B.F.HUUPS

Book 3: Chapter 55

Support units to set up an outpost had been pre-prepared and marched into the secured location on the border of the jungle only hours after the ants had been defeated.

There were still bodies everywhere, alongside roaming drones that had lost their way. But none of that was of any real concern, and walls started to go up immediately.

There were both earth and nature affinity mage classes amongst the support units who used their Skills to raise walls quickly, and place platforms around them for ranged fighters to perch atop.

As much as Aaron wanted to head straight for the queen’s hive and deal with her, he knew that they needed some kind of defensive positions in case the swarm regrouped and began threatening Dober again. After all, they might be gone a while as they dove into the hive. Not to mention that if they were driven back from the outpost, the defenses would at least slow the warm and deal some damage to the ants in the process.

That and it gave them somewhere safe to recover without crossing the entire plains again, if they failed to finish the queen with a single blow.

Luckily, though, Julius had been thinking about this very problem. Mana cores and portable turrets had been organized and were quickly set up around the outpost.

There was also an item he had purchased from the System store with settlement funds called an Outpost Platform. The number of outposts a single obelisk could support was limited, but that was hardly a problem since this was the first one they were using.

Although it did make Aaron wonder if it was worth settling New Haven at some point. Then again, that was someone else’s problem.

Since the turrets had already been built back in Dober, they went up within an hour of arriving on-site, and within a few hours, the outpost was surprisingly defensible.

The turrets themselves weren’t game changers. But they didn’t tire as long as they were connected to a mana core with juice in it, and were on par with the more moderately skilled ranged fighters. Not only that, but they could be upgraded once the obelisk had been upgraded, along with a little time and system credits to spend.

But despite this, Aaron himself didn’t relax immediately. He didn’t want people needlessly throwing their lives away in battles he could easily win. And so, he supported the clean-up effort, going around and making sure any of the meandering and lost drones were taken care of.

And when everything seemed secure, he sat down and meditated. Rejuvenating his soul would be much faster back in the temple, but it would also require traversing the plains back and forth again, and he hadn’t actually worn it out that much.

Not only that, but Treg had led a few wolf riders to their outpost, bringing with them a few basic soul-strengthening roots they found in the forest, which he eagerly consumed.

“Thanks, Treg. I owe you one.”

“No! Master doesn’t owe Treg! Treg owes master! All the gobbos owe master for bringing us into his home!”

“Err, fine. Whatever. But do you mind not calling me master? Aaron’s fine. Besides, when did you even decide to start calling me that anyway?”

“I just thought that it was more appropriate. What about chieftain?”

“Chieftain? Nah, mate. That’s cool. Like I said, Aaron will do fine.”

“As you wish,” Treg bowed.

The little goblin carried himself out on his little legs. But as it turned out, Treg wasn’t the only one coming to bestow gifts upon him. A few people from the main settlement arrived with potions and other minor trinkets. He thanked them, but he turned the gifts down.

He really had no need for potions. His build was already geared toward making the most out of his food, and that made potions a minor boon at best. Especially when they could serve others better.

However, as they cleared out, his brow rose. The next person coming to offer gifts was someone he hadn’t expected to see. It was Bobo, the cult leader from New Haven. And more curiously, he had in his hands a small statue of Aaron.

However, there was something off-putting about it. The proportions were a little off, to say the least.

“Hey, didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“Of course I would come to pay tribute to the great hungry one,” Bobo fell to his knees and crawled toward Aaron. When he got close, his face started to shoot toward Aaron’s feet. He was wearing his boots, but he still recoiled.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Please, my lord! Let me show you respect and honor!” Bobo said as his head darted toward Aaron’s dodging feet.

“Honor? What are you talking about? What has this got to do with honor?”

“I am not fit to be in your presence, mighty hungry one! Let me kiss your feet. A symbolism to enshrine my position eternally beneath you!”

“Wait, no! No feet kissing! That’s fucking weird.”

“Have I… have I offended you?”

Aaron could see tears welling up in the man’s eyes, and his lip beginning to tremble.

“No, no! You’re fine. Just don’t try to kiss my feet, please.”

Slowly, Bobo nodded, a soberness clouding his expression.

“Great hungry one, I have failed you! Please accept this gift.”

“The statue?”

“Yes. I will try better next time.”

“What am I supposed to do with that?”

“Wait, you don’t like it? I can have the artisans start again! I shall slap them upside their heads for such a disgraceful failure!” Bobo snapped, but then fell back to his knees, looking like he was about to cry again.

“No, no! Relax, dammit! That’s not what I meant. It’s beautiful. Absolutely… beaut…”

Aaron’s eyes drifted down to the rather enhanced crotch region. Whoever made this had decided to embellish the truth.

“Ahh, just put it down over there. That will be fine.”

“Yes, my lord. Anything else I can do for you?” Bobo’s eyes caught Aaron’s with a seriousness that made a shiver run down his spine, and he slowly emphasized “anything” again as his eyes locked on Aaron’s.

“No! Nothing! I’m good. You should probably get back to Dober. Make sure your people are okay! They might need you, right?”

“My people? Is that an order, my lord?”

“YES! An order! Exactly!” Aaron pointed and nodded.

Bobo’s face lit up in an instant, and he started to nod excitedly as he rushed off.

What the bloody hell just happened?

Aaron fell backwards with a drawn-out and very relieved sigh. He had no idea how he had gotten into the conversation, and he was just happy it was over.

“I’d better get on with it.”

With the base secured and his line of tribute payers dealt with, he leaned back in the small tent that had been set up for him and opened his System status. It was time to purchase a Skill and spend some free points.

Pulse Punch [ Elite ] It might seem like a small, quick burst of power, but this punch packs more than it lets on. When activated, Pulse Punch fills the user’s fists with a small amount of quickly dissipating energy that must be used immediately in an attack. While its power is relatively weak and it requires quick use, the Skill amplifies the power of the strike significantly, making this a great attack for a combatant with strict energy constraints.

Fists of Fury [ Epic ] Why settle for a single punch to end an enemy when you can do it with a flurry of countless strikes? When activated, the speed of the user’s fists increases rapidly for a short period of time, allowing them to increase the speed of their combinations.

Simp Aura [ Epic ] Beauty comes naturally to you, and your striking features attract a posse of fans everywhere you go. Passively creates an aura around the user that amplifies their beauty, turning even the coldest of hearts into certified simps.

Ghastly Death Beam [ Legendary ] You are the reaper, and your power is not to be denied. When activated, the user shoots out a deadly beam of death energy, creating an extraordinarily powerful ranged attack. The circular beam is several meters wide and causes catastrophic damage. This attack utilizes aether, and its energy is death for purposes of resistance. 

Soul, Body, and Mind [ Legendary ] Where does one’s soul, body, and mind start and finish? For most, the distinctions are clear. However, for you, these truths transcend normal understanding, becoming one and the same. Passively, this Skill bends the meanings of soul, body, and mind. The body can pass through into the spiritual realm, alongside the soul. The mind, at one with its soul, has its resistance against mind-controlling effects greatly increased. And the soul can provide dominance over all, becoming one with the cells, and strengthening the mind and body, as those with only true control over their soul can comprehend. Skill requirements: Race [ Shinigami ]

Aaron glanced over the options. There were two Legendary options, and nothing below elite. It seemed that the System really wanted to reward him for defeating the royal guard.

“Well, it was no easy fight. About time I get a worthy selection.”

As usual, he didn’t spend too much time going over the lower rarity Skills. Although they actually sounded pretty decent this time.

Still, he had a free passive slot, and he wanted to fill it, unless the passive options were terrible.

Which made him groan and his shoulders sink. Well, it wasn’t that bad. But Ghastly Death Beam sounded pretty damn badass. In truth, he knew it wasn’t really for him, and he didn’t really have any Skills he could afford to give up for it. But if he were the kind of guy to just make knee-jerk reactions, it was probably what he would have picked.

Who wouldn’t want a Ghastly Death Beam, after all?

But even though a powerful ranged attack would be rather useful, it wasn’t really his style. Aaron wasn’t strictly dedicated to melee only, but he did want his build to make sense and for his Skills to build upon one another. Also, it wasn’t a passive.

There were only two passive options available, and he wasn’t about to become a giant target for simps. The creepy vibes Bobo was giving off were bad enough as it was.

“Seriously? Who would purchase a Skill like that?”

Aaron was immediately reminded of Sooty and the creep from the viewing room back in the trials.

“Ookay, maybe a few people would.”

However, despite the fact that some of his options were far from ideal, it wasn’t like he had anything to complain about. Soul, Body, and Mind actually sounded very useful, from what he could tell. He was a little confused by exactly what it did. But he doubted it would be bad, since it was Legendary.

If Sooty had come along with Treg, he’d have asked the little guy. Also, if he had chosen not to come just because he was chasing goblin girls, something would need to be done about that.

He was okay letting his little sooty companion have some time to himself after everything. But he did expect him to start being useful again. 

His thoughts returned to the Skill purchase. There was no real competition. Even if he wasn’t sure about everything the Skill did, he was intrigued enough about the prospect of getting a shinigami exclusive Skill that he probably would have purchased it anyway. 

And at that moment, he remembered the race description when becoming a shinigami. They could get race-related quests, and had a hidden base somewhere in the multiverse. And he wondered if this Skill was related to that somehow, since it would allow him to carry his physical form into the spirit realm.

Then again, it wasn’t like he was planning on going anywhere anytime soon. But the prospect of more quests teased at the possibility of more rewards. And if there was a chance he could get some important treasures that would aid him in his ascension as a shinigami, then it wasn’t something to simply brush off.

Also, even though he had found ways around mind control Skills in the past, having a passive resistance to something as powerful as mind control wasn’t the kind of thing one simply turned down. Especially not when there were additional boons attached to it.

Nodding to himself, he accepted the Skill purchase with a smile. 

“Can’t complain about that. Just need to test it out now.”

**Kim Soohyun**

For weeks, Soohyun had led a group of a few dozen misfits she’d picked up along the way, slaughtering their way through one biome after the other on what felt like an endless journey.

They had no means of navigation, nor did they know what they were looking for. And she was a little annoyed at herself for not purchasing something at the end of the trials to help with just that.

But there were benefits to being on the road. Most significantly, there were beasts. Everywhere. And that meant plenty of opportunities to grow stronger.

Sure, fighting all the time had its drawbacks. And there had been losses. People died. That seemed to be an inescapable fact of the multiverse, one that she had gotten used to some time ago, all the way back in the Tutorial.

She knew what needed to be done. They had to face their challenges head-on; that was the only way to grow stronger. And just looking at the planetary rankings told her there was no time to get lazy.

When she first arrived on this new world, fighting one battle after another, she had thought she would fly straight to the top of the list. After all, with the kind of action she had been thrown into, how could she not?

But it seemed that the other top rankers were faced with similar situations, and those that weren’t were falling down the rankings quickly.

However, as much as she wanted to remain strong and keep pace with the other top rankers. There was more to this life than just strength. Unless she wanted to say goodbye to the friends she had made along the way, she was going to need to find them some safety soon.

After all, in her spatial storage was a dungeon token. And she had every intention of using it. After all, there were certain people she wanted to impress. And if she couldn’t climb the rankings, there was little hope of that happening. And she couldn’t handle being left behind by those people.

But there was a problem with that. The people she was leading. If she entered the dungeon, this ragtag group of survivors would be left to fend for themselves for however long it took her. And she was not confident of their chances, not in the slightest.

Not because they didn’t have their own strengths. But because this world was brutal. Out in the wilderness, a D-grade beast could wander into them, and there was nothing they could do without her help.

However, just a day ago, her hope had been reignited. They had seen lights in the distance, and as they moved closer, they realized that it was a building. A building shrouded in lights, all lit up and shining in the night sky.

As she glanced toward their hopeful salvation again, Soohyun swung her comically large sword. The weapon was twice as thick as her thin frame, and taller than she was, and the power and weight of it split straight through a giant beast with a single strike as they pushed on.

“Come on, everyone. We’re almost there! Hurry!”

Book 3: Chapter 54

Energy rippled, and wind funneled around Lord Rhino as he shot toward Talia at surprising speed, horn bent forward as he closed the distance between them in an instant.

Before he even reached her, she already knew she couldn’t run from such a Skill. The speed was incredible. And she was forced to stand her ground and face the ant where she hovered in the sky, wings flapping. 

She had only one option: her shield Skill. It activated, and black shields began to circle around her.

Lord Rhino’s attack was some kind of charge Skill that doubled as both a travel Skill and a combat Skill. And it was rather powerful. Both faster than Aaron’s Spectral Rush, not to mention lasting much longer, allowing Lord Rhino to travel over larger distances in a flash. And that was only the start of it. The Skill seemed to accumulate all of that momentum into the attack itself, creating a magnificent show of force as the rhino’s horn struck whatever it was aimed at.

Talia knew all of this because when the attack struck her shields, the drain on her energy was absolutely catastrophic, causing it to flicker and almost dispel, saved in just the last second as she cycled additional mana into it.

And while the rhino’s charge Skill lacked the incorporeal nature of Aaron’s travel Skill, which allowed him to pass through attacks, or the staying power of her wings that became a natural extension of her body, it more than made up for it. On its surface, she had to admit that this Skill was superior to either of theirs.

Perhaps it was simply because it was of higher rarity. Unlocking Skills at higher levels did provide you with a higher chance of unlocking higher rarities, after all. But she had a feeling there was more to it than that.

“Die weakling!”

As he roared, Lord Rhino’s large, heavy-bladed polearm swung for Talia. The massive weapon came with a wind gust that pushed her back as she dodged the first attack, and almost sent her swirling toward the ground. With heavy flaps of her wings, she had just barely managed to catch herself from the tsunami of power. 

Unfortunately for her, Lord Rhino just kept attacking, and she was forced to block with her shield as another attack struck at her, causing it to violently shimmer.

A pang of desperation struck her, and she swung back at the rhino with her avatar’s sword, and a wall of black flames separated the two, giving her a moment to catch her breath.

He’s so strong, even in the sky.

But even as that thought was making its way through her mind, she realized something. Lord Rhino wasn’t using a wind-based attack. The incredibly powerful wind gusts that shot out from his attacks were pure energy.

Such power, it’s insane. These attacks must be extremely energy expensive… 

And yet despite the overwhelming display, Lord Rhino showed no sign of letting up, charging straight back into her with another overpowered attack.

Talia remembered what Aaron had said, but barely got a second to act on it as the royal guard attacked again.

It took Talia all of her power to survive, and she crossed her arms to bring her avatar’s blade into a defensive position. And still Lord Rhino’s charge smashed through her shield Skill, knocked the blade away, and sent her flying backward.

She had survived most of the damage, but was knocked off guard, and almost finished right then and there. But just before the ant’s follow up attacks could land, a barrage of silver beams intercepted to save her.

“Weakling pest!”

Zero zapped around, blasting Lord Rhino again as he became increasingly irate at the interruption.

And that was all the time Talia needed for her wings to catch her, and for her to find her metaphorical footing. And as she watched Zero buzz around the rhino, her brow bent with anger. She was sick to death of this arrogant ant and still dripping with revenge.

And she figured it was about time she taught him a lesson or two.

How long can you keep this up?

Swinging from side to side, Lord Rhino tried to follow Zero. If Talia had an advantage in the sky over the ant, then that was doubled for the annoyingly evasive wolf. But none of that seemed to bother the royal guard, and he recklessly began firing off powerful attacks.

The entire sky rippled and burst with power, but Zero had never gotten that close during the exchange, and with his speed advantage, even the massively powerful attacks of Lord Rhino didn’t get close to hitting him.

As Zero shot around the sky, blasting beams, silver lines were traced through the air, and Talia saw her chance, shooting back into range with a powerful flap of her translucent wings. 

The arrogant Lord Rhino didn’t even notice her approach, too busy trying to fruitlessly hit Zero. And the moment she was in range, she unleashed a powerful attack from her sword that rained down dark power upon the ant. The attack struck true, and it was immediately followed up with her crushing nightmare strike that drowned out the light and shrouded them in darkness.

She had to admit, she had been a little apprehensive when picking her D-grade Class evolution. It had said in the description that it would convert her armor avatar Skill set from Serene Light to Consuming Darkness. She had spent some time thinking about that, going back and forth. In the end, given in as the boons sounded too good to refuse. But she had remained unsure of her choice for some time after. But she had to admit, it was growing on her.

In seconds, their surroundings had turned completely dark, with a huge cloud spreading out from Talia that kept all light out and enveloped them completely. 

It was complete darkness, and if not for it being her Skill, she wouldn’t have been able to see a single thing.

This was her latest Skill, and the first in a series of utility Skills she planned to add to her arsenal. Not only did she have more Skill slots since reaching D grade, but she had also finally completed her set, compressing seven Skills into two, so she had plenty of free slots to fill. And so far, this one seemed like a winner.

The darkness that surrounded her blade cut straight into Lord Rhino, opening a wound that gushed out, and darkness filled.

“Parasite! Remove this darkness! I will kill you!" 

The ant roared, but every time it cried out in anger louder and louder, it sounded a little more desperate. 

Lord Rhino seemed to have no answer to this, and all he could do was to continue blasting his incredibly powerful attacks in quick succession, despite not having a target. That said, they were powerful. And soon, rip away at the darkness, and the cloud actually started to dissipate a little, letting in rays of light.

Talia was worried for a moment. Had the royal guard defeated her new Skill so easily? But then she realized something. It was Lord Rhino’s energy, and it was deadly thin.

Oh, you overdid it, didn’t you? You don’t have the juice to keep this up.

She almost felt like laughing. He could keep blasting away if he wanted to. He could even destroy the cloud. None of that really mattered, not when he was draining himself so thoroughly.

And soon, his attacks started to peter out. And all that was left was darkness. Darkness that gave her the clear advantage, and soon she was opening wounds all across Lord Rhino, beating him down bit by bit.

The ant roared in anger, trying its best to counter and send more powerful attacks out, but it only got weaker and weaker with each passing second, and she realized just how outmatched it really was in the sky.

“Zero, go help Aaron!”

There was no need for Zero’s help anymore. She had her enemy cornered, and the wolf couldn’t see in the darkness anyway.

**Aaron**

Closing the distance between himself and Thousand Grand, Aaron unleashed a torrent of attacks, blending combinations into one another.

The first time he struck the centipede, a sea of bladed limbs met him, and he was forced to try and fight through them as they filled every inch of the space before him.

The centipede clearly wasn’t broken, even if it were wounded. But he couldn’t let up for even a second. This was right where he wanted it, and this was not an opportunity he could afford to waste.

So, with his second combination, he pulsed the full power of his true core into his attacks, and his [ Soul Shattering Strike ] tore away the aura surrounding Thousand Grand, while his haymaker’s crushed and blew apart its many legs as they rose to clash against his pummeling fists.

As the exchange continued, he coughed. There was no doubt that this feeling was the strain of his core slightly getting to him as he continued to pummel forward. But it would be worse if he let the centipede back to the sky where it wanted to fight. 

That said, he didn’t want to completely exhaust himself. Continuing his attack, Aaron pulled back on his core usage. If he could do so, he would try to win without crippling himself.

But the moment he did, Thousand Grand tried to make its escape with a burst of blood that crystallised into spears and shot toward Aaron. However, the moment it tried to wiggle its way toward the sky, a blast of silver energy struck it.

Aaron didn’t wait, using the confusion to grab its tail, and swing it back into the ground, crushing it against the earth, and then leaping atop it as he released a furious wave of ground and pound.

The centipede had simply too many legs, and despite the damage it had taken, it still had weapons in its arsenal, and those struck out at Aaron.

But he had seen this coming. It was written in his fate. But what was a little death to Aaron Dober?

After all, he had energy to spare. The fight hadn’t gone too long, and the other options available to him were costly. More true core power would exhaust his soul, while letting the centipede reach the sky and fighting it in the blood mist might just turn the tables against him.

And so, he let those bladed legs strike him, and as they did, he just smiled.

“Madness! True madness!” Thousand Grand gasped as Aaron just kept punching through several deaths in a row.

This wasn’t Yendal’s style, but sometimes winning was more important. Besides, he hoped she was at least a little impressed that he had used his head to get this far.

His strikes just kept coming, turning into a blur of carnage as the centipede’s carapace broke and crumpled under his force. Its body was transforming into little bits of shell and blood, and whenever an opening appeared, silver beams shot down and into the exposed flesh.

It attempted a pitiful defense, but another haymaker just crushed straight through its face, and acidic green blood sprayed all over him like a fountain, but Aaron just laughed and kept punching and mutilating. Turning the centipede into an ant smoothie beneath his relentless fists.

You killed: Thousand Grand [ Level 153 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

88 → 94

Purchasable Skill Available!

Just as he was starting to get a real sweat going, he heard a reverberating thud and looked over to see a cloud of dust where Lord Rhino had slammed straight through the earth.

It was a devastating blow, but that was exactly where the royal guard wanted to be, and despite the damage caused by the attack, he actually gasped in delight as he climbed up and out of the rubble.

“Haha. Idiot human!” Lord Rhino spat and cracked its limbs. “My powers! They are returning to me! Hahahah. Now I will break you!”

Aaron got up and turned toward the royal guard, fists clenched and ready for another fight.

“STOP!” Talia screamed as she floated out from the dark cloud hanging in the sky. “I can handle him alone!”

Aaron paused. He wasn’t about to let Talia die over pride, but when he saw her, he didn’t see a wounded or broken fighter. She had certainly drained herself, but she looked in decent enough condition to fight.

“Then bring it, worm!” Lord Rhino taunted, but it was clear he was still recovering from grievous wounds.

“Oh, I will.”

The cloud of darkness swirled around Talia and then started to funnel into her avatar’s massive sword, and he could feel the unstable energy coalescing within the towering blade.

That thing is powerful.

And then, with a deadly glare, she swung the blade. It was the most power he had ever seen her use in a single strike, and while Lord Rhino was recovering incredibly fast, he was still far from fresh. Unfortunately for him, he was also still a complete idiot.

Instead of fleeing the incredible attack, pride and arrogance overcame the rhino ant, and he used his charge attack to shoot directly toward Talia as he descended upon him with her black blade, sucking in light.

As the blade fell upon him, tendrils of pure darkness ripped through the royal guard’s body, tearing it to shreds in an instant, shreds that burned to ash as the darkness enveloped them, insinuating that darkness was rather hot.

“That was… that was pretty fucking sick,” Aaron nodded, impressed. He knew Talia was strong, but that had to be the most impressive display of strength he had seen from her by a mile.

With a grunt, she touched down beside him, and her avatar dissipated.

“That was pretty impressive.”

“You think? Hmm, it could do with a little tidying up,” Talia shrugged as if not completely impressed with her Skill yet.

“Ha, nice to see you’re not aiming too low,” Aaron chuckled. “But how’d you get so much power into that attack? I know your specialty is strong, but that seemed much stronger than last time.”

“The cloud. It absorbs some of the power used within it. If I can get an enemy to attack me inside of it, I can soak up a bunch of their power quickly, then I can use it in my attack. Seems decent enough. Also, it helps that it’s pretty hard to hit me in total darkness. Especially when I can see perfectly in the dark myself.”

“Not bad.”

Aaron nodded. It was an impressive Skill, there was no denying that. But his thoughts were elsewhere. The daredevil in him kinda just wanted to have a friendly sparring session now. After all, it had been a while since he had tested his fighting senses without sight.

Although that would have to wait for them to finish exterminating ants.

He and Talia quickly rejoined the rest of the warriors of Dober in their battle with the drone, and it didn’t take long before the ants were routed. Their numbers had already been lessened by the previous battles, and without the Royal Guards to occupy Dober’s strongest warriors, they didn’t stand a chance. When it became clear that the ants were going to be wiped out, all of a sudden, the ants began to retreat. 

Triumphant cheers rang out across the battlefield. Dober had won. And now, they would be able to build their first forward outpost.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 53

Aaron could have crossed the plains in basically no time. But progress was slowed, waiting for all members of the supporting parties. And that wasn’t something he wanted to rush, not after the losses from their previous engagement.

There was no time to waste, what with the stakes being what they were. But that didn’t mean he wanted people dying over his reckless behavior.

And so, the group moved with a measured pace, maintaining formation. While everyone’s roles mightn’t have been as glorious as each other’s, they were all important in their own right. After all, the drones could be rather dangerous when springing their little traps, and against strong opponents like the royal guards, it wouldn’t take much to swing the pendulum in the wrong direction.

There was no room for error; this was it. Do or die. And Aaron had spent a little more time and effort preparing this time. Which led to him looking spectacularly bulky, drawing a few raised brows from his companions. 

That was a sacrifice he was willing to suffer, and every extra pound he was carrying was extra energy to be thrown against the royal guards. This was especially important as he really wanted to avoid using his true core, or at least using its full power. After all, they were running on a very thin deadline now, with the dungeon coming up. And using the core’s true power meant that he would likely need to recover again before taking on the queen.

That said, his true core wasn’t useless. Even restrained as it was, his true core’s power could generate more than his old faux core.

Surprisingly, though, when they found the swarm, it seemed more scattered than he remembered. Not only that, but it hadn’t made anywhere near as much progress across the plains as last time. 

This doesn’t feel like the same swarm at all… It’s weaker. There’s no doubt about it.

As his eyes swept across the swarm, he realized that it hadn’t recovered. It was still huge, but it lacked the density that it once had, and it was moving with a trepidation that had been absent previously.

He felt a wave of relief seeing this. He had assumed that it couldn’t be endless, and if they kept bashing against it, soon its numbers would dwindle. But it sure hadn’t felt like it before.

However, this was proof that even the ant horde had its limits.

It was also a good sign for the upcoming battle, giving him more confidence in their chances. The smaller and weaker the swarm was, the less energy he would waste on it, and the more he could focus on their main goal.

Leading the charge with Talia and Zero not far behind, Aaron slammed into the horde, sending ants flying with each strike.

Despite the fact that it was quicker, and the hive clearly needed more time to recover from the slaughter they had dealt it, it hadn’t been doing nothing. And after a few seconds of combat, he noticed new Skills being used by the drones he hadn’t seen previously.

Aaron shuddered to think that they might be using Skills stolen from fallen members of Dober. But after a quick moment of disgust, it only enraged him further, and resulted in an even more brutal crushing of ant drones.

With the warriors of Dober pouring in from all sides, and the weakened swarm unable to mount a proper defense, it wasn’t long before it was falling back, and the jungle came back into sight.

This was it. The accumulation of their efforts. If they failed now, it likely meant missing out on the dungeon and providing his enemies with the opportunity to loot valuable spoils.

“Now’s our chance, Talia. It’s now or never!”

Talia nodded, swiping away at the horde not far from him. But their support units from Dober weren’t about to leave all the glory to Aaron and Talia, either. And with their targets in sight, a rain of arrows and spectacular bursts of Skill energy flashed across the dwindling ant horde as the squad’s main vanguard crashed into it, sweeping up an entire flank of the ant swarm in seconds as a devastating cascade of attacks broke them apart.

What had been a steady advance quickly turned into a rout and a slaughter. And at its head, Aaron noticed familiar faces. It was the group he had hunted the beaver with, and they shot him a glance as they cut down the enemy, with Carlos saluting and Yuki waving.

“It seems the cavalry has arrived!”

A feverish pitch filled the battle, and he realized he wasn’t the only one seeking a good bit of revenge for their fallen. And it only drove him harder, and with a final push, he cut down the remaining lines of ants alongside Zero and Talia. 

He had been a little worried after the previous fight. The lives of others hang in the balance on his conscience. But this wasn’t like last time. They’d done far more damage far quicker, and the swarm wasn’t in the same shape as it had once been. 

Ultimately, though, there was no way of guaranteeing that they wouldn’t suffer more losses. Not without Aaron and the others staying to completely destroy it.

His brow bent, and he continued onto their target. They had done well, and if there were losses, they would just have to accept them. After all, every moment they spent held up here against the swarm was another moment the royal guards had to prepare.

And there was always the risk that the hive had more cards up its sleeve.

“Let’s move! Remember the plan!”

However, a slight knot formed in his chest again. No amount of confidence could entirely wash away the sight of the two royal guards looking entirely unbothered by the swarm getting crushed before them.

Time to wipe that smug indifference off their faces!

Hearing him, Talia nodded and skirted around to the right-hand side of Lord Rhino, keeping a wide berth. 

The mission was rather simple. Aaron would charge on ahead, while Talia would coax Lord Rhino into attacking her and kite him away from the centipede.

And the moment she got within range, she started yelling at the royal guard.

“Hey, you! Yeah, you! The fat one!” Talia taunted, and the two ants looked at Aaron.

Wait, they don’t think she’s yelling at me, do they?

“Leather skin! The one with the ugly horn!”

Lord Rhino finally turned to her as she flew into the sky, waving him on. Luckily, there was no blood mist yet, and Thousand Grand stood staring at Aaron.

“Ignore her!” The centipede growled, its furious red glare shooting daggers at Aaron.

“Come on then! Or are you the other one’s little bitch? Stuck here taking orders? Or maybe you’re just chicken? Just a big, leathery, horned coward? Huh?”

“What are you yapping about, weakling?” Lord Rhino hissed. “I’M NOT SO EASILY ANGERED!”

“Calm down! You’re giving her just what she wants!”

“Haha, really? Mr. Coward is scared of a little girl? A human girl no less. I mean, it’s fair enough. You did get the absolute shit beaten out of you last time. I can’t really blame you for being scared.”

“WHAT?! If anybody got the shit beaten out of them, it was you! How dare you speak of me like that, weak human!?”

“Nah uh. You got beat up bad. It was kinda embarrassing to be honest. You reckon the queen would be okay making a number five rank? You know, four seems a little high for you, don’t you think?”

“You’ll pay for that!”

“She’s baiting you, you fool. Ignore her. Mother gave us strict instructions!”

“Shut up!” Lord Rhino barked at the centipede. “I’ll show you, I’ll show you all! I’m no number four. When I’m done, nobody will question the might of Lord Rhino again! I DON’T EVEN NEED A NUMBER!”

“A lot of tough talk for a guy too scared to fight a girl.”

And with that, Lord Rhino was fuming, steam basically whistling out of his ears, and shot up into the sky without a second thought. His heavy feet blasted him off the ground with a reverberating shockwave that trembled through the entire jungle.

“Get back here, you fool!”

Thousand Grand moved to join its sibling, clearly reading their plan, but Aaron flashed between them.

“Yeah, nah. You’re not going to be doing that. Your fight is right here with me,” he cracked his knuckles.

Thousand Grand looked over his shoulder, watching as Talia baited Lord Rhino further and further away, with Zero flashing around in the background. It was obvious an ambush was about to take place, and there wasn’t a thing it could do about it.

“What an idiot! Bah, it doesn’t matter. I can deal with you alone, and once I’m done, I’ll rip apart your little friends one by one.”

“Yeah, yeah. Quit yapping.”

Without a further word, the sky turned into a thick blood mist, and Thousand Grand twirled up into it.

It was fairly obvious that this was the more intelligent of the two royal guards, and Aaron had a feeling it would be more careful about engaging him where it lacked an advantage, now that its companion had lost itself to rage and run off.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from beating the living hell out of it.

But the situation quickly turned south. It became painfully obvious that he couldn’t just wait on the ground for the centipede to decide to attack, as the edges of the centipede ant’s many limbs turned into blood edges, and were shot down upon him like a rain of sanguine blades.

Through fate reading, his own agility, and skill at dodging, Aaron was able to avoid them. It would take more than simple, predictable attacks to kill him.

But he already knew that there was more to the barrage than just a simple attempt to overwhelm him. The blades were ripping through the earth, breaking into rubble, and setting it up for something else.

And he could see what the centipede was planning seconds before it happened. It was shepherding him into rubbled ground where footing was poor as it prepared itself for an ultimate attack. But the ultimate attack was the least of his worries.

It was quite the conundrum. If he attacked now, he would be subjugating himself to the blood mist, and if he kept dodging, he would be granting the centipede free rein in deciding how and when it wanted to attack.

And while Aaron was supremely skilled, far more so than even the centipede. There was a big difference between levels. Each level at D-grade meant more than one at E-grade, and so an additional 53 levels at D-grade meant considerably more than the level gaps he had overcome in the past. The difference between a mid D-grade was considerably more than even a low D-grade and a high E-grade.

And each grade above that, only intensified the powergrap between levels.

Which meant one thing. If he were going to win this, he couldn’t allow a beast with such a massive power gap to dictate the terms of the fight. And that meant that he couldn’t just keep dodging.

He needed to push Thousand Grand into uncomfortable territory. The only problem was, how would he do that without debuffing himself by fighting in the blood mist?

There were no cheap tricks that were going to get the centipede down to the ground.

As he searched for ideas, the only option Aaron had was to at least fight back. To give Thousand Grand something to think about, even if it had no chance of turning the battle.

 So, he did the only thing he could without flying up to meet it in the mist. He fired spectral fists from the ground. Unfortunately, while the attacks had been rather devastating against the ant swarms, the rapid-fire ranged fists did little against Thousand Grand.

In fact, while the royal guard had started to dodge the fists at first, thus interrupting its own attacks. But it quickly gave up doing so. Instead, it just decided to tank the shots.

The sight of it was humbling. Against its powerful mid D-grade body and hard carapace shell, the relatively weak attacks practically did nothing.

This wasn’t going to plan, and soon he would eat powerful attacks, and dying without a plan was just a waste of energy reserves.

It was obvious something else needed to be done. And now.

Damn this bastard. I don’t have a choice, do I?

Aaron shook his head, annoyed at the situation he found himself in. But there was no other option. Charging up into the blood mist was giving his opponent exactly what it wanted. He was going to have to use his ace and accept the drawbacks.

Sighing, he drew on his true core and funneled the power into his [ Spectral Bullet Punch ]. 

It was one thing to shrug off the base power of the attack, and another thing entirely to shrug off several quick bursts of C-grade energy.

And he had accidentally found himself in a very opportunistic situation, as Thousand Grand had well and truly decided Aaron’s attacks couldn’t hurt it.

He hadn’t planned for this. He hadn’t intended to lull his opponent into overconfidently tanking his attacks. In truth, he just wanted to draw the fight to the ground somehow. And if anything, he had wanted to avoid what he was about to do.

But that was exactly how it worked out, and the series of blindingly fast attacks that he shot toward the centipede hit far, far harder than his opponent had expected.

It happened in a flash. Too many attacks to count. Because he knew, if he had to do this, he might as well make it count, and so the blinding rapid-fire series of spectral fists powered by his C-grade core all ripped straight into the undefended chest of the centipede in seconds.

The blast ripped through the royal guard, knocking it straight out of the sky and sending it skidding across the ground.

And Aaron immediately took chase, shooting across the ground with repetitive uses of [ Spectral Rush ].

This was his chance. As long as he could prevent Thousand Grand from getting back into the sky, he could win this. And he bore down on his enemy with a manic grin.

It hadn’t gone exactly to plan, but this was just what he needed. And if he did it quickly enough, he might still have time to recover and beat the queen before the dungeon.

“This is going to hurt!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 52

Aaron sat hunched over, staring at his hands. He knew losses were going to happen; that was the world they lived in now. There was no escaping that. But to watch a half dozen people charge into a battle they knew was lost so that he could escape was something else entirely.

Why’d they have to go dying for me…

He let out a long sigh. His thoughts on the matter weren't entirely honest; he knew that. They hadn’t died for him so much as they had died for Dober. But that rational line of thinking didn’t help much.

It was getting crowded outside the Bellagio. A few scouts had stayed back to keep an eye on the swarm and cause it trouble if it started to march over the plains again. 

But Aaron, along with the others, had returned to recover, and now the bruised and battered warriors sat around as healers and other helpers saw to them.

“What’s the body counter?” Ryan, doing his squad leader job, asked one of his men.

The young man nudged his glasses and scanned a pad he had been writing on. 

“Um, ah, let me see here,” he said, ticking the pad here and there. “Twelve. We lost another on the way back. The poison was too deep, and without awakened energy organs, they couldn’t cycle healing potions or antidotes as well.”

“Dammit, really? Fuck me. Another one. What a fucking mess,” Ryan groaned and rubbed his temples.

Aaron’s ears twitched as he overheard the conversation. “Hang on a moment. We lost twelve?”

Ryan turned to him with a sober look, and Aaron’s gaze fell back toward the ground.

Many people had died, and it was kind of weird that he took these losses personally. But then again, he felt directly responsible this time, unlike previous incidents.

Meanwhile, Talia was just shaking her head beside him.

“Bastard ants,” grunted a dirty, blood-stained man nearby. “You guys were a bit preoccupied, but that swarm… they seemed to be better organized than last time. When we hit them, they caught us with a few ambushes. Nothing to be done about it. Once they get their claws in you…”

Aaron swallowed. That made it so much worse. They had rushed through the swarm faster than the first time, and he had a pretty good feeling that was why they had been more organized when fighting the squads.

He also hadn’t eaten more of his bat curry. If he had, they might have survived. But he had gotten too caught up fighting the royal guards.

“What’s with all the moaning and groaning?!”

He heard someone plop down beside him and turned to see Becky, the catgirl, and she was already deep into Zero, her hands running through his fur.

“You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”

But she hadn’t survived the battle free of wounds, either. There was a big cut across her eye that was healing, and she was missing several fingers.

“She’s tougher than she looks,” Talia said. “She’ll heal. Us on the other hand…”

Aaron nodded at that. There were wounded all over the place, including a couple on stretchers that looked miserable. Groaning and turning against pain as people tried to care for them.

“Maybe I can help.”

Aaron got up and walked toward them. He wasn’t sure if he could do it, but he wanted to try.

“What are you doing?” One of the healers said as he approached.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be a moment.”

Aaron extended his hands over a badly wounded man and started to pour aether into him. The aether didn’t heal the wounds directly, but a sigh of relief escaping the man’s lips made it clear that the pain was easing somehow.

Giving them some aether to help their souls mend seems to help. Well, I’m no healer, but if I can do something to ease their suffering, it’s the least I can do.

After a few seconds, the man seemed at peace, and Aaron moved on to the other badly wounded and did the same. They were all lower levels, with poor foundations, and most either didn’t have any, or at least not all their energy organs awoken. If they did, Aaron’s injection of aether wouldn’t have done that much, but for the ones that didn’t, it made a considerable difference.

“Thanks,” a healer smiled at him. “You’ve made our job easier.”

“Ahhh, dammit! This sucks!” Talia huffed as Aaron dropped back down beside her. “I’m going to end those bastards for this.”

“Yeah, same. I share the feeling. But we should probably focus on resting first.”

Aaron wasn’t really one to speak; he was as angry as anyone about how things turned out. But he could see Talia literally trembling with rage, and he knew he had to calm her down somehow.

“Easy for you to say. Those guys who helped us escape? They were my people. People I had fought beside since the early days in the Tutorial. I brought them here for a better chance. And…”

“And? What are you getting at? You think they would have been better off alone?”

“Maybe,” Talia shrugged.

“Talia, don’t beat yourself up. You did give them a chance. I mean, have you even been looking at the ranking system? Our new world’s population is dwindling, and fast.”

Talia blinked and, with a rush of morbid curiosity, opened the ranking to check the number.

Population 4,998,674,784

“That is…”

“Yeah, insane, isn’t it? Less than five billion people left, and that’s spread across three races, two of which we might have to fight for our own survival. Bringing people here isn’t looking so bad now, is it?”

She sat there for a while with a blank expression until she started to slowly nod.

“Then we can’t waste anymore time. We need to exterminate these ants as soon as possible,” she continued, but in a much more measured way.

“Yeah,” Aaron agreed. “But we need to take our time. We can’t afford to fuck up again. That said, I have a plan for dealing with those royal guards.”

“A plan?” Talia’s expression lit up.

Aaron nodded and explained what he had learned during the fight, describing the powers and debuffing Skills of both royal ants.

“I see. So all I have to do is get Lord Rhino to fight me in the sky? That shouldn’t be hard.”

“You make that sound so easy,” Aaron chuckled.

“Because it is,” Talia shrugged. “That fool is as arrogant as they come. I’ll just tell him he’s chicken if he doesn’t want to fight me up there. I highly doubt he respects my strength enough to resist the bait.”

Aaron almost made a counterargument. He almost scolded her for not taking their enemy seriously enough. But she was entirely correct. The ant’s weakness wasn’t just how reliant it was on fighting on the ground, but also its blinding arrogance.

Okay, that works. But what about the centipede?

As he considered that thought, he pulled the dungeon token from his scabbard to check it.

“Just over a week remaining…”

“What’s that?” Talia perked.

“The dungeon token.”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about that. Yeah, it’s coming soon, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, and I have a feeling it’s going to be important. But these ants…”

“I know,” Talia nodded. “I don’t want to miss it either, but we can’t leave Dober like this. The place will be overrun.”

“You know what?”

“What?” Talia turned to him.

“We should be in a Party.”

Talia thought for a moment, then nodded. They hadn’t been in a Party before, since Parties were mostly useful in Dungeons, so it slipped their minds, but there was no reason not to be. It would help them keep tabs on each other, and later, when it was time to use the Dungeon Token, they would be able to join together.

“Yeah, we honestly should have already been in one,” she said, sending him the invitation.

Aaron returned the nod as he accepted. “That, and if killing the ant queen takes too long, we’ll need to work together if we want to be able to catch up to everyone else. We can’t have someone like Darius taking all the rewards.”

“Absolutely not,” agreed Talia.

Aaron turned to Zero to send him a Party invitation, but for some reason, the System wouldn’t push it through.

“Oh, boy,” he rubbed the wolf, getting under its chin and eliciting a happy howl. “Looks like we won’t be able to bring you along. Well, I suppose it's not such a big deal. We might not even make it to the dungeon at this rate.” 

“What are you talking about?” Becky turned to Aaron with a half-lidded glare before continuing her pats.

“Huh? You actually want to talk to a human, do you?”

“No. But I can’t stand overhearing dummies. Zero is your pet, right?”

“Yeah? What of it?”

“Do I really need to teach you everything?” Becky sighed. “Oh well, I suppose that’s what comes with genius.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your pet, dumbass! You want him in your party, don’t you? Well, why don’t you just soulbind him like any other tamer would?”

“Soulbind?” Aaron looked perplexed and shared a glance with Talia, but she didn’t seem to know either.

“Yeah. Soulbind. Need me to talk slower? Anyway, if you soulbind this fluffball, he’ll always be in your party. But be careful! If you die, it’ll hurt Zero. And you better not hurt this cutie!” She scolded.

“Hurt Zero? Hey, hang on! Does that mean if something happens to Zero, it’ll hurt me, too?”

“Huh? I suppose. If Zero dies, you’ll take a permanent soul wound.” Becky said with indifference as she continued to pat Zero. “It goes both ways, though. You both can take on some of each other’s abilities and traits if you’re soulbound. Maybe you’ll grow some fur. He does have nice fur.”

“You don’t have to,” interjected Talia. “I did some minor research on it. It’s all voluntary. You won’t turn into… You won’t be like Becky if you soulbind. It’ll just affect your Skill and Race Evolution options a bit.”

“Hmm,” Aaron scratched his chin. “Having Zero come along in the dungeon could be a great aid. But if he is always going to be in my party, I’d be permanently tying myself to him…”

Aaron looked up at the happy wolf receiving pats. It was a risk, but ultimately, he felt like it would be worthwhile. Zero had already helped him several times, and that wasn’t to be underestimated. And if Zero could grow and take on some of Aaron’s abilities from the bond, that would help the wolf keep up once Aaron pulled further ahead when he got his D Grade Class.

“Zero,” he held out a hand, and the wolf immediately rose, walked over, and pressed its nose into his palm. “So, what do I do?”

“Seriously?” Becky rolled her eyes. “Just feel it. You know, like you do with all the System stuff.”

Aaron focused on the thought of soulbinding with Zero, and immediately, a prompt appeared.

Do you wish to Soulbind with [ Zero ]

Y/N?

Aaron’s brows perked, and after another few seconds of deliberation, he accepted the prompt, and in an instant, Zero appeared beside him in the party menu. But the wolf wasn’t actually using up one of the five party slots.

“Okay, looks like we got our dungeon party sorted.”

“Yeah, nice. Now we just have to kill an entire hive of ants in just over a week,” Talia snorted.

“Ahh, about that. I’m going to need a moment,” Aaron raised his index. “My soul still needs a little recovery time.”

“You really need to stop wearing that thing out,” Talia sighed.

“Yeah, I know.”

Aaron retreated to the temple to recover. Once the rejuvenating energy and ever-growing truths of the temple were running through him, it only took a few hours for his soul to recover.

But by the time the group was ready to march again, the dungeon timer had clicked down to less than a week.

With less than seven days remaining, all they had to do was cross the plains, defeat the royal guards, and then siege and kill the queen…

Somewhere far to the west of the Jungle

A figure bounced along the ground, blasting shockwaves through the earth each time he hit, and finally, he crashed into a wrecked building, knocking the last of the rubble down.

It was a scene of absolute carnage. Buildings were burning all around, and smoke filled the sky with angry flashes of red, as the remaining sentry lasers blasted at the swarm pouring over the walls.

Bodies littered the ground everywhere, and explosions and the rattle of Skills echoed all around. But it was somewhat calmer in the inner chambers of the settlement, where the big man had just destroyed one of the main buildings.

“Bahaha, I thought we might actually be in for a challenge. Guess I was wrong,” spat a towering silver-haired man with four arms. “Is this really the best you have?”

“Now, now, brother. They’re only human. What did you expect from a lesser race?”

“Huh, I dunno…” The big silver-haired man looked confused for a moment. “More than this?”

There were two of them standing amongst the corpses of the settlement’s strongest warriors. A few of them had held out for some time, but bit by bit, they had been crushed under heel.

The silver-haired humanoid almost looked human, save for his additional arms. But there was also an odd perfection about him, like his skin was too smooth and shiny. Lines also wrapped around his body as if marking carapace shell pieces that weren’t actually there.

“Human!” The silver-haired ant called. “You still alive in there?!”

“I still sense him in there, brother,” said his companion, who stood a few meters back.

The second figure looked much more like an ant. It stood upright, was about the size of an average man, had a snake’s head, huge feathered wings, and a scorpion tail. But otherwise, it looked like an ant.

“I’m not done yet!” Came a voice from the rubble.

A second later, the rubble exploded outward, showing the surroundings, and out stepped a huge man with scruffy hair, and almost every inch of his skin covered in scars.

He raised his forearm up to his mouth and licked a wound that was carved down it, and within seconds it healed to leave behind a nasty scar.

“Thank you. This should serve me well.”

“What are you yapping about, human?” Asked the patchwork ant.

“These scars, haha,” the human shook his head. “They’re my greatest power. And every scar makes me a little stronger. You see this one,” he continued, pulling up his torn and shredded shirt to reveal a gnarly scar on his stomach. “Almost killed me. The bastard that did it was the first D-grade beast I met after the trials. The thing is, though, it was exactly what I needed. This was the scar that helped me become ranked in the top ten! HAHA. And you know what? I think these new scars will be even better!”

A rush of energy that seemed to build stronger and stronger flooded out from Edwan Coser, ranked seventh on the planetary rankings, as he took several steps toward the royal guards. And the large man seemed to grow even bigger. Spikes protruded from his skin, and his bloodied mouth curled into a dangerous grin.

“He thinks he still has a chance?” The silver-haired royal guard bent his head.

“Seems like it, brother. We’ll just have to teach him another lesson.”

The two royal guards took a step forward, but when Edwan launched himself at them, they almost gasped.

They had already fought this guy, and while he was strong, he hadn’t been particularly strong compared to them.

But with the new scar?

In an instant, he was there, his spiked form barreling into them. But these were the two strongest royal guards, and even with a respectable powerboost, Edwan Coser was just a man.

The air itself seemed to twist around the enraged man as he swung at them, but every attack was countered, and within seconds, wounds covered every inch of him.

“Blah!” Edwan coughed blood and staggered forward, clutching at his mounting wounds. “Damn you! These will be glorious–”

And just then, as Edwan was about to mock their triumph, a pointed hand shot toward his neck like a point of a blade, and his head was severed clean, and sent bouncing along the ground.

“What? My… my body! You bastards!”

“Huh, he can still talk without a body?” The silver-haired ant said, looking impressed.

“I can do more than talk!”

In an instant, Edawn’s head began to glow and then expand rapidly.

“Oh shit.”

An explosion big enough to topple cities rang out with a wave of destruction that destroyed both what was left of the settlement, alongside the ant swarm.

“Human!” Sneered the royal guard.

They were both covered in wounds, wounds that went beyond just their physical forms. The man had detonated his very soul, and it had taken a lot, even for them, to survive the blast.

“Your guts are leaking, brother.”

“So are yours!”

“Oh, right. They are.”

“What now?”

“Collect the corpse. Mother will want this one.”

“Corpse? You mean pieces?”

The royal guard shrugged at its brother, and the two began collecting the pieces of one of the world’s former top rankers.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 1 has now been removed

I've taken down all the chapters of book 1 now, as it is officially stubbed, but the e-book is still up. I may need to remove this, but I will provide it for Patreons unless told not to.

*Epub as been taken down for release*

Book 3: Chapter 51

Whatever superiority he had held over Lord Rhino, Aaron did not feel it against Thousand Grand as he clashed with the monstrous ant.

It wasn’t just powerful, though. The centipede ant was a natural contortionist, bending and wrapping around itself as its countless bladed limbs engaged him from every angle.

And that was only the beginning of his struggles. Activating some kind of Skill, Thousand Grand turned the sky blood red, and he could feel the rich mana seeping into it.

“Ahaha, come, little pinkskin. Show me what you are made of,” taunted the centipede as it flew through the ever-thickening blood-red sky, like some kind of serpent dragon.

Never one to refuse a challenge, Aaron shot up to meet it with a gust of spectral energy, and immediately regretted it. 

It was as if the blood mist that filled the air was attacking him, invading his lungs and causing some kind of respiratory response, and he gasped and grabbed at his throat.

“What is this?!”

“AHAHAHA!” The centipede shot toward him, snaking through the sky as it whipped around and attacked from both left and right with all of its squirming limbs.

Aaron ducked and weaved, reading fate as he avoided the countless attacks coming his way. 

The exchange was blinding, but in truth, it was the mist that was giving him the most trouble. The more he breathed in, the weaker and slower his body felt.

However, the blood mist seemed to hang only in the sky, and there was a good couple of meters between it and the ground, where there was still fresh air.

“Damn this!”

It was immediately obvious that he couldn’t keep this up, and he shot back to the ground and took a deep breath. 

“That’s…”

His lungs opened up a little, and he felt the weight of the blood mist lift a little, but there was something else. It felt as if his legs were turning to stone, and every second he spent standing on the ground was making him heavier.

“What the bloody hell?

He was getting irritated now. Everywhere he went, there was another debuffing effect that was weakening him.

“Bloody bugs!” He roared and leaped back into the sky.

If this was how they were going to fight, then he’d just have to finish things quickly. Clashing with the centipede, he pulsed more and more mana from his core into his fists, pounding at the aura-coated blades coming his way.

Even regular punches empowered by a C-grade core were incredibly strong, and as their attacks collided with one another, his fists were literally blasting away bladed limbs.

There was an obvious problem, though. Thousand Grand had many, many limbs.

“AHAHA!”

The centipede just kept laughing as its relentless attack continued, wounds starting to show on Aaron’s body despite his constant pulsing of core energy into his attacks.

And all the while, the blood mist was weighing heavier on him, bearing down with increased intensity with each passing second. It seemed ending this fight quickly wasn’t going to be as easy as he had hoped.

Blasting into Thousand Grand with a powerful combination, he struck hard and then rushed out of range. Before engaging again, he glanced down at the others.

Talia’s attacks were crashing down with some gusto against Lord Rhino, but Aaron didn’t like the way things were going. Even after one of her shadowy attacks ripped a wound across the Rhino’s chest.

The problem was that the Rhino was healing too quickly, and Talia was draining mana too fast, relying on her more powerful attacks.

That doesn’t look good.

“Don’t forget about me!” Thousand Grand hissed as it snaked into range, arms bearing down on Aaron.

Bouncing back, he was forced back to the ground. He was simply getting too weak fighting the centipede in the mist.

But again, the moment he made contact with the ground, he felt his legs grow heavy like stone.

What the hell is going on? Is there no escape from these debuffs?

“DIE WEAKLINGS!”

Lord Rhino roared so loud the jungle shook, and a massively powerful blast blew a line straight through the jungle itself. 

Panicked, Aaron searched for Talia, and then sighed when he saw her to the side of it panting. But when he spotted Lord Rhino marching out from a cloud of dust looking almost completely healed, a hole formed in his gut.

Even while taking her strikes, he has healed that well? Not to mention his attacks. There is so much power in them. It’s like his energy is endless.

But he had little time to worry about others as the centipede shot down toward him, only stopping a second before slicing him apart as a silver beam blasted straight into its head, knocking it off course and drawing some blood.

A moment later, Zero flashed to his side, growling at the ant.

“Just in time. Thanks, boy!”

“Bah, you will pay for that, human!” Hissed Thousand Grand.

The centipede curled up into a disk and then shot toward him with even greater speed than before. Not only that, but it was spinning with a whirlwind of energy and a cutting aura that spun around it like a sharp blade, and worst of all, the mist followed.

Aaron flashed to the side, but the mist that now surrounded the centipede slowed him whenever it got near, like he was wading through sludge.

He had no choice; he couldn’t keep dodging this Skill. If the fight kept going as it was, it would end poorly for them. When the curled-up centipede attacked again, he countered with [ Equal and Opposite ].

With the Skill cancelled, Thousand Grand rolled out of it, confused as to what had happened, and Aaron took advantage of that second. Immediately, he followed up with a pulse of C-grade energy from his core that he sent into a haymaker that slammed into the confused centipede and sent it flying.

“RAAARAGH!” Thousand Grand roared and moaned, blood pouring out from between its carapace segments. But it was far from dead. In fact, the rage building up within it turned the mist and even darker shade of red, and Aaron had a bad feeling about it.

But he had bought himself a little time. He had to think, though, and fast. The battle was quickly turning against them, and if they didn’t come up with a plan now, they’d soon be all dead.

The problem was that he had taken too long to notice the debuffing effects taking place and how powerful they were. And now he was well and truly weakened. And the blood mist was even stronger than before; he had no idea how he’d deal with it.

He thought back to the start of the fight. Despite being stationed together, these two royal guards didn’t seem to get along. They had almost compromised their entire mission because the Rhino one had wanted to fight them alone.

But they were both very strong, and he kind of understood where the confidence came from. Still, if the centipede hadn’t joined the fray when it did, he was pretty sure they would have killed both. For as strong as the blood mist was, if Talia was helping him, he’d have a lot more chances to go on the offense. 

So then, why? Why put two warriors together who don't get along?

The answer struck him like a lightning bolt. There were two debuffing Skills in effect. One was Lord Rhino’s, and it was bound to the ground. The other was obviously the blood mist, which was bound to the sky. 

These two countered each other’s weaknesses. One excelled in fighting on the ground, and the other in the sky. And suddenly, it made perfect sense to team them up together.

That’s it! We just flip the script on them!

But just as he was about to yell out to Talia and tell her what he had discovered, a staggering cramp shot through his body, and weakness not related to the debuffs came over him.

This is… not good!

He knew immediately what was going on. He had felt similar things already. His consistent pulses of C-grade energy were starting to stack up. And while he didn’t seem to have damaged his soul, this fatigue and weakness were unmistakable. Especially with his shinigami senses. His use of C-grade energy had exhausted his very soul itself.

I can’t fight in this state… Aaron looked around, panic mounting.

The situation was bad enough as it was, and it had just gotten a whole lot worse.

This wasn’t the kind of problem he could just stubbornly push himself through. His soul fatigue was simply too high, and Thousand Grand was too strong.

They needed time, and he needed a chance to recover. They needed to escape.

Stealing his attention, he heard a scream from below and looked down to catch Lord Rhino crashing straight through Talia’s shield Skill. She must have been low on mana, as he believed it could block just about anything. And the moment the shields shattered, she was flung across the jungle like a rag doll.

However, the Skill had obviously taken most of the damage, as the moment she crashed to a halt, she was back on her feet. 

She wasn’t dead, but she didn’t look good, swaying from side to side as he prepared another attack.

She’s going to get herself killed!

Aaron needed time, and he immediately used [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], slowing everything down and rushing to Talia’s side. 

But once he had his soul vortex up and running, he noticed something else. He could feel it, it was unmistakable. Lord Rhino was drawing in massive amounts of mana from the ground itself. There was no doubt in his mind now, Lord Rhino was an earth attuned fighter, but it was more than that. This was the ant launching such powerful attacks over and over again without any signs of exhaustion. Not to mention the impressive healing.

Even a powerful D-grade should have shown some signs of slowing down with such incredible output. And now Aaron understood why it wasn’t.

There was another Skill involved, one that was likely enhanced by the Rhino’s earth attunement. And it was giving the ant the ability to absorb massive amounts of energy from the ground.

“I’m fine,” Talia spat. “You worry about your fight, and I’ll worry about mine.”

Aaron looked at her. She wasn’t fine. She was banged up bad, and Lord Rhino was in almost perfect condition. Not that he was doing much better, and the only reason they hadn’t immediately been attacked again was that Zero flashed past the two royal guards, blasting silver beams before flashing back behind the two of them.

His wolf companion wasn’t the sturdiest of fighters, but Zero was pretty damn fast.

“This isn’t good, Talia. I’m weakening, and you…”

“What choice do we have?!”

He was about to tell her what he had discovered, thinking that maybe they could turn the tide if they could fight the royal guards on preferable ground, but just as he was about to, a barrage of attacks slammed down onto the two ants.

A cascading series of explosions and Skills erupted across the two royal guards in quick succession.

“Over here!” A voice called from the plains. “Now’s your chance! Retreat now!”

Aaron didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed Talia and shot toward the plains, with Zero gliding beside him.

But his eyes widened as he glanced over his shoulder and saw the two royal guards unbothered by the attacks that had crushed down against them. But the moment the royal guards attempted to take chase, a series of traps exploded around them.

Aaron doubted they would get themselves killed by such attacks, but even the D-grade royal guards couldn’t mindlessly tank attacks without weakening themselves.

He was exhausted, but he pulsed another blast of C-grade energy into himself as he used [ Spectral Rush ]. There was no choice now; they needed to escape these two and recover.

But the moment the two royal guards appeared from the dust of the trap explosions, a half dozen warriors descended upon.

“Wait, what the hell are they doing?” Aaron cried out.

“Don’t worry about that!” The scout said, now only a hundred or so meters away, and fired another arrow. “We’ve got to leave! Now!”

He was right, and Aaron kept moving, ignoring Talia’s protests, but a ball was forming in his gut.

As he flew out into the plains, he could tell that the swarm had mostly been destroyed during their fight, although that too was regrouping in the jungle.

“They don’t stand a chance. They’ll die!” Aaron shouted as he reached the scout.

“They know that! They’re doing it for Dober.”

The thought of people sacrificing themselves for their escape didn’t sit well with Aaron, but he slowly nodded nonetheless. This was the reality of their situation. If they stayed, they’d all die, and Dober didn’t stand a chance against the ants without its strongest warriors.

But to so selflessly throw their lives away… It was a heavy burden to bear. Made worse knowing that they weren’t aware that he had been forming a plan to deal with the royal guards. They’d just done it because they knew it needed to be done.

Aaron tensed his body, a shiver of stubbornness rushing through him. There was an undeniable part of him that wanted to rush back into the battle, but his soul wasn’t up for it.

We got a plan, we can do this, he reminded himself with a bent brow.

All they had to do was separate the two royal guards and fight them on their own terms. Lord Rhino in the air, and Thousand Grand on the ground. If they could pull that off, he knew they could beat them.

They still had to escape, though, and half a dozen brave but underleveled warriors wouldn’t hold the royal guards for long.

But when he glanced back, there was only one warrior left standing—one wearing armor very similar to Talia’s—and as Aaron watched, Lord Rhino’s fist passed straight through him, turning his body into red mist, leaving behind nothing but a pair of steel boots, still planted firmly in the ground. The royal guards both stepped forward, but while Aaron braced himself to turn and continue the fight, they surprised him by not continuing the chase; instead, they stopped right at the edge of the jungle.

Odd… Perhaps they have orders?

It didn’t really matter why they weren’t following, though. Aaron knew what needed to be done, and a furious scowl bent across his face as he glared back at his enemy.

“I’ll return the favor. Don’t you bloody worry about that, you damn bugs!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 50

Nearing the jungle, Aaron could feel the energy signals and auras growing stronger. Wanting to confront them, he pushed himself forward with a furious burst of action, blasting his way through the final rows of ants.

They weren’t far away, standing at the edge of the jungle watching the battle take place with crossed arms. It was a little terrifying how calm and amused the two figures appeared as they watched their comrades being slaughtered by the hundreds.

And Aaron immediately understood why. They were completely different from the others. And it wasn’t just the energy pulsing off of them. They felt different. And not just different from the drones, but the reaver, too.

Perhaps more interestingly, though, neither of the two figures particularly looked like ants. One had a rhinoceros head atop an otherwise humanoid body, albeit gray-skinned with a thick, armor-like hide. It had ant antennae and six limbs, but otherwise, you wouldn’t have known it was an ant. 

While the other was a huge centipede that must have been ten meters long, with its upper half rising up as if it were its torso, and countless bladed arms were squirming all around.

Lord Rhino [ Level 142 ]

Titles: [ Royal Guard No.4 ] 

Thousand Grand [ Level 153 ]

Titles: [ Royal Guard No.3 ] [ Always One More ]

He wasn’t alone, though, and only a second later, Talia and Zero appeared at his side, having just cut through the last of the drones between them.

A devastating path had been carved through the swarm, and there were corpses literally scattered everywhere. But the two powerful figures before them seemed not to care in the slightest.

“Aaron.”

“Yeah, I know,” Aaron replied, his gaze never leaving the royal guards.

Clenching his fists and starting to read fate to make sure he wasn’t about to be ambushed, Aaron stepped forward. “We don’t have much choice, it’s either them or us. Just be on your guard, okay? Do you two think you can take the big rhino fella?”

Talia looked at Zero, who howled. “You’re going to take the centipede alone?”

Aaron shrugged. “If not me, then who?”

Talia didn’t immediately answer. It wasn’t entirely clear that Aaron was stronger than both her and Zero together, but it was undoubtedly true that he was stronger than either individually. 

“Maybe we should take the stronger one. Two against one, you know?” She offered as a compromise.

“Yeah, nah,” he shook his head. “Thanks, though. But I’m pretty good at not dying. And we can’t afford to lose one of our strongest.”

Aaron knew it was a risk, but he wasn’t lying. Of course, he didn’t want to see any of his friends die, but it wasn’t stubborn fear that drove his decision-making. Even if he lost, he had a chance of survival. And Dober simply couldn’t afford to lose either Talia or Zero with the threats that were around.

Sizing them up, he stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. Even if he hadn’t been able to inspect them and see their level, it was immediately obvious that these guys were completely different from the other ants, and the danger his senses were telling him of was the real reason he hesitated so. Their auras were deadly, powerful, and dripping with an intent to kill.

“So, this is the human that mother was worried about?” The centipede pulsed forward, its front antennae wiggling and many arms squirming.

“They don’t look too tough to me,” Lord Rhino crossed his muscled arms, his huge body flexing like a Mr. Universe contestant. “Looks like a bunch of weaklings in me.”

“I can’t say I disagree. But mother is never wrong. And they did kill the reaver ant.”

“Bah! Cowardly as always, and that reaver ant was an idiot! It is a disgrace that she made you number three, while I am stuck at four! How about you stand back and watch how a real warrior fights! And once I deal with these weaklings, she’ll have no choice but to make me the number one!”

“What are you talking about?” Thousand Grand hissed. “You think mother will make you number one? AHAHA!”

The rhino turned to the centipede ant with a furious glare. It looked far angrier at its companion than it had at them. “Don’t you dare interfere, or next, I might just decide we don’t need a number three anymore. Now watch and learn. I can handle these three alone.”

Aaron cocked a brow. The muscle-bound rhino ant sure looked strong, but against all three of them? Well, he wasn’t about to argue with good fortune.

Lord Rhino stepped forward, glancing at Talia and Zero, and then focusing his attention on Aaron.

“Get ready to die.”

As the ant spoke, it stepped forward, and into a Skill that sent it flying, head tilted forward, and horn aimed at Aaron. It shot toward them like a bullet, bringing with it a powerful shockwave and aura that seemed to try to push him down into the ground, as if anchoring him there.

It was an intense force, and Aaron actually struggled with it for a fraction of a second, and it was deadly close to claiming his life before the fight even began. But in the last moment, he broke free from the aura’s grasp and dodged the powerful, armored fist that came his way.

But the rhino hadn’t attacked with a single strike, and its body twisted into a combination, swinging out with a bladed polearm that came twirling out from behind its back.

The fast and elegant weapon looked somewhat juxtaposed against the rhino, which was a vision of overwhelming power and strength, but it wielded the weapon with deadly efficiency.

He dodged the first few attacks, but the blade came close, and the aura flowing around it opened shallow wounds across Aaron’s body. But there was something else more dangerous going on.

The rhino’s mana had flooded into the ground beneath them, and Aaron’s feet felt heavy, as if glued to the ground, and with every passing second, he seemed to get slower and slower.

Noticing his master’s problem, Zero flashed to his side in a burst of silver energy and let loose on the rhino ant with a series of clawed attacks and silver energy beams.

“Zero!” Aaron shouted with fear.

He sensed something, and with a flash of spectral energy, he rushed between them and was forced to block a deadly counter, but the bladed polearm cut straight through his arms in the process.

It was a terrible wound he didn’t need, but better him than Zero.

“GOTCHA WEAKLING!”

But before the ant could follow up with more powerful strikes, a wave of darkness crashed down upon it. The rhino’s hide was incredibly hardy, and it had attempted to guard itself with a raised arm, but this was Talia’s special, and ribbons of dark energy lashed out across the rhino’s body, opening shallow wounds everywhere.

“RAAGH!” Lord Rhino roared with anger and bounced out of range to avoid the rest of the attack. 

Aaron’s arms were already healing, but he had to pull on energy reserves to speed it up the process.

He turned and eyed Talia and Zero. “You two just stand back and support from afar, okay?”

Zero howled softly, as if it felt back for getting Aaron wounded, but followed his command.

“It’s alright, boy. You were only trying to help. But you’re not quite as nimble as me.”

He glanced up at Talia, who had taken up a defensive stance in her enormous armor. While she wasn’t even as fast as Zero, he had witnessed her defensive capabilities firsthand. If it came down to it, she would at least be able to hold her own for a while against the rhino. He still wouldn’t feel comfortable betting on her, though, and while that clash hadn’t gone well, he was fairly confident he could handle it himself. He had an idea on how to break the Rhino ant’s oppressive debuff Skill, at least. Plus, it was better to keep her and Zero fresh and alert in case the other Royal Guard made a move.

“Stay back,” he said. “I can handle him. Keep an eye on the other one.”

Talia gave him a look that made him think she wanted to protest, but she held her tongue and nodded curtly, stepping back.

As his wounds began to heal, Lord Rhino tilted his head down again and charged. Immediately, as the rhino charged, he felt the same oppressive aura and pressure that tried to screw him in place as before. But this time, it was somehow far stronger.

Aaron didn’t know exactly what was going on, but there could be little doubt that the fight wasn’t going to get any easier the longer it continued. Whatever Lord Rhino was doing, it was some kind of Skill that made him heavy and lethargic.

But that was the least of his problems at that moment. He was anchored to the ground and was completely unable to move. But before the horn skewered him, he let out a split second of full power from his core, flooded it into his legs, and burst free from the Skill.

The exchange was far too close, and he didn’t want to take a death this early in the fight. But it revealed one very interesting thing.

At that moment, he had realized that he could use his core in pulses of power without doing any immediate damage to his soul. It wasn’t the same as using the full power of the core, but even tiny bursts of power from a C-grade core were incredible.

Freed from the rhino’s grasp, he shot back toward it, throwing out his own attacks against the ant.

And the moment they were engaged toe-to-toe on equal footing, he noticed something else. The rhino wasn’t that fast.

With a combination of precision, fate reading, and footwork, he wasn’t just keeping up with the royal guard, but he was outplaying it, dodging attacks and then landing his own quick counters.

Testing out his new technique, he also used pulses of core energy in his punches, and even without using Skills to power the attacks, he was landing hard, and within seconds, he had the rhino staggering.

“Stand still, you maggot!”

Aaron did not stand still. The back and forth continued for a while, and while the rhino was incredibly strong, its infuriated attacks blowing away sections of the jungle as it missed attack after attack, it was clearly not as fast as the reaver. And despite calling the reaver dumb, the rhino appeared dumber, wasting far more energy with each of its enormous, sweeping blows.

The reality was, against most, Aaron's combat skill was supreme. But he had been pushed to his limits against such an incredibly fast opponent as the reaver. And so even though the rhino was stronger and more powerful, when the fight became a pure contest of melee technique, it was painfully clear to see who was the better of the two. 

In fact, as he got into the rhythm, he actually had enough mental capacity to let his mind wander a bit. Not enough to compromise his fighting ability, but enough to keep an eye out for the other Royal Guard. Even if not for the difference in level and ranking, it was obvious just from aura and demeanor who was the stronger of the two, and he wanted to be prepared for the worst.

“Is dodging all you can do?” asked Lord Rhino, swinging wildly and missing for the hundredth time.

“Big talk,” Aaron smiled between strikes. “For a guy who ain’t that strong!”

Outrage bent the Lord Rhino’s face, and he flushed so much that red even managed to show on his gray hide.

And that’s when it fucked up and provided Aaron with the perfect opening. Without pause, he unleashed with his signature combo, empowering his attacks with pulses of C-grade energy from his true core.

The results were undeniable. His gauntlets pounded against the rhino’s thick hide, causing serious damage and drawing blood, and blasting the powerful D-grade away.

Lord Rhino literally tumbled along the ground, bouncing until he slammed into a huge tree, causing it to shatter and fall behind him.

“Bah!” Lord Rhino coughed blood as he got back up, panting and glaring at Aaron.

But he didn’t even get a second to consider how he was going to attack, as immediately a rain of silver beams and dark energy slammed down upon the recovering rhino. Talia and Zero had joined in to help Aaron finish the fight as quickly as possible.

Stumbling backward, wounds all over its body, the rhino blinked, and Aaron was upon it, releasing another flurry of deadly attacks that beat up its already damaged body.

But just as he was about to throw an extraordinarily powerful haymaker into the rhino’s face, he felt another aura burst into action, and it surpassed Lord Rhino’s.

“Watch out!”

Zero flashed away immediately, feeling the aura as it lit up. And just in the last moment, Talia just barely managed to raise her shield Skill, blocking the centipede’s powerful attack. 

The many-bladed arms of the centipede glowed blood red, and when they slammed down against the impenetrable shield, a fear-inducing power was released, and it sent Talia and her shields flying away, like a billiard ball being struck.

Aaron immediately realized his assumption of the greater threat was correct, and he broke away from Lord Rhino.

Thousand Grand was simply too strong to let loose against his friends, even if he were close to beating Lord Rhino. And with a gust of spectral energy, he moved to intercept.

The centipede turned to him, and he sent his fists flying with the same pulses of C-grade energy that had been used to beat down the other royal guard, but this foe wasn’t the same.

The bladed limbs of the centipede sang out with deadly intent, and a whirlwind of sanguine power enveloped them as they filled the air with power.

“Shit!”

He had no choice but to take a defensive pose against the oncoming attacks that had nullified his own, and thanks to fate weaving and quick evasive action, he barely managed to save himself from death.

This had screwed everything up, and despite almost beating Lord Rhino, he felt that same power weighing on him as before. He was slowing down; it was undeniable, and this fight was already bad enough as it was. But at least Zero and Talia were still alive, and had managed to create some distance thanks to his interception.

“What are you doing, brother!” Roared Lord Rhino. “I had it under control! Leave this to me!”

“Shh, you insolent fool!” Thousand Grand hissed. “If you die, mother will blame me. Now shut up and help me deal with the humans!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 49

As soon as he returned to his temple, Aaron began to meditate. Strangely, though, Yendal was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t entirely sure if there was any reason to it, and had half expected a scolding for his core shenanigans, but maybe that was still coming, just at a later date.

Either way, he didn’t exactly have the time at that moment to try to figure out why she wasn’t around.

A question for another day.

Settling into his meditation, he began cycling aether through his soul and using it to patch himself up. Once again, he had improved from the last time he had soul damage, and he healed his soul relatively quickly. 

But that wasn’t all. As he patched his soul up, it somehow felt sturdier than it had previously. The change wasn’t anything major. It wasn’t some kind of obvious power upgrade, but it did feel a little more robust.

He wondered if he could temper his soul through punishing it and healing the damage, thus strengthening it further. But that was a task for another day. For now, he had ants to deal with.

And the moment he felt his soul had fully recovered, he broke his meditative trance and his eyes sprang open.

“That feels better.”

Taking a deep breath and lingering in the growing truths of his temple for several seconds, he then forced himself up. 

“Better get back to it.”

Swift steps took him straight out of the temple, but he was stopped just outside. It was the goblins, almost all of them. And they stood there waiting, greeting him with all kinds of ingredients bundled up in their little green arms.

“What’s all this?”

“Ingredients for you, master. For your cooking and for your gut!” Treg exclaimed.

“Really? This is all for me? I didn’t even ask for anything. Thanks, mate.”

“Don’t mention it,” Treg waved away with a wide smile. “We wish we could go more for you! For the hunt! For everyone’s sake!”

“Well, I appreciate it nonetheless.”

Aaron began stuffing all of it into his scabbard. Now wasn’t the time to go on a cooking binge, but he could still eat raw ingredients, and the more he had, the better his spatial reserves were.

“Thanks again, mate.”

Treg and his tribe seemed to love the praise, but before Aaron could get moving again, he heard hurried steps coming his way.

“Hang on! before you go!” 

He turned. It was Zach, followed by close behind by Marko, and he was carrying something.

“Check it out. I finally got done with this piece.”

“Wait, is that?”

“Yeah, it is!” he nodded excitedly. “It’s the bear hide. One hell of a piece. I’d have usually made a hide like this into a cloak, but I figured since you’ve got that cape, it wouldn’t work. So, I figured a hoodie and shorts would make more sense. Then you can still wear your cape.”

Aaron’s gaze washed over the peculiar clothing. It was the first real bear fur hoodie and shorts he had ever seen, and it was a rather strange choice of material to use for such an item. 

But that wasn’t what had his brow creasing. The piece of fur clothing wasn’t just a hoodie; it was a sleeveless hoodie. And the shorts… they were very short.

“This is…”

“Nice, huh?”

But before he could utter his reply, it got caught in his throat as he inspected the items.

Sleeveless Iron Fur Hoodie [ Epic ]

Made from the incredibly hardy and durable hide of an iron fur bear, this hoodie provides both warmth and fashion. It is known that throughout the multiverse, stylish warriors dress themselves in fine furs to show off to one another, and you are no different. Dress to impress, and you’ll do more than just win battles; perhaps, you’ll even win a few hearts along the way.

Provides: +10% Damage Resistance, +20% Cold Resistance, and +100 attraction from all species. Additional bonus to fear when wearing bear-head hood.

Iron Fur Short Shorts [ Epic ]

Made from the incredibly hardy and durable hide of an iron fur bear, these short shorts provide both warmth and fashion. It is known that throughout the multiverse, stylish warriors dress themselves in fine furs to show off to one another, and you are no different. Dress to impress, and you’ll do more than just win battles; perhaps, you’ll even win a few hearts along the way.

Provides: +5% Damage Resistance, +10% Cold Resistance, and +50 attraction from all species.

Both pieces had the same description, but slightly different stats. Those stats were quite good from a cursory glance, and Aaron certainly couldn’t turn down damage resistance, but he did raise a brow at the final buff.

This strange fur outfit provided a whopping +150 to attraction, which made him tense up with apprehension.

“All species?" He murmured. “Why? Why was that necessary?”

He was trying to survive the multiverse, not attract mates. And the fact that he kept getting items that made him more attractive was rather concerning. Also, he really didn’t want to become irresistible to ogres, especially since he already had his gauntlets, which he glanced down at. 

“When added all up, they equal… Wait, what the hell is this?” 

Aaron's eyes widened as he inspected his gauntlets again. “Plus 100 attraction to ogres?”

His jaw dropped. Had he read it wrong? Did his gauntlets make him attracted to ogres?

He shook his head in disbelief. That was ridiculous. A pair of gauntlets couldn’t dictate who he was and wasn’t attracted to, no matter how powerful the System was…. Could it?

“No, that’s bloody ridiculous! I’m not attracted to bloody ogres!”

He ran his hands through his bleached blonde hair that now had a pretty bad case of regrowth. 

“No, no, no. That’s not happening.”

He wasn’t speaking to anybody in particular, just out to the air. He didn’t have any reason to believe that the System had any real sentience or could listen to him. But still… he felt like he needed to make some kind of declaration to the multiverse.

“System, or whoever fuck is doing this. You had better not be shipping me with some bloody ogre bride!”

There was an obvious problem with his declaration. His gauntlets were, without a doubt, his most valuable item and increased his power and damage considerably. Not only that, but they were adaptive, and as such, would level up as he did. 

Aaron groaned long and hard. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be replacing his gauntlets anytime soon, and that meant keeping his attraction.

“At least there’s no ogres around here…”

He remembered that there was Roomarg the Stinky, the ogre he had saved from the dungeon when killing the bear. Luckily, he hadn’t felt any attraction to him, but then again, Roomarg was male.

“This isn’t good,” he sighed. “Really not good.”

“Is something wrong, mate?” Zach said, and Aaron became painfully aware that he had been ranting to himself this entire time with an audience.

“Oh, right,” he glanced around with an awkward toothy grin. “Nope, nothing wrong. Cheers mate. These furs look great.”

“So, you're going to try them on, then?”

“Right, try them on…”

Aaron sighed again and reluctantly nodded. He took furs and retreated back into a spare room in the temple, and reappeared moments later.

“That’s quite the look you’ve got there.”

“When did you arrive?” Aaron slumped, turning to Talia, who was standing among his growing audience, arms crossed.

In the time he was meditating, Talia had cleaned up, rested, and changed into new clothes that somehow went even further into the edgy territory. She had looked emo before, but she seemed to have opted for something less casual this time and was now halfway to goth. And more importantly, it looked completely natural on her. 

Was she always like this? he wondered. Or is her Race Evolution changing her?

“I came to see if you were ready for another push into the jungle,” she said, smirking as she looked him up and down. “Didn’t expect to stumble into a runway show…”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Aaron huffed through gritted teeth. “Just upgrading some of my gear.”

“Don’t be embarrassed. It looks good. I think the sleeveless fur look suits you. And those shorts, they’re priceless.”

Aaron’s face reddened. “Alright, let’s go!” He said, his voice suddenly quickening. “We got ants to kill!”

“No, no, no. Take your time. Maybe khaki would look good instead of brown?”

“We’re going!” Aaron stormed past.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have anywhere to go, as he had to wait for the group to regather.

And as he waited for the squads to collect themselves, he noticed that there were more people gathering to join the battle this time. And that came with more sideways glances at his peculiar new outfit.

This is bad.

There was something else, though. A ball was forming in his gut at the thought of ballooning out, which he was going to have to do soon before the battle. And the shorts were already short enough.

Also, while he couldn’t turn down additional warriors wanting to join, he really hoped it had nothing to do with enhanced attraction, especially since Roomarg had joined the party to fight the ants.

Aaron swallowed and fought down his growing fears. The stronger the force was, the less he’d have to babysit them, and the more he could focus on getting to the queen.

One step at a time. Get through this, and then figure out how to deal with this outfit.

“Are you ready, Mr. Fashionista?” Talia asked as she strolled over.

“You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?”

Talia shook her head, a smile stretching her face wide.

“Oh, whatever.”

It was also kind of annoying how damn comfortable the furs were. He didn’t want to like them, but the longer he wore them, the more he felt himself warming up to them.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s be on our highest alert. Anything could happen out there!” Ryan shouted, addressing everyone in attendance.

With that announcement, the group packed up the last of their equipment and readied to head out again.

It didn’t take long to reach the scouts, who continued their attacks as the attack force passed them. 

And the moment they reached the swarm, they got to work. The force charged the ants, slamming straight into their lines. 

Aaron, Zero, and Talia made the vanguard this time, and all crashed into their enemies first.

Aaron wanted to make it quick and move forward onto the queen, but he couldn’t just leave them against the swarm alone. Even if he could skirt around the ants, he had no idea how long it would take to go and assassinate the queen, and they had already underestimated how quickly the swarm would progress.

It had been maybe a little over a day since they had retreated, and the swarm had already poured over half the plains, and their pace was quickening.

If it took him a couple of days to take out the queen, then the ants could be at the gates of Dober before he was done, and who knew how much damage they might cause if they got that far.

That said, with the attack force joining the scouts against the ants, the battle took a decisive turn. With Aaron, Talia, and Zero at the front, and the ever-larger and stronger squadrons behind them, they made quick progress, pushing back the endless horde.

Of course, it wasn’t the horde that was the main problem. And as the hours of slaughter passed, and they pushed them back toward the jungle, Aaron felt two new energy signals that gave him pause.

His spiritual senses went haywire, telling him that whatever was ahead, it wasn’t to be taken lightly.

However, they couldn’t turn back now. They had stirred up the nest, and the only way forward was to deal with the problem.

Aaron’s brow bent in defiance. The last battle had been far too close, and what he sensed from these two felt even more troubling. But it wasn’t enough to dissuade him from his responsibility.

“You feel that, Talia?” He said, bashing through a line of ants with deadly precision.

“I do now, and I don’t like it,” she said, her avatar’s massive sword swinging through the ant ranks. “You got a plan?”

“Plan? Does ‘kill whatever we find’ count?”

Talia glared back, but didn’t slow her pace.

But as much as he put on a brave face, there was something eating him up inside. 

All of this fighting was a lot of information about themselves that they were giving up. If the queen were halfway competent, she could be taking advantage of this.

I don’t like this. Then again, how smart do ants get, anyway? 

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 48

No matter how bad the situation got, Aaron wasn’t about to let up. But man, was he tired and beat up. Cycling energy was straight-up painful, and his body felt like it was about to fall apart.

Luckily, the ant appeared to be in even worse shape and didn’t seem to be recovering as quickly as he had been, even with his soul in the shape it currently was.

He shot forward, fists at the ready, and the ant obliged, charging forward, and the two clashed. Fists and kicks flew back and forth, sending a splattering of both red and green blood all about. But it quickly became apparent who had the upper hand.

Some might have struggled in a melee against a foe with four serrated arms swinging at them, but compared to taking on Mo’han, this was a walk in the park.

And in their weakened states, it became painfully obvious who had superior skill out of the two of them. Aaron easily weaved through the ants slicing counters, and landed strike after strike. 

He was putting on an absolute clinic against the outmatched ant. And while he might not have been quite as gifted as Yendal, it was beyond obvious that the ant was relying on its speed far more than he relied on his energy.

And for every second that the fight went on, the ant looked more and more desperate, eating shots one after another in painful succession.

But beating the reaver ant that was practically falling apart under the pressure of his deadly fists was no longer his biggest concern.

In his periphery, Aaron could see the swarm getting closer. This wasn’t good. They had been annoying enough to deal with at full strength, and in his current state, even drones would be able to get the better of him with enough numbers. And worst of all, he lacked the aether to rely on his resurrecting abilities.

Digging deep, he knew he had to finish this quickly, and he lunged forward with a devastating flurry. Reading fate to take advantage of the perfect opening, he slipped straight through a last-ditch effort to defend itself and landed a combo that he poured all of his remaining energy into.

Any remaining defense was crushed by his [ Soul Shattering Strike ], and the haymaker that followed it burst a hole through the ant’s remaining broken pieces of carapace and flesh, and his spectral fists shot into that hole and ripped apart the ant’s insides.

You killed: Formic Reaver [ Level 140 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

86 → 88

Panting, Aaron wiped sweat from his brow and attempted to steady himself as he quickly grabbed food out of his storage.

Victory was bittersweet, as he could feel his knees trembling, and every inch of his body felt so incredibly weak.

He mightn’t have actually died too many times throughout the fight as he had in the fights with Mo’han, but he had made up for it with how much he had exhausted himself, alongside the soul damage he caused by going overboard with his core.

In fact, his soul damage was the worst part of it. He wondered if it had anything to do with becoming a shinigami, as he felt his body crying out to him. Then again, he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to do what he did without being a shinigami, as it had, without doubt, increased his control over his soul.

“I gotta get outta here.”

Aaron turned to leave, but when he tried to use [ Spectral Rush ], a weak whizzing sound came out, and the Skill failed. He had already started eating to recover, and while his wounds were healing, his energy wasn’t properly circulating thanks to his overused core and damaged soul.

This wasn’t great, and he clenched his fists and bit down as he attempted to cycle and recover. But his body and soul just didn’t respond as they usually did. It seemed he simply needed a little more time, and as the swarm scuttled forward, he staggered backward.

“Ookay. Just a little misunderstanding,” he muttered with a full mouth, cramming food down there as fast as he could. “He attacked me. Not my fault, he got himself beaten the fuck up.”

As he backstepped the encroaching horde of ants, he was starting to realize just how delicate the situation was. The drones might not have been strong on their own, but if they sprung one of their traps, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to escape it in his current state.

But just as that troubling thought made its way through his mind, he felt something. A spark within lightning. It wasn’t much, but his energy was flowing again, a tiny trickle where a flooding torrent had previously been, but it was better than nothing.

And most importantly, it was enough to escape.

He had already given up the thought of continuing the fight now. Even if he did somehow manage to recover enough to fight back the swarm, he was a sitting duck in his current stage if another powerful ant came along. And it was obvious that the reaver ant hadn’t been the queen.

“I’ll be back!” He waved and turned. Then, he broke into a spring, running back through the jungle and eating simultaneously, and the moment he had energy and strength, he activated [ Spectral Rush ], and shot into the air.

Zooming through the sky, it didn’t take him long to find Talia and the others. They were split between the jungle’s edge, and some alongside Zero were fighting a little way inside of it.

They were cutting apart sections of the swarm as it tried to regroup, and they were doing fine. But Aaron knew that the section of the swarm they were cutting apart was only a small fraction of what was coming for them from deeper in the jungle.

“Hey, Talia! More are coming!”

Talia looked up as her avatar continued to swing its massive sword, slashing away at the pesky ants dozens at a time. But when her gaze caught Aaron, she sighed and looked relieved.

“You beat the D-grade one, then?”

“Yeah, but that was one hell of a fight. I’m not in the best shape right now.”

Exhaling, Aaron crashed down beside the others. He looked terrible, but even in his poor shape, he was still strong enough to beat down several drones around him.

“We’d better get moving, though,” he said, crushing an ant under his fist. “The swarm is regrouping in the jungle, and there are a lot of them. And I need some time to recover.”

“What about D-grades?” Talia asked.

“Didn’t see any others. But that reaver wasn’t the queen. Who knows if she had other minions as strong as that? But I certainly don’t want to call her bluff in this shape.”

“Yeah,” Talia said, eyes sweeping over Aaron. “Good call. We'd better retreat for now.”

Talia pressed two fingers to her lips and whistled with mana amplified power, calling the squad leaders to her. It was all very organized and planned, and the moment she gave out orders to the squad leaders, they gathered up their squads and fell back.

As they fled back over the plains, Aaron watched the swarm that followed. It wasn’t moving as fast as it had been once they were away from it. Taking a more measured and cautious approach. But it was still moving far faster than it had been prior to their engagement with it, and he really hoped taking out the reaver ant was worth enraging the ant nest.

Luckily, there was quite a bit of distance to cover when crossing the plains before they reached their settlement of Dober. And the swarm’s current speed, he guessed that they had at the very least a few days, if not weeks, before their arrival.

Okay, not so bad. I’ve got plenty of time to recover.

He had done some soul damage that was undeniable, but it was nothing compared to what he had done when opening his true core. This damage would heal relatively quickly, especially since he was getting better at healing his soul.

But that plan wasn’t good enough for Julius. He thanked Aaron and the others for their service and called up the scouting parties he had been organizing and anybody from the squads with enough strength to keep fighting.

Their job wasn’t to directly engage the swarm, but to slow it down. Ranged fighters and trappers would make the ants pay for every inch of the plains they crossed.

At higher levels of E grade, almost all archers and other ranged combatants had skills enabling them to shoot over great distances, and they could pick off ants from miles away. Still, the sheer number of ants meant that picking off a few drones meant little, but this strategy did seem to slow the horde.

Not only that, but trappers laid entire fields of death for the scuttling horde, and scores were taken out as they ants marched onto them.

But for Aaron, this was all a distraction, one that he needed out of his head. And the moment he got back to Dober, he headed straight to his temple to recover. 

The faster he was healed, the sooner he could charge back out to assist in pushing the swarm back again, and have another attempt at breaking through the jungle.

**Ant Queen**

The illustrious queen of the ants had received a message some time ago that the reaver had been killed. The ant she had promoted to captain and ordered to guard the hive’s eastern flank had been one of her more promising offspring, but not quite worthy of being made a royal guard.

Still, for a human to have defeated it showed promise she had not expected. She couldn’t deny that the humans showed some tenacity. And that couldn’t be ignored.

As strong as her hive was growing, especially since taking over the jungle, she was well aware just how huge this world was.

It had been a long journey. At first, she had been just a mindless ant, but with every little kill, she had grown a little, and so had the hive.

Sentient awareness hadn’t blessed her until not long before the humans had arrived. But when it had, her progress had begun to absolutely streamroll the rival beasts that inhabited the jungle.

And then, two weeks back, she had claimed the obelisk. It was then that she truly realized the scope of this new world. 

The distances were so incredibly vast, and there were many enemies spread across them. Their numbers, even the greatest of them, were pitiful compared to her hive.

But if they joined forces?

It was a deadly threat. Individually, the creatures she shared this world with were naught but food for her hive. But she was no fool. If they worked together, they could overcome her hive. That much was obvious. Not to mention other beasts, she could sense that there were other powerful entities on this world. And for all she knew, there could be other colonies, and while she could tell that none had claimed any obelisks, that only guaranteed she had a head start over them.

The reality was, with all of these threats in the world, she had to remain cautious. There was still far too much that needed doing to let herself become complacent and underestimate her enemies.

The giant queen shook with contemplation. Her huge body took up a good one-fifth of the subterranean royal chamber, and her massive abdomen constantly pulsed with life as she spawned new drones.

But simple-minded drones weren’t going to win her a world to rule, and with that thought, she turned to an egg in the far corner of her royal chamber.

Dozens of worker ants were seeing to the egg, guarding it and kneading the earth around it.

It wasn’t just any old egg, though. The queen was pouring a great deal of energy into this little ant egg, helping it grow. And she could feel the results  already. 

The potential this new offspring held was beyond any she had felt yet. It wasn’t too surprising, though. When her spawn had returned with the wendigo corpse, she had already known that it would make for a fine specimen. But the energy she felt now surpassed even her wildest expectations.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time. With her two strongest children and royal guard off to the western edges of the jungle, sent off to deal with the other human settlement that had grown too close to comfort, she had made herself somewhat vulnerable.

She hadn’t made the decision without serious thought, though. She had ordered her royal guard to deal with the problem as it had gotten out of control. A human settlement with thousands of warriors, and growing by the day.

She had thought that this huge settlement was her greatest threat. But perhaps she had been wrong. This threat to the east had proven that maybe it was more serious than she originally anticipated. 

To have pushed the hive’s drone swarm back and then to have killed the reaver with such small numbers was a troubling development.

Her antennae shook with irritation, and she turned back to the pulsing egg ready to hatch.

“Feed my child,” she whispered as she increased her energy flow into it. “Grow stronger. I can feel you in there. You’ll be a great champion soon.”

Her plans were made, and her drones didn’t have to defeat the humans. They just had to buy her time.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned as her two remaining royal guards entered the chamber. They were the weakest of her elites, but they were still royal guards.

“Go,” she commanded. “Head to the eastern edge of the jungle. Do not let the human progress any further.”

The royal guards bowed and took flight, heading to the destination they were ordered.

With this piece put in place, her victory against these surprisingly audacious humans was all but assured. 

The royal guards would either kill them or, at the very least, buy her the time she needed. And then, either her strongest offspring would return from the west, or her newest addition would have hatched.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 47

Penalty!!!

Fewer experience points rewarded for killing beasts of a lower level than yourself with the [ Drone ] Trait!

“What? I get less experience for those kills? What a load of crock!” Aaron blinked with frustration at the notification.

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

84 → 86

Two levels in one battle would have been a decent achievement under any other circumstances, but Aaron had been absolutely slaughtering his way through the ants, and it felt like a bit of a kick. Also, he had to wonder what the hell a "drone" Trait was.

It was at that moment that he remembered the names of the ants he had been fighting. Everything had “drone” in it. Formic Soldier Drone, Lightning Drone, Winged Formic Drone, and so on.

He hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but obviously, drone meant something. And he had a feeling it was related to their power, and perhaps other things.

And while they were lower level than him, this just didn’t feel appropriate for the epic battle he had just fought through.

The slaughter that had taken place was of truly epic proportions, but the sheer size of it brought him to another thought. As strong as he was, he doubted he could pull off something comparable against others of a similar level to the ants. For example, the people of Dober would, without a doubt, put up a better fight, at least relative to numbers.

Ultimately, they would lose to the ant swarm, but it would be due to overwhelming numbers and relentlessness, rather than their pure power. And Aaron was certain that if you took 100 ants of the same level, and 100 people from Dober, the fight wouldn’t even be close.

Maybe Drone is some kind of minion tag. Basically, meaning that they are weaker than normal people and beasts.

Returning his thoughts to the task at hand, he turned to see where the others were. They were just about done mopping up the straggling ants. 

Perhaps even more noticeable than the drone Trait was the fact that once the ant logistics and formation had been disrupted, the remnants hadn’t been much of an issue to deal with. And he could tell that the others weren’t struggling with clean-up duties.

“Okay, let’s figure out what’s going on around here,” Aaron mumbled and walked deeper into the jungle.

He took careful steps, looking around and aware of the confused ants scuttling in all directions. But they weren’t what was on his mind. He wanted to know what happened to the simian reaver that had completely bodied him last time he was here.

And to figure that out, he raised [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ]. “Now, let’s see—”

—Whack!!

Aron raised his arms in defense just in time to block and attack with his gauntlets. And the only reason he was able to was his slowed perception of time, as the attack had flashed out far too quickly for normal eyes to see.

A second attack slammed against his gauntlets, and bladed leaves shot out from it, carving wounds across his arms. 

As another attack came his way, he dodged with [ Spectral Rush ], and countered with a flurry of his own attacks, but just enough to make this furious enemy back off an inch, and to get a moment to figure out what the hell was going on.

It was all a blur of action, but [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], he managed to slow things down enough to see what was attacking him.

It was an upright ant, with a hard carapace and fur sticking out between the plates of it, with hands and dagger-length claws protruding out. Not only that, but a whirlwind of razor-sharp leaves swirled around the ant as it attacked, the leaves adding many additional attacks to what were already impossibly fast attacks.

As it rushed forward again, swinging its claws in wild, deadly slicing arcs, it took every ounce of effort to stop himself from being cut into ribbons.

It was moving so stupidly fast that if not for having slowed his perception of time, it would have cut him apart several times over already.

But that wasn’t enough to scare Aaron from a fight, and with a mighty roar and a dizzying display of counter strikes, he managed to hold the impossibly fast ant back for a few seconds, and then burst out of range with spectral energy to inspect his enemy.

Formic Reaver [ Level 140 ]

The ant didn’t have the Titles of the simian reaver, but Aaron was certain they were related somehow. But as far as he was aware, the ants could only steal powers. Not whatever this was... this was as if the ants had cloned the reaver into one of their own.

His Soul Vortex also told him that this ant had some kind of nature and wind affinity, which was new to him, as he believed one could only take a single affinity.

And not only that, but his thing didn’t have “drone" in its name.

“Well, I guess we knew it’d get harder in the jungle,” Aaron muttered as he limbered up for another round.

He wasn’t going to be able to fight this thing like he normally would. Its speed was on a completely different level than anything he had seen. And it had a decent level advantage over him, backing it up.

“I might regret this,” Aaron clenched his fists as he weakened his metaphorical grip on his core, allowing it to cycle naturally and generate far more power.

“Aargh!” He grunted, stumbling forward and gritting his teeth as he felt his body being pulled apart by his own core. “I think I'd better make this a quick one.”

**Talia**

Talia had been more than happy to stay back and let Aaron take the vanguard. The ant drones had surprised her on many occasions, and if she hadn’t remained close to the squads, she was certain that things wouldn’t have gone as smoothly as they had.

Injuries were mounting up, and healers were working double time. But so far, they hadn’t taken a single death. That said, it was mostly due to the fact that they were fighting a broken and disorganized force that had already been rampaged and terrorized by Aaron.

She looked over to where Zero led the goblin wolf riders, their constant movement making it impossible for the scattered ants to counter properly, and allowing them to fairly easily pick the ants apart.

If nothing else, this battle would make a great learning experience for many. Especially the wolf riders, most of whom were still rather green.

“Alright, everyone! We’re not far from the jungle now. Let’s move!” She called out, and with a swing of her scepter, her shadowy avatar swept its massive sword, cleaving dozens of ants away in a single strike.

Walking toward the jungle, she grabbed her first mana potion of the battle from her spatial storage and chugged it down in anticipation. The battle hadn’t been too hard, but she had used a decent amount of energy, and she wanted to be fresh for whatever came next.

Finishing the bottle, she discarded it and rushed forward, swinging her avatar’s massive blade with every step and killing multiple ants with every strike. 

But as she neared the jungle, she skidded to a halt. Her danger senses flared, screaming at her to stay away. And then she felt it and knew why.  

An incredible aura and energy signal rushed out from the jungle, and she felt her heart quicken. Her hands trembled at the extraordinary power, and she gulped as she tried to steady herself.

Dammit, get a grip of yourself!!!

Talia clenched her jaw and slapped her face. Now wasn’t the time to let fear overwhelm her. If this were the ant queen, then so be it. She had Aaron by her side, and together, they would find a way to beat this incredible beast.

Flooding her own body with energy, she willed herself forward, ignoring her danger senses. Aaron was in there, in the jungle, alone with whatever this was, and she wasn’t about to abandon him.

What is this energy? Is this peak D-grade? No… it couldn’t be, could it? Could the queen really be C-grade already?!

The thought that the queen might have already reached C-grade sent a chill running through her, and all her courage had become shaky.

If they were truly faced against a C-grade beast, it was all over. Such a challenge was far too far above them, and the amount of tricks and plans would be enough to overcome such a wide gulf.

Still, she hadn’t come this far because she let fear rule her, and she didn’t betray friends. Even if this was a C-grade beast, and their fate was sealed, she would face it with the same steely determination she had her Tutorial.

However, as she took several steps forward and the jungle proper came into view, her jaw dropped.

“Aaron?”

Blinking in disbelief, she could hardly believe such power was coming out of him, but it clearly wasn’t without cost, as she could also sense that his body was struggling to keep the power controlled.

It was like a helicopter was landing. Wind was blowing in all directions by the power of his passive energy, kicking up dirt and sending leaves and debris flying.

Talia knew about his True Core, but she had never seen anything like this. Was this the true extent of his core’s power? And if so, what dangers was he exposing himself to by using it?

But before she could even complete the thought, Aaron and the ant flashed toward each other and collided with a tremendous shockwave.

Talia gasped at the raw power. It was extraordinary, and her eyes could barely keep up with everything that was going on.

Rippling energy burst out into deadly arcs with each clash, and shockwaves ripped trees from the ground and sent them flying. This fight was on another level, but when they broke their engagement for a second, she saw blood around Aaron’s mouth. He looked tired, and his expression was strained, and yet she couldn’t see a single wound on him.

That idiot! Is he using more power from his core than he can handle?

The two of them clashed again, and she saw Aaron eat something between strikes. He was healing himself, but from what she could tell, he still hadn’t taken a hit. 

Talia flashed red. This stubborn idiot was going to get himself killed, and after he’d just spent so many days resting.

But she knew that, as reckless as he was, he wasn’t a fool. If he was continuing this fight in such a state, that meant he needed to.

Talia started gathering energy into her armor, preparing to join Aaron in his battle, but as she did, she glanced around and noticed that the drones were regrouping, and some of them were already almost upon her and her company. If she went to help Aaron, she would be leaving her already-tired troops to face the wave of ants alone.

For a moment, she wavered, weighing her trust in Aaron against her trust in her men, and with a grimace, she turned away from Aaron. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the people standing behind her. It was that if their defensive line failed, many would die, while she knew that even in his current state, Aaron could hang on for a while. He wouldn’t die so easily. It was more important for her to protect the others than it was to help him.

Don’t get yourself killed, Aaron!

She gripped her scepter and marched forward. Maybe she couldn’t help against the reaver, but she wasn’t useless. And she was going to make these drones hurt.

With a roar that sounded like she was bashing a tennis ball through dimensional barriers, she flew into the gathering swarm, a bead of sweat tracing her forehead as she attempted to push her pace to another level.

Seeing Aaron’s absurd power had lit something deep within her. Realisation. If she didn’t keep pushing herself, she was going to be left behind.

And just as her massive blade swiped through the gathering horde of drones, she looked up to see Aaron slam into the reaver ant with such force that a booming sound flooded across the land. And when they separated, she saw a spray of green blood gush outward from the ant, splattering the trees all around.

“He did it! He got it! Now it’s my turn!”

But her expression quickly soured as she noticed Aaron. The incredible aura and overwhelming energy signal had disappeared just like that, and he looked oh so very slow as the blood-covered reaver ant got to its feet and rushed toward him in a blur.

**Aaron**

Death came quickly, but it hadn’t been without gain. He had pushed his core way too far, and he felt like he was about to pull his soul apart in the process.

But he knew that he had struck true, and glistening blood staining the reaver was all the confirmation he needed. But the fight was far from over. Not only that, but despite drawing on the incredible power of his core, he had been more controlled. He hadn’t just crashed into the reaver ant with incredible power; he had avoided its strikes and picked his targets carefully.

And while Yendal might scold him for relying on such power, he was pretty happy with how he managed it. And he felt like it was an undeniable improvement from the first time he had fought the reaver, especially since the reaver ant was undeniably stronger than the simian had been.

He thought back to his first battle, when he had panicked and wasted energy and nearly lost his life for good. While using his True Core made it impossible not to waste energy, he was certainly fighting much better this time. Although the reaver had an enormous advantage in terms of speed, he had thus far been able to keep a cool head, using Fate Weaver to predict and react, and though its raw speed and power had still managed to overwhelm him, he was improving by the second.

Resurrecting only seconds after dying, he caught the ant off-guard and planted a devastating [ Soul Shattering Strike ] into its side. And followed up with a haymaker that crackled and bubbled with the extraordinary residual energy from his core. He had siphoned the energy out to keep himself from exploding, and when his fist touched the reaver ant, the results were magnificent.

With an instantaneous bang, the reaver was flung across the jungle, slamming straight through several trees and flattening them before coming to a resounding halt against a massive, primal tree that towered up into the clouds.

But almost as fast as it had flown when getting struck, the reaver ant was up again, and shooting back toward him with a furious bent to its insectoid brow.

Spectral energy enveloped Aaron as his form went incorporeal, dodging the insanely fast claws that swung at him one after another, but even with his speed and Skills, it was too much. Wounds started to build up across his body, and he pulled on his adipose reserves in a desperate attempt to heal himself.

But no matter how perfectly he timed his moves and attacks, or how well he read fate, the reaver was just too damn fast, and the steely razor leaves rushing around it seemed to make it move even quicker.

He had no choice. He couldn’t dodge forever, and if he was going to win this, he needed to land his own damage. And he decided to eat a deadly strike from the ant to get off one of his own, hitting it square in the chest with another [ Soul Shattering Strike ] before dying. 

The moment he resurrected, he tried to follow up with another attack, but the ant wouldn’t be tricked twice. This was no drone, and it seemed obvious that it was smarter than the others.

Within seconds, he was on the back foot again, doing everything in his power to remain alive.

The reaver might have been even stronger than the bear, he thought. And when a particularly powerful strike came his way, he was forced to defend himself with [ Equal and Opposite ] to cancel the attack, giving his aether a chance to recover.

But in doing so, he drained himself of mana to complete the attack. His core was powerful, cycling and converting energy. But he was holding back to keep his soul together, and in that desperate moment, he decided to risk it for another second, and he let his core light up again as he drew on energy for a quick combination.

He threw his hands faster than he ever had before, and the exchange was deadly. But even during the short seconds that it lasted, he felt his soul fraying once more. 

Still, it was incredible. [ Soul Shattering Strike ] and [ Turbocharged Haymaker ] powered by a true core meant for C grades and above was power at an absolutely ridiculous level, and the Formic Reaver’s energy organs were all shut down in an instant, and its energy reserves blasted away to nothing, leaving it completely vulnerable for the follow-up strike that blasted shell away, and sent the ant flying into another tree.

Its shell was completely shattered, fur was soaked in green blood, and yet it croaked and spattered, refusing to die as it climbed out of the hole it had been buried in by the force of Aaron’s punch.

The ant looked completely broken, but the damn thing wasn’t dead just yet, and Aaron couldn’t handle using his core for even a second longer.

He was forced to put the ring back on, too weak to control his own core, and staggering forward as weakness came over him.

“Looks like we’re both banged up.”

As shit as he felt, Aaron clenched his fists, ready to continue. “Alright. Let’s fucking finish this, you bloody bastard.”

But as strong as Aaron wanted to sound, an apprehensive shiver ran down his spine. He could hear the scuttling of ants all around. It was the drone horde, and in that moment, he got the feeling that the sonar wasn’t having the same effect on their organization anymore.

Great, just fucking great.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 46

With the jungle insight, Aaron felt himself invigorated, swinging his fists into the ant swarm faster and more mercilessly than before.

“Just a little further!”

His body had already been a blur of destruction, and yet, it seemed to quicken even further as a furious drive to reach the jungle came over him, but there was still a measure of control to his action. He made sure not to lose himself, entirely—to remain centered and grounded.

However, even as he increased the tempo and his fists turned the ant horde into featureless gore, the endless rows of ants didn’t give an inch. No matter what he tried, their resolve remained unchanged, and the slaughter and carnage only grew thicker and more chaotic with each step toward the jungle.

And as he neared, it seemed the horde was intent on throwing everything at him, and new ants began to appear frequently. Though not all kinds of ants were as devastating as one another. Flying ants that shot barbs down from the sky joined the fray, though they weren’t too hard to dodge. Another kind blew flames, which was equally easy to dodge, and neither were comparable to the lightning or poison ants. But their presence was a testament to their adaptability and undeniable evidence of Julius’ warning about power stealing.

Still, the biggest problem was the sheer number of them. And when the trees on the horizon grew bigger, and they could finally make out some details on them, what had been sporadic patches of flying ants shooting barbs down on him thickened into an ever-growing cloud over the battlefield. And it was truly starting to feel like he’d kicked their nest, as this battle was growing into increasingly more epic proportions.

The sky was becoming so thick with the flying beasts that they were actually starting to block out the sun, and it looked like late afternoon. 

When there had only been a few of them, the barbs had been relatively easy to dodge, but as their numbers grew larger and larger, it had turned into an endless rain of attacks, and they did not care in the slightest about killing their own.

And while nothing was stopping him from flying up and dealing with the flying pests, he was busy trying to push the main army back so the others could keep moving forward.

However, it was becoming clear that he couldn’t avoid everything, and occasionally the barbs struck him, inflicting painful wounds as they injected some kind of toxin.

That alone wasn’t enough to stop Aaron. But the sheer overwhelmingness of the battle was starting to weigh heavily on him. And it became obvious that if he wasn’t able to weaken the horde significantly, he wouldn’t be able to move on toward the queen. After all, how could he trust the squads to deal with such a powerful force without either him, Talia, or Zero? That seemed like a tall ask, if not completely impossible, even if there were a few among them decently powerful. The size of the swarm was simply too much.

There were some silver linings. Using the ants as a training opportunity was great, but they still had a very important task to accomplish, and that couldn’t be forgotten.

“You bloody bastards. How fucking many of you are there?!”

As frustration began to build, Aaron began spraying the ant horde with spectral fists. They had actually started to push him back, and he could tell that he was walking on land he’d already trodden on. And that wasn’t good enough.

The Skill wasn’t overly effective against stronger foes, but much of the ant horde was made up of weak ants, a good portion of which were lower level than Aaron at this point, and the flying fists made short work of them.

As he mowed them down, row after row, the ants died in the hundreds, if not thousands, and yet, they still poured out and into his attacks. And worse, the more he focused on them, the more barbs flying down from above struck him, and the toxins were growing in his body, forcing him to cycle aether to cleanse himself.

Between Skills and healing himself, even [ Reap ] couldn’t keep up, despite how many ants he was slaughtering. This was likely also because of how weak they were.

Nonetheless, something needed to change. He was fairly certain he wanted to be in his best shape when he faced down the queen, and that meant he couldn’t allow her minions to whittle him down before he faced her.

Pushing the horde back a couple of hundred meters with his relentless spectral fists firing off like a machine gun, he quickly bounced into the sky. And with a gust of spectral energy, he was among the flying ants.

“Fuck off, will ya!” Aaron roared as his fists flew into the flying ants, and the rain of barbs was replaced by a rain of ant bits.

But Aaron quickly realized that the flying ants were actually far superior in the sky. In great enough numbers, the barbs were dangerous, and that was undeniable. But individually, they had been a rather mediocre attack. However, the little demons zoomed around the sky exceptionally fast.

Back and forth they came, looking for opportunities as they dived into battle, trying to cut and poison, and shooting off barbs in the process.

Still, Aaron was faster, even with his ring on, but their numbers were great. Not only that, but they clearly had some kind of mastery over team tactics, as some flying ants would shoot at him from the sidelines as the others engaged him in melee, making great use of space.

And on top of that, the flying ants were noticeably sturdier than the others he’d been taking out on the ground, and they actually survived regular punches often enough that it was getting annoying.

Still, Aaron tried not to activate Skills too often. Not just because he wanted to impress Yendal, but the sheer number of enemies forced even him to be conservative with his energy reserves. And while [ Reap ] was working on overdrive, and keeping him stocked on energy, if he went all out on every ant, his energy usage would quickly outpace his recovery. Especially if he was forced to heal throughout it all.

After less than a minute flying around taking out the ants, the ground forces had pushed past where he had stood, and were moving on to his allies, forcing Aaron to slam back into the ground and face them.

It truly was a juggling act, flying between the ground where the surface force relentlessly marched forward, and bouncing back into the sky to deal with the anti-air force. And as he struggled with this, carelessness slipped in, and he started to gather more and more wounds.

It was simply endless. Everywhere he looked, there were more ants, and if he slacked for even a second, either the flying ants or those on the ground would continue their march.

And if the main force was this difficult for him to handle, he could only imagine what they would do to his rear guard.

He glanced back with that thought and spotted them cutting apart ants some couple of hundred meters back. They were doing fine, but they were also faced against far fewer of the insectoid pests.

I can’t let that happen!

His brow bent as he turned it up another notch. He didn’t know how he’d beat them back, but he knew he couldn’t let them pass. And now, he wasn’t sure they could even retreat back to Dober, if they wanted to.

They had well and truly stirred up the nest now, and he had a feeling that these ants weren’t going to let them off the hook.

But even Aaron had limits, and soon he was panting and sweating all over as he shot back and forth relentlessly, killing more ants than he could count.

And then, as he began to slow a little, they sprung their trap. More of the digging ants shot out from the ground the moment he stepped back down, and clasped hold of his ankles once more. He knew how to get out of this, of course, but his reserves dropped, and he had slowed a little. And that was all it took for the ants to unleash an array of attacks from all directions that cascaded down upon him simultaneously.

It was actually quite an incredible example of teamwork, as electrified ants, poison, barbs, ice shards, and even flames all erupted around him at once. And the moment they struck him, melee ants flooded in with their clicking mandibles.

And for the first time during the battle, Aaron was killed, ripped apart by a seemingly endless horde.

It had taken a lot of them to pull off the attack, but he had to admit he was rather impressed. The ants themselves weren’t particularly strong individually, and beating someone with such absurd recovery abilities as Aaron when they were underleveled was no easy task.

The only reason they’d been able to was their ability to work together.  However, he wondered how they were able to coordinate so well. After all, there was no speech or noticeable communication taking place. Then again, they were ants.

With a burst of aether, Aaron was once more alive and facing down the horde. But something needed to change. That much was obvious.

He felt bad for doing it so soon, and against regular minions, but it was time to take this fight a little more seriously, and he removed his ring.

Immediately, he felt power rippling out from his core, which pulsed with renewed vigor. He had almost forgotten how the ring helped him keep it under control, and his attention was split as he kept the wildly fluctuating core from erupting.

However, despite having to focus on not blowing himself up, the power difference without the ring was undeniable. Hell, he could shrug off many of the ants’ weaker attacks now, and his punches blasted through them with ease, killing both those on the ground and the flying ants in single, devastating strikes that often punched straight through one and into the next.

And with this renewed vigor, Aaron went wild on his enemies, turning into a tornado of destruction as he ripped his way through them. But after a few minutes of fighting, and no end in sight, he started to worry slightly.

They just kept coming, and even he could feel himself straining under the pressure of the waves after wave of ants.

His body too suffered. It wasn’t about to collapse, but the strain of fighting with his overpowered core was evident, and his body ached after even a few minutes of it.

But putting the ring back on would make him vulnerable, and if he wanted to slay the queen, he couldn’t go wasting aether getting himself killed. The last thing he wanted was to face whatever was behind this horde in a weakened state.

And yet, no matter how hard he went, they didn’t seem to get any closer to pushing the horde back. And when he paused to look up toward the trees, he noticed that they hadn’t gotten any closer to the jungle.

The ants, through sheer numbers and determination, had actually managed to turn this fight into a stalemate of sorts.

They were the ones taking apocalyptic losses, so perhaps a statemate wasn’t the right word. But Aaron had no idea how many losses they could afford to suffer.

For all he knew, the queen was watching and waiting. And if that were so, they were in a bad situation.

And as he considered that, one thought kept passing through his mind. How did the ants communicate? There was simply too much coordination for the ants not to be communicating on some higher level, but he saw no evidence of this with his eyes.

This thought puzzled him, and he felt like deciphering it was the answer to beating them.

He remembered something about vibrations and frequencies from a show he’d once watched about ants, and that reminded him of the food he had cooked. What if Erratic Sonar—the temporary Trait provided by cooking up the bat—did something?

It seemed like a long shot, but he got a very bad feeling about his current situation. It was obvious the ants knew that they were here; they were in battle, after all. But it also wasn’t just the ants that had poured out into the plains. To be able to continuously throw bodies at them, the ants must have been swarming out from the jungle. And if they knew they were here, the queen likely did too.

Dammit! I got no choice, do I? Bloody hell, let’s give this a crack!

Aaron took out one of the five servings of his spicy bat curry and devoured it. His eyes watered, and his mouth was set ablaze, and even Aaron realized that perhaps he had overdone it on the heat. And this was something else entirely.

But he had no choice but to grit his teeth and ignore his body’s protests against the fiery pain he had intentionally ingested.

Breaking for less than a second to eat, he had already thrown himself back into the thick of it.

He had no idea how Erratic Sonar was supposed to work; he just kind of hoped it would do something. And his prayers were answered only a few seconds later, as the ant horde seemed to be confused.

The ants that were facing him did so with the same ruthless efficiency as they had previously. But the ones behind them seemed almost oblivious to what was going on. Some even started walking away in the wrong direction.

The power provided by the curry wasn’t some light switch that won the battle for them, but the effect it had on the ant logistics was undeniable, and with a few minutes of slaughter, the ant lines were finally starting to thin.

Aaron understood that they weren’t actually killing any more of the ants than they had been before, and when the effect wore off, they’d return. But for now, he’d take the win, and within a couple more minutes, they were reaching the edge of the jungle.

“We’re almost there!” Aaron shouted back, and his rampage grew even more furious as he massacred his way through the last lines of ants and reached the treeline.

A glance over his shoulder told him the others weren’t far behind, and were dealing with the ants they were faced against with confidence, so he took a few steps into the jungle.

There were still plenty of ants about, and they seemed to be everywhere he looked. And even though their forces had been utterly confused by the sonar, the bumbling ants could still pose an obvious threat.

Yet he still sighed with relief. Reaching the jungle was only the first of their goals, but at least they had achieved it. Even if he had pushed himself harder than he had wanted to.

“We did it. Finally.”

But when he took a couple more steps, he noticed a familiar mark. Claws carved into the trees.

“Wait… I know this. The simian reaver!”

A shiver traced Aaron's spine at the thought. He had gotten a lot stronger since the last time he faced it, but the last thing he needed was a D-grade threat while dealing with the ants. But then something else struck him like a truck.

The ants were sucttling all around, with seemingly not a single care for the reaver’s territory. And he had a bad feeling that meant something.

But just as he had that thought, a rush of energy struck him as he was no longer in combat.

Calculating Experience…

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 45

There was a surprising degree of organization when they spotted their enemy. The squads reacted cautiously, separating into their respective groups, and using a series of defensive Skills and trap Skills to set up their battlefields to their advantage before engaging their enemies.

Aaron, on the other hand, gave a little nod to Zero and charged into the thick of it.

“Wait up!” Talia screamed after him and flew into the air as her avatar took life. “I’m not letting you get all the kills!”

“Better keep up then!”

But for all his words of bravado, Aaron remembered his discussion with Yendal and thumbed his ring as he neared their enemy. He would take this seriously but slowly, at least until they reached stiff resistance. This was an opportunity for improvement, and he wasn’t about to waste it.

He remembered his patron god’s words. If she really could defeat such powerful beasts when she was this level, then he was slacking off. And that thought drove him to try even harder. And not just because he wanted to impress her the next time they met. But because the implication was that he wasn’t reaching even close to his potential.

However, Yendal was Yendal. That said, he had something she didn’t. A particularly special soul. 

There was a real possibility that it simply wasn’t possible to match the martial god via pure martial prowess—not without spending an inordinate amount of time training, at least—but Aaron reminded himself that he didn’t have to rely on pure martial prowess. Sure, he agreed with her that falling back on extensive energy output was a shortcut, one that was making him lazy and weak. However, that didn’t mean the solution was to completely copy her, and he wondered if he could use this opportunity to further strengthen his bond with his spirit and use it to help hone his senses.

Crashing down into the battle, he studied the ants rushing toward him and engaged. 

The battle started in a confusing flurry of attacks that normal people wouldn’t have been able to keep up with. But every attack was perfectly landed as Aaron intended it to.

He used no more power than necessary, aiming for weak spots even though he could take out these relatively weak ants without doing so. And at first, it was more of a refresher than anything else, going through the basics. He had been doing this for a while now, continuing on from what he had been doing in his previous fights since arriving on this world. Reminding himself of everything he had learned. Footwork, precision, and reading the enemy. All of it.

However, the vanguard of the ants was nothing special, and simple attacks were more than enough to chop through dozens within less than a minute. And soon, corpses were piling up all over the place, despite Aaron not actually pushing himself particularly hard.

He got a bad feeling, though. The battle seemed too easy, and the only reason he kept going as he was was that he didn’t sense any powerful energy signals.

“Come on, this all you got?”

Aaron crashed into the next line of ants, crushing several beneath his spiked gauntlets within seconds.

However, a second later, he pulled back a little. It was an unusual problem to have, but his attacks had actually landed heavier than he had planned them to, completely chucking several bodies into pieces as he blasted them apart.

His body felt unruly, and controlling himself as he once had was now noticeably harder as his strength had grown so much. But there was more to it than that.

It was his core. His true core was a serious upgrade, and if his concentration lapsed, then extraordinary power fluctuated out of it. That power and hyper-charged his attacks, blowing his enemies into literal pieces.

And while on the surface that mightn’t have seemed like a bad problem to have, his joints and muscles felt an ache afterwards. It was nothing serious, especially compared to his insane healing, but Aaron could feel that there was a problem just waiting to happen if he wasn’t careful. He was also burning energy just a bit faster than he was regenerating it, and that wouldn’t do. Not in a battle like this.

Taking several deep breaths after slaughtering another line of ants, he calmed himself before his next engagement. Massive power was good, but he needed it to be under his control. 

And just as he slowed down a little, he felt a pulse of hunger radiate from his ring. It was enjoying this, and lines started to etch across its surface as its energy intake seemingly increased before his very eyes.

“What the?”

Aaron shook his head, forced to refocus on the fight as dozens of ants attacked from all around. But he hadn’t missed it. It was as if new details were being drawn onto the ring, and it was undeniable that he had grown stronger somehow, and it was pulling more and more energy from him now.

There was a silver lining to this, though. He felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. His true core was easier to control, as its excessive energy was greedily being sucked up by the ring before it could accumulate and threaten his soul and body.

Aaron dipped into this feeling as he threw punches at the oncoming ants, crushing their bodies under his fists. But that wasn’t all, he was cycling throughout it, and drawing in more and more aether from [ Reap ] with each enemy slain.

And in response, his core sped up, churning out more energy than he could have ever imagined possible. It was well and truly beyond what he should have commanded. A stupid amount of energy for someone still clinging to an E-grade Class and Profession.

But the ring sucked it all up, and not even for a second did he feel that his soul was in any true jeopardy.

This was unexpected, and he had to remind himself not to get too used to it. After all, he would almost certainly need to remove the ring when fighting the queen, and he didn’t want to blow himself up with his own core.

As he beat apart and killed the ants around him, Aaron took a second to look back. He was so focused on what he was doing that he had barely noticed Talia and Zero fighting. And they were now some distance away from him, with the squads even further back, stationed at the rear and dealing with straggler ants.

Perfect, he thought. The squad's purpose was to deal with the footsoldiers like these, but they needed to get to the jungle first. And Aaron was more than happy to thin their numbers along the way.

Returning his focus to the fight as the ants attempted to surround him with excessive numbers and charged with clicking mandibles, he met them with fists poised. But their attack was a little different this time.

As he closed the distance, dodging sharp, serrated mandibles, arcing beams of energy sparked across his skin and exploded into crackling power.

Aaron was actually thrown back a little, with minor wounds, and they hadn’t even touched him.

Luckily, the lightning wasn’t too strong, and he could easily tank the damage as he burst through them. But the electrified ants were a little more troublesome, filling their bodies up with the energy not so different from the exploding cultists.

Electricity blasted through his body as he punched these ants into oblivion, but the damage went both ways. And while Aaron could heal himself incredibly well and survive multiple deaths, there were a shit ton of ants, and there seemed to be more of the little bastards by the second.

To keep them at bay, he used [ Spectral Bullet Punch ]. He had wanted to refrain from using Skills so that he could practice. But at this rate, he couldn’t be sure that he’d be able to keep the ring on, even with his [ Reap ] Skill stealing aether from all of his kills. He was simply eating too much damage from the electrified ants.

At that moment, though, he remembered his thoughts going into this battle, and leaned into his spirit senses. [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] was raised, and his spirit fought alongside his mortal self.

With this combination, he could tell exactly what kinds of ants were rushing toward him and used simple, precise punches to kill or disable ordinary ants, hitting weak spots. Then switched to spectral bullets to kill electrified ones.

And to top it all off, he used fate-bending to map a path, reading several seconds into the future. The ants could do little against such an extraordinary combination, and soon, he was pushing their endless ranks back as quickly as he had at the start of their fight.

But the ants were far from being out of ideas, and as his slaughter got fiercer, and their losses larger, more seemed to swarm toward him. 

Bolts of energy were shooting out from the crowd, and they pressed against one another to force the tide of ants forward against Aaron’s angry fists that cleaved rows after rows of the dogged beasts as they continued their mindless press.

He grunted as he shrugged off lightning damage and gave it back tenfold, blasting bits of ant all over the place. They might not have been done, but neither was he.

Minutes passed of this insane exchange went back and forth, literal mounds of ant corpses piling up, but they showed absolutely no care for it, continuing to scuttle toward the battle.

“How many of you little bastards are there?”

As if in response, the waves of ants seemed to grow thicker still, and it was mind-boggling just how many of the little beasts there were. And if not for [ Reap ], Aaron would have already been thick into his food reserves and possibly forced to retreat.

But if he could, he would save those reserves. He wanted that for the queen. Instead, he would have to focus on maximizing his efficiency and keeping his expenditure below his regeneration.

Within minutes of this exchange, a few wounds were starting to appear across Aaron. He healed them almost as quickly as he gained them, but was forced to take a step back, as the sheer persistence of the ants began to wear on him.

Worse still, as he looked up, he couldn’t even see the jungle anywhere. He was killing a stupid amount of ants, but he was starting to wonder if he and the others could keep this up. 

Not that it even came close to deterring him. He was as stubborn as ever and still had plenty of cards up his sleeve. He just hoped to save them for the more difficult fights that were no doubt soon to arrive.

He entered a flow state, so focused on the battle that the world around him faded. He punched, he kicked, he dodged, each motion as small as he could make it without compromising effectiveness. He made mistakes at first, scowling at the wasted energy, but as the battle went on, the mistakes became fewer and fewer. He got more used to his new energy levels and better at gauging what his enemies could take.

Like a rotund grim reaper, he flashed through the battlefield, and wherever he went, ants fell. First dozens, then hundreds, and then it reached the point where Aaron began to wonder if there was an end to a horde. No sooner had he thought this than he suddenly found a moment of reprieve, as he noticed that there were no more living ants around him. 

But the battle was far from over, and he could hear another endless stampede approaching in the distance.

Filling the air around the dead ants was an eerie energy as well. It was no doubt what was calling them, and the reason the horde charging him down was only growing thicker and thicker. But what was he to do about it besides keep slaughtering them wave after wave?

His brow bent, Aaron shot straight into the following wave. If they wanted to make this a battle of endurance, then he was happy to oblige.

Bodies exploded against his spiked gauntlets, and he spun into a dizzying array of attacks as he slaughtered a line through the enemy, ring still on his finger, and his movements perfectly placed.

He had turned into a storm, his movements so fast and destructive, like a whirlwind throwing up broken ants all over the place, and the spectacle was only enhanced by the flashes of lightning sparking all around as the ants tried to zap him.

There was little doubt Aaron was eating damage through it all, but nowhere near enough to stop his mad assault, and soon, he found himself falling into a rhythm, cycling energy and reaping aether, and it was almost starting to feel easy, until the next threat appeared.

Poison and corrosive ants. 

The little bastards shot acidic, sizzling spittle, and when they were killed, they exploded into a puff of noxious fumes. The first few times, Aaron was caught off guard, and he was forced to create distance as he desperately cycled energy to keep himself alive.

It was a deadly shock, and he felt like his body was going offline for a second. But he wasn’t forced to resurrect, not yet at least.

“Watch out for the poison ants!” He shouted back, using his energy to amplify his voice across the battlefield.

If worst came to worst, at least he could survive a few deaths. If anything, he was more worried about the others. The fumes being released by the dead ants were no minor attack, and when he had breathed in the poison, he had immediately felt weak, moving closer to death.

It was so strong that even Talia and Zero could be endangered by such an attack, let alone the squads moving up behind them.

And something told Aaron that their enemy wasn’t even getting started, as he continued to bash his way through the endless lines of ants, slipping attacks and aiming his fists for weak spots, crushing one, two, and a third before taking a second to cycle.

But even after another dozen ants were beaten down before him, more took their place, and he continued to tirelessly throw punches.

He could tell that they had pushed the ants back a few miles by now, but what had started as relatively thin, sporadic pockets of ants spread across the plains had now turned into dense lines of warriors packed up tightly against one another, and for every ant he killed, it felt as if two took its place.

Nonetheless, he punched forward into the next line, killing an ant, but instead of moving forward, its body just splattered back against the ants behind it, forming a dense wall that not even Aaron’s punches could break through.

He was literally crushing hard bodies against one another and creating a mush between his fists and the thick rows of ants, and not even that was enough to dissuade them for even a second.

And the moment the ants got a chance to return the attack, lightning and poison shot out, forcing him to retreat several steps. Flying backward to cycle and prepare himself for another round, he felt the ground collapse beneath him, and mandibles shot out from the dirt.

“Digging ants?!”

They grabbed hold of his ankles with sharp mandibles that drew blood, but a swift spin saw the ants torn into pieces. Yet it mattered little, as more were upon him before he could even move to better ground, and he was forced to dig deep and increase his speed to meet these relentless attacks, facing them with deadly fists, kicks, and both elbows and knees as he turned into a blinding flurry of death.

Even his forehead became a weapon, smashing through an unlucky ant or two as the mound of wiggling bodies attempted to engulf him.

He heard screams in the distance and looked up. There were literal waves of ants crashing down upon him like superorganisms that had joined together to create something bigger.

But Aaron just roared in defiance of it all, and returned with haymakers and [ Soul Shattering Strike ], falling back on the Skills he had resisted using up until now. And they blasted through the huge formations of ants with devastating results.

Then, with an angry grunt, he unleashed a chaingun of Spectral Bullets into the hordes of ants, pouring aether into his attacks to increase the relatively weak spectral fists into something that could kill on impact against the weaker ants, and that was when the true slaughter began.

His eyes were white and mad, and he started to laugh as he mowed them down, line after line, drawing in aether from all the kills as his spectral fists shot out at a seemingly ever-increasing speed, covering the entire plains in corpses.

But this wasn’t a style he wanted to rely upon, and the moment the ant lines had been culled a little, he flew straight back into them, fists poised as he landed vicious, but perfectly timed attacks.

He was Yendal’s student, but if they tried to use numbers against him, he was going to make them pay for it.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw his allies a hundred or so meters behind him, dealing with the broken lines of ants he had left behind.

And through it all, he felt something else bubbling within. It was experience, and it was fucking lot of it.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be getting a few levels from this,” he murmured as his fist blew straight through an ant’s head and continued onto the next.

However, despite all of the destruction he had wrought, ahead of him, a seemingly endless blanket of black, wiggling ants covered the land.

But he could also see something else in the distance.

Trees. Lots of them.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 44

Chop N’ Swap [ Uncommon ] Ogre chefs have a knack for substitution, and you’re no exception. When activated, the user can substitute Common and Uncommon ingredients without ruining their recipes, not that they are likely to be anything more than a random mixture of mush anyway.

Cooking Psychosis [ Rare ] Since when do scientists deserve a monopoly on madness? At least, you believe in equal opportunities when it comes to madness. When activated, the user’s a psychotic trance improving their chances of unlocking new recipes, and cooking more potent dishes.

Soul Chef [ Epic ] Soul food its about more than just catfish and collard greens to you. Passively provides the user with a chance to infuse food they cook with spiritual energy, and thus, turning the dishes into ones that provide soul-strengthening qualities.

Spirit Tongue [ Epic ] [ Set: 3 of 4 ] Your tongue transcends the mortal realm, literally. Any food it touches also takes on a portion of the supernatural. When activated, the user’s cooking enters a midway state between the mortal and spirit plane. But unlike other spiritual appendages, the spirit tongue comes with spiritually enhanced taste buds that are perfect for balancing spiritual dishes. 

Goblin Mass Cultivator [ Legendary ] Goblins like to feed, but you’re more than just something to be fed. So very much more. A Special Skill, the Goblin Mass Cultivator can be placed in either a Passive or Active slot. Every now and again, when a goblin tribe runs low on population, they select a special someone to become a Mass Cultivator, usually one of the tribe's cooks. A Mass Cultivator has a simple job. Cook and consume. Grow bigger and bigger. And once they have accumulated enough mass, they evolve into a brood mother that can birth hundreds of goblins a month.

Aaron stood in blank-faced shock for a long moment after reading the options. “What the actual fuck. Goblin Mass Cultivator? What kind of sick Skill is that? Blood fucking hell.”

It was easily the most disturbing Skill purchase he had seen yet. Of course, he had zero intention of purchasing the Skill. But still, he was taken aback by even receiving the option. And the only reason he could imagine being offered the option was because of the goblins feeding him while he was awakening his core. Which made him think. The System was starting to feel more than a little invasive. Could the System offer him anything he did in Skill form? What about when he had time to enjoy recreational activities again? Were they going to be offered as Skills next time he got another point?

He looked around as if being watched, and a shiver traced his spine. But it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it, and now wasn’t the time to get caught on such a thought. Although he did momentarily wonder who was spying on him.

“Focus. There are Skills to purchase.”

He had half a mind to call Sooty, but already had an idea what he wanted, and goblin girls didn’t chase themselves.

Firstly, Chop N’ Swap and Cooking Psychosis were out as usual for being low-level rarity, and just generally sounding mid.

Soul Chef, on the other hand, was immediately tempting. Aaron wasn’t sure how high the chance of randomly creating Soul Strengthening food was, but he cooked a lot, which would no doubt increase the chances of it happening. After all, he needed to. Even if there was only a very small chance of it happening, he’d probably end up creating a few dishes whenever he sat down to restock his scabbard, which was seriously tempting.

But was that enough of a reason to purchase the Skill? No. It wasn’t. Not with another Skill from his set available. Heck, he didn’t even know how strong those soul-strengthening dishes would be. If they were just weak Uncommons, they wouldn’t be worth much anyway. And besides, he had a long, long way to go before needing to stock up on soul-strengthening food again, as their only real purpose was race evolution. And while they might be valuable, building wealth wasn’t as important as building strength.

Glancing over the options again, Aaron selected Spirit Tongue and went through the prompts.

No additional Profession [ Active ] Skill slots available.

Discard [ Active ] Profession Skill: Y/N?

Most of his Profession Skills were rather useful, making choosing something to discard rather difficult. There was one skill, though, that he never really used a whole lot. Perfect Measurements. It wasn’t even that it was a bad Skill. In fact, it even had combat potential… possibly. But in truth, he had rarely found much need to know something’s or someone’s weight.

His cooking was too unstable and all over the place to really care that much about perfect measurements, even after integrating Yendal’s style. Besides, Perfect Measurements was almost an affront to her anyway. Yendal was the kind of person to gauge the perfect measurement by eye, not rely on some Skill to do it for her. And while he had at first thought that the Skill might come in handy outside of the kitchen, he hadn’t really found himself using it.

“I guess you gotta go.”

Confirming the prompt, he discarded the Skill and filled up the slot with Spirit Tongue. And the moment he did, he got a little excited. Not just because he had a new Skill though. 

He only needed one more Skill in his set to complete it, and he was excited to see what would happen when he did. What extra bonuses would he get? What would he be able to fill the freed slots with?

Those were questions he would have to wait to answer, but he was looking forward to getting a chance to cook now.

But for now, he was done. His dishes were ready, stored away, and he had no worthy ingredients leftover for more cooking. Not that he would have sat down and done more anyway. He had more important things to do.

However, before he left, he placed all free points into Fortitude. His Fortitude was already high, and he had wanted to help his Dexterity catch up. But with so many enemies, he thought that having some extra durability would be helpful. Also, since it would provide additional Stamina, that meant more energy, and with his core, he could just convert it to whatever he needed.

Perhaps more Fortitude wasn’t exactly what Yendal had in mind when she scolded him, but he needed to deal with the ants first before worrying about that.

Stepping outside, Aaron immediately headed for the Bellagio. And the moment he got there, he informed Julius he was ready and to gather everybody up.

Without pause, he was led down to one of the convention halls, and Julius called everybody up.

There was a decent number of them, and soon they were filling the first few rows of seats.

Aaron, Talia, and Zero all sat up front alongside Ryan. But there were many others in attendance that he recognized, and he turned to wave as Yuki and the other hunters he had worked with entered.

But that wasn’t all. Everyone from the monster lord hunt was also there, alongside twenty or so others, including Dorian, the ant expert. There were even a dozen goblins led by Treg, who entered late. This surprised Aaron as he hadn’t realized that they were joining in on the mission. 

“Since when are the goblins joining us?”

“A lot has been happening in the last few days,” Talia replied. “We didn’t tell you because no one wanted to distract you while you were doing your thing. Suffice it to say, we did some testing to figure out the best candidates for this mission. Those goblin riders of yours are quite strong, mostly because of the wolves, but they themselves have also come a long way. And most of them have started to develop a skillset around their wolf mounts.”

“You don’t say. Oh, look, it’s Becky!” Aaron waved, but Becky just raised her nose at him, turned her head, and took a seat. “I didn’t know she was a part of our… faction.”

“She’s… well, complicated,” Talia admitted. “I’ve known her from fairly early in the Tutorial. She’s nice enough, in her own kind of way. Not really a true member of the United Front, but she probably hates ants more than anybody. She’s somewhat of a fur lover. If a beast doesn’t have fur, she tends not to be a fan, to say it lightly. She actually discovered the ant encroaching on the plains herself and came here looking for answers. When we told her we were building an army to deal with them, she volunteered to help.”

Aaron nodded at the details. Becky mightn’t have been a top ranker, but she was well and truly qualified to be called an elite, and he certainly wasn’t complaining about more elite fighters joining their little army. That and she had the cat, meaning they had two extra fighters.

A scratchy sound reverberated through the conference room as Julius tapped a microphone on stage, and Aaron turned to him. “Good evening, all of you. I thank you all for coming to our call on this important day. This is the first true opportunity for the United Front to show what it is capable of, and I am so very excited to share that with you all. We are threatened by a serious enemy. And we don’t say this lightly. Our scouts have watched as they killed powerful beasts and expanded their territories endlessly.”

“But that is only the beginning of our concerns. This enemy numbers in the thousands. They are a horde of ants, and they are deceptively well-organized. And if that wasn’t bad enough, we also have reason to believe that these ants can take on the powers of those they have slain by consuming their bodies. Providing yet another complication to dealing with them. But that isn’t why we have called you all here. As you all know, we have our top rankers here. Talia and Aaron are truly something else, something special. Not to mention Aaron Pet Wolf Zero, who is a D-grade powerhouse himself. Their power is nothing short of incredible. But these ants pose a unique threat. They have an army. And elites of their own.

“The job for most of you will be to keep that army busy. To thin their numbers as best you can so that Aaron and Talia can reach the queen and deal with her personally. To this end, we will be splitting you into squads, each with a leader.”

“We will start by driving their invading force from the plains, which they have already crossed and have marched several miles deep within. However, we believe that there are still under a thousand of the beasts within the plains, and most are rather weak. So pushing them back shouldn’t be too hard.”

“However! That is only the start of things, and our job is bound to get more difficult the further we push them back. This is why we need you all to remain coolheaded and organized. And we want you to stop and regroup once you reach the jungle. This is where we expect things to get more difficult, and you must be properly prepared before entering.” 

“Once you reach the jungle, if resistance isn’t too great, Aaron and Talia will head straight to the nest and deal with the queen within. If that is not possible, then they will remain with the main force for as long as is necessary to clear a path. But the most important thing is that you remain aware of your squad leader and do not veer too far from them. They know the plan’s details intimately, and they are best equipped to lead you to completing it successfully. So, with that said, fight, kill, and please, keep an eye on your leader, it is essential to the success of this mission!”

When Julius got done speaking, everyone besides the trio—Aaron, Talia, and Zero—were split into groups, and gear like potions and other consumables were passed about as their squad leaders provided additional information. 

Aaron felt a little bad about not contributing to the consumables, as he had spent a long time cooking. But Talia assured him it wasn’t necessary. The most important thing was that he had all the food he needed for the fight ahead.

Once the squads were done preparing, they wasted no time hitting the road, moving relatively slowly to keep formation. The plan was to keep the squads together, and charging off wasn’t going to help on that front, even if the force could move faster.

Aaron looked around, recognizing several squad leaders, like Ryan, Carlos from the beast hunt, and Treg, leading the goblins.

Most of the plan had been devised by Julius and Talia, who believed that numbers would help them deal with the army of ants. But that didn’t mean they were willing to accept casualties, at least not any more than were absolutely necessary. Which was why they had made squads. 

If lower-level people charged recklessly into battle, it was going to turn into hell, with a lot of losses. However, the hope was that if they remained organized and stuck with their groups, they could help one another avoid many unnecessary deaths.

Which was good. Aaron was impressed, and if he didn’t have to worry about others, he would be able to focus better on his own task.

And it didn’t take long for them to notice the first ants scuttling along the plains. 

They’re looking for something. Are they following our scent?

Aaron’s expression widened. There really was no choice. If they didn’t deal with these ants now, they would come for them.

“Alright, get ready, everyone! This is it. Time to push these beasts back off our land!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 43

Brightly animated in the mirror, her gaze deadly and fixed on him, was Yendal, arms crossed and looking rather unimpressed.

“Hey Yendie! Been a bloody while, hasn’t it? Or at least it has compared to our regular meet-ups in the trials. How’ve you been? Divinity treating you well?”

“Call me ‘Yendie’ again, and I will change my mind about helping you heal your soul.”

“Ah, sorry,” said Aaron sheepishly. “But how’s it going?”

“You should be dead.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

“No, I mean you should be dead. You, Aaron Dober, with your peculiar soul and stubborn resilience, should be dead. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“...Formed a core?”

“Don't you play cute with me! I can feel your leaky soul from here! You have no idea how incredibly lucky you are! If you tried that 100 times, you would have died 99 times. And I mean total death. Soul shattered into fragments too small to contain even a sliver of yourself and dispersed into atmospheric aether. There’s no reviving from that.

“If you’re that determined to get yourself killed, you could at least do it fighting something powerful! You’re the first person in eons to become my herald, and I’ll be dammned if you kill yourself doing something stupid like that.”

“Ahh, sorry?” Aaron flashed a toothy smile, but his senses were ringing with danger. “Does that mean you’re not happy to see me?”

Yendal glared back. “I’m sending you over some special schematics. They’ll explain to an appropriately skilled crafter how to take that Shard of Divinity you have and turn it into an avatar I can use. The avatar won’t be able to leave the temple. Not with schematics usable by anyone on your infant world. But it won’t need to. I just need something I can use to take my frustration out on you.”

“Hey, hey, wait a minute!” Aaron said with undeniable panic as he raised his hands in surrender. “Come on, no need for threats. Trust me, I don’t want to do anything like that again either. I’ve learned my lesson. And look, I’m alive, aren’t I? And I’ve got a true core to boot!”

Yendal glared back with pointed brows.

“Okay, fine. I get it. I’ll see about this avatar stuff. Hopefully, someone will know what to do with it. But I do have some important things that need doing. Before you can beat me up. You see, I have a bit of an ant problem. Not to mention a deadline. I got this dungeon token, and I really don’t want to–”

“I know. You’ve quite the task ahead of you. And you're still so unrefined. Have you been using the ring? You need to spend more time on the basics, and less on worrying about things like cores at your level!”

Aaron grimaced again, like he was being scolded by an angry teacher or parent.

“Yeah, for the most part. Sometimes I have to take it off for more difficult fights. But I try not to.”

“Not good enough. Your world is weak, and so are the beasts inhabiting it. You’re getting drunk on your own power. You could have defeated most of those enemies without removing the ring. You just need to focus more.”

“Sure, just focus more.”

“I’m serious. When I was at your level– 

“I–”

“Don’t you dare cut me off.”

Aaron swallowed the words of protest he was about to say. 

“When I was at your level, even peak D grades could not defeat me. I don’t expect you to follow my footsteps exactly, but you are rushing. D grade will give you a power boost, but that is all. Level and stats aren’t everything. Look at your current self. Even at half the level of the others in the Shadow Trials, you stood out as the best. But now, your level is comparable to theirs, and your skill has not risen to match.

“How much more powerful are you than when you left? You have more levels and a few new tricks, but are you really much more powerful? Could those stats and Skills allow you to defeat my avatar? Would you be able to defeat Mo’han as you are now?”

Aaron was silent. He didn’t like being scolded like this, but she had a point. He had definitely gotten stronger in raw power, but he could say with certainty that he would not be able to defeat Yendal’s avatar. Of course, Yendal was a unique existence, but that didn’t mean her point was invalid. He had gotten as far as he did by focusing on all the little things and doing the best that someone of his level could do, but ever since coming to Earth, he had fallen into more ogre-like habits of overwhelming his opponents with energy and force.

“That said, I don’t fault you for it,” said Yendal, making Aaron look up in surprise. “This was your first taste of the true multiverse and how it all works, and you are dealing with the collapse of civilization as well. Expecting you to fall immediately into a rigorous routine would be extreme, even for me. I just want you to understand yourself. 

“There are infinitely many paths to power, but you have chosen me as your guide, and I have chosen to raise you as my disciple. Don’t make either of us regret it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good,” she said, her gaze softening. “You have a very good opportunity before you. The ants will be an excellent wall for you to overcome. Remember what I have taught you, focus, and you can grow a great deal from this experience.”

“Will do. Focus,” Aaron nodded.

“Also, you should not wait for the ants. They will take over your entire planet if you let them. Best to deal with them as quickly as you can… Even if you have to take the ring off to do it.”

Aaron brightened. Yendal had sounded oddly helpful, and even a little concerned.

“Is that so? Is there anything you can tell me about them that might help?”

“No! Of course not! I can tell you that your path is long, and it is fraught with many dangers. Anything else might ruin you, and you’re already off to a bad enough start as it is. If you want advice, here it is. Don’t go doing stupid things like what you did with your core. I don’t fault you for your other actions, but even in your ignorance, you should have known that putting divine energy directly into your soul was foolish. And…”

“And?”

“This pains me. I really didn’t want to reward you for your stupidity, but I will help you recover and heal your soul. Meditate here, in the temple. I can’t heal you directly, but I can help you focus your own energy into your soul. Which should help speed up the healing process.”

“Thanks! I owe you one, Yendie!”

“And stop calling me Yendie!”

Aaron nodded and took a meditative pose before the mirror. The energy he felt flowing through the temple wasn’t anywhere near as insightful as Yendal’s Divine Realm, but even before he started, he could tell it would easily be the second-best place he had meditated, even if the furnishings were still lacking.

The sensation filling the air was strong, and the combination of the Well of Truths and the temple helped Aaron dive into the depths of his understanding and bring the power of his insights directly upon his wounded soul.

Yendal said she was helping too, although he couldn’t sense it. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t trust what she said. She was so far above him that it wasn’t too surprising that he couldn’t grasp what she was or wasn’t doing.

When he reached his soul, he could feel that it still didn’t want to be commanded directly by him, and if he tried to persist, he felt immense pain. But it wasn’t a complete loss. His focus had greatly improved, and he could feel his spirit before him, and with that, he could cycle aether through his newly upgraded core, and into his spirit. 

It was immediately clear that his energy generation was on an entirely new level now. Aether was pouring out in droves, and not only that, but he felt that this upgrade had allowed him to make proper use of his racial evolution.

Still, it wasn’t all good news. He felt like his body couldn’t properly handle all the power he had now, and so he had to be cautious. He had a feeling that too much energy output might destroy his own spirit as he healed it, and so he restrained himself.

It took several hours of supreme concentration, but when he found a balance, cycling aether through his spirit, the healing effects were undeniable. And far, far stronger than the weak E-grade remedies produced by his people in Dober.

That said, with such terrible wounds all across his soul, it still took a couple of days to heal through, and when he finally finished, his eyes flung open with a gasp.

“You did it. You actually healed your soul. And rather quickly at that. Impressive.”

Aaron looked up at the mirror. Her face was a mixture of irritation and… and pride? It seemed that even Yendal was struggling to maintain her anger after seeing what Aaron accomplished.

“Yeah, feels good as new,” he said, jumping up and stretching. “Though I get the feeling I still need to keep tight control of my energy. My core feels like it could explode at any moment if I’m not careful.”

“Yes, it would. You have no business having that core. Not at your level. Even prodgies wait until they are at the very least mid D-grade Class or Profession, alongside D-grade race. And you’re not even close to that.”

“Aha,” Aaron scratched at his neck. “Well, I’m special, huh?”

“It’s not funny,” her expression returned to a glare. “You survived and healed yourself incredibly well. But if you’re not careful, that thing can still kill you. I’m serious, Aaron. Not even you will be able to recover from blowing your soul up.”

“Yeah, yeah. Being careful,” Aaron smiled, but as he did, he checked his dungeon token. It was down to the last month, and he still had a cooking spree to finish off.

Not good. We'd better get going! No way I’m missing out on this dungeon, and we can’t just leave the ants roaming about.

“Thanks again, Yendal. I’ll have someone look into the avatar thingy. I'd better get going, though. I’m running out of time for this dungeon, and I’ve got too many things to get done first…”

“Yes, you wouldn’t want to miss out on that. Go. Do what you need to, but don’t forget your basics!”

Aaron bowed, thanked his patron god, and then waved and made his exit. Then, in a flash, he crossed his small camp and entered his kitchen. Hands moving too fast for most to see, he prepared his ingredients for a trance-induced cooking session.

He knew he had to be careful with time. The ants were an army, and he had no idea how many hundreds or thousands he’d have to fight through to reach the queen. But he knew that it was smart to save as much time for it as possible. The last thing he wanted was for the battle to drag on and to miss his opportunity to join the dungeon. After all, if push came to shove, defeating the ants and keeping Dober and the United Front safe came first.

And with that thought, he got to work, throwing together his most valuable remaining ingredients in the hope of creating some powerful buffing dishes for the fight before him.

Taking the bat parts of Lorella, he took a nasty pile of wild chillies the goblins had found, spices, and reagents he had lying around from the trials, and began combining them, cooking them down into a gravy.

The goblins had warned him about the chillies. A couple of their kin had tried them, cooking them into some dishes, and had been gravely wounded in the process. They even feared that some might even die. Luckily, they were brought back to camp and nursed to health with the help of healing potions.

Wild Death Scorcher [ Elite ]

These incredibly spicy chillies are not to be taken lightly. At around 100 million Scovilles, these little nightmares can burn through the mouth of even the most seasoned chilli lover.

But Aaron was particularly hardy, and not so worried about a little heat, even if he was adding concerning qualities of the chillies to the dish he was crafting.

After all, he had bigger problems than a little spice. The human-like appearance of Lorella was… disconcerting. Even if she was a beast, it was a little too much. However, there were a few parts that were undeniably beast-like, which he felt more comfortable using, like the large cupped bat ears that folded back on the beast lord.

These, along with some cuts of steak from the bear, were added to the gravy and cooked until deliciously tender for several hours at low heat.

Meanwhile, several other dishes were busy being cooked away. Anything that was too human-like was gifted to Zero and his pack, but Aaron made use of everything else.

And before long, several dishes were piling up, and hastily being shrunken down, and then stored in his scabbard.

But most weren't quite what he was after. Even if some of the dishes he made were decent enough. He was apprehensive about both the fight and the dungeon timer, and he wanted something that stood out. Something that would give him an undeniable edge, and his gaze settled on the bubbling gravy and tender meat as dish after dish fell short of expectations.

Even if he had some great, high-quality ingredients in the form of meat, this world wasn’t like the trials. He had to make use of what was available, and he was forced to combine a lot of Common and Uncommon ingredients with his rarer ones, and it was having an effect, diluting the power of his dishes.

Hopefully, this would all change once his farm was fully up and running, and he had some valuable and rare plants growing. But until then, he’d have to make do with what he had.

But he did save some of the chillies to plant in the farm. Unlike most of the vegetables and fruits they had found, he had a good feeling about them and their future usefulness.

And when the dish neared completion, Aaron’s eyes lit up. It was exactly what he had hoped it would be.

A masterpiece.

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Apocalyptically Spicy Bat Curry [ Legendary ]

This curry is not to be taken lightly, and user caution is advised! Though the smell of its spices is heavenly, causing the tongue to water, be careful! For this dish is supremely deceptive! The spice level is enough to burn the mouth of an asura, and can easily kill many mortal races. The meat is tender and falls apart in one’s mouth, but you’re unlikely to notice that as insane levels of heat assault every one of your senses.

Provides: Heat Hardened Body and Erratic Sonar.

Aftereffects: The Ring of Fire.

Conditional: Requires surviving the dish for ten minutes without throwing up.

Ding!

[ Ogre Gastronomist ] has LEVELED UP!

69 → 75

Purchasable Skill Available!

“Huh. That… sounds like just what I need. But what’s the ring of fire?”

Aaron tilted his head. He had always been decent with spice, but this certainly sounded like something a step above anything he’d have before. But that was a small worry compared to the two conditions it provided, both of which sounded rather useful, and he immediately inspected them.

Heat Hardened Body

This temporary effect is gained by exposing oneself to extreme agony and provides both a considerable bonus to Fortitude and generally makes the user’s body more resilient to other effects for a couple of hours.

“Okay, now that sounded very good.”

This was more than he could have hoped for, and with any luck, it would help him use his core at a higher level without damaging his body or soul.

Erratic Sonar

This temporary effect is gained by combining a powerful Trait that was incompatible with the recipe it was added to. The end result is an erratic sonar ability that is completely uncontrollable by the user.

“Huh, okay. That doesn’t sound too helpful. Still, I got what I came for. Time to spend my free points, and deal with a bug infestation.”  

Aaron took the token from his scabbard and glanced down at it once more. He’d spent a couple of days cooking, and he couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 42

Aaron was starting to feel better after so many days of rest. Not, “I’m ready to take on a mean D-grade ant queen that has been busy wiping out other powerful beasts,” better, but better nonetheless.

Importantly, he was up and walking around, even if the legs that carried him felt a little wobbly. And that was good enough to get to cooking. At least to some degree.

After all, there he still had some glaring weaknesses holding him back. For example, he couldn’t call on his spirit or any Skills that used it. Well, he could, technically, but it was extraordinarily painful and made him dizzy and disoriented.

There was also the fact that the longer he tried to control his spirit, the more it felt like it was about to fall apart, and after a few attempts to forcibly will himself back to being better, he gave up on the idea. He was stubborn, but he also realized that if he kept going, he was likely to destroy his soul. Which was more than a little frustrating.

Still, he had a lot of ingredients to work through, and not everything he cooked needed to be spirit-touched.

There was the simple fact that everything he had was running low. And he didn’t need every dish to be powerful. He just needed some simple finger foods to stock his scabbard. So, he put aside the best ingredients to be used when he was feeling a bit better, and could do them justice, and focused on stocking up his scabbard with lesser items.

To this end, his goblin helpers provided plenty of basic ingredients, and over the next couple of days, he was able to grind out a huge number of simple dishes. By the time he was finished, he had filled up an entire section of his scabbard, which he had rather neatly piled, giving himself plenty to eat in the upcoming fights. And he even gained a Profession level from his cooking.

And while a single level over multiple days of cooking wasn’t anything to get particularly excited about, he was fine with it. After all, he didn’t necessarily want to grind out too many levels on basic ingredients. However, it was a reminder of just how much high-quality ingredients and the discovery of new recipes sped up the leveling process.

Not only would you limit your potential if you sat around grinding out very basic materials, but it would also take a ridiculous amount of grinding to get far. And it was no wonder the lesser talents in Dober weren’t flying ahead in levels, despite having plenty of mediocre materials around.

When he got done neatly tidying everything and labeling things, both in his kitchen—which was now inside his homestead—and inside his spatial storage, and he stood back and smiled. Although to any onlooker, it was somewhat concerning to see the madly determined warrior so invested in organization.

“Not bad. Not bad at all.”

At that moment, the door swung open, banging against the wall.

“Hey! Watch it! I just got done making this place look nice, you neanderthal!”

It was Sooty, standing in the doorway with a big grin.

“Hey, bossman. One of my disciples wants to show ya something.”

“Disciples? Since when do you have disciples?”

“Just come take a look!”

“Alright, fine. Lead the way.”

Sooty bounced along as he led Aaron around to the back of the homestead, where the antler roaches were being kept, and a little goblin was leading them around like some kind of goblin pied piper. 

“What is going on around here?” 

“Pretty impressive, huh, bossman? She can do all kinds of stuff. Oi, Iggy, make ‘em dance for the bossman!”

The goblin girl nodded, and then Aaron felt some energy in the air like a Skill had been activated, and the antler roaches started dancing.

“So this is where you are?” Treg said as he came around the corner and spotted them.

“You’re in on this, too?” Aaron asked.

“Aye. She’s good at what she does,” Treg nodded.

The little dancing roaches were only low level, between 5 and 15, but there were a lot of them, and there was no reason to turn away new allies. 

“So, all one hundred eggs hatched?” Aaron asked, and the goblin girl nodded without breaking from her task.

“They can work too,” Sooty said, bouncing around. “That’s where they’ve been gettin’ all their levels. Helpin’ in the gardens and even a little building. Useful little things.”

“I’ll say. Well, keep it up,” Aaron shot a thumbs up at the goblin. “Love your work.”

He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the strange scene, but more workers were a good thing. Especially since the farm was showing all kinds of life now, and the crops were growing incredibly quickly. 

The fast growth was likely the work of the mana heart and the soil. And at the rate things were going, they were likely to need a lot of hands to help out, and it seemed like there was a new plot filled with green every other day.

With everything going on, it’s probably worth seeing if I can get some special seeds or something. Especially soul-related ones. 

Aaron remembered how much soul-strengthening foods were worth in the trial, and they were relatively easy to get in there. Out here? Well, he had a feeling they would be worth a small fortune.

“Hey, there you are!” Marko shouted and waved as he stomped over from across a field.

“Something wrong, mate?”

“No. It’s the opposite. It’s your temple thing. The timer on it is getting close to being done. Real close.”

Aaron glanced across to Sooty with raised brows. “Shall we?”

“Lead the way, bossman!”

They passed by a couple of newly built barns and cabins and came face to face with the massive temple that towered over the rest of his farm.

Marko hadn’t been exaggerating. The timer was down to just two minutes, and the temple looked more or less finished, with just a faint uncanniness to it.

The pyramid temple was huge and looked somewhat comical beside the rest of his camp. But it had been close to finished for a while, and hadn’t changed much in appearance in the last couple of days, and as such, Aaron hadn’t paid too much attention to it. He was excited to see it completed, but he also didn’t want it to fill up all the space in his mind before it was completed.

He also had his Cosmic Training Cube that had finished construction some time ago, which he wanted to test out. However, he had been busy, off fighting the entire time, and then, almost as soon as he had returned, he had gone and wounded himself.

There was no point in trying to use the training cube in his current state. If he got a chance, he figured he’d try and test it out before rushing off to deal with their ant problem. But it wasn’t exactly a priority.

“Excited?” Marko asked.

“More than you know.” 

When the final countdown ended, the status of the temple changed in his status window to Completed. However, not much changed in reality, besides the uncanny gleam fading. If anything, it was a little underwhelming.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Aaron nodded to his companions and stepped inside, and they followed a step or two behind.

The place screamed grandeur, with massive pillars, huge tiles and bricks, and a nice natural breeze flowing through it. 

It was not quite what he had expected. The pyramid’s externals were sleek and kind of science-fiction-like, but it was still a pyramid. And that had led him to expect narrow corridors, traps, and mazes. And that was the complete opposite of what he found.

The rooms were huge, with open doorways adjoining them together. In fact, he didn’t even see a single corridor. The tiles were massive and reflective, and gave a sensation of elegance.

“Quite something, isn’t it?” Aaron murmured as he led them through the massive rooms, while his companions were struck with awe. Except Sooty, who was bouncing around.

But despite all of that, the temple felt like it was missing something. 

Hmm, what is that? 

Despite the feeling he got, he kept walking. And soon, they made their way into the heart of the temple. What they found was a circular room with many doorways leading into it from all around.

It wasn’t just that it was at the dead center of the temple that made him feel like there was something special about this room. He could sense it.

“This… is…”

He didn’t have the words to describe what he felt, but he had an idea. Aaron took out the Well of Truths he had won back during the 9th stage of the Trial of the Challenger from his scabbard, and placed it right in the middle of the room.

“There. That’s it.”

The effect was immediate, but not complete. The sensation that came over him felt similar to Yendal’s divine realm, but as if it were only touching on the surface of the great truths that had taken root within that place of magnificent power.

In truth, it was a monstrously long way away from being anything comparable to Yendal’s divine realm. Still, he had to start somewhere, and this was a pretty good place to do it, he felt.

“You feel that?”

Just as Aaron spoke, a rush of energy flowed through the temple, and a notification appeared before his eyes.

Herald of Yendal 

ACTIVATED!

New System Store Buildings 

AVAILABLE!

Aaron blinked, and he immediately realized that the notifications weren’t the only thing that had changed. 

He hadn’t meant to do it, and he actually felt a little bad for it. After all, he had every intention of giving people a choice when it came to what deities they wanted to work with. Not only did he want people to decide their own destinies, but he also doubted Yendal wanted forced followers. And so when he noticed that the United Front was now labelled as “followers of Yendal the Empty-Handed,” he felt a little bad.

Curious, he opened the System to see why it had changed.

Faction: United Front

Deity: Yendal the Empty-Handed

As followers of Yendal the Empty-Handed, your faction has access to special System store buildings, minor blessings, and training paths.

To change deity, visit your temple and declare your preferred deity.

Aaron’s brow crinkled. He hadn’t made any choice. This had just happened when he placed the Well of Truths. Not that he was complaining. Their settlement wasn’t really in a position to be turning down free boons, after all.

Still, he wasn’t too sure how others would take this sudden change. And while he was technically the leader, he hadn’t intended to choose the faction’s designated deity.

“Ahh, oops? How did that happen? When did I get to choose our deity?”

“Bossman, ye her Herald, remember? Ye basically her second in command. And ye also the leader of this faction. What did ya expect to happen?”

“Mate, I dunno,” Aaron shrugged. “I didn’t think about it that much. You think the others will care?”

“Hmm. If they’ve got blessings with other gods, it could be a little funny, haha,” Sooty chuckled.

“What do you mean, Sooty?” Aaron’s brow bent seriously.

“Them divine folk don’t like sharing too much. Havin’ their followers loyal to a faction serving another divinity ain’t something they’re gonna like. Then again, most gods give out thousands, sometimes even millions of low-level blessings. They probably ain’t gonna care too much about some nobody on a new world.”

“Oh, good,” Aaron sighed. “Well, not so bad then. Hopefully, it won’t be a big deal.”

“Unless they were in the trials. That could change things. Not too many potential followers are strong enough to make them trials, ya know? If ye a weaker god, ye might have a soft spot for such a follower.”

“Great,” Aaron groaned, hoping this wasn’t going to be a problem with Talia or Julius.

 But he hadn’t long to go over the thoughts as a mirror began to materialize on the only wall within the central room. 

 Surrounded by open archways, there was only one section of solid wall surrounding the central room, and that was where the mirror was forming.

“What’s this?” Aarom murmured as he took a step toward it.

The mirror forming before him was no ordinary mirror, either. Its borders were made of intricate decorations that curled out and formed around it, giving it quite an impressive appearance and aura.

And then, a face began to materialize within the mirror itself.

“Wait, Yendal?”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 41

Somehow, giving their little settlement a name had invigorated people with a new sense of purpose, and Dober felt more alive with activity than it had ever been before.

There were even a couple of members of the camp with art-related professions who had taken to designing a flag and color scheme for the United Front.

They settled on a light blue and white, much to the dismay of Talia. Not that adopting the colors was a necessity forced upon anybody.

But it did come with benefits. Just like everything else in the multiverse empowered by the System, colors and flags could grant their own powers, especially if powerful people crafted them.

For example, Julius’ leadership bonus was amplified by uniforms, and the color scheme, when applied by a Profession to one’s armor, gave a few minor additional bonuses, which were increased when in a team wearing the same colors.

Of course, Julius was a leader, and his powers were amplified when applied to the people he led. And as Aaron was above him in the settlement hierarchy, he didn’t receive the bonus. Not that the difficult-to-kill man really needed it.

Leaning back in his chair as his plans were falling into place with surprising precision, Julius flicked through the options on the mayor's management window.

There was something in particular that interested him. At ten thousand inhabitants, a settlement could elect itself to compete for world dominance, and by doing so, unlock a global control map.

He wasn’t sure yet whether or not it was a good idea to attempt to conquer the world. But with how things were moving, it didn’t seem such an impossible thought anymore. What with two of the top ten rankers in the world being members of their faction?

Either way, regardless of what decision they made, he knew this was an important unlock to get. He wanted to be able to see how much territory had been claimed by other settlements already. He also wanted to know how many settlements there were and how big they had gotten.

But then his gaze drifted over to their population ticker. 1484. It was a decent population, but it was far from the target. 

Both he and Talia had saved a decent number of the people in their respective Tutorials, and a decent number of people had wandered into the settlement on their own. Not to mention Aaron, who had brought in close to a hundred new settlers himself, between the people of New Haven and the goblins that served him.

But still, despite this, they were some way off from getting on the board. His first step to achieving this goal had been the lights of the old casino. With them working, he had turned the Bellagio into a shining beacon at night, a beacon that was greatly aided by the fact that the surrounding terrain was very flat and stretched on for some distance in most directions.

However, this new world of theirs was absolutely gigantic. There was a real possibility that they had already absorbed all of the surviving people within the immediate region.

And if that were true, some lights wouldn’t do much to attract new settlers.

 After all, the combined population of the three intelligent species was now less than Earth’s population had been pre-integration, and this world was many times larger.

He strummed his fingers against the table. Just because the problem was hard didn’t mean that he could just wait around and hope that it solved itself.

If other settlements were able to unlock the global control map before they did, it would grant them a significant strategic edge. Being able to see where all the settlements were in the entire world was quite something.

Of course, the map didn’t reveal everything. The explanation made it clear that the world’s details would be shrouded by the fog of war until revealed. The map would simply reveal the borders and settlement locations. But that was more than enough, and Julius was already considering the ways he could use such information to expand their strength.

“We need to attract more people,” he said absently, swirling on his chair to look out his window. Below, he could see many people going about their business, looking like ants in the distance as they worked tirelessly.

“Attract more people? Are they orders, sir?” One of his guards said, but Julius just waved dismissively, not answering with words or breaking from his thought.

Talia, Aaron, and his wolf pet were needed to deal with the ants whenever Aaron was capable of doing it. That much was obvious, and he had to consider their strengths out of reach for now. And the rest of his most elite warriors were busy hunting, getting stronger, and just generally keeping Dober safe from threats.

That put him in a difficult position. If he sent weaker parties out to search for survivors, they themselves might need rescuing. 

If only everyone had a travel Skill that allowed them to fly, he mused. That would make such predicaments far easier to resolve. Not that there weren’t dangerous predators in the skies, but there certainly seemed to be fewer of them, at least for now.

Following that thought, he went over the resources and System credits available in the settlement’s coffers. Just about everything was being poured into the purchase of more mana cores and defensive equipment, as they were seen as the most important assets for now.

He didn’t want to change this. He wasn’t going to be happy until the settlement could defend itself against a low D-grade beast without any of the powerhouses helping.

But they were well on their way toward achieving this goal, and perhaps some of their resources could be diverted.

What he had in mind was fabulously expensive. To purchase a float stone. The float stones had limited availability in the System Store, with just three available for their entire world, and it was set to restock in one year.

And to make matters worse, one had already been purchased, making Julius a little anxious about making a decision.

To gain more System credits, one could sell all kinds of loot back into the System, but it was clear even at a cursory glance that the exchange rate was horrendous.

They could only sell items for about ten percent of what it cost to buy the very same items back. But he saw little choice until more complex markets appeared on their world. Or any markets for that matter.

And the float stone could solve his problem. Its description said it could float up to a hundred tons, and could be used to create a flying device, if something to propel it was added. And obviously, some kind of platform.

After a moment of deliberation, he added the float stone to his purchase queue and closed the windows.

It wasn’t an easy decision. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have a lot of needs. But those needs were quickly being seen to, and the camp was looking safer and more productive than ever. And so, Julius made his decision. He would focus on the goal of increasing their population as the others worked to secure their borders and defeat the threats nearer to home.

And the only way he could do that without diverting powerful assets was the float stone.

*Joseph Lefiti*

Tenderly, the huge man massaged a healing salve into the wounds that cut across his body. It was a bit of a pain doing so underwater, but salves were a thick substance and clung to his skin when applied.

As his wounds healed, he sighed and leaned back against sharp rock. Life had been beyond difficult ever since he left the trials, but he wasn’t about to give up.

Somehow, he had been cursed to a section of the ocean absolutely teeming with thal’kesh. They were even worse than the beasts around him in most cases and had set up a quickly expanding settlement nearby.

Worst of all, the settlement was ruled by Raksha Tiksus Vakmal, the second-highest ranker in the entire world.

As he waited for his wounds from his last engagement with the thal’kesh to heal, he pulled out a token from his spatial storage and thumbed it eagerly. He had gained it back in the trials, and the dungeon it held the key to would be opening soon, and soon couldn’t come soon enough.

He had killed dozens of thal’kesh since arriving, and two more in their last engagement. But it was clear that his roguish avoidance and preying on their scouts was getting to them, and the hunting parties out searching for him had grown both in size and strength.

The reality was, he couldn’t keep this up forever, not unless something changed. 

Even if he could handle all of the hunting parties searching for him alone, all they needed to do was to keep him busy for long enough that Raksha Tiksus Vakmal could arrive, and then it would likely all be over.

Of course, there was a good chance the dungeon wasn’t going to be a salvation for him. But what alternative did he have? It felt like a noose was being slowly tightened around his neck, and any reprieve would be welcome.

Besides, he was dropping in the rankings as he was unable to hunt and grow stronger. The problem was, he was always on the run, and the thal’kesh he did kill weren’t enough to keep up with the other top rankers.

If things weren’t bad enough as they were, he knew they would get worse if he continued to grow weaker relative to the other powerhouses, particularly Raksha Tiksus Vakmal.

 And that couldn’t be allowed to happen.

“Come on already,” he grunted softly. “Give me something to work with.”

*Erdek Foulbreath*

The goblin hordes under the self-proclaimed queen of the goblins were growing every day, their makeshift tents and crooked timber shanties stretching across the land.

Erdek Foulbreath had gotten extraordinarily lucky when leaving the trials. She and her followers, bound by the Waypointed, had arrived on an incredibly defensible mountain top with views for miles. And she had easily been able to send her goblins out in all directions to search for prey and loot. Not to mention more survivors.

Now, she even had a small force of human slaves doing manual jobs for the settlement, much to the delight of the goblins that worked them.

But despite all of this good fortune, climbing higher in the ranks seemed to constantly elude her, frustrating her beyond belief.

Between her main camp and the outposts around it, she had well over a hundred thousand followers already, and had long since unlocked the territory control map, confirming that she was only outmatched by the necromancer. With the third largest settlement nowhere in sight.

In her mind, it was clear that they were the two front-runners of this world. The two strongest empires that would duke it out for supremacy against one another. And everyone else was a distant third.

But why then was she stuck at fourth place? It was beyond frustrating, and couldn’t be due to a lack of leadership, as she was clearly ahead on that front.

The only thing that made any sense was that her own achievements were lacking, and that was perhaps more infuriating to admit than anything else could be.

Sure, she had seen powerful people in the trials and knew not to take them lightly. In fact, she was surprised that it had taken that human who died all the time so long to reach the top ten. But that wasn’t what frustrated her.

If she were third to him, then maybe she could accept it. He had proven himself, after all. She knew better than anybody that completing three trials was no easy task. But she wasn’t. She wasn’t behind him at all. She was stuck behind people of little significance, in her mind, and that simply wasn’t good enough.

This had led her into an almost manic state of hunting and fighting beasts near constantly. And she was about to leave her camp once more in search of something to kill, but before she did, she walked over to a table within the main room of her sprawling tent.

On that table was a small token, and she reached for it tenderly, stroking it with a greedy affection.

She had been planning on giving the token to one of her elites, thinking that such an event was beneath the soon-to-be queen of this world. But now? Well, she found herself questioning that thought.

After all, she needed that ranking. She demanded it. And maybe, just maybe, this dungeon would provide her with the points needed to grasp those last few ranks and push her up to the second slot.

Because anything else simply wasn’t good enough. And after she took that, her plans for dealing with the necromancer could unfold.

“I suppose I’ve no choice.”

*Ernest Sheridan*

His arm hadn’t quite finished growing back yet, but even with one arm, Ernest was more than enough to take care of anything that got in their way. His advancement to D grade had made most encounters trivial, so despite the harrowing way they had escaped from Darius, they were doing much better than they had been. 

Escaping the undead horde hadn’t been easy, and Ernest worried it would have dire consequences for the world, but if he could go back in time, he would make the same decision all over again, even if it meant losing both arms or even his life.

Near the battlefield where Johan’s and Darius’ forces battled, there had been a slumbering D grade. It was not just a normal D grade, though. It had eaten something incredible, and even though it was still digesting it, it had already reached level 180, making it easily the most powerful being they had encountered in the new world. And to escape Darius, Ernest simply woke it up. 

The beast clashed with the undead horde while Ernest and the others fled. It had bought them plenty of time, but since Darius was still ranked first, Ernest could only assume that in the end, he defeated it. That meant that not only did Darius now have the corpse of a level 180 behemoth, but he also had whatever treasure it had swallowed to grow so powerful. Even before that, he was a dire threat, but with such a powerful undead under his command, and the potential to make more, he was now by far the most dangerous being on the entire planet. And although Ernest and his people had escaped, there were still regular reports from the scouts of undead trackers on their heels.

Fortunately, Ernest had a plan. He wasn’t a leader like Johan, but he knew his way around a bar, and he had learned quite a bit in the Shadow Trials. From the people he shared drinks with, he learned that anyone who passed a Trial in the final two weeks of the Shadow Trials received the same thing: A Dungeon entry token. That meant that all the powerhouses in his world would be in the same Dungeon at the same time very soon. He would be able to meet with them, talk to them, and ideally, form an alliance with them to kill Darius. 

Five more weeks, he thought. We just need to make it five more weeks…

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 40

Days had passed as Aaron lay on a bed, his body and soul aching. But it had gotten better as the days passed. And after a while, he had recovered enough that he felt quite good while he was resting. The problem that remained was everything else.

The moment he tried to get up, he was instantly reminded of how bad his condition was, and the world began to spin, and his body was drained of energy almost immediately.

The reality was, despite growing much stronger, that strength was being used to keep his damaged soul from falling apart on him.

But he wasn’t without help. Healers from the settlement visited regularly, not that they did a whole lot. It wasn’t because of a lack of effort, though. The E grade healers were geared toward healing physical wounds, not wounds made to the soul itself.

Aaron’s condition was simply out of scope, regardless of how hard they tried.

However, there were more ways in which the people could help. And they were desperate to do so, and not just because Aaron was technically their leader. There was a general feeling of debt toward him for everything he had done so far, and most settlers in their little growing camp wanted to make right on that debt.

And so when the healers failed to achieve much, everyone who was strong enough to wander the surroundings did so. They went looking for spiritual items that might help him.

Unfortunately, such things were not particularly easy to find. Certainly not as easy to come by as they were in the trials. And it took quite some time before even meagre results were achieved.

Still, with dozens of roaming groups blanketing the surrounding areas, they managed to find a few weak spiritual herbs, and an alchemist whipped them up into a soul-healing potion.

Though even with the healing potion, it felt as if he were taping up his shattered soul. Aaron was thankful for the potion and all the effort, but his wounds were clearly a step above what these people were used to dealing with. A couple of potions certainly wouldn’t cure him just like that.

But at least he got to the point of sitting up after a few days. Which was nice because he would actually watch as his little camp was developed around him. A decent upgrade from the boring bed.

Still, though, for someone like Aaron, and everything he had been through since the integration, this change of pace seemed incredibly slow.

That said, it was nice to see how things were coming along. His people were hard workers, and the scenery around him was changing every day.

There were some things he would rather not happen. For example, the people of New Haven had insisted on building a statue of him. He had tried to talk them out of it for a while, but eventually gave up when they started calling him the messiah.

Their behavior wasn’t the end of the world as long as he could avoid it for the most part. Which meant letting them build their statues and avoiding conversation.

He just hoped they wouldn’t throw the statues up all around the place, as they had with the bear statues back in New Haven.

As he sat on his newly constructed porch, watching the day go by on a custom-built rocking chair someone had made at his request, he heard a voice.

“Hey there, Mr. Top Ranker.”

Aaron turned his head. Talia was walking toward him, waving, and she looked… different. She was still clearly herself, but it looked like she was halfway to going goth. Despite not having her avatar active, her hair was pitch black, her lips were dark, and her skin was almost as pale as his own.

“Finally decided to visit, huh?” he said. “And what’s with the makeover? Finally letting your inner edgelord take over?”

“Oh, right…” she said, looking mildly embarrassed. “I was out hunting the other day and apparently reached the Racial Evolution threshold, so I did it, and this happened.”

“Oh. Wait, then it is your inner edgelord taking over! ‘Cause it changes your appearance based on your desires!”

“Shut up,” she said, shoving him lightly.

“Anyway, what’s this about top ranker?”

“Seriously? You haven’t checked?” She said, placing her hands on her thighs and tilting her head as she reached him. “What do you think I’m talking about?”

Raising a brow, Aaron realized that he hadn’t checked his rank since evolving to D grade race or forming his core, something that he was positive no other person on their world would have achieved yet. Hell, the only reason he was able to was thanks to a series of fortunate circumstances, circumstances that had allowed him to survive something that almost anybody else would have died doing.

“I ah,” he murmured and opened the ranking list.

Planetary rankings:

1. Darius Nessar

2. Raksha Tiksus Vakmal

3. Ernest Sheridan

4. Erdek Foulbreath

5. Talia Rhineheart

6. Ikran Teshk Ungari

7. Edwan Coser

8. Vikran Takeshi Udon

9. Terry Cadillac 

10. Aaron Dober

11.  Kim Soohyun

“Wait, I’m 10th? When the hell did that happen?” He blurted out as if he didn’t know the answer, though of course he did.

Then, Aaron just sat there, wide-eyed and looking at the list for a while. He knew that what he had achieved would have thrown him up in the rankings, but so far? He had started so very far behind, thanks to missing the Tutorial, and these were the greatest talents of their entire world. And not just the greatest talents of earth. The greatest talents of three entire worlds.

“Err, sorry Soohyun, I guess.”

“I don’t think she’ll be the last,” Talia smiled. “But I’m going to treasure my rank and the fact that it’s higher than yours as long as it lasts. And let me tell you, I’m not just sitting around waiting for you to pass me. I’ve been out hunting, and grinding my Profession every minute you’ve been here slacking off and sleeping. So don’t think I’ll make passing me easy,” she wagged her finger.

“Hey, I’m not slacking off over here! This bloody core of mine damn near killed me.”

“Right…” Talia went suddenly quiet. “I have to say, your aura… It’s incredible. It feels like the densest energy I’ve ever sensed. At least it is besides gods. How did you–”

“You don’t wanna even try. I’m almost certain any normal person would’ve gotten themselves killed doing what I did. Best to wait. If you’re lucky, maybe you can try for it at High D-grade, before hitting C-grade. If you can pull that off, maybe you can snatch up that Title.”

“Yeah, I might just have to try for that. You’ll have to give me pointers later.”

“I can try. But my methods aren’t particularly orthodox.”

“Hah, that’s certainly a way of putting it.”

Aaron smiled. “So, anyway, are the rankings the entire reason you dropped by? Or were you just missing me?”

“Of course I missed you, dumbass. Like I said, I was training. I’m not going to sit around by your bedside every time you get yourself hurt. And no, it’s not the only reason I dropped by. It's the settlement. We decided it's time we set a proper name for it. And since you're lying about like a lazy bastard here, we figured what better time than now to do it. After all, once you’re back to your normal self, you’re no doubt going to be off running around again.”

“Name? So, you’re telling me Aaronland isn’t good enough for you?”

“Ha, right,” Talia narrowed her gaze. “I might just take back leadership if you try to push a name like that on us.”

“Alright, alright, sorry. I can be reasonable. Aarontopia it is.”

Talia rolled her eyes. “The decision is being made in the Bellagio. Are you coming or not?”

Aaron looked down at his body. “I’m kind of… crippled. At least until my soul can heal.”

“Piggyback?”

“Err, seriously?”

“Or do you want to miss out? Who knows? Maybe we’ll go with Talialand.”

“Fine! I suppose that works.”

Aaron laboriously pulled his crippled body up and onto Talia’s back, and her avatar’s wings spread out and sent them soaring into the sky toward the casino.

It was a short trip, and within minutes, they were inside the presidential suite, sitting across from Julius. Ryan and a couple of his other senior people were also present, some poring over notes and pads.

“Good to see you're healthy enough to join us, Aaron,” Julius said, rising and shaking Aaron’s weak hand with a double clasp of his own.

“Yeah, it takes a little more than just killing me to stop me, mate.”

“I saw you took an interesting ride in here,” Ryan said.

“My legs and well, pretty much all of me isn’t working quite as well right now,” Aaron grimaced. “I’ll be back soon enough, though.”

“Right,” Julius winced at the comment. Aaron’s sickly pallor and his evident weakness were impossible to ignore. And it was a little disconcerting to see a man who could literally pull himself together after death looking in such a way.

“Well, I am, I’m glad you joined us anyway. Now, let’s get comfortable and go over the names. We’ve got a list of possible options that have been compiled by suggestions we have collected from around camp. The names are as follows: We have Salvation, Oasis, Hope, Elysium, New Vegas, The Strip, Bogtown…” Julius trailed off. “Yeah, some of these names aren’t as good as others.”

“I’ll say,” Talia quipped.

“You know what? I kinda like Bogtown,” Aaron said. “We are surrounded by peat bogs, after all.”

“We are not calling the capital of our faction, or whatever we are, Bogtown,” Talia said.

“City of Bogs?” Ryan offered and caught glares from several in the room. “What? It’s not terrible, is it?”

“Ahem,” Julius cleared his throat. “Anyway. Personally, even though we’re set up here in the Bellagio, I would like to remove any references to Vegas on this list. We’re not building a casino here, and I’d rather not lean into that.”

“Yeah, suppose that makes sense,” Aaron agreed. “We don’t want people to think we’re sleazy gamblers.”

“And the flowery optimistic ones are cringe as fuck,” Talia added, drawing surprised gazes from around. “What? I know you’re all thinking it. Who actually wants to live in a city called Hope?” she crossed her arms defiantly.

Damn, her inner edgelord is really taking over, thought Aaron.

“Okay, so nothing overly flowery ones?” Julius said. “And nothing Vegas related, and nothing with bog in the name. That leaves us with… it leaves us with nothing,” he slumped into his chair.

“Oh, come on. Coming up with a name can’t be that hard. What about Swampsville, Marsh City, Fertile Plains–”

“Nothing swamp-related!” Talia interjected.

“Fertile Plains isn’t swamp-related?” 

“And somehow it is even worse,” Talia said. “Fertile? It gives me the ick.”

“Okay, so what? You got something better?”

“Better? I can think of a few,” she said. “What about Onyx Tower, or Night City. Maybe Tears of the Abyss–”

“Okay, Talia isn’t picking. I’m not sure exactly what happened to her, but she’s apparently going through a goth phase.”

“Right,” Julius nodded.

Talia looked like she wanted to protest until she saw the others nodding all around. Then, she seemed to be hit by a sudden wave of embarrassment and shrank back for a second.

“It’s just a name,” Ryan said, leaning back in his chair. “Let’s keep it simple. No need to go overthinking things. Names are weird like that, right? They kinda just grow on you, even the bad ones.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s just call it Bogeden or something,” Aaron threw up his hands.

“We’re not using Bog–” Talia cut herself off, as if the word tasted strange in her mouth. “Bogeden? Wait, no. I stick with my initial thoughts. That’s terrible.”

“You’re still overthinking things. What about we just use our great leader’s name? Dober. There’s a city on earth called that, isn’t there? Or at least there was. It doesn’t matter. Even if there wasn’t, it sounds like a city, right? Dober,” Ryan repeated.

Eyes glanced around the room every which way, looking for confirmation.

“Hmm, he’s got a point. Dober. It’s a perfectly fine city name,” Julius said. “Still, we can’t go calling our faction Dober. As much as it sounds like a city, it does not sound like a faction.”

“Our faction should probably reflect who is in it, shouldn’t it? We have goblins and humans. And a weird mix at that,” said one of the others. “We don’t want anybody to feel left out, do we? And people are evolving in strange ways all the time,” their eyes glanced across at Aaron.

“What about the United Front?” Another said.

“Sounds very formal, and controlling…” Talia said. “Can’t it be a little more rebellious-sounding? Sounds like the evil empire from a sci-fi flick, or something."

“You’re not entirely wrong,” Ryan said. “But I like it. I think it perfectly captures what we are. And we want to come across strong, don’t we?”

“We don’t want to come across authoritarian, do we?”

“Maybe we do?” Aaron shrugged. “At least until we get things sorted. We live in a dangerous world, after all. I bet there are a lot of people out there begging for authority. Better than being eaten by a monster.”

“It does sound strong. I agree, I think United Front is great,” Julius strummed his fingers, thinking deeply about the name.

Meanwhile…

Scattered along the edges of the jungle before the mighty plains, several ants began to sniff about, their antennae twitching with every movement.

Cautiously, one ant reached out with a leg, stepping out from the jungle, and then another. Before long, the ant had completely crossed into the plains, and barely a second later, an empowered arrow blasted straight into it from somewhere out of sight.

The ant collapsed dead, but with its death, the ants scuttling about near the edge of the jungle grew larger in number. They seemed apprehensive to cross into the plains, but that was slipping.

“They’re getting more adventurous,” a scout said to their partner several kilometers away. “That’s the fifth one today. Up from two yesterday.”

“Yeah,” the other man nodded. “We'd better tell someone about this.”

*Yendal*

Yendal sighed in exasperation as she watched her Chosen joke around like nothing had happened when he had nearly just died. A death from having his soul torn apart, no less. He seemed to think that since he had survived and was recovering, that everything was fine. Everything was most definitely not fine.

Aaron Dober had an unusually resilient soul. Most couldn’t survive more than a couple of dozen deaths in the Shadow Trials, but he had gone through literal thousands without issue. He had died so many times that he incorporated it into his abilities, literally willing himself back to life using his soul. And now, he had brought that very same soul to the verge of complete destruction, and somehow didn’t understand the magnitude of what he had done. 

Anyone with half a brain would have known they shouldn’t put divine energy directly into their soul at E grade. Yet Aaron had gone a step further and shoved it into his core. If it went wrong, in the absolute best-case scenario, he would have been crippled for life, unable to form a core. At D grade, it wouldn’t have been an issue, and he would even have been able to get by at C grade, but for B grade and beyond, forming a core was a necessity. He would have been hard-capped. In the worst case, his soul would have been so thoroughly shattered that even the System wouldn’t have known what to do with it.

Yet he had somehow succeeded, and she had no doubt that in his ignorance, he would try something similar eventually. He still had the divine shard, after all.

Sounds like he needs another lesson, she thought. And maybe a little discipline. A few deaths should drive the point home…

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 39

What he was attempting was somehow different from what he had done in the past. Even though he was not yet sure why. And to make matters worse, it was no easy task channeling energy through his core, as it had once been. It wasn’t just cycling energy anymore, but he had to try to settle the vibrations and distortion that was going haywire whenever his energy passed through it.

And as he continued, his brow bent atop his fully white eyes. It was because of what he had come for. He felt something. Just beneath the surface of his core. It was… dormant. It was cold, hard, and unresponsive. But his instincts told him it was exactly what he’d come looking for.

Whatever it was, its positioning was too perfect. Despite only being maybe a tenth of the size of his core, it felt so much bigger. Like the very concept of it was otherworldly. Something beyond what he was capable of understanding.

With the unknown object at the center of his focus, he began cycling his energy harder than ever before. But this time, instead of using his core as his focal point, he used this dormant object as his focal point, pushing all of his energy toward it, and trying to cycle through it. And as he did, he drained every ounce of his being.

And he quickly realized that what he had discovered was truly magnificent. Even if his technique was inefficient, hampered by the imbalance between his faux core and his D-grade race, he was still pouring incredible amounts of energy into it. Especially for someone at his level. After all, he had many ways of recovering and cycling new energy, far beyond the average. 

Still, despite this, it didn’t seem enough. Without breaking his meditative stance, he started to consume, eating food from his scabbard and kitchen while his eyes remained shut, and his inner eye remained focused.

It was through this trinity of energy that he hoped to break the boundaries of what was possible. Calling on his core, his consumption was supported by his adipose reserves and the well-trained energy organs that allowed him to summon up terrific amounts of energy.

But it all seemed so insignificant. No matter how much energy he called up, it paled in comparison to whatever this was. It was as if all of his abundant energy was just disappearing into a void, a void that was endlessly hungry.

Doubt crept into his mind for a moment. It was just so intensely dense, and everything he did seemed so far and tiny in comparison. But shook that doubt away, and continued defiantly.

He knew he was close to something. Something powerful, and as such, he wouldn’t give up so easily. Instead, he grew more determined and stubborn than ever before, pulling energy from wherever he could as he attempted to feed the endlessly hungry void within him.

And it was not long before he was running out of spare ingredients and food. He had left his best ingredients aside for cooking, and as important as this was, he wanted to spare them.

But he could not stop, either. To do so would be to lose his progress, he knew. No matter what, he needed to maintain this ridiculous energy output. But to do so, he needed to continue feeding it energy, and thus, he needed to continue feeding himself.

Without breaking his trance, he ordered Sooty to have the goblins prepare whatever they could, and soon there was a train of little goblins passing in and out of his kitchen with prepared meals.

Luckily, Aaron’s palate was not easily offended, as the meals the goblins carried to him were often items humans might find disturbing. Rats, worms, and other nasty little things were plated up and served, but never did Aaron break his trance as he inhaled the endless line of dishes being served to him.

It was an industrial effort. His entire camp had come alive, and every goblin was working overtime to ensure that the train of food never halted for even a moment.

But despite this absurd consumption, Aaron was actually growing thinner, a testament to just how ridiculous the energy needs of the thing within him were. 

And soon, he realized that even this wasn’t enough. If he were to continue down this path, eventually, he would grind himself down to bone and then death.

 He called on aether, trying to pull as much of it from the surrounding atmosphere as he possibly could, and while this was far easier than it had ever been before, it wasn’t enough.

He was certain that his race evolution into the first step toward becoming a shinigami had helped him in this regard, but even still, it simply wasn’t enough to overcome the hungry void within him.

His veins popped as his skin tightened like leather around them, his muscles ripped and pressed against an ever-tighter skin shell. His face hollowed out and started to look sickly, and yet, he continued.

The trance had taken him entirely, and even the threat of death barely registered as he soldiered on toward his goal. But not everyone was so calm. Panic was clear as day, cast all over the expressions of his goblin followers.

They simply couldn’t hope to understand how someone could be drained so thoroughly, even as they ate in such epic proportions, but that was only because they did not know Aaron well enough yet.

Luckily, Sooty was around, and he snapped them into order whenever they started to grow too panicked at the disconcerting sight before them.

But as Aaron neared death, he had an epiphany.

It was an insane idea, and he knew that it wasn’t meant for this. But he had to try, didn’t he? After all, invention is the mother of necessity. And he needed this.

His hand disappeared into his scabbard, and he withdrew the shard of divinity, and he held it in his hand.

He could not use the extraordinary energy crackling around the magnificent item directly. But perhaps he could channel it into the void within him?

He split his focus in a moment of desperation, knowing that his attempt to tame this thing was about to fail.

But he couldn’t just reach out and pull the divine energy from the shard. However, he had another idea. Using spectral hands and filling his spectral form with whatever aether he could spare, he attempted to drag the energy out of the shard.

His ghostly hands slipped straight through the surface of the shard, and it burned, so very painfully.

Even a spirit wasn’t meant to mess with the divine, and it was making him suffer for the attempt, and Aaron’s entire self, both his body and his very soul, screamed out in agony as he attempted to go against the natural order of things.

He could feel his very spirit cracking as the pressure bore down upon it, and within seconds, it was posing a very real threat to his life. At that moment, he considered abandoning his attempt, but then he felt it. His ghostly fingers had grabbed hold of something, and despite the burning that travelled down and deep into the depths of his soul, he could wrap his fingers around it and pull.

First, it came as a thread. Blinding golden light dragged from the shard, and the goblins scattered in fear of the tiny fraction of divine presence.

The energy was flowing freely now, no longer completely contained by the shard, and surrounding plants that were touched by the energy suddenly experienced growth spurts before wilting and dying, all within seconds.

But the madman who was Aaron Dober was determined, despite feeling like his soul was about to shatter into a million pieces.

And he took that thread of divine energy, and he parsed it into his very own chest.

The feeling of it was immense, and Aaron knew then and there that if he tried to use this energy directly, he would die within seconds, and his soul would likely be destroyed.

But he wasn’t trying to use it directly. Such an attempt would be beyond foolish.

Instead, he tried to pour the incredibly dense divine energy into the void. And the outcome was entirely different from what he had witnessed earlier.

Within seconds, the divine energy had filled what had felt like an endless well, ready to suck up all the energy in the multiverse. He could feel it. Just like that, its hunger had been satiated.

He could feel something else too, though, and he quickly pulled away from it, severing the connection but a fraction of a second before the void was completely full.

And by doing so, he knew that he had just saved his life. If he had let it completely fill the void, it would have exploded in a magnificent display of power, killing him and destroying his soul.

Beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he realized just how close he had come to death. 

With the thread of divine energy severed, the shard of divinity went back to normal within seconds, and the goblins calmed as they saw the energy retreat back into it.

Aaron’s mind was elsewhere, though. He could feel this thing, the focus of his attention pulsing with energy within him, and he knew what needed to be done.

It just needed the final top-up of energy to push it over the edge, and he snapped his fingers at the goblins.

“Food, now!”

Blank, confused expressions quickly faded, and the train resumed, and within seconds, he was consumed once more.

Every bit of energy flowed into the crackling void that pulsed with power. But he had been drained so badly by it all. His soul felt like it was fraying at its corners, and he had to refrain from using aether as he feared that his soul might just shatter.

Nonetheless, he was getting so close to his goal. Unlike before, the weakening stream of energy wouldn’t send this strange void back into dormancy. The divine energy had well and truly awoken it, and he just had to keep feeding it until it was ready.

He looked like a cripple, lying there near death as the goblins fed him. And yet, a toothy grin bent his face between greedy mouthfuls, and he could feel himself getting ever closer.

And eventually, it happened. An explosive rush of power filled him from within, and he felt his veins come alive as the energy flooded out and through him.

He was still terribly wounded, and his soul badly damaged, but he felt some strength return at that moment, so incredible was the achievement he had made.

Skill Discarded: [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ]

Trait Awoken: Reverse Cycle True Core

At the heart of every great creature throughout the multiverse is a core. Cores allow for greater levels of energy production and output, and are often seen as gatekeepers to higher grades, as they are impossible to achieve without first awakening one’s core.

Provides tremendous amounts of energy to the user. 

Title acquired: Core Prodigy

It requires a great master to form a core, and an incredible one to do it before the grades that are expected for this monumental task to be achieved within.

Rewarded for successfully forming your core prior to reaching C grade.

Reward: +25% Fortitude, 25% Vitality, and 25% Willpower

Aaron shot up and gasped as the titles rolled by his eyes, and then he fell backward. The gains were incredible, but he had pushed his soul to the absolute breaking point, and it wouldn’t recover so quickly.

Sooty, realizing his condition, rushed to his side.

“Are ya okay, bossman? Speak to old Sooty! Tell me ya gonna live, dammit!”

“Yeah, I’m not dead,” Aaron groaned. “But I’m going to need a moment.”

“Gotcha. Oi, scumbags!” Sooty shouted out to the goblins, who went stiff and silent at his command. “Healers, get ‘em. And anything soul-related! Go, now! Bring it all here!”

The goblins didn’t need to be told twice, and in an instant, they were running off in all directions.

Aaron gripped his chest. The power was incredible, and while he might have pushed himself a little too hard, he had a feeling that this power was going to be needed.

It’s not so bad… A crushing pain flooded through him with that thought, as if punishing him for thinking it.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 38

“It's probably yer energy, bossman,” Sooty said with a shrug, standing opposite him in his portable kitchen.

“I’m gonna need more than that, Sooty. Why do I feel so weird after my racial evolution?" Aaron inched forward, desperate for an answer.

“Ye don’t get it, do ye? Yer race is D-grade now. Ye’ve got a D grade body, but yer still usin’ E grade energy. Yer Class and Profession provide the energy, but yer body actually uses it. Yer putin’ E grade energy in a D grade body, and yer body doesn’t like it. Most people are smarter and wait until their Class or Profession hits D grade before upgrading their Race, but ye went an’ did the opposite.” 

“I see. You could have told me that earlier.”

“To be fair, ye haven’t really included me much lately, bossman. Not my fault, I figured ye had it sorted.”

Aaron groaned. Sooty wasn’t entirely wrong about that.

“I didn’t want to distract you from your games,” Aaron said pointedly.

“Oh, that?” Sooty reddened. “Ye know those goblin girls can always wait for ye, bossman. Yer me number one priority!”

“Yeah, right,” Aaron rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you mind fetching me a mirror? I need to check this out.”

Aaron had felt his face, and he didn’t notice anything different. But he certainly wanted to take a look for himself, after hitting a racial evolution.

“What am I, ye slave now?”

“You were just complaining that I wasn’t asking you for help anymore, weren’t you?”

“Oh, fine,” Sooty grumbled and left.

But as Sooty left, his thoughts circled back to the strange sensation of energy flowing through him.

It was, as Sooty said, it felt like the energy flowing through his body wasn’t made for it, or at least it wasn’t compared to how it had felt. But there was more to it than that. What really made it stand out was how it cycled through his core. Without that, he might not have noticed it, or at least, he might not have noticed it so quickly.

Wanting answers, he closed his eyes and delved into the strange energy he felt flowing through him. There was more to it than just a mismatch between his energy and his now D-grade body, though. He himself felt stronger, but the energy felt like it was struggling to properly run things. Like it was designed for a smaller and weaker engine. It wasn’t as efficient as it had been, and it felt like it took more just to keep himself standing than it had before.

This was not good. Even if he were stronger overall, he might be weaker now if he drained his energy just to complete simple tasks.

But what he kept coming back to was his core. It couldn’t keep up and felt like it was on overdrive just to maintain normal functionality.

Sighing, he opened his eyes. He couldn’t deny it; he was worried that he had made a very big mistake, and with the looming threat of the ants, that just wasn’t something he could afford to do.

But he had to remain calm. Panicking and getting worried wouldn’t get him anywhere. If he was going to overcome this problem, he was going to do it with a clear mind.

With that thought, he opened up his status page. Perhaps it would inspire him.

[ Name: Aaron Dober ]

[ Age: 23 ]

[ Race: Human [ Awoken ]  ]

[ Grade: D ]

[ HP: 126400 ]

[ MP: 72500 ]

[ SP: 164200 ]

[ AP: 13684 ]

[ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 84 ]

[ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 68 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 1290 (+735) ]

[ Vitality: 1264 (+737) ]

[ Fortitude: 1642 (+943) ]

[ Dexterity: 1006 (+563) ]

[ Agility: 1344 (+742) ]

[ Intelligence: 959 (+532) ]

[ Willpower: 725 (+443) ]

[ Charisma: 675 (+432) ]

[ Perception: 1102 (+603) ]

[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy,  Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger, Shadow Trials Hall of Famer, Behemoth Slayer, Pack Leader ]

[ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat, Pack Alpha ]

[ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa, World Map. Reap ]

[ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

[ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands  ]

[ Class Passive Skills (3/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite, Girth by Length, Power by Volume ]

[ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Spectral Projection, Gorgon’s Soul Vortex, Turbocharged Haymaker,  Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ] 

There it was, D-grade in all its glory. Seeing his grade set as D almost made up for the troubling thoughts running through his head.

He knew Talia had yet to reach her D-grade racial evolution, and he wondered if perhaps he was the first on his world to do it. After all, even those at much higher levels didn’t necessarily have access to soul-strengthening foods that he did.

But it was far more than just his grade increase that caught his eye. Perhaps most importantly, it was his aether. It had gone through the absolute roof, and his other energy values seemed the same.

He wasn’t entirely sure how that was supposed to work. After all, it had been mentioned that a shinigami had lower energy levels for their other energy types, but perhaps that was something he would notice as he continued to level.

He continued going down the list of his status page until his eyes lit up at an unexpected sight. He had a new racial Skill. The System hadn’t mentioned that when evolving, and it was the kind of surprise he had hoped would inspire him.

Reap [ Racial ] Guiding the souls of the fallen, shinigami use their powers to feed on the dead. Recover a portion of aether relative to the fallen’s previous power when slaying enemies.

“Okay, now that sounds helpful.”

Gaining energy when slaying an enemy was no minor Skill. Especially when he was planning on going up against an army of ants. With something like this up his sleeve, the prospect of being greatly outnumbered started to look a whole lot more favorable to him.

Okay, keep getting nice surprises like this, and maybe this evolution wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Here you go, bossman,” Sooty said, interrupting his thoughts as he barged back into the kitchen with a handheld mirror.

“Thanks,” Aaron said, looking up. “By the way, have my stats increased? I didn’t write anything down, but I’m pretty sure they’re higher than they were.”

“Yeah, bossman. Of course they have. Don’t ya remember your last racial evolution?”

“Er, I remember feeling stronger. But I don’t remember if my Stats increased.”

“Hah,” Sooty shook his head. “It was only a small increase. 25 points. Ye increased by a full 100 this time. A little harder to miss.”

“I see. Thanks again, Sooty.”

"Don't mention it, bossman. I’m here to serve, right?”

100 additional points in all Stats was no minor boon, at least it wouldn’t be assuming he hadn’t actually crippled himself evolving to D-grade too soon.

He tried to distract himself from the worrying thought as he looked into the mirror, turning his head from side to side. Just as with his previous racial Evolution, he had changed a little. It seemed that he was moving closer toward his idea of perfection, or at least what the System interpreted as his idea of perfection. 

He had slightly sharper features, and the color of his eyes appeared brighter and more captivating. His hair was thicker, and his muscles looked more defined. But his skin? Well, it had paled.

Race obviously affected appearance. The System might have guided one’s appearance as they evolved, but there was only so much it could do. An ogre was always going to look somewhat like an ogre, for example. And it made him wonder how much his new racial mutation would affect him, or had already.

There was no conversation between him and the System, and he wasn’t even sure what his actual idea of ideal beauty was. The way the System worked was vaguer than that. As if it were pulling information from his subconscious.

But he was fairly certain he didn’t want pale skin. That had to be the work of his shinigami race. The thing was, he wasn’t quite a shinigami yet. He was simply on a mutation path toward it, unless he decided to diverge and head in a different direction.

Was pale skin so bad? No, Aaron was nowhere near that superficial. Maybe he’d prefer a nice tan, but not more than a massive buff to his aether reserves.

That said, he really hoped that he would get a quest or be provided with some other means of finding these rumored shinigami hideouts. If for no other reason than to see what a full-blooded shinigami looked like.

But there were far more pressing matters to worry about than his appearance. And at least he wasn’t mutating into an ogre.

His thoughts returned to the strange energy as it passed through his core. He needed an answer, and he had just the idea to get himself started.

“Where are ya going? I thought ye plan was to cook everything up?” Sooty said, gesturing to the remaining ingredients.

“I am. But first, I want to test something. I’ll be back.”

“Going again already?”

Aaron didn’t reply, his thoughts racing. Instead, he stepped outside and activated [ Spectral Rush ], and in an instant, he was shooting out of camp and sailing through the sky.

Bouncing across the horizon with his Skill, he headed toward the forest. He wasn’t looking for any particularly special kind of prey, just something to kill. Something that would provide him with energy.

And it wasn’t long before he came across a few weak beasts wandering in the forest.

There were a couple of boars, and they didn’t even see him coming before he flew into a quick flurry of attacks.

The battle itself wasn’t important, but feeling the strain of his core was. If he didn’t do something about his predicament, it was going to be a problem. He could tell then and there that the strain would be a serious issue if thrown into a more difficult fight.

Nonetheless, the weaker beasts were dead within seconds, and he activated his new racial Skill, using [ Reap ] and draining them of their aether. But it wasn’t just aether he was pulling on, but both the energy that flooded into him via experience, and a small amount of energy drain his gauntlets provided.

And as the energies flowed into him, he cycled them through his core. Feeling the different energy types trying to pass through it, and leaking out in the process.

His initial thought was that this was really bad. But gradually, as he continued to pass energy through his core, his brows perked. He felt something.

Suddenly, he dipped into his scabbard and started to grab some food, eating it down and pulling on his newly formed adipose reserves, and draining them through his core.

It fluctuated, and he felt errant energy flooding outward, but he persisted, pushing more and more of the stuff into it, and attempting to use his mind’s eye to catch the lost energy and redirect it back into his core.

At first, it felt hopeless. No matter how hard he tried, he was simply losing too much of it. And it was making his body feel weak.

But Aaron’s stubbornness persisted, and his eyes went white. He was more than just a man these days, and he pulled on the strengths of his spirit, guided by his shinigami side, as infantile as it was, to push harder.

Crackling energy started to reverberate around him, and he could sense himself getting closer to something. Like a truth that was just out of reach, waiting for him to seize it.

The additional energy had helped, but now was a time for meditation, he realized.

Jumping back into the sky, he raced back to camp and charged straight back into his kitchen.

He wished his temple were already finished. It would be the perfect place for moments like this, but for now, the quiet of his kitchen would have to do.

“Nobody enters,” he commanded Sooty, his eyes still filled with white as he barred himself into his kitchen.

Madness would take over, now. But it wasn’t madness without direction. He could feel it. With the promise of power at his fingertips, he just had to push a little harder.

Lowering himself into a meditative pose, he began to cycle energy.

This was important. Failure here could leave him crippled before a powerful enemy like the ever-expanding horde of ants, and no one else possessed the strength to take up the mantle.

Aaron’s focus reached a tipping point, passing through into something more intense than he had ever felt before. This wasn’t just a trial; this was a matter of life and death, and he needed to find the answer.

His teeth gritted, and despite the pressure of it all, a smile formed. 

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 37

Incoming Message!

!System Informational! 

As you move into your D-grade racial evolution, the nature of racial evolution changes, and thus the naming convention changes to Evolutionary Mutation to better describe the process. Your body is no longer so weak and malleable that it can be overhauled with a single evolution. And thus, you can not change who you are with a single decision, but rather, redirect yourself toward a new path, with each step along that path coming with more subtle changes. Keep in mind that the path you select here will not completely change who you are, but alter how you move forward, and what options will be available to you if you reach C-grade and beyond.

But do not worry! Selecting a path will not lock you permanently into the selected path, unlike the E-grade stage, which changes you at a fundamental level. You may still alter your path as you continue down it, but be cautious; the further you travel down a selected path, the harder it will be to rewrite the decisions you make.

Progress toward a new path — Specter Evolutionary Mutation!

These deathly beings of ghostly energy exist between the realities of the living and the dead, feeding on fear. Their appearance is that of a ghost, often transparent and shadow-like. Abundant with aether, they are far more vulnerable to direct attacks as their HP and other tangible defenses are low. But they make up for it by being extraordinarily difficult to hurt, and gaining the Racial Skill [ Phase ].

Specters favor cunning and deception, and make for powerful mind-corrupting casters. But rarely excel in the martial realms.

Warning: Becoming a specter may change your view on the world, and your relations with the living!

Progress toward a new path — Shinigami Evolutionary Mutation!

The shinigami is neither dead nor quite alive. They are the helpers of the dead, ferrymen, those destined to lead the dead on their journey to what lies beyond. But shinigami are a unique species. Unlike many who deal in death, the shinigami maintains its living features and is not truly dead itself. As a guide for the dead, shinigami can channel and grow aether naturally while maintaining their physical attributes. This natural ability toward aether usually results in lower levels for other energy sources. However, beware that deferring from one’s main racial evolutionary path into that of the shinigami may deprive the user of advanced tempered aspects that come with their usual racial evolutions.

Shinigami specialize in combat that attacks both the physical and spiritual, and can make decent casters as well as melee combatants.

Warning: Shinigami may receive quests and other links to the spirit realms hidden from others.

Progress toward a new path — Thickhide Ogre Evolutionary Mutation!

The thickhides are no ordinary ogres. Sturdier than most, taking down a thickhide is no easy task. These ogres are exceptionally tough and bigger than most, taking particular pride in their bellies, or rather, the size of their bellies. The Thickhide Ogre Evolution provides a significant bonus to the user's durability against most damage types, but their hunger massively increases in return. A thickhide is almost always hungry.

Thickhide ogres favor melee Classes, and make for great tanking warriors who are more than happy to eat an enemy blow to enable them to return with one of their own.

Warning: Becoming an ogre will distort your perception towards ogres, including physical attraction. 

Continue evolutionary path — Advanced Human Evolutionary Mutation!

Remain human, but have your life and energy expanded to match that of a D-grade species, including special tempering for advanced human species, which further strengthens their natural abilities. 

Aaron’s brow furrowed as he read through everything. It was a lot to take in. Three new races to pick from, and while they were only mutations, it still seemed like an overwhelming decision to process.

Luckily, it seemed that the decision he made now was not as much of a big deal as his previous one at E-grade. Still, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to need to take this seriously.

Besides, even if the mutation didn’t alter him that much, C-grade was a long way away, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t be tasting it anytime soon. After all, part of what made leveling as quick as it had been was that the world around him had outleveled him so much. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be so fast, nor would he have the same access to high-level ingredients, like what he took from the bear.

In all likelihood, once he caught up with the rest of his new world, things would start to slow. Unless he was able to venture out and find tougher prey elsewhere, but he wasn’t currently sure if that was even possible with the barriers in place.

Okay, think, dammit. This is important. Do I just continue doing what I’m doing, or do I mix things up? I know I don't want to be a specter, at least.

Even if he only mutated slightly toward the specter race, it didn’t sound like something he wanted to do. For starters, he didn’t want to be a ghost, and the fact that they made poor melee combatants cemented his decision. The race simply didn’t suit him in the least.

Shinigami, on the other hand, sounded far more interesting. It sounded close enough to human that he was tempted by it, and the mention of naturally cycling aether sounded like a massive boon to him. Although it sounded like his other energy sources would be weaker for it, did that really matter if he could convert aether?

He would miss out on whatever tempered humans were, but was that a bad thing? Was it comparable to missing out on more control over his aether? After all, so much of his skillset now depended upon his aether.

However, he did pause on the thought. While the racial description didn’t say that they were bad melee combatants, the fact that they also made good casters had him thinking.

He was the furthest thing from a caster. A pure melee combatant, and if he was trying to maximize his effectiveness in the multiverse, shouldn’t he follow a path that was more closely designed for what he was?

Then again, Yendal appeared human. Maybe she wasn’t just human, but as far as he could tell, if she had veered from the path of a pure human, she hadn’t veered far.

He continued down the list, but ogre wasn’t something he took too seriously. He was already too much of an ogre for his own liking, and while he enjoyed the combat benefits, it wasn’t a path he wanted to remain on forever. When possible, he had every intention of trying to move away from ogre stuff.

It was a little contradictory to his previous thoughts. It was clearly the option best suited for someone who intended to focus on melee combat. But what could he say? He just didn’t want to be an ogre.

What he really wanted was to figure out how to leave his ogre roots behind without losing the benefits he had gained by following in Oozagh’s path. Which made taking an ogre race, even if it was only a minor change to his racial mutation, one step too far, especially when he feared at times that he might have already gone too far.

Of course, remaining human was always an option, and not a bad one. But what made humans special? Well, a lot of things, really. But were they specialists? Did the fact that shinigami could excel as casters really mean anything negative when compared to humans? What couldn’t a human do?

He was a little annoyed that the System didn’t give him a breakdown of the human race. Perhaps it figured that he should already know enough about them, being a human and all. But maybe humans were bad casters and great fighters in the eyes of the System. He really had no way of knowing for sure.

But his instincts told him they weren’t. He had seen nothing to suggest humans made better fighters than casters, and it made all the sense in the world to assume that shinigami were no different in this respect.

Not only that, but perhaps this shinigami path could help him resist the ogre path that had been pushed upon him, thanks to Oozagh.

Or was this line of thinking greedy? Could he get away with taking the best of everything while trying to hang onto his humanity?

Aaron shook his head. He didn’t want to lose anything, but he would if the only alternative was looking like Oozagh.

Yeah, that’s not happening!

But that begged the question, were shinigami less likely to be ogres than humans? But for whatever reason, he doubted ogres were more likely to become shinigami. 

I suppose if I feel myself becoming too non-human, I can always return to my path. A single step in the wrong direction shouldn’t be too damaging in the long term, should it?

He had great threats looming over him, and the reality was, more power was deviously tempting. What if more aether meant the difference between living and dying against the ants?

But that wasn’t all. There was also the part about shinigami quests that intrigued him. Was that related to guiding the dead? He wondered exactly what it meant. Why was it a warning? Would the quests get in his way? Or perhaps there was a shadowy underworld of the living dead that would punish him if he refused to carry out his ferryman duties?

Aaron had no way of knowing, but he did have a little soot goblin that was surprisingly knowledgeable, considering its devious proclivities. He called out for his assistant, who had been in the middle of chasing a few goblin girls around the farmlands with a feathered stick and a creepy grin.

“Shinigami? Bossman, sorry to tell ya, but I don’t know much about them. What I can tell ya is they’re very secretive. They generally stay away from the main politics and wars of the multiverse and are said to have a hidden fortress somewhere deep in the ancient corners of the multiverse. But who knows, I’ve never met anybody who's been there, and some say it's just a legend. Others don’t even believe shinigami actually exist. But I suppose ye racial evolution option proves those people wrong.”

“Great,” Aaron groaned. “So there’s no way of learning more about these mysterious shinigami?”

“Besides selecting the evolutionary option? No. Not in a newly integrated world, at least. I’m sure ye could buy information on an old world easily enough, if you had access to one. Even then, it would cost a fortune in system credits. I mean, if old Sooty doesn’t know anything, it ain't gonna be cheap.”

“Old Sooty?” Aaron raised a brow.

“Yes, Old Sooty. I’ve been around a while. Ye weren’t my first master, ya know? There was a long history of Sooty before my ten thousand years in the void. Maybe I’ll tell ya one day. Suffice to say it, ye ain’t getting information about shinigami easily. Leave it at that.”

Aaron frowned. That wasn’t good news at all. 

“One more thing, Sooty.”

“Huh? What is it, bossman?”

“The dead, or undead, or whatever."

“Yes?”

“How do they exist in the multiverse?”

“What do ye mean?”

“Like a faction or something? Or are they gods? Or just mindless creatures roaming about?”

“Oh, I gotcha! Yeah, no single faction. There’s a death god, though.”

“Yeah! Yendal mentioned as much!”

“Scary fellow. Best steer far from that guy. Treats the undead like his personal slaves. And for that reason, anyone who has the power to resist him usually tries to avoid him as best they can. And because of that, undead factions tend to be quite weak. They either hide in the shadows to avoid coming under the purview of the Death God, or they are too weak for him to care about. Low-level squatters on weak worlds. It’s not just the undead; there are countless examples throughout the multiverse. Most true powerhouses care little about weak beta worlds that are starved of energy. That includes the weaklings that live on them. Although compared to you, they’re not that weak. But they have no real potential. Maybe the odd low-level C-grade, but certainly nothing beyond on those desolate worlds.”

“I see. Interesting. So would that be why the shinigami are hiding? They want to avoid the Death God?”

“Maybe,” Sooty shrugged. “But again, I dunno. The rumors are that shinigami are not actually undead, and so I’m not sure whether or not the Death God actively tries to subjugate them. Maybe they just like the anonymity of no one knowing where they are.”

Sooty’s words gave Aaron another problem to worry about. What if becoming a shinigami put him in the crosshairs of the Death God?

Then again, it seemed like their world was already entangled in a drama bigger than he could understand, and the Death God was part of it. And so he wondered if it made any sense to let that deity, or his fear of it, dictate his decisions.

After all, he needed to gain power. That was the only true means of protecting those around him and himself. If he believed redirecting himself down the path of the shinigami was likely to make him stronger, then he ought to just do it and have the courage to face whatever consequences came with it. Ultimately, those who rose to the peaks weren’t the ones who cowered in fear of potential threats.

“One thing, though,” Sooty raised a pointed finger. “Many advanced race options do not come with native tempering. This becomes massively important at higher grades, and can lead to bottlenecks, as ye’ll be forced into tempering yeself.”

That perked Aaron’s attention. What if his progression was blocked because he couldn’t figure out how to temper himself? All of a sudden, he understood why it might be best that he just remained a human.

Then again, who was he if not someone who stubbornly defied logic and pushed on, defeating challenges he had no right defeating. In a way, being deterred from his chosen path because one sounded easier was an aberration to who he was, and who he was was as fundamental to his path as anything else.

If he were to follow his natural path, that would likely come with its own consequences, ones that were not currently clear. 

Bloody fucking hell! Hopefully, I don’t regret this.

And with that thought, he accepted the prompt and pushed his racial path toward that of the shinigami.

He didn’t feel any physical changes as the power flooded through him, but he instantly felt his connection to the aether and the spirit plane grow stronger and more intimate.

If he had felt like he understood spirits before, he now began to feel like he was at one with them. Like the spirit plane was as much his natural environment as the mortal plane was.

But then he felt something else. A trembling ripple of energy rushed into him, and his brow crinkled with concern.

“What is that? Wait… Something is wrong!”

“Huh?” Sooty said, turning back to Aaron’s worried face as he was about to leave the kitchen. “What did you do, bossman? You didn't, did you? You went and followed through with your racial evolution already?”

“What do you mean, already?! Why do you think I was asking all those damn questions!”

“Ahh, humans. Always impatient. Or should I say, shinigami.”

“What just happened, Sooty?! Why does everything feel weird!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 36

After handing out the cultist gear he had looted, including the bolt throwers, which the goblins took particular interest in, Aaron retreated back to his kitchen.

Settling down as he waited for his ingredients, Aaron closed his eyes and opened up his status page, and prepared to spend his new Skill point.

It was nice to have some peace while he did this, but he needed to improve his own space. Perhaps a waterfall.

But for now, it was time to make a decision.

Head Hunter [ Uncommon ] You don’t just swing wildly, but aim for the head. Passively provides a damage bonus when landing strikes against your opponent’s head.

Vanguard’s Arm [ Rare ] Charging into battle at the head of the pack, you are the arm that strikes first. When activated, the user’s arms gain considerable toughness and durability, allowing them to be used like shields.

Empty-Handed Teamwork [ Elite ] The lesser monks of the Empty Hand have found powerful methods of working together to overcome their weaknesses. When activated, this Skill creates an aura that provides users with a Class containing the “Empty-Handed” label to get additional buffs to all Stats, and speed when fighting within a ten-kilometer radius of one another.

Girth by Length, Power by Volume [ Epic ] Size matters, a fact you know better than most. Passively provides toughness and damage bonus to the user relative to their excess volume, calculated by additional girth and length beyond their usual size.

Madman’s Psychosis [ Mythical ] People laugh, but you’ve seen the other side. The truth. Let them call you mad all they like; it doesn’t change the fact that they’re all living in a dream. A lie. When activated, the user enters a deep psychosis where their beliefs can become reality, but at what cost? No one knows. Warning: each use of this Skill comes with a small chance of inflicting permanent madness on the user.

As he finished reading the options, Aaron swallowed and sighed. The options were good; he couldn’t deny that. Certainly not options he was going to dismiss, but they weren’t what he had expected.

Also, he was pretty bummed that he hadn’t gotten a Skill mutation or upgrade for his [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ]. He had been working hard on the Skill, and really believed he was going to be rewarded for it. But he wouldn’t give up just because he failed on the first attempt.

This just meant he would have to work harder.

He immediately brushed away any thought of taking the first two, although neither was bad. Head Hunter was a Passive bonus, and Vanguard’s Arm sounded like it’d be helpful in melee. But both were of low Rarity, and neither sounded particularly amazing.

Moving on, it was a little surprising to see Empty-Handed Teamwork provided as an option again, as seeing the same Skill twice wasn’t common at all. But then again, he had been fighting in a team quite a bit recently. Yet teamwork wasn’t really his thing, and so maybe it was simply that the System didn’t have a lot of teamwork-related Skills to offer him?

However, scrolling down, it was Madman’s Psychosis that really caught his attention, and what was worse, he didn’t even really understand what it did. No doubt he was being rewarded for maddening trances he had a habit of falling into, but it sounded like so much more than what he did. 

Unfortunately, he could just sigh and scroll on. As interesting and perhaps powerful as the Mythical Skill sounded, he simply couldn’t take a Skill that had a chance of turning him permanently mad. Aaron was reckless, but he wasn’t insane.

That said, it wasn’t as if he wasn’t without other good options. And he found himself settling on Girth by Length, Power by Volume. The Skill wasn’t a bad one at all. Not even close. It sounded like it would make him considerably more powerful when he first entered a fight at his fully ballooned-out size.

Sure, as he drew down on his adipose reserves, its effectiveness would likely lessen. Still, he couldn’t have everything. And even if the duration of its usefulness was limited, if the boons were good enough while they lasted, it could still be a supremely useful Skill.

He ummed and ahhed for a second, scrolling over the list just to make sure he hadn’t discounted anything too quickly, and then confirmed his selection, using up his recently freed Passive Slot.

There was a part of him that had wished to hang onto it for longer. It had been a while since he had an open slot he could fill out without too much thought, and it was nice.

However, he could always discard it or something else later if he wished.

He was also a little disappointed about having to discard a Mythical Skill, even if it sounded too dangerous to us. Ultimately, though, what was power if he lost his mind to real madness? He would be a slave in his own body, and that simply wasn’t a risk he was willing to accept.

Leaning back, he sipped a drink and tried to clear his mind a little. He wanted to relax for a second, as the last weeks had felt like a non-stop rolling battle, going from one thing to another.

His mind drifted for a moment, considering all the ways he could improve his home.

He had a feeling that once the temple was completed, that would become his main residence. And with it, he could start placing some of his other items.

But what else did he need or want? 

I wonder if there’s a masseuse Profession?

His imagination took over for a moment, wondering what the hands of someone empowered by the System could do to his back, and a wide smile creased his face.

I’m definitely going to have to find out.

Perhaps he could get the goblins to put out fliers, or something. He still wasn’t really rich, but with all the corpses he was collecting, soon he’d be getting a cut from Zach and Marko’s hides. Not only that, but he had plenty of loot to sell, and could have already made some more credits if he hadn’t donated so much to the settlement quest fund.

Ahh, it doesn’t matter, I’m sure I can grind out some cash quickly if I want to. Then, it’s off to the races!

Interrupting his fantasies, Marko came knocking. He was faster than Aaron expected, dropping off piles of ingredients sorted from least rare to most. Although he advised that there were still many corpses to process, he had only worked through the most valuable ones so far.

“Thank you,” Aaron said.

He had wanted some time to relax, but there was something about cooking that calmed him, and at least he could gain some levels at the same time. 

“No problem, I’ll try and get the rest of the meat and bones to you as soon as possible.”

“No worries, mate. Don’t rush yourself. You’ve given me a lot to work with. I’ll be busy for a while just with this.”

“Good to hear. These were top-quality corpses. Amazing, really,” Marko said. “Zach has already got to work on the hides as I butcher. We’ll throw most in the store, but I’ll bring over the bear hide once it is completed.”

“The bear hide?” Aaron raised a brow.

“Yeah. Zach believes it will make quite a piece of equipment. But if you don’t want it, we can sell it. I’m sure it will fetch a good price.”

“I see. Okay, that sounds promising,” Aaron nodded. 

He hadn’t expected that, not because he didn’t think the powerful bear would create good armor, but because he wasn’t used to having people just helping like this.

He had made friends in the trials, but he had still had to go out of his way and find craftsmen to assist. 

“Thanks again,” Aaron said as Marko turned to leave. “This is really helpful. You two are really pulling your weight.”

“Haha. Don’t mention it. You’ve done far more for us. I’m sure we’d be dead if you hadn’t turned up. That jungle was something else.”

Once Mark had left, he gazed upon all of his ingredients that were laid out before him. Then, he started to pull the remaining ingredients from the trials out of his scabbard, and whatever herbs he had managed to find in the forests.

Once everything was before him, it was time to get creative. He started by parceling selected ingredients out into piles, mentally creating the dishes they would soon become.

He paid particularly close attention to soul-strengthening ingredients, but there were a few other things he wanted to get right as well, like the stew that had been on his mind.

Once everything was ready, his eyes went white, and a familiar madness took over.

It wasn’t just his [ Spirit Toes ] and [ Spirit Hands ] anymore, either. He was now working entirely side-by-side with his spirit. Embracing his other half in its entirety, and standing somewhere between the mortal and spirit planes.

He had his special pot from the trials beside him, and as he prepared every dish, he poured off cuts into it. It was thick and dark, bubbling with his own [ Foul Ichor ], which he had added to the rancid broth.

But surprisingly, it gave off a rather pleasant aroma. At least to Aaron’s senses.

Meanwhile, dishes started to pile up around him. Some failures, but most were at least partial successes, and hours passed in a flash before his very eyes. In his trance state, Aaron barely noticed the time slipping by, and his mind was entirely absorbed by the task at hand. 

Those in the camp knew better than to distract; he had said as much, and Sooty was proving some value by barking orders at anybody who walked near the kitchen.

Gradually, he was working through his soul-strengthening ingredients, using concentrated spirit energy, and soaking them with massive amounts of aether as he cycled through his core, pouring the energy into the food in hopes of further concentrating its strength. 

As more and more aether was poured into the dishes, condensed, and then done over again, he could feel the soul strengthening dishes radiating with soul power, growing stronger and stronger as he tempered his own food.

In the background, the pot was still bubbling away, and he was constantly adding new ingredients to it, including anything he didn’t need in his soul-strengthening dishes.

But he wasn’t done yet. He endeavoured to push against his own limits, and in a stroke of mad genius, he began to eat and cycle energy, pulling on massive reserves and pouring it all into aether, which basically screamed at his fingertips as he tried to force more and more of it into his dishes.

By the time he had finished, and it felt like he was holding an atom bomb of soul energy in his hand, he knew that he had succeeded. These were truly powerful soul-strengthening dishes, and they radiated a power as he had never felt from food before.

It had cost him all of his greatest ingredients from slaying the beast lords, but there was little doubt that it was worth it.

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Through insanity in the kitchen, he had created truly incredible dishes, but there was one that genuinely stood out among the rest.

Transcendent Soul Bear Ribeye [ Mythical — E-grade ]

It would be an insult to compare this soul-marbled ribeye to butter, as its flavor and delicacy transcend mortal comprehension. It is a true delicacy of the multiverse, and one sought out by legendary figures seeking to evolve their race further and to greater heights.

Provides: Soul Strengthening and Improved Race Evolution options.

Ding!

[ Ogre Gastronomist ] has LEVELED UP!

58 → 68

Aaron stared in amazement. He hadn’t even finished cooking yet, and to achieve such a thing… it was nothing short of amazing, and exactly what he needed with the upcoming battle on the horizon.

His mouth fell agape, watering at the mere sight of the marvelous meat. This was something else entirely, and the scent that drifted from it seemed to conquer the air around it like a greedy villain, leaving nothing untamed by succulent and complex waves of perfectly grilled protein.

“I…”

He was lost for words, a new kind of trance coming over him as he reached out for it.

He had wanted to savor it. To slowly enjoy every last bite. But a ravenous desire took over him the moment it touched his tongue, and he turned into something more animal than man as he devoured it.

And the feeling was instantaneous. It burst within him, flooding his senses and tracing his veins. His heart pounded, and energy flowed stronger than he had ever felt before as his eyes shot wide with blinding light, as if possessed by a divinity.

He could feel it. It was within him now, planting roots within his body, and mutating his very cells as it flooded him with new energy.

Race Evolved to D grade!

Three evolutionary paths are available!

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 35

They gathered in a penthouse suite of the Bellagio, overlooking the construction taking place across the settlement. Aaron, Ryan, and Talia stood across from Julius, and a couple of his people were seeing to them, not that they needed anything.

Aaron was less interested in bland, human finger foods and more interested in the view. He noted several defensive towers had been built, with auto turrets atop them, and the walls weren’t far behind. It was actually a rather complex design, and he realized he had been right about his earlier thoughts.

“Are they meant to funnel down here?” he said, pointing.

“Oh, you noticed, huh? Not all brawn. But yes, the walls are specifically designed to funnel land attackers toward the auto turrets. Whether they will work or not has yet to be seen. There’s a young lad among my people. War nerd. He came up with the idea, and we figured we’d give it a try.”

Aaron nodded. He thought it was pretty impressive, but he also noted that Julius listened to the advice of a boy, by his own admission. He already had a good impression of Julius’ leadership, save for the whole being mind-controlled by a void corrupted creature, and knowing that he listened to his followers only served to hit the message home.

It wasn’t just humility that impressed him, though. The base was looking rather defensible. He didn’t know if it was capable of holding back powerful D-grades without people like himself and Talia defending it, but it was certainly a lot better off than it had been when he arrived.

A buzzer rang, and Julius tapped it and then looked up.

“Dorian is on his way. Would anybody care for some refreshments?” he added, gesturing toward a cabinet full of spirits and wine. It was expensive stuff, likely remnants from before the integration.

“No, not now,” Aaron waved away. He wanted to keep a clear head for this, although it would likely require downing at least one full bottle to have much of an effect anyway.

“Same, I’m good,” Talia said.

“Suit yourselves,” Julius said, pouring himself a glass.

A ding sounded, and the elevator opened, and out stepped Dorian, flanked by two of the scouts.

The man looked like he had been running all night. He was messy, and dirt stained his face.

“Life hasn’t been too harsh out by the jungle, has it?” Julius said, gaze washing over the man.

But Julius’ playful tone was not shared by Dorian, who marched straight toward Talia and Aaron without barely taking note of the man.

“I have… troubling things to report. The ants are even more than we expected. Vicious, overwhelming, and they seem to communicate with one another over vast distances. It’s all quite impressive. Individually, though, they show no signs of greater intelligence. But when locating an enemy, they often attack from multiple angles, cutting off escape routes, and using heavily armored ants at the front, while lighter ones attempt to take advantage of their enemy’s flanks. It’s all so organized. I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re either a lot smarter than they look, or the queen, or whatever else is commanding them certainly is.”

Talia and Aaron shared a worried look.

“When will this nightmare end?” Ryan groaned. “Hey Julius, on second thoughts, can I get a scotch?”

“Yes, of course,” Julius said and snapped his fingers, and one of his people prepared it for Ryan.

“But that’s not all,” Dorian continued, swallowing and taking a deep breath. “I’m not sure exactly how they’re doing it. But they seem to be gathering new abilities. Or rather, Skills. We saw lightning ants. Ants that spat acid, and another kind that could shoot out elastic tongues like frogs, snaring their enemies,” Dorian rubbed the creases etched into his forehead. “They’re truly terrifying little things. Nothing in that jungle seems to pose any real threat to them. The beasts still alive are just food yet to be consumed. And not only that, but some of the little demons aren’t so small.”

“Word is spreading, too,” Julius piped up, somber like a thunderstorm hung over him. “Several people from the settlement have seen them at the edges of the jungle while collecting resources. I know of a few that even engaged a couple of the ants. They killed the little beasts and survived, but they say more just kept coming. Luckily, when they escaped to the plains, the ants stopped their pursuit. Still, rumors of endless numbers of ants, some more powerful than others, have started to spread. People are getting worried. This isn’t good for stability or productivity. If people are too worried, they’re not crafting as well, or hunting as sharply.”

“Yeah, doubt they would be,” Aaron said. “But we can’t just go rushing back in there. The good news is, we took out the other two beast lords, but they weren’t easy prey. At least one of them wasn’t. And based on everything you’ve said, the ants are worse. But if they still refuse to cross into the plains, we have some time.”

“Is it wise to take our time?” Talia asked. “If they’re growing stronger and gaining new Skills and powers, then perhaps it's best we strike now, even if it means being weaker.”

“Yeah, I hear you. But I’m very short on good dishes. At the very least, I  need a good dish to provide boons. It won’t take long to cook, and could make all the difference. But it’s not just that, with the ingredients I have stored away, I should be able to grind out some quick levels. I might even have enough soul-strengthening ingredients left to push for my race evolution. And for you,” he pointed at Talia. “Getting some training in as a D-grade probably wouldn’t do you any harm, either.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” Talia said, looking thoughtful as she rubbed her chin. “Fine. I’ll go hunt some beasts around. Get a little practice in with my new powers. Meanwhile, you can grind as many levels as you can.”

“Take Zero with you. If he can get a level or two, that’d also help.”

Aaron then turned to Julius. “The same goes for the elites. We’ll need as many of them as we can spare. Push them to level as fast as possible; every little bit helps.”

Aaron knew he would be the one fighting the queen, but the ant colony sounded absolutely massive; luckily, most of its warriors were not particularly powerful. Still, his energy wasn’t limitless, and if he was swarmed by thousands of weak ants while trying to focus on the queen, it would no doubt make victory that much harder.

With their plans settled, he returned to his farm. As soon as he got there, he handed all of the corpses over to Zach and Marko for processing.

He was a little surprised to see a squad of goblin riders atop wolves dashing past after a successful hunt, led by one of the smaller goblins who hadn’t been of much consequence earlier. Not because they were riding, but because they already looked like they belonged atop the wolves.

Putting them together seems like it was a wise decision.

He continued through the fledgling outpost and spotted the temple, which was also coming along nicely, and looked to be only a couple of weeks away from completion. Many of the walls were already being filled out, although much was still transparent.

The farms themselves had also been completed. The soil from the trials had been tilled into the ground, and unsprouted seedlings had apparently been planted. Seeing this, Aaron remembered an item he had yet to use and pulled the mana heart he had won in the trials out of his scabbard.

Mana Heart [ Legendary ]

These amazing artifacts pulse with mana, infecting all around with their energy. There are many uses for such items, from burying them in the ground to infuse plants with mana, to using them to fuel powerful constructs; the only limit is one’s imagination.

He didn’t know what else to do with it, and so he simply punched straight into the ground with the mana heart held in his grasp, burying his fist down to his shoulder. There, where his fist reached, he left the mana heart and kicked over dirt to close the hole.

With that done, he decided to check in on something he hadn’t looked at for a while. His planetary ranking.

He had killed multiple beast lords since the last time and gained many levels. Not to mention picking up the Shard of Divinity, however many points that might provide.

Aaron Dober:

Planetary ranking: 212 of 5,124,885,011 

Aaron’s eyes widened. He had expected to jump quite a few rankings, but his progress was even more impressive than he had expected. At this rate, he would soon find himself in the truly high rankings.

Then again, he was level 84 now. That was right up there with the elites at the end of the trials. But of course, the elites hadn’t been sitting around doing nothing the entire time. Like Talia, many had already hit D-grade. Especially the ones at the very top, who were already quite close when they returned to Earth. And the ones who weren’t would be rapidly approaching.

But there was something else that caught his attention. The population was still dwindling quite fast. He hoped that it would soon find some stability and slow.

Then, he decided to scroll up and check out the top of the rankings.

Planetary rankings:

1. Darius Nessar

2. Raksha Tiksus Vakmal

3. Ernest Sheridan

4. Erdek Foulbreath

5. Talia Rhineheart

6. Ikran Teshk Ungari

7. Edwan Coser

8. Vikran Takeshi Udon

9. Terry Cadillac 

10. Kim Soohyun

Most of the list hadn’t changed too much. Edwan, one of the names he didn’t recognize, had gained a few spots, which was intriguing, and there was another new name. Terry Cadillac.

But then he realized that Johan was nowhere to be found. Wait, really? This was far more surprising than anything else, and he immediately used the search function, but nothing came up when he punched in Johan’s name.

“Does that mean?” He murmured to himself.

He didn’t entirely trust the man, but his impression had been mostly okay. He had thought that Johan would play a rather major role in whatever happened to their world after the trials. And to see him knocked off the list entirely sent a shiver down his spine.

Then again, he had been close to death himself and doubted that Johan would be the only top ranker knocked off the list. Their new world was still in its infancy, and things were likely to change drastically as a new norm settled in.

But he couldn’t spend all day musing over the rankings. Ultimately, it was more entertainment than strategy. He didn’t know these people, or at least what they were capable of anymore, and thus, couldn’t know how relevant any of the information was to him.

He dismissed his System and returned to surveying his camp. The goblins had even built a little nursery for his antler roach larvae, and one of the goblins who had taken a tamer Class E-grade evolution was tending to them.

Aaron waved as he passed the nursery, but there wasn’t too much to see. The roaches were still well and truly in their infancy, wiggling around straw nests and feeding on decaying meat within the simple, wooden, barn-like structure.

Mana Cores, similar but not the same as the Mana Heart, had been connected to the defenses Aaron had placed. And now, his farm had both an operation shield and sentry orbs protecting it.

 The homestead and surrounding cabins were still very basic for the most part, but it was incredible the progress that they had seen in such a short period of time.

But there was work to be done. Returning to his portable kitchen, he prepared it for what was to come. He only had a few soul-strengthening ingredients left, and his plan was to fuse them with the most potent ingredients produced after Marko got done with the corpses.

With any luck, he would manage to craft some dishes that would propel him into a D-grade race evolution before the fight with the ants.

But he also wanted to save some of the best ingredients to create at least one supreme dish to buff himself with. He had no idea how powerful the queen ant was, but based on her minions, he knew he couldn’t take any chances.

He was going to have to grind hard and fast, and he started to get a little apprehensive as he waited for the ingredients to be prepared.

But it wasn’t just about dealing with the ants. There was also the dungeon token in his scabbard, and he very much wanted to take part in it.

And while there was still a decent amount of time remaining on it, he had no idea how long dealing with the ants would take, and doubted it would be a short-lived affair.

After all, they would likely need to battle their way through an army and then descend into the hive. If that took several weeks, then he might risk missing out on the dungeon.

Aaron’s brow bent. He was going to do this as quickly as he could, and then, slay himself an ant queen.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 34

*Author Note*

I made a minor edit in a few chapters back. Aaron looted the bolt throwers and a few other minor pieces of gear from the cultists to bring back to the camp.

*Author Note*

With their enemies dead, Aaron quickly shoved the bear beast lord in his scabbard and shuffled through the cultist leader's and his followers’ possessions.

“Some Uncommon gear, and a couple of Rare weapons. Nothing special, but I’m sure someone back at the base can make use of this stuff,” Aaron said, throwing it all in his scabbard.

They split the loot, and Talia took her kill's worth, then they turned their attention to the chapel.

“Alright, let’s see what’s waiting for us,” Aaron nodded ahead and led her into it. 

They passed through into the rotting chapel, and the door fell straight off its hinges as Aaron opened it. The entire chapel was half sunken into the swamp and falling apart. But that had little bearing on the hum of energy that was pulsating throughout the decrepit building, and growing stronger, and stronger as they walked deeper into it.

Passing through a short corridor, they reached another door, and beyond that was the prize. The door opened into a small room, and at its heart, a purple crystal floated in the air, illuminating its surroundings in the same hue that filled its crystalline form, and it was absolutely pulsating with power.

Shard of Divinity [ Mythic ]

Once part of a divine core, this shard is but a remnant of a fallen god. Yet despite the passing of countless eons, it still hums with divine energy, a testament to the god whom it once formed a part of.

The Shard of Divinity exudes incredible power, and while it can’t be harnessed directly by the non-divine, its power can be used to influence its surroundings.

Aaron glanced across at Talia with a raised brow. “Er, cool? Not quite what I was expecting. What do you suppose we do with this?”

“No idea. I didn't have a divine shard on my bingo card. But I suppose we take it back to camp. Maybe we can find a use for it later,” Talia shrugged. “It is Mythic, after all.”

“Right,” Aaron nodded and reached out.

“Wait, the others,” Talia reminded him. They didn’t actually know how long this dungeon would last after the anchor was removed, and it was best not to risk leaving those they had just rescued behind.

But only a second later, Zero came bounding through the door, with the prisoners in tow. Their eyes lit up when they saw the Shard of Divinity, and they even seemed to hold some kind of reverence for it.

“You know what this thing can be used for?” Aaron probed, hoping they might get some more answers.

Old man Benjamin shook his head. “No idea… but it’s divine energy obviously. I remember a long time ago. When I was just a boy, they came down from the heavens. It was incredible. Enough power to pin you to the ground with their auras alone. Gods. Come to visit my little world at the edges of an empire. This… it feels the same as they did. Although not as powerful.”

The old man seemed to lose himself in his words, staring off into the crystal. And Aaron understood why. Meeting Yendal in the flesh and visiting her divine realm had been something else entirely. However, nothing about what he said was overly helpful.

That said, there was an obvious problem: this thing seemed a little too influential, and he had a feeling that it was behind both the cult and the cult-like behavior he had seen up in New Haven.

“Well, maybe we can make use of it,” he said, swiping the shard.

Aaron felt apprehensive about the crystal. Regardless, he wasn’t leaving a Mythic item behind, even if it was a can of worms waiting to be opened. 

True to the prisoner’s word, the moment Aaron had taken the shard and stowed it in his scabbard, the world began to shake and crumble, and where the shard had been, a portal appeared.

“No time like the present,” Aaron shrugged and stepped through without hesitation, and Talia was only just behind him.

And within seconds, all of them were free from the dungeon, standing in the basement of the old school again.

Quest Completed! Rescue the Sacrifices

Quest Rewards: Explosive Knuckle Attachment [ Elite ], Explosive Bolts x 1000 [ Elite ]

Experience rewarded for completing a quest!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

83 → 84

Aaron nodded at the notification. Not what he had expected for loot, but he couldn’t complain. He had taken the bolt throwers, and ammo would be helpful.

As for the Explosive Knuckle Attachment? He wasn’t so sure about that. Maybe it could be fixed to his gauntlets somehow without taking anything away from them. But he wasn’t a bomber, like the cultists were, and wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to take his path in that direction.

Not that it was a decision he had to make at that moment. 

“Not bad loot,” Talia commented, and he was reminded that they had both been given the quest.

“Explosive Knuckle Attachment?"

“Huh?” Talia’s brow twisted. “No? Crude metal pauldrons. They look a little rough, but they’re a higher Rarity than my current ones, and they sound better.”

Aaron nodded along. Many of the cultists had also worn a variety of crude metal armor, some of which they had looted for the settlement. And it seemed that the quest had taken inspiration from that to create a reward for Talia. But Aaron, not being much of an armor person, was given an attachment for his gauntlets.

As far as he was aware, there was no guarantee that quest rewards would be directly useful for the person receiving them. But there did seem to be at least some force that increased the likelihood of just that happening.

But his thoughts were quickly drawn away as a frantic Ryan came barging down into the basement, covered in sweat, with a thousand-mile stare.

“What the hell happened?” He said.

He looked like a mess. Shaky hands and wide eyes.

“What? Something wrong, mate? We just did what we went in there to do?” Aaron replied.

“Did something happen up here?” Talia said.

“Yeah! Those people… the townfolk. A short moment ago, they started trying to kill themselves. We are, we restrained them. Been tying them up for their own good. Ah fuck,” he shook his head. “Fighting monsters is one thing, but these crazy bastards. I don’t know what the bloody hell is going on around here.”

Aaron looked at Talia. “You think it’s because of the bear or the shard?”

“Dunno, but we'd better go check,” she sighed. 

They followed Ryan out of the school and into the main square of the town, where they had restrained the people of New Haven, tying them up by their wrists and ankles to prevent them from harming themselves.

“You,” Bobo spat. “You killed the hungry one. The truth! The protector! The salvation of New Haven!”

“You mean the bear?”

Bobo snarled. “Not just a bear!”

“I thought you wanted us to kill that beast? You let us go down there,” Aaron scratched his head, genuinely confused.

“You idiot! You were supposed to go down there as food for the hungry one! He was supposed to consume you and grow stronger, as he does everything! And thus, giving the great hungry one strength to protect New Haven against all threats!”

“Well, that didn’t last very long, did it?” Aaron shrugged, and Bobo and his people looked mortified at the casual nature of the statement.

“Why you! You won’t get away with this divine sacrilege!"

Aaron was mostly ignoring them. They were obviously insane, and he didn’t entirely blame them. The integration was hard, after all. However, he did want to test one thing and pulled the divine shard out from his scabbard, and they all fell silent.

“The holy relic,” Bobo murmured.

“This thing must have some hold over weaker people,” Aaron mused, looking at how the townsfolk stared at the shard.

“Yeah, it seems to,” Talia agreed. “Probably best you keep it hidden in your spatial storage. That thing could be trouble.”

“Yeah,” Aaron said, stowing it.

Their faces seemed to relax once the shard was away, although they still didn’t look too impressed with their captors.

“Would you relax? We can keep you safe. We have a settlement, and we’ve already proven ourselves by defeating your bear god messiah thing. Surely that counts for something.”

The townsfolk of New Haven glanced at one another, but it seemed that they couldn’t so easily leave behind everything they knew. They had built an identity around the beast lord, and even though the truth was before them, it was hard to swallow.

“Oh, whatever,” Aaron shook his head and started eating. 

He had gotten very skinny, drawing on all his energy to fight the bear, and it was time to recover, and he quickly started to fill out as he threw finger foods into his mouth.

“Wha… what is this?” Bobo said, eyes widening. “The hungry one has returned? That is why he possesses the holy relic?! But in a new skin! He has taken on our form; it is a sign of divinity! We were saved by holy intervention! It was what stayed our hands! The holy one does come to bring us to salvation, not death!”

“The holy one!” The rest of the townsfolk began to chant in unison.

“Wait, no!” Aaron waved his hands. “What are you talking about? I’m no holy one! And it was Ryan and his people that saved you from your damned selves, not some divine intervention!”

Despite his protests, the townsfolk refused to listen and continued chanting. Eventually, Aaron gave up and said he needed to confer with his counsel before retreating to talk with Talia and Ryan. The mood was somewhat grim, as, despite the victory, Aaron felt extremely unsettled having an entire town of brainwashed people worshipping him.

“This is kinda fucked,” said Ryan.

“Yeah, no shit,” said Aaron. “Do we have anyone with, like, a mind healer Profession or something that can fix them?”

“I think we have a therapist somewhere…” Ryan mused.

“Sounds like you're stuck as a cult leader for now, though, Mr. Hungry One,” chuckled Talia. “Maybe you should offer them some of your cooking. That’ll scare them off.”

Both Ryan and Aaron stared at her. The situation was not bad enough that humor was off the table, but neither of them had expected Talia of all people to crack the first joke.

Did her sense of humor turn dark with her hair? Aaron wondered.

“Now that I think about it, being a cult leader does kinda suit that new hairstyle of yours,” Ryan added after a few seconds.

Aaron had almost forgotten about his haircut, and the reminder only made him groan.

“On second thought, maybe having him cook for them isn’t a good idea,” said Talia. “What if they like it? Then we’ll have even more people like him.”

“Good point,” said Ryan, nodding.

Aaron groaned again, but their jabs did help lighten the mood, and the conversation turned more positive. Even if the townsfolk were mentally screwed for now, it was most likely curable, and on the bright side, none of them were hostile or trying to kill themselves anymore. And as long as Aaron was leading them, they had no more desire to stick around the doomed town. They could be safely led back to the Bellagio, and from there, Julius and his men would take care of them.

They confirmed their plans, then returned to the townsfolk, and just as they hoped, it was very easy to convince them to leave. And with two D grades and Aaron guarding them, the trip back to the settlement was a non-issue.

Despite the unexpected ending, victory did taste good. And it wasn’t just about knocking out another beast lord for the quest. 

The trip had been fruitful. Aaron had plenty of corpses, including the two beast lords, and he was going to cook up a storm in preparation for the ants.

But before they even entered the settlement proper, a squad of Julius’ scouts reached them at the outskirts and directed them straight to the Bellagio.

“It’s Dorian, he’s back, and he’s giving his report to Julius. You should come,” one of the scouts said.

There was no argument. Aaron, Ryan, and Talia rushed off, leaving Zero and the rest of the group to escort the people the rest of the way.

“Can’t a man get a moment to do some cooking?” Aaron said as they flew toward the old casino.

Aaron wasn’t just thinking about food to create a useful dish, though. He wanted to throw the last of his soul-strengthening ingredients from the trials together, and maybe even see if he could increase their strength. After all, with D-grade quickly approaching, he wanted to push his race evolution toward D-grade as well.

Not to mention a moment to sit down and purchase his new Skill, and hopefully, all the thought he put into it would pay off.

“We definitely can’t let the New Haven people near Aaron’s house,” commented Talia.

“Agreed,” said Ryan, nodding seriously. “The last thing we need is a religion around… that.”

“Well, maybe it would be good for him,” countered Talia. “He could get a powerful new Profession.”

“Oh yeah…” said Ryan. “The Holy Chef of Disturbing Dishes.”

“Oh, quit it, both of you.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 33

His face cracking with a mad expression, Aaron threw himself against the wall that was the beast lord bear, all whilst channeling an unstable cocktail of energy that flooded through his [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ] as he summoned the energy through it and into his fists.

But he stopped himself short from unleashing a fury of energy-fueled rampage onto the beast, and steadied himself. He read the threads of fate and calmed himself as he flowed with his movements, not trying to imitate Yendal but trying to be a better version of himself.

It was this inner peace that he needed to achieve in the heat of the most difficult battles. He had long done it during easier fights, but he had a way of losing himself. Of succumbing to his wilder side and throwing caution to the wind as he threw everything he had into a fight.

But the truth was, a synergy between his overflowing and abundant energy and the absurdly manicured finesse he had learned from the multiverse’s strongest martial practitioner needed more work.

But he didn’t stop there. He took these two ideas and layered them upon violently shifting threads of fate. Threads of fate that moved and changed as quickly as they formed. But while it may have looked chaotic and untamed to the naked eye, it was not without merit. 

As levels and power increased, so did speed, and it could make an ability like his fate-bending seem less useful if one couldn’t keep up. But if they could? Well, that changed everything.

And this was exactly where his improved [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] came in handy. He used it as he fought, reading into the secrets of the bear, as he read the energy flowing through it, and all the while, slowing his perception of time.

It was perfect for what he wanted. More than just a combat Skill, but a training tool, and it gave him time to focus on every little thing that took place every microsecond. As fighting at this level could become incredibly overwhelming.

And as he studied everything around him, he seized that supreme focus, and he landed. He could see the beast’s mana anchor, and he struck it with a [ Soul Shattering Strike ], the devastating and destructive energy damaging attack landed perfectly, but he didn’t stop there. Instead of breaking straight into his combination chain, he landed another [ Soul Shattering Strike ], perfectly hitting the beast’s stamina veins.

The cultists immediately realized that there was something wrong with the irate beast as its energy fluctuated, and they pressed their attack. But only a second later, a red, chokingly thick mist of killing intent flooded out from the beast.

The bear seemed to thicken, and in an instant, power flooded straight back through it, restarting both its mana anchors and stamina veins as it roared in defiance of the attacks coming its way.

But Aaron knew he was getting through to it, and instead of changing tactics, he dodged several swipes coming his way and landed another [ Soul Shattering Strike ].

Within barely a second or two of the beast’s outraged attack, another of the cultists had been torn apart, but Father Malcolm summoned his energy and returned with a powerful explosive punch that temporarily pushed the bear back.

Aaron’s body was fully committed to the fight, eyes glazed over, and swinging several strikes in a row, forming long combinations that landed on the tail, and crushing [ Soul Shattering Strike ] when the opportunity arose.

But mentally, he was almost meditating. Feeling the energies in the room, and how they differed from the System energy that was the base of all creation, or at least he believed it was.

At a very basic level, he was starting to understand how energy branched off and formed new paths. In fact, he wasn’t even entirely sure whether or not this was something cemented or if new energies could be formed from new ideas.

Taking in the concepts, he barely even felt it when one of his arms was ripped away, and he countered with another [ Soul Shattering Strike ] without even thinking, and drew on adipose reserves as he cycled and pushed the limits of his core.

But it would take more than that to end the beast lord, and the bear spun around, and both Aaron and the last of Malcolm’s cultist followers were shredded apart in seconds.

But of course, Aaron was quick to reform. And having had some time to recover, Zero fired light beams from a distance, aiming at weak points, and Talia came in with her own attack.

And it was at that point that Aaron saw something thanks to [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] that was truly eye-opening.

The dark energy spilling out from Talia’s nightmare blade pierced into the beast’s stamina veins as Aaron’s attack beat them down and made them vulnerable.

It acted like a poison, and when the formidable D-grade beast pulled on its energy and tried to flood its own body again, it was useless.

It tried again, taking deadly swipes back and forth to keep them at bay as it tried to reset itself, using excessive amounts of energy in the process, but it had no luck.

Father Malcolm saw the desperation in the beast’s expression and pushed the attack, but it was too soon. A cornered beast is a deadly one, and he lost a limb for his efforts, and jumped back out of range before the bear could finish the job.

But Aaron was only a second behind, and unwilling to give the beast even a moment to figure out how to resolve its predicament.

“Strike after I do!” He roared as he dodged several strikes, ate one, and then landed with his own.

Talia was barely a fraction of a second behind him, and the dark, corrupting power from her avatar’s sword infected the mana anchor the same as it had the beast’s stamina.

The beast roared in anger and went into a ballistic rage, throwing everything it had at Aaron, which was perfect. 

He might have been slower than the beast, especially since it seemed to be powered by some kind of rage or berserker Skill, but his movement was perfect, and fate guided him.

With most of its energy resources poisoned and offline, the bear wasn’t in a position to waste so much energy, but it was infuriated and unable to see clearly.

It managed to kill Aaron in the end, but not without great effort, and he waited a second for it to turn its attention toward the cult leader before pulsing with aether and returning to life.

He ate quickly, stuffing food from his scabbard down his mouth and drawing from his reserves to recover as best he could within a couple of seconds, and then he went for it, striking at the beast’s Vitality Heart.

The cult leader lost another arm and took grievous wounds in but seconds of one-on-one melee, but the bear was running dangerously low on energy, and both Zero and Talia had somewhat recovered.

Aaron led the charge, taking on a tanking-like role for his little party and throwing everything he had at the dwindling power of the bear, as Zero and Talia backed him up with their most powerful attacks. It was one hell of a beast, though, and his eyes widened with surprise as it started to heal and recover energy, drawing on its fat reserves, much the same as he did.

It was a bear, though, and Aaron had to admit that the Skill probably suited the beast lord more than him.

Unfortunately for it, though, pulling on its reserves was a desperate last-ditch attempt at turning the tide. There was only so much it could do without the ability to recover properly, a fact that was made considerably worse thanks to being greatly outnumbered.

Aaron’s combos landed, and his attacks siphoned a little of its energy, adding injury to insult, and soon the well-fought beast was on its last legs, barely managing to keep itself up.

He took no chances, pulling all of his final reserves into his following combination, and landing the most overpowered haymaker he had ever thrown against its head as all of its energy reserves had been drained, and the result was gory and explosive.

But he wasn’t going to let someone else get this kill. This one was his.

You killed: Vicious Iron Fur Bear [ Level 144 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

78 → 82

Purchasable Skill Available!

Aaron smiled. It had put up a good fight, but ultimately, he had broken it down. And what’s more, he had gained some nice insights from the fight.

And with the bear dead at his feet, he turned his gaze to the cult leader.

“You… you did it.”

Father Malcolm looked amazed and lost for words. Then again, he had lost his entire cult from the looks of things to the damn beast, and the people before him had just killed it. He was no pushover, but there was little doubt that he realized he was outmatched.

“The anchor. Where is it?” Aaron demanded.

Father Malcolm stumbled backward, glancing over his shoulder. “No need to get ahead of ourselves. We can come to an arrangement, can’t we?”

Aaron cracked his knuckles, and the movement he saw the cult leader flinch, as if preparing something underhanded, he struck. It was a flash of movement, a sudden release of energy he had been cycling through his core, and the moment he released it all at once, he was there. Standing before the cult leader.

The combination had landed so fast that the cult leader barely registered that his defensive Skills had been knocked offline, and followed up with a devastating blow that blasted straight through his chest. He was very badly wounded, though. 

He fell to the ground dying as he muttered something. Not that Aaron cared; death was probably the only suitable outcome for someone who was sacrificing prisoners anyway.

You killed: Father Malcolm [ Level 125 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

82 → 83

He glanced back over his shoulder at Talia, and then toward the chapel. Even with the anchor so close, there was something else on his mind, though, especially with his pending Skill purchase.

Talia’s infectious attacks had been rather helpful, and he wondered if he could do something similar? If he could, he wouldn’t need her supporting attacks. Not that he didn’t appreciate them, but he didn’t want to have to rely on others. Not if he could help it.

What was more, he had a feeling he understood how it worked. Thanks to his insights into energy, and more importantly, System energy.

I’m going to have to look into that.

“Let’s see what all the fuss was about,” he finally said, breaking the short silence as he stared at the chapel.

“Zero, would you gather the prisoners for us, please?” Talia asked, but Zero just turned to Aaron as if waiting for approval.

“Yeah, that'd be very helpful. Saves us having to backtrack before taking the anchor.”

Zero howled happily at Aaron’s request, and then shot off in a blinding wisp of silver light.

There was just one thing left to do, and they both turned to the chapel as they walked.

**Dorian**

Dorian and the other scouts had been at the jungle's edge for a couple of days now.

They had acted with extreme caution, mostly watching from afar. And thankfully, the ants hadn’t actually traveled beyond the border of luscious trees and vegetation into the plains beyond, though they often came up to its edges and twitched their antennae as they looked around.

The deadly ants had more or less lived up to expectations. They had watched on many occasions as their overwhelming numbers took down beasts one after another. 

Individually, they weren’t anything overly special, but as a swarm, they were scary.

But none of that had particularly surprised Dorian, that was until he spotted an unfamiliar ant scuttling through the jungle toward a couple of giant frogs.

It had a bluish sheen to it, and unlike the others, when it attacked the giant frog, it did so with a burst of lightning energy that turned the beast into charcoal.

Dorian’s mouth fell agape at the unexpected turn of events. “When the hell did they learn how to do that?”

NEXT CHAPTER

Stubbing Announcement!

Hey, everyone!

Just thought I'd throw this in here. Book 1 will be stubbed and released on the 2nd of Feb, after which Book 1 chapters will be removed from Patreon. But I've already provided the Epub for subscribers. If you need that again, let me know.

I've also attached the cover art for Book 2! Very happy with how it turned out!

Universal amazon link https://mybook.to/Too-Stubborn-to-Die-1

Book 3: Chapter 32

The moment they accepted the prompt, they appeared on the fifth floor of the dungeon. What they found wasn’t just the same swamp as the earlier floors. There were sinking statues all around, and stone tiles sunk into the ground before them, creating a puddly path leading ahead through the fog and weedy trees and brush.

“Quest maker is straight ahead,” Aaron said, taking a step.

Talia nodded, and they got walking, but they barely made it a few steps before finding their first corpses.

The bodies were gory, torn apart, and some even thrown into the trees, hanging down from branches.

“The fight didn’t go well for these guys,” Aaron said, and Talia just grimaced as they kept moving.

Soon, they could hear the cries of battle carried on the air, and they quickened their pace. Gradually, they spotted stone through the fog, and as they got closer, they saw it. The main base of the cultists.

Explosions sounded, and flashes of Skill energy brightened up the murky sky.

“Looks like they started without us,” Aaron said, and they rushed toward the makeshift walls that surrounded the chapel and stone buildings.

It looked like some post-apocalyptic gang had built their rough little base around ancient ruins, and in the distance, they spotted the pointed tip of what Aaron assumed was the chapel roof rising above the walls.

However, unlike the outpost on the second floor, they spotted no defenses or patrols. The walls were empty and damaged, and flames and smoke trailed up from several locations throughout the battered camp.

The trio made quick work of the walls, flying straight over them. With no cultists in sight, they decided to head straight into the base and deal with whatever they found. Besides, Aaron could still see the quest marker on his map and knew more or less where the beast lord was, and as such, wasn’t too worried about accidentally pumping into it.

What they found on the other side of the walls was a battle-torn courtyard, covered in corpses. Much of the ruins were dotted by flames, and they even spotted a couple of cultists hiding among the rubble. And some who looked to be playing dead.

There was no love lost on the cultists, but neither Aaron nor Talia particularly wanted to go around executing cowering cultists, and so they left them and moved on.

“Looks pretty obvious who won this fight,” Aaron said.

“Yeah. This beast lord is no joke. We should probably hurry. If it is still fighting the cultists, this could be our best chance to deal with it.”

“Yeah, right. Strike it before it recovers,” Aaron agreed.

“Exactly.”

He glanced around at the destruction one last time. Even he wasn’t sure about charging headlong into a camp this size. 

“Right. Good point. Let’s move!”

The three of them shot through the base, using their movement Skills, and traveled straight over another gate and wall that led into an inner courtyard where the chapel was located.

Aaron could see the quest marker before they even passed over the wall, and prepared himself by lobbing off his ring and eating a couple of quick meals, although he was already looking healthily plump.

Landing within the courtyard, they found bodies lying around, and then they spotted it, with its back turned to them. The dark fur of the towering beast was glistening with blood, and it gave off a hungry aura.

This thing wanted power, and lots of it.

Between the angry beast that was feeding on one of the corpses and the ancient chapel beyond it was a group of people. They were just as disfigured as the others they had seen, but one man looked oddly normal, like any old white-haired man, and he wore loose robes, with a pointy white hat, and all kinds of religious-looking symbols hung from him.

Vicious Iron Fur Bear [ Level 144 ]

Titles: [ Stalker ] [ Giant Slayer ]

Father Malcolm [ Level 125 ]

Titles: [ Cruciform ] [ Kinslayer ]

“Looks like we found them,” Aaron said as he limbered up, and Talia prepared herself.

“You there! Intruders!” Father Malcolm called out. “Help us slay this vile beast, and I’ll pay you whatever you wish!”

The bear looked up, its mouthy gory as Father Malcolm spoke, still chewing on the severed arm of one of his fallen comrades. It was a big bear, and not just large, but it looked like it was packing on pounds.

“Preparing for winter, are you, mate?” Aaron asked the bear, but it just tilted its head and kept eating.

But in truth, Aaron’s attention wasn’t just locked on those before him in the courtyard. He could feel it now. The energy of the anchor. It was just beyond, likely within the chapel. And he decided to take this moment before the fighting started to ask the cultist leader a question.

“We’ve come for the anchor. Give us that, and maybe we’ll help.”

“The anchor?” Father Malcolm’s brow twitched. “How dare you threaten the holy vassal! Brothers and sisters, do not let either fiend inside! Neither the humans, nor the bear!”

“Aaron!” Talia said. “Why are you agitating them?”

“I just want to understand this anchor better. They seem to think it’s something holy.”

“Can’t you wait until after we deal with the beast lord?”

“Fine,” Aarons said, and then raised his voice for the cutlist leader. “We’ll help with the bear. Then we talk, okay?”

Father Malcolm snorted and flared his nostrils, but then his gaze shifted to the bear, and he reluctantly nodded.

There were only half a dozen remaining cultists standing in a line behind Malcolm, and they clenched their weapons tighter as their leader took a step further, uncertainty written clearly on their faces.

“Be brave, my children! We do this for the holy vessel! Let us kill this foul intruder and save our home!”

“Raargh!” The cutlists roared, and a couple of them started to glow red and flash, and then they ran forward.

The bear’s ears twitched as the flashing red cultists ran for it, and then it balled up, and as they reached it, they exploded in a spectacular display of gory confetti. Unfortunately for them, the bear unravelled from its balled-up form and looked entirely unfazed by the suicidal attack.

“Not good,” Aaron said.

In a flash that seemed far, far too fast for its massive, pudgy size, the bear shot toward the remaining cultists. 

Aaron didn’t trust this weird cult in the slightest and hardly wanted to put his own life on the line for them, but he had a feeling they might need each other for this fight.

Also, there was a part of him that wanted to spare Father Malcolm, at least long enough to question him. After all, dungeons were a curious phenomenon, and he wanted to learn as much about them as he could. Especially considering the token he possessed.

But the beast lord wasn’t just about to sit around and wait for them to scheme up a plan on how to kill it.

Before the beast could reach Father Malcolm, two armored, low D-grade cultists stepped in its path, and they were torn apart in seconds, as if they didn’t belong in the fight at all.

Aaron’s eyes widened, and he realized there was no time to sit back and watch. They needed to take this seriously, and they needed to do it now.

The D-grade cultists mightn’t have been the strongest, but the effortlessness with which the bear had struck them down was something else entirely. It had treated them as nothing more than cannon fodder, and even if Aaron could have bested them alone, he doubted he could have made it look anywhere near that easy.

Talia didn’t need to be told, either. She raised several of her most powerful Skills and flew toward the beast with black, nightmare wings that seemed to suck up the light.

And Aaron wasn’t a second behind, shooting toward the beast’s unguarded flank with deadly intentions.

The remaining two cultists and Father Malcolm were pushed back in less than a second, and several Skills flashed brightly as they did everything to keep themselves alive.

In the blink of an eye, the melee had already grown desperate, and the trio slammed into the beast’s back with everything they had to stop it from ending their unlikely battle companions before the fight had even started properly. And a cascading series of attacks slammed into the beast from all angles.

But the furry beast was no pushover, and that became scarily obvious as the dust settled. They had hit it with almost everything, and yet, it barely looked as if they had done anything. Even Talia’s recently upgraded Nightmare Blade had barely managed to pierce the beast’s hide, only causing a thin stream of blood to appear.

 Zero had done even worse. It had a little of the steely fur in its claws and jaw, and a tiny bit of blood. But that was nothing against a D-grade beast, and it would heal from such superficial wounds in seconds.

“Hold the line!” Father Malcolm shouted as he flung his fists at the bear, and they exploded on impact, actually managing to force the bear back a little.

He’s actually pretty strong, isn’t he?

But Aaron didn’t have time to muse about the cult leader’s battle strengths and threw himself at the bear with another attack. And luckily for him, he had just the attack for dealing with stubbornly powerful enemies, like the bear. And no amount of defenses could entirely shrug off his [ Soul Shattering Strike ], and the energy-crushing attack was followed up by a devastating combination.

Unfortunately, the attack didn’t just anger the bear but turned its full attention onto Aaron.

With a single swipe that was enough to cut D-grades in half, it forced Father Malcolm and his two remaining cultists to back off, and charged straight for Aaron with a fury like he had never seen before.

It required every ounce of his practiced steps, evasion, and spamming the ever-living hell out of [ Spectral Rush ] to have any chance of surviving the absolutely apocalyptic onslaught of attacks that followed.

And he didn’t for long. It wasn’t just levels that separated them, though, he realized. Sure, the bear was the highest-level creature he had fought, but it was also skilled. Then again, that made a lot of sense. To have come so far so quickly was evidence of the beast’s ability, and it was putting it on full display for everyone to see.

Eventually, even Aaron couldn’t avoid every attack, and a lightning-fast claw attack that was surrounded by crackling energy tore him in two.

Father Malcolm clearly saw this as his opportunity, and flashed into range, attacking with a superpowered explosive punch that rippled through the air with enough heat and power to level block, and a shockwave that the others had to plant their feet down to resist being thrown away.

And yet, despite taking a clean hit from the devastating attack, the bear simply coughed a mouthful of blood and then turned its savage display against the cult leader.

Father Malcolm took a serious wound when they clashed, but before the bear could end the cult leader, his two remaining followers slammed into its sides, giving him a second to trace his steps back.

Talia and Zero understood just how desperate things had gotten, and they didn’t waste time either, attacking from opposite flanks of the beast with everything they had.

But with every landed attack, the bear grew more enraged, and it turned its attacks on them, landing one of Zero that made the wolf whimper and retreat in a stream of silver light. When the wolf reappeared, it had a gnarly cut opening its body and gushing blood.

Talia’s attack had been more successful, and slivers of black, corrupting light had pierced into one of the bear’s quickly closing wounds. The attack was visibly more effective than the other attacks had been, but it was far from enough to even incapacitate the massive beast. Its powerful claws slashed back at her, causing her jet black shields to flash and flicker as they did their best to block the incredible energy of the attacks coming their way.

She could feel the power, and the threat behind them, and less than a second later, she flapped her massive wings and flew out of range as Malcolm reengaged with another explosive punch..

The truth was, as sturdy as her shields were, the amount of mana they drew from her was directly related to how powerful the attacks they blocked were, and stopping two of the beast’s full-powered strikes had drained almost all of her mana, leaving her chugging a potion from the sidelines.

But the trio’s attack wasn’t over, and the beast was shocked when Aaron reentered the fray, slamming into its back with another [ Soul Shattering Strike ] that unbalanced the impressive beast lord.

However, it was far from over, and the bear’s counters were incredibly fast, and to avoid getting killed every time it countered, Aaron raised his [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] Skill, and felt something he hadn’t exactly expected.

Thanks to the slowing of time, Aaron wasn’t just finding it easier to avoid the blinding fast attacks coming his way, but he had time to think about what he was sensing in the background, since his bottleneck was the speed of his body, rather than his senses, once time was slowed.

What he sensed was the System energy within the anchor. It was incredibly dense, and he could even sense the energy radiation coming from it, and how it was linked to the dungeon around them with tethers of divine kind of power.

Weaving through several attacks coming his way, he leaned into this sensation. It was like a new truth of the multiverse at his fingertips, waiting to be explored.

Although this energy was different from the ones he had previously mastered, he doubted it was something he could use himself, or any living creature for that matter, but that didn’t mean understanding it and how it worked would provide no value.

It was, after all, the energy that built the multiverse, he believed. Pure energy of the System, and understanding it would no doubt give him insights into many things.

But a quick series of claw attacks killed him only a second later, reminding him of just how dangerous the current melee was, and he was forced to resurrect, drawing from his adipose reserves.

But as he did, he had an idea. As the battle continued, he felt this System energy and tried to delve into its truths as he focused on cycling his [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ].

He knew he was onto something, but he also couldn’t allow himself to forget about the fight before him. The beast lord was simply too powerful not to take completely seriously, and he struck hard with another [ Soul Shattering Strike ] as the cultist leader and his fading minions tried to hold the beast off.

This was going to be a difficult fight to win, but that wasn’t about to dissuade the madman who had made a habit of dying, and an excited grin twisted his face and drilled dimples into his cheeks.

“Let’s bloody fucking go!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 31

They moved closer to the jails, and Aaron wasted no time ripping the locks from the cells. And the three prisoners quickly rushed out and thanked them for their help. There was an ogre, and two humans, an old man, and a young one.

“Thank you, thank you,” the old man said, cupping Aaron’s hand.

“Me too, thanks,” said the ogre.

“No problem. Glad to help,” Aaron smiled. “But if you don’t mind me asking, how’d you get in there?”

There were so many similarities to video games in the multiverse that one of Aaron’s first thoughts was that these were some kind of system-spawned mobs just standing around waiting to be saved. Or were they real people?

“Captured,” the old man shook his head.

“We’re all like you. We came in here hoping to beat the dungeon, and ended up prisoners of the cult.”

“So, you’re from Superearth, I mean,” Aaron stumbled on his words. Their world didn’t have an official name yet.

“Huh?” The man’s brow twisted.

“Are you from our world?’ Talia said, stepping forward.

“I don’t think so?”

“No, doubtful,” the old man piped up. “I think we moved recently. The fog changed. It’s an indicator.”

“Well, if old man Benjamin says so, it’s probably true,” the young man said.

“You moved?” It was Aaron’s turn to furrow his brow in confusion.

“Yes,” Old man Benjamin nodded. “This dungeon dimension moves every couple of years. Always been like that.”

“Every couple of years? Wait, how long have you been in here? I thought you were sacrifices?”

“A long time,” Benjamin said. “They keep me around to look after the new sacrifices. These two were picked up at our last time, along with a few dozen others that are no longer with us.”

“That means…” the young man began to mutter. “We’re not going home, are we?”

“No home?” The ogre grunted.

“Just be glad you’re alive!” Benjamin scolded. “You have our hero here to thank for that! And whatever has been causing trouble for them. If not for that thing, they’d have sacrificed you already!”

“Causing trouble?” Aaron’s face lit up.

“The bear?” Talia probed.

“Bear? I don’t know about a bear. But I’ve heard the cultists talking about a beast causing trouble. They were sending out hunting parties for it up until they were cut off from their main base. Since then, they’ve been held up in here, terrified of it. It must be strong to scare somebody like Memphis.”

“I’m more than a little lost,” Aaron admitted, running his fingers through his hair. “What is going on in the place, and how’d you all get here?”

“Sorry,” Talia added. “We just finished our Tutorial and trials. We’re newly integrated.”

“OH! Why didn’t you say so? This would be confusing, wouldn’t it? They don’t go over the complexities of Dungeons. Well, simply, as long as a dungeon has power, it remains, and they usually move about every few years. Giving others a chance to conquer them. When their world failed, it moved here to give you a chance.”

“They failed?” Aaron said. “But this palace is only low D-grade from what I can tell. How would an established world fail to conquer it?”

“Because of the System,” Benjamin answered. “This place has a level cap of 150, keeping anything stronger out. And usually, the cultists are too afraid to engage intruders.”

“Right,” Talia nodded thoughtfully. “The beast lord. You think it’s the one causing all the trouble around here?”

Benjamin shrugged. “Dunno. I’ve been stuck in a cell,” he laughed. “But they sure do complain about it a lot. And we haven’t seen anyone come up from the fifth floor in a while.”

“Fifth floor? You mean to say that there are three more floors?” Talia said. “Looks like we’ve still got quite a bit ahead of us.”

“Aye, that’s where their main compound is. Where the one they call father is. That base makes this fortress look like a little outpost.”

“You’ve been there?”

“Many years ago.”

“His party actually managed to reach the fifth floor,” the young man said. “Hard to believe looking at him now.”

“Watch your tone, young man! Anyway,” Benjamin cleared his throat. “I can’t tell you much. It’s been a hundred years since then. But I can say that Memphis is the weakest of the family’s main branch.”

“A hundred years? How long has the cult been here?”

“Hmm, dunno. A couple hundred years I think?” Benjamin scratched his chin.

There might have been a level cap on this place, and maybe the worlds it visited weren’t anything particularly special, in regard to talent. But still, for these low D-grades to rule over a dungeon for a couple of hundred years as it bounced around the multiverse sounded impressive.

“And what about you? What’s your deal?” Aaron asked the ogre.

“Small tribe. Sneak in when humans not looking. This was chance for something more. Chance to claim treasures of a dungeon. Maybe make tribe strong. But we failed. All others dead, only me survives.”

Roomarg the Stinky [ Level 92 ]

Level 92 was high compared to his world’s current average level, but in the grand scheme of things, this ogre was likely a nobody and not very strong, as were the other two. Especially since none of them had any titles. Still, the prisoners had information, and that was plenty valuable.

Also, the quest hadn’t rewarded them yet, and so he figured they probably had to help the prisoners out of the dungeon.

“We not as strong as you, but we can still help,” Roomarg said.

Aaron looked at Talia for an answer.

“It’s nice to offer, but if they couldn’t save themselves, I doubt they’ll be much help. Shouldn’t take long to drop them off outside the dungeon. It’s just one floor up.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Aaron. “Your quest ends here, guys. Take it easy. Be happy to survive this place.”

“Oh, my old bones. If only that were possible. See this?” Benjamin said, pulling up a sleeve to show a rune marked on his forearm. “We’re bound to this place until the boss is defeated.”

“Well, we can still drop you off by the entrance, if you like. Wait for us there?”

“No, not unless you’re planning on leaving the Dungeon uncleared,” Benjamin said. “Once you fully clear it, this place will start to collapse, and the entrance will close. The best place for us is near you. That way, we can escape through the gate that appears after the Dungeon is cleared.”

Aaron hadn’t heard anything about Dungeons collapsing after being cleared, but he glanced at Talia, and she didn’t counter what he said, so he just shrugged.

“I guess it’s a party then.”

“Fine,” Talia said. “Tag along, you guys.”

Aaron didn’t actually want any additional help with the fighting, at least not from people with mediocre potential. They needed to get stronger, and the experience was best saved for Talia, himself, and Zero. But he wasn’t going to leave them behind, and they could follow in the rear.

They continued to loot the outpost, but not much of value was found. However, there were a few decent bits of furniture that Aaron grabbed, just to have something to throw into his new home that was being built.

Unfortunately, their new companions seemed to know very little else about the dungeon, which was a massive disappointment. Things had started well, and Aaron had hoped they would have more to share as insiders within this roaming dungeon. But it turned out that the dungeon had changed a lot since they entered.

And from the sounds of it, it was all because of the beast lord. The young man and Roomarg explained that when they had entered the dungeon, there had been a deadly waiting party for them on the first floor. 

Neither party had survived long, and most had been taken prisoners for sacrifice. Benjamin’s party had made it much further, but that was a long time ago, when the cult was far less established. Also, he seemed to be having memory problems, and often forgot what he was talking about mid-sentence.

Either way, it seemed that the entire dungeon had gone to hell since then. Because the cutlists were hiding away from the beast lord, the beasts and natural inhabitants of the dungeon had begun to take it back over.

This, in and of itself, was a worrying thought. Memphis mightn’t have been that strong, but he was still D-grade. And if the other main members of the cult’s main branch were even stronger, and yet still frightened of the beast lord, that had troubling implications.

After a short walk, following Aaron’s quest marker, they reached the next gate and descended down to the third floor.

The prisoners were a little apprehensive of following them down, but they seemed to trust their strength to some degree.

Reaching the third stage, they found more corpses, including some cultists. There were still some beasts around, though, and they made short work of them.

But instead of heading straight for the fourth floor, they decided to make the most of the current level. After all, the beast lord was either going to be on the fourth floor or the following one, and Aaron wanted to get a little more experience while focusing on his core before heading down for the confrontation.

Also, the levels of the beasts were quite good within the dungeon, and it was a good opportunity to take advantage of. It wasn’t that they were super difficult, but strong enough to give decent progression, and not as dangerous as walking around the jungle and risking accidentally bumping into powerful D-grades.

And after several skirmishes, they had gained a decent amount of experience, clearing out most of what they could find.

 Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

75 → 78

Taking a minute after their recent kills, Aaron put the 28 free points he’d accumulated into Perception, for a similar reason as he had been increasing Dexterity. The two Stats went hand in hand, and to keep pace with his increasingly powerful and fast body, he needed both Stats to be respectively strong.

Struggling to find anything else to kill, they decided it was time to head down to the fourth floor. 

But as they walked toward the gate, they started to come across ruined settlements. Bodies lay all over the place, and it was confirmation that the beast lord was indeed using the cult to level against.

It was curious, though. If the beast lord was hunting the cultists, why had it left behind the fortress on level 2? Was it because of Memphis? That seemed unlikely. They already knew the strongest members of the cult were down on the lower floors, and so it didn’t make a lot of sense to go hunting down here if one was scared of Memphis. If anything, one would expect that the beast lord would be more cautious around here, assuming that it had intentionally avoided the fortress on the second floor.

Or perhaps it had simply missed it?

“You mentioned treasures?” Aaron asked.

“Yes. Dungeon realms like this are anomalies,” Benjamin replied. “They usually form around great treasures. That’s where they get their energy from.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know? Right, you just finished your Tutorial. This stuff is more advanced. My old brain forgets these things. Anyway, there are many great treasures throughout the multiverse that form from System energy. Something acts as a catalyst, though I don't entirely understand that part of it. But the important thing is that the energy of the System wraps around the catalyst, gathering greater and greater amounts of energy as time passes, until eventually something valuable is created. This can take eons to happen, but once a powerful anchor has formed, a dungeon like this will form around it. Usually, the power of the anchor is directly relative to the dungeon.”

“So, if this is a low D-grade dungeon, then this anchor isn’t all that powerful?”

“In the grand scheme of things? No, not really. But D-grade is still rather impressive for many weaker worlds. Like Roomarg here. Or even the dumb brat. For them, hitting D-grade is an honor. And a place like this could make them rich beyond their dreams.”

Aaron nodded a long. He had always intended to delve into dungeons as he found them, as quests alone had proven valuable. But if there was a valuable anchor at the heart of every dungeon, that made things so much more interesting.

Reaching into his scabbard, he pulled out the dungeon token he got from the 8th stage of the Trial of Travels. He hadn’t really paid it much attention at the time, but as he learned more about Dungeons, the item intrigued him more and more. The timer was a little over halfway now, meaning he had a month and a half before he’d be able to use it. 

More importantly, the token wasn’t for just any old dungeon like this one, but had itself been a special reward. He wondered what that implied, and it made his imagination run wild. What might be at the heart of a special dungeon that could only be entered as a reward for completing trials made for the sector’s greatest warriors?

Not only that, but it was a communal dungeon, and he had a feeling that whatever prizes were to be found within it wouldn’t be easily won.

I'd better keep an eye on this thing. I certainly don’t want to miss out on something like that.

He returned the token to the scabbard, and they kept going. But there wasn’t a lot more to find on the current floor. It was mostly just corpses and ruined buildings. It was obvious that the beast lord had laid down a path of destruction down here, and there wasn’t much left standing in its wake.

They killed what few beasts they found, but the floor was mostly desolate. Worryingly, the beasts were stronger here. At the very peak of E-grade, they even ran into a couple of weak D-grades.

And suddenly, Aaron realized that the beast lord hadn’t avoided the fortress on the second floor, but that it had come down here intentionally, looking for the strongest enemies to grind and challenge itself against.

He got a bad feeling about this beast, but he wasn’t going to turn back. Regardless of how strong it had gotten, he had a feeling the ants were worse, and if they couldn’t best this challenge, what chance did they have against that one?

“You ready?’ He asked Talia as they walked toward the gate for the final floor.

“We-we might stay here,” the young man said. “Guard the gate for you. You know?”

“What about when we take the anchor?”

“We’ll follow in about fifteen or so minutes, if we don’t see you,” Benjamin said. “And meet up before you take it.”

“Fine by me,” Aaron shrugged. It was probably best not to have them in the way, anyway.

He doubted they would be of much help, anyway. And his thoughts were far more interested in what they might find, and whether there was anyone still alive in the cult waiting down there.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 30

“First kill is mine!” Aaron shouted and shot toward the base with reckless abandon.

He hadn’t spotted any D-grades, and so far hadn’t had much difficulty with anything the dungeon had thrown at them, so he figured they might as well have fun with it.

Cultist of the Sunken Chapel [ Level 96 ]

The figure before him was mutated, with bulging cysts and extra digits, and when his fist crashed into its jaw, he felt bones snapping, and it crumpled before him.

“Huh, that was easy.”

But the fight was only just getting started, and the defenders started to throw Molotov cocktails that exploded spectacularly with flames that seemed far bigger than they had any right to be.

But his group wasn’t deterred, and Zero shot straight through the flames and gripped one of them by the neck, and shook the man dead like a chicken.

And Talia was only a step behind, her avatar’s huge sword swatting a couple of unlucky cultists from the walls, sending severed limbs raining down over the central courtyard between the walls and the main building.

But if the cultists had one thing going for them, it was their numbers, and more and more of the zealot warriors flooded out of everywhere, screaming battlecries and waving rusty weapons through the air.

It was pretty great, though, Aaron thought, and a devilish smile came over his face. He was bouncing through the junkyard fortress like a Jackie Chan movie, crippling and destroying mutant cultists with every punch, and feeling his energy flowing through him, and his hungry ring in the process.

It wasn’t just throwing punches, though. Just because he had a free slot now didn’t mean that he could be reckless. He was fighting enemies that really weren’t particularly strong for him, and the System would penalize him for it. To make up for that, he needed to focus on the gains he wanted, and he channeled his [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ] as he fought.

The Skill had been on his mind for a while now. He hadn’t focused on it because it was, quite frankly, a good Skill. There was no immediate need to improve it, or at least there hadn’t been.

But he couldn’t get the faux part of the skill out of his head. Surely there must be a normal, or true version of the Skill, he figured, and if this version was as useful as it was, he could only imagine how much more powerful he’d be upgrading it.

And so, his mind consciously worked on it as he fought, channeling energy back and forth through his core, never using an ounce of it directly, but forcing it all through the core.

With any luck, this constant usage, even when unnecessary, would pay dividends, and his eagerness to test his theory drove him onward as he sent cultists flying through the battlefield and crushing into nearby structures with every well-placed fist.

But as eager as the zealots were to get themselves slaughtered in new and excruciating ways, they weren’t all that effective until the duel bolt throwers were brought online.

The rapid-fire weapons were rather impressive. Hundreds of explosive bolts filled the air in seconds, blasting away their own camp and followers as Aaron and Zero dodged.

Talia raised her protective Skill, and shields brightened with light as they ate explosive energy.

Ragdolled bodies and severed limbs were flying all over the place, and blood was literally raining as Aaron flew toward the closet bolt thrower, ripped the man firing straight out of the seat, and quickly ended him.

Zero was equally fast, taking out another at the other end of the fort, and the two of them flew at the final bolt thrower from two sides, and shoulder slammed him against one another, and the man was squeezed out like a gory tube of toothpaste between their powerful shoulders.

The carnage was impressive. Revoltingly so. These cultists seemed to have even less respect for their own comrades' lives than they did, and Aaron was fairly certain more cultists had been killed by the explosive bolts than by his own party.

But ultimately, it had been futile. At level 73, and 58 levels in his Profession, and with more Titles and better Blessings than possibly anyone else on Earth, anything that wasn’t D-grade was barely a speedbump for Aaron. Even if they had deadly tricks up their sleeves, like the bolt throwers. The reality was that his training had pushed him so far above these regular enemies that he didn’t even need to really pull on his energy reserves, and every second he spent engaged in combat led to the dozens of enemies crushed beneath his well-aimed fists.

But the cultist fortress wouldn’t be put away that easily, and as the last zealots were beaten down or cut in two by Talia, a creepy choir began to sing. The shrill and grinding choir was no ordinary church music; instead, it was guttural and disturbing. And while he wasn’t too threatened by the cultists themselves, the music made him rather uncomfortable.

A second later, the doors from the main building burst open, and dozens more cultists charged out, led by a huge man bag over his head, with swollen pustules all over his muscular body. 

Big Brother Memphis Festus [ Level 110 ]

Titles: [ For the Family ] [ Zealot ]

“Who dares threaten the family?” The big, bag-wearing man named Memphis roared. His two hands had been replaced by chainsaws, and they roared to life angrily as he waved them through the air. “They give their blood for the family! They dine in paradise! Come, brothers and sisters, let us join the slaughter! Let our bodies be sacrifices for the great one! For the family!”

“Fuck, mate,” Aaron shook his head. “Talia, how do you think they became so mutated?”

“I don’t want to think about that,” Talia said as one of the female cultists came up and rubbed Big Brother Memphis’ shoulders.

“Come, sister! Let us make the apostates bleed!”

“Gross,” Aaron grimaced as the cultists charged toward them.

Memphis led the pack and slammed his two chainsaws together, causing a shockwave that blasted out and rippled through the sky, and hit hard against the group, pressing them backward. But he’d need far more than a simple shockwave to defeat the trio, and they immediately countered with their own whirlwind of attacks.

Within seconds, several cultists were already slain by the maelstrom of chaos that unfolded.

Big Brother Memphis Festus was no pushover, though, and his chainsaws ripped through the land and even the crude walls with ease every time he missed an attack.

The mutated cultists even managed to take off one of Aaron’s arms after an exchange, but he wasn’t an elite, not like the warriors he had fought previously. And if he really wanted, he could have blasted him away quicker without the ring.

But the entire reason they were attempting the quest was to grow stronger, and so Aaron kept the ring on while concentrating on his core, pushing aether and mana through it and converting HP at a ridiculous rate.

It almost didn’t matter that he lost a limb, as he was so focused on overclocking his core that it grew back in seconds as their attacks were thrown back and forth between one another.

However, the suicidal cultists wouldn’t just sit back and let Aaron dismantle their big brother, and he was charged by several, including bombers that had either swallowed explosives prior to the fight, or had some kind of Skill that allowed them to blow themselves up.

He dodged the first couple that came at him, but then was struck by their explosive shockwaves, blasting him back and sending him smashing into a wall at his back.

And that was all they needed to descend upon him, and a dozen more suicide bombers charged him, blowing Aaron up in spectacular fashion.

“They actually got me,” Aaron nodded, kind of appreciating their ingenuity, in a sick kind of way as he reformed. Against anyone else, it would have been rather effective. Unfortunately for the family, they’d have to kill him more than once to put him away.

And with the bombers distracted by Aaron, Talia could make her move on Memphis, and she did just that, striking at him with powerful light-infused sword swings.

Sparks and flames flew all over as Memphis met the sword strikes with his chainsaws, but the blinding light coming from the swords whipped across his gnarled flesh, opening wounds every time they clashed.

The last remaining bombers turned toward Talia, but Aaron intercepted them. She had her own powerful defensive abilities, but he didn’t want to test that. He knew firsthand how powerful their explosives were, and it was best that he ate that kind of power.

As he punched several of the remaining bombers, they exploded, flinging Aaron back across the fortress, and he got up, a torso with no limbs.

“That's all you got? I’m not even done yet!”

The last two bombers were outraged, flying into a fury at the thought of a bloodied, limbless man challenging them, and they flung themselves at him with destructive power.

Of course, once they had blown themselves up, Aaron reformed.

“Ha, better luck next time,” he said, dusting himself off.

He recovered just in time to catch Talia landing the final blow against Memphis, and his chainsaws exploded in flames, and the sword passed straight through, splitting the giant muscle-bound man in two.

The courtyard was completely covered in gore, and Zero was hunting down the last couple of cultists with glee.

Everyone had done their part, and he realized just how strong his little group had become. 

It hadn’t been too long since their flight from the jungle, and it wasn’t just he who had grown a decent amount in that time.

Not only that, but this world wasn’t like the trials, and he could level up quickly here, at least until he reached D-grade.

“Not bad. Not bad at all,” he said as the final death throws took Memphis.

 Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

73 → 75

Looking around at all the gore, it was a pity they were humans, even if they were weird, mutated versions of humans. No matter how much Aaron changed, nor how pragmatic he felt about the multiverse, he wasn’t eating humans, nor was he taking their corpses for anyone else to eat. It was one thing to cook a beast who had consumed human souls and evolved to look like one, and another to cook actual human flesh, which gave him goosebumps to even think about.

However, the bolt throwers seemed handy, and Aaron flashed over and ripped them straight out of the walls, the bolts that had held them down shooting out against his strength. Aaron then threw them into his scabbard, alongside any crude armor that wasn't completely blown apart.

He needed to keep his settlement safe while he was gone, and he had a feeling the bolt throwers would help some of his quicker followers provide assistance should they be attacked while he was gone.

But his attention was quickly stolen from looting by Talia, as light began to flash out from her. Before his very eyes, her avatar began to change. 

“An evolution?”

It wasn’t too surprising. She had scored the kill against Memphis and done most of the damage to him, so she likely scored a good bit of experience from the fight.

Soon, the white, blinding light that enveloped Talia and her avatar began to shimmer and change. And gradually, a darkness started to creep in, like murky storm clouds taking over a bright day. And within a few seconds, gone was the shining knight, and it had been replaced by a brooding knight of darkness.

Obsidian black armor stood over Talia, and even the light that emanated from her as she activated Skills began to change, darkening into shadows.

But it didn’t stop there. The transformation continued onto Talia herself, albeit in a more subtle way. Thick, dark eyeliner drew itself onto her eyes, creating little waves at the ends, and her lashes thickened and extended a little. Her once shining steel platemail then began to darken to charcoal, and the shape of the metal armor even began to change a little. And a small piece of it bent out of shape and twisted around her neck, turning itself into a black, metal choker. 

“Ahhh…. Are you okay, Talia? You look a little…”

“Huh?” She swung around to Aaron, the emptiness in her eyes dissipating in a second. “Sure, why wouldn’t I be? I just evolved my Class!”

“It’s just… You… um, look different.”

Talia blinked. He wasn’t sure if it was because she had been too focused on her System menu, or something else, but she seemed not to have realized that her appearance had changed.

“Oh, look at that,” she said, looking up at her avatar. “It’s all black. Wasn’t expecting that.”

“You weren’t? Not that it matters, but what’s your new Class?” Aaron asked.

“Avatar of the Knightmare,” she replied nonchalantly.

“I see. I suppose that explains the change of attire. Why though? I didn’t take you as a nightmare kind of person.”

“Oh. I mean, I didn’t really think about it like that. I’m not really sure why I was given the option, but it seemed like the best choice. It did, however, give me an affinity to Dark, which I wasn’t sure about. That’s what took me so long to decide. I’m still not entirely sure about the affinity, but I figured that I should pick the best Class,” she shrugged.

“I can’t fault you for that.”

Aaron wondered if it was the affinity changing her appearance, or if Classes in general messed with the appearance of things like armor and Skills.

“Are we going to continue?” Talia asked. “I kind of want to test this out.”

“Yeah, sure. Let’s move.”

They continued into the main building, and Talia was straight up giddy to fight someone as they went looking for both the prisoners and loot.

But before she got a chance to test out her new avatar, she walked in front of a large mirror in the sacrificial chamber.

“Oh,” Talia said, stopping in front of the mirror.

Her hand immediately went up to touch the choker around her neck, and Aaron caught a slight grimace on her face and a little bit of blush.

“I see,” she said hesitantly.

“Oh yeah. It looks good on you.”

“You think?”

“Different, but good.”

Aaron wasn’t sure how things got to this point, so he was reassuring Talia of her dress choices, but he tried his best to sound optimistic.

“Let’s keep moving,” she said suddenly, and turned away from the mirror.

Luckily, the awkwardness wouldn’t linger for long, as the echoed cries for help from the resident prisoners sounded down the hall.

Both were thankful for the distraction and rushed down until they reached another chamber where there were several cells, and at the far end of the chamber were the prisoners.

But as they neared, Aaron got a weird feeling and came to a halt as he peered into the cells. He had expected to find humans…

“An ogre?” He blinked, and Talia looked across at him.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 29

Entering the dungeon, the party was immediately met by a foul stench of rotting vegetation assaulting their senses. 

“That is horrid,” Talia pinched her nose.

“Yeah, horrid,” Aaron mimicked her, earning himself a sideways glance.

They were standing on a dirt ledge that rose a couple of meters above what was otherwise nothing but reedy swamp, with a few ruined buildings and skeletal trees sinking into it.

“I’m going to need a long bath after this.”

“I dunno. Seems like a pleasant place,” Aaron grinned.

“I know you’re taking the piss, but you know, a part of me thinks you actually believe that.”

“Hey! I’m not a swamp dweller!” Aaron defended himself, but Talia was barely listening, already scoping their surroundings.

“Hey, look at this,” she waved him over, pointing at the ground.

There were huge bear-like prints pressed into the soggy earth, and they were heading away from them.

“Good job. I guess that’s the big guy. Shall we, then?”

Talia nodded, and they got walking.

Zero was busy sniffing about, but the moment Aaron started walking, he was quick to his side, only to bound away a second later as he searched for things to sniff and occasionally raising his head to listen with twitchy ears.

The trail quickly descended into the swamp water, but they trudged forward through the ankle-deep water unbothered. The water had hidden the tracks from the naked eye, but Aaron’s [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] could keep track of the residual energy left behind by the beast.

And it didn’t take long for them to notice other signs of the beast’s trail.

“Look at that,” Aaron pointed.

Scattered around the place were multiple corpses of giant mosquitoes, and walking a little further, they also found giant, mutated frogs that were covered in spikes.

“So, that confirms it. The beast lord really is coming down here to grind.”

“Do you think it’s intelligent, then? Like a human?” Talia asked. 

“Hmm, well, it is a D-grade. I suppose it probably is pretty intelligent. It clearly has a plan, at least.”

Aaron was already well aware that beasts hunted each other not just for food, but to grow stronger. However, this was the first example that he knew of a monster using a dungeon to grind, but then again, it wasn’t too surprising. Intelligent species followed a different path during the integration, what with Tutorials and trials. But he was aware that there were plenty of worlds that ended up ruled by evolved beasts.

“Let’s keep moving.”

The trail kept going for some distance, passing by many more corpses. Soon, they reached an unusual spot. There were stone markers lined in a circle, and another stone door just like the one they had used to enter the dungeon.

“That looks familiar," Aaron said, walking over to it.

“There weren’t many, but I did a few dungeons in the Tutorial that had multiple levels. That’s probably the entrance to the second floor,” Talia said.

“Really? Cool,” Aaron said and pressed his hand against it.

Conditions to descend to the second floor of the Dungeon of the Sunken Chapel have not yet been met!

“Conditions?” He murmured, but just as he pulled his hand away, buzzing and croaking started to sound around them.

“Ah, Aaron, what did you just do?” Talia said, summoning her avatar.

“Nothing, I swear,” he shrugged, and Zero growled low. “I just tried to enter the second floor.”

The swamp around them started to bubble, and weeds and vegetation began to part, creating little whirlpools as the swamp drained into them. And within seconds, dozens of huge mosquitoes and mutated frogs started to slither their way out of the weedy holes.

Buzzsucker [ Level 95 ]

Murdecker Acid Spitter [ Level 97 ]

“Okay. Looks like we’ve got company,” Aaron cracked his knuckles with a grin.

“Let’s do this then,” Talia sighed.

A second later, acidic spit flew at them from all directions. Talia blocked it with her avatar’s defenses that flashed with light as the acid hit them, while Aaron and Zero dodged and flew into melee range without pause.

The number of beasts attacking them was considerable, but Talia, Zero, and Aaron must have been one of the strongest parties on the entire planet at that moment, and they crashed into their enemies with devastating consequences.

Beams of light, huge, blinding sword swipes, and pinpoint, precise punches rained down, and with every passing second, a beast was utterly crushed and annihilated.

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

71 → 72

Within several seconds, they were standing amongst many corpses, and Aaron immediately got to stuffing them into his scabbard for later.

“I’m thinking stew,” he mumbled to himself with a smile he didn’t realize was on his face.

“Y-you’re… thinking about food at this moment?” Talia’s nose scrunched up. “In a place like this? It stinks like shit in here!”

The decaying swamp wasn’t exactly appetite-inducing for most, but Aaron wasn’t most. Not anymore, at least.

“Oh… I ah, yeah, no. I’m just joking, haha.”

Talia frowned. “Right. Sure you are.”

Mental note, don’t let Talia see the stew. She won’t understand.

“Alrighty, I’m ready. Shall we keep moving?” Aaron said as he got done.

“Yeah, let’s go. You’ve been marching us forward non-stop. I don’t suppose you’ve got a plan?”

“Nah, not quite,” Aaron said, walking back over to the stone door and pressing his hand against it.

Conditions met!

Descend into the second floor of the Dungeon of the Sunken Chapel?

“Huh, would you look at that? It’s working now. Accepted!”

In an instant, they were on the second floor. Since they were at a party and within range of one another, neither Talia nor Zero had to confirm anything and were whisked away, whether they liked it or not, when Aaron confirmed the prompt.

The second floor was much like the first, but darker and with a thick layer of mist that made it so they could only see a couple of meters ahead of themselves.

“I sense it went this way,” Aaron said and started walking.

“Wait, Aaron, hold on,” said Talia.

“Yeah?” said Aaron, turning around.

“I think we should slow down a bit.”

“How come?”

“Well, think about it,” she said. “This is a Beast Lord, a monster on the same level as the Countess. But unlike the Countess, this one has been grinding levels out down here and pushing itself to get stronger. It’s not going to be an easy fight. Plus, look around. We’re in a Dungeon. Plenty of levels to go around.”

“So you’re saying we should take our time and go hunting a bit on the way?”

“Yeah, basically.”

“Huh. Yeah, y’know, that’s a good idea.”

“And it’s not like we’re in an extreme time crunch,” said Talia. “I want to be back sooner than later to keep the others from worrying, but we can afford to take things a little easy.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. And it’ll let me replenish my ingredient stores too.”

“Ah, yes… That too…”

Oh, right… She doesn’t like swamp food…

The two stood in awkward silence for a moment until Aaron sensed something moving at the edge of the range of [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ].

“Oh, hey, enemies!”

The two made quick work of another pack of the monstrous frogs, and once Aaron had taken all the corpses, they kept going. They only vaguely followed the bear’s trail, taking frequent detours to kill more beasts and gain more levels until they both stopped as the bear’s trail took them near an old shack. It didn’t look like anything special, and they were just about to keep going, ignoring it as they followed the beast deeper into the swamp. But Aaron sensed some energy within it and raised a halting hand.

“Hold on a minute, I sense something in there.”

“What is it?” Talia asked.

He walked inside with a curious bent to his brow. It was a strange sensation, and it led him straight to an ordinary, weathered note nailed to a wooden table. 

The strange part about it was that the note was filled with a peculiar energy. One he had only felt in a select few circumstances.

“Wait, I’ve felt this before… when buildings were building themselves in the camp. This… this is System energy, isn’t it?”

Aaron pulled the nail free and unfolded the note, and his eyes went wide.

Side Quest: Rescue the Sacrifice

The Cult of the Sunken Chapel is known for the sacrifices they make to their swamp-residing deity. Rescue the living sacrifices on the second floor for additional rewards.

Accept: Y/N?

“Hey, Talia.”

“What is it?” She said, squeezing her nose as she entered the decrepit house.

“Take a look at this.”

“A Quest?”

“Yeah. You done something like this in the Tutorial dungeons?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I’ve learned about Side Quests, though. Their rewards are usually comparable to their difficulty.”

“I see… so, do you think we should do it?”

“Umm, maybe? It’ll either be easy and not very rewarding, or—”

“I get it,” Aaron said. “We’re here to get stronger. It might be a detour, but it sounds like it could be worth it.” 

“Hmm, you’re right. We should do it. After those last few beast kills, I can feel the experience bubbling up within me. I’m close to hitting D-grade,” Talia said. “There might be enough beasts between the beast lord and us for me to evolve, but there might not be.”

“Good point. We don’t know how strong it is. It’d be silly not to help you evolve first. Besides, even if there are enough beasts, it’s probably worthwhile that you have a few fights before the beast lord after evolving, even if they’re easy ones.”

“So, we’re doing the Quest?” Talia said.

“Yep, looks like we are,” Aaron said, turning toward where the new marker appeared the moment he accepted the Quest.

There were three markers, and they didn’t appear to be too far away and were within close proximity to one another.

Aaron led the way, passing through the swamp and swatting a few more beasts as they marched.

 Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

72 → 73

And soon, the mist began to clear away, and they found themselves standing before a crude fortress of rusted metal, rotting wood, and spikes jutting out in every direction.

Flaming torches could soon be seen atop the wallwalk in the distance, moving back and forth as if guards were making their rounds, though it was hard to make out details from their distance.

“Looks like that’s where the prisoners are.”

“A cult, and they have a base? You think these could be humans?” Talia asked as they took a step toward the fortress.

“Dunno, let’s go and find out.”

There was an interesting thought playing on Aaron’s mind, though. How did dungeons work? In the trials, the creatures within were either the likeness borrowed from a creature within the multiverse or creatures transported into the trials. Did something similar happen within the dungeons, or did the denizens of this place simply live within the dungeon?

The place wasn’t small, could be entered and left at will, and seemed to have plenty of resources, so it was possible that these cultists simply lived within the dungeon.

“You ready?”

Talia nodded.

“Great. Then let’s go get you a level up.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 28

**Author Note**

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great break, and if you didn't get one, I hope you get one soon. Feels weird going 4 days without a release, and while the break was nice, I'm glad to be back releasing chapters again!

**Author Note**

To say that the people of New Haven were apprehensive of letting Aaron go down into the dungeon below them was an understatement. At first, they had formed a line, trying to dissuade him forcefully, yet peacefully. The commotion had caused Talia and the others to come running.

The guards had tried to stop them, but a group cowardly enough to use a beast lord for protection wasn’t willingly starting a fight with people who outranked them as much as Talia and Aaron did.

Surrounded, Aaron pleaded with them. He was going to go down into the dungeon one way or another, but he really hadn’t wanted to go throwing fists to force his way down.

In the end, it was Talia who managed to calm the situation. Through her rank and a little grandstanding, she managed to convince them that they could help and that living atop the beast was dangerous, which wasn’t too hard. Talia was on the cusp of her D-grade evolution, and between the two of them, it wasn’t too hard to believe that they were capable of beating D-grade beasts.

“Fine, fine,” Bobo said, raising his hands and looking among his people. “Perhaps we can make an exception this one time.”

There was something about the man’s words that made Aaron uneasy, though. And he could have sworn the man winked when looking away from him.

“We will let these people into Rawmuck’s lair, if it is their wish to do so.”

Aaron and Talia glanced at one another and shrugged. They were getting what they wanted, and couldn’t exactly argue with the man, even if his mannerisms gave them the creeps.

There was definitely something off, but they couldn’t go slaughtering humans that hadn’t attacked first, and they were letting them do exactly what they asked.

Bobo and his people then led them to the school’s old basement. There, they found a cave passage leading to the dungeon below, and strangely, there were two little bear statues by its entrance, with wreaths and flowers scattered about, and even a couple of incense plates, with incense sticks still burning.

“Odd.”

“Tell me about it,” Talia said.

“As you asked,” Bobo said. “You may meet Rawmuck. The furry one is believed to be in the dungeon as we speak.”

Nodding to one another, like they were sharing a secret, Bobo then led his people out of the room.

“So, are we just going through with this?” Ryan asked, watching as their strange hosts left.

“Wait a minute, I still have this Skill to purchase,” Aaron said. “Don’t worry. I’ll be quick. I wanna get this over and done with as much as anybody else.”

“No rush,” Talia waved.

“No rush?” Ryan said. “Err, if you say so.”

Ignoring his team, Aaron opened his System and scanned through the options. Sooty was back at camp, but he doubted the little guy would care about missing a Skill selection. With goblin girls to harass, he really was a lot more relaxed about, well, everything, which was both a good thing and rather concerning.

Precise Power [ Rare ]. The power of your strikes aren’t all about strength and energy, but precision. Passively provides a small amount of additional damage to the user’s strikes based on their Dexterity and Perception.

Cool Headed [ Elite ] Rage is beneath you. You are at one with your senses, flowing calmly. Passively reduces or removes negative effects from rage Skills, while allowing the user to still benefit from their buffs.

Empty-Handed Teamwork [ Epic ] The lesser monks of the Empty Hand have found powerful methods of working together to overcome their weaknesses. When activated, this Skill creates an aura that provides users with a Class containing the “Empty-Handed” label to get additional buffs to all Stats, and speed when fighting within a ten-kilometer radius of one another.

Bulky Boy [ Epic ] You’re a little plumper than most, but don’t let that dissuade you from being the warrior you always wanted to be! When activated, the bulky boy gains additional toughness and resistance based on the size of their belly.

Skill merge [ Soul Vortex ] + [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] [ Legendary ] You have adapted and forced these two Skills into one, gaining benefits from both. When activated, the user creates a field around them that detects entities both living and dead, while providing additional details not usually shown in the Inspection window. This Skill now also provides the additional benefit of time dilation, but with it, the mana cost is increased.

Aaron nodded appreciatively at his options. Mostly because even though he didn’t take interest in most of them, it was nice to see higher rarities in general. It made him feel like skipping selections hadn’t been a total waste, and while his options weren’t comparable to the best he’d gotten in the trials, that was a special situation. One that wasn’t easy to replicate outside of them. At least not yet.

Also, it wasn’t just the rarities on offer. There were a bunch of good options, even if they weren’t right for him. Precise Power, for example, was a straight-up damage buff, and he kinda wished he had a spot for it. Even if he replaced it later, it’d be a nice little buff for now.

And Bulky Boy was similarly useful, even if he didn’t particularly appreciate the name or description of the Skill.

But he had been aiming for a Skill merge, and he got a Skill merge just like he had hoped. Gorgon’s Soul Vortex didn’t really do anything special, but both Skills were already powerful and useful, and so it didn’t necessarily need to do anything extra.

What it did do, and he was very grateful for it, was free up a much-needed Skill slot, and a Passive one at that.

Eagerly rubbing his hands together, he made the selection and placed all free points into Dexterity. Then, he opened his status page, and his eyes gleamed with a mad satisfaction as he saw his gains.

 [ Name: Aaron Dober ]

[ Age: 23 ]

[ Race: Human [ Awoken ]  ]

[ Grade: E ]

[ HP: 90500 ]

[ MP: 45400 ]

[ SP: 125700 ]

[ AP: 3000 ]

[ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 71 ]

[ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 58 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 923 (+543) ]

[ Vitality: 905 (+541) ]

[ Fortitude: 1257 (+733) ]

[ Dexterity: 760 (+440) ]

[ Agility: 994 (+567) ]

[ Intelligence: 633 (+369) ]

[ Willpower: 454 (+295) ]

[ Charisma: 417 (+297) ]

[ Perception: 711 (+403) ]

[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy,  Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger, Shadow Trials Hall of Famer, Behemoth Slayer, Pack Leader ]

[ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat, Pack Alpha ]

[ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa, World Map ]

[ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

[ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands  ]

[ Class Passive Skills (2/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite,  ]

[ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Spectral Projection, Gorgon’s Soul Vortex, Turbocharged Haymaker,  Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ]

He had been feeling stronger than ever, and looking at his status page, it was easy to see why. Fortitude was already well over a thousand points, and Strength, Vitality, and Agility weren’t far behind.

“Are you done?” Talia asked.

“I thought I wasn’t in a rush?”

“Ryan’s acting weird,” Talia said, and glanced across at their friend, who was pacing around.

“Oh, right. Well, yeah, I’m good,” Aaron stretched and cracked his knuckles. “But I think Ryan and the others should stay in town. See if you guys can be helpful. Maybe even form some ties with the locals.”

“No way! Mate, these people give me the creeps!” Ryan protested. “Besides, you have no idea what you’ll find down there. Don’t be stupid. We might not be as strong as you, but we can still be helpful. You know we did a lot to help back there against the bats.”

“Yeah, mate, sorry. But this is different. We’re hunting a D-grade beast, and we’re going into a dungeon to do it. And if dungeons are anything like what I experienced in the trials, we could face all kinds of challenges. So, Talia, Zero, and myself are going to have to watch our own backs. I’m sorry, but bringing the rest of you along will be too dangerous. Also, I think these are good people. Weird, but good. And we’re building a settlement, aren’t we?”

“We are…” Ryan nodded.

“Right. So, we could use good people. C’mon, mate. Be useful. Show them the benefits of working with us.”

“He’s got a point,” Talia said. “You’ve got a chance to show them who we are.”

“Dammit, fine. I know you’re just trying to butter me up. But I’ll damn well show you. They’ll bloody love us by the time you’re back.”

“Great, mate! That’s the spirit!” Aaron patted his shoulder and turned to the cave entrance. “Alright, shall we do this?”

Zero barked.

“You sound way too much like a dog sometimes.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Talia said, walking ahead.

They continued down the rocky path into what appeared to be the beast lord’s lair. And what they found was a single nesting spot, with bones littered around it. There were also some of the flowers and wreaths from above. 

“Is this human clothing?” Aaron asked, crouching by the bones and pulling out a piece of torn cloth.

“Maybe. But that’s certainly a human skull,” she pointed.

“Fuck. It is, isn't it? What now?”

“What choice do we have?” Talia said. “Besides, we have no idea when the beast lord killed them.”

She was right, of course. If something strange was going on, the best way to get answers was likely to deal with the beast lord. And the townfolk weren’t exactly powerhouses, and so he wasn’t too worried about Ryan and the others.

Still, something was off.

“It’s a bit weird, not just the bones. Beast lord,” Aaron said, feeling the words in his mouth. “Beast lord. Lord kind of implies that this beast has a domain and followers, don’t you think?”

“Maybe?” Talia shrugged. 

“Well, the bat certainly did. So do the ants. But not this guy? Why is he different?”

“Maybe he’s not?” Talia offered. “Maybe we just haven’t found his followers.”

“Right,” Aaron nodded, briefly glancing up. “Maybe we haven’t…”

“Having second thoughts?”

“No,” Aaron shook his head and stood up, and walked toward the dungeon entrance. 

A stone door marked by strange symbols stood before them, and when he pressed his palm against it, a System message appeared.

Enter the Dungeon of the Sunken Chapel alone or as a party?

Aaron turned to Talia. “Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Party selected, dungeon commencing in 5… 4… 3…

**Johan Svensson**

Clashes of magnificent power rocked across the land in the distance, and the sky was occasionally lit up by the bright flashes of Skills, and explosions echoed throughout.

The battle had been going on for hours now, and reports from the front weren’t great. It seemed all that they heard was a never-ending stream of losses.

The brooding leader’s servants all stood silently, heads bowed as Johan watched from the old, destroyed tower. They were thirty stories up on a windowless floor and could see the entire battlefield from where they stood, some miles away.

Hurried footsteps sounded, and a runner burst into the room and fell to his knees. “Sir!” He said no more, waiting for a response.

Johan took a long while to reply before exhaling and turning to his minion. “Yes, what is it?”

“The necromancer’s forces have pushed us back across the river. We managed to kill one of its D-grade monstrosities, but we lost several of ours in the process. But...”

“What is it, dammit?!”

“We thought that was the last of the monstrosities… but there are three more…”

“Three more D-grades?” Johan’s lip trembled, and his brow twitched. 

“Yes, sir!”

How was this possible? Three D-grades? The sheer numbers of the dead were bad enough, and while the D-grades weren’t the strongest he had come across, they proved extremely formidable when leading armies of the dead.

But more importantly, how could the necromancer gather such an army so quickly? It hadn’t been that long since the trials ended.

Johan’s fists clenched. He had no choice. He would have to make a retreat for now. He needed time to gather more forces. A bigger, stronger army.

If he could find a few big settlements with powerful members and bring them under his control, then he still stood a chance against the necromancer. After all, his best elites were still able to go toe-to-toe with the necromancer's forces; he simply hadn’t had enough of them.

He thought back to those he met in the trials. The crazy man, Aaron Dober, and the stoic woman, Talia Reinhart. They were likely the strongest humans on the planet. He hadn’t been able to put them under his influence during the Shadow Trials, but they would serve as powerful tools in the right hands. His hands.

“Have Ernest and the other elites form a defensive line. They shall cover our retreat.”

The runner almost protested the suicidal order, but then a blue rune glowed on his temple, and he nodded in obedience.

“As you command.”

Johan knew he would lose a lot of good followers today, but surviving was more important than anything else, and he needed a decent distraction. After all, the necromancer’s forces had already proven their speed by catching up to them and flanking their forces as they had.

It was exactly the reason they had been caught at the river as they had. And Johan wasn’t about to risk his own life over a few mind slaves, regardless of their potential.

Leaving the tower behind, Johan leaped out from the thirtieth floor with a gust of energy, his assistants in tow. Moving quickly, they cleared a mile or two, and he stopped briefly to glance back from a cliff’s edge that overlooked the land.

Johan sighed. So much of his work was thrown away in a single battle. Worst still, the dead would only provide more corpses for the necromancer’s legion.

I’ll have to be quick. No more games. No more second chances. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

He had hidden his true self when trying to convince others in the trials, worried about outing his powers. But the situation was getting desperate. He couldn’t allow the necromancer to keep growing stronger, and at the speed he was going.

He didn’t care how strong they were or the risks that came with showing his hand too soon. He had let too many of earth’s elites slip his grasp in the trials, and that wasn’t a mistake he would make twice. This was the only way he would build a strong enough and big enough army to defeat this scourge upon the land.

He turned around, continuing his flight from the battle, but before he made it very far, he suddenly froze in place as he heard a soft, but familiar clicking sound to his side. He slowly turned to find himself staring down the barrel of Ernest Sheridan’s revolver.

“Well, how unexpected,” he said.

He had known from the beginning that Ernest Sheridan was not a willing subordinate, and he had expected something like this to happen eventually. This was a frustratingly inconvenient time for it, though. Fortunately, he had a contingency in place. He just needed to—

“I suggest you don’t activate that Skill,” said Ernest. “Unless you fancy a hole in yer skull.”

“What Skill?” asked Johan.

“Don’t play dumb,” said Ernest, using his free hand to tip his hat. “This hat may be purty, but it ain’t just for show. It keeps all that mind shit ‘a yers away.”

“Impossible.”

Johan got feedback whenever his Skill was activated. If it wasn’t working, he would have known.

“Well, maybe it’s more accurate t’say it gives me control, regardless of what kinda mind shit yer usin’. Yer Skill’s workin’, but I ain’t yers.”

Dozens of thoughts raced through Johan’s head. The revelation that Ernest’s hat gave protection from mental magic was an unpleasant one, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Johan had other contingencies. He just needed to get Ernest’s gun pointed elsewhere for a moment.

“Calm down,” he said. “Let’s talk this out.”

“I’m open to talkin’,” said Ernest. “But I got some conditions. See, I got this fancy System contract as one’a my Trial rewards. I want ya t’sign it ‘n say ya won’t be doin’ none’a that mind shit anymore. And ya gotta let everyone else go too. Do that ‘n’ we can talk.”

Johan gaped incredulously. A System-enforced contract that would prevent him from using almost all his Skills? The man might as well have asked him to cut off his arms and legs.

“You want me to cripple myself?” he asked.

“More or less.”

“I can’t do that! I am one of the strongest humans on the planet! Crippling me is crippling humanity!”

“That ain’t the answer I’m lookin’ for,” said Ernest, pressing the barrel directly into Johan’s forehead.

“Wait, wait!” shouted Johan.

“I’ll give ya five seconds to decide,” said Ernest. “Five.”

“Wait, let’s talk!”

“Four.”

“We can compromise, right?”

“Three.”

“I’ll release you and your men!”

“Two.”

“You imbecile! You’re going to doom us all!”

“One.”

This time, Johan did not speak. Instead, he activated his last resort. A powerful Skill he had been charging up for months. He had been saving it to use on a powerful D grade, or perhaps even Darius himself, but his survival was more important.

A blue mark on Ernest’s forehead started glowing so brightly it was blinded, and when it faded, Johan let out a long sigh. Ernest was standing motionless, eyes unfocused.

“You absolute moron,” Johan muttered. “Take your men and go buy me some time.”

He turned to walk away, then froze again as he heard Ernest speak.

“Wrong answer.”

Then, there was a deafening bang, and Johan thought no more.

**Ernest Sheridan**

Ernest calmly reloaded his revolver, then pulled a cigar from his spatial storage, lit it, and took a long drag. For a moment, he closed his eyes, listening to the chaos and battle all around. The situation was dire. Many of the people around him were dead or dying, and they wouldn’t be the last. But there was a way for them to escape. A very difficult, risky way, but it was possible to get the majority of those remaining away from the battle alive. The only problem was that Ernest himself would need to put himself in extreme danger to do so.

He opened his eyes and exhaled the breath, watching the smoke rise into the sky. Then, he lodged the cigar in his jaw and turned to face the oncoming undead horde.

“Guess it’s time t’be a hero.”

NEXT CHAPTER