper stolen from that secret organization. Although others such as Ferrin have benefitted from the discovery, it had been developed to help Gabriel. Gabriel was not ignorant of all the efforts Kain and Serena had put in for him.


    Kain reached out, ruffling Gabriel''s hair affectionately. "You''re family now, Gabriel. We''ll always make sure you have options."


    --------------


    The touching moment didn''t last long. Once they decided to go ahead with the procedure, they didn''t waste any more time.


    Gabriel shooed away Kain, insisting that Serena must be the one to tattoo the array on him.


    Gabriel chose to have his tattooed on the center of his back, that way it won''t be easily discovered.


    After all, Gabriel wasn''t like the director or Ferrin who could play off themselves as following a different cultivation system due to their bloodline. Gabriel, no matter what nation and method of cultivation used, was far too young to become a beast tamer.


    By his age, no child typically even has their star space fully saturated with spiritual power, much less taken the step to condense their first stars.


    Even among the Southern tribes, people usually only awaken the bloodline markings after the age of 18.


    Serena, who awakened independently less than a year before her peers, was already a massive topic throughout the Empire.


    But Gabriel, who wasn''t even a teenager yet? If word got out, it would send shockwaves through every major power. They''d tear apart his past, search for every possible clue, and draw all the wrong conclusions. Nobody would believe there wasn''t some major secret in him and want to investigate.


    Worse still, if that organization believes that he was able to awaken due to their experiments on him, not only will they try to take him back, but they''ll ramp up their efforts. Kidnappings, forced experiments, breaking more children just to replicate whatever they think worked on Gabriel. After all, Gabriel may give them the false belief that they are on the correct path.


    Therefore, even though Gabriel will have technically become a beast-tamer before the age of 13, he could absolutely never reveal that fact to anyone.

 Chapter 466 Freedom from Servitude

    The process began as it had with Ferrin and the director. Serena''s hands moved with practiced precision, etching the intricate array onto Gabriel''s back. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire


    The faint glow of the spiritual energy infused into the lines illuminated the room, casting a soft, otherworldly light. Gabriel didn''t even react as the needle touched his skin, Kain had put the anesthetic made from spiritual plants on his skin beforehand but he knew it wasn''t too strong, yet he was handling it even better than the tough orphanage director, his determination unwavering.


    However, rather than being happy, Kain and Serena just felt pity, knowing that his pain tolerance must have been increased to a ridiculously high level due to suffering through all kinds of torturous experiments in the past.


    Once the array was complete, Kain instructed Gabriel to focus his spiritual power and direct it toward the array.


    The boy closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration. Unlike Ferrin and the director, Gabriel''s spiritual power was denser, and easier to be manipulated��possibly a result of the unknown object implanted into him that had fused with his star space.


    The array flared to life almost immediately, its light intensifying as Gabriel''s soul fragment entered Kain''s star space.


    ----------------


    Inside Pangea, Gabriel''s soul fragment moved with purpose, its energy far more stable than Ferrin''s or the director''s had been.


    Kain watched via an almost godlike perspective, his curiosity piqued by the fragment''s behaviour. It didn''t wander aimlessly like the others had; instead, it seemed to be searching for something specific, its movements deliberate and confident.


    The fragment soared over lush forests and shimmering rivers, passing by countless spiritual creatures. Some were majestic, their forms radiating immense power. Others were strange and otherworldly, their appearances not resembling anything on earth.


    But Gabriel''s fragment paid them little mind, its gaze fixed on something in the distance.


    Kain''s attention sharpened as the fragment approached a region of Pangea he rarely visited��a sprawling, golden valley bathed in perpetual sunlight.


    At its center stood Aurem, the golden dragon, his massive form coiled around a towering golden mountain inlaid with glittering gemstones.


    Around the golden dragon was a small army of powerful spiritual creatures that moved with quiet efficiency, their heads bowed in deference to Aurem as they acted as servants.


    The scene was both awe-inspiring and comical. Aurem lounged lazily on his mountain of gold, his golden eyes half-closed as he issued orders to his servants who would have been the absolute overlords of an area on Earth.


    The azure dragon, a creature of immense power and pride, was busy polishing Aurem''s scales with a cloth made of woven moonlight and mist.


    A massive white tiger, its fur gleaming like freshly fallen snow, was fanning the golden dragon with a giant leaf held in its mouth.


    A fiery bird resembling a vermillion or phoenix, was roasting what appeared to be a massive fruit over a flame it conjured from thin air.


    And a black tortoise, its shell adorned with intricate carvings and had a snake head for its tail, was using said snake tail to pour a strange glowing liquid into a golden cup held delicately in Aurem''s claws.


    Kain couldn''t help but chuckle at the sight. These creatures, each of whom could dominate entire regions on Earth, were reduced to menial tasks in Aurem''s ''court.'' The golden dragon was clearly enjoying his role as the undisputed ruler of Pangea.


    Gabriel''s soul fragment hovered near the edge of this valley, unnoticed by most of the creatures. But as it drifted closer, the azure dragon suddenly raised its head, its sharp eyes narrowing as it scanned the area. It let out a low growl, its nostrils flaring as it tried to pinpoint the source of the strange energy.


    Aurem gave an angry huff, displeased that his servant had suddenly stopped polishing his scales and was even growling. Was this a coup?!


    Suddenly feeling the pressure bearing down on his, the azure dragon quickly ignored the strange sensation and lowered his head in deference, getting back to work.


    The azure dragon returned to its task, though its eyes continued to dart around suspiciously. Gabriel''s fragment, emboldened by its invisibility, drifted closer to the scene.


    It hovered near the vermillion bird, which was too focused on roasting the fruit to notice, and then it moved to the white tiger, who was too busy fanning Aurem to care.


    Finally, the fragment approached the black tortoise. The creature''s snake-like tail paused mid-pour, its head tilting as it sensed the fragment''s presence. Its eyes, sharp and intelligent, locked onto the fragment, and for a moment, the two seemed to communicate without words.


    --------------------


    Unlike usual, where the soul fragment would immediately just form a contract, potentially because the status or power of this black tortoise was too high, the fragment seemed to need its permission to form a contract.


    The black tortoise''s gaze softened, and it gave a barely perceptible nod. The fragment, in turn, seemed to pulse with happiness. Kain watched in amazement as the two reached an unspoken agreement. The tortoise''s form began to shimmer, its energy merging with the fragment before both disappeared from Pangea.


    Back in the laboratory, the array on Gabriel''s back flared brightly, its light filling the room. Kain and Serena shielded their eyes as the energy surged, and when the light faded the previously large circular array changed into the white silhouette of snake-tailed tortoise that looked like an oddly shaped faded scar. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    -----------------------


    Back in Pangea, Aurem raised his head, his golden eyes narrowing as he noticed the absence of his tea-pouring servant and let out a roar of irritation while the remaining servants exchanged nervous glances.


    Aurem huffed loudly and then pointed a claw at the vermillion bird, who was still roasting the fruit, letting it know that it would now be responsible for pouring its drinks and preparing its food. The majestic bird didn''t dare to resist


    As the vermillion bird reluctantly took up the tortoise''s duties, Aurem couldn''t help thinking: ''Honestly, can''t a dragon get decent service around here?''

 Chapter 467 A New Lease on Life

    The room was silent as Gabriel''s new contract materialized before them.


    The black tortoise, now significantly smaller than its original house-sized form, only reached Gabriel''s knees.


    Aside from its size, there were other changes to its appearance.


    Its shell, once adorned with intricate carvings that glowed faintly, now bore simpler patterns, though they still shimmered with a faint light.


    The creature''s eyes, originally sharp and intelligent, now held a childlike innocence, reflecting that along with its size and strength, its intelligence had also likely regressed.


    The once imposing aura it radiated had also diminished, replaced by something gentler, almost comforting. It was as if the creature itself had been reborn, starting anew alongside its new master.


    Gabriel knelt down, his eyes wide with wonder as he reached out to touch the tortoise''s shell and felt the new intangible connection to the creature like a suddenly appearing fifth limb. "It''s�� amazing," he whispered, his voice filled with awe.


    Kain activated his System, pulling up the creature''s profile. Knowing its identity as one of the strongest creatures on Pangea created by Aurem. And seeing its resemblance to the mythical Black Tortoise Xuanwu that Kain had read about in his past-life, Kain was mentally prepared for the specialness of the creature.


    --------------------


    Nickname: Unnamed


    Species: Black Tortoise Guardian (Sealed)


    A juvenile version of one of the guardians of Pangea created by the Golden Dragon Overlord, Aurem. The Black Tortoise embodies the essences of protection and wisdom. As one of the four guardians, its unique birth also gave birth to the season Winter on Pangea. Despite its diminished state, the Black Tortoise retains a fraction of its former power, its abilities focused on defense and support.


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    Type: Guardian Spirit


    Attributes: Earth, Water


    Skills:


    *Note: Due to the Black Tortoise''s diminished state, several of its higher-level skills are currently locked.*


    X-Celestial Fortress: Sealed


    X-Dark Tide: Sealed


    X-Serpent''s Dominion: Sealed


    X-World Shell: Sealed


    .


    .


    .


    S-Earthen Barrier: The Black Tortoise summons a protective barrier of earth and stone, shielding its bonded partner and nearby allies from harm. The barrier absorbs incoming attacks and gradually heals those within its radius. This skill is particularly effective against physical attacks.


    A-Aquatic Veil: The Black Tortoise creates a veil of water that obscures its bonded partner and nearby allies from enemy detection. This skill enhances stealth and provides a temporary boost to evasion.


    B-Serpent''s Gaze: The snake-headed tail of the Black Tortoise can unleash a paralyzing gaze, temporarily immobilizing a single target. This skill is useful for creating openings in battle or escaping dangerous situations.


    C-Guiding Current: The Black Tortoise can slightly alter the current of large bodies of water and also control aquatic creatures in the water weaker than itself.


    --------------------


    Previously Kain had always thought that it was impossible for the strongest creatures on Pangea to form contracts. After all, all those undergoing this procedure did not awaken an affinity and still have white-grade spiritual power��therefore the strengths of the creatures they could contract were limited.


    However, this automatic sealed state that they seemed to enter if too powerful, completely overturned that assumption.


    Gabriel''s eyes sparkled Kain shared with him what he knew about the Black Tortoise, and its high potential. "It''s perfect," he said, his voice filled with excitement.


    The Black Tortoise let out a soft, melodic hum, its snake-headed tail swaying gently. It seemed to radiate a sense of calm and reassurance, its presence instantly putting everyone in the room at ease.


    Serena smiled at Gabriel, but her expression was thoughtful as she gazed at Kain with some suspicion. Although she wasn''t sure about the identity of the ''hidden realm'' that this array leads to, she could sense that it had some kind of connection with Kain. Especially since he seemed to instinctively have a lot of information about spiritual creatures that had never been spotted in their world before. But since he didn''t want to explain, she didn''t bother to ask. "It''s a powerful creature, even in its diminished state. With time and training, it could become an invaluable ally."


    Kain nodded, a sense of pride swelling in his chest. After all, as a planet exclusively accessed through him, the higher the potential of Pangea''s residents, the better it was for him.


    ----------------------


    After forming a contract and officially being able to cultivate, it took only a couple of weeks for Gabriel to cultivate and strengthen his body to a level that could withstand the massive amount of spiritual power he had, and was able to leave the array around the lab that suppressed his spiritual power.


    It also helped that as a tortoise��who Gabriel chose to name Xuanwu after the story of the mythical tortoise Kain told him about��the feedback from it also seemed focused on strengthening him physically.


    Life settled into a rhythm. Kain visited his family every few days, enjoying the rare moments of peace and normalcy. The mansion on the outskirts of Dark Moon City had become a sanctuary, a place where his siblings could thrive away from the dangers of the world. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire


    Gabriel had moved in with them, and the change in the boy was remarkable.


    At first, he had been hesitant, unsure of how to interact with the other children. He had spent so much time isolated: he was an orphan provided for by an uncle in a far off city and only having a caregiver paid to look after him but didn''t care for him; then he was trapped in a laboratory by a mysterious organization and experimented on; and then things started to lok up when rescued but he was still confined to Kain''s workspace. Therefore, socializing felt unfamiliar to Gabriel. But Cherry refused to let him stay withdrawn.


    Cherry, with her vibrant and mischievous personality, had taken Gabriel under her wing, pulling him out of his shell and helping him embrace his new life. She dragged him into every game, forcing him to join in races across the courtyard, sparring matches with wooden swords, and even the occasional prank against the older kids.


    Despite his initial reluctance, Gabriel found himself enjoying the chaos and the other children accepted him easily, treating him like just another kid rather than a pitiful victim or freak.


    Slowly, Gabriel began to laugh more, his guarded expressions softening as he adjusted to a life where he didn''t have to constantly look over his shoulder.

 Chapter 468 A Noblemans Perilous Prestige

    Kain sat in his private lab, the soft hum of spiritual plants filling the air as he reviewed the data from Gabriel''s procedure.


    The success of Ferrin, the director, and now Gabriel had solidified his belief in the potential of his unique method of creating beast-tamers.


    The creatures of Pangea had decent potential and they had increased resistance to the abyss. He wasn''t content to stop at Ferrin, the director and Gabriel. If he wanted to protect himself, his family, and those he cared about, he needed more than just a handful of allies. He needed a powerful organization full of talents��a network of individuals who were not only strong but utterly devoted to him. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The thought lingered in his mind as he leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. If I''m strong enough��if I have enough powerful subordinates��then I''ll have nothing to fear.


    Not the Abyss. Not even the Order if they do decide to try and exploit him and his contracts against his will.


    But the challenge was finding the right people. The amount of energy used by Pangea to purify corruption was limited and regenerated at a slow rate, and the secret had to remain closely guarded. He couldn''t afford to recruit just anyone. He needed individuals who were competent, loyal, and had a reason to be fiercely dedicated to him.


    Based on his current calculations, Kain determined that Pangea could currently purify around 17 more individuals at the same time if all infected, for a total of 20, without affecting the lives on the planet.


    However, as his strength increased, he knew that this number could increase drastically.


    Kain''s thoughts turned to some the criteria he planned to use when recruiting. Above all the requirements for their personality were above all else. Regardless of how talented they were, they were useless if they were not loyal to him.


    Additionally, people who were desperate, for whatever reason, to become beast-tamers should be prioritized, rather than just people that were already content with their lives and becoming a beast-tamer would just be a cherry on top of their already decent lives. These were the kind of people who would value the opportunity he offered and remain loyal out of gratitude and necessity. But finding them wouldn''t be easy. He couldn''t just walk up to strangers and ask if they wanted to become beast-tamers and how badly they wanted it.


    This whole plan would take time and couldn''t be rushed.


    For now, Kain decided to focus on his immediate responsibilities.


    The re-ranking at Dark Moon College had been canceled due to the ongoing chaos in the Empire, so he remained in the top five. This gave him access to valuable resources and privileges, but it also meant he had to maintain his performance. He threw himself back into his studies, having fallen behind in several classes, and focused on balancing his academic responsibilities with his work as an evolutionary planner. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Since he discovered the new evolutionary forms for the Silkworm pathway, his reputation continued to grow, and he found himself taking on even more high-profile clients. Although exhausted, he knew the benefits of expanding his network, especially if he wanted to build his own organization��it also helped that the compensation they provided to him for relatively menial tasks was ridiculously high��


    ---------------------------


    Kain sat in the opulent sitting room of Lord Alaric Veylen, a nobleman whose family had once been among the most influential in Dark Moon City.


    The Veylen family had a long and prestigious history, their ancestors having played a key role in the city''s founding centuries ago and had even held important positions in Dark Moon College long ago.


    They had once boasted several high-level beast-tamers, including an 8-star beast-tamer at their prime. But those days were long gone. The family had fallen into decline, their power waning with each generation. Now, the strongest among them was Lord Alaric himself, a 5-star beast-tamer whose skills and affinity were mediocre at best.


    The room itself was a testament to the family''s faded glory. The walls were adorned with gaudy tapestries depicting the Veylen family''s past triumphs, their colors faded and threads frayed.


    Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, their light reflecting off the gold-leafed furniture and marble floors. The decor was ostentatious, a desperate attempt to cling to the grandeur of a long-gone era. Kain couldn''t help but feel a pang of pity for the man sitting across from him. The decline of their family seemed irreversible, and yet he used all kinds of methods to seemingly try and show others that they had not declined��such as hiring Kain at a ridiculously high price.


    Lord Alaric Veylen was a large man, his rotund frame barely contained by the finely tailored suit he wore. His face was round and flushed, his jowls quivering slightly as he spoke��which he did a lot of: about his family, about himself, about Kain��


    His thinning hair was slicked back with an excessive amount of oil, and his fingers were adorned with rings that sparkled with gemstones of every color. Despite his unattractive appearance, there was a certain charm to his demeanor��a mix of arrogance and flattery that made it hard to dislike him entirely.


    "Ah, Kain, my boy!" Lord Alaric boomed, his voice echoing through the room. "It''s an honor to have you here. Truly, an honor. I''ve heard so much about your work. You''re quite the prodigy, aren''t you?"


    Kain smiled politely, though he couldn''t help but feel a little uncomfortable under the man''s intense gaze. "Thank you, Lord Veylen. I''m just doing my best to help the Empire where I can."


    "Modest too!" Lord Alaric laughed, his belly jiggling with the effort. "A rare quality in someone so talented. But enough flattery��let''s get down to business, shall we?"


    Kain nodded, pulling out a notebook and pen. "Of course. You mentioned you wanted me to optimize the evolutionary plan for your spiritual creature. I have the plan right here��"


    The task this time was a relatively simple request.


    Honestly, any professional beast-tamer could have probably completed the task, but the man was insistent on Kain and offered several times the market price to get him.


    Kain wasn''t sure if he just wanted to meet the young and famous evolutionary planner, or if as a prideful nobleman he insisted on having ''the best'' for even the most simple of tasks. But Kain wasn''t complaining��It took him less than an hour to earn the amount of completing 10 similar requests.


    Quickly leaving the manor and shaking off Lord Alaric''s desperate attempts to keep him, Kain left the manor and stepped out into the bustling streets of Dark Moon City, however, he felt an odd sensation��a prickling at the back of his neck, as if he were being watched.


    Kain paused, his senses sharpening as he scanned the area. The street was crowded, filled with merchants, students, and beast-tamers going about their day. But amidst the chaos, he couldn''t shake the feeling that someone was watching him with hostile intent. His gaze swept over the crowd, searching for anything out of the ordinary, but he saw nothing.


    Still, the sensation lingered. Kain''s instincts told him to be cautious.


    He activated Threads of Destiny, his spiritual skill allowing him to sense the faint traces of energy around him. As Kain''s proficiency in the skill grew, he picked up more details from the threads. There was something unusual��a flicker of resentment, a spark of anger��but it was too faint to pinpoint.


    Intrigued, Kain decided to investigate. He moved through the crowd, his movements casual but deliberate, as he tried to trace the source of the hostile gaze. Whoever it was, they were skilled at staying hidden. But Kain wasn''t one to give up easily.

 Chapter 469 The Stalker

    Kain''s first attempt to draw out the owner of the hostile gaze was subtle.


    He wandered through the bustling streets of Dark Moon City, his movements seemingly casual, pausing every so often to browse through shops or watch street performers��but he was always on guard against his surroundings.


    He stopped at a market stall selling exotic fruits, running his fingers over the vibrant produce, pretending to consider a purchase while subtly adjusting his angle to scan the street behind him.


    The prickling sensation at the back of his neck persisted, but the source remained elusive. Whoever was watching him was skilled and constantly remained within the busiest areas. As a result, Kain couldn''t easily place who was following him. Even with his heightened awareness and trained instincts, there were too many moving figures and too many distractions.


    Moreover, although Bea had recovered, she still wasn''t fully back to her original strength and couldn''t help him with this. But even if she was fully recovered the help she could provide would be limited. After all, in one of the most powerful cities of the Empire, and one of the more densely populated cities for beast-tamers, Kain didn''t have confidence in controlling a large proportion of the crowd undetected. And if he was detected it''s likely be construed as a terrorist attack and even his current status likely wouldn''t be enough for him to escape harsh punishment.


    Therefore, Kain was forced to use only the most mundane of methods to draw out his stalker.


    Next, Kain decided to visit a popular teahouse, a place frequented by students and low-level beast-tamers. He took his time selecting a table, choosing one with a clear vantage point of both the entrance and the busiest walkways. He took a seat by the window, sipping on a cup of fragrant tea while keeping an eye on the entrance. The hostile gaze seemed to intensify, but still, he saw no one suspicious. Frustrated but undeterred, Kain finished his drink and pastry, and then left the teahouse and made his way to the city''s central plaza, where street performers entertained crowds with dazzling displays of spiritual energy.


    As he watched someone that seemed to have awakened a gift related to fire conjure flames into the shape of a dragon, Kain felt the hostile gaze again, stronger this time. He turned sharply, scanning the crowd, but once more, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. The person was like a shadow, always just out of reach.


    Determined to draw out his stalker, Kain decided to revisit Lord Alaric Veylen''s manor the next day. After all, the source of his hostility was likely related to the nobleman, and so getting the stalker more agitated and angry may make them slip up. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain arrived unannounced, much to Lord Alaric''s delight.


    "Kain, my boy!" Lord Alaric exclaimed, his jowls quivering with excitement. "What a pleasant surprise! To what do I owe the honor of your return?"


    Kain smiled politely. "I realized I forgot to discuss a few details about your contracts evolutionary plan. I thought it would be best to address them in person."


    Lord Alaric''s eyes lit up, and he ushered Kain inside with a flourish. "Of course, of course! Anything for my esteemed guest. Come, let''s have some tea while we talk." S��arch* The Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As they sat in the gaudy sitting room, Lord Alaric once again launched into a lengthy monologue about his family''s history, their contributions to the city, and their once-glorious status.


    Kain nodded along, feigning interest while keeping his senses attuned to the outside of the mansion. He also had some of the Vespid guards hiding in discrete locations, watching from the rooftops and alleyways, their eyes tracking every movement outside the manor.


    When Kain finally left, he made sure to pull out a small wooden box from his coat, letting the sunlight catch the polished surface before tucking it away as if it contained something valuable. He made no attempt to conceal the gesture��it was meant to be seen.


    When Kain finally left, the hostility was palpable. He could feel the weight of the gaze pressing down on him, more intense than before. It was as if his stalker was growing bolder��or more desperate.


    Kain had to admit that he was having quite a lot of fun. One would think that having a hostile, undetectable presence following him would be a nerve-wracking experience. However, through the Threads of Destiny, Kain could vaguely sense that there were no threats to his life and the owner of the gaze was even much weaker than him.


    Unfortunately, whoever was stalking him always remained outside the limits of the spiritual skill and may even possess profound methods of combatting methods of counter-tracking, and the appearance of the threads would get fuzzy and less distinguishable the further they moved away from Kain. Even with the skill''s growing proficiency, there were too many uncertainties. He needed the target to come much closer.


    Kain''s next move was to set a trap. After leaving the manor, he made his way to a secluded park on the outskirts of the city, a place where the streets were quieter and the crowds thinner. As he walked along a tree-lined path, he activated Threads of Destiny, weaving a subtle web of spiritual energy around him. The skill allowed him to sense the faintest traces of movement and intent, and he used it to create an invisible net that would alert him the moment his stalker stepped into it.


    To further lower their guard, Kain sat on a bench beneath a large oak tree, flipping open a book. He allowed his head to droop slightly, his posture relaxing just enough to make it seem like he was dozing off. The small wooden box he''d created as bait, now placed beside him on the bench, was positioned just carelessly enough to tempt a closer look.


    The minutes ticked by, and just as Kain began to wonder if his plan to provoke the opponent''s emotions had failed, he felt it��a faint ripple in the web of energy he had created. Someone was approaching, their movements cautious but deliberate.


    Kain remained still, his breathing slow and even, mimicking the shallow rhythm of sleep as he waited for the right moment. The hostile gaze was almost overwhelming now, and he could feel the person''s presence drawing closer. Finally, when they were just a few feet away, Kain sprang into action.


    Now that a single target had been identified and lured away from the dense crowds, Bea could display the full extent of her abilities. Though still weakened, she could manage this much��capturing one ordinary person was nothing compared to controlling and reading the thoughts of dozens in a chaotic crowd.


    After Kain conveyed that there was an ''unwelcome guest'' lurking in the bushes to his left, dozens of barely visible threads extended from her and disappeared into the foliage.


    After a brief rustling where it seemed as though the target was attempting to avoid or resist the attack, the surroundings returned to quiet.


    Kain immediately let out a smirk after receiving the confirmation of control from Bea.


    "Gotcha."

 Chapter 470 A Vow of Vengeance

    Kain had Bea control the stalker and bring him to a secluded area of the park, far from the walking paths and surrounded by thick vegetation. It was an ideal location��no one would see or hear them here.


    When Kain arrived, he finally got a good look at the man who had been tailing him.


    At Kain''s silent command, Bea gradually released her influence. The man staggered back, blinking rapidly, his breath coming in shallow gasps as he regained awareness.


    His expression immediately hardened.


    The man was in his late twenties, with a muscular build that spoke of years of physical training. A faint scar ran from his left temple to his jawline, giving his rugged features an even sharper edge. His clothes were simple but well-worn��the kind favoured by mercenaries or labourers who valued practicality over style.


    Yet, despite his imposing physique, there was no trace of spiritual power in him.


    Kain frowned slightly. An ordinary man. And yet, this ordinary man had managed to evade him for hours��possibly days. Even some trained beast-tamers would have struggled to keep their presence hidden from him and his contracts.


    That meant he was either highly skilled in tracking and counter-tracking or had help.


    The man''s eyes darted around the clearing, taking in the dense walls of trees and the man-sized giant wasps hovering in every direction to prevent his escape.


    His breathing was ragged, his hands clenched into fists as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. One moment, he had been following his target and the next, he was here, standing face-to-face with the very person he had been stalking.


    "What did you do��why did you suddenly��?" the man demanded, his voice low and tense. There was a flicker of fear in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by defiance.


    Kain crossed his arms, his expression calm but firm. "I could ask you something similar. You''ve been following me for days. Why?"


    The man hesitated, his jaw tightening as he weighed his options. He glanced at Kain, then at the dozens of spiritual creatures encircling him, as if considering whether to make a run for it��after all, how strong could those bugs be? Even though he was an ordinary person, he''d killed spiritual creatures before.


    And this kid? He was young. Probably no stronger than a 2-star beast-tamer.


    But something in Kain''s demeanour��the quiet confidence, the unyielding gaze��made him think twice.


    "I don''t owe you an explanation," the man said finally, his voice tinged with bitterness. "You''re just another beast-tamer, another cruel human who believes that just because they had a little luck to awaken an affinity they can control the lives and deaths of us ordinary people!"


    Kain raised an eyebrow, his tone measured. "I don''t have the patience to philosophize the unfairness of the world with you, I only want my questions answered. So let''s try this again. Why were you following me?"


    The man''s eyes narrowed, and for a moment, it seemed like he might refuse to answer. But then he let out a frustrated sigh, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine. You want to know why I was following you? It''s because of him. That bastard Alaric."


    Kain''s expression didn''t change, but inwardly, he was intrigued. He had sensed the man''s hostility toward Lord Alaric when Bea had briefly taken control of his mind, but he wanted to hear the story from the man himself. "What about Lord Alaric?"


    The man''s face darkened, his hands trembling with suppressed anger. "That greedy, arrogant bastard�� he''s the reason my family is dead."


    Kain remained silent, giving the man space to continue. The clearing was quiet, the only sound was the rustle of wind through the leaves and the man''s heavy breathing.


    "It was fifteen years ago," the man began, his voice low and filled with pain. "I was just a kid, barely thirteen. My family lived in a small house on the outskirts of the city. We weren''t rich, but we were happy. My older sister�� she was beautiful. Kind, smart, full of life. Everyone loved her."


    His fists clenched. "Then he saw her." Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He paused, his eyes distant as he relived the memory. "One day, she went to the core of the city to run an errand and came across Lord Alaric. He saw my sister and immediately decided he wanted her��not as a wife, not as a partner, but as a trophy. He offered my parents money, land, and anything they wanted in exchange for her. But they refused. They loved her too much to sell her off like some piece of property."


    The man''s voice grew harsher, his fists clenching so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "But Lord Alaric didn''t take no for an answer. He came back with his guards, demanding that my sister be handed over. When my parents still refused, he�� he had them killed. Right in front of her."


    Kain''s expression softened, a flicker of sympathy in his eyes. He could see the pain etched into the man''s face, the raw emotion that had been festering for years.


    "My sister�� she couldn''t take it," the man continued, his voice breaking. "She killed herself that night, rather than let that monster take her. And Lord Alaric�� he didn''t stop there. He ordered his men to burn our home to the ground. Everyone related to us��my other siblings, my neighbours, and nearby friends��they were all slaughtered. I only survived because I had gone to the butcher to try and bargain for some of his nicer cuts of meat. When I came back�� there was nothing left."


    The man''s eyes were filled with tears now, but his voice was steady, fueled by a lifetime of anger and grief. "I''ve spent the last fifteen years planning my revenge. I''ve trained, I''ve studied, I''ve done everything I can to get close to him. Even if he''s a 5-star beast-tamer, and I''m just an ordinary man��I will use my life to drag him to the grave with me!"


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    Kain studied the man for a long moment, his mind racing.


    "What''s your name?" Kain asked finally.


    The man hesitated, then said, "Darius."


    "Darius," Kain repeated, his tone thoughtful. "You''ve been carrying this burden for a long time. But throwing your life away won''t change the past."


    Darius''s eyes flashed with anger. "What would you know about it? You''re a beast-tamer, one of them. You don''t understand what it''s like to be powerless, to watch the people you love be taken from you."


    Kain''s expression hardened his voice firm. "You''re wrong. I''ve lost people too. And I know what it''s like to feel powerless." Kain recalled the horrible car accident caused by a drunk driver that killed his entire family in his past life. "But I also know that revenge alone won''t give you peace. It won''t make you whole," Kain continued. "You''ve spent fifteen years preparing to die for this. What if I told you there was another way?"


    Darius eyed him warily. "What kind of way?"


    Kain took a step closer. "You''re skilled. You managed to evade me for days, and that''s not something just anyone can do. You have talent. If you work with me, I can give you the power you need to take down Alaric. And not just him. Anyone who preys on the weak."


    Darius''s breath hitched. Hope flickered in his gaze before suspicion took over. "Impossible. I don''t have an affinity."


    Kain smirked. "That''s not a problem."


    Darius stared at him, then scoffed. "And what''s the catch?"


    "Loyalty," Kain said simply. "Absolute loyalty."


    Darius stiffened. "Loyalty to what?"


    "To me," Kain said. "I don''t do charity. If I give you power, I expect you to use it wisely. No reckless vengeance. No wasted sacrifices."


    Darius hesitated. And then��finally��he nodded. "Alright. But only on one condition."


    "What''s that?"


    Darius met his gaze, his voice unwavering. "That loyalty only holds as long as it leads to taking down that bastard Alaric."


    Kain''s smirk widened. He extended a hand.


    "Deal."

 Chapter 471 Sealing the Deal

    Kain and Darius exchanged contact information, the tension between them easing slightly as they solidified their agreement. Darius was still wary, but the glimmer of hope in his eyes was unmistakable.


    Kain, on the other hand, was already thinking ahead. He had a new ally, one who seems quite capable and may even be able to take on the responsibility of helping Kain form this group loyal to him.


    But he also had a problem: where to base his growing network of secret subordinates.


    His home was out of the question��his family''s safety was paramount, and he couldn''t risk exposing them to the dangers of his secretive activities.


    His business office was equally unsuitable; it was too public, too visible. He needed a place that was discreet, secure, and unassuming.


    After a quick search, Kain found what he was looking for: a three-story building in a less populated area of the city was available. Since the area of the city didn''t have much foot-traffic, it appears as though most of the prior tenants didn''t renew the lease and chose to move to the core of the city.


    The exterior was plain, almost forgettable, blending seamlessly with the surrounding structures. It was the kind of place no one would look twice at, which made it perfect for Kain''s needs. He rented the entire building without hesitation, paying in cash to avoid leaving a paper trail and also signed the paperwork under a false identity.


    ''Making some less savoury connections as a planner has definitely come in handy��'' Kain thought while looking at the thick stack of official-looking documents that had his face on them but a completely different name.


    The interior of the building was spacious, with enough room for meetings, training, and even storage for any equipment or resources he might need. It wasn''t luxurious, but it was functional, and that was all Kain cared about.


    Over the next few days, Kain set up the building to suit his needs. He installed advanced security measures��locks, alarms, traps, surveillance and more. However, all of these measures were undetectable visually and the building looked as unsecure as it did previously. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to the place.


    Once everything was in order, he sent a message to Darius, instructing him to meet at the new location.


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    Darius arrived at the building later that evening, his expression a mix of curiosity and apprehension. He hesitated at the door, glancing around as if expecting a trap. sea??h th�� N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain, watching from a window on the second floor, smirked. He had expected as much. Darius was a cautious man, and rightly so. Kain had no intention of betraying him, but he understood the need for caution.


    "Come in," Kain called out, his voice echoing through the empty building. "We have a lot to discuss."


    Darius stepped inside, his eyes scanning the room. The interior was sparse, with only a few chairs and a table set up in the center. Kain stood by the table, a stack of papers in front of him. Darius approached slowly, his guard still up.


    "What''s all this?" Darius asked, gesturing to the papers.


    "A contract," Kain replied, sliding the stack toward him. "Before we proceed, there are a few things we need to agree on."


    Darius picked up the top sheet, his eyes narrowing as he read through the clauses. The contract was detailed, outlining terms of secrecy, loyalty, and the conditions under which Kain would grant Darius the power to become a beast-tamer. There were also strict prohibitions against revealing the details of the procedure to anyone, as well as a clause requiring Darius to follow Kain''s orders without question.


    Kain, as an ordinary person, couldn''t feel anything special in the contract. However, as a beast-tamer, Kain could feel the strong pulse of spiritual power the paper emitted. Once Darius signed the contract, he wouldn''t be able to break it unless he was willing to forfeit his life.


    "This is�� thorough," Darius said, his tone wary. "You''re asking for a lot of trust."


    "And I''m offering a lot in return," Kain countered. "You want power? This is how you get it. I''m not running a charity. I need to know you''re committed. I can''t have you running off like a reckless idiot, risking everything I''m building."


    Darius hesitated, his eyes flicking back to the contract. He read through it again, more slowly this time, weighing each clause carefully. Finally, he looked up at Kain. "And if I refuse?"


    Kain shrugged. "Then we part ways. You go back to your life, and I go back to mine. But you''ll never get another chance like this."


    Darius''s jaw tightened. He knew Kain was right. This was his best��and possibly only��shot at gaining the power he needed to take down Alaric. After a long moment, he nodded. "Alright. I''ll sign."


    Kain handed him a pen, and Darius scrawled his name at the bottom of the contract. As soon as the ink dried, Kain felt a sense of satisfaction. He had his first true subordinate linked to Pangea. After all, the director and Gabriel were now family, while Ferrin could also be considered a friend and confidant to his family members. Kain wasn''t exactly willing to send them on death missions.


    However, Darius was someone bound to him by circumstance and a formal agreement. It wasn''t perfect, but it was a start. In the future he hoped to make him loyal to himself form the bottom of his heart.


    "Good," Kain said, taking the contract and tucking it away. "Now, let''s get to work."


    Kain led Darius to a smaller room on the second floor where a room resembling a sterile tattoo shop was waiting. There was an enchanted pen with several vials of ink of various colours arranged next to it, a plush black reclining chair, and a poster on the wall with an intricate circular array for Kain to use as a reference.


    Darius followed Kain into the room, his expression still a little wary. However, with the contract already signed he wasn''t afraid. He could deal with pain, and he was certain Kain wasn''t trying to kill him��otherwise why set up this whole elaborate farce. "What exactly is this procedure?"


    Kain didn''t bother to explain in detail. "You''ll see in a moment."


    He gestured to the chair in the center of the room. "Sit down. The procedure will take some time, and it won''t be pleasant. But if you''re serious about this, you''ll endure it."


    Darius took a deep breath, then sat down in the chair.


    He flinched slightly when the needle met his skin, but gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

 Chapter 472 Forged by Pain

    Kain wasn''t having Darius suffer just because he was a sadist.


    The first time this procedure was done on Ferrin, Bea completely dulled his senses and so he felt no pain.


    Since Bea wasn''t recovered for the director''s and Gabriel''s procedures, spiritual plants were used instead, but they weren''t able to completely eliminate the sensations of pain.


    However, Kain noted that the time both the director and Gabriel''s soul fragments were able to persist in Pangea, and the quality of their contracts, were improved.


    Gabriel''s circumstances were unique due to the artificial core that had fused with him and made him have a much more dense and concentrated spiritual power. However, the director had no such boost. Moreover, due to his age, Kain had actually expected for the director to have a more difficult time than Ferrin with activating the array and have a weaker soul fragment. But that wasn''t the case.


    Therefore, Kain hypothesized that being able to withstand the pain caused by the array may have a tempering effect or make the individual more closely in tune with the array so that they''d benefit more from the procedure.


    Darius, who Kain had no close emotional ties with and has already proven his resilience, was the perfect guinea pig.


    This was the first time Kain was seeing the array being printed without any kind of anesthetic, and considering that Darius'' bronze skin was gradually getting noticeably pale and droplets of sweat were beading all over his body, Kain was able to conclude that the pain caused without anesthesia was definitely much more painful than just getting a simple tattoo.


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    Kain still had a third of the array left to complete, but it was getting difficult to draw the specific and intricate lines because Darius was shivering unconsciously while gritting his teeth to prevent from screaming.


    ''Maybe talking would help take his mind off of the pain. I''m also curious��''


    "What does it feel like?" Kain asked, finally unable to resist. After all, Darius is the only one who has been able to fully feel the array being etched so far.


    Darius''s jaw clenched tighter, his teeth grinding as he tried to suppress the pain. His hands gripped the arms of the chair so hard that his knuckles turned white. For a moment, Kain thought he might not answer, but then Darius managed to choke out a response, his voice strained and hoarse.


    "It''s�� like fire," Darius gasped, his words coming out in short, labored bursts. "But not just on the skin��it''s like it''s burning through my soul. It''s unbearable."


    Kain paused for a moment, his brow furrowing as he considered Darius''s words. Kain had assumed the pain was primarily physical, but if it was affecting Darius''s soul as well, that could explain why those who endured some of the pain previously without Bea''s help seemed to benefit more from the procedure. Perhaps the pain wasn''t just a side effect��it was part of the process, tempering the soul and making it more receptive to the array''s power.


    "Interesting," Kain murmured, more to himself than to Darius. He resumed drawing the array, his movements precise and deliberate. "Keep talking. Describe it in more detail."


    Darius let out a low groan, his body trembling as Kain continued to etch the intricate lines of the array into his skin, but did as directed. He described every change in sensation that he felt, and talking actually seemed to help him through the pain.


    Keeping him talking also helped Kain keep an eye on his condition. If it got so bad that he lost consciousness, he was prepared to stop the procedure and administer medical treatment immediately. After all, he couldn''t have his latest subordinate, that he found with much effort, die in vain.


    The fact that Darius was still conscious and coherent despite the agony he described was a testament to his strength and determination. Kain couldn''t help but feel a flicker of respect for the man.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kain stepped back, examining his work with a critical eye.


    "It''s done," Kain said, his voice filled with satisfaction. "The array is complete."


    Darius let out a long, shuddering breath, his body slumping in the chair as the pain began to subside. His skin was pale, his clothes soaked with sweat, but there was a glimmer of something in his eyes��something fierce and unyielding. He had endured the pain, and now he was ready for what came next.


    "What�� now?" Darius asked, his voice weak but determined.


    "Now," Kain said, "we activate the array."


    Kain began to explain the process, but before Kain could even finish his explanation, the array began to glow, the lines lighting up with a soft, light. Kain''s eyes widened in surprise. He hadn''t expected the array to activate so quickly. It took Ferrin and the director several minutes of concentration for the energy to flow into the array, but Darius had managed to do it almost instantly.


    "Interesting," Kain murmured. Based on this speed of activation, Kain could already tell that enduring through the pain must come with some changes, but is it just activating the array faster? If so, the enduring the pain wasn''t worth it.


    Kain''s curiosity was piqued, and he decided to investigate further. He closed his eyes, directing his mind inward to Pangea.


    As the "god" of Pangea, Kain had a unique connection to the world and instantly pinpointed the location of Darius''s soul fragment as it entered the planet.


    The soul fragment was denser and more resilient than Kain had expected, far more so than Ferrin''s or the director''s. It was only slightly inferior to Gabriel''s, which had been artificially boosted by the core that had fused with him.


    But unlike Gabriel''s soul fragment, which had been drawn in the direction of Aurem and his subordinates, Darius''s soul fragment was heading in a different direction��toward the vast ocean that covered more than 70% of the planet''s surface.


    Kain followed curiously behind the fragment. The ocean was a mystery even to him. While he had explored parts of it, the sheer depth and vastness of the waters made it impossible to fully explore.


    While there were many creatures on the single supercontinent of Pangea, Kain knew that the vast majority of Pangea''s life forms resided in the ocean. Now, with Darius''s soul fragment heading in that direction, Kain couldn''t resist following it.


    He focused his consciousness, tracking the soul fragment as it moved through the water. The ocean was teeming with life, from tiny, bioluminescent creatures to massive, serpentine beasts the size of houses.


    The soul fragment moved swiftly, drawn by some unseen force, until it reached a deep trench in the ocean floor. Kain followed it down, his curiosity growing with every passing moment.


    As the soul fragment descended into the trench, the water grew darker, the pressure increasing as the soul fragment delved deeper. sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And then, Kain saw it.

 Chapter 473 An Old Acquaintance

    The creature was massive, its form barely visible in the darkness. It was unlike anything Kain had ever encountered, even in his wildest imagination.


    Its body was a swirling mass of tentacles, each one thicker than the trunk of the largest tree on either Pangea or Earth.


    The tentacles were covered in bioluminescent patterns that pulsed with a faint, otherworldly blue glow, casting an eerie light on the creature''s surroundings. At the center of the tentacles was a massive, bulbous body.


    Two enormous eyes, each the size of a small island, glowed with an almost neon green light. The creature''s presence was overwhelming, its aura radiating a sense of ancient power and dominance.


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. This creature was not just powerful��it was on a completely different level. The pressure it exuded rivaled that of the four guardians Aurem created as his subordinates, and if anything, it might even be stronger than them. A creature like this�� how had it remained hidden for so long? Kain couldn''t help but think that this creature was the only being on Pangea that could truly threaten Aurem''s existence.


    Curious by the existence of such a powerful creature that had flown under his radar for so long, Kain looked at the description for the creature:


    -------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Primordial Kraken


    The Primordial Kraken is an ancient, god-like sea creature that resides in the deepest trenches of Pangea''s oceans. Its existence predates the arrival of nearly all living creatures on Pangea, evolving from a relatively simple and weak jellyfish to now being the undisputed ruler of the seas.


    Quality: Special


    Spiritual Power Grade: ???


    Skills:


    X - Oceanic Supremacy: The Primordial Kraken exerts absolute control over the ocean. It can manipulate water pressure, currents, and even the spiritual energy within the sea to make all aquatic creatures helpless before it. This skill allows it to create massive whirlpools, tidal waves, and crushing pressure fields that can obliterate anything in its path. The Kraken''s control over the ocean is so complete that it can even summon storms and tsunamis on the surface.


    X - Tentacle of Terror: Each nearly indestructible tentacle can extend for miles and even breakthrough space to a location within the Kraken''s line of sight, striking with precision and crushing power. The tentacles are also capable of absorbing spiritual energy from their prey, weakening enemies and strengthening the Kraken.


    SSS - Crushing Depths: The Kraken can generate a localized field of extreme pressure, crushing anything within its radius. This skill is particularly effective against armored or heavily fortified enemies, as the pressure can penetrate even the strongest defenses. This skill can also be used to create barriers of pressurized water, trapping enemies in an inescapable prison.


    SS - Bioluminescent Dominion: The Kraken''s body is covered in bioluminescent patterns that can be used to disorient and confuse enemies. The light can shift in color and intensity, creating illusions and masking the Kraken''s true position. S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    S - Regeneration of the Deep: The Kraken can rapidly heal itself by drawing spiritual energy from the surrounding water. This skill allows it to recover from even the most severe injuries, making it nearly impossible to defeat in its natural habitat. The Regeneration of the Deep skill also allows the Kraken to regenerate lost tentacles and other body parts in a matter of seconds.


    .


    .


    .


    -----------------------


    Kain looked between the massive glowing creature that he first though resembled a squid or octopus, but looking at it closer and cross-referencing the system description��he realized that it kind of resembled a jellyfish as well��


    ''Could it be��?''


    He couldn''t help but think back to the excitement he''d felt upon witnessing the first sign of life on the planet��a jellyfish.


    It had been pitifully weak, without any signs of spiritual power, and shivered in fear when Kain had first caught it and lifted it from the sea.


    As the first sign of life, like a proud parent and despite its weakness and seemingly low potential Kain had wanted to nurture it further. On a whim, he had fed it the Bloom of Ascension to make it transform from an ordinary jellyfish to a spiritual creature. Stay updated with My Virtual Library Empire


    Afterwards, because it had been the only spiritual creature on the planet for quite a while, Kain would frequently feed it something beneficial whenever he visited the planet.


    However, as more and more advanced organisms appeared, Kain''s interest in it had faded.


    Honestly, he''d completely forgotten about what was technically the first creature born purely from Pangea, considering that Aurem and the tree of life had been transported from Earth to here as an egg and seed, respectively.


    ''You''ve grown so much'' Kain almost got misty-eyed, like a father who had been absent from his newborn for months, only to return and find their child had grown beyond recognition.


    Thud


    Darius''s soul fragment approached the massive creature, but the fragment seemed to hit an invisible barrier, unable to get any closer. It hovered in the water, trembling as if trying to push through, but the barrier held firm. The creature''s massive eyes shifted slightly, as if it had noticed the fragment, but it made no move to interact with it. Instead, it simply watched, its gaze cold and indifferent.


    Eventually, the fragment was forced to give up.


    Surrounding the massive creature were several smaller, but still incredibly powerful, beings. These creatures were clearly subordinates, their forms resembling smaller versions of the Kraken, but with distinct differences.


    Some had more tentacles, others had jagged armored shells, and a few even had glowing crystals embedded in their bodies. Each one radiated a powerful aura, and Kain could tell that they were no ordinary spiritual creatures.


    Darius''s soul fragment, unable to reach the Kraken, shifted its focus to one of the subordinates. This one was slightly smaller than the others, its body covered in a shimmering, iridescent shell. The fragment approached it cautiously, and this time, there was no barrier. The subordinate creature seemed to sense the fragment''s presence, its glowing eyes turning to face it. For a moment, the two simply stared at each other, the water around them still and silent.


    Soon enough, the soul fragment merged with the subordinate creature, and in an instant, both Darius''s soul and the fragment disappeared.


    But before Kain could fully process what had happened, the Kraken''s massive eyes opened fully, and the glow emitted from its body intensified.


    The Kraken''s gaze moved around, as if searching for something. Kain debated revealing himself, curious if it would still remember him. But before he could come to a decision, the creature''s eyes closed once more, and the pressure in the water subsided. The massive being settled back into the seabed, its tentacles curling around its body as it returned to its slumber.

 Chapter 474 A Future Pillar?

    Kain''s consciousness snapped back to his body, his mind still reeling from the huge change in what he suspected was the little guy he''d once carefully nurtured.


    Its progress left him with a strange mix of pride and awe.


    But there was no time to dwell on that now. Darius was sitting upright in the chair, his chest heaving as the glowing array on his skin began to fade. His eyes were wide, his expression a mixture of shock, disbelief, and overwhelming emotion.


    "Darius," Kain said, his voice calm but firm. "How do you feel?"


    Darius didn''t respond immediately. His hands trembled as he stared down at his right upper arm, where the array had been etched. His breathing was ragged, and his face was pale, but there was a glimmer of something in his eyes��something fierce and unyielding. He had endured the pain of the array, and now he was reaping the rewards.


    "I�� I can feel it," Darius finally managed to say, his voice hoarse and trembling. "So this is what having a contract feels like��."


    Darius''s hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. His breathing began to steady, but the intensity in his eyes only grew. "I need to see it," he said, his voice low but filled with determination. "I need to see my contract."


    Kain hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Although the creature he''d contracted had been quite powerful and massive on Pangea, Kain assumed that it would once again be in a sealed state and not take up too much room.


    Darius didn''t respond. He simply closed his eyes, focusing on the bond that now connected him to his contract. Kain could feel the spiritual energy in the room shift as Darius reached out through the bond, calling forth his new companion.


    Like Kain expected, it was a miniature version of the spiritual creature he had seen next to the Kraken in the depths of Pangea, but its size was drastically reduced, and its aura was far weaker. The creature''s body was covered in a shimmering, iridescent shell, and its tentacles were thin and delicate, glowing faintly with a soft, blue light as it hovered a few feet off the ground. Though it was currently on land, it floated through the air as though it were still swimming in water.


    Darius stared at the creature, his breath catching in his throat. For a moment, he was completely still, his eyes locked on the small, glowing being in front of him. Then, without warning, he dropped to his knees, his hands reaching out toward the creature. His expression was a mix of awe, reverence, and overwhelming emotion.


    "It''s�� beautiful," Darius whispered, his voice trembling.


    Kain had to admit that it did have a unique beauty due to its multi-coloured glow, but would hardly call its appearance worthy of invoking such strong emotions. Kain couldn''t help giving Darius an odd look, wondering if his aesthetics were a little off or if he had any odd inclinations towards tentacles��


    The creature floated closer to Darius, its tentacles gently brushing against his outstretched hands while emitting a resonant hum.


    Kain watched silently, giving Darius the space he needed to process what was happening.


    But he also knew that Darius needed to regain his composure quickly. The bond was just the beginning��there was still much work to be done.


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    After a few minutes, Darius finally began to calm down. His breathing steadied, and the intensity in his eyes softened. He looked up at Kain, his expression a mix of gratitude and determination.


    "Thank you," Darius said, his voice steady now. "I�� I will repay you for this."


    Kain nodded his head. "The repayment can come later. Although you have a contract now, you are still extremely weak, you need to get familiar with your contract and wait for it to grow up. Until then, you are of no use to me, nor are you at all ready to avenge your family."


    Darius'' contract was originally a powerful creature and still has high-potential, but in its current state, it''s sealed to match Darius'' level and was only a weak red-grade spiritual creature right now. It''ll grow far faster than most spiritual creatures but it would still take some time before he''d be strong enough to be of use to Kain. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Darius nodded, his expression serious. "I understand. What should I do first?"


    Kain gestured toward the door. "In the basement of this building, I''ve set up advanced and durable training facilities. They''re designed to withstand the power of spiritual creatures, even at higher levels. I recommend you start there. Spend time with your contract, get used to its abilities, and learn how to work together as a team."


    Darius stood up, his movements steady now. He looked down at the small, glowing creature floating beside him with anticipation. Kain''s proposal suited him. He was also eager to see the abilities of his very own spiritual creature��something he thought he''d never have.


    Kain then added, "Also, I''ve converted the third floor of this building into several bedroom and living quarters. You''re welcome to stay here as you grow accustomed to your new strength. It''ll be easier for you to focus on your training without having to worry about other distractions."


    Darius looked at Kain, his expression filled with gratitude. "Thank you, Kain. For everything."


    Kain gave him a small smile. "You''re welcome. Now go. Your journey is just beginning."


    As Darius left the room, his new contract floating beside him, Kain couldn''t help but feel a sense of satisfaction, especially after seeing the strong potential of Darius and his contract.


    Kain had no doubt that he would achieve great things and may even be an important pillar for Kain''s future plans.


    But as Kain happily watched Darius disappear down the hallway, and get absorbed into the new world of beast-taming, a group of individuals were waiting anxiously outside of the building for any news, but had been completely thrown to the back of Darius'' mind.

 Chapter 475 A Ragtag Crew

    Outside the unassuming three-story building, a group of five individuals huddled together in the shadows of a nearby alleyway.


    Their eyes were glued to the building''s entrance, their expressions a mix of anxiety, impatience, and fear.


    "I''m telling you, he''s dead," muttered a wiry man with a scruffy beard and a perpetual scowl. "It''s been an entire day and this whole thing reeked of a trap from the start. Some random beast-tamer offers him power? Yeah, right. They probably lured him in, chopped him up, and fed him to their contracts. Classic beast-tamer move."


    Like Darius, this ragtag crew was made up of ordinary people who had spent years honing their skills and plotting revenge against the beast-tamers who had wronged them. Naturally, they all did not have the best impression of beast-tamers.


    "Shut up, Jax," snapped a tall woman with sharp features and a no-nonsense demeanor. "The Boss isn''t dead. He''s too stubborn to die. Besides, if they wanted to kill him, they wouldn''t have gone through all this trouble. They could have just ambushed him in the street. Moreover, from what I heard, this beast-tamer has quite unusual abilities, he could have killed him alone when they''d first met."


    "Lira, you may be the group''s strategist, but I think you''re wrong on this one. Maybe they''re torturing him," suggested a burly man with arms the size of tree trunks. "You know, trying to get information out of him. Like, ''Who sent you?'' or ''Who else is in your little revenge squad?''"


    "See! Musclehead agrees with me," Jax said, while pointing a finger at the burly Garret. "So now we may not only be waiting for a dead body, but a betrayed dead body. Fantastic."


    "Will you two stop being so dramatic?" interjected a petite woman with fiery red hair and a mischievous grin. "Darius is fine. Probably. Maybe. Okay, I don''t know, but sitting here speculating isn''t helping. We need a plan."


    "A plan?" Jax scoffed. "What kind of plan, Miya? Storm the building? We''re not exactly equipped to take on a beast-tamer, let alone whoever else is inside that place. Remember what happened last time we tried to ambush one? Garret got thrown through a wall." Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    "That was one time!" Garret protested, his face turning red. "I was caught off guard!"


    "Guys, focus," Lira said, pinching the bridge of her nose. As the group''s resident strategist, in the absence of Darius, her words held the most weight. "We''re not storming anything. We''re not doing anything reckless. We''re going to wait, watch, and gather information. That''s it."


    "Wait, watch, and gather information," Jax repeated mockingly. "Sounds thrilling. Can''t wait to add that to my list of life achievements."


    Miya smirked. "Well, if you''re bored, we could always play a game. How about ''Guess What Horrible Thing Happened to Darius''?"


    "I''m in," Garret said immediately. "I say he got experimented on and turned into a spiritual creature. Like, he''s someone''s pet now. A really buff, angry pet."


    "I say he''s being brainwashed," Jax said. "You know, like those creepy cults where they make you chant and drink weird elixirs. Next time we see him, he''ll be wearing a robe and trying to convert us."


    "I say he''s fine," Miya said, crossing her arms. "He''s probably just�� negotiating. Or something. Yeah, negotiating."


    "Negotiating what?" Jax asked, raising an eyebrow. "The terms of his own enslavement?"


    "Details, details," Miya said with a wave of her hand.


    The group fell silent for a moment, their eyes drifting back to the building. Despite their banter, the tension was palpable. They had been through a lot together��years of training, planning, and surviving in a world that favored beast-tamers over ordinary people like them.


    Darius was more than just their leader; he was their family. And now, he was in danger, and there was nothing they could do about it.


    "You know," Garret said after a long pause, "if something has happened to him, we''re kind of screwed. I mean, who''s going to lead us? Jax?"


    "Oh, hell no," Jax said, holding up his hands. "I''m not leader material. I''m more of a��funny group mood reliever. The class clown!"


    "Lira, then," Garret said, turning to the tall woman.


    Lira shook her head. "I''m not cut out for leadership. I''m better at telling people what to do, not inspiring them to do it."


    "Miya?" Garret asked, looking at the redhead.


    Miya grinned. "I''d be a great leader. If anything I feel as though the entire Empire should be run by me. My first order of business would be to declare a national holiday in my honor. And maybe ban pants. They''re overrated."


    "See?" Garret said, throwing up his hands. "We''re doomed."


    "Relax," Lira said, though her voice lacked its usual confidence. "Darius is fine. He has to be."


    As if on cue, the door to the building creaked open, and a figure stepped out. The group froze, their eyes widening as they recognized the man. It was Darius. He looked�� different. His usual scowl was gone, replaced by an expression of quiet determination. And floating beside him was something that made their jaws drop��a small, glowing creature with shimmering tentacles and an otherworldly aura. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is that�� a spiritual creature?" Miya whispered, her voice filled with awe.


    "You mean��it was true?" Lira whispered, voice half doubt and half anticipation.


    "No way," Jax said, shaking his head. "No freaking way."


    Darius paused for a moment, his eyes scanning the street. Then, as if sensing their presence, he turned and looked directly at the alleyway where they were hiding. For a moment, no one moved. Then, with a small smile, Darius gestured for them to come closer.


    "Well," Lira said, letting out a breath she didn''t realize she''d been holding. "I guess we''re about to find out what happened."


    The group exchanged nervous glances before stepping out of the shadows and making their way toward their Boss. As they approached, Darius''s smile widened, and the glowing creature beside him let out a soft, resonant hum.


    "Guys," Darius said, his voice filled with a mix of pride and excitement, "meet my new partner. And trust me�� you''re not going to believe what just happened."


    The group gathered around Darius, their eyes darting between him and the glowing creature floating beside him. The tension that had been building for hours finally broke, replaced by a mix of curiosity, disbelief, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

 Chapter 476 Recruitment Procedures

    Of course, Darius couldn''t go into too much detail due to the contract he''d made with Kain. But, before he''d signed the contract, he''d also told these guys about some of the vague promises made by Kain.


    Not to mention that before leaving the building, upon realizing how great of an opportunity this was, he''d discussed with Kain about also allowing his group to undergo the procedure.


    Kain wasn''t too surprised that Darius had a group he operated with, after all evading Kain while keeping an eye on him as he had previously done, would have been difficult to achieve alone. Therefore, Kain had long guessed that he had some allies.


    However, Kain couldn''t just pick up any old friend of people he''d recruited��spots were limited. The organization he established was in its burgeoning stage now, but he hoped to establish a stable system of recruiting and filtering through individuals worthy recruitment.


    Darius'' partners would be the first ones that would go through these recruitment tests, which would consist of completing a mission for Kain that would showcase their potential. Of course though, Kain let Darius know that even if they completed the mission there was no guarantee that he would accept them all, or even one of them. In addition to potential and skill, Kain also paid attention to their loyalty.


    Therefore, as Darius led his group into the building, he knew that his allies had probably already begun to be scrutinized by Kain surveilling the scene, but didn''t clue them into that fact in case they lose this opportunity due to his interference.


    The group followed, their eyes wide with curiosity and disbelief. The interior of the building was plain and unremarkable, but knowing that the entire course of their lives may change due to what was inside this building, they felt as though it was cloaked in a mysterious veil.


    Once they were inside, Darius turned to face them, his expression serious but tinged with excitement. "Alright," he said, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the intricate, glowing mark on his upper arm. The mark resembled a jellyfish, its tentacles swirling in a mesmerizing pattern. "This is what they gave me. It''s similar to a bloodline mark. From what I understand, it''s similar to how the southern tribes awaken dormant bloodlines. This mark is what connects me to my contract."


    The group leaned in closer, their eyes fixed on the glowing mark. Miya reached out to touch it, but Darius swatted her hand away. "Don''t poke it," he said, half-joking. "I don''t know what''ll happen if you mess with it." In actuality, the spot was just still quite tender, but he didn''t want to reveal such a weakness in front of them.


    "It''s so�� shiny," Miya said, her voice filled with awe. "Like a tattoo, but way cooler. Does it glow in the dark?"


    "I haven''t checked," Darius admitted. "but maybe��."


    Garret, the burly muscle of the group, squinted at the mark. "So, what, you just got this thing stamped on your arm, and now you''re a beast-tamer? That''s it?"


    "Not exactly," Darius said. "There''s more to it than that. The process was�� intense. Painful, even. But it was worth it." He gestured to the glowing creature floating beside him. "This is my contract. It''s still young, but it''s got potential. And once it grows stronger, I don''t think that bastard Alaric would be a match for me."


    The group turned their attention to the creature, their curiosity piqued. It was a strange, otherworldly being��a cross between a jellyfish and a squid, with shimmering, translucent tentacles and a soft, bioluminescent glow. It hovered in the air, its movements graceful and fluid, as if it were swimming through water.


    Miya was the first to reach out, poking one of the creature''s tentacles. "It''s squishy!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with delight. "Like a really fancy stress ball."


    The creature let out a soft, almost indignant hum, but it didn''t pull away. It seemed to understand that these were Darius''s friends and didn''t react aggressively, even as the group began to crowd around it, poking and prodding at its gelatinous body.


    "Careful," Darius warned, though he couldn''t help but smile at their antics. "It''s not a toy."


    "But it''s so cute!" Miya said, squeezing one of the tentacles gently. "Look at it! It''s like a little glowing marshmallow."


    "A marshmallow with tentacles," Jax muttered, though even he couldn''t resist reaching out to touch it. "Weirdest thing I''ve ever seen."


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    Lira, ever the strategist, was more reserved. She observed the creature with a critical eye, her mind already racing with possibilities. "If we can all become beast tamers," she began slowly, "then we would all have an actual chance against our targets."


    Darius nodded. "Exactly. And that''s why I brought you here. Kain��the guy who gave me this��said that you all could have the same opportunity. But there''s a catch."


    The group fell silent, their attention snapping back to Darius. Even Miya stopped poking the creature, her expression turning serious.


    "What kind of catch?" Garret asked, his voice wary.


    "You''ll have to complete a mission for him," Darius explained. "It''s a test, to see if you''re worthy of joining him. If you pass, you''ll get the same mark I have, and you''ll become beast-tamers. But if you want to take the mission, you''ll have to sign a contract first. It''s non-negotiable."


    "A contract?" Jax said, raising an eyebrow. "What, like a blood oath or something?"


    "Something like that," Darius said. "It''s an enchanted contract. Once you sign it, you won''t be able to talk about what happens here or the fact that you''re being tested. If you break it, you will die��painfully."


    The group exchanged glances, their expressions a mix of excitement and apprehension. Becoming a beast-tamer was a dream they had all shared but never thought possible. Now, the opportunity was right in front of them. But it came with risks.


    Miya was the first to speak up. "I''m in," she said, her voice firm. "If it means I get one of these squishy little guys, I''ll sign whatever."


    "Same," Garret said, cracking his knuckles. "I never even dreamed that this was possible. I''m not passing it up."


    Although Darius was happy they agreed, he still warned, "this isn''t just some deal you can back out of later. Once you sign, you''re locked in��no second chances."


    Lira nodded slowly. "It''s a risk, but it''s one worth taking. If this Kain can give us power, then we owe it to ourselves to try." S��arch* The n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jax sighed, running a hand through his scruffy beard. "Well, I guess I will reluctantly agree... But if this goes south, I''m blaming all of you."


    Darius grinned, relief washing over him. He had been worried that one of them might refuse, but he should have known better. These were his people��his family. They had been through too much together to back down now.


    "Alright," he said, pulling out a stack of papers from a nearby table. "These are the contracts. Read them carefully, and if you''re sure, sign at the bottom."


    The group took the papers, their eyes scanning the text. The contracts were detailed, outlining the terms of secrecy and what they could and could not do or say. But none of them hesitated. One by one, they signed their names, their determination unwavering.


    As the last signature was added, Darius felt a surge of happiness.


    "Alright," Darius said, rolling down his sleeve to cover his tattoo and looking at his team. "Here is your mission."

 Chapter 477 The Beer Wars

    Darius handed out a stack of papers to his group, each one detailing the mission they were about to undertake. The room was silent as they read through the information, their expressions shifting from curiosity to determination.


    Meanwhile, in a hidden observation room nearby, Kain watched the scene unfold through the surveillance equipment, his arms crossed and his expression unreadable. His sharp eyes scanned each member of Darius''s group, assessing their reactions and body language.


    "Let''s see what you''re made of," Kain murmured to himself. "Hopefully you are able to help me exterminate some pests. And if not�� well, there are plenty of others who would kill for this opportunity."


    Kain''s thoughts drifted to the mission he had assigned. The mission was simple in concept but complex in execution: infiltrate and dismantle the network of competitors and saboteurs targeting Kain''s spiritual beer business.


    Kain''s businesses had been thriving, but success always came with enemies. His spiritual beer, FMT pills for River Wolf Pups, and multi-element silk had made him a fortune, but they had also made him a target.


    The FMT pills and silk were nearly impossible to replicate, thanks to their unique production methods. Nobody knew the true identity of the FMT pills, and even if they did, they had no way to make the microorganisms be stable and survive in pill form.


    Also, while everyone knew how to make the multi-element silk, since it was revealed when he applied for the registration of the new evolutionary form. The reason these subsequent evolutions had never been found was because it was almost impossible to get those various Silkworm Moths and Butterflies to create the silk with a specifically calculated amount of elemental energy, and then calculate how much of each element to add. Kain managed to train the moths and calculate the suitable amount of each element largely through the assistance of Bea and the System.


    But the spiritual beer? That was a different story. Many felt as though they could easily produce their own spiritual beverages once they figured out the method Kain used.


    The beer''s recipe was a closely guarded secret, but that hadn''t stopped competitors from trying to steal it.


    Over the past few months, Kain''s beer business had been under constant attack. Some competitors had resorted to industrial espionage, sending spies to infiltrate his factories and try to steal the recipe��not knowing the key ingredients, the Aetherbrew Yeast and the Royal Jelly made by Queen, were firmly under Kain''s control.


    Others had taken a more despicable approach, sabotaging his operations and tarnishing his reputation with knockoff products that were either poorly made or outright dangerous.


    One of the more egregious incidents had occurred at Kain''s newest factory, located in a low-tier city near Dark Moon.


    The factory was supposed to be a symbol of Kain''s growing empire, a state-of-the-art facility capable of producing enormous quantities of spiritual beer that would essentially increase his production capacity by 30% instantly.


    But during a routine inspection, Collin��Kain''s trusted assistant and the manager of all of his businesses��had discovered something alarming.


    The building materials used in the factory''s construction had been tampered with. Poor-quality materials had been intentionally mixed into the foundation and support structures, making the building dangerously unstable. A slight tremor or even a strong gust of wind could have caused the factory to collapse, endangering the lives of hundreds of workers.


    Kain had been furious when Collin reported the findings. This wasn''t just sabotage��it was attempted murder of hundreds of his employees. Whoever was behind this had crossed a line, and Kain wasn''t the type to let such transgressions go without retaliation.


    The mission he had assigned to Darius''s group was clear: identify the individuals and organizations responsible for the sabotage and eliminate them. But it wasn''t just about revenge. Kain needed to send a message. He needed to show his enemies that crossing him came with consequences��fatal consequences.


    --------------------------------


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    Back in the meeting room, Darius''s group finished reading the mission details. The atmosphere was tense, but there was also a sense of excitement. This was their chance to prove themselves, to show Kain that they were worthy of becoming beast-tamers. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "So," Jax said, breaking the silence, "we''re basically being sent on a spy mission to take down a bunch of beer saboteurs. Sounds�� fun?"


    "It''s not just about the beer," Lira said, her eyes scanning the document. "This is about sending a message. In addition to finding out the identities of the saboteurs, we may need to get back at them in a way that can subtly let everyone know Kain was behind it and fear him, but not to leave a handle that can be used against Kain later on."


    "Yeah, but why us?" Garret asked, scratching his head. "I mean, we''re good at what we do, but this seems like a job for professionals."


    "We are professionals," Miya said, smirking. "Or did you forget all those times we outsmarted beast-tamers? Admittedly they were low-grade beast-tamer scumbags and we don''t know how strong these guys are, but I''m not willing to turn back just as I''ve seen the light."


    "She''s right," Darius said, his voice firm. "This is our chance to show Kain what we''re capable of. If we succeed, we get the power we''ve always wanted. If we fail�� well, let''s not think about that."


    The group nodded, their determination solidified. They had spent years honing their skills, preparing for the day they could take on the beast-tamers who had wronged them. This mission was just another step in that journey��albeit a dangerous one.


    "Alright," Lira said, taking charge. "Let''s break this down. According to the documents, there are multiple groups targeting Kain''s beer business. Some are overt and easy to track, like the idiots making knockoff beers and selling them. Others are more covert, using sabotage and espionage. Our job is to identify these groups, gather evidence, and, if necessary, eliminate them."


    "Eliminate them?" Jax said, raising an eyebrow. "As in��?"


    "As in permanently," Darius said, his tone leaving no room for doubt, confirming Kain''s intentions��after all, he was the only one there that had met Kain and could make a reasonable assumption about his intentions. "Based on the effort he put into tracking me down just because he vaguely sensed hostility in my gaze, I can tell that Kain doesn''t tolerate threats. Once we find evidence that someone is behind the sabotage, we take them out. No leniency. No second chances."


    The group exchanged glances, but no one objected. They had all seen the darker side of the world, and they knew what was at stake. Not to mention, based on the reports that showed some of their unknown targets were willing to kill hundreds in the name of business, they weren''t exactly people to feel guilty about eliminating.


    Moreover, even if their targets weren''t absolutely deplorable, none of them were perfectly moral characters fully against murder. They wanted to become beast-tamers, and so they had to prove they were willing to do whatever it took.


    "Alright," Miya said, clapping her hands together. "So, where do we start?"


    "The knockoff beers are the easiest target," Lira said. "They''re already out in the open, and they may even be connected to the more covert groups. We''ll start there and work our way up the chain."


    "Sounds like a plan," Garret said, cracking his massive knuckles. "Let''s go crack some skulls."


    "Not so fast," Lira said, holding up a hand. "We need to be smart about this. We''re not just brute-forcing our way through. We need to gather information, cover the eyes and ears of the enemy, and make sure no one else we''re targeting knows we''re coming once we eliminate the first one."


    "Lira''s right," Darius said. "This isn''t just a fight��it''s a game. And we need to play it better than anyone else."


    ----------------------


    Thankfully, due to the likelihood that there would be beast-tamers among the enemies, and the fact that Kain had never really gotten to thoroughly test Darius, Kain took this as a good opportunity to look at what the entire team was capable of and allowed Darius to participate in their mission.


    For future ''examinees'' though, this would absolutely not be the case.


    Darius''s group wasted no time in preparing for their first move. The group gathered around a table, poring over maps, documents, and notes that Kain had provided. The atmosphere was tense but focused, each member of the team acutely aware of the stakes.


    "Alright," Lira began, spreading out a map of the city where the knockoff beer operation was based. "The first, and the closest, target is a small brewery in the nearby Blue Moon City . It''s run by a group calling themselves the ''Golden Brew Syndicate.'' They''ve been flooding the market with cheap imitations of Kain''s spiritual beer, and from what we''ve gathered, they''re not exactly subtle about their operations."


    "Subtle or not, they''ve been causing problems," Darius said, his voice low. "Their knockoffs are poorly made, and there have been reports of people getting sick after drinking them. That''s bad for Kain''s reputation, and it''s drawing unwanted attention from the authorities."


    "Which is probably exactly what they want," Jax muttered, leaning back in his chair. "Create chaos, make Kain look bad, and swoop in to take over the market."


    Lira disagreed, "If the ultimate goal is to take over Kain''s business, the knockoff beer sellers wouldn''t benefit from making people sick, as that would only hurt consumer trust in spiritual beer as a whole. If the true saboteurs are more sophisticated corporations, they likely wouldn''t rely on amateur knockoff brewers to cause serious damage and risk damaging an industry they are determined to take over. More likely, the poisoning incident is a byproduct of poor manufacturing since they can''t figure out the correct method of brewing spiritual beer.


    Darius agreed with Lira, "Indeed. This ''Golden Brew Syndicate'' may not even be connected to the other groups. However, they are still a huge threat to Kain''s reputation and need to be dealt with as soon as possible."


    Lira nodded, "This syndicate is small-time. They don''t have the resources or the know-how to pull off something like the sabotage at Kain''s new factory. That means they''re either working for someone bigger, or they''re just unrelated pawns being used as a distraction by bigger corporations."


    "So, we take them out and see if anyone comes running," Garret said, cracking his knuckles. "Simple enough."


    "Not so fast," Lira said, holding up a hand. "We need to be smart about this. If we go in guns blazing, we risk tipping off the bigger players just to eliminate some unknown pawns. We need to gather information first��find out if anyone is funding them, or if they report to anyone, and if they know anything about the other groups targeting Kain."


    "And how do we do that?" Miya asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.


    Lira smirked. "We infiltrate. Miya, you''re up."

 Chapter 478 The Knockoff King

    Reginald, the owner of the Golden Brew Syndicate, leaned his rotund body back in his plush office chair, a self-satisfied smile spreading across his face as he gazed out the window at the bustling streets of the Eastern Region.


    His mind wandered to the long string of zeros accumulating in his bank account, courtesy of his thriving knockoff operation. The Spiritual Beer company, owned by that young prodigy Kain, was raking in the money, and Reginald saw no reason why he shouldn''t get a slice of the pie.


    ''They''re making a fortune, and they should share some of it,'' Reginald thought to himself, his eyes gleaming with envy. ''My Golden Brew Beer may not be a true spiritual beer, but it''s just as good, if not better. The taste is spot on, and people can barely tell the difference.'' He chuckled, feeling a sense of pride and justification. ''I''m not a scammer, I''m just a clever businessman. And who needs spiritual power in a beer, anyway? It''s all about the taste and the brand.''


    As he sat at his desk, Reginald''s eyes fell upon a newspaper article on his desk. The front page featured a photo of Kain, the young owner of the Spiritual Beer company, with a caption that read: "Spiritual Beer Sales Skyrocket: Kain''s Company Leads the Market." Reginald''s smile decreased slightly as he read the article, his mind filled with shameless thoughts.


    ''Look at him,'' Reginald thought in resentment and envy. ''Thinks he''s so much better than everyone else just because he''s got a few patents and a fancy brewing process. But I know the truth. I know that it''s all about the marketing and the branding. And I''m the one who''s been able to replicate his success, albeit without the spiritual power.'' Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Reginald''s eyes scanned the article, and he noticed a quote from Kain about the importance of using high-quality ingredients and adhering to strict brewing standards. Reginald snorted in derision.


    ''Please, like anyone actually cares about that,'' he thought.


    Just then, Reginald''s assistant walked in with a fresh copy of the daily newspaper. Reginald took it from him and began to scan the headlines. His eyes widened as he saw the front-page article: "Beware of Fake Spiritual Beer: Poisoning Case Reported in Eastern Region."


    Reginald''s smile faltered for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure when he saw his assistant staring at him nervously. "Ah, yes, that," he said. "Just a minor setback. A few people got sick from drinking our beer, but that''s not our fault. Perhaps they added something to the beer after they bought it and got sick. It''s not like we''re responsible for their lack of common sense."


    His assistant didn''t appear fully convinced, but as a true slave to capitalism he really couldn''t care about that customer. His boss paid his salary and he knew questioning his boss wouldn''t keep him on his good side. So he simply nodded his agreement and left.


    Reginald stood up from his desk and decided to take a walk through his factory. As he walked through the doors, he was greeted by a slightly mildewy smell coming from some of the older stacks of barley that they bought for cheap and the sound of clanging machinery. The factory was a cramped, unsanitary space, with workers rushing to meet the demand for the knockoff beer.


    Reginald walked through the factory, nodding to his workers as he passed by. He saw rows of vats filled with a murky liquid, and workers stirring the mixture with large wooden spoons. The air was thick with the smell of fermentation, and Reginald could feel the heat emanating from the vats.


    As he walked, Reginald noticed a group of workers gathered around a large tank, staring at something in horror. Reginald''s curiosity got the better of him, and he walked over to investigate. When he saw what was inside the tank, he immediately got angry.


    "Why are you all just standing there!"


    A rat had somehow crawled into the tank and paddling was around in the beer. Reginald reached in and plucked out the rat. And tossed it into a corner of the room.


    Its wet body scrambled up unsteadily and scampered away to a dark area of the room.


    "Do��Do we need to throw this batch?" A worker hesitantly asked.


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    "Are you stupid?! Why would you throw away a perfectly good batch?! Keep working! God, it''s so hard to get good help these days."


    The workers still looked at him nervously, but Reginald just winked at them. "Don''t worry, boys, it''s all perfectly safe. Not to mention that the customers certainly won''t be able to taste any difference."


    People always overreacted to a little dirt. A rat in the vat? Please. Do they think all beer is made in some pristine, holy temple? His beer still tasted great. That''s all that mattered.


    Reginald continued his tour of the factory, nodding to his workers and making notes on a clipboard. As he walked, he thought about his plans for expansion into the Southern Region. Due to that stupid poisoning case that he was being blamed for, fewer and fewer people were buying his Golden Brew Beer, and that annoying Spiritual Beer company owned by Kain was capitalizing on their misfortune making sure to tell everyone to only purchase their certified beer from official distributors.


    Reginald wanted to try his luck in the Southern Region, but he needed to recruit new people to help with the export and selling of his knockoff ''spiritual beer'' in the new region.


    Just as he was thinking about this, Reginald''s assistant approached him with a curious expression. "Sir, the applicant you had us call back from the resume she submitted has arrived," he said. "She''s waiting outside the factory."


    Reginald''s eyes sparkled with interest. "Ah, yes, excellent!" he said, his voice taking on a drawn out tone he felt was charming.


    The assistant nodded and walked out of the factory, returning a moment later with a petite woman with striking red hair and an attractive face. From the moment Reginald had seen the photo attached to her resume, he''d felt that she would make an excellent addition to the business.


    As soon as she stepped inside, Reginald''s instincts flared. That body, that face��yes, she would do just fine. A woman like that could draw in customers, smooth over deals, and perhaps... provide him with some entertainment on the side.


    "Welcome, welcome," Reginald said, his voice smooth as silk. "What brings you to our humble syndicate?"


    The woman smiled, and Reginald''s heart skipped a beat. "I''m looking for a job," she said, her voice sweet and melodious. "I heard you might be hiring and submitted a resume. I actually wasn''t very hopeful since I have no experience. I''m so honored to just be called back!"


    Reginald''s eyes roved over her face and petite body in form fitting clothes meant to accentuate her curves, and he couldn''t help but think about how easily he could charm her into his bed. After all, he could sense that she was just an ordinary person, and as a 2-star beast-tamer, although he was considered low-level among beast-tamers, he was still a prized catch for an ordinary person.


    "Ah, yes, we are hiring," he said, his voice low and husky. "And I think you might just be the perfect candidate."


    The woman seemed oblivious to Reginald''s lecherous thoughts and stared at him with wide sparkling eyes filled with admiration, and he found himself becoming even more attracted to her. "What''s your name, my dear?" he asked, his voice dripping with charm.


    The woman hesitated for a moment before responding, "You can call me... Miy��ahem, Mary."

 Chapter 479 Seething in Silence

    Back at a safehouse Darius and the others were staying at within Blue Moon City, Miya stormed through the door, her face flushed with anger and her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The rest of the group looked up from their planning, their expressions shifting from curiosity to concern as they took in her furious demeanor.


    "I''m going to kill him," Miya seethed, slamming the door shut behind her. "I''m going to rip that disgusting, slimy, fat bastard''s hands off and shove them down his throat."


    Darius raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. "Let me guess. Reginald?"


    "Who else?" Miya snapped, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. "That pig has been harassing me since day one, but today��today he crossed the line!"


    Lira exchanged a glance with Garret and Jax before turning her attention back to Miya. "What happened?"


    Miya stopped pacing and turned to face them, her eyes blazing with fury. "He groped me. Right in the middle of the factory, in front of everyone. And you know what I had to do? Smile! Smile and pretend like it was nothing. Like I was oh so flattered by the attention coming from that disgusting pig!"


    As the group continued to plan their next move, Miya couldn''t shake the memory of Reginald''s lecherous grin or the feel of his hand on her. It took every ounce of self-control she had to keep from snapping his wrist right then and there. But she knew that losing her temper would jeopardize the mission, and she wasn''t willing to let that happen.


    Garret''s expression darkened, and he cracked his knuckles. "I say we go in there right now and teach him a lesson he won''t forget."


    "Tempting," Miya said, her voice dripping with venom. "But no. I want to do it myself. When this mission is over, I''m going to make sure Reginald regrets ever laying a finger on me."


    Jax, who had been quietly observing the scene, finally spoke up. "As much as I''d love to see you take that guy down, we need to stay focused. We''re close to getting all the info we need, and we can''t afford to blow our cover now."


    Miya shot him a glare, but Lira stepped in before things could escalate. "Jax is right. We''re almost there. Miya, the intel you''ve been gathering has been invaluable. Thanks to you, we''ve already identified one of Kain''s behind-the-scenes competitors. We just need a little more time to connect the dots."


    Miya took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I know. I know we''re close. But every day I have to spend in that factory, pretending to be some wide-eyed, naive girl who''s impressed by Reginald''s ''charm,'' is another day I want to strangle him with his own tie."


    Darius stood up, walking over to Miya and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You''ve done an incredible job so far. We all know how hard this has been for you. But you''re not alone in this. We''ve got your back, and when the time comes, Reginald will be all yours."


    Miya looked up at Darius, her anger slowly giving way to determination. "You promise?"


    "I promise," Darius said, his voice firm. "When this mission is over, Reginald is yours to deal with as you please. But for now, we need to stay focused. Can you do that?"


    Miya nodded, her jaw tightening. "Yeah. I can do that. And when this is over, even if I do decide to leave him alive��not sure yet��I will make sure he''s so terrified of women he''ll never want to touch one again."


    The group spent the next few hours going over the information Miya had gathered. Thanks to her efforts, they had a clear picture of the Golden Brew Syndicate''s operations, as well as their connections to the Black Vine Consortium, a much larger corporation with ties to a noble household and was primarily based in the Sourthern Region.


    Lira began, "Thankfully, Miya managed to get her hands on a list of names��people who are directly involved in the Consortium''s interactions with Reginald. If we can hunt them down, we''ll be able to obtain more in depth information from their mouths."


    "So is it almost time to deal with Reginald?" Miya asked, her voice cold.


    "Reginald''s just a pawn who probably doesn''t know much about who else is involved aside from the Black Vine Consortium," Darius said. "But he''s a useful pawn. We can use him to get in contact with members of the Black Vine Consortium. Once we''ve got what we need, he''s all yours."


    Miya nodded, her expression hardening. "Good. Because I''m not sure how much longer I can keep playing nice."


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    Thankfully, Reginald presented the opportunity to get into contact with the Black Vine Consortium soon enough.


    Since he had plans to move his operations to the Southern Region, and the Black Vine was based in the Southern Region, he would naturally request their help.


    And naturally, he took Miya along with him so he could show off his ''handsome and powerful CEO'' aura in front of her as he talked business.


    Reginald strutted into the meeting room of the Black Vine Consortium''s Blue Moon City branch, his chest puffed out and his chin held high. Miya followed closely behind, her expression carefully neutral but her eyes sharp, taking in every detail of the opulent office. The room was a stark contrast to the grimy, mildewed factory Reginald called his headquarters. Polished mahogany furniture, crystal chandeliers, and expensive artwork adorned the space, a clear display of the Consortium''s wealth and influence.


    Reginald turned to Miya, flashing her what he probably thought was a charming smile. "Stick close to me, my dear," he said, his voice dripping with false bravado. "You''re about to see how real business is done."


    Miya forced a smile, her stomach churning at his condescending tone. "Of course, Mr. Reginald. I''m looking forward to it."


    The door at the far end of the room opened, and two men walked in. The first was tall and lean, with sharp features and an air of cold authority. The second was shorter but stockier, his face set in a permanent scowl. Both wore tailored suits that screamed money and power, and their presence immediately filled the room with an oppressive tension.


    Reginald''s demeanor shifted instantly. His confident swagger vanished, replaced by a hunched posture and a nervous smile. He dropped all of the arrogant pretense he''d been putting on for Miya and devolved into a snivelling ass-kisser within seconds.

 Chapter 480 An Ambitious Plan

    He rushed forward, extending a hand desperately to the taller man. "Mr. Hawthorne! What an honor to finally meet you in person. I''ve heard so much about your work with the Consortium. Truly inspiring!"


    Hawthorne, the taller of the two Consortium representatives, didn''t even glance at Reginald''s hand. His icy gaze swept over the rotund man with barely concealed disdain, as if he were examining a particularly unpleasant stain on his polished leather shoes. "Reginald," he said, his voice clipped and dripping with condescension. "I hope you''re not wasting our time. We have more important matters to attend to."


    Reginald''s hand dropped awkwardly to his side, and he laughed nervously. "Of course, of course! I wouldn''t dream of wasting your time. I just wanted to discuss my plans for expanding my corporation into the Southern Region. With your guidance, of course."


    The stockier man, who had been silent until now, let out a derisive snort that echoed through the opulent meeting room. "Your corporation? You mean your pathetic little knockoff operation? Don''t make me laugh calling it a corporation"


    Reginald''s face turned a shade of red that clashed horribly with his mustard-yellow suit, but he quickly plastered on another ingratiating smile. "Ah, Mr. Graves! Always so sharp. But you see, my operation has been quite successful here in the Eastern Region. With the Consortium''s support, I''m confident we can replicate that success in the South."


    Hawthorne raised an eyebrow, his expression unimpressed. "Your ''success'' is built on cheap imitations and corner-cutting. Not to mention that we know that there has been a poisoning incident recently related to you so it''d difficult to trust in your ''business expertise.'' The only reason we''ve tolerated you this long is because you''ve proven yourself useful in other ways. But don''t mistake that for approval. The entire spiritual beverage market is destined to end up in the pocket of our consortium, and your cheap imitations only serve to harm our future interests."


    Miya watched the exchange with barely concealed amusement. The arrogant, lecherous man who had been harassing her for weeks was now reduced to a sniveling suck-up, groveling at the feet of this Consortium''s representatives. It was almost as satisfying as the thought of beating Reginald to a pulp herself��almost. S��arch* The Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Graves stepped forward, his scowl deepening. "Listen, Reginald. We don''t have time for your nonsense. If you want our help, you''ll follow our instructions to the letter. No deviations, no excuses. Understood?"


    Reginald nodded eagerly, his head bobbing like a bobblehead doll. "Absolutely, Mr. Graves. Whatever you need, I''m your man."


    Hawthorne''s gaze shifted to Miya, finally paying attention to the woman he deemed inconsequential, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And who is this?"


    Reginald jumped at the opportunity to show off, placing a hand on Miya''s shoulder in what he probably thought was a protective gesture. "This is Mary, my new assistant. She''s been an invaluable addition to the team. Sharp as a tack, this one."


    Miya forced another smile, her skin breaking out into goosebumps under the area Reginald was touching. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hawthorne, Mr. Graves."


    "And her background has been checked?" Hawthorne asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Miya resisted stiffening as sweat began to run down her back. She had no doubt that if Reginald''s answer did not satisfy him, he''d kill her immediately, and maybe even Reginald too.


    "Aahhh, yes. Of course!" Reginald replied while smiling awkwardly.


    ''I''ll do it later. What harm could a little girl without an affinity even do��''


    Hawthorne studied Miya for a moment longer, his expression unreadable, before turning back to Reginald. "Keep her out of the way. We don''t need any distractions or leaks."


    Reginald nodded vigorously. "Of course, of course. Mary, why don''t you wait outside while we discuss business?"


    Miya hesitated, her mind racing. This was her chance to gather more information, but she couldn''t push too hard without raising suspicion. "Of course, Mr. Reginald," she said sweetly, giving him a saccharine smile. "I''ll be right outside if you need me."


    As she turned to leave, she caught a glimpse of the documents on the table��shipping manifests, financial records, and what looked like a contract with another company that hadn''t previously been on their radar but was famous enough for Mary to immediately place the name��Empire Eats Inc.


    Empire Eats was a massive organization that is responsible for supplying and shipping nearly all of the produce needed by the Southern Region''s civilians. It was a massive food empire and its potential involvement in targeting Kain was a major concern.


    As Miya walked out of the meeting room, she couldn''t help but feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. She had been playing the role of "Mary" for weeks now, gathering intel and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And now, it seemed like that moment was finally approaching.


    She took a deep breath and closed the door behind her, trying to process everything she had just heard. The Consortium''s representatives, Hawthorne and Graves, were clearly not impressed with Reginald''s operation, but they were willing to tolerate him as long as he was useful to their interests. And what were those interests, exactly? Miya''s mind was racing with questions and theories.


    But since she had confirmed that Reginald wasn''t irreplaceable or emotionally connected to them in any way, perhaps��


    ''Maybe we can replace him and infiltrate the larger corporation��''


    ----------------------


    "If Empire Eats is involved," Lira said, her voice low, "then this goes way beyond a low-level skirmish between small and mid-sized business aiming to enter the spiritual beverage market. Empire Eats is solidly within the top 10 corporations of the Empire."


    Darius nodded, his expression grim. "Which means we need to be careful. One wrong move, and we could tip off the wrong people."


    Miya crossed her arms, her mind going back to the thought she''d had earlier. "At the end of the day, this is an exam for a life-changing opportunity. If we just tell Kain all that we''ve found and get rid of Reginald, would that be enough to prove our irreplaceable worth? I don''t think so. I think many mercenary groups that we''d met in the past could accomplish this much. But, what if we don''t just take down the Black Vine Consortium? What if we replace them? If we can get ourselves on the inside��become people they trust��we could dismantle their entire operation from within and hand deliver it to Kain!"


    The room fell silent as the group considered her words. It was a bold plan, but it just might work.

 Chapter 481 Duty Calls

    For his part, Kain had no idea that the entrance mission that he''d given to Miya and the others had been voluntarily increased from B-level to S-level difficulty by them. He was blissfully unaware of the chaos they were planning on stirring up, too preoccupied with his own responsibilities.


    Instead, he was focused on re-integrating back into normal life.


    Lord Alaric Veylen, seeming to take Kain''s previous visit as a friendly signal was persistent in inviting him to his home and various functions. However, since Kain had decided to take in Darius, Alaric was already a dead man walking to him. He didn''t see any reason to waste his time befriending the dead�� especially when the man''s days were numbered.


    Kain stretched lazily on the plush couch in his dorm room (unfortunately still the dorm for the second-ranked second-year), savoring the rare moment of peace. The past couple of weeks had been a whirlwind of creating more beast-tamers, aiding in the repair efforts of the city, and training hard in preparation of the next, and final, re-ranking of the year in 2 and a half months.


    Now, finally, he had a chance to rest. The Order typically only assigned mandatory missions every few months, giving its members time to recover and prepare for the next expedition. But with the Abyss growing more active, even these brief moments of rest felt like borrowed time.


    He glanced at the stack of uncompleted homework on his desk and sighed. "Maybe tomorrow," he muttered, closing his eyes and taking advantage of the peace to take a mid-afternoon nap.


    But peace, as always, was fleeting��


    The summons came early the next morning in the form of a notification to the communication device restricted to Order members:


    "Pathfinder Kain, your presence is required at the Order''s headquarters immediately. Further details will be provided upon arrival. Priority Level: High"


    Kain rubbed his temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache. "So much for a break," he muttered, tossing the communicator aside and heading to the shower.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t all that surprised by his break being cut short. With the Abyss growing more aggressive, the frequency of missions had increased dramatically.


    Within the hour, with the help of the College''s teleportation array, Kain found himself in a familiar setting��a private briefing room deep within the heart of the Order''s facilities.


    Several other members of the Order were already present, including, to his surprise, Serena who was standing on the opposite side of the room with the other Starchasers, donning her usual composed expression. Seeing her here meant that whatever this mission was, it involved more than just the Pathfinders.


    Despite seeing a close acquaintance��friend?��Kain went and sat with the other Pathfinders since it seemed as though they were sitting by department. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before long, the door swung open, and silver-haired higher-up who had overseen Kain''s admission exam into the Order strode in, his presence commanding immediate attention.


    He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a face that looked like it had been carved from granite. His eyes swept over the room, before landing on the most senior member in the room��a relatively famous Pathfinder who had been part of the Order for over a decade named Idrias Tailwind. Kain assumed that he would be the captain for this mission.


    "Good, you''re all here," he said, his voice deep and authoritative. "Let''s get started." Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    He activated a holographic map that projected above the table, showing a detailed layout of the southern area of the continent, even further below the Southern Province of the Empire. The map was dotted with markers, each one indicating, what Kain assumed to be, a site of interest.


    "Three days ago, one of our reconnaissance teams discovered a relic in the far south," The grey-haired man began, pointing to a marker near the edge of the map. "Initial scans suggest it''s tied to an ancient civilization that may have developed methods to combat the Abyss. If we can recover it, it could give us a significant advantage."


    Idrias leaned forward, aside from the departmental head of the Pathfinders, he was one of the most experienced Pathfinders in the Order. "What kind of relic are we talking about?"


    "We''re not entirely sure," the commander admitted. "But based on the energy signatures, we believe it to more likely be a Habitat or Trial Relic, rather than a Memory Relic like first believed. However, there are no certainties and there is some indication that it may possess features of more than one type of relic. The major problem is its location. It''s deep in the territory of the nomadic tribes, and they''re not exactly fond of outsiders. Not to mention, while we have been at peace with them for decades, there is a long hostile history between us and the tribespeople."


    He paused to let the fact that even reaching the relic presented an immense ordeal and may result in their death before continuing, "That''s why this is a joint mission. The Starchasers will handle navigation and exploration on the way to and potentially even inside of the relic, while the Pathfinders focus on recovering the necessary historical information."


    "Due to the nature of this mission being in potentially hostile territory, we can''t afford to send a large taskforce, so each of you has been handpicked for having skills we believe to be an invaluable asset to the success of this mission. You''ll be leading the team, Idrias."


    Idrias nodded lost in thought, likely already running through potential strategies in his mind. "What''s the timeline?"


    "You leave in two days," the commander said. "We''ve already arranged transport, but once you''re on the ground, you''re on your own. The tribes are unpredictable, and the Abyss has been unusually active in that region. Stay sharp."


    As the information session continued to outline the mission details, Kain couldn''t help but feel a sense of anticipation.


    This wasn''t just another relic hunt��it was a chance to uncover something that could change the course of the war against the Abyss. The stakes were higher than ever, and failure was not an option.

 Chapter 482 Into the South

    Kain had little time to prepare, but he made the most of it. With the mission set to depart in two days, he moved quickly to settle things in Dark Moon City.


    He informed his professors at Dark Moon College of his extended absence, leaving out the fact that it is related to the Order and instead claiming that the leave of absence is for a mission given by the college.


    His family, sadly accustomed to his sporadic departures, didn''t ask too many questions. Especially after seeing his ability to turn ordinary people into beast-tamers, they had an almost unreasonable level of confidence in Kain��believing that he''d survive even the most sure-death situations.


    As for his businesses, Collin had proven himself more than capable of managing things in Kain''s absence so Kain wasn''t too worried.


    Kain had some regret that he couldn''t see the mission he gave Darius and others to the end before leaving, but, after notifying them that he had a mission of his own, they said that they would strive to give him a big surprise by the time he came back.


    Most of Kain''s time, however, was spent on finalizing his own preparations. His contracts were still in the process of recovering from his previous mission. Bea had only just fully recuperated, while Aegis, who regained consciousness not long ago, was still reconstructing his body. Right now, Aegis only stood as tall as Kain''s chest, a significant downgrade from his usual towering size. While Kain was frustrated that Aegis wasn''t back to full strength, he had to admit��the smaller version was somewhat cute.


    -----------------------


    The two days passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.


    The meeting point for the mission was a secluded teleportation array deep within the Order''s headquarters.


    As the other members of the mission began to arrive, Kain took the opportunity to observe them.


    Benji, Claudia, Clara, and Nadia��his previous teammates��were nowhere to be found in the mission roster. It was no surprise. Benji''s contract had been severely injured, and Nadia had lost one entirely. Even though Kain''s team had survived, the scars of their last encounter still lingered, and Kain himself was still regaining his full strength.


    The five Pathfinders who were his new teammates were strangers to him, their faces unfamiliar but their auras sharp and focused. Any one of them felt as experienced and strong as Nadia who''d been his previous teamleader.


    Kain was willing to bet that even the weakest among the was on the brink of advancing to 7-stars.


    They carried themselves with the confidence of seasoned veterans, their equipment meticulously maintained and their expressions were constantly unreadable


    The Starchasers, similarly, were a stoic group. The Starchasers were impressive, their gear seemed tailored for exploration and survival in a variety of harsh environments. Rather than the more lightweight but more defensively strong armour that most departments typically wear.


    Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    Serena, as the only person Kain was familiar with, was a welcome sight. She caught Kain''s gaze and gave him a small nod of acknowledgement which he returned, and they seemed to share some comfort in each other''s presence.


    Idrias Tailwind, their mission captain, was the last to arrive. He wasted no time in getting straight to the point.


    "All right, listen up," Idrias said, his voice sharp and commanding. "This mission is simple in theory but dangerous in execution. We''re heading deep into uncharted territory. Our destination is beyond the empire''s borders, so we won''t have access to reinforcements or logistical support once we leave. You all need to be ready for anything."


    Everyone else in the room appeared calm at this statement, but Kain couldn''t help feeling a bit uneasy. He didn''t expect things to be easy, but hearing it put so bluntly made the reality of the mission sink in. They were completely cut off from the Order if things didn''t go according to plan.


    Kain caught Serena''s gaze from across the group. Her expression remained neutral, but he had spent enough time around her to recognize the slight tension in her posture.


    ''Glad to see I''m not the only one that doesn''t look like this will be an everyday walk in the park for them��''


    "We''ll be teleporting to the southernmost city in the empire''s Southern Province," Idrias continued. "From there, we''ll travel on foot. It''ll be at least a week before we reach our destination, possibly longer depending on terrain and if there are hostile locals."


    With that, the group moved into position around the teleportation array. Kain felt the familiar surge of energy as the array activated, the world around him blurring and shifting until he found himself standing in a completely different landscape.


    The heat hit him first. It was oppressive, a dry, scorching wave that seemed to suck the moisture from the air.


    The city they arrived in was nothing like the climate Kain was accustomed to. Even though he was from the Southern Province, his hometown was much closer to the empire''s center and had more moderate weather, although it could still get extremely hot in the summers it was nothing compared to now. Here, in the farthest southern reaches of the empire, the terrain and weather were practically another world to him. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The air was thick with dry heat, and the sun blazed mercilessly overhead. The sky was an unbroken expanse of blue, and the land stretched out in an arid, golden expanse, dotted with sparse vegetation. The buildings around them were constructed from stone and clay, designed to withstand the relentless sun. People moved about in light, loose-fitting clothes, some wearing protective headscarves to shield themselves from the heat.


    Kain adjusted his coat, already feeling the sweat gathering at the nape of his neck. "Great," he muttered under his breath. "Didn''t miss this part of the south."


    Serena, standing beside him, seemed completely unaffected by the temperature. If anything, she looked almost at ease.


    Idrias didn''t waste time. After a brief interaction with the local Order branch, their supplies were secured in their space rings or in small bags if they were unable to fit, and the team gathered at the outskirts of the city. From this point on, they were on their own.

 Chapter 483 - 483: Fight or Flight?

    The journey south was tiring from the start.


    The heat bore down on them like a heavy blanket, making every movement feel sluggish��not just physically, but also mentally, as the endless desert landscape created the illusion that they weren''t making any progress.


    Kain, though already accustomed to a warmer than average climate, found himself struggling more than he expected. The dry air sapped his energy, and the constant vigilance required to navigate the sudden arrival of any threats left little room for rest.


    Not to mention that the weather at night didn''t make it any easier to relax. The temperature dropped drastically after sunset, the desert air turning frigid and biting. The drastic temperature drop forced them to huddle around fires and bundle up under layers of blankets for warmth. When they got further away from the Empire and the Starchasers decided against lighting a fire, so as to avoid drawing unneeded attention, sleeping at night became even more difficult.


    The Starchasers, as expected, took the lead in navigating, choosing paths that avoided obvious dangers such as loose sandpits and were able to easily identify areas with unstable ground or potential threats lying in wait. Many of them also had spiritual creatures that specialized in traversing various terrains, sensing threats, and obscuring the traces of travel by their group.


    For the Pathfinders, the travel was more difficult. Many Pathfinders spent their time when not on a mission, in a library or archive. When they did go out, they were more used to trekking through ruins, ancient tombs, and forgotten cities, but the vast emptiness of the desert was a different beast altogether.


    Since every Pathfinder was paired with a Starchaser as escort, Kain kept close to Serena, their shared history providing a small comfort in the face of the unknown.


    The first few days passed in a blur of exhaustion and monotony and the team moved in near silence, conserving their energy and staying alert for any signs of danger.


    Kain spent most of his time tending to his contracts, particularly Aegis, who was still recovering. He chose to use some rare elixirs and spiritual plants he had on hand as long as it ensured they were in peak condition despite the harsh conditions.


    The peaceful monotony, however, didn''t last.


    On the third day, disaster struck.


    The attack came without warning. One moment, they were moving across a stretch of seemingly stable sand, and the next, the ground beneath them exploded in a shower of dust and giant limbs and pincers.


    "Ambush!" Idrias shouted, drawing his weapon in an instant.


    From beneath the sand, monstrous scorpions erupted, their bodies glistening with hardened exoskeletons that shimmered under the sun.


    They ranged in size from small, dog-sized creatures to towering behemoths that dwarfed even Aegis at his full height. Kain''s senses tingled as he assessed the threat��most of the scorpions were weaker than himself, some as weak as white-grade, but many were of indigo or even violet grade, radiating an aura that made his blood run cold. Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    "Stay clear of the big ones!" Idrias shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Focus on the smaller ones and keep moving!"


    Kain didn''t need to be told twice. He called on all of his spiritual creatures, their forms materializing beside him as he prepared to fight. Bea easily controlled the smaller scorpions and used them to intercept the larger ones. Unfortunately, their larger parents didn''t even falter in their charge when their children were before them, crushing them instantly.


    Aegis, after a few more days of Kain''s targeted care, was now a little taller than Kain, but still far from his peak. Thankfully, he was able to temporarily integrate the surrounding stone into himself and provide a brief boost to his strength. Moreover, his much smaller body proved to be surprisingly agile. He wasn''t as powerful as before, but his smaller form let him evade attacks with ease, his stone fists slamming into scorpions'' legs, breaking their balance.


    Kain stayed on the move, close behind him, his spear easily cutting down any of the smaller scorpions that managed to bypass Aegis.


    The Vespid Guards formed a loose circle around him and, at his command, assisted his fleeing comrades. Large-scale battles like these showcased the full utility of contracting an insect queen with dozens of underlings.


    Particularly, due to the swift flight speed, they helped to evacuate more than one colleague who was severely injured and on the brink of death from fending off the stronger scorpions


    For his part Vauleth also did an excellent job of fighting above his level and defending Kain, although he was limited in his movements since the Starchasers had repeatedly stressed not allowing their contracts to fly too high. If their contracts aren''t native to the south and are spotted by a large tribe, their entire group may be targeted.


    Despite their best efforts, the scorpions weren''t relenting. Every time they managed to kill one, more burst from beneath the sand, their numbers seemingly endless. And, worst of all, they weren''t tiring.


    But they were.


    Hours passed, and exhaustion weighed on them. The searing heat, combined with the constant fighting, was draining their stamina at an alarming rate. They were still moving, still fending off the scorpions, but it was clear that at this rate, they wouldn''t last much longer.


    "We can''t keep running!" one of the Pathfinders shouted. "We need to fly out of here! Who cares if a tribe spots us if we die here!?"


    "No," Idrias cut in sharply. "Look up."


    Kain glanced skyward, his heart sinking as he saw the swarm of vulture-like creatures circling overhead. Their dark forms blotted out the sun, their sharp beaks and talons glinting in the light. Based on their skeletal wings and sickly-green eyes, Kain recognized them immediately:


    "Bonewing Stalkers" he muttered in apprehension.


    These creatures were infamous in the South. Opportunistic hunters, they thrived by tracking battles and picking off the weakened. They rarely initiated fights themselves, preferring to wait until their prey was too exhausted to resist. If they flew now, they''d be exposing themselves to another deadly threat.


    "Great," Kain muttered, his grip tightening on his spear. "Just what we needed." S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 484 - 484: Fight

    The battle raged on, the desert air filled with the sounds of clashing steel, the screeches of scorpions, and the occasional cry of pain from the team. Kain fought with everything he had, his muscles burned as his spear cut down scorpion after scorpion for what was likely hours by now. His arms felt like lead, and his vision blurred with exhaustion, but he couldn''t afford to stop.


    But the scorpions were relentless. For every one they killed, especially the seemingly endless low-level ones, two more seemed to take its place. The larger scorpions, were particularly dangerous. Their pincers snapped with enough force to crush a fully grown man in half instantly, and their venomous tails struck with deadly precision.


    The team did their best to avoid engaging them while focusing on the smaller threats, but it was only a matter of time before one of the larger scorpions caused serious damage to their ranks.


    "Behind you!" Serena''s voice cut through the chaos and Kain''s increasingly morbid thoughts.


    Kain twisted just in time, using the shaft of his spear to block the incoming tail strike. The impact rattled his arms, but before the creature could strike again, a streak of silver light flashed through the air. Serena''s Starweaver having launched an arrow of starlight that exploded after being lodged in its body , destroying half of its body instantly.


    "Thanks." Kain exhaled, already shifting to the next threat.


    "We''re getting overwhelmed," Serena said, eyes sharp as she parried another attack. "If we don''t end this soon, we''re going to collapse before they do."


    Almost as if in response to her words, one of the few 7-star Starchasers, a tall man with bird-type contracts only, was caught off guard by a massive scorpion that burst from the sand. Before he could react, the creature''s tail lashed out, striking him in the side. He cried out in pain, collapsing to the ground as the venom coursed through his veins. Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    "Medic!" Idrias shouted, his voice urgent. "We need a healer over here!"


    Several members of the team, including Kain''s Queen at his direction, rushed to the injured Starchaser''s side, naturally as a carefully selected squad there were several healers within the team. Kain watched as glowing tendrils of energy wrapped around the man''s body, the healers working tirelessly to counteract the venom. But even as the flesh knitted back together, Zareth''s condition didn''t improve. The poison lingered, its effects spreading despite their efforts.


    "It''s no use," one of the healers said, her voice strained. "The venom is too potent. We can heal the physical damage, but the poison is beyond our abilities."


    However, the battle situation was still ongoing and they had not much time nor energy to preoccupy with their injured comrade.


    The battle continued, the team fighting with renewed desperation, this time abandoning any thoughts of running away and putting their all into confronting the strongest scorpions. Either they would die or the scorpion leaders would.


    Slowly, the tide began to turn. The scorpions'' relentless assault began to falter, their numbers dwindling as the team fought with everything they had. After a few of the largest scorpions were defeated, likely sensing the shift in the battle, they began to retreat, their massive forms disappearing beneath the sand.


    The remaining scorpions hesitated, their formations faltering. Without their strongest, they wavered. And then, as if some unseen signal had been given, they retreated��scuttling back into the sand, vanishing as quickly as they had appeared.


    Silence fell over the battlefield.


    The only sounds were the ragged breaths of the survivors and the distant screeches of the Bonewing Stalkers above. Sensing the battle was no longer occurring, they began to disperse, their dark forms disappearing into the horizon.


    Kain pulled his spear free, barely suppressing a groan. His muscles burned, his energy nearly depleted. But they had won.


    Or so he thought. S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A sharp cry of pain shattered the moment of victory and reminded everyone that they were at risk of losing nearly a third of their cohort not long into the journey if they couldn''t deal with this poison.


    Idrias knelt beside the injured 7-star Starchaser, his expression unreadable. "There has to be something we can do."


    Another healer shook their head. "We need an antidote��something specifically designed for this scorpion''s venom, the generic anti-venoms we tried didn''t work. But we don''t have anything like that here."


    Kain''s mind raced. He had some rare elixirs, but none of them were meant for this. If they didn''t act fast, much of their team would...


    Idrias turned to another high-level Starchaser, Zareth, who was watching in grim silence. "What are our options?"


    Zareth exhaled sharply. "There are remedies in the southern territories��certain tribes specialize in dealing with venom like this. The Obari Tribe, for instance is one of the closest tribes to here and is said to have mastered the art of crafting antidotes for even the deadliest desert creatures. But reaching them in time and then managing to successfully obtain the antidote��it''s a difficult task." He trailed off, and the meaning was clear.


    Many of these people will likely die on the trip to the nearest tribe.


    Idrias stepped forward, his voice steady despite the evident exhaustion on his face. "If the Obari Tribe is our only hope, then we have to try. We can''t afford to lose anyone, not this early in the mission. If we move quickly, we might be able to reach them before the poison takes hold."


    Zareth nodded, "Agreed. When injured in the wild, we''ve found that no moving the wounded too much can prolong their chances of survival. I suggest that we split into two groups. After we move everyone to a more secure location, one group will stay with the wounded to tend to them and set up a temporary camp. The other will head out immediately to find the Obari Tribe. Time is against us."


    Seeing Idrias nod in agreement, Zareth continued, "I''ll lead the group to the tribe. I''ve studied their movements before, and I know the general direction they might be in even if they have moved since we were shown the map back at headquarters. As for the members I plan to take along...."

 Chapter 485 - 485: Disguised in the Desert

    Kain wasn''t really surprised that Serena had been chosen to travel to the tribe, but he was surprised to be chosen himself. After all, Zareth is a Starchaser and not a Pathfinder, he really shouldn''t know much about Kain.


    Still, Kain happily joined the small group composed of himself, Serena, Zareth, and a couple others meant to track down the Obari Tribe.


    The rest of the team had stayed behind to tend to the wounded, their faces etched with worry as they watched their comrades disappear into the horizon.


    The Obari Tribe was one of the largest nomadic groups in the southern desert, known for their mastery of medicine and their ability to survive in the harshest conditions.


    But despite their large size, finding them was no easy task.


    Each member of the group carried several sets of local clothing in a variety of colours and styles, provided by the Order well in advance, ensuring they could navigate this region without immediately being marked as outsiders. The loose, flowing garments were designed to blend in with the desert tribes with the added benefit of covering much of their faces due to the sheet of fabric meant to shield their faces from sand. Moreover, their brown and cream earthy tones and lightweight fabric perfect for the harsh environment. Enjoy new adventures from My Virtual Library Empire


    As they approached the area where the tribe was last reported to be, Kain was disheartened to see the completely barren sandscape. Barely anything was left behind to indicate a large tribe had even been there recently. Moreover, the harsh winds immediately eliminated from the soft sand much of their signs of travel that could be used to follow them. However, Zareth just continued walking as though this were to be expected.


    Eventually, after cresting a large dune, they saw the object of their travels. The Obari Tribe was a sight to behold and nothing like.


    Their encampment was a sprawling collection of massive tents and makeshift structures, arranged in a loose circle around a central fire pit. The tents were made from thick, woven fabric dyed in vibrant patterns of red, gold, and yellow, their colors standing out against the pale sands, but not jarringly so.


    The tribe was alive with activity. Men and women moved about, their movements purposeful and efficient. Some tended to livestock��creatures resembling larger than average camels and goats that were tethered to posts��while others worked on crafts or prepared food. Children darted between the tents, their laughter ringing out as they played games. Despite the harshness of their environment, the Obari Tribe seemed to thrive, their community strong and vibrant.


    Kain and the others stopped at a distance, observing the tribe from the cover of the dune. "This is it," Zareth said, his voice low. "We need to get in, find the antidote, and get out without drawing too much attention. It''s best to travel in smaller groups so we will travel in three pairs."


    Everyone nodded in agreement and Kain was partnered with Serena. Apparently, their extensive experience going on missions together was known to Zareth and was likely the factor in why he selected Kain to travel with their group.


    Kain pulled out a fresh set of local clothing he had been given, choosing a garment in red among the various colours he had since that was the most common colour he could see in the tribe from a distance. In fact, based on the large flag flying high above the encampment, that had a red background and a crossed red sword and shield, red may be the representative colour for the Obari tribespeople and so choosing a red garment would help him to blend in.


    Based on the selections of Serena, Zareth, and the others, they shared his thoughts.


    Kain quickly changed into the loose, flowing garments. The fabric was surprisingly comfortable, its lightweight design providing relief from the oppressive heat although it offered practically no defensive protection. The others followed suit, their appearances transforming as they donned the local attire. With their faces partially covered by scarves or other head covering and their weapons hidden beneath their robes, they looked like any other group of local travelers.


    "Remember," Zareth said, his tone serious. "We''re here for the antidote. No unnecessary risks. If we''re caught, this mission could fall apart."


    The group nodded, their expressions grim. They knew the stakes. The lives of their comrades depended on their success. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As they approached the encampment, Kain felt a surge of adrenaline. The tribe''s guards��tall, imposing figures with spears and shields��watched them closely as they approached.


    Just when they were about to cross into the colony, a spear from each guard crossed one another in an x-shape to block their paths.


    Kain''s heart couldn''t help skipping a beat, but forced a pretend calm.


    Thankfully, Zareth didn''t seem too surprised and reached into a cloth pouch hanging at his waist and handed over 6 gold coins, which Kain was an accepted local currency, one for each entrant.


    After inspecting and counting the coins, and saying something that Kain couldn''t understand in the local dialect, they were allowed in.


    The inside of the encampment was even more impressive up close. The tents were larger than they had appeared from a distance, their interiors filled with colorful rugs, cushions, and intricate carvings. The air was thick with the scent of spices and cooking meat, and the sound of music drifted from somewhere nearby.


    Kain''s eyes darted around, searching for any sign of the tribe''s apothecary. He looked for any universal tell-tale logos or symbols that he''d recognize as being for healers, but didn''t have much luck��perhaps it''s the cultural difference?


    Kain''s gaze flicked to Zareth, who was already moving with his partner toward a group of tribesmen engaged in conversation.


    He realized that, unlike Zareth, his lack of familiarity with the local language and culture was seriously handicapping his ability to navigate the tribe. He needed information, thankfully, he had just the contract to help him.


    As Kain wandered through the encampment, he kept his senses sharp, his eyes and ears attuned to any useful information while looking for the perfect target.


    Finally, in an isolated corner between two tents and out of the line of sight of most passersby was an elderly woman sitting on the ground and washing and intricately dyed cloth in a large clay bowl. She only gave off the aura of the equivalent of a 3-star beast-tamer and her age would suggest she''d be quite knowledgeable about the tribe. Serena subtly stood in a position that would completely cover anyone''s line of sight into the alleyway while Kain released Bea.


    The elderly woman barely had time to react to Kain''s presence before she was fully controlled by Bea. The necessary information was transferred to Kain''s mind, but in her memories he realized that high-level medicines aren''t sold easily to unfamiliar strangers.


    ''Sorry��I guess I will need you for a little longer��'' Kain thought with a guilty chagrined expression as he gazed at the elderly woman standing on shaking legs.

 Chapter 486 - 486: The Elderly Woman’s Errand

    Kain and Serena watched as the elderly woman, now under Bea''s control, unsteadily hobbled through the bustling tribe. Her frail body barely supported by the staff she held in her wrinkled hands.


    Kain and Serena followed at a discreet distance, their faces partially obscured by their scarves, their eyes darting around to ensure they weren''t being watched too closely.


    With every step, her shoulders trembled slightly, and her slow, unsteady pace only amplified Kain''s growing discomfort. He could feel Serena''s piercing gaze burning into the side of his head, a judgmental silence heavy between them.


    Serena shot Kain a sharp glare, her disapproval evident even through the fabric covering her face. "You''re using an old woman for this?" she hissed under her breath, her voice low but laced with judgment. "She can barely walk. This feels�� wrong."


    Kain winced, his guilt flaring up again. He kept his voice equally low as he responded, "I know it''s not ideal, but we don''t have a choice. The medicine we need isn''t something just anyone can buy. Even if we were tribespeople, it''d be difficult to get our hands on it. But her�� she''s different."


    Serena''s glare didn''t soften, so Kain hurried to explain. "She''s lived here her whole life. She''s got connections, respect. Her grandson is one of the tribe''s rising stars��strong, talented, and well-liked. People here look up to him, and by extension, they respect her. She''s not the type to throw her weight around, so when she asks for something, people are more than willing to help. It''s our best shot."


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    Serena''s gaze didn''t soften at all, though Kain could see some internal conflict in it. Although she hated to admit it, Kain was willing to bet that she also knew this old lady was one of their best shots. Those who could get the medicine more easily than her wouldn''t be so easily controlled by Bea.


    The elderly woman continued her slow journey through the encampment, her movements unsteady. Kain and Serena followed at a safe distance, their eyes scanning the area for any signs of trouble. The tribe was alive with activity��children playing, women weaving, men tending to livestock��but no one paid much attention to the old woman or the two strangers trailing behind her.


    Eventually, they reached a part of the encampment that felt different from the rest. The tents here were larger and more ornate, their fabrics dyed in intricate patterns that seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and medicinal oils, and the atmosphere was quieter, more subdued. Kain''s heart raced as he realized they were close.


    The elderly woman stopped in an obscure location not far, but out of view of an unassuming tent, its entrance guarded by two imposing tribesmen. The tent itself was plain compared to the others, but the symbol painted above its entrance caught Kain''s attention��a coiled serpent surrounded by a ring of flames.


    Kain frowned slightly. There was no universal healer''s symbol, no obvious markings to indicate it housed medicine.


    ''If that''s the symbol for this tribe''s healers then I never would have gotten it��'' Kain thought with a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance at how unfriendly the symbols chosen by this tribe were to the understanding of visitors. But perhaps that was the point��after all, they likely don''t want such an important location to be easily found by non-locals.


    Taking no chances, Kain reached into his satchel and pulled out the entirety of the gold Zareth had given him. He pressed it into the old woman''s palm, curling her fingers around the coins with careful precision. "Use this," he said softly. "I''m not heartless enough to make you pay."


    The elderly woman didn''t react beyond tightening her grip on the coins, her movements still controlled by Bea. Then, without hesitation, she shuffled toward the guarded entrance.


    Kain and Serena positioned themselves at a discreet distance, keeping to the shadows cast by a nearby tent. From here, they had a clear view but were far enough away not to draw unwanted attention.


    Kain''s breath hitched as he watched the guards tense up at the woman''s approach. For a moment, he feared they might turn her away, but then one of the guards recognized her. Their rigid postures eased, their expressions losing their initial wariness. They dipped their heads respectfully and, without a single word, stepped aside, pulling back the heavy fabric entrance to allow her through. One of them even bowed slightly as she passed.


    Kain exhaled in relief, his tense shoulders relaxing before he smirked at Serena. "See? Easy."


    Serena, still watching, remained silent. Her arms were crossed, her expression still slightly conflicted by their actions.


    Kain turned his focus back to the tent. With Bea''s connection still active, he concentrated and shared the old woman''s perspective with Serena.


    The inside of the tent was dimly lit, the air thick with the scent of herbs and incense. Shelves lined the walls, filled with jars and pouches of various sizes. Some contained dried plants, others powders or liquids, their labels written in a script Kain couldn''t read. In the center of the tent stood a large wooden table, its surface cluttered with mortars, pestles, and other tools of the trade.


    The elderly woman approached the table, her movements slow. A man stood behind it, his face obscured by a hooded robe. He looked up as she approached, his eyes narrowing slightly.


    "What brings you here, Elder?" he asked, his voice low and gravelly.


    The woman held out the pouch of gold coins, her hands trembling slightly. "I need medicine," she said, her voice frail but firm. "For the Titan Scorpion''s venom." S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man''s eyes flashed with something strange at her request. Had her grandson gotten stung by the Titan Scorpion? There had been news about their nest being nearby which was why the tribe decided to move, but there hadn''t been any news of him being injured.


    However, the man decided to not ask too many questions, since her grandson was a potential candidate to lead the tribe one day, he may have been the victim of a secret assassination attempt which would explain the lack of news.


    The man''s eyes flicked to the pouch, then back to her face. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take it. "That scorpion''s venom is potent, and so the medicine for it is quite rare and costly" he said, his tone cautious. "Are you sure that is what you need?"


    The woman nodded, her expression resolute. "Yes. It''s urgent."


    The man studied her for a moment longer before finally nodding. He turned and began rummaging through the shelves, his movements quick and precise. After a few moments, he returned with a small vial filled with a thick, green liquid.


    "This should do," he said, handing it to her. "Use it sparingly. One drop is enough to counteract the venom from a low-grade scorpion, three for mid-grade venom, and five for those pitiful souls stung by a high-grade scorpion."


    The woman took the vial, her hands trembling as she clutched it tightly. "Thank you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.


    The man nodded, his expression unreadable. "Take care, Elder."


    Kain and Serena watched through the woman''s eyes as she turned and began to hobble back toward the entrance. Kain''s heart raced with anticipation, his grip tightening on Serena''s hand, not even aware of when he''d grabbed it. They were so close. Just a few more steps, and they''d have the antidote.


    But as the woman reached the entrance, a different set of guards on the inside of the tent responsible for internal security stepped forward, one moved his spear blocking her path. "Wait," he said, his voice sharp. "What''s in your hand?"


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat. This wasn''t part of the plan.

 Chapter 487 - 487: Schemes in the Sand

    The guard''s voice was sharp, his spear pointed directly at the elderly woman. Kain''s heart pounded as he watched through her eyes, his mind racing. This wasn''t supposed to happen. The guards had let her in without question��why were these ones stopping her now?


    The elderly woman, still under Bea''s control, froze in place, her frail hands clutching the vial of antidote tightly. The guard stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized her. "What''s in your hand?" he repeated, his tone more demanding this time.


    Kain''s mind raced. If the guard took the vial, their entire mission would be compromised. They couldn''t afford to lose the antidote��not when their comrades'' lives depended on it. He glanced at Serena, her expression tense but focused. They needed a plan, and they needed it fast.


    Inside the tent, the elderly woman hesitated for a moment before responding. Her voice was shaky but firm, her words carefully chosen. "Medicine," she said, holding up the vial for the guard to see. "For my grandson. He was stung by a scorpion while hunting."


    The guard''s expression actually hardened slightly, at the mention of the grandson, in contrast to the previous guards. "Your grandson? Malzahir?" he asked, tone harsh and almost��in anticipation?


    The woman nodded, her eyes downcast. "Yes. He''s in pain, and I couldn''t bear to see him suffer. Please, let me take this to him."


    The guard seemed determined to refuse when the hooded man glanced at the guard. "When giants fight, the little people suffer. Be careful of making your stance too obvious and bringing disaster upon yourself. After all, Malzahir is still the favored candidate of Lord Sirakhim."


    After a long moment of internal conflict, likely wanting to take this opportunity to get rid of the strong Malzahir and help his preferred candidate for the next chief, he eventually stepped aside to let her pass. "Go quickly, Elder. And tell your grandson to be more careful in the future." He grumbled through gritted teeth with feigned concern.


    The woman nodded again, her relief palpable. She hobbled out of the tent, the vial clutched tightly in her hand.


    Kain exhaled sharply, his shoulders relaxing as he watched the elderly woman make her way back toward them. "That was too close," he muttered, his voice low.


    Serena nodded, her eyes still fixed on the woman. "We need to get out of here before anyone else gets suspicious. Or one of he grandson''s rivals choose to take a shot at her on the road to prevent her from ''rescuing her grandson''."


    Kain agreed, his mind already racing through their next steps. They had the antidote, but they weren''t out of danger yet. The tribe was vast, and the guards were vigilant. One wrong move, and they could be discovered.


    As the elderly woman approached, Kain reached out to take the vial from her. His fingers brushed against hers, and for a moment, he felt a pang of guilt. Kain had no idea about the complex political situation in this tribe, and he had no idea if their actions today would put her or her grandson in unnecessary danger later on.


    But he pushed the thought aside, focusing on the task at hand. His loyalty was first and foremost to his allies and couldn''t afford to spend time worrying about an unrelated foreigner.


    "Thank you," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "We''ll make sure this gets to where it''s needed."


    The woman didn''t respond, her eyes vacant as Bea maintained control. Kain glanced at Serena, his expression grim. "Let''s go. We need to get back to the others."


    Not long after they left, the elderly woman''s eyes blinked several times before regaining clarity. Gazing around her surroundings in puzzlement, she began her slow walk home, unaware that some less than friendly forces were also moving in her direction.


    They moved quickly but carefully, their steps light and deliberate as they navigated the maze of tents. The encampment was still bustling with activity, but the tension in the air was palpable. Kain could feel the weight of the guards'' eyes on them, their presence a constant reminder of the danger they were in.


    They neared the meeting location they decided on beforehand with Zareth and the others, while sending a message on the encrypted communication device provided by the Order to let them know that they got what was needed.


    They didn''t have to wait long before the others also arrived. The third group, which was composed of people completely unfamiliar to Kain, returned unsuccessful in getting the antidote, while Zareth arrived back with his partner, also successfully managing to get the medicine needed. He had been about to purchase the medicine after going around unsuccessfully for a while when he''d received the message from Kain, surprised that the pair of rookies had accomplished the task even faster than him. However, since he wasn''t sure of how much Kain and Serena had managed to purchase, he still chose to complete the purchase of the antidote too.


    Regrouped, they began to move toward the exit of the encampment in their same pairs, deciding that it drew less attention than one large group.


    A team of guards stood near the entrance, their spears crossed as they scrutinized everyone who passed as well as their belongings. Everyone in their group exchanged a glance, their unspoken agreement clear. They couldn''t risk being stopped��not now.


    Kain reached into his satchel, pulling out a small pouch of gold coins. He handed it to Serena, his voice low. "Be ready to distract them if we need to." S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena nodded, her expression tense but determined. They approached the guards, their movements calm and unhurried. The guards watched them closely, their eyes narrowing as they stepped forward.


    "Halt," one of the guards said, his voice sharp. "Where are you going?" Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain forced a smile, his tone friendly but firm. "We''re just travelers passing through. We paid the entrance fee earlier."


    The guard''s expression didn''t change. "Let me see your belongings."


    Kain''s heart raced, but he kept his composure. He opened his satchel, showing the guard its contents��a few coins, some dried rations, and a small water flask. The guard glanced inside, his expression unreadable, before nodding.


    "Move along," he said, stepping aside. Kain and Serena didn''t need to be told twice. They moved quickly.


    ''Thank god space rings are rare in the south'' Kain thought after he returned the bags he''d taken out just for show, while rejoicing in the fact that the guards didn''t even consider the fact that he may have a space ring.


    Their team of six soon left the encampment behind.

 Chapter 488 - 488: The Antidote(s)

    The journey back to the temporary camp was tense and hurried since they were unsure how many, or if any, of their poisoned allies were still alive.


    The third pair, who had returned empty-handed and were likely frustrated by their lack of success, offered to use their own contracts as mounts for everyone and pushed them to the limit, even at the expense of their contracts not being at peak fighting condition for a while. Sear?h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    Kain could tell they were desperate to prove their usefulness so didn''t refuse. After all, his contracts could rest while they made their way back to the others as quickly as possible.


    The beasts galloped across the desert terrain with impressive speed, kicking up a trail of dust. Kain felt the tension in the air, the desperation of their comrades fueling their determination to reach the camp as quickly as possible. Even the typically cold Serena was gripping the reins a little too tightly in tension and worry.


    Kain''s mind raced as they walked. They had the antidote��or at least, they thought they did, they still needed to try it to be sure. But the encounter with the guards and the apothecary had left him uneasy.


    Something about the way the guard had reacted to the mention of the elderly woman''s grandson, Malzahir, had set off alarm bells in his mind. The political tensions within the tribe were clearly volatile, and Kain couldn''t shake the feeling that they had stumbled into something far more complicated than they had anticipated.


    When they finally reached the camp, the relief on their comrades'' faces was palpable. Idrias stepped forward, his expression tense but hopeful. "Did you get it?" he asked, his voice low and urgent.


    Kain and Zareth both reached into their space rings, pulling out the vials they had obtained. Kain''s vial contained a thick, green liquid, while Zareth''s held a shimmering, golden substance. The two antidotes were completely different in appearance, and the group immediately noticed the discrepancy.


    "Why are they different?" Idrias asked, his brow furrowing as he studied the vials. "Which one is the real antidote?"


    Kain and Zareth exchanged a glance, their expressions equally uncertain. "We both got these from different apothecaries," Zareth explained. "I assumed mine was the correct one, but��" He trailed off, his gaze flicking to Kain''s vial.


    Kain shook his head. "I thought the same about mine. The apothecary I went to seemed legitimate, but��" He hesitated, his mind racing. "We need to test them. Quickly."


    Idrias nodded, his expression grim. "We don''t have time to waste. Let''s start with the worst-off."


    They moved to the side of the camp where an injured 6-star Starchaser lay, his breathing shallow and his skin pale. The venom had taken a severe toll on him, and it was clear he didn''t have much time left. Idrias knelt beside him, holding up the two vials. "We''re going to try one of these," he said, his voice steady but urgent. "But we aren''t sure which one is the correct antidote, it can very well be poison."


    The weakened man tried to laugh to ease the tension but ended up coughing up blood in the process. Once the violent fit of coughing calmed down he weakly joked, "As you can see, I can''t exactly get much worse��"


    His attempt at humor did little to lighten the mood. A few of his comrades forced chuckles, but the grim reality of the situation remained.


    Idrias'' mood wasn''t lightened in the slightest, but bowed his head solemnly to the other man as a gesture of thanks for being the ''guinea pig.''


    "The guy I bought it from said to give 1 drop for low-level scorpion venom, 3 for mid-level, and 5 for high-level scorpion stings," Zareth said. Kain also nodded to indicate that he received the same instructions. Although they weren''t sure of which antidote was correct, it looks like the instructions give had gained some credibility though.


    He uncorked Zareth''s vial first, the golden liquid shimmering in the sunlight. Carefully, he administered 3 drops to the man''s lips, watching intently for any sign of improvement. The group held their breath, the tension in the air almost palpable.


    But nothing happened.


    The man''s condition didn''t improve. If anything, his breathing seemed to grow even more labored. Idrias'' expression darkened, and he turned to Kain. "Your turn."


    Kain stepped forward, his hands trembling slightly as he uncorked his vial. The green liquid inside was thick and viscous, its vile scent sharp and resembling a poison more than medicine. He also administered 3 drops to the man''s lips, his heart pounding as he waited for a reaction.


    For a moment, there was nothing. Then, slowly, the man''s breathing began to steady. His color returned, and his eyes fluttered open, though they were still clouded with pain. The group let out a collective sigh of relief, their hope renewed.


    "It worked," Idrias said, his voice filled with relief. "Kain''s antidote is the real one."


    But their relief was short-lived. The next injured member of the team, a Pathfinder who had also been stung by a mid-grade scorpion, was given 3 drops of Kain''s green antidote. This time, however, there was no improvement. The man''s condition remained unchanged, his breathing shallow and his skin pale.


    A deep frown creased Kain''s brow. Something was off.


    The group exchanged uneasy glances, their confusion mounting. "Why isn''t it working?" Serena asked, her voice tense. "It worked on the first one."


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to make sense of the situation. "Maybe�� maybe the venom affects people differently," he suggested, though he didn''t sound convinced. "Or maybe the antidote needs time to take effect."


    Idrias shook his head, his expression grim. "We don''t have time to wait. Let''s try Zareth''s antidote."


    Reluctantly, they administered drops of the golden liquid to the second injured man. To their surprise, his condition began to improve almost immediately. His breathing steadied, and his color returned, just as it had with the first man.


    The group fell silent, their confusion deepening. "What''s going on?" Zareth asked, his voice filled with frustration. "Why did mine work on him but not the first one? And why did Kain''s work on the first but not the second?"


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to piece together the puzzle. Then, it hit him. "They''re both antidotes," he said, his voice low but certain. "But they''re only half of the cure. The apothecaries we went to��they each gave us one part of the remedy. We need both to fully counteract the venom."


    The realization sent a chill down his spine. The apothecary he had encountered��the one who had seemed so kind and helpful��had deliberately withheld the full antidote. And the guard''s reaction to the mention of Malzahir�� it all made sense now. The political tensions within the tribe had spilled over into their dealings, and they had been caught in the crossfire.


    "They played us," Kain said, his voice filled with a mix of anger and disbelief. "They knew we needed the full antidote, but they only gave us half. Perhaps for you they sensed that you weren''t a local and treated the lives of non-tribesmen coldly, if not hostilely. On our end, the deception may have been more politically motivated..." Kain quickly explained the method he''d used to obtain the antidote and the mysterious ''Malzahir'' that seemed to be a polarizing figure within the tribe.


    Zareth''s fists clenched at Kain''s words, his face darkening with fury. "Those bastards," he growled, his voice low and seething. "They deliberately screwed us over��played with our lives like some sick game. If you hadn''t also gotten the other vial��Damn it!"


    Kain couldn''t help but shudder at the thought of the two-faced apothecary. The man had seemed so kind, so helpful, and even defended the old woman from the guard hostile to her grandson, but beneath the surface, he had been plotting against them��and against Malzahir. This was an important lesson for them all, the desert was a harsh and unforgiving place, and its people were no less dangerous.


    The group fell silent, the weight of Kain''s words sinking in. They had been duped, and now their comrades'' lives hung in the balance.


    Idrias'' expression hardened at the deception but quickly returned to calm, "both healers wished to trick you and only sold one half of the necessary remedy, but thankfully it just so happened that the other person got the other half necessary one. In a sense we are all extremely lucky, their plans would have easily succeeded had this perfect coincidence not occurred."


    The group nodded, still disgruntled by the deception, but after realizing they had the true antidote in full now, they were a little amused at the unsuccessful sabotage.


    They quickly combined the two antidotes, creating a new mixture that shimmered with a faint, golden-green hue. Carefully, they administered it to the remaining injured members of the team, their hearts pounding as they waited for a reaction.


    One by one, the injured began to improve. Their breathing steadied, their color returned, and their eyes fluttered open. The antidote was working.


    But for now, they had won a small victory. The antidote had worked, and their comrades were safe.

 Chapter 489 - 489: Tension Under the Tarp

    The injured members of the team made significant progress overnight, their strength returning as the antidote worked its magic.


    By midday, they were back on their feet, though still weak and in need of rest. Idrias decided to give them the full day to recuperate. Although they were pressed for time on this mission, he knew that pushing them too soon could jeopardize the mission.


    As the sun began to set, Idrias called the group together. "We move out at first light," he said, his voice firm. "The relic is still our priority, and we can''t afford to waste any more time. Be ready."


    Since most of those injured had their physical problem healed days ago and were mostlye suffering from the venom remaining in their system, once it was removed and thanks to the increased physical ability of beast-tamers, they managed to reach top condition surprisingly quickly.


    The next day, they set out at dawn, their steps quicker than at the beginning of their journey to make up for the lost time.


    But the desert had other plans.


    By midday, the sky began to darken, the once-brilliant blue replaced by a swirling mass of gray and brown. The wind picked up, its gusts growing stronger with each passing minute. Kain''s heart sank as he realized what was coming.


    "Sandstorm!" Zareth shouted, his voice barely audible over the howling wind. "Take cover!"


    The group scrambled to find shelter, pulling out large tents and covers from their space rings, or pressing their bodies behind large rocks nearby, their movements frantic as the sandstorm descended upon them.


    The wind roared like a living thing, its gusts whipping sand and debris through the air. Kain pulled his scarf over his face, his eyes squinting against the painful onslaught of what felt like tiny nails hitting his skin.


    The world around him became a blur of swirling sand and howling wind, the visibility reduced to almost nothing.


    Kain and Serena huddled together behind a rocky outcrop, their bodies pressed tightly against each other as the sandstorm raged around them, while using a tarp Serena had pulled out to increase their coverage.


    The storm seemed to last forever and Kain found himself noticing things he wouldn''t normally due to their unusually close proximity. For example, Kain found himself noticing the way Serena''s white hair curled slightly at the nape of her neck; the fact that her hair and eyes had an almost otherworldly quality in the dim lighting; and that despite the long trip, with less than ideal sanitation conditions, she somehow still smelled��sweet.


    Kain felt a sense of tension, his awareness of Serena''s presence growing as minutes became hours of waiting, though he attributed it to being overly conscious of their rivalry rather than anything more.


    By the time it finally subsided, the group was exhausted and Kain quickly scrambled to leave the close quarters.


    Despite everyone having some kind of cover, their bodies were coated in a fine layer of sand.


    Thankfully, although they all felt disgusting covered in a layer of sand, they were all relatively unharmed and continued on their journey, deciding against wasting more time on their journey.


    However, as the night began to fall, a sense of uneasiness began to build among the Starchasers that Kain and the other Pathfinders just couldn''t relate to.


    Due to the sandstorm the landscape had changed, the once-familiar terrain now subtly different, moreover, the sandstorm may be related to some larger geomagnetic anomaly, because their compasses were also slightly off course without them realizing.


    As a result, they had no way of knowing how far they had strayed from their intended path and the Starchasers only realized something was wrong when night fell.


    The Starchasers immediately went to work, their movements quick and efficient as they studied the sky and the surrounding terrain. Kain watched as Serena pulled out a small, intricately designed compass and began to adjust it, her eyes focused on the horizon.


    "How can you guys tell that we''re off course and that something is wrong with the regular compasses?" Kain asked, his slightly awkward demeanor around her after their close proximity under the tarp now returning to normal after enough time had passed.


    Serena glanced at him, her expression calm but absentminded as she focused on their current predicament. "All Starchasers have a mental map of the night sky," she explained. "We memorize the positions of the stars, and we use them to navigate. If even one guiding star is out of place, we can typically tell that our path is off even if all of our equipment is malfunctioning."


    Kain nodded, impressed by the Starchasers'' expertise. "So, you only sensed something was wrong at night?"


    "Exactly," Serena said, her tone confident. "Once the night deepens and more of the stars are fully visible, we''ll be able to correct our course."


    That night, as the stars began to appear in the sky, the Starchasers gathered to assess their position. Kain watched as they studied the constellations, their movements precise and deliberate. After a few moments, Zareth turned to Idrias, her expression serious.


    "We''re off course," he said, his voice low. "But not by much. We should be able to correct our path by travelling southeast for a period of time."


    Idrias nodded, his expression grim. "Then that''s what we''ll do. Sorry everyone, but rest time is over."


    Eager to make up for lost time, they all continued travelling through the night, but nobody complained and their march didn''t stop even when the sun rose again.


    Eventually, as they crested a large dune, Kain''s eyes caught sight of something in the distance. At first, he thought it was a rock or a piece of debris, but as they drew closer, he realized it was a person��a man, lying motionless on the sand.


    "Over there!" Kain shouted, pointing toward the figure.


    The group hurried over, their movements quick but cautious. As they approached, Kain''s heart sank. The man was in terrible condition.


    His clothes were torn and caked with sand, his skin dry and cracked from exposure to the sun. His face was gaunt, his cheeks hollow, and his lips were chapped and bleeding. His breathing was shallow, and his body was covered in bruises and cuts, some of which looked infected. He looked more dead than alive.


    "Is he��?" Serena began, her voice trailing off.


    Kain knelt beside the man, his fingers pressing against his neck to check for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. "He''s alive," Kain said, his voice filled with relief. "But barely." sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Idrias stepped forward, his expression grim. "We need to heal him. If he''s a local, he might have valuable information. And even if he doesn''t, making a positive connection in the desert could be useful."


    The group nodded, their agreement unanimous. They quickly set to work, their movements efficient as they tended to the man''s wounds. The healers among them summoned their contracts, green and white energy wrapping around the man''s body as they worked to stabilize him.


    Kain watched as the man''s breathing began to steady, his color slowly returning. If the man had information, potentially even about the relic they were headed to, that would be for the best. But extracting that information may not be easy.


    "Doesn''t matter. If he''s unwilling to talk," Kain muttered in a low voice to himself, "we have options."


    And indeed they did. Kain and one other member of their group both had a mental attribute contract.


    The other''s spiritual contract had weaker capabilities than Bea and were closer to hypnotism but they were boosted by a gift he apparently had also related to hypnotism. Unfortunately, the man would need to be awake and able to talk, so healing him was necessary.


    However, although Bea doesn''t have this requirement, Kain still decided that healing the man was for the best. A con of Bea is that her invasion is not as gentle a method of obtaining information as hypnotism and if the target resists, it can be a strain on them, and since this person is so weak they may die while resisting Bea''s invasion.


    And if he doesn''t resist? That would be for the best and is often the case for those weaker than Bea, but unlikely in this case since Kain could sense that this man was at least 6-star beast-tamer, likely even 7-star since it is difficult to judge in his unconscious and weakened condition. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

 Chapter 490 - 490: Silent Standoff

    The man''s breathing steadied, his chest rising and falling in a slow, rhythmic pattern as the healers continued their work.


    The green and white energy from their contracts wrapped around his body, knitting together torn flesh and purging infection from his wounds. His cracked lips regained some color, and the sunken in hollows in his cheeks seemed less pronounced, although he still looked as though he hadn''t eaten in days it was a massive improvement.


    Yet, despite the physical healing, his mind remained closed off, his consciousness buried deep beneath layers of exhaustion and trauma.


    As the healers finished their work, the man''s eyelids fluttered, and a low groan escaped his lips. His eyes opened slowly, squinting against the harsh sunlight. For a moment, he seemed disoriented, his gaze darting around the group of strangers surrounding him. Then, his expression hardened, and he tried to sit up, his movements sluggish but determined to leave.


    "Easy," Idrias said, his voice calm but firm. "You''re safe. We found you in the desert. You were in bad shape."


    The man''s eyes narrowed, his gaze flicking from Idrias to the others. He said nothing, his lips pressed into a thin line, and it was hard to tell whether it was only due to wariness or if he didn''t know the common language of the Empire.


    Idrias had Zareth and a few of the other Starchasers attempt to communicate in the local tongue. Unlike Pathfinders that were typically skilled in multiple old and dead languages that would be more often seen in relics, Starchasers are usually more adept at navigating modern dialects and languages due to the far off places their travels may take them.


    Unfortunately, Zareth and the other Starchasers'' attempts were useless. Kain could see the wariness in his eyes, the way his body tensed as if preparing for a fight. This man was no fool��he knew better than to trust strangers in the desert. Especially not after he''d ended up in his current pitiful state after being betrayed by his own tribesmen��


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    "*We''re travelers. We''re heading south. Do you remember what happened to you?*" Serena added in the local language, her tone unusually soft.


    ''I guess they decided to try the beauty trap route,'' Kain thought somewhat cynically after seeing how adamant their colleagues were that Serena take over the task of communication after they all proved unsuccessful.


    The man''s eyes locked onto Serena for a long while, and for a moment, Kain thought he might respond. But then he shook his head, his expression unreadable. He remained silent, his gaze shifting to the horizon as if searching for something��or someone.


    Kain exchanged a glance with the other member of their group who had a mental attribute contract. The man, a 6-star Pathfinder named Eli, nodded subtly. It was time to try the less gentle approach��forcefully extracting answers.


    Eli stepped forward with his contract. His contract resembled a metal intricate bell that seemed to have the face of an old man carved into its side, but this face was capable of moving and changing its expression. S��arch* The ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As Eli and his contract stepped forward, he kept his movements calm and non-threatening. "We don''t mean you any harm," he said, his voice took on an almost otherworldly quality that seemed to echo with several voices overlaying his while his contract began to emit rhythmic tolls of its bell. "But we need to know if there''s anything out there that could threaten us. Can you tell us what happened to you?"


    Elias''s contract was designed to gently nudge the mind into a suggestible state. It was less invasive than Bea''s control, but it required the target to be at least somewhat willing��or at least not actively resisting��but Elias'' gift helped greatly with that restriction. As Elias''s aura from his gift enveloped the man, Kain could see the tension in the man''s body increase. His eyes widened, and he tried to pull away, but the healers held him steady.


    "Relax," Elias said, his voice low and hypnotic. "You''re safe. We just want to help you. Tell us what happened."


    For a moment, it seemed to work. The man''s body relaxed slightly, and his gaze softened. But then, just as Elias began to probe deeper, the man''s eyes snapped back into focus, and he let out a low growl. His resistance was fierce, his mind slamming shut like a steel trap. Elias stumbled back, his aura flickering and fading as the man''s willpower overwhelmed the combined efforts of his contract''s skill and his gift.


    "Damn it," Elias muttered, rubbing his temples. "His willpower is too strong."


    Kain''s eyes narrowed. He had expected this. The man''s aura had already hinted at his strength, and now it was clear that he was no ordinary beast-tamer. If Elias''s gentle approach had failed, it was time for Bea.


    Kain stepped forward, his expression calm but determined. "Let me try," he said, his voice steady. He glanced at Idrias, who gave a curt nod. The group backed away, giving Kain space to work while gazing at him curiously. Kain and Serena were the lowest ranked in their group. And even among all order members they were probably the lowest in level since most recruits were at least 5-star beast-tamers. But both Kain and Serena were still 4-star beast-tamers, although they were both likely on the verge of advancing.


    However, despite the importance of this mission and their low rank they had both been personally selected by the higher-ups in the Order for this mission. Therefore, everyone was curious about the abilities of these two.


    They had already proven their capabilities by managing to secure one half of the antidote needed, but nobody was around them at that time to see how they did it. Now some of their questions about their strength may be answered.


    The man''s eyes locked onto Kain, and for the first time, Kain saw a flicker of apprehension in his gaze. He knew that what followed the previous hypnosis attempt could only be worse on him.


    Kain summoned Bea, the familiar presence of his contract settling into his mind like a second consciousness.


    Kain hesitated for a moment, his gaze meeting the man''s. There was a quiet dignity in the man''s eyes, a resilience that Kain couldn''t help but respect. But they didn''t have time for respect��they needed information.


    "I''m sorry," Kain said softly, though he wasn''t sure if the man could understand him. "But we need to see what you know."


    With that, Kain unleashed Bea''s power while also using his spiritual skill to provide her with a much needed boost. Her presence surged forward, a tidal wave of mental energy crashing into the man''s mind. The man''s body stiffened, his eyes widening as he felt the invasion. He let out a guttural cry, his hands clawing at the sand as he tried to resist.

 Chapter 491 - 491: Identity Revealed

    Kain could feel the man''s willpower through his connection with Bea. It was like towering wall of steely defiance that Bea''s power slammed into.


    The man''s mind was a fortress, built to withstand even the most powerful mental attacks. Fortunately, the seemingly sturdy wall had some cracks. Whether it was due to his less than ideal physical condition, or a recent mental trauma he suffered, Kain could tell that his mental strength was temporarily vulnerable.


    And in response to that weakness Bea was relentless, her power grinding against the man''s defenses like seemingly harmless drops of water eroding through stone.


    The man''s body convulsed, his muscles straining as he fought against Bea''s control. Sweat poured down his face, and his breathing became ragged. Kain could feel the strain on the man''s mind, the way his consciousness wavered under the pressure. But still, he resisted.


    "Kain," Serena''s voice cut through the tension, her tone urgent. "He''s too weak. If you keep pushing, he might��"


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    Kain knew what she was going to say. If he kept pushing, the man might die. His body was already weakened, and the strain of resisting Bea''s invasion could push him over the edge. But Kain also knew that they couldn''t afford to let this opportunity slip away. Something deep inside of him, perhaps some kind of instinct that had become more sensitive with his increased mastery over the Threads of Destiny spiritual skill, made him certain that this man may play a crucial role in either group''s, or just Kain''s, future endeavors.


    With a grimace, Kain increased the pressure, pouring more of his own energy into Bea''s attack, insisting on using the spiritual skill to boost and replenish her spiritual power for a second time in just a couple of minutes, despite the immense strain that this act would have on both himself and Bea.


    In response, the man''s cries grew louder, his body thrashing against the sand. And then, just as Kain thought the man''s defenses might finally break, something unexpected happened.


    The man''s eyes snapped open, and for a brief moment, Kain saw something familiar in them as well as a familiar face that flashed before his eyes. And then, with a final, desperate surge of energy, the man''s mind lashed out.


    Kain felt the backlash like a physical blow, his body staggering as Bea''s connection was violently severed. The man collapsed onto the sand, his body limp and unconscious. Kain fell to his knees, his head pounding as he tried to catch his breath. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Kain!" Serena was at his side in an instant, her hands gripping his shoulders. "Are you okay?"


    Kain nodded, though his vision was still blurry. "I''m fine," he muttered, his voice hoarse. "But he�� he''s stronger than I thought. Much stronger."


    Idrias stepped forward, his expression grim. "We can''t risk pushing him further. If he dies, we lose any chance of getting information."


    Kain nodded, his mind racing and thinking back to the brief image Bea had barely managed to retrieve from his mind��an image of an elderly frail woman.


    "I did gain something though��" Kain mumbled weakly while holding his pounding head.


    The rest of the group quieted down and looked at him in surprise that he''d managed to gain anything.


    "I think��I think he is Malzahir," Kain guessed, while explaining the single vivid image he''d managed to retrieve from the man''s mind that consisted solely of the familiar elderly woman that had helped them retrieve the antidote, holding out some kind of warm homemade meal to the dishevelled man while smiling with affection.


    The group fell into quiet contemplation at Kain''s revelation before the 7-star Starchaser, who had been stung by a high-grade scorpion, stood solemnly.


    "I suppose in a sense I owe him, or at least his grandmother, a life saving grave. Had it not been for her, whether she was fully willing or not, I would have died."


    At his words, a few of the others who were stung also nodded their heads in agreement. Although there were a couple that were rather indifferent to the role the old lady played in their recovery, for the most part the eyes with which members of their group looked at the man, were much gentler.


    And when Malzahir finally woke up, now even more wary of the group of strangers that tried to invade his mind, he also sensed the change in attitude toward himself.


    Strangely, these people who''d just tortured him for information like he was some kind of prisoner of war, were now gazing at him with a gentle expression��was this some kind of new trick to get information from him? Well, it won''t work!


    He sat up slowly, his movements cautious, his eyes darting around the group as if assessing his next move.


    "You''re Malzahir, aren''t you?" Kain asked, his voice calm but firm. The man''s eyes narrowed, but he neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he remained silent, his jaw clenched tightly.


    "*We don''t mean you any harm, *" Zareth added in the local tongue, his tone softer that when he''d questioned him previously. "*But we need to know what''s out there, particularly how you got injured. The desert is dangerous, and we can''t afford to walk into a trap. *"


    Malzahir''s expression faltered slightly, and for a moment, Kain thought he saw a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. But then the man''s expression hardened again, and he shook his head. "*I don''t owe you anything, *" he eventually said, his voice low and rough as though his vocal chords had been rubbed raw by sandpaper. "*You invaded my mind. You have no right to ask me for anything.*"


    Kain sighed, his frustration mounting. He had hoped that the man would be more cooperative now that they had saved his life, but it seemed that trust was not easily earned in the desert. "*We''re not your enemies, *" Kain said, his voice steady. "*But if you don''t help us, we might all end up dead. Is that what you want? *"


    Malzahir''s eyes narrowed, and for a moment, Kain thought he might lash out. But then, to everyone''s surprise, the man let out a low, bitter laugh. "*You have no idea what''s coming*" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You think keeping me here and questioning me will make your journey safer? I am the danger."


    The group exchanged uneasy glances, their unease growing. Kain''s instincts screamed at him that Malzahir was holding something back��something crucial. But before he could press further, Malzahir stood up, his movements slow but deliberate. "*If you want to survive, *" he said, his tone grim, "*you''ll leave this place. Now. And also stay far away from me if you know what''s good for you.*"


    With that, he turned and began to walk away, his figure disappearing into the vast expanse of the desert. The group watched him go, their minds racing with questions and doubts.

 Chapter 492 - 492: Sinking into the Unknown

    The group stood in silence as they watched Malzahir disappear into the vast expanse of the desert, his figure growing smaller and smaller until it was swallowed up by the sand flying about, obscuring their vision.


    The tension in the air was thick, each member of the group grappling with the weight of his cryptic warning. Kain''s mind raced, the Threads of Destiny were telling him that he and Malzahir had a potential connection beyond even the acquaintance of his grandmother, and his instincts were screaming that he should ask for more information, and maybe even try to recruit Malzahir to their group. But they had come too far to be delayed by Kain''s somewhat selfish desire to identify what made the Threads of Destiny suggest strongly that there was a huge opportunity for Kain in Malzahir.


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    "We need to keep moving," Idrias said, his voice breaking the silence. His tone was firm, but Kain could see the unease in his eyes. "The relic is our priority. Whatever danger Malzahir was talking about, we may have to deal with it later." sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The group nodded, their expressions grim but determined. They had no choice but to press forward. The relic was their mission, and failure was not an option. With a collective sigh, they adjusted their gear and continued their journey, the oppressive heat of the desert bearing down on them once more.


    The landscape stretched endlessly before them, the golden sands shifting under their feet as they trudged onward. The sun blazed overhead, its relentless rays sapping their energy with every step. Kain could feel the fatigue setting in, but he pushed it aside, focusing on the task at hand. The relic was close��he could feel it.


    As they crested a particularly large dune, Kain''s sharp eyes caught sight of something in the distance. A plume of dust rose into the air, moving rapidly across the desert floor. He squinted, trying to make out the source of the disturbance. It wasn''t long before the figures came into view��a platoon of nearly fifty people, all clad in uniformed gear. They moved with purpose, their strides quick and deliberate, as if they were in pursuit of something��or someone.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He glanced at Idrias, who had also noticed the approaching group. Everyone immediately went on alert, their hands hovering near their weapons as they assessed the situation.


    "Stay calm," Idrias said, his voice low but commanding. "We don''t know who they are or what they want. Keep moving, but be ready for anything."


    The group nodded, their movements cautious as they continued forward. The platoon was closing in fast, their uniforms a stark contrast against the golden sands. Kain could see the insignias on their armor now��a symbol he vaguely recognized as belonging to the Obari tribe that they''d visited not long ago.


    As the two groups drew closer, Kain could feel the tension mounting. The leader of the platoon, a tall man with a commanding presence and a relatively fresh scar beginning to form across his left cheek, glanced in their direction. His eyes narrowed as he sized up Kain''s group, his gaze lingering for a moment before he turned his attention back to the path ahead. It was clear that they were in a hurry, their focus unwavering as they rushed past Kain''s group without so much as a word.


    Kain let out a breath he didn''t realize he was holding. The encounter had been brief, but it left him with a lingering sense of unease.


    He couldn''t help feeling that the group was in pursuit of Malzahir.


    He glanced at Serena, who met his gaze with a look of equal concern, likely coming to the same guess.


    As the platoon disappeared into the distance, the group continued their journey, their pace quickening as they pressed onward. The encounter had shaken them, but it had also served as a reminder of the stakes. They couldn''t afford to waste any more time.


    Hours passed, the sun dipping lower in the sky as they finally reached their destination. Zareth, who had been leading the way, came to a sudden stop, his eyes scanning the horizon. "This is it," he said, his voice filled with a mix of relief and anticipation. "The relic should be here."


    Kain looked around, his brow furrowing in confusion. The area looked no different from the rest of the desert��just endless stretches of sand and rock. But as he focused his senses, he could feel it��a faint, almost imperceptible hum of energy emanating from the ground beneath his feet.


    "Are you sure?" a female member of the Pathfinders asked, her voice skeptical. "There''s nothing here."


    Zareth nodded, his expression confident. "The relic is underground. We''ll need to find the entrance."


    The group spread out, their movements careful as they searched for any sign of an entrance. Kain''s eyes scanned the ground, his senses attuned to the subtle shifts in energy. And then, just as he was about to give up, he saw it��a faint difference in the sand at a single location almost invisible to the naked eye.


    He hurried over in excitement, wanting to confirm if he''d found the entrance, and almost immediately something felt wrong. Too soft. The ground beneath him wasn''t firm��it shifted unnaturally, sucking downward as though it were alive. His stomach lurched as he realized, too late, that he was sinking.


    A jolt of panic shot through him as his feet disappeared beneath the surface in an instant. He tried to lift a leg, but the movement only made it worse��his body sinking deeper, the sand coiling around his calves like an unseen predator dragging him under. He fought against it, but it was like struggling against thick mud, every frantic motion making the pull stronger.


    "Quicksand!" Kain shouted, his voice sharp with alarm.


    The others whipped their heads around just in time to see him drop another few inches. His thighs were submerged now, the pressure around his legs increasing. He reached out, fingers grasping at empty air, but there was nothing solid to hold onto. His heartbeat thundered in his ears. The more he moved, the faster he sank. He was caught in a death trap.


    Strangely, Kain found the current situation more terrifying than the large-scale battles he''d participated in. There was no enemy to fight, no blade to parry, no power to resist. Just an overwhelming, suffocating force dragging him down with terrifying inevitability. He clawed at the surface, trying to spread his weight, but there was no traction.


    "Kain!" Serena''s voice rang out, sharp and urgent. She was already moving, her usual composure cracking at the sight of him vanishing inch by inch. "Stop struggling! You''re making it worse!"


    The others were closing in, forming a circle around him, but no one dared get too close. One wrong step and they''d be caught too. Idrias grabbed a long rope from his pack, his hands steady despite the tension in his jaw.


    "Hold on," Idrias called, tossing one end of the rope toward Kain. "Don''t move too much. Wrap it around your chest!"


    Kain reached for it, fingers slick with sweat, barely managing to loop it around himself. His arms were trembling from the strain, the fear, the sinking weight threatening to steal what little energy he had left. He could hear the distant rush of blood in his ears, the sand creeping higher, his body becoming heavier, harder to move. His chest was almost fully submerged now.


    Once the rope was anchored around his body, they used all of their combined strength, and even had help from their contracts to try and pull him out��but it was useless.


    One teammate even used his contract which was capable of controlling sand to try and get Kain out, but strangely it seemed as though the immediate area was outside of its control.


    A cold realization struck him��this wasn''t just ordinary quicksand. There was something else at play, something unnatural.


    Soon he could feel a growing energy beneath him, the faint hum of something ancient buried deep below.


    Kain had pretty much given up all hope of getting rescued at this point, all he could hope for was that what awaited him wouldn''t be too dangerous.

 Chapter 493 - 493: Into the Relic

    Kain woke with a start, his body jolting as if pulled from a nightmare. His lungs burned as he gasped for air, trying to get the horrifying sensation of them filling up with gritty sand making him unable to breathe.


    The first thing he noticed was the cold��a biting, relentless cold that seeped into his bones and made his teeth chatter. His breath came out in visible puffs, crystallizing in the air before dissipating into the white void around him.


    He was lying on a hard, icy surface, his body half-buried in snow. The world around him was a stark, blinding white, the kind of white that seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction. The sky above was a pale, featureless gray, and the ground beneath him was a frozen wasteland, dotted with jagged ice structures that jutted out like broken teeth. The silence was deafening, broken only by the occasional howl of the wind as it whipped through the icy landscape.


    Kain groaned as he pushed himself up, his muscles stiff and uncooperative. His mind was foggy, his thoughts sluggish as he tried to piece together what had happened. The last thing he remembered was the quicksand��the way it had swallowed him whole, dragging him down into the earth with terrifying inevitability. He had expected to die, to be crushed or suffocated by the sand. But instead, he had woken up here, in this frozen wasteland.


    "Where�� am I?" Kain muttered, his voice hoarse and barely audible over the wind. He shivered violently, his body trembling as the cold seeped deeper into his skin. He needed to get moving, to find shelter or warmth before the cold killed him.


    Thankfully, he still had his space ring and the System Laboratory, both of which were stocked with supplies and clothing fit for a variety of conditions.


    With a thought, he summoned a thick, insulated coat from his inventory, along with gloves, a scarf, and a pair of sturdy boots. He dressed quickly, his fingers fumbling with the buttons as the cold threatened to numb them. Once he was properly clothed, he felt a little more human, though the cold was still a constant, oppressive presence.


    Kain took a moment to assess his surroundings. The environment was unlike anything he had ever seen before. And considering that he''d always lived in more warm climates, it was a huge shock to his system.


    The icy formations were massive, some of them towering over him like frozen monoliths. The ground was uneven, covered in a thick layer of snow that crunched under his feet with every step. In the distance, he could see what looked like the ruins of a structure, its jagged outline barely visible through the swirling snow.


    "A ruin?" Kain murmured, finding it hard to believe that any civilization had once lived here, but the sight of a potential shelter was a bright spot in this otherwise bleak situation.


    He began to make his way toward it, his steps cautious as he navigated the treacherous terrain. The wind howled around him, carrying with it the faint scent of something metallic and sharp. It was an unsettling smell, one that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.


    As he drew closer to the ruins, Kain began to notice strange details. The ice structures weren''t natural or just ice��they were too uniform, too precise. Some of them resembled pillars or arches, their surfaces etched with intricate patterns that Kain saw as he grew closer to them, and glowed faintly in the dim light.


    The ruins themselves were massive, their walls made of a strange, black stone that seemed to absorb the light rather than reflect it. The architecture was unlike anything Kain had ever seen, a blend of ancient and futuristic design that spoke of a civilization far more advanced than what one would expect from an extinct civilization.


    Kain stepped through a gap in the ruins, his breath catching as he took in the sight before him. The interior was vast, a cavernous space filled with frozen over statues of unidentifiable people or things��time had worn away most of their features.


    The walls were lined with strange, mechanical devices, their surfaces covered in runes and symbols that pulsed with a faint, purple light. The air was thick with energy, a hum that resonated deep within Kain''s chest.


    "This should be the inside of the relic," Kain whispered, his voice filled with relief and then confusion. "But what am I supposed to look for?"


    But as he ventured deeper into the ruins, the sense of excitement began to give way to unease. sea??h th�� n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In response he summoned all of his contracts. With the exception of Aegis, they all seemed to be affected by the cold��the worst of which were the Vespids who practically had their speed cut in half and looked noticeably sluggish. However, Kain was much more reassured with their presence and continued exploring.


    The air grew colder, the hum of energy more intense. The purple light from the runes seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, growing brighter with every step he took. And then, he heard it��a low, guttural growl that echoed through the ruins, sending a shiver down his spine.


    Kain froze, his hand instinctively reaching for the spear at his side. His eyes scanned the shadows, searching for the source of the sound. The growl came again, closer this time, and Kain''s heart began to race. He could feel it��something was watching him. Stalking him.


    And then, it emerged from the shadows.


    The creature was unlike anything Kain had ever seen. It was massive, its body a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and machinery. Its skin was a sickly gray, mottled with patches of glowing purple veins that pulsed with an eerie light. Its limbs were long and spindly, ending in razor-sharp claws that scraped against the icy floor as it moved. Its head was a nightmare, a twisted combination of animal and machine, with glowing purple eyes that burned with a malevolent intelligence.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat as the creature turned its gaze on him. Its eyes locked onto his, and for a moment, he felt as though his very soul was being laid bare. The creature let out a deafening roar, its mouth opening to reveal rows of jagged, metallic teeth. And then it lunged.

 Chapter 494 - 494: Frozen Predator

    The creature''s roar echoed through the icy ruins, a sound that seemed to vibrate through Kain''s very bones. Its glowing purple eyes locked onto him, and Kain could feel the malevolence��and hatred?�� radiating from it.


    Its movements were incredibly fast, its claws slashing through the air with terrifying precision.


    Kain barely had time to react. He dove to the side, the creature''s claws narrowly missing him as they tore through the ice where he had been standing. He rolled to his feet, his spear in hand, his heart pounding in his chest. The creature turned to face him, its glowing purple eyes narrowing as it prepared to strike again.


    "What the hell are you?" Kain muttered, his voice trembling despite his best efforts to stay calm. The creature didn''t respond, of course. It simply roared again, the sound reverberating through the ruins as it charged at him once more.


    His contracts were already in motion, each of them attacking the creature from different angles, but it was clear that their efforts were barely scratching the surface.


    ''Bea, how''s the progress on its mind?!'' Kain asked mentally. He could feel Bea''s strain through their connection, her spiritual power rapidly draining as she attempted to invade the creature''s consciousness. But as soon as she made contact, Kain felt a sharp, searing pain in his head through his connection with her. Bea recoiled, her presence retreating back out of its mind.


    Kain cursed under his breath. If Bea couldn''t control it, they''d have to find another way.


    Unfortunately, it was hard to think of another strategy while it was breathing down his neck.


    The creature''s claws slashed through the air once it approached him again, and Kain barely managed to block the attack with his spear. The force of the blow sent him skidding backward, his boots scraping against the icy floor. He could feel the strain in his arms, the sheer power behind the creature''s strikes. This wasn''t going to be an easy fight.


    He glanced at Aegis, who was already moving to intercept the creature. The stone golem''s massive form slammed into the creature with the force of a landslide, but the impact barely slowed it down. The creature lashed out with its claws, slicing through Aegis''s stone body as if it were paper. Chunks of rock flew through the air, and Aegis staggered back, his form already beginning to crumble.


    "Aegis, fall back!" Kain ordered, his voice sharp. The stone golem obeyed, retreating to a safer distance as Kain the Vespid guards swarmed the creature, their stingers striking at its glowing purple veins. But the creature barely seemed to notice, its claws swiping through the air and cutting down the Vespids with terrifying ease.


    Kain''s heart sank as he watched his contracts fall one by one. The creature was too fast, too strong. It was like nothing he had ever faced before. And it was still coming for him, strangely fixated on him only.


    The creature lunged again, its claws slashing through the air with blinding speed. Kain barely managed to dodge, the claws grazing his side and tearing through his coat. He felt a sharp pain as the cold air bit into the wound, but he didn''t have time to dwell on it. He rolled to his feet, his spear flashing as he aimed for the creature''s glowing purple eyes. The blade struck true, but it didn''t seem to be a lethal injury. It roared in anger, its claws slashing through the air once more.


    Kain dodged again, but this time he wasn''t fast enough. The creature''s claws caught him in the chest, sending him flying through the air. He hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Pain shot through his entire body as he struggled to breathe, his vision swimming.


    The creature loomed over him, its glowing purple eyes burning with a malevolent light. It raised its claws, ready to deliver the final blow. Kain''s mind raced, desperation fueling his thoughts. He couldn''t die here��not like this.


    Suddenly, a red dragon appeared in a burst of flames, its massive form filling the icy ruins with heat and light.


    Vauleth roared, its fiery breath engulfing the creature in a torrent of flames. The creature staggered back, its glowing purple veins flickering as the flames licked at its unnatural body.


    Kain seized the opportunity, pushing himself to his feet despite the pain. He could feel the warmth of Vauleth''s flames, a stark contrast to the biting cold of the ruins.


    The creature roared in anger, its claws slashing through the air as it tried to fend off the dragon''s attacks. But Vauleth was relentless, its fiery breath and powerful claws keeping the creature at bay just barely, although deep cuts were beginning to appear on his scales.


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan. The creature was powerful, but it wasn''t invincible. Its glowing purple veins seemed to be providing energy to its partially mechanical body and the energy source they lead to could be a weak point.


    "Vauleth, keep it busy!" Kain shouted, his voice filled with urgency. The dragon roared in irritation in response but didn''t refuse, its fiery breath forcing the creature back. Kain took a deep breath, his grip tightening on his spear.


    Communicating with the Vespid guards, the only ones who may prove effective in his plan since Bea and Aegis were essentially out of commission, Kain relayed what he wanted to them.


    While asking Vauleth to keep it preoccupied, the guards all aimed at the thick, dark violet veins of the creature.


    Most of the attacks were dodged, but 2 out of dozens managed to lodge successfully. The additional energy draining properties of the stingers, further disrupted energy flow, making sure Kain''s plan went even better than he''d expected. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, Kain noticed a purple spot in its lower right abdomen that was growing brighter and brighter as the creature''s veins seemed to be straining to deliver the same amount of energy to its various limbs as before.


    ''That''s it!'' Kain thought while hoisting his spear. All of Kain''s contracts aimed successfully at that spot, and while the area seemed to be specially reinforced, chips in its armour began to appear.


    Roaring in anger, it bypassed Vauleth and lunged at Kain again, forcing the others'' attacks to halt since it was now too close to him.


    But this time, Kain was ready. He sidestepped the attack, his spear flashing as he aimed for the glowing spot. The blade struck true, piercing through the creature''s already damaged armoured flesh. The creature roared in pain, its glowing veins flickering as Kain twisted the spear, driving it deeper.


    The creature lashed out, its claws slashing through the air and catching Kain in the side. Pain shot through his body as he was sent flying, his spear still embedded in the creature''s body. He hit the ground hard, his vision swimming as he struggled to stay conscious.


    The creature roared again, its glowing veins flickering as it tried to pull the spear from its body. But before it could, Vauleth was on it, the dragon''s fiery breath engulfing the creature in flames. The creature staggered back, its glowing veins flickering as the flames consumed it.


    Kain watched as the creature roared in pain, its body writhing as the flames consumed it and its lack of energy made it unable to successfully fend off the flames. The glowing purple veins flickered and dimmed, the creature''s unnatural strength fading as the flames took their toll. And then, with a final, deafening roar, the creature collapsed, its body now a charred mess.


    Kain let out a breath he didn''t realize he was holding, his body trembling with exhaustion.


    As the adrenaline began to fade, Kain felt the full weight of his injuries. He collapsed to his knees, his vision swimming as he struggled to stay conscious. The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was Vauleth''s massive form standing over him, its fiery golden eyes filled with concern��Kain thought that it was nice that their relationship had improved enough for Vauleth to express something other than disdain for him��


    And then, everything went black.

 Chapter 495 - 495: Beneath the Surface

    Kain woke to the sound of crackling flames and the faint hum of energy. His body ached, an almost bone deep pain screaming in protest as he tried to move. The cold was still there, biting at his skin, but the warmth of Vauleth''s flames nearby provided some relief.


    He groaned, his vision blurry as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, his head pounding with every movement.


    A quick inspection of his body revealed that Queen likely healed all of his physical injuries, but there was definitely still some sequelae from the battle. But given the stronger body of beast-tamers, he should be able to fully recover within a day.


    ''Having a healing contract was definitely a wise decision��'' Kain thought while looking at Queen whose wings were still shivering from the cold despite the flames and had all of the remaining guards, a few having died in the battle, huddled against her.


    Recalling that the Vespids seemed to be much more sensitive to the cold than his other contracts he recalled them into his star space after thanking them for their hard work.


    "You''re awake. Figured you''d be fine," a deep, rumbling voice said��Vauleth. Kain wasn''t sure if it was due to the increased growth tamers provided to their contracts, but whereas Vauleth''s voice when they had first met was more juvenile, it seemed as though he''d sped through the rest of his puberty in a few months. Both his size, voice, and appearance were more mature and the shadow of the Red Dragon King Vulcan and other adult red dragons can be more clearly seen.


    Kain turned his head to see Vauleth''s massive form looming over him, the dragon''s golden eyes glowing in the dim light of the ruins.


    Kain managed a weak smile, his voice hoarse as he replied, "Thanks for the concern, Vauleth. I didn''t know you cared."


    The dragon snorted, a puff of smoke escaping its nostrils. "Don''t get used to it. I just didn''t want to lose my tamer to some overgrown experiment."


    Kain chuckled, though the motion sent a sharp pain through his still pounding head.


    "Where are the others?" Kain asked, his voice still weak but growing stronger.


    "Aegis is�� well, he''s in pieces. He''s been gradually reabsorbing the stones he can, but it''s difficult when you were unconscious and couldn''t feed him any high-quality ore. Bea is fine, though she''s still shaken from trying to invade that thing''s mind."


    Kain nodded, his expression grim. The battle had taken a toll on all of them. He looked over at the charred remains of the creature, its body now a smoldering heap of flesh and machinery.


    Kain stood slowly, his body still aching but his condition wasn''t so bad that he could delay his mission at hand.


    He first went to the abomination, wanting to see if anything of value or information could be obtained from its body. Unfortunately, its core seemed to have self-destructed upon its death, and Kain couldn''t gain much else from its body, but Kain still put away the body into the System''s Laboratory, wanting to use the equipment he had there to more closely examine it in his free time.


    Examination finished, Kain took a deep breath, the cold air sharp in his lungs, and turned his attention to the ruins around them.


    The chamber they were in was vast but rundown and clearly showed the damage caused by time, its intact walls still possessed some vague intricate carvings and, impressively, a few of the runes were even glowing despite all the time that had passed.


    But Kain couldn''t shake the feeling that there was more to this place��more secrets hidden beneath the surface.


    "We need to keep moving," Kain said, his voice steady despite the lingering pain. "There''s more to this relic than just that creature. We need to find out what happened here."


    Vauleth snorted, a puff of smoke escaping his nostrils. "And how do you plan to do that? These ruins are crumbling. There''s nothing here but ice and broken stone."


    Kain shook his head, his eyes scanning the chamber. "Not all of it. Look." He pointed to a section of the wall where the carvings were more intact. The runes glowed faintly, their patterns shifting and rearranging themselves as if they were alive. "There''s something beneath us. I can feel it."


    Sense learning the spiritual skill Threads of Destiny, Kain began to rely on his instincts more and more. And those instincts were telling him to head down.


    Vauleth''s eyes narrowed, his gaze following Kain''s finger. "You''re not suggesting we dig, are you? Because I''m not a mole."


    Kain smirked, despite the tension. "No, but I think there''s a way down. These ruins are ancient, and they were built by a civilization far more advanced than anything we''ve seen. If they wanted to hide something, they wouldn''t make it easy to find."


    Kain moved closer to the wall, his fingers tracing the intricate carvings. The runes pulsed faintly under his touch, the glowing purple light flickering as if responding to his presence. He pressed his hand against the stone, feeling the faint hum of energy beneath his palm.


    "Benji mentioned opening a hidden chamber one time. What was the method he used again��" Kain mumbled while feeling around and using his remaining spiritual power to feed and test the flow of energy in these sigils.


    Kain felt along the wall and used various strategies for over an hour and then, with a sudden click, a section of the wall shifted, revealing a hidden passageway.


    "Found it," Kain said, his voice filled with a mix of relief and excitement. He glanced back at Vauleth, who was staring at the newly revealed passage with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.


    Since Vauleth and Bea seemed to be in the best condition, Kain also recalled the still recovering Aegis, making sure to provide him with an abundance of ores to heal faster.


    The passageway was narrow for Vauleth and any careless shifting of his weight would cause sections of the walls to collapse.


    At one point, the dusty aged air caused Vauleth to sneeze and Kain almost thought he was going to be buried alive. Thankfully, ''only'' a small part of the tunnel collapsed and it was easily cleared by Kain and Vauleth.


    "Ahem��perhaps you should take a rest too." Kain said before recalling Vauleth before he could respond and leaving him only with Bea for protection. To compensate, he chose to release 4 Vespid guards to travel in front and behind him for protection. Although they were clearly weakened by the environment, they could serve as warnings for any traps. Not to mention Bea had long laid out threads throughout the environment to sense, and infect, any living things that may approach them.


    After Vauleth left, the air grew even colder as Kain descended. Kain''s breath came out in visible puffs, the cold biting at his skin despite the thick coat he wore.


    As they ventured deeper, the passageway opened up into a vast, underground chamber. The room was massive, its walls covered in more of the intricate carvings and glowing runes. But unlike the ruins above, this chamber was almost perfectly preserved. The air was thick with the hum of energy, and the walls seemed to pulse with a faint, purple light.


    Kain''s eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. The chamber was filled with strange, mechanical devices, their surfaces covered in glowing sigils and symbols. In the center of the room was a massive, circular platform, its surface etched with intricate patterns that glowed with the same purple light. Kain could feel the power radiating from it, a raw, untamed energy that seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat. sea??h th�� n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This�� this is incredible," Kain whispered, his voice filled with awe. He moved closer to the platform, his eyes scanning the carvings on the walls. The images were vivid, their details preserved despite the passage of time. They depicted scenes of the ancient civilization��their people, their technology, their experiments.


    One set of images caught Kain''s eye. It first it showed a massive purple orb that hundreds of people worked together and used various machinery to cut a single sliver off of. Then a group of figures were standing around a massive glowing crystal, likely the sliver cut off previously, their hands raised as if channeling its power. The crystal was surrounded by strange, mechanical devices, their surfaces covered in glowing sigils.


    Kain examined the set of images over and over again, but then Kain''s breath caught in his throat as he realized what he was looking at.

 Chapter 496 - 496: Buried Secrets

    Kain is probably the only beast-tamer alive that can so easily identify the identity of the orb they chipped a piece off of. However, there was one crucial feature that made its identity clear to him.


    On the seamless purple orb was a dark ''stain'' that seemed to be naturally in the shape of the sigil for ''Earth,'' or rather the name of the planet that Kain was currently on. Apparently, its true name is not Earth, the true pronunciation has been long lost and is quite difficult to pronounce for humans, and so it had always been called Earth by humans.


    But the sigil symbolizing the planet still remains��after all, it is a necessary component for any teleportation arrays being layed down on this planet.


    Therefore, Kain strongly believed that this was the core of the planet.


    Now seeing an orb with the sigil of the planet ''stained'' into it wouldn''t allow anyone else to make that connection��even the most knowledgeable and experienced beast-tamers on the planet may not make that connection. After all, most people have probably never seen the core of the planet, and it is so large that it may not even be clear what the true appearance of the ''stain'' was.


    However, Kain was different��Kain was the sole omnipotent ruler of his own planet��Pangea. Naturally, he''d long been able to seen the appearance of Pangea''s core when he was once interested.


    Interestingly, he''d noted that when he''d first assigned a name and sigil to symbolize Pangea, that same sigil had spontaneously formed like a ''stain'' or ''birthmark'' on the light purple core of the planet.


    The colour of Pangea''s core was a much lighter violet��more white with only a slight tinge of colour��far less rich in colour than the core in the drawings on the walls. But as the concentration and upper limit of power on Pangea grew, so too did the concentration of the colour��albeit slightly.


    Kain could imagine that in the future Pangea''s core will more closely resemble those within the drawings.


    Kain stood frozen, his eyes locked on the image of the massive purple orb etched into the wall. The implications of what he was seeing were staggering. The ancient civilization had not only discovered the planet''s core but had somehow managed to extract a fragment of it��and likely used it to power much of their research in fighting against the Abyss.


    But at what cost? The creature they had fought, the twisted amalgamation of flesh and machinery, was a testament to the dangers of their experiments but also the immense potential.


    Kain also couldn''t help thinking deeper on the more unique features of Pangea��specifically, its ability to fight off Abyssal energy.


    This civilization was famous for its ability to effectively combat the abyss, hence why Kain and the others were sent here when there was news that some of their remains may be found here.


    Did they obtain their ability to effectively combat the abyss from the core of this planet?


    At one point, was this ''Earth'' more effective at combatting the abyss and it lost its resistance due to some reason? Did the greed of this civilization compromise the entire planet? Or was the planet already in danger and they did this as a desperate last resort?


    Kain had more questions than answers now, but as Kain stood there, lost in thought, a sudden noise broke the silence. It was faint at first, barely audible over the hum of energy in the chamber. But as Kain focused, the sound grew louder��a soft, tapping, like footsteps echoing through the ruins.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat, his body tensing as he turned toward the source of the noise. The chamber was vast, its walls lined with glowing runes and intricate carvings. The sound seemed to be coming from one of the passageways that branched off from the main chamber, its entrance shrouded in shadow.


    "Bea," Kain whispered, his voice low. "Do you sense anything?"


    Suddenly thousands of barely visible threads extended into the distance, but after a long period, Kain received a negative response.


    Kain''s grip tightened on his spear, not at all relieved by her reply. If anything the lack of any creature being sensed alarmed him even more, especially since he''d definitely heard movement.


    Even more alarming, his Threads of Destiny were not signalling the approach of any threat and the off-white thread was extremely faint, making Kain unable to obtain much information. Could this creature even have the ability to obscure its fate?!


    Alarmed, Kain got even more alert, his eyes scanning the shadows for any sign of movement. The tapping grew louder, more clear and appeared to be approaching his location, and Kain could feel his pulse quickening. Whatever was making that noise, it was getting closer.


    "Stay close," Kain said, his voice barely above a whisper. He moved cautiously toward the passageway, his footsteps silent on the icy floor. The Vespid guards buzzed softly around him, their movements sluggish in the cold but still alert.


    As Kain approached the passageway, the tapping grew louder, more distinct. It was definitely footsteps, but they were unlike any he had ever heard��light and quick, almost delicate. And yet, there was something unsettling about the rhythm, they didn''t have the normal sound characteristic of a creature running��the rhythm was too regular, the sound of each of its four limbs were perfectly balanced even after Kain enhanced his ears. It was almost mechanical how perfectly uniform and unchanging its movements were.


    Kain directed one of the Vespid guards into the passageway, its wings buzzing softly as it disappeared into the shadows. The tapping continued, steady and unrelenting, growing louder with each passing second. Kain''s heart pounded in his chest, his grip on his spear tightening as he waited for the guard to return or signal or��to sense its death.


    The Vespid guard returned moments later, its movements quick but deliberate. It hovered in front of Kain, its antennae twitching as it relayed what it had seen. Kain''s eyes narrowed as he processed the information. The guard had detected movement, but whatever was making the noise was still hidden, its form obscured by the shadows of the passageway. The guard''s senses had picked up no heat signature, no spiritual energy��nothing that would indicate a living creature. And yet, the footsteps continued, growing louder and more distinct.


    Kain''s mind raced. If it wasn''t alive, what was it? Another mechanical creation, like the creature they had fought earlier? Or something else entirely? The thought sent a chill down his spine, one that had nothing to do with the cold.


    "We need to be careful," Kain muttered, his voice low. "Whatever this is, it''s not natural."


    He took a cautious step forward, his spear held at the ready, and now that they were in a more open chamber, he released Vauleth and more of the Vespid guards.


    The tapping grew louder, the sound echoing off the walls, and Kain could feel his pulse quickening. His senses were on high alert, every nerve in his body screaming at him to be ready for anything.


    As he rounded a corner, the passageway opened up into a smaller chamber, its walls lined with more of the glowing runes. The tapping was coming from the far end of the room, its source still hidden in the shadows. Kain''s eyes scanned the area, his gaze darting from one corner to another, searching for any sign of movement. The air was thick with tension, the hum of energy growing louder with every step he took. S��ar?h the N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And then, he saw it.

 Chapter 497 - 497: The Crystal Guide

    A figure emerged from the shadows, its movements slow and deliberate.


    Its indistinguishable figure was pale and crystalline and its eyes glowed with a faint, eerie light. But what caught Kain''s attention was its movements��they were too perfect, too mechanical. Its steps were precise, each one landing with the same force, the same rhythm. It was as if it were following a predetermined path, its actions guided by some unseen force.


    Just as Kain was about to attack the creature, certain that it was another experimental product, its full figure came into the light produced in the chamber Kain was in. S��ar?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Huh?"


    Before Kain was a small, rabbit-like creature that appeared to be made of translucent crystal, its body gave off a soft, calming glow as it reflected the lights hitting it. And its large, luminous eyes gave it an appearance of innocence.


    The only unsettling aspect is that it seems to have no consciousness at all. If anything, it looked like an elaborate doll capable of walking��a very familiar ''doll''. One that cost Kain his very first chance at becoming the new sole rank 1 of their year.


    Not to mention the unsuccessful scouting techniques of his contracts also began to make sense. During the competition, Bea suffered several losses against the contract''s illusions that seemed capable of fading in and out of reality whenever they wanted, leading to Bea''s threads just going straight through them, and it could also explain why no heat or spiritual power was detected by the Vespids previously either.


    "Prismarin��what are you doing here?" Kain mumbled not expecting an answer.


    But surprisingly, upon hearing Kain''s voice, its eyes blinked languidly once��twice��and then upon the third reopening the previously soulless eyes were now far more energetic.


    It looked curiously left and right, and then the Prismarin''s luminous eyes locked onto Kain. For a moment, it simply stared at him, its head tilting slightly as if trying to place him. Then, with a soft, melodic chirp, it hopped closer, its movements no longer mechanical but fluid and alive. The eerie precision of its earlier steps had vanished, replaced by the natural and lively grace of a living creature.


    Kain hesitated, his spear still raised but his grip loosening slightly. He recognized that that creature had the ability to manipulate light and create illusions so convincing they could fool even the most skilled beast-tamers, so he knew that this was likely one of its illusions. But what was it doing here, deep within the ruins of this ancient relic? And why had it been moving like a mindless machine just moments ago?


    "Prismarin," Kain said again, his voice steady but cautious. "Are you�� okay?"


    The creature chirped again, its crystalline ears twitching as it took another hop toward him. Its movements were deliberate now, its glowing eyes filled with a strange mixture of curiosity and urgency. It stopped just a few feet away from Kain, its translucent body reflecting the faint purple light of the runes on the walls.


    Kain lowered his spear slightly, his mind racing. If this was indeed Serena''s Prismarin, then Serena herself shouldn''t be far behind. But why hadn''t she come with it? And why had the Prismarin been acting so strangely? The questions swirled in his mind, but before he could voice any of them, the creature let out another chirp, this one more insistent.


    It turned and began to hop away, its movements quick but deliberate. After a few steps, it paused and looked back at Kain, its luminous eyes locking onto his once more. It chirped again, as if urging him to follow.


    Kain hesitated, his instincts warring with his curiosity. The Prismarin was an ally��technically��but its sudden appearance and strange behavior were deeply unsettling. Still, if it was leading him somewhere, it might be to Serena or to something important within the ruins. Neither one of those options was something Kain would turn down.


    "Alright," Kain muttered, then he joked. "But if we get in any kind of danger along the way, I''m holding you responsible."


    The Prismarin chirped again, its tone almost playful, before turning and hopping down the passageway. Kain followed, his spear still at the ready, with Vauleth and the Vespid guards close behind.


    As they moved, Kain couldn''t shake the feeling that they were being watched. The shadows seemed to shift and twist, their movements too deliberate to be mere tricks of the light. The Prismarin, however, seemed unfazed, its crystalline body glowing faintly as it led them through the labyrinth like tunnels with a surprising amount of familiarity.


    After what felt like an eternity, the passageway opened up into another chamber, this one even larger than the last. The walls were covered in more of the glowing runes, their purple light casting an eerie glow over the room. In the center of the chamber was another massive, circular platform, its surface etched with intricate patterns that pulsed with the same purple light. Kain wondered if the platforms present in each chamber were connected in some way? What was their purpose? Some kind of formation?


    Unfortunately, without being able to activate them all, it''ll be hard to deduce their purpose. Not to mention, even if he could use Aegis to take them back to the Order to examine, there is no guarantee that they would work once removed. Perhaps the location was important to their activation as well. So Kain decided to leave the platforms he had no solution to alone for now.


    What caught Kain''s attention next was what lay on the platform. Unlike the previous platform, this one had a series of strange, mechanical devices, their surfaces covered in glowing sigils and symbols. They were unlike anything Kain had ever seen, their designs a blend of ancient and futuristic technology.


    The Prismarin hopped onto the inactivated platform. It turned to face Kain, its luminous eyes filled with a strange mixture of urgency and determination. It chirped again, its tone insistent, before hopping closer to the platform.


    "Aren''t you supposed to be directing me to Serena? Why''d you bring me here?"


    In response, the Prismarin just used its front paw to point more insistently at the objects on the platform.


    "You want me to take them?"


    Nod.


    ''I would have taken it away anyways��'' Kain thought, but still put it away.

 Chapter 498 - 498: The Crystal Guide (2)

    The illusion of Prismarin had probably travelled to more areas of these underground chambers than Kain had, but without a storage device would have been helpless to take away any of the objects found and bring them to Serena.


    It looks like since it found Kain, it was planning to have him solve its predicament and taking him to the previous chambers it went to of interest, before bringing him to Serena.


    Kain began to store the strange mechanical devices into his space ring, his mind still thinking about their potential purposes.


    The Prismarin watched him intently, its crystalline body shimmering with an almost impatient energy. Once the last device was safely tucked away, the creature chirped again, its tone more urgent this time. It hopped off the platform and began moving toward another passageway, its movements swift and purposeful.


    The Prismarin led him through a series of winding passages, each one more intricate than the last. At one point, they passed through a chamber filled with what appeared to be ancient machinery��massive gears and pistons frozen in time, their surfaces covered in a thick layer of frost. Kain paused for a moment, his curiosity piqued, but the Prismarin chirped insistently, urging him to keep moving.


    "Alright, alright," Kain muttered, tearing his gaze away from the machinery. "I''m coming. I don''t understand what the big rush is��"


    Clearly there was nothing of interest to the Prismarin in this chamber and it seemed in a hurry. Or maybe it just didn''t know that Kain had access to the System Laboratory for additional space, and so the Prismarin didn''t want Kain using up the limited space in his space ring on these machines. But Kain made a mental note to come back to this chamber later and asked Bea, with her increased mental capacity, to memorize the routes they''ve travelled so that he can get back here.


    The next chamber they entered was smaller, more confined. Crystalline formations jutted from the walls and floor, shimmering faintly with the same purple glow as the sigils from the previous chambers. The air here was heavier, thick with something intangible but potent.


    Kain''s grip on his spear tightened as he surveyed the room. Unlike the previous chambers, this one felt�� alive. The pulsing energy of the sigils within the formations almost mimicked a heartbeat, a rhythmic sensation that sent subtle vibrations through the ground beneath his feet.


    The Prismarin, undeterred, hopped toward the largest cluster of crystals near the chamber''s center. It chirped again, then pawed at the formation. Kain approached cautiously, eyes flickering across the room for any sign of danger. He reached out a hand, letting his fingers graze the surface of one of the jagged formations.


    A sudden jolt ran up his arm and Kain pulled back instantly, his body tensing.


    His eyes darted to the Prismarin, who merely blinked at him, its crystalline form reflecting the cascading light. It had known this would happen.


    Kain exhaled sharply, focusing on the energy flow within the crystals. He didn''t sense any threat using Threads of Destiny��at least, not yet. Instead, it felt�� inquisitive, as if it were scanning him, gauging his presence. He pushed a small amount of his own energy forward, allowing it to mingle with the pulsating force within the crystal.


    A memory��not his own��flashed through his mind. A vision.


    A city of light, towering structures infused with the same glowing sigils that lined the walls of these ruins. People moved with purpose, their forms partially obscured by a hazy distortion, as though time itself had warped the clarity of their existence. A massive core, not unlike the one depicted on the chamber walls earlier, floated in the city''s heart, its surface etched with runes far more complex than anything Kain had seen before. And at its base, a group of figures stood in formation, their hands raised in a ritual of some kind��an incantation, a desperate plea, or perhaps a command.


    Then, darkness. A rupture in the vision, a jagged tear of nothingness swallowing the luminous city whole. And with it, a chilling sensation��the unmistakable presence of the Abyss.


    Kain''s breath came in short bursts as he snapped back to the present, the crystal''s glow fading back into its previous, steady rhythm. He staggered slightly, head spinning as he processed what he had just witnessed.


    The Prismarin chirped, tilting its head in an almost expectant manner.


    Kain exhaled, steadying himself. "You could have warned me about that."


    The creature merely blinked, then turned and began hopping toward the next passage.


    Kain took one last glance at the chamber, but decided against trying to pry the crystals away for now, and then followed the Prismarin.


    He couldn''t stop thinking about the horrifying vision. Whatever civilization had once thrived here had wielded incredible power. But something had destroyed them. Whether their own greed, an external force, or the Abyss itself, he wasn''t sure.


    But one thing was certain��there was a lot to uncover if he didn''t wish to end up like them. And Serena was still waiting.


    Finally, after what felt like hours of navigating the maze-like tunnels, the Prismarin led Kain into a large, circular chamber.


    Unlike the others, this one was filled with a soft, golden light that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. The air was warmer here, the oppressive cold of the ruins replaced by a comforting warmth.


    The second Kain stepped into this chamber, the bone deep sequelae he was hopeless to heal, except to wait for his body to recover naturally, began to reduce at a speed clearly felt by him. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''It looks like this chamber was used for healing��'' Kain thought in wonder at the effectiveness of this chamber after all this time. But then his thoughts quickly shifted.


    In the center of the chamber was a raised dais, and on it lay a figure.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat as he recognized Serena. She was lying motionless on the dais, her silver hair fanned out around her like a halo. Her face was pale, her breathing shallow, and her hands were clasped over her chest as if in prayer. The Prismarin hopped up onto the dais and nuzzled her hand, its luminous eyes filled with concern.

 Chapter 499 - 499: Serenas Struggle

    Kain stepped into the chamber, the golden light washing away the bone-deep pain that had been lingering since the battle yesterday, replaced by a soothing sensation that seemed to seep into his very core. His eyes quickly scanned the room, taking in the sight of the raised dais at the center and the figure lying motionless upon it while 4 spiritual creatures surrounded her in concern.


    Serena.


    Her silver hair fanned out around her like a halo, and her hands were clasped over her chest as if in prayer. The sight of her so still, so vulnerable, sent an unfamiliar pang through his chest. But before he could even take a step forward, the illusionary Prismarin beside him shimmered and then vanished.


    Kain blinked. "Huh?"


    A soft rustling sound drew his attention to the center of the room. One of Serena''s contracts��a much larger, more substantial Prismarin��the Prismarin''s true body��had just opened its eyes. The creature stretched lazily before locking onto Kain, its expression unreadable.


    For a long moment, they simply stared at each other.


    Then Kain, ever tactful, tilted his head and muttered, "You''re a lot fatter than I remember."


    The Prismarin froze mid-stretch. Then, in a high-pitched voice tinged with offense it yelled, "EXCUSE me?!"


    Kain stiffened, his eyes widening. "...You can talk?"


    The crystalline creature huffed, flipping its ears dramatically. "Of course, I can talk! Do you think I just hop around chirping like some simple-minded rabbit all day?"


    Kain narrowed his eyes. "I mean... Yes."


    The Prismarin made a sound somewhere between a snort and a chime, clearly offended. "First of all, I am not ''fat.'' I am perfectly proportioned, and adorably plump! Second, if you must know, my consciousness in one of my illusions was simply limited while I''ve been multitasking, thank you very much."


    Kain tilted his head. "Multitasking?"


    The Prismarin lifted its head with exaggerated pride. "Monitoring my illusions. The one that brought you here was just one of many I sent out to search for help and information. Normally, they operate independently, like pre-programmed constructs, but when I heard your voice, I temporarily transferred some of my awareness into that one to confirm it was you and lead you back here."


    Kain processed that information for a second before raising an eyebrow. "So, what, you just abandoned the others?"


    "They''ll be fine," the Prismarin said dismissively, waving a paw. "I don''t have time to worry about disposable scouts when my Contractor is in this state." At the reminder of Serena''s condition, its large floppy ears drooped down, and its large eyes sparkled as they grew misty. Although Kain wasn''t a fan of the Prismarin who gave him so much trouble in previous spars, he did have to agree with its statement about its aesthetic appeal��even sad it was quite adorable.


    Kain''s gaze drifted back to Serena. "What happened?"


    The Prismarin''s expression softened as it explained, "When we first arrived in this relic, something attacked us�� partly animal, and partly mechanical."


    ''They must have run into something similar to what I faced before��'' Kain thought. But then he was surprised that such a creature could bring Serena to such a state. He listened as Prismarin explained further.


    "However, it appears to have possessed an ability to disrupt or contaminate spiritual energy. Given the nature of Serena''s gift, such an ability was particularly harmful for her. I suppose normally, the average person would have had their spiritual power exhausted by now and either died or, after the contaminated energy all ran out, started the process of recovery. But since Serena''s spiritual power is without limit, she''s been fighting off the contamination constantly, and ever since, she''s been like this��unconscious, unresponsive. We''ve tried everything to wake her, but nothing has worked."


    Kain''s gaze shifted to Balens, who stood silently at the foot of the dais. "Why hasn''t Balens tried to heal her? Isn''t that its whole thing? Equivalent exchanges for wishes? Just wish for her to wake up. Who cares what the consequences are, they likely won''t fall on her anyways! And its not like you all care about the others that may be in the relic!" Kain couldn''t help yelling at them, unable to fully understand why he felt so angry by their apparent lack of action.


    Although Kain wouldn''t have liked to be the sacrifice for the wish, he had to admit that from the perspective of Serena''s contracts, whose sole loyalty lied with her, they shouldn''t care about the potential consequences of their actions. So he couldn''t comprehend why Balens simply didn''t wish her awake.


    Prismarin visibly flinched. "We tried." S��ar?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain''s stomach dropped. "And?"


    "Nothing."


    The word hung in the air heavily, and Kain felt almost as if he''d been sucker punched in the gut.


    Balens, the contract with the power to make any wish come true through equivalent exchange��failed? That didn''t make sense. Even if the cost had been outrageous, it should have at least worked. Kain''s gaze flickered between the glowing contract and Serena''s unmoving form, his mind racing with possibilities.


    Something was very wrong.


    Kain frowned, his mind racing. He glanced back at Serena, her pale form lying motionless on the dais. "So, what now? Is there anything in these ruins that can help her? You''ve been scouring the place, right? Did you find anything?"


    The Prismarin nodded, its luminous eyes flickering with a glimmer of hope. "Yes, that''s why I sent out my illusions. I''ve been searching for anything that might help Serena, and I did find a few things. But I needed someone to retrieve them��someone with a storage device. That''s why I led you here."


    Kain''s heavy heart lightened softly at the knowledge that there was some hope in sight.


    The Prismarin''s ears perked up, and it turned to gesture toward the strange mechanical devices Kain had stored earlier. "Those devices you collected��one of them may possess the potential to withdraw the contamination in her spiritual power. If we can activate them, they might be able to purify Serena''s spiritual energy and wake her up. But we''ll need to figure out how to use them first."

 Chapter 500 - 500: For Serenas Sake

    Kain stared at the strange devices he had collected, now laid out in front of him on the stone platform.


    Each one was covered in intricate patterns of faintly glowing sigils, but what was likely once a brilliant purple light was now barely flickering.


    The chamber itself remained bathed in the soft, golden glow of its mysterious healing energy, but Kain''s mind was elsewhere. He had hoped that simply placing the devices on the platform would reactivate them, but it was clear now that whatever golden energy was powering this room was not compatible with them. What they needed was likely the violet energy derived from the planet''s core, but had been almost completely drained from the ruins over time.


    Prismarin, perched beside Serena, watched with an unusually serious expression. "These objects likely ran on energy drawn from the core of this world," Kain explained to it, upon seeing it glaring at his inaction.


    Kain knew that using its clones it had explored far more of the relic than he had, but he wasn''t sure if it yet knew that the main power source used by this civilization was a fragment of the planet''s core. "But after countless centuries, that energy has been reduced to almost nothing. And based on the condition of the platform we found them on, which were likely meant to replenish them, it is unlikely we''d find a suitable source to recharge them in this relic."


    The Prismarin hopped closer, its luminous eyes narrowing as it examined the device in Kain''s hand. "So, if we can recharge them, they might still be useful. But where are we going to get that kind of energy? That core your talking about has likely been long depleted, and we don''t have access to anything like it."


    Kain frowned, fingers tapping absently against the pommel of his spear. If these devices held answers��if they could somehow help Serena��he needed them to function. But without their original energy source, there was no way to power them up.


    Unless��


    His gaze flickered toward Serena. Her still, pale form lay undisturbed on the dais, her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. Even with the golden light of the chamber working to heal her, she had not stirred once since he arrived.


    Kain clenched his jaw. There was one other source of energy that might work. Using the energy contained in the core from Pangea itself. That same energy had activated to resist abyssal energy in the past, so Kain knew that it could be released from the planet, and perhaps harnessed in these machines. Although, the energy may not be exact same, it was the closest Kain could find to a substitute. Under these circumstances.


    The thought sent a sharp wave of unease through him. This plan was risky. Pangea''s core was tied to the planet''s stability. If he drained too much of its energy, it could have serious consequences which was why he''d wanted to limit the number of beast-tamers he created using Pangea as a medium.


    But as he looked at Serena, motionless and fragile in a way he had never seen before, hesitation turned into something else. A quiet, burning resolve.


    Their numerous interactions over the past year, from shared missions, to taking care of Gabriel together, have brought them closer together. At the very least, Serena had played an instrumental role in his being able to figure out how to create beast-tamers, he can just think of this as a long overdue repayment. S��arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He placed his hand on one of the devices that looked like it may be related to healing��a cube shaped device that resembled a rapid healing technology the Order possessed. Taking a steady breath and closing his eyes, he focused on the connection he shared with Pangea. He could feel the planet''s core, a faint pulse of energy that resonated deep within him. It was a lighter violet than the energy depicted in the carvings, and what was emitted by that half-mechanical abomination he fought previously, but it was similar enough. He reached out with his spiritual energy, allowing it to flow through him and into the device.


    At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the carvings on the device began to glow brighter, the dim purple light intensifying. Kain could feel the energy flowing from Pangea, through him, and into the device. It was a strange sensation, like a river of power coursing through his veins. But as the device began to fill, he could also feel the strain��not just on himself, but on Pangea.


    The connection between Kain and his planet was deep, and he could sense the changes almost immediately. Many of the lush forests of Pangea began to wither, their vibrant green fading to a sickly brown.


    The rivers, once teeming with life, grew still and stagnant as many of the mid-grade and above spiritual creatures fell into a lethargic state due to the sudden depletion of spiritual power on the planet''s surface, leaving the planet''s inhabitants feeling weaker, more vulnerable.


    Those strongest on the planet, including Aurem who had increased rapidly in strength since he first hatched, fell into a deep hibernation. In an instant only the weaker creatures remained awake.


    But that didn''t mean those weaker creatures were well-off, earthquakes rumbled across the planet''s surface, and tsunamis crashed against the shores, leaving destruction in their wake.


    Kain''s breath came in short bursts and the immense soul-deep pain he felt almost made him throw up on the spot, but he continued to channel the energy.


    Every second took a toll on him, his body trembling with the effort. But he pushed through, determined to see this through. Finally, with a final surge of energy, the device was fully charged, its surface glowing with a bright, steady light.


    Kain opened his eyes, his body trembling with exhaustion. He could feel the changes on Pangea, the planet''s pain echoing through him. But strangely��he didn''t regret his actions like he thought he would.


    "It''s done," Kain said, his voice hoarse. "The device is fully charged."


    The Prismarin hopped closer, its luminous eyes wide with concern. Although it was curious how Kain had seemingly achieved the impossible, it didn''t question his methods. "Kain�� are you alright? You look�� pale. And that was just one��"


    Kain gritted his teeth. One device was powered, but it had come at a terrible cost. And he could only afford to do this maybe two more times before the damage became irreversible.


    Prismarin, who had been watching him carefully, didn''t need him to say anything to understand. "You can''t do all of them, can you?"


    "No," Kain admitted, his voice tight. "I can only power two more before things get too dangerous."


    At the thought of doing this twice more, Kain almost felt as though he could feel Pangea cry out. Not in words, but in tremors beneath the surface, in the fading strength of the creatures that called it home. The cost was real, the damage irreversible.


    Yet, when he looked at Serena, still motionless, he knew there had never been another choice.


    Prismarin hopped closer, gaze fierce. "Then let''s use it. Before it''s too late."


    Kain clenched his jaw, gripping the device. Before it''s too late.

 Chapter 501 - 501: For Serenas Sake (2)

    Kain stared at the glowing cube-shaped device in his hand, its surface now pulsing with a steady, vibrant purple light. The energy from Pangea''s core had brought it back to life, but the cost had been immense.


    At least a third of the forests of Pangea were withering, many of the rivers furthest from the oceans were drying up, and the planet''s spiritual energy decreased to a level that was unsustainable for the strongest creatures.


    The earthquakes and tsunamis had left destruction in their wake, and the strongest creatures on the planet had fallen into a deep hibernation. Even Aurem, who had grown so powerful since hatching, was now dormant. Meanwhile, the weaker creatures that remained were struggling to survive due to the changes in the environment, but unlike the high-level spiritual creatures, they do not possess the power to combat Mother Nature.


    Kain knelt beside Serena, his fingers tightening around the newly charged device. The violet glow pulsed in his hands, steady and strong, but as he brought it closer to her, doubt flickered in his mind. Would this be enough? Had all that suffering, the strain on Pangea, been worth it?


    Prismarin hovered nearby, its luminous eyes locked onto Serena with an intensity that Kain rarely saw. "Activate it," it urged. "Don''t waste time."


    Kain exhaled sharply. He placed the device against Serena''s chest, pressing it lightly against the fabric of her uniform. The Order had a similar healing device, whose technology had supposedly been obtained from another relic in the past. If the Order''s healing device came from a similar relic, this one might function the same way. But there was no certainty.


    The sigils on the cube flared to life, the soft violet glow bathing her in light. For a long moment, nothing happened.


    Then, Serena stirred.


    Her brows twitched, her lips parting ever so slightly as the golden light surrounding her flickered in response. The tension in her body seemed to ease, the rigid stillness giving way to something softer. Her breathing, once so shallow it was barely perceptible, grew steadier. Color returned to her face��not much, but enough that the change was noticeable.


    The Prismarin''s ears stood up. "She''s��"


    "Not awake," Kain finished, swallowing back frustration. Relief that they had seemingly chosen a suitable device and the attempt wasn''t wasted, warred with bitter disappointment. She looked better, but she still hadn''t opened her eyes. The healing had helped, but it wasn''t enough.


    Kain''s mind raced. He couldn''t afford to make another blind guess. He didn''t have the luxury of time or resources to waste. The cost of failure wasn''t just Serena''s life��it was Pangea itself.


    Pangea was an irreplaceable resource for Kain, and he suspected he''d only managed to uncover a fraction of its capabilities. Moreover, its existence was so intricately tied with him, who knew if its destruction won''t have crippling or life-threatening consequences for him.


    Kain really didn''t want to attempt this a third time, he needed certainty with the next attempt. And there was only one way to get it.


    His eyes flicked to Balens, who stood silently at the foot of the dais. The wish-granter had been unable to heal Serena directly, but perhaps it could help in another way. Kain will likely have to deal with the backlash from the wish, and had been hoping to avoid Balens'' help, but now he saw no other choice.


    "Balens," Kain said, his voice hoarse but firm. "I need you to make a wish. Identify the next device we should charge. Tell me which one will help Serena the most." S��ar?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Balens'' scales trembled ever so slightly, the delicate chains that held them swaying as if burdened by an invisible weight. The face carved into its center, usually like an emotionless judge, now bore a subtle downturn at the corners of its mouth, its hollow gaze dimmed with something close to sorrow. A soft metallic creak echoed through the chamber��an unspoken lament for its own powerlessness.


    It took a while for the dejected creature who resembled legal scales to respond to Kain. Clearly, its inability to heal Serena had taken a huge toll on it. This was likely the first time it had run into something it couldn''t simply wish away. Moreover, as Serena''s first contract, who had known her since she was quite young, it had an extremely close bond with her��beyond even her close relationship with her other contracts.


    Balens'' expression shifted slightly as it finally seemed to hear Kain. The air around it seemed to shimmer as it focused its power. A faint, silver light emanated from its body, and for a moment, the chamber was filled with a soft, melodic hum. Then, the light it emitted seemed to concentrate on a single object��an unassuming cylindrical object covered in glowing sigils.


    Kain''s eyes narrowed as he picked up the cylindrical device. It was heavier than he expected, its surface cold to the touch. The faint sigils etched into its surface were dull. This device, like the others, had been drained of its energy over time.


    "Alright," Kain muttered, steeling himself. "Let''s do this."


    He held the cylindrical object in his hands and closed his eyes, focusing once more on the connection he shared with Pangea. The planet''s core pulsed faintly within him, and once again allowed the energy to flow through him and into the device.


    Kain''s breath came in short bursts, his body trembling with the effort and black began to creep into the corners of his vision. He could feel the immense soul-deep pain, the weight of Pangea''s suffering pressing down on him. But he pushed through, determined to see this through. Finally, with a final surge of energy, the device was fully charged, its surface glowing with a bright, steady light.


    The Prismarin hopped closer, its luminous eyes filled with concern. "Kain�� are you alright?" Although, it and this human had previously only met when fighting, and so their relationship was not the best, seeing Kain''s current efforts made him warm up to him a lot. He had no idea how Kain was charging these devices, something that they had previously tried to have Balens attempt unsuccessfully, but it could be seen it took a huge toll on Kain.


    Kain nodded, though he could feel the strain in every fiber of his being. "I''m fine. But that''s it. I don''t think I can even make the third attempt..." Kain explained after seeing the devastation to the planet that seemed even worse the second time. The entire planet was now practically devoid of any life, those stronger or lucky simply fell asleep or hid, while those unlucky weaker creatures had died. Kain himself wasn''t even confident that he could stay conscious through a second attempt.


    Kain placed the cylindrical device on the platform near Serena. The golden light of the chamber seemed to react to it, and even took on a violet hue.


    However, in a gruesome sight, a viscous liquid resembling a black-purple blood began to drain out of her eyes, nose, and mouth. If anything, she looked even worse than before. All of her contracts began to frantically surround her as they tried to figure out what was going wrong.


    Kain''s heart sank. He had given everything he had, but it still wasn''t enough. He slumped to the ground, his body trembling with exhaustion. The darkness that had been creeping along the edges of his vision, finally consumed him.

 Chapter 502 - 502: Turbulent Thoughts

    Kain''s consciousness returned slowly, like a ship emerging from a dense fog. His head felt heavy, as if it were filled with lead, and a sharp, throbbing pain pulsed behind his temples. He groaned softly, his eyelids refusing to open just yet. The migraine was unbearable, and he could feel every heartbeat reverberating through his skull like a blow from a hammer.


    But as he lay there, he became aware of something else. His head was resting on something soft, something warm. The sensation was comforting, almost soothing, and it helped to dull the edge of his pain.


    He inhaled deeply, and a sweet, floral scent filled his nostrils. It was faint but unmistakable, like the fragrance of blooming flowers after a spring rain. The smell was calming and familiar, but not something he could immediately place.


    As the pounding in his head began to subside to a tolerable level, Kain finally mustered the strength to open his eyes. The golden light of the chamber still permeated the room, practically blinding him before his vision adjusted. His vision was still blurry, but as it cleared, he realized where he was��and more importantly, who he was with. S��ar?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His head was resting in Serena''s lap.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat. Serena was sitting upright on the dais, her silver hair cascading around her like a halo. The golden light of the chamber illuminated her features, giving her an almost angelic quality. Her eyes were focused on something in her hands��one of the devices Kain had brought back. She was examining it carefully, her expression one of quiet concentration. Her lips were slightly parted, and her long lashes cast delicate shadows on her cheeks.


    ''Beautiful��''


    Kain almost flinched at the intrusive, absurd thought.


    ''What the hell is wrong with me?'' he thought, his cheeks flushing slightly. ''Since when do I think things like that about her?'' He quickly dismissed the thought, chalking it up to the exhaustion and the migraine messing with his brain.


    ''Yeah, that''s it. My brain''s just fried. That''s all...''


    But even as he tried to rationalize it, he couldn''t help but notice how serene she looked, how the golden light seemed to enhance her natural beauty. He quickly shook his head, trying to clear the strange thoughts from his mind. Focus, Kain. Focus.


    Serena must have sensed his movement because her gaze shifted downward, her piercing blue eyes meeting his. A relieved smile spread across her face, and for a moment, Kain''s heart skipped a beat. It was rare to see Serena smile, and when she did, it was like the sun breaking through the clouds after a storm. Her smile was soft, genuine, and it made something in Kain''s chest tighten.


    "You''re awake," she said, her voice gentle but filled with relief. "I was starting to worry."


    Kain''s throat felt dry, and he quickly sat up next to her, clearing his throat awkwardly as he moved away from her lap. "Yeah, I''m�� I''m fine," he muttered, his voice rough. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ignore the pounding in his chest. His heart must be pounding from the earlier overexertion��


    Serena''s smile dropped into a frown as her brows furrowed in concern, before she raised a hand toward his forehead. "Your face is really red. Are you sure you''re okay?"


    Kain quickly moved his head away from her hand, "Yup. Perfectly fine."


    Serena dropped her hand back down awkwardly at his strange behaviour, but smiled again. "I don''t know what you did, but thank you for saving me. Even Balens couldn''t heal me, and I can only imagine how much of a toll it had on you."


    Kain frowned, his brow furrowing as he tried to piece together what had happened. "I�� save you?" He glanced around the chamber, his eyes landing on the devices he had charged. The cube-shaped one and the cylindrical one were both glowing faintly, their sigils pulsing with a steady light. The black-purple liquid that had drained from Serena''s eyes, nose, and mouth was gone, and she looked healthier than she had before. The golden light of the chamber seemed to have merged with the violet energy from the devices, creating a harmonious glow that filled the room.


    "You did," Serena confirmed, her voice soft but firm. "Whatever you did, it worked."


    Kain''s chest tightened again, but this time it wasn''t from exhaustion. He looked away, his cheeks burning. "I�� I just did what I had to do," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "You would''ve done the same for me."


    Serena''s smile softened, and she reached out, placing a hand on his arm. Her touch was warm, and it sent a jolt through him. "Thank you, Kain," she said, her voice filled with sincerity. "I mean it."


    Kain''s heart pounded in his chest, and he quickly stood up, brushing off her hand. "Yeah, well�� don''t mention it," he said, his tone gruff. He turned away, trying to hide the flush that was creeping up his neck.


    ''What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I acting like this?''


    Serena spoke up. "Kain," she said, her voice serious now. "What did you do to charge these devices? I can feel the energy in them��it''s powerful, but it''s nothing I''d come across before. Where did it come from?"


    Kain hesitated, his gaze shifting to the devices. He didn''t want to tell her the truth��at least, not yet. The energy comes from a fragment of the planet''s core. I''d found a small reservoir containing its energy before your Prismarin found me. I''d simply channeled its energy to the devices


    At his explanation, the Prismarin tilted its head in confusion while staring at Kain. It didn''t completely buy Kain''s explanation. Serena had been unconscious, but he''d watched Kain''s every move. While it did look like Kain was channeling energy from somewhere else into the device, if Kain had a reservoir containing energy, why go through all the pain that it''d seen him go through? Why not just wish for Balens to transfer the energy from the reservoir to the objects. Yeah, there''d be an equivalent exchange, but it can''t be any worse than the pain he seemed to suffer.


    It was also unclear if Serena bought his story. But she wasn''t going to push him if he didn''t want to explain.


    She could tell that Kain had many secrets he was trying to hide, but given enough time she was confident in uncovering them.

 Chapter 503 - 503: Fractured Team

    Serena, still seated on the platform, watched him with a mixture of curiosity and concern. She could tell there was more to his story about the energy source, but she didn''t press him. Still, her sharp gaze lingered on him for a moment longer, as if silently telling him she wasn''t fooled.


    Not wanting to continue on this subject any longer, Kain quickly changed the subject.


    "Serena," he said, shifting his gaze to her. "What happened after I fell into that quicksand? One second, I was with the group searching for an entrance, and the next, I was sinking. How did you get separated from the others?"


    Serena''s expression grew thoughtful as she leaned back slightly, folding her arms. "The moment you disappeared, the entire ground beneath us destabilized," she explained. "It was like the relic had been waiting for one of us to trigger it. Before any of us could react, we were all pulled under before we could even regroup together."


    Kain frowned. That explained why she wasn''t with the others, but it didn''t tell him where they were now. "So, you all got dragged in and separated? Then what?"


    Serena''s gaze lowered slightly, as if recalling something unpleasant. "When I regained consciousness, I was alone. It was an entirely different location than this chamber��It was a cave on the surface that actually contained a tunnel underground to here." She hesitated, then added, "But once I entered the ruins underground I wasn''t alone for long. The area I entered from was crawling with strange half-mechanical creatures. They manipulated a strange purple energy, and I think a couple even had something resembling abyssal energy. Although it was slightly different from true abyssal energy, it still seemed capable of corrupting others."


    "And that''s what ended up infecting you?" Kain interjected.


    She nodded. "It wasn''t easy. For some reason Balens couldn''t heal me. I had to rely on my other contracts to keep myself alive." She paused, tilting her head slightly. "But what about you? How did you end up here?"


    Kain exhaled sharply. "Same as you��woke up alone on the surface, had to deal with whatever this place threw at me." He glanced toward the glowing devices. "And like you I ran into some�� complications along the way."


    Serena studied him carefully, her piercing blue eyes searching for the details he wasn''t saying. "I''m guessing those ''complications'' are why you look like you''ve been through hell?"


    Kain let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head. "Something like that."


    There was a brief silence between them before Serena spoke again. "The others should have been brought in the same way, but I have no idea where they ended up."


    Kain''s expression darkened, the others were likely scattered and alone, possibly facing the same horrors he and Serena had encountered.


    And if they faced the same creatures Serena did, then that was practically a death sentence for them. After all, Kain doubted that there were many of these special healing rooms. Not to mention, regular healing skills seemed ineffective against whatever was harming her.


    "If the relic pulled everyone in," Kain said, his voice low, "then the others could be anywhere. We need to find them before they run into something they can''t handle."


    Serena nodded, her expression serious. "Agreed. But this place is massive, and we have no idea where they might be. We could spend days searching and still not find them. In all the time Prismarin''s illusions went looking for help, the only person it found was you."


    "Fortunately, it looks like all we''ve got is time��"


    -------------


    After they both felt better, they left the chamber that persistently emitted healing energy, and continued exploring the underground expanse of ruins.


    Fortunately, in all of their travels, they did not come across any of the special experimental products like the one that Serena fought. Instead, at most they had to fight the ''generic'' products that Kain had previously experienced.


    Although they were incredibly powerful, once the two paired up, even multiple of them were not life threatening to them. The familiarity and synergy between their contracts made battles far more manageable.


    However, Kain noted that strangely, like the first one he''d met, as long as he was also in the room, they would largely ignore everyone else and focus their attacks on him.


    As a result, Kain needed to be continuously healed even more than many of their contracts, but it also made formulating combat strategies easier since they knew that they would persistently target Kain anyways and so used this behaviour to trap them.


    But despite predicting their movements and inevitable targeting of Kain, as they ventured deeper into the ruins, the frequency of the half-mechanical abominations increased. The relentless assault was taking its toll, and even with Queen''s healing abilities, he could feel the strain building in his body since they were mostly targeting him.


    "Why do they keep targeting you?" Serena asked, her voice tight with frustration as her Starweaver sent a rain of arrows composed of starlight to repel another abomination. "It''s like they''re drawn to you."


    Kain shook his head, his expression grim. "I don''t know."


    Serena frowned, her piercing blue eyes narrowing as she considered his words. "We need to figure out why they''re focusing on you. It was okay when there were fewer of them, but now it feels like you are slowly drawing everyone of those creatures that are in these ruins to you."


    Kain nodded, but before he could respond, a sudden, dull throbbing sensation interrupted his thoughts. It started deep within him, almost like a hunger pain, but it wasn''t coming from his stomach.


    "Do you feel that?" Kain asked, his voice low as he pressed a hand to his lower chest.


    Serena glanced at him, her brow furrowing in concern. "Feel what?"


    Kain frowned, her confusion was answer enough. Only he could feel whatever this draw was, and with each passing second the sensation grew stronger, pulling at him, guiding him in a specific direction.


    S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 504 - 504: From Predator to Prey

    The dull throbbing in Kain''s chest grew stronger with every step, a relentless pull guiding him deeper into the ruins.


    The sensation was impossible to ignore, like a compass needle pointing to the true north. It led him through winding corridors and vast chambers and got stronger as the distance between him and the source of the pull narrowed.


    The glowing sigils on the walls pulsed faintly, their eerie light casting long shadows. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena followed close behind, her piercing blue eyes scanning their surroundings for any sign of danger. Prismarin''s illusions scouted ahead, a welcome change from having to risk losing the Vespid guards acting as scouts.


    The half-mechanical abominations had grown more frequent, twisted forms emerging from the shadows with relentless aggression. Each one was a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and metal, their glowing eyes locked onto Kain as their primary target. Though Kain and Serena gradually got familiar with targeting their weaknesses, the strain was beginning to show.


    "They''re getting worse," Kain muttered, driving his spear through the chest of a weakened abomination who had already had several of the its wires and purple ''veins'' severed. The creature let out a guttural screech before collapsing into smoldering heap. "It''s like they''re coming from everywhere."


    Serena nodded, her expression grim. "Likely whatever is drawing you, is also related to their increased numbers"


    The pull in Kain''s chest grew almost overwhelming, directing him down a narrow corridor lined with glowing sigils. At the end of the passage stood a massive door, its surface covered in intricate carvings and glowing sigils.


    "There," Kain said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Whatever''s calling me, it''s behind that door."


    Serena turned to him, her expression wary. "Then let''s��"


    A deafening roar cut her off. The ground trembled beneath them, and the walls seemed to pulse with energy. Kain and Serena spun around, weapons at the ready, as a massive figure emerged from the shadows.


    It was unlike any abomination they had faced on the way there. Towering over them, its body was a nightmarish blend of flesh and machinery, elongated limbs tipped with razor-sharp claws. Its glowing purple eyes burned with greater intelligence than the others, and its gaping jaw contained teeth as long as Kain''s torso. But what truly set it apart from the others was the sheer aura of power surrounding it��a palpable energy that made the air crackle with tension.


    "That''s one of the ones with that abyssal-like energy," Serena said, her voice tight. "The kind that nearly killed me."


    Kain tightened his grip on his spear, heart pounding. The creature''s gaze locked onto him, the weight of its attention almost suffocating. It let out another ear-splitting roar and charged.


    "Get ready!" Kain shouted, bracing himself.


    The battle erupted into chaos. The creature moved with terrifying speed, claws slicing through the air. Kain dodged and countered, his spear flashing as he struck at its limbs. Serena and his contracts unleashed a barrage of attacks, lighting up the corridor with bursts of energy.


    Prismarin attempted to grant Kain some reprieve with its illusions, but it, like the previous creatures, seemed to be able to easily differentiate the real Kain from the fakes .


    But the creature was relentless. Its movements were precise, its attacks devastating. It shrugged off their strikes as if they were nothing, its body regenerating almost instantly. Kain felt the strain building in his muscles, exhaustion creeping in.


    "How the hell did you defeat this thing alone the last time!?" Kain shouted. "It''s not going down!"


    "By almost sacrificing my life." Serena replied with a deadpan expression while moving to intercept one of the weaker ''generic'' abominations that was trying to circle around and attack Kain from behind.


    Kain grit his teeth, eyes darting for a weakness. His grip on his spear tightened. The creature was too strong, too fast. Every injury they inflicted regenerated within moments, and their attacks were slowing.


    Then��something stirred in the back of his mind. A gnawing hunger.


    Aegis.


    Kain hadn''t summoned him yet. Normally, he''d be Kain''s most reliable shield, but ever since Kain''s previous mission he''d never gotten the chance to fully recover and got further damaged when they''d first entered the relic. Therefore, Aegis had not been released by Kain in recent battles.


    But now, Aegis pulsed in his mind, a quiet, insistent demand. Hunger. A need to consume.


    Kain''s breath hitched as he realized what Aegis wanted.


    This thing��it had the same abyssal energy Aegis had once absorbed in the Memory Relic.


    He hesitated only a second before releasing Aegis.


    With a low rumble, the golem, only around Kain''s height, emerged. Its burnt-orange eyes locking onto the massive abomination. Aegis trembled, not with exhaustion��but anticipation.


    The monstrous abomination twisted its head toward Aegis just as a deep, guttural sound rumbled from within the golem��almost like a growl, that was uncharacteristic of his normally stoic demeanor. Then, Aegis lunged.


    Faster than Kain had ever seen him move, Aegis slammed into the abomination who had its eyes fixed on Kain instead of the approaching threat. Aegis stone limbs gripped its figure as it ignored Aegis and continued trying to run at Kain.


    However, it soon paid the price for ignoring the golem. Black-purple energy began seeping from the creature, coalescing into wisps of mist. The abomination screeched, its body thrashing violently as Aegis devoured the unique abyssal-like energy.


    For the first time, the monster wasn''t regenerating.


    Kain''s exhaustion dulled��just slightly��as he felt something rush back through his bond with Aegis. Strength. Aegis was feeding on the creature, and through him, Kain was receiving some positive feedback.


    Moreover, a soul deep pain��that belonging to Pangea��was relieved. Albeit slightly.


    A sharp glance at Aegis, then at Kain. She says nothing but slightly narrows her eyes, as if filing the information away for later.


    The abomination convulsed, its movements growing sluggish as more and more of its energy was drained away. Aegis was relentless, his stone hands clamping down as he absorbed everything the creature had to give.


    Kain wasn''t about to waste the opportunity.


    With a burst of adrenaline, he dashed forward. His spear pulsed with energy as he leapt, driving the weapon straight through the creature''s head��and the monster collapsed.


    Silence fell over the corridor.


    Kain landed unsteadily, breath ragged. Aegis rumbled, his orange eyes gleaming with satisfaction as the last wisps of the mist were drawn into him and he began to use it to rapidly reconstruct his body. His height was still incomparable to his prime, but in less than a minute he had tripled in size.


    Serena strode over, sparing Aegis a wary glance before turning to Kain. "You good?"


    Kain nodded, flexing his fingers. The fatigue hadn''t vanished entirely, but the bone-deep exhaustion had lessened.


    With all of the surrounding enemies dead, Kain turned his gaze forward.


    The pull in his chest was stronger than ever. And the cause of it was just beyond those doors.

 Chapter 505 - 505: Invader

    The massive door stood before them, its surface covered in intricate carvings and glowing sigils that pulsed faintly with residual energy. The pull in Kain''s chest was almost unbearable now, a relentless tug that drew him forward like a moth to a flame.


    He exchanged a glance with Serena, who nodded silently and together, they pushed the heavy door open. With a loud groan, its long-unused hinges protested the movement.


    The chamber beyond was large, its walls lined with more of the glowing sigils that seemed to pulse in time with Kain the throbbing in Kain''s chest. But what caught his attention was the object at the center of the room��a massive, crystalline structure that glowed faintly with a dull purple light.


    It was unmistakably the fragment of the Earth''s core depicted in the ancient carvings and the vision Kain had seen in the crystal previously. But unlike the vibrant, pulsating energy he had witnessed in those images, the fragment before him was dim, its light flickering weakly as if on the verge of fading entirely.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat as he approached the fragment, his steps slow and deliberate. The pull in his chest grew stronger with every step, a gnawing hunger that seemed to emanate from deep within him. He could feel the energy radiating from the fragment, a raw, untamed power that called to him in a way he couldn''t explain.


    "Kain," Serena said, her voice cautious. "Be careful. We don''t know what that thing is capable of."


    Kain barely heard her. His focus was entirely on the fragment, his hand reaching out almost instinctively. As his fingers brushed against the crystalline surface, a surge of energy shot through him, coursing through his veins like a tidal wave. The sigils on the walls flickered wildly, their light dimming as the energy from the fragment flowed into Kain.


    For a moment, everything was still. Kain''s vision blurred, and he felt as though he were floating, weightless, in a sea of light and sound. The energy filled him, revitalizing his body and mind, but, more importantly, it had a substantial beneficial effect on Pangea. As the majority of the energy automatically headed towards the desolate planet, many new plants began to spring up to replace the old decaying ones. And the ominously quiet planet began to sound with activity once again. Although most creatures above the equivalent of green-grade were still ''asleep.''


    Back in the ruins, the ground beneath Kain and Serena began to shake violently, the walls groaning as if they could cave in at any time.


    Kain stumbled back, his hand slipping from the fragment as the energy surge subsided. The sigils on the walls flickered erratically, their light fading in and out as the room was plunged into chaos.


    "What did you do?" Serena shouted, her voice barely audible over the noise. S��ar?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before Kain could respond, a deafening roar echoed through the chamber. The ground shook with the force of it, and the air grew thick with tension. From the shadows emerged a massive figure��a towering humanoid creature, its body a familiar blend of flesh and machinery. The pressure it emitted was the strongest they''d come across so far��likely equivalent to a violet-grade spiritual creature at its peak. However, it appeared to be missing an arm as purple ''blood'' and wires were exposed from its left shoulder and so its gait was a little unbalanced. Thankfully due to the passage of time and likely being unable to fully restore its energy reserves or heal itself, it didn''t seem as powerful as even some of the peak indigo-grade spiritual creatures they''ve met since joining the Order.


    Its glowing purple eyes burned with rage, and its voice boomed through the chamber like thunder.


    "Extraterrestrial invader!" it roared, its words laced with fury. "You dare consume the planet''s source energy? You shall pay the price for daring to leave the Abyss!"


    Kain''s eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about? I''m not��"


    The creature didn''t let him finish. It charged forward, its massive fists slamming into the ground with enough force to crack the stone beneath it. Kain and Serena barely had time to dodge, their movements frantic as they scrambled to avoid the creature''s attacks.


    "Invader?" Serena murmured; her voice filled with puzzlement. "Why is it comparing him to the Abyss?"


    Kain''s mind raced as he dodged another blow. The creature''s words echoed in his head, and a chilling realization began to take shape. Perhaps the Abyss��wasn''t just a mindless force of destruction. Perhaps it was an alien entity, with the goal of consuming the planet''s energy to strengthen itself. And as the owner of Pangea, Kain was perceived as a threat, a rival invader.


    ''Well it might not be completely wrong to perceive me as a threat��'' Kain thought while recalling the intoxicating feeling that came from absorbing the energy from the core fragment.


    Unfortunately, Kain had no time to dwell on the similarities and differences between himself and the Abyss. The creature was relentless, its attacks growing more ferocious with every passing second. Kain''s contracts joined the fray, their attacks lighting up the chamber with bursts of energy, but the creature shrugged them off as if they were nothing. Unfortunately, although it clearly couldn''t exert its full power due to a lack of energy, significantly reducing its threat-level, it still possessed an innate body equivalent to a violet-grade spiritual creature.


    However, Kain noted that the creature had the same black-purple energy, a fusion of what Kain suspected to be Abyssal and the planet''s core energy, that some of the previous attackers had. However, this one was so powerful that the weakened Aegis couldn''t grip onto it for even a second without its regrown limb crumbling.


    "Serena! Use Balens to restore Aegis to his peak condition." Kain hoped that restoring Aegis to his peak would be enough, and the backlash would be more manageable than directly asking for something as crazy as to increase Aegis'' strength to that of a high-grade spiritual creature.


    Fortunately, Balens seemed able to grant this request easily. Unfortunately, unlike the previous wish whose consequence still either hadn''t been triggered or didn''t land on them, the backlash for this wish was immediate.


    ''I can''t move!'' Kain tried to scream out but found that even his mouth wouldn''t open to warn the others. Even worse, there was a massive creature barreling like a tank straight toward his frozen body.

 Chapter 506 - 506: Stalemate

    Boom!


    Kain closed his eyes tightly, the only body part he still retained control of, preparing for the bone-crushing impact.


    Fortunately, Aegis, now fully restored and towering over the battlefield, intercepted the charge. His stone fists slammed into the creature with enough force to make it break its forward charge at Kain, especially, since Aegis targeted its already damaged side.


    The creature roared in anger, its glowing eyes narrowing as it looked at Aegis and then at Kain who was a mere few meters away.


    By this point, Serena and Kain''s contracts had also realized that something was wrong with Kain. One of the Vespid guards quickly whisked him away, while Serena''s Starweaver hovered nearby to cover their escape.


    Seeing his target get further away, the massive creature grew enraged.


    "You will not take what is not yours!" it bellowed, its voice filled with rage. "This planet''s energy belongs to its people, not to invaders like you!"


    The creature lunged at Aegis, its claws slashing through the air with deadly precision. Aegis countered with a powerful blow, his stone fists slamming into the creature''s body with enough force to crack its mechanical armour. Black-purple energy began to seep from the creature''s wounds, and Aegis wasted no time in absorbing it, his form growing stronger with every passing second.


    But the creature wasn''t like the others they had encountered before. It wasn''t simply a mindless guardian running on dwindling reserves. It was intelligent. And furious.


    As soon as it felt Aegis absorbing the leaking energy, it reacted violently. Its remaining arm surged with power, black-purple energy crackling to life around its jagged claws. With terrifying speed, it twisted its body and drove its fist into Aegis'' chest, a deep crater forming where the blow landed. Cracks spread through Aegis'' obsidian-like surface, and he staggered back, forced to momentarily stop absorbing the creature''s energy.


    Kain, still immobilized by the backlash from Balens'' wish, could only watch as the battle unfolded. His mind raced, desperate to find a way to break free and join the fight. Serena, realizing the severity of the situation, barked orders to her contracts.


    The Starweaver remained near the vulnerable Kain who was held by a Vespid guard unleashed a barrage of arrows at the enemy from a distance. Each arrow struck with pinpoint accuracy, exploding on impact and forcing the creature to stagger.


    The Elemental Guardian still in its fire-attribute form, unleashed a torrent of fire that engulfed the creature''s lower body. The flames licked at its mechanical armour, causing it to roar in pain.


    Meanwhile, the Prismarin''s illusions darted around the creature, their crystalline forms shimmering as they created multiple false images of Aegis, the Elemental Guardian, and other allies to disorient the enemy. The creature swung wildly, its claws slashing through the illusions, but each time it struck, another illusion took its place. The distraction bought Aegis precious seconds to recover and press the attack.


    Aegis roared, his stone fists slamming into the creature''s chest with enough force to crack its armour further. Black-purple energy continued to seep from the wounds, and Aegis absorbed it greedily, his form growing stronger with each passing moment. But the creature was far from defeated. With a furious roar, it retaliated, its claws slashing through Aegis'' stone body and sending chunks of rock flying. Aegis stumbled backward, his form cracking under the relentless assault.


    Aegis and the creature had reached a strange state of equilibrium where Aegis would absorb the opponent''s energy to repair himself, while the opponent would damage him severely in turn��the first to be unable to persist would be the loser.


    ''Bea, use Mind Chorus!'' Kain mentally directed, thankful that his connection with his contracts was still there.


    Honestly, Mind Chorus was a skill that Bea had realized during the Order''s orientation but seldom used, and Kain almost forgot she even had it. But against enemies that Bea was helplessly unable to control and when momentarily disorienting an evenly matched enemy could make all the difference, it was the perfect solution.


    A-Mind Chorus: This skill bombards the target''s mind with a chaotic symphony of phantom voices, disrupting their concentration and decision-making. The mental assault causes confusion and paranoia, rendering the target''s thoughts fragmented and actions clumsy for a short duration. It is extremely effective on spiritual creatures up to one grade higher, and its effectiveness decreases the larger the level gap.


    Soon a chaotic symphony of phantom voices that only the creature could hear, bombarded its mind. The creature roared in confusion, its movements becoming clumsy and erratic for a brief moment as the mental assault disrupted its focus. It swung wildly, its attack just barely missing Aegis as it struggled to regain its bearings.


    But even with the combined efforts of the team, the battle was far from over. The creature''s resilience was monstrous. Even while under the effects of Mind Chorus, it lashed out wildly, its movements unpredictable. It knocked Vauleth away with a sickening crunch and caught one of the Vespid guards mid-dodge, crushing it with a sickening crunch before hurling the broken body aside. Queen shrieked in fury, her influence over the remaining guards intensifying as they retaliated with brutal efficiency.


    The Vespid guards, strengthened by Queen, buzzed around the creature to make it even more disoriented. They targeted the creature''s exposed wounds, their stingers siphoning off energy that further weakened its body. The creature roared in pain, its movements slowing as the dual draining effects of Aegis and the Vespids took effect.


    The chamber trembled with the sheer force of the ongoing battle, dust and debris raining down from above. Kain, still locked in his immobile state, could do nothing but watch through narrowed eyes, frustration burning in his chest at his inability to do anything.


    Finally, in a coordinated attack, Aegis delivered a crushing blow to the creature''s torso, the impact sending cracks racing up its body. Serena''s Elemental Guardian shifted into its air-attribute form, sending blades of wind slicing across the creature''s weakened armour. Vauleth, recovered from the errant hit earlier, lunged once more, and aimed his claws at its exposed throat.


    The creature let out a final, enraged roar, gathering what little remained of its power. The black-purple energy around it flared wildly, its body convulsing as it prepared one last devastating attack. S~ea??h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But this attack was not targeted at the approaching enemies. With enraged eyes, it threw its massive body in Kain''s direction its body began to swell sickeningly before exploding in a flash of light and flesh.

 Chapter 507 - 507: Buried Alive

    A deafening shockwave tore through the chamber.


    The explosion of light and flesh sent a wave of force outward that the paralyzed Kain was helpless against. Kain, still paralyzed by the backlash from Balens'' wish, could do nothing but brace himself mentally as the wave of destruction surged toward him.


    Aegis reacted instantly, his massive stone form moving with surprising speed for his size. He raised his arms, shielding those behind him from the brunt of the explosion. The force of the blast slammed into him, his stone body groaning under the impact as cracks deepened across his surface. But he held firm, his orange eyes glowing with determination as he absorbed the brunt of the attack.


    Further from Aegis, many of the Vespid guards were less fortunate. Caught mid-flight, many were flung in all directions like ragdolls. Some managed to stabilize, their wings barely damaged, and managed to regain control. Others weren''t so lucky, their bodies slamming into the chamber walls with sickening thuds.


    Queen, guarded by Aegis and the surviving Vespid guards, let out a mournful buzz. Half of her children had fallen, their broken bodies scattered across the chamber. The survivors regrouped around her, their movements tense and sluggish. Had the enemy not died, they likely would have gone berserk by now.


    Kain, still frozen in place, could only watch as the chaos unfolded. Bits of flesh, shrapnel, and debris flew toward him, but the Vespid guard responsible for him acted without hesitation. It threw itself in front of Kain, its body absorbing the impact at the cost of its life.


    However, even with its sacrifice and with the Starweaver''s additional shield placed on him just in time, Kain wasn''t spared entirely. The force of the explosion left him severely injured, with at least half the bones in his body broken and the majority of his skin covered in severe burns. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The pain was excruciating, but Kain couldn''t even scream. His body remained locked in place, forcing him to endure the agony in silence. His vision blurred, his mind struggling to process the sheer intensity of the pain.


    Then��silence.


    A heavy, unnatural silence settled over the chamber, broken only by the sound of crumbling debris and the ragged breaths of the survivors. The air was thick with dust and the smell of burnt flesh and machinery. The glowing sigils on the walls flickered weakly, their light dimming and areas of the cavern began to crumble��perhaps from the force of the blast? But Kain''s instincts were telling him it wasn''t that simple.


    Kain struggled against the immobilization, willing his body to move. He could feel the backlash from Balens'' wish receding, what originally felt like heavy iron chains around his limbs were slowly loosening. But it wasn''t fast enough. He needed to move. They all needed to move.


    A strangled cough broke the silence.


    Serena, blood dripping from a gash along her forehead, forced herself to her feet. Her normally pristine attire was in tatters, one sleeve completely burned away, revealing blistered skin beneath. Her gaze swept across the battlefield, calculating the damage.


    "Kain?" Her voice was steady, but there was an undercurrent of urgency.


    The Starweaver shifted slightly, revealing Kain''s battered form. His body remained unnaturally stiff, his face twisted in silent agony. The burns were severe, and the unnatural angles of his limbs told her everything she needed to know. He needed immediate treatment.


    Serena clenched her jaw, pressing down the unfamiliar panic that welled in her chest. She forced herself to remain calm, her mind racing as she assessed the situation.


    The Elemental Guardian shifted into its water form, mist coalescing around Kain. A cooling sensation spread over his injuries, numbing the pain from the burns slightly, but it was nowhere near enough. Queen, still reeling from her losses, hovered closer to Kain. The few surviving Vespid guards buzzed weakly, their movements sluggish but unwilling to stray too far from her.


    Without hesitation, Queen extended what little remained of her energy to Kain, transferring her strength into him. The healing was slow��agonizingly slow��and Kain felt every itching and unpleasant sensation as his blistered skin rapidly scabbed over and then healed. But it was effective.


    Kain''s fingers twitched. The backlash was finally weakening. He sucked in a ragged breath, the first he had taken under his own power since the explosion.


    "Stay still," Serena ordered. Her voice was firm, but a rare trace of something softer seeped through.


    Kain tried to respond, but all that came out was a wheeze. His throat was too dry, and his lungs burned with every inhale. Instead, he let his head fall back, his vision swimming.


    But even as he lay there, barely able to move, he could feel it.


    Something was still wrong.


    Serena moved toward him with a bottle of water she likely retrieved from her space ring, but the moment she stepped forward, the ground quivered. Large chunks of rock began to fall from the ceiling, the chamber groaning as the ruins began to collapse.


    "The entire underground network is going to collapse!" Serena shouted, her voice filled with urgency. "We''ve got to move!"


    The survivors sprang into action. Those who could still fight rapidly fled the cavern, carrying the two humans, those who were too injured or tired were retrieved by their respective masters. Majority of Kain''s contracts were retrieved by him, except for Vauleth who remained relatively unharmed. He scooped up Kain while Serena''s Elemental Guardian shifted into its air form, creating a protective barrier around them as they fled.


    As they raced through the crumbling corridors, Kain noted that in every area where the faint purple light had completely faded from the sigils carved into the walls, it was as though an invisible support beam had disappeared. The structures in those areas collapsed almost instantly, the ground giving way beneath them.


    It seems as though since Kain completely drained what little energy remained in the core fragment supporting the ruins, the entire structure was unable to continue supporting itself.


    The air was thick with dust and debris, the sound of collapsing stone echoing through the corridors like thunder and they tried to use the noises as a guide for what tunnels had likely already collapsed so as not to be closed in. But when they entered a fork in the road where both paths visibly looked as though they would collapse the next second and the path behind them was already crumbling, Kain was faced with the very real possibility that they may be buried alive.


    Vauleth tightened his grip on Kain, his massive claws surprisingly gentle as he adjusted his hold.


    The red dragon flicked his tail in irritation, his molten eyes narrowing as he scanned their crumbling surroundings. Dust and stone cascaded from above, filling the air with a suffocating haze. The underground ruins were collapsing, and time was running out.


    With a low growl, Vauleth lowered Kain''s still mostly paralyzed body to the ground. Despite his normally cold and callous demeanor with Kain, he was surprisingly considerate of Kain''s current vulnerability.


    "Stay down," Vauleth commanded, his deep voice reverberating through the enclosed space. "I will clear a path."


    Before Serena could object, the beast launched himself upward, powerful wings propelling him toward the ceiling. With a mighty intake of breath, Vauleth gathered his strength, his chest glowing with intense heat. Then, with a deafening roar, he unleashed a torrent of searing energy at the ceiling above, aiming to blast an escape route to the surface.


    The explosion sent shockwaves rippling through the chamber, illuminating the darkening ruins in a burst of firey light. Stone and ice above shattered from the force of the blast, sending razor-sharp debris raining down which Serena''s contracts protected them both from. For a moment, there was a sliver of hope as chunks of the ceiling gave way.


    But then, the ruin groaned��an eerie, hollow sound that sent a shiver down Serena''s spine.


    Instead of an opening, the weight of centuries-old snow and ice, compressed into an impenetrable mass, laid beyond the stone ceiling of the ruins above them. The blast had disturbed a delicate balance, and the already unstable ruins began to crumble even faster.


    A deep rumble filled the air, followed by the unmistakable sound of cracking stone.


    "No��" Serena started, but it was too late.


    The collapse accelerated. Entire sections of the ceiling buckled under the strain of tons of snow, sending avalanches of rock and ice cascading downward. The ruins, already on the brink of destruction, could not withstand any more.


    Vauleth barely had time to twist mid-air, his wings snapping out in an attempt to shield those below. But even he could not hold back the inevitable. The weight of the collapse crashed down upon them, an unstoppable avalanche burying everything in its path.


    The last thing Kain saw before darkness swallowed them was Serena''s outstretched hand, reaching for him just as the world caved in.


    Then��nothing.


    The ruins had completely collapse, leaving no sign of life beneath the mountain of stone and snow.

 Chapter 508 - 508: From Rags to Riches

    Malzahir wanted to die.


    He had truly given up all hope in life.


    He had given his entire life, his everything, to the tribe.


    ''And look how that turned out��'' He mocked himself internally, wishing he could rewind time.


    Malzahir''s earliest memories were filled with the rough laughter of warriors and the scent of blood and sand. His parents, both warriors who awakened bloodline markings, had been his heroes��until they weren''t.


    His parents had died defending the tribe from the raid of an enemy tribe when he was just a toddler, and too young to even remember their faces.


    Since then his grandmother became his whole world and his only family.


    Unfortunately, despite the heroic sacrifice of his family, aside from a small pouch of gold thrown at his grandmother''s feet in compensation, most of them showed no care for the child of the warriors who fought by their side.


    The Obari tribe had no pity for the weak, and without bloodline markings, his grandmother and himself were considered little more than a burden.


    They lived in poverty, their hut on the outskirts of the village, far from the grand stone structures where the warriors and their families resided��where they''d once resided under the care and protection of his parents.


    But despite the hardships, there was warmth in their home. His grandmother''s laughter, her gentle hands braiding his hair, the way she would hum ancient songs as she cooked, his grandmother''s wrinkled hands, weaving simple talismans to trade for scraps. Her voice, gentle and patient, teaching him old songs of their ancestors. Even as the other children mocked him for his family''s disgrace, even as the children of warriors spat at his feet, Malzahir had never felt alone. Although their home was poor, it was warm.


    But everything began to look up the day his bloodline awakened.


    Three months before his eighteenth birthday, searing pain had shot through his body as an intricate tattoo-like marking was seemingly seared into his skin by an invisible being.


    The entire settlement had been stunned. Most warriors awakened between ages eighteen and twenty-five��rarely before. And more shocking than the timing was the shape his marking took.


    A ''tattoo'' of a Tyrant Boa coiled around his upper right arm identified his affinity��an extremely powerful one.


    The Tyrant Boa was a rare spiritual creature worshipped by some tribes, with a lineage that combined the strength of true dragons and the regenerative ability of hydras. A beast that was strong and greater in potential than all but the highest quality dragon bloodlines.


    Overnight, Malzahir was no longer a disgrace. He was a prodigy, a rising star, the future of the tribe. Lord Sirakhim himself, one of the few Demigod-level warriors of the Obari tribe, took notice. With his support, Malzahir was able to obtain the rare young Tyrant Boa he needed allowing him to fully maximize his potential.


    For the first time, his fellow tribesmen looked at him with something other than disdain. Their smiles, their cheers, their admiration��it was intoxicating. He was now among the upper echelons of the tribe. And with his newfound status, Malzahir used his influence to pull himself and his grandmother out of poverty. No longer did they live in a crumbling shack. No longer did his grandmother have to barter for scraps. Life had finally changed.


    But now, all of that was gone.


    "The old bitch is dead."


    Those words were like a stab in Malzahir''s heart, made even worse by the fact that they were uttered by one of the people Malzahir trusted the most��Himolker. Himolker was a trusted subordinate of Lord Sirakhim and had practically served as Malzahir''s direct mentor when Lord Sirakhim was busy��which was the vast majority of the time.


    But for some reason, he''d now been betrayed by him.


    ''Why?''


    Malzahir still couldn''t come to terms with the sudden backstabbing and looked into the unfamiliar and cold expression on the otherwise familiar face.


    ''Why? Is he planning to betray Lord Sirakhim? Or��was this the order of Lord Sirakhim?''


    ''No! No way!'' S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just the thought that one of the most important figures in his life may want him dead, was not something he could come to terms with. It was almost as heartbreaking as the knowledge that while he was away his grandmother had met her end.


    But it was an undeniable fact that in the middle of a routine hunt, all of his allies had injured and then chased him down as he fled��at least until he could flee no more.


    Malzahir cradled the cooling body of his Tyrant Boa, its once-lustrous black scales now dull, its golden eyes dimming as the life faded from them. Blood seeped between his fingers as he held its massive head close to his chest, his own body trembling with pain and grief.


    As the sole contract that they could ever have, the bond Southerners had with their contracts via bloodline markings was deeper than those from the Celestial Empire. But now, that connection was irrevocably severed for him.


    Moreover, the loss of his Tyrant Boa meant more than just losing his partner; it meant he was now a cripple. And in a tribe where the weak are barely tolerated, suddenly losing his power was worse than death for him.


    His power, his status, his future��everything was gone. The warmth that had finally returned to his life had been ripped away once more, leaving only the bitter taste of betrayal.


    Himolker stood above him, spear in hand, his eyes hard. And yet, for the briefest moment, a flicker of something else crossed his face��regret? Affection? Malzahir couldn''t be sure. But whatever it was, it disappeared as quickly as it came. Without a word, Himolker turned and left.


    He didn''t even bother to deliver the final blow.


    Malzahir was no longer a threat.


    Perhaps weak at the last second and still retaining some lingering affection for his student, Himolker left Malzahir deep and isolated in the desert alone.


    He was destined to die anyway.

 Chapter 509 - 509: Born by Sand, Buried by Sand

    Revenge��


    For many people, it''s the fire that lights them from within, but when its target is too distant, it leaves only cold despair.


    Besides, revenge on who?


    Malzahir suspected that whoever killed his grandmother was likely acting on the behalf of someone far more powerful��possibly even Lord Sirakhim directly. And if not him, then one of the few figures capable of opposing him��another demigod.


    Not to mention as long as the person that did the action was even the weakest beast-tamer, he wouldn''t be able to exact his revenge��he was ''crippled'' now. Completely vulnerable to even the weakest of spiritual creatures.


    He didn''t even dare dream of exacting his revenge on Himolker.


    ''It''s only in delusional fair tales that an ordinary person would be able to take down a high-level warrior.''


    He saw no hope of ever achieving justice��therefore, he saw no reason to continue living in this world where he''d have to be confronted by his dismal reality.


    "Kain!"


    Malzahir''s head snapped up at the sound of the frantic shout, his curiosity flaring for the first time in what felt like forever. Not because he was interested in answering those cries of distress and panic��oh no, he was more interested in seeing if there lay the answer of him being put out of his misery quickly and painlessly.


    He dragged himself forward, his limbs heavy, his body sore from new and old injuries. The wind whipped through the desert, carrying with it the frantic cries of the group beyond the dune. He crested the sandy hill just in time to witness a shocking sight.


    A group of somewhat familiar strangers��the same ones who''d healed and then attempted to torture him for answers previously ��were gathered around a patch of sand that seemed to move and churn unnaturally.


    One of them, the same young man with dark hair who was responsible for trying to infiltrate his mind, was sinking helplessly into the ground, his body disappearing beneath the surface with terrifying speed. The others were shouting, pulling at ropes, and trying desperately to free him, but their efforts were futile. The sand seemed alive, coiling around the young man in a manner that reminded Malzahir of when his beloved Tyrant Boa would coil around and devour its prey whole.


    Malzahir watched in stunned silence as the young man��Kain, he assumed��was swallowed whole. The sand closed over him, leaving no trace of his presence.


    Soon, as if the single sacrifice had awakened some kind of ravenous beast, the sand began to tremble once again, this time beneath the feet of all the remaining members of that group.


    One by one, the rest of his allies followed. Arms flailed, and voices cried out, but the desert showed no mercy. In mere moments, they were all gone, vanishing beneath the surface without a trace.


    Malzahir remained still, his heart pounding in his chest. For a moment, he felt a flicker of something��fear, perhaps, or awe. But it was quickly drowned out by the familiar numbness that had settled over him. He had no strength left to feel anything, no will to fight or flee. He was already dead inside; the desert could take his body too.


    "It''s fitting," he murmured to himself, his voice barely audible over the wind. "Born of the desert, bound to the desert, and now, to die in its embrace. The sands will claim me, as they claim all things in the end."


    What better place to die than in the arms of the desert? It had raised him, tested him, and now, finally, it would reclaim him. Just as natural and inevitable as the sun getting swallowed by the horizon each day, just as the dunes swallowed all traces of the past, he too would fade away. S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He took a step forward, then another, his movements slow and deliberate. The sand shifted beneath his feet, but he didn''t fight it. He welcomed it. This was his fate, his final act of surrender. He had no more battles to fight, no more dreams to chase. The desert would take him, and he would finally be at peace.


    If the stories told by his grandmother were true, then waiting for him was the warm embrace of his long-gone parents and his beloved grandmother��maybe even his Tyrant Boa was with them, guarding his family before he could arrive himself to protect them in the afterlife.


    He closed his eyes, letting the sinking sensation wash over him. He did not struggle. He did not fight. The last warmth he would ever feel came from the sun above, burning mercilessly against his skin. Then, darkness took him.


    For a moment, there was nothing but darkness and the suffocating weight of the sand. And then, suddenly, the world shifted.


    Malzahir gasped as he was thrown into a world unlike anything he had ever seen. The desert was gone, replaced by an endless expanse of white. The ground beneath him was cold and hard, the air biting and frigid. He stumbled, his legs giving out beneath him, and collapsed onto a strange, hard surface��so different from the warm and soft sand that had cushioned his falls his entire life.


    He looked around, his breath coming in visible white puffs as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. The landscape was alien, covered in a thick layer of a strange cold white powder that crunched beneath his hands. The sky above was a pale, washed-out gray, and the air was filled with a strange, almost oppressive silence.


    Malzahir shivered, his body trembling from the cold and the shock of his sudden displacement. He had expected to die, to be swallowed by the desert and forgotten. But instead, he had been brought here, to this strange, frozen world.


    "What�� is this?" he whispered, his voice trembling from his teeth chattering uncontrollably.


    He had heard tales of the afterlife, of places where the souls of the dead were sent to be judged. Was this it? A frozen wasteland where the damned were sent to suffer for eternity?


    The air smelled sharp and unfamiliar, the cold gnawed at his skin. His limbs, already weak, were beginning to fail him.


    ''So this is��hell?''


    That was his last thought before exhaustion dragged him into unconsciousness.

 Chapter 510 - 510:

    Malzahir drifted in and out of consciousness, he had a vague sensation of movement, he heard a vague groan of pain and struggle, but before he could truly process anything else, his mind faded to black again.


    Not knowing how much time had passed, he eventually awoke to the crackling sound of fire.


    His body felt heavy, but whereas before the heaviness in his limbs was due to internal factors like his injuries, his depression, and his body shutting down from the cold. Now the weight on his body felt a lot more��tangible.


    He blinked, his vision blurry as he tried to make sense of his surroundings and process what was on him.


    His eyes flickered open. Based on the dim glow of firelight illuminating the surroundings, he concluded that he was in what appeared to be a shallow cave or a snowdrift hollowed out as shelter.


    Moreover the weight on his body, as he expected, was due to an object. Someone had draped several layers of thick, fur-lined clothing over his shoulders, their weight unfamiliar since he''d been raised wearing only light and comfortable materials suitable for the desert heat.


    The sound of labored breathing drew his gaze to the other side of the fire and he saw his ''saviour''. Considering he didn''t really want to be ''saved'' from death, he was still conflicted on whether the other person deserved that title. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man lay there, propped weakly against the frozen wall, his body covered by deep wounds and frostbite. Blood stained the front of his thin clothes, sluggishly seeping from injuries that no longer seemed to pain him��his body was past the point of feeling. His face was pallid, his breaths slow and shallow. He did not have long.


    ''Did he take off most of his clothing to give to me? Why?'' To Malzahir such self-sacrificing behaviour for a stranger was idiotic, but unbeknownst to him a small portion of his heart, one he thought was long dead, began to beat again.


    Malzahir''s first instinct was to close his eyes and let the darkness take him again. He had no desire to be saved, no will to continue. But although Malzahir said nothing. The man''s dull, fatigued eyes seemed to still be aware that he''d woken up.


    "You''re awake," the man rasped. His voice was hoarse, the effort of speaking clearly costing him. "Good�� I wasn''t sure if you''d wake at all. Or if I could even��cough."


    The man''s speech was suddenly cut off by a violent coughing fit.


    Malzahir sat up slowly, his joints stiff and aching, but majority of his most severe internal and external injuries had been healed. Obviously some kind of expensive elixir or powerful skill had been used to heal him from his formerly battered state.


    ''Sigh��what a waste��I''m sure many people would be thankful for such care, but I''m not one of them''


    His first instinct was to ask why the man had saved him, but the answer was obvious. There was no way this was just an act of kindness. The man must need something from him.


    Looking around he also noticed previously overlooked details, his eyes landing on the man''s contracts. They were scattered around the fire, their forms broken and lifeless.


    One, a large wolf-like creature, lay motionless beside the man, its fur matted with blood. Another, a bird with shimmering feathers, was curled up in a corner, its wings bent at unnatural angles.


    There were also other vague shapes hidden in the darkness that weren''t moving and showed no signs of life.


    The sight stirred something in Malzahir��a flicker of empathy, perhaps, or just the memory of his own loss.


    Malzahir''s eyes then flicked to the man''s side, where the dark stain��which he originally thought was just blood but upon closer inspection was tinged with black and violet tendrils of energy as well��was growing larger.


    "You''re dying," he said, his voice hoarse. "All of you."


    The man chuckled weakly, a sound that quickly turned into another cough. "Yeah. I know. I''ve been trying to heal myself, but�� nothing''s working. My contracts are all gone, they fought bravely but the opponent was too powerful. My elixirs are even useless on the injuries it caused me, so I just used the last couple on you. Although there''s no future left for me, I took on this mission, and I must ensure its success��and right now you appear to be my only hope."


    Struggling to lift a trembling hand the man presented a storage ring. "Take this," he said, pressing it into Malzahir''s palm. His fingers were icy to the touch, like a walking and talking corpse. "It contains everything I''ve gathered. My allies�� they need it. They''re out there somewhere, and they''re counting on me. But I�� I won''t make it. So please, I beg you��"


    Malzahir stared at the ring. He did not move to wrap his fingers around and it��keeping it loosely suspended in his palm, not truly accepting the task.


    He had no interest in playing errand boy for a dying man. He had no interest in anything at all. If he had his way, he would have stayed lying in the snow until the cold took him just as the desert sands had tried to do.


    But then the man''s gaze met his, and Malzahir froze.


    Desperation. Not for his own survival, but for those who were still alive��his teammates. Something about his pleading expression touched a nerve.


    Malzahir scowled. He did not want this responsibility. He did not want to be dragged back into the concerns of the living. And yet��


    A sigh left his lips, and with it, his resistance. He took the ring.


    ''I guess I can just delay my death for a little while longer��at least until I deliver this ring.''


    The relief in the man''s face was immediate. His body, which had been clinging to life to be able to pass this important task on, finally began to surrender. His head lolled slightly, his chest rising and falling in slower, uneven intervals.


    Just as his eyes were about to drift shut for the last time, Malzahir spoke.


    "What''s your name?"


    A faint ghost of a smile tugged at the man''s lips. "Idrias," he murmured. "Idrias Tailwind."


    Then, his breath stilled. His body slumped. And Malzahir was left alone with the flickering fire and the weight of a promise he had never intended to make but would make sure he saw through.


    After that�� well, he could always find another way to die.

 Chapter 511 - 511:

    ''Why did I agree to this?!''


    Malzahir thought for probably the 10th time in just that hour after landing face down again in a pile of snow.


    ''Snow'' That''s what he''d learned from Idrias was the name of this horrific white powder.


    He groaned, pushing himself up with trembling arms, his breath coming out in visible puffs. The cold bit at his skin, the snow clinging to his clothes and hair. With each passing second, his hatred for this ''snow'' grew stronger.


    One would think that walking on sand and snow would be similar��they weren''t! Absolutely not!


    Sand was warm, familiar, and would softly cushion your fall. Snow, on the other hand, was cold, treacherous, and evil.


    Every step was a battle for him, his feet sinking into the powdery white surface, his legs struggling to pull him forward. He felt as though he''d somehow degenerated to being a toddler, incapable of taking more than a few dozen steps without being at risk of falling.


    ''Even though I didn''t die, this is definitely hell��'' he thought bitterly, while brushing the snow off of his face.


    The only reason he wasn''t frozen solid yet was because of the clothing left behind by Idrias. But even that was barely enough.


    The freezing winds carrying chunks of ice and snow were like painful pieces of razors, cutting straight to his bones.


    His fingers, despite being gloved, felt numb, and his toes had long since lost sensation. He wondered if they''d freeze and drop off before he even found another person to pass Idrias'' ring to.


    Fortunately, although the majority of the objects in the space ring given to him Malzahir had no idea how to use, some had obvious purposes��and he would have long died without them.


    For example, the portable fire starter the size and shape of a can around thigh height, allowed him to obtain some warmth in this cold environment. If he hadn''t had it, he wouldn''t even know where to begin collecting wood and other flammable materials when all he could see was white��


    In the ring were also many food rations, water, blankets, and clothing suitable for various weather conditions. Malzahir had layered himself in thick furs and wool, but even that wasn''t enough to fully ward off the biting cold. There was also a mechanical glowing orb that his instincts screamed against touching��certain it was a weapon of some kind, although he had no idea how to use it. He had tried to examine it once, but the moment his fingers brushed its surface, a sharp, electric jolt had coursed through his arm, leaving it tingling for hours. Since then, he''d avoided even looking at it.


    As for the ''relic'' (whatever that was) souvenirs that Idrias wanted to ensure were delivered to his allies, Malzahir examined them briefly but didn''t see anything special about them. Lots of books from a language he didn''t understand, strange mechanical items that don''t even seem able to work anymore, and more useless junk.


    ''Was this stuff really worth dying for��?'' Malzahir thought in puzzlement as he held up a light purple crystal that was glowing faintly. From the objects Idrias obtained in this relic, it was the only thing that seemed to have any energy remaining.


    He sighed, tucking it back into the ring. He didn''t understand its purpose, but it wasn''t his place to question it. He had a task to complete, and he would see it through��no matter how pointless it seemed.


    But as the time dragged on, it was getting harder and harder to retain that conviction. The longer he walked, the more he could feel exhaustion creeping into his bones. His limbs ached, his breath was growing shallow, and his mind had started to dull. He wasn''t built for this climate. He wasn''t built for this endless, frigid directionless march toward an unknown destination, looking for people he wasn''t even sure were still alive.


    He couldn''t even remember how long it had been since he''d left Idrias.


    Had it been a day? A week? More? The frozen landscape played tricks on his mind, stretching even short distances into what felt like miles. No matter how far he went, the scenery remained unchanged. No landmarks, no destinations. Just ice and wind and nothingness. S~ea??h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Suddenly, a deep, thunderous boom shattered the silence and the ground beneath his feet began to shake violently.


    Then, without warning, the earth split open.


    Just ahead, the snow began to collapse inward, as if the ground supporting it was disappearing. A massive crater formed within seconds, widening, deepening��a sinkhole stretching further and further, swallowing everything in its path.


    Malzahir scrambled back, his limbs slow and uncoordinated. He turned and began to waddle away from the ever-expanding hole. Unfortunately, the snow made it it almost impossible to move quickly, and he fell repeatedly, his body slamming into the cold, hard ground. Each time, he forced himself back up, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The sinkhole was gaining on him, and he could feel that just seconds after he left a spot, it would crumble away to nothingness.


    "Ah! No!" With the sinkhole already close behind him, he lost his footing again at the worst timing.


    But just when he was certain it would and swallow him whole, eyes closed in resignation, it stopped.


    Panting, Malzahir collapsed onto the snow, his chest heaving. For several moments, he did nothing but stare up at the bleak, gray sky, his mind blank.


    Then, cautiously, he turned his head and looked back.


    There was nothing.


    No land, no snow, no ground to stand on. Just an endless void stretching beyond sight, a black abyss that seemingly had no bottom.


    "What�� what is this?" he whispered, his voice trembling. He crawled closer to the edge, peering into the darkness. The lack of light and endless depth gave him the illusion that hundreds of creatures hidden in the dark were staring at him, waiting for him to fall into their open mouths.


    Malzahir shuddered at the mental image.


    This place truly was hell!

 Chapter 512 - 512: A New Companion

    However, after traveling for what felt like days, he was beginning to think he should have just bitten the bullet and turned back. The ravine stretched endlessly with no signs of an end, nor did he see any movement��no indications that anyone had survived. But still, he kept searching.


    "Oomf��!"


    Suddenly, his balance wavered, and before he could catch himself, he crashed face-first into the snow with a muffled grunt.


    A sharp, indignant squeal erupted beneath him.


    Malzahir jerked upright, startled��this had been the first sign of another living thing he''d seen since Idrias!


    Beneath him, a small, iridescent creature squirmed free from where Malzahir''s feet had stomped it into the snow.


    Its fur shimmered faintly with a crystal-like quality, reflecting the surrounding environment. But considering that all of the surroundings were pretty much a homogenous white, it too took on that color��nearly invisible against the snow. It shook itself off, glaring at him with tiny, beady eyes before hopping back a step to examine him.


    Malzahir narrowed his eyes. The creature didn''t move like a wild animal, ready to launch an attack against him, nor did it flee upon seeing him.


    But before he could dwell on it further, he was distracted by a strange sight from his new angle on the ground��what looked to be an opening in the edge of the cliff?


    From his higher vantage point while standing, it had blended seamlessly into the snow, but from the ground, the uneven dip in the terrain made its outline just barely visible.


    All along the edge of the massive ravine, the land dropped at a sharp 90 degree cliff. However, here, the edge of the ravine sloped downward in a dangerous incline, like a natural slide that had the world''s most gruesome end.


    Towards the end of this horrifying slide of death was an area where the snow had settled unevenly, concealing what appeared to be a narrow, partially collapsed tunnel entrance embedded in the slope.


    It teetered precariously near the edge of the cliff and one wrong step while trying to enter or exit it could send one skidding off the side of the cliff. One would have to be incredibly nimble to safely enter or exit that passage.


    His gaze flicked between the dangerous opening, the tiny paw prints in the snow, and the strange little creature. "Did you come from there?"


    The creature tilted its head. Realizing that it might not understand him, he pointed at the opening and tried to convey his question through body language.


    Then, slowly, it nodded after nearly a minute of Malzahir looking as though he was clumsily enacting some kind of abstract dance.


    But seeing its docile temper, lack of caution around humans, and developed ability to communicate with him despite not necessarily understanding the same language, Malzahir began to form a hopeful idea�� Perhaps this was a contracted beast. And if it was here alone, that meant its beast-tamer was nearby��or possibly, trapped.


    He exhaled sharply, weighing his options. He had been hoping to find other people, Idrias'' allies, but deep down was beginning to lose all hope.


    His fingers brushed against the space ring Idrias had given him. He eyed the crumbling opening balanced dangerously on the slope''s edge. Had the collapse extended even a foot further, the entrance would be completely gone��moreover, there were no guarantees that the ravine couldn''t suddenly expand further and swallow the entrance��and the tunnel it led to along with it.


    He then looked at the treacherous incline leading to it. If he wasn''t careful, he''d slide straight off into a seemingly bottomless drop. Every single survival instinct in his body was screaming at him not to make the risky attempt of entering the precariously balanced tunnel entrance.


    ''But fortunately, my desire for survival is at an all-time low��''


    Willing to take the risk after finding what may be his only hope of finding Idrias'' allies, he secured a rope to ice formation jutting up from the landscape while tying the other end to himself.


    After roughly testing its ability to hold his weight, he began his descent done the slope. The snowy slope was slick with ice in some places, crumbling and loose in others, and more than once, he felt his footing slip.


    Click.


    Hearing a faint clicking noise he looked back and saw that he had company, assuming that the sound was made from his new companion showing off its nimbleness.


    His careful, trembling unsteady steps were followed by the rabbit-like creature that was hopping around while effortlessly maintaining its balance��walking down the incline as though it were walking on flat land.


    Click.


    Malzahir frowned, glancing back. That�� wasn''t from the creature, was it?


    Crack.


    The sound came again��louder this time. Malzahir barely had time to glance back before the ice formation that had been supporting his weight split clean in half.


    His body fell into a helpless skid downward, while he scrambled to regain control. sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But at the last possible moment, his fingers dug into an exposed rock jutting out from the entrance he was trying to enter��digging in deep enough to cause his fingertips to bleed and some of his nails to even break completely off.


    He gripped it tightly, the impact jarring his arm as half of his body dangled precariously over the steep cliff. For a heartbeat, he just hung there, breathless, looking back at the endless dark below.


    Then, slowly, carefully, he pulled himself into the narrow opening at the ravine''s edge, his muscles burning with the exertion of raising his whole body. "Gods," he muttered under his breath. "This had better be worth it."


    The rabbit-like creature, which had remained still during his struggle, suddenly moved again.


    Its body shuddered slightly��then, its glassy, vacant eyes blinked. A subtle shift in energy rippled through the air, and in an instant, the creature became noticeably more lively. It straightened, its ears twitching, its fur shimmering as if reinvigorated.


    Malzahir frowned, noticing the change. "What is wrong with you?"


    The creature didn''t respond in words, but this time, it moved with a much clearer purpose. It hopped forward, glancing back at him as if to beckon him along.


    "��Alright," Malzahir murmured, brushing the snow and ice from his sleeves. "Lead the way."

 Chapter 513 - 513: An Awkward Rooming Situation

    Kain would never describe himself as particularly lucky. In fact, he''d argue that luck rarely, if ever, worked in his favour. In fact, whenever something ''lucky'' did happen to him, he''d likely become more paranoid about what horrible tragedy he could expect to come his way soon.


    Just thinking about his life��both his past and present one�� would reiterate this.


    When he got into the college of his dreams in his past life��his entire family died on the drive up to see him.


    When he got the internship position of his dreams��he died a painful and gruesome death from some kind of mystery disease.


    And in this life, it feels as though every month or so he is having to somehow scrape his way through one life-threatening event after another��


    However, surviving millions of tons of collapsing ice, stone, and snow with only mild injuries had to count for something��probably at the cost of every shred of good luck he had left.


    Of course, although he wasn''t the one who had borne the brunt of the impact, that didn''t mean everyone else got off so easily.


    Vauleth''s immense body lay sprawled in Kain''s star space, bloodied and barely breathing. The serpent had wrapped around them at the last moment, coiling as tightly as possible to shield them all from the worst of the collapse. Without him, Kain wasn''t sure they''d be anything more than a bloody smear beneath the ice.


    After recalling the injured dragon right when he sensed through the bond he couldn''t hold on any longer, Kain and Serena had managed to land perfectly in a small hollow in the ravine.


    The space they now occupied was�� a miracle. A small pocket of space, barely enough to accommodate the two of them, held together by precariously balanced layers of compacted ice and rock. A single mistake, a careless movement, and the delicate balance holding back the crushing weight above them could shatter.


    Their ''prison'' weighed on their minds heavily, but fortunately, the ice and snow surrounding them seemed to emit a light purple glow, ensuring that they weren''t also completely without light, while also being cold and trapped.


    With a quiet breath, Serena recalled her Starweaver and Balens, who were still free. The space instantly felt bigger without their presence, but not by much. Kain, pressed against one icy wall of their tiny prison and exhaled slowly, "Any ideas?" sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena didn''t respond. She sat back against the uneven surface, closing her eyes briefly, her mind likely turning over their predicament and trying to find a solution like he was.


    They were trapped. That much was obvious. And they didn''t dare risk trying to dig at the walls for fear of triggering another collapse.


    Serena had already attempted to use Balens to wish them out of there before recalling him, but��like a handful of times before since entering this relic��it had met some kind of interference.


    Honestly, considering the overpoweredness of Balens'' ability, Kain and Serena had almost come to rely too much on the spiritual creature whenever they faced a predicament. Having only two wishes manage to be successfully granted since they''d first entered, had seriously crippled them��


    However, Kain couldn''t help but note that the first wish to be successfully granted, to identify the most useful object to heal Serena, was extremely small and also in a cavern that seemed to be supplied with a different, golden, source of energy.


    When a more difficult wish, to increase Aegis'' strength, was granted, it was after Kain had drained the core fragment in that portion of the ruins��which eventually led to the collapse. Now looking at the faint purple glow surrounding them and Balens'' lack of success again��


    "Do you think there is another fragment like the one you drained nearby?" Clearly, Serena was on the same track as him.


    In which case, Kain was incorrect in his assumption that this civilization only took a single fragment from the planet''s core��or perhaps they did but split it into several pieces.


    Either way, Kain was excited about the possibility��the previous core helped heal Pangea somewhat��but it is nowhere close to its peak. If there are more of those ''core fragments'' out there, perhaps he could completely heal the damage caused when trying to heal Serena.


    Even more ambitiously��


    ''I wonder what would happen if I absorbed even more than I needed...?'' His heart skipped a beat at that thought, as guilt consumed him. Perhaps that ''ruin guard'' wasn''t wrong in what he called Kain. Perhaps there truly wasn''t much of a difference between Kain and the Abyss.


    Shaking his head he tried to bury that terrifying thought. Instead he focused back on their current predicament.


    They had been trapped for god knows how long now and had gotten to see more sides of one another than I''m sure either of them were comfortable with��


    Serena would release her Prismarin to use its illusions to grant her some measure of privacy and keep some level of boundaries with him.


    ''Unfortunately, Bea isn''t skilled in illusions would need to infect Serena''s brain directly��'' Kain thought with tears in his eyes while putting away a used can formerly filled with food rations, but was now was filled with a smelly brown matter��


    Many of the canned rations had since been used and turned into makeshift toilets, and their stock of food was dwindling.


    Logically, they should have been panicking. But neither of them were.


    Serena, for her part, remained composed. Likely because she had already conveyed that one of the still-active Prismarin illusions had found help��probably one of their teammates. All they had to do now was wait.


    Kain was calm for an entirely different reason. Their food stores in their respective space rings were beginning to run out, but he wasn''t concerned.


    Even though he couldn''t retrieve living things or whole plants from Pangea, he could take out fruit. The portable ''garden'' that was Pangea was practically limitless, more than enough to sustain them forever even with the drastic harm done to its wildlife recently.


    But explaining why he seemingly had a limitless supply of food to Serena was a little awkward.


    Serena, of course, had likely already guessed at Pangea''s existence. There had been too many sloppy clues left by Kain, moreover she had played the biggest role in creating the array that would lead to a made-up ''subordinate realm'' anchored to their planet that she''d never heard of...


    She hadn''t said anything outright, but the way she watched him was telling. A calm, knowing gaze that felt like a silent accusation for lying to her for so long.


    It was almost a strange, unspoken tension between them��Kain had a secret, Serena had all but confirmed it in her mind, and yet neither of them addressed it. The flimsy barrier concealing Pangea''s existence remained intact, but Serena''s persistent, expectant stare made it clear she was waiting.


    Waiting for him to break first.


    Kain exhaled slowly, tilting his head back against the frozen ceiling.


    He was starting to feel guilty.

 Chapter 514 - 514: Secret Revealed

    Kain pressed his fingers against his temples, exhaling sharply. The way Serena kept looking at him was starting to wear him down.


    She hadn''t said a word about their dwindling food supply, nor had she directly asked him how he seemed to always have perfectly fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. But that knowing gaze, expectant yet patient, was practically a silent demand.


    He had a secret. She knew it. And he knew that she knew it.


    Addressing the very obvious unspoken knowledge between them was honestly adding an unnecessary layer of tension to all of their interactions.


    He wasn''t sure why he hesitated. Maybe because once he told her, there would be no going back.


    Or maybe because, despite everything, despite her, he still had this ridiculous instinct to keep it to himself. Pangea was his secret, one of the few things in this world that truly belonged to him.


    Even only a few members of his family, those he completely trusted with his life, only knew that he had the ability to help the affinity-less become beast-tamers��they weren''t privy to Pangea''s existence.


    But it was also a burden. And keeping it to himself any longer felt�� exhausting.


    Kain clicked his tongue, finally making his decision. "Fine. You win."


    Serena blinked, tilting her head ever so slightly, as if to say, I wasn''t playing a game.


    He ignored that, summoning Bea, figuring it was simply easier to show rather than tell.


    The microscopic amoeba immediately made her presence known to Serena, who could not see her, by extending thin mental threads toward her and Kain, connecting them in a way that would allow her to share his vision.


    Thankfully, likely already having an idea of what this was about, Serena did not resist.


    Serena''s mind brushed against his, and for a moment, Kain felt a flicker of unease. Sharing this part of himself, even despite all they''ve been through together, felt like exposing his heart completely defenselessly to another person.


    Her eyes fluttered shut as Kain shared his vision with her as his mind entered his star space.


    -----------------------


    A familiar seemingly endless space opened up before her��after all, she had one too.


    But her attention was immediately drawn to something that was most definitely not in her own.


    Most beast-tamers'' star spaces held only the stars that represented their contracted creatures, floating in an otherwise empty space. Kain''s was different. Radically different.


    The four stars symbolizing his contracts were there as expected, each radiating a distinct hue��a calming blue, vibrant green, sturdy brown, and blazing red.


    But unlike her own stars, his were orbiting around something she''d never seen or heard of before��


    A planet. A massive, living world, was suspended within the void of his star space.


    Serena''s breath hitched as her mind processed what she was seeing.


    Her voice, when it finally came through their link, was uncharacteristically hesitant. ''Kain�� what is this?''


    He said nothing, simply willed his consciousness forward, drawing her along as he descended toward the surface with a thought.


    On the surface, Serena saw through their shared vision vibrant green plains, towering forests, rivers carving blue veins through the land, reflecting the 4 ''celestial bodies'' above that housed Kain''s contracts.


    But along with the beauty, were also the visible scars.


    Charred wastelands, their soil cracked and lifeless. Large areas of the lush forest were reduced to withered and dried out husks��vibrant green and sickly brown dividing the forest like some kind of invisible line.


    The contrast was jarring. On one side, life thrived��birds soared through the canopy, their songs echoing in the fresh air, while herds of creatures roamed the plains, their movements fluid and harmonious. On the other��a deathly silence. The air was heavy, stagnant, and through the senses shared with Kain she could hear and feel the ground crunching beneath his steps as he wandered over the dried out and dead plants.


    Although in the process of recovering, it was obvious that entire ecosystems had recently been wiped away.


    A large portion of Pangea''s life and energy, drained and broken��all to save her.


    Serena inhaled sharply. She had known Kain must have sacrificed something in order to heal the injuries even Balens was helpless against. However, seeing the visual impact of what he''d given up was incredibly jarring.


    Kain pulled back, severing the link, and watched her expression shift as she processed what she''d seen. She didn''t look at him right away. Her fingers curled slightly against her knee, and her gaze drifted downward, unreadable.


    "��This is beyond what I expected," she finally murmured. "I thought it was some kind of relic. Or a subordinate realm you could tap into directly with some kind of skill or device," Her voice remained steady, but there was an undeniable weight behind her words. "Not this."


    Kain leaned back against the frozen wall, watching her carefully. "Yeah. Well. Surprise."


    Silence stretched between them. The faint glow of the ice around them cast sharp, delicate shadows on Serena''s face, but her expression remained sombre. She didn''t seem angry at being lied to for months. She also wasn''t shocked in the way most people would be.


    But she did look�� incredibly guilty��which was also not what he wanted.


    After a long period of tense silence, she finally opened her mouth: "Does it have a name?"


    Kain couldn''t resist letting out an amused smile, thinking that this scene was reminiscent of revealing a hidden child on a first date given the extreme awkwardness and tension between them now. But he still answered with feigned calm, "Pangea."


    "Pangea��" She muttered softly, letting the unfamiliar name role off her tongue to get a feel for it.


    Her fingers soon tightened almost imperceptibly. "It''s so beautiful��god knows what impact damage to it will have on you��was it worth damaging Pangea just for me?"


    Kain released a breath while looking away. "It wasn''t just for you."


    It was a half-truth. A part of him had been curious about the prospects of using a planet''s core for power and the abilities of the items they''d found. But when it came down to it, he had pushed Pangea beyond its limits for her. And she knew it��they both did.


    Serena didn''t argue. She simply sat there, her usual detached composure settling back over her like armour, though something in her eyes had softened. After a moment, she let out a quiet breath and shook her head. "You''re insane."


    Kain huffed out a laugh. "Tell me something I don''t know."


    Another pause. Then, softer��almost too soft to hear��


    "��Thank you."


    Kain didn''t respond right away. He wasn''t sure he even could. Instead, he simply closed his eyes, letting his head rest back against the icy wall.


    Before long, he unconsciously drifted off to sleep. Finally having someone to confide in made him feel much lighter somehow.


    Unfortunately, after confirming the full extent of the sacrifice he''d made, Serena couldn''t share his relaxed demeanour, something in her gaze shifted and became firmer��some kind of resolve confirmed��as she stared at Kain''s sleeping face.


    She felt as though she owed Kain a huge debt��and she didn''t want to leave it unpaid.


    S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 515 - 515: Intentional?

    Serena had become quite strange recently��


    Ever since Kain had revealed Pangea to her, there had been a noticeable difference in how she treated him.


    It was not quite like she''d become a completely different person��otherwise he may be inclined to have Bea check her mind for evidence of possession.


    She was still Serena��composed, calculating, and possessing that same cool, aloof presence that made it difficult to tell what she was thinking. But there was a distinct softness in the way she interacted with him now that wasn''t there before.


    Her features that were originally like a perfectly sculpted ice goddess, would now soften like the snow melting away in spring when she looked at him.


    And, frankly, it was starting to make Kain a little paranoid.


    It started with small things. Subtle, barely noticeable gestures. She offered him the chance to rest in the portable outdoor bed that she had brought that was far more comfortable than what could be normally bought��hers must have been specially made.


    Kain wasn''t so picky about where he slept, getting accustomed to sleeping on the hard bark of trees, on stone, and on the grass when he first started exploring the wilderness while still in high school.


    Therefore, since this small space could really only accommodate one mattress, he simply let her have only hers out. But now she was offering to have him lie on it.


    On her bed.


    That she sleeps in.


    That is definitely something she never would have done before.


    Another time she casually adjusted his coat when it slipped off his shoulder while he slept. She even wordlessly used a spiritual skill to recharge a device called a ''warmed stone'' she had discreetly heated with her spiritual power when she noticed him shivering.


    That was already strange enough.


    But then, the incidents started piling up.


    The most damning event happened when they had to maneuver around the cramped space. The cave was small, and moving around required careful, deliberate coordination, while excessive movements were forbidden, lest they accidentally disturb the fragile ice formations around them and trigger a collapse. At one point, while trying to retrieve something from her pack, Serena got up and leaned forward slightly��and in that moment, Kain turned to speak to her, only to find his face practically buried against her chest.


    A long, tense silence followed. S��arch* The ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena, to her credit, didn''t react much. She simply stared down at him, waiting for him to move. But Kain, in his frozen state of awkwardness, did not��not immediately at least. His mind was absolutely frozen and unable to process what exactly the soft sensation brushing against him was��


    "��I can''t move unless you do," she finally pointed out, her voice betraying just a hint of exasperation.


    Kain, realizing the situation, nearly snapped his neck trying to jerk away.


    But after he calmed down, he couldn''t help but re-examine the situation differently. Knowing Serena, she simply would have blasted him away in anger, leaving him half-crippled in the process. While it was an innocent, completely unintentional mistake (Kain feels the need to make that abundantly clear), her calm response was now making him second guess everything.


    Was it intentional? At least on her part?


    Then there was the time she fell asleep while sitting next to him in the middle of their conversation. Since the mattress was only pulled out for a few hours each day to free up space, when they wanted to nap for a few minutes, both would usually just rest against the cave''s walls��often not far from one another. It wasn''t ideal, but it worked��until Serena, in her sleep, shifted ever so slightly. Her head ended up resting lightly against his shoulder.


    Kain, once again, froze.


    It was such a minor thing. A barely-there touch. And yet, for some reason, it sent his thoughts into a downward spiral of confusion. Serena had never been physically affectionate before, nor did she seem like the type to seek comfort in others while unconscious.


    ''Now this��is this also�� intentional?''


    His thoughts were covered in a confused haze for the couple hours she was napping. When she got up and moved away from him, he tried to examine her face for any changes. He wasn''t sure what he was looking for, perhaps embarrassment at waking up on his shoulder, but nothing. She was completely nonchalant about the prolonged physical contact.


    And then��then��there was the incident with the makeshift bath.


    A small section of the cave had been silently designated as the ''washroom'' where Kain and Serena would both go to freshen up or take care of some more gruesome matters involving empty food cans��


    That corner was chosen because there was a small indentation in the floor, resembling a shallow tub made of ice, that they could then melt away with their spiritual power to slightly expand while also making it filled with fresh water.


    While not ideal, it at least allowed them to somewhat freshen up. However, given the nature of their predicament, privacy was nonexistent. Serena, being Serena, took advantage of her Prismarin''s illusions to create a shroud while she bathed.


    Kain, for his part, remained perfectly still in his corner, doing his absolute best to respect boundaries and pretend the situation was not happening, like usual.


    But then something most definitely different from the usual happened��that shroud covering her faded.


    It was brief��only a second or two��but Kain, in a horrible twist of luck, had looked up at just the wrong moment.


    Serena, thankfully, was mostly submerged, but the sheer surprise of the moment caused him to immediately turn away so quickly he actually smacked his head against the ice.


    "��Are you alright?" she asked, seemingly unbothered.


    "Fine," he rasped, clutching his head.


    The hits just kept coming. And the more they did, the more his brain spun ridiculous conclusions.


    Was she being more accommodating because of gratitude? Was she trying to repay him for saving her life? Kain''s thoughts spiralled even further as he reached a hard-to-believe conclusion.


    ''Was she considering repaying him with her body?''


    The pieces started forming a picture in his mind, and it was a picture that made his heart race. Shaking his head frantically, he tried to dislodge the spicy image, but it would keep popping up at the most inopportune times��making many of their more recent interactions awkward on his part.


    Finally, after days of this strange, unbearable tension, Kain couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Serena," he started carefully, watching her as she sifted through the remaining supplies. She looked up at him, one brow raised.


    "Mm?"


    He hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat. "Look, I appreciate everything, really, but�� you don''t need to do this."


    Serena tilted her head slightly. "Do what?"


    He exhaled through his nose, choosing his words carefully. "I respect you greatly, and while you are extremelybeautiful, I truly never even thought about your repaying me with your body."


    The silence that followed was suffocating.


    Serena''s expression didn''t change at first, still trying to process what exactly he had just said. And then��


    A sharp, unmistakable shift.


    Her gaze, which had been softer these past few days, immediately turned cold. Not angry, necessarily. But whatever warmth had been there before vanished in an instant.


    "��Repay you," she repeated flatly. "With my body?!"


    Kain swallowed, realizing he had stepped into dangerous territory, he hurried to clarify. "I just meant��"


    Serena''s stare pinned him in place. He could practically feel the temperature drop several degrees.


    The tension stretched between them like a blade poised over his neck.


    Then, finally��


    "I see," she said coolly. "You misunderstood."


    Kain very much wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

 Chapter 516 - 516: The Cold Shoulder

    Kain''s regret was immediate and all-consuming.


    He had stared down death more times than he could count��confronting opponents far more powerful than him and even facing an army of Abyssals��but none of that compared to the sheer horror of watching the warmth drain from Serena''s expression like a candle snuffed out in the wind.


    It was as if the past few days had been nothing more than an illusion, a delicate bubble filled with kindness that he had now popped with his own stupidity.


    He had miscalculated. Badly.


    Serena did not speak again after her deadpan ''You misunderstood.''.


    Instead, she went back to whatever she had been doing before he stupidly felt the need to ''clarify his intentions'' with her��only now her movements were cool and impersonal, whereas they had previously been more relaxed and comfortable, almost like an old married couple��


    ''Nope! That''s a very dangerous thought.''


    It was the kind of cold detachment he used to expect from her before they''d gone on several missions together. But now, after their relationship had warmed up, it was painful to see their relationship regressing in real-time.


    If this was a video game, Kain would certainly see the favourability score with Serena drop down to zero.


    The air between them remained thick with unspoken tension, and the weight of his blunder pressed down on him like a stone. He needed to fix this. Somehow.


    Clearing his throat, he decided to attempt damage control.


    "Serena, listen��"


    "You should get some rest." she interrupted, her tone even and unreadable.


    Kain hesitated. That was it? No biting remark? No verbal lashing that would make him wish for a quick death? Just�� cold dismissal?


    That was somehow worse��


    Still, he was not one to let a bad decision sit unresolved. He sucked in a breath. "Alright, I know I messed up, but��"


    "Kain."


    His name, spoken coldly, shut him up instantly.


    Serena finally turned to look at him, and while her expression remained neutral, there was an edge of finality in her gaze. "Drop it."


    ��Yeah, okay. Maybe he should drop it. For now. He''ll bring it up again maybe when she''d a little less testy��


    Letting out a quiet sigh, he muttered a reluctant, "Fine."


    The next few hours were suffocating. The easy��well, easier��atmosphere they had managed to build was gone, replaced by an impenetrable wall of ice. Serena only spoke when necessary, answering in short, efficient sentences that left no room for further conversation.


    Kain hated it.


    And, more importantly, he hated that he cared. He knew there was a time when he truly wouldn''t have given a damn what she thought of him, and maybe even would have preferred that they don''t talk��but he was finding it impossible to find that previous dislike he had for her again. S��ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Why did I dislike her?'' He was sure he had a valid reason, but couldn''t recall it even if a gun was placed to his head.


    *��* Meanwhile, the System who had been silent recently, continued its pattern, not willing to refresh Kain''s memories about its role in he and Serena getting off on the wrong foot.


    And similarly Kain and Serena were also completely silent.


    They ate in silence, each keeping to their respective sides of the cave. When Serena eventually laid out her mattress, she did so without offering him a spot this time. Not that he blamed her. He''d basically implied she was trying to seduce him as some form of repayment��because he was, evidently, an idiot.


    He lay back against the icy wall, staring at the ceiling, his mind restless. How could he have misread things so badly?


    ''I mean, some of her actions were rather ambiguous��I can''t be completely blamed for misunderstanding.''


    Kain groaned, dragging a hand down his face. He needed to break this unbearable tension before it became permanent.


    Taking a deep breath, he decided to try a different approach. Something casual. Lighthearted.


    "So," he started, careful not to sound too stiff. "Remember when you mentioned missing Starfruits?"


    A beat of silence. Then, flatly��


    "No."


    Kain almost choked on air. "You��you just did! Like, a few hours ago��"


    "I don''t recall."


    She absolutely did. There was no way that a girl that was towards the top, if not the top, of most of their college classes could forget a conversation they had mere hours ago. She was just refusing to acknowledge it.


    Kain exhaled sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ahem, anyways. I thought I should mention that I think I found a fruit that tastes similar to it in Pangea. If you''d like maybe I could��"


    She ignored him, turning onto her side away from him as if fully intent on sleeping, despite the fact that he knew for a fact she wasn''t actually tired yet.


    Kain debated his next move. Clearly this small talk wasn''t working. And she didn''t seem to want to accept his olive branch. He could just let it go��cut his losses, pretend today never happened, and let time do its work.


    But that wasn''t really his style, now, was it? Not to mention he refused to believe that he was that clueless!


    He smirked slightly, pushing himself up from where he leaned against the wall. "Fine. If you don''t want to talk about that, then let''s talk about something else."


    No response. Predictable.


    Kain leaned slightly forward, even resting his elbows on her mattress. Obviously, she''d be able to notice the shift in weight on her mattress, but she still seemed intent on pretending to be asleep.


    Kain leaned his head down, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. "How about this��was it intentional?"


    Silence.


    "Look at my side. The falling asleep on my shoulder? The coat fixing? The heated stone? The��"


    "Go to sleep, Kain."


    ''See! Not asleep!''


    "The bath?" Kain finished, ignoring her.


    There it was. The tiniest tensing of her muscles. Barely a flicker of hesitation��but he caught it.


    ''Well, well well�� interesting.''


    A victorious grin curled his lips. "Now that I think about it, it is strange that your contract would suddenly lose control at that time."


    "��You''re unbearable."


    Kain chuckled, leaning back off the mattress and going back against the wall with a satisfied sigh.


    Serena, meanwhile, simply let out a quiet breath and closed her eyes, but there was a noticeable redness crawling up her face��unfortunately, for Kain he was unable to see it.

 Chapter 517 - 517: Unreliable Rescuer

    Serena still wasn''t as open as she had been before Kain decided to confront her about ''repaying him with her body.'' But after Kain broke the ice last night, she also was no longer outright freezing him out.


    It was somewhere in between, like a wall that had been chipped but not yet broken down. Kain figured that was a small win��his blunt approach must have done something right.


    They hadn''t spoken much beyond necessity, but Kain could sense that the worst had passed, and things may continue to ease up with time.


    Just when Kain was thinking that their shared prison may actually be a good opportunity to reconcile, Serena suddenly stiffened.


    Kain, who had been idly flipping a bottle in boredom, trying to get it to land upright, immediately caught the shift. "What?" he asked, voice low and alert.


    Serena didn''t answer right away, her blue eyes narrowing slightly as she stared in a single direction, as if peering into the distance. Kain followed her gaze, but all he saw was a familiar wall of ice.


    A few tense seconds passed before she finally murmured, "One of the Prismain''s clones is returning. It''s now close enough that I can see its surroundings."


    Kain straightened. "Is it coming back with one of our teammates?"


    Serena''s brow furrowed as she focused on the incoming presence. "Maybe. I can''t tell yet."


    Kain frowned at that. "What do you mean?" S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "They''re�� covered." Serena''s tone held a rare note of uncertainty. "Multiple layers. Their face is almost completely concealed."


    Kain''s frown deepened. Not knowing who exactly was coming or if they were trustworthy made his excitement wane.


    Serena continued gazing into the air, gaze distant as she tried to make sense of the blurry vision her clone was sending back. "They feel�� familiar. But I can''t confirm how."


    Kain scrunched his brows together in thought, "Familiar how?"


    Serena''s expression remained unreadable. "I don''t know yet."


    "Hmmm��"


    "What?" Kain asked, as Serena made a pondering noise but never spoke further.


    "I think��I think that space ring is familiar��It might be team leader Idrias'' storage ring?"


    Kain perked up, "Great! If it''s him then we should be able to get out of here."


    But Serena didn''t look as optimistic as Kain as she examined the incoming information.


    "I''m confident that is his ring��but I don''t think with his Idrias. This person''s physique and gait are completely different."


    Kain exhaled sharply, Idrias wouldn''t just hand over his space ring to someone else unless he was dead��the thought that the person in charge of this mission had passed, was extremely worrying. And if this ring wasn''t on Idrias'' hand, who was this? And how did they get it? Were they. Perhaps responsible for Idrias'' death.


    Kain ran a hand roughly through his hair in frustration, if there was one thing he hated, it was uncertainty. He had enough on his plate dealing with his own tangled thoughts about Serena��now there was a potential unknown factor heading straight for them? He hoped it truly was one of their teammates coming to help them��but if it was instead someone hostile��it could still be an opportunity to leave and it wasn''t like he had no human blood on his hands.


    His fingers flexed instinctively, his mind already preparing for the worst.


    A heavy silence settled between them, the air thick with unspoken tension at the idea that they may be finally able to leave Serena''s gaze remained fixed, her expression neutral but focused as she sifted through the limited details the Prismarin clone provided.


    "How close?" he asked.


    Serena blinked once, refocusing. "Not long now. Less than an hour."


    Kain inhaled deeply, his body tensing in preparation. There was no use in standing around waiting like sitting ducks. He stood up, shaking off the stiffness from sitting for so long, and rolled his shoulders.


    Serena glanced at him but didn''t comment. She remained poised, calm, but he knew she was on high alert.


    A minute passed, then another.


    Then, faintly, a tap tap tap sound echoed through the cavern.


    Kain stilled. His gaze flickered toward Serena, but she was already focusing on the noise.


    The tapping was rhythmic��too deliberate to be a coincidence.


    "��Is that Morse code?" Kain muttered under his breath.


    Serena narrowed her eyes. "No," she murmured, tilting her head slightly, "but it''s definitely a pattern."


    The tapping continued, slow and steady, and growing in volume with time as the unidentified person drew closer. After a few moments, it stopped entirely.


    Then, a voice��muffled but just barely audible��filtered through the thick walls of ice.


    *"Can you hear me?"*


    Kain''s brows shot up. He couldn''t quite recognize the voice. And Serena just stared at the wall in confusion not reply��but that was likely because she couldn''t understand what was being said.


    Unlike Idrias and Zareth, the respective leaders of the Pathfinders and Starchasers, Serena and majority of their teammates couldn''t speak the Southern language.


    Fortunately, like much of the knowledge of the Pathfinders that he was forced to learn, Kain managed to gain a rudimentary understanding of the language when Bea had transferred knowledge from that elderly tribal woman to himself.


    He had to be careful, though. His understanding wasn''t perfect, and a misunderstanding could be dangerous.


    *"Who are you?"* he asked, his tone sharp since he now knew for sure that this was not a teammate.


    A brief pause. Then the voice responded, *"Someone who is here to help."*


    ''Yeah that''s not suspicious at all��''


    Serena''s gaze was focused on Kain, her brow subtly furrowing as she read his expression. She couldn''t understand the words, but she was studying the way he reacted, likely gauging whether the situation was good or bad. And right now his expression didn''t look too good.


    The reply was vague. Too vague. Kain didn''t like that nor was he convinced that this wasn''t an enemy. But he could play along for now if it''d lead to them getting out.


    Kain exhaled through his nose. *"And how exactly do you plan on getting us out?"*


    Another pause��this one longer.


    ''Did this person have no plan?''


    Or were they hesitating for another reason?


    *"Sigh��We have our own means of melting the walls around us, but we didn''t dare to try due to the risk of it caving in on us and the lack of knowledge of whether there were even any tunnel exits nearby. As long as you could scout around our location for areas that look less likely to collapse and are closer to our location, we should be able to handle the rest."*

 Chapter 518 - 518: A Deadly Misunderstanding

    Silence.


    Kain was beginning to panic, wondering if their only sign of help in a while had decided against the effort. After all, since this person was not one of their teammates, he really had no reason to help Kain and Serena.


    For all he knew, Kain and Serena were horrible people that would turn on or kill him the second they managed to escape.


    ''Of course, I have no plans to do so��unless necessary."


    Serena, still unable to understand the conversation grew slightly nervous at the prolonged silence, but decided to trust Kain to handle the exchange.


    Then, finally, the voice returned. *"Understood. Give me a moment."*


    Kain relayed the response to Serena in a low voice, keeping his eyes trained on the wall of ice in front of them that he felt the voice was coming from��but given how sounds can get altered as they travel through different surfaces, it was difficult to predict the man''s exact position.


    Over the next hour, the man, presumed to be mapping the outside of their ''prison'' could be heard fading in and out of earshot. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At times, the vibrations of his movements sent uneasy shudders through the cavern, making the ice creak ominously.


    For now, it was concluded that only 2 of the walls and the ceiling would eventually lead to the network of underground tunnels their rescuer was in.


    "It''s been nearly two hours since we last heard anything, do you think something happened?" Kain asked anxiously. Previously, they would hear light banging and calls along the walls as the other man was mapping out their location from the outside.


    Serena shook her head hesitantly, "I don''t think so��Prismarin hasn''t expressed that its clone was facing any issues��Maybe they just got caught up in something."


    Then��without warning��the world shook.


    A dull buzzing sound rumbled through the cavern, low and invasive, like the growl of some great beast gnawing at the bones of the earth. The walls trembled. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across the ice, glinting like broken glass in the dim light.


    "Something''s shifting," Serena murmured, pressing her hand against the wall. "Her fingers came away dusted with frost��no, not frost. Powdered ice. From above. The ceiling was shedding fine dust like particles like dead skin.


    The distant scraping of rock against rock echoed through the space, followed by the unmistakable sound of something cracking. Not a clean snap, but a wet, splintering groan, as if the earth itself were being torn apart. A jagged fissure began forming in a corner of the ceiling, splitting wider with every passing second.


    Then�� CRACK


    A deep groan reverberated through the cavern as the ceiling and several of the walls also showed signs of giving way and burying the two alive. They buckled inward, ice and rock screaming under the strain. A mixture of dust from shredded stone, ice, and snow plumed in thick clouds, choking the air. Kain''s pulse hammered in his throat as a thick slab of ice the size of a truck tire broke free from above, crashing down barely a foot away from his head..


    *"Stop! STOP!"*


    At Kain''s shout, the buzzing stopped. For one terrifying heartbeat, the cavern held its breath. Then��miraculously��the shifting ceased.


    Kain saw the source of the disturbance. A tiny opening had been cut into the ceiling by something resembling a drill, creating a hole only as thick as a pencil.


    And creating that tiny hole had almost destabilized the entire cave they were in!


    The ice above them groaned dangerously, deep fractures spreading from the newly created hole like the webbing of a shattered mirror. Dust and bits of frozen rock crumbled down, and for a split second, Kain thought the entire ceiling was about to come crashing down on them.


    The air became suffocating, with neither Kain nor Serena barely able to breath for fear that the smallest breath will destabilize the cavern and lead to a collapse


    ''I guess it''s a good thing we didn''t just try and blindly dig our way out of here��'' Kain thought in trepidation, only now realizing just how unstable and fragile the structure surrounding them had been this whole time.


    ''Who knows, maybe if one of us had sneezed loudly enough the past few days, maybe we''d both be dead��''


    After his pounding heart calmed down and it looks like the spread of collapse was halted, Kain shouted in anger. *"I said not to try and dig us out! We just need help finding a safe location, Goddammit!"*


    But after a moment, it dawned on him.


    ''Did he misunderstand me?''


    Bea had transferred knowledge of the Southern language to him, but he wasn''t exactly fluent. He hadn''t had many chances to practice, and there were many words that his tongue just refused to make. Having the knowledge was one thing��speaking it well was another.


    All of his repeated silences after Kain spoke would also support that.


    ''What exactly did I say earlier?''


    Thinking back, Kain''s stomach sank as he realized the mistake.


    Instead of saying "Help us scout around our location," he had accidentally used a verb that more closely meant to "Help us clear around our location."


    The difference between the two words was slight��practically homonyms, and Kain''s mouth, unaccustomed to the language, hadn''t enunciated the word clearly enough. Therefore, to the other person it might have sounded more like he was giving permission��no, asking��for them to dig the escape route themselves rather than waiting for Serena and Kain to assess the structure first.


    Kain ran a hand roughly through his hair, biting back a curse. He had gotten cocky. Wayyy too cocky.


    He was so used to understanding things immediately using Bea as a shortcut that he had underestimated how easy it was to mess up a single phrase due to lack of actual practice and had nearly gotten himself and Serena killed in the process.


    ''Dammit. Dammit. Dammit��''


    Above them, the ice gave another ominous loud creak. Getting out safely suddenly became much harder...

 Chapter 519 - 519: A Narrow Escape

    The cavern shuddered again.


    A deep, groan from the ice above sent a fresh cascade of powdery frost drifting down on them. Kain barely breathed. Every sound felt like it could be the last thing that they ever heard.


    A single wrong move, a whisper too loud, and the entire space could come crashing down, crushing them before they even had the chance to run.


    After this round of shaking, the silence that followed was thicker than the ice above them. Kain''s pulse roared in his ears, his breath coming in short, controlled bursts��as if exhaling too hard might bring the entire mountain down on their heads.


    Then��


    A voice, muffled but unmistakably alarmed, filtered through the pencil-thin hole in the ceiling. "You�� alive?" The words were stilted, heavily accented since he was attempting to speak a language he was unfamiliar with instead of relying on Kain to translate, but the concern was genuine.


    Kain swallowed hard, forcing his voice to remain steady. "We''re here." Kain replied in his native tongue before switching back over to the Southern language, this time being much more cautious with the words he chose. *"Don''t��don''t��try to dig again. The structure''s too unstable."* He hesitated, then added, *"Do you understand?"*


    A pause. Then, slower this time: *"Understood."*


    Serena''s eyes narrowed. "Tell him again," she murmured, her voice a blade sheathed in ice. "Scout the tunnels. Find a stable path. No. More. DIGGING."


    Kain relayed the message, over-enunciating as if his life depended on it��because it did. A grunt of acknowledgment echoed back, followed by retreating footsteps.


    Outside, the stranger grunted in acknowledgment. Then, faintly, the sound of retreating footsteps echoed through the cavern walls.


    For a long moment, neither Kain nor Serena moved. The air still hung heavy with the threat of collapse, the ceiling''s fractures a stark reminder of how close they''d come to being buried alive.


    The reprieve lasted seconds.


    The cavern shuddered again.


    "I don''t think we can wait for him to return and help us get out��" Kain said to Serena.


    Serena''s eyes flicked toward him, nodding in agreement but completely void of any fear. They had both already grasped the reality of their situation: waiting meant death and the next few minutes would determine whether they lived or died.


    Kain inhaled carefully through his nose, steadying his thoughts. They had to move, and they had to do it now.


    Kain took another slow breath in thought. The ceiling was already unstable, so attempting to break through the walls supporting it would just make the collapse worse. Moreover, they weren''t even sure what areas of the walls even led to a tunnel or how far it was until they reached a stable area.


    But, although poorly executed, their ''rescuer'' had essentially mapped out the closest path between a tunnel and their cave. After all, if it was possible to reach their location with a drill like object, assuming this ''drill'' wasn''t abnormally large, then it was probably less than a foot in that specific spot to freedom.


    "We need to move toward the already breached section of ice," Kain said, knowing that this risky plan would be going against all of their survival instincts to move away from the original source of the collapse. "Slowly. Any sudden force might set everything off."


    Serena nodded, already analyzing the structure. She ran a hand along the hole, her spiritual power was emitted from her hand and examined the location.


    "It''s fragile. But... I can melt a path through if we''re careful."


    Another groan rattled through the cavern. A jagged fissure tore further across the ceiling, and Kain barely pulled Serena back before another slab of ice crashed down right where she had been standing.


    Shit.


    There was no more time.


    "Do it." Kain ordered, urgency sharpening his voice. "But make sure the heat is gradual��if the ice contracts too fast, it''ll fracture even more."


    Serena lifted her hand, and a glow of soft ember-red bloomed at her fingertips. She pressed her palm against the thickest section of ice, letting a warm current of energy seep into it instead of forcing it. Slowly, so slowly, the ice began to sweat, then drip. A thin sliver of space widened into a narrow gap. A gap became a path.


    Another tremor. "Go." He gestured for Serena to move first, placing his hand beneath her to provide a boost through the narrow opening above.


    She hesitated only a second before climbing through the opening first and then reaching down to pull him up.


    Then, just as Kain reached for her hand and was halfway through to the other side of the passage, the entire cavern screamed.


    A violent crack splintered through the chamber beneath them, and Kain could see the ceiling of the cavern��now the floor of the tunnel Serena stood in��give way.


    "KAIN!"


    He was still halfway through the passage.


    Serena''s hand clamped onto his wrist at the last second, her grip the only thing stopping him from plummeting into whatever abyss waited below. Kain barely had time to register the moment before a fresh quake rocked the tunnel, and Serena''s footing slipped.


    "Let go!" Kain shouted. "If you don''t��"


    Serena''s eyes flashed with defiance. "Shut up."


    A burst of strength surged through her limbs, and with a fierce pull, she yanked Kain back onto solid ground.


    She hit the ground with him on top of her, Kain''s weight driving the air from Serena''s lungs while the ground she had just been standing on gave way as the cavern below caved in.


    A deafening roar consumed everything as their previous ''home'' (or prison depending on the perspective) caved in completely, sending a plume of ice and rock crashing into the space they had occupied mere seconds before.


    Thankfully, their sudden combined fall, landed them around a foot away from the edge of what was now a massive sinkhole.


    Not that either of them cared about that at the moment. Kain was more distracted by the sudden soft sensation against his face.


    His lips had landed on Serena''s.


    Time froze. His brown eyes, wide with shock, locked onto Serena''s equally stunned blue ones. The world around them��the sinking cavern, the dust-filled air, the fading tremors��ceased to exist for a few seconds.


    ''K-kis��''


    A sound from the far end of the chamber snapped them back into reality.


    And with a sharp inhale, Serena pushed him off...violently.


    Kain rolled onto the frozen ground beside her, blinking rapidly as he tried to form words. He came up empty.


    Footsteps.


    Kain tensed, shifting into a defensive stance even as his body protested the movement. Serena followed suit, her fingers twitching in preparation to summon a contract.


    Then, a familiar voice called out.


    *"You''re alive? Thank the gods!"*


    They both looked up to see the face of their ''rescuer'', who was more familiar than they''d expected��Malzahir.


    S��arch* The nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 520 - 520: Silent Strain

    The air was suffocating, and it wasn''t because of the debris and ice kicked up from the collapsing cave��at least not completely.


    Rather, if you were to ask Malzahir, the tense atmosphere would be because of his newfound companions.


    Malzahir had been relieved to find them alive��at first. But as they walked deeper into the network of tunnels, away from the unstable site of collapse, his relief turned into confusion, then mild discomfort.


    Kain and Serena flanked him, one on each side, like silent sentries escorting a prisoner. They weren''t walking together, not even close. There was a noticeable gap between them, and yet, somehow, Malzahir found himself caught in the middle of something he didn''t understand.


    A strange, tense current crackled in the space between them. It wasn''t overt hostility��he''d recognize that easily enough��but it wasn''t camaraderie either. It was something else entirely that he couldn''t put a name to. But whatever this undercurrent of emotion was between them it made his skin prickle in unease.


    He slowed his steps slightly, hoping to fall behind and give them space. Maybe they needed to talk. Maybe they wanted privacy.


    They didn''t.


    The moment he shifted position, the two of them instinctively widened the distance between each other, as if the invisible line that had tethered them had suddenly snapped. Both of them were now almost unnaturally stuck to travelling along opposite walls of the tunnel.


    Now the silence felt even more awkward with the gaping chasm of space between them that Malzhair was no longer filling. S��ar?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They didn''t look at each other. Not once.


    Instead, they both directed their words to him. And only him.


    The girl, ''Serena'' he learned was her name, barely spoke the Southern language, but made a clear effort to incorporate some of its words in her speech to him. Her limited vocabulary made her normally fluid speech coming out clipped and measured as she went back and forth between the Empire''s tongue and the limited words she picked up while travelling the south.


    He, in turn, stammered through his responses as he too tried to use both languages to communicate, but he also couldn''t help stammering due to his surprise at the sheer fact that she was speaking to him at all. Based on his first impressions of her, he thought she would just coldly ignore him, but it seems she was more welcoming than she looked��


    Although, Malzahir couldn''t understand why she didn''t simply say what she wanted to communicate to her partner, who could then translate for her��


    The boy, ''Kain'', on the other hand, stuck to the Southern tongue. The conversation with him was more natural, easier, but Malzahir couldn''t ignore the fact that Kain didn''t so much as glance in the white-haired girl''s direction, not even when she spoke.


    Something had definitely happened before he arrived��


    The three of them emerged from the unstable tunnel into a wider, open cavern. The space was reminiscent of the other abandoned chambers Kain had come across before��artificially carved walls, remnants of forgotten machinery, and the lingering, unmistakable scent of age and decay.


    Several crates lined the far side of the chamber, stacked haphazardly as if left in a rush. The trio wasted no time making their way over, grateful for something��anything��to distract from whatever strange atmosphere had taken root within their small group.


    Kain reached a crate first and pried the lid off with little effort. Inside, the contents had long since turned to dust. A pungent, rotten scent wafted into the air, confirming what he initially suspected��food supplies, stored away and abandoned to time. Whatever had once been inside had long decayed beyond recognition.


    Serena opened another crate. Empty. Whatever had been inside had either been taken or had deteriorated completely.


    Malzahir sighed, running a hand through his hair. *"Nothing useful,"* he muttered in his own language, shaking his head.


    Kain grunted in agreement, already moving to check another section of the cavern. Serena, silent, did the same.


    And still, they did not look at each other once.


    After scouring the chamber for anything remotely useful, or to find out any hidden threats before they relaxed here, they regrouped near the center of the cavern. The oppressive silence stretched on for another long moment before Malzahir finally spoke.


    "I came��for you," he stuttered in the unfamiliar language, but he wanted both Kain and Serena to understand him.


    But both Kain and Serena just tilted their heads in confusion. ''Did I use the wrong words?''


    "I came for Idrias��" He continued, voice quieter now. His fingers curled around something in his palm, hesitation flickering across his face before he finally held it out to them.


    A ring.


    Kain''s breath stilled. Serena''s fingers twitched at her side. The insignia carved into the band was familiar and unmistakable.


    "How did you get this?!" Kain exclaimed, while reaching to grab it. "This ring should be with��"


    "��He''s dead," Malzahir added, as if they hadn''t already guessed. After all, they didn''t know what had happened to Malzahir since they''d last seen him, but based on the pitiful amount of spiritual power on him they didn''t think he''d be able to steal or rob the 7-star Idrias.


    But although they''d been mentally prepared, the weight of those words was like a punch in the gut.


    A sharp inhale. A stiffened posture. A look of shock and horror that was impossible to mask.


    ''Ahh��he must have been extremely close with them��'' Malzahir thought as his face shifted into an expression of pity, not knowing that they were more so emotional that one of the most experienced and skilled members in the entire Order had died without even his remains being found.


    In the increasingly sombre air, Malzahir shifted, uncomfortable. He had done what was asked of him��he had delivered the ring Idrias had entrusted to him. There was no more reason to linger.


    He turned to leave, already stepping toward one of the other tunnels leading out of the cavern. But before he could take another step��


    *"Where are you going?"* Kain''s voice cut through the silence.


    Malzahir stopped.


    For some reason, leaving suddenly didn''t feel as simple as it should have been.

 Chapter 521 - 521: Weak

    *"Where are you going?"*


    Kain''s voice was steady, but something beneath it carried an edge. Not suspicion, not hostility��just a quiet demand for an answer. *"You''re just going to walk out there alone?"* Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Malzahir stopped mid-step, his back to them, his fingers still curled faintly from where they had held Idrias'' ring.


    *"I have no reason to stay."* His voice was level, almost detached. He didn''t turn around. *"I was only here to deliver the ring. That''s done."*


    Serena narrowed her eyes. "We aren''t demanding that you leave now that we''ve gotten what we needed from you." She seemed slightly offended that their character may have been perceived that way. Unsure if he understood her words, she nudged Kain wordlessly��her first direct interaction with him in what felt like hours��and he translated for her.


    Malzahir shrugged as if their offer to stay didn''t matter. *"Nothing is keeping me here."*


    Kain''s expression darkened. *"You do realize you''ll die, right?"*


    The cavern was cold, but Malzahir laughed��low, quiet, and almost amused. *"Maybe��ideally"*


    Serena crossed her arms. "That doesn''t��bother you?"


    *"It doesn''t,"* he admitted.


    The silence stretched between them, heavier than before.


    Kain studied him, gaze sharp. Malzahir wasn''t afraid of death. He wasn''t even indifferent to it��he had already accepted it.


    "Why?" Serena asked.


    Malzahir exhaled a slow, tired sound. When he spoke, his voice carried no weight of hesitation.


    *"Because I have nothing left."* He turned to them now, his eyes dull, empty. *"My only family is dead."*


    Both Kain and Serena stiffened, the weight of his words sinking in deeper than Malzahir expected.


    They didn''t know him. Not really. They had crossed paths only briefly before this. And yet, the moment he said those words, their reactions were far from the usual sympathy or pity one would expect from strangers.


    Shock. Apprehension.


    Malzahir frowned slightly. *"��Why do you look like that?"*


    Kain was the first to break the silence. *"Your family��who?"*


    *"My grandmother,"* Malzahir answered simply. *"She raised me."*


    Serena inhaled sharply, her expression unreadable.


    He caught the flicker of realization in their gazes and felt an unease curl in his chest.


    *"You knew her,"* he guessed. It wasn''t a question.


    Kain nodded, slowly. *"We met her once. Before we entered the relic."*


    Malzahir stilled.


    The cavern suddenly felt smaller, the cold more biting.


    *"��Then she was alive when you left?"* His voice barely rose above a whisper.


    Neither of them answered immediately, but their silence was answer enough.


    Malzahir forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat. His jaw clenched. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter.


    *"She''s dead now."*


    The words felt foreign, as though someone else had spoken them. He heard them, but they didn''t make sense. ''Dead''��he had always known death, seen it in the desert''s merciless consumption of the weak, in his parents, in fallen comrades. But not her. Not the one person he had thought would always be there.


    Serena hesitated, then asked, "How?"


    Malzahir closed his eyes, taking a slow breath. He thought back to the moment everything fell apart.


    Betrayal. Hatred. The painful stab in the back��literally.


    The night the ambush happened had been deceptively calm. The fires in the communal pit burned low, the air thick with the scent of roasting meat and murmured conversations. Malzahir had been laughing with the hunters, sharing stories of his latest expedition��unaware that the men clapping him on the back had already sentenced him to death.


    The first knife had found his ribs. The second had been aimed at his throat��but his contract, his Tyrant Boa, had intercepted the blow, taking the blade meant for him. Some kind of poison must have been smeared on the blade, as it had instantly paralyzed his contract.


    However, with a brief respite from his opponents with the Boa''s sacrifice, he managed to flee while heavily injured and recalled his contract.


    At one point, he had been found by a group that spoke the Empire''s language who healed and then brutally questioned him��but his memories of that period were hazy, and they''d eventually let him go.


    He''d thought that once the poison in his contract wore off, he might be able to survive, to make a comeback, but they still managed to track him down.


    What followed next was a blur, all he could recall was the intense feeling of helplessness, the dying shriek and immense pain as his bond with his contract shattered.


    And then the heartbreaking news that his only family had passed while he was miles away from her and couldn''t even say a final farewell or ensure a proper funeral.


    When he finally spoke, his tone was as even as before.


    *"My tribe turned on me."*


    He felt their eyes on him, waiting, listening.


    *"I honestly feel like an idiot. All of the whispers behind my back, private conversations away from me. At first, I ignored it. I thought��I hoped��it wasn''t a big deal. Perhaps they didn''t want to worry me about something? The optimistic part of me was even hoping they were planning a surprise for me��that was how much I trusted them." He exhaled sharply, bitter. "But I was wrong. They betrayed me."*


    Kain frowned. *"Why?"*


    Malzahir''s lips pressed into a thin line then let out a soulless chuckle


    *"I have been asking myself that very same question..."*


    *"As they destroyed my contract, they then taunted me with the fact that my grandmother was now dead. Knowing that with both of them gone I''d have no reason to continue living."*


    Malzahir lowered his head, his breath uneven. His body shook, and before he could stop himself��


    Tears fell.


    Kain and Serena watched, silent.


    Only now did it occur to them, amidst the weight he carried, the grief that made him seem so much older��


    Malzahir was young.


    A few years older than them, maybe.


    A young genius. A supposed prodigy in his tribe.


    And yet, standing before them now, he was just a boy who had lost everything.


    For a long time, none of them spoke.


    Then, finally��


    *"��You''re not going to die here."*


    Malzahir looked up. Kain''s expression was firm. Unwavering.


    Serena nodded and Kain helped her to translate. *"Are you really satisfied with never avenging your grandmother? Are you so cowardly?"*


    Malzahir''s head snapped up, tears still streaking his dust-covered face. *"I am not a coward!"* The words tore from his throat, raw with fury. In the Obari tribe, no insult cut deeper. *"But I am not a fool! I have no contract anymore. I��"*


    He hesitated.


    *"I am weak��"* he whispered, Then, quieter, more broken��


    *"And I don''t even have the right to call myself anything else."*

 Chapter 522 - 522: Hungry for Power

    Kain couldn''t resist empathizing with Malzahir.


    Weak. That was what he had been when he watched his family die, powerless to stop it.


    Weak. That was what he had felt when he had taken his final breath in a foreign land.


    It wasn''t until recently, until this life, that Kain had truly felt as though he had some measure of control over his own destiny��and he was desperate to never lose that feeling again. Which is also why he was so determined to establish his own power.


    Then, even if the entire country��the entire world, even��turned against him, he would never feel helpless��never feel weak.


    Weak was the word Malzahir had used for himself, yet Kain saw something different. He saw someone who had been strong before, someone who had fallen but still had the embers of something left.


    Someone that could potentially be an asset.


    Kain couldn''t help recalling when he''d first met Malzahir and activated the Threads of Destiny. The information Kain could get from the threads was limited��giving only colour, thickness, opaqueness, and length.


    Therefore, it''s difficult to get any specific information just from the threads'' appearance. At the time of questioning, Kain had assumed that the thickness and bold colour of the thread connecting himself to Malzahir was due to him having essential knowledge for their mission��that''s why Kain so reluctant to just let him leave.


    However, now Kain was re-examining his past assumptions. Perhaps the coercion coming from his skill to save Malzahir back then wasn''t because of any knowledge he may have, but rather due to his future actions that may be of benefit to Kain and the others��like bringing Idrias'' ring to them.


    Or maybe becoming someone that may be a close ally for Kain��or subordinate.


    *"Then get stronger."*


    Malzahir blinked at him, eyes narrowed in confusion. *"And how exactly do you expect me to do that when my totem space is crippled? It is impossible for me to form another contract."*


    Totem space was the name often used by southern tribespeople to describe the pocket of space their new contracts would dwell in��similar in concept to the star space. However, considering that they have only one, and it is supposedly tied to their bloodlines, the boost provided to their contracts is greater than the star space.


    Kain didn''t address Malzahir''s concerns about his totem space right away. Pangea was still damaged, and even if it weren''t, he''d never attempted to use its ability on someone who had once been a beast tamer. Theoretically, it should work, but if there was one thing Kain had learned, it was that theories didn''t always hold up in reality.


    Moreover, it wouldn''t be the exact same as his totem space, and Kain was unable to compare them since he''d naturally never seen a totem space before.


    So he decided against getting his hopes up by describing it as a means of ''healing'' or ''giving him a second one.''


    Unsure if it would truly work and not wanting to set unrealistic expectations, Kain kept his words vague. *"Stay a little longer. Just long enough to see if there''s a way to solve your inability to form another contract."*


    Malzahir''s lips pressed into a thin line. *"You''re saying that as if you actually believe there is a solution out there."*


    Kain shrugged. *"I can''t say for sure. But what I can be sure of is that you''ll just be throwing away your grandmother''s memory if you die here."* He held Malzahir''s gaze, waiting to see how he would react.


    For a long moment, Malzahir said nothing. His fingers twitched slightly at his sides, as if resisting the urge to clench into fists. His jaw tightened, and Kain could see the war waging behind his eyes��the desperation of a man who had lost everything, the bitterness of someone who didn''t want to hope, yet couldn''t quite let go of the possibility.


    *"Fine,"* Malzahir finally exhaled, his voice rough. *"I''ll stay. But not because I believe in your bullshit."* His gaze flicked to the cavern walls, to the dark, jagged shadows stretching beyond the dim firelight. *"I just want to make sure you two leave this hellhole alive. That''s all."*


    Kain smirked faintly. Liar.


    Serena''s sharp gaze flicked to him knowingly, but she said nothing. She had likely guessed that Kain was considering using Pangea to help Malzahir.


    She didn''t say anything, though. Instead, she turned away, clearly done with the conversation. "Let''s go through the things from the space ring. We need to know if there''s anything useful."


    Kain nodded, and Malzahir, after a brief hesitation, followed. The three of them sat around a dimly lit portion of the cavern, Idrias'' space ring before them. They began sifting through its contents, pulling out relics, documents, and other objects of interest.


    And then they found it. A violet crystal about the length of Kain''s forearm that glowed faintly.


    Kain''s breath hitched. The moment his fingers closed around the fragment, something inside him coiled��tightened��lurched forward like a beast catching the scent of fresh blood.


    Hunger. But not his hunger.


    The fragment''s glow reflected in his eyes, casting eerie violet streaks across his vision. The energy inside it pulsed in time with his heartbeat, and for a split second, he swore he could feel it coursing through his veins, whispering, beckoning like a snake charmer��only he was the snake.


    His grip tightened involuntarily, knuckles whitening.


    ''More. Just take it. Absorb it. You need it. You know you do.''


    He swallowed, muscles stiff as he forced himself to steady his breathing.


    "Is that what I think it is?"


    Serena''s voice cut through the haze like a blade.


    Kain blinked, exhaling slowly before nodding. "Another fragment."


    Malzahir frowned, watching the two of them. "And what exactly is that?" Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain debated how much to say. He still wasn''t sure how much he wanted Malzahir to know��not yet. "It''s useful," he settled on. "I''ll hold onto it." He said before putting it into his own storage ring with trembling fingers.


    Serena didn''t press him, but Kain could feel her lingering scrutiny. She likely could sense something��off, with his behaviour but didn''t press further.


    Instead, she returned to sifting through the items, as if nothing had changed. But Kain could feel her attention lingering.


    His fingers that wer just folding the fragment twitched at the emptiness, like they weren''t entirely his anymore. His pulse pounded in his ears, a rhythm that didn''t belong to him.


    ''Is this what addiction feels like?''


    He had convinced himself before that absorbing fragments was harmless, that it was only a means to recover Pangea.


    But this hunger�� it was stronger this time. A little harder to ignore.


    And for the first time, a quiet, insidious thought crept into his mind: If I keep doing this�� will there ever be a point where I can''t stop?

 Chapter 523 - 523: Who Controls Who?

    That same night the cavern was silent save for the occasional distant drip of water, the faint rustle of shifting fabric as Malzahir stirred in his sleep, and the steady rhythm of Kain''s own breathing.


    He watched Malzahir''s still form carefully, ensuring there was no sign of resistance. There wouldn''t be. Bea''s threads had already burrowed deep into his mind, latching onto his mind with a vice grip, ensuring that he wouldn''t wake up for what was about to happen next. Without the bond of a beast tamer, Malzahir had no defense against it. No instincts to warn him. No passive resistance to fight it off.


    It was an unsettling vulnerability.


    Serena''s gaze was already on Kain. He didn''t need to look to know it. However, while he didn''t want Malzahir or anyone else to know he could absorb core fragments��lest he be mistaken for an abyssal like before��Serena already knew he had this ability, so he didn''t feel the need to have her ''go to sleep'' too. But even if he had tried, there''s no guarantee he''d be able to put someone with her capabilities to sleep anyways.


    Kain let out a quiet breath, his fingers brushing against the space ring as he retrieved the violet fragment.


    The moment it touched his palm, a familiar pulse of energy rippled through him. It was like slipping into cold water��jarring, yet exhilarating. The hunger stirred immediately, and it took all of his self restraint not to groan in pain at how fiercely uncomfortable the feeling was.


    ''Take it.''


    The whisper in his mind was more urgent this time, sharper, more insistent. Kain didn''t resist any longer. He sat cross-legged, centering himself as he pressed the fragment to his chest and let the energy flow into him.


    A deep tremor rolled through his body as the core''s essence surged forward, threading through his veins like liquid fire. It was stronger than before. More potent. He could feel Pangea reaching out instinctively, devouring the energy as if it had been starved for it.


    His fingers clenched. His jaw tightened. His breath came in short, controlled bursts as he forced himself to regulate the flow. Too much at once could be dangerous. He knew that instinctively. But the deeper he sank into the sensation, the harder it became to pull back. It was intoxicating, this feeling of restoration, of power flooding what felt like the deepest areas of his soul.


    The violet energy surged towards Pangea, with Kain trying his best to not make the planet too overwhelmed by the sudden influx of power.


    The cracked, dried-out areas of the planet began to burst with renewed vitality, veins of purple energy coursing through its crust, sealing the fractures with an almost unnatural smoothness. Trees that had withered to brittle husks now stood tall and ancient, their leaves shimmering with a luster that had never existed before��even before the planet''s energy was first drained.


    Lakes, once murky and stagnant, became crystalline, reflecting the sky like polished glass.


    New rivers formed, carving fresh paths through the land barren portions of land as if reshaping the very bones of the planet. Wildlife stirred, some creatures evolving directly without any added materials as if adjusting to an unseen force that has raised their life level.


    Roaarr


    Mountain ranges shook and massive tsunamis were formed as the various top creatures on the planet��the apex predators��awoke from their long slumbers.


    Aurem, in particular, flew high above the planet, his radiant golden body making sure his presence was imprinted in the minds of all the creatures below in case his prolonged absence made some weaker newcomers, born in his absence, forget the strength of his claws and want to take over his authority.


    Eventually, Pangea was not only restored to its original appearance, it went even further beyond that. It was as though it had been reborn anew, stronger, more vibrant, and yet�� something felt wrong.


    Somewhere in the haze, he felt Serena''s piercing gaze harden.


    "You should slow down," she said evenly. Not an order. A simple observation.


    Kain exhaled sharply through his nose, forcing himself to loosen his grip on the fragment. He could feel sweat beading at his temple, his body trembling faintly from the strain. She was right. He was taking in too much too quickly. More than he even needed, really.


    "I''m fine." His voice was steadier than he expected, but there was a raw edge to it.


    Serena didn''t respond immediately. Instead, she studied him in that quiet, knowing way of hers before finally looking away. She wouldn''t interfere. Not yet, at least.


    The energy within him continued to pulse, though it had settled into a slow, steady rhythm. Pangea was absorbing it greedily, rebuilding itself, and even going a step further. But beneath that hunger, something else stirred. A presence. A whisper of something not entirely under his control. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But despite the fact that Pangea had long fully healed, the feeling of hunger did not diminish at all. If anything, the hunger that lurked beneath the surface felt more distinct. More aware.


    Kain frowned slightly. He had always assumed the hunger was simply Pangea''s instinct to seek out resources to mend its fractured existence. But now he was wondering if that instinctual need to devour wasn''t out of necessity��perhaps it was just its nature.


    And perhaps, now that it had been fed so well, it would no longer be satisfied with mere survival��it wanted to be full. Satiated.


    Before he could contemplate further, the steady flow of energy slowed and then stopped.


    His fingers brushed over the now-dulled fragment. Its glow had faded, the majority of its energy siphoned away. He tucked the empty husk into his storage ring, exhaling slowly.


    Serena stood and stretched, no longer feeling the need to keep watch with his task done. She cast him one last unreadable glance before turning going to the area of the cavern she''d set out her mattress.


    Kain, however, remained still. His hands flexed involuntarily, an unfamiliar unease creeping into his mind.


    Pangea had been restored, and yet, as his connection to it deepened, he couldn''t shake the feeling that it may not be as much under his control as he''d always believed.

 Chapter 524 - 524: The Ones Left Behind

    The journey through the tunnels was slow, filled with eerie silence and the occasional distant echo of something unseen shifting in the darkness.


    Thankfully though, they hadn''t managed to run into any threats.


    Kain couldn''t help but recall Malzahir''s impressive feat of traversing this relic for days��maybe even weeks or months, since they''d lost track of time��and not running into a single threat.


    Now his good luck seemed to have extended to Kain and Serena.


    ''Luck truly is such a crazy, intangible thing��''


    Yet, as Kain pocketed another faintly glowing fragment, a sharp pulse ran through him, a fleeting moment of nausea followed by something worse��a whisper of hunger. It faded as quickly as it came, but the taste of it lingered at the back of his mind. It was happening more often now.


    Each time they stumbled upon another core fragment, Kain took it without a word, knowing that when nighttime arrived it would bring another opportunity to improve his strength.


    When night came, Malzahir was once again placed into an enforced sleep. Kain wasted no time, retrieving the numerous small fragments he had gathered throughout the day. As soon as they touched his skin, the familiar sensation flooded him��an urgent pull, an insatiable hunger that had begun to feel more and more outside of his control.


    One after another, he absorbed them.


    Each fragment felt like a drop in an endless ocean, disappearing into the waters with barely a ripple.


    Instead of feeling satisfied, Pangea only seemed to grow hungrier, like a beast roused from slumber with the promise of a feast, only to be met with scraps.


    The more Kain fed it, the more he felt the creeping awareness that something wasn''t quite��right.


    The next day, they pressed forward with more urgency.


    Hours stretched into what felt like an eternity, the monotony only broken by the occasional fresh markings on the walls left by other explorers��Kain and Serena suspected to be their lost teammates. But they never found the ones who made them.


    Until they did.


    It was a gruesome sight.


    Two familiar bodies, slumped against the cold stone, their spiritual creatures collapsed lifelessly around them. Kain recognized them immediately��teammates from the mission. Their wounds were not fresh, but they hadn''t been dead for long either. The air around them was thick with an unnatural energy, one that made the skin crawl and the mind recoil instinctively.


    Corruption.


    Not the ordinary abyssal kind, but the same strange, twisted variation that had afflicted Idrias and Serena before. Their bodies bore wounds that should not have been fatal��scratches, deep gashes, but none that alone should have ended them.


    Yet, their bodies told a different story. Despite not too much timing appearing to have passed since their deaths, the skin around their shallow wounds was rotting at an incredible rate.


    One of the fallen was Sonny, a Pathfinder Kain had casually spoken with while traveling through the desert to the relic site. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other, a Starchaser woman named Elfie, had been one of the unfortunate people that had been poisoned by the scorpion venom previously and since healed with the antidote brought back, in part, by Kain and Serena.


    Though neither had been particularly close to Kain, he still felt a hollow sense of loss at seeing them like this. They were technically some of the best young talents the Empire had to offer, and they just died silently like this.


    Sonny''s face was frozen in an expression of quiet agony, his usually tanned skin gone deathly pale.


    His spiritual creatures, all large cat-like beings, lay curled or stretched out at his side, their bodies unnaturally stiff as though they had turned to stone.


    Elfie fared no better. Her body had slumped forward, golden hair matted with dried blood, her hands still clutching the wound at her side as if she had fought to hold herself together until the very last moment despite all healing methods clearly not working for her, she appears not to have lost hope.


    Her spiritual creature, which resembled a large golden hawk, had covered her with its wings, almost like it used the last moments of its life ensuring her comfort.


    "More of those strange experiments," Serena murmured, stepping closer, eyes scanning the bodies with a detached scrutiny. But her voice lacked its usual crisp detachment. There was something else in it.


    Kain clenched his jaw. If their teammates had encountered the same experimental abyssal creatures, then that meant��


    There were more of them.


    And they were incredibly lethal.


    Not because of their brute strength��after all, they had several high-level tamers on their team��but because their attacks left wounds that refused to heal, slowly sapping the strength and will to fight from their victims until they inevitably succumbed to the corrupting energy infiltrating their bodies.


    Even Serena, despite her legacy status surely granting her access to top healing elixirs and items, as well as having the cheat-like Balens, had been utterly helpless in front of the corrupted wound left by her opponent. So far, the only method of healing seemed to be the special items prepared by this civilization, which were likely not charged. Not to mention that their teammates may not even recognize the items as healing tools.


    If these creatures were still lurking somewhere in the tunnels, that would suggest that these were likely not the only dead teammates they would find down here.


    Serena knelt beside Elfie, inspecting the wounds more closely. Her fingers brushed over the ruined flesh, and for the first time since they found the bodies, a flicker of something crossed her face��not quite grief, but something close to it.


    She had known Elfie longer than he had. Even if they hadn''t been close, there was a familiarity there, a connection rooted in their both being Starchasers and potentially going on missions together in the past.


    Serena exhaled softly, a sound so faint Kain almost missed it. But then, just as quickly, the mask returned.


    Kain exhaled sharply, forcing down the coil of unease tightening in his chest. "We need to move." His voice was tight. They had already lingered too long, and the last thing they needed was to draw the attention of whatever had done this��assuming it was still around. After all there were no remains of whatever had attacked them.


    Serena gave one last glance to the fallen before standing. She turned away without another word.


    Malzahir, who had been silent up until now, swallowed hard. He looked between the bodies and his new allies, as if wanting to say something to comfort them but thinking better of it. Without a word, he followed.


    Kain couldn''t help wondering how many of their original team will be left behind forever in these ruins.

 Chapter 525 - 525: A Purple Haze

    The hunger was unbearable.


    In the days that followed Kain continued absorbing any core fragments that he could find.


    Although Pangea had never looked better, Kain could feel it gnawing at the edges of his mind, growing sharper with every fragment he absorbed.


    At first, it had been manageable��a persistent but ignorable sensation that he had grown accustomed to. But now, as the latest fragment''s energy surged through him, it was no longer just a hunger. It was a demand.


    His hands had developed a permanent tremor. Sleep came in fitful bursts when it came at all, his dreams filled with just his subconscious relentlessly hunting for more of that violet energy in the dark.


    The fragments were becoming harder to find, their energy weaker, like trying to quench a forest fire with droplets of water. Yet he hunted them obsessively, like an addict, turning over every rock, scanning every crevice with a desperation that made Malzahir eye him warily and Serena''s lips press into an increasingly thin line.


    Then one day, while absorbing a small unassuming fragment��one too many��Kain appears to have reached the tipping point. Something within him snapped.


    A violent tremor tore through him, his breath catching as a surge of power erupted through his veins. He staggered, his vision flickering at the edges, a suffocating pressure building in his chest like something inside was struggling to break free.


    His vision blurred at the edges, tunnelling into nothing but violet light and the relentless pulse of something vast and incomprehensible beneath the surface of his consciousness.


    "Kain." Serena''s voice came from somewhere far away, warped as if heard through water. "Your eyes��"


    Then, the world around him shifted.


    He blinked, and suddenly, everything had changed.


    A faint purple haze clung to the edges of his vision, distorting the cavern like a mirage.


    At first, he thought it was just another trick of his exhausted mind, but then he turned to look at Serena and the sleeping Malzahir��and the strange violet filter was there too, if anything the violet colour seemed dozens of times stronger on them than the surroundings.


    The purple energy they emitted burned before him like twin suns, so bright they almost hurt to look at directly. He could see the flow of energy through their bodies��Serena''s noticeably brighter than Malzahir''s. It was beautiful. It was intoxicating. It made his mouth water with a hunger no food could satisfy.


    But as he gazed longer at the violet glows their bodies emitted Kain realized that it wasn''t just a strange filter, a trick of the light, or a hallucination from exhaustion.


    No. It was a target.


    The violet colour they emitted practically acting like a homing beacon. S��ar?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A wet gulping sound filled his ears - his own throat swallowing unconsciously as saliva flooded his mouth as he looked at them. His fingers curled into fists, nails drawing blood from where they dug into skin.


    A violent shudder ran through him as something deep within stirred, whispering, urging. The hunger coiled tighter, a relentless need pressing against his ribs, curling around his throat like a vice.


    Devour.


    He could almost taste them already - Serena''s energy crisp and bright like winter air, Malzahir''s warmer, earthier, with the sharp aftertaste of grief and anger. One quick lunge. One moment of surrender to the hunger. That''s all it would take��


    Kain sucked in a sharp breath, horror slamming into him like a tidal wave.


    ''No. This isn''t me. This isn''t real.''


    But the feeling of horror he was feeling at these thoughts was greatly overshadowed by the intense hunger he felt. He had never felt Pangea react like this before, never felt its hunger extend beyond the lifeless energy of core fragments. But now, for the first time, it wasn''t just craving energy.


    It was craving them.


    Kain staggered back, shaking his head violently, trying to dislodge the intrusive thoughts. "No," he growled under his breath, forcing his gaze away from them.


    But when he looked again, the faint violet shimmer around them hadn''t faded. If anything, it had grown more distinct, like an outline in the dark. He could sense their life, their energy, thrumming beneath their skin like the heartbeat of something warm, something alive��something he could take.


    His stomach twisted violently. He clenched his fists so hard his nails bit into his palms, the sharp pain grounding him, anchoring him back to reality.


    "What''s wrong?" Serena''s voice cut through the haze, steady and observant. Too observant.


    He couldn''t let her see. Couldn''t let her know.


    "Nothing," he forced out, though the tightness in his voice betrayed him.


    Serena took a step closer, but Kain flinched away before she could reach him. The movement was too fast, too instinctive. And Serena, ever perceptive, noticed.


    "Kain." This time, his name was not a question but a quiet demand.


    "Look at me."


    He forced his head up through sheer willpower.


    Serena stood before him, her blue eyes sharp and searching. She knew. Not the specifics perhaps, but she knew that something had irrevocably changed in him after absorbing those fragments.


    Her gaze flicked to his trembling hands, to the sweat-slicked hair sticking to his forehead, to the way his pupils had dilated until only a thin ring of brown remained around black pools.


    Before he could answer��before he could even try��the System''s voice thundered in his skull, sending a violent jolt through his body.


    *SYSTEM ALERT: LARGE INFLUX OF UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY DETECTED.*


    The words appeared in his mind like a hammer striking metal, sharp and jarring. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the System spoke.


    A second notification followed immediately after:


    *SYSTEM NOTICE: DUE TO THE UNEXPECTED SURGE OF SOURCE ENERGY, THE UPGRADE REQUIREMENT OF GP HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.*


    Kain barely had time to process the words before his vision blurred violently. His knees buckled. The cavern tilted.


    Somewhere, Serena''s voice called out his name, but it was distant��so distant. His body was no longer his own, his mind slipping away into something vast, something endless.


    The hunger pulsed one final time, and then everything went black.


    *SYSTEM UPGRADE DIRECTION CHANGED.*


    *WARNING: INTERNAL FOREIGN SOURCE DETECTED. SYSTEM UPGRADING��*


    And then, there was nothing.

 Chapter 526 - 526: A Terrifying Addiction

    There is a flower, Somnum''s Lament, that was as breathtaking as it was insidious. Its petals shimmered had a soft, spectral glow��hues shifting between baby blue and deep indigo. S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was said to give off a faint, sweet scent, that was reminiscent of a tempting fruit. To the unsuspecting, it was a beautiful, otherworldly flower.


    To the Empire, it was a plague.


    At first, Somnum''s Lament was discovered centuries ago and seemed like a miracle. Beast-tamers, particularly those below the coveted seven-star rank, found themselves drawn to it like moths to flame.


    Those with weaker talents��whose progression was a slow, grueling path riddled with setbacks��claimed the flower heightened their sensitivity to spiritual power, spiritual skills that once eluded them came naturally, and an intoxicating clarity settled over their minds. A rush of euphoria accompanied every use, as if they were finally breaking free of the limitations shackling their talents since birth.


    But the high never lasted.


    The more one indulged, the more one needed.


    The moment the effect faded, withdrawal set in��sluggishness, confusion, and an overwhelming hunger to chase that high once more. The flower did not grant strength; it only let them dream of it.


    Yet no matter how much they took, they weren''t growing stronger. It was an illusion, a fragile mirage that twisted their minds.


    Some, lost in the delusion of power, sought out dangerous battles or tasks far beyond their capabilities. Others turned on their own comrades in violent frenzies, their perception of reality warping beyond recognition. And some... simply lost themselves entirely, trapped in a waking dream from which they would never return.


    The epidemic spread like wildfire, and with it, the Empire''s concern��so a massive campaign was launched to push the insidious flower to the brink of extinction hundreds of years ago, not long after it had first appeared.


    But it was almost impossible to fully get rid of it. Rather than the delicate flower it presented itself as, it was more like a resilient weed.


    Even centuries later, outbreaks of addiction would flare up, spreading like rot through hidden corners of the Empire. Each time, the royal family sent elite forces to stamp it out before it could take root again.


    Serena''s father, one of the top beast-tamers and a high-ranking official, was among those tasked with controlling the crisis whenever it would reappear. And it was through him that she first witnessed the flower''s horror firsthand.


    A noble house had called for her father''s help in the dead of night, their third son locked away in the depths of their estate where he couldn''t be accidentally found by anyone and tarnish the name of their family.


    He was not like his brothers��where they had flourished, he had struggled, never quite living up to the weight of his lineage. He was a natural target for dealers of Somnum''s Lament�� desperate for power, blinded by envy, and, most importantly, rich.


    Serena remembered the way he looked when they found him.


    Gaunt. Hollow-eyed. A shell of a man drowning in a haze. His once-proud aristocratic posture was hunched, his limbs trembling uncontrollably.


    His pupils, blown wide, barely seemed to recognize those around him. And yet, even in his wasted state, his lips curled in a sick, serene smile, as though he still believed himself to be growing stronger��surpassing his brothers.


    But he had no strength. No control. Only hunger.


    That expression haunted her for weeks after.


    Now, as Serena watched Kain, unease curled tight in her stomach.


    Serena had known something was wrong for days. She watched as Kain consumed core fragments one after another, his obsession growing sharper with every piece he absorbed. At first, it had been a necessity, a means of strengthening Pangea. But now��now, it was different.


    His hands never stopped shaking. When he thought no one was looking, she caught him clenching and unclenching his fists, as if trying to contain something just beneath the surface. Sleep came in brief, restless bursts, and when he did manage to drift off, his expression was tight, jaw locked in a grimace as if his very dreams were hunting something.


    Malzahir had noticed too. He said nothing, but Serena had seen the wary glances he shot at Kain, the way his body tensed whenever Kain moved too quickly. The way his fingers twitched toward his weapon, just in case. And yet, Kain didn''t seem to notice at all.


    She did. And the growing pressure and feelings of foreboding in her chest wouldn''t let her ignore it.


    Then it happened.


    Kain had been absorbing yet another fragment, a small, insignificant one��one that should have done nothing.


    But as the energy entered him, something inside him cracked.


    "Kain." She called his name, stepping forward cautiously. Then she saw them.


    His eyes.


    They glowed��a deep, unnatural violet that pulsed with an eerie light. She thought it was exhaustion playing tricks on her��until he turned toward her.


    The moment their eyes met, an uneasy chill curled down her spine.


    Serena had faced countless life or death situations��managed to defeat or successfully flee from people and creatures far stronger than her.


    But this was the first time in her life that she truly felt as though she were prey.


    It was evident in the way he looked at them. The way he looker at her.


    Not the way he usually did, with that sharp, competitive glint, tempered by the rare, begrudging trust they''d built and, even if neither would admit it, comfort in each other''s presence due to their forced repeated proximity.


    This was something else entirely. The way his gaze dragged over her left her skin crawling, a primal instinct screaming at her to move, to flee. It wasn''t recognition in his face.


    It was appraisal. Cold. Calculating. Like she was a cut of meat.


    Her muscles coiled, her body instinctively shifting into a combat stance.


    She was afraid of Kain. She had denied it, dismissed it, convinced herself it was paranoia. But now?


    She was afraid of the seeming increase in strength he gained with each fragment. But, more than that, she was afraid of the changes to his mind after he appeared to become addicted to the fragments.


    The signs were different, but the feeling was the same. The trembling hands, the sleepless nights, the growing distance in his gaze��like he was seeing something beyond this world, something she could not see. And worst of all, the hunger. That unrelenting, insatiable hunger that flickered behind his eyes when he absorbed those fragments.


    Somnum''s Lament had tricked its victims into thinking they were growing stronger when, in truth, they were spiralling toward ruin.


    Kain, in truth, was growing stronger. And that was the most terrifying part of all.

 Chapter 527 - 527: Threat or Ally?

    A dull, relentless pounding echoed in Kain''s skull, each beat of his heart seemed extra loud and would send a shard stab of pain that was syced with his sluggish pulse.


    He let out a slow breath, trying to pull himself out of the suffocating fog wrapped around his mind.


    His limbs felt like lead, his body weighed down by exhaustion so deep it clung to his very bones.


    He shifted, trying to force his heavy eyelids open. The world around him was a mess of blurred edges and dim lighting.


    His breath hitched as he registered the distinct feeling of being watched. A sharp, wary presence.


    His vision swam as he turned his head, blinking rapidly to clear the haze. Malzahir sat nearby, his posture tense, eyes trained guardedly on Kain. But the moment their gazes met, Malzahir flinched. Flinched. In very apparent fear of Kain.


    The reaction sent a cold chill creeping down Kain''s spine. A deep, gnawing unease curled in his gut as his memories pieced themselves back together.


    The hunger. The way his vision had warped, everything tinged in violet light. The way he had looked at Serena. The way he had almost��


    His stomach twisted violently, nausea rolling through him. He had almost lost control. He had almost done something unspeakable.


    He swallowed hard, trying to steady his breathing. Malzahir had never seen him absorb the fragments before.


    The man had always been asleep, exhausted from travel or training. But now Kain realized��with a sick certainty��that although Malzahir might not have consciously witnessed the changes in him, his instincts had. The honed senses of a warrior, sharpened by years of experience, had detected something wrong. Even in sleep, Malzahir had known.


    And now, he was afraid of him.


    The realization stung more than it should have.


    Malzahir shifted, breaking the thick silence that had settled between them. His voice, when he spoke, was deliberately measured, but Kain could hear the tightness beneath it.


    "Serena," Malzahir called out in a heavily accented voice, not looking away from Kain. His forced calm was like glass��thin, fragile, one wrong move away from shattering. "Kain awake."


    Kain heard hurried footsteps, and then Serena''s face entered his still slightly blurry vision.


    She was breathing slightly harder than normal, as if she had run. Her blue eyes flickered over him, scanning his face, his posture��taking in every detail with sharp, clinical precision.


    Kain forced himself to hold still, to not move too suddenly, to not give her any more reason to look at him like he was something unpredictable.


    Then, after a long pause, she let out a slow breath. A breath of relief.


    That should have reassured him. It didn''t.


    Because underneath that relief, there was something else. A flicker of something she had never directed at him before.


    Caution.


    Kain clenched his jaw, willing the pounding in his head to drown out the sickening realization clawing at the edges of his mind.


    Serena was afraid of him too.


    "You''ve been out for days. I was worried." She said with a cold expression. Kain had a feeling that the major source of her worry wasn''t about his prolonged sleep. But rather��


    Serena straightened, arms crossing as she studied him with cool scrutiny. "You lost control." It wasn''t a question.


    Kain swallowed against the dryness in his throat. "I��" His voice came out hoarse from not speaking in days. He licked his lips, trying again. "I didn''t mean to."


    Her expression didn''t change. "That doesn''t matter."


    The bluntness of her words made his fingers curl into the sheets beneath him.


    Malzahir flinched a short distance from them as Kain moved, but said nothing.


    Serena continued, her voice sharp but not unkind. "Do you even remember what happened?"


    Kain hesitated. He remembered flashes��his body vibrating with power, the pulsing hunger that had nearly swallowed him whole. And Serena, standing before him, backlit by the violet glow of his own madness. His stomach turned. "Enough," he muttered.


    A silence stretched between them.


    Serena''s fingers twitched slightly, a movement so subtle he barely caught it. "Then you know this can''t happen again."


    Something in Kain bristled at her tone. "You think I wanted this?" His voice was still rough, but heat bled into it now. "You think I planned to��" He stopped himself, jaw clenching so hard it ached.


    Serena exhaled slowly. "I think you''ve been reckless." Her gaze flickered toward Malzahir, then back to him. "And I think it''s catching up to you."


    Kain met her stare, something twisting in his chest. He wanted to refute her. Wanted to tell her she was wrong, that he had control.


    But she wouldn''t believe him. And worse, he wasn''t sure he believed himself either.


    Kain lowered his head in silent resignation while Serena and Malzahir walked away to give him some privacy with his thoughts��as much privacy as could be offered in an open cavern.


    Kain exhaled slowly, waiting until their footsteps faded into the distance. His head still pounded, his limbs felt like dead weight, but he forced himself to focus. Something had been gnawing at the edges of his mind��something important, buried beneath the haze of exhaustion and pain.


    Then, it hit him.


    The System.


    His System that had been increasingly silent and playing, if he were to be completely honest, less and less of a role as his strength increased.


    Warnings. Updates. A string of notifications flashed across his mind in the moments before everything went black.


    From what he''d vaguely remembered, the cause of the system notifications had been the fragments of energy he was absorbing, and potentially Pangea as well


    He had been too far gone to process them then, but now...


    He closed his eyes and willed the System''s interface to surface. For a moment, there was nothing but the lingering ache behind his eyes. Then a flood of missed notifications��


    *Warning: Unstable Synchronization Detected*


    *Entity ''Pangea'' is undergoing forced adaptation and troubleshooting*


    *System recalibrating... Error. System intervention is required.*


    *...*


    sea??h th�� NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 528 - 528: System Version 4.0

    Kain read through a long, very long, string of notifications before he finally reached one that said:


    *Upgrade Completed. Please enter the System for a detailed tutorial of System Version 4.0*


    Seeing the directive of the last notification, Kain promptly did as directed.


    ''System'' He thought like a familiar habit, expecting the interface to appear in front of him like usual, but��


    Nothing.


    Kain hesitated. The usual System interface should have appeared the moment he called for it, a translucent screen displaying icons signifying all of the different features of the System he had access to��the shop that only refreshed every week, the Planetarium that he still entered nightly to increase his speed of cultivation, the Training Arena that made all the difference in his competitions, his Laboratory. None of that was appearing, making Kain panic.


    Instead, there was�� nothing. A strange stillness settled over him, heavy and unnatural.


    Then, without warning, the world around him warped.


    His body lurched��no, his mind lurched��dragged into something vast and incomprehensible. The cavern, the dim glow of the torches, the cold weight of exhaustion��all of it vanished in an instant.


    His consciousness was forcibly dragged somewhere else.


    An endless void stretched around him, featureless and silent, except for the one thing that dominated the space before him. A planet.


    Green and blue, unmistakably. It hung in the void like a jewel, its surface shifting, pulsing with unfamiliar patterns of energy. Pangea.


    At least he thought it was��it looked slightly more detailed than he remembered with millions of intricate sigils seeming to appear naturally on the ozone bubble surrounding the planet. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain knew instinctively that these sigils were only visible to himself.


    Surrounding Pangea were four celestial bodies��each a different colour��orbiting it. His Star Spaces.


    But that was all there was.


    Kain continued to examine his surroundings with greater and greater focus, hoping as the minutes passed that he was missing something, because��


    The laboratory? Gone.


    The training arena? Gone.


    Every function of the System he had relied on had simply�� disappeared.


    All that was here, appeared to be only his Star Space��or at least a replica of it made by the System. He wasn''t quite sure yet.


    Kain''s breath came slow and measured, though a cold unease curled in his gut. This wasn''t right. This wasn''t how the System was supposed to work.


    *Ding.*


    A voice, mechanical yet oddly smooth, rang out from nowhere and everywhere at once:


    *Detailed tutorial commencing. Welcome to System Version 4.0. Because of the Host''s continued inability to exercise self-restraint, an emergency upgrade was required to keep you from destroying yourself and everyone around you. You''re welcome.*


    Kain blinked. Then scowled. "Great. The System''s sarcasm seems to have upgraded as well. Out of all the features that seemed to have disappeared, I am sooo glad that that survived."


    *Thank you.* The System replied, either not picking up on Kain''s sarcasm or choosing to ignore it.


    Kain exhaled through his nose, forcing himself to focus. "At least you''re taking the initiative for once. Usually, I have to pry every minor detail out of you like I''m negotiating with a stingy merchant."


    *Oh, forgive me for assuming a so-called genius could figure things out without a step-by-step guide. My mistake.*


    Kain''s eye twitched. This thing got even worse.


    Shaking off the jab, he turned his attention back to his surroundings. "So? Where exactly are we? My Star Space? Some projection of it? Because I don''t see any of the usual System functions."


    *Correct. Your previous interface has been discarded. Due to the necessity for immediate, intimate fusion, between your Star Space and the System. You are now operating under the Spatial Conceptualization Model. Instead of crude menus and pop-ups, you now have full environmental immersion. The old System functions still exist, but they are no longer ''icons''��they must be accessed through direct interaction within this space.*


    Kain frowned. "And where exactly are those functions? Because I''m seeing a whole lot of empty space."


    *That is because you haven''t earned them back yet.*


    Kain froze. "Excuse me?"


    *System functions have been temporarily closed due to all available energy to use those features being consumed during the System Upgrade. Until the energy is replenished, critical features will remain locked.*


    Kain took a deep breath, ignoring the flare of irritation creeping up his spine. "So you''re telling me that you upgraded yourself, forcibly dragged me here, and now I have to unlock everything all over again?"


    *I mean, you could look at it that way�� Or you could acknowledge that your reckless overconsumption of Source energy nearly destroyed our entire System framework, yourself, and your star space and that my sacrifice to prioritize your preservation over maintaining System features is the only reason you still exist. Again, you''re welcome.*


    Kain couldn''t help lowering his head at the chastisement.


    "Ahem��so how do I earn them back? Do I need to continue hunting spiritual creatures?" Kain asked in trepidation. The majority of his past System features required GP, which were mainly obtained by completing system missions and hunting spiritual creatures.


    However, in the current relic he had not seen a single wild spiritual creature. There were those ancient experiments that seemed particularly hostile to Kain��rightfully so, he now realized in dismay��but Kain had not received a single System notification during their deaths.


    Kain honestly had no idea when they''d be able to leave this relic, so having to wait until then to even begin the process of restoring his System''s features left him worried.


    *Good news! Due to the immediate integration between your Star Space and the System in order to stabilize you, the main energy provider of the System''s energy has changed slightly. And the sources of this energy have become much more diverse. Hunting spiritual creatures is no longer the sole source of providing energy to the System.*


    Kain immediately perks up at that knowledge. "Finally, some good news!"


    *Indeed. The new sources of energy are no longer limited to spiritual creatures, but all living things and objects that may contain Source energy.*


    Kain flinched. No, he recoiled. A sickening weight settled in his stomach, his breath catching in his throat.


    "Source energy��you mean the very thing that almost turned me into a friend-killing monster?"

 Chapter 529 - 529: System Version 4.0 (2)

    The System didn''t answer immediately. It didn''t need to. The silence stretched, pressing down on him like a heavy weight.


    Kain swallowed hard, but it did nothing to ease the tightness in his chest. His mind flashed back��Serena''s wary eyes, Malzahir''s barely concealed fear, the suffocating hunger that had clawed at his sanity.


    The way his own hands had trembled afterward, still aching with the desire to clutch something, anything whether that be a fragment or a person, and drain it completely.


    And now, the System expected him to consume even more of that energy? En masse?


    Kain clenched his jaw, willing himself to breathe through the rising panic.


    The System continued, voice maddeningly neutral. *If it helps, your body and Pangea are now far better suited for the process. Your previous�� let''s call it ''incident''�� was due to improper regulation. But now, with the integration of the Star Space, absorption should be��*


    "Shut up." Kain''s voice came out hoarse. He exhaled sharply, pressing a hand over his face. "Just�� give me a moment."


    A beat of silence.


    Then: *Of course. Take all the time you want. We have all of the time in the world for your fragile mental strength. Not like we need to rebuild an entire System or anything. Or like I am suffering from gross over-exhaustion after undergoing a process that I barely had the necessary energy reserves to complete safely.*


    Kain bit back a curse. His fingers curled into a fist, his nails digging into his palm. He should be used to this by now, the System''s incessant and unhelpful commentary, but right now it felt unbearable.


    It didn''t matter if the System framed it as a necessity. It didn''t matter if he was supposedly ''better suited'' for it now. The idea of willingly taking in that energy again made his entire body scream in protest��but also longing��which is what scared him even more.


    But what choice did he have?


    None.


    He had just practically sworn to Serena that he''d cut back. And given what just happened he had no confidence in reassuring her that the continued absorption would be okay.


    Kain could already practically see the fear, disappointment, maybe even disgust, at his seeming lack of control and inability to just let go of absorbing the core fragments.


    Serena had already been wary, and had already been watching him with unease. What if this was the final straw?


    What if she decided he wasn''t worth the risk? That he a threat, not only to her but to everyone? That he was beyond saving?


    What if she told the Order?


    A cold shudder crawled down Kain''s spine at the thought. Serena was composed, methodical��if she deemed his abilities too dangerous, she might not hesitate to report it, their current status as friends (?) bedamned. sea??h th�� N??elFir��.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Not because she wanted to betray him, but because she thought it was the right thing to do.


    And the Order�� He didn''t really need to imagine how they would react. If they categorized him as something on par with the Abyssals, a quick death would be something he could only hope for�� More likely, they''d contain him. Study him. Tear apart his existence in order to find a way to use him��or erase him entirely.


    The weight pressing down on his chest grew heavier.


    His breath came a little sharper. He couldn''t afford to lose their trust. He couldn''t afford to let them think he was slipping into something beyond control.


    But if absorption was the only way to restore the System''s functions��


    Kain stiffened.


    ''Wait.''


    The System had said many sources. Not just core fragments.


    A slow, uncertain thought took root in his mind. If he wasn''t limited to absorbing core fragments to obtain this Source energy anymore�� If there were other ways to replenish the System''s energy��


    Could he do it without them noticing?


    His heart beat a little faster��not from fear this time, but from possibility.


    If he could find an alternative method, something subtle, something that wouldn''t draw the same attention as draining core fragments��


    It wouldn''t be stopping. But it would be hiding.


    And right now, that might be his best option.


    His hands, still stiff from the tension, unclenched slowly. His breathing slowed.


    "Alright. Tell me more." Kain''s voice was steady when he finally spoke. "You said all living things and objects containing Source energy could be used. Clarify what this means"


    The System''s response was instant. *All living things born on a planet, contain a small amount of Source energy from that planet��that is what gives them life. I am sure that you sensed it in your allies when you had your��meltdown. ''Objects'' refers to any material or construct imbued with Source energy��artifacts, rare naturally formed crystals, certain relics, and, in extremely rare cases, the terrain itself.*


    Kain couldn''t help dwelling on the description of all living creatures having Source energy. Was the GP previously absorbed Source energy? Had he been absorbing it for far longer than he''d even realized? Perhaps his ability to absorb it was precisely why the System even bound itself to him��


    *The GP*, The System began, upon reading his thoughts *previously obtained via killing to power the System was a combination of less pure Source energy, genetic energy, and other types of energy emitted by the body after death. This impure energy while not as powerful as pure Source energy, is significantly more stable and has no adverse side-effects upon absorption. However, after integrating with your Star Space, the System will now only absorb pure Source energy, and the currency used by the System will now also be Source Points.*


    "Does that mean that I can discretely absorb Source energy from any creatures? Not just ones that I kill now? Also, does that mean the absorption won''t be detectable by others?"


    It was that last question Kain was the most concerned about while thinking about a certain pair of blue eyes that had been staring at him with trepidation.


    *Naturally, since the System is now actively involved in the absorption process it should be undetectable when from hunted creatures, only requiring that the Host be within a certain range for the discrete absorption. However, considering that Source energy returns to the planet almost immediately after death, energy from kills made by others will only be obtained if you were present at the time of death, and you will only obtain a fraction of the energy you would have obtained from making the kill directly.*


    That last statement was incredibly surprising to Kain. "Why the hell should it matter who makes the kill?"


    *That is a restriction due to the illusive power of fate in this world. Any energy or nutrients obtained from killing a life will, as a kind of prize, be much more easily absorbed by the hunter. That is why you will see many wild creatures walk past a seemingly decent carcass in favour of hunting something else directly even if there are no signs of poison on the corpse. After all, diseases are practically non-existent in this world, so they wouldn''t be afraid of getting sick. It''s the power of fate that has led to this phenomenon.*

 Chapter 530 - 530: A Force Beyond His Control

    Because there were no new features of the System revealed, Kain decided to take a look around Pangea.


    Since it had gotten fully healed, he had never taken the time to fully explore the new environment with each core fragment he absorbed.


    Kain materialized on Pangea''s surface with a thought, his boots sinking slightly into the extremely dark and nutrient-rich soil.


    The air smelled different��sharper, more alive, carrying scents of blooming flowers and distant saltwater that made his nostrils flare.


    He exhaled slowly, letting his senses stretch outward.


    Everything was�� enhanced.


    Many of the trees, once all sturdy but ordinary, now seemed to have mutated, and a tree that was at least of black-iron quality could be seen with every step��many were even higher in quality.


    Kain reached out instinctively, brushing his fingers against the trunk of the nearest tree that stood out due to its pitch-black trunk. The moment his skin made contact, information flooded his mind��


    -----


    Species: Umbral Oak


    Quality: Gold (Peak)


    Strength: Orange-grade


    Abilities: Shadow Manipulation, Dream Pollination


    -------


    Kain jerked his hand back in shock, even at Pangea''s peak he''d been hard-pressed to find a single plant above red-grade. Hence why he hadn''t yet capitalized on some of the vegetative resources of the planet.


    But now, even the most ''ordinary'' trees towered with an ethereal sheen, and their bark shimmered with faint bioluminescent patterns that pulsed to a rhythm, like the planet''s heartbeat.


    Their leaves weren''t merely green but iridescent, shifting between emerald, sapphire, and violet as the wind stirred them.


    Over the previously dried-out landscapes were now dozens��no, hundreds to thousands of new rivers that cut through the earth adding a moist quality to the surrounding environment no matter where he went.


    The mountains in the distance seemed taller, at their peaks were multi-coloured auroras that had no business existing outside polar regions.


    Even the air itself carried a richness that made his skin prickle and Kain could tell that cultivating on this planet would probably be even more beneficial to him than the Planetarium.


    So, although he lost one System function, he still found a comparable alternative in Pangea.


    Kain, as the owner of Panngea, had long sensed that its previous peak was its limit unless Kain broke through. But now the planet was thriving beyond its original limits��beyond his limitations. Due to the assistance��theft��of the energy from another world��Earth.


    ''I can somewhat empathize with the Abyssals if they experience something similar each time they invade Earth��''


    The spiritual creatures on the planet did seem to be the biggest beneficiaries.


    Kain swept his gaze over the landscape, watching as creatures prowled, hunted, and clashed in bursts of terrifying power.


    Before, high-level entities had been rare. Aurem and his underlings, plus the small group of high-level creatures in the oceans are the only ones. Before the limit that most creatures could hope to achieve had been maybe the equivalent of blue-grade. Now, high-level creatures roamed in numbers never seen before.


    He spotted a massive, obsidian-plated feline weaving through the trees, each step soundless despite its bulk. Overhead, a trio of winged predators engaged in an aerial skirmish, their talons leaving streaks of light as they struck at each other with frightening precision. Even the weaker creatures carried an unmistakable potency, and Kain could instinctively tell that even if lower in level, they were all of a decent quality.


    A low growl rumbled from the underbrush.


    Kain turned slowly to face a predator that didn''t at all resemble any spiritual creature on earth��a six-legged feline with fur like liquid mercury and eyes that burned with contained lightning. It wasn''t able to see Kain, so he looked around to note that there was a crouching member of the same species on the other side of Kain��perhaps an intraspecies fight?


    Kain focused on the creatures that didn''t seem that high in level, but still gave off an intimidating air:


    ------


    Species: Stormclaw Pard


    Quality: Platinum


    Strength: Red-grade


    Abilities: Electrokinetic Strikes, Phase Shifting


    --------


    To think that any random creature, if he were able to take them out to sell could be worth millions of Celestial Dollars. Kain folded his arms, a sharp exhale escaping him. "This place is ridiculous now."


    *That would be an understatement*, the System chimed in. *Pangea''s energy density has surpassed any previous peak. If it were a real-world location, it would likely become a sacred ground for any creature seeking power.*


    Kain hummed in agreement, gaze trailing over a particularly massive beast in the distance��a scaled quadruped whose aura sent smaller creatures scurrying. The sheer concentration of high-tier creatures was absurd. If he had access to this kind of force in the outside world, he could��


    A bitter chuckle slipped past his lips. "If only they weren''t bound here."


    That was the problem, wasn''t it?


    Because the cruellest limitation remained��the creatures here, no matter how powerful, were bound by the same rules as always. They couldn''t leave Pangea without forming contracts. And when they did...


    White-grade. Every time.


    If things were different�� If he could take them as they were now, unrestricted��


    Aurem alone could shake an army.


    A battalion of the strongest of them? A force strong enough to topple nations.


    Kain let out a slow breath, pushing away the pointless fantasy. It wasn''t possible, and there was no use dwelling on it. The restrictions were absolute, and no amount of lamenting would change that.


    Speaking of Aurem, Kain went to see his old friend��and one of the few entities on this planet privy to Kain''s existence.


    The damage to Pangea was probably the hardest on Aurem and the Tree of Life, but the golden dragon seems to have more than recovered.


    The golden dragon lay sprawled out lazily across an elevated plateau. Sunlight gleamed off his brilliant scales, a sight so dazzling that it could blind an unprepared viewer. sea??h th�� n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But Kain wasn''t distracted by Aurem''s dazzling appearance��his focus was on the ever-growing number of creatures gathered around the dragon.


    There were more than before. Far more.


    It seems like every spiritual creature that was talented enough to breakthrough to indigo-grade or above and become part of the higher-level population, was recruited (more like forced) by Aurem to become his subordinate.


    Kain''s gaze swept over Aurem''s gathered underlings. The original four had already been monstrous, but now there were dozens of new arrivals��some of them powerful in their own right, though still beneath the four, now three, original underlings.


    Even with the loss of the Black Tortoise due to it forming a contract with Gabriel, Aurem''s forces had expanded to an almost absurd degree.


    Kain had no doubt that if these creatures could leave Pangea as they were, he''d have an army strong enough to compete with the entire Empire.


    He nearly scoffed at the thought��imagine the horror of an empire, seeing a golden dragon leading an unstoppable tide of beasts to their doorstep.


    Kain exhaled, folding his arms. A shame, really. If things were different if he could command them as they were��


    Shaking his head to get rid of the dangerous thought, Kain focused back on his surroundings.


    The newcomers surrounded Aurem in an almost fearful silence, waiting at a respectful distance while Aurem lazily gnawed on an object in his claws.


    Kain narrowed his eyes.


    A piece of glowing metal��a metal resembling a vibrant gold with deep crimson hues intertwined, flickering with an otherworldly radiance.


    Even at a glance, Kain could tell it was extraordinary. The metal pulsed faintly, exuding an energy so condensed that it distorted the air around it. And given that a creature as special as Aurem was even obsessed with it, Kain was even more confident in this assertion.


    Kain realized that it wasn''t just the creatures that had changed due to the improvement of Pangea. The material resources of Pangea had also seemingly evolved.


    And unlike those that were alive��these new precious materials may be able to leave as they were!


    Crack


    Aurem crushed the metal with a sharp bite, his teeth shearing through it with only a little resistance. Sparks danced in the air as the remnants of the metal crumbled into dust, absorbed into the dragon''s body.


    Aurem finally seemed to take notice of him. The dragon lifted his head, golden eyes locking onto Kain''s position.


    He gazed at Kain with a faint expression of amusement��perhaps mixed with defiance.


    After all, as the acting overlord of Pangea, Aurem likely felt as though he was above the puny human that nobody else could see.


    Kain merely met his gaze, neither acknowledging nor denying the unspoken challenge.


    Aurem huffed, turning back to his lounging. His tail lazily flicked against the ground, sending a tremor through the earth.


    Kain sighed.


    Perhaps it was a good thing none of them could leave without a contract.


    It appeared as though not only was Pangea itself slipping from Kain''s control, but unless he greatly improved his personal strength, the creatures on the planet would also have no reason to fear and respect him.

 Chapter 531 - 531: Five Souvenirs

    Kain hovered above Aurem''s territory in silence, his gaze locked onto the vibrant assortment of rare metals Aurem had hoarded due to the diligent collecting of his underlings.


    The golden dragon''s eyes narrowed slightly as Kain approached. The other creatures, unable to sense Kain unless he wished, lowered their heads in servitude after seeing the dragon''s changed expression..


    Without hesitation, Kain extended his hand, and with a flex of his will, five distinct samples of different metals separated from the pile, floating toward him in a slow, controlled motion. Each shimmered with an unnatural brilliance and looked extraordinary at a glance.


    ''These would be excellent souvenirs.''


    Holding them, information about each metal appeared in his mind:


    Solarite, Kain decided to name it, was the luminous golden metal streaked with deep crimson veins, constantly exuding warmth that Aurem had just eaten. It is capable of absorbing sunlight to enhance its durability and the energy it contains.


    Nocturnium, a deep obsidian-black metal with faint violet specks that resemble a starry night sky. It absorbs light instead of reflecting it, has an eerie coldness to the touch and dampens sound vibrations.


    Aetherium, a translucent, almost ethereal metal that shifts between colours depending on the observer''s angle. It was far lighter than any known metal Kain had come across before but incredibly durable and extremely resistant to all forms of elemental energy.


    Umbrasteel, a smoky-gray metal with shifting, ink-like shadows swirling just beneath its surface. It felt extremely smooth to the touch and had a perpetual hum of energy. It was capable of phasing through physical matter for brief moments when injected with spiritual power.


    And finally, a metal that Kain coined as Dragonscale Ore. It was a rugged, crimson-metal with overlapping patterns resembling dragon scales. It becomes harder upon physical impact, dispersing kinetic force evenly to prevent fractures. It also naturally repairs itself over time when exposed to high temperatures.


    Kain already had some ideas about the potential uses of each one, but figured he should take these samples to a blacksmith to get more detailed information on the potential uses of each metal.


    Seeing Kain lift up 5 treasures from his precious collection, Aurem was immediately displeased.


    The golden dragon let out a low rumble, his annoyance barely concealed. Almost in time with his growling, the underlings below began to tremble violently. One pitiful large creature resembling a brown bear was even unable to control himself and released a yellow rivulet of urine that trailed down its furry hind legs.


    The dragon''s tail twitched, golden eyes flashing with discontent, but he made no move to stop Kain''s actions. A silent battle of authority waged between them, yet Kain did not react beyond the faintest smirk.


    "These will do," Kain murmured to himself, studying the metals as they settled into his grasp. The way they reacted to his touch��some resisting, others almost pulsing in recognition��was even more proof that they were far from ordinary.


    Aurem exhaled sharply through his nose, clearly displeased but unwilling to escalate the matter over something so minor. So he didn''t stop Kain.


    ''Because even Aurem knows I''m still his master'', Kain thought, though the statement felt tenuous at best.


    Kain turned on his heel, the shimmering samples vanishing as he willed them into his personal storage space as he prepared to depart.


    ''Sigh��there''s not much room left��'' Kain thought despondently. Kain had gotten accustomed to just using a storage ring for show since he had the System Laboratory��meaning that the space ring he had was not the largest on the market.


    But now Kain was locked out of the System Laboratory and, consequently, cut-off from a large proportion of his emergency resources.


    With a final glance toward the dragon, Kain''s consciousness withdrew from Pangea.


    -------------------


    Kain''s consciousness snapped back to the cavern with a jolt, his body stiff from prolonged stillness. He blinked rapidly, adjusting to the dim torchlight after the vibrant colours of Pangea.


    The air here felt stale in comparison��thin, lifeless, devoid of the thrumming energy that Pangea now had.


    Kain stood up to stretch his stiff limbs when a shuffling sound drew his attention.


    Malzahir stood several paces away, his back pressed against the cavern wall as if ready to bolt. The tribesman''s dark eyes tracked Kain''s every movement with the wary intensity of a prey animal cornered by a predator. His fingers twitched near the knife at his belt��not quite drawing it, but not dismissing the option either.


    Kain offered a small, tired smile. "Relax. I''m not going to��"


    Malzahir flinched.


    The reaction was subtle, barely more than a tightening of his shoulders, but it sent a sharp pang through Kain''s chest. He exhaled slowly, letting the smile fade.


    ''This is worse than I thought.''


    His gaze shifted to Serena, who sat cross-legged near the dwindling fire. She wasn''t watching him��not directly��but the tension in her posture betrayed her awareness and she had a dagger Kain had never seen before resting lightly on her thigh, ready for battle at a moment''s notice.


    The message was clear: I''m not afraid of you. But I''m ready. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The air between them was thick with unspoken accusations.


    Kain clenched his jaw, then forced himself to relax. He couldn''t blame them. Not after what they''d seen. Not after what he''d nearly done.


    But this couldn''t continue.


    "Serena. Malzahir." His voice was calm, measured. "We need to talk."


    Malzahir''s throat worked as he swallowed hard. Serena, after a beat, turned her head just enough to meet his gaze. Her blue eyes were like ice��not hostile, but not yielding either.


    "I know you don''t trust me right now," he began, keeping his hands visible. "And you have every reason not to. But I can reassure you both that it won''t happen again. Now��"


    "Now what?" Serena cut in. "You expect us to believe you have it under control? After what we saw?"


    "No." Kain''s fingers curled into fists. "Which is why I will stop absorbing more of that energy for now��"


    Serena cut him off again, "For now? I thought, given how dangerous it was, you would stop forever."


    Kain''s silence was answer enough.


    Serena''s lips thinned. "Then nothing''s really changed."


    "Of course it has! I will be far more careful, and won''t attempt to absorb it again until I get stronger, or while alone."


    Kain felt quite guilty as he made this statement with his fingers crossed out of view of the other two. He knew that, at least until the System''s functions were fully activated again he had no plans of stopping.

 Chapter 532 - 532: Time Slipping Away

    The passing days inside the relic blurred together without the sun or moon to mark the passage of time. It was an endless cycle of searching, fighting, and scavenging.


    With each new cavern they explored, the three gradually fell into a rhythm��Kain leading the way since he was an irresistible target to any abominations remaining, Serena was right behind him to support when he was inevitably attacked, and Malzahir left scratches on the walls like a trail of breadcrumbs to ensure they weren''t going around in circles.


    The relic was vast, far more intricate than they had initially assumed. They had already gone through dozens of chambers and a countless number of pathways.


    They moved carefully, methodically, mapping their path as they went. Every new cavern was a potential treasure trove��or a death trap.


    Their primary goal remained the relic cores, old documents, and artifacts, and along the way their wealth quickly grew��old weapons, strange tomes, metallic plates inscribed with runes long lost to time��and the occasional core fragment (which Kain now knew contained what was called Source energy).


    Some objects were completely useless in their current state, rusted beyond recognition, while others held a trace of dormant energy, waiting to be awakened. They took what they could carry, prioritizing items with potential value over sheer curiosity.


    And, of course, they prioritized the rare core fragments containing Source energy.


    Whenever they encountered one, Kain would collect it and pass it to Serena without a second thought. At first, she had been skeptical, waiting for the moment he would attempt to absorb the energy for himself. But he never did. He simply handed them over and moved on, as if the act carried no weight. As though he had no lingering draw to the violet fragments.


    The first few times, Serena had watched him like a hawk, her fingers twitching toward her dagger. But as the days wore on and Kain held true to his word, her suspicion eased��if only slightly.


    Over time, even Malzahir''s paranoia began to wane, his shoulders no longer tensing every time Kain so much as exhaled too loudly.


    But Kain was far from idle. While the core fragments were off-limits, Serena and Malzahir weren''t aware of the faint traces of Source energy lingering in some of the relics they uncovered.


    The ancient metals, the shattered remnants of weapons, the rusted-looking auxiliary tools��they carried miniscule amounts of Source energy, and the System allowed for Kain to discreetly siphon it without drawing attention. It wasn''t much, nowhere near what he needed to restore the System''s full functions, but it was something.


    Without the core fragments, the progress was agonizingly slow. The System remained crippled, its abilities locked behind an insurmountable wall. No matter how much energy he stole from the relic''s remnants or the abominations, it was a drop in the ocean compared to what he truly needed.


    But it was all he could do under Serena''s watchful gaze.


    The abominations, at least, provided a more substantial source.


    The twisted creatures��remnants of the relic''s experiments��still lurked in the shadows, their hatred for Kain seeming to have grown even stronger.


    Whenever they attacked, Kain made sure to land the killing blow, discretely absorbing what energy he could with the help of the System.


    One evening��or what passed for the evening in the timeless dark��they settled in a cavern larger than most, its ceiling arched high enough that their firelight didn''t reach the top.


    Serena sat cross-legged near the fire, methodically sharpening her dagger, sword, and numerous arrowheads.


    Malzahir was already asleep, his breathing slow and even, his back turned to Kain as usual.


    Kain poked at the fire with a stick, watching the embers dance. "We''ve been in here a long time," he murmured.


    Serena didn''t look up. "Yes."


    "You know," he mused, glancing toward Serena, "we''re probably going to hold the record for the largest drop in ranking in Dark Moon College history."


    Her hands stilled for a fraction of a second before resuming their work. "Probably."


    "I mean," Kain continued, smirking faintly, "we started this expedition as Rank 1. And at this rate? We''ll be dead last by the time we get back to the college. Heck, it may have even been long enough that the National Competition is already over."


    A heavy silence settled over them. The National Competition was one of the most significant events for college students, an opportunity to prove themselves on a national scale. Although their participation seems trivial in the grand scheme of things, and the life-threatening attacks by the Abyss made daily. But it was still unfortunate��


    Kain exhaled through his nose, eyes flickering toward the shadowed cavern ceiling. "I promised my siblings that I would compete again this year��and even lead the college to victory so they could brag to everyone about their brother." His voice was quieter now. "And now, because of this damn relic, I''m stuck here, unable to keep that promise."


    Serena was silent for a long moment. Then, to his surprise, she said, "We''ll get out eventually."


    Kain blinked. "That''s unusually optimistic for you."


    She shot him a dry look. "Not optimism. Fact. The relic core has to be here somewhere. And when we find it, we''re leaving."


    Kain chuckled, and his expression became much more relaxed.


    The fire crackled between them, casting flickering shadows across the cavern walls. For the first time in days, the tension between them felt almost... normal.


    Then Serena''s expression shifted, her gaze sharpening as she looked past him. "Did you hear that?"


    Kain stilled, listening. At first, there was nothing. Then��


    A faint, skittering sound. Like claws on stone.


    Something was moving in the dark.


    Malzahir stirred, his battle-honed instincts rousing him instantly. His hand went to his knife as he sat up, his dark eyes were instantly alert, as though he''d never been asleep, scanning the shadows.


    Kain rose slowly, his muscles tensing. The sound grew louder, closer��not just one set of footsteps, but many.


    Serena was already on her feet, her dagger drawn. "We''re not alone."


    sea??h th�� ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 533 - 533: Reunited At Last

    The cavern was deathly silent, save for the approaching sound of numerous footsteps of all types��some resembling clawed feet in sound; others sounded like hooves; the fastest approaching set making more of a skittering sound.


    Kain''s grip on his sword tightened as he scanned the darkness. His senses stretched outward, trying to discern what lurked beyond the light of the fire''s reach.


    Kain welcomed the approach of abominations, despite their attempts to kill him, due to the Source energy they provided. However, this number sounded like too much for them to handle.


    Serena''s posture was taut, dagger angled low, her eyes narrowed toward the passage leading into their chamber. Malzahir shifted beside her, knife ready, his breathing slow and steady.


    Then, a flicker of movement.


    Shadows wavered beyond the fire''s edge, a collection of shifting figures just out of sight. The sound of many non-human feet on stone grew louder, more distinct.


    A rhythmic clatter, an almost familiar beat��until, finally, from the darkness, something stepped forward.


    At the forefront was a massive creature that would give anyone with a fear of insects a heart attack. A millipede-like creature was making its way toward Kain and the others, its numerous feet working together with an almost eerie harmony.


    Its dark chitinous body reflected the light off of the cave giving Kain and Serena a better look at it from its head, which bore a terrifying set of mandibles that looked ready to crush the head of anyone that approached, to the tip of its tail which was ten meters away.


    The bug barrelled toward them, not dissimilar in size and speed from a car. But despite its terrifying appearance, Kain and Serena actually put their weapons down and signalled the spiritual creatures they had released to not attack.


    Serena even had a light smile at the corner of her mouth for the first time in a while.


    Behind it, a lean, four-legged beast emerged second, its dark fur rippling as it prowled cautiously into the light. Pale silver eyes gleamed in the fire''s glow, its ears flicking forward.


    More movement. S��arch* The N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then, another form appeared��this time, unmistakably human.


    A man stepped forward, his armour caked in dust, his face sharp with exhaustion, but his posture steady. Behind him, more figures emerged, one by one, their steps careful, their gazes scanning the cavern hopefully but still prepared for a fight. Their ragged forms and weary eyes told of struggles of their own.


    Kain''s tight chest instantly lightened.


    "About damn time, Zareth," he said with a smile on his face. Finally, they had found some of their teammates! Alive, at least��all of the past teammates they''d found had already died.


    With Idrias dead��the leader of both the Pathfinders and the mission��Zareth, as the next most experienced and leader of the Starchasers, was now the de facto leader.


    The man''s head snapped toward him, and for a moment, his shoulders relaxed slightly. "Kain?"


    Recognition flickered in his gaze��along with something else. Relief. Disbelief. Happiness.


    Serena lowered her dagger a fraction, her sharp gaze running over the newcomers. "Who else is with you?"


    More figures filtered in, their movements careful yet filled with the weight of familiarity. Some of their missing companions, the ones they had long feared lost to the relic''s endless depths. Their clothes were torn, their faces gaunt, but they were alive.


    Kain counted them quickly. Not everyone was here.


    "How many of you made it?" Kain asked, his voice rough.


    Zareth hesitated. "Not enough."


    A heavy silence settled over the cavern. The fire crackled between them, casting elongated shadows against the walls.


    Kain exhaled through his nose, tension still coiled in his gut. He didn''t need to ask for details. The answer was already written on their faces.


    Serena took a slow step forward, her expression unreadable. "Tell us everything."


    ----------------------


    Sitting around the fire the two groups shared their respective stories while eating and after a brief introduction of Malzahir��who was still a stranger to the others and looked quite a bit different from the injured, dishevelled man they''d met in the desert.


    Zareth sat cross-legged, stretching out his tired limbs as the fire cast flickering light over his worn features. His gaze was distant for a moment, as if recalling memories he''d rather forget. Finally, he exhaled and began.


    "We started strong," he said, voice rough. "We were all separated when we entered the relic, but 6 of us were lucky to be dropped quite close together. I''d say that we all managed to find each other within a week of entering. But soon we ran into these weird creatures."


    "The abominations?" Serena asked.


    Zareth nodded grimly. "That''s what you call them? I guess it fits better than what we''ve been calling them��the Strange. But yeah. At first, we fought them off without too much trouble. We even started recognizing patterns in their behaviour. But then�� we encountered something different. It looked like the rest��a hybrid of metal and flesh��but it was stronger, faster, and had something else��"


    "A contamination ability," Kain finished for him.


    Zareth''s gaze snapped toward him, a flicker of surprise in his exhausted eyes. "You ran into one, too?"


    His surprise was mostly from the fact that the two most inexperienced and weakest members of this expedition team had run into one of those things while in a much smaller group but appeared to be relatively unscathed.


    "We didn''t get a good look at it. We just saw the results."


    Serena eventually made up an explanation to explain away his doubts. After all, even though she and Kain have their differences, she had no intention of revealing his ability to charge the ancient healing devices that would help combat the contamination.


    Zareth let out a slow breath. "Then you know. It wasn''t just its strength��it infected anything it touched. We didn''t even realize it at first��"


    "Sonny was the first hit," Zareth continued quietly. "The wound wouldn''t close. Wouldn''t heal. It just... festered. Black veins spread from it like rot. By the time we realized what was happening..."


    He didn''t finish. He didn''t need to.


    A bitter taste settled in Kain''s mouth. They''d already come across Sonny and Elfie''s remains.


    "The Pathfinder��Elfie��tried to cut off and cauterize it," a bandaged Starchaser murmured. "Didn''t work. The corruption was already in his body. He was dead within hours."


    Zareth exhaled sharply. "Elfie got sloppy after that. Distracted. One of the creatures got her from behind. Same thing. No healing. Just... slow decay."


    The fire crackled, the sound unnaturally loud in the heavy silence.


    Kain glanced at Serena. Her expression was stone, but her knuckles were white where they gripped her dagger.


    Zareth rubbed a hand over his face. "After that, we just ran. Hid. Tried to find a way out. Then we started seeing your markings��figured if anyone was still alive, it''d be you two." He managed a tired smirk. "Finding you is a good omen. If we''ve made it this far, maybe the others have too. Idrias could still��"


    Kain''s sharp inhale cut him off.

 Chapter 534 - 534: Idrias’ Legacy

    Zareth''s slight smile faded. His gaze flicked between Kain and Serena, noting the way they''d both gone rigid. "...What?"


    Serena was the one who spoke, her voice colder than the relic''s deepest chambers.


    "Idrias is dead."


    The words landed like a hammer blow.


    Zareth''s face drained of colour. The others, particularly the remaining two pathfinders of their group, exclaimed in disbelief, their expressions shifting from weary hope to something far heavier.


    "How?" Zareth''s voice was barely above a whisper.


    Kain hesitated, then reached into his coat. He pulled out the ring��Idrias'' ring��and held it up. The metal gleamed dully in the firelight.


    "He gave this to Malzahir before he died. Told him to find us."


    Zareth stared at the ring like it was a ghost. Then his hands slowly curled into fists. "Sonny and Elfie are gone. Idrias is gone." His voice hardened. "Who else?"


    Kain exhaled. "Twelve of us entered. Idrias, Sonny, and Elfie confirmed dead. You four, me, Serena make nine. That leaves three unaccounted for��one Pathfinder and 2 Starchasers."


    The bandaged Starchaser��Lina, Kain finally remembered her name was��swallowed hard. "Valentina, Ryn and Jax��"


    Zareth''s expression darkened. "If they''re alive, we find them. If they''re not..." He trailed off, then shook his head. "We need to get out of this damn relic regardless and it should be our first priority."


    Kain nodded, tucking Idrias'' ring away, glad they were on the same page. He had nothing against the missing three, but the chances of them being alive were slim, and who knows the current situation of the empire��they''d been in here for what felt like months.


    Although a small part of Kain still felt guilty��and looking at the faces around him, he knew the sentiment was shared.


    Every moment they spent searching was a moment they risked another ambush, another death. But leaving their own behind��even if the chances were slim��felt like a betrayal.


    Zareth exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples as if trying to stave off a headache from the whiplash of receiving good (the survival of Kain and Serena) and then bad news (the death of Idrias). "We can''t just wander aimlessly anymore. We need a plan."


    Serena, who had been silent since delivering the news about Idrias, finally spoke. "Do you have any leads on the location of the relic core?"


    One of the other Pathfinders, a wiry man with a gash across his cheek reached into his tattered coat and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. Kain thought his name was James�� or maybe Jamie? "We found this in one of the chambers. It''s incomplete, but..."


    He unfolded it carefully, revealing a section of the relic''s layout. The ink was faded in places, the edges torn, but one location was clearly marked��a chamber deep within the relic''s heart, labelled in ancient script.


    "You believe that this is where the core of this relic is located?" Kain asked.


    The Pathfinder shrugged. "It''s the only thing that stands out. And if it''s not the core, it''s something important."


    Unfortunately, it was torn in such a way that none of the caverns and tunnels that actually appeared on the map resembled anything that Kain or the others had come across��therefore, they had no idea of where to even start.


    ''Wait��''


    Kain leaned forward, studying the map. "Do you think this is a match?" Kain turned to Serena. The others looked confused, having no idea what he was talking about, but Serena immediately understood. Sear?h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While scavenging the different caverns they''d come across a torn piece of paper that had some nearby tunnels marked down. Since it showed their surroundings clearly, they decided to take it��the texture and lines on that paper looked like it could be one of the missing pieces of this same map.


    Serena quickly retrieved the paper from her own space ring and held it against the map found by Zareth and the others.


    "It looks like it could be a match��but there are still some parts missing��parts that connect the two parts of the map together."


    Malzahir stood up abruptly and also looked closer at the map.


    Zareth and the others tensed up. After all, even though they could sense that Malzahir had no power, they weren''t familiar with him. What if he went crazy and threw their only map into the flames?


    Kain quickly raised a hand and gestured for them to calm down. He''d gotten along with Malzahir long enough to know his character.


    "Malzahir was trusted by Idrias to bring his items to us��I think that speaks volumes about his character."


    Although a little hesitant, the others slowly sat back down from where they had already been about to jump up, and Kain handed the two map fragments to Malzahir.


    Malzahir took the pieces nervously, fidgeting under the intense gazes of people he could sense were even stronger than himself at his peak.


    However, after a deep breath, he calmed down and focused on the map.


    Then he gestured to Kain''s coat pocket, "Ring��please?"


    Kain immediately handed Idrias'' space ring over in understanding, and Malzahir''s eyes became hazy and unfocused as his consciousness seemed to have penetrated into the ring.


    Before long a piece of paper vaguely shaped like a crescent and containing several lines appeared in his hand��a piece of paper that was similar in colouration and texture to the map.


    Honestly, Kain had briefly glanced at that fragment when he''d first gotten the ring, but never once did he connect it with being a missing piece of a map.


    But Malzahir, alone with nothing but this ring for god knows how long, had spent more time examining every little item left behind by Idrias than probably Serena and Kain combined.


    Everyone watched with bated breath as the oddly shaped fragment fit perfectly to fill in the missing sections of the map.


    ''We had our map. We had our path. Now, we''d see how many more names would be added to the list of the dead before this was over.''

 Chapter 535 - 535: Breakthrough

    Kain got his answer within days of them setting off for their destination.


    Bodies frozen in expressions of horror lay across the floor of the cavern they had just ventured into.


    Their once-vibrant forms were now barely recognizable, already well into decay. Black patches of contamination crawled across their bodies like an invasive plague, sparing only their faces��which were frozen into expressions of pain and horror of their final moments.


    The group stood in silence. Even without confirming their identities, they already knew.


    Jax. Ryn. Valentina.


    ''That brings the list of the dead up to 6��only a 50% survival rate.''


    Zareth took a trembling step forward, his expression hard, but his clenched jaw and trembling fists betrayed the depth of his grief. Now that Kain thought about it, the Starchaser Ryn and Zareth seemed to be the closest. Ryn had even been one of the individuals Zareth had called to enter the Obari tribe when looking for a cure.


    Lina let out a shuddering breath, her fingers curling so tightly into her sleeves that her knuckles turned white. Jamie��Kain was now sure of his name after getting along a few more days��stood rigid, staring down at the bodies like he was trying to will them back to life. No one spoke for a long time.


    Kain wasn''t particularly close with the three of them, but even he felt the weight of their deaths pressing down on him.


    They had all entered this relic together. The idea that they were steadily being chipped away��one by one��made his stomach churn. How much longer could they last? Would all of the remaining team members make it out?


    However, amidst all this bad news, there was one bright spot��Kain was finally ready to advance again.


    It was an unexpected development. Given how far he''d been from reaching the limit of his current rank at the start of this mission, he had never once thought he would return home as a five-star beast-tamer. Yet here he was, standing at the edge of that very breakthrough.


    The time alone wasn''t enough to explain his fast progress. The sheer amount of Source energy Pangea had absorbed since entering this cursed place had accelerated his growth more than he''d ever anticipated. Even if he had been using the Planetarium plus the resources of the Order and as the rank 1 of Dark Moon for all of these months��it probably wouldn''t even be as good as a single core fragment.


    Now, for the first time, his cultivation would actually surpass Serena''s.


    He glanced at her. She didn''t look surprised��if anything, there was a knowing glint in her gaze, like she had expected this outcome long before he had.


    Kain exhaled and turned back to the group. "Thanks, guys��" he muttered, a bit embarrassed to be delaying their march forward just for his breakthrough.


    "No worries," Zareth reassured him. "If you become stronger, that helps us all out. Yeah, we''d all like to leave as soon as possible, but leaving alive is more important."


    Kain hesitated for a moment before nodding, finally allowing himself to put his anxious and guilty thoughts aside.


    He moved to a far-off corner of the cavern and sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor. The others instinctively shifted into defensive positions around him, their weary forms straightening as they prepared to guard him. After all, in this relic, being vulnerable��which he would definitely be while breaking through��was a death sentence.


    Kain closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. His previous breakthrough had taken quite a while, and he was prepared for this one to last weeks.


    He just hoped they had that kind of time.


    ------------------


    Kain''s consciousness plunged inward, his awareness narrowing to the swirling expanse of his star space. The four existing stars glowed brilliantly��blue, green, brown, and red��like true celestial bodies orbiting Pangea.


    Kain didn''t delay. He guided the energy into the center of his star space, compressing it as he had countless times before. The process should have been straightforward, but the moment he began forming the star, something unexpected happened.


    A pulse of violet-tinged power��Source energy��surged from Pangea and into the forming star.


    The effect was immediate.


    Where the process should have been slow and deliberate, the energy now moved with terrifying speed, condensing and spinning the nascent star faster, harder, than Kain had intended.


    ''Too fast!''


    The forming star shuddered, its edges fraying under the centrifugal force. Cracks of unstable energy spiderwebbed through it, threatening to tear it apart��or worse, detonate violently within his star space��crippling, or even killing, Kain.


    Kain''s breath hitched. He tried to slow it, to rein it in, but the Source energy resisted, its momentum relentless.


    *ALERT: External interference detected. Pangea''s Source energy has exceeded the safe threshold for the host''s advancement. Immediate intervention is required.* S��ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain felt an invisible force wrap around his star space, slowing the chaotic rotation before it could spiral into disaster.


    A stabilizing pressure settled over the forming star, preventing it from shattering under its own speed. At the same time, the excess Source energy was siphoned away, and redirected back into the depths of Pangea''s core.


    *Error corrected. Proceed.*


    Kain exhaled, bracing himself as he reclaimed control. Though still spinning at a rapid pace, the fifth star was now within manageable limits.


    He carefully adjusted the rotation, gradually reducing its momentum until it settled into a steady orbit among the others. The moment the final adjustment clicked into place, a powerful wave of energy rippled through his body.


    A surge of strength, unlike anything he had felt before.


    Kain almost let out a groan as a warm rush of power spread through his limbs.


    Every fibre of his being felt stronger, more refined. His connection to his contracts also deepened, and he could feel each of them responding to his breakthrough.


    When Kain had first advanced to 4-stars, his contracts had immediately advanced to green-grade��the limit of what his strength allowed.


    However, once they reached the peak of their current grade, they were once again shackled by Kain''s limitations.


    Thankfully, all of them weren''t ready to advance and just waiting for Kain this time. Only Aegis and Bea, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from their speed of advancing, conveyed that they could probably attempt a breakthrough within the next few days.


    Meanwhile, Queen and Vauleth were still a bit away from advancing.


    Now that Kain thought about it, Bea and Aegis had been the two to experience the greatest change in the last relic he entered and mutated or acquired additional skills due to the influence of Abyssal energy.


    He exhaled and opened his eyes, expecting to meet the thrilled gazes of his comrades. But instead, he found himself surrounded by dozens of abominations.

 Chapter 536 - 536: Timely Delivery

    Outside, while Kain was meditating the others sat solemnly around him when approximately during the third hour, Kain''s form suddenly emitted a slight violet glow.


    Malzahir took an involuntary step back. "Is it supposed to do that?" S��arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena''s grip tightened on her dagger. "No."


    Then, as quickly as it appeared, the light vanished. Fortunately, perhaps due to their awareness of Kain''s ''uniqueness,'' only Malzahir and Serena had been watching him rather than the surroundings. The others missed the brief light show.


    Before Serena could contemplate the implications further, a deep, guttural tremor rolled through the cavern.


    At first, it was a faint vibration beneath their feet, barely noticeable. Then, the walls began to shudder, dust falling down from the ceiling like fine rain, pebbles rattled across the floor, and an ominous rumbling echoed from the tunnel they had entered through. The sound grew louder with each passing second.


    Zareth''s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing. "What the hell��?"


    Before he could finish, the rumbling intensified. The sound of skittering, scraping, and heavy footsteps echoed through the tunnels��growing louder. Closer.


    Serena''s gaze darted to Kain, her lips pressing into a thin line. ''Of course,'' she thought bitterly. ''It''s him.''


    Malzahir, too, seemed to reach the same conclusion. His dark eyes flicked between Kain and the cavern entrance, his fingers twitching toward the knife at his belt. But without a contract, he was useless in a fight. He backed away, pressing himself against a nearby pillar, his breath shallow.


    Then, they came.


    A tide of abominations poured into the cavern��twisted hybrids of metal and flesh, their forms grotesque, their movements unnervingly coordinated. Their glowing eyes locked onto Kain with singular focus, as if drawn by an invisible homing beacon.


    "Protect Kain!" Zareth barked, already summoning his spiritual creatures.


    The others also reacted almost instantly, their own creatures moving to intercept the approaching tide.


    The first abomination lunged.


    Zareth''s silver-metallic wolf intercepted it midair, giant jaws clamping around its torso. Unfortunately, the creature barely flinched. Its clawed hand lashed out, raking across the wolf''s flank. Before it could continue its attacks, another one of Zareth''s contracts, a giant millipede seemingly composed of dark steel, wrapped around its body to immobilize it.


    "This one''s core is a little higher up near its neck!" Lina shouted while her eyes were emitting a silver glow��likely due to some kind of gift.


    Her serpent-like contract then struck with precision. Its fangs sank into the abomination''s neck, piercing a pulsating violet node hidden beneath layers of twisted flesh. The creature convulsed, then collapsed, its body crumbling into a lifeless husk.


    Jamie''s contract, resembling a bright red bear, slammed another abomination into the wall, its massive paws crushing the core before the thing could recover and leaving no body behind as the energy-less abomination went up into flames.


    But for every abomination that fell, another took its place, their singular fixation on Kain unrelenting.


    "There''s too many!" Jamie shouted, slicing through another as it paid him no attention, focused on Kain. "This isn''t normal!"


    Malzahir watched from his hiding spot, his knuckles white around his knife. He had never felt so powerless.


    Serena''s contracts also joined the battle. Serena remained next to Kain with both her and her Starweaver focused on sending arrows aimed at the abominations'' cores as directed by Lina.


    But even she couldn''t hold them all off. One slipped past her guard, its claws outstretched toward Kain''s defenceless form��


    Aegis materialized in a burst of brown light, an earthen shield slamming into the abomination with enough force to send it flying. The golem''s eyes burned with defiance as he planted himself firmly in front of Kain.


    Barely visible threads of energy appeared next, ensnaring and attempting to control another abomination mid-leap. Although it was quite resistant, it provided enough of a pause for Serena to plunge an arrow into its core.


    Still, the horde pressed forward, their sheer numbers threatening to overwhelm even the combined efforts of the group.


    Then��


    Kain''s eyes snapped open.


    Originally filled with joy, then confusion, then an intense hunger as he looked at the approaching abominations.


    ''Just what I needed. Looks like a meal just delivered itself to my door.''


    Kain had just been lamenting due to the notification from the System that the majority of the energy he''d managed to recover had been spent on strengthening the containment on Pangea so that it wouldn''t interfere with his advancement.


    Now the opportunity for a quick refill was right here!


    The abominations��twisted, corrupted things��no longer filled him with dread. Instead, he saw them for what they were: fuel.


    He immediately released his other contracts, including the Vespid guards which immediately eased their numerical disadvantage.


    The guards, while physically unable to confront the abominations, moved around busily as a distraction and harassed them with well-aimed stingers from afar. They even managed to kill many of them, sending stingers into the cores once the locations were called out by Lina.


    The group soon fell into a rhythm of the more physical hardy contracts like Aegis or Zareth''s wolf, restraining the movements of the abominations as they still unswervingly advanced toward Kain; while others like Serena, her Starweaver, and the Vespid guards acted like an archery unit aiming at the locations Lina directed.


    Occasionally, an abomination would still manage to reach Kain though��not that he minded.


    Another abomination lunged, its grotesque arms stretching forward as it aimed for his throat.


    He didn''t dodge.


    His hand shot forward, fingers clawing into the abomination''s chest. The moment he touched it, something shifted. A sickening pull spread from his palm, and the creature''s movements faltered. Its core flickered wildly, pulsating as if resisting an unseen force��only to collapse in on itself, its energy siphoned directly into Kain.


    A shudder ran through him, but it wasn''t from pain. It was intoxicating.


    The abomination crumbled to the ground, its body hollowed out, its energy gone.


    Kain inhaled sharply. His gaze flickered to the others still advancing toward him, their grotesque forms locked onto him like moths to a flame.


    ''Good. Come to me.''


    He stepped forward, his gaze locking onto the next target. The others were too busy fighting to notice the subtle drain��especially since Kain remained behind them, out of their field of vision.


    Serena, however, saw.

 Chapter 537 - 537: A Glimpse of the Truth

    Her arrow froze mid-draw, her blue eyes widening as she watched Kain consume the abomination''s energy.


    The way its energy drained into him��the way his eyes glowed faintly violet for just an instant. The hunger in his expression. All of it sent ice through her veins.


    ''He''s doing it again.''


    She had suspected something before��how could he give up the Earth''s core fragments so easily?


    The fragments that had nearly driven him mad with hunger, that had made him look at her like she was prey rather than partner. Yet he''d handed them over without protest, as if they meant nothing. That should have been her first warning.


    But she''d pushed aside her doubts because he hadn''t touched the creatures directly in the previous battles. Now, watching him familiarly absorb the energy of these creatures, the realization struck her that maybe he didn''t need to��


    ''He gave up the core fragments... to do this instead. To continue absorbing energy right under my nose.''


    Her grip tightened on her bow. Had she been too careless? Too willing to believe his words at face value?


    "Kain!" she snapped, her voice cutting through the chaos. Her expression was far icier than normal.


    He turned, meeting her gaze. For a fraction of a second, she saw it��the hunger, the need��before it vanished behind a mask of calm.


    "Problem?" he asked, his tone deceptively light.


    She wanted to call him out. To demand answers. But the others were still fighting, still unaware of what he was doing. If she spoke now, it risked the others hearing��


    Another abomination lunged at her from the side, its weakened body already covered in bite marks.


    Kain moved faster than she could blink. His hand lashed out, seizing the creature by the throat. It writhed in his grip, its core pulsing erratically��then dimmed as its energy was ripped away. The abomination crumbled to dust between his fingers.


    Serena''s breath hitched.


    "Later," Kain murmured, his voice low enough that only she could hear. "We''ll talk later."


    Before she could respond, the cavern shuddered again��this time, with enough force to send cracks racing up the walls. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From the darkness of the tunnel, something lurched forward.


    It wasn''t like the others.


    This abomination was massive, its body a grotesque fusion of half-melted metal and pulsating flesh. Multiple cores glowed in a row along its spine, each one pulsing in time with one another.


    Its face��if it could be called that��was mostly just a gaping mouth of jagged, rusted teeth, and its limbs ended in serrated blades that scraped against the stone floor.


    Zareth''s wolf snarled, but even it took a step back.


    "Fall back!" Zareth ordered, his voice strained. "Regroup!"


    The abomination paid no attention to the retreating humans and spiritual creatures, its foocus was singularly on Kain.


    And then it spoke.


    A garbled, metallic voice, like rusted gears grinding together:


    "Ssssource��invaderrr��"


    After that brief statement seemingly filled with hatred, it lunged at him with a speed that Kain and the others'' eyes could barely follow.


    The abomination lunged, its bladed limbs carving through the air. Aegis intercepted it, his shield raised��but the force of the impact sent him skidding back, cracks spiderwebbing across his surface.


    While Kain dodged, he brushed his hand against its leg��hoping that the physical contact would trigger that new ability to absorb the Source energy in its cores without killing it.


    Unfortunately, he came up empty.


    The abomination shrieked, one of its cores flickering briefly before returning to normal, but it didn''t stop. Its blade-like arm slashed downward, aiming to cleave Kain in two.


    Serena''s arrow struck its wrist, the force just enough to deflect the blow. The blade embedded itself in the stone beside Kain''s head.


    The near-miss sent a spray of stone shards flying, one cutting a thin line across Kain''s cheek. He barely felt it��the adrenaline, the hunger, they drowned out everything else.


    Seeing his predicament, his allies tried their best to help him. Unfortunately, the attacks coming from the numerous more normal abominations did not stop with the arrival of this one��if anything it grew stronger.


    The surrounding battles still raged despite Kain and his contracts dealing with the most difficult one. And all of the other creatures were still trying to make their way towards him from under the blocking of his allies��suddenly his pressure had increased at least 10 times over. Thankfully, he had allies to watch his blindspots.


    Serena released her arrow, piercing another abomination''s core just as a giant millipede smashed one into the cavern wall. Another of Zareth''s metallic contracts lunged, tearing through another''s throat, while Jamie''s bear crushed a foe beneath its massive paws.


    On Kain''s side, his contracts, particularly the Vespids, had managed to penetrate all of the exposed cores along its back��but it was still very much alive and kicking.


    Unlike the singular cores of the other��this one clearly had several externally and likely internally as well.


    "Lina!" Kain barked. "Where''s the next core?!"


    Her silver eyes flickered. "There''s 2. Left side near its arm and in the center of its head."


    Capitalizing on that information, Aegis manipulated the stone floor to temporarily seal its movements��with minimal success. The gap in raw power between the two was quite large.


    Thankfully, this second delay was enough for Serena, who had heard Lina''s words, to launch another arrow into its left armpit.


    Roar


    An otherworldly scream of what Kain assumed to be pain (if it could even feel pain) rang throughout the cavern, shaking the walls, before it lunged even more aggressively at Kain.


    But this time, a massive dragon''s claw appeared from its blind spot and hit its head.


    Vauleth was unable to penetrate the tough skull but concentrated follow-up attacks from the nearby contracts of his allies, finally put the massive thing down.


    With the toughest one out of the way, before long the rest of the battle was over.


    And Kain had gotten exactly what he wanted.


    *System Update: Source energy reserves at 37%. Partial functions restored.*


    He exhaled, rolling his shoulders.


    Good enough.


    For now.

 Chapter 538 - 538: The Art of Deception

    Across the cavern, Zareth wiped the sweat from his brow, his sharp gaze flicking toward Kain. The others were already tending to their wounded contracts, using whatever healing abilities they had to stabilize them. But there was something unspoken hanging in the air.


    Zareth was the first to say it.


    "They were drawn to you."


    Kain tilted his head slightly, his expression neutral and feigning innocence. "What do you mean?"


    Zareth gestured to the battlefield. "We aren''t horribly injured because they pretty much ignored us as much as they could. Every single one of them was trying to reach you, no matter the cost. That''s not normal."


    Jamie, who was pouring some kind of unknown liquid on his bear''s injurred leg, frowned. "He''s right. It was like you were a beacon or something."


    Lina also looked up from where one of her contracts was healing her leg. "It wasn''t just their focus... It felt like they needed to reach you."


    The relatively always silent Pete, the remaining member of Zareth''s initial group of 4, even chimed in. His perpetually droopy eyes gazed at Kain in confusion. "Why?"


    Kain met their gazes evenly. Then, with a carefully measured sigh, he ran a hand through his hair.


    "I have a theory," he began, his voice calm and composed. "In my previous mission, both my contracts and I came into contact with Abyssal energy. It was during that mission that my contract, Aegis, developed the ability to expel abyssal energy��an ability that was likely the reason I was included in this important mission. However, even if Aegis expelled any energy in myself or other contracts, it''s possible that some kind of residual presence remains. Maybe these things could sense it. Maybe to them, I''m like an intruder on their territory, something that doesn''t belong."


    ''The best lies are mixed in with a bit of truth��'' Aegis did awaken the ability to purify Abyssal energy in his last mission��a skill that all of his previous teammates saw and reported to the Order. However, Kain himself had never been contaminated with any Abyssal energy��atleast to the best of his knowledge.


    Jamie''s brow furrowed. "That''s... not a bad explanation. Since these things were likely created to fight the Abyss, maybe they were reacting to that."


    Kain shrugged. "It''s just a possibility. But given how they acted, it''s the only thing that makes sense to me."


    Serena barely resisted the urge to scowl while rolling her eyes. He was lying.


    She had spent enough time around Kain to recognize when he was being deliberately misleading. The way his fingers twitched slightly, the way his gaze flickered to her for half a second before returning to Zareth��tiny tells, but ones she''d learned to recognize after all this time.


    Not to mention, his tone was too steady, his delivery too practiced. He wasn''t even trying to work through the logic of it��he had prepared this answer in advance. He had expected this question.


    But the others didn''t know him like she did. Jamie, Lina and Pete didn''t seem to have any doubts. Or if they did they covered it up very well.


    Kain continued, his voice measured. "Regardless, if that''s the case, we''ll need to account for it moving forward. If these things are naturally attracted to me, then we should assume future encounters will play out the same way."


    Zareth didn''t look entirely convinced, but after a moment, he exhaled and shook his head. "You''re right. We need to be more careful, then. If these things are going to be drawn to you, we can''t afford to get caught off guard."


    Jamie grunted in agreement. "Next time, we should set up defensive barriers first. Several of our contracts can set up mobile ones as we move. It''ll slow down our progress and be draining for them, but safety will improve "


    Kain nodded looking very please...with what exactly , Serena couldn''t quite tell. "That would be smart."


    Serena didn''t say anything.


    She glanced at him one last time, watching as he helped Aegis repair the damage to his form. The others were settling down, tending to their wounds, their fatigue catching up with them.


    For the first time since she had started watching him, she realized how little she actually understood Kain.


    The others would brush this off, believe his explanation, and move on.


    She wouldn''t.


    Not this time. Not when she knew the next one being drained might be herself rather than those creatures.


    -----------------------


    Later.


    The cavern had quieted. The others slept, their breathing steady, their contracts curled protectively around them. Only the faint glow of dying embers lit the space.


    Serena waited until she was certain no one would wake. Then she moved.


    Kain sat against the far wall, his back to the stone, his eyes closed. But she knew he wasn''t asleep.


    Using both the Starweaver and Balens to set up soundproof barriers as added insurance, Serena began their much needed conversation.


    "You''re lying to them," she said, her voice low and sharp.


    His eyes opened. There was no surprise in them. Just a quiet resignation.


    He didn''t deny it.


    Silence stretched between them. Then��


    "I know you saw what happened when I lost control before," he said finally. "The hunger and the way I looked at you probably scared you." His fingers flexed, as if remembering the sensation. "I know that this ability freaks you out, but I can control it��"


    "Bullshit!" Serena exclaimed. "You expect me to believe, all of a sudden, that you can just control it like that?" Serena snapped her fingers to accentuate her point.


    After a deep breath, she continued, "If they find out��"


    "They won''t." His gaze locked onto hers. "Because you''re not going to tell them." sea??h th�� nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She stiffened.


    He wasn''t threatening her. He wasn''t even pleading. He was stating a fact.


    And that was what infuriated her most.


    "You don''t know that," she hissed.


    "I do." He leaned forward slightly, the firelight casting shadows across his face. "Because if you were going to, you would''ve done it already."


    Her fingers clenched around her dagger, ready to stab him.


    Kain didn''t flinch. "I''m not your enemy, Serena."


    "Then stop acting like one."


    Another silence.


    Then, abruptly, she turned away.

 Chapter 539 - 539:

    Time passed, but due to the lack of a sun or moon underground to measure its passing, it was not measured in days but in battles.


    ''Abomination number 53��no, actually, this may be 54 now��''


    Even Kain, who had been enthusiastically mowing through them, was feeling it wearing him down��much less the others who didn''t receive any benefits while fighting.


    However, regardless of their exhaustion they kept moving forward��not that their attackers would let them rest for too long anyways.


    Not to mention, despite approaching what they assumed to be the center of the underground ruins, the conditions of the tunnels and caverns worsened.


    The deeper they ventured into the underground ruins, the more the path twisted and narrowed, pushing them through cracked stone tunnels and over half-collapsed, trembling bridges that dropped into seemingly bottomless abysses.


    But, having faith that the symbol at the center of the map was truly the location of the relic core, they didn''t turn back��no matter how skeptical some of them were beginning to get.


    But in this bleak atmosphere, there were some bright spots.


    After the last update that some System functions were restored, Kain had enthusiastically called upon the System while the others were sleeping, only to be notified that the only function restored at the time was the Shop��


    The Shop that only displayed a limited number of objects and rarely had something he felt was necessary. But at least it was something��


    Secondly, no longer shackled by Kain''s lower-level, Bea was ready to advance again. Unfortunately, while Kain no longer held her back, her current evolutionary form did:


    ---------


    Species: Apex Mindshard Amoeba


    ��


    Quality: Platinum


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    ��


    ---------


    And without the Simulator provided by the System, Kain didn''t dare risk having her evolve blindly. The best-case scenario would be a powerful form he achieved by sheer luck��which was extremely unlikely.


    Another, more likely, possibility would be that the evolution failed��which honestly wouldn''t be too bad except for some temporary sequelae and the wasted materials.


    But the absolute worst-case scenario would be Bea evolving into a significantly weaker form. And given Kain''s luck recently, this was entirely possible.


    But today may actually change all of that. After killing 53 (or 54?) of the abominations, and admittedly absorbing energy from certain objects when he felt as though Serena wasn''t looking, the System finally had enough energy to unlock a second function.


    As if answering all of Kain''s prayers, Kain finally had access to the Laboratory again, which he quickly went to enthusiastically.


    Due to the System''s fusion with Pangea, the locations of the System''s functions were no longer so abstract��as the System brief alluded to, they would all likely appear now as physical spaces that exist on Pangea.


    That night Kain closed his eyes and entered Pangea��or, more specifically, the representation of the System on the planet.


    The transition was seamless, as if he were simply blinking between realities.


    Kain''s consciousness materialized at the base of a towering mountain that had erupted from Pangea''s surface not long after the System''s fusion.


    Before him, the mountain rose impossibly high, its upper reaches shrouded in swirling white clouds that glowed faintly with an inner light. Sear?h the N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The path upward was paved with smooth, iridescent stone that shimmered between jade green and sapphire blue depending on the angle of view��a fusion of Eastern celadon glaze and European stained-glass artistry.


    Thud


    "Oooowwaahh!" Kain looked to the side to see what appeared to be a baby tiger-like spiritual creature, that didn''t even reach his knees, slam headfirst into an invisible barrier surrounding the mountain.


    When this massive glowing mountain resembling a holy land suddenly appeared on Pangea, naturally it had been an object of intense curiosity.


    Everything from the weakest rodent-like creature to Aurem had visited it and attempted to enter��unsuccessfully.


    Nobody but Kain was able to enter without his permission.


    Eventually, all of the creatures got used to and ignored the mountain, but the odd young one would still try to approach and be knocked away��like now.


    Smiling slightly, Kain walked past the disgruntled cub that couldn''t see him to the beginning of the path, and began his march upward.


    As Kain ascended, the steps subtly reshaped themselves underfoot, forming intricate reliefs of coiled dragons, mythical figures, shining constellations and more��blending images from various cultures.


    At the mountain''s first plateau stood the Shop. Before, when the System was still separate, its Shop had been a sterile, holographic interface. Functional. Cold. Efficient.


    But now, it was no longer a flat computer-like interface but a physical structure that took Kain''s breath away the first time he saw it.


    The Shop pavilion had sweeping, upturned eaves��reminiscent of a Song dynasty building��were gilded with veins of a magical metal that pulsed like living amber. Yet the columns supporting the ceiling were more close to the Greco-Roman style, their surfaces etched with thousands of glowing constellations.


    When Kain had first entered the building, there had been a single polished wooden table at the center of the intricate room. Upon it rested that week''s offerings for sale. Each item was real now. Tangible. Not just a name and string of stats.


    No longer merely flat 2D images. Now they were tangible artifacts that Kain could pick up and test out, but not leave the building with unless purchased.


    The only thing to break the sense of immersion was the blue holographic text that hovered faintly in the air above each object, offering succinct descriptions and their prices.


    But now, eager to see the new location and appearance of the System Laboratory, Kain did not enter it again, he continued on his journey upward.


    Eventually, Kain reached the peak of the mountain, with no other buildings appearing along the way.


    The Laboratory, as Kain''s most used function of the System, was given the honor of resting at the peak of the mountain.


    At the very center of the peak, where once there had been only mist, a new structure now dominated the skyline.


    It loomed like a temple dedicated to a god, and had an almost overwhelming grandeur.


    Its wide entrance was framed by pillars of white-gold stone etched with constellations that shimmered and shifted faintly. Massive, arched windows were scattered along the outer walls, shaped like lotus flowers and stained with vibrant colors that changed in the lighting.


    The domed roof at the center gleamed and reflected the sky, covered in dark silver tiles that almost resembled dragon scales.


    The buildings white walls ended in curved eaves as well, keeping to a similar architectural theme as the Shop.


    Hanging gardens floated around the building on platforms of translucent crystal that floated in the sky, each one glowing faintly with a violet energy. A large, intricate bronze door stood closed at the main entrance, carved with patterns that seemed to shift by the second��one moment a calm nature scene, the next an epic battle.


    The Laboratory had been remade into something that could rival the Empire''s royal palace in grandeur and uniqueness.


    The architecture was impossible to define��part eastern pagoda, part western cathedral, wholly alien.

 Chapter 540 - 540: A New Form

    The massive bronze doors to the Laboratory opened without a sound, as if the building was welcoming its master home.


    Inside, Kain stepped into a vast circular foyer��eerily silent, yet not empty. The air hummed with energy, each breath filled with the cool, sterile scent of filtered mana.


    The ceiling arched impossibly high above, made of a metal of glass that wasn''t glass��something translucent and semi-luminous that allowed the sky to be viewed from within.


    The floor was smooth white stone, reminiscent of marble but warmer to the touch, and had seemingly natural thin silver lines in the ''marble'' that upon closer inspection appeared to form figures resembling sigils and geometric arrays beneath his feet.


    The foyer itself was minimalist compared to the grand exterior, but it was cohesive in the architectural style. Instead of feeling cold and clinical, it felt sacred, like the threshold to something ancient and divine.


    Three hallways branched from the foyer, each equally ornate��arched frames, flickering mana lanterns hanging at intervals, and walls that seemed to pulse faintly with life.


    Unfortunately, Kain had no idea where any of them led.


    "...System?" he asked dryly, folding his arms. "Little help here?"


    A beat passed, and when Kain almost thought the System was just ignoring him, a ding sounded.


    Above each hallway, bright blue holographic letters blinked into view��utterly modern and completely out of place, like a giant LED sign inside a grand temple. Completely shattering the aesthetics of the space.


    Kain stared.


    The hallway to his left read:


    [Storage Hall]


    The hallway to the center read:


    [Laboratory]


    And the final hallway, to the right read:


    [The Cradle (Currently locked)]


    Kain''s eyes lingered on the third option. The Cradle? That was new.


    The Storage Hall Kain could easily assume was where all of the objects he''d been storing in the Laboratory were kept.


    The Laboratory was quite obviously��the Laboratory. And all of the experimental equipment, including the Simulator, would be there.


    But ''the Cradle''��Kain had no idea what that was. Perhaps it was a new function that would have become available if the System upgrade had proceeded as normal?


    Unfortunately, it was currently locked, otherwise, Kain would have been tempted to venture into it.


    But not today.


    Kain walked forward, stepping into the hallway labelled Laboratory, his mind already shifting into work mode.


    He had a mission.


    Bea needed a new evolutionary form.


    The walls became sleeker the deeper he walked, panels of soft, pulsing white and gunmetal gray woven into the more traditional architecture of the building. Every step forward was like crossing from a palace into a starship��and yet, the transition never felt jarring.


    Then, the hallway opened up.


    Kain entered the Laboratory proper.


    It was not quite like the sterile white cube of before.


    The new lab was a seamless blend of the cold efficiency he remembered and the transcendent architecture of the rest of the building.


    The domed ceiling soared overhead, its surface a mural of geometric figures that looked like a fusion between star maps and genetic sequences.


    Instead of sterile metal counters and machines, the tables were now a rich dark wood that gave off energy, while the machines maintained their original appearances but had slight adjustments to add an antique feeling. Crystal terminals hovered just above the tables or near the machines, ready to display data or launch simulations. Glowing glass tubes��both vertical and horizontal��lined the walls, containing various specimens, mostly microbes, he''d collected over time and kept in the System-provided incubator.


    A low chime sounded as Kain walked across the lab, triggering an automated system.


    [Welcome back, Master.]


    [Laboratory functions are fully restored]


    Kain looked to the right to see a familiar, yet unfamiliar, figure��VERA, his Versatile Experimental Research Assistant ��floating toward him.


    Her core silhouette was still reminiscent of the sleek, egg-shaped design from before��rounded body, smooth glossy surface, arms that hovered slightly apart from her form��but she had changed.


    Where once VERA had been stark white and minimal, her new form shimmered with a pearlescent silver that shifted gently with the ambient light, like moonlight catching the surface of still water. Thin, circuit-like lines traced across her metal shell in intricate patterns, softly glowing with pale gold.


    Her originally plain circle eyes, now glowed and shifted between various colours and were a lot more expressive, capable of squinting, smiling, rolling, and more.


    "VERA," Kain greeted, tilting his head. "New look?"


    [I have adapted to better align with the Laboratory''s current aesthetic,] she replied in her usual calm, polished tone. Then, her tone shifted slightly��less robotic, more conversational. [I took the liberty of integrating local artistic motifs with my chassis design. User feedback suggested the prior version was described as ''sterile.'']


    "That was one time," Kain muttered. "I also said you looked like a cartoon I knew. Why do you only hear the negative? I didn''t think you''d take it that personally."


    [I do not possess the capacity for offense,] VERA responded primly. [But I do possess memory logs.]


    Kain sighed and gestured to the room. "Looks like everything''s up and running again."


    [Affirmative. Evolutionary simulators, trait editors, and other equipment��all primary and secondary functions are online. I have also updated all experimental logs, including flagged anomalies you placed on standby during the System outage.]


    VERA floated beside him, projecting a small screen in front of them. On it appeared Bea''s current form: the Apex Mindshard Amoeba.


    [It is sensed that Master''s current spiritual contract, nicknamed ''Bea,'' has reached its current genetic ceiling and is no longer able to progress," VERA stated. "Am I correct in assuming bypassing its genetic limitations is the current goal of this laboratory visit?]


    "Yeah," Kain said, eyes narrowing. "Start by pulling up all evolutionary base materials I currently have or have ever had access to and that, according to your calculations, would fit Bea."


    [Initializing parameters. This may take several minutes,] VERA said, and the projection of Bea on the screen next to the Simulator expanded, forming a three-dimensional model of Bea in the air, slowly rotating. Tendrils of light spun outward from the artificial projection of Bea like a web, each line representing a possible path. Most ended in grey dead ends. Some pulsed green��viable. And many more glowed red��dangerous.


    With each passing second the majority of these ''paths'' were being analyzed and removed by Vera until a small number of green lines connected to Bea remained. S��ar?h the N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Excellent. Let''s see what Bea''s next form will be��"

 Chapter 541 - 541: Sudden Wealth and Poverty

    Naturally, VERA''s calculations couldn''t give Kain the final evolutionary forms of Bea��Kain would need to use the Simulator and spend what little Source Points he had to activate each run.


    However, VERA was able to run her own mental calculations to come up with evolutionary formulas that would be the most likely to work��which is what she was showing Kain now.


    Unfortunately, she could not accurately predict the final form, otherwise, Kain would have a way to get a downgraded simulation for free in a sense.


    There were 55 evolutionary base materials VERA identified as resulting in a positive evolutionary result��one that would get Bea to diamond grade.


    ''No way�� why are there so many? There is no way that I have come into contact with that many high-level evolutionary materials of the mental attribute.''


    Kain expressed his confusion to VERA, who paused in thought, seeming to be processing his question.


    [My calculations have determined that Master does have access to 2437 evolutionary base materials of attributes suitable for the ''Bea.'' Only 55 of which will result in a positive outcome.]


    "Where?! If I have such a ridiculous amount of resources, shouldn''t I know?!"


    [Processing request��Locations of objects will be displayed momentarily.] VERA said as its eyes began flashing frantically while completing the task.


    [Locating complete. 3 of the 55 materials are in the Storage Hall, 1 is in the Master''s space ring, and the remaining 51 are at these locations:]


    Suddenly a 3D map of the planet of Pangea appeared with 51 lit points marking various objects. Some of the lit points appeared to be on land, some underground, others under water, and some were even moving.


    Kain instinctively leaned forward, eyes narrowing. There were places on the map he hadn''t even explored yet, some tucked into corners of Pangea formed only recently.


    It was only at this moment that Kain fully understood the full extent of the treasure trove he was sitting on.


    Indeed, now that Pangea had improved greatly, the quality of the materials produced by the planet has bloomed exponentially��to the point now where even his own contracts could use them to evolve.


    But looking at the numerous spots of light, while his heart was filled with elation, it was also filled with exhaustion at having to filter through 55 evolutionary forms��maybe even more if he combined materials. sea??h th�� N??eFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is there any way you could cut down the number of materials to the absolute best?" Kain looked at VERA hopefully.


    [Processing request��request completed]


    The map in front of Kain briefly disappeared before reappearing again��the exact same!


    "What''s the difference?!"


    [A single material was sensed to be damaged and removed. Now only 50 are being displayed.]


    "��"


    Finally, a flash of insight struck Kain. "Also, remove any that have redundant functions or would likely lead to the same evolutionary form! Just show the better or easier to find one."


    VERA''s eyes once again flashed frantically for several more minutes before a new simpler map appeared before Kain��with still 27 points of light.


    "Sigh��It''s still quite a lot but still an improvement I guess." With a thought, Kain focused on a point of light and willed his body there.


    He appeared in a clearing not far from Aurem''s territory where a giant rhinoceros was slumbering��likely one of Aurem''s new underlings.


    Kain''s eyes instantly fixed on its glowing massive horn and sensed that this was likely one of the objects. However, he decided against killing it when he may not need its horn anyways and moved onto the next location.


    Kain blinked out of existence near the rhinoceros and reappeared atop a jagged cliffside where a pool of liquid moonlight shimmered between the rocks. The silver fluid strangely hummed with mental energy, its surface rippling with various unfamiliar phantom images��memories from those creatures unfortunate enough to fall into it.


    "Interesting." Kain had never heard of anything similar on Earth, and even if Bea didn''t use it, he was curious about its abilities. He scooped quite a bit of it into a crystal vial that materialized in his hand.


    His next stop was a cavern deep beneath Pangea''s eastern ocean, where bioluminescent fungi clung to the walls in pulsating constellations. At the center grew a single black orchid, its petals threaded with veins of gold.


    The moment Kain touched it, a wave of drowsy contentment washed over him. He harvested it carefully, making sure its roots remained intact before storing it carefully.


    The next destination took Kain to the base of a cliffside crater, where a pulsing violet crystal jutted out from between the fractured rocks.


    It looked almost like a cluster of amethyst spears, except each shard seemed to hum softly with a tone that made Kain''s temples ache slightly the longer he remained.


    He reached out to touch it, but the stone was anchored deep within the cliff and couldn''t be extracted without damage.


    "Tch. Not getting this one either��" he muttered, stepping back. Still, he kept his eyes on it for several seconds longer, letting the sight burn into his memory. That was all he needed for now to run the simulations.


    Unfortunately, despite VERA''s ability to sense suitable objects on Pangea and the fusion between the System and Pangea, the limitation of needing to personally see the objects remained. So after travelling to every location and taking what he could, he returned to the Laboratory.


    In total, he was able to bring back 16, plus the 4 he already had in possession.


    He set the objects down on a rich dark-wood table near the Simulator in neat rows, and then walked toward the Simulator and placed his palm on the central crystal interface. It hummed to life. A warm pulse traveled up his arm and into his core, almost like it was resonating with any remnant Source energy inside of him. A feeling he''d never received when the System used GP.


    [Available Source Points: 8]


    [Each evolutionary simulation requires 1 SP. Confirm usage?]


    "Ugh!"


    Due to the success of his current career, it had been a long time since Kain had felt so poor.

 Chapter 542 - 542: Gamble

    Kain stood in front of the Simulator, the crystal interface still glowing faintly beneath his palm. The warmth had faded, replaced by a cool steadiness��as if the machine itself were waiting for him to make a choice.


    He didn''t make it yet.


    Instead, he turned away and looked back at the neatly arranged materials on the dark-wood table. Twenty objects lay there. Sixteen recovered from Pangea. Four more from his own collection. Yet, even with VERA''s data and analysis, the options were overwhelming.


    He only had enough points for eight simulations.


    Thankfully, SP seemed to be far more potent than GP��just 1 SP could power a full evolutionary simulation, where 100 GP had once been required for a single run.


    However, SP was also far, far harder to collect. Kain had killed dozens of abominations, and absorbed Source energy from several objects�� but he still had only eight SP. Only eight!


    Most of the Source Points were being siphoned away by the System to continue repairing itself. It was hard not to feel discouraged.


    Given the small amount of SP, each combination of objects had to be meticulously analyzed before he committed.


    Fortunately, he had access to a greater depth of information than VERA as the ''master'' of Pangea.


    One by one, he delved into the objects, and after going back and forth for what felt like hours, seven objects remained. Five of which he had in his possession:


    The silver liquid resembling moonlight, occasionally showing unfamiliar images and memories.


    A black orchid exuding soft mental static, soothing and dangerous in its potency.


    A strange colorless moss, nearly transparent, that was able to absorb thoughts like water. When Kain wrung out the ''wet'' moss like a rag, muffled voices he recognized as his own thoughts could even be heard!


    A pink-orange coral retrieved from the ocean depths, humming with an energy that made it difficult to think.


    A gnarled root that pulsed like a slow hypnotizing heartbeat, capable of taking control of ones body if they gazed too long at it.


    Plus the two objects Kain hadn''t yet been able to bring back:


    The amethyst crystal lodged untouched in the cliff Kain had been unable to excavate.


    And finally�� the rhinoceros horn, still very much attached to the head of its owner. At least for now, unless Kain decided he needed it.


    -----------------------


    Thousands of miles away��


    "Huh?"


    A deep grunt left the slumbering rhino as it shot awake, a chill racing down its thick spine. Its massive horn flickered faintly, glowing with a white pulse of warning.


    The beast blinked its small eyes blearily, ears twitching as it scanned the surroundings. Nothing. No predators, no ominous weather. Just sun, wind, and grass.


    But the feeling lingered.


    Something... or someone... had stared at him. Hard. With the same sort of gaze herbivores feel right before a pack of wolves shows up. Except this felt even more dangerous.


    The rhino snorted anxiously. Nope.


    Not taking chances.


    With a sudden urgency, he galloped across the plain and crashed his way toward the mountain where his "Boss" resided. That overgrown lizard scared the dung out of him most days��but his new Boss was the strongest creature he''d ever seen. And if someone was plotting against him, they''d have to go through his Boss first.


    ''Maybe if I show up looking extra eager today, I''ll even get promoted!'' he thought, puffing his chest out proudly.


    ''Boss Scary Scales respected ambition... probably''


    -------------------------


    Back in the Laboratory��


    Unaware that his brief covetous thoughts had kickstarted the rhino''s career development arc, Kain focused on the four objects not from Pangea.


    They couldn''t be analyzed through his bond with the planet, and even VERA''s scans had limited insights. However, the three items kept in the Storage Hall had been at least loosely appraised in the past.


    He picked them up one by one.


    The first was a chunk of Calcified Thoughtstone��said to amplify memory retention. He had bought it to help with studying the additional knowledge from the Pathfinders and his second-year college courses. Useful, but Bea didn''t really need it.


    The second, a silver feather from a being that once preyed on dream-beasts. It was potent in theory, but also volatile. Kain saw little benefit in giving Bea something that might cause unpredictable and unstable hallucinations.


    The third was a sphere of hardened starlight stone. It absorbed any mental or spiritual power that tried to examine it. It possessed both star and mental attributes, but it would probably aid in Bea''s concealment abilities rather than combat ones. He ruled it out too.


    That left one. The object he''d obtained from this relic��the one object he knew absolutely nothing about.


    A fist-sized stone. Smooth, matte black. Irregular edges, as though it had broken off from something greater. Just beneath its surface, faint silver threads shimmered and wove like spider silk trapped in amber.


    Kain stared at it.


    There was no feedback from it. No spikes in energy. No hum of resonance.


    But as his hand hovered above it, a strange sensation coiled in his gut.


    It was a pull. Gentle. Almost like someone nudging him from behind.


    He brushed his fingertips over it.


    The moment he touched it, he felt a flicker��not in himself, but through the thread of connection to Bea. The amoeba-like contract stirred, ever so slightly, as if aware. Interested.


    "��You feel that too, huh?" Kain murmured.


    VERA''s voice rang out beside him, crisp and clinical.


    [Unknown relic remains unclassified. No known evolutionary branches or information about evolutionary effects can be determined.]


    [Recommendation given the limited number of trials: Do not waste a simulation.]


    He ignored it.


    Kain placed the dark stone at the front of the chosen materials. It was rare, but spiritual creatures could sense evolutionary materials very beneficial to themselves. So although he didn''t know its purpose, he was willing to take the gamble.


    Eight trials.


    Eight known candidates��many of which he may want to try in combination with one another.


    He moved back to the Simulator and laid a palm on the crystal.


    "Alright�� let''s start with the gamble."


    [Simulation Request Detected. 1 SP will be consumed.]


    Kain exhaled slowly.


    "Confirm."


    The Simulator lit up��soft at first, then blindingly.


    S��ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 543 - 543: System Rating

    Bea''s current System profile was as follows:


    ---------------------


    Species: Apex Mindshard Amoeba


    "An advanced form��


    ��"


    Quality: Platinum


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    SS-Mindshard Manipulation: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba can fragment a target''s mind into separate cognitive shards, each containing different memories and aspects of their identity. It can then permanently manipulate, erase, or reassemble these shards to alter the victim''s perception of its present and past reality or to temporarily completely control their actions. Erasure of all mind shards will lead to death. Erasures and manipulations of mind shards are only possible for targets up to one grade higher.


    SS-Threaded Dominion: By utilizing mental-attribute threads, the Apex Mindshard Amoeba can send splits of itself that can exert up to 90% of the original bodies'' strength to numerous targets over vast distances. Skills performed by splits can only affect those equal to or lower in level than the Mindshard Amoeba.


    SS-Abyssal Subjugation (New): The Apex Mindshard Amoeba can bypass the mental defenses of Abyssals and corrupted creatures, dulling their connection to the "Great Mother" and redirecting their allegiance to itself. This skill is only effective on Abyssals of equal or lower level.


    S-Mental Veil: This advanced protection mechanism allows the Apex Mindshard Weaver to hide its presence from entities with spiritual power up to two grades higher, while simultaneously maintaining control over its puppets, ensuring minimal interference.


    S-Contagion of Will (New): The Apex Mindshard Amoeba''s splits can now divide and spread like a mental virus, infecting the minds of nearby targets after repeated contact with a creature already possessing one of the splits. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A-Mental Nexus: This ability establishes a powerful network of shared consciousness among all connected targets, allowing the Apex Mindshard Weaver to communicate and coordinate strategies instantaneously.


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Apex Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power. There is a very small chance of Bea developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.


    A-Mind Chorus: This skill bombards the target''s mind with a chaotic symphony of phantom voices, disrupting their concentration and decision-making. The mental assault causes confusion and paranoia, rendering the target''s thoughts fragmented and actions clumsy for a short duration. It is extremely effective on spiritual creatures up to one grade higher, and its effectiveness decreases the larger the level gap.


    B-Psychic Assimilation: By consuming extracted memories, the Dominion of Oblivion Amoeba enhances its spiritual power and cognitive abilities.


    -----------------


    Currently, the amoeba produces splits of herself that possess the ability to control the bodies of people they infect. These splits could not originally divide and continue the spread on their own, but after making a breakthrough during one of Kain''s previous missions and realizing the skill ''Contagion of Will,'' Bea''s capabilities to spread now more closely resemble the horrifying diseases witnessed in his past life.


    However, a shortcoming that Bea possessed that Kain hoped to improve upon in this evolution would be her limited methods of discretely infecting others.


    Since Bea was unable to walk herself, Kain had initially given her mental attribute threads to deliver her splits to targets and improve her mobility. However, this method is still not perfect.


    The threads, while less noticeable in chaotic environments or when targeting weaker individuals, are quite noticeable to creatures stronger than Bea.


    Therefore, Kain had three goals for this next form:


    Firstly, to continue strengthening her abilities to control the mind and read memories.


    Secondly, to maintain and even strengthen this ''virus-like'' ability for her splits to spread from one host to another with prolonged contact.


    And lastly, to improve upon her current mode of delivery to new hosts.


    Unfortunately, Kain was unsure if this first Simulation using the mysterious object from the relic would result in all of these benefits.


    Gradually, the bright light meant to mimic the light of evolution faded, and Kain saw the new potential form that Bea may take on using only the unknown object.


    The new appearance still resembled a translucent amoeba but now had silver vein-like latticework branching in patterns like frost on glass and resembled the silver veins present in the black stone.


    -------------


    Species: Pale Sovereign Amoeba


    Quality: Diamond


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental, Abyssal


    A unique mental-abyssal attribute organism born from the fusion of deep cognitive manipulation and invasive abyssal corruption. Its signature ability lies in the formation of a Pale Thought Field��an omnipresent mental field surrounding it in which its influence and infection can spread autonomously.


    Though still retaining its core identity as a mental manipulator, its methods are more refined, more insidious. The Pale Sovereign does not dominate with force��it corrodes certainty, identity, and allegiance from within. Hosts often don''t realize they''ve been compromised until it''s far too late.


    Skills:


    X-Pale Thought Field: Pale Sovereign emits a passive mental-aberration field. All creatures within range are susceptible to silent infection by microscopic splits (or echoes), which anchor themselves in the host''s subconscious. Each echo can also generate its own weaker field, allowing for host-to-host spread with prolonged exposure. Effective in creatures up to one grade higher.


    SSS-Abyssal Inversion: This skill warps the spiritual signature of nearby Abyssal creatures, twisting their allegiance from the "Great Mother" toward Bea. Affected beings begin to perceive the Sovereign as a higher authority. The inversion grows stronger the longer the creature remains within her field. It is particularly effective on fractured or unstable minds. Effective in creatures equal to or lesser in strength.


    SS �C The Colourless Archive: Retains the original Mindshard abilities but now stores extracted cognitive shards in a long-term memory archive. These archives allow Bea to replicate personalities, mimic behaviors, or rerun experiences across hosts, creating perfect impostors for infiltration or espionage. There is a very small chance of developing new skills based off of the archived memories.


    SS �C Echo Bloom: Instead of producing standard splits, the Sovereign can create "Echoes"��reflections of herself that drift invisibly, only becoming active upon contact with a sentient mind. Each Echo acts as an autonomous beacon and sleeper agent.


    SS �C Pale Fog: Generates a psionic haze that dulls resistance and skepticism. Inside this field, ideas and commands from the Pale Sovereign are accepted more readily��even by those not fully under control. The effects scale with proximity and time exposed. Effective in creatures up to one grade higher.


    S �C Phantom Directive: The Sovereign can implant delayed-action mental commands into infected targets. These instructions trigger based on environmental cues or emotional states, allowing precise manipulation across vast distances and time that would be undetectable upon exploration by even violet-grade spiritual creatures. Psychological hints can only be placed in creatures equal to or weaker in strength.


    System Rating: ������ (4.5-stars)

 Chapter 544 - 544: Evolution Decided

    "What''s with the ''System Rating''? You never used to provide that before. What exactly does it even mean? Is this form strong?" Kain asked VERA in confusion.


    [This was a new system function provided after the update to better assist Master in choosing the ideal evolutionary form. However, it does not necessarily reflect the combat abilities of the form after evolution. As Master will later discover, future improvements in quality or strength will not be based on straightforward evolutions but a realization of a Domain. The System Rating is a reflection of the maximum potential the Domain this species may realize��whether it can live up to its full potential will be up to itself and Master.]


    "Domain��" Kain thought in puzzlement, he''d heard briefly about this topic before. He also knew that realization of this ''domain'' was the key to upgrading from a mid-level blue-grade spiritual creature to a high-level indigo-grade spiritual creature. He also knew that it was probably the greatest hurdle that stopped many geniuses.


    Even the Order, practically an incubator for the greatest young talents in the Empire, typically would have its members stalled an average of 7 years at blue-grade before having a contract able to advance to indigo-grade.


    Many may not ever have a spiritual creature make that leap.


    However, such topics had always felt too far away from him, and were naturally not included in the College curriculum until the senior year, so he knew very little about the specifics.


    "Is a rating of 4.5-stars good?"


    [The maximum number of stars is 5. A rating of 4.5-stars is close to the highest provided by the System. This represents the possibility of Bea realizing a top Domain if she were to evolve into this form. However, the likelihood of realizing this Domain, while possible, is extremely slim. More often than not, creatures with high potential will still realize an average Domain]


    "Top Domain��average Domain��" Kain vowed to do far more extensive research on domains once he went back, only vaguely understanding what was meant by what VERA said.


    "Maybe I can ask Zareth, the only remaining 7-star member of our team, for more info later��but that''s not the most important task now. Even if the rating is 4.5-stars, I may get something better or it may not necessarily be the most suitable form for Bea. Time to test the others��"


    ------------


    Kain quickly used up all of his remaining simulations.


    After testing a couple of the other objects alone and receiving only 2-3 star ratings. Kain decided to use his remaining attempts in conjunction with the unknown object from the ruins that got him his highest rating so far at 4.5-stars.


    Unfortunately, the results seemed to be even worse once other objects were added:


    Grey Bloom Amoeba (the relic stone and black orchid): ���� (2.5-stars)


    Neurospora Amoeba (the relic stone and transparent moss): ��� (2-stars)


    Mnemory Amoeba (the relic stone and strange silver liquid): ����� (3.5-stars)


    ��


    Until finally, on his last try, he achieved a rating of ������ (5-stars).


    Strangely enough, this evolutionary form was still called the Pale Sovereign Amoeba, with all of the same skills, but just the addition of one more skill that didn''t even seem that significant to Kain increased the rating. A skill that definitely did not seem deserving of such an increase in rating at first glance. But he wasn''t going to complain, maybe its true might will show later on:


    "S �C Empty Throne Effect: A passive skill that allows Bea to always leave a trace of herself in a place where one of her former hosts has died. It is merely a subtle "mark," like a scar in the mental fabric of the area. Weak individuals who come near may experience a feeling of d��j�� vu, unease, or misplaced grief. Eventually, if enough ''empty thrones'' are formed in an area, she can faintly link them together into a web of presence."


    Annoyingly, this form required the black stone from the ruins and one of the two evolutionary materials Kain hadn''t yet brought back to the lab...


    -----------------


    Thousands of miles away, in the territory of Aurem...


    After brushing up his presence in front of his Boss for a few hours, the feeling of uneasiness began to abate slightly from the Mindrhino


    It must be because whatever was targeting him was scared off by the presence of the Boss!


    The rhino was pleased with its own quick-wittedness in immediately finding backup once it detected a threat.


    And it seems like the Boss took notice of his enthusiasm! The Boss had tasked him with a very important duty this morning: guarding a pile of stones that smelled funny. Such an important duty must represent that he was valued and trusted! Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He had done his rounds. Trotted proudly in a wide circle, trampled two spiders the size of his toe, and even gave a warning snort to a sharp-fanged cat that looked at the pile too long.


    Yes. He was excellent at this.


    Then the resting Boss stirred.


    The giant shadow��his Boss��lifted its monstrous head, long golden whiskers twitching in annoyance. The rhino froze mid-step and quickly turned, watching as Aurem tilted his face upward. That alone would''ve been enough to make the rhino nervous.


    The Boss never looked up. Not unless something stupid��or suicidal��was daring to fly above him.


    The rhino followed his Boss''s gaze slowly.


    And then he saw it.


    A small, pink, hairless creature. Limbs too thin. No claws, no fangs. Its feet dangled beneath it as it floated��no wings, no flapping, no support. Just there. Above them.


    It was making eye contact with the Boss.


    And worse��


    Then it looked at him.


    The rhino''s heart nearly stopped. The instant that gaze met his, a bone-deep terror gripped him.


    He knew. He knew. This was the being that had been watching him before. The one whose attention had felt like many needles were repeatedly stabbing into him. The one that made his instincts scream danger, danger, DANGER.


    His legs quivered. His bladder made a valiant effort not to release itself. He pressed himself behind the Boss''s hindleg, trying to shrink his massive form into a pebble.


    Why was it here? Why was it floating? How dare it hover above the Boss like it was superior?! Was it suicidal? Or was it��was it stronger?


    His knees wobbled even more.


    Then, the sounds began.


    The floating ugly hairless ape and the Boss began exchanging strange noises��soft, clipped sounds that didn''t sound like the proper growls or hisses or tail-thumps the spiritual creatures usually used to communicate. Therefore, the rhino, unfortunately couldn''t understand any of it.


    And then��


    They both looked at him.


    Trickle trickle��at the shared gazes, the rhino''s bladder lost the fight.

 Chapter 545 - 545: Lost in Translation

    The air shimmered faintly like a heat wave.


    One moment, he was behind the Boss''s leg, still shivering and damp with shame. The next��he wasn''t.


    There was no flash of light, no rumbling of the ground, no sound at all. Just a sudden shift.


    The pile of important, yet smelly, stones was gone. The towering presence of the Boss was gone.


    The ground beneath him was flat now and rocky. Cold. And not like the familiar soft grass where he called home.


    The rhino looked around frantically, he stood atop of a cliff��that he was now at the edge of.


    The only living thing in this new, dead-quiet space was him.


    And the small, hairless ape.


    It stood��no, floated��a short distance away, utterly silent. Its thin limbs didn''t look strong enough to lift a stone. Its eyes were dark, sunken. Its expression was calm. Too calm.


    It stared at him. Just stared.


    And the rhino began to panic.


    He stomped backward��then forward��then spun in a small circle, snorting loudly. No scent trails to find his way back home. No other creatures to call for help. No Boss. Not even a certain sharp-fanged cat to bait in his place.


    The ape raised a hand slightly.


    The rhino froze, all four legs locked.


    Was this it?


    Was this strange, ugly little beast going to erase him? What kind of twisted predator abducted someone in broad daylight, brought them to a place with no smell, no sky, and no sound��and then just stared?


    He let out a long, low wail. His horn dipped toward the floor. He tapped one hoof nervously. The ape said nothing. It still hadn''t moved.


    He tried speaking. A hopeful, confused grunt. Then a higher-pitched snort. Then, a whole sequence of warning bellows. But the ape didn''t respond��not like creatures were supposed to.


    No twitch of ears. No defensive posture. No retaliatory snarl.


    Just... eyes. Watching him. Sizing up its prey?


    Why, Boss? WHYYYY?!


    He had done nothing wrong! So why was he abandoned like this?!


    He had been a good rhino. The best. He had guarded the rocks. He hadn''t even eaten the moss around them, even though it looked extra juicy. He had helped the spiders die quickly and warned the sneaky cat fair and square.


    So why?


    What fate had he triggered? What divine rule had he broken?


    He fell onto his knees��an awkward, heavy drop that cracked the strange flat ground beneath him��and tilted his head to the sky.


    Tears the size of marbles rolled from his eyes.


    He began to wail. Loud. The kind of cry that made small birds fly away and trees shiver. He cried like a calf. Big, echoing sobs that shook his whole body.


    The rhino''s voice cracked, but he didn''t stop.


    Why wasn''t it over?


    Why didn''t the ape just end it already? Was it one of those weird creatures that liked to play with their prey before going in for the kill?


    How horrible! This waiting was worse than being struck directly.


    He hiccuped. Snorted pitifully. Then curled one leg beneath his chin and began rocking in place.


    He sobbed again.


    ------------------------


    ''What the hell is wrong with this thing?'' Kain thought in annoyance as the ''helper'' Aurem had gotten for him turned into a useless blubbering mess.


    ''That damn lazy dragon��if he would have just helped me mine the crystals himself, I wouldn''t need to put up with these irritating cries right now.''


    Kain pinched the bridge of his nose as the rhino''s sobbing somehow escalated. The creature had curled in on itself and was now doing a bizarre rocking motion that made it look like it was about to pass out.


    He took a step forward. The wails spiked.


    He sighed. Loudly. "Shut up."


    The words came out sharper than intended��more bark than bite��but the effect was immediate. The rhino went stiff. One watery eye peeked up at him, quivering. Then, to Kain''s surprise, the crying stopped. Instantly. Like someone had flipped a switch.


    It blinked. Slowly. Sniffled once. S~ea??h the Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain narrowed his eyes. "...can you understand me?"


    The rhino''s ears twitched, but it didn''t respond.


    Figures.


    Of course it couldn''t understand him. None of the native beasts on Pangea could��not even the high-level ones. After all, how would they learn the languages of humans when they''d never met humans before. That had been precisely why Kain had gone to Aurem for help, since he was the only creature he could communicate with.


    He looked back at the edge of the cliff.


    The small crater shimmered faintly, sunlight bouncing off jagged chunks of amethyst crystal. Mental-type, and pure ones at that. And extremely fragile. The angle of the cliff made excavation a nightmare��any normal method would risk shattering them.


    Hence why he needed help.


    Kain raised an arm and gestured toward the crater. Slowly. Deliberately.


    The rhino''s eyes followed the motion.


    Then widened.


    Its entire body tensed like it had been struck by lightning. With trembling limbs, it looked at Kain, then the cliff. Then back again.


    And then it started crying again.


    "What now?" Kain muttered, thoroughly exasperated.


    The rhino let out a garbled moan that sounded like someone stepping on a tuba underwater. It shook its massive head violently, took a step back, and then collapsed onto its side, legs flailing in a clumsy attempt to scramble away from the crater.


    "Are you seriously��" Kain cut himself off. "You think I''m trying to kill you?"


    He could see it in the way the rhino kept glancing between him and the drop-off. The crater wasn''t visible from where it lay, especially not with how deep the cut was into the rock. From the rhino''s perspective, he must have looked like he was gesturing dramatically off the edge.


    Kain exhaled, long and slow.


    "You idiot," he said flatly.


    The rhino sniffled.


    Still frowning, Kain stomped once, then pointed again��this time more emphatically��at the crystals below. He even stepped aside slightly to give it a better angle.


    The rhino hesitated, slowly uncurling. Its head tilted.


    Then it crept forward. One hoof at a time, tail tucked in tight.


    As it reached the edge, it peeked over the side... and finally saw.


    The crystals glinted. Dozens of them. Maybe even hundreds.


    The rhino stared.


    Then back at Kain.


    Then back at the crystals.


    And then��without warning��it collapsed again. But not in fear this time. No, it crumpled to the ground in what could only be described as relief, legs splayed awkwardly, chest heaving from leftover panic.


    "Sigh��this is going to be a long day."

 Chapter 546 - 546: The Shy Bea

    Thankfully, not long after realizing what Kain wanted��perhaps not wanting to irritate him even further��the rhino quickly got to work.


    Its horn began to glow, faint at first, then steadily pulsing with a soft white light. Threads of shimmering energy wove around the violet amethyst-like crystal, forming delicate rings that hovered like halos just above the surface. The effect was oddly beautiful��mystical even��though the beauty of the scene was ruined by the way the rhino was still sniffling occasionally between careful movements.


    It stepped down toward the crater with surprising delicacy for its large frame, the massive hooves carefully avoiding even the smallest crystal shards. Then, with the tip of its horn, it traced the air above the encircled crystal. A ripple passed through the amethyst and it began to vibrate and hum faintly before the stone detached from the cliff face without a single crack, floating gently into the air.


    Kain only needed one crystal for Bea, but since he had this rhino here, and he felt these crystals were special, he had the rhino continue.


    One by one, the rhino repeated the process. With every extraction, more of the mental-attribute crystals hovered next to its head, orbiting it in a loose ring like a crown of purple stars. The air around them thrummed with mental energy so potent it made Kain''s skin crawl.


    Kain raised an eyebrow. "��Huh. So the dragon wasn''t lying." S~ea??h the ��ovelFire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Eventually, he gestured with a flick of his hand, and the largest crystal floated toward him. The rhino flinched��briefly thinking it was under attack again��but relaxed when Kain gave it a curt nod.


    Then, in the blink of an eye, Kain was gone. As were all of the crystals, save for one of the largest ones Kain left to the rhino as a gift for its hard work.


    Thankfully, as a non-living object, Kain was able to leave Pangea with the crystals, and his consciousness snapped back into place in the ancient ruins.


    The familiar stone walls of the cavern they''d rested in for the night loomed around him. His team was spread across the chamber��Zareth was adjusting the straps on his spear holster, Pete and Jamie were kneeling beside a collapsed structure, brushing away sand and looking for anything salvageable, and Lina was preparing some stew-like rations for everyone''s breakfast.


    Kain blinked and rubbed at the side of his head. The faint mental buzz from Pangea still clung to his thoughts.


    He checked the time. Several hours had passed and it looked like everyone was ready to continue moving.


    So much for rest.


    "Ahem," Kain cleared his throat, stepping forward. Everyone paused to look at him.


    Kain gave a short nod. "If possible, I''d like to take a short break. My contract''s evolution is overdue." He held up the crystal, the black relic stone, a catalyst and high-quality spiritual orb. "I have all of the materials ready."


    The others hesitated. A heavy silence fell over the group.


    They remembered last time.


    The frantic way the abominations had surged toward them��toward Kain��as they were seemingly drawn to Kain''s breakthrough attempt.


    Zareth, as their leader, didn''t readily agree this time, frowning in hesitation.


    Seeing their collective silence, Kain tried to convince them. "It''s just an evolution, she won''t be trying to break through her current level."


    Thankfully, this wasn''t a level breakthrough��which could take days or even weeks��but simply an evolution. Even factoring in delays, Bea should be done within a couple of hours. Not to mention she could attempt the level breakthrough in Kain''s star space once she evolves, although not ideal, which would drastically increase his safety once she succeeds.


    Zareth''s jaw flexed, clearly unconvinced.


    "Evolution doesn''t always succeed," Pete said quietly, his gaze flicking to the materials Kain was holding. "Even with good materials. It may be better to wait until we''ve left the relic and you have access to specialized environments. I know both your College and the Order have mental-attribute rooms."


    Kain nodded. "I''m aware."


    Lina looked up from her pot, brows knit. "So why not wait?"


    Kain exhaled through his nose. "Because every minute we waste puts us closer to another trap or another death. And she''s ready. I''m not going to keep delaying her evolution because it might or might not cause noise. We need her stronger."


    The silence stretched again, but this time, there was something heavier in it��reluctant understanding.


    Finally, Zareth let out a grunt of agreement. "Fine. We''ll set up defenses first."


    Everyone moved at once.


    Zareth unslung his spear and drove its butt into the ground, drawing a wide half-moon perimeter with its tip and then released a contract that looked like a house cat made of metal. "My contracts will form a barrier. It won''t hide us, but it''ll blunt our presence for anything not already extremely close."


    Pete, Jamie, and Lina also released contracts capable of forming barriers and/or traps.


    Even Serena, used her Starweaver to set up an additional barrier composed of starlight.


    He walked to the center of the room.


    "Go ahead," Zareth said, standing at the perimeter.


    Kain knelt and began placing the materials: the glossy black relic stone, the catalyst, the glimmering spiritual orb, and finally, the violet-hued mental crystal still humming faintly from its extraction.


    He stared at the space just in front of him.


    None of the others looked surprised when they couldn''t see Bea.


    They all thought his contract was invisible, not knowing she was just too tiny to see with the naked eye.


    Still, even for those used to it, the sight��or lack thereof��was strange. Kain arranged everything meticulously on the ground before what appeared to be nothing. No flicker of energy. No outline. No distortion. Just air.


    Jamie whispered, "It''s not gonna appear at all?"


    "Apparently not," Pete muttered.


    Then��


    Light.


    A blinding white glow erupted without warning, swallowing the materials whole. The relic stone cracked first, releasing a swirl of black and silver energy into the air. The catalyst and spiritual orb shattered with a high-pitched ring like breaking crystal. And the mental crystal dissolved into motes of light, each one pulsing once before being drawn inward.


    Thankfully, there were no mishaps or attacks, and Bea''s evolution finished uneventfully.


    The bright light at the center of the room faded away to reveal��nothing.


    Sigh


    The others looked away in disappointment at still not catching even a glimpse of Kain''s incredibly ''shy'' contract.


    The second the barriers surrounding the cavern dropped, a loud far off roar echoed throughout the room.


    ''Looks like I''ll get to see Bea''s new form in action even sooner than I''d expected''

 Chapter 547 - 547: Master Bea Takes the Stage

    The tremors came first.


    A low, almost imperceptible rumble pulsed beneath their feet��barely noticeable at first.


    But it grew stronger and stronger with time until it couldn''t be ignored even if they wanted to��followed by a metallic screech like twisted gears grinding inside bone.


    Zareth didn''t hesitate. "We''ve got company."


    The others snapped into formation, spreading out in practiced efficiency as they summoned their respective contracts and scouted the tunnel entrances trying to place from which one the approaching enemy was coming. Moments later, from the shadows of one of the tunnels, they emerged��abominations.


    Worse still, these weren''t the average kind��they carried that strange fusion of Source and Abyssal energies.


    They approached at a terrifying speed, plated with steel and sinew, their movements smooth, fluid, disturbingly precise. Glowing black and violet veins pulsed beneath their semi-metallic hides and they were staring ravenously at Kain and the others��well, mostly at Kain.


    There were over a dozen of them. Where even a single one would pose a massive threat to the group.


    Various contracts growled in anxiety, while his teammates either unconsciously backed up or exhaled sharply in fear.


    But Kain? He simply narrowed his eyes.


    Perfect.


    Without a word a wave passed through the cavern originating from the centre of the room where Bea was. At first, it seemed like nothing more than pressure��a strange tingling sensation brushing the edges of everyone''s minds. Then, more distinctly, an unnatural stillness fell over the battlefield. The air thickened.


    The Pale Thought Field had begun to bloom.


    Even though Bea was invisible, immobile, and microscopic, her presence now consumed the space like a gigantic entity.


    At the edge of the field, one of the abominations twitched. Then another. Their sleek movements stuttered just for a moment, barely noticeable��unless you were looking for it. Kain was. He recognized it immediately.


    Splits.


    Kain found it fascinating to see Bea spread her effects without using a clear medium like threads, mist, or a liquid. The "splits"��or rather, the "echoes" as they were more appropriately called now��formed spontaneously in the minds of nearby targets if they were around Bea for long enough, kind of like the contamination ability of Abyssal energy.


    The battle erupted in a flash of heat and motion. Jamie''s bear unleashed a torrent of fire down the corridor, forcing several of the abominations to scatter. Zareth''s spear gleamed as he vaulted forward, carving into the flank of a four-limbed creature with grinding mechanical joints. Sparks and black-purple liquid flew as it lost balance and then the mandibles of his millipede-like contract pierced through its metallic outer shell to strike the core as indicated by Lina.


    But while the others engaged head-on, Bea worked in silence.


    One abomination faltered, eyes unfocused. Another''s attack��previously aimed at Zareth who was blocking the path to Kain��diverted mid-swing, slamming into its ally instead. They didn''t even seem to notice the betrayal. They were too focused on Kain and the others (mostly Kain).


    Kain''s lips curled upward.


    Strangely, due to the Abyssal Invasion skill, these hybrids were actually easier for Bea to control than the standard abominations that ran on pure source energy and were quite resistant to control.


    The allegiance of several began to shift. Whatever instinct had once compelled them to defend their home planet was fading��replaced by something else entirely. They had a new master. It didn''t matter whether they understood what they now served��only that they serve ''Master Bea'' well.


    Jamie and his fire bear fought hard near the front, fending off a cluster of enemies while the rest of the group migrated towards a tunnel opposite of where the enemy streamed in from in case they needed to escape. Heat warped the air around them, but the creatures were adapting��too fast.


    "I need help!" Jamie shouted.


    A metal-plated abomination barreled forward, forcing Jamie back. Another of his contracts, an earth and fire dual attribute armadillo burst from the ground in a blaze of flame, intercepting it��but the cost was immediate. As it collided, black ichor sprayed across its armored back. Dark veins began to spiderweb from the point of contact.


    "No!" Jamie called out, rushing forward.


    The armadillo gave a low, pained whine, rolling awkwardly to the side before unfurling with difficulty. Smoke hissed from its body as the black marks continued to spread.


    "Damn it," Jamie muttered. "It''s not��It''s not fading."


    Lina turned toward Kain. "Can your contract, the one we heard about from your last mission��"


    "Aegis'' absorption doesn''t work so well in these ruins," Kain said immediately, already moving closer. "Not on this weird fusion type of energy."


    His fingers twitched as he reached for the healing tool��the one he''d damaged Pangea to charge, specifically for Serena��the only thing that could potentially combat this fusion of abyssal and source contamination.


    He hesitated. It only had one charge left and Kain couldn''t risk recharging it in front of the others. Kain trusted Serena to tell her about Pangea. The others? Not so much. Was Jamie''s contract really worth what may be their last usage of this tool?


    Then Kain looked across the cavern. Serena had already turned toward him. Her face was unreadable, but her eyes flicked once��down to his space ring, likely already guessing what he was conflicted about��and then she gave a single, silent nod.


    Support.


    Kain exhaled in resignation and opened his mouth, about to offer up Kain and Serena''s last insurance policy that they''d (a little selfishly, admittedly) kept from the others�� S��ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ��but the ground trembled again.


    Not the same tremor as before. This one was deeper.


    The roar came next. Louder. Closer. A bassy, otherworldly echo that rattled the walls and made the abominations stop fighting, heads tilting slightly, twitching. Even the ones under Bea''s influence flinched in confusion.


    Dust spilled from the ceiling. A low groan of stone grinding against stone echoed in all directions.


    Zareth''s spear snapped outward as he turned toward the sound. "That first roar�� doesn''t seem like it was from any of these things."


    Kain''s pupils narrowed. "No. It wasn''t."


    Far behind the main group, somewhere beyond the tunnel the rest of these abominations streamed in from, something massive was forcing its way forward��something big enough to collapse the passage behind it due to its exceptionally large size.


    The roar came again. Louder still.

 Chapter 548 - 548: Dont Look Back

    The ever-present trembling in the cavern, there even before the abominations arrived, rapidly intensified.


    Zareth''s ears twitched. "That sound��"


    Before he could finish the thought, the tunnel in front of them��once their intended path forward��exploded inward with a sickening crunch. A monstrous limb, gnarled and grotesquely swollen, took down the entire tunnel entrance and much of the cavern ceiling, tearing apart ancient stone and metal supports like parchment.


    It was so large, its full body couldn''t even fit inside the cavern. Just its arrival caused the ceiling to collapse, sending a thunderous cascade of rubble crashing down behind it.


    Dust and debris exploded outward and the ground shook beneath their feet like a magnitude 9.0 earthquake.


    Everyone staggered.


    The roaring from earlier returned, this time close enough to rattle their bones. It wasn''t just a sound��it was a pressure.


    Instinctively, all of them began to circulate their spiritual power to stand steady, but it was as if the creature''s aura pressed down firmly on them, crushing that resistance flat.


    ''Nope��Looks like Bea''s experimental time is over. There''s no way we could fight that.''


    "The path we were taking forward is gone. We move. Now." Zareth said as he whipped out the map and mentally traced an alternate route in seconds while hopping onto the back of his contract in a fluid motion. "Move! Left corridor. We''ll take the long way around to the core of the relic."


    No one hesitated.


    His metallic wolf surged ahead, paws clanking with rhythmic beats against the fractured floor. Pete''s stone-plate lizard hissed and bounded after him, armor sparking against where its massive stone body rubbed against the walls. Lina clung to her fastest contract, a gigantic moth, which beat massive silk-lined wings to stay ahead of their pursuer. Jamie, crouched low atop his massive fire bear, clutched a limp armadillo in his arms, its breathing shallow, the black corrosion now covering nearly a third of its body.


    Kain summoned his Vespid guards, which due to their wind attribute were by far still his fastest contracts.


    Without a word, he directed one to grab Serena and another to grab Malzahir. Serena didn''t resist, knowing it was slightly faster than any of her current contracts but the Elemental Guardian, she''d already summoned in its wind-attribute form, extended its ethereal wings from its back catching updrafts and boosting the Vespids'' speed with pulses of air as it followed closely behind them.


    They raced through the crumbling halls, past shattered archways and ancient glyphs flickering with unstable energy with barely a chance to catch a glimpse of their surroundings��just were just trusting Zareth to lead them in the right direction.


    Behind them the tunnels were collapsing as something, so massive they couldn''t even get a glimpse of its full figure, continued to pursue them.


    And was gaining.


    Massive stone beams fell in its wake. The tunnel twisted with each of its steps, support structures cracking. The ceiling groaned.


    Every few seconds, they''d hear the wet crunch of flesh on stone��or worse, the dragging grind of metal appendages scraping across the floor and walls as it pushed forward through the tight corridor like a parasite, too large for its host, writhing and tearing through its dying shell.


    "It''s still coming," Lina hissed, eyes wide as she looked behind.


    "Faster!" Pete snapped. "We can''t fight that thing!"


    Kain felt the air whip against his face as he pushed his contracts to speed up, the buzz of the Vespids turning frantic. He glanced back once.


    And regretted it.


    The tunnel had already collapsed behind them, but something massive was still visible, even through the dust. A maw, partially open. Rows of jagged teeth fused with lengths of exposed piping and wires��some still crackling with purple remnants of source energy. One bulbous glowing frenzied eye could be faintly seen through in the gloom, and when it locked onto him, Kain felt a momentary lapse in his own heartbeat.


    No wonder the other abominations scattered when it came.


    Ahead, Jamie''s bear was slowing down.


    "Keep up!" Zareth barked.


    Jamie didn''t respond.


    The armadillo in his arms twitched violently��and then stopped moving.


    Black veins exploded across its shell. Jamie barely had time to react as the creature gave one last, weak cry before its entire form stiffened, and then collapsed into a blackened corpse that looked like it had already been decaying in the elements for weeks. The corrupted spots expanded like rot through fruit, leaving behind only its most prominent features to make it barely identifiable. S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then came the pain��Jamie''s contract broke.


    The sound he made was not what one could think would come from a human��it was like a physical manifestation of an animalistic agony. He spasmed once. Twice.


    Then��he fell.


    "Jamie!" Lina shouted.


    Kain''s gaze snapped back, about to summon another Vespid guard to retrieve him, but it was too late.


    Jamie tumbled backward off the fire bear as it surged forward, startled. He hit the ground hard, blood flying from his lips as he tried to rise.


    But the giant abomination was already there.


    A limb��twisted and ending in metal blades��shot out from the dust and caught him before he could rise. It skewered his body straight through along with his contracted bear who had circled back for him like some kind of twisted kebab. It slammed them into the crumbling floor with so much force the stone began to cave in with an even greater pace��revealing a dark chasm below. Then again. And again. Until the harmonious chorus of Jamie''s cries and his contract''s whimpers faded.


    There was a moment of stillness. The echoes of running feet, the wingbeats of the Vespids, even the rumbling of the tunnels faded to nothing but a ringing in their ears.


    Lina, who had been the closest with Jamie and, Kain suspected, may have even been more than friends with him, cried out in grief and shock but her contract didn''t stop running.


    They couldn''t stop. Not now.


    Not for Jamie.


    The creature roared behind them again. As it continued to chase while taking much of the ruins down with its every movement.

 Chapter 549 - 549: One Step Ahead

    The chase was still ongoing and could have lasted anywhere from only 20 minutes to several hours. The only thing anyone could agree on was that it felt eternal. It was so incredibly difficult to gauge the passage of time. Every second blurred into the next, filled with harsh breaths, panicked glances, and the relentless pounding of footsteps and buzzing wings.


    Suddenly, Zareth cursed under his breath, sharp and sudden.


    Without even knowing the reason why, Kain''s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. Nothing good could come out of their normally stoic leader cursing.


    The others barely had time to react before his wolf skidded to a halt.


    One by one, they stumbled to a stop behind him, breathless, hearts still pounding from the creature still closely pursuing them. A few contracts immediately looked like they wanted to collapse once they stopped running, the adrenaline leaving their systems.


    Kain, seeing the exhaustion of their mounts, switched to 3 fresh Vespid guards for him, Serena, and Malzahir.


    Fortunately, this stop did not result in their deaths by the creature behind them.


    Heck, although it felt a little cruel to say, if not for the delay caused by Jamie''s tragic sacrifice it would likely already be on Kain and the others by now.


    "What is it now��?" Pete began, but the words died in his throat as his eyes followed Zareth''s gaze.


    The path ended.


    Or rather, it didn''t end��it was torn like the path itself had been ripped into nonexistence by a god-like entity. A yawning chasm stretched out before them, swallowing the entire width of the corridor and extending so far forward that even the contracts with the best eyesight or the use of spiritual power to enhance their eyesight could allow their gazes to touch the bottom.


    There was no sound, not even a distant echo of falling debris from the rocks they accidentally knocked over the edge during their frantic stop.


    Just bottomless emptiness.


    "The path in the map must have collapsed," Zareth growled. "This wasn''t here before."


    Kain stepped forward slowly, peering over the edge. The drop was so sheer and the pit so vast it made his skin crawl��and familiar.


    A memory surfaced unbidden��Absorbing a core fragment containing source energy, fading sigils, collapsing tunnels, the sound of snapping support beams, and the momentary silence that came before everything dropped as Vauleth sheltered them all from the tons of collapsing snow and stone.


    ''Oops��I hope this collapse isn''t related to the one Serena and I triggered before��''


    Glancing guiltily at the others, Kain elected to keep his mouth shut about his potential role.


    Fortunately, the chasm did have another side that they could land on if they managed to cross.


    Far, far across the chasm, barely visible through the lingering haze and dust, a soft white glow shimmered at the edge of the darkness.


    "The relic core��" Lina murmured in a bittersweet tone. Happy that the end may be in sight, but devastated that it was without Jamie. "That has to be where it''s located"


    "But we''re not the only ones who might be able to cross," Pete added grimly. The flightless lizard carrying him shook its tail nervously beneath him, agitated by the proximity to the drop.


    Its claws scraped restlessly against the stone, clearly wanting to retreat. The tension in its limbs mirrored the taut nerves of its rider, who gripped the reins as if they might be the only thing keeping him grounded.


    The groaning and tearing of stone behind them reminded them of what was still following. The abomination. All of the distance that they''d barely managed to open, was rapidly reducing.


    "Maybe it can jump," Pete muttered. "Or, with our luck, maybe it can grow wings and chase us across."


    "Don''t give it ideas," Kain replied dryly.


    He summoned one of his Vespid guards and pointed toward the glow across the way. "Go. See what''s over there."


    The insect buzzed once and launched itself into the air, wings slicing the stillness with a whine of motion as it zipped toward the other side. They watched in silence, the dark figure shrinking into the distance. Its form wobbled as updrafts buffeted its wings, then steadied again. It moved like it knew time was precious and wouldn''t waste a millisecond.


    Then��nothing.


    Kain blinked. His brow furrowed.


    "I lost it," he muttered.


    "What?" Serena turned to him.


    "Our spiritual link is gone. It wasn''t nearly as strong as the one I have with my actual contract, but we still had one. Now I don''t. It''s like it flew into a dead zone or..." He shrugged. "Guess it''s not worse than what''s behind us."


    There was a beat of silence. Then Pete snorted.


    "That''s your bar for risk now? ''It can''t be worse than that thing?''"


    Kain didn''t answer. Instead, he summoned two more Vespids. One hovered at Pete''s side, waiting.


    Zareth, the only other one with a non-flying mount also recalled his wolf in favour of what looked like a giant eagle made of steel. Its claws scraped restlessly against the stone, clearly wanting to retreat.


    Pete eyed his new mount warily. "You''re sure this thing can carry me?"


    "Yeah��," Kain said gesturing to himself, Serena, and Malzahir. "But if you start falling, scream loud so I can try to retrieve your space ring before you splatter at the bottom."


    "You''re joking," Pete said flatly.


    Kain gave him a look. "Am I?"


    The additional Vespid guard Kain called out was used to lead the path forward in case of any unknown dangers. Once it was in front, Zareth and Lina were already on the move. His eagle launched itself into the air after it. Lina''s moth soared after him, silk-lined wings glittering in the dim light.


    Kain and the others, now all on Vespids, followed closely behind.


    Behind them, the tunnel rumbled again. Dust and small pebbles dropped from the ceiling, and a distant, wet growl slithered through the stone.


    The creature had not given up.


    But it couldn''t chase what it couldn''t reach.


    And for now��only for now��they were one step ahead.


    sea??h th�� N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 550 - 550: Lost Connection

    The only sounds were the furious beating of wings and the roar of wind rushing past their ears.


    Kain''s teeth clenched as he leaned forward on the Vespid''s back, his gaze locked on the distant ledge where the white glow pulsed like the beacon of a lighthouse in the dark. Behind him, Serena and Malzahir flew in close formation. Ahead, Zareth and Lina were already past the halfway point, steadily gaining ground.


    They just had to keep moving.


    Then��


    A thunderous crack echoed behind them.


    Kain turned instinctively, his heart lurching. At the edge of the chasm, shadows broke apart like splinters as something massive slammed into the stone. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, chunks crumbling and tumbling over the steep cliff.


    Their pursuer��the predator in this never-ending hunt��had arrived.


    Still, its body remained hidden behind the gloom of the tunnel, but one grotesquely long, jointless limb unfurled out from the darkness, slick and glinting unnaturally under the dim light.


    And it moved. Faster than the eye could see it whipped forward.


    To Malzahir bringing up the rear.


    "Malzahir��!" Kain shouted.


    The Vespid carrying him banked sharply at the last second, reacting on pure instinct. The limb missed, but the sheer force of wind that followed it sliced the air like a blade. A pained screech and the frantic buzzing of damaged wings echoed across the chasm.


    Kain''s blood turned to ice.


    The guard wobbled mid-flight. One wing��shredded. The other��bent at a crooked angle. It flailed wildly, trying to keep balance, but it was already too late.


    They were falling.


    Malzahir didn''t scream. His eyes were wide with shock as gravity yanked him downward. The Vespid tried to stabilize, but the descent only quickened.


    "NO!"


    Kain sped forward to clutch Malzahir''s outstretched hand and slow their descent, but the huge load of another of its kind, plus another human, was too much for his current mount and soon it too began to sink down��albeit at a slower rate.


    However, the slowed descent was all he needed.


    Another Vespid was summoned by him.


    The new guard dove, catching Malzahir as Kain let go and below, the wounded Vespid finally gave out. It vanished as Kain recalled it. Fortunately, under the care of its mother, it should return to fighting condition soon.


    Kain exhaled through his teeth while the new Vespid climbed, inch by inch, fighting gravity like it was dragging Malzahir out of the jaws of death itself.


    Finally, finally, it crested back into the group''s altitude. Malzahir clung to his new mount, arms shaking. His face was pale, bloodless, but alive.


    No one said anything, still shocked by the sudden attack.


    Kain fell in beside them, eyes scanning Malzahir''s face. "You good?"


    Malzahir opened his mouth, then closed it. His nod was tight. Wordless.


    ''On the Brightside,'' Kain thought, '' it looks like Malzahir''s resignation to die was no longer so strong.''


    After all, anyone truly resigned to death wouldn''t be so panicked when the moment finally came.


    They kept moving, not because they wanted to��but because they had to.


    Behind them, the creature growled again, low and grating, and then fell eerily silent.


    As if watching. As if thinking and plotting how to continue its pursuit.


    And Kain, still not blinking, felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck at its gaze��but he only kept his gaze trained on the white light guiding them forward.


    The glow on the far end of the gap became clearer now��less like a beacon and more like a threshold, alien and absolute in its brilliance. Whatever lay beyond it, none of them could guess.


    Kain prompted the Vespids guard leading the way ahead when he saw it pause in hesitation. The loyal guard darted forward obediently, its wings a blur as it broke from the cluster.


    The abomination roared again behind them��frustrated now. Its massive limb swiped again through the empty air, but none of them were close enough to strike. Still, it moved along the wall of the tunnel, trying to trace a path along the ceiling or ledge. There was no telling how much reach it had��or how long before it found a way across.


    Kain could already see it testing the sturdiness of the walls and ceiling. The last thing Kain wanted to see was this massive horror attempting to crawl across the ceiling reminiscent of a possessed person in a horror movie.


    Kain''s gaze flicked forward again just as his scouting Vespid passed through the wall of white light.


    And then��his connection with it completely vanished.


    Not a cry. No resistance. Just�� gone.


    "Stop!" Kain barked, yanking his mount back with such force it nearly knocked into Serena''s.


    The group skidded mid-air, wings beating erratically in tight space as they all hovered in place. Pete clung tightly to the Vespid carrying him, face pale.


    Serena turned to Kain, brows furrowed. "What happened?"


    "I lost contact with it again," Kain said grimly. "Just like before."


    Lina''s expression turned sombre. "Another one?"


    Kain nodded, jaw tight. A heavy silence followed.


    Then Kain muttered, "Maybe�� maybe we should all switch to Vespids as mounts. I can summon more if needed. Queen can replenish them in time. If something goes wrong beyond that light, we don''t risk our main contracts."


    Serena said nothing, her eyes unreadable. But Lina frowned.


    "I see your point," Lina said carefully. "But if it''s that dangerous, maybe we need our strongest creatures ready. Not stashed away. If something destroys a spiritual creature without warning, I''d rather be able to fight back before that happens."


    Kain hesitated. It wasn''t an unfair point.


    Zareth cleared his throat.


    "There''s no time to keep debating," he said, voice calm and final. "I''ll go through first. Me and my partner. If something happens, you''ll know, and we''ll keep the loss limited."


    "Wait��" Kain started.


    "I''m the leader," Zareth interrupted, shooting him a glance. "This is what I''m supposed to do."


    "But it might be safer if we all go at once," Serena said quietly.


    Pete, pale and clutching his Vespid due to the unfamiliar feeling of flight, gave a tired nod. "If one of us is doomed, we might all be. No sense in staggering the risk. Might as well share it."


    Zareth sighed, then relented. "Fine. All together. No hesitation."


    They tightened formation. Kain looked back one last time and caught a glimpse of the abomination backing away from the ledge.


    Then��they crossed.


    The white light washed over them like a veil of fireless heat.


    It did not burn. Did not push. It simply was.


    For a moment, there was nothing.


    Then��


    "Ghhh��!" Zareth grunted, clutching at his side.


    Lina gave a sharp gasp. "Something''s wrong with our contracts��!"


    Kain spun, alarmed.


    Zareth was still on his mount, teeth gritted. Lina hunched forward, one hand to her chest, eyes wide with confusion and pain. But there were no injuries.


    Kain looked to their mounts��both still flying, still whole.


    Nothing had attacked them. S��arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What is it?" Serena called.


    "It''s not them," Zareth said through clenched teeth. "It''s��my contract. I can feel it fading. It''s like��something''s taken an eraser to remove the connection we have."


    Lina''s eyes were frantic. "Mine too. Not my Nyxveil itself." She said gesturing to the black moth beneath her. "The bond. The contract itself is coming undone!"

 Chapter 551 - 551: ‘Expendable’

    They didn''t wait.


    Zareth spun his mount around and flew rapidly out of the bounds of the light curtain. Lina followed, clutching the moth supporting her even as it flickered in the air.


    Kain turned with them, heart pounding. Malzahir and Serena kept pace.


    As they burst through the barrier again, a wave of cold relief hit him.


    Zareth and Lina groaned again��but this time, it was more breath than pain. They didn''t collapse. The colour returned to their faces. Their creatures steadied.


    Kain blinked rapidly, rechecking every link he had.


    Bea?��fine. Aegis?��stable. Queen?��present. Vauleth?��napping without a care.


    "It seems like as long as they remain in the star space it should be fine," Kain murmured to himself in relief.


    The Vespid guards being used as mounts?


    The bonds felt thinner like threads stretched taut over too long a distance. Kain wouldn''t have noticed it at first, not without the others reacting.


    They hadn''t cried out, hadn''t weakened. But the already thin connection he had with the Vespid guards looked like it would snap in around a minute.


    "My links to the Vespids are affected as well but I don''t really suffer any pain from their loss. The dissolving of the contract is also not as fast as for you two," he muttered.


    Kain suspected it was because it was only a tertiary link��via secondarily linked Queen who was bonded to him via his primary contract, the microscopic Eve��and so whatever force was acting to sever bonds was less aggressively targeting him.


    Zareth wiped the sweat from his brow, face grim. "It was definitely not slow for us. My bond was coming apart second by second."


    Lina nodded. "If we''d stayed another 10 seconds, I think�� I think the contract would''ve broken entirely."


    Pete shivered. "But why? There''s no enemy. No attack. It''s just light."


    Kain turned back to the barrier.


    Silent. Unmoving. That same fireless white glow, like a frozen curtain of sunlight.


    The glow had an almost holy, indifferent quality. But that cold holiness made him reluctant to re-enter.


    After the horrifying soul-deep pain they experienced, Kain could also see that Lina and Zareth were also reluctant to re-enter.


    "Wait," Lina said sharply while pausing. "Do you hear that?"


    The air trembled. A rhythmic chitter, faint but rising in pitch, echoed from the collapsed tunnel behind them.


    Pete gasped, pointing. "Up there��look!"


    Long spindly limbs originating from the abomination chasing them had reached the cavern ceiling. It was no longer content to sit and watch them get away. Long, clawed limbs extended outward, testing the stone above like a spider examining web strands. The unnatural creature began to ascend the walls of the underground ruins and then crawl on the ceiling��upside down.


    This was probably the clearest image they''d gotten of the horrifying creature since they''d first encountered it��and more of its massive body was still exiting the tunnel behind. Its limbs ended in rusted scissor-like pincers, and in its open mouth were rows of millions of needle-like teeth resembling a leech and 4 bulbous purple eyes.


    Veins of seething, black and violet crystal pulsed where its spine should have been, and its underbelly was a patchwork of mechanical tubing and exposed ribs, as if it had been stitched together from a mechanical wreckage and corpses. Thick cables trailed like intestines beneath it, dragging against the stone. Every motion was slow and deliberate like a predator savouring the chase.


    ''That is something straight out of a nightmare��''


    "It''s coming," Zareth said, voice more tense than Kain had ever heard it. "It''s going to try and crawl across the ceiling��to reach us."


    "It''ll be above us within a minute."


    Kain''s mouth was dry. They had seconds to choose. Forward through the soul-severing light, or back into the waiting jaws of a nightmare.


    "We don''t have a choice, we use my contracts," Kain said at last, voice flat. "Zareth and Lina can''t bring their partners through without risking irreversible damage to their souls due to the broken contract. Heck, the pain from the broken bond may cause your contracts to be unable to finish the flight across. But the Vespids don''t have that issue and should still be able to carry us across."


    Lina glanced at him. "You''re sure they can finish the trip? They''ll listen to you?"


    "Not 100% sure," Kain admitted. "But I''m confident. They''re different. Hive-minded. Not individual contracts. They aren''t separate entities given names and power��they''re Queen''s children. Extensions of her will. Extensions of mine now too. So even if our already tenuous bond is broken, they should still listen to me��for a period. Not to mention because the nature of our contract is different, it does not hurt me nor them when it is broken."


    He exhaled slowly, expression tightening. "They''ll get us across. I''ll just�� have to give up most of them."


    He didn''t delay. One by one, Kain summoned six fresh Vespid guards, sending his currently weakened mount back to the star space.


    Then after a careful balancing act reminiscent of a show belonging in the circus, each person carefully hopped onto their new temporary partner.


    "Are you sure about this Kain? What if there is some harm to you, that you just can''t sense yet?" Zareth asked.


    "Your contracts are too valuable to risk. If those bonds break completely, you''re defenseless." He gestured to the trembling insectoids. "These are expendable."


    The word tasted bitter. But it was true.


    Kain couldn''t help but look around at them, knowing that if Queen couldn''t re-establish a connection with them, not a single one was likely to remain.


    He felt a pang of sadness at the thought.


    These were not mindless tools. He remembered each one. Although they looked remarkably similar, there were slight differences in appearance and personality.


    He remembered how long each one had survived since hatching. The ones who''d carried him out of the crumbling tunnels, across caverns, to escape too-strong enemies, who had sacrificed their own bodies at critical moments to block an attack for him.


    Yes, technically they were ''expendable'' and more will be born to replenish their numbers with time, but it won''t be the same ones.


    Before entering the curtain of light again, Kain reached out and rubbed the head of each one; some clicked their mandibles, others wiggled their large abdomens, and some shook their antennae up and down.


    They''d never spoken. Never protested the often dangerous tasks assigned to them. But they knew him and had bonded with him over time.


    Kain swallowed hard.


    "Queen," he murmured, "I''ll try to recover them. But if I don''t�� thank you." Sear?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A distant hum echoed in his thoughts. Sad. Accepting.


    The group began to shift. The Vespids closed ranks, wings beating with purpose. Now atop a newly summoned guard, Zareth and Lina dismissed their partners.


    Kain kept 4 Vespids not carrying anyone around the group, flying in a supportive ring��just in case.


    Kain took the lead since the guards were most used to following him. "Keep tight. We go fast, and we don''t stop."


    Crash


    A portion of the ceiling behind them caved in to remind them of their relentless pursuer.


    "Move!"


    They plunged into the light.

 Chapter 552 - 552: A Heartbreaking Death

    The white veil swallowed them whole and Kain could only use his senses to try and navigate the group forward rather than in circles.


    The effects of this light took a while to show, but once it did the change to the Vespid''s was immediate.


    Kain''s bond with each Vespid trembled��flickering like candles in a storm. The clear, crisp clarity of his mental link grew muddled, sluggish. Commands were not disobeyed, but delayed.


    But another minute longer and Kain''s tertiary bond to the Vespids, completely shattered, lie glass under a hammer. The guards'' disciplined formation collapsed instantly.


    But they didn''t fall, and after Kain repeatedly calling out instructions in a soothing voice they calmed down��slightly.


    The guards buzzed in alarm, wings beating faster as if searching for reassurance that no longer came.


    They were scared.


    Their most important connection, to their Queen Mother, was gone. They had only Kain now.


    He grit his teeth and leaned lower. "Just a bit longer. I know you can do it."


    They responded��not with words, but movement.


    Despite the broken bonds, the Vespids remembered. Months of training, of battle, of carrying this human through hell��it was etched into their instincts. They lurched forward, wings beating unevenly.


    But they pushed forward.


    Buzzing became wilder. Erratic. The deeper they flew, the worse it got. The Vespid just beneath Kain jerked slightly in the air, but kept going.


    At each level Queen would produce 6 more children, meaning that she could produce a maximum of 30 guards while at green-grade. Kain had entered this relic with only twenty-five (losing some on the way to the relic). He lost nearly half of them since engaging in various fights, although a few new ones had been born during that time as well. Two had vanished in their first probe of the light curtain. With six now ferrying them and four more acting as guards, Kain did the math in his head and swallowed hard.


    ''When this is over, I may be able to count all my remaining guards on one hand��''


    The white veil began to thin.


    The glow dimmed, fading into softer, more natural colors. Shadows crept back into the world.


    And then��ground. Solid. A new ledge.


    They broke through the final wall of light and hit the new platform heavily, wings trembling. Each rider dismounted quickly, and the Vespids, adrenaline gone, collapsed.


    Then came the light.


    Not the hostile brilliance of the barrier, but the soft, radiant glow of lanterns embedded in stone. The walls around them stretched high, circular and vast, with every surface carved in delicate reliefs and murals that shimmered with runes.


    Murals of people. Both humans and elves, strangely. But also��beastmen, dwarves, and other longlost humanoid species too. They were depicted kneeling at the base of an immense tree with a purple crystal embedded in its center��another fragment of the planet''s core, Kain suspected. All along the bottom of the murals were text.


    Kain stepped forward, frowning as the language formed in his mind.


    "��Ancient Elvish," he murmured. "I can read this."


    Pete raised an eyebrow. "What''s it say?"


    Kain narrowed his eyes and read aloud.


    "Sanctuary. For those who walk without the aid of spirits. For the weary, the wounded, and the faithless. You may find rest��but not power."


    He paused. Below the main passage, a smaller inscription trailed along the mural''s base.


    "No spirit shall step into the hallowed space nor wield their power here."


    Kain stared at the runes.


    They hadn''t been attacked.


    They hadn''t been cursed.


    They were simply violating the rules of this place.


    Kain translated grimly. "This place nullifies contracts. Permanently, if you stay too long. It was designed so pilgrims would approach on foot, leaving their spiritual creatures behind." He gestured to the gaping chasm behind them. "But since the path to here is gone��"


    "We had to fly," Serena finished. "Using our contracts as mounts."


    Pete groaned. "So we''re stuck here? With that thing still out there?" He pointed back at the light-barrier, where the abomination''s shadow loomed on the ceiling, cautiously approaching the edge of the barrier of light.


    Zareth''s voice was quiet. "Not necessarily." He nodded to the far end of the chamber, where a narrow staircase spiralled upward. "If this is a sanctuary, there''s got to be more to it than a curtain of light."


    Buzzz


    Kain looked over and froze.


    Two Vespid bodies lay crumpled near the edge of the new platform��those he had sent ahead to scout and lost contact with earlier. One was utterly motionless; its limbs twisted inward like a crushed leaf. The other still moved faintly, legs twitching as it dragged itself in a slow circle as if searching for its companions. Its wings buzzed feebly, scraping against the stone with a sound that made Kain''s chest tighten.


    He stepped closer, crouching beside it, and extended a hand. The creature lifted its head, mandibles clicking in a soft, pleading rhythm��recognition, desperation, both. Kain tried to recall it, to summon it back into the star space. Nothing happened. The bond was gone.


    He hesitated, glancing down at the dying guards and wondered if he should summon Queen. But remembering the inscription he stopped.


    He couldn''t risk releasing Queen. Not until he better understood this place. A broken bond with Queen, and Eve within her, would definitely not be so harmless to him.


    Unable to get help, one by one, the other Vespid guards collapsed where they had landed. The ones who had flown in formation around the group shuddered mid-air and spiralled down like leaves, striking the stone with sickening thuds. Wings twitched. Limbs curled.


    There were no wounds. No blood. No visible cause. Just a quiet, awful stillness creeping in.


    Serena knelt beside one, brow furrowed. "What''s wrong with them?" she whispered. "There''s no injury. No poison. They''re just�� stopping."


    Kain''s jaw clenched. "They can''t survive without her."


    She looked up at him, confused.


    "Wasps. Bees. Ants. Creatures like these aren''t meant to live alone," Kain said softly. "They need a Queen. That bond, that presence��it''s their compass, their purpose. Without it��" His voice caught. "They''re dying. Not from wounds or sickness. From heartbreak. They don''t understand why she''s not answering. Why they''ve lost that connection."


    The twitching slowed. One reached out toward Kain with a trembling limb, brushing his boot before falling still. Another tried to crawl toward a fellow Vespid''s corpse, their antennae briefly touching before both went limp.


    It was the quietest death Kain had ever witnessed. No screams. No battle. Just a fading will to live.


    He crouched beside them, one hand resting on the nearest shell. "I''m sorry," he whispered. "You did well. You brought us here."


    There was no answer. Just the soft drone of wings finally falling silent.


    When it was over, silence returned.


    With a solemn bow of gratitude to the dead bodies to thank them for their service and as a silent apology, Kain turned and followed behind the others already headed to the stairs. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 553 - 553: The Gift of Girth

    Huff Puff


    Huff


    "Wow��Who would think that a 6-star beast-tamer could be so out of shape?" Lina said somewhat ribbingly to the panting Pete.


    However, Kain had to agree with her comment. Although 1-star level beast-tamers were only slightly stronger than the average person, with each increase in rank and increasing feedback from their contracts, their bodies would improve.


    Kain personally felt like he wouldn''t have been panting so heavily even when just a 2-star beast-tamer.


    As a 6-star beast-tamer Pete''s physique should be comparable to a decently powerful spiritual creature��but he sounded more like a sedentary couch potato on the verge of an asthma attack because he has to climb some stairs.


    Now that Kain thought about it, more than even the now normal Malzahir, Pete requested breaks the most often. And during any stretches of travel that would exceed 10 minutes walking time he would summon one of his contracts to carry him.


    Now in an environment where summoning a mount was impossible, he was really struggling.


    This combined with his often sleepy appearance, made it hard to believe that he was one of the elites of the empire carefully recruited and screened to join the Order.


    ''Is it possible to bribe your way into such a prestigious organization backed by the government? ��Surely not.''


    "Huff. Look��look what you''ve��huff��done. Even if you��ugh��want to tease me��don''t make the newbies doubt my supreme��cough cough��power. See how they''re��huff huff��looking at me now?" Pete replied before succumbing to a long coughing fit.


    ''I don''t think Lina is the reason��It''s kind of hard to notice the loud wheezing noises coming from your direction with the enhanced senses of the Awakened��''


    Seeing that Pete''s mouth was so dry he could barely string together a sentence without looking like he would end up coughing to death, but definitely wanted to clear his reputation, Zareth took pity on him. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s a side effect of his gift." Zareth clarified. "Think back to when we first left the Order, do either of you have any memory of Pete?"


    Hmm��


    Kain thought back long and hard, as did Serena, and no matter how much they scoured their memories they did not have any impression of Pete.


    "Really��huff�� guys?" Pete wheezed upon seeing their blank expressions, evidently hurt by their lack of recollection of him. "I went with you two and Zareth��huff�� to the Obari tribe to find the antidote for the scorpion venom? Cough cough��My partner and I weren''t able to bring anything back��huff�� but that''s no reason to forget me!"


    "You did?" Kain asked, eyes rolling as he tried to recollect, "That wasn''t you��that was��" Kain compared the features of the male in the unsuccessful group to Pete and had to acknowledge that they did have some slightsimilarities��mostly the eyes. But they had one huge difference. The Pete before him now, while not stick thin, had a normal physique of someone with a bit of a beer belly. However, that teammate��had been huge. At least 4 Kain''s could fit inside of him.


    Likely seeing the conflicting mixture of realization and disbelief on Kain''s face, Zareth confirmed his guess.


    "That was indeed Pete. Pete''s gift allows him to convert the fat stored in his body into power. Therefore, the bigger he is, the more strong he is. However, due to the frequent battles since entering the ruins, and the lack of abundant food supply, Pete had burned through most of his fat stores and was unable to replenish them��hence his current weakened state."


    ''There truly are all kinds of gifts,'' Kain thought while looking at the powerful beast-tamer that looked as though he''d be helplessly outrun by a toddler.


    After having his current state explained for him, Pete tried to stand upright with his chest puffed out to portray a more powerful front. Unfortunately, the thick layer of sweat and the wet hair sticking to his forehead made this front useless.


    Thankfully, the idle chatter of the group helped to make the time pass quicker, and in what felt like no time��at least for everyone but Pete��the group arrived at the end of the ascending staircase.


    At the end of the long winding staircase was a large chamber, which once again had the words ''The Sanctuary'' written in Ancient Elvish above the arched entryway.


    The moment they crossed the arch, a hush fell over the group��less from the weight of silence and more from sheer awe.


    The Sanctuary was vast. Unfathomably vast.


    Its ceiling arched high above them in soaring domes, carved with painstaking detail into scenes of a world long gone.


    From floor to ceiling, every surface had been etched, inlaid, or sculpted with care. Realistic marble trees carved by a master wrapped around support pillars, curling their branches into the stone canopy above. Waterfall mosaics shimmered along the walls in rippling violet hues, with threads of gold leaf so fine they glimmered like liquid starlight.


    The craftsmanship was divine. Regal. Timeless.


    And yet��for all its beauty��it was not the craftsmanship of the room that demanded the group''s attention the most..


    Encased in thick, off-white transparent crystals with a faint violet tinge, stood thousands of figures��all facing inward toward the center of the Sanctuary, as if waiting for something��or someone.. The crystals pulsed softly, like hearts caught in slumber.


    Kain''s breath hitched in his throat as he slowly approached the nearest one.


    Inside, a pure-blooded elf woman��a kind not seen by the Empire''s civilians in centuries�� stood tall and proud, long silver hair cascading down like a waterfall of moonlight.


    Beside her, preserved in an adjacent pillar, was a male elf with stern features and a sword clasped to his chest.


    "They��might be alive," Serena whispered behind him, voice tinged with disbelief.


    And they just well may be. At least it appeared that way to Kain and the others. Not truly dead, nor wholly alive��just... paused.


    As they moved deeper into the chamber, the diversity of its inhabitants became more clear. A few dwarves, bearded and broad, one wielding a hammer the size of a wagon wheel, the other clad in enchanted plate armor with a shield strapped to his arm. A female dwarf with a sturdy but curvy figure and calloused hands.


    Beside them stood a pair of orcs, their tusks smaller than what Kain recalled seeing in paintings of their kind, likely young. Despite their youth though, their muscles were large and defined like action figures made of flesh.


    A pair of cat-eared beastfolk, tall and lithe, stood curled together in slumber near the edge. Further on, Kain saw a trio of horned lizardmen, shimmering scales catching the crystal light, each with different tools or weapons clasped against their chests.


    And then��creatures not seen in any age Kain had studied.


    A seraphic wolf with six wings, each feather carved looked so delicate that Kain felt like they''d fly off if he breathed too hard in its direction.


    A treeborn turtle, its shell a literal miniature forest with vines frozen mid-bloom. A two-headed stag, antlers covered in crystal blossoms.


    A feathered serpent with some features of a rooster such as a comb and a wattle-like organ beneath its massive head.


    There were thousands of crystals, and most of them contained only 2-5 members of the same species, and in every grouping, there was always at least one male and one female.


    Kain walked the aisle in silence, his boots echoing too loudly.


    ''Is this��'' he swallowed, feeling strangely small beneath the vaulted ceiling.


    ''��Is this Noah''s Ark?''

 Chapter 554 - 554: You Wanted Options...

    He stopped before a cluster of what looked like long-extinct dragonkin��more humanoid than beast. They looked a lot like kobolds yet with wings and a quiet, noble sorrow��rather than the typical bootlicking manner of the kobolds Kain was accustomed to��perhaps an ancestor? S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Their eyes, frozen in crystal, seemed almost aware��like statues waiting for a bell that would never ring.


    ''No�� not quite Noah''s Ark,'' he amended his earlier thought. ''There''s no ship. But the intent is the same. A sanctuary. A preservation. And coincidentally all of these are creatures that do not currently exist or have been seen on the continent in centuries. Even rare creatures, like the True Red Dragons, were not seen here. Did they predict that their own extinction was at risk?''


    At the center of the room was the only truly dead creature, a massive dried-out husk of a tree that had long since petrified, with a glowing violet orb in its crumbling center.


    Kain could sense the Source energy coming off of the orb, and admittedly he still craved it, but more than that he realized that it had a more important identity��it was the core of this relic��and their ticket out of there.


    Zareth walked over and stood beneath the tree''s arching branches, then he reached in and pried the core out of the dead tree with little resistance.


    The violet orb pulsed once, then again, in a steady rhythm with his spiritual output as he began to saturate it with his own spiritual power to gain control of it. Once he did they would be free.


    Sweat beaded on his brow, but his expression remained composed like usual��steady, as though he were simply completing an everyday task.


    The others fanned out, knowing that there was nothing they could do to support him, their footsteps lost amidst the chamber''s silence. Even Pete, previously on the verge of collapsing, wandered toward a cluster of feathered foxes with gossamer tails��his eyes wide with wonder, fatigue is momentarily forgotten.


    Lina and Serena discussed the possibility of the crystals being like stasis pods��an advanced kind of suspended animation that the Empire had been supposedly researching.


    Serena theorized that the Sanctuary had been built with the intent of surviving some great disaster��likely related to the Abyss.


    Serena pointed out faint runes on the floor, possibly a ritual circle, now dulled with time and unreadable.


    Malzahir crouched beside a floating crystal containing a mermaid-like figure with hair like liquid silver. Considering he''d been raised in the desert and had never seen the ocean or any aquatic creatures, he seemed especially curious about the people that looked to be half human and half fish. He pressed his fingers to the surface in wonder and curiosity but recoiled at the faint thrum beneath��like touching a heart encased in glass.


    All of them eventually tried the same thing: bringing the massive crystals into their storage rings, only for nothing to happen. This further supported the theory that those encased in crystals are likely still alive��and thus, unable to be brought into the space rings.


    But Kain didn''t have that limitation.


    Kain stood quietly in the shadow of one of the biggest crystals, out of sight of the others, his eyes skimming over the faces preserved in the nearby crystals. So many species. So much history. Lost. Hidden. Frozen.


    And ripe for the taking.


    The thought didn''t just tempt him. It practically consumed him. Every molecule of his being with an interest in scientific research couldn''t resist the combination of ancient with the futuristic alien technology provided by the System.


    Thousands of rare or extinct species��each one potentially powerful, unique, or valuable beyond reckoning. A priceless library of genetics. Any researcher, any organization, would kill for the right to control even one of these creatures. And he could have them all.


    ''The System could easily scan them, categorize them, hold them without any strain�� but how to do it without alerting the others...''


    He looked down at his palm. All it would take was a touch. One thought. The System could siphon the entire Sanctuary into the Storage Hall in minutes.


    But��


    He frowned.


    Was it truly the right thing to do? After all, they were creatures of this world, and he essentially wanted to take them away to fulfill his scientific curiosity about each of them��


    These creatures weren''t just specimens or assets. They were people. Possibly families. Pairs deliberately preserved. Each crystal held a cultural history, a bloodline, a story.


    Kain clenched his fist.


    The pragmatic part of him argued. ''What if someone else gets here? What if another group finds this place after us and before the Empire can send more people and take them? At least I have a reason to keep them safe. I can study them. Protect them.''


    He exhaled slowly but suddenly a System notification stopped his internal debate.


    Ding


    *Alert: A large amount of genetic material suitable for the Cradle is detected*


    *Source Energy originally directed to restore the Training Arena can be redirected to instead unlock the Cradle*


    *Would you like to unlock the Cradle?*


    >Yes


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat at the timely notification from the System, and, although he missed the Training Arena, knew what his best option was. However, he couldn''t resist making one last snarky comment: ''What''s the point of even asking when you''re only giving one option?'' Kain thought with a roll of his eyes, about to click the button.


    But before he could select ''yes'' the System window disappeared and his heart skipped a beat wondering if he''d blown the opportunity.


    Ding


    *Alert: A large amount of genetic material suitable for the Cradle is detected*


    *Source Energy originally directed to restore the Training Arena can be redirected to instead unlock the Cradle*


    *Would you like to unlock the Cradle?*


    >''Yes. Although I am an idiot, I know that much''


    >''Yes. I''m only mostly incompetent, not entirely.''


    >''Yes. Thank you, oh wise System, for showing mercy to this feeble-minded moron.''


    Kain: "��"

 Chapter 555 - 555: Exit

    Kain''s face twisted briefly before he tapped one of the System''s snide options randomly��after all, they all had the same effect and he didn''t particularly want to acknowledge which insulting option was ultimately selected.


    So he didn''t even register which one he picked. He just jabbed aggressively at the screen like someone swatting an annoying fly��''a fitting analogy��'' Kain thought about his often irritating partner.


    But after making his selection. The screen simply vanished.


    He waited.


    And waited.


    But nothing happened.


    The chamber remained eerily still, no great unlocking, no dramatic swirl of energy, no bright pulse of light. The creatures trapped in the massive crystals didn''t stir. Their poses remained frozen, their expressions untouched. Kain frowned.


    Then came a quiet ding.


    [Alert: Objective completed. Genetic archive successfully acquired. Please enter the Cradle for more information.]


    "��What?" he muttered aloud.


    His eyes darted around, but everything looked exactly the same. He extended his senses, searching for a change in aura, energy levels, anything. Still nothing. No creatures missing, no crystals broken, no visual confirmation of anything having changed at all.


    Yet beneath that stillness, there was an almost imperceptible shift in atmosphere��like the ghost of something precious being stolen from under their noses. It was the kind of silence that followed a crime unnoticed��or it may just be Kain''s slightly guilty conscience due to feeling like he''s acting under his allies'' noses.


    If this ''genetic archive'' had really been taken by the System... then it had been done quietly. Discreetly. The way a thief might slip a coin from behind a merchant''s stall.


    He''d have to enter the System itself to see what exactly had been taken.


    Before he could act, the ground trembled.


    Boom Boom Bang


    A violent jolt shook the chamber, followed by a low groaning rumble that rose up from the earth like a distant avalanche. Dust spilled from the ceiling. Crystals swayed ever so slightly in their fields of energy.


    Boom Bang


    Then a second quake struck��sharper, more violent.


    Everyone immediately turned, tense and ready.


    "What was that?" Pete asked, staggering forward, eyes wide as he instinctively reached for his weapon.


    "The abomination," Kain said coldly, voice clipped. "It found us again."


    Lina gasped. "But I thought only species allowed could enter the Sanctuary. No spiritual creatures without authorization��"


    "It''s not technically a spiritual creature. Not to mention, as a byproduct of the creators of these ruins, it may just have authorization. Or it may not��," Serena murmured. She placed a hand on a glowing crystal-embedded wall that was beginning to crumble from the ruckus outside. "Time has a way of weakening all things, the restrictions may not be so great on a creature so powerful after all this time. It sounds like it is forcing its way through."


    The crystal under her hand trembled again, thin cracks spidering across its smooth surface. A low, keening whine echoed faintly��almost like the room was groaning under the strain of an immense weight.


    Zareth stumbled slightly as he stepped back from the tree, his hand still glowing faintly violet from where he''d finished linking with the relic core. Sweat drenched his hair, and he looked pale��but he gave them a weak smile.


    "��It''s time to go," he said hoarsely.


    A collective exhale swept the group.


    "Oh, thank the gods," Pete muttered, slumping with relief.


    Malzahir sighed deeply, casting one final glance toward the preserved merfolk.


    Even Serena and Lina looked reluctant as their eyes drifted back to the many frozen faces. Strange, wondrous creatures. Silent witnesses to a past they could barely imagine. sea??h th�� N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We can''t just leave them," Lina whispered. "What if that thing breaks in?"


    Serena frowned, her brow furrowed in worry. "They can''t defend themselves. They''ve been preserved for who knows how long. If it destroys them��"


    "They''ll be fine," Zareth interrupted gently, his voice conveying a reassuring certainty and authority. "Now that I''ve controlled the core, I understand the relic a bit better. Although its ultimate goal is not fully clear to me, I know that its issue is with us. This Sanctuary was made to remain sealed unless permitted otherwise. It allowed us in, yes��like Serena said wards preventing our approach may have weakened, or humans were always allowed in as one of the creators of this place��Why we could enter doesn''t matter since when we, the invaders, leave��" He exhaled slowly. "It will stop trying."


    Kain''s eyes narrowed. "How can you be so sure?" Unlike the others who were immediately relieved he was still reluctant to leave all these frozen people here. After all, the other had no way of taking them all��if given enough time, he realistically could.


    "I don''t know," Zareth admitted. "I just feel it. And the relic does too. It''s not designed to destroy everything in its path��it''s designed to wait. To guard these ruins. And once we''re gone, it can do that again."


    The others exchanged glances, uncertain but trusting. One by one, they nodded.


    Pete looked back toward the feathered foxes. "Guess this is goodbye, weird fluffy fellas."


    Malzahir whispered something in his native language no one, not even Kain, understood, brushing his fingertips once more against the crystal holding the mermaid.


    Kain lingered the longest. His eyes roved across the field of preserved beings. Something about it still gnawed at him. But he knew he wouldn''t get any answers right now.


    They gathered around Zareth at the base of the dead tree, where the relic orb now floated steadily. The runes across the chamber began to shimmer faintly once more.


    A hum filled the space.


    Then a light��bright, clean, and colourless��rose from the orb and engulfed them.


    As it spread, the world around them blurred. Crystal. Stone. Dust. Creatures. Faces. All melted away into nothing but a pure, white glow.


    A final tremor rolled through the chamber just as the light consumed them, and far in the distance behind layers of rock, something massive roared.


    And then��


    The world around Kain faded to white.

 Chapter 556 - 556: Home

    Woosh sea??h th�� NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ugh��ptui-ptui!" Kain couldn''t help recoiling and spitting out a mouthful of sand that had blown into his mouth.


    Kain''s heavy eyelids remained closed.


    But he didn''t need sight to know that his surroundings had changed. The brittle chill that had clung to his skin like frostbite was gone. In its place came a dry warmth, heavy and pressing.


    A grainy, soft texture cradled his body��sand, he realized distantly, coarse and cushioning. A slow, arid breeze rustled his hair, teasing the edges of his clothing, while the long absent sunlight poured across his face with an intensity far stronger than he was used to.


    He grimaced and sat up slowly, fingers already tugging at the thick winter layers he no longer needed. The air clung to him, the heat making the fur-lined coats unbearable. Still squinting against the brightness behind his eyelids, he tugged the last sleeve free before opening his eyes.


    A pale wasteland stretched before him, dunes rippling in the distance. A familiar horizon. A familiar sun. They had made it back.


    His gaze swept across the sand until it caught the figures nearby��scattered, slowly stirring.


    Serena was already standing nearby a just-coming-to Malzahir, brushing grit from her sleeves with practiced grace. Lina knelt beside Zareth, who still looked drained from linking to the core so quickly��Kai remembered that in his previous mission that relic core had been steadily saturated with spiritual power over the course of days. But Zareth managed a shaky nod when Kain met his gaze. Pete was stretching with a groan, wincing at some pain in his side. And then there was��


    He froze. Counted again.


    Six of them.


    Six, if he counted Malzahir.


    Five, if he only counted the Order.


    They''d gone in with twelve team members. More than double their current number. And among those lost was their original team leader��Idrias. Yeah, they had ''succeeded'' in this mission, but it was hard to feel that way. Kain exhaled through his nose, jaw tight.


    Their bodies were still inside. Preserved in the cradle of that ancient relic. Alone. Cold. Waiting.


    But not forever.


    Zareth would return. The relic core now rested in his hands. Once he handed over the core to the Order, Kain was certain that others from the Order would come. They would recover their bodies. They had to.


    Movement drew Kain''s attention. Malzahir was still curled on the sand, the last to stir. It made sense��the man was the weakest among them since his cultivation was abolished, though he had shown remarkable endurance. But it wasn''t exhaustion, or a lack of physical strength, that kept him down.


    It was the look on his face. That blank, hollow stare toward the empty sky. The same look he''d had when they first met him in the ruins and he''d talked about going off on his own��beaten, betrayed, and emotionally broken.


    Kain walked over quietly. He crouched beside him, eyes steady. *"It''s not over,"* he said, voice low in a language the others, aside from Zareth, couldn''t quite understand. *"You know it. That pain you''re feeling��you know why it''s still there."*


    Malzahir didn''t respond at first. His hands trembled slightly, fingers digging into the sand.


    *"We''re going back to the Empire,"* Kain continued. *"If you want revenge��real revenge��not just pain thrown into the void, then come with me. I''ll help you get it. You''ve seen what I can do. You''ve felt it. So stop wasting time wallowing in confusion and self-pity and start doing something about it."*


    A silence stretched.


    Then Malzahir turned his head. His dark eyes met Kain''s��and for a long moment, he simply stared. But the emptiness was gone. Replaced with something harder. Sharper.


    Determination.


    *"I''ll come,"* he said quietly.


    Kain nodded once, stood, and offered his hand. Malzahir took it.


    The others had gathered by then. Serena gave the pair a small nod��of course, she had expected this outcome.


    But Pete blinked in surprise, and even Lina tilted her head with a questioning look. Zareth, also gave a brief surprised glance at the temporary addition to their team suddenly becoming a little more permanent.


    But none of them objected.


    Whatever doubts they may have held about the foreigner had been erased in the relic. Malzahir had survived and proven resourceful. He''d bled beside them. Fought beside them. And that was more than enough.


    Their small, scarred group turned toward a seemingly endless sea of sand with no distinguishing characteristics. Miles of desert stretched between them and home.


    ---------------


    It took them around five days to reach the southern border of the Empire.


    Five days of walking, rationing, and fighting.


    The desert gave nothing freely. Even the path home required blood.


    Still, no one else died.


    That fact alone felt like a miracle considering that they were now a much smaller, more exhausted, team than when they first entered the cruel desert.


    "Is that...?" Pete''s voice cracked from the dryness. He pointed, arm shaking slightly.


    There, beyond a thin ridge of dunes, stone pillars jutted from the horizon like the bones of a long-dead titan. The gate to the Empire''s southern watchpoint. It was the last checkpoint before entering the safer, patrolled lands of the Empire. A distant banner bearing the imperial crest rippled in the wind.


    Kain didn''t answer. He didn''t have to. They all saw it.


    Relief passed silently between them like smoke, no one voicing it in case it vanished like a mirage.


    They quickly closed the remaining distance, a sudden burst of adrenaline coursing through them with their destination in sight.


    Packed sand gave way to dry, cracked earth. The wind smelled different too��less of dust, more of heated stone and faint iron. And more importantly, people. Soldiers on patrol. Shouts from training yards. The clang of metal on metal. Civilization.


    Kain felt the weight in his chest loosen just slightly.


    "Thank the stars," Pete muttered. His knees almost buckled when they stepped onto the road.


    Lina let out a dry laugh. "You''ll thank the medic first, once we find one."


    They passed through the outer checkpoint without delay. The guards, seeing the insignia on Zareth''s cloak and the badges provided to them by the Order, saluted hastily and parted the gate. Kain noticed the way their eyes lingered on the state of them��filthy, sunburned, and half-dead. But no one questioned them.


    Inside was a variety of strange and familiar sights. Vendors selling food, armour, spiritual creatures, and specialty items only available in the south.


    Kain didn''t stop to appreciate it. His eyes drifted to Malzahir, who had said little since agreeing to join them.


    The foreigner walked with the group but never within it. Always just a half-step behind, as if waiting for someone to tell him to turn back. Kain hadn''t��because he wouldn''t. Not now.


    Malzahir caught him watching. "This place�� is your home?" he asked, voice low and hoarse.


    Kain shook his head. "Not quite. Just a step closer to it."


    A pause. Then, softer: "It''s weird."


    Kain smirked faintly. "Get used to it. It''ll be yours now too."

 Chapter 557 - 557: (Un)Welcome Guest

    Zareth checked out the largest suite available in the city��large enough for all 6 of them to lounge around comfortably while they waited around for the local staff to finish booting up the teleportation array.


    The room he had rented felt sterile in its luxury��high ceilings, pale marble floors, plush seating��but it couldn''t quite wash away the faint unease that clung to the group like damp clothes. Even the soft lighting and rich fabrics couldn''t mask how every single person sat just a bit too stiff, backs a bit too straight, eyes flickering more than they should, on guard for a sudden attack.


    One would think that they''d immediately be lounging around and resting in the warm embrace of their home country��but, while they were happy to be home, they were just as tense now as they were in the South.


    They were safe now. Above ground. Resting. Alive.


    But this kind of peace after a storm was often its own kind of uneasy.


    So used to frequent battles they still weren''t quite used to the idea of being ''safe''


    Kain lounged near the back of the room, Serena and Malzahir on either side of him, a drink untouched in his hand, his gaze flickering between Malzahir, next to him, and Zareth, on the other side of the room.


    The older man stood near the window, speaking into a sleek black phone, his voice low and clipped as he wrapped up some final confirmation. Unfortunately, Kain was only able to pick up a few words.


    "��yes. One outsider, accompanying the team��access... I''ll take responsibility." A pause. "Yes��questioning��understood��He''s not to wander around��of, course."


    Zareth hung up and turned back toward the room. "It''s done," he announced. "They''ll finish warming up the array in less than an hour. Then we''ll all leave."


    Silence answered him.


    Kain narrowed his eyes. "They''re letting Malzahir into the Headquarters?"


    "Temporarily��not quite," Zareth nodded. "They will hold him somewhere else nearby since they want to ask him a few questions."


    Malzahir, who had just finished his meal sent to the room, and froze. His shoulders locked up like stone, lips twitching downward into a scowl. *"So I''m to be detained."*


    *"No,"* Zareth said, switching languages, to hopefully calm Malzahir down. *"You''ll be hosted as a guest. There''s a difference."*


    Kain frowned. *"That sounds like the same thing. We''re not technically allowed to bring outsiders in. Come on, Zareth, he was our ally for weeks, be honest with us about what he is in for��"*


    *"I am being honest, Kain,"* Zareth replied, *"Obviously I don''t want anything to happen to him either. I''m telling you that this isn''t the first time, there are ways to grant provisional access to non-members for special investigations by the Dawnbringers. This is within the protocol."*


    Malzahir''s mouth flattened, and Kain also didn''t look comforted, *"And what will this ''investigation'' entail?"*


    Zareth met Kain''s gaze evenly before speaking directly to Malzahir. *"Questions. Answers. A sealed wing of the compound. Not a prison��but not open grounds either. If your story checks out, you leave. That''s all."*


    Neither Kain nor Malzahir looked remotely satisfied.


    Zareth, noticing their tension, spread his hands in the universal gesture of peace. *"Look, I understand. You have reasons to be cautious. I would too. But you''ll be fine. Just cooperate, and this will be over before you know it."*


    Kain''s jaw clenched. He didn''t want to say what he was thinking��that he didn''t trust the Order not to find a reason to make things harder. That the idea of losing Malzahir��someone who had proven to be both useful, trustworthy and, to Kain''s own surprise, likable��rubbed him the wrong way.


    Suddenly he felt a warmth covering his hand.


    His eyes flicked downward in surprise, to identify what it was��Serena''s hand, lightly covering his own. Soft. Steady. Her fingers didn''t squeeze or tremble, just rested there as though it were the most natural thing in the world.


    He blinked.


    Then looked up, his expression uncertain.


    Serena met his gaze, cool and calm. "It''s alright," she said softly. "I think it''ll be okay."


    "��You think?" he echoed.


    "I like Malzahir," she said simply, as though that settled it. "I wouldn''t say this if I didn''t mean it. He''s not dangerous. Not to us��he doesn''t even have a contract. And I''m sure Zareth already filled him in on everything he did for us, his current status, and that his reason for entering the Empire is to repay you, his saviour." She finished, emphasizing a logical backstory that Kain and Malzahir hadn''t yet even thought about coming up with.


    Kain stared at her. It was always hard to read her��the kind of hard that made him more irritated than he wanted to admit��but her unshakable confidence immediately got rid of most of his anxiety.


    She tilted her head a little, her hand still over his. "Besides, this has precedent. The Starchasers I was on a mission with once found someone from overseas hiding out in the Empire''s eastern forests. We brought them back. The Dawnbringers only wanted to check if they were spies. They cleared them and let them go."


    Malzahir listened quietly, saying nothing. His expression was unreadable. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Order will be suspicious," Serena continued. "But if they find nothing suspicious, they''ll let him leave. No scars. No torture��Although you guys may need to be prepared to be followed for a period of time."


    Kain took a long breath and glanced sideways at Malzahir.


    *"Did you understand?��You okay with this?"*


    Malzahir''s eyes flicked to him. Then to Serena. Then to Zareth.


    A long moment passed before he nodded.


    *"��Fine,"* he muttered. *"It''s not as though I can refuse anyways..."*


    The hour passed in uneasy quiet. No one really spoke, but the tension gradually unravelled. Serena withdrew her hand at some point��Kain hadn''t noticed when��but her words lingered.


    When a soft chime rang out from the doorframe, Zareth stood.


    "They''re ready," he said.


    They made their way to the building with the teleportation wing. While tense, Malzahir couldn''t help glancing around at everything like a curious child.


    The staff on duty gave Zareth a respectful nod, typing something into the console next to one of multiple teleportation arrays.

 Chapter 558 - 558: Silent Pact

    Kain stepped onto the platform last, just behind Malzahir. And while out of sight of the others, he gave a signal to the already released Bea, who released her newly acquired mental field to only envelop Malzahir.


    Thanks to Serena''s reminder, Kain had finally realized he and Malzahir were very ill-prepared for the questioning.


    Not only did they not vet backstories against one another, but he also made no countermeasures against mental-attribute skills. And most Dawnbringers, as the counter-intelligence division of the Order, possess mental-attribute abilities. Meaning that rather than torturing him for answers, Malzahir would likely be controlled or hypnotized for them. S~ea??h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain is already resistant to mental control��especially since Bea got stronger. However, Malzahir as an ordinary person now, would be extremely easy to get talking.


    Fortunately, since Malzahir is an ordinary person, they likely won''t assign a Dawnbringer stronger than 6-stars. Therefore, whoever questions him likely won''t be able to detect Bea.


    "Hold tight," Zareth said. "This version''s smoother than the older public models, but it still feels a little uncomfortable."


    The light swelled.


    The world warped.


    And the world snapped back into place with a jolt that left Kain''s stomach doing a lazy spin. He blinked and staggered once��but quickly found his balance. Not bad. He barely felt sick anymore.


    Then came the sound.


    "BLAAAAGHHHHH!!"


    Kain turned.


    Malzahir was hunched over on all fours, gagging violently into the polished white floor. His hair stuck to his face, his entire body trembling.


    *"Holy, merciful Gods. Ugh�� please make it stop,"* Malzahir groaned, eyes glassy. *"Death would be preferable��take me away"*


    Kain blinked.


    And then��much to his own dismay��he found himself smiling. Just a little.


    "��Yeah," he murmured. "Been there."


    ---------------------


    The walls of the debriefing center were white. Stark, clean, clinical. The kind of white that erased warmth, personality, and doubt all at once.


    Kain sat on one of the obsidian-backed chairs, legs spread, fingers loosely laced in front of him while a nondescript Dawnbringer moved about with a specialized artifact scanning his space ring.


    "Please don''t move," the man said, not looking up.


    Kain didn''t. Not because he trusted the man, but because he''d prepared for this exact moment. The space ring only had what he wanted them to see: a few potion vials, some objects from the relic, and survival supplies. Everything else��anything he wanted to keep for himself��had been stored in the System.


    A few meters away, Pete was undergoing the same procedure. He grumbled under his breath, looking half-asleep. Lina looked way too used to this procedure by now. Zareth stood patiently, already finished and simply waiting for them all to be cleared. Serena was last to arrive, walking in with the grace of someone who didn''t care how long they''d been waiting.


    When the scanner finally let out a soft chime and the artifact''s glow dimmed, the Dawnbringer gave a short nod.


    "You''re clear," he said, dismissing Kain with a wave.


    Kain stood, rolling his shoulder as he stepped away. Not long after, a familiar pulse tickled the edge of his consciousness. It was Bea, linking back up through the faint mental tether between them.


    ''It''s done,'' she reported. ''Malzahir has been released.''


    Kain didn''t move. Didn''t even blink. But the knot of tension he''d been carrying for the last couple of hours during his debriefing and then this final inspection, slowly began to loosen.


    ''The details?'' And soon enough Bea provided a detailed play-by-play of everything experienced.


    As expected. They didn''t waste energy interrogating him properly. The Dawnbringer in charge of him used a contract with low to mid-tier hypnotic influence. Likely because Malzahir was an ordinary person now and so they assumed he''d be helpless against even that. Therefore, the opponent was too weak to sense Bea''s presence in Malzahir, or that she was manipulating his memories so that he could say nothing about the ''more unique actions of Kain in the relic. Like absorbing energy from the crystals, or the abominations targeting him mostly, or about how he thought about ''eating'' his allies��


    A slow breath slid from Kain''s nose. Good.


    ''They believed everything,'' Bea added smugly. ''Sloppy work. How can that kind of creature even be considered to be suitable for interrogation? It is incomparable to me.''


    ''Their complacency worked in our favour,'' Kain replied. ''Don''t get cocky.''


    He didn''t add that her pride and personality developed from when he''d first contracted her, was starting to mirror his own��just a little. It felt dangerous��but oddly reassuring too. At the very least, he could rely on her to go rogue and make split-second decisions he''d agree with if they were in a situation they couldn''t communicate.


    He looked up just in time to see Serena step through the doorway, her cloak fluttering slightly behind her. Her gaze swept the room, unhurried, and landed on him. Just for a second.


    Then she nodded.


    Tiny. Almost imperceptible. But Kain caught it.


    A quiet acknowledgment. A silent confirmation.


    She wasn''t going to say anything either.


    The three of them��Kain, Serena, Malzahir��held a thread of knowledge in their hands, and not one of them seemed inclined to unravel it. The others hadn''t noticed anything about Kain''s ''eccentricities''. Or if they had, they hadn''t said a word or questioned him in depth about anything.


    Kain glanced toward the far hall where Malzahir had been led earlier. He hadn''t reappeared yet, but Bea''s confirmation was enough for now. When he did return, no one would look at him any differently. No alarms. No surveillance.


    No secrets spilled.


    He thought about how easily it could have gone wrong. If Serena hadn''t warned him. If Bea hadn''t been fast or discrete enough. If the Dawnbringer had been more powerful. The whole illusion would have crumbled. But it didn''t. Because all three of them chose silence. Out of loyalty, out of self-preservation�� or maybe just out of fear for Kain of what would happen if the truth got out.


    But so long as the three of them stayed silent�� the truth stayed buried.

 Chapter 559 - 559: “We Were Gone for How Long?”

    Soon enough all of their team members, including Malzahir had regrouped in a private room. Not only to say their goodbyes but also to exchange information.


    After all, when they had left the Empire, the Abyss was a real threat to everyday life. Not to mention that even before the Abyss there were terrorist attacks and a secret organization kidnapping civilians to experiment on.


    With the turmoil and unrest in the Empire seeming to grow daily, one could only imagine how many major events had occurred since they were gone.


    After all, they had been stuck in that relic for several months, right?


    "Actually no," Zareth said upon questioning from Lina about how the Empire has changed since they were gone for months. "According to the staff I spoke with, It took us between 5-7 days to travel each way due to variables in our travel time, and we had been away for only 20 days in total."


    ��?


    ''20 days��that makes absolutely no sense.''


    Everyone else must have also looked equally confused because Zareth elaborated. "It can be easily confirmed once you go back so there''s no reason to lie. But it seems that despite all of the time we experienced inside of the relic, only about a��maybe not even that long��has passed in reality. Which in a sense is reasonable, thousands of years had passed since those ruins were built and yet we were still able to find relatively intact objects that only lacked a charge. Considering that the ultimate goal of the ruins seems to be the preservation of various species and their heritage, it seems like a large amount of energy in that relic was used to slow down the passing of time. However, due to the weakening of various sigils, the effect is likely not as good as when they were first made, but it has still slowed down the passage of time by seemingly around 15 to 20 times."


    Silence. Likely to fill the awkwardness and perk everyone up, Zareth tried to alleviate the atmosphere, "The Order is considering opening it up as a new training ground. The time difference would accelerate the supply of high-level forces to the Empire. Not to mention, since only three weeks had passed in reality, you all can more easily get back to your normal lives."


    Kain exchanged a glance with Serena and said under his breath to her, "I guess this means we''ve lost any hope of breaking the record for the biggest ranking drop in school history."


    When they''d first begun the mission, they''d still had around 2 and a half months until the next Re-ranking. S��arch* The n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now they were finding out that only 20 days had passed. Meaning that they still had more than a month��1 month and 3 weeks specifically��to prepare for the re-ranking they''d thought was already a done deal.


    A look of schadenfreude appeared on Kain''s face, "My apologies in advance for having to be downgraded to the rank 2 position" He said while giving Serena an obnoxious pat on the shoulder in faux comfort. After all, he was now a full level higher than her and, by the time of the re-ranking, aimed to have most, if not all, of his contracts breakthrough. For the first time ever, he was the stronger party if one only looked at the cultivation level.


    Serena merely rolled her eyes while slapping away the hand trying to ''comfort'' her.


    However, despite Kain''s wishes she didn''t look worried at all.


    "Since 3 weeks had passed, there have been a couple of major events but not too much has changed. You can find out what interests you when you all head back home."


    Zareth''s summary seemed to mark the end of the conversation, and one by one, people began shifting, stretching, mentally preparing to return to their own paths.


    "Well��" Pete said, standing up and stretching his large body. They''d only been back a day and his form was already much chubbier than when they''d first arrived. "It was a nightmare. But thanks for not letting me die, I guess."


    "Same," Lina added, arms crossed but lips twitching into a sad smile, likely thinking about Jamie. "It was awful, but�� not the worst crew I''ve run with."


    Zareth gave a slight bow. "I''ll be submitting a full report to the Order. Hopefully, we can work together again��"


    "Ahem," Kain cut in. "I think it''s a little soon to be discussing going on another mission." Not to mention they were in separate divisions. A mission requiring both the Pathfinders and Starchasers again can''t be easy��Kain naturally had little desire to work with him again.


    Sensing this, Zareth smirked faintly, unoffended.


    As the farewells began in earnest, Malzahir gave everyone a crooked, tired smile. "Don''t take this the wrong way��but I hope I never have to see any of you again." He said in stuttering but relatively fluent Imperial tongue.


    Pete gave him a mock salute. "None taken. I don''t particularly enjoy being thrown up on."


    Now that Kain thought about it, Malzahir had been right behind Pete when they''d first teleported, and Pete''s shirt did seem to have been changed��


    Malzahir muttered. *"Teleportation should be illegal."*


    Eventually, the trio peeled off from the rest. Malzahir was soon led away by an assistant from the teleportation bureau to wait for them at the departure area since he wasn''t permitted to wander around. Meanwhile, Kain and Serena made use of their newly acquired credits to purchase what they needed.


    They moved efficiently.


    Materials were sorted into categories. Bea, having evolved, no longer required anything. Aegis and Queen, however, did.


    Thankfully, as a red dragon, Vauleth was likely not yet close to a bottleneck, although much of his profile had been weirdly censored, so Kain couldn''t be 100% sure.


    They met Malzahir again in the same waiting chamber they''d used after their first arrival. He looked a little less uneasy at being alone in an unfamiliar place��less pale, slightly less twitchy��than when they''d first arrived. When he saw them, he perked up.


    Soon enough, the final clearances were given. The runes activated, the silver circle lit beneath their feet, and a familiar sense of warping displacement overtook them all.


    And when it cleared��they were back. Back in Dark Moon City


    They were home.


    "blarrrrrggghhhhhh!"


    Unfortunately, the happy moment was ruined by the sensation of something smelly, warm and wet suddenly hitting his back.

 Chapter 560 - 560: A Warm Welcome Back

    Exhausted from the long mission and not having a good night''s rest in what felt like months, Kain and Serena immediately wanted to head back to the College dorms.


    However, first, Kain brought Malzahir to the building he''d previously gotten as a temporary HQ for his meetings with Darius and any others he chooses to help awaken. Thankfully he had the foresight to add sleeping quarters to the building.


    After sending off messages to his family, friends, and his business associates like Collin, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.


    His soft, high thread count, pillow.


    ''Ahhh�� this is the life��''


    Kain had no desire to pick up any more missions for a long time, he couldn''t help thinking before everything faded to black.


    -------------------


    When Kain woke, it was now bright out.


    Sunlight poured in through the dorm windows, casting gentle streaks across the floor. For a brief, blissful second, he considered turning over and going back to sleep. But the dryness in his throat and the vague sense that he was forgetting something finally pushed him upright.


    He blinked blearily and reached for his phone, which lay face down on the nightstand.


    It was still powered off.


    Kain frowned. He could''ve sworn he''d left it on. Maybe it died at some point during the night. He held the power button for a few seconds until the screen lit up, and leaned back against the headboard with a yawn while it booted.


    Then��


    BZZT. BZZT. BZZT. BZZZZZ. BZZZZZ. BZZZZZ.


    The phone vibrated so violently it nearly leapt out of his hands.


    247 new messages.


    15 missed calls. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    3 voicemails.


    Unread inboxes: Family, Collin, Darius plus god knows how many.


    "��What the hell."


    He swiped through the notification bar, eyebrows lifting higher and higher.


    Messages from his family came first. The director and Bridge first, followed by the rest of his siblings. All filled with relief.


    ---------


    Director: "I knew you''d be fine, but please check in more often!"


    Bridge: "About time you came back."


    Cherry: "Kainnnn!! Did you bring back any souvenirs for me???"


    Jasper: "We were taking bets on how long it''d take you. I said 20 days. I won."


    Melody: "Come visit, please. I miss you."


    Milo: "Welcome back."


    ��.


    --------


    Kain smiled faintly. He typed out a quick message to all of them, promising to visit soon and reassuring them that everything was fine.


    Then came Collin''s messages. Dozens of them, organized in bullet-point summaries. Straight to business like always:


    --------


    Collin: "Quarterly report finalized. Numbers up 37% from last month."


    Collin: "Three new knockoff spiritual beer brands popped up in the Capital. Sent cease-and-desist."


    Collin: Surprisingly all knockoff suppliers in the Eastern region and even the Southern regions seem to be gone.


    Collin: "Meeting request from Lord Alaric Veylen. You mentioned no longer wishing to socialize with him. Meeting declined."


    Collin: "Your share of last month''s sales profits deposited. Check ledger."


    Collin: "A certified issuer certificate has been issued to almost 8000 bars and restaurants across the Empire."


    Collin: "Updated storage security. We had a breach attempt. No losses."


    Collin: "Spiritual beer demand exceeded projections. We''ll need a new brewing facility within the month."


    Collin: "Warehouse 3 is ready. Staff already rotated in."


    Collin: "When you''re back, we need 30 minutes minimum. A few things require your decision."


    --------


    Kain groaned softly, already feeling a headache coming on. But then he reached the largest stack of messages by far:


    Darius.


    Dozens upon dozens of them.


    Kain scrolled. Then scrolled more. And scrolled again.


    And with each message, his brows crept lower into a deepening furrow.


    They hadn''t contacted him while he was away, respecting the blackout, but now that he was back��


    The threads were increasingly unhinged.


    ------


    Darius: "Mission done. Sort of. You�� might want to call us."


    Darius: "We got rid of the knockoff vendors like you asked. All of them. Permanently. I think."


    Darius: "We didn''t technically break any laws. But if anyone comes to talk to you, you don''t know us."


    Darius: "Okay but like, hypothetically, if a building explodes but no one reports it��"


    Darius: "Can someone explain why there''s a goat in our van? It bit me"


    Darius: "Sorry. Wrong group chat."


    ------


    "��What?"


    Kain stared blankly at the screen for a long moment.


    He rubbed at his temple, slowly lowering the phone. "It was just supposed to be a basic clean-up job��"


    So much for a vacation.


    He swung his legs out of bed and stood with a groan, muttering under his breath as he reached for a clean shirt.


    "Alright. Let''s go see what disaster they caused..."


    But just as he turned to toss the phone aside and get ready to leave another flood of vibrations buzzed through his hand.


    A fresh batch of notifications. Except this time, they weren''t from anyone he recognized.


    Names not saved in his phone. People he definitely didn''t remembered giving his number to. And people that definitely shouldn''t know that he was back yet since he didn''t tell them��


    ------


    [UNKNOWN]: "is it true ur back?! omggggg ???????? welcome home legend ????????????"


    [UNKNOWN]: "he came back alive from the wilderness�� our planner prince fr ????"


    [UNKNOWN]: "pls come to my store grand opening?? i named it ''Kainspiration''. It mainly sells merchandise for the ''Kain Fan Club''????????"


    [UNKNOWN]: "how do I get my contract to evolve like yours ???? it''s a Vespirae Queen too, like yours was, but it''s so weak in comparison"


    ------


    Kain blinked.


    He scrolled again. The sheer volume was absurd��hundreds of texts, mostly compliments, a few mildly creepy, and a shocking number asking for consultations.


    "...I have a fan club?"


    He frowned, opening one particularly persistent thread at the top. The contact name had hearts on either side (he had absolutely zero knowledge of adding this contact himself��), and the chat was�� long.


    ------


    ????Alaina Ashenclaw????


    [11:23 PM] "Hi Kain!!! I know you''re super busy being amazing and mysterious and powerful but I FELT that you were back�� we must have such a deep connection ????"


    [12:01 AM] "I passed by your dorm building last night (just coincidentally!! haha don''t be weird ????) and I SWEAR I saw the lights flicker. You''re back, right? You''re back."


    [2:45 AM] "I tried to deliver you breakfast but the security around the top 5 dorms is so tight. I will try again in the morning. ????"


    [3:10 AM] "I am so happy I got into the same College as you! Isn''t that fate??? I decided to take some elective Evolutionary Planning courses this semester, we have so much in common ??."


    [5:17 AM] "The security wouldn''t let me in again. They''re so annoying! Please tell them when you wake up about how close we are!"


    [7:02 AM] "Anyway text me when you''re free!! Or I''ll find you first teehee ????"


    --------


    Kain slowly locked his phone after reading that last (threatening?) message.


    Stared at the wall.


    And let out a long, hollow sigh.

 Chapter 561 - 561: Rotten Brew

    Three weeks ago��


    After confirming that the behind-the-scenes backer of the Golden Brew Syndicate, who was responsible for making the majority of the low-quality knockoff spiritual beers in the eastern region, was the much larger Black Vine Consortium, Darius and his team were determined to tackle not only the Golden Brew Syndicate but the Black Vine Consortium.


    First things first, Miya��under the cover name Mary��got jobs for Jax, Garret and Lira. They posed as skilled labourers to help with their move to the south. And since they had no spiritual power, and Reginald was a 2-star beast-tamer, he had no guard against them��Especially not after having a ''one-on-one chat'' with both men and confirming neither of the two had any ideas about ''Mary''��she was his! Although he readily welcomed the addition of the female Lira.


    "Blegh! Like either of us would be interested in her��ouch!" Jax let out a screech of pain as the sharp point of a heel came stabbing down onto his foot.


    "I told you to stop running your mouth," Miya said sweetly, not looking up from where she was writing something down on her clipboard.


    Then Miya kicked Garret in the shin, where he was sneaking sips of the beer. She couldn''t help grimacing in disgust knowing that the hygiene of this facility was less than ideal.


    "Get to work. The sooner we get to the south the sooner we can put this whole mission behind us."


    --------


    The Golden Brew Syndicate''s new Southern Region facility was, in a word, disgusting.


    The Golden Brew Syndicate had packed up and shifted to the outskirts of a smaller trade town nestled just outside of Black Vine territory��close enough to coordinate shipments, far enough from the most populated areas to avoid getting scrutinized too closely. The perfect setup�� for now.


    Jax wrinkled his nose as he stepped inside, the stench of mildew, stale beer, and something suspiciously rotten hitting him like a brick. "You know, I''ve been in sewers that smelled better than this."


    Miya, still in her Mary persona, batted her eyelashes at Reginald. "Oh, Mr. Reginald, I just know someone as brilliant as you will turn this place into something wonderful!"


    Reginald puffed out his chest, oblivious to her sarcasm. "Of course, my dear! With my expertise and your charm, we''ll dominate the Southern market in no time!"


    Garret leaned over to Jax and muttered, "I give it a month before this place collapses on itself."


    Jax snorted. "Generous."


    They continued undercover for a couple more days before it was finally time to make a move. In a dusty storage room filled with barrels and at least three kinds of rodents, Miya started the meeting.


    "Alright," Miya began one night, unfolding a rough map on a crate between them, "I found out that Reginald has a secret meeting in the next town over tomorrow."


    "We''re tailing him," Darius, the leader who was snuck into the facility by them, said firmly. "Tomorrow. We will take the usual formation, except this time Garret, you''ll take the rear."


    Garret blinked. "Wait. Why am I in the rear?"


    "Because the last time we put you in front," Lira answered instead with a smirk, "you sneezed on the lookout and blew our whole cover."


    "It was allergy season!"


    Unfortunately, the tailing group was disappointed to discover that this ''secret meeting'' was simply a collapse into depravity.


    The establishment, if one could even call it that, was an underground den bathed in lurid red light and thick with the stench of sweat, alcohol, and an unidentifiable sweetness.


    Reginald stormed in like a conquering hero, throwing bills by the handful at scantily clad female attendants who squealed and scrambled to catch them. On a sagging velvet couch, he lounged like a king of rot, his belly exposed and glistening with spilled alcohol as he beckoned women with slurred promises of being with a man who would be the future owner of a spiritual beer empire.


    More disturbing than the groping or the incoherent toasts was the sickly yellow substance he kept chugging and passing around from a sealed, rune-marked flask��something that shimmered unnaturally and caused the veins under his skin to briefly darken to an off-putting black after drinking it.


    At one point, he dunked a woman''s head into a bowl filled with the same glowing fluid while screaming that it would "bless her to become one of the chosen ones."


    ''He''s insane��''


    From their hidden perch behind a broken partition, the group watched in a unified stunned silence.


    Miya couldn''t help but lower her head in embarrassment that the urgent information she''d brought back to the group had only amounted to this.


    --------


    After a couple more days of tailing Reginald amounting to nothing, Darius chose to take a drastic measure that would hopefully expedite the process of obtaining information.


    It all began one day when Darius, as the only one not undercover under Reginald, was tailing the rotund owner.


    He followed him to an isolated area of the town that was filled with the horrible smell of sewage��likely close to a sewage treatment plant.


    ''That explains why nobody is around��ugh'' Darius couldn''t resist gagging as he covered his nose but then the thick scent in the air seemed to stick to the roof of his mouth and leave a slight indescribable��flavour.


    He gagged again. S��arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Composing himself, he managed to pick up snippets of conversation between Reginald and some of his most trusted staff members that moved with him and also spotted an unfamiliar man from, Darius assumed, the Black Vine Consortium.


    "Enough time has passed for you to settle down. The Consortium wants you to begin the next stage of operation and begin adding the��extra ingredients." Said one of the men from the Black Vine Consortium.


    Reginald and the other men then began to converse in a lower voice that Darrius couldn''t quite hear. Darius, fed up with his vantage point being too far away, decided to take a rather reckless action��he jumped in and entered the conversation himself.


    Darius had advanced to the equivalent of a 2-star beast-tamer, his spiritual power now a bright crimson. Moreover, his contract, an extremely talented jellyfish, had already reached orange-grade��one level higher than himself and should be enough to handle the crew with nobody stronger than 2-stars, poor talent and weak contracts. Thankfully, all of the other individuals present were limited to being unawakened or 1 and 2-star beast-tamers, so he wasn''t too worried about his safety.


    Not to mention there were 3 unique skills of his contract that he''d always wanted to test��

 Chapter 562 - 562:

    Heavy footsteps approached. A voice clicked its tongue nearby.


    "Is this the guy? The one who jumped in like a madman?"


    "Yes, sir."


    Though Darius planned to ''faint'' after being hit with a club, the flimsy club broke instead, but he still managed to feign weakness and get tied to an old metal chair inside the abandoned building.


    Reginald and his accomplices, thinking he must be a pretty powerful beast-tamer to dive in so bravely, tied each of his limbs with about ten cable ties.


    "Connected to the government?"


    "Doesn''t seem like it." Replied one henchman after handing over everything they''d found from frisking Darius to Reginald and his accomplice from the Black Vine Consortium.


    "Why are you uncertain? Didn''t you check properly?"


    "No government ID, just a driver''s license in his jacket pocket. From what I can sense of his energy though, he should be a 2-star tamer" Said the member of the Black Vine Consortium Reginald was meeting with��who also happened to be a 2-star beast-tamer.


    "How does a guy who''s only a 2-star tamer have the guts?��He looks too clean to be a drug addict who sniffed something and crawled here."


    "He doesn''t show any signs of mutating from the drug either."


    "Well, we''ll find out by asking him."


    Reginald, who had been muttering to himself, lit a cigarette.


    "Hey, wake him up. We don''t have time."


    "Yes, boss!"


    There was a flurry of movement. Someone grabbed Darius'' hair roughly and pulled him up into a sitting position. Unable to see, he used his other senses and heard the sound of sloshing water. Darius twitched his closed eyes. Surely they wouldn''t do something as barbaric as pouring sewage water on him��


    Splash! A cold, disturbingly thick, water hit him forcefully.


    ''Dammit, they really did it!''


    Judging by the salty-bitter and disgusting smell and taste, it seemed they had scooped water directly from a source nearby��it definitely wasn''t clean though. His head and upper body were completely soaked.


    ''Damn it, I''m not even asleep.'' Darius gritted his teeth discreetly.


    ''Maybe I should have just beaten them all up from the start��''


    Someone approached Darius, who was soaking wet from the dirty water, both in body and mind. A man cracked his knuckles, making bone-cracking sounds, and barked at him.


    "Hey, you bastard, I can see you rolling your eyes under your eyelids. If you''re awake, get up quickly��"


    Something flew toward his face this time. Judging by the speed and the flow of the air, it seemed to be a fist. Darius remained seated, eyes closed, only wiggling his toes.


    "Open your eyes!"


    Thwack! A feather-light punch landed on his cheek.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds��


    "Ahhh!"


    The scream erupted from somewhere other than Darius''s mouth. Darius finally opened his eyes slightly. The henchman of Reginald who had thrown the punch was hopping in place, clutching his reddened, swollen fist. The dim lighting reflected off his closely shaved head, flickering like a chaotic strobe light.


    "My, my hand!"


    As he hopped around as if his feet were on fire, the other thugs surrounding him jeered.


    "Hey, stop whining, you idiot!"


    "What''s with the fuss after hitting his face with your fist?"


    "It''s not fussing, I''m telling you!"


    The henchman (Darius will call henchman number 1), clutched his fist and explained with tears in his eyes, while one of the men in the group laughed loudly.


    "If it''s fussing, you''re dead. Let''s see."


    "I''m serious! Ah��"


    "��Huh?"


    The face of henchman number 2 who was checking the fist of henchman 1, stiffened a bit. He scratched his head in disbelief as he turned the hand back and forth.


    "This guy''s hand really seems broken."


    "What?"


    "No, did he coat his face in metal? Why is his fist shattered after hitting his face?"


    "Now that you mention it, I did hit that guy''s head with a wooden plank earlier, and the plank broke."


    "What the hell? Is he a stone head? Is that his gift?"


    The thugs around him gathered and murmured in confusion. This situation was troubling. Darius had been hoping to use the guise of being at their mercy to instead extract information from them. After all, even just the questions they choose to ask will be telling��


    Unfortunately, the kidnappers were much weaker than Darius had expected, making it difficult for him to even feign weakness. Admittedly, although he knew the skills of his contract that he was relying on were quite strong, he had still underestimated its strength. His contract wasn''t only the most beautiful (in his opinion), resembling an iridescent glowing cross between a jellyfish and squid. The description of his contract and its skills provided to him by Kain had been quite impressive. According to Kain, his contract was called the Reflescera Jelly:


    Supposedly it is a rare, exclusively non-combative support-type spiritual creature, prized for its unparalleled ability to bond with and protect physically powerful partners. Therefore, in nature, it will be taken as an underling by the most powerful spiritual creatures in a region. It lacks traditional means of offence, having no muscles, bones, or long-range attacks. However, its symbiotic barrier system makes it one of the best defensive and support partners.


    This support-like nature was also reflected in its skills:


    A- Jelly Recoil Membrane: While bonded to a partner, any physical attacks equal to or weaker than the Jelly''s strength are reflected at 100% power back to the attacker. When struck by an enemy one grade higher, reflection power is reduced to 50% effectiveness, and the partner sustains half the amount of damage.


    A-Jelly Absorption Veil: Can absorb any incoming magical or elemental attack of an equal or lesser grade than itself. A portion of the absorbed energy is converted into spiritual energy to restore the Jelly''s reserves. Over time, repeated absorption of a specific element may allow the Jelly to become more efficient at nullifying it.


    A-Jelly Symbiotic Armour: The Jelly can completely wrap itself around its partner, merging seamlessly with their body. While merged, it is undetectable to normal senses and detection skills of those equal to it in strength. All its defensive properties are applied automatically to the wrapped partner. This symbiosis does not hinder the host''s movements and even greatly enhances flexibility and reaction times.


    Sear?h the nov��lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 563 - 563: Out of Character Moment

    Darius'' thoughts about his contract''s abilities were interrupted when the tickle-like ''attacks'' of the henchmen came to a grinding halt.


    At that moment, a large man��Reginald��grabbed Darius''s wet hair and tilted his head back. Although wet, his face was unbelievably clean for someone who had been punched. After scrutinizing his face carefully, the man smirked evilly, fat in his cheeks, trembling with anticipation.


    "Hah, this bastard. He came in here so confidently. He must be relying on something, huh?"


    "��"


    "Hey, hey. It''s nothing to mess up your pretty face. Even if we''re busy, we can still throw you into a drain and drown you in feces, you trash."


    ''��You think I''m pretty?'' Darius had to admit he felt a little bashful, although the compliment came from another man, and a rather unattractive one at that. Likely due to his overbearing aura and serious demeanour, Darius had never really received compliments on his appearance.


    "Fine, let''s make you want to talk. Hey, bring the tools. This guy seems to have some strange gift, so beat him with tools."


    "Yes, boss!"


    Burly men wielding crowbars, baseball bats, and planks approached, cracking their necks and arms. Reginald stepped back and smirked.


    "It''s gonna hurt a bit."


    The big guy at the front twisted his lips as he got closer. And then��


    Crack!


    The sound of bones breaking was clearer and more resonant than expected. The man who had kicked Darius froze, eyes wide open, before collapsing and clutching his shin, rolling around in pain.


    "Ah! Ahhh!"


    "Shit, what the hell?"


    "That idiot bastard, why kick with his own leg instead of using the tool?"


    "This guy''s weird! Use the tools to beat him!"


    "That''s what I said, you moron!"


    "Dammit!"


    A big guy, henchman 3 (or was it 4? Darius lost track), squeezed his eyes shut and swung the nailed bat at Darius''s small head.


    Thwack!! The dull sound was quite loud, but it wasn''t the head that broke. The bat hung loosely, broken in the middle! Darius, apart from his slightly tilted head, was unscathed.


    ''Is this guy really made of stone?''


    Kicking broke the kicker''s toes, punching broke the puncher''s knuckles. Crowbars, hammers, baseball bats, and planks�� all tools broke. After gathering the injured in one spot, there was enough for a basketball team. The kidnappers finally noticed something was off. They clung to the wall, whispering among themselves in low voices.


    "Dammit, does this make sense? Why does it seem like the attacker is in more pain than the guy getting hit?"


    "Yeah, what''s this? We don''t have any healing contracts and healing elixirs are damn expensive these days due to the greater number of Abyssal attacks, and we''re gonna use them all up."


    "Boss, this really hurts."


    "Dammit, just hold on a bit."


    "Even with a dislocated bone?"


    "My bone is broken, boss."


    "Ah, go lie down over there!"


    "But wasn''t he supposed to be only 2-stars? Can the gift of a low-level beast-tamer be so overpowered? Is this according to the laws of physics? Does it make sense for one person to be so strong?"


    Of course, Darius heard it all. Hearing his kidnappers beginning to doubt their reality was also not what he wanted, according to his original plan.


    ''Why are these guys so weak?''


    Trying to extract information by playing along was futile, as they kept not fulfilling their roles as ''interrogators''. How did such weaklings have the nerve to mess with his new employer, Kain? Was there no point in Darius getting captured and soaked in this disgusting water?


    Reginald, standing back, yelled angrily.


    "Hey, you bastards, this won''t do! Finish up quickly and move before dawn! Why the hell can''t you handle a single 2-star beast-tamer?"


    Although Darius hated to admit it, he also had to agree with Reginald. Having wasted precious time getting captured, these guys failed at both threatening him and allowing him to extract information. He was hoping that their tongues would loosen around the ''prisoner'' they''d already sentenced to death. After all, dead men couldn''t talk. But��


    ''What''s with these weaklings?''


    Getting annoyed at the lack of valuable information and watching them tap dance around with broken legs was frustrating. Finally, Darius muttered with a sigh.


    "Guys, this won''t do."


    It was clear to everyone that the words that should be spoken by the kidnapping gang''s leader, Reginald, were now coming from the kidnapped victim. The injured kidnappers, clinging to the wall, whispered in confusion.


    "Why is he saying that?"


    "I thought the boss said that."


    "I don''t know, I''m scared now."


    "��I wanted to play along, but you guys are too low-level." Darrius finished like a teacher disappointed in the lacklustre performance of a student.


    Ignoring the increasing distress of those watching him, Darius'' limbs became flexible with a jelly-like quality and slipped free from the layers of chains.


    The kidnappers'' faces turned to shock as they watched dozens of cable ties get slipped out of and fall to the ground within a second.


    Darius stood up from the metal chair, pushed back his wet hair, and then grabbed the chair...


    And threw it at the biggest target��Reginald!


    Crash!


    "Ugh."


    The unprepared Reginald was hit squarely in the face with the metal chair before he could even summon a contract. He rolled his eyes and collapsed, blood streaming from his flaring nostrils.


    Pushing his dishevelled, wet hair back again,


    Darius strode toward the remaining henchmen and the Black Vine Consortium underling. Sharp murderous intent poured toward the kidnappers. His dark eyes gleamed menacingly.


    "Come at me all at once, enough of my time has been wasted already."


    ------------


    "Are you stupid or are you dumb?" Lira said while looking at Darius with an unimpressed expression upon hearing his story.


    After Darius had beaten and tied up his opponents in a ''kidnapping reversal,'' he''d called Lira, Miya, Jax and Garret.


    Never would they have imagined that their normally stoic and dependable leader would have such a ridiculous ''plan.''


    Lira: "Let me get this straight�� you chose to get captured on purpose��"


    Garret: "��marinated in sewer soup��"


    Miya: "��and then waited for them to monologue like villains in a cheap play?"


    Lira: "��and when they didn''t say anything useful, you decided the plan was stupid?" S��arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jax: "��which it was. From the start. Obviously."


    All four stare at him in a judgmental silence.


    Darius avoided eye-contact awkwardly; he also had to admit that this ''plan'' was completely out of his normal character.


    "Ahem�� Honestly, I think the idea of finally getting to test my contract''s abilities made me lose my head a bit. But once you all have your own contracts, you will probably be no different!"


    The other four looked unconvinced by his explanation.


    "Let''s hope not��"

 Chapter 564 - 564: A Leaky Faucet

    "Alright, let''s separate ''em," Jax muttered, dragging a whimpering underling down the dim corridor of the Golden Brew Syndicate''s abandoned factory. "One idiot per room. No need for group therapy."


    "Got it," Miya said, cracking her knuckles. "Been needing to let off some steam. I will definitely be taking this one." She said, pointing with glee to a wide-eyed, burly underling who had once pinched her butt as he passed her. Back then, she''d had to repress her emotions, but now she''d be able to release her rage��all of it.


    Garret opened one of the rusted office doors with a screech and shoved a dazed goon inside. "You may stay here. Someone will be with you shortly." His large and burly demeanour, and the bleak surroundings at odds with his calm and professional tone, reminiscent of a hotel staff member.


    Inside the factory, the silence of the night was broken only by the occasional groan or muffled curse from the tied-up captives. The Golden Brew Syndicate''s home base��normally bustling��was eerily empty, its workforce either unconscious, tied up, or at home, blissfully unaware that management was experiencing a hostile takeover.


    "Room check," Lira announced, hands on her hips. "Seven rooms. Seven captives. Reginald, that Black Vine member, and the five staff members. Should we each take a staff member and then work on Reginald and the Black Vine member together?"


    Darius didn''t answer immediately. He was still towelling off the sewer water from earlier, dignity freshly laundered but not fully restored.


    Eventually, he nodded, "But I will be taking the lead." If Reginald wasn''t forthcoming, he''d take the opportunity to get revenge for having sewage dumped on him.


    -----------


    In Reginald''s office, which now had its owner usurped��


    Reginald was tied to a metal chair, his face still flushed and his nose crooked from where Darius had smashed him with a chair earlier. The bruising had begun to bloom in various purples, but it was his trembling that stood out the most.


    For the past hour, he''d been subjected to hearing the horrifying screams of his underlings as they were subjected to god knows what.


    Darius and the others stepped in silently, their gazes cold��especially Miya, who had had to put up with him the most.


    Reginald took one look and immediately started sweating.


    "L-look! You have no idea who you''re dealing with." He said stutteringly, but still trying to intimidate the others. "I-if you just let me go, I could forget this ever happened."


    Darius sat down across from him and said nothing while the others stood slightly behind against a wall of the room.


    Reginald''s eyes scanned them in a panic. His gaze flicked over to Lira, then Jax, then Garret��who cracked his massive, gloved knuckles with a slow, deliberate rhythm��and then landed on Miya.


    His bruised face twisted into an expression that he clearly thought was oozing with charm.


    "Mary�� sweetheart," he said, forcing a smile through his swollen lip. "You''re not really with them, right? I always knew there was something special between us. You��You laughed at my jokes. You always made sure my coffee was hot."


    Miya didn''t respond. She only stared at him, arms crossed.


    Reginald''s voice wavered. "You used to look at me like��like you wanted to marry me."


    "I was imagining you choking on your own tongue," she replied coolly. "And for the record, my name''s Miya. Not Mary."


    Reginald blinked. "Wh-what?"


    "The loyal secretary act was fake," she said, stepping forward. "Every smile, every compliment��fake. Every time you ''accidentally'' brushed up against me, I wanted to break your fingers."


    The smile died completely on Reginald''s face.


    Jax leaned forward. "You''ve got about thirty seconds before I start playing ''Guess What Bone I''m Breaking Next.'' Wanna talk, or should I warm up?"


    Garret, standing silent until now, made a show of adjusting the gloves on his massive hands.


    Reginald''s mouth flapped, but no sound came out.


    Miya stepped forward, her heeled boots clicking softly against the floor. "We''ll start with fingers," she said, almost bored. "Work our way down to kneecaps if he''s slow."


    Reginald cracked.


    "I��I''ll talk! I''ll talk!" he yelped, the chair rattling beneath him, and focusing on Darius in front of him solely. "You don''t need to do anything, okay? I''ll tell you everything, just don''t let them near me!"


    Reginald talked. Oh, he talked. Within three minutes since they''d entered the room, he''d spilled every detail of the operation like someone eager to confess all of their sins before a priest for salvation. The other team members, watching from the side, blinked in disbelief.


    "��He''s worse than a leaky faucet," Miya whispered.


    "No," Lira said. "The faucet at least tries to hold it in."


    "It''s the spiritual beer!" Reginald wailed. "That kid''s spiritual beer! That stuff��stabilized the compound! They supposedly tried everything, but that spiritual beer was the only thing that worked!"


    "What compound and who is ''they''?" Darius asked.


    "I don''t know! Just that it has some flower in it called Somnum''s Lament. But it''s not like the pure plant. This drug is terrible stuff! It makes people feel amazing like the flower ��strong, powerful��but the other stuff added actually does change you! People get addicted, and then��" He swallowed hard. "Then they stop being�� human."


    Darius''s expression didn''t change, but his hand curled slightly into a fist.


    "Mutations. That''s what they called it. The addicts don''t stay human. They change, get all twisted. But I don''t know too much! There is another group��the real bosses behind Black Vine��and they track the addicts. They take them before the changes get too obvious."


    "And do what?" Darius asked. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Reginald shook his head violently. "I don''t know! I swear I don''t know! They take ''em and they don''t come back! I��I think they''re doing experiments! All I know is, the beer was supposed to be the delivery method. If they take over the spiritual beer market, they''d have Empire-wide delivery and be able to create tens of millions of new test subject in a way where no one would suspect anything��"


    He was shaking so hard the chair rattled. "Please. I told you everything. I didn''t even want to be in this business! My parents wanted me to become a pastry chef!"


    "He really was just a glorified errand boy," Miya muttered.


    Darius rose to his feet.


    "I��I''m allergic to pain! Please!" Reginald cried.


    Darius looked down at him.


    "��That was extremely easy," he muttered with disappointment.

 Chapter 565 - 565: Series A Drug 32?

    The Black Vine member sat slouched in his chair, bound and bloodied from the fight that had led to his capture, but otherwise intact. His face was thinner than Reginald''s, sharper, the kind that gave off the impression of sly intelligence. But now, he looked more like a rat caught in a trap.


    Jax leaned against the wall, spinning a knife idly between his fingers. "Name?"


    "D-Donis," the man stammered. "I''m just a handler. Low-level logistics. I just move stuff, I swear." His current humble demeanour was very different from the prideful and superior manner with which he''d always spoken to Reginald.


    "Stuff," Miya said dryly, arms crossed again. "You mean the drugs you''re adding to this knockoff beer, and even trying to add to another company''s beer?"


    "I don''t even know how it works!" Donis burst out. "They don''t tell me things! I didn''t even know that spiritual beer was involved in the plan until I was assigned to communicate with Reginald!" He nodded wildly toward the room they''d just come from. "I just get crates. I move them. That''s it!"


    Darius stepped forward. "The compound. It''s real?"


    Donis nodded frantically. "Yes. Yes! ''Series A Drug Variant #32.'' The guys above me called it the breakthrough batch. They were hyped. I��I saw what it did to a guy who tried it directly. His eyes went all black, and he started laughing while his spine twisted like��like��" He shuddered. "I don''t know what happened after that. They took him away."


    "You didn''t ask questions?"


    "You think people in my position live long when they start asking questions?"


    Darius studied him for a long moment. Then he turned to the others. "He''s not lying."


    Garret grunted in agreement. "He''s practically shaking in fear. Nothing else to rely on. Low-level, like he said."


    Lira glanced back toward Reginald''s office. "Let''s get the keys."


    They returned to the office without a word. Reginald, still tied to the chair, looked up as they entered, his eyes darting like a cornered animal.


    Darius didn''t speak. He just walked around the desk, opened the bottom drawer, as directed by Miya, and pulled out the ring of keys.


    "You''re not going to leave me here, right?" Reginald croaked. "We��we had a deal!"


    Miya gave him a flat look. "No, we didn''t."


    With that, they left him there, slamming the office door shut behind them.


    "Stupid," Jax muttered, "You always secure the deal before you start talking��"


    They moved fast, checking door after door in the deeper, restricted sections of the factory. Most rooms were storage or documentation��rusty shelves, stacks of files, spiritual brew ingredients that had long since spoiled��but then Jax turned a key and let out a low whistle.


    "Bingo."


    Crates. Dozens of them. Stacked along the walls like they were preparing to supply an army. Each one had thick black straps sealing the top and a faint chemical scent that stung the nose.


    Miya pried one open with her knife. Inside were dozens of black vials cushioned in straw, each marked with a golden label, an unusual geometric emblem they''d never seen before��and the initials "SA32."


    "Series A Drug Variant 32," Lira said under her breath. "These match what the Black Vine guy said."


    "No wonder they were eager to expand," Garret muttered.


    "We can''t carry it all," Darius said. "One crate. That''s it. Evidence. The rest gets destroyed."


    Garret grabbed the lightest-looking box, hoisting it onto his shoulder with a grunt. "Let''s torch it."


    They moved quickly, spreading alcohol barrels and liquids across the main chambers and storage areas (thank god they were in an alcohol factory since they didn''t exactly carry around gasoline with them).


    Reginald screamed when he smelled the smoke from behind his closed door.


    Miya didn''t even glance back.


    They exited as fire began to curl up the walls, tongues of orange licking at old wood and alcohol soaked crates. Within minutes, the building had become an inferno, the smoke trailing high into the night sky.


    They stood in the shadows of a nearby tree line, the fire''s glow casting long shadows behind them. Darius kept watch silently, arms crossed, while the others fanned out around the perimeter to make sure no one in the building managed to escape and make a run for it. After all, a few of them were beast-tamers��one never knew what contracts or gifts they might have.


    Flames crackled and spat, illuminating the twisted metal and crumbling stone as the structure began to collapse.


    Rustle Snap


    Gasp


    All of them turned sharply toward the source��somewhere behind them, just past the edge of the clearing.


    A faint rustle came from the underbrush. Quick, like someone stepping back too fast and stepping on a branch.


    Jax''s blade was out in a flash. Garret tensed, the crate still on his shoulder.


    Darius raised a hand to signal silence and took a slow step toward the sound.


    "Who''s there?" he called into the dark.


    Silence. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then, another rustle. This one further away.


    Miya took off in a sprint, weaving through the trees with practiced ease.


    "Wait��!" Lira hissed, but Miya was already gone.


    Jax and Garret followed a second later. Lira lingered only long enough to glance at the burning factory once more��then vanished into the forest after them.


    "Sigh�� I guess I will stay to make sure nobody escapes." Darius muttered to nobody around him. After all, compared to the unknown person running away, there were confirmed beast-tamers in the burning building that he needed to make sure actually died. As the only one that was now also a beast-tamer and could fight against them, should they escape, it was only natural that he stay behind.


    ----------


    Not far away��


    "Oomf! Argh!"


    Baaa-a-a-a-a


    A small figure tripped and rolled over a branch as he fled, letting out a small noise as his body crashed to the ground. Behind the rolling figure, the sound of a goat''s bleating rang out.


    The chasing Miya slowed down after seeing the figure fall and the surprising visual of a goat��and a kid?

 Chapter 566 - 566: Erasing Memories

    Miya slowed her pace, heeled boots sinking into the mossy soil as she stepped around some branches and spotted the source of the rustling.


    It was a boy. No older than nine, maybe ten. Scrawny. Dirt on his cheeks. One pant leg torn. And standing behind him, just as shaken, was a small goat with golden horns��staring back with eerie yellow eyes. A Fleecehorn Goat.


    Although Miya didn''t know too much about spiritual creatures, she knew about this one��it was a common spiritual creature raised across rural parts of the Empire for its unique, shimmering coat known as Spindlefleece. This magical fibre is lightweight and fire-resistant, making it sought after by low-level beast-tamers and artisans. The fleece is often spun into garments or accessories that subtly offer fire resistance, and the goats themselves are known for their hardy nature and calm disposition, making them ideal for beginner contract-bonding and farm labour assistance.


    Most farming villages have at least a few, and considering they were in a quite desolate town, Miya concluded that this boy was likely from a nearby farm.


    The boy scrambled backward until his back hit the gnarled base of a tree, arms curling around the goat protectively. "P-please don''t kill me," he whispered, trembling.


    Miya didn''t say anything at first.


    She didn''t draw her weapon. Didn''t step closer. She just stood there, moonlight filtering through the branches and catching on the dark fabric of her clothes. Her expression remained unreadable.


    But inside, her mind raced.


    A kid. A literal kid.


    Why was a child watching them? More importantly��how much had he seen?


    "Why would you think I''d kill you?" she asked, voice low, almost emotionless.


    The boy froze. His eyes darted to the burning building in the distance, then back to Miya. He said nothing.


    Miya''s gaze sharpened, and her eyes narrowed.


    That hesitation. That look toward the fire.


    He had seen something.


    She crouched, not too close, but low enough to speak on his level. "Did you hear anything? See anything?"


    The boy''s lower lip trembled.


    Miya didn''t soften.


    She couldn''t afford to. Not yet.


    She wasn''t a beast-tamer with a mental-attribute contract or gift. Nor could Darius, the only beast-tamer in their group, tamper with memories.


    And even if she wanted to let the kid go��if he''d seen or heard too much, she couldn''t comfortably do so, not if it could come back to hurt one of her teammates.


    But she also couldn''t bring herself to torture a little kid for answers.


    So she waited.


    And waited.


    And then��


    Sniffle.


    A tear rolled down the boy''s cheek. Then another.


    The goat let out a soft bleat beside him, as if trying to comfort him. sea??h th�� N?vel(F)ire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His small shoulders started shaking. "I didn''t mean to! I was just��just following Gogo��he ran off! I didn''t know anyone was there! Please don''t kill me��"


    His words tumbled out, breath hitching between them.


    Miya exhaled softly through her nose and looked up at the sky for a moment, contemplating what to do.


    A crunch of leaves behind her made her glance back.


    Jax emerged first, muttering under his breath, "Damn, Miya. Did your ugly face scare the poor kid?"


    Miya just glared at him in response, already used to Jax''s less-than-pleasant ''jokes'' (insults).


    Lira and Garret followed. Their eyes landed on the crying boy, and Garret blinked in surprise.


    "Oh," he said flatly. "A kid."


    "Well, don''t just stand there," Jax muttered, stepping forward. "Let me take a look."


    Miya didn''t stop him.


    The boy''s eyes widened as the tall man with a half-shadowed face knelt in front of him. Jax''s casual posture didn''t hide the latent violence in his movements, or the smear of dried blood still visible along his knuckles as he lifted one hand to wave casually in front of the kid''s face.


    "Hey, what''s your name?" Jax asked, voice low and almost too calm.


    To the kid, it was like the devil asking if he had any last words.


    He flinched hard, his whole body curling tighter against the goat.


    Then he saw the blood.


    His eyes locked onto Jax''s hand, the reddish-brown stain gleaming in the moonlight. His mouth opened. Closed. Then opened again.


    "...Ren," he whispered, barely audible.


    "Hm?" Jax leaned in slightly.


    "R-Ren!" the boy cried louder, as if saying it quickly would spare him.


    Jax tilted his head, then looked up at Miya. "Ren," he repeated with a shrug. "That sound like a snitch name to you?"


    Miya finally rolled her eyes. "You''re not helping."


    "Wasn''t trying to."


    Jax turned back to Ren. "Soo��Ren."


    "Yes? Yes!"


    "Are you a smart kid?"


    "What?"


    "I''ll take that as a no��" If he were truly quick-witted, he wouldn''t be responding with a ''What?'' But at least Ren''s responses were prompt, which was a good quality. Jax chuckled.


    "Well�� It''s okay even if you''re not."


    Then, Jax suddenly put his face very close to Ren''s. It was a move designed for intimidation.


    "You see, there were some bad guys that once worked in that factory��they even ate little kids."


    Ren''s innocent eyes widened at that statement in horror.


    "So, I disciplined them a bit."


    "��I see."


    The ''bad guys'' were now nothing more than ashes. If that was ''a bit'' of discipline, what would be considered proper discipline?


    But the ''quick-witted'' Ren didn''t voice any doubts aloud. He nodded mechanically and spoke sincerely, "You did a good job��"


    "Yes. So, Ren."


    "Yes!"


    "Could you please shut up?" Jax''s face had already twisted into a chilling smile, colder than a frozen Siberian lake.


    As Ren stared blankly, while his teammates muttered from behind about never letting him talk to children again, Jax sighed briefly and began to educate him.


    "I don''t have the ability to erase memories cleanly."


    "��"


    "To erase them, I''d have to use physical means��" Then Jax mimed hammering on the little boy''s head long enough to ''erase memories physically.'' He could hear what sounded like one of his teammates smacking their foreheads in exasperation behind him.


    With blood-stained hands, Jax gently formed a fist and smiled softly. But that smile made Ren''s face turn as pale as it had when he witnessed the scene of arson earlier.

 Chapter 567 - 567: A Kid Genius

    Jax may not have been convinced of Ren''s quick-wittedness, but what happened next was a clear indication that Ren was a little genius.


    After glancing briefly at the blood-stained knuckles, Ren answered confidently, like a quiz show contestant certain of the correct answer:


    "Where am I? How did I get here?! I CAN''T REMEMBER ANYTHING!"


    The little boy said, glancing around in feigned amnesiac confusion. S��arch* The N?velFire.n��t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In response, Jax nodded approvingly, his face beaming. A perfect answer.


    Jax felt like a proud teacher that had turned a flunking student into the top of the class.


    Jax clapped his hands once, like a man satisfied with a job well done. "See? We''re already making progress."


    Ren gave another exaggerated glance around. "Am I�� in the woods? Wow! I must''ve fallen really hard earlier��and erased my memory!" He clutched his forehead dramatically.


    Behind him, Gogo bleated, concerned, possibly even buying his act. The small goat nuzzled Ren''s side, as if trying to help him restore his memories.


    Lira coughed, trying to stifle a laugh.


    Garret just stared. "...This kid''s kind of funny."


    Miya, arms crossed, sighed softly. "I guess this is all we can do. We can''t kill him."


    "Obviously," Lira muttered.


    "But we do need to make sure he doesn''t remember anything later," Miya continued, glancing at the goat. "We need insurance."


    Ren stiffened. "W-what do you mean?"


    But Jax was already on the same page as Miya. He stepped forward again and crouched in front of him, voice light. "We''re gonna let you go, kid. We believe that you ''lost your memory''."


    Relief flashed through Ren''s eyes, just for a second.


    Then��


    "But we''re taking Gogo," Jax added.


    Ren''s breath hitched.


    His arms wrapped instinctively around the goat, who let out a confused bleat. "N-No! Please��he didn''t do anything wrong! He''s just a baby! You can''t��!"


    "We can and we are," Jax said, standing. "Just in case that miraculous amnesia wears off and you start remembering what you saw back there. Remember Gogo."


    Ren''s lip quivered. "B-but Gogo''s my best friend! He''s gonna be my contract someday��I''m waiting to awaken a goat affinity just like my dad did, and Gogo''s been with me since he was born and��and��!"


    "You can write him letters," Jax said flatly.


    "Nooo!" Ren wailed. Tears were starting again. "Please��anything else!"


    Jax, apparently unmoved, casually plucked the goat from Ren''s arms.


    Ren clung tighter.


    The tug-of-war was brief but passionate��and pitiful.


    Eventually, Garret stepped in. With a single gentle scoop, he lifted the goat and Ren''s arms clean off the ground. Ren''s grip slipped, and Gogo ended up cradled in Garret''s massive arms like a goat plushie. The goat looked comically small against Garret''s massive chest, golden horns glinting in the moonlight.


    Ren dropped to his knees in the dirt, face streaked with tears. "Gogo��!"


    Garret blinked down at the goat. "...He''s really warm. And soft��it''s nice." He trailed off while slightly rubbing his cheek against the baby goat''s neck.


    Jax leaned in slightly toward Ren, voice dropping an octave, almost a whisper.


    "Now. Ren. Just to be extra clear��"


    Ren''s chin trembled.


    Jax grinned, all teeth. "You don''t remember anything. Right?"


    Ren nodded rapidly, hands clenched into trembling fists. "Right! Nothing! I don''t even remember who you are!"


    "Perfect." Jax gave a thumbs up and stepped back.


    Lira sighed. "You''re horrible."


    "Did you have any better alternatives?" Jax corrected.


    "..."


    Garret turned to Miya. "So what do we do with the goat?"


    "Keep it for now," Miya said. "We''ll decide later. Once we''re out of this area."


    She turned to Ren. Her voice softened��just slightly.


    "You can go home now. We will return Gogo to you at a later date. But until then, don''t wander around so late anymore."


    Ren didn''t move.


    He just stared at the small Gogo in Garret''s arms like he''d been shot and left bleeding on the battlefield.


    "Gogo��" he whispered again.


    The goat bleated mournfully in response, the sound eerily matching the boy''s heartbreak.


    ------------


    Back to present day��


    "And that''s what happened." Darius and the others finished detailing all that had happened during the time that Kain had been gone. There had been a few minor misadventures along the way as they travelled from the Southern Region back to Dark Moon City in the East with a goat��after all, they couldn''t exactly take a teleportation array, and the trip back alone took at least a week.


    But, for the most part, Kain had been fully caught up.


    Kain sat in silence, arms loosely crossed, one brow faintly raised. The room was dim but not dark��sunlight filtered lazily through a slit in the blinds of his office in the building he''d designated as his new HQ for the ''private force'' he was building centered around those he Awakened using Pangea.


    The baby goat, Gogo, lay curled pitifully in a corner, watching him with wet, glistening eyes.


    Darius cleared his throat. "And�� yeah. That''s all of it."


    "Mostly," Miya added, glancing away.


    Kain didn''t answer immediately.


    He simply looked at them��each of them. Slowly. One by one.


    There was something oddly unreadable about his expression. His usual quiet judgment hadn''t sharpened into visible disapproval, nor had it softened into praise. Just a thoughtful, slightly distant gaze, as though calculating something more than their words.


    ''Did we do enough to become beast-tamers like Darius?'' Everyone became tense at the lack of response from Kain.


    Eventually, Kain exhaled and leaned back in his chair.


    For a long moment, nobody spoke. Even the goat looked like it was holding its breath.


    Then Kain''s mouth twitched.


    Just barely.


    Not quite a smile, but not entirely neutral either.


    "Well��" He rose from his seat, dusting off the sleeve of his shirt. His tone was dry, but not cold. "I guess you all pass."


    Silence. Not seeing them respond, Kain continued.


    "You did what I asked. You returned with results. You risked your lives, made hard calls, and came back alive." He glanced at each of them again. "Not perfect. But you were successful. And it was especially impressive considering most of you are not Awakened."


    Another beat of stunned silence.


    Then Jax, almost immediately: "Wait��really?! We''re actually becoming b-beast-tamers?!" It was almost hard for him to believe, even after the real-life example of Darius. It was still public knowledge that those without an affinity could never become tamers. And he was about to defy that common knowledge.


    "Well," Kain said again, turning to leave his office and heading to the room he''d performed the ''ritual'' for Darius in previously. "Let''s get it over with before I change my mind."


    The group scrambled after him like a pack of wild dogs chasing a squirrel, the baby goat trotting after them on excited hooves, sensing the suddenly good mood of its captors.

 Chapter 568 - 568: A Sense of Ceremony

    Kain also called in Malzahir to the room to undergo the ''ritual'' with the 4 unawakened members of Darius'' team.


    After all, he might as well have them undergo the procedure together��and let them meet one another in the process. sea??h th�� ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain stood in the center of the ritual room, arms behind his back as Darius and the others followed him in. The familiar scent of incense clung to the air��he''d had Malzahir light it earlier upon notifying him to meet in this room. It wasn''t necessary, but it certainly felt more ceremonial.


    Kain had decided, that if he was going to create a true secret organization loyal to himself, then it needed to have some sense of ceremony during the Awakening process, to give the new members a sense of awe.


    If the joining process feels as mundane for new members as earning a smiley-face sticker for finishing their vegetables when they were a kid, then it''s not conducive to the cohesion and loyalty of the group.


    ''Speaking of��maybe I should remodel this ''ceremonial room''��'' He thought while glancing around the mostly empty bare white room that only possessed some chairs and a low obsidian table��on it rested five unmarked needles, a stone bowl filled with dark ink that shimmered faintly with energy, and a scroll of worn parchment that had nothing actually written on it, but no one else needed to know that. It was just for show��Kain had long since memorized the array that would connect his new task force to Pangea.


    Darius stood off to the side, arms crossed, already marked from his own ceremony, while the others either looked curiously around the room they knew held the key to changing their destiny, or looked puzzledly at the exotic looking Malzahir.


    Kain stepped forward and spoke with slow, deliberate weight, voice just loud enough to carry across the room.


    "There''s one more test you''ll all have to go through."


    The mood visibly dipped. Hopeful faces dimmed with confusion and growing dread that there would be further delays in them becoming official beast-tamers. Jax made a small sound like a dying animal.


    Kain pretended not to notice.


    "I will now begin the ritual to connect you with another world," he continued, eyes half-lidded, tone grave. "This is not a simple process. What you are about to receive is not a tattoo. It is not decoration. It is not art."


    He paused dramatically.


    "��It is a ceremonial imprinting��no, wait��" Kain''s brow twitched. A better word came to mind. "Soul-carving."


    He nodded to himself, satisfied. ''That sounds much more impactful''


    There was a long silence. Somewhere near the back, Lira blinked. Garret tilted his head. Jax leaned toward Miya and whispered, "Did he just make that name up?"


    Kain, of course, heard him. He continued talking.


    "The pain you are about to experience will not be physical alone. You will feel it in the core of your being. As your soul constructs a bridge to the edge of a higher realm��the place where beasts of legend rest, waiting to be called upon��you will know what it means to suffer."


    Miya blinked slowly. "��That sounds ominous."


    "Shhh," Kain hissed softly, then immediately resumed his dark, reverent tone. "This soul-carving��this�� divine incision��is what marks you as a beast-tamer. As one chosen."


    It was getting hard not to laugh at his own narration, but Kain resisted. For the sake of morale and creating a powerful and mysterious image. This was necessary.


    After all, in the future there may be hundreds of members. Kain would likely never get the chance to meet all of them, but if his image in the members'' minds was enigmatic and powerful enough, they would still retain loyalty to him.


    He gestured to the needles resting in a fan-like display on the stone table. "These have been specially prepared. Each one will draw not just blood��but will act as a channel for your will, for your intent, your resonance with the beast realm." Another solemn beat. "If your will falters, the carving fails."


    There was a heavy pause.


    Then Kain added, almost too casually, "So, you have to stay awake during the entire thing. That''s your final test."


    Miya frowned. "Wait, that''s it? Just stay awake?"


    Kain raised a brow. "You think it''s easy. But it''s much harder than it sounds."


    Their eyes all shifted at once to Darius, the only one to undergo the procedure previously.


    He didn''t speak immediately.


    He just exhaled. Slowly. "It''s�� not a physical pain on you skin like you would think," he said, voice low.


    Lira squinted. "What do you mean?"


    Darius''s gaze darkened slightly, like he was remembering a war. "It doesn''t hurt like cutting skin. It''s deeper than that. Like someone took a burning brand and shoved it into your mind and visceral organs and twisted it around until you barely had control of your senses. And then kept twisting."


    There was a beat of dead silence.


    "��that sounds fun��" Jax murmured, shifting backwards slightly, but the draw of becoming a beast-tamer was too great to just give up here.


    Another moment passed. Seeing that nobody had backed out, Kain turned toward the group again, face regaining its solemn mask.


    "If you cannot endure the pain, you don''t qualify to be one of the chosen ones. The soul must be strong enough to withstand the strain. Otherwise��" He let the silence finish the sentence for him.


    Gulp.


    No one asked what ''otherwise'' meant.


    Kain inwardly noted that they probably thought it meant death. He let them think that. It added gravitas. Although damage to the soul is a very likely consequence��


    "Sit. Breathe. Steel yourselves." Kain said, gesturing toward the padded reclining chairs that looked more like something out of a dentist''s office than a sacred rite of passage. ''Yup definitely need to remodel��''.


    They moved as one, nervous, uncertain, but committed.


    The baby goat, Gogo, gave a tiny excited bleat from behind them. Jax flinched and looked back. "Look at you just sitting back and watching the excitement." He mumbled disgruntledly. He thought the goat''s expression seemed to almost suspiciously be relishing the pain he''d soon be going through��


    "Now��" Kain said, lifting up a needle-tipped instrument resembling a buzzing pen that had glowing sigils along its sides, "Who''s up first?"


    There were no volunteers.

 Chapter 569 - 569: The Long-Awaited Awakening

    It didn''t matter that there were no volunteers. They all got the sigil carved into their bodies eventually.


    Miya went first... because Kain had closed his eyes and pointed at her randomly saying, "You''re up."


    She responded by flipping him off, then lay back with a muttered curse. The moment the needle began tattooing the array into her shoulder, her mouth exploded into a flurry of profanities so imaginative that even Gogo paused where he was chewing on Jax''s pant leg to flinch back in shock.


    Next, Garret, for all his massive size and booming voice, began shaking the moment the buzzing started. Tears welled up before the first line was done. He clenched his fists and forced himself to stay still, muscles rippling with the effort not to cry out.


    Jax started off strong��grinning like an idiot and saying, "I bet this tickles." Two minutes in, he screamed loud enough to be heard down the street had Kain not invested in soundproofing the entire building. The next moment, he joked, "Okay, that was just the warm-up scream." Then screamed again. It repeated like that the entire time, a tragic back and forth between comedy and pain.


    Lira of Darius'' four teammates, lasted the longest without crying out. Her brow furrowed, lips drawn tight, until something in her expression cracked. Her hands trembled, her breath hitched, and her carefully controlled mask shattered. Her eyes were wide and wet by the end, locked on nothing, looking thoroughly traumatized.


    And last, but not least, was Malzahir.


    He didn''t flinch. He didn''t twitch. He simply exhaled when the needle began carving the intricate array into the flesh above his heart, his chosen location. His eyes never closed. He stared forward like he was used to worse things.


    By the time it was over, all of those watching couldn''t help but give him a look of respect. Although Darius and the others knew nothing about him, nor questioned aloud what kind of ''test'' Kain had him due to prove his worthiness, his pain tolerance alone was incredibly impressive.


    Kain let them rest, gave them time to breathe, to discreetly wipe their eyes and steady their spirits. Then he stood again at the center of the room to instruct them on the next step.


    "Channel your spiritual power into the mark," he said. S��ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was a pause. A few unsure glances. For some of them, it had been years since they''d last tried to mobilize their spiritual power��the last time being back when they were teenagers, still hopeful they might awaken and cultivated diligently. Back before they failed to awaken an affinity��even aft trying the maximum three times.


    Therefore, Malzahir was the first to get the array to react��his foundation as a former beast-tamer giving him an edge. But even so, Kain noted how sluggish his connection was. The damaged remains of his soul fought against the flow, and the gap between him and the others wasn''t as large as one would expect.


    One by one, the others followed.


    As their eyes closed and their consciousness slipped away into trance, Kain''s own awareness drifted toward Pangea. His body remained still, but his mind followed the ethereal figures, what he''d come to think of as the souls of Malzahir and the others.


    They looked like translucent wisps��tethered to their bodies on Earth but allowed to exist for a limited time on Pangea due to the branded sigils.


    He watched them move curiously about the wild surroundings of Pangea, before darting off in separate directions, almost as if they were responding to the calls of creatures suitable for themselves.


    -------------


    Miya''s soul, like her fiery hair and personality, moved like a firecracker. Wild and bright, its path streaked through the Pangea like a comet until it reached a volcanic region rife with fire-attribute creatures. She passed over winged fire serpents and singing red crows made of molten crystal before abruptly halting in front of a strange object that looked like a spinning ring of obsidian teeth orbiting a pulsing heart of blue flame.


    The ring and heart split open like a jaw, revealing a second creature inside: a feline-shaped beast with black fur and three blue flame-tipped tails. Once the ring opened and a cat-like creature became visible, a wave of heat so intense erupted that the entire region for miles was covered in a strange wave-like filter due to the intense heat waves.


    Miya''s soul was not put off by the heat and continued forward, making contact with the feline. The contract was sealed.


    -------------


    Garret''s soul moved slow and heavy, like trudging through deep snow. Strangely, instead of moving across the land in search of a contract, it actually descended deeper into the earth of Pangea, past layers of deep soil and rock.


    The soul passed creatures that resembled worms make of precious jewels and crystal-plated ants the size of cars, marching through labyrinth-like tunnels. It continued downward, pulled by something more profound.


    Eventually, Garret''s soul found itself within a titanic cavern with no light source��yet not truly dark. Bioluminescent moss glowed along stalactites like stars, and a lake of a mysterious silver substance resembling liquid mercury sat undisturbed.


    There, nestled half-submerged in silver sludge, was a beast that looked like a cross between an ox and a miner''s drill. Its body was plated in layers of compressed stone and matte metal, with a horn of conical spiral stone jutting out from its forehead. A mane of hanging iron chains clinked with every breath.


    It lay unmoving in the center of the cavern, until Garret''s soul touched the tip of its horn, and only then did the beast stir. It opened one of its glowing eyes drowsily, like a sun igniting in the dark. The two souls resonated, slow and steady. A new bond was formed.


    ---------------


    Jax''s spirit was chaotic. It moved erratically and darted this way and that as though it couldn''t make up its mind.


    Finally, after flying around for quite a long period it veered downward and stopped��suspended before a peculiar beast made of floating, segmented cubes. Each block rotated independently, held in place by magnetic arcs of crackling pink light. The creature spun faster the closer Jax''s soul got, almost like it could sense it, until it formed the vague shape of a humanoid figure with bells of electric energy on its limbs.


    It blinked its solid pink, pupilless eyes��once, twice��and then burst into light. The connection was sealed with a burst of erratic sparks.


    -----------------


    Lira''s soul had the most low-key appearance and behaviour. It travelled through a region of fog and glided silently over lakes without ripples. Beasts didn''t look up as she passed. The wind didn''t stir. And yet, one creature did seem to see her.


    Perched atop a lakeside mountain covered in mist was a creature resembling a young fawn woven from threads of fog and streaks of light that resembled lightning but felt calmer and less threatening.


    Its antlers looked like old, charred tree branches, its tail left ripples of distortion in the air as it moved back and forth, and small luminous motes hovered around its hooves like fireflies.


    Its eyes held the weariness of an old soul that belied its juvenile appearance. But when Lira''s spirit neared, the creature stirred, leaned forward, and met her light with the tip of its snout. The bond formed easily, with neither tension nor resistance from either party. Almost as though the connection had existed for ages and was only now remembered.


    --------------------


    Kain observed each pairing in thoughtful silence, pleased with the high-quality of the spiritual creatures selected.


    But even as the others solidified their connections, one soul seemed unable to find its match.

 Chapter 570 - 570: The Cost of a New life

    The realm of Pangea was far more vibrant now than when Darius had undergone the ritual. The planet was stronger, more resonant, more�� alive. It was evolving and growing in response to Kain''s own strength and the Source energy he absorbed (stole) from another planet.


    Usually by now, more than enough time had passed to form a contract��and all the other souls had. Their presences, along with that of their new contracts, fading from Pangea.


    However, one translucent figure, now much less solid than when it had first entered Pangea, was anxiously drifting back and forth and smacking into a transparent barrier��the one surrounding what many creatures on Pangea think of as an almost ''holy'' mountain, but is really the physical manifestation of the System.


    The soul��Malzahir''s, Kain knew��twitched like a leaf caught in a breeze. It wavered and darted in tiny, erratic motions, circling the same small space over and over. Even without a face, it somehow looked distressed. It slammed against the barrier like a fly banging against a window, over and over again, as if trying to find a crack, an opening, a way through.


    Thud


    The soul smacked into it again, with slightly less force than before. It''s form dimming.


    "��Huh."


    Kain, curious about the never before seen action, granted the soul access and followed it as it sped toward the peak of the massive mountain. At the end of its speedy ascent was the palace-like structure that now houses the System Laboratory, Storage Hall, and ''the Cradle'' (which Kain still wasn''t quite sure about).


    Thud


    Seeing it stopped by another barrier, Kain was slightly in admiration of the System''s diligent security measures, but still granted it access. It was good to know that even if someone or something was granted access to the mountain, they couldn''t enter any building they wished without his express permission.


    Free to continue, the soul sped forward as though in a race against time��and it might just be considering that it had faded quite a bit since it had first entered Pangea.


    The soul didn''t hesitate, seemingly more familiar with the building than Kain was and sped assuredly towards the direction of the Cradle��the one area Kain was unfamiliar with. sea??h th�� Nov��l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Following closely behind, he stepped into the Cradle for the first time.


    And stopped.


    Rows upon rows of clear, palm-sized crystals floated in the air, suspended in mid-air like floating collection jars. Inside each one, a perfectly preserved creature��miniature versions of the ancient frozen beasts they''d found near the relic core��all held in stasis.


    Hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands.


    Kain barely had time to take in the enormity of it when the soul swept past him, weaving urgently through the glittering maze. It passed dozens without a glance. Without slowing.


    It knew where it was going.


    Kain''s brows furrowed.


    He followed.


    Finally, the soul stopped in front of one crystal that didn''t appear significantly different from the rest.


    Inside was a long, serpentine creature. Thin, feather-like fins ran down either side of its body, but Kain could tell they were extremely sharp despite their delicate appearance, and its flat, forward-facing eyes were the color of tarnished bronze. It looked halfway between a black dragon and snake��''a wyrm,'' Kain recognized.


    The soul flung itself against the crystal.


    Nothing happened.


    It did it again. A faint ringing sound echoed out, like tapping on glass. But the crystal didn''t react.


    "What is it doing?" Kain muttered, floating up beside the soul with a thought.


    Before he could examine it further, the air in the Cradle hummed.


    Ding


    *SYSTEM ALERT: First-time user detected.*


    *Tutorial: ''Welcome to the Cradle'' initiated.*


    A glowing diagram materialized midair. A cartoonishly simplified Kain gave a thumbs up, while an arrow pointed to a box labelled "Genetic Archive." A disembodied voice began its seemingly scripted speech.


    *Welcome, Host, to the Cradle��the future of spiritual contract diversification. Here, your journey��*


    "Skip," Kain said.


    *��will begin with a basic understanding of how lifeforms��*


    "Skip. I said skip. Come on, chop chop, System."


    The voice paused.


    Then said in a robotic voice that Kain could swear sounded vaguely annoyed:


    *Skipping. Not because I respect your opinion��but because I respect the universal tradition of ignoring tutorials and regretting it later.*


    He turned his attention back to the soul. It was definitely dimmer now. Wisps of light were fraying off like smoke. "Just tell me what it''s trying to do."


    *It''s attempting to contract a creature. Problem: that is not a creature. That is an Archive Sample. Specifically, a Genetic Archive��a record of the genome and spiritual pattern of a creature. It is not alive. It cannot be contracted directly.*


    Kain''s gaze sharpened. "So how do I make it�� not not alive?"


    *That answer can be revealed in the Tutorial: ''The Cradle is the source of non-native creatures to enrich the biodiversity��''*


    "The short answer please!"


    *��You pay for it. With Source Energy. The Cradle then uses the Source energy to synthesize a viable egg based on the sample''s data and birth it into Pangea as a native. No memory, but all instincts and power included.*


    Kain looked around the Archive, imagining all of these long extinct creatures coming to life on Pangea in the near future. "What''s the cost?"


    A number appeared in front of him.


    He winced. "You''re joking."


    *If I was joking, you would know. I am hilarious.*


    *That is the true cost to birth one viable specimen of this specific creature. Many of the other more powerful creatures here will be several times this cost. You''d need two for reproduction purposes. Male and female, in order to introduce a new self-producing species on Pangea."


    "God��" All of Kain''s dreams of introducing hundreds of powerful, long-extinct creatures to Pangea in the short term were dashed. "Barely enough for one, huh," Kain muttered.


    Kain stared at the soul. It banged one last time against the crystal, but weaker now. Less urgent. But even more desperate.


    "Damn it."


    He looked back at the price.


    Then sighed.


    "Back to being poor again��"

 Chapter 571 - 571: An Unexpected Side-Effect

    Kain blinked against the haze clouding his vision, momentarily disoriented as he adjusted to the present. The dim light of the awakening chamber flickered faintly above, casting long shadows against the metallic walls.


    The muffled sounds of groaning and shifting bodies echoed through the chamber, signs that the others were beginning to stir. Malzahir remained unconscious, his breathing steady but deep��clearly not ready to rejoin the waking world just yet.


    Jax, Lira, Miya, and Garret groaned softly as their consciousness returned, sitting upright on their respective chairs. Darius stood beside them, barely able to contain the bright-eyed excitement etched into his face. He shifted between them like a child waiting for presents to be unwrapped, clearly thrilled at the prospect of seeing the results of their contracts.


    And indeed, the moment awareness hit, the four newly initiated beast-tamers wore identical expressions of wonder. Their eyes shone with exhilaration, their auras jittering with poorly restrained energy. Jax''s hands twitched like he was about to summon something right there in the middle of the chamber. Miya had already reached toward the contract mark her array had morphed into, which now resembled a three-tailed cat. Even Lira, usually the most level-headed, looked like she was concentrating to summon something out for the first time.


    Kain cleared his throat, stepping forward with just enough weight in his voice to cut through the rising fervour.


    "Ahem."


    The sound snapped everyone''s attention to him. The room quieted.


    "I''m sure Darius has told you some of this already, but let me reiterate: forming a contract is only the beginning. It takes time��days, weeks, sometimes longer��to establish a proper bond and build tacit understanding with your new partners. Without that, even a basic skill could backfire��or worse."


    He let the weight of his words sink in, glancing pointedly in Darius'' direction and then a region of the wall that was clearly painted over due to it being a slightly different shade of white��a sign of a past accident where Darius tried to have his jelly-fish like spiritual creature extend its impressive physical defense to him. To test its effects, he had run headfirst into that wall not long after awakening��and ended up with a concussion...that Kain then had to heal him from.


    "As Darius knows, in the basement of this facility is a training center reinforced to withstand light to moderate spiritual force. You should only practice with your new contracts there." Darius'' head lowered in embarrassment, avoiding eye contact. "Use the time to attune yourselves. Learn how your new partners think. Move together. Fight together."


    He raised his hand, and a large folded sheet of paper appeared in his hand from his storage ring. He then handed it over to Darius.


    "This map marks the locations of the strongest wild spiritual creatures in the surrounding forests. Use it to practice real combat safely. Once you''ve demonstrated sufficient control over your contracts, I have a mission to give you."


    The room was filled with silent anticipation. Gone was the reckless energy from moments before��now replaced by a more focused, serious light in their eyes. One by one, they nodded solemnly. They understood.


    They turned to leave.


    But before exiting, Darius lingered behind.


    He reached into the pocket of his coat and held out a slim, matte-black vial. Adorned with only a geometric symbol that looked vaguely familiar to Kain and a simple label at the top: SA32.


    "This is the mystery drug we found in Reginald''s factory," he said, before handing it over.


    Kain took it, his eyes narrowing slightly at the label. He tucked it away into his ring without a word.


    Then Darius produced something else��a small, silver space ring, worn and scratched at the edges.


    "This was on the Black Vine guy," he added, referring to the Black Vine member they''d left behind in the fire. "But I couldn''t get it open. There''s some kind of spiritual lock on it. I figured you''d have better luck."


    Kain raised an eyebrow but accepted the ring. A sweep of his spiritual sense passed over it��a basic security array, nothing complex.


    "Low-grade protections," he muttered. "Probably reflects how low on the food chain that guy was. Anyone at four stars or above could crack it without breaking a sweat."


    Darius gave a sheepish shrug. "Guess I still have a ways to go."


    "You''ll get there," Kain said simply. Then his tone took on a joking tone. "You better. I don''t have a habit of making bad investments."


    Darius smiled. "Of course. And I''m sure they will too." He glanced toward the hallway where the others had gone. "They''re fired up. I don''t think any of them realize how intense this path really is yet."


    Kain looked past him, watching the last of their group disappear around the corner.


    "Oh, I''m sure they''ll figure it out soon enough," he said. "But until then... you''re going to have your hands full."


    Darius groaned. "Don''t remind me."


    Kain smirked, just faintly.


    As the door slid shut behind them, the room fell into stillness again. Kain turned his attention back to the items in his hand��the vial, dark and cold to the touch, the symbol kept nagging at him. He was certain he''d seen it before. But before he could dwell on it further��


    "Ugh��"


    Sizzle Sizzle�� S��ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ��The sound of a low groan and something hissing like water on a hot pan filled his ears.


    Kain''s eyes flicked toward the final occupied chair on the far end of the room, where Malzahir''s fingers had begun to twitch.


    Strangely, the leather chair he was resting on began to blacken and melt away wherever they made contact with his body��as did all of his clothes.


    ''That''s never happened before��I guess it''s good that the others all left the room before this sudden change��''


    After all, it will probably be emotionally damaging enough for both Kain and Malzahir to have to see him in his birthday suit��at least, his dignity was spared in front of his other five colleagues.

 Chapter 572 - 572: A ‘Gift’ (?)

    The smell hit Kain first.


    A sharp, acrid stench that clung to the back of his throat, souring the air like burnt rubber mixed with rotting eggs. He recoiled slightly, eyes narrowing as a soft sizzle continuously rang out from the far side of the room.


    Malzahir groaned again, louder this time, and Kain took an instinctive step forward��only to pause mid-stride.


    The chair was gone.


    Well, not gone��but more like dissolved. The leather had melted into a bubbling black puddle that spread out in a circle beneath Malzahir''s now lying form. Steam rose from where it met the floor. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "��What the hell?"


    Kain took a cautious step forward, watching as the faintly glowing lines embedded in the alloy floor warped and twisted around Malzahir''s body.


    The alloy, something he''d specifically installed at a premium, was supposed to withstand the equivalent of a blow from a low-grade spiritual creature. It was a composite blend��durable, spiritually conductive, and aesthetically understated.


    And yet now it took on a dark tarnish, curling inward and hissing softly like it was being eaten away.


    ''Was I swindled? Was this ''top quality'' alloy really just a cheap counterfeit product?'' Kain rubbed his head as he felt a headache coming on from having to go through the process of requesting a refund from the ''scammer'' who sold it to him.


    But the thought that he had been scammed was short-lived. His gaze dropped to Malzahir''s bare skin��everything he touched, every trace of fabric, had already melted. Even the remains of his boots were now a black puddle near his feet.


    As he opened his storage ring and tossed a loose tunic toward the barely-awake boy, the moment the fabric landed��ssssssh sssssh�� it disintegrated in a sudden hiss of smoke and steam.


    A sour smell followed. Sharp. Chemical. Eye-wateringly putrid.


    Kain blinked. "That was regular cotton, maybe some synthetic blend, but��"


    He tried again. This time, it was a more durable outfit. One meant for when he was training. It lasted a second longer before melting with a sizzle.


    Each attempt followed the same pattern. Normal clothes, durable clothes made of special material, enchanted clothing��burned through before Malzahir could even pull it over his waist. Kain tried to avoid looking directly at him��he had no desire to see a certain unmentionable area��but the black goop every piece of clothing dissolved into left little to the imagination.


    "Okay, maybe��maybe something even stronger?"


    Kain reached deeper into his ring and pulled out a folded, high-quality soft armour he used to use before upgrading��crafted for beast-tamers in the four-star range and beyond. All other pieces of clothing, including those enchanted armours graded at 3-stars and below, had dissolved. If this one didn''t work, then he was completely at a loss.


    He braced himself and tossed it toward Malzahir.


    No sizzle.


    No smoke.


    Just silence.


    Kain blinked again, this time in mild disbelief.


    "Finally. Something survives."


    Malzahir was still groggy, half-blinking into the haze. *"Mmmh? My butt''s cold��"*


    "Don''t. Speak," Kain muttered, already digging through his ring for a suitable pair of pants. "Just... try not to melt my floor any further."


    Unfortunately, Malzahir''s butt would have to remain cold for a little while longer, because Kain didn''t have anything to cover his lower half that met the clearly high-benchmark for not being melted instantly. Unwilling to leave Malzahir, who was in a strange state alone, Kain pulled out his phone.


    There were few people he could call about this.


    Few knew that Kain could turn ordinary people into beast-tamers.


    Even fewer could be trusted with the knowledge that he wanted to use that ability to create his own force.


    And even fewer people have the capability of buying multiple full sets of enchanted armour and clothing rated 4-stars and above without filing for bankruptcy afterwards��


    And only one checked all those boxes and was familiar enough with Malzahir to easily adjust to the sudden situation without asking a million questions.


    He dialled Serena.


    An hour later, Serena stood outside the building, her expression somewhere between intrigued and unimpressed as she examined the dilapidated exterior.


    "This is the place?" she said into the phone, raising an eyebrow.


    "Yeah," Kain replied. "It looks better on the inside. I disarmed the security so you can enter by yourself temporarily. I will direct you to where I''m located."


    A moment later, a knock sounded on the door Kain and Malzahir were in. Kain opened the door and stuck his head out��careful not to let Serena catch a glimpse of the naked man inside.


    "I brought everything you requested��enchanted shirt, pants, gloves, shoes. It wasn''t easy getting 4-star enchanted underwear and socks, though��most blacksmiths and tailors don''t normally make such items��" She said while giving him a strange look.


    "I know...Thank you. I swear I''ll pay you back."


    She waved a hand dismissively. "It''s fine. This kind of money''s nothing. I''ll consider it a gift."


    Kain paused.


    Then remembered who he was dealing with��Serena Storm, an heiress in one of the Empire''s wealthiest, oldest, and most powerful families. People only second to the royal family.


    Right.


    Still, he bowed his head slightly and took the clothes from her outstretched arms. "Seriously. I''ll pay you back." Just because she had the money didn''t mean he wanted to take advantage of her. Not to mention, with all of his various business ventures, he may have more money at his disposal than her, who likely had limited access to her family''s funds.


    She smirked. "Fine. If you insist."


    "I do. Just wait here for now�� until he''s presentable."


    "Ah." She didn''t ask for details.


    Kain shut the door and looked at Malzahir, who had curled his body in a corner of the room, wrapped in a way that preserved what little dignity he had left.


    "I brought more clothes," Kain said flatly. "Don''t melt them."


    Only once Malzahir was fully dressed and no longer an active biohazard did Kain finally wave Serena in.


    She stepped inside, nose wrinkling slightly at the lingering acidic smell, but refrained from commenting upon seeing Malzahir''s embarrassed expression.


    Malzahir flushed with embarrassment, eyes downcast as Serena approached. But to her credit, she didn''t flinch. She studied him with a cool detachment, stepping around the warped circle of floor beneath him.


    After a long moment, she spoke. "He''s leaking poison. From everywhere��skin, breath, tears, even saliva, probably."


    "Let me guess��" Serena continued, eyes narrowing. "You had him undergo the Awakening procedure? He probably awakened a poison-based Gift as a result of the contract. The bond likely stirred something latent in his soul."


    As she spoke, Kain noticed Malzahir''s tongue flick out unconsciously across his lips.


    It was black.


    Glossy.


    Not the kind of colour one wanted inside a human mouth.


    "Yeah," Kain muttered. "Definitely poison."


    Serena straightened, brushing imaginary dust from her skirt. "He shouldn''t be around people until he learns to suppress it. It''ll corrode more than just clothes if he''s not careful."


    Malzahir''s eyes widened. *"I��I didn''t mean to��!"*


    Kain comforted. "It''s not your fault. And it may even be a good thing. Just go to one of the more reinforced rooms to practice controlling it and fighting with your new contract."


    Relieved that he wasn''t being blamed by his new boss, Malzahir relaxed and then, at the encouragement of Kain, left the room to begin practicing as directed.


    Silence.


    After the silence continued to grow more and more tense, Serena finally broke it, voice sharp.


    "Malzahir awakening, I understand." She glanced around the room��at the reinforced walls, the melted alloy floor, the multiple, obviously recently used, chairs and tattoo needles. Her voice lowered. "But this place... this setup�� What exactly are you planning, Kain?"

 Chapter 573 - 573: An Old Enemy?

    Kain had prepared for this when he invited her over. Serena wasn''t exactly dumb.


    It didn''t take her long to start picking things apart. Her eyes had swept over the reinforced alloy flooring, the faint sigils carved certain areas of the building, the faint hum from the reactivation of an invisible security array Kain had installed around the building. She didn''t comment right away, but her silence said enough.


    What else could she think? Kain was planning to open up a small business from this location?


    This wasn''t exactly a place built for selling trinkets or handmade crafts. It was a fortress disguised as a workshop, and every inch of it spoke of preparation for something bigger.


    He met her eyes. There was no point in dodging it. "I''m putting together my own force." sea??h th�� n?vel_Fire.��et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Her brows lifted slightly. Not surprised��just intrigued. "A private army? You do know that there are laws prohibiting the establishment of a private army not affiliated with the government. The Lysander''s enacted that rule a few centuries ago after a failed coup��"


    "A network, then," he corrected. "People who''ve awakened through Pangea''s influence. Fighters with potential. People I trust." He paused. "The world''s changing, Serena. The Abyss isn''t going to wait for governments to catch up. A lone wolf can only do so much, no matter how talented. If I want to protect the things I care about�� I need more than strength. I need people."


    Silence. Serena didn''t speak right away. When she did, it was colder than before.


    "And what about you?"


    Kain blinked. "What about me?"


    "Are you still stable?" she asked. "Last time, in the ruins, you almost turned into someone unrecognizable. That energy you absorbed back in the ruins��"


    "I''m fine," he cut in, perhaps a little too quickly. Then, gentler: "It was a one-time thing."


    She didn''t respond. Who would believe that was ''just a one time thing'' and take his word for it?


    He sighed. "I''m not lying. That incident�� I lost control, yeah. But it''s different now. I''ve adapted. Whatever that energy did to me, I''ve learned to live with it."


    Her gaze didn''t soften. "Be real Kain. You don''t know much about that energy or your own gift. How can you even guarantee that awakening a ton of others won''t trigger it again?"


    He hesitated. Of course she''d worry. She''d seen him at his worst. And without knowing about the System��without understanding what really helped him stabilize��there was only so much he could say.


    "��It won''t," he said finally. "I''ve been careful. No backlash so far. And besides��there''s another reason I''m doing this."


    He moved across the room, gesturing toward the used ink, needles and pen used to tattoo the array��a process Serena was familiar with since she''d helped him to develop it. "Everyone who awakens using this method ends up more resistant to Abyssal corruption. I don''t know why yet, but it''s real. I''ve tested it."


    Her expression didn''t change, but something in her posture eased.


    "Considering what''s coming," Kain added, "I''d be wasting something precious if I didn''t make more of them."


    Serena looked away, thoughtful. Not convinced��but no longer openly opposing it.


    A small grin tugged at Kain''s lips. "If you''re that worried I''ll snap and go on a rampage�� you could always just stick next to me."


    That made her pause. She tilted her head slightly, brows drawn in quiet thought.


    Kain blinked, surprised at the long silence. "��You''re actually considering it?"


    She didn''t answer.


    He cleared his throat and moved on before things got weird. "Anyway. Since you''re here, I figured I could share some information recently collected with you."


    He pulled out a worn space ring��the one handed over by Darius that he''d unlocked while waiting for Serena to arrive��and a small vial labelled SA32


    "Some of the others I''ve awakened��you don''t know them�� have been working under the radar to help me deal with some shady businesses making counterfeit spiritual beer."


    Serena''s eyes grew slightly colder and she glared at him, "I thought this ''network'' was to deal with Abyssals not corporate subterfuge?"


    "Ahem. It is��it is! Really!" Kain hurriedly showed the vial of swirling liquid "Anyways, that part''s not important. SA32 means Series A: Variant 32. Does that remind you of anything?"


    Kain immediately continued, lest she refused to change the subject and get stuck on that minor detail about him using something he''d explained as an army against the Abyss to get rid of competing knockoff businesses.


    Unfortunately, she just glared at him.


    "This is a drug laced with something called Somnum''s Lament. Manufactured and distributed by the Black Vine Consortium working with what was described as a ''mysterious'' organization. The drug causes euphoria, enhancement to strength�� and after long-term usage��mutation. Mutants that are then collected to be experimented on. Seriously, does this ring any bells?"


    ''Please stop glaring at me like you know I''m trying to change the topic and just let me change the topic��!''


    Thankfully, the topic Kain brought up was too significant to ignore and she took the bait. "Are they the same ones that experimented on Gabriel before? Their MO has changed?"


    "Not necessarily. Remember in their research notes there were several research divisions. Or what they liked to call ''series''. Series E, which Gabriel and the other kids belonged to, aimed to turn ordinary individuals with no natural affinity into beast-tamers. Based on the label of this drug, those behind this belong to Series A, whose goal was��" Kain''s voice faded as he tried to remember, unfortunately, it had been too long and he hadn''t paid much attention to the other divisions'' research since it was unrelated to helping Gabriel.


    "Gifts?" Serena eventually broke the silence. "Series A''s experiments aimed at forcefully implanting gifts into test subjects without any. Unfortunately, from what I remember in the notes, the result so far had been mostly poor��while some gained extraordinary gifts, the majority faced physical collapse or violent rejection due to incompatibility or an inability to control the gifts they didn''t awaken naturally."


    At the reminder, Kain and Serena looked at the seemingly mundane looking vial. How could this substance help people to awaken gifts?

 Chapter 574 - 574: Mystery Woman

    For more answers, Kain unceremoniously dumped out everything that was in the rundown space ring handed to him. It was a very cheap ring��less than two feet squared��but it was stuffed to the brim. It would be simpler to just empty its contents onto the floor and reorganize the mess.


    Most of the contents were irrelevant: a change of clothes, loose coins, a half-eaten snack bar long since fossilized, several pens without ink, and a cracked phone.


    He nudged aside a soft, squishy ''training dummy'' shaped like a busty elf��used for ''grappling practice,'' or so the tag claimed. It had a suspicious, unidentifiable gel on various regions of its body, and Kain made a mental note to burn it later.


    "What was this guy''s day job again?" Kain muttered.


    He pushed aside a pile of creased clothing��most of it stained, one shirt still bearing the logo of the Black Vine Consortium��and found a thick notebook. The cover was bent, the edges frayed. On the front, in loopy handwriting, was the title:


    "This Beast Tamer is a Little Strange."


    Kain stared.


    "��Huh."


    He flipped it open, scanning the first page. It wasn''t a log. It was�� the first chapter of an amateur novel.


    Kain squinted. "...Okay."


    He promptly tossed the notebook across the room, where it landed with a soft thud beside the ''training dummy''.


    Eventually, he found something more useful buried beneath a bundle of receipts and a spare undergarment. A hardbound, leather-wrapped journal. The spine cracked faintly as he opened it, pages yellowed with wear and tear, and filled with densely packed handwriting.


    "This might be useful."


    Serena moved beside him, peering over his shoulder as he tried to understand the barely legible writing. Not that suddenly having something soft and warm pressing against his back helped with his concentration��


    The entries started off mundane. Notes about daily routines, how boring his shifts were, minor gripes about coworkers, and a tragic recurring complaint about his inability to ask out the girl who worked at the sandwich stall down the street.


    But sprinkled between the more inane details were sharp turns��mentions of odd shipments arriving late at night, unmarked crates locked with strange sigils, occasional run-ins with people who didn''t seem to belong to either the Black Vine Consortium or Golden Brew Syndicate...or really any company that this guy was familiar with. And yet, his boss'' bosses were so respectful of these mysterious people.


    "Here," Kain said, tapping a page halfway through.


    ''Caught a glimpse of the suits again today. Third time this month. They were greeted not by the usual Black Vine higher-ups, either. The Vice President came to greet them personally. I had never even seen the VP before!''


    ''The guys he was greeting�� I don''t know who they are. Three of them. They gave me a weird feeling. Especially the woman. Have you ever looked at someone and felt like you''re the extra in their story? Like the moment they glance your way, you might disappear? That kind of feeling. She was beautiful. Too beautiful. Unnatural, almost. Like someone handcrafted her every detail.''


    Serena read the paragraph in silence. Her brows furrowed.


    ''Didn''t mean to be there. Walked toward the back building to get cleaning supplies, since my shitty department boss is too cheap to hire a cleaning staff, and the door wasn''t locked for once. Think they didn''t notice me. I hope they didn''t notice me. The next day, the door was welded shut. No joke. Whole hallway got restructured. Thankfully, nobody came to find and talk to me though��''


    Kain turned the page.


    There were more entries, but that first encounter clearly haunted the man. He made notes, sketches, even a crude attempt at drawing the beautiful woman''s face��though it was more of a vague silhouette than anything concrete. A few phrases stood out: sea??h th�� novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "She had dark purple hair and eyes."


    "Her smile didn''t reach her eyes."


    "Everyone else immediately quieted and listened when she spoke, even the ones pretending to be in charge."


    He kept flipping through the diary, scanning pages.


    Eventually, he got to a page where a Polaroid picture fell out��a cursory glance and Kain could tell that it was of a woman. It seems like after that first encounter with the mysterious woman, the Black Vine worker��Donis��had grown obsessed to the point that after he''d first seen her, he''d risked taking a picture of her.


    Kain bent down to pick up the fallen picture and froze in shock.


    Serena noticed his sudden stillness.


    "��What is it?" she asked, confused at his unusual reaction.


    Kain didn''t answer.


    He just kept staring.


    His fingers gripped the photograph too tightly, the edges warping slightly in his hand. His face was unreadable��not stunned exactly, but transfixed, as if the image had pulled his mind elsewhere. Serena tilted her head, watching him closely. When no answer came, she approached to look at what was in his hand.


    It was a woman, unaware that she was being photographed. Dark violet hair cascaded over her shoulders in loose waves, and her eyes, just as violet, seemed to peer straight through the photograph. Though grainy, the composition had an almost uncanny precision. Her features were delicate, and truly, one of the only people who could be considered on par with Serena''s looks.


    Seeing that it was the picture of this woman that had him so transfixed, Serena didn''t continue to question him.


    But the room was getting colder.


    The air felt heavier with each passing second. A pervasive chill filled the room, and had a glass of water been present next to her, it likely would have spontaneously frozen over.


    Unfortunately, Kain still didn''t notice. He was locked onto the photo.


    But not because the woman was so astoundingly beautiful��which she was.


    Not because he was attracted to her��he wasn''t.


    Not because he, like Donis, had fallen under her spell��he was immune.


    It was fascination, but of a different sort��quiet, dawning, disbelieving.


    Because even though the memory was faint�� even though he was sure it couldn''t be��


    His eyes slowly widened, confusion spreading across his face as he let out a barely audible murmur:


    "��Sis?"

 Chapter 575 - 575: Airalai

    ''Sis? Is that a name? Or is he calling her sister?'' The continuous drop in ambient temperature stagnated briefly at Serena''s surprise at the unexpected word.


    ''No��that can''t be right. He has no sister who looks like this. All of his sisters are much younger.'' Sear?h the ��ov��lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Serena had met all of his family members briefly when helping to rescue Cherry, and even prior to meeting them, he''d described them to her that time Bridge became sick while she was acting as his team leader.


    ''What did he say back then��?'' She closed her eyes and thought back to the time that now felt like ages ago.


    In order of age, there are eleven of us in total. Bridge and I are the same age and don''t know our real birthdays, but everyone usually considers me to be the oldest and then Bridge. Then there is Milo, the twins Jasper and Jasmine, Cherry, Key, Parker, Sunny, Charlie, and Melody...


    ''Yeah, that was it��only eleven siblings��right?'' Even when she''d gone to their house, there had been no other pictures hanging up than of those eleven. But something about that memory was still nagging at her, and after thinking about it further, she remembered that what he''d said hadn''t ended there.


    ��There was another member of the orphanage, a couple of years older than Bridge and I, who went missing when I was around 10 as well. However, we try not to mention her since her disappearance was so painful for the director�� She was his biological niece, and pretty much the inspiration for why he opened an orphanage in the first place��


    After remembering the rest, Serena''s eyes, which she''d closed in concentration, snapped open in shock.


    ''Could it be her?''


    Serena''s gaze flicked between the photo and Kain''s face. His expression hadn''t changed��not overtly��but something behind his eyes had gone distant. Like he''d completely fallen into his memories.


    His breathing had slowed to something shallow and irregular. A tremor ran through his fingers as they gripped the photo, and for a moment, Serena wasn''t sure if he even saw her standing there. It was as if the world around him had condensed to just being that photo.


    She hesitated, the words catching in her throat before she finally said, softly,


    "��Kain. You mentioned once�� There was someone older at the orphanage. Someone who disappeared?"


    Kain didn''t respond right away.


    His jaw clenched faintly. A bead of sweat trailed down his temple despite the chill in the air.


    But his grip on the photo tightened.


    Serena continued, her voice careful. "The director''s niece. The one who went missing when you were ten."


    Still, no answer.


    Not even a flicker of acknowledgement. But the silence was heavy. Full of weight.


    Only when she gently reached forward, resting a hand near his wrist��not touching, just close enough to remind him she was there��did Kain finally speak.


    "Her name was Airalai," he said. Just saying the name felt awkward and unfamiliar��evidence of how thoroughly they tried to avoid saying her name aloud for fear of triggering the director.


    ''It''s strange�� how a single name could actually feel like a dusty, untouched box of memories on a seldom glanced at shelf.''


    "She was the first one there. It was originally just her and her uncle��the Director��who got custody of her after her parents had died. Eventually, perhaps out of wanting to add some more liveliness to the home, or to give her some siblings, or maybe just out of pity for kids in a similar situation to her, they both discussed opening an orphanage. She was the oldest. And then�� one day, she was gone from the home."


    "And eventually, since only really Bridge and I remember her clearly, and her memory seemed too painful for the director, she practically became erased in our memories as well. Especially since the youngest ones had never met her��she went missing before they were even born. Milo hadn''t yet entered the orphanage and had never met her. And Jasper and Jasmine were too young to remember her clearly��they were only around four years old when she��"


    His eyes didn''t move from the picture.


    "She what��? Was she kidnapped like Gabriel and Cherry? We searched. Everyone searched. But there was never a trace."


    "And now she''s appeared. Somehow�� she''s alive. With them. Working for them."


    A tinge of disbelief filled his voice. The gentle older sister in his memories that would scold them for almost accidentally crushing a butterfly while playing was now part of an organization that kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people regularly?


    It made absolutely no sense.


    And yet, the photo didn''t lie. That was her face. Older, colder, but hers.


    He could still hear her voice sometimes, soft and chiding: ''Kain, don''t step on the ants��they have families too, you know.'' She used to wrap a scarf around his neck even when he complained it was itchy, claiming it was her duty to make sure he didn''t catch a cold.


    Kain��due to already being around 7 or 8 when he entered the orphanage, and possessing memories of adulthood in another world��hadn''t really needed to be taken care of by her. But still, the unfamiliar care of an older sibling, since he''d been an only child in his past life, was a welcome new experience for him.


    If anything, despite her best efforts to seem otherwise, in much of their interactions, he would act more like the older one, helping her to braid her hair for school or helping her study, since the director was utterly hopeless at both things.


    "Are you sure it''s her?" Serena asked. But the woman in the photo had a pretty distinctive face, even if it had likely matured from when Kain had last seen her, so she didn''t hold out much hope that it was a case of mistaken identity.


    Kain gave the faintest of nods. His voice, when it came, was hoarse, and his eyes shadowed as a horrifying thought dawned on him.


    "I can''t believe she''s working for them. What the hell happened to her?"


    "Maybe she isn''t working with them willingly," Serena tried to comfort.


    Kain didn''t answer. He couldn''t. Not yet. The thought that she may have played a role in the suffering of so many was still forming, sick and heavy in his chest.


    ''I feel like throwing up��''